Remember in the third movie, when Harry looks in one of the crystal balls and sees Sirius? A plot bunny crept up on me, demanding to write about that. This isn't quite that bunny (it could become an Astoria fic though!) but I wanted to get some use out of it for this.

Tis a long chapter, to make up for missing last week's.

Prompt: "Supervise"

Since long before he was born, Scorpius' parents ran the shop they inherited from grandfather Zargeus, so nearly all his life, he grew up wandering around the shop. It was fact that nearly everyone with Greengrass blood had some talent for a specified form of divination—Astoria was particularly good with reading auras, Daphne with tarot cards, Zargeus with retrocognition, and Semele, Astoria's mother, had an unusual gift for the Chinese Bazi ever since she had lived briefly in Taiwan when she was younger. Usually, someone was only "allowed" to marry into the family if they had their own talent—Draco was welcomed warmly since he knew a bit of palmistry (actually, Astoria taught him so her parents wouldn't give him a hard time; he'd since forgotten most of art), and Scorpius' former uncle had prophetic dreams.

Scorpius, on the other hand, didn't seem to have any talent of his own. Semele had said so when she once read his fortune, Daphne admitted as much when she tried to use her cards, and even Astoria had agreed. Since he had no gift of his own, the family had decided that after Astoria and Draco gave up the shop, it would go instead to Menthe, Daphne's daughter, who shockingly good with tea leaves.

"I suppose you take after my side too much for it," Draco had said as he tried to comfort him once. "Try not to worry about it—you're just meant for something else is all. Perhaps quidditch," his father suggested brightly.

Astoria had snorted at that. "Well, he certainly wouldn't get that for me."

Still, until he found out whatever he was meant for, he could only sigh longingly at the many books and divination devices in the shop. Not that he had time to be wistful long when he was there, since usually one of his parents quickly found something to do to keep him busy. If his mother was working the register, he would either help stock books or unbreakable items, or he might help a customer find whatever it was his mother would suggest for them. If it was his father, he would end up helping him doing the accounting, which wasn't too bad since Draco would usually have candy and treats to snack on while they work. On the rare days he would work with his aunt Daphne and his cousin Menthe, they usually didn't sell a thing and took many breaks at Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour.

Today, however, Scorpius was with Astoria, which meant stocking the shelves. He'd finished in record time before joining his mother behind the counter. Astoria smiled gratefully, and used her wand to draw a chair from mid air so he could sit. To his delight it was a stool that spun, so for the next few minutes he amused himself by spinning until he nearly tipped off. "That's enough of that I think," she said mildly, but he heard the amusement in it, so he wasn't worried as she helped him sit back up.

"Can we get ice cream for lunch?" he asked, despite his churning stomach protesting the very thought.

Astoria raised a brow. "We'll see."

Scorpius pouted—"maybe" meant yes, "we'll see" usually meant no. Maybe if he could find some way to be helpful, he could talk her into it. He hunkered down on his stool, and began to plot quietly, ignoring the chime as the door opened and his mother greeting the guest.

"This is a surprise, Mr. Potter," he heard her disinterestedly. "You haven't come to finally replace that crystal ball I sold you, what, fifteen, sixteen years ago?"

"Fifteen, and no—although, not for lack of James and Albus try to bust it by letting it bounce down the stairs."

"I only did that twice!"

"My father will be pleased to see that his charm to make it unbreakable is still working."

"What charm did he use? I could use it so I'll stop having to replace the dishes."

"I said I didn't mean to break those!"

Scorpius gave up his plotting to finally look up at the customers—it was a family of four, a father, two sons, and a young daughter. The younger son was his age, which caught Scorpius' interest for a bit. Both boys took heavily after their father, the younger one even more so than his brother, but the girl had fiery red hair and brown eyes. She did share a resemblance to her father though, Scorpius supposed, the nose and chin were the same. Scorpius rubbed his own chin thoughtfully—everyone said he took after his father, although he wished he had inherited his mother's "dreamy" far away blue eyes instead of his father's grey ones. Oh well, just another way I take after Dad.

