April 6th 2024

Saturdays at Hogwarts were Lyra's favorite. She had a tendency to cram all of her studies in during weeknights so that she could play all weekend long. This usually meant finding a good place to have some quiet time with her boyfriend of two and a half years down in Hogsmeade, but he was busy at his father's shop that weekend after their huge April Fool's sale. Instead, Lyra found herself on this quiet Saturday afternoon in the Great Hall with her sister, who was absently nibbling away at a pastry that she had brought into the Hall with her. Lyra assumed she had paid a house elf for them. She hadn't been eating or sleeping like a normal human being lately because of their NEWT exams. Lyra was not particularly worried. She couldn't have cared less what her NEWT grades would be. She had had good enough OWLs to get into NEWT level Potions, Transfiguration, Charms, and Defense Against the Dark Arts but they had been the only subjects she really cared about. She had been doing just fine in all of her classes, even managing to impress her father with her abilities in his class. Unsurprisingly, when he had started the patronus lessons earlier in the year Lyra had been the most successful and was casting a corporeal Patronus by Christmas.

What Lyra did not know was how much ribbing Harry was getting for this among his friends. He had been so proud of her he had boasted at the Weasley Christmas gathering and immediately was teased by Ron and Hermione for it, "What did you expect? She's your daughter." Followed by George who helpfully added, "Oh yeah, she's seventeen and can cast a Patronus. You were slaughtering horcruxes at that age, Harry, it's not that impressive."

No, Lyra was blithely unaware of the pride or the teasing she had brought her parents when she had cast her fox patronus. She had only been aware of how annoyed it had made her sister who struggled more with the charm. To make it up to her, Lyra helped her practice around the grounds for months. It was only the month previous that Lily had finally managed to cast a corporeal patronus. Much to their surprise, the silvery wisps of her charm had evolved into a unicorn form. Immensely proud of overcoming her struggle with the charm, Lily had shown off in their next Defense Against the Dark Arts class and genuinely surprised their dad.

Despite Lily's immense success at mastering the patronus charm and her general good grades in her other classes, she still spent most meals like she did that Saturday, her food threatening to stain the pages of her textbooks.

Lyra was hoping to have an actual conversation with her sister for once, but every time she tried to talk, her twin shushed her. So, instead, Lyra took to people watching. Not many students milled about in the Great Hall on the weekends. She watched some first year Gryffindors and Slytherins betting on a game of wizard's chess with chocolate frog cards, a few fourth year Hufflepuffs gathered in a circle playing gobstones, and some fifth years were practicing charms for their OWL exams. It was all quite dull. Didn't anyone have anything fun to do? Lyra sometimes wished she hadn't been her father's child but instead a classmate of his. What she wouldn't give for a mass rebellion right about now. She was oddly jealous of the adventures he had had, not recognizing the immense difficulties and tolls that war had on families at the time.

Just as she was getting ready to go somewhere more amusing, she spotted someone approaching the table. A very tall, lean boy with golden brown hair in wispy curls was headed toward them. His nose had delicate little freckles and his eyelashes were almost invisible under his dark brows. Lyra was intrigued and watched him carefully. He was utterly unaware of someone staring at him. She saw the look of total concentration on his eyes and realized he was not approaching them, he was approaching Lily. As if watching a movie, Lyra said nothing to her sister and decided to watch the scene unfold on its own.

The boy stood beside her and gently tapped on her shoulder. Lily glanced over at him and grinned, "Oh, hey Benjamin. What's up?"

"Lily I was wondering if…" He started to ask her, but suddenly lost the ability to speak. He was figuratively choking, and only Lyra seemed to notice.

Lily looked at him curiously, "Yes?"

"Can I borrow your notes from last week's transfiguration lesson? Mine, er, flew away in, er, the breeze. By the time I noticed it had gotten caught up in the whomping willow." Benjamin quickly lied, though, again, only Lyra seemed to notice how painfully obvious it was that he was making an excuse up on the fly.

"Oh, of course Ben," Lily agreed as she rifled through her bag at her side and pulled out a rolled up piece of parchment and handed it to him, "Let me know if you can't read my handwriting, I know it's awful."

