A/N: I know I haven't updated in a while and for that I apologize. I would like to thank you all for your patience though! And I hope this chapter make s up for my lack of updating it. When I finally got the characters to work for me, I had a lot of fun writing this. It might seem a little filler-esque, but I like to build my characters up and their relationships.

A special shout out to Bucky5. Thanks for staying on me about writing this, (seriously people, you really should be thanking her), and for listening to me whine about the nonsensical insanity of my silly muses.

Anyway, on with the story!

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of the other awesome things you may recognize in this spiffylicious story.

The Rarest Type of Seer

Chapter 5

Two and a half hours later…give or take…

Scorpius dropped the last box of 'Whistling Whispers' on the floor in the inventory room of Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes.

When George Weasley had told Albus and Scorpius a couple days ago that he had new items for the market, Scorpius had no idea that it was an entire muggle truck load. He was glad that Lily and Cham had just happened to be out at George's house. They had made the moving a whole lot quicker, (and more enjoyable too.)

Making his way to the front of the store, he found Albus and Fred in what looked to be a rather heated conversation. He caught Cham's eye for a brief moment and she winked conspiratorially at him and grinned before turning back to the display that George had convinced her to make.

"Done in the back, are you, Scor?" George asked as he bustled his way past the blonde. He didn't give Scorpius a chance to respond and continued on, "good, good. You can go help Lily then." He pointed vaguely in the direction of the cash register as he moved away.

Lily was standing on a ladder behind the counter, reaching up to one of the higher shelves for a bottle that seemed to be jumping away from her hand any time it came near to the bottle.

Her shirt was riding up just enough to show a tiny bit of the milky white skin underneath, making his breath hitch in his throat.

'Bloody hormones!' He cursed in his mind

He moved over to the cash register and positioned himself so that he was leaning against the counter watching her. Yes, he probably should have jumped right into helping her like George had said, but he was having too much fun watching her struggle with the shelf.

And then, a strange thought crossed his mind. 'Wasn't Lily a witch? Couldn't she just summon the bottle?'

With these questions dancing around in his mind, he moved forward to the ladder. It was of some surprise to him that he stood right below her ear, and a sly look crossed over his face as he murmured, "you know, it might stop hopping around if you just summoned it."

Lily, startled from the sudden voice, and even more startled at the fact she didn't even realize Scorpius, of all people, was behind her, jumped about a foot in the air, (some exaggeration is of course, implied in this estimation), knocking her head into the bottom of the shelf that she was reaching to, and letting out a small screech.

She spun around so fast that she lost her footing and stumbled off the (somewhat stable) ladder, catching a glimpse of pretty blue-grey eyes before flailing her arms for balance and finally losing her footing altogether. She just knew that she was going to land flat on her face in front of the one person she had, for her entire life, (or at least since she was six years old), tried to avoid making a fool of herself in front of.

She was not expecting for him catch her. She landed face first in his arms, staring at the floor, and as far as she was concerned, she had just lost whatever dignity she had had.

"You can put me down now," she mumbled just loud enough for him to hear. She knew that her face was red all the way to the tips of her ears. 'Of all the traits I had to have in common with Uncle Ron….' Lily absolutely refused to look at Scorpius's face and the smirk she just knew was going to be there. She didn't feel like slapping it off of him. Nor did she feel the need to acknowledge the feeling of safety she had in this particular position.

Scorpius didn't even blink when she started to fall, just jumped forward and grabbed her up in his arms. His keeper skills, that he still practiced with to this day, coming into play. He was feeling just a tad bit guilty for scaring her so badly, even if he was enjoying their current position. He held her for a moment longer after she told him to put her down, and it was only when she started struggling with him that he came out of the slight stupor he was in.

He gently lowered her to the floor and then put his hands on her shoulders and studied her closely. "Are you sure you're alright?' He asked somewhat sheepishly.

Her eyes had drifted away to look at something behind him and Scorpius turned slightly to see Cham standing next to the counter, amusement dancing in her eyes. 'When did she come over here?' Choosing to ignore the tall girl, he turned back to focus on Lily.

Lily grunted at him and pushed him away slightly. "I'm fine, Scorpius," she practically hissed.

Scorpius ran a hand through his hair nervously. "Right. Sorry. Um, so yeah, George told me to come help you over here…." He trailed off at Lily's look of incredulity and Cham's not-so-subtle giggle.

