At first it was so subtle Harry wouldn't have noticed it. He received countless letters to his office every single day, some from concerned citizens, and some from fans all around the world. Typically, he had his assistant, Daniel, handle the fan mail as it was too much for him to deal with and continue to work, but occasionally the letters would require Harry's attention and he'd be forced to read them. He didn't send autographs or photos. It simply felt too much like Professor Lockhart's method for him. Incidentally, he had gone to see Lockhart again since his last visit to the long-term ward. Lockhart's brain remained as addled as ever, sadly.
But the fan letters that started to arrive in the first weeks in January were so over-the-top it set Daniel on edge. They fawned over Harry's accomplishments and achievements in life to the point of being almost embarrassing. Every single one of them arrived in a red envelope and was signed with an X that was flourished, prompting Daniel to tease Harry about Ginny having competition for his affections.
They arrived every day, sometimes twice a day, with various themes on the same topic until eventually they began to repeat themselves after almost a month. Curious, Harry decided to examine one of the letters further and realized each of them had a very distinct cursive handwriting that never, ever, made a mistake.
Sighing heavily, he made a trip to Diagon Alley with one of them to present to his brother-in-law. "Can you explain this?" he asked George wearily.
George took only a second to read it before bursting into laughter. "It's one of our Love Quills alright. It's the one designed for women to use."
"Great, just splendid," Harry grumbled as George went on to explain the idea of the quill.
Essentially, George had hired two authors, one male and one female, to write dozens of love letters so that amorous, but utterly inept, witches and wizards would have a way to express their feelings to the one they love. In theory, it was a good idea… as long as the recipient never realized the letters were a fake. "Really, George?"
George ignored his sarcasm as he frowned down at the letters. "Only thing is, once they've written all the letters the quill goes inactive. It's a once and done thing. If you're starting to get repeats, then someone has more than one quill."
"Can you figure out who bought more than one?" Harry asked hopefully.
George shrugged. "On something like this, we don't keep records. On things which might be dangerous, we always get the customer's name. A Love Quill can't exactly hurt someone so we probably don't have anything unless the customer bought another item with it which was dangerous. I'll have to ask the staff and check through the records. When did they start arriving?"
Thus leaving George to try to solve the mystery of the writer, Harry went back to the office and was immediately called out to the sighting of a Dementor in Kent since all of the other Aurors were thus engaged, and Harry liked to keep active in the field when the opportunity presented itself, even though the odds that it was a Dementor were nil.
He promptly forgot all about the annoying letters in the process of removing an actual Dementor from an old house where it was feeding off of the Muggle residents until it was spotted by an old witch who lived down the street.
Never a dull moment.
However, Daniel had not forgotten about them and he went down to the Ministry's post office to ask about the owls bringing in the letters, only to find out the letters were just appearing in the post office without an owl.
That definitely caught Harry's attention, but without an owl to track there wasn't much they could do about it. It was decided that the letters would be gathered in the post's office for a week and then Daniel would collect them to sort through them. The volume of letters was increasing and unfortunately, George had come up empty on who had bought them, although one of the employees remembered a man coming in a couple of times to buy five at a time. At first she'd thought it was a different man, but then after the fourth time she realized it was the same man disguising himself badly. She'd offered to do a sketch, but had no idea which face was the real one. They'd hit a dead end.
And then one of the letters blew up in the post office.
Harry and most of his staff had been in a meeting to discuss the Dementor, which had apparently been hiding in the countryside since the Dementors had been kicked out of England when it happened.
A tremendous BOOM sounded through the floors of the office, practically knocking Harry off his feet. In moments they were all running towards the lifts, which weren't working, of course. They had to go to the emergency stairs, which were also badly damaged in the explosion. By the time they made it three flights, they ran into someone who said it happened in the post office and Harry knew, in his gut, his mystery letters were responsible.
He was right. They put out fires, pulled out the few people who were burned, and started an investigation. One of the letters which had arrived hours before had exploded. The only reason more people weren't hurt was because only one wizard worked in the office with two old house-elves and the elves had worked their magic to protect the wizard and themselves from the blast. Unfortunately, it decimated the whole room and knocked out every room around it, injuring dozens.
