Animal
After a long day of classes and a prefect meeting Scorpius Malfoy decided to take a relaxing dip in the prefects bathroom. He only had done a week of school but with the added pressure of being Head Boy, the first week of school took it's toll on him. He had to assign patrols and complete a complex essay on sleeping draughts that was expected to be handed in tomorrow in Fridays potions class, all in one evening. Thankfully the Head Girl, Rose Weasley, did what she does best and controlled most of the meeting. Scorpius was glad to have one of his best friends carry the burden of being the head of the school with him.
Everyone who didn't know Scorpius and Rose expected them to become a couple considering their friendship and especially considering their role as Heads of the school together. However, those close to them knew otherwise. Everyone except Ron in the Potter/Weasley clan knew of Rose's four year long crush to Lorcan Scamander. Rose was the only one to find out and encourage Scorpius' six year unrequited love for her younger cousin Lily Potter. Scorpius couldn't reveal his one sided love for Lily to his other best friend Albus Potter. He couldn't jeopardise their friendship that way so he suffered in silence; stealing glances and finding excuses to talk to her and, if he was lucky, to touch her.
Because Rose took the reigns in the meeting, Scorpius was able to let his eyes wander to the newly elected fifth year prefect, Lily. He was admiring her deep red hair, noting how it was different to the orange red hair the rest of the Weasley clan had. As Scorpius was entering the prefects bathroom he had to pinch himself to be convinced he was out of his musings and that a knee length, bath robe clad Lily was sitting in front of him. He stopped walking and drunk in her sitting frame, slightly annoyed that her eyelids were blocking her brilliant blue eyes. Her piercing scream broke him out of his reverie. In his panic he rushed over to her.
"Lily!" He shouted with concern once he had reached her. "What happened? Are you okay?"
Lily's eyes opened and she stopped screaming. She looked around disoriented until she remembered her surroundings and saw who was kneeling in front of her. "Scorpius? When did you get here? I could have sworn the prefects bathroom was deserted when I arrived…"
"After the prefect meeting, I went to the Heads common room to gather my things for a bath and got here when you started screaming. Speaking of, would you like to explain to me why you were screaming?" Scorpius replied with a mix of concern and curiosity.
Lily looked at Scorpius with questioning eyes, sizing him up until she sighed. "Okay, I'll tell you under one condition. You have to promise not to tell anybody and I mean anybody!" She paused for emphasis. "What I am about to tell you. Okay? This has to be just between the two of us."
"Okay, I promise not to tell anybody what you are about to tell me." Scorpius replied.
Lily took a deep breath, exhaled and launched in to her story. "In the summer holidays I heard some more stories about my paternal grandfather. One particular story caught my attention. My father told me that my granddad was an animagus. He told me that he had the ability to turn in to a stag and that his patronus was one too. Ever since then I've been reading up on animagi and how to become one. When I was screaming, that was my first attempt at putting it in to practice."
Scorpius looked upon Lily with awe. He was impressed with her to say the least, but he was also curious himself. He had learned briefly about animagi before and the concept had Scorpius interested. Seeing Lily try to put the concept in to practice inspired a plan.
"As your Head Boy, I really should send you to the Headmaster's office…" He began, pausing to wait until Lily opened her mouth and started to protest. "However, I am intrigued by this and want to strike up a deal. I'll keep quiet about this in exchange for you and I becoming animagi together." And to be able to have another excuse to be around you, Scorpius thought with a crooked grin.
Lily looked at him suspiciously, considering his proposition. "I suppose that's okay with me. Besides, it would be nice to have another person go through this with me so that we can help each other out with the transformation. All right Scorpius, you've got yourself a deal." She smiled up at him, holding her hand out.
Scorpius took her hand, relishing in the contact. Stormy grey eyes met brilliant blue eyes signifying the start of something new. "How about we meet in here at the same time Saturday night and begin? In the meantime I'll catch up with what you've already worked on."
Lily released her small hand from Scorpius' larger one. "It's a date." She replied. "See you then." Lily farewelled Scorpius and left him to his bath.
Scorpius had nearly forgotten his bath in thinking of his plans with Lily. His thoughts lingering on when she said the word date and having the connotation to him in the same sentence. When Scorpius thought back to the week he had, he knew that it was all worth it just to get him to this point with Lily. Suddenly the rest of Scorpius' week didn't look so bad.