"I have a brilliant idea," Scorpius announced with a flourish as he entered the Leaky Cauldron the following Tuesday evening. He approached Ella, who was sitting at the bar with Anne - Helen and Matt standing behind it.

"And what might that be?" Ella asked in amusement as he sat next to her.

"First of all," he began, nodding in thanks to Helen as she placed a butterbeer in front of him, "you lot don't let loose nearly enough."

"Excuse me?" Ella said, affronted by the comment. "We let loose plenty."

"Are you referring to the Christmas party you had where you all just stood around?" he asked skeptically. "Or the music night where we all sat around and did nothing but listen? What ever happened to dancing and frivolity?"

"Frivolity?" Anne said with a chuckle.

"I'm serious," he insisted. "We should have a party. An actual party. I'm beginning to wonder what you all did before I came around."

"A party sounds wonderful," Helen said excitedly. "Where would we have it?"

"Well," said Scorpius, looking around before standing and taking in the pub, "I'm not sure we'd have quite enough room here. You saw how crowded it got the other day. I suppose we could always do it at the inn, but I wouldn't want to put you and Dad out," he said to Anne.

"Nonsense," she said. "If you really want to do this, I'm sure we'd be more than happy to accomodate."

Scorpius grinned at his step-mother before looking at Ella expectantly. She made sure not to give anything away as she faked thinking it over, but she could barely contain her enthusiastic smile.

"You're right," said Ella. "It is a brilliant idea."

Scorpius laughed in delight before suddenly grabbing her hands and pulling her off her stool. Ella gave a shrill laugh as he spun her around, ignoring the looks they received from the people in the pub. He eventually released her hands and Ella collapsed back onto her stool, continuing to laugh as she caught her breath and did her best to ignore the way Anne was looking between her and a still beaming Scorpius knowingly.

"Will I be allowed to come to this one?" asked Matt, who'd been left out of the previous party they'd had.

"Yes," Ella assured him. "We'll make Gina work instead."

Matt beamed in pleasure.

"We should do it as soon as possible," said Ella, turning excitedly to Scorpius.

"We need time to plan, though," said Scorpius. "I want this night to be perfection. You deserve at least that much."

And so plans were excitedly made, the most excited among them being Ella. She'd rarely ever had the opportunity to attend the type of party Scorpius was planning. There had been parties when she'd been at Hogwarts, but she didn't go to those very often, as her friends in school hadn't been fond of them. She was glad she wasn't as close with her fellow Hufflepuffs as she used to be.

But then all of her hopes were dashed when Scorpius showed up at the Leaky Cauldron two days before the party during the second week of February. He found Ella alone in her flat as she went over the budget from the previous month, a somber look on his face.

"Cassie told me you were up here," he said almost apologetically. "I hope I'm not bothering you."

"No, of course not," said Ella, ushering him in with a sense of foreboding. His demeanor seemed resigned and despondent. He sat in an armchair by the fire - the one that Neville usually occupied - while Ella took the couch.

"I've had a letter from my aunt," he began. "She's not doing well, and she's requested I come home."

"Oh," said Ella, doing her best to hide her disappointment. "When do you leave?"

"Today," he said with a sigh. "I've already been gone longer than planned, so I suppose I really should be getting back. Though, to be honest, the moment I got here, I didn't have any desire to leave again."

He fell silent for a moment, his arms resting on his knees as his eyes scanned the room.

"Goodbyes are shite, aren't they?" said Scorpius with a desolate chuckle. Ella did her best to smile reassuringly.

"It won't be forever. I'm fairly certain you liked us well enough to do your best to come back."

A slight smile flickered across his face at her teasing tone. "I don't know when that'll be," he said in frustration. "It'll drive me mad, though, thinking of...you all here."

Ella saw the sincerity in his eyes as he looked at her, and it both excited and terrified her.

"We'll have to cancel the party," she said sorrowfully. "It wouldn't feel right having it with you not here."

"I'm just sad we put it off," he said regretfully. "You were right when you said we should do it right away. You're always right."

