Disclaimer: Harry Potter isn't mine! Sadtimes.

The Magic Word Is Sorry, Not Please
(Chapter Thirty Eight- Not As It Seems)

Lily couldn't remember having ever been this happy; she had an amazing boyfriend, cool friends, and now her family were actually getting on; breakfast this morning had been just like every other morning. To make it better, she'd managed to keep out of the article completely, and her parents hadn't even found out about her and Jake.

See, it wasn't that she didn't want her parents to know about him, but she wanted to stay as her Dad's little girl for as long as possible. And especially now she'd seen the way the fathers had looked at their daughters so disappointedly earlier, she'd decided to put off telling her Dad about Jake for as long as possible; she loved her Dad too much to give him up.

She skidded down the corridor, she was running so fast. Then she ran out to the courtyard and headed towards where she'd agreed to meet Jake.

He wasn't on his own; he was with some of his fifth year guy friends. They were his and Louis' crew, really.

Old Lily surfaced again; she stopped in her tracks and watched them chatting, not wanting to embarrass Jake or herself.

Then she heard her name and she found herself stepping lightly on her feet, until she'd hidden herself around the corner from them.

She was such a loser.

"I couldn't believe it when Louis told me you're going out with Lily, mate."

She didn't know whether she should be offended or pleased, so she just carried on listening.

She felt almost guilty, to be listening in to what Jake was saying, but she wanted to hear what people had to say about them.

"Yeah, I don't think you could do much better. First you're best friends with Weasley, and then you went and got Potter!"

Got... Lily looked around confusedly for a second.

"I wouldn't say that, I just-"
"Seriously, Harry Potter's daughter! If you two get married you're going to go down in history-"
"Well yeah, but we're not getting married so-"
"You have to admit, it's going to pretty cool to meet The Boy Who Lived."
"Come on, admit it, that's a big reason why you're with her-"
"What? No. I'm-"
"A little reason."
"No! Look, it's cool to be going out with a Potter, sure, but that's not the main reason why-"
"Admit it, you're looking forward to meeting the Weasleys."
"Yeah, I am-"
"I knew it. Can't see any other reason you'd go out with a fourth year."

"Well how about that-?"
"How about that her parents are the coolest people in the world. Admit that they'd be cool in-laws-"
Jake sighed, seemingly resigned to the situation, or giving up pretending. "Obviously; being anything to do with the Potters or the Weasleys is wicked."

Lily didn't stay to hear the rest of it. She turned, her eyes filled with tears, and tried to walk back to the castle without falling over as she stared through her tears.

And she swore to herself that she would never again believe in perfection; it didn't exist. Not for Lily, at least.

...

Everything was back the way it was meant to be.

Fred was sat in his seat, with Anna on his knee, Dom on the armchair and Roxy and Craig sat next to the fireplace being geeks and doing homework.

It was exactly the way everything was meant to be.

"Do you know, Frederick, I think you'd look good if you died your hair black." Anna commented, running her hands through his hair.

"Are you serious?" he asked.

"Yeah, that way you'd look more like James!"
Fred raised his eyebrows in a jokey-threatening way.

"Kidding! Kidding, I'm totally kidding. I prefer second to first any day."

She smiled as she leaned in and kissed him, her hands no longer running through his hair and instead resting on his shoulders.

This was what he was going to miss; being physically close to Anna. It was the only way he could really show how much she meant to him; he was rubbish with words and explaining his feelings but somehow, when he kissed her, he just had a feeling that she understood it all without him needing to speak.

But it was ok, because he was close to her now. His chest was pressed against hers and she had moved to bite on his bottom lip a little.

He could last with just kissing... at least for a few weeks.

"Oi!"

Reluctantly (almost painfully) Fred broke away from his girlfriend and looked at Dom.

"There are little kids around you know; I think when McGonagall banned us from sharing rooms it wasn't so we could watch a live sex show!"

Anna sighed, sliding off Fred's knee onto the sofa.

"The sex show would've been fun." Fred mumbled jokingly, causing Anna to hit him but then raise her eyebrows at him suggestively.

Merlin, he loved her.

Yep, everything was the way it was meant to be.

That was until he glanced at the portrait hole and saw James climbing through it.

You see, he knew it was naive, but he really hoped James and Louisa would get back together. They were indescribably perfect for each other, and always had been. Fred had always hoped they would get together, but then James had to be all stupid and break up with her... God, that boy was stupid.

One look at him told Fred that "Lames" would not be getting back together. James was shaking; physically shaking. His fists were clenched and he was storming towards them.

"James what...?" Roxy asked, looking up at him and putting her books down.

The second she spoke, James stopped looking as angry. He looked shocked, somehow, and just stared down and Roxanne and Craig.

"You two made up?" he said intensely. Fred could've been wrong, but he could've sworn that James' eye line wasn't heading towards Roxy's; he was looking at Craig.

"Yeah, it's great isn't it?" Roxy replied, smiling at Craig in a sickening way.

Sure, Fred was happy his sister was happy and everything, but he just didn't like them as a couple for some reason. He never had. Especially when he used to have to spend hours on end with just the two of them in the holidays; they just bored him. They didn't seem to have fun like he and Anna did, they were just constantly soppy and sweet with each other.

