Chapter 2

Mudbloods and Herbology

By the time Lily had woken up, everyone was already changed and putting on makeup. It was raining, but rain didn't matter to Lily. She was born on a rainy September day so she often connected the two with joy and wonder.

Lily never wore makeup, but clearly everyone except her and Adonia did. Last year, All Lily had wanted was to wear makeup. But now, it didn't matter.

Claudia Sheifler -the black girl she sat on the train with- turned out to be muggle born, but a VERY talented witch. She lathered her face in anything she could get her tiny dark hands on. She very nearly looked clown-ish.

Naomi Wellington was a half-blood, but she boasted of what a great magical family she came from. She had MANY different types of makeup, but didn't share any of it with any of her roommates. It almost seemed if she was taunting the other girls with her supplies. Lily didn't think they were going to get along at all.

Kristin Jacoby put on some lip gloss and eyeliner, but was clearly more interested in Quidditch than makeup, or anything else for that matter.

While Naomi and Claudia's part of the room was covered in muggle photographs of boys and singers, Kristin's section was covered in posters for the Holyhead Harpies, a golden snitch in a case that had rattled throughout the entire night- Thankfully, Lily had brought headmuffs to drown out unnecessary noise- and an autographed quaffle from Marjorie Hugo, the champion of the team. She didn't seem like the sharpest tool in the shed, but her supposed athletic skills would hopefully outnumber that.

"Hey Lily," Adonia quipped from her bed, "You ready to go to breakfast?" Lily hadn't even gotten dressed yet, so she quickly raced over to her trunk and opened up the lid.

She sorted through all of her belongings, before finding her clothes at the bottom of all of her things. "Leave it to mum to pack my clothes at the bottom of everything," She mumbled underneath her breathe, but quickly got into a grey skirt with a matching sweater and Gryffindor tie.

She could see Naomi staring at Lily's outfit and than whispering to Claudia, who immediately burst into a fit of giggles. They had cuter, more low cut shirts and skirts to their mid thighs. Lily had noticed that most girls were buying those at Madam Malkins instead of the more modest ones Lily had bought.

Lily rolled her eyes and followed Adonia to the constantly moving staircases. Most of the Gryffindors were still getting ready, but Lily could tell Adonia liked being early.

It took them 10 minutes to get down to the Great Hall (two of the staircases they were on rotated) and although there weren't as many people there as they expected, there was a fair rush of people going in and out of the cafeteria.

Lily and Adonia sat down at the Gryffindor table and wasted no time getting food. Although the plates magically refilled themselves, the refilling took about 10 minutes to happen, and the second round wasn't as good, as Lily remembered from last night.

Lily put eggs, bacon and some buttered pumpernickel toast on her plate along with a mug of hot chocolate. She hadn't realized how hungry she was until she smelled all the amazing food. She dug in and not even five minutes later, she was onto her second plate.

She was in the middle of a mouthful of eggs when she realized that a Slytherin boy along with his friends were laughing at her eating, mimicking shoveling forkfuls of food into their mouths at a rapid pace.

The eggs went sour and cold in Lily's mouth, but she managed to swallow the food through the lump in her throat. She caught the boys eye and he smirked at her and gave her a little wave.

Lily looked away from them and faced Adonia who was quietly picking at her eggs. She clearly wasn't familiar with British foods such as kippers or black pudding, so she stuck to eggs with white toast and a glass of skim milk. She looked sad, almost as though she had lost a friend.

"You alright, Adonia?" Lily asked, "You seem kinda down. Aren't you excited? First day of classes and all. What are you looking forward to?"

Lily was trying to get Adonia excited. Being around sad people made Lily feel awful, almost as though she had caused them to be that way.

Suddenly, Lily's favorite cousin, Rose popped down next to Lily, Standard Book of Spells Level 3 in hand "Hey Lils," Rose said, hugging her around the neck, "I'm sorry, I couldn't find you yesterday. When you were sorted, I was in the washroom, so when I came back I didn't see you. But I get to see you now, so it's all fine. So tell me everything. Any cuties? Any new friends? Did you know that Professor Longbottom married Luna over the summer? Who would have ever thought those two?" Rose smiled, winking at Lily.

