Disclaimers: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by J.K. Rowling, various publishers including, but not limited to, Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros. Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

Author's Notes: This is the sequel to Scarlet. In case you can't be bothered to read that story (or you don't want to, and I won't blame you because it's not a story for everybody, please be aware that some scenes are very explicit), I'll stick a summary here: Lily Luna Potter was abducted when she was nine years old by Theodore Nott and Gregory Goyle, owners of an illegal brothel hidden in central London. The two considered her kidnapping their personal vendetta towards Harry Potter for having shunned their previous business. Lily's memory was wiped cleaned, her name was changed to Scarlet, and she was submitted to work as a prostitute until the age of fifteen. On Boxing Day following her fifteen birthday, a young man named Scorpius Malfoy received a two-hour-appointment with her as a Christmas present from his father. It was love at first sight, with her being beautiful and him being civil towards her, and after a lot of vicissitudes and some help from other people, Scorpius managed to return Lily to her family. And they lived happily ever after...

Right, to all my old readers... welcome back! I missed you so much! Hope you're ready to embark on a new adventure with Lily and Scorpius! And this time it really is an adventure: there are murders, unicorn slayers, mysterious plants, an even more mysterious Order and a lot of tasks that await our favourite couple. To all the people who didn't advise me to write a sequel to that story: I'm sorry I didn't listen to you, it was not exactly a choice as much as a necessity. A rabid plot bunny attacked me again and I had to get rid of it. Absolutely, don't read this if you don't want to! I won't hold any grudge against you! :D

Warning! The plot, the themes and the tone of this story are very different from Scarlet. And I wanted them to be exactly like that. I don't like clichés and I honestly hate when people write things that have been written and re-written over and over again, and the same thing goes for my works. If I wanted to write something similar to Scarlet I would have just continued to add chapters to that story, right? But that means that if you read that fanfiction for its strong themes, you might be a little disappointed with this sequel. Here there's fluff, romance, adventure, mystery, humour and so much snogging that I feel the urge to warn you for that (I'm not joking, honestly, there's a lot of kissing, so much you might find it cheesy beyond words). There's also a bit of family drama, a lot of emotions, and relationships that will be explored, a lot of family moments and a tinsy bit of sex. There's no cousincest, in case you were wondering. There are references to Scarlet, obviously. The style of my writing here is also slightly different from Scarlet. This is closer to my actual writing style, which means that chapters are longer, sentences are wordier and descriptions are more detailed.

I also feel the urge to let you know that I drew some inspiration for some of the later chapters directly from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. That's to tell you just how adventurous this is going to be! Also, I suck at writing mysteries and crimes, so any constructive criticism about that aspect of the plot is more than welcomed.

This is unbeta'd. Just like Scarlet. Sorry for any mistake you might find. I'm not an English mother-tongue. This will be made up of 20 chapters that range from 4,000 to 8,000 words and updates will come twice a week, every Wednesday and Saturday. I've already written and edited all chapters, so updates will be regular.

But you go ahead and enjoy this and if you do... well, the review button is right at the bottom of the page! :D But for now, thank you for reading!


Chapter One

Scorpius pushed the door to Miss Mitzy's School and Day-care for Magical Children open and walked into the building.

At that time of the evening, the school was bustling with life.

The children were screaming and running and hugging the parents that had come to retrieve them, and they were showing them drawings and telling them about their day at the school.

The parents seemed to try very hard to push their little arms into their coats, or to tie up their shoes and drag them outside to the Apparition point.

"Scorpius!" cried a tall, blonde girl, waving enthusiastically as she walked to him with a child wrapped tightly around her leg. "Lily is in the Ladybird Room with the toddlers," she told him needlessly. The Ladybird Room was Lily's classroom and the toddlers were the children to whom she taught. Still, the girl flashed him a smile which he thought had very little to do with the fact that she wanted to give him directions to his girlfriend. At that moment, though, another child went to hug her other leg and she almost tripped over with a gasp.

"Thank you, Mary," chuckled Scorpius as he walked past the crowd of children. He had to pay attention not to stumble over any of those midgets. Honestly, Lily and the other girls had to be saints to work there. Either that or they took some kind of calming potion to survive the day.

He walked into the Teddy Bear Room, where the older children who would have left for Hogwarts the following year were busy stuffing their things in their bags. There was a chorus of "Scorpius!" and some of the boys crowded around him. "Did you send anybody to Azkaban today?" someone asked. "Did you fight with some Dark Wizard?"

