Merdarkandtwisty: Lily is quite like Ginny and Lily (Evans) Potter. And I'm glad you enjoyed her fight with Scorpius.

Katastropheee: Thank you very much and welcome to my story. :]

Author's Notes: Here's chapter five! Sorry for the wait. It took me a bit to write, and then my beta never got back to me due to a family problem. So please excuse any grammatical mistakes – grammar never was my thing… I tend to be comma happy.

Chapter Five: The Vampire and his Cat

It was the middle of October and the first Quidditch match of the season. It was a chilly day, a sign for a very cold, long winter ahead. Lily attended the game with her friends; James and Albus were forced to go with the team in order to scope out the other teams strengths and weaknesses. Slytherin was the predicted winner, much to Gryffindor's chagrin.

All the first years sat together in the stands, their red and gold scarves wrapped tightly around their necks. Lily drew her cloak around her closer, rubbing her hands together, cursing herself for not bring gloves.

"Here." A pair of red gloves were handed to her. Lily looked to her left at Lorcan, who wasn't looking at her but staring determinedly at the field, handing her his gloves.

"But what about you?"

"I'll be fine. I've been in colder weather without gloves." He turned and smiled at her. Lily smiled and took his gloves, slipping her hands into the warm, red wool. The twins were very nice. Lily was glad that they were part of their little group.

"Welcome, Hogwarts to the first Quidditch match of the season!" cried a familiar voice. The students cheered loudly. Lily craned her neck to look at the top box.

"Is that Jesse?" Lysander asked. Lily nodded.

"I think so!"

"Dirty rotten snakes versus the old, lazy badgers—Sorry, professor, just making the picture."

"And here is Team Slytherin… Chasers Dean Ackart, Scorpius Malfoy, and Raleigh Jones! Beaters, Jasper Balfour and Toby Goyle! Keeper Paisley Lander and Seeker Callista Haynesworth!"

The sea of green and silver in the crowds roared, as Lily and Emily clapped politely. Older Gryffindors booed, and shot dirty looks at the first years. It was a team of almost all older boys, tall and thick and intimidating. The two girls were just as tall and intimidating. Scorpius was clearly the youngest and shortest.

"And the Hufflepuff team… Chasers Cora Halpen, Carter Hanford and Grayson Avery! Beaters, Nigel Gibbon and Harrison Eaton. Keeper Bonnie O'Dorcy and Seeker Wynda Fairholm."

The stands erupted in cheers, as Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Gryffindor cheered for the team. Compared to the other team, the Hufflepuffs looked small and slightly, as if a stray wind could blow them over.

"Captains, shake hands."

The tallest and thickest boy stepped forward to shake hands with a small and slight girl from Hufflepuff, who smiled weakly at him. It was clear that the Slytherin captain was attempting, and succeeding, in crushing the poor girl's hand.

"And they're off! Quaffle in possession to Ackart, he passes to Malfoy. Malfoy is off, dodges a Bludger from Gibbon – nice try, Gibbon. Next time, try harder. Passes to Jones who passes back to Ackart, who dodges another Bludger – Gibbon, that was too easy for him! – who shoots, c'mon O'Dorcy, you can—"

There was a shout of cheers erupting from the Slytherins as the rest of the stands groaned.

"Slytherin ten, Hufflepuff nothing. "

As Lily watched the game, feeling ever more sorry for the Hufflepuff team, who really was just dreadful, she couldn't help but feel nervous for her brothers. The Slytherin team was really, really good. The Chasers were going so fast and passing the Quaffle between the three of them so quickly, that the Hufflepuff Beaters had almost no chance of ever hitting one of them with the Quaffle in their hand.

"Jones, to Malfoy, who – FINALLY, GIBBON. Malfoy drops the Quaffle into the waiting hands of Halpen who takes off down the field. Man, that girl is fast! What,
Professor? Halpen shoots, SHE SCORES! Slytherin 70, Hufflepuff 10. Come on, Hufflepuff, you can make a comeback!"

The Slytherins booed at his comment.

Lily watched as Scorpius scowled. Scorpius was really good as well, as good as her brother even. Shaking his head, he threw himself back into the game, playing twice as hard, determination in his eyes.

Emily, who wasn't that interested in Quidditch, sat down. "Is it almost over yet?"

Lily shook her head.

"But it's been over an hour already!"

