A/N: So this is next generation, it changes POV quite a bit, but focuses on Lily and Scorpius. This is mostly an introduction chapter, so you can see how my version of next generation is.
Lily"Bye Mum!" Lily had leaned out of the train window to wave goodbye to her mother; her mother, who looked just like Lily (waist-length red hair, a smattering of freckles, and hazel eyes) waved back. "Be good! And do your homework! But remember we love you anyway!" Ginny Potter yelled to her daughter before apparating from view.
Lily had just drawn her red face back in the window (Why, for Merlin's sake, did she always have to blush so easily? Everyone already knew how awful Lily was at theory work anyway) when she heard a low chuckle from behind her. She spun around, hand flying to her wand (although she was wearing her new black skinny jeans with her favourite purple tank top, Lily always had her wand with her – her dad had always told her 'constant vigilance' even though she was also constantly told off for keeping it in her back pocket) and ignoring the goose bumps that had appeared at the sound of that husky voice (goose bumps usually appeared when a person was disgusted, right?). A tall, broad-shouldered yet lanky blonde was leaning against the open door of the compartment Lily had claimed and stowed her suitcase.
"Scorpius," Lily hissed, her eyes snapping furiously – why did he always manage to catch her at her most embarrassing moments? "Don't you have anything better to do – oh wait, you have no friends," she clucked her tongue, a mockery of pity. "Sooo sad."
"Oh ouch," Scorpius theatrically winced. "Sooo scathing; you better watch your tone, or I might have to tell dearest mum on you." Scorpius raised his voice, imitating Lily's. Lily slitted her eyes – how did Scorpius always seem to know what to say to get her riled up quicker than anybody else? Scorpius saw her hand inching towards her wand again and hastily continued. "Anyway, I'm looking for Al, Jane and Rose." Lily scowled, but knew there'd be trouble later if she didn't tell.
"They left their stuff in my compartment, and then went to patrol the front carriage." Scorpius nodded and stood up from the wall, but hesitated before leaving, a strange look on his face. "Mind if I leave my stuff here too?" Lily hunched her shoulders considering a flat out denial, and then sighed. "Guess not."
She entered the compartment, then sat down by the window, as far away from Scorpius she could get. She had decided to ignore him and pretended to be engrossed in the scenery outside. While majestic green forest flew by, Lily couldn't help but be distracted by the reflection of Scorpius shoving his suitcase in the overhead shelf, which pulled his leather jacket tight across his shoulders revealing toned muscles. As he turned to place his empty owl cage on the seat across from her (being careful not to upset Rose and Jane's sleeping cats which were sprawled on the seat) the compartment door slammed open again. Lily turned around only to be enveloped in a hug.
"Lily! Oh I'm so glad we found you, I was so worried when we couldn't find you anywhere, but then Evie said we should check the other carriages and we did – oh what is HE doing here?! If he's bothering you again, I'll teach him some manners, he'll be begging to apologise! So how were your holidays? Did you miss us? That last week was so hectic! Did you – " "Grace!" Lily had to shout to get her best friend's attention. "Calm down, you're squishing Stella," she whispered, peering over Grace's shoulder to see that Scorpius had left. Grace sheepishly moved over to the other side of the compartment, mindful not to disturb Juliette and Shadow. Stella was a little black Labrador, who Lily had found at the local dog rescue during the summer holidays. Lily had fallen in love with her, and decided to sneak her into Hogwarts immediately, declaring to Grace and Evie "We were meant for each other, and a bond like that shouldn't be parted!" Lily thought that once she could prove Stella would fit right in at Hogwarts, she would let everyone know and Lily would be able to keep her publicly. So far, only Grace, Evie and Lily's favourite cousin Jane knew about her – Lily's parents wouldn't mind keeping Stella at home, but letting her go to Hogwarts was another matter – and Lily couldn't trust anyone else not to spill. So Stella was currently hiding in a special pouch Lily had made just for Stella (using Aunt Hermione's enlarging spell with modifications – courtesy of Jane) which was braced around Lily's neck and shoulders, hidden with a temporary invisibility spell.
Lily looked towards the open door and saw a pixie-like girl standing nervously in the doorway. She was wearing a long grey skirt, with a dark grey cardigan and her long black hair was pulled back tightly in a braid which reached to the small of her back. "Evie!" Lily leaped up from the seat and hugged her, careful not to squish Stella again. Evie sighed with relief and hesitantly hugged her back. Lily knew Evie constantly worried that Lily and Grace would wake up one day and decide they didn't want to be friends anymore – Evie was secretly cripplingly shy and acted snobby to cover it up. Lily knew that by the end of the week Evie would relax around Lily and Grace again, and hopefully Grace would have calmed down from her 'coming back to school' high.
