-Forward-

"YOU!"

"GERROPHME!"

"SCORPIOUS!"

*CRACK*

"FUCK!"

"WHAT are you doing?" screamed Rose as she watched blood pour from Scorpius's freshly punched face.

"You don't understand. This is for Rose." The man yelled.

"Fuck." Scorpions repeated, only this time his expression twisted into one of utter exasperation when the stranger yelled Rose's name in vindication.

"Who the bloody hell are you?"

"It doesn't matter," the stranger said harshly. "I have to find Rose."

"You Prick." Rose said in astonishment as she placed a hand to Scorpius's face. She knew heads were beginning to turn in their direction, but she was hardly going to keep her voice down now to avoid a scene. Not with Scorpius bleeding all over the place.

Scorpius balled up his fists, but Rose placed a hand across his arms to stop the blonde from making a grand gesture that would ultimately be more trouble than it was worth. "Don't…"

But before Rose could say more, a gruff yell echoed across the room.

"What now?" Scorpius bemoaned as he searched over the chaos filled crowd to locate the disturbance.

"James!"

"Stop him!"

"FUCK YOU."

*CRACK*

"What happened?"

The room was silent as the question hung in the air.

Harry Potter removed his glasses and gripped the bridge of his nose. The years of flying had weathered his hands, and his job had taken a toll on his body, but it was his this… this set Harry on edge more than any of his other anxieties.

"James, I don't even know where to begin with you."

Harry's eldest son, James, cast his eyes away from his father. Ginny was pressing ice to her oldest son's swollen jaw- a gesture that Harry appreciated. He knew she could easily fix the break with magic, but was holding back so James could suffer a little longer. It was a small gesture Harry and one of the many that made him thankful Ginny was his partner; that woman really could read his mind sometimes.

"Lily, I know you must have something to say."

Lily Potter looked up from where she sat slumped on against the wall. Roxy Weasley leaned next to her and squeezed her hand in silent camaraderie.

"I'm sorry, Da-." Lily's voice broke.

"It's not me you should be apologizing too, Lily, and I think you know that."

Lily covered her face.

Harry looked around the room. "What were you all thinking?"

-Present-

Trying to sleep was pointless.

Lily had worked a full trainee shift at Saint Mungo's that day, and was now in the midst of trying to switch her brain into its off mode. But there was no relaxing. There was no resting. The light bulb within her mind would not shut off. It always seemed like night was when she was wide eyed and ready to re-evaluate the events of the day prior.

On this night, Lily was using the extra space in her bed to fill with her medical text books. It just seemed to make sense- she was awake, she liked to read, and she had the room. What was the harm? She stretched out her legs and tabbed to the section on counter charms- one of her favorites.

The hour was late and the flat was quiet- a perfect time to snuggle up with a book. So when Lily's flat door opened and closed with a loud bang, she started immediately.

"Lily? You still up?" she heard a distant voice yell.

The bedroom door opened before the texts books could be stashed under the bed and in the closet. Roxy Weasley strolled easily, eyeing the medical journals, quills, and parchment with distaste. "I saw your light," she said. "I was hoping maybe you were with a bloke."

Lily rolled her eyes. "So, you thought the best thing to do in that particular scenario would be to stop in and introduce yourself?"

"Okay, so I knew you probably weren't with a man." She jumped onto Lily's bed and nestled herself into her cousin's neck, scattering tombs and quills as she went. "Forgive me?"

Lily pushed her cousin back and frantically reached for her dispersed belongings. "Some of those are borrowed!"

"Oh, Merlin you sound like Rose."

"Go away."

"Oh humph! Don't you want to know what I've been doing tonight?"

"A bloke?"

"Charming. Actually, I was with Rose."

That caught Lily's attention. "Rose? She's been out of touch for months. With her…"

"Her boyfriend, yes." Roxy spat the word boyfriend. "But they broke up."

"No!"

"YES!"

Lily laughed at the joyous expression on her cousin's face. Roxy was never one to suppress her true opinion, and the pure expression of glee on her face was contagious. Lily giggled as her cousin cheerfully jumped up and down on the bed, knocking over a few of Lily's rescued textbooks in the process. She knew they should probably feel guilty for celebrating their cousin's breakup, but…

"I did not like him," Lily finished her thought out loud.

"You'd be hard pressed to find anyone who liked Daft-in ."

Lily snorted. "You're still saying his name wrong? STILL?"

"Oh he didn't mind," Roxy muttered.

"Daffin was hardly a great name to begin with. You know Victoire's daughter started calling him Daffy because of you."

"I know! It was one of the few pleasures I experienced from being near him. Without his name, there'd be absolutely no point in being around him."

Lily laughed. "You didn't say that to Rose, did you?"

Roxy didn't even try to hide her enthusiastic smile. "I did."

"Oh Roxy…."

"What was I supposed to do? She asked me what I thought of him. You know sometimes I feel like the only honest one in this family. She'll thank me for being so upfront with her one day- just you wait."

"Don't hold your breath."

Albus Potter checked his watched as he stumbled through his flat.

He heaved a heavy sigh before opening his flat door to reveal his bashful cousin.

