"WHAT?!"
Lily's loud exclamation startled a flock of birds sitting on a rock nearby.
"What is that supposed to mean?"
"Haven't the foggiest, Lily. Professor Provost is my advisor. According to him I should consider all my options. How many options do I have anyway? I don't want to play Quidditch my whole life like James. I know I am not that good. The only thing I am good at is Defense and Potions."
"Did Professor Provost explain what other options there are in his opinion?"
"He was really cryptic about it all. He did ask me to intern for Healer Harrington at 's." Albus frowned as he said that, then added, "It was like he was hiding something, like he knew the real reason why Dad rejected my application. The worst part is, Dad had probably made his decision all along during the summer, and still he wouldn't tell me about it. I couldn't ask him about it, and that is why we're fighting."
Lily tried to find some comforting words to say, but couldn't come up with anything.
"Can you still become an Auror if you do your internship somewhere else?" She asked at last.
"Yes. But the internship is a sure ticket to Auror Training Program."
"And are you sure that Dad has rejected your application?"
"He hasn't said anything directly, but Ted said that they decided on an intern. It isn't me. But he won't say who has got it, either. They offer only two spots each year, one for a boy and the other for a girl."
"Do you know who got it then?"
"The results don't come out till January. People are still applying for internships. There is time till November."
Lily sighed, "And here I was, crying over my OWLs. It seems like I don't have much to look forward to in sixth year, either."
Albus smiled at that. "How is that coming along, then? Thornton still giving you a hard time in Potions?"
"Ugh. Don't remind me of her. Or Potions, for that matter. Thornton's over-enthusiasm for her subject makes me want to barf. Speaking of which," She produced a letter from her robes and handed it to Albus. "Here. Look what Dad's asking of me because of the whole punching thing."
"I hate the Potter Rule." She mumbled as Albus skimmed through the letter.
When he was done, he looked up and said gently, "You are having a really hard time with this, aren't you, Little Lil?"
Lily snorted. "Yeah, well. I am still not sorry I hit that nutter."
"Even though he cost you your place in Quidditch?" Albus said nudging Lily with his shoulder.
"Nah." Lily shook her head. "I am secretly happy about it actually. I don't like Quidditch that much."
"Then why do you play?"
"I dunno...Because you do? James does, and so did Mum and Daddy?"
"That's nonsense. You shouldn't do everything we've done, Lily. Haven't you learned anything from me?" Albus wiggled his eyebrows playfully. "Being Slytherin and all?"
"Al, you hypocrite! You said you hated being special, not five minutes ago!" Lily punched him on the shoulder.
"Ow! You hit hard for a girl. You'll pay for that, Lilybub!" And with that a never ending tickling match began.
"Don't call me that, Albus Potter!"
It went on for some time as the two Potters headed back to the castle, tickiling and jabbing playfully at each other. But both of them knew that that afternoon they had both made an ally, something that they had never felt before despite of living under the same roof since birth.
***
Scorpius threw away his quill in exasperation and rubbed his eyes. It was just 7:30 in the evening and already he was tired. But he was stuck in the little office they used for all the work related to Hogwarts Herald. Thanks to stupid Herald and all the stupidity associated with it.
He didn't know how he was going to play Quidditch tomorrow. He stared at the letter opened in front of him. A letter from his father. A letter which had caused a week of sleepless nights for him. A letter he didn't know how to respond to.
Scorpius,
Your mother's illness has taken a more serious turn since last fortnight. We don't know what the outcome is going to be. Although I feel that its a bit too early for you to come home.
She misses you. But she isn't able to write anymore. She sends her love.
I hope your studies are going well. Keep up the good work. I will send an owl if there is any change in her condition, one way or another.
Love,
Father.
How was he supposed to 'keep up the good work' after reading that? Why wouldn't he let him visit home? Why would he never talk about-
"Scorpius Malfoy!" Came a screeching voice from the doorframe, interrupting his thoughts.
"How dare you!" Apple Skeeter fumed.
