Chapter Twelve : Everything is different now.

Lily came back form her date and as expected her family members were already awake. Her preparedness worked and no one doubted her when she said she'd gone out for a early morning walk.

'Get ready then, let's go to work together.' Harry suggested and Lily nodded.

When all ready she got down she noticed James was there too. 'You got up early today?' Eight indeed was early for James who slept till late until of course he had quidditch practice.

'Cannons are being interviewed by the Daily Prophet. So I'll go with mom.' He replied. Ginny was a senior correspondent at the Daily Prophet now that she was retied from quidditch.

'I see.' I turned to my parents and asked, 'What about Albus?'

'He already left.' Harry replied.

'He had an early shift at St. Mungo's.' Ginny added.

'Coward.' James said beneath his breath but Lily heard him.

'Let's go dad.' She said.

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After her date last night she was excited but also nervous to see Scorpius. Now that both of them had confessed feelings for each other and everything was official, Lily suddenly felt shy.

'Are you okay?' Harry asked her as they walked through the corridor. They were already at the Auror headquarters.

'Yes of course.'

'You look a little red.'

'It's hot in here today. That's it.' She dismissed him and excused herself to go to her class.

But to her disappointment Teddy was back. She quietly took her seat and tried to focus on what he god-brother was teaching.

'Shouldn't you be happy that he's back?' Someone from behind her said. She turned around and a smile immediately came on her face.

'Scorpius!' She said a little loudly and head turned towards them. She apologized and looked at Scorpius who was sitting among the students. 'What are you doing here?'

'Ted wanted a feedback on the class so I decided to become a student today.'

'Does that mean we're fellow trainees?'

'Hmm.'

'Does that mean we can sit together?'

'Hmm.' She stood up and quietly went on to sit next to him. Thankfully they were at the back of the class and not many people noticed them.

Holding her hand under the table, Scorpius whispered, 'I missed you.'

'Me too.' She smiled.

The rest of the class went by and both of them hardly concentrated on what Teddy was teaching. After the class was over and rest of the students left, and Lily was about to leave to, Scorpius stopped her.

'We need to talk.' He said. She moved to his desk but he looked at Scorpius and said, 'You too.'

Scorpius and Lily exchanged looks. Teddy didn't looked particularly happy. Was he upset? Lily thought.

'What is it?' Scorpius asked.

'I should be asking you that.'

'Ted..' Lily began but Teddy cut her off.

'This is a place where you will be working Lily.' He then turned to Scorpius and said, 'And you already work here.'

'I don't understand.' Scorpius said.

'If you two will openly hold hands in a class and flirt, people are going to be suspicious and rumors are going to be spread.'

'Ted we're dating each other.' Lily told him.

He sighed. 'Since when?' His eyes were diverted to Scorpius who looked guilty.

'Am I missing something here? What's with the looks you've been giving each other?' Lily asked to both Scorpius and Teddy.

'Ted didn't want us to date.' Scorpius confessed.

'What? Why?' Lily asked Ted. 'I thought you supported us. You knew I had a crush on him.'

'You did?' Scorpius asked in surprise.

'Ted?' Lily pressed for an explanation.

'Yes I knew she had a crush on you.' Ted said to Scorpius and then turned to Lily. 'And yes I was supporting both of you. But everything is different now.'

'How? What happened?' Lily asked.

'You don't need to know. Just stay away from each other, that will be best for both of you.' Teddy said and walked out.

Lily exhaled. 'I seriously don't understand my family sometimes. First Albus and now Ted too.'

'Wait till James knows about us.' Scorpius said dryly. He knew what everyone's problem was. They were fine until Scorpius was a friend. But by being with Lily he'd crossed the line he was never supposed to cross, after all he was Malfoy and person in their right mind would trust their sister with a Malfoy.

'You aren't going to break up with because of this, are you?'

'Never.' Scorpius gave a reassuring smile to Lily and kissed her forehead.

'Now what do we do?'

'Let's wait till the news sinks in, then I'll talk to both Albus and Ted.'

'You don't have to do that alone. I'll be there too.'

'No. They're more upset with me than you. I should be the one apologizing not you.'

'Scorpius...'

'Lily. Just let me handle this.'

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'We need to talk.' Scorpius announced as soon as he entered the ward Albus was treating patients in.

'I don't have anything to say to you.' Albus kept his eyes fixated on the patient chart. But not for long as Scorpius took it away from him and pulled him out of the ward. 'What are you doing?'

'Exactly! What are you doing?'

'I've done nothing.'

'Are you sure? Because I saw the mark on Lily's forehead and since she didn't tell me about it, I'm pretty sure you gave it to her.'

Albus sighed. 'I didn't mean to. She was trying to talk to me when I clearly didn't wanted to so....'

'So you hurt her.'

'It was an accident. Besides if she's upset about it she can confront me, who are you?'

'Her boyfriend.'

Albus snickered. 'Look at you, so proud of it, huh?'

'I love her.'

'No you don't. She's just like the rest of the girls you've dated before and left when you were bored.'

Scorpius was confused now. 'Wait, you're worried that I will treat her like my other girlfriends?'

'What else?'

'So you're opposing our relationship because....'

'You're a womanizer and my best friend.'

'You don't care about me being a Malfoy?'

'I wouldn't have been friends with you in the first place if that would've been the case.'

'What the fuck Albus! You got me so worried.' Scorpius smiled.

'Look at you. You're smiling.'

'Why shouldn't I? There's no real problem.'

'Of course there is.'

'Al, man if you're worried that I'll hurt Lily, you have my word, I won't ever do something to hurt her. I promise.'

'What about our friendship?'

'What about it? We can be friends as before.'

'Everything is different now, Scorpius.'

'Why do people keep saying that? Look, I won't let my relationship with Lily affect our friendship. If you aren't comfortable I'll refrain myself from talking about her in front of you. Will that work?'

'No it won't because I would still know that you're dating her.'

'Then what do you want me to do?'

'Don't date her.'

'You just told me not to hurt her. Besides I've promised her I won't break up with her because of you.'

'Then stop being friends with me.'

'I won't.'

'You wont do this, you won't do that. Then what the fuck do you want to do Scor?'

'I want everything to be the same as before.'

'That won't happen until you get away from Lily. You might not realize it now but soon you'll see that everything indeed is different now.'

And it was only until Scorpius decided to talk to Teddy that he understood what Albus meant when he'd said that everything was different now.