Harry Potter cheered from the Slytherin stands. It would be Albus' last match at school. He grinned at Ron and Ginny cheering Lily on from the Ravenclaw stands. When all your family was in different houses Quidditch matches became great opportunities for ridiculous bets. He turned to James next to him, "Slytherin, has a great team this year," he said, "I can't wait to see Ron and Ginny losing the bet."
James grinned, turning to the match, jumping excitedly as Albus snatched the Quaffle from Lily and scored. The entire Weasley clan was divided in the stands, cheering on the team they bet on. But oblivious to them, in the sky Scorpius Malfoy was following Lily Potter with his eyes. Everytime he looked at her all he wanted to do was fly straight to her and snog her brains out.
"I swear to Slytherin, Scor", Albus shouted zooming near him, "Get your head in the game instead of staring at my sister. "
Scorpius grinned sheepishly, zooming off to hunt for the snitch.
The Ravenclaw team had far better coordination amongst their chasers, but they had a very inexperienced seeker and that was Scorpius' advantage. It took him all of five minutes to find the Snitch. The Slytherin team had a 20 point lead, so he zoomed towards the snitch lazily, as if he was taking a normal search route. When he was sure that there was a considerable distance between the Ravenclaw seeker and the snitch, he shot through, plucking the fluttering ball effortlessly. The crowd went wild, with his team descending on him because this win sealed the cup for them.
Scorpius could distinctly hear the cheers from Harry and James Potter, as he got to the ground.
His team had lifted Albus and him on their shoulders, carrying them to Professor McGonagall who was passing the cup to Prof. Thomas, who had passed it onto Scorpius, who was the Captain and Seeker of the team.
He lifted the cup above his head, looking for his father in the crowd. His father was standing beside his mother and Teddy clapping enthusiastically. And then his eyes fell on Lily, who had just landed with her team and was cheering loudly for Albus.
Suddenly, the noise of the crowd faded as he watched Lily, red with the game, a fine sheen of sweat on her face, eyes sparkling as she cheered for Albus, who had already made his way to her, and was busy hugging her, parting with an affectionate ruffle of her hair. She laughed and that laugh was his undoing. His feet had a mind of his own as he crossed both the teams, receiving many pats on his back, his eyes were glued on the girl who had captured his heart.
She had her back to him as she chatted animatedly to Albus, he was not aware of Albus, so close to her, all he could see was her.
He tapped lightly on her shoulder, she turned and beamed at him but before she could say anything, he hooked his arm on her waist and pulled her into a kiss. He had to let her know that he loved her. He had to tell her now. Several people wolf whistled. Albus looked away with an awkward grin and made the mistake of looking at the stands.
His father and brother looked murderous, but it was nothing compared to the look Draco Malfoy had on his face, even Teddy's eyes were glinting dangerously, his hair a fiery red.
"Err.. Scor?" Albus said, tapping on his arm. Scorpius and Lily didn't even acknowledge him.
"OI!" Albus yelled, as Lily and Scorpius looked up.
"We are in the middle of the pitch you idiots!" Albus exclaimed, "Look at their faces."
Lily looked up at her father who was shaking. The only reason they were restrained was because Ginny Potter was keeping them at bay. Scorpius' grip tightened on her waist as he scanned the stands. Nearly every Weasley from the previous generation looked horrified. Their children look confused, Lucy and Roxanne were even changing Galleons already and Fred's eyes were gleaming with triumph. George Weasley had thrown the fit of the century when he found that his son was dating a Nott. But a his little sister's daughter dating the son of Draco Malfoy was just beyond comprehension.
Rose was the first to reach them from the Gryffindor stands, she tugged at Lily's arm. Carina was trying to do the same to Scorpius.
"Come on!" She insisted, "Move, before they explode, our mothers can only hold them for that long."
"Come on, Scor," Carina said pulling him in the opposite direction. "Let's get this over with."
Scorpius let Lily go reluctantly and allowed Carina to drag him away, just like Lily was allowing Rose to drag her away, her eyes glued to Scorpius'. Albus looked at the two, shook his head and squared his shoulders as he followed Lily and Rose. He will have to fight the world for those two. Rose looked back at Scorpius and nodded, letting him know that as always, she will be fighting right next to him.
