The sun shinned brightly that morning. Its not so gentle rays warming the silky sheets - maybe a little too much - as the birds sang quietly outside. The man turned to his right slowly, encircling his pale arm on the woman's waist and bringing her body closer to him. She smelt of lilies, as usual. Her soft hair tickling his chin, as her body molded into his. A contempt sigh escaped his lips. The light brown-haired woman smiled sleepily, turning into his arms until they were face to face.
"Good morning, darling." she said after kissing his lips softly. He looked into her eyes, silver and bright blue meeting eagerly. Even with the sleepiness in them, she was the most beautiful woman he had ever laid eyes on. His gaze wandered to her perfect nose and finally got to her lips, rosy and perfectly shaped. What had he done to deserve someone as wonderfully perfect as her? He lowered his head, and slowly met her lips with his again. Their mouths moved in synchrony, the familiar taste and texture seemed different and new even after years together. The platinum blond idly pulled her to him, so she lied on top of him. His right hand cupping her cheek tenderly after putting her long hair to the other side.
"Morning, love." he replied, lips still in hers and a huskiness in his voice that came only from having just woken up. The woman smiled at him and set her head on his chest, listening to the sound of his steady heart. He tightened the grip on her waist before sighing. It was already morning and the sun wasn't making it easy to forget. He turned in bed, setting her on her back gently before pecking her lips briefly and getting up from the hot bed.
His hair was probably the usual mess it was in the mornings, his pajama's top laid forgotten on the chair - the heat had become too much in the middle of the night. He made his way to the bathroom and looked into the big mirror, confirming his suspicion about the state of his hair. His face was pale as usual and his body a little sweaty from the hot night. Deciding he should get ready, he stripped down from his clothes and stepped into the shower. Setting the water a bit colder than usual to see if it became less hot. A few minutes later, when he was combing his hair into the neat look he enjoyed - it wasn't exactly neat, just neater than how he wore it at school - the woman poked her head through the bathroom door.
"Breakfast is ready." she announced simply. He acknowledged her with a small smile and a nod before following her into the room to get his clothes. He decided to go with a dark suit and shirt, the Slyterin-green cufflinks his mother had gave him that Christmas matching with the tie. He had thought about going with his dress robes to the meeting, but as he had another one with the muggles in the afternoon, he decided to just go with the suit instead. He turned to his wife when she went behind him and started smoothing the suit on him. Through the mirror he could see her beautiful figure clad in a green high waist pleated skirt with a slightly sheer black blouse. She smiled sweetly at him.
"Oh, would you look at that!" she said sarcastically. "I guess we are matching today." she gave him a sly grin which he returned with a smirk of his own.
"That gives you a high amount of satisfaction. Doesn't it, Tori?" she made a gesture with her head that was neither affirmative nor negative before laughing merrily and making her way out of the room. He shook his head and followed her to the kitchen. His mother was already there, sipping her tea while quietly listening to the birds outside.
"Good morning, mother." he said kissing her on the cheek and sitting on his usual chair. Astoria sat on her seat across from him and they started breakfast. Commenting idly on the news the Daily Prophet - that the owl had dropped when they sat - had while eating quietly. When he was almost finished with his breakfast, his son walked through the kitchen door. He seemed still half asleep, pulling a dark blue shirt over his head, his grey pants hanging on his hips. He sat on he table and poured himself a cup of tea, taking a few sips before finally being able to muster a yawn then a smile to his family.
"Morning, family." his voice was a little hoarse, but other than that he seemed to have woken up enough to hold a conversation. His father hid a smile behind his cup of tea. He looked at his watch. It was almost nine.
"I should go." he said getting up and pulling his suit from behind the chair. He kissed Astoria and smiled at her.
"Have a great meeting, sweetheart." she smiled back at him. He proceeded to kiss his mother on the cheek before he went to ruffle his son's hair.
"Wait." his offspring said, apparently trying to remember something. "Is today the 20th?" he asked confusedly.
"Yes, Scorpius." his father replied amusedly. The boy seemed to have remembered something.
