Chapter 11

Lily stormed rather loudly into her dorm room back in Gryffindor tower. After taring herself away from a certain gray eyed someone in a dream involving situations her father certainly would not approve of, she proceeded to run into said gray eyed boy who was clad solely in a towel as she was exiting her room in the Head's suite. He must have cast some sort of spell on her last night because before now she was doing an okay job of keeping him in the 'friend' category. Now she felt like a typical teenage girl with raging hormones and risqué thoughts, and storming around to get Domenique's attention was usually a good fix for this type of mood.

"Merlin Lily! It's barely eight o'clock!" her cousin moaned from behind her bed curtains.

"Hogsmeade today," she said. "Want to look nice."

She heard the curtains to her cousin's bed immediately open. When Lily spoke in broken sentence fragments, things were bad. Domenique sent her a shifty smirk after taking in her morning appearance. "What happened to you last night?" she asked, standing up.

"Nothing," Lily defended.

"That's not what your hair says," he cousin smiled.

Lily ran to her mirror. Her hair was sticking up at all angles, just like James's did in the morning. Good thing it was indeed eight in the morning and the walk from the Head's suite to the Gryffindor tower was not far. "Nothing happened," she insisted.

"Wanna talk about it?" Domenique pushed on.

"Just pick me out something to wear for the day. We'll talk while we play dress up."

Domenique rumpled her nose. "At least go shower first jungle girl," she joked.

Lily rolled her eyes as she headed into the girl's bathroom.

Xxx

After a long, hot shower Lily stepped into the outfit her cousin had laid out for her; a pair of white capris, a yellow flowing top, and a pair of black flats. Her cousin had in the mean time showered, gotten dressed, and was motioning for Lily to sit in the chair in front of her 'beauty box' as Lily called it. Domenique lightly curled her hair and added some light make up to her face as Lily rambled about Scorpius and her inability to get over him.

"Well have you gotten it all out of your system now?" she asked.

Lily stared at her. "What do you mean have I gotten it out of my system? It will never be out of my system! I can't just go and forget about him can I? Of course I'm not done!"

"Well you had better be done quickly, David will be heartbroken if you keep talking about it over tea at Madam Puddifoots," Domenique smiled.

Lily groaned. "Did it really have to be that place Dom?"

"All blossoming relationships start at Madam Puddifoots over jasmine tea," she responded, moving on to do her own makeup.

"What if I don't want to start a blossoming relationship with David?" Lily asked.

Domenique spun around, glaring. "You're going. This is the last I want to hear of it." She sounded absolutely terrifying and Lily stopped her arguments straight away.

A few minutes passed in silence as Lily examined her appearance in the mirror. Domenique really knew what she was doing with those makeup utensils. "Who are you going with anyway?" she asked.

"Hmm?" she replied as she added eyeliner to her eye lids.

"You said a while back that this was to be a double date. Who are you going with?" Lily asked again.

Domenique screwed the lid back onto her eyeliner and tossed it into her bag. "Mark Fletchly," she responded.

Lily thought for a moment, trying to place a face to the name her cousin had given her. "Not the Ravenclaw Quidditch captain! Dom, we play them next Saturday! You can't go on a date with him!" Lily exclaimed.

"And why not? It's not like he can recruit me to his team or anything," she scoffed.

"What if he tries to poison you or something today? What am I supposed to do then?"

Domenique glared again. "Thanks for your concern, but I think everything is going to be fine."

"What if he slips Vertiserum into your tea and you spill all of our new Quidditch tactics?" Lily exclaimed.

"Number one, I don't usually play by your tactics, therefore I never listen to them. Number two, it won't happen so chill out!"

Lily glared back at her cousin. "Come on, it's time to get going. If you have a terrible time, I promise I'll never put you through this again," Domenique promised.

Lily nodded and the girls headed down to the entrance hall.

