HISTORY, james sirius potter

─ vingt

"Nothing," Scorpius said with a forced smile. "I'm just scared."

"Well, face your fears! Take on the world!" Lily said with a big smile.

"No offense, but that's a little rich coming from you," Scorpius remarked. 

Lily recoiled a little bit.

"Sorry, that sounded nicer in my head," Scorpius said as he cringed. 

"No, no, it's alright. Um- you're probably right," Lily said as she laughed at herself lightly. "I better go make sure Nyah's ok. But, you need to play Scorp."

Scorpius nodded and gulped uneasily as James Sirius Potter entered the Great Hall decked out in his quidditch robes, closely followed by Fred. He wore a bright smile and cheered when the Great Hall cheered with him, but don't look too closely. You won't like what you'll see. 

Lily scurried over back to the shelter of her friends. She took a deep breath and steadied herself. Nyah had told she didn't have to come if it was going to be too loud, but Lily was determined. It was important. It was important to Nyah. 

"You alright?" Henry asked as he nudged her.

"Yeah, just you know. Could you pass me some toast?" Lily asked.

He nodded and grabbed it and placed it in front of her and she took a piece, spreading marmalade all over it. She took a bite and let the sweetness of the jam hit her tongue and scorch the back of her throat. She felt as her parched throat struggled to swallow it, but the only thing she liked worse than struggling to swallow was soggy bread. 

Her body felt weird. It didn't feel like her. It felt like she was watching her life continue on without her, leaving her behind as she was struggling, gasping for air. She felt like the person that was controlling her body wasn't her. Because it wasn't. It was the terrified 7 year old who witnessed something not even grown adults should see. 

Soon, everyone started to move to the quidditch pitch and their group moved early. Nyah had to be there before even the players as she was a captain. 

Lily was thankful that Estelle had come back from Tết already ( and had brought delicious Mut and Banh Chung ). She dearly missed her friend and knew that Estelle's boundless optimism, but also thoughtful nature would help ( also very good food was sure to help ). 

They all walked down to the pitch when Albus and Scorpius caught up with them, hand in hand. 

"Lily!" Albus called. 

Lily turned to see the boy running towards her, dragging Scorpius and waving something red in the air. 

"Is everything alright?" Lily asked as the group stopped walking.

"Yeah," Albus said as he doubled over, trying to catch his breath ( running was not his forte ). "Here."

He thrust a red and gold Gryffindor scarf into her hands. 

"I- thank you," Lily said, very confused. 

"Yeah, you're welcome," he said as he rushed away again ( with Scorpius dragging him this time ). 

As he rushed away, Lily saw him give Rose Granger-Weasley a thumbs up. How odd. 

"Did Albus Potter just give you ... a Gryffindor scarf?" Ben asked in confusion.

"He did," Lily said with a slight chuckle and shook her head. 

"Do you know why?" Estelle asked as she shoved her hands into her very big coat ( Estelle was notorious for getting cold very easily ).