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Chapter 2
The family car pulled down the dirt driveway, kicking up clouds of dust behind it. Lilus had been staring out of the window, watching the countryside fly past and being as bored as hell. She was propped up on her right arm, frequently dozing off every few minutes. She couldn't help it. Being cooped up in a car for two hours wasn't fun, and when she wasn't doing something, she had a tendancy to fall asleep. She usually liked riding in the car, but not for two hours with a big ball of fluff spread across her feet. Crookshanks had slept the entire time, and, not wanting to be rude, she hadn't moved her feet from under him. Her mother was so attached to that cat...
Hedwig was on top of the car. She didn't know why he couldn't have just sent her to Ron's house and told her to stay there. Her dad said that she prefered to feel the wind rather than cooped up in the car, so that's why she was outside. Crookshanks annoyed her too much, anyway (Hermione disagreed with this, of course). Lilus finally decided that she would roll her window down. She could hear the joints inside her arm click as she pushed the button to roll the window down. She rested her chin on the edge, letting half her hair stream out of the window.
"Dad, would it be totally impossible if we got my broom out of the trunk? I wanna fly the rest of the way there," she asked, pulling her head back into the car.
Harry adjusted his rear view mirror and looked at her, his green eyes glistening. "Certainly. Let me stop up here, and we'll get it out, okay?"
She grinned and nodded. The Weasleys' were probably playing their own mini game of Quidditch at their house. Wouldn't it be a big surprise if she snatched one of them straight from their brooms? Oh the chaos would be delightful.
She felt the car swirve and come to a stop. Her dad unbuckled himself and opened the door. She practically jumped out of her window, leaving Crookshanks in a forgotten (yet, still sleeping) mass on the floor. Her dad opened the trunk, and she grabbed her broom, which she had stored near the front for just this reason. She swung her legs over it and waved by to her mother.
"See you in a little bit, Daddy," she said, kicking off of the ground.
"Make sure you don't get seen!"
Lilus was already to high up to hear him. She was back on her broom again, a Firebolt 65, one that she had recived for her birthday three years ago, and was now flying through the air at breakneck speed. She was made for speed. She was the Seeker of the Gryffindor team, heir to the Seeker throne and traveling on a road that her father had paved for her. Shawn was the Keeper of the Gryffindor team. That was how they met, at their first game. He was her age and in the same house, but they had never met before then. He had always distanced himself from her. After their first game, she had sheepishly wandered up to him and asked him what his name was.
It was a friendship from Heaven, although she wanted it to be more than a friendship, but she wasn't one to push. She wondered how Kimmy was. She was a perky fifteen-year-old and was one of the more sane of the Weasley group. She was very friendly, even to the Slytherins who constantly poked fun at her. Lilus felt a responsibility for the Weasleys', and she could glare anyone down. She was usually quite placid, but making her mad was not something one dared to do very often.
She wasn't sure if she was in love with Mr. Longbottom, but she knew that it was somewhere close to it. He had captured her heart from day one. It was those gorgeous eyes. It had to be. He had the same color scheme as Raphael, white-blonde hair and bright blue eyes, but his was of innocents, while Rapheal's told a mischievious tale about him. Shawn was just beautiful in an angelic way. She knew that handsome was not the word, because he did not have a tough sense about him, nor did he fit the usual prerequisites of being like Justin or Nick. Cute was too childish for him. Adorable was the same way. He was just...beautiful.
He was a lot different from the other wizards. He had been born while his parents were vacationing in Australia, and he had picked up traces of the accent. He was poked fun of a lot because of that, and that's why he didn't speak a lot, especially in front of other people. He didn't speak a lot anyway, but usually, he had nothing helpful or comforting to say. There was a lot of hurt in his eyes, as well. Eyes were a sort of fetish of hers, an obsession that she was never able to shake fully. She had learned how to see straight into them, to know how the other person was feeling. His pupils were usually very small, which indicated dislike, frustration, and pain beyond words. She knew it was pain because he never looked her in the eyes when he noticed that she was looking at him. He'd turn his head sharply and gasp.
She had touched his shoulder many a time to comfort him, but her touches didn't seem to help. She could only wonder what was wrong, not daring to ask. She just had a sense about these things. Justin did not know that she liked Shawn, but he knew that she had feelings for him. She grew unsteadily silent when he came around, and she just seemed to fall into a trance as her eyes followed him across the room.
