Slytherin's Potter ( Scorpius Malfoy x Lily Luna Potter)

Part 98: A promise kept

"Well do you want to be with Derek? Are you thinking about breaking up with Chris?" Lily inquired.

"I'm not sure," Shannon mumbled.

"Well you need to figure it out," Lily said firmly. "And soon. You can't just string them both along."

"I know, I know," she groaned. "But how do I face them? And if I do break up with Chris, what do I tell him? That it's because I cheated on him and found that I couldn't be with him? That would crush Chris!"

Lily sighed. "You tell him that you just aren't in love with him. That you're not a right match. Tell him every cliché in the book if you want. But don't just string him along to break his heart even harder."

Shannon let out a large sigh, looking slightly defeated. "You know, you always hear how bad the person who got cheated on feels . . . but sometimes the cheater can feel just as bad," she mumbled.

"The one cheated on doesn't feel like crap until they find out," Lily replied. "And it's up to you if you let Chris find out or not."

"I don't want to hurt Chris anymore than my breaking up with him already will," Shannon said firmly.

Lily raised a brow. "So you are going to break up with him?"

There was a moment's pause, but then Shannon nodded. "Yeah. I'm going break up with him." She paused again, but then with a bit of strength in her voice, she spoke. "I want to be in love, Lily. I want to feel special when I'm told I'm beautiful. I want to feel butterflies in my stomach when he smiles . . . I want to be loved. And with Chris . . . I won't ever get that. Not like how I want." Shannon leaned her head back. "I sound really selfish."

Lily smiled. "Well, love is tricky like that. While being the most selfless thing ever, it can also be the most selfish thing ever. A paradox in itself."

"If I'd known that you guys planned on forcing me to study our first night back, I wouldn't have come back at all," Megan muttered.

The girls sat around a table in the common room, books open in front of them. Because it was just the first night back, they hadn't scheduled for JB until the next night. So Izzy and Lola had insisted on the five of them studying.

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but you sound much less bitchier than you did before break," Lola commented. She looked at Megan with a raised brow. "Feeling better?"

Megan shrugged, and avoided their eyes by skimming the page in front of her. "Eh."

"That's a mouthful," Shannon replied sarcastically.

"What changed, Megan?" Izzy asked.

"Nothing really," Megan insisted.

Lily glanced over to where the guys were goofing off. Christian had obviously just eaten something, because steam was blowing out of his mouth in little rings, and the others were all laughing. "You know, Hunter seemed in a good mood this afternoon. He wouldn't have anything to do with it, would he?"

"Well aren't you observant," Megan said dismissively.

"Did you finally agree to a date with him?" Shannon asked eagerly.

Megan finally looked at the rest of them, and they were all looking at her with expectant looks. So she sighed. "Yes, ok. I went on a date with Hunter over break."

"And how was it?" Lily asked.

Megan shrugged. "It was ok. It was a date."

"Well what'd you guys do?" Izzy asked.

"Well, he took me to Diagon Alley. We hung out, he bought me dinner, and that was it," Megan replied.

Lola raised a brow. "Really? Nothing else? That was it?"