If you recognise it, it belongs to someone else.

Lily sat in the Gryffindor common room with her copy of Spellman's Syllabary open in front of her. She was trying to memorise the symbols that Professor Wordsworth had heavily hinted would be on the exam. This was proving to be very tricky, however, as Albus was distraught at what Scorpius had said to him.

To be honest, Lily didn't have much sympathy for him. He was the one who had started the confrontation, he had dragged Lily into it yet again, and implied that Scorpius was a bad seeker. Lily had always told him that would blow up in his face. As Albus always said, it was her who had beaten him. Scorpius losing to the Gryffindor team didn't mean that Albus personally had beaten him, even if that's how he was acting.

Lily had still been very surprised at Scorpius's reaction though. It wasn't that he had never fought back before. Lily had seen him start a healthy amount of the fights between him, Al and Rose. What surprised her was that he fought back so strongly when she had been brought into it. He had appeared almost bored at Albus's jabs, and then as soon as Albus had started pulling her from the back of the group a switch had seemingly flipped in him. Had she really been the cause of his change in temper, or had he finally had enough?

Lily sighed and looked down at her notes. She'd labelled the last rune wrong. She scratched it out and began searching in her book for the correct rune.

Over to her side Albus sat with his head in his hands. His messy black hair wasn't quite long enough to fall in his face. As Lily watched he brought his hands up to grip his hair. He looked like he was about to tear it out. Lily frowned at him in concern. Albus was very particular with his appearance. If he was about to tear out his hair, then he must be more deeply upset than she'd thought.

Abandoning her studying, Lily got up and walked over to him. She sat on the opposite armchair to Rose and began to rub Albus's back.

"-what stupid Malfoy thinks." Rose was saying.

"But he's right. The only time we could beat him was when I basically had nothing to do with the team. I'm a failure."

"Stop that," Lily interjected harshly before Rose could reply. She might not have blamed Scorpius, but she still hated to see her brother so upset.

"I keep telling you it was only luck that let me catch the snitch. My whole life I've watched you and dad play seeker against each other, and here I've always watched you play seeker for us. You can't believe I haven't picked up tips from you along the way."

Albus looked up at her. Lily was startled to see that his eyes were red. He had been crying.

"You're a great seeker, Al. You've beaten every other seeker in Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff. What Malfoy said wasn't even about how you fly. It was because you set it up for him to say that. He had Zabini with him. Of course he was going to say the worst thing he could think of. That doesn't mean it's true. Your record speaks for itself."

Albus sat up a little straighter. He was quiet for a while as Rose murmured similar words of comfort to him. Her frizzy red hair was tied up, but it was so long that it spilled over her shoulders as she leant over Albus.

"You're right Lils, I'm being stupid. I've never let him get to me this way before. I'm sorry I've dragged you into this too. It wasn't fair to you. I've just been feeling so insecure that you beat him with no training when I've been trying for so long and haven't ever beaten him."

He turned and hugged her. She smiled.

"I told you that you wouldn't like how it ended, dummy. Now come and study with me so that I stop getting distracted. You too Rose."

"Next time I see Malfoy, he's going to eat those words."

Lily pulled back to look at him disapprovingly. Albus laughed and ruffled her hair.

"Next time on the quidditch pitch, because I'm going to get you to teach me your trick over the holidays," he laughed. Rose laughed too. Lily couldn't help it. She chuckled as well.

Lily spent the next week either in the common room or in the library, preparing for her exams. She passed Scorpius once in the hallway but didn't stop to talk to him. He was with his friend, a tall, slim guy with olive skin, close cropped black hair, and dark brown eyes. Zabini, she thought his name was.

As she passed them, she glanced into Scorpius sparkling grey eyes. She had immediately turned bright red and looked down at her shoes. She sped up to pass them. As she did, she heard Scorpius's friend laugh at her.

"That's right, keep walking Princess Potter. No big brothers around here now," he jeered.

Lily stopped in her tracks and turned around to face him. He was sneering at her. She flicked her eyes to Scorpius. His face appeared blank, but she noticed his platinum blonde eyebrows twitch close together for just an instant before his face became as smooth as marble again. He was worried. Whether he was worried for her, or for his friend, she wasn't sure.

