The Inmates

If Victoire had figured it out, she hadn’t said anything. She was smarter than she was given credit for, so Lily supposed her cousin had figured it out. It wasn’t subtle – she lumbered in to the hospital wing the day after every full moon, in desperate need of hydration and painkillers, as well as lots of rest. But there was a small shred of hope that perhaps she didn’t know – there were plenty of times Victoire had been off the days Lily came in.

It was a long shot, but she held on to it.

One person who always seemed to be in the hospital wing when she was there was Katherine. Lily didn’t exactly have friends, but if she did have friends, the blonde Avery girl would be one of them. At least while they were bedridden, they were friends. They kept each other somewhat cheerful, advocated for the comfort of the other, and passed the time they were awake talking or helping each other with homework. It was one of the few pleasant interactions Lily had a month.

Her knobby, bare legs were a bit pink atop the sheets of the hospital bed, her long fingers holding a large book on social rights for creatures. Her black hair had been left to do as it pleased, so it hung down in messy curtains, framing her face. She was dressed like a hobo but what did she care? It wasn’t like she had anyone to impress. Katherine never held it against her, anyway.

Lily let out a sigh and reached for her pain potion, taking a sip with an unpleasant face. “I should have brought some peppermint,” Lily said, glancing at Katherine. “It helps the potion go down. I don’t know why they insist on making it so vile.” She rolled her eyes and set the vial down, reaching her hands towards her toes to stretch, her body aching.

For part of the school year, things had been looking up for the Ravenclaw. She was back at Hogwarts, and expecting her life to get better. For a time, that wasn't a terrible assumption. But the holidays had come around, and everything had gone wrong all at once. Snow everywhere, magic hardly working, and - worse, in her opinion - she was feeling ill again. It just meant that anyone who remembered what had happened last time was trying to pity her or just watch her at all hours to see if anything went dreadfully wrong. Then again, some hadn't noticed. Those people were her favorite sort as of late. Well, perhaps besides the people who actually looked out for her. Victoire, her brothers, her father in his own way. And there was Lily, of course, who she was sort of Kit's companion while they were in the Hospital Wing. That wasn't to say that Katherine wouldn't have been friends while they were in classrooms or even outside of the grounds. But they hadn't really had much of a chance.

Nathan had brought Katherine's homework by and she was in the middle of at least pretending to read up on the potions they were supposed to be working on. She looked up, though, when Lily spoke. "Maybe someday, if I get to work on Potions or Herbology, I'll be able to look into it. It seems like people realized it works, but don't bother to think what anyone who actually has to take it must think of it. But, then again, I also can't imagine subjecting anyone to the actual testing of it. Can you imagine?" She asked, turning her head to focus on Lily again as the question escaped.

Perhaps it was not a very pleasant or appropriate question to ask someone who had to deal with it. Kit wasn't sure. Before her blush could be properly registered, though, a familiar face walked in the door. Unsurprisingly, it wasn't Luke. After what happened between the younger brother and the Hogwarts Matron, he would only have brought more anxiety to the ward than there was to begin with. Mes shot Katherine a slight frown, his eyebrows pulling together as if it would properly show just how concerned he was. He must have been the one who received the owl, she reasoned. Wouldn't her father have come this time?

"Hey, bug," he offered gently, crossing the room so he could sit on the edge of her bed. Glancing over at the brunette one spot over, Mesut sent a smile in Lily's direction as well. Kit couldn't tell if he actually knew who she was, but generally anyone who took the time to chat with her was welcomed by her brothers. When his gaze turned towards Katherine again, his shoulders deflated slightly before he added, "Um, he couldn't make it today, Kit."

She knew full well he wasn't talking about Luke. Kit looked down at the blanket covering her legs, lifting her shoulders in silent reply. It wasn't as though she was surprised. Mesut never really tried to make excuses for their father, but he also didn't seem able to coerce the man into visiting. "He's probably just assuming I'll end up at Kingsway again," she supposed aloud, recalling how he absolutely refused to visit the Muggle hospital during her time there.

"I don't know," he admitted with a frown. After a moment of hesitation, he shook his head, looking over towards Katherine's companion once more. "So. Lily, right? What's got you stuck in here?"

Oh. So he did recognize her.

