Disclaimer: Unfortunately I don't own the marvelous creation they call Harry Potter. *sigh*

Thanks to everyone who has been reading! Please read and review, because I could use the constructive criticism. Remember that this is still some of my first fanfiction and it most likely will not be perfect.

Chapter 3: Thestrals and Plans

Lily didn't dare say a word. Her brothers and cousins could be so ridiculous sometimes! She felt a rush of disappointment when her brothers laughed at Rosie's antics. She realized that they just thought that she deserved it. Well, maybe she did talk about it too much, but that didn't mean that they had to do it in front of Malfoy. Considering the stories her dad had told about his father, he'd use anything to make fun of her…

And there she went rambling again. She could never stop herself. A blush ran across her face for no apparent reason. The train lurched to a stop, and the chatter picked up to what must have been at least 90 meters per hour about what would go on at Hogwarts this year.

Lily stood up quickly and tried to get off the train as quickly as possible. Of course, the dumb door just happened to stick. She tugged at it, her face growing red. She heard someone, probably Albus, chuckle before a hand unlocked the latch and easily pulled the glass door open.

Lily's face blended into her hair color when she found a pair of grey eyes twinkling above her with a bit of a smirk playing around the edges of his mouth. She almost lost her train of thought when he smiled at her like that, not in a mean way. Lily spun back towards the now open door and rushed out with barely a mumbled "thanks."

When she stepped off of the Hogwarts Express, she inhaled the night air that just seemed to bear the feel of magic with it. Black robes had swarmed around her with bodies that pushed her around, friends trying to stay together. A large mass stuck out from the rest of the milling students, calling "Firs' years, over here! Firs' years, over here!"

"Hagrid!" Lily cried out. She fought through the crow to stand in front of the half-giant. "Hagrid, I haven't spoken to you in ages!"

His huge hand swallowed hers as they shook hands. "Well, It's 'bout time yeh came over fer some tea! Yeh ought to invite them brothers of yers!"

Lily smiled, only hoping that his cakes were a little softer than usual. "Of course, Hagrid! They'd be furious if I didn't!"

"Alright then!" Hagrid smiled. "Yeh had better get goin' if yeh want a carriage." He chuckled.

Lily waved and headed off towards the carriages. When she reached them they seemed a bit ominous. The carriages seemed to be pulled by absolutely nothing, but her father had told her about the animals commonly known as thestrals. They were invisible to people like Lily, who had never seen anyone died, but the rare few who had witnessed such a thing saw that they were apparently hideous beasts that were better left invisible. She believed them to be gentle, misunderstood creatures who could never harm a fly.

She tentatively reached towards the front of the carriage where the thestral surely had to be. When her fingers encountered slimy scales, she struggled not to shudder. Warm breath blew into her face, throwing back her hair, making her freeze at the surprise. Eventually, she began stroking the scales again, waiting for someone to come and share the carriage with her.

"What in the world are you trying to do?"

Lily spun around with shock. She blushed and looked like a child who had gotten in trouble when she registered that the boy in Slytherin robes was Scorpius, of course. It would be just her awful luck to have to ride in the carriage with the very boy she was trying to avoid.

When she saw that he was expecting an explanation, she tried to speak but only stutters of "I-I-I-" came from her mouth. Instead, she shut her gaping mouth and shrugged, hoping that he would accept it.

Scorpius gave her a bit of an odd look but accepted whatever she had conveyed to her. "Well, are you getting in, or will you wait for another carriage?"

Lily's breath caught as the perfect excuse occurred to her; she could just claim that she was waiting for her Gryffindor friends and let him go ahead. But her body betrayed her, making her nod her head and follow him to the door of the carriage. Her face turned as red as he offered her his hand to help her into the carriage.

He sat down on the bench across from hers, and both of them looked every direction that didn't include the other. Every time she thought he wasn't looking, Lily would sneak a glance at him, trying to gauge his emotions. As far as she could tell, Scorpius just had something on his mind.

The minutes ticked by in awkward silence until, "What the hell was that, back there on the train?" Scorpius's face had turned a pink color, and his hair was glinting with a halo in the moonlight.

Her eyes grew wide at his harsh tone, making her cringe into the seat. "W-what are you talking about?"

"You bloody well know what I'm talking about!" Anger was traced over his features that she had thought were soft and kind looking. "You let your cousin walk all over you, and no one back there stood up for you! What about your brothers? They weren't too busy discussing Quidditch to pay attention to you and Rose!"

Lily frowned. "I-I- Rose was right. I-I guess I do talk too much about my father. I deserved what I got. A-and I don't need my brothers to look out for me! I can stand up for myself!"

"Oh really?" Scorpius crossed his arms across his chest. "Then why didn't you stand up to Rose? If you let your family walk all over you, then everyone else will, too."

She looked down at her hands and saw that they were trembling in fright. "N-no, I just didn't f-feel like it," she stumbled over her own tiny lie. "I don't care about what Rose says."

"You certainly acted like you did! I wasn't aware that when you stop talking at all and hang your head in shame that can be considered not caring."

Her face was now redder than her hair by at least two shades. "I-I can do whatever I want, and I don't have to take orders from you, M-Malfoy! So just bugger off!"

