I don't own Harry Potter. Enjoy!
I wish I were at Hogwarts with you instead of being at home. Mummy is making me spend time with the Yaxley family and their bratty son. I miss you.
Your favoritest person and the best sister ever,
Cassiopeia N. Malfoy
Scorpius laughed as he finished reading the last sentences of his sister's letter. He could imagine her striking features scrunching up while writing about her distaste for the Yaxley's son, Maxon. The boy was Cassiopeia's "nemesis" or at least in her eyes he was. Their mother however saw the young boy as an opportunity to unite the two families through marriage. He remembered how Cassiopeia had balked at their mother implying such a thing and spent the rest of the day throwing a tantrum for the ages. Scorpius could only imagine the havoc his sister would cause to avoid ever being wedded to the Yaxley heir.
She'd grow out of it, he hoped. His mother was set on Cassiopeia being the one with the Yaxley ring on her hand and when Astoria Malfoy had her head on something there was nothing that stood in her way, and everything was fair game to her. He knew without a doubt she loved him and Cassiopeia, but he couldn't deny her ambition was just as great. Anyone that he or Cassiopeia married would be useful to his mother, a pawn she could easily play.
He expected she would eventually be sending him the Malfoy ring to give to Heloise. A ring that would seal his fate more or less, and he'd accept it. Really it wasn't like he had much say in the matter. If it wasn't Heloise he'd marry he would just end up with another witch of his mother's choosing, and for him to wife someone he may know nothing about wasn't particularly attractive to him. Scorpius had a responsibility to provide another heir to the Malfoy name and he didn't fancy forced sex or someone that wouldn't love and care for any child they were to have. He didn't know the kind of father he'd make, but he knew he wanted to at least be a decent one.
He sighed at his thoughts. It was too early in the morning to be torturing himself in such a way when he still had months to go before graduating, but the letter from Cassiopeia had made him realize just how fast their future was approaching.
Needing some fresh air to clear his head, he skipped having lunch with his mates and instead taking a long walk around the castle grounds. He was close to his much needed escape when the nasally voice of Violet Flint stopped him to his displeasure.
"Scorpius, there you are! We haven't had time to catch up," she gave an unappealing pout.
While Scorpius may have wanted to let out his pent-up tension only two night ago with the somewhat pretty girl, he didn't feel like dealing with her at the moment. "Violet, I actually have something to do but I'm sure we can catch up later."
She didn't seem to notice his lack of interest at speaking with her as she began running her hands up and down his chest in what she no doubt thought made him mad with lust. "I've missed you terribly, Scorp. I've also missed our nights of passion."
Scorpius held back a laugh at the awful expression she was trying to pass as sexy. She reminded him of Cassiopeia's Kneazle when faced with food rather than some kind of seductress.
"As much as I'd enjoy nothing more than to have a night of passion," he tried keeping a straight face at the word, "I'm busy at the moment."
"Busy!" she shrieked in annoyance. "Are you busy with Heloise Belizaire?"
He rolled his eyes at the scene she would no doubt cause. "Heloise has nothing to with this, Violet. Spare me your jealousy, won't you?"
"That little tramp has everything to do with this, Scorpius Hyperion Malfoy! Do you really think I don't know that your mother has been spending time with her over every other girl that thinks they are capable of being your wife? She favors her over me! She doesn't do anything other than spend time with her stupid brother while I'm the one at your beck and call!"
"Your mother was my father's go to shag girl, Violet," he quoted his mother's word. "I don't think I can see you and my mother skipping through Diagon Alley together."
"Don't speak about my mother like that," she pushed away from him with a glare.
"Then stop being so childish. I only have patience for my sister's tantrums and I will not handle you with children's gloves. I've never given you reason to think what we have is more than a few decent shags."
"A few decent shags? I gave you my virginity!"
"I forced nothing," he replied. "You were the one that found your way into my bed."
"Careful, Scorpius. If you keep pushing me away there's a chance you'll push me away forever," she warned.
"Are you done?" he questioned without so much as blinking at her words.