"Potter said today was going to be the meeting with the Board. Is it where you're going?" he asked cocking his head to the side. His father couldn't help but notice the badly hidden - from lack of sleep - expectation on his face. He nodded. "Could you wish her good luck for me?" The blond man raised his eyebrows at his son but nodded all the same before going to the living room and stepping into the green flames. His son seemed to cherish the girl. They were clearly not extremely close - they were still using their last names after all - but there was something between their interaction that seemed so... right. They seemed to understand each other. That day on the pond, Draco could clearly see the looks they exchanged, as if they were communicating. He shook these thoughts away, it was hard enough to decide how the girl made him like her so fast.
The platinum-blond stepped out of the flames when he spotted the familiar office. He was, as usual, the first one to get there. The other members would only get there when it was closer to the time of the meeting, and the professors were probably on the staffroom. He started to go to his place on the table when something caught his eye outside the door. It was Lily Potter. He stopped and made a beeline at her. She was wearing a dark blue pleated skirt that day. A crème blouse made of a light material covered her upper body. She was wearing her hair in a neat ponytail, a few streaks that must have escaped falling on her face. Lily turned to him surprised, but when she recognized him she smiled brightly. He couldn't help it, her smile was too contagious, the blond felt the corner of his mouth twitch lightly into a grin.
"You are early, Ms. Potter." she nodded a little before answering.
"I'm nervous." the blond looked closely. Her shoulders were straight and her head held high. Not at all the posture of someone nervous. The only thing that might have given it away being the slight movements she was making with her fingers. Now this leads to two options, he thought. Either she is just being modest about being nervous, but really is completely at ease. Or she really knows how to keep her emotions in check. This thought made him smile amusedly. Not a trait someone would expect to find in a Weasley.
"One would not assume so." he finally replied. A look of satisfaction crossed her features briefly. Option two it is. "Where are your parents?"
"They went to see the Headmistress." she looked around the room behind him. "They will be here shortly. Where are the other Governors?" she asked confusedly.
"They will come, don't worry. It's not nine o'clock yet." he reminded her. Lily was about to say something, but the sound of footsteps could be heard in the end of the hallway. So the man interrupted her, he hoped to get her the message when no one else was around and that was the last opportunity he had. "Scorpius asked me to tell you good luck." he said quickly. Her parents and the Headmistress could already been seen, a mass of teachers behind them. A look of surprise covered her face.
Surprised that he wished her luck? He thought.
"I'm surprised he was awake." the blond fought hard to keep his chuckle in. The others were almost close enough to hear their conversation.
"Barely." he replied, almost instantly regretting his reply. Lily let a laugh escape, but she seemed to realize they had company and smoothly covered it with a cough. He assessed the look on the newcomers face and was completely satisfied that it held no surprise, meaning they believed her covering.
Perhaps I should give the girl more credit on her abilities. His thoughts were cut short by the Headmistress voice.
"I already explained it to your parents, Ms. Potter. You will wait on the staffroom while the teachers present your school work and some memories to the Board, and when the decision is made the Head Chairman." she made a gesture with her head to the blond. "and I will deliver the message to you." Lily nodded respectfully at her, and went to stand with her parents. "Mr. Malfoy, are you ready to begin?"
"Yes, Headmistress." he said gesturing for her to go inside the room. "The other members must already be here." he let the teachers in too and nodded discretely at Lily before going in himself and closing the door behind him.
As he had expected the other members where already there, sitting on their respective chairs. Draco conjured chairs and arranged them to be leaning on the walls for the teachers who sat down. The blond made his way to his chair at one end of the table and as soon as he sat down, the light chatter died.
"Good morning." he said respectfully. A choir of 'good mornings' reached his ears as some of the teachers shifted uncomfortably. He could see why. Since the Minister thought it would be best to change the members of the Board for a new set of non-prejudiced young wizards and witches who had done some good to Hogwarts, the teachers had never had any participation in their meetings which involved some small matters such as the reconstruction of said part of school and who would give the money to do so. But this time it was about one of their students, and everyone knows how much Hogwarts' teachers like their students. And this student wasn't just another one, she was the only girl all the teachers had agreed to be the best in class. "I would like to ask the professors to hand over the school work of one, Lily Luna Potter. Beginning with Professor Flitwick, if you will."
