Chapter Two

UPCOMING QUIDDITCH TRYOUTS

By Lukas Mortensen and Louis Weasley

Are you a second year or older looking for a fun and competitive way to spend your time out of class? Are you a proud broom owner looking to show off your skills? Well, you're in luck because Quidditch tryouts start next week!

Anyone interested in tryouts should report to the Quidditch field before dinner on the respective dates:

Gryffindor Tryouts: Monday

Hufflepuff Tryouts: Tuesday

Slytherin Tryouts: Wednesday

Ravenclaw Tryouts: Thursday

If you want to try out and need to use a school broom, let Madam Hooch know as soon as possible. Anyone with any questions about tryouts and available positions should ask their respective team captains: Albus Potter (G), Joshua Hopkins (R), Scorpius Malfoy (S), or Cordelia Murphy (H).

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Lukas Mortensen was one of the few Slytherins to take Muggle Studies. He had reluctantly decided to take the class with his close friend and fellow Slytherin, Spencer McNamara. They had met as first years on the Hogwarts Express and had been squeezed into the same compartment by Lily Potter, Hugo Granger-Weasley, and Molly Weasley. Ever since then, the five of them had remained closed. It was also part of the reason he agreed to write for Hogwarts Weekly during his fourth year (that and Lily was so damn persistent).

They had left breakfast far too early today, and they were left alone with a handful of Hufflepuffs.

He glanced over Spencer who sat to the right of him. Spencer's back was too him, and he was talking to a Hufflepuff about Quidditch tryouts. The conversation was rather animated but still lighthearted judging from the Spencer hand motions and the Hufflepuff boy's smile.

Muggle Studies wasn't always this way. When he and Spencer along with a couple other Slytherins began taking the class, there wasn't a whole lot of interaction between them and the Hufflepuffs. It wasn't until the start of fourth year when Spencer began talking to a couple Hufflepuffs that tensions began to melt.

Spencer turned around suddenly, his warm grey eyes still bright. The Hufflepuff boy next to him leaned a bit forward in his seat to look at him too.

"Lukas, what do you have to say about Cordelia Murphy?" Spencer asked, the sides of his mouth tugging up slightly.

He thought for a moment about the question. He had played Quidditch since second year, and he had gotten to know a lot of the other houses' players as well. He had had the pleasure of meeting Cordelia after a match third year. The Hufflepuff chaser had been a bit bitter after losing a close game to Slytherin, and her handshake after the game had been particularly firm.

"Cordelia is a piece of work," he finally said. "She's a bloody good chaser, no doubt about it. But she's also super intense about Quidditch and is amazingly competitive."

"She's also not too bad on the eyes," Spencer added elbowing him slightly much to the amusement of the Hufflepuff boy.

Lukas gave a forced smile to his friend. He always felt slightly uncomfortable whenever Spencer talked about girls or guys in a sexual manner. Spencer was so confident about his sexuality, and it was a known fact that he didn't have any qualms about dating anyone he found attractive male or female, wizard, muggle, or otherwise.

Lukas wished he could be that comfortable.

"Come off it, Spence," the Hufflepuff boy said his eyes trained on him rather than Spencer.

"Of course, Martin," Spencer replied rolling his eyes. "But what my friend forgot to mention was that Cordy packs a hell of a punch."

Lukas burst out laughing.

"He's only saying that because he was hitting on Cordelia once, and she punched in the face for it," he said between laughs. "He totally deserved it by the way."

"I don't doubt that," Martin said dryly, ignoring Spencer's indignant cry. "I wouldn't put it past him to do something so daft."

Martin ran his hand through his hair and let out a sigh. "Getting on the team is going to be a lot harder than I thought it was going to be."

"What position are you going for?" Lukas asked a bit interested in what the Hufflepuff might be good at.

"I'm hoping to be a Keeper since ours graduated last year, but I'll take any position that opened up."

Lukas nodded. He understood the challenges of trying to maintain a position on a Quidditch team. In fact, when he first tried out for Slytherin, he told the captain he would play any position as long as he was on the team.

It was then that he was made a Beater, and since then he worked his arse off not to be overshadowed by his fellow Beater and upperclassmen Vanessa Galloway.

"I could give you a few pointers on being a Beater if you'd like," he said.

Relief flooded Martin's face at those words. "Would you? I've played Beater once, and I was awful."

He gave an easy smile.

"It's not a problem. And I'm sure Spencer would be happy to help too."

The said boy sunk down onto his desk and groaned.

"Screw you Mortensen," he muttered. "You know I'm terrible at playing Beater."

Lukas smiled and was about to respond when a rush of students, mostly Hufflepuffs, entered the room. Behind the flood came Professor Boardman, her dark hair was pulled up into a tight pony tail, and as usual she discarded her wizarding cloak in favor of wearing Muggle clothing.

Spencer gave him a look that clearly said that the conversation was far from over, and they both turned to face the front of the room.

"Alright then," Professor Boardman announced catching everyone's attention. "Let's get started shall we? We've got a lot of ground to cover this year. So please open your textbooks to page one hundred fifty-one, and let's begin today examining Muggles' transportation."

