Neville walked briskly amidst the sea of students clad in their house colours, bustling about in the Quidditch stands with an undercurrent of excitement, and smiled to himself at the memory of his own days at Hogwarts. Harry had made Quidditch matches quite an occasion for all of them. Everytime Gryffindor went to play, something happened. Neville himself hadn't been a star flyer by a long shot in his year, though. And honestly, he didn't particularly enjoy it, either. Being bullied by Draco Malfoy during his very first flying lesson had left a bad taste in his mouth for broomsticks. In fact, he would take muggle transport system over broomsticks any day. Muggles had a good thing going on with those trains they called "tube". Quite clever.
"Why, you little-ugh- just get-" came a troubled groan from Terrence McMillan, "Blasted microphones!"
"Do you need a hand with that, Terrence?" Neville asked kindly.
"Oh, hullo, Professor Longbottom!" Terrence said. "No, thank you. I got this." He banged the thing against a metal rod twice, making Neville wince.
Neville shrugged and decided to leave McMillan to his own devices, making his way to the empty seat beside the Headmistress, who was wearing a comical expression on her face.
"MY DEAR FRIENDS! IT'S A BEAUTIFUL DAY TO PLAY QUIDDITCH!" Terrence's voice boomed. The crowd booed quite enthusiastically in response. That was the usual response by the spectators to Terrence's commentary.
"I am glad I don't have to deal with commentators anymore. That is one aspect of being the Headmistress that I enjoy." Minerva said airily as Neville took his seat. "You seem to be in fine spirits today, Neville."
Neville was in fine spirits. His daughter was playing today. What a wonderful thing to be able to witness your child's each and every game. That was one of the things that he enjoyed about being a teacher at Hogwarts. He could stay close to Helena that way. "It's a beautiful morning, Professor. This should be a-" His voice was cut off by being shoved forward by a distressed Sylvain Provost making a hasty exit from the stands. "Sorry, Longbottom!"
Neville just frowned in response. What had got Sylvain in a binder? He had unexpectedly found a friend in the Defense teacher when Sylvain joined the faculty a few years ago. He was merely a few twenty odd years old then. Sylvain Provost had a reputation as a proficient Cursebreaker. But he had left that career and come to Hogwarts to lead a quiet life and fulfil his dream of teaching. Or so he said. Neville thought there was more to the story. But Sylvain wasn't exactly what one would call, chatty. He would often show up at his door on a late Friday night with a bottle of some expensive Muggle liquor and just sit with Neville in companionable silence. Neville didn't mind it much. He enjoyed the company and the few things they talked about. From what he had found out, Sylvain Provost came from old muggle money and he was an only child. Neville didn't know anything else except from what he had heard students whispering about Sylvain. He was a favourite among them. Especially female students. Neville shook his head to disregard the thought. He didn't want to comprehend on the subject when his daughter was a part of the female student body around here.
The crowd erupted in loud cheers as the teams entered the playing field. Rose Weasley and Albus Potter flew towards where Madame Hooch was standing. Madame Hooch asked the captains to shake hands.
"Ready to get your arse kicked, Al?" Rose said with a wide grin.
"We'll just have to see about that, Rosie Posie." Albus shot back with a flash of rare smile.
Lily tapped her fingers on the table for the hundredth time in that half an hour, chewing the end of her quill absentmindedly as she rummaged through the Potions textbook in front of her. Why was Potions so hard for her? She let out a sigh of frustration. Potions wasn't the only cause of her frustration though. Part of the reason was that they were playing Quidditch without her.
She was startled as someone took the quill from her hand- and her mouth- swiftly. Lily looked up to see an annoyed looking Lorcan Scamander drawing up a chair beside her.
"Alright, Lily. What is the issue here?" Lorcan said as he quickly glanced through the page Lily had open in front of her.
"What do you mean?" Lily averted her eyes away from Lorcan's dark gaze as she said, "There is no problem."
Lorcan took a deep breath of tested patience. "Lily," he began with a smile. "Do you know why I come to the library all the time? Because I like it here. The lighting is good. The people are focused. The books are nearby. Madame Leroy likes me so I can eat here unlike most people. And, most importantly, it is quiet. I enjoy quiet. Especially when I am trying to study. Your," he pointed at her fingers resting on the table. "Incessant tapping is disrupting my quiet."
