***Thanks for the reviews!***
Chapter 3
The arrival of Lilus' parents made a few different things happen. For one, Ron burst out of whatever house he had been in and nearly killed Harry and Hermione by jumping on them and smothering them with hugs, while they did the same. All the teenagers, Kimmy, Casey, and Diego included, banded together in their own little ring and started to talk about the summer.
Diego was Fred's only child. Fred had a nasty divorce with his wife four years ago when Diego was eleven. Diego's mother, Carrie, gave up her parental rights for him, so now he just lived with his father. He was fifteen now and a bundle of mischief to boot. Since he had no mother to calm him down, and God knows that Fred is just as rowdy as his son, he was the worst of the pranksters. Fred shared all his secrets with his boy, from knowledge about the secret passages of Hogwarts to how to hide dungbombs from Argus Filch. Diego looked much like the other Weasley boys, having red hair and brown eyes, but his hair had never been cut, and he always had it tied back in a ponytail. He had an innocent face that even Severus Snape would love (he learned it from Fred). Unfortunately for Diego, Snape knew he came from a line of pranksters and was not fooled by his look of pure innocence.
Kim or Kimmy Weasley was Baker's little sister by one year. She and Diego hung out a lot, and a little of him rubbed of on her. When Lilus arrived, they had both been in Diego's house, where Kimmy was teaching him how to cook (neither Fred nor Diego knew how to cook very well even with magic).
"And then she swooped behind Nick and snatched him clean off his broom! It was genius! It scared poor Nick to...," Baker said, his eyes as big as his mouth.
"Did not!" Nick countered. "She just surprised me! It's not everyday that your godcousin flies helterskelter from the forest to plow straight into you!"
Godcousin. Ever since her dad found out about Sirius and married Hermione, Ron and his sister Virginia had become godparents to Lilus. He trusted Fred and George, but he just felt that Ron and Ginny would understand him more.
"She just surprised you into nearly wetting yourself!" Baker laughed. "Wittle Nicky Poo isn't potty twained yet. Awwww..."
Nick lunged at his cousin, and the two wrestled on the ground, getting dirtier by the minute.
"Boys, stop! You're getting filty, and we haven't even begun!" Lilus barked, as she and Justin pulled the cousins apart.
"Aww...come on. Lil, we were just having fun..."
Diego stood by Kimmy, his hands angelically folded in front of him. His deep brown eyes were glancing skyward, and it was this look that hinted off to everyone that he was about to do something that they'd regret. Kimmy knew this too, and she was acting very bold to stand that close to him. For a while, Lilus just stared at him, then decided that he was just bluffing. That kid was insane and loving it.
Lilus left her group of buddies and walked over to the adults. She watched her father make strange hand speech, flying his right hand around like a plane before slamming it into his left.
"Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaad!" she whined. "When's the fun gonna start!?"
Harry whirled around and grinned his usual awkward grin. "Well, let me talk to Ron for a few more minutes, and then we'll play a little Quidditch."
Hermione stopped him. "Oh, no you don't! You aren't coming into dinner smelling like sweat and dust. Surely you can go inside and play chess for a while, but no Quidditch!"
By time Hermione stopped talking, Harry's face was distorted in a painful expression, as was Ron's. Lilus stood there, looking very bored and agitated.
"Mom, come on. Dad's been cooped up in a car all day. Look at that pitiful face. He needs to be free!" Seeing that her mindless chatter was not convincing her mother, she hastily added, "And me and the boys will do the dishes after dinner."
Hermione smiled and nodded. "Okay, deal. But if you smell, you eat outside!"
Lilus flashed a thumbs up behind her back and backed up slowly. "Thanks, Mom."
She grabbed her Dad and Ron's wrist and pulled them to the group of teenagers, hearing her mother mutter something about finally having a good time.
"Diego, Baker, go get your dads. Tell them that we're having a Quidditch match as soon as they get out here," Lilus growled to the two boys. Immediately their faces lit up, and they were off in a hurry to go fetch their fathers, who were probably plotting the downfall of some of their old school friends. "Guys, Mom said that we could play Quidditch, but we have to eat dinner outside, and we have to do the dishes."
There was a cheer at the word Quidditch, but everyone began to sulk at the word dishes. Baker and Diego rushed out of their houses with their brooms, their dad's close behind them.
"Quidditch? Oh, Harry! I didn't know you arrived! How's the hero!" George said hearily, beating his hand against Harry's back. "Hey, Hermione! How's the family?"
"Great, George. Thanks for asking," came her mother's reply.
