Authors note: So this is a chapter about Hugo and Lily. In the first chapter it was kind of briefly mentioned that they both have crushes on someone, so that's what this chapter is gonna focus on. It's Hugo's first crush, and let's just say he's kind of freaking out. Lily is cooler about the whole thing. Anyways, read on and I hope you enjoy!

Disclaimer: JKR owns the Wizarding World and Hogwarts and (most of) these characters, not me.

Hugo and Lily's Secret

or

A Whole New Year

Hugo Remus Weasley was thinking about girls. The thoughts had started back up about a week ago, when his trip back to Hogwarts became imminent. Going back to Hogwarts meant seeing Ellie Zeller again. And seeing Ellie Zeller again meant... he didn't know what it meant. He didn't know how he felt about her, or how he was supposed to feel about her, or what any of it was supposed to mean.

Girls hadn't used to be a thing he thought about. And they didn't seem to be a thing that any of his friends were thinking about. Ellie Zeller was the first crush he had ever had, and felt nervous even categorising her as such. How would he know if he had a crush on her if he didn't even know what a crush felt like?

But when he saw her on the train back to school- the very first moment he saw her- somewhere deep inside of him he knew. He knew what a crush was because he knew that he had one. On her.

She was wearing Muggle clothes, jean shorts and a light pink t-shirt. Her light blonde hair was to-her-waist long, and it was the most beautiful hair he'd ever seen. She'd gotten a bit tan over the summer- or as tan as a blonde girl can get- and had a light dusting of freckles over her nose. She had smiled at him, with new perfectly straight teeth, courtesy of Wizarding World orthodontics, fixing her teeth without the braces that a Muggle girl would have had to have. She was a little bit taller than him, he noticed to his dismay, but it wouldn't deter him.

She was just so pretty. And nice. And he liked her a lot. And he had absolutely no clue what to do about it. What does a boy do when he feels this way about a girl? Asking her out would just be weird. Besides, he had no idea how to even go about such a thing.

So, for now, he would just admire her from a distance. In anguish.

This is what Hugo was thinking about when he woke up on his first day of school. He sat up in his four-poster bed, and was confused for a moment about where he was. Then he heard the snores of his roommate and best friend Martin Creevy, and he remembered. Hogwarts. First day of school. Ellie. The thoughts appeared in this order.

Lorcan and Lysander (the twins) were both up already, as they had the same sleeping patterns as each other and often woke before the sun rose. Lorcan was tinkering with some Muggle gadget in the middle of the floor, as he was oft prone to do, and Lysander was singing loudly in the shower. You could barely hear him, but the fact that you could hear him at all through the closed and (practically) sound-proof door, meant that he was singing very loudly.

Hugo sat up and made sure that the rest of his roommates were accounted for. Martin Creevy- snoring. Cameron Clearwater- rifling through his trunk for something. Cooper Fabian- most likely somewhere in that lump of blankets on his bed. Andrew (Drew) Landon- lying on his bed (awake and already in his school robes) and tossing up a little golden snitch and catching it again.

At least Hugo wasn't the last one to get up. More often than not he was the last one to wake in the morning. He sometimes even slept through breakfast and Lily or Martin would have to come up to the room and poke him awake before first class. It must have been the first day nerves that had him up before at least a few of the others.

Not that he really had anything to be nervous about. He already knew a majority of the professors and most of his classmates. His biggest concern was, for obvious reasons, the fact that he was going to see Ellie Zeller again. Soon.

He rose from his bed and went about his normal morning routine, which only took three or so minutes if he didn't have to take a shower. He was totally dressed in his uniform and ready to go before any of his still-sleeping roommates had woken, so he joined Lorcan on the floor.

"What are you working on?" he asked, and Lorcan didn't look up as he answered.

"Just trying to sort out my computer. This happens every time I come back to Hogwarts. Have to do all kinds of adjustments to get around this magic interference with the system."

Hugo pretended to understand what he was talking about. He knew there was a way to get around the anti-tech magic in place at Hogwarts, but it was super complicated and required a some really advanced technical knowledge which Lorcan possessed, and Hugo definitely did not.

Lorcan was really smart about stuff like that. He was super interested in Muggle culture and was always going on and on about some kind of new Muggle technology. He was a bit of a dork, and overly passionate in a way that made people perceive him as weird. Both the Scamander boys were like that. Not so weird that you would avoid them, but weird enough that mean kids wouldn't hesitate to make fun of them.

In fact, their strange mannerisms and obsessions often distracted from the fact that both boys were really quite handsome, with sandy blonde hair and greenish-blue eyes. A fact that was not lost on Lily Potter.