He smiled at them and nodded. "Oh yes," he replied, "we sent two Dark Wizards to Azkaban and fought with an Evil Hag." Nope, that was not true. He had sat at his desk all day, doing office work.

There was a murmur of "aaaah!" and "ooooh!" and the children looked at him in awe. Scorpius nodded smugly, then he chose a random head to pat gently and finally he threaded his way through them.

"Go, get ready for when your parents arrive," he told them, "if you're late I will have to send you to Azkaban!" He grinned as they scrambled on their feet to go back to their desks and finish getting ready, some of them laughed and some others looked almost genuinely scared.

He shook his head and kept walking.

The Ladybird Room had a red-painted door with big, black ovals on it to resemble a ladybird. It was the classroom where the toddlers had their lessons. Well, lessons… Most of the time they drew, they listened to stories, performed little plays amongst themselves and played the afternoons away. Lily was usually the one to teach them, even though at times Miss Mitzy herself came for some boring lessons on Wizarding etiquette.

But most of the times Lily was their only teacher.

She was – and Scorpius didn't think that just because he was madly in love with her – absolutely fantastic. No, honestly, she was. All the parents thought that and, even though she had only worked there since the previous September, she had already been nominated employee of the month twice in a row. The children loved her and Miss Mitzy had told Mr and Mrs Potter what a wonderful teacher she made. As if she had been born just for that job.

Scorpius still remembered the previous summer, right after Lily had graduated from Hogwarts, after only four years of school. Her mother had been absolutely terrified that she would go and start a career in the Quidditch League just like she herself had done, and maybe leave Grimmauld Place for some flat somewhere close to where her team trained. On the other hand, her father had been worried that she would have wanted to join the Aurors to be close to Scorpius and maybe fight evil wizards of the same kind as Nott.

Instead, Victoire had told her that at Miss Mitzy's – the school that her son Remus was attending – they were looking for a new teacher to look after the children aged two to five.

And Lily loved children.

And after a first few days to test Lily and her affinity with children, Miss Mitzy herself had seemed to have forgotten all her fears of having an ex-prostitute with a difficult childhood filled with abuses and rapes and tortures close to her precious students. Lily was the sweetest, most patient and adorable young lady she had ever had the fortune to have in her staff. Her words, not Scorpius'.

She had talked to Mr and Mrs Potter and had let them know that she had decided to hire Lily straightaway and to give her the Ladybird classroom. And Lily was just the happiest girl on earth. And when she was happy, then Scorpius was the happy too.

He pushed the door of the Ladybird Room open and peered inside.

His girlfriend – Merlin! How much he loved to say that word when he talked about her! Even if she had been his girlfriend for almost five years now, every time he called her that he felt some kind of nice twisting in his guts (especially in front of Albus when the dark haired man was in between a girlfriend and another) – was crouching next to a child who was painting something with a focused expression on his face. Her cheek was covered in colourful fingermarks and there was another toddler who was using a red marker to colour the white pinafore on her back. Another child was sitting on her thighs and dozing off with his head against her chest.

"She's never going to notice that you are here if you don't call her."

Scorpius turned to find himself staring at his second cousin, a tall, blue-haired man who was leaning against the doorframe.

"I just wanted to—"

"Look at her?" asked Teddy with a grin. "That's sweet."

Scorpius flushed magenta as he tried to mumble something that meant that he didn't just want to look at her. But he himself couldn't understand his words.

"I meant it, Scorpius," Teddy reassured him gently. "I think it's sweet." He turned to look at Lily and sighed. "But she has twelve of those midgets there, she'll never notice if you don't wave at her. Believe me, I have one and it's more than enough to keep you distracted." He took a step towards the middle of the classroom and shouted, "Oi, Lily, your Prince Charming is here."

Scorpius had just the time to half-heartedly roll his eyes at Teddy before he looked at Lily and a dumb smile painted over his face. Lily was beaming at him from amongst the children and he felt the urge to wave faintly at her.

She gently eased the child on her leg into a chair and laughed as she noticed that the one at her back was colouring her pinafore.

Then she crossed the classroom with some quick steps and threw her arms around Scorpius' neck as she stood on tiptoes to kiss him.

Her lips were soft and she tasted of chocolate, but she smelled of crayons and paper.

