A/N: It's been a loooong time for this one. I have lots of ideas and plans for it, but it's also reliant on another story. Or they're reliant on each other. So it will be a bit sporadic as far as updates go. Anyway, this chapter brings us to two new POVs! I'm actually not sure how many I will flip between, but I'm going to try not to go overboard. I think the only other one that might creep in is Caleb, but I haven't written from his perspective yet.

Hope you enjoy this and please leave a review if you do! Or if you don't. I love hearing either way. Which actually brings me to comment on a guest review I had.

I know that being family doesn't require you to be friends. But where these characters come from and how they grew up, that's what they are, and that's my creative choice as the writer. I came from a very close family and regard a lot of my cousins as practically siblings and close friends. It happens. Everyone is obviously entitled to their own opinions and has their own experiences and I honestly welcome hearing about them, since it allows me to take a step back and see some things from a different perspective. And I hope you can accept my perspective as well.

Now, happy reading!

Up, or down?

It was a question that Lucy Weasley had asked herself almost every day of her life. Well, at least since the day she'd started making her own decisions. And even before she'd started asking herself the question, her mother had.

She'd inherited the Weasley hair, like many of her cousins had. They weren't all the same, though. For example, Rose's hair was more red than orange and she had the wild curls from her mother, while Lily had a deeper shade of red, just like her mother, but it had always been gorgeously smooth. Lucy had never understood why she wore it so short. If she had hair like Lily's, she'd never cut it.

Molly's was more towards the orange end of the spectrum, but still fiery, and the way it fell in subtle waves down her back made it look like dancing flames.

And then, there was Lucy, whose hair was the epitome of ginger. She didn't get the striking red like her aunt. She was blessed with locks of hair that would allow her to blend in very well at a Chudley Cannons match. And to top it all off, there was nothing very special about it either. It wasn't sleek and straight, it wasn't soft and wavy, and even when she tried to style it, it wouldn't curl. It just fell the way it wanted to - a weird bump in the back, a flip on the left side that came and went, and a layer of frizzy hairs that made it look like she hadn't even brushed it. It wasn't thick. It wasn't thin. It just was.

And she hated her hair line. It wasn't smooth and clearly defined across her forehead, but more jagged, making her slightly rounded face appear a bit lopsided, at least in her opinion. It also made it very difficult to have a fringe, so covering it wasn't an option either. She knew her mother and sister would argue and assure her that she always looked lovely and was even pretty, but Lucy had never really felt that way. Not without quite a bit of effort.

So the question of up or down was one she faced every morning. If she kept it down, the wave and the flip and the frizz would be left to do their thing, but up meant you were more exposed to the hairline that couldn't make up its mind about which direction it wanted to go.

With a defeated sigh and a glance at her clock, Lucy picked up the mustard yellow scrunchie that was usually found either around her wrist or holding back her hair. Running her fingers through it to smooth out the kinks, she piled the ginger locks onto the top of her head, twisting the scrunchie around her hair until it sat in an untidy bun. She supposed she could try and make it look a bit more put together, but didn't see much of a point. She wasn't really trying to impress anyone. If Bobby Finnigan didn't like her for who she was, she wasn't planning on changing. It wasn't like she could anyway. Magic wasn't quite that magical.

Still, she didn't want to look like she didn't care. Presentable was something she always tried to achieve. So she took a minute to put on the lightest touch of makeup - a bit of mascara and a bit of color on her freckled face - and examine the simple outfit she'd thrown on after her shower. She nodded in satisfaction. A pair of denim shorts and a Wheezes T-shirt were perfectly acceptable for going over to a friend's house to help them watch their younger siblings. Even if that friend was a boy you might have a bit of a crush on.

She wasn't expecting anything to happen between them. Not yet, anyway. They'd grown closer throughout their fifth year, their time spent studying for their O.W.L.s and avoiding the majority of the drama that surrounded their friends. Lucy's usual curious nature that would have normally had her right in the thick of what was going on had been dampened by the constant and solid friendship she had with Bobby. Time spent with him was much more peaceful and fulfilling than days spent listening to Lily drone on about her relationship or how Hugo was being immature. Same went for the times Hugo complained about Lily. Charlotte wasn't too bad, but she'd gotten herself caught up in a boy as well, and the ups and downs of that were difficult to keep up with.

