'Are you coming today or what?' James stopped and turned around in front of the barrier dividing Platforms Nine and Ten at Kings Cross Station, leaving one hand on his trolly. He looked back at his two siblings with an exasperated expression.

Lily and Albus stood side by side, staring at the brick barrier with eyes wide like startled sheep. Lily's face was pale and Albus kept scuffing his shoes against the ground as though hoping creating footstep-like noises might help him avoid being made to move.

Lily turned to look up at Albus's strained expression. She had been so caught up in her own worries about how the rest of the student body would respond to the article in Witch Weekly that she hadn't even realized that this would be Albus's first day back at Hogwarts since he had been whisked away to St Mungos.

'Come on kiddie-winks, do I have to hold your hands?' James called out.

Lily couldn't even muster up the energy to roll her eyes at him. She knew he was trying to put them at ease by pretending not to know what was wrong, but no amount of feigned ignorance was going to distract her from the fact that every student in school had seen intimate photos of her with Scorpius splashed all over the front page of perhaps the most widely read magazine in all of Wizarding Britain.

Fides was fast asleep, draped over Lily's left shoulder and Lily felt somewhat jealous about his ability to remain entirely indifferent to the situation. She supposed, cover or not, the Witch Weekly didn't really mean all that much to magical kittens.

Despite her usual independent nature, Lily found herself wishing that her father was there. For the first time since they had started Hogwarts, Lily, Albus and James had made their way to the platform without their parents. After some discussion with their children, Harry and Ginny had decided it would be for the best if they didn't accompany them all the way onto the platform this time. Their children were well and truly old enough to navigate their way around London now and Harry was keen to avoid garnering any more unwanted attention towards them due to his recent notoriety.

Lily had felt fine about going without them until she had actually arrived at the station. But now, seeing the brick barrier in front of her, her feet felt heavy and her breathing deepened.

'It'll be fine'

Albus's voice sounded softly from beside her. Lily turned to look up at him in surprise.

'I won't let anyone bother you' Albus gave her a resolute look before striding forward to the barrier. He ignored James' outstretched hand and walked right through the barrier ahead of all of them.

Lily exchanged a look with James who had his eyebrows raised. Then she quickly treaded forward. If Albus, after everything he had been through, had the courage to face everyone, then she felt she really ought to as well.

Closing her eyes and holding her breath, she took a step through the barrier as James looked on with sympathetic eyes. Within a matter of seconds, her ears filled with the familiar sound of students chattering and the whistle of the Hogwarts Express. Lily gingerly opened her eyes.

Just as she had feared, dozens of sets of eyes glanced towards her from all corners of the platform. Doing her best to ignore them, Lily watched her feet as she sauntered forward towards where Albus stood waiting for her.

'Looks like his father decided it would be better not to come too' Albus muttered, looking over at the far end of the platform.

Lily's eyes fluttered upwards and over in the direction he was looking. Looking obviously uncomfortable, eyes darting in all directions and half hidden by one of the large brick columns that lined the platform was Scorpius.

Lily felt her chest tighten. She had lost count of the number of times she'd been stared at by crowds of people, it had happened too often over the course of her life- whenever her mother had won a quidditch game, whenever she travelled to a new place with her father and he was recognized. But Scorpius wasn't used to this.

Lily instinctively made to walk towards him but Albus grabbed her by the arm.

'Are you sure you want to do that?' He frowned sympathetically. 'You're just going to make it worse'

Lily bit her lip and furrowed her brows at him.

'Sometimes things have to get worse before they get better' she told him firmly.

A small moment of silence passed between them as Albus's expression tightened and he looked her in the eyes. Then, with a small, reluctant nod, he released her arm. Lily strode quickly away.

Scorpius's eyes rounded as she approached. Lily could see his mouth forming her name as he urged her not to approach in a hurried whisper. She kept walking anyway, until she was standing right in front of him. The platform had gone eerily quiet as students, huddled into groups, watched them from all sides.

Lily's jaw tightened as she looked up at Scorpius resolutely. He was looking down at her with an apprehensive expression.

