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Pretty Woman

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"I think it's safe to say that last night was a total success," Albus said.

"Yes, one of our best parties yet," Zabini agreed and Scorpius nodded with conviction.

The three of them were sitting in front of the fireplace in their common room, nursing their respective hangover. Scorpius felt more tired than sick since he had stayed sober the previous night, but he was enjoying the peace and quiet all the same.

"I'm so glad your plan worked Al," Scorpius said earnestly "If I had to listen to you whining about girls one more time, I would have cursed myself to be daft,"

"No need to be so dramatic Scorp," Albus replied, shaking his head with amusement "And I didn't complain about it that much,"

"Yes, you did," Zabini whispered "But, it's over now since you're back at the top of your game," he added quickly when he saw the annoyed look Albus shot him.

"Exactly. But enough about me," Albus concluded, effectively changing the subject "I noticed that both your curtains were drawn yesterday. Who were the lucky ladies?" he asked, his eyebrows arching curiously.

"Helena Dawson," Zabini immediately answered, visibly eager to share the information with his friends "I just couldn't resist her little underwear-dance," he said, which got him a few laughs from both Albus and Scorpius.

"She sure knows how to put on a good show," Scorpius agreed. He had been the one to bring her down from the table where she had been dancing after all.

"What about you Scorp?" Albus turned toward him.

"I'm not telling you," Scorpius shook his head while grinning.

And I will never tell you, he thought, only imagining how Albus would react if he knew.

"I'm not telling you either then," Albus said, crossing his arms on his chest.

"Come on guys, what do you have to hide?" Zabini insisted with a smile.

"I can't tell you," Albus shrugged "She's got a boyfriend and I don't want to cause any trouble,"

Neither Scorpius or Zabini looked surprised. It wasn't the first time one of them had slept with someone who was taken.

"Very chivalrous of you, Potter," Zabini conceded "And what's your excuse, Malfoy?"

"Nothing like that. I just don't want you to know,"

"Which means she's either ugly and you're ashamed of her," Zabini pondered "Or, … you actually like her," he finished before both he and Albus both exploded into laughter.

Scorpius himself had to stifle a laugh. As if he would care for any girl. At least not in the way Zabini was implying. Scorpius simply didn't care romantically about anyone. That was a fact and both his friends knew it.

Sure he liked Lily as a friend and was extremely attracted to her. But that was very different from actual romantic feelings.

"So, we're just gonna assume she's ugly," Albus finally said "Until we figure out who this mysterious girl really is. And we will," he added with a playful smirk.

And even though Scorpius knew his best friend didn't mean anything by it, he couldn't help but take that last sentence as a threat.

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So this is what Hell feels like, Lily thought as she was walking toward the Quidditch pitch early on Sunday morning.

She was exhausted. The combination of alcohol and very little sleep had turned her into something close to a dementor. She felt awful, her head hurt, and her muscles were sore from her bedtime activities but despite all this, she was now on her way to Quidditch practice, her hands full with her broom and the box containing the Quidditch balls.

After leaving the Slytherin dormitory this morning, she had crawled back to the Gryffindor tower and had barely had time to grab her Quidditch stuff before she needed to leave again. How she wished she'd had time for a shower before she changed into her leggings and old sweaters.

And the worse part was, she could only blame herself for planning a training session this early on a Sunday since she was the captain.

A mistake I won't make second time, she thought while walking, careful not to drop her broom or the heavy wooden box she was carrying.

"Need a hand?" someone asked from behind her, scaring the hell out of Lily.

She hadn't expected anyone to be up and out of the castle since it was really early in the morning and the beginning of the Quidditch practice wasn't for another 20 minutes.

She turned around and looked up from where the voice had come from and found none other than Andrew McLaggen.

Instantly Lily froze, unsure about what to do.

He looked absolutely perfect, of course. Even dressed in a simple t-shirt and sweatpants, it was obvious how muscular and fit he was. His golden hair was impeccably framing his angelic face and his warm brown eyes were beautiful. He was carrying his broom lazily on his shoulder, looking more relaxed than anyone should this early in the morning.

"What are you doing here, McLaggen?" she asked, a little breathless.

"Just walking to Quidditch practice," the 7th year simply answered with a smile. "I wanted to come early so I could show my captain that I'm taking this seriously, even though I'm just a reserve player" he winked.

"Hm," was all Lily managed, completely lost.

