"JEALOUS"

JEALOUS: feeling or showing an envious resentment of someone or their achievements, possessions, or perceived advantages; Lorelei watched as Harry hugged Mrs. Weasley and then got told to move upstairs just like the rest of them whenever they would even try to walk to the downstairs bathroom. He walked up, and then saw Lorelei standing on the stair front, leaning on the bannister with her arms crossed.

"Hey, scarhead" Lorelei put her hands in her pocket, and continued, "How've you been?"

"Miserable" Harry mumbled, "My aunt thinks I hurt Dudley on purpose, so that's just great — they've turned even more loving to me now"

"Sounds amazing?" Lorelei joked.

He shrugged as a response, "How are you with the situation?" Harry questioned awkwardly, he knew the girl — for the first three years at Hogwarts, Lorelei had been the person he'd grown up sort of...idolizing...she was the person who taught him a lot of basics about magic, teaching him jinxes that were not for second years to use just because everyone thought he'd opened the chamber of secrets, and she was also the one who'd ended up convincing him that having Birdie in his life wouldn't be a sad reminder of his past.

Harry had also watched the girl scanning the ceiling, and spending time at the owlery instead of cutting a cake or throwing a party just in case she got a letter from either one of her parents. Harry knew very well Lorelei wasn't good with accepting, she always just pushed grief to the back of her mind until it came bursting forward.

"Well, it's alright" Lorelei shrugged, "Come on, let's get you to your girlfriend before she chews my ear off about hogging you"

"Girlfriend?" asked Harry.

"Are you and Regan not dating?" Lorelei frowned.

"No...?" Harry furrowed his brows.

"Oh..." Lorelei said.

Lorelei shrugged it off, who knew what was going on with kids these days? She's well aware she sounds like a grandma but then again, she feels like one with her back pain and the strong urge to sleep in her bed all day too.

"Haz!" Turns out Lorelei didn't even have to knock on Regan's room as she barged out, practically slamming Harry into the tightest hug, he picked her up, Lorelei rolled here eyes, kids.

"What? Did she sense his presence or something..." Hope asked, a confused look on her face.

"Maybe she sensed his fumes..." Lorelei said with a deadpanned look on her face, Hope gave her a look, "What? I'm kidding..." Hope turned around, "...not" she muttered under her breath.

"Aw, they're having a moment," Birdie said, her head tilted, "but can they not do it in the middle of the hall? I have to get to our room"

Harry and Regan then walked into the room Ron, Regan and Hermione were sharing. Lorelei and Hope watched as Birdie walked inside the room and then gave each other a look.

"We have to do something," Lorelei told the girl who nodded in agreement, "she seems miserable and to be honest, I don't like it when she's miserable"

"Me neither" Hope grumbled, "I'm gonna go try to convince her to cook something, maybe she'll smile once..."

Lorelei walked back into her room as soon as Hope joined Birdie in hers, she shut the door with a sigh but then very soon she saw a pair of brown eyes staring at her upside down, she opened her mouth to scream but a hand clamped on her mouth instead.

"Shhh" George said, jumping down from the ceiling and taking off his special shoes, Lorelei glared at him, "If I remove my hand, you have to promise not to scream"

Lorelei rolled her eyes, and George took it as a yes, "What do you want, Weasley? And why the hell were you standing on my ceiling?"

"I was checking out a new product" George said as if it was the most obvious thing ever, "Birdie is miserable"

"No shit" Lorelei scoffed, "She's been like an annoyed pregnant cat ever since she's gotten here"

"That's a weird way to describe her mood, but ok" George said in a whispering voice.

"Why are you whispering?" Lorelei whispered back.

"I don't know" George whispered, again.

"Well, what do you want from me?" Lorelei asked, impatiently tapping her feet on the floor.

"I wanted to ask you something"

"Ask then George what are you waiting for?"

"Do you want to form an allegiance with me...?" George asked, and Lorelei watched him with curious eyes.

"Absolutely, I do" Lorelei said, look, she wouldn't normally agree with working with George on something was practically being able to mess with him 25/8. Imagine the things she could do to mess him, imagine.

"I've got the perfect idea for the first one" George grinned, Lorelei raised her eyebrows.