Xxx

Lily and Domenique met Mark and David outside of the tea shop and they headed inside after an exchange of 'hello's. There was a few minutes of silence as they each looked over the pink and red lacy tea listings and ordered. Lily made sure not to order the jasmine tea, just in case it really did have something to do with blossoming relationships, and was also sure to avoid any teas with cute names such as 'Forget-me-not.' Domenique, Lily noticed, avoided the jasmine tea as well, which made Lily smile. Why her cousin would ask Mark on a date while she liked another guy was a mystery, probably one that would never be solved.

Mark struck up a conversation about Quidditch, which immediately made Lily suspicious and caused her eyebrows to scrunch together. She sent a warning glance at her cousin, before starting a different conversation with David, who wasn't well versed in Quidditch talk. "What have you been up to so far this year, David?" she asked.

"Well you know, mostly just studying and stuff. Your Uncle George has been sending me some joke school supply samples to test out and send him back comments and improvements," he stated.

Lily faked a pout. "He never sends me anything."

"He probably figures the Head Girl has more important things to do," he replied.

Lily shrugged and sipped her tea. "So how's that stuff going?" he asked after a moment.

"What stuff?" Lily asked, absentmindedly.

"You know, all of your Head Girl duties?"

"Oh, well they're great. Nothing too overly exciting," Lily cringed at the emptiness and lack of enthusiasm in her words. There was something that always changes in a relationship when one feels that the other likes him or her as more than just a friend. That change is the introduction of awkwardness. She did not want to leave any room for David to question whether she liked him as more than a friend. Yet, she hated being so cold to him.

Lily played with the napkin on her lap and stared into her tea, looking up to see David fidgiting in a similar fashion. "So er, got any idea what you want to do after school?" she asked lamely.

David shrugged. "The only thing I've really known has been your uncle's joke shop. I'm not sure if I want to make a career out of it, but I am pretty good with charms and things like that."

Lily nodded. "So what about you? Any grand plans?" he asked.

Lily shrugged as well. "I've had a few Quidditch offers, but I don't know if I want to spend the rest of my life playing."

David nodded and the conversation died again. The second hand on the clock Lily had began staring at was perfectly still it seemed. How long did tea dates usually last? Hopefully not too much longer, she hoped. She listened as her cousin laughed her infamous 'that wasn't funny but I guess I'll laugh to make you feel better' laugh at a joke that Mark had just told. Something about a house elf and a unicorn maybe? Lily hadn't really been paying attention. It didn't seem like Domenique was having such a stellar time either, yet she hadn't suggested that they leave yet. Couldn't she tell that Lily was also having a dismal time?

Finally, Domenique turned her attention to her cousin. "Did you guys want to order some cakes or anything?" she asked quickly. Lily turned her immediate frown into a half smile and nodded. After putting in the order for the cakes, the conversation between Lily and David picked up a few more topics, but dropped them just as quickly as the others had been.

After the cakes were finished, the foursome happily stepped outside of the stifling tea shop and into the sunny streets of Hogsmeade. "I think Mark and I are going to go to the book store. Would you guys care to join us?" Domenique asked.

Lily opened her mouth to answer before David cut in. "I actually wanted to hang out with Lily for a bit, alone," he said.

Domenique smiled lightly at Lily who groaned on the inside. Why on Earth would he want to continue their date? She figured he would have wanted to stop while he was still somewhat ahead. She waved goodbye to her cousin and Mark, and was left alone with David. "Walk with me?" he asked.

She nodded, what other choice did she have. There was an awkward silence between them, making Lily want to turn around and run. "Fun date, huh?" Lily commented.

David sent her an awkward smile. "Yeah about that," he started. Lily held her breath, preparing for the worst. "I really enjoyed working with you and getting to know you over the summer, and I'm also really glad that we became friends."

Lily nodded, still bracing herself. Could she bring herself to say no if he asked her out? She didn't want to hurt his feelings, but she knew if she said yes she would never really be happy. "I was talking to Domenique about you on the platform at the start of the year since I knew she was your cousin. Well, next thing I know she was suggesting this double date," he continued. "I just wanted to know what you thought about it, you didn't really seem like your usual self."

Lily froze. What kind of conversation was this? Was he trying to tell her he liked her? Trying to ask her out? She wished she could run. "I er- well, I really like having you as a friend," she said.

