Teddy was at Hogwarts upon Harry's request. The whole family had been worried since the strange accident with Lily. Hallowe'en was always a busy day at the school and Harry asked Teddy to supervise. It was good to be back at the place where he built so many pleasing memories and friendships, where his relationship with Victoire blossomed from peers to lovers. Teddy always thought she was amazing, her kindness and loyalty were pure, and he fell in love with her slowly; many little things leading his feelings to that deep, beautiful, and also scary place known as love. One day he simply realised that what he felt was stronger than anything he had felt before.

It was still early for breakfast, so Teddy decided to take a walk. It'd be good to see the Weasley-Potter kids, they were funny with all the bickering, but he was most excited to see Lily. It was her first year at Hogwarts and she was basically his little sister. They had always been close, therefore he missed her the most. The Potter's home was cold and sad without her constant laughing, singing and jumpy walk.

Then he spotted some red hair fluttering with the wind, its owner just a small frame full of jackets. Lily for certain, he thought. What disconcerted him the most was the white-haired boy who could only be one person. Malfoy. He didn't know them personally, but his grandmother had strong opinions about their whole clan. Though he tried his best not to judge all of them automatically, it was hard not to when they had caused so much pain to his family. Teddy didn't like to see Lily with Scorpius, because even if he was a good person, he wasn't sure his family had truly changed. The two kids seemed to be talking excitedly, although the boy was much more controlled than Lily with her jumps and excessive arms' movements.

"Lily." Teddy called when the two kids were at earshot. He saw her turn to him with a bright smile.

"What are you doing here, Teddy?" Lily ran to hug him.

"Your father asked me to check the security measures today." He put her down and saw Scorpius shifting uncomfortably nearby.

"It's great to see you. How's Victoire and the weeding?"

"She's almost driving me mad with all the arrangements, I didn't know there is such a huge variety of flowers and so many shades of pink."

"Well, it's a very important event. Of course, she wants everything to be perfect." She then realised Scorpius was still standing there awkwardly. "Sorry. I forgot to introduce you. Teddy, this is my friend Scorpius. Scorpius, this is Teddy basically my brother and soon to be an official Weasley."

"Hello, it's a pleasure to meet you." Scorpius said with a respectable nod.

"Hi." Teddy coughed uneasily. "We're technically second cousins. My grandmother is your grandmother's sister."

"You're Nymphadora's son." Scorpius said with realisation, he had never seen a photo of his cousin neither had they been introduced. "Andromeda Tonks née Black. Grandma Narcisa has already told me about her."

"My grandma has also told me things about that part of the family." The harsh tone in Teddy's voice startled Lily as she had never seen him act that way.

"I'm sure she has many things to say, but things also tend to change."

"Well, how interesting that you two are related. I always forget you're part Black, Teddy. Weren't you at least a bit curious to meet someone from this part of your family?" Lily intervened.

"Curious, maybe." Teddy admitted as he and Scorpius analysed each other, two members of the same family, yet so distant. "Anyway, what are you doing out here so early?"

"I needed to send a letter to my mother and Scorpius offered to accompany me. Do you know about this friends' day my mother invented to meet my friends? It'll be extremely awkward to have so many different people together."

"I didn't know. Let's just hope blood isn't spilled." Teddy replied.

"Blood spilled is better used to describe my family dinners." Teddy and Lily turned to Scorpius consternated. "Oh, no, it's usually not that serious, just many threats and implicit offenses. Blood only happened once or twice." Lily chuckled at the weird explanation Scorpius gave.

"We should head to breakfast, Scorpius. I'll see you later, Teddy." She waved at him and Scorpius simply nodded politely.

As they walked towards the castle Teddy thought about the unexpected friendship between the children of two former rivals. He still remembered when he had encountered Lily encouraging a young Scorpius scared to go to Hogwarts, how she didn't even care to know who he was. That was just how Lily was. So perhaps their friendship wasn't so unexpected. Teddy just thought it weird anyway.

The talk with Teddy had been strange, and Lily could sense Scorpius getting tense again. Being friends with him was an impending inconstancy; there were times when he seemed relaxed and would talk freely, other times he'd shut down and avoid saying anything meaningful, and sometimes he'd act completely different as if it were another person, a talkative yet reserved person. It was too much. But she knew he wasn't ready to be confronted about it, he'd just close up and pretend she was delusional.