"In fact," Roxy said, standing up. "I'm going to get my stuff from Dom's and move back our dorm."

Dom smiled at her supportively, and Roxy just beamed. She started to walk towards the stairs before James said her name quietly.

"Roxy can I talk to you for a second?"

She turned, and looked back at him confusedly.

"Why?" she asked, raising her eyebrows suspiciously.

"Look, can we just-"

"What's wrong, James?" Roxy asked worriedly.

James turned around, no longer facing Roxy. "Maybe Craig can tell you." he said quietly, looking down at the boy sat by the fireplace. Craig seemed to wriggle uncomfortably.

"What's going on Craig?" Roxy asked quietly over James' shoulder.

"I don't know." He was clearly lying, and Dom looked over at Fred as if to ask him if he knew what was going on. Fred shook his head wordlessly; of course he didn't know, he was always last to know.
"Oh, really?" James shouted.

Craig jumped to his feet. "Listen, James can I have a word with you-"

"NO!" James yelled. Fred launched himself off the sofa and stood next to James.

"Calm down, mate." He said quietly. He didn't want a Scorpius or Jake repeat; he didn't want to have to fall out with his best friend again. He had a feeling, though, that James was justified in his behaviour somehow.

"James, what happened?" He asked in an attempt to understand.
James shook his head slowly. "I-I talked to Louisa-"
"James..." Craig stepped towards him, and Fred looked up and glared at him. He could tell Craig was trying to hide something; everyone could tell. Especially Roxy, judging by her fast breathing from behind him.

"What's going on?" She asked nervously, walking forwards so she was next to James, and folding her arms.

"Tell her." James ordered.

Craig shook his head, his eyes wide.

"Tell me what?"

James and Craig seemed to stare at each other for a moment. Craig seemed to be begging James for something, and James seemed to be refusing.

"He slept with my girlfriend."

James said it so simply that it could've been "He ate my toast" or "He stole my homework", but there was no such luck; James just said that Craig cheated on Roxy.

Everything seemed to slow down; Roxy gasped slowly, Dom's mouth fell open and she ran to her cousin, James' anger seemed to dissolve, and he instead just looked broken…

The only person running in real time it seemed, was Craig, who shook his head furiously and threw his hands to his head.

Fred instantly stared at his sister, hoping and praying that the twin thing would work and he could silently calm her down and tell her... tell her what, he wondered? That everything was going to be ok? Judging by her face it certainly wasn't.

"What?" Roxy whispered.

"It... It was a mistake, Rox."
"A mistake? How can you accidentally-?"

"You and me had fallen out and then you didn't come back to the dorm so-"
"Oh so it's my fault because I thought I could leave my best friend and boyfriend alone! Sorry!" Roxy shouted. Dom was holding her shoulders, and glaring crazily at Craig.

"She was upset about James-"
"Don't you dare blame this on him!" Fred found himself shouting, his anger building with every excuse Craig tried to hit them with.

"Rox, I'm so sorry."

"Don't!"

Roxanne was never a girl who cried. Fred was her brother, and had still only seen her cry about four times in their life. Even when she was younger, and she'd fall over and cut her knee open, she still wouldn't cry. She was strong like that; Fred admired her so much for it.

The second he saw tears in her eyes, he could've killed Craig for putting them there.

Fred's hand was grasped around his wand before he really knew it. And he pulled it out and pointed it at Craig, thinking of the worst curse he knew.

"Fred don't." Anna was surprisingly calm, and placed her hands on Fred's wand. "He's not worth it."
"Get out." Fred said simply to Craig, still debating whether to curse him into oblivion.

"Look, Rox, if you just let me explain-"
"That's not getting out!" Fred yelled.

"Roxy-"
"Go." She said quietly, before turning and running up the girls' stairs, Anna and Dom following wordlessly.

It was just Fred, Craig and James.

"James I-"
"How can you even talk to him?" Fred yelled. "I mean it; stay away from everyone in this family."

James shook his head silently, and turned and left up the dorm stairs.

Fred glared at Craig one final time, and turned to run after his best friend.

Never mind James, Fred was trying to process the events of the last few minutes. Craig had cheated on his sister. With his cousin's girlfriend. He... Fred suddenly understood what James' had meant when he'd mentioned a monster taking over him.

Somehow he wasn't angry the second he saw James in their dorm, lying on his bed and staring upwards blankly. "Mate, are you-?"

"Ok? No." James sat up tiredly, and Fred just blinked back, feeling helpless. What was he meant to say to him?

This was where McGonagall's stupid rule was useless, Fred thought to himself; if Dom was allowed up here she'd know what to say to their broken cousin.

"She slept with him, Fred. She said she was waiting for someone special and then she-"

"I'm so sorry."
"Why? You didn't sleep with him, did you?" James joked pointlessly, and Fred laughed weakly in response.

"I'm just sorry we convinced you that you were the bad guy in all of this, while she was-"
"She was perfect." He sighed. "This would never have happened if I hadn't broken up with her-"
"That doesn't make it ok, James! For once, you're in the right here. She's the one who messed up!"

He shook his head, and Fred sighed uselessly, sitting down on his trunk.

It was like he said, he was useless with words. Totally and completely useless.