Author's Note: I hope you enjoy this chapter. It covers a bit more than a single month. And some exciting things happen (at least I think so).
-SQ
Disclaimer: A new OC is introduced, who is purely my own creation, but the world from which she comes, and most everything in it is not mine, and never will be.
Chapter Thirty-Five: Aurore
Lily came back from her Wednesday night potions study session/date with Kat to find Cassiopeia curled up in her favorite armchair by the fire, reading a book in Spanish.
"Where's Damian?" she asked curiously. Or at least she hoped it was curiously, rather than resentfully.
Cassiopeia shrugged without looking up from her book.
"Don't you usually go out with him in the evenings?" asked Lily in a carefully neutral tone, eyes focused on the silver bracelet on her wrist instead of on her friend.
Cassiopeia glanced up at her. "Mmm, not so much anymore."
"Why not?"
Cassiopeia shrugged again. "We didn't plan anything."
"But aren't you two together?"
"No," said Cassiopeia, "we're just friends."
"What?" said Lily, meeting Cassiopeia's eyes for the first time. "Since when?"
"It just worked out that way," said Cassiopeia, finally sliding her bookmark into her book.
"Oh..." said Lily.
She wasn't quite sure how to feel about this piece of information. On the one hand she felt like singing, on the other hand she felt like burying her head in her pillow and never coming out. She settled for changing the topic.
"Er—what are you reading?"
Cassiopeia held the fat book up for Lily to see.
"Don Quixote."
"What's it about?"
"A man in Spain who reads so many books of chivalry that he goes insane and thinks that he's a knight errant and goes on all sorts of adventures, like attacking windmills because he thinks they're giants."
Lily laughed. "That is crazy!"
"Hey, I know that story!" said Dawn, bouncing through the portrait hole.
"You do?" said Lily incredulously; Dawn wasn't known for her prolific reading.
"Yeah, there's a musical about it: Man of la Mancha."
"Ah," said Lily, smiling, "that explains it."
*****BWST*****
With all of the stress going on in her life—these ridiculous misplaced feelings for Cassiopeia, her slightly awkward relationship with Kat, the strangeness of Dawn dating River, Louis acting oddly, and Marica's continued bad temper—Lily felt she deserved a break somewhere, and so was quite pleased when spring decided to make itself known during the second week of March.
"This is the kind of weather I enjoy," said Lily as she and Kat took a break from the dank, musty dungeons to stroll through the sunlit grounds.
"Me too," agreed Kat, turning her face toward the sunlight and closing her eyes. "Warm and sunny, nary a cloud in the sky."
"I can't wait for it to be warm enough not to have to wear a jacket," said Lily. "Late spring is definitely my favorite season."
"Mine too," said Kat.
"Isn't it great that we have so much in common?" said Lily. "I mean, we like the same subjects, the same music, the same weather, the same fashion, the same foods..."
"Yeah..." said Kat absently. "Er—Lily, I actually wanted to ask you something."
"What?" said Lily, stopping on the path and looking at her girlfriend.
"The thing is," said Kat, "I really like working on Potions with you and talking with you and things, and I'm glad Louis introduced us. But there really isn't much romance about our relationship, is there? And, well, I was wondering if you'd mind awfully if I went on a date with someone else."
Lily stared at her.
"What?"
"Jessica Blueridge asked me out yesterday," said Kat. "And I really want to say yes. I, well, I like her."
"Oh," said Lily, eyes dropping from her girlfriend's (ex-girlfriend's?) face to the silver threads encircling her wrist. "Er—okay. I—no, it doesn't bother me."
And really it didn't. In spite of her best efforts Lily hadn't ever really felt about Kat the way someone should feel about their girlfriend. In a way it was a relief not to have to pretend to like the other girl in that way anymore. In the way in which she liked Cassiopeia. No, no, no!
Kat's face broke into a relieved grin.
"Thanks. We'll still keep working on potions together, yeah?"
"Of course," said Lily.
"Good, good. I'm going to go find Jessica now. See you around!"
Lily watched her walk away and sighed. So much for finding the perfect girlfriend. She guessed you really couldn't just decide to have a girlfriend or boyfriend, it didn't work that way, Cassiopeia was right. Well, she usually was. And Cassiopeia was the last person Lily should be thinking about right now she told herself severely. What Lily needed now was a trip to the kitchens; maybe the house elves had some leftover chocolate pasties from breakfast.
*****BWST*****
"Lily," said River with mild concern as he, Dawn, Marica, Louis, Hugo, Hugo's girlfriend Rhia, Cassiopeia, and Lily sat by the lake on the last weekend in March, enjoying the noonday sun, the only time of day Lily deemed it warm enough to venture outside, "is everything okay? You've seemed kind of down ever since you broke up with Dodge."