"Hmm," hummed Scorpius against her lips, "did you have a nice day?"

She tilted her head back and beamed at him. "Oh yes," she replied, "we coloured some cards for Valentine's Day, and then we played hide-and-seek and we had some Chocolate Frogs this afternoon and then we coloured a bit more and—"

He brought a finger to her cheek and traced over the fingermarks. "Yes, you coloured," he chuckled, "and someone coloured you…"

She giggled and kissed him again, her fingers threading in his blond hair.

"Hey Scorpius," called Teddy from the other side of the room, "you are distracting my son's teacher."

Scorpius sighed, and Lily giggled again. She let him go and turned towards the children who – for some reason – were starting to crowd around them.

"Okay," she said, as she picked up a particularly small one, "let's get ready for when Mummy and Daddy come to pick us up. Come on, come on… John, don't push Martha, come on… let's go…"

Scorpius grinned at her as she looked like a mothering woman with all those young children trailing behind her. She was beautiful and she seemed so much at ease with those midgets. He almost felt a desire to—

Scorpius lowered his eyes as someone pulled at his Auror uniform. He lowered his eyes on a little girl who couldn't have been older than three, brown hair and big green eyes. She smiled toothlessly at him and gave him a card with a big heart on it, before running away.

"Thank you," said Scorpius, staring at the card and grinning slightly. Well, he was a heartbreaker, he couldn't do much about that, could he?

"Shall I tell Lily that you are getting valentines from other girls?" chuckled Teddy as he walked to him with little Remus in his arms.

Scorpius sighed and pocketed the card. It was annoying enough that he had to endure his second cousin at work every day, he also had to find him there every evening when he went to pick up his girlfriend at work. And Teddy's sense of humour was really not his cup of tea either. Always so cheerful, always thinking that he was being incredibly funny when he was actually just being a pain…

And yet again, Teddy was the only male relative that he could actually talk to, especially after his father had come back from Azkaban four years before and their relationship had turned as cold as ice.

But despite Scorpius could talk to Teddy, most of the times he felt like he couldn't really talk to him at all. He had truly known in only for five years and he was still his boss anyway. Not someone to whom he could go and tell all his fears and dreams.

"Hello Remus," he said instead, pushing his finger on the little boy's button nose. "Did you have fun today?"

The little boy nodded eagerly. "We coloured!" he told him with a grin, his hair turning pink in excitement. "And we eated chocolate!"

Scorpius chuckled. "I can see you are on a sugar high," he replied. "I'm sure your parents will be absolutely delighted to have to deal with you tonight."

Teddy sighed out loud. "I'm too tired for that today, I think his mother will have to cope with him tonight…" He glanced at Scorpius and grinned. "Either that or his teacher can come and baby-sit him for us, since she was the one feeding him chocolate in the first place…"

"I hardly think so," replied Scorpius dryly, "we are expected at Grimmauld Place for dinner and then—"

"And then you are going to cuddle on the couch until either one of you is too tired to stay there any longer and finally you'll just be off to bed at around ten," he finished for him. "I know."

Yes, it did sound quite boring if Teddy said it like that – and Scorpius didn't think that it would have been much more exciting if he had said it instead – but he wouldn't have had it any other way. They were not a normal couple, they had gone through too much even before they had exchanged their first kiss. He had stared into her eyes as she was raped and whipped and as she begged Nott not to whip him. He had seen her naked and had her throwing herself at him and begging to be taken the first few seconds he had met her.

All they needed now was an absolutely peaceful and unexciting feeling of hominess, where she would just lean her head against his chest and talk to him about the children and the menu at the canteen of the school and the times she had to charm a child's head out of some toy. And he told her about the evil wizards he had to arrest and the office work he was asked to do and the game of Exploding Snap he had played with James during his lunch break.

And that last bit usually went overheard by Lily's brothers and they all decided to play more Exploding Snap after dinner anyway and then his girlfriend's father – who happened to be his boss as well – joined them and then even Mrs Potter played and then—

"You are standing in a room with Lily, but why do I have the distinct feeling that you are nonetheless thinking about her?" asked Teddy, cocking an eyebrow.

Scorpius looked towards his girlfriend. Somehow the classroom had filled with parents who were retrieving the children. Many of them waved and nodded and said good evening to him. He could recognise all of them by now, since he was there every evening to pick her up.

