A/N: Ok, I wrote this before I started NaNoWriMo, but completely forgot to upload it the first week of the competition. Works out ok, because now that I am done (yes, I wrote a 50k+ novel in 14 days) I can concentrate on my for fun writing, and of course squeeze some education in there somewhere…

Disc.: Creation is a start. Manipulation is divine.

Ash's Labor

On the morning of our big match against Gryffindor, our team walked together down to breakfast. Damon and I were bringing up the rear, Damon telling me yet again how Lily managed to achieve trust of my cat. Our team pulled to a stop just inside the door of the Great Hall. I peered around our beater, Malvo Flint, just in time to see Lily dump a bowl of milk and cereal on James Potter's head. Right or wrong, we laughed. The sight was epic! The milk dripped through James' hair and bits of cereal was sticking in it. He jumped up in outrage, rounding on Lily and I tensed for a moment, certain that he was going to deck her.

"Jerk," Lily cried at him angrily and stalked away without another word. Lily glared at us as she passed, almost daring us to follow or stop her. I was surprised by her anger towards us, though figured it was more likely just anger all around. Damon laughed as we sat down to eat breakfast. James looked over and glared at me, and I wasn't even laughing that hard at him.

I looked up as Lily's roommates came to eat breakfast and sat at the table. Darla sat across from me and looked at me expectantly. I looked at her for a few minutes, wondering what the kid wanted. It was funny how this girl, my future bride, posed no interest for me. To me, she was just some girl that I was supposed to marry because our grandfathers set it up. I wasn't even a fan of the whole ancient arranged marriage crap. She looked up at me again.

"Hello Darla," I said quietly.

"Are you excited about today's game?" Darla asked eagerly. I smiled, though I didn't feel the full warmth of the smile span my face.

"Yes," I replied. I hesitated, trying to figure out what else I should talk to her about. "Um. Are you coming to watch the match?"

"Of course I am! I couldn't think of missing seeing you play!" Darla said. She launched into a long winded conversation that was thankfully one-sided and I was thankful that she didn't need any more input for me than an occasional grunt. After a while, I looked around to see that others had left. Darla was looking at me again expectantly and I forced another smile.

"Want to walk back to the common room together?" I offered. Darla's face bloomed into a giant grin and she jumped up. I stood and followed her out of the Great Hall.

"I swear, sometimes, people really annoy me," Darla huffed as we walked along together.

"They do?" I asked innocently to prove I was keeping up with the conversation. She laughed and launched into a long spiel about her roommates. My ears only perked up when she started talking about Lily.

"I mean, she's nice enough, yeah, but you know she's so transparent," Darla said shaking her head.

"Transparent?" I asked as we got closer to the portrait hole. I slowed down, actually wanting to keep up the conversation.

"Yeah, I mean she's smart and what not, but sometimes I wonder if she's got any depth to her at all. She's so not like any other Slytherin," Darla said. I laughed, agreeing.

"Lily's definitely no Darla Goyle," I said grinning and Darla's face lit up like Christmas. I held the portrait open for her and followed her in.

"Oh, look, my roommate plays," Darla said sarcastically laughing, but only so I could hear her. "I'll catch you later, ok? I want to make sure my hair looks good for the match."

"See you later then," I said waving her off. I watched Lily from afar for a few moments, trying to figure out a way to strike up a natural conversation. I saw my traitorous cat, Ash, in her lap as it batted at her tie. She was playing Wizarding Chess with Shale. My feet propelled me forward and I stood towering over her, at her side.

"You know, that's not your demon cat, Potter," I said smoothly executing my entrance to her circle of friends. Lily looked up at me smirking. It felt funny knowing that she didn't need to see me to know that it was me talking to her. It didn't feel bad, just funny.

"Ash is not a demon cat," Lily said Ash mewed playfully and purred. I glanced around to see that the others didn't quite feel the same as Lily did about Ash. I sat down roughly next to her, squeezing into the space that was probably too small to sit and not invade her personal space. I could feel the heat radiating off of her, her sleeves rolled up to her elbows. The scrapes had begun to heal dramatically. I saw her cheeks flush slightly, the pink hue kissed just the apples of her cheeks, and she focused more on the board than was probably warranted.

"You're losing terrible," I laughed, not so much at her than just laughed in general. I reached to make Lily's knight take Shale's queen but the knight poked me in the finger with its sword. I withdrew my finger, sucking on the tiny pin prick. "Evil bugger."

"Hmm," Lily replied noncommittally as she moved the piece and overtook Shale's queen. She glanced at me for a moment before returning to her easy gaze on Shale. I decided that maybe she was still mad at me for laughing earlier in the Great Hall at the scene between James and her, so I stood.