Lily scowled at her. What was his deal? Giving sassy long responses was her job. Lorcan was more along the lines of speak-as-little-as-possible-and-prefer-disapproving-glares-to-actual-words types, his verbal responses usually limited to the word "no", especially when it came to Lily. The fact that he had said yes to tutoring her last night was a miracle in itself. Lily often couldn't comprehend how people felt about her. But in Lorcan's case, she was quite certain that she annoyed him. Luckily, the feeling was mutual.
On the other hand, Lorcan wasn't quite sure why he had decided to confront Lily at that moment. Usually when people did things like tapping their quills and just humming to themselves, Lorcan simply changed his table. That was the best way to deal with such people. Avoid and save time. But today he felt like poking Lily a little for some reason. Maybe he was just bored. Endlessly working on Arithmancy problems would do that to a person.
"You could have simply said so instead of going through the trouble of being descriptive, Scamander." Lily said, trying to sound as bored as possible.
"I could," Lorcan nodded sagely. "But then, that would not make me a very good tutor, would it? It is my job to see to it that you come out of Fifth year Potions alive," Lorcan suppressed a smile, recalling Lily's verbal diarrhea from last night. "So. What is it?"
Lily didn't say anything for a minute. Instead, she just looked at him skeptically. "Are you making fun of me right now, Lorcan?"
This time he didn't suppress that smile. In fact, it almost turned into a smirk. "I never make fun of people, Lily," He said with that quiet, rumbly voice of his, "Why would you think so?"
Lily snorted. "Right. You don't make any kind of fun, do you." She muttered.
"Pardon?"
"Nothing!" Lily said brightly, sitting up a little straighter in her chair. "Are you serious about this?"
"About what?"
"About this tutoring thing?"
"I wouldn't have agreed to do it if I weren't." Lorcan said. "So, which Potion is it?"
"But it's a Saturday today!" Lily said hastily.
"I'm aware."
"Well…"
Lorcan sighed, then began quietly, "I meant it when I said I will help you get through Potions. And it's not like I have anything better to do right now."
"It's just that.." Lily trailed off. "I wouldn't want to…"
"Oh, for Rowena's sake spit it out, Lily." Lorcan grumbled a her.
"Moonstone!" Lily exclaimed suddenly.
"Quiet!" Leroy hissed from where she had been lurking the entire time.
Lily just rolled her eyes and continued with a hushed voice, "She wants a three feet parchment essay on properties of Moonstone. I know nothing about moonstones. I haven't even seen one before in my life!"
Lorcan just stared at her with a puzzling expression for some time, his long fingers grazing his jaw rhythmically. Lily tried to determine what that look meant, and decided that she was too exhausted to make a decision on the subject. Maybe he would declare that he didn't want to help her anymore, which made complete sense in the world of Lily Logic. Because why would he help him? She hadn't been particularly, what you would call "civil" to him during their entire history of acquaintance. And she knew that Lorcan was way too smart to bother teaching a girl who struggled with even the basics of Potions. Maybe he had finally decided that he wanted to take his revenge on her and was gathering all the insults he could muster up for her at this very moment. Maybe that's why he wasn't saying anything. If that was the case, he had another thing coming. Contrary to the current evidence, Lily Potter wasn't some helpless Damsel. She could take care of herself, and it would be the last day of everyone's existence on Godric's green earth before she let-
"Come on," Lorcan stood up and offered an owlishly blinking Lily Potter a hand.
"What?" Lily was confused now. Maybe he wanted to spew his insults in front of everyone. That would be bad. Quite bad, indeed.
Lorcan sighed in defeat. Then put his hands on the table in front Lily and lowered his tall frame to look her in the eye, "Lily?"
"Hmm?" Lily hummed absentmindedly, boring her blue eyes into Lorcan's black, black gaze. But wait. They weren't entirely black at this distance and this light. There were flakes of brown in them. Dark, sinful brown. And dear Godric, the boy had some killer lashes on him.
Unaware of Lily's internal musings, Lorcan continued with a soft voice, "Do you want to learn about Moonstones or not?"
