A/N: Thanks again to my steady reviewers. Cookies and Juices boxes to all of you. I know the last chapter was insanely long, and I am sorry. I just couldn't see breaking it up.

Disc.: I created plot twist and heart ache. You'll see the latter soon enough. Sorry in advance.

Waking

It was dark in the room, very quiet and for a second confusion set in for Scorpius. He sat up, wondering what had happened. He stretched, feeling fine. He shrugged, trying to recall the last thing he could remember. He and Lily had been at the ball. She was wearing his coat. She had said something and he had kissed her cheek. He could recall nothing more. He stood and dressed, wondering what had happened and how long he had been out.

He was home, the house was silent. He thought of calling out but instead strained his ears listening. He heard a peal of laughter and he froze. She was here, his Lily. He rushed along following where the echo of the sound still reverberated. As he moved closer to the kitchen, he could hear the sound of people talking. He was confused as he picked up the pace to the kitchen. He pushed the door open and stood blinking in the blinding sunlight.

"You're awake," Narcissa said smiling at her grandson. He barely registered her. He couldn't tear his eyes away from Lily.

"What happened to you?" Scorpius asked. Lily looked up, grinning. She was covered head to toe in flour.

"That'd be my fault," Narcissa said smiling. "I turned the mixer on too high and sort of coated us both in flour."

Scorpius looked at his grandmother to see that she, too, had a fine dusting of flour. It was less noticeable in her light hair or on her light colored clothes. Lily's dark auburn hair contrasted heavily with it and she was wearing what was probably a vivid red shirt before the flour incident. Lily's hair was pulled up simply in a knot and she watched him, concern in her eyes.

"Are you feeling any better?" Lily asked.

"What happened last night at the ball?" Scorpius asked. Lily looked at Narcissa with suppressed alarm.

"The ball was three days ago," Narcissa said calmly. "You passed out from a stress induced exhaustion."

"I may never confess my love again," Lily teased. Scorpius looked at her horrified.

"You confessed it?"

"You don't remember?" Lily said frowning.

"I remember kissing you," Scorpius said.

"Which time? You did that quite a bit," Lily said blushing. "Please tell me that I didn't end things completely with Aiden for nothing."

"You ended it with Aiden?" Scorpius asked.

"Ugh, your amnesia is frustrating," Lily grumbled.

"I have amnesia?" Scorpius asked. Lily and Narcissa laughed.

"No, dear, you don't. You just caught some little illness, nothing more than a cold, that was so much worse because of all that stress," Narcissa said. Scorpius flushed.

"I can't believe I passed out," Scorpius said.

"Don't worry, no one knew," Lily said.

"How could they have not?" Scorpius groaned.

"They didn't exactly wheel you out of there on a medic stretcher," Lily laughed. "I went and got your dad and he apparated you out of there. Aiden had to bring me home."

"That's worse than being wheeled out of there on a stretcher," Scorpius said as he sunk down on the bench.

"It gave me a chance to finalize things with Aiden on a positive note so that there were no hard feelings," Lily said. She looked away, back to the bowl.

"Did you kiss him good night?" Scorpius barely asked.

"That's not really your concern, Scorpius," Narcissa said gently. "What matters is that Lily has been here for three days and you've been a bad host, sleeping straight through."

"You've been staying here?" Scorpius asked. Lily looked up, shrugging.

"I was driving my dad and brothers crazy for information. James was getting sick of apparating me over here to check on you, so the last time he just left me. That was two days ago. Are you hungry?" Lily asked as she pulled a fresh batch of blueberry muffins from the stove. The scent hit Scorpius like a brick wall and he was suddenly starving. Lily grinned and placed three huge muffins on a plate in front of him.

"How long are you staying?" Scorpius asked. Lily pouted playfully.

"Already ready for me to leave?" she teased.

"No, I just wanted to know how long I'd have with you," Scorpius said as he shoved one of the bigger pieces into his mouth. It barely fit.

"Well, school starts back up in a week or so," Lily said. "And I have to go home before then to pack and to get to meet my new kitten, Star."

"New kitten?" Scorpius asked.

"Asher's daughter had a litter," Lily said. She beamed. "The great Ash and the great Asher live on in their decedents."

"You think you're ready?" he asked quietly. Lily laughed and nodded.

"Life is about change," she said. "I had to move on at some time, and this was perfect timing."

"So, you'll stay a few days?" he asked.

"If it's ok with your dad and grandmother, yes," Lily said. Scorpius immediately looked to the elder woman. She nodded once. Scorpius cheered, grabbing Lily around the waist, not caring that he was getting flour on him.

"Fantastic, I get you for a few days all to myself," Scorpius said. "We have to go on our first date together, our first official date. Tonight."

"Why tonight?" Lily asked as she dabbed a little flour on Scorpius' nose.

"Why waste a moment?" Scorpius countered.

"Well, so you know, I only have a few changes of clothes," Lily warned him. "No where nicer than jeans and tee shirts."

"No worries," Scorpius said with a wicked glint in his eyes. Lily's smile wavered.

