"Psst."
There was a slight stir from Scorpius' bed in response.
"Psst! Oi!" Came a frantic whisper next.
"Oi, Scorp, mate!"
"Whuhsit-" Scorpius sat up suddenly and looked around.
"No, I shall not slay any dragons for you!" Scorpius said, with his hand held up in his waker's face as if holding an imaginary sword.
Albus sighed and muttered under his breath as he caught Scorpius' hand, "Dreaming about birds and their demands again, you poor sod."
That must've woken up Scorpius some, because he sobered up a little and squinted at a slightly taller Albus. "What time is it?"
"Er, two?" Albus asked rather than telling.
"Then why are you psst-ing at me at bloody two?" Scorpius raised his eyebrows.
Albus shrugged in response, as if that answered the question. But when Scorpius' eyebrows almost disappeared in his hairline, Albus mumbled, "We needed to talk. I can't sleep."
"If what happened today weren't my fault, I'd have gladly broken your teeth for this." Scorpius grumbled. "Let's move this to the common room, shall we?"
Even in his sleep dazed stupor, it hadn't gone unnoticed by Scorpius that Albus was carrying his sweet stash around.
"How low did your supply go tonight?" He asked Albus, pointing at said stash.
"Awfully low." Albus aid, accusation clear in his tone and eyes.
Before Albus could say anything, Scorpius hastily said, "Look, mate. I'm sorry, alright. I didn't know that my squabble with Weasley bothered you that much. I'll keep it down from now on."
Albus jerked his head in a stiff nod. "And Macmillan?"
"Oh for Merlin's sake-" Scorpius muttered exasperatedly. "Macmillan's a git, Albus. And a fool. Nobody cares what he writes. And when has gossip ever bothered you?"
"Never! But I'm asking for Rose."
"We've talked about it. And she seems fine now."
"You and Rose?" Albus said, suppressing a smile.
"Yeah, yeah. Laugh it up, won't you."
"What did you talk about?" Albus said, trying- and failing, to feign disinterest.
"Nothing that you need to worry yourself over." Scorpius said vaguely.
"Right."
"Well. Was there anything else?"
"No."
"Alright, then..."
"There's-" Albus stopped abruptly.
When he failed to complete that sentence, Scorpius looked at him with a quizzical brow.
"Have you seen a blond moving around with Bart?"
"There are many people that fit that description, Al. You might want to be a little more specific," Scorpius snorted.
"Oh, no. It's not like that..."
"Like what? A girl, you mean? Because then, I fit that description as well.."
"No, no. She is a girl. But not the way you're implying. I mean, she is this very short girl. Often finds Bart to argue with him in between classes, hides behind plants...and she's a Hufflepuff." Albus finished.
"Argues with Bart, hides- I think I know who you're speaking of. And I am quite surprised you don't." Scorpius said with a sardonic expression on his face. "The better question is, why do you care?"
Albus ignored his gaze, blushing furiously.
Scorpius' gray gaze widened to the size of saucers. "Oh, you've got to be joking- Albus, out of all the blonds that you could choose from, did it have to be Lola?"
"Lola? Is that her name?"
"Not really. It's actually Loralei. Stop smiling like a loon, and listen. Her name is Loralei Nott."
"Wait what?"
"Yeah. That's the last and only female installment in the Nott Triplets."
"Wha-" Albus gaped at him. "They have a sister? How?"
"Oh, Al. Hasn't had The Talk with you?"
"That isn't what I meant, you oaf. It's just that I've never heard of a third Nott. She seems so different. Doesn't even look like them."
"Yeah, that's not the only thing different about her."
"What do you mean?"
"Nothing. Listen, Al. Don't mention Lola's name to the Notts. Especially, Roman. He is really prickly about her."
"That doesn't make sense. Sure, she's a bit loopy if you ask me, but why are they hiding her?"
"It's not my secret to tell, Al. Leave it. And if you want my advice, leave her alone, too."
