Lily rose early the next morning and trudged down from the Gryffindor tower alone, leaving Roxy to sleep in peace. The sky was still the heavy grey of fading night, and it would be an hour until breakfast was served, so she soon found herself perched on the windowsill of the owlery, a hundred birds hooting around her. Lily did not own an owl herself, but a silver tabby cat by the name of Drizzle who was presently wrapped up in her scarlet bedclothes back in the dormitory. Despite this, her poor sleep always brought her here, to watch over the growing illumination of the grounds and listen to the flutter of hundreds of beatings wings.

She began to feel it again, the quiet sadness that seeped from her art to the rest of her chest, spreading and polluting until she could feel the ache in the ends of her fingertips. Lily did not entirely understand the grief that permeated her being, but suspected it had something to do with the knowledge that despite her wide range of friends and those who wished to be confidantes, she could not think of a single person she would want with her at this moment. Perhaps Scorpius was the exception, but as her cousin's boyfriend he didn't really count, but he did always say the right thing. Her face reflected the grey of the clouds.

It was a long time before she moved, and all the while her warm, dark eyes stayed locked on the boundaries of the forest, just visible in the dull light, with its shadows and yellowing leaves. The first decay of the year. She hated the autumn, loathed it, to watch the earth fade around her, watch her own skin pale, like the whole world was met with a dementor's kiss. At least Roxy and Leo would take her mind off it, or Scorpius and Rose when she bumped into them, most of the time at least. But not on the grey mornings. Now there was nothing to distract her and she was entirely alone.

Troubled by the thought, she slipped from the window and with a goodbye stroke to Cronus and Athena, Scorpius' and Rose's respective owls, set off down the numerous corridors and stairs to breakfast. Despite her time in the owlery, Lily saw that she was still one of the first to arrive in the Great Hall, and could locate neither Roxy nor Leo as both were prone to sleep in. Scanning the other tables, she did catch sight of Scorpius sitting alone, his brow furrowed and gaze intent on the piece of toast he turned idly in his fingers, apparently with no intention to eat it. Instinctively she started towards him, and, looking up, his lips assumed a strained smile while his eyes remained firmly dulled.

'What's up with you?' Lily asked, 'It can't be another row. You two were actually getting on yesterday.' A ghost of a smirk passed over his lips.

'No, no fight. Nothing's wrong at all,' he replied, and Lily had a strange sense that he was looking through, rather than at her. Despite his wasted appearance, she felt the truth in his words. There had been no argument.

'Something's wrong. You look like a ghost,' she said, and his eyes fell back to the toast.

'I don't know, Lils, I don't know.' he muttered, shaking his head, 'Maybe it's being back here again, like nothing is changing or getting better or – I just don't –'

Rose appeared beside them, her hair wild with freshly woken sleep, and he stopped talking, forcing down a gulp of toast instead. By the glow in Rose's eyes and the smile playing at her lips, it was clear to Lily indeed that there had been no argument, and after a few idle scraps of conversation it was clear that Scorpius would not speak again in Rose's presence. Thus, with an inward sigh, Lily left the strange couple behind and resumed her place opposite the newly arrived Leo and Roxy.

'I literally cannot wait,' grinned Roxy, 'I've heard tantalising things about American sorcerers, as they say.'

Scorpius and the owlery had caused Lily to entirely forget the news of the day, which was clearly causing a buzzing excitement across breakfast as Roxy was evidently not alone in expressing excitement. The previous night at the start of term feast, Professor Flitwick had announced that Saturday would bring the arrival of the Beauxbatons Academy of Magic and the Salem Witches' Institute. There had originally been minor trepidation from the witches of Hogwarts, before the knowledgeable Rose had cleared up that Salem had indeed taken to educating boys since the 1920s and there would thus be no shortage of date opportunities for the Yule Ball, a gathering at Christmas for those above their 4th Year to send off the foreign students.

'Say that you want about the Americans,' said Leo with a roll of his eyes, 'I will personally be looking forward to getting my hands on some lovely Beauxbatons filles.'

'Well, I agree that you're both a pair of perverts,' replied Lily with an eye-scrunching smile, which brought calls of protest from her two friends.

'Just because you get all the attention anyway,' argued Roxy, 'For Leo and I, this is our only chance to interact with people who don't know we're freaks already.'

'And they're French,' Leo reiterated with a wink.

Thus passed breakfast, and soon Leo and Lily were hit by the fresh, autumn air as they left the castle for Care of Magical Creatures, while Roxy had set off up the stairs to Divination. There were already a few crisp leaves blowing over the fields as the pair trudged past the greenhouses, still arguing over the propriety of Leo's remarks.

'It's pure objectification if you do end up going with one of those poor girls,' said Lily with a smug flick of her hair.

'Well, it's xenophobic to rule them out,' he retorted, 'who would you have me go out with?'

'I think you shouldn't be so dismissive of Hogwarts girls; it's insulting.'

'You should've said if you wanted a date so much,' he said as they arrived at the group of students, and lightly elbowed her side. 'I'm willing to go out with you, if you want me so badly.'

'Cocky muppet!' she snapped, whacking his arm.

'Saturday it is then? Hogsmeade?'

But before she could co-ordinate the string of insults and retorts running through her head, Hagrid had stepped forward from the forest, carrying in his arms something that appeared to be a snake with glowing red eyes. Suddenly, he gave a yelp and threw the snake into the air, for it had appeared to have laid a red hot egg on his arm that had now exploded on the ground and burnt away all the grass around it.

'Here we go again,' sighed Lily with a roll of her eyes.