Author's Note: If you received a chapter alert, I'm sorry this isn't the next chapter. For some reason it wasn't showing up on the site so I had to delete the chapter and re-add it. No idea how it happened, but I'm sorry! Here's chapter 10 for you.

On the last day of their Christmas holidays, Lily and Scorpius decided to take a trip to Diagon Alley to restock on school supplies before they returned. They had been walking around since the early morning, his arm gently around her waist as they wandered, occasionally running into their pupils and stopping to say an awkward hello.

"You know what, I'm starting to feel like a celebrity. I can't go five feet without being recognized, I've got a beautiful girl on my arm…"

Lily laughed. "We teach at least a thousand kids, all of whom need to get school supplies at some point; when you went into teaching, surely you realized anonymity was no longer an option?"

Scorpius laughed. "I didn't think about that, no. How about we go to Fortescue's and retreat from the public eye for a few minutes? I'll buy."

Lily nodded. "Sounds like a plan," she grinned.

As they turned the corner, Scorpius paused in a way reminiscent of a rabbit that had sighted a hunting dog in the distance. As she searched his face, Lily found that his eyes were wider than usual; the warm gaze he so easily held her with had turned to one of anxiety. Scorpius was generally good at keeping his cool; she wondered what could possibly make him react this way.

For the first time since he had frozen mid-step, Scorpius realised Lily's scrutiny. He righted himself, hoping that by some miracle Lily hadn't noticed, at the same time mentally kicking himself for failing to contain his emotions. A Malfoy, even a disgraced one, knew better than that. "How about we step over here for a couple of minutes?"

He dragged her to an alleyway which led to a dead-end. Lily arched a suspicious eyebrow; somehow she didn't think this was for snogging. "Scorpius, what's going on? Why are we hiding in some scummy-"

"Scorpius!"

As the voice caught her ears, Scorpius froze once again, this time in a way that clearly said busted.

"I thought I saw you leading someone down a dirty alleyway. Whatever are you doing?"

Damn, Scorpius thought. He never did let me win at hide-and-seek. "Oh, hello father. Fancy seeing you here. Is mum here?" he questioned, looking around hopefully.

"Unfortunately your mother has taken ill. Nothing serious, of course, but she did insist that I procure a copy of her favourite magazine while she is incapacitated." explained Draco Malfoy.

Lily didn't have to ask who he was; Scorpius was the spitting image of him, despite several subtle differences. As he finished talking, Draco's eyes fell on Scorpius' companion; her flowing red hair, small frame and emerald eyes all but screamed her name. As his nose wrinkled inscrutably in distaste, Lily noticed a huge difference between them; his eyes held none of the warmth and genuine kindness she could see in Scorpius'. Draco's were carefully removed of emotion, though there were several other signs of his aversion. "Young Miss Potter, is it?" he said cordially.

"Yes, nice to meet you, sir. Please, call me Lily." she replied, feeling as though she was standing in front of a Professor she was somewhat afraid of. He had an air of authority about him, from his fine robes and upturned expression to the superfluous manner in which he conducted himself. And it was all but obvious that he didn't approve of her.

"Yes. If you'll excuse us for a moment, I'd like to have a word with my son." He beckoned Scorpius to the end of the alley.

Scorpius shuffled away from Lily reluctantly, aware by the disapproving expression on his father's face that he was about to get a lecture in his choice of company and possibly more.

As soon as they were out of earshot, Draco began. "Scorpius, I am extremely concerned about you. First, we get no word from you at Christmas, and now I find you, shabbily dressed," he poked at the pale blue sweater with a navy blue S on it that Grandma Weasley had sent to Lily for him (which, while it was well-meaning of her and the colour suited his complexion, her knitting was about as good as her eyesight), "and loitering around a filthy back alley with that Potter girl... please tell me you are not romantically involved with the likes of her."

Scorpius' jaw set stubbornly. If his pompous, conceited father thought he was going to speak as though he could control him, he had another thing coming. And there was no bloody way he was going to allow his father to refer to Lily as though she was unworthy of him. "Yes, I'm dating that Potter girl. That Potter girl who may be the best thing that's ever happened to me. That Potter girl whose father saved your life on more than one occasion, that Potter girl whose family was generous enough to allow a complete stranger - knowing it was me, no less - into their household for Christmas, when my own family wouldn't even do the same!" he replied heatedly, bitterly wishing he could say exactly what he felt like saying right now: That Potter girl who makes up for having a coward of a father like you.

"Scorpius, you're always welcome at our house, holidays or otherwise." replied Draco, his tone indicative that this was not the first time he'd said such a thing.

"No, I'm not welcome there as long as grandfather is, because in his eyes I'm making the 'wrong choices'. They made that perfectly clear the last Christmas I spent there. And don't lecture me about the way I act, or who I choose to spend my time with. I don't live in Malfoy Manor any more and I'm certainly no longer subject to your 'code of conduct'." he said defiantly.If mum was here, he thought to himself, she'd put him in his place. Because they tended to choose strong, opinionated women, the only people the Malfoy men were afraid of were their significant others. Astoria would have been disgusted with her husband had she been present.

"That may be true," began his father with a steely gaze, "but your actions in public reflect on my skills as a parent."

"Well. I suppose you didn't do a very good job then, did you?" he replied coldly. Turning on his heel he returned to Lily, grabbed her hand and led her out of the alley without a word.

