“ROXANNE!”

The whole Gryffindor common room shook as Rose Weasley, Head Girl and top geek, bellowed her cousin’s name. Lily Potter smirked as she buried her head in a Transfiguration textbook. Running her hand through her red hair, she waited for it.

“Roxanne Weasley! Get back here now!”

The whole common room stifled their laughter as they heard footsteps thundering down the stairs. Roxanne Weasley burst into the room, threw herself onto the seat next to Lily and grabbed her textbook. Seconds later, Rose barged into the common room. She wildly searched the room before finding Roxanne, who proceeded to read the textbook -- albeit upside down.

“Give me it back,” Rose snarled. Roxanne looked up from her textbook; Lily could have mistaken her expression for innocence if she had not known her so well. The slight twinkle in her eyes gave it away that Roxanne was up to something. She was always causing trouble and playing tricks.

“I don’t know what you’re on about,” Roxanne replied, her voice shaking with laughter.

Rose started; she grabbed the book from her cousin and threw it on the ground in rage.

“You know fine well what I’m on about, you have my badge!” she hissed, trying her best not to make a scene in her first week as Head Girl. She was, however, too late as the whole common room became silent as they watched the scene unfold in front of them. It was hard to believe that Rose and Roxanne were even related as an argument between the two cousins was almost a monthly event. Almost polar opposites -- they never got along.

Lily couldn’t stop herself, she had to do it. With a slight grin on her face she asked, “What badge?” She thought she could hear someone snort behind her as Rose’s normally pale face turned purple with frustration.

“You know what I mean, Lily! My Head Girl’s badge!” she said. Her whole body seemed to shake and Lily casually wondered how someone could possibly get so angry over one menial thing like this. She noticed for the first time that Rose was dressed in her pyjamas with a towel wrapped around her head.

“Oh, sorry, I forgot. I think I needed reminding again, y’know for the eighty-second time this term,” Lily said, trying desperately not to laugh. The whole common room seemed to explode with laughter and Roxanne turned around to high five Lily before tossing the badge back to Rose. Rose fumbled to catch it before storming out of the common room, slamming the portrait door behind her. She was quickly followed by Albus who shot Lily a shrewd look before chasing after his cousin and best friend.

Lily shrugged as she picked up her book; wiping its cover she turned to face Roxanne. “What have you done to it?” she asked.

Roxanne laughed. “Just this trick that my dad says him and Uncle Fred played on Uncle Percy once, but with a slight twist -- you’ll find out sooner or later!”

Lily laughed and started to leaf through her textbook again. It was her OWL year and she desperately needed to start sticking in. Not exactly the smartest in her year, Lily only managed most of her subjects, although, surprisingly, she excelled at Ancient Runes.

Roxanne pulled out a yo-yo and started to casually play with it. Lily shrank away, knowing fine well that it was not only a toy.

“Should you not be studying?” she snapped. “Surely you have something to do?”

Roxanne smirked ostentatiously. “No,” she replied.

With an insufferable sigh, Lily continued to struggle her way through her book. A full five minutes passed before Roxanne spoke again.

“How’s your OWL year going then, little cousin?” she chirped.

Lily scowled and slammed her book shut. “Well it would be going just fine if you would stop bothering me!” she snapped.

Roxanne grinned. “That’s good! You still having issues in Defence Against the Dark Arts? I could help you, you know!”

Counting to ten, Lily shuddered. She hated anyone mentioning her weakness at Defence as it made her feel inadequate.

“No, Roxanne. I’m fine, it’s fine,” she said through gritted teeth. She couldn’t stand it when Roxanne got in this annoying mood, where her mission was simply to annoy people.

Shrugging, Roxanne turned back to her yo-yo which had started to omit an unerring whizz and flash neon colours. “Have you got a boyfriend yet?” the older girl asked casually.

“No,” Lily snapped back. It wasn’t for lack of wanting, Lily had been thinking about boys a lot lately but she just couldn’t see herself with anyone in Hogwarts.

“Good, I don’t think your dad could handle it,” Roxanne replied. “Anyway, shouldn’t you be doing your homework?”

Almost crying with frustration, Lily pick up her textbook and whacked it off of Roxanne’s head grinning as the girl cried out in pain.

Somewhat later on, once she had finished her tedious Transfiguration essay and written to her parents, Lily retired to her room. Ignoring Roxanne, who begged her to stay and have some fun, Lily traipsed up to her dorm, trailing her book bag behind her and listening to the satisfying bump as the books hit each step.

Once reaching her dorm, she paused as she heard one of her dorm mate’s cackles.

“I mean did you see her! I thought mini- Potter was a bit of a state but… Merlin! Her cousin! Sad-sack Rose, let’s start calling her that! Give me my badge back! And did you see them awful slippers she had on -- I think I had a pair of them when I was six!”

As Lily listened, her stomach churned. Only she and her family were allowed to tease Rose, and even then they didn’t speak like that behind her back. Throwing open the door, she stormed into her dorm. At the far end of the room she could see Caoimhe Finnegan standing on her bed. Caoimhe was a bitch. She hated Lily purely for the reason that her older brother, James, had refused to go out with her last year, and she had only tolerated Lily before that anyway.

Crowded around the tall girls’ bed were Jane Walker and Mariella Vane. They were simply minions who followed Caoimhe around like a bad smell, laughing at her jokes and complementing her looks. They made Lily sick.

Lily stormed across the room and threw her bag onto her bed. As she drew her curtains shut, she flicked her wand and smirked as she heard Caoimhe fall and hit the ground with a bump.

