Author's Notes: Thank you to all of my dear reviewers, you make my day! This might be a bit cheesy. Just a little bit. I tried not to make it too cheesy, but I'm not sure I succeeded. Sorry in case it is too cheesy for you. (I said cheesy so many times, I am out of control!)
Chapter Eight
There were many more people at Roxanne's party than James had anticipated. Not that it was a problem, if he squinted his eyes and looked at those slightly hipster guys from the radio or from back at Hogwarts, he could almost recognise all of them. All good people, really, his mother had no reason to worry, but there were quite a lot more people than he had expected there.
Roxanne's new flat was big and fancy and very girly. Bigger than what James had imagined, much fancier than he had expected and just as girly as he had suspected it would be. There were quite a bit of rooms and they were all filled with people, making it all the more difficult to keep an eye on his little sister.
To top that, Rose had disappeared. She looked dazzling in her blue dress, and James had just had the time to point Josh out to her before Roxanne had come and whisked her away. He suspected that they had to tell each other everything about boys and break-ups and makeup and whatever – rainbows and unicorns probably – but at the same time he couldn't help thinking how rude the owner of that flat had been.
Roxanne had barely greeted Hugo and James and kissed Lily three times – the way they did on the continent – and then just grabbed Rose's wrist into her hand and dragged her away, babbling that they would only be a minute, to please enjoy the buffet and tell Albus when he arrived not to finish the canapés.
"Why don't we get something to drink as we wait for Al and Scorpius?" James asked Lily, wrapping an arm around her shoulders.
She nodded and sighed. "Do you think it'll take them long?" she asked him. "I mean, I know they are tired, but… if Scorpius really is too knackered we could leave the party a bit early, right? He could just come, have some fun and then we could go home and relax… Right?"
James smiled as he filled two glasses with pumpkin juice and offered one to Lily. She looked at the liquid and wrinkled her nose.
"James, I'd like some Butterbeer," she told him seriously.
"Yes, and then Mum will hex me," he replied calmly.
Lily pouted and crossed her arms on her chest. "Please," she told him, "students have Butterbeers at Hogsmeade. Underage students."
James glanced at her askew before sighing and placing the glasses back down. "Alright," he said, "but don't get drunk and start puke all over, okay?"
She rolled her eyes only half-heartedly. "Promise," she replied, raising two fingers in a gesture of honour. "I've had some already, you know," she told him, "at the Manor, with Mrs and Mister Malfoy, they say there's nothing wrong with drinking a bit of healthy alcohol…"
"Oh yeah?" asked James amusedly. He pushed a half a pint of Butterbeer into her hands and looked as she licked the foam at the top. "And what did Scorpius say?"
"He joined us and we had a drinking contest," she told him thoughtfully. "But I fell asleep after two pints."
James laughed. "And who won?"
"I have no clue," replied Lily, "Scorpius still doesn't want to tell me…"
"Probably his mother then," chuckled James. His eyes travelled for the room filled with people his eyes finally resting on two tall guys who seemed deep in conversation. "No! I can't believe that Bran and John would come tonight," he murmured, "I thought they were on duty."
Lily nudged him softly with her elbow. "Go talk to them," she smiled, "I'm sure Scorpius and Al will be here soon… and maybe… maybe I can go and find Dom and Molly, I haven't seen them yet."
"Awesome idea, Lils," said James, "and when you find them, you come and tell me where they are, because I want to say hi as well." He gave her a one arm hug and kissed her head before walking to where his ex-flatmates were standing and talking about latest investigation.
oooOOOooo
Lily knew everybody at that party.
And everybody seemed to know Lily. Well, they were mostly her cousins and friends of her cousins, but they all greeted her and smiled and hugged her and kissed her cheeks and wondered where Scorpius was. A tall guy with blue eyes even asked her if she had dumped him and was looking for someone better, but Fred came to her rescue and dragged the guy away.
"She's little, but lethal," joked Fred, "you should see her hexes, you wouldn't walk straight for a week."