A brown-haired woman walked out of Fred's house, then rushed over to Hermione, throwing her arms around her. Jordan, Baker and Kimmy's mother, was a pale and tall creature with elegance that none of them had. Lilus watched the two women disappear into the same house, probably to help Amber with the cooking.
"Be right back, Dad. I'm off to get our Snitch," Lilus said, before Nick grabbed her arm.
"Perfect idea, Lil. Before we start playing, let's see who's better at Seeker, you or your father," he said, his lips curling into a menacing smile.
Lilus turned her head and looked at her father, who had the same devilish grin on his face. She adjusted her glasses and returned the expression.
"Dad, you're on," she said, walking over to the car.
She undid the trunk and unlocked her luggage with the key around her neck and dug her arm into it, reaching into the space where she put the red box with the Snitch. She pulled the small ball out of it and handed it to Ron. He gripped it tightly, and she mounted her broom. Harry rushed to the car and snatched his broom out of the backseat before joining them once more. Everyone else but Ron did the same, causing Lilus and Harry to look at them.
"For diversion," Fred and George said, the evil smile still upon them.
Harry and Lilus rose into the sky, never unlocking their eyes from each other.
"Will the pupil tower over the master, or will the master keep his place?" Harry whispered.
Lilus' eyes glistened dangerously. "Pupil's gonna bomb the master, Dad."
The Weasleys rose up around them, ready to zoom in front of them at any moment in time. Of course, this would be nothing for Lilus because the Beaters on Slytherin would constantly burden her with threats of mowing her down with Bludgers, yet there were move people on her deversion side than her dad's.
"Ready?" Ron called from below. "Go!"
He threw the tiny Snitch in the air, and to no one's surprise, Harry and Lilus didn't even bother to sneak a glance at it. They flew upwards and distanced themselves, staring downwards onto the field.
All the absentminded critisism and noise was immediately blocked out of her head. It was a reflex to ignore the cries of the stadium. It was a reflex to avoid an angry Beater and the Bludger coming her way. Everything had a reflex against it in Quidditch except for three things. There was no reflex against the whistle or falling. There was no reflex against the Snitch.
She dove, spotting the faint flash below, then stopped, knowing that her father would follow her if he had not seen it. She waited more, and suddenly, Harry flew into another direction. She drove her broom upwards, hearing the ever so faint humming sound. Baker flew in front of her to try and cut her off, but she flew under him and continued. Harry spotted the Snitch and was closing in on it. This was a bad thing. Lilus had not seen it yet, but she could hear it vaguely. Harry had spotted it, and he was after his obsession. The twins flew up along side her, Fred and George. They flew in front of her and crisscrossed, cutting her off. She shoved past them and followed the sound. She saw her father turn and felt something buzz by her cheek. She instinctively raised her hand, but it was a second too late.
"Almost," Fred cooed.
Lilis veered around again and spotted it. Harry was coming on her fast, but she was fast enough to catch the little bugger before he could, even on his newer broom. She held onto the end of her broom and stretched her arm out as far as it would go. Diego suddenly shot up infront of her, sending her flying off to one side and nearly knocking her off the broom. At once she was on the path of it again, but her father was a lot closer than she would have wanted. With her heart beating in her throat, she felt her chest begin to hurt with anticipation. She flipped upside down with her legs entangled around the broomstick and flew under her father, arm outstretched.
The closeness of it was unreal. She had been in this situation many times during her second year, when she was allowed to try out for the Quidditch team. She played one on one with a Seeker of her year, a Ravenclaw or Slytherin. The stunt that she was pulling now wasn't a very intelligent one, and she had done better. It made the blood rush to her head, and it would make her extremely dizzy. It wasn't often that she fainted after games, but it had happened before. Of course, her Weasley friends were the only ones that knew about it. Shawn did too of course, with him being on the Gryffindor team and all.
They were the Mauraders, Shawn, Justin, Jason, and she. Kimmy was almost a Maurader, but she had yet to show the final sign, and there was no pushing a matter as important as that. It was odd though. Although, she was the leader of the Maurader pack, she was the only one without a special name. Nikodemus was Shawn. Justin was Angelfeather. Jason was Talon, and Kimmy was going with Hitspos for some odd reason. She had not thought of a name in the entire creation of the Mauraders.
She missed Jason tremendously. She loved his accent. He was from America, whereas she was from England. He sounded so funny sometimes and used slang terms that she didn't always understand. Of course, he didn't understand a lot of their slang, either. He had moved from America to England when he was nine, but the accent still hung. It was kind of adorable listening to him talk to girls. He'd try to impress them, and they'd only giggle because of the way he sounded. Poor fellow. He had never had a date to anything. But after he had been taken into the group, he didn't really much mind anymore. He was more about scheming and pranks.
