Author's Notes: Alright. Today is my sister's birthday. She can't speak English, she doesn't even know what a fan-fiction is and she hates Harry Potter. That said, I thought I would upload a new chapter as a kind of a present for her (don't you worry, I bought her a real present too!), and for you too, dear readers, since my last chapter ended with quite the cliffy... Ah, this chapter has some suggestive language and references to Scarlet as well as the appearance of an old acquaintance from that story... Enjoy!
Next chapter will be up on Wednesday, don't you worry!
Chapter Fifteen
Despite the throbbing headache, Scorpius didn't mind being brought back to his senses by a shower of kisses and Lily's soft hands on his face. "I love you," she was whispering gently to him, "I love you, I love you. You saved me, you are my knight. You're my handsome knight…"
"Hmm," he hummed contently, "keep going…"
She giggled softly, but despite she kept whispering sweet things to him and placing kisses all over his cheeks and forehead and on his lips and chin, Scorpius was slowly thrown back to the harsh reality of their situation.
He pushed his hands on the floor and sat up from the cold floor, his head finally leaving Lily's lap. "What happened?" he asked, rubbing his temples. When in the end he opened his eyes he saw that they were in a small, square room, bare and barely lit by a faint light coming from somewhere behind them.
"You saved me," repeated Lily, throwing her arms around his neck and hugging him tightly.
He smiled into her hair and hugged her back. "Finally, I could save you and not the other way round for once…" he whispered to her.
"Oh Scorpius," she murmured, "shut up. You are my knight." She tilted her head back and looked seriously at him. "How did you know?"
"How did I know what?" he asked her softly, pulling a lock of red hair from her eyes.
"That you were the one who could touch the wall and not me."
He took a deep breath as he looked at her seriously. "Oh Lily," he told her softly, "I… I just…"
"Is it because I was a prostitute?" she whispered. "Is it because I am not a virgin?"
The words hurt him and he found that he couldn't respond with his voice, he gave her a jerky nod instead and pulled her to him once more.
She took a deep breath and nodded as well, softly and calmly though. "Thank you," she told him.
"I love you," he replied. "And if any of your cousins blabber something about me having a problem with being a virgin once again," he added softly, "I'm going to use a Hair Loss Curse on them…"
Lily's giggle made him feel instantaneously better and for a moment he forgot that they were in a dark cave with people threatening to murder them and Albus, and with snares that were probably going to kill them anyway.
For a moment she was all that mattered and the fact that she was pressing her shaky body against him and that he was kissing her hair and forehead and he was breathing in her smell that was so familiar and so sweet.
"Lily," he finally asked, "what happened? I think… I think I blacked out a little…"
"You did," she told him truthfully, "I didn't only because you shielded me." She smiled and continued, "There was a bright light coming from the wall, then the cave started to tremble and the wall just disappeared and we fell through it and in here. Then the wall appeared again at our backs. And… we're stuck in here and I don't even know if Al is alright…"
"I'm sure he is," he told her softly. "We went through the wall, that's what they wanted, they surely haven't harmed him." He wasn't sure, and the thought that something might have happened to him made him sick, but now all they had to focus on was the Golden Orchid and whatever other tasks they had to go through before reaching it.
She released him and he tried to push himself up to a standing position. Lily helped him and when he was on his feet he leaned a bit against her to steady himself.
Bloody hell, it was hot there! Lily had already discarded her jumper to the floor, but her shirt was stuck to her chest and he could see her skin covered in a thin layer of perspiration.
"It's getting warmer and warmer," he muttered, unfastening his cloak and unbuttoning the first few buttons of his uniform.
"It is," she replied, fanning her neck. She let his arm go and grasped her thick locks on her shoulders, pushing them up over her head. "I'm all sweaty," she murmured, flushing even more.
"Me too," he replied, "don't worry." He walked behind her and blew over the nape of her neck and she hummed in pleasure.
"Thank you, Scorpius," she told him. "Why do you think it's so warm?"
He shook his head. "Probably because we're in the depths of the earth," he suggested. "But I'm no expert."
