The time that things became clearer

Every second Saturday Lily and Scorpius both had a day off work. It had become a habit, since Lily started up her new department of St Mungo's, for the two of them to watch a muggle movie to relax their minds and just zone out for a bit. This Saturday was no different.

They had abandoned their favourite chairs for the two seater and Scorpius was trying his best to focus on the exploits of the Goonies while every part of his body relayed to his brain how close he was to Lily.

This is becoming a bit ridiculous, Scorpius berated himself internally, you are a 26 year old man! Yes we are sharing a blanket and yes the last time I've been this close and comfortable with a woman was when I was dating Rose, but for Circe's sake I'm sure it was never this bad!

Knock, knock!

Lily and Scorpius both jumped and looked at each other in surprise. Lily raised an eyebrow,

"Expecting someone?"

Scopius snorted in amusement (and a bit of relief if he was honest), "No," he replied and he mockingly raised an eyebrow of his own, "You?"

Lily rolled her eyes and shook her head.

Knock, knock, knock!

"Alright, keep your pants on," Lily muttered before sighing and shuffling out of the blanket. "Pause the telly Scor, I'll get it."

Lily opened the door to none other than Rose Weasley, a look of impatience on her face and fist raised to knock again.

The barest shadow of a frown flickered across Lily's face before she schooled her thoughts.

"Rose," she stated with a nod.

"Lily?" answered Rose, the beginnings of a scowl forming, as she took in Lily's mussed hair, tights and an old Slytherin hoodie "I thought you worked Saturdays?" she shook her head and before Lily had time to respond continued, "Nevermind, is Scorpius home?"

Lily's eyes sharpened as she took in Rose's attire - auburn curls piled high on her head, subtle but effective makeup, figure hugging wrap dress and new boots…

"Yes he is," she replied coldly, "but you've caught us in the middle of a movie, so if you could-"

"Movie? Why would you watch a movie together?"

"Because we want to. Now, if you don't mind-"

"Lil?" Scorpius' voice sounded from inside, "You coming back?"

"Scorp!" Rose exclaimed and nudged past Lily into the house, thoroughly irritating her in the process.

"Rose? What are you doing here? Is something wrong?" Scorpius was very confused, it wasn't as if they'd gone back to being friends after the breakup.

Rose laughed lightly, "No, not at all, as if I need a reason to visit you!"

Lily and Scorpius glanced at each other quickly then looked at her with equal expressions of confusion, this being the first time she had come round to the house since they had broken up over a year before.

Although starting to realise things weren't going quite the way she had hoped, Rose carried on, "Scorpius, I need to talk to you about something."

"Oh," he frowned, "Well can it wait a bit, Lil and I were in the middle of a movie-"

"No," Rose quickly interrupted, "It needs to be now."

"Ah, alright then, Lil is that ok with you?"

Rose scoffed, "You don't need her permission!"

"Yes I'm aware of that," bit back Scorpius, starting to get annoyed, "But it's also her afternoon you're interrupting, not just mine and courtesy dictates the question at the very least."

Rose flushed and turned furiously to Lily, "Well?"

Lily was looking at Scorpius and he at her. A private conversation seemed to be going on that Rose wasn't privy too and she did not like whatever it was. When had their relationship evolved beyond something more than Lily being Scorpius' best mate's little sister?

It all passed in a split second and Lily shrugged one shoulder slightly, "It's fine Scorpius," her eyes flicked briefly to Rose's, "We have all afternoon anyway."

She moved swiftly into the kitchen humming a song under her breath. Scorpius caught a snippet of if before she put the kettle on for tea - "why you gotta be so rude.."*

Scorpius smothered a snort and turned back to Rose only to find she had moved closer and he instinctively moved back a step or two. Hurt flashed over Rose's face briefly and they ended up just standing there awkwardly waiting for the other to speak.

Scorpius cleared his throat, "So…what couldn't wait then?"

"Oh, ah, us," started Rose in a rush, "Me and you, I, I miss you Scorp, I miss what we had and I really think I'm ready now to make it work, I-"

Scorpius blinked in disbelief then held up a hand to stop the tirade, "Rose, no, stop, I-" he shook his head to clear it and took a breath. "No,' he said firmly.

"No?"

"No," he repeated.

"But, but I thought…I mean, you were heartbroken, I just thought you'd…you know..." Rose finished lamely, waving a hand awkwardly.

Scorpius looked at her incredulously then barked out a humourless laugh, "You thought I'd wait for you? In the wings like a pathetic sap until you graced me with your love and attention again?!"

"I didn't mean it like that!" Rose's voice wobbled.

"How else would you mean it? How else could that possibly be construed?!"

