Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. Heaven knows I want to, but I'm no JK Rowling.
Chapter 1—Deal
"Adam!"
"Hey, Lily!"
She flung herself at her boyfriend, Adam McLaggen, giving him a soft kiss on the lips.
"I missed you," she murmured in his ear when he pulled away. They have been dating for since April but they hadn't seen each other for the rest of the summer.
"Missed you, too," he said, smiling at her. There was something off about his smile, though. He was continually looking over her shoulder, as if scared of getting caught, and was fidgeting with the hem of his robe; he only does that when he's nervous.
"Is there something wrong?" she asked, fixing him a look. "Merlin, you haven't been cheating on me during the summer, have you?" she accused too quickly that he was totally taken aback.
"Of course not, Lils! Why would you think of that?" he said, too hearty for Lily to believe him.
"You're not telling me something," she said, pulling away from him and putting her hands on her hips.
He sighed. "Okay, okay. You caught me…Well…it's just that I couldn't sit in your compartment today like I promised," he reasoned. "I'm sitting with the boys or they'll have to drag me in to their compartment whether I like it or not."
"Oh," she mumbled and gave him a smile, but there was still a tiny ray of suspicion inside her she couldn't quite put off. "It's fine. I'm going to the prefect's compartment, anyway, and catching up with the girls afterward."
He smiled in relief and kissed her full in the lips before pulling away, saying, "Good luck, Miss Prefect."
"Shut up. See you later."
"Bye."
They parted ways, Adam with a nervous glance back at his girlfriend and Lily with a nagging doubt and suspicion at the back of her head.
Entering the prefect's compartment, Lily noted that it was almost full. Therefore, she sat on one of the few spaces available—the one between Scorpius Malfoy and the glass edge of the compartment. It was far better than sitting beside an obnoxious Therese Pritchard, a sixth year Slytherin whom she greatly despised and had hexed last year. She glared at her the moment she arrived.
"So, hello everyone," Lily's cousin Rose, the head girl this year, began. "I know some of you might be tired of hearing this tedious speech, yet again, but please pay attention. Now, fifth years, this job is going to take quite some time before getting used to. You're going to have to patrol the corridors with a partner once every two weeks. Your partner will be fixed, so you'll be patrolling the castle with the same person for the entire year, except in those special circumstances where your partner couldn't come due to injuries or same reasons. Any questions so far?"
"Shouldn't we be patrolling with someone in our own House?" asked Claudine Selwyn in a moaning voice. She was a Slytherin in Lily's year. She was—there was no other word for it—the bane of her existence.
"No," Rose said in a far more superior voice. "You'll patrol with whoever was chosen for you."
"How will you choose, then?" I asked curiously.
"It's pretty simple," said Liam Priestly, the head boy and Rose's boyfriend. "Rose and I will just send sparks on different parchments with your names on it—mine with the boys, Rose with the girls—and whoever lands sparks at the same time will be partners."
"That's ridiculously ridiculous," Selwyn sneered. "Imagine wasting your time sending sparks on sheets of parchments when they could actually ask us who we want to patrol with."
"Well, if there's any bloke here who wants to patrol with you," Lily said loudly, "raise your knickers now, she'll choose who has the best underpants—probably one with pictures of unicorns on them. Although I doubt there's a person in this carriage who wants to spend a night every two weeks with a pig."
Everyone laughed, except Selwyn, who was flushed in anger and was glaring furiously at Lily. She smirked in response.
Lily noticed someone chuckling beside her and looked at Scorpius Malfoy. Strange. She never did look clearly at him before. She never actually saw him much except during Quidditch matches, where they both play Seeker. He has attracted loads of females' eyes around school, alright. Now, Lily knew why. His features were not only attractive, but the light in his gray eyes brought it all.
"Okay, everyone stop!" Liam commanded, although he still couldn't stop grinning himself "Everyone stop before this gets out of hand."
"If you don't tell Potter to shu—"
"I happened to say nothing at all," Al cut in, grinning mockingly at Selwyn, and I snorted. "Not until now, though."
"I'm referring to your sister, you twat!"
"That's enough, everyone!" Rose bellowed. "We'll get to the prefect-related topics, shall we?"
Distracted as she was a bit by the prefect meeting, the earlier funny reactions of Adam came crashing back to Lily's mind once the meeting was off. She immediately told her best friends about it once she reached their compartment.
"Tell me again," Lily's best friend, Mikayla Palmer said after she'd finished. She was playing with the strands of her long, blond hair, fixing her a look with her midnight-blue eyes.
