A/N This is now the real chapter 2.
Enjoy!
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Somehow Lilly's friend had managed to corner him into riding in their carriage instead of with his own friends. Lilly had looked rather apologetic, clearly indicating that it hadn't been her idea. Scorpius was glad he had his ring on. There would have been no chance in hell he would have been able to concentrate enough to protect his mind using Occlumency alone. He really needed to practice more. One of these days these girls might get him without the gift of his mother.
"So, Scorpius, you being a fifth year and all, what is it like to know that you'll be doing your O.W.L.s at the end of the year?"
"Hard work." was the simple answer.
The witches looked at each other. Giggling and whispering amongst themselves for a moment while trying to make Lilly understand she was supposed to get him to open up a bit. She just ignored their attempts.
"You'll be sixteen soon, won't you?"
Wishing his little brother in first year to the other end of the earth for spilling his birthday was coming up when a group of Slytherin girls had passed by Scorpius just nodded.
"So you'll be of age next year."
Another nod.
"Will you get married straight away? My mum says your dad did."
Lilly hid her face behind her hands pretending to be no longer present while her male friend was looking just as shocked as he felt. The girls in his own house had been starting to badger him at the beginning of last term, as if the hunting season had been opened and he just so happened to be on the list of game to be free for all. But these Gryffindor girls were even worse! Talking about getting straight to the point.
"What?" he finally managed.
"You being a Malfoy and all, we reckoned you'll be married quite young." the witch speaking flattered her eyelashes at him in a weird way, "Do you already have a bride? Or will your parents go with tradition and select one for you?"
Mentally counting to ten in order to not hex all and every girl present except Lilly he steeled himself for his answer. He could only hope that Lilly would give him the chance to explain later. Should she still be talking to him that was.
"My parents would never decide a question as important as that for me. No, I'll be choosing my future partner in life myself." he put on a conspiratorial smile, "I have already decided who it's going to be though..."
He leant back into his seat enjoying the stunned faces glaring at him, smirking widely.
"It had to be an exceptional witch, of course, in order to satisfy my high standards." he added in a nonchalant tone.
Even so he knew the danger he opened his mind just a bit and tried to focus on the witch opposite him. His friend was shocked like her classmates, but he could also feel something else underneath it. She was wondering. There were doubts rising. To his own surprise it wasn't her doubting, if he would choose her, but if she would be choosing him. He frowned. If she started to have second thoughts before they even decided to openly date...
One of the girls had managed to get her voice back as she now interrupted his thoughts by asking in a squeaking tone, "You have already decided? Is it somebody we know? Somebody... in this carriage?"
It didn't happen very often, but in this very moment even the normally pale face of Scorpius was turning a deep shade of pink.
"Is it?"
Deep grey eyes found equally deep brown ones. Lilly's gaze was piercing his soul and he could feel her demanding an answer. Which he would have been happy to give, but he wasn't sure what she would do then. They were both way too young for anything serious. They both had agreed on that. They wanted to stay friends for now and then later, maybe during the summer holidays, see what to do next.
Scorpius poured all his feelings for her into their mental connection. He knew that she probably wouldn't be able to read him as clearly as he read her due to the ring, but he tried anyway.
It was the first time that Lilly Zabini was wondering, if there was something more to her connection than Scorpius let on. She knew that he was talking about her being his chosen bride. They had never even talked about it yet, but she just knew. She also knew that he didn't want her to find out like this. There were diffuse images of them at a lake or in a small café. He had indented to discuss their future when they were alone somewhere and nobody would interrupt them.
Taking a deep breath she tried to let him know that she wasn't angry at him, just very unsure about their situation.
The night Scorpius had spend in her room after the ball came back to her. He had intended to leave after she had stolen his first kiss, but she had held him back. She had insisted on him staying a bit longer, insisted on them talking. It had taken all the persuasiveness she possessed to get him to even sit next to her on the bed. He would have sat at the desk ten feet away given half a chance. He had been strangely shy and not like the self assured and confident boy she knew otherwise. It had been weird...
"Scorpius, I won't bite when you actually sit next to me."
He only looked at her.
"Merlin, Scorpius! What's the matter all of a sudden? We've been lying in the grass together, we've been snuggling on a couch together, you were all over me when you tried to get that scrawling nightmare my brothers have come up with out of my jumper, we have danced as close as we could earlier but you never have behaved like this before. What's wrong?"
"Lilly..." he bit his bottom lip, something else she had never see him do before, "I don't want to do anything I'll regret later."
She felt hurt by this.
"What? Was it that bad me stealing your first kiss?"
He blushed.
"No. No, it was very... nice."and after a hesitant pause he added, "I would like to do it again, but I know I shouldn't."