She couldn't believe McLaggen had just winked at her. Especially knowing what she looked like right now. Of all days for him to talk to her, it had to be the one where she was dressed like a slob, had dark circles under her eyes and dirty hair.

"Cat got your tongue?" McLaggen asked her teasingly and that made her snap out of it.

If she couldn't do anything about her immediate appearance, she sure as hell would try to act as normal as possible. As Lorcan always said, the key was to act detached.

"Sorry, I just wasn't expecting anyone to be here that early," she said as she made herself move and resume her walk, McLaggen beside her.

"I didn't mean to scare you," the blond wizard said, eyeing her knowingly.

"You surprised me, not scare," Lily corrected him automatically.

"If you say so, Potter," McLaggen chuckled lightly "So how was the Slytherin party yesterday?" he asked, changing the topic radically.

"You didn't go?" she asked him, curious.

"Oh, I did. I saw you there," he replied, looking at her intently.

What does he mean by that? Lily thought, panicked as fear shot through her like thunder.

Had McLaggen seen her and Scorpius together? But no, he couldn't have. They had been careful. Unless he could see threw invisibility cloaks, McLaggen had no way of knowing what had happened.

"I also saw you get thrown out by Malfoy," he continued as they finally reached the pitch and stopped walking "Must suck to be Albus' little sister sometimes, right?"

He was looking at her with an amused expression, apparently finding himself very funny.

"Sometimes it does," Lily answered vaguely with her head tilted to the side. "Not harder than being a Potter though," she added with an afterthought.

"Oh, I get it. I mean, being a McLaggen is the same. The name comes with high expectations,"

"Is being a smooth talker one of them?" Lily asked with false innocence, finally letting go of her fear of being found out. McLaggen didn't know about her and Malfoy, the whole situation was just making her jumpy.

He laughed at her joke as if it was the funniest thing he'd ever heard.

Surprisingly, speaking with him wasn't as nerve-wracking as she had been expecting. McLaggen turned out to be very easy to talk to and he made Lily got over her shyness pretty quickly. She was also under the impression that he was flirting with her a bit, but then it could just be how McLaggen interacted with everyone since he really was a smooth talker.

"I like you, Potter. You're not what I expected," he told her after a few minutes of small talk.

"And what were you expecting?" she asked him, intrigued.

"A younger version of the Head Girl, I guess," he replied truthfully and it was Lilly's turn to laugh.

"Rose and I may look alike but we're not the same person, far from it actually!"

"Thanks, Merlin, one of her is enough," he said while passing a hand through his hair.

"She's not that bad really," Lily couldn't help but defend her cousin.

"Come on, she once reported me for skipping class and it got me 1 week of detention," McLaggen argued.

"You shouldn't have skipped class if you didn't want to get caught," Lily chastised him playfully.

"So you never break any rule then?" he smirked "I mean, when you're not attending parties in the Slytherin common room,"

"You got me," Lily admitted "I might have more in common with James and Al, than with Rose,"

"On that, I believe you. I mean, after the prank you pulled on Albus in the Great Hall, it's pretty obvious you don't aspire to become Head Girl,"

"Actually, I would very much like to become Head Girl," Lily corrected him with a smile "I hope this prank won't prevent me from being chosen. After all, breaking a few rules didn't stop Scorpius from becoming Head Boy,"

Even Rose had broken a few rules and still become Head Girl, so Lily's chances remained pretty good.

"Yeah but Malfoy is a con, everyone knows it," McLaggen laughed "He's broken more rules than me and still got the badge,"

"Jealous?" Lily asked him.

"Nah, not really. Although my dad would have loved for me to be Head Boy," he shrugged "But personally I'd much rather be here talking to my lovely captain than doing prefects rounds with Rose Weasley,"

Lily snorted in amusement.

"Lovely captain? Are you flirting with me, McLaggen?" she asked him with raised eyebrows.

There was no need to tell him that Scorpius didn't actually do rounds with Rose but with her instead.

"Maybe I am. But you should know that flirting is how I communicate with people. Or at least with girls," he winked "And please, call me Andrew,"

"Well, Andrew, your communications system is ... unusual," Lily answered, not really knowing what she was supposed to say to his last sentence.

McLaggen was a flirt and a player, and he was apparently very proud of it. But then, she had already known all of this and it hadn't stopped her from crushing on him for over a year.

"Just maybe, try not to flirt with anyone during Quidditch practice," she added when she saw a few team members walking toward them a few feet away "Wouldn't want the girls getting distracted by your pretty words,"

"I'll try to control myself, captain," McLaggen nodded happily.