Lily giggled as she kept walking around and around, trying to find her cousins to at least say hi to them. But she didn't know the flat, nor Roxanne had showed her around. She had just come and dragged Rose away from them, and Hugo had disappeared and he probably was having his fair share of canapés at that moment. Lily was hungry too, but first and foremost she would say hi, and then she would wait for Scorpius and then they would eat and dance and snog all night long. Yes, she had everything planned out.
"Hey Lily," a short girl with a flowery skirt stopped to kiss her cheeks.
"Hi Miriam," replied Lily.
"How are you?" she asked, before pulling some locks of dark blue hair behind her ear and looking around her. "Is… is your brother here?"
"James?" asked Lily. Well, of course she meant James, that was her ex-boyfriend, surely she didn't mean—
"No, Albus," she replied softly, "I just wanted to say hi…"
Lily furrowed her brow. "Well, he is coming," she replied, "James is already here, though. He's in the living room."
Miriam nodded and smiled at her. "And you are wandering all alone for this lush flat?"
"I'm looking for Roxy and my cousins, but I don't seem able to find any of them," she sighed.
"Oh, to be honest I think they are all in Roxy's room," she said, "I heard Rose kind of crying… I think… they were talking about Emeric so… Roxy's room is the last one down the corridor. The one on the left." She tucked some more hair behind her ear and sighed. "I'm going to go and get something to drink, I'll see you later, okay?"
"Yes," replied Lily as she already started to walk towards Roxanne's room. Finally! She had so many things to tell them. From her episode with Mr Whittle to Scorpius' rather distant disposition towards her. And she just wanted to sit a bit with them and chat for a while, between her job and their jobs, she just didn't see enough of her cousins anymore.
The door was slightly ajar and yes, she was definitely in the right place because Roxanne's, Rose's and Dominique's voices could be heard from the other side. She wanted to push the door open and walk in there and go to hug Dominique and ask her everything about her new job at the Ministry and about that boyfriend of hers who seemed so nice and yet Auntie Fleur didn't like him at all…
"…you have to get over him, girl," was saying Roxanne, "come on, you're at a party. Enjoy it, find someone to snog and snog him in front of your ex-boyfriend whose name we shall not say."
"I still can't believe you invited him, Roxy," complained Rose, sniffling loudly, "was it so difficult to lose his invitation?"
"Sorry," replied Roxanne, as she applied some fresh lipstick in front of a mirror, "you know he's second cousin once removed of a friend of the sister-in-law of that guy that works at the radio with Malcolm, I could not not invite him!"
"Obviously," chuckled Dominique, and Lily couldn't help giggling too. "You know the trick, Rose?"
"I do know the trick," she sighed, "I have to be more passionate."
Dominique shook her head. "No," she replied, "you have to recognise that nobody is perfect. Whoever you'll share your life with is not going to be perfect, you are not perfect, and neither will be your relationship."
"I didn't think my relationship with Emeric was perfect," pointed out Rose.
Roxanne turned to look at her. "Oh come on," she said, "we know what the problem is here." She took a deep breath and added, "Lily and Scorpius."
Lily felt her heart race in her chest. Lily and Scorpius? Were they a problem to them? What? Why? What were they talking about? Everybody was so nice with her and with Scorpius, everybody seemed to love them. And they were nice to everybody. Sure, Scorpius sometimes had some little quarrels with Albus, but they loved each other deep down. How could the two of them have been a problem to them? She leaned her hand on the wall and held her breath as she kept listening.
"What?" asked Rose. "How are they a problem?"
"It's because they have this perfect relationship," sighed Dominique, "they love each other, they never seem to tire of each other, they are always happy…"
Lily's heart slowed down as a soft smile stretched her lips.
"And to think that they have never even… you know," murmured Rose.
Roxanne nodded. "I know, Albus told me," she said, "that's crazy. Honestly, do you think it's her or him?"
"I don't have a clue," replied Dominique. "It's so weird though, because nowadays, that's all a boy wants from a girl: sex. I mean, a bit of romanticism is okay too, but what they really want is to have sex."
"Well, it's fun," pointed out Roxy, winking at her cousins.
"Do you think it's fun for Lily, though?" whispered Rose. "I mean, after the brothel and stuff… do you think she finds it fun?"
