Forgotten Girl

Seventeen and Stories

"Lils?" 

She jumped, glancing up at Marnie's brother. Her eyes widened as his crinkled.

"I thought that was you!" August laughed, waving her over. She sat at his feet, a smile curling on her lips. Marnie looked between them, confused.

"You know each other?" The older teens shared a look. It felt like they had slipped right back into their old pattern, and that eased Lilli's awkwardness.

"We dated, Mar," he told her, ruffling his hair, "Two years ago, was it?"

"Was it really?" Lilli laughed, "That seems like forever ago."

"What happened?" Marnie asked, pulling her knees to her chest so that she could rest her chin on her knees, "Why'd you break up with her, Gus?"

August rolled his eyes, "First of all, she broke up with me. Through a note, no less, that she had a friend give me."

Lilli flinched, "I am sorry about that. Didn't have much of a choice. My aunt and uncle shipped me off to the States halfway through the summer, and it wasn't exactly the time to send an owl."

He laughed, patting her leg, "Ah, don't worry, Lils. I forgive you. Friends?"

"Friends," Lilli nudged his side with her foot, "I'll bring Marnie to visit again next time I'm in her room, but we do need to leave now."

~

"Ana, Teddy!" Lilli looked up, laughing as Harry hugged her and Teddy at once. The little metamorphmagus grinned, his hair flipping from red to black, and Lilli transferred him to his godfather's arms. At four months old, Teddy was well aware of the world around him, especially who he wanted to hold him.

"Come on, everyone's out in the garden," Harry led her and Andy behind the Burrow, where the Weasleys and Aunt Thia were all gathered to celebrate Lilli's seventeenth birthday. She couldn't help but look for the four faces that weren't there.

Ginny stood, pulling her to a seat beside her own and across from the twins.

"You finally out, then?" Lilli asked Fred, who shook his head. He'd spent two weeks in a coma until the healers had found out what was wrong, then another month to find an antidote.

"I've been given a day out, but they want to keep me one more week just in case," he sighed, rubbing his hands over his face, "Any word?"

Lilli shook her head, "None of my friends know where they went. Just that one day Kitt was in school, next he wasn't. I've written to the head of Ilvermorny, but that'll be at least a week until they get back to me."

"What?" Ginny and George asked in unison, looking between them. Fred and Lilli chuckled at their matching confused faces.

"Winna," Lilli said quietly, glancing down the table at Ron and Percy. She hadn't forgiven either of them for freaking out on Winna, "No one's seen her since the Battle. Not here, not at MIIM."

Ginny shook her head, "It feels like you're speaking a language I half understand. What the bloody hell is MIIM?"

"Ginevra Weasley," Mrs Weasley warned. Ginny apologized for her language.

"Mackinac Island Institute of Magick," Lilli said, "The school I went to last year."

"You never told me that!" Ginny exclaimed, "You haven't told me anything about last year, actually."

"Well, Andy was my aunt, she enrolled me at MIIM, and I spent my school year there, with Winna's little brother, Kitt." She shrugged, taking Teddy back once Harry handed him over, "Which reminds me... Aunt Thia!"

The witch came over, laughing at her, "Yes, babydoll? You needn't yell, you know."

"Guess who I met in the States?" Thia just shrugged, leaning against her shoulders and looking down at her, "Momo. She was my Transfiguration teacher."

Lilli watched her aunt freeze, and then smile, "Really? I would have thought she'd be a Potions Master. She liked tinkering with teas well enough."

Ginny groaned, "There you go again, speaking in a half-language! You're worse than the trio!"

"Momo was my..." Thia paused, unsure of the words to use, "My roommate when Ellie was young. She helped me raise her until Mo went off to the States."

"Okay," George said slowly, "So what's any of this to do with Winna?"

"While I was at MIIM, I met Winna's brother, Kitt. So I wrote to some of my friends from school, but none of them knows where they are now." Lilli removed her hair from Teddy's grasp, "They also all thought I died when I didn't come back after Beltane, but that's another matter entirely. How's the shop going?"

"No, no, no, I want to hear more about MIIM," Ginny said, pointing a pretzel at Lilli, "Did you meet anyone special there?" The girl raised her eyebrows suggestively, and she turned as red as her hair. "You did! Spill."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Lilli shook her head, desperately pretending she wasn't blushing.

"Does Miss Potter have a crush?" Fred teased, tugging one of her curls.

"Nope. No idea at all what you're talking about." 

Harry leaned around Hermione and Ron to look at her, "Excuse me? Why is this the first I'm hearing this?"

Lilli groaned, burying her face in her hands, "Thank you ever so much, Ginny.  Now I get to deal with them too."

"Welcome to my life," she said wryly, "Try having six of them. So, spill."

The others also clamoured for her to tell, but she shook her head, "I will tell you later, Ginny, if you'll let it drop now."

"I'm going to hold you to that."

~

True to her word, as soon as they had finished supper, Ginny dragged Lilli up to the orchard while the others prepared to play a match of Quidditch.

"Okay, spill. Was it a guy? Did you do the dirty?" Lilli flushed again, and Ginny started laughing.

"Ginny!" Lilli kicked her, "No, I didn't do the dirty. No, it wasn't a guy." Ginny's eyes just about popped out of her head.

"A girl? Deets. Now." 

"Not much to tell, to be honest," Lilli leaned back in the grass, staring up at the night sky, "She was my roommate, and we got pretty close during the few months I was there. Day before Beltane Break, she runs up to me in the hallway and says her ex is following her. So I pretended to be her girlfriend for a couple minutes. Next thing I know, she's kissing me and I'm literally frozen."

"Okay, first of all, the ex bit is the oldest trick in the book," Ginny pointed out, "Secondly, you're oblivious. Third, have you talked to her since then?"

"Have we talked? Yes. Have we talked about the kiss? No."

Lilli flinched as Ginny groaned, falling backwards to lay beside her, "Lilli!"

"I don't know what I'd say, let alone how to bring it up! I did lie about my identity for eight months, Gin." The girl waved a hand.

"Did you like it? Do you like her?"

"I don't know!" Lilli cried, "It... it was nice, I guess. And I think I felt something for her. But it didn't feel like it did with August."

"Trust me, it won't," Ginny said lightly, "So what are you going to do?"

"Nothing," Lilli sighed, tucking away Gin's words for later, "I'm not exactly going back to the States any time soon, am I? It's not worth starting anything."

"You should still talk about it," she turned her head to look at her, "It'll hurt less."

"Speaking from experience?" Ginny turned to look at her, a sad little smile on her face.

"Speaking as someone who didn't."