Chapter 2
Lily Luna sat at the table silently, glaring at her plate, not tasting anything she was putting into her mouth. Her father, however, was very involved with his neighbor. As far as she could remember, this had to be the worst Christmas she ever had. How could he just show up at her door, assuming? It was outrageous. Lily knew that eventually this would boil down, one way or another. The only two questions, despite the fact that there were only two, were terrifying. The first question was how it would boil down. Would it be in favor, or not? The other question, the most agonizing of the two, was how long would it take to reach that answer.
If it hadn't been for her mother thinking fast and taking control over from her husband, Harry, Lily would be in her room, with no dinner.
'It could have gone worse... At least I'm still alive...' That's the only joy that Scorpius had that whole week. He was being grilled at all hours of the day, and when he wasn't being grilled he was working on schoolwork just to look busy. He hadn't had a single minute to himself the whole time, and even if he had, Lily was grounded and restrained to the upper floor of the house except for mealtimes. Normally he would consider the whole thing a success, except that Lily was so upset. Christmas dinner was the hardest night so far. The food was not as good as that made by the Malfoy's house elves, he had received no presents (although he suspected that Lily had something for him), and now Lily's dad was grilling him about school, home, friends, and everything else he could think of. It was going to be a long winter holiday
If only he had kept his mouth shut for a little while longer... What had he said to them to make them throw him out and file for disowning? She had been asking herself the same question for the entire week, and probably would be asking it for the next 2 while the holidays withered on. When she had asked her parents, she got the exact response she's expected. The car stopped, her mother whipped around, begging her daughter pardon, and her dad stared straight ahead, with white knuckles on the steering wheel. Albus choked on his butterbeer he had stolen from the kitchen, because he was laughing so hard. Now, on Christmas, Albus was in disbelief that Lily hadn't been kidding. The day before, when their cousins came for Christmas eve, Hugo blurted out a loud "I KNEW something was up with you two!" That scared the family cat into the attic for the remainder of the day.
When that night had been over, Lily's Uncle Ron left, never uttering a single word to Scorpius the entire day. Her Aunt Hermione, however had been chatting pleasantly with him for the whole afternoon. Since they both were the Head Students of their classes, (even though she had completed her seventh year a year late, likewise with her husband Ron, and Lily's father Harry) they had very interesting, complicated discussions. But now, on Christmas itself, Scorpius had no salvation from the scrutiny of Harry Potter. Lily pitied Scorpius.
The end of the meal could not come sooner. He hadn't thought to Apparate during the night to see Lily, and while her father was talking to him about who knows what, Scorpius devised a plan. Usign the wand he had not-so-expertly hidden in his sleeve, Scorpius blindly charmed a quill to wrote a note to Lily under the table, explaining his plan. When he was done with it, he slyly guided the note into her room, not moving his face from the direction of her father. It was set.
As the time came closer, Lily grew nervous. Would this work? Did her parents suspect something when she had let out a yelp of excitement upon reading the note? There were so many things that could to wrong, and even more things that needed to go right. Before she knew it, it was 11:44 at night. One more minute before she could finally talk to Scorpius. She began to pace, from the door all the way to the desk at the window, and back. She paused as she was on the way back from the window. She began to admire her broomstick, the prized broom that helped to bring the Quidditch Cup to the Gryffindors the year before. Before she could think about her favorite pastime, being a Chaser, she heard a big pop behind her. Finally, for the first time all holiday, she smiled.