Life had officially turned into hell. There were no bright spots, no promises of things getting better, and no one suffering with her. It was as if Lily had finally been given everything she'd wanted just so it could all be taken away.

Thank you, world, for being so cruel.

She supposed she was being a bit melodramatic, but ever since Erin and Rose had returned from their week away, Lily had been on her own. Al - who'd been her only source of companionship and comfort - was now preoccupied with other things, and she hadn't even made an effort to see Charlotte or Lucy. When her mother asked about them, she'd made some excuse about knowing they were busy with their families, but that wasn't the truth.

The truth was that she was embarrassed.

She'd acted all high and mighty and better than Hugo and even Louis when they'd made a scene about her relationship, calling them immature and thinking that there was nothing that could touch her and Caleb.

How wrong she'd been.

She'd even said condescending things to both Charlotte and Lucy about their "lack of experience" or the fact that "Bobby and Corbin weren't real men yet so how could they be expected to commit?"

Even as she saw the error of her ways, Lily wasn't quite ready to own up to them.

Her mum said she got her stubborn nature from her dad. Her dad said she got it from her mum.

It didn't matter either way. Her friendships were a bit of a mess and it didn't make a difference who was responsible for her stubborn nature. The point was that it was going to keep her from fixing things, and as of right now, that was alright with her. She didn't need to embarrass herself further by groveling, and it wasn't like they could understand what she was going through anyway. So what was the point?

With a sour attitude that had become second nature over the past few weeks, Lily made her way downstairs for breakfast. She found her mother in the kitchen, who looked pointedly at the pajamas Lily was wearing.

"It's half past noon, Lily," said Ginny as she put the finishing touches on two sandwiches.

"And?" asked Lily, pulling open the fridge and grabbing the milk and orange juice.

"And it's a lovely day that you've already wasted half of," her mother said as Lily open the cabinet beside the fridge to grab a bowl. "I also thought you might have liked to help your cousin move into her new flat."

Lily rolled her eyes as she placed her bowl next to the milk on the island in the middle of the kitchen that her mother was standing at.

"First off, if they'd wanted my help, they would have asked for it rather than saying I could come if I wanted to. That's just code for 'we really don't need your help but don't want you to feel left out.' And second," Lily continued before her mother could interrupt, "I have all summer to enjoy beautiful days," she said, refusing to meet her mother's judgmental stare as she retrieved a box of cereal from the pantry. "And I'm sixteen now. Isn't that old enough for me to make my own decisions about how I spend my day?"

Ginny remained silent as Lily prepared her cereal and grabbed a glass and a spoon, putting away the milk and juice before picking up her glass and cereal and moving into the living room.

"Unfortunately for you," her mother said as she followed her, "as long as you live in this house, you have certain responsibilities that I do have a say in."

Lily plopped down on the couch, starting a bit when Ginny waved a scrap of paper in her face a moment later. With a sigh, she set her cereal and juice on the coffee table before taking what looked like a list from her mother and looking at it grumpily. Lily's jaw dropped in outrage once she realized what she was holding.

"But some of these are Al's chores!" she exclaimed. "He's supposed to clean out the pool filter and empty the bins!"

"And Al is moving out in two weeks," her mother reminded her. "We did the same thing to him when James left. And those are both weekly chores, so you don't have to worry about doing them every day."

"But I already do other weekly chores!"

"I know," said Ginny, completely unfazed by her daughter's attitude. "They're all still on the list too. I'm sure you can manage it all just fine. You're sixteen now after all. You can handle some more responsibility."

Lily let out an exaggerated sigh as she slumped against the back of the couch. She gave her mother a petulant look, but it was pointless. That type of thing never worked on her mother, who merely smiled and turned to walk back into the kitchen.

"My life is hard enough as it is right now, you know!" Lily hollered after her mother. When there was no response, she sat forward and picked up her breakfast, scrunching her nose up when she realized it had already started to turn soggy. Her mother came out of the kitchen a moment later, both sandwiches she'd been making plated and in her hands. She stopped behind the sofa and jerked her head towards the kitchen.