"Yeah, but the Slytherin team is really good." Lily said as Olivia booed at her comment. "Hufflepuff has good chasers and a good keeper, but their beaters suck. They can't get the Quaffle in their possession."

Emily groaned. Lysander patted her sympathetically on the back. The twins also looked relatively bored; Lorcan had pulled out a book and was reading.

The game continued for almost another hour. When Emily suggested leaving early, Olivia silenced her with a glare. Emily and the twins were now napping in the stands. Only Hugo, Olivia and Lily were paying attention. Even Jesse stopped with his jokes, and was just saying the names of the player. The score was 260 to 110, Slytherin.

"Malfoy passes to Jones, and – LOOK! Has Fairholm seen something?"

Indeed, the Hufflepuff seeker, who had been near her goalpost, shot straight across the field. It was a dumb move, Lily thought. The Slytherin seeker was now alerted to the presence of the snitch, which was much closer to her.

"Haynesworth takes off after Fairholm. The snitch is closer to Haynesworth. And she has the better broom. Can Hufflepuff catch the snitch and make it a tie? Or will Slytherin catch it for a landside win? Come on, Hufflepuff! Fairholm is almost to Haynesworth. It's girl versus girl! That's kinda hot… OW! Professor, what?! Haynesworth dives and –"

The Slytherins cheered, jumping to their feet, drowning out Jesse's words as their Seeker pulled out of the dive, her hand held high above her head. Behind her, the Hufflepuff seeker slowed down, defeated. The Slytherin players all flew to the ground and covered their Seeker, cheering. Hufflepuff landed, patting their Seeker on the back empathetically as the stands began to empty.

"Come on, you three," Olivia pushed Lorcan with her foot. "Wake up!"

"S'not time yet," Lorcan mumbled before turning his head to the other side.

A wicked grin crossed Olivia's face. "Lily, what's that new charm we learned in class?"

An equally wicked smile lit Lily's face. "Aguamenti?"

The two girls looked at each other and nodded before drawing their wands and pointing it at their slumbering friends.

"Aguamenti!"

Back in the common room, Hugo, Olivia and Lily were still laughing. The other three, however, were not as amused as they marched up the stairs, shivering, to change into dry clothes. The three remaining Gryffindors snagged the chairs by the lit fireplace. The mood was low tonight; everyone was hoping for a Hufflepuff win.

"You know what this means?" The Gryffindor captain was saying in the corner to his team. "Slytherin won by three hundred bloody points! Another win like that and they have the cup for sure."

James scowled at this. Albus swallowed nervously as the captain turned to him.

"You!" He yelled, pointing at Albus. A pair of fourth years coming down the stairs jumped. "It's down to you. We're going to pound you in practice—we can't let those Chasers score as many goals!"

Albus paled visibly.

"Poor Al," Emily said, watching as the captain continued to yell, turning red in the face.

"Al can handle it," Lily said, waving her off. "He performs better under pressure. Come on, I need your help with McGonagall's essay."

Emily nodded as she pulled out her Transfiguration work but glanced back at Al with one more worried look, before focusing on her homework.

Lily did not see her brothers for the next two weeks. Every spare moment they had was dedicated to Quidditch. Lily, Olivia and Lorcan had attended one of the Gryffindor practices; Lily wasn't quite sure why Lorcan had insisted on coming with, as the boy detested the sport, but he came with and stayed awake this time, perhaps afraid of the consequences if he didn't. The team, Lily was proud to say, was exceptional, although she couldn't help but think she would be a better Seeker than Luke Plymbton. When Luke saw her in the stands, he gave her a strange look before flying in the opposite direction as she blushed down to the roots of her hair. The next match was in a few weeks, and Gryffindor would be playing Ravenclaw, a decent team, as Lily kept hearing from Al.

Lily had hoped she would see her brothers at Slughorn's Halloween dinner, as she knew both were invited, but the two were lucky enough to have Quidditch practice. The morning of October 30, Lily groaned. It was just her, Olivia, Emily and Lorcan attending; none of them had a good enough excuse to miss it, and Emily insisted she had to go because of her dad and Slughorn being colleagues. Olivia had been invited last minute, after Slughorn saw her terrific show in the hallway; an older Slytherin had made fun of Hugo, and Olivia had quickly drew her wand, and sent the poor boy to the hospital wing to have his goat horns removed, which were still growing when he left for the infirmary. Slughorn had reprimanded her, taking away points and giving her a detention, before winking, praising her on the impressive bit of spellwork and inviting her to join Emily and Lily at the party.

