The last few weeks of summer typically flew by, time feeling shorter due to a desire to make it stop. This year, however, Hugo felt like the days were dragging their feet.

It probably had to do with the fact that he spent every day caught between a gnawing feeling of responsibility to fix things with Lily, and a stubborn yet impatient determination to wait until she came to him.

The whole thing was giving him indigestion.

It didn't help that the weeks had been dull and mundane. Well, with the exception of the last few hours.

Usually, Hugo spent the last few days before his return to Hogwarts enjoying a final day with friends and family. Since the train left on a Sunday this year, that meant they could spend the entire Saturday enjoying the last bit of summer. Friday evening, however, was reserved for just family at the Burrow. Well, family and significant others. More people had someone that came with them than didn't these days. It was only, what, five of them that weren't with someone? And not too long ago, it had only been four.

He wasn't an idiot and he wasn't blind. Seeing Lily tonight, he saw not only the remorse in her eyes when she looked at him, but the overall resigned and somber way she carried herself. The summer had been hard on her, the dark circles under her eyes betraying the truth her sun kissed skin and freshly cut hair were trying to mask.

It ate at him to see her so obviously hurting, and since surrounded by their family and friends at the Burrow didn't seem like a good time to get into things, he'd stayed as far away from her as possible.

But all thoughts of Lily had fled from his mind in the panic over Erin and Scorpius. Their night had been shot to hell, and probably the following day as well. Hugo had stuck by his sister's side, silent but present in case she needed anything. He'd even gone with her and their dad to the hospital, his mind far away from his own problems for the first time in weeks. He didn't even realize how forgotten his troubles were until Lily showed up at the hospital.

Hugo barely had time to resent the fact that he couldn't talk to his best friend before she was sitting next to him, an open and vulnerable look on her face as he sat up straighter in his chair and watched her uncertainly.

"I highly doubt saying I'm sorry will do a lot of good," she began in a soft voice, "but I'm saying it anyway. Hugo, I'm sorry. I'm sorry for being so cruel and unfeeling and selfish. I'm sorry for taking you for granted far more often than I'd care to admit. I'm sorry for being so stubborn and not admitting when I was wrong. I'm sorry for continuing to make things worse and worse because I made the issues more important than they needed to be. I'm sorry for a hell of a lot of things," she said with a sad smile. "I could probably go on all night."

For a moment, Hugo took her in. He knew she was finally being honest - with him and with herself. And it couldn't have come at a better time.

"I'm sorry too," he said, but Lily shook her head.

"No, you've already apologized. And I was an arse for not doing the same that night."

"I was an arse too, though," Hugo said with a shrug, surprising himself with how little he really cared about what she'd done the morning she'd come to see him, despite what he'd said to Rose earlier in the evening. "Yeah, I apologized and I meant it, but I also said some harsh things."

"Not as harsh as the things I said," Lily countered. "I was a bit horrible."

Hugo gave another shrug. "Yeah, well, I'm your best friend and it was a bit of a rough day for you all around. I shouldn't be surprised that you took your anger at Caleb out on me."

At his words, Lily's eyes went comically wide. Her mouth opened and closed a few times as she sat there, unable to respond. Eventually, she let out a scoff and a disbelieving, "What?"

"Well," Hugo began slowly, "he'd just broken up with you. I assumed you were pretty furious with him for that. Right?"

Lily continued to stare at him in shock for a few moments, but then her eyes fell closed as she seemed to deflate in front of him, a hand going up to cover her still open mouth.

"Fucking hell," he heard her mumble, her eyes squeezed tightly shut as she shook her head. They were watery when she opened them and met his gaze, her hand falling lifelessly to her lap. "I was mad at Caleb."

Hugo's brow rose in surprise as he sat forward, hands clasped and arms resting on his knees as he watched his cousin experience a revelation. "Yeah. I figured you knew that bit."

