THC - Round 4 - Year 1 - Hufflepuff.

Prompt 1 - Once Upon A Time

Prompt 2 - Lily Luna Potter

Prompt 3 - A Penny

Note: Set in Lily Luna's first year at Hogwarts, and set just after Season 6 and before Season 7 (So after Henry leaves Storybrooke but before he's cursed).

Word Count: 2,966

Beta's: Aya, Magi (Thank you so much you two! You're incredible!)

Lily Luna Potter frowned at Professor McGonagall. How could she be so stupid to believe her idiot brother over herself? Lily was the good student, the first year. She should be innocent until proven guilty. Instead she was getting chastised in the professor's office. She always was the sweetheart of the family and read all the books required–even the extra reading Aunt Hermione suggested. She always offered to help others. Yet, three weeks into Hogwarts and the eleven-year-old discovered how unfair the school was and how this professor obviously favoured her brother.

It was a mistake to get on the bad side of a Potter, especially this little fire-rocket.

"What do you have to say for yourself?" Professor McGonagall asked after the long droning speech about what she did wrong.

Lily looked her straight in the eye and said, "Go to hell."

The shock was evident on the old lady's face, as well as her brother's. Most people didn't believe she even knew that language, but she did, and she would not tolerate being bullied.

The eleven-year-old ignored everything from that point. She simply played with the penny her Uncle Dudley gave her. Her parents would not be proud of her right now. She did, however, make a note of when her first detention was. Hanging out with Hagrid in the forest didn't seem like a bad idea–it seemed the school hadn't changed since her Dad attended. At least it would be a learning experience.

Lily grew nervous about her detention as the day went on because she hadn't heard from her parents yet. Would her mother send a howler? Would her father tell her he was disappointed? Would her uncle want his penny back? All of her emotions were in overdrive. She felt like she would break as she walked towards Hagrid's hut. Her nerves settled slightly as she saw a variety seven other first years. Her fear was mildly replaced by confusion–how could seven first years all get detention in one day?

"Right! First years. The sun is settin' an' it'll be dark soon. Yeh all goin' to go into the forest an' collect herbs an' meet back here in an hour."

"Meet back?" Lily questioned. Hagrid wasn't about to suggest splitting up, was he? Surely he knew better.

The half-giant nodded. "Yeh four head down there. If yeh follow the path, yeh'll find what you need. Us four," he said pointing to the three Ravenclaws and himself, "will head this way. Don't get lost an' stay together."

Lily had no choice but to listen to the Professor–he was a Professor right?–and follow the two Hufflepuffs and one Slytherin into the increasingly dark forest. The Hufflepuffs stayed together. They must've gotten in trouble together, but Lily hadn't learnt their names. She knew the Slytherin though: Mitchell Zabini. She knew he was smart and quiet. In the supposedly inspired new system, Professor Flitwick assigned seats and she sat by him. They didn't talk much. After all, both of them were quite good at charms so they never needed to. Now that she was thinking about it, she didn't know a lot about him.

"Keep up," Mitchell ordered, breaking her from her thoughts.

She jogged to keep up with him. "Hey."

"Hey."

"What'd you do?" Lily inquired.

The Slytherin shrugged. "The system's rigged. We have to progress at the speed and level they decide. Not too slow and not too fast. It's stupid."

Lily found herself nodding in agreement. Any attempt she had to get ahead of the class seemed to be squashed. "I guess you're right."

"Oi! Where're you two going!" he suddenly demanded as the Hufflepuffs turned around.

They both muttered things like 'too dark' or 'too scary'.

"Idiots. I never liked Beswick and Lowan."

That was their names! Both were Muggle-borns if she remembered correctly. Nobody she'd met before Hogwarts anyway. The benefit of her parents being famous was that she met nearly every single wizard child as she grew up. "I wonder what they did."

"Used a cheating quill on their homework."

Lily's eyes widened as she looked in the direction they went. Cheating? She would have never guessed.

The two of them continued to idly chat until they reached the destination. Mitchell knew exactly what to do so it only took a few minutes to collect more than they needed.

"Think we should head back?"

Mitchell looked at her and shook his head. "Not yet. We've got plenty of time."

Lily knew they should head back. However, she was already in detention, so what did a little rule-breaking matter now? "What'd you wanna do?"

Mitchell made a thoughtful noise before pulling out a piece of parchment from his pocket. "I saw this spell that I wanted to try about going to a different world."

"A different world? Like Mars?"

He shrugged.

Lily walked closer and looked down at the spell. "What's magic dust?"

"Like… pixie dust or something. I have some."

"You carry pixie dust?"

"My little sister brought it for me," he replied with another shrug. "Wanna try it?"

Lily bit her lip. She knew it wasn't safe to practice spells without a professor around, especially in the middle of the Forbidden Forest. But what's the worst that could happen? "Alright."

The two read the spell together carefully. They discussed the possible outcomes and went over the other spells they knew. They weren't the best at anything, but surely two eleven-year-olds couldn't complete a spell meant for advanced wizards. It was just mucking around.