"I told you I feel like he's keeping something from me," Lily repeated. "Do you think he's…what? A gay? A dancer in a Muggle pub? A what? Or he might have been meeting another woman over the summer, for all I know…"
"Stop babbling, Lily," her other best friend, Beth Rosewood, said. Her brown eyes were trailing outside the window, her dark hair blowing round her face. "Maybe you're just imagining things."
Lily sighed. "Yeah…I hope so. Anyway, I'm supposed to be patrolling right now. See you girls, later."
She walked out and began walking the corridors of the train on her own, looking inside every compartment to make sure nobody was making anything 'beyond' the rules. Honestly, she didn't know how come she was chosen as a prefect, despite being really pleased about it. When she read the letter, she thought it might be sent to the wrong person, but it was definitely her name written on it. She wasn't exactly a rule-patronizing or abiding person; on the contrary, she didn't mind breaking a couple of rules in the past, just like every one of the Potters and Weasleys.
Preoccupied as she was with her thoughts, she didn't notice a person walking on her way and accidentally bumped his head on his hard chest.
"Ow!" she exclaimed, putting a hand on her forehead. "Sorry, I wasn't looking my way, I'm—"
But she stopped dead when she saw who she bumped on. Blond hair, smooth, alabaster skin, straight nose, pinkish lips and handsome gray eyes, there he was—Scorpius Malfoy.
"Er, sorry," she said awkwardly. It was true, their parents were old enemies, but she, her brothers and her cousins didn't exactly hate him. It was hard to hate someone who mostly keeps to himself and a couple of Slytherin buddies and Quidditch mates. "I wasn't…looking."
"It's alright," he said, shrugging. "I wasn't looking my way, either."
"Right," she muttered, surprised that a Slytherin could be quite pleasant. "Well then, see you around, Malfoy."
She didn't take more than three steps when he called, "Potter, wait! I forgot something!"
Turning around, she saw that he was already beside him.
"Yes?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Your cousin asked me to give this to you," he said, holding out a small roll of parchment.
Lily took it and muttered, "Thanks." Upon noticing that he didn't move or walk away, she added, "Am I supposed to open it now?"
He nodded. "Yeah, better now than later. You might be…er, shocked."
Raising a questioning eyebrow at him, she unrolled it and read on Rose's neat, cursive writing"
Lily,
You're due to be partnered with Scorpius Malfoy for rounds inside the castle. Don't ask me why him because it was entirely random and Liam and I are just being fair. I think he's harmless, anyway. He's a prefect after all. The schedules will be posted on the common room notice board later. Don't moan or I'll be tempted to put you in detention.
Rose
Lily looked up at him and said, "Well, I guess we're partners, then.
He frowned.
"You're not moaning about getting a Slytherin for a partner?" he asked in disbelief.
"Why would I moan about something like that?" she said.
"Because I'm—I'm a—"
"I've got nothing against you, Malfoy," she interrupted. "'Course I don't like a couple of Slytherins, but you've never exactly did a harm on me, have you? And I don't really give a damn that our dads hated each other, to be honest. That was ages ago. And besides," she added, grinning, "I don't want Rosie to put me in detention so it's either you cooperate with me on duties or sod off."
She said it in a teasing way that he stared at her for a moment. Finally, he smiled.
"I guess we'll have peaceful patrols at school, then," he said. "For a Gryffindor and Slytherin, that is."
Lily smiled back. "See you around, then."
"Merlin, I never knew the train was that long!" Lily exclaimed as she went back to their compartment half an hour later. Sitting beside Mikayla, she took a Chocolate Frog from the box beside Beth and bit its head off in earnest.
"Glad I wasn't prefect," Beth said, grinning at her.
"It has its perks, you know," Lily retorted.
"Like what?"
"Like having access to the Prefect's bathroom," she answered, smirking. "And oh, our curfew is in eleven."
"That's unfair!" both girls exclaimed.
Lily rolled her eyes at them. "It's not like you're always wandering around the castle, you two," she pointed out. "Except if you're sneaking out with a bloke," she added, smiling slyly.
"Shut up," Beth said.
"Mmm…might be your idea of sneaking out, Beth," Lily said teasingly. "Prefect's bathroom with a bloke and a pack of soaps and bubbles. Lovely."
Beth blushed furiously and Lily frowned. Beth was always a good actor that she could easily hide feelings and a bloody red blush.
