Chapter 2
Lily walked along the corridor with Scorpius in complete silence. His girlfriend had left them once they passed the entrance to the Slytherin dungeons.
"You sure you're OK?" Scorpius asked her. Lily nodded again.
"Don't tell my brother. He'll…he'll do something stupid," she finally said.
Scorpius nodded.
"He didn't hurt you, did he?" Scorpius said.
"No, he uh…no. He didn't," Lily affirmed.
They walked further into the castle, coming across the main entrance where Harry Potter walked through, hoping he could avoid seeing anyone.
"Dad?" Lily asked, spotting him as Harry tried to walk along the wall, blending in with the rest of witches and wizards entering the Great Hall.
Harry turned and looked to Lily, trying to hide his face from the others who were still entering the building. Lily ran forward and hugged him, grabbing onto his shirt tightly.
"Hi," Harry said, slightly surprised by his daughter's affection.
"Hi," she said.
"Everything OK?"
"Yeah, I just um…I've missed you," Lily lied. "I thought you'd be here already?"
"No, um, I had to take care of a few things at the office."
"Mum's going to be mad at me. I was supposed to be at dinner an hours ago," Lily said.
"I'm sure she'll forgive you considering I was due here at two," Harry laughed.
In the Great Hall, Albus and James sat at the table, with their heads in their hands. Teddy was half asleep.
"How much longer are we going to have to sit here?" Albus asked his older brother.
James shook his head miserably. They had been in the Great Hall almost all night, while Ministry of Magic officials and others approached the table with the Weasleys.
"Where is Lily?" James asked irately.
"Forget Lily. Where's Dad?" Albus asked. "All these people are here for him."
James nodded. He looked down the table and noticed all of his cousins had the same look on their faces—absolute boredom.
"Look at it this way," Teddy said. "This is probably the first time you two have had dinner together in about four months."
Albus and James glanced at one another and then looked back to their respective dinners.
"Not my fault," Albus mumbled.
"You two are so cold to one another I need a jacket," Teddy noted.
"He started it," James said, pointing.
"Started what?"
"You know what!" James accused. "You have no…no…I don't know what it is, but you don't have it!"
"James, how many times do I have to tell you, I—" Albus cut himself off when he noticed their father, Harry, walk into the Great Hall with Lily right behind him.
Harry and Lily walked into the Great Hall only to be met with audible gasps and whispers. They headed over to the Gryffindor table and Harry immediately took a seat next to Hermione.
"Where have you been?" Hermione asked him.
"Nowhere," he lied.
"Ginny's been covering for you like a madwoman," Hermione said. Harry nodded and looked throughout the hall, trying to spot his wife. She was now conversing with a few old classmates including Cormac McLaggen.
Lily sat down next to James, tucking her hair behind her ears.
"Where have you been?" James hissed at her.
"I was studying," she snapped.
"We've been here the whole time! We're dying!" Albus said, leaning across the table to converse with his siblings.
"You were studying?" James asked her. "You could've at least lied to me and told me you were practicing Quidditch."
"I don't have to answer to you! You're not the boss of me, you twit!" Lily snapped again, raising her voice.
"Don't call him a twit!" Albus said to her, throwing a roll at her.
Lily caught the roll with her left hand and threw it right back at Albus. "What do you care?"
She then glanced at Teddy, awaiting his line of questioning.
"So did you…study something fun at least?" Teddy asked.
"Transfiguration," she answered.
"That's fun," Teddy said. "Sometimes."
"Dad was late too, you know," Lily said to them.
"Can we go now?" Albus asked James.
James looked around and found that his father had finally joined his mother to talk with their fellow classmates.
"Probably," James said.
"You can't just leave me!" Lily said.
"You mean like you left us?" Albus questioned.
Lily scowled and stabbed her dinner with her fork, shoveling it in her mouth out of spite. Albus and James slowly slid off their respective benches and tip-toed away—each of their cousins looking at them enviously. They made their way out of the Great Hall, saying hello to Ministry of Magic officials and then hello to a few fellow classmates and finally, they reached the corridor.
"Thank Merlin," James sighed. He looked down at his watch. "Damn, I'm late for rounds."
"I have them later,"Albus sympathized.
"James!" a voice yelled. The brothers turned to see Meredith Coulter, a beautiful sixth year girl walking their way. She greeted James with a kiss on the lips.
