A/N: Hey! This is my first ever 10K, and even if I'm a ScorRose fan, I felt like having it be LilyScorpius. It helps since there's never been a LilyScorpius 10K, which automatically makes me awesome, thanks. ;)

Happy birthday for Ninja! To be fair, I, er, started it in February… yeah. And thanks to Smile for inspiring me with LilyScorpius, Pearl, for helping me get through, Madders, for being an amazing 10K writer, and Listen for beta-ing the first half. I love you all!

Part I: Lily luna

Lily Luna Potter is just another little girl whose big dreams far outweigh her in significance… and plausibility.

(She first meets him on a Tuesday.)

It's September first of her first year and it's raining loud enough outside of the train to cover up her fear. Almost.

She bites her lip and pulls up the courage to knock on the compartment door. It's sort of funny, she thinks, how all of her energy from the annual Weasley 'going to Hogwarts' party they had had the night before seems to have seeped out of her system. Now she'll be lucky if she manages to get through the train ride without collapsing from all of the exhaustion, nerves, and that little spark of something that might be excitement but probably isn't.

"Lily, are you okay?" Albus asks the second he opens the door and sees her standing there. He sounds concerned, and really must be 'cause the next thing she knows she's being pulled into his compartment and coming face to face with a blonde haired boy that Lily sort of recognizes but can't quite place.

And suddenly she's blushing slightly and stammering a little because she's 11 and doesn't know much, but from what she can tell he's sort of a little bit cute…

"What's wrong, Lily?" Albus asks, shaking her slightly in concern and pulling her back to reality with a jolt (unfortunately).

"Ja-James said that-"

"Oh bugger," Albus says, sighing dramatically, causing her to almost-but-not-quite giggle a little. "What'd he say this time?"

"He said that I'm not brave enough to be in Gryffindor, so I'll get sorted into some other house and everyone will hate me for it!" She tries not to be aware of the fact that she ran in crying to her other brother when he said that, so surely it must be true.

"Lily, Lily, Lily," Albus says slowly, shaking his head, and making Lily feel smaller and smaller by the second because of how much older and wiser he sounds than her. "You forget who you're talking to, don't you? Out of all the houses I could have been in, I was sorted into Slytherin, and as far as I'm aware I haven't been disowned yet."

"Yeah," Lily mutters, as if trying to think up an excuse for that. "But you're you and I'm just me."

And that's when the blonde boy (who Lily later finds out is named Scorpius Hyperion Malfoy) says the first two words that Lily ever hears coming from his mouth.

"No shit."

That's all he says, but apparently it's enough. Because all of a sudden, Albus is throwing a shoe at him, presumably for the foul language in front of his little sister, and Lily would have been thinking about how different his voice is than she'd imagined it would be (not that she'd really had time to speculate about his voice anyway) if she weren't so busy giggling fiendishly at the whole ordeal.

And all of a sudden, Albus and Scorpius are laughing too and she's feeling loads better than she would have imagined, somehow.

(She gets sorted into Gryffindor within 12 hours, so it's not like her fear really mattered much anyway.)

"Potter, Lily." Her name is called and she'd like to say that it's no big deal, because she has her brother, Albus, and a boy named Scorpius Malfoy both cheering for her no matter what house she gets sorted into, but she'd be lying, and she's always been told that lying is bad.

But when she walks up ohsoslowly- the hall eerily quiet every step of the way- and lowers herself onto the stool, she looks to the Slytherin table, to her brother, to Scorpius Malfoy, and suddenly she feels as if the worst half of her incredibly long journey is over, and nothing can really go wrong at this point.

She almost jumps when the hat whispers in her mind, but she doesn't. She was half expecting something like this anyway, to be honest, because this is Hogwarts, this is magic.

I think you and I both know what I'm going to say next, don't we?

And then the hat's yelling out 'Gryffindor!' and the hall is erupting in cheers and her eyes are alight with fire and she's too excited to be sad about not being with Scorpius, because he's two years older than her anyway, and her brother's best friend, and she barely knows him, so why would being sorted into a different house than him matter anyway?

She starts her troop to the Gryffindor table that seems too long to be real, then, and she looks over at her brother who grins at her and at Scorpius, who nods in encouragements and only then does she sort of start to regret not being in Slytherin- because she could have, you know, she could have been a great addition to Slytherin house. Maybe.

(He comes and congratulates her sometime the next week.)

"So," he says, and it's the good sort of 'so', she thinks. "You're in Gryffindor, then?"

"Yep!" she says happily, with an unrecognizable sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach.

"Congratulations, Little Potter."

She doesn't know when he decided to start calling her Little Potter, she doesn't ask.

(As horrible as it is, she doesn't see him much until the next summer.)

It's taken long enough, of course, but Albus has finally done it. He and Scorpius have managed to convince their parents to allow Scorpius to come over for a few days. Finally.

And Lily has a really strange feeling in the pit of her stomach the second she hears that just won't leave, and she doesn't know what to do about it.

She could always just copy Albus, and be excited for him to come- but she'd never do that. Or she could act like James, and be upset with how a Slytherin had to come and take over her dear home. Or she could even act like her parents and be content to just be happy and remain wary of the boy.

But she's Lily, and she can't do any of that. She knows exactly what she's going to do- she'll just act like herself, fluttering stomach and all.

It's times like these that, were she here, Lily's (favourite- but sh, don't tell) cousin, Victoire, would be laughing at how Lily obviously had herself her second ever crush. (The first was Teddy Lupin, but that's a different story entirely.)

The doorbell rings and Albus is opening it as James storms off in a huff, breathing out insults. Their parent's smile lightly as Albus pulls Scorpius into a hug, which just leaves little Lily, standing still, frozen in place with her mouth half open in a feeble attempt to say something, anything.

Needless to say, she's a little bit completely humiliated when Scorpius turns around and sees her standing there, frozen in place.