The teacher, who sat in one of the corners of the room, gingerly got up from his chair, balancing the stack of papers on top of his small arms. He crossed the room and handed the stack to the blond before going back to his seat. Draco went through the first essay carefully. It was, surprisingly, extremely organized. Most of the students with brilliant minds had bad handwriting skills and a problem with organizing their thoughts. But not Lily. Her handwriting wasn't exactly beautiful but it was clean and easy to read. Each sentence was - throughly - written with something connecting them to the next and the previous one, so it was easy to understand line of thought. Draco passed the first essay to William Nott, who was by his right, and started to go through the others. Aside from the amazing organization skills, the things she wrote hadn't been taught in her year. They were advanced stuff that she put into such simple words that it seemed to be something really easy, and not material for advanced magic.
He shook his head disbelieving as he passed the last Charm's essay on, Professor Creevey got up and handed him his stack. And there it was again. The same pristine organization and the absolutely mind-blowing way she put things in simple wording. The same pattern repeating itself on all of the essays the teachers handed over. They took a while, but soon enough the last paper was handed over to the professors. He sighed tiredly.
"Is there any teacher that wishes to present a particular memory?" he looked around the room. Zabini was the first one to get up. He went to the center of the table and patiently waited for Draco to use his wand to get the Pensive from a cabinet behind the table. He sat it in the middle of the table and watched Blaise put the memory into the Pensive, before casting a spell to project the image so the others could see. The teacher began to speak.
"It is a well-known fact that I asked Miss Potter to have advanced classes every Wednesday, but here is why." They all watched, some more interested than others, as a beautiful strawberry-blonde walked into the classroom and sat her rucksack in one of the benches. The two exchanged pleasantries, before she started to put away all the materials that were scattered on the tables. "I was teaching a seventh year class before she came in and started to help me tide the things up. But what really impressed me was how she managed to place them all in the right place seeing as her year hasn't learned anything about those ingredients. She didn't ask me a single question."
The image blurred and suddenly it was another scene. The class was full and a lot of noise was being made, some of the students had in their cauldrons something that resembled cat sick and others had a strange coloured smoke coming from their work. On a table in the middle of the classroom, the same strawberry-blonde was crushing ingredients precisely. Her wand flickered slightly and two cauldrons began to stir themselves. She didn't seem stressed like the other students, merely concentrated.
"I was teaching a very difficult subject for third years, Undetectable Poisons. It was supposed to be just theoretical basis, but I decided to step it up a bit. I wasn't expecting anyone to be able to do it, but when I looked at her, there she was. What impressed me the most wasn't even that she could do the Poison, but that she was also making an antidote of her own."
The dark-skinned professor could be seen approaching the girl.
"Miss Potter, what are you doing?" the girl looked up surprised to see the teacher, but simply shrugged her shoulders and replied not looking at him, her eyes scanned the two cauldrons first before going back to the Bezoar she was crushing.
"You asked us to do the Poison, but I think that you should have asked us to do the antidote too." the professor seemed to be in a lost of words. He went to the second caldron and analyzed the content. It didn't look like it was ready, but it certainly seemed right.
"What did you use in this? Where did you find the instructions?" she looked into his eyes for a moment before pinching some Bezoar powder and dropping it on the second caldron.
"I didn't read it anywhere." she waved her wand at the first caldron and it stirred itself anti-clockwise twice before going back to normal. "You told us last week that we would be doing this so I did my research. Bezoars are used to cure most cases of poisoning, it is already effective on its own, but there are some other ingredients that would help with that. Such as the unicorn horn, that has highly purifying properties and it's commonly used to dissolve poisons. It also has high affinity with the bezoar." she put the unicorn horn in and finally looked at the professor. "I read that usually, the antidote for common poisons is composed of mistletoe berry, but that is very controversial. The non-berry part of the Mistletoe is extremely poisonous. It can cause intense stomach pain, diarrhea, low pulse and even visual disturbances..." she trailed off, and concentrated again on the first caldron. She set the temperature to a lower level and looked back at the teacher. He seemed to be awestruck.