Lily scoffed, rolling her eyes. "As if they have any qualms on muggle testing. It's been going on for years. Illegal, but free." She downed the rest of the potion and stared distastefully as the mouth of the vial, as though it and it alone were the sole root of all of her troubles. Metaphorically, she supposed pain and the medication of it was a large part of it. But she wasn't interested in metaphors. She was interested in getting the hell out of this castle already.

And go where? The thought, which had grown into a mild concern, had been slowly burrowing its way under her skin, itching her brain. She and Stewart had been fine, just fine. And then he had a big project coming up, and they lost touch. And then another project, and they lost touch for longer. And soon, she just hadn't heard from him.

She wasn't upset with him. People left, that's what they did. But a good-bye always softened the blow.

Lily reached for her book again, musing aloud, "It's probably money, anyway. Why spend an extra galleon a batch on peppermint when it's not totally necessary. Profits are profits."

The door opened and an older man, who looked a bit familiar she supposed stepped inside. Either she had known him from her earlier years at Hogwarts or... oh, yes. As he approached Kit, she could see the resemblance. That must be where the familiarity came from. She looked at him for a moment, watching him approach his sister, and briefly wondered what it would be like if Albus or James walked through the door. How she would probably pick up her book and refuse to acknowledge them, ask Victoire to get rid of them. And she would probably advocate for family bonding or something. And then she'd have to make a point by trying to leave until finally it was decided that she was best left alone.

Yeaaaah, the Potters weren't good at family.

And she was staring. Whoops. She set the vial aside and sat up, pulling the book into her lap so she could give the Averys some time alone, trying to block out their conversation for the sake of privacy. But her name being uttered changed that.

She looked up and saw a pair of blue eyes staring at her. She nodded slowly, confirming in fact that she was Lily. She really could not be surprised anymore when she was recognized, but it never made the situation of knowing less than a stranger any more pleasant. Especially a stranger asking questions to which no one knew the answer.

Katherine might have figured it out, but the Ravenclaw was sickly enough that she might not have considered the times she came in, assuming both girls were just in enough to have significant overlap. So the secret persisted - as it always would, if she had any say in it.

"Weak constitution," Lily said, glancing to her friend for help, since she was so poor with pleasantries.

Kit's eyebrows rose in shock when Lily explained that they actually tested the potions on Muggles. She had never imagined that those in charge of creating the painkillers could really get away with it. But she just gave a slight shrug and just nodded. Lily's assessment made sense. But then Mesut was addressing Kit's friend and some level of confusion and shock was clear on Lily's face. Katherine doubted that her brother actually understood the sidelong glance the girls shared, but Kit realized when she was going to be asked to step in and help.

"That isn't a very nice thing to ask, Mes. Or a very nice way to phrase it. Your Slytherin is showing." Katherine warned gently, her tone not really as teasing as it probably should have been.

He tossed her a bemused look, unsure what line he had crossed. He was blunt like that, but Katherine was far more patient with him than most people seemed to be. Particularly after what Luke had done, she clung to her eldest brother (barely eldest, Luke would have reminded her) all the more now. Something in Kit hoped that Lily would like Mesut, if only because it would make any visits from him more bearable. Then again, Lily probably wouldn't be around as much once she was better...

But Katherine didn't really want to consider that any more than she had to. It did get a bit lonely without someone to talk to, though. So as Mesut turned to look at Lily again, Kit's eyebrows drew together and she frowned down at her sheets again. She was lucky to have hidden it from him; undoubtedly he would have thought it was something to do with her condition instead of her train of thought.

Mes lifted an eyebrow, turning a near-smirk on the Gryffindor. "I take it you don't remember me. Or, likely, my brother Lucas. Then again, I was a good few years ahead of you. It would be hard to forget you, though," he added by way of excuse. Still, his head did tilt slightly as he addressed her directly, as if he needed to add emphasis to it.

Katherine looked up sharply at that, glancing between the two of them. What in the world? She had never heard anything about her brother knowing Lily, nonetheless having paid enough attention to her to remember her face. Turning wide eyes on her... friend(?), Kit didn't even realize that her lips were parted in a painfully obvious show of confusion, desperately curious to hear Lily's reaction. Nothing this interesting had happened in ages, and nothing had surprised her so strongly - excluding the return of her illness, unfortunately. Oddly, she felt a weird protective streak over each of them individually. Hopefully it was nothing. Hopefully he was teasing.