David nodded. "But, I er-I don't think my feelings extend anymore than that," she finished, glancing at his face.

She was surprised to see a look of relief on his face. "You know, I was really hoping you'd say that," he said. "Not that I wouldn't mind having you as a girlfriend. Or well, if I liked you that way that is," he said defensively.

Lily laughed. "Don't worry about offending me! I just said I didn't want to be more than friends!"

He laughed nervously. "Well now that that conversation is over, want to go visit your uncle?" he suggested.

Lily nodded, still smiling. "Let's go. He's probably got his hands full with all of us Hogwarts kids here. The least we can do is cause some more trouble."

"There's my Lily!" David smiled as they walked to Weasley's Wizard Wheezes together.

Xxx

"Actually Nott," he said, crumbling the letter he was holding in his fist. "I don't need to go to the owl post anymore."

Nott looked in the direction his friend had just been staring and saw a red headed girl and a brown haired boy, laughing together. The red head he knew was Lily Potter, his friend's recent ex-girlfriend, he wasn't sure who the boy was. He didn't know what had happened between Scorpius and Lily, but Nott was guessing by Scorpius's attitude lately, he hadn't been happy about the break up.

There was something about the laughter and exchange, although he couldn't hear it, taking place between Lily and the boy, and that something wasn't a relationship or any kind of flirting. He knew flirtatious laughter when he saw it; he had been on the receiving end many times in his days at Hogwarts.

He turned back to Scorpius who was now grumbling, kicking rocks as they walked. "You know, a lot of mistakes are made by people who don't know the whole story," Nott commented.

Scorpius froze. "I mean, to me it doesn't look like there is anything between them but friendship," Nott continued.

"Between who?" Scorpius asked, nervously. He had been hoping his friend wouldn't have picked up on where his anger had come from.

"Lily and that boy, I'm not dumb Scor. I know I stay quiet and don't ask questions, but not this time. You have been taring yourself apart at school this year. I've caught you staring over at her during meals countless times. I don't think that those two are any more than friends. I can tell," he confirmed.

Scorpius sighed. "I don't know," he said.

"Well you will continue not knowing unless you ask her," Nott said.

"She doesn't want to be with me anyway, so what does it matter?" Scorpius responded, crumbling the letter even tighter in his fist.

Nott shrugged and pulled an extendable ear out of his pocket. Scorpius shook his head. "Suite yourself mate," he said, tucking the fleshy fake ear back into the pocket of his jeans.

They walked in silence for a few more minutes. Scorpius was contemplating something his friend had said to him, the part about not knowing the whole story. He glanced back at Lily who was walking away with David and he noticed that they weren't holding hands. He sighed and used his wand to straighten out the letter. It appeared as though nothing had started between them yet, and if he acted fast enough, maybe nothing ever would start. "Changed my mind."

Nott smiled. "I hear the white snowy owls are the fastest the post office offers this time of year," he commented.

Scorpius smiled. "Then I hope they have one available."

"What are you mailing out anyway?" Nott asked curiously.

"Same stuff as usual. Post Hogwarts Ministry stuff," Scorpius lied.

Nott sighed. "I understand if you don't want to talk about it, but do you really have to keep lying to me?" he asked.

Scorpius felt a twinge of guilt and ran a hand through his hair. "It has to do with Lily and why we broke up. I don't really want to talk about it right now though," he said.

Nott nodded and the boys walked in silence to the post office. Nott waited courteously outside for his friend, kicking pebbles on the street. He could see Scorpius choosing a great white snowy owl to deliver his letter. A few moments later, Scorpius exited the office, releasing the bird into the air. "Better do it's job. That was quite expensive," he sighed.

Nott nodded. "Quidditch shop time?" he grinned.

Scorpius nodded, and the two headed off to their favorite store in Hogsmeade.

xXx

"...so it turned out to be an okay day," Lily finished, telling Jocelyn the tale of how her extremely awkward date with David had turned into a fun 'friend hang out day.'

