A/N: This is the beginning of Lily Potter's "year 2" at Hogwarts.
If you have not yet read "Year 1: Lily Potter and the Snakes" - You can find it in my profile or here! s/5172985/1/Lily-Potter-and-the-Snakes-year-1
I hope you enjoy!
Year Two: Lily Potter and the Potions Master
Chapter One: Return to the Dungeons
Despite the enjoyable visits Lily had spent with Julianna and Leona over summer vacation, the weeks still seemed to trudge on. And yet, when the sunbeams broke through her window on September first, she suddenly felt that summer had ended all too soon. The return to the school, though something she had frequently thought of throughout the summer with eagerness, now exuded foreboding and anxiety.
Her brothers were clearly excited. She could tell by the quick and clumsy thumping of their feet as they hustled one floor beneath her, gathering their last minute belongings to pack for school. She, on the other hand, hadn't yet left her bed.
Eventually, they noticed.
"Oy! Lil!" James' voice carried up from the bottom of the staircase leading to the third floor. "You almost ready?"
She didn't answer.
"Lily!" He called again.
When she didn't answer the second time he started up the steps. She could hear his heavy and hurried footsteps as they approached her room. He rapped his knuckles briefly on the door before pushing it open.
"Are you still in bed?" He asked.
She pulled the covers up over her head.
"Lily! Uncle Ron's loading our trunks in the car already. Mum's got breakfast waiting, and Rose and Hugo are eating all the pancakes! What's going on with you?" He said.
"I'm just tired," she said, her words muffled by the thick quilt.
"Okay, sleep on the train ride then," he said. He came towards her and pulled the blankets away from her head. "I'm not going to be late for the first day of school!"
Lily sighed.
James frowned.
"What's really going on, Lil?" He asked. "This isn't like you. You have been waking up before me on the first day of school since my first year, not to mention every other day of the year."
She hated the conflicting feelings she was having, and she hated that she was about to cry in front of her brother.
"Lily?" He sat on the edge of her bed. "Talk to me."
"I don't want to go back to school," she said.
"Don't be ridiculous," he said. "You love school."
She just shrugged.
"You do," he said. "You love it almost as much as Albus."
"I just don't want to go," she said.
"Well, I don't think you have a choice," he said. When she frowned, he tried a different tactic. "Don't you want to see Leona and that other chum of yours, Julia?"
"Julianne," Lily said.
"Right, Julianne," he said.
"Of course I want to see them," she said.
"And don't you want to learn more spells and potions?" He said.
"Of course," she said.
"And aren't you excited to try out officially for Quidditch?" He said, smiling. He knew she couldn't resist the thought of Quidditch.
"Of course," she said, also smiling a little.
"Then what's the problem?" He asked.
"It's been so nice being home this summer away from school and the houses and everything," she said.
James was quiet.
"I'm not ready to go back to how it was last year," she said.
"It's not going to be like last year, though," he said. "Last year was…" he hesitated.
"Awful?" She finished for him.
"Difficult," he said. "It'll be better this year. I promise."
"You mean you'll talk to me?" She said.
He looked momentarily ashamed. "Of course I will," he said.
"And you won't give me a hard time for being a Slytherin?" She asked.
He shook his head, but didn't say anything.
She sighed. She knew that was something he would never entirely be able to promise her.
"Come on, Lil. Get up, get dressed, and let's go to school!" He said. He stood and left the room.
She listened to him gallop back down the stairs before finally heaving herself out of bed and starting the process of getting ready for school. She wasn't ready to face the tension of the house conflicts. Even though James promised things would be different, she knew some things just couldn't change. Slytherins would never accept her Gryffindor familial ties, and Gryffindors would never truly support her being a Slytherin. She knew that despite her excitement for friends, classes, and Quidditch, she would still feel sad for not being with her family, and partly guilty for feeling joy with her Slytherin housemates.
Trying to push these difficult thoughts from her mind, Lily quickly dressed in a pair of dark pants and a Slytherin green tee shirt. She braided her long hair back and stepped into a pair of boots, knowing it would be cooler when the train arrived at Hogwarts then it currently was in London at the end of this particularly muggy summer. She looked around her room for any last minute items she hadn't yet packed and tossed them into her open trunk.
"Lily!"
Her mum was calling now from downstairs, and Lily knew she needed to hurry.
