AN IMPORTANT EXPLANATION: This was not intended to be the last chapter of my story, but if you've read any of my other chapter stories you know I get bored. And I stop, wherever I am. Which is why I have stopped halfway through a scene. I couldn't even bring myself to finish it. So here it is. I couldn't even bother to find song lyrics. I suck right now. Thanks for reading.

The funny thing is I had a really great way of all the loose ends to tie up and everything to be explained and you'll never know MWAHAHAHA.

Chapter Seven

The week passed scarily quickly. Before anybody knew it, it was Friday morning and the weekend was almost upon them. Talk of the upcoming Quidditch trials seemed to be everywhere, with people discussing what position they were trialling for, if they were trialling at all and who they thought had the best chances. Nicholas, of everybody, seemed to be the most stressed. It was all he could talk about at breakfast.

"I was thinking, if we could just get a chance to maybe… lessen Al Potter's chances of getting seeker it could really go for us…" He was sitting with a rather big group today at the Ravenclaw table – since Lily had started sitting with them, she had drawn somewhat of a crowd. She sat beside him, her hand being cradled by Sid Flint, who was discussing a similar topic with Rogerson Nott and Togas Davis on his right; across from him, Hugo sat awkwardly beside Josie.

Nicholas' rant about the trials was drowned out by a large number of owls swooping down on the students eating breakfast, dropping letters from home down. Lily stared down at her plate as letters fell on everybody around her. Hugo ripped his open eagerly, his eyes scanning the page. Josie smiled into hers, Lorcan and Lysander read one together. Even Sid got a letter, though he scowled as he read his. Nicholas was the only one who remained passive as he read his. When he looked up, he saw Lily watching him.

"You don't have one?" he asked. Lily and Rogerson Nott were the only ones without.

She shook her head. "The only person at home is Dad, and he hardly writes. Plus, he knows I wouldn't read it anyway." Behind her, at the Gryffindor table, Al was collecting his own letter from his father. Lysander peered over Nicholas' shoulder and read his.

"Ha-ha! Your sister's still in love with me, then?" he asked with a stupid grin. Nicholas folded the letter and stored it in his pocket.

"Yeah, I think she's planning a June wedding. Come on – we should get a headstart if we're going to make it to Herbology."

The three of them departed. With no desire to hang around, the fifth years pulled themselves up and headed to their classes. For Lily, luckily, that was Defence Against the Dark Arts. As she slipped out of the Great Hall, her fingers interlocked with Sid's, her eyes flickered to the Gryffindor table. Rose was too busy reading her letter to glare at Lily as she left, suddenly feeling very sick.

Dear Hugo,

I hope you had a wonderful first week back. We've been missing Rose and you like crazy over here, it's certainly a change from the summer. Your father has been really busy over at the office, trying to split his time between work and the Wheezes, but he's doing really well. Things here are much the same, very relaxing. But I would love to hear how things are! Is Teddy settling in well? You've seen Hagrid, haven't you? Are you busy? Have you seen your friends? Tell me how everything is, and please tell me you're studying. OWL year is very important.

George wants you to pop in next Hogsmeade weekend. Be sure to write him when it is, he'll need to stock up.

I'll write to you later, and I do expect a reply this time, Hugo.

Give Lily our love,

Mum.

Hugo scrunched up the letter and shoved it into his pocket. He made a mental note to write a response in Ancient Runes. As he did so, he looked over at Lily walking beside him. She was so short, he almost missed her.

"You're shaking," he noted.

"What? No I'm not." She pressed her hands together to hide the fact that she was indeed shaking, and she knew it. She'd had the worst nightmare of them all the night before and could not erase the images it had imprinted in her head. She'd woken up shaking and sweating and silently screaming, and sat still and upright for almost an hour before trying to get some more sleep, but she couldn't. Which was why she was exhausted and shaking.

