Friday February 5th 2021:
"Pawn to G4," Rose commanded, inspecting the chessboard between her and her opponent. The hunched over white pawn obeyed its player's order with a stroll forward until it reached the desired square.
Molly's undecipherable fixed stare lingered on her cousin, until her arms uncrossed to support her head behind her. "Queen to H4," she declared. The queen piece positioned herself beside the pawn, and then with a strike of her sword, the pawn sliced in half, its pieces scattered along the board.
"Checkmate," Molly bragged, a prideful smirk curving at her lips. Rose groaned in frustration. "Lil, did you see that? What are you doing?"
Lily held up her index finger to signal Molly to wait. What she was seeing was Scorpius and Albus sitting in the far end of the Clock Tower Courtyard. They were giggling like school girls and playfully knocking each other's feet. "Footsies? Really?"
"Are you staring at those "besties" again?" Molly asked, suddenly standing by Lily side. "Do you want to snog Malfoy or something?" She angled her head sideways to whisper in her ear. "Or are you just enthralled with their flirting?"
Lily's head turned so fast that her shoulder length hair nearly slapped the towering fourteen-year-old's face. "Flirting? You mean you see that too?"
"I think the better question is: who doesn't see that?" Molly said.
"Who are you two talking about?" Rose questioned, lifting herself from the ground.
Molly tried sounding out a word — or name — but Lily hastily tugged at the tip of her long braid. Molly screeched.
"Oops, accident," Lily lied, exchanging her attention from Molly to Rose. "Nobody you know."
"Okaayyy," Rose mumbled quizzically, strolling past them to join the boy's company.
"Bloody hell! What was that for, you arse?" Molly demanded, protectively shielding her scalp from any further pain.
"So you wouldn't tell her who we were really talking about?" Lily whispered.
"You really think I would tell one of my cousins that her boyfriend might be interested in somebody else?" Molly said.
"Maybe."
"Well, you're right. I would," Molly admitted, "but you didn't need to be so rough."
"Sorry."
"It's fine," Molly said, "but—" That sentence didn't even make it up to bat when seeing the preteen zoom out of the room. She rolled her eyes as she tidied up the chess pieces herself.
"Hey, Rose. How about you take Scorpius, and I'll borrow Albus here?" Lily suggested.
"Sounds good," Rose said, chuckling and leading her date along with her.
"What's up?" Albus asked, both in concern and curiosity.
"Nothing really. Just wondering what two teenage boys are doing playing footsie," Lily said, one hand on her hip and another on her journal.
"What are you talking about? We were just playing around," Albus said.
"But right here it says—"
"Ugh, you're still going by that thing?" Albus interrupted. "You're taking it way too seriously. It's not even advice from a professional. Aunt Hermione is just going by her own beliefs."
"Aunt Hermione is the smartest person we know! And — wait, how did you know about this already?" Lily said, hiding her notebook.
"You don't hide it very well," Albus said. "You take it out every time you see that Nigel bloke, and James told me."
"James? I knew he somehow peaked when I wasn't looking!" Lily snapped. "I'm gonna kill him, but before I do..." Her face suddenly leaned forward for a close inspection, but Albus leaned back. She smirked.
"What?" Albus demanded.
"Your face is red."
"No it's not!"
Lily leaned back, swapping her smirk for a sincere frown. "Albus, you trust me, right? I mean, every time you come back from Hogwarts, you would talk to me about nearly everything."
"Yeah," Albus said calmly.
"So, let me just say this," Lily said, "maybe, you shouldn't be dating Abigail. She's a great person, and you two have pretty good chemistry, but I know you don't love her. You love Scorpius, and I think he loves you too."
"I understand what you're trying to do, but you're wrong. I do love Abigail, and Scorpius loves Rose. Oh, and Lily, I think you're forgetting something. Something important. I'm a boy, and he's a boy."
"So?" Lily asked innocently.
"So, we're not gay," Albus muttered so no one else could hear.
"You could both be bipolar," Lily mentioned.
"Bipolar?"
"Yeah. Y'know, where you could be attracted to both girls and boys."
"You mean bisexual?" Albus guessed, amused.
"Oh, yeah," Lily said timidly. "That."
"Alright, let's say we were. I highly doubt Scorpius would ever have feelings like that for me," Albus said, his head hanging low. With that, he walked away with nothing more than a farewell.
Lily stood there, sighing.
"What an idiot."