Happy Springsmut, Lady_Green_Bat Author:humbuggirl Recipient:lady_green_bat Title: The Girl in the Formal Dress Rating: R/NC17 Pairing(s): Scorpius/Lily (II) Disclaimer: All Harry Potter characters herein are the property of J.K. Rowling and Bloomsbury/Scholastic. No copyright infringement is intended. Summary: They had been together for nearly three months, and it was only now that Scorpius was willing to acknowledge that, at some point during that period, Lily must surely have stolen his spine. Warnings: Mild bondage Word Count: ~7,800 words Author's Notes: Thanks to my wonderful beta, who once again put up with me dithering over this.
The Girl in the Formal Dress
"My father always wanted me to be an Auror. I think he thought that it would be the final step in redeeming the family name. Where he could not go, I would." Scorpius paused before releasing a soft, indelicate snort. "Can you imagine what he would say if he could see me now?"
Seated across from him, the source of his current predicament made a small, disinterested sound. Her concentration did not waver in the least. Around them, the usual traffic of a summer's afternoon in Diagon Alley continued uninterrupted. Sunlight stoked her hair, turning it into a fiery mass as it fell forwards around her face.
Scorpius scowled, not used to being ignored. Who would have thought that someone so small, so quiet, could have been such a disruptive influence on his life? There was no other way to describe the impact that Lily Potter's arrival on the social landscape he occupied had caused.
The girl in question poked a finger at the open book resting on the table in front of her. It was thick, with yellowed pages, and the cover was made of something that closely resembled animal skin. Scorpius had been trying hard not to think about what type of animal skin it might actually be, considering precisely what sort of text it was. It might not be animal skin, at all. Her enthusiasm as she finally looked up at him was not in the least bit reassuring, though the excitement in her eyes was enough to ignite a spark of pleasure in the middle of his chest. It was almost enough to make his daring exploits in procuring the book for her worth it.
"This," she declared brightly, "is going to be useful."
"Oh good," he replied wryly. "I would hate to think that I'd risked getting arrested for nothing. After all, stealing that book was not easy."
A smile played about Lily's lips as she plucked a napkin from underneath her now-empty celebratory bowl of Florean Fortescue's ice cream. She stuck it in the book to mark the page that she had been reading. Scorpius could only hope that it had been clean. He was no fan of Dark texts, but he quite liked the idea of returning the book in the condition that he had found it. Preferably before anyone noticed that it was gone.
"You took it from your grandfather's collection," she said levelly. "I'm not sure that being arrested was ever really going to be a problem."
"You're right," he agreed, picturing Lucius Malfoy's likely reaction to discovering that part of his precious collection was missing. "He probably would have skipped that step entirely, and gone straight for dismemberment instead."
Lily's lips twitched again. She leaned forward, hugging the book to her middle as she did so. A suggestive gleam entered her eye. "And what a shame that would be."
Scorpius leaned towards her, over the small table that separated them. Before he could catch her lips with his, however, Lily had already moved away again. Gathering up her bag, she slipped the long strap over her head so that it lay across her body.
"Come on," she said, fluidly climbing to her feet. She dragged the light cardigan that she had worn to meet him that morning from the back of her chair, and laid it over her arm. Scorpius realised only belatedly that she had no intention of waiting for him should he fail to follow her immediately.
His chair screeched nosily as he scrambled to follow her. "Where are we going?" he asked as they left the café.
Lily grinned back at him, over her shoulder. "We're going to infiltrate the corridors of power, of course."
-
They had been together for nearly three months, and it was only now that Scorpius was willing to acknowledge that, at some point during that period, Lily must surely have stolen his spine.
The epiphany had come to him as he was sneaking through the French doors that led from the gardens to his grandfather's study at Malfoy Manor. He was, at the time, hidden underneath a heavy invisibility spell, with the express intention of stealing the book that Lily would later study with such excitement. To his mind, it was the only way to explain how she was able to talk him into risking his skin as easily as she did. Sometimes she did not even have to open her mouth. All it would take was a soft, hopeful look that was invariably tinged with a silent promise of what would come later, should he comply. At least that promise was invariably, inevitably fulfilled. That was some consolation.
Now, though… Well, lately he was seriously beginning to suspect that she was actually trying to get him killed.
Occasionally, he would indulge the urge to wonder when it was that his brain had independently made the decision that he should do whatever Lily wanted. It was unnatural. He was a Malfoy, and while he did not hold with a larger portion all that entailed, he did know that it meant that women were supposed to fall head over heels for him and act like a fool, not vice versa. He wondered whether it had been when they had gone skinny dipping in the pond behind her grandparent's house, as half the Weasley family slept safely inside, unaware of the fact that he was planning on debauching one of the youngest of their number. It could, he supposed, have been in Paris, when she had convinced him to race his broom at top speed along the Champs-Élysées, risking the wrath of the city's authorities and a broken neck as they flew along.
