History Lessons

"That twit," she muttered, flipping through the thick packet of parchment in her hands.

"What's that, a library?" asked Junia, flipping through her copy of A History of Magic. "Got anything in there about the goblin uprising of 1847?"

Lily drew her wand from her robes and tapped the stack of parchment -- "Accio Goblin Uprising of 1847 essay." One piece flew immediately out of the pack and fell on the table in front of Junia.

"I suppose that does say 'goblin,'" Junia said, squinting at the handwriting. "Who wrote this crap -- James?"

"It's a back-to-term present, I suppose," said Lily rolling her eyes. "All of James' old essays for me to copy. And," she added, shaking the stack so that a large purple quill fell out from between the sheaves, "a Quick-Copy Quill."

"Have you done this essay yet?" asked Junia, returning to the blank parchment in front of her. "This is just ridiculous."

"Yeah, I did it over the summer," Lily answered. "Here." She threw the purple quill at Junia. "Have at."

"Bugger off," she grumbled.

"Oh, I will. I've got Muggle studies in ten minutes," said the redhead, standing up. "See you in Potions."

Lily made her way out of the common room, stuffing the quill and essays into her bag as she left; it wasn't wise to leave such incriminating items in the middle of the common room when the Head Girl was a Gryffindor. The corridors were mostly empty; a couple other Gryffindors walked by her on their way back from class. Lily took her time; if she did get sidetracked, she knew a shortcut that could get her there in two minutes flat, but it was nice to just walk through the castle. What she loved most about Hogwarts was the castle itself. Her home in Godric's Hollow was nice and new, but hardly had any character to it at all -- whereas at Hogwarts, everything had character. The paintings on the walls were certainly full of character as they waved and nodded as she walked past; the statues seemed to always find new poses (though she never saw one move); the stone floors were polished and flat from centuries of students treading the corridors; the staircases and doors switched locations as they pleased; and there were even marks and damages from backfired spells or duels.

Lily made her way past a popular passageway and continued towards a less used staircase that would lead her to the first floor, and paused at a stretch of wall whose stones were a brighter hue than those around it. It looked as if a giant had punched out a hole in a fit of rage and the stones had to be replaced. She stopped and ran her hands over the stone, wondering what story could be behind the stones.

"You'd think," said a voice from behind her, "that if Gryffindors were half as brave as they claimed to be, they wouldn't need secret passageways to sneak round in."

Lily whipped around and had to hold back her shock. Scorpius Malfoy stood there with his arms crossed leaning against the opposite wall, smirking. Lily couldn't say she had ever been this close to Malfoy before, and he seemed much taller than she'd thought he'd be.

"And if you were half as smart as you pretend to be, you'd realize that this wall faces outside; there's no room there for a passageway," she retorted, quickly gathering her wits.

His expression didn't change. "There are charms for that, Potter," he said. "Trust a Gryffindor to forget about magic."

Lily almost rolled her eyes. She didn't know why, but she'd expected something wittier than a house remark. "Bravery does not equal stupidity. Now basing admission to a House because of something like purity of blood..." She smirked.

"Of course you'd be offended," Malfoy drawled. "I expect you aren't even eligible for Slytherin."

"I had no idea Slytherin had gotten so picky," said Lily with a tight-lipped smile. "How on earth did it achieve so many students?"

"We might not all have pure blood, but half-blood is just stretching Salazar's criteria --"

"Actually, I've got three-quarters wizard blood -- purer than half of Slytherin House." Not wishing to allow Malfoy the time to reply, Lily turned and continued down the corridor, now heading toward the shortcut passageway to the fifth floor.

"So you think it does matter?"

She paused. Was that worth turning round for? Judging by the heat she could feel rising in her face...

"What matters?" She faced him again.

"Blood," Malfoy replied. "Pureblood, half-blood, Muggle -- it makes a difference to you. You dislike being mislabeled."

"Don't twist my words," she spat.

"I had no idea Gryffindors had such ideals," he continued.

"I was merely point out the inaccuracy of your comment," Lily said evenly. "'Half-blood' isn't an insult."

"I never said it was," he said complacently. "I believe you came up with that on your own."

He was infuriating. "Don't you have class, Malfoy?"