"Do you know why they put the berries?" he asked almost expectantly. Lily shrugged her shoulders.
"I have a hunch. The berries are considered fairly non-toxic if eaten in a low quantity, the only thing wrong with eating too much is a stomach ache that will go away eventually." she looked at the second caldron and raised the temperature before fixing her hazel eyes on his again. "Now, I read somewhere that people used to get really addicted to the potions, so the Ministry decided to put some ingredients that have foul smell and taste and if ingested in great quantities can cause pain. That way no one will get addicted to the pleasure they feel when the potion takes the pain away." he stared at her for a while before an enormous smirk etched itself on his face.
"Miss Potter, you are completely correct." he turned to the rest of the class and saw that everyone had given up on doing their potions. He turned back to Lily in time to see her turn the fire off. He got closer and examined the two cauldrons. The first one, containing the poison, was perfectly uncoloured and with no smell at all. "Ten points to Gryffindor for Miss Potter being able to create the perfect Undetectable Poison." he announced to the class before going to the next caldron and smelling it. The sweet aroma fogged his head a little before he tried it. "It's sweet. You didn't put the berries?" he asked confusedly. She shrugged yet again.
"I didn't see why. People won't actually consume this." he nodded before turning back to the class.
"Another ten points for her having discovered how to do an antidote on her own and another five points for having insight and being able to come up with all the informations." the Gryffindor part of the class cheered loudly as the Slytherins clapped slowly, almost inaudibly.
The image went away, leaving all the teachers smiling proudly - Zabini with the biggest smirk - and the Governors gobsmacked. The teacher went back to his chair while Draco recomposed himself. He cleared his throat and asked in a steady voice.
"Is there any other teacher who would like to show a memory?"
Yes. There were many of them. Porfessor Flitwick, Professor Creevey and Professor McGonagall all showed variations of her ability to perform spells and incantations flawlessly and the side projects she had with Potions could be seen in all of their classes too. Finally, the teachers were done and there was nothing else to be said. Draco looked at them.
"Thank you all for coming, we will now vote. I ask you to kindly leave and vanish your chair." some teachers nodded their heads and others even smiled a little at him. Zabini smirked and winked at him on his way out. "Now beginning with vice-chairman, Percy Wea-." he tried to say, but was cut off by an extremely blond woman.
"I hardly think that's wise, Draco." she said haughtily. "It is obvious what his vote will be, he is biased." Draco studied the matter quietly, before shaking his head. Some of the others had agreeing looks on their faces. He didn't want any trouble.
"Very well. I'm sorry, Mr. Weasley. But you must sit out on this one." Percy nodded understandingly, but that didn't stop the disapproving look he sent Pansy Goyle (nee Parkinson). Draco sighed deeply before looking to his right. The blondish man whose familiar blue eyes looked back at him, nodded.
"I think it is obvious that Miss Potter's abilities surpasses those of her fellow third years and will continue to do so if she goes to fourth year. And it seems rather unfair to keep her in a level that is so behind her. I am in favour of her skipping to her fifth year."
Draco looked at his old friend. William Nott was always a bit of a loner in their time at Hogwarts, but when Draco found himself deprived of his usual companies, the blond was always a good person to be around. Intelligent and fairly amusing. They weren't the best of friends while in school, but their paths crossed in the Ministry eventually. Now Nott's son was Scorpius' best mate and his family was a constant presence in the Malfoy Manor. The platinum-blond nodded and looked to the brown-haired wizard next to his friend. Josh Waterson was an ambitious muggleborn that married into a big and important family at the Ministry; the Edgecombe's.
"I agree that Potter's a very good student..." he started but trailed off. His brown eyes moved to meet his wife's that sat across from him on the table. Marietta's expression was hard and she had a look of determination on her face. The man gulped inaudibly and continued. "... But that's not reason enough for her skipping a year. My final vote is negative." Draco watched as Marietta smiled in satisfaction. Her husband had always been a bit of a puppet in her hands, and everyone knew that her dislike for Harry stood strong ever since their fifth year. The faint scar on her forehead was still present, even underneath the obvious Glamour Charm she used.
