WELCOME

As her day came to a close, Lily was beyond cheerful. Laying in her bed, she continued to twirl a thin silver chain around her finger. On it, tinking against the clasp every so often, was a shiny signet ring that she’d come across early that morning. It had taken her a little time, but she’d paired it with the actual owner and started her day of well. She assumed it was related to that trouble making little girl, though it mattered little. Lily Potter had been gifted with a pile of house gems and a ring that belonged to the boy she loved to tease. Tonight would be no different.

She was waiting, rather impatiently, as she lay there. The red-head had discovered the pattern of the prefects long ago, knowing specifically where Scorpius Malfoy should be and when. It was just the fact that she had to wait to make sure she could avoid the others along the way, and not end up waiting so long that she fell asleep. Sitting up, Lily clasped the chain around her neck and unbuttoned her blouse just enough for the ring to be prominent against her skin. She shook out her fiery hair from its ponytail and began making her way to her favorite corridors, a book in hand.

As she went, she found herself with a rather devious smile as her fingers twirled the ring. It had been a great find, if she said so herself. All her useless pranks to get his attention had easily become a bit old, so she was glad to find new reasons to run into him. She’d just consider this a bit of an “accidental” encounter and hope he noticed her shiny jewelry. After their last encounter, she found herself less troublesome and more addicted to just being around him. As long as no one found out and caused problems, Lily planned to continue her antics.

While they never really had set meeting places, Lily knew her little crush well enough to know where he’d be and with whom. On this particular evening, she took up residence in one of the spiral staircases. Casually, she parked herself in the windowsill, lit by a very bright moon. She hadn’t looked when she left, but she cracked her book with a laugh. Figures… Her hand hadn’t been reliable as she stared blankly at her History of Magic book. What a joke… However, Lily was thankful to hear steps that increased in sound. Burying her smirk, she checked to make sure the ring was still visible and pretended to read her book like she actually cared.

There were certain days and times that Scorpius liked being a prefect but today was not one of them. They day had been a long one and he was tired and he did not really want to do his rounds. He was without his cloak he was in a white uniform shirt with the top button undone considering he had no tie. For Merlin's sake he did not even have his prefect's badge as that had the color Green. Of course this was all nothing compared to the fact that the demon child had taken the one possession that meant the most to him and it was his family signet ring. His thumb would occasionally and absently touch where it was supposed to be on his hand to find it gone causing the anger to periodically boil over once again.

Rounds were nearing an end but as the last stretch of them he had to traverse up to the top of the towers to see if anyone was hiding and snogging up at the top. It was surprising how popular the tops of towers were for snogging. That and broom closets. Those Scorpius was not fond of. Really who wanted to be in a place that was filled with cleaning products and chemicals. Not to say he hasn't snogged in a broom closet but that situation was unique in and of itself considering he was locked in there against his will. Of course Lily was there and what better way to pass the time than snogging?

Reaching near the top of the tower Scorpius was met with something of a surprise. Generally speaking the surprise of finding Lily evoked two emotions for the Slytherin. The first was suspicion because she has been known to be up to something followed by amusement as it was an opportunity to snog her, but this time it was different. Tonight Scorpius was not exactly in the mood which was rare for him and then the whole fact that she was reading, history of all things? He rolled his eyes and just kept a sigh from coming out. The red head was quite striking and any other night he would have pressed to snog her sooner than normal potential prank and consequences be damned but not this night.

"I'm shocked to find you reading Potter." spoke Scorpius with a bit of a bored tone as he eyed Lily. "I thought you didn't have any interest in history?" he also mused the memory of their time at the quidditch pitch still strong in his memory. "So let's cut to the chase and assume you are playing at something. This leaves me to ask if your partner in crime is involved and if you have plans to make this day worse than it already is because I'm in no mood for my hair to be some unnatural color or to glitter like a Christmas tree again." He was in a sour mood and did not feel like playing any games.