She let her hair fall back down on her back and turned to look at him. "What do you think awaits us now?" she asked softly. "Do you think that I… that I won't be able to…"
"You stay close to me," he told her seriously, "and I'll take care of you. Nothing will happen to you, I'd rather die than let anything happen to you." He took a deep breath and noticed that it was becoming more and more difficult to breathe that hot air. "What did the book say about the second task?"
"Second, light. Only who has a light heart and no shadows nor secrets will be able to continue in their quest," recited Lily by heart. "I don't… I don't have secrets, I swear."
Scorpius nodded. He was sure she didn't. He wasn't so sure about himself this time though. He placed his hands on her shoulders and looked seriously at her. "Lily," he said, "if I don't make it—"
"No, no," she cut him off, "don't say it, don't say it. We'll make it together."
"But if I don't make it—"
"No!" She pressed her lips to his, effectively shutting him up this time. "If you don't make it," she murmured against his mouth, "I'll kill myself."
He tilted his head back, looking at her in disbelief. "Now, don't be ridiculous," he grunted.
"I'm not," she replied, "you are my knight, the only person I want to spend the rest of my life with, the only person that I love from my very guts. I need you, Scorpius, without you, I'm nothing."
Scorpius smiled at her. "Same," he whispered. "So we better survive and don't lose sight of each other until we find that damn flower, okay?"
She nodded, stood on tiptoes and kissed him again, before enlacing her fingers into his and starting to walk towards the source of the light. "Let's go," she encouraged him.
"Yes," he agreed.
He finally took a good look at the place, the light was not coming from somewhere in the room itself. No, the light was coming from a an opening. It was a little doorframe without an actual door and it apparently led to a small corridor. Scorpius was already starting to complain for how long they would have had to walk in that heat, when they suddenly stepped through another opening and found themselves in a much bigger and much darker room.
There was only one light in the room, Scorpius couldn't tell from where it came exactly, but he could see perfectly well what it lit up. He grasped Lily's hand more forcefully and pulled her to him as they stopped to look at the only object that there was there.
A mirror.
It was a tall, polished mirror, with a dark, iron frame covered in symbols and runic writings. There were beautiful flowers engraved all around it and spikes and, were those skulls?
The mirror was placed right in the middle of the room, kept upright by some magic. Scorpius stretched his neck to look behind it and saw another passage. That was it, surely if they just walked around it – maybe without even looking at it – surely they would find the Orchid or the third task right behind that passage on the other side of the room. Surely—
"Lily!" he whispered harshly as he felt her tugging at his arm. "What are you doing?"
She turned to look at him. Her brown eyes were wide with wonder and her lips vaguely curved in a soft smile. "Let's go and see it," she told him excitedly. "It's calling us!"
"What?" he exclaimed. "What do you mean? It's not… it's not…" But his words died in his throat. There was a murmur reaching his ears, something soft and delicate like the flutter of the wings of a fairy. Scorpius had to hold his breath and try to slow down the furious beating of his heart to hear it, but it was calling him… it was his name that it was saying…
He took a step and then another and another, following Lily closer to the mirror, until they were both standing in front of it.
"It's beautiful," murmured Lily, letting his hand go to brush her fingers against the frame. "Isn't it?"
Scorpius didn't reply, instead he raised his eyes to the runes over his head and furrowed his brow. "What does it say?" he asked. "I don't… I never took Ancient Runes…"
"The Mirror of Shadow and Light," she read out loud for him, "oh Scorpius, it's beautiful. Look at us."
Scorpius finally lowered his eyes on his reflection. He didn't look anything near beautiful in it. He was covered in sweat and pale and his eyes… his eyes were almost red with tiredness… and the redness not only spread through his sclera but his irises as well… they looked so red, so weird… almost evil… Yes, he looked evil in that reflection, he furrowed his brow and got closer to the mirror. That was weird, and quite uncomfortable, he was pretty sure that he didn't look like that in real life, he was pretty sure that he looked much… much nicer than that… he looked much more… much more…
"Lily," he whispered, "Lily don't look at the mirror, it's… it's weird…"
She didn't reply and somehow he felt that he himself could not look away from his reflection.