"Well, well, if it isn't my favourite Gryffindor," he says taking a step closer, as if to give her a hug like he gave Albus.

The second she realizes that she can't smile or say anything remotely interesting, she settles for running.

She distinctly hears Albus saying something about 'Oh, I don't know what's gotten into her, sorry,' and this does nothing to make her feel any better, oddly enough.

She manages to say precisely six words to him over the entire time he stays at her house.

"Could you pass the butter, please?"

He's so surprised that she says anything at all to him that he stares at her for a good minute or so before attempting to pass the butter and dropping it.

They're both beyond humiliated now, thanks for asking.

(She runs into him exactly once throughout her entire second year, and that time it's literal.)

Maybe she's been avoiding him, alright, just maybe. But she most likely hasn't, for to say that she's been avoiding him would mean that the fact that she hasn't run into him recently is intentional, which would also mean that she's been thinking about him a lot more than she'd like to admit- which she hasn't, by the way. She hasn't been thinking about him much at all. Unless, of course, you were to call what she's doing right now thinking about him… and you'd be right, she has undeniably been thinking about him and-

And suddenly she's dropping her bag and quills and parchment, falling to the floor, and not thinking about anything she'd been thinking about before, because finding yourself sprawled across the floor is somehow much more absorbing.

And then she finds herself staring over at the grey eyes of Scorpius Hyperion Malfoy, the very boy she'd been so busy trying incredibly hard not to think of when she tripped.

Oh, the irony.

"You alright there, little Potter?"

"'m fine." She mumbles and within seconds she's scrambling to get all of the stuff off of the floor before-

"What's this?" he asks, holding something up.

"Parchment." She answers, and it's perfectly true. It's a piece of parchment that just so happens to also be part of a story she's in the midst of writing, but why on Earth would he ever possibly need to know that bit of information?

"So you wouldn't mind if I took a look at it then?"

"No, no, no, no, no, no, no, don't, please! It's mine and not yours, so give it here!"

"Ooh look," he says tauntingly. "She speaks! And more than just two word sentences, as well."

"Yeah, she speaks. She also breathes, walks, and will hex you into next week if you don't give back her parchment."

He just looks at her with all of his fourth year superiority and says the worst six word combination he possibly could have at the time.

"I'd like to see you try."

Lily just uses the bat bogey hex her mother had shown her the summer before and takes back her parchment.

Scorpius learns his lesson that day, and he never underestimates her again.

(She successfully avoids him- unintentionally, of course- for the rest of the year. But her third year is full of more than enough encounters with him to more than make up for it.)

He finds her crying something like one month or so into the school year, give or take a week or two, and it's incredibly awkward.

"I can't do it," she sobs in response to his questioning gaze. And, yeah, she's probably being overdramatic- he knows it and she knows it, and it isn't anything new, really, because she's Lily and Lily has always been overdramatic anyway.

"Do what?" he asks in that concerned voice that people always use when they're well… concerned.

"Everything- anything… Transfiguration class…"

"So Transfiguration is life now, is it?"

"It is when you get a 'P' on your first assignment of the year," she mutters, looking down in shame.

"I didn't know you cared so much about your marks. Careful now or we're going to have to start calling you Rose," he jokes, but sobers up when he notices her expression.

"James got an 'O' on his transfiguration O.W.L. believe it or not," she says, as if this clears it all up, which to her it does.

"So?"

"So James is an idiot. I have to do at least as well as him in everything or I'll never be able to live it down…"

Scorpius starts laughing at the seriousness of her tone.

"Tell you what, Little Potter, since I like you a hell of a lot more than I like your eldest brother, I'll help you out."

"Really?" she asks, eyes alight with happiness at the prospect.

"On one condition," and he holds up one finger for emphasis. She's half afraid that he's ashamed of helping her and is going to ask her to keep it a secret or something like that, but the other half of her knows that he won't. And he doesn't. "You have to spend your first Hogsmeade trip with me."

Her eyes widen at his request and she's nodding before she even knows what's happening.

"But only so that you'll help me in Transfiguration," she adds, so as not to sound too eager or anything. Though she sort of thinks that he might have seen through thatparticular guise by now…

….

The day of the Hogsmeade trip she goes on with Scorpius is the first day that Lily ever thought about how Scorpius might have a crush on someone, himself.

They're sitting in the Three Broomsticks talking- with Lily trying to be witty in a futile attempt to maybe impress him a little- when Lily notices, quite clearly, that he isn't paying much attention at all to her. His gaze keeps travelling a few tables over, and it's kind of funny, really, how he keeps staring at someone else, and it's enough to make her heart sink a little…

It's her cousin, Rose- of courseit is. Rose Weasley and all of her wonderful fifth-year perfection, who else would it be? Who else could it be?

Lily bites her lip and looks him over. "You like her, don't you?"

"I-what?" It's as if he wants to not have a clue about who she's talking about, but he looks over at Rose a second later so there's no mistaking it, really… though she has a feeling he'd known who she was talking about from the start anyway.

Because, really, he has no way to hide it, at least not from Lily, because he's looking at Rose in the same way that Lily looks at him and she's done pretending to not know that she likes him.

"You should tell her," Lily says, willing herself to just… not get upset over something like this, right here, right now. Any time but now…

He's a fifth year, she's a third year, he's her brother's best friend and it was never going to work out anyway. He likes her cousin, and she has no right to get upset over anything just because she likes him.

He's not worth it, he's not worth it, he's not worth it (he sort of is, though…)

"But she has a date… and she hates me anyway."

Lily just shakes her head vehemently and pushes him toward her cousin with a shove.

"But I'm here with you," he protests.

"Only because Albus finally got a date with Alice," she says softly, urging him onward.

Hours later she's sort of wishing she'd kept her mouth shut.

…

"I owe you," Scorpius says, coming up and finding her the very next day.

