AN: this is a bonus chapter to make up for the wait. the next chapter will continue with the story! Thank you all for reading and reviewing!
Lily Potter had never given much thought about Scorpius Malfoy. He was a Malfoy, and that was that. She knew what the name meant, knew that their families didn't get along, knew that he was probably more trouble than he was worth. All things considered, it wasn't surprising that Albus chose him to be his partner.
Her brother liked throwing their family through loops. She had seen him burn the brightest when he was defending slytherin, had seen him at his palest when he first figured out he was gay and saw how that too eventually became another bright point for him. She saw him, like she saw everyone else, for exactly who they were. She knew when they felt most alive and, for Albus, that was when he was causing trouble.
James was the same way, but when he burned bright, everyone around him did as well. James caused a different kind of trouble. James didn't push people away, James brought them all closer.
With her arms wrapped around her brother, she stared at the boy who was walking with him. He had a very subtle pale blue surrounding him, darkening at the edges. It was very... calming. They weren't the colors she had thought would surround him. Then again, she had done her best to dim the rest of the world and only focus on the colors of those close to her.
He listened to her as she talked. It was a habit of hers to ramble, especially when she didn't know what exactly was going to happen. She knew that Albus had tuned her out almost instantly, but she could tell that Scorpius was still listening.
Eventually they got to Hagrid's and after Albus had dropped her, she instantly ran to go get the half giant. She sighed with relief to see that Hagrid's colors weren't dulled, that he was in the proper state of mind. It worried her to no end to see his pale pink and deep red fade and blur, it worried her when his aura was just a line around him and not stretching out proudly around him.
"Albus is in a pretty decent mood today," Lily told him with a grin, "Him and Bev were bickering when I went to get him. Ma-Scorpius ," she shook her head, she really did have to get used to using his first name "Scorpius seems nice enough. I think it should be fun today!"
"Ah, ye worry too much Lil," Hagrid laughed, his overlarge hand moving to ruffle her hair. "Come on, let's go on out then. "
As soon as they got outside, Hagrid greeted the others, telling them they were late, causing Lily to laugh behind her hand. However, all laughter drained from her as she saw Albus darken as the conversation went on, how Hagrid turned a bit more pink. It was Scorpius that surprised her, nothing in his demeanor changed.
She looked at him closely, not knowing just what it was about this boy. She watched as he did his best to diffuse the situation, saw how Hagrid took his complements in stride and how Scorpius listened intently to the process of magical pumpkins. She also watched as her brother stalked off to start cleaning the pumpkins for them. She saw his dark green cloud with confusion. It would be best to leave him alone to brood, she thought.
"Looks like Albus has already started," Lily smiled and grabbed Scorpius by the arm, "Come over here and help me design them!"
This was what she did best, Lily thought as she watched Scorpius look over at Albus before turning to help her. She knew when to give people space, and Albus needed that.
"I apologize for talking the entire time down here, " Lily said, though she wasn't sorry at all, "How are you doing? How's Ravenclaw?"
"I'm doing fine. It's Albus that I'd be worried about." Scorpius took out his wand and started to carve one of the pumpkins. "Why so interested in Ravenclaw? I shouldn't be worried should I?"
"Oh no! no!" Lily grinned and shook her head, "You don't have to worry about me. I was almost sorted into Ravenclaw though. Like really close. I think it's because I can read people and situations so well and am smart enough to know what to do and say to make things better. Al says that's rubbish though. He thinks I'm in Gryffindor because I'm stupid enough to meddle. Meddling, as if! I help guide people to the right decision!"
She heard Scorpius laugh and was encouraged to continue on. "It's a shame though, if I had gotten into Ravenclaw then we would have had one in each house!"
"One in each house?"
"Yep. Teddy was in Hufflepuff, now he's writing this giant history book on the wars. Says he's gonna come back and teach when he's done though. Which is good because then history of magic might actually be fun. I swear, Teddy can make anything sound interesting. And then James was in Gryffindor. He's in the ministry now, working in the department or regulation on magical creatures and beasts. He loves his job, even though he's only an intern right now. Uncle Percy sent him dung once though. And then you know Al 's in Slytherin and I'm sure he's told you all about his plans for playing quidditch. So if I had been Ravenclaw, we would have had one in every house. But," Lily shrugged, "Gryffindor it was!"
"I didn't know you all had an older brother."
"Oh, Teddy's adopted. Dad was his god father, but both his parents died in the war. Have you really never met Teddy? I'm pretty sure he's related to you. His grandmother is your grandmother's sister I believe."
"My..." She looked over at Scorpius, saw his blue darken slightly. So there was something that got to him, Lily thought. She watched in the corner of her eye as his aura continued to get darker.
Scorpius gnawed at his lip before he continued. "But Bellatrix didn't have any children..."
"No, no! Andromeda!" Lily paused in carving to really look over at him. "Do you really not know?"
