A/N: Well, here's another chapter. I'm not sure if I introduced Lily before, but she's here in this chapter and I absolutely love writing the way I portrayed her (kind of reminds me of a famous, redhead, daughter-of-Harry-Potter version of myself. Once again, please review or favorite or follow my story, it really gives me motivation to keep going with it and updating as much as I can :)
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August 31st was always the longest day of the year. Summer's over, so there no hope of doing anything exciting, and the day you leave for the best school in the world is a whole day away. On top of that, there's little to no hope of getting rest when thinking about the train ride at 11 the next morning. In more simple terms, August 31st, other than March 17th, the day after my birthday, is the worst day of the year. I mean, who likes waiting another 364 days until they receive presents and surprises and time with your friends?
Al and I were both seventeen, so this day before school was a bit different than the others. My brilliant best mate snuck off while we were in Diagon Alley to one of the stores that supplied the best firewhiskey in Wizarding London. I hadn't realized it until I went through my duffle bag, when I dug down to the bottom of my sack to grab a clean pair of trousers and my fingers came across cold glass. I didn't pull it out, but the Slytherin smirk automatically came out.
Dominique and Rose were at the Potter's as well that night, but they were both in Lily's room, respectively. Last year on this same night, Fred and James, Hogwarts' most trouble making duo since the former's namesake and his brother, had provided them with the same strong drink. It had become a tradition, of sorts. Al's Uncle George even showed them how to cure a brilliant hangover potion.
Once the Slytherin boys heard Harry and Ginny retire to their bedroom for the night, Al turned my duffle bag inside out to grab the dark amber liquid. "You know," I commented as he summoned two shot glasses into the room. "Turning my things inside out was much more work than, say, reaching your hand in once and pulling the bottle out."
"Yeah, and you know I've never been the..." Al trailed off for a moment as he poured the firewhiskey into the glasses which landed in a sloppy plop. "Brightest Potter in Godric's Hollow," he finished before downing the alcohol in the glass with ease.
Now, this wasn't necessarily true. Sure, Harry Potter and Ginny Weasley were both remarkable wizard's and Lily really knew how to work her way with a wand, she was extremely gifted with beauty charms. James, on the other hand, scraped by in school without little effort, investing most of his energy into being a professional Quidditch player. Sure, Al didn't have fantastic grades, but he was really quite skilled at Potions. Slughorn, old and famous-craving as ever, idolized the middle Potter. Al, however, knew how to throw quite the pity party.
"Our final year starts tomorrow, mate," I commented, instead of what I usually did- point out that he was smart, and that he was a dolt for not believing so. "Crazy how time flies by."
"Soon we're going to have to figure out what we want to do with the rest of our lives." His voiced was somewhat dazed, but mostly stressed. Hell, I was second in our class and had a bunch of NEWTS in front of me, and I still couldn't even tell Slughorn what I was thinking of going into during our career meeting fifth year.
"We're going to be adults." Finally, I took initiative to drink from the cup. As soon as I emptied it, the glass refilled itself and the difference depleted from the bottle a few feet away from us. Al really was clever, despite what he may convince himself of. "Not just seventeen year olds. We'll need to get jobs and flats and..."
"Ugh," Albus practically groaned. "Scorp, let's not. We have another whole year to think about how we're never going back to Hogwarts again. Let's think of something else... Anything else."
"Quidditch," we said in unison. That, like many others, was a time that I was well aware of why we were best friends.
"Are you ready to be captain?" I asked.
"Of course I am!" He practically barked and stood up, probably to quickly on his bed. "Gryffindor won't know what hit them. James might've driven them to victory for the past two years, but Dom isn't as fit as he was to be captain. Snakes will dominate!" During the last few words of his dialogue, Al's very commonly used hand gestures took a turn for the worst and knocked over one of his silver-shaded lamps.
Surely enough, the nosiest of the Weasley-Potter clan, the girl with the Devil-red hair, Lily Potter came pattering through the room, her ears practically perked up. "What the bloody hell is going on in here, Al?" her demanding tone hit both me and her brother a lot louder, most likely because of the firewhiskey coursing through our bloodstreams.
"You better watch that mouth of yours, Lils. Wouldn't want daddy hearing his angel swear like a sailor," Al began to slur slightly, not too intoxicated but enough for Lily to catch it.
"Daddy also wouldn't want to see you halfway to being drunk off your sorry arse," Lily said, and ever-proud tone lacing her voice. In her self-righteous, princess manner, she continued, "And daddy won't have to know. Not unless you let your dear sister and favorite cousins join you."
I snorted, and Lily twirled her hair around and cast her death-glance on me. I shifted in my spot, that girl was bloody terrifying.
"Would you like to add something, friend of my brother's whom I can easily tell my dad that they are a bad influence?"
"Well, miss perfect daughter of Harry Potter who can do no harm, all I was hinting at was that I hardly think Rose will be up to a few shots of the strongest drink straight out of Diagon Alley," I coolly tried to deflate the fiery Potter in the room.