Lily now had two courses of action to chose from. She could try and hex Zabini or get into an argument with him, or she could turn and walk away. If she fought back, she'd inadvertently see exactly what Scorpius thought of her. If he attacked her, stayed out of it, or protected her, she'd know. She wasn't entirely sure she wanted to know the answer. She had enjoyed talking to him in the owlery more than she cared to admit.

If she walked away though, she would be a coward. She would let Zabini walk over her, which would set a precedent for the other Slytherins to do the same. They had never really bothered her too much before, but that was before she beat their quidditch hero.

She decided on the former course of action.

Making her eyes as wide and innocent as possible, she stared at Zabini. She wrung her hands, surreptitiously moving them to the pocket of her robes where her wand was.

"You aren't going to hurt me, are you?" She tried to make her voice as meek and worried as possible.

Zabini's sneer became infused with delight. He came closer towards her.

"Oh, don't worry little Potter. You need to learn your place. But there's no one around to see you learn it. Just wait unt- ARGH!" He screamed as bats suddenly flew out of his nose.

Lily had shot a bat bogey hex at him. Her mother had made sure that Lily and her siblings all knew how to cast that spell perfectly, so it was a specialty of hers, as it had been for her mother.

Lily shot a silencing hex at Zabini but remembered too late that sixth years learnt how to cast non-verbal spells. Zabini's screams cut off and his eyes narrowed with fury. Just before he cast a spell at her, she saw a shield appear in the hallway between them. The shield cracked but didn't break as it absorbed Zabini's curse.

Lily's eyes flicked to Scorpius. He was stuffing something into his robes. Lily was sure it was his wand.

Go, he mouthed. Lily didn't need to be told twice. She had proved her point. There was no reason to stay around any longer. Right now was not the time to test Scorpius's devotion to protecting her. She turned and whipped around the corner, ducking into a secret passage that came out just two corridors from the great hall. Trying to act as calmly as she could, she walked in to have her dinner.

Lily didn't see Scorpius again for the rest of term. She completed her exams and packed all of her belongings away into her trunk, ready for the summer holidays. On the second last day of term the seventh years, including her brother James and cousin Fred, graduated.

She had been to her godbrother Teddy's graduation before, so she had known what to expect. The main ceremony was held in the great hall. She felt such a sense of happiness for James as his name was called and he was handed his certificate. He looked so proud, his muscular shoulders thrown back and his chin held high. It warmed Lily's heart to see the brother she loved so much look so happy.

Everybody then moved outside into the courtyard. The graduating class posed together for everyone to take photos, then they all threw their hats in the air. The hats rose up in the sky, and as they started to fall down, they burst into fireworks. The fireworks exploded and popped in a rainbow of colours before they all turned gold. The golden light rained down around the graduates like fairy dust. It was beautiful to watch.

Out in the courtyard there were tables, chairs and refreshment stands set up for the graduates and their families. Lily sat at a table with her family, sipping on butterbeer. Her parents, grandparents, Uncle George, and Aunt Angelina had come to Hogwarts for the ceremony. Albus, Rose, Hugo, and her cousin Roxanne, who was one year older than her, were there as well.

Lily laughed and chatted with her family. James and Fred were the centre of attention, which they clearly enjoyed. Lily didn't begrudge them one bit though; they had earnt every bit of praise they now received.

Then, as the sun began to set, the seventh years all hopped into the boats with Hagrid and sailed back across the lake. She saw James look back, one final time, then he turned his face firmly towards the front. Towards his future.

Lily had never been more excited or agitated for the summer holidays before. This was when she had told Scorpius to come to her house. She didn't know what was worse, the fact that she invited him or the fact that he'd accepted.

Lily wanted Scorpius to come over. She really did. What she didn't want, though, was to be made a fool of. Was he doing this to get back at her brother? To get back at her for catching the snitch?

Lily didn't think so. When they spoke in the owlery his face had been so easy to read, so genuine. That's how the conversation had gotten away from her so easily to the point that she invited him over. His grey eyes had sparkled like she'd never seen before, and he had grinned back so playfully. The blush on his cheeks when he had realised he'd been caught watching her and Loki had been very cute indeed.

What Lily really wanted was for Scorpius to come over, watch a movie with her, and for things to… well… she wanted things to go well, she told herself. She liked talking to him. What was wrong with wanting to spend more time with him? He wasn't bad to look at either. But that was irrelevant, Lily told herself. Conversations didn't have anything to do with what someone looked like. But still…

No, Lily told herself firmly.

