Coward in the Lion Den

When Lily returned to the common room later that morning she found Fay and Clarissa sitting on one of the sofas. Fay's legs were stretched out on Clarissa's lap as Clarissa was painting Fay's toe nails a silver colour. Fay on the other hand appeared to be reading one of the third year textbooks Lily remembered seeing Al purchase.

'Well look what the snake dragged in' Clarissa said teasingly as Lily approached,' where'd you disappear off to this morning then?'

'Sorry for leaving you at breakfast, but I had to get some air.' Lily apologized.

Fay looked up at this point having finished her page and scrutinized Lily's face, 'How do you feel now?' she inquired gently.

'Better than I did at breakfast, that's for sure!'

Clarissa having finished painting Fay's legs motioned for Fay to move her legs so Lily could have some room on the sofa to sit as well.

'So Lily Potter, what do your friends outside of your family call you?' Clarissa asked her

'Umm, friends… well I actually don't have any friends who I'm not related to by blood or by closeness of family.' Lily admitted quietly.

Fay and Clarissa look slightly surprised at Lily's words.

'You mean you've never had a friend outside of your family?' Clarissa asked in horror,

'Sadly, no. Which makes this whole process a little more awkward because with my family not speaking to me that also means all of my childhood friends aren't speaking to me either.

Fay looked Lily and said in her soothing voice 'Lily I have no idea how you are feeling right now, but you aren't alone.'

'Yeah, we are going to stick with you through this because quite frankly you're a hell of a lot nicer than any of the other girls in our year.' Clarissa agreed

'Thanks guys.' Lily replied with a small smile.

'So Lil, you alright with Lil by the way? Most people tend to call me Rissa and Fay is just Fay because any nicknames for her are always longer than her actual name so we don't tend to bother with them.' Taking a breath Clarissa went on 'Now introductions are fully complete do you mind telling me why the hell Scorpius Malfoy who is practically the sex god of Slytherin house, arch enemy of your family and most amazing and dreamy person ever hasn't taken his eyes off of you since you walked in?' Clarissa asked Lily with an open smirk on her face at Lily's sudden colouring in her cheeks.

'Ermm, I have no idea…' Lily trailed off. Her voice rose at the end of her answer giving her away though and Clarissa jumped straight in.

'Oh my god. Do you like him?'

'Emm'

'Fay are you listening to this?...Fay…. For goodness sake girl, get your head out of that textbook this is major stuff we are dealing with here!' Clarissa said as she snatched Fay's book away in exasperation. Fay looked up slightly surprised.

'Well were you listening?' Clarissa asked.

'Umm no I tuned out at introductions being fully complete.'

Clarissa sighed deeply and rolled her eyes, 'Typical. Basically Lil here, yes Lily Potter likes Scorpius Malfoy.'

Fay didn't really look very interested at this and just continued looking at Clarissa. Lily took this opportunity to get her side of the story across.

'Okay I do not fancy him!' She said in a hushed whisper. 'He came across me when I was out walking and we had a two minute conversation then went our separate ways.' Lily disliked lying to her new friends but knew she had to have a cover story with at least some basis of truth.

'Righhhht. So you went out for a walk. Came across that hot boy over in the corner of the room and made small talk for two minutes before merrily going on your way…'

'Yep.'

'Are you insane?' Clarissa asked in disbelief 'Lil you don't just turn down opportunities like that! You poor child you have so much to learn.'

'Don't be patronizing Rissa' Fay told her.

'Alright… Alright but please just promise me if you ever have the honour of speaking to him again you won't mess it up and run off to continue a solitary walk!'

'Okay, I promise' Lily agreed. She wondered how Clarissa would react if she knew what had actually happened between the two that morning.

The rest of the weekend passed by without any major family showdowns occurring. Lily's brothers and cousins were still not talking to her but she had got a letter from her parents.

Dear Lily,

Whilst we are slightly surprised at your new House we are still proud of you no matter what. Just remember that you can hang out with your family most of the time anyway so you won't have to spend much time with the Slytherin's except for a few lessons and in the dorms. I'm sure James and Albus would love to have you join them in the evenings to study or hang out so don't worry. Work hard in all your lessons and we will see you soon.