"Anyway," Mikayla interrupted, not catching Lily's eye, "I heard Albus got the Captain's badge."
She might've said it casually, but Lily wasn't fooled. She knew since third year that her best friend had a crush on his brother, but wouldn't push it. How awkward would it be if you see your brother snogging one of your mates?
"Yep," she answered. "He kept babbling about it all summer."
"That's two of your brothers now," Beth said. "I bet you'll get that badge next year."
She shrugged. "I hope so. At least I've already got one badge, though."
"Who's the other Gryffindor prefect, anyway?" Beth asked.
"Timothy Fields," Lily answered, smirking at her, "the guy you had a crush on since what? First year."
Lily and Mikayla giggled as Beth crossed her arms and scowled at them. This was more like the Beth they knew, rather than the 'blushing' one.
"Shut up."
"Oh, but it's true," Mikayla said. "Until you found out he had a crush on your Lily."
"You don't need to rub it off on me that Timothy doesn't have good taste," she snapped. "And I don't like him now, anyway."
Lily scowled at her. "So you're saying I'm not likable, huh?" she said dryly. "Who do you like now, then?" she asked and saw that Beth had suddenly gone uncomfortable.
"Nobody," she answered, but the look on her face said otherwise. "I'll just go to the bathroom," she said and walked hastily outside.
"She's keeping something from us," Mikayla stated.
Lily nodded. "I know…she's secretly meeting with a bloke. I wonder if they're meeting in a bathroom."
"That would explain the blush," Mikayla mused shrewdly.
"You're early," Scorpius said when Lily arrived. It was the second Friday of term and they were meeting up in the entrance hall for their first turn on rounds.
"You're"—Lily look him up and down and smiled—"earlier." She went to stand in front of him and fixed him a look.
He shrugged. "I'm always early."
"How long have I kept you waiting, exactly?" Lily asked as they started to walk.
"Only about a minute or so," he answered with amusement in his voice. "I usually have to wait for at least ten minutes last year for my partner prefect to show up."
"Who was it?" she asked curiously.
"Venice Thorez, Hufflepuff," he answered. "Good thing she's already graduated. It would be a nice change to patrol with someone more…punctual."
She laughed lightly, saying, "Thank you!"
"So," he said, changing the subject, "I heard your brother's the new Captain of your team."
"He is," Lily replied. "And I heard that you are Captain on yours."
"True."
She stifled a smile and said, "Well, I'd still be the one holding the Snitch on the first match."
"We'll see," he said evenly.
"Do I need to watch my back this time?" she said lightly. "You do seem serious of beating me this time."
"You should know how frustrating it was to keep losing over a—"
"A Gryffindor?" she cut in, not harshly.
"No," he answered and she looked at him, surprised.
"You don't want keep losing over a Potter, then?" she asked this time.
"No," he answered again and she could see that he was smirking.
She frowned. "What then?"
"Because you're a witch," he said simply, shaking his head.
"Oh," she mumbled. "So It hurts you're ego as a bloke, then?"
"Before," he answered. "But not much, now. I should be concentrating on N.E.W.T.s this year, anyway, if I don't want to screw up my future career."
That got her curious, and Lily Potter loves being curious.
"What career are you pursuing?" He seemed hesitant to answer so she added, "You don't need to answer that. You must be thinking I'm nosy."
He smiled. "Not at all," he reassured. "And to answer your question, what I'd like to do is to work in the Magical Law Department in the Ministry, actually."
That brought a spark in her eyes. "Oh, my Aunt Hermione's head there. You must have a minimum of five N.E.W.T.s to get a ministry job, she told me. It's quite fascinating in there, you know. When I've been to my aunt's office, her job seemed to be like the Muggle lawyers, although you might not know what lawyers are, I think you weren't raised to know about Muggles but—"
She stopped when she heard him chuckle.
"I look like an overenthusiastic five year old, don't I?" Lily muttered
Scorpius shook his head. "Nope. I think you're a fascinating, little babbling machine, to be honest."
Lily laughed. "Yeah, sorry 'bout that. I'm always like this. Can't help it…"
"It's fine, actually," he said, grinning slightly at her and Lily noticed again that he looked ridiculously handsome. "It makes the rounds less boring."
She shook her head away from inappropriate thoughts about Scorpius Malfoy and said casually, "I take that as a compliment. You're not that boring for company, either. And I take it, you're usually quiet when doing this tedious prefect job, am I right?"