"Lily!" he called her again.
Again she didn't reply. He furrowed his brow and gritted his teeth or, at least, he was sure he was doing that, but his reflection just smirked back at him.
He used all his willpower to turn his head and look at Lily, but when he did, he found out that she was not there anymore.
oooOOOooo
The mirror scared her and Lily didn't know why Scorpius had looked so excited about it. The mirror was tall and menacing and Lily didn't like the way her reflection stared back at her, as if she knew everything about her and as if she could see into the bottom of her heart.
"Scorpius," she called him, her voice tiny. He didn't reply to her and she tried to stretch her hand to grasp his into her fingers once more.
Her digits closed around thin air though.
"Scorpius?" she said again, a little whimper leaving her lips as she called him and obtained no answer.
She swallowed out loud, there was complete silence around her now, and her eyes could barely leave those of her reflection. Reflection… but was that really her? How could she be like that? The girl in front of her looked… evil… and she was not evil, she had just told Scorpius that she had no secrets, she really believed that… and now… was that mirror going to change all that? Did she have any secrets? She must have had some, otherwise why did her reflection scared her that much?
She swallowed again and the girl in front of her smirked evilly at her. Lily brought a hand to her face, she wasn't… she wasn't smirking. She took a step back, wanting more than anything to manage to tear her eyes from the girl in the mirror.
She felt her heart beating furiously in her chest. Where was Scorpius? Why had he left her there? How could he do that? He had told her that he loved her and that he would protect her and… and he was her knight… and…
Why are you afraid?
She opened her eyes wide, and took another step back. It was still boiling hot in there, but all she could feel now was the cold sweat running down her back.
Scarlet, you're not being polite… what do you do when you're asked a question?
"No!" she cried, brining her hands to her ears. "Don't call me that! That's not my name!" She shut her eyes tightly and crouched on the floor. That was not real, no, no, no…
That was not her name… that was not her…
Of course it's you, you silly little girl! Look at you! Look at your dress! All the whores of the brothel are dressed like that…
Her breath hitched as she cracked one eye open to look down at her. She let out a cry of fear and fell backwards on the naked floor. She was wearing the dress that Nott had made her wear for six years, the long white dress with a crimson ribbon under her breasts.
"No, no, no," she cried, trying to tear the dress, "no! I'm not… I'm not…"
Yes, you are, aren't you? A little whore… Daddy's little strumpet… you miss the way your Father took you from behind. You miss the clients who made you feel like the scum you are…
She raised her eyes on her reflection once again, only it was not her reflection anymore. Lily was sitting on the floor, and the girl there was standing and looking down at her with a mad glint in her eyes. She was wearing Lily's same exact dress and was barefoot, just like Lily was now. And she had a heavy bracelet around her ankle…
"No!" cried Lily, raising her leg to look at her ankle. The same ankle bracelet was there. The one that had caused her infinite pain, the one that had stopped her fleeing five years ago.
"No," she whined, "no, that's not possible. No, stop it! Stop it!"
Her reflection offered her a mocking smile.
You can't stop it. Only someone with a light heart and no shadows or secrets can stop this, but you, my dear, you don't have a light heart. You are full of darkness. A prostitute… that's what you are… that's what you'll always be…
There was a bright light coming from the mirror and for a moment Lily had to close her eyes and shield her face. The ground shook under her and she tried to scream, but no sound left her lips.
She covered her ears and curled herself up in a ball, waiting for the moment to pass. Waiting for the light to fade and the rumble to cease.
And when it did, she felt her insides twist in her stomach.
"Hello, baby girl," said a low, familiar voice, "did you miss me?"
oooOOOooo
"Lily!" cried Scorpius, looking around himself furiously. "Lily! Where are you?" Merlin, that girl! Always running away, always getting herself into trouble… and he never… he never managed to…
…never manage to save her. Never manage to be her knight in shining armour, never manage to kick someone's arse for her, never manage to save her when she was raped in front of your eyes—I'm sorry, shall I go on?
