NJSparty: YES! I was really hoping somebody would pick up on that. Hahaha. I live in Bucks County, but I go to school on LI so whenever I drive there/home, I always pass the exit for Perth Amboy. It sounded like the perfect HP name. Haha. But don't discredit him. It will be a while, but Perth will show up again as a bigger role :]
Merdarkandtwisty: I actually meant to have Harry buy Lily her own owl in Diagon Alley, but I forgot so I had to work something else out. Now I have a better idea that you will love. But you'll have to wait!
Author's Note: Here's chapter four! We finally get into the swing of things, and we finally meet Scorpius! Also, I start working full time next. Updates have been rather quick at first, but now that I'm working, things are going to slow down but I'll still try and get a chapter a week. Enjoy the chapter!
Chapter Four: The First Week
The next morning, Lily, Olivia and Emily were already at breakfast when Hugo, being trailed by Lorcan and Lysander, showed up.
"Good morning, boys." Olivia said brightly.
Hugo just nodded, barely awake, took a seat across from them, and began shoveling food onto his plate. Lorcan and Lysander stood awkwardly behind him.
"Would you guys like to sit with us?" Emily asked sweetly. Lysander nodded and took a seat, followed by Lorcan.
James and Jesse entered the Great Hall and took a seat next to Lily and Hugo.
"Hey, Lils, Hugh," James said, barely looking at them. "Anyway, I can't believe Jackson hasn't put the list up for Quidditch Signups."
"James, it's just the first day," Jesse pointed out.
"I know that, but Slytherin is already having their try outs tonight! We can't fall behind them!"
"Wow," Olivia whispered to Lily, "Slytherins really are ambitious!" Lily giggled.
"Look, Em," Lily pointed at Professor Longbottom, who was now walking up and down the Gryffindor table, handing something out to the students. "Your dad's coming."
"He's giving out the schedules." Emily said, barely sparing a glance for her father, now just right next to them.
"Good morning, girls," Professor Longbottom said cheerfully. "Here are your schedules. Olivia, Emily, Lily."
He handed each of them their schedules and continued down to James and Jesse.
"What do we have first?" Hugo asked, as he hadn't gotten his schedule yet; Longbottom was just now going around to the other side of the table.
"Transfiguration with McGonagall," Emily began. Olivia groaned.
"Cool, I can ask her about Quidditch then," Lily said.
"Followed by Charms with Flitwick, then lunch. Then potions in the afternoon with Slughorn."
After breakfast, the six headed to Transfiguration together. Hugo frowned again as Lily took a seat in the middle with Emily and Olivia. Sighing, he sat behind the three girls with Lorcan and Lysander.
By the end of the lesson, Hugo had more to worry about then who sat with whom. His head was swimming with information and a long homework assignment already.
"Hey, Hugh, wait for me outside of the class, okay?" Lily called as she walked up to Professor McGonagall. Hugh nodded with a smile and headed outside. Olivia was leaning against the wall. Down the hall, Hugo could see Emily and the Scamander twins walking to charms.
"You know," Hugo said darkly. "She only asked me to wait."
Olivia stuck her tongue out at him.
Inside the classroom, Lily approached the Headmistress cautiously.
"Yes, Miss Potter?" McGonagall said, without looking up from the paper on her desk.
"I was, ah, just wondering," Lily began. "If it was possible, if I could—"
"Spit it out, Miss Potter."
"Could I try out for Quidditch?" McGonagall looked up from her desk.
"First years aren't allowed to try out."
"I know, but—"
"If you know, then why are you asking?"
"I was just curious. My dad played as a first year."
"Your father was an exception."
"Couldn't I be an exception, too?" McGonagall gave a small smile.
"I'm afraid the answer is no. If I allowed you to try out, all the other first years would want to try out as well. You'll simply just have to wait until next year. Now, go on. You don't want to be late to your next class."
Admitting defeat, Lily left the classroom, dejected.
"Well?" Olivia asked, standing up straight.
"She said no." Lily moped. The three headed off to class.
Lily moped about Quidditch for the rest of the day. Emily told her not to worry, that she would just join the team next year, but Lily still couldn't shake the miserable feeling of being told no. She wasn't used to being told no.
She was distracted slightly from her misery by her Potions class. She had entered with her friends and sat at a table with Olivia and Emily. Lily saw the dark look cross Hugo's face and frowned. What did he think she was doing? Hugo was once again forced to sit with Lorcan and Lysander. The two weren't that bad, just very quiet with wide, protrubent blue eyes that could be kind of creepy.
