By the time Rose reached the Astronomy Tower, Scorpius was already there, pacing like a man outside a delivery room who is about to become a father. Still dressed in his school attire, his shirt was untucked, peeking out from under his sweater vest, and his usually immaculate hair a disarrayed mess. Huh. Guess she wasn't the only one who couldn't sleep, mused Rose. Then she scolded herself. She wasn't here for an internal monologue dedicated to Scorpius Malfoy's current hardships. She was here because she needed to do some serious ballbusting.

"You." She said with much venom, which made Scorpius stop in his tracks and look at her. "How dare you call me a bad friend."

Scorpius pinched the bridge of his nose with his eyes closed and made this weird sound through his mouth that sounded something like "tch!" to Rose. It was the exact sound her mother often made at her dad's antics. It was a sound of resigned exasperation. "That's not—"

"Oh, no, no. You let me finish what I came here to say first." Rose said, starting to sound a lot like a mob boss from a bad mafia movie. "I am not a bad friend. I am a great friend. Ask anyone! In fact, I will have you know that my friend game is pretty on point. I was just trying to help you, which is something friends do for each other, in case Albus did a shoddy job of being one to you. Instead of seeing that, you made me sound like a meddling shrew in your letter."

"Alright, now hold it, Weasley," Scorpius warned, then added sharply, "You are making a mountain out of a molehill here." He immediately regretted saying it, feeling like a bit of a hypocrite himself. He knew he had overreacted a tiny bit while writing that letter. But it was futile making Rose realise that when she was overreacting as well. He could feel a fight bubbling inside of him, struggling to unleash. He could sense Rose reciprocating that feeling. The chips had fallen. All he could do now was give it as good as he was getting. And he would be lying if he said he wasn't asking for it. Hell, he needed it. It was his therapy.

Rose just glared at him in response. They were a bit closer now, about a foot between the two of them. She had to look up slightly to give him the full impact of said glare. Rose wasn't exactly short. But she was definitely shorter than Scorpius, whose chin came to her forehead, or would come to her forehead if they were to stand that close.

What in the name of Earth was wrong with her? Why was she thinking about being close to Scorpius Malfoy?

Scorpius, who was returning the glare with an intensity rivalling Rose's broke the silence with, "No matter what your intentions were, you shouldn't have talked to McGonagall about my private business without telling me first." He was unable to stop himself now. It was like watching a freak accident being unfurled in a slow motion in front of your eyes. Their fights were always like this. "I told you about things because I wanted you to understand why I was a dick to you that night we were with Louis. I was going through some shit, and I wanted to apologise the right way, by telling you the truth. I thought you'd understand. But instead you went ahead and blabbed to the Headmistress the first chance you got."

"Bloody hell, Malfoy! Are you even listening to me?" Her voice reaching an alarmingly high octave. "I did that to help you! Not because I had some perverse intention of outing your problems to the world to see."

"Well, I didn't ask for your help, did I?" Scorpius spat. Then he came closer to Rose, only about two inches between them, looking down into her eyes. "I don't need your pity, Weasley. Don't ever do that again."

"Are you threatening me, Malfoy?"

Of course not, he thought, his cheeks flushed with embarrassment, which looked like angry splotches on his usually stark pale face. It was not an entirely pretty sight.

His involuntary assholery was coming out in waves. It was stupid. He knew it. His anger originated from other things like the impending death of his mother, life, circumstances, universe. But mostly- and he will never, ever admit this to anybody- he was embarrassed that he had completely disregarded the possibility that McGonagall would have agreed to let him go home even if he'd have asked her himself. He always held himself back whenever he wanted to ask for something here at Hogwarts. He always feared that he will get rejection from everyone because of who he was. And then Weasley had simply told McGonagall, and here he was, his bags packed, ready to leave in a few hours.

Realizing that this entire conversation was going in the direction of wierdville, he decided to cut his losses. Raking his hand through his hair, he said, "I have to go. I don't have time for this."

Rose gazed at his tired face with a pinched expression, and sudden bizarre urge to comfort him came over her. She pictured herself stabbing that stupid urge to death and said, "Yeah, me too. Have a nice trip back home, Malfoy."

With that, she made move to leave. Scorpius just stood there, his shoulders hunched. He looked utterly defeated. Rose felt that urge to comfort him bubbling back up her throat. But all she managed to get out was, "I hope your mum's alright, Scorpius."

Lily was uncharacteristically up at 6:30 on a Saturday morning. In her right mind, she would have been utterly sour at being up so early. But today she was in the sunniest of spirits. After all, she had found a potential solution to her Lorcan Problem.

It was perfect. Rose and Lorcan will get together. They will start dating. Hell, they could even go to the Library for their dates. I bet they'd both like that. So adorable. And then all will be right in the world. No more disturbing dreams for Lily.

