The First Time I... | Chapter 8 (Part One)

[sanalayla]

 

The third time I slept…

The third time I slept with Scorpius Malfoy, it was at a time when I not only was not planning it, but I was expecting it to never happen again.

It had been almost two months since we'd last spoken to each other and I had tried, over and over again, to get in touch with Scorpius, but he had completely frozen me out. My owls went unanswered; I attempted to Floo to his place a few times, but he was never there. I even sent him my Patronus, but he didn't respond to that, either.

Needless to say, I arrived at Teddy and Victoire's wedding feeling rather despondent. The last thing I wanted to do was spend a weekend with my entire extended family, celebrating the joyous union of two perfect people who apparently never had the sort of problems in the romance department that I was currently enduring.

I floated my two pieces of luggage ahead of me as I entered the hotel lobby. Looking about curiously, I saw various relatives and family friends hurrying to and fro. My parents were paying for half of the wedding, and I knew that they'd booked the entire inn, because the Weasley-Potter family alone took up three floors. And then, of course, there was Victoire's family from France, and all of Victoire and Teddy's friends from Hogwarts and their work.

"Ah, Lils! There you are! I was wondering where you'd gotten to. Everyone else arrived hours ago!"

I turned and saw Rose hurrying towards me. With a flick of my wand, I let my luggage float gently down to the ground and then gave my cousin a long hug. It had been about six months since I'd seen her last. She'd even missed my nineteen birthday party because of her work.

"Sorry, I'm late." I pulled back to look at her with a smile. She'd grown out her hair even longer and, I'm not sure how, but she looked even more beautiful than usual. "I actually got an article, Rosie! It's going to be published and everything. I had to turn it in before I left, so that's why I'm late."

Rose's lips curved up into a grin. "That's brilliant! So, your editor's not as much of an idiot as I thought he was."

"So, are we bunking together again?" I asked Rose briskly, getting ready to take my luggage and follow her. We were always lumped together at family gatherings, because we were the closest in age.

Rose shook her head. "No, I'm with Dom."

I frowned. "Isn't Dom going to room with Roxanne?"

"No, didn't you hear?" Rose glanced around and then lowered her voice. "Remember that vampire she's seeing? Aunt Fleur refused to invite him and, apparently, Uncle George backed her up. Because he doesn't want Roxanne seeing him, either. And so Roxanne's not coming."

"Nooo," I breathed. "That's terrible!" With a frown, I added, "Why won't Aunt Fleur just invite him? I mean, honestly. Teddy's half-werewolf."

Rose rolled her eyes. "Not exactly werewolf, but I know what you mean." She glanced around again and then lowered her voice even more. "My mum told me that Veelas and vampires have history."

"Really?" This captured my interest. Aunt Hermione is a veritable faucet of random information. Most of my family doesn't pay much attention to her when she goes off on her lectures, but I've always found her to be fascinating. "What kind of history?"

"Something about their blood," Rose explained, in a hushed whisper. "It's irresistible to vampires. They can't control their… uh… urges."

"To feed?" I squeaked. I looked around and spied about four of Victoire's Veela cousins right off the bat. "Well, in that case, I don't blame Aunt Fleur. So what's got Roxanne's knickers in a bunch? She can't very well want her boyfriend to eat the wedding party."

Rose let out a sound of disgust. "She thinks he'll be able to control himself. And that this is just Uncle George's way of keeping her away from him." Shaking her head, Rose added, in a sharp voice, "It's disgraceful, is what it is. Imagine that. A Weasley choosing her boyfriend over the family! Blood is thicker – I don't know what she's thinking. But if she made the choice, then I say good riddance." Rose stuck her nose in the air and tossed her hair back over her shoulder for good measure.

With an uneasy shrug, I countered, "Maybe she loves him."

Rose gave me a disbelieving look. "Love? How in all that's hot and holy in Hades can you love someone your family doesn't like? Have you met our family? We're the most easy going and accepting family in the Wizarding world! So, if we don't like someone, we have a bloody damn good reason, Lily."

I opened my mouth to argue, but she cut me off. "Oh, right, you need to go talk my mum about your room. I'm not sure who you're rooming with." She grimaced. "It's got to be better than Dom. She's in a tizzy because she thinks Victoire chose green for the maid of honor dress because she knew Dom looks washed out in it."

"I wouldn't be surprised if Victoire did," I told her, with a slight laugh. "You know Victoire wouldn't want Dom to outshine her at the wedding."

Rose has always idolized Victoire, so she quickly refuted, in a loyal voice, "No, she chose it because she knew the rest of us red-headed bridesmaids would need green, since everything else clashes with our hair."

"Fair point," I conceded. Then I looked around until I found my aunt. "All right, well, let me go check in. We'll catch up later."

"Yeah, dinner's at seven. See you then."

I left my luggage where it was and walked up to my aunt, who was reading through a long scroll of parchment. Her wavy hair was up in a bun, with a few quills stuck in it, and she looked very harried. When she saw me, her eyes lit up and she smiled.

"Lily!" She enfolded me in a hug, holding onto me a little longer than necessary. My aunt has always had a soft spot for me because, other than Rose, I'm the only one who's read every book she's ever written. "How are you, sweetheart?" Aunt Hermione pulled back and gazed down at me critically. "Your mother will say the same thing, but I think you're much too thin."

I looked at her slender waist pointedly. "I'm not sure you're allowed to judge, Aunt Hermione. Have you been using a slimming potion?"

She blushed and patted her hair a bit. "Oh, dear, that's such a nice thing to say." She beamed and admitted, "Your mother and I have started a new routine to get some exercise. She's teaching me how to play Quidditch."

"Oh!" My brows shot up. My aunt's worse on a broom than I am. And that's saying something. "How is that going?"

"Quite splendidly, in fact," my mother's amused voice said from right next to me. When I turned to face her, I saw she was standing there, a man's tie dangling from one hand. She also gave me a quick hug. With a fond smile towards my aunt, my mother finished, "Hermione isn't bad. I keep telling her she should have tried out for the team when we were at Hogwarts."

With a laugh, my aunt shook her head. "You're just being nice, Gin. I know full well I can barely stay on a broom. But," she said, brightly, "At least I'm losing weight!"