"Rose, this is Adonia Persephone. Adonia, this is my cousin and God sister, Rose Weasley,"

Rose and Lily shook hands, and said hello's and how are you's, but Adonia was clearly in no mood to be conversant. Rose turned back to Lily.

"Well, no nice guys yet, but that arse over there just made fun of me for getting a second plate of food," Lily said, glaring over at the boy.

Rose turned to see who Lily was glaring at and once she spotted who it was, she rolled her green eyes in disgust.

"That's Scorpius Malfoy, the biggest creep at Hogwarts. No scratch that... Biggest creep ever," Rose said turning away from the boy.

"He nearly got expelled last year for harming a teacher with magic, but his grandfather stepped in and donated 300 Galleons to Hogwarts, so they really had no choice but to keep him," Rose gossiped.

That caught Lily's ear, so Rose beckoned for her to lean in closer. Until the clock struck 9 O'clock, Rose filled Lily in on everything that had happened with Scorpius Malfoy.

"And his dad almost went to Azkaban... when he was 17!" Lily was never a gossipy type, but for some reason, this boy intrigued her.

He had silvery blonde hair and a pale complexion, but had a look that made him look innocent, almost afraid. Lily felt something in her stomache and she couldn't tell if it was loathing or sorriness.

The clock struck 9 O'clock and in a second, everyone was piling out of the Great Hall and into Hogwarts to start their classes.

Lily glanced down at the schedule she had made before she went to Hogwarts and saw that she had Herbology first.

While Lily had heard both good and bad things about all classes from both parents, Lily couldn't help but be dreading a class where the sound of a plant would kill you.

She glanced down at the staircase she was standing on that was leading into the dungeons where she would exit to the greenhouse and passed the Slytherin dormitories. The staircase had some first years heading to Transfiguration and Herbology, but it was mostly elder Slytherins who looked at Lily with a mix between disgust and loathing. Lily found it to be a good time to begin to study the buttons on her sweater.

Lily had finally made it down to the dungeons when she felt her right foot hit the back of her left foot, and in a second, she was lying on the ground, her books scattered everywhere.

Lily didn't mind the fall, or the fall or her books going everywhere, but what mattered was what was inside the books. Her drawings.

To say Lily doodled was an understatement. She would create masterpieces in hours, but than destroyed them and started fresh. When she was crying or upset with anything or anyone, she ran to the coffee shop down the street from Grimmauld Place and ordered a hot chocolate and drew. Drawing was her escape from life, even if it just lasted a little while.

She felt the cold granite underneath her slightly bloody palms. It's just a couple of scrapes and bruises, Lily assured herself. The wind was knocked out of her, but otherwise she felt fine.

Lily jumped up and began to grab her books frantically, trying not to react about her drawings which were now being picked up by various Slytherins. Some of them ripped them, some of them crumpled them up into balls so tight you couldn't even recognize the once amazing sketches, but one grabbed the sketch, inches from where Lily was going to snatch it up and studied it. She looked up and saw Scorpius Malfoy, standing over her, grasping the drawing in his hand in his pale callused fingers.

"Oh, Sorry," He mumbled before giving the drawing back to her. He must have been more brave when he was around friends for backup. He began to walk down the hall and out of site.

There was an empty table space next to her roommate Kristin in the greenhouse , who clearly did not want to be seen with Naomi and Claudia who were on the opposite side of the room, giggling at a poor Ravenclaw who had her head hanging low.

Lily waved at Kristin and Kristin waved Lily over to sit down. Lily accepted the invitation and sat down next to the brunette girl who was drawing a girl sitting on a Firebolt, the fastest broomstick in the world. Harry had one, but not even Albus -who was a chaser for the Gryffindor Quidditch team- was allowed to touch it.

Professor Longbottom walked into the room, his back slouched over in the tiniest sense, scratching his thinning hairline. At the mere age of 36, he looked exhausted with bags under his eyes and wrinkled clothing. He saw Lily and plastered on a phony grin, but Lily could see right through it.

