Lysander Scamander and the Missing Mirror

5: Overbearing

Lily and I met back up with Riley and Alice. They were kind of awkward when we caught up to them. I stared at Lily. Her Weasley red hair was more of an auburn color when it was wet, which didn't help his already growing thing for her.

What was this thing? I thought.

Riley tripped over a root sticking up in the path. When I asked what happened, she just stared at me with a look of stifled laughter.

"Ri. I know you read my mind. What's so funny?" I demanded.

She shook her head, "You're so blind." she looked at Lily, "Both of you. It's sad."

And she continued down the path. Lily swallowed hard and quickened her pace. I heard her say something like, wonder what Lorcan thinks about us being in trouble with the Ministry. I'd completely forgotten about my brother and sister. Erika and Lorcan were probably so concerned about me. I was just standing here thinking about how Lily is in my group to find this mirror and we didn't even inform my brother, her boyfriend.

Now that I think of it, none of our siblings were informed of this. From what I know, they just think we're in detention.

We entered the Great Hall together and as soon as the doors shut, Alice was bombarded by her brother. Frankie squeezed her in a tight hug.

"Ally! What's happened? Why are they saying you and your friends stole something?" he asked.

Albus Potter did the same with Lily. He wrapped his sister in what looked like an even tighter hug. Riley's brother Casper would've if he could've, but he was still ten. This meant she escaped, but I wasn't so lucky. Alice and Lily only had one sibling to worry about, but I had two.

Erika was first, but she was followed close by Lorcan. I could barely get a word out as they choked me in tight hugs. I slapped Lorcan on the back in code for: Enough. Erika didn't know the code, so I didn't try with her. Thankfully, Lorcan told her to let go of me.

I could finally breathe and the first thing I said was,

"Erika, why?"

My sister folded her arms over her chest and stormed out the hall, trotting on my foot as she left. I watched her leave before looking to my brother for an explanation, but once I'd turned around, Lily was deep in a hug with Lorcan. It sounded like she was trying hard to sparsely explain why she and I were both drenched.

Hugo walked up to us. He seemed very nervous. He met eye contact with Alice and asked,

"You alright?"

Alice laughed lightly, "Yeah. We only got taken to the Ministry, Huges. It's not like we were tortured."

Hugo bowed his head in a slightly embarrassed way, avoiding eye contact with Alice. It was clear Hugo was pining over Alice, but Alice couldn't tell he was.

"Oh my god!" Riley let out. She sounded frustrated, "How could you notice that, but not your OWN shit?!"

She stormed away. I called after her, "Where're you going?"

"The library!" Riley yelled at me.

I looked around at the other students in the Great Hall. My ears went pink from embarrassment. Lorcan looked me up and down.

"Do you have any ideas what you're looking for?" he asked with worried tone.

"What was that?" Hugo asked, indicated where Riley had gone.

"Lysander. What are we going to start with?" Lily asked, regarding the mirror.

"Lysander? Are you alright?" Alice asked in a way I didn't understand.

I felt a lump in my throat and a knot in the pit of my stomach.

"Excuse me." I told them and I ran from the hall.

I burst into the restroom and immediately threw up in one of the toilets. I burped and that triggered more vomit to fall from my throat. I stood up and flushed the vomit away. Then I stared into the mirror for a little bit before drinking some water from the tap. I splashed some water over my face and took a few deep breaths.

"You okay, Ly?"

Frankie was standing next to me. He seemed so relaxed now that we'd returned to the school. I wiped my face dry and smiled at him.

"I'm fine now, Frankster." I placed my hand on his shoulder and smiled confidently, "See you at tomorrow's meeting?"

He nodded and left. I stared at myself in the mirror. I wasn't okay, but I didn't want Frankie to worry. He already had enough to worry about with Alice. Putting me on top of that would be too much for him.

_____

I lay in bed, Nana's book laying on the table next to me. I glanced at it and had a small argument with myself.

Should I lose sleep looking for a spell in there?
Lysander, no. That's the dumbest idea you've ever had.
Well, that's factually incorrect. I threw myself from my broom a couple hundred feet off the ground.
Not only that, I also thought it would be a good idea to take a casual swim in a Kelpie pool when I was young and nearly got killed.

My other half bested me, and I rolled out of bed and snatched the book from my bedside. I carried it out to the common room. I plopped down at one of the tables against the walls and flipped the cover open. My eyes scanned the table of contents. It didn't have much written there.

Chapter 1: Incantations
Chapter 2: Potions
Chapter 3: How to Follow Tracking Spells?

I flipped to Incantations and scanned down the first page.

"Was everyone just really wordy in the early 20th century?" I asked myself.

I nearly jumped out of my seat when I heard a quiet and tired voice behind me ask, "What're you finding, Lysander?"

"Ally! What're you doing up?"

She looked at the book, "I heard someone moving around. I just assumed it was you, because no one else is dumb enough to lose sleep when they've got nothing to lose sleep over."

I looked at the book, "This is something to lose sleep over. If we don't find that mirror, we'll-"

"I heard them. Lysander, I want to attend the meeting with you and my brother."

"What meeting?" I asked, pretending I didn't know what she was asking me about.

Alice crossed her arms over her chest, "You know what I'm talking about, Lysander Scamander. The Marauder's 2.0 meeting. I know your meeting schedule. Frankie has one hanging on the back of our closet door."

I sighed and faceplanted into the book, "We told him to keep a digital schedule."

"We don't have private computers. It's a rule mum and dad have. One communal computer to be share with the whole family."

I looked up at her, "Alice, I'm sorry, but you can't-"

Alice stomped her foot against the floor, "No, Lysander. I'm sorry. I wasn't clear enough! You don't get a choice. I'm GOING to join you and the other Marauder's tomorrow!"