Scorpius could not see why anyone would ever dislike the Potters. Including his own father. However, he did admit that he was somewhat biased, given his friendship with Al…and the fact that he was completely and utterly taken with Lily Potter.

When she was sorted into Gryffindor, like Rose and Al and James all before her, Lily's face broke into a smile under the sorting hat. Her lips parted perfectly, like soft flower petals, and at that moment, Scorpius found himself clapping much more loudly than any of his other classmates. Albus didn't seem to take notice, but Rose did, of that Scorpius was sure. She stared at him with a deep, measuring gaze, and unless he was mistaken, she didn't clap that much for Lily after that.

So she was eleven and he was twelve, Scorpius mused as he tucked into bed that evening. Soon, they would both be older. And, he hoped, like his mother and father, they could become great friends, and possibly more. Scorpius slid into bed with a smile on his face, thinking of his parent's love story. Could he hope for the same? Was Lily his love story? He thought of her flaming red hair and deep brown eyes and tossed and turned onto his side, too jumped up to relax.

"What are you doing?" Al questioned, perched on his own bed. His eyes were narrowed as he stared at Scorpius.

"Nothing," Scorpius immediately said, growing red in the face and hot in the neck. He flipped over onto his back, smoothed his hair, and crossed his hands and laid them neatly on his chest. Soon, the rest of the room had fallen asleep, and Scorpius was surprised how a summer away from them all hadn't made him forget the sound of Nash's snores and the occasional mumbling that sounded from Travis. Scorpius pulled the covers aside, smoothed back his hair once more, and snuck past Al's bed and crept out of the room.

Like the year previous, Rose was sitting in the Gryffindor common room, just as he had suspected. It didn't seem to matter to her that it was past midnight, closer to one. She was sitting at one of the round tables, a quill in hand as she worked on an unknown assignment. Her hand flew furiously back and forth, producing words at what seemed like the speed of light. Her tongue protruded slightly over her bottom lip, caught in between her teeth and her red hair was twisted up into a messy knot at the back of her head. Wild tendrils hung down around her face and she brushed them away with impatience.

"What're you doing?" Scorpius asked, hopping down the last stair and sitting down beside her. Rose looked up at him, solemn, and a shadow of annoyance crossed her face.

"Schoolwork," she replied tersely.

"Rose," Scorpius said gently, a smirk spreading across his face. "We haven't even had classes yet."

Rose drew herself up and squared her shoulders. "I need to be prepared."

Scorpius watched as she continued to write. It appeared she was copying down spells and potions, and as he continued to watch her write, her handwriting grew more careless and slanted. He frowned. It was unlike Rose to write things like this down. She hardly had to practice anything without immediately grasping it; she had no use for things like this.

"Are you feeling alright?" Scorpius questioned. "Feeling cautious? Perhaps threatened?"

Rose's head snapped up at that, and her eyes burned. "Why would you say that?" Scorpius leaned back in his chair, alarmed by her sudden intensity.

"Because you're working on things we haven't even studied yet. Besides, the Rose Weasley I know doesn't need to work on this because she's brilliant already and basically masters anything just by looking at it." Rose looked down at her lap, and Scorpius saw her shoulder shudder. He hoped he had gotten her to laugh, or even smile, but when she looked up, her face was blank and serious.

"Don't," was all she said.

"Sorry?"

"Don't try to hand out compliments, I know you don't mean it."

"Of course I mean it, Rose! How could I not? Everyone knows you're brilliant."

"Oh I'm brilliant?" Her voice had risen to shouting level now, and she sprung from her chair, her hair flashing like a shooting star. Scorpius rose from his chair too, knocking it aside as he did so. Now that they stood at eye level, he could see how angry her eyes were. He scowled. "YOU THINK I'M BRILLIANT? Oh well that's great and dandy and fine, Scorpius. Geez, so thoughtful and generous of you to say. Because that's such an original compliment for someone who was your best friend all last year."

"What are you going on about?" Scorpius yelled back. "Would you like me to flip through a thesaurus for you? Would that be better, Professor Weasley? Good god, Rose! And what is all this past tense was bollocks you're spouting off about?"

Rose suddenly closed her mouth and Scorpius thought she might cry. He reached out a hand towards her, slowly, gently, but she flinched away as if he had slapped her.

"Leave me alone, Scorpius." Rose gathered her books and ran up the girl's staircase, leaving nothing but tension and anger behind.

"Fine!" He shouted, letting his hot temper get the better of him. "You can bet I will." Scorpius rubbed his eyes and glanced back at the table where Rose had been working. His heart thudded unnaturally in his chest.

"Scorpius?" He looked up towards the mezzanine and saw Albus grasping onto the railing, blinking blearily. "Were you yelling? What's going on?"

Scorpius blinked back and began to walk away from Rose's table. "I have no idea," he said.

