Appreciating History (Or Whatever) [scorp + open]

[.LILY LUNA POTTER !]

come on, ordinary
NOTHING TO SEE HERE

Lily sat on the bottom steps of the staircase directly across from the Great Hall, a book spread over her knees. She tapped her wand idly on the page she wasn't reading, her heart not really into trying to keep any beat. Her eyes were a bit glassy and she realized after a bit that she wasn't really reading her text book so much as just staring at the page, her eyelids sliding down and tempting her to sleep right there on the steps. History of Magic in the classroom was one thing: at least there were things to do to occupy her. Throw bits of paper at the boy in front of her, pass notes to her friend Nafissah. Now though, trying to slog through the great Banshee War of 70AD, Lily found herself not so easy distracted and thus instead bored to sleep.

A couple times her head nodded to her chest and with a start she woke back up. A Slytherin prefect walked by at one point and suggested she get in a nap before dinner, but Lily was determined to finish reading this passage. If she were to return to her common room or dormitory, she would easily deviate from her goal or else fall asleep entirely, and she couldn't go and have that. Professor Binn's assigned essay was due in a couple of days and Lily was bound and determined to finish her work on time for once. Her grades were looking pretty poor all around (two failing grades so far and only barely passing the rest, except charms which she was doing pretty alright in), and if her parents found out about it she'd be doomed. Plus Al would probably give her a talking to, as he was wont to often do.

So Lily smiled and thanked the Slytherin, but decided to stay where she was.

Lily sat up and stretched, her back and shoulders popping while she reached high over her head. She rolled her neck and straightened her legs, trying to get some feeling back into the toes that had fallen asleep. She's been there since classes ended that day, about a half hour ago, cooped up on her bottom stair when the crowds had dissipated and returned to their respective common rooms. She had cracked her book open immediately with the double goal of getting her work done without distraction, and being the first one in the door for dinner. Her stomach tightened at the thought of food; she'd accidentally missed lunch today when she stayed after for Professor Carrington, trying in vain to brew a passable potion.

...in 78AD, precipitating the eventual ruin of the Banshee army in Pompeii by the following year...
Lily sniffed and went back to her book, crossing her ankles comfortably and bending over her text. Her loud red hair formed a curtain around her face as she read, and she didn't look when she heard footsteps approaching, assuming it was a straggler on their way back from CoMC. Lily flipped the page after she believed she had grasped the gist of that paragraph, moving, crawling through the text. Suddenly she wished more than anything for a distraction.

The text was starting to explain, in detail, just exactly how the Banshees died.

There were illustrations.

[.SCORPIUS HYPERION MALFOY !]

Open my eyes, it was only just a dream.
So I travel back, down that road.

Scorpius had been busy for most of the day, actually for most of the month. They were still only halfway through the year and he already felt like he needed some time off from school work. The worse part he still didn’t even had to worry about the N.E.W.T,s. If this year was bad, he’ll probably end up hating his final year in the school. After he had finished his classes he took some time in the common room to work on whatever projects or work was almost due. After an hour he decided he had done enough, whatever was left he could finish before bedtime. He still had some prefect work to do anyway. He quickly put everything away, making sure no one would have access to them. As much as he hated to admit it, a good part of his roommates weren’t very happy with him at the moment.

On his way out he waved to some fellow Slytherin and was joined by one of the prefects. They discussed their daily activities before going their own way, half way down his own he looked back to see the other prefect talk to another student. Scorpius took a second look and recognized the Gryffindor immediately, Gryffindor had their good share of red-heads, but after having lived with them for some time. Scorpius recognized the youngest Potter, Lily. He quickly walked toward her, he enjoyed talking with Lily. But unlike with Albus, he didn’t share any classes with her, he was also wondering what she was doing, pretty much alone. He had a little sister himself and he was a bit worried something was wrong.

Fortunately now that he was closer, he could see that Lily was simply reading. He sat down, taking a closer loom at the book and winced at the illustration in the page. Not only had Scorpius “enjoyed” reading about the Banshee War in Hogwarts. Because he was from a pure-blood family or two wizard parents, since he could remember his parents and grandparents had made sure he memorized everything wizard related in history. That include the type of information Scorpius would have rather never learned about. “It doesn’t get any better than that.” He smiled at Lily, making his presence known. “How have you been, you Potters are harder to get into contact with than the Minister himself.”

Scorpius smiled once more, he had lost some of his “close” friends when he had cut ties with his family and the Death eaters. But he had also at the same time gained some friendship that were a lot more worthy of his time and devotion. While he wasn’t very close with James Potter, he had grown to like Lily and Albus a lot. He also enjoyed the company of the cousins, but most of his time had been spend with the Potters, so he was a lot closer to them. “If you want I can help you with anything about that section, I’m familiar with it and I’m sure you don’t really want to learn about the banshee’s army gruesome end.” It was the least he could do, after what the Potters had done and were still doing for him. Not only they saved him, but also trusted him into their home.

word count: 562
outfit: slytherin robes
tag: lily potter & anyone else
note: i know, this kind of sucks.

[.LILY LUNA POTTER !]

come on, ordinary
NOTHING TO SEE HERE

Lily looked up and blinked at Scorpius when she heard him speak, a smile quickly lifting her lips and her mood. She had unconsciously covered most of the gruesome illustration with her hand to keep herself from staring at it with a morbid fascination, but Scorpius had recognized the scene anyway. Lily grimaced a little when he gestured to the illustration, moving her hand back into her lap. "Oh, great," she laughed a little in reply, "really excellent. Especially now that I know this book can get even worse!" Lily reached over and batted Scorpius' arm teasingly, smiling at him.

Lily brightened considerably when Scorpius offered his help, thrusting the book at him and nodding vigorously. "Oh, would you, Scorp? I'd really like that, thanks!" She beamed at him and moved over on the step so he could sit, then placed her chin in her hand, waiting for him. "It mentioned Pompeii... Does that mean they were buried when the volcano erupted? Because I mean the Muggles dug that place out ages ago, wouldn't they have noticed..." Lily shuddered, "banshee bones?" The thought gave her the creeps.

But even after she'd finished the question, Lily became rather bored of the subject. She didn't want to waste the rare times she got to see Scorp on his own talking about history, even if Scorpius was a pro at the subject. She loved Scorpius like another brother (and one who pranked her less often than James, and scolded her less often than Albus), so instead her curiosity bubbled about him. She really ought to finish the page, though, at least...

Oh, dash History of Magic! Lily fidgeted a little in the brief gap of time Scorpius had to answer her question before interrupting him. "Oh, never mind, enough about that!" Lily giggled and played with the hem of her robes for a moment before dropping them suddenly to the floor. "How have you been, Scorp?" She sobered quickly, concern in her features, her eyes wide with sympathy. She lowered her voice and said, "I know these past few months had to have been hard on you. Frankly they've been hard on me too, but for different reasons." Here she whispered, more to herself than to Scorp, "Probably really selfish reasons." But straightening back up and turning to her friend, "but I'm always here to listen, you know? And... oh, I've got it!"

Lily suddenly stood, too excited to sit down. "Since we're both a bit put off recently, why don't we confide in each other!" She beamed like an enthusiastic little girl who had just told her best friend her very first secret. "You can tell my aaanything that's been bothering you, and I'll tell you anything that's bothering me, ok?" She took Scorp's hands and bounced on her heels, excited at the idea of having a new confidant, since she felt she couldn't talk to Al anymore, with his prefect responsibilities and detestable "growing up" business. "So whatcha say? We can be secrets mates!"