"This is a mess," Harry growled in frustration as he ran a hand through his graying hair. "If that had gone off in the Auror's office…"
"We could have all been killed," Teddy filled in. "We don't have a house-elf to protect us. It's lucky old Jones did."
Jones, in fact, seemed to only have a few bruises to his knees where he fell when the blast hit.
"It should have been up in my office," Harry pointed out in disgust. "We only left them down here because it seemed like it was nothing." They were interrupted before Teddy could say anything else.
"Harry," Hermione called as she picked her way through the debris. "Do we have any leads yet?"
"We know it's a man," Harry informed her grimly. "That's all we know. I'll get a sketch artist over to George's place to get the shop girl to give us any leads, but I don't think it will help. I doubt he ever went in using his real face."
Hermione gazed around at the mess and shook her head sadly. "It's a miracle no one died. We're going to award the house-elves with a medal for their bravery and quick thinking, but they've already said they won't take them. They think it's too close to being clothes," she sighed. "Well, they'll have them and we'll hang them in the office with their pictures once we have the place fixed up. Jones can't stop singing their praises."
They spent hours combing through the wreckage to find any evidence that might not have been obliterated by the bomb, but found nothing. Harry briefly considered bringing in Nat to see what magic had been used, but dismissed it almost at once. Even if she saw something, she was not trained enough to recognize what the magical signature meant and Harry honestly didn't know enough about explosives to be of any help, either.
That left potions as the only other hope for figuring out how the explosion had happened. He called in a potions master and set him the task of trying to figure out if it had been a concoction or not.
In that, at least, they had success, but not the kind he'd have expected.
"It's a Muggle mixture," the man explained to Harry. "When it's exposed to oxygen it will explode violently. It's a pyrophoric chemical. It seems that it was sealed in a fragile container, of sorts. This is just a guess, of course, but there had to be an explosive planted in the letter and when enough of the letters were stacked on top of the others, it broke the container and exploded."
It fit with what Jones had said. The house-elf had levitated a heavy stack of letters over to the bin and had dropped it in, which had set off the explosion.
"If I had to guess," the potion master went on, "I'd say that each of the letters had a tiny amount of explosives in them, and that's what created such a large blast. It would seem the letter-writer was counting on you storing all the letters together."
"I could have just burned them," Harry muttered darkly.
"They're evidence, and you wouldn't have," he retorted. "Even I know that much. You'd have stored them together in a large container since you had so many of them."
He couldn't deny that was true. It was exactly what they'd done, but most of them were up in the Auror office. This was just under a week's worth of letters.
The horror of what could have actually happened finally sank in.
"We have more of the letters upstairs," Harry told the potion master. "Let's go see if you're right."
He was. Every single one had what would later be identified as pentaerythritol tetranitrate in the wax seal of the letters. The fact that it hadn't exploded when Harry and Daniel had been opening them was a miracle.
"We need a better screening for the Ministry," Harry told Hermione as a headache built up behind his eyes.
He was supposed to have already left to celebrate Emma's first birthday, but given the circumstances Teddy and Victoire had put it off for a few days. Emma wouldn't know the difference, since half her family was stuck at the Ministry either investigating or cleaning up.
"This is going to be a long night," Hermione replied by way of agreement.
Indeed it was.
Brayden proposed to Molly the day before Emma's party and was brought into the circle of the family with open arms as they all met at Teddy and Victoire's house for the party. He was a nice enough chap, Harry though, with brown hair and eyes, average height and build. Harry had spent nearly two days the previous month grilling him over his past life and ferreting out any secrets he might have. He was clean, at least as much as anyone could be. Also, it was plain to see he adored Molly. To Harry, nothing could be better than seeing how well his niece was loved.
Although the party was primarily for Emma, she did not seem to appreciate it as such and fell asleep in Bill's arms right before dinner.
"There's this Muggle song," Hermione laughed to Harry as Bill took her up to lay in her cot. "Do you remember? It's my party, and I'll cry if I want to."
Harry did vaguely recall hearing it on the radio when he'd been a child. "Except it's her party, and she'll sleep if she wants to."
"Exactly," Hermione agreed.
"Well, let's eat," Victoire called out to everyone. "She'll wake up when she does and we'll have cake then."
