Dear Scorpius,
I think I am in love and sadly the man isn't even real! I just finished reading "Me before You" and I know that I am too young for it but Scorpius! I am in love with Will. I know you don't even know Will but I feel elated and heartbroken about this story. The girls and I plan to watch the movie, we are dragging Viktor and Hugo in too because Hugo has a muggle TV thing on which you could watch as many movies as you want. Scor, I promise you, Muggle technology is fascinating, it is almost magical.
I am writing this letter to you in the middle of the night, my mind is racing a hundred miles an hour. I am excited about the movie because it would clear up a lot of muggle terms for me. I have been listening to "One day by this muggle band called Kodaline" in a loop. Lily introduced me to the song, it is beautiful gives me a weird feeling like there is something missing in me and I want to fill it but I am happy with this gaping hole in me too.
Do you get what I mean? Lily says, she gets equally loopy after reading a good book, it takes her a lot of time to come to terms with her reality. I know our library is full of fascinating books but there is some beauty to the quite magic of muggle books. Mrs. Potter and mother promised they will take us shopping at muggle bookstores, I want to read as many books as I could.
Mrs. Granger- Weasley has been incredibly kind, she offered to help us with picking books. But since she had already helped Lily's other cousins with book selections, they offered to help us out with it instead. I am so excited Scor, I find books are as good as people. Each book is helping me get better, it's a miracle really.
Oh! In all my rant, I forgot to ask you about your new term. How is it going? Are you enjoying yourself? I have so much to tell you, I can't wait for you to come back.
Please come home soon. I miss you.
Love,
The one and only
Carina
Scorpius frowned, sure this was one of the longest letters Carina had written to him and she sounded so much better but it was full of Lily and it bothered him to no end. Why was Lily everywhere he looked at? He leaned back in his chair as he thought about the day he had to apologise to Lily. It infuriated him that she had already moved on from the incident. How could she just shrug him off that easily? He had been wracked with guilt and she didn't spend one night wondering why he was rude to her. She had smiled good naturedly at his apology, given him a hug and skipped back to James. How utterly lost had he felt at that moment. That little redhead! Pretending to be better than him, pretending that he didn't matter as if he cared what she thought of him. Yet, the question plagued him, everyone he knew loved her to bits, were they blind to the girl's cunningness?
"Hey." Megan Dursley said taking a seat across from him, "Are you working on the Astronomy assignment?"
"No, I finished that. I am working on the Herbology assignment."
"Dang! I forgot we have that one coming up too."
"I don't get it, Dursley. How are you a Ravenclaw?"
"Why am I not surprised?" Megan muttered rolling her eyes, "Let me guess, its because I always forget when our Homework is due and I never start till the last moment."
"Yes."
"Well, Ravenclaws are creative and imaginative and wise and intelligent. I get my homework done and I do fine but I have better things to do than homework."
"Yeah? Like?"
"Like reading or practicing ballet or going down to Hagrid's he always has such interesting creatures around him or discovering magical history, did you know the most powerful patronus was a mouse?"
"A mouse? Isn't it awfully tiny?" Albus asked as Rose and he, pulled up chairs to join the discussion.
"It is not the size of the patronus that matters Al, it is the power of the wizard who casts it." Megan answered.
"Where did you read this?" Rose asked curiously.
"It was in a book in the history section, I read it three months ago, I don't remember the name of the book, sorry." Megan said apologetically, "It was something about the most powerful spells and their origin."
"Okay, thanks. Megan, do me a favour and give me the name of every book you have issued today."
"Why would she do that?" Scorpius asked surprised.
"So that Rose could check them out later, Megan has a knack for finding great books." Albus said rolling his eyes. "By the way, what are you doing here Scor? Don't you have Quidditch practice in ten minutes?"
"Damn! I forgot! Amanda would kill me." Scorpius groaned, hurriedly putting his things away.
"No, she won't. You are the best seeker we have." Albus assured him.
"I can't wait for next year. With you as chaser and me as seeker, we would be creaming these losers." Scorpius said with a laugh as he pointed at Megan and Rose.
