Lucy was quiet as ever on the car ride to Kings Cross. She was squeezed in tightly next to Dominique who was gesturing wildly and talking much too loudly. If she really wanted to, she would have told the lot of them to shut the bloody hell up, but Lucy liked to keep her inside thoughts inside. She wasn't the type to spoil the fun no matter how much she wanted to. Uncle George always was teasing Dad about that, about how he used to be such a spoil sport, how he always turned his nose up at everything that had anything to do with fun. Lucy couldn't imagine her father being that way. He was always one to listen quietly and smile with an uncertainty, occasionally adding a clever comment or a joke that caused everyone to chuckle appreciatively. That was her father, not that cold stranger that Uncle George said he used to be.
In any case, Lucy didn't want to be that person, so she kept her mouth shut at all times. And so she sat, gazing out the window as Dominique continued to knock her in the ribs with her elbow as she exclaimed that The Chudley Cannons were "of course better than sodding Puddlemere United!" Freddie and James just laughed at her and continued to poke and prod, which only made Dominique all the more exasperated. Lucy paid them no mind.
Instead she dreamed of Hogwarts, and how she longed to be back. She couldn't wait to shed her cardigan and her pencil skirt, and change into her school uniform, cinching the Ravenclaw tie tight around her throat. She couldn't wait to finally be free from her little sister Molly who was constantly pestering her. Molly was sorted into Gryffindor house last year, and it was surprising how relieved Lucy was that she didn't have to deal with her on a daily basis. Instead Molly and Roxanne banded together and pestered Teddy and Dominique, thank Merlin.
Lucy could finally be alone, left to her books. She and Martha could sit by the fire and study in the quiet of the Ravenclaw common room. She could gaze dreamily at Professor Longbottom during Herbology, and stay up late in the library munching on biscuits. It was all she wanted. The long, dusty days at Hogwarts, where no one would bother her in her stacks of books and homework.
She was startled out of her day dreaming when James lurched forward and crashed into Lucy, his head smashing into the bridge of her nose, snapping her large rimmed glasses cleanly in half. Everyone laughed, not noticing that Lucy had been wounded in the process.
"Merlin's beard James, calm down!" Aunt Ginny called from the front seat. She was vaguely amused but clearly not taking any of their foolishness.
James just ruffled the top of his messy haired head and grinned wickedly at Dominique, who had been the one to shove James into Lucy's lap.
Lucy held her broken glasses in her hand miserably, but kept her mouth shut. She instead smoothed the hair out of her eyes, and gave off the air that she didn't even notice what had just occurred. The rest of the way to Kings Cross she squinted out the window.
When the magically enlarged car stuffed with Weasleys and Potters pulled up to the curb, everyone bailed out as quick as could be, unloading their suitcases, their owls, their broomsticks and everything in between and rushed off, while Aunt Hermione parked the car.
Uncle Ron and Uncle Harry hustled Albus and Rose at the front, so they could be the first through the barriers, as they would be first years this year and hadn't a clue where to go or how to get there. Everyone else was stuffed in the middle, jogging along, huffing and puffing with all their luggage. Lucy quietly strode in the back of the pack. She preferred to stay out of the hustle and bustle. This was the beginning of her third year. She was a veteran at this point, and knew how to best strategize her entry onto Platform 9 ¾ without getting in the way. This strategy involved avoiding all the shenanigans that her family produced and going at her own pace behind everyone else.
A few minutes later, everyone ran through the barrier between platforms 9 and 10 in single file. Lucy approached the brick wall at a brisk walk and just as she was about to pass through, her glasses tumbled out of her hand onto the ground. She turned back, only to find that Teddy had already scooped them up. He shook his mousey brown hair out of his eyes and smiled.
"Here, wouldn't want you to lose- what the hell?" He said, starting to hand them back before realizing that they were so severely snapped. Lucy started to reach for them, but Teddy waved her hand away, fished his wand out of his back pocket and whispered "reparo", successfully reassembling her glasses. He handed them to her with a grin.
"There. All fixed." He said, eyes twinkling, before sprinting through the barrier. Lucy stood for a minute, a light blush tingeing her cheeks. She tucked a stray hair behind her ear.
How foolish of her. The moment anyone spoke to her, even someone she'd known as long as she'd known Teddy, she couldn't help but get bashful. She didn't even say thank you.
Slightly ashamed, she strode through the barrier, glaring at her shiney toed flats. Why she had to act so daft she didn't know, why she had to be struck dumb by any attractive boy who passed in front of her, she didn't know. What was the matter with her? She'd stopped having a crush on Teddy so very long ago.