Chapter 9

The rest of Christmas break wasn't too bad. The day after Christmas was still spent at the Burrow, where they celebrated all the birthdays that had happened between leaving for school and now. Back when they were all little it was easier to do individual celebrations, but now with the majority of them being gone most of the year, that was impossible. Molly, Roxy, Freddy and Rosie all had birthdays during that time frame, so the four of them were celebrated together. Lily wasn't on good terms with any of them, so after wishing them a happy birthday with a fake smile and getting fake smiles in return, she hung back and avoided them. Thankfully, after that they got to go home. That presented its own set of problems, of course: James and Al. But she managed to avoid them for the most part. Their parents didn't seem thrilled by them not getting along, but they didn't push it too much.

Lily did get to have Rose over for a couple days, which had been really fun. James and Al weren't thrilled that one of her friends was there, but they wouldn't dare be rude to her. So, while Rose was there, her brothers totally left her alone. She wished Rose could stay even longer, but two days was better than nothing at least. The two of them talked about their Christmases, and then they watched The Nightmare Before Christmas in the basement, which was kept free of anything magic-related so as not to ruin the muggle technology. They were both super amused when they discovered that they'd both gotten each other a t-shirt for that movie. They wore their shirts on the second day that Rose was there, and Lily's parents seemed really amused.

Now, though, they were back at school. The train ride had been pretty enjoyable, and Lily had decided she should try to spend more time with the other girls in her year. Alana Avery and Melanie Flint were both fun to talk to, and Lily hoped that she could become better friends with them. Having to go back to classes was rather less enjoyable. Lily did enjoy learning, but she hated doing homework. It took all the fun out of exploring new ideas. Maybe once she got farther along in school she would actually get more interesting assignments.

Alexander and Zackary both came to her and expressed disappointment that she hadn't hung out with them during the break. They were a little more understanding when she explained the tension with her parents and how it was hard enough seeing any of her friends, let alone two students who were a few years older than her. She was pretty sure her dad, at least, would assume the worst instead of understanding that the two of them had basically adopted her. Besides, the idea of dating anybody held zero appeal for Lily at the moment. She was more focused on getting through her classes, building deeper friendships, and dealing with silly family drama.

Lily at least got a break from her worries on one Saturday in January when it was time for the Slytherin versus Ravenclaw Quidditch match. Ravenclaw had beaten Hufflepuff shortly before winter break, so they definitely had a lead in points over Slytherin, who had lost their first game to Gryffindor. That meant the Slytherin team would be facing a lot of pressure from their housemates to win this one if they wanted to stand a chance at winning the Cup.

"You'll be rooting for us, right, Lils?" Lorcan asked her after breakfast that morning. He was already decked out in his Quidditch gear, unlike his twin who seemed to be waiting to get dressed in the changing room.

"Sorry, Lor, but I'll be rooting for my house," Lily said, not sounding all that apologetic.

"I think you just broke his heart," Dominique stated in an amused tone as she looked at her pouting friend.

"She did! The betrayal is too much!" Lorcan exclaimed dramatically, placing his hands over his heart.

"After the match ends, can one of you do me a favor and shove him off his broom?" Lily jokingly asked Dominique and Lysander.

In the end, though, while Lily was rooting for her house to win, she still clapped for her cousin anytime that Dom made a goal, and she clapped for her friends whenever they stopped a Bludger from hitting their teammates and redirected it to their opponents. She did get a few dirty looks for that from some of her housemates, but at least the ones in her year didn't seem bothered at all. Ava actually clapped for Dominique too, as she was growing to like the older girl who was quickly becoming close friends with her sister, Callie. Callie herself was sitting with them and cheering as loud as she could for her house, which was nice to see from the normally quiet girl.

And then finally, Lily heard the words from Clarity Remway, the commentator, that she had been hoping for.

"Slytherin wins with 260 points!"

"FUCK YEAH!" Gilbert Zabini yelled.

"Language!" Bella, Gilbert's older sister and one of the sixth year prefects for Slytherin, scolded from a row above them. She didn't seem too bothered though, since it was their older brother Blaine who had caught the snitch and won them the game, so she was just as thrilled.

"I bet we're so having a party tonight," Melanie Flint eagerly said.

She was very much right. They didn't go quite as all out as they had for the Halloween party, but for something so impromptu, it was still pretty impressive. The focus was all on the Quidditch players, especially the Seeker. With the way that Gilbert was bragging about his older brother, you'd think that he was the one to win them the game. The rest of the team still got plenty of attention though, since catching the snitch didn't necessitate a win if the rest of them hadn't been doing their jobs.

"You did a great job today!" Lily said to Scorpius at one point during the party. "That fourth goal that you scored was super impressive."

"Thanks!" Scorpius was beaming, all of his usual arrogant nonchalance nowhere to be seen. "Who knows, maybe next year you'll be out on the pitch with us."

"I definitely will!" Lily promised.

The next time that Scorpius attended one of their group study sessions at the library, Dominique gave him a bit of a hard time at first. Everyone knew that she wasn't truly angry, though, and Scorpius seemed to have fun sniping back at her. He also congratulated Lorcan on clipping him on the shoulder with a Bludger.