Lilus wondered if Justin had put two and two together and figured out that maybe she had more romantic feelings for him than he thought. She hoped he hadn't. She wanted to horse around with the Weasleys' when she got there. Her broom had lost the car a few minutes ago, and she knew it was only a matter of time before she came onto their plantation. She wondered how Molly was. Molly was the grandmother of all the Weasleys', and she told incriminating stories to the grandchildren that they could blackmail their parents with. All the Weasleys' had that devilish mind, even Justin, who was usually very well-behaved. He enjoyed blackmailing his father Ron, but usually his threats were empty, leaving Ron unfooled. Ron did have a respect for his son, though. He usually kept the Weasleys' in line, the key word being usually. He did have a prankster side, and when he felt in the mood for impish delights, the others were all too happy to join in.
Their greatest prank last year was bewitching all the desks to stampede out of the classrooms and parade around the castle, all in one long clutch. It took a good deal of time to round them all up. Of course, the twins, Nick and Charlie, took after Fred and George, because they had to keep the twins thing going in the family and continue the line of pranksters.
Lilus and the Weasleys' had gone into Hogwarts around the same time. Justin went earlier, of course, since he was a year older than them all. Of course, the twins weren't actually Weasleys, they were Thomas's. Aunt Ginny had married Dean Thomas, a man that was the same age as her dad. Uncle Dean was pretty cool, but he wasn't her favorite. He was funny, though.
Lilus found herself flying over the thick forest that was surrounding the Weasley Plantation. It was a very dense forest, but she knew that she was getting close. She probably wasn't fifteen minutes from their house. She'd be there in no time whatsoever. It would be such a delight when she saw them again. All the Weasleys were so much fun.
This was definately going to be the highlight of her summer...
So, she flew along, finally spotting the houses scattered alone the edge of the field. Immediately, she lowered herself into the trees, flying until she landed on a branch that was large enough to hold her.
She could just see them from behind the vegetation of the forest. She spotted at least five of them, and they were buzzing around on their brooms. They were tossing a beachball back and forth to each other, and the pole on the other end of the field with a hoolahoop stuck to it was the goal. She saw Justin hoovering there on his broom, looking very bored and just asking for trouble. Lilus grinned. He'd be the one she pounced on. He was her prey.
She lifted off on her broom once more and flew through the trees, taking good care not to smash into any of them. Justin would definately notice something if she made any kinda of violent movement among the trees. It was a precaution that they had been taught when they were kids. They had sharp hearing, some more than others, but for the most part, they could tell when the trees were shaking strangely.
The dark-haired teenager stopped suddenly, staring up at the handsome face in front of the ring. Something was troubling him too. His eyes had the same sad glaze over them, and the bad thing was that she was this far away from him and could see. It was that same look again. Shawn popped back into her head. Justin usually kept in close contact with him, as did she, but lately, he had refused to send any of her mails back to her. She had been content with sending the Justin and his gang letters, but she still worried about him.
The air in the treetops was moist like it had always been. It was cool, and the slightly chilling air felt good against her skin. Being in the sun for an hour and a half made her hot, but this was definitely some relief. What was the matter with Justin? Was it that he was extremely bored because the twins wouldn't stop trying to run each other off their brooms to score? Might be. Sadness and boredom went into the same category with him. Today, he was probably just hot and bored and miserable.
Maybe she should try to knock one of the twins off. Which one? Nick or Charlie? Well, Nick would probably pounce on her back, which would make it more fun, but if she tried Charlie, Nick would still probably pounce on her. She'd go for Nick. She flew over to the edge of the forest and stared into the sky, watching the twins unconciously edge their way closer and closer to her. Charlie was the closest. Should she fly after him?
Was Charlie well again? Last year he had been the victim of a Slytherin joke that could have killed him. No doubt it had been arranged by Malfoy, but there was no proof that she could snag him in. She knew he hated her, even though he only glared evilly at her when she was in his presence. His goons did most of the taking, and he had about four or five of them, one of them being the girl that she loved beating up. The rest were pretty hulky boys, three times thicker than any of the Weasleys, but they were slow. One of them had once beaten up poor little Casey, the youngest Weasley and Justin's little sister, who at the time was eleven years old and a first year. That pissed Justin off to no end. The thug that had attacked her was ambushed later by the Justin, Baker, and the twins who promptly hexed him until they had used every hex and jinx that they could think of.
The Weasleys were very unforgiving when something like that was done to their own. It was horrible. A bulky fourth year beating up a little girl...It was horendous. Malfoy had no knowledge on that, though. He dismissed that boy for acting without orders a few days after he got out of his five-week detention. Poor Casey. They'd be sticking close to her this year, Lilus herself included. Everyone knew that Casey was the Weasleys' only obvious weakness, but they would turn demonic if someone hurt the baby of the group.
