Hi all, sorry this chapter was a little later than the others but I've been swamped with my new job, so much stress in such a short time I feel like I have a permanent headache :( But enough complaining here's the next instalment and we're just two chapters from the end now but never fear I've already started writing the sequel which will be called 'One love, One Lifetime' so I hope you'll all keep reading and telling me your thoughts :)
Merry Christmas (early I know but I just love this time of year! It's possible that I wrote this with a Santa hat on xD)
Chapter twenty-eight – Home for Christmas
Could it really be Christmas again already? Time seemed to have flown by lately and I could hardly believe I was on the train home again.
"We're here!" Lucy practically leapt out of her seat as the train pulled into the station, she was particularly eager to get home today because her parents had gotten her a dog as a present – it was all we'd heard about since she got the letter weeks ago.
"Ok I'll see you guys soon, remember you're all coming for dinner!" she flew out of the door before any of us could reply and for a few moments we just stared blankly at the door.
"I don't think I've ever seen her move that fast." Hugo murmured, a wave of laughter passed around us and we gathered up our things.
"See you at the Burrow." Emma called before she disappeared into the sea of students hurrying off the train, Al and Hugo followed her out arguing about the new Gryffindor keeper and I turned to Scorpius to treasure the last few moments we had together.
"You'll be at the Burrow?" I already knew the answer but needed to hear him say it to reassure me.
"Of course." He gently stroked back my hair and held my face between his hands.
"This never gets any easier you know." I grumbled no matter how often we were apart I always seemed to suffer just as much as the last time.
"I know, it gets worse." He gave me a small smile and softly stroked my cheeks with his thumbs, I took a deep breath trying to hold back the emotion that was threatening to burst through my calm façade.
"It's only two days." I chanted for the millionth time since we'd boarded the train, no matter how often I said it I couldn't bring myself to accept it wasn't a long time. It felt like an eternity already.
"Have a good Christmas sweetheart." Hearing the pet name he so often gave me tugged at my heart and small pained tears welled in my eyes breaking through my defences, I forced them back and sighed as I tried to regain my posture.
"I love you." I told him almost desperately, my voice quivering from the upset I was trying to hide.
"And I love you." He illustrated his words by kissing me tenderly and I clung to him in a fierce hug.
"Come on we'd better go." I reluctantly released my grip on him and let him lead me out.
The platform was flooded with families as usual, all hugging and chatting enthusiastically, I spotted my own parents deep in conversation with my Uncle Ron and Rose.
"Scorpius." The icy voice could belong to only one man, turning around we were met by Draco Malfoy striding towards us and I felt Scorpius sigh beside me.
"Hi dad." He greeted politely, Draco nodded stiffly and gave me a tight smile that I took to be a hello. I knew it was still difficult for him to be friendly with me but at least he was civil, I only hoped in time he would at least like me, maybe wishing to be loved by my boyfriend's father was asking too much.
"Are you ready to go?" Scorpius didn't answer his father's question, instead he turned to me and gave me a long hug. I didn't expect more, he was still uncomfortable being affectionate towards me in front of my family and I guessed it was because I had an overprotective father and two very overprotective brothers watching over me.
"Merry Christmas." I tried to sound as cheerful as I could in the circumstances and he smiled gratefully.
"I'll see you soon." He whispered touching my red hair glumly.
"Bye Mr Malfoy, have a nice Christmas." Draco looked rather surprised by my wishes and momentarily stood numbly, he blinked sharply and seemed to get a hold of himself again.
"Thank you, you too." I threw him a bright smile and hurried off over to my parents with one last wave at Scorpius through the crowds. If I tried not to think about his absence it was almost bearable. I barely had time to draw breath before James had seized me in a violent hug knocking my feet from beneath me.
"Bloody hell James you're going to crack a rib one of these days." I exclaimed gasping for breath, he laughed heartily and set me back down so that I could get a much gentler hug off my mother.
"Rose was just telling us she's going to meet Drew's parents for the first time next week." I hadn't even realised they were still together, how ignorant I was becoming lately letting myself be consumed by my love for Scorpius. I made a mental note to seek out my cousin at the Burrow and be sure to ask how their relationship was doing.
"Oh that's cool." I replied because I didn't know what else to say.
"Hermione loves him, I think she's already started planning the wedding." My dad added rolling his eyes.
"You really think they'll get married?" Al asked, screwing his face up in a mix of disbelief and hatred for the tradition, my dad opened his mouth to reply but was cut off my mother.
