There are certain things that you would never expect from certain people. For Rose, that list of people and things would contain Hugo saying no to someone, her mum not being busy, her dad not laughing at his own jokes, Albus gossiping, Lily not fussing, James falling for a girl who didn't have fantastic "assets"... the list, as one could see, was long. Lorcan having- as he had put it so eloquently- having a "special someone" would be one of those things. And from the looks of it, Lorcan was either unsure of that particular situation, or mad about it, or both. It was really hard to tell from his pinched expression, as it was a rare look on his otherwise startlingly blank face. Lorcan wasn't what one would call a garden variety Chatty Cathy, after all. Sure, they went to the library together. And Rose had often seen him frowning over his books like he was finding the cure to cancer in them (not that the magical population was prone to having cancer), or debating with her on, well, everything in the history of the universe in his scholarly way. Those were the rare moments when Lorcan opened up- if you could call it that. Mostly- and this was just Rose's theory- because he was quite passionate about things he thoroughly understood. This, however, wasn't one of those topics. Lorcan was chewing the inside of his cheek, not saying a single word as a form of admission to his "I already have someone in life" bomb.

Now Rose wasn't big on talking about feelings, either. She rarely talked about her own. But she was almost certain that even though the girl Lorcan had just referred to was most probably not Lily, the way Lorcan looked at Lily made Rose suspect that Lily was involuntarily and unknowingly involved, or starting to cause chaos in Lorcan's quiet mind. The dormant romantic in Rose raised her head from her slumber, itching with the sort of anticipation that made her sick. She tried to stomp it down by chanting "Idon'twanttoknowIdon'twanttoknow" to herself. But the more she did that the more she wanted to know what the deal was. Maybe she was channeling Lily's spirit. Or maybe Lily had finally cracked the code to somehow possessing someone's body and being alive, all at once. She wouldn't put it past Lily, after all. Lily would have a field day with an ability like that.

Rose shuddered at that line of thought and decided that it was time to put Lorcan and herself out of their misery as she raised an eyebrow- or tried to raise one eyebrow, but since she wasn't equipped with that particular talent of nature like Scorpius Malfoy- damn him- she ended up with a twisted expression of her own as she asked, "Well? Who is she, then?"

Lorcan gave out a frustrated sigh as he specifically avoided looking her in the eye and mumbled a barely audible, "Just a girl."

Rose barely controlled herself from rolling her eyes. She couldn't afford that kind of attitude with a grumpy guy like Lorcan when she wanted answers from him. "Yeah, I figured as much," she said levelly, a little bit of sarcasm seeping past her filter. "I was more referring to her identity than her gender."

Lorcan rubbed his scratchy looking chin. He was debating whether he should tell Rose about June or not. Lorcan had started dating June last summer. They had a good thing going. She lived next door and went to Beauxbatons. June was…nice. Uncomplicated. Understanding. Pretty. At the end of that summer when Lorcan had to come back to Hogwarts for his sixth year, June told him that he shouldn't worry about her because she didn't want to bind him into an impossible long-distance relationship. They had remained summer lovers who only reconciled in, well, summer. And the rest of the year they owled each other. It was a casual relationship. Lorcan, ever so practical, was more than happy with this arrangement. This way he could keep girls here at Hogwarts at bay. And concentrate on his coursework. He was the only seventh year taking twelve classes this year, including NEWT level Muggle Studies and Alchemy. And he needed all the time he could get to study.

He knew Rose was prying. He was not stupid. She had been a friend of sorts, so Lorcan knew how she ticked. Rose wasn't like a bloodhound when she was up to something. She wouldn't pry unless she was concerned. She was not sneaky. Her motives were usually harmless and quite obvious. And she always asked frank questions. Lorcan liked that about her. But in this case, he wasn't sure why she was asking questions, yet. And he had a niggling suspicion that whatever it was, he wouldn't like it. So, he decided to trade with caution as he said, "Her name is June. She lives next door and goes to Beauxbatons."

"Oooh. Fancy." Rose whistled. "How old is she?"