And Lily was handing over children as if they were little treasures and she was talking to the parents and probably explaining what they had done that day, how they had behaved, what they had eaten. Twelve children she had there and yet, she could remember everything about every single one of them.

Yes, that was Lily's gift. Memory. An incredible memory that would let her remember everything. Everything she read, everything she saw, everything she heard. For the rest of her life.

The Healers had said that it was almost a miraculous gift. Mrs Potter had dared to ask if it might have been because a big portion of her memory had been erased and thus her head had room for more things to remember. The Healers had said that it was most definitely impossible. Thing was though that before Lily had been taken away she had never showed that incredible gift of remembering everything. Teddy had joked that Scorpius had better not done anything stupid like forgetting their anniversary or call her fat, because Lily would have remembered it for the rest of her life and never let it go.

But Scorpius wasn't worried, because Teddy had overlooked the tiny detail that Lily worshipped him, and that anything he did she just beamed at him and nodded and agreed and looked at him like the knight he was in her head.

But after all, that was all right, because he worshipped her back. And yes, Scorpius felt like an idiot for even thinking this, but if he hadn't loved her, he surely would have already had sex with her by now… In fact, almost five years into their relationship and all he had done was just hugging her through the nights they had slept together. Of course, her soft breathing and her cold nose poking into his neck and her hand on his chest always made him uncomfortably aroused, but he just shifted and tried to think about the last time he had to take a shower at the Ministry with his fellow Aurors and saw Albus naked to automatically cool down his spirit.

Scorpius was twenty-three and still a virgin, and even though it was becoming to feel almost like a burden, he wouldn't have wanted to have it in any other way.

"Well, you are not exactly the best conversational partner, did you know, Scorpius?" asked Teddy with a sigh.

Scorpius looked at him. "Sorry," he said, ruffling up his blond hair, "I was just… thinking."

"Right," replied Teddy, pushing Remus up in his arms, "we're off. I'll see you tomorrow for the eight o'clock shift, alright Auror Malfoy?"

Scorpius nodded. "Bye Remus," he said as the little child leaned in closer to kiss his cheek wetly.

"Bye Lils," called Teddy. "See you tomorrow."

Lily turned to wave goodbye to her cousin, a grin splitting her face in two.

"See you later, Scorpius," he said, patting his shoulder.

"Yeah, bye Teddy," replied Scorpius as the blue-haired man and his son walked out of the classroom.

Scorpius waited patiently for the parents to talk to his girlfriend, and for the children to come to him and pull at his robes asking him to do some magic, and for the people to leave the classroom, and when only one child was left there, he finally felt entitled to make his way to Lily.

"You are so good with those little midgets," he whispered in her ear as he wrapped his arms around her waist.

She giggled softly while she turned in his arms and looked up at him. "I love them," she replied seriously, "I want to have a dozen of them."

"Hmm," he murmured, "I think Miss Mitzy will notice if you take twelve of them…"

She shook her head. "No," she replied, "when we get married, Scorpius. I want to have a dozen of them."

He tried to laugh, but she looked quite serious and his laughter died away almost awkwardly. "Well, that would be a first for a Malfoy," he replied with a smile, "we usually only have one child per generation in my family."

Lily beamed at him. "You said you are the first Auror in your family as well," she reminded him, "I think you like to break traditions…"

He lowered his head to kiss her lips. "And I like to break traditions with you…" he whispered to her sweetly.

She kissed him back, but it lasted far too little and soon the only child left there was grabbing Lily's pinafore and attracting her attention. Urgh, twelve of those things? Was she serious?

"Oh, Mummy is a bit late, Alfie, isn't she?" she asked the child as she took him in her arms.

The little boy hugged her neck and leaned his head against her shoulder.

Scorpius stared at Lily as she leaned her coloured cheek against the top of his head and kissed him softly. She rocked him gently in her arms as she checked if his bag was packed properly.

Well, after all he could see the allure of having a dozen of those things… Especially if Lily had them with him… She looked absolutely perfect with that little boy in her arms and somehow the realisation that one day she might be hugging and rocking his own child made Scorpius' insides melt with happiness.

"I'm sorry I'm late," said a very nervous voice at Scorpius' back.

He turned to look at a thin and pale woman, her dark hair fell untidily over her eyes and she had a pointed hat pushed on her head. The woman crossed the classroom quickly and the moment she walked past Scorpius he could see a bruise on her cheekbone.

