A/N: Not too long since I last updated any of my stories, right? Hope you enjoy this chapter! Sorry I made you wait for it.

"It was a complete and utter disaster," Lily groaned, her head resting on one of the many tables in the Hogwarts kitchen. Hugo chuckled from across the room. She wanted to smack him for enjoying any part of this.

"It's not funny, I know," he said, walking back towards her. "But the part of me that was pissed at you for a few months can't help feeling a bit vindicated."

Lily looked up and scowled as he placed a bowl of strawberry ice cream in front of her. "Glad to know we can laugh about all that now."

Hugo shrugged as he sat across from her. "Got a better way to handle it?"

He had a point. It was preferable to awkwardly tiptoeing around the subject.

"Well, you might disagree," she began petulantly, "but I think the way things are now is much worse than what it was like before."

"In some ways," Hugo allowed. "But you were blissfully unaware of how your choices affected everyone else back then. Now that it's you who's got the rotten end of the deal, it's not so easy."

Another fair point. Back when she was dating Caleb, she hadn't thought about what the relationship was doing to either of their friendships. Now that those were healed and she and Caleb were no longer together, it was hard to see what had been so bad about the way things were then.

The in between time when no one was really speaking to her had been the worst of it, though. And Lily was determined to make sure nothing like that ever happened again.

She picked up her spoon and started poking at her ice cream. "He didn't look at me," she said. "Not once."

Hugo sighed and began eating his own bowl of ice cream. "At least he listened to you, right?" he said. "Not like there was open rebellion or anything."

"There might as well have been," said Lily. "Everyone else looks up to him and probably thinks he should be captain. It was the most unenthusiastic day of Quidditch that I've ever been a part of. And it was tryouts! Isn't that where you should put your best foot forward?"

She'd grown more aggravated as she spoke and was now practically mutilating her ice cream.

"But you got your team assembled, right?" said Hugo.

"I think so," Lily said with a sigh, finally taking a bite of her ice cream. "I gave everyone back their spots and the two new Chasers are Amira Bundy and Nico Almeida."

Hugo licked a drop of ice cream off his finger. "He's a fifth year, right?"

Lily nodded. "And Amira is in fourth. She was also annoyingly giggly around Lou, so I hope that doesn't turn into a problem."

Hugo chuckled. "Hopefully he can work up the guts to ask out Boot and his fan club will back off."

"Here's hoping," Lily said with a smile.

"What about your new Beater?" asked Hugo.

"Unfortunately, Cattermole was the best we had," she said in disappointment. Hugo gave a sympathetic grimace. As far as she knew, Hugo didn't have much of a problem with Linus Cattermole, but he'd always rubbed Lily the wrong way.

"So, when's your first practice?" asked Hugo.

"Tuesday," said Lily, "so I have three days to come up with a plan to make sure they don't walk all over me."

"Do you really think that will happen?"

"I'm just preparing for the worst," she insisted, finishing off her ice cream. They thanked the House Elves before making their way back towards the common room, Quidditch still the topic of discussion.

"You could say something to Louis, you know," Hugo suggested. "Get him to talk to Caleb about being less standoffish."

Lily let out a vocal sigh, her eyes focused on the Marauders map as they paused at the end of a corridor. "No. He's going to have to talk to me at some point, and I'd just as soon get it over with. Besides, I have a feeling me going through Lou will just annoy him and make things worse. If Louis even agreed to do it in the first place."

They continued on once the coast was clear, reaching Gryffindor tower a few minutes later. The moment they entered the common room, Lily froze.

Caleb was sitting on the sofa in front of the fire, talking and smiling with Anastasia Bennett, her hand on his knee and her head thrown back in laughter.

"Bloody hell," she heard Hugo groan from beside her. Lily felt herself quickly approaching a boiling anger, her pulse climbing as she continued to watch them. What was he doing? Why was he doing it?

She was either going to burst into tears or start hexing someone. She wasn't too particular about who. But then Hugo placed his hand on her shoulder, gripping it firmly and instilling her with a strength and support she had been missing nearly all summer. In seconds, her anger shifted into resolve. A resolve to be strong, to not let someone else control how she lived or acted, and to be better than the person anyone might try to provoke her to be.

She stepped forward in determination, a completely unruffled look on her face as she approached her ex and her dorm mate.

"Wood, can we talk?"

For a moment, Caleb looked like he had swallowed his tongue, but he recovered quickly, giving her a half hearted nod before excusing himself from a rather smug looking Anastasia. It was only just past curfew so the common room was still a bit full, but Lily led him over to a somewhat empty corner, not far from where a few second years were sitting at a table and trading chocolate frog cards.