"My dad taught it to me before I left for school, just in case," Olivia had smirked.

Slughorn had later requested that all the students come in costume; there would be a costume contestant by the end of the night. Rose, despite her bitterness of not being invited back to the Slug club, helped her young cousin and her friends get ready for the party by performing the more advanced spells; Rose was a very talented witch, always reading ahead. Lily thought Rose probably knew more spellwork than James, despite being a year younger.

Lily had spent all month racking her brain for a good costume, and in the end, decided on a simple cat. She wore her tight black pants and a tight long sleeve shirt with charmed gloves and shoes to resemble paws. With Rose's help, Lily had on a tail and cat ears that actually moved.

Olivia had decided to go as a dragon. Quite the complicated costume, Rose had to enlist the help of Emily's older brother, Frank, a fifth year, to have the large headpiece, balanced cautiously on Olivia's head, open its mouth, roar and breathe fake fire. Rose charmed Olivia's clothing to reflect scales. On Olivia's back were two large wings she had made, and around her waist, was a belt holding on the long tail, which was often getting in the way and tripping the girls as they walked around their room.

Emily went as a princess, wearing a long, flowing pretty purple set of dress robes that shimmered and sparkled with glitter as she moved, as well as her witches hat with matching purple fabric hanging down over her long, blonde hair that she had left down for the occasion.

"A princess?" Olivia had snorted when Emily left the bathroom and reentered the room. "I haven't been a princess for Halloween since I was four."

Emily scowled at her. Lily ushered her three friends out of their dorm as it drew closer to seven o clock. The three girls had skipped dinner to get ready, as there would be food at Slughorn's party. The three girls hurried down the stairs to meet Lorcan in the common room.

Lorcan's costume was Lily's favorite of the group. He had decided to go as an owl and went over the top to decorate himself. He had made himself some sort of headpiece to put around his face, made of real owl feathers he had been collecting all month (no owls were injured in the making of his costume, he assured Lily). He had owl feathers attached to his whole body, on which he wore light brown clothing. The outfit, combined with his wide, protruding blue eyes, gave the exact impression of an owl.

The four friends left their common room at quarter of, and headed down the many stairs to Slughorn's office, the location of the party. As they got closer, the group could feel the pulse of the loud music through the floor. All four glanced at each other nervously outside of Slughorn's door. Lily nodded, and pushed the door open, stepping through first.

The room had to be magically expanded. It was large and majestically decorated. Black and orange streamers hung from the wall; bats (Lily hoped they were charmed, and not real) flew up around the ceiling, which was dark and cloudy; across the back wall was a long table filled with Halloween related food: bowls of pumpkin juice, a cake shaped like a tombstone; the Hogwarts ghosts floated through the already crowded room, giving an eerie effect. Lining the wall adjacent to the food were small tables and chairs, filled with people eating their dinner. In the far corner, a band was set up and playing loud music. There were a lot of people mingling through the room, students and professors as well as many adults Lily did not know.

"Ah, it's my first years!" A loud, cheerful voice called. Slughorn was dressed as some sort of king with a large, red velvet and jewel encrusted crown. He had been talking to a tall, fierce black woman, who Lily recognized immediately, dressed in an long, old green dress, and a matching crown, albeit smaller than Slughorn's. Many of the people in the room were turning to glance at the black woman, some of them blatantly staring. Slughorn paused his conversation with her to reach and grab Lily, who had been the first of the group to walk through the door.

"Hello, Professor," Lily said politely. She looked him up and down. "Er, what exactly are you?"

"I'm King Henry the VIII," he looked down at his costumes before shaking his head. "Never mind. Lily, this is Gwenog Jones, of the Holyhead Harpies? Gwenog, this is one of my favorite new students, Lily Potter."

"Pleased to meet you." The older woman said.

"I've met you before!" Lily exclaimed excitedly. Gwenog looked perplexed. "I was only four, but you played with my mother, Ginny Potter-- well, it was still Weasley when she played. It was your last year as a player, before you became the manager of the team."

"Oh, Merlin, you're Lily Potter! Of course!" The loud woman pulled Lily into a large hug before pushing her backwards, holding her at arm's length to survey her. Two seventh year Slytherins gave Lily a dirty look. "You have gotten so big! How is your mother? Does she still play? And the rest of your family?"

"My family is good. Mum is still writing for the Daily Prophet and Dad is still head of the Auror department." Gwenog nodded. "We all play Quidditch."

