The Beginning

Prompts: Lily/Scorpius ; "I think this is the place" ; holder ; blink ; sad ; lick ; little ; link

It was the Potter/Weasley annual family Christmas Eve party and the guest list had grown again by leaps and bounds. Every year the children invited more of their classmates and naturally the parents had been added when the children were little and once you were on the party list you remained. This was the first year that the party was being held in Harry and Ginny's new home which had the requisite space for such a large gathering. New invites this year included Albus' best mate, Scorpius Malfoy and his parents. Well, this was not exactly a new invite, but they had never been able to accept before.

Lily was in her room putting the finishing touches on her outfit. She had on a green velvet dress that she had fought with her mother over. As she bit back a tear she was sad that she was being treated like a child. Another tear appeared and she held it back with a blink. "But, Mom, it looks like a little girl's dress. I am 12 and I am not a little girl," had been Lily's argument. "Lily, it is not a little girl's dress. It looks very grown up on you. The green is a perfect shade to go with your hair." At least she had been able to wear new gold shoes that were ballet flats, but has wonderful ribbon laces that crossed and crossed all the way up her calves and tied in bows just below the knee. Wearing these made her feel somewhat like a ballerina. The gold studs at her ears and the gold belt and gold edges on the lace of the collar and sleeves were all the embellishment she wore.

"Lily, James, Albus, come down here immediately," Ginny called up the stairs. "Hermione and Ron are here and Grandma and Grandpa Weasley are due any minute.

Half an hour into the party, another trio walked up the front walk. They had apparated into a large park and walked across. "I think this is the place," said Draco as he read the address off the paper.

"Well, if you had let me help them move instead of going to France with Grandmother, I would have known what it looked like," retorted Scorpius. Then he shuddered as his dad dope slapped him.

"Welcome, and Happy Christmas, please come in," said Harry as he opened the door. "Lily, come get the cloaks." Nobody noticed the sideways glance that Lily gave Scorpius and shy smile as she took his cloak. Then she scurried from the room. Al took his friend to the family room where the kids had congregated while the adults remained in the living room.

"I'm so glad you finally could come," said Al as he playfully punched his friend. The kids were playing muggle video games and hanging out. Scorpius kept sneaking sideways glances at Lily and followed her into the kitchen for more snacks.

"I think you look beautiful, Lily," whispered Scorpius in her ear, startling her as she was cutting more cheese.

"Ouch," Lily bit back a tear for she had cut her finger as well. Then she drew a ragged breath as Scorpius took her hand in his and brought the cut to his lips. Watching her eyes, his tongue darted out with a lick he took the drop of blood, then he kissed the palm of her hand. Lily was mesmerized and could not withdraw from his gaze. As he licked the blood from her finger, her breath was involuntary; the kiss to her palm sent goose bumps up her spine.

The mood was broken when Rose crashed through the doorway having observed the scenario. "You need more napkins in the holder," she said with a note of jealousy in her voice. "And Aunt Ginny says it is time to gather in the living room for carols and gifts."

"Here are more napkins and Scorpius can take the cheese." Lily added, "I will put a plaster on this and bring more crackers in a moment."

There was a baby grand piano in one corner of the living room and Ginny had asked Hermione to play a mixture of carols and hymns. Everyone was gathered around the piano with the elder Weasleys sitting on a sofa nearby. Some had glasses of drink, others had snacks on small plates or napkins. The voices blended in songs they all knew. Scorpius hung back by the door waiting for Lily to come into the room. Since she had not arrived yet and nobody was watching, he slipped back into the kitchen. "You are still beautiful," he whispered in her ear again. "I wanted to give you this while there was no one around." He took a small box from his pocket, longer than it was wide or deep. She slipped the silver ribbon off and carefully removed the green paper. "It matches your dress," he remarked. She opened the jewelry box that was revealed. Inside was a gold charm bracelet with three charms attached. On one link had attached a green M set in silver, the second charm was a Slytherin shield, and the third link had a Gryffindor shield. "We can attach more over time," Scorpius said. "I hope that you and I will remain together until it is full and then we can get another." He kissed her for the first time on her lips and said, "I hope we can be doing a lot more of this, too."