"Mm-hmm." Lily nodded.
"Then let's go," with a smile, Lorcan Scamander offered Lily Potter his hand once more that day, and this time she put down her guard for the first time around this confusing, infuriating boy and decided to go along.
Rose sighed in annoyance as she heard Terrence blaring, "POTTER'S CAUGHT IT! SLYTHERIN WINS!"
The crowd went wild after that. There was chaos everywhere. People were cheering Albus' name, mostly Slytherins. But she also suspected that she saw Viola Obst screaming his name from the crowd, along with many other girls. What a clown. Rose never understood why Lily was friends with that horrid girl.
To say that Rose was disappointed by this match would be an understatement. She would have gladly accepted this verdict if the fight between two teams would have been a tough one. But it wasn't, thanks to dear old Albus. It had barely been fifteen minutes into the game. Gryffindor had scored forty points to Slytherin's fifty, but there would still have been room for improvement if it weren't for Albus and his snitch catching abilities. Little Roxanne had been scurrying after Albus to catch the blasted thing. But Al was faster, and more experienced than young Roxanne, who Rose suspected, had already left the crowd with quiet tears streaming down her face.
Had she made a mistake replacing Lily with such a young player on team? Rose thought, landing on the ground with a swoosh as somebody else did the same beside her.
"Good game, Weasley." Malfoy said, not unkindly, and gave her a faint smile.
Rose rolled her eyes and retorted, "Not in the mood, Malfoy."
Scorpius went bit red at that. He had expected that to happen. "Look, I'm sorry about-"
"Oi! Malfoy! What are you doing down there?" Bartholomew Nott shouted from fifteen feet above his head. "Captain Albie needs a proper cheering. Come up, man!"
Scorpius just glared at him quietly for a moment before returning his attention to Rose. Or where Rose would have been, if she wouldn't have left.
It was completely his fault. He knew it, and he had to make wasn't the time though, he thought. He needed to catch Rose when she had calmed down a bit.
"Potter! Nott! Humphrey! Down! Everyone, now!" Madam Hooch shouted at the Slytherin team huddled up in the air, eagerly discussing the game. Scorpius just kept staring at his teammates blankly as they descended.
"Well?" Albus grinned at Scorpius as they made their way to the locker rooms.
"You were great up there, Al." Scorpius said with a smile.
"Great?" Bart snorted, untying the laces from his quidditch gear. "Captain Albie was a fucking Merlin on a broomstick. Keep playing like this, Al, and we wouldn't have to move a muscle to get Slytherin the Cup this year."
Roman Nott whistled and said, "I hate to agree with Bart, but that was really something, Al."
"So," Bart said with a flourish of his hand. "Where's the party tonight, Captain?"
A/N: Hello! How did you like this chapter? I had this whole write up ready for the actual match, but decided against it in then end. This match is not going to be significant to the story by much. I didn't feel like giving someone a bludger inury just yet. It's too early to use that cliché. And I think by now, you all know how much I love my cliché (cliches?). Well. More on that later, I suppose. I was also a little unsure about going deep into Professor Provost's personal life. But I do have a back story for him in mind. It's still a plot bunny, but if any of you would like to see more of him, do let me know. If not, then I will write a short story on him anyway, for my own kicks and giggles. I think (ex)-Cursebreakers are pretty cool and from the moment I introduced him in the story, I have had this picture of him in my head.
One more thing, if anyone is interested to know (which you probably aren't and that's perfectly fine), I listened to "I Will Possess Your Heart" by Death Cab For Cutie on a loop while writing the Lily-Lorcan scenes. That song and that ship have literally possessed my heart. Ha ha.
Thank you for reviewing, following! Feedback is so precious!
Replying to the guest comment(s):
Thank you for your amazing reviews! I know that Albus seems like the loneliest guy on planet with undertones of a rebel. I feel sorry for him, too. But I adore him for his complexities. He contradicts himself so often. And I find it interesting. Initially I had decided to portray him as this straight laced boy with a minor role. I just wanted to focus on Rose and Scorpius. But the more characters I added, the more I wanted to explore their personalities. Including Lily and Lorcan! Oh, how I love that Scamander boy! Anyway, thanks again for reading! I hope you like this chapter.