"I believe this school has an extreme inclination to like the Potter family." Pansy's high voice cut through his musings. " and the Weasley too." she completed, tone covered in disdain. "Is it really the so-called 'brilliancy' of this girl that is making all the teachers be in her favour?" she looked across the table until her blue eyes met Draco's. " My vote is negative."
Malfoy tried to shake the sudden wave of irritation he felt towards his 'ex-girlfriend' while he directed his gaze to Kathlin Davies. Her light brown hair matched her sun kissed skin and green eyes perfectly. Although she had a fairly kind expression in her face, Draco knew that she was extremely strict. She is the current coach of the famous Puddlemere United, and was known to have a very serious commitment towards her team. She looked back at him and nodded lightly.
"My vote is positive. I see no reason to hold such an incredible mind back just for the sake of having a petty argument about who is favouring who." she said simply, but Draco could feel the slight tension her words caused as she discreetly directed them towards Pansy. He suppressed the smirk he knew was coming quickly and looked towards the last person sitting at the right side of the table.
"I couldn't agree more with Mrs. Davies." Dean Thomas smiled lightly, as if remembering something. "I recall my time at Hogwarts when Hermione showed just as much brilliancy as Miss Potter. Of course we were in different times back then, we were at war after all, but I believe she would hold herself just fine in an advanced level and that she would certainly be even more stimulated to keep her studies. My vote is positive." he finished decidedly. Dean didn't have any family of his own. He preferred to be in between the countless women he dated instead of settling, not a style Draco approved, but he didn't particularly disapprove of it either. The man seemed happy enough with his choices.
"Mrs. Johnson." said the platinum-blond, looking directly into the chocolate-brown eyes of Parvati Johnson (nee Patil). She seemed extremely bored, her perfectly made nails drummed on the hard wood of the table slowly as she sighed.
"My vote is negative." she said rolling her eyes, as if the whole ordeal was just an inconvenience to her. "The girl might be smart, but I don't believe her to be that special." a moment of silence followed her sentence, before Draco nodded slowly. The man next to her cleared his throat before shifting on his seat.
"I also vote no." Sullivan Fawley said in a clear voice. He seemed interested in the matter, but not exactly impressed. "I would be a fool not to admit Miss Potter's competence, but I can't see, yet, how she differs so much from her classmates. Surely there are other students who dedicate themselves as much as she does on private studies, the Ravenclaws, most likely." he thought a bit more. "As Mister Thomas pointed out, Hermione Granger was as much of an incredible student as she is. Why didn't they move her up a year while we were at school?" his argument seemed valid for Draco, he seemed to be the only one so far that voted negative based on his beliefs and not prejudiced notions of Lily's family. He was about to signal for the next one to vote when Percy spoke up.
"You do have a point, Mr. Fawley. But I believe the difference between Lily and Hermione is that we were at a very difficult time back then. No teacher was paying attention to see if Hermione was truly motivated in her classes. And, of course, there is still the fact that she was probably too worried about fighting the Dark Lord to complain about being too far ahead in her classes." his voice was even throughout his speech, and his eyes did not leave Sullivan's.
"I'm sorry, Mr. Weasley." the other man shook his head. "I'm not convinced. My vote is still negative." With the tone of finality in his voice, the argument was over. Draco cleared his throat to break a little of the tension that hung on the table and nodded to Ernie McMillan to continue.
"I believe Miss Potter's perseverance in learning ahead of her level could be a really good incentive to other students. As Sullivan said, the Ravenclaws do have the habit of studying more, but I think we are highly under appreciated. Maybe with Potter skipping a year it will show that you can go somewhere with studying hard and students will get more motivated." he nodded satisfied with his answer. "My vote is positive."