The professor, Horace Slughorn, was the head of the Slytherin house. James had told Lily that Slughorn was pretty cool. He didn't favor his own house over any other, which was good because Lily shared the class with the Slytherins. James said he tended to pick "favorites", and James was lucky enough to be considered one of them. Come to think of it, Lily thought, James didn't sound too happy when he said that.
Slughorn was sitting at his desk, eating crystallized pineapple out of a white box. The waist of his pants looked awfully tight. He was mostly bald with just a few wisps of barely blonde hair combed over his head in a very pathetic attempt to cover his head. He was watching the students with a polite interest, waiting until the last student sat down to begin taking role. Occasionally, he would stop at a name to have a discussion with the student.
"Longbottom, Emily? Miss Longbottom?" He looked up eagerly from his desk, glancing around until his eyes rested on Emily.
"Yes, sir?"
"Related to Professor Longbottom, I assume? He did say his daughter was starting Hogwarts soon.
"Yes, sir."
"Oho!" He giggled. "What a pleasure. I had the distinct honor of teaching your father his last two years – not like the last year really counted, anyway. Not the lad for potions, no, but he was quite talented."
Emily smiled politely back at Slughorn, who was now eyeing her like some sort of trophy. The same thing happened with Lily. Before he even called her name, he grinned widely.
"Ah, Miss Lily Potter." He lifted his eyes to her. "I taught your parents, you know. Of course you know your father was quite the wizard, quite talented in potions as well, which I taught to him, of course. He seemed to get his skill from his own mother. Lily Evans, quite a favorite student of mine. You look just like her; perhaps you even have her talent for the art of Potions? " Lily shrugged. He gave a loud laugh and continued on, stopping only once more to talk Doug Shingleton, a Slytherin, whose great-Uncle invented the Self-Stirring Cauldron before reaching Hugo.
"Hugo Weasley?"
"Yes, sir?"
"Your father is Ron Weasley? The Auror?"
"Yes, sir."
"I taught your mother. Quite the witch, top of her year." Hugo shrugged at this. Slughorn nodded and moved on with one critical glance to Hugo.
The three girls began their potions, and while Lily wasn't the best one there, her potion was at least the right color green, unlike Olivia's, whose potion looked like bogies, or Lysander and Hugo, whose potions were brown and red, respectively. Lorcan, however, had the best one: the exact shade of sea foam green and with even the slight swirling mist emitting from it.
"Time's up! Bottle what you have and leave it on my desk. Oh, and if I could please see Miss Potter, Miss Longbottom and Messrs. Shingleton and Scamander at my desk, after class."
Emily and Lily traded skeptic looks as they bottled their product. Olivia, Lysander and Hugo, sweaty from the fumes, left class tired, heading on to dinner. The four children stayed behind, lingering awkwardly by Slughorn's desk. He turned to Lorcan first.
"What's your name?"
"Lorcan Scamander." Lorcan said quietly. His voice was still high, and contained a bit of the dreamy quality often associated with Luna. Slughorn struggled for a moment, attempting to remember something with no luck.
"Did your parents go to Hogwarts?"
"My mum did. Luna Lovegood? She was a Ravenclaw. My dad was homeschooled." Slughorn nodded.
"Your potion is quite good. I hadn't expected anyone to produce such results, not on their first try." Doug scowled at Lorcan.
"Thank you, sir. I've made some potions at home; not real ones, just a few, simple household concoctions."
"Well." Slughorn pulled on the waistband of his pants. "That's quite something! Now, I would like the four of you to join me and some other, shall we say, chosen students for a small dinner party. It will be the day before Halloween, the perfect time for a celebration. What do you say?"
The four children looked at each other and shrugged.
"We would love to come, Professor." Emily said. Slughorn laughed.
"You are precious." He giggled. "Five points to all of your houses for a good show, today. Now, carry on. We don't want to be late to dinner."
All four scurried out of the room. Doug gave a withering look to the others before hurrying up to walk ahead of them and out of sight. Emily sighed.
The three Gryffindors were late to dinner and almost ran to sit with their friends. Lily leaned across Hugo to talk to her brothers.
"James?" James paused, mouth already stuffed with food, fork in mid air, to turn to her.
"Mwaht?" Lily rolled her eyes.
"Lorcan, Emily and I were invited to some party by Professor Slughorn."
"Oh, those things are just a bore!" Rose interrupted from down the table where she was sitting with Al. "I got invited to one last year. He's just trying to add you guys to his stupid Slug Club."