But she had seen that look before. Mesut was interested in someone, which meant he had to go and be all annoying about it.

Kit was very careful of Lily's feelings. Typically, Lily was very independent and claimed great ownership over her own responsibility to herself. But there was a different Lily in the hospital wing. This was a Lily who had admitted weakness, who had risked exposure for the benefits of healing. This was not the Lily who had pumped her systems full of poisons and toxins for an escape. This was also a Lily who had formed a relationship with another person, putting her current friend count at a whopping one. With Stewart gone, Teddy and Casey aloof of her own doing, and brothers denied brotherly rights, the girl was quiet alone. The only people who seemed willing to have a relationship with her was Kit and Roxi.

Roxi was the last person she needed in her life though.

Typically, this was the point where Lily would get all dark and hostile, would spout some harsh words in a tragic undertone, before escaping. But she needed to stay in bed, needed to heal up, and would it be worth it to tear this boy's head off because he dared be cheeky? Not if it would lose her one of the only allies she had made all year long, something that she doubted was going to change anytime soon.

Lily glanced at Kit, but she didn't think the Ravenclaw girl knew anything about Lily's shrewish reputation, since she only got the pleasant and exhausted Lily Potter. So how would she know that even a little bit of confrontation was enough to draw out Weasley fire and Potter resentment out of her?

She looked to the boy, swallowing down her instincts to be snappish. Restraint didn't feel good on her. "Sorry. I left Hogwarts for awhile. So I forgot most of my acquaintances."

Yeah, she wasn't actually sorry.

If Katherine had been in Mesut's position, she would have acted so differently. Actually, she wouldn't have created the situation at all, because she wouldn't have asked such a blunt question. Perhaps she would have before, when she wasn't so aware of how questions like that could make a person feel. Now, she was quite properly knowledgable about it. But she would not have chuckled at Lily's reply, either. Even if the young Potter girl did seem to be doing her best to be polite to this man who knew her but who she could not recall in return.

But he did, though. He chuckled, shaking his head a bit. Then Mesut looked over his shoulder at his sister and grinned at her. "Do you hear that, Kit? I'm utterly forgettable. That's disappointing."

Katherine blinked at him, but couldn't help the fact that the corners of her lips lifted in amusement. She wasn't very good at keeping that hidden from her brothers, though that was more true of her relationship with Mes now than of hers with Lucas. She still wasn't too pleased with him, even near a year later. She had forgiven him to an extent, given that he had been there when their father had not; but she still hurt for Victoire and was rather unimpressed that she had lost a potential sister-in-law that she actually adored just because Luke wasn't really as interested in her as he had claimed.

Turning to look at Lily, the blonde rolled her eyes dramatically just to bother Mesut some more. "Ignore him. Seriously. He has an ego and doesn't need help bolstering it."

Lily... But... He... What?

She didn't think she had ever been in such an uncomfortable, stifling position. What she wanted more than anything in the world was to give the blonde boy a nasty look, roll her eyes, and turn her back on him. But how could she do that without turning her back on one of her only friends, as well? All of her instincts were being trampled for the sake of having the comfort of friendship, companionship. Because, APPARENTLY, human beings needed that or something. However, it was currently proving to be very inconvenient.

She had to remove herself from the situation. She didn't like this feeling. He was just... watching her. And she didn't know what to do with that. He was watching and laughing, and not because she was Lily Potter, screw up. He was laughing because of what he didn't know. She was used to eyes who watched her but didn't really see. He seemed content to know he didn't see... but he was still looking.

Yeah, she was giving him too much thought. She looked around her and clicked her tongue. "I'm... Um..." Find an excuse. Her fingers tightened around the pain medicine. "I'm going to go get some more. Of this." She slid out of bed, her feet hitting the cold floor. She blinked, avoiding the gazes of both blondes as she walked to the matron's office. A quiet knock on the door, and she leaned against the wall, waiting to be helped.

Katherine waited until Lily was out of hearing range before turning to Mesut and slapping his arm with as much strength as she could muster. Her palm stung a bit afterwards, though, so she pouted down at it as she grumbled at him. "Way to go, jerk. Don't make her mad. I don't... I don't really have anyone else, in here," she confessed, peeking up at him.

Mesut frowned, his forehead creasing with worry, but he conceded and his shoulders relaxed a bit. "Sorry," he replied gently, looking pretty guilty.