Mum and Dad

Lily had been excited at first to see Seren, her owl flying into the Great Hall on the Sunday morning to deliver her parents reply but after reading the contents of the letter felt disgusted at her parents' position on the matter. The stance of their letter made it seem that they were consoling Lily for her unfortunate position in another house and not to worry because she wouldn't have to see her housemates often as she was welcome with the Gryffindors. Lily thought they were utter hypocrites. Her parents had always taught her that houses shouldn't matter. The war was over and now House rivalries were a thing of the past, house unity and integration amongst the houses was for the present. However they seemed to pity her for ending up in another house. When she read the letter Lily decided she was going to do her best to make as many friends in Slytherin and show her parents she didn't need them or any other Gryffindors to fit in at Hogwarts.

By Monday morning Lily had officially met all of the first years and Aaron had introduced all of his friends. The first year boys had run off fairly soon to make the most of their free day. However Clarissa, Fay and Lily had spent most of Sunday with Aaron and his friends, Nathair or Nate for short, Josh, Henry and of course Scorpius. They had all had a great day with the banter flowing freely. They had all come from pureblood families and everyone knew each other very well but Lily slotted into the group with ease. None of the boys held back from teasing any of the girls, including Lily even after only knowing her for ten minutes!

As far as siblings went Lily thought that Rissa and Aaron got on exceptionally well. They appeared to mind spending time with each other and therefore sharing mutual friends was not an issue at all. By the end of Tuesday as the group of eight sat around the largest table in common room all laughing as they working on their various assignments it was clear that a firm friendship group had been made.

On Wednesday during Potions, Lily had an awkward encounter when it was decided by Professor Slughorn that she would work with Hugo for the lesson. They spent the entire hour in a tense silence only broken by the occasional 'Add the roots in' or 'Only stir it six times clockwise'. Hugo sat as far away from Lily as possible as if he was afraid he would catch something from her. When they got up at the end of the hour Lily was angry. Hugo had been her best friend for eleven years and then all of a sudden he gives her the silent treatment. If he thought he was going to get off without Lily saying anything he clearly never knew her very well in the first place.

As they got out of the classroom Hugo made to dash off back to his common room but Lily began to voice her thoughts.

'What the hell do you think you're playing at Hugo? What the hell happened to it doesn't matter what house we go into, we'll be friends for life. Friends for life my arse, you are being a complete coward at the moment so I'm giving you a chance to redeem yourself by allowing you to give me a bloody good reason as to why you've been ignoring me.' Lily fumed. By this point all of the first year Gryffindors and Slytherins had formed two lines facing each other with Lily and Hugo between them.

'Well…' Hugo hesitated before saying, 'You're a Slytherin and I'm a Gryffindor'

'I said a good reason.' Lily said dangerously.

'That is a good reason' Hugo tried to argue.

'No it's bloody well not Hugo and you know it. I can't believe that you would actually turn your back on me because I got put into a different house I mean how low can you get?

'Don't act like it's just me who isn't talking to you' Hugo said in a low voice.

'Oh believe me if Roxanne were here she'd be getting this too except she's in the sick bay.'

'No not just Roxanne though, everyone.'

'The difference is Hugo, Albus and James didn't ask for me, they didn't choose to hang around with me, we were siblings, and we had no choice. Neither did any of my other cousins. You are Roxanne though; we chose to be best friends. We made that decision and now, you're just walking out like a coward.' Lily had started out with a lot of passion but by the end of her speech she felt slightly broken. When Hugo didn't reply Lily carried on. 'Maybe you shouldn't have been Gryffindor after all Hugo because you know what, ever since you joined that house you haven't done one brave thing. You've changed Hugo and not for the good. A brave person would admit defeat and then resolve things. You, well you just don't seem to realize you've done anything wrong. I thought you were different.'

Hugo's eyes were livid by the end of her speech, his face was pale and his hands were shaking slightly like they always used to do when he was angry. 'You know what Lily I don't care about what you think about me, because you mean nothing to me anymore. As far as I'm concerned whatever we had is over, I never want to look or speak to you again. The only thing I can say to you Lily is at least I didn't disappoint my parents, stay the hell out of my life you snake.'

At this Hugo turned and stormed off, the other Gryffindors glaring at Lily then turning to follow him. The Slytherins on the other hand, after receiving a sharp glance from Rissa dispersed rapidly. When Fay put a hand on Lily's shoulder Lily simply shook it off and said 'I need to be alone'

With that Lily Picked up her bag that she had dropped on the floor and walked off in search of the Solitary music room where she knew she would feel safe for a while.

Hope you all enjoyed it, let me know what you thought or if you have any suggestions x