She just looks at him for a second and goes back to her book. "No you don't."

"But me and Rose-"

"I know." The whole school had known within the hour, to be honest. Gossip spread around Hogwarts rather quickly, you see, especially with two hot topics like Scorpius Malfoy and Rose Weasley. "But you're helping me out with Transfiguration class, it's enough."

"No it's not," he objects. "That wasn't supposed to be a part of the deal."

It's times like these that make Lily wonder why in Merlin's name Scorpius was put into Slytherin… he was just too fair for the house. He probably had to beg the sorting hat not to put him in Hufflepuff.

"So show me where the kitchens are and let's get ice cream and we'll call ourselves even."

They go to the kitchens and Scorpius introduces her to the house elves and it's fun.

…

"I'm confused, I haven't a clue what to do," Scorpius mumbles, mussing his hair with his hands and Lily will never admit it aloud, but it's sort of completely adorable. "What am I supposed to say?"

He's talking, of course, about the fifth years and their chats with their head of house on their desired future profession.

"Well, what do you want to do?" she asks, in an attempt at being logical.

"Well, my parents want me to get a nice office job at the Ministry to help them pull the Malfoy name back up the social ladder or whatever, and Rose agrees with the office job, because she thinks it's safe and Albus-"

"That's not what I asked," Lily says, cutting him off. "I asked what youwant to do."

"Well, I've always sort of wanted to be a professional Quidditch player-"

"There you go," Lily says, interrupting him yet again. "Then that's what you want to do."

"But being a Quidditch player is a bit of a risky career, I've been told…"

"So?" Lily asks seriously. "What fun is following your dreams if there aren't any risks involved? And besides, anyone can do almost anything. Just don't take no for an answer, and have a backup plan just in case."

"Well," he says with a bit of genuine curiosity, "what are your dreams?"

"I dream of moving somewhere far away from here and becoming a published writer someday."

And she knows that if she dreams it hard enough it's going to happen eventually, she knows it without a doubt.

"I think you can do it," he says in what she takes (hopes, prays) to be nothing but complete honesty.

And that's when she knows that her crush, or whatever the hell this is, isn't going away anytime soon…

….

Their first kiss is on a Friday. It later becomes a bit of a guilty secret for Lily, though, because Scorpius and Rose are still together at the time…

"Scorpius," she calls, running up to their usual spot for transfigurations tutoring. "Your services are no longer required."

"What do you mean?" he asks, even though it's obvious.

"I did almost perfectly on my exam," she grins, feeling awfully proud of herself.

"That's brilliant! But I knew you could do it the whole time, of course."

Lily giggles a little at that. "Can I tell you a secret, Scorpius?" She asks, and without waiting for him to respond, she pulls his head closer to her and whispers in his ear. "It's 'cause I had such a great teacher, you know."

And then he goes and does something that seems unexpected even when she thinks back on it.

He turns his head a little to the right and leans forward and kisses her.

She's just a bit dazed at the start, she'll admit. She kisses him back for all of two seconds before realizing what she's doing.

For what it's worth, those are easily the best two seconds she's ever had in her life up to that point. The kiss is the best she's ever had (not that that's saying much, though, as it's her first…) and somehow manages to taste perfect and right and amazing and forbidden all in a split instant, before the face of her cousin pops into her mind, reminding her of what exactly she's doing

That's when she pulls away and runs in the opposite direction, half expecting him to call her name and beg her to stay. He doesn't.

She'll admit that she sort of keeps her eyes open for any sign that Scorpius has broken up with Rose to be with her. He never does.

So she just spends her time making sure to never run into him.

It works.

(Until that summer, at any rate.)

"You're avoiding me, Little Potter."

"What gave it away, Malfoy?" She asks coldly. "The fact that you're an arsehole?"

And that's that.

(She gets a second kiss from Scorpius that next year.)

Her second kiss from Scorpius happens at a party in her fourth year and she's half wondering if she's starting to make a habit of kissing him while he's still got a girlfriend. (Especially when it's Rose and she's Lily's cousin and Scorpius is happy.)

She really hopes she isn't, because that's probably just setting both her and Rose up for heartache in the end…

The party's in the Room of Requirement and has people from all four houses attending, it's to celebrate the new school year. It has fire whiskey, lots of drunk Hogwarts students, and a lovely game of Truth or Dare, get the picture yet?

"Lily Potter," a Ravenclaw boy named Matthew Davies says to her with a grin. "Truth or dare?" and Lily's never been one to settle for truth and back out of a dare, thanks. Especially not when she's just a little bit drunk.

"Dare, of course, you know me, Davies."

And later she'll curse herself for not noticing the mischievous look in the boy's eyes and getting out of there fast. But then, everything is obvious in hind sight, and she probably just didn't stand a chance.

"Ah yes, my bad. Lily, I dare you to kiss Scorpius Malfoy." And he adds 'on the lips' a second later, clearly correctly interpreting her desperate search for loopholes.

She glares at Davies in annoyance, bites her lip (because she's neverbeen one to back away from a dare), and looks over at Scorpius, as if asking for permission to do her dare (not that he'd asked her for permission all those months previously.) He, in turn, looks to Rose for permission, like the good boyfriend he is, right?

She rolls her eyes and gestures over to Lily as if to say 'be my guest.'

Lily starts her walk over to Scorpius, which sort of feels like an exile even though it isn't. "I don't like you," is all she says to Matthew Davies as she passes him.

This means nothing, she repeats to herself. It's just a dare. Nothing at all.

And then suddenly she's standing there and they're kissing and even more suddenly he's gone and it's all such a blur and she hasn't got a clue what's happening and, honestly, she blames the Firewhiskey and the fact that she drank just a little too much of it.

And then Matthew Davies has to go and say something about how 'I meant for it to be longer than that.'