Lucy had felt a bit guilty when she'd started avoiding her cousins and friend, but if they were going to occupy themselves with other people, then so could she. And Bobby seemed to have the same idea.

And if all that wasn't enough, the trainwreck that was the family Quidditch match the week before did nothing but affirm her decision to stay well clear of the drama, even if she did feel a bit guilty for being so absent.

It was a Saturday morning, so both of her parents and her sister were in the kitchen when she went downstairs for breakfast. Her father was sitting at the kitchen table while her sister whisked eggs and her mother chopped vegetables.

"Omelets this morning!" Lucy's mother said cheerfully, waving her wand so a knife began chopping a pepper. Lucy smiled as she walked over to the breakfast table to pick up the front page of The Prophet, which her father had already discarded as he read through another section.

"Anything interesting?" asked Lucy, discarding the front page after seeing yet another headline about the ongoing trade conflict between Spain and the U.S. and looking over her father's shoulder instead.

"Not much," he said with a shrug, his eyes squinting behind horn rimmed glasses as he turned the page. "There was a short article about some Floo network malfunctions yesterday, which is only interesting because Hermione said it happened to Rose."

Lucy gave a hum of acknowledgement, her attention landing on an article in the section her father was holding about developments made in the area of molecular transfiguration. She reached out and held onto the edge of the paper, slowly pulling it out of her father's hands as she began to read.

"Don't mind me, I was done," her father said, his sarcastic tone betraying the inaccuracy of his words as she joined him in sitting at the kitchen table.

She tuned out the conversation that began to carry on around her, losing herself in the intricacies laid out in the article. Lucy had always loved transfiguration, and she'd been fascinated by the Muggle science book her aunt Hermione had given her for Christmas last year. Seeing the Magical community take strides to understand it and even experiment with how magic could be taken to a deeper and more precise biological level fascinated her.

Lucy let herself get immersed in the article, not really paying attention to the conversation going on around her. She'd finished it and moved on to another article by the time Molly grabbed her attention again. Her sister was standing in the doorway and jerked her head behind her before informing Lucy she had a visitor.

Curious, seeing as her plans were to meet Bobby at his house in fifteen minutes, Lucy made her way past her sister and down the hall before turning into the sitting room. Her eyes widened in surprise when she saw her guest.

"Hi," Lily said tentatively, giving her cousin an awkward wave as she stood in front of the fireplace she'd just come through.

"Hi," said Lucy, hesitant at Lily's sudden appearance. She crossed her arms and watched her cousin curiously, taking her in.

Lily looked rough. There was no other way to put it. Her usually gorgeous hair that Lucy had always been envious of hadn't been washed in a few days and didn't have its normal shine. And while Lily had never been one to care too much about fashion, she was always well put together, even putting a bit of effort into looking effortless. It was obvious that she hadn't even tried at all. Lucy had to wonder when the last time was that she had.

Neither of them said anything else at first, Lily glancing around the room nervously and her hands fidgeting as she clasped them in front of her. Lucy didn't know where to begin a conversation. They hadn't had one since the day Caleb had broken up with her. Lily had been over before going to see Caleb, and based on the conversation Lucy had had with her, she understood why Lily had kept her distance since then. She'd been particularly arrogant about her supposedly untouchable relationship that day, only for it to fall apart an hour later.

"Have you had breakfast?" Lucy finally managed to ask.

"I'm fine," said Lily, only meeting Lucy's eyes temporarily as she responded before her attention focused in on her overactive hands. Lucy sighed, continuing to stand just inside the sitting room and watching her cousin expectantly. Finally, in a slightly shaky voice, Lily spoke.

"I know I've been… well, I've been a lot of things lately," she said a bit dejectedly. "But I've been a horrible friend to everyone, including you. And I'm sorry."

Lily looked at her nervously, obviously unsure of what her reception would be. Lucy was surprised to find that she didn't have to take much time to consider what her response would be, and gave her cousin a small smile.

"You're forgiven," she said simply. But, apparently, this was a little more than Lily could handle. Lucy watched in shock as Lily's eyes welled with tears before she broke down into sobs.