"Your Hogwarts letter came this morning," said Ginny. "It's in there on the counter."

Lily watched perplexed as her mother gave her what seemed to be a conspiratorial smirk before moving out onto the patio, where she could see her father sitting and looking over various files at the table.

Quickly finishing off her breakfast, Lily made her way back into the kitchen, setting her bowl in the sink and grabbing the familiar looking envelope off the counter that was accompanied by a second one. She assumed that must be her O.W.L. results, but any thought of opening that envelope first completely flew from her mind after she'd picked up the school letter. And as soon as it was in her hand, she realized the meaning behind her mother's look.

It was heavier than any letter she'd ever gotten before, and seeing as she wasn't going into fifth or seventh year, there was really only one option for what could be possibly weighing the envelope down.

Lily took a calming breath before slowly opening the envelope, tipping it over her hand so that a shiny badge fell out, signify that she - Lily Potter - was the new Gryffindor Quidditch Captain.

It was a thought that had only briefly crossed her mind in rather indulgent and fanciful moments. Had she been going into seventh, it might have crossed her mind as a more legitimate possibility, but she wasn't, and it hadn't.

She roughly pulled the letter out, gripping it tightly and letting the envelope drop to the floor. There was the usual book list, the letter about when to catch the train, and a third one that detailed her duties as the new Quidditch Captain.

Maybe life wasn't quite as hellish as she'd thought.

"Mum!" she yelled, rushing out of the kitchen with the letter clutched tightly in one hand and the pin in the other. "Dad!"

They'd both stood and were already making their way back into the living room, knowing smiles on their faces. She beamed at them, holding up the letter and the pin.

"Congratulations," her dad said with a warm smile. "We're really proud of you."

"Thanks," said Lily, excitement bubbling through her. She felt better than she had in days. "I'm going to go tell James."

She paused only long enough to hug both of her parents before throwing Floo powder into the fireplace and getting swept away to her brother's flat.

It wasn't the worst thing that could have possibly happened, but at that moment, it felt like it. Everything feels that way when you're sixteen.

Part of Hugo really wanted to be happy for Lily and even tried to be, but after spending the last few weeks in Caleb's company, all he felt was dread. Caleb was having a hard enough time already, but having Lily as his Quidditch Captain was going to make everything that much more excruciating. He'd already expressed his dread in simply having to be on the same team as his ex-girlfriend, and now it no longer mattered that their positions hardly had anything to do with each other. He couldn't just ignore her.

Hugo waited around just long enough to hear James and Albus stop congratulating Lily and begin giving her all kinds of unsolicited advice instead, before he made his exit. He tried to go as unnoticed as possible, only making sure Rose saw him leaving. His sister gave him a sympathetic look that was somewhere between a smile and a grimace before he walked out the front door and down to the flat that James was still sharing with Fred and Lysander for at least another week. After pausing a moment to decide where to go first, he left in a burst of green flames, reappearing a few moments later in the main sitting room at Shell Cottage.

It was empty when he arrived, but his uncle came in from the kitchen seconds later.

"Louis here?" Hugo asked before Bill could say a word. He seemed taken aback for a moment at his nephew's obviously sour attitude, before his expression turned amused.

"He's in his room," said Bill, "if you can't already tell."

Hugo looked at his uncle in confusion for a moment before the pounding bass coming from the floor above registered. Dread filled Hugo.

"What happened?" he asked his uncle with a sigh.

"No clue," said Bill with a shrug. "He's been like this on and off since you lot got back, but it's been bad the past few days. And he's not alone in his misery."

Hugo furrowed his brow in confusion before thanking his uncle and heading up the stairs. Much like the Burrow, Shell Cottage had grown with the family that lived in it. There was a bathroom and three bedrooms on the first landing, and a set of stairs had been added that led up to the third floor. As Hugo went higher, the pounding music grew louder. By the time he reached the loft room on the third floor that served as the perfect hang out area for Hugo's cousins and their friends, the noise was deafening.

Bracing himself, he strode over to the door on the far end of the room, pausing for a moment before pounding on it. He checked to see that the door was locked and had to bang on it once again before he got any type of response.