They were talking again, he realized—he'd stopped listening for a moment, but he quickly tuned back in.

"-James was thinking of taking Divination this year. I thought we might drop in and see if he finds something that could help him decide," Mr. Potter finished.

His mother studied the older boy—James—for a moment before shaking her head. "Don't bother signing up—he'd have more luck in astronomy. There's some good star maps in the back that show the night sky on whatever night you choose from whatever spot on the earth." Ignoring the shocked boy's protests, she turned to the other Potter son, to Mr. Potter's mixed amusement. "You, on the other hand, I suggest having a peek at the books on tarot cards, second aisle, third shelf in on the right. There's some good beginner books if you ever get interested in Divination." The boy's eyes went very round, and he turned to look up with a questioning but hopeful look to his father.

"If you find something you like, we'll call it an earlier birthday present," Mr. Potter smiled at his son. The boy—Scorpius couldn't remember the names Mr. Potter had said earlier—grinned and gave his brother a smug look.

"Would I find anything good?" the fidgeting girl asked anxiously. Scorpius was half surprised she wasn't jumping up and down impatiently as the others talked.

His mother gazed at her for a moment. "…you ever tried looking at that crystal ball I sold your father?"

Lily's eyes grew round with shock before nodding slowly.

"Ever see stop waiting to see something before really seeing something in there?"

James made a face. "What?" His brother looked confused as well, but Lily's face went a bit pale.

"…bit of mist—I thought my eyes were getting watery!" she said defensively as her brothers turned to stare at her. Obviously, they had tried before to no avail.

"Was the weather foggy afterward?" the second oldest asked like a reporter hot on the trail of some story.

Lily grimaced. "I don't remember—it was a couple years ago. I forgot about it."

"Try looking again sometime," his mother advised before turning back to Mr. Potter who looked both bemused and amused. "There's a sale this week for students going to Hogwarts. Scorpius can help you look around if you want."

Mr. Potter's lips quirked upward. "That would be useful, thanks."

Astoria turned to her son. "Go take them to the books for the tarot cards, then take them to the star maps, will you, dear?"

Scorpius—recognizing a chance to be helpful and earn his ice cream—nodded, and hopped down off his stool. He walked to the other side of the counter, and nodded politely to them. Mr. Potter nodded back, and little Lily actually bowed a bit, obviously not quite sure what to do. He cracked a smile of his own at her, but quickly turned to lead them to the aisle his mother had mentioned. He led them to the tarot card books, grabbing a book closer to the bottom of the shelf before presenting it to the younger brother. "Aunt Daphne said this was the best for a beginner—it doesn't come with a deck like the others, but it's cheaper and easier to understand than the others." He pointed to a deck that sat further down the shelf, smiling a bit cheekily. "And those decks last longer; they're charmed not to bend or tear—but that one there has the best designs."

The boy eagerly handed the book to his father while he moved to look at the cards in the deck Scorpius had pointed to. Mr. Potter nodded to James. "Why don't you go with him, and I'll stay here with Albus."

James frowned. "If I get something, can we call it a late birthday present?"

Mr. Potter smiled crookedly. "We'll just say they're going-away presents then."

James smirked. "Nice. Thanks, dad," he said, turning to Scorpius. "Lead on to the maps then, I guess."

Scorpius nodded and began to walk to the back of the shop, James following a few steps behind. Since the shop wasn't terribly big, it was a very short walk. He searched for a moment among the maps and charts before finding the one his mother had mentioned. He opened it up to show it to James. "It'll show you today's sky from here, but say you wanted to see what it was like…ah, three years ago in…Sydney, Australia," he suggested randomly, before pulling out his new wand (it took him two weeks to convince his parents to let him get his early and he seized on any chance he'd get to use it), and tapping the map. "So you'd say, 'July 30th, 2014, Sydney, Australia'—and viola!"

"Wicked," James grinned, watching the stars spin backward and tilt before finally slowing. At the bottom of the map, the date, location, and also the current time—5:43 pm—appeared. "Hey, look, Lily—Orion!"

