Black Sheep

Lily was lost in a fascinating book on magical creatures, often enthralled by stories her uncle Charlie told her each time she saw him. He was a dragon tamer and while Lily did not possess the daring nerve to willingly go face-to-face against a Hungarian Horntail, she still found all magical creatures beautifully intriguing to say the least.

A quiet sigh of melancholy was emitted from her only girl friend, Ella, who was sitting beside her on the frumpy couch. It was just the two of them that evening, neither having the faintest idea where the twins, Lorcan and Lysander had run off to. Lorcan was likely in the library or his own common room, where as their housemate, Lysander was likely to be chasing after his beloved pet rat.

"Everything alright?" Lily gently inquired, marking the page in her heavy tome and closing it softly on her lap as she directed her full, undivided attention on her housemate.

"Christmas holiday is in a few short days, there's not much to be sulky about is there?" Lily frowned, casting the blonde a look of concern. The ginger-haired witch didn't know much about Ella's home life, other than small tidbits here and there that made her seem like an outcast being that she was a badger in a family full of snake but most definitely not unloved. Lily could relate to the feeling of not belonging, wanting more than anything to be sorted into Gryffindor, the noble house of her parents and eldest brother, James but fate didn't have it that way. Perhaps there was more that Ella hadn't yet confided in her friend. Luckily Lily was a fantastic listener.

"Penny for your thoughts?" She encouraged with a warm quirk up of her lips, casting her friend a small smile as she continued to regard the second year witch, wondering what was heavy on her youthful mind.

Lily leaned forward, setting her large book of creatures down upon the small table that sat between the two main couches of the Hufflepuff common room. She leaned back, pulling her socked heels up onto the edge of the couch, fingers tapping at her knees as she thought about Ella's question. "Well, my whole family's pretty good at being, you know, 'the Potters' except for me, so I supposed I do sometimes. They're all brave Gryffindors except for Albus, but then, Slytherin isn't too different from Gryffindor when you think about it. I'm the only Hufflepuff out of the bunch." Lily laughed, throwing her head back and looking up at the ceiling. "If I didn't know better, I'd say I was adopted." It felt good to actually say it out loud. She hadn't really talked about feeling left out or like an odd puzzle piece before, but since Ella had brought up the subject, she felt like she could. Sure, she could have gone deeper in her conversations with Lorcan or Lysander, but, even youth they were her best friends, she wasn't sure they would understand the feeling of not belonging. They always had belonged wherever they went.

"I'm sorry you're having difficulties. I'm sure it can't be easy... Your whole family's Slytherin right?"[/] Lily asked, not quite sure. She knew the Notts were one of those older pure blooded families, like the Malfoys or the Weasleys. However, she didn't know anything about Ella's family dynamics aside from what she'd gathered here and there over the course of their friendship. From what she did know, Ella's mother cared about her, but like all mothers and daughters, there were probably the usual misunderstandings. She didn't always get on with her parents, but then, who did?

Lily twirled some of her red hair around a finger absentmindedly. She rather enjoyed just chilling out on the couch with Ella. It was a lot more low key than some of the things she got up to with Lorcan and Lysander. Sometimes it was nice to just have a little peaceful girl time. She turned herself sideways on the couch, crossing her legs and reaching out to was Ella. She ran her fingers through the other girls blonde hair, separating a bit at the front and starting to work it into a small braid.

"So ambitious they convinced the hat to stick them in Ravenclaw?" Lily asked through a laugh, hoping she'd gotten it right. Or maybe she'd meant they were so sneaky they'd managed to trick the hat into thinking they'd do well in Ravenclaw. She played her fingers through Ella's hair, finishing the first braid and letting it drop to take up a few locks of hair directly next to it. She started the process again, winding the three bits round each other tight enough that they'd stay for a bit unless purposely pulled free. 

Shifting her foot beneath her on the couch before it had a chance to fall asleep, Lily pondered over what Ella was saying. She frowned, knowing she should feel grateful she had an extended family as diverse as hers. You could could go into any house at the school, see red hair, and know instantly that there was a ninety-percentchance the person belonged to the Weasley clan. Lysander was as good as family and he was in Hufflepuff... so why did she feel so left out? "Well, I suppose so from that point of view. They are pretty great... Maybe everyone around our age feels like they don't fit? I don't know." 

"I think those sorts of people are the ones who are either really personable or extremely good at faking it." Lily shook her head, knowing that she'd felt the same way before. She had to remind herself that nothing always appeared as it was at first, no matter how much you thought it was simple, it could be completely complicated. There was always more to everyone than what just appeared on the surface. That was something Lily's family understood pretty well and probably why she hadn't seen Ella as a Nott and automatically assumed she would be a bad person because her family had supported the other side during the war. "There are two sides to every coin. You've just got to flip it to see the other one. Or something like that. I read it in a book my aunt gave me." 


Lily trailed her fingers through Ella's hair again. By this point she'd put half of the blond's locks into five separate braids and she was either going to finish the job or take them out so her friend didn't look silly. Deciding upon the former, Lily kept going.