She could feel the blood began to rush to her head. Her father's hand was almost on the Snitch, but it darted in another direction and flew away. Harry followed it, and she followed right under her father, stretching her arm out for the prize. She felt lightheaded and knew that this was the time to right herself. She twirled out from under Harry and rode upright for a while. Diego and Baker sided her, trying to knock her off her broom. She stopped and turned in another direction. Harry suddenly stopped and looked around. That's the bad thing about those Professional Snitches. They're much harder to catch than the ones that were at school. She heard the humming and knew it was close, but she wasn't sure how close it was. She looked above her and all around her, but there was no Snitch.
"Where'd it go?" she heard Justin ask.
"Geez, did you both lose it!?" Fred said as bored as he could.
Lilus looked below here, and there it was, hoovering probably ten feet off the ground. She smiled and dropped straight down, reaching her arm out to grab the flitting ball of gold. At last, she felt satisfied as her fingers curled around the sphere.
'Eat this, Dad.'
*****************************************
The train bell rang, breaking the commotion with its shrill whistle. Going back to Hogwarts was one of her favorite days of the year. She'd miss her parents, but they'd be there at Christmas with open arms. All of her luggage was loaded up, and she had watched her parents take their places beside Ron, Ginny, Fred, and George. She waved to all of them, smiling at them from her window seat on the train. The Weasleys were going to stay a week with her during the vacation, and oh the chaos. Her mother would probably make them all camp outside because of the noise.
Kimmy plopped down in the seat next to her and sighed, rubbing her hand over her forehead. Lilus turned to stare at her. She was so pretty with her red hair and brown eyes. The boys had told Lilus that she was pretty, but she also knew they meant in a deep, dark, mysterious way. Who could like a girl with red eyes? Sure, they were brown too, but lately, the red had been showing. What was it with her eyes!?
"Something wrong?" Kimmy asked, gently prodding her shoulder with her finger. "You're unusually quiet."
Lilus shook her head. "Just thinking."
"About what?" she countered.
"Shawn," she answered.
Kimmy knew that she had a little crush on Shawn, and Shawn had been very hesitant to show any kind of closer-than-friends emotion towards her. Kimmy frowned sadly and patted her shoulder.
"Don't worry. He'll come around," she said softly.
"Actually, I think he's lost interest."
Kimmy shook her head. "He cares about you."
"Just like Justin, your brother, and all the other crazy boys you live with," Lilus smirked.
There was a knock on the door and Casey peered in, a big grin plastered to her face. Kimmy and Lilus smiled, and the little girl came in.
"Are you nervous, Casey?" both teenagers asked.
Casey nodded and hugged her almost grown kitten to her chest. "Yeah. Just...you know...about what happened last year."
Kimmy shook her head. "Casey, we won't let that happen. Justin and the boys took care of him so good that he'll be kissing your feet when you walk by. If anyone hurts you...you just tell us, okay? But we're going to try as hard as we can to make sure that doesn't happen."
Casey nodded and stared out of the window. She scooted over to it and waved at her father. He waved back and blew her a kiss. She smiled and raised her kitten to the glass. Ron did the same goodbye kiss for the Babisbay, and she put him down. Kimmy resumed their conversation.
"Shawn likes you more than that, Lilus. You know that. Maybe he's just shy."
"Maybe I should go with Jason," she said.
Kimmy laughed. "Jason? Jason's girl retarded, though. You can do better than Jason. I mean, think about this. Would you want Jason fathering your children?" Lilus gave her an awkward glare. "See what I mean? Shawn's the one for you. He's just shy."
"Whatever, Kimmy."
And that's when he appeared in the doorway. Shawn opened the door slightly and let himself in.
"M...Mind if I sit...here?" he asked, blushing to be asking to sit with a lot of girls.
Nikodemus wasn't a bad guy. He was like Justin, but he wasn't so much of a prankster as Angelfeather was. But, today, for some reason, Lilus didn't feel like she wanted to be around him. Usually, she wanted to be, but he had not responded to any of her mail and that hurt. He just didn't seem to be interested in a demonic-looking female. Come to think of it, he looked at Kimmy with more emotion than he looked at her. She just didn't feel the need to be around someone who she was almost constantly thinking about when he didn't even return half of it.
"I'll be right back," Lilus said, standing up and grabbing the bundle that held her robes in it. "I have to go see Angelfeather."
She scooted past Shawn who took a seat next to Casey and seemed to be focused on the kitten that the little girl was showing to him. He took Babisbay and stroaked his back softly. Before she closed the door, she heard Casey mention something about wanting a secret name too, just like her big brother. She walked down the narrow hallway, sliding past first years and seventh years and all the years inbetween. It was especially crowded in the ten minutes before the train took off.