Lily shrugged. "I'm fine. I just can't wait for the warm weather to really be here."
River smiled and Dawn giggled from her seat in his lap.
"Don't worry," said Louis, raising himself slightly on his elbows. "Spring is well on its way, trust me."
Lily looked at her cousin and saw the telltale corner of a handkerchief poking out of his breast pocket.
"Already, huh?"
Louis nodded.
"I never understood why your potions don't help more than they do," said Marica, looking up from her Astronomy notes.
Louis shrugged. "The healers tell us it's because of our Veela blood. I suppose when you're graced with such charm and poise and sophistication something must be taken in compensation."
Marica swatted him on the head.
"My hair!" Louis protested.
"Prat," said Marica, turning back to her notes.
Cassiopeia and Louis shared a look that Lily couldn't comprehend before Cassiopeia looked around at Lily.
"How did your date go this morning?"
Lily shrugged. She had had a private brunch this morning with a fifth year Hufflepuff in a cozy little room next to the Hufflepuff common room. It had been her third such date with various students in the weeks since Kat had broken up with her, but nothing had come from any of them.
"Kind of boring actually," said Lily. "We didn't really have anything to talk about. Or at least she didn't do any talking. I hate to stereotype, but she was so very...Hufflepuff."
"Why are you trying so hard to find a girlfriend?" asked Cassiopeia, leaning over to tuck a strand of dark red hair back behind Lily's ear (she had let it grow out some and it now reached her jawbone in some places).
Lily shivered slightly at the contact, trying in vain to convince herself it was merely due to the chill in the air. Because of you, said a voice in her head. I'm trying not to think about you!
"I'm not," she lied a bit defensively. "Louis goes on dates all the time and he's not looking for a girlfriend." Louis shifted uncomfortably at this statement and avoided looking at Marica, whose eyes had narrowed slightly. Lily continued obliviously. "He just does it to have fun."
"Yes," consented Cassiopeia. "But honestly, I don't see you having very much fun."
"There's nothing wrong with being single you know, Lils," said River.
"Hmph," said Lily. "Coming from the boy with his girlfriend sitting in his lap. And besides, I never said there was. There's nothing wrong with dating either."
"And I never said that," said River calmly with a very slight frown.
Cassiopeia lowered herself so that her head was resting on Lily's knee. Lily really, really wished she wouldn't, but she couldn't bring herself to move away. She rubbed at her silver thread bracelet with her thumb, something which had become a stress-relieving habit at some point over the last three years.
"This conversation is too serious," proclaimed Hugo, standing up and stretching. "Let's go sneak into the school orchards and climb the trees."
Lily shook her head. "And get caught and put in detention? No thanks."
"Aw, Hagrid wouldn't put us in detention."
"But anyone else who caught us would," said Cassiopeia. "Perhaps I'll go with you when there's actually fruit to eat."
Hugo grinned. "Not quite so far removed from Slytherin after all, are you?"
Cassiopeia shrugged. "I never claimed I was."
Hugo looked at Dawn and River. "What about you two."
"Naw," said Dawn, grinning, "we're quite comfortable here."
"Louis?"
Louis made to rise, but Marica, without looking up from her notes, kicked his legs out from under him.
"I am not spending my afternoon carrying you up to the hospital wing because you were fool enough to climb some fool trees in a fool orchard. And neither is anyone else."
Louis scowled and rubbed his knee, but he didn't attempt to stand again.
"Alright, suit yourself," said Rhia with a very Slytherin grin. "More fun for us, eh, Hugo?" She grabbed his hand and he gave her an equally mischievous smile. "See you lot later!"
Lily watched them go, shaking her head. "Slytherins. I'll never understand them..."
"But I'll always love them," finished Cassiopeia with a smile.
*****BWST*****
Lily was eating a breakfast of oatmeal and toast when the Potter family owl swooped in through the window with the other post owls and landed in front of her. This in of itself was not unusual, her parents wrote to her fairly regularly; what was strange was that it was Albus's handwriting rather than her mother's or father's in which the envelope was addressed.
Curious, Lily put down her glass of milk and slit open the letter.
Lily and Louis,
I thought you'd want to know that Teddy and Victoire's baby's coming early. Victoire went into labor last night and Mum and Dad went to the hospital to be with her and Teddy. I don't know if there are going to be complications or anything yet and Mum and Dad didn't want to write you till they knew more, but I can tell people are pretty worried because the baby wasn't supposed to come until the end of the month and I knew you'd be furious if you felt that no one had bothered to tell you anything. They said they'd owl me and James when the baby's born and we'll go down to the hospital then too. You have to stay in school, obviously, but someone will write to you after the baby's born I'm sure.
Albus
Lily read the letter, dimly acknowledging her brother's atrocious letter writing skills which were the reason why he hardly ever wrote them.