She turned to face him, crossing her arms as he continued to look anywhere but directly at her. Nerves hit Lily as the reality of what she was about to do caught up with her, and she wished he would just look at her. She had a feeling it would strangely make things easier.

"You flew well today," she began, thinking it best not to start with any type of accusation. His eyes flickered to her for a moment and he gave a slight nod in recognition.

Really? He couldn't even return a compliment?

She shrugged off the thought. One frustration at a time. That was the way to handle this.

"Look, this isn't easy and I knew it wouldn't be," she said, determined to not look away from him even if he wouldn't look at her. "But can we at least agree to not make it harder than it has to be?"

This time he shrugged. Lily let out a groan of frustration. "Caleb, come on. Why do you have such a problem with me?" And then because she couldn't help herself, "If anything, I should have a problem with you."

That got him to look up at her. His eyes sharp and his mouth taut. "Do you have a problem with me?"

"Right now, yes," said Lily. "Because I can't help but get the impression that you're not a fan of my appointment to captain. And I don't know if it's because of you and me, or because you don't think I can do the job, but whatever it is, we need to sort it out because I can't have you undermining me. Not on the pitch."

"I haven't undermined you," he said, his tone almost mocking.

"Well, you aren't helping things either," she said, trying to remain patient and keep her voice down. They were starting to draw looks from the second years nearby. "I'm already starting a bit behind because everyone assumed and maybe thinks it should be you or Louis, so any way you could maybe not make things harder would be brilliant."

He didn't argue, merely giving a stiff nod with pursed lips and his gaze somewhere near her shoulder. For the first time, Lily wondered if rather than not wanting to look at or have anything to do with her, maybe he couldn't. Maybe it was too hard. Too painful.

She found she didn't really care at the moment.

"Right," she said. "You know, it would probably go a long way if you actually acknowledged my existence."

Lily watched him struggling for a few moments before slowly lifting his head to meet her eyes.

His brown hair had grown out a bit, nearly hanging in his eyes. She hadn't really noticed before because they hadn't looked at each other in so long. It was curling around his ears in what she instantly recognized as a cute way. She'd also forgotten how blue his eyes were. Or she'd just blocked it from her mind.

Maybe him looking at her didn't make it any easier.

"Okay," she said, clearing her throat after the word came out a bit strangled. "Do you have a problem with me?"

She knew he did. She could see it in his eyes and the way his whole body grew rigid. But he only hesitated a second before saying, "Why would I?"

Lily tipped her head back, looking up at the ceiling and letting out a slow breath before nodding and looking back at him. "Fine, never mind. Sorry for pulling you away from your friend."

She tried not to feel vindicated by how uncomfortable he grew at her words, but it was hard not to. He knew exactly what he was doing, and she had no problem letting him wallow in guilt over it.

Well, at least, she thought he knew what he was doing. She contemplated this as she walked away, making her way through the crowd of people still enjoying their Saturday night and heading up to her dorm. He knew she didn't like Anastasia, there was no denying that. But did he know that seeing him interact with any girl who flirted and touched him and made him smile was painful? That she still - no matter how much she tried to ignore it on a daily basis - cared for him deeply? That she'd be thrilled and hopeful if he showed her even a smidge of warmth?

As she flopped down onto her bed in a thankfully empty dorm, Lily couldn't help thinking how foolish she'd been to believe that everything would eventually go back to normal. Fixing things with Hugo had truly been about fixing things with Hugo, but she'd be lying if she said she hadn't expected it to fix other things as well. Especially after everything Louis had said. If he was to be believed, Caleb loved her, or at least he had. Did that go away so easily?

She'd agreed to give him time. To give herself time too. And based on how he'd been acting lately, he still needed more of it. How much would he need? Would he ever truly want to talk to her again? He hadn't answered her question, only further convincing her that he did, in fact, have a problem with her.

It was a sobering realization to come to, that the person you were having a hard time imagining your life without might very well never want to have anything to do with you again.

"Come on," said Hugo, grabbing Caleb by the elbow after Lily had walked away. The seventh year had simply stood there after she left, watching her go and looking like the wind had just been knocked out of him. Hugo led him through the common room and up the stairs towards the boys dormitories, heading into the one for the seventh years.

There were three other boys that shared the room with Louis and Caleb, and Hugo was thankful to see that none of them were there. Louis was, though, a towel wrapped around his waist as he pulled pajamas out of his trunk. He looked up at them and his expression turned from one of greeting to confusion as Caleb pulled his arm out of Hugo's grip.

"Have you got a problem with me too?" he asked, turning to face Hugo as irritation poured off him. Hugo held up his hands in a show of backing off.

"No, but you're obviously not handling all this shit well," said Hugo. Caleb was quick to roll his eyes and turn away, roughly throwing open his trunk. Louis shot Hugo a quizzical look.