Lily shook her head and bit her lower lip as she looked down at her hands. "I was mad at Caleb," she repeated, soaking it in. "Actually, I think I might still be mad at him. I guess it was easier to be mad at you. I mean, I already was. Plus, you're obligated to love me no matter what."

Hugo gave her a soft smile. "True, I'm afraid."

She scowled at him, but there was a playful edge to it that Hugo had been missing. He found his smile growing. "Fuck, I've missed you," he said with an amused shake of his head. Lily returned his smile.

"Wanker," she said, nudging him with her elbow before saying, "I missed you too."

Hugo nudged her back, the affectionate gesture familiar and comforting. "So," he said, "this whole anger towards Caleb thing. Does that mean you're not planning on trying to patch things up with him anytime soon?"

With a sigh, Lily slouched back in her seat. Hugo sat back too, waiting as she sorted through her most likely very muddled thoughts and emotions on the topic, her heel bouncing restlessly against the tile floor.

"He gave up," she said, her voice tight with emotion. "Things got really hard, and he bailed. I know it's a bit more complicated than that, but I felt abandoned. How am I supposed to trust him not to do that again? Even if he does care about me the way I think he does."

Hugo nodded. "That's fair. He was pretty much your only ally there for a while. It was a bit of a shit move."

"Right?" said Lily indignantly, his support seeming to give a little more life to her. "I mean, he was all 'I wish things didn't have to be this way,' but he still made a choice. And he chose to walk away from me and leave me with broken relationships left and right. We could've stayed together and still gotten through all this, right?"

She was looking at him for an answer, and Hugo let out a sigh. "I've got no bloody clue, Lily. And I totally get the fact that you're angry with him, but hasn't this whole thing taught us that things like that really aren't worth holding onto?"

Lily clicked her tongue and crossed her arms as Hugo smirked at her. She knew he was right.

"When did you become so wise?" she grumbled.

"I've always been wise."

"Says the boy who once got his head stuck in a gnomehole."

"Oi! One of them ran off with my favorite toy dragon. I wasn't about to let him get away with that."

Lily laughed, the sound wonderful yet odd in the somber waiting room. She stifled it quickly and looked guiltily around at the people waiting for news. Their reason for being there came back to Hugo, and he felt a bit guilty as well.

"I can't believe we still haven't heard anything yet," said Lily, her eyes landing on where her brother was pacing in agitation. "Al's probably going to lose it if we don't get any news soon."

Hugo let out a sigh, shifting a bit in his chair so he was leaning on the arm that he shared with Lily. "Can't imagine what this is like for him. I mean, the girlfriend part is a bit out of my depth, but she's his best friend too. And so's Scorp. I don't want to even think about…"

He trailed off, unable to voice those thoughts. The feel of Lily's head dropping onto his shoulder as she linked her arm through his nearly had tears welling in his eyes. The intensity of his emotions surprised him, but he supposed the fear for Erin and Scorpius combined with the relief of having Lily back were pretty intense highs and lows for one night.

"I'm really glad you're my best friend again," Lily said softly against his arm. Hugo took a deep breath and rested his cheek on the top of her head.

"I always was."

Lily squeezed his arm a little tighter, her light sniffling revealing that she was feeling the heightened emotion of it all too.

And even though things were still uncertain and they didn't know how the night would end, Hugo couldn't help smiling, thankful that he could finally be the one to cheer Lily up once again.

"Hey," he said softly, "can I come watch Quidditch practices this year? I'm way too excited to watch you make Louis and Caleb run drills to your heart's content."

He felt Lily chuckle against him. "Oh, believe me. I'm way too excited about that too."

They continued talking as the night wore on, their conversation flowing in a way that Hugo had missed more than he'd realized. When people began going back to see Erin and Scorpius and it became apparent they were both going to be okay, Lily left with her mum, though not before giving Hugo a slightly longer than necessary hug. Not that he didn't appreciate it. Having his best friend back was a wonderful feeling, and he rode that high until Rose emerged from the ward, obviously distressed and requesting that they head home.

