So, I'm really starting to like Scorpius character quite a bit which means this story may get more attention right now, but I'm trying to update both stories in a sort of rotation. But I'm pretty busy with school and work, I'm trying thought! Thanks for reading, please read and review! :)
Chapter 3 -
Poppy's comment had gotten to him; you might want to stop being so obvious about your staring Malfoy. It wasn't as if he was doing it on purpose, his eyes had just seemed to gravitate towards Lily. He told himself that he would stop staring at her, just to insult her. He would focus on other things like Quidditch that he had told himself he would start waking up early to go practice by himself. He wanted to be the best and the only way to be the best was to practice, something his father had told him many years ago. The second week in he remember his promise to himself and the next morning he was woken up by a buzzing alarm clock beside his head at around 5:30 in the morning.
After Scorpius swung his legs from the grand bed with a groan, mentally cursing his inability to be average at anything. He shivered racked through his body; the dungeons were always chilly in the morning. He dressed quietly in his Quidditch jumper and sweatpants in the pitch black not wanting to wake anyone up to question what he was doing, though he knew it would take the cruciatus curse to wake them up. Sneaking out of the bedroom he threw his broom over his shoulder he set out towards the Quidditch pitch dragging his feet and rubbing sleep out of his eyes.
The air was crisp and he ruffed his hair around not bothering to do it, when he reached the courtyard his eye caught a strand of vivid red hair sparkling in the morning sun, anyone could have guessed who it could be. Why was she up this early in the morning he thought, surely the little Princess needed her beauty sleep. He had never pegged her for a morning person, and then again neither was he. They had been throwing insults back and forth for the last couple weeks and he had finally stopped himself from looking at her every morning but seeing her now made his stomach tighten. She just looked so peaceful and delicate sitting there, but he knew better then to call Lily Potter delicate.
"Morning Potter!" He yelled behind her, old habits die hard he thought. She inhaled sharply almost falling off the ledge.
"BLOODY HELL! YOU SNAKE!" Lily hissed as Scorpius sat down across from her, admiring how the morning light softened her expression.
"Lovely morning isn't it?" He chuckled; she was always adorable when she insulted him. Her brow would crinkle but there was always a hint of amusement in the way her mouth spoke the insult.
"What are you even doing here? It's like 5:30 in the morning!" Lily asked irritation clear in her voice.
"I would ask you the same thing, but it's clear that you have been sleep-walking." He raised an eyebrow, now looking her over, she was wearing black leggings and big white tee that he figured was one of her brothers' but as quickly as he had commented she pulled her robes over her body and flushed dark red; she still looked prettier then Maive did all dolled up.
"I asked you first." She pointed out, ignoring his comment but obviously affected.
"Quidditch." He motioned to his broom that was leaning against the wall beside him with a chuckle.
"My brothers are pretty confident this year, you better watch yourself Malfoy." A smug smile danced along her lips, which made Scorpius want to smile along with her. Oh course they were confident, they were good, he thought.
"I've been told but don't worry you worry you're pretty little head Potter, we have some tricks up our sleeves too. I'm not going to let a couple of Potters shake my confidence." She scowled at him and went to open her mouth but Scorpius continued, "You never told me why you were up at this ungodly hour." He smiled a charming smile; why not use her tactics against her. He always found it interesting how his confidence was wavered by her; maybe it was the way she could make his temper rise like no one else. He wasn't a partially short-tempered person either.
She sighed, and her face dropped. Scorpius took another look at her; she had dark circles under her now unhappy looking pretty brown eyes, he instantly felt a pang of emotion in the pit of his stomach, "Couldn't sleep."
"Mmm." Was all he could think of to say, he had no idea why she was having this affect on him; maybe he was still asleep he thought.
"No insult?" She raised her eyebrow at him as he got up and walked carefully closer to her like he was drawn to her. He was inches away from her face staring into her warm brown eyes unaware of how close he actually was.
"Not today, Potter." He breathed getting lost in those eyes; he wanted to lean closer until their lips met. He inhaled sharply, this was Potter, he thought, it was like a jolt and straightened up at an incredible speed. He grabbed his broom and was finally able to breathe now that he was away from her. He started walking towards the Quidditch Pitch but before he was too far away, he turned around and yelled,
"Have a nice day, Princess." He smirked at him, gaining back his confidence. She looked livid as she stood up and yelled back at him.