"You're just angry because you weren't invited back," James smirked, finally having swallowed. Rose glared.
"Well, I'm sorry I can't waste my time—"
"Waste your time? Please, Rose, you would kill to be invited back to one of those parties." Rose puffed up, opening her mouth to retaliate when Emily interrupted.
"Excuse me, but what exactly is the Slug Club?"
"Slughorn likes to befriend people who he thinks will go places, so when they actually get there, he can take some credit." James answered.
"It's an ego thing. Slughorn is very well connected." Al added in.
Hugo frowned and slumped down in his seat. Olivia, on the other hand, snorted.
"Have fun with that!"
Back in the common room after dinner, Lily saw that James had no reason to worry: the sign up sheet had been posted, bringing Lily's mood down again. James entered the common room soon after Lily had sat down and begun her homework.
"All right!" He ran over to the sign up sheets and added his name. Jesse followed him at a slower pace. Lily glowered at James.
"Life's not fair," she said, as Albus entered and signed up as well. "I'm going to write to my parents and head to bed early. Goodnight."
"Goodnight!" Olivia and Emily said cheerfully.
Lily's bad mood was gone by the next day, but came back at the end of the week when she saw the Quidditch team list had been posted.
Clint Jackson, Chaser
James Potter, Chaser
Race Ashby, Chaser
Rose Weasley, Beater
Everett Winchcombe, Beater
Albus Potter, Keeper
Luke Plymbton, Seeker
"Who's Luke Plymbton?" Lily asked out loud, angrily.
"I am. Why?" a tall, blonde fourth year boy asked curiously from next to Lily. Lily jumped; she hadn't expected Luke Plymbton to be standing right next to her!
"I, uh, just wanted to, um…" Olivia and Emily were laughing silently behind Lily as she stammered, turning red, making excuses to Luke. "I wanted to congratulate you on making the team. Congratulations!"
"Thanks," he said, nodding, turning to leave. He paused, and turned back. "Do I even know you?"
"Uh, no," Lily admitted sheepishly. Olivia and Emily were doubled over in laughter now. Luke looked at Lily as if she had grown a second head before walking away. Lily turned to her friends, who tried their best to appear as if they weren't laughing.
"Shut up," she muttered. "Come on, we're gonna be late to class."
James hated Scorpius. He had since the moment he had first laid eyes on him. They had met back in their first year. Both James's parents had come to drop him off, along with his Uncle Ron, who had had plans with his dad after the trip. Before he left for the train, his uncle and Dad groaned.
"He has a kid?" his Uncle groaned.
"Ron, you knew that already. The announcement was in the Daily Prophet when he was born," his mum commented, with a quick glance over her shoulder before turning back to James to straighten his collar. "Now, James, behave yourself. Please try and wait at least a week before getting a detention. "
"Yes, mum," he had mumbled, leaning to try and see around her to look at who the adults were discussing.
"He's not a bad person . . . . maybe the kid won't be either," his dad commented. Uncle Ron snorted.
"He'll be a git just like his father. He's the spitting image of Malfoy."
Malfoy. James had heard the name before. His Dad and Uncle told stories of their arch nemesis through school and his part in the war. His dad had made it clear to James that Malfoy had not bee one of the bad guys, just misunderstood.
James still thought he sounded like a git.
His mother turned to fuss over his siblings and finally, James had his chance to follow the men's gaze and it landed on a father and son.
The father had white blond hair, slicked back, his receding hairline giving his face an even more pointed look. His son looked similar, but softer, the blonde hair darker, the pointed chin and long nose more subtle.
They both looked like gits to James. He disliked them immediately.
His parents had bade him farewell, his mother giving him one last hug. He had entered the train and walked down the hallway, looking for an empty compartment. He had just reached his hand for the door when another hand reached for the handle. He looked up to see his competition, and of course, he groaned, it was Malfoy.
"Malfoy." James nodded curtly.
"You must be a Potter," Malfoy responded, eyeing him.
"Yeah, I am." James squared his shoulders and tried to stand even taller. It didn't work. Scorpius was still a few inches taller. "What's it to you?"
Scorpius raised his eyebrows in surprise. "Nothing at all," he said coolly.
The door that the two had both tried to enter suddenly opened, and a tall black boy was standing in the entrance.
"What's going on here?"
James and Scorpius glanced at each other.
"Absolutely nothing," James growled. He turned to enter the compartment, bumping his shoulder hard into Scorpius'. In return, Scorpius rolled his eyes. "You're not welcome here, Malfoy. So go on, slither away."