"I don't think scaring the living wits out of me so I can fall off a ladder is helping very well," the dark haired girl stated dryly.

He sighed in irritation, whether it was at himself or her for her sharp tongue was anyone's guess. "Look, I said I was sorry, didn't I?"

Lily looked away from him and muttered something that caused the other girl to laugh outright and Scorpius knew that it could not have been very flattering to his character.

"WHAT did you just say?" He demanded of her.

Lily looked up at him with pure innocence shinning from her eyes. This had to be the most exasperating girl he had ever met in his entire existence. It was no wonder she had her father, Teddy, and James wrapped around her little finger. How Albus had managed to stay immune to her after all these years was beyond Scorpius's comprehension.

Groaning in frustration, Scorpius dragged his hand through his hair. "Never mind, let's just get this done so we can…"

The door to the shop opening behind him had Lily's bright green eyes widening, and his sentence being cut short.

"Well, well, well. What do we have here?" The voice was a smooth baritone, one that Scorpius had hoped to never hear in his life again. The Malfoy scion turned away from Lily slowly, consciously keeping her behind him. He had not liked the look of utter disgust and loathing, and that something else that had quickly crossed her face before she hid it away. He would examine his protectiveness towards the girl later.

Right now all he wanted to do was get this *person* out of here. As he turned fully around he noticed in his peripheral vision that Cham was moving to stand next to Lily, as if to shield her as well.

Thomas McLaggen stood there looking at the trio with what Scorpius thought was supposed to be a grin on his face. He was a couple inches shorter than Scorpius and his hair was of a light brownish shade. He had gray eyes like Scorpius, but his were darker, with flecks of brown within them. He was dressed well in a pair of tan trousers, and a black pea coat with a black and white striped scarf wrapped around his neck. He was flanked by two of his friends that Scorpius only slightly recognized.

Scorpius and Thomas had always been rivals, just as much as Harry and Draco had been rivals in their school days. The difference being that McLaggen wasn't being misled by anyone, nor was he trying to gain anybody's love. He was simply a jerk – of the worst kind.

"You move fast, huh Malfoy? Didn't you just break up with the Weasley tramp?"

Scorpius bristled slightly at hearing his longtime friend being called such a name. Even if he did somewhat agree with the assessment of her character, Rose had been one of his first true friends and it felt wrong to not defend her; which he didn't.

He could feel Lily's and Cham's eyes on him when he remained silent.

Thomas's grin took on a slight edge as he continued, "Not that I blame you though. Rose is a good piece to get into, but it's the innocent ones that are all the sweeter." The two goons behind Thomas laughed maliciously and Scorpius could literally feel Lily tense behind him.

He heard a disgruntled intake of breath from Cham, but before either of them could say anything at all, they were interrupted by a dangerously soft voice.

"What did you just say about my sister?" Albus appeared from seemingly nowhere with his wand at the ready and pointing directly at Thomas's chest. His green eyes were spitting fire and Scorpius could honestly say that he had never seen his best friend angry over a slight towards the youngest Potter.

Then again, few people talked about her around Albus. It was almost as if she were a taboo subject.

"Technically," Cham piped up, "it was Rose that he insulted."

Six sets of eyes turned to look at the blonde girl incredulously. Well, it was probably five. Lily was too busy gawking at her brother. From the looks of it, she was more than a little surprised at Albus's sudden concern.

Scorpius turned back to Cham who shrugged her shoulders delicately. "What?" She asked, "It's true and you guys know it."

"Seriously Cham. Don't help." Lily muttered to her friend. There was an ironic edge to her voice that made Scorpius wonder if these two girls took anything seriously. He could feel his lip twitching up into a slight grin as he watched how the two girls seemed to diffuse the situation in a matter of seconds.

Stepping around Scorpius and up to her brother, Lily stopped just in front of Albus. She pushed his wand arm down and stood there studying him for what seemed like ages. Albus, for his part, stared right back at her and there was a strange calmness that fell over the room.

"Huh," was the barely audible word that escaped her lips. That was all she said before she turned away from him with a somewhat happier glint in her eye.

Scorpius had no idea what had just passed between the two Potter siblings, but whatever it was, it was of definite significance.