Jocelyn smiled. "I knew Domenique was going to far setting up that date. I mean, sure David was talking about you a lot, but that's only because he's social awkward in the way that as soon as someone starts a topic he knows something about he just keeps talking and talking. I could tell it wasn't anything special when he was talking about you, no offense of course," her friend said.

Lily shook her head. "None taken. I don't get it though. Dom is so good at giving relationship advice, yet this date thing was a disaster. Even she didn't like the guy she was with," Lily said.

Jocelyn shrugged. "I guess that's Dom sometimes. Maybe she just wanted to cheer you up? It's obvious something is bothering you," she said, hopeful for more information.

Lily sighed. Keeping Jocelyn in the dark about her situation with Scorpius was extremely hard and made her feel very guilty, yet she still found it a necessary precaution...and she really didn't want to talk about it at the moment. She sent her friend an apologetic smile. "What are you dating my cousin Philip or something?" Jocelyn joked.

Lily burst out laughing. Philip was Jocelyn's only cousin, and he happened to be 35, living with his parents in London. "Oh, you got me there Joss," she joked.

Jocelyn joined in with her laughter for a few minutes before they both let out sighs. "Did you say something about having to turn in those plans for the ball?" Jocelyn asked after a few minutes.

Lily nodded. "I supposed I better go confirm with Scorpius before turning them in for good."

"Can you at least give me a tiny hint about the ball? Even like when it will be or what the theme is?" Jocelyn pleaded.

Lily smiled. "It will be before the holidays and everyone is sure to wear a new face," she said, smirking.

Jocelyn contemplated her words for a few moments. "Lily that was not an adequate answer."

"Ah but you did not specify that you wanted an adequate answer," she replied, gathering her bag to head to the Head suite. "I'll see you later."

"See ya," Jocelyn responded.

She and Scorpius had decided on a masquerade ball to eliminate the students' stress over finding a date to the event. It was to be held in a month's time, just around Halloween, but was not considered to be associated with the holiday. Lily and Scorpius had agreed that this was to be a formal event, not one with costumes. The masks would be costume enough.

Lily stepped into the portrait hole and looked around for Scorpius. She saw light streaming through the glass library doors and headed towards them. She saw his head laying flat on the table top in front of him. Lily smiled at the sight before walking over to gently shake him awake.

"What timesit?" he mumbled.

"What was that sleeping beauty?" she joked.

"What time is it?" he asked again, rubbing his eyes.

Lily brought her empty wrist up to face level and responded, "A freckle past a hair."

Scorpius rolled his eyes and turned around to look at the clock on the wall. "Seven, right on time Lily," he said, stretching.

"What were you up to today that's got you so tired?" she asked.

"Nothing, walked around Hogsmeade. Nothing big, no date or anything," he said.

Lily blushed. "I guess not everyone can go on dates at Hogsmeade," she joked nervously.

She saw Scorpius's eyes drop as she said this. "Well, er not that I was on a date. Well I guess technically I was, but it was so awkward, and well, I guess maybe I wouldn't call it a date. I mean we weren't even interested in each other, it was just Dom trying to be nice and everything. It was one of the most awkward things of my life. Honestly. Well I guess there was that time that-"

"Lily really! Take a breath once and a while," Scorpius joked. "You really haven't changed at all since I first met you."

Lily laughed again. "Yeah, I guess not. Although, I have moved on to more sophisticated games than hide-and-seek."

"You play tag now?"

"Ha ha ha. Quidditch ring a bell?" she laughed.

"You talked about Quidditch one of the first times we met as well," he remembered.

"You haven't changed either. You still remember everything," she joked.

He smiled lightly. "I like my memories," he said, staring at her face.

Lily blushed and looked away from his eyes, busying herself with the papers outlining the plans for the ball. "We should probably go over these one more time before we turn them in to McGonigall," she suggested.

Scorpius nodded.


A/N: Thank you for all of the lovely reviews! I really really can't tell you how much I appreciate them! I was going to make this chapter longer, but thought this was a good ending point and I hope you all enjoyed it! I have a solid outline for chapter 12 and it should be posted within the next few days I hope!