Hugo had noted Scorpius storming out only a few minutes before Rose appeared. He'd been so surprised to see him that he hadn't even tried to grab his attention. Plus, Scorpius had been moving a bit too fast and with a fierce determination, that Hugo doubted he would've been successful if he'd tried.

"You going to tell me what's going on?" he asked his sister as she busied herself with heating up some leftovers for them. It was just past midnight, but Rose seemed too on edge to sleep, and when she'd suggested food, Hugo had readily agreed. They had been at the hospital for hours so he was obviously hungry, and it was also obvious that something was wrong.

"What do you mean?" Rose asked, doing a terrible job of acting aloof as she set a plate of pizza in front of him. "A lot's going on."

"I meant with you," he clarified. "I saw Scorpius storm out. Did you two fight about something?"

"I don't really want to talk about this," she snapped as soon as he got the question out. Hugo watched his sister with a raised brow as she blew on her own slice of piping hot pizza before taking a bite. Hugo did the same, knowing his sister well enough to know that she'd talk when she was ready, if she wanted to talk at all.

But if doing his own opening up could help things along…

"I talked to Lily tonight," he said. Rose met his eyes with a raised brow.

"I noticed," she said as she finished chewing. "I'm guessing you made up?"

Hugo nodded, a slight smile on his face. "Yeah. About time, right?"

Rose nodded, continuing to eat her pizza with an unfocused and glazed expression, her mind obviously consumed with her own thoughts. Well, at least he'd done his part to try to get the conversation flowing. It was only a matter of time before his sister reciprocated.

But it thoroughly surprised Hugo when she finished her food without another word a moment later, merely wishing him a hasty goodnight in a shaky voice before retreating to her room.

Which meant things really weren't good.

Why was it that as soon as one thing got sorted, another ugly thing popped up in its place?

This was awkward. Oh, this was so incredibly awkward. Why hadn't she expected it to be awkward?

At first, the train ride to Hogwarts had been no different from Lucy's last few, the added activity of the prefect meeting changing it up a bit from her first four years at school. Things were all going fine and normal and her sister was doing a wonderful job as Head Girl, while Hugo did a terrible one of avoiding Anastasia Bennett.

She almost felt sorry for him.

Things even seemed relatively normal as she settled back into the compartment where she'd stashed her trunk and Charlotte had saved her a seat. She'd been joined by Bobby, Louis, and Caleb - whose presence had annoyed Lucy as she sat across from him and next to Bobby. It wasn't that she really had a problem with Caleb, but he was the only person in the compartment who wasn't speaking to Lily, meaning her cousin had been left to find other traveling companions.

Lucy had only just settled in when Hugo showed up, took one look in the compartment, and then took off down the corridor.

"What's that all about?" Caleb asked with a raised brow.

"Don't know," said Lucy with a shrug, trying to lean out and watch her cousin as he continued to look into every compartment he came across. "He could be trying to lose Bennett. She was all over him after the meeting."

Louis chuckled from the other side of Bobby. "I told him he was in for it when we got back."

As the minutes passed and she waited for one cousin to show back up and worried about the well being of another, Lucy couldn't help a feeling of melancholy settle in as she thought about the coming school year.

While she'd be perfectly happy and content in her Hufflepuff dorm shared with Charlotte, Lily had never really gotten close to the girls in her year in Gryffindor. This was mostly due to the instant rivalry she'd struck up with Anastasia Bennett. It hadn't taken more than the first week for them to be firmly at odds with one another, their equally matched stubborn natures and tempers causing a bit of a blow up in one of their first potions lessons. Lucy still remembered it vividly.

Most of the other girls in the dorm tended to gravitate towards Anastasia, which Lucy had never understood. But it probably didn't help that Lily would almost constantly choose to sit with either Hugo or her and Charlotte over the girls in her dorm. In some ways, she'd created the distance herself, but that didn't mean Lucy felt any less sympathy for her. Until she could manage to fix things with Hugo and find a way to at least be in Caleb's presence, Lily was in for a very difficult and lonely year.

