A/N: Thank you to everyone who has left reviews so far! It's so appreciated, and I'm glad you're enjoying the story! What do you think is going to happen next?!

The Great Hall was abuzz the next morning with gossip. From Slytherin to Gryffindor, news of what Lily had done in Potions and more had spread.

Conner had rushed to breakfast that morning, his stomach in a knot the entire night before. He had wanted to tell Hugo about the Donnum Surminstrato spell, but for Lily's sake he had held back. He knew Hugo would run with it, use the spell as ammunition, and as much as he detested Scorpius, he didn't know for sure if it had been used on him.

As he entered the Great Hall he scanned the Gryffindor table for Hugo, and saw him sitting, his plate full of food but not touching any of it.

"Morning," Conner said taking the seat next to him, but turning to face him. "The entire castle's talking."

"Thanks for the news flash," Hugo said with disdain, but Conner knew he was frustrated and hurt.

"I've heard it all from what happened, to that their planning to elope over Christmas break." Conner loaded his plate with sausage, egg and toast.

Hugo made a noise like he was sick.

"He's like, programming her mind. He must be using some kind of spell or potion to control her… Hey, do you think he could be using a love potion?" Hugo asked the thought hitting him for the first time.

"She said she loved him?" Conner said stunned.

"NO!" Hugo exclaimed. "But what else. I mean she said they weren't "dating", but where else could she be going all those hours."

Conner let Hugo's words sink in. He hoped he was wrong. He felt the need to tell Hugo what he knew, but he wanted to be sure first.

"Well why don't we find out?"

"Whadya mean?" Hugo asked, finally taking his first bite of breakfast.

"Let's search the castle tonight when she's gone off, and if we find them together then we'll know. She might not listen to you, but if we let James and Albus know, or your dad for that matter, then she'll have to listen," Conner said confident in his plan. "Plus, then I can move in to comfort her." He winked and Hugo rolled his eyes.

"Ok, we'll split up. I'll take the east side of the castle, you take the west. It's too cold to be out on the grounds," Hugo said level headily. They scarfed down the rest of his breakfast and both rose to head to class. For Lily's sake, they were determined to put an end to Lily and Scorpius that night.

Conner counted the hours until nightfall. This was his chance to figure out if Scorpius had been cursed or not, and either way, get Lily away from him. It wasn't that he didn't want Lily to be with other guys, he knew his chances of ever being with her were slim, but just not Scorpius. Curse or no curse, Scorpius Malfoy was just not a good person.

Conner had checked the various classrooms on the west side of the castle that students liked to inhabit for privacy afterhours, and stumbled in on some sixth years in a couple of them. He checked the nooks of crannies of dark hallways, and at times when he suspected it, put his hand out incase Lily and Scorpius were under the invisibility cloak.

Thinking it'd be the last place he'd find them since anybody could go in, Conner made his way into the library. Finding the main study tables empty, he meandered through the aisles of bookcases and halted when he saw Scorpius alone at a table tucked away in a corner.

Conner watched as Scorpius scratched away at a piece of parchment, a book open next to him. Scorpius sat with perfect posture, and had such an air about him that it made Conner feel like a first year to be in his presence. Conner hated that Scorpius had such a powerful effect without even trying.

"Not with Lily?" Conner said without even realizing that he intended to speak. Scorpius' head turned towards him, slowly and calculating.

"What do you want?" Scorpius drawled. He seemed unperturbed and yet disgusted with Conner's appearance before him.

"Have you seen Lily?" Conner asked. His confidence rising as he was bolstered by anger.

"Not yet." Scorpius' words hung in the air. Conner understood them for what they were, a big screw you to the people who actually cared for her.

"What are you doing to her anyway? Toying with her emotions?" Conner approached the table he was at. "She's not just a thing to be used and discarded."

"I know." Scorpius words hit Conner hard. He wasn't expecting that.

"And you don't deserve her."

The thing inside Scorpius roared with anger, it was taking everything he had to control himself. At first he had just wanted Conner to go away, to quit being the annoying pest that he was, but now the beast inside wanted him to stay until he could no longer control himself.

"At least she chooses to spend time with me, instead of running away from you," Scorpius said knowing it would hit a nerve with Conner who had pined, as Lily confessed to him, for her since before they were first years.

Conner saw red. He wanted to slug Scorpius in the face, take him down, but he knew he'd never stand a chance in a physical battle against him. Scorpius was too tall and too strong.

"I don't think she'd choose to spend time with you if she you knew your secret," Conner said and placed both of his hands down on the table in a power position. Scorpius stood up and towered over him.

"You have no idea what you're talking about," Scorpius said slightly worried, even though he thought he had no reason to be. The ape Conner couldn't have pieced it together when he barely understood it. It was probably just some rumor he had heard flying around.

"Oh, don't I?" Conner asked, now smug, knowing he had something over Scorpius. "Does the spell, Donnum Surminstrato sound familiar?"

