Lily was exhausted; every nerve in her body seemed to cry in pain with even the slightest bit of movement. She knew it would be hard, she had seen all her cousins and both her brothers go through this but never thought she would herself be wishing to drop out of Hogwarts, OWL year was truly the worst of all her years at Hogwarts.

She groaned her head hanging in her exhaustion, her feet dragging against the stone floors as she willed her body to move. When she finally did reach the Library Lily threw herself into the nearest seat plopping her head down on her folded arms and closing her eyes.

"Alright there Potter?" Drawled a familiar voice breaking her out of her slumber a few minutes later, opening an eye Lily looked to her right noticing the platinum blonde settling himself on the seat beside her his face looking worried, his bag hung of the chair his hands busy getting a parchment, quill and ink bottle settled on the table in front of him but his eyes seemed fixed on her tired ones.

"As well as can be," Lily replied a groan caught in her throat, she noticed Scorpius raising a pale brow at her answer probably surprised with the civility of her tone she mused.

"I didn't think OWL's were going to be this hard, that's all," Lily shrugged self consciously now sitting upright in her chair eyes downcast her fingers scratching at the ancient wood of the Library table.

"Wait till you get to NEWT level OWL's would look like a breeze," Scorpius commented light heartedly, this time Lily did groan.

"Please don't remind me..."

"If you want to get some rest Lily we can do this later on," Scorpius offered, noticing the bags under her eyes and the slouch to her shoulders. He was worried that she hadn't thrown one profanity at him in the whole conversation and instead seemed more civil. He was quite surprised when she didn't comment on his use of her first name and instead replied, "Nah I'm sure I can do this. It's only fair after all you're at NEWT level and still somehow find time for Head Boy Duties and to tutor me in transfiguration."

Lily shrugged nonchalantly bringing out her own set of parchment and quills and preparing to get to work, "So Mr. Head Boy what's on the agenda today," she asked, her fingers deftly moving over the parchment noting down the date her tongue peeking out from the corner.

There was silence for a few minutes as Scorpius stared at the red head before him he couldn't remember her ever talking to him in a civil manner let alone acknowledge and possibly compliment his work ethic. When he hadn't spoken for some time Lily looked up to find the blond staring at her wide eyed a quill held loosely in his hand as it dripped ink over the previously pristine sheaf of parchment.

"Are you alright Malfoy?"

"Huh?" Scorpius asked dumbly, waking up from his stupor and his eyes still fixed on the girl in front of him. Her brown eyes stared back in question not anger and that surprised him, also delighted him more than he was willing to admit.

The girl before him had always been fascinating to him since the day he had spotted her sitting in a compartment with her tiny cousin Hugo, jumping with excitement in the small space for her first train ride to Hogwarts.

He still didn't understand what had overtaken his senses at the time his mouth blurting out the invitation for her to sit with him and his friends in their compartment before he could process it himself. She had been excited at first but he couldn't really remember what he had said next only that it was meant to impress her but he ended up making her angry instead. It was probably an offhand comment that he had made about the size of her and her cousin, they really were quite small for first years, or something along those lines that had started their petty rivalry.

Now looking at the girl sitting before him he could see why he had lost all capability of speech and thought that first time or all the times after. When he had first realised his feelings for her he had been horrified then scared for his life because he knew this small witch could best him at anything and for some reason that made his unreasonable crush on her grown even more.

Shaking himself out of his thoughts Scorpius focused his attention on the present, "So there are a couple things I'm going to need your help with but first let's just put down the schedules for the prefects for this week yeah?"

At her nod he passed her his notes, they continued to work in silence only a whispered conversation here or there when Scorpius pointed out adjustments to patrolling schedules to Lily. Once their work was done and copies of the schedule made Scorpius pulled out another set of parchments from his bag.

"So one of my plans for this year and the successive years was to set up a tutoring club of sorts for struggling students..."

"A tutoring club?" Lily cocked an eyebrow at the Malfoy heir questioning his choice of words.

"For the lack of a better word," Scorpius shrugged at her seriously and continued, his eye catching the small smile that flitted across her face his heart beat picking up a bit at the gesture, "anyway, I was thinking that students who are brilliant in certain respective subjects could take up tutoring for the younger years and whoever else might need it."

"Like what you're doing with me? Tutoring me in Transfiguration," Lily asked curiously her face furrowed in concentration.

"Yes exactly," Scorpius nodded. "I'm aware that you're exceptionally gifted at Potions and Defence so maybe you could help with tutoring students in those subjects?" Scorpius asked hopefully his eyes wide in pleading.