"You're late. I was starting to get worried," my mother said to me. "I was just about to send out my Patronus to look for you."

"Sorry, I should have sent a message." I told her about my deadline and she nodded in understanding.

"I remember those days well," my mother answered, with a nostalgic smile. "My editor was a fanatic about deadlines. Just be grateful you don't have a two year old hanging off one leg, while a baby's hanging off one boo-."

"Ginny!" Aunt Hermione interjected in a reproving tone, her face flushed. "Keep your voice down!"

My mom just burst out laughing. "No one's around but us," she said in a reassuring voice. "And I think Lily is old enough to know how feeding a baby works." She caught my eye and winked. "She's taken a class at Hogwarts and everything."

Before my aunt could say anything, I hastily changed the subject. "Aunt Hermione, if I'm not sharing with Rose, then do I have my own room?" My tone was hopeful, and I prayed I hadn't been put with Molly and Lucy. While the twins were sweet, I knew they'd insist we go to bed by ten so we could look our best at the wedding.

"No, the place is jam packed, darling. Everyone's sharing," my aunt told me. She unrolled the parchment and ran one quill down the page. "You're in room seventeen. I put you with Scorpius Malfoy's girlfriend."

My jaw dropped. "What? Who?"

What I wanted to say was, 'that's impossible! I'm Scorpius's girlfriend!' But then I realized (1) that wasn't strictly true and (2) I was hiding that from my family, anyway.

Aunt Hermione frowned at me. "I don't remember her name. All I know is that Scorpius brought someone, so – naturally – I assume she's his girlfriend."

I couldn't believe it. It had only been two months and he'd replaced me already? Is this why he was avoiding all my owls and messages? And, to add insult to injury, he'd brought the witch to my own cousin's wedding?

I crossed my arms defiantly. "I'm not sharing a room with her."

My aunt looked utterly perplexed. "Why not?"

"Yes, why not, Lily?" My mother's astute gaze zeroed in on me. "What's the problem?"

"Because…." I tried to think of something to say and all I could come up with was, "I'm sure she snores or something equally revolting..."

"You don't even know the poor girl, Lily," Aunt Hermione answered.

Poor girl? What about poor me? Of course, I couldn't say that, so I just said, "There must be somewhere. Anywhere. Where are we keeping the brooms?"

"Lily, don't be silly," my mother said to me, in a rather sharp tone. "You know we're co-hosting the wedding. I was the one who suggested that you stay with Scorpius's guest. Be hospitable."

Sucking in a deep breath, I started to argue, but then saw the implacable expression on my mother's face. And also, I realized I would be hard-pressed to make my case when I couldn't very well tell her that she'd just put Scorpius's ex-girlfriend with his new one.

"Oh, all right," I said, crossly. "Where's the key?"

Still looking rather mystified by my attitude, my aunt conjured a key with the flick of her wand, and I grabbed it from the air.

As I walked away, I heard my mother say to my aunt, "I don't know what's gotten into her."

"They're all moody now-a-days," my aunt replied, in a consoling voice. "I have no idea what Rose is about half the time."

"Anyway, Hermione, could you put one of your charms on Harry's neck-tie? Honestly, the man can take down Death Eaters with one hand, but he cannot keep this on for longer than five minutes…."

My mother's voice faded away as I walked down the hall that held rooms ten through twenty. As soon as I saw room seventeen, I stopped and started to put my key in the lock. Suddenly, a horrible thought occurred to me and I froze. What if Scorpius was in there? This wasn't second year – I would not be able to handle walking in on him on a bed, snogging the daylights out of another witch. Or, worse, maybe he was doing even more.

My temper started to rise and it was all I could not to barge into the room and yell at the faceless, nameless girl to get her hands off of my boyfriend, thank you very much. I fingered my wand and imagined using my mother's infamous bat bogey hex on her. That would show her. And it would have the added benefit of Scorpius Malfoy realizing how hideous the girl was.

After a few seconds of allowing myself the luxury of indulging in the fantasy, I finally took a deep breath and ordered myself to get a grip. As much as I would have loved hex the hell out of the woman on the other side of the door, I knew that I couldn't do that. At least not while she was awake.

Finally, I decided that knocking was the best way to go. I couldn't very well stand outside in the hall until someone came out. When I knocked, a girl's voice came through clearly. "Come in. It's open!"

Warily, I opened the door and let myself in. A quick scan showed me that there was no Scorpius and so he was, thankfully, not on top of a girl on the bed. But there was a girl on the other side of the room and she was currently in the process of opening the windows, so her back was to me. She had long, blonde hair and she looked tall and very pretty from the back. I prayed her front did not match her back and that she was part-troll.

Then, she turned around and said, with a grin, "Oh, hi, Lily! How're you doing?"

I let out a huge breath of relief. "Elaina! It's you!" Then, my relief turned to panic. "Elaina, it's you!"

Elaina's grin faltered and her brows furrowed. "Um… yes? It's me."

"I mean…." I stopped and then just blurted out, "When did you and Scorpius start seeing each other?"

Elaina stared at me in amazement and then she let out a burst of laughter. When she'd finally gotten control of herself, she wiped her eyes. "Oh my Lord. You are hilarious. No offense, but I wouldn't date Malfoy if he was the last guy on earth."

"Er… all right." I wasn't sure how I was supposed to take that. "Then, what are you doing here? And why does my aunt think you're Scorp's girlfriend?"

"I have no idea why she thinks that." Elaina still looked utterly amused. "As for why I'm here – I've never attended a wizard wedding before, so Scorp offered to bring me. In fact," she added, thoughtfully, "I've never attended a British wedding, either. So, I guess, this is killing two birds with one stone."

My heart felt a million times lighter. So, with a grin, I told her, "Three birds. The bride's half-French, so the wedding is going to have some French influences."

"Fantastic!" Elaina exclaimed happily. She sat down on one of the beds. "I hope you don't mind, but I put my things away in the dresser and closet already. I left you plenty of room, though."

"No problem," I told her sincerely. I had always liked Scorpius's partner. I put my luggage in a corner, resolving to unpack later. Flopping onto the other bed, I looked over at her and strove for a casual tone. "Ah… so, how are things going at work?"