None of them were much of fighters. She knew Muggle fighting almost expertly, since during elementary school she was almost regularly beaten up everyday because of her evil eyes. Of course, after she graduated from 5th grade, she was in Hogwarts like a second home. Remy had been teaching there since she could remember, but she had known him on different occasions other than school. For instance, her birthday parties. He was at almost every one of them. She would call him Grandpa, but she didn't know how that would make her father feel, so she adopted him into her little mental family of Weasleys, Potters, and Remy.
The prank that Charlie had been involved in could have broken his neck and killed him, but he had a good head on his shoulders and remembered how to deal with the gigantic Whomping Willow outside Hogwarts. He didn't have his wand; it had fallen out of his pocket once Malfoy and some of his buddies rode along on brooms and abducted him. They dropped him directly into the Whomping Willow, and had he not of moved quickly, he would have been beaten to mush. They made it seem like he had just fallen off his broom, because they threw his broom close by the tree.
She couldn't pounce on Charlie. She'd have to run Nick over. He'd understand. Lilus crouched low on her broom, her eyes narrowing at the left twin. She could always tell Nick from Charlie, even though it was nearly impossible. Nick's hair had a nasty little habit of sticking slightly outwards on one side, while Charlie's fell completely flat. Nick was circling again, and she sped through the branches, bursting through the forest in a flurry of leaves and twigs. Her heart was pounding so hard that she felt like it'd give any second now, but surprisingly, it just drove her onward.
The sudden outburst caused all the Weasleys to turn in shock and glance in her direction, but by time Nick had turned, she was already half way to him. She threw her arm out and caught him in his chest, and her hand latched itself to his body, pulling him off his broom and onto hers. She felt him hug her tightly but from excitement or fear she wasn't sure. She stopped and twirled around, raising her hand in victory. She could see the family clearly now. Justin was down at the post, but he was racing towards her rather quickly on his broom. Baker flew up next to her, his spikey red hair glistening in the sunlight.
"Lilus, where the hell did you come from!?" he laughed, pointing to Nick's still in shock form. "You scared the pants offa old Nick!"
She turned around and looked into Nick's face. He was panting hard, but he was grinning and giving her a thumbs up.
"Dang, girl. You've been scheming all summer, haven't you?" Nick gasped, trying to regain his composure. "And you didn't invite me at all! Oh, Lil, I'm hurt." She chuckled and flew back down to where his broom was still hovering. She stopped, and he transfered himself over to his own broom, rubbing his head. "You know I'll have to get you later, don't you?"
Lilus nodded and ran her hand through his sweaty hair. No doubt they'd been out there all morning. He smiled, his deep brown eyes twinkling impishly.
"Of course I do, Nicky. That's the entire reason I did that. You should know me better," she cooed, sticking her tongue out at him.
Charlie rose up to her and wrapped his arms around her shoulders, as did Nick, seeing that she wasn't looking and all. Lilus suddenly felt herself being deprived of breath.
"We've missed you, Lil! Summer's nothing without you!" Charlie said, patting her cheek and letting go.
Nick decided that he was going to attach himself to her shoulders just to annoy her to death. "Nick, curse it all! You little..."
The Thomas twin released her and grinned again. "Hey, that's part of my revenge plan!"
Baker and Justin came over to her. She held her broom steady and stood up on it, stepping onto the end of Justin's broom before sitting down. Justin was quiet, but he hugged her, his beautiful green eyes soft and calm. His strawberry blonde hair was spiked up much like Baker's was, and she could smell the sweat that rolled down his forehead.
"How are you? Where's your dad?" he asked, smiling the sweetest smile that he could muster.
Lilus pointed down the road at the far end of the field. "They're on their way. They let me fly ahead because I've missed all you guys so much."
Baker made an 'aww...how sweet' noise and hugged her from behind. "I didn't know you cared, Lil..." She smiled and touched the top of his head where his quills were. He immediately recoiled, moving backwards with his hands covering his forehead. "Hey! You know da' rules about da' hair, girl! No touching!"
Justin laughed and helped her onto her own broom again. "Shall we go greet our folks?" he said, gesturing his hand down towards the houses. Lilus nodded.
"It's really awesome to see you guys again. And guess what! I'm staying until school starts!"
There was a cheer as the five teenagers flew down to the ground, laughing happily together. The twins were standing next to each other, dressed in blue jean shorts and white t-shirts. Lilus was standing between Justin and Baker, chittering on about what had happened to her that summer.
"I swear that cat's possessed," she said, running her hand through her hair. "He delights in torturing me, and Mother loves him to death!"
"Crookshanks doesn't like Dad," Justin said. "Dad doesn't like him either. I wonder why..."
