The rest of the week, Lily and her group continued their studies. On Friday, Lily received a note in her email from Mrs. Evans that her appointment with the mind healer was on Monday at 4 pm. Lily had forgotten about requesting that appointment. She quickly wrote down the appointment time and put Mrs. Evans down as who it was with in her planner. Lily was nervous about this appointment. Yes, she realized she needed to talk about what had happened with Thomas, but she hated talking to a complete stranger. Something she got from her father. Lily's thoughts went to the coming weekend.
Originally it had been a village visit weekend, but the temperatures were predicted to be record breaking, so Mrs. Allen had made the decision to cancel it. The students were directed that if they needed anything for classes for the coming month to get with their dorm parent who would give them what they needed, or order something.
Lily had gone through her things and found she didn't really need anything. Which was a relief. A lot of the students grumbled about not being able to go and visit the village, but Lily understood that even with heating charms, and being bundled up, you risk too much with the predicted temperatures.
On Saturday, Lily sat in their study room with Julia and Renee studying for a Transfiguration test they had on Monday. It was over transfiguring small objects into bigger ones like temporary furniture if you needed more for guests. They would have the theory test, and then when you were done with your theory, Mrs. Detling would do the practical part. Once done with the practical part, you were allowed to leave the classroom for the rest of the period. If Mrs. Detling was still with another student when you finished your theory test, you were to patiently and quietly wait at your desk. They would then grab the next test and call that student forward. Mrs. Detling had her in-tray for tests charmed to where they would automatically sort according to the oldest one on top. A lot of students loved the way she did things. It motivated them to get their tests done quickly, which meant to study accordingly.
Renee said laying aside her notes, "Sometimes, I think I might be trying too hard. At this point, if I don't know this information, I don't think I'll remember it."
Julia sighed and put aside her notes. Lily had to agree with Renee. They were in the top five in their year, with Julia taking the top spot, much to the discern of certain members of their class. Julia said, "How about we got to the rec room?"
The rec room was a room in the school near the gymnasium for the students to unwind. Some students used the gymnasium to play basketball, but most just went to the rec room.
In the rec room, they found Deidra and Brandy showing Kathryn how to play foosball. Kathryn hadn't up until that point been exposed to many fun things. Her parents had tried to get her into them, but not much had intrigued her. Since the beginning of term, Lily and her friends had started breaking Kathryn out of her shell. It seemed that Kathryn was talented in the musical arts, mostly the violin. Lily and Julia moved to the air hockey table while Renee watched.
Monday came, and with it, their weekly testing. Every class took tests at the beginning of each week to see where the students were in their studies from the previous week. If the class period as a whole was ready to move on, they would, but if more than a third of the class was still having issues, they would spend the next day, on the previous week work, and then continue on. If you had a good grip on the previous week, while the class reviewed, you were allowed to read ahead. Lily breezed through her tests for the day, as did the rest of her friends.
As four o'clock neared, Lily made an excuse that she wanted sometime alone, and made her way to the office that was noted in her email from Ms. Evans. As she was coming up to the door, the door opened, and a first-year came out smiling. Lily couldn't remember her name. She looked the other way so that the girl thought she might just be taking a stroll through the halls. After she was sure that the girl was gone, Lily went to the door and knocked.
"Come in."
Lily took a deep breath and walked into the office. The lady behind the desk was shuffling some papers around and said, "Be right with you. Have a seat on the couch over there."
Lily looked and saw a couch on the right side of the room. She walked over there, put her bag on the floor and sat down on the couch. A few minutes later, Mrs. Roberts came over and sat in the chair beside the couch.
She said, "You must be Ms. Potter. My name is Mrs. Roberts. Ms. Evans gave me an overview of what you would like to talk to me about. How about you tell me about yourself and I'll make notes on what might be bothering you."
Over the forty-five minutes, Lily talked about anything and everything with Mrs. Roberts making notes. Mrs. Roberts took notes on a lot of things including that Lily is being overshadowed by her father's fame. That was one thing that Mrs. Roberts wanted to discuss in their sessions.
After forty-five minutes, Mrs. Roberts said, "Looks like we'll be spending sometime together. I've made notes on somethings that I think we should discuss, but first and foremost is what initially brought you to me. The issue with Mr. Branton. I would like to see you twice a week, until summertime. Once summer starts, I would like you to keep emailing me about your thoughts, and keeping a journal too. Nothing said in this office will be said to anyone unless I feel it is harmful to you or pertains to a criminal matter. What do you think?"
Lily said, "I think I would like that."
Mrs. Roberts smiled. They made their next appointment for Wednesday at the same time.
After leaving the office, Lily looked at her watch. It was now five o'clock. She decided to go and get an early dinner after dropping her bag off at her room. After dropping her bag in her room, Lily made it to the dining hall. There she saw Qiana and Brandy chatting.