She then wrapped her arms around James's neck, kissing him on the cheek.
"Hey," she whispered, "we're going to a pub in Hogsmede. Do you want to come?"
"I'm late for rounds," James said, gesturing to his watch.
"Oh, please, James," she whined.
"I can't," he said, shrugging. "I'm sorry."
"Al?" Meredith asked, looking to Albus. James gave his brother a threatening look. Meredith was the point of contention when it came to James and Albus' relationship. Meredith was beautiful and kind and on more than one occasion, particularly after Albus had ended things with Katie, James had caught Albus staring at his girlfriend in a way that made him very uncomfortable—and what was worse was that Meredith was staring right back, partially because she was interested and partially because she was desperate for James' attention.
"No, I've got to study for potions," Albus said. "And then I have rounds."
"Suit yourselves. But, if either of you change your mind, I'll be out," Meredith said with a devilish smile. Meredith then engaged James in a long kiss that made Albus grow uncomfortable with every passing moment.
"Merlin," James whispered after the kiss ended.
"See what you'll be missing," Meredith taunted. "You two are no fun."
With that, Meredith began to walk away from them. James turned to his brother and glared.
"What?"
"Don't look at her that way," James scolded.
"I'm not looking at her in any way!" Albus denied. James made a face and then disappeared through the corridor.
Albus frowned and then turned the corner, running directly into a girl and knocking their heads together.
"Oh, Merlin, Albus!" the girl said, grabbing her forehead.
"Katie!" Albus said suddenly, looking down and realizing he had just butted heads with his ex-girlfriend. Katie's friends were walking behind her and stood back while the two had a moment.
"You OK?" he asked.
"I'm fine. Are you?"
"Yeah," Albus said, rubbing his forehead.
"I just uh…I was just uh talking to your mum."
"Oh yeah?"
"Yeah. She wished me luck for tomorrow."
"Katie," one of the girls said. "We're going to be late."
Katie nodded and then turned back to her friends. "Yeah, I'll be right there. You go on without me."
The three girls nodded and left Albus and Katie be.
"Your hair looks nice," Albus noted. Katie's hair, usually straight, was now wavy and she was wearing a little more makeup than usual. "I mean, it always looks nice. You always look nice."
"Thanks," she said. "We're going to the pub for a bit. If you want to come."
"No, I've um…I've got studying to do. Potions. And then, rounds."
"And your parents are in town. So I'd doubt you'd want them to catch you drinking," Katie laughed.
"That too," Albus admitted.
"Katie," a voice said. Albus and Katie turned to see Christos Marcus, a seventh year Ravenclaw, walking toward them. Christos was tall, way taller than Albus with dark black hair and a Greek accent.
"Christos. Hi," Katie said, smiling.
"I thought you'd be out at the pub already," Christos said.
"Oh, I ran into Al and stopped to talk for a bit," Katie admitted.
"I've got to go anyway. I'll see you lot later," Albus said. Albus began walking away and Katie waved goodbye to him as Christos put his arm around her.
Hours later, while the entire school was in Hogsmede having the time of their lives, Albus sat all by himself in the common room. He was due to take over for Prefect rounds in about an hour.
The dungeon door opened and Scorpius walked inside with their other friend, David. They carefully crept up to Albus.
"What are you guys doing back so soon?" Albus asked.
David sighed, "We uh…we weren't really having the greatest time."
Albus nodded and went back to his book. While he was looking down, David nudged Scorpius' arm and pushed him forward to talk to Albus.
"Al," Scorpius started.
"What?"
"Look, I never said it out loud, but I really appreciated you taking care of that whole Narcissa thing," Scorpius said, suddenly.
Albus looked up at his friend and shrugged, "We're friends, why wouldn't I?"
Narcissa, Scorpius' sister, had had a miscarriage the year prior. Albus quietly brewed her a series of potions to make her feel better.
Albus went back to studying, concentrating on his reading while Scorpius spoke.
"Right. And sisters are important. Really important. You'd want to know if something were going on with Lily, wouldn't you?"
"Yeah. Why?"
"Richard Biel—"
"Ugh, Merlin. What about him?"
"He's spreading rumors about your sister."
"What? That she's not really a good Quidditch player?"
"Merlin! Do you ever think about anything but Quidditch?!" David finally exploded.
Albus finally looked up, exasperated. "What the hell is wrong with you?"
Scorpius looked back to David and they both sighed again.
