It was one of those hot, still days, where even those who weren't magical could feel the hum of something in the air. The sky was blue, the summer air was filled with the sound of the birds and the soft breeze stirred the leaves just slightly.

It was one of those days that made Madeleine long to be in France, in her grandparents' house by the beach, in a bikini on a sun lounger, the hot sun beating down, relentlessly.

It was one of those days that made Lily long for the lazy summer evenings spent by the Seine, following Maddi around on one of her mad dash tours of her city.

It was one of those days where something was fated to happen.

Madeleine Delacour was an extraordinary witch. She could reach into tomorrow and pluck out a bird, or lean back into yesterday, and return with a flower. She didn't know where her ability came from; neither did her headmistress or her family. The only woman who could have told her wasn't talking, out of some misguided sense of loyalty to the man who had betrayed her.

Maddi was born when her mother was 17, the result of a fling between her mother and an unknown wizard during her last year at Beauxbatons. Gabrielle had been convinced her loved her, was still convinced her loved her, but he had left her, never returned, and now the only person who could have explained Maddi's power wasn't going to explain a thing.

And it was infuriating.

Her appearance was that of her mother, but diluted slightly, the platinum blonde hair of her mother had been darkened, deepening to a rich honey blonde in Madeleine. Her eyes were a sparkling mix of her mother's ice blue and an emerald green, glinting turquoise as the sea. She had inherited her mother's petite frame, wearing heels to combat her short stature, and her father's gene's had not interfered with the beauty from her mother's Veela ancestry.

Lily Luna Potter couldn't manipulate time, but she was an unforgettable witch all the same. With her deep red hair, snaking down her back in ringlets of fire, grass green eyes sparkling like the emeralds of a million leprechauns, tall slim frame and almond shaped eyes, she was Maddi's polar opposite, although just as beautiful.

She came from a large family of noise, love and laughter, she knew who her father was, she knew about all the siblings she had and her whole family showed up every September 1st to wave her and her cousins off.

She was as different to Maddi as you could get.

So, of course, they fulfilled all the clichés, and became the best of friends.

That hot, muggy day was their first day of freedom, the first day of summer. They were 16, just done their OWLs, and looking forward to summer.

It was going to be their summer. They said it every year – the notes passed between them, the muggle photos that Lily played around with, made, they centred around Summer (insert year here) and how great, different, amazing, that summer would be.

Lily was hanging out of the window of the train, her silver and green tie knotted as loosely as possible around her neck, her slim legs balancing her precariously on the bench, looking as if they would snap if the slightly gust of wind knocked them. Her hair was whipping around her face, and the smile her mouth was curved into had brought many a boy crashing down before her.

They lugged their trunks off the train, Lily dumping hers on Teddy as soon as she was able, and James taking Maddi's from her not a second later. They left the station, chattering together, making plans for what they were going to do whilst Maddi was in London, deciding which beach to go to when they went to France.

They spent the evening on the balcony, the soft evening breeze stirring the warm air slightly, but not enough to move anything out of place. They were drinking sweet white wine and Lily was smoking, the smoke curling lazily out of her mouth. Maddi kicked off her beige heels and lent her feet on the balcony, watching the sun setting in the distance, turning the world to molten gold.

Number 12 Grimmauld Place was an old house, but Ginny Potter had breathed a new lease of life into it. Gone were the dark passageways and heavy drapes, no more were the carpets burgundy and the walls deep green. The walls were now a pale cream, with light wood floors and cream rugs. The rooms were homely, with crackling fires and comfortable sofas.

The only room that remained the same as when Harry was a teenager was the gallery, the tapestry and the portraits of the Black – and now the Potter – family lining the walls. It was a place that Lily loved to come, she loved to trace her linage back as far as she could on the family tree, she loved talking to the portrait of Sirius that hung there.

People said that James, the loyal, brave Gryffindor, was the leader of the new generation of Marauders, they said that he and his friends were the new Golden Trio, but it was Lily, the only one of her family to be placed in Slytherin, who shined the brightest of the Potter children. It was her that took after James and Sirius, with her cocky, arrogant attitude, and her ability to control someone with one curve of her lips. She secretly loved the comparisons that people made between her and her grandfather and his best friend - although she would never admit to admiring two Gryffindors.