The giggling drone was blocked out of her head as she began to think about school and seeing her godfather (grandfather more like it) Remus Lupin. She missed him, and she'd enjoy being in his class again. Professor McGonagall was another face she missed. The Headmistress was very strict, but Lilus liked her nonetheless. Snape wasn't exactly someone she missed, but she had saved up three Galleons just for Snape's treats that year.
She brushed past some blonde boy a little harder than she probably should have, but she figured that he wouldn't mind. She was wrong.
"Watch it, brat!" he yelled.
She turned around and stared at him, completely unfazed.
"What did you call me?" she asked, determined to turn his insult around on him.
"A brat that's so selfishly hogging floorspace. Why? Are you deaf too?"
He had a French accent. He was blonde and green-eyed and had Slytherin written all over his face. He stood a few inches taller than she did and was already in his fancy black dress robes.
"Well, I was just wondering why someone of such high stature--from the looks of it, anyway--would use the word brat. What's wrong? Don't you have a good vocabulary? Couldn't think of anything better?"
The French boy clenched his fists and glared at her. "You little wench!"
"Getting warmer but no cheese," she replied. "Look, while you figure out what word to use, I 'm going to go find my friends. I apologize for bumping into you."
She walked away and ignored his threats. She knew which compartment Justin would be in. He was always in the same one. She turned the knob and walked in, spying a certain brown-haired, blue-eyed American sitting just across from Angelfeather. Justin was still dressed in his red t-shirt and bluejeans from that morning. Jason was wearing a blue shirt with an orange vest and bluejeans, along with the humongous, clunky combat boots that he adored so much. Jason jumped up and wrapped his arms around her before she could react.
"Lil! How are you! I missed you so much, chica!" he said in his deep-toned, handsome voice.
Lilus adored his accent. "Jason! I've been great! When did you get here?"
He put her down and sat next to Justin, who was smiling widely. "Oh, I just got here. Found Justin and stuck. Summer's been great!"
"Yeah," Lilus said, sitting down across from him.
She must of looked depressed or something, because Justin gave her the "what's-the-matter" look. She ignored it and turned to look out the window as the train began to move.
"Something wrong?" Jason asked.
It must be really obvious if Jason knew something wasn't right. Jason didn't exactly know about her crush on Shawn though.
"Just...boy problems," she answered, hoping that Justin would catch her drift.
"Is someone picking on you, because if they are, I'll bea..."
"No. No one's picking on me. Like anyone could," she said with a smirk.
Jason sat next to her and patted her back. "That's mah girl! Undefeatable and lookin' good!"
She LOVED his accent. He was so cheerful. She just couldn't be depressed around Jason. Justin caught the drift because he mouthed 'Nikodemus' to her. She nodded.
Jason took his bag off of the shelf overhead and pulled an irritated black cat out of the bookbag.
"Jason! You're not supposed to put your cat in a bookbag!" Lilus screeched, grabbing the poor creature from him and petting it.
"Oh, gimme a break! Boba loves it!"
Justin looked confused. "Boba? You finally found a name for your cat, and you name it Boba? I think that might be worse than Babisbay."
Jason looked offended and humored at the same time. "Don't tell me you've never heard Boba before."
Justin shook his head. "Never."
"Man, you need to watch Star Wars. Live a little!" Jason said, sitting next to Lilus and taking his cat.
Lilus laughed. She had seen Star Wars, and she thought it highly interesting. She found herself nearly laughing to death at the part with the small teddy bears.
"What did you do over the summer?"
"Well, we went back to the US of A and went to Hawaii to do a little surfing for a few weeks. Then we went over to Florida and stayed for about three weeks before coming back here. It was an awesome summer. What about you two?"
"Just been around. Swimming a lot."
"That's cool. What about you Angelfeather?"
Justin closed his eyes tightly, as if thinking hard. He opened them and grinned.
"Family reunion."
That was probably the high point of her summer too. Justin sat suavely in his seat, staring out of the window as the scenery rushed past. Lilus did the same, while Jason was humming a song to himself and dangling a stuffed mouse in front of his cat's nose. Lilus stared at the window, not outside it, at it, at her reflection. Her eyes had turned brown again. Good. She didn't look demonic anymore. Jason was a nice guy, but sometimes, he could get a little rough. She didn't know what kind of boyfriend he'd be, but at the moment, she really didn't care. She was fed up with her pursuit on Shawn. If he wanted her to be his girlfriend, then he'd have to start doing a little on his part. She was finished.
The train chugged its way down the tracks, and soon, Lilus felt herself falling asleep against the window pane.