"Styx!" She called to her kitten who was stretching in the middle of Lily's bed. Lily fluffed up the blanket inside the cat's cage and set it down on top of her trunk. "I'm going down for breakfast," she said. "We're leaving for school soon!"
Styx meowed in response, but didn't budge from the bed. Lily waved at her cat and frolicked down the three flights of stairs to the kitchen where she found her mum fixing plates of pancakes and her brothers seated at the long wooden table in the middle of the kitchen along with her cousins, Rose and Hugo.
"Good morning," Lily greeted the room.
"Finally," Albus said. "James said you weren't coming."
"Of course I'm coming," Lily said. She glared at her eldest brother.
Ginny cast her eyes at her the boys with caution and then smiled at her daughter. "Have a seat, sweetheart. You'll have to eat in a bit of a hurry."
"That's fine, I'm not that hungry," she said.
"Are you sure? Your dad made the pancakes special this morning, just for you," Ginny said.
Lily smiled as she spotted the chocolate chips inside her pancakes. "Where is dad?" She asked. She felt slightly guilty that she hadn't woken early enough to help with breakfast as was their tradition.
Ginny's smile faltered briefly. "He had to go in to work, sweetheart," she said. "He wanted me to let you know how sorry he is that he can't take you to the station this morning."
Lily frowned. "He didn't even get to say goodbye!"
"I know," Ginny said. "He felt terrible about it, but there was important work stuff that he couldn't delay."
Lily nodded. She understood. Auror business was important.
"Come on, eat up," Ginny said. "I'm going to see if Ron needs any help getting the car loaded." She left the kitchen and the boys started fighting over the last pancakes on the platter in the middle of the table. Rose rolled her eyes at them and stood to begin clearing the plates.
Lily ignored them and ate in silence. She couldn't help thinking about what breakfast the next morning would be like, back at the Slytherin table sitting with Julianne, chattering about classes and laughing at Kenny shove food in her mouth at alarming speed. She was excited to be back with her friends, back to the routine of school, even if she wasn't so sure yet how things would go for her in her second year as a Slytherin.
"Lily?" Rose said.
Lily realized her cousin had been speaking to her, but she hadn't heard. "I'm sorry, what?"
"Dad's ready for your trunk, is it all finished?" Rose asked.
"Yeah, it's all packed and ready. It's still up in my room," Lily said. She started to stand.
"He'll get it," she said. "Finish your breakfast."
Lily sat back down and kept eating while Rose left the room to find her dad. Lily and Rose had partially repaired their friendship over the summer, for which Lily was glad. Of all the female cousins, Rose had always been one of Lily's favorites. Growing up only a year apart in age, when they were younger Rose and Lily had often hung out at family functions, bonding over their similar fiery tempers, particularly when someone else in the family tried to tell them what to do, or even worse, what not to do. They also shared a similar obsession with Lily's adopted brother, Teddy. Both girls decided long ago that he was the best of all the boys in the Potter-Weasley family and would often choose to spend their time with him at family gatherings; they also both shared a similar dislike of his attachment to Victoire. Also, before Lily's "unfortunate" sorting incident, both girls had shared their passion for playing Quidditch together and would often dream of the day they'd play together at school. Lily was glad that over the summer at least she and Rose had been able to spend some time together, playing quidditch and the muggle video games Harry had purchased for his kids but only Lily and Rose had become obsessed with; neither James nor Albus had much interest in them. She and Lily would spend hours in Lily's room drinking butterbeer, munching on chocolate and playing games on the flatscreen that Harry had bought Lily for just that purpose. Lily wasn't sure what would happen with their friendship when they returned to school, but she felt hopeful.
Rose returned a moment later, wrapping a red and gold scarf around her neck. "Are we almost ready to go?" She asked the room. "Dad's got all the trunks in the car." She pulled her wild mane of thick red curls from beneath the scarf and shook her head vigorously. "Let's not be late!"
James shoved one more bite of pancakes into his mouth and jumped up. "All good!" He said, rushing past Rose towards the front door.
Albus finished his juice and followed his brother out of the kitchen. "Let's get going," he said as he passed Rose. She turned and went with Albus.
Hugo seemed to be waiting on Lily. She sighed, took another bite and stood to join her cousin.
"Kids!" Ginny called out from the open front door. She smiled when she saw the group heading towards her. "Oh good you're all here," she said. "The car is all loaded up."
"I need to go get Styx," Lily said.