"Well, you never specified, now did you?" Lily says coldly, and she slowly marches off with her head held high.

And she's out the door before a single person mentions how she never gave anyone else a dare, running to the left before she remembers that her common room is to the right, and is sobbing before she even notices that there are tears running down her face.

But she doesn't care, alright? Not at all.

(Getting over Scorpius Malfoy doesn't get much easier, and she joins the Quidditch team the next year to try… it doesn't work.)

Her sadness the previous year was kept at a minimum, thankfully. She didn't talk to him, and he didn't talk to her. Of course, he probably didn't even know what she was avoiding him for, really, but it's not like she'd have told him anyway.

She's been branching out recently- not that she didn't have friends already, but she's sort of been neglecting them in order to properly lament the fact that Scorpius isn't hers, and she really ought to stop that.

So what else does she decide to do but join the Gryffindor Quidditch Team. She's always been a bit of a natural at flying, not to mention, she's had training from the best- her parents and brothers. They really do have a family of amazing fliers, don't they?

James and Fred somehow both managed to pass the year before and, thus, graduated, so now there are a beater and chaser opening on the team, and she'll go for chaser like her mum and brothers, thanks.

She isn't the only one trying out, of course. There are at least a dozen girls trying out solely because her cousin, Louis, is the captain and he's a seventh year so it's the last year they have to get close to him and his apparently amazing looks (she likes to blame the fact that he's a part-Veela, it makes her feel better about herself.), and not because they give a damn about Quidditch. But she's the only one that ever stood a chance anyway, and it's not because the captain is her cousin.

Then she remembers something that she hasn't remembered until now- Scorpius is the seeker for the Slytherin team, and it's too late to back out now.

….

For a little while her tactic works. She's busy practicing and working on all of her extra homework and she's almost too busy to think about him in the slightest. It's a really great two months.

Then reality comes crashing back to her tenfold the day of the first match between Gryffindor and Slytherin.

She's out there playing a legitimate Quidditch match for the first time, and the spotlight should be on her and Scorpius, who is the Slytherin seeker, by the way, because that's the way romance stories work, right? But no, of course it isn't, because it's on Scorpius and Rose, like it always is, as the two race to be the first to find the snitch, like they always do.

Lily's not particularly upset about not being the centre of attention- she's not nearly as spoiled as everyone seems to think. Or so she'd like to think, anyway.

It's more that it's Rose and Scorpius, like it always is, and anticipation is building, and why is it always them?

Lily's not the biggest Rose fan at the moment, did she forget to mention that? Then again, she's not the biggest Scorpius fan either, so maybe they deserve each other.

Rose catches the snitch before Scorpius even spots it, in the end. Lily supposes he's dazed by the flash of red of Rose's hair whipping around and doesn't even notice anything. But then, Lily's always been overdramatic.

Gryffindor wins, hooray.

There's an after party as well, but it's not very significant.

Drinking, celebrating, and lots of public displays of affection. That's all Lily really remembers about it.

That's all she cares to.

(He graduates this year, and he's still going out with Rose. Such a shame.)

Lily's sort of disappointed in life, and there are multiple reasons.

Reason One: She'll be a sixth year soon, and she still hasn't had a boyfriend. She supposes she's to blame for that one, really. After all, it's not like she's been lacking in people asking her out, really. It's more that she can't imagine herself being happy with them as long as there are people like Scorpius Hyperion Malfoy in the world.

She's probably going to end up alone, old, and with 25 cats to keep her company.

She's always hated cats.

Reason Two: Her brother and Scorpius Malfoy are graduating today.

It's a shame, really.

She's always liked her brother. (Albus, that is. If you asked she'd probably deny ever saying a kind word about James, even though she probably has before… well, maybe, she'll get back to you on that one.)

Reason Three: Scorpius and Rose are still going out.

There's a long story involved as far as why she cares about this, and she's come to the conclusion that this… what would you call it? An infatuation? Just isn't going away. She'd say it's love, but she sort of hopes it isn't. And besides, what fun is unrequited love? So she'll just call it an infatuation for now.

Basically, after several more insignificant encounters in life, Lily's breath still won't stop catching in her throat every time she sees his horrible (beautiful) face or hears his annoying (wonderful) voice. And it's incredibly annoying, by the way. Oh, that and Rose and Scorpius will celebrate their three year dating anniversary in about four months. Fun times.

Lily's lips turn down at the corners of her mouth. It's incredibly hard to fake being happy, you know. Especially when you're hearing names called of people you've gone to Hogwarts with for the past five years and are suddenly feeling quite nostalgic.

"Malfoy, Scorpius!" His name is called and she imagines it's exactly like when he was sorted, as he walks up on the stage in front of everyone. All of the students have gotten used to his presence by now, but she can't help but notice the sharp intake of breath coming from some of the parents, as if they couldn't imagine the school board allowing a Malfoy of all people in.

"Potter, Albus!" Is called a few minutes later, and Lily smiles proudly as none other than her brother walks onto the stage. He's confident and him and Lily's never felt more proud of him, if she's honest.

"Weasley, Rose!" Is the second to last name to be called, and Lily will swear for the rest of eternity that in that moment, every head out there was turned in the direction of the stage, and cheers rang out. Because this is Rose, Miss Perfect- Top-Of-The-Class, and everything. She's so graceful up there that she's practically dancing and Lily has to shield her eyes from the metaphorical light radiating from her.

Lily's never hated her more than she does in this moment.

Then again, the whole situation could be exaggerated in Lily's mind becauseof said hateful emotions, but somehow, Lily doesn't think so.

The worst part doesn't even happen during the actual Graduation Ceremony, but shortly after, when everyone is busy congratulating everyone else.

"Hey Little Potter," comes the voice of Scorpius Malfoy, who Lily has skillfully been avoiding and (sort of) not thinking about. "Do I get a goodbye? You won't be seeing me anymore, you know."

