A/N: Written for the Once Upon A Time Challenge at the NextGen Fanatics forum. Thanks to mew-tsubaki for betareading this!

For Lack of a Glass Slipper

Fairytale: Cinderella

Pairing: LilyScorpius

Prompt: Mask

Lily sat by her window in her room. Outside it was snowing; big, slow flakes fell down to the ground and made the surroundings look as though they were covered in white fluff. It was twilight, but the lampposts that lined the street were on and made everything glitter and look like something out of a fairytale. Lily had been sitting there for almost half an hour, doing nothing but marveling over the snow. It was the winter holidays, and she really enjoyed being home with her family. At Hogwarts everything felt so rushed; everything happened with enormous speed. Lily used to stick by her two friends most of the time. Her brothers loved the attention they got thanks to being sons of The-Boy-Who-Won, but Lily despised it. She hated being noticed by everyone.

Suddenly a shout was heard from downstairs. "Lily! Get down here!" It was her eldest brother, James. She walked down and found her entire family gathered in the kitchen.

"Couldn't have hurried up a bit, could you?" Albus, her other brother, said with widened eyes. "We've got a letter, and Mum wouldn't let us open it until you were here."

"Who're 'we'?" Lily asked confusedly.

"You, me, and Albus," James explained and pointed at the envelope. It was a thick, quite luxurious paper, and the writing with golden ink said: "James, Albus, and Lily Potter."

Albus snatched it from his brother's hands with an exasperated sigh. "Come on, can we open it now?" James rolled his eyes and Lily smiled. Albus, even though he was fifteen, was just as impatient as when he was seven.

"So, what is it?" James asked when Albus had finished reading and was looking up with a smile.

"Scorpius' sixteenth birthday party. He said he would send me an invite, but, man, this is going to be one hell of a party."

"Really?" James asked, with a new light in his eyes.

"Yep, he's been inviting everyone." Albus nodded.

Lily, though, frowned. She didn't know Scorpius. He and Albus had been best friends for something like six years, but she hadn't even spoken to him. He simply was like that - superior, untouchable, better.

"He really invited me, too?" she asked, slightly worried. Of course she would love to go. But what if it was a mistake? What if he hadn't meant to invite her?

Albus looked at her and turned the envelope over. "I guess so…," he said slowly.

"Of course, sweetie!" her mum piped up. "Your name's there, so of course you -"

"But, Mum," James interrupted. "Isn't Lily a bit young for this party?"

Albus agreed. "She's only thirteen. I'm telling you all, I won't babysit her all night."

Her father nodded despite Lily's attempts to protest, but her mum said sternly, "She's thirteen, you said it yourself. You won't have to babysit her. She's invited, so she's going."

"But, darling," her dad said while putting his arms around his wife's waist. "Lily is only thirteen."

"No, she'll go, that's that," her mum finished with a look saying this-is-final-so-do-not-try-arguing.

Lily felt as though she should say something - she was the one everyone was speaking about - but she didn't know anything else worth mentioning in this conversation. Instead her dad filled in:

"But, Lily, I'm going to pick you up outside at twelve o'clock sharp. You're not of age, so that's it." And now it was him shooting his wife "the look."

Lily shrugged. "Okay, that's fine with me." She really didn't want to push her luck; she was allowed to go the party, so why try to be able to stay there any longer?

Then Albus began arguing with their dad about how long he was allowed to stay at the party, so Lily slipped out from the room, glad that the attention wasn't on her anymore.

Back in her room, she sank down on her bed and looked up at the ceiling. She didn't know what to think of this party, what to expect of it. She assumed she shouldn't be too excited about it, since she had never been to such a party before, so it would probably be dull and boring. But something deep inside her told her it would be wonderful.

Suddenly the day had arrived and Lily was frantic. She had completely forgotten the crucial question of clothing; besides, she had nothing good-looking enough.

"Mum!" she yelled and threw a pink dress away. After a while her mum peeked in through her door.

"Yes, what's the matter, sweetheart?"

"I don't know what to wear!" Her mum raised her eyebrows and joined her in rummaging through her wardrobe.