"Already got her, Fireball," Ron said. He winked at his niece and pointed toward the car.
"Thanks Uncle Ron," Lily said. She moved over to the waiting car and climbed into the backseat where she found Styx's carrying case waiting for her. She moved the kitten's case on to her lap as Rose climbed in next to her to find a seat. Albus claimed the seat beside Rose and James and Hugo sat in the middle behind the adults.
"Everyone in?" Ginny asked, peeking her head around the side door of the Potter's car that Harry had insisted that they keep even though it was unheard of in the wizarding world. When she saw all the kids were seated and ready to go, she shut the door and climbed into the passenger seat, letting her brother drive the lot of them to the station.
The drive was longer than all the kids would have liked, as they were eager to get on their way to school, but soon Ron was parking at the station and everyone was hurriedly exiting the car, grabbing their luggage and rushing toward platform 9 3/4.
"We're going to be late!" Albus said. He almost started running.
The others were slightly less worried about being late, but sped up to appease him anyway. Albus was already dragging his trunk through the brick wall between the platforms by time everyone else caught up to him. James hurried through next with Rose on his heels. Hugo hesitated briefly and glanced at Lily. She smiled and nodded, knowing that he had never quite been comfortable passing through the magical wall, even though he had done it every year since Rose had started school. He seemed to take comfort from her smile and pulled his trunk through boldly. Ron followed his son and Lily and Ginny followed him quickly.
The platform was sparse with people, which showed how truly late the Potter and Weasley families were. Goodbyes were then a quick event. James and Albus both allowed their mum a quick hug, waved at Uncle Ron and rushed on the train, carrying their owls' cages, but leaving their trunks to be loaded by one of the train attendants who was busily loading all the students' trunks and bags into the luggage compartment at the end of the crimson train. Rose hugged her dad and Ginny, blew kisses and followed the boys.
Hugo gave his dad a handshake and allowed Ginny to hug him, and then lingered, waiting for Lily. She felt her stomach twisting in nerves as she prepared to say goodbye to her mum. She wondered if it would ever get easier to leave her mum for school. Despite her love of being with her friends and family at Hogwarts, the bond Lily had always had with her mum made it hard to ever want to be away from her.
"You okay, sweetheart?" Ginny asked her daughter knowingly.
Lily nodded.
"Only a couple months until Christmas," Ginny said.
"I know," Lily said.
"You're going to have a great second year," Ginny said. "Just focus on your studies and have fun with your friends, and don't let your brothers get to you."
Lily smiled.
"Lily, we've got to go…" Hugo said.
Lily ignored him.
Hugo glanced over his shoulder toward the train and noticed all the trunks had been loaded and the attendant was closing the luggage compartment. "Lily…"
"Go on then," she said to him. "Go find Louis and I'll be right there."
He nodded and practically ran to the train, clearly eager not to be left behind.
"I love you, mum!" Lily said. She grasped Ginny in a tight hug and hung on for a long moment.
"I love you too, sweetheart, so much!" Ginny said. She stroked her daughter's long hair, which was so similar to how her own had been in her youth. Ginny loved how much her daughter looked like her, except for her eyes; everyone knew Lily had her father's eyes, though slightly more pale, but Ginny also loved that about her. "Have a great time."
"I will, mum," Lily said. She finally broke the hug, but saw tears in her mum's eyes.
"Go on little Fireball," Uncle Ron said. "They're going to leave you behind!"
An attendant was shouting "last call," and Lily knew she had to hurry.
"Okay," Lily said. She gave her tall uncle a quick squeeze around the waist and ran to the train.
The door closed almost immediately after Lily climbed on board the train. She held tightly to her kitten's carrier and took a deep breath to calm her nerves as she began the the walk down the corridor to find a friendly face. She found James, Dominique, Roxie, and Rose in the second compartment sitting with a couple other Gryffindor quidditch teammates. She waved at them briefly before moving on. Albus was in the ver next car with Daniel, Olivia, and a couple other friends she recognized from his house and year. She thought he was sitting a little extra close to Olivia. He smiled at her as she moved on. A couple cars down she heard raucous laughter and paused briefly outside the window. She spotted a few older students playing exploding snap. She started wondering where her group was hiding. An open door at the next compartment caught her attention. She saw a flash of green trimmed robes and got excited. Stepping up to the door though she instantly recognized Leo and Geoff leaning against the doorway like guards flanking an entrance to a private residence. She tried offering them a smile, but they glared hard. Inside the cabin though, she saw Scorpius reclined on one of the benches. Delia and Sylvie sat on the bench across from him. Delia was leaning forward towards him, speaking quickly and with very animated hands. Scorpius caught Lily's eye and nodded. She returned the slight acknowledgement of a greeting and moved ahead a bit more quickly the necessary. She finally found her friends three more down.