"Like I would even want to stay and waste my time with a Potter." The black boy stepped back, and allowed James to enter his compartment as Scorpius stalked off down the corridor, looking confused, clearly having missed some explanation, some reason why they had such animosity.
Truth was, there wasn't one
Sure, you could blame his father and uncle for getting the ball rolling between him and Scorpius, but James figured even without their help, they would have started this rivalry. James and Scorpius coveted the top place in their class. James was slightly ahead (a fact of which he was smugly aware). James was the chaser for Gryffindor and Scorpius was now the chaser for Slytherin. They were opposing houses. All the girls in the castle swooned over them both. It was a natural rivalry.
That was why it was no surprise that James broke his promise with his mother to stay out of trouble for the first week of school. It couldn't be helped.
"Oi! Scorpius!" James called as he entered the Great Hall. He could see the blonde easily, as Scorpius had just started up the stairs.
"What do you want, Potter? I'm busy," Scorpius drawled slowly, turning on the spot to look down on James. Already, James was infuriated. Scorpius was figuratively and literally above him.
" What's this about you making the Quidditch team? Did you have to hoodwink Goyle or something?"
"Clearly I have some talent, unlike some body else who got on the team by his last name."
"I'm just as good as my father."
"That's not saying much, Potter."
"My father has talent. He saved the wizarding word. What does your father have? Money. And … oh, what was it, this certain mark—"
Instantly Scorpius had his wand out, closing the distance between him and James with a few, long strides.
"Shut up," he hissed quietly. "Just you shut up."
Lily had just turned to enter the Great Hall with Olivia and Emily and was forced to stop. A crowd had surrounded the staircase. She pushed and shoved her way to the front, standing on tiptoes to get a good look to see her brother and the blonde boy facing each other, wands out and pointed at each other, each wearing murderous glares.
"Leave him alone!"
James barely spared a glance for his sister. "Lily, go away." Clearly, James had hit a serious nerve with Scorpius. The argument had gone from school rivalry to something much more sinister in one simple dig.
His little sister stood next to him, her arms crossed against her chest. She looked pathetic, so small and her clothes slightly baggy, drowning her small frame. Her red curls were pulled up out of her face, upon which she wore a scowl and a glare that frankly, wouldn't even scare a mouse.
"No," she said. She didn't take her eyes off of her opponent. "Leave him alone."
Scorpius was angry. Angry enough to threaten a first year with intent to hurt. "And what if I don't want to?"
"Then I'll just have to make you!" She pulled her wand out, long and thin, and pointed it at him. Scorpius laughed.
"You will?" He laughed a strangled laugh. "You've barely been here a week. What could you possibly do, Little Potter?"
"Wingardium Leviosa!" Lily cried, swishing and flicking her wand. While Scorpius did not levitate into the air, he did get knocked off his feet. It broke the intense tension in the room. James Potter roared with laughter. Lily's eyes widened, almost surprised herself that she managed anything at all.
"Never underestimate a Potter." James put his arm around his little sister, and began to lead her away into the crowd of laughing Gryffindors. Scorpius sat up and brushed his hair out of face. His eyes followed Lily through the Great Hall. She turned to look back at him, her blue eyes wide and piercing as they met his.
"No, I won't ever underestimate her again," he muttered under his breath. His anger with James was not gone but abated for the moment. He now had two large interests in the Potter family. He would get even with James. No one insulted his father. And Lily… Lily intrigued him. From that moment on, he vowed to figure her out.
News of Lily's humiliation of Scorpius travelled fast, even by Hogwarts standards. After the incident, James had walked her to her next class. He couldn't stop laughing almost the whole way, and it wasn't until she protested that he stopped.
"C'mon, Lils, that was great!" he exclaimed, still chuckling. "Uncle Ron would be so proud."
"Why do you hate that boy so much?"
"Who, Scorpius?"
"Yeah. What did he do to you?
"Listen, Lils," He stopped her outside the Charms classroom and turned to face her, putting his hands on her shoulders. "Surely you remember the stories Dad told us about Draco Malfoy? He was a Death Eater. Fought Dad and Uncle Ron all through school."
Lily nodded, vaguely aware of where the conversation was heading. "That was Scorpius's dad?"
"Yeah."
"Dad always said Malfoy switched sides. That his mother saved Dad's life. Besides, just because his dad did something doesn't mean that Scorpius is anything like that."
"He's a Slytherin. Gryffindors do not get along with Slytherins. We are not nice to Slytherins."
"Yeah, but did he do anything to you?"
James shrugged. "He's a Slytherin. You can't be friends with a Slytherin."