"I still tell you, Thomas is still angry…Oh hi Lily."
Lily said, "I didn't mean to interrupt. Let Thomas be angry. Its his own damn fault."
The next day, Lily played in her first single match. She won it, though it was a close call. Her teammates slapped her on the back.
On Thursday, Ben dropped a bombshell on the team. That there will be no more single matches the rest of the year. They are trying something out like a bracket tournament for the final round. They were also doing away with the doubles. He then showed the tournament brackets.
Stephanie studied it. She said, "This is ridiculous. They've got us playing each other in the first round alone!"
Ben said, "I understand that. My self and the other captains pointed this out to Mrs. Rumpke and Mrs. Allen. They just randomly picked names out of a hat and wrote them down, not considering house affiliation or anything else. As you can see: Jewel, Stephanie, Lily, Samuel, and me will be playing on April 12th. Lily and Samuel will be playing each other. Jewel will be playing Aaron Clayson from Pukwudgie, Stephanie will be against Laura Michaelson from Thunderbird, and I will be against Leroy Gibbs also from Pukwudgie. The rest of you will be playing on April 19 along with the ones of us who won on the 12th. From now on, we will not practice together. If you want to practice against someone practice against someone on the opposite side of the bracket or do the simulation."
The simulation is something that didn't get used very often by them, as they practice outside, but if the weather had been bad on practice days or you wanted to practice your form outside of practice times, you could use it.
Before everyone knew it. It was time to start the bracket tournament. Lily took a deep breath as she put on her tennis uniform. Jasmine and Heather had worked with her form and she had utilized the simulation religiously.
"Welcome everyone today to the first round of Ilvermorny Tennis Madness! Today we have 8 matches being played. The names were drawn at random for this first ever tournament. To start with: court one: Michelle Herndon vs. Nancy Walters, court two: Aaron Clayson vs. Jewel Ellington, and finally on court three: Lisa Ritz vs. Kimberly Ballis. When we have a court available: the matches will be as follows Stephanie Harris vs. Laura Michaelson, Ben Harris vs. Leroy Gibbs, Lee Chang vs. Elena Clayson, Teresa King vs. Walter Ballis, with Samuel Watson vs. Lily Potter finishing us off. Let the fun begin!"
Lily went to court two to watch her teammate play. Jewel eventually won the match with a 2-1 win over Aaron. Lily looked at the projection of the tournament bracket and saw that Michelle Herndon and Lisa Ritz had also moved on. Ben was annihilating Leroy Gibbs and was just about done. Stephanie and Laura were still battling it out. They were prepping second court for Lee Chang vs. Elena Clayson. Ben's match just ended, and they began prepping his court for Teresa King vs. Walter Ballis. Lily went over to where Stephanie and Laura were on their 3rd and final match. She knew this was where her and Sam were going to battle it out. Lily wished that she didn't have to face her own teammate in the first round. Sam seemed to think the same thing that Lily was. That this was the court that they would be playing on. He nodded to her as he came up with his Tennis bag and water bottle.
Stephanie ended up winning her match moving onto the next round. As she stepped out, she wiped her forehead. She turned to Lily and said, "Good luck. Do you know who won?"
"Ben and Jewel both have moved on from our team. You know your match results. Just me and Samuel left on who is to play from our team."
Stephanie nodded. She said, "I'll look at the bracket to see who goes on from the other matches. I would stay to watch, but I need a shower bad."
Lily nodded her thanks. She looked to the stands and saw that James, Jasmine, Audrey, and Kathryn were there. James and Jasmine both gave her a thumbs up for good luck.
"Our final match is about to begin between teammates Samuel Watson vs. Lily Potter. Mr. Watson is a fifth year and Ms. Potter is a third year. Let's see who will come out on top!"
After putting her bag down and taking a swig from her water bottle, Lily went over to the court and shook hands with Sam. It was a hard fought match. Lily and Samuel were equally matched. Sam won the first match, with Lily taking the second one. After the second set, Lily signaled a three-minute timeout. She walked over to the bench, and sat down. She took a few deep breaths and drunk some water. In the end, Samuel ended up wining the whole match. Lily walked up to the net, panting. She shook hands with Samuel.
"Sam, you are good. Thank you for a well-played match."
Samuel said, "Thank you, Lily. I think you will be better than me in a couple of years if you keep practicing. You might even get as good as Victor Thompson."
Lily said, "I highly doubt that. If I remember correctly, he went undefeated."
Sam said, "True, but maybe starting next year."
Notices were put up for those to put their name down to go home for the holiday. Many decided to go home. James was going with Jasmine to her families home. Lily had been invited to Jasmine's home as well as Franklin ranch. Lily talked it over with James who was okay with her joining him at the Young's home.