"Uh, eighteen."

Rose nodded at him without really saying anything. She kept tugging at a thread on the sleeve of her t-shirt, deep in thought.

"So, you have a girlfriend. That's great!"

"She is not my girlfriend." Lorcan let out a frustrated sigh. "Its –a—a thing we have. A very casual thing."

"Let me ask you something," Rose folded her hands in front of her and sat up a little straighter. "Does this thing of yours involve going on dates?"

"A few."

"Does she owl you often?"

"Lately she has begun writing more often, I suppose." Lorcan shrugged.

"Knew it," Rose shook her head in exasperation. "Does she ask you where this thing is going in her letters?"

"Well, not in th—"

"Never mind," Rose held up her hand. Her whole routine had made Lorcan break a sweat by now. But he had more ego than an average person to ever back out and admit that Rose had got him. "How about sex?"

Lorcan's eyes grew wide and he blinked once, resembling a sleep deprived owl. "Wh—what?"

"Sex, Lorcan. You know, that thing we experiment with as teens among other things? The thing where a boy puts—"

"I know what sex is," Lorcan said stiffly giving her a "talk to the hand" sign, looking extremely offended by Rose's line of questioning, which was expected, as Lorcan was, well, he was a bit old fashioned that way. At least that's what Rose had always thought. He didn't like it when people used crass language or threw in a sexual innuendo. She had seen disapproval written all over his face when James had said something particularly saucy about Carmen Miranda's purple knickers.

Lorcan at last got over Rose's directness and said, "That—sex—basically sums up a significant aspect of it."

Rose didn't say anything, but nodded expectantly.

"She says she wants to give me space."

"Well, she is in France right now, so…" Rose trailed.

"Not like that. She wants us to have our separate lives at school. Going on dates and stuff, you know."

Rose sniffed, trying really hard not to judge this June girl the way only girls try not to judge other girls' life choices. Hey, don't judge Rose for judging. Nobody said she was infallible. In all honesty, she couldn't grasp June's motives—not that Lorcan was very forthcoming about her in the first place. But from what little he had said, three possibilities came to her mind:

1) Either June was one of those girls who called them "free spirits". You know, those hippie types who believed in giving out love to all and all that jazz. She was probably dating up a storm back in France while Lorcan here—and Rose knew this for a fact because news travelled fast here at Hogwarts—was not dating a single soul.

2) Or she really was a very practical gal who was smart enough to know that long-distance never really worked.

3) Or—and this was a big "or"—she really was a very practical gal who was smart enough to know that long-distance never really worked, and she was in love with Lorcan. A total goner.

Rose couldn't really blame her if it was no.3. Sure, Lorcan wasn't her—Rose's type, but if the number of girls who frequently visited the library for Lorcan-watching or the fact that Lorcan had the whole broody thing going on like Albus (minus the I-am-the-son-of-the-savior-and-constantly-compared-to-said-savior-therefore-my-pain-is-bigger-than-yours complex) which girls found appealing was any indication, Lorcan certainly could be a lot of girls' type with his dark looks and his old-fashionedness. At least that was the empirical evidence.

Whatever the case maybe, right now Lorcan's entire story seemed to have gaps the size of the Hogwarts quidditch field. And the way Lorcan's shoulders had gone all stiff, she was sure he had caught on to her prying. She decided to cut her losses. But this whole exercise in interrogation had a purpose that had completely been backburnered: Lily. So she closed the topic, but with a warning.

"You're right," she said with a leveled voice. "This does sound a bit complicated. But I hope you will not break someone's heart in the process."

With that, she left the Great Hall, leaving Lorcan slightly frowning at her. After a minute of contemplation accompanied by a series of wistful sighs, Lorcan did the same. He, after all, had an appointment with a special someone. A lot of special someones, actually.

After practically running away from the Great Hall like her tail was on fire, Lily had decided to visit Hagrid in a moment of inspiration.