Lily looked at him surprised that he knew her strong subjects but chuckled when she saw he was turning up the charm to get her to join his pet project her eyes flitting to the bits of parchment now scattered about the table with ideas on running the sessions.

"Ok so just to be clear you want students who excel at certain subjects to come together and help each other, their peers and younger years at the subjects they most struggle at?" Scorpius nodded, shrugging his shoulders in agreement.

"So that's all you needed from me?"

"Well I know how busy OWL year is and I was hoping you would say yes, that and help me find other students who would be willing to donate their time," Scorpius admitted looking imploringly at the red head. He had managed to shortlist some students from his year willing to donate their time to tutor but for this to work he needed a lot more volunteers than he already had.

"Huh so Scorpius Malfoy is trying to start his own version of the Dumbledore's army," Lily teased, tapping her finger against her chin an looking at the boy with narrowed eyes but he noticed her lips were turned up in a teasing smile.

"It's not an army..."

"An army of tutors whose sole goal is to help the population of Hogwarts..." Lily continued over his protests.

"Would you stop Potter and just tell me if you'll help!" Scorpius asked, rubbing his fingers on the crook of his nose trying to ebb away the headache building behind his eyes, he wasn't lying to Lily when he told her that OWL year would seem like nothing against the hell that NEWT's was, couple that with the added stress of Head duties, Quidditch practice and tutoring he was ready to fling himself of the Astronomy Tower just to end the torture.

"Sure I'll help. I know a few who might be interested in helping too," Lily beamed, "also some who might need the help."

Scorpius looked up at her in relief and gratitude, setting a parchment in front of her that already had some names written on it with names of subjects scribbled opposite them. "These are some of the students who need the help, I got some names from professors and some students themselves came up to me for help," Scorpius informed her, "go ahead and add the ones you feel need help we'll first enlist the tutors then ask these students if they are interested."

"Sounds good," Lily replied picking up her quill and scribbling down some names. Scorpius found himself fighting to keep the smile off his face for the rest of the evening as he rewound the time he had spent with Lily in the Library repeatedly earlier in the day, having a pleasant conversation for once with the fiery red head with no pointed wands, cruel jabs or insults thrown around.

Her plate was still full and untouched by the end of dinner and Lily could care less, her brother and cousins on the other hand seemed worried. Lily hadn't been blessed with the Weasely appetite for food but she still had never left a single meal untouched in all her years on this planet she was a growing girl after all.

Abigail who sat besides her, talking quietly with a classmate of hers also kept shooting her worried looks but Lily was lost in her own world, her mind was busy wandering the happenings of the day past analysing and dissecting each moment specifically the pleasant time she had had with her arch rival in the library.

Maybe arch rival was an overstatement, Lily thought, but it wasn't as if they had ever been fast friends. She hadn't been paying attention she realised having not noticed Malfoy maturing into a decent and well minded wizard but to be fair he never really had acted quite like the mature and responsible Head Boy he seemed to be now around her and she couldn't help but wonder why.

She found she was confused, it was difficult for her to meld the two Malfoys – one from the past and the other from earlier in the library and the past few evenings that she had gotten to know. He had been quiet and reserved, serious too about the work they were doing while she had been snappish and angry spewing insults at every opportunity that presented itself since the start of their punishment.

They had had their differences and he himself could be quite cruel with his jabs when in a fight but when she looked back she remembered the only time he had attacked her with said insults was when they had been fighting instead of randomly throwing them at her unlike the first few years where he had tried to get a rise out of her every chance he got.

Her conflicting thoughts chased her through dinner into night when she was lying down to sleep, her dreams dominated by a Scorpius smiling shyly at her praise when she had complimented his tutoring initiative. Modest, humble these words weren't something she had ever thought she would associate with the older Slytherin but now she wasn't so sure herself.

Over the next few days her eyes followed the blonde whenever she crossed him in the hallways or during meal times, their tutoring sessions grew more pleasant as she controlled her instincts to snap at him at every little joke he made or comment or when he dared to touch her wrist when correcting a wand movement that she just couldn't get right.

In fact that incident added to her growing confusion even more, his slight touch instead of getting her riled up had flustered her and she had stuttered her way throughout the rest of the session, he probably thought she was a bit of a dunce by now Lily thought dryly.

He even made sure that she didn't have a lot to do when helping him with his Head duties, which even though many and tended to keep him extremely busy and at times frustrated he refused take much help from her asking her to only focus on the formation of his proposed club as she also had to endure through the increased workload that came with being a fifth year. His worry for her was starting to melt her heart towards the Malfoy prince and that scared her.

