This is my first ever fanfic! Yay! This fic is about Lily Luna Potter's adventure in her fifth year at Hogwarts! I hope you enjoy reading and will leave me Feedback!!

Disclaimer: None of these characters belong to me, they belong to JK Rowling . I am receiving no monetary gain, I'm just playing with her creations a bit. Thanks!





She had been shivering with excitement when they arrived on the platform. Ever since they brought James in his first year she had dreamed of the moment when she would step on the train.

There were people everywhere saying their farewells to their children. She saw some of her cousins and waved.

She turned to her parents. Albus was giving Ginny a hug while James was talking to Harry. They seemed to be going over quidditch strategies. Not surprising. James was obsessed with quidditch. Al broke away from Ginny and moved over to Harry. Ginny turned to Lily and opened her arms for a hug.

“Write us often,” said Ginny while stroking Lily’s auburn hair. Lily held her tightly.

“I will, I promise!” Ginny smiled and gave her a kiss. Lily turned to Harry and hugged him furiously.

“You’re going to break my rib-cage, Lil!” They both laughed. “Have a fun time. If you need anything just send us an owl. Your brothers will look after you… Right?” He said, looking over at Al and James.

“Course, dad! We haven’t failed yet.” Al nudged James, who was busy scanning the surroundings.

“Huh?” he asked. “I mean, yeah I think I’ve got the idea. What?” he asked, when Albus rolled his eyes. Al opened his mouth to reply, but the train whistle sounded and cut him off.

“Come on, Hun,” ushered Ginny. “On you get.” Harry loaded Lily’s trunk and gave her a quick kiss as she got on the train.

“Bye, mum. Bye, dad!” She blew a kiss to them both and Al took her hand.

“Come on, Lil. Let’s get seats before they’re all taken.” They found a compartment with a window facing Harry and Ginny. They stood outside talking hand-in-hand. Ginny noticed them waving and pointed them out to Harry. They continued to wave as the train pulled out of the station. Lily waved until they were long out of sight, then sighed and leaned back in her seat.

“Where’d James go?” asked Lily. Al, who was sitting opposite her, had already pulled out his Daily Prophet and was reading intently.

“Mmm?” He asked, absorbed in an article about his Uncle Percy who had been promoted High Official to the Minister.

“James. Where did he go?”

“No idea.”

There was silence for a minute then Lily asked.

“Al?” He lowered the paper looking agitated.

“What?”

“Um, I was just wondering, how long is the ride going to be?” She was a very fidgety girl and hated sitting still for very long.

“Better make yourself comfortable. It’s gonna be a while.” He retreated behind his paper again, so only the top of his head was visible.

Lily made a face at him, knowing he wouldn’t see. She slouched down in her seat and rested her chin in her hand. Every few minutes she shifted her position, but aside from that, the only sound was Albus occasionally turning the page.

After what felt like forever to Lily, the compartment door slid open. Lily sat up. James strode in and slid the door closed. “Hi,” he said and plopped down next to Lily.

“Where have you been?” inquired Lily.

“With Alex Finnigan and Calvin Thomas. They were telling me—” He was cut off as the door opened again.

“Anything from the trolley?” asked a friendly looking lady.

“Oh!” exclaimed James, and he stood up feeling in his pockets. He purchased a few cauldron cakes and pumpkin pasties.

By that time, Al had emerged from the Prophet and got a few licorice wands and some acid pops. Lily bought some chocolate frogs. She had a nice collection of wizard cards and enjoyed adding more. They made themselves comfy and began eating their sweets.

“Hey! I got dad!” exclaimed Lily holding up her new wizard card.
“I thought you already had that one,” said James.

“Well, I’ve seen it before. Hugo showed it to me, but I don’t have one yet,” Lily cried admiring the image of her father. “It’s so cool to tell people that my dad’s on a wizard card!” she said happily.

“Yeah,” muttered Al, who had again receded behind his paper. Lily rolled her eyes.


When they all got off the train at King’s Cross Station, Al and James gave Lily an affectionate squeeze, wished her luck and left on the horse-less carriages. Hagrid’s deep voice filled the air summoning the first years to him. Lily made her way to the group of timid first years and followed Hagrid with them to the boats. In the boat she talked to the girl seated opposite her. She had ebony hair and beautiful dark skin.

“Do you know what house you’re going to be in?” she asked excitedly.

“Well, my whole family’s been in Gryffindor, so I will too,” said Lily assuredly. “What about you?”

“My mum and dad were in Gryffindor, too!” she exclaimed. “But I’m not sure if I’ll be in that house or not. My older sister is in Ravenclaw. I can’t wait to be sorted! It will be so exciting!”

It had never occurred to Lily that she might not be in Gryffindor. Her whole family was in Gryffindor. Her parents had been, even her grandparents, her aunts and uncles and her cousins and brothers! She had to be in Gryffindor. There’s no question. But- What if she wasn’t? What would she do? She didn’t really know anyone who was in Ravenclaw. What if Hugo was sorted into Gryffindor and she wasn't? With these thoughts streaming through her mind, they pulled up at the castle. Wow! It was even more amazing than she had imagined! She took a deep breath and walked with her group up to the castle looming up ahead.


Lily stood with all of the first years at the entryway. She had told herself that she wouldn’t be nervous, but her stomach was cramped and her hands were sweaty. She wasn’t the only one. A girl with short brown hair next to her flushed and looked close to tears. Everyone else seemed uneasy as well. They were all getting restless and were constantly shifting their weight from one foot to the other. They heard footsteps on the stone floor and they all straightened up and looked from side to side.

Professor Bell strode up to the kids and greeted them. “Hello, children. Welcome to Hogwarts. I am Professor Bell, head of Ravenclaw house. We are about to enter the Great Hall where you will be sorted into your house. As you all know, there are four houses, Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Slytherin and Hufflepuff. Your house will be like your family. Your professors will award you points, but if any rules are broken you will loose points. Now, don’t be frightened,” she said noticing the girl close to tears. “I assure you the sorting hat doesn’t bite.”


Nobody laughed.

“Well, we’re ready for you. Please follow me.”

She walked to the large double doors and they all followed her into the Great Hall. Lily dropped her jaw. The ceiling was as dark as the night sky with stars. Ginny had told her it was bewitched. Lily looked around. There were four tables full of students. She scanned the faces for Al and James as she walked. Her cousin Rose waved to her from the Gryffindor table. Sitting next to her were Al and James. Lily smiled at them as she passed.

“Please gather around here,” motioned Professor Bell. Lily made sure she was standing next to Hugo. He smiled at her comfortingly. He didn't seem at all worried. They stood waiting and the sorting hat sang his song. It was rather short and Lily was quite surprised when it ended.

Everyone clapped.

Professor Bell took out a roll of parchment and said, “When I call your name, please step forward and you will be sorted.” She cleared her throat.

“Please don’t let me be first,” thought Lily to herself. She hated having to be first. And quite frankly, she didn’t want to stand up in front of all those people.

“ Smith, Colin.” A very shy, blonde-haired boy sat down on the stool. The hat was rested on his head.

“Hufflepuff!” shouted the sorting hat. Cheers erupted from the Hufflepuff table and he scurried off.

“Grahm, Bailey.” A rather tall curly haired girl sat down on the stool.

“Hmmmm,” muttered the hat. “A good mind, better be Ravenclaw!” She ran over to the applauding Ravenclaw table.

“Wood, Nisha.” The dark haired girl Lily had spoken to on in the boat timidly stepped forward.

“Ravenclaw!” She smiled, then skipped over to the table, where, what looked like her older sister hugged her.

“Wright, Timothy.”

“Slytherin!”

“Sparts, Julia.”

“Gryffindor!”

“Jones, Grace.”

“Ravenclaw!”

“Potter, Lily.” Lily’s heart pounded hard in her chest. She glanced back at her brothers. They had straightened up in their seats. She sat down hard on the stool and Professor Bell set the hat on her head.

“Hmmmm. Very difficult decision here. Bravery for sure, but a very good mind as well. Gryffindor would be good, but I’m thinking otherwise. Ravenclaw!”

Lily caught her breath. She couldn’t hear anything. She gazed around the room blindly. Had she just been sorted into Ravenclaw? Her heart pounded rhythmically in her ears. No. It wasn’t possible. Her whole family was in Gryffindor. Something was wrong. It had made a mistake. It couldn’t be. The cheers from the Ravenclaw table brought her back to reality. She slowly got up and made her way to the Ravenclaw table where the girl Nisha was waving at her. She looked over at the Gryffindor table. Her brother and cousin were deep in conversation and didn’t see her look over. Except for Albus. He caught her eye, smiled at her, and then gave her a thumbs-up. Lily tried to smile back, then collapsed onto the bench. She didn’t even hear the other kids being sorted.

“….so excited that we are in the same house! I was hoping you’d be in the same house as me!” Nisha was talking excitedly to her. Lily didn’t know if she should be happy or sad. She wasn’t going to be with her brothers or her cousins. Lily felt slightly alone. She looked at Nisha. She was beaming. Looking at how happy Nisha was, Lily realized that it didn’t matter if she wasn’t in Gryffindor. She was the first in the family to be in Ravenclaw. She grinned. It wasn’t like she wouldn’t see her brothers. They were still in the same school. She clapped loudly as Hugo was sorted into Gryffindor.

She smiled at Nisha. “I’m happy, too.”

~***~

Please let me know what you think here!

A big thanks goes to my awesome beta zwillo! I couldn't have done it without you! Thanks!

Chelsea♥

Well, I've decided to post the first chapter so here it goes! Thanks again to my beta zwillo, and to Nick for leaving feedback before anyone else!




“Come on, Lil!” shouted Ginny. “We’re ready to leave!”

“Be down in a sec, Mum!” replied Lily. She was standing in front of her mirror scrutinizing her reflection. She was dressed in jeans and a brown cardigan, her long flaming red hair hung loosely over her shoulders.

“Lil!” called Ginny again.

“Okay!” Lily yelled back, slightly exasperated. She grabbed her striped handbag off her bed and dashed out of the room almost instantly turning back to grab her list of fifth year school supplies. Ginny and Al were already in the car. She ran over, opened the door and ducked inside.

“What took you so long, Lily?” Al asked as they backed out of the driveway.

“Nothing! I was just getting ready,” she replied.

Al smiled, and then turned back around in his seat. Al was a handsome boy with black hair like their father. Actually, it was exactly like their father’s. It would never cooperate and usually stuck out in odd directions.

Lily sighed, then gazed out the window at the houses whizzing by.

It didn’t take them long to reach the Leaky Cauldron, where they quickly passed through to get to Diagon Alley.

“Hmm, maybe we should go to Madam Malkin‘s first. You need new robes, Al,” Ginny said as they strolled down the street.

“My old ones are fine, Mum.”

“Don’t be ridiculous, Albus. You’ve grown so much this summer. I wouldn’t be surprised if your old robes are as high as your knees. Now, let’s go.”

“It’s going to be weird this year, isn’t it?” Al asked Lily as they walked together.

“Why?” she asked quizzically.

“You know, with James not being there with us.”

Since Lily wasn’t in the same house as her brothers at Hogwarts, she wasn’t with them as much as she would have liked. But now that she thought of it, James was rarely seen without Al at school. Even though the two boys were completely different, they had the real brother bond. At school, Lily talked to Albus as often as she could. They were very close and she heard everything about James from him. Although she could have easily found out for herself that James was more interested in breaking rules and playing quidditch than studying for tests like Al. It wasn’t unusual to see James copying someone else’s notes the night before an exam.

“Yeah,” she said after a pause. “I guess it will.” She linked her arm in his and said, “Well, imagine trying to give him detention. Can you really see him being serious with you as Head Boy?”

Al laughed. “He’d laugh in my face.”

“Exactly.”

“Things will probably be in a lot better order with him gone,” Al said. Lily stared at him. “I mean rule-breaking wise,” he said hastily. “ I’d say he broke the most rules out of everyone in the whole school.”

“Wouldn’t surprise me.” They entered the shop.

After Al had been fitted for his new robes, they walked next door to Flourish and Blotts to get their new books. Lily pulled her list out of her bag.

“LILY!” Exclaimed a voice. She looked up, and was surprised to see Nisha.

“Nisha!” She screamed excitedly. The girls hugged each other bouncing up and down. Nisha was a beautiful girl with wavy, long black hair and gorgeous brown eyes. One of the many things that really defined Nisha was that she always looked good.

“You do notice that everyone is starting at you two?” Albus pointed out.

The girls broke apart. Nisha tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear. “Oh, hi, Al,” Nisha said. Al held out his hand politely.

“Hey, Nisha.” They shook hands. Lily was close enough to see that Nisha blushed. Even though she had never officially stated it to Lily, it was obvious that she had always been sweet on Al.

“Hello, Nisha.” Ginny had walked over to see what was taking them so long.

“Hi, Mrs, Potter. How are you?”

“Very well, thanks. Have a nice summer?”

“Yeah, it was great, thanks.”

“Good,” Ginny smiled warmly. “Lily, why don’t you give me your list? I’ll go get your books and you can catch up with Nisha.”

“Oh, thanks, Mum.” She handed over her list.

“Nisha, what is taking you – Ginny! How are you?” Nisha’s mother had walked up unnoticed behind them.

“Parvati!” The two hugged. “I’ve been good, what about you?”

“Oh just fine. How’s Harry? I haven’t seen him in so long. I saw his picture in the Prophet the other day. Oliver and I were just….”

“Come on,” Nisha nudged Lily. “Let’s go.” They left the shop, leaving their mothers talking happily. “Do you mind if we go to Scribbulus Everchanging Inks? I need some new parchment. I ran out after writing you all summer.”

“Not at all, let’s go.” They entered the shop talking the whole time. They continued talking as Nisha browsed the parchment. While they were looking someone bumped into Lily causing her to loose her balance and fall on the floor. But not before knocking some parchment off the shelf.

“Oh, I’m so sorry! I didn’t see you. Trust me to make a mess of everything,” said a boy’s voice.

Lily looked up, still dazed after her fall. It was Scorpius Malfoy. She could have recognized him anywhere. He, like his father, had extremely light blonde hair. He was tall and on the skinny side. He held out a hand. She ignored the hand and got to her feet. The whole time she said nothing. He bent down and started picking up the parchment that had fallen.

“Really sorry about that,” he went on. After he finished replacing the fallen merchandise he straightened up. Lily stared at him icily and immediately turned her back on him and walked away with Nisha. The two had the same stony look on their faces. Their families had never mingled with the Malfoys.

“He did that on purpose,” Lily said furiously, once they were out of hearing distance. “Just to mock me.”

“He’s completely arrogant. I can’t stand the sight of him.” Nisha glanced back at him. His mother was speaking rapidly to him. “He’s such a mummy’s boy too. Look at him. He probably cries at night at school without her.” She whipped her head back around and her black hair cascaded over her shoulders. “Well, let’s move on shall we?”

“Yes,” Lily returned. Soon the two girls had begun chattering cheerfully and forgot about the encounter. After a while they met up with their mothers and went their separate ways, knowing they would see each other the following day.

When they had finished their shopping, Ginny turned to Al and Lily, who were holding bags bulging with school supplies. “Let’s go over to visit your Uncle George, now that we’ve finished. Your cousin Fred should be working there full time now.” They headed for the shop.

“Ginny!” cried George when they walked in. He pushed through the crowd and hugged his sister. “Al, Lily,” he said turning to the two of them. “Looking forward to school? Heard you made Head Boy, Al.”

“Yeah I did,” said Al, smiling in spite of himself.

“Good luck,” he chuckled, patting him on the shoulder.

“You’ll do fine, so long as you don’t have to deal with students like your uncles. They broke every rule that was made.” Al and Lily smiled, but noticed a slightly sad expression come over their uncle’s face. They had never known their Uncle Fred, but had heard loads about him. Ginny had always told them the two had been inseparable and when Fred died, part of Uncle George died with him.

“Well, take anything you see that you’d like,” said George to Al and Lily, changing the subject. “I’ve got to get back to the counter, as you see, we’re swamped today.” He walked over to the counter with Ginny.

