Author's Note: I know, I know, I'm a terrible person who has completely been neglecting this story. I've been consumed with writing the first chapters of a new Dramione I've started to post and have struggled to work on this story at the same time.

Disclaimers: I keep forgetting to add these in but suffice to say, I don't own Harry Potter and never will. This will be true for all the chapters I post!

Chapter 7

Scorpius watched as his sister and Lily Potter sat at a library table, studying together and giggling every now and again over some whispered gossip. He was pleased that Lily had sought out his sister to apologise for the way she'd reacted. He knew that Alcyone was always more affected than she let on when people threw her family's past misdeeds in her face. She'd been really hurt when Lily had said that they couldn't be friends because of her grandfather and father's role in the war. Both the Malfoy siblings had been surprised by Lily's actions, she had never been involved in any inter-house rivalry. The new-found friendship of Alcyone and Lily had set Hogwarts alight. A Slytherin and a Gryffindor being good friends was unusual but a Malfoy and Potter with a Weasley mother was unheard of. Scorpius smirked somewhat as he saw, on the opposite side of the library, Albus Potter sitting there watching his sister's interaction with a narrowed glare.

Scorpius frowned as he looked down at his Ancient Runes essay. Whilst he was happy that his sister could be and was friends with Lily Potter, it didn't make it any easier for me. He didn't think he could feel this way about someone who wasn't a member of his family. But the feelings he had for Lily weren't going away and he getting frustrated with his stubborn heart. She wasn't possible and if he was smart then he'd settle for one of the purebloods in his house. Despite being a halfblood, Scorpius Malfoy was still incredibly eligible in the pureblood world. The money that his family had went a long way to removing the taint of his mother's muggle birth. Scorpius hated this hypocrisy but knew that his fate as a Malfoy was most likely one of the daughters of a 'good' pureblood family, who would overlook his blood status and most likely treat his mum with patronising condensation. His grandfather, Lucius, was already talking about a match with one of the Pucey or Nott daughters. Having grown up around his loving parents, Scorpius didn't want to settle for an arranged, 'good' marriage based on money and blood status. Scorpius sighed; he wouldn't put Lily through the hell a relationship with him would release. He didn't care how much Alcyone railed at him for being stubborn or how much she said he wouldn't find someone as good as Lily again, it wasn't to be. Besides, he already knew it was unlikely he would find an acceptable pureblood who would have an ounce of Lily's appeal, which brought him back to Albus Potter, who was very unhappy with his sister's conduct. Imagine how angry he'd be if he knew that Scorpius Malfoy had kissed his little sister.

"What the hell does she think she's doing?" Albus whispered fiercely to Rose

"She's making friends with a Slytherin apparently," Rose replied.

"A Malfoy Slytherin, how could she want to be friends with her?"

"Albus, you do realise the war is over, right?" Rose sighed.

"No thanks to that family," he snarled back.

"You really need to get over this. The rivalry isn't healthy at all."

"Does Uncle Ron know about these feelings of yours? If I remember correctly, he told you to stay the hell away from Scorpius Malfoy on Platform nine and three-quarters at the start of our first year."

Rose rolled her eyes, "Just imagine if I did everything dad told me to do. And don't you dare think of running back to Uncle Harry with this news."

"Why not? Dad could probably talk some sense into her?"

"Or Lily will just hex you into oblivion. Just let her be. It's not a crime for her to be friends with Alcyone Malfoy."

Albus grumbled at this, "I guess. At least she's not as bad as that awful brother of hers."

Rose didn't think now was the time to inform Albus that Lily had tender feelings towards that particular Malfoy. Rose may not see the attraction of Scorpius and may well have warned Lily off him in the past, but if the girl wanted him, then Rose wasn't stupid enough to think that she would be deterred. She was more like her mother than anyone ever thought. At least Scorpius Malfoy seemed to realise the trouble he would bring into Lily's life if he became her boyfriend. Rose was grateful that inscrutable blond was keeping his distance from his sister's new best friend.