Albus nodded absent mindedly. Scorpius knew that despite his warnings, Albus won't leave her alone. For a guy who was considered the sanest and quietest among Hogwarts population, he was surprisingly nosy. Maybe it ran in the family. James and Lily were certainly nosy.
Scorpius decided to keep an eye on Albus. Never before would he have expected Albus to be the volatile one. It was an unspoken rule, that Scorpius was the suave troublemaker, prone to making mistakes. And Albus to be tge quiet strength that kept him geounded.
Things were changing around Hogwarts.
***
The next morning found Lily Potter in a screaming match with one young in front of the Great Hall entrance.
"Well, if you knew shit about writing a decent article, this wouldn't have happened, would it?" Lily seethed with enough venom to poison a Basilisk.
"You little brat! Just because your daddy is the saviour, you seem to believe that you own Hogwarts. Well, I've got news for you Lily Potter: the magical community is a democracy. If you don't understand the difficult word, I'll tell you what it entails. It entails that I have the right to freedom of speech and I can write anything I want about any-"
"Freedom of speech," Lily was now nose to nose with Macmillan. "I'LL GIVE YOU FUCKING FREDOM OF SPEECH, YOU BLEEDING GIT!"
And with that Lily Potter threw a punch to Macmillan's nose, her fifth punch since her enrollment at Hogwarts.
By now, a considerable crowd had gathered around the pair, some of which were chanting a constant "fightfightfight".
But if it weren't for Lorcan Scamander lifting Lily off her feet and away from a now very angry and very bloody-nosed Macmillan, things could have gotten worse than they already were.
"Leave me be-"
"Don't be a child, Lily." Lorcan said against her ear.
"Let me be, Scamander! I'll draw blood today-" Lily hissed fiercely, narrowing her brown eyes at Macmillan, who was now being held back by the gangly Hufflepuff, Jerry Inglot.
"You already have, you idiot." Lorcan hissed back as he dragged Lily away to the nearest empty classroon and shifted Lily a little in his grip, bringing her at his eye level, which was difficult because Lily was practically tiny compared to Lorcan, who put his hand over her mouth.
"You've done your part, Lily. Now I want you to do me a favour." Lorcan murmured.
A very perplexed Lily nodded.
"Good girl," Lorcan said. "Now take a deep breath. And promise me that you'll stay quiet when I let you go."
Lily gave another nod.
"Alright." Lorcan said, slowly letting go.
Lily, being freshly liberated from Lorcan's death grip, and being...well, Lily, rammed her fist into Lorcan's chest in anger, and howled in pain, "Merlin on Mount fucking Everest, what do you eat? My hand!"
"You have a right filthy mouth, Lil, don't you?" Loecan muttered and began examining Lily's hand.
But before he could do anything else, Albus burst in with Rose in tow.
"What in the name of Salazar is up with you, Lil?" Albus said loudly.
"Do you know what you've done?" Rose chided.
Lily rolled her eyes. The lot of them were hypocrites. Albus sneaked off to Muggle concerts and James had ended up in detentions more than her rest of her family put together. Rose owned this quite a revealing (and sizzling hot) poster of Alexander Krum that only Lily knew about. And Lorcan...well, he had done..something, too! In short, all of them had dirt on them, but punch a bloke, and that's it. Suddenly you're the public enemy no.1. Nobody had to tolerate such discrepancies. Only Lily. The thought made Lily positively sour.
"Defended the pathetic lot of you, is what I did, dear brother." She wouldn't be Lily, if she didn't maintain her sass.
Albus huffed in response. So did Rose. Lorcan didn't join in this group huffing though. How curious.
"That's ridiculous, Lily. Not to mention unnecessary."
"Of course it's necessary. I know you and your friends. You, brother, would have chosen to stay quiet, leaving it in Scorpius' hands, who has zero interest in what runs on the Herald or Hogwarts, I don't know why. And Rose, well, everyone knows that she is all bark and no bite. I had to take things in my own hands. I can't let a git like Macmillan make a spectacle of you. I am on the Quidditch team, too, you know."