"Well, I guess I'd better get ready for the match," I said. I went to take Ash and the cat growled a deep, throaty growl at me. She had never done that before. "Oh, come on. You turned my cat against me?"

"I did not," Lily said as she stroked Ash.

"She's never growled at me before," I accused lightly.

"Maybe she just likes the way I smell," Lily commented. She glanced at me but I made sure that I was unreadable. The last thing I needed her to know that I agreed. She did smell good. I had caught wisps of her scent here and there, and it was faintly intoxicating. I bottled that information up deep inside and instead just looked back at her blankly. She rolled her eyes. "Come on, Ash. Go back to you Daddy. Be a good girl for Daddy."

"Baby talk?" I teased her lightly again, always trying to keep it light between us. Lily made a face as she handed the placated cat back over to me. Ash seemed reluctant to come with me and that concerned me. Lily had only fed her the one time, and now the two were all buddy-buddy. I started back towards my dormitory, my back to Lily.

"And so you know, she sought me out," Lily called to me. I glanced back and smiled at her, catching her eye.

"Sure she did," I laughed before disappearing in my dormitory to ready for the match.

The match was positively miserable. The rain stung my skin as I flew about, scoring goals. The Quaffle was slippery from the water and I nearly dropped it a few times. In the rain, when I was able to, I would steal glances at the Slytherin first years and quickly became confused who Lily was actually cheering for. She was just cheering for everyone. It would figure. Even though she was on the outs with her older brother, she would still cheer for the prick.

I hated James Potter. Always had, always would. These feelings that seemed to catch me off guard about his baby sister were what confused me most. How could I hate James so much, and care for his sister at the same time. I froze in midair, shocked by my revelation. I cared about Lily. It explained so much. I took off to continue the game. I'd have to think about that more later; I didn't have time to think about it then.

We won, naturally. I saw Lily embracing Shale and Kate firmly, the three screaming and jumping up and down. Of course we Slytherins strutted back to the castle in the rain. A victory against Gryffindor ensured that we'd have a hell of a victory party. Our parties were epic in the sense that they were the precursors to the parties that we would participate in as adults, much like the Slytherin ball. My family was one of a very select few that hosted the honored party.

My eyes searched for the first years, and I was careful to look at Darla first, smiling briefly before my eyes landed on Lily. She and the other first years were sitting off to their selves, looking rather bored with the formal victory party. Damon, Elena, and I were chatting casually and yet every once in a while, my eyes would seek Lily out, almost as if they had minds of their own. Occasionally, I'd see one or two Slytherins' heads leaning towards another, talking, and I wondered curiously what they were discussing. It always ended with a big smile, and I couldn't deny that if I had talked to Lily like that, I'd smile much the same way.

I don't recall when I noticed that all of the first year students were gone. I was glancing around, having finished holding up my end of the retelling of the game we'd all just won, and I noticed Lily wasn't anywhere. I was curious, wondering where she had gone to. After the third failed attempt to find Lily, I noticed that they were all gone.

"Where did the first year kids go?" I asked casually to Celeste. She looked around quickly, frowning.

"I have no idea," Celeste said and in that moment, I regretted drawing to attention that they were gone. Celeste marched off to find Professor Perkins and I felt the icy hand of dread tickle my insides. After all I had done to keep Lily from getting in trouble, getting her to Filch for detention on time to lying to Madame Pomphrey, I was the one who was going to ultimately get Lily brought home by her mother.

Professor Perkins looked around, glaring at the first year boys' dormitory door. He swung it open, the rest of us behind him. I looked at the group, Lily and Shale's head leaning together in what looked like a kiss, an empty butterbeer bottle on the floor between them. I couldn't have been happier interrupting that, if that was the case. I couldn't explain it.

Professor Perkins marched them out of the dormitory, the ten of them standing in two perfect rows of first year students, the boys cowardly behind the girls. Professor Perkins paced back and forth, fire flaming in his dark eyes. He was pissed!

"Disgraceful, undignified behavior, unfitting of a Slytherin, all of you," Professor Perkins said as he practically spat the words.

"Sir, we were only having some fun," Lily piped up. He turned and looked at her with fire in his eyes and I cringed for the verbal retort. Lily was a smart girl, yes, but she really didn't serve herself well to reply to him. When Professor Perkins is angry, the last thing he wants is someone to actually answer him back. He held her in his glare, the two transfixed. She refused to look away, and he wouldn't.