She huffed at his lack of emotion, her dark eyes searching him for a hidden emotion she was too foolish to admit didn't exist.
"I forced nothing, Violet. You can walk away but don't expect me to chase after you. Now if we're finished I need air."
Leaving her standing alone, he followed the path leading him out of the castle. He was done hearing about what people expected from him. If he wasn't being encouraged to become the next Minister of Magic he was being pushed onto Heloise, and now Violet was claiming he owed her more than he was willing to give. Was there someone out there that actually wanted to hear what he wanted?
"You shouldn't kick the grass like that. You'll scare off the Gulping Plimpies," he heard a delicate voice call out to him.
Turning around he spotted Lily sitting on the grass much like a child. Her legs spread a few inches apart with her uniform skirt bellowing around her, and in front of her were strange devices that appeared awfully muggle to him.
"Scare off the what?" Scorpius asked in confusion.
"The Gulping Plimpies! They live in the grass close to the lakes or at least my Godmother Luna says so," she says, looking up at his towering frame.
"Gulping Plimpies? They're not real…"
"Just because you haven't seen them doesn't mean they aren't real," she replies as if teaching a child something new.
He gives a soft laugh that sounds surprisingly carefree to his ears. "What are you doing out here? Planning on having someone else fall flat on their face because of you?"
She ducked her head, a soft blush warming her face. "I did apologize for that, and to answer your question I'm finishing my Muggle Studies' homework."
"Muggle Studies?" he repeated. "Why would someone like you need to take Muggle Studies?"
"Someone like me?" she asked.
"Your father was raised by muggles, no? Then there's the fact that your aunt is muggle-born as well…"
Lily nodded as if considering her words. "My mum is a pure-blood and my dad doesn't really talk much about his past with the muggles. As for my aunt, I barely understand what she goes on about half the time. I thought that Muggle Studies would help me a bit but I'm thinking I should have picked Ancient Runes if I wanted to study something strange," she made a face at the items, pushing one of them with a slender finger. "I don't suppose you know anything about these contraptions, do you?"
Scorpius avoided looking at the Muggle objects and instead looked out towards the Black Lake that shimmered under the afternoon sun.
"Didn't think so, but that's alright. I'll just ask Rose for help," she said, putting her things back into the leather bag next to her. "So, what are you doing here? Came to scare off all the Gulping Plimpies?"
Scorpius moved his gaze back down to her, watching her in amusement as she clicked her ankles over and over again like a small child.
"I needed air," he replied, and to the surprise of both sat down beside her.
"I know what you mean," Lily murmured back after a moment of shock. "Sometimes I can't even hear myself think. My family doesn't really understand the meaning of privacy."
"They all seem happy to be in each other's business," he looked at her, "I've never really seen your lot without someone of their blood close at their side."
"I love them – don't really have a choice as they're blood – but when you practically have every member of your family attending school with you it gets a bit hard. I used to wish I was an only child," she confesses to him.
"It gets lonely," Scorpius says to her.
She gives him a doubtful look. "You have a sister, how would you know? Besides, Alice tells me she loves being an only child."
"I didn't have a sister for almost nine years," he counters. "I would always ask my parents for a sibling growing up. I was especially jealous of my cousins for having someone to look after or play with all of the time."
"You two seem very close," Lily said thoughtfully.
He felt his face soften with affection at the mention of Cassiopeia. She may be a little troublemaker at times, but she was his little troublemaker and he loved her for it.
"She was a surprise to everyone, especially to my grandparents on my father's side. There hadn't been a female born into the Malfoy name in over a century. She had everyone wrapped around her finger from the beginning. Has everyone wrapped around her finger," he said dotingly.
"Including you," she teased, thinking back on the small girl that had barreled towards Scorpius back in Flourish and Blotts.
"Including me," he agreed. "It's hard not to when she pouts for everything."
"Who would have thought? Scorpius Malfoy rendered defenseless at the sight of a pouty face," Lily teases, growing more comfortable with him so close.
"Surprised?" his lips pulled at the corners but didn't give to a full smile. He so rarely smiled in true, or at least that's what Lily had gathered from her years of watching from afar.
