Hello everyone! This is my first time writing a Harry Potter fan fiction. I would like to thank my beta reader, Teenage Mouse, for really pushing me to just come out from behind my lurking corner and write this bad boy. I based this fic off of a story from another fandom I really enjoy. I will let you read and see if you can figure out what that other fandom is. Also this fic contains Scorbus so if you're into that, like I obviously am, I hope you enjoy the story. With that said, please enjoy.

Chapter 1

Lily Potter sat alone in a compartment on the Hogwarts Express. She watched the scenery dash by with a half-dazed gaze through a partially fogged window. It looked very cold outside, despite being warm in her compartment. At the moment the sun was barely peeking through the dark gray clouds as they gathered in the sky. She knew a storm was on it's way and would probably beat her to Hogwarts.

For the first time ever, she was the only passenger on the old train. The Trolly Witch only came by once offering her a pumpkin pasty, which she declined. Her older brother and his best friend had alerted her to what the Trolly Witch's pumpkin pasties really were, and despite her intrigue she decided she didn't want to find out if her brother had been telling the truth.

It was the last week of October now. Normally, students would head to Hogwarts at the beginning of September, but Lily had spent half her summer vacation and the first few weeks of term studying abroad in Africa at their most prestigious wizarding school, Uagadou. Lily had discovered she had a talent for spell casting and transfiguration, so Professor McGonagall recommended she spend some time at Uagadou to try her hand at wandless magic. Though her mother and father had been reluctant at first, she had worked her only daughter/youngest child magic on Daddy and next thing she knew she was on her way to Africa.

She had been surprised to find that wandless magic came easily to her. At first it had been odd to cast spells without a wand but it felt almost natural now. It had been very difficult for her to leave Uagadou. She had just begun to make friends and found great joy in learning about other cultures. She had even considered staying at Uagadou for the rest of the year, but Lily also could not shake Hogwarts from her mind. It was her true home after all, and She had a close-kit group of friends waiting for her. She could travel to Africa again someday but she only had a few more years left at Hogwarts and then she would have to leave it.

Lily let loose a calm sigh as her mind went from Uagadou to Hogwarts. She wondered how her friends were doing. Were they as excited to see her as she was to see them? She then thought of her brother, Albus, and his best friend, Scorpius, who were now in the 6th year. She was very excited to see them. Over the past year and a half,she had become close to both of them. Due to a series of crazy events, she had almost lost her brother in her 2nd year. It had really opened her eyes to the value of her family and she had made it a point to spend more time with her aloof older brother.

At the time, she was unsure about the younger Malfoy, who was, and probably still is, attached to Albus at the hip. She had come to find that Scorpius was a little strange, but very funny and easier to get along with than Albus. Scorpius had saved her several times from failing multiple exams, and he always had a funny pun up his sleeve, ready at any moment to use them. He and Lily had even started to keep a small notebook of their favorite puns. At the beginning of her 3rd year, she and Scorpius had even come up with a silly handshake. They always greeted each other with the handshake, mostly to get a reaction out of Albus, who pretended to not like it.

Albus, on the other hand, had been reluctant to indulge her neediness at first, but never really pushed Lily away. She knew Albus had his own issues with Dad and James, but he never really had much of a problem with her. As kids they generally got along, and so connecting again with her middle brother had not been too hard. Albus was always more patient with her than James had been, and always made her feel welcome to hang around, even if she and Scorpius made bad puns. Any time she had a falling out with a friend or issue in school, she knew she could always rely on Albus to be there for her. He was very protective and caring, even if he tried with every last fiber of his being to hide it.

Lily's eyelids became heavy as she daydreamed about seeing her friends and brother once more. As the cozy compartment rattled back and forth, Lily drifted off to a sweet, peaceful sleep.

…..

Lily was unsure how much time had passed when the train arrived at its destination. Hagrid had been the one sent to pick her up and escort her the rest of the way to Hogwarts. He had found her asleep in the compartment and it took several tries to wake her up.

Now she sat across from Hagrid in the thestral-drawn carriage. The old family friend talked on and on about his latest magical pet. The man barely fit in the carriage, and whenever they hit a bump his head made contact with the ceiling. Despite the heavy rain and crisp breeze, the carriage was toasty and comfortable inside. With the sound of Hagrid's gruff, comforting voice and the rocking back and forth of the carriage, it took everything in Lily not to doze off yet again.

Before she knew it, the two had arrived at school. To her delight, her three closest friends were waiting and ready to greet her at the school's entrance.

"Lily!" cheered her Hufflepuff friend, Norma. The bubbly girl charged Lily and tackled her with a large hug.

"It's so good to see you again," added Sandra, a tall, dark-haired Ravenclaw. She strode over with less enthusiasm, but still happy to see Lily.

"I hope this rain wasn't too much of a problem," came the soft shy voice of Lily's third and shortest friend, Mary. Mary was dressed in green Slytherin robes.

The group had all become close in their 2nd year and had decided to be the spokes-girls for house unity, showing that all four houses could get along.