"No it's not," Benjamin replied a bit too quickly, "It's …"

Lily stared at him curiously. Had he really noticed her penmanship before? And what was their to say about it besides it being either bad or adequate?

"It's curly. Different, I mean. I don't know. I'll talk to you later," He rushed each sentence out before turning away. Lyra caught the very subtle creep of crimson on his cheeks before he fled the scene.

"Hm, that's odd…" Lily murmured to herself before turning back to her textbook.

"It's only odd if you're blind," Lyra commented dryly.

Lily looked up, opening her mouth to reply but hesitating. She recognized that look on her sister's scheming face all too well. "What on earth you up to now?"

"Do you ever feel like there's not enough fun inside the castle?" Lyra asked

"We don't have time for fun, Ly. We're supposed to be focused on our exams."

"In case you haven't noticed, it's the Saturday of Easter break. We go back to class on Monday. Why have you been studying all week anyway?"

"We can't afford days off. I do not intend to fail my NEWTs."

"God, you sound like Hermione. Dad always said she could never learn when to take a break either. Well, I think we deserve a proper break. Keep an eye out."

"For what?"

"You'll see," Lyra said as she jumped up and headed out of the hall.

Lily rolled her eyes and continued at her work, wondering what sort of trouble Lyra was about to get into. She cast a cursory glance at the hourglasses that kept pace of the house points. Slytherin and Hufflepuff were tied for second behind Ravenclaw. She smiled to herself. If she was lucky, Lyra would get herself in enough trouble that Hufflepuff could finally get close to winning the house cup.

...

It didn't take long for Lily to find out what Lyra was up to. When she returned to her common room there was word buzzing among the older students. They seemed to all be clustered around something. She wandered over, peering through the small crowd to see Penny, in her year, holding out a small flyer. The text was gigantic and kept flashing from black to red:

TIRED OF STUDYING? DIDN'T HAVE ENOUGH FUN THIS BREAK?

SICK OF TRYING TO FIND A GOOD PLACE TO HANG OUT WITH YOUR FRIENDS IN OTHER HOUSES?

7TH FLOOR, ACROSS FROM BARNABAS THE BARMY, TONIGHT, 10PM.

ALL. HOUSES. WELCOME.

FIFTH TO SEVENTH YEARS ONLY.

"What the hell kind of location is that?" One girl asked.

"I don't know, maybe there's a spare classroom up there we don't use?"

"That's gotta be it."

"Lily?" A soft voice murmured from behind. She turned and saw Benjamin. "What's going on?"

Lily sighed, "You saw the poster going around?"

"No…?" He said as he leaned over, his head towering above nearly everyone else as he read the obnoxious words, "Okay, now I've seen it."

Lily grabbed his sleeve and tugged him away from the crowd of students. She pulled him aside where they couldn't be overheard, not noticing the slight look of surprise on his face. She murmured under her breath, "My sister's up to no good. I know she's behind this. That isn't just an empty classroom. That's the Room of Requirement."

"What's that?" Ben asked, not following a word she was saying.

"It's a vanishing room. It's kind of hard to explain, but basically my sister is using a secret room in the castle to throw an insane party. Merlin knows she's gone off to buy a ton of butterbeer. This is a disaster in the making. I don't know why she's doing this."

"I mean, she kind of has a point. Nothing terribly exciting happened to anyone this easter. Most of the students are back by now, but the teachers are still off. Aren't your dads still on vacation?"

Lily's eyes widened, "Of course. Our parents went on a vacation with Ron and Hermione for the easter holidays, they aren't coming back until Sunday night. She's doing this on purpose. She thinks she can't get caught without them here, but Peeves and Filch are still here!"

"Why are you worried? If she gets caught it only puts her in trouble, unless she told you about it. Besides, how do you know this is her doing?"

"Twin sense, I just know," Lily explained quickly, "I just don't want her to get caught. Not to mention if this flyer has gotten around to the other houses, that's a lot of potential students getting caught. All of us could stand to lose points for this. We should try and find her before tonight and get her to call it off."

"Even if we did find her in time, it's not like she can personally find every single student that's seen the fliers being passed around and tell them it's off. Even then, half of them would show up there anyway. There's nothing we can really do, unless you want to tell the Head Boy and guarantee she gets in trouble for it," Benjamin pointed out.