Chapter 3
The arrival of Lilus' parents made a few different things happen. For one, Ron burst out of whatever house he had been in and nearly killed Harry and Hermione by jumping on them and smothering them with hugs, while they did the same. All the teenagers, Kimmy, Casey, and Diego included, banded together in their own little ring and started to talk about the summer.
Diego was Fred's only child. Fred had a nasty divorce with his wife four years ago when Diego was eleven. Diego's mother, Carrie, gave up her parental rights for him, so now he just lived with his father. He was fifteen now and a bundle of mischief to boot. Since he had no mother to calm him down, and God knows that Fred is just as rowdy as his son, he was the worst of the pranksters. Fred shared all his secrets with his boy, from knowledge about the secret passages of Hogwarts to how to hide dungbombs from Argus Filch. Diego looked much like the other Weasley boys, having red hair and brown eyes, but his hair had never been cut, and he always had it tied back in a ponytail. He had an innocent face that even Severus Snape would love (he learned it from Fred). Unfortunately for Diego, Snape knew he came from a line of pranksters and was not fooled by his look of pure innocence.
Kim or Kimmy Weasley was Baker's little sister by one year. She and Diego hung out a lot, and a little of him rubbed of on her. When Lilus arrived, they had both been in Diego's house, where Kimmy was teaching him how to cook (neither Fred nor Diego knew how to cook very well even with magic).
"And then she swooped behind Nick and snatched him clean off his broom! It was genius! It scared poor Nick to...," Baker said, his eyes as big as his mouth.
"Did not!" Nick countered. "She just surprised me! It's not everyday that your godcousin flies helterskelter from the forest to plow straight into you!"
Godcousin. Ever since her dad found out about Sirius and married Hermione, Ron and his sister Virginia had become godparents to Lilus. He trusted Fred and George, but he just felt that Ron and Ginny would understand him more.
"She just surprised you into nearly wetting yourself!" Baker laughed. "Wittle Nicky Poo isn't potty twained yet. Awwww..."
Nick lunged at his cousin, and the two wrestled on the ground, getting dirtier by the minute.
"Boys, stop! You're getting filty, and we haven't even begun!" Lilus barked, as she and Justin pulled the cousins apart.
"Aww...come on. Lil, we were just having fun..."
Diego stood by Kimmy, his hands angelically folded in front of him. His deep brown eyes were glancing skyward, and it was this look that hinted off to everyone that he was about to do something that they'd regret. Kimmy knew this too, and she was acting very bold to stand that close to him. For a while, Lilus just stared at him, then decided that he was just bluffing. That kid was insane and loving it.
Lilus left her group of buddies and walked over to the adults. She watched her father make strange hand speech, flying his right hand around like a plane before slamming it into his left.
"Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaad!" she whined. "When's the fun gonna start!?"
Harry whirled around and grinned his usual awkward grin. "Well, let me talk to Ron for a few more minutes, and then we'll play a little Quidditch."
Hermione stopped him. "Oh, no you don't! You aren't coming into dinner smelling like sweat and dust. Surely you can go inside and play chess for a while, but no Quidditch!"
By time Hermione stopped talking, Harry's face was distorted in a painful expression, as was Ron's. Lilus stood there, looking very bored and agitated.
"Mom, come on. Dad's been cooped up in a car all day. Look at that pitiful face. He needs to be free!" Seeing that her mindless chatter was not convincing her mother, she hastily added, "And me and the boys will do the dishes after dinner."
Hermione smiled and nodded. "Okay, deal. But if you smell, you eat outside!"
Lilus flashed a thumbs up behind her back and backed up slowly. "Thanks, Mom."
She grabbed her Dad and Ron's wrist and pulled them to the group of teenagers, hearing her mother mutter something about finally having a good time.
"Diego, Baker, go get your dads. Tell them that we're having a Quidditch match as soon as they get out here," Lilus growled to the two boys. Immediately their faces lit up, and they were off in a hurry to go fetch their fathers, who were probably plotting the downfall of some of their old school friends. "Guys, Mom said that we could play Quidditch, but we have to eat dinner outside, and we have to do the dishes."
There was a cheer at the word Quidditch, but everyone began to sulk at the word dishes. Baker and Diego rushed out of their houses with their brooms, their dad's close behind them.
"Quidditch? Oh, Harry! I didn't know you arrived! How's the hero!" George said hearily, beating his hand against Harry's back. "Hey, Hermione! How's the family?"
"Great, George. Thanks for asking," came her mother's reply.
A brown-haired woman walked out of Fred's house, then rushed over to Hermione, throwing her arms around her. Jordan, Baker and Kimmy's mother, was a pale and tall creature with elegance that none of them had. Lilus watched the two women disappear into the same house, probably to help Amber with the cooking.
