SPOILER!!: comment/s

Quote:

Originally Posted by SilverTiger

Okay, I feel like a stalker. But a good stalker, one that gets rewarded.

And I'm oddly amused atthesalamander reference given CoMC lessons this term in the RP.

And also, confusing Scorp is being confusing.

XD well you are basically our only reader now so I'm glad to reward you lolol.

8.4 Like a Fungus

Quidditch practice was always the best part of the week for Scorpius and today was no exception. The Wednesday practice ran for two hours between the last class of the day and dinner. Practices were open so students who were not on the Slytherin Quidditch Team could come along and watch if they wanted. Scorpius didn't mind because he often went along to the other house practices himself, but usually when there was an audience they were Quidditch Players. Not so today.There was a gaggle of Gryffindor girls-including Lily Potter- up in the stands watching and giggling and every now and then applauding which set some of his younger players distracted and breaking into laughter. At the Gryffindors, he suspected, rather than because of him.

He wasn't inclined to let it interrupt practice, and yelled at his teammates to focus. Usually Scorpius wrapped things up with about ten minutes to spare so there'd be time to shower before heading to the Great Hall for dinner, but today practice had run long and they were all tired when he finally called it to a halt. The next game was to be Gryffindor versus Hufflepuff but Scorpius didn't see that as a reason to slack off. They'd be up against Ravenclaw in just a few weeks and Christine Macmillian had put together a formidable team. They were all small and fast and he needed a new strategy to combat the Eagle strengths: Ravenclaw had become the team to beat.

"Alright, good scramble everyone." Scorpius called out after catching the Quaffle for the final time. The team landed and he watched them for a bit before he circled lazily to the ground himself and dismounted in one fluid motion. Takeshi waved over at him and headed off with Pucey, likely to get a shower in before dinner. Scorpius would follow as soon as the Quidditch equipment was put away. He swung his broom over his shoulder and went over to the trunk where Eurydice was already helpfully trying to wrestle a bludger back into its restraints. The other was strapped in already. He grinned at her in thanks and saw her expression change as she looked at something over his shoulder.

"Scorpius," Lily Potter approached breathlessly, her hands clasped in front of her. She'd obviously taken great pains with her appearance - her auburn hair was swept up into ringlets and she wore a snowy white coat over a white dress and tights that had somehow managed not to pick up any grass or mud from the field. "That was a wonderful practice. You lead with such... authority."

"... Its Malfoy." He corrected and then straightened up from the act of returning the Quaffle to the box, resisting the urge to glance around for Albus or James Potter. Why would this one be here if not to spy or deliver some kind of challenge to duel at midnight or other similar nonsense? Yes, he'd seen her in the stands but still. It was odd. No reason not to be polite though, he supposed.

"Potter." He greeted her and then he shot a look over at Dicey who was trying not to snigger as she shut and latched the equipment trunk. Scorpius was suspicious. Fourth years. They were trouble.

"See you later, Cap'n." Dicey told him, and levitated the trunk, taking it with her as she left. Scorpius could see her shoulders shaking as she walked and uneasily he shifted his broom to his other shoulder and turned back to regard Lily Potter. What did she want?

"Lily," she corrected him, stepping forward eagerly as soon as Eurydice had gone. Her hands fluttered a bit in his direction before she clasped them again. He eyed Lily and her worrisome hands as she continued to speak.

"I don't blame you for not wanting me to call you by your first name, just in case people thought we were being too familiar, but Al and Rose and... and Jayne call you Scorp, so I don't think anyone would think a thing on it. And really, I don't care what they think. I don't." She said it all in one breath, except for a slight stumble over Jayne's name.

And then Lily sparkled in his direction.

They called him Scorp? Well, he knew Jayne did, but Rose and Albus too? That meant they discussed him. That was far more familiar than Malfoy. He shifted his weight to one foot and let the handle of his broom drop to rest on the ground between them. A barrier perhaps.

"Lily, then." He glanced towards the castle. He'd run out of time to change before dinner if he didn't go now. "Was there something...?" Besides all that alarming sparkling. He watched her turn around to wave off her friends, who left in a little crowd of giggles. His alarm was growing and Scorp looked over at the giggling Gryffindor girls, not wanting to know exactly what they were laughing about, or what they were planning to do now.