"I'd have you all expelled if I could, or at least given detention if it wasn't for the fact that I do NOT wanting it getting out that there was such vile behavior happening in a dormitory. It is one thing to be visiting among your selves in the dormitories, but playing such foul games, MUGGLE games. It's disgusting," Professor Perkins said as he finally broke his glare and focused it on another student.

"Wait, we're in trouble because we were playing a muggle game?" Lily asked confused. I actually groaned and wanted to tell Lily to just shut it for a bit. She wasn't helping her cause at all.

"Its indecent," Johann piped up from where she stood behind Professor Perkins.

"It's immoral," another seventh year agreed.

"Its un-Slytherin!" a third piped up. Lily laughed. I couldn't believe she was laughing at them. You could practically see Professor Perkins' blood boiling.

"It's a game," Lily said shaking her head. "It's just a game."

"One week dormitory restriction!" Professor Perkins said in a rage-shaken voice. "Largynio Incantantum!"

I knew it was going to be a long week for those kids. They'd not be able to talk unless a teacher spoke to them first, and then it was only while the teacher held the child's attention. Otherwise, the first year students couldn't talk. It was a long week for me too. On the one hand, I didn't need to keep up with pretenses of wanting to talk to Darla. I didn't have to try to pay attention when she spoke. On the other hand, I missed hearing Lily's laughter and the way she talked among her friends. It was a quiet week in the house of Slytherin.

Somehow, and I don't know if we would ever find out, the first year students found away the silence and the inability to leave their dormitories. Damon and I watched carefully but we could never quite catch them doing anything wrong. Occasionally one would stand in the doorway, yawning and stretching, but we knew that they had to be communicating some way. It was ingenious, whatever they were doing, because as far as I knew no one could quite catch on that they were actually doing anything at all.

I was surprised how constrained they were on that Saturday, walking calmly to breakfast, talking quietly among themselves, and then readying to go out while the rest of us were heading to Hogsmead. It made me anxious to talk to Darla, just to be close to Lily, to catch snippets of her conversations and hear her voice. It was like the longer I went the more the rubber band stretched until I was certain that it was going to snap. I did my best to push Lily from my mind as Damon, Celeste, Elena, and I headed to Hogsmead. For the most part, I barely wondered where a particular first year was and what she was doing.

"You going to eat that?" Damon asked as we sat in Major Mince's Sandwich Shop. I looked down at the other half of my sandwich and shook my head. The girls had abandoned us to do a bit of shopping.

"Man, it's getting cold out there, huh?" I laughed as the door swung open, blasting us with some icy air.

"Sure is," Damon said with his mouth full. "You know what'd be fun? We out to see if Celeste and Elena want to go up to the Shrieking Shack."

"Meh, I don't know. It doesn't seem very haunted to me," I said shrugging.

We sought the girls out but they declined and I found myself climbing between the barbed wire fence with Damon while the wind whipped at us. Damon and I were both pulling crisp red and gold colored leaves out of hair as we entered. The place was dirty and dusty. We walked along the abandoned hallways, wandering about. There was nothing remotely scary about the place, despite local lore. Shrugging, we headed back towards town and then the castle. Damon went off to find a book he'd needed for his Transfiguration essay and I headed up to my room to get changed.

Shale was sitting on the floor, leaning against the wall. Lily was near him, lying on her stomach on the cold stone floor. She was nearly underneath my bed. I stared at the two of them for a minute, wondering what the hell they were doing. Shale barely glanced up at me, his face somber, but he didn't speak. There was a shoe box next to Lily, on the floor between her and Shale.

"What are you doing in my room?" I asked, hoping that I didn't come off cross sounding. I wasn't cross, just surprised.

"Your cat is having kittens," Lily said in her soft, soothing voice. I peeked and could see Lily gently stroking Ash's fur with her hand.

"Kittens? Really?" I said and I know I sounded surprised. I was. I didn't know Ash was pregnant. In fact, I had thought she was fixed for some reason. Shale had already begun to retreat out of the room, not exactly comfortable with being there.

"Yes," Lily breathed as a third kitten was born. She bit her lip as Ash pushed the kitten away. "So far, none of the kittens have made it." I looked at her, her eyes welling up with tears as she laid the small kitten in the shoe box with its two siblings. She fought back a sob, her shoulders trembling under the desire to burst into tears.

"It's ok," I tried to reassure her. I hated to see her cry. I mean, I hated it when anyone cried, but normally I'd just have the desire to flee from them. Crying people made me uncomfortable, but Lily's tears made me want to wipe them away from her eyes. She beat me to it, forcing them free from her face roughly with her palms. She shook her head wordlessly and repositioned herself on the floor, soothingly stroking Ash's fur.