Lily frowned, sensing she was getting backed into a corner here. There was no apparent way to put an end to the party itself.

"Doesn't Lyra do this kind of thing regularly?" Benjamin asked gently.

Lily glanced away, "Yeah. Pretty much once a year."

"And how often does she get away with it?"

"Most of the time, but only because I'm there to save her."

"So, maybe, you shouldn't worry just this once? I'm not saying she should throw a giant party in the requirement room, but chances are if she's planned this she's also worked out how to get away with it without getting caught," Benjamin reasoned.

"What if I go and just make sure that it doesn't get too out of hand? I'm still a prefect. I should at least be there to make sure it doesn't go awry," Lily decided with finality. Benjamin didn't understand why she felt the need to do this, why she never once considered just going to enjoy herself, but he knew better than to argue with her. He had been her class mate for seven years. He knew once she made up her mind on something, that was it. But he finally discovered the potential advantage to this party. He grinned and turned to Lily before she could wander off, "Hey? Why don't I go with you. You know, for back up?"

"Yeah, good idea," Lily said absently, agreeing before meandering off to continue studying her Herbology work.

...

Lyra hid in plain sight in the seventh floor corridor outside of the wall where the Room of Requirement door that was only visible to those that had seen the flyer. She had been extremely specific when she had made the room appear, and she knew that it would work just fine for their needs. She stood there as as sentinel, making sure everyone made it in safely while she remained under a simple disillusionment charm. The first several students showed up, cautiously peering down the corridor. She removed the charm and waved them over.

One of the students, a familiar looking fifth year Gryffindor, held out the flier, "We got this from James, is this the right spot?"

Lyra grinned. Her brother was always a reliable companion in her schemes. She nodded to the group of boys, "Yes it is. This door will lead you into the room. Make yourselves right at home. More people should be headed round in a bit."

The boys pushed through the massive door and entered what appeared to be a silent room. As soon as they were totally past the threshold, however, they were met with a loud music that seemed to come from nowhere. The room was dimly lit by floating lanterns and a single small fireplace. Posters of each of the four houses adorned the walls, and the Hogwarts crest was engraved in the wall above the fireplace. A variety of red, black, navy, and emerald hued chairs and sofas were strewn about the fairly large room. A number of tables were covered in food, and an entire table was filled with empty glasses. One of the fifth years, Rowan Longbottom, wandered over and picked up an empty mug. As soon as it left the table a charm triggered it to fill instantly with butterbeer. The boys were immensely impressed and immediately began to drink as a stream of Ravenclaw boys and girls filtered into the room.

Rowan couldn't help but tease Lucy Weasley, "A goody two shoes prefect? At a very illegal inter house party? I'm shocked, truly."

Lucy, the proud daughter of Percy Weasley, scoffed and rolled her eyes at the obnoxious boy, "I can have fun once and awhile too y'know."

"Not likely," Rowan smirked.

Lucy ignored him and wandered about with her small group of friends in the still mostly empty room. With time, students began to filter in and fill the room.

Lyra beamed when she saw Rose appear in the corridor. She whispered softly, "I was wondering when the hell you were going to show up."

"Don't worry," Rose smiled, "I made sure that the Gryffindors are leaving in groups so as not to all get caught at once. That's why I came later. Fifth years went first, y'know?"

"Good plan. I take it Lucy did the same?"

"Or something like it. She probably found some more clever way of doing it. How did they get here anyway?"

"Oh, they all had on disillusionment charms like I did."

"Of course," Rose smirked, "Any Slytherins or Huffles yet?"

"Slytherins have been coming in clusters too. I'm worried about Lily. This whole thing was for her and …" She glanced up and happened to spot a band of yellow ties coming their way. She smiled and nudged Rose along before welcoming the Hufflepuffs. She knew if they were here, Lily wouldn't be far behind. She always had a way of interrupting Lyra's plans, but this time she hadn't been smart enough to notice this was a trap devised especially for her.

Sure enough, Lily and Benjamin appeared side by side a few minutes later.

"Welcome to the party," Lyra winked to her sister.