Elaina saw right through me in an instant. "You want to how Scorp is doing, don't you? Well, he'll probably kill me for saying this, but he's completely and totally miserable without you."

I gazed at her in amazement. "Then why won't he return my owls? Or my other messages? I even sent my Patronus after him, but he didn't respond!"

Elaina thought about that for a second and then winced. "Wait – your Patronus? Is it a… horse type thing?"

"It's a unicorn," I answered. At her odd look, I said, "What? They're majestic and pure animals."

Elaina held up her hands. "I wasn't going to say anything! I mean, mine's a rooster! I can't judge. The reason I was asking was because your Patronus didn't make it to him. I got it instead."

"Really?"

"Yeah. You missed him by mere seconds, actually." Elaina winced again. "Sorry, I didn't really figure out what it was saying and I was in middle of an assignment. So, I just kind of blew it away. I didn't get that you were looking for Scorpius or I would have told him."

"It's okay," I assured her. "It was a long shot, anyway."

Elaina studied me for a moment and then said, briskly, "Look, I know I've got a big mouth. Scorpius is my partner and, you know, partners talk. We have to do something while we scope out some random Death Eater's house for three days straight. So, at the risk of giving you too much information, I'm going to at least say this: y'all need to get into a room and sort this out."

I let out a huff of frustration. "Why do you think I've been trying to get a hold of him? He's been the one avoiding me. He broke up with me."

"He's scared." Elaina looked incredibly serious. "He thinks you're going to break his heart. So, because he's a guy and guys are stupid, he decided that he needed space."

I eyed her skeptically. "He told you this? Using those exact words."

"Not those exact words, no," Elaina admitted, with a disarming grin. "But, trust me, I know what's going on inside that blonde head of his. Take my advice – go find Room Twenty-Four and lock yourself in with him until he sees reason."

"Twenty-four?"

"Twenty-four."

I nodded and started to get up, right as the door opened and James walked in.

"Lils, Victoire wants to see you. Something about your dress." He stopped when he saw Elaina sitting on the bed. And then gave her a huge grin, while he messed up his hair a bit. "Why, hello. I'm sorry, I didn't realize we had one of our very distant Veela cousins staying in this room."

Elaina frowned and looked at me in confusion. "Veela? What?"

Rolling my eyes a bit, I introduced them. "This is James, my brother. James, this is Elaina."

My brother grinned at her. "What a pretty name. It suits you."

Elaina, however, didn't look like she was going to be charmed so easily. Her response was to glance between the two of us and she said, with a frown, "Y'all are related? You look nothing alike."

"Something that I'm grateful for every day," James answered, lightly.

Elaina frowned some more and she shot him a dirty look. "I don't know why. Lily's gorgeous."

I snorted in laughter at the expression on James' face.

My brother glanced in my direction, looking a little confused. "Ah… all right. If you say so."

"I do say so," Elaina responded, tartly. Then, she added, "I have four older brothers and one twin brother."

This time, I looked her way with amazement. I hadn't known that. "You have five brothers? And here I thought I had it bad with just two."

"Trust me, I have it worse," Elaina told me, with disgust in her voice. "I also have a younger sister. Poor girl's still in Texas. She might have it even worse than both of us combined."

James, who was not used to being ignored by a single woman for this long, cut in, "It's not that bad. We're perfectly nice to Lily." He gave me a look, as if to say that he expected me to jump in and agree with him.

"Yes, absolutely." I nodded fervently. "Like the time he got together with my best friend and dumped her… which made her leave the country and never talk to me ever again."

James scowled. "Are you never going to get over that? I told you – that wasn't all my fault!"

Elaina watched the two of us, amusement in her eyes. "Right. I see you're an awesome brother."

"On that note, I have to go," I announced, edging towards the door. With a look back towards Elaina, I said, "Feel free to hex him or whatever you need to do to get him off your back."

"I won't need to," she assured me, with a wink. "I'm perfectly capable of crushing a man's skull with my bare hands. No wand necessary."

Raising my brows, I shot a look towards my brother, who appeared to be looking even more interested in Elaina. Shaking my head, I walked out, closing the door behind me.

xxx

I hesitated for only a second before I knocked on Scorpius's door. A moment later, he opened it. As usual, he was dressed head to toe in dark clothes. It was a dark charcoal grey jumper with black slacks this time. Suddenly, I felt immensely underdressed in my own jeans and dark blue t-shirt.

"Lily." Scorpius stared down at me with an indefinable expression. "I thought I'd see you down at the dinner."

"Really? Were you planning on responding to my owls at dinner, then?" I asked, feeling irritated.

"No. Actually, my plan was to take a page out of your book and avoid you altogether," he shot back, a thread of annoyance in his tone.

Blinking in confusion, I said, "What?"

Scorpius let out a sigh. "Never mind. What is it, Lily?"

I let out a sigh of my own. Clearly, this was already not going well. "I need to talk to you." I looked at the door pointedly. "Can I come in?"

Scorpius opened the door a little more, his hand resting on the top edge of the frame. Since I'm quite a bit shorter than him, I just walked under his arm and into his room.

Casting a glance around, I noted that his room was very similar to mine. There were two beds, and the décor was very feminine. Crochet coverlets on the beds, lace curtains, and flowered wallpaper. Not exactly Scorpius's type, but the inn where Teddy and Victoire were getting married was an old fashioned bed and breakfast. Apparently, it held some sort of significance for Teddy and Victoire, so they'd insisted on having it here, even though it was too small. Even though my family had reserved all sixty rooms, the old place was still bursting at the seams.

With a raised brow, I turned back towards him. "Who are you sharing with?"

"James," Scorpius answered shortly. Then, he frowned and crossed his arms. "Albus is sharing with Sabena, so I guess your aunt figured James was a good substitute."

"How did Albus manage that?" I knew that my parents never let Albus and Sabena share a room at the Hollow. Not even after their engagement.

"I think he booked his own room." Scorpius didn't move from the open door and looked across the room at me. "Did you come here to talk about room assignments?"

"No." I took a deep breath and admitted, "I came to apologize, actually."