They walked down the dirt road with brooms in hand, until they came to the first house on the right. Ron, Lilus knew, lived there with his wife Amber, a lovely brunette. Ron had met her shortly out of school, and after dating a few years, they decided to get married. Justin was their first born, and Casey was their second. Casey was such a sweet little girl. She was so adorable with her big green eyes.
"How's Casey?" she asked, turning her head to look at Justin.
Justin had apparently been staring off into space, oblivious to what was going on around him. "Hmm?" he asked, his head snapping up to look at her.
"How's your sister?" Lilus repeated.
"Oh, she's fine. Dad got her a kitten when she came home because she was doing good in her classes. Forgot to mention that in my mails. It's a little, gray ball of fuzz that likes to chew up my socks. He's so cute that it's impossible to scold him in any manner possible," he said with a confused expression on his face.
"Oh, how cute. What's its name?"
"Babisbay," Justin said, a loud chuckle erupting from his usually quiet self. "I have no idea where she got that name, either..."
"Babisbay. That's original."
Baker nodded. "Yeah. Casey never puts him down. I wouldn't be surprised if he's forgotten to walk."
Lilus suddenly noticed that the twins were missing. She stopped and glanced down the road, but they were no where to be found. "Where'd Charlie and Nick..."
"Home, probably to wash up, which is what I should do. I'll tell Kimmy and Diego that you're here, okay?" Baker said, saluting her mockingly.
Not that it would be a problem for him. Kimmy was his little sister, and well, Diego was Fred's only child and their neighbor. Fred and George lived in houses next to each other with everything inside exactly alike just to confuse people even more. Baker jumped on his broom and zoomed off down the dirt road. Justin led her quietly up to his house and turned the knob.
"Mum? Dad? Lilus is here!"
There was no answer, so both of the teenagers went upstairs. Ron and Amber were probably over at Virginia's house, trying to prepare a big meal for Harry and Hermione's arrival. It was something of a family reunion, and everyone would get really excited. They'd bribe their parents into showing them tricks that they'd learned in Quidditch, and Harry and Ron, and the twins would face off against their teenaged counterparts. Lilus was not as good as her father, but she definately had more tricks to show off than he did.
Justin walked into his room and pulled off his white wife beater before throwing it onto the floor and sitting in a chair. Lilus sat on his bed and laughed.
"Stipping party! Woooo! Go, Justin! Flex those muscles!" she urged, toppling over from laughter.
Justin looked at her and proudly flexed his Quidditch muscles before slumping back in the chair. "Casey should be around here somewhere. Go find her while I take a shower, kay?"
Lilus stood up and stretched. "Okay, you sexy beast you. Don't make the mirror jealous!"
She walked out of his room and closed the door. She loved to kid with him like that. He had a good form, but that was normal when you were a Weasley. There was always someone to roughhouse with, there was always something to do. As Lilus stepped down stairs, she collapsed and sat on the bottom step. She leaned her head against the railing and stared at the wall, inspecting it carefully. It was a beautiful shade of green with yellow stripes. Everyone knew that Amber had a major hand in the color schemes of her home because Ron was a total friz when it came to colors and decoration. Unless of course the celebration was for a Quidditch match. Then he'd rule over all. Ron and his twin brothers were the kinds of Quidditch in the family, and no one questioned their motives.
Partially because everyone thought they were insane.
Which they were...
Her dad would prolly be here in a few minutes. Lilus stood up and set out to look for Casey. She called her name softly and looked in her room, which was on the lower floor of the house beside the kitchen. Casey was inside just as she had anticipated, and she was playing with a large kitten on the floor. It wasn't large width-wise but it was...big. Probably from growing.
"Hey, Casey! How are you?" she said, leaning calmly against the door frame.
The little brown-haired girl looked up and smiled. "Lil!"
She jumped up and ran to hug her. Lilus scooped the little girl into her arms and swung her around.
"How've you been? Is he the little kitten Justin was talking to me about?" she asked, nodding her head to the confused cat in the floor.
Casey nodded vigorously and slid out of Lilus' arms. She looked so cute in the summer dress that her mother had made her. It was white with no sleeves and an orange flower on the front. The little girl plucked the kitten from the floor and held him in her arms carefully, before transfering him to Lilus. The little creature felt soft under her fingers, and its body began to vibrate as it nuzzled her hand.
"His name is Babisbay!" Casey announced.
There was a sound outside, and Lilus handed the kitten back to Casey.
"Stay here," she ordered firmly.
"It's just your mum and dad. Remember? The car squeaks loudly when the passenger door's opened?"
True, there had been a squeak. Her parents were finally here. Now the party could begin.