"I want to go get my Christmas shopping done, Cham." Lily said abruptly. She walked briskly back over to her best friend and grabbed her wrist, pulling her away from where she stood near Scorpius. Then turning to address Fred, whom Scorpius had not realized had joined the group, she said, "Will you tell Uncle George that our work here is done? I'm sure you guys can handle it. Besides all that's really left is that shelf right there that needs rearranging." She pointed at the shelf that she had been working on before Scorpius had scared her quite literally off the ladder. "It shouldn't be that hard, Scorpius said that he can just summon it into place." She grinned impishly up at her cousin, while Scorpius spluttered.

"I…what…wait a minute….."

The blonde boy watched as Lily summarily dismissed the troublemakers by ignoring them completely and walked out the front door with her best friend being dragged along.

"She certainly has a way to get things done her way," Fred said with a grin. "Though, I have to say, Lily never was one much for confrontation. She always left that up to you guys, didn't she?" He had that same impish look on his face that Lily had before she left the shop. Then he shrugged ever-so-casually and told the two boys still standing there to get back to work.

"Oh, and you guys?" The red haired Weasley said, turning to Thomas and his goons. "You should probably get out of here before my father realizes you're here, beings that we're closed and all that. I wouldn't want him to think that you're trying to steal something. He might decide to make you his next beta testers." The look on Fred's face was almost feral with glee as he thought of the three men standing in front of him being used as test subjects by his father. After all, nobody was allowed to talk about his favorite cousin that way. Rose was one thing, but Lily was a completely different story.

"This isn't over Malfoy!" Thomas snarled as he stormed out of the shop with the two others following behind.

"What did you do to him?" Fred wanted to know.

Scorpius was just as much at a loss as the others. He shrugged at the Weasley boy and then sighed while turning back to the shelf that Lily had left for him to rearrange. He let out a reluctant chuckle and looked at the shelf. The blonde haired man had to give her credit, she was a clever one. 'What was that book? It was about some kid who got others to do his work without them even realizingit?' He knew it was a muggle book, and it was considered a classic among them as well. He had seen it a number of times in the Potter's library. Teddy had even mentioned once in passing that it was one of Lily's favorites. Scorpius pondered this for a few minutes before giving it up as a loss and turned to his work.

About fifteen minutes later, he was putting the finishing touches on the shelf above the register when Fred and Albus joined him.

"Dad says we can go as soon as you're finished there, Scorpius," Fred informed him. "He even gave me all of our checks. …He said something about us getting out of his hair and getting our own Christmas shopping done. He doesn't want to hear us complaining last minute." The Weasley twinkle was in his eye as he grinned at his two friends, making Scorpius laugh and Albus groan.

"I hate shopping," the black haired boy muttered.

"I'm done here, let's get out of here then" Scorpius said. "Where to?"

The boys grabbed their jackets and Fred yelled out to his father that they were leaving. The air was fresh and cold with a tiny bite to it as they walked out the door.

"I'm pretty hungry," Albus said. "What? I am!" He exclaimed when they gave him an incredulous look. "I'm not just saying that because I don't want to go shopping. Which, by the way, I don't," he added as an afterthought. "But that's not the point. It's been hours since we had breakfast." As if to emphasize his point, his stomach grumbled loudly just then.

The other two laughed at him and Fred said, "Jeez Albus, you would think you were starved listening to the way your stomach makes noises."

Albus merely shrugged. He was used to being teased for being hungry all the time. There was a reason he was called the bottomless pit in the Potter family.

"The 'Leaky Cauldron' it is then," Scorpius said. Albus did have a point, it was one in the afternoon and they had not eaten anything since early that morning.

The three men made their way down the street and into the local pub and doorway between the muggle and wizarding England. A warm atmosphere greeted them when they entered. The large fire on the far wall was roaring warmly and people were laughing loudly. There were even a few children running around the room.

Behind the counter stood a pale skinned girl talking to a patron and from the looks of it, she was taking an order. She had dark eyes that had a happy glow to them and waist brown hair that, although the boys knew it to be waist-length, was tied up in a messy bun with a pen sticking through it. A set of dainty glasses sat on her nose that she pushed up every few minutes. When she saw who had walked through the door she immediately grinned, said something to the patron, and greeted the boys with a slightly sardonic, "Welcome to the 'Leaky Cauldron.'"