As they walked, Hugo joined them, putting a comforting arm around Lily.
Megan joined Albus and patted his arm comfortingly before parting to join her house.
Rose however, led them straight down the road to Hogsmeade. The family had already taken permission from McGonagall for a lunch out after the match.
Rose didn't stop till they reached the Hogsmeade branch of the Weasleys' joke shop. She ushered everyone in to the back office, the adults were already there and they all pounced at the same time.
"What the hell?!"
"What were you thinking?"
"Do you have any idea what this means?"
"You have gone too far, young lady."
And in this chaos, Lily looked up with fire in her eye and Albus stepped back knowing she was about to blow up.
"STOP YELLING!" Lily shouted and the suddenly the room went quite because Lily had never yelled the way she did right now.
Rose stepped forward, after squeezing Lily's shoulder comfortingly.
"Can we please just do this one person at a time?"
"That's a fair idea." Hermione said, jumping in to diffuse the tension.
"Wait," Albus said, "Where are Mum and Dad?"
The answer became apparent as the door burst open.
Harry Potter marched straight to Lily, looked at her furiously and said in a forced calm voice, "I forbid it."
Lily stared at her father, hurt and confusion evident on her face.
"Dad.. " Albus interjected, but he was silenced with one raised finger.
"You are in no position to make any arguments here." Harry seethed.
"Harry!" Ginny said soothingly, "You are taking a ridiculous position on this. Scorpius is-"
"I don't care if he is a saint. Lily will not be seeing him anymore. That's it."
"I hate you!" Lily screamed as she barreled past her father with tears in her eyes.
"Lily! Get back here!" Harry yelled after her but she had already left the shop and was running back to the castle.
"What is your problem, Dad?" Albus demanded, "What did you have to do that for?"
Harry glared at him but he was at a loss for words.
"She is too young." James supplied and Harry nodded.
"That's your argument?" Rose asked looking incredulously at James.
"Well, I guess that's what Dad's upset about too. She is a baby." James answered.
But Albus who had been observing his father shook his head.
"That's not it." He said, looking at his father with disappointment. "Dad has a problem because Scorpius is Draco Malfoy's son. All that talk about getting over prejudices and you still can't shake off yours, can you? In fact, all of you here are reacting so badly because you don't care about Scor, or who he is as a person, you only care about his last name and what that represents. Scorpius is not his father or grandfather, how many times will he have to prove himself?"
"Why should he even prove himself to people who will never see him for who he truly is?" Rose added
"He can be my friend, because that's a lesser inconvenience." Albus seethed, "But heaven forbid he fall in love with my sister. All of you are such hypocrites!"
"Albus!" Ginny interjected, "We have solid reasons for our reactions. You have no right to write us off like this. You don't even know what-"
"We know, Aunt Ginny," Hugo said, "We have seen it in the haunted empty looks you have when you talk about those times. But these are not those times and Scorpius is not one of them. He would die before let any harm come to any of us. All his life he has dealt with an inspiring prejudice against him and never complained. It's unfair to condemn Lily and him to misery because of what people did years before he was born."
Harry was looking down, and Hermione was rubbing Ron's arms comfortingly, the children didn't know about Malfoy Manor. She was happy they were standing against prejudice too, she also knew that Harry may have over reacted to the situation but his fear stemmed from a place of deep trauma.
"I am leaving." Albus announced giving a disdained look to the people around him. "Let me know when you are calm enough to be reasonable."
Albus stepped past Harry, he gave a quick hug to Ginny and left, Rose and Hugo followed.
James squeezed Harry's shoulder comfortingly.
"Don't worry, Dad," he said, "Teddy and I will go talk to them."
Harry sighed, "I messed it up. Didn't I?"
"Let's just go home." Ginny said, she said her quick goodbyes to her brothers and their wives and left with Harry.
"I will go talk to him," Ron said after a moment and left with Hermione.
One by One Bill and Percy left, a little ashamed of themselves.