She knows. She's been counting down the days. Avoiding people and not thinking about them is a conscious effort, you know. It takes a ton of energy, and Lily's sort of looking forward to the day she doesn't have to waste it anymore.

"How about a hug?" he asks.

"How about no."

She starts to walk away then, but doesn't get very far. Scorpius, interfering idiot that he is, just hasto go and stop her, doesn't he? Don't answer that question, it's rhetorical.

"You've been avoiding me lately, haven't you?" She doesn't answer that question, partially because she doesn't feel like lying today and how do you really say 'yes, I'm avoiding you?', but mostly because it's obvious.

"Just answer the damn question," he says, still holding her shoulder- not that he needs to, of course, she's rooted to the spot.

"Yes," she says slowly, testing the words on her lips. Honesty is a new policy, apparently. "Yes I'm avoiding you, alright? And you want to know why? It's because I fucking l- like you and you're too busy making eyes at my dear cousin Rose to even notice!"

And he's left dumbstruck as she storms away from him and, okay, maybe that could have gone better, but she's still rather pleased with herself for actually striking up the courage to say all that.

It's like a bag of bricks or something equally heavy has risen from her shoulders allowing her to (almost) live her life.

(Life does seem a lot better when he's not around, somehow.)

He's nothing. Nothing of significance, anyway. Her next two years can only be counted in the nights she stays out late, the boys that she snogs, and the bottles of firewhiskey she downs.

It's a routine she started one night when she was feeling lonely and Hugo wasn't quite cutting it anymore.

She'll drink every single time she's feeling almost anything at all, and it's a lovely feeling.

Especially when she receives a letter from him one day, because that's just perfect, isn't it? Right when she's supposed to be forgetting him, too.

It's something about how he's been given a spot on an actual Quidditch Team and 'thanks so much for helping me to realize and achieve my dreams.' He sounds so fake that she almost laughs. But then she doesn't.

And I know you'll be an amazing writer, Little Potter. I can't wait until I'm seeing a book with your name on it on the bestseller list.

She can hardly believe that he remembers something so trivial about her from their heart to heart- or whatever it was- back in her third year. In fact, she vaguely remembers the 'once upon a times' that writing brought her. She can sort of remember that feeling of silence, where she can just hear her quill scratching upon her parchment, writing in the dead of night, worlds coming alive at her very whim- all of it.

Just so you know, in case you've never tried it before, writing is one of the best feelings in the world. Not that Lily would know anymore, of course, Lily gave it up ages ago, never mind the reason.

So she starts writing again.

She writes about anything, everything, him.

Especially him.

He and Rose break up at some point along the way, not that that makes her feel much better. She's supposed to be mad at him, after all, family loyalty and all that. And it's not like she's any closer to going out with him anyway.

So she waits, writes, pines, and eventually comes to a decision.

(Graduation night is the last night anyone sees Lily Luna Potter, for another while, at least.)

Part II: Scorpius Malfoy

One of the few memories that are permanently ingrained into his mind is where he was and what was happening the night that he found out that Lily Luna Potter was missing.

He says missing because he doesn't believe what everyone else says. That she was kidnapped or killed herself or died or any of the above.

There are a number of logical reasons that he can come up with to back up this thought. For one, that just isn't Lily Luna Potter's way, and for another, there was the letter.

He doesn't know precisely why he was the one that got the letter, as opposed to anyone else. All he knows is what it says.

Wherever I am, just know that I'm writing.

But, for reasons that even he doesn't know, he chooses not to tell anyone of this. It gives him hope, and he's pretty sure he isn't supposed to tell anyone else either…

He's at the Potters when he finds out, actually. Of all the places to be…. And it's Rose that comes with the information, of all the people to come…

He doesn't think much about it when there's a knock at the door. It's not until he hears the all too familiar voice telling the horrible news.

"Aunt Ginny, Uncle Harry, did Lily ever show up here?" Asks Rose Weasley, concernedly. It's the night of her graduation, and she'd asked to stay at Hogwarts a little after everyone else to say goodbye. "She was supposed to come straight to my house, but she didn't, so I thought, maybe…"

And as they shake their heads nervously, like Scorpius knew they would, he feels his heart sinking.

Where could she be?

That night, Ginevra Weasley-Potter and Harry James Potter start up a search party for the daughter that they don't want to lose. The next day, they fill in a report, because they can't find said missing daughter.

All the while, Scorpius Malfoy is far more worried than he ought to be, considering it's not like he likes her or ever really felt much of anything for her, right?

It's that same night that he finds a letter in his room, and promises never to tell anyone about it, without really knowing what made him say that.

Maybe she's cursed the letter somehow, but most likely she hasn't…

(He starts looking for her. For any signs that she's made it big.)

His Quidditch mates think it's just the oddest thing. Why would Scorpius Malfoy- their new seeker- waste his time with Muggle literary magezines? Albus thinks it's weird too, come to think of it, but he doesn't mention it much. He hasn't really said too much since his little sister went missing a bit over a year ago.

Really, he's just decided to start out slow. It's not like he expects her to become a published author in a year, anyway. He doesn't know much about publishing, but he's pretty sure that that would be fast for the publishing process. Not that he doubts Lily could do it if she really tried, or anything.

He's a bit frantic as he sees name after name of short stories and poems in the literary magazine. It's a famous one, sure, but what made him think that she'd try to get a story in that particular one, anyway? But even so, he keeps blinding himself with names that could be- must be- an alias for Lily's name. Because she has to be in there and he has to find her, it's the way these things work, isn't it?

He doesn't know much about Muggle movies, but he has a good idea of how it's supposed to be sometimes. How the world would be if it didn't hate him.

(Sometimes things happen when you least expect them.)

Tuesday, June 24th marks a year and four days since Lily had gone missing. Not that he's been counting, of course.