Hugo knew about Lily's crush on Lysander, just like she knew about his crush on Ellie. He had caved and told her over the summer, on one of those nights his family had spent at her house. The two of them had been sent to bed around midnight, seeing as they were only thirteen, while the rest of the family (even Rose and Al- unfair!) stayed up and talked around the backyard bonfire. He was sleeping on the floor of her room, but both of them were on a sugar high from all the s'mores they had downed and were refusing, on principle, to go to sleep.

They were discussing going back to Hogwarts, and Lily had casually asked if he fancied anybody- most likely trying to bring it up as a subject so she could disclose the information that she, in fact, fancied somebody. Hugo had denied it at first, but he had flushed with embarrassment, as he was always doing, and had given himself away.

"You do!" Lily had gasped, jumping up and down at this new information.

"I don't!" Hugo once again insisted, but it was no use. She was going to have her way, and he was going to tell her.

"Who is it?" she pressed him, moving closer.

"Even if there was someone, I wouldn't tell you!" he said, but neither of them believed him. He wasn't exactly known for having an "iron will."

"Oh, come on!" she exclaimed, and, seeing her opportunity to bring the conversation around to where she'd originally intended it to go, continued, "I'll tell you who I fancy if you tell me who you do."

"Wait, you fancy someone?" he asked, completely surprised by this, though he really shouldn't have been. Lily Potter was secretly a romantic at heart. Plus, she was a thirteen-year-old girl.

"Kind of," she said, not wanting it to seem serious- which really it wasn't, though it felt that way to her.

"Who?" he asked, hoping to distract her from his secret. To no avail.

"Nuh-uh, mate. You're not getting off that easily. You have to tell me who you fancy!" she insisted, and he blushed again. He couldn't seem to stop.

"I'll tell you if you tell me," he wagered, and she chewed over the repercussions.

"I shouldn't have to go first! I asked you first!" she complained, and he saw some reason in this.

"Well how about if I guess it?"

"You won't be able to guess it," she argued, knowing that her crush was a little on the strange side.

"20 questions, then?" he asked, and she brightened at this idea.

"Ok!"

"Ok, first question. Is it a boy?" he asked, smiling playfully. She glared at him and swatted him on the arm.

"Yes, it's a boy!"

"Ok, then. No need to get so defensive, I just had to make sure. Second question: is he in our year?"

"Yes."

"Our house?"

"Yes."

"Ok, so that narrows it down a bit. Is it one of my roommates?" She hesitated for a second, knowing that once she disclosed this, there would only be a few people he had to go through before he guessed it.

"Yes."

"Martin?" he asked, afraid that she would declare that, yes, she had a crush on his (other) best mate.

"Ew. No."

"Martin's not ew!" Hugo retaliated, and Lily laughed.

"Yes he is!"

"Well if it's not him, then who is it?!"

"Keep guessing!"

"Cameron Clearwater?"

"No."

"Drew Landon?"

"No way."

"Well it's definitely not Cooper."

"Definitely not," she agreed.

"Well then who does that leave? The twins?" At this she actually blushed. He'd guessed every single one of his other roommates before he got to them, that's how outlandish he thought it was. He saw her blush and was surprised, but he finally understood. "Seriously? The twins?"

"Well... not both of them..." she said sheepishly, embarrassed now.

"Oh my god, really? Which one?!" At this point, she was a little sick of all the guessing, plus she was worried if she made him continue to guess that he would, again, pick the wrong one. So she figured she ought to just tell him. But, as you may know if you've ever done this kind of thing before, it isn't all that easy to just admit it to someone like that.

"Lysander," she muttered, and even though she was very quiet and mumbly, he still heard her.

"You fancy Lysander Scamander?" he asked incredulously. She was starting to regret wanting to tell him.

"Thanks for all the support, Hugh," she said, upset with his reaction to this. She wouldn't have been like this if he had gone first.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," he apologised, seeing that she was getting upset, "I support you, Lil! I was just surprised, that's all. And I'm not sure I totally get it."

"Surprised me too, believe me," she admitted, but she didn't elaborate. She wasn't sure she could put into words exactly what she felt for Lysander. She just knew that one day, he'd seemed... different to her. It was like all of a sudden he was more than just her goofy, weird friend who never failed to make her laugh. Instead, he was this boy whose mere presence could make her heart beat faster, and whose silly little comments stayed with her all day and halfway through the night. He was the boy who popped into her thoughts constantly, especially when she was trying to focus on something else.

But none of this could she explain to Hugo. It was too embarrassing. So instead she switched the subject back to him. "Now... who do you fancy?"

"Guess," Hugo said, and Lily considered protesting, but knew that Hugo wasn't going to tell her outright.

"Fine." So the guessing went quite the same way. She was a girl. She was in their year. She was in their house. She was Lily's roommate. In fact, their situations were very similar. She wasn't Caitlin Fawcett, and she wasn't Aimee Weissman.

