[OPEN/GROUP] End of Year Party, Anyone?

They were all treating her so gently, with such kindness... and it made her want to kick something. Not that she had the energy. They should have sent her off into the forest, or caged her - a punishment befitting her condition. They all shouldn't have been so willing to forget her crimes to comfort her pains. She guess she understood Dom and Casey - blood was thicker than... well, the blood of somebody else. Perhaps, Christian she could understand. He had always been shockingly sympathetic, always reaching out to her, so it made sense, she guessed, that he had a merciful streak. Declan was a professor, so of course he had to stay calm.

But she had WRONGED Apollo. And he had never exactly liked her - not according to how he had always treated her. A squeeze on the shoulder was another kindness she did not deserve.

She couldn't really feel her legs as she walked. It had been a long time since she had transformed without wolfsbane. It wrecked your body. Fortunately, the containment had positives and negatives. She wasn't covered in tree splinters. But her nails and mouth were majorly sour, and she could feel dark bruises forming on her shoulders from where banged about.

Somehow, though, she made it to the hospital wing, her little group leading the way. She glanced up and met the gaze of Kit, immediately tearing her eyes away. After all of that time, Lily had been lying to her, well knowing that Kit was one of the people who could suffer if she got out of control. She had not warned her friend. It could have been her.

It could have been her.

Lily sighed as she approached the bed they were leading her to. Apollo was deposited in the bed next door, and Casey immediately began about dragging chairs over so the two students could stand guard to their fallen family. Dom flagged down a matron who came bustling over, he lips smoothed into a straight line.

"Donna, great," Dom said, approaching. "So there was a-"

"Yeah, I know," Donna said, glaring her down, her Irish accent incredibly aggressive. "This one told me all about it." Ducky was being pulled away by Finn, who was fruitlessly trying to get him to leave the hospital. "And he hasn't left. So thanks for the ruined night. You could have warned me, y'know. We're short staffed as it is. And a riot-"

"It wasn't a riot-" Dom quickly said.

"Whatever! Children, coming in covered in blood and then nothin'. They couldn't get into that room, y'know, with you lot holed up in there. We just been waitin' here."

Dom turned away, staring at her cousin, willfully ignoring the woman who was intent on making Dom feel worse. Donna huffed and approached the beds, as Dom squeezed her eyes shut, braced as the woman pushed past.

"What have we got?" Donna asked, looking at Lily, a regular. Lily shook her head and lolled it towards Apollo. Donna rolled her head, turning to look at Apollo. Lily turned to look at Apollo, waiting for the secret to finally be said allowed. She raised her eyes skyward, almost in prayer.

Her eyes snapped to Apollo, genuine surprise on her face. She slowly turned to look to Christian, as though the twin's face would be able to reveal why Apollo was bothering to keep her secret. She quickly looked at Donna, who said, "What?" before approaching Apollo. "Let's see it, then."

It was going to come out now. It had to. Whether or not she liked it, it was too obvious, and too dangerous.

"But... These are nasty scratches. They look like-"

"Yes," Lily said. Donna's eyes snapped up. Suddenly, the timing of all of her visits made sense, as well as the inexplicable bouts of pain and weaknesses. Donna seemed just as shocked, just as hurt, as though the lies had even felt like betrayal even to this random woman.

Donna shook her head. "This is-"

"A werewolf," Lily said, quietly, and yet it seemed to resound throughout the whole room. Casey stared at Donna, and Ducky stopped in his tracks, openly watching. "Me."

"No, Lily-"

Christian's gaze flew from Lily to Apollo, staring at his brother when the Slytherin tried to get her to dodge the blame. He had never once seen his twin do that, so to imagine why he would have done that for this girl made him cringe. It was too strange, too wrong in the Hufflepuff's mind.

But she said it anyway. And neither of the boys could take it back for her. The professors couldn't stop her from royally screwing over her reputation after doing so well when it came to hiding it. With maybe a week until graduation, all of that had been thrown away, and the hospital wing was silent for once. Any focus that Kit had maintained when it came to Victoire's checks was abandoned, and she turned to look at the girl who had meant so much to her, as her only friend. But Lily had thought she had to hide things from Katherine, apparently, and that just made her sad.