That caught his attention. He closed the door shut behind him and turned to face me. In a quiet voice, he answered, "Go on."

This was proving to be more difficult than I thought. It wasn't like I hadn't been thinking about it for over a month now. Running everything over in my mind and rehearsing what I was going to say. But now, with him right there and staring at me with those stormy grey eyes… my mouth was dry and my heart was pounding. What if he didn't believe me? Or care? It was clear he'd already decided that I had been an interesting diversion for a while, but I wasn't really worth the effort.

"Lily?" Scorpius prompted, while he gazed at me searchingly.

"I…" I looked down at my scruffy trainers and said, in a rush, "I'm sorry about what I said about your parents. I didn't mean to come off sounding like a snotty arse. It's just that I had no idea what to expect and there were the elves and it was a mansion and the… it was just all so different from what I thought and…."

"It's okay," Scorpius interjected, cutting me off mid-explanation.

I braved a quick glance towards him. He was leaning against the door, his arms crossed negligently, and he appeared to be completely unflustered. "It is?"

"Well, I'm not…." Scorpius paused and appeared to consider it. "I've given it some thought, too, and I realized that we didn't talk much about my family, did we?"

"No, we didn't." In fact, every time I'd ever broached the topic, he'd change the subject or he'd make some light remark and move on. Based on everything I'd heard about the Malfoys growing up, I'd just assumed that Scorpius's family was as bad as people thought they were. "But, still. I shouldn't have made assumptions. I feel badly about that, Scorpius."

"Well, I should have told you more about them and me." Scorpius shrugged and pushed away from the door. He assessed me frankly and pointed out, "You asked me several times. It's just that I don't like talking about it." He gestured towards one of the beds and said, "Sit down. I'll explain."

I settled on the bed and listened, while he told him a little bit about what it was like to grow up as a Malfoy and how people reacted to him in the Wizarding world. Some of the stories he told made my heart ache for him, and for what he'd been through.

"So, you see," Scorpius finished, "it's been my experience that conversations about my family don't usually end very well. And that's why I chose never to talk about it with you. Things with us were new and… I just didn't want this to overshadow it."

Inexplicably, I felt hurt. "But you should have known I wouldn't be like that. We were in a relationship – obviously, I wouldn't judge you or your family."

His lips curved up in a half smile. "Lily, you weren't exactly the epitome of openness, either. Why'd you hide it from your family and friends we were dating?"

Struck by the truth of his words, I stared at him for a second. "Fair point," I conceded. "But you need to understand. You think it's hard for you growing up as a Malfoy? It's not that easy growing up a Potter kid, either."

Scorpius's brow rose sardonically. "Oh, yes. Please do explain how being the child of the greatest hero in the Wizarding world was a trial for you, Lily."

"It was!" I exclaimed. "Why do you think James is so idiotic? My father found the love of his life in sixth year, and James is hell-bent on never settling down. Albus? He had to deal with my dad AND James, so he just went into Slytherin so people wouldn't compare them. And me?" I shook my head glumly. "Forget Harry Potter. Do you know what it's like being the daughter of Ginny Weasley-Potter? The seventh child, first girl born in seven generations…."

Scorpius, who had settled down on the other bed, sat up a bit straighter. "What?"

"My mother," I explained tersely, "is the seventh child, first girl to be born to the Weasleys in seven generations… which apparently lifted some sort of curse or something. Meaning, she's an incredibly powerful witch. And, to make things worse, she captured the heart of the bravest wizard that ever lived. When she was only fifteen! And took part in the fight against Voldemort…." Rolling my eyes, I leaned forward to add, in an annoyed tone, "And then went on to become the youngest Chaser in Harpies history! And she was freaking brilliant at it, of course." Crossing my arms across my chest, I made a face. "I can't even tell a Bludger from a Beater."

"One is a person and the other is the object that the person hits," Scorpius said, in a very serious tone.

I glared at him. "It's not funny. All this and she had to be bloody beautiful, to boot. And I'm nothing like her! I didn't inherit any of it."

Scorpius answered, in a thoughtful tone, "Actually, I think you look a lot like your mother. But you're prettier."

Gratified by his compliment, I couldn't help but smile a bit. "That's sweet. But not true. You know, when we were growing up, everyone thought Rose was my mother's daughter? Sometimes, my mum and I would go out with Aunt Hermione and Rose to tea or something. And, always, people would stop my mum and tell her how gorgeous her daughter was. Only they weren't talking about me. They were talking about Rose."

"Then people are blind," Scorpius replied, his voice a little rough. "I can tell you that you're much more attractive than Rose."

I poked my finger through one of the holes in the coverlet and avoided his gaze. My heart was in my throat and I swallowed. Unable to help myself, I blurted out something that I'd thought for a long time, but never dared to articulate. "I guess you would know. You did choose her first."

There was silence in the room after I said that. Finally, I risked a peek at him and saw that his brows were furrowed in confusion and he was frowning.

"Rose?" Scorpius finally said. "Do you mean when we were fooling around in fourth year?"

Now, I was feeling silly. But, I nodded and said, in a small voice, "Yes."

Scorpius's response was to burst out laughing. "Oh, that's… dear dead Salazar Slytherin, you can't be serious? I was a fourth year!" When he saw I wasn't laughing, he attempted to sober up, but there was still glint of amusement in his eyes. "Lils, you were a second year. I felt bad enough lusting after you when you were in third year. Bloody hell, I'd have gouged my own eyes out if I'd wanted you when you were twelve!"

This time I was confused. He'd lusted after me when I was thirteen? But, not to be diverted, I pointed out, "You still didn't need to chase after Rose. Just like all those other blokes."

"I didn't chase after Rose." He shot me an arrogant grin. "Quite the opposite, in fact."

"Lovely," I muttered under my breath. "That just makes me feel so much better."

"It should," Scorpius said, with a slight smile. "I really don't know why it would even bother you. All we did was just snog like crazy for about -." He broke off when he saw the expression on my face and finished, rather hastily, "And it was terrible. Neither of us knew what we were doing."

