Playlist Ch. 20: ‘Use Somebody’ (Kings of Leon Cover) by Paramore

Chapter Twenty: Detentions Aren’t Without Scheming

Scorpius was pulled unceremoniously from his exhausted sleep as the emerald curtains were thrown back from his bed, Lily and himself both flinching back in shock to see one of Scorpius’ roommates glowering down at them, the evidence of a stinging hex burning on his cheek.

“Well, that could certainly explain that witch’s cutthroat insistence,” he sneered, his eyes narrowing as he took in Lily lying on his friend’s bed, rubbing his cheek as he stared down at her.

“What the hell do you want, Bletchley?” Scorpius demanded, quickly pushing himself to his feet and pulling Lily up beside him, her cheeks flushed red and refusing to make eye-contact with either boy.

Travis Bletchley glared at his roommate and gestured behind himself at the darkening sky outside. “Seems you two have a detention to serve and that Ravenclaw Weasley decided to send me to fetch you, both of you I suppose,” he added with a dark glance in Lily’s direction.

Scorpius caught Lily’s look of confusion, turning to Bletchley and demanding more answers with a jerk of his chin. “Was the stinging hex to make you follow through on telling us or for your ogling her in Arithmancy all the bloody time?”

Bletchley only glared at him. “Just get to your bleeding detention already, Malfoy. I’d hate to have to drag you down there myself when you can’t even handle a damn fist fight.”

Scowling, Scorpius put his arm around Lily’s shoulders as he reached towards the bedside table and pocketed his own wand, steering her out of the dormitory and knocking shoulders with Bletchley as he did so.

Slamming the door heavily behind them, Scorpius glanced fearfully at his wristwatch, realizing with a sinking feeling that they had been asleep for almost six hours.

“Shit,” he cursed. “There’s not even enough time to nick something from the kitchens or we’ll be late to detention.” He groaned aloud and Lily sent him a look of sympathy, patting his arm as they exited the rather crowded Slytherin common room and made their way to the hospital wing, what McGonagall had called ‘a fitting location for their punishment to take place’. Scorpius sneered at the memory. He just hoped McGonagall had enough sense not to include either Albus or Hugo in the same room as him or he would really have to kill himself. He couldn’t lose a third fist fight in less than as many days.

Straightening his robes as Lily smoothed her hair, Scorpius led the way to the hospital wing, the petite redhead matching him almost pace for pace, only slowed by her rapidly worrying mind.

“Scorpius, you don’t think, what Bletchley said about Rose, that she… she didn’t know he’d find me with you, d-did she?” she asked worriedly.

Scorpius glanced back at Lily, pursing his lips together. Not knowing what to say, he took her hand in his and pressed a kiss to her knuckles, still holding her hand comfortingly as they walked the last few winding corridors to the hospital wing.

When they arrived, Scorpius breathed a sigh in relief upon seeing only Rose in the otherwise empty hospital wing, both girls’ brothers apparently nowhere in sight. “Bloody lucky, that,” he sighed, looking around gratefully and finally making eye-contact with Rose.

Her lips twitched up at both of them, not failing to take in the sight of Lily’s second set of rumpled school clothes. “You really ought to get those pressed,” she teased.

Lily looked staggered for a moment but Rose quickly waved her off. “Only joking. I’m not foolish enough to pick another fight after everything that’s happened,” she assured. She wasn’t about to lie and tell herself she was completely over Scorpius, but she was at least going to make the effort to appear so, for Lily’s sake as much as hers. “Oh, and speaking of which, Scorpius, I managed to convince McGonagall that it was Hugo who Albus was fighting while you two snuck away from the Entrance Hall, they’re now both serving their own detention down there. Thought it was only fitting,” she shrugged modestly.

Scorpius grinned down at her. He could still feel the pain from the bruises Albus had left him with and Hugo the day before, whether Rose had vanished them from sight or not. “Hope they really do have a fight of their own,” he sighed. “They deserve a taste of their own medicine.”

“You’re only jealous that they managed to best you pretty badly and publicly,” Lily smirked, earning a scowl from her boyfriend in response.

“I was defending your honour,” he cut in.

