A/N: Sorry for the super long wait, but college basically has me whipped right now. But I will be home for a month over my winter break, so I'll try and make up for it then. I'm super excited about this chapter and I know the title kind of gives it away, but you should read all the way through anyway. Thanks for the follows and favorites and I would love to see more reviews! They make me super happy and motivate me to continue writing!

Chapter 4: Kiss Me

Lily's fourth year wasn't off to a very good start. It was early October and she was sitting by the Black Lake, hopelessly trying to hold back tears. She didn't understand why some people had to be so mean, especially when she tried so hard to hold her own feelings back to seem like she was a much nicer person than she actually was. She had hurried away from dinner, not even wanting to have Hugo's company. She stood up and started skipping rocks, realizing she didn't want to sit still for too long.

That was how Scorpius found her, skipping rocks and wiping her face. Lily thought she heard someone behind her, so she turned around to find him. She quickly turned back to the lake, not wanting her brother's best mate to see her crying.

"Lily are you alright?" Scorpius asked, walking up next to her. "We were supposed to have a Charms session today and you never showed."

"Does it look like I'm alright? I just want to be left alone, Scorpius. I don't even want to talk to Hugo right now." She sat back down near the bank, tired of skipping rocks. Not taking the hint that she wanted him to leave, Scorpius came and sat next to her.

"It's too early in the school year for you to be this upset. Maybe you'll feel better if you tell me about it."

Lily took a shaky breath and began her story. "You know Ruby McLaggen, right? She's a horrid Gryffindor in my year?"

"I've heard of her, yeah," Scorpius answered.

"Well earlier today at breakfast, I was sitting with Isabelle, a girl in my dormitory, and we were talking about the Quidditch match against Gryffindor soon. And I was telling Isabelle that I don't think Ruby is all that good at Quidditch. I mean, she's obviously holding the team back."

Scorpius nodded in agreement. Ruby had all the makings of a good Chaser, but she wasn't good. It was a wonder she made the team that year, especially with James as the captain.

"So anyway, she was right behind me when I said that. She didn't say anything, just glared at me and then walked away. Later on, Hugo came up to me and told me that everyone had been talking about how I've never been kissed. We were on our way to dinner and Ruby walked up to us. She told me, 'Oh Lily, now that the secret's out, I'm sure somebody will pity you enough to kiss you.' I ended up not going to dinner and instead coming here. I'm sorry I didn't show up to study, I just wanted to be alone." They sat in silence for a moment as Lily continued to cry and Scorpius processed the story.

"What Ruby did was terrible, Lily, but you're not the type of person to get upset over a stupid rumor," Scorpius said. He saw Lily's face and instantly regretted what he had said. "Unless the rumor was true. Have you really never been kissed, Lils?"

Lily was silent. She hated Ruby. Not just for humiliating her, but for making it so that the person she fancied had to find out this way. She hated for people to see her cry and now here she was, crying in front of the last person she wanted to see her this way.

"You know, it really isn't that big of a deal. People talk about it like it's so important, but it's not. It's stupid really. And very awkward," Scorpius mused.

"Was Rose your first kiss?" Lily asked, after a few seconds of silence.

"Yeah. And she was the only girl I've ever kissed."

"I find that hard to believe. You only dated her for four months." Lily had ended up winning her bet with James, since they lasted less than six months.

"Well believe it or not, but it's the truth. I've only ever kissed Rose Weasley. And it doesn't really bother me to be honest."

Lily looked up at Scorpius. They were sitting closer together now, his arm behind Lily's back. They weren't touching, but the sudden intimacy made her feel strange. She couldn't help but feel that she was a little too comfortable with how close they were sitting. The silence wasn't helping either, so Lily did what she did best: babble.

"You know, I think I do believe you."

"Really? You didn't seem convinced at first."

"No, I really believe you. Why would you lie about it? You have no reason to. I could always ask Al anyway. Guys act like they don't tell each other everything, but they do. They're just like girls. That's what Hugo and I say at least." She paused and looked over at Scorpius, making sure he was still listening.