The nightmare had again been about the woman on fire, but it had been very different this time. She wasn't watching the woman from afar like she had been that night. She was right beside the woman. She was the woman with the long back hair, screaming and crying and begging for the other. And at the close range, she could feel the scalding heat and she could see everything so close. She could see the woman melting like a wax figure. She could see the hair on her eyelashes and her eyebrows singing until there was nothing. And she was screaming for the woman and beating out the fire with her hands; but for some reason, it didn't hurt, it only felt like she was beating at cool water. And then the man from the trees who'd thrown the dark mark into the sky was coming at her, raging, shouting at her and pointing his wand, and she couldn't understand why he was there, what he wanted, because he was talking in a language she didn't understand, and then he was Rose and she was screaming "How could you? How could you?" and Lily had no idea why she was screaming and not helping the woman on fire in front of her, and when she turned back to the burning body the woman was not the woman from before but it was Rose, Rose who was burning beneath her fingers, Rose was writhing and screaming and bald and red and black and bloody and her skin was falling off her and it was blistered and raw…

"There is definitely something wrong with you," Hugo said as they sat down. "I made like, three jokes in the last two minutes and you didn't laugh once. And they were good."

"Oh," she said, sitting on her hands as they started to shake more violently with the memory. "Sorry, I was distracted."

"Clearly," he said sourly.

Keeping up with Hugo's moods was too hard for Lily, so she'd given up long ago. He was a minefield, and since it became apparent that she was always stepping on mines, she'd decided to just run through the field and hope she didn't hit too many.

"OK," Professor Lupin started, clapping his hands together. "The Disarming Spell. What can anybody tell me about it?"

As someone raised their hand with an answer, Lily struggled to listen and not lose herself in the memory of the nightmare. But throughout the lesson she found herself slipping into it far too often. Twice while Teddy was talking did she find herself completely unsure of where she was, with her mouth clamped shut, holding in a scream. That was when she knew what she had to do. So when the bell rang, she didn't move.

"You coming or what?" Hugo asked as he put his things into his bags with the rest of the class. She shook her head.

"I have a headache. Tell Professor Flitwick I'm at the hospital wing, will you?"

Hugo looked worried, but nodded. "Maybe you're sick. That would explain why you're shaking. And pale. Here –" He started to move his hand towards her forehead, but she flicked it away.

"I'm fine, it's just a headache. Go before you're late," she snapped, and he filed out with the rest of the class. Lily waited until almost everybody was gone. Rogerson Nott was lingering at the back of the classroom, deliberating as he put his things in his bag. Deciding he would leave quickly, Lily took a deep breath, and said, "Teddy?"

At the same time, however, Rogerson Nott said: "A word, Professor?"

Teddy laughed and looked between them. "Classes only just started, you can't be lost already," he joked.

Lily looked at Rogerson and blushed with embarassment. He smiled. "You go," he said. "I'll wait outside."

Teddy leaned against his desk and crossed his arms. He looked so teacher-like, Lily almost had second thoughts. He looked concerned. "You are pale," he said quietly, almost to himself. "Shaking? Are you alright?"

Lily crossed the floor to him in three seconds and sat in the teacher's chair. He didn't tell her off as she pulled up her legs and tucked into herself. She didn't say anything for a little bit, just stared at her hands, which were indeed shaking. She took a deep breath.

"Teddy I need to tell you something," she said quickly. He turned around so he was facing her.

"Seems like it's a time for confessions," he mumbled. Lily pressed her lips together and nodded.

"Well, there's something I wanted to tell you." He waited. He didn't push her. He just grabbed a chair from a neary desk and pulled it in front of her. She stared at her fingers.

"When I was… out one night," she said, carefully weighing each word. "I was a little way from our house. And I saw something." And with careful thinking, she told Teddy everything. Every terrifying detail, right up to the part where the Aurors came. She even told him about the man who set the dark mark. She didn't mention her father coming, and just escaping him when she ran home. But when she was finished, she was crying. No surprise there. She didn't look up. She just looked at her still shaking fingers.

He said nothing for a very, very long time. She was scared to look up. Then he said, "And you still remember it? Vividly?"

She nodded, blinking back tears. "Remember at the Burrow, before school started? And we were eating and I remembered it then. And it made me sick." Her voice was hoarse. She didn't tell him about the nightmares, or the party.

"I saw you," he said quietly. "I just assumed it was nothing." She shook her head. "Lily, you have to tell Harry."

"No." This time her voice was firm. She looked up and met his eyes, her own flashing dangerously.

"Lily, this is – this is important information," he said. His eyes were a cool green today, as requested by a Gryffindor girl in her class. She found herself unable to meet them and looked away, studying the window to her right.

