Playlist Ch. 18: ‘Nothing Better’ by The Postal Service

Chapter Eighteen: Healing Spells

Lily pushed both Scorpius and herself into the nearest deserted classroom, eliciting a wounded groan from his bloodied and parted lips as he leaned heavily against the dusty chalkboard, hardly able to hold himself up. He felt his vision spinning and distorting, the smell of his own blood enough to make himself sick. Her small hands reached up to support him as he began to sink to the floor, helping him make it there without his body crashing to the stone beneath.

She helped force him into a makeshift sitting position, cursing him under her breath as tears continued to slide down her cheeks.

“Lils…” he muttered.

“Oh, shut up, you bloody moron,” she miserably admonished, tentatively reaching up to cup the back of his skull, his blood soaking her fingertips. The wet substance was enough to make her gasp aloud, wanting to jerk her hand back from him but she held still, terribly afraid she’d hurt him if she moved too quickly or unexpectedly.

He coughed then, having to turn away from her just enough to spit out a mouthful of blood, the red staining the stone floor beneath them, enveloped by bits of dust and dirt. Scorpius looked upon the mess with distaste; he could still feel the hot blood drying against his chin. A single glance at Lily’s appearance told him he was a scary sight.

Forcing himself to focus past the spinning room and rush of noise still roaring in his ears, Scorpius focused his attention on Lily, taking in the sight of her tear-stained cheeks and the erratic movement of her chest, only now evening itself out as she finally was able to calm down and breathe again.

“Sorry,” he mumbled thickly, past the blood still in his mouth.

Lily grimaced at the sight of it, averting her gaze and squeezing her eyes tightly shut. When she opened them, she saw that Scorpius was staring miserably back at her, his grey eyes bright with a sheen of unshed tears. “I’m sorry,” he murmured again, blood seeping down from the corner of his lip.

Sniffling, Lily nodded and reached up with her fingers wound tightly about the cuff of her robe’s sleeve, using the fabric to help staunch the blood’s progress.

Scorpius winced at the contact, turning away when his head throbbed and he groaned in pain.

“I didn’t press down that hard,” Lily cried worriedly.

“That’s not the only place your damn brother punched me, Lils,” Scorpius answered back with a grimace.

She bit her lip in response, tears filling her vision. “I don’t know any healing spells…” she admitted embarrassedly.

“You wouldn’t,” he breathed. “Not till sixth year.”

“But someone needs to…”

“I will.”

Both Lily and Scorpius looked up to see Rose standing in the doorway, pulling it closed behind her with a barely audible click.

“Boy, am I glad to see you,” Scorpius breathed, smiling toothily past the blood in his mouth. “Thought Potter was going to break my skull.”

Rose appeared unimpressed. Albus practically did break his skull if the sickening crunch had anything to say about it. “You’re a bloody fool, Scorp, literally,” she added with a distasteful look at his torn robes, stained with as much blood as his face.

Lily chuckled under her breath at that, reaching up to swipe at her red-rimmed eyes. When she finally raised her gaze up to her cousin’s, her face crumpled for a moment and Rose immediately knelt to embrace the girl, her arms curling tightly around her.

“I’m so sorry, Lily,” she whispered.

Lily tried to say the same but could only nod, her throat choked with tears.

Scorpius watched the whole exchange behind heavily hooded eyes. “I’m sorry to interrupt you both,” he muttered truthfully, staring apologetically at his girlfriend in particular. “But the room is still spinning and I’m feeling sick.”

Rose immediately released Lily and moved towards Scorpius, instructing Lily to let him lean forward against her so that she could reach the base of his skull, where blood was still congealing in his pale blond hair.

Whispering incantations almost musically, Rose traced her wand over what was Scorpius’ worst injury, sharply commanding him not to close his eyes as he leaned against the slope of Lily’s shoulder.

Scorpius simply breathed in and out, trying to concentrate only on Lily’s fingers lightly stroking his hair, her petal-soft lips pressing a gentle kiss to his bruised cheek.