A despondent, "What?" was hollered through the door.

"It's Hugo! Turn off that fucking racket and let me in!"

He only had to wait a few seconds before the lock clicked and the door began to swing open, the noise coming from inside growing even louder. Bracing himself, Hugo stepped into the room.

Part of him had always been a bit jealous of Louis' room. It had dark wood floors and walls with exposed beams and rafters above. There was a window overlooking the ocean, and the room itself felt cozy while also being a decent size. There were posters for a few different Quidditch teams on the walls, as well as a few pictures of friends and family, but the majority of the walls were covered in band posters, both Muggle and wizard.

There was a bed in the far right corner of the room, close to the window. In the opposite corner were half a dozen bean bag chairs that Louis had collected over time and turned into a makeshift second bed that Hugo himself had slept on a time or two. At the present moment, however, they were occupied by a very forlorn looking and rather unkempt Caleb Wood, who was sprawled out on his stomach, his finger absentmindedly tracing the grooves of the hardwood floor.

Hugo grimaced, both at the state of his friend and the deafening volume of the pounding music as he stopped at the desk by the door and turned down the stereo.

Louis wasn't in much better shape than Caleb. He was stretched out on his back on the bed, staring at the ceiling with a vacant expression. Both boys didn't look as if they'd even gotten out of bed.

With a sigh, Hugo crossed the room and opened the curtains, letting in light that had the other two groaning as he pulled open the window to air out the slightly musty room.

"What the hell, Hugo?" Louis grumbled, his arm covering his eyes as Hugo perched himself on the windowsill.

"I should be asking you that," said Hugo. "What's with you two?"

Caleb let out a groan, rolling from his stomach to his back so his head hung off the cushion he was lounged on and brushed against the floor. "It's summer holidays. Do we need a reason to be layabouts?"

Hugo gave Caleb a pointed look. "I get why you're a bit of a mess, but you know as well as I do that he-" he pointed at Louis "-only does this when something's wrong. Everything seemed fine a few days ago. Did your mopey attitude finally rub off on him?"

"Maybe I just wanted to sleep in," Louis groaned from his bed. Hugo gave a snort of amusement.

"Yeah, because the blaring music definitely helps with that."

Louis lifted his arm off his face so he could glare at his cousin. "Did you need something? Or did you just come here to be a pain in the arse?"

The reason for his visit had been momentarily pushed to the back of Hugo's mind, but he was now forced to remember it. However, he didn't feel like it was quite the right time to bring it up.

"Mate, you're starting to stink," said Hugo. "How long have you been in here?"

Louis shrugged. "Don't know. Don't really care either."

Hugo looked at him with wide eyes. "Seriously? Have you even eaten?"

Louis pointed over to his dresser, where a few empty bags of crisps and tins of biscuits were scattered, along with empty drink bottles. Hugo looked back at his cousin with an arched brow.

"You going to tell me what's up, or not?"

Neither of them said anything.

"Right," said Hugo with a sigh, "well, if you're not going to tell me what's wrong-"

"It's hopeless," Louis cut Hugo off with a groan, his arm going to cover his face again. "What's the point in even trying if you're just going to face heartbreak?"

Hugo looked at his cousin with wide eyes as Caleb gave a grunt of agreement.

"I mean," Louis continued, propping himself up on his elbows so he could look at Hugo, "you've never gotten yourself caught up in a girl, and you're doing fine, so it's not like it's necessary, you know? I can be perfectly happy and content without all that rubbish."

"He did snog Anastasia Bennett," Caleb reminded them from the floor, his hand raised and his finger pointing towards the ceiling as if he were making a rather profound statement.

"But he doesn't fancy her, does he?" Louis said a bit condescendingly. "There's a difference."

"That's what this is about?" Hugo asked skeptically. "You two are pining over girls?"

"I'm not pining," Caleb said as he crossed his arms indignantly, which looked a bit comical as he was practically hanging upside down. Hugo rolled his eyes and looked at Louis, who seemed to have realized he might have given a bit too much away.