He smiled. "Yeah, you're right. I never really got to talk much during the past two years with my so-called partners."
Lily laughed, feeling more at ease now around him. "They probably aren't as talkative as I am, are they?"
"Not in the slightest," he answered. "Even when I had to patrol with my ex-girlfriend once, I couldn't get her to talk about Quidditch or future careers. She only seems to want to talk about herself, to be honest."
"What's her name?" Lily asked, her curiosity perking up again.
"Therese Pritchard," he answered, shrugging. "I think you pretty much know who she is."
"Oh, I do know that her, that slag," Lily said, snorting. "You might've known. I think you still might be seeing her that time when I hexed her for not shutting up about Mikayla."
He chuckled. "Yeah, I remember. You sent a Bat-Bogey Hex at her, right? That was quite impressive. She broke up with me after that for not siding with her."
Her eyes widened in shock. "Really, why?"
"Well, I told her off for having a go at Muggle-borns, since she's merely a half-blood herself."
Lily's eyes widened. "You told that? But I thought—"
"Surprising, isn't it," he said, "how some people find it amusing that some Slytherins don't give a damn about blood status and other rubbish."
"It is surprising," Lily said, not in the least bit perturbed at the slight edge in his voice. "And you don't need to snap at me like that, I'm just in shock," she added lightly.
"Er, sorry 'bout tha—"
"What would you do if you hear me calling my best friend a Mudblood?"
He stopped walking. "You said tha—"
"See," she interrupted. "You'd react like that if I ever did something un-Gryffindor-ish, or un-Potter-ish, or…whatever."
"But you still used that—"
"Figuratively," she cut in. "And don't be silly, I was just setting an example. Merely saying something is entirely different from saying something you mean. It's just like the difference between reading but not understanding, and reading with comprehension. D'you know what I mean?"
Scorpius looked at her with surprise in his face. "Do you have different personalities?" he asked her.
"Er, why are you asking?"
"Because," he said, actually smiling, "a moment ago, you were babbling about random things like a first year, and now you were saying a really…witty analogy. Or clever, rather…"
She smiled at the compliment but stopped when she heard something. They were now in the third floor corridor without even her realizing.
"Can you hear that?" she asked in a whisper.
"Yes," he said. "In there." He pointed at a broom cupboard partly obscured by a tapestry of an old, ugly warlock.
Scorpius walked silently towards the cupboard and Lily followed him, both of their wands drawn. Then, as one, they wrenched open the door handle and saw two people inside.
Lily almost cried in shock.
There, inside, was Adam, his pajama buttons half undone, and snuggling close to him with all of her buttons undone, was—
"Beth," Lily said in a low voice. She couldn't believe it. Her best friend, of all people, would betray her like this? "Please don't tell me this isn't what it looks like."
But the way she wouldn't look her in the eye said it all. She hid herself behind her curtain of curly brown hair as she threw her pajama on again. Adam wasn't saying anything and was looking as though he'd rather be somewhere else at the moment.
Scorpius looked at Lily and found that she was on tears. From what he had known through the years, she was a tough person. From the look in her eyes, it was her best friend that was hurting her the most.
"How could you do this to me? I should've known you were such a fucking bitch!" she said vehemently, wiping her eyes furiously.
With a movement so fast none of them had time to react, Lily brandished her wand at the two of them. In an instant, Adam and Beth were glued to each other by the side of their waists.
"That'll show the people how a slag you are!" she spat at Beth, whose blue eyes were shining with unshed tears.
"Take this off, Lily!" Adam said furiously as he stumbled outside the cupboard with Beth beside her.
"Don't 'Lily' me, McLaggen!" she snapped and the look on her eyes stopped him. There was a fire in her hazel eyes that he's never seen before. Red sparks were flying out of her wand as she glared at him—a glare akin to a basilisk's. "Fifteen points from Gryffindor for disgusting display of indecency!"
Beth was sobbing continuously but Lily wasn't sympathetic.
"Now, LEAVE!"
Without watching them, Lily marched off into the opposite direction and wiped the last streaks of tears from her face. Panting, she fell on the floor and propped her back on the wall, trying with all her might to blink the tears away, but they wouldn't. Instead, they continued to flow as freely as the rain outside. Tired of fighting them, she closed her eyes and put her head between her knees, hoping the feel of anger would abate.
Suddenly, she felt a hand on her shoulder and looked up to see Scorpius sitting beside him, looking straight on the opposite wall.
