CHAPTER TWENTY

"Merry Christmas," Lily said repeatedly on Christmas Eve, as family members arrived. And she also had to hug every person that walked through the door and into her house. And here was the order in which Lily had to say 'Merry Christmas' and then a hug; James arrived first, alone, as he and his girlfriend had broken up; Uncle Ron and Aunt Hermione with Rose and Hugo; Uncle Bill and Aunt Fleur with Louis, Dominique, Victoire and Teddy (both lived together and it was just a matter of time until there was a wedding); Uncle Percy and Aunt Audrey, with Molly and the youngest of all the cousins, Lucy at age of 13; Uncle Charlie, with a new girlfriend; Uncle George (with a bag full of suspicious looking stuff) with Aunt Angelina, Fred and Roxanne behind him; and finally Grandma Molly and Grandpa Arthur. Whoa, and that was just her family. She lost count of who else arrived, like Luna Lovegood and her family.

"Full house," commented Albus, as he sat down next to Lily, handing her a mug of hot chocolate.

"Yeah, look at the tree! The gift pile is higher than the tree!" And Albus laughed. The doorbell rang, and Lily wondered who else could be arriving.

"I got it," said James, as he went to open the door. "He's a friend of mine from Hogwarts." Lily turned around, to try and figure out who this 'friend' was, wondering if it was a new girlfriend of James' that she hadn't heard about yet. Lily couldn't see or hear the person that James was talking about, so Lily decided to wait and turned around in her seat. Fred was next to her now.

"Ah, I wish Dani and Jeal were here," Lily said, and Fred grinned at that prospect, but otherwise, kept quiet about it. So much for that, Lily thought. Lily needed to go to the bathroom and went up to use the one connected to her bedroom. As she was walking down the stairs, she saw Jaeger. WHAT? What was he doing here? Lily looked around and saw that her mom and dad were talking to him. James was there as well. Was this James' friend? Jaeger's eyes met hers, and her mom noticed Lily at the bottom of the stairs, telling her to come and meet their new guest. Lily went reluctantly, her legs dragging.

"Hello. Mr Jaeger," Lily said.

"You two know each other?" Lily's mom asked, looking back and forth between the young man and her daughter.

"Yes ma'am. I'm the temporary German teacher at Hogwarts, and your lovely daughter here is one of my students," Jaeger said.

"That's splendid! I'm so comforted knowing that such a young, smart man is teaching my daughter German," Lily's mom gushed. Lily inwardly groaned and looked around, wondering if anyone besides her was feeling this cold rush running down their spines at Jaeger's presence. But no one looked uncomfortable or worried.

"If you will excuse me," Lily said, and walked back towards the coach she had been sitting on earlier, not wanting to be caught alone with Jaeger. Once she sat down next to Al and Fred, Lily leaned towards Al so he could hear her over the noise.

"Why is he here?" Lily asked. Al shrugged.

"At the train station, those two ran into each other, and when James learned that Jaeger was going to be alone on Christmas Eve, James invited him over. So here he is." So that was what Jaeger had meant when he said 'see you Christmas day'. Why, of all people, was it Jaeger? Lily really didn't know what it was about him, but her instincts just told her to run away from him. When Scorpius had warned her about him, she had totally ignored her instincts, but then she realised that Scorpius was right. There was just something about this guy that was not right.

"Lily." Lily looked up to find her Uncle Ron across the room, with Jaeger next to him. Couldn't he just walk up to her, instead of screaming her name aloud?

"Yes," Lily said, as politely as she could, walking up to him.

"I was just telling Travis here..." oh no "...about the Cannons having a good chance of winning this year and , guess what? He's a fan of the Cannons. Have you already invited someone to go with you to the game?" Why? So he can go with me?

"Yes, why?" Thank God.

"Too bad chap," Uncle Ron said, patting Jaeger's shoulder. Too bad. NOT! Lily thought. Even if she hadn't invited anyone, she would've lied. When Lily left, Uncle Ron was still talking about the upcoming game.

After dining, everyone gathered around to play the Gift Exchange game. Everyone pulled a number out of a hat, and Lily got 18, Fred got 25, while Al got 10. The game went on, and there were many nice gifts that were opened, and others being taken away. When it was Lily's turn, she saw a box of her favorite chocolates that she really wanted and took them away from Roxanne. When the game was over, Lily still had her chocolates. Soon afterwards, most people left. Well, all but Jaeger, who was 'catching up with James'. Lily went into the kitchen to get some more cider, when someone else came up to her.

"Had fun tonight Lily?" Jaeger asked, as he poured himself some cider as well. Lily nodded, not wanting to talk to him.