"Lily!" Julianne said, leaping from her seat by the window as Lily's red head peaked through the open door. "Finally!"
"Oy! Why'd you have to sit all the way down here?" Lily asked. She placed Styx's carrier on the floor beneath one of the benches and took a seat next to Louis, beside the window.
"James said you weren't coming," Louis said.
Lily rolled her eyes. "You know better than to listen to anything James says," she said.
He shrugged.
Hugo and Leona, sitting together on the opposite bench, were reading a book from Leon's father about magic uses for forest fungi.
Julianne leaned across Louis to whisper to Lily. "How was the rest of your summer?" She asked.
"You mean the two weeks since you left me?" She asked, smiling.
Julianne nodded. Her gray eyes were bright. "I have been so bored at home just waiting for today!"
Lily nodded, even though she knew she did not entirely share Julianne's enthusiasm. She was excited to be here with her friends, sitting on the Hogwarts Express, heading toward school and classes, but at the same time seeing Scorpius and his friends as well as Albus and James and their friends served as a harsh reminder that she still didn't quite know where she fit in at school.
Looking out the window, Lily tried to distract herself with the scenes flying by in a watercolor blur. She didn't want to think about how much she would miss her mum after a summer of shopping trips, and afternoon teas in London, and days spent flying together or painting in the garden, or late night talks about her mum's school days and family. She didn't want to think about how uncomfortable things would be in her dorm with Cassie and Nicolette, or in the common room with the Slytherins who still hadn't quite accepted her despite the amazing quidditch victory she had accomplished the previous year. She didn't want to think about when she would find time to see her brothers and cousins or if they would even want to spend time with her once the school year began and they were reminded that she was a Slytherin and not just family. And she definitely did not want to think about Scorpius and how, if she let herself admit it, he was one of the best friends she had had in her first year, but she had treated him so coldly after Christmas holidays the previous year that she didn't deserve his friendship anymore.
She let out an unintentional sigh.
"You okay, Lily?" Julianne asked.
Lily snapped her attention to her best friend and smiled. "Yep," she said. "Just fine."
"You sure?"
Lily smiled. She slightly resented Julianne for being so perceptive. She had spent too many weeks alone with her brothers who couldn't care less about her moods; adjusting to rooming with an empathetic and intuitive roommate would be challenging.
"Well, I can't wait to see what our classes will be this year," Julianne said, a little loudly, as though intentionally trying to redirect her conversation from Lily's mood. She managed to catch Leona's attention with this comment.
"Same," Leona said. "I've already read all the books from our class list this year. It's going to be exciting."
Lily loved the way Leona talked about things in such a matter-of-fact way. She was never boasting about her academic genius. It was just her way. She grinned at her lifelong friend.
"I can't wait," Lily said. She decided it would be helpful to act genuinely excited along with her friends and attempt to ignore the nerves clenching her insides. Leona's pale forehead creased slightly as she studied her friend's expression. Lily stared back with one of her practiced forced smiles. "I have something to tell you guys," she said, after a moment of consideration. She knew a part of her was only trying to encourage genuine excitement for herself, but a part of her also wondered why she hadn't told her friends yet.
"Oh?" Julianne asked.
"What?" Louis demanded.
Leona and Hugo simply waited in patient silence.
"Remember on the last day of last semester when I went to the Headmistress' office?" Lily asked.
Her friends all nodded in curious and respectful silence.
"Well, at that same time, I didn't tell you for some reason, but Professor Willoughby asked me to take private potions lessons with him this year," she said.
"Private lessons?" Julianne said. She seemed genuinely confused and shocked.
"Why would you want to do that?" Louis asked.
"That's a big honor," Leona said.
Lily smiled at her friend's varying responses. "I think it's exciting. He said he thinks I have a natural talent for potions and thought I would benefit from extra lessons," Lily said.
"That's great!" Hugo said. Lily thought he sounded just a bit jealous.
"I'm excited," she said. "I love potions, and it'll be exciting to be able to learn more advanced ones than we do in class."
