Queen of the Gobstones...

Lily was having an exceptionally good evening. She had finished all of her homework in record time, mostly due to having done it with her friends instead of by herself, and now, well, she was doing something she enjoyed immensely. Most members of her house had learned pretty quickly not to challenge Lily Potter to a game of Gobstones because they would surely lose. Now, Lily wasn’t too exceptional at most things, but she was an incredible Gobstones player, having outshined both her brothers and the twins growing up to the point where they would rarely play against her anymore unless she agreed to be handicapped and even then, she won. She didn’t brag about it though, being too humble to do so, though she did feel quite proud whenever she won another game… enough to put a bit of a sassy glimmer in her eyes that made her challenge others, daring them to give it a go.

Right now, Lily was involved in a particularly intense game with a fifth year who had said there was no way he could be beaten by a third year. Her hair hung down her back in a long braid, flowers woven into it starting to wilt a bit from having been there since earlier that afternoon when she and her best girl friend had opted to spend a day out in the sunshine. Johiah’s hair had ended up being just as full of pretty petals as Lily’s was. The Hufflepuff looked quite innocent, as she always did, with the flowers and a lacey dress worn over jeans, not exactly the type one would except for be ruthless at a game like Gobstones. Most took her to be some silly little kid just wanting to play a game, especially since she hadn’t hit puberty yet like most of her house mates, her chest impossibly flat, face still round with childhood.

As Lily waited for her opponent to make his move, the big round door to the common room opened, and a very blonde, very hyper, quite tall for his age, boy came barreling in. He paused, pale eyes scanning over the room quickly, easily located the redhead he sought. His face lit up in a smile, pure and genuine as he found her, in her usual corner, about to decimate yet another older student who didn’t believe she was as good at the game as she was rumored to be.

Lysander Scamander bolted across the room, knocking slightly into people in his haste to get across it. He didn’t even say hello as he reached the table Lily was at, and grabbed hold of her face with both hands. The boy brought his own head down until he was quite nose to nose with his best mate, staring at her with a wild look in his eyes, his words coming out in an impossibly fast stream. ”Lily! If Lorcan asks, I know nothing of the Nifflers that invaded Transfiguration when they were working on learning how to make things metallic and if you tell him otherwise, I will tell everyone what an impossibly ugly baby you were! Also, Johiah is looking for her favorite hair piece and was wondering if you possibly had it because she remembers handing it to you to keep safe during Charms class because she didn’t bring her bag with her again. Lucien says he wants to chill out with you. I’m going to find muffins!”[/I] With that, Lysander released Lily’s face, extracted a rat from his shirt pocket, handed it to her, and dashed away up the boys’ dormitories stairs.

Lily didn’t even blink as Lysander came in and grabbed hold of her face, spewing off a slew of information very quickly. She smiled, laughing as she reached up to take the gorgeous pet rat from his owner, loving the little creature as much as Lysander did. She was pretty sure, from the way he said it, Lysander was responsible for the Nifflers in Transfiguration class and there was no way Lorcan wasn’t going to find out about it, even at the risk of people finding out that Lily had, in fact, not been the most attractive of babies. She did remember having put Johiah’s hair decoration in her school bag. She would have to remember to return it to her in the morning.

Lily stroked Lucien’s back as the little rat nuzzled at her hands, obviously very comfortable with her, despite all the craziness going on in the common room at the moment. It was impossibly noisy, but Lucien was a special rat who was not afraid of humans so much as he was wary of them. He was a typical wizard’s rat, smarter than the average garden variety, and much, much more affectionate than even those. It probably had something to do with being raised by a boy with a heart bigger than the sun. The rat scrabbled up Lily’s dress and onto her shoulder, happily sitting there as she dug into her pocket and extracted a small carrot for him to nibble on while he watched her continue the Gobstone’s game.

In two more moves, it was over, and Lily was still champion. The fifth year boy stared at her, aghast and saying something about beginner’s luck, even though it was quite obvious Lily was no beginner. Lily shrugged, and turned her head. Normally she was pretty introverted, not liking to speak to strangers, but she felt comfortable in the Hufflepuff Common Room. It was a place of comfort and the others in her house were usually kind and welcoming. That, and she usually felt a bit bolder with Lucien on her shoulder and a Gobstone’s Snapper in her hand. It was her favorite one, round and large, clear with a small horned owl in the middle. Lysander’s identical twin brother, Lorcan, had given it to her as a present when they’d first been learning how to play and she hadn’t lost a game with it once she’d learned gotten better at playing. Lily was particularly fond of horned owls, mostly due to the stuffed animal she still slept with, and the twins knew this.