"I don't know," replied Roxanne thoughtfully, "but what I know is that Scorpius must love her a great deal to still be with her after all this time and not have done anything."
"Well," said Rose, "now that I think about it, James was pointing out something the other day… he said that it's not exactly as if their relationship is going that well…"
Lily's eyes widened as she kept listening to them. Rose was right. Their relationship wasn't going that well at that moment, Scorpius said that he wanted to be at the Manor with his mother, but… but he just didn't want to be close to her. Was it… was it because they weren't having sex? Was he going to leave her because they weren't making love? Was that all her fault?
"What do you mean?" asked Dominique.
"Well, he hadn't gone to Grimmauld Place for most of the week," she told them, "Lily said that it's because he wants to spend time with his mother, but please… I think she believes him just because she is completely gone around him, but I mean, it doesn't take a genius to understand that he doesn't want to spend too much time with her anymore…"
Lily's heart was racing again, her lips were trembling now and her breath was coming out in short puffs, as if she had run a thousand miles.
"Oh that's so sad," said Dominique, and it felt as if she really thought that. "I hope he lets her down easily, because if that's the case, I'm sure she'll be devastated…"
"He's just like any other man," sighed Roxanne, "all he wants is some action, and if he doesn't get it with someone, well, he will most certainly try with someone else…" She smiled and added, "He is just slower than other guys. I mean, five years…"
Rose nodded. "I'm sure girls will be flocking around him the moment he breaks up with Lily," she sighed, "I think I should practice my Bogey Bat Hex, just in case…"
"Oh, we are going to beat him to a pulp if—"
Two hands went to cover Lily's eyes and a soft voice whispered in her ear, "Did Mum and Dad never tell you that it's not nice to eavesdrop?"
Lily's heart skipped a beat as she recognised Albus' voice. If her brother was there, then Scorpius must have been there too. She wriggled free from his arms and turned to look at him.
"Hey Lils, Luna and Rolf said that the presents—are you okay?"
She nodded stiffly. "Where's Scorpius?" she asked urgently. "Is he here?"
Albus snorted. "Well, it's nice to see you too," he grunted, "and the trip was okay, we skinny-dipped in the ocean and I sunburned both shoulders and had bat for lunch and pork for dinner… it was a fun adventure, thank you for asking."
She bit her bottom lip and murmured a, "Sorry. I'm happy you had a fun trip…"
Albus sighed, obviously not believing a word she was saying. "Scorpius is in the living room, he was looking for something to drink, apparently the heat of Papua had perched his skin…"
"Thank you," whispered Lily.
She started walking briskly towards the living room. People were laughing and talking and now there was some music playing, but Lily didn't see or hear any of them, she just kept walking, her hands fidgeting at her sides as she looked for Scorpius everywhere. He was not near the buffet table, Hugo and Louis were there though, and Louis went to hug her and ask her if she was alright, because she seemed rather pale, really.
"Oh," replied Lily, bringing a hand to her face, "am I… am I ugly?"
"What?" asked Louis, taken aback. "If you're ugly, Lily than I don't know what to call the other girls." He smiled at her, but she just nodded and thanked him, before keeping on wandering for the living room. Honestly the place wasn't as immense as everybody said, it was just crowded with people now, and everybody was moving and some people were already dancing and she just started to fret that she would turn and find Scorpius kissing another girl any minute now.
But she didn't. Scorpius was standing next to Emeric and they were talking and drinking some pumpkin juice from big, plastic cups. She felt her heart skip a beat when she took notice that he wasn't looking for her, that he seemed perfectly happy without her, even though they hadn't spent the whole day together as he had promised. His nose was purple for the sun of Papua, and he looked rather sleepy.
She bit her bottom lip and pushed back the tears at the thought that he was about to dump her. She wouldn't have let him, not before she let him know that he was everything for her, and that she had been a self-centred git. But no more now… no, now it was all about Scorpius.
She knew how to have sex.
She would have showed him everything she knew.
He wouldn't have left her.
oooOOOooo
"Your nose looks like it's going to peel to its cartilage in the upcoming days," pointed out Emeric, staring at him.
"I guess not everybody has a sun-friendly complexion such as yourself, Zabini," replied Scorpius sourly, "and I forgot the sun lotion."