She could’ve sworn his footsteps were slowed because she mentally was too excited. Such silly games, really, but they could be so much fun. ”Well, when you’ve got cousins like mine, sometimes you don’t get a choice. Mum was a bit grumpy about my grades last holiday.” It was a true statement, but not one she would’ve actually cared to do something about. Her grades were her business. Frankly, she didn’t care what they ended up as, as long as it didn’t hinder her joining the Weasley shop to promote her antics. Which they wouldn’t, thankfully.

”Why do I always have to be playing at something?” Closing the book, she set it on the ledge before turning, her back to the window. It irked her a bit that he didn’t seem to be in the greatest mood for her plan. ”Believe it or not, Fred and I don’t spend that much time together.It's not our type of holiday.” She recalled her seasonal antics with a bit of fun reminiscing. Christmas had been her favorite yet, but they were cooking up much bigger things for the upcoming April Fool's Day. This green thing was just a sideshow that she didn't care to get involved in. "The green kinda clashes with the red, you know? Terrible holiday."

While she didn't like the holiday, she had participated with the gifts she'd been given. House gems, signet rings, and cute little hide-and-seek games were the only reason she'd bothered to get involved. However, she was a bit depressed that she'd missed the Great Hall spectacle. Dipping her head, she couldn't help but let out a bit of a giggle. "Heard it was quite the scene this morning. All those Slytherins find their stuff, yet? Poor little green-lovers."

The little redhead was wracking her brain for anything she could possibly use to brighten his mood. It was really a downer to have him so… grumpy. He may be a Slytherin, and she may have heard about the events of breakfast, AND she may have had his ring, but so what? The day had been more eventful than she'd imagined possible. You were just plain stupid if you took it too seriously. Even if it did get a little annoying.

Lily planted her hands on the ledge, leaning towards him with her head tilted to the side. ”C’mon, blondie. Cheer up. This has been the most eventful Patty's Day Hogwarts has probably ever seen. And you got to be a part of it! Aren’t you at least a little excited to be able to share that story someday? I can't even tell my kids about that fiasco in the Hall!” Maybe that was just her dream. All Lily Potter wanted was to tally up the stories for her kids and have plenty of fun along the way.

Part of Scorpius wanted to let his guard down and believe that Lily wasn't planning an ambush but at the same time he knew better and today of all days was not one in which he could put up with such shenanigans. "With or with out your cousin you can cause a fair bit of trouble," answered Scorpius dryly. Watching Lily carefully for any signs of a planned attack, missing the one thing that was around her neck and would have made his day a whole light brighter.

"Sure, it was a real blast down in the Great Hall this morning. Most of the school was half naked, and Davies made a spectacle of himself dancing upon Ravenclaw table in nothing but his boxers." Scorpius spoke his tone still sour. The whole even hadn't been bad and he had quite enjoyed the view until he realized that his signet ring was taken from him along with all the other green things.

When Lily mentioned telling future children about the whole even Scorpius gave a slight bitter laugh. "Right now I'm not so concerned about telling future children about the disaster this year has been but rather explaining to my father how I came to loose the family signet ring simply because it was green and a certain demon child seems to hate the color." The words came out fast and a little heated but the anger wasn't directed at Lily, it was just anger in general, particularly considering the source and cause of his anger was unattainable. "So I think you can excuse me for being a little less than enthused at this point in time and wish for little more than to get through this encounter with my dignity in tact to then finish what are supposed to be my round before going to bed and trying to pretend this day never happened."

Was he being a big selfish baby? Maybe but that signet ring meant to lot to Scorpius as it was a family heirloom that has been passed down the Malfoy line for generations. Despite what people may think about the family name and some of the deeds of the past that may have marred it some Scorpius was proud of his family history and in some respects understood why his father and grandfather did what the did. He tired to ignore and pretend it didn't happen as did his father who still in some ways seemed to be atoning for it. It was why Scorpius did push himself the way he did at times, it was to help bring pride and honor to his family name otherwise he probably would have been a little more as he father was in school, pampered brat who didn't need to do much more than lift a finger to get his way. Sure he was still pampered in some ways and he could be a brat at times but he worked hard and earned most of the respect he had.