"Rose," Albus said heavily. "What time is it?"
The pretty red head smiled at her grumpy cousin. "I think 2."

"2 in the morning, Rose." Albus looked suspiciously at the bags slung over Rose's arm. She smiled sweetly again. Albus rolled his eyes, and swung the door wide to let her enter. "What have you done? Nothing illegal hopefully?" Albus watched Rose closely.

He could tell she was tired- she had dark circles under her eyes. That didn't surprise Albus. He knew she always worried herself sick about even the smallest details. She worked herself to the bone at her fancy high level ministry position to live up to the standard expected of Hermione Granger's daughter. What did surprise Albus were the red eyes that indicated Rose had been crying. He considered himself a close friend of Rose Weasley, but that girl never cried unless it was serious.

"Oh, Albie, shush. Can't a witch just visit her favorite cousin at 2 in the morning with no ulterior motives?"

She flashed Albus a huge grin. Overcompensating, Albus thought wryly.

"How's Daffin?" Albus asked. Maybe he would have been more willing to play Rose's little game at a different time. But she was standing in front of him now, and at 2am he wasn't interested.

The feeling in the room changed immediately. No longer, bright and bubbly, Rose narrowed her eyes suspiciously at her cousin.

Albus smiled.

"Things not going well in paradise?"

"Who told you? Roxy?" Rose asked, slumping unhappily onto the nearby sofa couch.

Albus barked a cruel laugh. "Rose, you've shown up at my flat unannounced in the middle of the night with your things in tow. If you hadn't broken up with the prick, it would have been grounds for an intervention."

Rose groaned and buried her face in her hands.

"You know," Albus said as he waved his wand to make up the sofa for Rose, "I love you and all that shite, but I think Roxy and Lily's flat would've been the more obvious choice. Plus, Roxy probably would have actually been awake."

"Yes, sorry about waking you. But I couldn't go there." Rose shook her head as if to emphasize the point. "Roxy would have loved to throw that in my face. No, sorry. I have too much pride."

Albus laughed. "Rose, if it wasn't so early, I would throw it in your face too. But don't worry, I won't hold him against you. I'm just glad you've tossed Dull Daffy once and for all."

Rose tossed her cousin a look. "You don't really call him that, do you?"

"No! Of course not. Dominique did. I preferred Prick myself," Albus said as he summoned a blanket for Rose.

She ignored the remark, and thanked for the blanket him with a yawn.

"Would you mind if I stayed for a few days while I try to find a new flat?"

"What's mine is yours. You know you're my favorite," Al said as he walked towards his bedroom. "You know, after Teddy… and Roxy… and Louis…and Fred…and Hugo…"

"Ha ha ha…"

"Important meeting today- don't be late!"

Scorpius was only able to catch the very end of the patronus message before it disappeared. "Don't be late," he muttered to himself as he sat up in bed. He tossed a look at the mirror across the room, showcasing his rumpled blonde hair. "Am I ever late?"

His reflection smirked cockily. "There's a first time for everything."

"Bloody reflection thinks he's better than me," Scorpius mumbled as he checked his bedside clock and stepped onto the cold floor. He opened his closet door, and began to rummage around for the familiar green robes he wore every day that signified his healer. "Dirty, dirty, dirty…everything is bloody dirty."

"With a mouth like that I'd imagine so."

Scorpius growled at his reflection once before yanking open his bedroom door and heading for the laundered clothes.

His mum had gifted the charmed mirror to Scorpius as a joke one birthday, and Scorpius had welcomed the goofy present as a nice change from the usual formal gifts Malfoys decided were appropriate to give to one another. Merlin knows Scorpius had been given enough crest- emblazoned dress robes to be able to attend every ministry ball until the end of time.

But now that he was in his mid-twenties, the mirror was seeming less and less charming and more and more of a nuisance.

"Ah hah!" Scorpius declared as he reached the basket of clean clothes he knew would be waiting at the end of the hallway. At the very top of the laundered pile was a fresh set of green robes, and Scorpius snatched them up and cheered. "No dirty robes for me!"

He was about to turn left into the kitchen to begin warming up the kettle when a flash of bright white made him do a double take.

Scorpius smirked as he moved closer to the couch, and realized his eyes were not deceiving him. There was in fact a white bra thrown over the back of their sofa. Scorpius looked around the dark room and spotted a pair of black trousers on the floor nearby.

He shook his head in amusement.

Well at least one of them was getting a leg over, he thought wryly. Scorpius was working such long hours at the hospital, the only women he ever saw were either sick patients or off limits coworkers. Scorpius began to turn away to begin making his morning tea when a movement made him look closer.

Scorpius craned his head over the back of the couch and caught sight of a pair of long creamy legs sticking out from underneath a blanket. Scorpius, shocked to find a woman lying on his sofa, immediately looked around the room. If a female guest was out here, then surely Albus was with her?

Scorpius looked back at the woman, and only then did he notice her curly red hair sticking out from behind the sofa cushion.

Scorpius rolled his eyes.

He grabbed the cushion, and promptly used it to smack Rose Weasley in the face.