Lily had run all the way up to the Astronomy Tower, tears were pouring freely from her face. Never would she have believed that her Dad would say or do this. How could he break her heart just like that? Wasn't he the one to preach that love was a greater force than anything in the world, then how could he not see the love Scorpius had for her or she had for Scorpius.
"Oh squirt," Albus said gently, as he pulled her to him, allowing her to cry on her shoulder.
"How could he do this, Al?" Lily asked between sobs. "You bring home as your best friend and he accepts that in a heartbeat, why can't he accept him as my boyfriend."
"I don't he think he had really accepted Scor, in the first place, Lil." Albus said quietly, "Maybe he didn't object because he wanted to give things a chance. But I guess seeing you kissing him the way you did, brought back all his misgivings."
Albus cupped Lily's face wiping away her tears, "But he will come along. I am sure he will."
Lily nodded, folding herself into her brother once again, seeking some assurance and safety.
"Lil?" Teddy called from the entrance to the tower.
"Up here." Albus answered.
"Hey," James said softly pulling Lily from Albus and wrapping his arms around her. Teddy settled beside them rubbing her back softly.
"Don't cry, Petal." Teddy said ruffling her hair. "Dad, didn't mean what he said. He was just taken aback. And you should apologize to Dad." He added, with a glare at Albus.
"Why?" Lily asked in a small voice from James' shoulder. "What did he do?"
"Gave everyone a dressing down for being bloody hypocrites." Teddy replied with a grin, as smacked Albus upside on the head.
"Even Dad?" Lily asked looking intrestedly at Albus.
"Especially Dad." James said tugging on a strand of her hair. "The lengths we go for you, flower." He sighed, looking annoyed.
Lily laughed, giving James a wet kiss on his cheek.
"Oh good, you are still here." Rose said sitting next to Albus as Hugo dumped armful of chocolate cupcakes in front of them.
"Drown your sorrows in chocolate, Lil." He said offering her one. For a few minutes everyone concentrated on their food.
"But seriously, Lil," James said, "Of all the randy 18 year olds to go out with, you chose Scorpius?"
"What's wrong with Scorpius?" Lily asked.
"Don't take this the wrong way." Teddy said, "I love Scor to bits but he has a reputation of going through girlfriends like days of the week."
"Yeah," James agreed, "We just don't want you to be a notch on his broomstick."
Rose, Hugo, Albus and Lily snorted at this.
"James," Albus said, "Do you really think I would have left Scorpius alive had that been the case?"
"Forget Albus," Lily added, "Do you think I would have allowed him to live with using me?"
"But all those girls he has famously snogged. The last I checked the number was 25, in two years!" Teddy exclaimed.
Albus and Rose started laughing as Lily's nose flared in anger.
"Are we missing something?" Teddy asked.
"Merlin, yes!" Albus said with a chuckle. "Scor has been crazy about Lily since fifth year." Rose explained. "But he didn't know how she felt so he tried to make her jealous."
"All his questions after a famous snogged, would be about Lily. How did she react? Did she say anything?" Albus continued, "Drove us spare. Rose and I figured out what was happening and Cordelia clued us in that Scorpius' escapades were tearing her apart. We really to orchestrate Lily's date with a different guy, before Scorpius came out roaring about his undying love for Lily."
"It was really entertaining." Hugo added with a grin.
"That still doesn't discount the fact that he used those girls." Teddy said indignantly.
Albus shook his head, "Scorpius never kissed anyone. It was a rumour he started and then he would go out with these girls on dates and come back. But since the rumour mill was so full of details, these girls cooked up their own stories to make it look like they were worthy of his attention. Pretty ingenius."
"Yeah," Rose nodded, "Megan and I had a lot of fun airing those rumours."
"Holy Hippogriff!" James swore, "What is wrong with kids these days?"
"You are only two years older than us." Rose said indignantly.
"Oh, hush you." James said, "I am way more mature than all of you put together."
"Really?" Lily asked with a smirk, "How did you break up with that Hopkins, girl again?"
James stuttered as everyone started laughing. Teddy pulled Lily to him.