"I, I don't know! Romantically, maybe?!" Rose's voiced lost the wobble and started to be laced with fire, "Like we were soulmates, the loves of each others lives, star-crossed-"

"That is the biggest load of bollocks I have ever heard!"

"Bollocks?!" Rose shrieked, pocking Scorpius in the chest, "I LOVE YOU and you're calling it bollocks?!"

"Love me?" Scorpius stepped back out of Rose's reach and threw up his hands dramatically, "You don't love me! You tossed me out like an old potion the minute Olly came back into town! You don't even know me anymore!"

"I'll always know you! I know you better than you know you and you know it!"

Lily chose this moment to waltz out of the kitchen with seeming nonchalance, betrayed only by the way her wand hand twitched.

"I think you have both said enough. Rose, I will see you out."

Rose was red faced and furious and in no mood to be told what to do, directed it all at Lily instead "Merlin's Pant Lily, BUTT OUT! This has nothing to do with you!"

"Oi, don't yell at her like that she's-"

"She's doing what she always does, shoving her nose in where it isn't wanted! What is it Petal, no emotions of your own you have to syphon off others like a bloody vampire! Like an Ice Queen?!"

Lily's head flicked back like she'd been hit, her face hardened and her eyes flashed.

"I. Will. See. You. Out. Now. Rose" she bit out through gritted teeth, hanging on to her manners by a thread.

'Ha! Touched a nerve did I?! There must be some reason you've never bought anyone home, even a bloody phoenix wouldn't be able to melt-"

Scorpius grabbed his wand, "That is it, GET OUT!" he roared.

"GLADLY!" Rose screamed in his face, then whirled around, stormed out the door and slammed it shut. The CRACK of apparation followed quickly after.

Scorpius and Lily were looking at the door, breathing heavily when they turned back toward each other. Something immediately shifted in the air. Scorpius took in Lily's flushed face, clenched hands and the sheen of tears in her eyes and was struck by a myriad of emotions, the most prominent being the burning desire to close the space between them and snog her against the wall.

Lily saw Scorpius' eyes darken and something about his face tossed Rose from her mind as a shot of desire flashed through her and her breath hitched.

They each took an automatic step towards each other but before they could rationalise what they were doing the door flung open again 'I'M HOME!" yelled Albus as he stepped through.

Lily and Scorpius leapt apart like they'd been burned as Albus looked between them with confusion.

"What's, ah, going on here then?" he asked hesitantly.

Lily looked pointedly at Scorpius so he motioned Albus into the kitchen, "Rose just left mate, it was so random…"

Lily retreated to her room, head in a tailspin, and plopped down onto her bed. She stared unseeingly at her wall, focussing absently on a beautiful painting of a crescent moon hanging in the sky over a valley at night her Aunt Luna had gifted her years ago.

What in Hades Hat just happened? What did it mean? She drew in a breath and massaged her temples, trying to think back to the beginning.

Seeing Rose? Unpleasant as always. Seeing Rose with Scorpius? Stomach clenching in a bad way. Going into the kitchen knowing what Rose was going to ask Scorpius? Swamped with jealousy and sadness. But why? When did my feelings for Scorpius change? Have they? Or was it the heat of the moment? Argh!

She shook her head and flopped backward, staring now up at her beautiful ceiling. It was wasted on her.

It started during the Great Moping Period, let's be honest. There are only so many times you can see Scorpius Malfoy half asleep with no shirt on and not have a twinge of something. Then the sleep walking incident. Then the Saturday movies. Argh! I need to talk to Alice.

Dinner that night was a quiet affair, but Albus, wonderful clueless Albus, must have had a good day because he filled the void with chatter and a cheerfulness that was almost uncharacteristic. Lily knew something was going on, again, likely a woman, but couldn't focus her thoughts on it long enough to figure it out.

Her body was hyper aware of every move Scorpius made. It honestly felt like she was a teenager again. When her hand brushed his while getting the salt her stomach filled with butterflies. Butterflies! She looked over at him to find him looking at her and found her eyes flicking to his mouth and back up, wondering what kissing him would be like.

Merlin's Saggy Left Nut, she groaned internally, this is utter madness, what the hell am I doing. It's Scorpius! We live together! He's Albus' best mate! What kind of Slytherin am I! Pull yourself together!

"Er, Lily?"

Her head whipped around to Albus, who was looking at her concerned, "Are you ok? You've been staring at the wall for like 5 minutes? Is it what Rose said?" he asked, glancing at Scorpius.

Lily scoffed, "Rose is a daft bint who can't tell one end of a dragon from the other, what she said hasn't bothered me in the slightest!"

Albus and Scorpius looked at each other in alarm, Lily was usually the last person to throw around emotion filled insults.

She pushed back her chair, and stood up "I'm just feeling under the weather, I'll go up and get some rest."

"Do you need anything?" Scorpius asked softly.

