DISCLAIMER: EVERYTHING BELONGS TO J.K.R.
UPDATE: I'm so sorry I haven't uploaded the second chapter. I'm just very unhappy with it and I haven't had time to rewrite it because I just started school last week and I already have a ton of homework for my AP classes. Enough with excuses, I'm just really sorry to those who have been waiting. Also, thank you to Eto117 and diyame for the replies; I really appreciate them! Thank you so much! Hope to upload soon. (:
Going Back to Hogwarts
Chapter 1: Unsolicited Encounters
It was a normal chilly fall day at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry on a Saturday afternoon of September 10th, 2022. Lily was currently inside the Gryffindor common room relaxing for a few minutes after playing Quidditch all morning long. Being chaser for the Gryffindor Quidditch team is quite the work out, she thought. Though Captain Wood certainly appreciates it.
Lily slipped into a simple t-shirt and jeans, her auburn red hair dripping water on the floor from her shower.
"Going to the forest?" asked Rose Weasley, looking up from a textbook. It was more of a statement than a question, though, because she already knew the answer for Rose was the only one that knew about Lily's ventures through the Forbidden Forest after catching her during second year. Lily tended to stray through the dark forest whenever she felt overwhelmed.
"You got it." Lily replied with a smirk.
"Secret's safe with me." Rose added with a small, worrisome smile, pulling a loose strand of her flaming red hair behind her ear, then went back to her text book.
Lily looked around for her sweater and knapsack, noticing for the first time that Rose and her were alone in the dorm.
"So, where's everyone? Didn't Roxy come back here after quidditch practice?"
"Oh, right," Rose replied, "she ran out a while ago muttering something about Fred, James, and the giant squid," her brows furrowed. Lily dismissed the pang of worry that was brought on every time she heard some sort of comment about James and his pranks.
Pulling her hair up into a bun and securing it with her wand, Lily opened her trunk and started shoving her belongings into her knapsack. A cardigan, her sketchbook, her wand. She pulled on some sneakers, swung the knapsack over her shoulders, and made her way toward the door.
"Oh, hey, er, you should probably use a disillusionment charm, or something. The boys are out doing who knows what out in the grounds. I think they're by the lake, though. Just be careful."
"Oh, all right, thanks. Well, I'll see you later." Lily waved goodbye to Rose before heading out.
At a table in the far right corner of the common room sat Richard Finnigan and Ben Thomas, Lily's best friends, with textbooks open and blank parchment splayed out in front of them.
"Hi, Lily!" Richard called out accompanied by a huge smirk as Lily walked up to them. Ben offered a simple wave, a rather frustrated look shadowed his face. Considering that they're all in their fourth year and have identical timetables, Lily would usually help them with the awfully long essays professors assigned them, but there were times, like now, that Lily was too distraught to offer her much-wanted help.
"You all right there, Ben?" Lily asked with a smirk as she reached the table. He grunted in response.
"Let me guess, History of Magic essay? Finished it yesterday. HA!" she said, nudging him playfully on the arm.
"Well, I'd be able to finish if this prat would stop talking about your cousin." he huffed out as he buried his face in his hands.
"Roxy? Is she who you're going for this month, Richard? Merlin, just last month you were all about Lucy! No. I forbid you from seeing her. Plus, she fancies that really tall Hufflepuff bloke, and why are you always after Weasleys anyway?"
"You want me to pine after you, Potter?" he winked, and she made a gagging noise.
"Oh, come on, you know you love me!" Richard yelled at Lily's retreating back. A couple of third years sitting in armchairs by the fireplace threw him weird looks.
"Shut up, will you? And help Ben with the essay!" Lily remarked, making her way to the portrait hole, suddenly remembering she needed to speak to Albus. "Oh, almost forgot, have any of you seen Al?"
"Either in the dorm, or library. Most likely dorm, though." Ben replied.
"Thanks." Lily sprinted up the stairs to the boys' dormitories, walked across the hall, and knocked on his door.
There was no answer from the other end, except for a shuffling of papers. Lily knocked again. No response. Another shuffling of papers.
"Al..." Lily said in a half-threatening tone. Still, no response.
"Albus." she repeated, annoyance seeping through her voice.
"ALBUS SEVERUS POTTER, OPEN THIS BLOODY DOOR!" she yelled furiously, rapping on the door.
"GAH! I'M GOING, I'M GOING!" he yelled back and opened the door with a book in his hands. He was wearing dark blue pajama pants with golden snitches printed on the waistband. His black hair stood up at random places, and his feet were bare. Albus resembled his father quite a lot; he had the green eyes that no one else in the family inherited, and the black messy hair which only he and James shared. The only thing he got from mum was her beautiful, creamy skin tone.
"Now, what do you want? I was reading!" he hissed. Lily giggled.
"Hate to break it to you, mate, but it's not sleepy time yet." she teased, smirking and pointing at his pants. He gave me a glare. "Kidding..." she continued, giving him a quick hug before entering the room.