"Ellie Zeller?" Lily asked, knowing almost immediately that this time she'd guessed it right. Hugo blushed and she giggled. "Aww, Hugh, that's so cute! She's great!" See? Lily was much more cool about this kind of thing. She didn't make a face or say "Seriously? Her?" She was completely nice and supportive about it.

Ever since that night Hugo had regretted telling her. His crush was the embarrassing kind of thing that he didn't really want anyone to know about, even if it was his best friend, Lily, who really did totally support the whole thing. He wished he could be as cool with her feelings about Lysander, but it made him unfortunately uncomfortable. Even sitting there with Lorcan, he was thinking about it.

Did she really find him attractive? Lorcan and Lysander looked almost exactly the same, but you could tell the difference between them because Lysander's mop of sandy blonde hair was a bit longer and always messier than his brother's. Both boys really were handsome, but in a secretive kind of way that you almost didn't notice. Until you did. And, now, because of Lily, Hugo found himself noticing it. Gross.

He moved away from Lorcan then, set on focusing on something else. Something less weird and altogether uncomfortable (like his cousin liking Lysander Scamander).

Once his (other) best friend Martin woke up, he waited for him to get ready, and they made their way down to the common room together. There he met Lily, who was locked in a game of Wizard's chess with their older cousin, Roxanne. Roxanne was very good at Wizard's chess, and Lily was very competitive, so the game was bound to be intense.

"Hi, Hugh!" Roxanne greeted him, but Lily didn't look up from the board. She was making an important move, though she was bound to lose pretty badly, so it probably wouldn't matter. Lily's roommate, Caitlin, was also there, but Ellie was nowhere in sight (thank goodness).

"Hello Hugo! Hi, Martin!" Caitlin called to them, and they took seats next to her on the nearby couch. "Can you believe we're back at Hogwarts?! I can't even tell you how much I missed my bed."

"Me too," Martin agreed. They went on like this, chatting about the start of the new school year and what classes they were taking and how much they'd missed everyone over the summer. Simple stuff like that.

Meanwhile, Lily was letting her competitive side come out. She absolutely hated to lose, and she hated when things didn't go her way. Roxanne was simply more experienced (and better) than her at Wizard's chess. No one saw this ending well, and Hugo wondered why on earth Roxanne had agreed to this in the first place.

People began to gather around to watch, including Roxanne's partner in crime, James, and her boyfriend, Grayson Macmillan, who had just emerged from the stairway to the boy's dormitories. A few of the new first years, moving in packs and looking bright-eyed and innocently excited, noticed the commotion and gathered around too. Soon enough, half the Gryffindor common room was gathered around the board, watching Lily get her butt kicked in Wizard's chess.

The older students, with the exception of James, who was feeling rather conflicted, where all adamantly supporting Roxanne. The younger kids were cheering for Lily. The first years didn't even know what was going on, but they looked like they were having a great time cheering the young Potter girl on.

Lily was so wrapped up in the game that she didn't even notice when Lysander Scamander showed up, his blonde hair darkened to brown from his shower. Hugo, on the other hand, was fairly uninterested watching the drama unfold, seeing as the game looked like a repeat of the same one he'd seen a hundred times at home. With his family, if it wasn't Quidditch, it was Wizard's chess. So, of course, he was very very aware when Ellie Zeller entered the room. He could feel himself blushing just at the sight of her, and suddenly felt like he very much needed to get out of there.

"Hey, Mart, let's go to breakfast," he tugged on his friends sleeve, and Martin shoved him off.

"Hold on a minute, mate. I want to see who wins."

"C'mon, Martin! You already know who wins. I'm hungry and I want to get my timetable." Hugo wasn't a very good liar and his best friend saw right through him. He knew that Hugo had some other reason for wanting to leave, and though he couldn't guess what it was, he decided to be a good friend and go along with him.

"Okay," he consented, and so they pushed their way around the crowd of people towards the portrait hole. Caitlin, who they had been sitting next to and talking with, felt abandoned (and wasn't too interested in the chess match either), so she followed after them.

Breakfast in the castle was served on a come-and-go type schedule. It wasn't the formal school-wide occasion that dinner was. Students woke at different times, so the breakfast food at the tables was constantly replenishing itself for the new arrivals. Breakfast ended at 10 o'clock. Sleep any later than that, you either had to go without breakfast, or head down to the kitchens to beg and/or bribe the house elves.

When they arrived, breakfast was already in full swing. Caitlin led them immediately over to their mutual friend, Drew Landon (who she loved to flirt with, though it was never clear if she actually fancied him or not).

"Drew!" she cried, plopping down next to him and throwing her arms around his shoulders.

