Creativity Month: Different House!AU (Lily Luna is in Gryffindor according to TCC…)

Pairing (friends) Lily Luna/Scorpius

Insane House Challenge: (style) past tense

Word Count: 332

you are who you are (you can't change that)

Lily Luna sat on the sofa, her arms curled around her knees. She felt awful. Her week had been awful. She had never expected the hostility from her brothers. James Sirius was always so nice to her as a kid. She didn't realise that he hated Slytherins so much; she had never thought that he would have insulted her just for being in Slytherin. She couldn't control where the hat put her, she couldn't control her personality, she couldn't control anything. She felt helpless, fat tears slide down her face.

"What's wrong?" a voice said, sitting next to her.

Lily Luna looked up to see Scorpius bloody Malfoy, the child her uncle was always warning her cousin away from. "Nothing," Lily Luna replied, wiping her eyes.

"Rough time?"

Lily Luna looked away, preparing to stand up and walk away. "Hey," Scorpius said, placing his hand on her shoulder. "I know what you're going through."

"You do?" Lily Luna looked up at him with all her eleven-year-old hopefulness. "How can you, you're smart and funny and everyone likes you."

"That's only within Slytherin, though." Scorpius sighed, crossing his hands over his knees. "The other Houses hate me because of what my father did in the war."

"How did you get over it?" Lily Luna asked, watching as his eyes flicked around the room.

"I learned to ignore the pointed stares, and became popular within Slytherin so that there are plenty of people to defend me."

Lily Luna twirled her tan thumbs around each other. "I don't know how to become popular," she mumbled, embarrassed by her lack of social skill.

"It's fine." Scorpius grinned at her, revealing a set of bright teeth. "If you're friends with me, everyone will love you!"

Lily Luna thought that that was a bit arrogant, but it didn't bother her that much because he was offering her his friendship, and therefore his protection. She needed that: especially from James Sirius. "Thank you," she said sincerely. "I appreciate it."

And they were friends forever-more…

~Butter