"Not anytime soon, Rose isn't the type to get married young. She's much too level-headed." I reflected on my mothers words trying to determine if I was the same as Rose, Scorpius and I had never really spoke about marriage but I had no doubt in my mind that one day we would, and if he did ask me would I accept? I was still thinking about that as we made our way to the car, if I did agree to marry Scorpius young what would that make me in my mother's eyes? Would I be considered reckless or impulsive? Would she think I was making a mistake and that I should wait until I was older?
Christmas was pretty much the usual, I was woken up at some ungodly hour by my brothers who seemed to convert back to their insufferable 10 year old selves during this holiday and then the day was filled with the usual excited opening of presents and eating far too much food.
Years ago when I'd been younger Christmas was something I looked forward to all year long, I started getting excited about it months before it arrived and the night before I would go to bed and just lie awake for hours unable to sleep until eventually exhaustion drew me in. But now it was just another holiday, I still loved exchanging presents and lazing around the house like slobs after my mom's massive Christmas dinner but in general my excitement over it all had died down a lot. Perhaps it was an age thing, or maybe it was that I hardly cared what holiday it was anymore because they all meant I got to spend more time with Scorpius.
I sat at the kitchen table still dressed in my pyjamas and eating my cereal in a tired sort of trance, going to bed early in the morning after spending hours talking with Al and James had really exhausted me and on top of that I'd had a terrible nights sleep filled with nightmares I was glad I couldn't remember. I prodded a random cornflake with the end of my spoon and watched it drift afloat the milk, my cat AJ was perched on the table next to my bowl licking at a saucer of milk I'd set out for him, I gently patted his head and he purred gratefully.
"Morning sis you look cheerful." Al came stomping into the kitchen yawning loudly and scratching at his messy hair. I ignored his comment and stabbed another cornflake with my spoon watching it swirl around in the bowl. My brother threw open a cupboard and extracted a bowl, making more noise than necessary and helped himself to the box of cereal off the table.
"Morning cat," he said to AJ patting him heavily on the back causing his little nose to be submerged in the milk.
"He has a name." I said sourly, the startled cat started sneezing as a result of the fluid going up his nose.
"At least he answered me."
"Albus he's sneezing not talking." He paused from shovelling spoonfuls of cornflakes into his mouth to arch a curious eyebrow at me.
"Why are you so grouchy today?" he demanded, his mouth still full.
"I'm not grouchy." I retorted angrily returning to pushing my cereal around its bowl, he squinted at me and then shrugged.
"I'm going to convince mum and dad to let Scorpius move in here, maybe then you'll stop being so bloody moody." My head snapped up and I stared at him incredulously, why did people keep saying I got moody whenever I didn't see Scorpius when it wasn't true, I wasn't moody I was just tired - Wasn't I?
"It has nothing to do with that." I said simply trying very hard not to imagine what life would be like if Scorpius did live with us. It wasn't healthy to lust after things that you couldn't have and this was definitely something I couldn't have. But oh how I wanted it. I angrily shook the thoughts away before my mind could daydream too much.
"Sure it doesn't." I scowled at his sarcasm and rose to take my bowl to the sink; I took AJ's saucer with me receiving a rather annoyed meow off him which I ignored.
"I suppose if it has nothing to do with that then your mood won't change when I tell you he's coming round later." I dropped the spoon I was holding and whirled to face my satisfied brother, he raised his eyebrows and gave me a smug grin.
"Scor is coming round?" I wanted to know for sure in case it was just another of his annoying jokes to prove he was right about something.
"Yep, but that wont have cheered you up at all right sis?" if it was possible his grin grew even wider and I resisted the overwhelming urge to slap him, my irritation was quickly replaced with excitement and nerves fluttering in my stomach in anticipation of Scorpius' arrival.
"Why didn't anyone tell me?" I demanded, my annoyance tainted slightly by my building happiness.
"I don't know." He shrugged clueless and returned to wolfing down his overflowing bowl of cereal. I bit down on my lip to stop the huge beaming smile that was threatening to spread across my face and realised I needed to clean myself up before he got here. At the moment I looked like I hadn't slept for days and my hair was sticking up in more directions than I could count. Rushing from the room I collided with a drowsy James on the stairs almost knocking him down.
"Oops sorry…" I apologised trying to steady him as he regained his footing and swayed sleepily.
"Crikey Lily why are you rushing around so early?" the latter half of his sentence was muffled by the huge yawn that he was unable to stifle.
"Oh no reason." I lied pathetically, he took in my wide shining eyes and the hectic spots of red scattered over my cheeks and rolled his eyes.