What bothered Lily the most, though, was that she hadn't spoken to Scorpius since the owlery. Did he still feel the same as he did when she invited him over? Lily tried to ignore how strong the stab of disappointment was when she considered that he could have changed his mind. When she had fought his friend though, he had protected her. He had done it in such a way that didn't implicate himself, either. It had been a non-verbal shield that could easily be explained away as a spell she cast.

This made Lily sure that he hadn't completely backflipped on his attitude towards her. Whether he still wanted to see her was something she had no way of knowing. Well, that wasn't actually true. There was one way to know exactly what he thought, but that made Lily so nervous she couldn't sit still.

Lily Potter was no coward though. She kept her eye open for days that she would have the house to herself. Albus had managed to land an internship in the auror office over the summer, so he would be gone every Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. Her parents, as always, were at work five days a week except for special occasions, like someone's birthday or if they planned a family holiday. James received his NEWT results about two weeks into the holidays, and the very next day he received a letter of offer for his dream job as a curse breaker for Gringotts.

Before Gringotts sent James out to the ruins in Rome and other areas of Europe, they wanted him to start with the Roman ruins in England. This meant James was still living with their parents, but he was now gone five days a week too.

Finally, on the third Sunday of the holidays, Lily had a chance to invite Scorpius over. She wrote him a letter around midday which said:

Remember me?

Bring a galleon for me any time between 9:30-4:30 on any weekday except Wednesday and enjoy being proved wrong.

BP

She signed it BP because he called her Baby Potter. If she signed it LP there was way too big of a risk that someone would see the letter and connect it to her.

Lily wasn't ashamed of how much she liked and enjoyed Scorpius's company, but she was no fool. Even if their conversation had been innocent, which it was, she knew all hell would break loose for the two of them if the wrong people found out they were friendly. The wrong people sadly meant pretty much everyone Lily knew. They seemed to have developed an unspoken agreement to keep everything between them a secret.

There might not even be an "everything between you", she scolded herself. She didn't like admitting just how giddy and nervous he made her feel. He also made her feel so at ease and relaxed. But that was the opposite of nervous. How the hell had he done this to her? Ugh.

Lily sent Loki off with the letter and instructions to give it to him when he was alone. Full of nervous energy as she awaited his reply, Lily decided that sitting down quietly was out of the question. She grabbed her broom and went and knocked on her brother's doors, asking them both if they wanted to join her. They did.

When their parents saw them traipsing through the living room in quidditch robes with brooms, they decided to join too. They played three on two for hours, switching the teams around frequently to keep it fair. Lily absolutely adored time with her family like this. The playful banter, the teamwork no matter who she teamed up with, the fact that no one went easy on each other because they were all too stubborn and prideful. It all made her feel such a happy, warm glow inside her that nothing but her family ever managed to elicit.

Lily could hardly believe it when the sun started to dip in the sky. It had been last summer that her family had played together like this. Time with her family, Lily reflected, really was something very special.

After dinner, Lily eagerly ran up to her room, hoping to see Loki back with a letter. He wasn't there. The pang of disappointment was much stronger than Lily cared to admit.

Good job, Lily, she thought, angry with herself. You misread his politeness and fell at his feet just like those stupid purebloods who threw themselves at him. Stupid girl.

Lily had really, genuinely believed that he liked her, if not the same way she reluctantly admitted that she liked him, then at least enough to become friends with her. She had more sympathy for those girls that threw themselves at him now. He was so handsome, with his platinum blonde hair, sparkling grey eyes, his beautiful, sharp features.

His mere appearance was not why Lily liked him though. She had felt so comfortable, so at home when speaking with him. Lily was quite often mocked for her love of muggle entertainment by wizards and witches that hadn't grown up with any muggle knowledge. She would've thought that if there was anyone to mock her for that it would've been Scorpius Malfoy. But he didn't mock her. He was actually curious about it. He had wanted to see them for himself. Or so Lily had thought. She scolded herself again. She had only had one conversation with the guy.

Lily was so distracted by her own thoughts that she didn't notice that Loki was on her windowsill until he started tapping impatiently at the window.

"Oh Loki! I'm sorry. Here, come inside."

She opened the window and Loki flew onto the large, fake tree she had in her room for him. He held out his leg for Lily to untie the letter he had before hopping over to his food and water trays so that he could recover from his flight.