"Lyra this is madness," Lily whispered sharply.

"What do you think, Ben?" Lyra asked, looking up at the bean pole of a wizard, "Is it madness to throw an end of holiday party?"

Benjamin glanced between the twins and sidestepped them completely, "I'm just… gonna … go in now." He vanished from sight into the Room of Requirement.

"How are you planning on not catching anyone's attention up here?" Lily asked matter-of-factly with her arms crossed over chest.

Lyra shrugged, "That's not really your concern is it? Unless you're here as a prefect to rat me out. In which case, you should know there's a pretty even distribution of houses in there. Don't want to piss off the entire school do you, Lil?"

"I just don't want you to get in trouble. Again!"

"Dads aren't even here, it's fine. Now get inside and have fun for once in your life."

"No, I'm going to stay out here and make sure you aren't caught. What if Filch comes around the corner?" Lily asked.

"Easy, I just petrify him and that dumb cat."

"That's even worse than the party itself!"

Lyra rolled her eyes, "What're they gonna do? Expel me?"

"They could!"

"They won't."

"Your arrogance is going to kill you someday."

"Sure, whatever. If you continue to stand here and try to stop me, I will just imperio you into the damn room myself."

"You wouldn't dare cast an unforgivable inside Hogwarts."

Lyra raised an eyebrow and leaned close to her sister, "You wanna fucking bet?"

Lily stepped back, startled by the ferocity in her sister's eyes. She didn't see any way around it. She groaned and shoved past her sister and into the Room of Requirement. She was surprised at just how many people were in the room. She guessed some fifty to a hundred students were packing the place. It was like the parties she saw in muggle movies, only with random displays of magic.

She wandered through the sea of people, unsure of what to do with herself. She only socialized in big crowds at family events. She grabbed a glass of butterbeer, sipping from it as she hid from the populace against a far wall. A few moments passed, and then, from the middle of the room, her sister's voice carried over the crowd and cut off the music.

"May I have your attention please? Thank you my dears. Now that you've all got a healthy amount of butterbeer in your systems, why don't we make things interesting? Can my muggle borns make some noise?"

Half of the room whooped and screamed in response. Lily sat up straight and moved toward the middle of the room as her sister continued using a spell to amplify her voice, "Alright, can I get one of you lovely muggle borns to come forward? We're gonna teach these sweet witches and wizards a thing or two about muggle parties." Lily managed to get close enough to see what was going on.

Lyra had sat down on the floor, surrounded by a circle of onlookers in the room. A few muggle born students entered the circle, a few seemed to have been pushed forward. Lyra summoned an empty butterbeer bottle from across the room and placed it on the floor between the six muggle borns that had sat down around her. Lily sighed and rolled her eyes. She was starting to think her father's idea to raise them with muggle media had been a bad idea. Lyra had definitely seen this on one of her crappy serials. She explained the process for the onlooking and confused young students. She asked one muggle born to spin the empty bottle and when it landed on another boy she explained the closet across the room was all theirs for seven minutes. With the rules explained and the boys blushingly egged on into the closet, she turned to her audience, seemingly in her element, and asked who wanted to play.

At first, reluctance seemed to hold her audience captive.

Lyra put on her best charm, "Oh come on, live a little." She wandered into the crowd and grabbed the hand of a handsome seventh year Ravenclaw, "Who doesn't want to kiss this beautiful face?"

The boy blushed slightly but smiled, preening a bit in the limelight. Some girls stirred with excitement at the prospect.

Lyra ventured again and pulled out a gorgeous Gryffindor girl, "I mean really, anyone would be lucky to have seven minutes with this divinity."

The crowd seemed to agree and several people began to push their way into the circle, sitting around the single bottle left on the floor.

"Okay, okay, slow your roll folks. Only ten to a bottle, there's plenty more where that came from," She orchestrated, breaking groups up and moving people around. Lily couldn't believe this was happening. She watched as the students formed into random groups. She thought she would easily avoid this ridiculous game. Surely there would still be plenty of people who were uninterested? But in a matter of minutes, she was one of only a few people still standing around. Doors were appearing all around them. The room was making closets for the sudden influx of horny teenagers. Lily looked around in desperation, unsure what to do when she caught eyes with Benjamin who was standing a few meters away.