Chapter 2
The family car pulled down the dirt driveway, kicking up clouds of dust behind it. Lilus had been staring out of the window, watching the countryside fly past and being as bored as hell. She was propped up on her right arm, frequently dozing off every few minutes. She couldn't help it. Being cooped up in a car for two hours wasn't fun, and when she wasn't doing something, she had a tendancy to fall asleep. She usually liked riding in the car, but not for two hours with a big ball of fluff spread across her feet. Crookshanks had slept the entire time, and, not wanting to be rude, she hadn't moved her feet from under him. Her mother was so attached to that cat...
Hedwig was on top of the car. She didn't know why he couldn't have just sent her to Ron's house and told her to stay there. Her dad said that she prefered to feel the wind rather than cooped up in the car, so that's why she was outside. Crookshanks annoyed her too much, anyway (Hermione disagreed with this, of course). Lilus finally decided that she would roll her window down. She could hear the joints inside her arm click as she pushed the button to roll the window down. She rested her chin on the edge, letting half her hair stream out of the window.
"Dad, would it be totally impossible if we got my broom out of the trunk? I wanna fly the rest of the way there," she asked, pulling her head back into the car.
Harry adjusted his rear view mirror and looked at her, his green eyes glistening. "Certainly. Let me stop up here, and we'll get it out, okay?"
She grinned and nodded. The Weasleys' were probably playing their own mini game of Quidditch at their house. Wouldn't it be a big surprise if she snatched one of them straight from their brooms? Oh the chaos would be delightful.
She felt the car swirve and come to a stop. Her dad unbuckled himself and opened the door. She practically jumped out of her window, leaving Crookshanks in a forgotten (yet, still sleeping) mass on the floor. Her dad opened the trunk, and she grabbed her broom, which she had stored near the front for just this reason. She swung her legs over it and waved by to her mother.
"See you in a little bit, Daddy," she said, kicking off of the ground.
"Make sure you don't get seen!"
Lilus was already to high up to hear him. She was back on her broom again, a Firebolt 65, one that she had recived for her birthday three years ago, and was now flying through the air at breakneck speed. She was made for speed. She was the Seeker of the Gryffindor team, heir to the Seeker throne and traveling on a road that her father had paved for her. Shawn was the Keeper of the Gryffindor team. That was how they met, at their first game. He was her age and in the same house, but they had never met before then. He had always distanced himself from her. After their first game, she had sheepishly wandered up to him and asked him what his name was.
It was a friendship from Heaven, although she wanted it to be more than a friendship, but she wasn't one to push. She wondered how Kimmy was. She was a perky fifteen-year-old and was one of the more sane of the Weasley group. She was very friendly, even to the Slytherins who constantly poked fun at her. Lilus felt a responsibility for the Weasleys', and she could glare anyone down. She was usually quite placid, but making her mad was not something one dared to do very often.
She wasn't sure if she was in love with Mr. Longbottom, but she knew that it was somewhere close to it. He had captured her heart from day one. It was those gorgeous eyes. It had to be. He had the same color scheme as Raphael, white-blonde hair and bright blue eyes, but his was of innocents, while Rapheal's told a mischievious tale about him. Shawn was just beautiful in an angelic way. She knew that handsome was not the word, because he did not have a tough sense about him, nor did he fit the usual prerequisites of being like Justin or Nick. Cute was too childish for him. Adorable was the same way. He was just...beautiful.
He was a lot different from the other wizards. He had been born while his parents were vacationing in Australia, and he had picked up traces of the accent. He was poked fun of a lot because of that, and that's why he didn't speak a lot, especially in front of other people. He didn't speak a lot anyway, but usually, he had nothing helpful or comforting to say. There was a lot of hurt in his eyes, as well. Eyes were a sort of fetish of hers, an obsession that she was never able to shake fully. She had learned how to see straight into them, to know how the other person was feeling. His pupils were usually very small, which indicated dislike, frustration, and pain beyond words. She knew it was pain because he never looked her in the eyes when he noticed that she was looking at him. He'd turn his head sharply and gasp.
She had touched his shoulder many a time to comfort him, but her touches didn't seem to help. She could only wonder what was wrong, not daring to ask. She just had a sense about these things. Justin did not know that she liked Shawn, but he knew that she had feelings for him. She grew unsteadily silent when he came around, and she just seemed to fall into a trance as her eyes followed him across the room.