With a somber sigh, Lucy stood and made the excuse of running off to the bathroom. The longer she sat, the more guilty she felt about abandoning Lily, and there was no way she was planning on spending the entire trip to Hogwarts like that. With everything that had happened on Friday night, the plans for all of them to gather at Ron and Hermione's on Saturday had been canceled, so she had no idea how Lily was handling heading back to school. They'd been too busy playing with James and Violet's new puppy Friday night to talk about anything seriously. Lucy was intent on finding her cousin and making sure she was okay, but she'd only just closed the compartment door behind her when the sound of other people coming her way had her looking down the corridor, and she stopped in surprise at the sight of her cousins. Her cousins that she hadn't expected to be anywhere near each other, let alone carrying on a conversation.

" - just don't know if this is a good idea," she caught Lily saying. Hugo rolled his eyes.

"If you don't face this now, you'll only have to do it later."

Lily let out an annoyed groan, but stopped before responding when she caught sight of Lucy.

"Hi," said Lucy, looking curiously between Lily and Hugo as the former smiled and waved in greeting. "I was just coming to look for you, Lily."

"Oh, I was mostly hiding in the loo," she admitted with a grimace, which changed into a smile when she glanced at Hugo and nudged him. "This one managed to track me down and dragged me back here."

Lucy looked at Hugo, still confused by what she was seeing. "Right, so, you two are…?"

"Oh, yeah, we hashed it out the other night," said Hugo as if it were an afterthought before pulling open the compartment door. This action had Lily grabbing his arm to hold him back, shaking her head as she stared past him into the strangely silent compartment. Hugo turned to face her, a somewhat impatient expression on his face.

"Look, you don't have to talk to him," he said, softly enough that no one in the compartment would hear. "You don't even have to forgive him. Just do this for me, yeah? I'm done with having to choose, all right?"

His final words were said loud enough that everyone inside had to have heard him too. It only took a few seconds before Lily was nodding and letting out a resigned sigh. And then Hugo was leading her into the compartment, Lucy right on their heels.

And that was when the awkwardness had started.

Lucy had been under the impression that things would go back to normal once Hugo and Lily made up. But she'd forgotten about all of the other fractured relationships and the fact that they wouldn't heal just because another one had.

And based on the look on Caleb's face and the cold shoulder Lily gave him as she walked past, things were very far from going back to normal.

It was so incredibly awkward.

"Up for some chess?" Hugo asked Louis as he sat on the floor across from him. Lily sat in the empty seat behind Hugo and next to Charlotte, who was glancing between the two cousins anxiously.

"Sure," said Louis, offering Lily a smile as he joined Hugo on the floor of the compartment. "This is a nice change," he said as he gestured to the two of them.

"I'll say," said Charlotte with a chuckle. "I've been sitting here stressing over how I was going to juggle you two."

Lily chuckled. "Don't worry, you no longer have to pick up that particular skill."

Their conversation faded to the background as Bobby leaned closer to Lucy to whisper in her ear. "When was the last time they even saw each other?" he asked, nodding towards Charlotte and Lily.

"The three of us got together last week," Lucy whispered back. "Things were a bit tense since they'd both sort of been avoiding each other after Lily acted all superior, but they aired things out."

"Good," said Bobby, though Lucy couldn't help noting that he didn't pull away once their private conversation was over. His shoulder and thigh were pressed up against hers, the familiar scent of whatever heavenly soap he used surrounding her.

The weeks since she'd had a bit of an emotional breakdown in his house were filled with them spending time together. She'd seen him at least three times a week all summer and sometimes more often than that. Nothing had really changed in their relationship in a definitive sense, but she could feel it creeping closer, like the tide coming in and just barely lapping at her feet as she stood on the shore.