It was neither of those occasions, of course, or any of the others that had punctuated their time together so far. No, in truth, Scorpius could pinpoint the moment almost exactly. The moment that Lily had stolen his spine, and taken ownership of his free-will, had occurred three months earlier, when she had brought him to such a shattering orgasm in the most unlikely of settings that he suspected that his spine had actually melted from the shock of it.
Lily Luna Potter had proved, in stunning fashion, that it really was always the quiet ones.
He blamed Albus. It had been at his best friend's insistence that he had attended the housewarming party where he had run into the obsession that was currently busy consuming his life, and, quite possibly, his sanity. They had barely been through the door of Ernest Comstock's new terraced house before Albus had abandoned him to go in search of his latest conquest. Utterly unsurprised at his friend's desertion, Scorpius had gone in search of the bar, which had turned out to be located in the kitchen. It had been there, amongst the pots and the pans, and the numerous empties, that he had first spotted Lily.
At first, he did not recognise her. It was, after all, nearly four years since he had last seen her. Furthermore, the figure in the inappropriately formal dress did not exactly bring to mind the skinny, shy girl that he had remembered from his time at Hogwarts. This girl was something else entirely.
She had been in deep conversation with a fluffy-haired blonde who, had she been standing next to anyone else, would surely have caught Scorpius's eye. Next to Lily's natural luminosity, however, she had faded into the background. Red hair, rich in colour and with a slightly unruly look to it had brushed over slender shoulders that were left bare by the design of her dress. Scorpius would later discover that they were covered in scattered freckles that continued down, slipping beneath the neckline of her dress and over her breasts. Touching his tongue to as many of them as he could, Scorpius had felt a thrill of pleasure at the way that she had murmured approvingly. At that moment, however, he had merely been preoccupied with the fact that she was the only girl he had seen thus far worthy of catching his eye.
Scorpius had done what any self-respecting twenty-one year old would do – he had grabbed a bottle of wine from the kitchen counter, and gone over to ask if she wanted a top-up.
For a moment, as she turned to look at him, he thought that his heart had juddered to a halt in his chest. Albus had mentioned in passing that she had finally returned from her travels, having spent nearly a year accompanying her godmother, the perpetually eccentric Luna Lovegood, on her adventures around northern Africa. By all accounts, Lily had managed to pick up some of her infamous traits, including a propensity for subscribing to more outlandish explanations and theories than was strictly necessary. It was something that Scorpius would grow to like hearing about, in time, though he would admit that he wished that she was a little less passionate about some of them. Bizarrely named creatures were one thing, but when your girlfriend started discussing politics and conspiracy theories, some of which sounding a little too convincing, it was slightly worrying.
When faced with her that evening, though, the last thing that had been on Scorpius's mind had been conspiracy theories. Any number of mythical creatures could have wandered into the room and he would not have cared. Lily's brown eyes had shimmered with amusement, and a knowingness that seemed utterly foreign to someone who had once notoriously walked into a suit of armour at school while trying to go unnoticed. Instead, her lips twitched as she raised her glass and held it out to him. "Fill her up," she said, finally shocking him into action.
"I was supposed to be on a date," Lily said later, when he asked her about her outfit. They had moved outside, to sit beneath the coloured lanterns that Comstock's girlfriend had conjured to illuminate the long, thin yard. The dress in question was now bunch up around Lily's knees as she stretched her legs out across the grass, where she had insisted that they sit. Scorpius had complied wordlessly, sitting next her, though at an angle so that he could keep an eye on her. He was glad he had. The position gave him an excellent view of a certain interesting part of Lily's anatomy as she sat, her hands flat on the ground behind her, and her chest thrust forwards.
"He stood you up?"
There was a playful gleam in her eye, as she replied. "I don't know – I didn't go myself."
"Lily," he said, more than a little bit shocked.
"I wasn't really all that interested, anyway," she said by way of explanation. "We were set up by friends. I sent him an owl. I'm sure he'll understand. Then this party came up and…"
"And why let a great dress go to waste?"
Lily raised an eyebrow, though a distinctly pleased expression had settled over her features. "You like it?" she said, gesturing down the length of her body with one hand.
Scorpius made a show of looking her up and down. "It's passable, I suppose."
Lily snorted. "Liar," she accused airily, tilting her head back to look up at the night sky. Scorpius copied her, although he could see nothing but grey clouds and the lights of a passing plane.