"See?" He said with satisfaction. "Why couldn't you do that in front of your cousin? If you fixed up that stammering problem, you might be a tad intimidating."

Lily's hands became clenched into fists with her nails digging into her skin. "I-I- Just shut up, Malfoy! I was trying to be nice, but you just had to go and be a—"

"Language, Potter," Scorpius said as though he really didn't care. He began examining his nails. "See? Why don't you do that to other people?"

"B-b-because they aren't a-anywhere near to how much you infuriate me! Just leave me bloody well alone! Gosh you're an awful person!"

Scorpius smirked and settled back in his seat, ignoring the murderous glares she shot at him. It wasn't long before a large, grandiose castle loomed over them with warm orange lights. She ignored his hand this time when he offered her his hand to help her out of the carriage.

Lily walked into the large corridor where the staris could be seen spiraling above the students, ignoring the annoyance that was following her like a puppy, listening to the squeals of little girls and the familiar cackling of…

"Peeves!" James exclaimed, trying to live up to his prefect duties. "Hasn't anyone told you not to use sillystring on all of the girls?"

Lily rushed in right as Peeves the poltergeist used sillystring on a Ravenclaw first year. She laughed while Peeves whined, "But you gave me this muggle stuff!"

"But the teachers don't know that!" James whispered with exasperation.

She laughed. "Peeves, I actually missed your havoc this summer!"

The poltergeist in vibrantly colored clothes chuckled. "Well, Headmistress Wilkinson wasn't too pleased when she saw how I 'disrespected the institute of learning for young witches and wizards and made the founders turn over in their grave with horror,' she flipped out and tried to get rid of me, but no one can get rid of ol' Peevsies!"

James and Lily laughed at what Headmistress Dawn Wilkinson's face would have looked like when she realized that Peeves had trashed the whole place. "What about the Wee Potty Potters?" He laughed. "I haven't ever gotten in enough grief from them."

Then Peeves turned and sprayed them with blue sillystring. Lily threw her hands in front of her face and let out peals of laughter. "I was going to invite you to bug my mum and dad, but now that you've turned on us Potters…"

She and her brother retreated into the Great Hall along with Scorpius who she didn't realize was still there. He left with a mumbled promise to see them later and slipped off to the Slytherin table while the Potters weaved their way over to Albus and sat on either side of him at the Gryffindor table.

"So," Albus started, "what's our big welcome prank this year?"

"Ummm, we're going to have to outdo last year's prank," Lily thought out loud. "So what's better than dumping vats of goo on everyone in the school?"

"Maybe we can ask Uncle Charlie for a dragon!" James declared excitedly.

His siblings gave him a look of, don't-be-so-immature-James. "A dragon?" Lily asked dully. "We aren't first years, James. And besides, why would Uncle Charlie want to give children a highly dangerous magical creature that could easily cook them for supper? Can't you be a bit more realistic?"

Albus nodded his head in agreement. "Don't mind the spitbaling, but I wouldn't mind something logical to work with."

They all sat quietly, their brows furrowed in thought. "I've got it!" Albus proclaimed happily. "Why don't we get some Blast-Ended Skewerts from Hagrid and let them loose in the school?"

"Shhh!" James muttered while Lily said, "But will he let us? He knows that we'd probably use them to cause trouble. He's known the Potters since our grandparents. He knows we're trouble-makers."

"Who said anything about asking, Lil?" James asked mischievously with his brown eyes sparkling. "We have the Marauder's Map and the Invisibility Cloak. We could get off without a single lecture of using them responsibly!"

"We'll get them tonight, then," Albus planned matter-of-factly. "We'll have to be careful because all of the students like to stay up the first night of term."

They nodded in agreement. "But we have the cloak. It'll be easy to get out of there."

"Lily, there you are!" Two third year girls rushed over to the huddled Potters.

Lily stood up and hugged them both. "Lizzy, Kayla, I missed you so much!" Elizabeth Smith and Kayla Fenwick were both Ravenclaw third years and Lily's best friends. They occasionally had their lessons together and took the same schedules.

"What are you doing with your brothers?" Kayla asked with giggles. "Haven't you had enough of them this summer?"

"I don't think I could ever have enough of those two good-looking boys," Lizzy said. Lily rolled her eyes and Kayla giggled at her exasperation.

"I would've thought that you could clear your head and find some cuter boys," Lily said dryly.

Lizzy sighed dramatically. "It's just that they are so amazing. Can't I just date one of them?"

"No. We wouldn't want you to lose your mind, Liz," Lily joked.

But Kayla was scrutinizing Lily carefully. "Hey, isn't there always some prank played at the beginning of school? You wouldn't happen to know anything about it, would you?"

Lily punched her arm lightly. "Aw, you know me Kayla…. Of course I know about it! You're looking at the third generation of trouble-makers!"

The girls giggled between themselves, and the Ravenclaws excused themselves to try the pudding. When Lily sat down with her brothers again, they gave her a queer look.

"Be in the common room at midnight."

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Yay! This is my longest chapter yet! It's been a long time since I updated or anything, so I'm glad I finally finished! Thanks to everyone who subscribed and please review! I can never have enough criticism!