She spent hours in the rooms, more time there than anywhere else, and she knew every single secret that the rooms held. She could climb through the panel in the wall, she could navigate the secret passageways that crisscrossed the house, she could open the secret hiding places behind the bookcase, behind the fireplace.

Of course, she had some help from Sirius' portrait, but she was the only one there to take the glory.

As she stepped out of one of the many passageways that led into the room that evening, she brushed the dust off her shorts and reached a hand back to help Maddi out of the tunnel.

"Lily Potter, you swore that there would be no spiders in that tunnel!" Maddi's voice was echoing out of the passageway, her disgusted shrieks ringing through the house as she clambered out of the door behind the portrait, trying to avoid the spiders.

"I did say there would be no spiders in the tunnel, but that's not a tunnel, it's a passageway," Lily drawled, her lips curving into the Slytherin smirk that Draco Malfoy knew so well.

Maddi brushed herself off, a couple of involuntary squeals coming from her every time she found a spider on herself. Lily sat in a chair legs thrown over the arm as Maddi wandered around the room, looking at the heirlooms and knick-knacks that had been collected by the Black family over the centuries.

"What's this?" Maddi questioned, turning a slim silver case over in her hands, holding it up to the light to read the inscription.

"It's an old cigarette case, supposedly belonged to one of the Blacks that went over to the South USA in the late 1800s to fight in the Civil War. There's supposedly a branch of the family still over there, rumour is that they turn into giant wolves now."

Maddi ran her fingers over the inscription on the case, "and what does Lupin think of that?" she questioned.

"Thinks it's a load of crap. Says he's living proof that the werewolf gene isn't hereditary."

Maddi nodded absentmindedly, concentrating on the inscription on the case "En temps, vous aussi, vous verrez"

"What's that?" Lily questioned, swinging her feet to and fro.

"The inscription on the case, it means in time, you too will see."

Lily snorted and snatched the cigarette case from Maddi's hands, flinging it back down onto the table.

"Bullshit. Bet it's not even real silver, it's probably tin."

Maddi shook her head, retrieving the case from the table.

"I don't know, Lils, there's something about it. It feels, I don't know, powerful."

"Ouch," Lily muttered, rubbing her head as she stood up, shaking the sand out of her shoes.

Hang on, sand?

She slowly raised her head, looking at the wide expanse of fat land, the rolling cotton plants, the sand, the blue sky and the hot sun.

They sure weren't in Kansas anymore.

Or London. Whatever.

Maddi sat up slowly; looking around her with wide eyes, before meeting Lily's disbelieving ones.

Lily stood up, reaching an arm out to help Maddi up too. The two girls stumbled slightly, before Lily toppled over, pulling Maddi over too. The two girls lay on the ground in stitches of laughter for several minutes, before the reality of their situation sunk in, and they stood up again, making for the road that they could see snaking through the desert.

"What I don't understand," Lily said, her puzzled emerald eyes scrunched up against the sun, "is how the portkey was activated by human contact. I thought they were set to go at a certain time, no matter who was holding them."

"I think it's something to do with me," Maddi whispered softly "you know, with the time thing. I can tell that neither of us are anywhere on our timelines right now."

"So where are we?" Lily asked, confusion shadowing her face.

"I don't know," Maddi shrugged, "but we could ask them," she said, pointing at two figures on horseback.

Lily shrugged, following her cousin and yanking a packet of cigarettes out of her pocket as she went, swearing softly when she realised she had left her lighted back in Grimmauld Place. Maddi laughed at the sour expression on her face as she stuffed the packet forcefully into the back pocket of her shorts.

"It'll probably do you some good," Maddi told her, smirking, "you've been saying you should quit since you started."

Her only reply was the finger that Lily stuck up.

As they drew closer to the men, Maddi could see their uniforms, grey coats and sky blue trousers. Confederate Soldiers.

She turned back to Lily and mouthed "play along."