Scorpius jerked his head around himself. "Who are you?" he cried. "Show yourself!"
Well, if you want to see me, you have to go back in front of the mirror, Scorpius…
He turned slowly towards the mirror, eyebrows knitting on his forehead and a desire to have his wand with him burning inside him and making his fingers tingle.
He locked eyes with his reflection. "Who are you?" he asked nervously.
I'm you.
"No, you're not," snapped Scorpius, "I'm not… I'm not like you." No, now his reflection looked younger than himself. He almost looked like a child, he looked scared to even look back at Scorpius. He was shaking slightly. "You're so small," he murmured.
I know. Small, and vulnerable, and useless…
"How dare you?" he hissed. "I'm not useless. I… I've just saved Lily's life!"
Please, she should have been asleep and instead she slipped out of the house in the middle of the night… and you, an Auror, an Auror trained by her father, didn't even notice that she was gone. But you got yourself Stunned with her and then stared as she was pushed forward and towards her death… of course, you took her place… but only because you are a virgin. At 23. Pathetic. You're pathetic. Your girlfriend is a prostitute and you just hold her at night. Both times she asked you to fuck her and you just pushed her back… pathetic… you're pathetic, pathetic, pathetic…
"No!" cried Scorpius. He threw himself at the mirror, but the moment his hands touched the polished surface he was engulfed by a blinding light that sent him to the floor and everything turned black.
oooOOOooo
Lily scrambled to her feet the moment she heard the voice at her back. She glanced at the mirror, but there was no reflection now staring back at her. Nothing. The mirror was empty.
She didn't feel good about it, but when she turned and her eyes met those of Theodore Nott she felt even worse.
"No," she muttered, stepping back. "No, you… you are in Azkaban. You can't be here…"
"I'm here," replied the tall, bulky man. He was wearing black trousers and a white shirt and the evillest glint in his eyes. "I'm always here, baby girl."
She shook her head. "Scorpius!" she cried. "Scorpius!" Where was he? Why did he disappear like that? How could he leave her?
"Oh, he's gone," said Nott, taking a step towards her. "Gone, of course he's gone. Do you think he would stay forever with you? Come on, Scarlet… he is a knight, isn't he? A Slytherin Prince, the heir of an immense fortune. Do you think he would seriously consider spending the rest of his life with a whore?"
"I'm not Scarlet!" snarled Lily. "I'm not! Stop it! You are not here!"
He ignored her. He ignored her like he always did. "Isn't that why you're so clingy with him? Always asking him to stay and sleep with you, and then… you don't even let him smell your cunt." He chuckled and continued, "Is it because it smells of the come of a thousand men? Is it because you know that he is aware that you've spread your pretty little legs for a different man every night at the brothel?"
"No!" she cried again. She took a sharp breath and almost choked on the tears that she didn't even know she was shedding. "Stop it! He loves me! Scorpius… Scorpius loves me…"
"Oh my dear baby, that's what you think?" he asked mockingly. "He just wants to fuck you raw. At least once, I mean… come on! That's not the way I brought you up. Remember our steamy nights at the brothel? How much did you like to have my cock up your arse?"
Lily let out a cry of frustration. "I hated it! I hate you!" she snarled.
"That's how you repay me? I'm hurt, Scarlet," whispered Nott, bringing a hand to his heart. "You are a first class prostitute and he is rich… put two and two together, will you? Merlin, you're dumb, just like your parents." He sneered. "He just wants to fuck you, no strings attached, and then finally be on his way to find himself a nice, respectable wife. Oh my! Please baby, don't tell me that you expected him to actually marry you! To actually spend the rest of his life with you…"
Lily's heart was racing in her chest. Yes, that was what she wanted. Yes, that was what she thought it would happen. Yes, that was what she knew it would happen. "He loves me," she repeated, but her voice was much thinner than before. "Scorpius loves me."
"Oh dear Merlin," sighed Nott, "I should spell it out for you, right? Remember our last day together?" He pointed at his chest and she stared as his shirt covered in blood. Then there was a ripping sound and a blinding pain on her back that made her gasp for air. She tried to turn her head over her shoulder and look, and all she could see was her back slashed open to the bone. Her dress was gone and she stood there naked for a fistful of seconds before falling to her knees and covering her breasts and between her legs with her hands.