"He's saying that he and Lily…well…that they…that they slept together," Scorpius revealed.
"What?"
Albus dropped his book and stared at his best friend.
"David and I went to the pub tonight and he was there and he was talking about how he had slept with her," Scorpius said.
Albus turned to David, who merely nodded.
"No," Albus kept saying. "No, she's…she's fourteen years old!"
"I saw them on the lawn earlier tonight," Scorpius said. "He was coming on to her. Like, if I hadn't walked near them, Merlin knows what would've happened."
"That wretched—"
"I mean, is it…is it possible?" David stuttered.
Albus turned his wand on David and sent a tiny shockwave from his wand to David's fingers.
"I was just asking!" David said, jumping.
"What was he saying?" Albus wanted to know, standing.
"He was, I don't know, Al…it was bad," David stuttered.
"Bad how?"
"Bad in like the…way that...there were a lot of details," Scorpius said.
Albus stood and grabbed his wand from the closest table. He then stormed out of the dungeon and in a rage, sprinted up to the Gryffindor tower followed by David and Scorpius.
"What are you gonna do?" David asked.
"I don't know," Albus said, turning the corner.
"How are you going to get into the tower?" Scorpius asked.
"I don't know," Albus yelled. They bounded up the stairs, Albus with his wand at the ready and his two friends trying to keep up with him.
They reached the seventh floor, looking around at the different portraits.
"Which one is it?" Scorpius questioned.
Albus didn't answer. He truly had no idea. He had never been in the Gryffindor tower before.
"Which one of you," David started, looking at all the portraits, "opens to Gryffindor tower?"
None of the portraits answered him.
"I don't think it works like that," Albus said, patting his friend on the back.
The three boys then heard giggling and ruckus laughter as well as high heels clicking against the floors. And around the corner walked Meredith with three of her gigging friends.
"Oh, it's just Meredith," Albus said, sighing with relief.
"Albus!" she said happily. Meredith had evidently been drinking. She grabbed Albus into a hug.
"You OK?" Albus asked her.
"I'm fine," she slurred. "I just um…we went to the pub. Gosh, I wish you could've come with us."
Albus smirked and asked, "Why's that?"
"I've seen you drunk. You're funny," Meredith laughed.
"Do you know where Richard is?" Albus asked.
"Richard?" one of Meredith's friends asked.
"He's so vile," Meredith murmured.
"Yeah, Richard," Albus said. "I'm looking for him."
"Why?" Meredith asked.
"I just am," Albus said coldly.
"So strong and mysterious, Albus," Meredith noted, grabbing his hand.
Scorpius murmured, "Careful, Al."
Albus turned around and glared at his friend whilst holding onto Meredith's hand, making sure she didn't stumble.
"What's going on here?" a voice said.
They turned to notice that James was walking toward them. Meredith disengaged her hand from Albus' immediately. Meredith walked closer to James and greeted him with a kiss, giggling again.
"Well hello, red wine," James acknowledged, tasting whatever beverage Meredith had just consumed.
"It was sangria," Meredith corrected him.
"Are you drunk?" James asked her.
"A little," Meredith whispered.
"What are you guys doing?" James asked, noticing that Albus's wand was at the ready.
"Looking for Richard apparently," Meredith answered for Albus.
"Richard's in Hogsmede," James said.
"I need to talk to you," Albus demanded.
"I'm still on rounds," James said.
"For two more minutes," Albus retorted. "And plus, I take over next. I'll go with you for those two more minutes."
"Alright," James agreed. The two of them walked away from the Gryffindor tower, walking up two flights of stairs and to the Astronomy tower. They walked in silence until they reached the outside of the tower.
"Why are you always with her?!" James exploded.
"James—"
"She's my girlfriend, Al. You know that," he said. "She…Albus, I love her."
"We have classes together, James."
"And the hand holding?" James asked. "I don't think I ever have held Katie's hand! Ever!"
"She grabbed my hand. She was drunk, you saw her!"
"You're not after her?" James asked.
"I have my own stuff going on, James. Or have you forgotten?"
"You and Katie haven't been together in months! And that's when this madness started with you and Meredith! She's always talking about you. Always asking why the three of us don't hang out!"
Albus sighed and said, "I really need to talk to you. Can we leave this for later?"
"About what?"
"Lily."
"What about her?"
"Well, actually, it's more about Richard."
