A/N: This is SO short. Apologies in advance. I do NOT like making short updates. However, I wanted to get this scene up. I had so many delightful responses to the Valentine's chapters, so thank you. I'm glad you're all enjoying the silly/sweet side to Scorpius. I wanted to post this "next morning" update. I have been struggling to find time or energy to write this week. Life has been challenging right now, so I'll try my best but it might be a bit before my next update. Thank you for your patience and continued loyalty to my story. I'm having a great time writing it, and I truly LOVE and appreciate all reviews! XOXO

After staying up late the previous night, detailing the majority of her day with Scorpius for Julianne who had insisted on hearing everything before allowing Lily to go to bed, despite her exhaustion, Lily woke up earlier than she would have liked on Sunday. Styx stretched beside her in bed, then curled up in the space Lily vacated when she sat up and slipped out of bed. Lily scratched behind his ear briefly, he meowed, and she left the bed and headed toward the bathroom to shower, pausing briefly in the closet to pick her outfit for the day.

Even though she was tired, Lily was relieved to wake before Julianne. She wasn't ready for another round of questions. Julianne had found Lily's entire day far too exciting and hilarious. Lily still felt irritated and embarrassed about the whole situation and was not ready to laugh over it with her best friend.

She took her time in the shower, washing her hair and contemplating what she would possibly say when she saw Scorpius that day. Lily knew enough about potions to know that love potions did not affect memory, which meant that Scorpius would remember everything that had happened the previous day. She did, however, wonder if he would dare bring it up with her at all or if he would rather pretend it had never happened and go about his life. As she washed her body, she felt the heart necklace against her chest, momentarily surprised because she had, in her exhaustion, forgotten it was there. As she rolled it around between her fingers, she thought about what she wanted. She couldn't decide if she would rather Scorpius pretend he couldn't remember anything about the day or confront it immediately and get it over with. A part of her thought never discussing it, or even pretending it hadn't happened at all, sounded very appealing.

She finished her shower, dressed in the pre-planned outfit she had taken from the closet — dark jeans and a pale green knitted jumper with a high rounded neckline — and mechanically completed her now regular morning routine of drying her long hair and applying simple makeup. After the long previous day with Scorpius, Lily had fallen behind on her assignments that she needed to complete and planned to spend her Sunday devoted to her studies. Before bed, after laughing herself hoarse, Julianne had given Lily some notes she and Leona had made in the library for the Charms essay they were working on, so Lily decided to start there and try to catch up with her friends' progress, so she could finish with them later that day.

Stopping briefly in the room to retrieve her satchel, charms book, blank parchment, a quill, a chocolate from her Valentine collection, and her journal in case she felt inspired to write, Lily exited the room silently and sought refuge in the morning quiet of the common room. She appreciated the reliability of the Slytherin students' tendency to lie in late on the weekends, and knew she was not likely to see anyone up yet to invade her alone time.

She was, however, wrong.

Scorpius sat on the couch in front of the fire, dressed more causally than usual in a pair of black joggers and a white Tee. He was reading a book when she arrived, but when she stopped short with a slight exclamation of surprise, he looked up, saw her and smiled.

"Good morning," he said. He closed his book and set it on the table beside the couch. "I was waiting for you."

"Good morning," she greeted, a little uncertain. "You're up early…"

"Yeah, well, I wanted to see you, and you're always up before the sun," he said. He reached beside the couch and withdrew a bouquet of bright yellow roses. He stood and held them out towards her.

"Oh…" she gasped. "Oh no! It didn't work!" She felt deflated. "Something went wrong." She shook her head. "How did it not work?"

"Lily, wait," he said. He stepped towards her, holding the bouquet in one hand, and reached out with the other to take her hand.

She let him take her hand, but was already plotting in her mind to go immediately to Professor Willoughby and demand that he remake the potion himself because she had obviously botched it up, and she was determined not to go through another day with love-intoxicated Scorpius. He led her to the couch and she sat down with him.

"Lily," he said, his voice calm and steady. "I'm fine."

She stared into his eyes, looking for the glassy sheen that had been settled over them the previous day. His silvery blue eyes looked clear and bright. She frowned.

"I'm fine," he said again. "Your reversal potion worked perfectly."

She still frowned and glanced down to the hand he was still holding.

"Sorry," he said. He released her hand quickly. "Look, I don't even know where to begin, but I know I owe you the world's biggest debt of gratitude." He set the bouquet of roses on the table beside the couch and rubbed his hands across his face as though incredibly exhausted.

She was still skeptical, but shook her head slowly. "You don't owe me anything."

He laughed. "Lily, you saved my arse yesterday. I owe you everything."

She shrugged, trying to seem nonchalant, though finally believing that the potion had indeed worked and he was back to normal.

"I thought a lot about it this morning," he said. "I'm bloody embarrassed. Humiliated really. I thought for a while about pretending I couldn't remember anything and just acting like it never happened, but I didn't want to deceive you. Also, I figured you'd be too smart to believe that."