"It hurt like hell, but that was a good hit," Scorpius said, rubbing his shoulder as though talking about it was making him relive the pain.

"I'll make sure to get you even better next time," Lorcan promised with a grin.

"Go for his face next time," Dominique offered helpfully.

"Not my face!" Scorpius gasped. "That's one of my best features!"

"You sure? I think hitting it with a Bludger would be an improvement," Dominique said with a pleasant smile.

"Dom, be nice," Lysander scolded her gently, though he seemed to be fighting back a smile.

"I think that's asking too much of her," Lily pointed out. Dominique shot her a dirty look, but Lily just shrugged. She needed to show some house unity from time to time, right?

In the weeks that followed the Quidditch game, it was apparent that tension was growing between Gryffindor and Slytherin, who each had one win and one loss under their belts. Lily heard that a lot of arguments were happening between the third years especially, which wasn't a surprise since Scorpius and Albus were in that year. They were also starting to get more competitive in regards to the House Cup. Hugo shot her dirty looks in Potions class whenever she gained points from Slughorn, which was fairly often. It was her best class, and she was definitely Slughorn's favorite student in her year.

"Lily is such a bloody swot," Hugo loudly said to his friends one day as they all left Potions.

"She really does seem to think she's all that just because Slughorn favors her," another Gryffindor boy agreed.

Lily huffed in frustration. Was this really what she and Hugo had been reduced to? It was hard to believe that a year ago the two of them were thick as thieves, and now he was always trying to get a rise out of her. He could at least try and be a little more creative than make fun of her for doing a good job in one of her classes. She wondered what Aunt Hermione would think of him using that as an insult. As tempting as it was, she wasn't going to go tattle to Hugo's mum. That would be giving his insults, such as they were, a little too much credit.

"Don't worry, Hugo, maybe one day you'll stop melting cauldrons and actually make a decent potion," Lily called out to him with false sweetness.

It was much more gratifying to handle things herself, she thought, as she watched his face flush.

"Don't lie to the poor boy, Lily. It's not nice to give people false hope," Alana admonished, her brown eyes lit up in amusement.

Lily and her friends laughed together and then the Slytherins split off from the Gryffindors before Hugo could try and continue this latest little spat. She was so very grateful for her friends, since without them to support her she would probably be feeling a lot worse. As it was, sometimes at night she did feel really upset. Sure, in the moment it was fun to give as good as she got, but when she reflected on it later she would feel hurt and frustrated at how she and her cousin treated each other. Still, she was sick of being told that she should be the bigger person. If Hugo wanted to be nasty to her, she was going to give him a taste of his own medicine.

Of course, some people were going to take offense to her fighting back, as she found out one Sunday afternoon when she and Rose were exploring the castle. The two of them hadn't hung out with just each other since this term started, as they were both trying to become better friends with everyone they'd met during the first term. But no matter how close Lily was getting with her other dorm mates or her cousin Dominique, Rose was still definitely her best friend, so she wanted to spend a few hours just with her.

Neither of them had expected to be accosted by Hugo's angry older sister.

"Lily! You need to stop making fun of my brother! You know how sensitive he is," Rose Weasley started scolding her.

Lily just stared at her and then said, "Rose, meet Rose. Of course, everyone in the family just calls her Rosie. Not sure why, since it definitely can't be because she has a rosy personality."

Rose giggled at that, while Rosie scowled at her and said, "Really, Lily? You're just going to ignore what I said and then insult me?"

"Why shouldn't I? You're the one that came at me and started acting like I'm the bad guy," Lily pointed out.

"Well, you're certainly acting like it," Rosie said. "Your brothers were right about Slytherin changing you. Then again, you've always been a little brat."

"Says the most high maintenance person in the family besides Molly," Lily muttered. She was starting to lose her cool, and wouldn't be able to keep up her unbothered facade for much longer.

"Your brother is the one who keeps picking fights with Lily," Rose cut in, and Lily looked at her in surprise. Rose was frowning at Lily's cousin. "Yeah, she says some mean stuff, but only after he does first. So don't go acting like Hugo is some innocent little victim just because he can dish it but can't take it!"

"You stay out of this! This has nothing to do with you, it's a family matter," Rosie demanded.

"Then you should've asked to talk to Lily in private instead of going after her in front of me. She's my best friend, so of course I'm going to back her up instead of just watching her older cousin try to bully her," Rose argued.

With that, Lily felt her anger ebbing away. Yes, it sucked that a lot of her family were treating her badly, but she wasn't alone. She'd heard the saying once that friends are the family you choose, and she was realizing that, even as she lost some family, she was gaining a new one.

"I am not a bully! How dare you - where do you think you two are going? We aren't done here!"

She might not be, but they were. Lily had grabbed Rose's arm and gently tugged it, and Rose had gotten the message and started walking away with her. There were some fights that were pointless to continue, because nobody was ever going to convince Rose Weasley that she wasn't right about everything. And as irritating as that might be, it wasn't the end of the world, since at least Lily had friends who supported her.