Emeric laughed heartily. "You idiot."
Scorpius rolled his eyes at his friend, but before he could reply anything saucy to him, a pair of skinny arms locked around his torso and a mass of ringlets was pushed against his chest. He was taken by surprise for the briefest moment, his glass of pumpkin juice almost ending on the floor, before Lily turned her head upwards to look at him and he couldn't help grinning at her.
"Hey," he said rather breathily.
She didn't reply, she stood on tiptoes and kissed him. Her hands grabbed the back of his shirt, and she licked the seam of his lips to ask for access to his mouth. She was passionate and almost urgent, and Scorpius thought that she must have really missed him that day. Well, it was good, because he had missed her back and thus he proceeded to kiss her with equal force, treading his fingers in her fine ringlets and tilting her head back. She moaned against his lips and pushed herself with force against his body.
He backed away a little as she pressed with force against his groin, his lips leaving hers. "Hmm," he hummed, planting butterfly kisses all over her lips, "someone missed me…"
"There should be a rule against kissing in front of recently single people," grunted Emeric, "especially kissing like that…"
"Scorpius, let's go home," Lily murmured urgently, grabbing the front of his shirt. "Please, can we go home?"
Scorpius looked at her with his eyebrows high on his forehead. "What?" he asked in disbelief. "I only just got here, Lily. I thought you wanted to dance all night…" He grinned softly and kissed her cheek.
She shook her head frantically. "I want to go home, please," she begged, "with you. Please, Scorpius, please…"
"Lily." He cupped her cheeks and made her look at him. Her brown eyes seemed upset by something he couldn't quite understand. Did something happen? "Are you alright? Is everything okay?"
"Merlin, Malfoy! A girl is asking you to go home with her and you have to question her?" grunted Emeric. "If Rose had told me that she wanted to go home with me at least once, I—"
"Mind your own business, Zabini," snapped Scorpius, hugging Lily protectively with an arm. He looked down at her and furrowed his brow. "I thought you wanted to stay here… what happened to the I want to dance and snog you all night?"
She bit her bottom lip. "I… I changed my mind," she whispered, "please, Scorpius, can we go home? Not… not my home, yours…"
"The Manor? What?" He couldn't understand. There was something wrong there. Something must have happened to her. "Lily, what… what's wrong?"
"Oh, you found her, Scorpius," said James as he came to refill his glass of Butterbeer. "He was looking for you everywhere, Lils."
"She wants to go home," murmured Scorpius, looking at James. He could feel Lily's head pushing against his chest, her hands gripping his arms through his shirt, her hip brushing insistently against his groin.
"What?" asked James, visibly surprised. "You were so excited to come to the party, Lily…"
"I changed my mind," she repeated. "Please, Scorpius, let's go!"
Scorpius looked at James. Albus had told him that James and Rose were supposed to look after her that night, and he too was allowed to do that, apparently. But maybe he could take her to the Manor, ask her what was wrong and finally go back to the party. After all, all he wanted was to spend time with her after a week apart, surely they could have danced and snogged and cuddled at the Manor as well – and in the privacy of his home, all those activities would have been much less embarrassing than in front of his friends and her cousins and brothers. Especially in front of Albus…
"Hey Lily," giggled Dominique as she walked up to them with Roxanne and Rose. "I haven't seen you in ages. How are you, dear?"
Lily seemed to not wanting to let Scorpius go to go and say hi to Dominique, and Scorpius couldn't help finding even that behaviour highly unusual. "I'm good," she murmured, giving the hint of a smile.
"Is everything alright?" asked Dominique, frowning.
Scorpius looked at her and shrugged a shoulder. "She wants to go home," he told her.
"What?" exclaimed Rose. "Your mum said that you've talked about coming here for the whole afternoon. Are you not feeling well?"
"Well, look who's faking interest in another human being," murmured Emeric loud enough for all of them to hear.
The little crowd of Potters and Weasleys turned to glare at him, and Scorpius couldn't help joining them. He was an idiot to say those things in front of Rose's family.
Rose's hands balled into fists. "I care about every human being," she snapped.
