The Return
A/N: I told you guys I would post another chapter soon!
I turned around to see my father's smile beaming down at me.
"I don't consider it a sexual pun," I replied, almost too excited to feign innocence.
"Well too bad because I do," he whispered into my hair as he squeezed me tightly. I thought he would never let me go, but when he finally did, his expression had changed. Sadness had crept into his eyes. "I'm sorry that this mission took so long."
"So let me get this straight. You're apologizing for saving the world?" I said, barely holding back my laughter.
"Not the whole world, just a part of it," he answered with a smirk.
"Welcome back Harry. Come on kids, we need to get going," I heard my mom say from the kitchen. That's when I remembered the tension between my parents from before my dad left. I thought the relief that she would feel when she saw him back home, safe and sound, would have erased any anger she still had against him. I guess I was wrong.
"But mom, it's still early and I haven't eaten breakfast," I whined.
"Lily you still need to get dressed and we have to pick up your cousins on the way to the train station."
"What about breakfast?" I asked, still trying to prolong the time I had with my dad.
"You can eat breakfast at your cousins'," she replied with a definitive tone in her voice.
I grabbed another piece of bacon and stomped up the stairs. When I got to my bedroom, it took all the strength I had, to not yell out. I flopped onto my bed and stared at the ceiling for awhile. I thought about the first time that I had noticed this tension between them. It had been around mid-summer. We were all eating dinner and dad announced that he would be leaving for another mission soon.
"Isn't that cutting it kind of close dad?" Albus asked.
"Your father seems to think that this mission is too important to postpone or to give to another auror," said mom, before dad could even open his mouth.
"It's not that simple there are a lot of factors to consider here," said dad as he tried to defend himself.
"Did you consider that you were barely here the entire summer?" I interjected.
"That's not exactly a top priority right now sweet heart."
"Not a top priority!?" mom exclaimed from across the table. "Excuse me, I lost my appetite." She picked up her dish, stood up and walked away.
The next morning when I woke up I saw my dad sleeping on the couch.
A yell from downstairs yanked me from my thoughts. It was my mom telling me to hurry up. I brushed out my hair, pulled a flannel over my tank top and took a quick glance around my room for any forgotten items. When I was certain that I had packed everything, I walked downstairs with my trunk.
"Hey Lily, before you leave I have a surprise for you," shouted my dad from the living room. "Do you remember when we talked about getting you a pet this year? I said that we could go choose one the week before school starts. I know you're disappointed that we couldn't go, but I found this cutie on my mission," he said whilst lifting up his invisibility cloak. Underneath the cloak was a carrier. "Go ahead, take a look."
I peeked inside and I saw a white, fluffy kitten. "Merlin! Dad, she's adorable! Thank you so much!" I screeched whilst giving my dad a tight hug. "Can I take her out now?"
"I would keep her in there for now. Trust me; it was difficult getting her in."
"What's all the screaming about?" mom asked, entering the living room.
"Dad got me a kitten mom!"
"You don't have a problem with her getting a cat right?" dad asked timidly.
"Oh so you want my permission now? After you already made the decision?"
"Aren't we going to be late mom?" I asked, trying to break the tension.
"Just take the cat and get in the car Lily." mom ordered.
I picked up the carrier and said goodbye to my dad. I could still hear the two of them arguing even after I closed the front door. I thought mom was just angry about the mission, but this has nothing to do with it. I guess if I thought about it mom and dad have been at each other's throats a lot more recently. They fight about James' future, Uncle Ron, basically anything and everything. I hoped they'd fix things whilst we were at Hogwarts and they had the house to themselves. I hopped into the vehicle, happy that I got a window seat. After a few minutes, mom finally left the house and came into the car. Everyone was silent on the way to my cousins'.
When we got to Uncle Ron and Aunt Hermione's, Al and James ran up to Hugo's room to "help him pack", mom and Aunt Hermione sat in the living room and talked and Rose and I ate cereal in the dining room.
"Excited for fourth year?" Rose asked.
"Not really. I doubt anything is going to change."
"It's Hogwarts, anything can happen."
"You sound like a love struck teenager in a coming of age movie."
"I'm not love struck! I don't even like anyone," she replied defensively.
"Rose I think it's my duty as not only your cousin, but your friend to tell you that everyone knows."
"Knows what?" she asked in panicked tone.
There was no need for words, especially with her mom in the next room, so I replied with a raised eyebrow.
"Am I really that obvious?" she asked with a pleading look.
"Yes, no doubt about it. Don't worry. Like you said, 'anything can happen.'" I replied. Did I think it was true? No. Did I think that she needed to hear it? Definitely.
"Are you girls ready to leave?" Aunt Hermione asked.