"Well, not for long, if you keep this up, Lil." Rose said.
"What do you mean?"
"What I mean is, Neville wants to see you in his office, and he seemed pretty pissed when I saw him outside Great Hall." Rose said.
"Yeah, he saw the whole thing, Lily." Albus sighed.
"Alright, well that doesn't mean anything. He'll probably ask Old Filch to give me a bunch of trophies to clean. Big deal. Been there, done that."
"Yeah, well. I wouldn't bet on it. But let's hope you're right. For all of our sakes." Rose muttered.
"Alright, you lot," Albus said at last. "I want to speak with Lily if it's okay."
Lorcan threw a last glance at Lily, and left quietly with Rose, closing the door behind them.
"Look, Lil. I don't want to do it, but I have to. You've left me no choice."
"No. You wouldn't. "
"I'm afraid, I will, sister."
"Mum will be livid, Al. She will make my life hell."
"You knew the deal before we came back this year. One more school fight, and you will be served the Potter Rule."
The Potter Rule was something Harry had created when James had started Hogwarts and showed obvious signs of troublemaking. That was the only tough aspect of Harry's parenting, who, much to Ginny's dismay was a little too soft on his children, particularly Lily. The rule was simple, and applied to all three children equally: They had to keep each other in line. If one of them fell out of line, the others would have to inform the parents of it, following which the said child will be forced to let go of one of their extracurricular activities for a month, and accept whatever chore Harry asked them to do at Hogwarts. It sounded awfully strict, but Harry was actually quite lenient on his punishment. He would give them laps around the pitch (and ask Neville to monitor) or cleaning Neville's greenhouses, or tending to Hagrid's pets...thigs like that, which no matter how mundane, made the Potter children miserable nonetheless. It was like detention by parents. But like any normal teenager, all three kids hated it, and did their best to avoid being in such situations.
Lily, with her violent tendencies mixed with her ever increasing sass had made her the new James of Hogwarts for the Potter parents. And the job of keeping Lily in check had fallen into capable hands of Saint Albus (as christened by James).
It's not his fault he is so good. Lily thought.
"Fine. Do what you want, Allie. I have to go and see Neville." Lily said hastily as she walked out.
Albus sighed. Sometimes he really hated being himself. Maintaining a normal relationship with Lily had become increasingly difficult for Albus and his mother. Lily had suddenly transformed into this brat who kept snapping at Ginny and giving Albus the evil eye every chance she got. She even went as far as screaming "I hate you!" at Ginny near the end of the Summer. She made Albus worry more than anything else, which was saying something, becausr Al had anlot to worry about already.
"Al?" Rose peeked from the door.
"We have to go now, mate." Scorpius peeked from behind Rose.
They both came inside, and Scorpius said, "Don't worry about Lily. She is tough."
"She violated a million rules today, including stealing somebody's article. Neville is not going to let her go easily. He might kick her off her team. You know how sensitive she is about Quidditch. I just- I just wish she'd at least tell me before throwing punches on my behalf."
"She is fifteen, Albus. I had to go through eight detentions when I was fifteen, remember? She will get over it. And you are not her keeper, you're her brother. You can't control every aspect of her life. Believe me, I'd know."
"Malfoy is right, Al. Leave it," Rose said, looking appreciatively at Scorpius. "Its my team. Let me worry about them. And maybe it will be good for Lily. Remember how much nicer James had become for a month when he had to leave off Quidditch and make an inventory of Potions section in the Library?"
Albus nodded absentmindedly. It was only after their first class had begun, when Albus realised that Rose had agreed with Scorpius. And it was then, that he had understood why Scorpius was humming as he added sandalwood roots to his potion.
After all, it had taken Scoroius six years to get any positive response out of his crush.