"I have to talk to James and give him the map back." Lily said as they entered the Entrance Hall. "I'll see you in a couple of minutes." He nodded and entered the Great Hall. Lily went behind an armour to see where James was with the map. It was still early, and she knew James was always the last one up, so she hoped he wouldn't be at breakfast already. Talking to him in front of a crowd would only make things worse. Gladly he was just leaving his common room and she decided to wait by the stairs. Lily saw Teddy joining everyone for breakfast scowling and apparently lost in thought. She considered it weird as he was usually so joyful and comical.

"James, wait." Lily almost missed her brother while she thought of Teddy's unusual behaviour. He turned just in time, a few more seconds and he would have crossed the door. "Can I talk to you for a minute?"

"Sure, Lily." James said and walked back to where she was standing.

"I need to give this back to you." Deciding it was best to go straight to the point, Lily handed him the folded parchment which he took abruptly.

James stared at her incredulously and she could see a shred of anger. "What the hell, Lily?"

"I needed it, and you wouldn't let me have it." She calmly explained.

"How did you get it?"

"Like I'm stupid enough to tell you. All the matter is that it's safe and back with you. Now you can stop terrorising the whole Gryffindor tower."

"What are you becoming? Stealing things, lying." He gave her a look filled with disappointment, and that was a thousand times worse than his angry look. She felt her heart tightening slyly, but she wouldn't back down since she was as stubborn as her mother.

"Please, James." She said annoyingly. "I actually needed it. And you had told me weeks ago that you wouldn't lend it to me, you just never explained why, but I'm pretty sure I can guess." Her Weasley temper was unleashing, it was hard keeping it under control. Her father said the best thing was to get out of the way when it attacked, but at that moment there were two Weasley tempers duelling and it probably wouldn't end well.

"It was made by Gryffindors, Lily. It wouldn't be right to have someone else looking into it."

"But Louis can have it, even being a Hufflepuff. I guess I'm the bloody problem then."

"You're changing the subject." He scolded. "How did you get it?"

"I guess you shouldn't have told me a thousand times how to get inside your precious common room." With that Lily passed straight through him and into the Great Hall. She hoped he wouldn't follow her, that he'd be able to control his temper, but she soon heard self-assured footsteps following her towards the Slytherin table. Lily sensed all eyes trailing after the siblings.

"Lily, we're not done talking." James pulled at her arm, so she'd stop and turn to him. "You can't trespass another House common room. Have you gone mad?"

"Dear brother, I never said I trespassed anywhere. I just told you that you've told me a thousand times how to get into your bloody common room. You should be more careful if you don't want anyone intruding."

"You're changed, Lily."

"Or perhaps I'm changed with you because you've been mistreating me ever since the sorting. You think I haven't noticed, James? The little things? Like you don't call me 'sis' anymore, that you avoid me at any cost, that you only visited at the infirmary when mom and dad were here and forced you to go. So you don't get to yell at me, James, over this bloody map. The same map you didn't lend me because I'm a Slytherin. I really don't care that four Gryffindors made the map, it was also my grandfather. Because rather you like it or not, I'm still a Potter, still your sister."

The whole place was silent, even James had stepped back surprised at her comeback. He just stared at her without saying anything but she noticed his nostrils flaring in anger, he was mad she had dared to snap at him in front of everyone.

"That's enough you two." Lily saw Teddy approaching with Slughorn and Neville. "Why don't you eat and then have a talk with your heads of house? It'll be good for you to calm down." Teddy said.

"I've lost my appetite, so I'll skip the eating part." She turned and left the Great Hall.

Teddy was still shocked at the scene that had unravelled in front of him. Everyone was. Students from all Houses were staring; the Weasley-Potter clan was standing but without a clue of what to do and he saw some Slytherins also stand or show their loathe for James.

"What are you thinking, James? Fighting with your sister, in public to top it off." Teddy scolded the younger boy.

"You don't get to boss me around. You're not my brother, nor my father, we're not related actually." James saw a trace of pain pass by Teddy's eyes and he regretted his words immediately, but he was too angry to take anything back at the moment, therefore he only turned and also left the room.

"The show is over. You can return your attention to your food." Headmistress McGonagall adverted the students. Teddy remained stunned at James' words.

"I'm sure he didn't mean it. He was angry and you know their tempers." Neville whispered to him. But though he nodded and smiled weakly, Teddy was hurt. He considered the Potters his family and he'd never deny that or say something to disregard them.