Rose saw the exchange out of the corner of her eye, but let it go. It would be difficult, but she would just have to get over Scorpius. It was obvious that he and Lily loved each other far more than she had ever been willing to dream of, not to mention risk. She still couldn’t help feeling a sharp pang of loss, though, as she watched Scorpius nuzzle his cheek against Lily’s, whispering something low in her ear.

Lily chuckled softly. “What?”

Scorpius repeated himself and Lily shook her head again, turning her attention to Rose.

“Rose, can you do something about his lip? I can’t understand a word he’s saying,” she admitted ruefully.

Rose rolled her eyes and gave her wand an almost careless flick, both vanishing the blood in and around Scorpius’ mouth and healing the cut. Scorpius nodded gratefully towards her and then leaned back into Lily’s embrace.

“Where’s the letter?” he asked almost too quietly.

Lily stiffened, sucking in a sharp breath. Rose tried to pay them no attention but couldn’t help herself, still mending the base of Scorpius’ skull as she watched them converse in careful whispers.

“I… I might have lost it…” Lily admitted carefully, looking terribly afraid.

Rose watched as Scorpius groaned softly, burying his face in the curve of Lily’s neck. Lily bit down on her lower lip as she reached up to hold him there, whispering against his hair.

“What are we going to do?”

“I’ll find it somehow. I’ll curse the damn thing, burn it to cinders…”

“But… what about… what it said?” Lily whispered.

Scorpius shrugged listlessly, at a complete and total loss.

“I dunno,” he finally admitted in a gruff voice.

“What letter?” Rose found herself asking, not realizing she’d spoken aloud until two pairs of eyes flitted upwards towards hers, more sad than fearful.

Lily swallowed thickly, a single glance at Scorpius telling her that he wouldn’t be the one answering Rose.

Rose waited with bated breath as Lily wet her lips, sighing quietly.

“Scorpius got a letter from his father’s secretary. She was in Slytherin last year and… she saw my mum with his dad, this morning…”

Rose sucked in a breath, staring from Scorpius to Lily and back, the shocked expression never leaving her face. “S-saw them what?” she asked breathlessly.

“Saw them barricading themselves in his office,” Scorpius answered back listlessly, his voice tinged with bitterness. “She saw them warmly greet each other and then lock themselves behind his door only an hour ago.”

“But, but they c-can’t have…” Rose broke off. “But your mum’s married,” she cried.

“So is my father,” Scorpius spat. “Doesn’t seem to bloody stop her, does it?”

Lily stiffened for a moment and Scorpius immediately tensed, sensing that she was on the verge of tears. He straightened up for a moment, leaning his forehead heavily against hers. “I’m sorry,” he whispered, his lips grazing over her skin. Lily closed her eyes, biting down on her lower lip and trying not to cry, nodding faintly as her facial features crumpled. Her fingers tightened instinctively around him and Scorpius apologized again, holding her tightly.

Rose watched all this with a growing feeling of wariness, trying to put the pieces together. “But Lily, you can’t really think that this is true…”

Scorpius shot her a venomous look, though Rose didn’t miss the way Lily’s eyes had widened, hoping if just for that instant.

“What more evidence would you like, Rose?” Scorpius spat. “A publicly-witnessed kiss? That seems to get the point across, don’t you think?”

Rose shrank back, wanting to cry when Lily unexpectedly cut in to defend her, venomously turning on Scorpius. “Don’t you dare, Scorpius!” she breathed, her green eyes fierce. She was so furious that she seemed to be shaking, trembling even as tears streaked down her cheeks.

Scorpius immediately felt sick as Lily pushed herself to her feet, robbing him of the perch she’d provided. He suddenly felt cold, watching her slip out of the room without a backward glance.

The door shut behind her and he felt dizzy again, blinking rapidly. He turned helplessly to Rose, muttering a faint apology.

Rose didn’t react except to take in the bloodied state of him. She patiently raised her wand to siphon off the last of his bloodstains, quietly telling him to go after Lily.

“Are you sure?”

She only nodded, staring downward. “Don’t be thick enough to leave everything in this mess any longer, Scorp. It’s been a long two days,” she sighed.

He nodded back, carefully pushing himself to his feet. Hesitating for a moment, he finally offered Rose his hand, helping her to her own feet, though she at once dropped his hand, letting hers fall to her side.