"You know, you used to be less than complimentary about how I looked."
He frowned. Lily might be his best friend's sister, but they had spent very little time around each other over the years. The youngest of the Potter tribe was two years younger than he was, and as such had been beneath his notice while they had been at school. Even when Scorpius had ventured around to the Potter house, he had seen very little of her. Lily had been quiet as a child, often preferring to spend time with her mother rather than with her brothers. Or so it had seemed to him. He supposed it was entirely possible that he might have said something about her, without realising that she was within earshot.
"You're forgiven though," she said, rolling her eyes to look at him. "Or you will be, anyway, when you've kissed me."
"Well, if you insist," Scorpius said, after a stunned moment. He leaned towards her, but was stopped by Lily's hand on his chest. He was certain that she would be able to feel the way his heart was hammering beneath her fingers.
"Not here," she said. She pursed her lips, looked around them with a contemplative look in her eye. They brightened noticeably as they landed on the dark outline of the garden shed.
He wrinkled his nose in distaste. "Really?"
Lily curled her legs under herself, and climbed to her feet. "It's just a shed," she told him, holding out a hand. Her toes dug into the soft green grass.
"That's sort of my point," he said, though he took the offered hand anyway.
Lily tugged him to his feet. "I promise to defend you against any creepy crawlies."
Warm, softly coloured light from the lanterns outside filtered in through the shed's solitary window. It traced over a cluttered workbench, over shelves containing paint pots, jars of nails and bolts, and other, less identifiable things. It outlined the delicate arms of spiders' webs. It stopped Scorpius from nearly breaking his ankle on the rusted remains of a Muggle lawnmower as Lily pulled him inside, and closed the door after them.
Even in the gloom, her dress seemed brilliant. Scorpius's pulse quickened, deepened, continuing the process that had already begun outside. He reached out towards her. Lily laughed abruptly. She danced away from him, neatly sidestepping a stray toolbox that was jutting out from under the worktop. Scorpius had no such luck. He yelped as it collided with his leg, and then again as Lily neatly brushed his hands aside, and planted hers on his chest. She firmly pushed, until the small of his back collided with the hard edge of the worktop. It was not the most comfortable of positions.
Her lips curved meaningfully, making Scorpius all too aware of how close they were standing, and the way that the palms of her hands felt through the thin material of his t-shirt.
Her fingers flexed experimentally, her nails biting into the increasingly sensitive skin underneath. They skimmed down, always from his chest, leaving hot trails behind until they finally encountered the waistband of his trousers. Lily tilted her head to one side; one hand ventured lower, prompting Scorpius to suck in a deep breath. The playful, teasing look in her eye made his muscles twitch in anticipation.
Lily went up on her toes, pressing her body against his. "Well then?" she asked.
-
"This is a really stupid idea," Scorpius blurted out as he stared up at the building towering over them. To the Muggle eye, it remained invisible behind a veil of impressively powerful magic. But to Scorpius, and the young woman standing next to him, it was monstrously large and entirely too real. "In fact, in the history of bad ideas, this one tops them all. I thought you were joking."
Lily playfully jostled his shoulder. "Don't be such a worrywart," she told him while plucking at the front of her shirt. The action would, under virtually any other circumstances, have garnered Scorpius's attention. At the moment, however, he had far more important things to be thinking about. "No one will ever know. Besides, I don't do bad ideas."
Scorpius started to shake his head, but stopped. Instead, he brought up a hand and swept it back through his hair. They had been standing outside the suitably impressive Beetleby's Wizard-Only Club for nearly half-an-hour now, while Lily accessed the exterior. One of the last outposts of wizarding – pureblood – supremacy, the building seemed to stare back. Scorpius would not have been surprised to see one of the glossy-eyed windows wink at him. He had, after all, been inducted at birth into its register of members. His grandfather Malfoy had seen to that.
He glanced sideways at Lily. What he was about to do, might well ensure that no Malfoy was ever presented for membership again.
In nearly four hundred years, no woman had ventured further than the boundary wall of the property. Lily was planning to not only go beyond the wall, but into the entrance hall, and then into the inner sanctum. She was planning to do it with his help. He was seriously beginning to regret not pressing her for more details, when she had initially asked him about the chances of getting her hands on the book, now nestled inside the satchel she was carrying.
"You do realise that there are all manner of things that could go wrong."
The look that she shot him suggested to Scorpius that he had hit upon one of the pluses rather than one of the negatives, as he had intended.
Stepping in front of him, her heels hanging off the edge of the pavement, she said, "Well? Could I pass?"