“No, that was Albus’ excuse,” Lily reminded him, giggling faintly. “You,on the other hand, were only out for someone’s blood and you damn well know it. That last time you were knocked senseless must have concussed you and now you’re just confused,” she quipped fondly up at him, and though Scorpius didn’t say anything, the scowl that seemed to permanently etch itself into his features was proof enough that he was not amused.

Rose rolled her eyes at the pair of them, reaching into the pockets of her school robes. “Well, we still have nearly ten minutes before the Headmistress shows up, I thought I’d have Bletchley wake you both a little earlier than necessary to make sure you had enough time to eat something,” she explained, brandishing two seran-wrapped sandwiches and a handful of Chocolate Frogs. “It’s not much, but…”

“But it is,” Scorpius insisted, taking one sandwich in an instant and devouring it faster than Hugo could have ever hoped to achieve. “I’ve only had a bloody muffin all bleeding day, this is brilliant!” he enthused.

Lily smiled softly and reached to take the other sandwich from Rose, the two girls sharing a brief smile.

“Thanks,” she murmured.

“You're welcome,” Rose answered back with a twitch of her lips.

“Speaking of Bletchley, Rose,” Scorpius swallowed. “Any theory on how he came to have a stinging hex thrown in his face before he came to wake us?” Scorpius smirked nefariously down at Rose, knowing full-well about the near-obsession his Housemate had had with the girl since their first year.

Rose crossed her arms over her chest, scowling at him in response. “Why do you think, Scorp?”

Lily’s green eyes flitted back and forth between her best friend and her boyfriend, trying to keep the smile from taking over her face as she realized that perhaps Rose wasn’t going to be alone for much longer…

“Did he try to snog you again?” Scorpius chuckled.

“Of course not!” Rose scoffed a little too quickly though she blushed incriminatingly.

“Rose!” Lily gasped, her hands flying to her mouth as her eyes protruded from her skull. “You never said anything about him in the old Divination Tower!”

”I tried never to say anything about anyone up there,” Rose explained, sniffling slightly as she glanced away, unconsciously playing with a loose curl of her hair, her voice dropping to a murmur, “And… I didn’t like him then…” she explained.

“Oh, but you like him now?” Scorpius pressed, his silver eyes dancing in amusement.

“It’s not like that,” Rose quickly explained.

“Then why are you blushing?” Lily grinned, hoping if she baited her cousin long enough she’d finally catch a glimpse of what Rose was thinking.

Rose only sighed exasperatingly, looking away from them both. “He cornered me after you two both left from the fight, after I helped patch you up,” she added with a glance at Scorpius. She rolled her shoulders with a sigh, trying not to give them any satisfaction from the story she related to them now.

“And?” Lily prompted, green eyes shining as she practically bounced on the balls of her feet.

“And nothing,” Rose denied, crossing her arms over her chest, mumbling almost inaudibly as she glanced down at her shoes, her cheeks flushing. “He told me he liked my… spell work…” she finally admitted.

“Oh, sweet Merlin!” Scorpius laughed, backing up a step and howling with laughter. “Your spell work? So then what? You gave him a nice fat stinging hex to the cheek as a thank you?”

“Oh, Scorpius, leave her alone!” Lily snapped reproachfully, turning to Rose with a beaming smile. “Well, I think it’s brilliant, whether he tried to snog you senseless and deserved a hex for it or not!”

“It’s really not like that,” Rose tried to explain again, her lips twitching faintly in spite of herself.

“Of course it is!” Scorpius laughed, “For Circe’s sake, Rose, he complimented your spell work! Your spell work! Now march your Ravenclaw arse up to him and give him a real stinging hex, right on the lips!”

Rose flushed crimson and Lily immediately came to her defense, smacking Scorpius hard on the shoulder with an indignant expression. He glared at her warningly for a moment before all three dissolved into laughter and Lily tugged both her cousin and Scorpius into a hug.

“Thank God, we can finally laugh again,” she sighed, closing her eyes for a moment.