“Potter, that was you, you cow!” She heard her shriek. Lily rolled her eyes as she heard Caoimhe’s sheep mutter, “I know, that was bang out!”

“Give it up, Finnegan!” Lily almost screamed from her bed as she changed into her pyjamas. She would get Caoimhe back good and proper. The girl had very little idea what she had gotten herself into.

The next day Lily awoke with a start. She had slept in, and of course none of her dorm mates had woken her up. She stumbled out of bed and hastily threw her robes on.

Grumbling obscenities about her room-mates, Lily carefully made her way down the stairs. As she reached the bottom, she winced. Her hips were always stiff in the morning, ever since…

Shaking her head, Lily cleared the thoughts about last year from her mind, she preferred not to think of last spring at all. She sighed as she continued her long descent to the Great Hall where she would be lucky to grab something to eat before Herbology.

The walk seemed to take forever and she reached the fourth floor before suddenly stumbling against the banister. Holding on as she caught her breath, Lily could hear someone running down the stairs behind her.

“Lily! Are you okay?” Louis Weasley, Lily’s cousin, gasped as he caught up with her.

“I’m fine,” Lily replied through gritted teeth. Louis was in the year above her; he was perhaps the quietest out of all her cousins and seemed to always keep his head down and out of trouble.

“You don’t look fine. Shouldn’t you still be using your walking stick?” Louis retorted, using an infuriating calm voice.

“No Louis, I should not! Don’t you have a class to go to?” Lily almost shouted as she abruptly stood up and shoved the blonde boy off of her.

Louis, ever the calm one, held up his hands. “Right, okay, no need to moan. I was only trying to help,” he muttered as he walked away. For a split second, Lily almost wished that she did have a walking stick so she could hit Louis over the head with it. Counting to ten, she continued her trip.

She had barely reached the second floor when it happened again. Lily slipped, and collided against the banister. She cried out in pain as her shoulder hit against the stone.

“Are you alright?”

Lily groaned and buried her head in her arms. “Who is it now?” She asked in a low voice, expecting it to be one of her assorted cousins.

“Scorpius. Do you need help up?” Lily stiffened at the reply; Scorpius Malfoy was a Seventh Year in Slytherin. He was a Malfoy, and their families had always rivalled each other. Things had escalated in the war but an understanding had been reached after Scorpius’s gran saved Lily’s dad’s life. However, that hatred still ran deep and the house rivalries were difficult to replace after more than a thousand years of resentment between the two Hogwarts houses.

“No, it’s okay.” Lily struggled to keep her voice even as she tried to stand up. She turned around and was shocked to find him so close to her. The boy jumped back and his face hardened as he realised who exactly he was helping.

“I’m sorry,” he replied. “I’ll let you get to class.” He turned to go but Lily stopped him, laying a hand on his arm.

“Erm, I kind of do need help,” she said, not quite wanting him to leave yet.

Lily looked at her feet as the boy nodded and lifted her up. As she felt his chest brush against her back, she couldn’t help but flush. Embarrassed, she rushed away, barely thanking him. What are you playing at? She almost screamed at herself, you really need a boyfriend; stop yourself from fancying anything with a bloody pulse!

Ten painful minutes later, Lily arrived at Greenhouse Five. Slightly sweaty and out of breath, she entered her room, located Hugo, and sat down. Ignoring Professor Longbottom as he glowered at her, she quickly located her dragon skin gloves and put them on.

“What are we doing today?” she whispered.

Hugo gestured at the tray in front of him. “We need to find these little pod things amongst all that muck ‘cause er…”

Lily rolled her eyes. “I thought Hufflepuffs were meant to be good at Herbology!” she snarled; taking her horrible mood out on the nearest person was not unusual for Lily Potter.

Hugo’s face remained impassive. “I thought Gryffindors were meant to be good at Defence Against the Dark Arts,” he retorted.

This sedated Lily. As much as she wished to take her mood out on her cousin she couldn’t. Hugo was her closest friend, but as he was in Hufflepuff, Herbology was the only class they shared together. Hugo was not the only Weasley who hadn’t been sorted into Gryffindor. Victoire, who had long left Hogwarts, had been in Ravenclaw and Lucy, who was in third year, was also in Hufflepuff.

Frowning, Lily replied, “It’s not my fault Professor Brown hates me!”

Hugo grinned. “And I wonder why!” He laughed.

Ignoring this comment, Lily dived into another conversation. “So, Hugo,” she murmured as Professor Longbottom passed by their table. “I need your help with two things.”

Hugo nodded as he searched around the tray. Gasping, he pulled out a pod and laid it in another tray.

“Firstly,” Lily continued, “I need a boyfriend.” At this, Hugo raised his eyebrows.

“I heard Noah Smith was single.” He smirked.

Lily grimaced. “Shut up! He has to be the most incredibly boring person ever. No thanks. Anyway, secondly I need your help in annihilating Caoimhe Finnegan!” Lily cried the last bit perhaps a bit too vehemently as Noah Smith and two other Hufflepuffs turned around to stare at her.

“Annihilating?” Hugo questioned with a smile on his face.

“Yes, I caught her out speaking about Rosie last night.” As Lily continued to tell Hugo what had happened last night his face fell into a frown. Hugo was amazingly loyal, and would do anything to defend his family.

Casting a sly look at Professor Longbottom, Hugo lowered his voice.

“Okay, the boyfriend issue I can’t really help you with. But tell me what you’ve got already on Finnegan,” he muttered, a determined look on his face.