"Good. I was wondering..." He looked into her eyes "...if you like to go out on a date. I already asked you mom and dad and they are both okay with it." Lily choked on her cider and Jaeger patted her back. Lily tried hard to swallow the cider down so Jaeger didn't have an escuse to touch her anymore, and when accomplished, Lily looked at him with shock in her eyes. WHAT? He asked her mom and dad and they were okay with it? Jaeger was good at deceiving people. He had deceived Lily in the beginning. Better to tell him she was not, and would never be interested.

"Sorry, I like someone else," Lily said clearly, with no embarrassment in her voice. He cocked his head to the side.

"Really?" And Lily nodded her head. "Could it possibly be Malfoy?" And Lily was shocked. So he knew and yet asked her out on a date. But she wasn't going to admit that, so she went on to refusing him.

"I really am sorry" NOT "You will find someone out there that actually likes you back." And with that Lily ran out of there, not wanting to talk to him anymore. Lily went to her room and started to listen to music on her iPod, lying down in bed with her eyes closed.. When she felt her bed sag at the end, Lily opened her eyes and found Al staring at her.

"Hey," Lily said, taking the headphones out of her ears.

"Is there anything you wanna tell me?" Al asked, and Lily wondered what he meant. Al and her had always been close, and they told each other everything. But this year, she had drifted away from her family, even Al. Lily shook her head, feeling extremely guilty. He nodded, but she could tell he didn't believe her.

"Okay," Al said, as he got up from her bed. He was about to walk away when Lily stopped him. Al looked at her, waiting patiently for her to tell him what she needed to. And Lily needed to. Ever since she and Scorpius started dating and kept it a secret, Lily had wanted to tell Al, but was scared about his reaction and what he might do. But he was her brother, and she had always trusted him to be rational.

"I'm... I... I have a boyfriend," Lily said quietly, and she almost thought that he didn't hear her, except when he asked her who it was.

"Don't be mad please". Lily stayed quiet.

"Is it Malfoy?" And Lily's looked up in surprise, a questioning look in her eyes. Al chuckled, and pushed a stray hair away from her face behind her ear.

"I saw you two. Let's see. You were at the bottom of a stairwell, leading up to a tower. Then, he grabbed your hand and kissed you, you just smiled at him, and you looked so happy that I decided not to say anything about it. But it really left me wondering."

"Oh," Lily said, wondering how she could be so careless. "So you're not mad?" And Al shook his head.

"No, you're a smart girl, and you looked really happy to me, so whoever makes my sister, is good in my books." His voice turned hard. "But, if he does anything to make you cry or hurt you…Be warned, Malfoy." Lily laughed, throwing her arms around him, tears running down her face.

"Thanks Al," Lily said, and he rubbed her back.

"How long are you going to keep this a secret?" Al asked.

"I don't know," Lily responded, now worried about that fact, and also grateful that he was letting her to deal with telling her parents.

"Well, you should tell everyone soon. I think you're worrying too much about it. Mom and dad will understand, even if they don't agree with your choice, they'll still support you." Lily nodded, not quite able to talk. Al kissed her forehead.

"Good night." Lily mumbled goodnight to him, and soon enough fell asleep.

"Yeah!" Lily cheered, as she stood up when a Kestrels player scored. They were winning, but only by 20 points. Lily felt hands snake around her waist, pulling her down into her seat. Lily glared at Scorpius, but he smiled and looked around him. Lily followed suit. People were looking at her funny, and Lily realized then that they were glaring at her for cheering for the Kestrels when she was surrounded by Cannon fans. Lily groaned a little, because she couldn't really cheer for her team, unless she wanted to be killed by some Cannon fans.

"Damn, next time, I'm not accepting tickets from Uncle Ron, if it means sitting by Kestrel haters." Scorpius laughed, entwining their fingers. Lily had to hold herself from cheering when her team scored, or from groaning when the Cannons scored. Soon afterwards, she felt her stomach grumble.

"Hey, I'm going to go get some food," Lily said and Scorpius nodded.

"Yeah let's go."

"No, it's okay, I can go by myself."

"You sure?" And Lily smiled at his sweet gesture, but didn't want him to miss the game.

"Yeah." And with that she kissed him on the cheeks, and went to buy the food. Lily bought a hot dog, a soda, some chips…Boy was she hungry. She put her stuff in a plastic bag, and was about to go back to the game when someone called her name. Lily turned towards the sound and saw Janika. But she had tears in her eyes, and looked really nervous. Lily ran up to her.

"Hey Janika, are you okay?" And Janika nodded. "What wrong?" Janika sniffed and shook her head.

"Nothing really...I just lost my...earring and I can't find it."

"Well, where was the last spot you remember having it?"

"I was playing with my earring earlier under the seats." And Lily wondered what she was doing there. "I looked for it but gave up, but I just can't stop crying about it. That earring is very important to me and I lost it!" Janika kept crying harder.