"That was fun, right?" he asked her. "Oh look at you, getting all shy for me. I love it when you're all shy and pretend to be the nice little girl that you are not. You make me so hard so fast."
She looked at him, lips parted with difficult breathing, eyes slowly going out of focus. She fell forward and bit her bottom lip the moment she felt something falling from between her buttocks and down to the floor.
"Anyway," murmured Nott, walking closer to her. "Did you notice how hard you made him that day? Seeing you being taken from behind like the animal you are… seeing you cry and being whipped good. I'm sure that all he wanted was to get behind you and force himself into you… just like I did…"
He knelt next to her face and threaded his fingers into her hair, tilting her head up and back. It hurt her, it hurt her back and her neck. She wanted to scream, to tell him that he was lying, that Scorpius loved her… he… he loved her… she knew… because… because…
Because he always stayed with her… even… even though she was always the one to ask him… did he ever suggest he wanted to stay? Did he ever? Lily couldn't remember… but… but…
But Scorpius told her that he loved her… yes he did… he did… or… did she do that? Maybe he didn't… did he ever…?
But it didn't matter because he… because he… he…
"He doesn't care about you, does he?" asked Nott softly, his disgusting breath washing over her face. His smell reviving all sorts of unwanted memories. "He's gone. He probably wants the Golden Orchid for himself, that's what he wants. He doesn't care about you, you're just a slut. Who wants the company of a slut, Scarlet? Only people who want to fuck her until she doesn't remember her name." He licked her cheek, she wanted to swat at him, but she couldn't move her arms. "What's your name baby girl?" he whispered. "Tell Father what's your name, dear…"
She swallowed, the acre smell of the blood filling her nostrils. "I…"
"Yes?"
"My name… my name's…"
"Yes, darling…"
"Sc-Scarlet…" she finally breathed out.
She could recognise the smirk in his voice. "And what are you?" he hissed.
"A… a whore…"
"And can a nice prince like Scorpius love a whore?"
Her eyesight blurred with fresh tears as she leaned her cheek back on the floor. "No," she whispered.
"Good girl," he told her, "good girl…"
oooOOOooo
Scorpius gasped as soon as the light disappeared.
In front of him, sitting on the floor and looking terribly close to tears, there was a little, blond boy. His scrawny knees up to his chest, his cheeks leaning against them. He was trembling slightly and sniffling loudly.
Scorpius hurried at his side. "Hey," he said, kneeling next to him, "are you okay? Why are you crying?"
The boy raised his head from his knees and looked at Scorpius with his big, grey eyes.
Scorpius gasped as he fell back and moved away, putting some distance between himself and the child. "You… you…"
The child looked at him and nodded. "I'm you," he told him. He sniffled out loud and brushed away the tears. "I'm scared, just like you…"
"I'm not scared," muttered Scorpius, but the tightening in his stomach definitely wasn't excitement. He was there alone, Lily had disappeared and he had no clue where she could have gone.
"You are scared," his younger self accused him, "you are always scared, aren't you? Always scared not to be good enough for her. And you are right… you know… you're not worthy of her…"
Scorpius swallowed. "Shut up," he told him grimly. "You don't know anything, just shut up." He looked away from him. He had to ignore him – it. That thing that surely wasn't real and it certainly wasn't himself. It must have come from the mirror, yes, because now that it looked at the mirror, he noticed that it was all dark. That there was no reflection in it anymore.
Now, he had to find a way to Lily. Where was she? He always lost her. Always. Why couldn't she stay still? Or why couldn't he keep a proper eye on her?
"That's a good question, you know," said the child at his back.
"Stop following me!" snarled Scorpius, walking briskly around the mirror.
"I really mean it," said the child thoughtfully, stepping in front of him, "why can't you keep a proper eye on her? I know the answer, do you?"
Scorpius pushed him away, trying to walk past him, but the child kept up with him.
