Thanks to UnexpectedInspiration for the review - I'm glad you think I got the character right. He'll be changing pretty rapidly because all the chapters are about a year apart - as said in the summary, these are just snapshots from their lives. Anyway, here's the next chapter. Enjoy!

Library

All through her first year I saw her, rushing about to classes, eating in the Great Hall, studying in the library. Summer holidays came and went and suddenly I was in my third year, and she in her second. I continued to watch her, and nothing I saw repudiated my original hypothesis that she was the same as all the others. Great at quidditch; her brothers were both on the Gryffindor quidditch team. Got good marks, apparently easily, except in Potions and History of Magic; identical to her siblings. Emerging sense of humour; she was related to members of both the original Marauders and the New Marauders.

It was late one Friday night and I was studying in the library when I heard a noise a few aisles away. A light thud, the sound of papers scattering, a soft swear word. Gently dropping my quill onto the desk I stood and went to investigate. Just because I can be an overly curious 14-year-old at times. Someone was crouching down with their back to me, a great amount of newspaper articles on the floor around them. I picked up a couple, clearing my throat lightly so she would know I was there, and she turned. It was her.

"Oh..." I muttered. Hadn't been expecting that. Great, I sound like an idiot.

"Uh... hi." She sounded as surprised as me. Not really hostile though. That was a nice change. "I'm Lily..."

I blinked at her in surprise. "Yeah, I know." She seemed to be waiting for me to say something back. "Oh – Scorpius." As if she didn't already know that. Still, it was the first time I'd ever spoken civilly with a Potter. "Um... here," I gestured my hand towards her with the articles in, only then noticing what exactly they were. Obituaries. "Huh?" I brought them back towards me so I could read the names. There were loads... It seemed like a whole newspaper detailing peoples deaths. I saw the dates at the top of the pages – July 1998 – and suddenly understood what the younger girl had been looking at. Looking up at her, I noticed she seemed suddenly quite embarrassed, not meeting my eyes properly. "Why're you looking at that? Can't you just ask your family about it?"

She shrugged, a little uncomfortably. "I'm daddy's little girl. He's not gonna let me know anything that might give me nightmares. James and Albus are even worse. How else am I going to find out what these people were like?"

I was surprised, I'll admit it. Apparently she didn't like being coddled by her older brothers, although they did it all the time. That they were far too protective was obvious to anyone. "I could tell you some things," I offered suddenly, not realising what I had said until a few seconds later. "I mean... if you wanted... it wouldn't really be complimentary what my dad's told me..."

Once again she surprised me by nodding, taking the remaining newspapers from my hands and stuffing them rather messily back into their slot in the bookcase. "I'm sure it'll be more accurate than what these articles are making out. What's your dad told you about them? Who do you know about?"

"Quite a few... Fred, Colin... a bit about the Lupins, but that's mostly from granddad."

"Colin," she said softly, obviously thinking of her friend's uncle as opposed to her own. Odd girl...

"Well, he was a mudbl..." I didn't really mean anything derogatory when I said the word, I was just used to saying it. Now there's an example of bad parenting. I was swearing by the time I was six. But Lily might not appreciate it, really. "–um, muggleborn... a year younger than our dads. Same age as your mum. I guess you've heard about his camera?"

"Sort of," she replied, leaning back against the bookcase. She had either not noticed or was ignoring my slip of the tongue, I wasn't sure which, but she was obviously interested especially considering that she was listening to a Malfoy, of all people. She really hadn't been told anything if this was so interesting to her already.

I also leaned against the bookcase, careful not to crush the spines and keeping an eye out for the librarian or any wandering Marauders who might take offence to a Potter and a Malfoy conversing. "Well apparently, he always had it with him. Worshipped your dad – my dad was constantly teasing him about it, especially when Lockhart forced him to do joint photos..."

And that was the first time I talked to her.

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