"Well, Scorpius, I hardly think that you know my cousin as well as I do," Lily crossed her arms over her chest and stuck her nose up. "All of us will be here shortly. All of us, Scorpius." It really made me wonder how one girl could be so childish yet so terrifying at the same time. The whole lot of the Weasley women made my head spin with confusion.
I felt my heart pick up pace a little as Rose, night clothes and all, walked into the room behind Dominique and in front of Lily. "You gits!" Dom squealed and sat herself down next to me, but not before smacking my arm. "If I had firewhiskey, I would've told you two right away." Lie, thought, she'd probably call up her boyfriend and get him to come over.
"Of course y'would, Dom," Albus rolled his eyes and conjured another two glasses, rather begrudgingly, at that. I didn't have any siblings, and though I always wanted them Al tried to convince me that siblings were menaces (with James and Lily as his brothers and sisters, I can't blame him). I couldn't really blame him, they really weren't that pleasant. The part of their relationship that appealed to me was that at the end of the day, they always had each other's backs. Wasn't that was family was supposed to be about?
"Way to include Rose Al," Lily sneered in reference to the Head Girl not receiving a shot glass, directly causing her brother to give the ever so common, 'I-wish-you-had-never-been-born glare.'
"Lily Luna." Salazar, she hated when people used her middle name, it made her all the more livid. "You know quite well that Rose isn't allowed to drink." Drink, obviously, having the negative connotation of drinking to get drunk.
"Not allowed?" I asked. "Al, I'm pretty sure that you're not allowed to drink, either." The room paused for a moment, an 'awkward turtle' silence encompassing us.
"Well, Dad very well knew that Al was shit-faced at his joint birthday party with Uncle Neville in July," Lily welcomed the opportunity to hurl anything she could at Al. I truly wondered where her and Dom got the desire to always be the center of attention; the other hundred or so of their cousins absolutely abhorred it. Like the brat she was, Lily was always closer to James who was confident, spoiled and a narcissist like she was. "He was very disappointed in you."
"Shut it," Albus snapped and pushed his glasses closer to his face with a rough shove. "Scorp, Rose doesn't do anything she's not allowed to do, you should know that by now." Cue death glare from said flower. "Lillian, your life is Dad's most emotionally stressful disappointment."
"Clever," Lily retorted, expressing her attitude even further with a flip of her long, straight, fire-engine red hair. "What a pathetic claim, considering I'm obviously dad's favorite. I'm his little princess."
"I would say your simply Dad's favorite girl, but James is in the running for that as well."
From what I've gathered, both Harry and Ginny Potter were emotional (namely aggressive) people. I'm no biologist, or whatever it's called, but I'm pretty sure every one of the Potters (namely Lily) inherited this trait. Alcohol, my friends (namely the strongest firewhiskey in London), doesn't necessarily help this cause for the people involved, but it was a right laugh for those of us who had the pleasure of observing. I even saw Rose crack a grin or two.
"See, this is why we don't invite you to parties in the Slytherin Common Room," the Harry-Potter-look-alike continued his rampage. "You're so aggressive and bitchy, especially when you drink. Why can't you be all giggly like Dom?" Of course, Dominique let out a chortle, having remained relatively silent during this spat, watching it like she would a muggle tele program.
"Maybe you'd prefer me to be a man-slut like Scorpius?" This particular comment elicited a protesting 'Hey!' from me, the 'man-slut' of the room. A more passionate response, however, came from the girl who never ceased to surprise me- Rose.
"Lily," a scolding tone was hurdled at Lily who was rather unaffected by it. "I told you not to use rape-culture terms. Is that the type of society you want to promote?" The two girls began a disagreement of their very own, Rose infinitely more calm than Al was, but I clocked out for a bit. All I could pick up was Lily whining, 'Gosh Rose, you're so serious all the time.' Dom, as means of explanation, leaned over and brought her lips closer to my ear.
"Rose is this feminist. Dunno where she picked up on it, but around third year or so she read this book and became obsessed," the drunk part-Veela filled me in. "Hates it when we use words like slut, hoe, skank... that medley of insults." So, her mum must have passed down being obsessed with a cause, the elder witch being the equality of magical creatures, her daughter of women.
After a few more verbal spears, Rose suddenly became withdrawn, so she retired for the night. Dom followed her, and Lily was conflicted. She had a fight with her brother and cousin, so where did that leave her? Albus hinted, bluntly, at that, towards his inclination to her leaving, but Lily still had to be forced out of the room by me, designated bouncer/bailiff.
"Women," Al muttered, taking a swig from the last of the firewhiskey bottle. Git.
"Women," I agreed.
Waking up the next morning wasn't as terrible as every other one of the year was- solely for the reason that in just a few hours, I would be back at Hogwarts. Mr. Potter- er, Harry- always spoke of how we had a connection that he didn't have with his kids, or any of his nieces and nephews either. We didn't have homes that we considered to be our, you know, homes. Malfoy manner was always cold, barren, and too large to be considered somewhere you live, it was more of a result.