They had a good time getting to know Brayden and watching Emma smash her cake when she eventually woke up.
"It's probably terrible she didn't have dinner before cake," Teddy commented with a laugh as he snapped a picture. "But it's a special occasion."
No one mentioned the bombings or the troubles they were having at the Ministry. They had no leads.
Later that night as he sat in bed with Ginny, her head on his shoulder, he reflected that although his work life was very stressful, it was still magically peaceful at home. "I love you."
"I love you, too," she murmured. "I liked Brayden."
"I did, too, but you already knew that." He'd told her all about the interview with the young man when it had happened. "They are all growing up so quickly," he reflected as he thought about his niece and her young man.
"I wish they could stop," Ginny replied morosely. "I do not need Lily to grow up too quickly."
They both sat quietly as the enormity of what all of that entailed. Harry's heart filled with a helpless rage at the thought of what was going to happen if they couldn't catch Isabella Crabbe. No. He would simply have to catch her before then!
"What are we going to do?" Ginny asked in a small voice that was so unlike her, he could practically feel her uncertainty.
He considered it for a long moment before finally deciding. "If I haven't caught her before she's seventeen or eighteen, you two will leave and go into hiding."
"No," Ginny said flatly, shaking her head. "No, it won't work, Harry! Even if we left, there's no guarantee you can catch her! We can't stay in hiding for decades. That's not a life."
He wanted to argue, but of course he knew she was right. It hurt to know he couldn't do anything but try to catch her. "I just have to succeed then."
"I hope you do," she said tiredly as she squeezed his hand. "If you don't, we'll deal with that when we get there."
Al stared at all the pamphlets spread out before them on all the careers they could possibly pursue and felt a small shiver of dismay at his prospects. He knew he wanted to be an Auror. He knew that, but he'd already heard from Neville that his grades weren't quite what they needed to be to qualify. He couldn't expect his dad to make an exception for him and wondered just how Teddy had managed to get the right NEWTs. With their O.W.L.s looming, of course, he was acutely aware that things were getting serious. Very serious. He had to do well on his O.W.L.s or else… the pressure was absolutely enormous.
Scorpius was deciding between the law and banking. "I don't really want to travel, actually," he told Al. "I just think I'd like working at the bank, but the law also sounds good. I mean, I could help keep order when people like my father and grandfather start to cause problems."
"I can see you doing that," Rose told him. "I'm going to be a potions master," she told them all confidentially and absolutely no one doubted it. Rose was going to get O's on all her O.W.L.s. Come to that, Scorpius likely would, as well.
"We need to get to class," Rose sighed as she stood up. Scorpius stood up, as well.
Al waved them off. "I'm going to wait for Nat to come down."
"Alright," Rose said as the other two left and Al picked up the Auror pamphlet again. It would be good to be an Auror. He knew he'd like the work and he hoped he could be good at it. He knew a lot about what they did from his dad and Teddy, but still… it took him a moment to realize Nat was standing next to him, staring blankly at all the pamphlets. "You okay?"
She lifted a slight hand and rubbed at the side of her nose and then tugged nervously at her hair. "I dunno."
"What?" Al wondered.
She licked at her lips and opened her mouth, before closing it tightly.
"What?" he asked more insistently.
She shook her head and glanced away. "I want to do something else but… but I just don't think it will happen."
"What do you want to do?" he asked, wondering what she could possibly want that she couldn't achieve. Unless she wanted to play Quidditch, which of course she couldn't. Brooms still dumped her off when she tried to ride alone. That was quite out of her—
"I want to be a mum."
It was so quiet that he almost didn't catch it. Stunned, and a little flustered, he stammered, "What?"
"See!" she said with genuine distress. "I just want to be married, have kids, and stay in one place… not traveling all around everywhere. That's all I want… and… I just don't think it will happen."
An image of Nat older, smiling at him with a black-haired, green-eyed child on her hip suddenly filled his vision and he had to fight very hard not to turn away as his face flushed horribly red.
He wanted that for her. He wanted to be part of that and the thought scared him straight to his toes. He had only just turned sixteen not too long ago! There was no time to think about… about… things!
"I know it's stupid," Nat whispered miserably.