"Hey! We will see about that!" Rose exclaimed, while Megan muttered that she doesn't really care about violent sports and went back to her book.
Scorpius was almost at the end of the corridor when he heard Megan call him back.
"What, you suddenly care about violent sports now?" Scorpius asked with a laugh.
She gave him an exasperated look, "No, you prat! I just wanted to tell you that I am here, if you wanted to talk about something. You looked peeved when I joined you at the table. I promise I won't judge."
"Err… Yeah. Thanks." Mentally erasing the idea of talking to Megan, Lily was her cousin too and he didn't think she would take kindly to his resentment against the youngest Potter.
"Morning!" Scorpius said cheerfully as he sat next to Albus.
Albus nodded, frowning slightly as he stared at the high table. Scorpius followed his gaze; Harry Potter was sitting at the high table along with Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger-Weasley.
"Oh!"
Albus nodded unhappily as he pushed away his plate.
Alex was already packing some toast in a napkin when Aldwyn Selwyn took a seat across Albus and smiled maliciously at the boys.
"Oh look Potter! Your famous father is here." He said with a sardonic smile. "So, how does it feel like to be the blood traitor of the blood traitors? Has he disowned you yet?"
Albus stared at Selwyn, refusing to bow down to the fourth year.
"You need to watch your mouth, Selwyn." Scorpius hissed angrily.
"Or what Malfoy?" Selwyn asked with a sneer.
Scorpius was about to answer when Albus laid a hand on his shoulder and shook his head.
"Don't let him bait you." Albus said calmly, "He is not worth it. Come on, let's get out of here."
"Yes. Listen to Potter, Malfoy. Run away, I don't know how losers like you ever got into our noble house anyway."
"Ah!" Alex chimed in, "You see to understand that you would need to use your brains, and I am pretty sure you lack them."
Before Aldwyn could reply, the three had turned and left the table with smirks on their faces.
"So, were you able to get it in his juice?" Scorpius asked casually.
"Of course!" Alex said rolling his eyes. "I am curious though, what does the powder exactly do, Albus?"
Albus smirked as Selwyn let out a surprised yell before transforming into a large purple toad, oozing a thick, foul smelling greenish liquid from his body. People recoiled from the toad as it hopped towards them, croaking loudly.
The rest of the hall burst into laughter as Selwyn's friends watched horrified, not daring to go near him.
"Potter!" Professor McGonagall's boomed through the hall. James looked up, trying to hold his laughter.
"Yes Professor?" He called, giving her a charming smile.
"Detention." Professor McGonagall said, "You too Misters and Miss Weasley."
"That's not fair!" Roxanne exclaimed, "You can't punish us for laughing, the whole hall was laughing at Selwyn."
"You know I am not putting you in detention for laughing at Mr. Selwyn. I am putting you in detention for pranking him."
"We did nothing Professor." Louise piped up.
"Yes. We are on a break." Fred declared proudly.
"On a break?" Megan whispered as she came to stand next to the boys. Albus nodded impatiently as they watched the scene unfold.
"You didn't prank Mr. Selwyn?" Professor Longbottom asked.
"No, Sir." James said, "Although we would like to pat their backs."
"How do I restore him?" Professor McGonagall asked agitatedly as spell after spell failed in restoring Selwyn back.
"You can't." Ron said his ears reddening as the hall stared at him. He cleared his throat loudly, "Err… It's one of our products Pro-err… Mine- err… Professor, it would wear off in some time."
"How long is some time?" Professor McGonagall asked testily.
Ron shrugged, "From 15 minutes to 4 hours depending on the strength."
At this Selwyn let out a loud croak and hopped towards Megan, croaking wildly.
"Selwyn," Megan said backing away from the toad. "I feel sorry for you, but you stink. I have absolutely no compassion for you." The three Slytherins had vanished from her side.
The hall burst into further laughter as Megan gathered her robes and jumped around trying to avoid the toad. Things calmed down when Professor McGonagall captured the toad in a cage and sent it away to Hospital Wing to recover.
"Professor?" Harry asked McGonagall.
"I am sorry Potter. Your son has taken after his namesakes." McGonagall said with prideful amusement before going back to her breakfast.