She nodded. "I know love potions don't mess with your memories. You don't need to be embarrassed though."

He looked uncertain about what to say and momentarily stared into the flickering flames of the fireplace. "I'm so sorry, Lily," he said, still not looking at her.

"What for?" She asked. "You didn't do anything wrong. You weren't yourself."

"I put you through hell yesterday," he said. "I was a bloody idiot, and you were so patient and good to me."

"I was just trying to help," she said. Despite earlier in the shower when she had decided she wanted to never discuss the events of the previous day at all, now Lily realized she wasn't as upset about it all as she had thought. Hearing Scorpius apologize and discuss it so calmly, made her feel less frustrated about the whole situation. "You weren't in control of yourself."

"I know that," he said, "but it doesn't make it all any less awful."

"You really weren't that bad," she said, trying to soothe his humiliation.

He finally looked back to her, his eyes connecting with hers. "I was, and it's okay to admit it. I was all over you," he said. "You didn't need any of that."

She knew he was thinking of her current discomfort with physical attention, but she also realized that she never seemed to feel uncomfortable with him.

"It's fine," she said again, trying to sound sincere. "You didn't really do anything wrong."

He smiled slightly. "You're being too nice. Anyway, I just wanted to tell you that I'm sorry you got mixed up in it all yesterday, and I really appreciate how great you were staying with me and taking care of me like you did. You went above and beyond, truly."

"You're my friend, Scor," she said.

He smiled, truly smiled. "Yeah?"

She nodded, then hesitated. "Sorry…should I not still call you that? You were okay with it yesterday, and I just kind of got used to it, but maybe you don't actually like it…"

"No," he stopped her quickly. "I do. I like it." He hesitated then rephrased himself. "I like that you've given me a nickname."

She blushed, not entirely sure why she felt so embarrassed.

He motioned to the flowers. "You said they are your favorite," he said.

She nodded. "They're beautiful," she said.

"I asked Professor Sprout for help yesterday, and ran down there this morning to fetch them," he said. "I didn't know if it was still appropriate to give you flowers, but she mentioned that yellow represented friendship, so I thought that was good."

Lily smiled. "I love them. I really do. No one has ever given me roses before."

"I know being friends with me is complicated for you, Lily, and I'm not going to ask you to do something that makes it hard with your family, but I just wanted you to know that I consider you my friend," he said. "No matter what. Yesterday was the nicest thing anyone has ever done for me. You really had my back."

"I am your friend," she said. "Forget about my family. And please forget about yesterday. After the way you've been there for me this past week…" she shook her head. "Keeping you out of trouble yesterday was the least I could do for you."

"About yesterday," he said slowly. "Umm, I'm sorry about your hair…"

She almost laughed. "Yeah, that part was interesting."

"I can give it back to you…" he suggested.

"It won't do me any good," she said. "I can't put it back together," she laughed. "You might as well just toss it or burn it, I don't care."

He nodded. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be," she said. "Seriously. It's just hair. You were trying to be sweet."

He laughed slightly. "Yeah, I didn't realize I had such a bloody romantic side I guess."

She smiled, then stopped. "Oh, I almost forgot…" She reached behind her neck and unclasped the necklace, withdrawing it from beneath the neckline of her jumper. "I should return this."

He held up his hand and accepted the necklace from her.

"I'm sorry you went through all the trouble," she said. "It must have cost quite a lot. Do you think you can send it back?"

Scorpius shrugged. "Yeah, I'll try." He held the heart for a moment, studying the inscription. "I was far gone, wasn't I?"

She shrugged. "It was a strong potion. My Uncle George doesn't mess around with his products, and who knows how much Delia actually used."

His brow furrowed. "I have to talk to her."

"What are you going to say?" Lily asked, then shook her head. "Sorry, it's none of my business."

"I can't believe she did this to me," he said. "I knew she was brassed I wouldn't ask her out specifically for Valentine's, but this crossed a line." He sighed. "I know it was bloody unfair to you, but I'm glad it worked out how it did and not how she had wanted it to. I couldn't imagine what the day would have been like if she'd had her way."

Lily laughed for the first time she could remember in a while.

"It's not funny! She would not have made a reversal potion for me. Bloody hell, she probably would have tried to keep me under the influence for days!"

Lily laughed again. "I'm sure it wouldn't have been that awful. Don't you think you could have enjoyed it at all? Delia's a pretty girl. Lot's of guys like her," she said. "You could have spent the day snogging her all you like."

Scorpius scowled. "I wouldn't like to snog her at all!" He said. "That is not my idea of a good day, thank you very much."

"You didn't seem too against it yesterday," she said, without entirely considering her words.

Scorpius covered his face with his hands. "I am so sorry Lily," he said. "You had to keep telling me no, and I feel awful about that."

She blushed a little, and readjusted herself so her legs were crossed beneath her body and she was facing Scorpius, their knees almost touching. "I'm sorry my refusing you hurt your feelings yesterday," she said. "I just couldn't…" she hesitated, not sure how much she wanted to explain. "I just didn't want to do that."

