In the Melancholy Moonlight

Chapter LII: I Believe in Family

So are we still trying?
Or simply surviving?
We're facing these giants
The bigger they are, the harder they fall
But I still believe in
The dreams we've been dreaming
The hope that we build on
It's never too far, it's never too far
I wanna fight for what we got
'Cause I believe in family

"Family"
TobyMac

LUCY:

Mum and Dad both lived at work in the week that followed, leaving Cedric home alone to take care of me. (I'm not kidding --- they were so busy they transfigured my dad's desk into a bed and slept in his office overnight.)

There was no magical solution that could make my cough go away... and Cedric tried plenty. If anything, it got worse the first couple days, to the point where I couldn't sleep for longer than a few minutes at a time because I'd start coughing. The impending full moon made everything worse, adding a fever and sensory overload to the whole disaster.

Cedric and I figured out that I slept better if I was sitting up, so I set up camp on a downstairs couch. It was there that Hermione found me on Thursday afternoon.

"Oh, you really are sick," she said sympathetically as she perched herself on the arm of the couch opposite my head. "When Fred and George said Cedric told them you were sick, I just assumed it was the usual full moon kind."

"It was all the bloody smoke. The full moon doesn't help, of course, but-" I coughed a couple of times, as a kind of accidental emphasis. "I am actually legitimately sick. Wait, Fred and George? When did they-"

I started coughing too hard to continue, but Hermione understood what I tried to say.

"They came by this morning," she explained. "I just went with what they said at the time, but they're all playing Quidditch now so I headed down here to see you for myself."

I nodded, breathing carefully through my nose. "It's good seeing you. How is everyone doing? How are you?"

She shrugged. "Getting by. Everyone's still upset, of course, and Mr. Weasley has barely been home, but nobody is too rattled anymore. I've been reading what I can on house-elves, and what I've found is..."

It was great listening to Hermione rant --- I didn't have to talk at all. The occasional nod, cough, and "Mhm" was enough to keep her going for nearly half an hour. When she finally stopped to breathe, I opted for a topic change.

"Who's playing Chaser since I'm not there?"

"Bill," she replied. "Percy's trying Keeper. Yesterday it was Charlie who tried Chaser, with Bill as Keeper and Percy as Seeker."

I had another coughing fit in my surprise. "Percy's playing?" I spluttered.

"Everyone else was surprised too, when he offered yesterday. Ron said it's the first time he's played in probably a decade."

"I'll need to write to Oliver, he'll probably collapse from shock," I chuckled. "Say, any word on if either twin got Quidditch Captain?"