For the Game of life challenge prompts: tremble, Scorpius/Lily Luna, genre: angst.
For the 50 characters, 50 prompts: Dean Thomas - Involuntary - Kelly Clarkson, Miss Independent
Dean Thomas was the new potions Professor this year and things were going just about right for him. He had room and board. He got decent pay. He was enjoying living at Hogwarts once more. In fact, it was kind of like old times, he had to admit. A lot of the students looked just like their parents, students he once went to school with. He didn't have any children, which, while it made him extremely jealous to see the kids of his former classmates, he was extremely glad he didn't have to deal with kids like Scorpius who was exactly like his father. An arrogant prick of a Slytherin. However there was other students that made him glad to have become a teacher.
Lily watched herself carefully. She'd been tricked and messed with more times than she cared to admit. Her father knew some of it, but only some because he'd grown up with a Malfoy too. However, he could never know the extreme Scorpius took it to. Like his father before him, he picked on Gryffindors. His main target being her. She literally had to watch herself, lest he send some tickling curse at her or something else. Who knew what other tricks he might do this coming year. It was his last year after all. She made sure to always hold her own though. She would not let him get away with it this year. She needed to grow up. She was a very independent girl, never relying on her family name. But sometimes it was a curse and always followed her.
That was the case with Scorpius. He was harsher on her because she was a Potter. She'd been very careful to try to not attack him back, but this time, she was going to strike first. Plans were already in action. She'd sent a letter to a local shop requesting 100 live snakes. They weren't poisonous, but Scorpius wouldn't know that. She grinned at her brilliance.
Scorpius and his friends walked by and she watched him walk up the stairs. He had it coming. She grinned to herself and walked back towards her dorm rooms as soon as she saw Scorpius heading towards his dorm rooms. She passed by Professor Dean Thomas, their newest Potions teacher. He seemed to be distracted by something, which was better for Lily's mind, since she was sure her face showed her excitement, making her look like a madwoman.
She quickly made her way up to her dorm and noticed that the dorm seemed quieter than usual. Perhaps that was because she normally would be in class by this time. She needed time to plan and think. Some of the older students were wandering up to their rooms or playing wizards chess. She just had to make sure she didn't run into her older brothers. They would never approve of her skipping classes. She made her way upstairs and grinned to find a note left on her table.
"Miss Potter,
The Package you requested will arrive within the hour. Please make sure to keep the snakes in an enclosure. You will be charged if any snakes get away. The rate is per hour, so please return them in a timely manner.
Friggin's Exotic Animals"
Lily grinned and picked up a quill and parchment and wrote a note to Malfoy.
'Scorpius, please meet me in the Potion's room during dinner. We need to talk. Alone.
Lily.'
She hoped that he'd show. She was pretty sure that he'd at least be curious enough to show. Now it was a waiting game.
Dean noticed the smile on Lily Luna's face and it caused him to smile some. He'd not been sure about coming back to Hogwarts. In fact, it was because of his friend Harry that he'd had a shot at this position. He'd gotten the most from Harry's recommendation. There were some perks to going to school with him, it seemed.
Now, he had to deal with Harry's kids. That was a different story. He remembered just how much Harry broke the rules. His kids... they were worse. Not that he was able to do much about it, because it was really hard to catch them at it.
However with a smile like that, Dean knew that Lily Luna had to be up to something. He noticed her heading to her dorms and sighed. He'd catch her at something later. He was pretty sure he'd be able to find her later. She was skipping a class, which should be enough for him to punish her, but he needed to do something worse if he wanted satisfaction for catching a Potter doing something wrong.
Before she knew it Lily was heading to the owlery where 5 owls had lifted the giant box to the roof. She just needed to get it downstairs. Luckily she was smart enough to look up the quickest path from her father's map down to the classroom. She raised her wand and pulled out the map. No one would catch her now. She was sure of it.