"Oh, really?"

"Mhm. My mum taught my brother, James, to play. He's a Chaser, too. He's on the Gryffindor team."

"Do you play?"

"Oh, yes!" She exclaimed, her eyes shining brightly. "I'm a seeker, like my dad. He taught me everything I know."

"Are you on the team?" Lily's face fell.

"Both of my brothers are, but I'm not. First years aren't allowed to try out." Lily pouted and both Slughorn and Gwenog laughed loudly. Gwenog patted Lily on the shoulder.

"Don't worry, dear. I'm sure you'll make the team next year. You come from quite the Quidditch family. " Gwenog turned to Slughorn, and smiled at him. "I'll have to come back some point to see the Potter children in a game."

"You know, dear, you are always welcome here," Slughorn replied, leading Gwenog away from the area.

Clearly dismissed, Lily waved and turned back to survey the party. She couldn't exactly see her friends, but by the food table, she could just see the top of Olivia's dragon behind a group of what looked like Ministry officials. The Ministry officials walked away from the food table, and Lily got a clear view of her friends, looking for her. Laughing, she waved at them. Emily waved back, gesturing for her to come join them.

It was as she was crossing to her friends that she saw him, two tables of food down from Olivia and the group. At first, Lily didn't recognize him, as he had dyed his hair black and it was slicked back. But as he turned, Lily couldn't deny the slim, pale face, pointed nose and startling grey eyes. The black hair made sense now; he had come to the party as a vampire, dressed in a muggle tux under a long red cape, looking incredibly handsome.

Lily's heart sped up; he was alone, something that never seemed to happen. Scorpius glanced around the room and made eye contact with Lily for a split moment. Her eyes filled with determination. As Scorpius continued to scan the room, Lily walked past her friends before she had time to reconsider, her friends looking confused, and walked straight up him, and without any preamble, said,

"Congratulations on the win. You're a very good Chaser."

Scorpius stood still, and surveyed the small girl in the front of him. Lily shifted, uncomfortable under his intense gaze and hastily got a cup of pumpkin juice, just to give herself something to do with her hands. He smirked slightly, apparently making up his mind, and looked away out into the party, taking a small, dignified sip of his pumpkin juice.

"Thanks, Potter." Lily frowned.

"My name is Lily." Scorpius smirked even larger, still not looking at her.

"I can call you kitty cat, if you prefer that." He glanced toward her outfit, quickly, before looking back out into the crowd. Lily blushed.

"Call me by my first name."

"No." Lily opened her mouth to protest but Scorpius spoke first. "Not until you earn it."

With that, he pushed off the table, nodded at Lily and walked off into the crowd. Lily followed him with her eyes until she could no longer see him, feeling like the roles were oddly reversed: just a month ago, she had been the one to walk away. Tonight, he left her behind to be intrigued by him.

"Lily!" Someone hissed. Lily jumped, spilling her juice down her, and looked around, spotting Olivia heading towards her.

"Drat!" Lily attempted to sop up the juice.

"Smooth," Olivia said, as she walked up to her, tripping on her dragon tail. "Very smooth. Just as smooth as you were with Scorpius. What was that, anyway?"

"You heard, then?" Lily let Olivia lead her away to the table Emily and Lorcan were sitting at.

"Yes," Olivia pushed Lily down hard into her chair. "Now, explain."

"Nothing happened. I just said congratulations for the win, he said thank you and walked away," Lily said, which was true, but she left out his intense stare, his refusal to call her by her first name (her cheeks flushed at the nickname he offered and she tugged her shirt down), and her new determination to have him call her Lily. She had found Scorpius in the crowd, now speaking to a Ravenclaw in his grade. She watched him as Emily gave her sly looks and Olivia raved on about "fraternizing with the enemy" and the Slytherin Quidditch team. Lorcan frowned at Lily, following her gaze.

By the end of the night, Lily was incredibly tired. She had circled the room with her friends, occasionally with one of them being pulled away by Slughorn to meet another "close friend". Neither Olivia nor Lorcan had won the costume contestant, much to their disappointment; the winner was a fifth year Hufflepuff who came dressed exactly like Slughorn, including the bald head and box of crystallized pineapple. Slughorn had roared with laughter when he saw him.

Late that night, long after the students had left the party, long after everyone else had fallen asleep, Lily lay in bed, a strange feeling in her stomach as she recalled the intensity in Scorpius's grey eyes and the dimple he had on his right cheek as he smirked. She tossed and turned for hours, before finally falling asleep in the early morning.