"And I think you're right about all of that first kiss hype. I don't see the big deal either. So somebody puts their lips on another person's lips. It's something that happens so regularly, why does it have to be such a big deal if it's never happened to you? Society puts so much pressure on everyone growing up so quickly and I don't think that's fair. Why should I need some random guy to kiss me to validate my being a woman? I can be my own woman and I'll survive whether someone kisses me or not. You know, I watched this Muggle movie once, called Never Been Kissed and the main character was in her mid-twenties and nobody had ever kissed her, and she seemed like she was doing just fine. You know what? I'm just going to stop worrying about it. Because if I worry about it, I'm just going to live my life waiting for someone to just walk up to me and kiss me, and that's not realistic. Do you think I'm being stupid?"

Lily looked over at Scorpius again and noticed the very odd grin on his face. She thought she had seen all of his facial expressions, but this was one that she just couldn't decipher.

"No, I don't think you're being stupid. I think you're being cute."

"I'm sorry, I don't know what you mean by cute."

"Exactly what you think it means. You're being cute. You are cute."

"I'm still confused. It's okay, Scorpius you can tell me if I'm being stupid. Most of the time, I am being stupid. Sometimes I can't tell, so I would appreciate it if you would just be a good friend and…"

Lily finally shut up, because she was interrupted by Scorpius pressing his lips against hers. She wasn't completely sure of what was happening, but she decided maybe she should just go with it. She didn't really know what to do though. Should she close her eyes? She closed her eyes, and decided to just let things happen, even though she was still unsure of what was going on.

After what seemed like a long time, but probably wasn't, Scorpius pulled away.

"You're not being stupid Lils. In fact, you're bloody brilliant. It's perfectly normal to feel that way. But guess what?"

"What?"

"Now you have one less thing to worry about." Scorpius stood up. "I'm going to head back inside. You don't have Charms until Wednesday, right? We can reschedule our tutoring session for tomorrow."

All Lily could do was nod. Scorpius patted her on the head and started to make his way back up to the castle. What just happened? Did Scorpius actually kiss her? What on earth did that mean? It was probably just a pity kiss, but even still all Lily could do was grin. She found another rock and started skipping them again. She couldn't stop smiling. She had just gotten her first kiss from Scorpius Malfoy.

…

Scorpius still wasn't completely sure what led him to kiss Lily. All he knew was that he felt so compelled to that he didn't want to pass up the opportunity. He tried to think of a better reason as he made his way to the dungeons. Up until earlier in the evening, Lily had just been another girl. She was a fourth year Slytherin who was the best Chaser on the Quidditch team. He tutored her in Charms, even though it seemed like she didn't really need much help. He was really only doing it to make Albus happy.

Albus. That's right, he'd almost forgotten. Lily just so happened to be his best mate's little sister. No wonder he felt odd about kissing her. There was definitely some sort of unspoken rule about things like this. He shouldn't have kissed his friend's sister. Al would not take kindly to this. Then again, why would he ever find out about it? It's not as though Lily would tell him. Sure, she would tell Hugo, but why would she tell her older brother about her love life? Was it even a love life, if he was the only person she'd ever kissed? Scorpius wasn't sure how he was feeling, but he was sure he never wanted to be this confused again.

When he finally got to his dormitory, he collapsed on his bed and let out a huge sigh. His sigh was greeted by a loud grunt. Albus seemed to have fallen asleep in the middle of doing homework and was awoken by Scorpius entering the room.

"What's the matter with you?" Albus asked, sitting up and rubbing his eyes.

"Nothing's the matter with me. Why are you doing homework on your bed when you know you're just going to fall asleep?" Scorpius countered.

"Don't sass me. Why are you sighing loud enough to wake me from my slumber?"

"It's none of your business."

"Is this about a girl?" Scorpius blushed. "Oh, so it is about a girl! Who is it?" Albus jumped up from his bed and ran over to poke Scorpius.

"Would you stop acting like a four year old? How do you know my sigh was girl related?"

"Because you never sigh like that. You know, come to think of it, you never sigh. So it must be about a girl. Who's gone and broken your heart now, Scor?"

"Nobody's gone and broken my heart. I'm just confused, is all."

"What on earth is there to be confused about when it comes to girls? Wait, I take that back, they're bloody complicated."

"It's not that she's complicated, more that what I've done puts me in a very awkward position," Scorpius said, realizing he'd probably revealed too much.