She wasn't angry, actually, like she had expected to be. Like others might have expected of her. Instead she was just winded, as usual. She shouldn't have been surprised, really. In fact, she found that, quite quickly, the breeze had left her sails, and between the students in the hospital wing, Christian was easily one of the most astounded.

He wanted to ask about whether or not Apollo was doing this out of some sort of guilt, or if his older brother was somehow hiding something from him. But it was neither the time nor the place to discuss those things. That would come after everyone else had left, or after they had moved into their flat about the store. But even that wasn't for a little while, as they were still dealing with graduation events and Daphne's attentions about it. Blaise was less open with Christian about what might happen than he was with Apollo, but immediately, the Hufflepuff didn't care about that. He cared about what was going on between his brother and Lily.

To say he didn't like it would be an understatement.

"Lily, it was my fault. I provoked you," Apollo continued, pushing on the mattress of the bed he had been told to sit on. "Can we, maybe-" he began, looking to those around them. "Can we get a second? I want to talk to her."

Christian's eyes drifted to the dividers that could be put up, and was obviously aware of the charms that could make their conversation sufficiently private. None of that made him feel more comfortable, of course, so he just sat there, hoping that someone would reject his brother's request. Declan, unfortunately, was no help at all. He glanced towards Dom and brushed his hand across her back as he leaned in to explain that he wanted to check on the other students, and basically wandered off to talk to Victoire. Of course, even he didn't expect to return to the hospital wing a few days later and ask the blonde to join him in attending their co-worker's wedding in June. That would have been mental. But he did happen to find himself a decent icebreaker without meaning to.

Of course it wouldn't make sense to anyone else. Nothing Lily Potter had done since she had been turned had made sense to those looking in on her situation. Suddenly, a Potter uprooted to America to get schooling, taking her cousin, five years her junior, along with her. No one had understood. Then, on her return, after establishing herself as a clever woman and a hard-working student, she had just dropped out. The girl, with so much potential in front of her, had squandered it for the wretches of society, sacrificing happiness and feeling to various substances.

Lily had stopped making sense a long time ago.

But she had not lost her mind, nor her wits. Lily saw the world from a skewed angle, somehow managing to see herself for what she truly was, regardless of how far she had slipped down the slipper slope of  denial. This, not sparing herself, made more sense than anything else. Because she had kept her secret as such only because it wasn't hurting anyone. Pretending she had not been turned meant she had to ensure the safety of all of those around her.

As soon as that was compromised, she had no right to her privacy.

Apollo's voice made her turn gaze onto him. Why was he doing this? Why wasn't he letting her take her blame? She had earned it, after all. And every time he denied her the right to make up for it, she realized just how impossible it was going to be to ever make up for what she had done. It was unforgivable.

She was a menace.

He spoke and her eyes managed to flash, despite the resignation she felt. "So I sliced you in half," she said, her words cutting as she desperately tried to get her point across.

And he wanted to talk to her.

Lily blinked, confused. She glanced to Dom, who nodded at Declan before giving Lily a look of affirmation. Lily then glanced to Casey, who almost looked furious. Casey blinked heavily and stood, storming away and towards the healer's station, evidently upset that she could be so easily dismissed.

She wanted to say no, but how could she? If talking privately with Apollo helped make up for what she had done, she would hear him out. Casey, Dom, and Declan had all left her to do what she needed to do.

That left Christian. Lily pushed herself up, swinging her legs off of her bed. She glanced to Christian as she slipped off the hospital bed, reaching out to the Hufflepuff, silently asking him to help her reach his brother's bed.

Apollo frowned at her sternly when she cut in, clearly having none of it. Christian could only watch and try not to groan audibly at his disappointment. That is, until Lily moved, clearly agreeing to Apollo's request. She was exhausted, and the elder twin was aching. And there wasn't anybody else but Christian to be the bridge between them. He didn't want to cover that gap. He didn't want to have to be that boat that carried her over to his own brother.