Halloween fell on a Saturday this year. The third years and above were excited; it was the Hogsmeade visit and they would return to the castle for the magnificent feast. The first years, however, were not as excited, as they were not allowed to visit the magical village. Lily and her friends were just entering the Great Hall for breakfast Halloween morning, grumbling about the age restriction on the Hogsmeade visits, when she passed her brother.

James came running around the corner, a bucket in his hands, closely followed by Jesse. He skirted around Lily, the contents in the bucket sloshing around before splashing out and onto Lily and the floor. Her left hand and edge of the sleeve were now covered in red paint.

"James!"

"Sorry, Lils." He called as he took off up the stairs after Jesse, who had already disappeared around the corner. "Remember, it wasn't me!"

Lily groaned and rolled her eyes, and shooed her friends away. "No, don't worry. I'll go wash my hands and meet you guys in the hall."

They nodded and continued in to the Great Hall. Lily had just stepped on the stairs when she heard a voice.

"Stop right there!" Turning, Lily saw Argus Filch, the old caretaker of Hogwarts, and burst out laughing.

That had been a mistake.

Standing in the mouth of the hallway James had just come running from, covered in red paint from head to toe, his jowls quivering with anger, was Argus Filch. He had one hand extended towards Lily.

"Come here, girlie," Lily groaned and walked back towards him. "You think this is funny? You think hanging a bucket of paint above my broom closets door is funny?"

Lily thought so, but kept her mouth closed.

"Detention! Next Saturday!"

"What? No! I didn't do it." Lily yelled angrily.

"Oh yeah? I caught you red handed!" He reached down and grabbed Lily's left wrist, which indeed was red. "And you left footprints!"

Groaning, she realized she must have inadvertently stepped into the paint James had spilled.

"It wasn't me, it was –" Lily stopped. She wouldn't tattle on her brother. With a sigh, Lily silently swore she would get James back for this. "Fine. Next Saturday.

Filch smiled wickedly. "Eight o'clock. My office. You'll be cleaning the Trophy room." He stalked off.

Lily stomped angrily, splattering paint everywhere, and yelled, "Dammit James!" before stalking off to the bathroom to clean up.

"That's rough, about detention," Hugo said, later that day as the group of friends lounged about on the grass under a tree. It was an unusually warm day for October.

"Yeah, stupid James," Lily muttered, tearing the grass out of the lawn, scanning the front yard. There were other students, too young to go to Hogsmeade, or old enough to be bored with the village, lounging about as well.

All six first years were laying around the tree. Hugo and Olivia were playing a card game, arguing over the rules and who was cheating.

"You're cheating!" Olivia exclaimed for the third time already.

"I am not!" Hugo replied indignantly.

"Are too!"

"Am not! That's completely allowed!"

"Not uh, no way. You go by suits, then number, not number than suits." Olivia sat up, pointing roughly at the cards.

Emily sighed and turned to Lily, shaking her head; Hugo and Olivia were always fighting. She continued to knit her scarf. Lily was sitting next to her, a pair of needles in her hand. Emily had promised to teach Lily once Lily found out Emily could knit. Emily's scarf, a long red and gold scarf for her brother, Frank, for Christmas, was magnificent. Lily's green scarf, on the other hand, was lopsided and continued to curve despite Lily's best efforts to keep it straight.

"Emily, what am I doing wrong?" Lily whined. Emily clucked her tongue, reaching over to adjust Lily's hands.

Lorcan looked up and caught Lily's eye and smiled. The twins had both brought out books and were reading. Lysander put his book down and sighed as the argument between Hugo and Olivia escalated, crossing over to the two, and sitting down, surveying the cards.

"Hugo's allowed to play that card," Lysander said quietly. Hugo cheered and Olivia glared at him. "However, Olivia, you can't play that card."

"What are you reading?" Lily asked, curiously leaning over Lorcan's shoulder, her long hair falling on to him. Lorcan swallowed.

"1984 b-by George Orwell," he replied.

"Oh, I love that book!"

Lily put down her pathetic scarf, and stretched out next Lorcan, placing her head on his shoulder to read along with him, forgetting her anger at James, her detention and even about the intense grey eyes that had haunted her dreams, and enjoyed a warm Halloween with her friends.

Author's Notes: There we go! Hope you enjoyed. As always, please read and review.