✔️ 𝐋𝐎𝐒𝐓&𝐅𝐎𝐔𝐍𝐃 → 𝑓. 𝑤𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑙𝑒𝑦

03 | S E C R E T S

•••
they say we are what we are,
but don't have to be.        
•••

   Her father always told her, that crying was for the weak ones. She never cried since she was seven. Still she did not cry. She didn't have cried after she found her parents laying dead in their bed, and now she wouldn't cry over some stupid hat and the crap of a house it put her in. For the night she stayed in her room, but was unable to fall asleep until the sun was already rising in the morning hours, so when she awoke, it was already late in the noon.

   She went down to the kitchen, where Mrs Weasley gave her something to eat and asked Lynnea to help Ginny with some cleaning work, so she joined the youngest redhead in the living room, where she was greeted by a giant moth in the size of an eagle.

   "Fred and George thought it would be easier to catch, if they enlarge it, so it's bigger", Ginny told me, after I looked at her questioning. "Needles to say that they left me alone with this monster here after they hexed it."

   Lynnea suppressed a grin. It for sure was funny, but they were still fools and they didn't deserve her laughing at their foolish pranks. "How can I help you?", she asked instead after clearing her throat.

   "What do you think about those curtains?" She nodded at some heavy green cloths hanging in front of the window, and they were -

   "Pretty ugly", Lynnea replied. "But I don't get it -?" Before she could finish her question, Ginny had crossed the room, grabbing thecurtains and tore it down.

   "Don't look at me like that, they indeed were ugly", Ginny said, so Lynnea closed her mouth again, for her jaw had dropped, and with the help of the curtains it took them a while, but finally they managed to capture the monstrous moth inside the cloth.

   "Look how fine a Gryffindor and a Slytherin can work together", Ginny panted with a smirk on her face.

   "So it is really that bad?", Lynnea asked, sitting exhausted on the floor, trying to calm her breath.

   "No, don't listen to Fred and George", Ginny said, waving it of. "They are rivals, that's true, but that doesn't mean a thing. We'll get along fine. Unless you join their Quidditch team, then you're the enemy." She laughed, but Lynnea's eyes widened. She had been Chaser ever since second grade in Beauxbaton, and she loved Quidditch. You could say she was quite obsessed with it, but how could she not with that father of hers.

   "Erm– to be honest I really like Quidditch, and I thought I could give it a try ...", she whispered, trying to sound casual.

   Ginny's cheeks blushed. "Oh, no no no, I was making a joke, of course you can – but you'll have a hard time, Slytherins usually don't let girls join their team." Suddenly she stared at Lynnea bug-eyed. "Wait a second!", she gasped. "Bailey! Lynnea Bailey! You're Michael Bailey's daughter! Merlin's beard!"

   Lynnea slowly nodded. Usually it were guys freaking out, when they found out, that Lynnea was the daughter of famous Michael Bailey, the Scottish's Chaser.

   "Wow",Ginny breathed.

   "Hey sister, making friends with the enemy?" With two loud cracks, Fred and George had apparated into the room.

   "Shut up, Fred", Ginny snapped. "She's not like the typical Slytherin."

   "Yeah, I already noticed that", Fred said and smirked down at Lynnea, still sitting on the floor. "She is far more beautiful." She felt her face heathen up. "Parkinson will freak out."

   "Imagine how Angelina will freak out, if she ever finds out you're calling other girls beautiful", Hermione's voice appeared behind them, as she entered the room together with Ron and Harry.

   "Please go on, that might be the best kind of fun you could ever be giving us", George laughed. "I could make up bets, whom she's killing first, you or our cute little snake friend."

   "Who is she?", Lynnea asked curiously, already gussing the answer, before Ron even opened his mouth.

   "Fred's girlfriend." A strange tingling appeared in Lynnea's tummy, followed by a tiny stitch. "She was pretty nice ever since, but now Dumbledore made her captain of our Quidditch team, and I guess she'd gone mad during summer. We met her last week, and now she's all like-"

   "Like what, Ronald?", Fred asked, crossing his arms in front of his chest provokingly, as if he tried to dare his younger brother.

   "Never mind", Ron muttered, rolling his eyes.

   "Tell us about your girlfriend, Ronald", Fred snarled, and Ron went crimson.

   "I have none", he said.

   "Exactly. So shut up, won't you?"

   Ron muttered something under his breath, George, Ginny and Harry started laughing. That was when Lynnea's eyes fell on Harry, the boy who lived, and a extremely strange feeling overwhelmed her; a feeling that she didn't know at all, that she had never experienced before, and that she was utterly unable to describe. Puzzled she shook her head and tried to pull herself back to reality.

   Harry, who seemed to have noticed the girl was staring at him, said: "We haven't been introduced yet, have we? I am Harry. Harry Potter."

   "Lynnea Bailey", she responded and took his outstretched hand with a shy smile on her lips. He jerked and his hand shot up to his forehead. Lynnea cocked an eyebrow. "Are you okay?"

   "Yeah, I – am fine", he stammered, and scratched the back of his head, but the way he exchanged looks with Ron and Hermione told Lynnea a different story. Feeling immediately uncomfortable, she did what she could do best: She excused herself and walked back to her bedroom.

   "-we didn't have to tell everything, just -"

   "We won't tell her anything, Sirius!"

   Lynnea stopped abruptly, staying in the shadows of the dark corridor. Inside the room to her left Sirius and Remus talked fiercly. Lynnea could hear one of the men breathing heavily.

   "I can't just take it like that! Look at her, Remus, she's all alone! Ihate to admit it, but the boys are right, she'll -"

   "She'll be completely fine. We can't tell her, it's too dangerous. What will you tell and what do you want to leave?"

   "Who you are!", Sirius hissed. "And who I am. Just give her something that makes her feel less alone!"

   "No",Remus calmly replied, and Lynnea heard a muffled bang. "Lynnea will do fine, even in Slytherin. We won't tell her until Dumbledore gives his okay!"

   The two mens' feet made some muffled sounds on the dusty floor, as they were about to leave the room. Lynnea quickly stepped behind a nearby chest of drawers, clutching her hand on her mouth. Remus and Sirius crossed her without noticing her hidden figure in the darkness, and her mind started racing. What were they hiding from her? And why on earth wouldn't Dumbledore want her to know?