Author's Note: I hope you've all forgiven me for leaving you with such an evil cliffhanger but look, I'm being super-good and updating a day before scheduled. Ok, so it's only one day but still …

Disclaimer: Nope, still not mine *sigh*.


Chapter 9

Lily was pulled out of her blissful existence, entranced by Scorpius' kiss by a fierce tug on her arm that had her tumbling out of Scorpius' lap onto the floor. She glared up at her assailant and into the furious eyes of her brother, Albus.

Lily fell with a thud onto the floor. She felt a pain in her knee as it wrenched due to Albus' violent action.

"What the bloody hell do you think you're doing?" Albus thundered.

He was staring at Lily as if she had used an unforgivable curse on him. She tried to stand, thinking it would be better for this confrontation to happen if she was at least on her feet. Annoyingly her knee throbbed in pain and she collapsed back onto the floor.

"Well, are you going to answer me or what?" Albus demanded.

Scorpius stood and went to bend down to help Lily up, "Don't you touch her!" Albus yelled.

"Potter, if you calm down for just a minute, you'll see that Lily's hurt herself and cannot stand."

"Don't you tell me about my sister you-you-you pillock," Albus screamed.

Scorpius ignored Albus' hysterics and went to help Lily up again. He was stopped by Albus withdrawing his wand and pointing it at Scorpius' throat. "Back the hell away from my sister," Albus threatened.

Scorpius straightened up and looked straight at Albus. "I don't think you want to do that. I don't want to fight especially not when your sister is lying on the cold, frosty floor, hurt, but don't think that I won't knock you out if I have to."

Albus' wand didn't waver.

It took a frustrated scream from Lily for either boys' attention to return to her. "Albus, will you stop being a monumental prick and help me up. My knee is killing me and I want to get to the infirmary. If you care about me so much then you'll stop threatening Scorpius and make me your priority."

Scorpius moved and looked to help Lily once again. She sighed and waved Scorpius' helping hand away. Albus' temper was hanging on by a thread and if Scorpius did actually touch her then she thought her brother would completely lose it and start throwing hexes about.

"Albus, please can you give me your hand?" Lily asked.

Albus shook his head as if to clear it from the fog that was currently clouding his thought processes. He looked down at his sister who was currently sitting uncomfortably on the floor in a strange position, clutching her knee which did appear to be swelling at a rapid rate. He glared at the handsome blond who was currently standing slightly to the side of his little sister, itching to help. Albus wasn't having that. He stooped down and drew Lily up, keeping an arm around her waist to keep her steady.

"Look, can we just get me to the infirmary and then you can shout at me all you like?" Lily asked.

There wasn't much Albus could say to that. Lily did look in pain and Albus realised that he was unlikely to get any answers until she had her knee sorted out. "Put your arm around my shoulder and I'll help you down to the carriages in Hogsmeade," Albus said.

Scorpius frowned, that really wasn't an ideal way to help Lily. She shouldn't be putting any weight on that knee but then again Albus wasn't much taller than Lily so probably wouldn't be able to carry her all the way down to the village. Before Albus could do anything more than let loose a frustrated yell, Scorpius has scooped Lily up and strode off towards the pick up point for the carriages back to Hogwarts.

"What the …" was all Albus could bluster before Scorpius was out of sight around a bend.

He ran to catch up with the slimy snake currently in possession of his sister, "Put her down, Malfoy," Albus commanded.

Scorpius just looked at the enraged Gryffindor. "She's in pain and she shouldn't be putting weight on her knee. It would be better for her if she was carried back to Hogsmeade and you don't seem able to do so," was Scorpius' scornful reply.

"I'll hex you if you don't put her down," Albus warned, waving his wand about once more.

"That would be smart. Hex me and you'll injure your sister even more."

Lily frowned at the bickering pair of boys. This was the last thing she needed, she felt sick, slightly woozy and her knee felt as if it had been pulled apart. "Albus, just swallow your anger for five minutes, please. I just want to get to the infirmary," Lily pleaded with her older brother.

It was a strange group that marched through the village. Rose took one look at Lily's pale face, Malfoy's stern expression and the flushed, angry countenance of Albus and ran over. "What's happened?" she asked.

Lily just closed her eyes, really not in the mood for explanations right now. The silence from the other two meant that it was going to be up to Lily to tell Rose what was happening.

"Albus caught Scorpius and I kissing, pulled me away wrenching my knee and now they are arguing about how to get me back to Hogwarts," Lily said concisely ignoring the stunned look on Rose's face.

Finally, they reached the carriages. Lily had never been so happy to see them. Scorpius gently put her into one before Albus elbowed him out of the way and jumped in next to his sister. Scorpius was about to snap at Albus when Rose put her hand on his arm. He looked down at the red-head in query. She just shook her head at him and got in sitting opposite Lily, leaving Scorpius the space opposite Albus. He scowled but didn't want to be left waiting down in Hogsmeade.