"Snake!"
Scorpius chuckled softly to himself, though he was unclear as to what had just happen, he was feeling a lot better about waking up this morning.
After he was done his Quidditch practice he hadn't realized what time it was, he always felt the best on a broom; light, like floating in the clouds. He was able to clear his mind and think about things easier at a higher altitude it seemed. He was running late for class; he jogged to his Transfigurations and quietly slipped into his seat beside Maive who merely eyed him suspiciously but thankfully didn't say anything.
"Thank you for joining us Mr. Malfoy," Professor Turpin, who was a younger woman with dark heavy black hair, always pulled into a tight bun on the top of her head that made her white thin face look even more sunken in. Not that she wasn't pretty in a way, she had a thin nose, puffy lips, and eyes like a hank, it was her personality, bitter and mean which made her ugly in Scorpius' opinion.
"I'm terribly sorry, I was – " But she had interrupted him,
"I do not care where you were, I don't not care if your excuse was that you were having brunch with the Queen, you have interrupted my class once, do not do it again, Mr. Malfoy." She told him sternly, her voice dripping with dislike for him, she must been in a good mood today, no detention. He would have felt badly about disappointing a teacher but she hated most of her student if not all of them. Scorpius however shrunk into his seat and didn't make a sound for the rest of the class.
Scorpius couldn't focus on any of his other classes either; his mind had been somewhere else, Quidditch had only delayed his thoughts. He couldn't stop thinking about his encounter with Lily that morning, he thought about how he had wanted to kiss her, to hold her in his arms, protect her. It was such an odd feeling; he had never felt that way towards her or anyone else for that matter. Sure he that wanted to kiss other girls before, but none of them had held the thrill that he felt about wanting to kiss her; no one had made his stomach knot when he saw them or make him so on edge. The day had dragged on and without a sight from Lily he was feeling uneasily relieved that he was able to finally push the thoughts of her from his mind for a bit.
On his way to the library that evening he heard a hushed argument, as he got closer he could hear that it wasn't an argument but Raven Jenkins, one of Lily's friends, yelling at Zenith Osterly, Ravenclaw captain and also an old friend of Scorpius. He remembered when him and Zenith had meet Raven; it had been before either of them had gone to school, it seemed so long ago now. It was only a summer that they knew each other but she looked the same as she did when she was 10 other then the fact that she had grown up quite pretty but she had the same jet black hair in a braid, the same cooper glowing skin, and same piercingly cooper eyes. He hid in the shadows she he could hear what they were saying,
"What gives you the idea that you can do this Zenith?" Raven shouted at him, Scorpius could see the angry in her piercing cooper eyes. Zenith's clear blue eyes however, looked like they were twinkling with excitement. He had always looked like that; calm but his eyes were always his giveaway, his fault. Although they had been childhood friends, Scorpius hated Zenith, he was cruel, selfish, arrogant, and prejudice and had been a horrible influence on him when he was younger.
"What are you talking about Ra?" Zenith asked her lazily and Scorpius saw her flinch at her nickname.
"Lily – how could you! How dare you, she's my friend. Do you even like her?" Raven fumed, and Scorpius felt his stomach twist in knots, what did Lily have to do with Zenith.
"Ra, of course I like her, daughter of Harry Potter, who wouldn't?" Scorpius saw him give her a sly grin and Scorpius had heard enough, he emerged from the shadows.
"Oh look, the gang is back together back." He said darkly.
"That's hardly funny Scorpius," Raven didn't humor him, not even when they had been ten had she, "Maybe this might strike your interest though, Zenith here has decided to go after Lily." He looked at both of them again he felt his insides twist and the urge to lunge at Zenith's throat.
"Potter?" He kept his outwardly appearance calm even if he felt like a battle going on in his head.
"The one and only." Zenith was challenging him but Scorpius knew him, he knew how to get under Zenith's skin.
"She wouldn't, Potter's far too smart for that." He stared Zenith directly in his clear blue eyes.
"She's thinking about it." Raven announced, Scorpius gave her a look and Zenith's smirk grew monstrous.
