AN: Please review. There were only be a couple more chapters that are close together in time, but soon I'll be starting large time jumps in order to move the story along quicker. As much as I love writing Hogwarts, it gets boring after a while and we've read seven (maybe six and a half would be a better estimate) of it already. Once they get out of school is where it will get exciting. Fluffy scenes are fun/easy to write, but not exactly my forte.


At Hogwarts, Lily wished that she could say it was good to be back, but within the first week of classes she had a pile of assignments in conjunction multiple chapter to read from each class. OWLs were upon them, at least that's what the professors thought. She wished that there was more time to be outside, Quidditch tryouts were soon and she wanted to get some flying time in with Scorpius before then. That, though, wasn't going to happen.

Friday night she found herself in Scorpius' dorm room. The library had been taken over by second years assigned some group project, the common room was bustling with energy as per usual for a weekend night, and her room was taken over by most of the upper level girls. The best option, given the circumstances, seemed to be the boys dormitory.

Scorpius was bent over his desk when she came in and he was the only one present. "Mind if I join you?"

"Playing with fire," he said, but gestured to his bed. Lily plopped on top of the covers after kicking her shoes off and made herself at home with her countless scrolls of parchment and pile of textbooks. "How can you stand that?"

"It's comfortable." To prove the point she snuggled against the pillows and got situated in a half lying, half sitting position. "Do you want me to show you how?"

"I am perfectly capable of lying on my own bed. Besides, this has to get done."

"By Monday." Her voice was a sing-song tone. She rested her head on one hand and tilted her head. "Didn't you say that you didn't like what we were doing in my bedroom because it was awkward in a twin bed. This bed seems plenty big enough for two."

"You staying in my room is contingent on the fact that you want to study and nowhere else in this castle is suitable. If all you want to do babble all night, then please kindly escort yourself out of my room and somewhere else."

Lily didn't respond, but her mouth affixed itself into a sort of pout as she opened her Charms textbook and took out a quill to begin writing. For awhile she immersed herself in her studies, attempting to push away the fact that she was on Scorpius' bed in his room, alone. Finally, she couldn't take it anymore. "Is something the matter?"

"No." The response is immediate and followed by his quill hitting the desk. "Do you want to get out of here?"

"What?" She pushes away the books and scrambles across his bed until she's at the edge. "Both the common room and the library are packed."

"I've been studying for a good three hours, and we have a bit before I have to be back for patrols." He looked down at this wrist. "Would you like to go on a walk?"

"Score, it's freezing outside and it'll take me a good fifteen minutes to find warm clothes in my room." She had abandoned her uniform for casual clothes: ripped jeans and a wizarding band shirt that she'd stolen from Teddy.

"I have extra clothes," he said and got to his feet, pulling out a jumper and scarf for him and his cloak for Lily.

"I'll take the jumper, you're much taller than I am." She pulled the it over her head and then wrapped the scarf around her neck as she waited for Scorpius to put on his own robe. "Where are we going?"

He shrugged as he put his wand in his pocket before linking his hand with Lily's. The pair was hardly even noticed as they slipped down the staircase and out of their house into the castle. The hallways, especially in the dungeon, were deserted this time of night.

"Do you want to go to the lake or the pitch?" he asked. "Or do you have any other ideas?"

"Lake," she answered. and began to lead the way, knowing how to get there the fastest. Soon enough they were exiting the cold stone walls of the castle, crossing the threshold of the solid oak door into the cool night air. Up above the stars and the moon shone brightly so far away from the muggles. Light pollution was almost non existent, due to this and the fact it was fairly clear the sky was an interesting shade of dark blue, reflecting against the still waters of the lake. Dew had begun to accumulate on the grass and dampened the legs of their pants.

"It's so peaceful here," she said as she slipped her arms around her waist. He paused for a moment before relaxing under her hold, arm circling her body, the other resting on the arm in front of him. "Does this help?"

"Yes, I just…" He looked around. "Let's sit." In the distance he gestured to a bench. Once they walked over and sat down, Lily was practically on top of him. "I have to admit, I was stressed out, but I realized I should take some time and relax… I also realized that my roommates would be returning soon enough."

"Hmmm...It seems to think that I've been rubbing off on you, not the other way around."

"You certainly do a lot of rubbing," he teased and pulled her closer until her face was directly in front of his. Lily took it as a cue to kiss him and moved her arms up to his neck to wrap around him. This was better than in her room, mostly because he knew for a fact they wouldn't be interrupted. Granted, they had to make their way back to the castle in less than an hour, but they had now, and that was what was important.


A cloud of steam rose from the tea cup situated in front of her. "Thank you," Lily murmured, barely glancing up from her textbook as she wrote almost absent mindedly. Her focus was shifted when she felt a hand on her shoulder.

"Lily please drink your tea. You and your partner need to practice reading the leaves," Professor Patil said.

Lily held back an eye roll. Of all the different forms of divination, tea leaf reading has to be her least favorite. While all forms are open to interruption, this one is greatly inaccurate depending on how a person sees the picture of the leaves forming. Still, she put away the book and the parchment to get out her Divinations journal. "Let's get to it." She said and lifted the cup to her mouth. Across from her, her partner, Esther, had already started.

Honestly, Lily was surprised by her roommate taking Divinations. She was like her aunt, loved logic and delighted going to arithmancy each and every day. Professor Patil gave her special permission to enter in the Divinations class later in the term and since then had been Lily's partner. Most everyone else in the class was a little put off by her seriousness with the subject as most of them were here for a fun elective.

