This is the direct sequel to "Phenomenon" and "Offering". Set not too long after "Phenomenon".

Prompt: "Inevitable"

For Lily Potter, the day was turning out very strange indeed; earlier just after lunch, she and Wren Frost, her good if strange Slytherin friend, had gone on a walk to the lakeside despite the light snowflakes falling down around them and the ominous clouds that promised heavier snows and perhaps a strong storm. Lily never got to spend as much time as she liked with Wren, being in two different houses, and having conflicting schedules that year. But they had finally found time to chat for once, and Lily was quite enjoying it so she was understandably a little miffed when Hugo Weasley appeared out from behind a tree, and shouted to them just as they were about to walk back to the castle. That, and it was bitching cold out, as Fred enjoyed saying (where he picked up the saying was anyone's guess), and he was keeping them from a nice cup of hot cocoa.

"Hey, uh, can I ask you something?" he stuttered as he gripped his thick winter coat.

"Hugo, can't it wait 'til later?" Lily asked, trying to warm her hands around the jar of blue flames she held. "We're kinda busy."

"I, uh…" he blushed thickly. "I meant ask Frost something, actually."

Lily blinked. "Oh," she said after a moment, and then turned to see her friend's reaction.

Wren looked calm, and rather imposing in her thick winter robes and the wide hood, something Victoire Weasley had once mentioned was all the rage in Germany at the moment. She was watching them for a long time before Hugo seemed to realize she was waiting for him to ask his question.

"I was, uh, wo-wondering if I could…" he trailed off, blushing so dark that it seemed his face was intent on turning the same shade of his hair. Lily could hardly even make out his freckles.

Wren blinked slowly.

"If I could…write to you over summer holidays!" he blurted then his eyes went round.

Lily tilted her head to the side, and stared. "Hugo, we haven't even had winter holidays yet. Why would you wait until-?"

"Okay."

Lily turned to look at Wren like she had declared herself the Queen Mother. Hugo seemed delighted though.

"Really?" he asked, grinning.

Wren nodded. "Shall we head back in, Miss Lily? The snow seems to be thickening," she said, glancing up to the clouds.

Lily dumbly looked up to see the darkening clouds then nodded.

"Would you like to join us, Mister Hugo?" Wren asked blandly, as if she had not just agreed to write to Lily's cousin during summer holidays, which was still nearly six months away.

Hugo ecstatically nodded, and happily fell in behind them as they walked back to the castle, trailing behind like a puppy that had found his new master. Wren for her part was quiet until she asked Lily if something was wrong. Realizing she'd been quiet for too long, (really though, who wouldn't be stunned that their two best friends had just hooked up in such a …different fashion?) she tried to fill the air with chatter.

The whole thing put a rather strange angle to the rest of her day, leaving her wandering around a bit dazed. When she had tried to talk to Hugo about it later, he was still so gleefully excited all he could ask her was "Do you think dad will mind if I date a Slytherin?"

She stared at him. "…I think he'll probably blow a gasket if you spring it on him—tell your mom first, and she could break it to him so you won't have to worry about a howler getting sent to you at least."

"Oh, that's brilliant—you should have been sorted into Ravenclaw, you know," he grinned, already rummaging in his bag for parchment, pen, and ink.

She smiled. "Hufflepuff's fine as is, thanks—besides, wouldn't you have preferred me in Gryffindor with you and Albus at least?"

"And Fred and Louis. But Rose says she'd loved you to join her in Ravenclaw," he explained, getting set to write his letter. "Now…where to begin?"

Lily spent the rest of her evening helping him write to his mother. They were in the library so long writing, Madame Pince finally tossed them out. It was nearly time for bed but Lily felt too awake to return to the Hufflepuff Cellar just yet. She wandered around in the less travelled corridors, keeping an eye out for patrolling prefects, or Filch and his cat. Her attention faded from watching eventually, and she began to muse on the strange meeting from earlier.

Wren and her cousin Hugo; it sounded strange no matter how she tried to figure it. Hugo was a bit quiet, but energetic teenage boy. He could be just as much of a troublemaker as James if he wanted—James had even declared his 'heir' when he had graduated two years earlier. Wren was strange no matter what she did—she called everyone either Miss or Mister (or Professor) and by their first names. Everyone, including the teachers, had given up on correcting her strange quirk. But then she seemed to have strange fascinations, such as with Pure Blood lines, and the girl even enjoyed their history lessons with Professor Binns of all things. The only thing they had in common that Lily could think of was that they enjoyed sports—although Hugo loved Quidditch, and Wren was a fanatical football fan.