"Lily?" said Cassiopeia, putting down her own glass and leaning over toward her friend. "What is it?"
"Victoire's baby's coming. It's not due for another month but she went into labor last night."
Louis started so violently that he would have sent his entire plate crashing to the floor if Marica hadn't caught it and replaced it on the table a safe distance from his elbow.
"What?"
"Victoire went into labor last night," said Lily again. "She—"
"I heard what you said," said Louis impatiently. "But the baby's not due for another month yet! Is she okay? What else does the letter say? Let me see it!"
Lily handed the letter over to her cousin and he quickly read the contents.
"Blast Albus and his awful letters!" he said, throwing the parchment back down on the table. "I want to know what's going on!"
"I don't think he really knows much either, Lou," said Lily, putting a soothing hand on his arm. "I know you're worried, I am too, but there's really nothing we can do but wait until someone sends us another letter." She shook her head. "I don't know anything about babies. I don't even know how early one month early really is."
"There are some risks," said Cassiopeia. "But the baby is almost sure to survive, and will most likely grow up healthy and normal. The more premature a baby is the more at risk it is for certain complications, but at eight months most necessary things are already developed."
Lily stared at her. "How do you know that?"
"I've read up on it," said Cassiopeia. "I was born nearly two months premature."
"Really?" said Louis. "I didn't know that."
Cassiopeia nodded. "It's why I was so fragile as a child. And why I'm so small too. I had to stay in the hospital for quite a while, but there were no lasting detrimental complications. There shouldn't be for your niece or nephew either."
Lily smiled at her. "Thanks Cassie." She looked back at her brother's disorganized letter. "I hope we hear from them again soon."
*****BWST*****
Both Lily and Louis had trouble concentrating in their classes that day. Nearly every single teacher had to tell Lily off for letting her focus wander, even her Potions professor. The letter they were so anxiously awaiting finally arrived at dinner that evening. They snatched it up eagerly, roast chicken forgotten, and tore it open.
Lily and Louis,
Mum and Dad decided that since I had taken the "liberty" of writing to you this morning I could also write to you now. I wasn't there for Victoire's labor, but apparently it was pretty intense, so I'm not complaining. The baby's a girl, not a boy like the Healers said before, and she's so tiny! The healer says she's not really, that she's still big enough not to be in any substantial danger, but to me she seems like one of your old dolls, Lily. They've just taken her away to the intensive care nursery and Teddy and Victoire are nearly frantic, but the Healers assure us that she's going to be fine. She'll have to remain here for a while, something about her lungs being very fragile and not being able to eat properly on her own yet. They say it doesn't look like she'll have any brain damage or anything though, so that's good. Mum and Aunt Fleur have absolutely forbidden you two from missing school to come down, but she says that they'll send for you this weekend.
See you then,
Albus
Lily looked up from the letter into Cassiopeia's questioning blue/gray eyes.
"The baby's a girl. Al says she's doing alright, but they have her in the intensive care nursery. She'll survive and everything, but they have to wait and see if there are any more complications."
Cassiopeia nodded. "I'm sure she'll be fine. Think of what blood she has in her. Black, Weasley, Lupin, Delacour, not exactly weakling families."
Lily smiled. "You're right. Weasley women aren't known for their submissiveness."
"Neither are Black women," said Cassiopeia.
They looked at each other.
"In fact," said Cassiopeia. "I'd say we're probably the most laid back women the Black and Weasley bloodlines have seen in a good long time."
Lily laughed in agreement.
"And it still isn't a good idea to make either of you angry," said Louis.
Dawn and Marica nodded fervently.
*****BWST*****
Lily and Louis were anxious and restless all week. Lily was completely distracted from her schoolwork and friends and Louis was liable to snap off the head of anyone who tried to carry on a civilized conversation with him. The good only thing about worrying and thinking about Teddy and Victoire's new baby was that it kept Lily's mind far too busy and distracted to dwell on Cassiopeia.
Friday evening found Lily, Louis, and Hugo who had managed to convince his family and Hogwarts to let him come too, waiting with their weekend bags in front of the fireplace in the headmaster's office.
Just as Lily glanced at the clock for the sixteenth time (she had been keeping track), the headmaster reentered the room with the bowl of Floo Powder.
"Alright," he said, holding it out to the three eager students. "This is a special privilege due to family circumstances; don't expect to be leaving the school every weekend just because you feel like it." The three shook their heads impatiently and the headmaster's expression softened. "Now go on and see the newest addition to your family."
Louis took a sizable pinch of Floo Powder and threw it on the fire, which flared up tall and emerald green. The three cousins stepped together into the blaze and Lily said clearly, "Saint Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries."
The three were whirled around dizzyingly for several seconds and then deposited in a rather undignified manner on the hearth in the reception area of Saint Mungo's, where a rather sleep-deprived looking Harry Potter was waiting to meet them.