She looked down at the grass, pulling at the small flowers before weaving them into a crown of sorts. "No. I'm not surprised," she replies with a shake of her head. Her red hair catching his eye as it gently sways with her movements, taking him back to last night where a sea of red hair haunted him even as he slept.
"Why is that?" he questions. "Hasn't your family told you I'm a Death Eater in training?"
Scorpius watches the younger girl roll her eyes with a look of annoyance clear on her pretty face. When she looks back at him she reminds him of his mother when his father does or says something she isn't too impressed by.
"You'd make a pitiful Death Eater I hope you realize," she retorts with a sudden flare of temper.
He blinks, finding his interest grow with every passing minute. Her little show of attitude was almost defensive in a way, but he couldn't understand why.
"You don't know me, baby Potter." Scorpius said coolly. "I could be exactly like your precious family draws me out to be."
"No. I know you aren't." Her tone was short as if she were tired of hearing the same thing over and over again. "I also remember telling you not to call me by that horrible nickname."
Scorpius' expression wavers from its usual mask of neutrality. His head tilting to the side as she climbs onto her feet, throwing her long hair behind her and grabbing her belongings from the ground in what was clear irritation.
"Did I say something to offend you?" he asks.
"No, but I'm late for Quidditch tryouts."
He eyes her small form in doubt. She wasn't built for such a dangerous sport at least not in his eyes.
"You're trying out for Quidditch?"
Her eyes widen at his question and she lets out a charming laugh that he would have found annoying coming from any other girl, but it sounding quite nice coming from her.
"Me? Try out for Quidditch?" she asked between giggles.
"Is the idea too farfetched?"
She looks down at him with laughter clear in her green eyes. "I can barely sit on a broom, Malfoy. I'm only going to the tryouts because Albus won't let me live it down if I don't."
"And do you always do as your brother tells you to do?"
She glares at his mocking tone and with a purse of her rosy lips turns to leave.
"Lily," he calls out to her.
"Hmm?" she murmurs with her hands on her hips.
He didn't know what to say to her. Scorpius had so many thoughts running through his head that it was difficult to sort them all out and form an adequate phrase. The girl disarmed him in a way he didn't expect someone like her to. He wanted to pull her to him and shake her until she explained to him why after all these years she had decided to plague him even in slumber. They had only spoken a handful of times and yet he couldn't stop wondering what it would be to grab her by that red hair of hers as he kissed her senseless.
"Scorpius?" she called curiously.
With a shake of his head, he forced himself to look away from those lips that had just said his name with such sweetness.
"Nothing," he replied.
He felt her eyes on him, but he didn't look at her until he heard the soft sound of her fading steps against the moist grass. He knew himself well enough to know there was something brewing between them and if he were as smart as he knew himself to be he would end it immediately before it even began. The girl wouldn't ruin him no matter how pretty or innocent she was. If he wanted to bed a virgin he could just find another little redhead that would be all too willing to give him what he wanted. He had enough problems without adding her into the mix.
Throwing his hand down against the ground in vexation his fingers collide with the makeshift crown she had crafted out of simple flowers. As he takes it from where it lay – discarded and crumbled – Scorpius recalls the closeness between him and Lily. He hadn't expected to feel so at ease by her side. Hadn't expected to be able to talk to her so easily when he only did so with those closest to him.
"Scorpius!" he heard one of his mates – Derrik Bletchley – yell from their place on the stone bridge. "Come on Scorp! You need to get ready for tryouts."
"I'll be right there!" he called back, tossing the flowers away before climbing up the rocky path.
"You missed lunch mate," Derrik said once Scorpius had joined his side. "I don't know what bit Violet in that arse of hers but she was more insufferable than usual."
"She threw a tantrum and I was forced to remind her of her place," Scorpius replied.
"Guessing she found out Heloise is soon to be the next Malfoy bride," his friend smirked. "My congratulations by the way."
Scorpius snorted, stepping into the common room and straight into his dorm. "My mother has yet to announce the engagement. Save your pleasantries for when it actually becomes official."