Eyeing the people around her, Lily’s eyes fell on a slightly younger boy who’s name she wasn’t sure of. She always liked playing with students younger than herself, not to beat them, but to teach them how to play more strategically if she could. Some were already pretty good at it, but there was always something they learned and that made it fun. Lily smiled at the boy and held up her Snapper. ”Care for a go?”

”Oh! Alright then.” Lily beamed, not the least bit put off by the boy’s lack of knowledge in the game. It actually made her much happier than the idea of playing with someone who already knew how, mostly because she got to teach something she loved to someone else, to share the joys of Gobstones. She adored the game so much, it was a shame that anyone not be able to play it simply because they had never learned how, and she, for one, was all for lessening the number of people who didn’t. ”I’d be more than happy to teach you. It’s really fun.”

The red head reached up, stroking gently at the rat on her shoulder, still grinning at Matt brightly, pure and friendly and genuine as she always was. It was very rare, that she spoke to anyone outside her little intimate group of friends, but Gobstones was different. It brought out the rarer, bolder creature in her that was willing to talk to just about anyone for a game… So long as she was in the comfort of the Hufflepuff common room of course. Or if her best mates were around to make her feel safe and comfortable with whatever location. It was nice, having portable security items, even if none of them was around at the moment. Well, Lysander just had been, but the boy had said something about muffins, and there was no getting between Lys and muffins. He would probably come back down later, or fall asleep covered in a nest of wrappers.

”Come sit. It’s a really simple game once you get the hang of it, promise. I’m Lily, by the way. Lily Potter. And you are?” Lily asked, clearing the Gobstones board that sat on the floor, nobody stepping into the space around it for fear of disrupting the game. She pulled all of her Gobstones off the mirror-like board, the space covered with bits of gunk from the stones spitting at people. Lily was used to it that part and her face had bits of black goop stuck to it in places, as did the front of her dress, but she couldn’t have cared less. The girl repositioned the Gobstones, having more than enough for two players and then dug into the wooden box that sat beside her knees, pulling out all of her large Snappers and holding them up. ”Here, pick whichever feels the most right.”

”That’s my Sky Snapper cause, well, it looks like the sky right? I think Snappers are kind of like wands, they choose you, whether you know it or not. They speak a lot about your personality. Like… This one is mine.” Lily smiled, holding up her clear Snapper with the little owl in the middle of it. She was honest, see-through, right on down to her core for the most part. ”But these ones belong to my other friends. This one is Johiah’s, she‘s in Gryffindor.” Lily rolled a sparkling white Snapper, decorated with miniscule leaves and branches that seemed to have absolutely no end. It was intricate, pretty, and impossibly different from most Snappers due to the amount of detail, just like Johiah. The other two Lily held in her hand were identical in color, swirling clear and see-through dark blue, the only difference being the center. One was a sun, the other a crescent moon. ”And these belong to Lorcan and Lysander. They look incredibly similar, but their insides are different. I‘m not sure what the sky one represents about you, but I‘m sure it‘s something good.”

Putting away her best mates’ Snappers, Lily fished smaller Gobstones out of her wooden box. It had different compartments, each one full of one set of fifteen in one kind of color or style. She picked the blue ones for Matt, as they matched his Snapper choice, and rainbow for herself, setting them down in the center of the mirror board and making sure they filled the very center circle of it. ”We’ll play just a regular game. The idea of it is to try and get the other person’s Gobstones out of the most outer ring of the board by knocking them with your Snapper. For every one you get, you gain a point. But every one you lose, you lose a point and sometimes the Gobstone will float up and spit at you if that happens, so just be prepared. It doesn’t hurt you, but it doesn’t exactly smell that pleasant.” Lily laughed, beaming brightly. Lucien skittered a bit as she moved, grabbing hold of her hair, and climbing up her braid until he was safely upon her head, carrot hanging out of his mouth as he looked down upon the game. He batted the top of Lily’s head with his carrot and she blinked. ”Oh right. I apologize. This is Lucien. He’s disgruntled because I didn’t introduce him yet.”

{b]”It is. I’ll go first to show you how, but normally we play rock, paper, scissors to see who goes first. Winner picks.”[/b] Lily explained brightly, holding her Snapper carefully between her fingers. She bit down on her tongue, the tip of it poking out from her lips, and then she snapped it, flicking the Gobstone at the pile in the middle, aiming for the center. The pile scattered, budging the thirty Gobstones sitting there, but not a single one rolled out of the farthest circle yet. Lily could have aimed better and gotten one or two out already, but she’d chosen to purposely go a bit easy on Matt, since it was his first time and all.

”You just hold it like this… aim, and use as much force as you think you’ll need to hit the other person’s Gobstones out of the rings.” Lily retrieved her Snapper from the board, holding it up between her thumb and fingers to show Matt exactly how she had done it. ”It takes a good bit of practice to get your snapping down, but one you do, it’s all instinct and strategy.”