Chapter Twenty Six

A/N: Thank you to arashi ketchum and Guest for reviewing.

Dawn had barely broken by the time Lily awoke from her troubled sleep, but as she pulled the curtains of her bed apart, her heart sank. Caitlyn's bed was empty and she was nowhere to be seen.

'She probably wants some space.' the girl told herself. 'It's hardly surprising. She just needs some time to calm down, and she's better off doing that away from you, in case you start arguing again and make it worse. Just leave her alone for a little while and talk to her later.'

It was sensible advice, Lily knew, just as her mind had given her the previous night, but once again she found herself ignoring it, pulling a jumper and pair of jeans from her chest of drawers in preparation for her search for her roommate. She felt uncomfortable leaving an argument ongoing for too long, especially when it came to her closest friend.

Unsure where Caitlyn could have gone so early, Lily wandered the corridors aimlessly, occasionally waiting on the staircases as they changed in the hope that the castle itself would somehow be able to help her. After nearly an hour, she took a seat on a windowsill, resigned to the futility of her search.

"Lily? Are you okay?" The girl's jaw clenched at the sound of the voice, smooth and gentle just as it always had been, but now it made her stomach churn. "Lily?"

"Shut up!" Lily exclaimed, her frustration bubbling over into an eruption of fury. "Shut up, Scorpius!"

"Woah, Lily, what's wrong?" She had never seen Scorpius so bemused in all her life, but somehow that seemed to make her even more furious. 'How can someone destroy your life without even knowing they've done it?'

"Really?" The bitterness in her voice was palpable, so much so that Scorpius seemed to flinch. She had never been so cruel to him before. "I've lost Caitlyn, she won't even talk to me, and it's all your fault!"

"My fault?" Scorpius looked like he had been slapped, his mouth moving wordlessly. "Lily, I don't even know what I've done! I don't understand!"

"You've ruined everything!" Lily was almost shrieking now. She knew she was not making much sense, but she had opened the floodgates to her frustration and her pain, there was no way she could close them again. "Caitlyn won't talk to me because she thinks I don't care about her anymore. She thinks I'm in love with you! She thinks I would choose you over her and I would never do that in a million years!"

Scorpius blinked, then blinked again. He did not look frustrated anymore, or confused. Instead, he was looking at her like he had seen a ghost. Lily covered her mouth in shock; she had spoken so many words she did not remember all of them, or the impression they had given. 'What did I say?!'

"You love me?" There was no emotion in Scorpius' face, none of the anger Lily had expected. Well, she did not really know if she had expected anger, but she had certainly not anticipated him being happy. At the very least she had anticipated him being something.

Lily wracked her brain for a suitable answer. Of course, she knew the answer that would get her out of this situation very quickly. She could say it was a slip of the tongue, or an unfounded accusation made by a jealous friend. It would be easy enough. It would be a lie.

Lily took a deep breath. "No, of course I don't."

"Then why did you say it?" Scorpius responded instantly. It seemed he had been expecting that answer.

"Because that's what Caitlyn thinks!" she yelled, her anger bubbling to the surface once more. "She thinks that I'm going to go off gallivanting into the sunset with you and leave her all alone!"

"That's stupid." he muttered and Lily reached for her wand, tempted to hex him for insulting her friend, even if he did make a valid point. She restrained herself; this situation would not be made any better by getting herself detention.

"It doesn't matter if it's stupid or not, Scorpius, it's what she thinks, and that's lost me the best friend I've ever had and probably ever will." Lily's frustration had spilled over into tears, streaming endlessly down her cheeks even as she tried to wipe them away before they fell. Scorpius took a step towards her, looking as if he might try to embrace her. Lily jumped backwards, out of his reach, her eyes glimmering with hatred. "Just get away from me, Scorpius. I never want to see you again. It's not worth it."

The boy frowned, opening his mouth to speak, but closed it again just as quickly. He nodded stiffly, turned around and walked away. Only then did Lily allow herself to cry the way she wanted to, heaving sobs that forced her to lean against the wall in case she fell to the ground. The sobs were loud in the silent hallway, loud enough that she did not hear the footsteps approaching from a nearby alcove.

"Lily?" The redhead blinked through her tears, her eyes coming to focus on the sheepish-looking figure of Caitlyn Bones.

"Cait?" she asked, forgetting their argument might make the nickname inappropriate. From the looks of things, Caitlyn did not seem to mind. "What are you doing here?"

"I was sat in the alcove." the girl explained. "Just wanted some time to myself. I heard everything you said, to Scorpius."

"Oh." It was the only word Lily could muster. 'Brilliant, now she's going to hate me even more. I'm pretty sure I just called her stupid.'

"Do you really think being friends with me is worth losing him?" Caitlyn asked. For a moment, Lily saw a glimmer of her mother, Susan, in her, or at least the descriptions Ginny Potter had given of her. The Dark Lord had murdered her family and when she had returned to Hogwarts, she had clung to her friends with all her might, in case she might lose them as well.

"Cait, nothing is worth losing you." Lily responded, instinctively reaching out to embrace her friend. She caught herself just in time, but Caitlyn leapt into her arms before she had a chance to pull away.

She felt awful, lying to Caitlyn like that, especially given how painful the words had been to speak, but walking away together, arm in arm, her best friend already chatting away about which Quidditch team would win the Cup, she did not regret a thing. 'Some things are worth lying for.'

A/N: Hope you enjoyed this chapter. I know this story is moving a little bit slow, but I do have a plan, I promise! Please review!