"It's nearly Valentine's Day!" Helena Davies cried that afternoon, as the fifth-years sat in the stuffy Divination room interpreting tea leaves after spending two hours clearing up the Great Hall. James, Lysander and the other seventh-years had retired to the library, in order to spend their free periods revising for their NEWTs and looking up any information they wished to research. The fourth-years, who predominantly only consisted of Lily and Hugo, had raced off to Charms with an excited promise of learning about Banishing spells.
The few fifth-years, however, who were studying Divination were forced to spend the afternoon in the humid, warm and overpowering tower with only a cup of tea to keep them company. Nobody, subsequently, was in a good mood.
"I can't wait," said Albus drily, not even bothering to interpret his tea leaves and instead banging his head on the wooden table before him. "Why did I even take this subject?"
His girlfriend glared at him, and Scorpius Malfoy, who was sitting at the nearest table to them with a Hufflepuff fifth-year called Mark, started laughing under his breath.
"Who cares why you took this subject?" Helena digressed, rolling her dark eyes and flicking her long black hair over her shoulder. "It's nearly Valentine's Day!"
"As you've already said," muttered Albus, glancing good-naturedly at his girlfriend. It was not as though the middle Potter child detested the annual romantic holiday, but rather that he could think of a whole host of things he would much rather be doing than spending the day giving in to corporate advertising. Albus knew he was not alone in this view; for once his two siblings agreed with him: James, who despite his cocky attitude and laidback outlook on life had never had a girlfriend, consequently frankly viewed Valentine's Day as a pointless waste of time; Lily, although she had a stronger inclination towards romance than her brothers, had always thought that those who were in a relationship should not feel the need to prove it with cards and flowers.
That did not, however, stop her from being pleased about receiving an average of seven cards and gifts every single year.
"Albus," Helena began suddenly, peering into Albus's teacup and examining the murky contents, "is it just me, or do your tea leaves resemble the Gri –"
"Here, let me do that." Scorpius Malfoy, who had been eavesdropping on their conversation for the past few minutes, swung back on his chair until he hit their table, and he swiped Helena's teacup from her hands before either she or Albus could do anything to protest. "The Grim, you say?"
Helena nodded frantically, her eyebrows knitted together and a concerned expression on her face as she stared breathlessly at Scorpius. Scorpius's Divination partner, Mark-the-Hufflepuff, and Albus both watched the scene with interested humour.
"Hmmm …" Scorpius murmured, tilting the cup towards him slightly. "But if you turn it on its head …" He rotated the cup slowly, deliberately positioning it so that the others could not see the tea leaves inside.
"What is it?" said Helena urgently, her fingernails gripping the wooden table and her hair falling over her face. Albus raised his eyebrows at the both of them but stayed silent.
"It's terrible," Scorpius moaned, slamming the teacup down before him theatrically. "I can't tell you."
Helena, Albus and Mark all simultaneously dived for the mug, but in their hurry and curiosity the teacup slipped of the table and promptly crashed all over the floor. There was a moment of silence in which the three of them eyed each other up, silently blaming the other two for smashing the cup before Scorpius swung forward on his chair and intercepted their gazes.
"It wasn't that bad," he said quietly, much to the displeasure of Helena, Mark and Albus, all of whom fixed Scorpius with an icy glare. "Truth be told, what I saw in the tea leaves was hardly that horrific at all."
"But –" Helena spluttered, gesturing wordlessly at the ruined remains of the teacup on the floor.
"I was joking," said Scorpius heavily, rolling his pale grey eyes as thought this was obvious. "All I saw was –"
Albus butted in before the Slytherin boy could finish his sentence. "Are we going to hear the truth of the matter now?"
"Certainly," Scorpius shrugged, "but it probably won't mean anything."
This was, perhaps, a rather pretentious thing to say when in the vicinity of somebody who craved Divination like a plant craves water; if Helena's quivering expression was anything to go by, what Scorpius had seen in her tea leaves certainly mattered very much.