"You couldn't stay here," he said. "Filch will catch us. We're supposed to be back in our common rooms in ten minutes."
"I couldn't go back yet," she said in a surprisingly straight voice.
"Who says we're going back?" he said, looking at her this time. "There's a place where he'll least expect us. C'mon, I won't let you here on your own. Let's go to a more comfortable place sit in." He stood up and offered his hand to her. Smiling slightly, she took it and let her pull him up. She gave an involuntary shiver as their hands touch.
"Are you cold?" he asked. "It's been raining all week, why didn't you bring a cloak?"
Without protesting, Lily let him put his own cloak around her and felt a warm feeling around her body. It just wasn't because of the additional layer to her clothing; it was the mere fact that Scorpius, who was almost a stranger to her, was comforting her and didn't leave her side when she was in this state, regardless of the fact that they were prefects.
What surprised her was, after putting his cloak around her, he took her hand, gave it a squeeze, and didn't let it go.
"C'mon, let's go," he said and led her downstairs. She kept shooting him furtive glances, noticing that he even look more attractive when he was being caring. His face was slightly etched with worry that he couldn't quite hide and his eyes were determined and on fire.
"Where are we going?" she asked when they reached the front of the Great Hall.
"This way," he said, leading her to a door beside the hall, and downstairs.
Suddenly, it clicked.
"You're taking me down to the kitchens, aren't you?"
He smiled at her, relieved that he had successfully distracted her from the earlier happenings.
"I guess you've bumped there once, haven't you?" he asked.
"Well, it's not really a secret in our family where it is," she said. "And I've probably been to every inch of Hogwarts, to be honest."
He raised an eyebrow. "How come?"
"It's a family secret," she said and he was glad to see her smiling again. They reached the entrance to their destination. Scorpius tickled the pear, opening the door, and they entered. They sat beside each other at the farthest table to the left and Scorpius let go of Lily's hand. It suddenly felt a few degrees colder without his.
Scorpius asked a house-elf for some hot-chocolates before turning back to Lily.
"I guess you don't want to go back after a couple of hours?" he asked hesitantly. Asking it meant reminding her what happened, but it's better to deal with it now than later.
She nodded but didn't cry anymore. "Yeah, I guess so…"
"She's your best friend, right?" he asked. "I always see you with her and that Mikayla girl."
"I don't think she's my best friend anymore, to be honest," Lily replied, rubbing the side of her forehead. "I never felt so…betrayed…and angry." She sighed and looked up at him. "You don't have to listen to me mourning over the lost of a best friend. I know blokes feel uncomfortable listening to too much emotional rants from women."
"I don't mind," he reassured just as the same house-elf came, handing them two cups of hot chocolate.
"Thanks," Lily muttered and took a grateful sip. The house-elf bowed and scrambled away. "Why did you ask for hot-chocolate?"
"Well, women usually like their chocolate when they're love depressed," he said, smirking slightly.
Lily raised an eyebrow. "I heard you are such a womanizer."
"You heard the 'rumors' then," he said. "I've only dated five girls in my entire life and each lasted not less than five months."
Lily stared at him in disbelief. "Really? I never thought you were a serious bloke."
"I'm not, actually," he said, shrugging. "But I'm a bloke. I just like a good snog."
Lily spluttered on her hot-chocolate and splattered some on his cloak.
"Oh, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to stain it! I'll just—"
"Relax, Potter," Scorpius said, chuckling. He grabbed his wand from his pocket and cleaned the stain easily.
Lily sighed in relief. "For a moment, I forgot I'm a witch."
"That would be the effects of seeing your boyfriend snogging your best friend," he said without thinking and waited anxiously for her reaction.
"Yeah, I guess," she mumbled. "Although, I wouldn't be upset, actually, if it was another woman Adam was snogging. The hell I care! I don't give a damn about the breakup! I'm only mad because of all people, WHY BETH? I sodding hate the both of them!"
With the intention of hiding the angry tears, she downed the rest of her hot chocolate, obscuring her face from his view. Wiping her cheeks discreetly, she finally looked up at him.
"Would you tell the teachers if I downed some Firewhisky right now?" Lily asked him.
"I wouldn't," he answered, "but there aren't any Firewhisky in the Hogwarts kitchens. I tried to ask for one last year."
"Damn it," Lily muttered. "I could risk sneaking outside the castle…"
"Potter, it's eleven," Scorpius said. "The pubs are bound to be closed in an hour and you're not exactly hard to notice since you've got red hair and everyone knows you since you're the only daughter of the Potters. Besides, you're fifteen so you're not allowed to drink Firewhisky yet."