"It's because she doesn't need you," the boy told him, "she's much better off without you. She is too polite to tell you, you know, she still feels like she has to make you happy because you were the one who were nice enough with her in the brothel, but… that's all, you know… she doesn't need you, no matter what she says to you…"
"Shut up," growled Scorpius. "You don't know anything."
The boy laughed softly. "I know everything," he piped instead, "I'm you, remember? And I know that you know, I know that you feel useless around her. She is too good for you, you know… she's the one who saved your life with Nott, she's the one who saved Alfie, she's the one who agreed to be pushed to the wall to save you and her brother. She's the one everybody loves… and do you think you deserve her love?"
Scorpius glared at the little boy, but somehow he lacked the resolve that he had had before. That child… no, that thing was listing out loud all the fears and doubts that he had piled inside of him ever since he had gone to see Lily right after her rescuing. And somehow, hearing them being put in words was even more painful than keeping them inside.
"I… I love her," snapped Scorpius, gnawing at his bottom lip, "and she loves me, that's… that's all that matters!"
The boy chuckled. "Really? You really think that she loves you? That's really romantic," he laughed, "are you sure, though? Isn't it weird that someone as beautiful and as gentle as she is would spend her life with someone like you? You are the scum son of a Death Eater… your father bought you two hours with her when you were just seventeen. And you were not even man enough to fuck her…" The boy sighed dramatically. "She needs a real man, not someone who is just a boy…"
"That's some big talk from a child!" grunted Scorpius.
The boy laughed again. He seemed to find Scorpius particularly hilarious. "I'm you," he repeated. "You can look at yourself in a mirror and see your tall and muscled body, but deep inside… this is how you look. Deep inside, you are just a little boy, you still live with your parents, you are scared of everything…"
"Shut up!" snarled Scorpius. "Lily! Lily!" He was crestfallen to hear his voice so thick with fear and dejection. Where was she? Why wasn't she answering?
"Maybe she's already reached the Orchid," murmured the child, "maybe she's already taken the petal and now that she remembers everything, you're not special anymore now… now she remembers who she is…"
Scorpius threw himself at the child, but the little boy disappeared in front of him. "Shut up! She loves me! Do you hear me? She loves me!" he screamed, hitting his fist on the ground.
"Does she?" he whispered in his ear. "No she doesn't." The boy appeared in front of him once again. "You're nothing for her."
"Shut up!" cried Scorpius for the umpteenth time. He closed his eyes and gritted his teeth, his knees hurting against the hard floor. "Shut up… you don't know… you don't know anything…"
"I know everything," hissed the child, "she knows that you don't deserve her… that you're just scum… she's perfection how can she be with someone like you?"
"I…I…" He was panting now, his heart beating furiously in his chest. The words of the child cut through his heart like knives. Lily was perfection, that was what he had thought the first time he had seen her in that room at the brothel, he just had thought that she was a princess. And he wasn't a prince. He was just… he was useless…
"Yes, you are useless… you're going to die here, in this cave so close to the Orchid and yet so far… and Albus is going to die too and Lily as well, just because you don't have the spine to keep going, because you're pathetic, Scorpius, you've always been pathetic, you are nothing, you're—"
"What did you say?" Scorpius eyes opened wide as he jerked his head towards the child. "What did you say?" he snarled.
The child looked at him and smirked once more. "That you're pathetic, that you are—"
"No, not that," snapped Scorpius. "Lily and Albus, what… what did you say?"
The child sneered, "They are going to die because of you."
Scorpius lowered his eyes, the blood pumping in his temples almost deafening him. Lily and Albus were going to die if… they were going to die if he didn't do anything. Yes, if… if he stayed there and listened to himself saying all those things… all his fears, all those lies.
"No," he gritted through his teeth.
"What?" asked the child, getting closer to him. "What are you saying?"
"I said no," snarled Scorpius, raising his eyes. "Lily is not going to die because of me! Go away!"
"You can't send me away, I'm always with you…"
"We'll see about that," hissed Scorpius. He pushed his hands on the floor and stood up. He turned towards the object that had started everything and took a deep breath as he threw himself towards it with all his forces.