"That's my first hint that I need to worry," Lily said.

"Trust me," Scorpius said. Lily laughed.

"Fine," Lily said as she crossed her arms. "But I swear to god that if you are going to go around fainting on me when we kiss, that's not going to bode well for our relationship."

"Ooh, we're going to kiss?" Scorpius teased. Lily rolled her eyes. He thought a moment. "But I do like the sound of us having a relationship."

"You are so weird!" Lily laughed as she turned back to the baking that she and Narcissa were doing.

"I'd never taken you as a baker, Mum," Draco smirked as he entered the kitchen, dressed for work.

"Young Lily here has really shown me how therapeutic it is to punch and fight the dough," Narcissa laughed. Draco looked at Scorpius.

"Feeling better?" Draco asked.

"Yeah," Scorpius said blushing.

"Don't let yourself get run down like that, son," Draco chastised. "If need be, take some sleeping potion or something."

"Will do, Pops," Scorpius said smirking. Draco rolled his eyes.

"I'm off to the office. Night shift," Draco said. "I'm sure that your dad will be happy to have you home."

"Actually, Dad, Lils' going to stay a few more days before she goes home," Scorpius said. He added as a second thought. "If that's ok with you and Harry, that is."

"It's fine with me," Draco said. "I'll see what Harry says and owl home if he wants her home sooner."

"Thanks," Lily said grinning at the man. Draco looked at her and couldn't help but smile. Though her coloring was different, her spirit reminded her of Infamy. She was sweet but spunky.

"Never a problem, Lily," Draco said before he apparate out of existence. Lily looked back to the big balls of dough.

"So, we're ready to bake them!" Lily said cheerfully.

"And then off to the showers," Scorpius said. Lily and Narcissa looked at him in surprise and he couldn't help but blush. "I meant alone."

"Sure you did," Lily said under her breath. Scorpius laughed and watched as his grandmother and Lily finished up. Lily started to wash the dishes.

"Leave them for the house elves," Narcissa told her. "They're probably going out of their minds not being able to do anything."

"Ok," Lily said as she joined Scorpius on the hike back upstairs. Her room was across the hall from his, and he followed her. "Are you feeling better, really? I didn't realize that you were under so much stress, and then not sleeping properly. If I had known, I wouldn't have tried to make things so much worse on you."

"So you were making me suffer,"' Scorpius taunted. Lily looked at him warily.

"You suffered?" She asked. He shook his head immediately.

"Nothing I couldn't handle," he promised. He laughed and started going through her clothes.

"What are you doing?" she asked curiously.

"Picking out something for you to wear on our date tonight," Scorpius said.

"Huh," Lily grunted as she pulled out a pair of jeans and a tee shirt.

"What?" Scorpius said. Lily shrugged.

"Nothing, just you've not been well or fully conscience in a few days," Lily said pursing her lips. "Don't you think you should take it easy?"

"Not a chance," he said. "I'm not wasting a moment of my time with you sitting at home."

"How about we order in for dinner since your dad's going to be working the late shift tonight and your grandmother is going out with friends," Lily suggested. "My treat."

"Your treat?" he said frowning.

"Yeah, I have like thirty on me," Lily said. "You guys have that huge television and all those movies in that big room."

"You went into the big room?" Scorpius asked frowning slightly.

"Your dad told me it was your mum's favorite room," Lily said quietly. "He gave me permission to watch the movies and to hang out in there. If it's too much for you, we can watch a movie in another room. You guys have plenty."

"No, its fine," Scorpius said quickly. "I'm just surprised, that's all. My mum would be thrilled that someone was using that room. But, I'm not going to let you treat me, Lils. I'll order something for us."

"Oh, ok," Lily said grinning. She grabbed kissed his face very chastely and skipped off to the bathroom to take a shower. She was surprised to see Scorpius not waiting for her. She went looking for him, walking barefoot through the halls and room. She headed down to the kitchens to see the house elves had completely cleaned the kitchen. The kitchen was void of life though the warmth of fresh baked breads still lingered in the air.

"Lily?" Scorpius called. Lily felt her face bloom into a smile and she headed up towards the big room.

"Scorpius," Lily said as she stepped into the big room. He laughed and patted the large sofa next to him.

"I ordered Chinese from China," he said. "Hope you don't mind. I apparated there and back while you were in the shower."

"I don't mind," Lily said as she peeked at the food. She looked at him, wrinkling her nose and grinning. "You really went all the way to China and back?"

"Yeah," he said shrugging. "No big deal."

"To think I have two more years before I can apparate on my own," Lily said thoughtfully. She suddenly slapped Scorpius' upper arm hard.

"What was that for?" he asked as he rubbed his arm.

"The whole point of us staying in was so that you could rest," she said crossing her arms. "I think I should protest by not eating this."

"Too bad," Scorpius said as he speared some sort of brown sauce covered chicken. He took a little bite and made an obscenely pleasure-filled noise. "It's so good, Lily. To die for, even. So worth going out."