The beast roared inside Scorpius, angered like it had never been before. Without giving Connor the chance to run, Scorpius felt the magic inside of him on fire. Conner went flying up against a bookshelf that shook against his weight. Conner gasped as the wind was knocked out of him, he felt like he had just been hit with a thousand bricks right in the middle of his chest. The back of his head was bleeding.

Scorpius walked up to him, intent on killing him. Conner saw it in his eyes, now a dark grey and plain evil.

"If you hadn't been so jealous, maybe you could have avoided this," Scorpius said putting his hand around Conner's throat. "You never had a chance with her. You stupid, little, ape. How could she ever fall for the likes of you? You're worthless and eager, an annoying pest flying around."

Scorpius tightened his grasp around Conner's throat. His head was bleeding profusely now and it was difficult to breathe.

"I'll…kill you," was all Conner could get out. Scorpius laughed and removed his hand. Conner thought he'd be able to breathe now, but his airway got tighter. A pain that he couldn't describe grew throughout his body, starting at his hands and feet.

"Do you really think you could threaten me?" Conner's body fell to the ground and he landed on his hands and knees. He was screaming, screaming louder than he knew he was capable of, but there was no sound coming out of his mouth. Scorpius kicked him over, and Conner laid spread eagle on the ground. A pool of blood formed under his head. With no warning Scorpius raised his foot and stomped on Conner's face, breaking his nose in a single swift motion.

Conner saw everything around him fading. He wasn't scared for himself; he welcomed it he was in so much pain. But he was terrified for Lily. He started screaming "I'll kill you if you touch her, I'll rip you apart," but he wasn't sure if he was even making a sound.

Scorpius heart raced, the beast now satisfied with its work. What had he done? Inside the castle, he had taken the life of a child trying to protect Lily, something he would do in an instant.

Her face floated to his mind and he fell to the ground, the knees of his robes bathed in Conner's blood. This would destroy her.

And that was when he heard her gentle footsteps coming down the path that lead to their spot. He jumped up with cat like reflexes and spun around.

"Lily, don't come back here." She had been wearing a smile but it vanished in an instant. Lily surveyed Scorpius and saw the bottoms of his robes covered in blood, his hands wet with it too.

Her feet propelled her forward, silent and scared for what she was about to see.

"Lily, please," Scorpius begged, she had never heard such a gravelling tone in his voice. "Go!" he bellowed at her. He grabbed her when she was close and brought her into him. She could feel him release a sob into her hair. Still accepting his embrace she struggled her head away so that she could see.

"Oh my God," she said and dropped the books in her hand.

Conner was lying covered in blood, his nose sideways, the veins in his arms and neck jet black. Lily covered her mouth, looked at him and said. "It's true."

Scorpius couldn't look at her. She watched as he sunk to his knees in defeat.

She ran over to Conner and put her hand on his chest.

"Conner?" she said gently shaking him. He didn't respond. All thoughts ceased as her body took over. She placed her ear over Conner's mouth, and leaving her hand on his chest she waited. The faintest of breaths trickled out from his mouth, blood from his nose trailing into it.

She took off the satchel she was carrying and reached her hand into it. Scorpius watched as her face contorted looking for something at the bottom of it. Pulling her hand out quickly she revealed a small glass vial, filled with a thick red substance.

Scorpius turned around to better watch Lily as she tipped Conner's head back and poured it down his throat. Almost instantly color came back into his skin although he still looked bad.

Lily rubbed her hand across her forehead without realizing it was soaked in Conner's blood. She took her wand and held it to his nose, murmuring words under her breath.

Conner's nose popped back into place, though not exactly as straight as it had been before. The blood began to dry around his nostrils. Gently, Lily turned him to his side and murmured the same words pointing the wand at his head. This time, Scorpius could even see the skin stich itself back together.

Lily flipped him back over and began magicking the blood away from his body.

"You, you saved him?" Scorpius asked, his voice catching in his throat. He was so ashamed. Lily pointed her wand at Conner's face and said, "confundus".

"He needs to go to the infirmary," she said not looking at Scorpius. She stood, herself now also covered in blood, a mark across her forehead. With magic, she raised Conner's body into the air. She reached into her satchel again and removed the invisibility cloak from it. She draped it over Conner's still lifeless looking body.

"Meet me on the fourth floor, at the tapestry of the trolls," she said and looked Scorpius in the eye. He nodded and watched her walk down the path and out of the library, ever more convinced he was in love with her, and not knowing how he would deal with the fact that she would hate him.

He waited a moment, his heart pounding. He could follow her plan, and meet her at the tapestry, but what sort of life would he condemn her to by doing that? It was better to go, he decided. Though the thought killed him to leave her, he was protecting her by doing so. Bloom and the Ministry couldn't keep him here as he was of age. Once off the school's grounds, he'd apparate to his family's home in France and retreat into a life of seclusion if she didn't turn him in which she had every right to. A part of him hoped she would; hoped he could rot his existence away in Azkaban until he died. Although at first he disliked this thought because the only happiness he'd have taken away from him was the thoughts of Lily, he knew he'd never forget her because this was the absolute worst he had ever felt.