"No!" cried the child, but already his voice was feeble and far away and Scorpius didn't listen to it.
Scorpius was Lily's knight. Scorpius had saved her and he would save her every day if that was what it took for them to be together. He loved her and she loved him and that was the only thing that he was sure about.
"That's for Lily!" he screamed as he hurled himself against the dark surface of the mirror.
Instead of sending it crashing to the floor as he had expected, though, the mirror disappeared and Scorpius went flying through the frame, his body was enveloped by light and soon he was falling and falling, his arms and legs flailing like wings.
He screamed and closed his eyes and it was only when he was slammed to the ground once more that he let out a moan of pain. "Bloody hell," he muttered, rolling on the floor and massaging his arm.
He took a deep breath and waited for the child to tell him something, but the only thing that reached his ears was the soft crying of a girl near him.
He pushed himself off the floor and his breath caught in his throat as he stared at Lily, lying prone on floor and crying without being able to see him.
"Merlin," he muttered as he stood up and hurried at her side. "Lily," he called her, kneeling next to her and making her roll on the floor until she was propped on his thighs. "Lily, sweetheart… Lily, darling, can you hear me?"
She stretched a hand to his face and cupped his cheek feebly. "Scorpius…" she whispered.
"Yes," he encouraged her, "yes, yes, love, it's me."
She let her arm fall again to the floor. "I'm sorry, Scorpius," she murmured, "I'm sorry…"
"Sorry?" he asked her, pulling her to his chest. "No, no, sorry for what? Lily, come on… we have to go."
"I'm just a whore," she murmured, "you are a prince, I'm just a whore. Princes don't fall in love with whores."
He looked at her horrified. That was the shadow in her heart. That was what she secretly thought. He cradled her in his arms and leaned his cheek against her cold forehead. She was freezing, how could she? It was bloody hot there. "Lily, no. Lily, listen to me, it's not real, my love, it's not real, okay?"
"I don't deserve you…"
Scorpius kissed her forehead. "You're right," he murmured, "you deserve so much more than me, but you're stuck with me because I love you. Do you understand me? And I'm no prince, Lily, if I were a prince I would have already made your brother the court jester and would have thrown tomatoes at him every evening after dinner."
She opened her mouth to reply to him, but he didn't let her.
"Let's go," he said, sliding an arm under her knees and another under her back.
She winced as if he was hurting her, but somehow he knew that it was all in her head, just like the child had been in his head. He stood up and turned towards the mirror.
"I love you," he told her again as he pressed her against the mirror.
She opened her eyes wide and her lips parted as if she wanted to scream, but so sound issued forth. Her chest heaved with big gulps of air and her hands convulsed on his chest, until she let out a soft gasp of air and finally grasped his arms.
"Scorpius!" she cried. "Scorpius!"
"I'm here, I'm here."
She threw her arms around his neck and hugged him tightly as he fell down to his knees. "Scorpius!" she cried again. "Oh my, it was… it was so real… Nott… Nott was there… Oh, did you see him? Did you?"
He took a deep breath and dived his face into her hair, inhaling her sweet scent. "No, I didn't see him," he whispered.
"I saw him," she told him, pushing herself with force against him as if to find comfort in his proximity, "I saw him. He said that I'm just a slut, he said that you only want to be with me because you wanted to have sex with me and then leave me… oh! Scorpius! It was so horrible! I believed him, I believed everything he said!"
"I'm sorry," he whispered in her ear. "I'm sorry, Lily."
"Why didn't you see him? Why did I see him? Why?" she tilted her head back and looked into his eyes with her own brown ones.
He wanted to lie to her, but he couldn't. "The mirror shows the shadows in your heart," he told her softly, "your fears. The ones we don't even know that we have. He was not real, Lily. It was all in your head."
She took a sharp breath and looked away, eyes wide and cheeks flushing in shame. "My fears?" she murmured.
He cupped her cheeks and made her turn towards him. "Yes, your fears," he repeated, "and you'll be delighted to know that your secret fears and my secret fears match perfectly well…"
She looked at him. "What?"