"Once your tea is done, hold it in your nondominant hand and swirl three times clockwise. Then, upend it onto your saucer, wait a bit before you lift it up. Then look at it for a bit and jot down all the possible symbols in the journal and your reaction to to them. When that is done, discuss it with your partner." Professor Patil walked up to her desk where her tea cup rested, once there she turned around to face the class. "Use your books whenever necessary."

Lily did as instructed and looked at the saucer. There were several symbols scattered around: there was a fence in front of a heart, wavy lines connecting the two symbols with another: a dagger resting nearby and a closed hand along with a broken necklace.

"Not a desirable future?" Esther questioned.

"Confusing," she replied as she began taking notes. Fence meant barriers, heart was obviously love, wavy lines meant an uncertain path, a dagger was danger...The hand signified an argument and the necklace...admirers.

"Give it here, mine isn't very interesting." Esther illustrated this point by pushing her own saucer aside as Lily moved hers forward. "Quite troublesome… Professor Patil, could you look at this?"

The professor crossed the room and looked down. "Is this your's Lily?" she questioned as she shrunk to the table level to get a better look. "There seems to be a quite a bit of obstacles in your path. Of course you need to decide what these symbols mean, but what I see is an uncertain path to a love that has many barriers. I also an argument in the future that may lead to a lost lover...that's what the broken necklace means. The dagger, though, and it's position are what's peculiar…" She looked at Lily. "You know what a dagger means?"

"Danger."

"But it's not only caused by others, but can be from yourself."

"What are you saying?"

"It seems that leaves are saying that your uncertain path can lead to an end of a relationship, and you yourself may be responsible for some heartache. Do you see the droplets and the flower?" She pointed to the leaf fragments that were by themselves and broken off. Before more could be said she heard a clattering of tea cups and rushed to tend to the mess, wand already out.

"Rubbish," Esther said. "Tea leaf reading. I don't see any of that. That fence looks like squiggly lines to me and that heart could be an ace for all we know."
Lily listened to the words and silently hoped that the tea leaves were read all wrong. She focused her attention on Esther's pushed aside saucer, analyzing it in great depth until Professor rang the small gong signaling it time to start tidying up the room before heading to the next lesson.


The tea leaves were out of her mind by the weekend as Quidditch tryouts were among them. Lily wasn't nervous, the team had shrunk with the Ophelia gone and would be vulnerable without the Regina's masterful plays. Still, the condition they would be in would be better than next year with Scorpius gone and someone other than that now third year boy that seemed to be utterly hopeless on a broom.

Scorpius had his arm around her as the pair walked to the pitch. He had gotten better with public displays of affection and she most definitely appreciated. The wind was wicked today and it was useful to tuck herself against his body to shield herself from the wind. Once in the air, she knew she'd be chilled to the bone if she didn't start moving around soon. The pair pulled apart when they came to the shed in order to get their brooms out. Students were already lined up on the pitch, more than she anticipated. One, was particularly familiar, Helena Corner. The girl with stick straight black hair and piercing grey eyes.

"Are you alright?" Scorpius asked when he came up beside her.

"Fine. I think Flint is sorting us into groups by position." Lily headed to where Jordi stood, along with Helena. The girl was small and slight, good build for a chaser "Hullo," she greeted warmly. Jordi stepped forward, and got close to her to stand between her and the girl. "Prospects are grim," he said softly. "She's all we got for Chaser and you know Ophelia is going to be hard to replace. The beaters…" He looked over to a small group of boys, there were a few older ones that looked promising as they fairly tall with broad. "At least we have Score and Flint, right?"

"Yes. We should warm up. Do you want to walk Corner through the drills?"

"Yeah, start taking a lap."

By the time Damon had gathered everyone to give them instructions about the tryouts Lily was in the air. She saw his figure with his arms up and then heard the sharp sound of a whistle. Once landed she stood between Scorpius and Flint, breathing fairly heavily with wind tossed hair and pinkened cheeks.

"Now, that everyone is here…" He looked down at a roster and then looked up. "It's not a secret that Slytherin has been in the rebuilding stages for years, with last year's seventh years we have some open spots that strong players used to fill. I expect dedication and hard work from everybody on this team. We will treat each other with respect and help one another get to the level that we used to be that. That being said, this year I will not be Captain alone. Professor Wolfe has agreed to let me take on a co-captain." He looked around the team before his eyes went to the left of Lily. "Scorpius Malfoy has been on the team since his second year and his a season's worth of experience on me."

Lily watched as he moved to the center with Damon. His face was unreadable, as always, but surely he would have told her the news?

"Last night I was informed of this development and kept to the utmost secrecy." He managed a slight smile and forced laugh. "Still, my role will mainly be one of the behind the scenes. Last year and years prior we had a sort of eighth player if you will. One that never stepped foot on the pitch, but could be seen front row in the stands and at every practice. Sadly, Regina Greengrass is graduated and I will be tasked with creating equally brilliant plays. That being said, even if you don't make the team, that does not mean there will not be a spot for you here."

"But let's get started, break into groups. I'll be starting with Chasers, Scorpius will be with the Beaters."

As Lily watched Damon come over and Scorpius walk away she knew that she would be in a for a long season of Quidditch.