It was in the ways he looked at her and casually touched her like he was now. Those things had been in their relationship for almost a year now, but never to such an undeniable amount. Lucy could only wonder how long it would take for them to completely dive in.

Was he expecting her to say something first? Did he think his actions spoke his intentions plainly and he was just waiting for her to respond?

It was a bit terrifying to think about, but she supposed she could do that. It wouldn't take much, just about all the courage she possessed.

Maybe she could start small. Reciprocate a bit. That would be a start, right?

Lucy's thoughts of potentially leaning into Bobby or grabbing his hand or anything along that vein took a back seat as Caleb abruptly stood from his seat, silencing Charlotte's laughter as he roughly pulled open the compartment door. He stormed out and flung it shut behind him before any of them could say a word.

Hugo let out a sigh and rubbed at his eyes as Louis shook his head. Charlotte was staring at the seat next to her that Caleb had just vacated with pursed lips. And Lily was doing her best to look indifferent but failing miserably. Lucy thought you'd have to be blind not to realize she not only still cared about Caleb, but was holding onto some very negative feelings towards him as well.

"Shit," Hugo grumbled, his hand running through his hair as he gazed unseeing at the chess board in front of him.

"Probably best to let him be for now, yeah?" Louis asked, keeping his voice quiet even though it was impossible for the rest of them not to hear. Hugo shrugged in response.

"I don't see why he has a problem," said Lily, her arms crossed as she stared out the window with a clenched jaw. "He made a choice and he needs to deal with it."

Louis looked up at his cousin with an arched brow. "You really want to pretend it's that simple?"

Lily shrugged, her gaze still following the rolling hills as the train sped on. "It could be. I'm dealing with it, aren't I?"

"Well, that's a bit of a new development," said Bobby, his tone understanding rather than judgmental. "And maybe it's his turn to be a bit worked up about it."

"You mean he hasn't cared at all the last couple months?" Lily asked, looking doubtfully at each of them in turn.

"Of course he has," said Hugo with a roll of his eyes, his attention still focused on the chess board. "But I really don't think you have much room to comment on how he handles this. Especially because I doubt you're going to continue to be all calm and collected about it."

Lily gave a huff and returned to looking out the window. It was a testament to how thoroughly she and Hugo had made amends that his comment didn't stir up any more trouble. It also showed that Lily knew he was right. She might appear to be holding herself together, but Lucy knew joining them in the compartment and being in Caleb's presence hadn't been easy. And Lily would probably be facing much more difficult encounters with her ex boyfriend in the near future.

The momentary quiet that had fallen over the compartment was disrupted by the door opening once again.

"I've just seen a rather agitated Caleb Wood storming down the corridor," said Jill Boot as she made herself comfortable on the ground next to Louis. She had her mouth open to continue but froze when her eyes landed on Lily.

"Oh!" said Jill, taking stock of who else was in the compartment before turning back to Lily. "You friends with this lot again?"

Lily rolled her eyes but nodded.

"That explains it, I suppose," said Jill, moving a bit closer to Louis and scrutinizing the chess match. "Anyway, Molly went after him and I thought you'd like to know your boy is in good hands."

Louis cracked a small smile. "Thanks," he said as he moved his bishop. "That the only reason you came looking for me?"

Lucy stared in shock at Louis. It wasn't over the top, but there was definitely a flirtatious tone to his words. And seeing as her cousin tended to steer clear of encouraging the attention of girls, Lucy couldn't be sure she'd ever heard him do something like that before. Even around Jill.

"Well, all the rest of my dorm mates are a bit boring," said Jill, her attitude nonchalant in a very forced way even as she leaned in and rested her shoulder against the boy she sat beside. "And I figured you might need help not getting pummeled by Hugo again. What kind of strategy is this?"

Louis gave her an affronted look as Hugo took his bishop with a bemused expression. "Hey, I've fine-tuned this strategy all summer," he said indignantly. "So if you'd actually like to help, don't distract me."