Scorpius quickly looked her up and down, and then, after seeing a flicker of irritation in her eyes, repeated the motion more slowly. In truth, he had been attempting to avoid looking at her for too long. The sight had the unusual property of being both delightful and dismaying at the same time. There was something distinctly worrying about being aroused by the sight of his girlfriend in men's clothing, particularly since she had gone to some pains to hide the fact that she was, in fact, female. She had been quite successful, as well. Even her hair had been disguised, somehow with a host of grips that Scorpius had watched her slip strategically into place.
"It's never going to work," he told her.
Lily made a dismissive sound. "Well, it's the best I could do without using magic. I didn't want any of those nasty spells you Pureblood types place on things exploding in my face if I tried to enter using any."
Scorpius opened his mouth to object and then stopped. She may have had a point, regarding the consequences if they attempted to use magic. There had been rumours, over the years, the least worrisome of which involved an unapproved guest being dumped in the Thames from great height.
He reached out to grab her arm as she stopped rocking on her heels and stepped back onto the road. Making her look at him, he said, "Lily, are you really sure that you want to do this? I know that you think it's going to be fun, but if we do get caught…"
Determination washed over her expression, filling her brown eyes and leaving her lips thin and hard. The muscles under Scorpius's grip flexed.
"I have to do this," she said, the excited flush that had previously filled her cheeks taking on new meaning. "I thought that you understood that. I'll try it alone if I have to."
Scorpius dragged his eyes away from her, and towards Beetleby's. It looked no less daunting.
His hand fell away, releasing her. She was right. He did know how much it meant to her. He also knew that he could not let her attempt it alone.
-
"She's got some odd ideas, my sister. You never quite know what she's going to come up with next."
Albus's words, spoken (Scorpius had assumed) in jest weeks before, had rattled resoundingly around his head the first time that he had visited his newly acquired girlfriend's flat. To begin with, he could not help but feel that she had exaggerated somewhat by calling it a 'flat,' when it could more accurately be described as a half-furnished basement bedsit located beneath her uncle George's shop. As a consequence, Scorpius had become accustomed to hearing all sorts of strange sounds emanating from the upper reaches of the building. He hardly flinched, nowadays, when there was an explosion. Still, Lily loved it there, even if it was still used as an overspill storeroom for the shop above, and despite the fact that it always smelled strange every Thursday between three in the afternoon and nine in the evening.
Late that afternoon, on the day of his induction into the criminal fraternity, and as he lounged on top of the rumple sheets dressing Lily's bed, Scorpius could not help but remember his friend's observation. Peculiar noises seeped through the ceiling from the shop above, accompanied by the occasional more mundane sound of something being dropped. They were countered by the sound of Lily singing in the bathroom, her voice low and secretive. He smiled while listening to her, lulled by the sound, and twisted further into the sheets that had bunched around his waist. The movement brought him closer to her side of the bed, where her scent still clung to the pillow. Ice-cream had not been the only celebratory item on Lily's agenda for the day.
The bathroom door opened quietly, releasing a cloud of steam. Lily emerged from it looking fresh and bright, wrapped only in an oversized towel. She did not notice him at first, but instead moved over to the wobbly ancient wardrobe that stood against the wall at the opposite end of the bed. From this she pulled a suspiciously familiar looking bundle of clothing. As she turned, her eyes widened perceptibly as they landed on him.
"You're supposed to be asleep," she told him, her eyes skipping away from his inquiring gaze.
"I was. But then something else went to sleep."
Lily raised an eyebrow as she glanced at him. Scorpius wriggled the fingers of his right hand, which was still firmly attached to the headboard of her bed by means of a brilliantly coloured pink scarf. A lime-green cousin was wrapped firmly around his left wrist.
She deposited the bundle on the end of the bed, and climbed up onto it. The towel struggled to stay in position as she moved up the bed, and straddled his hips. Her hands skimmed up his sides, making him squirm, before continuing up his arms. They covered his, warming his cool fingers and fighting back the pins and needles that had been threatening. She looked down at him from between her outstretched arms.
"It isn't about me, you know. Not really."
"What isn't?" Scorpius asked, flexing his fingers experimentally. Lily's grip tightened around them again, instructing him to pay closer attention. When he met her eyes, he discovered that her expression was surprisingly serious.
"The book, Beetleby's… everything."
Everything, Scorpius suspected, meant the various risks that Lily had shown herself willing to take over the last few months. Not in Paris, when they were flying, or during the mad rush of many of their more adventurously located shagging sessions, but rather those risks that made the hairs on the back of Scorpius's neck crawl in a distinctly uncomfortable fashion. He suspected that she had only told him half of what she had gotten up to since leaving Hogwarts. That half was more than enough leave him wanting to bundle her up and hide her away somewhere safe. Not that Lily would ever allow him to do that, of course.