They were wrong.

A portal opened.

They both jumped in.

Lily squeezed her eyes shut until she heard Zabini groan in dissatisfaction. Opening her eyes slowly, she looked around in confusion.

"It didn't work. We're still in the forest."

"Mitchell…"

"What?"

"This isn't the same area."

Mitchell looked around, his eyes slowly widening. "You're right. Are we still in the Forbidden Forest, though?"

Lily shrugged. "This is my first time in it. I don't know."

"My Dad's gonna kill me."

"Mine too," Lily groaned.

Half an hour later the two were walking around the forest trying to find clues on how to get home. Or at least find out where they were.

Lily was bored. It felt like they had been walking for longer than they were and she just wanted to sit down. She almost jumped when Mitchell grabbed her arm. "Did you hear that?"

Mitchell nodded as he slowly began to pull her backwards. "Can you climb?"

"Climb?" she repeated.

Instead of replying, Mitchell pulled her arm up in a weird angle as he climbed up a large while trying to help her. She quickly followed and only stopped when Mitchell sat down on a branch. "Stay quiet."

"I'm sure it is just Hagrid looking for us?"

Mitchell knew that she didn't even believe her own words. "If you say so."

She pulled out her penny and twiddled it between her fingers as they waited. Her uncle taught her that there was always a magical solution for something, but also a Muggle solution. She was probably too young to know the magical solution, that didn't mean she couldn't come up with a Muggle one instead. First, she'd see if she could think of any magical ones.

She took a deep breath before looking at Mitchell. "We need to work out what to do."

"I'm listening."

"What's the reversal for the spell?"

He hesitated. "I, uh, dunno. There wasn't one, I think."

Great. He was an idiot. Who would try a spell without a plan of returning back if it worked? "Then we do the spell again."

Mitchell nodded. "We just need to get some pixie dust."

"What?"

"I don't have any more."

Lily leant heavily against the tree. She didn't want to hunt this unknown place for stupid dust. She wanted to go home. She wanted her parents.

"Hello, up there!" a male voice called.

Lily and Mitchell both looked down at the man. Both remained silent.

"Are you two kids alright?"

Mitchell nodded, but Lily knew they couldn't stay up in this tree waiting to be rescued forever. "No. We can't get back home."

"Let me help you."

"It could be a trap," Mitchell whispered.

Lily sighed. "I know. But he's an adult." After a second of hesitation, she began her descent of the tree. Mitchell opted to follow her.

Once they were back on the ground, Lily stayed as close to Mitchell as possible.

"I'm Henry. Henry Mills."

"I'm Lily and this is Mitchell," she introduced.

Henry nodded. "Nice to meet you. So, where are you trying to get to?"

"Back to the Forbidden Forest."

The adult with dark-brown hair looked thoughtful for a moment. "I haven't heard of that one. I'm sure we can all find it, though."

Lily looked at Mitchell, trying to hide her panic. He must have been a Muggle. They were doomed.

"It's in the UK. Where are we now?" Mitchell asked, taking charge.

Confusion crossed over the strangers' features. "We're in the Enchanted Forest."

"The what?"

Lily crossed her arms. "That's a fairytale!"

"How did you two get here?" Henry asked, his mouth transforming into a smile. "It's really hard to cross between the realms."

Now Lily was confused. It seemed like Henry knew about crossing worlds, or realms, but not the Forbidden Forest. Perhaps he was a wizard who went to a different wizarding school. Unfortunately, she couldn't ask him in case he was a Muggle. She was already in enough trouble, she didn't want to add to it.

Instead, she made the informed decision to fall completely silent and hold onto her penny as if it would magically transport them back home. The eleven-year-old never wished for her Dad to use something as a portkey than she did now.

"Can you get us back to the UK… or back to our… realm?" Mitchell inquired.

Henry nodded. "I can. We just need to find a magic bean. They are difficult to get ahold of. How did you get here to begin with?"

It seemed like the older man was really interested in their answer.

Mitchell looked at her before answering truthfully. "A spell."

"Didn't know there was a spell for that."

"You're a wizard, right?" Mitchell asked - he obviously didn't care about the consequences if he was wrong.

Henry laughed. "No. My parents were gifted with magic, though."

"You're a Squib?" Lily asked, breaking her silence and pocketing the penny. They might actually get home. It sounded like this man knew what he was talking about, even if it was different from what they knew.

Once again, Henry proved that he did not know about the wizarding world by shrugging. "Let's get going. You two must be hungry."

Lily wasn't. They had dinner right before detention and it hadn't been that long - even though it felt like it had been hours, it was probably only about three.

"Where are we going?" Mitchell questioned. He didn't manage to hide his suspicion or reluctance.

"To my home. It's almost dark. We'll set out in the morning to get you a magic bean."

Lily looked up at the darkening sky. She wasn't sure why she didn't notice there was daylight left until it was pointed out that the sun was setting. She noticed Mitchell taking a few steps to follow Henry and quickly caught up with them. Instinctively, she took his hand to keep from getting left behind. This was not the type of place she wanted to be lost in alone. Mitchell glanced down, then at her, but didn't say anything or pull away.

