Disclaimer: I own nothing you recognize. This was written for the 'So what I'm obsessed with Next-Gen' challenge on HPFC forums (which is pretty much the perfect challenge for me :P )
The challenge: My given pairing was Scorpius/Lucy (again!) and my prompts were 'pizza' and 'parchment'.
It's yellow.
Or maybe it's orange.
Scorpius tilts his head, frowning at the slice of supposedly-edible food in Lucy's hands. "Isn't pizza the name of a tower somewhere?"
Lucy rolls her eyes, though there's an affectionate smile on her face. "That's the Leaning Tower of Pisa, you dolt. This is pizza. With a 'z'. Two 'z's, actually."
"It seems just as stupid," he says bluntly, shooting her a grin when she smacks him. "Where do you even find that in Hogsmeade?"
"I didn't," Lucy shrugs. "My mother owled it to me last week in one of those preservation wrappers that all the restaurants are using these days. This is my last slice."
Experimentally, he pokes at a bit of cheese sliding off the bread. "It seems tremendously appetizing," he drawls in an emphasis-for-emphasis imitation of his grandfather's accent.
Lucy giggles. "Oh, it is," she assures him. "If you like cheese at all, you'll love pizza."
Scorpius eyes her doubtfully. "You know that was sarcasm, right?"
"You know you're being stupid, right?" she mimics back at him. "Seriously—it's just cheese on bread."
He grins. "Touché," he remarks. "But I think I'll pass."
"You're being ridiculous."
"You're being stubborn."
"Scorpius."
"Lucy."
"I don't know why I put up with you."
"Why, it's for my dashing good looks and delightful charm, of course."
"You are such a narcissist. Does it come with the blondness?"
"Love you, too, Luce. And you really don't have room to talk about my 'blondness', Miss It's-Strawberry-Blond'."
"It is! And that has nothing to do with pizza, anyway!"
"Yeah, well, I—"
Scorpius stiffens up as they round a corner in the direction of the ice cream parlor. Walking straight towards the two of them was none other than Rose Weasley, hand-in-hand with Alec Wood and laughing her head off at some joke he'd just said.
"Oh, Scorpius," Lucy sighs, putting her pizza in her pocket after rewrapping it and slipping a comforting arm through his, but he stays tense as he watches them.
Neither Rose nor Alec have noticed the two yet, and the scene only gets worse as they come closer. Rose has her bouncy red curls twisted up in a French braid, and her perfectly-done make-up highlights every inch of her fair, lightly-freckled face. Alec looks completely smitten as she darts up to kiss his cheek, his hand fitting neatly around her slender waist.
Finally, Rose's brown eyes travel away from Alec's smiling face and straight into Scorpius's stricken gaze. She cringes, quickly glancing away at the first thing she sees, which happens to be her cousin.
Lucy takes the opportunity to tug Scorpius away, shooting Rose a glare as she does so. "Come on, Scorp," she whispers as they walk, him still fixated on Rose, who hasn't moved since the awkward encounter.
"She's not worth it," Lucy adds, but then notices that Alec has finally dragged Rose away and that Scorpius's gaze has shifted to something on the ground.
"What's that?" he asks, his normally cheerful voice now deep and quiet. "Lucy, I—I think she dropped it."
"Don't pick it up, then," Lucy warns, feeling her heart break as he begins moving anyway. "Scorpius, this isn't healthy! She broke up with you; you should let her be and stay away from her until—"
Scorpius kneels and picks up whatever it was Rose dropped and then interrupts her. "It's a piece of parchment."
Lucy sighs and finishes, "Until you get over her," before walking forward to see what he's got.
Mrs. Rose Weasley-Malfoy glares up at her from the piece of parchment and she has to blink to make sure that it's real.
"She carries that around in her pocket while she's dating another guy?" Lucy asks in disbelief.
"Guess so," Scorpius murmurs, sounding just as confused as she's feeling. "Lucy, do you think…do you think she may still have feelings for me?"
"I don't know," she admits. "Are you going to keep it?"
He chews on his bottom lip, deliberating. Lucy glances away in the direction that Rose and Alec have gone and finds that they've gotten into a fight halfway towards Madam Puddifoot's. Maybe, she thinks wistfully, maybe Rose and Scorpius were just meant to be, no matter who or what else is in the way.
But before she can schedule an ice cream session with Molly, Scorpius crumples up the paper and then sets fire to it.
"I really don't want to," he tells her with a small smile, and she remembers that she'd asked him a question just a moment ago. "Luce? You okay?"
"Yeah, I just—are you sure?" she asks, amazed and not a little dubious of his ability to move on. Rose Weasley is not an easy girl to get over, as evidenced by the numerous letters Lucy's seen her receive every summer from heartbroken ex-boyfriends who want another chance.
Scorpius looks conflicted for a moment, staring at Rose as she tosses her braid over her shoulder and levels a surely-furious glare at a bewildered Alec before storming away in their direction.
Before she can reach them, though, Scorpius turns away, offering Lucy a lopsided smile that always makes her heart beat a little faster than is strictly normal. He holds out his arm in an invitation, and, out of the corner of her eyes, she sees Rose stop and stare in astonishment.
"You know, you may just be the first boy in our year who's truly gotten over Rose Weasley," Lucy tells him, returning his smile with one of her as she nestles her hand in the crook of his elbow.
He chuckles, a little bitterly, but with enough real humor to satisfy her concern. "Maybe not completely," he admits, grinning as she reaches over and brushes his bangs out of his gray eyes with her free hand. "But…well, I guess it's a start."
Lucy glances back and sees Rose still standing there, staring at the two of them with her arms crossed and a frown marring her pretty face. She smiles, not out of vindication, because she does love her cousin, but out of second-hand sadness that Rose could have ever thrown this wonderful guy away.
"Of course it is," she says, turning her helplessly-bright beam back on Scorpius. "And you know what else you should start?"
"Don't," he warns, though there's a fond grin playing on his lips.
"Eating pizza," she finishes, giggling at the exasperated look on his face. "Oh, come on! I still have that slice."
"You're delusional if you think I'm touching that leaning tower of cheese."
She knows Rose is watching as they walk away, but she really can't bring herself to care. Not when she's got Scorpius by her side and butterflies in her stomach.
(And, of course, pizza in her pocket).
Author's Notes: Clearly, someone must really want me to write Scorpius/Lucy XD And just when I'd fallen in love with Scorpius/Dominique, too! I hope you guys liked it, though. Any comments on the characterization would be much appreciated, since this is a different Lucy from my last oneshot, and I would love feedback on what you liked or didn't like! Oh, and on Rose, too—I tried to write her as not completely mean and a little sympathetic, which is hard, since I honestly don't like her much :P
So, yeah, please review! Thanks!