Rose sighed for what felt liked the thousandth time that night as she took a swig of her fruity cocktail. This was embarrassing. Who goes to a celebration of the enemy's victory? Who has traitorous friends like Amelia who drag them to said celebrations so that she can creepily ogle at Roman Nott for hours? The answer to both these questions was: Rose. And she hadn't stopped glaring daggers at Amelia the entire night, who was trying to be in the eye sight of Roman the entire night, dancing with Stephano Zabini friskily. But Roman was too busy glaring at his brother playing butterbeer pong with a group of sixth year girls. There was a lot of glaring going on, in short.

Rose wasn't sure she understood Amelia's crazy obsession with Roman. After all, she was one of the rare specimens of Hogwarts girls who had a sane head on her shoulders, partly why Rose became friends with her in the first place. Amelia's quiet pragmatism clashed with Rose's loud impulsiveness. But somehow they had managed so far. Perhaps, that very contrast was the reason why their friendship had survived all these years. Amelia had been very patient with Rose all these years. So, Rose owed it to her to endure such unbearable evenings if that's what made her happy. That said, it didn't stop her from complaining about the absolute atrocity these evenings represented.

The very fact that Amelia was getting a bit too "frisky" with Zabini alarmed Rose a bit. But she decided to give her a few minutes to come to her senses and took a huge gulp of her drink.

"You shouldn't be drinking that." Came a deep voice from her right.

Rose didn't need to turn her head to know that it was Malfoy. She had been worried about this. She didn't want to see him as far as she could help it. But she knew it was inevitable. But engaging in a conversation with him was completely evitable. So, she decided to ignore him.

"There's a lot of vodka in that, you know." He was closer now. She could almost feel his warmth on her shoulder. "I saw Bart adding a whole bottle into the punch bowl earlier."

Rose decided to stay still, hoping he would go away.

He didn't. In fact, his chest was almost touching her shoulder. Rose turned to face him. He was clearly not himself. His shoulders were relaxed. He wasn't frowning. Apart from the brightness in his stormy grey eyes, everything else suggested that Malfoy was drunk. Or at least, on his way of getting drunk. And still, the git had the audacity to question what she was drinking.

Rose looked him in the eye, put her mouth to her glass, and gulped down the entire glass in one go, never leaving his eyes.

Scorpius looked at her with a sense of surprise and mirth. Typical Rose Weasley. He should have known better than to ask her to do what was right for her. Because, of course she would do the opposite.

"Go away, Malfoy." She said coolly.

Scorpius just smirked in response as he went a little closer to Rose. Rose took a step back.

"Why?"

"Because I don't care for an argument with you right now." Rose said, trying to keep calm as she kept going back to avoid his advance, her back almost touching the wall of the room.

"Who said I wanted to argue, hmm?" He murmured.

"It's all we do, isn't it? I say something, you hear something else, and then you blast at me like I've killed your mum's cat." Rose said bitterly, wishing he would just leave her alone. But he almost had her caged now.

"Killed your mum's cat.." he tested her words in his mouth, mumbling them, moulding them, laughing at their absurdity. Only Rose Weasley could say something so utterly absurd even in a state of anger. And then the very thought of his mother brought an intense bout of fresh pain in his chest.

Rose noticed that because it was like a cloud suddenly fell over Socrpius' alcohol induced happiness. His face twisted with sorrow, like reality had punched him in the face just then. His shoulders went rigid and his eyes shut, as if to shun an unwelcomed thought. He came closer, his lips to her ear, and whispered, "I'm sorry."

Rose looked up at his face, trying to dissect his expression. "I'm sorry." He said again. "I didn't mean it. I didn't mean any of it."

Scorpius opened his eyes to Rose's big blue ones, full of concern. She blinked once, twice, and then she did something extremely weird.

She grabbed his hand and started pulling him out of the room.

"So?" Lorcan asked, his eyes full of amusement as he juggled a moonstone in his hand. "Do you think you can write that essay now?"

Lily looked at him, looking extremely petrified, "I don't know. I think I can…?" She trailed off.

"You think you can?" Lorcan was trying very hard to suppress his mirth now.

