She was awake, but did not feel like opening her eyes. She wished she could fall back asleep so that she wouldn't have to remember last night.
They had a row then. Their first ever. And he left, slamming the door behind him. Walked out into the rain without a cloak.
She didn't want to open her eyes and see the empty space in the bed next to her. In almost a year that they had lived together she could not remember a single morning when she would wake up alone. He was always next to her, that silver devil of hers…
He has been with her for four years. No, even longer. He has been there ever since she started at Hogwarts. He and her beloved older brother were so tight that it vexed, even infuriated her.
James Potter and Scorpius Malfoy. She blamed him for stealing Jim from her… She despised him and yet, her eyes lingered on him more and more as the years passed. He was not how a Slytherin should be, especially a Malfoy. He was like her brother whom she adored.
A cold, arrogant aristocrat. He had never paid her any heed – a small, scrawny girl and a ginger, to boot. Would he have noticed her if not for the tragedy of that September? Her mother killed; Father in the hospital, the rest of them – both the Potters and the Weasleys – in mortal danger. And Scorpius was right there, ready to do anything for James. If none of that happened, Malfoy would probably never notice her.
Yet, he was there for her – ever since that September. And he has never left – like this, slamming the door, without explaining. She felt empty and sick at heart, but she did not feel like crying. She shed all her tears last night, angrily punching the pillow…
How did it all start? Oh, right, with his latest carousal with James. Her brother had revealed to his best mate the news about his being offered a spot on the London Quidditch team, and the two of them went out to celebrate…
She waited for him almost all night. He came out of the fireplace, wet, his cloak left behind somewhere, a bottle in his hand. He smelled of someone's perfume… She forced some sobering potion into him, angry and jealous, ready to run to James – to get it out of him where they had been.
Scorpius balked at her interrogation. He brought up that dumb code that stated that Malfoys do not make excuses or explain themselves. He accused her of not trusting him. But she wanted to trust him, she did – if only he would say those few words, to reassure her, to put her on an even keel. Yet, he merely smiled coldly and left, slamming the door behind him…
Why was it so important for her – to hear that it had all been a misunderstanding? Because even after all this time she had trouble believing that a man like him – perfect, strong, remarkable silver-eyed devil – could truly love someone like her… And although he frequently spoke of his love for her, she was always fearful that her fairytale, her silver bliss was but a brief illusion…
Sunlight of the August morning peeked between her eyelids. A lonely and bitter morning. The ray of sunshine seemed to be forcing her to part them, but she turned away. And froze, because the coniferous fragrance attacked her senses. Where was it coming from?
Her eyes flew open and she sat up in astonishment at the sight of silver-trimmed fir branches on her nightstand. They smelled of the forest and of something else that was familiar, warm, and intimate. It was a bit of their secret world – the silver forest that Scorpius once conjured in the Room of Requirement. He created it for her. It was the world of warm snow and low gray sky that was almost touching the tops of fir trees. The world of fire and love; their love.
Her lips stretched into a smile of their own accord; her hand reached out to touch this piece of the fairytale, her fairytale, but she froze when she saw a strange foreign object amongst spines and gray down, hanging off one of the branches.
A ring.
She couldn't believe her eyes as she carefully removed the ring from the branch and stared at it, confused. They have been together for four years, two of which they spent apart, what with her studies at Hogwarts and his – at the Numerology and Economics Academy in Germany. Yet, they never talked of this… She was afraid to even think about it. Because… Because she sometimes had trouble believing it was real…
She heard footsteps in the other room. The only people who could be in their small apartment were James (to whom they had given an extra set of keys and the protective charms password, just in case) and Malfoy himself.
But Scorpius was gone!
She pushed back the covers and stood up, adjusting the oversized sweater that she never bothered to take off last night – it seemed cozier that way. She cautiously opened the door and froze: the room was filled with fir branches and silver down, the air saturated with the smell of conifer. And over the fireplace a white sheet spelled in green, gray and orange: "Lily Potter, will you be Lily Malfoy?". She was afraid to move, her eyes glued to the banner.
She couldn't believe this was real, but this was her Scor in a nutshell; he constantly dished out stuff like this. When she remained at Hogwarts after his graduation, he would show up in her bedroom without warning, shaking off spiderwebs and dust from the secret passages. He turned Hogsmead upside down should she be even a minute late for their date. He sent her a giant kitten as a parting gift when he went to Germany. He shirked school only to come see her and to make the year apart less painful. Those two years were difficult, yet most bright and merry. And the year of their living together was also full of such surprises.