The boys sat down in one of the empty booths and Alice brought them all coffee cups with piping hot steam coming off the top.

"What can I get for you guys today?" She asked in a slightly–too-perky voice.

"Hey Alice," Fred said. "Working hard today?"

"Not really," she replied with a dainty shrug. "It's been steady, but not really busy. Lily and Cham came in a little while ago."

Albus's head popped up at that. "They did?" He questioned.

Alice studied him for a moment, the replied, "Yes. They're still here too. Somewhere. I'm not sure where though. Why?" She asked him, somewhat suspiciously.

Albus shook his head at her. "Never mind," he mumbled. He contemplated something for a few minutes while Alice got them all menus.

Scorpius was, for the most part, quite content to just look around the pub. He had always enjoyed people watching and made it a habit to do a little whenever he got the chance.

"Are you going to get him something again this year?" A whispered voice questioned from the next booth over.

There was a pause, and then another quiet voice answered. "Probably. I mean, I do every year, don't I? Just because he isn't aware that it's me…. Actually, I think I like it that way."

He could tell that whoever the girl was, (and it was definitely two girls that were having this conversation), she was enjoying the thought of being someone's secret admirer.

She giggled slightly. "Besides, I love how he's always so blasé about it. Then again, it could just be that he really is that oblivious, though you would think that as much time as he's spent in that particular room, he would figure it out." She laughed again.

"Boys are so hopeless sometimes," her friend said somewhat sympathetically.

"HA! Sometimes? Try always! Especially him! I don't think he even knew I existed until just recently." Scorpius could hear the wistfulness in her voice when she said this. He never understood un-requited emotions. Too him it was a simple matter of, 'tell them how you feel, and deal with the rejection if it comes.'

He scoffed slightly at himself, earning a strange look from Fred. "You alright there, Mate?" Fred asked.

Scorpius grunted and tuned back into the conversation that was going on in the booth behind him.

"….get him, then?" The first girl was asking.

Although he couldn't see her, he could practically feel the other girl shrug. "I don't know," she said. "Probably the same thing I always do. A me…" she trailed off and Scorpius wondered what it was she was going to say.

There was some rustling and he could hear some quiet whispers, and then suddenly a shadow fell across the table causing the three boys to look up from the menus that they were perusing and pushing all thoughts of the curious conversation between the girls out of Scorpius's mind. There stood a flushed looking Lily Potter staring Malfoy dead in the eye and a grinning Cham right next to her.

"Lily?" Albus questioned. "What's the matter?"

She tore her gaze from Scorpius and looked at her older brother. "Nothing." She told him shortly. Then turning her gaze back to Scorpius, she told him in a cold voice, "Stay out of my head!" She then turned and stormed away.

Once again Scorpius was left spluttering by the dark haired girl. "What did I do?" He asked cluelessly.

Cham was laughing quietly at the exchange, and even Albus seemed to be at a loss as to what was going on. Turning to the tall blonde girl he asked, "What was that about?"

Cham rolled her expressive eyes at him and grinned. "If you can't figure it out, Big Brother," she said in a saccharine voice, "then I ain't gonna tell ya."

"Chameleon." Albus said in a warning tone, which only made the blonde girl grin more. Scorpius raised his eyebrow at the given name. 'And I thought I had a rotten name. Now wonder she goes by Cham.'

Appearing out of nowhere once again, Lily grabbed a hold of Cham's wrist, muttering something along the lines of, "Your Texas is showing, Cham," and dragged her away from the boys.

As the two girls made what looked to be like a mad dash for the door, they almost ran poor Alice down as they passed by her. Lily stopped inches in front of the waitress and said something that caused Alice to giggle, and then continued on her way out the door. Cham was still being dragged behind her.

"I see you found your sister, Albus," Alice said by way of greeting when she came back to the table full of boys. "Did you do something to make her mad again?"

Albus groaned while pushing his hand through his hair. "Why is it that whenever Lily is upset about something, it has to be my fault?" He asked, slightly frustrated.

"Because it usually is your fault." Fred deadpanned. "Or it's Rose's. Either way it boils down to your little group." Turning to Alice he continued, "Although this time it was neither of them."

Alice had a questioning look on her face. "Oh?"