"How are they?" blurted Louis before anyone else had time to say anything.
Harry's tired face broke into a smile. "They're both fine. Victoire's exhausted, but already getting back to her old self, and Aurore, that's the baby, is doing well. She's still in the intensive care nursery, but the Healers say that everything points to her becoming a normal, healthy child once she's ready to leave. Maybe a bit smaller than other children, and children who are born premature are sometimes more likely to develop attention deficit disorders and the like, but there has been nothing of serious concern."
Lily smiled at her father in relief. "That's really great, Dad, I'm so glad."
"Would you like to see her?" he asked.
"Victoire or the baby?" asked Hugo.
"Both," said Harry with a smile.
"Can we really see the baby?" asked Lily, her eyes lighting up.
"Yes," said Harry smiling. "You can't touch her, but you can see her."
"Can we see my sister first?" asked Louis, his face white enough to show off the usually invisible dusting of freckles across the bridge of his finely shaped nose.
Harry nodded. "Of course. I'm warning you though, it's your neck your risking. She's still a little...hormonal."
*****BWST*****
"A little hormonal" was an understatement. Victoire seemed to be her normal self when they first entered. But when Louis went up to hug his sister she burst into tears all over him, which quickly turned into a rage over the fact that he didn't write her nearly enough. After contenting himself with the fact that his sister was in as good heath as could be expected under the circumstances, Louis and the others beat a hasty retreat to the nursery.
Aurore was tiny. Small and fair with pink cheeks and tiny pink fingers and toes, the three teenagers were utterly captivated by the baby from the first moment they saw her. She was lying in an enclosed glass crib which made her look a little bit like a museum item on display, and a tube was attached to her so that she could be fed without being taken out of the sterile environment. But the round blue eyes which looked up at them were curious and intelligent, and the little chest rose and fell in a steady rhythm which the healers said indicated that they should soon be able to remove the spell which assisted her breathing. In Lily's eyes, and, she could see, in Louis's and Hugo's as well, Aurore Delacour Lupin was absolutely perfect.
*****BWST*****
Lily, Louis, and Hugo spent the entire weekend at the hospital with Louis's and Lily's parents, Victoire and Teddy, and Aurore. Hugo's parents came to visit too, as did Albus, James, Dominique, and the rest of their rather large family. The three Hogwarts students were most disappointed to have to return to school on Monday, but at the same time were very excited to tell their friends all about the newest addition to their family.
"Oh Cassie, she's perfect, absolutely perfect. People say that newborn babies are wrinkled and ugly, but Aurore is the most beautiful thing I've ever seen."
Cassiopeia decided not to point out that the baby probably hadn't been nearly so lovely in the first few hours after her birth.
"But she's so fragile," Lily continued. "She looks as though a breath of wind could shatter her. Actually," she said thoughtfully, considering her friend. "She reminds me a bit of you."
"That makes sense," said Cassiopeia, "since I was premature as well. It should also remind you not to always judge by appearances," she added with an impish smile.
The only explanation for what happened next was that Lily was so heady with relief that both her cousin and her new niece were alright, and joy in the memory of little Aurore that she didn't know what she was doing. That the influx of happy, giddy emotions after several months of near depression had thrown her head and hormones out of whack. Because when Cassiopeia smiled that adorable, irresistible smile at her, Lily's heart did a wild somersault inside her chest and her arms reached out almost of their own accord and grabbed the shoulders of the girl sitting in front of her on the bed and she pressed her lips, slightly dry and chapped from so much talking, to Cassiopeia's thin, rose petal mouth.
And oh Merlin, if this was kissing Lily was certain she'd never truly kissed anyone before. It was warm and cool and firm and soft and absolutely, dizzyingly delicious. She felt like she could go on kissing Cassiopeia forever. Kissing Cassiopeia...
Lily jerked away so suddenly that Cassiopeia was thrown down violently on the bed. Lily's hands darted to her mouth as she choked in horror.
Oh shit, oh shit, oh SHIT! What had she just done?
Cassiopeia was still lying flat on her back on her bed, mouth open, blue-gray eyes wide with shock.
"I—I—didn't mean that!" said Lily. "It's not what you think! I don't—I was just—so happy and— I—I have to go now!" and she whirled from the room and fled to the safety of her own dormitory where she prayed that just this one time Cassiopeia would not follow.
AN: Yes, yes, yes, I know, another cliffie, and now you all want to kill me. But it the scene wouldn't have the same impact if it wasn't the end of the chapter! But at least now you get to go right on to the next chapter without having to wait (unless you have something else to do right now, in which case it sucks to be you :P)
Aurore was born premature because I needed to have something more happen before the kiss so that the chapter was long enough and so that we got into April. But I like it. Tell me if you do? You know how ;)
-SQ