Plus, when word got back to the third year Slytherins about the confrontation, Evelyn Avery "accidentally" bumped into Rosie during Potions when she was adding wormwood to her Shrinking Solution, and she ended up dumping the whole thing in there, causing the potion to bubble over and splash all over her. Lily and Rose couldn't stop laughing when they heard about it, and Lily made sure to thank Evelyn.

"It's no problem," the pretty blonde told her. "You're my sister's friend, and you're one of us. Besides, it made Scorp mad that he wasn't the one to get revenge, and I love to one up him."

Other than the neverending family drama, things at Hogwarts were going pretty good for Lily. She still needed to be bullied by Rose and Alana to do her homework, but Ava and Melanie were just as bad about it. She found it to be pointless sometimes, since final exams were the thing that really mattered, and she knew she'd do fine on them as long as she studied for a few weeks before. But when Rose pointed out that she'd lose them house points if she didn't do her homework, that was enough to motivate her.

The biggest downside to her second term of school was that there were no more flying lessons. They had only gone on for the first few months, and, even then, they weren't anything exciting. Still, it had just been nice to spend some time on a broom. One night at the end of the month when she was complaining about the lack of flying to her dormmates, Ava shot her a glare.

"Just go borrow a school broom tomorrow and do some flying. We aren't allowed our own brooms or to be on the house team, but there's no rule that says we can't fly on a school broom," Ava pointed out in an irritated tone.

Lily did feel a bit stupid for not considering that before. "I guess you have a point."

"Of course I do," Ava agreed smugly.

Lily rolled her eyes and threw a pillow at her. Ava gasped in outrage and threw it back. This, of course, led into an all-out war amongst the first year girls as they chased each other around their room and tried to beat each other to death with pillows. They finally called it quits after ten minutes, and they all plopped onto the pillow-covered floor.

"I'm down to fly tomorrow," Rose said after the giggles subsided.

"I am too, plus it was my idea," Ava reminded them. Lily was tempted to throw another pillow at her but she resisted.

"Sure, I'll fly with you guys," Melanie agreed.

"I'm not crazy about it like some of you, but I definitely don't want to be left out!" Alana laughed.

Despite how late the girls stayed up talking, Lily still woke up around eight in the morning, and found that she just couldn't go back to sleep. After all, she was going to fly today! What was sleep compared to that? Lily changed out of her pajamas and into some comfortable clothes, including her green Weasley sweater. After all, it was still very cold outside. She put her hair up into a ponytail, and then bounded over to Rose's bed. She flung open the curtains and smiled at the sight of her best friend curled up on her side with a bit of drool coming out of her mouth.

"Roooose, wake up," Lily said as she plopped down onto the bed.

Rose grumbled something that Lily couldn't make out and didn't even open her eyes. Well, that just wouldn't do. She grabbed the blankets that Rose was bundled under and yanked them off of her. That was enough to finally get her to wake up, though Lily was faced with a truly fearsome glare.

"Lily, what the bloody hell?" Rose groaned. "I'm tired. Let me sleep."

"If you insist, but I thought you wanted to fly today?" Lily said with a grin.

Rose blinked a few times as her sleep-addled mind processed the words. Suddenly, she looked a lot more awake. "Fine, you're forgiven this time, but next time I will drown you in the lake!"

They managed to wake up the other girls, and within half an hour they were eating a quick breakfast in the Great Hall. Ten minutes after that, they were hurrying out to the Quidditch pitch. The broom shed was locked, but all it took was an "alohamora" to get it open. The girls each grabbed one of the school brooms and raced out onto the pitch.

As soon as Lily was up in the air, she felt better than she had in a long time. She soared through the sky, pushing the broom to its limits and laughing joyfully. There really was nothing better than flying. The other girls seemed to be having fun too, even if Melanie and Alana weren't quite as crazed as Lily, Rose and Ava. After spending a while just flying around and having fun, they nicked a quaffle from the shed and started tossing it around. Lily was pretty decent at it, but since she was more passionate about seeking, she wasn't the best. Ava clearly was amazing at both throwing and catching, and Rose seemed to have a knack for it as well, though she lacked Ava's experience.

After a while, Ava started giving Rose tips and working on her form, so Lily went back to just flying around. She did loops and turns and even practiced the Wronski feint, though she wasn't confident enough with the school broom to really push herself to get too close to the ground. Melanie found a rock and got Alana to charm it gold, and the two of them started throwing it and watching Lily dive after it. It was a wonderful time, and Lily's face hurt from how much she was smiling.

Eventually they all grew tired, and they landed and put everything back where it belonged. Despite their exhaustion, the five girls were in good spirits as they traipsed back to the castle with their cheeks red and hair a complete mess. As long as Lily could have days like this, she thought she could easily get through the rest of her first year.

Noiz: It's been a while since I updated this! I've been struggling a bit with this fic, but I do intend to keep working on it. I have several other projects I am working on, but I will keep writing this one whenever I can!

Thank you to the wonderful Aviantei for beta reading this. Please go check out their works, they have written for many different fandoms!