Lily nodded, not quite understanding what she was playing along with, so kept her mouth shut as they approached the men.

"Howdy," the taller of the two men said, reigning in his chestnut coloured horse, his blond hair glistening in the midday sun, "can I help y'all?"

Maddi cast her eyes down at the floor before speaking, "oh sir," she said, the Texas drawl she had adopted making Lily jerk her head towards her in surprise, "we've found ourselves stranded in this here desert, and we don't know where we are, nor how we got here."

Lily nodded along, trying to disguise her blatant ogling at the other man. Around eighteen years of age, he was tall, with a strong jaw line, and hair as dark as coal. His eyes were slate grey, and the slight dusting of stubble along his jaw gave him the look of one older that he was.

His eyes were what drew Lily though, the colour was unremarkable, but they held such a mix of emotions that it was hard for the photographer in her not to whip out her camera and take a picture.

She figured that that wasn't such a good idea whilst they were trying to convince them that they were from the eighteenth century.

His eyes showed compassion, but they also showed sadness, with that anger that comes from having seen too much violence at a young age. To anyone looking at a glance, he would appear cold, reserved, indifferent, but Lily could see right through that.

He was scared.

He was scared that they were going to lose the war, and, Lily realised with a shiver, that was going to happen. He was scared that at the end of the war, nothing would be the same. He was scared of death, and yet he was scared about what would happen if he didn't die.

Lily felt Maddi's swift kick to the ankle, and lowered her eyes again, playing the part of the maiden in distress.

The men were sympathetic, believing them to have been kidnapped by Union soldiers and left out in the desert to die. The older, blond man escorted them to his house, where he assured them his wife would give them a bath, some hot food and some "proper" clothing.

"Ouch!" Lily exclaimed, as Maddi pulled the laces of the corset tighter, "What are you trying to do, suffocate me?"

"No, I'm trying to make us blend in. Breath out."

Maddi tied the laces of the corset as tightly as she could, before helping Lily layer on the rest of the petticoats and undergarments laid out for them by Mrs Russell.

"I feel like a turkey all wrapped up and about to be roasted," Lily complained half an hour later, plucking at the dress she was wearing.

"Hush," Maddi ordered, opening the door, "and show some gratitude."

The two girls stepped out into the main area of the house, fed, bathed and dressed in clothes lent to them by Mrs Russell, the wife of the older of the men they had met on the road.

They thanked her profusely, declining her offer of allowing them to stay, and waiting until her husband returned to escort them to their destinations. They accepted the food she packaged up for them, and took the water gourds she was offering.

"It's mighty dangerous for two unaccompanied young girls out there;" she worried "won't you please wait for my husband?"

"We really need to be on our way, Mrs Russell," Lily said, seeing Maddi wince at her awful attempt at a Texan accent out of the corner of her eye, "Thank you for everything though."

She smiled sadly at them, and watched as they went, the moon lighting up the early evening just enough for them to see their way along the road.

They followed the road south, knowing that they were just outside Dallas. They were hoping to reach the city before the morning, wanting to find a place to stay where they could figure out what they were going to do next.

Before they reached Dallas, standing on the deserted, moonlit road, Maddi reached out a hand, and seemingly ripped a hole in thin air. She stretched through and drew out the drawstring purse that had belonged to a merchant they had passed earlier that night. She opened the purse, and tipped several heavy gold coins into her palm.

"Bingo," she smiled.

They spent the next few days in a hotel in the western part of the city, venturing out only to buy food. Lily was all for buying passage on the next ship sailing to England, and going to Hogwarts to find someone who could help them, but Maddi was confident that she would be able to get them back to the right time period without alarming anybody.

It just might take a while.

While Maddi was busy working out how exactly her time manipulation worked, Lily was exploring Dallas. She bought Stetsons for her brothers, mother and Teddy, a pistol for her father, thinking it would be amusing to see the head Auror pull a Muggle gun on a suspect.

She wandered back down through the backstreets, buying a newspaper from the boy standing on the corner selling them. She sat on a bench, instinctively throwing her feet over the arm, before realising how unseemly it was for a lady to act in such a way during this time period. She righted herself, perching daintily on the bench and crossing her ankles, as she had seen many ladies do that day.