Telling Teddy had been a mistake. She could have dealt with it on her own. Now her dad would know – and ask awkward questions, and start watching her, acting like there was something wrong with her. She would be scrutinized. That was the last thing she wanted. On top of that, he would be mad she didn't tell him and hurt. And she'd have to talk to hundreds of people – healers and Aurors and the lot. She'd never hear the end of it. And that would not help her forget.

"I can't," she said sharply, standing up and grabbing her bag.

"Hey!" said Teddy, reaching out to grab her arm, but she pulled out of his grip and sprinted to the door. She rushed right past Nott, ignoring Teddy calling out behind her. She kept her head down and her hair curtaining her face, so nobody could see her eyes. She had nowhere to go, with no desire to go to the hospital wing. The corridors were empty.

She started to walk.

Dear Nicholas,

Hi. How are you. I want to right this letter because I wanted to talk to you. Things here are good. Mum is still drinking lots but that's ok. Alex is helping me to get good at spelling because there is a test at school soon. Dad keeps saying that if I don't get better he will leave this house and never come back. Mum keeps saying that he should take his hose with him. I don't know why he needs a hose. Nothing else has changed though. Sometimes Alex is really mean to me and I'm still not aloud outside in the daytime unless I am going to school because Mum says the naybors are crazy. They seem nice to me. I think I'm the one that's crazy.

I miss you and I want you to come home. Tell Lysander I said hi.

Love Cecelia.

Lunchtime came much too slowly for Nicholas. He found himself checking his watch four times in one lesson. It was lucky that the periods before and after lunch were free, when he could get a chance to reply to Cecelia. Lorcan peered over his shoulder as he read the letter on his way to the common room as he ate brownies sent by his own mother. Nicholas helped himself to one, disregarding the fact that it tasted rather funny. Luna's food always did taste exotic, usually because it contained something from some insect or plant that may or may not exist. Nicholas no longer questioned it. As always, they let Lysander answer the riddle and then settled themselves in their almost empty common room.

The boys settled themselves in a couch and pulled out their homework. They'd gotten heaps – three 15-inch essays and practice for Charms. Lorcan was finished his first essay for Arithmancy in half an hour, while Nicholas was barely five inches in. As he wrote, he found himself thinking about Lily. A moment later he found himself hating himself for thinking about Lily. But he did – he wondered. He wondered what made her tick. What made her so mysterious to him. And he wondered why he was thinking about her now.

He finished the essay and grabbed another piece of parchment. He had no time to think about Lily. He started to write.

Dear Cecelia,

I'm doing well. Life here is great. Tell Dad that if he thinks it's your fault, remind him who raised you. Tell him to limit himself to two girls a day, and that nobody's blocking the door. Tell Mum I asked her to stop drinking and that I love her. Alex is a prick, just ignore him or fight back. You're not crazy, Cee. It's not you, and it's not the neighbours. It's Mum, alright? Nothing's you.

Keep brushing up on that spelling. It's really coming along. Lysander sends his love.

I love you and I miss you too,

Love Nicholas.

"I'm going to the Owlery," he said finally as he wrote the final words of his letter. The boys didn't acknowledge his announcement, both of them heavily engrossed in their essays. Nicholas wasn't looking as he headed out through the door and right into Lily.

"What - ?" he asked, stopping short of banging into her and frowning. She gave the smallest smile. "Have you been waiting out here?"

She shrugged. "Not for long." Then she reached out and grabbed his hand, and started off towards the grounds. He followed, frowning but wordless.

Until they entered they entered the couryard, nobody spoke. The grounds only featured sixth and seventh years. "Aren't you supposed to be in class?" Nicholas asked.

"Yes." Nothing else. Still frowning with slight annoyance, Nicholas sighed. She stopped in the corner of the courtyard and sat down. Nicholas followed. He was about to ask her something when she explained. "I didn't feel like Herbology," she said. "I wanted to talk to you. So Neville thinks I'm in the hospital wing."

"Oh… Since when are you on first name basis with the Herbology teacher?" Nicholas said.

She just smiled. "I'm sorry to drag you out of your study session."

"I study too hard anyway." When she just laughed, he said, "You know, I can see why you're a Slytherin. Look at you, skiving classes, pulling sixth years away from their important study timetables - honestly, you're a menace." She laughed loudly, causing several looks to be shot their way. The laughter died down, and Nicholas stared at Lily, who was pointedly refusing to stare back. She pulled her legs to her chest and traced her finger on his leg.