"Girls!" Lily cheered. The group of four shared a warm hug. Seeing her three friends confirmed to Lily that coming back to Hogwarts was the right choice in the end. "The storm was no trouble at all," she added. She looked around to find that her brother was nowhere to be seen. Her smile fell slightly.

"Is something wrong, Lily?" Norma asked.

"Where's my brother. Dad said he would be here to greet me," Lily mumbled in reply.

Her four friends exchanged looks of confusion.

"I saw him this morning in the Slytherin common room with Scorpius. They seemed busy," Mary said in a soft voice.

"Yeah, now that I think about it I haven't really seen them around during free hours," Sandra added. "N-Not that I am looking around for your brother or anything," she said, as a light pink blush graced her cheeks.

"Well, they are probably just busy with preparations for the big celebration at the end of the month. I heard they had agreed to help prepare the event," Norma chimed in.

"Oh right, my dad told me about that," Lily said. "There is some sort of ball thing at the end of the month or something, right? Strangely enough, my Dad said I should talk with Albus of all people if I wanted to help out."

"Yeah, it's to celebrate Harry Potter Day. The day your father first stopped Lord Voldemort as a baby," Norma said dramatically.

"And you're telling me that Albus is helping out with this?" Lily said disbelievingly. Helping out with a school event was not Albus. "I guess I will ask him more about it later… Once I find him, that is," Lily shrugged.

The four friends marched off towards the Great Hall. Lily temporarily wiped her brother from her mind and focused fully on telling her friends all the great things she did and saw in Africa.

Lily went to bed that day without seeing Albus or Scorpius even once.

…..

Lily woke the next morning with a mission to find her brother. As she got ready, she looked out the window to find that the rain had stopped over night and the sun was trying its best to break apart the clouds. She ran down to the Great Hall and joined her three friends at the Ravenclaw table. The four talked about their plans for the day. They had all agreed to help Lily seek out Albus.

After breakfast, Lily and Norma scouted around the grounds in hopes to find Scorpius and Albus lounging around the lake. They had come up empty handed.

Next, Lily checked the classrooms with Sandra to see if maybe they were catching up on work, but they were nowhere to be seen.

After checking every last classroom, Lily waited outside the Slytherin common room as Mary looked around for them.

"It seems they haven't been back since this morning," Mary said with an apologetic shrug.

Lily had finally decided to camp out for her brother in the library. She knew Scorpius would eventually drag Albus this way. Lily could not help but feel a little upset that her brother would not come and see her after she had been gone for so long. She had been certain that Albus enjoyed her company. Perhaps she was wrong.

Lily sat in the library for what felt like decades before giving up. Her friends had come by a few times, telling her they had not seen her brother or Scorpius anywhere besides the Slytherin common room in the morning. It was now almost sunset. She had wasted her whole Sunday for nothing. It astounded her that they had not shown up. Scorpius went to the library at least twice a day. Where could they possibly be?

In an annoyed huff, Lily marched out of the the library. Blinded by frustration, she was caught off guard as she rounded the corner and ran head first into someone. Lily stepped back as she ricocheted off of the other person.

"Sorry," Lily mumbled.

"Watch where you're going!" snapped a familiar voice.

Lily looked up at the individual to find none other than Scorpius glaring right at her. Behind him was Albus, looking a bit spaced out.

"Scorpius?" Lily questioned in disbelief. She had never seen such a snobby, angry expression on the boy's face. She imagined this was what Scorpius's father must have looked like as a child

Scorpius glared at her for a moment before seeming to catch himself. He looked away, almost flustered, and when he looked back at Lily his expression was much softer. Perhaps Lily was just seeing things.

"Oh… Um… Sorry," Scorpius said apologetically. He was now looking a little too submissive.

Lily brushed off the odd feeling and turned her attention to her brother.

"Albus Severus Potter! I have been looking for you all day long!" Lily snapped with a fire similar to her grandmother's.

Albus looked utterly surprised by this. Like he had not expected Lily to address him at all. All that came out of his mouth was a lame 'Ummmm'. Lily watched in utter confusion as the two boys looked at each other for a long moment. Almost as if they had no clue who she was.

"Oh! Lily!" Albus gasped, almost as if he had suddenly remembered something he had long since forgotten.

Lily raised an eyebrow, unsure how to interpret this conversation.

"Where were you yesterday? Dad said you would be at the entrance to welcome me back," Lily said, half angry and half hurt.

"Oh, yeah, right…. I …Uh…. Guess I forgot," Albus shrugged.

"You forgot!?" Lily snapped. She put her hands to her hip and looked at her brother. She had not noticed it at first, but he looked exhausted. "Are you okay?" she asked, her tone much softer now.

"Y-Yeah," Albus said as he rubbed his face. "Just tired is all."

"We have been helping prepare for the ball next week. It has been really busy," Scorpius added.

"I… I'm really sorry, Lily," Albus apologised yet again. "I guess time just got away from me."

Lily could not be upset with Albus, seeing how tired he was.

"It's fine. Don't worry about it. I'm just happy to see you now," Lily said as she went in for a hug.

The hug was very awkward. Like Albus had reverted back to his 4th year self. Perhaps it was a product of his exhaustion.