"Be right back, Dad. I'm off to get our Snitch," Lilus said, before Nick grabbed her arm.
"Perfect idea, Lil. Before we start playing, let's see who's better at Seeker, you or your father," he said, his lips curling into a menacing smile.
Lilus turned her head and looked at her father, who had the same devilish grin on his face. She adjusted her glasses and returned the expression.
"Dad, you're on," she said, walking over to the car.
She undid the trunk and unlocked her luggage with the key around her neck and dug her arm into it, reaching into the space where she put the red box with the Snitch. She pulled the small ball out of it and handed it to Ron. He gripped it tightly, and she mounted her broom. Harry rushed to the car and snatched his broom out of the backseat before joining them once more. Everyone else but Ron did the same, causing Lilus and Harry to look at them.
"For diversion," Fred and George said, the evil smile still upon them.
Harry and Lilus rose into the sky, never unlocking their eyes from each other.
"Will the pupil tower over the master, or will the master keep his place?" Harry whispered.
Lilus' eyes glistened dangerously. "Pupil's gonna bomb the master, Dad."
The Weasleys rose up around them, ready to zoom in front of them at any moment in time. Of course, this would be nothing for Lilus because the Beaters on Slytherin would constantly burden her with threats of mowing her down with Bludgers, yet there were move people on her deversion side than her dad's.
"Ready?" Ron called from below. "Go!"
He threw the tiny Snitch in the air, and to no one's surprise, Harry and Lilus didn't even bother to sneak a glance at it. They flew upwards and distanced themselves, staring downwards onto the field.
All the absentminded critisism and noise was immediately blocked out of her head. It was a reflex to ignore the cries of the stadium. It was a reflex to avoid an angry Beater and the Bludger coming her way. Everything had a reflex against it in Quidditch except for three things. There was no reflex against the whistle or falling. There was no reflex against the Snitch.
She dove, spotting the faint flash below, then stopped, knowing that her father would follow her if he had not seen it. She waited more, and suddenly, Harry flew into another direction. She drove her broom upwards, hearing the ever so faint humming sound. Baker flew in front of her to try and cut her off, but she flew under him and continued. Harry spotted the Snitch and was closing in on it. This was a bad thing. Lilus had not seen it yet, but she could hear it vaguely. Harry had spotted it, and he was after his obsession. The twins flew up along side her, Fred and George. They flew in front of her and crisscrossed, cutting her off. She shoved past them and followed the sound. She saw her father turn and felt something buzz by her cheek. She instinctively raised her hand, but it was a second too late.
"Almost," Fred cooed.
Lilis veered around again and spotted it. Harry was coming on her fast, but she was fast enough to catch the little bugger before he could, even on his newer broom. She held onto the end of her broom and stretched her arm out as far as it would go. Diego suddenly shot up infront of her, sending her flying off to one side and nearly knocking her off the broom. At once she was on the path of it again, but her father was a lot closer than she would have wanted. With her heart beating in her throat, she felt her chest begin to hurt with anticipation. She flipped upside down with her legs entangled around the broomstick and flew under her father, arm outstretched.
The closeness of it was unreal. She had been in this situation many times during her second year, when she was allowed to try out for the Quidditch team. She played one on one with a Seeker of her year, a Ravenclaw or Slytherin. The stunt that she was pulling now wasn't a very intelligent one, and she had done better. It made the blood rush to her head, and it would make her extremely dizzy. It wasn't often that she fainted after games, but it had happened before. Of course, her Weasley friends were the only ones that knew about it. Shawn did too of course, with him being on the Gryffindor team and all.
They were the Mauraders, Shawn, Justin, Jason, and she. Kimmy was almost a Maurader, but she had yet to show the final sign, and there was no pushing a matter as important as that. It was odd though. Although, she was the leader of the Maurader pack, she was the only one without a special name. Nikodemus was Shawn. Justin was Angelfeather. Jason was Talon, and Kimmy was going with Hitspos for some odd reason. She had not thought of a name in the entire creation of the Mauraders.
She missed Jason tremendously. She loved his accent. He was from America, whereas she was from England. He sounded so funny sometimes and used slang terms that she didn't always understand. Of course, he didn't understand a lot of their slang, either. He had moved from America to England when he was nine, but the accent still hung. It was kind of adorable listening to him talk to girls. He'd try to impress them, and they'd only giggle because of the way he sounded. Poor fellow. He had never had a date to anything. But after he had been taken into the group, he didn't really much mind anymore. He was more about scheming and pranks.