She realized that it was a bit chilly outside as she wrapped arms around herself and waited for Hagrid to open the door. Over the years, Hagrid's Hut had expanded into more than a hut. It was more like Hagrid's Animal Farm. But nobody called it that.

She didn't know the entire story, but from what she had heard from her father over the years, Hagrid had been one would call an animal lover and collector. At one point, he had fancied himself a dragon adopter, in fact. That dream had never come to fruition, but Hagrid had other animals in his care. After the war, when Hogwarts was being remodeled, Harry had fought tooth and nail for Hagrid to have his own sanctuary of beasts—mostly a dozen or so Hyppogriffs, a bunch of Thestrals, a couple of griffins, a few thunderbirds, pixies, a very old three-headed dog, and three dogs—of the normal variety. And these were just the animals Lily knew of. There could be more. But nobody was allowed to enter the place unless Hagrid gave them the key. The place was more guarded than a prison. But it was more like a safe haven for a lot of beasts who had lost home when a part of the forbidden forest had been destroyed during the war. The ministry had agreed to the plan on the condition that Hagrid hire a couple of helping hands, which he had in form of Steve Harvey, a surly wizard of forty years and more recently, Calliope Bello, a woman in her late twenties with beautiful curly black hair. Calliope was friendlier than Steve. She looked like an Amazonian princess with her amazing stature. All the boys either drooled over her, or were scared to death of her. All three of them worked as the Gamekeepers of Hogwarts. But Steve preferred being Old Filch's crony than working with Hagrid. There was something fundamentally wrong with Steve. Nobody knew what exactly, but nobody liked him. Maybe it was the fact that he had a humped back and his face permanently twisted into a grimace. Hagrid had tried to get rid of him before. But it hadn't worked. Steve had some footing somewhere in the ministry. So instead of kicking him out, they had given Hagrid Calliope, who had quickly become Hagrid's right hand, and his unofficial daughter. All three of them had quarters in the Hut, thanks to the power of Extension Charms. But it made visiting Hagrid often difficult, especially if Steve was around.

Lily felt relieved when it was Calliope who opened the door with a big grin on her face. "Hello, Little Redbird," she said. Lily grinned back at her use of her special nickname. "Hey, Calliope." she said, looking around for any sign of Surly Steve.

"Don't worry. He is not here. Ran off to see his master, I think," Calliope drawled. "Come on in. I'll fetch Hagrid."

Lily let out a breath of relief and looked around what you could call The Hut's common room. It was warmer here, which was just Lily had hoped for. She plopped herself in a raggedy looking, but oddly comfortable chair by the fire and warmed her hands. Boy, this place was homey. A bit smelly, too. But definitely homey.

"Little Lil!" Hagrid boomed as he limped on his heavy looking staff. "Haven't seen yer pretty little face here in a while."

He seemed delighted to see her. But then again, Hagrid loved having all the Potter-Weasley children visit, except maybe Cousin Molly, who secretly nobody really liked because she was a whiner.

"Hagrid!" Lily leapt to her feet excitedly and hugged his giant old body gingerly, careful not to throw his old arthritic body off balance. "How are you? How is the leg? Where is Spotty? Can I play with him? Got any cake?"

For reasons nobody could fathom, Lily was the one freak o' nature who liked Hagrid's horrid cakes. She always had. But then again, she could stomach almost anything. A thing of envy to most people who knew her.

"For you, always," Hagrid gave her a wobbly smile, "Come on, tell me what that brother of yers is upto."

"Which one?" Lily groaned, as she tried to help Hagrid sit on the chair opposite hers without much success.

"The younger one," Hagrid hissed out in pain as he took seat. The chair creaked a little. "What's 'is name? Yes. Albus. Where is 'e? 'asn't been 'ere ter see me once since you lot came back from home!"