"No!" Al managed to blurt out. "No, it's fine," he said even though he felt anything but fine at that moment. "We… we, uh… we should get to class."
She nodded and grabbed her bookbag off the chair. "Let's go."
Al took her bag from her and walked silently next to her, kicking himself over and over again for not saying the right thing. The trouble was, he didn't know what to say! He didn't have a clue what to do with girls… not for the first time did he wish that he was more like James. All throughout the day it was obvious that something was bothering Nat and Al knew exactly what it was. It was his fault and he needed to try to make it right.
He tried several times that day to bring it up and only gave up when she snapped at him that she didn't want to talk about it. So he let it go. Almost. He kept brooding on it until it made him irritable.
It was James who finally confronted him.
Whatever was bothering Al was overflowing into every other aspect of his life, including Quidditch and as the team captain, James just could not have that. Rose was managing her stress over exams just fine, but Al, who had only made the team that year, was struggling to stay focused in practice.
"Alright," James called out to his team. "Let's call it for the night. We will practice again tomorrow to be fresh for the game on Saturday. Go change," he told everyone and then caught his brother's arm as he walked by. It always amazed him just how much muscle his brother was putting on. Every single day he just seemed to get wider. "Not you."
"Piss off," Al muttered as he shook his arm, but not with enough force to actually dislodge James' grip. At this point, Al could have shaken him off if he'd wanted to, which told James his brother didn't really want him to piss off.
"We need to talk," James told him as he pulled him off to a bench away from the muddy, cold field.
Al trudged after him and plopped down to the bench, dropping head to his hands in abject defeat.
"What the hell happened?" James demanded. "You were doing well this year, even with the bomb on the train you kept your focus! What's up?" He stood over his brother for a long moment but when Al didn't answer, slowly James sat down next to him. "Al?"
Al let out a long sigh. "I screwed things up with Nat."
Then his brother told him the story.
Stunned, at least for a moment, James let out a low whistle. "I could have guessed it was a girl, but not this. You honestly thought about marrying her?"
"Shut up!" Al groaned as he elbowed him hard. "Just shut up!"
James opened his mouth to retort, then shut it. He knew that tone well… it was embarrassment and probably for the only time in his life, James just didn't want to make it any worse. "I think it's great."
"No, you don't."
"Al," James laughed and shook his head. "Everyone can see you and Nat are crazy about each other!"
Al shook his head and stared off miserably, unseeing, across the field. "She doesn't see me like that."
"Yes, she does."
"No," Al retorted angrily. "She keeps trying to get me to date girls that are not her!"
"Yeah, well," James said darkly. "Girls are cracked. No telling why they do the nutty things they do, but that doesn't change the fact that she does like you."
Al shook his head and James decided not to press it. As he'd discussed with Caroline at the dance, it would be best to leave them alone to find their own way. "So what's the problem with all of this? Maybe she'll start to like you eventually or you could… I dunno… court her." James felt like an ass even saying the word.
"Maybe," Al sighed dubiously. "Mostly I just hate that I made it worse! I keep wishing I could talk like you do!"
Sincerely stunned by this, James glanced away a little embarrassed himself. "You don't want to be like me."
"You know what you want with Caroline and how to talk to her," Al pointed out irritably. "You know how to do that and I don't."
He nodded once and then shook his head. "I didn't always know what to say, but okay I can see your point. It always felt easier talking to her because she always felt like a person who was part of me. Or maybe it just seems that way now."
"You love her."
James nodded and felt a grin tug at the corner of his mouth. "Yeah, so it doesn't seem weird to think of marrying her someday, even though I'm not sure she'll ever be ready for that. I hope she will."
They both fell silently, maybe both realizing at the same moment just how odd their conversation really was.
"I want to marry Nat," Al said in a small voice and then dropped his head back into his hands. "What am I going to do?"
James sincerely had no idea. "Just wait it out, see if she likes you back. I think she does."
Al shrugged. "How do I make her feel better?"
"Short of telling her you'd marry her, I'm not sure there is anything you can do," James told him ruefully as he ran a hand through his windblown hair. "She's just not going to believe anything else. Her self-esteem is in the toilet."
"Why, though?" Al wanted to know.