She felt Scorpius’ grey eyes boring into her and finally raised her eyes to meet his, feeling sick and unable to speak. She struggled for a moment and finally said, “Go after her, Scorpius.”

He stared at her a moment longer. “Thank you,” he finally whispered. He leaned forward and brushed a grateful kiss against her cheek, pulling back quickly so she couldn’t misconstrue it as anything else.

“I am sorry,” he whispered.

Rose smiled faintly. “Just go and get her.”

He nodded, turning and exiting through the same door as Lily, leaving Rose alone with her thoughts.

*

When he finally found her, Scorpius saw that Lily was curled up in a ball at the foot of the stairs to the sixth floor, as if she hadn’t been able to decide between going to her dorm or Rose’s. She had somehow fallen asleep there, her face etched in a permanent frown even in sleep. The tear-stains on her face were enough to make Scorpius’ heart climb in his throat, consuming him with guilt.

Kneeling to slowly shake her awake, Scorpius waited until her tired eyes finally fluttered open, looking even more exhausted upon seeing him there.

“What do you want?” she asked thickly.

“I wanted to say I’m sorry,” he murmured, grey eyes sincere. “And I apologized to Rose.”

She breathed in and exhaled, saying nothing for a moment. “Anything else you wanted?”

“Just one more question,” he promised.

“What?” she sighed.

“Is it too much to ask your permission to take you to your dorm, or if you’re feeling generous, to mine?”

Lily breathed a sigh, staring past heavily hooded eyes up at him. “I’m too tired to have a preference,” she said, forgiving him and just wanting to curl up and sleep, forgetting the past two days had ever happened though she knew she’d never be able to forget the note, the note Scorpius had hopefully found and destroyed. When she asked him if that was the case, he nodded, causing any lasting vestiges of anger she’d had towards the Slytherin boy to all but disappear.

“Then get me out of here,” she finally sighed, her heavy eyelids fluttering with exhaustion. Scorpius smiled softly down at her, curling his arms around her to help lift her up from the floor. Rose may have healed him, but he was hardly in any state to carry Lily’s weight completely. He merely helped support her against himself, the two of them making their slow yet steady way down the series of staircases until they finally reached the dungeons and the Slytherin common room. It was only a short time after noon and the fight that had broken out in the Entrance Hall, and no one was left hanging about the Slytherin common room. Scorpius wasn’t entirely sure that he would have cared, after everything else that had happened. Instead, he tugged Lily down the stairs to his dormitory, helping her between the covers of his four-poster bed for the second time in two days, pulling the emerald curtains closed around them and nestling in beside her for a much needed nap.

Almost immediately, he noticed the change in Lily’s breathing. She had fallen asleep the moment her cheek had come to rest against his pillow. Watching the steady rise and fall of her chest, in and out, Scorpius let his tired eyes travel over her, again noticing the blue and bronze trim of the sweater she was wearing. She hadn't even bothered to loosen her matching tie. Loosening and removing it for the sleeping girl, Scorpius pressed a lingering kiss to her temple, whispering a soft goodnight before he finally let himself fall asleep beside her, grateful for the heavy curtains that enclosed them in darkness and ignorance from what was to come.

Right before he fell asleep, he thought of Rose and sent up a prayer of thanks for having her friendship restored, for Lily’s sake as much as his. He might not have come out of that fight if it hadn’t been for her. He might not have met Lily if it hadn’t been for her…

As his conscious thoughts began to sink into oblivion, Scorpius wondered if she would be willing to do one more thing he could be grateful to her for, if she could help him convince Lily to try and run away with him, escaping the destruction of each of their families before it could occur. He thought of the crumpled letter he’d sought out before finding her, now nestled in the pocket of his robes and he wondered just where he and Lily could go that their parents’ past may never find them.

Author notes: *Contented sigh* It has been a very incredibly long week with a new job and I am just so relieved to have something nice to add to it by getting another chapter out. Next one: dun, dun, dun... Ginny's real motives for leaving Draco REVEALED. And I hope it doesn't disappoint. I found it explains all of her water works quite well actually. I'll just let you all ponder that anxiously until the next chapter comes out ;) Don't forget to leave me a review! I love them dearly!