She could feel the blood began to rush to her head. Her father's hand was almost on the Snitch, but it darted in another direction and flew away. Harry followed it, and she followed right under her father, stretching her arm out for the prize. She felt lightheaded and knew that this was the time to right herself. She twirled out from under Harry and rode upright for a while. Diego and Baker sided her, trying to knock her off her broom. She stopped and turned in another direction. Harry suddenly stopped and looked around. That's the bad thing about those Professional Snitches. They're much harder to catch than the ones that were at school. She heard the humming and knew it was close, but she wasn't sure how close it was. She looked above her and all around her, but there was no Snitch.
"Where'd it go?" she heard Justin ask.
"Geez, did you both lose it!?" Fred said as bored as he could.
Lilus looked below here, and there it was, hoovering probably ten feet off the ground. She smiled and dropped straight down, reaching her arm out to grab the flitting ball of gold. At last, she felt satisfied as her fingers curled around the sphere.
'Eat this, Dad.'
*****************************************
The train bell rang, breaking the commotion with its shrill whistle. Going back to Hogwarts was one of her favorite days of the year. She'd miss her parents, but they'd be there at Christmas with open arms. All of her luggage was loaded up, and she had watched her parents take their places beside Ron, Ginny, Fred, and George. She waved to all of them, smiling at them from her window seat on the train. The Weasleys were going to stay a week with her during the vacation, and oh the chaos. Her mother would probably make them all camp outside because of the noise.
Kimmy plopped down in the seat next to her and sighed, rubbing her hand over her forehead. Lilus turned to stare at her. She was so pretty with her red hair and brown eyes. The boys had told Lilus that she was pretty, but she also knew they meant in a deep, dark, mysterious way. Who could like a girl with red eyes? Sure, they were brown too, but lately, the red had been showing. What was it with her eyes!?
"Something wrong?" Kimmy asked, gently prodding her shoulder with her finger. "You're unusually quiet."
Lilus shook her head. "Just thinking."
"About what?" she countered.
"Shawn," she answered.
Kimmy knew that she had a little crush on Shawn, and Shawn had been very hesitant to show any kind of closer-than-friends emotion towards her. Kimmy frowned sadly and patted her shoulder.
"Don't worry. He'll come around," she said softly.
"Actually, I think he's lost interest."
Kimmy shook her head. "He cares about you."
"Just like Justin, your brother, and all the other crazy boys you live with," Lilus smirked.
There was a knock on the door and Casey peered in, a big grin plastered to her face. Kimmy and Lilus smiled, and the little girl came in.
"Are you nervous, Casey?" both teenagers asked.
Casey nodded and hugged her almost grown kitten to her chest. "Yeah. Just...you know...about what happened last year."
Kimmy shook her head. "Casey, we won't let that happen. Justin and the boys took care of him so good that he'll be kissing your feet when you walk by. If anyone hurts you...you just tell us, okay? But we're going to try as hard as we can to make sure that doesn't happen."
Casey nodded and stared out of the window. She scooted over to it and waved at her father. He waved back and blew her a kiss. She smiled and raised her kitten to the glass. Ron did the same goodbye kiss for the Babisbay, and she put him down. Kimmy resumed their conversation.
"Shawn likes you more than that, Lilus. You know that. Maybe he's just shy."
"Maybe I should go with Jason," she said.
Kimmy laughed. "Jason? Jason's girl retarded, though. You can do better than Jason. I mean, think about this. Would you want Jason fathering your children?" Lilus gave her an awkward glare. "See what I mean? Shawn's the one for you. He's just shy."
"Whatever, Kimmy."
And that's when he appeared in the doorway. Shawn opened the door slightly and let himself in.
"M...Mind if I sit...here?" he asked, blushing to be asking to sit with a lot of girls.
Nikodemus wasn't a bad guy. He was like Justin, but he wasn't so much of a prankster as Angelfeather was. But, today, for some reason, Lilus didn't feel like she wanted to be around him. Usually, she wanted to be, but he had not responded to any of her mail and that hurt. He just didn't seem to be interested in a demonic-looking female. Come to think of it, he looked at Kimmy with more emotion than he looked at her. She just didn't feel the need to be around someone who she was almost constantly thinking about when he didn't even return half of it.
"I'll be right back," Lilus said, standing up and grabbing the bundle that held her robes in it. "I have to go see Angelfeather."
She scooted past Shawn who took a seat next to Casey and seemed to be focused on the kitten that the little girl was showing to him. He took Babisbay and stroaked his back softly. Before she closed the door, she heard Casey mention something about wanting a secret name too, just like her big brother. She walked down the narrow hallway, sliding past first years and seventh years and all the years inbetween. It was especially crowded in the ten minutes before the train took off.
