Chapter Four: Broken Promise

Rose gasped, clamping her hand over her mouth as her eyes bugged out in horror. She couldn’t tell, she couldn’t tell, she couldn’t tell!

Lily’s green eyes danced mischievously and she grinned up at her older cousin. “Come on, Rosie, answer the question.”

“I can’t!” she squeaked from behind her hand, clamping her mouth shut once more and biting her tongue to keep from giving into the Veritaserum’s magic.

Molly laughed loudly. “Good one, Lily, I would’ve never thought of anything like that!”

“Ooh, Rosie’s squirming!” Emily giggled.

Lily grinned, drinking in the praise as she waited for her cousin to succumb to the magic of the game.

Rose felt all the blood drain out of her face, keeping up an inner chant to strengthen her resolve. I promised Aunt Ginny! I promised her! I promised, I promised!

Lily laughed. “Come on, Rosie!”

Hand still firmly clamped over her mouth, Rose hastily began writing in the dust covering the floorboards, spelling out two words. I forfeit.

“Uh-uh, Rosie, no ifs, ands, or buts, answer the question!” Lily sang.

Rose furiously shook her head back and forth, feeling as though she were about to cry even as the Veritaserum forced her jaw to open and the words to come spilling from her mouth just as Lily reached over and snatched her hand away from her face.

“That your mum’s in love with Scorpius’ dad!” Rose cried out, immediately covering her mouth with her hands once more as everyone in the room went suddenly deathly quiet. “Lily, I’m so sorry,” Rose whispered, her eyes watering.

Lily stared at her older cousin in shock, blinking suddenly as she shrank back onto her pillow, her fingers trembling as she reached up to cover her mouth. “You’re lying.”

“Lily, I’m so sorry!” Rose urged, reaching across the circle of girls and grasping her cousin’s hand. “It’s not what it sounds like; I can explain.”

Lily shook her head suddenly, pulling her hand back as if she had been burned. “You’re lying. You’re lying!” she shouted.

“No, she’s not,” Calyssa whispered breathlessly, her face pale. “She’s under Veritaserum.”

“Watered-down Veritaserum!” Lily snapped, her eyes suspiciously bright and never leaving her cousin’s apologetic face.

“Lily-”

“Who told you?” Lily demanded, her shoulders shaking in cold fury.

“Your mum, at Christmas time,” Rose answered automatically, once again cursing the truth-telling serum; it was making calming her cousin down and explaining everything utterly impossible. “Lily, just listen to me for two seconds!” Rose pleaded, but Lily had stiffened, her eyes narrowed coldly at her older cousin.

“Go to hell, Rose!”

Before Rose could respond, Lily had leapt to her feet and raced to the trap door and down the rickety staircase, running down the halls the instant her feet reached the floor. Rose raced after her, slipping on the stairs and struggling to keep her footing until she reached the floor below and raced off after Lily’s retreating back.

Lily tore off down the deserted halls, running faster than she’d ever ran in her life, struggling to keep from crying as she tried to escape Rose shouting her name behind her. Her feet pounded over the cobblestone floors as she fled, her heart hammering wildly in her chest, though she could have sworn it had stopped beating all together. She gasped for air as she ran, tears now streaming down her cheeks, an unwanted cry tearing itself from her throat.

A body rounded the corner in front of her and she ran straight into him, hands darting out to catch her before they both could fall. Before Lily could untangle herself, she recognized the sharp voice and her tear-filled eyes flitted upwards in horror.

“Shit, Potter, what the hell is your problem?” The Slytherin’s silver eyes widened in surprise as he saw her tears and he immediately changed tracks. “Are you alright?”

Lily’s body went rigid, suddenly tensing up and struggling to get away from him, from Scorpius Malfoy. His hands tightened around her small shoulders and he shook her enough to make her look up at him, still crying uncontrollably as she did so.

“What-?” he asked, breaking off as another voice drowned him out.

“Lily!”

Lily tensed at the sound of her cousin’s voice, her head whipping back to see her running down the hall. Like a frightened animal, she tore herself away from Scorpius and fled down the hallway, leaving the Slytherin to turn and see Rose stop running as she sank to the floor, bursting into tears.

Scorpius’ eyebrows rose, his mouth hanging open in shock. Shaking himself, he hurried over to the Ravenclaw girl, kneeling beside her and squeezing her shoulder. “Rose, what happened?” he asked. The girl only cried harder, burying her face in her hands as her shoulders shook. “Rose, Rose, look at me,” Scorpius directed, reaching to lift her face to see his. Her eyes were shining with tears and she looked even more wretched than her younger cousin. “What happened?” he asked again, eyebrows knit together in concern.

“She- I- I didn’t mean to! I didn’t want to tell! I p-promised n-not to ever tell h-her!”

“Potter?”

“Y-y-yes!” Rose cried, nodding her head and sobbing miserably.