"That's not what I remember about you…"
Rose turned all red and Albus seemed to wanting to step between the two, but it was James went to stand in front of Emeric. "Vanish, Zabini," he snarled. "Before I hex your sorry arse."
Roxanne grabbed James' arm. "Hey, James calm down," she told him, before turning to Emeric. "Find somebody else to importune, please," she added icily.
Emeric glanced at Rose, biting his plump lip for a moment before grunting and walking away.
James turned to Rose. "Are you okay?" he asked softly.
She nodded and smiled.
"I think it's time we find Josh, alright?" he asked her with a smirk. "And a good position where you can sit and snog him silly."
Roxanne frowned. "What?" she asked in disbelief. "You let James help you in your vendetta towards your ex? And you didn't ask me? Well, good luck with that!"
"You can help too," James assured her. "Or you can find me someone to snog…"
Lily tugged at Scorpius' shirt. "Can we go home, Scorpius?" she asked again.
He looked at her with concern and finally nodded. Just to see what was wrong with her, then they would have come back there. He cleared his throat and looked at Lily's cousins and brothers. "Guys," he called them, "Lily and I will run to the Manor for a second, okay? We'll be right back."
Lily grasped his arms. "I don't want to come back," she whispered, confirming Scorpius' suspicions that something was definitely wrong there.
"Right," he murmured. "If… if you don't see us here, we'll be at Grimmauld Place, okay?"
James and Rose looked at him with concern, but Scorpius tried to smile apologetically, after all they were just going to the Manor, she was safe, safer than at that party, and if Mrs Potter didn't like the fact that Scorpius brought her daughter to the Manor, well… nobody had to tell her, really. He wasn't going to ask her to marry him without Lily's parents blessing, he certainly didn't want to be the cause of a rift between mother and daughter. He suffered enough for his relationship with his father.
"Can we go?" insisted Lily.
"Yes, yes, we are going," murmured Scorpius back. "We'll see you later," he told the others and with a smile he guided her towards the fireplace and gave her a generous fistful of Floo Powder. "See you in a bit," he whispered to her as she walked into the hearth and disappeared.
oooOOOooo
Draco and Astoria were rather startled to see the fireplace filling with green flames. Even more so when Lily walked out and looked at them with concern as she worried her pretty pink lips between her teeth.
For a moment, Astoria thought that something had happened to her son. Why else would Lily be there, instead than the party, and why would she look so disconcerted? But then the fireplace became alive with flames again and Scorpius stepped out next to her.
"Hello," said Astoria softly, closing the book in her lap. "We thought you were at the party." She looked at Lily and smiled. "Hello Lily," she told her gently. "I haven't seen you in a long time."
She smiled shyly at her. "Hello Mrs Malfoy," she replied, "and Mister Malfoy." She walked to them and went to kiss Astoria first and then Draco's cheek, his pale complexion flushing slightly.
"Hello Lily," said Draco, "was the party too boring for the two of you?"
She shook her head and walked back to Scorpius, wrapping an arm around his middle. He hugged her back and looked at Astoria. "We… hum… we'll be right back, okay?"
Astoria glanced askew at Draco, but nodded gently at them. "Sure," she replied, "would you like something to drink when you come back?"
Scorpius shook his head. "We're going back to the party," he told them.
Lily groaned next to him and tugged his arm forward. "Let's go, please," she told him.
"Of course, Lily," he murmured. He smiled at his mother and the youngsters walked past the couch where they were reading and towards the stairs.
"That was weird," sentenced Draco softly. "Do you think she's alright?"
Astoria looked at him and narrowed her eyes in concentration. "Maybe… oh my! What if she found out that Scorpius wanted to propose to her and that her mother didn't let him and now…"
Draco nodded softly. "I understand," he replied, "maybe when they come back we can have Lily cuddling Sparky a little, though. At least the Crup would be happy to see her, and I'm sure she would feel much better anyway."
Astoria smiled at him as she moved a bit closer to her husband. She leaned her head against his shoulder and nodded. "Sounds like a wonderful idea," she murmured, enlacing her fingers into his.