"My brother is such a stubborn arse," Alcyone moaned to Lily.

"I sympathise with that. At least you don't have two older, incredibly stubborn brothers."

"Yeah, at least Cepheus listens to me as his older sister."

Lily snorted, "That boy worships you and you take advantage of him shamelessly."

Alcyone smiled, "Well what are younger siblings for, if not to fetch and carry things for you?"

Lily poked her tongue out at her cheeky friend, "Hey! I resent that as a younger sibling. Imagine if James and Albus thought they could get away with that with me."

Alcyone laughed, earning a reproving shush from Madam Pince. "I can't imagine either of your brothers getting away with bossing you about."

"Doesn't stop them from trying," Lily whined. "I had Albus giving me a big lecture the other day about befriending you and I'm sure he's written to James so I expect a howler to come from him soon."

"Your brothers make me laugh. Do you think they'll ever learn that you've inherited your mother's ingenious way with nasty hexes?"

Lily giggled, "How did you know about that?"

"My mum told me. Apparently my dad has been on the end of her bat bogey hex more than once."

Lily looked towards Scorpius trying to imagine what he'd look like being attacked by giant, flying bogeys. She couldn't and dissolved into giggles that had both girls kicked out the library by the stern librarian. Lily stood in the corridor clutching her stomach which was hurting from laughing so much. Alcyone just stood there confused over what had Lily in such hysterics.

Lily looked up at her perplexed friend, "It's just so funny. Can you imagine Scorpius being attacked by the bat bogey hex? It would mess his hair up and he'd be so angry."

Alcyone starting laughing too, she had to admit either her dad or Scorpius being on the end of that particular hex was amusing. Both men were too elegant for their own good and they'd look ridiculous.

A week later, Alcyone received a letter from her mum with instructions to open it only when she was alone.

Dear Alcyone,

I hope you are well and you are not having too much trouble because of your friendship with Lily Potter. I must admit I am proud that you were able to see beyond her first reaction to the news of the Malfoy past and forgive her.

I'm writing because I'm worried about Scorpius. His letters home this year seem a lot more subdued than usual. He hasn't once written to your father about the Quidditch team and didn't even seem particularly bothered by his huge victory over Ravenclaw the other day.

Is there anything he's not telling us which is making him sad?

Lots of Love,

Mum

P.s I've included a study planner for you. It's your OWL year and never too early to start preparing for your exams.

Alcyone groaned when she opened the study planner and it's started shrieking instructions at her. Her mum was obsessive about exams. Every Easter she would write to her children every day to make sure they had started revising. Scorpius had already warned her that she'd almost had a nervous breakdown during his OWL year she was so nervous that he wouldn't get O's in every subject and it seemed she would do the same for her this year. At least she'd also have Scorpius' NEWTs to get over wrought about too.

Having two intelligent parents was a bonus on most levels but it also had it's downside in the fact that they were too perceptive when it came to their children's well being. Alcyone knew that she would have to tell her mum the situation with Scorpius which she felt was breaking a sibling code of conduct. Then again, her brother needed a kick up the backside. He was making himself miserable staying away from Lily and he was also making her friend upset too. Maybe having her mum get involved would be a good thing. No-one understood the sacrifices one was prepared to make for love more than Hermione Malfoy.

Scorpius was preparing for the weekly prefect meeting when Lily walked in. She was early and hadn't expected anyone to be in the office yet. She paused on the threshold when she saw that Scorpius was there. "Oh," she said and blushed.

Scorpius looked up and saw the pretty girl hesitating on whether to come in by the door. "Hi Lily, come in. I've just finished sorting out the lists of students going to Hogsmeade on Halloween."

Lily stepped in. Her heart was pounding fit to burst out of her chest. She hadn't been alone or spoken to Scorpius since he'd kissed her in the Owlery. She felt tongue-tied and nervous but her brain was screaming at her to take advantage of the fact that he couldn't ignore her here.