Draco sighed discreetly. The votes were tied. The next person was Marietta Johnson (nee Edgecombe) whose vote was obviously negative, and the last one would be Lyanna Corner (nee Yaxley). The tall blonde woman was very strict and Malfoy had no idea of what her vote might be. If she voted negative then that would be the end of it, but if she voted positive, it would come to a tie again and he would be the one to give the final vote. He hid a yawn with his hand as Marietta gave her vote. The haughtiness in her voice irritating him to no end. Lyanna straightened in her chair and looked at him in the eyes. Her light brown orbs were focused as she cleared her throat.
"I understand all the views each one of you have. The girl is obviously talented, but it does not change the fact that something like this had never happened at Hogwarts before. And that could be either an argument to a positive vote or a negative one. It has never happened before, why should it now? Or it has never happened before, why didn't it?" she took a pause and looked at the other Governors. "I believe that Miss Potter did something to earn this meeting, and that it will be extremely unfair to hold her back just because we need to follow traditions. The last twenty years showed us that tradition isn't always a good thing. If it were for tradition, we wouldn't be sitting here discussing this girl's future, instead twelve moribund elders would be dictating the fate of Hogwarts." she trailed of while directing her gaze back to Draco's. "My vote is positive."
The blond felt a sudden wave of realization when she pronounced the last words. The final vote was his and there was no backing out now. He slowly nodded at her and looked at the others. Percy seemed nervous for his niece since the beginning of the meeting, but now that the last vote fell upon him, his face contorted into disappointment. Indeed. Why would Malfoy vote in favour of Potter's daughter?
"My words would be similar to Mrs. Corner's, but I don't want to keep you here any longer than necessary." he took a deep exhausted sigh and continued. "My vote is positive. From the start of next year, Lily Potter will be a fifth year. She should change dorms and sleep from then on in the fifth-year girl's dormitory."
He kept his gaze fixated on Percy's as he spoke, and watched bemusedly as the man's expression slowly changed from disappointment to disbelief. He didn't know why, but it felt highly satisfying to watch the change in demeanor as the older man shook his hand on the way out of the classroom. All he knew was that it was extremely hard to keep a smirk from escaping as he made his way to the staffroom with Percy right behind him. When they finally got there, McGonagall, Harry and Ginny were the only ones waiting. In the back of the classroom, Zabini read the Daily Prophet, but he quickly closed it and got up from his place when Draco and Percy crossed the door. Malfoy furrowed his brows as he noticed Lily's absence.
"Where is Lily?" asked Percy before Draco had the chance. Ginny seemed irritated that her daughter was absent, and Harry seemed confused, but Zabini smirked knowingly.
"She said she was going to the bathroom, but you'll see. She'll come back in no time with her hands full of food." Harry looked at him and wondered. How did he know that? Draco seemed to be thinking the same thing.
"How can you be so sure?" he asked, amusedly while his friend continued to smirk.
"It's almost noon. Lily get's very irritated in the classes that are close to lunch time." Ginny snorted. Her daughter did have the Weasley appetite. "She always asks to go to the bathroom and comes back with her pockets full of minimized muffins." Harry tried to hide a smile at the image the professor brought them. Ginny and Harry turned with expectation written all over their faces to Draco, who cleared his throat to say what was decided. But when he opened his mouth Lily walked into the room. Her pockets were empty, but the few crumbles on the corner of her mouth confirmed Zabini's prediction. She smiled innocently at her uncle, before smirking discreetly at her favourite professor.
"Miss Potter." he acknowledged her with a nod. She smiled briefly at him.
"Mister Malfoy." she replied. Zabini got closer to the small circle they had created, his face now a little inpatient.
"Now, Draco. I never took you for a drama queen. Spit it!" he urged his friend while crossing his arms. Lily smirked at the teacher, but waited with a composed expression on her face as the blond looked at her. It was uncanny his son's resemblance to him. Scorpius had the same features as Draco's, the only thing that set them apart being Astoria's part in softening the many edges Draco had. Their hair was the same colour although Lily suspected that Scorpius' would get darker with age instead of lighter. They both had the same lean build, and their eyes had the same shape and colour. Both of their jawlines strong and defined. Lily knew how sons could look like their fathers - look at Albus and her dad, they were practically identical - but the thing about Scorpius and Draco wasn't just about their looks. They acted the same way. Their shoulders were always squared perfectly and there was something about the way they held themselves that just screamed aristocracy. Of course there was still the fact that they had completely different personalities. While Draco lacked in social abilities, Scorpius was extremely great with people. Lily smiled a little at the thought.
