Lily had said yes when Thomas Heffer, a Hufflepuff from her same year, asked her to go out with him. Not to date, it was more like just hanging out to see if they were compatible and then yes, to date. That had happened in the first week of school and after hanging out for three weeks, he asked her to let him be her formal boyfriend.
Of course, she also said yes to that, because he was one of the smartest in his house, and for Lily intelligence was a great virtue, even more than beauty, which Heffer, although he didn't have a lot, made up for with a good sense of humor.
He was a Hufflepuff so she highly doubted he was one of those guys who cheated, as they were honest and loyal. In addition, his father was an Auror of his father's generation, in fact, they had played together a couple of times at the Aurors' Christmas dinners and if she knew something, it was that the Aurors had good moral ethics and a firm hand when it came to educate their children. Perhaps his only flaw was that he didn't have that spark, that thing similar to wickedness and the mockery that she liked from other boys who made her vibrate.
Thomas Heffer was her decent boy, simple, safe, and trustworthy. She wanted a man like that, one like her own father. Not to mention the fact that most of the boys with vibrant personalities were Slytherins, and she had enough with her own brother, and she knew it from experience since after Daniel Pucey, the very handsome and problematic boy with whom she had lost her virginity after the last year's Yule ball, she knew she didn't need any more snakes in her life. And no, it wasn't because he had broken her heart, in fact, they started dating after that (they had never talked before, but they had both gone to the ball alone, and well, they were teenagers), that relationship didn't work out, because of her, she had to admit it.
Snakes were intense and he wanted more than she was willing to give. She liked bad boys but she wasn't stupid enough to fall for them.
She had two best friends, Marleene Wagner, a small, white brunette with a big nose who, like her, wore glasses and her father was a German magician who worked at Gringgots and the other was Nelly Shelley, a muggle-born daughter of an English father and Hindi mother. Both had been models (Terribly beautiful people who were dedicated to letting themselves take photos) and now her father had a modeling agency, she was like a portrait of her father but her skin was somewhat darker, and with huge black eyes, Inherited from her mother who had died of cancer (a terrible muggle disease) when she was 4 years old.
The two girls had grown up ignorant of magic until their letter from Hogwarts arrived, obviously because Nelly was a Muggle-born and they knew nothing about magic and Marleene because her father never dared to tell her where he worked, never trusted her childish innocence. She used to have many friends and talked too much, he was afraid that the girl would tell someone about the place where he worked since they lived in the muggle world and people might judge her as crazy or put her aside as weird.
All three were proud Gyffindors had had their fair share of boyfriends. Marleene attracted people with her liveliness and likable character, Nelly with her unearthly beauty and fiery personality; Lily although a little colder, was intelligent, beautiful, and of course, the daughter of Harry Potter.
But that last thing weighed on her too much, everyone believed that her good grades were due to the fact that the teachers sucked at her for being a Potter, but that was stupid and unfounded, she had excellent grades while James was rather normal, average, as his father had been and Albus, well, he wasn't that bad, mostly because he had a walking encyclopedia at his side all the time, although she had to admit that he had improved a lot in the practical classes, he was already good in duels.
Being a Potter made her feel miserable, not because she didn't love her parents, but because it was a name that weighed heavily on her.
Her life was practically normal, she was a teenager with a bright future, if it weren't for her stupid and annoying brother James (who thanks to Merlin had already graduated from Hogwarts) and her other idiot and clumsy brother Albus (who still hadn't realized that he was gay and that he loved his best friend or that he had already realized it and walked with a heterosexual flag so as not to make things uncomfortable with the blond), her life could be described as perfect.
That morning, she was walking with her two friends on her sides until she reached the Great Hall room, she ran into her brother Albus and Scorpius who were carrying heavy books with them since they had two hours of study before going to class and with the NEWTs so close, the seventh graders took their study hours seriously. If she was already stressed with her OWLs, she didn't want to imagine how her brother was.
After having breakfast and spending six hours taking classes, she went to lunch and then, with her heart in her hand, she went to her service hour with Professor Malfoy.
It was nice, not how her parents had painted him when she was little and she didn't know why her parents avoided talking to her as little as possible if they saw him on the street or at charity events, it had been an ironic joke of life that Scorpius and Albus they became friends. At first, that had been painful to see on her father's face, but after what happened with Delphi, family relations had improved a lot. During the holidays Albus could invite Scorpius home for tea or go out to muggle London shopping (clothes and CDs mostly) or go to the movies. And Scorpius would invite him to eat at some fancy magical restaurant or spend up to a week at his house. They were always friends, but now their parents were more courteous and accepted that friendship.
She knocked on the door and heard a "come in" so she opened it and smiled to see her teacher sitting behind his desk, apparently he was grading some homework.
More than being their volunteer service advisor, Mr. Malfoy was her crazy partner, they tried to be very careful but they couldn't help but get carried away and practice the art of potions so that according to their teacher, Severus Snape himself would take them out of the lab from the very beginning.
They modified healing potions, created makeup, and insect repellent, and frequently played pranks on each other, it was very different from dealing with any other professor, it was even different from dealing with Professor Longbottom who was like family. It was like they were friends. At first, she thought they were quite close but the relationship grew closer when he began to teach her potions applied in the dark arts.
"Do not tell anyone. " It was what her teacher had asked when he came to her with a black leather book and gold letters. "I need you to study it and we can do something if you want to do it, I'm not going to force you. It is not something that exactly comes in the school program but it would be nice if you learned something."
He said in her ear while her back was turned and it seemed to Lily that she had stopped perceiving the meaning of his words, they were just like... caressing sounds, just that, it was like being caressed sensually. Something boiled with temptation inside her and she didn't know if it was because of her professor or because of having the opportunity to flirt with the dark arts. Merlin would bless her so that no one would find out that Harry Potter's daughter was inordinately curious about the dark.
The next day, obviously, she told him that she wanted to make the fizzy ripped meat. Then he with a big smile said that she would prepare it the next day, that that afternoon she would only prepare the ingredients because there were many. They both sat side by side and with a big smile began to chop roots, branches, seeds, and fruits that they had to dehydrate.
It was something dark, even evil, but it made both hearts beat hard, precisely because it was forbidden, they were doing something forbidden in a classroom. Making fun of everything and everyone else without knowing. They would do something dark and seductive. Lily felt an internal caress on her chest that reached her face. It was a flash of her inner self asking for freedom.
She gasped as she cut an amazonian bubablue root and she felt she would cry with emotion.
"Lily..." the professor whispered, placing his hand on top of hers. "Is everything alright?" He asked, looking into her eyes. Leaving aside that she didn't know what he meant, whether to give in to impulses or that no one would notice that she had done it. That was the first time he touched her, that simple touch of his hands suddenly made showed Lily that her life was not complete or perfect, it showed her that she needed something more, she needed more of those flames she was feeling.