Fred had that impish look again. "I don't know what he did," the red head flicked his fingers in Scorpius's direction, "But, he sure did make her mad."

The look on Alice's face was a mixture of incredulity and humor. "Scorpius upset her?" She asked. "That Scorpius." She pointed her finger in his direction, then said, "The one that's sitting right there?"

Albus raised his head and looked at Alice like she had lost her mind. "Do you know of another Scorpius?" He asked her sarcastically.

Scorpius looked at her in curiosity.

"No," she said and then promptly broke down into giggles. "I just….didn't….. I didn't…. know it was possible…..for him….for him to make her so angry." She gasped out between giggles.

"What is that supposed to mean?" The blonde in question asked her.

"Nothing. Nothing at all, 'O Clueless Ones'."

Apparently Fred had grasped onto a little bit of what was going on, because he had started laughing as well.

"Oh, come on! Are you guys going to tell me exactly what is going on, or what?" Scorpius asked in exasperation.

"Or what," Fred said dryly through his laughter.

"Don't worry," Alice said, "you'll figure it out. Eventually." Alice took a deep breath and gathered herself together. "Now, what would you guys like to eat?"

Scorpius groaned. He didn't like it when Lily was upset with him and then he wondered why he even cared at all, since he just barely met the girl a day ago.

After taking their orders and bringing them their food, Alice joined them for her break.

The conversation turned to Christmas shopping and who they still had to shop for. (How they managed to get on this particular conversation was beyond Scorpius's comprehension, but talking about it they were.)

Albus was saying something about getting a new easel for someone, but because Scorpius had only been listening to part of the conversation, he didn't catch who it was they were talking about. Not that it really mattered; there were so many people in the Weasley clan that he just couldn't keep up.

Alice turned to him with a knowing grin on her face and a look in her eyes that made Scorpius slightly wary of her. "What are you going to get for her?" The girl asked him.

"Why would he get anything for her?" It was a genuine question that Albus had asked with no rancor whatsoever in his voice.

Thoroughly confused on what or more like who the two of them were talking about, Scorpius asked, "Get for who?"

Fred snorted into his drink at the blonde's question, Albus rolled his eyes, and Alice muttered darkly.

"For your information, Albus," she said with slight venom in her voice, looking at the middle Potter child, "She gets him something every single year! It's not her fault you guys are so imbecilic that you just don't realize it!"

"And as for you," she griped, rounding onto Scorpius, "If you can't figure out who we're talking about, then I'm not going to tell you!" With that she got up from the table, took a deep breath and turned back to the boys with a smile on her face.

"My break is over. I hope you guys have a good day shopping. All those crowds…." She shook her head and tsked in mock sadness as she walked away.

"You know?" Fred queried, making the other two turn their attention to him. "I think she's been spending more time than she probably should with Lily and Cham. All that extra insanity is getting to her head." He grinned at the two boys with mischief written all over his face.

Switching gears and throwing the other two off completely, the red head said, "We should get going. Don't want to miss all that fun shopping." Standing up, he threw a few galleons on the table and grabbed his jacket.

Albus groaned and followed suit, but he turned back when he realized Scorpius was still sitting there. The blonde was lost in thought over Alice's parting words, but at his friends' sudden departure, he ripped himself out of his thoughts and threw his own couple of galleons on the table, grabbed his own coat and followed his friends silently out the door.

Another A/N: Yes, Cham's name really is 'Chameleon'. She actually likes her name a lot. She enjoys being different. Plus she fits her name quite well.

I love Lily/Scorpius interaction! They amused me greatly in this chapter. Poor Scorpius. He just doesn't know how to deal with the 'Littlest Potter'. Heh. Heh.

Ok, so on a slightly more serious note, I know that I suck at updating and I'm even worse at replying to reviews, but I want you to know that I appreciate each and every one that I get. I thank all of you that have faved and alerted this story, but if you have a moment to spare, would you please leave a review?

I like to know what you guys are thinking about the characters development and where you think I may be going. You never know, some of your ideas may just inspire me and you may even see them put in the story. If nothing else, you could always just leave a random stray thought.

Lily doesn't seem to mind them so much when they are in the form of a review. :)

So, come on my friends! Let us hear them! I might even be willing to share virtual cookies with you. ;)

CHEERS!
~Jeni