"Why not? If I tell you to kiss me, I expect you to do it." she told him resolutely.
"You would?"
"Yes."
They had been looking at each other for a moment and then she had whispered, "Kiss me."
Scorpius felt like he was being hit by the Knightbus. He had never kissed a girl before. He wasn't sure what he could do wrong, but he was quite sure he would find out pretty fast. He had fantasized about him kissing the witch looking expectantly at him now. Her lips were so soft and delicious, he just knew. But he didn't want to do anything wrong. Lilly deserved to be have her first kiss to be mind bogglingly fantastic. He wasn't sure, if he could live up to her expectations.
"Scop." her voice caressed his ears.
She had taken the time he had been lost in his own thoughts to get closer and her face was only about ten inches away from his now. Watching her right hand slowly moving towards his shoulder he felt panic rising within him. Her fingers touched the side of his neck lightly. Being absolutely fixated on her right hand he didn't notice her left aiming for the pyjama visible through his open bathrobe. Without warning Lilly grabbed the fabric, pulled and her lips crashed onto his.
He would have never thought it possible to feel himself of what he had had a glimpse through the feelings and thoughts his parents were sharing when they were close to each other. This was so unbelievable! He could feel his heart beat in sync with Lilly's. His breath became hers and where her skin touched his he was sure he'd find scourge marks later. It was so intense that the world around him just stopped existing.
Lilly hadn't known that it would be like this to kiss a boy. Her mind had shut down, her breathing was erratic and the way Scorpius' body was now pressed up against hers as he was holding her in his arms like he had never done before caused her to feel hot and cold all at the same time. If she hadn't thought it impossible, she would have said she could feel their magic fusing.
How long they had been kissing neither of them could have said, but when they eventually opened their eyes again they were lying on the bed in a tight embrace.
Loud giggling next to her had Lilly returning back into the present.
"What?"
"What were you thinking about? Some boy you've snogged?" Brenda asked in a teasing tone.
"What!? No!" though the deep blush creeping over her face told a different story.
Scorpius tried his best not to grin. She had obviously been caught off guard and even so sharing her thoughts was sometimes a bit disconcerting, right now, he wouldn't want to complain.
"Yeah, you were." Nellie was saying, "Look at your face."
"Oh, shut up." Lilly shot back while her friends couldn't stop laughing.
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The feast in the Great Hall was as magnificent as always, but Scorpius was somewhat distracted. His gaze kept returning to a certain black haired Gryffindor. He wasn't sure, if he wanted to keep pretending nothing had changed between them as everything had changed.
It had been Lilly who was kissing him in her bedroom that night. She had been the one acting when he had been completely out off his comfort zone. He couldn't even have said why that should be as he had known this particular witch all his life. He had been close to her before. At one point last summer they had been skinny dipping in the large lake in the grounds of the Malfoy estate together. It had been her idea and he was absolutely sure she had been dying to see... his normally hidden body parts. But he hadn't been complaining as he had been treated to a view of her blossoming body as well. Had it been then that he had started to look at her not as his baby sister any more and instead had realised her to be a beautiful girl. A beautiful girl I knew nobody else had ever seen quite as undressed as he had, well, maybe except for her brothers, and the Weasley and Potter crowd. Though he doubted any of them had seen her without clothing in recent months. Maybe years?
He sighed. After that night he couldn't deny any longer having fallen for the dark eyed witched, he had, and hard. There was no doubt about Lilly sharing his feelings, but they both knew what could and probably would happen should their involvement become public knowledge. Jennifer would go berserk for starters. His parents might not think him too young to start dating, but he very much doubted auntie Ginny being just as laid back about it, not to mention uncle Blaise. His godfather was the only person he assumed to be able to understand him fallen for the Gryffindor. Didn't he fall for one as well? One that his chosen witch had been already engaged to uncle Harry no less.
"Scop? Are you actually going to eat anything or is moving that potatoes around your plate enough for you?"
Scorpius looked up and saw Ben gazing at him with an expression that told him his friend would be quizzing him until he had told him why he had been arriving with a bunch of fourth year Gryffindors, not to mention Lilly Zabini being one of them.
"What? No, I'm not hungry."
"Has that to do with you-know-what?"
"Yeah."
Ben glanced over to the Gryffindor table and saw the witch in question laughing with her friends. Looking back at his friend Scorpius noticed some of their house mates paying too close attention to their conversation so he cast a quick Muffliato.
"She doesn't seem to be brooding about it. Why are you?"
"Because I'll be held responsible when this doesn't work out."
"Why?"
"I'm a Malfoy. That's still reason enough for some people to expect the worst."