Kit just shrugged, unsure how to send away the embarrassment she felt from having admitted that to him. Just then, the younger of the Avery boys walked through the door. Mesut looked up and smirked at his brother, releasing a laugh. "Never one to miss me making a fool of myself, are you?"

"Would I ever?" Lucas returned dramatically, lifting a hand to his chest and settling it over his heart.

Katherine smiled to herself but kept quiet, hoping he would give some hint as to why he had shown up now, instead of coming with Mesut before. Luke glanced over, his smirk turning into an apologetic frown. "I was trying, Kit. I mean, I know Mes did, too, but... I did want to help."

"It's hardly your fault, Luke." Kit replied hastily, shaking her head. It made her feel a little bit funny, that movement, but she didn't really want to bring it up in front of them. "After what happened last time, I can't say I'm truly surprised."

Mesut grimaced. "Maybe not. But if anyone should be here, you would think it would be your own father."

Victoire was out for the day, which was fortunate (for more reasons than she knew), so it was one of the other healers who answered her weak knocking. She quietly asked for more pain potion, adding, "And a sprig of peppermint, or something, please?" The healer gave her a dull look - she had obviously been called in very last minute to work, or something of that nature. She sighed and turned back into the office, giving Lily opportunity once more to turn around and watch her friend interact with the strange man with bright blue eyes.

There was another one. Another one that looked very similar to Katherine, in a way only family could. They were talking, and they were smiling. Lily very rarely saw such a smile on the Ravenclaw's face - it only ever came when one of them accidentally made some sort of observation that turned out to be interesting. Neither was ever particularly keen to make jokes, but it happened on occasion.

But now, among these two men who shared so much of her face and figure, the smile seemed to come easily, tempted out without much provocation. And like those silly observations, it caused a light in Kit that Lily did not often see while they were in the hospital. It made her seem so much healthier. The sight even made Lily's pain seem less, as a small smile stretched across her face. But it suddenly fell, hard and fast.

The men were close to the ages of her brothers. The realization hit her hard. She couldn't know that for sure, of course, but they seemed close in age at the very least. But, unlike her brothers, they were here. They were in the hospital wing with their sister, and even if they couldn't fix her plight, they were there to draw her from the depths of despair and pain. Their mission seemed more intent on getting her to smile or laugh, and nothing more. And they smiled to see her smile.

This was a normal, happy family. And Lily would never have it.

"Lily... Lily." The healer's words seemed to reach her as though she was underwater. Lily blinked and reached out, numbly taking the potion. She had to get out of there. She couldn't breathe. She glanced around and spotted a rolling screen. She grabbed one end of it and walked it across the room, her head ducked. Hopefully, they would all assume it was a healer and she would just be forgotten in the whole thing.

She had almost gotten to the door when the screen's wheel caught a brick that was slightly raised. The thing jerked from her hands and she stumbled out from its protection. She straightened up and looked at the Avery family with guilt and embarrassment.

"I..."

What could she say? There was nothing to say. She swallowed and continued walking, hurrying for the door.

Katherine looked up when Lily stumbled out, her face falling. Kit opened her mouth to try and find something worth saying, something to call out after the Gryffindor as she ran off. She couldn't tell what was wrong, exactly, but some part of her knew that it hurt. Whatever it was, it made her ache. She didn't have very many friends, and it felt like she had lost one for... what? Talking to her brothers? Because Mesut had made a snide comment? Once Lily was out of sight, Kit deflated against her pillow and rapidly became lost in her thoughts, in her questions.

Luke ducked his chin, but glanced at Mes out of the corner of his eye. He hadn't been there long enough to really understand what had happened. He didn't want to try and find something to say about it. But before anyone could really think of something to say, Mesut was on his feet and running out into the hallway.

"Lily," he called, slowing to a stop a short ways behind her. "Wait, please." Mesut hesitated, running a hand through his hair. He didn't care if she looked at him, or even if she paid complete attention. Sure, he hoped she would. But he just needed to get the words out.

"Listen, I didn't mean to be an arse back there. I was just joking. But... I want to thank you. For being there for Kit. Our mother is... gone. And father can't be fussed to visit," he confessed almost darkly, his expression stony for a moment. He looked at her properly, though, and he sighed. "You're her friend, Lil. And I'm grateful for that, even if I shouldn't say so, or if she wouldn't want me to be."