"What could you have possibly done to make it awkward? It's not like you snogged my sister." Scorpius's entire face went red. Albus also turned bright red, but for a different reason. He reached out and began to smack Scorpius repeatedly.

"What the fuck, man? Lily's only fourteen, why would you snog her?"

"It wasn't a snog! And it's not like I had planned to. We just got to talking and she was right there and…"

"Stop! I don't want to hear the details. I can't believe you would do this. You're supposed to be my best friend, which means my baby sister is off limits!"

"Al, Lily's not a baby."

"She might not be a baby, but you're too old for her."

"I feel really bad about this. I wish I could take it back."

"You can't take it back, but you can promise it'll never happen again."

Scorpius was silent for a moment. He had figured Albus would be mad, but him saying something like that seemed completely out of character. At this point, he wasn't sure he could actually promise that. Not wanting to upset his friend any longer, he decided to just let Albus hear what he wanted to hear.

"I promise, it'll never happen again," Scorpius said, a feeling of uneasiness flooding over him.

"Good. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to finish my homework." Albus gathered his things from his bed and quickly left the room. Scorpius sat on his bed silently, even after he was gone.

He couldn't understand why he had to lie to Albus just then. Why wasn't he able to wholeheartedly promise that nothing would ever happen between Lily and him again? Did he fancy Lily? What had changed in the past two hours? Why had he kissed her in the first place?

Scorpius laid back on his bed and thought about it. When had Lily Potter stopped being more than just his friend's little sister? Maybe the idea had always just been in the back of his head and had only come to light recently. When they had been sitting by the lake earlier, as Lily continued to babble on about nothing in particular, all Scorpius could think about was that when her hair was pulled back in a ponytail, it was easier to see her face. Even though her face was streaked with tears, she still somehow managed to look pretty. And it wasn't just that she was pretty. Unlike many of the sixth year girls that clung to Scorpius like velcro, Lily had actual substance underneath her pretty face. She cared about more than looks and could be very witty when she wanted to be. In his eyes, she was perfect and when he realized that, the only logical thing for him to do was to kiss her. He just hadn't thought about the damage he could have done by expressing how he felt about her.

Tutoring. Fuck. He had to see her tomorrow for tutoring. How was he supposed to explain that Albus had found out and that he wasn't happy about it? Should he acknowledge what happened or should he act as though nothing had changed between them? He didn't know what to do, but either way, he was screwed.

…

Hugo was grateful for the fact that he was in Hufflepuff and therefore had such easy access to the kitchens. He was sure that a few cherry almond tarts would cheer Lily up in her dejected state. He stuffed a few in a paper bag and hurried off to the Room of Requirement to meet his cousin for their weekly meeting. The room that met him was almost exactly like the living room at the Burrow. It was nice to have a little piece of home with them at Hogwarts, especially since he and Lily had first bonded there when they were younger. He was the first one there, so he sat on the couch and waited, summoning all the willpower he could to not start eating the tarts before his companion arrived.

Two minutes later, Lily entered the room, looking a bit more chipper than Hugo would have expected to see her. She sidled over to him and immediately took the bag of tarts from him and stuffed one into her mouth.

"I'm so glad you're a Hufflepuff, Hugo. You always bring the best snacks," she said with her mouth full.

"You're in a much better mood than I thought you would be." Hugo didn't know what to make of Lily's happiness after what must have been a terribly shitty day.

"What do you mean? Do you want your favorite cousin to be sad?"

"Well of course not, but I'm just surprised that you're so happy after everything that happened earlier. Ruby did tell the whole school you've never kissed anyone." Even Hugo had had his first kiss before Lily, with a horrid Hufflepuff named Paulina Wilcox. During third year, she had been a bit obsessed with Hugo and when he finally agreed to go to Hogsmeade with her, she was so excited that she kissed him. He hadn't enjoyed it and hadn't kissed anyone since.

"I don't have to worry about that stupid rumor anymore."

"Why not?"

"Do you promise not to tell anyone? Especially our family members?"

"What happened, Lil?"

"Scorpius kissed me."

"Bloody hell, don't mess with me like that," Hugo said, not interested in hearing another of Lily's recurring dreams.

