Disclaimer: You know the drill.
A/N - Once again,my sincerest apologies for the lack of updating. words cannot describe how hectic life has been. Plus, I've recently been more in the mood for writing angsty songs than this lighthearted story. (Incidentally, if you want to listen to those there is a link on my profile).
"What is a square circle?"
"Well I don't bloody know, do I?"
Of all the people Scorpius expected to be attempting to break into the Ravenclaw Common Room, Cormac McLaggen was the last on his list.
"Anything me can help you with?" he asked coldly, and McLaggen gave a start.
"Oh, it's you, Malfoy. I've been looking for you" he said, and Scorpius was shocked to see that McLaggen actually looked nervous. Scorpius raised a questioning eyebrow but he already had a horrible feeling he already knew why McLaggen was there.
"It's Lily. Something went wrong with her broom and she's in the Hospital Wing. I thought you should probably know. She's all right," he added quickly, "nothing Madam Patil can't fix. I just thought you'd want to… y'know."
"Oh… yeah… thanks McLaggen… that's really decent of you." Scorpius stuttered.
"She's probably still awake, so Patil won't mind you…" McLaggen tailed off into a gruff cough and nodded to Scorpius before he walked briskly away. Strange though this behaviour undoubtedly was, Scorpius only allowed himself a couple of seconds of confusion before he set off towards the Hospital Wing.
Madam Patil smiled when she opened the door to Scorpius.
"I wondered how long it would take you. Come on – she's all right."
She led him over to where Lily was sitting propped up against a tower of feather pillows. He let out an internal sigh of relief when he saw she was smiling, and shook his head as he sat down beside her.
"What have you done now?"
"My broom decided that staying in one piece was just too boring, so it exploded" she explained with a casual shrug of her shoulders. "Nothing out of the ordinary."
"Do you it think it was them?" Scorpius asked, lowering his voice to just above a whisper.
"I've been thinking about that – it seems very uncharacteristic of them. If they were in the grounds then they would have taken the opportunity to attack me themselves. Besides, with all these security measures in place they can't have got in, can they?"
"No, I don't think they could have. They did get into Hogsmeade, though. There were tons of students there – it would have been easy for them to put the Imperius Curse on one of them" Scorpius mused, and Lily gasped.
"Of course! Why didn't I think of that?" she exclaimed, "They seem skilled enough – but wouldn't it have been noticed if someone as under the Imperius Curse?"
There was no time for Scorpius to make any reply before the doors of the Hospital Wing burst open and Lisa Corner came running in, eyes frantically darting about the ward. When she saw Lily sitting in her bed she burst into floods of tears.
"Whatever is the matter, Miss Corner?" Madam Patil cried, running out of her office as Lisa sobbed.
"I'm so sorry, Lily! They said… they said my family…" the rest of her sentence was lost in another wave of hysterical sobs as the girl sank onto one of the beds and buried her face in her hands.
"Mr Malfoy, would you be so kind as to fetch the Headmistress and Professor Weatherstone, please?" Madam Patil said, and Scorpius nodded quickly and dashed from the room towards Professor McGonagall's office. He arrived panting in front of the statue guarding the entrance to her office and gave the password, "Tartan".
"What in Merlin's name has happened now, Mr Malfoy?" Professor McGonagall sighed as Scorpius burst into her office.
"Lily's… broom exploded… Hospital Wing… Lisa… Zabini… Madam Patil said to get Professor Weatherstone..." Scorpius gasped, and the Headmistress nodded. She threw a handful of Floo Powder into the roaring fire and called,
"Amelia! Padma has called both of us to the Hospital Wing – something about Lily Potter and a broomstick."
"On my way!" came the reply from the flames, and Professor McGonagall smiled at Scorpius.
"Shall we?"
Scorpius nodded and he and the Headmistress strode from the room. By the time they reached the Hospital Wing, Professor Weatherstone was waiting with Lisa and Scorpius had filled McGonagall in with as much as he knew about the incident.
"You know, Scorpius, I'm actually starting to get very bored of all this plotting to kill me lark." Lily commented lightly as he perched on the edge of her bed.
"Couldn't agree more." Scorpius smiled taking her hand as all eyes in the room turned to Lisa, whose sobs had subsided to small sniffs.