. . . . . .

Class was rather uneventful (other than Mathilda Dodgekins being bit by a poisonous Venus Fly Trap) and in a short hour it was over. People went up to Neville and shook his hands, saying that they were glad to meet him.

Lily hadn't understood a word Neville had said. He went on about the Poisonous Waggletrump, that stuns the victim by releasing a toxic fume into the air that could only be cured by... only be cured by... Lily was drawing a blank about what Neville had said a mere five minutes ago. She was frustrated that she wasn't as good at Herbology as James who could go on and on about how the Fruugleheaded WollyPrim could be cut in half and mate with the other half.

She still had dirt of the front of her skirt, which she quickly brushed off before anyone would make a remark about it.

Her fiery red locks, that had been so neatly pulled up in a ponytail at breakfast were in loose greasy ringlets around her face.

She stumbled into the closest bathroom and groped for the sinks, twisting a faucet and splashing cold water onto her red cheeks, hot with embarrassment.

She finally let the tears roll. She cried for missing her parents, for being picked on by Scorpius, for her precious drawings, ruined by some heartless buffoons and for not having many friends at Hogwarts. Her breathe came out in shaky, hiccupy sobs that could almost definitely be heard from outside the bathroom.

After crying for about five more minutes, Lily splashed some more water on her face and stood there, breathing against the sink.

She wiped her nose against her sleeve and walked out of the bathroom, an air of shattered confidence dangling off of her.

. . . . .

By the time of lunch, Lily was utterly exhausted. It turned out she was a very Beater, along with Kristin Jacoby. Her Transfiguration skills were actually quite good. McGonagall was actually considering moving her up to the second years.

Lily grabbed an apple from a basket of fruits at the Gryffindor table and turned to go back to studying when she heard hushed tones coming from behind one of the pillars.

Lily only heard small fragments of sentences, but the words that stuck out the most were "Dating", "Age" and "Gryffindor". One of the voices, Lily could recognize, but couldn't quite put her finger on it. The other voice she immediately recognized as Adonia.

Lily walked past the pillar, but whipped her head around to see Adonia and Scorpius holding hands and seeming to be involved in a very serious conversation.

Lily was revolted by Scorpius and Adonia, so she kept going down the hall towards Gryffindor Tower. She went into her room and tried to read some more about Quidditch, but the image of Scorpius and Adonia dating kept sneaking into her mind.

The last three periods went by in a blur, and Lily avoided Adonia as much as possible. Adonia recognized that Lily was upset, but she didn't keep her distance.

After Potions, Lily raced back to the dormitories, whizzing past everyone at light speed. Adonia tried hard to catch up to Lily, but every time Adonia tried to talk to her, Lily would walk faster.

Instead of going to her room Lily waited in the Gryffindor common room, hiding behind a bookshelf, while Adonia looked around Gryffindor tower. When Adonia retreated to Godric's room, Lily raced out of the room and headed to the lake.

She had heard of how people weren't allowed to swim in the large lake connecting Hogwarts to Hogsmeade, but Albus and James often went down there for quiet time before dinner.

She walked quickly down to the lake side and stared at the lake that wasn't moving in the slightest bit. She sighed and drummed her fingers against her wand. She sat there for several more moments until she had a feeling in her stomach that she wasn't alone.

She heard a twig snap and she whipped around, wand in hand to see Scorpius Malfoy standing alone, looking at Lily with wide-eyed curiousity.

"What are you doing down here?" Lily demanded at the boy, her wand pointed at him. He laughed at her, but didn't mean any harm. She raised an eyebrow and waited for a reply.

"It's a nice September day and it's boiling in the Slytherin common room. I won't be in your way, Potter," He said, spitting out the word 'Potter' as if it tasted bad on his tongue.

"Fine than," Lily said, turning back to the lake, trying to concentrate on relaxing, but she soon saw the lakes once eerie deadness now disrupted. She glanced over at where the direction of the disturbance was to see Scorpius skipping rocks on the waters surface.

Lily rolled her eyes and got up and left the lake. Scorpius continued skipping rocks.