He was watching her closely, and a million thoughts flew through Ella's mind. What was he thinking? What was he feeling? Was she feeling the same things? Is that why she was fairly certain her hands would be shaking if she weren't clasping them tightly in her lap? The prospect of him leaving was putting things into perspective, and she was having a hard time sorting through the thoughts running through her mind.

"I wish I wasn't right about this," she said sadly. "But you'll be back," she added optimistically. "No matter what your expectations were coming into this trip, I think you've grown rather fond of us."

He gave a short laugh that was void of amusement. "More than you know."

Scorpius fell silent once again, his eyes glazed over as he stared unseeingly at the floor.

"I just have such a strong...connection to this place, you know?" he eventually continued. "And it's not just my dad or the fact that this is the only place I shared with my mum. Just meeting everyone and realizing how much I feel like I belong here with…"

His voice trailed off, and Ella felt her heart leap into her throat as it began to beat faster. What was he saying? Was he about to confess his feelings? Did he even have feelings?

"It's a shame you can't say goodbye to everyone," she said in an attempt to distract herself. "It would be difficult to track down all those Weasleys. It's a pity, really. Hermione would have loved to have sent you away with warm wishes."

She meant it almost jokingly, so she was a bit surprised by Scorpius' response.

"I already saw them, actually. At the Ministry. Well, some of them, at least. I saw Ron and Hermione, briefly. And Rose…"

For some reason, he trailed off, but his words were strong when he began again.

"You're brilliant, Ella," he continued, looking at her fiercely, "so I'm sure you know everything, no matter how hard I tried to hide it."

"What?" she asked, the word coming out soft and barely audible. She wasn't even sure if Scorpius heard her as he stood and began to pace around the room.

"The truth is..." he began, pausing at the fireplace and gazing at the flames, his stiff posture and facial expressions externalizing his internal debate. He sighed in resignation before turning to walk back towards Ella. "It's just…this place means a lot to me," he said, stopping to face her before sitting next to her on the couch. "I've grown to care so much for...everyone here."

He paused yet again, but Ella couldn't come up with a single thing to say this time. Thankfully, she didn't have to.

"But that doesn't matter right now," said Scorpius with a shake of his head. He offered her a small smile, seeming resigned as he reached out to grip her clasped hands in one of his. She met his eyes, her face blank as she tried to read his own. "I should be going."

Ella found herself nodding as he stood, and she did the same. He only paused for a moment longer to drop a light kiss on her cheek before he turned and left the room. And Ella was left to let her mind run wild with everything that had just happened. The things he'd said and the things he hadn't.

Did Scorpius have feelings for her? Was that what he was trying to say? And what Ella wanted to know even more than that, was whether or not she had feelings for him.

The idea was foreign to her. She'd never really taken a fancy to anyone before. There had been a few boys in school that she accompanied on dates to Hogsmeade, but that was it. No one had ever grabbed her attention long enough to stick around for any significant amount of time, and she'd never really been interested in finding something like that. Was all that about to change? Was Ella about to finally fall for someone? And was that person Scorpius Malfoy?

Ella's attempts to decipher her feelings for Scorpius Malfoy were a bit derailed almost a week after he left. She'd grown somewhat dull and a bit listless with his absence, and James - who didn't care for dancing and was almost relieved their night had been canceled - had rolled his eyes and been oddly irritated when he'd caught her sighing and staring off into space on a few occasions. Her tendency to do this had nearly convinced her that she did have feelings for Scorpius, when the entire subject was forgotten the day Helen came in looking more distraught than Ella had seen her in weeks.

She'd been doing much better since her heartbreak over Eddie Finnigan, especially with the presence of Scorpius cheering her up. But Ella knew the minute she saw her friend that something must have happened to cause this relapse, whether it had anything to do with Eddie or not. And it turned out that it did.

"He…" Helen began to choke out. "I just-"

But she was saved from having to explain when the door to the pub opened behind her, and the subject of Helen's heartbreak walked through the door. He was arm-in-arm with a tall, slender brunette that stood an inch taller than him, thanks to the shoes she wore that - in Ella's opinion - were a bit preposterous. Especially considering the current climate.