Scorpius groaned inwardly. But then, Apple Skeeter had that effect on almost everyone. No. It wasn't the same kind of annoyance as people felt for Macmillan. Apple wasn't short of a couple million brain cells like him. In fact, it was the opposite. Apple was a smart one. Except for her name, there was absolutely nothing laughable about Apple Skeeter. She was a serious girl. A Seventh Year Ravenclaw, Head Girl and the most active "reporter" of The Herald. In fact, she was the only one who had ever taken her job as the writer of Herald's History page. She wasn't happy when Scorpius was made Editor instead of herself. And she had held a nasty grudge against him ever since, and came up with complaints against Scorpius' editing abilities almost every week.
"Uh...you need to be a little more specific, Skeeter. What exactly did I do this time?"
"I don't need to tell you, editor. You know what you did."
"Actually. I don't."
"You removed content from my article, you nasty little bugger!" Apple had a very shrill voice, and it was threatening to make Scorpius go permanently deaf.
"Do you mean the part where you said that Bathilda Bagshot had an affair with Dumbledore?" Scorpius raised an eyebrow.
"Yes!"
"I removed that because its not true." Scorpius rolled his eyes and went back to the task at hand, i.e. reading through Macmillan's latest draft full of crap. He hated, hated his life at times like this.
"Of course it is! Haven't you read his biography?" Skeeter apparently wasn't done though.
"And which one would that be, Apple? The one that your mum wrote? We can't rely on that now, can we?" Scorpius challenged.
"How can you say that? Are you accusing my mother of lying?" Skeeter's voice went an octave higher, as if that was even possible.
"I didn't say that. All I mean to say is, we are trying to write a piece in memory of Bathilda Bagshot as a celebrated author. Whether she had an affair with Dumbledore or the King of England is irrelevant."
Skeeter couldn't find anything to say in return. So she just went with her regular retort of, "I don't know what Professor Longbottom was thinking making you the editor. It's such a pity." And went her way.
"Well, I don't know that either." Scorpius said to the empty room as he rubbed his eyes in exasperation. Did he mention that he hated this job?
"Malfoy!"
Scorpius looked up to see Louis Weasley lurking in the doorway, trying to catch his breath.
"Louis! Hullo," Scorpius smiled broadly at him and said gesturing towards the chair from across the table, "Take a seat, mate."
Scorpius liked Louis Weasley. Despite of the unkempt state he had discovered him in last week, he was one of the happiest people he knew. Louis Weasley was a good looking blond boy with violet eyes and a personality of a cute little puppy. Everybody loved him. You know how some people are born with a personality that just sings "Let Me Be Your Cheering Charm" by that witch Corrine Ballad who he had heard his dad listening to a couple of times at home when he thought nobody was listening? Yeah. That was Louis. And that personality often helped him make people do things he wanted them to do. Scorpius suspected that this was one of those occasions.
"Ah. You have such good manners, Scorpius. It's such a shame you're straight." Louis gave a toothy grin.
Scorpius grinned at that. It was so typical of Louis. It was an inside joke. He often flirted with Scorpius trying to embarrass him. But Scorpius remained unfazed. As always.
"Why, thanks, Louis! You are so kind." Scorpius raised his eyebrows.
"Oh, please. Stop distracting me, pretty boy." Louis scoffed, which was hilarious coming from a part Veela boy. "Listen, I need a favour from you. Will you patrol in my place tonight?"
Scorpius frowned at him. This was something he actually didn't want to do. He had a match to play in tomorrow that he wasn't prepared for because of the emotional wreck that he had become.
"Can I ask why?"
"Look. I'm sorry. It's just that Skeeter and I have a meeting with the Headmistress in about an hour that I can't get out of."
"Well...its just that I have Quidditch tomorrow. And I am a little tired..."
Louis used his last weapon: Puppy eyes.
"Please?"
***
Albus realised that the worry about the match was finally creeping up on him as he entered the Great Hall for dinner. He needed that win tomorrow. He needed something good at to happen to him at that moment.
There was a commotion going on over the Gryffindor table where Lily looked like she was interrogating a very annoyed Hugo who seemed to be doing his best to avoid his cousin, while little Lucy was trying her best to listen in on their conversation. Come to think of it, Albus didn't want to know what that was about. He had had enough of revelations to last a week. He went back to his mashed potatoes as Scorpius appeared in the seat next to him, looking thoroughly mad and sad about something. What a combination.
"I have to patrol tonight." He said through clenched teeth.
"What? You can't patrol! You need to sleep early!"