It's also the day that hope arrives, disguised in the form of one Rose Weasley, who he hasn't been so happy to see since the break up.

Not that he's happy at first, of course.

"What do you want, Weasley?" he drawls the second he sees her, ignoring the catcalls and whistles of his teammates. Sometimes he forgets how beautiful she really is.

"I've slept with you, arsehole, I think we've reached the point in life where you can call me Rose," she says with a roll of her eyes. A few of the boys chuckle lightly at that, one more than the rest of them, and when Scorpius looks at him, raising his eyebrows, he just reddens and turns away.

"Any particular reason you're here, Rose?" He asks casually.

"Yes, actually," she says, "It's about Lily." And with one cold glance around at all of his teammates, they've all scattered, knowing that this was a touchy subject for him.

"What about her?"

"I know where she is."

And that's all she has to say to get his heart thumping in his chest and his complete attention on her.

"You're lying," he says, because trust isn't his best virtue, and Rose Weasley is plenty manipulative.

"I'm not," she says, smiling sadly. "I've just found out recently. In a letter. She wants me to tell you that you're an arse, by the way."

He stares at her in disbelief, because why would Lily tell Rose Weasley, of all people?

As if reading his mind, Rose answers the question. "It's sort of funny, how stupid men are," she smirks. "Not really stupid, but you're all obsessed with saving the day, the lot of you. You underestimate other types of magic, and think that it always bloody has to be you who saves the day, rescues the girl, does all the hard work, everything-"

"If you're done insulting the entirety of the male sex…?"

"I'm not, I'm stating facts. If it isn't true, please tell me why on Earth the Aurors out there searching for her didn't think to write a letter to her and tell an owl to deliver it? They can find anyone, you know. Unless a charm's been put on the place to make it unplottable, and even then, unless it's strong enough," Rose says triumphantly.

That's the second that Scorpius Hyperion Malfoy finally realizes that he's an idiot.

"I've been talking to her through letters," Rose adds in.

"What did she say?" he asks eagerly, hoping for maybe a sign, a message that she's been thinking of him, and that she wants him to come and see her.

"Mostly that you're an arse. But that you're also an arse that she'd like to see again, but only on her terms. So, basically, she's sent me a clue to give you, and you have to find her. If you don't want to, you don't have to," Rose raises her eyebrows at him, waiting for his response.

He just holds out his hand.

"It's a book," she adds softly. "A really good book, Lily's an amazing writer, and I wish I'd known it sooner… apparently she finished this one in seventh year, and went to America, hoping to get it published."

Rose sounds proud and in awe, and Scorpius takes a minute to take it all in. Lily Potter- his Lily, Little Potter- is a published writer now? So soon?

He takes the book from her hand as she holds it out, and inspects the cover. Funnily enough, instead of it saying 'written by Lily Potter' it says 'Written by Little Potter,' and he can't help but feel proud.

"Why are you doing this anyway, Rose?" Scorpius asks. "For me? For her?"

Rose smiles slightly, as if she's been waiting for him to ask that. "Let's just say that after so long of unintentionally making things hard for her, I've finally decided to make things right. She loves you, you know, so now it's your turn."

She walks off the pitch after that, with a wave. But not at him, he notices. At Matthew Davies, the boy who'd turned red before. He's quick to hurry after her, and Scorpius can't help but smirk.

Rose deserves someone nice, he knows, so there's another thing made right. She deserves happiness.

(Next thing he knows, he's reading the book.)

He sits down that very afternoon, the second Quidditch practice is over, and just reads the book. It's not something he'd typically have read, but this is Lily it's written by, and the familiarity of the way she writes practically suffocates him.

It's a magic book, but it's fiction. Fantasy, is what those Muggle writers would call it, unaware of how close their fantasies and dreams actually were to them. Literally.

Lily's book is fantasy, with actual truths thrown in here and there in such a way that no Muggle in their right mind would actually believe them. It's beautifully written too, despite being a bit of a romance that he'd never be caught dead reading under normal circumstances. But these aren't normal circumstances, because this is Lily, his Lily.

It's when he gets to the last page of the book that he finds a note in there, written in Rose's hand, obviously meant for him to find it.

New York City.

New York City, New York City, New York City, the words replay in his mind as he wonders what they might mean. It's only when he looks it up and realizes that it's a city in America that he knows it's a clue. He makes a mental note to thank Rose, sends in a request for long distance apparition, and the second it's cleared he's on his way.

(It's only when he gets there that he realizes it isn't much of a clue.)

It's midday there, and it's loud. There are machines- what do you call them? Cars, right?- in the street, honking loudly at every… stop light? There are buildings all around him that seem to reach the skies, and there are people nearby that wouldn't stop to help them for the world. All they do is push past him rudely and talk amongst themselves. Never before has he seen a place so fast, so busy.

His plan had seemed simple when he was making it, now it seemed to verge on impossibility.

He'd planned to ask around and find out where she lived, because someone had to know, right? But now he isn't sure anyone would, and if they did, he wouldn't know who to ask, or even how to ask them.

He sighs and sits down on a (thankfully empty) bench, and watches the world pass him by as he thinks of his next step.

(Time for Plan B)

He takes out the book and examines it further, looking all over it for clues. That's when he sees the Publisher on there, and vaguely recognizes the company building as one of the places he'd seen as he walked past it before.

He takes a second to calculate, and then he begins to run, he's pushing past people and isn't caring in the slightest, even as they yell at him. He's young and in love and doesn't care.

There's a reception desk when he pushes open the door, and he thinks that that might be the best place to start, since he doesn't really know what else to do. So he stands at the back of the line and waits impatiently as it slowly goes forwards.

"Next!" the lady standing at the desk finally calls, and he realizes with relish that he's the next person. He sends her his most charming smile and puts in a simple request as he takes out the book Lily wrote for unnecessary proof.