She opened the newspaper, reading blindly about the triumphs and downfalls encountered by the Confederate South that week. She turned the page, hoping to find something more interesting for her to read, before a picture caught her eye. There was a picture of a man, clearly a Malfoy, dressed in the uniform of the Union, with a huge bounty on his head.

"Scorpius Malfoy," she read aloud "believed to be around 17 years of age, youngest Major in the Union army."

She stared at the paper in shock for several seconds, tracing back the Malfoy family tree in her head, before coming to the conclusion that there had, in fact, never been another Scorpius in the Malfoy family tree, until the one she went to school with.

Which meant...

Two hours later Maddi and Lily stood in front of the mirror in their room, dressed as Confederate Soldiers. The uniforms were authentic and the glamour charms they had cast caused Maddi to perfectly resemble James, and Lily to perfectly resemble Teddy. The documents they needed, they had yet to find a way to produce.

"I don't see why we have to dress as men," Maddi grumbled, "and I don't understand why I have to look like James when he's your blood relative."

"Because we have to look like soldiers if we're going to fight, Maddi," Lily spoke slowly, patronizingly, "the army won't admit women for over a century yet."

"But why do we have to fight at all?" Maddi complained, plucking at the wool of her trousers and looking dejectedly down at the hands that no longer looked dainty and feminine, but were instead masculine and callused.

"Because it's the best way of getting to see Scorpius and finding out why the hell he's here too. We have to resemble people he will recognise so he will trust and talk to us."

"Scorpius trust James?" Maddi snorted, "hah, not likely!"

Lily gritted her teeth, and turned away; putting the finishing touches to her outfit, before summoning the papers she had seen earlier in the men next door's pockets.

"Ready to go?" she asked Maddi, who grimaced, and followed her out of the door.

A few days and several memory altering spells later, Maddi and Lily were "trained" and equipped with weapons. Their first day as soldiers fighting for the Confederacy had dawned. They ate a breakfast of cold gruel and watered down ale, before changing into their full armour, and beginning the march to the battle field.

"Thank Merlin for shield charms;" Lily whispered to Maddi, fingering the wand in her pocket, "otherwise we'd be dead for sure, with the amount of training we've had!"

The sun rose, and beat down relentlessly on the sun baked Louisianan soil. The two girls were overheating within moments, but had no chance to divest themselves of any of their heavy woollen clothing, as on the distance the Union troops could be seen, and the order to fire came at once.

Lily tried to hoist the gun onto her shoulder, but eventually gave up, relying on her the shield charm she had cast around herself to ensure her safety. She could see Maddi about ten yards ahead, dodging flying bullets, looking like she was doing an absurd puppet dance.

Realising that the glamour charms were running out, Lily grabbed hold of her best friend's hand, Lily pulled her away from the fighting, heading towards an abandoned wagon she could see about twenty metres ahead.

The two girls, now fully reformed to their feminine state, quickly divested themselves of the heavy woollen coats and socks, untucking their shirts in order to cool down more quickly.

Seeing a shape creeping around the outside of the wagon Lily motioned at her best friend to be quiet, and pulled out the pistol she had had hidden in her waistband. She slowly inched her way out of the wagon, keeping her back to the side and creeping slowly along to the corner.

Pausing at the corner she took a deep breath in, before jumping suddenly round, pointing the gun at the figure about to cut a slit in the back of the wagon with a knife.

"Hold, scoundrel!" she yelled, sounding uncannily like their commanding officer.

The man, dressed in the uniform of a Union soldier turned to face her, a smirk playing on his lips.

"Hello, Lily."

Lily sat on the step of the wagon, striking a match against a rock, trying desperately to get it to light. She was desperate for a cigarette, after having sworn to use the trip to cure herself of the habit; she was now determined to smoke so many that her lungs turned black.

Or, y'know, until the cravings went away.