"So.. er.. what'd you need?" he asked, hiding the fragile-looking textbook; Lily caught a glimpse of the title: Advanced Potion Making but ignored it.
"Er, I need the Invisibility Cloak. It's just for a few hours, I promise." she whispered to him quickly, even though he was the only one in the room.
"I think it was James' turn last week. Can't remember getting it back from him." He whispered back, scratching the back of his head. His eyes showed fear at the thought of James still having the Invisibility Cloak.
"Are you sure?" Lily said, then walked over to his trunk and found it at the very bottom, followed by a raised eyebrow.
"Seriously?" he gasped, truly surprised. "What? I looked for it there just last night! I needed it to meet up with Ali- er.. to go.. er.. never mind." he said awkwardly. "James probably borrowed it without asking again and tried putting it back before I noticed." he said, trying to recover.
"Meet up with who? Alicia? Is she your girlfriend now? I bet you 10 sickles you were gonna have one of those secret meetings with her like that one night I caught you in talking about how dad used gill-"
"Shut it! Now go away, I'm busy."
"Alright, Merlin, anyway, thanks, Al. See you later!" Lily said as she stuffed the cloak into her knapsack then went out the door.
Lily sprinted down the stairs and waved goodbye to Richard and Ben as she passed by, then went through the portrait hole. She walked down the hallways to get to the doors leading to the grounds. As she got closer, a certain someone got in her way and she almost ran into him. She found herself looking up from a rather shiny pair of black shoes, to dark jeans, to a black button up shirt with the sleeves rolled up, and finally, to the face of a certain blonde. Scorpius Malfoy stood in her way, with his hands in his pockets and a smirk on his smug face.
"Hello, Potter." Scorpius purposefully called her by her last name because he knew it bothered her; he didn't know why, though. Truth was, Lily only disliked it because she got too much attention for it.
His face was inches away from Lily's, and it made her feel uncomfortable as she stared into his gray eyes and he stared down at her into her light brown ones.
"Hello, Hyperion." she greeted back, with a smirk spreading across her face. "100 points to Gryffindor," she thought as Scorpius face turned into a look of disgust and he backed away. He took his hands out of his pockets and crossed his arms. She smiled in triumph as he threw Lily one last glare as he walked away.
As soon as he was gone, Lily skipped off towards the nearest broom closet. She discreetly looked around to make sure no one saw her. Deciding that no one was around, she hurled myself into the closet and took out the cloak, missing the curious steely gray eyes watching her from behind a suit of armor a few feet away.
Once Lily draped the cloak over her, she walked out of the closet and sprinted as fast as she could towards the doors that would take her out to the grounds. She opened them slightly and squeezed her way through them.
Lily ran through the entire way to the Forbidden Forest, and only slowed down a bit as she passed James and his friends so that they wouldn't hear the grass rustling underneath her sneakers. She stopped when she finally got to the edge of the forest. Taking a few steps forward, enough to not be seen by anyone, she slipped the cloak off her petite frame as well as her shoes. She loved the way the soft grass and crunchy fall leaves felt on her bare toes.
Lily wandered off around the forest, with the leaves crunching under her every step, as she searched for the thestral that Luna (Lovegood-Scamander), her godmother, had told her about. Lily had a strange fascination with magical creatures even though she had never gotten the opportunity to see a single creature. Even though she knew thestrals could only be seen by people who had witnessed death, she liked to spend all of her free evenings in the Forbidden Forest, which most students thought was quite frightening, wandering off into the myriad of acres it took up. She visited it on a frequent basis ever since she came across it on her first year by accident.
Tall trees and vines surrounded her, and she gradually distanced herself from the castle, its outline getting harder and harder to make out. The sunlight was dimming as the canopy above her grew thicker, but it was still bright enough to see the texture of the tree trunks and the detailing of the leaves that surrounded Lily. The forest was silent, except for the rustling of leaves and the occasional chirp of birds.
Lily finally stopped walking, finding a tree with intricate branches. She'd stop at a different spot every time she came; her favorite hobby, other than exploring the forest, was to draw plants and flowers she encountered. She sat on the floor and slipped her wand out of her hair, which cascaded down her back in soft, auburn waves. She then transfigured a random rock into a pillow so that she could lean against a tree. The tree had just a few lilac flowers left on it, the rest were crumpled on the floor due to the fact that it was fall. She pulled off her knapsack and took out a leather journal almost completely filled with sketches along with an ordinary muggle pencil and started to sketch the lilac tree.
Every sketch she ever drew was dedicated to a lost loved one; she would name the tree or flower after them – she even carved it on the trunk if it was a tree sketch. A sudden memory of James telling her she had inherited her "looney" side from her godmother popped into her mind and made her smile. She actually found it to be a compliment because Luna was her role model.
Another memory made her way through her mind, one of a tall tree with orange leaves, standing tall and proud in the middle of a bunch of other shorter ones. Lily had dedicated that one to Uncle Fred, the center of attention, the jokester.