In spite of myself, I let out a light laugh. "Look, it's not a big deal. It's just…." I thought about how much I wanted to reveal. This was something I'd never discussed with anyone. Not even Jemma. "You have to understand, I'm the second youngest in a huge family; the youngest girl. From the first second I started at Hogwarts, I was compared to every single relative that's ever passed through those halls. And, no matter what I did, they'd all done it before me and they'd done it better."

"That's not true," Scorpius interjected. "You're smarter than all of them combined."

"That's just because I study more than all of them combined," I pointed out and then continued, "And you've met my family: they're nosy and they're opinionated. They all think they know what's best for everyone. And… yeah… it's hard. It's hard being Rose's younger cousin. And…." I hesitated. "It was hard being the second Weasley girl to date you. And that kind of played a part in me not telling my family about us. Because I just KNEW that people would compare and wonder and…."

My voice trailed off. Because, as I said it all out loud, I realized how stupid I sounded.

Scorpius was no longer looking amused. Instead, he looked very concerned. "Lils, I never knew…." He stopped and ran his hand over his mouth, while he studied me. "I knew people compared you to Rose, but you always seemed all right with it. I didn't know it bothered you so much."

"Normally, it doesn't," I answered lightly, with a shrug. "I mean, I was sorted in Ravenclaw; that helped. And I never went up against Rose in Quidditch, so that wasn't a big deal. But… yeah… when it comes to guys? You're the first guy I ever went out with that once had a thing with Rose. Or any of my cousins, for that matter."

"Or your brothers," he added in, quietly.

"What?"

"You never go out with anyone who's a friend of either James or Albus," Scorpius pointed out.

Scorp had figured that out? I had a rule. So, I admitted, "Uh… yeah… I don't do that." Then, I smiled weakly and amended, "Well, I guess I did, once. You."

Scorpius stared at me for a long moment and then said, in a low tone, "And I hope you will again."

My heart skipped a beat. I thought we were done and we going to go back to being semi-friends, who bumped into each other a lot, but didn't talk much. My only goal in coming here had been to get him to not hate me. I tugged at a loose strand of my hair nervously, I said, "You mean, you...?"

"No, actually, I was thinking about that bloke Albus works with," Scorpius answered, drily. "He's been asking about you."

Letting out a frustrated sound, I tossed a small pillow in his direction. "I believe I've explained that I have enough male relatives who think they're funny. You really don't need to be added to the list."

Laughing a bit, he caught the pillow easily. "Lils, I think we both messed up. I think we've known each other for so many years, we just assumed we knew everything about each other."

I gave that some thought. "Yeah. I think so. But, I guess, we didn't know much at all, did we?"

"So, I propose we try again." Scorpius shot me a devilish grin. "Now, don't break out in a rash just because I used the word 'propose'. The word can also be used as a synonym to suggestion."

Scowling a bit, I pointed my wand at him. "Next time it won't be a pillow, Malfoy. And I won't be aiming for your head."

"Go for it, I've been practicing my shield charm ever since I saw what you can do with one," Scorpius replied, with a wink.

"Well, if you're not going to be serious about this…." I got up and started to walk towards the door.

Scorpius caught my arm, easily, and pulled me down on the bed next to him.

"You really have no tolerance for teasing, do you?" Scorpius was laughing.

I shot him a dirty look.

"All right, all right. I'll be serious." Scorpius looked down at me, but he was smiling. "Let's try this again, but – this time – let's be honest with each other. No more making assumptions. And no more hiding how we feel."

"All right." Staring back up at him, I chewed on my lower lip thoughtfully. "In that case, I think I should be honest and tell you that your house elves really bother me."

Scorpius looked taken aback. "What? Why? You have a house elf – Kreacher."

"Kreacher is free," I reminded him. "Yours aren't."

"But, Lily, most wizard families' house elves aren't free." Scorpius shook his head. "Your family is an exception. Not a rule."

"But so what?" I pulled my feet up on the bed and crossed my legs, while I faced him, gazing up at him earnestly. "How can it not bother you?"

"Lily…." Scorpius let out a sigh. "Look, I really like your family. You know that. But… sometimes… they see the world differently than most people. And, in your case, that's all you know."

I frowned in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"I mean…." Scorpius appeared to choose his words carefully. "You haven't travelled much. You haven't seen the world beyond the Weasleys and the Potters much, have you?"

"What are you talking about?" I answered, stiffly. I was started to feel a little offended. "Jemma was my best friend at school – and she was American!"

"Yes, and notice that she always visited you for the holidays. You never went to go visit her," Scorpius pointed out. "Look," he added, hurriedly, "I'm not saying that's a bad thing. I understand – you have a wonderful family. In fact, I was envious of your family when I was growing up. I'm just saying that you've led a bit of an insulated life. And that, sometimes, the rest of the world doesn't see things the same way you all do."

"But, Scorp," I answered, slowly, "I don't think that the house elves should be free because my family says so. I think they should be free because it's the right thing to do."

Scorpius let out a sigh and raked his hair back. "My father changed the working conditions of our elves when he took over the business, Lils. They're well fed, with decent housing and properly treated. I can't go in there and change it that drastically; I'm not even the head of the company."

"Company?" I stared at him blankly. "What are you talking about?"

Now, he looked like he regretted he'd said anything. "Our factories… most of the labor force is made up of house elves. I thought that was what you were talking about."

"No, I was talking about your house." I scrambled off the bed. "Your factories employ slave house elves?"

Scorpius winced and looked irritated. "They're not slaves. And, frankly, it's not uncommon. Most factories in the Wizard world are full of elves."

"Your family owns over fifty percent of them," I reminded him. "If they freed the elves and started to pay them wages, then that could lead to the other -."

"That's not how business works, Lily," Scorpius interrupted. "How in Hades is my father supposed to go to his investors and tell them that he's freeing the elves and cutting profit margins down by twenty three percent?"

Tilting my head to the side, I studied him. "You did the math."

"Yes, I did." Scorpius shrugged. "When I was fifteen. We learned about elves and goblins at Hogwarts and, during one of the breaks, I went to go talk to my father about it. He told me to make him a case, and I tried."