Lily and Al walked over to the shelves and looked at the various items. Suddenly a hand reached in front of Lily’s face and pinched her nose. She spun around. “Fred!” she exclaimed.

“Hey, Lil,” he laughed, hugging her. “Al,” he shook hands with him. Lily had a special admiration for her cousin Fred. He was so funny and silly, but he had always been extra kind to her. Al noticed a friend from school and excused himself from them.

“So, my young cousin, what can I get for you today?” He turned to the shelves and tapped his chin. “What could come in handy at school for a fifth year girl?” He muttered to himself. “Ah!” He exclaimed, grabbing a small bottle. “Love potions come in very handy. And since you’re family, you can have it for free…” He stopped, looked at her, and grinned. He placed the bottle back on the shelf. “What am I thinking?” He asked, smirking at Lily. “That’s the last thing you need. You’ve already got Aunt Ginny’s good looks, so you won’t need it.”

“Stop it,” cried Lily, punching him playfully. They both laughed.

“I really can’t believe you don’t have a boyfriend yet. Or do you?” He raised an eyebrow.

“Fred, I don’t and you know it.” Lily laughed at him, but was slightly taken aback. Fred usually wasn’t the one who joked about boys with her. That was James’ job.

They didn't stay in the shop long. It was getting late and Al and Lily needed to finish packing for the next day. The next day they were returning to Hogwarts.

~***~

Thanks for reading! Again, I'd love feedback !

Here's Chapter 2! I hope you like it! Sorry it's so long. I got a bit carried away.





Lily raced through the barrier to Platform 9 ¾. She always felt a sort of tingling sensation as she came out on the other side. Al was right behind her, closely followed by Ginny, Harry and James. Lily couldn’t help but beam as she looked around and saw all her friends from Hogwarts. All of them had the same happy expressions even as they said their goodbyes.

“Lily, are you planning on leaving without saying good-bye?” Harry asked.

“Of course not, dad. Why would you say that?” She inquired turning to him.

“You’re so eager to get on that train; you look like you’re going to bolt any second.” Harry smiled, remembering how he had experienced the same feeling every year when he had attended Hogwarts.

“Oh, I’m just so excited to be going back, Dad! Not that I want to get away from you and Mom, I’m just….”

“It’s ok, hun. You don’t have to explain to me.”

Lily smiled, rushed forward and was enveloped in Harry’s hug.

“I love you, Dad,” Lily whispered.

“Love you, too,” Harry replied.

They broke apart. Some friends of the family came over and engaged in conversation with Harry and Ginny. Lily moved away from them scanning the crowded station for a special person. He always came. Every year. To say goodbye to her. He hadn’t been to Hogwarts in years, but he was like Lily’s brother. Lily was sad. She didn’t see him anywhere.

“Looking for me?” a voice from behind her said.

“Teddy!” She cried. She whipped around and threw herself into his arms! “I thought you’d forgotten.”

“How could I forget?” he asked. “I made a promise. Every year, I’d be here.”

“And you have.” Lily smiled. All her life, Teddy Lupin had lived with her and her family. Although he was much older, they were very close. She thought of Teddy as another brother and he thought of her as a sister. When she started going to Hogwarts, she made him promise to see her off every year, which he did. She glanced behind him and frowned slightly. “Where’s Victoire?” Teddy Lupin and Victoire Weasley had gotten married two years before and she usually came with Teddy to say goodbye to Lily.

“Oh, she said to apologize, she wasn’t feeling well today and couldn’t come.”

“Oh, tell her I hope she feels better!” Lily said.

“I will, thanks.” He looked behind Lily and nodded at James.

“Looks like someone else wants to say goodbye.”

“Okay, well thanks for coming, Teddy.” She hugged him.

“I wouldn’t leave you hanging.” He hugged her back. “Have fun at school.”

“I always do!” She smiled. Lily walked over to James, who was standing a little ways off. His hands were in his pockets and he was gazing at the Hogwarts Express almost longingly.

“You’re going to miss it, aren’t you,” Lily more stated than questioned.

“Yeah,” he sighed. “You know, I didn’t think I was going to, but now that I’m here…... It’s just weird.”

“Well, we’re going to miss having you around,” Lily said, taking his hand. It was strange saying good-bye to James. Over the summer he had gotten a job at the Ministry and really liked it. Lily didn’t fully understand what his job was, only that it had something to do with planning and organizing quidditch games. Something along those lines.

The whistle on the train blew. James looked up, then back down at Lily. “I have something for you,” he said almost mischeiviously.

“What?” Lily asked excitedly.

He reached in his pocket and pulled out an old piece of parchment. “Dad gave me this when I started going to Hogwarts,” he explained.

Lily stared at him dully. “An old piece of parchment?”

James smirked. “Not just any old piece of parchment. This is the Marauder’s Map.”

“What?!” Lily exclaimed. “Dad gave it to you?”

“Yup,” James said proudly. “And since I’m no longer a student I pass it on to you, my young sister.”

Lily grasped the map in her hands. “Wow, thanks, James. Why didn’t you give it to Al, though?”

“Well, the thought entered my mind, but since Al’s Head Boy and all that….Well, you just seem to be a little more on the mischievous side than Al.”

“Lily!” called Ginny. “Hurry up!”

“You’d better go,” James said.

Lily looked up at James. “Thanks again for the map. I remember how dad said to read it. Don’t worry, I won’t get into too much trouble.”

“I won’t worry. I’ll just hope you do.”

James leaned down, (as he was over a head taller than Lily) and hugged her tightly. “Have fun this year. Not too much fun without me, though. Oh, and Lily? You might not want to mention to mum that I gave it to you.”

“Don’t worry,” Lily said into his shoulder. “Bye, James. See you at Christmas.” She stood on her tip-toes, kissed him on the cheek and ran off to Ginny and Harry who were waiting next to the train. Lily stuffed the map into her back pocket as she ran.

“Hurry up, hun!” Ginny urged. She planted a kiss firmly on Lily’s forehead and touched her cheek. “Have fun.” She smiled.

Lily hugged Ginny. “I will, Mum.”

The conductor started closing the doors. “Come on.” Albus touched her shoulder. As Lily stepped aboard the train, she paused and looked back at her parents smiling up at her. James and Teddy had joined them.

“Write us,” Ginny said.

“I always do,” Lily replied.

James winked at her and Lily smiled in acknowledgment. The door was closed, separating her from her family.

The train began to pull away and rapidly picked up speed. Lily stood at the window waving for a short time, then turned to Albus.

“Listen, Lil,” Al said. “I have to go down to the prefect carriage. Maria Ford and I have to brief the new prefects on their duties and all that. I’ll catch up with you later.”

“Ok.” Lily wove in and out of students and headed down the corridor glancing in the compartments for her friends. It didn’t take long to find Nisha. Her silvery laugh and loud chatter made her easy to find. She slid the compartment door open.

“….and you know how I ---Lily! Hi!” They hugged. “Long time no see.” Nisha settled herself back in her seat. Lily slid her trunk under the seat. She noticed the girl sitting next to Nisha.

“Elsbeth!” Lily exclaimed, embracing the girl.

“Hello, Lily,” she said.

Elsbeth was a tall girl reaching almost 5’ 9”; nearly two inches taller than Lily and Nisha. She had lovely, warm, hazel eyes, which always seemed to change color and light brown hair that was usually held in place with a head band. Elsbeth was shy and didn’t talk to many other people besides Lily and Nisha. In her first year, Lily had noticed how Elsbeth looked lonely and invited her to sit with her and Nisha. The girls had bonded in an eternal friendship and were rarely seen without each other.

The girls rushed into conversation about their holidays and discussed what they were looking forward to in their fifth year. While they were chatting, the compartment door slid open and Lily’s cousin Hugo stepped inside.

“So I said….oh, hi, Hugo,” Lily said noticing him, then returned to what she was saying. “Why do I have to if……”

“That’s all I get?” Hugo said. “ ‘Hi Hugo’? Gosh I could use some consolation right about now.”

“Alright,” said Nisha. “I offer you my condolences.”

“Gee, thanks,” he said sarcastically, sitting down next to Lily.

“What’s the matter, Hu?” Lily asked.

“This whole prefect thing! I didn’t want a badge! And now I have to baby-sit the little kids and keep ‘em out of trouble!”

“Wow, that’s tough,” Nisha said patting him on the knee.

“Tell me about it,” he sighed sagging in his seat.

“It’s not that bad, Hugo. You’ll do fine.”

“I know.” He said. Nisha raised an eyebrow and snorted. “But I still don’t want to do it.”

“Just deal with it. I’m sure you’ll get over it quickly,” Nisha declared.

“Wait,” Hugo said, leaning forward. “I don’t remember asking for your advice.”

“Well, that’s not surprising, considering you have the memory of a ……of a.……..a Jobberknoll.” The two broke into angry outburst of insults at each other. Elsbeth only shook her head, confirming to anyone watching that the two did this often. Lily, however, was deep in thought, not paying attention.

“You know,” said Lily after a moment. “That really wasn’t a great comparison.” Nisha and Hugo looked at her. Lily looked as though she was trying to remember the exact wording of a passage from a book. “Technically, Jobberknoll feathers are used in memory potions. Ones which enhance the drinker’s memory. You should have said….what?” she asked, noticing the dull expressions on their faces.

Hugo shook his head and rubbed his forehead. “You know, Lily,” he said. “…..never mind.”

“Lily, nobody in their right mind would know that.” Nisha burst out laughing immediately joined by Nisha. Lily watched them and saw Elsbeth’s mouth twitching.

“By the way, did you know the Jobberknoll doesn’t make any sound until the moment of death? It lets out a scream that consists of every sound it has ever heard.”

Elsbeth let out of scream of glee and they all fell into another fit of laughter. Lily included. When their laughter died down Elsbeth sill wiped tears of mirth off her face.

The compartment door opened again. It was the lady with the trolley.

“Oh good, I’m starving!” cried Hugo reaching into his pocket.

“I doubt you’ll ever know the true meaning of hunger,” stated Nisha. “You’re never without food.”

The group purchased Licorice Wands, Cauldron Cakes, Drooble’s Best Blowing Gum, Pumpkin Pasties and a number of other odd candies. Not long into eating, Leslie Parkes, the other Gryffindor prefect rushed it.

“Hugo!” she cried. “I’ve been looking all over for you. It’s our turn to patrol the corridor. Come on!” It was obvious she was engrossed with the prefect responsibilities.

“But!” he mumbled through a mouthful of cauldron cakes.

“How was that?”

“I’m eating.”

“Well, stop! Come on!”

Hugo cast a pathetic look at Lily, than heaved himself up and left the compartment with the ecstatic Leslie.

Nisha chuckled. “I love giving him a hard time.”

“Yeah, we know,” Lily said.


~ *** ~


A few hours later they arrived at King’s Cross Station. Lily pulled her trunk off the train and walked with Nisha, Elsbeth and Hugo, who had caught up to them, over to the carriages. As they walked along the carriages, Elsbeth stopped briefly and stroked the thestral pulling the carriage. She had told Lily the year before that she could see them. She had been with her uncle when he died. Lily couldn’t see thestrals and to her it looked as though Elsbeth was petting the air.

“Come on Els!” Nisha called from the carriage.

Elsbeth and Lily boarded the carriage and rode toward the castle. The carriage stopped at the steps of the castle and the occupants filed out and walked into the castle. Once inside, Nisha, Elsbeth and Lily broke apart from Hugo and strode toward the Ravenclaw table where Nisha’s sister Shanta was waving with her friend. On the way over, a group of Slytherins walked by and one of them bumped into Lily.

“Oh, I’m sorry!”

She turned and glared furiously when she saw that it was the Malfoy boy again. She said nothing, only turned and walked stiffly over to some empty seats at the table.

“I can’t believe he did it again!” Nisha exclaimed in a fury.

“I can,” Lily said through gritted teeth. “He does it just to humiliate me.”

Elsbeth added, “Well, I know he’s completely haughty and pompous, but maybe he didn’t mean…….”

“Els,” said Nisha. “Don’t try to be nice to him.”

The three of them settled down. Lily couldn’t help but be annoyed at the Malfoy boy. It was only the first day. Why was he bothering her?

~***~

Well, there it is! I'd like to give a huge thanks again to my wonderful beta, zwillo!

Please let me know what you think here!

Chelsea♥

Here's Chapter 3. It's sort of random and pointless, but it had to be written. Thanks again to my awesomely fantastic beta zwillo!!




Lily sat up and looked around the dormitory. Was she dreaming? She rubbed her eyes. She was still in her canopy bed with blue and bronze hangings. There were four other beds in the room with her's and their occupants were just waking up as well.

Lily jumped out of bed and began getting dressed already excited it was the first day of classes.

“Morning, Lily,” yawned Bailey Grahm.

“Morning,” Lily replied happily straightening her tie.

“How can you be so eager for classes to start?” asked Grace Jones as she fashioned her hair.

“Don’t we all wonder?” Nisha smirked.

Lily stuck her tongue at her.

“I just hope you don’t rub off on me,” Grace continued.

“What’s wrong with liking school?” Lily asked.

“Well, there are more interesting ways to spend my time.” She winked at Lily who didn’t reply. Grace turned to Bailey. “Did I tell you? Josh wrote me all summer long and…”

Nisha rolled her eyes dramatically at Lily and Elsbeth and left the dormitory with them.

“I’m sorry,” Elsbeth said as soon as they were in the common room. “But that girl drives me crazy. Maybe if she didn’t talk about boys all the time, I might be able to tolerate her company.”

“Don’t be sorry, Els.” Nisha said. “I’ve always wondered why she’s in Ravenclaw. She doesn’t seem to have even half a brain.”

Elsbeth wagged a finger at her. “Now that wasn’t nice,” she scolded.

Nisha stuck out her lip and pretended to be hurt.

“There, there girls,” Lily said in a mother-ish tone.

“Oh, pa-lease!” Nisha said as they left the common room.



~***~

“Aren’t you going to eat?” Nisha asked when she noticed that Lily hadn't eaten anything.

“I can’t! I’m just so excited!” she exclaimed, looking at the toast on her plate that had only one small bite in it.

Nisha held up her hand. “No need to say more.”

“What’s on the schedule today?” Lily asked Elsbeth who had just finished eating and was reading it.

“Well, first there’s Defense against the Dark Arts, which should be fun, then Double Charms. Another fun class. Then after lunch we have Care of Magical Creatures and then Double Transfiguration,” she finished.

Nisha choked on her toast. “Double Transfiguration?” she gasped.

“A very full day,” Lily said, wide-eyed.

“It seems so,” Elsbeth agreed, putting the schedule in her bag.

The bell rang.

“Well, let’s go,” Nisha said and the three headed off to their first class.


~***~


Their first two classes had gone as wonderful as Lily had anticipated. Defense against the Dark Arts was always a fun way to start the day off. Professor Spinnet made classes enjoyable. The text books were merely reference guides in her class and everything was mostly hands on.

The Ravenclaws had Charms class with the Gryffindors, so Lily saw Hugo quite often. Professor Miles lectured the students on the importance of OWL’S for a lot longer in Charms than Professor Spinnet had in Defense against the Dark Arts. He spent close to a half hour talking. They also received a ton of homework from him at the end of class.

Nisha was in a bad mood at lunch. In Charms, they had been learning an expanding charm. The students had been aloud to use an object of their choice. Nisha had practiced on her ink bottle. Instead or expanding, Nisha’s bottle had exploded and sent ink spattering all over her. It was easily cleaned up, but unfortunately, Hugo had found the incident most amusing and wouldn’t leave Nisha alone about it.

“I’m never going to live this down,” Nisha moaned. “Hugo will never let me forget this! I can’t believe I said the spell wrong!”

“It’s alright, Nish,” Elsbeth comforted her. “He’ll get over it soon enough. And I’m sure there are loads of people who say spells backwards.”

Lily coughed on her pumpkin juice. “Sorry,” she said. “I’ll be back in a bit. She noticed Al enter the Great Hall. She got up and made her way over to the Gryffindor table. There was an empty seat next to Al and she plopped down in it.