For a moment, Lucy thought Jill was going to continue with their banter as she and Louis playfully stared each other down. Instead, she uttered an airy "Fine," and allowed the game to continue.

Well, they had spent almost the entirety of Caleb's birthday in each other's company. Lucy shouldn't have been too surprised. Then again, her thoughts had mostly been occupied with everything going on with Lily and Hugo. And her ever evolving relationship with Bobby. And Molly's new relationship as well.

It was a lot to keep track of all at once.

The compartment fell into a comfortable and familiar rhythm. Lily had gotten out her worn down and familiar notebook that Lucy knew was filled with all sorts of sketches. Charlotte was spending the last bit of time she could on her Muggle mobile device, though based on the way she kept pausing to slap it against her thigh, the magic around them was already starting to affect it.

"You should get one of the ones Freddie's developing once he starts to sell them," said Bobby as he dug in his bag and pulled out a bag of toffees and offered some to Lucy. "Violet has one of the prototypes and won't shut up about it."

"That won't do me much good seeing as they probably still aren't allowed at school," Charlotte grumbled as she held the phone high above her head and squinted as she tapped away.

"What are you doing, anyway?" Lucy asked as she chewed on a toffee.

"I'm just trying to send one last message to my sisters," she said with a sigh. It wasn't exactly common knowledge that Charlotte's relationship with her sisters was strained, so Lucy checked to make sure no one was paying them too much attention before asking Charlotte if things had gotten any better over the summer.

"The only thing we really had in common to talk about all summer was boys," Charlotte said in annoyance. She finally gave up on contacting her sisters and tossed the phone aside with a heavy sigh. "They're starting to look at Muggle Universities, which is not something I'm sure I want to do."

"Didn't your brother do that?" asked Bobby. Charlotte nodded before sighing once again and leaning her head back against the wall with her eyes closed.

"My parents aren't pressuring me to," she said, "but Catherine kept talking about it as if I would obviously be going and Caroline didn't do a good job of hiding the fact that even if I do go, she hopes I don't go wherever she decides to attend."

Lucy's eyes widened. "What? Why would she feel that way?"

Charlotte gave a lazy shrug. "She's always had a harder time than Cat with the whole magic thing. Not that Cat's a big fan of it either, but she's a bit more delicate about it and doesn't automatically change the subject every time it's brought up like Car does. I guess it's all just further proof that being born on the same day isn't enough to make us the best of friends."

It always pained Lucy to hear Charlotte talk so matter-of-factly about the distance between her and her sisters. She couldn't imagine not having a friendship with Molly, and they weren't even twins let alone triplets. Being the odd one out had to be miserable.

"Would you like us to clear out? Give you two a bit of privacy?" Hugo asked with an annoyed tone, pulling everyone's attention back to the chess match. Louis and Jill - whom he was watching expectantly - looked at him in innocent confusion.

"What are you on about?" asked Louis. Hugo looked between them for a few moments before smirking, giving away that he was more amused than annoyed and was going to thoroughly enjoy teasing his cousin.

"What was the move you just made?" he said with a gesture towards the chess board. Louis looked down at it, his brow creased as his eyes darted around the board.

"Er…" he said after an awkward moment of silent uncertainty. "It was my knight, wasn't it?"

"No," said Hugo, his tone taking on the quality one would use when teaching basic concepts to a child. He picked up the black knight and held it in front of Louis' face. "You moved my knight. And I'm always black, so that's a pretty silly mistake to make."

Louis' ears turned pink as Hugo put the piece back on the board. "Oh," he said. "Sorry."

"You don't need to apologize," Hugo said with a shrug, "but if you and Boot need a moment to snog the pants off each other so you can focus, just say the word. I could cut the sexual tension in here with a knife."