"I'm - 'm sorry," Lily said through her tears. She wiped at her eyes and sniffed loudly. "I've been a mess all week."

"It's all right," said Lucy reassuringly, finally moving forward to sit down on the couch. Lily seemed to take this as a sign that she was actually welcome, and she relaxed a bit as she sat with her cousin.

"I just… I can't seem to figure out how to fix any of this. Things are a mess, Luce. And I've been trying to come up with a plan to make everything right, and I realized nothing could actually get any better until I started apologizing, and I didn't… I honestly wasn't expecting to be forgiven so quickly. By anyone."

She shed a few more tears, and Lucy reached out to hold her hand. Lily gave her a grateful smile.

"I saw how rough things were last week," said Lucy, "and I started to feel a bit bad about keeping my distance. I knew how much of a mess everything was and I just didn't want to deal with all of it. Took me a bit to realize how much that ended up leaving you on your own."

Another tear escaped Lily, which she quickly wiped away as she squeezed Lucy's hand. "It's fine. I suppose I did it to myself. Distanced myself from everyone and gave you every reason not to want to be around."

"Maybe," Lucy allowed, "but I at least could have said something instead of just ignoring it all."

Lily shook her head dismissively. "Doesn't matter now. I'm focused on moving past all of this and getting things back to the way they're supposed to be."

She had a look of determination on her face, and Lucy was glad to see a bit of the old Lily back. But she knew things weren't going to be as simple as Lily might be making them out to be.

"And how are things supposed to be?" Lucy asked. "I mean, are you trying to just move on and forget everything and hope that everyone can act like it never happened?"

Lily let out a sigh and slouched back against the couch. "No. I want things to be even better than they were before. I just have no clue how to get there and no idea what that looks like. And I know I'm going to have to accept the fact that things being better might not include me being with…"

A few tears threatened to escape as she seemed unable to say Caleb's name, but Lily was quick to brush them away.

"You're gonna be okay," said Lucy, feeling proud of the strength and maturity her cousin was showing. Lily had always been that way, but she wasn't the first person to allow emotions and selfish desires to cloud their judgment. "And you're making some good first steps," she assured Lily, who gave her a grateful smile.

"Thanks. Any advice on what my next one should be?"

Lucy thought about it for a moment before glancing at the clock and making a suggestion. "How about another stop on the apology train?"

They were flooing to the Finnigan's a few minutes later, Lily a bit more calm than she had been on her arrival at Lucy's. She was still nervous. Bobby was one of Hugo's best friends and had stuck by him at the initial breaking point. As far as Lucy knew, however, Bobby hadn't seen much of Hugo over the summer, if he'd really seen him at all.

A sense of calm fell over Lucy as they stepped out into her friend's sitting room. She'd always loved being at the Finnigans'. It was always so put together but still felt welcoming and comfortable. And the sound of children playing always made a place feel a bit warmer.

"That you, Luce?" they heard Bobby holler over the sound of rambunctious children, his voice coming from the direction of the top of the stairs that led to the second floor.

"Yep!" Lucy hollered back, casting an uncertain glance at her cousin. "And - er - Lily's here too."

They heard no response from Bobby, only the continued shouts and giggles from his younger siblings. The level of noise carrying downstairs lessened as they heard a door close, followed by the sound of footsteps down the hall and then the stairs.

Lucy felt her stomach take the familiar dip it always did whenever she saw Bobby Finnigan. His sandy blonde hair had grown out a bit towards the end of the school year, but his mother had since cut it shorter. And, thanks to Lavender's very good eye when it came to trends and fashion, Bobby's hair always seemed to be perfect. Lucy had failed on many occasions to not be jealous of how effortlessly it seemed to lay on his head.

He stopped when he reached the bottom of the stairs, giving Lucy a small smile before glancing uncertainly between her and Lily.

"What's up?" he finally asked, his eyes settling on Lucy. Before she had a chance to respond, however, Lily let out a soft sob and was striding towards him. Bobby only had a moment to look a bit startled before Lily was hugging him tightly, apology after apology falling from her lips. Bobby's expression softened as he gently returned her embrace, patting her on the back and assuring her that everything was all right.