"You're the daughter of Potter and Weasley, whereas I'm a descendent of Malfoy and Greengrass, lines that can be traced through Wizarding history past the time of King Arthur. If you were to worry about class, Potter, I'd worry about your own."

Lily stepped closely to Malfoy, her wand already drawn. Even standing at her full height she only came up to his nose, but her attitude and poise overruled his own and seemed to give her an equal stance. A single spark flew from her wand tip as she hissed, "Not only do I have more class than you could dream of, but I also happen to have a class to attend right now. And if you even think about delaying me further, I will not hesitate to prevent you from attending not only this block of classes but lunch as well." And with that, she turned on her heel and made her way down the corridor, leaving Malfoy leaning his shoulder against the wall as he watched her kick open a tapestry and disappear through the passage behind it.

~

"Way to go, Lily," said Jordan as they left Muggle studies an hour later. "Nice way to start off term."

"It wasn't my fault I was late," Lily grumbled. "I ran into Malfoy, and we shared a few choice words."

"Ten whole points hardly matter," said Jocasta, appearing at Jordan's side. "We've got all year to beat Slytherin."

"It's not Slytherin I --"

"Ten points gone, eh?" A tall, dark-haired boy strode past the three Gryffindors and continued his speech without turning around. "Shame, that."

"Shut up, Leander," Lily snapped. "I don't need that today."

Leander turned around and walked backwards. "I was just pointing out the Ravenclaw advantage," he said, his voice dripping in false innocence. "It must not have been your fault, Lily, but still...I haven't yet heard of a Ravenclaw being tardy for class --"

Jordan retorted in a manner that caused Jocasta to shake her head in disgust and Lily to roll her eyes, but Leander pulled the boy from between the girls, threw his arm around him, and led the way to the Great Hall. "Now that is the best use of the word broomstick I've heard ever since a first year cut McLaggen in line two years ago..."

"So why were you late?" Jocasta asked Lily, choosing to ignore the boys in front of them.

"Malfoy wanted a quarrel," she answered.

Lily had been mulling over the confrontation throughout Muggle Studies. It had been truly bizarre for several reasons. First of all, she had never been in such close proximity to Malfoy before in her life; she'd only ever seen him in the Great Hall and on the Quidditch pitch. Secondly, she had no earthly idea what he'd been doing in that area of the castle. That wing was strictly bare except for Gryffindor tower. And thirdly, why did he even bother to talk to her? Malfoy was a seventh year Slytherin, probably with things of his own to be worrying about, and yet he stopped a fifth year Gryffindor perusing the corridors to start an argument over houses and blood. For all she knew, he'd been waiting outside Gryffindor just to have that conversation with the next idiot that walked out the portrait hole and it had happened to be her.

"The only thing I can think of," said Lily to Jocasta, "is that he was tired of Albus not taking the bait -- that he wanted to have a real sparring match with a Potter." Jocasta looked confused, so Lily elaborated. "According to my uncle, my dad and Malfoy's dad were real rivals at school. Malfoy would, of course, take the rivalry to the next generation. James is three years older than Malfoy, they wouldn't have known each other. Albus would be ideal, but he's so...you know..."

"So damn noble?"

"...so damn noble that he wouldn't get into any sort of fight. So, naturally, Malfoy has moved on to the next of the Potter kin: me."

"Did you hex him into oblivion?"

Lily grinned. "No time, I was already late for class," she replied cheekily. "Besides, you can't hex anyone into oblivion; I've looked it up, and I doubt even Dumbledore could've done it."

The two girls followed Jordan and Leander down the stairs into the entrance hall and through the large doors to the Great Hall for lunch. Leander stopped at the Ravenclaw table, but the other three joined the Gryffindors. Junia was there already, still shifting through A History of Magic.

"Reckon Binns'll forget to collect these essays?" she asked hopefully as Lily and Jocasta sat across from her.

"Not a chance."

"Damn," she muttered, and stood, grabbed her book, parchment, quill, and sandwich, and ran off towards the library.

Just then, a short, slightly plump boy climbed over the bench in place of Junia.

"Hey, Eugene --"

"Have you seen her yet?"