He sighed as he pulled out his textbook. Something in him told him that this discussion wouldn't be nearly as interesting as talking with Spencer and Martin about Quidditch

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Lily was altogether pleased with how the first edition of Hogwarts Weekly for the year had turned out. She had received positive reviews about the first gossip pieces and house new pieces that the team had churned out as soon as they arrived on campus.

She had missed the controlled chaos that came with running the newspaper with her friends, and she wished that she had spent more time coming up with new ideas for it over the summer holiday. Instead, during the holiday, she was bombarded with tense arguments between her dad and James, not that they would call it arguments- they would prefer the term disagreements.

She wasn't quite sure what James and her dad were at each other's throats about, and when she asked her mum she had gotten a vague response.

"Your dad's just a little worried about your brother's future," mum said her green eyes looking a little distant. They always looked that way when she was in deep thought.

"Should we be worried?" she asked genuinely wondering if they should in fact worry about James.

"I don't know sweetheart."

Lily was a bit worried about James. James could be bullheaded and impulsive, but he had mellowed out a bit in his last year at Hogwarts and after graduation. He had seemed a lot more mature and sure of himself. Or he had seemed that way when he moved out of the house and told everyone that he was going to start Auror training in London, much to their dad's elation.

Lately, whenever James visited home he was a bit quieter and withdrawn than normal, and he was rather reluctant to say what how he was doing in London. It was only when dad commented that he hadn't James at any Auror training sessions that she and the rest of the family were told by James that he had given up on being an Auror and was working in a café.

He had lost the Ministry provided flat, and for a moment mum and dad worried that he was homeless. Those fears were quashed however when he told their worried parents that he was living with his girlfriend.

She and Albus began to tease him about his girlfriend while their parents badgered him with questions. It had been all pretty lighthearted even with the fact the James had pretty much given up his chance with his so-called 'dream job'. It wasn't until much later when James pulled her and Albus aside and swore them to secrecy that things were flipped on its head.

James's girlfriend was a Muggle. Her name was Christine Anantasu.

He showed them a photo of her and explained that he met her by chance one afternoon at the café he now worked at. Accordingly, she had seen beyond James's attempts at pretending to a Muggle and later followed him. She almost caught him using magic, almost.

Christine asked him on a date, and their relationship went from there. They had been dating basically ever since he moved to London, and they were both so happy.

James begged her and Albus not to tell their parents that he wasn't planning on pursuing a magically career and that his job at the café was not a temporary fling, and that his girlfriend wasn't a witch. He would tell them everything on his own time.

Albus was quicker to promise than she was. She had no problem with James's not being an Auror and dating a Muggle; however she had a problem with him keeping so many secrets.

Secrets always come out in the end.

James and Albus had to plead with her for a bit longer, besides it was James's life. She had no control in what he should or shouldn't do.

Her brother was in the forefront of her mind at the moment because of a letter she had received from him at breakfast.

The letter read:

Lily,

I hope you and Albus are having a good start of term. I miss Hogwarts so much and would give anything to go back and enjoy the start of term feast, Quidditch matches, Hogsmeade visits, and the Yule Ball. Enjoy your time back, and try not to get into too much trouble. Mum and Dad can only handle one problem child at time, you know!

Anyways, I thought you should know, and you can tell Albus too, that I'm going to tell Mum and Dad the truth. Right now they think that I'm working at a shop at Diagon Alley, and that Christine works somewhere there too. They're in for a bit of a nasty shock.

I just wanted to tell you this before I tell them because I'm afraid they might take it badly. They probably won't be too upset about the fact that I am dating a Muggle, but they probably won't be too pleased that I lied about everything that I've done in London.

I love you and Albus very much, and whatever happens I want you both to remember that.

Yours truly,

James

PS: Tell Uncle Neville I say hi!

The words of his letter had stayed with her throughout all of History of Magic and Arithmancy and even now at lunch. Albus told her not to dwell too on the subject and that everything would be fine, but he always said that even when things were clearly not going to be fine.

"Are you okay, Lils?" Molly asked from across the table. The fellow red head was staring at her with deep concern in her eyes. She reminded her of Uncle Percy whenever she got that way. "You look stressed, which would be a little weird considering we just got back to school."

"I'm fine really, Molly," she said putting a smile on her face and lifting up a fork to make it seem like she was about to take a bite of food. "I'm just thinking about the newspaper. That's all."

"Right," Molly hummed mostly to herself, almost like she didn't believe her. "Anyways, how have you been? You barely wrote to me this summer, and you decided not to come with Lucy and me to France even after my dad said it was okay."

She bit her lip and picked at her food. She had been elated when Molly invited her to come to France to visit Victoire and Teddy who were spending a bit of time in Paris with Victoire's grandparents. She had always wanted to visit Paris, and she adored Victoire and Teddy. The timing though was not ideal. Her parents were busy fretting over James, and she didn't want to have them worry about their other child spending with the summer with a pair of twenty somethings and a teenager in Paris.

So, she didn't ask her parents about going to France.

"Things were a bit busy at home," Lily said. "But I loved the photos and postcards you sent me. They were lovely. And Victoire and Teddy look positively radiant. Are you sure Teddy hasn't proposed to her yet?"

