I origonally started this as one of my Jigsaw Peices, but then it came out too long for that, so...let me know what you think.

Their Little Secret

Neither Lily Potter or Scorpius Malfoy knew exactly how it had happened. One day, towards the beginning of his seventh year and her fifth, she'd been by the lake, on her own, practicing a charm. He'd watched her for a little while, curious about the daughter of his dad's old enemy. He'd always got on OK with Albus Potter, but they weren't anything close to friends.

And so when he'd recognised what Lily was doing wrong with her Charm work, he'd wondered over and corrected her. She'd been a little uncertain of him at first, when he'd told her to tilt her wand a little higher.

"If it explodes or anything, I'll hex you." She told him flatly, causing him to grin. But she'd tried his advice, cast the charm, and looked at him with such wonder and gratitude that he hadn't known what to do.

And so they'd talked. For almost a full two hours, they'd sat by the lake, just talking and joking and teasing. She was sweet, but able to surprise him with a sarcastic insult. He'd flip from serious to joking so fast she was unsure whether he meant what he said or not.

They'd left the lake with a simple "see you around", but the next day they both found themselves by the lake again, self consciously pretending neither had come here in hope of seeing the other.

It had been on that second meeting where, feeling that he'd known her for much longer, he'd kissed her.

From then on, they'd met in secret - in the owlery, in the shade of the trees by the last, just inside the forest, in the room of requirement, and even, once or twice, in a broom closet, sharing whispered conversations and stolen kisses.

It was their secret, hidden from their friends and families, who they knew would disapprove. And that, of course, made it all the more fun. Walking past each other in the corridors without a word to each other, making excuses to their friends so they could sneak away, almost getting caught several times.

And then, after over two months of their secret, they met up in the owlery, while most people were at Dinner. And when he leaned forward to kiss her, she shook her head.

"We need to talk." She said softly.

He felt his heart sink, but he didn't reply. Just waited.

"I don't think we should do this anymore."

He didn't know what to say. He'd known this day would come; known that one of them would eventually come to their senses.

"It's just..." She said, when he still didn't speak. "This whole...sneaking around, hiding...it's fun, but I - I want more than this. I want a real..." She falter, and gave him a nervous little smile. "I guess I want a real boyfriend. And we both know we can't have that."

"I know." He nodded. "This was never meant to last long. We had fun while it did, didn't we?" He heard his voice, agreeing with her, while his heart was screaming not to let her go.

"Yeah. We did." She nodded. "I...I hope we'll still be friends."

They both knew they couldn't be, though. To the rest of the world, they were practically strangers. But they pretended they could be, they pretended breaking this off was what they both wanted.

"I'll see you around." He said softly, because there was no reason to be here anymore. He kissed her one last time, then left.

She stood in the huge, cold room for a little while longer, wondering why she felt so empty.

-----

They were miserable. Everyone around them could see it.

They missed each other. Both of them were constantly fighting the urge to run to the other and get back together. But, Lily constantly reminded herself, they were never really together.

Scorpius told himself, over and over, that she was too young for him anyway, too sweet, she deserved better.

----

"Lily?" She'd been sat in a chair in the common room, just gazing into the fire, when her eldest brother's voice pulled her back. She looked up, surprised to find James, Albus, Rose and Hugo all stood around her.

"What? What's happened?" She asked, sitting up straighter.

"No - nothing." Rose said quickly, and Lily relaxed a little. "Everything fine. We just wanted to talk to you."

"About?" Lily prompted, but you didn't spend fifteen years growing up with people and not be able to see when they're worried about you. So she knew what would come next.

"About what's wrong with you." James said.

"Nothing's wrong with me." She lied automatically.

"We knew you'd say that." Rose replied, and sat on the arm on Lily's chair.

"But it's OK, 'cause we think we already know what's up with you." James told her, sitting on the other arm.

"I doubt it." Lily replied. Whatever they thought it was, she was sure they wouldn't be right. She watched as Al and Hugo both sat on the low coffee table in front of her chair, and felt a little uneasy. Surrounded. When you had too older brothers, you were used to them getting involved in your business, and James and Al were way over protective of her. Added to that, Hugo was one of her best friends, and Rose was the sister she'd never had.

And so she was pretty certain she wasn't getting away from there without baring her soul.

"You'd be surprised." Al replied, then looked at James. Evidently, he'd been nominated to talk to her.

"You've been...meeting up...with Scorpius Malfoy." James said, and grinned at the way her eyes widened and her jaw dropped. "And now it's over. And you, little sis, are not very happy about it. Close?"