Albus and Mark, however, could not care less – the pair had universally agreed that any minute wasted in Divination was a minute gained in terms of pleasure, since they both detested the subject and it was under separate fits of madness that they had chosen it for OWL study.
Helena looked at Scorpius with a jaundiced eye. "Tell me immediately," she snapped. Scorpius sighed heavily but willingly began relaying what he had seen in the tea leaved to her.
Curious despite themselves, Albus and Mark leaned in.
"All I saw," started Scorpius, a serious expression upon his pointed face, "was a picture of you and your boyfriend –" here he gestured to Albus, who gave a curt nod in recognition "– on Valentine's Day. From the looks of things in the teacup, it would probably be best if you didn't cause a fuss. I imagine that if you did, there'd be very bad consequences."
Helena, who was a firm believer in all things Divination, smiled sheepishly. "I expect you're right," she said, as Mark sniggered to himself privately. "If that's what my destiny says I should do on Valentine's Day, I won't cause a fuss."
Albus gave a start. His girlfriend was the most gossip prone student in the entire school; well known for making a fuss over girly things like perfume and Valentine's Day. The fact that Scorpius Malfoy could change that with just a mock reading of Helena's tea leaves made Albus view the Slytherin boy in a whole new light.
He was okay, for a Slytherin.
Lysander Scamander was the kind of boy who normally loved sitting in the library, away from immature students, studying for hours on end from the heaviest books on the shelves. It was his idea of a holiday: whenever he got sick of the Weasley twins' pranks or James's idiocies, he retired to the library to spend some time going through the Goblin Rebellion of 1612 with only his rucksack and occasionally Rose or Albus to accompany him.
Today, however, after the universal disaster of the food fight at lunchtime, Lysander, as usual, chose to spend his afternoon free periods to go to the library to study; what was unusual about this was that today James chose to go with him.
Lysander, at the least, expected his studying to be blighted with jokes or even insults from his ex-best friend - after all, James and Lysander had not spoken properly for weeks. Lysander, however, was sorely disappointed.
In a fit of uncharacteristic panic that Lysander suspected had been caused by Fred and Roxanne's intervention that morning, James had insisted profusely on revising, in detail, each of the five NEWT subjects that he was going to be examined on in June, forgetting entirely that the two boys were in a long-standing feud, which Lysander found remarkable. The two boys had consequently spent an uninteresting and frankly tedious afternoon in a stuffy corner of the library, doing nothing but leaf through books and scribble notes on parchment.
This, of course, would not have been a problem to Lysander had he not finished all of his work and been up to date on revision by the time James had sought his company; he therefore had absolutely nothing to do but stare aimlessly at the ceiling, trying to ignore the very annoying giggles that were coming from a few students some bookcases away and inwardly cursing James for being so bluntly two-faced by not remembering that they were fighting.
James, overhearing the unseen students' stifled laughter, glared up at his ex-best friend and pointedly turned a page in the battered Charms book he was making notes from.
"Since you're clearly not doing anything," he began, which Lysander thought was very unfair indeed, "go and shut them up."
Lysander yawned and stretched, making no efforts to stand up until James kicked him from under the table and jabbed a finger in the direction of the bookshelves.
His leg bruised and aching, Lysander dutifully stood and sauntered away, bitterly insulting James under his breath. He had just started to rant about James's cheek in pretending to be his friend when he ran straight into Lily, causing her to drop a high stack of books and possessions all over the floor.
And, Lysander noticed as he winced, on his toe.
"Oh, hello," said Lily, flushing as she bent down to pick up her possessions. She was in the process of scrabbling around for a pen when Lysander came to his senses and kneeled down to help her.
"Here," he said, holding out a pile of books to Lily as she shoved quills and parchment into her bag. Patiently waiting for her to take them off her, he read the titles that were printed on the spines with interest.
"Wanderings of a Tree in the Alps?" he read incredulously. "Potion Opuscule … Cram It!: How to Soar on Your OWLs? Lily, you're not even taking OWL exams yet; you're a fourth-year."