Dean saw Lily coming from upstairs and he wandered down a nearby hall. She was anxious and had a box levitating in front of her and a paper in her hands. He watched her, but followed from a distance. He needed to make it seem like he wasn't following her. He made a U-turn around the stairwell and made sure he was watching anywhere else. She was making her way down the stairs in a very familiar pattern that he'd taken many times. She was heading to the Potion's lab.
He walked down, taking the other stairwell and made his way to a hall connected to the same as the one she was taking. She checked around the corners before making her way in and Dean made sure he was out of site as she closed the door. He was about to go forward to catch her in whatever she was doing, but then he saw Scorpius heading towards the room. All this to meet with a boy? He sighed and rolled his eyes. Of course this was all to meet with a boy.
Lily walked forward and was soon down in the Potion's classroom. She'd almost had some runins with Professor Thomas, but he seemed to be heading somewhere else. He kept wandering the halls. Maybe he was trying to catch someone, but she was off his radar. Thank Merlin. She placed the box near the door. She could hear slithering against the wooden sides and her grin widened. She sat down and watched the door. "Mischief Managed." She said as she put the map inside her cloak, keeping it from the sight of someone like Malfoy.
"Potter." Scorpius said, walking in. He closed the door behind himself and walked over, crossing his arms, standing very close to her. "What do you want?" He asked with a roll of the eyes.
"Well, I was thinking that we've been bickering for a long time." She said, standing up and walking over to the door. He watched her, tilting his head, curious. "I want to make it up to you."
She opened the crate and snakes came slithering out and she saw Scorpius open his mouth and close it, jumping back and onto one of the desks. He let out an involuntary scream. Lily rolled her eyes. "Really Scorpius. What kind of Snake are you?" She asked with a smile. Even from where she was standing she could see him tremble from fear. Oh, the sight of this was delicious. She watched as he tried to jump to a farther desk. Suddenly the desk started to fall and Lily screamed and ran over, catching Scorpius before he fell on the floor. She collapsed beneath his weight.
Scorpius was quick to his feet and although he was scared of the snakes, he reached out a hand for her. She shook her head. "Don't." She said, not feeling like making a complete fool of herself. As much as she'd wanted to scare him, she hadn't expected to nearly hurt him or worse. Scorpius shook his head as if shaking away his fear and kept his hand out.
"Lily Luna, you are a crazy little witch. But you planned this all out and that amazes me. Now let me help you up and then we'll get out of this room of snakes."
"I actually need to get them put together and sent back."
"Lily..." Scorpius sighed. He leaned forward and kissed her. She raised an eye and tried to pull away, but he pulled her close and held her. When he pulled away, he was looking into her eyes. "Leave them. I can afford to put anything into this. I just need to get away from them." He was still trembling slightly, but she had to admit, he seemed calmer in her arms. And as she looked into his eyes, she had a realization hit her.
"Why do you always pick on me Scorpius?" She asked, watching his eyes twitch.
"I like you Lily." He finally admitted. "Please-please can we get away from here?"
That was why he always picked on her?! She actually felt a smile growing on her face. "Yeah, let's go." She said. She took his hand and she pushed garden snakes out of the way with her foot and headed towards the door. When they reached the door, she opened it and Scorpius was out of there quicker than she thought possible. She closed the door before any could get out and she turned towards Scorpius. "I'm sorry for tricking you."
Scorpius shook his head and pressed her against a wall, kissing her. "I am very glad you did."
Dean had heard the scream and was about to go in when he saw the handle to the classroom turn. He quickly ran behind a suit of armor and watched as the two walked out hand in hand. He almost gave away the spot he was watching from when he saw them kiss. Lily and Scorpius? He watched from behind a knight statue. Suddenly Peeves popped out from behind him. "Ooh, this professor likes public displays of affection!"
Dean blushed furiously, stepping out from behind the armor. "Umm, I won't give you guys detention if you don't repeat what Peeves just said."
"Deal!" Both said and ran off. Dean sighed relieved and opened the door to the potion's classroom. Snakes slithered out and Dean groaned. "Damn it Potter!" He yelled and Peeved laughed and flew off. Why had he decided to become a teacher again?