` sleeplessness. [lucy & open.]

[Lily Potter]

The snow had turned to sleet sometime during the night, and it was the slushy sound it made as it hit against the outside of the tower that kept Lily up that night. All her room mates were soundly sleeping, but the youngest Potter lay awake in her bed, the thick quilt tucked up to her shoulders. She wasn't sure how much time had passed, but eventually, she decided to get up, acknowledging now that trying to get any rest at all at the moment was futile.

So, grabbing a pink throw blanket from her chest in the corner and her favorite muggle novel, Gone with the Wind, the fifth year ventured down to the Gryffindor common room, her disheveled red hair bouncing behind her in little ringlets as she crept down the stairs, trying to keep her steps as quiet as possible. She didn't bother to change her clothes; after all, it was the middle of the night, and she would probably end up venturing back up the climbing staircase to her dorm room sooner or later anyway, so she remained in her flannel pink and green plaid pajamas. And they were soft and warm, too, so changing into other clothes would have been useless.

She didn't know why she couldn't sleep, but it probably had something to do with the wind howling outside like a violent animal. Other than that, she had been cold all day, despite the sweater she had worn. Maybe she had a cold. If she did, though, it mustn't have been that serious, because her nose was neither stuffy nor runny, and her throat was not sore. She was just cold. And that could have attributed to the fact that it was just cold outside.

When she hopped off the last step, her brown eyes, bright with the reflected light of the warm fire that was already ablaze beneath the mantle, settled on cozy looking armchair facing aforementioned fire to curl up in. She walked towards it, her petite prepubescent figure throwing small shadows on the wall, and settled into the armchair, the blanket on top of her for extra warmth, as she flipped the thick novel open and started reading.

As far as she was aware, there was no one else in the common room at the moment, and if there was someone, he or she was being very quiet and sneaky about it. But, as far as she was aware, she was alone, and she settled comfortably into the warm arm chair, enjoying the muggle literature for the time being.

[Lucy Weasley]

Lucy sat up in her bed. There was just something about this night that made it impossible for her to sleep. She quietly listened to the slow, steady breathing of all of her roommates, hoping that one of them might wake up and talk to her, but she knew they were all fast asleep and that it was highly unlikely that she would be socializing at all that night. She sighed as she looked around the dark room. A small beam of moonlight streamed through the window next to her bed and slightly lit the dark shadows that outlined the beds and furniture.

In one smooth motion, she slid off of her bed and cautiously started to tiptoe towards the door. When she swung it open, it creaked, but no one woke. She had decided to spend the night in the common room until she could feel tired or fall asleep. Maybe she would meet one of her housemates down there that couldn't sleep either. As she entered the cosy, inviting room, she spotted her favorite chair and plopped down onto it.

As she looked around, she realized that she was alone. So much for meeting someone. She got herself into a comfortable position and tried to close her eyes. However, the howling wind outside and the spattering of the rain on the roofs kept her up until she decided to count sheep. Her eyes flickered to the fire. The sight of the warm, crackling fire had always made her drowsy. Soon, she had drifted off into a light sleep.

---

Lucy awoke quietly as she heard someone entering the room. As she blinked sleep from her eyes, she remembered that she had come down to the common room. Looking out the window, she could tell that it was still nighttime. She sighed, disappointed. Looking at the large clock on the wall, she could see that she had only slept for a bit more than half an hour. She still had a long way to go until the morning.

She looked to see who the newcomer was. She immediately recognized her cousin, Lily Potter, her bright red hair, hanging down in ringlets. She had always wished her hair was like that. Sitting up, she yawned. “Hello, Lily.” she murmured quietly, “What’s that you’re reading?” she asked.

[Lily Potter]

Lily hadn't noticed anyone else in the common room, but when a mound that she had previously taken for pillows and blankets started to dislodge itself from an armchair beside her, she could make out the distinct figure of a person. Obviously, someone had dozed off in the common room, and now, looking at the spot where the person had just been laying, Lily wondered how she hadn't noticed a fellow Gryffindor asleep. She herself must have been very sleepy to have overlooked that, but the thoughts left her mind as she focused her brown eyes instead on the person who had emerged from the armchair.