"Mhmm…" Lily said as her stomach growled. "Traitor."

"One bite?" Scorpius coaxed as he waved the speared meat in front of her. Lily rolled her eyes and took a bite.

"Oh, Merlin that's good," Lily said as she tried to take the container. Scorpius held it back.

"Get your own, Lils," he teased. He nodded to another take away container. The two ate in silence, savoring the food and company that they kept.

"So, what movie did you choose for us?" Lily asked as they cleared the table with the help of an over eager house elf.

"The Camp," Scorpius said. Lily shrugged.

"I've never heard of that one," Lily said. Lily quickly figured out why. She wasn't really big into horror movies. This was one of the goriest flicks she had seen. She was shaking, she was so terrified.

"Are you ok?" Scorpius asked.

"This is just scary," Lily admitted. Scorpius chuckled and pulled her into his arms. It was just in time, the movie went from horrifying to downright terrifying. He had his arms around her body tucked between his and the back of the sofa. As the lead murdering monster jumped up on screen, she turned her face into his chest, burying her face. Scorpius laughed quietly as he stroked her hair and continued to hold her.

"Are you ok now?" Scorpius asked as he dipped his mouth to her ear.

"Better," Lily said honestly as the room grew silent. The movie had ended in a full out blood in guts scene where no one survived. There was no hope of a sequel.

"Good," Scorpius said as he lowered his mouth to hers. He kissed her easily first, sweetly. He gauged her response to know how much further he should go, how quickly to move. He tallied where they were at in a relationship.

"First date," Lily said.

"What?" Scorpius said shocked as he pulled back. He looked at her in surprise.

"You asked where we were in our relationship," Lily said as she looked at him in confusion. He didn't remember saying anything at all.

"I did?" he asked.

"Yeah," she said with a look of concern. "Didn't you hear yourself?"

"No," Scorpius said slowly.

"Maybe you should go to bed and rest," Lily said with grievous apprehension. "If my being here is too stressful, I'll leave."

"No, Lils," Scorpius said. "I just wasn't… I didn't realize I had said what I was thinking."

"So you want me to stay?" Lily asked.

"Yeah," he said as he kissed her again. She felt the warmth from within her building despite the cool air of the room. His muscles were tight, taut as his hands cupped her face. She was on her back, sinking deeply into the soft cushions of the sofa. He pressed into her, exciting her even with the layers of clothes between them.

"Have you ever?" Lily asked timidly as his mouth moved from her mouth to her neck.

"Have I what?" Scorpius asked distractedly.

"Ever?" Lily clarified further.

"Ever what?" Scorpius inquired.

"Been with a girl," Lily said in a quiet gasp as his mouth brushed the hollow at the base of her neck. He pulled back, looking at her.

"Is… is that where this is heading?" He asked and for a moment he sounded just as uncertain as she did.

"I don't know," she said.

"You're only fifteen," he implored. A smile spread across her lips.

"Again with the too young thing," she teased lightly.

"Have you?" he countered. He pressed against her a little firmer. "Have you ever let a boy this close to you, when you were sober?"

"No," she whispered as she felt his fingers on her skin. It burned hot like an unwieldy flame, a torch that burned deep below the surface of her skin. He smiled a little, watching her face as he unfastened the button to her jeans.

"Have you thought about us in those terms?" he asked knowing the answer.

"No," she lied. He laughed.

"You're not ready, Lily," he told her.

"I am," she lied. He pulled his hands away from her jeans and instead touched her face.

"I love you, Lily," he said as he kissed her again.

"I love you too, Scorpius," Lily said honestly. Scorpius laughed.

"That's the first honest answer you have given me in so many questions, love," he teased her gently. Lily bit her bottom lip slightly.

"You never answered if you ever have," Lily reminded him gently. He chuckled.

"I've not. I'm very picky," he said. Lily suddenly looked hurt. Seeing that she misunderstood, he shook his head. "Lily I want to with you, I need to with you. Every girl pales to you. You are the only one that I want, but I'm not about to rush this with you. This is our first date. I don't plan on sleeping with you on our first date."

"Hmm… well, that's kind of not your choice," Lily said. "I plan on sleeping with you. At least, in the bed with you."

"Ugh, I don't know if I could stand to have you that close and not be able to have you or touch you," Scorpius said honestly. "I don't know if I could behave myself."

"Well, you were the one who chose a scary movie," Lily murmured as he let her up from the couch. The two walked back to his room, not really focusing on it. She turned to him. "So… can I stay the night with you?"

"Damn it Lily," Scorpius growled as her fingers touched the skin of his neck. She laughed. He sighed. "You know I can't say no to you."

"Really? Because I've been trying to get you to date me for five years," Lily smirked. Scorpius rolled his eyes and placed his hands on her shoulders.

"I will never tell you no unless I think it is in your best interest Lily," Scorpius said corrected. She laughed, grabbing his jeans by the belt loops.

"You'd better never tell me no again," Lily laughed again as she closed the door behind her. She kissed him and the two of them tumbled back against his oversized bed.