But Lily's potions didn't get better, and after the third lesson when her potion-gone-wrong caused her cauldron to shatter, Professor Slughorn had kept her after class. Scorpius sneered at her.
"What are you doing here, Potter?"
"I've got to speak to Professor Slughorn," Lily replied stiffly.
"Ah, Lily," Professor Slughorn said, peering at her. She resisted the urge to glare back.
"What's happened to you? You were always so good in Potions. Had your grandmother's talent. But now you seem to be…recessing."
"I don't know, Professor," Lily said honestly, "I've been taking extra care to do everything exactly right, but they still turn out horribly!"
"Well, maybe some Remedial Potions with Scorpius will help."
Scorpius looked as if someone had thrown a wad of dung into his face, and Lily snapped the quill she had been holding in half. Professor Slughorn looked surprised.
"Is there a problem? Not the old Gryffindor/Slytherin rivalry I hope?"
"No, Professor, not at all," Lily managed through gritted teeth. Scorpius managed to shake his head and force a smile.
"Good then! You'll meet, say…three times a week? Monday, Wednesday, Friday nights at six thirty?"
Lily turned her gag into a cough and nodded, snapping the quill in her hand into thirds. Scorpius managed one tight nod, and Professor Slughorn dismissed them. Lily practically ran to catch Molly, Hugo, and Becker.
"What happened?" Hugo asked eagerly, seeing the look on Lily's face.
"I have to take…Remedial Potions!" Lily spat, "With Scorpius."
"Oh, Lily!" Becker gasped, patting shoulder awkwardly. She resisted slapping his hand away as they climbed through the portrait hole, and flopped down in an armchair, staring gloomily into the fire. Hugo hip-checked Becker out of the way and sat next to his cousin, throwing an arm around her shoulders.
"C'mon, Lil, it'll be okay," he soothed.
"I hate Scorpius, Hugo! He's just going to use this as an excuse to torture me!"
"So torture him back," Hugo said with a grin, "I'll be right back."
He ran upstairs to the boys' dormitories, and Becker took his spot, resuming his awkward patting of Lily's shoulder. Molly peered over the top of the book she had been reading since they'd reached the Common Room.
"You know, Lily, maybe this is a good thing," she said, a bit pompously, "Maybe now you'll reconsider your hatred of Slyth-"
"Shut up, Molly," Lily said severely. Molly looked affronted and put her nose back in her book. Hugo came dashing down the stairs, a plain cardboard box in his hand.
"What's that, Hugo?" Lily asked. He grinned.
"Weasley's Wizard Wheezes."
"Hugo! How'd you sneak those into the school?"
"Uncle George sent them to me by owl. They don't check our packages," Hugo said mischievously, "C'mon, let's find a place where you can pick and choose your weapons."
They hurried down the hall, into an empty classroom, and locked the door. Hugo opened the box and Lily began digging through it, selecting puking pastilles, a fake wand, and a trick quill that shot foul-smelling liquid when triggered.
"Use them wisely," Hugo advised as Lily tucked her weapons of choice into her pocket and they went to the Great Hall for dinner.
"Oh, I will," Lily said, with an evil grin. They found Molly, who was still offended, and Becker, who was eagerly asking Lily if she was all right.
"I'm fine, Becker," she said, waving him off and pulling a steak and kidney pie toward her and taking a piece.
"D'you want me to go to Remedial Potions with you tonight?" he asked.
"No," Lily said, taking a bite of her pie, "I'll be fine."
"Are you sure?"
"Becker, she's gonna be fine!" Hugo said, punching his friend in the shoulder.
"OW!" Becker rubbed his shoulder and grumbled, and Hugo grinned at Lily. Lily's older brother Albus came to sit by them.
"Al, I have to take Remedial Potions," Lily groaned. Albus raised an eyebrow at her.
"You're the best in the family in Potions," he said, digging into his pie.
"I know! The worst part is, it's with Scorpius Malfoy!"
"Oh that twit. And now he's going to give you hell because James and I gave him hell," Albus said with a groan, "I'm sorry, Lil. I've got some Weasley's Wizard –"
"Please, Al," Hugo piped up, grinning, "I've already supplied her with everything she needs."
"That's good of you, Hugo," Albus replied, ruffling his sister's hair, "it's a good thing you've got us to take care of you, kid."
"Gah!" Lily smoothed her hair and stood up, "I've got to go. I'll let you know how it goes."
She hurried down to the dungeon. Scorpius was waiting for her there, his lip curled in his usual sneer.
"You're two minutes late, Lily. I won't tolerate lateness."
"Oh, I'm ever so sorry, Scorpius!" Lily said in a mockingly sweet voice, "I shan't ever do it again!"
"Sit," he said shortly. She dropped into a chair, setting her cauldron up on the desk and lighting a fire underneath it.
"You can put that away," Scorpius said evilly, smirking. Lily looked at him,
"Why?"
"Because you won't be making any potion. You'll be doing lines, Miss Potter."
"What?" she burst out angrily.
"Lines," he repeated, tossing a stack of dusty folders onto the desk, along with a stack of parchment.
"All of these," he pointed to the folders, "need to be copied to these," he pointed to the parchment.
"No," she said stubbornly, "I'm here for Remedial Potions. Not to copy dusty old folders full of God knows what."
"Oh, you'll do it," he said carelessly, sitting at Professor Slughorn's desk and putting his feet on it.
"No, I won't! I'll go straight to Professor Slughorn and –"
"If you do that, then I'm afraid I'll have to keep sabotaging your potions," Scorpius said, stretching. Lily sprang from her chair, wand in her hand. It was emitting green sparks.
"How dare you!" she hissed. Scorpius was chuckling,
"Oh, this will teach Albus and James to mock me! Your brothers have been the bane of my existence since I arrived at this school. I never could get them back, because there were two of them. But now I've got their sister just where I want her!"
"Confrigo!" Lily cried. The desk under Scorpius' feet exploded with a bang, and he was tossed backwards. He leapt to his feet and pointed his wand at her.
"Petrificus Totalus!"
Lily tried to dodge, but the curse caught her and she hit the floor painfully, landing on her stomach. Scorpius laughed and rolled her over,
"Now that you've got time to listen," he said sleekly, kneeling over her, "here's what's going to happen. You will copy the folders, and I'll stop sabotaging your potions. I'll also thank you to not tell your brother what is going on down here."
With a flick of his wand, he freed her, and pointed to the desk.
"Miss Potter, if you please?"
Lily glared at him as she picked up her quill and began to copy.
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