With that particular note of positivity, Lily slipped into her favorite pair of black jeans and an old baggy Weasley jumper with a big "J" on it that originally belonged to James but she had inherited it since James hadn't been able to fit into it since last two years. She decided that it was the perfect morning for an early breakfast. She went down to the Common Room, practically skipping on her feet. The Common Room was characteristically devoid of others given the time, except for the couch where Rose was sprawled, fast asleep, her head at an angle that was surely going to give her a nasty neck pain for days. Lily stood there for a couple of moments, wondering what to do. Then she ran upstairs and fetched a pillow and a blanket with her. She carefully lifted Rose's head to place the pillow when Rose said something unintelligible. "Wh—whussup?" she said groggily, looking up at Lily in confusion.

"Shh," Lily whispered. "It's all good, Rosie Poo. Go back to sleep."

But seemed like Rose was quickly coming out of her stupor, rubbing her face tiredly. "What day is it?"

Well, maybe not entirely awake.

"Um, Saturday?" It came out like a question.

"Right," Rose squinted. "Why are you up on a Saturday morning? Shouldn't this be the middle of the night now as per your internal clock?"

"My clock is broken, just like you," Lily said cheekily, then added with a sigh, "I can't sleep."

"Makes the two of us, Lil. Are you going somewhere? You're all dressed up."

"Uh, breakfast? I've heard the pancakes are way better if you go this early. You want to come?"

And who would ever say no to pancakes?

There were a handful of people in the Great Hall when they took seats opposite of each other. And the rumour was true. The pancakes were better. Lily helped herself to a hefty stack of it, topping it liberally with whipped cream. Rose seemed happy as well, because despite the bags under her eyes, she was humming under her breath softly, her plate identical to Lily's in its content.

"We should do this every day." Lily said enthusiastically.

"I agree," Rose said around a mouthful of pancakes. "Merlin, that's good."

"So, what's the plan?"

"For what?"

"About Lorcan, of course." Lily said, with a sly grin, then added with a conspiratorial tone, "So? What's our secret strategy? Our game plan? Our sneaky power move? Our-"

"Shush!" Rose looked over in the general direction of the Ravenclaw table, praying for it to be empty. Lily wasn't exactly a subtle conspirator, after all. But of course, Lorcan was there. Thankfully, he seemed oblivious to Lily's not-so-secret-and-very-VERY-loud scheming, because he was nibbling on a toast and his head was buried in a book. "Keep it down, Lil." She whispered. "Don't look now, but he is right there at the Ravenclaw table."

"Where? Where?" Lily asked excitedly, half out of her seat, searching for Lorcan. Subtlety, thy name is Lily.

Rose shook her head in resignation.

Lily, at last able to spot the object of discussion, looked back at Rose, and this time in a slightly lower voice, she said, "But that's great, Rose! Don't you see? Now is the perfect time to ask him out. If you don't do it now, Lorcan will scurry off to the library again, and hide in his fortress of books." Rose just chewed a piece of her pancake in response, looking at Lily with a dubious expression. "There are only, like, seven other people here right now, and half of them are nodding off into their porridge bowls. If you're feeling shy or anything. Nobody will notice. GO!"

Rose pressed a hand at her temples. If she would have been careful, Viola wouldn't have seen her with Scorpius. And if Viola wouldn't have seen her, Lily wouldn't have known about this and she wouldn't have been in this shitstorm. She couldn't fathom why Lily was pushing her towards Lorcan like she was the only boy in the world. It was getting a bit too desperately ridiculous. She smelled a story there, but decided that she didn't want to know anything about it. The more you know about people, the more you have to be involved. And she had had enough involvement in other people's personal lives. And look where it got her.

"Lily, will you plea—oh, shit." Rose whispered, looking somewhere behind Lily. "He is coming over here. He heard—hi, Lorcan!" She said brightly. "How is it going?"

Lily had suddenly gone pale as a sheet. Thank Merlin, her back was towards Lorcan. He wouldn't see the dumbstruck look on her face.

"Hullo," Lorcan said with a small smile, as he came beside Lily and looked at her, silently asking for her permission to sit (so old fashioned) at the empty spot beside her. But Lily was too busy looking like her brain had left this realm. So, Rose nodded at Lorcan. He placed his book on the table in front of him. Then said, "I haven't seen you girls here at this hour before."

"Yeah, well. Neither of us could sleep." Rose said.

"Oh? Is everything alright? Still having strange dreams, Lily?" Lorcan asked with concern.

Lily finally decided to come back from her mini brain vacation, as she looked at Lorcan and muttered in a small voice, "No, I'm good. Thanks."