James didn't say what he thought. He liked Nat, he really did. She was sweet and seriously smart. She rarely let anything get her down for long and she could fight back hard, which he respected, but she just was not pretty. There was no way to get around it. Her face was just average. Her hair was okay, but her ears were a little too big for her face. None of the other blokes thought she was cute and Nat knew it. After all, she wasn't stupid. But James just couldn't say that to his brother. For whatever reason, Nat was attractive to Al and that was all that mattered. "She hasn't been asked out on a date," James finally said. "You could ask her out and it might get better."
"Or it could ruin our friendship," Al reminded him. "She might not like me and then we couldn't hang out anymore."
"You are worse than Moaning Myrtle," James told his brother seriously. "Get over yourself and get over this. Just wait it out and see what happens. You have a few years left in school to sort it all out and see where this is going."
Al nodded and tapped his foot a few times before standing. "Thanks… and I'm sorry. I'll play better tomorrow."
James watched his brother trudge off to the changing rooms and considered his retreating back for a long time. Everything he'd said to Al had been true. It was going to take time with Nat. He glanced up to find Caroline, all bundled up in her cloak, coming across the field towards him, Rufus trudging along behind her. Instantly his heart lifted. "Hey," he said as he made to stand but stayed where he was when she gestured for him to sit. As soon as she sat next to him, he draped an arm around her shoulder and squeezed, kissing her cheek. "It's freezing out here."
"And yet here you are without a coat," she pointed out as she grinned up at him, her blue eyes laughing as Rufus found the only dry patch on ground behind them and settled down to sleep.
The tip of her nose was red and James had to fight the urge to lean in and kiss it. "Al's had a niffler up his arse for days now."
"I noticed," she replied as she rested her head against his shoulder. "Did you figure out why?"
And so the story of Nat and the pamphlets was told again and Caroline let out a small gasp as he finished the story. "Poor Natalie! I knew she felt bad about herself, but I didn't know it was this bad."
"Do you have any idea why she keeps trying to fix Al up with other girls?" James asked her, realizing he had a window into the weird girl brain and he should use it.
"If I had to guess," Caroline mused pensively, "it would be because she wants to finally shut the door on the possibility. Hope is painful. If he's with someone else, then there is nothing to hope for."
In a weird, twisted way that made a lot of sense. "But she likes him."
"And she told him that she's wanting to get married and have babies," she agreed thoughtfully. "She told the guy she likes her deepest secret, which includes the fact that it's probably Al she wants to marry… and he just told her it was fine. Poor Nat."
"Poor Al," James told her. "He's beating himself up over it. He knows he messed up and said he wished… well, he wished he could talk to Nat like I can talk to you."
"If he could he wouldn't be Al," Caroline commented with a laugh. "Al's charm is he is so reserved. I wouldn't want him to change."
"But if he could have said how he felt, then none of this would have been a problem," James replied in frustration. Selfishly, he really hoped this wouldn't be a problem for the game, but the greater part of him just wanted his brother to be happy. "Keep reminding me it's not a good idea to interfere."
"It's just not a good idea," Caroline reiterated. "But I get why you want to. I want to, as well." She paused for a moment. "James?"
"Yeah?"
"I'm really glad we can talk like this."
"Me, too."
"This time next year we'll be learning to Apparate," Rose said in a voice that only slightly betrayed her panic as she paced their dormitory one evening in March. "Dad told me about Wilkie Twycross and how he taught all of them to Apparate. Is it wrong that I'd hoped he'd died before now so we didn't have to put up with him?"
"Yes," Nat answered mildly as she flipped through her notes from their potions class. "Wishing he'd retired is perfectly acceptable."
Rose sighed heavily and flopped down onto Nat's bed next to her, covering her face with her hands. "I think if I study any more my brains are going to liquify and leak out my ears."
Nat knew exactly how she felt. It was not that she wanted to be reviewing right then, but it stuck better when she reviewed every note she'd taken each night before bed. It was her current favorite way to fall asleep. "Cheer up, we only have another two months of this nonsense." Nat wondered idly where their roommates were, but knew they were probably still in the common room studying.
"It's not nonsense, which is what makes it worse!" Rose reminded her. "I want to be a Potions Master which means I need an O on my O.W.L. or I can't do it!"