Well, no, not quite like this one… She held the ring in the palm of her hand and stared at the banner, unsure of what to do next.
"Simply put it on. Or toss it out."
She turned around. Scorpius stood, leaning against the door frame, his arms crossed. His hair was immaculate, and he wore the house shirt and slacks. Behind him Lily saw the curious Dong, his house elf, dressed in a kitchen towel and an apron.
Lily looked away and only now noticed a small gift-wrapped box laid in the middle of the room, atop the fir branches.
"This is for you," Malfoy waved his wand and sent the box right into Lily's hands. She frowned, thinking that this looked awfully like him buttering her up, yet it was so unlike Scorpius…
She automatically opened the box, and nearly dropped it: inside was a pretty vial with eau de toilette that smelled awfully familiar. This was what her beloved smelled of last night. Then…
"Potter and I were picking out a gift for you, and that oaf decided to make a joke by spraying it on me…"
"A joke…" Lily said slowly, raising her eyes to his face. "Why wouldn't you say so?"
"Malfoys do not make excuses."
"And what was it you just did?"
"Well, now I am sober and reacting far more adequately; plus Xenia spent half the night drilling into my head that I should compromise – at least sometimes…" he grinned.
"So, all this," she motioned around the room, "is a compromise?"
"No, we have been planning it for a while, but there was a… snag…" he shrugged his shoulders. "Potter and I made the banner…"
"I never doubted that," she smiled, setting the gift on the side table, and lifting the ring to her eyes. She still remembered how, when she and Scorpius had just begun seeing each other, he and James spent all night painting the first declaration of love she ever received on a piece of cloth they had snatched from Filch's office. The most unusual and wonderful, even though at the time she was still a little doubtful it was genuine, thinking it yet another prank Malfoy's and her brother's, for which they were so justly known in school.
"So, what are you going to do with it?"
"Me? Nothing," she replied. Malfoy frowned, clearly taken aback by the answer. She looked up at him and smiled: "As far as I know, it is you who should do something… Put it on my finger, for instance…"
A wide, happy smile spread over his pale face. Lily took a step closer, but immediately jumped and cried out.
"What?" Malfoy rushed forward, catching her. "What is it?!"
"I pricked my foot," she moaned, feeling Scorpius lifting her up. He glanced at her bare feet and hemmed:
"This is the scenario I didn't quite foresee…"
"And I also dropped the ring," Lily hid her face in his neck, ashamed to look at him.
"A big deal, indeed," Scorpius chortled, sitting her down on the couch and taking out his wand. A moment later he held the ring in his hand. "So, will you be Lily Malfoy?"
The girl nodded, watching him put the ring on her finger.
"Well, why are you just sitting there?"
"What do you mean?"
"Just that. Let's go straight to the Ministry. They will marry us right away…"
"Scor, but… I am not even dressed… And what about our parents? Wedding arrangements, a white dress?"
"We can pick up a dress on the way, and you can put it on. As to the parents, we'll tell them later," Malfoy smirked, lifting her in his arms once again.
"But…"
"Lily, I do not want any loud parties, newspaper articles, etc. … I am sick of it," he said, heading for the door.
"And what about witnesses?"
He smiled, kissing her freckled nose:
"We'll get your brother and Xenia…"
"But Daddy…" Lily looked pleadingly at her fiancé, refusing to accept that her father would not be present at her wedding. A long time ago she used to imagine a beautiful park, decorated with bows and flowers; her mum crying happy tears; her father, smiling proudly, leading her in all her bridal glory down the aisle toward the arch where a handsome boy was waiting for her. She imagined a big celebration, a huge wedding cake, mounds of gifts, toasts, kisses…
"Fine, I suppose we can take your father along too," Scorpius smiled at her (this smile took Lily many months of efforts – Malfoy simply did not know what a normal smile was), looking her straight in the eye. He must know how important it was for her to have Harry Potter stand next to her in a moment like this. Not because she was afraid, but because of how important and special her father always was for her, and even more so after her mother's death. "And, I take it, that little brother of yours, and Hermione…"
"You are the best in the world, do you know that?"
He hemmed, as if he heard it every day, and walked out the door, to Apparate to James and Xenia's house.
Lily shook her head in disbelief, fighting back a happy smile. Just to think, mere fifteen minutes ago she woke up, feeling like the most miserable girl in the world…