"Oh I get it, Scor's coming round." I scowled at him furiously, was I really so transparent?
"Oh shut up." I growled angrily and stomped up the rest of the stairs hearing him walk off laughing. Ok maybe I did get a little bit gloomy when I had to go a while without seeing Scor but that was only natural right? I mean everyone missed their boyfriends at the start of a relationship when you feel inseparable. Except Scorpius and I weren't at the start of our relationship anymore, we were nine months in, so was it normal that I still craved him every second that he wasn't there? Should he still be the thing that dominated my thoughts and transformed my day?
During the hours I waited for his arrival I tried very hard to convince myself that I was totally cool about it all, I wasn't buzzing with anticipation or fidgeting impatiently I was just trying to energise my body because of the lack of sleep. I wasn't glancing at the clock every minute because I was counting the seconds until his arrival, no I was just very interested in how the hands ticked around. But it was no use, it was all lies, I was completely consumed by my excitement at seeing him again.
I paced back and forth in my room trying to chill out and adopt a relaxed attitude, downstairs I could hear my parents talking and some unusual scuffling noises coming from the kitchen. Some grunting and shouts of disapproval drifted up and I guessed Al and James had been continuing the arm wrestling war they'd begun this morning over breakfast. I began to think that the pacing was helping, I actually did feel calmer and I'd managed to go ages without checking the time, but as soon as I heard the flames in the fireplace flare up I knew I'd been fooling myself and bolted from my room.
Scorpius was leaning on a chair in the kitchen watching and laughing at my brothers who were locked in another fierce arm wrestle, I halted at the door to the living room feeling my earlier nerves come flooding back. I paused for a moment trying to catch my breath and ignored the curious stares I was getting off my parents.
He noticed me then and all interest in Al and James disappeared, I saw his expression brighten and he opened his arms for me. I didn't have to think about it I just ran across the room and let him draw me against his chest, then unexpectedly he kissed me, he never kissed me in front of my parents and for a second I was utterly dazed. Slowly I felt my shock thaw under the gentle pressure of his lips and I kissed him back, it wasn't a big kiss but it was sweet and it told me exactly what I needed to hear – he'd missed me. We broke apart quickly and I waited anxiously for the reaction of the witnesses.
"Thank god you're here dude, she's been bloody evil I was starting to worry we were all going to get hexed!" I gave my oldest brother the meanest look I could muster and the three boys just laughed at me.
"Stop being nasty James, just because you've never been in love." My mother came to my defence, striding to the sink to dispose of some dirty glasses.
"How would you know if I've been in love?"
"Because you'd be acting exactly like Lily has been."
"So I'd be moping around moodily giving everyone evil looks and moaning like a lovesick puppy?" that did it, I got sick of my brothers joking about my behaviour in Scor's absence and slapped James around the back of the head as hard as I could.
"Ouch, bloody hell Lily I was only kidding." He grumbled miserably rubbing his sore head, Al could barely breathe from laughing and even Scorpius was having a hard time holding back his grin.
"Never anger a Weasley woman James, even half of one, you should know that by now." my father told him wisely dodging a pillow tossed at him by my mother.
"As much as I'm enjoying this James and I have an appointment to view a cottage, come on bro." they both rose to their feet and started tugging on their jackets.
"You're looking for a place already?" they had ages left before the end of the school year, surely they weren't that eager to leave home.
"Well not officially but this place is just over the hill so we thought we'd check it out." James told me casually, they both seemed oblivious to my uneasiness but Scorpius wasn't – he draped an arm around me and held me comfortingly against his body.
"Anyway, see you later." They bustled out of the door sparking up a new argument about who knows what; honestly all those two seemed to do was argue.
"Yes well we're off out for a while too, Hermione is redecorating their spare room and she wants a hand picking out a colour." My mother told me, rummaging around in one of her large bags for her keys, I cast an incredulous look at me father now lounging on the sofa.
"Dad you're going to help pick out colours?" I asked in disbelief, he snorted at the mere suggestion and shook his head.
"Not a chance, Ron and I are off to the pub." That made more sense, it was their usual action whenever their wives got together to do something domestic.
"See you both later." They disappeared simultaneously with loud pop's leaving me and Scorpius alone in the house. Suddenly I felt unusually nervous and refused to meet his gaze even though I could feel him looking at me, we'd been in the house alone together before and this was no different – so why was my heart hammering against my ribs and sweat beads forming on my neck.