"Shh, shh," Lily said, rubbing her back. "Here, why don't I go help you look for it? It has to be there." And Janika looked at her, eyes full of tears.

"But... but your watching the game. I don't want you to miss that."

"It's okay, missing the game is not as important as missing a earring."

"But... but you have to be here with someone, you can't just leave."

"It's okay, he won't mind. And anyway we're friends, friends help each other!" At that, Janika cried harder.

"But...but..." And Janika seemed to be scrambling in her head, trying to come up with an excuse for Lily not to come, but…why?

"Let's go," Lily said, pulling her, but stopped when she had no idea where the place could be. "Lead on." Janika nodded, slowly leading her down to where she had lost her earring.

"Hey, what did you get?" Scorpius said, as he turned to Lily, when she returned. Only it wasn't Lily, it was Albus, her brother. Scorpius sat up.

"Surprised! Are you Malfoy?" Albus said, as he sat down in Lily's spot. Scorpius couldn't say anything and Albus laughed. "Funny, huh, how sometimes you try to keep a secret only to eventually be found out." Did Albus know?

"What are you talking about?" Scorpius asked, looking to the path which lead to the concession, hoping Lily wouldn't come out any time soon. Albus laughed as he saw where Scorpius was looking.

"Don't worry, I overheard her and Kaiser talking about looking for a missing earring. They should be back soon." And Scorpius stiffened at the mention of 'her'. So he really knew.

"Why are you here?" Ignoring what he said about Lily and Janika.

"What do you mean? I'm a fan of the Kestrels, and I just came here to watch them. I would've invited Lily to sit with me on the Kestrels side, but since she said she had… other things to do, I brought Fred with me," Albus said, nodding his head, and Scorpius looked in that direction, seeing Fred waving his hand, a huge grin plastered on his face. Damn, they should have been more careful. Albus laughed again.

"Really, both of you, trying to keep you relationship a secret! Lily isn't very good at keeping secrets, we were always close. So I know everything now. Well, Fred and I are the only ones…" Albus said, now paying attention to the game. Scorpius groaned, and Albus only laughed again. Seriously, this guy was having too much fun, at the expense of Scorpius and Lily.

"Remember when I said to you 'make my sister cry and it's your funeral'?" Scorpius nodded. "Well… it still stands." Scorpius turned to see Albus glaring at him "So if you hurt my sister, Fred, James, the rest of the family and I will go for you head." Scorpius nodded.

"I never would hurt her on purpose." Albus smiled.

"Alright, I believe you." And Albus turned back to the game.

"Ah, aren't you going back to your seat?" Scorpius asked, trying to be polite, when Albus didn't go back.

"Nope, not until Lily gets here," Albus replied. They sat in silence for a while longer, and Scorpius was getting really worried. Lily had been gone for almost 15 minutes now, and looking for an earring couldn't take that long. Scorpius decided to go look for her, and stood up. Albus looked up at him.

"Where are you going?"

"I'm going to go look for Lily, she's been gone a while." Albus stood up.

"I'm going with you." And Scorpius nodded. He couldn't refuse Al, since he was her brother. Albus waved to Fred and Fred got off his seat.

"What is he doing?" Scorpius asked.

"He's going to meet us at the entrance" Scorpius nodded. As they walked down the stairs, Scorpius asked Albus if he knew anywhere Lily and Janika could be looking for the earring.

"Janika said somewhere under the bleachers," Albus told him. Scorpius thought that was an odd place to lose an earring. They met Fred at the entrance, and Fred put his arm around Scorpius shoulder, punching him in the chest.

"Welcome to the family," Fred said. And Scorpius grinned at him. They started to walk under the bleachers.

"Wish I could say the same," Scorpius said, knowing that Dani and Fred had something going on. Fred just laughed.

"Soon enough, soon enough…" Fred said, looking away, chuckling, when Albus stopped all of a sudden.

"What up?" Fred said, looking over Albus' head, since he was about a head taller.

"I don't know, but..." Albus said as he bent down and touched the small red liquid spot on the sand. "...I think this is blood"

"You sure?" Scorpius asked, going around Albus to see for himself.

"Yeah. Do you know who's this is?" Albus said, handing Scorpius a necklace.

"NO" Scorpius said in a terffified voice, looking at the blood, the plastic bag with a hot dog and soda and then at the necklace in his hands. The necklace that Scorpius had given to Lily earlier as her Christmas gift. Scorpius' eyes widened.

"What?" Albus asked quickly, looking at Scorpius.

"This belongs to Lily…" And both Albus and Fred cursed as they looked at Scorpius in shock.

OHH, suspense. So yeah something bad happened to Lily and Janika it seems. But what? I like Albus a lot, his so nice and supportive and yet protective of his sister. I wish I had an older brother who could look over me, but all I have is a younger annoying brother and my mom is lecturing him about his electricity use right this moment.