“Hey, Lil” he said, squeezing her shoulders. “How’s your first day going so far?”

“Good! Charms was really good today.”

“Yeah, it was hilarious!” Hugo said, sitting across from Al and Lily.

“Why?” Al asked.

“Oh stop it, you!” Lily frowned at Hugo. “Nisha made a bottle of ink explode and the ink went all over the place. That’s all.”

“That’s all?” Hugo asked. “You should have seen her face!” He laughed at the memory.

“You’re so immature,” Rose said, sitting down next to Lily. “Hi, Lily.”

“She’s really annoyed at you right now, Hu, so you might not want to go near her.” He kept laughing. Lily turned to Al and in a falsely high voice asked, “So! What about you? How’s your day going?”

“Great! Things are going smooth and it’s good.” Al said.

“What about you, Rose?”

“Oh, same as Al said. Everything’s going fine.”

Lily stayed with Al, Hugo and Rose for the rest of lunch. She had done that frequently in the past. She liked to spend time with her brother and cousins. Sometimes, Nisha and Elsbeth would eat with them too.

The rest of Lily’s classes went well. After Care of Magical Creatures, Hagrid invited Lily to tea the next day since she had a chunk in the afternoon that was free of classes.

Transfiguration had been fun. Much to Nisha’s annoyance, they were changing the color of the ink in their ink bottles.

“Figures,” she had muttered to Lily when Professor Bell explained what they had to do. She looked back at Hugo who was trying to imitate her face when her bottle had exploded. Professor Bell gave each of the students a different color to change the ink. She gave them spells for five different colors.
Nisha was told to turn her’s purple, Elsbeth, green and Lily, blue. By the end of class, Nisha’s was a deep purple, Elsbeth’s was a light green and Lily’s was an aqua blue which she rather liked. Nisha was very excited when they were walking out. She ran up to Hugo.

“What went wrong in there?” She asked sarcastically while smiling viciously.

He frowned at her. In class he hadn’t managed to turn his ink a different color and he accidentally knocked the bottle over with his wand sending ink all over his book and papers.

“Ok, truce,” he said holding out his hand.

“Truce.” They shook hands.

Nisha ran back over to Lily and Elsbeth and they headed up to the common room.

“That went well,” Nisha said.

“I had little doubt that you’d let him walk out without getting a few words in,” Elsbeth said.

“When she doesn’t, I’ll know something’s wrong.” Lily laughed.

Nisha shoved her and they walked up the stairs. It had been a good first day back.


***

Well, there it is. I actually find it pretty boring, but things are going to start getting interesting in some of the upcoming chapters. Thanks for reading! And you know I love feedback!

Chelsea

Sorry it's been so long since I've posted. I was kind of at a writers temporary stand still. In other words, I couldn't think of what to write. Thanks tons and tons to my amazing beta zwillo!




The week seemed to fly by very quickly and before Lily knew it, Saturday had come. Her classes had gone really well for her first week back.

Although she enjoyed her classes, she was glad for the weekend.

“What do you have planned today, Elsbeth?” Lily asked as the three girls meandered down to the common room.

Nisha yawned loudly.

“Actually, I was planning on spending the day with Diane if that’s okay with you guys.” Elsbeth had four younger siblings and Diane was attending Hogwarts. Her other younger siblings weren’t yet old enough.

Diane was in her third year and if Hufflepuff. Their parents were Muggles and when Elsbeth had received her letter, the whole family was ecstatic. Then Diane had received her letter and the family was once again thrilled at the fact of magic in their family.

Even though Diane was in a different house and younger than Elsbeth, she spent as much time with her little sister as possible.

“Els, it’s not okay with me. How dare you?” Nisha said sarcastically.

Elsbeth smiled. “Thanks guys. What are you going to do today?”

“I’ve got quidditch practice this morning,” Nisha said.

“And she’s going to drag me along,” Lily added.

“Not ‘drag’, dear,” Nisha smiled. “I promise it won’t be long.”

“Try outs are always long,” Lily pointed out.

“But it’s only for one chaser. Michael usually keeps practice within reason.” Michael Davies was in his sixth year and he was the quidditch captain. Nisha was the only girl on the Ravenclaw team at the moment. Cassandra Read was a chaser and the year before had been her last year. Now the Ravenclaw team had to find a new chaser. Nisha didn’t like to admit it, but she was a little worried. She was a chaser, too and she and Cassandra had been great together. Now they would have to find someone new. It wasn’t likely they would find someone whose experience was as good as Cassandra’s had been.

“What time is practice?” Elsbeth asked.

“At ten-thirty,” Nisha said.

“It’s nine-forty-five now,” Lily pointed out. “We should probably get down to breakfast.” They moved for the door. “How is Diane these days?” Lily asked on their way out.

“Oh, she’s good,” Elsbeth said. “She’s got a nice group of friends and she seems to do well with her studies. She has a project for Herbology and she wanted some help with it today. She said it would be fun. Herbology is her favorite subject, you know.”

“Well, good for her,” Nisha said. She wasn’t bad in Herbology, but ever since a plant had tried to eat her finger back in their second year, she hadn’t really liked it.

On their way down the stairs they passed the Grey Lady, the Ravenclaw house ghost.

“Morning,” they all said happily as they approached her.

“I wish I could say the same,” the Grey Lady murmured dreamily. “Morning, afternoon, night – they all seem the same to me.”

Nisha glanced over at Lily, whose eyes were wide.

“Be happy you’re alive, children,” she said and floated away.

“Well, she’s in a dreary mood today,” Nisha commented.

“The Bloody Baron probably said something to her,” Elsbeth said. “She’s always like that when he talks to her.”

“Her story is so sad,” Lily said as they continued walking. “You know in History of Magic how we had to write an essay on a witch or wizard who lived during the time of the founders? I wrote about her.” She sighed.

“I haven’t even written my essay yet,” Nisha said biting her nail.

“You haven’t?” Elsbeth asked. “But it’s due on Tuesday.”

“Yeah, so I have two days to write it. That’s plenty of time,” Nisha waved her off. Elsbeth didn’t look so sure.


~***~

After breakfast, Elsbeth left with Diane, and Lily and Nisha went outside to the quidditch pitch.

“Thanks for coming, Lily,” Nisha said.

“No, it’s fine,” Lily said.

“No, I know you’re not really into quidditch. I just wanted you here for support. I just really don’t think we’re going to find somebody like Cassandra,” she admitted.

“It’s not that I don’t like quidditch, I guess it’s just because the rest of my family is really into it. It’s fun to fly around and all that and play for fun, but I have no desire to play in a serious game. I’m fine with coming, don’t worry. I brought a book in case I get too bored,” Lily laughed.

“Of course you did,” Nisha said.

Nisha went out onto the field with the rest of her teammates and Lily made herself comfortable in the stands. She looked down on the field and saw a small group of students waiting, she guessed, to try out. Michael Davies explained what was going on to all the players and students waiting to try out.

The first player to try out was a boy. The team split up and some of them played on his team and against.

Nisha threw him the quaffle and he dropped it. She said something about not having aimed well and they kept playing. When one of the players flew up new to him to steal the ball from him, he panicked and threw it over his shoulder. It hit Michael on the head. They tried the next student.

It was a girl. She was a sixth year. She flew really well, but didn’t like handing off the ball to anyone else. She liked playing solo she admitted. They tried someone else.

Lily watched from the stands and hoped for Nisha’s sake that the next student would be good. She heard someone behind her. She turned.

“Al!” she cried, surprised. “What are you doing here? Are you supposed to be here? You are the Gryffindor quidditch captain after all.”

“I’m not trying to copy their strategy. And I asked Davies if it would be okay for me to watch for a bit and he said it was fine,” Al said, sitting down next to Lily.

“Why did you want to watch?” Lily asked.

He stared at his feet. “Well, I knew you were going to be here and I wanted to see you and. . .”

“And?” Lily prompted.

“Well,” he muttered. “I kind of wanted to see Nisha play.”

Lily smirked.

“She’s a good player,” Al said.

“Uh huh,” Lily said and glanced out on the field at Nisha. She was staring in Lily’s direction. Lily could see her fixing her hair while she waited for Davies to throw the quaffle to the next student trying out.

Al watched her out in the field and they started to play. Nisha did play really well. Probably one of the reasons was that her father was a professional quidditch player. She had great strategy and could pull really outstanding moves. Lily watched Al who was staring at Nisha.

“I’m sure she’s excited that you’re here,” Lily said conversationally.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Al asked sharply, although he was smiling.

“Oh nothing,” Lily said and leaned back in her seat.


~***~


“Bridget seems like a good player,” Nisha said later as she and Lily walked back up to the castle. “She’s only in her third year, but she can maneuver really well and she’s fast. She needs to learn a bit about our strategies, but she’s good.”

“That’s good,” Lily said.

They walked in silence for a minute and then Nisha spoke.

“I saw Al sitting with you,” she said slowly. “What was he doing there?”

“Oh, he knew I was going to be there and he said he wanted to see me,” Lily said.

Nisha looked a little disappointed. “Oh, cool,” she muttered.

“And he said he kind of wanted to see you play,” Lily sighed nonchalantly.

“He did?” Nisha asked excitedly.

“That’s what he said,” Lily smiled.

“Oh!” She bit her lip trying not to let herself smile too broadly.
“If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you liked him,” Lily said.

“Who said you didn’t?” Nisha smirked. They entered the castle together.

***

Thanks for reading! I promise I won't take so long next time. Please leave feedback!!

Chelsea

Sorry it's been so long. I've been having minor brain-blockages.
-----




As the weeks went by, the leaves on the trees around the grounds began changing color.

During the first week of October it rained continuously. Over the weekend, Lily had to endure the complaints of both Nisha and Albus as the rain was most inconvenient for quidditch practice.

“Ugh!” Nisha exclaimed pulling on her hair. “Will this stupid rain ever stop?!” It was Sunday afternoon and she was sitting with Lily in the library. A few students looked over and someone whispered, “Shh!”

Lily looked up from her book. “Nisha! We’re in a library. Keep it down.”

“Then let’s go somewhere else,” Nisha suggested for the fifth time.

“Nice try, Nish,” Lily smirked. “I’m studying, or rather, trying to study.”

“Can’t you study later?” Nisha asked a little more quietly.

“Please, Nisha,” Lily said. “I just want to get this essay done.”

“It’s not due for another week though!” Nisha said, her voice getting a little louder.

“Well, then, I’ll have it done now and the night before it’s due, when you’re writing yours, I will be off having fun,” said Lily.

Nisha couldn’t argue. “Ok, I’ll go find someone else to talk to then.” She turned to go, then came back. “Who do I talk to? Elsbeth is busy today.”

“Go talk to Albus,” Lily muttered pulling her book closer to her face. She peeked over the top. Nisha was staring at her.

“I’m going to pretend I didn’t ask you,” Nisha said and left the library.

Lily stifled a giggle and continued reading. Her essay was for History of Magic. That was her favorite subject and it seemed that she was the only student in the whole school who felt that way. She couldn’t explain it to anyone, but reading about ancient magic and all the information from the times of the founders thrilled her.

At lunch she met up with Nisha in the Great Hall. Lily swung her legs over the bench and sat down beside her.

“Finished then?” Nisha asked after she finished taking a bite from an apple.

“Oh, yes,” Lily replied helping herself to a sandwich. Just then an owl flew in and landed in front of Lily with an envelope tied to its leg. It held it out to her and waited. “Hi, Jerold!”

“Jerold?” Nisha asked.

“Yeah,” Lily said, patting the brown, speckled owl’s head. “He’s James’.” Jerold flew off and Lily opened her letter.

Hey Lily,

How are things with you? I’ve been good and so have mum and dad. We had dinner with Teddy and Victoire the last night. I expect you’ll be hearing from one of them soon if you haven’t already. Things have been good for me at the Ministry. This rain has been really annoying. Since I coordinate the quidditch games, I have no choice but to go. It’s no fun standing in the rain, believe me. So have your classes been going well? Getting all freaked out about OWL’S yet? Miss you!

Love your brother,
James

“Hm, I wonder what he means.” Lily muttered aloud to herself.

“What do you mean?” Nisha asked leaning over.

“He said something that I’m not sure about. He said I should be hearing from Teddy and my cousin Victoire soon, but I don’t know why.”

Nisha shrugged and continue eating. “Oh!” She said suddenly. “Duty calls,” she said and stood up.

“Huh?” Lily asked bewildered, but Nisha was already moving over to the Gryffindor table. Hugo had just walked in and sat down. Lily rolled her eyes. Just then another owl landed in front of her brandishing another envelope. “Wow! I feel special.” Lily said, taking the letter. It was from Teddy.

Dear Lily,

I was really happy to get your letter. It’s great to hear your classes are going so well. I’m doing very well, thanks! There’s actually something Victoire and I wanted to tell you. Your mum, dad and James came over for dinner last night and we told them.

Lily was perched on the edge of her seat.

It’s nothing bad, don’t worry. It’s really exciting. Lil, Victoire’s expecting!

Lily squeaked and tumbled off the bench onto the floor. She vaguely heard some Ravenclaw’s at the table ask if she was alright. She kept reading.

We’re both really excited! Lily, you have no idea how happy I am! She’s due at the end of April. Well, I couldn’t wait to tell you, but I’ve got to run. I’ll talk to you soon!

Lots of love,
Teddy

Lily clutched the letter to her chest. She bit her lip and closed her eyes, letting all that she had just read sink in. Suddenly she let out a scream of glee and jumped up. She grabbed her head and began jumping around in circles. She noticed that a few first years had gotten up to see if she was alright. Lily covered her mouth with her hands and shivered with excitement. She looked at the first years and screamed again. She ran past them and over to the Gryffindor table. Nisha and Hugo had gotten up.

“Was that you who screamed?” Nisha asked concernedly.

“Are you ok?” Hugo asked.

Lily stared at both of them a burst out, “Teddy wrote me and told me that Victoire’s expecting!” She said this all in one breath.

“That’s cool,” Hugo said without much enthusiasm.

“Oh how exciting!” Nisha said. Lily grabbed her and began jumping up and down.

“I’ve got to go find Al and Rose and tell them.” Lily said, and dashed out of the Great Hall.

Nisha stared after her as she left then turned to all the students who were staring after Lily. “She’s ok, really.” Nisha said and sat back down with Hugo and re-engaged in picking on him.

Lily ran all over the castle looking for Rose and Al. She found Al first and he, at least showed a bit more enthusiasm than Hugo had.

“Isn’t it wonderful?” Lily asked, out of breath.

“Yeah!” Al agreed. “Teddy must be really excited.”

“Oh he is,” Lily confirmed. “Sorry, I’ve got to dash. I want to tell Rose.” She ran away from him, then turned around and ran back to Al. “Would you happen to know where she is?”

“Actually, I do. She’s in the library,” Al said.

“Thanks Al!” she squealed, and darted up the stairs to the library. When she arrived, she spotted Rose sitting at a table. She ran in.

“Rose!” she cried breathlessly. “Such wonderful news!”

Rose looked at her expectantly.

“Victoire’s expecting!” Lily cried! Rose grabbed her arms and the two cousins jumped up and down giggling and squealing with joy.

“Shhhhh!” Madam Pince had come over and scolded them. “This is a library! If you’re going to scream, do it elsewhere!” She shooed them out of the library.

Lily and Rose left the library, but as soon as they were out of Madam Pince’s earshot, began screaming again.

***

Ok, a kind of random chapter, I know. I just wanted to have that bit in there. Thanks again to my great beta, zwillo! I'll post again soon!

Chelsea

The rainy weather finally stopped and Lily had some relief from Nisha’s ranting. But as November drew closer, Nisha had more quidditch practices and was constantly on the go.

“I’m convinced you’re going to kill yourself,” Lily pointed out to Nisha one evening. Nisha had just gotten back from a quidditch practice and the three chums were sitting together in the common room.

Nisha shrugged.

“On top of all your classes you have quidditch practice just about every night,” Elsbeth added. She was playing with Nisha’s hair.

“All my classes?” Nisha asked, looking up over her shoulder at Elsbeth. “Look who’s talking. You have one more class than I do. And Lily has three more!”