"Who's got you all worked up?" Hugo asked his cousin with a smirk. Louis snarled at him and flopped back down on the bed as Caleb let out a chuckle.

"Who else?" said Caleb, rolling over and pushing himself up off the floor. "He's been in love with Jill Boot since first year."

Hugo laughed and Caleb smirked as Louis sat up and chucked his pillow at his friend, who'd stood and was walking towards the dresser.

"I'm not 'in love' with her," said Louis, emphasizing the words with a mocking tone.

"Right," said Caleb, continuing to smirk as he hunted for any remaining food. "You're just mad about her and have no clue what to do about it."

Louis scowled but remained silent, obviously unable to counter this statement.

"Can't you just ask her out?" Hugo asked, thinking this was a pretty reasonable suggestion. Apparently he was wrong.

"Are you kidding?" Louis asked. "No way I can do that."

"Why the hell not?" Hugo asked with an incredulous chuckle. "It can't be that hard, right?"

"Have you ever done it?" Louis challenged. Hugo squirmed uncomfortably on the window ledge.

"Not exactly."

"Then you've got no bloody clue what you're talking about."

Louis flopped back down onto his bed, resuming his staring at the ceiling as Caleb unearthed a few remaining biscuits.

"All right, then," Hugo conceded. "Maybe I don't have a bloody clue what you're going through. But she could say yes, right? It's not like she's guaranteed to reject you."

"But she already did," Louis said with a groan, rolling over and burying his face in his pillows.

"What?" Hugo asked, turning to Caleb in question when Louis continued to groan into his pillow.

"He sort of told her how he feels," said Caleb. "And he's under the impression that the fact that he hasn't heard a single thing from her since school ended means that she doesn't feel the same."

Caleb said all this while trying to keep from grinning. It was obvious that Louis was being a bit dramatic, and if just about any other cousin or friend had been in the room, they would have been quite taken aback by the situation. Yes, he'd gotten worked up over things before, especially in recent weeks, but this was different. Those closest to Louis had been privy to these types of meltdowns in the past, but he wasn't the type to let the whole world in on his internal turmoil. This wasn't a momentary expression of emotion. This was something that was really bothering him, and only his closest friends were allowed to see it.

"Okay," said Hugo. "What exactly did you say to her?"

Louis sat up slowly, sighing heavily as he folded his legs on the bed and held a pillow in his lap. He reminded Hugo of a much younger version of Louis, his hair rumpled from sleep and his expression that of a child who'd been denied something he desperately wanted.

"So, over Easter," he began a bit reluctantly, "we were all in France, remember? Well, there was this tosser there the same week we were, and he got it into his head that he'd taken a fancy to Jill, so not only did he ask her out, but she went on a bloody date with him. He was a right prat about it too," Louis insisted. "I think he knew I fancied her - he always gave me this smug look whenever he got her to laugh or blush or something like that - and it was all just a bloody game to him."

Louis paused, obviously still bothered by the whole thing. He ran his hand through his hair before letting out a sigh and continuing.

"I ended up telling her how much it bothered me, on the last day of term, and I might have given away a bit too much."

Hugo refrained from rolling his eyes. "You mean you didn't outright say how you feel?"

"I strongly implied," Louis said defensively. "And she's not stupid. She's a bloody Ravenclaw. I could tell by the way she looked at me that she knew exactly what I meant. And I thought she might actually feel the same at first," he continued, sounding more resigned with each word, "but I suppose not."

Watching his cousin, it would be easy for Hugo to say he was pouting about something that he very likely didn't have to be, but there was a heaviness to his attitude that Hugo couldn't miss either. He could tell this meant more to Louis than a fleeting fancy and a momentary disappointment, and he really didn't know what to do. Because even though Louis had never had a girlfriend, it didn't mean no one had ever been interested. And thanks to his genetics which included a dash of Veela, he'd never known what it was like for a girl who fancied him not to make a move.

"Lou, I know you're used to girls falling all over you," said Hugo, unable to keep himself from using a slightly teasing tone, "but you do realize that guys have to be the ones to do the pursuing sometimes, right?"