Lily snorted and buried her face in her notebook as her shoulders shook with laughter. Charlotte was gaping at Hugo, but she seemed more impressed than appalled. Jill hardly seemed fazed at all, though her cheeks were a bit pink and she sat up a little straighter, putting a smidge of distance between herself and Louis, who was scowling in warning at a smirking Hugo.

"Are you sure that's not coming from Bobby and Lucy?" Jill asked innocently. Lucy felt her face heat up instantly and did everything she could to shrink further back into her seat.

"Hey, leave us out of this," Bobby said defensively, his cheeks a bit pink as well. Lucy looked away from him as soon as his eyes met hers, but she let out the breath she'd been holding when he simply held out the bag of toffee once again to offer her another one. She took one and mumbled a thanks before glancing sheepishly up at his twinkling eyes and soft smile.

"Besides, what do you know about it?" Louis asked Hugo gruffly, his eyes focusing on the chess board once again and pulling Lucy out of her Bobby-induced haze. "I'm pretty sure there was nothing remotely sexual about the way you snogged Bennett."

"Oh, ew, don't ever mention that again," said Lily, a look of pure disgust on her face. Hugo, however, didn't seem too bothered by the comment.

"Don't knock it till you've, you know, actually tried it."

An assortment of laughter and oohs sounded at Hugo's dig, and Charlotte even gave him a slow clap in appreciation. Louis merely rolled his eyes.

"Oh, shut the hell up," Louis grumbled. "And don't even bother denying that you wish you'd never done it."

Hugo laughed as Louis went ahead and took his actual turn. "Fine," he said, "as long as you admit that you wish we'd all clear out so you could snog Boot."

It was a battle of wills now. Hugo waited expectantly as Louis stared him down with a clenched jaw.

"Oh, honestly, Hugo," Jill cut in with a roll of her eyes. She leaned closer to Hugo and glared at him before saying in a challenging tone, "When the time comes, I'll have no problem snogging the living daylights out of your cousin right before your very eyes."

Lucy watched in surprised delight as Hugo stared at Jill with wide eyes. She smirked triumphantly, turned to a gobsmacked Louis, and kissed him softly and quickly on the cheek before rising to her feet.

"If you'll excuse me," she said, dusting off her jeans and making her way out of the compartment, "I'm going to check in with Molly."

With that, she left the compartment, though not before Lucy could see that her cheeks had a rosy hue to them as she put in a lot of effort to contain a grin.

A thud and an oof sounded from the floor of the compartment as soon as the door closed, and Lucy turned to see Hugo rubbing at his upper arm from where Louis had presumably just punched him.

"What the hell was that for?" he asked in outrage.

"Can't you mind your own fucking business?" asked Louis, his voice a bit shrill.

"Oh, relax," Hugo said with a roll of his eyes. "Besides, I think I did a bit more helping than hurting."

"Well you had no way of knowing that when you started running your mouth," Louis grumbled.

As soon as the smirk flashed across Hugo's face, Lucy saw it coming. But years of experience had shown her there was no point and no way to try and stop it.

"Speaking of mouths-"

The words had barely slipped past Hugo's lips before Louis was slugging him in the stomach, which was quickly followed up with a headlock as the chess pieces went flying. Lily let out a squeal as they tumbled onto the floor and she managed to pull her feet out of the way just in time. Charlotte made a beeline for the door and got out just in time as Lucy folded her legs up into her seat as well. She was too absorbed in watching her cousins continue to wrestle like children that she didn't realize what Bobby was doing until something rested against her knee. Her eyes grew wide as she looked down to see Bobby's head there, his legs stretched out along the seat as he grinned up at her.

"Looks like it's shaping up to be another boring year, don't you think?"

A/N: Sorry, I haven't abandoned this one! I didn't realize till today how long it had been since I'd updated it. Hope you enjoy this chapter! So happy to have most of them back together again. As always, I'd love to hear your thoughts in the reviews! I have certain things pretty set in my mind as far as where this story goes, but I have many things that are still up in the air and would love to know what you might like to see! Feel free to make requests/offer suggestions!