“But we don’t play quidditch,” Lily said.

“Oh whatever.” Nisha gave up. “You both are involved in clubs and I’m not, so I don’t see the difference.”

“Done!” Elsbeth declared. Nisha got up and moved over to a mirror hanging on the wall. She admired her hair.

“It looks great, Els. Thanks.” A braid was pinned across her head like a head band, holding back the rest of her dark tresses. She went back to the couch where Elsbeth sat and curled up next to her.

They sat in silence for a few moments, their faces glistened in the light of the fire. “Did you see the notice on the board?” Elsbeth asked them.

“Which one?” Nisha asked.

“About the Hogsmeade trip.”

“Oh, when is it?” Lily asked.

“Next Saturday. Two days before Halloween,” said Elsbeth.

“That will be fun!” Lily smiled. “Remember last year when we went to Hogsmeade?” She asked.

“Well, which time?” asked Elsbeth.

“The time when Nisha thought it would be fun if she put some fizzing wizbees in her butter beer and saw what happened?”

“Oh yes,” Elsbeth remembered, also smiling. “And her butter beer exploded and all the contents landed on Professor Bell.”

“And everyone was quiet and just stared.” Lily went on. “People talked about it for weeks. Are you planning on doing it again? Cause we should probably do it outside.”

“You!” cried Nisha, flinging a pillow at Lily.” Lily caught the pillow and threw it back at her. Nisha ducked at it hit Elsbeth in the head.

“I’m so sorry, Els!” Lily exclaimed. Elsbeth threw it back at her and all the girls began throwing pillows at each other laughing all the while.


~***~


Lily’s schedule was packed the next day. Along with her required classes, she also had two extra classes. Their Charms lesson had gone over time and her next class was going to start in a few minutes. Hastily she said goodbye to Elsbeth and Nisha and walked down the hall. She was running late and she shoved her books into her bag as she walked. Glancing up, she saw Scorpius Malfoy walking towards her.

“Oh great,” Lily thought to herself. “Just what I need.” She told herself that she would just walk past and not look at him or acknowledge him at all. That way he’d have no reason to bother her.

As she walked past him, he tripped over his own feet and crashed into Lily, sending her books and bag flying in all directions.

“I’m so sorry!” he cried, pulling on his hair. “I just…”

“What is your problem?!” Lily screamed, cutting him off.

He stared at her blankly. “What do you mean?”

“You know exactly what I mean!” she cried. “You won’t leave me alone! You’re constantly crashing into me and pretending it was an accident!”

He frowned at her. “I’m not pretending.”

Lily felt her face get hot. She was done. Done with him. He had ‘bumped accidentally’ into her too many times.

“I have never done anything to you!” she screamed. Some students were stopping to watch her shouting match. “I am sick and tired of you picking on me and bothering me!” Her eyes stung. They were rapidly filling with tears, despite her efforts to hold back her emotion.

Scorpius opened his mouth to say something.

Lily cut him off again. “You know what?! Just because your dad hated and mistreated mine, doesn’t mean you have to do the same to me!” She finally stopped shouting and took a deep breath.

“My dad didn’t hate yours,” he said firmly.

“Ha!” Lily scoffed. She grabbed her books and began to walk away, wiping her eyes as she went.

“I’m telling the truth!” he argued. She kept walking. She heard him running up behind her and almost ran herself. He clamped a hand on her shoulder. She spun around and shrugged it off.

“Get away from me!” she shouted angrily.

“You’re wrong about my dad,” he said. His eyebrows made a straight line across his forehead and he stared at her seriously.

“No, I’m not!”

“Yes, you are.”

“How can you say that? Your dad treated my dad horribly when they went to school!”

“You. . .you don’t understand,” he said softly. The bell rang. “Listen,” Scorpius said quickly.

“What if I don’t want to?”

He ignored her. “If you want to find out the truth, meet me at the Three Broomsticks when we go to Hogsmeade next week. Eleven O’clock.” He began to walk away.

“What if I don’t want to meet you?”

“Then you’ll never know the truth,” he said, and left her standing alone in the hall.

***

Tada! There's chapter 6 folks! Thanks to my amazing beta zwillo, yet again! Let me know what you think please! Feedback!

Chelsea

Lily looked at her watch; it was almost eleven. The Malfoy boy had said to meet him at eleven. She really didn’t want to talk to him, but at the same time, she wanted to hear what he had to say.

She turned to Nisha, “Hey, Nisha, you go on ahead. I’ll catch up with you later.”

“Why? Where are you going?” Nisha asked curiously.

“Does it matter?” snapped Lily. Nisha raised her eyebrows. “Sorry, Nish. I didn’t mean to snap. I just have to meet up with someone and I’m not looking forward to it.”

“Okay. I’ll see you later.” She turned and ran after Elsbeth. Lily stared after her for a few moments wishing she could run after her, and then set off.

“She walked up to the door of the Three Broomsticks and stopped. She tried to look through the window to see if the Malfoy boy was really inside. She took a deep breath and pushed open the door. Scanning the room, she spotted him sitting at a table in the far corner contentedly drinking butterbeer. Lily drew herself up and marched over.

“Oh, hello.” The boy said, seeing her walk up. Lily stood unsmiling, lips tight together and frowned. “Thought you might show up. Would you like to sit down?” He asked, pointing to the seat opposite him. She sat down stiffly without saying a word.

“Would you like a butterbeer?” he asked politely.

“No thank you,” she said tartly.

“Excuse me,” he said, grabbing Madam Rosmerta. “One more butterbeer, please.”

“I said I didn’t want one!” Lily said sharply.

“It’s for me,” he said, not paying attention to her icy tone.

“Oh,” she mumbled. There were a few moments of silence and Madam Rosmerta brought over his second butterbeer. After he had taken a sip, he looked at Lily, then spoke,

“Now, the reason I asked you here was because we need to clear a few things up,” Lily looked unconvinced. “About our fathers,” he continued.

“I don’t think there’s anything to be said,” Lily said.

The boy looked slightly agitated. “Obviously you do, otherwise you wouldn’t be here.” She narrowed her eyes, but said nothing.
“I need you to understand that my dad never hated yours,” he said seriously, leaning forward on the table.

Lily snorted. “He did a good job hiding it.”

“I’m not kidding! Just hear me out okay? My dad thought and still things that your dad is one of the greatest wizards he’s ever known.” Lily still looked unconvinced. “You see, my dad wasn’t allowed to be friends with your dad. It was all his parents, my grandparents. Think about it, his father was a death eater and he forced my dad to do lots of thing against his will. He wanted to be friends with your dad so bad. He couldn’t let it show though, so he was unfriendly to him.”

“And everybody else,” Lily cut in.

“But it wasn’t his choice!” he said desperately. “All my dad ever wanted was for my grandfather to be proud of him, but he never was. Come on, he forced my dad to become a death eater! Do you think he wanted that? Of course he had to be mean to your dad. If he wasn’t, it would have let on that he really liked him. Ever since I was really young my dad has told me stories about how your dad saved his life. All my life he’s been telling me how honored and grateful he was that ‘Harry Potter saved his life’. You’ve got to believe me. You have no idea how highly my dad thinks of yours. He’s not like my grandfather and neither am I.” He took a long draught from his mug.

Lily stared at him. “How do I know you’re telling the truth and not pulling my leg?”

He finished his drink. “You just have to trust me.” He stood up, slapped a galleon on the table, smiled at Lily, and then left the pub. Lily sat staring at where he had been sitting moments ago. Had all be said really been true? Could Mr. Malfoy really think of her father that way?

“Are you going to get a drink?” Lily jumped and looked wildly around. It was Madam Rosmerta. She was leaning across the table picking up the Malfoy boy’s empty mug.

“Oh, um, no thanks,” she said hastily, getting up. “I have to be going. Good-bye.” She left the pub and stood in the road. There was no sign of the Malfoy boy. He had gone.

Lily gathered herself up and set off to find Nisha.


~ *** ~


Lily found Nisha in Scrivenshaft’s Quill Shop. She bustled in and shook the snow off her shoes. Nisha was giggling with Elsbeth, while looking at quills. Lily walked over.

“Oh, hi,” Nisha said, when she noticed her. Lily could tell that she was dying to ask what it was that she had been doing, but decided not to.

“Hey, Lily,” Elsbeth said.

“Hi. What have you girls been up to?”

“Look at this, Lil,” Nisha said. “When you write with it, the ink changes color and the sparkles, too.”

“I’m going to buy one for Diane,” Elsbeth said, picking one up. “I know she’d love the sparkles.” She grinned just thinking about it.

“But you probably couldn’t afford it could you?” None of the girls had noticed Kathleen Wentworth and Samuel Goyle slink up.

Elsbeth turned a dark shade of pink and looked at the floor. Lily was furious.

“Leave her alone, Goyle,” she demanded, putting a protective hand on Elsbeth’s arm. Nisha had also stepped closer to her.

“I still can’t believe you’re friends with this mudblood, Potter,” Goyle sneered. Wentworth smirked.

“Don’t call her that! And yes she is my friend, for your information,” Lily retorted.

“Better than any friend of yours,” Nisha snapped coldly.

“I’m just stating facts, Potter,” Golye said. Lily was fuming with rage. “What you going to do about it?”

“I think you’d better drop it,” said a new voice. It was the Malfoy boy.

“Oh yeah?” Goyle pushed.

“Yeah, Goyle. Just because you don’t have any friends, it doesn’t mean that you have to take it out on her.”

Elsbeth snorted, then quickly covered her mouth.

“You think you’re so big and mighty don’t you, Malfoy?”

“No, I just think I should put in a word with the Head Mistress.”

Goyle wasn’t stupid enough to mess with the Head Mistress. That was obvious. He turned to leave, but quickly added, “See you later, mudblood.” Malfoy took an intimidating step towards him and he left the shop.

“Sorry about him,” the Malfoy boy said, turning to the three girls who were all staring at him with wide eyes. “It was really mean and immature of him to call you that,” he said addressing Elsbeth.

“It’s okay. I don’t really care what he calls me; it’s just when he insults my family that I get upset. Thank you for getting rid of him, though.”

“Eh, no problem. I’ve been wanting to yell at him for something for a while. Well, I’ll be seeing you.” He strolled out of the shop.

“Wow,” Nisha gasped when he left. “I guess I’ve been wrong about him.”

Elsbeth nodded in agreement.

Lily, on the other hand, ran out of the shop after him.

“Wait!” she called after him, once she was outside. He turned around to face her. She ran up to him.

“Yeah?” he asked.

“Um, I just wanted to thank you for what you did back there.”

“Oh,” he said, kicking at the dirt road. “Like I said, it wasn’t a big deal. He’s all talk, no show. But you’re welcome, all the same.” He started to leave again.

“I wasn’t finished!” Lily called.

He looked at her expectantly. She stepped closer to him and looked up into his blue eyes. He was over six feet tall and she had to look up to see his face. “Um, I wanted to tell you that…” She stopped, looking into his face and focused hard at her shoes, unsure of how to say it.

“Yes,” he coaxed.

“I misjudged you and I’m really sorry,” Lily said quickly. “I believe everything you told me back there and I’m sorry that I’ve been so unfriendly to you. I just thought you were making fun of me and I didn’t want-“

“I forgive you.”

“You what?”

“I forgive you,” he smiled down at her.

“Oh,” Lily turned pink. “Uh.” She wasn’t sure what to say now.

“My name is Scorpius,” he said, extending his hand.

Lily was startled. “Oh, mine’s Lily.” They shook hands. “You know, I already knew who you were.”

“Yeah, I knew who you were too, but you’d never told me yourself.” Lily was confused, but she let it go. “Well, see you around, Lily.” He left.

Lily gazed after him. “Bye…Scorpius.” She smiled to herself, and then went to join her friends.

---------

There's chapter seven guys! Hope you liked it! I tried my best! Pretty please leave Feedback!

Chelsea

Over the next week, Lily didn’t speak to Scorpius much. Just a friendly wave or ‘hello’ in passing now and then. Nobody knew that Lily and Scorpius were on ‘good terms’ now. Not even Nisha and Elsbeth. They just realized that Scorpius wasn’t such a horrid person after all and that was it. Even though Lily knew that there was nothing wrong in telling people about Scorpius, but she wanted to think about it for a bit. She spent a lot of time debating whether she should write her father or not.

Saturday morning, Lily was the last person in the dormitory to wake up. When she awoke, everyone was already at breakfast. She stretched lazily, got dressed and moseyed down to the Great Hall.

“Look who finally decided to get up,” Nisha commented, when Lily seated herself next to her.

“It’s the weekend. I can sleep in if I want to,” Lily said.

“Not everybody has quidditch practice, Nisha dear,” said Elsbeth.

“True,” Nisha said.

“Besides, I stayed up late studying,” Lily continued.

“That explains it,” Nisha muttered. She was reading an article in the Daily Prophet.

“What are you reading?” Lily asked as she helped herself to a blueberry muffin that was still warm.

“An article,” Nisha replied. Lily rolled her eyes at her. “It’s about my dad,” Nisha said excitedly.

“Really?” Lily asked, leaning over to look. The headline read: “Wood Keeps Cannons Undefeated”

“Mum sent me a letter today to tell me it was going to be in the paper,” Nisha beamed at the moving picture of her father expertly blocking a goal. Lily read through the article.

“Look, they mention me!” Nisha giggled pointing to a spot on the page.

“Wood lives in a countryside home with his wife and two daughters.”

“It’s that great?” Nisha asked.

Lily and Elsbeth laughed. “That’s awesome, Nish,” Elsbeth commented.

“What’s all the excitement about?” Al asked. He had wandered over from the Gryffindor table. Nisha’s eyes widened slightly, but then she went into the whole story again showing him the article.

“That’s cool,” Al agreed, handing her back the paper. “Wasn’t he on the same team as dad while he was here?” he asked Lily.

“Yeah,” said Lily. “Oh, and congrats on winning your first game, Al,” she added.

“Oh, thanks,” he said. Nisha and Al then went into an in depth discussion about the whole game, going over everything play by play. Meanwhile, Lily and Elsbeth talked about their last Charms lesson and the new spell they were learning.

When Albus announced he had to go, Lily followed him to the door. “Hey Al, do you think I could talk to you?”

“You just were,” Al pointed out.

“I mean, alone. It’s important,” she pressed.

“Sure, I can do my homework later. Where do you want to go?”

“It’s a nice day. What do you say about going outside?”

“Fine,” he agreed.

They walked around the grounds together and Lily explained everything about Scorpius, from him bothering her, to her finding out about his father. Albus listened intently the whole time, nodding occasionally.

“Well, you aren’t the only one who’s misjudged him, Lil. There are a lot of people who think he’s a bum. I’ve just never had anything to do with him. But I can’t say I would have ever thought that about his dad. From what Dad and Uncle Ron say, he was not a nice cup of tea,” said Al.

“I know, but he really seemed sincere about it, like his dad knew it was a mistake. I thought about writing dad, but I don’t know. He might not believe me. But I really think Scorpius is ok, whatever his father was. Or wasn’t,” Lily said awkwardly.

“I think you should.”

“Should what?” Lily asked.

“Write dad,” Al explained. “I think he should know. And he might be able to answer your questions. I don’t really know if what Scorpius said about his dad is true, but maybe dad will be able to find out or maybe even talk to him. I don’t know.” He shrugged. “Just write him.”

“Ok, I will.” The two siblings walked back up to the castle together and parted in the entry way. Albus to the library and Lily to the common room, where she immediately wrote her father.

***
Sorry it's been so long since I updated and that this is so short. I'll try to make the next chapter longer. Thanks to Dayna for being my wonderful, fantastic beta! You know how much I love Feedback!

Chelsea

One night during the next week, the three girls sat in the common room together. All were working on some homework from one class or another, occasionally comparing notes or asking each other for a certain name or date. They had been sitting in silence for some time. The only sound was of a page turning in a book or the scratch of a quill until Nisha spoke.

“I was thinking,” she stated.

“Oh dear,” teased Elsbeth. “Should we run?”