"You will get an O," Nat reassured her. "About the only subject you're rubbish in is History of Magic and you're still pretty good. You got an E on that last practice exam Professor Binns gave us."
Rose was silent a moment and then she began to giggle. "Mum apparently got an E on her Defense Against the Dark Arts O.W.L. and Dad said she was so disappointed not to get all O's! I don't care if I get an E here and there, just need that O in Potions."
"No more trying to up Scorpius to be top of the class?" Nat wondered absently as she turned a page and kept reading through her notes.
Rose let out a snort. "It's a toss up as to who is better and it's not much of a competition when neither of us cares all that much. Competing against one of my best friends who is so smart that he doesn't actually have to try too hard to get good grades is just annoying."
"You're also that smart," Nat reminded her. "You also try, which is why I think you'll beat him. You're right, though. He's only trying for an E in everything."
"Which is the annoying part!" she retorted with a snort. "He's putting in an effort, but I honestly think it's only because we're all putting in an effort. This whole situation with his dad it just eating at him."
"He's not stupid, though," Nat reminded her. "He wants away from the Malfoy name and money which means he needs to be able to get a job to support himself. He won't throw that away just to spite his father. He wants his independence."
The whole thing with Scorpius' father was a messed-up joke, except it wasn't a funny joke. The elder Malfoy had sent only one letter to his son all year, and it was to remind him that he needed to get all O's on his O.W.L.'s which had annoyed Scorpius to no end. He'd burned the letter and hadn't bothered to reply. Nat could understand why. It was like he wasn't loved, just a means to an end. He was supposed to do his duty to the Malfoy name and not shame the family.
Nat's parents had both been writing to her every week from their various corners of the world and even though they didn't understand all the ins and outs of the magical world, they understood the big exams and how important they were. They'd both asked her multiple times what she wanted to do with her life and she'd told them she didn't know. They'd understand if she said she wanted to be a mum, they really would. They weren't trying to pressure her into a career but the fact of the matter was that every girl was pressured into that now. It was a sociological phenomenon which had been building for decades by this point. Girls were pressured into going to university to find a career and focus on that. It was fine, as far as Nat could see, as long as there was room for other options. She didn't like how everyone was being pushed towards university, whether it was good for them or not. Trades were good, so was staying home to raise children, but that was rarely emphasized for anyone who wanted to be 'successful.'
"Nat?"
"What?" she turned to look at Rose who was studying her curiously. "Nothing, what did you say?"
"I asked if you thought Scorpius could turn it around."
Nat considered that for a long moment. "I think he will turn it around and I think we'll be part of the reason why. I think he just needs to see that his life at home is not normal and accept that he can have normal."
"I hope so," Rose sighed heavily as their roommates came it. "Honestly, I just want to get this year over with. Let's finish these exams and get out of here. I'm excited for Molly's wedding this summer."
Nat grinned and shook her head. "We'll look back and think the time flew and you'll wish we could go back."
"Not going to happen," her friend said as she pushed to her feet. "I will never, ever, miss exams."
Scorpius tried to pretend he was listening to the girl at his side. She was pretty, smart, and everything a bloke could want. She had brown hair and eyes and a dimple in her left cheek. She had just the tiniest smattering of freckles across the bridge of her nose. She'd said yes when he'd stopped her outside of Herbology to see if she wanted to go out with him towards the end of March and here they were, a month later, and all he could think of was how to get out of this horrible arrangement. It wasn't that Nylah wasn't lovely, because she was. She was one of the nicest people he'd met in his year, which was probably why she was in Hufflepuff. She wasn't a pureblood, but she was close enough that his father wouldn't have decapitated him for it.
But still… they were in Hogsmeade, drinking Butterbeer while she chatted away happily and all he could think about was that she wasn't Lily.
She wasn't Lily.
Lily had a lot more freckles and red hair. Lily's eyes were brown, but not this plain mud brown. Her eyes were like melted chocolate. Lily was small, while Nylah was nearly as tall as Scorpius. She was all wrong and yet he didn't know how he'd managed to get himself into this mess… again. Again, he'd made the mistake of trying to force feelings where he didn't have them.