"And you couldn't." I flopped down on the bed across from him and confessed, "I don't understand your world, Scorp. Your shoes cost more than my entire wardrobe. Your flat is wicked expensive and you don't even have to pay for it. There are people who work their whole lives and can't afford a place like that. You moved into it fresh out of Hogwarts. And this is all just… just normal to you."

Scorpius leaned back on his arms. "I suppose it is. It's the world I grew up in; I never thought about it." His lips curved into a wry grin. "Being a Malfoy comes with some bad; it always just makes sense to embrace the good, I guess."

I gave that some thought. It made sense, but I still felt a hint of unease when I thought about the differences between us.

"Lils, I'm still the same person you've always known," Scorpius said, as though he sensed my thoughts. "Maybe there are things you didn't know about me, but I'm still me."

I smiled back at him. "Well, I suppose I'll find out. But," I added in a warning tone, "The conversation about the elves is not over."

"Yes, I expected it wasn't." Then, he added, with a smile of his own, "Now, since we're being honest, I think I should tell you that I want more."

"More?" I repeated, faintly. "What do you mean?"

"We need to tell your family. No more sneaking around," he stated firmly.

"Oh." I let out a sigh of relief. "Yeah, all right. I expected that, anyway."

He gave me an exasperated look. "What did you think I meant?"

"Nothing, nothing," I said hurriedly. "So, yes, we'll tell my family. Right after the wedding."

"No." Scorpius stood up and grabbed my hand, pulling me to my feet, too. "Now. We'll tell them at dinner."

"Now?" I squeaked. "My entire family is down there. As in, every single Weasley and Potter for the past three generations." I paused and added, "Uh… other than Roxanne, apparently."

"I know. Perfect timing, isn't it?" With a grin, Scorpius tugged me out the door. Right when we got into the hall, he stopped and turned to me. Pushing me up against the wall, he said, with a wicked grin, "But first…."

Bracketing both arms on either side of me, he leaned down and caught my lips with his, kissing me slowly and thoroughly. I melted against him, my hands sliding up his chest to wrap around his neck. He trailed his lips over my jaw, down my neck and started to nibble at a particularly sensitive spot right along the edge of my collarbone.

Sucking in my breath, I sank my fingers into his hair and leaned back against the wall. "Or… you know… we could just go back into your room. Forget dinner. I'm not that hungry, anyway."

With a low chuckle, he said into my ear, "Later."

"I knew it!" There was a loud crack and Scorpius was flung back a few metres from me.

Letting out a gasp of surprise, I pulled out my wand, right at the same time that Scorpius pulled out his. I turned and saw James standing there, along with Elaina. Elaina just looked amused, but James had his wand out and was pointing it at Scorpius.

"I see you two made up," Elaina stated, with a happy grin.

Scorpius was pointing his wand at James and he said, evenly, "You have something to say, James?"

James, rather unexpectedly, started to laugh and put his wand away. "This is brilliant. Al owes me five galleons. I'm off to go collect." As he started to walk past me, James said, "I told you I'd gloat one day, Lils. I am going to have so much fun with this."

Scorpius shot me a confused look, and I just shrugged weakly. "James. Who knows what he's about half the time?"

"C'mon, Malfoy, I'm starving," Elaina said. She came up between us and hooked her arms through ours. "And I have a feeling that dinner is going to be very interesting."

xxx

As we walked towards the dining room, Elaina let us go and went on ahead. I stopped at the entrance and looked in, hesitant. The room was large, but looked small with my entire family there. It actually looked like the smaller version of Hogwarts' Great Hall. Five long tables had been set up, side by side, and each table was crowded with an assortment of relatives and friends of all ages.

With a sinking feeling, I noted Aunt Luna and her husband, and also Uncle Neville and Aunt Hannah. They were crowded around the end of a table where my parents were sitting, along with Rose's parents. Everyone was laughing about something and drinking quite a bit of firewhiskey and wine.

Scorpius cleared his throat next to me and grasped my hand, squeezing it reassuringly. "Come on."

I let him pull me towards the end of the long table where Al and Rose were sitting with Sabena and Daniel, Rose's boyfriend.

Rose looked up when we approached and she grinned. "Oi, Lils, you can settle this for us. What year was it that James turned my cat purple? When we were eight or…?" her trailed off and her eyes widened, zeroing in our joined hands. "Ahh…. Um…."

Albus's brows puckered in confusion. "Why are you two holding hands?"

Sabena elbowed him in the ribs hard and he winced. "I think it's brilliant," Sabena told me, with a bright grin. "I was hoping you two would finally figure things out."

My brows rose. "Er… thanks."

Daniel, who was a nice bloke who kept to himself mostly, just said, "Hullo, Lily. 'Lo, Scorpius."

We both smiled at him and nodded.

Scorpius and I both slid onto the bench, right across from Rose, who was still doing a very good impression of a puckerfish, with her mouth opening and closing. Scorpius and I attempted to ignore her, as we helped ourselves to some of the excellent food at the table.

"Rose, are you all right?" Scorpius finally asked, when it became a little uncomfortable to just sit there under her intense scrutiny and silence.

"When… how… where…why… what…?" Rose shook her head and got a hold of herself. "Forget it, just start with WHEN."

Scorpius and I exchanged a look.

"Well," I started, a bit hesitantly, "That's rather difficult to explain…." I glanced towards Albus, who appeared to be taking it rather well. "Al, Scorpius wanted to tell you, but I made him wait."

Albus nodded, looking utterly unconcerned as he took a long pull of his butterbeer. "Well, I always told Scorp I wouldn't stop him. But I am rather surprised you agreed, Lils."

"What?" I glared at Scorpius. "Al knew about this?"

"No, no," Scorpius said, quickly. "He knew I was going to ask you… a long time ago… we had a talk…."

Before I could say anything, my parents came by the table, and said hello to everyone and asked Sabena, Scorpius, and Daniel if they had settled in okay. When my parents were satisfied that the guests were all doing fine, my mother turned her attention to my brother.

"Albus Severus," my mother said, with a stern look. "I found out about the room. You and Sabena cannot stay together! I've moved Sabena to Rose and Dom's room, and you'll stay with James and Scorpius."

