An Art of Balance

Chapter 30: Making Amends

A/N: Lovely Julian Bennett is not my own OC

The conversations with Orion and Skye kept gnawing at Lizzie over the next few days. In their own ways, both of them had made it clear to her how important it was to get back on track; not only for herself, but for the general good of their team as well.

Thinking about what they had said, Lizzie realised how much of an open door they had been pushing; there was nothing she wanted more than things to return to their normal state, so she could have all of her friends back. And if making amends would help increase her performance, all the better.

There wasn't much she could do about either Rowan or Orion at this point, so Lizzie had started thinking about how to get back into Charlie's good books.

Skye had suggested a gesture of goodwill to make him listen to her and after contemplating her advice for a few days, an idea had started to form in Lizzie's mind.

After sending a few owls back and forth, she now found herself in the hallway of the Eastern Tower. She had been standing in front of the portrait hole hiding the entrance to the Gryffindor Common Room for quite some time now, engaged in a heated discussion with the Fat Lady, the occupant of the picture guarding the portrait hole.

"I really don't see the problem," Lizzie rolled her eyes; she had forgotten just how many times she had done this in the last half hour. "I don't even know if he's in. Can't you just go inside and have a look? Or ask another portrait for all that it's worth?"

The Fat Lady huffed indignantly, fluffing herself up to an even greater volume than she held anyway. "And leave my post unguarded? No way, young lady. I still don't understand what a Hufflepuff is doing here in the first place."

She gestured at Lizzie's attire dismissively. It was the evening before the match and the pre-match party was scheduled to start immediately after dinner. Lizzie was already dressed in her yellow jersey from last season and a black letterman jacket bearing her name and number on the back; it had been a combined birthday gift from her friends back in November.

Lizzie buried her hands in the pocket of her jacket now, feeling the rough parchment of the letter she was carrying. "I told you, I'm looking for Charlie."

"From what I hear, you have a match against my House tomorrow," the Fat Lady squinted down at her suspiciously, "you have no business here."

"Your House?" Lizzie asked with an amused undertone. "You're a portrait, you are just guarding the entrance."

"Careful missy," the portrait puffed and slung her pink feather boa over her shoulder; it made her look like an inflated bird of paradise. "I've guarded this Common Room a lot longer than you are around; these are basically my children!"

Knowing that a fight wouldn't help her much, Lizzie hung her head and sighed. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean it that way," she tried a different approach. "I really just want to apologise to my friend."

Lizzie pinched the bridge of her nose; this was taking a lot longer than she had anticipated. The sound of approaching footsteps caught her attention; Percy was walking down the corridor towards them, his arms stacked with way more books than what looked comfortable to carry.

"What are you doing here?" he barked at her haughtily; Lizzie had to stifle a laugh at the show the little boy she'd known for ages by now was putting on. He had always been a little bit more stuck up than his brothers, but this new persona he was putting on since coming to Hogwarts certainly wasn't the most pleasant one.

"Hey Perce," she greeted him sardonically. "You've been to the library?"

"I asked you a question," Percy insisted. The way he was acting up was too comical for Lizzie not to chuckle; angry red spots appeared on the boy's pale cheeks.