A minute later, the first of their teammates arrived and greeted them grumpily. Apparently Lily was not the only one unhappy about this early Quidditch practice.

She started getting ready to fly herself, and retrieved the Quaffle from the wooden box she had been carrying earlier.

"Had a rough night, Potter," Sam Larsen, one of the chasers, asked her jokingly, as the team gathered in a circle.

"Is it really that bad?" she asked him as she blushed furiously. She had managed to forget about her looks but was painfully reminded of it.

"Just shows you had a good time," the chaser laughed, before mounting his broom and shrugging nonchalantly.

That certainly didn't help her blush. Larsen probably didn't mean anything by it other than drinking and partying, but Lily couldn't help but think of the real good time she'd had with Scorpius.

"Don't worry, Lily, hungover looks good on you," McLaggen reassured her and winked. Again. Only this time almost half of the Gryffindor Quidditch team had seen it.

"Thanks, I guess," she said, wishing this entire conversation was over as she felt the curious eyes of Larsen and others land on her.

She cleared her throat loudly, deciding that it was time for her to switch to captain mode.

"As much as I'd like to continue and discuss my life with you, now is not the time," she said with a firm voice she had heard James use plenty of time during practice "We're here to play Quidditch and get ready for our first game of the year. So get on your broom and get ready to go through some drills,"

Lily had a training to lead and she wasn't going to let McLaggen's presence distract her from her job as captain. Her fellow Gryffindors were counting on her to get the team into playing shape, and she was set on doing just that.

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"What the hell, Lils? Have you been taking seduction hormones or something?" Lorcan exclaimed after Lily told him what happened the previous night with Scorpius and earlier with McLaggen.

"Quiet!" Lily shushed him immediately as she looked around to see if anyone had heard him. But the few other students scattered around the lake weren't paying them any attention.

"I don't understand how this happened either," she finally replied in a hushed voice, glaring at her best friend who was laughing. Laughing about her sex life. Again.

"Oh, I understand how the Malfoy part happened," Lorcan snorted "You went to the guy and offered him sex with no strings attached. I always knew he would take the deal. He's only human after all,"

He was laying lazily on the grass next to Lily, resting on his elbows so he could look at her.

"But it's Scorpius Malfoy we're talking about. He really didn't need me specifically to get laid. He could literally ask any witch here and she'd say yes," Lily objected, as she plucked some grass absentmindedly.

"I think that's also true for McLaggen to be honest," Lorcan frowned.

"So it doesn't really make sense for him to start flirting with me all of a sudden when we've never even talked before," Lily continued.

"Actually I think it makes perfect sense," Lorcan said seriously "You've been getting a lot of attention from guys recently, like Roman Beauchamps or Matthew Davis. You've also been spending time with Alec Zabini," he continued.

"Yes but that was all because of the stupid Slytherin competition," Lily's voice broke down a bit and Lorcan smile faded.

He knew that this challenge was really bothering her, especially now that almost all the school knew about it.

He groaned.

This competition was wrong on so many levels.

He hated to see his best friend being objectified like that and was seriously considering going to a teacher to report it. But he feared that it would only make matters worse since there really wasn't anything a teacher could do to stop a bet or a competition between students.

"Maybe McLaggen has decided to compete for my vagina as well," Lily suggested with a forced and jaded laugh.

"It's a possibility," Lorcan said carefully "But I think he simply got curious about you and why you suddenly got so much attention,"

Lily looked at him quizzically.

"You're saying he wanted to see what all the fuss was about?" she asked him with mistrust.

"Seems plausible," he shrugged.

"And then what? He saw me at the Slytherin party and fell madly in love?" she said sarcastically.

"Maybe," Lorcan nodded while looking her in the eyes "Or he simply liked what he saw and found you pretty. One or the other,"

Lily rolled her eyes at the suggestion.

"Right, he probably found me even prettier this morning with my greasy hair,"

"Who knows, maybe he's into that," Lorcan joked, feeling Lily's mood lighten a bit.

"Come on Lorc, that's not funny," Lily shook her head, though she couldn't help but smile a little.

"It's a very common kink really," Lorcan explained with false seriousness, unable to hide his own smile.

"You're a stupid ass," Lily chuckled, pushing him lightly before laying down on the grass next o him.

"That I am," Lorcan agreed truthfully.