Ten minutes later, when Lily had wrinkled her nose and scrunched up her face at every single suggestion, Ginny gave up.

"All right, then. I'll go and see if I have something you can borrow, all right?"

Lily nodded and sat down on the floor while her mother leaved the room. She would soon have to go; James and Albus had told her that they didn't want to be late, so if she wanted to get there with them, she should be on time, which left her with a quarter of an hour to be finished with everything.

At last her mum returned with a dress in her arms. She smiled at her daughter and held it out. Lily was astonished; the dress was wonderful, a light blue colour, long – like something for a fairytale princess.

And, when she had it on, it looked even more beautiful. As Lily saw her reflection in the mirror she hardly recognized herself. In a way, she was almost scared by that girl in front of her; it couldn't be her, could it?

Her brothers were also surprised when she met them in the hallway. Albus was the first to rid himself of his temporary loss for words, complimenting her with, "Nice dress, sis."

James smiled in agreement and the three joined hands, since neither Albus or Lily was old enough for Apparation.

Lily closed her eyes as she felt a pull at her hand, and opened them again when she felt ground appear beneath her feet.

What she saw was breathtaking. First of all, it was the biggest house – no, manor – she had ever seen. And it was beautiful, with candles in every single window. Between the trees that lined the path to the front door, big golden balloons were floating midair and spreading a soft light in the half dark garden. The three of them walked up to the entrance where a smiling Scorpius greeted the guests.

"Allie!" he shouted as soon as he saw them and hugged his best friend tightly.

He then shook James' hand; the two of them were acquainted with each other, but had nothing more than that. Finally he turned round to Lily, who now wanted to sink through the ground and disappear forever.

"And you're Lily, right?" He took her hand and shook it while she nodded, unable to speak and blushing even harder than before. "It's nice to finally meet you," he said, gazing intently at her. Lily still couldn't come up with something to say, her mind being a complete blank, so she simply nodded again.

His eyes were still darting over her face when he let go of her hand, and Lily wished she had had something to hide behind – a mask, a tree, anything.

Thankfully some other guests arrived and Scorpius turned to greet them after ushering the Potter children inside. There were people everywhere, and Lily didn't recognize a single soul. Immediately Lily began wishing she hadn't gone to the party, because in just a few minutes she was left completely alone. Albus had disappeared as soon as possible and James was not far behind since he had spotted his girlfriend somewhere by the buffet.

So Lily stood by herself, feeling lonelier than ever even though she was surrounded by a crowd. At first she hadn't a clue of what to do; she was paralyzed. But then people began shooting her some odd glances, so she started walking. She steered through the people without a special goal, but this way it at least looked as though she had one. As though she had somewhere to go, someone to meet, and something to do.

But soon she had circled the big ballroom three times and only a few minutes had passed. How would she be able to endure this until midnight? She couldn't pace the room much longer; someone was bound to notice her, since she probably resembled some sort of guard patrolling the outer edges of the party. A guard dressed really nicely, but still not a guest.

Lily walked to bench by the wall and sat down. Her feet were already aching; those slippers were truly painful to wear. She felt as if she had dressed up for nothing and now she didn't care if she looked as though she didn't belong at this party anymore. It wasn't fun at all, just a waste of time.

But then she realized that it at least was quite nice sitting there, watching the dancing people and the beautiful decorations which she had completely missed on her I'm-so-busy walk.

The music was wonderful, too, and it was actually rather peaceful there by the wall, as though she had her own little bubble where no one could disturb her.

But, of course, the peace didn't last for long.

"There you are," a voice spoke into her ear. She turned around and saw a pair of grey eyes close to her own.

Scorpius leaned back with a faint smirk since she had jolted.

"Sorry if I scared you. But I've been looking for you. May I?" he asked and gesticulated to the dance floor. "I can't miss an opportunity to dance with the youngest Potter, can I?"

Lily looked at him, a bit annoyed that he, too, had to bring up the whole "Potter celebrity," but agreed anyway. "All right, then."