They walked closely side by side together and followed Henry a few steps behind. The older man was talking to them, telling them facts about where they were, about his family, how his mother saved him from a curse that his other mum inflicted. It was a very interesting story and distracted Lily from the situation they were in for a while. He had told them so much that by the time they got to his home, she was exhausted. That was a lot of information and a long walk.

Regardless of how tired she was, she held onto Mitchell's hand like her life depended on it. He was her lifeline right now.

They walked through the doorway together and looked around. It was a nice cosy home. It seemed like they were in the 1800s with the decor and structure of the home. Obviously, Henry lived here alone.

The rest of the night was uneventful. Henry cooked them all stew, which they had with bread. Mitchell and Lily took his bed as he said he could sleep elsewhere. Lily wasn't sure where he slept though as she had fallen asleep almost instantly and Henry had woken the both of them up.

"Morning. Breakfast is ready. Once we've eaten, we'll head out."

Mitchell groaned and covered his eyes - Lily was the first of the two to pull herself out of the bed and sit down for breakfast. It was porridge. When Mitchell did finally get out of bed, his first question concerned the toilets. That wasn't the greatest experience. Who could live without plumbing?

Lily once again opted to hold onto Mitchell's hand as they made their way through the Enchanted Forest. She had yet to discover why it was so enchanted but didn't want to ask. Henry really liked to talk and she wasn't so sure her brain could take in any more information than it already had.

"Lily," Mitchell spoke.

"Yes?"

"What's that?"

Lily looked at her free hand and realised she was subconsciously fiddling with the penny again. "Oh, it's nothing."

"If it's nothing, then why do you keep playing with it?"

Lily looked at her classmate with surprise. She hadn't realised that he'd been paying that much attention to her and what she was doing. Had he noticed every time she brought it out? Was this just the second time? "It's just a penny."

Mitchell gave her a look to elaborate.

"Muggle money. It wouldn't actually buy you anything. It's like a sickle. My uncle gave it to me - said it was lucky."

"Can I look?"

Lily hesitated. She wasn't even sure why this penny was so important to her. It wasn't even worth much. Perhaps it was because she might never see her uncle again. It had been three years since she saw him after her Dad reconnected. Her uncle wasn't really a point of conversation in the house. Eying the penny as if to memorise it, she handed it over to Mitchell who took his time in examining it.

"Bronze?"

"Copper, I think."

"Cool," Mitchell uttered before handing it back.

Lily instantly pocketed it. She didn't want to lose it, nor did she want Mitchell to think he could ask more questions. Even though she trusted him, she wasn't ready to talk to anybody about the parts of her life that weren't perfect.

A comfortable silence fell between them. Henry gauged that they had finished and started another story about his life. Lily had gotten over the fascination by then. They had stopped for lunch, meaning it had been a long, long travel already.

"Are we there yet?" Lily questioned, unable to stand another step.

"Nearly."

"How long?" Mitchell continued the questioning.

"Not long."

"A minute?"

"An hour?"

"A day?" The two of them asked alternatively.

"Want to take a break?"

Mitchell and Lily nodded eagerly. The thought of sitting down made her even more tired. If allowed, she would happily take a nap.

Henry nodded and found them a place nearby to take a break.

Barely a minute had passed before the older man stood. "You two wait here. I'm going to walk ahead. I'll be back before sunset."

Lily watched the adult walk off with anticipation filling her.

"Guess he was fed up of babysitting us," Mitchell commented.

"He'll come back, right?"

"Of course."

It wasn't long after Henry left that Mitchell raided the bag he left, getting them both something to eat and drink. The two of them hung out in the location. There wasn't much point moving or getting worried until sunset. The best thing they could do was have faith in a complete stranger.

Lily found herself playing with the penny again as the sun began to set. Henry had not kept his promise and it was starting to get cold. They were even more lost than they were before. "We should have gone with him."

"Too late now," Mitchell retorted.

Lily stood up. "We should look for shelter."

Mitchell opened his mouth to respond when they heard rustling. He jumped up and pulled Lily closer to him, his free hand hovering over his pocket. His wand.

That would have been a useful thing to remember yesterday when they were attacked by the bear. Though… she didn't really know any spells that would stop a bear.

"Just me," Henry greeted as he came into view.

Lily felt all of her panic dissipate.

He showed them something in his hand. "I've got it."

"What do we do?" Mitchell instantly questioned.

"You need to think of where you want to go. Throw it on the ground. Then jump into the portal."

That sounded easy enough. They both said a short goodbye to Henry before holding hands. Forbidden Forest. Forbidden Forest. Forbidden Forest.

Mitchell threw the bean down and a portal appeared. Hopefully, it went to the right place.

Lily suddenly had a thought and put her hand into Mitchell's pocket to get the spell. She handed it to Henry. "In case you needed it." Then without further hesitation, she grabbed Mitchell's hand and jumped into the portal.

They were back to the place they started. In a lot of trouble. But safe.