He had convinced himself she made him better, that he could control this curse. He had never been so wrong. He was almost sick with how happy a part of him had been to see Conner lying there, he thought, dead. He couldn't go on living like this.

Knowing if he waited another minute his mind might change, he bolted from the library in the opposite direction of the fourth floor.

Lily's mind raced as she headed for the room of requirement. The images of what had just happened swirled before her. Conner's body, the blood, his faint breath, walking the halls of the castle, setting off one of her uncle's jokes to draw Madame Pomfrey out of the infirmary. Lily had watched as Pomfrey gasped and magicked Conner into the infirmary, relieved that he'd received the medical attention he need.

In that moment, she knew she was wrong, knew her Aunt Luna had been right about the Donnum Surminstrato charm that Scorpius had been cursed with that Halloween night years ago. Her heart broke thinking of what his father had done to him, robbing him of the person he would've become. Hugo had been right, Scorpius was no good, but she knew that wasn't his fault. Looking into Scorpius eyes when she got to the library, seeing the shock and remorse, she knew he didn't mean it, that he couldn't control it.

Rounding the corner her stomach dropped when she didn't see him in front of the tapestry. She felt her heart race more than it had at all that night. Scorpius wouldn't take off and leave her… would he? She turned on her foot and at a quick pace rushed back to the library hoping to find him there, perhaps too afraid to move, but he was gone. The spot she had shared with him for weeks looked so normal, as if nothing had happened. But then Lily pictured Connor's body lying on the ground where she was standing and closed her eyes. More heart wrenching than Connor's form when she found him was Scorpius, defeated and broken on his knees.

Realizing what he was going to do, Lily ran from the library towards the Great Hall. She ran with abandon, knowing she should care if she was caught but being too worried he would do something they'd both regret.

Reaching the foyer of the castle, Lily heard the entrance doors shut quietly and she panicked.

The night was cold, the wind whipped violently, burning Scorpius' face.

"Scorpius!" Lily shouted. He turned around relieved she had caught him but disappointed he hadn't been able to leave quick enough. "Where are you going?"

Scorpius stood there, the moonlight shining off his blond hair. He was wearing his cloak and had his backpack on his shoulder.

"I'm leaving, Lily," he said, the words paining him. Lily's stomach dropped. She was still wearing her school robe; the bottoms of it were soaked in Connor's blood.

"You are?" her body ached.

"I should never have come here to begin with," he said his hands dropping to his sides. "I'm sorry."

Scorpius turned to head down the path. If he didn't leave now he knew he never would.

"You can't just go," Lily said louder, as the wind howled. She didn't even feel the cold, just a hollow at the thought of not being with him.

"You can turn me into the Ministry, I won't fight," he replied without turning around to face her. "I deserve it, deserve the kiss… Good bye, Lily."

"Scorpius!" Lily almost shouted, it made him pause in place. "I love you!"

It was the last thing he had expected to hear her say. He turned around to face her.

"What?" he asked in total shock. Lily took five confident strides towards him. She hadn't realized she would say it, but she knew in her very core she meant it more than anything she ever said before. She reached him and put her hand on his forehead, brushing his hair out of his eyes.

"I love you," she said again. "I think have since I first saw you."

"How can you love me? I'm a, a monster." he said honestly, his eyes bore down at her.

"That's not you," she replied. She met his gaze and held it self-assured in her love.

"What if I did that to you," he said, the fear rising in his throat. It was the worst thing he could ever do.

"You could never hurt me like that," she said. She believed it at her very core, he could never harm her physically or mentally. She watched as his gaze dropped, torn in his emotions.

Lily imagined Scorpious walking down the path and out the gates. Before she had met him, she had thought she was happy, but that happiness she had experienced in the recent weeks was more than she could ever imagine.

"Lily, I can't control this, thing, inside me," he confessed. Lily was the only thing that made him feel better, but he would die before he would hurt her.

"Scorpius," she whispered. He brought his gaze back up to her. "If you leave, I think it will kill me."

They stood feet apart staring at each other. Lily felt tears brim her eyes, and Scorpius' chest was tight.

"I can't control it," he repeated, his hands clenched in fists at his sides.

"I trust you," she replied. She took her hand off of his face, and picked up his. Placing it on her heart, he could feel that it wasn't racing, it was steady and sure. "We can figure out how to break the spell."

"It's impossible," he said. "My mother tried."

"We'll try harder," she cupped the side of his face with her hand. "I won't give up on you."

"Lily, I love you," he said, he brought his lips to hers and kissed them ferociously. Lily fell into him, embracing his warmth she responded in kind, and he picked her up.

Wind whipped them back and forth as they stood there, forehead-to-forehead, eyes interlocked. Neither of them had to say it, they both knew. Their lives were intertwined and there was no going back.