Lorcan wasn't having it, apparently. Because he pressed on. "Are you having trouble with Potions again? I can help you if you want."

Hmm. Interesting, Rose thought. She had always thought these two hated each other. Or at least Lily hated Lorcan, the way she wouldn't hesitate to unleash her sarcasm at him at every chance she got. And now, it seemed like cat had gotten her tongue.

"OWLs can be difficult, Lil. You can come to any of us for help when you need it," Rose was dying to know the Lily-Lorcan dynamic. But she decided to rein her curiosity in. "I've told the same thing to Hugo."

Lily wasn't stupid. She realised that Rose's observant nature would pick up on her odd behaviour. And she will come after her with questions. Lily composed herself with great difficulty, and said with a convincingly grateful expression, "Thank you, both. I'm so lucky to have you all around. Rose, did you know that Lorcan here has been helping me with Potions? I feel so much confident now in my knowledge of Moonstones, Lorcan." She threw a dazzling smile at him. "Of course, Rose here got nine O's in her OWLs including Potions, didn't you, Rosie? Such a smartypants. Alright," She stood up, taking support of Lorcan's shoulder, who was frowning at her in confusion, and hopped off the bench. "I'm off. I have some reading to do. I'll let you two geniuses chat. Toodles!"

Lorcan kept staring at her retreating figure with unwavering interest, without realising that he, himself was under the scrutiny of Rose Weasley.

When he looked back at Rose, he flushed slightly and shrugged as he opened his book, "She has been acting strange since some time now. I don't know what has gotten into her. Mind if I read while you finish your breakfast?"

Rose didn't say anything to that. There was no point. Lorcan already looked like he was buried back in his book. He might still (shockingly) oblivious to why Lily was acting strange. But Rose definitely had her suspicions.

The Manor, usually bustling with servants, was eerily quiet. Scorpius almost feared that nobody was home. He looked around the huge hall to realise that the Manor had probably not seen a servant since days. There was a layer of dust everywhere. Scorpius started sneezing, as if to confirm that fact.

He brought his right elbow to cover his nose, sneezing continuously. "Dammit." Sneeze.

He went past the foyer to go to the East Wing of the Manor where his family had chosen to stay post War. The paintings in that wing were friendlier. Although, as Scorpius moved through the corridor, he noticed that a few paintings had been abandoned by their subjects. Curious. But before he could dwell on it, he heard a shuffling noise coming from one of the rooms close-by. Scorpius, now fully alert and recovered from that awful sneezing spell, looked around him cautiously, wand at ready. He couldn't see much anymore because it was dark. But whoever it was, they were aware of Scorpius' presence. Because the noise had subsided. But stillness is not in the human nature. One way or another, we usually give away.

Scorpius, his steps light as a cat's and agile as a tiger's, pounced on the intruder having them in a tight headlock. The intruder dropped their weapon—a saucepan?—and tried to get out of Scorpius' grip.

"Who are you? And what are you doing here in my house?" Scorpius snarled.

"Mr. Malfoy, please," the intruder—a woman—wheezed. "Let me go. I—my name is—"

"Soapee?" Came a tiny voice from somewhere near his knee, and sure enough, he felt a slight tugging at his robes. "Is that you?" One more tug. "Alice? It is so dark. I am scared."

Scorpius, filled with an acute bout of protectiveness, mumbled "Lumos", praying to Ministry Gods that this little bit of harmless underage magic will go undetected by the Ministry. He set that woman free of his grip as he fell to his knees and took his little sister in his arms. Ireland threw her frail little arms around her brother's neck and held on for dear life.

Scorpius stood up, holding Ireland in one hand and his illuminated wand in the other, and gazed at the woman standing before him. She was a harmless looking lady probably older than his parents. "I take it you're Alice?"

"Yes," she said. "Alice Whitaker. I am your sister's nanny."

Scorpius nodded. "Where's my father, Alice?"

"Mr. Malfoy, your father, he is not doing so well." She said apologetically, pity apparent in her eyes. "Come with me. You should probably see it for yourself."

Scorpius nodded again. "In a bit," Then looked at her sister who was now looking back at him with big brown eyes. "How are you, little one?" He whispered playfully.

"I'm okay, big one." She giggled. Scorpius planted a big smooch on her forehead and said, "Let's go and see what mummy is upto, shall we?"

A/N: Thank you, everyone! Your reviews and follows/favorites make me so happy! Keep them coming! They are so motivational.

PS: I know this one's short. Sorry about that. I'll try to make 'em longer next time.

thatharrypotterchick: Next chapter I will try to get in some Lily/Lorcan time for you. I am leading upto it. It's just that, I am a big fan of slow burn. Thanks for your review!