Teddy wanted to find Lily, but she could be anywhere, so he'd need some clue to start looking. He leaned against one of the walls close to the Great Hall. He already knew who he wanted to talk to first. Albus, Fred and Rose were the first to leave breakfast, but they were in such a rush to reach Gryffindor Tower that they didn't notice Teddy nearby. He was glad to be unnoticed.

Soon after many students started leaving the Great Hall, so he refocused to find the person he was looking for.

"You'll be late for Defence, Scorpius. I can't believe you forgot your book." Teddy turned and saw a tall black boy talking to Scorpius close to the dungeons.

"Don't worry. You can go ahead." Scorpius replied and the other boy made his way to the stairs.

"Hold on, Scorpius." Teddy approached him before he walked further away. Malfoy didn't look surprised to see Teddy and nodded at him. "I need to see Lily. Do you have any idea of where she might be?"

"I have a guess, but I'm not sure I should tell you. It's her private place."

"Yet she shared it with you."

"I was helping her with something."

"Right." He cleared his throat to gain some time and surpass his pride. "I know I was a little rude to you earlier, and you didn't deserve it. I'm sorry. But I worry a lot about Lily, she's like a sister. And she's clearly shaken after what happened. I just want to help her. I don't even study here, so I won't be invading her privacy all the time." Teddy stopped and took in the way Scorpius was making before his intervention, the opposite way to the dungeons. "You didn't forget any book, did you?"

"No." Scorpius sighed. "I think she's at the Boathouse. It's my best guess, and if she's not there I can't really help much." Scorpius gave him a half smile before turning and heading to his class.

Lily was crying quietly in the Boathouse. She knew James wouldn't take well the fact she had taken the map without his permission, but she didn't know her bottled feelings would emerge so easily. She was trying to regain control and go back to the castle, pretend that nothing happened and just move on, but still too resentful and sad to do so.

"Hey, Lils." She recognized Teddy's voice and just curled further into the wall, wanting only to be alone. "I won't even ask you if you're okay since you obviously aren't, but I'd like to know what happened."

"Things just became really hard since I was sorted in Slytherin."

"Are they… hum… unpleasant to you?" He asked awkwardly.

"No. Most of them are nice and the others just ignore me, even if they don't like me much." She wiped her face with her robe. "My brothers and cousins are the problem. It's like I morphed into a different person and they act weird when I'm around. Hugo is better now, and the Scamanders are fine as well. But things just seem weird."

"James was a git today. I hope he hasn't been acting this bad in general."

"He usually just avoids me. Today he got mad because I got the map without asking him."

"How?"

"I'm not telling you either. It's a secret." She laughed. "Wait, how did you know I was here?"

"I may have cornered Scorpius. He was coming himself, but I intervened."

"I can't believe he told you. I thought he could keep a secret."

"He told me after I said I don't study here and wouldn't be able to trouble you much." She rolled her eyes at his line.

"He sucks comforting people, so I reckon he was relieved to know you were coming. Not that you're that much better."

"Gee, thanks." He pretended to be hurt but couldn't contain a chuckle. "I'm sure your brother will come around. You're the same Lily."

"The problem is that I will change, Teddy. I probably already did. Change is imminent. It would happen no matter the House I was sorted into. If they can't accept that, it'll be hard to be with them. I feel like they want me to stay the same little girl who'd look up to them and follow their every command."

"Perhaps that's what they want. But if they love you, they'll accept you no matter what, and will get over their expectations." Lily nodded and rested her head on his shoulder as she calmed down.

It was time for the Hallowe'en Feast, and everyone was hurrying excitedly to the Great Hall. Scorpius was waiting with Lily for Easton and Emery in the common room. Apparently, she was better. After the talk with Teddy she had returned to classes and just acted as if nothing had happened. He wasn't fooled though. Being hurt by your own family was harder than she was letting on, thus he thought she was just pretending to be fine. There was also the lost look on her face that betrayed her façade. He was used to pretend most of the time; hence it was easy to know when somebody else was pretending.

"You told Teddy about my hiding spot."

"I felt like you trusted him, and I'm terrible comforting people, so I thought he'd be better."

"It's okay. It's good to talk to him. And he's your cousin. I find that very strange, but it's also cool."

"Why?" He understood the part about it being strange, but he couldn't see the cool part. Teddy was more like a stranger than a family member, and he clearly wasn't fond of Scorpius.

"There's always this rivalry and tension between our families, our sides of the world, different sides in the war, but if we pay attention there are also many things connecting us. Perhaps it shows that rival sides can actually make peace." He spent a few seconds considering her words. And his curiosity regarding his cousin began to grow.