It hadn't even been two weeks since the incident on the Quidditch pitch and the subsequent punishments they had received; as a result her fluctuating feelings were giving her whiplash, concerning her to the state of her mind. She had grown quiet as the days passed by trapped in her own head trying to sort out all the feelings and thoughts bombarding her at once.

Abigail, Terrance and Regis found themselves growing increasingly worried as they watched their mother go through the days, Abigail being in the same dorm as Lily had noticed her restlessness every night and the boys had watched as she grew quiet which was unprecedented even in the future. They loved their mother, truly but only father and Abby could really keep up with her. In fact Scorpius was quite fond of listening to the two females in his life jabbering away and always sported a contented smile when around them.

The three sat with their backs to the cold stone walls in their corridor once again, quietly whispering amongst each other, debating on whether or not to report the new developments to their uncle who after another day at Hogwarts following the night they had sat in this very same corridor and related their story to him had gone back home making them promise to keep him upraised of the happenings at Hogwarts through letters. In return he had continued to check on them through regular letters as well always using a different owl so as not to alert the rest of his family still at Hogwarts of his relationship with the three young Malfoys.

"I'm really worried about her," Abigail told her brothers biting her lip a frown marring her unlined features.

"I am too Abby but what are we going to tell him? Hey Uncle James it's probably nothing but guess what mom's gone quiet," Regis sneered at his twin, "Love your nephews and niece from the future?"

"No need to be a twat Reggy," Abby glared.

"Regis stop being twat and Abby Reggy is right," Terrence ordered his two siblings. "It isn't much in fact it could be nothing, for all we know she's worried about her OWL's," he shrugged.

"Please Terry you and I both know except for Transfiguration there isn't really a subject that would worry our mother much. She was and is one of the brightest witches of her age," Abby directed at the two.

"Now you're sounding like dad."

"Well he was right, I see it all the time," Abby said.

"We did too..."

"Not as our mother you idiot, I meant as a student now, I'm in all her classes remember and the professors love her."

"I have to agree with her there," Regis accepted, being in some of the same classes as his sister and mother he knew what his sister said to be true, "even Transfiguration not being her best subject Professor Thimbleton still loves her."

"Exactly!"

"So why is she acting like this? Do you think something must have happened? Something..."

"Stop worrying Terry, I doubt it's anything too bad," Abigail comforted.

"I'm can't not be worried Abby! What if we weren't meant to be here and our meddling has somehow damaged some part of the timeline..."

"How did we get from mother to timeline dear brother?" Regis asked irritated. Fifth year was hard and he was looking forward to going back to bed but his older brother with is muttering was making sure that he would not be able to have a restful sleep instead dreaming of being wiped completely from existence along with the nightly terrors about failing his OWL's that had plagued him for the past few weeks.

If he was going to be stuck in the past he would like to have enough OWL's to guarantee a job in the future as the vast fortune of the Malfoys would definitely be out of the question for him and his squabbling siblings. Of course his parents had made sure that all three children of theirs would not be dependent on their trust funds and had instilled a desire to prove themselves and stand up on their own two feet in them but all that money was still a good back up.

He too was worried but about not seeing his parents again and all his various cousins, of missing the Malfoy-Potter dinner parties that were always entertaining with his grandfathers bickering good naturedly, him and his cousins pulling some or the other prank that ended in a right chaos with them being grounded by their mothers and proud pats in secret from their fathers and his grandmothers cooking up a right beautiful feast.

The extended Weasely family too still had dinners bringing the cousins and their children together at the Burrow regularly where a very old but still energetic Molly Weasely along with her husband Arthur his Great Grandfather still cooked up a storm and knitted sweaters throughout the year to be able to gift each everyone in her big family every Christmas. He missed her homemade biscuits, his mothers loving pats on his head and grandmothers soft kisses, both his grandfather's proud hollering at every quidditch match at school, who now retired tried to attend as many of their grandchildren's' matches at school as they could.

He dreamed about returning home every night and had even resolved to finally ask Marissa Corner a fourth year Gryffindor he had liked since the day he met her out on a date. He knew the same was true for his siblings even though they didn't say so, it showed very clearly in the dark circles ringing their eyes, the tired tilts to their heads and sombre looks every morning.

He just wished that someone found a way back for them soon because he didn't know how long he could keep up this facade himself and by the looks of it his siblings too seemed to be at their breaking points.