“No, I’m serious,” said Nisha. Her tone did sound very serious and Lily looked at her.

“Well, I saw Professor Bell putting up a sign earlier this morning,” she continued. “It was about careers. Later in the year, well, it would be next year actually. But in the spring all us fifth years have to meet with our heads of house and talk about what career we want to choose so we’ll know what classes to take in our sixth year,” Nisha explained. “So that’s when I was thinking. I’m glad I know what I want to do already. Cause, I mean, I’d feel stupid going and not having an idea of what I want to do.”

Elsbeth shrugged, but Lily didn’t say anything, she was thinking.

“When I was younger, I always wanted to do something quidditch related,” Nisha went on. “I didn’t know exactly what, just something that involved quidditch. But in the past year I decided that even though I really love quidditch, I don’t want to do anything with it as a career. I think it would lose the fun. So what I want to do is, don’t laugh guys.” She looked at her two friends sternly, “I want to work at the Ministry in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement.” She stared at them apprehensively.

“That’s really great, Nisha,” said Elsbeth cheerfully.

“What department exactly do you want to work in?” asked Lily curiously.

“Well, I was thinking either the Magical Law Enforcement Squad or Improper use of Magic,” Nisha said.

“I can see you enjoying telling people what and what not to do,” Elsbeth agreed. “As a profession, that is. You don’t have any trouble doing that now either.”

“That is the general idea,” Nisha smirked. “So what about you, Els? What is it you want to be?”

Elsbeth blushed. “Well,” she started timidly. “I also want to work at the Ministry. I want to do something with Muggle relations. I’m not sure exactly what, but there are so many wizards who don’t understand Muggles and how they think and seeing as I am Muggle-born, it would work out.”

Nisha nodded. “Very you. I approve.”

“Oh thanks,” Elsbeth laughed. Then she turned to Lily. “What about you, Lily? What do you want to do?”

Lily stood up. “You know guys, I’m really tired. I think I’m going to go to bed. I haven’t had much sleep lately and there’s that big Charms exam tomorrow.” She gathered her books and notes and put them into her bag. “Night,” she said and hurried past them. As she headed up the stairs she heard them whispering.

When she reached the dormitory she went inside. Bailey Grahm and Grace Jones were chatting together and didn’t appear to notice that Lily had entered the room. Lily set her bag on the floor and flopped down on her bed. She stared at the ceiling covered with silver stars. Bailey and Grace were not being very quiet and Lily really didn’t want to hear their conversation, so she pulled the hangings closed and laid down again.

The reason she’d left was because she didn’t know what she wanted to do. She hadn’t thought about it until Nisha brought it up. She hadn’t really thought about a career at all before. But Nisha had said she’d feel stupid if she didn’t know. Would they have laughed at her if she had said she didn’t know? Both Nisha and Elsbeth had some idea, but Lily had none. She racked her brains for something she liked to do, but nothing came. What was wrong with not knowing though? It hadn’t bothered her before.

She rolled over onto her side and let out a sigh. She’d think of something. And very slowly, she drifted off to sleep.


~***~


The next morning, she got up earlier than usual. She wanted to finish her essay for History of Magic. When she had finished, she went down to the Great Hall. There weren’t many people in there, since it was so early. The Ravenclaw table was just about empty. A couple sixth and seventh year boys were up, but nobody else. She glanced over at the Slytherin table. There were three people there. A third year girl, a fourth year boy and, Scorpius. She stopped in her tracks, but started walking again before she could change her mind. She sat down directly across from Scorpius.

“Hey,” she greeted.

“Hi. You’re up early,” he observed.

“Yeah, I had an essay to finish, but I guess I gave myself a little too much time. Why are you up so early?” Lily inquired.

“Eh, I’m an early riser. Sometimes I’m the first here in the mornings. Kinda nice. It’s quiet. Not that I don’t want to talk to anyone though,” he added quickly.

There was a pause and Lily couldn’t think of anything to say. Fortunately, Scorpius could.

“Well, if we’re going to talk, you’re going to have to start the conversation. I’m not very sociable, and if you’re waiting on me to say something, we’re not going to get anywhere. So start talking,” he said with a smirk.

Lily laughed. “Okay. . . What’s your favorite subject?”

“Transfiguration. What about you?”

“History of Magic.”

“Really? Well, there’s a first.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“I’ve never met anyone who could stay awake in that class, let alone enjoy it.”

“Well, you told me you weren’t sociable, so you probably haven’t even talked to many people about it.”

“True, but I can see, and when I see people asleep on their books, I know they’re not enjoying it.”

“How do you know they weren’t just really tired?”

“The entire class? I don’t think so.”

“Well…” Lily stammered.

“Well?”

They both stared at each other, and then burst out laughing at the same time.

“You know, I’ve never really had a full conversation with anyone here before. Let alone a girl,” Scorpius admitted sheepishly.

“I’ve seen you talking to people before,” Lily pointed out.

“Yeah, the same couple people. And those are people I’ve known for a long time. And even then, I don’t hang out with them much. And I really have no idea why I’m telling you all this,” he said, banging his fist on the table.
“Sorry,” said Lily.

“Don’t be,” he smiled.


~***~


They continued talking for some time and Lily’s spirits lifted considerably. She and Scorpius talked all about school and their favorite professors, which professors they couldn’t stand and much more. After a half an hour, Scorpius looked over Lily’s shoulder. “Your friends are here,” he said. Lily turned around. Elsbeth and Nisha were scouting the now more crowded Great Hall for her. Elsbeth pointed at Lily and they began to walk over.

“I should go,” Lily said. “Talk to you soon.”

“Ok,” he nodded.

Lily walked down the isle between the two tables and met up with Elsbeth and Nisha.

“What were you doing?” Nisha asked.

“Talking to Scorpius,” Lily said. “Is there something wrong with that?”

Nisha looked taken aback. “No, I was just wondering. And I wondered, what was the matter last night? Did I say something that offended you?”

“You left so abruptly, Lil, we were worried,” Elsbeth put in.

Lily sat down with them and explained her dilemma about not knowing what to do for a career.

Nisha smacked her forehead. “I’m sorry, Lil! Ahh! I didn’t mean it. I mean, it was stupid of me to say. I just……well…..it was…. Oh gosh! I’m sorry! Okay, I didn’t mean to upset you.”

“I know,” Lily said. “But it got me thinking, I really do need to find something.”

“There’s nothing wrong with not knowing what you want to be when you get older, Lil. We’re only 15 after all. Who knows, we might even end up changing our minds later on. And what’s to say you can’t just not work, I mean, you might end up just settling down when you grow up and get married and start a family,” Elsbeth comforted her. “Or all of us for that matter.”

“Well, I want to do something,” said Lily. “And I will find something.”

Just then an owl flew in and landed in front of Lily, interrupting her thoughts. She took the letter. It was from her father. She opened it and read:


Dear Lily,

Glad to hear from you! That’s great that all your classes are going so well. I wish I had been as determined to do well in exams as you. Might have done me good.

But anyway, to the main purpose of your letter, you really surprised me by telling me all you did. All I can say is that it surprised me. Not really what you wanted to hear I know. I really can’t believe what the boy said about Mal Mr. Malfoy. When I was at school and even now he’s given no indication of that. There’s no saying it isn’t true, but I’m disinclined to believe it. And there’s no saying that Scorpius is like his father, but all the same, I think you should be careful. It’s odd that he should decide to tell you now. I’d advise that you stay away from him entirely. If he’s at all like what his father was like in school, he isn’t trustworthy. Hope I’ve helped.

Lots of Love,
Dad

That was not what Lily had wanted to hear. She glanced back over at Scorpius who was reading a letter he had just received, a smile crept over his face. Why didn’t her dad believe her? She was just talking to Scorpius and he was as nice as could be. He had to be wrong.

~***~

Sorry I've taken so long to post. Hope you'll forgive me. Thanks to my awesome beta, zwillo!

For some unknown reason my original thread for feedback was deleted and I don't feel like going back and changing all the previous links I posted, so I was told to open a new thread and it is here. So please leave feedback! Thanks!

Chelsea

Lily began tapping her quill on the table while she gnawed on her lip.

“Will you stop already!” Nisha cried out.

“Sorry,” Lily apologized. After reading her father’s letter, she hadn’t been sure what to do. She had told Elsbeth and Nisha the whole story and they weren’t sure what to do either. The three of them were inclined to believe that Scorpius had been truthful and wasn’t a liar, but at the same time knew that her father had a point. Lily was attempting to write a letter to Teddy asking his advice, but she couldn’t get herself to write it.

“Are you going to write the darn letter or not?” Nisha asked.

“I don’t know!” Lily said, for the third time. She tossed her quill down. “Ok, I’m not.”

“Why not?” Elsbeth asked.

“It’s not Teddy’s problem. It’s mine,” Lily said. “I have to clear this up myself.”

Elsbeth smiled. “I know you’ll do the right thing.” She returned to her knitting.

Nisha glanced at her watch. “I’m going down to the locker room,” she said as she stood up.

“Nish, the game isn’t for an hour and a half,” Lily pointed out.

“I still need to get ready and time flies,” she replied and left the common room.

“This is only her third quidditch game and she’s already driving me crazy!” Lily said.


***


It was a clear day for a quidditch game and it was warm for November. Lily and Elsbeth went down to the locker room right before the game and wished the team good luck then they made their way to the stands. They found a spot that wasn’t too crowded and were able to stand right next to the rail with a clear view of the field. Looking down, they watched the Hufflepuff team walk out along with the Ravenclaws. The captains shook hands, and then the teams mounted their brooms. Madam Hooch blew her whistle and the game began!

“Go, Nisha!” cheered Lily loudly. Nisha was the first with the quaffle and was dodging in and out of players toward the hoops.

“Wood with the quaffle,” the commentator’s voice sounded. “She passes to Myers and Myers SCORES!”


All the Ravenclaws cheered.

“Nisha and Bridget seem to play really well together,” Elsbeth acknowledged.

“They’re not bad,” said a new voice. Personally, I think Matt Founder and I are better.”


“Hey, Hugo,” Lily laughed.

“Hello, cousin,” he replied putting an arm around Lily’s shoulder. “Hi, Elsbeth.” He nodded at her.

“How’ve you been, Hugo?” Lily asked. “I haven’t seen you much lately.”

“I’ve been busy-” He was cut off by a roar of the crowds.

“Oh, who scored?!” Lily asked wildly to a second year boy standing next to her.

“Ravenclaw,” he said.

Lily cheered. “Sorry, Hu, you were saying?”

“I’ve just been busy lately.”

“Finally starting to get into the ‘Prefect thing’?” Elsbeth inquired.

He paused. “Actually, yes.”

“Really?!” Lily asked.

“Yeah, it’s not as bad as I thought. And there are a lot of benefits from it, too. So I like it,” he admitted.

“That’s great, Hugo! If Nisha was standing here, she’d say ‘I told you so’.” They laughed.

“Smith to Macmillan,” the commentator’s voice echoed. “Macmillan passes to Ford, INTERCEPTED by WOOD! Wood to Myers. Myers to Cambry. Cambry to Wood. WOOD SCORES! 40-20 Ravenclaw!” There was a pause, then, “Davies has seen the snitch!” Everyone watched as Davies raced after the snitch. The Hufflepuff seeker was right behind him.

“Come on!” screamed Lily excitedly.

“HE’S GOT THE SNITCH! 150 POINTS TO RAVENCLAW! RAVENCLAW WINS!”

Lily and Elsbeth jumped up and down and yelled with the rest of the Ravenclaws.
“I’ll see you around, Lil!” Hugo hugged her.

“Okay, see ya!” Lily waved to him.

“Let’s go,” Elsbeth urged. “I hate being the last ones out.” Slowly they made their way through the mob of people. When they were almost out Lily spotted a familiar blonde head.

“Els, I’ll catch up with you later, okay? I’ve got to go talk to Scorpius,” Lily said.

Elsbeth nodded. “Alright, see you later.” She continued with the crowd.

Lily pushed through the crowd over to where she could still see Scorpius walking. “Scorpius!” she called after him.

He stopped and looked around to see who was calling his name. She called to him again and waved her arms. He spotted her and walked over.

“Hi,” he said.

“Hey, um could I talk to you. Not here. Somewhere else?”

He looked a little puzzled. “Sure. Where do you want to go?”

“Just away from all the people,” she said. They wandered out of the flood of people and walked around the grounds.

“So what’s up?” he asked her.

Lily wove her fingers together. “This is a little awkward, but I’ve been really confused and I needed to tell you because it concerns you.”

“Did I do something wrong?” he asked.

“No!” she said quickly. “Not exactly. It’s just, well I. . .” She looked up into his inquisitive face. “Scorpius, I wrote my dad. I wanted to tell him about you. I wanted to tell him what you told me and see what he thought and-”.

Scorpius frowned. “And he thinks I’m a lying prat and he doesn’t want you even talking to scum like me. Am I right?”

“I wasn’t going to say it like that. But, basically my dad doesn’t believe you and doesn’t want me to hang out with you.” She watched him apprehensively.

Instead of getting angry he asked her calmly, “So, who do you believe?” His blue eyes penetrated through her.

“Scorpius,” she paused. “I believe you. I really do. Even if your dad isn’t what you said-” He opened his mouth to protest, but she stopped him. “I don’t care,” she continued. “I believe what you said.” She smiled up at him. “So if you don’t mind, I’d like to be your friend.” After she said it, she blushed. “That sounded really weird. Like, really stupid,” she giggled.

“I wouldn’t mind. And I’d like to be your friend, too,” he said and they laughed.

***

Sorry it took me so long to update. I have been rather busy lately and I wanted to update before next week because I am working all week. Thanks, zwillo for being such a wonderful beta!

Chelsea

Lily was in a very good mood after her conversation with Scorpius and Nisha was in a very good mood after winning the quidditch game and Elsbeth was in a very good mood, just because.

Two days after the game, while the girls were eating breakfast, Nisha received a letter.

“Who’s it from?” Lily asked from across the table.

“From Shanta,” Nisha said excitedly tearing open the envelope. She unfolded the letter, eyes sparkling.

Elsbeth set down her fork and stared at Nisha. A sudden paleness had come across Nisha’s face.

“Nish?” Elsbeth asked concernedly.

Lily also noticed the color drain from Nisha’s face. “Is something wrong?”

Nisha looked up from her letter wide eyed and slightly dazed. She stared at her friends who were watching her apprehensively. She hastily folded the letter and shoved it into her pocket. “No, everything’s fine.” She forced a smile.

“Nisha?” Lily asked, not convinced. “What’s the matter?”

“Seriously,” Nisha replied in her regular cool tone. “I just got a sudden headache. You know,” she said, standing up. “I’m just going to skip class this morning. Tell the professors I’m sorry. See you guys later.” Without pausing to let her friends speak, Nisha left the Great Hall.

“She’s not telling us something,” Lily declared after Nisha had gone. “I wonder what she’s trying to hide.” She bit her lip.

“I don’t think we should pester her about it,” Elsbeth said thoughtfully.

“I’m not going to pester her; I just want to find out what’s the matter and help her. We’re her friends after all!”

“She’ll tell us when she’s ready. She knows we’re here for her. We should let her be.”

“Alright, you win,” Lily sighed. Elsbeth smiled. “She’ll probably tell us when she feels up to it.”


***


Classes continued as usual during the next week, but Nisha was still acting strange. She always looked tired and pale and she spent a lot of time writing letters in the common room. She had to re-write an essay for Transfiguration and almost caused a serious accident in Potions by putting in a wrong ingredient. Whenever she talked to Lily and Elsbeth, she seemed distracted. She wasn’t her usual talkative, loud and somewhat bossy self. Even Hugo came up to her and started arguing with her about something random and she didn’t argue back. She actually agreed with him and walked away, leaving him dumbfounded. Her friends had asked her a couple times if there was anything wrong, but stubbornly, she wouldn’t tell them anything.

“There is definitely something bothering her,” Lily said to Elsbeth in a hushed voice right after Nisha went to bed. “She never goes to be early.”

“Along with everything else we’ve noticed in the past week,” Elsbeth agreed.