"You're very wise, Lily Potter."

"My grades would say the opposite. Only Potions saves me." She replied but still smiled at him.

"Grades don't say much. There are too many types of wisdoms and intelligences to be measured with simple tests."

She started laughing. "You say that because you're the top of your class. Even Rose struggles to keep up with you."

"Because books and test and memorisation are my type of intelligence. But there are far more interesting forms of wisdom."

"Here we are." Easton finally descended from the dormitory with Emery right behind him. "We needed a little something for tonight."

"You've already made a mess yesterday, what else do you plan to do?" Scorpius asked reprehensively.

"Nothing like that. Don't worry" Emery completed.

Lily and Scorpius shared an unconvinced look but chose to let it slide. They walked to the Great Hall laughing of Easton comments on Professor Chapman's class of Defence Against the Dark Arts. The study of boggarts had created quite a commotion and hilarious moments.

The Great Hall looked beautiful. The Hallowe'en decorations had been set a couple weeks before the celebrations, but the atmosphere was different. The place was darker than usual, but excitement reined among students and professors as everyone awaited the attractions. The four friends sat together at the far end of the Slytherin table to have a better view of the teacher's stage where the choir would sing, and they all wanted to cheer for Briony. Corliss sat close to them with Lyra and Matthew, her close friends from fourth year.

Soon the headmistress grabbed all attention to deliver a short speech and begin the celebrations. The skeletons danced, pumpkins exploded in a beautiful show of lights turning into figures in the air, wizards flying becoming dragons, and then leprechauns, and then hippogriffs. It was splendid and Lily applauded excitedly.

"And now I'll leave the stage to receive our main attraction and surely the most expected one. I'm proud to present the Frog Choir led by Professor Flitwick." Professor McGonagall said as a round of applauses started, and the choir members entered with Professor Flitwick. Briony smiled nervously as she walked to her place. Bhavin was standing next to her, his hair still pink and Lily smiled wickedly at that scene. They soon started to sing a macabre song that fit the festivities perfectly. It was a great performance and when it ended everyone applauded and the ones who had friends or family in the choir stood up, but then Easton and Emery took two devices that exploded with the words: Briony is the best and Bhavin sucks. The Headmistress gave them a pointed look. That would surely give them a detention, but it was definitely worth it when Briony let out a subtle chuckle and Bhavin made a ridiculous face.

The rest of the feast was uneventful, the food was delicious, and they talked excitedly as Briony told the experience of singing with the choir. Lily sat with her back to the Gryffindor table as she wanted to avoid facing James. Teddy sat with the professors and he and Hagrid were discussing happily. But dinner was soon over and the Slytherins rushed to the common room for their private party. Lily was hugging Briony as they walked to the dungeons.

"Lily, I have to say goodbye. I'll be going back to London." Teddy called when they were already in the dungeons. Lily let go of Briony and turned to her brother. She stayed behind as the others entered the Slytherin dungeon.

"I'm gonna miss you, Teddy. You stayed for so little time. It's hard to be away from you and the rest of the family."

"You'll soon be home for Christmas. It's good to see you doing well here. I always knew you'd love Hogwarts, and I'm sure many adventures wait for you."

"Adventures sound nice, as long as they're not dangerous. My father has faced enough dangers back in his time."

"That's true. Be careful." They soon exchanged their goodbyes and he left. Lily was happy to see him that day among so many bad things happening. She entered the common room to see Easton and Emery singing the newest song by the Weird Sisters and dancing strangely. It was a hilarious vision and Lily soon joined Bri, Atticus, Alvina and Seton Lee in one of the couches.

"Now that we've entertained you, we'd like to call to the stage an even bigger entertainment. After many years of insistence, extortions and threats, we finally arranged the most expected performance of the Slytherins' soirée. So give a round of applause to a very rare performance by Scorpius Malfoy and Lily Potter."

Lily grew suddenly nervous and shy which added to Scorpius' constant bashfulness could only make that performance a mess, she walked unsteadily to the centre of the room, her eyes darting around anxiously and her hands shaking lightly. Scorpius was feeling even worse, he hated to be the centre of attention and he'd have to sing nonetheless, something in which he was awful at. They both stood there for a moment in stillness and discomfort, but as soon as Lily saw Bri giving her a thumbs up and a smile she regained some of her usual confidence and carefreeness.