The main problem was he simply could not have feelings for Lily Potter! He had to get over them. It wasn't an option because his family would be absolutely horrible to her if they'd ever had anything. Also, Lily just didn't see him that way. As best as he could tell she saw him as a big brother, which was fine. It was completely fine. It was normal. She was still really young.
But he didn't want her to see him that way and that was partially how he'd ended up dating Nylah. He hadn't made the same mistakes with her that he had with Avery, his first girlfriend. He'd kissed Nylah, but only just a bit. It hadn't been anything like the hot and heavy he'd used before to try to drown out the thrumming in his head that told him he was with the wrong person. He hadn't even known he liked Lily when he'd been dating Avery… at least he hoped that was true.
He'd get over this crush. He wasn't going to like Lily forever and fall in love with her! That was utterly ridiculous. He was sixteen and she had only just turned fourteen. They were still very young and had a lot of time. Also, he didn't think Lily's parents would let him date her. They liked him, sure, as Al's best mate, but that was very different than a boy trying to date their only daughter. There was a lot of baggage that went along with that, not to mention the fact that it was Scorpius' crazy great aunt who was trying hard to kill Lily, or maim her, or whatever she wanted to do! All of it was completely bonkers and the rub was he couldn't do a damn thing about it. If he met up with Isabella Crabbe he would try to kill her, of course, but the odds of him finding her were basically nil. If Harry Potter couldn't find her, what chance did he, Scorpius, have?
All of this was complicated by exams he needed to pass in order to get a job so he could break away from his family. He wasn't thinking about supporting a wife or anything. Nope. No.
"Scorpius?" Nylah interrupted him gently.
He realized he hadn't touched his drink and took a large gulp to cover the awkwardness. "Yes?"
She sighed and gave him a small, sad smile. "I think we both know this isn't working."
It took his brain a moment to register what she'd said and he hated the flood of relief that washed through him at her words. "Yeah, I'm really sorry. I don't want to hurt you."
"I don't want to hurt you, either," she agreed with a genuine smile this time. "You've been really nice, a good first boyfriend for me. I think we should end it now while we're still friends, yeah?"
"Yeah," he said as he forced down a sigh of relief. "Want to go back up to the castle now?"
She nodded and they left. He walked her into the castle, said goodbye, and thought they'd be okay.
He slowly wandered up to the common room and only remembered then that he'd promised to get Al some sweets while he was in town. "I forgot them," he told Al as he plunked down on the sofa by the fire next to his best mate. "Nylah broke up with me."
"Oh," Al said lamely. "I guess that's as good a reason as any to forget."
Scorpius let out a grunt and tried to keep his eyes from straying over to where Lily sat with Honor and Hugo.
"You're back early," Rose commented as she and Nat came through the portrait hole with an armload of food.
"You scored!" Al crowed happily as he helped his cousin unload everything.
"The elves like Nat," Rose laughed as Nat opened up a container of green stuff.
"What on earth is that?" Scorpius asked as she stuck a carrot into the green gunk and popped it into her mouth.
"It's called guacamole," she told him around a mouthful of carrot. "I tried it in Mexico and loved it. I've finally convinced the elves I need it."
"How can you need something that green?" he wondered as he took a carrot to dip and taste like she had. It wasn't half bad, actually. "It's spicy."
"It's so good!" Nat groaned happily. "It's also full of fat so it's good for me."
"If you say so," Scorpius agreed and felt lighter, as only his friends could help him feel. He glanced once more at Lily and then put her out of his mind.
Finding a girlfriend to fill that hole was not helping and he wasn't going to do it again. It wasn't fair to the girl, and it wasn't fair to him.
He just needed to focus on exams and get through the year. If his luck held, the Potters would invite him to stay for most of the summer and he wouldn't have to deal with his father anyway. They'd all be better for that.
Author's Note:
I had a rough, rough week. I lost another child. This story is very personal to me, as I know the pain of losing babies in pregnancy. This is my seventh loss. We named him Mark. So I hope you enjoy, and if you think of it, hug someone you love in Mark's honor. We could all use a bit more love.
Thank you, Arnel, for beta'ing!
As always, if you want to check out my original works, head over to amazon and search for me- Sarah Jaune
Thanks everyone!