"Look, I'm just going to say it," said Hugo. "You two broke up because things were a mess. And now the only mess that's left is the two of you. I just don't understand what-"

"No, you don't," Caleb snapped, pulling a pair of sleep trousers out of his trunk. "So will you shove off?"

Louis and Hugo watched Caleb, both unsure what the next move should be. He'd been irritable for the better part of the last few weeks, growing even more so once they got back to school. Hugo couldn't help thinking it all pointed to Lily. He just couldn't wrap his head around why.

"How were tryouts?" Hugo asked Louis, knowing his tactic was a bit obvious but not really caring.

"Fine," said Louis, eyeing Caleb in slight concern as he slammed his trunk shut. "The new additions should work well, I think."

Hugo nodded. "Good. Should be a good season?"

Louis shrugged, glancing at his teammate who was busy changing and ignoring them. "If we can all keep our heads on straight."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Caleb snapped, obviously not ignoring them as well as he probably wished to.

"It means you were a prick today and everyone there knew it," said Louis, giving his friend a challenging stare. Caleb scoffed.

"I didn't do anything."

"Exactly," said Louis. "You didn't do a bloody thing to show any type of support for the leader of our team, who, I might add, happens to be the same person that you once professed to have fallen arse over tits in love with, so forgive me if I expected the bare minimum from you. Fuck's sake, Caleb, you should at least give her the same respect you showed Mandy. Anything less is a shit move."

Hugo was tempted to feel a bit bad for Caleb at Louis' words. Not many blokes had to put up with being close friends with the relatives of their ex. At least he didn't have to deal with her brothers.

"She already told him that," said Hugo as Caleb fell back on his bed, rubbing his eyes and letting out a groan.

"Really?" said Louis, sounding impressed.

"Yep," Caleb exhaled, his hand still covering his eyes. "More or less."

"Wow," said Louis. "I guess she's always been the confrontational type so I shouldn't be that surprised."

Caleb let out an unamused snort. "I was. Damn near gave me a panic attack when she walked up to me."

"By the way," said Hugo, leaning against Caleb's bed post. "What the hell were you doing with Bennett?"

"Bennett?" Louis asked, pausing in his task of finally getting dressed to look between the two. "As in Anastasia Bennett?"

"Is there another one?" Caleb said dryly.

"Haven't I already proved that messing around with her is a bad idea for multiple reasons?" Hugo asked.

"I'm not messing around with her," Caleb argued, propping himself up on his elbows. "I'd already showered in the changing rooms but Lou forgot a change of clothes, so we came back and I was waiting for him downstairs. She just came and sat down and started talking to me. I was a bit annoyed at first, but then I realized it was the first time in a while that I didn't feel all bogged down by all the other stuff going on. I knew I wasn't about to be asked how I was doing with everything or what my feelings were or any of that bollocks. We were just having a laugh with nothing complicated involved. It was nice."

Hugo looked over at Louis and saw the guilt he felt reflected on his cousin's face. It wasn't the only thing they ever talked about, but he saw where Caleb was coming from. It was probably a bit overwhelming to constantly be prepared for someone to pry into your personal feelings on a still painful subject.

"Look, we're sorry," said Louis, sleep trousers now on and his towel draped across his shoulders. "We don't mean to be in your face about everything. But, mate, something is obviously really bothering you and we wouldn't be good friends if we weren't concerned."

Caleb didn't argue. He looked conflicted, in fact.

"I'm asking because I feel like I have to," said Hugo. "You broke up with Lily because everything was shit. All of that's sorted now, and I can vouch for Lily being in a much better headspace about everything. So why-?"

"It's not all sorted," Caleb interrupted.

"Well, obviously not since you're not back together," said Louis, "but-"

"She fixed things with both of you," Caleb cut in again. "She even fixed things with Bobby and Lucy and Charlotte. But she never once tried to fix things with me. Seems like a pretty good indication of where we stand."

Hugo felt lost. And uncomfortable. Caleb was right. She hadn't even tried to talk to him before tonight. He hadn't thought much of it, but now that he did, he couldn't think of a good reason why she wasn't trying to fix things with her former boyfriend.

"Shit," said Louis, burying his face in his hands.

"What?" asked Caleb. Louis looked up at him, his expression painfully apologetic.

"I told her to lay off," Louis confessed. "To give you some time and space before talking to you."

Caleb sat up a little straighter. "When was this?"

"After we played Quidditch at her house," said Louis. "She was all upset and would only talk to me. I told her you needed space, among other things."

Caleb stared at his best friend. "What other things?"

Louis gave a nervous swallow. "I - er… I may have… may have mentioned that you, you know, love her?"

For a moment, the only sound in the room was from the people still carrying on in the common room. But then-

"What the hell did you do that for?!" Caleb shouted.