"Lisa, no I know you probably would rather not talk about it, but we need to know exactly what happened." Professor Weatherstone said softly, handing Lisa yet another tissue. Lisa nodded, blew her nose and sat up on the bed. She took a great shuddering breath before beginning,
"Last Hogsmeade weekend I was in the Three Broomsticks just talking with my friends, when an argument broke out somewhere else in the bar. The flashes of all the spells and the noise brought on a headache, so I decided to step outside for a few minutes to get some fresh air. I don't know what happened when I stepped outside, but suddenly I was in the woods next to the Shrieking Shack. Zabini was there, he told me… he told me that I had to put a curse on your broom. No-one would think it was suspicious if I went into the broom shed, you see. Of course I refused at first, but then they said that if I didn't… they would go to my family and… my brother's only five and I couldn't… I couldn't say no!" Lisa dissolved into fresh floods of tears and Lily rose to put her arms around her, ignoring Madam Patil's tuts of protest.
"I'm so sorry, Lily. I didn't mean to, they said they'd kill him."
"Shh, it's all right. I know, I know. I don't blame you, and it's all right now – I didn't die so you have nothing to feel guilty about. We can get protection for your family until they've been captured, can't we?"
Lily looked to Professor McGonagall, who nodded in agreement.
"There's no need to worry, Miss Corner. We can contact the Auror office and arrange for someone to watch over your family. Now, if you don't mind, Madam Patil has some questions she'd like to ask you about the curse the Slytherins asked you to put on Lily's broom – just to ascertain that there is nothing more she should be worried about with regard to Lily's arm."
Lisa allowed Madam Patil to lead her into the nurse's office, leaving Lily and Scorpius with the Professors. There was a moment of silence before Lily suddenly piped up,
"How did you know I was here, Scorpius? Only the Quidditch team were there."
"McLaggen told me – he came to my Common Room." Scorpius said, "He was pretty pleasant, actually. It was weird."
"He must have gone down there after he dropped me off here. I wonder what possibly could have come over him." Lily giggled, and Scorpius shrugged.
"There are some mysteries that may never be solved. How Cormac McLaggen found his humanity is one of them."
Out of the corner of her eye, Lily saw Professor McGonagall suppress a grin. Within a few minutes, Madam Patil returned with a red-eyed Lisa and began to remove the bandages from around Lily's arm.
"Miss Corner has told me all she knows about the curse and I don't believe these splinters will have any long term effects." she said, dabbing a pale blue potion onto the cuts on Lily's exposed arm, "As long as you keep this covered up you should be right as rain in a few days. Off you go, then. I expect I'll be seeing you again soon." Madam Patil waved her wand to fasten the bandage with a roll of her dark eyes and turned to Lisa, who was still sniffing quietly.
With a quick glance across at Scorpius, Lily sprang from the bed and made for the door with a smile and a "Thank you" to Madam Patil.
"Merlin, Lily! You practically apparated out of there." Scorpius chuckled as he was dragged through the doors of the Hospital Wing and out into the corridor.
"I had to get out before she changed her mind and I had to spend yet another night there." Lily explained, winding her arm around Scorpius's waist and leading him down the marble stairs towards the great Hall. "Come on, I'm starving."
As the pair walked into the Great Hall, there was a shriek from the Gryffindor table and Rose Weasley came sprinting towards them.
"Oh thank Merlin you're all right, Lily! Hugo told me what happened with your broom and I thought you'd…"
"Calm down, silly. Look, I'm fine. Madam Patil stitched me up in no time." Lily laughed, allowing herself to be caught up in Rose's embrace.
"I'll see you later." Scorpius said softly, placing a kiss on Lily's head before crossing the hall towards the Ravenclaw table where Connor sat waiting.
"So what happened?" Rose whispered as she and Lily sat down next to Hugo, Albus, Annie and the twins. Lily cast a furtive glance around the table to see that every pair of ears was straining to hear their conversation.
"I'll tell you later." She assured them, helping herself to mashed potatoes.
Later, when the group were comfortably settled in the armchairs by the fire, the rest of the House have retired to bed, Lily recounted her tale.
"But please don't tell anyone – I couldn't stand for Lisa to be persecuted for it. I don't know what I would have done in her position."
The others nodded in agreement,
"Poor girl," Rose sighed, "she's the last person who would have done something like this."
A moment of silence followed this last comment, broken by a gentle tapping at the window.