It was a silent awkward journey back up to Hogwarts. Lily winced every time the carriage jolted and the other three passengers looked everywhere but at each other. They finally reached Hogwarts, after what felt like hours. Rose pre-empted any potential battle for the possession of Lily by helping her out of the carriage and gesturing for Malfoy to pick her up again. Her glare towards Albus shut him up before he could complain.

"Why did you do that?" Albus whispered to Rose, as they followed Lily and Scorpius up the stairs.

"Because Lily can't hobble up hundreds of stairs, she needs to be carried and Malfoy is the strongest of us here."

"But its Malfoy," Albus persisted.

"Yes, it is, but for some reason your sister has a thing for him which he returns. I can't say I'm thrilled but what am I going to do? Forbid it? I'm not Lily's parents, thank Merlin," Rose reasoned.

"Well, I'm her brother and I do forbid it."

"Good luck," was Rose's only response.

Madam Pomfrey took one look at Lily's knee when Scorpius strode through the doors and waved him to put her into one of the beds.

There were curtains pulled around a bed opposite but they rustled and Alcyone poked her head out at the noise of the new people entering. She saw Lily, her brother, Albus and Rose and gasped. "What happened?" She asked.

Lily this time kept her eyes closed. She wasn't doing any more explaining. Scorpius could deal with his own sister.

"You!" Albus ejected. "This is all your fault."

"Me?" Alcyone responded confused, "How is it my fault? I wasn't even there."

"You turned Lily's head. One minute she's friends with you and the next minute she's snogging your brother."

Alcyone giggled, "Way to go, Scorpius," she said holding her hand out for a high-five.

Scorpius frowned at his exuberant younger sister, "I don't think now's the time for that," he said dryly.

"What's that? Scorpius has nabbed himself the Potter Princess," came a muffled shout from behind the curtain.

Scorpius pulled the curtain back revealing a very dishevelled looking Zabini.

"Some privacy would be appreciated," scowled the dark Slytherin.

Scorpius couldn't help but laugh at the state of his fellow housemate. Rose gasped as she saw the state of Zabini's face which was covered in thick pustules.

"I would say that it's an improvement," Scorpius teased much to the displeasure of Marco.

Albus was sulking on the sidelines but Marco Zabini's words had stirred him from his angry contemplation. "Malfoy hasn't nabbed himself anything."

"Indeed," came Lily's incensed voice. "I'm not an object for anyone to 'nab'," she said directing a glare at the unrepentant Slytherin, Zabini, lying opposite her.

"Isn't it time for you to leave, Malfoy?" spat Albus?

Scorpius just raised an eyebrow, "Why?"

"You don't belong here. We've got Lily back to the infirmary, she's getting medical help so now you can piss off and leave her alone for good," Albus snarled.

Scorpius squared up to the shorter Gryffindor, "I don't care what you think, Potter. If Lily wants me about then you're going to have to deal with it."

"Please, like she wants you anywhere near her. She's just confused."

Lily closed her eyes and growled, "I'm not stupid, Albus and I am here so the pair of you can knock it off and stop talking about me as if I'm not in the room."

Madam Pomfrey bustled up, potion vials in hand. "I won't have a charged atmosphere in here, so you two can leave," she ordered, pointing at the two boys.

Scorpius and Albus didn't bother arguing. Madam Pomfrey ran her infirmary with a stern hand and what she said went. Scorpius walked over to Lily, stroked her cheek and bent over to give her a kiss on the forehead. Albus, fists clenched, watched this with furious eyes.

"Please go, Scorpius," Lily said, taking in her brother's anger, "And please, for me, don't do anything to Albus. He can be a pain in the arse but he's my brother and I love him."

Scorpius nodded at his witch. "Alcyone, come and find me when you leave," he said to his sister, before carelessly waving to Marco.

He opened the door and sauntered out, Albus following in his wake.

Rose caught Lily's eye. "You're crazy if you think I'm following and getting involved in whatever fight those two are going to have right now."

Lily just sighed. She knew that Scorpius would try and follow her wishes as much as he could but he would defend himself. She was worried about Albus' temper. He was hot-headed and passionate.

"So, you and Scorpius, huh," Alcyone said. She had a massive grin on her face and was bouncing on her chair excitedly.

Lily just blushed and was unable to look anyone in the eye. It was all still too new for her. She should have been coming to terms with it by holding Scorpius' hand and talking about nothing in particular. Instead, she was dealing with an injured knee and an outraged brother.

"I can try and keep Albus in check but you do realise he will tell Uncle Harry. I suggest you send off an owl as soon as possible," Rose advised.

"Yeah, I know. I didn't really want to be dealing with this right now but with Albus on the warpath it's better that mum and dad hear it from me first."

Lily felt herself tearing up. She really didn't want to deal with all of this now. She thought that she and Scorpius could have kept their relationship a secret for a little while; whilst she came to terms with how to tell her family but getting caught by Albus had made that impossible.

