Chapter 3
As the time came closer, Lily grew nervous. Would this work? Did her parents suspect something when she had let out a yelp of excitement upon reading the note? There were so many things that could to wrong, and even more things that needed to go right. Before she knew it, it was 11:44 at night. One more minute before she could finally talk to Scorpius. She began to pace, from the door all the way to the desk at the window, and back. She paused as she was on the way back from the window. She began to admire her broomstick, the prized broom that helped to bring the Quidditch Cup to the Gryffindors the year before. Before she could think about her favorite pastime, being a Chaser, she heard a big pop behind her. Finally, for the first time all holiday, she smiled.
As Lily turned slowly, a smile on her face, Scorpius let out a sigh of relief. Not only had the plan worked, but it looked like she wasn't as mad as he had thought. he strode toward her, closing the gap in three strides, and looked straight into her eyes. "I missed you... Even though you were right here. Are you alright, love?" His gentle smile flickered as he watched tears swim in Lily's eyes. "Lil?"
She didn't know what had come over her. Perhaps it was the fact that she could finally look at him without being glared at, or maybe it was the stress of the whole week finally breaking over, but she couldn't stop herself. She burst into tears, and pulled herself into Scorpius's body, embracing him so tightly that it took his breath away. She stayed there for what seemed to be an eternity. until her silent sobs no longer shook her so violently that she couldn't breathe properly. Slowly calming herself, wiping her face with the back of her sleeve, she baked away. Giggling weakly, she said, "Hi. Good to see you." As she said this, Lily brought her eyes up from her feet, to gaze into the face of Scorpius. Her hears skipped a beat in exhilaration when she saw her favorite easy smirk on his face. It took everything she had not to scream out in joy.
"I can't lie. I'm so confused right now." And he was. But he hadn't been happier all week. Finally, he could see her, Finally, he could hold her. Finally, he could tell her that he loved her. "But that's okay. I'll just pretend that never happened, and distract you from all the sniffling." Giving her a quick once-over, he closed the small gap she had once again created, and kissed her. It thrilled him that as soon as his lips met hers, her whole body went limp. For Scorpius, there was nothing in the room, nothing in the whole world, other than her. It was as if he had been left in a dark, empty room for six days, and when he was released he was finally experiencing food again. The only thing that mattered was that he was never left without the glorious creature in his arms again. When the drawn-out, intimate moment finally ended, Lily kept her eyes shut and sighed, with a smile on her perfect lips. It struck Scorpius that the girl before him was the only person other than his parents that he had ever been himself with. To literally everyone else, he was a quiet, observant boy. It was thrilling to finally have someone other than his mother and father who he could share a laugh with, or race around the grounds with, or even play a game of Muggle cards with and not have to guard what he said or did. When Lily opened her eyes, Scorpius told her what had just occurred to him. Wiping a tear from her cheek, Scorpius kissed her gently. This moment was perfect.
"Why does the sun have to come up?" Lily spoke the first words in hours. Since they had first embraced, they sat in very near silence, holding each other, being together. It was so perfect that it actually pained Lily to see the night pass. The warmth coming from Scorpius, his strong arms like a shield around her, was enough for her to keep a smile on her face from the time they had sat on her bed until that moment. But as the first beams of sunlight burst into the purple dawn sky, even her heart felt cold. Who knows how long it would be until they could be together again! Lily thought of the look of anguish and disgust that would be on her father's face when they first saw each other one week prior. It was a troubling memory, and a face she never wanted to see again. Now it was decision time. Lily cleared her throat in agitation. "Scorpius... How are we going to make this work?"
It was the question he had been waiting for. He had been thinking about it for most of the night, but didn't want to ask. "Well... I think we should first get through the next two weeks. That's going to be a real challenge. I think that at school we can just ignore what everyone else says. It'll be hard, and people will think we're some kind of freaks, but I think it'll work." They say in silence for a few minutes, thinking. Suddenly, as if holding it off for another second would make him lose the courage, Scorpius closed his eyes, took a quick, deep breath, and blurted out, "Lily, it has to work. We have to make this work because I love you." Before his eyes were open, Lily was kissing him.