She eventually calmed down, and Bobby led them into the kitchen, Lily continuing to apologize for the mess she'd caused.

"Seriously, Lily, it's all right," Bobby said for about the fifth time as he grabbed a pitcher of pumpkin juice from the fridge. "I mean, everything isn't all right, obviously, but I don't really need much of an apology. It's kind of shit what happened, but I honestly don't blame you anymore than I do Hugo or Caleb."

"Really?" asked Lily, sounding relieved and surprised as she sank into one of the kitchen chairs.

"Absolutely," said Bobby very matter-of-factly as he and Lucy joined Lily at the table. "I saw how poorly Hugo was handling everything for months. A lot of this could have been avoided if he'd just talked to you ages ago."

The beginnings of an arrogant smirk crossed Lily's face, but Bobby was quick to wipe it away with his next words. "It also could've been avoided if you hadn't been so selfish in the first place. Or if you'd at least attempted to understand where he was coming from."

Lily slumped back in her chair and folded her arms, her face pinched with frustration and regret. "I think I understand now. Or at least I'm beginning to. I'm just having a hard time with the fact that he and - that they both seem fine while I still feel fucking miserable."

Bobby gave an uncertain shrug, accepting Lily's refusal to say Caleb's name. "I can't really speak to that seeing as I haven't really spent any time with them this summer. The two of them and Louis have sort of been doing their own thing."

Lucy's heart broke a little at having this truth confirmed. Especially seeing the bit of hurt that was betrayed by Bobby's eyes. He'd always had some of the most expressive eyes she'd ever seen, the brilliant bright blue unable to tell a lie. He missed his friends, no matter how much he'd enjoyed spending time with her over the summer, he still missed the other boys.

"I sort of figured that," Lily said softly. "I um… got a bit of a talking to from Lou, actually."

Lucy looked at Lily with wide eyes. "Really? Since when does he actually confront issues?"

Bobby stifled a laugh, and Lily had to hide a smile as well. "I sort of forced him into it, but I think it was good for both of us. It got me here, at least."

"Here's a good place to start," said Bobby. "What d'you plan to do next?"

Lily sighed and gave a shrug. "That's the really difficult part."

"Talk to Caleb and Hugo?" asked Lucy. But Lily shook her head.

"Nope. If the last few times I tried talking to either of them are anything to go by, I need to give it time. That's what Lou thinks I should do and I actually agree with him. It'll be bloody fucking difficult to keep my distance, but not only are they probably nowhere near ready to forgive me yet, I still have a lot of work to do when it comes to being okay with everything. I can't promise I wouldn't lose my cool and start yelling at them again right now. It's all still too fresh, you know? I have to get over a few things first. And myself."

She fell silent and stared off into the distance, her expression somber and her mind obviously full to bursting with the task of processing everything that had happened the past few months. Lucy shared a glance with Bobby, neither able to think of anything to say, seeing as they couldn't argue, but agreeing just seemed tactless.

After hanging around for another five minutes or so and making promises to both Lucy and Bobby that she'd be a better friend, Lily went home. Bobby collapsed onto the couch with a heavy sigh as soon as she was gone.

"I wasn't expecting that to happen today," he commented as Lucy joined him. "Or anytime soon."

Lucy gave him a small smile. "I was pretty surprised when she showed up. I thought she'd be a bit more stubborn and hold out a little longer. Maybe even till we went back to school."

Bobby gave an amused snort of laughter. "I wouldn't have been surprised, honestly."

Lucy nodded, unsure what else to say. She had tried not to let everything that had taken place over the past few months really affect her. If she had, it would've been excruciating to go through at times. It had been quick and easy to forgive Lily, but she'd been hurt. And now that it was all starting to be put behind them, she was starting to realize just how much. Her emotions were all coming to the surface. Her head was pounding and her breathing was growing shallow. Her eyes stung with tears.

"Hey," she heard Bobby's voice break through the buzzing in her head. "Lucy, what's wrong?"

She closed her eyes and wrapped her arms around her waist, forcing herself to calm down. Or at least trying to. When Bobby reached out and laid his hand on her shoulder, she gave a startled jerk, but that didn't deter him. Soon his arm was around her shoulder and he was pulling her into his side as she began to sob.