She moved over to him, "Can you believe this?"

"Er," Benjamin said, flush from drinking butterbeer, "No?"

"I mean, really, this isn't a good idea. This is hardly consensual," Lily grumbled.

Lyra stood in the middle of the room and chimed in, "Remember, you can say no if the bottle lands on you! It's up to you whether or not you want to do it."

Lily rolled her eyes. Did her sister always have to know what she was thinking? Lyra happened to look over and spot the two standing off to the side. She knew this would happen, but she had planned for it. A quick glance about the room caught four other students who seemed more reluctant than the rest. She waved the four other students over and set them up on the floor in front of Lily and Benjamin.

"Well? You two going to join or what?" Lyra asked.

"Lyra this is insane," Lily huffed.

"Oh, live a little," Lyra laughed, "It's just a little light snogging. Well, I suppose you could do a lot more than that in seven minutes. But, knowing you, you'll just hold hands, right?"

She had hit a sore spot, and she knew it. Lily, in a fit of angry rebellion, sat down in the circle. Lyra knew of her sister's oversensitivity surrounding her quaint, quiet nature. Lily had divulged on more than one occasion in the past year or two that she hated how inexperienced she was compared to Lyra and her peers, always insisting she wasn't as innocent as everyone assumed, even if she still hadn't had her first kiss.

"Well, Benjamin, you're the odd one out. They need an even number to make the game work," Lyra pointed out casually.

Benjamin swallowed hard before slowly sitting down beside Lily.

"Have fuuuun," Lyra crooned before wandering away to monitor the room. She glanced over her shoulder at Lily's group. A random Ravenclaw spun the bottle first. Lyra continued pacing the room, keeping one eye on Lily the entire time. The Ravenclaw went off with a Hufflepuff that Lyra didn't know.

"Remember, count out the minutes. Chat a bit while you wait for the pair to come back!" Lyra encouraged the crowd.

Lily and Benjamin more or less ignored each other as they chatted with the other Ravenclaw and the Gryffindor in their group.

"So do you know that girl?" The Gryffindor asked Lily, nodding his head toward Lyra.

She laughed, "Yeah, she's my twin sister."

"Really?" He asked curiously, turning and looking from Lyra then back to Lily, "One, how are you in different houses? Two, why do you look nothing alike?"

Lily shrugged, "We're totally different personalities. I don't know why. She jokes it's cuz she ate half of my personality in the womb."

The Gryffindor boy seemed put off by this, but Benjamin snickered beside her. The Gryffindor looked at him curiously then looked back at Lily, "I'm Hugh."

"Lily," She said softly, fidgeting with the glass of butterbeer still in her hands.

"Oh, are we doing proper introductions now?" The Ravenclaw girl said sarcastically, "I'm Holly."

"Benjamin," He chimed in softly beside her.

Holly glanced up at him and smiled, "You're cute Benjamin. I like your freckles."

He bowed his head, averting his gaze as his ears turned red. Holly laughed at this, "Oh, so humble. Humble Huffle, I love it."

Lyra heard this and bristled from across the room. The plan was slowly falling to pieces. Why was someone else flirting with Ben? That trollop, Lyra thought unfairly. She glanced at her sister from across the room and noticed her looking more and more nettled the more Benjamin and the Ravenclaw talked. Perhaps this was a good thing. Maybe Lily needed to be made a bit jealous first. But then she turned and chatted to the Gryffindor boy. Lyra had to resist the urge to groan. She clearly had not manipulated the situation enough.

"How much longer does Pearl have in there?" Lily asked Holly, referring to the sixth year Hufflepuff that had left in the beginning with Holly's classmate.

Holly glanced down at her watch, "Another minute, looks like. I hope your girl is going easy on mine. Esme is really sensitive."

Hugh stared at Holly in surprise. She groaned and smacked his arm lightly, "God, get your head out of the gutter, not like that. Emotionally sensitive you dolt."

The group couldn't help but collectively snicker.

"Time's up," Benjamin declared a minute later, "Who wants to go separate them?"