Lily glared at Lysander from behind her fringe, snatching her books back and balancing them in the space between her arm and her waist.
"The last one's for Hugo, actually," she snapped, tossing her hair out of her face and narrowing her eyes. "He's gone revision mad ever since Rose told him how much work he'd have to do next year for our OWLs. He thought it better to start now than to leave it all to the last minute." Lily rolled her eyes with amusement, showing exactly what she thought of Hugo's insanity in that one gesture.
"And the others?" Lysander questioned, pointing to the thick books that rested on Lily's hip. "I'm pretty sure Hugo doesn't want to cram Potions, considering how I heard that he hates the subject …"
"Fine, they're for me," said Lily, beginning to walk past Lysander, tired with the way the conversation was heading. "I'm a closet reader, happy now? But don't tell James," she added as an afterthought, turning back to Lysander with a distant expression on her face.
"Why would I tell James?" Lysander asked stupidly, leaning against a bookshelf that toppled dangerously from taking his weight.
"I saw you sitting together; you two may have made up and become best friends again but don't think I'll do the same." Lily raised an eyebrow and continued walking away. "Good day to you."
Lysander, however, didn't move. He was confused as to whether Lily meant that she wouldn't make friends with him or that she wasn't about to make friends with James instead. As it occurred to him that maybe she meant both, he slammed a hand into the bookshelf with frustration and accidentally sent it toppling over to the next aisle.
The one advantage to this dreadful action was that Lysander, cringing from embarrassment, finally found the source of the quiet giggles that had been coming from the bookcases as he and James had been working.
Roxanne and Fred stared up at Lysander as books fell around them, both wearing identically sly grins, suggesting that they had heard the entirety of Lily and Lysander's conversation. In front of them was a blue print of a library, and, as Lysander watched, Fred drew a hasty line through one corner and caused the whole sheet to disappear.
"Just a plan to blow this joint up," said Roxanne casually to Lysander by means of an explanation. Lysander nodded, as though this was an everyday occurrence of the twins'; which, naturally, it was.
He would have turned to leave had it not been for him glimpsing a corner of folded parchment buried underneath a mountain of Transfiguration books. Making an unrecognisable noise of exclamation, he fished it out, completely blind to the panicked looks Fred and Roxanne were shooting one another.
"'James, Lysander and Lily: An Operation'," he read aloud, his eyes narrowing as he finished reading what was on the parchment. He glowered at the Weasley twins, both of whom were sporting a rather fetching puce colour on their cheeks. "An operation?" he repeated, his voice growing louder with each syllable. "You two are plotting a way for me and James and Lily to become friends again?"
The twins stayed unnaturally silent. But Lysander wasn't finished; not by a long shot.
"How dare you!" he yelled, brandishing the parchment in their faces and stomping a foot in anger. "This is completely out of order! If James is being a prat about Lily then it's none of your business to intervene and make anybody see different!"
Roxanne, ever one to fiercely argue back when she thought someone was wrong, crossed her arms tightly across her chest and frowned. "Considering your own, ah, personal feelings on the matter, are you therefore saying that you support Lily's relationship with Malfoy?"
Lysander was lost for words. Personally, he felt that who Lily chose to go out with was her own business, but he couldn't help but agree that maybe, for once, Roxanne had a point about his so-called 'personal feelings' on the issue.
Just to clarify, however, Lysander said, "Of course I support it. That doesn't mean I fancy her, though."
Fred snorted.
"It doesn't!" Lysander protested. "She's my best friend's sister – or ex-best friend's sister, if you will – and besides, James should learn to keep his fat head out of other people's business and let his sister get on with her life!"
Fred and Roxanne fell into a hushed silence. Wearing identically frozen expressions of horror, they both peered simultaneously around the fallen bookcase to see James sitting at his table, his quill gripped firmly in his fist and ink splattered all over his work, with a stormy expression on his face and his hazel eyes glaring furiously at Lysander.