Derrik's smirk grew at the lack of emotion from Scorpius and jumped onto the bed, resting his head against his arm. "By your tone I'm guessing you aren't particularly excited for your upcoming nuptials to lovely Miss Belizaire?"
Scorpius gave him a look as he threw on his Quidditch gear. "I don't mind Heloise. She's one of the few people I'm able to endure."
"With looks like hers, I wouldn't mind enduring a lifetime by her side either," Derrik said with wink before dodging a boot to the head.
"That's my future wife you're talking about, careful."
"Thought it wasn't official yet," Derrik tossed the boot back. "You can't blame me for looking. Hell, half of our class wants to know what she's hiding behind that cold exterior of hers. You know what they say about the quiet ones…"
"Are you done?" Scorpius asks while taking his Firebolt from its case with gentle care.
"I'm just saying, mate. I'd take Heloise over whoever my mother has planned for me."
"Not a fan of Camilla Nott?" Scorpius leaned against his dresser, his hand resting on his broom.
"I think she rather be warming your bed than mine," Derrik answered with a shrug.
"My mother won't allow her to marry me." Scorpius thought back to his mother's broken engagement to Theodore Nott, recalling the way she had seemed so tense when his father had mentioned it.
"Lucky you. I rather wish my mother chose someone at least willing to speak to me."
"You could always marry Violet," Scorpius offered, and then it was his turn to dodge a flying pillow.
"Your leftovers aren't precisely my thing, Scorp."
Scorpius eyed him in amusement. "You didn't say that when you fucked the redhead Ravenclaw during the summer."
"That was a night of too much to drink and I barely remember any of it," Derrik defended himself. "Speaking of redheads, what were you doing with Potter down by the lake?"
"What do you mean?" he asks without giving away anything.
"The two of you seemed cozy before she marched off. Here I thought we hated anything associated with their bloodline.''
Scorpius raised an eyebrow back at him and looking unbothered went to sort out the letters he had left on his desk. That little brat meant nothing to him. He shouldn't feel that annoying warmth running through him at the mere mention of her.
"I was not cozy with her," he finally says after a moment of self-annoyance.
"So what do you call what I saw?"
"I call it you needing glasses, Bletchley. If you must know I was only trying to get a rise out of her or at the most her pathetic brother," he lied with ease. He didn't need anyone finding out about his sudden interest in the girl.
"Oh I see," Derrik chuckled. "Not that it wouldn't be amazing to see what Potter would do if he found out you fucked his baby sister, but isn't more trouble than what it's worth?"
"She isn't my type," Scorpius drawled. "She probably still has a baby tooth."
"I don't know, Scorp. From what I've seen she's the prettiest of her nasty lot, curves in the right places and all that."
Scorpius felt his jaw tick. The idiot had no right to so much as glance her way or speak of what didn't belong to him.
"She also seems to have a fair share of admirers chasing after her," Derrik continued.
Scorpius ignored the strange sense of jealousy, and spoke in a bored tone. "Why are we talking about this?"
"Why are we being defensive?" Derrik asked, getting up from the bed with a leer clear on his strong features. "She may have a baby tooth, but even you have to admit she looks good enough to eat."
Glaring at Derrik's back as he walks out of the room, Scorpius fights back the need to hex him. Best mate or no, he didn't like feeling as if he had the lower hand and it was clear Derrik saw more than what Scorpius was willing to admit.
"You coming mate?''
Tightening his hold on his broom and his emotions, he follows out of the dungeons and towards the one place where he always felt free. Even as a young boy the feeling of soaring through the sky and being up so high where nothing else mattered gave him a tranquility. Flying always brought him back to his childhood. A childhood filled with laughter and love, something he was sure no one would believe coming from a Malfoy. Who would believe his father – the once Death Eater – would get on his knees and play dragons with him or that his perfect mother would search for fairies with him in the garden, not caring if she ruined her best dresses. No one. No one would ever believe he wasn't more than his family name.
"What the fuck are they still doing here?" Derrik growled from beside him.