He smiled and took her hand, pulling her with him out to the floor, where he leaned close to her and whispered, "'Sides, she's pretty, so I wouldn't want to miss it even if she had any other last name."

Lily's cheeks burned and she was once more at a loss for words. Scorpius didn't mind this; he only chuckled to himself and began swirling her around. Lily quickly came to understand that he was very good at dancing; it was as though they were flying in their own little world.

Or maybe it was because he stared so deeply into her eyes and made her unable to look away, not wanting to look away. Just look in to those grey, stormy eyes forever, hold him tighter, dance faster, keep flying together, grab harder of his cold hands, and never stop.

But of course they had to.

Lily glanced down as her watch flashed. "Merlin, I have to go!" she exclaimed and let go of his hands and began pushing her way through the people.

It was a minute to twelve - where had the time gone? How was it possible she had danced that long with Scorpius?

"Wait, Lily, where are you going?" Scorpius asked as he managed to grab hold of her arm again.

"No, Scorpius, I have to go, please," she said with a glance back at him. He let go of her arm, and at last she was outside the manor. She took a deep breath in the cold night air and walked to the gates.

Just outside her dad stood waiting for her, with his hands in his pockets and a smile on his lips. "Hey, sweetie. Had fun?"

Lily nodded, too caught up in emotions to be able to put it all in words.

"Great. Ready?" he asked and took her hand before Apparating.

When they came home Lily had to assure both of her parents that she had had a good time at the party, but at last she could go up to her room where she crawled under her sheets.

It was pitch dark under her covers, but she didn't close her eyes. Her head was simmering with feelings and emotions; she didn't want to do anything but think. And still she didn't want to think, just fall asleep and pretend it hadn't happened.

The very same contradiction was in her feelings. She wanted to see Scorpius again, his soft blonde hair, his cold grey but warm (paradoxical but true) eyes, his tall figure. She wanted to feel his slender fingers caressing hers so tenderly again.

And at the same time she never wanted to see him again. She dreaded the moment when they would be back at Hogwarts after the holidays, where they would be bumping into each other, where he would recognize her.

After hours of twisting to noisy thoughts, Lily finally fell asleep, exhausted.

The following days passed by without anything special happening. Everything felt boring and lifeless compared to that night – of which Lily still didn't know what to think. She had come to understand she had enjoyed every single moment of it - well, maybe not the very first minutes. But she was quite worried Scorpius might not have felt the same.

So, she tried to shut those feelings out and ignore them, because they made her feel so vulnerable, like an easy target for anyone.

But, as she sat on one of the swings in the garden, with rosy cheeks thanks to the coldness and pulling her feet in the snow back and forward in the drifts beneath her, her head was still filled with thoughts because she simply couldn't avoid thinking of it all.

Then footsteps were heard on the crunching snow, so Lily turned around to face the house.

When she realized who the blonde, very warmly dressed, boy was, she couldn't stop her cheeks from reddening even more.

"Hey there, Cinderella!" he said with a grin.

"Hey," she said. She didn't want a silence to occur, so she blurted out the first thing that came to her mind. "You know of Muggle stories?"

He smiled crookedly and took his gloves off. "Yeah, I do. Well, I actually only know of that particular one. Great-aunt Andy used to read that one to me when I was little. She wanted to try some others, too, but I only wanted to hear Cinderella."

"Oh," Lily said and smiled weakly, still nervous about meeting Scorpius' eyes.

"It's good the only similarity between you and her is that you also left at twelve o'clock from my party, so I don't have to chase you with a glass slipper," he said with a laugh.

Lily giggled as Scorpius seated himself on the swing next to her. That little comment had somehow made the ice break between them and Lily suddenly felt completely comfortable in his company. They sat on the swings for hours, swinging backwards and forwards slightly, talking and laughing, not noticing the coldness at all.

Then, when Scorpius asked Lily (with a flush in his cheeks not because of the chilliness) if she wanted to go out with him sometime, she really felt like Cinderella, or any other princess.

And when she said yes, both of them felt as though they were in a fairytale, with their own happily ever after.