'Lily-'

'There's no point hiding it now' Lily told him. 'So we may as well get through this together'

She was looking right into his eyes, willing him to stop worrying. She knew that he was thinking about what this all might mean for her and her reputation.

Scorpius was silent for a moment. He looked between her eyes carefully before letting out the breath he had been holding. Then, to Lily's relief, a smile formed on his lips.

'I suppose that's true'

Lily felt his palm slide into hers, his fingers curling around her hand.

Lily's face broke out into a grin. She beamed up at him, feeling more relaxed than she had all week.

A great number of eyes were still following their every move, but somehow it didn't seem to matter anymore. Lily stepped backwards, pulling Scorpius by the hand out from behind the brick column.

'Let's go find a compartment'

Despite the whispers that erupted from every side as they walked towards the carriages, Lily felt unbelievably light all of a sudden. For almost five years they had been pretending not to know each other in front of their classmates. But now there would be no more need to whisper to one another in empty classrooms or to check over their shoulders as they walked towards each other in desolate corridors. They could just be themselves.

With her hand still in Scorpius's guiding him along, she was about to reach the entrance to a carriage when a friendly face appeared beside her.

'Are we not pretending we aren't friends anymore?' Lysander looked from Lily to Scorpius, an enormous smile lighting up his features.

'Didn't you see the magazine?' Lily asked astonished.

But Lily could already see that Lysander was distracted by something behind them on the platform. He was looking over Lily's shoulder as he grabbed Scorpius's other hand. Scorpius looked at Lysander in surprise. He now had one hand around Lily's and one in Lysander's firm clasp. But before Scorpius had time to question what was happening, Lysander darted off across the platform, pulling both Lily and Scorpius along after him in a haphazard chain. The motion of Lysander jerking Scorpius, and then by extension Lily, away from where they had been standing was enough to jolt Fides out of his slumber.

Poppy heard the cat yowling in protest and turned to see them coming even before Lily realized what was happening. Her eyes widened and she took a step backwards.

'What on earth are you doing Scamander?!' Poppy cried out as Lysander grabbed her hand with his remaining free one and began pulling her along too.

'We all get to be proper friends now' Lysander announced happily. He ran over to the carriage with them all in tow. Lily had thought that she and Scorpius had been garnering attention earlier, but now people were openly staring at the group, their mouths hanging open.

It was a relief when Lysander finally led them all inside one of the carriages and into an empty compartment. Lily practically fell into the seat. Her shoulder was sore from where Fides had dug his claws in to prevent himself from flying off of her as they had run. The Kneazle in question was now curled up in her lap, the hair on his back still standing up and a low hiss of disapproval emitting from his tiny kitten mouth.

To her surprise, the sound of Scorpius snorting with laughter soon covered over Fides's angry expletives. Lysander joined in, looking rather pleased with himself for having made the usually reserved white haired boy amused.

'What on earth has gotten into you people?' Poppy demanded. 'One magazine cover and suddenly we're all running around like children who've had too much cordial'

'What magazine?' Lysander asked between chuckles.

Poppy's face contorted into an expression of disbelief.

'I live exclusively with muggles during the holidays and even I've bloody seen it!'

Lily had just opened her mouth to patiently explain the situation to Lysander when the door of the compartment flew open with a bang. She shrunk back into her seat at the sight of her enormous half giant classmate leering over at them.

'This explains it!' Raul Pucey boomed. He threw down a copy of Witch Weekly onto the table in between the four and it landed with a loud slap on the surface.

Lily winced at the sight of her and Scorpius kissing passionately on the cover. She felt like she had seen it a million times by now and yet its ability to make her flush never seemed to wane.

'Explains what you great oaf?' Poppy asked irritably.

Without a word of warning Pucey forced his way onto the seat beside the silky haired blonde, pushing her roughly closer towards Lysander who had to jump up onto the seat and crouch with his back pressed against the window in order to avoid being crushed.

'Why Malfoy got all shirty with me that time on the grounds and threatened to get me with a forbidden curse. Why Potter got so mad at me when I told her I was gonna help Carrow put a dead bird on the steps leading to Malfoy's dormitory. Why Potter refused to go out with me!' Pucey's booming voice broke a little as he spoke. He was looking across the table at Scorpius with accusatory eyes. Scorpius blinked back at him calmly, completely unfazed.