He realised that he was not quite sure whether he wanted to hear what she was about to say, whatever it was. He almost said as much as she tugged on one of the knotted scarves, though the look on her face stopped him. Lily did not open up often, as he had discovered much to his frustration.
"There is a man, staying at the club."
Scorpius raised an eyebrow, and waited for her to elaborate. He rolled his hand in a circle as it was released, and then reached out towards her. Lily squirmed back from his cool fingers, bringing herself into contact with a portion of his anatomy that was only too happy to be discovered.
"A foreign diplomat," she added, turning her attention to the other knot. "One I had the dubious pleasure of meeting when I was travelling with my aunty Luna, at a dinner that we had both been invited to. He's friends with the club president, and certain other influential members." Unsavoury might have been a better description, if Lily's tone was taken into consideration.
"You want me to help you break into the club so that you can catch up with an old flame?" Scorpius asked. His tone was incredulous, unconsciously mimicking his earlier one, when Lily had first told him what she had in mind for them that evening. He felt a flicker of jealousy, much as he always did when she discussed her time abroad. It was a huge portion of her life that he would never have an influence on.
"You need to learn to listen," she replied, rolling her eyes and lightly slapping him on the chest. Scorpius grabbed her hands and rolled them over, covering her body with his in the process. Lily shifted her hips, letting him settle even as she twisted her hands out of his grasp. The towel parted under the strain, revealing a healthy amount of pale, freckled flesh. Scorpius' fingers sank into the mattress on either side of her.
"I hardly think it's a joking matter," he said stiffly.
"Oh, I agree. But you forget that I said that meeting him was a dubious pleasure."
"Then why do you want to see him again?"
Lily reached up and neatened his fringe with the tips of her fingers. Their earlier exertions had left it plastered to his forehead. "You're jumping to conclusions. I don't want to see him again. In fact that's the last thing that I want. He stole something from a friend of mine, and I want to get it back."
"Why doesn't this friend of yours just report him to the Aurors?" he asked, trying to ignore the way that she was now inspecting the sensitive flesh of his neck, still ruddy from where a third, electric blue scarf had previously been wrapped. Her touch stirred memories that made his cock twitch, though Lily did not appear to notice.
Instead, she shook her head, and said, "She can't. It's too risky."
"Can't your father do something?"
"No. I have thought this through, you know. There isn't enough evidence for my dad to do anything. You've got to understand, his family is very influential in his country. If he was arrested, whether there was enough evidence or not, there would be bad consequences for my friend."
Scorpius frowned. "Consequences for her? What about consequences for you?"
Lily smiled softly. "You're worried about me."
"Of course I'm worried," he retorted a little huffily.
"You're not supposed to be sweet, Scorpius Malfoy. You're supposed to be a bad boy, just the right side of dangerous."
He smiled, despite himself. "Stop trying to distract me. You've not finished explaining."
She sighed. "This wizard, he's rotten through and through. He's lied and cheated his way through life, and stealing from my friend was not the least of his crimes where she was concerned."
Despite himself, Scorpius felt compelled to ask, "What did he take?"
"Some papers – deeds, letters, and a notebook. They contain some very sensitive information. He keeps them in a magical puzzle box, which is hidden by a complex transfiguration spell. They're ancient, and powerful. I doubt even Minerva McGonagall would be able to crack them." She made a frustrated little sound. "If you do manage that, the box itself can only be opened with a drop of his blood."
"Then how do you… The book. There's something in that bloody book."
"I wasn't certain there would be, not at first. I mean, I was working on a gut feeling." She winced. "Sorry about that."
Scorpius pursed his lips thoughtfully. He should have been angry. She had, after all, encouraged him to put himself at risk on the basis of a hunch. Being angry with Lily was something that he had yet to perfect, however.
"You're not going to drop this, are you?" At the shake of her head, he shifted his weight and leaned down to place a kiss on her forehead. Lily clutched his shoulders.
-
Lily Potter had not just taken possession of his spine. She had, Scorpius concluded, pilfered away ownership of something considerably more vital to his wellbeing, as well. As he watched her search the diplomat's room, a growing air of concern forming around her, it dawned on him that it was quite possible that his heart was lost as well.