Lily looked at the note in her hand, her stomach jumping wildly. There was no name on the front. Desperately trying to suppress hope that flared wildly within her, she gingerly opened the letter. The letter was written in neat, unfamiliar handwriting.

I hope you have your galleon ready for me tomorrow.

That was all it said, but that was all it needed to say. Lily's heart leapt with delight. He really was going to come. Tomorrow! She let out a breath of relief that she hadn't even realised she'd been holding.

She really was too good at jumping to conclusions, she reflected ruefully. She had beaten herself up when all she really needed was a little bit more patience. But then, she thought, stroking Loki's dark, spotted feathers as he drank, patience had never really been her strong suite.

Lily didn't know how she was going to sleep now. Excitement was running wild within her, and her nerves made her feel very on edge. She was like a kid on Christmas eve. She grinned. Who was this man, to make her feel this way? The very audacity of him.

Lily eventually managed to fall asleep and woke the next morning feeling even more nervous. She thought back to just before the quidditch final, when she felt so nervous that she had felt sick. She wasn't quite as nervous now, but it was close.

Lily was not normally one to pay much attention to her appearance and how she dressed, but today was not normal. Lily wanted to look good, but not too good. She didn't want to be like those Slytherin girls who always wore lots of makeup. They did look gorgeous, Lily had to admit, but if she were to do that, it would be way too obvious she was doing it for him. She didn't want to seem desperate, but she still wanted to look good.

Ugh.

In the end, she settled on some denim shorts, a dark green off the shoulder t-shirt, and some cute sandals. She put on some foundation and blush, but otherwise applied no other makeup. She had got her hair cut last week, so she left it down. Her dark red hair fell down around her shoulders. Lily was satisfied.

Finally, she went downstairs to join her family for breakfast. It was James's first day at his new job, so their parents had prepared a lavish breakfast of pancakes, eggs, bacon, sourdough toast, hash browns and mushrooms. Albus and her parents were digging in, but James looked queasy.

Lily helped herself to a pancake and some bacon and pulled the maple syrup out of the pantry before joining her family at the table, where her parents were trying to encourage James to eat.

She and her family eventually managed to convince James to have a few bites, and then he began wolfing down his food. His excitement at starting his dream job was clearly winning the battle in his head against his nerves.

All too soon, Lily's family all left for work, and she was alone, waiting for Scorpius to arrive. Would he expect popcorn and snacks? No, of course he wouldn't. He had no idea about muggle things like that. It wasn't a bad idea to make some though. It would make his first movie experience all the more muggle like.

It was only 8:42. Lily had told Scorpius to get here at 9:30, at the earliest. She didn't want to risk someone from her family running late and seeing him. She decided to read a book to pass the time. It didn't really help. Every minute or two she checked her watch.

Slowly but surely, the minutes crawled past. Then, finally, at 9:36, she heard a crack followed by a knock at the door. Lily leapt up from the couch to open the door.

There stood Scorpius. His grey eyes sparkled, but his eyebrows were drawn together slightly. He was nervous too, Lily realised. His platinum blonde hair was combed back, as it always was, and it enhanced the sharp features of his face, especially his strong jawline.

Feeling breathless, Lily stepped to the side before she ended up standing there ogling him for an embarrassingly long time.

"Hi! Please, come in."

"Thank you," he replied, stepping into her house, shutting the door behind him. They both stood there looking at each other for a few seconds.

"Well, um, have a seat on the couch. Typically, muggles have popcorn when watching movies. Would you like some?"

"Ok, yes please."

Lily left him in the living room and went to the kitchen to put a packet of popcorn in the microwave. This was not going how she had wanted it too. Lily could feel the awkwardness in the air, it was so thick. It hadn't been like that last time they spoke. She had really, really wanted this to work. Had she been kidding herself?

The microwave beeped, snapping her out of her thoughts. She poured the popcorn into a bowl and went back into the living room. Scorpius was sitting obediently on the couch. Lily, in an effort to get back that easy feeling between the two of them, decided to act like he was a long-time friend, like Lorcan or Lysander.

Lily put the popcorn on the table and plopped down next to Scorpius on the couch. She scooped up the remote and began scrolling through Disney Plus.

"I hope you've got a galleon on you. I've been saving up for a new broom, and an extra galleon will do nicely." She turned and grinned cheekily at him.

Scorpius's whole body seemed to relax. He grinned back at her.