"Mad-Eye?" Hugo exclaimed, rising to open the window and let the Weasleys' aged owl flutter in. His fathers were ruffled and his eyes (one a bright orange, the other a strange, piercing yellow-green) surveyed the room mistrustfully.
"What are you doing here, boy?" Rose asked, untying the note attached to leg Mad-Eye stuck out.
She unrolled the parchment and the group watched her eyes scan it before she raised her hand to her mouth with an excited squeak.
"What is it?" Hugo asked, and Rose made no reply, passing him the note wordlessly. He too scanned the parchment and gave a great laugh.
"Mum's had the baby!" he cried, and the rest of the group rose as one to crowd around him. "It's a girl, and they're naming her Ruby – for Hagrid."
"Oh, how lovely! He'll be so pleased." Lily said.
"We should go down tomorrow and tell him." Rose decided, and Hugo, Lily and Albus nodded in agreement. "But now I think we should all get some rest. It's been trying day." Her mother's slightly bossy tone returned and the younger ones knew there would be no getting around her.
"See you tomorrow, then." Albus said as he and Hugo climbed the stairs to the boys' dormitories.
"See you tomorrow." The girls chorused.
As Lily laid her head on her pillow, she knew she would get little sleep. Her mind was still whirring at one hundred miles per hour. Lily Potter was worried. Although she'd succeeded in brushing off this latest attempt on her life, it grated on her. The knowledge that they'd used her friends against her and that they had succeeded in coming close enough to kill her for a third time frightened her. Hogwarts had always seemed a safe haven but Zabini, Nott, Flint and Goyle seemed to have infiltrated it again and again with ease. When she eventually drifted into a fitful sleep it was almost three, and her dreams were far from restful. When Lily eventually rose and went down to breakfast on Sunday morning it was to find the Hall nearly empty – Rose, Hugo, Al and Scorpius were sitting at the Gryffindor table waiting for her.
"Finally. We've been down here an hour and a half!" Hugo teased as Lily sat down between him and Scorpius,
"I didn't sleep well." Lily said, trying to appear nonchalant as she picked a piece of toast from the rack and began to butter it. The others seemed fooled but as Lily felt Scorpius stroke his thumb gently across her leg she felt comforted knowing that he understood. The soft sound of beating wings caused Lily to look towards the great windows of the hall, where Archie was soaring towards them. He landed with a soft thump on the table before her and stuck out his leg for her to untie the letter that was tied to it.
My Darling Lily,
Neville wrote last night to tell us about your latest adventure – needless to say your father and I are both pleased and worried in equal measure. I hope with all my heart that you can manage to stay out of trouble for a just a few days before we see you again!
Considering that it is nearly your birthday, I was wondering if you were thinking about having a party of some sort during the holidays? It might be a good opportunity to introduce Dad to Scorpius… Just a suggestion my dear. Send Archie back with your preferred date and we'll have everything ready for you when you come home.
Love,
Mum
P.S. Your father has sorted everything out concerning the protection of the Corners. He and a few others will be on watch to protect them until Zabini and co. have been arrested.
Lily smiled at the letter from her mother – much though she loved Hogwarts she did miss her parents. Scribbling a hasty reply on the back of the note, telling Ginny that she really was all right, would love to have a party on her Birthday and that she was thankful to Harry for helping her friend. She signed the note and sent Archie off again before getting up from the table.
"We off to Hagrid's then?" She asked, and her family nodded as they rose from the table.
"I'll leave you lot to it." Scorpius said, "I've got a couple of other things to be getting on with."
"All right then." Lily replied, standing on her tiptoes to give Scorpius a swift peck on the lips. "I'll see you later."
Tea with Hagrid always made Lily wish she spent more time in the little cabin. The old giant had tears in his eyes when Rose told him the news, and urged them to eat more of the treacle toffee he had made. When they'd managed to unstick their jaws, the time was spent reminiscing about their many childhood adventures. Lily sighed as the others laughed at the memory of Hugo running about with a stick twice as long as his arm; locked in battle with an army of invisible Death Eaters. The happy children they had been had no idea of the real dangers they would face; Lily remembered dreaming of being able to fight – to prove herself to her older brothers and parents – and the phrase "be careful what you wish for" had never seemed more apt.
A/N - Hope you've enjoyed my latest. There will be more action coming soon - including Scorpius meeting the family! Please do review and tell me what you think... even if it's just to chastise me for my lack of updates.