Word Count: 1,021
Challenge/Competition: The Bastille Lyrics Challenge
Prompts: 'You took me to your favourite place on earth'
Warnings: None
Disclaimer: I don't claim to own Harry Potter, it's all JKR's.
She sits on the Common Room sofa, her face stuck in a frown and her arms crossed over her chest. If Scorpius doesn't want to be with her, why doesn't he just say so? She despises when people won't just say how they feel. Lily has always been straightforward - words, the truth, just tend to spill out of her mouth before she can even think to stop herself, or whose feelings they might hurt.
Honesty is the best policy, no matter who it hurts, she thinks. Scorpius knows that - he's always known that. From the time that Lily told him that she thought he slept around to help him ignore his actual loneliness, to when she grabbed him and told him to just kiss her already because it was clearly what he wanted to do. He'd known that she takes no crap, says exactly as she thinks. And that she expects the same from him.
'Lily,' Scorpius says from behind her, causing her to jolt out of her thoughts in fright. 'I'm sorry.'
She scowls at him in reply, turning back around. 'Go away,' she replies through gritted teeth. This is so typical of Scorpius, she thinks, to rile her up and then come to apologise and expect her to let it go because his apologising is such a rare occurrence.
He moves to stand in front of her, guilt written all over his face. 'I haven't cheated on you,' he tells her, calmly.
Sighing, she forces herself to look up at him and reads his guilty expression. All signs point to it - she didn't want to believe it, but his silence earlier was enough of an answer, and his guilt now is even more of an answer. 'You know what, Scorpius? It's fine. It's so fine. I'm the idiot. Everybody knows you can't keep it in your pants - for Merlin's sake, I knew that you couldn't, I knew that you'd slept with half of the year group!'
He tries to grab her hand, to which she slaps it away, fire dancing in her jade eyes. 'I swear to you,' he cuts in.
'I pursued you anyway, despite all of that. I liked the thought of being able to fix you, I suppose. But clearly I'm not enough and I never was. So it's okay, really, just leave me be,' she finishes, nails digging into her palms in a desperate attempt to fight the tears she can feel welling up. She hates how he makes her feel so vulnerable. With everybody else, she has a front. However thin it wears, it is enough, she is strong. Just not to him, and that terrifies her.
He rolls his eyes. 'Lily, please just listen. It's none of that. You are more than enough, I swear. Just let me show you something, and I will explain everything. Just trust me, even if it's this one last time.'
Part of her thinks that if he didn't feel like explaining earlier, why should she give him the opportunity now? But the other part of her sees the look in his eyes, and she sees a sadness that is unfamiliar. There's no harm in letting him try to wriggle his way out, she supposes, a tiny part of her hoping that there is another explanation. She slowly blinks and then sighs heavily. 'Okay, fine.'
She follows him through the castle and through the grounds, toward the Black Lake. They end up in a tiny patch of woodland that she's never really noticed before. Raising a puzzled eyebrow she asks, 'Why are we here?'
He sits down on a chair fashioned out of a tree trunk. 'This is where I've been. Not with some random girl, not with anybody else. Here. Alone,' he tells her, eyes cast on the ground.
What? This, she did not expect. However, she's still reluctant to believe him. The Scorpius she used to know would say just about anything to get out of a sticky situation, and she's never been sure if people truly change. 'Why?' She narrows her eyes.
Scorpius bites his lip and runs a hand through his silvery hair, visibly miserable. She wonders how she hadn't noticed this look on his face before. Maybe her judgement was clouded - first by paranoia, then by jealousy, then by fury. 'My parents are getting a divorce. They've always been unhappy, and I wanted this, I just never expected it. It's been a shock, I suppose. I just… wanted to be alone. I didn't know what to think, or how to feel, so I came here. I've visited this place since first year, just not as much as I have recently. I'm sorry, I should have told you,' he replies, uncharacteristically vulnerable and honest.
Guilt throbs through her body. How couldn't she have realised? She'd assumed the worst in him. While relieved, she feels awful. 'You let me believe you cheated on me. You could have just told me the truth.'
'I wanted to, honestly, I just wasn't sure if I was ready to share this place with you yet. It's my favourite place in the world. The only place I feel completely peaceful,' he says, standing up and wrapping his arms around her.
'What changed?'
'I realised that I love you. And if I love you, then I should share everything with you,' he tells her, searching her eyes.
Her mouth drops open slightly, shocked by his sincerity. He's always playful or snarky, always hiding his feelings underneath layers upon layers of armour. 'I love you too,' she replies, straightforward - the first words that come to her mind. 'And I'm sorry, for assuming the worst in you, and for what I said before.'
'I have almost slept with half of the year group, I'm glad that someone acknowledges my achievements,' he jokes, his usual mischievous glint restored to his eyes.
She smiles, thinking that maybe this will all work out after all, that maybe they aren't Lily and Scorpius the doomed couple - maybe they're more like Lily and Scorpius the destined couple, and she presses a kiss to his lips.
AN- hey everyone! it's been a long time, I know. I tend to pop in and out of FFn these days, but I just have such an urge to write at the moment. So, I hope this was enjoyed - please let me know what you thought, it's lovely to hear from you :)