"I'll do it," Holly said, jumping to her feet and heading over to the door just behind them. The rest of them watched on curiously, wondering what sort of state the girls would be in. Holly yanked the door open and the girls looked up calmly at her from inside. They appeared to walk out the same as they had walked in, although Esme's hair was pulled back into a ponytail now.

"What, you guys didn't do anything?" Holly teased.

"Who's to say?" The Hufflepuff shrugged. "Now what are we supposed to do?"

"Feel free to keep playing and get a few more makeout sessions or come mingle and watch the rest of these saps pair off," Lyra shouted to the crowd.

"Yeah that sounds good," Esme said with a grin, turning to Pearl, "Wanna go wander around a bit?"

Pearl took her hand and agreed before moving across the room to tease their friends. Holly rejoined the circle afterwards, "Well, I think it's safe to say they hit it off in there. Who's next to spin?"

"Well, Lily was sitting beside Pearl, so she should go," Hugh said.

"But I was sitting next to Esme, so that logic doesn't work," Holly reasoned.

"Then rock, paper, scissors for it," Benjamin said.

The girls agreed. Lily beat Holly, but as soon as she did she realized she hadn't wanted to. Suddenly anxious, she put her hand on the bottle and tried to spin it, but it slipped wildly away from her and rolled out of their circle.

"Accio," Benjamin murmured, summoning it back to her. He smiled sympathetically at her. She felt slightly reassured but somehow more anxious than ever at the same time. She cleared her throat and got a grip long enough to give the bottle a true spin. The amber glass spun quickly in a mesmerizing circle. Lily felt as if she was falling into a trance. Her heart was racing and she didn't know what she wanted. What would be worse? The blunt Gryffindor boy, the smart ass Ravenclaw, or her old friend? She felt like she couldn't breathe.

Lyra had barely noticed in time that it was her sister's turn. From across the room, she cast a charm on the bottle. It jerked slightly as it was slowing down. It spun one last time before pointing at Benjamin. Lyra sighed with relief. Nobody had noticed this little twitch. Nobody suspected that Lyra was behind the entire thing. She was a little too proud of how well she was getting away with this.

Lily and Ben both hesitated to look at each other, but their blushes were extremely apparent to their counterparts.

Holly laughed, "Well, Benjamin? You have to consent or pass."

Ben looked like he was boiling under his skin. He opened his mouth, but only made a slight choking sound. Lyra rolled her eyes from across the room. She should have slipped a calming draught in his butterbeer. Finally, he turned and looked at Lily who had been waiting expectantly for him to say something. Lyra detected even from afar that look of steely resolution she had spotted earlier on his face. He was making direct eye contact with Lily for the first time since they had really gotten there and he seemed calmer for it.

He nodded, "Yeah, I consent. If you do too, that is."

Lily felt her face burn. She slowly nodded, but couldn't find the nerve to speak just yet. Benjamin stood and offered his hand to her. She took it and was helped to her feet. She couldn't help but notice how warm his hand was and that it was a bit sweaty. She wondered, frantically, if he was as panicked as she was.

Holly turned and whispered something to Hugh as they approached the closet. Without either Benjamin or Lily knowing, their other two teammates left them to join another group.

The room was less a closet and more an empty broom cupboard. There was effectively no light as they shut the door behind them. Lily felt her hand along the wall and turned only to immediately bump right into Benjamin's chest.

"I'm sorry, I can't see a damn thing," Lily quickly apologized.

Ben laughed gently, his hands finding her small shoulders in the dark, "It's okay, I got you. Let's see. There's your shoulders and arms, there's your hair," He narrated as his hands ran into the strands falling over her shoulders. He blindly pushed her hair off her shoulders onto her back, his hand moving gently up her neck and tucking it behind her ear. She could hear her own breathing and it seemed painfully loud. She could tell just how close he was from the warmth he emitted. His hand moved to her jaw and tipped her chin up slightly. He knew he couldn't have done this if not for being in the total darkness and for circumstances pushing them together.

Lily forgot how to think, forgot how to feel anything at all but her heart pulsating in her chest. She could feel him move and before she knew it his lips were on hers. After a moment, she felt odd with her hands at her side and cautiously reached out toward him, letting a hand rest on his shoulder for balance.

