Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, or any of the characters you recognize from the books and movies. I do, however, own Lila and this plot.

Giving Up

Chapter Three

"Some people wear their smile like a disguise. Those people who smile a lot, watch their eyes. I know 'cause I'm like that a lot. You think everything's okay, and it is...'till it's not." - Ani Difranco.

Everything was finally calming down. Well, I was calming down, at least. I was proud to say that I only had one breakdown/cry-fest since the day I was making Remus's Wolfsbane potion, and I had even said something nice to Tonks. I wasn't sure what it was, exactly, probably something about a blouse she was wearing or a jumper. Just something with a forced smile to prove to myself that I could do it. I could be a nice person even when I wanted to jump forward in rage and perhaps punch her lights out.

Molly, however, didn't seem to think everything was calming down. On one occasion, I had been left alone in the living room with Remus and Tonks, only because Molly had been forced away by a prank Fred and George had pulled on Ginny.

It had been an awkward minute full of awkward smiles and awkward phrases about the weather, though I was proud to say that I didn't have a break down. And despite my fantasies, I didn't pour a glass of water over Tonks' ridiculously pink head. Molly had come racing back into the room, looking around wildly as if expecting a fight to have broken out. She looked rather silly, and Tonks looked positively startled, possibly because she was the only one in the room who didn't know why Molly was worried.

But Remus (that ever-observant man) seemed to catch onto her suspicions immediately and gave me a pitying look.

Everything had been absolutely fine until that. It was that that had set me off and all of a sudden everything that had been so…okay, was suddenly not. How dare he flip everything around and suddenly make me feel like everything wasn't okay? How dare he give me that look, as if all of this wasn't his fault and that he was a poor bystander, feeling sorry for me?

I could see it in his face and all of these wonderful lies I had surrounded myself with to make me feel better came crashing down the moment I read, 'Poor Lila' all over his frown.

Tonks didn't seem to understand what had just happened in that split second that Molly came back and everything came tumbling down, because she lead Remus out of the room by his hand and gave me what I hated to say was a genuine smile and goodbye.

Ever since then, things had most definitely not been okay.

I had done some miraculous dives behind doors and into closets to avoid being in the same area (specifically, alone) with either Remus or…his fiancée.

On one of these occasions, I had been unlucky enough to have dived right into a plot being cooked up by Fred and George. Well, not dived, so much as clumsily slid across the floor on my butt and into the broom closet, leaving my bag and books in the room.

My elbow hurt to bloody hell but I didn't dare say anything or even breathe because I was positive that Tonks – just on the other side of the too-thin piece of wood – would hear and know that I was avoiding her like a plague.

Holding my elbow and biting my lip to keep from making any noise, I saw the slightest a movements out of the corner of my eye. It was dark enough that I could have easily missed it, but something about wanting to avoid someone so badly seemed to push my senses into high gear. I heard Tonks's footsteps leave the room (and clumsily kick something in the hallway), and finally let out the breath of air that I was holding in.

"Well, hello there, Miss Roverton." Even having seen movement, I still jumped and smashed my elbow on the coat rack beside me. Yelping and holding my injured arm, I craned my neck to get a better look at Fred and George who were crouched in the corner of the broom closet and leaning over a suspiciously bubbling cauldron.

"Merlin, boys," I said in a quick breath. "Don't call me Miss Roverton, it makes me feel old." I huffed but couldn't help but smile. It was a rare occurrence to stumble upon a prank in the makings and it made me feel like I was at Hogwarts again, running into the wrong room at the wrong time to see Sirius and James (and sometimes Peter and…Remus) getting ready for the prank of a lifetime. The boys both looked like they had been crammed in this uncomfortably small broom closet for a while now and were awkwardly stretching in the tiny area.

My interest only peaked when a particularly large bubble let loose a spray of potion, and the two boys leaped away as if it would burn them. One – I could never be absolutely sure which – quickly reached over and turned the heat down, then grabbed a spoon and began stirring the potion.

"So, what are you cooking up?" I shook out my arm now that my elbow wasn't throbbing and got off my butt to brush the dust off my jeans.

One turned and gave me a cheeky smile. "Now, now, Lila. We don't give information up for free." I quirked an eyebrow at his tone and immediately knew which of the two I was dealing with.

"What sort of information are you looking for from me?" I felt the need to ask, even though we had been through this many times before.

George's grin widened and Fred finished stirring the potion. "Your age for what potion we're making."

"Never!" I cried out dramatically, crossing my arms and turning my face away from them only to peak back a second later when the bubbling of the potion increased. "It's never polite to ask a lady her age." And yet, it was one piece of information that George had been after for a while now – though I really had no idea why. Still! It was the principle of the thing that kept me from blurting out my age.