"I thought you might want to walk with me back to the castle," Lily offered a hand in his direction, perhaps an invitation to hold it or just a beckoning gesture. Scorpius eyed her hand like it was a serpent poised to strike and then flicked his eyes up to meet hers as she added: "...so I can tell you how much I admire you."

Scorpius wasn't stupid, nor was he a stranger to being crushed on but... Lily Potter? He couldn't help but wonder what Rose would write in her little journal if he said something scathing to her cousin. Aside from not being able to shower before dinner, it was harmless to humour her a little, surely? He'd be polite at least. And hopefully she'd go away soon.

"I am going that way." He said finally. "And you.... don't need to share your admiration, really." Really and truly.

"I don't mind." She snatched up his broom and started walking. Scorpius snatched futilely after his broom and resisted the urge to hex her. After a slight hesitation he caught her up, reluctantly walking alongside. "I think you're a better Quidditch player than James is." Lily said conversationally, as if she hadn't just stolen his broom in order to force him into following her. "And you don't have to yell as much during practice, which probably means you're a better captain, doesn't it? I mean Sloper... have you seen the color he turns during practice?"

Scorpius was a little surprised. Yes he knew he was better than James, but hardly expected Lily here to acknowledge that. As for mention of Sloper, the Hufflepuff Captain... Scorpius laughed quietly, still a little uneasy. "I didn't know you were into Quidditch." He tried to grab for his broom again, but Lily took it as invitation and grabbed his hand, letting it swing between them.

She batted those big dark eyes at him, "I'm a Potter."

And presumptuous apparently. Scorpius forcibly extracted his hand and shoved both of his hands in his pockets. Safer. He eyed his broom regretfully as they closed the distance to the castle. "If I don't care about Quidditch, they don't let me talk at dinner." She added.

"So why don't you play?" He asked, plotting how to reacquire his broom in a way that wouldn't cause some kind of blood feud.

Lily pouted at him. "I play. We all play. I just don't like people hitting balls at my face," Lily moved in his direction, bumping her elbow against his.

"You're supposed to dodge the balls, or catch em'." Scorpius pointed out.

"Are you really dating Jayne Wood?"

"We went on a few dates." He acknowledged, smoothly trying to extract himself once more, and once more to no avail. It was like a dance. "Dated. Past tense, I suppose. She's very nice." And he supposed he could openly say he and Jayne were friends. He'd certainly rather her company right then. Jayne didn't give him a sense of impending doom like Lily Potter was currently doing.

"And before that, Rosie. James says you're having a Gryffindor phase. Maybe to make your parents pay attention to you. Are you having a Gryffindor phase?" she offered his broom in a way that forced eye contact.

"Ro..." He blinked at her and paused in the action of reaching for his broom, caught off guard. He didn't know where to start with that one. Rose. Gryffindor phase. Parents. Rose. "No, Rose... she.. we never..." He breathed out in frustration and tried to tackle the easy part instead. Thinking about Rose meant thinking about the journal and feeling that strange urge to go and skim through it a bit. And it made him feel a bit strange to even picture her being part of some sort of... phase. Not that he was having a phase. Or that, if he did have one, it would be of the Gryffindor variety. And if he DID have a Gryffindor phase, it wouldn't include anyone related to Lily Potter. Especially not Rose Weasley.

"I'm not having any sort of phase and I get plenty of attention from my parents. James can sod off. Your brother, he's a bit of a prat, are you aware?" Did they really all think that he lacked parental attention? How strange. Just because there weren't a million Malfoys trying to squeeze into a space the size of a couple of shoeboxes crushed and balanced end to end, it didn't mean he had a shoddy family life.

"He's a Potter too." Lily responded simply. Clearly she knew that the prat thing was a family trait. What did that make her then? Presumptuous was the first adjective that came to mind. She put herself in his arms and Scorp stared down at the fourth year, not entirely sure about how to go about escaping. "If you're looking for a Gryffindor girl, I happen to know a few that make Jayne and Rose pale in comparison. Boyish and boring... Don't give up on us yet."