"Of course not," he said. "You have absolutely no interest in being kissed by me. You made that very clear, and I'm sorry I kept trying to make you…"

"Scor, let me explain," she said. "I don't want you to think I have something against you specifically. I just didn't want to be kissed at all." She blushed as she realized she was going to be entirely honest with him. "I've never kissed anyone before…not by my choice…those guys the other night were the only…" she hesitated and felt her throat going dry.

Scorpius placed one hand on her knee and stared into her eyes. "You do not owe me any explanation," he said. "I wish I could take it back, but I can't, so all I can do is keep apologizing for putting you in a position like that."

"I would just like my first real kiss to be special…" she said, not entirely understanding why she was being so honest with him at this moment. "I didn't want it to be with someone who was under the influence of a potion…I realize you've probably had lots of experience and it wound't have been a big deal for you, but it kind of is for me…"

"You think I've kissed lots of girls?" He asked, his eyebrows raising in curiosity and humor. "Who exactly do you think I'm running around snogging?"

Lily felt her cheeks burning with embarrassment. "Oh, I don't know…I haven't put a lot of thought into it really, I just mean…" she paused. "Well, you're older, and I know loads of girls like you, and you know…"

"Do I?" He asked, smirking slightly.

Lily felt completely humiliated by this conversation. "I just mean, I know if I had let you kiss me it wouldn't have really meant anything to you, but it's a big deal to me, so I didn't want to just do that, and oh, bother, can we stop talking about this now please?"

He was grinning now. "Yes, we can stop talking about it, but before we do I feel like I need to be honest with you, and tell you that it would have been a big deal for me, too," he said. "Despite being on the potion."

She frowned at him skeptically.

"Regardless of what you think of me and my experience, I've never kissed anyone either," he said.

She was momentarily too surprised to respond.

Scorpius looked a little embarrassed, and cleared his throat. "So, yeah, anyway. Thanks again for yesterday and taking care of me like you did."

"I'm sorry I made assumptions about you," she said.

He smiled. "No harm," he said. He suddenly reached up and brushed a piece of her long hair out of her face, tucking it behind her ear gently.

Lily's eyes widened.

"Sorry," he said, pulling his hand away quickly. "I think I just kind of got used to being close to you yesterday. I'll work on that."

"Okay…" she said, finding herself suddenly wishing he would hold her hand like he had the previous day. Despite her eagerness to put the entire day behind her, she realized it hadn't been a bad day overall. She blushed at her own thoughts and avoided eye contact with him. "I should probably get started on my homework…"

"Yeah, and I should head up to the pitch. I was going to try and get a few laps in before breakfast, try and work off this stupid headache I've got from all that firewhisky," he said.

Neither of them moved though.

A few moments later, they were still sitting quietly, his hand once again on her knee, her breathing feeling more difficult, when they were suddenly interrupted by Julianne.

"Morning guys," she said, her voice light with amusement. "How's the happy couple today?"

Lily jumped, moving away from Scorpius faster than was entirely necessarily. She stood, put her hands on her hips and glared at her roommate.

"She knows?" Scorpius asked.

"Yeah, she and Leona overheard you declaring your love for me…" Lily said, trying not to sound embarrassed when she said it.

Scorpius stood, running a hand through his hair. "Well, that's great."

"All back to normal now then?" Julianne asked. "Or should I start planning your wedding?"

"Jules!" Lily said, rolling her eyes.

"Who else might have gotten the wrong idea yesterday?" Scorpius asked.

"Oh, a few people," Lily said. "I'll get it all sorted. Don't worry."

"Alright, yeah, thanks," Scorpius said. "I'm going to hit the pitch. Do you want to come with?"

Lily felt a desire to join him, but her instincts told her that she needed to put some distance between herself and Scorpius for a while. She needed to deal with the aftermath of the love potion, both with others' perceptions and her own feelings. Things had become a bit too confusing for her, and she needed time sort it all out, which she knew would be easier without constantly being around Scorpius.

"You go on," she said. "I've got homework."

Scorpius nodded. "See you around." He headed out of the common room, and Lily felt herself finally able to breathe normally.

"I feel like I interrupted something," Julianne said, picking up the bouquet of roses from the table.

"Not at all," Lily said, snatching the roses away. "We were just chatting."

"Oh?" Julianne pressed.

"He wanted to apologize for yesterday, and we had a few things to clear up," Lily said. "That's all." She had told Julianne a lot about the previous day, but she had chosen to keep a few details to herself, such as the many times Scorpius had held her hand, or the way it had made Lily feel; she also had not told Julianne about him taking her hair or giving her the necklace.

"Is that all?" Julianne asked.

"Yes, Jules, that's all," Lily said. "Now can we go on to breakfast so I can get on with my homework today. I'm very behind."

Julianne surrendered the discussion, but Lily could tell by the slight smile on her friend's face that the conversation was far from over.