"My friend, Lily," he begins, suddenly unsure about what he's going to say. "She wrote this book under the name of 'Little Potter', and I was just wondering if you could give me her address-"

"We're not permitted to give out the address of our writers, I'm sorry Sir, maybe she has a website you can look at," the lady says, but she doesn't sound sorry at all.

"No, please, Ma'am… She ran away from home, and her family misses her, and I miss her and I just need-"

She stops to interrupt again. "I'm sorry sir-"

"Look," he says desperately, "my name is Scorpius Malfoy and I just want-"

"Sir, your name doesn't change a thing. I'm still not permitted to give you her address, I'm sorry." And the lady calls 'Next!' right after that in such a way that he knows that any and all arguments against it would be futile.

He sighs and steps out of the way, suddenly realizing how helpless his situation actually is.

"Your name is Scorpius Malfoy, you say?" A man asks. He's wearing a suit and tie, and he gives off the warmest air of anyone Scorpius has seen so far.

He just nods, unsure of what else to do.

"Miss Potter told me to give you this, on the off chance that you came here. I told her that I doubted you would, of all the people in New York City to show up, but she seems to be right," he smiles at him and hands over a letter, and Scorpius feels a sudden rush of appreciation for this random old man, which is actually really strange for him.

"Thank you sir," he mumbles, but the man's already going, going, gone.

Scorpius unfolds the note, not caring about all of the people that were being forced to walk around and push past him.

Meet me at the South side of Central Park at 2:30 PM.

He looks over to the clock on the wall opposite him, seeing that it's 1:45 right then, and rushing to get to their meeting spot. She'll see him, he knows. He'll see her. And then he can bring her back home, with him, where she belongs.

He doesn't know when he stopped hiding to himself the fact that he's in love with her, but he has, and he is.

And with that thought he runs off to find her, the girl of his dreams, or something clichéd like that.

(She's still beautiful.)

He gets there a minute or two late, he knows. He doesn't know this because he actually knows it, of course, he knows it because the second he arrives and they do this whole clichéd looking-into-each-other's-eyes thing, she looks down at her watch and tells him so.

"You're late," she mumbles, but she's smiling and happy so it doesn't really faze him.

"Sorry," he says with a shrug. He's new here, and she's incredibly lucky that he'd been on the South side already, or else he'd have never managed to show up at all.

He'd looked all over for it, when finally gathering the courage to ask for directions. The woman he asked gave him a look that clearly said 'are you stupid, or something?' and had pointed the way for him, saying it was just across the street.

That's when he'd crossed, and, as fate was feeling kind today, she'd been on one of the first benches he'd seen.

"You came," she says, a smile playing at the edges of her lips and gradually getting wider and wider. "You actually came…"

"I did," he says, and he's too happy to so much as smirk, and too tired to do anything but collapse on the bench beside her, as the events of the day come crashing back on him.

They sit in an awkward silence of the 'we haven't seen each other in a year' sort, and neither of them know what to say for a minute or two until Scorpius breaks it.

"Why'd you run away?" he asks, in a voice that would be casual if this didn't actually matter so much.

"Why'd you come looking for me?" she asks back, and he doesn't fail to notice that she doesn't answer his question.

"Because I love you," he says, without a second's hesitation.

"Same reason."

He doesn't hesitate at all for this either, he notices, as the second she says that he pull her closer and kisses her. It's a picture perfect moment, he knows.

"Come back to England with me," he gasps, the second they pull apart.

"Why don't you live here in New York with me?" she asks mischievously, as thought that was even a possibility. (It wasn't.)

"You've got family up in England, and friends, and I've got a job-" he begins, but she silences him by pulling out a suitcase that he hadn't noticed under the bench, because he'd been too busy noticing her. She later tells him that she only had it there just in case something like this happened, but for now the suitcase seems like too much of a miracle for Scorpius to question it.

"Are we going or not?" Lily asks, and Scorpius just smiles and apparatus them back to the Burrow.

"Gran?" Lily calls, suitcase in hand as she walks through the door of the magically disfigured house. "Grandad?"

(Weasley Family Dinner)

There were many things that hadn't crossed either of their minds as they walked into the Burrow. For one, they hadn't thought to give any warning to anyone there. Nor did they think to give any notice to their disheveled appearance, particularly Scorpius, who had been running around New York all day.

But the biggest mistake of all was not giving any notice to the date. It's a Sunday, and as such, it's a Weasley family get-together. Meaning that everyone's there.

There's a stunned silence as Lily Luna Potter, of all people, walks into the room. Scorpius trails behind her, feeling distinctly proud that he's the one to bring her back.

As suddenly as Scorpius and Lily walked in, the Weasleys, Potters, and Scamanders are all jumping up and running to welcome her back with literally open arms.

"How'd you do it, mate?" Albus asks him an hour later, when he's done soaking in the fact that Lily's finally back and is actually smiling again.

"I love her," is all Scorpius says in response, which is sort of funny, because this is Albus, his best mate. This is Albus, Lily's brother, or all people that he's telling that to, and it doesn't actually answer Albus's question, but it may as well.

"I know," he says, a grin breaking out. "And she loves you too, I can see it. It's something in the way you look at each other. I've known it for years, it's about time that you do too, isn't it?"

He twists around to stare at Albus. "What?" he asks in disbelief. "I haven't loved her for years. I-" But Albus just raises his eyebrows in a knowing way, and sort of make Scorpius doubt himself. Of course he does.

"I'll just warn you now, though," Albus says, "You hurt her, and I'll completely ignore the fact that we're best mates and kick your sorry arse. And I'll get James to help me, too."

Scorpius pales a little at the mention of Lily's oldest brother who, come to think of it, is standing just a few feet away, as if he's waiting for his turn to talk to him.

"Thanks," the boy says grudgingly to Scorpius. "For bringing Lily back. I don't know how you did it, but it worked." Scorpius nods, and the boy moves on without looking back.