Lilus wondered if Justin had put two and two together and figured out that maybe she had more romantic feelings for him than he thought. She hoped he hadn't. She wanted to horse around with the Weasleys' when she got there. Her broom had lost the car a few minutes ago, and she knew it was only a matter of time before she came onto their plantation. She wondered how Molly was. Molly was the grandmother of all the Weasleys', and she told incriminating stories to the grandchildren that they could blackmail their parents with. All the Weasleys' had that devilish mind, even Justin, who was usually very well-behaved. He enjoyed blackmailing his father Ron, but usually his threats were empty, leaving Ron unfooled. Ron did have a respect for his son, though. He usually kept the Weasleys' in line, the key word being usually. He did have a prankster side, and when he felt in the mood for impish delights, the others were all too happy to join in.
Their greatest prank last year was bewitching all the desks to stampede out of the classrooms and parade around the castle, all in one long clutch. It took a good deal of time to round them all up. Of course, the twins, Nick and Charlie, took after Fred and George, because they had to keep the twins thing going in the family and continue the line of pranksters.
Lilus and the Weasleys' had gone into Hogwarts around the same time. Justin went earlier, of course, since he was a year older than them all. Of course, the twins weren't actually Weasleys, they were Thomas's. Aunt Ginny had married Dean Thomas, a man that was the same age as her dad. Uncle Dean was pretty cool, but he wasn't her favorite. He was funny, though.
Lilus found herself flying over the thick forest that was surrounding the Weasley Plantation. It was a very dense forest, but she knew that she was getting close. She probably wasn't fifteen minutes from their house. She'd be there in no time whatsoever. It would be such a delight when she saw them again. All the Weasleys were so much fun.
This was definately going to be the highlight of her summer...
So, she flew along, finally spotting the houses scattered alone the edge of the field. Immediately, she lowered herself into the trees, flying until she landed on a branch that was large enough to hold her.
She could just see them from behind the vegetation of the forest. She spotted at least five of them, and they were buzzing around on their brooms. They were tossing a beachball back and forth to each other, and the pole on the other end of the field with a hoolahoop stuck to it was the goal. She saw Justin hoovering there on his broom, looking very bored and just asking for trouble. Lilus grinned. He'd be the one she pounced on. He was her prey.
She lifted off on her broom once more and flew through the trees, taking good care not to smash into any of them. Justin would definately notice something if she made any kinda of violent movement among the trees. It was a precaution that they had been taught when they were kids. They had sharp hearing, some more than others, but for the most part, they could tell when the trees were shaking strangely.
The dark-haired teenager stopped suddenly, staring up at the handsome face in front of the ring. Something was troubling him too. His eyes had the same sad glaze over them, and the bad thing was that she was this far away from him and could see. It was that same look again. Shawn popped back into her head. Justin usually kept in close contact with him, as did she, but lately, he had refused to send any of her mails back to her. She had been content with sending the Justin and his gang letters, but she still worried about him.
The air in the treetops was moist like it had always been. It was cool, and the slightly chilling air felt good against her skin. Being in the sun for an hour and a half made her hot, but this was definitely some relief. What was the matter with Justin? Was it that he was extremely bored because the twins wouldn't stop trying to run each other off their brooms to score? Might be. Sadness and boredom went into the same category with him. Today, he was probably just hot and bored and miserable.
Maybe she should try to knock one of the twins off. Which one? Nick or Charlie? Well, Nick would probably pounce on her back, which would make it more fun, but if she tried Charlie, Nick would still probably pounce on her. She'd go for Nick. She flew over to the edge of the forest and stared into the sky, watching the twins unconciously edge their way closer and closer to her. Charlie was the closest. Should she fly after him?
Was Charlie well again? Last year he had been the victim of a Slytherin joke that could have killed him. No doubt it had been arranged by Malfoy, but there was no proof that she could snag him in. She knew he hated her, even though he only glared evilly at her when she was in his presence. His goons did most of the taking, and he had about four or five of them, one of them being the girl that she loved beating up. The rest were pretty hulky boys, three times thicker than any of the Weasleys, but they were slow. One of them had once beaten up poor little Casey, the youngest Weasley and Justin's little sister, who at the time was eleven years old and a first year. That pissed Justin off to no end. The thug that had attacked her was ambushed later by the Justin, Baker, and the twins who promptly hexed him until they had used every hex and jinx that they could think of.
The Weasleys were very unforgiving when something like that was done to their own. It was horrible. A bulky fourth year beating up a little girl...It was horendous. Malfoy had no knowledge on that, though. He dismissed that boy for acting without orders a few days after he got out of his five-week detention. Poor Casey. They'd be sticking close to her this year, Lilus herself included. Everyone knew that Casey was the Weasleys' only obvious weakness, but they would turn demonic if someone hurt the baby of the group.