"Ok, Spiderman"

🫐

"SHUT UP, YOU OLD HAG!" Sirius exclaimed for the second time today, as him and his sister tried to draw the curtains on their screaming mother, "Just shut up, oh my merlin!" Sirene looked annoyed but also at the point of a mental breakdown. Sirius looked just as annoyed but he was doing better on the looking-like-he-might-cry look.

"You know what, I'm done let me burn her down!" Sirene threw her hand back, taking out her wand but Andrew grabbed her hand pulling the wand out of her grasp, "I'm gonna flush her ashes down the toilet, I swear to Godric!"

"If you burn her down the wall burns down with her, Ren" Andrew pulled her back, Sirene huffed fixing her jacket and then taking a deep breath to calm herself down.

"Hey, Harry, I see you've met our mother" Sirius said with a grim look on his face, Remus stood behind him as Sirius pulled his godson into a tight hug, Sirene watched him with a smile and Andrew tried to shut the curtains of the portrait.

"Hey, Harry" Sirene pulled Harry into a hug, rubbing his back for comfort, merlin knows the kid needed it.

Lorelei had never been the kind of girl to get jealous, she cherished what she had and she was grateful for the small family feeling the Rosiers gave her, she was thankful that she had friends who genuinely loved her even though there was always this voice in the back of her head that they did that just because they have to since they've been friends since childhood, but she loved them.

However, seeing her father hug Harry with the same smile he used to give her as a child produced an ache in her heart, something that just made her wonder why couldn't she have that with him? She then realized that she was the one pushing him, but she was sure with Harry here her father wouldn't even care.

She didn't get a hug when she saw him.

"Come on, kids" Molly Weasley came forward a bright smile on her face, "Dinner's ready"

"I'm gonna go get Birdie" Lorelei said, she was looking down and her voice was small, "She has trouble walking down with her, ya know"

"Of course" Sirene gave her shoulder a squeeze, she knew what the kid was thinking, of course she did, she'd spent almost fifteen years with her, she knew the way Lorelei's brain was wired, she knew how to calm her down and that was to treat her like you normally would — give her the sense of normalcy.

"Knock knock, I'm coming in" Lorelei said barging inside the room and coming face to face with a Birdie who was completely covered with blankets everywhere but her face, "How long are you planning to bury yourself in blankets?"

"If I don't get out of blankets, I don't die" Birdie said, she was still looking up at the ceiling, "If I don't die, you don't cry, so if you really look at it — I'm protecting you"

"Uh huh" Lorelei said, pulling the blankets off a very annoyed looking Birdie, "Look at me, Birdie, a bad thing happened to you, a very bad thing happened, and I'd be scared as hell if I was you too but we're all scared, I'm not saying that takes any of your misery away but if you cram yourself in your room your whole day it'll only make you feel more alone"

"Let me be alone then" Birdie said grabbing the blankets from Lorelei's grasp, "I'm not in the mood to eat dinner today"

"Too bad, you're not skipping any meals" Lorelei tugged on Birdie's hand, "Get up, Birdie, I'm not kidding I will apparate you in this form if I have to"

Birdie looked at her bestfriend for a moment, as if thinking would walking in with her entire body covered with blankets be that embarrassing, and then she remembered that Moody was downstairs and she wasn't sure she'd be able to handle his judgey looks. Birdie sighed, passing Lorelei her hand and getting herself up, "I hope you know I hate you for this"

"No, you don't"

"Wish I did" Birdie muttered and Lorelei smacked the back of her head, "Now, I have a very strong dislike towards you, good job"

"I can handle a bit of dislike as long as there's food in your stomach" Lorelei said watching Birdie begrudgingly pull off the blankets off herself.

"I hope it's pasta" Birdie said, she put on some slippers and put her hair in a bun, holding her hand out to Lorelei expectantly, but instead of apparating them downstairs Lorelei pulled on her hand to give her a hug, "What?"

"I missed you, Birdie" Lorelei said, "I know you're not feeling your best, but just your presence is helping me, Harry, Hope and Fred. I hope that it gets better because I hate seeing you sad"

"Getting a taste of our own medicine, are we?" Birdie joked wrapping her arms around her best friend even more tightly than before, "I'm trying, you know"

"I know."