James cocked his head, and stared at his brother. "My friend, Richard?"
"Yeah, him. Look, James, he's spreading rumors about Lily."
"What about?"
"Rumors that they slept together," Albus said. James began to laugh.
"Don't be absurd!"
"James! Scorpius told me he heard him say stuff about her at the pub tonight!"
"Scorpius said that? Check your sources, Al. Richard would never say anything like that."
"That is such a lie!"
"If there was a problem, Lily would come talk to us about it!"
"Would she?" Albus challenged. "She's fourteen, James! She doesn't want us to know her personal life. Just like I don't want you or her to know what's going on in my personal life!"
"Albus, he couldn't say those things. I've never even heard him talk about any girl," James said dismissively.
"James, if you don't deal with this, I will."
"And what is that supposed to mean?"
"Maybe I tell my beaters to lose the game and only go after Richard tomorrow," Albus threatened.
"You wouldn't."
"I would, actually," Albus laughed.
James glanced at his brother and nodded. "OK. I'll talk to him."
"Thank you," Albus said. The two brothers shook hands and each went on their separate way through the tower.
In the morning, Lily sat by herself eating breakfast and reading the Daily Prophet. She wore her Quidditch gear already, ready to leave for the game at a moment's notice.
"Well, morning," a voice said to Lily. Lily looked to her left and saw that Liza Stringer, a sixth year Gryffindor, had sidled up next to Lily in the Great Hall. Liza was a tall, pretty girl who had been relatively hostile toward Lily since the beginning of the school year. Lily had been chosen as the new Seeker for the Quidditch team while Liza was cut from the team to make room for Lily.
"Hi, Liza" Lily said quietly.
"Have an interesting night last night?" Liza asked.
"Not really," Lily said, shrugging.
"Not what I heard," Liza said.
"What did you hear?" Lily asked unassumingly.
"That you slept with my ex-boyfriend. So, first you take my spot on the Quidditch team because of nepotism and then you sleep with my ex-boyfriend. Some friend you are."
"What?!" Lily asked, nearly yelling. "I didn't sleep with Richard."
"Really? Why were so late for dinner last night then? Everyone knows you were late. Your brothers were seething about it all night," Liza informed her.
"I…I was studying on the lawn," Lily said, shocked. "I…Richard, he was drunk. He was—"
"That's a nice excuse," Liza said. "But I don't buy it. I knew you always fancied him. And Meredith said I was mad!"
"No, I haven't!" Lily denied. "And I didn't sleep with him! Where did you hear this?"
"He was boasting about it in the pub last night. To everyone. I hope you used protection. Strong swimmers in the Biel family from what I hear."
"I did not have sex with him!" Lily hissed.
"Tell it to someone who cares," Liza said, standing.
Lily hung her head in her hands, and tears began to well up. When she brought her head back up, she noticed she was being stared at and pointed at by people she had never even met.
Lily stood up immediately and headed out of the Great Hall in order to walk to the pitch.
"Lily!" Albus yelled.
Lily turned round to find that Albus and the rest of the Slytherin team were walking behind her. Scorpius nodded to Lily and instructed the rest of the team to keep walking down to the pitch while Albus spoke with his sister.
"What?" Lily asked rather indignantly.
"You OK?"
"I'm fine," she lied.
"You ready for the game?" Albus asked her, pretending as if he believed her lie.
"Of course," she said.
Albus drew them to the side of the corridor.
"Albus, I really have to go down to the pitch and—"
"Lily, I…Well, people are talking."
Lily nodded, tears welding up in her eyes again.
"You heard it too?"
"Lily—"
Lily grabbed Albus' shirt out of frustration and pulled on it.
"I didn't. I didn't do that with him. He tried and I didn't," Lily sobbed. "I think…I think lots of people know! I think he told everyone he could! Or lied to everyone he could!"
"Why didn't you…Scorpius said he saw you guys last night. That Richard was trying to pry at you then. Why didn't you tell me?"
"It didn't seem important," Lily said. "And you know how you get. All hotheaded. Why did Scorpius tell you? I told him not to!"
"He told me because the story didn't end there. Scorpius and David were at the pub last night when Richard told people. And they knew it wasn't true and they came to me!" Albus explained.
As he said this, the remainder of the Gryffindor Quidditch team walked down the corridor, James and Hugo leading them. Lily attempted to wipe away her tears as fast as possible.