"Catie!" he exclaimed back, using the excited voice that he only used when she was around. Martin rolled his eyes as he and Hugo sat down on the other side of the table. "Where's Li-Lu?" Drew asked, using the silly nickname their friends had come up for Lily Luna.

He got three answers at the same time: "Losing a game of Wizard's Chess." "Having her honor challenged by her hot cousin." "Fighting to the death with Roxanne."

He understood immediately. They all knew how seriously Lily took any kind of competition.

Since it was the first day of school, it was all-you-can-eat anything-you-could-possibly-want breakfast day. A majority of their fellow Gryffindors were just stuffing themselves with ice cream. Hugo went for the classic double chocolate chip pancake option (with a healthy side of ice cream, of course).

Lily showed up about half an hour later, when the four of them were all finishing up, with Lysander Scamander on her right and Ellie Zeller on her left. She had her head held high, but Hugo could tell by her demeanor that she'd lost the game. She wasn't whooping and laughing and smiling like she would have been if she had won. Well, she was laughing, actually. At something Lysander had said, by the looks of it. When she spotted her friends, she linked her arm through Lysander's, and then through Ellie's, and steered them over towards the table. She made it look so easy. So... natural.

Then again, Lily was a people person. And Hugo definitely was not. Without her guidance, actually, he probably wouldn't have as many friends as he had. All of the friends he'd made, he'd made with her help. Once he got to know them, of course, he was comfortable around them and he didn't feel shy or nervous. But until then, he kind of leaned on Lily for support.

Once she sat down with them at the table she immediately started talking, telling some story about the time she helped her brother plan this elaborate prank on their dad. It was a story Hugo had heard before, many times. But the rest of them were really intrigued by what she was saying. As usual, when Lily Potter started talking, it was like gravity pulled towards her. Like she was the sun and everyone else was just one of her planets.

It was a little bit because she was Harry Potter's daughter, and she was famous (by association). But it was also a little bit because she was Lily, and she was beautiful and confident and funny and cool. Everybody liked Lily, they couldn't help themselves. They were also equally intimidated by her, which she very much enjoyed and took advantage of. Hugo often felt like he was nothing more than Lily's sidekick.

This bothered him a little bit, as it should. But it also kind of made sense. I mean, his dad had been a sidekick. His dad had been the most famous sidekick of all time. And she was Lily. The way he saw it, he really couldn't compare.

While the newcomers devoured their breakfast, Hugo took Martin and they got their timetables from their Professor. They were in all the same classes, as they'd opted to take all the same electives (Care of Magical Creatures, Muggle Studies, and Divination) at the end of last year. Lily was in all of their classes, too. They even had a free period first thing Monday morning, which was the best news Hugo had ever heard, actually.

As he compared his timetable with the rest of his friends', he saw that the majority of them had all the same classes together. Ellie Zeller smiled widely as she held their papers up next to each other and she saw their similar schedules.

"Brilliant! You're taking Divination as well?" she remarked, phrasing it as a question though she could already see the answer right in front of her.

"Yeah!" he answered, probably sounding a bit more enthusiastic than was necessary. "I've always thought it was interesting."

"I've always thought it was a load of crap," she stated simply. But when she saw his face, she added quickly- "But an interesting load of crap!" She giggled a little bit, and he laughed nervously. Then, as if she could sense that her cousin needed saving, Lily swooped in to rescue him from having an awkward moment.

"Look at this!" she exclaimed, shoving her parchment in his face and simultaneously pulling him away from Ellie, who had already moved on to the next person. "Jeez, Hugh. You really need to work on that nervous-laughing thing," she said once they were officially out of earshot.

"I know. I can't help it," he said glumly, glancing over to where Ellie was now enthusiastically chatting away with Aimee Weissman. Lily patted him on the shoulder to offer him support. Then she began telling him yet another story, this time about what Lysander had said to her on their way down to breakfast.

"I mean, it could all be in my head, but I definitely think he feels something between us, you know?" Hugo nodded like he knew, except for that he really didn't. And while Lily kept talking about feelings she was having and vibes she was getting and connections she felt, Hugo stared at Ellie Zeller and pretended to be listening.

And later, during their first class (Transfiguration), Hugo stared at Ellie Zeller and pretended to be listening. And, pretty much all day, Hugo stared at Ellie Zeller and pretended to be listening. The only other time he talked to her all day was at lunch, when their hands had met over the water pitcher, and they'd both said, "Sorry!" at the same time, and then Hugo told her to take it first. That was it, that was the whole exchange.

It was going to be a long year.

Oh, first crushes... aren't they so terrible? The next chapter is going to be about my two favorites, Rose and Scorpius! Very exciting! Please, please review and read on! -Maddie