"Oh it's no problem at all, Mrs Whittle," replied Lily, smiling. "Alfie has been so good today he—Mrs Whittle, are you alright?" Lily must have spotted the bruise as well, because her face had just painted with apprehension as she looked at the woman.

"Perfectly fine," replied the woman stiffly as she stretched her arms to take the child from Lily. "I'm sorry, but I'm in a bit of a hurry."

Lily bent to grab the child's bag and handed it to the woman. "Sure, I was just saying that Alfie has—"

"I'm sorry, but I really have to go. Thank you, Lily." She turned on her heels and walked briskly away, leaving both Scorpius and Lily there to stare at her figure disappearing out of the door.

"Well, that was rude…"

"She's never been like that," said Lily urgently, walking back to Scorpius. "Did you see her face?"

Scorpius nodded. "It looked like a nasty bruise she had there."

"It was not there yesterday," said Lily, eyes wide, "and she's never been like that."

Scorpius smiled comfortingly at her. "I'm sure there's a perfectly good explanation for that," he said sweetly, "maybe she just fell and needed to go home to heal herself."

Lily bit her bottom lip as she shifted her eyes from Scorpius to the door and back to him. "You think so?" she asked, her voice tiny.

"Of course," he replied, "you'll ask her tomorrow."

She nodded and gave him a small smile.

He smiled back at her, tucking a lock of flaming hair behind her ear. "Where were we?" he breathed, lowering his head to kiss her again. She pressed her body against his and Scorpius moaned against her lips. He brought his hands to her back and caressed her through the pinafore. Merlin, she was divine. He wanted to stay like that forever. Just him and his girlfriend kissing in a deserted classroom for the rest of their lives…

Lily's lips puckered and she feathered some kisses on his lips, before tilting her head back and grinning. "I'll tidy up and get changed and then we should go…" she told him gently. "My mum is making your favourite."

"Roast beef and Yorkshire pudding?" he grinned.

She nodded. "And soup with little pieces of potatoes and bacon…"

"Hmm," he whispered, leaning to brush his nose against hers, "I can't wait. You go and change and I'll tidy up here." He kissed her nose and added, "I insist," before she could protest.

She smiled indulgently at him. "I love you," she murmured, kissing him again.

"I love you too," he replied, and he really meant it, from the bottom of his heart.

oooOOOooo

Ginny twisted the tea towel in her hands.

They were late. Yes, they were only five minutes late, but surely something must have happened. Scorpius knew that she fretted and Lily as well. They knew that they had to be home by seven, otherwise her poor little heart would start beating like that of a songbird.

"They are fine, Mum," said James gently, looking up from the Prophet and staring at her worried face, "I'm sure they are arriving any moment now."

Ginny scowled him. "You can't be sure, James! What if something happened? You should go and check on them… maybe… maybe Scorpius needs help hexing someone… maybe—"

"Last time I went to check on them Lily was snogging Scorpius silly, Mum," he sighed, "the only person that I would have wanted to hex was Scorpius."

Ginny darkened. "And after that time I told them that they always have to be on time, what if…"

Ginny's words died in her throat as the front door opened and Lily's laughter filled every room of Grimmauld Place.

The woman's eyes closed and she took a deep breath of relief. She listened quietly as Lily's shoes fell to the floor, followed probably by Scorpius' and they shed their coats. They walked inside and closed the front door. A few seconds later they were walking into the kitchen, Lily's hand into Scorpius', matching smiles upon their faces and their hair in disarray.

"You are late," thundered Ginny, causing their laughter to cease at once. "What did I tell you last time you were late?"

Lily's hand disentangled itself from Scorpius' as she turned to look at the Grandfather Clock in the corner. Yes, they were only five minutes late, but in five minutes Lily had been taken away from her once already.

"Mum, it's only five minutes," said Lily wearily, bringing her hand to her temple as if to soothe a headache.

"Five minutes that I didn't know where you were!"

"I was with Scorpius at the school, you know it," she replied, her voice seemed almost irritated now as she stared at her.

Ginny bit her bottom lip and turned her back to Lily. When had her daughter started to reply to her like that? Ginny had even let her go and work at the school, and she… she didn't understand. No, Lily didn't understand what even those five minutes did to her. "I was worried sick," she told her, checking the soup on the stove. "I was almost sending James to look for you." She turned and placed her hands on her hips. "Scorpius, you know I worry, why did you dawdle?"