Albus flushed a bright red, but not from embarrassment. He was clearly annoyed. "Mum, that's ridiculous. I'm twenty-one years old and we're engaged!"

"Your grandparents are here!" My mother admonished. "It's just not done. Right, Harry?" She cast a sharp look in my father's direction and he immediately straightened.

"Er… yes. Your mother's right," my dad stated, in a firm voice and with a decisive nod.

Al scowled at him. "You always say that. Even when you don't know what she's on about."

My father shrugged and grinned at him. "That, son, is the key to a sane marriage. You'll understand soon enough."

"Harry!" My mother said admonishingly, but she was laughing.

Al looked like he was about to argue some more, but Sabena jumped in. "It's fine, Mrs. Potter. I understand." She smiled at Rose, who didn't smile back. "I have no problem rooming with Rose and Dom."

"Speak for yourself," Rose muttered under her breath. "Room's not big enough as it is."

If my mother heard Rose, she made no indication of it. Instead, she smiled at Sabena and said, "Thank you, dear. I knew you'd understand."

My brother must have decided that he was tired of the attention being on him, because he suddenly announced, in a very loud voice, "Mum, Dad… did you know that Lily and Scorpius are seeing each other?"

The entire the length of the table went quiet and they all turned to stare at me. Not just our end, but the entire table, which consisted of Victoire, Dom, Louis, Teddy, Molly, Lucy, Hugo, Elaina, Lysander and Lorcen, along with an assortment of dates that some of them had brought to the wedding. There were people there I didn't even know.

My face heated up and I didn't need to look in the mirror to know that it was bright red. Scorpius, for all that he'd been the one to pressure me to do this, didn't seem to be holding up too well, either. He definitely looked more than a little anxious as he looked up towards my father to gauge his reaction.

My parents, for their part, took in the interested expressions of the people staring at them down the table. And then they looked at each other, exchanging a bemused look.

Finally, my mother said, "You owe me ten galleons. Pay up."

My father shook his head. "No. You said that they would bring each other to the wedding as a date. They didn't. They came separately. This doesn't count."

"Wrong," my mother argued, holding out her hand. "I said we'd find out before the wedding was over. I win."

"Gin, cheating for ten galleons? This is so beneath you." My father's eyes were sparkling with laughter behind his glasses as he took out his money-bag and held it under my mother's nose. As she reached for it, he pulled it away. "Seriously. Have some self-respect."

My mother shook her head, fixing him with a look. "I won fair and square, Potter. Hand it over."

Scorpius leaned and whispered, "Is your entire family raving mad? Or just hardened gamblers?"

"Neither," I said miserably. "They're torturers. And it's me they love to torture."

My father turned to both of us, at that instant, and grinned. "We've known for awhile. We were waiting for you to tell us."

"I figured that out on my own, oddly enough," I told him icily. "Thank you for betting on my love life and making this into more of a spectacle than it already is."

"No problem," my mother answered, crossing her arms and staring down at me with a smirk. "Now, if you had just told us, from the beginning…."

Letting out a deep, suffering sigh, I kept silent.

The entire table had been watching this with interest, perhaps because they thought my parents were going to throw a fit or something was going to happen. But once they saw that my parents were incredibly cheerful about the whole thing, they went back to eating and, soon, the noise around us was back to deafening levels.

My mother turned to my father. "I did win, you know. And I can get that money bag from you."

"Really?" His brow rose and he looked my mother over. "How so?"

"I was a brilliant Chaser in my day," my mum reminded him, with a grin.

"And I was a fairly decent Seeker in mine," my dad replied, with a smile.

"Is that a challenge, Harry Potter?" My mother got that look in her eye, where she looks like she can take on the enitre world. "Challenge accepted."

"Wait, what…?" My father suddenly looked like he didn't quite understand what they were talking about. "What challenge?"

My Uncle Ron and Aunt Hermione had just walked up at that moment. When they caught the tail end of the conversation, my uncle said, "Challenge?"

"Harry has just challenged me to a game of Quidditch," my mother explained, a bit gleefully. "And the winner gets the ten galleons he owes me."

"Oi, I'm in." Uncle Ron clapped my father on his back. "Haven't played in awhile, it'll be fun."

My father shot him an exasperated look. "Why are you encouraging her?"

"Encouraging who to do what?" My uncle George happened to be walking by, his plate piled high with various desserts. "Since it's you, Harry, I can only assume the 'her' in question is my dear sister, who's had you by your bollocks since the day you got married."

Before my father could respond, Uncle Ron told him, "We're playing Quidditch. Harry challenged Ginny. You in?"

Uncle George broke out into a grin. "Absolutely!" He looked down at his plate. "After dinner, though, right? I mean, a man's got priorities."

"Of course," Uncle Ron responded.

"Er… Ron," my father began, clearly trying to gain control of the situation.

"Oi, Charlie… Bill… you in?" My uncle George called out, as he walked towards their table. "Quidditch. Out in the field – Harry versus Ginny."

"I'm in," Uncle Bill called back to him and Uncle Charlie nodded gamely.

"Wait!" My Gran stood up and said, in her customary loud voice, "Not on the field where the wedding tent is going to be put up. If you children destroy that field–!"

"It'll be fine, Mrs. Weasley," Teddy called to her, in a reassuring voice. He leapt to his feet and looked toward my dad with a grin. "And I'm in. On Harry's team."

My father groaned and I saw him close his eyes briefly.

"I'm in!" Aunt Angelina stood up. I had noticed she'd been looking a little forlorn and quiet – probably because of the Roxanne situation – and now she seemed to perk up. "On Ginny's side, of course."

"I'll play, too," Victoire announced, clearly not going to be outstripped by her fiancé. "On Aunt Ginny's team." She tossed her shimmering blonde hair back over her shoulder as she gave Teddy a look that was part flirtatious and part challenge.

Teddy merely looked amused and said, in an affectionate tone, "Bring it on, love."

I made a show of pretending to gag and Scorpius gave me an exasperated look.

"Oh, I want to play." Rose shot up in her seat. "Aunt Gin's team, of course." She grinned at my mom, who shot her an identical grin back. They exchanged a quick high five and I tried not to think about how my mother brought the wrong baby home from the hospital.