“Tell her what, Rose?” Rose shook her head, shaking with tears and unable to speak. Scorpius wetted his lips, willing to do anything to make the girl stop crying. “Listen, I’ll go find her, alright? I’ll make sure she’s alright!” Rose nodded her head, sobbing uncontrollably.

Scorpius quickly got to his feet and hurried down the hall the younger girl had ran down, sighing in relief just to get away from Rose’s sobbing form even as his conscience nagged at him. What was he supposed to have done, though? He didn’t know how to handle crying girls! Trying to shake off his guilt at leaving Rose in the empty hallway, Scorpius quickened his pace and soon he was jogging after the other crying girl, having no idea where she’d ran off to or why either of them were in tears.

When he finally found her, Lily Potter was curled in a ball in one of the deserted hallways, crying so weakly Scorpius didn’t hear her at first. He swallowed as he approached her, hating the sound of crying. “Hey,” he prodded her shoulder and the younger girl flinched, her wide green eyes staring up at him in fear. “You okay?” Scorpius asked gruffly, knowing perfectly well that the Gryffindor girl looked anything other than okay.

She glared at him disdainfully and Scorpius had the good grace to look ashamed. “Yeah, I know, stupid question,” he muttered. He gestured to the spot of floor beside her, asking, “Can I sit down?”

She sniffed but nodded once, and he sat down beside her, his eyes falling shut as he breathed out a weary sigh. “You’re a hard girl to find,” he remarked.

“Maybe some people should take that to mean I didn’t want to be found,” she retorted angrily.

“Ouch, Potter. Vicious, aren’t you?”

“No. Just completely shattered, that’s all.”

“Ah, I see.”

“No, you bloody don’t, you arrogant rodent,” she snapped out, clenching her jaw.

“Why the bloody hell do you and your brother keep calling me that?” Scorpius demanded suddenly, more irritated than he cared to admit. “I’m a Slytherin; our mascot’s a bloody snake! What’s with all the rat references?”

Lily’s lips twitched in spite of herself as she answered his question. “Little joke my dad told us when we were growing up.”

“And what’s that supposed to mean?”

“Nothing to you, Malfoy.” Her expression darkened as she said his last name and Lily bit her lip once more, a single tear sliding down her cheek.

“Alright then,” Scorpius began, trying to keep his voice even. “Care to tell me why you ran into me and took off all of a sudden, crying like someone went and murdered your pet owl?”

“No.”

Scorpius sighed, tiredly rubbing his eyelids with the bases of his fingertips. “Fine, then. Have a good cry, Potter. Maybe you can form a club with that pathetic ghost on the second floor,” he said, rising to his feet and preparing to leave her.

“Has your father ever said anything about Ginny Weasley?” Lily asked suddenly, still looking down at her hands.

Scorpius raised one eyebrow. “No, who is she, another one of your endless cousins?”

“No,” Lily answered softly, her throat dry and words scratchy, “she’s my mother.”

Scorpius’ eyes narrowed, his confusion evident though his interest was piqued. What did his father have to know about Potter’s mum that was enough to have two girls crying uncontrollably? “Why do you ask?”

Lily shrugged indifferently, her eyes suddenly distant. “No reason.”

Scorpius didn’t believe her for one second. The girl was a gifted liar but right now, he could read her like an open book. He may not know what was bothering her, but he sure as hell knew the question about his father wasn’t ‘nothing’. Wanting to finish up with whatever obligation he had to see that Rose’s cousin was alright, he asked, “You need to go to see the nurse or anything?”

The Gryffindor snorted derisively at that, “Please, I was crying; I’m not dying, Scorpius.”

“No?” he asked, his lips twitching in amusement.

“No. Now go on and slink back to your rat hole.”

Scorpius waved her off half-heartedly, rolling his eyes. “I told you, our mascot’s a snake.”

“I said slink,” she defended.

“Right.” He rolled his eyes once more, turning to go. “Take care, Lils.”

Lily started at the nickname her father always called her by, staring after the Slytherin’s retreating back. “Hey, Scorpius,” she called. He glanced back over his shoulder, one eyebrow raised in question. “Thanks for…” she gestured wordlessly and he smirked, nodding once in acknowledgement.

“Just watch who you’re running into next time. Should you nearly knock me to the ground again, I’ll expect a full apology.”

“Then I guess I won’t run into you again; Gryffindors don’t apologize to Slytherins, it’s a House rule.”

Scorpius smirked, “Let’s keep it that way, shall we?”

Lily only smiled, a faint twitch of her lips that left Scorpius free to sign-off on his responsibility to look after the upset girl. She was cracking jokes and hurling insults like always. Whatever her problem had been, she’d live.

Author notes: Once again, endless thanks to Miss Opal for her fantastic beta job. I live for reviews, so please fill that little comment box out and make my day! Also, Draco will be making an appearance in the next chapter! ;)