Scorpius glanced over at Rose who was staring up at him, both smiling slightly. He playfully pushed her tangled mass of red curls aside and she rolled her eyes up at him, letting herself hug Lily back and agreeing with her completely. Everything had changed between them, but maybe it wouldn’t be as awful as she’d thought. It certainly could never be worse than the last few days, could it?

Groaning loudly, Scorpius finally pushed both girls back, snaking a hand out to snatch Lily’s wrist and tugging her back against himself, looking down at her disapprovingly. “That, Lils, was far too heart-felt and Gryffindoric for any self-respecting Slytherin to participate in, you ought to be ashamed.”

She only stuck her tongue out at him just as a stern voice interrupted them all, their Headmistress standing framed by the two doors of the hospital wing’s entrance. “I couldn’t agree more, Mr. Malfoy. All three of you ought to be ashamed of yourselves for your behavior in the past two days,” she said, her nose wrinkled in disapproval.

Three pairs of eyes all met each others as each of them shrugged their shoulders in weary preparation of the detention and all its inglorious labor that was to come.

*

Furiously scrubbing out the hospital bedpans when they could have simply vanished its grime with a flick of his wand, Scorpius was forcefully reminded of his cleaning the bathrooms of the Potter house with Lily. He couldn’t have been more grateful than now for the state of general cleanliness that those had been in, staring down at the horror in front of him with nothing less than the purest loathing.

He shot Lily a roll of his eyes where she was several feet away, scrubbing the grout of the cobblestone floors which were likely just as filthy as the bedpans. They had flipped a coin determining who would take which task, as neither was as familiar with potion labeling and sorting as Rose was, the Ravenclaw girl scurrying all over the hospital wing with various vials and flasks in hand, placing them all in the proper cupboards and resorting them based on ingredients used, gestation period, and expiration dates.

Scorpius shook his head watching her, oddly grateful that he had only been assigned to cleaning the bedpans. As Rose crossed over towards his side of the expansive room, Scorpius looked up at her, trying to prepare himself to call her over as he really did need her help.

“Rose, can I take a look at that vial?” he asked, nodding his chin towards one of the many in her bundle of arms.

“What? But I’m almost half-way…” She trailed off as she saw the look on Scorpius’ face, the intent set of his eyes. She glanced furtively to where Lily was now scrubbing the floor near the main entrance of the wing, her brow furrowed and a scowl on her lips as she ran the brush over the stones with a determined and frenzied intent. Seeing that nothing she did was likely to be noticed by her cousin anytime soon, Rose knelt beside Scorpius, wrinkling her nose at the odd smell coming from the bedpans.

“That’s disgusting…” she breathed while struggling not to.

Scorpius waved her comments off, digging deep into his robes. “Never mind that, listen, Rose, I-I want you to take a look at this,” he instructed, handing her the crumpled letter than he’d received from Amber earlier that morning.

Rose’s eyes flitted up to his in no small amount of shock and then glanced back down at the parchment, slowly unfurling it. “I don’t want to read this,” she whispered shakily, balling it back up in her fist and trying to hand it back to him.

“No, Rose, listen to me,” Scorpius hissed, his silver eyes boring into hers. “Our families are falling apart, Lily's and mine.” He swallowed tightly as he glanced back over his shoulder at where his girlfriend was still scrubbing, not yet having noticed their hushed discussion.

“What does that have to do with anything?” Rose exasperated, not wanting to get into what Scorpius was thinking, just wanting to move away from him and get back to sorting through her vials so she could leave.

Scorpius breathed a deep sigh, his shoulders sinking, unable to raise his eyes to hers as he finally admitted something she would have never expected from him, even in the wake of his news concerning his father.

“I just… I want to get out of here, away from this school and home, out of England even.”

“What?” she asked in a horrified whisper, her eyes wide.

He swallowed, nodding a few times. “Lily and I… the bottom’s going to drop out soon, I just know it, and I don’t want to be around here for when it finally happens.”

“What are you saying?” she hissed.

“Lily listens to you… listens to what you say. If the way she was acting the last few days you’ve been fighting was anything to go by, then…”

“No,” Rose warned, her brown eyes fierce.

“You’re not even hearing me out,” he growled back at her.