Lily shrugged off his hand, "I'll be friends with whomever I want." She turned and entered the classroom, leaving James behind.
"Lily! I didn't mean that literally!" James called after her.
She entered the classroom, taking a seat in the middle, fuming over what her brother said. He always tried to boss her around! Just because he was oldest didn't mean he had control over her. I could be Malfoy's friend if I wanted to, she thought angrily. Her anger was slowly mounting and she had worked herself into a decent rage at her brother by the time Olivia and Emily entered.
The two girls spotted their friend and made a beeline towards her.
"Lily!" Emily exclaimed as she took the seat to the right. Olivia took the seat to the left.
"What?"
"How could you do that?" Olivia asked eagerly.
"It's so cool that you stood up to a third year for your brother. How sweet." Emily sighed.
"I should have let James handle it by himself… Maybe Scorpius would have knocked some sense into him," Lily mumbled under her breath, angrily twirling her wand in her hand. Sparks flew out the end of it.
"What happened between the two of them, anyway?" Emily asked.
"I dunno. My brother's a git," Lily said, as Professor Flitwick entered.
"Today, we will be learning a handy new spell that allows you to produce light with your wand…" Flitwick began.
As the class's noise level began to rise as they practiced the spell, the three girls returned to their conversation.
"Lumos." Olivia cried. A feeble light emitted from her wand. "Drat. What were you saying, Lily?"
"I don't know what's going on between James and Scorpius. James said that it's because we're Gryffindors and Scorpius is a Slytherin. It's a house thing to do to fight the Slytherins. Automatically, because of his house, Scorpius is a git, and I can't be his friend."
"It's not like you had any intention of being his friend… you tried to fight him!" Olivia said.
The three girls paused their chat as Flitwick passed by their tables.
"Lumos." Lily's wand lit up, a brilliant white light.
"Congratulations, Miss Potter. First one to perfect the charm. Five points to Gryffindor," Flitwick squeaked excitedly. "Keep trying, class, keep trying. Once you have managed to light your wand, try putting it out with the counterspell, Nox."
"Do you want to be his friend?" Emily asked slyly. Lily felt her ears turn hot and red.
"No," she protested. "But I'm going to be, just to annoy James."
Emily smiled and let the subject drop without pushing it. Olivia snorted.
To Lily's disappointment (not like she would admit she was disappointed), she did not have a chance to speak to Scorpius for the rest of the month. Occasionally, she caught a glimpse of him in the hallways between classes. Once Quidditch training was in full swing, she no longer even saw him at meals. The teams often ate quickly before running out to practice. The first match of the season, Slytherin versus Hufflepuff, was quickly coming up. Once, when Lily brought up during lunch not being able to have a proper conversation with him since the day she cursed him, Olivia snickered.
"Well, he's right there, just go talk to him." Olivia pointed to Scorpius, who indeed had just sat down at the Slytherin table for lunch. He glanced around and had seen Olivia point. He raised an eyebrow at the three first years.
Emily and Olivia dissolved into giggles as Lily's ears turned red. Suddenly the idea of crossing the Great Hall in the middle of lunch and approaching a third year Slytherin seemed so daunting, more so than facing him down in a duel.
Scorpius smiled as Lily's face continued to red. He watched her as she eventually began to giggle, which led her friends to start giggling, which made Lily giggle louder until all three were laughing loudly. Older Gryffindors turned to give strange looks to their first years. But he, Scorpius, couldn't help but smile. Newton Flint, his best friend and dorm mate, tapped him on the shoulder.
"Hello? Score?" Scorpius jumped to attention. "Anyone in there?"
"Yeah, sorry." He mumbled under his breath, sitting down next to him and beginning to eat, but not before he glanced once more at Lily. Newt followed his gaze.
"Lily Potter." He stated. "Are you planning revenge?"
"Revenge?" Scorpius asked, startled. "Of course not. She's a first year. And a girl!"
"Yeah, but she totally kicked your arse." He snorted.
"She did not kick my arse!"
"She beat you bad."
"She got a lucky shot."
"Ickle little first year took down Scorpius."
"She's di—"
"A Gryffindor."
"Her house—"
"Knocked over a Slytherin!"
"This has—"
"Oh, the shame!" Newt cried dramatically, throwing his head back, flinging his arm over his forehead.
"Newt, shut up."
Author's Notes: We finally get a real scene with Scorpius in it! Hope you enjoyed it. As always, please read and review. Up next: the Quidditch game, Slughorn's party, Halloween and more!