Scorpius swallowed, looking slightly uncomfortable to be put in the middle. Well, Lily was still a little girl, she didn't understand, but Scorpius! He was an Auror! He should have known better.

"I'm sorry, Mrs Potter," he replied softly, "we were just—"

"It's not Scorpius' fault," Lily cut him off, "one of the mothers was late to pick up her child. We had to wait for her." She looked at Ginny as if to dare her to say something else, and Ginny did just that.

"Well, you should have Floo Called to let me know," she insisted.

"I'm not a child, Mum!" snapped Lily, stomping her foot on the floor. Well, what a great display of maturity!

Ginny pressed her lips together. "No, of course not," she replied with hurt in her voice, "when you were a child you always did as I told you. And you were much nicer than this."

Lily took a sharp breath as her eyes filled with tears. "I don't remember what I was like when I was a child you know that!" she cried at her, before turning on her heels and running out of the kitchen.

Ginny felt the tears swell up in her eyes as well as she listened to Lily's feet on the stairs that brought upstairs, then the door of her room slammed closed and an awkward silence descended upon the kitchen.

Ginny's heart was racing in her chest. That was not the first quarrel she had with Lily ever since she had been returned to her. No, it was probably the hundredth, and every time it revolved around the same matter. Lily thought that her mother treated her like a child.

Well, Ginny didn't. Not at all. She just worried. Lily might have forgotten the time she had spent with Nott, lucky her, but Ginny hadn't forgotten the time her child had been away from her. No, she hadn't.

"Mum," called James softly.

She looked at him through her tears and bit her bottom lip. "She doesn't understand that I worry," she whimpered. "She just doesn't…"

"Mum, she does," coaxed James, "but sometimes you worry for nothing… you know, she just feels a bit smothered…"

Ginny brushed away the tears. "Worry for nothing?" she snapped. "How dare you, James? Have you forgotten how it was when she was gone?"

"Mum, she was five minutes late and was with an Auror," replied James gently, "and she is not nine anymore, she has a wand and knows how to protect herself. Remember?"

Ginny shook her head. "You can't understand," she murmured, "you don't have children yet."

"It's my fault, Mrs Potter," said Scorpius, his voice truly pained. "I should have sent a Patronus, I'm sorry."

She looked at him and shook her head again. She didn't know what to say, she probably should have said that it didn't matter, but it did, it did to her. She extinguished the fire under the pot and bit her bottom lip. "I should go and tell her that dinner is ready," she said softly.

"I'll do it," said James, even though Scorpius had already opened his mouth to say just the same thing. He stood up and crossed the kitchen before Ginny could protest and Scorpius could say anything else, and soon he was climbing up the stairs to his sister's room.

oooOOOooo

Lily was crying on her bed, with the soft toy in the shape of a dog pushed forcefully against her chest, when the door was pushed open.

She didn't even pretend to stop whimpering, she just sobbed, "I'm not hungry," and sunk her head deeper in the pillow.

She felt the bed dent behind her and a warm hand gently grabbed her shoulder as the person at her back bent over her. "Oh I'm sure you are," said James sweetly, "after a whole day with those screaming toddlers everybody would be starving…"

Lily rolled on the bed until she was facing James and hugged his waist tightly, sobbing softly against his chest. "I was just five minutes late," she cried, "I didn't mean to… I didn't… I didn't want to make her worry…"

James caressed her long hair and patted her shoulder comfortingly. "I know," he told her, "Lils, Mum is just a bit on edge tonight… you know, she asked Taffy to teach her to make the soup that you like so much and tonight she did it all by herself. Just for you…"

Lily felt her heart sink a bit in her chest. Mum had cooked the soup that she liked so much and Lily had arrived late. But she had been only five minutes and she was with Scorpius. Nothing and nobody could have hurt her, her mother knew that Scorpius was her knight in shining armour. Sometimes her mum just worried for nothing. She was fine… she was not a child… she knew how to take care of herself…

Her stomach rumbled softly and James laughed. "Still thinking that you are not hungry?" he asked her amusedly.

She looked up at him and smiled a little bit. "I'm starving," she confessed, brushing away the tears.