"I'm scared that I don't deserve you, that I'm not strong enough to protect you and save you," he admitted, his own cheeks colouring.
She shook her head as much as she could with his hands cupping her cheeks. "Those are stupid fears," she muttered.
"And yours aren't?" he chuckled. "I fell in love with you the first moment I saw you in that room. I couldn't see myself with anybody else, I don't want anything but to spend every single moment of my life with you. That's all I want." He kissed her nose. "And you're not a prostitute, okay? You are perfect… you…" His voice trailed away as he took a deep breath. That was not the way he had envisioned himself doing it, but he couldn't see himself doing it in any other way at that moment. "I love you, Lily. I want to marry you."
She sighed. "I want to marry you too, Scorpius, but sometimes I feel like I can never be the—"
"No," he cut her off, "I really want to marry you, like I have the ring and everything. Your parents gave me their blessing, even your mother and I… I was just waiting for the right moment to ask you, I wanted to make it unforgettable, maybe take you up on the roof of Grimmauld Place, and—"
She cut him off with her lips against his. She threw her arms around his neck with such force that Scorpius fell backwards. "Yes," she murmured frantically against his mouth, "yes, yes, yes! I'll marry you! Yes!" She kissed him and kissed him and kissed him until she was almost smothering him with her kisses. But if he had to die, he wouldn't have wanted to go in any other way.
He hugged her tightly and rolled until she was on top of him, and she just kept kissing him as if there was no tomorrow. As if they weren't in a bloody hot cave covered in sweat and all smelly by now. She kissed him as if her life depended on it, her lips were soft and her tongue was languid against his own.
Then, as suddenly as she had started, she stopped. She propped herself up on an elbow and looked down thoughtfully at him.
"What?" he asked, furrowing his brow.
"I was thinking," she said all serious, "can we have a wedding at the beach, just like Teddy and Victoire? Like near Shell Cottage? Do you remember it? I think I'd like that. Wouldn't you like it? Or maybe your mother expects us to have the ceremony at the Manor? Isn't that tradition for a Malfoy? Do you think I should wear my mother's wedding dress? I—ooh!"
He pulled her to him once again and kissed her to silence. "You can have everything you want," he whispered against her lips.
She smiled at him and then she kissed him again and for a moment everything was forgotten except for each other.
oooOOOooo
Albus shifted from a foot to the other as he wriggled his wrists in the tight confines of the spell. "I need to pee," he proclaimed to the group of people around him.
Mrs Toots shot him a glare. "I've already told you to shut up," she snarled. "Do you understand me?"
He straightened his back and tried to look menacing, but he only managed to wince at the pain in his ribs for the beating he had received right after he had created the diversion for Scorpius. "Well, shall I pee here?"
"You should hold it," snapped Mr Whittle. "Otherwise we'll hex your feet to walk you to the wall."
Albus cocked an eyebrow at him. "Which would be unfortunate, because I've had more sex than one of those wizards on Playwitch, you know…"
Mrs Toots pinched the bridge of her nose. "Shut up," she hissed, "shut up, shut up, shut up. You've talked for the past two hours, if you keep that going I'm going to kill you with my own hands."
"Well, waiting is boring, isn't it?" he huffed. "If at least we could talk a little… You could tell me what you'd like to do with the Golden Orchid for example…"
Mr Whittle walked to him and lowered his head to look into his eyes. "You want to talk?" he hissed.
"Pat…"
"Shut it, Georgina!" he snarled at his wife, before turning towards Albus.
"Hey! Don't talk to her like that!" snapped Albus.
The man didn't even reply. He just raised his hand and punched Albus right on the nose. The pain started from between Albus' eyes as he fell to the ground and coughed the blood that was flowing into his mouth.
"There," hissed Mr Whittle. "Now you're not going to talk that much anymore, are you?"
Mrs Whittle sobbed at the scene and Albus tried to smile to her, but then everything went dark and he just leaned his cheek against the stones of the floor to find some comfort to his abused face.
Author's Notes: I'd say the second proposal went way better than the first, didn't it? ;)