Rose squeezed her hand, "Don't worry too much. Uncle Harry will be pissed but I think he'll get over it. Even if he doesn't then you won't have everyone deserting you. Mum and I never would and Hugo doesn't care that much as long as it doesn't affect your Quidditch game."

Lily smiled at her cousin. She thought Rose would be unable to accept her feelings but it went to show that you shouldn't try to pre-empt other people's reactions. Rose had been supportive and continued to be so.

Alcyone came over and hugged Lily, "Rose is right. You have support. My mum will be thrilled. She's been nagging me to find out what's wrong with Scorpius recently and when I tell her that you two are finally together, she's going to over the moon."

Lily groaned at this, "Just what I need, the Malfoy family backing me. My dad's going to have kittens."

"Hey, we Malfoys look after our own. You date Scorpius then that makes you one of us."

Rose rolled her eyes and snorted. For all their differences, the Malfoy and Weasley family really were too similar. Family was everything and you closed ranks in the face of outside hostility. If both families could get past their past differences then they would probably be best friends. Maybe Scorpius and Rose's relationship could do some good in that direction.

Rose spluttered when Zabini piped up with, "If those Gryffindorks give you a hard time, then come to us. Slytherins won't tolerate Scorpius' girl being treated like dirt even if she is a Potter."

"Erm… thanks I think," Was all Lily said to Zabini's unexpected declaration of support.

Despite the fairly ridiculous nature of the messages of support, Lily appreciated them. Too many things were happening at one time. Having Scorpius as her official boyfriend was overwhelming enough but when you added confronting her family to that and she was drowning in it all.

"I guess there's no better time than now to write to mum and dad. Can someone fetch me parchment and a quill please," Lily said.

Albus and Scorpius just about made it around the corner before they kicked off.

"Who do you think you are? You're crazy if you think Lily is going to remain your girlfriend after today."

"I've had it up to here with your self-righteous bullshit, Potter. I've liked Lily for a while now but kept away from her because I didn't want to cause a problem for her family. But you know what, fuck it. I like her, she likes me and you'll just have to cope with it," Scorpius growled at Albus.

"Like hell I will. Lily will come to her senses once I tell dad what's going on."

"Some brother you turned out to be. You claim you love her and want to protect her but as soon as she does something you don't like you go running off to daddy to get her in trouble."

"This is more than something I don't like. This is consorting with Malfoys in the worst possible way. You Death Eaters shouldn't even be at Hogwarts," Albus spat.

Scorpius saw red and was only able to control himself from ripping Albus apart by sheer strength of will and the Lily-sounding voice that pleaded in his head not to lose his rag.

"You and your family are such fucking hypocrites. You supposedly won the war to stop prejudice but yet you spout it at every turn," Scorpius snarled.

"Oh please, a Malfoy trying to talk me about inclusion. Your family practically wrote the handbook on how to be vile bullies to anyone who isn't pureblood. So don't try and talk to me about prejudice," Albus hit back.

"If you opened your eyes for one millisecond, Potter, then you'd realise how ridiculous that last statement was. The first non-pureblood Malfoy is standing in front of you."

"Your Death Eater of a father blatantly just used Granger to reinstate the Malfoy name after the war."

Scorpius wasn't sure how he held himself back from decking Albus right there. The memory of Lily's eyes, so like Albus', pleading with him from her hospital bed drew him back from the brink. "Just speak of my parents like that again and I'll fucking kill you."

"I'm so scared," Albus drawled.

"You should be. My family might be rehabilitated but that doesn't mean we don't have volumes of dark arts books in our library. I know plenty of curses that you couldn't even imagine. Just try insinuating that my dad used my mum's reputation once more and I'll happily use one of them on you," Scorpius snarled menacingly.

"You're doing a really good job at proving how changed the Malfoy family are," Albus brazened out, trying not to show how much Scorpius had scared him.

"Like you'd even listen if I bothered wasting my breathe doing so. You and your brother were so welcoming to me when I started at Hogwarts. You didn't even give me a chance to prove who I am. The pair of you started hostilities on the train journey up here and gave your house carte blanche to continue them."

"Is the ikkle Malfoy feeling sorry for himself?" Albus mocked.

"Fuck you, Potter. I don't need your approval of my family or to date your sister. Go crying to your dad about it but it will change nothing," Scorpius sneered.

"It will do when dad gives her an ultimatum of either you or her family," Albus hissed.

"That worked out for him so well before. The great Harry Potter gave the girl who thought of him like a brother such an ultimatum and look where that left him. If want to lose your sister because you can't accept her feelings then go ahead, she'll have my family for support." And with that Scorpius marched away before he did what he'd be dying to do from the moment Albus has tugged Lily from his arms and punched his lights out.

Albus stormed up to the Gryffindor tower. He had letters to write to both his dad and his older brother. They'd soon have Lily thinking normally once more.


AN: Reviews would make this author super happy … Please?