Scorpius followed his gaze and was met with the Gryffindors still on the pitch, laughing and fooling around as the Slytherins looked on with distaste. Potter like always was in the middle of the crowd and didn't seem to care that he had been meant to finish his tryouts long before the Slytherins made it on the field.
"Potter!" Scorpius called, walking past his team and to the Gryffindor captain.
Albus looked at Scorpius as if he had just swallowed something repulsive, his green eyes filled with animosity. "What do you want?" he sneered.
"I reserved the pitch for tryouts," he said simply. "You were supposed to be finished thirty minutes before we got here."
"Didn't know you owned the pitch, Malfoy. Last time I checked the pitch was for all of us and not even your daddy could buy it."
Scorpius allowed that comment to bounce off and instead tried to reason with the moron, seeing as he was incapable of being an adult.
"I don't own the pitch, but I did reserve it. However if you'd like to practice more than be my guest."
The Slytherins all turned to Scorpius in surprise. None of them had expected for him to just hand over their reserved time and space to the likes of Potter, his rival.
"I truly value your commitment to your team and your endurance is inspirational," Scorpius said in a patronizing tone while everyone looked on in interest. From the corner of his eye he caught a glimpse of Lily as she watched from her place on the stands.
Moving closer to Albus until they were face to face, Scorpius leaned down and gave the shorter Gryffindor a cold smile. "I look up to you Potter. I don't know if I would be able to continue playing after being left in the dust. Time. After. Time."
The roar of laughter sounded through the pitch as he once again bested Albus. The latter looked ready to kill and quickly fumbled for his wand, but it didn't scare Scorpius one bit.
"Put away your wand, Potter. You wouldn't want to embarrass yourself by having me toss you on your arse. Do yourself a favor and grow up." Scorpius motioned for his team to get on their brooms and ignoring the gaze on him coming from the stands, walked further into the field.
"We'll see who has the last laugh," Albus murmured. His hand running over bludger as he muttered something and the iron ball bounced frantically before rolling to one of the Slytherins.
"Just because you were on the team last years does not guarantee you a place this year!" Scorpius shouted as he was handed the bludger. "I want to see a fair game and under no circumstances will I allow less than that."
As the game began, Scorpius allowed himself a small glance to the stands. She was there, watching him and only half paying attention to what one of the Scamander twins was saying to her. The boy was clearly one of her many admirers but she didn't seem to share the same sentiments by the way she was trying to put space between them. It didn't matter. Scamander was the type of person she would end up with, and he shouldn't feel that ridiculous bit of jealousy running through him again.
"Shouldn't you be paying attention to the game and not to a little redhead on the stands?" Derrik asked, sweat already running down his face as he dismounted his broom.
"I don't recall telling you to get off your broom, Bletchley." Scorpius looked back at the game, analyzing every pass and throw.
"Please, like you won't choose me to be on the team. There's no better beater than me," he swung his bat back and forth.
"If you were such a greater beater as you say you are, you'd be on a broom and not annoying me."
"No need to be rude, Scorp, I'll allow you to continue your gazing."
Turning to reply, Scorpius caught sight of a bludger being thrown about. It was a normal occurrence in Quidditch, but what wasn't normal was for the bludger to bounce with such force.
"Where did that bludger come from?" Scorpius asked without taking his eyes away from the game.
"What? You threw it in," Derrik replied dully.
"It's been tampered with!" Scorpius said just as the bludger collided with one of the player's broom, forcing the boy to spin out of control until he hit another teammate.
"Watch out!" someone shrieked from the stands.
Scorpius quickly mounted his own broom, trying to cast a spell on the bludger in order to stop it but the damn thing was faster than even his Firebolt. Everyone in the stands raced down as the ball race towards them, even Potter, whose smile was effectively wiped off once the bludger began attacking anything in reach.
"Lily!"
His head jerked towards the side, finding the bludger heading at lightning speed towards the redhead. He like everyone was shouting at her to move but it seemed her leg had caught on something, trapping her and making an easy target for the bludger. He felt his blood run cold at the horrifying sight before him. Without another thought he forced his broom forward, his arm reaching out just as he did when faced with the snitch.