"Quit fraternizing with the enemy, Lily," Hugo instructed his cousin.
"Give us a minute," Albus said. "James, care to join us?"
James looked at his brother and sister and veered off from the team's trail and stood with Lily and Albus.
"What's up?"
"This is what's up!" Albus said, pointing to their sister's tears.
"What? What's wrong?" James asked.
Lily was now crying so hard that she couldn't say anything.
"It's about what we talked about last night."
"Oh, that. Richard said he didn't do anything," James said, shrugging. "I believe him."
"Liza Stringer came up to her about ten minutes ago and taunted her about it! Our sister!" Albus said, gesturing to Lily.
"Liza Stringer's off her rocker, mate," James said. "We've got to go. Lily come on!"
"I'll walk with Albus," Lily finally managed to croak out. James glanced at his sister skeptically and then back to Albus.
"I warned you, James," Albus threatened. "I told you what I'd do to him."
"Fine! I will talk to him after the game. But not now. Please! This is the cup!" James said exasperated.
"No, now!"
"He said he didn't say anything, Albus. What do you want me to do? Beat him up. We don't know if this is true!"
"Yes! He's afraid of you!" Albus yelled.
"Lily!" they heard. Lily, Albus and James turned around and found that Rupert, a small and meek fourteen-year-old boy, was following them.
"Rupert, hi," Lily said quietly.
"Can I talk to you alone, please?" he asked.
"I'd prefer if you didn't," Albus said immediately.
"Albus—"
"Whatever he has to say, he can say in front of us," Albus said, cutting his sister off.
"It's Rupert. He wouldn't harm a fly!" Lily battled.
"In front of us," Albus demanded.
"Fine!" Rupert huffed. He turned to Lily and puffed up his chest, near tears.
"I heard a rumor about you last night," Rupert said.
"Oh Merlin," Abus sighed. James' ears perked up and he listened to Rupert.
"Rupert—"
"How could you sleep with him?" Rupert yelled at her. "How? You wouldn't even…well, Lily, you wouldn't even do lesser things with me!"
"I didn't sleep with him," Lily insisted.
"He's telling everyone you did! Why should I believe you?"
"Because I wouldn't do that with someone I barely know!" Lily yelled back. She began to fully cry again and walked further down the corridor away from her brothers.
"Do you see?" Albus questioned James. "Did you see that? Rupert! Rupert heard it!"
"Al—" James tried to say. But before he could get out his sentence, Albus had taken off through the castle. James ran to catch up with him, with Lily and Rupert trailing behind.
Albus ran outside, the Gryffindor team now within sight and the Slytherin team walking just ahead of them. Richard was leading the march down to the pitch. Making his way down the field and through the Gryffindor team, Albus sailed through the air, landing on Richard's back and pulled him to the ground. He punched Richard as hard as he could in the mouth, with Richard struggling to fight back.
The Slytherin team, hearing the commotion, turned round from their walk to the pitch and ran back to watch their captain fight. James and Lily finally caught up with their brother, watching as he pummeled James' friend.
"Al, stop it!" James kept yelling. He pulled out his wand and created a small explosion between Albus and Richard, separating them finally. James pulled Albus off the ground and took note of the damage that had been done.
Richard's nose was broken and twisted to the left, blood emerging profusely. His eyes were both encircled by bruises already and he had a gash on his forehead.
Albus had fared far better with only a black eye and a cut up lower lip.
James backed Albus up and placed him next to Scorpius, forcing Scorpius's hand around Albus's waist in case he tried to lunge.
Richard struggled to stand, trying to control the blood coming out of his nose. James approached him.
"You OK?" James asked.
"Your brother's mental," Richard managed to say.
"Not the first I've heard that," James said. James looked around and noticed that a larger crowd of people that had gathered, watching carefully. And then, he made eye contact with his sister. Lily still had tears in her eyes and when James made eye contact with her, she looked down immediately.
"Did you…did you actually say that about her?" James asked him.
"What? No!" Richard denied.
"Richard, did you or did you not?" James asked, holding his wand to Richard's throat now. James looked around noticing that a few people were whispering. He sighed and faced the crowd.
"Who heard a rumor about my sister from Richard?" James asked loudly.
A slew of hands shot up from the crowd.
James turned around to find that Richard had slunk away, escaping into the crowd and eventually found himself on the lawn running toward the forest. James sprinted down the lawn after his friend and eventually caught up to him with the entire crowd following, Albus leading the pack.