Breaching the aged and venerable walls of Beetleby's had proved to be surprisingly easy. Lily's disguise was apparently more convincing than he could ever have imagined. But, then, he was intimately acquainted with what lay beneath it. Only the barest murmuring from the portraits that lined the halls had accompanied their passage as Scorpius had, with unerring knowing, navigated them both through them. He knew the part of Beetleby's where it was most likely that Lily's nefarious diplomat would be housed. A simple inspection of the register while the attendant had been off dealing with a conveniently timed disruption had confirmed his suspicions. The room key, hung inside a small cabinet, had informed the pair that the diplomat had ventured out for the evening.
Still, as they had approached the room, Scorpius had felt his nerves begin to jangle. If his grandfather was to see him, the game would be up. Disguise or no, Lucius would recognise his companion instantly. The man's obsession with the Potters had hardly dulled over the years. The fact that his grandson was dating one of them had led to what could only be described as a squabble between Scorpius's father and the man.
He should have known that their good luck would not last. So far they had been searching the diplomat's room for nearly half an hour, and as yet they had not managed to find anything useful. If ever the box had been in the room, it was not there now.
Lily made a frustrated little sound and dropped heavily onto the end of the ornate bed. It was only when she lifted a hand and made to furiously rub her eyes that Scorpius realised that she was crying. He set the jug he had been inspecting down on the dresser, and quickly crossed to her side. She looked up at him with watery eyes when he brushed her hair back, away from her face.
"What do you want to do?"
"I don't know. I was certain that it would be here." She broke off, her eyes flying towards the dark wood door. Scorpius's shoulders tensed as he too heard noises coming from the other side.
"I don't believe this," Lily murmured as the door opened and two figures entered, wands drawn.
-
It was an interesting fact that, despite his family connections, Scorpius had never seen the inside of a gaol cell. It was something that he had prided himself on. People might say whatever they wanted about the Malfoys, but they could no longer say that they were thoroughly corrupt. Unfortunately, the experience was thus far proving to be everything that he had suspected it would be, from the claustrophobic conditions to the dank smell of a hundred other previous occupants that had seeped into the walls. Worse yet, he was isolated. Lily had been whisked away the moment that they had been Apparated into Auror headquarters.
He completed his fiftieth circuit of small room, and dropped onto the low stone bench. The thin mattress did little to cushion his landing.
When the diplomat – who, as it turned out, was not so much as a diplomat as a visiting prince – had returned, he had been greeted with the sight of the pair being escorted from his room. The look on his face as he had spied Lily had made Scorpius's stomach lurch. Lily's assessment of the man seemed understated, in retrospect. It had taken all Scorpius's willpower not to snap or fly at the man - anything to stop him from leering at Lily.
From Beetleby's, they were unceremoniously Apparated to the Auror headquarters. Any hope that he might have been harbouring that his girlfriend's influential parents might have stopped them from being arrested had been cruelly dashed. While he was questioned in quick, accusatory fashion, Lily was being interrogated for much longer. Indeed, it went on so long that by the time that he heard a clunk and creak, and the cell door swung open, he was already beginning to contemplate the idea that she might have been whisked away by her father after all.
She looked haggard yet angry as she was shooed into the cell. She glared so fiercely at the man who had escorted her that Scorpius was surprised that the man did not flinch. Instead, he merely closed the door and locked it.
Lily kicked the door, and then promptly found herself enclosed in her boyfriend's arms. She wriggled, attempting to squirm away. Scorpius tightened his hold, feeling his heart pound in his chest. Until that moment, he had not realised precisely how concerned he had been, though the notion that he could be even more worried than his jangling nerves had suggested seemed incredible. Even when Lily dug her elbow into his side, he did not let go.
"You're in serious danger of accidentally breaking at least one of my ribs," she told him finally. "You need to let go."
Scorpius drew in a deep breath, his arms still clamped around her. Lily growled, and twisted until, finally, he had no choice but to loosen them, if only so that she could turn to look at him. Her nose caught on his chin as she tilted her head back to look at him, causing her to yelp. A second later Scorpius echoed her as strong little fingers nipped his side. He made himself take a step back, his hand pressing against the newly sore portion of flesh.
"Right, okay… You're right." He stopped, and drew in a shuddering breath. Running a hand back through his hair, he said, "What happened? You were a long time."
Lily's expression softened. She reached out towards him. Her hand replaced his, slipping over his side. She rubbed a small circle, obviously intending to sooth him.
"I'm fine," she said. "I pretty much know everyone who works here. Or they know me, anyway. I think everyone is a bit miffed, but they wouldn't do anything to me. Some of them are even a bit bemused. Besides, they let me in here, didn't they?"
"You asked to be put in here?"
"I wanted to see you. I knew you'd be worried."