He turned to kiss her hair, and then they just waited, basking in each other's presence.
oooOOOooo
Scorpius opened the door to his bedroom for Lily and closed it at his back as they stepped inside. He walked to the bed and stared as she moved towards the door again and locked it with a quick spell.
He sat on the bed and cocked a questioning eyebrow at her. "Lily, what's wrong?" he softly asked her again. "Is everything alright?"
She looked at him from behind her pretty ringlets and bit her bottom lip without replying. She walked to the bed and sat gently on his lap, wrapping her arms around his neck. "I love you," she murmured, before closing the distance between the two of them to kiss him hungrily.
He wrapped his arms around her waist, his thumb drawing circles on her hipbone through the dress. She pushed her foot on the floor to press herself closer to him and leaned her warm body against his.
He backed away from her after what were probably minutes, panting. "Lily," he murmured, resting his forehead on her cheek. "I love you too."
She swallowed and turned her head to kiss his forehead, her hands disentangled from his neck and descended down his chest until they were resting over his belt buckle.
Scorpius had to shift slightly to lessen the pressure against his member, she was too close, too beautiful, too sensual as she leaned against him. Did she know the effect she had on him?
"I want to have sex with you," she murmured, her fingers ghosting on the belt buckle. "Now…"
Scorpius' breath caught in his throat at her words. All his muscles stiffened as he involuntarily squeezed her waist a bit more tightly than intended. "What?" he groaned huskily.
She took a deep breath, and now her voice was shakier. "I want to have sex with you," she told him.
He tilted his head back a little and looked into her eyes, but she lowered them before he could get a glimpse of the emotions pooling there. "You want to have sex with me?" he asked her softly, his mouth was suddenly dry.
She nodded and started to fumble with his belt, her nimble fingers seemed to know exactly what to do because before he could even react she was already unbuttoning his trousers.
"Lily!" he breathed. "Wait… what… what's wrong with you?" He grasped her wrists in his hands to still her movements.
She looked at him, eyes filled with fear now. "Please, Scorpius, please have sex with me," she begged, "I'm good, I swear… Nott… Nott always said that I was good… please, I still remember everything, I promise I…" She lowered her voice and flushed as she added in a whisper, "I'll make you come all night. Please…"
Scorpius blinked. She never, never mentioned Nott. Never. And to mention him in a moment like that. There was something wrong…
Scorpius wanted to have sex with her. He had imagined how that would feel, he had imagined how wonderful it would be, to finally be inside of her, to finally be one with her.
But no… he didn't want to have sex with her, he wanted to make love to her. He wanted it to be slow and perfect and beautiful… and he had waited so long, he could wait a bit more… until everything was perfect. Because right now, it didn't seem perfect at all…
She slipped her fingers inside his underwear and brushed her digits against his member. Scorpius twitched almost uncontrollably under her touch, and he felt the urge to push her away from him. If she kept that up, he would have pushed her into the mattress and taken her right there and then, and he didn't want it to be like that. He needed himself to be in control.
She stood up from his lap and looked down at him with her eyes wide. She seemed to be on the verge of tears. She looked like she would have begged him to take her, just like that first time he had met her. When she had cried for him to fuck her and use her and not send her back.
"Lily, what's wrong with you?" he asked her nervously. "I thought you wanted to dance and have fun tonight, not… not this."
She fell to her knees in front of him, something that she hadn't done in years, and whimpered, "I love you Scorpius, please… have sex with me, I promise, I'm good… I… I just don't want you to leave me…"
He grabbed her upper arm and brought her to sit on the bed. "Leave you?" he asked in disbelief. "I would never leave you. What the heck are you talking about?"
She sniffled and threw her arms around his neck. "I… Rose and Roxy and Dom said that you got tired of not having sex with me, that you would surely go and find someone else if I didn't have sex with you." She wetted his neck with her tears. "I love you, Scorpius, please don't leave me. I'll do anything for you, we can have sex every night, all night, please… I love you."
Scorpius' face hardened as he listened to her. Rose, Roxanne and Dominique had to learn how to mind their own businesses. It was certainly not their place to comment on Scorpius and Lily's relationship, on their sex life or lack of thereof. They were three bitter maids who needed to have a life.