"Are you sure about him, squirt?"
Lily nodded with a shy smile.
"He respects all your boundaries no matter how ridiculous?"
"Yes." Lily replied suddenly feeling very shy.
"Well," Teddy concluded, "I'd rather you date Scorpius than any other bloke in the world. He is a good kid."
"Lily?" Carina's voice called.
"Up here." Hugo replied.
It was James' turn to be floored. He expected a scrawny, bespectacled pipsqueak to climb up the ladder, but the girl who climbed up was the epitome of beauty. Her long blond hair was tied in a ponytail, the way she held her thin frame made her look stately, her blue eyes were full of concern, and those lips. James just kept on staring as this gazelle of a girl came and sat next to Hugo, and threw her arms out for Lily.
James didn't even notice as Lily launched herself in her best friend's arms.
He kept staring at Carina as she sat there completely oblivious of him, having a whispered conversation with his sister.
"Where is Scorpius?" Lily asked.
"He will be here in a few. He said he needed to go get something from his dorm."
"Lil?" Scorpius called as he climbed the ladder.
"Scor!"
James was brought out of his trance as Lily jumped on her feet and launched herself on Scorpius, with a fresh bout of tears.
Scorpius held on to Lily letting her cry as he looked at Albus for an explanation.
"Dad," Albus said warily, "He forbade her from dating you."
"But he will come around, Scor," Lily said, gripping his arms painfully. "He has to. I mean it's you, he has known you since forever. He even recommended your name to the Auror Academy. I won't leave. No one can make me." She finished looking at him defiantly.
Scorpius smiled at her, "I know," he said softly, flicking her nose affectionately.
"Which is why I got you this." Scorpius continued, as he pulled out a notebook from his pocket. "It's a two way notebook. I figured it will take our parents sometime to accept us and they may try to keep us apart, so this will help us stay together. Let's give them the summer. We won't do anything to upset them, but we won't deny our relationship. We can have chaperoned dates, anything to ease their minds. Once they see that we mean it, they will have to give in."
Lily beamed at him, pulling him in another hug.
"Wow!" Teddy whistled, "You really are committed to her."
"Teddy!" James groaned, "I watched this inappropriate display of affection, I don't need you to remind me that our baby sister is already in a seriously committed relationship with an older guy."
Lily rounded to give James a weird look. "He is only two years older than me. Mum started dating Dad at my age."
"No." James said loudly, covering his ears. "I am not listening to this. No talks of a potential future. You are banned from marrying each other for the next ten years at least."
Scorpius was laughing in Lily's hair as Teddy gave them pained looks. Albus was looking incredulously at his sister and his best mate trying very hard not to think about a future where they get married, Carina, Rose, and Hugo were rolling on the floor laughing.
"Just one more thing," Teddy said getting up to leave. "I love you Scor but petal here is my baby sister. You as much as hurt a tiny hair on her head and I will skin you alive."
"What he said," James said motioning towards Teddy. "On a different note, I am relieved it's you and not some randy nutter."
"Well, since people are making threats," Albus said standing up and brushing his robes. "Lil, you hurt Scorpius and I will break your broomstick."
Lily mock saluted Albus, as everyone chuckled and filed out slowly. Lily walked hand in hand with Scorpius, as the others chatted animatedly about the match. James tried very hard to ignore Carina, which was impossible because she was walking between Albus and him and had her dainty little hand on Albus' arm. As they reached the gates, James wished he was a student still, he wished for a chance to get to know Carina better.
He distractedly hugged his siblings and cousins goodbye but was taken with complete surprise when Carina hugged him. He couldn't help but notice that she fit perfectly with his form, as if her body was meant for his body. He wound his arms around her once and let her go quickly, awkwardly patting her hair, as she swatted his hand away.
"I am not a kid, James!" She shrieked with a laugh, as she danced and James couldn't help but agree that she was not a kid, not anymore.
Fred would have a field day with this. He shook himself mentally as Teddy and he made their way back to Hogsmeade. He was just taken by surprise. Sure, she was a looker but she was much too young for James. He will get over it by tomorrow morning.
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