"It was Louis." Scorpius raised his eyebrows.
Albus sighed in response knowing all too well about Lou's power of persuasion.
"I'll go talk to him. Maybe he can get Hufflepuffs to patrol instead." Albus made to stand up.
"No!" Scorpius held Albus' hand to stop him.
"Why?"
"You can't really argue about it with him." Scorpius mumbled, going a bit red on his neck. "He asked Rose, too."
"Oh." Albus said, and suppressing a little smirk from slipping. "That makes sense. A bit."
"Yeah, well." Scorpius said, sounding as if he was done with that topic, trying to look as inconspicuous as possible, and piling up his plate with a mountain of rice.
"Captain Albus!" Bart came sauntering towards where the other two boys were sitting and plopped himself next to Albus. "How are you feeling about daddy's imminent arrival?"
Bart wasn't a bad guy. Not really. But that didn't mean that he lacked mild assholish tendencies. And frankly, Albus wasn't his biggest fan, to be honest. People who were always so on about everything usually made Albus suspicious. Bart was a perfect example of that.
"Well? Won't you say something to that? Hmm?" Bart smirked at a now very uncomfortable looking Albus.
"Shut it, Bart." Scorpius and Coraline said at the same time.
"Oh, come on, Cora! I was just..."
But Albus wasn't listening to their arguments as he spotted a certain blond Hufflepuff leaving the Great Hall in anger, Roman Nott following her close. After a few seconds of dilemma, he stood up abruptly and gathered his things.
"I've gotta go. Try not to stay up too late, Scorpius." He said hastily and left.
"Hey! Come back, Potter! I was just messing ar- ow! Stop hitting me Coraline! What the f-" he heard as he reached the exit.
He thought he had lost her as he walked swiftly towards the corridor leading towards the Library where he suspected they had gone. But then he heard voices and that made him stop in his track. He tiptoed towards the empty room and listened.
"I heard a few Ravenclaw girls talking about seeing claw marks in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. What the fuck, Loralei?" Roman Nott said.
"It wasn't me, Rome! How many times do I have to tell you that?"
"Until I believe you, which frankly I don't, sister."
"Why would I lie about something like that?"
"Why wouldn't you? You know what will happen if people come to know about your secret, don't you?" Roman, the aloof and perpetually angry Roman was sounding increasingly frantic. "He will take you home and-"
What claw marks? What secret? Albus was curious now.
"And he will lock me up in that nasty dungeon like an animal and never let me out? I know-"
"He will kill you, Lola. You don't know how bad he has gotten. You don't have a bloody clue what he is capable of." He spat angrily. "I have never let it come to that."
There was no response from Lola.
"Keep it in control," Roman said gently. "Or I won't be able to save you."
With that Albus heard footsteps approaching towards him and hid behind the nearest pillar. Roman Nott walked away with long strides. Albus waited for a few moments for his sister to follow, but when she didn't, he got away from his hiding place and contemplated on what to do next. He wanted to go to Lola. He wasn't sure why, but he did. He wanted to know what was plaguing her and Roman for that matter. The two boys weren't exactly friends, but he liked Roman. And from what he had heard, it seemed like they were in some deep trouble. It was still a bad idea to confront her though. At least that is what he thought until he heard her sobbing.
"Hey."
Lola looked up from her knees where her head was resting until she heard the voice. Albus Potter. She wiped her tears angrily and got up from the floor, fidgeting awkwardly, not sure how to respond.
Albus had never seen someone so helpless before. Her curly blong hair was a mess (but then again, he had never seen it tamed before), her blue eyes were red rimmed. And she looked like she was trying her best not to start crying again.
Albus decided to take a different route than flat out confrontation.
"Have you listened to any of my Coldplay records yet?"
She looked throughly baffled at that. "What?"
"Um. I was going to the Room of Requirement and listen to some of their music and I thought maybe you would like them..." Albus trailed uncertainly.
"But- but you don't even know my name!"
"Of course I do. You're Lola Nott." Albus said confidently.
"It's Loralei to you, Albus Potter." She narrowed her eyes into slits at that.
Albus raised his eyebrows at that and said slowly as if speaking to a four year old. "Alright, Loralei. Do you want to-"
"Yes." She said, nodding her head quickly, avoiding looking him in the eye.