Um.

"... Good to know." He answered faintly. No. It wasn't. For starters, he doubted that one claim. Rose was... Rose, and Jayne was terrific. He wasn't looking for any Gryffindors and there wouldn't be any giving up or not giving up. Non-issue, Lily Potter. "Listen, I should change for dinner." He was pretty much out of time already but it was an excuse to leave.

... preferably before anyone actually saw them.

"You're perfect just as you are. I think the Quidditch uniforms are particularly masculine, don't you? It's a shame for the girls who play, but the boys always look so marvelous." She petted his arm a bit with one hand and Scorpius tried to ignore it.

"Right." Scorpius ran one hand through his hair and took a casual side step away as they entered the Entrance Hall. "Well. I guess it was... nice... talking to you." With utter relief, he finally rescued his broom and angled it away from her so she couldn't grab it again.

"You too." Lily sparkled at him again and Scorpius tried not to panic. "We could sit together at dinner."

"I sit at the Slytherin table." He reminded her. She was a Gryffindor. People could harp on about how things were more friendly between houses now than they ever were before but that was a pretty broad generalisation, and people didn't just go and sit at other tables and that applied to Potters and Malfoys especially. And Weasleys. He wouldn't ever mosey over and sit with Rose, for example. Not that it had ever crossed his mind. Best look away from all of Lily's sparkling. He forced a smile at her distractedly and then headed into the great hall, broom safely in hand.

Unbeknowst to Scorpius, Lily tagged along behind. There were a few shouts and calls from the Gryffindor table. Scorp didn't hear James Potter calling out to his sister, but he did notice the expressions on the faces of his house mates as he approached the Slytherin table, ranging from puzzlement to amusement to disgust and everything in between. He sat down in the space that Takeshi Haneda had saved for him, only noticing Lily when she tried to squeeze in next to him on his other side. He tried not to gape. Was this a joke? Lily tapped a third year on the head. "Scoot, please."

Scorp kept a white-knuckled hold of his broom and shot a furious look at the third year that had obligingly scooted for Lily. So he'd eat fast. And escape. And shoot slightly panicked looks over at Rose in particular, but also at Jayne. Come and FETCH your stray Gryffindor!

"Lily Potter, what a pleasure." It was Nera, voice dripping with sweetness from across the table. "Scorpius, where are your manners, why don't you pour dear Lily here a drink?" He might murder her, Scorpius rather thought. He might murder everyone. Was there a special term to describe murdering a cousin? But then Nera winked at him and spoke again. "Oh look, the Cavalry comes."

Lily, who had daintily slung one foot over the bench, was suddenly hauled backward by Albus Potter. Scorpius eyed the Gryffindor boy warily and twisted in his seat slightly to better see.

"Need to speak with you, dear sister. 'Lo, Malfoy. 'Lo, Zabini." Said Albus quite cheerfully.

Nera simply waggled her fingers in response, her eyes were on Scorpius, who had spotted Rose waiting a few feet behind. Cavalry indeed. Rose offered Malfoy an amused look before she linked her arm through Lily's and helped Al frogmarch her back to the Gryffindor table. Scorpius kept his eyes on her... them. On them.

"Her derangement is impressive. We should appoint her your official stalker." Takeshi said this with a perfectly straight face, and it actually took Scorpius a few seconds to realise the other boy was teasing. He tore his eyes away from Rose and her cousins.

"Next time, do feel free to step in." Scorpius said.

"You did just fine." Takeshi assured him.

"Wouldn't want to cramp your style, Cap'n." Dicey leaned past Takeshi to deftly catch up a bread roll and insert herself into the conversation that she'd clearly been listening in on. "She's not all that bad for a Gryffindor."

"A slightly less poisonous toadstool is still poisonous." Nera put in. Scorpius just looked at her.

"I'm not interested in Lily Potter."

"No, maybe not, but there are others that are growing on you like fungi, aren't there, Scorpius?"

He resisted the urge to inform Nera that Rose Weasley was not a fungus. She was something alright, but not that. He just needed to read a little more to figure out what.