In the waning light, Lily could make out the face of her cousin Lucy, the latter's fair hair reflecting yellow-gold in the flickering light of the fire. Lucy had always been the prettier one between them, and Lily had envied her for that years prior. She still, however, sometimes wished that her hair wasn't the shock of bright red that it was, and that her eyes could be the pretty blue color of her cousin's.

These thoughts didn't arise in her at that moment, however, as Lily stared at her for a moment, not knowing what to say, until her cousin's grey-blue eyes locked with Lily's own warm brown eyes. "Hello," the small red-head started to say, a small grin starting to spread on her lips, but her cousin beat her to the words, greeting her somewhat sleepily.

"Hello, Lily. What's that you're reading?"

A yawn stifled her words somewhat, but Lily could make out the gist of it. "Oh - just a... a Muggle novel," she said quickly, caught off guard a bit at the sudden question. It wasn't that she didn't want anyone to know that she frequently read Muggle novels - on the contrary, most people who knew her in fact did know, and they couldn't deny that authors of Muggle literature did have some insight into human nature that wizards did not - it was just that the question seemed a bit random at the first sight.

It didn't really matter though; Lucy Weasley had probably seen Lily reading this particular novel on many previous occasions; she had read it so much that she herself had lost track of how many times she had reread it. On any account, however, she changed the subject, curious as to what Lucy had been doing when she had fallen asleep and why she wasn't in their dorm room. "So, er... what were you doing?" she asked, the thought occurring to her that perhaps she had disturbed her cousin's sleep. She certainly hoped she hadn't, and if she had she would apologize, but for now, she would await her cousin's answer.

[Lucy Weasley]

Lucy's eyes flickered to the cover of the book after Lily mentioned that it was a muggle novel. "Gone With the Wind... I've heard that's good." she murmured. "I've never read it myself, though." she added. Lucy liked reading, but it just wasn't something that she did on a regular basis. Also, even when she did read for pleasure, it usually wasn't a muggle book, although she had nothing against reading literature written by muggles. She had to admit that the stories they came up with were often interesting.

"So, er... what were you doing?"

"Umm..." it took Lucy a few moments to remember what she had been doing. She was still groggy from just waking up. "I couldn't sleep so I came down here and then I guess I dozed off..." she replied. "I'm not really sure how I woke up though." she said, uncertainly. "Don't worry though, I'm sure you didn't disturb me," she told her cousin with a smile. "So.... how's life been for you lately?" she asked.

Recently, it seemed as if Lily had been doing things in secret, but Lucy wasn't sure if it was just her imagination. Quite frequently, Lucy had no idea where she was and she had just sort of disappeared, but Lucy knew better than to ask her about it, because Lily obviously didn't want to tell anyone. Lucy just smiled at her cousin, as these thoughts hadn't come to her mind at this point.

[Lily Potter]

"So... how's life been for you lately?"

Lucy's question caught the small redhead off guard, and aforementioned redhead blinked for a moment, staring at her cousin, before taking in the question. She could feel the heat rising to her cheeks and she lowered her face slightly under the pretense of slipping a bookmark through the worn cover of the book in her hands, shifting her shoulder surreptitiously so the red ringlets of her hair would fall forward to cover her face from her cousin's view.

Lily bit her lip, knowing she would have to answer soon without making it look any more suspicious that it already would. She gave the first answer that came to her mind - predictably - and hoped that it didn't seem as if she were hiding something. "Er, the same - I mean, it's been good." This answer seemed a bit predictable and commonplace and not informative at all, so she expanded a bit, stretching a half-truth. "I've just been busy, you know, with O.W.L.s coming up and everything - spending extra hours in the library studying..." She hoped that this last piece of information didn't give her away - for all she knew, perhaps her cousin had been in the library every evening as of late, and maybe she would catch Lily in the lie. Lily always could, however, claim that they must have missed each other, but it was bound to cause some suspicion in her cousin about her whereabouts if it was the former case.