The concept seemed simple enough, to show one's tenderness in touch and I found my own hand reaching out for Lily. Uncertain that she'd not get upset by my touch, I lightly stroked her hair. It was soothing for me, at least, and I imagine it had to have been for Lily. Her hair was so soft, almost like a fine spun silk. Over and over, I caressed her hair and I knew that it was soothing, even without confirmation. The three of us, Lily, Ash, and I remained like that for hours.

My roommates came in only briefly to gather a few things to sleep with before retreating to the common room. None wanted to hear the painful wails of a mother cat laboring hard for her kittens. I begged Ash silently to please let at least one live so that Lily wouldn't feel like her effort had been a waste. I don't recall when Lily nodded off, but I remember looking down at her to see her eyes closed and her breathing regular. Her hand was resting on Ash. I glanced at the clock, the hour nudging close to midnight.

Then it happened. All of the wailing and whining ceased and the tiny mews of a kitten replaced them. Ash nudged Lily's hand aside as she licked and cleaned her final kitten, this time the kitten was alive and fighting to stay that way. I was ecstatic. I would have felt horrible if I had to tell Lily that the final kitten had died. I leaned close to her, readying to wake her, and I could feel her breath on my face momentarily as she slept on the cold floor of my room. At thirteen, I didn't think about the implications of letting her stay there or of lifting her into one of the empty beds.

"Lily?" I whispered in her ear. She groaned slightly and tried to ignore me. I chuckled slightly, knowing that I hated to be wakened when I sleep. "Lily, please wake up."

"Hmm?" Lily murmured sleepily.

"Ash had her final kitten, Lily," I told her quietly. "Just a few minutes ago; it looks like its ok."

Lily looked at the mother and baby, the tiny baby rooting around for its first feeding. Lily smiled, sleepily, but still with great pride. I leaned forward to look with her, our cheeks practically pressed up against each other. She blushed and I could feel the heat burn in her cheeks. She shifted slight and I backed up enough so that she could sit. She looked tired, but greatly relieved and I was happy to see the smile lingering on her lips. I glanced down at her arm to see that Ash had raked extended claws across Lily's forearm. I touched it slightly and she trembled. I looked at her curiously, but said nothing about her reaction to my touch.

"You should get this checked out," I said quietly as my fingers remained on her flesh. Lily blushed and pulled her arm away.

"I'm fine," Lily said. "I'm just glad Ash is ok. Have you thought about what you're going to name the kitten?"

"I was thinking Ash Two," I said dismissively. Lily shook her head, giving me a contemptuous look.

"The poor thing; can't you come up with something more fitting for the blessed beast?" Lily asked. I grinned at her.

"What would you name it if it was yours?" I challenged. Lily yawned slightly as she stood. I followed suit, standing.

"I'd name it something spectacular, fitting," Lily said as she walked to the door. She glanced out to the common room where the other four inhabitants of my dormitory slept.

"Like?" I asked as I stood unnaturally close to her. I could feel the heat that radiated off of her, like she was the sun and I wondered if a person could spontaneously combust. Her cheeks took on a rosy hue as she blushed.

"Like Amaia," Lily said.

"Why Amaia?" I asked curious. I had never heard that name before.

"It's pretty, starts with an "A" like Ash, and it is the Basque meaning for 'end', which is fitting," Lily said quietly. I smiled at her, unable to really come up with an appropriate response to her words. Corny as it sounded, when she spoke even the most simple things, it really was like poetry. I was awed.

"Thanks for sitting with Ash through her kittens, I think you really calmed her down a lot," I said quietly. She bit her bottom lip slightly.

"I only wished I could have done more," Lily said. She glanced at the small box on the trunk and her eyes welled up with tears. I smiled at her reassuringly and wrapped my arms around her, catching us both off guard. I had no idea what compelled me to hug her.

"You did more for her than I could have, thank you, Lily," I said honestly. I finally released her from the hug and Lily uncertainly walked away. She glanced back at me, almost shyly.

"Good night Scorpius," Lily said. I smiled at her.

"Good night, Lily," I replied.

I closed the door behind me and headed to my bed, glancing under at Ash and the baby. I smiled at them, touching them both with my fingers before I glanced at the shoe box. I wondered how hard it must have been for Lily to watch them be born and die in the same moment. I glanced at my bed to see Lily's belonging on it. I moved them all to the top of the trunk, my hand holding on to her scarf for a moment. I stripped off my clothes and climbed into bed, sleepy. I fell asleep immediately, my face pressed against the scarf that lingered with scent of Lily on its ever fiber.

That was the first night I dreamt about Lily Potter.