"Well, I am too," he replied, "and I'm sure Scorpius is feeling terribly awkward alone in the kitchen with our ranting mother…"

Lily's lips parted at that thought. "Oh poor Scorpius," she said, pushing herself up and swinging her legs over the edge of the bed. "I think we shall go back downstairs." She looked at her brother and bit her bottom lip. "Maybe I should apologise to Mum because I was late…"

James stood up and offered her a hand to help her to her feet. "Let's go," he said gently, "I'm sure Mum is already fretting about you not liking the soup…"

Lily leaned her head against James' shoulder as he guided her out of the room and towards the stairs. Yes, her mother thought that she was still a child, but she loved Lily and that was all that mattered.

oooOOOooo

The potatoes could have done with another five minutes in the pot and the bacon was slightly too salty, but Lily just said that it was perfect, probably the best soup she had ever had.

James had brought her back into the kitchen and she had run to their mother and kissed her and told her that she was sorry. And their mother had told her that she was sorry too, that she knew that she was with Scorpius, but that she worried, and that somehow she couldn't stop worrying for her. She was her baby, and even though Lily had taken a deep breath at that word, she hadn't stopped hugging her.

James had looked at the scene from next to where Scorpius was standing. "Women," he had whispered to the blond young man as he shook his head. And Scorpius had nodded in agreement.

Then, finally, Albus and his father had arrived as well. Albus had troubled everybody with his comments about the soup – "The potatoes are a bit raw, I think we should give clothes to Taffy… she is losing a bit her touch…" he had chuckled, and his mother had started to sob again while Lily's eyes had filled with tears at the very thought of freeing Taffy.

Luckily, Scorpius had stomped on his foot under the chair while James had glared at him from across the table. Albus had looked quite upset to have made the two women cry, though, and had repeated at least ten times that he didn't know that Mum had cooked the soup and he was definitely joking about Taffy…

"Please," he begged, "Mum the soup is amazing, I promise… and Taffy, I would cry my heart content if we were to send her away… I swear…" He swallowed a big spoonful of soup and smiled at them. "Please… I can't take another woman crying today…"

"Who did you make cry, Albus?" asked their mother, drying her eyes and looking severely at him.

"Nobody!" he protested, raising his hands near his face. "But Rose… oh Merlin! Ever since Emeric dumped her, she just cries and cries and cries… and then sometimes she laughs a bit maniacally as well…" He glanced at his father and sighed. "Dad, you wouldn't pair her up with somebody else, would you, right?"

"Shame on you, Al," scolded James, "she's our cousin and she needs a shoulder to cry on at the moment. That's how you treat her?"

Albus glared at him. "Well, James, you should be paired up with her, then," he replied dryly, "I'm sure you'll be happy to offer her that shoulder."

James' eyes widened slightly and Albus smirked at him. Nope, James was quite happy to be paired up with Scorpius, honestly… He didn't talk too much, he made a good partner, he was serious, he listened to him…

"If it's okay with James," said their father, cleaning his mouth in his napkin. "And you and Scorpius can work together."

Scorpius seemed to look like he wanted to restrain a small whine of disappointment at the news, but he smiled as best as he could at his boss and then glanced at Albus. "Looking forward to it," he muttered.

Albus glanced back at him, maybe considering if he wasn't about to jump out of the frying pan and right into the fire, but in the end he just looked at their father and nodded. "Fine by me," he replied, shrugging a shoulder.

James sighed. He wasn't looking forward to it, but it wouldn't have been too nice of him to complain, not after he had just lectured Albus on family ties, at least. And Rose wasn't that bad, after all… of course, she was a know-it-all, and slightly condescending at times, but she was good and she was fun to be around… when she wasn't crying…

"Dad," said Lily sweetly, "Miss Mitzy asked me something this morning…"

"What?" asked their mother, stopping as she was standing up. "Is everything alright?"

Lily looked at her and smiled a little. "Yes, Mum," she replied patiently, "she just wanted to know if we could bring the children to the Ministry on an outing… You know, they have one every year, last year they came to Hogwarts…"

Dad smiled one of his smiles that he saved for Lily. "I have to ask Kingsley," he replied, "but I can't see why not, Lily."

Lily beamed at him. "Thank you, Dad," she replied, hugging his arm and stretching her neck to kiss his cheek.

Their father grinned at her as he wrapped his arm around her shoulders. "Did you have a nice day, Lily?"