Louis turned red, either from anger or embarrassment or both. "I know that. It still doesn't mean it's easy."

"I'm not saying it is," said Hugo, "but it sounds like you've barely made a move aside from hinting at the fact that you might fancy her. You telling me that's as much as you plan to do until she comes crawling? I thought you hated all the girls chasing after you anyway."

"Most of the time, yes. And that's not all I've done," Louis protested. "I…well…I was a bit affectionate too."

"How?" Caleb asked skeptically, returning to his cushions and flopping down on his back.

"You know...," Louis began uncertainly. "I sort of held her hand once. And I...rubbed her back?"

Hugo snorted as Caleb let out a scoff. It was actually rather amusing to see Louis this flustered about this particular topic. Sure, they'd had conversations about girls in rather vague or hypothetical ways, but he'd never shown the lack of confidence that he was now, when it actually mattered to him and was really happening.

"Mate, I've done both those things with Molly," Caleb said with a roll of his eyes, "and there's never been anything between us besides friendship."

"That's different, though," Louis insisted. "You grew up together. Your dads are best friends and you're like her brother. It's a completely different scenario."

"You might have a point," Hugo conceded. "Still, it doesn't sound like there's much for her to reject at the moment, so I doubt that's what she's doing."

Louis looked unconvinced. "Really?"

"Really," said Caleb. "Besides, remember when she had a crush on James?"

Hugo's eyes widened and snapped to Caleb in alarm. "What the hell? When was this?"

"Third year, maybe?" Caleb said uncertainly. "So he would've been in sixth at the time. Point is, she'd clam up every time she went anywhere near him. Jill is all for discussing the love lives of others, but she's shite when it comes to doing anything about her own."

Louis sat in contemplative silence for a few moments before shaking his head. "That's still different. She didn't really know James, and she was younger. Everyone acts like that when they have a crush as a kid."

Caleb gave a groan of frustration, pushing himself up into a sitting position and giving his friend a pointed look. "Look, speaking as the only bloke in this room who's managed to successfully ask a girl out, I do know it's hard, and it's easy to let doubt and fear keep you from going after what you want, especially when there's friendship involved. But I also know that it can be totally bloody worth it."

Hugo and Louis both looked skeptically at Caleb, whose eyes were filled with conviction.

"You still believe that?" Louis asked. "Even after everything that happened, you'd do it again?"

"Yeah," said Caleb, completely unapologetic, "I would. So if you fancy her enough to be this much of a mess about it, get the hell over your fears and bloody ask her out, mate. The worst she can do is say no, and if she does, at least you put yourself out there. Won't it be better knowing you tried than not knowing what could have been if you had?"

Louis' eyes widened, obviously not having thought about that. "Oh. Yeah, maybe. I wouldn't have to wonder, then."

Hugo reached over and clapped him on the shoulder, a brilliant grin on his face. "That's the spirit."

Louis gave a bashful grin before throwing off Hugo's hand. "Shut it. You've got no room to say much of anything seeing as you've only completely cocked things up in this department so far."

Hugo looked affronted. "I have not."

Caleb snorted in amusement. "Mate, you realize Bennett is going to be insufferable when we get back to school, right? You've seen how she is with blokes, and if your snogging skills are anything to write home about, you're going to have a lot to deal with."

Hugo groaned and rubbed his eyes, strangely hoping he was a terrible kisser so he wouldn't have to put up with Anastasia Bennett more than he had to.

"Why'd you do it, anyway?" Louis asked, sounding genuinely curious if slightly judgmental.

"I knew it'd hack Lily off," he said with a shrug. "And there's no need to tell me that's a dick move, I already know that. But she was there and obviously willing and Lily was being a…"

He trailed off, throwing a glance at Caleb, who looked simultaneously defeated and ready to curse Hugo if he said anything too bad about Lily.

"Anyway," he said uncomfortably, "speaking of Lily, that's actually why I'm here."

They both perked up at this, curious and almost hopeful.

"You two finally make up?" asked Louis. Hugo grimaced and shook his head, causing both of the other boys to slouch a bit in disappointment.