He grasped her shoulders and pushed her back, even though she hugged him more forcefully and thrust herself against him. "Lily," he called her as he tried to push her back again, "Lily, listen to me."
She finally looked at him, eyes glistening with tears and lips trembling.
"I don't want to have sex with you," he told her seriously. "Never, okay?"
She hiccupped a couple of sobs. "But…"
"When it'll happen," he continued, "I want to make love to you."
She brushed her tears with the back of her hand and looked at him with her mouth wide.
"I want our first time together to be unforgettable," he whispered, kissing her cheek, "I want it to be perfect." He kissed her nose. "I don't want you to have to feel like you owe me anything…" He kissed her lips and she puckered them a little to try to respond, but he was gone too soon. "I love you, and I'm not with you because I hope to get into your knickers, okay? I'm with you because you are everything to me, I'm with you because I can't get enough of you, I'm with you because I'm addicted to you, Lily."
She smiled shyly at him, her cheeks flushing in pleasure at his words. She leaned closer and kissed his lips tenderly. "I love you too," she murmured.
Ah, of course he knew that. She had just tried to offer herself to him, despite her past, despite what sex meant to her. She loved him and he loved her and everything would have been perfect if only Ginny Potter had not shooed him from her house when he had asked for permission to marry her daughter.
She slid closer to him and hugged his chest, as he wrapped his arm around her and placed his chin on her head. "You don't want to leave me, then, do you?" she whispered, her breath against his collarbone.
"Not in a million years," he whispered back.
She sighed contentedly. "Will you come to Grimmauld Place tonight? After the party? My mother said you can and—"
"Did she?" asked Scorpius softly. Mrs Potter was agreeing to him staying the night at her house? Well, maybe he could have slipped the engagement ring in his pocket before he left the Manor then…
She nodded. "And I've missed you," she murmured, "you said you don't want to leave me and I believe you, but…"
"But?"
"But we haven't spent much time together lately, and I need you," she whispered, "I'm addicted to you too, you know."
He kissed the top of her head and the magic that she had used to fix her ringlets tickled his nose. "I know," he replied, "right, if your mother says that it's okay, I'll come to Grimmauld Place. And we can spend the whole day together tomorrow."
She kissed his neck and Scorpius felt a shiver running down his spine. Merlin, he wanted everything to be perfect for his first time with Lily, and he was ready to wait for her to be ready as well. But at the same time he hoped that that moment would come soon. When she was that close to him he felt like the pressure in his guts was too much and he would have exploded sooner or later.
"Do you want to go back to the party?" he asked her gently.
She tilted her head back and smiled. "Will you dance with me?"
Scorpius hugged her tightly. "Little vixen," he murmured, before proceeding to tickling her until she laughed and squirmed and fell back onto the bed, her eyes shining in happiness as her hands tried to fend off his gentle attack.
He lay down next to her and instead of keeping on tickling her he started to caress her sides, until his hands settled on her hips and he dragged her to him, kissing her fiercely and moaning at how passionately she responded to him, her palms sliding gracefully on his chest.
"So, shall we go back?" he whispered against her lips.
She hummed and half-closed her eyes. "In a minute," she replied as she snuggled closer to him. "Just let me snog you without my brothers to interrupt us for a bit…"
He groaned in agreement and went back to focus on their kissing, and he too was glad that her brothers were not there to interrupt them.
oooOOOooo
"I knew it!" muttered Roxanne. "I just knew it! Look at that, Dom. Would you look at that?"
Dominique was definitely looking at that. Apparently, every guest at the party was looking at that.
"Yeah," she murmured back.
"Unbelievable!" snapped Roxanne.
And it kind of was. Rose Weasley, calm, composed, level head Rose Weasley, was screaming against Emeric Zabini in the middle of the living room. Properly screaming. Screaming things that she probably shouldn't have screamed since they involved Emeric's penis and the way he liked to sleep with his teddy bear.
"I knew she shouldn't have let James help her," muttered Dominique. "Look at what he did!"