None of them were much of fighters. She knew Muggle fighting almost expertly, since during elementary school she was almost regularly beaten up everyday because of her evil eyes. Of course, after she graduated from 5th grade, she was in Hogwarts like a second home. Remy had been teaching there since she could remember, but she had known him on different occasions other than school. For instance, her birthday parties. He was at almost every one of them. She would call him Grandpa, but she didn't know how that would make her father feel, so she adopted him into her little mental family of Weasleys, Potters, and Remy.
The prank that Charlie had been involved in could have broken his neck and killed him, but he had a good head on his shoulders and remembered how to deal with the gigantic Whomping Willow outside Hogwarts. He didn't have his wand; it had fallen out of his pocket once Malfoy and some of his buddies rode along on brooms and abducted him. They dropped him directly into the Whomping Willow, and had he not of moved quickly, he would have been beaten to mush. They made it seem like he had just fallen off his broom, because they threw his broom close by the tree.
She couldn't pounce on Charlie. She'd have to run Nick over. He'd understand. Lilus crouched low on her broom, her eyes narrowing at the left twin. She could always tell Nick from Charlie, even though it was nearly impossible. Nick's hair had a nasty little habit of sticking slightly outwards on one side, while Charlie's fell completely flat. Nick was circling again, and she sped through the branches, bursting through the forest in a flurry of leaves and twigs. Her heart was pounding so hard that she felt like it'd give any second now, but surprisingly, it just drove her onward.
The sudden outburst caused all the Weasleys to turn in shock and glance in her direction, but by time Nick had turned, she was already half way to him. She threw her arm out and caught him in his chest, and her hand latched itself to his body, pulling him off his broom and onto hers. She felt him hug her tightly but from excitement or fear she wasn't sure. She stopped and twirled around, raising her hand in victory. She could see the family clearly now. Justin was down at the post, but he was racing towards her rather quickly on his broom. Baker flew up next to her, his spikey red hair glistening in the sunlight.
"Lilus, where the hell did you come from!?" he laughed, pointing to Nick's still in shock form. "You scared the pants offa old Nick!"
She turned around and looked into Nick's face. He was panting hard, but he was grinning and giving her a thumbs up.
"Dang, girl. You've been scheming all summer, haven't you?" Nick gasped, trying to regain his composure. "And you didn't invite me at all! Oh, Lil, I'm hurt." She chuckled and flew back down to where his broom was still hovering. She stopped, and he transfered himself over to his own broom, rubbing his head. "You know I'll have to get you later, don't you?"
Lilus nodded and ran her hand through his sweaty hair. No doubt they'd been out there all morning. He smiled, his deep brown eyes twinkling impishly.
"Of course I do, Nicky. That's the entire reason I did that. You should know me better," she cooed, sticking her tongue out at him.
Charlie rose up to her and wrapped his arms around her shoulders, as did Nick, seeing that she wasn't looking and all. Lilus suddenly felt herself being deprived of breath.
"We've missed you, Lil! Summer's nothing without you!" Charlie said, patting her cheek and letting go.
Nick decided that he was going to attach himself to her shoulders just to annoy her to death. "Nick, curse it all! You little..."
The Thomas twin released her and grinned again. "Hey, that's part of my revenge plan!"
Baker and Justin came over to her. She held her broom steady and stood up on it, stepping onto the end of Justin's broom before sitting down. Justin was quiet, but he hugged her, his beautiful green eyes soft and calm. His strawberry blonde hair was spiked up much like Baker's was, and she could smell the sweat that rolled down his forehead.
"How are you? Where's your dad?" he asked, smiling the sweetest smile that he could muster.
Lilus pointed down the road at the far end of the field. "They're on their way. They let me fly ahead because I've missed all you guys so much."
Baker made an 'aww...how sweet' noise and hugged her from behind. "I didn't know you cared, Lil..." She smiled and touched the top of his head where his quills were. He immediately recoiled, moving backwards with his hands covering his forehead. "Hey! You know da' rules about da' hair, girl! No touching!"
Justin laughed and helped her onto her own broom again. "Shall we go greet our folks?" he said, gesturing his hand down towards the houses. Lilus nodded.
"It's really awesome to see you guys again. And guess what! I'm staying until school starts!"
There was a cheer as the five teenagers flew down to the ground, laughing happily together. The twins were standing next to each other, dressed in blue jean shorts and white t-shirts. Lilus was standing between Justin and Baker, chittering on about what had happened to her that summer.
"I swear that cat's possessed," she said, running her hand through her hair. "He delights in torturing me, and Mother loves him to death!"
"Crookshanks doesn't like Dad," Justin said. "Dad doesn't like him either. I wonder why..."