"Um do you want anything to eat or drink?" I asked, more to break the silence than anything else, I broke away from his embrace and walked swiftly the cupboards needing to put some distance between us to calm myself down.
"No thanks, I had something before I left." Of course, it was the answer I was expecting but I'd asked anyway. Keeping my back to him I leant on the edge of the sink and tried to steady my racing pulse, what on earth was wrong with me? Was it possible I was ill? I felt fine though so that was doubtful.
Oblivious to my unstable state Scorpius walked around the table to me and circled my waist with his arms, I didn't turn around instead I just kept looking firmly out of the window and took deep breaths, my hair was drawn back into a ponytail today and I felt him press his lips onto the bottom of my neck. My weak heart fluttered hopelessly in my chest and I tightened my grip on the rim of the sink, his lips crept up the curve of my neck sending a wave of goosebumps over my skin, closing my eyes I let my head fall back onto his shoulder as his lips moved along my jaw. Then something cold touched my skin and I looked down startled, he'd draped a thin silver chain around my wrist and attached to it were several small charms.
"Merry Christmas Lily." He whispered, his cool breath washing over my skin and exciting the little hairs on the back of my neck. I lifted my hand so that I could admire the bracelet better, each of the charms was different and I carefully examined each one. The first was a small detailed love heart, then an unusual shaped diamond, a little silver scorpion, a delicate white lily and finally two letters wound together – an L and an S.
"Do you like it?" he asked growing impatient from my long silence, I didn't realise tears had welled in my eyes and I turned in his arms to face him.
"It's beautiful, thank you so much." He lifted my wrist and carefully took hold of the unusual diamond.
"This was the stone in my great-grandmother's engagement ring, it broke a long time ago but she wanted it to pass down generations like the ring would have been, so it's been my grandmothers and then my mothers and now it's yours." I stared at the stone sparkling in the dim lighting, it was undeniably beautiful and I was scared to ask how much it was worth. Then a new thought occurred to me, was he really giving me a Malfoy heirloom?
"Oh wow…Scorpius this is pretty big, I mean this is from your family are you sure you should be giving it to me…?" we'd only been seeing each other for nine months now and we hadn't even spoken properly about what the future held for us so should he really be giving me something this important? I didn't want him to regret it.
"You're the only person I would give this to." He was completely sincere and for a while I was speechless, though it may not seem it this was a huge statement – even bigger than the promise rings. I stood dazed staring at the sparkling stone trying to understand the rush of feelings that were gripping me. Scorpius took my face in his hands carefully and kissed me adoringly.
"Wait here." I told him when my lips where free, he nodded silently and I hurried out of the room on unsteady legs. I grabbed the long thin parcel off my bed and rushed back to the kitchen, Scorpius was still leaning casually against the sink awaiting my return. His eyes immediately wandered to the unusual shaped parcel in my hands as I held it out to him.
"It's not much, it's kind of from us all I suppose but I made it…" I let my voice trail off not sure what else to say and watched nervously as he tore open the flimsy wrapping. Inside was a long thin silver clock hand which his name engraved down the centre in white, I watched as his eyes widened slightly and he stared silently at the gift.
"It's um…for the clock…" I pointed to the family clock hanging above the fireplace, it was just like the one hanging in my grandparents' house indicating where each family member was except ours was slightly more modern and had a few different locations. Currently both my brothers' hands pointed to
out and my parents' hands indicated With Family, my own red velvet hand pointed directly at home and I gave the clock an affectionate smile. I was strangely fond of the unusual piece of decoration.
"I'm sorry it's a bit…um…" I stammered desperately scolding myself for not going with the book I'd originally planned to buy him, in the end I wanted to get something personal but I felt so silly giving him the clock hand now.
"It's perfect." He said simply, I stared at him surprised and saw the look of pure happiness hidden within his eyes. Wordlessly I waved him over to the clock, he stood for a moment letting his fingers stroke the silver surface affectionately before reaching up and fixing it firmly onto the clock face. It quivered in place and then swung around to sit still beside mine pointing to home and I mused at how right it felt to think of Scorpius being at home here in my house, he fit in with us here and with my family even though he technically shouldn't and that thrilled me.
"I know this isn't really your home but…" my voice trailed off again unsure what best to say and he took hold of my hand locking our fingers together.
"My home is wherever you are." He told me quietly keeping his eyes on the clock, my body flushed with pleasure and I let a content smile creep onto my face. How true that was, no matter where I went or what I was doing as long as I was with Scorpius I felt like I was where I belonged. I was home.