Lily just fidgeted with the book in her hand as she plopped down on a desk nearby.

They had been in the Potions classroom for the last four hours now, Lorcan trying to show Lily all he could while working on some of the advanced projects that Professor Hamilton had asked him to see to. While Lorcan worked quietly, Lily had spent her time alternating between listening to Lorcan talk about various Potions ingredients and stare at him while he was working.

Lorcan wasn't the embodiment of male beauty like Louis or Scorpius. He didn't ooze that vibrant charm his brother had. His hands were too big for the small vials he was working with. And yet, with his hands had a certain kind of grace to them. The way he stirred his potion, the way he tried to keep that unruly curl out of his eyes. If Lorcan wasn't so intimidatingly big and tall, she would have almost called him cute. When had he gotten so big anyway? He had gained some serious muscle mass out of the blue. With his sleeves rolled up to his elbows, his forearms looked like they had seen many days of hard labour. Lily had a profound weakness for beautiful forearms.

But when Lily had realized that her observation was crossing a line with a speed she wasn't quite comfortable with, she had attacked on her reading material with a newfound dedication. That had been about one and a half hours ago. Lily was still a bit lost.

"I don't get it." Lorcan said, not suppressing that smile anymore. "Lily Potter. The ball buster. The go getter. The arse kicker. And yet, Lily Potter, the girl who is shit scared of Potions essays." He was laughing now. "You are a mystery, Lil."

"I don't like to work with things that could potentially burn my hands, okay?" Lily was trying her best to sound angry. "And besides, everybody has their weaknesses, Scamander." Lily said, her nose still sticking up high as ever.

Lorcan just looked at her piercingly, and murmured, "Of course they do."

Lily wasn't sure why, but she felt like his eyes said more than his words did. And that made her lie she was losing her grip on herself. Lorcan's worst, or best, depending on how you looked at it, feature was his eyes. His eyes always spoke volumes where his mouth stayed shut. They always had.

Lily suddenly got off the desk, trying to find out the nearest window. Lorcan's gaze was too intense for her to handle right now.

"The dungeon doesn't have windows, Lily." Lorcan's voice came from behind her.

"I know that." Lily lied. And felt extremely stupid in that moment. But who could blame her when Lorcan was standing so close?

"It's almost past dinner time, if that's what you were wondering." He said, a bit closer now.

Lily wasn't sure how to interpret the erratic rhythm of her heartbeat, or the fact that the warmth coming off Lorcan was surging through her neck, her cheeks and her everything, or the reason for Lorcan's sudden nearness for that matter, but she decided that she needed to get away.

She turned to face him, and looked up. "Well! Look at that. Time went by so fast today!" She smiled at him brightly. "I should go. I don't even know who won the game. I hope it's Gryffindor. I should probably go and see how they are all doing. I also have to write a letter to my Dad. He is coming to Hogwarts next week, you know." She shuffled on her feet, waiting for Lorcan to say something. But all she got in response was a guarded expression on his face, so she went on. "I don't even know what Al has been up to since yesterday. I have to check up on him. I should-"

"You should go." Lorcan said, clearing his throat. "I know."

Lily wasn't sure what to say to that. "Alright, then. I'll see you around, Scamander. Thanks for the help."

She picked up her belongings and started towards the door.

"Lily?" Lorcan's voice came from behind.

"Yeah?"

"I think it's okay for you to call me Lorcan now." Lorcan smiled at her. "Don't you think so?"

A/N: Well! Look at that! I am not sure how I am doing at this point, but I've been on a hiatus for a while. But I had a feeling today while I was walking to school that today is the day I write a chapter. So, I did. Writer's block is a biyatch. Anyhoo, just a quick DISCLAIMER: The last bit about "You can call me Lorcan now" was inspired from B. 's fanfication Commentarius. So the credit for that one fully goes to Bee. If you are a fanfiction loving Potterhead, then there is no way you haven't read it yet. It is my favourite. I am not sure how, but Lorcan and Lily Luna somehow ended up in a similar situation as James and Lily Evans.

Reviews are highly appreciated, as always. Next chapter will have Al and Lola for sure. They are the hardest to write, I swear.

PS: I know this one is short, but bear with me. :)