“Why won’t she tell us?” Lily wondered aloud.

“I don’t know.”

“This all started after she opened that letter from Shanta. Should we write her?” Lily asked in exasperation.

“That’s nosey,” Elsbeth pointed out.

“I know, but Nisha isn’t telling us anything. I don’t know what to do,” Lily sighed.

“Maybe we should ask her seriously tomorrow at breakfast,” Elsbeth suggested.

“I guess that’s all we can do.”


***


The next morning Lily and Elsbeth sat next to Nisha as usual and tried to talk to her, but Nisha wouldn’t give. Al came and sat with them at one point. Usually, Nisha would have been giddy and extra talkative with Albus there, but she was somber. They all ate in silence, not knowing what to say. Loud voices from the Slytherin table caught their attention.

“Did you hear about the Quidditch player?” one boy asked.

“Which one?” asked another.

“Wood,” he replied. Lily and Esbeth looked at each other.

“Which one is he?”

“You know, the Ravenclaw, Nisha Wood’s dad.”

“The girl who thinks she can play quidditch?” asked a girl.
“Yeah.”

Albus, Elsbeth and Lily stared at one another and then at Nisha. Her head was down and her eyes were closed.

“Nish. . .” Lily whispered reaching across and placing her hand on top of Nisha’s.

“Well, what about him?” the voices continued.

“Heard he got injured. He’s in St. Mungo’s now. They’re going to be on the streets for sure now.”

“What do you mean?” one of them asked.

“Well, from what I hear, they’ve been barely making ends meet and now they’re going to be dirt poor. Personally, I don’t care. Wood was never a good player anyway.”

“Shut up!!” Nisha suddenly screamed, tears of anger streaming down her face. She turned to the Slytherins. “How can you be so unfeeling?” she sobbed. She fled the Great Hall. Lily called after her, but she didn’t listen. She was gone in a flash, leaving her friends staring after her.

***

This was a very short and random chapter and I have no idea what made me write it, but sorry for taking so long to post again. Hope somebody liked it. Haha.

Chelsea

“I’m sorry,” Nisha said.

“Nish! You’ve been saying that for the past hour,” Lily hushed her. Nisha, Elsbeth and Lily were curled up in front of the fireplace together; their arms entwined about each other’s shoulders, heads leaned in.

“But I really am sorry,” Nisha said again.

“We forgive you, Nish. Even though there really isn’t anything to forgive,” Elsbeth said.

“I just feel so stupid about this whole thing,” Nisha moaned.

“We don’t blame you for not telling us,” Lily said. “It must have been really hard for you knowing that your father was in danger. Just know for the future, you can always tell us.”

“I know,” smiled Nisha. “You guys are the best friends in the world!” She squeezed them both.

“How long did it take for Albus to find you?” Elsbeth asked.

“Not long. I don’t know how he knew I would be at the quidditch pitch,” Nisha told them.

Elsbeth asked, “How is your dad doing?”

“Mum sent me a letter from St. Mungo’s this evening and he’s finally awake. From what I understand someone with the other team meddled with the bludger and it hit dad in the head.”

“That’s horrible!” Lily exclaimed.

“I know, but he’s doing a lot better now.”

“That’s great,” Elsbeth said excitedly.

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you right away.”

“NISHA!” Lily yelled at her.

“We’re just glad to have you back,” Elsbeth said. “And incidentally, what happened with you and Albus?”

Nisha blushed. “Well, he came out and talked to me.”

“Obviously you didn’t just talk about your dad. You were gone for a while,” Elsbeth pushed.
“You’re right. We kind of talked a little about us,” she ventured.

“Are you going out?” Elsbeth blurted out, and then she turned a deep red and covered her mouth. “I’m sorry.”

Nisha laughed. “No it’s okay. I’ve learned I shouldn’t bother hiding things from you. We’re not going out. At least not yet. Al asked if I would, but I said I wanted to wait. I’m not ready to have a boyfriend and I wanted to talk to my parents about it first. Besides, I don’t think my mum could handle it right now along with everything else.”

Lily watched her admirably. “That’s probably the most serious thing you’ve ever said.”

“Hey, I have my moments,” Nisha shrugged. “He said he’d wait for me, so I’m happy.”

Lily bumped her shoulder.

“What?” Nisha asked.

“Nothing. I’m just glad you’re happy.”

“Me too,” Nisha replied.


***


By the next morning, the news of what happened to Nisha’s dad seemed to have spread through the whole school. Every time Nisha left a class, girls she didn’t even know approached her and inquired after her father and offered their sympathies. It seemed to brighten Nisha’s mood and made her less uneasy about the whole affair.

The Ravenclaws had History of Magic with Gryffindor that morning, and Hugo came over to the three friends and took his normal seat next to Lily. He had difficulty keeping awake during this particular class and by sitting next to Lily he could ask her questions or copy her if need be. Lily didn’t encourage this, but since he was her cousin, she felt a certain obligation to help him out. At the end of class Professor Bins assigned them an essay that would be due in at the end of the week. Hugo, who had just woken up, grumbled loudly.

“I need to find a charm that will do my homework for me,” he said as the student filed out of the classroom.

Professor Bins, who usually didn’t make any comments to his students complaints murmured, “My dear boy, you would have better luck finding the Sphere of the Future.” None of the students seemed to have heard his comment, but Lily, who was still putting her books in her bag, stared at him.

“I’ll be there in a minute,” she said to Elsbeth. She walked up to the almost transparent Professor Bins and cleared her throat. “Professor?”

He floated around. “Yes, Miss Perkins?” He rasped dully.

Lily had corrected him on her name various times, but knew it was a hopeless case. “Professor, I was wondering about what you just said.”

“What was that?” He asked.

“You said that Hugo would have better luck ‘finding the Sphere of the Future.’ What is that?” she asked, interested.

“My dear, girl, it is nothing more than a myth. All it means is that it is near impossible. You had better get on to your next class.”

He turned to his desk. Lily stood her ground her curiosity raised. “But, sir. What is the myth?”

“Miss Pattle, this is not relative. I don’t deal with myths and legends in my class.”

“Please, sir,” she pleaded.

Professor Bins looked her over and finding her expression to be so utterly filled with interest he complied. “It is said that when our former headmaster, Albus Dumbledore, attended school here that he either obtained or discovered a sphere that was said to be able to tell the future. If there ever was such a thing we will never know. It could have been a rumor started by Dumbledore himself. But anyway, many students approached him about the sphere asking if it could tell their futures, because as you know, many would give a great deal to know what lies ahead for them.” Lily glanced at her feet briefly, but Professor Bins went on. “After a great deal of trouble between him and the other students, he announced that he had hidden it. People soon forgot about it and those who remembered began to wonder if such a thing even existed.”

“But was it real, sir?” Lily asked.

“It is my opinion that Professor Dumbledore merely created the rumor to stir some excitement among his fellow students.”

“But has anyone ever searched to see if it was real?

Professor Bins sighed. “A search was conducted some years back when he finished school, but nothing was found.”

Lily looked downcast.

“But,” Professor Bins went on. “They did find a riddle of some kind relating to the sphere in one of his old notebooks.”
“What was it?” Lily asked.

“I don’t know for certain.”

“Do you think there could be a way for me to find out, Professor?”

“I doubt it,” he said warily.

Lily glanced at her watch. “Well, thank you for the information, sir.”

“You’re welcome, Miss Pettyfeather.”

Lily left the classroom. The hallway was deserted. Everyone had gone to lunch. She stood thinking for a moment, and then headed for the library.

*****

Sorry it's been so long since I updated! I won't let it go that long again. Hope you liked the latest chapter! You know I love feedback!

-Chelsea

**Note: In this chaper I made up my own background story for Scorpius' mother.**



As Lily walked through the castle, she could hear wind beating against the outer walls. She pulled her robes a little tighter thinking about the cold. In her arms she clutched a stack of books she had just checked out of the library. She only hoped she would find time to read them that day.

“Lily!” called a voice out of nowhere.

She turned, and to her surprise saw Scorpius. “Hi, Scorpius!”

“Where have you been?” he inquired, running up to her. “You weren’t at lunch.” He reached a hand up and smoothed down some of his blonde hair that had been upturned in his short dash.

“Oh, I had to get some books from the library,” she explained brandishing her books.

He craned his neck slightly to read one of the titles. Even slightly bent over, he towered over Lily. She always felt so small standing next to him. The top of her head only seemed to reach his shoulder. “Wizard Myths,” he read aloud. “You into myths and legends, then?”

“Well, I’ve always liked History of Magic and I think it falls under that category,” she said vaguely.

He could tell she wasn’t about to go into detail, so he changed the subject. “Brutal weather we’re having, don’t you think?” He clasped his hands behind his back and started to stroll down the corridor.

“Is that the best you can do?” Lily laughed, joining him.

“Hey, I told you before I’m no good at coming up with things to talk about,” he chuckled.

A group of first year students rounded the corner and walked past Lily and Scorpius. Scorpius stepped to the side to get out of a little girl’s way and tripped, banging into the wall.

“Sorry!” he apologized to her and continued walking.

Lily stared at him. “Are you really that clumsy?” she asked.

He tilted his head back and forth and shrugged.

“I thought all the times you bumped into me was just to be rude,” she said. “I didn’t really think you did it accidentally.”

“Yes, well, it has presented a problem in my life,” he coughed. “It’s because I’m tall. Well, I like to blame it on my height. It’s rather embarrassing how I trip over everything including my own feet.”
Lily laughed.

“It’s not funny,” he said sternly, but smiled anyway. “It drives my mother crazy.”

Lily thought back to his fair haired mother back at the shop in Diagon Alley over the summer.

“I’m always knocking things over at home and when we’re out. Once I made a whole shelf of merchandise fall over in a store I was in. That was not fun,” he said, his face twisting awkwardly at the memory.

“So your mom likes things neat and clean?”

“Yes, probably because she used to have a cleaning job,” he said.

“What kind of cleaning job?” Lily asked. She was having trouble picturing Mrs. Malfoy with a duster in her hand.

“At an inn. She took care of the rooms. Just a small countryside inn. That’s where she met my dad. She’s a Muggle you know,” Scorpius pointed out.

Lily was shocked. “She is?” She worried he would be offended at her bluntness. “There’s nothing wrong with that.”

“I know. You should see how excited she gets when she sees dad and me doing magic. Her eyes light up just like a little kids. But anyway….” He trailed off.

The bell rang and Lily looked at her watch. “I’m sorry Scorpius, but I have to run. I’ve got Potions. Don’t want to be late.”

“Ok, well, I’ll catch you around,” he said.

“It was nice talking with you again,” Lily said. “I hope we can chat again. See ya’.” They parted at the staircase and Lily went down to the dungeons. She met up with her other classmates on the way down and ran up to Nisha.

“Hey,” she said.

“Why weren’t you at lunch?” Nisha asked.

“I was…” Lily started.

“Let me guess, you had a compulsion to go to the library. Hmmm?”

“You hit it right on the nose,” Lily said.
“Good grief, girl,” Nisha shook her head. “You missed a great lunch.”

“I think I’ll live,” she said as they entered the dark classroom. Professor Zabini was sitting at his desk and didn’t look up as the Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws took their seats. When everyone was settled, he closed the door and gave them their assignment. Lily gathered her ingredients and began mixing her potion. She couldn’t help but think of the books sitting in her book bag, and the story she was looking for.

***

Let me know what you think guys! You know how much I adore feedback!

-Chelsea

Lily rubbed her eyes. When she opened them she had to think about where she was for a moment. She was on the couch in the common room. She glanced at the books in her lap and on the floor and realized she had fallen asleep. When she had finished her homework the night before she had started reading through the books she had gotten from the library.

The first rays of sunshine were peeking through the window. Lily pushed off her blanket, gathered her books and set them on a table. The fire had gone out and she rubbed her arms to warm herself. She made her way up to the dormitory and glanced out the window on her way up. Winter had set in overnight. The once green grounds were covered in a blanket of glistening snow. All traces of fall were gone. She smiled with excitement. She loved the snow.

She silently went up to the dormitory to get her clothes. After she had showered, she heard Nisha wake up. Nisha yawned and moaned from under her covers, “Please tell me it’s Saturday.”

“It’s Saturday,” Lily clarified pulling her sweater on.

“Good. I’m going back to sleep then.” She receded back under her covers.

Lily rolled her eyes and left the dormitory. She pulled back her red hair as she skipped down the stairs. When she reached the Great Hall she saw Rose at the Gryffindor table.

“Lily!” called Rose from across the room.

Lily went over and plopped down on the bench with her cousin. “Morning,” she said cheerfully. Lily looked over at Rose who was usually in a bright mood. Rose was clutching a piece of parchment and looking furious. Lily raised an eyebrow. “Something the matter?” she asked.

“Mum and dad are going to Romania to visit Uncle Charlie for Christmas! I just got a letter,” Rose fumed.

“That’s exciting,” Lily said cautiously.

“No, it is not!” Rose cried slamming her fist down on the table. “Hugo and I have to stay here.”

“Alright it’s not,” Lily said.

“Christmas is about being with family,” Rose ranted.

“You’ll have Hugo,” Lily pointed out.

“He doesn’t count.” Rose waved off her comment.

“Who doesn’t count?” Hugo asked sitting down next to Lily.

“Oh never mind!” cried Rose.

“What’s the matter?” Hugo asked.

Rose thrust the letter at him. Hugo ran his fingers over his mouth as he read. “Oh,” he said handing the letter back to her. “Cool.” He poured himself some juice.

“What?” Rose asked, waving the letter in his face. “Didn’t you read it? We have to stay here for Christmas.” She emphasized every word so as to be sure he’d understand.

“I know. Now I don’t have to pack.”

Lily snorted and pushed on his shoulder.

“You are such an idiot!” Rose stormed away. Hugo rolled his eyes at Lily.

“She has no sense of humor,” he scoffed.

Although Lily thought the whole thing funny, she felt sorry for Rose. She respected how strongly she felt about being home for Christmas. Lily hadn’t stayed at Hogwarts for Christmas before. She always went home and celebrated with her family. Poor Rose, she thought to herself.

“Hello?”

“What?” Lily asked looking up. “Oh, hey, Al.” She hugged her brother.

“You looked like you were in a really deep thought,” he observed.

“I was,” she admitted, her brows still furrowed in concentration.

“Looks like you still are, too,” he said.
“Have you talked to Rose today?” she asked him.

“No, but I saw her a minute ago. She didn’t look too happy.”

“She wasn’t.” She explained the situation to him.

“Well, I’ll guess she’ll have to deal with it,” Albus said. Lily frowned at him.

“You’re not being very helpful,” she stated. “But I just had a thought!” She tapped her head. “Do you think Rose would feel better if I stayed for Christmas too?”

Al looked at her. “You’d want to?”

“Sure! I’ve never stayed before and if it could make Rose feel better about staying I’d be glad. You don’t think mum and dad would mind, do you?”

“No, I think they’d be fine with it, since you’d be keeping Rose and Hugo company.”

“Good. I saw Professor Bell putting up the list of who is staying for Christmas so I’ll sign up. First,” she said getting up. “I’ll send an owl to mum and dad to make sure.”

***
Wow, that's probably the fastest time I've ever updated!

-Chelsea

Lily waited to tell Rose she was staying for Christmas until after she heard from her parents. In no time at all they sent word that they were more than happy to allow Lily to stay, although they assured her they would miss her. Rose’s mood brightened considerably when Lily announced she was staying. Even Hugo seemed excited. The only problem Lily had was that she usually did her Christmas shopping with her mother when she got home. Now she had to do all of her shopping on her trip to Hogsmeade that weekend. Rose, eager to show her appreciation that Lily was staying, offered to help Lily with all of her shopping.

Rose was true to her word and helped Lily with her gifts. At the end of a productive day, Lily triumphantly walked up to the castle with bags of merchandise. During the day, Lily and Rose had thought of an idea and before bed, they went up to the Headmistress’ office.

“Holly and Ivy,” Lily told the gargoyle which leapt aside. (Professor Bell had told Lily the password earlier.) Lily and Rose scurried up the spiral staircase and knocked on the door when they reached the top.