"This one shall be named Nymphadora." She giggled out.
As Lily looked up to admire the pattern of the branches, she caught a flash of silvery-white hidden behind a thick tree trunk a few yards away from Nymphadora. She jumped up excitedly, scratching herself rather badly with a sharp, jagged branch on the back of her calve, leaving a rip on her jeans and a small, bleeding wound.
"Episkey." She muttered, pointing her wand at the cut, healing it without difficulty.
"Tergeo." She continued absentmindedly, cleaning the excess blood that had started to leave a stain. All of her concentration was focused on the silvery-white, perhaps she'd finally find herself face to face with a unicorn or some other equally amazing creature. She quickly stuffed everything back in her bag except for the rock-pillow, still not tearing her eyes away from the creature. Lily began to chase it as it started running away from her. Wand still in hand.
She ran faster and faster, despite the fact that she was still bare foot and crunchy leaves weren't the softest things to be stepping on, trying to keep pace with the creature. It gave in, apparently, and it stopped behind a tall bush, obscuring her sight. She stopped at once, too, her short breaths loud in the silence of the forest. She quickly made her way through the trees to finally see the beautiful creature and ended up being thoroughly confused rather than amazed.
Where she thought she'd find the magnificent body of a unicorn, stood a person. A young man. He was hunched over, hands on his knees, trying to catch his breath, too, his back facing Lily. She just stood there, gaping stupidly at his back.
What Lily had thought was the unicorn's mane was his platinum, white-blonde shaggy hair. His black shirt and jeans had a bit of dirt on the shoulder and on the knees, probably from hiding behind trees. His black shoes were covered in mud from a puddle they had passed that Lily managed to dodge.
When the two got their breaths back, he just said, "Potter." A hint of a smirk could be heard in his smooth voice. Lily recognized it immediately, it couldn't be mistaken. It was the voice that all of the girls, except for Lily, seem to fall for. Her eyes opened wide. "Had he been following me the entire time?" she asked herself.
"Well, damn. My secret hide-out is not so secret anymore." she thought, annoyed.
He turned around as he noted Lily's silence. Thoughts were racing through her head. She admitted to herself that she was scared to be alone with him. Also, it didn't help that he was older than her and knew even more dangerous spells and hexes. He was a 5th year and she was a 4th year. Also, he was a Malfoy, his family had been into dark magic for ages, and even though they claimed to have changed, could you really trust Scorpius? "I mean, he is an arrogant git," she explained to herself. "He probably wouldn't even think twice about using an Unforgiveable Curse."
All crazy thoughts aside, Lily managed to look somewhat calm and under control. That was until her almond-shaped brown eyes met his very familiar steely gray ones. The Scorpius Malfoy stood before her, for the second time that day.
"Malfoy." she said in a not-so-convincing annoyed voice; it faltered on the last syllable, going up an octave. She cleared her throat, causing his smirk to grow even bigger. She turned on her heels and started running as fast as she could toward the castle before he could register what she was doing.
"Wait!" he shouted, his voice full of amusement, and it caused shivers to roll down her spine.
She whirled back around to face him again, not really knowing why she would do just what he wanted her to do, but confusion was then replaced by anger.
"Have you been following me, Scorpius? Why do you always have to bother me? What is it that you want, Malfoy?" she spat at him.
"Oh, please, Lily, why is it always this way with you? Is it really that hard to have a simple, nice conversation with a fellow classmate?" he said, trying, unsuccessfully, to make it sound as if he were hurt. His hand made its way to where his heart was supposed to be, if he even had one, Lily though, as if she had offended him.
"Ugh! Just bug off, Malfoy!" she shouted back, and with that, she turned around and started making her way to the castle once again, determined to not look back.
"Wait! I'm not done with you, Potter!" he shouted seriously, as he caught Lily's arm. His hand tightened as she weakly tried to pull away. Lily was now really scared that he was going to hurt her; James had warned her before she started her first year. She tried to scream for help, but the words seemed to be stuck in her throat. He spun Lily around to face him, auburn strands slapping her face at the sudden motion. The wand she had been gripping seconds ago fell to the floor.
"NO!" she yelled when his hand made its way to her neck, but instead of encircling his hands around it to strangle her, as Lily had thought he'd do, he gently caressed his way through her neck the back of her head and pushed her toward him. It all happened so fast and before Lily knew it, his lips crashed against hers, and after a second of shock, she didn't fight it.
Lily jerked awake, feeling a cold splash of water hitting her warm skin and spreading all over her warm, cozy bed.
Author's Note: First off, I hope you enjoyed this first chapter and that it wasn't too hard to understand. This is the second fic I've written, well the first one was a one-shot, but I'm planning to write more chapters for this one. I really do hope everything's sounding right, but if you do notice that something seems off, please leave a comment; I would really appreciate it. I'm already done with the second chapter, I just need to proofread it, and I'll be able to post it soon. Thank you for reading.