Summer Promises

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters (except for Andy), but I do own the plot.

"Potter? What are you doing here?"

"I would never let a prat like you stop me from getting my ice cream." I replied with a hint of a smile on my lips. He just stood there for awhile with a questioning look on his face. It felt like he was trying to analyze me. My cheeks suddenly began to burn. It wasn't a feeling I was used to so it made me squirm a little bit. I quickly came up with a distraction, "You're not a very good waiter are you?"

"At least I know how to be polite."

His insult annoyed me, but at least he had stopped staring at me. "You call insulting the customers, being polite?"

He smiled and walked away. It was a rare thing to see Scorpius Malfoy smiling, but it was so warm, so compelling, it suddenly became clear why most girls couldn't stop talking about him. That smile combined with his quidditch player body, I suppose it was enough to drive any girl insane. He was hot and he knew it. He went through girls almost as quickly as Rose went through books. Speaking of Rose, she's been not so secretly pining over him since the day she realised that Uncle Ron would never approve. But that's Rose for you; always wanting what she can't have. I could have told her about Malfoy's job here in town, but for some reason I felt strangely possessive of this new found secret.

"Here's your ice cream," he said as he placed my cup on the table.

"Thanks Blondie."

He just rolled his eyes and walked to another table where a couple had just sat down.

Sitting in the ice cream parlour quickly got boring, so I left to continue exploring the village. I was walking down one of the many cobblestone roads when I saw a trail behind some bushes leading into a part of the forest that I hadn't been in. My curiosity overcame me as I decided to check it out. After walking for about 15 minutes, the path came to an end at the center of a circle of trees. The place gave me a feeling of exhilaration. It was my only little spot where the pressures of the outside world couldn't take hold of me.

The next day, I woke up early and packed a couple bags. When I went down to breakfast I asked my parents if I could spend a couple weeks at the burrow. They were hesitant, but in the end, they were still to groggy to argue. So I grabbed my bags, said goodbye to my parents and flooed over to my grandparents'. They couldn't have been more excited to hear that I was staying.

I was in such a hurry to get to the village that I tripped about 5 times on the way to my mom's old bedroom. I packed a backpack with a tarp, some rope, a small shovel I snatched from Grandpa's shed and a blanket. I ran out the house so quickly that I nearly didn't hear Nana Molly offering me food. I declined knowing that I was planning to stop by the ice cream parlour.

When I got to the parlour, my table by the window was waiting for me. I sat looking at Malfoy tending to other customers. I began to become impatient when another waiter approached me.

"May I take your order?"

My heart fell when I realised that Malfoy wasn't going to take my order. The feeling confused me, but I pushed it aside. "Sure, can I get two scoops of vanilla?"

"Coming right up," he said with a smile.

A couple minutes later Malfoy came back with my order.

"What did you say to Andrew? He can't stop grinning like an idiot," he demanded whilst setting my ice cream down.

"Who?"

"The other waiter."

"Oh him, I don't know. He seemed fine when he left. Why did you bring me my ice cream instead of him? You couldn't resist talking to me?"

"I wanted to save him from the displeasure of serving you," he said with his signature smirk.

"You're using such big word Malfoy. Could you be using them to mask your jealousy?" I asked playfully.

"Now I'm certain that you've gone bonkers! So what's the bag for?"

"Sorry Malfoy, I can't tell you."

"May I ask why not?"

"It's a secret," I replied coyly.

"Secrets are no fun unless you share them."

"Then you'll just have to wait for when I'm ready to tell you." I said whilst getting up. "See you tomorrow Malfoy"

It took me awhile to find the path again, but once I did, it wasn't too long before I arrived at my destination.

"Time to get started."

I hung up the tarp using the tree branches. It acted as a sort of roof to prevent the rain from getting the area wet. Next I dug a makeshift trench around the perimeter to collect any rain water that would otherwise flow into in the circle. I added a path for any excess water to runoff. The final step was to place a blanket in the center. Feeling proud of what I accomplished, I picked up my backpack and walked home.

I spent the rest of summer just like that day. I would wake up, eat breakfast, visit the parlour, bicker with Malfoy, visit my special spot in the woods, make a few changes and come back home. By the second last week in August, my relationship with Malfoy started to resemble a friendship and my spot in the forest started to resemble a colourful sanctuary.

One day, I entered the parlour, but Malfoy was nowhere to be seen. I saw Andy leaning on the counter, if anyone knew where Malfoy was, he would.

"Hey Andy! Where's Malfoy?"

"Oh hi Lily! How are you today?" he asked with a smile.

"I'm great, thanks, but that doesn't answer my question."

"What question?"

"Where's Malfoy?" I asked with a confused look.

"Oh he didn't come in today. He's probably sick."

"Oh," he had never missed a day before and for some weird reason I felt disappointed.

"Did you want to take a seat? I could bring you your usual."