Finally succeeding on lighting the match, she let out a small scream of triumph, before holding the lit match to the cigarette in her lips. She took a drag, smiling as she felt the smoke wash down her throat, tipping her head back to enjoy the last rays of sunshine as the sun dipped below the horizon.

She suddenly felt her cigarette snatched from her lips, and opened her eyes to see a boot squashing the stub on the floor.

She let out a small growl of frustration, looking up to see the Union soldier from earlier standing over her, his white blonde hair throwing rays of light in the dying glow from the sun.

"Scorpius," she growled, "do you know how long it took for me to get that thing lit?"

"Nowhere near as long as it will take your lungs to recover from the horrific treatment you're giving them," Scorpius returned evenly, casting his eyes to the sky above her.

Lily scowled slightly, the ugly look contrasting deeply with her pretty features.

"So, Sting, care to share about why you're here?"

Scorpius shot her a look that was equal parts distain and anger, his lips curling into a grimace at the nickname that Lily had used to infuriate him since her first year at Hogwarts.

"Well, Lily-flower, I, unlike you, I presume, am not here by accident. Instead, I am here as part of my further education, that of the role that wizards played in the outcome of major events in Muggle history. Something of a bore, but necessary if I wish to stand out amongst the hoards of other students likely to be applying to the Auror Academy."

"So you're standing out by changing history, and nearly getting yourself killed?" Lily smirked, "isn't that just crying out to create a paradox? If you die here, how are you going to exist in our world, 150 years later?"

"I shouldn't have expected you to understand the complex workings of time," Scorpius huffed, clearly put out at her barely disguised teasing of him, "it's not still, it's wiggly. Look, watch that Muggle thing, you know, where the people move in the box? Watch the one about the man travelling in a blue phone box. He describes it perfectly."

Lily smirked again at his obvious irritation, finally succeeding in lighting a second cigarette.

"Well, Sting, I guess this is goodnight," she said, blowing smoke out of the side of her mouth as she glanced up at the stars now littering the sky.

She blew him a smoky kiss, threw her cigarette on the ground, and disappeared back into the wagon.

The next day dawned clear and early, and Lily was woken by an insistent hand shaking her awake.

"Go'way," she mumbled "five more minutes, please, Lysander."

"Lysander?" an amused drawl came from above her, "you've been sleeping with one of the Scamander twins? And the Hufflepuff one at that? Never thought you'd stoop so low, Potter."

"Fuck off Malfoy," Lily grumbled, sitting up and whacking her head on the side of the wagon, "Lysander happens to be a perfectly nice boy. And I slept with him. Past tense."

Lily rubbed her head sleepily, wincing at her lack of a biting comeback. Lysander was a touchy subject, a boy she one thought she'd loved, the quieter of the twins, a musician, a dreamer. His entire life was made up of guitar strings and lyrics, and he lived his life one wish to the next. He'd left her though, left her for a small, petite brunette, who wore Mary-Jane shoes and pleated, knee-length skirts.

She hadn't let it get her down, she hadn't let it break her, instead she had let all of the rage, the anger, (the sadness), turn her into the girl she was today. Spike heels and skin tight jeans, hard-as-nails, nothing could break her, especially not a boy who would always love his guitar more than any girl.

"What do you want, anyway, Malfoy, that couldn't have waited two more hours?" Lily asked irritably, rubbing at her eyes.

"You need to leave," he stated bluntly, "today is the day it all changes, the day the Confederacy begins to lose. I'll take you back to the Ministry; leave it to them to sort out the mess the two of you have probably made."

Lily scowled at him, but nonetheless started to gather her belongings and pull herself into some kind of semblance of order. She stepped out of the wagon and saw Maddi already sitting there, legs stretched out, head tilted back, making the most of the early morning sun.

They both took hold of one each of Scorpius's arms, waiting for the familiar jerking sensation that meant that they were on their way home.

Once they arrived at the Ministry, Lily was immediately swept up in a frenzied rush of questions about where she had been and why she had gone. After finally handing over the cigarette case for inspection by the Ministry, she extracted herself from the crowd, and turned away to leave the ministry, and floo home.