Molly rolled her eyes. She had spent years listening to her prattle about her love for both Teddy and Victoire, and she was well aware that Teddy was very close to the Potter and Weasley families. In addition, it was common knowledge that Lily had asked Teddy when he would propose to Victoire and become an official part of the family.

"You're awful," Molly laughed. "You know Teddy gets a tad uncomfortable whenever you mention the words marriage or proposal. Besides, you're not the only one hoping that Teddy wants to tie the knot. You know how Victoire is when it comes for family and commitment."

They both laughed at the thought of Teddy freaking out whenever Victoire talked about family and commitment.

"Speaking of family, I was actually thinking about James earlier," Lily admitted finally.

Molly raised a brow. "James? Why? Is Auror training a bit too much for him?"

"I wish it were that," Lily sighed, pausing to make sure no one else was listening. "But you have to promise me that you won't tell anyone what I'm about to tell you."

"Yes, of course," Molly breathed.

Lily bit her lip. "James isn't in Auror training." Molly gave a slightly alarmed look, but she plowed on. "He's still in London, and he's working in a Muggle café. He also has a girlfriend…and she's a Muggle."

"What?" Molly exclaimed attracting the attention of students and teachers in the Great Hall.

She clamped a hand over Molly's mouth. Molly's blue eyes were wide, and she could practically feel her cousin vibrating.

"Mols, you've got to calm down,"Lily

Molly removed Lily's hand from her mouth. Her cousin was still wide eyed and shocked at the news.

"Merlin's beard, Lily!" Molly exclaimed, albeit a bit quieter than her previous outburst. "How are your parents taking the news?

Lily wrung her hands and sighed.

"James hasn't told them," she admitted. She watched as Molly' eyes impossible became wider. "I don't think they'll have a problem with him dating a muggle. They've always been rather tolerant, and they love James, Albus, and me to be hungover who we love."

Molly relaxed a bit. "So what's the big deal?"

"My parents will have a problem with James lying to them for last few months," she said. "They've always been honest with us and expect the same in return. I wouldn't be surprised is James and Dad have another row."

Molly looked a bit uncomfortable at the mention of a row between James and Lily's dad.

"Well, I hope that things work out between them," Molly said. "Whenever Dad and I get in a row, sometimes it helps to take some space. Let things cool down, you know?"

She nodded in agreement. Dad and James tended to do that anyways. She just really hoped that tensions didn't escalate too much before James and Dad parted ways.

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James Potter was positive he was the luckiest man alive. He had a beautiful girlfriend, lived in a decent apartment, and had a steady paycheck coming in from work. But as he packed his bag for a weekend home with his parents, he felt like he was packing for his funeral.

"James, you've been at it all morning. How are you not done yet?" Christine, his lovely and amazing girlfriend, asked as she walked into their room smiling.

He had no idea why out of all the guys in London she chose him. She had beautiful warm mocha brown skin and dark brown hair that had lightened from her many weekends spent outside. Her chocolate colored eyes sparkled whenever she smiled, which she happened to do a lot when she was with him.

She plopped on to their bed where he had laid out some jeans and shirts that he planned on bringing with him. Her long hair was spread out across the bed, and she was wrinkling not his shirts but the University of London shirt she was wearing.

"Chris," he pretend to moan as he tried to pull her off the bed. He wasn't surprised when she pulled down beside her instead.

"James, you've got to relax," Christine said as she turned her body to face him. "You've told me a billion times how much your parents love you. Surely they'll understand.

"Yeah," he murmured.

He wished it were that simple, though. He hadn't technically told Christine that he was a wizard; however he was certain she had suspicions with all the dishes and laundry that were washed without anyone having done them.

He was technically breaking the Statue of Secrecy by being with her, not that he cared really. The Ministry of Magic could go to hell for all he cared. (If his Aunt Hermione were to hear that, he was sure to get a mouthful.)

Christine was sitting up now.

"I can help you pack if you'd like," she offered. "I love packing, plus you've got work later tonight."

"That would be nice," he replied as he sat up. "That would be really nice."

He watched as she began to refold the shirts they laid on. She was so so good to him. How had he ever gotten so lucky?

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CHOIR AUDITIONS COMING SOON

By Spencer McNamara

Attention all singers! Professor Slughorn's assistant Mitchell DeMarco has offered to revive a longstanding Hogwarts tradition: the frog choir. With that said, Mr. DeMarco wants to diversify the group and open it to those who don't want to work with frogs.

"I want to make the group a safe space for all witches and wizards to express themselves," DeMarco told me. "And some people use frogs to do that, and some don't. That's okay."

DeMarco is excited to bring back this group which declined after the retirement of Professor Flitwick, former head of Ravenclaw house and charms teacher.

He is holding auditions in two weeks time. So bring your best song and clear voices. Best of luck to all those auditioning!

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AN: Wow, looks like I'm back guys! Sorry about the super long hiatus. I got sidetracked with school and kind of forgot about fanfiction. I'll do my best to take good care of this story!

I also apologize for any grammatical errors that may be in this chapter. I finished writing this at one thirty in the morning and had no will to read over it again.