"Yup, I just need to grab my trunk from my room," Rose replied.
"Well, go get it now because we're leaving in five minutes, with or without you."
Rose went to grab her trunk and we were out of the house in two minutes. The drive to the train station was a lot noisier than the drive to the house. Rose kept going on and on about this new book on muggles that she found. I just looked out the window and I muttered a "mhm" at the appropriate times. By the time we got to King's Cross Station, we barely had half hour before the train left for Hogwarts.
When we finally got to platform 9 and ¾, there were only 15 minutes left. Just enough time to say goodbye and get on the train. I turned to say goodbye to my mom and she already had tears in her eyes.
"You really should be used to this by now mom," I whispered to her as I gave her hug.
"Take care of yourself Lil."
"You don't have to worry about me mom. It's the rest of this lot that you have to worry about." I picked up my trunk and the carrier off of the ground and walked towards the train. When I got inside, it took a while before I found a compartment that was empty. Before I did, I spotted Scorpius in a compartment with his friends. He happened to be looking in my direction, so I smiled at him. He didn't return the favor, but I told myself that it was probably because he didn't see me.
Anyway, when I found an empty compartment, I sat as close to the window as possible. Although it started of empty, my compartment quickly filled with people. Albus, Rose and Alice sat across from me. After the prefect meeting, Al returned with James, Rose and Lysander. Lysander started to talk about his trip to Japan over the summer. He listed some of the rare flowers and animals that he saw. I sort of tuned out after he started talking about the third island he went to. I started thinking about Scorpius. I wondered if his other friends were aware of his mental problems. I thought about Scorpius having to keep the secret from all his friends. I wondered if they would still accept him as a friend if they knew. Midway through the trip, when everyone had settled down I decided to go look for the candy cart.
"I'm going on a candy run, anyone want anything?" I asked before leaving.
"Everyone muttered a "no" so I opened the door and walked out. After about a minute, I saw the cart ahead. There was a pretty long line, but I was determined to get some chocolate frogs, so I decided to wait.
"Lily is that you?" a familiar voice asked from behind me.
"Oliver?" I asked as I turned around.
"Lily!" he yelled as he scooped me up into a bear hug. "I missed you so much."
Oliver was a fellow Gryffindor that I met in my first year. He basically became my best friend during my first month at Hogwarts and has been ever since.
"How was France Olly?"
"It would've been better if you were there," he replied with that unforgettably, warm smile.
The two of us caught up whilst waiting in line for our candy.
"Hey who are you sitting with?"
"Oh, just my family (I consider Alice and Lysander my family since we grew up together)," I replied.
"You should come and sit with Clara and me in our compartment. I have exploding snaaaap."
"I don't know."
"Come on! I haven't seen you all summer. Plus I'll buy you candy."
"Fine, I'm sold!" I replied with a laugh.
Oliver and I bought candy and walked back to his compartment. When I entered I was greeted by multiple familiar faces. There was Lorcan Scamander, Lysander's twin brother, a fellow Gryffindor and the best beater the team has seen in ages. Next to him was Clara Longbottom, Alice's younger sister, one of my best friends and probably the funniest person I've ever met. Rebecca Thomas and Charles Wood sat across from each other, next to the window. Rebecca was a Hufflepuff, but our dad's knew each other, so we were friends. Charles was sixth year Gryffindor and our team captain. The two of them had been "in love" for the past two years. Everyone thought they were the perfect couple, but I highly doubted that they would last another year.
"Look who I found waiting in line for candy," Olly said from behind me.
"Lily come sit beside me!" Clara screamed from my left.
So I sat down between Clara and Charles.
"So Lily how's that steaming hot cousin of yours?" she asked.
She was talking about Fred. I still don't know if she really thought he was hot or just enjoyed making me feel uncomfortable.
"Give the girl a break Clara. She just got here and you're already making her want to leave," Rebecca yelled.
"Rebecca, my knight in shining armour, how was your summer?" I asked.
"It was fun! Charlie's parents invited me on their trip to Spain, so I spent most of the break getting lost with this idiot," she replied, pointing to her boyfriend.
"Hey I'm not the one who forgot the map at the hotel!" Charles said, defensively.
This banter continued for awhile. I must admit, I had more fun in that compartment than I probably would have had with my family. When we were close to Hogwarts, I left to change into the uniform. Before walking away from the compartment, I looked through the glass, at my friends. They all looked so happy, so carefree. "With all these great friends, what could go wrong this year," I thought.
A/N: I'm not going to lie, writing that chapter felt like torture. I hate having to do these fill in chapters where barely anything happens. So I hope you guys had more fun reading it than I did writing it. There'll be some interesting chapters ahead, I promis1 Trust me, this is just the beginning.