They walked down the dirt road with brooms in hand, until they came to the first house on the right. Ron, Lilus knew, lived there with his wife Amber, a lovely brunette. Ron had met her shortly out of school, and after dating a few years, they decided to get married. Justin was their first born, and Casey was their second. Casey was such a sweet little girl. She was so adorable with her big green eyes.
"How's Casey?" she asked, turning her head to look at Justin.
Justin had apparently been staring off into space, oblivious to what was going on around him. "Hmm?" he asked, his head snapping up to look at her.
"How's your sister?" Lilus repeated.
"Oh, she's fine. Dad got her a kitten when she came home because she was doing good in her classes. Forgot to mention that in my mails. It's a little, gray ball of fuzz that likes to chew up my socks. He's so cute that it's impossible to scold him in any manner possible," he said with a confused expression on his face.
"Oh, how cute. What's its name?"
"Babisbay," Justin said, a loud chuckle erupting from his usually quiet self. "I have no idea where she got that name, either..."
"Babisbay. That's original."
Baker nodded. "Yeah. Casey never puts him down. I wouldn't be surprised if he's forgotten to walk."
Lilus suddenly noticed that the twins were missing. She stopped and glanced down the road, but they were no where to be found. "Where'd Charlie and Nick..."
"Home, probably to wash up, which is what I should do. I'll tell Kimmy and Diego that you're here, okay?" Baker said, saluting her mockingly.
Not that it would be a problem for him. Kimmy was his little sister, and well, Diego was Fred's only child and their neighbor. Fred and George lived in houses next to each other with everything inside exactly alike just to confuse people even more. Baker jumped on his broom and zoomed off down the dirt road. Justin led her quietly up to his house and turned the knob.
"Mum? Dad? Lilus is here!"
There was no answer, so both of the teenagers went upstairs. Ron and Amber were probably over at Virginia's house, trying to prepare a big meal for Harry and Hermione's arrival. It was something of a family reunion, and everyone would get really excited. They'd bribe their parents into showing them tricks that they'd learned in Quidditch, and Harry and Ron, and the twins would face off against their teenaged counterparts. Lilus was not as good as her father, but she definately had more tricks to show off than he did.
Justin walked into his room and pulled off his white wife beater before throwing it onto the floor and sitting in a chair. Lilus sat on his bed and laughed.
"Stipping party! Woooo! Go, Justin! Flex those muscles!" she urged, toppling over from laughter.
Justin looked at her and proudly flexed his Quidditch muscles before slumping back in the chair. "Casey should be around here somewhere. Go find her while I take a shower, kay?"
Lilus stood up and stretched. "Okay, you sexy beast you. Don't make the mirror jealous!"
She walked out of his room and closed the door. She loved to kid with him like that. He had a good form, but that was normal when you were a Weasley. There was always someone to roughhouse with, there was always something to do. As Lilus stepped down stairs, she collapsed and sat on the bottom step. She leaned her head against the railing and stared at the wall, inspecting it carefully. It was a beautiful shade of green with yellow stripes. Everyone knew that Amber had a major hand in the color schemes of her home because Ron was a total friz when it came to colors and decoration. Unless of course the celebration was for a Quidditch match. Then he'd rule over all. Ron and his twin brothers were the kinds of Quidditch in the family, and no one questioned their motives.
Partially because everyone thought they were insane.
Which they were...
Her dad would prolly be here in a few minutes. Lilus stood up and set out to look for Casey. She called her name softly and looked in her room, which was on the lower floor of the house beside the kitchen. Casey was inside just as she had anticipated, and she was playing with a large kitten on the floor. It wasn't large width-wise but it was...big. Probably from growing.
"Hey, Casey! How are you?" she said, leaning calmly against the door frame.
The little brown-haired girl looked up and smiled. "Lil!"
She jumped up and ran to hug her. Lilus scooped the little girl into her arms and swung her around.
"How've you been? Is he the little kitten Justin was talking to me about?" she asked, nodding her head to the confused cat in the floor.
Casey nodded vigorously and slid out of Lilus' arms. She looked so cute in the summer dress that her mother had made her. It was white with no sleeves and an orange flower on the front. The little girl plucked the kitten from the floor and held him in her arms carefully, before transfering him to Lilus. The little creature felt soft under her fingers, and its body began to vibrate as it nuzzled her hand.
"His name is Babisbay!" Casey announced.
There was a sound outside, and Lilus handed the kitten back to Casey.
"Stay here," she ordered firmly.
"It's just your mum and dad. Remember? The car squeaks loudly when the passenger door's opened?"
True, there had been a squeak. Her parents were finally here. Now the party could begin.