They reemerged silently into Diagon Alley, Scorpius with a stony look on his face as they headed toward the ice cream parlour. Lily looked over her shoulder at the entrance of the alley, where Scorpius' father was looking at them briefly, before disapparating away.

Her gaze returned to Scorpius, concerned. "Scorpius, what happened? What did he say to you?"

"I'll tell you when we get to Fortescue's." he replied without looking at her, as they neared the entrance to the shop.

A bell sounded as they entered, and the plain whitewashed walls seemed to have a calming effect on Scorpius. He sighed, his shoulders loosening as he turned to her. "What flavor do you want?"

"Um, peanut butter and fudge," she replied simply, wondering whether he was going to tell her what had happened back in the alley.

"Cup or cone?" he asked.

"Cone, please."

"Do you want to sit down? I'll be right back." Lily sat at the small circular table as Scorpius walked over to the counter and ordered their ice-creams, returning shortly after.

"Here we go, one peanut butter and fudge," he said, taking his seat and licking a drip of ice-cream off his hand.

"Scorpius, what happened back there?" she questioned him gently, hoping the meeting with his father hadn't put him in a bad mood.

"Nothing." he replied simply.

"I understand if you don't want to tell me, Scorpius, but please don't lie. It was obviously something… was it about me?"

Scorpius sighed, looking up into her eyes. "No… and yes. It was about you, and everything else. Look, it's nothing, don't worry about it… it's been like this since I was little. You've probably realized by now, that we don't see eye to eye. And after everything that's happened, we never will be able to."

Lily bit her lip, pondering how she could approach this issue in a sensitive way. "Scorpius, was… was your father… abusive, towards you? If you don't want to talk about it I completely understand, we can talk about something else if you're uncomfortable."

"No." Scorpius waved her words away. "Nothing like that. He wasn't cruel or hard-hearted, he never did anything. That's the point... he just sat back and let my grandfather try and bully me into acting in whatever way he saw fit for a pureblood to act." he explained.

The corner of Lily's lips twitched at the way he spat the word 'pureblood', as though it was some kind of filthy bacteria; even her uncle Ron would find it hard not to smile at that. "Nothing I ever did was good enough. My marks were never high enough, my clothes were never neat and clean enough, no girl I dated was ever pretty or smart or pure enough... none of my choices were good enough. And he just sat there and let him me berate every time they visited. Probably all for the sake of his stupid inheritance, too." Scorpius' nose wrinkled at this, his family's, the pureblood obsession with money and material objects.

He shook his head. "If I'm a coward, if I'm too shy to say what I think, they're the reason. They never allowed me to be who I wanted to. You know, my grandfather tried to stop dad from marrying mum. He defied them for love, and then he expects me to do whatever they say? Get a desk job at the Ministry, marry some pathetic, pure, trophy wife? Purebloods are all about their stupid appearances. I had enough, so a couple of years ago, I left. I still see mum, but I haven't been back to Malfoy Manor in almost three years." Scorpius sighed when he had finally finished.

He knew he was ranting, and that it was plainly embittered. But at the same time he was glad to be telling her this; he'd never shared it with anyone else before, because he'd never been this close to anyone before. It was a wonderful feeling, being close to her... being able to trust someone so unconditionally without having to fear getting hurt. He never wanted to let that feeling go again.

Lily squeezed his hand. Having grown up in a loving, supporting family, she would never understand what it was like to be criticized her whole life. It sounded as though his father was indirectly horrible to him, but at the same time she knew that all parents wanted what was best for their children. But Draco was doing what he thought best, not what Scorpius thought best. She knew that his wounds were still hurting right now, but she hoped that when he was ready, Scorpius would reconcile with his father.

In the meantime, Lily could love and support him in a way he hadn't been before. "When I met you, I knew there had to be a reason why you were so shy and downcast all the time. I just couldn't get it... you have so many things going for you, Scorpius... I didn't understand why you weren't more confident. Now I know why you did that, you were afraid of rejection… but you're a lot less shy now. You say things you wouldn't have before… I don't know why you've changed, but I'm glad that we can talk like this." Lily smiled at him affectionately, the thought that he felt secure enough to invest his trust in her filling her with warmth.

"You may not know, but I'm sure of it. Only one person I know is amazing enough to teach an old dog new tricks." He grinned, looking her directly in the eye as he took her soft, porcelain-pale hand and kissed it softly.

She blushed a deep crimson, flattered. Then, she laughed, "Well, I don't think I'm quite as amazing as you think, but if you want to believe that I'm responsible… that's fine by me."

They both smiled at each other for a second, before Scorpius cupped her cheek with one hand and leaned over to softly capture her lips with his.

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Another irritating thing about being back at Hogwarts was Tristan Saunders. After a serious bout of spattergoit, Madam Hooch had decided to hang up her broom and retire, so he was now a permanent fixture on the staff. First of all, Saunders didn't like Scorpius in the slightest bit, and he had the nasty habit of appearing any time Scorpius and Lily were alone.

XX

"So you've finally decided to join me," he said icily. "Let's just get this patrol over with, alright."

Disclaimer: I don't own the Harry Potter universe or any affiliated trademarks. No copyright infringement is intended.

Author's Note: I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, because option two is about to kick in, which means the honeymoon is definitely over -evil laugh-