"Anything from the trolley dears?" Lily and Evie pooled their money and got as many cauldron cakes and chocolate frogs as they could (Grace's favourite). As they ate and gossiped about their holidays, Lily couldn't help but wonder what this year would bring. Fourth year wasn't supposed to be particularly difficult, but they were expected to study harder and concentrate on preparing for OWL's. Lily didn't enjoy learning much – it just didn't come naturally to her. No matter how hard she tried, she always seemed to get distracted. Not to mention how the letters and numbers always managed to jumble themselves whenever she tried to read, so nothing made sense anyway.
Flying, on the other hand … Lily loved all muggle sports, but nothing quite managed to beat the feel of the wind rushing through her hair … the cheer of the crowd … and the invigorating adrenalin pump that came with winning, so high in the sky … Lily was chaser for Gryffindor, but was hoping to become Captain when her older brother James finished school. This year was his last year, and he had promised to put in a good word for her. Lily definitely wanted to make Quidditch her career, and she knew she would need all the help she could get to be successful.
GraceGrace was worried. She would never let her friends know, but she worried over them constantly. She knew Evelyn had serious issues with her parents controlling her life and felt useless every time Evelyn got that hunched look – almost as if she were trying to hide – it didn't help that they had forced her into those ugly grey clothes again, which made Evie look washed out and depressed.. And as if Lily didn't already have enough to worry about – what with trying to stand out from her family – Lily hated being referred to as "Potter's little sister' or 'that Potter girl'. That Malfoy boy just had to constantly annoy her too! Grace could easily see Malfoy was attracted to Lily, but if he wasn't going to grow a pair and ask her out (so Lily could reject him, of course) then he should at least stop his inept flirting which just upset Lily because it all came across as insulting. Grace hated the male race with every fibre of her body. All they ever brought was pain and heartache. That didn't mean Grace like liked girls or anything though (not that there was anything wrong with that of course): in fact, Grace loved noting more than a good snog. Grace was famous for having new arm candy every week in year three – but that was all boys would ever be, because there was no way that Grace would ever trust a boy with her heart.
In fact, right at this moment when Lily should have been happily eating chocolate without a care in the world, she was gazing morosely out the window no doubt because of him. Grace had had to push him out of the way just to get her and Evie into the carriage and she knew then that he had been up to no good. Clearly he had gotten to Lily again. Grace opened her mouth to draw Lily back into the conversation when the compartment door slammed open again.
Malfoy all but strutted back in, closely followed by Albus (Lily's older brother), Rose (Lily and Albus' cousin), and Jane (Rose's twin). Grace glared at them, annoyed they had interrupted what had been about to be a heart-to-heart chat in which Grace would save Lily's heart again. She felt like crying when Nick, Daniel and Hugo (Rose and Jane's little brother) walked in as well (which was ridiculous, because Grace Weyland never cried), but quickly turned away flicking her hair over her shoulder (a patented move which Grace was forever attempting to teach Evie), blatantly ignoring them. Of all the people she least wanted to see right now, they topped the list. Well except for that witch Josephine (Grace turned back quickly to make sure she wouldn't walk in as well). Grr, how Grace hated her. Her internal monologue was interrupted by Albus subconsciously flattening his hair (his lovely black hair which Grace would dearly love to run her hands through – Grace froze. Where in frigging Merlin's **** did that thought come from?), before announcing "We're almost there, you all had better change," as he grabbed his robes from his trunk. Albus glanced at Grace nervously only to see Grace toss her long brunette waves over her shoulder and turn away again so she couldn't see any of them. Albus sighed before leaving with Malfoy; Daniel, Nick and Hugo trailing behind.
"Oh Lily, are you already fighting with Scorp?" Lily's morose expression disappeared instantly. "He started it Rose! He honestly did! I was waving goodbye to mum when he laughed at me! I didn't even know he was there!" Rose hesitated, choosing her words carefully "I had just hoped … that maybe … you know … you two would –" "What? That we could learn to be 'friends'?" Lily's voice rose louder and louder until she was yelling with frustration. "Well I didn't even get a chance, did I! Why are you even here, bothering me – you should be annoying him!" Lily turned away, her face bright red, clearly too angry to even speak. Rose opened her mouth, but Jane shot her a look which spoke volumes. The only way Lily would calm down was if she was left alone for a few minutes – Lily's temper was fiery and quick to ignite, but she could never hold a proper grudge (except against Malfoy of course – Merlin knows he deserved it).
A few minutes later Lily turned back around slightly pale and apologised for yelling. "I'm sorry Rose, I know you mean well, but he's just so – ugh." As Rose mumbled back something I thought about how nice their relationship was. Lily and Rose weren't particularly close – due more to their widely different interests than anything – yet they clearly loved each other and continually tried to help each other: no matter how much they stuffed it up.