Quidditch Tryouts just happened to be the next day. Scorpius saw Rose come into the Great Hall in the morning, her eyes red and puffy and her hair wavy, and she did not sit with or speak to either him or Al. Scorpius glanced down at his own plate and felt as if he could vomit from both guilt and fear. Propped up next to him was his riding broom he had brought from home. He had tried to polish it the evening before, in preparation for the trials, but he was so distracted by his fight with Rose that he had nearly broken the fragile broom right in half.

"Good luck, mate." Albus sat glumly across from him, shoving bacon into his face and eyeing Scorpius's broom. "James says he's going to put in the good word for you with the captain."

"I don't think I'll make it," Scorpius admitted. "I haven't had much practice. I've played mostly by myself."

Down the table, he heard a small cough, and he looked up to see that Rose was looking at him. She opened her mouth to say something, but no words came out.

"I think you'll make it," another voice said. Lily took the seat next to Scorpius, and he found himself quaking and gaping at her as she did so. She nodded to Albus. "Our mum played Quidditch for a few years, Professionally. I can kind of tell what builds will and won't make it in the Quidditch pitch."

"Oh yeah? Is that a gift?" Scorpius heard himself say. Lily simply laughed and placed some sausages on her plate. Albus was still immersed in his food. Scorpius glanced up towards where Rose had been sitting again, but she was gone. He felt a cloak whirl by him, and there she was, briskly striding out of the Great Hall, her red head bowed. Scorpius clenched his fork tightly. He wished she had wished him good luck.

The trials began easily enough. It was basic things at first, flying around the pitch to test speed and balance, dodging bludgers, things like that. Scorpius found, to his delight, that he preformed each task effortlessly and with ease, bouncing from one to another fluidly. As he performed his take on a Wronski Feint, James, the seeker of the team, flew by and gave him a deliberate wink.

"Alright!" The captain of the team, Jade Vince, a sixth year, called everyone to the center of the field. She was tall and broad in the shoulders, with a round face and dark skin the color of chocolate. Her eyes were exceptionally beautiful, a pure silver, but when she became concentrated, they were frightening and commanding, like they were now. "Listen up you lot. We have three positions open on this team. Three. Not four, not two. Three. A chaser, a beater, and a keeper. You understand?" She waited for the mass of nervous players to nod. "Good. At least I'll have some functional human beings on this team this year."

"Don't be so harsh, Jay," James teased, and she shot him a withering glance that made Scorpius want to blend into his surroundings.

"I'm going to assign you to play a mock game of Quidditch. If I call your name, we're considering you for the team already, and this is further assessment of your skills. If I don't call your name, please leave. I…just get out, clear?" She cleared her throat and began to call out names with the ferocity of a dictator. "Hawkings, Purcell, Abernathy, Greenblatt, Malfoy, and Sunil, please stay. Everyone else, you can go."

Scorpius let out a sigh of relief and found himself to be grinning. He bobbed happily on his broom. James zoomed up next to him and whispered urgently in his ear.

"Show of your chaser skills," he told him. "You have the best aim, it will serve you well."

And show off his skills he did. Scorpius darted across the field, back and forth, snatching and catching and throwing the quaffle over and over again. He scored one, two, three…eight goals by the end of the match, drawing himself a personal best of eighty points, much better than another potential chaser, Anne Hawkings, who seemed incapable of throwing the quaffle through the two outside hoops.

"Well done, everyone," Jade said as the match came to an end. Scorpius's chest was heaving, but he wore a smile, whereas his other potential teammates sported bloody noses or mud-stained uniforms. "I'll let you all know my decisions soon. For the mean time, please feel free to shower in the dressing rooms below, but vacate the field, the Slytherin team has to hold their tryouts." Jade raised a hand and waved to the Slytherin captain, who nodded politely in reply. Scorpius squinted down at the Slytherin players and saw the pug-faced girl who had been so rude to him his first year, as well as her tall friend who looked as threatening as ever.

Scorpius pointed his broom towards the ground and landed softly on his feet, and James touched down next to him.

"You did really well out there," James told him as they began to walk towards the showers. "I have no doubt that Jade will accept you onto the team tonight."

"Really?" Scorpius could hardly contain his excitement. He was seized with a sudden urge to hug James, but knew that James would probably club him, if he did.

"Yeah. Obviously you're not just chucking things around out there. You have skill." James cocked his head as a whistling sound could be heard overhead. Scorpius heard it to, but spoke over it.

"It's probably my dad's genes!" He bellowed over the noise. "He was a seeker!"

"Yeah, I-" James began to say. He turned to look at something over Scorpius's shoulder, and his eyes widened. "Look out!" He grabbed Scorpius, as if to pull him out of harm's way, but it was too late. Scorpius felt something large and heavy hit him square in the back of his head.

Immediately, his eyesight grew faint. He could hear shouts in the back, shouts of outrage and worry. He thought he might have heard a faint, shrill scream that sounded like Rose. And then, everything was quiet.

A/N: Please Remember to Review! Thank You!