“Come in,” Professor McGonagall called. Rose crossed her fingers as Lily pushed open the door.

Professor McGonagall was seated behind her desk and looked up when the girls walked in. “What can I do for you two?” she asked, setting down her quill.

Lily approached the desk. “Professor, I’m sure you know that I’m going to be staying for Christmas.”

“Yes, I am aware,” she replied.

“Well, the reason I’m staying is to be with my cousins and we were wondering, since Rose and Hugo are in Gryffindor and I’m in Ravenclaw, if I might be temporarily permitted to stay with them in Gryffindor Tower,” Lily said.

“Miss Potter, you know that students aren’t allowed in the common rooms of other houses.”

“But it would only be for Christmas, Professor,” Lily pleaded.

“And nobody from Ravenclaw is staying, so she’d be all alone,” Rose added.

Professor McGonagall looked over the two girls: both had their hands clasped together and earnest expressions were on their faces. She pinched her lips together. “Well, as long as you know that it will never be allowed again,” she said. Lily and Rose nodded vigorously. “Nothing of this kind has ever been done before and it will never be repeated.” More nods. “And I don’t want either of you spreading it around the school. Miss Potter, you may transfer your things to Gryffindor Tower the day after the rest of the students leave.”

“Thank you so much, Professor!” Lily exclaimed.

“Thank you!” Echoed Rose.

“Not at all,” she said stiffly, but her eyes were twinkling. “Now, ladies, I suggest you return to your dormitories. I’d rather you didn’t receive detention for being out after curfew.”

The girls thanked her again and happily left the office.





Lily and Rose parted at the staircase and Lily started toward Ravenclaw Tower. She made her way slowly up the winding staircase to the common room door. When she reached it, she waited while the bronze knocker, shaped like an eagle asked her a question.

“Who was the first which or wizard to establish the magical properties of the number seven?”

Lily crossed her arms and thought for a moment. “Bridget Wenlock.”

“Well done,” the knocker replied and the door swung open. Lily walked into the blue, circular room that was rather crowded with students. There was only one more day before they’d leave for Christmas break and everyone was bustling around excitedly. The common room had been decorated earlier that week and a large Christmas tree was positioned near the fireplace. Lily scanned the room for her friends but didn’t spot them.

“Hey, Lily,” said Michael Davies, who was sitting in a chair nearby.

“Hi, Michael,” she replied warmly.

“You going home for Christmas?” he asked.

“Actually, no. I’m staying with my cousins for a change. You?”

“Home for me. Should be fun.”

“Cool,” she said. “Hey, have you seen Nisha or Elsbeth?”

He looked around the room. “No,” he laughed.

“Thanks,” she said sarcastically.

“Have a nice holiday,” he said and went over to his friends.
Lily looked at the clock. It was only a half hour until curfew; they were probably up in the dormitory. She passed the statue of Rowena Ravenclaw and went up the stairs. She opened the door and found Nisha and Elsbeth packing. Well, upon further inspection found that Elsbeth was packing and Nisha, who was supposed to be packing, was talking.

“There you are,” Nisha said. “You live.”

“Here I am,” Lily said. “And yes, I live.”

“Did you get all your shopping done?” Elsbeth asked as she folded up a shirt.

“Yeah,” she said and plopped down on the bed next to Nisha.

“Shopping is not my thing,” Nisha said. “Elsbeth took me through every single shop. Oh my word, it was boring, aside from being in Els’ company.”

“I wanted to get all my ‘magical’ presents before I went home, Nish. For my family. I’ll be doing only ‘Muggle’ shopping with mum.”

“Your sister is seriously going to freak out when she sees the present you’re getting her,” Nisha added excitedly.

“What did you get her?” Lily inquired.

“Well, I actually ordered it from your uncle’s shop, Lil. It’s a Pygmy Puff. When dad took me to Diagon Alley at the end of summer we went in and I knew as soon as I saw them that Kristen would like one. I’m ordering a purple one.”

“How old is she now?”

“Six and she talks about coming to Hogwarts all the time. As soon as I get home all the kids pester Diane and me about everything you can imagine,” she laughed.

“I hope you’re not too bored staying in here all by yourself,” Nisha said suddenly.

“I’m staying with Hugo and Rose,” Lily reassured. “I won’t be bored.”

“I meant in the common room by yourself.”

“Actually, I won’t be staying in this common room,” Lily said mysteriously.

“What do you mean?” Nisha narrowed her eyebrows.

Lily lowered her voice and told them about the arrangement for her to stay in Gryffindor Tower, making them swear to secrecy.

“My lips are sealed,” Nisha said running her finger over her lips. “That is so cool! Have fun, girl!”

“Oh I will,”

“When are you going to ‘move’ in?” asked Elsbeth.

“The day after everybody leaves,” Lily said.

“Only one more day!” Nisha cried and flopped backwards onto the bed.





On Monday morning, Lily, Rose and Hugo walked out with their friends and family to see them off. Lily hugged Albus goodbye and wished him a Merry Christmas.

“See you in a week and a half,” he said.

“Give my love to everybody!” she told him.

“I will,” he replied.

“Merry Christmas!” She squeezed her friends. Choruses of “Merry Christmas” echoed around the courtyard as all of the students departed. Lily looked around at the remaining students.

“Not many are staying,” Hugo pointed out.

“I don’t know how that little girl is, or that boy, but look, Scorpius Malfoy is staying," Rose observed.

Lily looked over. Sure enough there he was. He caught her eye and smiled at her.

The six students slowly walked back into the festively decorated castle and went their separate ways. Christmas was only three days away.

***

Thanks for reading guys! Pretty please leave feedback!

-Chelsea

P.S. Oh my! Two pages!

The next morning Rose waited outside the Ravenclaw common room door while Lily brought her things out.

“Geez, Lily, you’re not moving in permanently,” she teased.

Lily closed the door and raised an eyebrow at her.

“I’m only kidding,” Rose laughed and helped her with the bags. “It’s going to be two weeks, so you will need your stuff. That is a very cool door, by the way,” she nodded towards the door with the eagle knocker.

“It is. But I want to see yours. You said a portrait covers the entrance,” Lily said.

“Yeah, of a fat lady,” she said.

Lily laughed. “You’re joking right.

“No,” Rose said seriously. “The knocker is much cooler, but what can you do. I have to say, I much prefer memorizing a password, than answering different questions every time.”

They climbed two floors and Rose showed Lily the way to the Gryffindor common room. Rose stopped in front of the portrait of the Fat Lady.

"Don’t worry about her coming into the common room,” Rose informed her. “It’s been arranged and I even have a letter from Professor McGonagall,” she added reaching into her pocket.

“No need. I’ve already been told. And I can assure you, young lady. The password will be changed as soon as you leave. I won’t have any more Ravenclaws getting inside, so don’t even try.” The Fat Lady placed her hands on her hips.

“I wouldn’t dream of it,” Lily said fighting not to laugh. For some reason, she found the Fat Lady to be very amusing.

“Peppermint Humbugs,” Rose told her.

The portrait swung open and Rose led the way through the doorway. "Don't forget the password in case you come up without me while you're staying here," Rose told Lily.

Lily gazed around the room. It was very warm and comfy looking. There were many squashy chairs and couches and a lovely Christmas tree near the fireplace. “It’s lovely,” Lily commented as the hole closed up behind them.
“The girls’ dormitory is this way,” Rose told her, and took her up the stairs. “You’ll stay in here with me,” she said. “You can have the bed next to mine if you like.”

Lily set down her bags and admired the room. It was going to be a very fun holiday.





Lily was snuggled warm and cozy in her bed. She peeked her eyes open and blinked in the brightness of the early morning. Looking around, she saw the red and gold wall hangings and drapes and remembered that she was in the Gryffindor dormitory. She slowly slid out of bed and stretched. Suddenly it occurred to her.

It was Christmas morning!

She pulled on her robe and she darted over to her cousin’s bed. “Rose!” she cried excitedly. “Rose, wake up!” She shoved the lump under the blankets and heard a moan.

“What time is it?” Rose’s coarse voice asked.

Lily glanced at the clock, “It’s 6:45.”

Rose moaned again. “Wake me up in a couple of hours.”

“Rose!” Lily screamed. “It’s Christmas!” She tugged Rose’s blankets of and pulled her out of bed.

“Okay, I’m coming,” she grumbled, but her eyes were alight with excitement.

Lily grabbed Rose’s hand and ran out of the dormitory. Hugo was just coming out too.

“Merry Christmas!” Lily laughed giving him a squeeze.

“Merry Christmas!” he returned, then hugged his sister and said the same.

The three cousins ran down to the common room. Rose was no longer grumbling, but giggling along with Lily.

“Look at all the presents!” Lily exclaimed.

“Hugo! Wait up!” Rose laughed as Hugo began opening one of his packages.

“Oh!” he cried. “This one’s from Grandma. Chocolates, and look,” he said, holding the item up. “A new sweater. It’s a different color this year. I like it.” The sweater was a deep navy blue color with an ‘H’ on it. “You open one, Rose,” he said, pulling her to the floor.

“Okay.” She snatched up a similar looking package with her name on it. Ripping off the paper, she found chocolates and a light green sweater with a yellow rose in the middle. Rose pulled it on over her pajamas. “Grandma knows my favorite color rose is yellow. Open your’s, Lily.”

Lily pulled the wrapping off her gift and also received chocolates and a sweater. Her sweater was a green that matched her eyes exactly and there was a white lily on the front. “It’s so pretty!” She pulled hers on and Hugo did the same. “Grandma’s so good,” she said happily.

Hugo was eyeing the still large stack of presents. “Yes, but can we open the rest now?” They all grabbed their presents at once and opened them. Hugo’s gifts consisted of candy, a new chess set, posters of his favorite quidditch players and other odds and ends.

“Thanks for the stationery,” Rose told Lily.

“It’s not like you picked it out,” Lily said sarcastically.

Rose also received books, clothes and a variety of new quills.

Lily’s parents sent her some books and James sent her something from their Uncle George’s joke shop. She opened a pretty hair clip from Nisha. (According to the instructions, the clip was supposed to hold up hair in 7 different styles. Nisha included a note, not promising that it would work). Lily opened Elsbeth’s present and stared at it.

“What is it, Lil?” Asked Hugo.

“I don’t know,” Lily replied standing up. She lifted a long piece of white rope from a bag. On the ends of the rope were two pieces of wood.

“Maybe it binds up your enemies,” Hugo guessed.

Lily frowned at him. “I highly doubt Elsbeth would send me anything violent. Besides, I don’t really have any enemies.”

“Is there a note?” Rose asked.

Lily reached inside the bag and found a note from Elsbeth. “Dear Lily,” she read aloud. “This present is actually a Muggle. . . well, you could call it a toy. It’s really fun. It’s called a jump rope. You swing it around yourself and skip over it. It’s fun to use outside in nice weather out on the lawn. I thought you might enjoy it.” Lily held up the ‘jump rope’ again and looked it over.

“Interesting,” Hugo said and returned to his presents.

Lily set aside the jump rope and opened her last present. It had no tag saying who it was from. It merely said ‘To: Lily, Merry Christmas.” She tore off the paper. It was a book. “Wizarding Tales and Myths of the Twenty First Century”. Who would have…
“Ahhh!” Her thoughts were interrupted by a yell from Hugo. Hugo had just opened a book from their cousin Fred. When he opened the book heaps of red and green frogs jumped out. They all chanted ‘Merry Christmas’ as they hopped around the room. Hugo leapt onto the nearest couch. Rose was laughing.

“What?” He asked.

“Hu,” she giggled. “They’re not real. Look,” she pointed at a frog that was losing its color. “It’s just a charm.” Hugo got down from the couch and they all laughed.

Lily looked back at her book. She had a strange idea who it was from.

***

Can you guess? Haha. Please leave feedback!

-Chelsea

Lily, Rose and Hugo remained in the common room, admiring their gifts for some time. It wasn’t long before Hugo announced that he was hungry, so they made ready to go to breakfast.

Lily went with Rose up to the dormitory and got dressed. She put on a long-sleeved white shirt with a collar, then pulled her new sweater on over it. She and Rose both put on festive earrings for the occasion and Lily tried out her new clip from Nisha for the first time. She followed the instructions and in no time at all her hair was intricately entwined on the top of her head. Her bangs, which were in the process of being grown out, didn’t quite reach and hung prettily around her face. Pleased, Lily admired her reflection in the mirror.



As soon as Rose was finished getting ready, the three relatives strolled down to the Great Gall together. When they entered, they saw that all the tables had been pushed against the walls except for one long table at which all the staff and remaining students were sitting at. (Scorpius wasn’t there yet.)

Professor Bell had a large, red, Santa hat on her head and was dressed from head to toe in red and green. She greeted Lily, Rose and Hugo with a cheerful “Merry Christmas” when they sat down. Lily sat next to a small girl and wished her a ‘Merry Christmas’. She looked over the exquisite meal set out before them and hungrily debated on what to eat. Hugo already had his plate full of food and was stuffing his face. Rose had begun talking to the boy sitting across from her, so Lily talked to the girl next to her.

“My name is, Lily,” she told her. “What’s yours?”

“I’m Madeline,” she replied. “You can call me, Maddie, though. Everyone else does.” She proved to be a very chatty girl once she warmed up and she told Lily all about being a first year in Hufflepuff.

Not long after, Scorpius joined the merry group. He sat down across from Lily. “Merry Christmas!” He said to everyone at the table. “Good morning, Lily,” he said.

“Good morning, Scorpius,” she returned. “Have you met, Maddie?” she asked him.

He shook his head. “But I’m sure I’d like to.”

Lily introduced the two and Maddie shyly shook his hand when he offered it. “I promise I’m not as scary as I look,” he assured her. “The only thing you need to worry about is me tripping over you.” Maddie grinned and all three began talking.

All six students left the hall at the same time. Maddie ran to a window in the entrance hall and looked out excitedly. “Look at the snow!”
The others walked over to her and also stared out. The grounds were completely covered in thick snow. It was undisturbed and just waiting to be thrown around.

“Hey, guys,” Hugo said, “What do you say we go get our coats and meet back here in five minutes and go outside? I can just feel a snowball fight.”

“I’m game if you all are,” said John Field, the seventh year Hufflepuff boy Rose had been talking to.

“Oh please, let’s!” Maddie cried.

“Okay, meet back here in five minutes then,” Scorpius agreed. They all started off rapidly for their dormitories.

“Wait, Scorpius,” Lily called. He ran back to her.

“Yes?” he asked.

“You gave me that book, didn’t you.” She didn’t bother questioning him.

He frowned at her. “What book?”

Lily crossed her arms, unconvinced. “Nobody else knew I was reading up on myths and legends.”

He shuffled his feet awkwardly not knowing what to say.

“Thank you,” she told him. “I can’t wait to start reading it. It looks really good! But I have a question: Why didn’t you write your name on the note?”

“I figured you’d guess who sent it, but the reason I didn’t sign my name was I didn’t want you to feel like you had to get me anything,” he explained.

“Well, I didn’t get you much, but I did get you a little something. I’m sorry, but boys are so horribly hard to buy gifts for. It drives me crazy!” She rolled her eyes and handed him a small package.

“Nice,” he said when he opened the candy.

“Admit it,” she growled. “It’s lame.”

“You can’t go wrong with candy,” he replied. “Now, if you don’t hurry up, everyone is going to be ready to go out before you even get to your dormitory.” She laughed. “Thank you for the gift, though. It was very thoughtful.” He walked up to her, bent down and gave her a friendly hug. Lily stood frozen for a moment as he walked away, then grinned at his departing figure as he plopped a piece of candy into his mouth. Lily turned on her heel and ran to catch up with Rose and Hugo.



A half an hour later, Lily wiped some snow off her face as she molded a snowball together in her gloved hands. She, Rose and John were throwing snowballs at the other team: Scorpius, Hugo and Maddie. Both teams had so far been hit equal amounts of times. Lily was hidden behind a statue and was quietly approaching Hugo, who was hiding nearby. She darted out from her hiding place and threw her snowball at him. He let out a yell of surprise as it hit him. He aimed one at her back as she retreated, but missed.