James caught up with Richard and dodged spell after spell. Richard was throwing every hex he knew at James, but James was a fast runner. He managed to tackle Richard to the ground and resume the same type of battle that Albus had started. But first, James wrestled Richard's wand from his hands and threw it into the crowd behind them.
"James! McGonagal's gonna kill you!" Hugo kept yelling.
"Worth it!" James yelled back.
Richard punched James in the face, knocking out James's two front teeth. James gasped in pain, while blood poured out of his mouth. He clapped his hands over his mouth, feeling where his teeth used to be. In that time, Richard took advantage and punched James again, this time in the stomach, knocking his opponent to the ground.
Albus began taking a step forward to assist his brother when Lily stopped him. She pulled out her wand and yelled a spell Albus had never heard of. Instantly, Richard was hanging upside down and every time Lily moved her wand, Richard went in the same direction.
Albus picked up James's missing teeth and then pulled his brother from the ground. They walked over to their sister as Richard squirmed high above them. Lily kept lowering and raising her wand, twirling it sometimes, and even moving it back and forth horizontally.
"We should move this to the lake," James suggested.
"Agreed. Do you want to take over?" Lily asked him.
"Yeah," James said. James drew his wand from his pocket and placed another movement spell on Richard, giving him control.
"I'll join in if you don't mind," Albus said, pulling out his wand.
In the pitch, Harry sat quietly by himself while Ginny, Ron and Hermione chatted with friends. Ginny excused herself from their friends and sat next to Harry, kissing him on the cheek.
"You're in a mood," Ginny noted, bushing away Harry's hair.
Harry shrugged.
"Bad memories," he said.
"Same," she said, tightening her grip on his arm.
"Game should've started ten minutes ago," Harry noted. "The teams aren't even here yet."
Ginny looked over to the part of the pitch where the teams usually entered from and noticed Harry was right—none of them were there.
"Mr. Potter!" Scorpius yelled. "Mr. Potter!"
Harry and Ginny turned to see Scorpius running up the stairs, completely out of breath.
"What is it?"
"They're gonna kill him. I mean, I don't like him that much. But they're gonna kill him!"
"Who?" Ginny asked. "Who's going to kill who?!"
"Al and James. They're gonna kill Richard Biel if you don't stop them!"
"Where are they?" Harry asked, standing.
"On the lawn!"
Teddy ran ahead of Harry and Ginny. He reached the lake and found that Richard was hanging over the lake while James and Albus sat cross-legged, controlling his every move. The crowd clapped every time they lowered him to the water, allowing him to skim the top of the water without actually submerging him.
"Please let me down, James," Richard begged.
"No," James said, twirling his wand.
"Please," he begged again.
"No."
"We're gonna be late for the game," Richard said, trying to reason with him.
"Then we're late for that game," James shrugged.
"What are you doing?!" Teddy yelled at them. "Your parents are going to kill you!"
"Again, totally worth it," James replied.
"What did he do?" Teddy asked.
"Do? What did he do?" James mused aloud. "Richard, why don't you tell Teddy what you did?"
"James, please," Richard begged.
James whirled his wand faster and faster, causing Richard to turn faster and faster.
"Fine!" Richard barked. "I told people I slept with Lily."
"And did you?" Albus asked loudly.
"No!" Richard said.
"Carry on," Teddy said, backing up. As Teddy backed up, he walked right into Harry who was livid watching his sons torture another student.
"Expelliaramus!" Harry yelled. His sons' wands leapt from their hands and into Harry's. Richard was immediately plunged into the lake, thrashing about as he landed.
James and Albus immediately stood, their mother running up behind Harry with her wand at the ready. Ginny backed them up to the closest tree with their hands held in the air, surrendering.
"You two are in so much trouble, I can't even begin to explain the kind of punishment we'll be dolling out," Ginny said
"Mum, to be fair—"
"To be fair, nothing! You could've killed him!"
"He deserved it!" Albus yelled.
"Enough!" Ginny bellowed, her wand getting closer and closer to them. She turned to notice that Hugo and Lily were standing close by.
"And where were you two?"
"Well…he…did kind of deserve it Aunt Ginny," Hugo said.
"And you!" Ginny said, pointing to Lily. "You're the only one that can usually stop them."
"Mum—" Lily tried to start.
"To the castle," Harry ordered. "Now."