"You know," she said quietly after a few minutes of unbroken silence. "Sometimes I think you're the only person who sees me." She avoided his eyes. Nicholas had nothing to say to that. He wanted to assure her he wasn't, but at the same time felt a swell of… some emotion that he could not quite understand with being the only person she believed to see her. "I mean, Hugo sees me like some supergirl. Who has everything and gets everything, you know? And Sid sees me as an easy shag to pull him up to the top of the food chain, even if I wouldn't touch him in a million years. And the twins see me as this fun little ball of energy who's always there for them to joke with. And to my brother I'm a nuisance and my cousin I'm a slut and to the entire school I'm perfect. And I don't know what I am to you, but I always thought you saw me as me." It was his turn for silence as her words sunk in. He focused on the feel of her small finger on the thigh of his pants as she traced the word me, over and over again.

She lifted her eyes to look into his, and he was stuck by how pretty they were. Big and hazel. He'd never looked before. "Oh," he said. She was clearly disappointed in his reaction, because she looked away and stared at a point on the other end of the courtyard. She pulled her legs up tighter and sighed.

"My mum left," she said sharply, as though desperate to prove that she was not how she seemed. But he already knew she wasn't.

"I know," he said coolly. She frowned.

"How?"

"It was in the papers, when it happened. It was huge. Everybody went crazy… didn't you know?"

"Yeah, I did. But I thought maybe you were too young."

He shrugged. "I'm sorry."

"You didn't send her away," she said, smiling weakly. She went back to tracing, but this time on her own leg. Silence ensued, like all their conversations, and was broken by her. "When she left," she started, and Nicholas had to strain to hear, "I stopped talking. Just because I could. And I thought that maybe if I stopped talking to anybody she'd come back. I was seven, it was pretty logical for me. But she didn't come back. And I didn't speak for a month. It freaked my whole family out. Not a word. My dad was an emotional wreck, you should have seen him. He couldn't keep it out of the papers. Eventually I started again, but I never talked as much as I used to. And lately I've started saying less and less, and I don't know why. And nobody's noticed." She stopped, and stared hard at her leg.

"I noticed," Nicholas said quietly. She looked up and met his eyes with a small smile.

"Right, because you're the wallflower, aren't you? You notice everything." She smiled wider this time and then pulled herself up. For a moment, he was tempted to jump up too and kiss her straight on the lips, but the opportunity passed when she gave a small wave and walked away.

The first thing Ginny noticed when she opened her eyes was that this was not a home. She was surrounded by white walls and she was lying in a very comfortable bed, not to mention feeling like she could run a marathon. There was noise all around her, and as her eyes surveyed the room, she realised she had not been alone for long. The chair beside her was sunken, like it had recently been sat on for a very long time. The curtain was pulled around her, but she could see two pairs of feet just beneath the edge. It was not hard to tell where she was: St Mungo's. Oh, she knew this place well. Sickeningly well.

"… feet and then you can discharge at your will." She could make out voices very close by, and assumed they belonged to owners of the pairs of feet. The first was unfamiliar; the second, however was not.

"Thanks. When will that be?"

"When she wakes up will be a start. There's no lasting damage, no reason to keep her here. If you needed to get out of here in a hurry I'm sure we could wake her magically, it's not advised, but under the circumstances – "

"No, she'll be right."

There was a pause, and Ginny jumped for it, calling out, "Who?"

The curtain swung back, revealling a tall, white-haired unfamiliar healer and Harry, looking as he had the night she had last seen him.

"You," he said bluntly. She could not make out the expression on his face. He came over to her bedside and sunk into the seat. "How are you feeling?"

She pulled herself into a sitting position. "Fine," she said. She addressed the healer. "Discharged, you say?"

"When you're up to it," the healer smiled kindly. Ginny nodded as though absorbing this information.

"Right. Well, I feel great, so does that mean I can – "

"Slow down there," Harry said with a nervous laugh as Ginny tried to jump out of bed. He pushed her back in. The feeling of his hand on her shoulder almost felt like an electric shock.

"I feel fine," she said forcefully, giving Harry a sharp look. He gave her one back.