They were laughing merrily together, and Helen had just enough time to hurry into the kitchen before Eddie and Penelope approached the bar. Ella took a few calming breaths as they ordered drinks from Matt before Eddie spotted her at her booth, whispering something into Penelope's ear that made her cackle humorously before they both turned to walk towards Ella, who plastered a forced smile onto her face.

"Good morning," said Ella as they reached her, unsure of what else to say. Eddie's smile that she used to think charming looked a bit strained and even menacing as they stopped in front of her.

"Pleasure to see you as always, Miss Longbottom," he said in a slightly pompous manner. "You know Penelope, of course."

Ella nodded and did her best to smile at the girl, who flipped her hair over her shoulder before extending her left hand to Ella in greeting. She only had a moment to find this odd before the large diamond on Penelope's finger caught her eye and her jaw dropped in shock.

"You're engaged?" she managed to get out. Penelope nodded enthusiastically, a smug look on her face as she wound her other arm around her fiance, her left hand still flashing the ring at Ella.

"That's right," said Penelope. Her voice had a slightly raspy quality to it that Ella assumed was supposed to sound sexy and she wasn't even sure was completely genuine. "We spent the last few weeks in Rome together to get away from everything, and he proposed our last day there. It was utterly romantic. Really, I'm the luckiest girl in the world to have my Eddie bear."

Ella did her best not to gag as Penelope looked at Eddie with a sickeningly sweet look on her face. His expression mirrored hers for a moment before he turned to Ella with a smirk. "Sorry I haven't been around as much, but, like Penny said, I had more important things to be getting on with."

A tight lipped smile graced Ella's features, and she was just glad that Helen wasn't there to witness any of this. She would have been more than fine if he'd never shown his face again. Why he thought he'd been missed in the first place was beyond her.

"I don't remember the piano being down here before," said Penelope as she slid into Ella's booth without an invitation, Eddie following right behind her.

"We had a music night," Ella explained, doing her best to remain civil. "We've just left it down here since then, and it's gotten a lot more use than it ever did tucked away in my flat."

"Oh, well, I just simply love music," Penelope gushed. "I'll have to give you a little show sometime. It's a shame I missed your music night. Do you have any plans to do another one?"

"Actually-"

"I'd be more than happy to organize one for you," Penelope continued. "I've gotten quite good at throwing parties. My sister married into a rather wealthy wizarding family in Italy, and I was staying with them before I came back to town this past fall. She throws the most brilliant parties, so I've learned quite a bit from her."

"Thank you," Ella said when Penelope finally paused, "but we don't have plans to do another one anytime soon."

"Well, you just let me know if you ever change your mind," said Penelope, a simpering smile on her face as she leaned against her fiance, her left hand running up and down his arm.

Ella already didn't care for Penelope, but there was something about the way she was obviously staking her claim that irked her more than anything else she'd ever done, even though Ella had no interest in Eddie Finnigan. Penelope's behavior insinuated that she'd somehow been victorious over Ella, who didn't feel that to be the case at all. And trying to force herself onto Ella's turf on top of that? That was not going to happen.

She had to endure their company for a full twenty minutes after Cassie brought their tea over, giving Ella a look of sympathy as she did so. They droned on about their time in Rome, and Penelope even started telling her about wedding plans she'd already been making. Throughout the whole thing, Ella couldn't figure out why they felt the need to even talk to her, let alone to this extent. She could only guess that Eddie had told Penelope something about their shared history. How much of it was truth and how much fabrication?

She let out a great sigh of relief when they left, rising from her booth to head back into the kitchen in search of Helen. Sally had put her to work overseeing the chopping of the vegetables that they'd need throughout the day, and she seemed to have pulled herself together, for the most part. Her curly brown hair was as disheveled as ever, and her face seemed a bit pale as she methodically waved her wand so the diced vegetables flew into their respective pans.

"You alright?" Ella asked, her tone quiet so as not to be overheard by Sally. Helen gave a jerky nod.

"It was just a shock," she said timidly. "Are they gone?"

Ella nodded and Helen gave a sigh of relief, but she knew she had to tell her. "They're engaged."

Helen paused in her movements, but only momentarily. Her eyes glistened with unshed tears as she took a shaky breath and continued in her task. Ella was at a loss for what to do. This was all her fault to begin with.