"It wasn't a dream this time, Hugo, I promise! I was sitting by the Black Lake and he came to look for me when I didn't come to the library for our Charms session. Then we got to talking, and the next thing I knew, he was kissing me."

After a moment of silence, Hugo finally decided that she wasn't kidding. Scorpius really had kissed her. He didn't really know how to respond.

"Well say something! You're supposed to be excited for me, Hugo," Lily said, smacking his arm.

"I am excited! That's great news. But what did he mean by it?"

"What are you talking about?"

"Well you don't just kiss someone for the sake of kissing someone. Do you think he fancies you?"

"I don't know. He told me I was cute, even though I'm still not sure what he meant by it."

"I'm happy for you, Lily. I really am…" Hugo trailed off, afraid of whether or not he should finish his sentence.

"But what? Please don't spare my feelings."

"I'm just afraid that this means more to you than it does to him. He doesn't know you fancy him, and in the moment it probably seemed like kissing you would make you feel better."

"I don't think that's the case. You should have seen the way he looked at me, Hugo. The last time I saw him look at someone that way, he was looking at Rose. This could potentially be something."

Since Lily was too happy to see that Scorpius might not actually fancy her, Hugo decided to let the matter go for the moment and just let what happened happen. It didn't seem like anything would spoil her good mood. They continued to chat as they finished off the rest of the tarts. After another half hour, they decided they should probably head back to their dormitories.

"Thanks for talking with me, Hugo. Most of my day was terrible, but this definitely made it better. And Scorpius kissing me of course," Lily added.

"I'm always here for you Lils," Hugo said as he watched the door to the Room of Requirement disappear. The pair started walking down the corridor. Before they turned the corner, they ran into Scorpius.

"Oh. Hi," Scorpius said, turning a deep shade of red.

"Hi," Hugo and Lily said at the same time.

"Lily, can I talk to you for a minute?" Scorpius asked awkwardly.

"Sure."

"I'll talk to you later, Lily." Hugo rounded the corner and stopped moving, ready to eavesdrop.

"What's up?" he heard Lily ask.

"So about earlier at the lake?"

"Yeah?"

"Can we pretend like it never happened? It was a mistake."

There was a long pause. Hugo was afraid something like this would happen. He just didn't know how Lily would react.

"Yeah, I'm not even sure what you're talking about," Lily said after about five seconds. Hugo could hear the pain in her voice.

"Okay. Also, I'm not sure if tutoring is going to work out tomorrow. I have three rolls of parchment for Potions that I've barely started." Hugo didn't like how Scorpius sounded so casual about all of this.

"Okay. I'll just work on it with Hugo. It's not a big deal." There was another awkward pause.

"So, I guess I'll see you around," Scorpius finally said.

"Yup." Hugo heard Lily's footsteps as she came towards him and rounded the corner herself. She looked like she was about to cry.

...

"Are you alright? Do you want to talk about it?" Hugo asked, looking as though he wasn't sure what to do.

"What is there to talk about, Hugo? It's not like I was expecting anything to come of it. I think I'm going to go to bed. Do you want to work on Charms tomorrow?" she asked, trying to put on a brave face.

"Yeah. We can do it after Quidditch if you'd like."

"Fuck. I forgot I had Quidditch practice tomorrow." Lily started to get more upset, realizing she would have to face Scorpius tomorrow after all. "But yeah, after Quidditch sounds fine."

"Are you sure you're okay?" Hugo looked really concerned.

"I'll be fine, Hugo. Don't worry about me. I have to go now."

Lily turned on her heels and walked away quickly, hoping her cousin hadn't seen the tears that had begun to stream down her face. It was crazy how quickly her emotions could change. She went from being happy to sad in only a matter of minutes. The truth was, she had hoped that because Scorpius had kissed her it meant something would happen between them. He called her cute. What could have changed in an hour? She didn't want to look at him again. Why was it that she was so upset? She hadn't realized that she had fancied him so much. She knew she shouldn't be so affected. He was a sixth year after all. Why would a good-looking sixth year like Scorpius date a fourth year anyways? He could have his pick of the girls in his year. Once Lily got to the dungeons, she ran to her dormitory and wished that Scorpius had never kissed her in the first place.