My mom turned to my aunt Hermione and asked, "You in, Hermione?"

My aunt started laughing. "Uh… no. I can barely stay on a broom as it is when we're playing one on one. I have no intention of making a fool out of myself in front of everyone."

"You'll do fine, Hermione." My mother patted her arm. "It's just an issue of confidence."

"It's all right, I know I'm not a broom flying person." But then my aunt grinned wickedly and said, "I will, however, keep score. Merlin knows we can't trust anyone else in this room to do it."

"That's the spirit," my Uncle Ron said, wrapping his arm around her shoulders, and then gave her a quick kiss on the top of her head. She smiled back up at him adoringly.

I almost gagged again, but this time for real.

My father turned to my mother with a pleading look in his eyes. "I can just give you the ten galleons, Gin. Is this all really necessary?"

"Scared of a girl, are you, Harry?" My mother made a great show of batting her eyelashes and sidled up closer to him, her ponytail swinging behind her. "That she's going to beat the great Harry Potter in front of everyone?"

Well, if there was one thing guaranteed to make my dad play it was issuing that kind of a challenge. My father is a fairly decent bloke, but he's still a bloke. And he's got pride issues.

Sure enough, my father stepped back, and shot back, with a scoff, "No. What I'm scared of is that I'm going to beat my wife within two minutes and she's going to make me sleep in the study for three weeks."

"Huh." My mother stepped forward again and grabbed his tie. "I promise you, you won't sleep in the study. Because you're not going to win."

This time, I did gag for real. I choked on piece of chicken as I tried to look away hastily. Years of experience had taught me what was to follow when my parents were looking at each other like that.

Thankfully, my brother also had years of experience and his mouth wasn't stuffed with food. "Hey," he said, standing up, with a look of disgust on his face. "There are children present, you two!"

My mother and father shot him a confused look. "Children?" My mother frowned. "What children?"

"US," he exclaimed. "We don't need to see this. For the love of Merlin, can you get a room? I mean, honestly."

My dad flushed slightly, but my mother looked completely unapologetic. She turned to my father and said, in a thoughtful tone, "You know, we should go check out the brooms. Make sure we have enough…."

"Right," my father cleared his throat and adjusted his glasses. He grabbed her around the waist and started to push her towards the door. "We should go check the broom shed."

Broom shed? I remembered what my mother once told me. As they walked away quickly, I groaned and pushed my plate away. "That's it, I've lost my appetite."

"I think it's sweet," Sabena answered, with a smile. "That your parents still love each other that much, I mean. Even after they've been married for so many years." She turned to Albie and gave him a disgustingly sweet look. "I hope we're like that, too."

Albus smiled at her. "We will be, love." And then he leaned in to give her a kiss.

I let out another groan. Picking up a piece of bread, I threw it at my brother's head. "For the love of… get a room!"

Sabena and Albus broke apart. Sabena just laughed, but my brother threw me a disgruntled look. "We tried to get a room. It didn't work."

"Oh, just kick Scorpius and James out," I told him airily, with a flick of my wrist. "It's not a big deal."

"Wait," Scorpius turned to me. "Then where am I going to sleep?"

"You can just room with me and Elaina," I answered. "You've shared with Elaina before, when you're on assignment, so I'm sure she won't mind. And we've shared a room -." I broke off when I saw everyone hanging onto every word with great interest. I flushed. "Uh… the point is, it's not a problem."

Of course, Rose couldn't just let it go at that. "Oh, do tell! When did this room sharing occur?" Rose smirked a bit and added, "Please tell me he's improved in the snogging department."

"Rose!" Mortified, I looked around to see if anyone else had heard.

Scorpius, though, turned to Daniel. "Has Rose improved in the snogging department? She used to do this thing with her tongue…."

Rose made a face and I smacked him. "Hey! Too much information."

Scorpius shrugged and Daniel just gave him a weak smile. "Uh… she's all right."

Rose shot him a disgusted look. "All right? Have fun sleeping with Hugo tonight."

"Hugo got someone to sleep with him? Will miracles never cease." James came up to us and plopped down next to Rose. He looked a little worse for wear. Grabbing a fork, he took a bite of Rose's trifle. "Who's the lucky girl?"

"It's Daniel," Rose told him. And then slapped at his hand. "Get your own plate."

"What took you so long?" I asked him. "You left so much before us."

"Got distracted," he answered, cheerfully and let out a dreamy sigh. "A bunch of Veelas came into the lobby right as I was on my way down. Had to help them take their luggage to their rooms. I'm chivalrous like that."

Al snorted. "Yeah, chivalrous. That's the word we were looking for."

James focused in on Al. "Oi! You owe me five galleons!" He pointed his fork at Scorpius and said, "Caught that one snogging our sister in a hallway."

I rolled my eyes while Al took out his money bag and tossed a few coins in James' direction.

Scorpius turned to Al with an annoyed look. "I can't believe you bet against me."

"Sorry, mate," Al said cheerfully. "I really didn't think Lily would ever cave. She's got the emotional maturity of a five year old."

"Hey!" I cried out, "I'm sitting right here. And, for your information," I added, tartly, "I asked him out."

"Oh, that's so romantic!" Sabena said, with shining eyes. "Go on. Give us more details, then."

"Uh…." I exchanged a look with Scorpius and he leaned back, clearly enjoying my discomfort. He knew I couldn't very well tell everyone I asked him out after I made a drunken fool of myself and tried to molest him. "It was all very… uh… not much to say. He was… we needed to eat, right? So I asked him out. To eat. Dinner, I mean."

Everyone was quiet for a moment and then Rose said, thoughtfully, "Wow. Be still my beating heart. I mean, Scorp, you've quite a catch here. She needed to eat, so she asked you out to eat. "

"Actually, Lily is quite a catch," Scorpius responded, lightly. He slung his arm around my shoulders, while he grinned at Rose. "And it was the best dinner I've ever had. Being around Lily makes food taste better."

Albus looked at him with raised brows. "Overkill, mate."

But I shot Scorpius a grateful look and thought that if having a boyfriend meant that he'd go around defending me against my relatives, then I should have signed up for this a long time ago.

xxx
 

Continued in next post....