"No. I mean, we don't really talk to my father's parents. Just around Christmas and my father's birthday. They, erm, they weren't too happy with the way my parents wanted to raise me, so..." Scorpius shrugged, but his aura was still darker than what she had seen earlier. His brow was furrowed as he carved into another pumpkin.
"Well maybe you'll be able to meet him soon then. He's usually around for all the holidays. You'll love him I know, but that's mostly because everyone loves him." she laughed, trying to lighten the mood a bit.
The silence dragged on for a couple seconds. There was the sound of bird chirping in the forest behind them and the sound of wands slicing into pumpkins. It only lasted a minute before Lily couldn't take any more and had to continue talking, "So what are you here for?"
"Hmm?" Scorpius turned away from the new pumpkin in front of him, "I thought I was here for carving?"
"No no!" Lily laughed and shook her head, "I mean school, what are you studying, what are you going to do after?"
"Oh," Scorpius ducked his head and she swore he was trying to his a small blush of embarrassment. "I want to be a healer."
"Really? That's great! Don't you have to be good at like... everything for that though?"
"Almost, but mostly Herbology, Creatures, Potions, Transfiguration, Charms, and Defense."
"Oh just those," Lily laughed, "What does creatures have to do with healing though?"
"Oh lots! I mean first just think of how often you have to use some part of a creature in potions. Almost as much as you have to with Herbology. So part of it is knowing how their magical characteristics work with other potions ingredients and their effects. Then you've got an entire ward for creature related illnesses and injuries, so you have to know what each creature is capable of, what their own affects are to the human body. Then, there's healing for creatures. I think that would be pretty cool, but I'm mostly interested in the human mind. I want to work with the long term patients, I want to create something to help faulty memory charms and other mental illnesses."
"Wow, that's interesting. I had no Idea."
"Yeah," Scorpius grinned, "So what are you here for then?"
Lilly shrugged. She didn't know exactly what she wanted to do. "I'm not sure, I mean, I'm pretty average at everything, well, I'm pretty good at divination, but that's a dying class. I know they are thinking of getting rid of it."
"Why would they do that? If they were to get rid of divination then they would also have to get rid of arithmacy."
"Exactly!" Lily grinned, glad that someone got it, "I mean, stars are just as reliable as numbers. What makes people put more faith in those when actual divination has proven to be just as, if not more, accurate!" Lily continued to watch him out of the corner of her eye as she rambled on about divination compared to arithmacy, looking for any clues that she should change the subject or slow down. It surprised her that he listened so well to the conversation, even adding his own thoughts to her rant.
"I could go on for another couple of hours about this Scorpius," Lily said, grinning as she sliced into a pumpkin only to find it still full, "But my brother has just given us a loaded pumpkin and I think we should give it back to him."
"Is that so?" Scorpius asked, pausing in carving to look over at her.
"Would you like the honors?" She gestured to the pumpkin laughing as she saw him grin and brighten.
Scorpius pulled out his wand and silently levitated the pumpkin until it was hovering over Albus' head.
"Merlin, don't let me drop it," Scorpius breathed out, causing Lily to laugh and double over, picturing the pumpkin falling out of the air and trapping her brother underneath.
"I think you missed one!" Scorpius called out. Then her brother was covered in a net of pumpkin guts and seeds.
Lily knew what it was like to be in a pumpkin fight with her brother, she had seen his monsters many times. Neither her nor James knew just where he learned the spell for them. "Scorpius RUN!" She yelled out, darting into the patch. There was her only chance of hiding from the pulp monsters. It was also her only chance of messing with her brother.
She knew there was little hope in outrunning the monsters, but she knew her brother was more focused on Scorpius. It gave her just enough time as she was darting around to turn all the craved pumpkin faces to stare down her brother. He would be watched by the pumpkin brethren while he used their own guts to attack their carvers. Suddenly she was glad that pumpkins didn't actually have feelings to influence her own.
Turning the pumpkins wasn't her only reason for running through the patch though. Her main reason was so she could get close enough to her brother for his spell to backfire on him. A small smirk formed on her face as she saw her plan was working. She knew that he'd be too focused on Scorpius to make anything of her zigzagging before it was too late and she was on him. Just as the pulp monster started to catch up to her, she tackled her brother, flinging the both of them into the leftover pulp. Just as the landed, her monster fell upon them, completely surrounding them in the slimy orange mess.
She heard a yelp from Scorpius as he, too, was swallowed up by Albus' monster and she started to claw her way out of the mess, being sure to throw more guts at her brother.
Finally managing to get free of the mountain, Lily spun around to get the thicker wads to fly off of her. "Do it again Albie!" She grinned at him, bouncing still. The excessive good energy seeping from the three people around her influencing her hyperness.
"Do not!" Scorpius yelled, causing Lily to laugh at his exasperation. He would definitely be in for a shock if he ever got around to meeting the entire family all at once.
She threw herself back to land on the pile of guts, watching as the two boys interacted with each other, watching as their auras mixed between them at the edges. That was curious. Lily smiled widely at the two of them, knowing just what that meant.