'I refused to go out with you because you were a complete twat to me, remember?' Lily tutted at him.

Pucey looked over at Lily and back again at Scorpius sulkily. He seemed to be mulling something over. Then after a few moments of tense silence he stuck a hand out towards Scorpius.

Scorpius folded his arms and raised an eyebrow.

'What are we shaking for?'

'Just do it so we can breath again' Poppy, who was still sandwiched between Pucey and Lysander, whined.

Scorpius let out a sigh and extended a reluctant hand out to shake Pucey's huge one.

'Word of advice though' Scorpius leaned forward whilst their hands were still clasped. 'I wouldn't mess with Lily again if I were you'

'Is that a threat Malfoy?' Pucey's voice rose sharply as he spoke.

'No' Scorpius retorted calmly. 'I mean it, I wouldn't mess with her if I were you, she'll kick your arse'

Pucey's face, which had been stone hard with fury moments before, broke out into a grin.

''spose that's true' he snorted glancing over at Lily. Lily narrowed her eyes at him to let him know it certainly was. Fides let out a threatening yowl to reinforce her position.

Poppy had her head turned to the side and was shooting daggers at the large boy, waiting for him to get up and leave. But instead of moving, Pucey reached around to grab something out of his back pocket.

'Game of exploding snap anyone?' He asked cheerfully, dropping the pack of cards onto the table on top of the copy of Witch Weekly.

'Yes please!' Lysander chimed up from where he was still squished against the window as Poppy let out a groan.


'When do you suppose this might stop?' Scorpius asked Lily casually.

They were walking down the first floor corridor on their way to the great hall for lunch. Lily had one hand clasped around the inside of Scorpius's upper arm and was leaning against him as she held open her potions textbook in front of her face with the other. With her OWL's fast approaching, it was an excellent way to sneak in some study between classes without having to pay attention to where she was walking.

But at the sound of Scorpius's voice Lily looked up. She wasn't surprised to see two sets of eyes looking them up and down. Alanna and Hazel were walking up ahead but had gone to the trouble of straining their necks around just to get a good look at them.

'I don't know' Lily admitted with a sigh. The attention didn't bother her so much. The joy of being able to spend time with Scorpius whenever she liked far outweighed any discomfort she felt at having her peers constantly staring at them. In fact, Lily was so delighted to finally be able to spend time around Scorpius in public without having to worry about making sure they were alone, that she found herself seeking him out whenever she had a spare moment between classes.

But it had already been over a month since they had boarded the train back to Hogwarts after the Easter holidays. Spring was turning into Summer. James and Jonathan were looking more and more rugged and sleep deprived as their NEWTs grew nearer. And yet still, Lily and Scorpius found themselves being watched wherever they went.

Lily could tell that Scorpius was struggling with all of the scrutiny. He had spent his six years at Hogwarts thus far making sure he received as little attention as possible by keeping to himself. He was shy about taking her hand in public and always waited until they were completely alone to put an arm around her waist or place a kiss on her lips. Unfortunately for Lily, their newfound celebrity status in the school had meant that it was now even more difficult for them to sneak off somewhere alone without any prying eyes following them. She found herself longing for his touch, despite or perhaps because of the fact that they were now spending so much time together.

Lily stopped abruptly as the entrance way to the Great Hall came into view.

Scorpius turned to look down at her questioningly.

'I have a better idea' she told him.


A few minutes later, Lily walked out of the dark tunnel that led from the dungeons to her hideout under the bridge on the north side of the castle, and into the sunshine holding a picnic basket. Scorpius was already there, sitting with his long legs sprawled out across the grassy slope, waiting for her. Lily dropped the basket beside him, plonked herself down and opened it up with a sly grin.

'Much better than eating in the great hall with everyone watching, wouldn't you agree?'

Scorpius nodded, his lips twitching upwards into a smirk. 'Did you ask your friend Nuala for a favor?'