"Damn right I was worried. I didn't have a clue what was happening. I…"
She went up on her toes, and brushed her lips over his. Her touch was soft, reassuring, and it stopped him mid-sentence. Scorpius followed her lead, allowing the kiss to deepen when Lily did not immediately draw away. After the emotional rollercoaster that he had been enduring for the last hour, it was almost too much for Scorpius. Relief coursed through him, prompted simply by the knowledge that Lily was once again close enough to touch.
It was foolish, letting himself be tugged along as the air around Lily quickened, the change barely perceptible but to someone who was growing increasingly used to her moods. Scorpius knew that. Outside the door to the cell, he did not doubt that a guard lurked. The hollow, stone-clad box they were being detained in would probably amplify every rustle of clothing, whimper, and moan. Only Lily's lips tracking down, from the corner of his mouth, along the length of his jaw to his ear, stopped his imagination from stalling at the thought of how the groan he gave might be interpreted. Even if no one was standing on the other side, there was always the chance that someone might walk by. The notion sent an involuntary surge of blood through Scorpius, despite himself.
He swallowed, gently pushing her away, and said rather half-heartedly, "Lily, someone might…"
Her fingertips insinuated themselves into his shirt, teasing the muscle underneath. "I know. Stop thinking so much."
He looked down at her in something akin to awe, though he should not have been surprised. Lily did like risk, after all. She had convinced him that he rather liked it, too. It dawned on him that risk might well be precisely what she needed at that moment.
The layout of the cell was not conducive to comfort; that much they discovered quickly. The bench was too low - too hard - too narrow, even with the mattress. The rough walls scratched the tender skin of Lily's back, even though her shirt. Scorpius was all too interested in dispensing with that particular item of clothing, anyway, along with a certain other, far flimsier piece that would later ended up tossed against the door.
He gloried in releasing her breasts from the tight makeshift wrappings that she had wound again and again around her chest to hide the feminine telltale shape of her body. The low, promising sound that she made when he knelt before her as she perched on the bench, and lowered his head to suckle first on one swollen nipple and then the other, made his fingers clench around her splayed thighs. It was not long before he felt her small hand cover the crown of his head, and insistently force it downwards. Scorpius's token resistance was met by Lily tossing the loose wrapping at him, while saying, "I could tie you up and make you. Imagine that – being found bound, and maybe even gagged. I could tell them that it was self-defence, if someone came in."
"Lily," he protested softly, shocked. His eyes widened as he peered up at her. "You wouldn't."
Her lips curved. "Back to it," she said, giving him an expectant look.
The taste of her skin made his tongue tingle as he traced a path over her stomach, to the vivid, neatly trimmed curls beneath. They tickled his nose as he leaned forwards, first nuzzling and then parting the slick folds being presented to him. Lily squirmed, flexing her hips and lifting one leg to hang over his shoulder. Her thigh was hot against his ear and cheek as he set about the task of pleasing her.
"Slower," she instructed. "There's no rush."
Scorpius begged to differ, though he did not argue. Instead, he ran his hands up the length of her thighs to carefully hold her in place, and set about licking, and suckling, and stroking, until a short, sharp cry burst forth from her lips.
Lily was panting shallowly, when he looked up, having slumped against the cold wall. One hand lazily played with her right breast, tenderly caressing the plump, ruddy point. She slowly opened her eyes, a pleased smirk spreading over her sweet, deceptively innocent lips, and then held out a hand to him. Scorpius disentangled himself from her legs before leaning over to place a gentle kiss on her mouth.
"If someone heard that, then it's entirely your fault."
"Maybe we should have gagged you," he teased in return.
Lily wrinkled her nose, and then kissed him again. One hand crawled over his stomach to cup the jutting fabric-covered erection that was still taunting him. "We'll see who needs gagging," she said, a determined gleam entering her eye. Scorpius trembled visibly as she parted the fabric, and snaked a hand inside.
Using one foot, she nudged him backwards until there was enough room for her to settle herself on his lap. Scorpius bit his lip to stop from groaning, prompting Lily to chuckle. She wriggled again and he grabbed her hips almost desperately.
"Lily, please," he said breathily.
For moment he thought that she would not heed him, but then she unfurled her arms from around him, and simply said, "Okay."
She fastened her mouth to his, stifling the groan that erupted from his lips as she lifted herself, and guided him to her. Then, suddenly, he was there, buried deep inside of her. Any hope of keeping control was flittered away the moment that Lily thrust herself down, her body instinctively clenching around him even before she had begun to move. The whispered, almost shocked, 'Sweet Merlin, you fill me' that found his ears was very nearly as exciting as the moment when she began to move. He gripped her backside, encouraging her.