Lily nodded mutely, stunned. They were close. The five of them always had been. But this was scary, this was like they were watching her, or reading her mind, or...

She narrowed her eyes suddenly, looked around them all. "How did you know?"

Al and Hugo instantly looked at the floor, hiding little smiles. Rose looked at James, and James looked at Lily, grinning.

"Well, you might have thought you were master of secrecy, but we've all seen you two looking at each other, at Dinner, or in the corridors. And you kept disappearing..."

"And you just put two and two together?" Lily asked, her eyebrows raised. "James, none of you are that smart, not even Rose here."

"OK." James said, and slipped a hand in his pocket. "See, when you kept vanishing for hours on end, we got a little worried and...checked up on you." From the pocket of his robes, he withdrew a folded piece of parchment.

"The marauder's map." Lily said flatly, unsurprised. She'd already guessed. "And why exactly did you think it was OK to spy on me?"

"You're our little sister." Albus said. "We were worried about you."

Lily sighed. She couldn't tell them not to worry about her; they would anyway, and she kind of liked having them look out for her.

"So." James said, his face serious again. "He broke up with you?"

"No." Lily said instantly, seeing the look on her brother's face and knowing he was likely to go jinx Scorpius to within an inch of his life. "i broke it off." This, she decided, was embarrassing. These were her brothers. And Hugo, who was practically her brother as well. So she turned her attention to Rose. "We weren't going out, exactly, and I decided...it wasn't enough. The secret meetings weren't enough anymore."

"So why didn't you make it real?" Rose asked her.

Lily blinked, then grinned. "Are you kidding? It'd be the biggest news Hogwarts had ever had. Our parents would go mad. My friends would think I was crazy. It's the stupidest thing ever. Me and Scorpius...actually going out...ha..."

"Well..." James said finally. "I don't know about the Malfoys, but I think our parents would get over it pretty quickly."

"Your friends would probably think your crazy, but so what?" Hugo added. "They'd still be your friends."

"And something else would come along to keep Hogwarts busy." Albus finished.

"Wh-what are you saying?" Lily asked, looking around them all.

"We're saying," Rose told her, "go find him. Now."

"But - it's crazy -"

"It's what you want." Rose replied.

"But dad -"

"Would get over it." James said, standing and pulling her up.

"But - you guys - what do you think about it?"

"We want you to be happy." Hugo told her.

"So go." Al said, half-laughing.

"I - I don't know where he is." Her head was spinning. With a loud sigh, James held out the Marauder's Map.

"Duh."

"Oh. Ah...right..." Rose gave her a little push, and, still slightly dazed, Lily stumbled towards the portrait.

"We're going to follow her, aren't we?" Hugo asked, the second she'd left the common room.

"Of course." James replied, already starting forwards.

----

She found him easily. In the Owlery, of all places. It had been the last place they'd met up, and the first, although that had only just occurred to her. She burst through the door breathlessly, not bothering to close it behind her, although if she'd realised her brothers and cousins were a few feet behind her, she may have done.

"Lily?" Scorpius turned around in surprise. "Wha...?"

"I think we should get back together." She blurted. "I - I mean - properly - real - the real thing -" She was stammering, probably not making any sense, but she couldn't seem to link the words.

He looked at her, trying to process and make sense of her words. And when he did, he was sure he'd got them wrong.

"What?"

"Me and you." She said, a little calmer now, her breathing more even. The steps up to the owlery were a bitch to run up. "I think we should - try to..." She trailed off, juggling the words in her head. "I told you I wanted a real boyfriend." She said finally.

"I know." He said, a shadow of sadness on his face. "I...That's why we broke off. So you could."

"But I want it to be you." She told him.

"Wh...Lily, we can't do that. You know we can't...that's why we kept it a secret before...our families..."

"I know, I've just been through this with James and Al and Rose and Hugo - who were spying on me with the marauder's map, by the way, and that's really not right is it? But - but anyway, they told me I was being stupid, and they're right. I don't care. We should - I - I mean...if you want to..." She'd been talking so fast some of the words had run together, but she faltered as it occurred to her that maybe he just didn't want them to be together. Maybe he was making excuses.

"I do." Scorpius said finally, when he'd caught up with what she'd said. "I really do."

"Really?"

"Yes."

"So kiss her already!" Rose Weasley yelled from the doorway. The three boys beside her burst out laughing.

Lily glared at them for about three seconds before laughing too. Then she strode forward, and closed her the door. "Well?" She said to Scorpius. "You heard Rose..."