"Where?"

Scorpius blinked and looked to James' side—Lily stood, peering at the map as well now. "Oh, see if you can find Sirius!"

Before her brother could point to the bright star near Orion, letters appeared over the Dog Star. "Brilliant," James said approvingly. "I wonder if the Marauder's Map works like this…"

Scorpius frowned. "The what?"

Both of them looked up as if surprised to see he was still there. "Err—it's nothing. Just an old map my dad has."

Scorpius decided not to ask—unhappy customers didn't buy things. He watched as James randomly called out names of stars and constellations, wondering if his work would be enough to convince Astoria he deserved an ice cream.

"Excuse me?"

Scorpius looked to Lily, who was fidgeting again now that her brother was absorbed in studying the map. He waited for her to speak before realizing she was waiting for him to say something first. "Yes?"

"Would there be any…any good books for looking at crystal balls then?" she asked, looking a bit pink.

Scorpius paused to consider it. "Looking at a crystal—it's really something that you can't learn from a book. I think you're just supposed to keep staring until you get the hang of it," he admitted, trying to remember what his grandmother had explained to him once. "I—hold on, I think there might be a book…" he trailed off, hurrying around the corner to another aisle. It was hard to try and recall which one Semele had pointed to when she spoke about it a few years ago, but Scorpius remembered a few of the covers she pointed to. Finally, he recognized one—it was kind of hard not, the book had a flashy cover—that he was sure his grandmother had recommended. He grabbed it and turned to hurry back to James and Lily, only to find she had decided to follow him like she had her brother earlier. It spooked him a bit to find her standing so close behind him, but she jumped too, so maybe he'd startled her as well. Reminding himself again that unhappy customers weren't paying customers, he tried not to hold it against her.

"This one," he began, after his pulse slowed down a bit. "My grandmother said it was a good one once—it could be useful."

What happened next made his heart race a bit again—suddenly, her whole face lit up, like she'd been presented a diamond necklace, not a slightly dusty book (he'd probably have to dust again soon). She took the book eagerly from him, running one hand reverently over the cover before opening it. "I always wondered if I really saw something in that crystal, and now…" she didn't finish, instead drinking in the sight of the open book as she flipped idly through the pages.

Scorpius may have only been eleven, but looking at her, he felt a bit older, a bit wiser for having found something to make her so happy. Or maybe she just seemed younger in comparison, he wasn't sure. Still he felt a thrill of pride as delight danced over her features.

"Lily! James! C'mon, your mum's going to hex me if we don't get back to the Leaky Cauldron soon," shouted Mr. Potter, making Scorpius and Lily jump. Lily blushed darkly, clutching the book to her chest.

"Thanks," she murmured, before going on to the tips of her toes to press a soft kiss to his cheek. Now it was his turn to turn flaming red, but at least she didn't get a chance to see as she hurried to join her father at the cash register.

Scorpius waited until he heard the faint chime of the door as they left before he dared join his mother at the counter. When he did, she frowned, reaching out to place her cool hands on his cheek then her wrist on his forehead. "Are you okay, dear? You're all red."

He blinked and realized that there was his chance. "It's too hot," he complained.

Astoria raised a brow. The shop was significantly cooler inside than out in the street—neither Astoria nor Draco liked the shop to be too hot, and everyone else in the family agreed anyway. Still, she humored him and patted his cheek. "Well, I suppose an ice cream would be sufficient to cool you down?"

He tried not to smirk too broadly. "Yeah, I think it'd do."

Her lips quirked upward. She reached into her purse and handed him some money. "Go get me some strawberry ice cream, will you? There should be enough there for the two of us."

"Yes, mum," he answered eagerly, taking the money. "Be back in a bit," he shouted as he ran out of the shop. She waved, and he raced down the street.

As he stood in line, he decided today had turned out to be a good day. Pressing his hand gently to his cheek, remembering Lily's thin but soft lips, he decided it had been a very good day.