Lily sat stunned on the small stool while the hat was removed from her small head. She could hear clapping echoing through the Great Hall, but it wasn't from her far left like she'd always imagined her sorting would be like. Instead, the Gryffindor table was silent and it was the Ravenclaw table clapping for their newest addition. Slowly, Lily stepped down from the stool and approached the Ravenclaw table before taking a seat beside a girl who had been sorted before her.
As the sorting continued, everybody's attention turned to the next unfortunate soul forced to sit in front of the entire school. Despite that, Lily felt as though every set of eyes had not yet turned away from her, and everyone was still wondering how a Potter wound up in any House other than Gryffindor. As she peered down the long Ravenclaw table, she was relieved to find that the majority were watching the sorting and not her. All but one, of course. While Lily didn't want any eyes on her at all, Scorpius' smile was actually comforting.
After returning the smile, she peered over her shoulder, and quickly spotted Albus and James. Both were staring at her as well, and she could tell just from their expressions that Albus was much more accepting of a Ravenclaw sister than James. She soon turned away from their stares, and was quickly caught up in conversation with the young girl beside her.
Within only a few weeks of school, Lily made a number of friends. A good majority of them were fellow Ravenclaws, but she had friends in every House. Anne, the young girl beside her during the sorting, had quickly become her closest friend, and like Albus and Scorpius, one was rarely spotted without the other. Only when the two sets of friends were separated was in the early morning. Albus liked to sleep and Anne had class, leaving Scorpius and Lily bored until their classes started later in the day.
To pass the time, Scorpius suggested practicing Quidditch. He'd been told that he would finally play in a game during the school year, and Lily had always been so excited to finally play Quidditch. Though their Quidditch sessions were not as intense as real practices, they had fun playing around the pitch throwing the quaffle around.
They took turns playing Chaser and Keeper, and Scorpius proved to be a much more talented Keeper than Lily, but Lily also proved herself to be a promising Chaser. At Scorpius' insistence, Lily attended tryouts and much to her surprise, she was added as a reserve Chaser. In Albus' mocking tone, he explained to Lily it meant Ravenclaw's real Chaser, as well as Scorpius, must get sick or injured, before she even saw the light of day as a Quidditch player. James only laughed at the idea of his tiny sister playing Chase against him. With Scorpius and Anne's support, Lily took their mocking in stride and attended every practice.
Tired and finally clean, Lily returned to the Ravenclaw Common Room after showering in her room. It had been a stormy week, leaving the Quidditch pitch muddy for their practice. Even though she wouldn't play that year, Lily still took practices as seriously as any other player.
Sitting on the couch by the fire, Scorpius appeared to by falling asleep. Anne was seated on the ground near his legs while she wrote on a piece of parchment on the small table. As Lily approached the two, Scorpius peered at her before he laid his head back again.
"Long practice I take it?" Anne asked and Lily only let out a huff of air as she sat beside Scorpius.
"She fell from above the hoops." Scorpius commented and Anne quickly turned to Lily with wide eyes.
"I'm fine." Lily responded promptly, but Anne had clearly not been convinced. "Just a few scratches."
"You nearly broke an arm." Scorpius commented as he lifted his head to stare at Lily, who only shrugged.
"A broom would be harder to fix."
Scorpius laughed and Lily smiled but Anne stared at the two in what appeared to be a perpetual state of fear for their safety.
"Anne, it was an accident." Lily said as she turned to the girl. Anne only drew in a breath as she tucked her blonde hair behind her ear. "And if anything happens, we just go to the infirmary anyway."
Anne remained silent as she stared at the two. When she realized they would never take the possibility of severe injury seriously, she forced herself to continue working on her homework. Scorpius turned to Lily, and the two quickly started their own conversation with Anne acting as a third party listening in.
"I never asked you," Scorpius commented as he sat up straighter. His eyes opened and he appeared to be more awake as he turned his full attention to Lily. "Did you tell the Hat what House you wanted?"
Lily laughed as she turned away from Scorpius and stared into the fire. Eventually she shook her head and turned back to his gaze. "I let it sort me by itself."
"I'm surprised." Scorpius admitted with a laugh as he turned to the fire. Lily's gaze went to Anne and what she was working on, but both were in tune with one another. "You used to be hell bent on Gryffindor."
"I know." Lily answered as a blush slowly crept onto her cheeks. "But there was only one opening for Chaser on the Gryffindor team, anyway."
Anne rolled her eyes and shook her head, but didn't comment. Lily and Scorpius took notice of her response regardless and even snicker silently behind her gaze.
"And Ravenclaw has its perks." Lily added with a shrug. "I don't think I would like to have both of my brothers so close that they could find me whenever they pleased."
"This is the best place to hide from Albus." Scorpius commented and the two started to laugh. Anne finished writing her assignment and turned back to the pair with slightly narrowed eyes.
"Albus is funny." She said in a slightly defensive tone. Lily had thought nothing of it, but Scorpius stared at Anne curiously.
"Do you have a crush on Albus, Anne?" He asked boldly, and grinned as her cheeks turned a bright red. Compared to her blonde locks and soft blue eyes, her cheeks caught quite a bit of attention even as she tried to turn away and hide from Scorpius and Lily.
"It's ok." Scorpius added when Lily said nothing except hold back her laughter. "He's a good guy."
"Shut up." Anne said strongly as she turned her back to the laughing pair and pretended to continue working on her paper. She was glad Lily had said nothing about the topic, because Anne could see the odd relationship that had developed between Lily and her brother's best friend. In that moment, it seemed the two friends had made a silent agreement not to tease one another about their choices regarding the opposite sex.
By the end of the school year, Lily's skills as a Chaser had improved far more than Scorpius had ever expected. He only played in one game when a starting Chaser had been injured, and Lily had been more than excited to watch Scorpius fly past James during the game.
Like Scorpius had two years ago, Anne was welcomed to the Potter house for an extended period of time. Scorpius and Albus were there as well, but only because James had left for the first half of the summer. To improve his skills as a Chaser, and a Seeker, he'd signed up for a Quidditch program.
Replacing James, Scorpius flew around the field with Albus, the two attempting to improve their skills. Lily would've joined the pair, but she remained on solid ground with Anne, who was never comfortable unless both feet were firmly on the ground.
After a few weeks, Scorpius and Anne returned to their homes, but James had yet to return from Quidditch training. As such, Albus and Lily were able to reconnect, and reestablish the close relationship they had shared before Hogwarts. For fun, the two had taken the invisibility cloak, which was rightfully James', and tried to think up as many entertaining things as they could.
It was on accident that they had found a mysterious piece of parchment fairly well hidden in their parent's shared desk. After some fumbling, they had deemed it useless and casted it aside until they had the chance to put it back. It was useless to them, but neither wanted their parents to notice it's absence, after all it had been there for a reason.
Soon after, their cousin Victorie Weasley and Teddy Lupin, a man close enough to be a cousin, but that was weird because they were dating, came to visit the Potters. It was with Teddy's pure genius that showed Lily and Albus how to work the old map. At the time they didn't question how Teddy knew to operate it, but towards the end of the summer they came to a realization. The "Moony" referenced in the beginning of the map had been his father, just as "Prongs" had been their grandfather. Of course, it had taken James' expertise on the matter to enlighten his two lost siblings.
Nonetheless, James hadn't asked how the pair found the map, and didn't notice the relocation of his cloak so he let them decide who to keep the map. Eventually, Albus won the argument, claiming some excuse Lily hadn't believed enough to remember. She figured she'd get it back eventually anyway.