"Okay, okay. I get it. I'll just get caught, alright," she said irritably.
"On the one hand," he said in a suggestive voice and Lily looked up to see him smiling, "I've got a couple of bottles inside my trunk for 'emergency' purpose. We could down them together tomorrow. It's Saturday so it won't be a problem, except if you're a 'homework' driven type of person...?"
She snorted. "Nope. I'm a sucker-girlfriend-betrayed-by her-best-friend type of person at the moment."
"Are you sure Firewhisky will alleviate all this angst your feeling at the moment?" he asked.
"For one whole day, probably," she answered. "But forever, no. On second thoughts, I don't want to down your Firewhisky anymore. It'll just make me seem like I give a damn about them. I might want to have to do something more than hex Adam and Beth's arses off."
"Mmm…I could help you with that," Scorpius said and he looked up at him, interested despite her heart being heavier than usual.
"What is it?" she asked but when he didn't continue, she added, "Please. Tell me."
He sighed. "First of all, I maybe not as Slytherin-ish as you think, but I am a Slytherin," he said. "So in short, you may not like this idea."
"If you're willing enough to help me," she insisted, "I don't suppose it would hurt to try what you're saying. Try me."
"Okay, here it is," he said and smirked. "Play his game. Go out and snog someone else, preferably his best friend or someone that'll pretty irk him as much. Find yourself a new boyfriend, in short. Make him jealous."
Lily stared wordlessly at him.
He sighed. "See. I told you, you may not like it."
"Who says I don't?" she said suddenly. "So, are you going to help me?"
"Me?"
"Yes, you," she said. "I'm not going to do with using someone."
"So what am I, a duck?" he said.
"Nope," Lily said, sighing. "It's just that, well…if you 'help' me, then I'm not 'using' you, am I? And you're the one who suggested it."
"What d'you think your family will do to me if they see me with you?"
She rolled her eyes. "Honestly, they don't give a damn with who I'm with. Have you ever seen them angry at you because you're a Malfoy or Slytherin?"
"What if…" he trailed off but didn't continue.
"What if what?"
"Nothing."
She stared at him. "Spit it out."
"What if things get serious?"
Lily snorted. "Not gonna happen, Malfoy." But if she was honest to herself, he might be right. "I'm not like the rest of the females in the school who fawns over you."
"Who says they are?" he asked, amused.
She rolled her eyes. "Well, if you're not going to help me—"
"Okay, shut up," he interrupted and sighed. "Fine, I'm going to help you."
Lily smiled at him. "Thanks!"
"What do I get in return, though?" he asked teasingly.
"Mmm…how about a friendship with none other than me," Lily said and they both laughed.
"That's quite a reasonable price then," he said.
She smiled. "Of course it is. You could replace Beth as my other best friend, for all I care."
He frowned. "You know, maybe you're just angry at her right now, but you'll come around, soon. You couldn't ruin four years of friendship for a git. I'm only helping you get your revenge on that prat but don't be a martyr and hurt yourself by hurting your best friend."
"It's not as easy as it seems to be," she said stubbornly, reverting back to her earlier hollow tone.
He sighed. "I don't know what I'm getting myself into," he muttered.
"I'm sorry," she said. "You don't have to do anything. Just...just…"
"I'm still helping you," he said smoothly. "You're sort of my would-be friend now, after all."
She gave him a small smile. "I never thought you of all people would pretend to be my boyfriend to help me revenge on my ex."
"There are some benefits," he said slyly.
"Like what?"
"Like having a free snog to a girl without the need to feel committed, that is," he said teasingly.
That wasn't the right thing to say, though, because Lily instantly flared up.
"If you think I'm that kind of woman who will—"
"Relax, Potter," he said and he actually had the nerve to laugh. "I was joking."
"Oh," she mumbled, embarrassed at her outburst. "Sorry 'bout that. I couldn't take jokes when I'm at this state."
He smiled at her. "It's alright. I could be a bit tactless at times, sorry."
"So, I'll repeat this for the last time but," she sighed, "are you really sure you want to do this?"
He nodded.
"I've got one condition, though," he said.
"Shoot."
"Don't fall in love with me."
"Not gonna happen," she said. "It's a deal, then."
A/N: And that's the first chapter!
Tell me what you think!
Thanks for reading!
R—E—V—I—E—W—! … That sort of helps…
.gold-