Lily nodded enthusiastically and threw herself in a detailed description of what she had done with the horde of toddlers that she had to look after. Sometimes her incredibly powerful memory was a perk, some other times instead…

"Happy now?" hissed Scorpius to Albus as Lily continued talking.

"Well, I didn't know we would have ended up together," he hissed back, before grinning. "But you can stop the charade… I know you love me, Scorpius…"

"Wrong Potter."

"Oh is it James that you love?"

Scorpius glared at Albus, but before he could retort their mother asked, "Are you staying the night, Scorpius?" She always asked that question with a hint of fear and hope in her voice that he wouldn't. Not that Scorpius and Lily did anything but cuddling and sleeping, but naturally the fact that a young man would share her daughter's bed made her feel incredibly uncomfortable. Not to mention the fact that their mother wanted to sleep with Lily as well, just like she used to do every night during the first years after Lily had been found.

Scorpius tried to give a hint of an awkward smile. "Only if Lily wants me to," he replied evenly.

"Of course I want to," replied Lily, interrupting her discourse with their father, "why wouldn't I want to?"

"It was just—"

"Maybe because it's not nice that you have a boy sleeping in your bed before you are married," replied their mother dryly. "I told you so many times already…"

Lily pressed her lips together in a thin line as she stood up from the table. "Can I be excused?" she asked icily. "I'm very tired." She didn't wait for her parents' reply as she walked away and up the stairs for the second time that evening.

And for the second time, silence enveloped the kitchen of Grimmauld Place and its occupants.

"Smooth, Mum," muttered Albus as Lily's door slammed shut.

Instead of replying, though, their mother just collapsed on her chair and started sobbing out loud.

oooOOOooo

Scorpius knocked on Lily's door.

"Go away," she whimpered from the other side.

He didn't. Instead he pushed the door open and walked inside, closing it gently at his back. "I thought you wanted me to stay," he replied with a smile as he sat on the bed next to her.

Lily turned to face him and sneaked a hand around his wrist, pulling him down on the bed. He let her guide him to her and wrapped his arms around her warm body. He stretched his neck to kiss her forehead and she leaned her head on his chest, right where his heart was beating.

"I'm not a little girl," she said seriously.

Scorpius sighed. "Nobody thinks you are," he replied gently.

"Liar," she told him tersely. "My mother thinks I'm still nine…"

"She just worries for you…"

"She thinks I'm a child," insisted Lily, "I'm not. I'm twenty-two and—"

"Twenty-one," he felt the urge to correct her.

She ignored him. "—and I can't even do what all of my cousins do. She never lets me go out alone, she never even lets me come back from work by myself…"

"Hey! I like to come to pick you," murmured Scorpius sweetly.

"I feel like she'll never consider me an adult…"

Scorpius kissed her forehead again. "All mothers are like that," he told her, "and you are her little princess…"

"She doesn't behave like that with Al and James," she pointed out sourly.

Scorpius smiled. "Because she doesn't like them as much as she likes you," he whispered, "mum's the word, though, it's a secret."

Lily slapped his arm playfully. "Scorpius!" she grinned, looking up at him.

He grinned back before lowering his head to kiss her. She kissed him back, her shiny, red hair tickling his cheek. He swiped the inside of her mouth with his tongue and she moaned against him, pressing her delectable body against his chest.

He had to shift a little on the bed to hide the effect that her closeness was having on his body. He was like a teenager at times, but surely it was because he had never had sex before. And because he had the most beautiful girlfriend on earth pressed against him every night.

She withdrew slightly and grinned at him. "Are you happy about your new Auror partner?" she asked him amusedly.

He grinned back. "Little minx," he replied. "Are you making fun of me?"

She giggled as he hugged her tightly.

"So? Shall I stay or shall I go?" he murmured as her laughter died out.

She kissed his neck. "I want you to stay, always," she breathed, tickling his throat, "but…"

"I know," he replied gently, "you don't want to upset your mother…"

She nodded. "Maybe I'll ask her to sleep with me… just to make her happy…" She kissed him again. "I'm going to miss you, though."

"Same," he replied. "But we can stay here a bit more, you know… I mean, unless you want to join your brothers in a game of Wizard's Chess…"

She shook her head and grinned again. "I want to snog you," she told him.

He smiled dumbly at her. "Sounds good to me…" he let her know as she pressed her lips to his.

Scorpius closed his eyes and sighed, and thought that life couldn't get much better than that.