"How are things going?" Lily asked, before shouting at herself for asking such a stupid, mundane question.

"Oh you know, Professor McGonagall has had to write home again to some parents because slips have gone missing et cetera. It always amazes me how many students manage to lose their slips between the summer and the end of October."

Lily smiled. In her third-year, her father had made sure that she had her slip kept somewhere safe. His uncle and aunt had refused to sign his slip when he'd reached his third-year and Harry didn't want any of his kids to have to stay back at Hogwarts whilst all their friends went to Hogsmeade because they'd lost their slip.

"Congratulations on your victory over Ravenclaw. It was pretty impressive."

Scorpius grinned impishly, he'd seen her watching from the Gryffindor stands and had been motivated to play harder than ever. It was childish to want to impress her with his skills as a seeker but he was pleased she had noticed. "Thanks, I think we have a good chance of retaining the Quidditch Cup this year."

"Oh, I wouldn't get so cocky just yet. Gryffindor have a good team this year and you haven't seen them play yet."

"Really? I hear you guys lost Charlotte MacGregor to a nasty training accident. She's your best chaser."

"She was our best chaser," Lily said with a cheeky smile on her face.

Scorpius' quirked an eyebrow, "So you have a new chaser that you think very highly of. Hmmm I wonder who it could be," he teased.

"I'm not spilling any of our secrets to you."

"I wonder, could it be a girl, say, about yay height," he said, putting his hand at exactly Lily's height. "Does she have messy black hair, green eyes and a famous dad by any chance?" He asked.

Lily wrinkled her nose and put her hands on her hips, "You knew already!" she complained.

"Yep, I had my spies out and about at your next training session as soon as MacGregor got injured."

"Sneaky snake," Lily complained.

Scorpius smirked at her and tapped the Slytherin snake monogram on his jumper.

Amelia Bones walked in at that precise moment and said "Sorry, am I interrupting anything."

Both Scorpius and Lily jumped back, just noticing how close they'd got to each other at that point. They looked away from each other, looking self-conscious. Amelia suppressed a laugh. The longing looks her Head Boy had been sharing with the Potter girl hadn't escaped her noticed. Personally, she thought they were perfectly suited but knew that politics in the post-Voldemort wizarding world weren't that easy.

"Just discussing our teams' prospects for the Quidditch cup this year. Lily here is the new Gryffindor chaser."

"Oh, congratulations, Lily," Amelia said. "Although I hate to disappoint the pair of you, but its Hufflepuff's year this year."

It was testament to the strength of the Hufflepuff team that neither Lily or Scorpius scoffed. Gryffindor versus Hufflepuff was coming up next month and it was definitely a crunch match.

The Prefects' Office began to fill up as the meeting time approached. Lily sat down in the usual place favoured by the Gryffindor prefects and tried not to stare too much at Scorpius. The meeting passed slowly and she was glad when she could finally escape.

"Ok, Potter, spill it," Alcyone said, catching up with the quickly fleeing Gryffindor.

"Spill what?"

"What's happened that's made you all flushed with suppressed excitement."

"You're too perceptive for your own good. It's like having two Rose's in my life and that's not a good thing."

Alcyone smiled, "If you think I'm bad then you should sit down with mum. Nothing passes her beady eyes."

"It must have been a nightmare when mum, your mum and Aunt Luna were friends. No-one's secrets would be safe."

"Enough with the distraction techniques. It's not going to work. I want the gossip so give it up."

Lily sighed, knowing that Alcyone wouldn't stop bugging her until she repeated, word for word, her conversation with Scorpius. She pulled her into a nearby empty classroom and told everything to the nosey blonde.

Alcyone jumped up and down, clapping her hands and squealed, "I knew that stupid brother of mine couldn't keep it up for long."

"It was one conversation, nothing to get too excited about."

"He was totally flirting with you."

Lily blushed and giggled. It was a small start but at least it was a start.

AN: Lily seems to be back on track with Scorpius. Please review and let me know what you think.