Lily's mouth was an education, not just in what it could do, but in the things that tended to emerge from it. Until her, Scorpius had thought that swearing was something that girls only did when they were about to throw something at him. Lily, though, could string together a list of expletives so long that he was the one that ended up blushing. The stream at present was punctuated with kisses, gasps, and moans - sounds that Scorpius mimicked as her nails dug into his shoulders, no doubt leaving half-moons behind. Later, Lily would carefully kiss each one away, one at a time; at that moment they were delicious bites of pain making him increase his efforts.
Short hard thrusts followed a series of shallower ones, until a long deep shiver ran through her. Lily arched her back, conveniently thrusting her breasts forwards. Scorpius briefly ducked his head, his mouth seeking out one swaying mound, his teeth grazing over an upturned nipple.
"Harder," she complained, though she was already pushing him away. A moment later, Scorpius found himself flat on his back, on the cold cell floor. For a heart-stopping moment they were free of each other; the separation almost painful for the young man on his back. Then Lily resettled herself atop of him, murmuring appreciatively.
The sight of her breasts, bouncing provocatively in front of him, was enough to prompt Scorpius into action. As he reached towards her, Lily grabbed his wrists. She curled her fingers around his, forcing his hands to the ground, so that they were pinned on either side of his head. It was not long before she came, Scorpius following immediately after as he felt her spasm around him. It was hot, and wet, and perfect. It was Comstock's party all over again, and he was down on his knees, unwillingly clutching at the front of Lily's now thoroughly rumpled dress.
-
He was wearing her shirt. Or, rather, he was wearing a shirt which had once been his, and which Lily had acquired for their disastrous mission. Since it was missing a significant number of buttons, they had decided that it would be better for her to take the one that he had been wearing, which was in markedly better shape.
The change, while sensible, elicited more than one shocked look and even the occasional snigger as the pair were led through the Auror offices. The matter was not made any less embarrassing by the fact that their destination was an ominous looking office, inside of which Harry J. Potter was waiting. Even Lily's cheeks had taken on a slight reddish hue as they drew nearer to the room. It darkened noticeably when they entered the office to find, not only her father, but her uncle Ron, and the cool, stylishly-dressed figure of Draco Malfoy.
Scorpius's father arched an eyebrow as he examined the state of his son's outfit. He did not bother to disguise the knowing look that swept across his features at the sight of the rather vivid bruise that Lily had left on his neck during one of her more feral moments, or the way that his eyes darted towards the girl herself. For his part, Harry just sighed and brought a hand up to rub at the bridge of his nose.
"I don't want you to open your mouths," he told them tiredly. "In fact opening your mouths would be a very bad idea. I talked to the boys who brought you in, and they've told me everything I need to know."
"But Dad…" Lily started to say.
"They've told me everything I need to know," he repeated. "I don't, for instance, need to know that you broke into that man's room looking for a certain something which is now missing."
Scorpius frowned, confused. He briefly met his father's gaze, and felt his eyes widen. Lily opened her mouth to protest her innocence, but stopped when she felt Scorpius grab her hand. His father was up to something, that much was certain.
"You're free to go. Thankfully, there won't be any charges. I think we've managed to convince everyone that you were both just being exceptionally stupid."
"Thank you," Lily said quietly.
Harry gave a wry smile. "Go on, get out of here."
Scorpius tugged Lily from the room before she could say any more. He breathed a sigh of relief as they emerged from the room, and glanced back at his father, who had followed them.
It was not until they were outside the building, under the night sky, that Draco spoke. Reaching into his robes, he pulled out a small package wrapped in non-descript brown paper. This, he held out to Lily, while saying, "I believe this is what you were after."
Lily stared at him in open astonishment. "But how…"
"That is something that you don't need to know. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to report to my wife. It was all I could do to stop her from Apparating here herself, when she heard what had happened." Looking at Scorpius, he said, "I would avoid any and all forms of communication for a few days, if I was you. Maybe the Howlers will self-combust before they find you."
Scorpius winced, prompting Draco to smile. "Try not to get into any more trouble before you get home."
"How did he do it?" Lily asked after the elder Malfoy had Apparated away.
"It's probably best not to ask," Scorpius admitted. Slipping his arm around her shoulders, he said, "Looks like I won't be able to go home for a few days, I guess."
Lily turned so that she could look up at him. "Is that a hint?"
"Could be."
"I suppose I do owe you one."
"Or two," Scorpius replied. "Or more, if you're so inclined. Is that a yes then?"
Lily pursed her lips, appearing to think the matter over. "It's Sunday," she mused. "The shop will be closed. I suppose you could keep me company."