Lily signed up to be away from the school for Easter. With a quick word to her father who confirmed that she had permission to go to Florida to be with Jasmine and her family. The train was to leave on Thursday at noon.
Thursday rolled around. Julia and Renee were upset that Lily wasn't spending time with them.
Lily said, "I need to get to know Jasmine and her family more. After all, my brother is engaged to Jasmine. As of right now, she will be the next Lady Potter once James takes the head of house position when my father either steps down or passes away, whichever happens first."
Renee said, "I understand, but I want to make things up with you after the way I treated you since Thanksgiving."
Lily said, "We have plenty of time to do that, Renee. I hardly see Jasmine as it is let alone Heather."
Once the train arrived in Boston, Lily met up with Jasmine, Heather and James. James led them over to a storeroom. He said looking at Lily, "We will be traveling there via apparition. Jasmine will take Heather, and I'll take you Lily. Her parents thought since Jasmine was old enough and licensed to, apparate herself, she could also do her sister. They gave me the coordinates and said that if you were to come along, to apparate you."
Lily held tightly to James' arm as he nodded to Jasmine. In an instant, they were in Key West on the lawn of a beautiful home. Heather went ahead and went inside. Jasmine turned to James and Lily.
Jasmine said, "James, you'll be staying in the guest house, same as last time. I don't know why, but father insists. I'll show Lily to her room. Meet us by the pool in an hour?"
James nodded his head. He knew why her father insisted he stay in the guest house. He thought he was protecting his daughter's virtue. If only the man knew. Chuckling, James hugged Lily.
Lily followed Jasmine inside. Lily said, "Why does James have to stay away from the rest of us?"
Jasmine laughed. She said, "My father believes he is protecting me from James and nefarious ways."
Lily's eyes bugged at that.
An hour later, Jasmine led Lily down to the poolside. Everyone was lounging under the cabana. Lucinda was pouring lemonade for Heather and James. Though James looked like he had tried to help.
Lucinda said, "There you are! Come and have some lemonade and cookies. Supper is at the usual time kids!"
Lily grabbed a chair for herself and swiftly caught the sunblock that Heather threw at her. She started putting it on her legs when another guy walked by. She stopped and watched him.
Heather said, "Oh, that's Roman. He's a second cousin. Hey Roman!"
Roman whirled. He smiled. Roman looked to be about Heather's age. Roman said, "Hey girls. You guys back for the holiday already? James, good to see you again. Do I need to take you out back?"
Jasmine said, "Roman, father has already given him the lecture!"
Roman chuckled. He turned to Lily and smiled. He said, "Hello, miss. I don't believe we've been introduced. Roman Young."
Lily blushed and said, "Lily Potter, this gits sister."
Roman outright laughed. He said, "You are a teaser. It's a pleasure to meet you, Ms. Potter. So, what grade are you in?"
"Grade?"
Heather quickly said, "She'd be an eighth grader, Roman. Anyways, what are you doing here? I thought you were in Michigan on some kind of fishing trip."
Roman said, "It got cancelled due to weather. Lucinda invited me over thinking James might like some more male company."
Roman winked at Lily. Lily rolled her eyes. Roman went back into the house.
Heather turned to Lily and said, "Roman is what you in England call a squib. He doesn't know about magic. We keep it on the downlow around him. He knows he's different than the rest of the family that he can't do what they can, but they didn't tell him due to him not having it. His parents were the first in their generation to have magic other than father. Father is a half-blood. His mother is the witch and father is a non-magical."
Lily nodded.
The rest of the time in Key West was fun. They went to the beach one day, and the other to the Alley of the Keys, the magical shopping center of Key West. It was a boardwalk along the shoreline.
On Easter Sunday, Lily, Heather, and Jasmine helped Lucinda with preparing Easter dinner. They were having ham with pineapple, scalloped potatoes, and steamed asparagus. For desert they were having a banana pudding. Lily was in charge of the banana pudding. She followed the recipe to the letter.
As everyone sat down after dinner, Robert said, "Lucinda, that banana pudding was to die for. What did you do to it differently?"
Lucinda looked at Robert and said, "Lily did the pudding, dear."
Lily blushed. She said, "I didn't do anything different, Mr. Young. I followed the recipe that I was given to the letter."
Roman said, "I must say, I think we should have Ms. Lily over for Easter dinner more often if she's going to make the banana pudding."
Lucinda threw Roman a look that said I don't think so. She turned to the kids and continued, "Is everyone ready to go back to school tomorrow?"
Lily said, "Yep. I can't wait to see how the tennis tournament turns out."
Heather said, "You had to go and remind me about that! I haven't practiced all weekend?"
Roman said, "Tennis tournament? What's this about?"
Jasmine went on to explain how their school changed up the set up of the interschool tennis matches. It was soon time to go to bed as the next day they had to return to Boston and Ilvermorny.