"No, it's okay. I'm kind of in a hurry today anyway. I'll see you tomorrow," somehow, I had lost my desire for ice cream that day. I left the parlour and started walking towards the path. It was a beautiful day, but for some reason the shining sun had no effect on my mood. I felt inexplicably gloomy. Hopefully the novel I packed would help me escape this feeling. Whilst I walked to my spot, I noticed something strange. There were footsteps on the path. There were never footsteps on the path. The discovery caused me to run the rest of the way to my hideout. When I got there I recognized a familiar mop of blonde hear standing next to my tie dye blanket.

"Is this your new hobby Malfoy? Stalking me."

"Don't flatter yourself Potter; there are far more interesting hobbies. What is this place anyway?"

"It's where I come to get away from you," I replied with a smirk on my lips. "How did you find it?" I might have been imagining it, but I swear I saw a blush on Scorpius' cheeks that day.

"Um, I might have followed you one day to find out what your big secret was," he replied sheepishly.

"So I was right; you were stalking me."

"No, I was simply investigating suspicious activity."

"Suspicious activity? Really Malfoy?" I asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah, you were acting very mysteriously."

"Okay, there's no need to get defensive. Since you're here you might as well take a seat," I suggested whilst lowering myself onto the blanket.

"So what do you do out here, besides getting away from me?"

"I like to come out here to read and to escape my crazy family. Believe it or not, you're not the most annoying person in my life." We stayed on that blanket all day just talking. I learned a lot about Malfoy that day and he learned a lot about me. It's hard to make friends when you're the daughter of the chosen one. So I pounced on the opportunity to have a conversation with someone who wanted to talk to me, Lily, not the Lily Potter; daughter of Harry Potter. I could tell that Scorpius enjoyed being just Scorpius and leaving behind his last name. I guess that's why that was the last day I called him Malfoy.

We planned to meet up the next day to have an all-nighter in the woods. So I woke up late and I spent the day helping Nana out around the burrow. I told my parents and grandparents that I would spend the night at my friend's house. I didn't want to lie to them, but somehow I didn't think they would agree to me staying in the forest with Scorpius Malfoy all night. So around sunset, I told them I was about to floo to my friend's house and slipped out the backdoor. I met him next to the bushes in front of the path.

"Remind me why I agreed to this plan again."

"Well yesterday I said that even though your hideaway was equipped for an overnight stay, you would be too scared to do it. You insisted that you could stay overnight. Which lead to me betting 15 sickles that you couldn't. So here we are, proving me right."

"Just start walking," I mumbled whilst starting down the path. "You did bring the lanterns right?"

"Of course I did, I'm always prepared," he said with a wink.

I hate when he does that. It always makes me feel tingly. Sometimes I think he does it just to torture me.

Later that night the two of us were lying down on the blanket. Scorpius was bouncing a ball he brought against a tree whilst I read a new book.

"I can't believe you actually brought a book. You're such a nerd."

"At least I'm not a brainless jock," I throw back whilst closing my book.

"I'm not a brainless jock."

"Then I'm not a nerd. I'm actually pretty strong, for your information."

"Care to prove it?" He asked with a mischievous gleam in his eyes.

"I'm listening."

"Let's have an arm wrestling competition."

"A what?"

"It's a muggle tradition."

"What are the steps?" I was intrigued.

"Well we face each other and then we grasp each other hands like this. Ten we push against each other's hand and the first person to push the person's hand all the way down first is the win… Hey! I wasn't ready."

"Well stop talking so we can have a real match." Scorpius then proceeded to win twice in a row.

"Are you ready to give up yet?"

"Nope, third time is a charm."

THUMP!

"Hey why'd you let me win?

I would have pushed back but I was paralyzed by what I saw on his left wrist. I probably would have missed it, if I hadn't seen it before. I remembered seeing similar, thin, white scars on Molly's wrists in school. When I mentioned it to her, she brushed me off. The week after, I got a letter from my parents saying that Molly was being committed to a mental hospital. She had been severely depressed for months and the cutting was just a recent manifestation of her illness. Molly came back about a year later. The doctors said she was fixed and she swears that she's much better, but there are some days when I can't even recognize my cousin.

"Hey what's wrong?"

His question snapped me out of my thoughts.

"How long have you been cutting?"

"What are you talking about?"

"Don't give me that bullshit Scorpius. I already noticed the scars on your wrist. Now answer my question.

He quickly pulled his flannel's sleeve over his scars, "don't worry about it."

"Don't worry about it!? You must be insane!"

"Maybe I am."

"You know that's not what I meant. Listen you have to stop."

"It's not that easy Lily."

"I know and I promise to always be there to support you, but you have to promise to stop."

"Fine, I promise to stop cutting."

"Good. Now let's see if four is my lucky number."

We spent the rest of the night in the forest. I took a quick nap sometime after midnight, but I was awake when the sun rose. Scorpius mentioned using the fireplace in the parlour to floo home, so I decided that flooing home would seem less conspicuous. We packed up our stuff and walked back to the parlour. The town looked even more beautiful in the sunrise's golden light.

A/N: I know, we got a little dark for a second there, but I promise this isn't going to be an angst filled story. I hope you enjoyed reading the arguments between Scorpius and Lily, because I enjoyed writing them. Remember reviews always make my day. Hopefully the next chapter will be up in the next week Thanks for reading!