Unmasked (A Scorily/Scorlily Fanfic)[post-cursed child]

Chapter Twenty-Five: When the Time is Right

Scorpius Malfoy felt like a fool- most likely because he was one. 

Why had he not read her letters? Why had he thought it would not harm anything to remove himself from the world for so long? 

Why had he thought that he could ever prove anything to Lily that would make her think better of him by taking himself out of her life and leaving her with her relationship? 

There were many 'why's. However, there was one thing Scorpius was certain of, and that was that he would keep his word to Al. These stories about objections at the altar were all well and good, but if Lily had said yes to Teddy and told him, Scorpius, that she was going to give all of herself to her fiancee, then he had no right to interfere. Not if he wanted her to be happy. 

Scorpius sighed. A hotel room had never felt like such a miserable place before. He felt like he needed to see someone- anyone- but his father was away and would not be back at the Manor until tomorrow. His friends were all busy with wedding preparations, he assumed. 

So Scorpius Malfoy stood up and walked out the door of his room, down the hall, down an elevator- muggle inventions really were such tricky things- and out of the building. His hotel was located just up the road from Diagon Alley. Perhaps he would find something there to distract him from this terrible, hollow feeling in the pit of his stomach. 

He shouldered past a broad man in an overcoat and narrowly dodged a wiry woman carrying a baby in one arm. She all but said she loved me. He nearly tripped over a pigeon. How could I break her heart if I never had it? He hit his head against a pole. 

He needed to stop this. He was going to permanently damage his health. 

"Scorpius Malfoy?" 

Oh, no.

"Polly," he said, smiling tightly. 

The woman in front of him practically threw herself at him for a hug. "The news about Al- isn't it lovely?"

Scorpius raised an eyebrow. "I didn't know you knew, or that you'd say that when-"

Polly tossed her golden, immaculately curled hair over her shoulder as she laughed. "Oh, there are no hard feelings between Albus and I. You know, he was one of the best boyfriends I ever had- I still don't know for certain whether he truly wanted me or not-"

"This is most likely not a conversation to be having in the middle of the street." 

"Oh, brill- I was just headed for a cup of tea if you'd like to join me?" Polly abruptly turned and began walking the same way Scorpius was.

"Do you not have somewhere to be?" he asked, knowing that he was being dreadfully rude and not caring overly much. 

Polly lifted an eyebrow at him and laughed again- this time lighter. "I just said I was going for tea. You don't need to feel obligated to come."

He felt immediately guilty. "Sorry, no- I- no, I'd love to."

"Excellent," Polly said briskly. She began sashaying down the road as if she owned it- though the likelihood of any muggles knowing the Chapmans of Bowler Square was hardly high. 

Scorpius followed her, cursing the hollow feeling in the pit of his stomach. But by the time he and Polly had left Master Jerkin's Tea Parlor, two hours later, he did not feel quite so terribly bad. Polly had proven to be an excellent conversationalist, and highly knowledgeable about dragons, of all things. 

Before he knew what he was about, he had asked her as his plus-one to Albus's wedding, and she had happily agreed. 

After all, he told himself sternly as he mournfully contemplated his emotional state late that evening, you are going to need to get Lily Potter out of your head at some point. That point should most likely begin now.

And yet, the last thing he thought of before he went to sleep was not of how lovely Polly's hair had looked, or of how funny that joke she had told earlier had been. 

No- he thought about Lily- and about how he had been lucky enough to hold her heart, and about how he had been unlucky enough not to know that until it was too late.