'Dear Diary', Lily wrote in the dark bounded book her mother had got her to write down her year at school.

'School starts again tomorrow. I don't know if I actually am looking forward to it. I've had a pretty good summer even if Al has done my head in. I'll miss Mum and Dad so much. Christmas is so long away. I know I'll get constant letters from James making sure "No boys come near me". I know he cares but it's like I'm being smothered. I feel like I just want to do something – anything to get free and have a life of my own. I'm the baby of the family. I know sometimes I don't really help with that image the way I act but it's a role I've always had. This year I'm going to grow up into the young woman I should be. It's just so hard when I feel so lonely all the time. I mean I have friends just not people I feel I can completely trust with everything.'

Lily twirled the quill around her fingers, on hearing the clock charming, she signed the page and stowed the book under her mattress. She leant over and blew out the candle next to her bed leaving the room in darkness.

***/\\/\\***

Scorpius woke in darkness. The chiming clock most likely the reason he woke he thought. He pulled his wand from under his pillow.

"Lumos" he whispered into the dark. His room was exactly how he had left it the night before. He lay down listening to his own steady breathing for a while before hoisting himself up and leaning back on his headboard. Something glittering against the candle light caught his eye.

A necklace. It was hanging over the edge of a engraved wooden box he had owned for as long as he could remember. The necklace held a delicate gold star on the end of it. His mother's necklace. His father had bought it for her before Scorpius was born, he could remember him saying it reminded him of his mother due to her name Astoria. Scorpius could remember thinking this was incredibly romantic when he was a lot younger and dreaming that he'd one day have someone of his own to share a love as special as his mother and father had. Now he knew this wasn't the way the world worked. His father now spend hours just sat in his study and rarely spend time with him.

Scorpius glanced down at the watch on his wrist to view the time. Looking at the golden plated edge of the watch he felt his heart jerk painfully. Trying to focus on the watch face he saw it was 2am. He grabbed a shirt from the chair under his desk and took a thick clock off the back of his door. Outside his room he took a pair of warm shoes and quickly shoved his feet into them, pushing the laces in the sides as opposed to tying them.

Walking down the stairs of the mansion he spotted a vase of flowers at the bottom, he grabbed the bunch of flowers from it leaving it empty as he walked out of the door.

A few minutes later, Scorpius was stood beneath the moon which was partially blocked by the great oaks surrounding the mansion. He sat down on the maple bench, as he had done so many times before.

"Mother", he began. "I don't think I want to go tomorrow. I don't belong there. I know it sounds stupid but I hate having no friends. I just get stared at and no one has even bothered to talk to me over the summer. I know you'd understand. Life wasn't meant to be like this. I want to be able to run around, act stupid, make mistakes but everyone just watches me like I'm a stupid animal in a stupid muggle zoo. What kind of life is that, mother? What am I meant to do? I –I need you so much and you're not here"

Scorpius began to break down, he sank to his knees putting the flowers on the grass. His Father would be furious if he saw him like this. 'Real men don't get upset', he'd lecture. But he knew this wasn't true. His father used to be another man up until four years ago when both of their lives broke.

Scorpius began to pull himself together. He stood up wiping the dirt away from his trousers. Saying a farewell, he turned and headed back to his bedroom, walking away from his mother's grave.

***/\\/\\***

Lily woke up the next morning to the sound of her mother's voice.

"Lily, sweetie! You're going to miss the train if you don't get out of bed soon. Lily! Lily? James go and check your sister is ok".

Lily groaned and threw the duvet off her body.

"I'm coming!" She yelled back towards her closed door. 'No', she thought, 'No shouting. I'm going to start to act like the new mature grown up me'. She walked over to her wardrobe stretching out her aching muscles as she went. She selected a simple white blouse with an attached black jumper over the top, with a pair of black jeans. Waking up slightly, she sat in front of her mirror and quickly tied her hair into a messy bun.

'Quite adult looking if I say so myself', she thought before running out of her room and down the stairs.

She walked in the kitchen breathing in the smell of waffles and maple syrup. It was a tradition in the Potter household that the day they left for Hogwarts they always had waffles for breakfast. Her mother was stood at the stove preparing more batter, while her father was sitting at the table with a cup of tea and the Daily Prophet in his hands. Albus was scouting the cupboards for some chocolate sauce (which he still insists at his age, goes better with waffles than maple syrup) and James was double checking his briefcase to ensure he had all the essential paper work for his first day auror training.

"Good morning everyone, sleep well?" Lily asked as she swept into the room and took her seat near the window. Harry raised his eyebrows over the top of the paper as he wondered what had gotten into his daughter.

"Erm, fine thank you sweetie. What's the matter with you?" He asked trying to be as kind as he could in such an odd situation.

"Can't a daughter enquire about her family well-being?" Lily replied. "Well, I've decided that now I'm a 6th year and almost an adult of 16 year old, I should start acting like the mature person I am inside. "

She was interrupted by a slight knocking on the window, looking up she noticed an owl at the window. An owl that belonged to Ana, who was her closest friends at Hogwarts. Grabbing her plate and a fork Lily dashed outside to unattach the letter from the bird's legs.

Ginny Potter turned around from the stove and looked across at her husband and two sons who looked as confused as she felt.

"Did that just really happen?"

***/\\/\\***

A/N: I forgot a disclaimer in the first chapter, but I'm hoping to go back and edit it. So in case you were wondering, I don't own Harry Potter or any of the characters :'(. Also the name of the fic is a song title by Blue October (Give it a listen!). I hope that the characters are getting a bit more depth, if not I while make sure they do next chapter :).

Please R/R! Thanks for reading!