Lily Potter and the Shadows' Misfortune

Chapter Eighteen

"I'm so happy you won!" a person said, grabbing Lily into a hug as she exited the locker room.

Lily blinked and stumbled back one step. Once Lily got past the initial surprise of the embrace, she recognized Cassie hugging her, and a smile spread across her face, "They deserved to lose after not giving you a tryout. It serves Finn Wilson right."

"I'll say," Cassie said, pulling away. "I can't wait to see them moping around the common room because they lost to a team that was short a Chaser. You played incredibly!"

Lily shrugged modestly at the mention of her playing; her cheeks burned in a blush.

"You did! Great game, Lil!" Rudy said, giving Lily a quick hug.

"My cousin's a Quidditch star!" Hugo said. Lily walked over to hug him, but he put his hands up in front of his chest defensively. "I don't do hugs, Lil."

"You can't be too cool for a hug, Hugo," Nora said after giving Lily a congratulatory hug. "Give your cousin a hug."

Lily nodded, opening her arms up to him, "You have to give me a hug; the word hug is in your name."

"Yeah, Hugs," Rudy said, looking at Hugo with a daring smirk on his face.

Hugo's face dropped from a smile to a look of sheer horror, "I am not going to let you call me that. My name is Hugo, and only Hugo. That will not be my nickname. I've drawn the line."

"So you get to decide on Rudy's nickname but won't let Rudy give you one?" Lily asked, dropping her arms. "Seems a bit hypocritical if you ask me."

"Now, that is where you're wrong, dear cousin," Hugo said, wagging a finger at Lily as the five friends walked up to the castle. "Rudy is a good nickname. Hugs is just bloody stupid."

"I think Hugs has got a good ring to it," Cassie said mockingly. "What do you think, Lily?"

"I think that it's simply the best nickname ever," Lily said, giving her cousin a tight-lipped smile, challenging her cousin to come up with a witty comeback. "Hugs Weasley. We've got to spread that around."

"Hugs it is," Nora said, nodding her head of blonde hair definitively.

Lily swore she heard Hugo growl under his breath at the confirmation of his nickname. Hugo squared and hunched his shoulders, stalking away in front of the group. Lily and the three other second years laughed as they ran after him, teasing him and calling him "Hugs" all the way up to the castle.

"Would you stop calling me Hugs?" Hugo asked once the group walked through the castle's main doors; he sounded exhausted and a bit irritated. "I promise I'll stop calling you Rudy, Rudolph, if you all stop calling me hugs."

"Contrary to popular belief, I do like the nickname Rudy, so that deal's worthless," Rudy said with a laugh. "Rudolph seems so formal now."

"Good," Lily said, nodding her head at his confession, "because I also like the nickname Rudy and wouldn't be able to stop calling you that."

"I second that!" Cassie said.

"I third that!" Nora said with a fierce nod.

"And I hate you all," Hugo said, grumbling. "Are you actually going to call me Hugs?"

"We'll see where it goes," Rudy said, smirking at him.

Cassie laughed, shaking her head of dreadlocks, "Do you guys want to discuss this over some lunch? Lil, you've got to be hungry after that game!"

"A sandwich does sound good, but I should probably go upstairs and change first," she said, looking down at her Quidditch uniform. "It may not look like it, but I'm pretty sweaty underneath all of this. You guys go get a head start on lunch, and I'll be down once I shower and change. Don't leave without me though!"