Disclaimer: None of the characters belong to me, they are solely owned by J.K. Rowling. The story, however, is a product of my imagination and any resemblance to another fanfic is purely co-incidental.

Chapter 4

Lily was the one of the smartest students in Potions. Harry never failed to point out that her grandmother Lily was also the brightest in Potions. Lily felt her heart swell whenever she heard her father mention it. It was remarkable how she always had answers to everything in said subject. That was the first thing that Scorpius found the most alluring factor in her after her childlike beauty. Everyone at Hogwarts was aware of her wit, whether or not they were in her grade.

Scorpius would usually bump into her in the library where she was surrounded with books. He looked for chances to get to talk to her when they were young and he needed to hide because Filch was on his tail. Even when Filch wasn't looking for him, Scorpius would inadvertently find himself in the library, asking Lily not to tell anyone of his hiding spot. She'd comply, and he'd watch her scribble furiously in her notebook from a distance.

Scorpius was always intrigued by Lily, but he never realized that he fancied her for reasons besides her attractiveness; that and the fact that Albus had warned him against having any romantic relations with his sister. Scorpius, although devastated, had accepted it and moved on with the long line of girls waiting for him to pick them. That was how towards his fifth year, he had acquired said frivolousness.

Unknown to his awareness, Lily Luna Potter's affection towards him kept growing even though (in her mind) he showed no interest in her.

The morning after Lily and Scorpius's kitchen incident, Lily had become more distant than ever. The little amount of attention that she gave to him (smiling when they passed by each other) had vastly reduced. It saddened Scorpius and he wanted to apologize to her for having startled her. He only realized when he woke up that he had been about to make the biggest mistake of his life when he had started to walk towards her. The only thing that was on his mind was doing something that would bring them closer in proximity. Had Lily not been alert enough to run away, Scorpius didn't know if he would've been able to keep his hands from holding that of hers and pulling her in.

As much happiness as that would have brought to him, it would have been highly inappropriate after he had plainly been warned to keep his distance from James and Albus's sister. Scorpius suddenly wanted to leave the Potter's and go back to Malfoy Manor where he wouldn't have to face this kind of discomfort around a certain red-haired girl. He only wondered what Lily must think of him.

Was he going to kiss me? Lily was staring off into space. Oh, Merlin. Was he really going to...she shook her head.

"Don't be foolish, Lily," she muttered to herself.

Lily was sitting on the swing in the yard where Albus, James and Scorpius were swirling about on their broomsticks while George and Ron were chatting about Quidditch. The women had gone out to purchase presents for everyone while Rose was baking and Lily took to some reading. She had been sitting in the yard for a while now when the boys decided to show up. She wanted to get up and leave just as soon as she saw Scorpius but she felt as though it would seem curious to the rest of them.

She'd rather not raise doubts in her brothers' minds for no serious reason. Scorpius had walked past her, giving her a fleeting look and Lily had pretended not to notice. She fumbled around in her seat to get a comfortable position so she didn't have to be in direct eyesight of Scorpius. The boys were hollering and chattering, which rather had her concentration waver but she tried not to pay attention to it. Mostly she tried not to pay attention to Scorpius's voice that gave her all kinds of sensations.

Can he just stop talking? She stood up to leave when she couldn't take any more of his hovering. Shutting her book, Lily settled on going into the kitchen and helping Rose with her baking. The moment Lily disappeared from the front door that she left ajar, Scorpius's expression faltered. He suddenly wasn't enjoying this flying session. For the short time that she was there he had felt quite exhilarated and even though it was a bit awkward between them, he wanted to capture her attention somehow.

"I need to use the bathroom," he said to Albus and descended to the ground. Albus gave him a distracted nod since he was busy talking to James but the latter gave him a suspicious glance since Lily had walked in minutes ago.

Scorpius noticed it, but frankly he didn't care anymore. He wanted to talk to Lily and apologize for whatever he had done to upset her the previous night. If nothing else, he at least wished to be cordial with her and be her friend. I can surely be her friend, he thought to himself as he determinedly strode into the kitchen where Rose and Lily were laughing over something while mixing a batter that looked an awful lot like cake. Her friend and nothing more. Scorpius nearly forgot what he was there for because Lily looked more adorable than ever with her forehead covered in spots of flour.

He was brought back to reality when Rose found him stood at the door. She raised an eyebrow and Scorpius nervously cleared his throat. Lily snapped her head in his direction and her eyes widened for a moment.

"Umm...may I speak to you, Lily?" He managed, suppressing the urge to wipe her forehead clean.

Lily's jaw dropped and for a while she was speechless until Rose nudged her in the rib.

"I...uh...why?" Lily stammered and mentally hit herself for being so nervous.

"Just for a moment, please?" He gave her a smile. How was she to refuse now?

She fretfully wiped her hands on her apron and pulled it off before placing it on the stand. Rose gave Lily an encouraging nod and pushed her forward so she would move. Lily tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and followed Scorpius out of the kitchen.

He led her towards the stairs where he was sure nobody would interrupt him and turned to face her. He wanted to wipe off the flour off of her forehead but he controlled himself and gave her an anxious grin.