There was silence between them. Ben knew his friend was right. His family name was still tainted for some people. Even after all these years and it having been made clear in the history books and lessons at Hogwarts, that it had been his grandfather, Lucius Malfoy, who was the evil bastard not his dad, Draco, or Scorpius himself.
"Are you two an item then?"
Scorpius made a non-committal sound.
"But you're thinking about it?"
This time a nod was the answer.
"Is she thinking about it as well?"
"Hm... We haven't talked about it in great detail and I know we do need to talk about it."
Frustration was laced through the oldest Malfoy son's voice.
"Would you prefer her dating somebody else then?"
The scowl this received was all the answer needed. Of course Scorpius didn't want his girl to date anybody else.
"So, you want to date her and she possibly wants to date you. Give it a go, mate. If it doesn't work, fine. But at least you know."
Scorpius sighed. He wanted nothing more than hold her in his arms as he fell asleep tonight. It felt like weeks ago since he had her snuggled up against his bare chest, feeling her soft fingers caress his skin.
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Ginny was sitting in a comfy chair next to the fireplace, reading. Or so it seemed anyway. In reality she was thinking about something she had witnessed earlier on the day, when she and Blaise had brought their three children to King's Cross. Oliver and Vincent had been totally wound up about going back to school. Meeting all their friends on the platform, swapping stories about what they had done over Christmas and being able to escape the watchful eye of their mother had made them even more exuberant than usual.
Lilly on the other hand had been rather quiet. She had been rather quiet for several days now. Her mother had been wondering, if something had happened at the anniversary ball of Draco and Hermione. Though she couldn't think of what it could be. Her only daughter was spending an awful lot of the day seemingly just daydreaming. More often than not she had to be addressed twice in order to get her attentions and the diary she had normally never bothered hiding had gone missing.
"Blaise?"
"Yes, dear?"
"Has something happened at the Anniversary Ball?"
The deep brown of her husband's eyes showed surprise.
"What is supposed to have happened? What have the two monsters you call your sons done?" He was half joking, half dreading what the twins might have been up to.
"Except for trying to fly one of Draco's racing brooms they have been strangely inactive. Though that was probably down to the fact they had a house elf following them wherever they went." She put her book on the coffee table. "No, I'm talking about Lilly. She is withdrawn, spends hours locked away in her room and is hiding her diary now."
Raised eyebrows on her husband's side.
"What do mean? Is she unhappy? Has somebody been... rude or... I don't know what at the party?"
Ginny looked at him. For having been such a player in his younger years he seemed strangely oblivious to the signs of a teenage witch in love. Or had he just not been looking at any other girl since he had stolen her heart? He had always been swearing any and every oath that he had forgotten anything female existed except for his lovely wife. Maybe that was really the case.
She sighed.
"No, I don't think that anybody was rude to her at the party, probably quite the opposite."
Blaise frowned. Thinking back to the night in question he remembered himself talking to Draco. Who had mentioned that Scorpius had his eyes on Lilly. They had been growing up with each other and Blaise would have never thought that there would ever be anything more than friendship between them, but...
"Blaise?"
"Hm? Oh, yes..." He wasn't quite sure how to breach this rather delicate subject.
His wife beat him to it.
"I think, your daughter has fallen in love."
"She has?"
Ginny grinned at the astounded expression on his face.
"Yes. Merlin, I would have thought you remember the signs when a witch has feelings for a wizard."
"Well..." He rubbed the back of his neck, "I promised to never look at another girl ever again when I was proposing to you. I meant it."
His wife got up slowly and walked over to the couch he was sitting on.
"I know, you've never so much as looked at another girl since then, but Blaise, she's your daughter, not another girl."
He sighed. She was right of course.
"Sorry, love. I'm just a bit... I talked to Draco at the party expressing my concerns about Lilly growing up and becoming a teenager and..."
She didn't interrupt. Something important seemed to have been discussed behind that folding screen the two friends had been hiding behind.
"Draco told me that Scorpius might be interested in our daughter."
"Scorpius?"
She hadn't imagined what she thought she saw earlier in London then after all.
"I think, he's right."
Blaise turned towards his wife. The look on his face said it all.
"I saw them this morning, on the platform at King's Cross."
He motioned her to carry on.
"They had been trying to use a Disillusionment Charm while standing in a secluded corner."
"So?"
"It didn't quite work as they were moving to much."
"Moving too much?" He had a rather strange feeling about what would be coming next.
"They were embracing... not hugging, embracing, each other and Scorpius was..."
"What? For Merlin's sake! What was the boy doing to our daughter?!"
"He was kissing her."
"Kissing her?"
"Yes, and she was kissing him back."