"I'm so s-"

"Fuck!" he yelled, cutting off Louis' apology and chucking his pillow across the room. He fell back on the bed and covered his face with his hands, continuing to curse.

"What's the problem, exactly?" Hugo asked cautiously.

"The problem is that I never fucking told her I love her," Caleb snapped. "And now that she knows, how does she respond? By doing bloody nothing."

"I told you," said Louis, sounding apologetic. "She's staying away because I told her it would be a good idea to give you space. You really think she doesn't feel the same?"

"Well, seeing as she never told me she loved me, I'm not inclined to assume she does," Caleb said irritably. He lifted his hands from his face to look over at Louis. "Unless she…?"

Louis thought hard for a moment before grimacing and shaking his head. "Not exactly. But she did-"

"She's not talking to me, Lou," said Caleb in resignation. "Not unless it's because being Quidditch Captain is forcing her to."

"You don't know that-"

"Lou, if she ever felt the way I do, I can't imagine she does now," he said with finality.

"Why?" asked Hugo, genuinely confused by Caleb's insistence on this issue. "What makes you think-"

"I broke up with her, all right?" Caleb snapped, sitting up and looking between the two of them. "I ditched her at a really shitty time, and it might've been the right thing to do, but it was still fucked up. I've got no reason to expect her to forgive me for that. Especially not anytime soon."

There were so many things Hugo wanted to say. Things he could try to assure his friend of. But was it even his place? Everything had gotten so messed up because he'd said things he shouldn't and couldn't mind his own business. That was putting it a little too simply, but it was still true. Would it help or hurt Lily and Caleb if he meddled?

"Look," said Louis with a sigh. He sat on his bed and faced his best friend. "I'm not telling you what to do or getting involved, but can you at least try not to assume you know everything? There's probably a lot that you don't."

Caleb eyed him for a moment before nodding, and Louis reached out to give him a reassuring clap on the knee. "It'll be fine, all right?"

Caleb didn't respond either verbally or physically, merely crawling under the covers and pulling the curtains shut. Hugo exchanged a resigned look with his cousin before heading out of the dorm and making for his own.

Unlike the seventh year one, the sixth year dorm was well occupied. All four other occupants were there, though sleep didn't seem to be on anyone's immediate agenda. Bobby was sitting on his bed and reading, though Hugo had to assume he wasn't retaining much. Cole Sawyer, Linus Cattermole, and Kane Finley were hanging around their own four posters, and Kane's cousin Dara who was in their year had also joined the festivities along with Anastasia Bennett.

Linus seemed to be doing everything he could to celebrate his new position as Beater. They'd nicked bottles of butterbeer from somewhere and were carrying on like it was the night after a winning Quidditch match. The prefect in Hugo was tempted to say something about their contraband goods, but they were at least keeping it out of the common room. Besides, he'd participated in such nights plenty of times himself. He didn't have much room to talk. Plus, Anastasia was a prefect too, though admittedly not a very good one.

"Hey," said Bobby absentmindedly as Hugo plopped down onto his own bed. "How's she doing?"

Hugo shrugged and began pulling off his shoes. "Fine, I guess. She talked to Caleb about being a bit more respectful or something and then went to her dorm."

Bobby rested his book against his chest and looked up. "How'd he take that?"

Hugo sighed and flopped onto his back. "It's a bit complicated, I'll give you that."

Bobby gave a commiserating sigh before going back to his book. Hugo laid there staring up at his canopy, trying to collect his thoughts into something resembling sense, but the sound of his dorm mates carrying on was a bit too distracting to focus on much else. Especially once one of their guests broke away and approached his and Bobby's side of the room.

He braced himself for Anastasia to sit next to him, but was surprised to find that wasn't who'd come over.

Dara sat herself on the end of Bobby's bed, smiling shyly and asking what he was reading. Hugo could only see out of his periphery, but saw Bobby looking a little surprised before saying it was one of the suggested supplemental reading books for Defense Against the Dark Arts that year.

"Oh, do you want to be an Auror after school?" Dara asked. Bobby shook his head.

"No, but this one is all about protective enchantments," said Bobby, "and I've always found the whole concept fascinating."

"Really?" asked Dara, sounding like she was desperately trying to let it be interesting to her as well. "Anything about them in particular?"

Hugo lost focus of their conversation as Bobby sat forward, flipping around to different sections of the book and explaining things with enthusiasm. Hugo let out a sigh and rubbed at his eyes at the sound of a giggle from Dara. She was all right, really. He'd never had an issue with her. But everything going on on the bed next to him spelled trouble for a particular cousin of his.

With a sigh, Hugo pulled his curtains shut, crawling under his covers and mourning the drama free year he'd been hoping for.

Who'd he been kidding?