"I wanted to apologize," he said. Lily frowned.

"What for?"

She mentally applauded herself for having spoken without stuttering this time.

"I...I made you feel uncomfortable last night and I–I just...I'm sorry," he murmured so softly that Lily wasn't sure she had heard him right.

Scorpius Malfoy is apologizing to me for something. Unbelievable.

"Tha-that's okay." She tucked her hair behind her ear again. "It was the middle of the night and its...it's you know...it's alright."

Lily wanted to kick herself for acting this way. It was starting to annoy her a lot more than it did before. This was the first time that Scorpius was talking to her about something that happened between them as opposed to passing a message from Albus or talking about academics. Nervous as she was, Lily liked talking to him.

"Do you think we could be friends?" He asked hopefully, shoving his hands into his pockets.

If Lily's heart hadn't accelerated already, it was on its way now.

"You-you want us to be friends?" She responded, surprised.

It was the most wonderful idea she had ever heard. She wanted to hug him for saying that and never let go.

"If you want to, that is. It's not a compulsion. You can say no, its alright. I just thought we would feel more comfortable around each other if we were to—"

"I'd love to," Lily cut him off and offered a smile.

Scorpius grinned back.

"Brilliant," said he. He began to say something when Albus called out for him and he had to leave. Lily watched his platinum blond hair whisk out of sight as she returned to the kitchen, grinning.

"You seem rather cheerful," Rose commented when Lily walked in.

"He said that—"

"—That he loves you?" Rose grinned merrily.

Lily rolled her eyes. As if.

"No, Rose. He said that he wants us to be friends."

Rose's expression fell and she gave Lily a discomforted look.

"That's far from what I had in mind," she muttered as she cleaned the stand.

"What happened to you?" Lily furrowed her eyebrows. "Are you starting to accept a Malfoy?" She nudged Rose in the rib and chuckled.

Lily was feeling as though everything in the world was beautiful. She felt ecstatic knowing that she was his friend. It was a good deal of development after years of just being Albus's sister.

"I just think you two look perfect together," Rose smiled dreamily, and Lily smacked her shoulder playfully as her cheeks turned crimson.

"Shut it," she muttered.

"Why in Merlin's name would you be in the kitchen, Rose?!" Hermione exclaimed as she walked into the kitchen followed by Ginny.

"We were baking!" Rose replied and Lily quietly exited the kitchen. Rose had a history of making a never-to-be-cleaned-mess whenever she was in the kitchen and Hermione was tired of telling her daughter to stay away.

Naturally, Rose never seemed to give up on her horrible cooking abilities. Lily didn't know as to why she had been helping Rose bake because she was sure that she had seen horrendous lumps in the batter that couldn't be fixed with spells.

"What is that smell?" Albus remarked as he entered through the front door followed by the rest of the men.

"That's Rose baking," Lily answered and Ron coughed uncomfortably.

"Should we go somewhere to eat tonight?" He asked Harry who laughed in response.

"No, mate," he said. "I think we'll have to deal with Rose's freshly baked cake tonight."

Ron groaned and George said something about adding Puking Pastilles in the cake and feeding the whole thing to Ron. Lily chuckled and grabbed the book she was reading from the centre-table in the drawing room and left to go to her room.

"Lily!" Scorpius called out, jogging towards her up the stairs. She stopped midway and turned around only to have him nearly topple her over.

Lily instinctively placed a palm on his chest to steady him. He chuckled and took a breath. When she realized what she had done, Lily immediately pulled her hand back. Scorpius wanted to tell her that he did not have a problem with it being there but it was too late (or maybe too early in their friendship).

"Do you want to take flying lessons with me?" He asked. Taken aback, Lily stared at him for a few seconds, contemplating what he had just said.

"Flying lessons?"

"Yes, I know you've always wanted to be a Chaser," he said. "You could go for the trials next year."

"How do you know I've always wanted to be a Chaser?"

Lily could swear that she had never told anyone about wanting to try for the Gryffindor team. She'd always wanted to be a Chaser but she was lacking somewhere a little bit. Albus had refused to help her when she had asked him, because he was a little too busy with his practice. Lily had promptly given up hope after that because she didn't know anyone else who'd help if not Albus.

"Doesn't matter," Scorpius answered. "Do you want to or not?"

"Umm sure. That-that would be wonderful," she said gleefully.

How could she refuse an offer like that?

"Then we'll start tonight after everyone is asleep."

"Why after everyone is asleep?"

Scorpius smirked and leant forward so he was close to her ear. He was sure that the closeness would render a reaction in her and he didn't know as to why he was even doing it.

"Because I've been warned to stay away from you," he whispered, and Lily's heartbeat went erratic instantaneously. "But evidently it seems that I can't."

Before Lily could gauge what had just happened, Scorpius had disappeared down the stairs leaving her holding onto the railing for support.

Oh, dear. She ran a hand through her hair, and trying her best to contemplate what Scorpius had meant, walked towards her room.

Down in the drawing room, Scorpius plopped down on the couch seeming much happier than he had been since their arrival as he chatted with George and Harry. James did not fail to notice the sudden change in his behaviour.