"No," he said regretfully. Not because he wished he'd made things right with his cousin, but because he most definitely did not want to deliver this news. "Any chance you two have seen your Hogwarts letters yet? They came this morning."

They both shook their heads, eyes wide. Hugo nodded, having assumed that was the case seeing as they'd barely left Louis' room.

"Hey, we should open them!" Louis suddenly said enthusiastically, moving to stand from the bed. "See which one of us is Quidditch Captain."

Excitement lit up Caleb's features, and Hugo felt a pit forming in his stomach. This was one of the reasons he'd been so worried. Over the past few weeks, it had been a topic of conversation on a few occasions that either Louis or Caleb was likely to be named Captain. Even though they'd only been on the team a year, they were the oldest members. Hugo could see the sense in it being one of them. Then again, Lily had been on the team since her fourth year, and from a logical standpoint, picking someone who was going to be sticking around longer than a year made perfect sense. Not to mention she was a Potter. It was in her blood.

Hugo grimaced as Caleb and Louis stood and began to make their way towards the door. "You didn't get it," he forced out. Both of them instantly froze before turning to look at him in confusion. Hugo's eyes moved almost pleadingly to Caleb, hoping he would put everything together and Hugo wouldn't have to say it himself.

A few moments later, he got his wish.

"Fuck, no," Caleb said with wide eyes, hardly daring to believe it. Louis caught on a moment later, his jaw dropping in outrage.

"Lily?" he said in disbelieving outrage. "Lily's the new Captain? Our Captain?"

Hugo nodded.

"Fuck!" Caleb said again, aiming a kick at a box of cereal that was sitting on the floor. It sailed across the room, flinging food everywhere as he gripped his hair with both hands. The outburst was enough to snap Louis out of his shocked outrage, concern for his best friend obvious on his face.

"It sort of make sense, if you think about it," Hugo offered, knowing it probably wouldn't help matters much. Both of them stood there in thought for a moment, Louis appearing to seriously think it over, while Caleb kept his eyes closed tightly shut and shook his head, his hands still gripping his hair. Eventually, Louis let out a resigned sigh.

"I suppose so," he said, moving back towards his bed and plopping down on the edge of it. "It's still pretty fucking inconvenient."

Caleb let out a harsh laugh, his arms falling to his sides as he looked at Louis. "Inconvenient? I'll tell you what's inconvenient. You lousy sods making a stink about her behavior so now everything's as complicated and messed up as it is!"

"Hey!" Louis said defensively.

"Just shut up," Caleb said harshly. "I know we all messed up and the whole thing was and is hard on both of you, but I fucking fell in love with a girl two bloody years ago, and I was forced to walk away from her not too long after I finally had her. So don't come crying to me about how the girl you fancy might not fancy you back, or how you're temporarily estranged from your best friend," he threw at Hugo. "Because let's face it, it's only a matter of time before you two miss each other too damn much and you forget the whole thing. Neither of you know just how bloody hard it was for me to tell the girl I love that I couldn't be with her anymore. So just shut the hell up."

A deafening silence rang in the room, disrupted only by the music that was still softly playing from Louis' stereo. He and Hugo were both looking at Caleb with slightly guilty and gobsmacked expressions. As much as he wanted to argue some of Caleb's points, Hugo no longer had the heart to. Because as much as he really did miss Lily and wished things were right between them, he knew Caleb was hurting more. Especially because he was right. Eventually, he and Lily would get past this, but Caleb didn't have that guarantee.

"Fuck, mate," Louis said a bit breathlessly. "I'm sorry."

Caleb sighed and waved dismissively. "Forget it. None of this makes any of this any better. We're all just going to have to suck it up a deal with the fact that this year has already been shot to hell."

Hugo gave a snort of unamused agreement, while also hoping for everyone's sake that Caleb was wrong.

A/N: I know I've been a bit sporadic on my updates, so I'm trying to make up for it with some extra ones! Especially since life is about to get even crazier these next few weeks. I loved writing the scene with the boys so I hope you enjoyed it!