The giggling drone was blocked out of her head as she began to think about school and seeing her godfather (grandfather more like it) Remus Lupin. She missed him, and she'd enjoy being in his class again. Professor McGonagall was another face she missed. The Headmistress was very strict, but Lilus liked her nonetheless. Snape wasn't exactly someone she missed, but she had saved up three Galleons just for Snape's treats that year.
She brushed past some blonde boy a little harder than she probably should have, but she figured that he wouldn't mind. She was wrong.
"Watch it, brat!" he yelled.
She turned around and stared at him, completely unfazed.
"What did you call me?" she asked, determined to turn his insult around on him.
"A brat that's so selfishly hogging floorspace. Why? Are you deaf too?"
He had a French accent. He was blonde and green-eyed and had Slytherin written all over his face. He stood a few inches taller than she did and was already in his fancy black dress robes.
"Well, I was just wondering why someone of such high stature--from the looks of it, anyway--would use the word brat. What's wrong? Don't you have a good vocabulary? Couldn't think of anything better?"
The French boy clenched his fists and glared at her. "You little wench!"
"Getting warmer but no cheese," she replied. "Look, while you figure out what word to use, I 'm going to go find my friends. I apologize for bumping into you."
She walked away and ignored his threats. She knew which compartment Justin would be in. He was always in the same one. She turned the knob and walked in, spying a certain brown-haired, blue-eyed American sitting just across from Angelfeather. Justin was still dressed in his red t-shirt and bluejeans from that morning. Jason was wearing a blue shirt with an orange vest and bluejeans, along with the humongous, clunky combat boots that he adored so much. Jason jumped up and wrapped his arms around her before she could react.
"Lil! How are you! I missed you so much, chica!" he said in his deep-toned, handsome voice.
Lilus adored his accent. "Jason! I've been great! When did you get here?"
He put her down and sat next to Justin, who was smiling widely. "Oh, I just got here. Found Justin and stuck. Summer's been great!"
"Yeah," Lilus said, sitting down across from him.
She must of looked depressed or something, because Justin gave her the "what's-the-matter" look. She ignored it and turned to look out the window as the train began to move.
"Something wrong?" Jason asked.
It must be really obvious if Jason knew something wasn't right. Jason didn't exactly know about her crush on Shawn though.
"Just...boy problems," she answered, hoping that Justin would catch her drift.
"Is someone picking on you, because if they are, I'll bea..."
"No. No one's picking on me. Like anyone could," she said with a smirk.
Jason sat next to her and patted her back. "That's mah girl! Undefeatable and lookin' good!"
She LOVED his accent. He was so cheerful. She just couldn't be depressed around Jason. Justin caught the drift because he mouthed 'Nikodemus' to her. She nodded.
Jason took his bag off of the shelf overhead and pulled an irritated black cat out of the bookbag.
"Jason! You're not supposed to put your cat in a bookbag!" Lilus screeched, grabbing the poor creature from him and petting it.
"Oh, gimme a break! Boba loves it!"
Justin looked confused. "Boba? You finally found a name for your cat, and you name it Boba? I think that might be worse than Babisbay."
Jason looked offended and humored at the same time. "Don't tell me you've never heard Boba before."
Justin shook his head. "Never."
"Man, you need to watch Star Wars. Live a little!" Jason said, sitting next to Lilus and taking his cat.
Lilus laughed. She had seen Star Wars, and she thought it highly interesting. She found herself nearly laughing to death at the part with the small teddy bears.
"What did you do over the summer?"
"Well, we went back to the US of A and went to Hawaii to do a little surfing for a few weeks. Then we went over to Florida and stayed for about three weeks before coming back here. It was an awesome summer. What about you two?"
"Just been around. Swimming a lot."
"That's cool. What about you Angelfeather?"
Justin closed his eyes tightly, as if thinking hard. He opened them and grinned.
"Family reunion."
That was probably the high point of her summer too. Justin sat suavely in his seat, staring out of the window as the scenery rushed past. Lilus did the same, while Jason was humming a song to himself and dangling a stuffed mouse in front of his cat's nose. Lilus stared at the window, not outside it, at it, at her reflection. Her eyes had turned brown again. Good. She didn't look demonic anymore. Jason was a nice guy, but sometimes, he could get a little rough. She didn't know what kind of boyfriend he'd be, but at the moment, she really didn't care. She was fed up with her pursuit on Shawn. If he wanted her to be his girlfriend, then he'd have to start doing a little on his part. She was finished.
The train chugged its way down the tracks, and soon, Lilus felt herself falling asleep against the window pane.