Lily frowned at that. That was unlike Albus. Out of all three of them, Albus was the one who perhaps loved Hagrid most fiercely. She had heard her parents talking about Albus once during his first year. Her father was worried. He was telling her mum that Albus had been miserable after his sorting into Slytherin and ended up sleeping in Hagrid's Hut for a couple of nights until Scorpius Malfoy had shown up and urged Al to come with him to the dorm unless he wanted to get expelled. Hagrid had written Harry a note to let him know his child's trials. That first year had been hard for Albus and harder on their parents. He had returned to his dorm. But he hadn't been accepted by everyone wholeheartedly. There were rumours about him being a Dark Wizard among some of the older Slytherins who looked at him with distrust and fear. He had grown quieter. He had become even more of a loner. But thanks to Hagrid being Albus' proxy parent, James' tough love, and Scorpius' friendship, Albus had at last come to his senses. His quietness still remained, but at the end of the year he seemed happier. He had even made a few more friends. But Albus had never forgotten what he owed Hagrid. He always visited Hagrid every Saturday morning like clockwork and brought little tea cakes for Hagrid that he probably stole from the kitchens.

Maybe the whole thing with Dad was messing up Al's mind. You never knew with him. He wasn't exactly a sharer.

"He is busy finding an internship, I think," Lily feigned nonchalance. "I will tell him that you miss him."

"I dun miss 'im. I worry," Hagrid said gruffly. "Yeh lot in't wha I'd call sensible. Like father, like chillun, all o' yeh."

"Hey! Don't pile me in with those gits!" Lily grumbled. "I am a lady."

Hagrid and Calliope both snorted in unison at that as Hagrid said, "Yeah. And Spotty 'ere is a gentleman."

Lily gave the big old giant an offended look and said, "Fine. Tell me everything. How are things with your beasts."

"Careful now, Redbird," Calliope quipped. "Old Hagrid here doesn't like people calling his children beasts."

"He calls them beasts himself!"

"Yeah, well. Haven't you heard people yelling at their own children?"

"Don't remind me," Lily said with a martyred expression. "I know all about that pain."

"Are yeh two quite finished with yer buffoonery?" Hagrid rolled eyes. "Calliope, go see ter Marty. I think 'e is getting anxious. I wonder where that boy is. 'E's late again. And you," he indicated to Lily, "fetch me those letters from the tabe, will yer? I need some 'elp."

"See what I'm talking about?" Calliope tossed over her shoulder at Lily as she left to see to the Mysterious Marty, who was probably the one making the awful screeching noise.

Lily smiled as she went to fetch Hagrid's letters. But then she heard a knock and looked at Hagrid who indicated towards the door, "Well? Open it, girl. Must be the boy."

Lily wasn't sure who this boy was exactly that Hagrid had been cursing so much. Must be Steve, she though absentmindedly as she walked to the door. Who wouldn't curse him? And opened the door.

Standing—or towering—before her, was Lorcan Scamander, the sleeves of the midnight blue sweater he'd been wearing earlier in the Great Hall pulled up to his elbows, exposing his beautifully sculpted forearms. Lily swallowed back a lusty sigh. Fit looking boy forearms were her Kryptonite. After thoroughly ogling said forearms and those amazingly wide shoulders she finally looked into his dark brown gaze. He looked troubled. Not a familiar expression on his usually frowny/disapproving face. He pursed his lips as he did the same thing unknowingly that Lily was doing a moment ago quite knowingly. He scanned her thoroughly, stopping a moment at Lily's long neck then cleared his throat and looked away quickly as if he remembered something suddenly and schooled his features into a blank mask.

"Oi! Is that yeh, boy?" Hagrid hollered. "Lily, who is it? I can't see yer blasted faces from 'ere. Close the door and get inside before yeh catch a cold. Foolish children." He muttered the last part under his breath.

"Hi." Lily said, her eyes wide, remembering that she should have said that about a million years ago when she had started stripping him naked with her eyes, praying to any higher power that was currently listening that Lorcan hadn't noticed her staring.

"Hullo, Lily." He said in that gravelly voice of his as he offered a little smile. "I thought you had some reading to do."

"Yeah, well," Lily chewed on her lower lip. "I changed my mind."