"What is that Scorpius? A hint of jealousy maybe?" Zenith sneered at him, "What would Grandpa say if he knew you were in love with a Potter?
"I'm not in love with her! She hates me." Scorpius almost lost his cold but he wouldn't let Zenith win.
"Well you ladies have fun discussing. I'm off to find our fine miss Lily." He grinned at him and left them standing there in disbelief. He felt like going after him and strangling him.
"Are you going to tell her?" Scorpius turned to Raven so suddenly that it made her jump.
"Why should I? Raven looked hurt.
"She's your friend!" He yelled at her and she flinched.
"Why do you care? All you care about is making Lily anger?" She said with venom in her voice.
"I don't want her hurt by him! I don't want him to lay even a finger on her." He snapped at her, he didn't know why he cared so much. Raven looked at him with wide eyes.
"You're in love with her." Raven gaped him.
"I'm not in love with her!" He said exacerbated, why did everyone keep saying that? Just because he didn't want some psychopath hurting Lily didn't mean he was in love with her.
"You're lying, not just to me but to yourself and that's fine. I don't care, we're not friends Scorpius, but if you're so concerned you try to telling her." Raven stared at him as if her word was final.
"What makes you think she'll listen to me?" Scorpius ignored her comments and Raven smiled.
"What do you think makes her always listen to you? What makes her want to continue this stupid feud of yours?" she asked him and Scorpius honestly didn't know, "You like playing games I get that Scorpius, truly I understand, the whole Maive thing, that's your own deal and like I said I don't care but you think playing games like this will get Lily's attention, well Lily doesn't play games. Lily doesn't like playing games nor will she play games. Just so you know she likes you too."
"She doesn't." He told her in a strand voice.
"Go and ask her, she's in the library right now." Raven challenged him, he felt uneasy and ill.
"It was nice talking to you Ra," He smiled at her and walked away.
"It's Raven now." She shouted down the hallway at him but he was focused now. His feet were taking him in the direction of the library even though his brain told him not too. It wasn't like he was going to tell Lily that he was in love with her, he wasn't but he had to protect her, it was the right thing to do.
When he entered the library he already knew it was too late, he saw Zenith casually standing near by and he quickly ducked behind a bookshelf. He spotted Lily sitting at that old table with a bunch of scribbling's over it. She had always been so fond of that table but he never cared before now to know why, now it seemed to be eating at him. He watched her get up and walked over to a bookshelf, Zenith followed her and Scorpius then followed him. He peaked over the bookshelf to see Lily giggling with Zenith and he felt sick to his stomach.
"You know I never pegged you as the type to lurk around corners Malfoy." Scorpius jumped at Poppy's voice behind him and he shushed her.
"I wasn't creeping I was just looking for something." He mumbled taking the first book off of the bookshelf.
"Really? You're a man who loves dragons too much?" Poppy asked sarcastically, Scorpius looked down at the book in his hand, Men Who Love Dragons Too Much, great he thought.
"I'm thinking about going into dragon studies." He mumbled angrily, looking over to see Lily giggle over that stupid git's joke.
"Yeah and I'm going to be an elf." Poppy told him, following him as he walked away from her. "Don't you want to stare at Little Potter anymore?" Poppy teased and Scorpius scowled at her. "That was who you were stalking right? I mean Zenith's got nice eyes but I didn't think he was your type."
"Would you go away?" Scorpius asked her annoyed, gridding his teeth together.
"Feeling angsty today aren't we?" Poppy commented sitting down across from him at a table.
"I'm not angsty, I'm just – just drop it." He mumbled, looking as Lily led Zenith out of the library, but he couldn't follow them now not with Poppy beside him.
"You're definitely a bit angsty." She teased back, watching him tease as they left.
"Drop it Poppy," he hissed,
"You can be so daft sometimes Scor," Poppy rolled her eyes but she did drop it and they sat there together as Scorpius out of principle open the book, Men Who Love Dragons Too Much, and began to read a bit before Poppy starting laughing at him. Their friendship was easy; they could sit and not be bothered to talk for long periods of time, something he couldn't do with anyone else and as they sat there his mind drifted off to where Lily could be with that prick.
It made his skin crawl to think that he may be making her laugh or smile, even brushing her hair as it fell from her face. He wasn't in love with her, he just didn't want her with him.