"What about my other son?" Harry asked with a smirk. Ron choked on his pumpkin juice, eyes wide with realization as Hermione thumped him smiling tightly, to hold back her grin.
"Albus? Oh! I haven't heard any complaint about him apart from the one time, he helped James prank other students for bullying Megan Dursley. He is a good child. Reminds me of you; polite, down to earth and fairly intelligent." Professor McGonagall said fondly.
Harry blushed wildly at the compliment as he watched Megan leave the hall.
"Hey, Potter!" Molly Weasley called striding towards her younger cousin, the Head Girl batch shining on her Ravenclaw robes with Lucy and Dominique in tow.
"Yes. Weasley?" Albus said innocently.
"Don't you play innocent with me Albie." Molly said with a grin, ruffling her cousin's unruly black hair.
"That was gross!" Dominique said crinkling her nose as she loosened her Gryffindor tie, "But a good prank all the same."
Lucy rolled her eyes, "Anyway, James is proud of you. We are having a lunch party at the lake. The four idiots are throwing it in your honour. You two are invited too." She added cheerfully, nodding towards Scorpius and Alex and exchanging a knowing glance with Albus.
"Wow!" Alex said looking awestruck. "James freaking Potter is proud of us! This is my dream come true!"
"And there he goes fanboying through the roof!" Albus muttered.
"How did he find out?" Scorpius asked.
"He figured it out. We know each other pretty well." Albus said with a shrug.
"I still don't get it." Alex said, "All of you are just so different, how do you even have a sane conversation?"
"Have you met my family? We don't have sane conversations."
"And here comes my genius little brother!" James exclaimed as Albus, Scorpius and Alex approached the rest of them under the tree that had witnessed the lives of all those that came before this generation.
"I am proud of the fact that someone has taken the responsibility of pranking people in school in our absence." Fred said patting the three boys' backs enthusiastically.
"But why are you on a break?" Megan asked, helping herself to some pie.
Fred, Roxanne, James and Frank Longbottom gave Louise sly looks before bursting into laughter.
Molly, Lucy and Dominique joined in the laughter as Albus shook his head incredulously.
"Louise is in luuuuuurve!" Frank said with a lopsided grin.
"I am not!" Louise said, blushing deeply.
"No, Frank." Roxanne teased, "He is just creepily obsessed with her."
"Roxie!" Louise protested.
"Anyway, who is this girl?" Dominique asked, "Oh! I hope not Lizzy Ackerman from our house. I like her, but I can't stand her crazy fan behaviour."
"No. Eww." Louise grimaced. "It's definitely not her."
"Is it Cindy Boot from Ravenclaw?"
"Hey." Fred exclaimed, "What do you have against Cindy?"
"Please! Have you looked at her hair?"
"It's Warrington." Albus said.
Scorpius threw out his juice and Alex choked on his sandwich.
"As in Amanda Warrington, the best chaser that our team has right now?" Alex spluttered.
"Yes." James smirked, thumping Louise's back.
"The one with shiny brown hair? Yeah, she is good enough for you. Why haven't you asked her out yet?"
"Because she hates him." Scorpius said exchanging a smirk with Albus.
"What?" Lucy exclaimed. "But why? Louise is a good student and he is the best Keeper Gryffindor has had since Oliver Wood himself."
"Lucy." Molly said with a grin, "Maybe that's why she hates him."
"Nope." Scorpius said, "That's not it. She is Lia's best friend and they hate these guys because they believe that the four of you are narcissistic, big headed, bullying prats."
"Yeah." Fred sighed unhappily, "So Louise is mending his ways and forcing us to do the same."
"Is that why you were being nice to Lia at the platform?" Scorpius asked James.
James shrugged guiltily, "We figured, if she approves of Louise, we would be able to get through to Warrington. This was Roxanne's idea."
"It's a good idea." Molly said, "We do tend to listen to our friends."
The lunch hour passed pretty quickly afterwards. The second years stayed behind for their free period as the other senior students left for their classes. Albus and Alex picked up twigs and pretended that they were sword fighting, Megan chose to sit under the tree with Rose and Scorpius and read the new book she had checked out of the library.