Lily then turned to Scorpius. She reached her hand out and held it at an odd angle. Ready to initiate their secret handshake.

Scorious looked from Lily's hand to Lily, his nose slightly scrunched.

"Um… What are you doing?" Scorpius asked flatly.

"Our handshake. You know…. The handshake we made up last year," Lily replied, trying to keep her tone positive.

"How childish…. I don't do those anymore," Scorpius scoffed. He rolled his eyes as he spoke.

Lily stood in shock. She had never heard Scorpius talk to anyone like this. He had always been so enthusiastic about the silly things they would do.

"Excuse me?" Lily tried her best not to sound too offended. "It was your idea to make a secret handshake, remember?" Lily grumbled as her hand returned to her side.

Scorpius just looked at her in silence. "I guess I just grew out of it while you were away," he replied coolly.

Lily felt a wave of betrayal sweep over her. How could he be saying this?

"Anyway, we are both very tired and have so much to do in preparation…" Scorpius started to say.

"Dad said I am helping out with the preparation for the party too," Lily interjected.

"Lily, you really don't —" Albus started.

"No, this is a celebration regarding our Dad so you have to let me help if I want to," Lily insisted stubbornly. She was not going to let the two get away with it this easily. They were acting far too strange for her to just turn a blind eye.

"Lily," Albus huffed, as he seemed to look around for an excuse as if it would just appear on the wall.

Lily pulled out her final trump card, one she didn't really like using on Albus and had not had to use in ages. "I will tell Mum and Dad if you don't let me help you," she gumbled. She knew Albus still hated dealing with Dad, despite them being on better terms.

Scorpius shot Albus a worried glance. Albus shifted uncomfortably, as if he had no clue how to handle the current situation. Lily lifted an eyebrow yet again, challenging them to oppose her.

"Fine," Scorpius sighed, as if it were his decision to make. Lily found it very strange how much talking Scorpius was doing. Normally Scorpius was easy to get along with.

"Yeah, I guess you have the right to help," Albus nodded, and looked to Scorpius for confirmation.

"When will we meet tomorrow to get started?" Lily asked, unable to hide her smile.

"How about after dinner before we have to go back to our common rooms. That's when we have been getting together to prepare," Scorpius replied. It was obvious Scorpius was not thrilled to be including Lily.

It hurt her to see this. She was almost certain Scorpius liked her.

"Okay. Where should we meet?" Lily inquired, trying to ignore Scorpius's less than inviting attitude.

"The library," Scorpius said curtly.

Lily looked to Albus to see if he had anything to say. He looked back at her as if nothing odd was happening at the moment.

"Anyway," Scorpius hummed as he looped his arm through Albus's and rested his head on Albus's shoulder. "We are very tired and in need of some rest." He looked at Lily with very calculating gray eyes.

Lily choked on whatever she was going to say at the sight of this. She always had the inkling that her brother and Scorpius were much closer than your average best friends, but something about what she was seeing now rubbed her the wrong way.

"Goodnight, Lily," Albus smiled. It was almost like he did not notice Scorpius hanging off of him.

"Um… Yeah see you tomorrow," Lily murmured. She was still too stunned to react.

With that, Scorpius led Albus down the hall and around the corner.

Lily stood silently in the hallway, watching where she had just seen Scorpius and Albus disappear.

"What the…" she mumbled under her breath as she turned and headed to the Great Hall. Lily walked in a daze as her mind went over the conversation she just had.

She entered the Great Hall and took a seat at the Gryffindor table and began to mindlessly munch on some chicken. She did not talk to anyone as she ate. It wasn't until she was halfway done with her meal that she realized the two had gone to bed without dinner.

…..

Lily was now lying in bed, looking up through the dark at the roof of her four poster bed. She had gotten over the initial shock and was now dowsed in frustration. What had gotten into the two of them? Scorpius was far too snarky and Albus barely said a word. Something had happened to those two. They were not acting normal in the least.

Perhaps it was just exhaustion causing them to act this way. Lily took a deep breath and released it slowly to help calm herself. Yes, she was overreacting. Tomorrow the two will definitely be back to normal, especially now that she was here to help with the preparations for the ball and could take some of the stress of their shoulders. With that, Lily rolled over and slowly drifted off to sleep.

….

So that is chapter one. I hope you enjoyed reading it. I wonder what is going with Albus and Scorpius? Maybe we will find out in the next chapter! Or maybe Lily will wake up and this has all been a dream and she is not really at Hogwarts but a pokemon trainer on her way to become a pokemon master! There is only one way to find out!

Also I would like to thank my beta reader Teenage Mouse once more. She really, really, really, really helped me out with reviewing this fic and encouraging me to write it. If you all have a chance please check out her work as well.

I plan to update this fic about once a week. Most of the fic has been written and is currently in the middle of being edited so I think I should be able to keep a consistent schedule. This fic will have about 6 chapters all together. Expect the chapters to be posted on weekends.

I really hope you enjoyed reading and please leave a review to let me know what you think. I love hearing what my readers think of the stories I write, both the good and the bad.