Title: Like their parents
Summary: Lily feels low so her older brother, James Sirius, is there to make her feel better. Just some brother/sister fluff.
Disclamer: All characters and the world of Harry Potter belong to J.K. Rowling.
Notes: English isn't my first language so there might be lots of mistakes. :o
Lily Luna Potter was shivering in the cold night. She was sitting on the rooftop of the Astronomy tower, looking into nothingness. She hadn't been able to sleep and the Ravenclaw tower had started to feel too lonely so she had come here. She had used to come here often with his brothers, James and Al. Only few people knew how to get to the room that gave an access to the roof. This had been their secret meeting place. But now it had been forgotten for ages. James and Al were both too busy with school and Quidditch and Lily had her own O.W.L.s. She missed her brothers. She sighed and buried her head into her hands. Everything felt difficult at the moment.
"You know", voice said and Lily jumped a little, "it's not nice to steal from people."
James Sirius, her older brother, climbed through the window, sat down next to her and pointed at the Marauders Map she was currently holding. Lily raised her eyebrows: "You stole it first."
"Yes but I didn't sneak into dad's room and steal it when he was sleeping", James pointed out, "you stole it during my afternoon nap! I was totally defenseless!"
Lily just shrugged, shook her head and turned to look into the dark night. James didn't say anything, but his expression turned serious. He leaned back and looked at his sister. Something was bothering Lily. She had been crying. Her eyes were still slightly red. If something had happened to her during the classes, why hadn't he heard about it? Usually Al or their cousins reported everything forward.
For a moment the two siblings sat in silence and James tried to figure out what was going on. If he hadn't been examining her so closely he would have missed the silent tears that fell to her cheeks.
"Lily what's wrong?" He asked, concerned.
"Nothing", Lily answered and wiped the tears away, "I'll be fine tomorrow."
"Lily."
Only one word. It was full of concern but it was also stern. It told her she needed to start talking or she would have to deal with very annoyed older brother. She wiped her red hair from her face and looked at James. It was unnerving to see her brother like that. James was always laughing and making jokes and pranking people. He wasn't supposed to look so serious and worried.
Lily sighed. Sometimes James was way too stubborn.
"We were practicing a Patronus Charm again today in the Defense Against the Dark Arts", Lily finally said, "with Slytherins."
James didn't need to hear anything else. If Slytherins were involved, no wonder Lily was feeling bad. He wrapped his other arm around her and asked: "What happened?"
"After I was able to summon a corporeal patronus, Mona Matthews got really mad. She yelled at me and said very nasty things about dad and the war. Scorpius and Layla jumped in to defend me…"
"Why is Malfoy in your DADA class since he is on the same grade with Al?" James asked.
"Is that the only thing that bothers you right now?" Lily snapped.
"Sorry, continue."
"You can guess what happened after he got involved. Suddenly Mona and her friends weren't interested in my patronus anymore, Scorpius was their new target. Things got dirty. In the end I don't know who tried to curse who. Layla and I tried to keep Scorpius from attacking them and they tried to curse us. In the end we all had to use our wands. Scorpius is still at the Hospital Wing and we all got detention."
"Are you upset because you got into detention?" James asked, unbelievingly. He had been in detention nearly as many times as their grandfather James. It was nothing to be upset about.
Lily actually grinned at that and shook her head. Sometimes her brother was really dense.
"It's just… We have been at Hogwarts for years", Lily said sighing, "why do people have to bring our parents into every single conversation or fight we have in here?"
"We're always going to be Harry Potter's children and people are always going to bring it up, Lils", James said to his sister, "we can't change that, but we can change how we deal with it."
Lily stared at James, her mouth open.
"That was actually kind of smart, James", she said, grinning, "I'm proud of you!"
"Don't look so surprised", James said, "I can be smart if I want."
He pulled Lily against him and for a moment they sat in silence. Then James pulled back and stood up.
"Time to go back", he said, "it's not good for good little Ravenclaw to wander through the corridors in the middle of the night."