Resigning herself to never figuring out the strange whim of fate that seemed intent on bringing her two best friends together, Lily never even noticed when she ran smack-dab into another body. She stumbled backwards from the force, only staying on her feet because a hand caught her elbow before she sprawled onto the floor. "Oh, I'm sorry about that, I was—oh, it's you," she said, frowning up at Scorpius Malfoy.

"Should have known it would be a Potter trying to plow me down," he retorted, frowning lightly.

She glared up at him, but refused to comment; while she didn't in particular have a problem with the Malfoy heir, his past along with his father's made him off-putting enough. Scorpius and James had never gotten along during school. When James had graduated, everyone—not just their families but half the school it seemed—thought that Albus would pick up the slack. But then, surprisingly, they didn't. Scorpius and Albus just didn't actually want to fight each other; as far as Lily knew, they were on a first name basis, and would occasionally talk to each other about various subjects. The only way she could figure it was to think it stemmed from the fact that while both liked Quidditch, neither was on their house's teams—in fact, they switched spots regularly as the Quidditch commentators. Albus covered most of the Gryffindor matches, and Scorpius covered the Slytherin ones, switching every now and then on who commented on the Ravenclaw versus Hufflepuff matches, and the Gryffindor versus Slytherin matches.

Lily had only talked to the Malfoy heir herself once; her first winter at school she had spotted him brooding under a tree near the lake, and had gone to offer him a handkerchief to take care of a rather embarrassing bogey hanging from his nose. She had been amused, and he had avoided her like the plague afterward. I guess he never really got over that then.

He certainly didn't look like he did. He let go of her elbow like it was electrified, and stepped back. Feeling a bit insulted, she drew herself up to glare at the Slytherin prefect. "It's time for lights out, Potter—what are you still doing traipsing around anyway?"

She sniffed. "None of your business—I was just on my way back to the common room anyway."

He smirked. "The Hufflepuff common room is in the other direction, Potter."

She looked, and realized, yes, it was. She fought not to blush, and admit defeat by doing so. "I'm taking the long way about."

"The very long way," he nodded.

He wasn't buying it for a second, she saw. "I don't need your permission to walk where I want."

"Considering that you only have twelve minutes to get back to your common room before I can dock you points, or turn you in to a teacher, give it a little bit, and yes, you will need my permission."

"You would like that, wouldn't you, Malfoy?" she huffed.

"It would make my day a happier one, I'll admit," he said with a toothy grin.

"I never pegged you for the type to put up with begging."

He raised a brow. "How so, Potter?"

"Oh, Malfoy, don't be coy—you're the famous hard ass prefect who never puts up with students' excuses when you find them out late, right? Or would seeing me beg just be enough for you to get your jollies off?" she smirked.

She waited for a quip, but none ever flew back. He just watched her with the same bland kind of look Wren had given Hugo earlier. It was unsettling, seeing him just stare at her like she was some unusual, but uninteresting insect on a peg board. It was downright creepy. Finally he spoke, his voice sounding almost like it was cracking. "Get back to your common room, Potter."

She blinked at the order. "What?"

"I said get back. To your. Common room. Potter," he repeated through his gritted teeth.

"What's gotten into you?" she asked, staring at him. Then she smirked. "Did something I say hit a nerve? Serves you right, harassing me like this-"

"I said go, Potter!" he snapped, nearly shouting at her. He loomed dangerously close to her, and she stepped back, straight into the wall behind her.

"What…what the bloody hell's got you so wound up?" she stuttered.

Now, the fact of the manner was what really did have Scorpius wound up was not something she could have foreseen unless she was a Seer or a Legimens; several weeks ago, Scorpius Malfoy woke up from an embarrassing dream only to realize he'd had a rather steamy dream about her. Since then, he'd been having the same dream, over and over every night, and right then the only thing he could think of was "You'll have to catch me first," and her smirk which she had just been flashing at him. If she had known, then maybe she would have at least had a clue as to why in the next moment he had his hands cupping her face as he snogged her very thoroughly.