“Nice throw,” John commented when Lily joined him behind a hedge.

“I have two brothers. What more can I say?” she said. “Look out!” she suddenly cried.

Too late. John cringed as a wet ball of snow came in contact with the back of his head. Lily couldn’t help but laugh when John chased after the assailant, Maddie, and rolled around with her in the snow. Everyone seemed to forfeit the match and began making snowmen. Lily looked around. Blonde haired, tall, Slytherin, Scorpius was talking happily with brown haired, short, Gryffindor Rose while rolling the base of the snowman. At the same time skinny, freckled, Hufflepuff John was helping little first year, Maddie find sticks for arms with the Gryffindor, Hugo. It was the first time she had ever seen all four houses playing together so equally. It was almost as if they were one. What a happy Christmas it had turned out to be!

***

I'm so sorry it's taken me so long to update! Hope you like this chapter! Pretty please leave feedback!

-Chelsea

Over the next few days, Lily got many notes and cards from her family. Her cousin, Roxanne, sent her a picture of everyone who spent Christmas at the Borrow. Teddy and Victoire were there waving to her, and Lily couldn’t help but notice the growing size of Victoire’s middle. Her parents and brothers were also there. James was at the back of the group and smirked as he made bunny ears behind Albus’ head. Her grandparents were of course there along with her Uncle George, Aunt Angelina, and Fred. Roxanne popped in briefly to wave then disappeared behind the camera.

Albus wrote Lily a nice letter asking if she, Rose and Hugo had any plans for New Year’s Eve. Lily pulled out a piece of stationery and wrote him a reply. In her letter, she told him the teachers had invited all the students to a party in the Great Hall and they would be allowed to stay up a bit past curfew. She also told him all about her Christmas and all the fun she and the other kids had.

She put the letter into an envelope and informed Hugo she was going to the owlery. She wasn’t quite sure where Rose was, but figured she was somewhere with John. They had started hanging out more together since Christmas day and were becoming great friends.

On her way out, Lily grabbed her jump rope and brought it with her. She stuffed her letter into her back pocket so that she could grip the handles correctly. Once she was in an open hallway she tried what Elsbeth had said. She swung the rope around herself and it smacked against the floor. She looked down at it, braced herself and jumped over it. She took a few steps forward, and then tried it again. She wasn’t quite sure if she was doing it right.

She passed Maddie on her way and stopped to chat with her for a bit. “Oh! I like your jump rope!” she commented excitedly.

Lily’s eyes opened wide. “Do you know how to use it?” she asked.

Maddie smiled. “Of course I do. I’m Muggle born didn’t I tell you?”

“Well, I seem to be having some trouble with it,” Lily admitted sheepishly. She showed Maddie how she had been doing it.

“Don’t stop swinging the rope once it hits the ground. Here,” she said, took the rope from Lily and demonstrated.

“Oh! I see,” Lily said.

“You can do it feet together if you’re doing it in place, or separate if you’re jumping somewhere,” she explained, then handed the rope back to Lily.

Lily tried it. “Hooray!” she cried. “I’ve got it now. Thanks for showing me. I figured I was doing it wrong.”

“No problem. I’ll see you around, Lil!”

“Okay.” Lily hugged her. “Bye, Maddie.”

Lily skipped over her rope all the way to the owlery. She sent off Al’s letter then went back to the common room. The fat lady frowned disapprovingly at Lily before she let her into the common room. Once Lily was inside she noticed that Hugo was gone. She thought about going off and finding him. Instead, she got out the book Scorpius had given her and started to read.

The book was very interesting and Lily was quite absorbed. There were so many myths she had never heard of, but there were a few that she recognized. But one thing in particular caught her eye.

The Myth of the Sphere of the Future.

Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, Order of Merlin, First Class, and Grand Sorcerer was considered by many as the greatest wizard of modern times. He was the Supreme Mugwump of the International Confederation of Wizards, the Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot and was especially famous for his defeat of the dark wizard Grindelwald in 1945. He was a teacher and headmaster at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry until his death in 1997. While he attended Hogwarts in the late 1800’s he was known as a brilliant and genius student.

Although it isn’t well known, there is a myth concerning Dumbledore in his childhood. In his third year attending Hogwarts he created what he called ‘the Sphere of the Future’; a golden ball that would grant the holder of the ball a glimpse of his future. A fellow student of his managed to find out about the ball’s power and began spreading the story around. Before long, the whole school was pestering Dumbledore about the sphere. He became very discouraged by the greed of the students and one day announced that he had destroyed it. Many began to even doubt the existence of the sphere. Nothing was heard about it for almost 50 years when a student found a piece of parchment hidden on the underside of a desk with the following poem written across it.

‘Below the first
The door is deep
Within is found
A spiral stair
Leading down
To the future sphere’

-A. Dumbledore

“What a horrible poem,” Lily thought to herself and continued reading.

After the finding of the poem, wizards believed that Dumbledore had not destroyed the sphere, but instead hidden it in the castle. The poem is considered a clue to the whereabouts of the sphere. Fifteen years ago a search was conducted in the castle seeking the legendry sphere, but nothing was found. It still is possible that Dumbledore hid the sphere in an effort to never have anyone find it, or maybe he did indeed destroy it. However, a great many wizards believe that someday a lucky witch or wizard will be able to solve the riddle and discover the sphere which Dumbledore created.

Lily leaned back on the couch. She suddenly realized that her heart was beating faster than normal.

So, maybe it did exist. She began to imagine herself finding the sphere, but shook it away. If a whole group of wizards couldn’t find it, how could she? She sighed and closed the book. But then again…

She sat up. Her dad, aunt and uncle had found the Chamber of Secrets when nobody else had. And they had only been in their second year. Lily grinned determinedly. She would find it. It might take her some time, but she would find it. What better time to start than now?

Just then Hugo entered the room. “Hey Lil,” he said. “Whoa, you look like you’ve just been nominated for the Medal for Magical Merit.”

“Nope, I’m just thinking,” she said.

“Aren’t you going to come down for dinner?” he asked.

“Is it dinner time already?” Lily leapt to her feet.

“Yeah. It’s going on 7:00. Rose told me I should try to find you. As soon as we’ve eaten they’re going to start the party.”

“I had no idea it had gotten so late!” Lily said as she followed Hugo out of the common room. “I got into a really good book and lost track of the time.” She guessed she’d have to wait until after dinner to explore.


~***~


After dinner, Professor McGonagall waved her wand and all sorts of wizard games appeared. Everyone joined in and played games for hours. Lily had a wonderful time, but couldn’t help but glance at the clock every now and then. The later they stayed in the Great Hall, the less time she’d have to look around before bed. At precisely 10:00, Professor McGonagall told the students it was time for bed. John protested and asked if they all might be allowed to stay up until midnight, but she wouldn’t hear of it. “Off to bed with you all now. 10:00 is late enough. Stay up in your dormitories if you like, but as for me, I’m off to bed.”

Lily walked out into the hall with Rose, Hugo, John, Scorpius, and Maddie. They all parted and went to their separate common rooms. Lily heaved a sigh. She had no time to look for clues now. Not with Rose and Hugo with her.

Then she’d wait until they were in bed!


~***~



Lily waited for over two hours before she could safely leave the common room. Hugo stayed up until midnight and Lily stayed up with him. They both went to bed at the same time, but Lily didn't go to sleep. She waited in bed for almost fifteen minutes then crept past Rose and out the door. She leaned her ear against the boy’s dormitory door and heard Hugo snoring. She smiled, tightened the bow on her bathrobe and snuck out of the common room.

‘Below the first.’ Lily wondered if that meant below the first ‘floor’. She thought it might be a good place to start looking. Halfway down to the first floor Lily almost blushed at herself. She’d never been out of bed after hours. She felt guilty breaking the rules. She thought about going back, but decided that since she was already out she might as well finish what she set out to do.

When she reached the Entrance Hall she looked at the two stair cases leading down. She really didn’t want to go down to the dungeons at night so she opted to go down the stair case leading to the kitchens. It was rather dark so she lit her wand.

Once she reached the bottom of the stairs she looked around. ‘The door is deep’. Did that mean a real door? Or a trap door? She didn’t want to make a lot of noise opening and closing doors, but she opened a couple. Suddenly she heard something.

She froze. Somebody was coming around the corner. She almost ran, but gasped when she saw who it was.

“Scorpius?!” She whispered in disbelief.

He jumped a foot in the air and banged against the wall. “Lily?” He panted. “You nearly just gave me a heart attack.” He walked towards her breathing heavily. He pushed his hair out of his face, then smoothed down his striped pajamas. “What are you doing down here?”

“I….” Lily stuttered. “Wait, what are you doing down here?”

“I asked first,” he said. “Okay, I was getting food. It’s New Year’s! Now what about you?”
“You were getting food?” She almost giggled then remembered that she was out in the castle when she wasn’t supposed to be. “I was looking for something. It’s hard to explain-"

“There’s no need to explain,” said a voice behind Lily. She spun around. “You’re in trouble no matter what way you look at it,” said Filch. Lily closed her eyes in dismay. She’d been caught.

***

Dun dun dun! Hope you liked it! Thanks, Dayna for all your help! Please leave feedback here!

-Chelsea

Lily was in a foul mood the next morning; after her midnight escapade she hadn’t slept a wink. Recalling the previous night made Lily angry and ashamed at the same time. She was angry at being caught, but ashamed at getting detention. When Filch had found her and Scorpius, he took them to Professor Zabini’s office. Fortunately, he didn’t ask either of them what their excuse for being out of bed so late was. He said there was no excuse and flatly gave them both detention. Lily had never been in detention before. But worse than the thought of detention, was the thought of telling her family. Lily groaned inwardly. It wasn’t going to be fun.



“You’re in detention?!” exclaimed Hugo so loudly that people turned their heads to stare. Vacation was almost over and some of the students were already back.

“Yes,” muttered Lily, taking a bite from her apple, not looking at Hugo.

Rose hadn’t said anything

Hugo let out a laugh. “And with Scorpius too… What were you doing with him?”

“I didn’t plan on being caught with him. He just happened to be where I was headed,” Lily said in defense.

“Yeah,” Hugo didn’t sound convinced. “Didn’t you two just start hanging out?”

“Well…,” started Lily again.

“What? Were you snogging in an empty classroom or something?”

“Excuse me?!” Lily dropped her apple and fury filled her eyes like a raging fire. She shoved Hugo with all her might. Caught unaware, Hugo fell off the bench causing an uproar of laughter from the Gryffindors. Lily stood up, cheeks burning and stormed out of the Great Hall.

Hugo sat back down on the bench and massaged the back of his head. “Lucky I didn’t break my skull! Wonder what’s gotten into her.” He looked across at Rose for sympathy. She offered none.

“No, you’re lucky I haven’t pushed you off the bench!” She crossed her arms and frowned at him.

“What?!” he asked.

“Boys!” She scoffed and marched out of the hall walking right past Albus, who was just arriving.

“Morning!” he called to her cheerfully. She said nothing, only continued out.

Confused, Al sat down next to Hugo. “What’s bothering Rose?” he inquired.

“When you find out, let me know,” said Hugo, shaking his head.




Lily hadn’t been sure where she was going when she left the Great Hall, just somewhere away from Hugo. Sure, he had annoyed her before. But never like this. She clenched her fists and marched stiffly down the hallway. At a loss of where she should go, she sat down on the floor and leaned against the wall. She bent over and hugged her knees, rocking back and forth; words uttered not long ago echoing through her head. Hugo had no right to say that.

“Lily?” Rose’s voice called.

Lily raised her head.

“Lily?” Rose came into view. “There you are.” She flattened her hair and slid down next to her. Lily returned her chin to her knee.

Rose tilted her head and put an arm around Lily. “You believe me don’t you?” Lily asked. She looked at Rose. “You know I didn’t sneak out with Scorpius?”

“Lily, of course I believe you. I’ll give you two reasons why. First off, I believe after just a couple meetings with Scorpius that even he would be too shy to do something like kiss you in an empty classroom.” Lily blushed against her will. “And two, I know you’d consider it silly to risk being caught for something as unimportant as that. And, I guess this makes three things, but I know that you and Scorpius are just friends. There’s nothing wrong with that. Hugo is unfortunately subject to having a brainless boy’s mind and therefore says stupid things.”

Lily chuckled.

“Don’t let it get you too down,” Rose encouraged giving Lily a squeeze.

“Thanks Rose.” Lily smiled returning her cousin’s hug. “But I’m not going to speak to Hugo until he apologizes.”

“You might be waiting a while,” Rose said.



Although Hugo attempted to engage Lily in conversation more than once over the next two days, she ignored him, much to his distaste. Lily had accidentally mentioned in a letter to James that she had gotten detention and he let it slip to their parents.

Dear Lily,

Your mother and I heard about you being in detention. Your mother wanted me to write you and find out what the deal is, but quite frankly, I don’t see the need. I can’t even count how many times I’d been in detention when I was your age. I trust you, Lily, and I know you wouldn’t do anything really wrong. If your mother asks, I was very angry with you and sent you a long lecture about obeying the rules.

Love,Dad

P.S. I’ve been meaning to tell you; during the holidays I came across and old Hogwarts acquaintance. Mr. Malfoy. We had a long talk and I wanted you to know that I’m sorry and that I was wrong. (Your Uncle Ron nearly killed me when I told him. We're both so used to thinking badly of Mr. Malfoy.) So Lily, I don’t have a problem with you being friends with his son. Even if his father was what I thought, I had no right to judge his son as well. Love you, Lily.

Relief greeted Lily like spring at the end of winter. Upon reading the letter, Lily had rushed to her room to send an immediate response. She had been right about Scorpius and Mr. Malfoy and dad wasn’t mad about her being in detention. Still, she’d get James later on for snitching on her.

Dear Dad,

Thanks for your letter. I can definitely assure you, I wasn’t doing anything 'really wrong'. I was just doing a bit of…confidential research. And I’m glad to hear things worked out with Mr. Malfoy. Tell mom everything’s alright with me. I’ll write soon!

Love, Lily

The same day she replied to her father, she received a letter from James. She hastily ripped open the envelope and read….

Hey Lil!

Good going! You got landed in detention for the first time! Ah, I had always hoped you would follow my grand footsteps of daily pleasure. I won’t inquire what it was that you were doing at such late hours of the night; I’m only sending my dearest congratulations! Bravo! Stinks that you got caught, but what can you do. What do you have to do anyway? Nothing too horrible I hope.
Things are going well at the Ministry and at home. Write me soon!

Love, James

P.S. Next time, use the map.

The map! How could she have been so stupid?! How could she have forgotten?! Well, next time she would be prepared.

“Ahem,” said a voice behind her. She quickly folded her letter up and turned. It was Hugo. She opened her mouth to speak, but he held up his hand.

“Lil, I’ve been trying to talk to you for days and I don’t want you to run off this time.”

“Start talking,” she said briskly.

“Okay,” he looked as though he was trying to remember a speech he had been practicing; only he couldn’t remember the words. “See, it’s like this-”

Lily tapped her hand impatiently.

“Alright, I didn’t know why you were landed in detention because you wouldn’t tell me. Every time I asked you avoided answering, so I decided to joke around, but,” he added quickly noticing her angry look. “But it didn’t turn out to be so funny. I’m sorry.”

“You hurt my feelings dreadfully,” Lily said. “You knew perfectly well that I wouldn’t have been…doing what you said.”

“I’m sorry. You’re right. Scorpius is a good guy and I didn’t realize you’d take it in offense.”

“You’re just lucky nobody else heard you say it. If anyone had, the rumor could have spread through all of Hogwarts.”

“You don’t need to explain. I just need you to know that I’ve been going nuts since you’ve been giving me the silent treatment. Will you forgive me?”

“Yes.” Lily smiled and shook his outstretched hand.

“Glad that’s over with,” Hugo sighed, sitting with her. “Now I need some food.” Lily bumped his shoulder playfully and laughed. She was happy again.

***
Sorry it's taken me so long to update! Hope you liked the new chapter.

Feedback would be great. -Chelsea