"The Board had decided that Ms. Potter will skip her fourth year of education in Hogwarts." he declared soberly, but couldn't hide the small smile that graced his features. Zabini smirked widely and hooted while jumping towards his best friend. He encircled Draco's neck with his lean, dark arms and ruffled his hair, before letting go of him and turning to ruffle Lily's hair too. She couldn't help but laugh at his excitement. Professor McGonagall stood amusedly, watching the exchange fondly. Harry turned to hug his daughter just as a feline like smile crossed the older woman's face. Ginny joined her husband on the embrace and let a laugh escape when Percy awkwardly patted the three of them on the back.
"That's what you were talking about, wasn't it, Professor?" asked the strawberry-blonde, directing her question to the Potions Master. He smirked slyly at her, giving all the answer she needed.
"I must have mentioned once or twice how good of a student you are." he replied cooly. Draco snorted as Lily laughed merrily.
"Yeah, sure. That's not exactly what I heard..." she trailed off, looking at Draco suggestively. Blaise stood with his mouth agape for a moment, before he pointed an accusatory finger towards the blond's direction.
"You!" he exclaimed. "You told her about that?" he put a hand to his heart, mocking a hurtful expression. Draco rolled his eyes at his friend's antics. Zabini had always been a reserved teenager, but as he grew up and really started to have more friends and have fun more often, he became more of a drama queen. One that was extremely good with Oclumency and being serious, but a drama queen nonetheless.
"Oh, I just heard that you brag about your favourite student..." Lily smirked at the Professor, before laughing at the hurt exclamation he let out. Draco shook his head slightly, while he tried to put his hair back in place.
"I have to get back home. Scorpius will probably kill me if I let him waiting on the news." he said, shaking hands with Zabini.
"As will Astoria and your mother." he complemented knowingly. Draco smiled lightly at this and patted him on the back.
"See you for dinner, tonight?" he asked expectantly. Blaise smirked and nodded.
"Sure, mate." Draco turned to Percy and shook hands with him. Smirking inside as he recalled the man's gobsmacked expression from earlier.
"I'm sorry to have made you sit out of the voting." he said sincerely, not loud enough for the other to hear. "But, trust me. Pansy would never back out of it, and I really didn't want any trouble." Percy nodded understandingly and even appreciatively smiled a bit.
Trust him, uh? Thought the Weasley.
Draco then turned and nodded at Harry, Ginny and McGonagall before turning to Lily. "My lunch schedule is a bit hurried, but I'm sure everyone would love to have you over for dinner." he watched her as she looked at her parents expectantly. A shadow of doubt crossed Harry and Ginny's features, but Lily's gaze seemed to weight down on them. Ginny finally smiled at her.
"Thank you, Mr. Malfoy." the strawberry-blonde smiled warmly at him. He couldn't help but smile back a little.
"See you tonight, Miss Potter." he nodded at the other occupants of the room one last time, before making his way to the fireplace and throwing the floo powder in.
Hello, lovelies! This is chapter ten! I never wanted this story to be through Lily's perspective only, you'll see as it goes on that I'll make other chapters like this one, not necessarily on the Malfoy's point of view, but other characters' too. One of the reasons why I don't like writing in first person is because I feel I can never portrait the situation correctly, and there are other sides to the story than the main characters'. Not criticizing Harry Potter or Jk Rowling, but HP, even thought it is in third person, was too centrered in Harry (and the Golden Trio). And it's actually good because that leaves us with a lot of blanks to fill with fanfiction, but at the same time it's bad because she created such a wonderful world that we didn't quite see. Anyway! This story is about Lily, so she is the main character ( Felix, Scorpius too), but we'll see more sides to what happens in this fic.
Chapter 11 is already finished and, in my opinion, is by far the best I've ever written! I didn't even start chapter 12 so it might take another week until chappy 11 is out... Don't worry though! It won't take long ;)
See you,
~Tori