"I am bored." Scorpius said lazily, "Will the two of you please stop reading?"
"Do you want to talk about something?" Megan asked giving Scorpius a meaningful look.
"No." He grumbled.
"Of course you do." Rose said shutting her book, "That tone says as much."
"And now you are an expert on tones?" Scorpius asked.
"Yes. I spent some time with Andy and Vic." Rose fired back with a knowing smile.
"We are your friends, Scorpius." Megan said, "Just tell us if something is troubling you."
"Its nothing. You won't get it." He said pinching the bridge of his nose.
"Its Lily isn't it." Megan asked.
Scorpius eyes snapped open as Rose rolled her eyes.
"How-"
"Oh please! Give us some credit, we have known about it since the ball." Rose said, cutting his question short.
"But she is your cousin."
"And we love her." Megan said, "That won't change, no matter how you feel about her."
"I don't dislike her." Scorpius said with a sigh. "Or maybe I do. I don't know. It's just that Carina is my sister. I have always been her best friend, the first person she goes to when she needs help and right now I am not there to help her and it feels like Lily is replacing me in my own sister's life, it makes me so resentful."
Megan and Rose exchanged a look before laughing.
"Oh great! And now you are laughing at me." Scorpius said darkly.
"No. No. We are not laughing at you." Rose said sobering up.
"Yeah." Megan said, "It's just that Lily said pretty much the same things about you. She thinks you are taking away Albus from her. Alex and you actually, but mostly you."
"So? What? This is her revenge?"
"No!" Rose exclaimed, "Lily is not like that. She is a tough one to figure out but she has kind of accepted that Albus will move away from her. She is only trying to let him go by filling her life with more friends."
"So, she won't even fight for her own brother?" Scorpius asked aghast.
"She wants Albus to be happy. She will happily take the backseat if she thinks that would make Albus happy. In fact, she would do that for all of us." Megan explained.
"No one could be that selfless." Scorpius said.
"She is. She has always been like this." Rose said affectionately, "If you ask me, she is the weird one amongst us. If you think Albus dislikes attention, you should meet her. She prefers to melt with the walls, sometimes she is so quiet we forget that she is in the room."
"But Albus said she has a temper." Scorpius said.
"Yes," Megan said with a laugh, "That she has. But she likes being left alone when she is angry. She is weird that way."
"And you don't have to worry." Rose assured him, "She is not trying to steal Carina from you. She is just trying to help someone she has grown to care about."
"By sacrificing so much? By walking so many extra miles?" Scorpius asked, "She is only ten."
"She is generous that way. She does that for everyone. She is very mature for her age."
"This is ridiculous." Scorpius said, throwing his hands in air.
"What is ridiculous?" Albus asked flopping down next to Rose.
"Lily." Rose replied with a smirk.
"Oh yeah! I love her to bits but she is weird. Can you believe it? She was excited about the fact that her birthday falls on the day Julius Caesar was murdered." Albus said incredulously.
"Oh yeah! She said so in her last letter." Rose said.
"I told her that." Megan said with a laugh. "I found it in a book in the library here. It says, some prophecy was made, someone narrated this prophecy story to Shakespear and he wrote the same in his play."
"Caesar was a wizard?" Albus asked.
"No. His wife was a witch and a seer." Megan said.
The second years talked some more before heading for their classes for the afternoon.
It was right before dinner when Harry had got hold of his son and his friends and reprimanded them for bullying a fellow student before congratulating them on a brilliant prank. Harry even took Albus to a corner and stated that he understood that Albus would never prank anyone without good reason and that he trusted his son's sense of righteousness but it was still not right to humiliate someone publicly no matter how justified it was. Scorpius however was too busy obsessing over the mystery that Lily Potter was, as he laid in bed that night he fantasised about being the only one to uncover her secrets and showing everyone that she was not as saintly as everyone believed her to be.
AN: Hi, so another chapter. I am just trying to set all these characters before Lily enters the picture. Hope this makes sense. Anyway, read and review. Please do favourite/follow the story for more.
Happy Reading
Love,
The fishes