Only you, her traitorous mind whispered, "No, nope, nothing at all, thank you!" and beat a hasty retreat.

"Bloody hell," Albus said in amazement, looking over at Scorpius, "What's going on with her? I've never seen her so flustered! Rose must have really gotten to her." He frowned. "She said some really unacceptable stuff, I should go talk to her about it."

"No," Scorpius said, shaking his head, "I would only make it worse at this stage, I think. Give Rose some time to cool down, you know how she is."

Albus nodded his head thoughtfully, "True, true…and to be fair, the 'love of her life, her soulmate' did just brutally reject her so - oi!" Albus dodged a swipe from Scorpius.

"Sod off mate, she was well out of line," Scorpius retorted.

"Yeah I know. Bit weird to be honest, well out of the blue."

"Dunno what she was thinking," Scorpius agreed absently. I need to talk to my Dad. This is getting unbearable.

He stood up all of a sudden. "Gonna go to bed too, night."

"Oh right. Night."

Albus was left alone at the table wondering what was going on with everyone.

Knock knock!

Lily jumped and was immediately annoyed with herself. Get a grip, Potter, she snarled at herself inwardly.

Plopping her book face down to mark her spot she hoisted herself off her bed and over to her door. She opened it to reveal Scorpius in all his before-bed glory.

Willing her pounding heart to take it down a notch as he stood there in low-slung pyjama bottoms and a muscle tee, she lent against her door frame and looked up at him.

"Scorpius," she said quietly.

"Uh, hi Lil," he replied, flicking his fringe out of his eyes as he looked down at her.

Merlin help me, Lily thought, taking a deep breath as desire shot through her once again, Keep it together Potter!

"I'm just here to, well, I mean, uh," he growled in frustration and swept a hand through his hair, "Rose is full of shit, Pix!"

Lily blinked in surprise.

"You are not an Ice Queen - I know that must have hit home with all that stuff that went on with Luca but I want you to know that absolute, resolute bullshite."

"Scor, it's fine, I-"

"No, it's not fine! She was well out of line and I'm here to make sure that, you know, you're ok."

Lily was still looking up at him, and the hurt and frustration in his face on her behalf drove her, apparently, to complete madness.

Rose's word had sliced into her icy exterior and exposed all her own insecurities she shoved deep down over the years. It was this vulnerability in combination with his own passionate defence of her and her wellbeing that fueled what happened next.

Lily stepped forward and wrapped her arms around Scorpius' middle and buried her head in his top.

To say Scorpius was surprised would be the understatement of the century. Completely gobsmacked and absolutely flabbergasted would be a more accurate description, as Lily was a very hands-off person who reserved hugs for birthdays and major life events. The last time she'd hugged him he'd just been dumped by Rose.

His arms automatically wrapped around her small person and his head came down (quite a way) to rest on hers. He breathed in the scent of her hair, tightening his arms automatically as his heart started to pound.

Lily squeezed tighter, relishing the rarity of being held and the safe feeling that came with it.

They broke apart slowly a moment later, closer to each other than they had ever been. Lily only needed to rise up on tip toe to meet his lips with hers and her eyes flicked down and back from them automatically. As she met Scorpius' eyes again they darkened and his arms tightened around her, one hand moving up her back and other moving down.

STOMP, STOMP, STOMP!

They sprang apart for the second time that day at the sound of Albus tramping up the stairs.

Scorpius ruffled his hair again while Lily frantically tucked hers behind her ears.

"Uh, thank you Scorpius, I really needed to hear that. Thank you. Again."

"Oh, uh, yeah, of course, I mean, right. Yes."

"Goodnight," they said in unison before hastily retreating behind their bedroom doors.

After closing their doors they lent back against them, closed their eyes and whispered, "Fuck."

Six patronuses were sent that night, criss-crossing each other in streaks of light.

The second Lily sent a patronus to Alice, Alice's patronus turned up at hers.

Scorpius sent his off to his father only to have his father's sail in his window a moment later.

Hermione Granger's patronus turned up at Ron Weasley's place just after he had sent his to her.

They all said the same thing. "I need to talk to you."

The next week was going to be very interesting indeed.

Author's note:

*song is 'Rude' by MAGIC! I love the idea of passive aggressive singing haha

In my timeline Ron and Hermione see the light and realise their marriage cannot continue in the state it's in after the events of the Cursed Child. The idea that they were destined in each timeline to be with the other didn't sit well with either of them. Things had been rocky for a long time before as their lives went in vastly different directions, and what they needed and wanted in a life partner changed. It was heartbreaking for them and the family but they carried on separately without animosity and supporting each other as co-parents and the oldest and dearest of friends.

On a side note, Rose is going through some things, I promise I will give her a break as she starts processing.