Lily and Jocasta stared for a second, and even Jordan looked up from his food. "Seen what?"

"That Ravenclaw girl," he said, nodding past the others. "She's rather hard to miss."

Lily glanced casually over her shoulder, but what she'd meant as a quick glance turned into a stare as she caught sight of a neon green crown, built a foot over the owner's head. Sea shells were suspended over her ears and something resembling a peacock feather was sitting against the height of the crown. The girl underneath had strawberry-blonde hair and rather large blue eyes. She was sitting by herself at the Ravenclaw table, but seemed perfectly happy about it as she levitated a sandwich her way and began to eat. After her second bite, she stopped, set down the sandwich, and carefully removed the crown, setting it down on the table like a centerpiece. She then resumed her meal.

"Who is she?" asked Jocasta, who, like Lily, had turned to look.

"No clue," said Eugene. "I saw her walking down the corridor ahead of me. She nearly fell over four times; that thing made her top heavy and she doesn't seem to mind where she puts her feet."

"Are you talking about Scamander?" Another boy sat down next to Eugene. "We've just got back from Arithmancy with her." On cue, two more fifth years joined the table.

"Phoebe Scamander," said Erato, lowering her voice. "God knows where she came from, but it isn't England."

"She's got a better than English accent than me own," said Donald, who had sat on the other side of Junia. "Her parents are English of course; you know Magical Beasts and Where to Find Them was written by Newt Scamander -- I'm sure he's a relative."

"Yeah, 'magical beasts' -- that does seem to fit, doesn't it?"

"Shut it, Erato," snapped Lily. "You've had one class with her; you've no right to judge." She herself was still feeling a little sore about being picked on that morning by Scorpius Malfoy.

"Ooh, surprise, Potter's playing the hero," muttered the blonde, taking a sip of pumpkin juice.

Lily ignored; she was far too used to hearing this from Erato to care anymore, but was relieved when Evie, another girl in their dormitory, arrive to occupy Erato in conversation. The arrival of Phoebe Scamander seemed to have provided the gossip of the week.

"So apparently there was some special sorting yesterday in Smethley's office," related Evie. "It got her into Ravenclaw. God knows why she's chosen to just randomly show up one year, even a day late."

"Well, what I heard," said Erato, "was that she was celebrating some holiday on Monday and so couldn't take the train because of it."

"What holiday?"

"I think there were several...¹"

On Lily's other side, Jordan was conversing with Clement Plumpton about Quidditch. Lily leaned over to join in.

"Congratulations, Clem," she said, nodding at the new Captain's badge on his chest.

"Thanks," he said. "Tryouts next Saturday, right, Potter?"

"Of course!" she said.

"Wow, Lil, you might make the team!" said Jordan. "Fourth time's a charm, right?"

"You arse," she said. "For your information, I've been on reserve for two years now, just waiting for McLaggen to get kicked out."

Clement laughed. "Yates was rather easy on him, it's true...thank Dumbledore I don't have to deal with him."

Lily grinned. McLaggen had been hoarding the Gryffindor keeper position since before Lily had arrived at Hogwarts, and now she finally had a chance at playing. She made a mental note to write to James when she got the chance.

"How're we going to tackle Slytherin, then?" asked Jordan.

"How we always tackle Slytherin," answered Clement. "We know their weak points. They've got beaters beyond what we could ever hope for --"

"Bloodthirsty pricks," muttered Jordan.

"-- and their keeper isn't bad either. We attack them at their ego. You know Slytherins; they can't stand to work together. That's their weakness, and that's where we attack."

~~~

¹ Church of England's St. Giles' Day, Slovakia's Constitution Day, Singapore's Teachers' Day, Russia's Knowledge Day, Uzbekistan's Independence Day, Libya's Revolution Day, and the start of the season when oysters are fit to eat.

Author's Note: Just a couple notes on the canon-osity of this fic: I've kept most everything correct from the Epilogue except for James' age; I have him being three years older than Albus. I've taken what I liked from JKR's interviews. The Weasley family tree was unaffected by the interviews, but Luna did marry Rolf Scamander in this fic and Draco did marry Astoria Greengrass.

Please review. I really like hearing feedback of all kinds.