"Yes, well, if that's the case then you can be discharged this afternoon," the healer said. "It was a simple case of exhaustion and dehydration, probably shock, too. No long term effects, so you're free to go. You'll be checking her out?" he asked Harry. He nodded curtly, and the healer walked away with a small wave.

Ginny said nothing to Harry. It was funny how just moments ago, she'd had a thousand things to say, and now he was here, she didn't want him to be anywhere near her.

"You'll be staying at Grimmauld Place," Harry said. "You'll be seeing a healer twice a week. That is, if you plan on staying. Someone will be with you at all times. Alright?"

Ginny crossed her arms. "I'm not a child, Harry, I don't need to be babysat."

Harry pressed his lips into a thin line. "It's not for your protection."

Breakfast was a fast affair on Saturday morning. Everybody was at their assigned house tables, rather than all mixed up. This was probably because they were all crowded around their Quidditch captains, firing questions and hearing about conditions and asking their classmates what position they were trying out for. Lily sat with Josie and chewed her toast, listening to Scorpius dribble off facts and guidance for the afternoon. Slytherin trials were just after lunch – not the best time, but at least it wasn't at four, like Hufflepuff.

Lily had done her best to avoid any drama – she couldn't take it. But it followed her nonetheless. Arabella was still mad at her for the hookup, since she had hoped it would be her. She was public enemy number one with the seventh years, who considered Rose and Scorpius to be the golden couple. Scorpius would not look her in the eye, though that was nothing new. Hugo was pissed because he was Hugo; she hadn't said a word to Teddy, and he hadn't chased her up on the issue; nor had she looked at Nicholas since their heart-to-heart the day before, which had earned her a lovely Friday night detention from Professor Longbottom, who realised she was not at the hospital wing after he made Josie go and check on her. Al still seemed adamant on the fact that she didn't exist while he was at school at Sid was being rather distant lately. Basically, she didn't have a friend in the world.

Which was something she was not used to.

"You trying out?" Albus asked Rose as he shovelled cereal into his mouth.

"Yeah. I put my name down, didn't you see?"

"Oh, right, yeah." He stood up, addressing the whole table. "Gryffindors, listen up! Those of you wanting to try out for the Quidditch team need to be on the pitch by 10:55!" A murmur spread throughout the table as Al sat down and brushed his hands.

"How the fuck did you get Head and Captain?" Rose asked grudgingly.

"Skill, and awesomeness. Something you sorely lack, I'm sorry to say. Pass the marmite? Listen, here's something I wanted to tell you – I was talking to Scorpius last night and I really think you should –"

"Don't."

"Listen, Rosie, this is getting ridiuclous – "

"I don't need a lecture, Al. You're on my side or you're not. What I do need is for you to leave me alone and stop hounding me. This is my fight."

"What happened to 'I need you on my side?'"

"What happened to 'I'm always on your side?'"

"I am!"

"Doesn't look like it!"

"Fine. Just keep me out of this pathetic little fight of yours." With that, he grabbed his bag and headed out of the Great Hall. Rose slumped angrily in his absence. She was not alone for long; suddenly another red haired girl joined her, smiling brightly.

"Morning, sunshine." Rose glowered at Lily, not bothering to respond. "Listen, Rose – "

"No."

"What?"

"You said 'listen.' I said no."

"OK. Whatever. I just wanted to say I'm sorry."

"You have," Rose said coolly. "Several times. But I don't forgive you."

Lily rolled her eyes in exasperation. "Come on, Rose, it was a kiss, not like a shag or anything – "

"You're not helping your case."

"You're killing me," Lily said, rubbing her temples.

Rose's lips twisted into a snide smile. "How can I? To me, you're aready dead." Feeling father pleased with herself, Rose watched Lily walk away, clearly hurt.

She didn't stick around and wait for Lily to come back with some great remark; she jumped up and started down to the pitch to kill time. Fighting with everyone had it's drawbacks; she usually liked being by herself, but now all she wanted was company. Being with Scorpius used to mean she never went without it, so it was hard to get used to being alone.

The Ravenclaws were trialling when she got there, like she assumed. She sat on the stands with the rest of the crowds from different houses who had come down to watch the scene. And just her luck – on the other side of the pitch, with another group, was Lily.

She waved. Rose did not.

And that's all folks! I thought I'd publish it unfinished or not, you know? For shits and gigs. I hope you had a nice time reading. It was nice writing it.