"And we're singing 'Do the Hippogriff' by The Weird Sisters. Thank you all in advance." Lily said and the music began. While the rhythm played and they awaited the right moment to start singing, Lily let loose a little bit more and started dancing discreetly; Scorpius was still looking scared and fidgeting with his hands. Lily started the first verses and had to nudge Scorpius not so subtly to make him sing the refrain. By this moment, Lily was already dancing, throwing her hair around like a rock star and engaging the public to dance as well, the twins made crazy steps with each other and Briony danced with Thane Lee eccentrically. Even Scorpius started moving from side to side until Lily pulled his hands and made him dance, turning around and laughing lightly in between refrains; he shook his arms and tried some tap steps, though he was very clumsy.

They finished in between claps and giggles from the crowd of Slytherins as they bowed side by side gracelessly and laughing. Scorpius was truly a terrible singer and Lily wasn't the best either, but the performance had been highly entertaining and Scorpius, though he wouldn't admit to many people, had fun.

Teddy had a long and interesting day, even with the hard outbursts and weird revelations. He was starting to regret the way he treated Scorpius as he seemed like a good person, and he felt bad for judging him so quickly based on his family. His grandmother Andromeda rarely talked about the Blacks or anything else involving her ancient life, but when she did, she would tell those awful tales about her sister Bellatrix and about the conventional traditions that esteemed pureness of blood. He internalized that and other critics he heard throughout the years from the Weasley-Potter family, though Harry always tried to balance the offenses and see things from another angle.

He used floo powder from The Three Broomsticks to go to the Potter's house at the Grimmauld Place. Harry had asked him to check everything in Hogwarts and he was meant to tell his discoveries.

"Teddy, is that you?" He heard Ginny say from the living room. They were very close, and he'd turn to her for advice every time he needed.

"Yes, Ginny, just got back from Hogwarts. It's weird seeing that place without being a student." He said as he entered the room and gave her a hug before settling in an armchair.

"Indeed it is, you'll see how weird it feels when your children first take the train to Hogwarts. How old I felt when I saw Lily leaving, my baby girl so grown-up."

"There will be a while until that happens for me. And Lily is doing great there, it was nice seeing her at the place she always dreamt of."

"It' good to hear that. Harry and I have been worried, especially ever since that bizarre incident."

"It's understandable, but she looks much better."

"It tranquilizes me to hear you say that." Harry entered the room with a smile and greeted his godson warmly before sitting next to his wife and putting his arm around her. "But I have some worries I'd like to share with you. Did you notice any type of relation between Lily and Scorpius, the Malfoy kid? When she was at the Hospital Wing, he visited her with his cousins, but James said he never saw them together aside from when Briony was with them."

"I think that has changed, Harry. Today when I arrived, I saw them walking together from the Owlery and they seemed to be friends, talking freely and being comfortable around each other, however comfortable Scorpius can be. He looks rather reserved. But why are you worried about him?"

"I'm not judging him by his past, at least trying not to. But Draco summoned me lately with an anonymous note promising tips about the recent attacks and he delivered me a couple letters, unfortunately we didn't find anything there, no trace of magic or other owners of the letter. Nothing linking them to anyone other than Draco. It might not be legitimate. He asked for privacy; thus, we've been working on them away from the Ministry, but I'm not rejecting the idea that this is a plan from Malfoy, I just can't understand why he'd to that."

"And we got more intrigued when we saw Scorpius' name on the list Lily sent us of the friends she wanted to invite over." Ginny added.

"All of this sounds very strange. As much as you don't like Draco, he seems to be doing.. hum.. well since the end of the war. Do you think he would jeopardize everything? Using his son nonetheless?"

"I don't think so, but I can't eliminate any options. Especially if his son is getting close to Lily after her attack. I still don't want to make hasty decisions, that's why I'll investigate further before blaming anyone directly. It could also hurt Lily if she's friends with the boy."

"I could try to get more information. I'll drag less attention than you, Harry." Deep down, meeting Scorpius had ignited the will to discover more about that side of his family, and by investigating he could see more of that world without suspicions.

"It could be good, Teddy, if you're sure about it. We can arrange something, so you don't grow suspicions around the Malfoys. Christmas break is arriving as well, and we'll properly meet Scorpius." Harry finished and they kept talking for a little longer. Teddy decided not to mention the problem with James, he thought it better to discuss it with him directly when Christmas break arrived. For now, he had more important questions to deal with.