After being shocked once already that day, well, it's understandable she just sort of stood there stunned even as he pulled back. He looked at her for a moment then started to walk away.

"He-hey! Bastard, what did you bloody do that for?" she snapped at him. He turned back to her coolly.

"I don't like kissing people who are about as responsive as a rock so-" he began.

"Not that, you git! I meant, why did you-" she started.

"Is something wrong here?"

Both Scorpius and Lily turned to look at who had spoken; to Lily's horror it was Albus, looking very confused at the two of them. "Al-Albus, what are you doing here?" she asked, wondering just how much he had seen and heard.

"I heard some shouting around the corner from where I was patrolling, and came to investigate," he explained. "What were you two arguing about?"

"Your sister ran into me as I was walking around, and seemed to take offense, I suppose," Scorpius explained dryly, shrugging to accentuate his point.

Albus blinked, and looked to his sister. "That true, Lils?" he asked. Scorpius was giving her a rather severe look from the corner of his eye, making Lily sweat bullets.

It was insulting to think he was just going to blow it off like that, but then she didn't really want to explain to her brother that Scorpius had just kissed her—rather nicely, not to mention—and perhaps ruin whatever friendship might be between the two boys. Besides, it got her off the hook. "I…yeah, something like that."

Albus turned back to Scorpius. "I don't suppose you two could let bygones be bygones?"

"Of course, Albus—if your sister agrees of course," he added.

Albus grinned at her. "I'm sure she'll agree—right, sis?"

Lily tried to smile back. "Of…of course."

"Good, all's settled then." Albus then blinked as he recalled something. "Oh yes, Lily, you'd better be getting to bed—Filch is wandering around here, and he's all wound up over everyone tracking snow and mud in all day today." Lily flinched as she remembered the fact that she was one of those people that tracked in mud and snow. "You wait here and I'll check to see if it's clear, okay?" he said, patting his pocket, signaling her that he had the Marauder's Map on him.

She nodded to him uncomfortably as he walked around the corner, no doubt going far enough away from them before he would check the map, leaving her with Scorpius. The minute Albus left however, Scorpius seemed to think he too was going to leave. "Hey," she hissed as she grabbed his sleeve. "You're not going anywhere until you explain what just happened!"

He froze then turned back to her. "What's to explain? I kissed you, you didn't respond, so I'm going."

"That's not what I mean, and you know it, you twit. Why did you kiss me?"

He hesitated for awhile.

"Well?"

"…because," he answered finally.

She nearly blew up at him. "Because! You kissed me just because? God, you're such a…such a…"

He raised a brow. "Such a…?"

"…cock tease," she blurted then blushed. "A flirt, a…you know what I mean."

"Lily," Albus said, poking his head back around the corner making them both jump. Albus frowned at Lily's hand gripping Scorpius's sleeve so she let go like she was bitten by it. "…the coast is clear. You better get going."

"I, uh, will. Thanks, Al," she said brightly.

He still frowned. "No problem." Seeing that she wasn't leaving, he raised a brow, but turned, and left without saying another word. Lily swore to get him the best Christmas present she could afford for not pressing for answers despite his curiosity, even if she had to beg money from her father to do it.

"Best get to bed, Potter," Scorpius said, reminding her that he was still there. "You've only got a minute left now," he smirked. "Then you will have to beg."

She glared at him. Suddenly, she reached up, snagged his collar of his highly fashionable robe, and yanked him down so she could glare eye to eye with him. "My name is Lily—and you would enjoy that too much," she said simply, and then deciding she deserved some revenge, she kissed him. Not that it quite worked out the way she planned—she had wanted to surprise him, not have him snog her back instantly.

Boy did know how to kiss however.

Beyond them, somewhere in the hall, a clock chimed the hour, and the parted to listen.

Scorpius smirked. "Better start begging, Lily."

Was it possible to make her name sound as delicious as he just did? She raised a brow at him, and fought not letting her thoughts show. "You'll have to catch me first."

She had meant to turn on her heel, and leave, but with the snogging that followed after that remark almost left her too breathless to get up off the floor, let alone walk back to her dormitory. What a peculiar day, she mused to herself as staggered back to her common room.