This wasn't, however, a complete lie - no, Lily was spending some time in the library to complete assignments on time in quiet, but no more than she usually did. Although, Lily did know that sneaking off to spend time with Scorpius - yes, Scorpius Malfoy - would cause some suspicion as to her whereabouts, and she wouldn't be surprised if the blonde Weasley sitting in front of her was the first to notice. As of now, however, she hoped no one found out - it just wouldn't make well for Scorpius and Lily if the gossip mill caught wind that they had been spending a bit more time than was proper for a Potter and Malfoy together. These thoughts in mind, Lily cautiously glanced up at her cousin, hoping the red on her cheeks had faded and instead asking Lucy the question she had been asked. "What about you?"

[Lucy Weasley]

It seemed to take Lily a little while to answer the question that Lucy had just asked her, but Lucy didn't think much of it. I mean, it must have been somewhere near three o'clock in the morning - who can think straight at that time in the night? Lucy noticed her cousin blush slightly, and this is when she was reminded of her cousin's secrecy lately. Lucy had always been able to notice things that many other people hadn't and it wasn't always a good thing. She often saw things that weren't for her to see.

When Lily's answer came, it was a bit rushed and flustered. "That's good," Lucy replied nonchalantly, when she heard that her cousin was doing fine. Lucy sat up straighter in her chair as Lily went on to talk about the upcoming O.W.L.s and the workload, now that they were both fifth years. "Yeah, I know. The teachers have been giving us a lot more homework, it seems."

"-spending extra hours in the library studying..."

When Lucy heard this piece of information she was relieved. That was a good excuse why she hadn't been seeing Lily around the common room. She didn't like to think that Lily would be hiding anything from her or the rest of their family. "Yeah, but I've been studying in the library a lot too." she murmured, not thinking about the fact that she had never actually ran into Lily while she was there. It was possible that they just missed each other every time, because Lucy did also do a large portion of her studying in the Gryffindor common room in the company of her housemates in addition to the library.

"Oh, I've been pretty good lately." she replied to Lily when she asked Lucy how she had been doing. "Quidditch is going to start soon..." her voice trailed off. She didn't want to start droning on about Quidditch since she knew that Lily didn't play on the team and she might not be too interested in talking about that. "But, you know, I've been thinking that we should get together and play sometime... you know like we used to." she added and smiled. She rememberd the days when she and Lily were younger and they used to play Quidditch together. Once they had gotten to school, they didn't get to do that as much, but they did occasionally.

[Lily Potter]

As far as Lily could tell, Lucy hadn't noticed anything strange about Lily's answer, and for that, she was relieved. Although, it may have been just because it was so late into the night and she was still a bit sleepy; either way, Lily was grateful. Plus, with the aversion in subject to Quidditch, Lily seemed to relax a bit, hoping that the topic of conversation wouldn't switch to her whereabouts any time soon. She didn't, however, miss her cousin's murmur about how she had been studying a lot in the library, too, but Lucy didn't dwell on it and Lily didn't encourage her to.

"Quidditch is going to start soon..." Lucy said. Lily didn't play on the Gryffindor Quidditch team, but her cousin was one of the three chasers. Lily had often considered trying out, but she knew that she wasn't nearly as good as any of the other players, and even if she did make it on to the team, there was no guarantee that she would play as well during a match when confronted by her nerves and the huge crowd that often gathered at the Quidditch pitch to watch the games. "But, you know, I've been thinking that we should get together and play sometime... you know, like we used to."

Lily could remember quite clearly how she and Lucy and various other family members would play Quidditch as children in the yard of the Burrow, bewitching crab apples to act as quaffles and such; it was one of her fondest memories, playing Quidditch with her family. And doing that more often didn't sound like such a bad idea. She smiled, reminiscing for a moment, before answering quietly - "Yeah... yeah, I think we should... I'd like that..." Her voice trailed off as she remembered playing Quidditch with Lucy and James and Albus and Dominique and Rose and their other cousins... before there were House rivalries between the relatives, when they were just simple children...