Lily raised her eyebrows but didn't complain, she was tired and it was cold outside. James pulled her up and together they slipped inside. James took the Marauder's Map from Lily and raised his wand.
"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good." James said and the lines appeared into the blank parchment.
He opened the map and checked they were clear. He cursed himself for not taking the Invisibility Cloak with him. Then he remembered that Al had it right now. Nevertheless, they could have used it right now. Together the two Potters made their way into the corridor. James walked first, Lily right behind him. The paintings around them were whispering and snapping James to kill the light. James ignored them and when one very grumpy looking king cursed at him, he pointed the light straight to king's eyes.
"Hey!" They heard a yell.
"Run!" James shouted.
He took Lily's hand into his and together the two siblings ran through the empty corridors. Lily wasn't actually aware where her brother was dragging her. They ran through many doors and stairs and finally the footsteps of the Hufflepuff prefect had vanished into the night. They stopped and for a moment looked around to figure out where they were. James opened the map again.
"We're near of the Gunhilda of Gorsemoor's statue", James finally said, "the corridor is empty but as soon as Beckendorf reaches the other prefects, we're in trouble."
"We have to split up. There is no point in you walking to our tower or me walking to your tower", Lily said, "I'll see you tomorrow."
James nodded: "Okay, but be quiet."
Lily raised her eyebrow. Usually he was the one who was too noisy and got in trouble. James just grinned. Lily smiled and suddenly hugged her brother. James wrapped his arms around her, not really sure what was the hug for.
"Thanks for coming to look for me." Lily said as she pulled back.
"Ah, I needed to make sure you don't lose the map." James said but Lily could hear what he didn't say.
"See you at breakfast." Lily said.
James just nodded and the two rushed into the different directions, Lily towards Ravenclaw tower and James towards Gryffindor tower. It took James only ten minutes to reach the portrait of the Fat Lady. The Grand Staircase was empty. James hoped that Lily had made it into the Ravenclaw tower without problems. He gave the password to very sleepy Lady and walked into the common room. Gryffindor common room was empty except for one person.
"Where have you been?" Al asked from the couch.
"Lily needed a listener." James said and let himself drop beside his younger brother.
Albus raised his eyebrow.
"What! She had a problem and I listened." James said, half insulted.
"And how many problems she got after talking to you?"
"None", James said, rather proudly, "but Hufflepuff's prefect, Beckendorf, nearly caught us when we were coming back."
Albus shook his head but smiled. Then his smile vanished: "Is Lily okay?"
"Yes", James assured, "sometimes it sucks that we're in different houses."
Albus sighed and nodded. He knew Lily enjoyed being a Ravenclaw but it didn't change the fact that he missed his sister. Lily had been at Hogwarts for nearly five years and still Al hadn't gotten used to the fact that she was in different House. Especially at the Quidditch games it was weird to see his older brother and younger sister play in opposite teams.
"We should give the Cloak to Lily", James said, "we have the Map so it would be fair if she got the Cloak."
"You're right", Al admitted, "we have to talk to her about it tomorrow."
James nodded and for a moment the two brothers sat in silence before James yawned widely. Albus shook his head and grinned. They both should be sleeping. The two brother's wished each other good nights and walked into their own dormitories. In his own dormitory James opened the Map again. The small dot with the name Lily Potter was safely in the Ravenclaw common room. James smiled and pressed his head against his pillow. He touched the map with his wand and the parchment wiped itself clean.
Now that Lily was okay, James' next mission was to find out why Scorpius Malfoy was in the same DADA class with the fifth graders. He might be able to find some really good material to use against Malfoy.
No matter what Albus and Lily said, Malfoy was a Malfoy, and it meant war.
Notes: I spend ages thinking which houses Lily and James and everyone should be in. In the end my friend and I decided that Lily should be a Ravenclaw and James and Albus should be Gryffindors. And I put Scorpius into Ravenclaw because I didn't want him to be Slytherin. He's different from his father.