"I'd hate for my biggest rival to get a better broom than me. I hope you're ready to hand me what's rightfully mine."

Lily laughed.

"Here," she said, after finding the movie Thor. She thought that would be a good one to start him off with. The effects were fantastic to show someone who'd never seen a movie before, and it had her owl's namesake, Loki, in it.

Lily settled back against the couch, very aware of how close she was to Scorpius, and pressed play

Watching a movie with Scorpius was everything Lily had hoped for, and more. She had to pause it almost immediately to tell him that none of this was actually real, it was just special effects, the people were all actors, and no there wasn't actually giants and Norse gods in the muggle world.

Scorpius was amazed when the characters began speaking. He was stunned when there was a music overlay. He was absolutely blown away by all of the special effects and explosions and 'magical' scenes. He was even shocked at how the camera angle changed so frequently, something that Lily didn't even think about before he pointed it out. She supposed she had likened it to a painting or photo when she explained it to him. In those you could only see from the one angle.

At the end of the movie, Scorpius just sat there, silent, for about two minutes straight. Lily had turned her body towards him, and she could see the look of absolute wonder and fascination on his face. She didn't want to spoil his moment, so she used all of her self-control to not laugh out loud at his expression. She couldn't keep the wide smile off her face though.

Eventually, without his facial expression changing at all, without any other part of his body moving, he slid a galleon into Lily's hand.

His fingers brushed against hers. Lily looked down and saw his hand lingering on hers. Lily was not the sort of person to let a moment like this slip by out of shyness. She brushed her fingers against his hand too. She looked back up at him, only to find that he was staring at her too. His starstruck expression was gone, replaced by a smouldering intensity in his beautiful grey eyes.

Scorpius's face was much closer to hers now. Her breath caught. She stared into his gorgeous grey eyes, unconsciously moving closer and closer. She was so close she could smell his cologne. His smell was intoxicating. Lily was just closing her eyes, her face closer than ever to Scorpius's, when a tap-tap-tap sounded.

Lily and Scorpius rocketed apart. Looking around wildly, she saw an owl on the windowsill, a letter attached to its leg.

Feeling very hot all of a sudden, Lily got up and let the owl in. It flew to the table and began to nibble on some of the leftover popcorn. Furious with the owl, Lily untied the letter. It was addressed to her. She recognised Lysander's handwriting. Her fury turned to him instead.

Lily stuffed the letter in her pocket and looked back at Scorpius. He was bright red as well and was avoiding her eyes. Lily desperately didn't want awkwardness to separate them again. Not now.

"So, what did you think? Did you like the movie?" She forced her voice to be light, almost teasing. It was not the tone of voice she wanted to be using after what had just happened, or hadn't happened, but she refused to allow that awkwardness to come back.

Scorpius looked up at her again. Some of his blush abated, and a bit of his starstruck expression returned.

"Did muggles really make that whole thing with no magic?"

"They did. It's pretty cool, isn't it?"

"Cool? That was amazing! I can't believe muggles did that with no magic!"

Lily laughed at his amazement. "There are loads. That's not the only one. That's actually part of a huge series. Would you like to watch them too?"

Scorpius didn't answer straight away. Instead, he looked into Lily's face, his grey eyes searing into hers. Lily felt her smile fade from her face as she returned his suddenly intense stare.

"I would really like that, Lily." His voice was lower, quieter.

"Good," Lily whispered back. "I would like that too."

Lily's hand suddenly felt very warm. She broke her gaze with Scorpius to look down at her hand. His hand was gently resting on hers. She looked back up to his face. He was smiling softly at her.

"I would love to Lily, but it'll have to be another day. I promised my parents I'd go with them to my cousin's place for afternoon tea today. Am I welcome tomorrow instead?"

Lily smiled softly at him, bringing her other hand on top of his.

"Of course, Scorpius. I would really like you to come again tomorrow. I've had the best day today."

Scorpius lifted his hand and caressed her cheek. Lily's eyes closed and she let out a contented sigh.

"Tomorrow will be better," he told her.

Lily opened her eyes to look into his eyes again. His eyes were so gentle, his face looked so different from any other time she'd ever seen him. Even though she knew he wasn't death eater, like so many people still thought, she had never imagined his face could be so gentle.

Then his hand slid out from between hers, his hand was gone from her cheek, and then he was out the door.

Lily heard a crack, and he was gone.