“I don’t need to hear anything you’ve got to say, Scorpius,” Rose hissed. “I’m not convincing my best friend to go traipsing across the continent with you over a bleeding letter you can’t even prove is real!”

“It is real!” he snapped, “It's right here in my fist, read it!”

“No, I don’t need to read it to know my aunt would never cheat on her husband!”

“Then maybe your loyalties are misplaced, Rose! No one’s marriage is perfect! Least of all hers with the way things are going. Do you think a happily married woman goes to see her ex at work? Locking themselves in his office?” Scorpius didn’t even realize that the letter in his hands had crumpled into an even tighter ball then before, crushed in his fist, so great was his anger steadily transforming into rage.

Breathing deeply and squeezing his eyes tightly shut, he refocused on Rose, trying one last time to convince her. “Please, Rose, it’s only going to get worse…”

“You’re on your own this time, Scorpius,” she answered calmly, clutching her vials to her chest once more. “I’m not going to put my aunt through any sort of pain like that again, not after what happened only yesterday. You didn’t see the way she looked at me, like I completely and utterly betrayed her.”

“What does that matter if she’s betraying her husband, her family? If she’s having my father betray his?” Scorpius seethed.

“I’m not helping you, Scorpius. I’m sorry.” Rose bit her lip, knowing there was nothing else to say and instead pushed herself to her feet, returning to her labeling and sorting once more, casting anxious glances back at Lily, wondering what the younger girl would choose if Scorpius asked…

*

Breathing heavily though never quite getting enough air, Lily swallowed tightly, trying not to tremble as Scorpius pressed his lips against her throat, her worn jumper that her grandmother had made for her last Christmas scratching faintly against her skin, the cold night air seeping in through the smallest of stitches.

She blinked rapidly, trying to calm her erratic heartbeat as his hands traveled down her sides, skimming her waist, though thankfully, he never moved to brush aside the fabric of her clothing. The grass was rustling softly in the gentle breeze and the warmth that should have come with summer was nowhere to be found in the dark night, the grounds of Hogwarts bathed only in moonlight.

They had gotten done with detention early that night, just like all the others, and Lily wondered if Scorpius was working intentionally fast just for this reason, to steal away a few moments out on the grounds, not in his dormitory or hers but just on the soft bed of grass.

She was trying not to shake as he planted kisses up along the curve of her neck and towards her earlobe, suddenly feeling very young and very, very scared. They had never gone any further than this but the pressure of Scorpius’ increasingly feverish kisses was making her head spin and her thoughts spin about themselves in their haste to flee her mind and abandon her senses, all but her physical senses, that is.

In a sudden moment of fear, Lily thought of Albus and how he had reacted to even the idea that Lily had stayed with Scorpius in his room, her thoughts rapidly shifting from him to her mother, wondering what Ginevra Potter would say if she could see Lily now, struggling to know what to do with herself as the son of Draco Malfoy trailed kisses down the angles of her cheek. He finally lowered his mouth to capture her lips with his and Lily’s entire body trembled in response.

He pulled back suddenly, looking down at her. “Are you cold?” he asked, his eyebrows knitting together. Lily nodded frantically but rather than help her up from the ground to go inside, Scorpius smirked down at her, whispering against her lips instead, “Guess we ought to warm you up then…” he trailed off.

Lily’s eyes flew wide and she immediately pressed her hands to his chest to push him away, enough that she could breathe. She turned her head to the side, gasping for air and trying to keep tears from forming, utterly terrified.

“Lils?”

She clamped one hand over his mouth, hoping to keep him silent but his lips moved against the palm of her hand and she let out a small cry, trying to turn away from him as she swiftly released him.

“Lily, what’s wrong?” he asked, genuinely worried as he bent down to see that the small girl beneath him had tears in her eyes, one streaking down her cheek. He brushed it away with his fingertips, trying to turn her face towards his.

“Lily, look at me…”

“No, no, I d-don’t… I don’t want to do this…” she cried, feeling scared and unable to look at him, her eyes squeezed tightly shut.