Fred tapped the edge of the cauldron with his wand. Ugh! From the start those boys knew that my weakness was potions. Curiosity almost (almost!) dragged me over to the edge of that cauldron but I stayed back, vaguely aware that Fred was snickering.

"What's keeping me from going to Molly?"

"You're not the tattling-type." George stated this with a careless flick of his wand and for once since I had noticed the potion, my attention went somewhere else.

"Oh, really? And how do you know that?"

"Remus told us stories about the Marauders years ago. He said that you usually knew about them and always threatened to tell," Fred said, rolling his eyes.

"But you didn't. It's pretty much an empty threat," George finished with a knowing smile.

I groaned and realized like a slap to my face that that was the first time that someone had mentioned Remus in the past few weeks and I hadn't cringed.

"So, the offer is up in the air."

"Your age, for the name of this potion." At some point, one had stopped talking and the other had taken over.

"Just the name?" I scoffed, ready to turn away again and leave the broom closet…and perhaps find Molly just to prove that my threats could be something other than empty. "What good's the name of it if I don't know what it does?"

One of them sighed. "The woman knows her stuff," one muttered.

"Fine," George said, briefly and dramatically lowering his head as if in defeat. "You first, though."

I contemplated revealing my real age, or simply saying something ridiculous like ten or one hundred and seven, but if they were going to be honest about their potion…well, I couldn't mess with that. The mixture turned a vicious red and began bubbling again.

"Thirty-five." I said it quickly.

"Trebble Serum," Fred answered just as quickly.

"We slip this into someone's drink and they'll be singing like a bird until the effects wear off." George smirked and stirred the potion with a wooden spoon, the faint light that was shining from Fred's wand casting an eerie light over his face.

"How long until it wears off?"

"Several hours, at least," Fred answered with a simple shrug to show that he wasn't entirely sure. "But for kids, it'll wear off faster than adults. Something about their metabolism being faster."

"Do me a favor?" I asked, maneuvering around so that I was kneeling down and able to get a good look at the potion. It was turning darker and darker, meaning that it would be ready within the hour.

"Depends on what it is." George glanced up and answered my mischievous smile with one of his own.

"Some people are coming over for dinner. Give it to Tonks." George gave me a small salute and nod, and I had to laugh at this. It felt like I was in school all over again, getting petty revenge on students who wouldn't know what hit them. I left the broom closet, wiping the dust off my knees and feeling quite satisfied with myself. Whatever guilt that tried to drag me down was promptly gagged and tied and thrown out for the moment.

One of my darkest secrets (kept from the twins, I mean) had been revealed, which wasn't too much of a loss. But my gain would be brilliant, and all I had to do was wait until dinner.

A dinner, which wouldn't come fast enough in my opinion.

I glanced at the clock on the wall – beside the classic Weasley one that told us who was safe instead of the time – and was counting the hours down like I was waiting for a bomb to go off.

And I sort of was, I thought with a smirk. A bomb that would go off in a flurry of embarrassing lyrics.

"You're in awfully good spirits," Molly noticed, though she sounded more suspicious than happy about it.

"Yeah, I don't know why," I answered with a smile that only served to make her frown deepen. She handed me a freshly scrubbed plate and I dried it quickly and set it in the proper cupboard.

A few yells could be heard from outside and if I craned my neck enough, I could look out of the window over the sink and see a few people up on their brooms. I shivered at the thought of playing around outside in this weather – though I did consider it when I was debating what to do to pass the time until the bomb…ahem, plan was executed.

"Is something up?" Molly asked slowly, and I knew she was very off putted by my good mood. And she probably had good reasons too, seeing as I had been either diving into closets or out of rooms and generally been in a (I have to be honest, here) bitchy mood.

"No." I tried to tone down my good spirits. "It looks chilly out," I commented, looking out the window to see a few of her kids huddled around each other in the middle of the large field. "Should they be wearing more jumpers to stay warm?"

It was not a proud way to get the attention off of myself, but it worked like a charm and in a flash Molly – soapy wet hands, and all – was rushing out into the yard with an armful of sweaters and coats to pass around.

I glanced up at the wall again and began humming a tune I had heard before, but couldn't remember where I had heard it from. Just a few hours, now, I thought with a smile and couldn't help but add a little skip in my step as I moved to put a mug into the cupboard.

Beta: Sunshine after the Rain,

Song: Cuckoo by Adam Lambert….because clearly, Lila is crazy for pranking Tonks at this moment.