"Personally I think it just sounds like extra work," Louis said. "But good on you for being excited." Lily smiled at her cousin. She knew he would never voluntarily sign up for extra classes.
They discussed her special lessons for a little while longer before Lily's friends all realized she didn't have much information to offer them about the whole situation, and they moved on to a new topic. The spent the rest of the train ride happily chatting about their summers and their expectations for the new school year. When the trolley came by to offer treats, everyone purchased an assortment to share with the whole group. Even Kenny popped in to say hi briefly before returning to sit with her mates from the Slytherin Quidditch team.
By the time the train was pulling into the station, Lily had begun to feel truly excited about the new term, and most of her nerves had abated. And as she sat in one of the carriages with her four best friends, driving up to the castle, Lily felt herself smiling with true delight. She truly loved Hogwarts.
Once inside the main hall of the castle, the five friends left their animal cages along a stone wall where everyone's trunks had been stacked up from the train, and headed toward the Great Hall.
"I'm starving!" Louis said as they entered the room. "I hope the sorting doesn't take too long."
The girls smiled at him and Hugo as they waved and galloped off to the Gryffindor table. Leona gave both girls a quick hug before joining her housemates at the Ravenclaw table. Once alone, Julianne and Lily headed towards the Slytherin table. Despite her new found joy at being back at school, walking towards the Slytherin table made Lily's stomach start to flip-flop again. She hated that she couldn't be entirely comfortable with her house. She knew that if she were instead walking towards the Gryffindor table with Louis and Hugo, her stomach would be perfectly calm.
Julianne reached out and grasped her best friend's hand as though sensing the unease that Lily felt. Lily squeezed her hand briefly and smiled.
"Where you want to sit?" Julianne asked.
Lily eyed the mostly filled table, taking note of faces she recognized. She spotted Cassie and Nicolette sitting with Ian and William and a couple other second year boys who Lily had never quite become friends with last year. Scorpius sat not too far off from his sister, surrounded by the usual herd of third years, as well as the majority of the Quidditch team. Kenny had found a seat with that group, though she sat towards the end of the table and Lily noticed there was space next to her on the bench. She didn't love the idea of sitting that close to Scorpius, but when Kenny glanced over and spotted Lily and Julianne she started waving them over vigorously, so Lily tugged on Julianne's hand and they headed in that direction.
"Hiya!" Kenny said, her brown eyes wide and round with enthusiasm as usual.
"Hey Kenny," Lily said. She sat beside the bubbly brunette and couldn't help smiling. Kenny was a fun friend to have at school. She wasn't exactly a close friend like Julianne, but she was lots of fun and always good for a laugh. She noted that her friend's naturally tanned skin was even darker than usual and assumed her summer had been spent mostly outdoors. "Did you have a good summer?" Lily asked.
Kenny nodded eagerly. "Oh yes, so much fun!" And she dove into a conversation about lots of quidditch, camping, hiking, water skiing, cliff jumping, and many other summer muggle activities that reminded Lily of Kenny's muggle mum. Unlike the overwhelming majority of Slytherin, Kenny was one of the few half-bloods among them. No one ever bothered her about it though because everyone was too excited about her father's famous Quidditch past. Lily was an exception; she was slightly underwhelmed by the fact that Kenny's father was Viktor Krum, but mostly because she had spent a good portion of her summer discussing him with her Uncle Ron and now shared his somewhat unenthusiastic view of the ex-Quidditch star.
Kenny was still talking when the Headmistress stood and began to welcome the students back for the new year. Lily and Julianne had to shush their friend to turn their attention to the front of the room. They all sat respectfully silent throughout the sorting and the welcome speech, but everyone was eagerly awaiting the arrival of the food. And it did not disappoint.
When the food finally appeared on the tables, there was an appreciative gasp and then applause throughout the room before every began attacking the feast.
Lily was no exception. She helped herself to roast lamb, boiled potatoes, vegetables, meat pasties, and apple pie. She couldn't help but think back to the previous year's welcome feast and how miserable she had been after her unexpected sorting. Though she did eat that night, her bad mood had seriously dampened her memory of the night, and she was determined to enjoy everything about the feast this time. And even though she couldn't ignore the occasionally glares sent her way by Cassie, Nicolette, and even a couple other students she didn't entirely know, Lily felt herself growing determined to enjoy her second year at school completely.