"It's fine," Helen said. "I'm moving on. I hope he's happy."

Ella watched her skeptically, and she received a sad smile. "Really, Miss Ella," Helen assured her. "I don't want you to worry. I'll be alright."

With that less than reassuring sentiment, Helen went back out to wait on their morning customers, leaving Ella feeling no less disheartened than she had been the moment she first saw Helen's miserable face that morning. What a horrible mess that wasn't anyone's fault but her own. She could only hope that Eddie and Penelope wouldn't make stopping by the inn a habit.

"Hey, you okay?"

Ella turned to face the door, a warm smile appearing on her face when she took in the look of concern James wore, his head poking through the kitchen door.

"You're not supposed to be back here," she said in an attempt at a teasing tone, but he didn't smile or listen to her admonishment, choosing to come fully into the kitchen instead.

"I was looking out my window and saw them leaving the pub," he clarified. "What did they want?"

Ella let out a sigh as James came to a stop in front of her, his hands in his trouser pockets. "Probably just wanted to flaunt their happy relationship and her gorgeous diamond ring," she said, mocking the way Penelope talked and watching James' eyes widen in surprise.

"They're engaged?" he asked in astonishment. Ella nodded morosely.

"Yes, and Helen says she's fine, but I can't help feeling horrible. This whole thing is my fault."

She felt foolish as tears began to gather in her eyes, and she did her best to hide it from James. But she should've known better than to try and hide anything from him. He'd always been able to read her like a book. Ella found herself pulled into a comforting hug a moment later, and she gratefully relaxed into his familiar embrace.

"You're doing your best, Ella," he said in a soothing voice, barely discernible over the sound of Sally preparing various dishes of food, pots and pans clanging around as she seamlessly did her job.

"I wouldn't have to if I hadn't royally mucked it all up in the first place," she mumbled into his chest. She felt him chuckle as he rubbed her back soothingly.

"True, but I think you've learned a lot, so that's something to be thankful for."

Ella leaned back so she could look him in the eye. Something seemed off.

"Since when are you all 'look on the bright side?'" she asked skeptically.

"Am I not normally?" asked James, his hands now moving to rest on her waist.

"No," said Ella, not even having to think about her response. "I always saw you as more of a 'glass half empty' sort of bloke. You're telling me I've been wrong about you all these years?"

James gave a shrug, removing his hands from her waist and shoving them back in his pockets. Ella immediately felt cold at the loss of warmth his closeness had been providing.

"Maybe I just have a better perspective now," he said vaguely, his gaze wandering around the room.

"How come?" asked Ella, her curiosity piqued at his less than forthcoming attitude.

"Dunno," he said with another shrug, his eyes meeting hers once again. "Maybe I've just started realizing some things. Figuring out what's important."

Ella stared blankly at James. There was a slight smile on his face, but there was also a nervous quality to him. She stepped back and scrutinized him, her arms crossed as he nervously rocked back and forth on the balls of his feet.

"What's going on?"

James hesitated for one moment before he opened his mouth to respond, but they were rather abruptly interrupted by the sound of something crashing to the ground, closely followed by Cassie coming through the door.

"Oh," she said, pausing and looking between the two as Sally yelled her apologies for the racket. "Sorry, am I interrupting?"

"Not at all," James assured her with a kind smile. Cassie returned it before informing him that there was a Floo call alert from his room. He thanked her and followed her out of the kitchen, not even pausing to look at Ella let alone say anything to her. And a thought that she'd been vehemently denying for weeks reared its ugly head as she thought of James' new positive outlook, the way he'd just smiled at Cassie, and everything that he'd done during the music night.

As much as she couldn't bring herself to believe it, there was a very real possibility that James Potter was falling in love.

A/N: So it was fun to see all the reactions to my last chapter, and I'm sure there will be similar ones to this one. I really don't want to just tell you what happens, but don't give up if! Especially if the two people you want together don't seem to be heading that direction. Patience! This could probably be classified as a slow burn. Also, just to give you a timeline, there are 21 chapters written plus an epilogue and the prologue. So we are close to halfway through!

Thoughts on our new character? On Scorpius leaving? You know the drill!