Albus was surprised at that. But he recovered quickly and grinned at her broadly. "Well, then. What are we waiting for?"
***
Lily was basically procrastinating, playing with her food, looking utterly defeated after having tried to pry answers out of Hugo about how he knew of her punishment and thoroughly failing at the task. But the real reason for her procrastination was her unavoidable fate in the library. She normally wouldn't have minded going to the library, but she hated being told what to do. And despite of her love for her father, she wasn't particularly happy about his little punishment. Who would be? She rarely ever visited library, usually when exams were nearby. But at such an odd time of the year, it was unusual. Not to mention unnecessary.
But irrevocable at the moment.
She stood up from her seat, sighing in exasperation, "Fine, Hugo. Don't tell me. But don't think I won't find you later to ask about this."
Hugo just shrugged and went back to shovelling a spoonful of banana pudding in his mouth.
As Lily headed towards Library she remembered that she had forgotten to bring Lorcan's book.
Stupid Lorcan. No wonder Hermione had sent a book for him. All the grown ups loved him. He was such a suck up. He would hold the doors open for all the ladies and helped them in the kitchen during Christmas. He would try to learn how to play chess from Ron or ask him how his inventions from the joke shop worked. He once took knitting lessons from Grandma Molly! Who does that? She wasn't even his grandmother!
Yes. Everybody just loved Lorcan.
But they didn't know how Lorcan didn't have any friends apart from a few Weasleys at Hogwarts. He was practically a recluse. Always buried in books. His own brother could barely get along with him, as far as Lily knew. Both the Scamander brothers were very different from each other, in personality and in looks. Where Lysander had short blond hair and blue gray eyes like Luna, Lorcan had curly black hair almost rivaling Albus' and eyes dark as night. Where Lysander was tall and had a body of a Quidditch player, which he was one, Lorcan was a little shorter (which was still tall by normal standards) but he had a broader build, as if he worked out in his spare time. Where Lysander had a reputation for being a player, Lorcan stayed as far away from the female species as he could, which didn't help his case much because girls found him "dark" and "alluring", whatever that meant, and rumour had it that these fangirls often flocked around in the library to get close to Lorcan. But nothing had come off it, or Lily would have found out.
Lily was climbing down the staircase with Lorcan's book in her hands when she heard Albus' voice.
"Oh yes. I quite like that one, too! I learned so much about muggles from that book. Even asked Hermione about some of it. How did you figure out all those parts?"
"Oh, you know. I spoke to one of my housemates.." came a female voice.
Lily ran off to hide in a corner, being in a full stealth mode now.
Well, well. Albus and a girl! Who would've thunk?
Lily smiled to herself. As the pair climbed up the stairs she saw that it was a blonde from Hufflepuff. She didn't know her name but she had seen her with Ashima Patil-Finnegan sometimes. Lily made a decision to find out who the mysterious blonde was, though. This was too good to pass up.
After Albus and his mystery girl had disappeared on the fifth floor staircase, Lily moved towards the library with a considerably happier mood than before.
***
A/N:
I don't know if anybody reads this, but if you do, please give me a sign. Maybe a review!
If in fact there is a Homo sapiens (muggle or magical) out there reading this, I want them to know that I don't know when I will update next, as I am moving away from my home country in a week (*psyched*), and I don't know when I will get the time, but I am going to try my best to update next week.
I also have two questions for my mysterious readers (or lack there of):
1) I know I am going at a snail's pace writing this, plot wise, but I am just having too much fun and I hope you like it...? I dunno. I hope you do.
2) Has anyone read Harry Potter and The Cursed Child yet? I don't particularly care for book reviews, which haven't been all glowing for our latest book, but I personally loved it. I have written a review, which I usually don't, but as a Potterhead, it was my duty to do it. You can read it on .com
Although you don't need to if you don't want to.
*SPOILER AHEAD FOR PEOPLE WHO HAVEN'T READ THE CURSED CHILD*
Also, there is something I want to clarify here: I don't plan on using Delphi's character or that storyline here. Because the thought of Voldemort having a child is plain ridiculous to me. My blog would explain my reasons.
So yeah. I hope someone reads this somewhere. But regardless, I am going to keep writing this because I love it.
I am writing fanfiction! Yay!