Bobby had no clue what he was doing. Every time he'd seen his mother cry, it was either Violet or his dad that took on the job of comforting her. And Violet always had their mum or one of her friends. Bella and Layla were different. They were kids and would simply need to be held and told everything was going to be okay. Just like he'd done with Lily. In all of those situations, it was obvious what was wrong and what role he was required to fill.

But not only had he never seen Lucy cry, he had no idea why it was even happening now.

Holding her seemed to be working. She was leaning into him and her tears - while they'd picked up at first - were now calming down. He settled for rubbing his hand up and down her arm and waiting for her to tell him what was wrong. And doing his best not to enjoy the fact that he had an excuse to hold her.

Eventually, when all she was doing was leaning against him and letting out the occasional sniff, she finally found her voice.

"I didn't realize how much everything that had happened was bothering me," she said, her voice timid and almost ashamed.

"In what way?" he asked, doing his best to sound encouraging. If there was one thing his mother had driven home in his brain, it was that expressing your emotions was something you should never apologize for when done in a healthy way. And Lucy had obviously been holding hers in for far too long.

"I sort of felt a bit forgotten, I guess," she admitted. "By her and Hugo and even Charlotte at times. I know I sort of removed myself from everything, so part of it was my own doing, but it didn't seem like they cared. At all."

"They do," he told her, knowing she knew but needed the reminder all the same. "Lily wouldn't have made the effort she did today if she didn't."

"I know," said Lucy, before - much to Bobby's disappointment - sitting back up so she could meet his eyes. He held back a smile, however, when she didn't pull back completely, meaning he could keep his arm around her. "And it's helped to not have all my friendships falling by the wayside at once, so thanks for sticking around."

Bobby returned the soft smile she gave him. "Didn't really have any other choice."

He realized how poorly he'd expressed himself when her face fell a moment later.

"No!" he said quickly, wide eyed and trying not to panic as she pulled slightly away. "I meant that there was no other choice I wanted to make, you know? I felt like I had no choice because I couldn't imagine making another one. Does that make sense?"

His panic started to ebb a moment later when her smile returned, this time accompanied by a slight coloring of her cheeks. "Yes, that makes sense."

Bobby smiled at her in relief, realizing that - even though she'd moved further away - she wasn't far. She was very close, in fact. And he'd been contemplating taking this steady and solid friendship a step further for a while now. It just never felt like the right time. Was now the right time? Their proximity was certainly in his favor. So was the fact that she was holding his gaze. She wasn't moving away either. And they were entirely-

"Bubby?"

Bobby really did his absolute best not to sigh in disappointment as he drew his arm away from Lucy and turned to face his youngest sister. She was standing and leaning against the arm of the couch, looking at him curiously.

"What's up, Layla?" he asked, the reminder that his siblings were in the house helping to quell his desire to see where things could have gone with the girl sitting next to him on the couch. The six-year-old came around to crawl up onto the cushion next to him, plopping down so she fit right against his side.

"Sean and Ian won't let me play with them," she informed her older brother, pouting slightly as she said it.

"What about Bella?" he asked.

"She's reading," Layla said with a roll of her eyes, as if it was the most preposterous thing she'd ever heard. Her attention then turned to Lucy, and she rose up onto her knees, still leaning completely against her older brother. "What are you two doing?"

"Nothing," Bobby said quickly and guiltily, only to realize too late that not only did his younger sister have no clue what he'd been planning to do before she interrupted, but she was most definitely going to use his answer to her advantage. The eager gleam in her eyes spoke volumes.

He grimaced apologetically at Lucy as Layla began listing all the things they could do together, but Lucy just smiled at him before telling Layla that coloring sounded like a fantastic idea.

"It's fine," Lucy assured him in an undertone as Layla ran off to get their supplies. "I came over to help you out after all."

"I know," Bobby said as they stood to move to the kitchen table. "But I'm eventually going to have to stop pretending that I only appreciate you for being a good side kick when it comes to babysitting."

It wasn't much, but it was something, and he was glad he'd actually been bold enough to make even a comment as vague as that one when she blushed, smiled, and then sat a little closer than strictly necessary when they joined his sister in the kitchen.