Naturally, her mind only allowed her a few moments peace before it kicked in with its nasty logic. This was her friend. They had known each other all these years. They had stayed up so many nights studying together. He wasn't kissing her like she would have expected. This seemed so much more intentional, as if he had thought of this happening before. She didn't know shit about kissing, but she did know something about human nature. The way he held onto her, the way he pulled her closer after a moment. No, this was definitely more. She forced herself away from him after just a minute had passed. They both caught their breath for a moment before Lily whispered in the darkness, "Benjamin…"

"Too much?"

"No, it's not that."

"Oh. What's wrong then?"

"Do you… like me?"

Her eyes started to adapt to the darkness and pick up on his presence in front of her. She finally began to see him and it felt like the first time all over again. She could finally see the tortured expression on his face, the way his eyes said one thing and his face said another. He seemed so conflicted. He was scratching at the back of his neck, something he only did when he was really anxious. She had seen him do it so many times. She smiled gently and spoke before he could articulate a reply, "You do like me."

He sighed in defeat, "Yeah. I have for a while. I just … I didn't know how to tell you. I didn't want you to think I didn't see you as a friend first."

Lily, still standing quite close to him, rested her hand on his chest and looked up at him fondly as she whispered, "You're a good man."

"I am?"

"You were more concerned with how I would react than with how you felt. Tell me, if this hadn't happened, if my stupid sister hadn't thrown this weird party, would you have ever asked me out?" She asked not unkindly.

He glanced away shyly, "I would have really wanted to … but I probably wouldn't have been able to bring myself to do it."

"We've both been too shy then. I can't believe it took me so long to notice how good you've been to me over the years. How many times did the other prefect catch you trying to sneak up into the girls dorms to check on me after my grandpa died?"

He looked away, "Eight times. I was worried you were hiding on purpose. I know how you get when things are hard. I didn't want you to be in danger. But, it helped knowing you were seeing your sister and Rose."

"You knew about that?"

"Of course. I was usually in the common room when you would leave, you just didn't notice."

"I've been ignoring you for too long," Lily admitted. "I don't think I'll be able to ignore you anymore."

"Yeah?"

She nodded slightly before leaning back in and kissing him again, her arms wrapping around him tight. The first kiss had been one of nervous tenderness, this was something far more deliberate and purposeful. A renewed energy and excitement filled them both.

Lyra had been occasionally checking her watch as the party goers slowly dispersed. People were either pairing off or they were enjoying the music again and getting drunker by the minute. The party had to come to an end soon. Lily had already been in that closet for ten minutes, but she wasn't going to break them up if they weren't ready. Eventually they would have to notice that time was passing and let themselves out. Lyra started to order people to leave in clusters to avoid getting caught.

Meanwhile, Lily and Benjamin certainly were losing track of time. Lily's hands wandered, making Benjamin jump in panic. She quickly apologized but he shook his head, "No, it's fine. Trust me, I would love it, but what if they open the door?"

Lily caught her breath and withdrew her wand from her pocket, "Lumos." Both of them cringed at the glowing light but she glanced at her watch as her eyes adjusted. "Well, Esme and Pearl got out at like 11:15 and it's 11:40."

"What the hell?" Benjamin said, peering down at her watch in disbelief.

"Those assholes probably didn't bother timing us and left."

"Probably," Benjamin said, "We should get out of here before your sister freaks."

"Oh, please, she'll be thrilled, not mad." Lily assured him as they left the closet.

"I doubt that very much," Benjamin replied.

The room was mostly empty by now. A few stragglers were being escorted out by Rose. Lyra stood facing them a few meters away. As she approached, Benjamin paled. She walked straight toward Benjamin, who began to profusely apologize before Lyra held up her hand to silence him, her face still as stone.

But her hand remained there, palm facing him. She slowly began to grin, "C'mon good old boy, put 'er there!" She said, badly imitating an American accent.

Benjamin cautiously high fived her.

"You owe me, big time," Lyra cackled toward her twin.

"Whatever," Lily sighed, not understanding all her sister had done. Lyra smiled to herself as she lead them out of the room, deciding she would tell them about her plan when the moment was right.