But what could he do? He looked between his brother and his... nothing. Lily wasn't Christian's anything. Just as he was nothing but that thing to help her along to Apollo, apparently. It was so typical, he realized. Apollo was their father's heir, as strange as it felt to be so far from how things worked in the Muggle world. Apollo was the twin better suited to dealing with girls.

For the first time, though, Christian could admit it and form the words in his mind. He liked Lily. He did. But he had no idea why, really. It had just... happened. Damnit all.

He had no choice. Christian pushed himself from his chair and cautiously reached out for Lily's arms. He wanted to say something reassuring, but he couldn't open his mouth to make so much as a sound. Instead, he looked at her for a moment before pulling his gaze away and backing towards Apollo's bed. Once they reached it, he helped her sit on the edge. Apollo passed his brother a thankful look, but Christian ignored it, turning away and flicking his wand to pull out a dividing wall and separate the two from the rest of the room. And Christian hated it.

Apollo, on the other hand, realized too late that he didn't know how to phrase what he wanted to say. He held out his hand, though, palm up. At least it might buy him some time. When he finally found the words to say, he spoke quietly and firmly despite the fact that no one would be listening in on them.

"Lily... Lil, I promise you, I will be fine. I want you to accept that. You scratched me, you didn't bite me. Scars are permanent, perhaps, but you haven't messed anything up. I did provoke you. I did ignore your warnings. That is not your fault. Turning was not your fault. Please believe that. Okay?

"I wish you hadn't said anything," he added, shaking his head. "This is gonna be a mess for you if you're not careful. Just... if you need somewhere to go, or stay, you tell me. I'm serious. It doesn't matter when. Promise me you'll tell me if you need help."

She felt like a child, reaching out to Christian. It wasn't something she wanted to do. She wanted to be strong enough to get up and do what she needed to do, without needing anyone else's help. Especially when she felt so horribly in the wrong towards someone - asking that person for help was so much worse.

And that was another thing. This guilt and shame was eating her alive, it felt like, trying to burst its way out of her stomach. She wanted to scream at everyone how much of the fault was, so that they could all stop trying to make her feel better when she wasn't the one that needed comfort. It was Casey, who looked like she had not slept all night, who needed concern. It was Apollo, who had actually been hurt, who had earned comfort. It was Christian, who was evidently just as hurt as anyone, who deserved care.

She could see the hurt pouring out of his eyes when he reached her. She stared back at him and, for a moment, they lingered, her hands in his so he could help guide her. She couldn't get the words out, and she glanced down at her feet, before slowly lifting her gaze back to Christian's. She mouthed a sincere 'I'm sorry' to him.

He helped her to Apollo's bed and she settled down on the bed, finding themselves in a lonely little world, surrounded by a sea of stone on their hospital bed ship. She dropped her hands into her lap and stared at them for a moment like a child aware of all they had done wrong. She had upset him, after hurting him - great person she was. What a way to make something up to someone else. A+.

She was struggling to respond. So what if she had only scratched him? There could be effects, there could be a change. He had no idea what fine was if he thought everything would be fine after something like this. He provoked her? She shook her head, a small scoff coming out of her mouth, thinking the same as before, that it didn't make her reaction any better.

She wanted to help him understand. I had to. It was over. I was only allowed a secret if it didn't hurt anyone. But I hurt someone. I hurt you, and I hurt Christian, and I hurt Casey, and Teddy, and my family, and everyone at that party, and it wasn't okay that I would just get off with a slap on the wrist and no punishments. I earned this. Let me have it.

But he wouldn't understand. Because she thought so differently from everyone else. And she didn't want to make him feel like he didn't understand the same night she attacked him.

If she needed somewhere to stay. If she needed help. If she needed anything.

I don't have anywhere to go, and I've burnt every bridge and I just know I can't make it alone because I will fall back into old habits, and Roxi will get me, and I will be ruined.

"Okay."