Grace sighed inaudibly. If only her family were like that. Her witch mother had been swept off her feet after meeting her muggle father – yet soon after she gave birth to Grace and her brothers Nick and Daniel (they were triplets) he disappeared – leaving their mother a broken shell of her former self. She had left them to pretty much fend for themselves, as she spent most of her days weeping inconsolably in her room. Grace had turned out to be a tall, curvy honey blonde like her mother had been (Grace had pored over old photos when she was a little girl, trying to hold onto as much of who her mother had been as she could – but although her brothers were eerily similar to her [not that she would admit it to anyone] – so what if they were tall, muscly, thrill seekers – they had black hair and were in Slytherin and that was enough for Grace). She had severed all ties with them at the start of the summer holidays after second year. Daniel and Nick had decided to move in with the Weasley's, abandoning her and their mother. Whenever Grace saw them with Hugo Weasley (Lily and Albus' cousin, Rose and Jane's little brother) she didn't even acknowledge their existence. Grace sighed again (even though she was rarely the sighing type) – blood family, you can disown them, but you can't murder them in their sleep. Grace far preferred her adopted family of Lily and Evie and that was all that needed to be said.
LilyAs Lily nibbled her cauldron cake she couldn't help but feel disappointed in Al. He knew Grace hated her brothers, but he still continued to try and force them into situations where 'they would simply have to talk to each other' – Lily knew he meant well, but surely Al could listen to the 2 people who knew them best (Lily and Hugo) who 'simply knew an approach like that wouldn't work!' Instead, it resulted in this: a deadly quiet train compartment, where no-one wanted to look each other in the eyes. Lily was trying to think of something to say to break the tension when she felt Stella wriggle. She leaped from her seat only to halt when the other girls looked at her, expressions of confusion across their faces. "Umm, I'm going to the bathroom, Grace, Evie, you coming?" When they just stared at her (When did Lily Potter ever need company to visit the bathroom?) she raised her hand to her neck where Stella wriggled invisibly and glared meaningfully. Jane caught on first and turned to Rose. "So, err, have you started reading the books for this year?" As Rose launched into a lecture on all the topics Rose and Jane would be studying, Lily waved impatiently to Grace and Evie, whispering "Come on!"
As they hurried towards the nearest bathroom, she whispered "It's Stella! She just woke up!" Lily could have laughed at the look of slow realisation on their faces if she wasn't so scared Stella would wake up and start barking – for all of the ingenious quality of the pouch where Stella lay hidden, it didn't have sound reducing qualities, as Lily had expected Stella to sleep until they got to Hogwarts. Lily quickly shut the door behind them and locked it. Grace pulled her wand out and cast a quick muffliato spell (Lily's dad had taught them a few handy spells like this, but made Lily swear to never use it on her family, and he would ensure she got her privacy). Lily knelt on the gently rocking floor and carefully pulled Stella out. She blinked slowly (still more asleep then awake) at the three excited faces peering down at her, then slowly wagged her tail. As Evie and Grace cooed over how absolutely adorable Stella was, Lily pulled out a small bowl and filled it with water.
After Stella had drunk her fill, Lily pulled out her bag of spiked dog treats and gave her one. "These were supposed to last for at least 7 hours instead of barely 4, but I don't want to give her an overdose." As Evie held Stella Lily opened the pouch to put Stella back in. Grace stared at the spot where Stella's seeping form was disappearing. "But how do you make her invisible?" "Dad gave me a mokeskin pouch last year 'to keep my treasure's safe'. I'm the only one who can open it. But I needed Jane's help to make it okay for Stella. She used Aunt Hermione's enlarging spell, but modified it to let air in."
Evie's eyes went round. "But that is a really complex bit of magic!" "Well she got Rose to tell her how to do it, and I helped with the actual spell part – Jane really is amazing though, and she had to do the potion for keeping Stella asleep." Grace winced, remembering what most of Lily's potions classes ended in. Then she smiled, "Definitely worth it though – Stella is the cutest thing I've ever seen!" Lily laughed. "And Evie was worried that all this trouble wouldn't be worth it!"
Lily walked out of the bathroom, still laughing, only to crash into a wall. Strangely, the wall seemed to be breathing and wrapped with corded muscle; it even made Lily feel safe, and she had a sudden urge to give the wall a hug. Luckily, Lily looked up before she threw herself onto the wall in time to see … Scorpius.
A/N: So I really hoped you all liked it, I'm so glad to have finally uploaded it. Please, please review, it really helps me to write! I hope to have the next chapter up in a week.