Lorcan's gaze latched on to Lily's lower lip. He knew what was happening here. This really odd feeling was creeping into him, the one that had started to breed into him about two years ago. A kind of longing that he had harbored while gazing at Lily from afar. An old ache that he had buried deep because it was futile. It was unrequited. Lily had always loathed him. The tenuous thing that they had going right now was because Lily needed him—his help with Potions. That's all there was to it. Nothing else. He scolded himself. You are her tutor. Snap out of it, mate. And besides, she is young. Too young.

He cleared his throat and walked around her to greet Hagrid, who he suspected was glaring at him. It was hard to tell with him because Hagrid had gone almost blind. "Hey, Hagrid. How's it going?"

"Yer late. Tha's wha's goin'." Hagrid replied, although he didn't seem particularly miffed at him. And then Lily realized what was really going on here. Hagrid was one of those adults who were under Lorcan's legendary spell. They all loved him. And why wouldn't they? He was practically born an adult himself.

"I'm sorry," Lorcan chuckled. "I overslept."

Lily knew he was lying. But wasn't sure why, utterly curious of what had really transpired between him and Rose.

Hagrid shook his head in disapproval. "'Kay. Yeh can go out the back. Calliope's tendin' ter Marty. 'E 'as been wailin' last night."

"What happened?" Lorcan asked, his brows etched with concern.

"Ah, same ol'. Misses 'is mamma. Yer the only 'un who 'e listens ter."

Lorcan sighed in defeat, sounding like he had been through the exact same situation a thousand times before. "Alright. Let me see what I can do."

"Wait!" Lily blurted out, unable to stop herself.

Lorcan stopped in his tracks and raised an eyebrow at her in question.

"What's going on? Why are you here? Nobody is allowed in there." She asked sharply, her question coming out way harsher than she originally intended.

Lorcan realized that and steeled himself a bit more. If Lily was back to her hostile self, it meant that it was apparently time for them to be at outs with each other for them. He wanted to snap back. But before he could do it, Hagrid answered for him quite matter-of-factly. "Don't yeh know? Young Lorcan 'ere is me apprentice!" He continued proudly. "Very talented, yes 'e is. Very kind, too. The beasts love 'im, don't they, boy?"

Lorcan's ears turned a bit pink—the only sign of his embarrassment. Lily frowned in confusion. Why was Lorcan working for Hagrid? "Why are you working for Hagrid?" Lily asked, immediately regretting the way she had asked the question.

Lorcan glared at her. But Hagrid hadn't seemed to notice as he said, "Why, ter become a Magizoologist, o'course! Don't yeh know, Little Lil? It's a family tradition for the Scamanders. 'Ave a way with beasts, all of 'em. Or most of 'em." Hagrid said the last part as an afterthought. "That other one-Lysander. Wouldn't leave 'im alone with even Old Spotty 'ere…"

Lily wasn't listening to Hagrid. She stared at Lorcan with a new perspective who stared back in challenge, as if daring her to comment on this new information that she had gathered. Lorcan, the Library Lover who was always cooped up unto himself. Lorcan, who had just a couple of friends. Lorcan, who had never really shown interest in outdoors, much alone animals to her knowledge. It didn't make any sense.

When Lily didn't say anything, Lorcan looked at Hagrid and muttered, "I better go and see what's going on."

"Wait!"

Lorcan sighed and asked Lily without turning towards her. "What now, Lily."

"Can I come with you?"

A/N: So? So? Do you like it? Love it? Hate it? Wish it had never been born?

At the risk of sounding like a total narcissist, I loved this chapter. I had a really hard time constructing June's back story. And I am pretty sure that that particular plot line probably took away a few points off Lorcan's otherwise flawless character. But Lorcan needed that. He needed a weakness. I don't believe in perfection when it comes to people. Everyone is flawed, should be flawed. Oh, and no Scorpius for y'all this chapter. Sorry about that. Next chapter you will find out why Harry had to go there. I am warning you guys, though. The reason is pretty obvious.

Anyway, thanks to all who followed/favorited/reviewed. Please continue to do so.

PS: Hagrid's dialect is really hard to write.