I walked swiftly from Charms class five days after Rose's warning. I had stuck with her threat, and I had been avoiding Scorpius for a long time. I had taken to the habit of hiding in the strangest places- closets, behind curtains- not wanting to meet Rose, or Scorpius.

It was very hard for me to accept that I wouldn't be able to have a friend anymore, and I hoped desperately that Scorpius wasn't as effected as I was on the whole deal.

I was almost positive that he would notice my absence- for the first week we had spent as much time as possible together- and I knew that it was inevitable that he would find me sometime and demand why I was avoiding him.

"Lily!" The only-too-familiar voice called suddenly. Scorpius was jogging to keep up with my quick pace.

I slowed down slightly, not wanting to try to run away- I wasn't a very fast runner due to the fact that I had short legs.

He caught up to me, of course. "Why have you been avoiding me?" he asked, his voice sounding hurt.

"I- I can't explain," I said softly, refusing to meet his gaze. I didn't want him to see that I was at the verge of tears again.

"Why not?" he demanded in an almost-angry voice. "What did I do to offend you?"

I stopped dead, and he did as well. "You didn't do anything," I said. "I've been staying away from you for..." My voice trailed off, and I tried to think of a good excuse, but there was none. "...Personal reasons..." I finished lamely.

He wasn't convinced. "What kind of personal reasons?" he asked.

"Someone told me I couldn't be friends with you anymore." I blurted out finally, not able to stand lying to him.

He frowned, and I was under the impression that he didn't believe me. "Why?" he asked finally.

"Because that person likes you." I mumbled.

Again he was confused. I slowly looked up at him, trying to see his reaction.

"Oh," he said finally. "Who was that person?"

"I- can't tell you." I choked out; Rose would kill me if she found out I ratted her out.

He seemed slightly angry. "Lily! You can't just let people control you like that." His voice was laced with worry. "If someone's threatening you, you should tell a responsible adult."

i shook my head. "Nothing will happen if we just stay away from each other." I hated how my voice shook.

"No," Scorpius said slowly. "Why should we stop being friends because of someone else's opinion?" His voice was defiant, and I admired his courage.

"But they'll be mad at me..." My voice trailed off lamely.

"They'll have to deal with me first if they want to get to you." He sounded like my brother, James; James was always trying to protect me.

I smiled. "Really? So we can be friends?" i sounded hopeful.

"Only if you want too," He was grinning.

"Then its decided," I held my hand out, and he shook it.

Our friendship was back on track.

"Hey Lilly, what's the Draught of Living Death do?" Scorpius asked me, briefly looking up from his homework.

It had been a week after we had become friends again, and we were sitting out in the grounds underneath the willow tree, our books spread out on the grass around us.

"I thought you learned that today," I teased. I was far better at potions than he was, and he often would ask me for advice or help on his homework.

He made a face. "Sort-of..." he muttered.

I laughed. "Its a potion that makes the drinker go into a deep sleep, making them almost seem dead."

His eyes lit up. "Ah! I remember!" He began scribbling down on his notebook, and I returned to my Charms homework.

He didn't make a sound for a while, besides the scribble of his quill. "Ha! They asked what Polyjuice Potion was." He seemed pleased that he knew what the answer for that was.

I didn't look up from my writing.

"Wish I could get hold of some of that," Scorpius said thoughtfully.

I looked up. "Who would you want to transform into?" I asked curiously.

He grinned. "Slughorn!" He laughed.

I chuckled. "Why him? I'd be McGonagle."

"It would be so fun- we could order students around."

I scratched my quill against my skin, making a dark line of ink appear. "You could become a prefect for that," I pointed out.

"But I'd have to wait until fifth year." He sighed, and collapsed onto the grass. "Bet you'd make a good prefect."

"Me? Why?" I didn't think I would have the guts to give someone detention- much less order them around.

"Because you have confidence in yourself!"

I stopped playing with my quill. Was he joking? Everyone knew I had one of the lowest self-esteems in the entire school. "No I don't," I argued.

Scorpius rolled his eyes. "Well I for one think you do," he said positively. "Maybe you don't seem like you do on the outside- but you really do, in the inside. I have faith in that."

He had faith? In me? "Thanks," I said weakly, before returning to my charms homework.

~*~*

The rest of the semester went by quickly, and Scorpius and I continued to endure our friendship. Rose had not commented about it, as I had made sure to stay out of her way, but I had a strange suspicion that over the winter holidays she would get back at me.

The thought of it frightened me, so I vowed that I would always stay near an adult whenever she was over.

But even though I kept to this decision, one day she cornered me.

I was helping my mother clean the dishes after christmas eve dinner, when suddenly I noticed another person walk into the room. I whipped around to see who it was, and my heart lurched when I saw Rose leaning against the doorway to the kitchen.

Ginny didn't seem bothered; in fact, she smiled at her, asking if she wanted to help.

"Sure!" Rose smiled angelically, coming over to stand next to my mother.

I shivered at the closeness- was she going to beat me up?

Ginny handed a clean dish to Rose. "Here- you two can finish up in here, I need to talk to Ron about something." She dried her hands on a kitchen towel, and began walking off.

I dropped the dish I was holding into the sink. It made a loud bang, but didn't break. "But- can't you stay here for a bit?" I asked, frightened.

Ginny looked confused. "No, it really is important." She came over and patted my shoulder. "I'll be back soon enough." She walked out of the room, leaving me with Rose alone. My hands shook as I went back to cleaning dishes. I was frightened of what Rose would do to me.

Rose began to dry the clean dishes that were in a pile next to her. I watched her from the corner of my eye for a while before getting back to work.

She was silent for a while, and I was wondering if she would speak at all. But then she changed that.

"So," she said slowly, making me jump slightly as her voice startled me.

I suddenly became absorbed in my work, hoping that she would stop.

"You're still friends with Scorpius," she hissed finally, putting her dry dish down with a bang.

I didn't flinch this time. I ran my dish under the sink-water to rinse it. "Yes."

Rose's eyes flashed. "I thought I told you-" She began.

"Rose, you can't boss me around." I interrupted her. "If I want to to be friends with Scorpius, then you can't stop me." I was slightly surprised at my bravery for sticking up for myself.

Rose glared at me. "Why are you sticking yourself to him? He doesn't even like you." She was trying to hurt my feelings.

It worked- but only for a moment. "Scorpius likes being my friend," I defended myself. "And you're just jealous that you don't have any real friends." Rose clenched her hands into fists, but remained silent.

"You made it perfectly clear in our first year at Hogwarts that you didn't want me near you." I began again. "And I respected that- and for an entire year I was alone- without any friends." I threw the sponge into the sink. "And now that I finally get one friend, you have to try to stop me from hanging out with him." I dried my hands on a towel before getting to work again. "There are plenty of other boys that you like..."

Rose was still glaring at me as I looked up at her. "That's beside the point," she began angrily. "You knew I liked Scorpius."

"Then why don't you try hanging out with him?" I said loudly. "Stop fighting over something you don't even have."

Her face suddenly cleared, to reveal a smile. "You know what? I will try hanging out with him." She put the dish down. "I will be seeing you soon, Lily. And say good-bye to having Scorpius as a friend." She turned and walked away. "He'd much rather hang out with me." She threw over her shoulder.

I watched her go, wondering if she really would try to make Scorpius stop hanging out with me.