Lily Potter and the Potions Professor
Chapter 2: Ron's Daughter
"What d'you think of the new potions teacher?" Lily asked her cousin Rose as they sat together, eating their lunch, at Gryffindor table.
"It's Malfoy," said Rose disgustedly and left it at that.
"Yeah," said Lily half-heartedly, she had not been able to stop thinking about the look they had shared and what it meant. Her eyes passed over her barely touched meal and came to rest on the staff table at the front of the hall. She scanned the teachers sitting at their usual spots and noticed that the seat usually occupied by the Potions Professor was empty, she felt slightly disappointed.
"He's not at the staff table," she said aloud.
"Who?" asked Rose as she looked up. "Oh, Malfoy, you're not still on about him, are you?"
"I was just curious as to why he's not eating with the rest of the teachers," said Lily, finally pulling her gaze from his empty seat.
"Probably because he's not welcome," said Rose. "Who'd want to eat with him?"
Lily frowned at this comment but did not reply. She knew that Rose felt a certain amount of contempt for the Malfoy family, no doubt inherited from her father. Lily, on the other hand, knew that her parents did not necessarily like the Malfoys but they had forgiven them to a certain extent and she, herself, did not really like or dislike them. Actually up until today she had never given them much thought.
"Scorpius' mother died, didn't she?" Lily asked Rose, unable to help herself.
"Yeah," said Rose softening her tone for the first time. "A couple of years ago."
"Maybe Professor Malfoy is still sad about that," suggested Lily.
"How would I know?" replied Rose. "Sorry, Lily, but to tell you the truth I don't really care either. The Malfoy's caused enough trouble in the past..."
"That they deserve it?" finished Lily angrily.
"Well, yeah, maybe they do," Rose shot back defensively.
"How can you think like that Rose?" Lily asked, tears welling in her eyes. "Don't you remember that my grandparents died when Dad was only a baby, don't you remember how much that affected him? What about Teddy? His parents died when he was a baby too. It's not easy for anyone. Maybe it was even harder for Scorpius because he knew his mother."
"Lily, I..." Rose was lost for words. She had really put her foot in it this time, another trait she had inherited from her father.
Lily gave her cousin one last contemptuous look before snatching up her bag, scooping up her pet toad, and storming out of the hall.
She slowed down as she made it to the entrance hall. She didn't even know why she'd gotten so angry or why she was suddenly concerned about Scorpius' grief over his mother. She didn't know what had caused her outburst and it worried her.