“Hey,” he breathed, lightly brushing her hair back from her eyes, finally turning her chin so that she was looking up at him, struggling not to cry. “Oh, Lils, I’m sorry… I would have never… I didn’t mean… If you weren’t ready… I-I wasn’t…”

“I want to go home,” she cried, meaning Gryffindor Tower but unconsciously referring to her parents’ house where her mother could have wrapped her in a warm hug and given her a hot cup of tea, comforting her.

Scorpius stared down at Lily fearfully, feeling his throat tighten quite painfully. “Lils, Lily, I’m sorry,” he whispered sincerely, brushing another tear from her eyes.

She started shaking with barely repressed tears and Scorpius pulled her up into a sitting position, cradling her to his chest and whispering apologies as he felt his heartbeat slow, almost stopping.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered again, doing his best to comfort her. Eventually she began to sink against his embrace, her shuddering form slowly breathing evenly in and out again. Tears were still streaking down her cheeks, but Scorpius only kissed a few, trying to keep her calm. He had only wanted to get her in enough of a state to be able to more easily convince her of running away with him, as he’d been asking her for a few days now but she’d never really listened to, always clamping up and walking quickly away when the note and its contents were mentioned.

Holding her now and rubbing soothing circles over her back, Scorpius knew he’d gone too far and simply leaned his cheek against hers, realizing Slytherin manipulating had gotten him nowhere. Swallowing tightly, he whispered softly in her ear, trying to divert her attention from her near panic of only a few moments earlier back to what he’d originally wanted to ask from her.

“Lily? Lily, are you listening to me?” he asked.

She nodded faintly against him, her hands still wound tightly around his neck.

He reached into the pocket of his trousers, setting a crumbled bit of parchment in her hand and closing her fingers around it.

Lily flinched back with a hiccoughed cry at the feel of the rough edges of the paper, smooth where it was worn and thick where it wasn’t. She immediately knew what it was and tried to let go of it but Scorpius’ fingers wound around her wrist, preventing her from letting it tumble to the ground, forgotten as she wanted it.

“No, d-don’t…” she cried against his chest.

“Yes, Lils, it’s real, you know it is. You can feel it, squeeze it in your fingers…”

Lily shook her head back and forth, her chest heaving with shuddering cries. “N-no, no, I d-don’t want to touch it…”

Scorpius squeezed his eyes tightly shut, fiercely kissing the crown of her scarlet hair, dark as the color of blood in the moonlight, her skin almost translucently pale. “It’s real, Lily, what’s going on back home is as real as that crumbled bit of parchment in your hands…”

“No…”

“When we go back in a few weeks, that’s all that will be waiting for us, your mum and my dad and everything else is going to be falling apart and in shambles…”

“S-stop it…” she cried, her fingers clenching tightly.

“I can’t, Lily. It’s happening and you know it is, there’s no getting away from it.”

“We have to!” she sobbed, clinging tightly to him, his grip still forcing her to touch the wrinkled letter, the feel of it sending a stinging and burning pain up through her fingertips. “I don’t want to go back,” she cried. “I don’t want to see them!”

“You don’t have to,” Scorpius whispered quietly, his arms curling around her, holding her and swaying gently to calm her, hating that he had had to make her cry to make her see sense, though he told himself that her tears were really for her own good, forcing her to confront the sure destruction of their families because of their parents’ affair. “We don’t have to go back,” he repeated again.

“H-how?” Lily asked brokenly.

Scorpius leaned close towards her trembling body, whispering softly in her ear, trying not to feel guilty for the state she was in. “We’ll just not go home, Lils. We’ll get out of here, runaway, and I promise we’ll go together…”

Her small chest heaved with a tiny cry and she nodded her head against his chest. He finally released her wrist so that the parchment fell out of her slack fingers and fluttered away in the night breeze. She wound her arms around his neck, clinging to him as she tearfully agreed and Scorpius only rocked her back and forth, watching as the small scrap of parchment whipped up in the breeze and disappeared into the darkness with a rustle of shredding paper.

Author notes: Thanks to Miss Opal for her beta as always!

And for anyone interested in beta-ing a completed 9 chapter story for me, please let me know. Properly used commas always seem to elude me and I could use some help ;)