[Lucy Weasley]

"You should really try out for the team, Lily." she urged her cousin. She knew that Lily did play Quidditch decently, for they had played together as children many times. She knew that Lily was just scared of trying out because she didn't know whether she'd be able to compare with the other players. Lucy strongly believed that Lily was just as good as anyone else; she had had just as much practice as a child as anyone else and Lucy knew that her skills were probably up to par. Lucy decided that she would convince her to do it by next year's tryouts. It would be harder to get in as a sixth year and not having been on the team before, but everyone knew that anyone with the last name Potter or Weasley came from a long history of Quidditch playing.

Lucy frowned slightly. There was something that was definitely different about Lily. She seemed to be much more quiet and timid than she used to be. Lucy was pretty sure she used to know her as a bubbly, spritely girl, but now, Lily seemed to be more reserved. Lucy shrugged to herself. Afterall, people change. Her mind soon came away from that topic. She wondered why she hadn't been able to sleep in the first place this night. "I don't really know why I couldn't sleep." she mused to her cousin.

Lucy only knew that she had felt an uneasy feeling in her stomach as she had gotten into bed and failed to fall asleep. After falling into a light sleep many times for a matter of only minutes, she knew that trying to sleep this night was a lost cause. It was mind-boggling as to why it was happening tonight , though because there were no exams the next day or anything that could probably make her nervous. There was a Quidditch game coming up, but that was Saturday and she usually didn't get the pre-game jitters until maybe the day before. Usually not until the day of.

[Lily Potter]

"You should really try out for the team, Lily," Lucy urged, in reference to Quidditch. Truth be told, Lily had often fantasized about playing Quidditch for their House, but in the end, it always came down to the same old fear: would she be good enough? Besides, it would be hard to try out now, wouldn't it? She was almost positive that there were still a few positions open on the team, and it would be fun to be on the same team as Lucy and perhaps even some other family members, but she just didn't think she was good enough. She probably wouldn't even make it past try-outs. Lucy, who was slim and tall, but not too tall, was the perfect build for a Chaser. Lily, on the other hand, probably wouldn't be good enough on any position, seeing as she was short and petite. She knew this, and had known for years now that she wouldn't be good enough for the team.

And yet, she still sometimes wanted to. She shrugged halfheartedly in reply to Lucy, and said, "Yeah, maybe I will..." not to appease her, but because she might have wanted to be on the team. The thrill flying gave her - nothing could compare. But still, she didn't want to make it onto the team just because of her last name; if she was going to try out, she would only want to make it onto the team if she deserved it.

Lily looked at her cousin curiously, the silence extending until it could almost be considered awkward but wouldn't be because the two girls knew each other well and had been friends almost as long as they'd been cousins. Lily knew that she wasn't one much for company; she wasn't sure if she ever had been, but she didn't really feel the need to fill up the silence with words as most people did. She didn't speak without being spoken to very often, but when she had something important to say, she would say it without hesitation. Now was not one of those times - even if she had many things she could tell her cousin at the moment, now was not the time. She wasn't sure if there ever would be a time to tell her those things, because Lucy's opinion of her mattered too much to her, and she couldn't bear it if her cousin thought badly of her. Still, she couldn't help but feel bad on occasions such as this, when she would sit in a companionable silence and the other person would try to fill it up with words. Although, this wasn't necessarily one of those times, for Lucy seemed to not mind the quiet as much as Lily did. Or maybe they were both just very sleepy.

This thought led Lily to wonder what had kept Lucy up; she had been so absorbed in her own thoughts that she hadn't bothered to wonder why her cousin couldn't sleep. And that, she realized suddenly, had been quite selfish of her. Perhaps Lucy was thinking the same thing, for just then she stated that she didn't know why she couldn't sleep. Or maybe Lily had unknowingly said something aloud, and Lucy had responded. That was unlikely, though.

"The Quidditch game is next Saturday, right?" Lily asked suddenly, remembering her earlier thoughts about the sport. "Who's it against?"

[/font][/color] ·· complete.
tagged for ·· lucy.
word count ·· 591
listening to ·· happiness - tyler kyte.
comments ·· sorry it took so long to reply. :/
[/ul]

[/size][/blockquote][/blockquote]