'I think she's given me the same basket she gave you when we had that picnic on the top of the Astronomy tower' Lily told him happily. She had just taken out two bundles of sandwiches wrapped in thin parchment, when Scorpius suddenly leant forwards and she felt his arm slide firmly around her waist. He pulled her in against him and began softly kissing her neck. Lily's nostrils filled with his scent and she instantly felt overwhelmed with longing for him.

'Aren't you hungry?' Lily breathed out weakly. She was trying her best not to let out any gasps or moans but Scorpius's cool lips against her warm neck felt so good and she could feel a sort of pleasant excitement beginning to fill her chest and stomach.

'Not for food' Scorpius chuckled into her neck. Without warning, he put his other arm to Lily's shoulder and gently tipped her back so that she was lying on the ground beneath him. Scorpius propped himself up with two knees and one arm on the ground, the other hand stroking her cheek as he moved up from her neck and began kissing her on the lips.

With the sandwiches still awkwardly clasped in each hand, Lily had no way of returning Scorpius's affection. He didn't seem to mind however- on the contrary he seemed to be rather enjoying having all the control.

All of a sudden there was a loud, whining sound which caused Scorpius to freeze. It took Lily a moment to realize that it was her stomach gurgling, but when she did her ears instantly turned red. Lily felt Scorpius's lips, which were still pressed against hers, curl into an amused grin.

'I can see that you're going to need some food though' he chuckled, sliding off of her to lay on the grass beside her.

Lily, who had been so desperate to get closer to him over the past few weeks, was sad to feel the warmth of his body against hers disappear. She cursed her stomach for having chosen such an inopportune moment to start making noises.

Scorpius calmly took both the sandwiches out of Lily's hands. He placed one onto the ground, before beginning to open the other one up. Then, to Lily's surprise he propped himself up on one elbow and leant over to feed her.

Lily took an embarrassed bite out of the sandwich he was holding to her lips, before rolling over to face him.

'I can hold that' she said flustered, holding out a hand to take the sandwich from him. But Scorpius moved it away from her to take a bite himself before she could reach it. Lily watched him with a flushed face.

Eyes dancing with mischief, Scorpius placed the sandwich back on top of where the wrapper lay on the ground between them before taking her hand in his and guiding it around his torso so that she was hugging him. He then slid the arm he had been using to prop himself up along the ground between her rib cage and the grass, so that he could put a hand to the small of her back and pull her against him. Once he had her locked in a tight embrace, Scorpius picked up the sandwich again and returned to feeding her, occasionally taking a bite himself.

'It's unbelievable how embarrassing you are when no one's watching' Lily mumbled.

Scorpius laughed and looked rather pleased with himself.

'Would you like me to do this when people are watching?' He teased.

'No' Lily shot back hotly. She waited for a beat, trying to get the courage to say her next words before blurting out; 'I wouldn't mind if you'd kiss me though'

Scorpius's hand froze mid-air, the sandwich floating between them.

'I suppose I didn't think that would be very gentlemanly of me…' he said softly.

'Has Montespan been getting on your case again?' Lily asked immediately.

'No' Scorpius snorted. 'No… he's not bothered anymore it seems, now that everybody knows. Seems kind of pleased to be able to say I told you so though. He keeps slipping copies of Witch Weekly into the text books he assigns me…'

Lily groaned and rolled her eyes. She had certainly not failed to notice the number of times Montespan had thrown her a smug look during Transfiguration classes lately, though she had ignored every one of them.

'You don't like that I don't kiss you in front of people?' Scorpius asked with concern.

Lily's face reddened further.

'It's not that I want other people to see it- it's just that it's so hard to be completely alone these days and I miss before when…' Lily trailed off.

'When we used to kiss every time we met?' Scorpius guessed.

Lily let out the breath she had been holding and nodded, her eyes not meeting his.

'Believe me, I want to do it every time I see you' Scorpius said letting the tips of his fingers lightly run over her lips. He lent down and kissed her tenderly, rubbing his thumb gently along her jaw.

Lily sighed, enjoying the feeling of his pointed nose brushing against her cheek and his breath tickling her lips as he pulled away again.

