Chapter Twenty Three

A/N: Thank you to DistrictHufflepuff, Guest, lilylunapotter and ClaireBear1982 for reviewing.

Lily sat at the back of her Charms classroom, biting the end of her quill. Though Charms was a subject she usually enjoyed, she found that she could not concentrate on what the professor was saying. She was too busy thinking. Having spent the majority of the last two weeks alone, thinking was something that she had become accustomed to doing a lot of, so much so that she could not stop herself even in lessons.

To her right, Caitlyn was half-heartedly making notes. Caitlyn did not have much of an aptitude for Charms and had always relied on Lily's help in mastering the wand movements and incantations, repaying the favour by assisting Lily in Potions. She had heard that her namesake grandmother, Lily Evans, had had a great skill in Potions, but unfortunately, it had not been passed down to her, for she remained entirely inept at the subject.

However, even knowing that her friend was relying on her concentration, Lily could not stop herself from glancing out of the window onto the yard. There was a group of third years practicing on their brooms, most likely to get in shape ahead of the upcoming Quidditch trials. Among them was Scorpius, his silver hair standing out distinctly against the deep blue of the winter morning sky. No matter how much she tried, Lily seemed unable to look away.

"What are you staring at?" Caitlyn asked in a whisper, clearly amused at her friend's distraction. Lily was not the type to ignore teachers, after all, and usually hung on their every word to ensure that she grasped the subject.

"My brother's practicing for the Quidditch try-outs with his friends." Lily responded, knowing that she was only able to lie successfully if her statement was based in truth. It was not a lie that Albus was practicing with his friends, despite the fact that he had little aptitude for the sport- only that she was not observing her brother, but rather his best friend.

However much technique was behind the falsehood, Lily could not get around the fact that Caitlyn knew her well.

"Are you sure it's Albus you're watching?" Caitlyn suggested, raising her eyebrows disbelievingly. "Not Scorpius?"

Sometimes, Lily found it infuriating how perceptive her best friend could be. When she had been growing up, her mother and father aside, no one had ever paid enough attention to her to gauge her moods so effectively. Often recently, she had wished for those times again; life had been so much easier to handle.

"You're not denying it." Caitlyn pointed out smugly, a child-like glee in her voice. Her smirk lit up half her face. "You like him, don't you? You really like him?"

"I don't know." Lily answered honestly. She realised just a moment later that this was the wrong answer, as Caitlyn's smile somehow intensified.

"That means yes." the girl commented, in a sing-song voice just a little too loud. The two rows of students in front of them turned to face her, as did the professor, though he gave no admonishment other than raising his eyebrows. Lily was sure her face was only two shades lighter than her flaming hair by now.

"Caitlyn, we're twelve years old." the girl snapped, trying to keep her voice down, for the sake of not fuelling the spectators' show that had been made of the Charms lesson. "We're not old enough to know anything about love, just stupid little crushes that'll be forgotten in a week, when we see someone else we fancy. That's how these things always work."

Even as she spoke the words, Lily knew that they were not strictly true. Her own parents were an example of this. Ginny had been in love with Harry Potter since a very young age; by twelve, she was already certain that he was the one for her. But it was not until their sixth year that he reciprocated her feelings, and even before that, she had been mainly in love with the idea of The Boy Who Lived, not with the person himself, who she did not know. 'That could count, couldn't it?' she wondered. She hoped so, at least.

When Lily returned her gaze to her friend, she saw that Caitlyn was seemingly engrossed in writing notes. Lily sighed; she had never argued with Caitlyn before, she had never had reason to. It was not a feeling she enjoyed or ever wanted to repeat. 'Once we're friends again,' she thought. 'I'll make sure we never argue.'

For a girl who had been so quiet when they had first met, Caitlyn had no trouble in reverting back to type. She could hold a grudge in silence easily for a week or more, which Lily only knew from watching her behaviour towards others who annoyed her. 'Maybe it'll be easier with me.' she hoped. Already, she had begun to miss Caitlyn's friendship, even though it had been just a few minutes ago when she had been teasing her.

Caitlyn was stubborn; she would not consider speaking to Lily again for a day at least and so the girl did not even try to make amends, knowing that her efforts would be rejected. Instead, she returned her attentions to the Quidditch match ongoing outside the window.

As she watched the boys laughing as they flew around each other, Lily tried to convince herself that she was right. It only made sense, after all; childhood crushes were exhausted within weeks, that was the way it always worked. Unbidden, the image of her parents swam before her eyes, but the redhead pushed it back. 'They're different.' she told herself. 'This isn't the same.'

An enormous cheer erupted from the boys as Albus hurled the Quaffle between their makeshift goal posts. As it sailed past the goalkeeper, Lily felt her heart soar with pride at her brother's achievement... but despite herself, she could not help but watch the boy with silver hair.

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