Just as the bludger was inches from its target, Scorpius took her by the arm and pulled her into his body, racing to safety as the bludger chased after them. Lily let out a gasp while she held onto him tightly and her eyes closing as he dove under the stands avoiding the wooden beams.
His stomach churned as the bludger closed up on them. He couldn't get a good aim at it without letting go of Lily and risk her getting hurt. This girl was bad luck, Scorpius thought to himself. She had promised there wouldn't be a third time and here they were, fending off a killer bludger that was hot on their tail.
"Scorpius," she cried in worry as the bludger broke through a beam. He could feel her small frame shaking in fear, and he swore if this was her brother's doing he'd kill him. The smile on Potter's face had been all too telling.
"Hold on!" he ordered, pushing his broom faster until the faint smell of smoke filled their nostrils.
As they closed in on the exit, the broom collided against an uneven beam, sending them into the air before they tumbled onto the ground. Scorpius watched the bludger come at them and without a thought moved his body over Lily's, protecting her from the impact. He rolled them over this way and that until the bludger hit his shoulder, a sickening crack ringing through the air.
"Finite!" Rose shouted with her wand pointed at the bludger.
Scorpius groaned in pain not able to push himself off of the girl beneath him once the bludger had been disintegrated.
"Get off my sister, Malfoy!" Albus shoved him aside.
"Albus, he's hurt!" Lily snapped and gently ran her hand over Scorpius' injured shoulder before she was pushed away by the Slytherin team.
"Don't just stand there! Someone get help," Derrik barked.
"Lysander went for Madam Hooch," Alice said, pulling Lily by the arm and away from the Slytherins.
"No one touch him!" Scorpius heard Madam Hooch order before she dropped next to him, and looked over his injury. "Broken shoulder," she tsked.
"Broken shoulder!" the Slytherins shouted in anger.
"We have a game next week!" Derrik said, looking ready to beat the first thing that came his way.
"Mr. Malfoy is in no condition to play, Mr. Bletchley. Now make yourself useful and help me get the poor boy to the infirmary."
Scorpius bit his tongue as to not let out a pained shout. He wouldn't give anyone the satisfaction of seeing him in such human conditions.
"What exactly happened?" Madam Hooch questioned the bystanders.
"Someone hexed the bludger, Madam Hooch," Lily answered when no one else did.
"Hexed!" she exclaimed. "Which one of you idiotic brats did this? Someone could have been killed."
Through pained eyes, Scorpius watched everyone turn to Albus.
"Oh, yeah. Blame everything that happens to him on me, why don't you!" Albus shot back.
"Mr. Potter if you did this there will be serious consequences. It's best to be honest." Madam Hooch gave him a pointed look.
"It was him, Madam Hooch. I saw him touching the bludger before it was handed to Malfoy," a Hufflepuff spoke up.
At the boy's words the Slytherins all aim their wands at Albus, their eyes filled with hatred.
"Wands down. No hexes will be thrown under my watch! Mr. Potter you will accompany me to Professor McGonagall's office and the Slytherins will take Mr. Malfoy to see Madam Pomfrey, and as for the rest of you. Scatter!"
"Come on mate," Derrik murmured, helping Scorpius stand.
With another soft groan, Scorpius allowed his teammates to help him off the pitch and towards the castle, but his pain became a second matter as he spotted the Scamander boy running his filthy little hands over Lily.
"Are you alright Lily?" the boy asked in concern.
Scorpius wasn't able to hear her response. Wasn't able to hear anything for that matter. All he wanted to do was drive his fist in Potter for almost killing his own sister, but seeing as he was now out of sight the Scamander idiot would have to do. He had no bloody right to touch her when he hadn't been the one to save her. She wasn't his. She didn't want him.
"Don't worry mate. We'll get Potter back for this," Derrik said when he saw Scorpius clench his fists.
Scorpius simply nodded at his friend's words. He was tired of playing these games with Potter. If he didn't have any boundaries than neither would he. Baby Potter wanted him and who was he to deny a lady what she wanted?