Reaching a deserted hallway, she let out a small yelp when she felt a pair of strong arms encircle her from behind, and push her against a wall. She saw a flash of blond hair and grey eyes, before Scorpius's lips were on her and all she could feel was ScorpiusScorpiusScorpius, and all she could taste was pure, undiluted Scorpius.

He finally pulled away, his breathing ragged, hers shallow.

"I guess I'll see you at school, Lily-flower," he said, and with a smirk and a swirl of his robes, he was gone.

It came as a surprise to many people when, on the return to school in September, Lily Potter and Scorpius Malfoy appeared to be sharing a carriage on the train, without having hexed each other into oblivion.

Lily was studiously ignoring Scorpius, and he was far too engrossed in his book to even look at her. She was talking to her friends, dressed in her typical ensemble of spiked stiletto heels, skin tight jeans and her leather jacket.

She pulled her jacket slightly tighter around her, staring out at the rainy countryside. It was one of those early autumn days that felt like the depths of winter, drizzling rain, cold air. Her leather jacket didn't stave off the cold very well, but it looked good, and that was all that mattered really

Feeling the chill, she pulled a packet of Marlboro's and a lighter out of her bag, clicking the lighter to the end of her cigarette until it lit, and then offered them around. She smirked when none of her fellow carriage-mates took one. She could see their hands twitching, glancing around at Scorpius. They would've taken one too, but Scorpius considered in a dirty Muggle habit, and no one really wanted to get on his bad side.

Except her of course, there was nothing like playing the bad girl. Keeping her eyes on Scorpius' she lifted the cigarette to her lips. Lipstick smudged the white roll and she lifted it away, blowing perfect smoke rings, keeping her mouth in the perfect red 'o'. Scorpius looked at her with flat grey eyes, not amused when she pouted ever so slightly, blowing him a smoky kiss. He looked a little discomfited the, blushing just a touch, wanting her, needing her, but not quite able to let up the pretence he had had of hating her for so long. Smirking, she placed the cigarette in her mouth again. But before Lily could take a second drag, he had pulled her cigarette out of her mouth, and then flung it to the floor where he ground it out with his heel.

"Hey!" Lily complained, all pretension of sultriness forgotten "What the fuck? Do you know how much those things cost?"

"They'll cost you your lungs, someday," Scorpius returned evenly, piercing her with his grey eyes, she leaned closer to him, trying to kiss his neck but he pushed her away, returned to his book.

She wasn't about to let it go that easy, Scorpius might think he could tell her what to do, tell her to behave but he had chosen the wrong girl for that. She took another cigarette and lit it up smugly, crossing her legs and staring right at him, daring him to stop her. Scorpius reached forwards and dragged it out of her mouth, Lily lit another one, and he pulled it out. On the seventh one she nudged his leg with her foot, smiling wide.

"Aren't you gonna stop me?" she said, eyes lowered, snagging her lips with the edge of her teeth. He stared at her with that unflinching gaze then looked back to his book.

"Do whatever the fuck you want" he drawled.

"Fine" she replied, and sucked it in loudly just to prove to him that she would do whatever the fuck she wanted. Everyone thought that that was it, game over, Potter trumped Malfoy, that age old story.

But they were all too engrossed in what Lily and Scorpius wanted to see, Potter and Malfoy, enemies forever, and missed the secret smirk that passed between them. They were in it for the long haul, Maddi thought smiling, as she watched the quiet interaction between the two of them, they were perfect for each other.

After all, if you were going to be technical about it, they had known each other for over 150 years.

A/N: This was written for the "Hedwig, we're not in Kansas anymore" Challenge over on the HPFC. It's quite different to anything else I've ever written, firstly because it's the longest one shot I've ever written, and secondly because it's the first time I've ever paired Lily with anyone other than Teddy, and the first time I've really written Scorpius – I hope I've done him justice! The title comes from the Jefferson Davies quote: "Nothing fills me with deeper sadness than to see a Southern man apologizing for the defense we made of our inheritance. Our cause was so just, so sacred, that had I known all that has come to pass, had I known what was to be inflicted upon me, all that my country was to suffer, all that our posterity was to endure, I would do it all over again."