In fact, it had all started when Emeric had yanked Rose away from James' friend, Josh. They had been kissing for more than twenty minutes on the couch; properly kissing, with tongue and the occasional fondling of Rose's breasts, right under the eyes of pretty much everybody, and especially of Emeric and the girl with whom Rose's ex-boyfriend had come to the party.
And Dominique couldn't help noticing how red had Emeric turned as he looked at them with hatred and at the same time he downed all that Firewhiskey as if his goal was to get drunk enough to find the courage to start screaming at Rose.
And he surely had been quite pissed when he had shaken his lady friend from his arm and had walked to the couch and grasped Rose's arm as he brought her to his feet.
"What the hell are you doing?" he had snarled at her.
She had looked only mildly surprised for the briefest time, before narrowing her eyes and wriggling free from his grasp and shouting back at him, "I'm having fun!"
And then they had screamed epithets at each other. Well, he had slipped and called her 'his girlfriend' and she had called him 'a dim-witted jerk'.
James had tried to step in between the two of them, but it was Rose herself who pushed him away and towards Dominique and Roxanne.
"Great job," mocked Roxanne. "Honestly, James, let me know next time you have another great idea like this one because it was just plain fantastic."
James had just looked at her, rather pale, and had babbled something that sounded like, "I didn't mean for this to happen."
"Wow, this is kind of awesome," chuckled Hugo, "do you think they're going to hex each other?"
"How's that awesome, Hugo?" snapped Dominique. "Poor Rose, she'll be devastated once she notices that everybody is looking at them and hearing what they are saying."
"Pfft," he replied, waving a hand in front of her nose, "she'll survive. And this is very entertaining." That gained him a scowl from all three of his cousins and he just shrugged a shoulder and walked back to the buffet table, probably to tackle his fifth serving of what Aunt Angelina had prepared for the party.
"I hate you!" snarled Rose. "I'm glad we broke up, and I can only pity your new squeeze for having to spend time with you!"
Emeric looked at her, his dark eyes flashing dangerously. "We didn't break up, I dumped you because you're a frigid old maid and you will end up like your Aunt Muriel!"
Rose's face turned all red as she threw herself at him, grasping the front of his shirt. "I hate you!" she screamed. "I hate—"
And then the crowd of people gasped as Emeric dunked his head to kiss her and cut the insult off. And Rose's eyes widened and she pushed back before he could even try to push his tongue into her mouth.
"Merlin, I love when you are all angry…" he murmured, right before a sound slap landed on his cheek.
"Idiot," she snarled, before storming away from him and disappearing amongst the guests, panting and with her cheeks all flushed.
"Wow," murmured Dominique.
"Double wow," agreed Roxanne.
"Merlin," muttered James. "Well, at least she's not crying anymore, is she?"
Dominique rolled her eyes and was just about to retort something to James, when Lily and Scorpius walked out of the fireplace, hand in hand, all flushed and smiling.
They stopped as they noticed that everybody was staring at Emeric and there was no music nor talking at all going on.
"Did we miss something?" asked Scorpius.
Roxanne nodded eagerly. "Yes, you did," she told them right before she threw herself in a detailed retelling of the events they had just witnessed.
oooOOOooo
"We're going home." Lily's voice was secure and firm as she announced that to her brothers and cousins. "Mum said not to be back too late, and I'm a bit tired…"
"Say you just want to cuddle all night with Scorpius," grinned Hugo.
Lily stuck out her tongue to him, but she knew that he was right, and she couldn't wait.
"Do you want to play Quidditch tomorrow?" asked Albus, detaching his lips from Miriam's – James' ex-girlfriend – long enough to talk.
"No," replied Scorpius quietly. "I want to stay in bed all day."
"Can't have that," Albus told him, "not with my sister."
"Al!" exclaimed Lily half-exasperatedly half-amusedly.
Scorpius just looked exasperated instead.
"Right, right," grunted Albus, "I won't disturb you, just go to Grimmauld Place and send our old mother to bed so that she can sleep happily, knowing that you are home…"
Lily took her time to kiss goodnight all of her cousins and brothers and friends, and Scorpius waited patiently for her as he talked to James about Auror cases and the Scamanders and Papua.
But when they finally left, Lily couldn't wait to spend the night and the following day with Scorpius.
She had missed him too much.