'You don't come to the library much at night anymore' Scorpius pointed out casually.

Lily closed her eyes and made a face. She had been avoiding mentioning the reason why, but now it seemed that she would have to own up to it.

'James has been keeping an eye on me to make sure I don't sneak out of the common room at night' she admitted wearily.

'Ah' said Scorpius knowingly. He didn't seem the slightest bit surprised. 'I suppose he's worried about what we might get up to meeting so late'

'It's silly' Lily said with frustration. 'There's nothing to be worried about'

'Isn't there?' Scorpius responded quietly. Lily's eyes flew over to catch his. Her face turned a bright shade of red and her eyes widened, causing Scorpius's face to break into an amused smirk again.

'Sorry, I'm just teasing' he said, giving her an affectionate pat on the shoulder.

To Lily's disappointment he sat up and began taking more foods out of the basket (fruits, flasks of pumpkin juice and carrot cake wrapped up in linen) and spreading them out on the ground in front of them.

Lily slowly sat up as well. She watched him from behind for a few moments, before leaning forwards, sliding her arms around his waist and letting her cheek rest on his back.

Scorpius put a hand over one of hers, caressing the back of it with his fingers.

'Your family still hasn't seen the magazine?' Lily asked gingerly.

Scorpius turned his head slightly at the question. It wasn't the first time she had asked him since they had returned to Hogwarts.

'Oh father has definitely seen it' Scorpius said casually. 'It's just he doesn't want my grandfather to know so he's pretending like nothing has happened. But I could see it in his eyes. He's definitely seen it'

Lily tensed, her arms still around him. Mr Malfoy hadn't exactly been happy when he had discovered their relationship, and he had been adamant that it never become public knowledge. She knew the magazine was likely to have enraged him, even if he had chosen not to communicate that anger to Scorpius in order to hide the fact from his own father.

'How do you know your grandfather hasn't already seen it then?' Lily asked gloomily.

'Oh, we'd know if he had seen it' Scorpius said soberly. 'But it's not like he ever leaves Malfoy Manor if he can avoid it. And he certainly never reads Witch Weekly or even seems to speak to any witches or wizards who do. So I think we're safe for now'

'But what if someone tells him? Surely, he's going to find out at some point-' Lily's voice tensed with worry.

'Lily, there's really no point worrying about it. I'll deal with that when it happens' Scorpius said calmly.

'But that's what I'm afraid of' Lily let go of his waist so that she could shuffle around to look him in the eyes. 'I don't want you to have to deal with it alone-'

Scorpius gave her a tired look, which Lily returned by staring into his eyes with even more earnest.

'You'll let me know if anything happens, won't you?' She asked anxiously.

Scorpius let out a sigh. He seemed to be having trouble meeting her eyes. When finally he did look up at her, he put out a hand to stroke her cheek.

'Don't worry about it, okay? I promise it will be fine'

As though in anticipation of Lily's next words of objection, Scorpius bent over and caught her lips in his, kissing her deeply. His hands found their way to her back, where he gently massaged her spine. Lily had the distinct thought that his manner of forcing her to relax really wasn't fair, before her mind went blank and she lost herself again in her desire for him.


A/N: Thank you for all your kind reviews and messages ;_; I'm still alive and kicking, just going through a lot of changes lately, applying for new jobs, finishing off artwork commissions, moving, going through some relationship issues etc. To be very, overly honest I've been so busy, I considered abandoning this fic for a little while (not many people read Scorily fics so it can be hard to get new readers/feel motivated).

But the thing is I've put so much love into this story so far and I have it all planned out plot-wise. So I'd really like to finish telling it so that all of you lovely people who have read it so far can find out how everything ties up and have a satisfying final book/ending. Anyway, we've still got a long way to go (one more book!). So yes, I'm going to try and do my best to update as much as I can so I can do the story justice.

Anyways, that was probably a bit of an overshare. But please know that I'm still committed to finishing Scorpius and Lily's story. I just need more motivation now than ever because my life's gotten so busy. Hope you are all doing well! Thank you always for your support xox