Ginny and Harry- Mr. and Mrs. Potter- come up next, smiling grandly, both of them hugging him. "Thank you, Scorpius," they both say, and he smiles and nods at them.

Even Ronald Weasley, who hasn't said a nice word about him since Scorpius and Rose's breakup, is found to be thanking him for getting Lily back or 'saving the day' or whatever.

Lily's next, running up and sitting beside him, a grin never leaving her face.

"You missed everyone, didn't you?" he asks her, nudging her a little.

"More than you know," she says seriously. And before he can ask why she didn't just come back, or ask anything, really, she's snuggling up against him, her head on his shoulder.

"Is it a good time to announce to them all that we're dating?" he asks her in a whisper, looking around at everyone, and she just giggles.

"I think they already know."

And they do.

Part III: Rose

Rose isn't, by nature, a happy person. So it's not like she skips out when she leaves the Burrow. She walks out naturally, and it looks almost like she isn't happy when she leaves.

It's funny really, because she is happy that Lily got back. But she's also a little jealous, because she did just as much for getting the girl back, but Scorpius gets all of the credit. Where's the justice in that?

She's supposed to just accept it though, she knows, because Scorpius and Lily are in love and all that.

She's so busy thinking about all of this, that she almost doesn't notice it when someone sits down next to her.

It's Matthew Davies, looking gorgeous, as per usual.

"Hey Rose, there's something I've been meaning to ask you," he stammers nervously. She can't help but laugh at him a little, and feels guilty by the look on his face.

"Go on?" she urges.

"Will you, perhaps, accompany me to dinner tomorrow evening?"

"Like on a date?" she asks, childishly playing with a blade of grass below her.

"Exactly like on a date," he says, finally sounding confident.

She lies back on the grass, looking up at the clouds, pretending to be deep in thought about it. But when she answers, she answers with a certainty that she wouldn't have had if she'd really just been thinking about it.

"I'd love to."

Part IV: Lily Luna (again)

"Is Rose okay?" Lily asks, as the girl walks out of the Burrow. Scorpius doesn't answer, but instead just gets up to go out too, Lily with him.

They sneak out, everyone else smiling too much and laughing too hard to notice. That's when they see Rose accompanied by a boy, Matthew Davies, who had been invited (probably by Rose, herself) to the Weasley Dinner this time.

"Hey, isn't he the idiot that dared me to kiss you years and years ago?" Lily asks Scorpius with a smirk, reddening slightly at the fact that she still remembers that.

"I think so," says Scorpius, struggling to remember.

Lily just smiles for Rose. Matthew was a nice boy, after all. And Rose deserved someone nice after all she'd done for them.

"Hey Rose, are you two going out or something?" she asks, unable to stop herself from running up to the pair. She could hear Scorpius's heavy and dramatic sigh from feet in front of him.

"Well, we have a date tomorrow evening, if that counts?" she asks, amused.

"It does," Lily says with a nod.

"Then… yes?" Rose asks, and Lily giggles at her unsure answer.

She pulls Rose into a hug. "I just wanted to say thank you."

"It's fine, it's fine," the girl says, squirming out of the hug. Then, with a mischievous smirk on her face, she adds "I get to be Maid of Honour at the wedding, yeah?"

Matthew and Scorpius just nod awkwardly at each other, as Lily blushes and Rose starts laughing.

It's a nice, happy ending for everyone, after all.

(Epilogue)

It's been six months since they've started dating, and Lily has never had a happier six months in her life. Not when she was first starting Hogwarts, not when she graduated, and certainly not when she was living off on her own in New York City, as much as she loves the place.

"You want to go on a picnic?" Scorpius asks her that day, and she nods eagerly. Picnics are fun, after all. "Well, we're going somewhere special, alright? I already sent in a request and everything." She laughs a little, unsure of where they're going, as Scorpius grips her hand tightly and apparatus them somewhere.

She can barely believe it when she finds herself in a secluded corner of Central Park, of all places.

Scorpius leads her down one of the streets in there, and they find themselves in a beautiful spot near a lake. They're on a bunch of large rocks, looking down at water on one side, and a playground on the other, and the sound of children laughing around them is so much better than silence.

"I love you, you know," he says, as he pulls food out of the picnic basket and cues for her to dig in. It's a lovely place for a picnic, she thinks, biting into her food.

And it's only when they finish eating that she notices the nervous, but concentrated, look on his face and she wonders what he could possibly be thinking about.

"You okay?" she asks him, sending him a comforting smile.

"No," he says honestly, paling. "I'm about to do one of the scariest things in my life."

"What are you-" she begins, but at that second he pulls out a velvet box and all of a sudden she understands.

"Lily Luna Potter," he breathes, getting on one knee. "I love you more than I've ever loved anyone, and I always will, and I got permission from your parents first, of course, so I was just wondering… will you marry me?"

She laughs softly at his babbling, and smiles at him. "Yes," she cries in response. "Yes, I'll marry you!"

And then he's pulling out the engagement ring and putting it on her finger and she's collapsing in his arms, her heart racing and her mind singing, wondering what the hell she ever did to deserve this, to deserve him.

She wraps her arms around his neck, pulling him closer, and kisses him.

"Oh," she says, a second later. "I need to talk to Rose!"

"Why?" he asks, disgruntled at how quickly she pulled away.

"Well, we're, we're getting married, aren't we?" she asks, a joyous giggle threatening to escape her at just the thought of that. "And Rose is going to be our Maid of Honour, isn't she?"

"Yes," Scorpius rolls his eyes at that. "But can't it wait? You're completely ruining a moment, here, Little Potter."

She looks up at the sky, where they sun is shining brightly, and grins at the thought that even the sun is celebrating with her right now, and she just laughs, fully happy and content with the minute, and a second later, Scorpius is joining in, and Lily's never been happier.