Al, I don't think, was as enthusiastic as getting up as I was. "Al," I had to repeat a few times before I even got a grunt of a response. "Bloody hell, everyone in this house has already taken a shower. Get up or you'll be smelling like you took the piss just a few hours ago. Oh wait, you did." Grunt. I smacked a pillow onto his back, which also didn't work. Finally, I took out my wand and cast an Aguamenti over his sorry arse. It got him up, but he also didn't speak to me for quite a while after that.
We met my family once we arrived at the platform, the tension between the Weasley-Potters and the Malfoys not any less palpable than it was that first time after first year. I had already informed them of my new Head Boy title via mail. Nonetheless, mother came rushing over to me in excitement. She pinched my cheeks, giving color to my pale skin and squealed in my ear about me being her baby boy, making her proud and whatnot.
"Astoria, love, don't permanently damage the boy's hearing," Father said sternly, but mum practically ignored him in return. Many people who had seen them in action testified that they were the perfect balance of warm and cold. "Who's Head Girl, Scorpius?" Immediately, I looked over to where the mound of differently shaded red-heads were gathered.
"Rose, uh- Rose Weasley, that is."
"Granger's girl?" Granger?- oh, okay, Hermione. I nodded. "Word has been spewing about the girl." Word about... Rose? I hated when he did this- mention things about what goes on in the ministry, then not elaborate. Bloody annoying, it was. We said our goodbyes, and right before I got on the train, I felt a light tap on my back.
I turned around to see Hermione, about a head smaller than I was, standing next to me. Though she was asking me for, in simple terms, a favor, her recent behavior made her even more of a pseudo-mother to me.
"I just wanted to say, thank you, Scorpius. For trying with Rose." I smiled at her sheepishly.
"Your welcome, Hermione. I..." No, telling her I care about Rose would probably not be the best idea. "I'll try my best this year." She gave me half a hug, and I boarded the Hogwarts Express, smile wide. Only a few hours until we would get back to the castle.
I made my way down to the last compartment, where we (Al, Thom Zabini, Dylan Nott, Liam Black and I) had claimed since third year. Adjacent from us were the Weasley's, with the evolution of Teddy Lupin (honorary Weasley), Victoire, Roxanne, Molly, Fred and James, Rose, Dom, Lucy, Louis, Lily and Hugo.
Al was wearing his captain's badged, which he certainly not wearing when we life the house. More than likely, Mr. Weasley (Ron, that is), made him wear it. The only disappointment he had in his daughter was that she didn't play Quidditch. It reminded me to dig my hand into my pocket to get my own badge out. Whilst I was retrieving it, the compartment door burst open.
"You don't even have your Head's badge on?" Dom asked, then waved her hand in the air. At her words, the all the blokes fell silent, for our mates got mesmerized by the 1/8th Veela. "Never mind. Why aren't you at the first compartment? You're supposed to be running the meeting with Rose."
"Don't be pushy, Dom," I groaned, not wanting to go all the way across the train just yet. "I still have-" I glanced down my watch and swore profusely "Negative five minutes."
"Unless you have a time-turner handy, mate, I suggest you get you arse down there." Al whistled in advisement. "Rose'll have your head if she has to give a whole speech alone." Hell, he would've been been right if I hadn't sprinted through the train, my fear driving me to get across the train in record time.
The muffled sound of whispers stopped as soon as I entered the room. Rose, who was sitting between Hugo and Lily, stood up. Her face, though virtually impossible to read, did not give me the inclination that she was impressed by me.
"In case you didn't know, my name is Rose Weasley, your new Head Girl from Gryffindor house," she spoke with a strange confidence that I hadn't personally seen before. She then looked at me expectantly, and I ran a hand through my hair uncomfortably. I was nervous, not because of the 24 prefects looking to me as their leader, but because of the Head Girl herself.
"Uh, I'm Scorpius Malfoy, Slytherin." Rose's lips were pursed as I spoke, then continued about the duties it took to be a prefect (aimed towards the new lot) and handed out the schedules for rounds. Damn, she was good at this leading stuff. I was oblivious to the amount of work I should've done, and what was supposed to be a two person job, she did on her own. When the meeting was over, everyone shuffled out, but as I left I felt a familiar-feeling hand on my shoulder.
"If you're going to be Head Boy, give more than a half-ass effort. I take this seriously, as should you." I couldn't muster out a response, because all I could think about was how Rose's hand was on my shoulder.
I promise, I'm not this blubbering ball of a man when I'm around other girls. As previously stated; I'm a bit of a man-slut. I don't just toy with girls for the fun of it, and I let them know that I'm not into commitment before we have more contact with each other than a casual 'Hey' in the Charms corridor. When I say I'm not into commitments, it's because of her. Rose. For some reason, my mind always carries me to the idea of 'What if I was here with Rose?' or, 'What if I was kissing Rose?' She's intoxicating, and unreadable, and mysterious but not in so many ways. I'm not obsessed. I'm just fascinated by her, is that so wrong?"