A/N: Many thanks to Vixen's Shaddow, LightYew103, nightelf82, Sopphires, and traviswj for either favoriting or following this story. If I missed you, I apologize!

Chapter 1: Scorpius' Information

Albus Potter emerged from his London Suburban home and waited on the porch for his wife Ashley. He was tall, almost six feet, and he'd been told he was less than handsome. He had flaming red hair that never stayed down no matter what he did to it. He also had deep green eyes which, when combined with his hair, made him look like a living Christmas card. His brother often said he had an almost nerdy look about him. He usually cursed James when he did, which was bad considering those curses could actually happen. Albus Potter was a wizard, as was his entire family including James. Of his living relatives, only his aunt Hermione and his wife Ashley didn't have magical blood running back generations. His wife appeared after checking on their new nine-month-old baby and he gave her a quick peck good bye before heading to work. She produced a small, brown bag and gave it to him.

"My favorite?" he asked.

"Peanut Butter and Jelly," she said. He gave her a kiss on the lips. "I still don't understand why you have to drive, Al" she said.

"I told you, I have to take Muggle transportation," Albus said. "I have a cover to keep."

"But you could apparate close to the office and then walk in," she said. "London is dangerous. I worry every time you get behind the wheel."

"Ash," Albus said, putting as much compassion into his voice as possible. "I have a magical car. It is impossible for anyone to hit me, it will just slip beside them."

"I know, but I still worry," she said.

"I'll see if Dad will move me," he said.

"Al, you know he won't," she said. "At least not for a little while. Just, be careful, ok?"

"Ok," he said. Then he got into his car.

"God must have spent, a little more time, on you," the radio played once the car was turned on.

"Ah," Albus said. "Oldies."

The London traffic had definitely not improved in the last twenty years. Albus traveled a whole two miles before he had to pull up behind a line of about six cars at a red light. Somehow though, his car was first in line by the time the light turned green. The next light turned green as he approached, giving the cars in front of him just enough time to start moving before he got there.

Albus was crossing London Bridge when the music was interrupted by a phone call. "Answer," Albus said. The car responded.

"Hello," Albus said.

"Hey, bro," James Potter said on the other end of the line. Albus' brother was older than he was technically, but he hadn't quite grown past seventeen in maturity. Today he didn't quite sound right.

"You just interrupted 'Getting Jiggy With It,'" Albus said. "You'd better have a good reason for it."

"Come on now, bro, get with the times," James said. "That was so 1990's. That's Dad's music."

"Which I happen to like," Albus said, turning onto New Kent Road. "What do you want?"

There was a noise in the background which was suspiciously high pitched. "What makes you think I want something?" James asked.

"You always want something," Albus said.

"Well, there is one thing you could do for me," James said.

Albus sighed. "What is it?"

"Scorpius just called, wants to talk with me," James said, giggling.

"So why don't you go talk with him?" Albus asked.

"Why don't you mind your own business?" James asked back. "I have prior commitments. Besides, it's probably just gossip again. Please?"

"Does this prior commitment have to do with the girl in the background?" Albus asked.

"What girl?" James asked, a little too quickly. Albus said nothing. "Ok, yes."

"You're unbelievable," Albus said.

"Is that a yes?" James asked.

"I can't, I have to get to the Yard," Albus said. "Perhaps you've forgotten, but I have a real job to keep."

"Please bro, I'll owe you one," James pleaded.

"You already owe me about three," Albus said.

"I'll owe you four then," James said. "And I'll take care of the Yard for you."

"You promise?" Albus said.

"Yup," James said.

"Fine," Albus said. "But if you don't deal with it, you're dead."

"Thanks, you're a lifesaver," James said.

"Yeah, yeah," Albus said. "Where am I going?"

"Jeffery's pub," James said.

Thirty minutes later, Albus was walking down a lonely sidewalk in a London suburb toward the corner where an almost empty Jeffery's pub stood. For a meeting place, it wasn't the best choice, but Albus went with it. He stopped at the corner and looked both ways to cross the street, and quickly changed course. Across from the pub was an old church that was just beginning to show signs of neglect, but that wasn't what had gotten Albus' attention. Behind the church was a small graveyard, clearly overflowing. Kneeling in the graveyard was a young man that Albus recognized.

Albus crossed the corner and entered the graveyard. As soon as he entered the gate, he realized that this was not an ordinary graveyard. There was a tingle down his spine at the barrier, a sign of magical enchantments. Once inside, the graveyard extended further with every step until the graves were no longer huddled together and there were several yards of undisturbed grass on all sides. The church was nowhere to be seen.

The young man was still kneeling at a grave. He was twenty-two, strong in appearance, with white-blonde hair and perfect complexion. He was a man that Albus should hate, but circumstances had brought them together while at Hogwarts. Albus Potter had become best friends with Scorpius Malfoy.

Scorpius was kneeling in front of a fresh grave, still brown and not yet level with the surrounding grass. There was a double headstone at the top of the grave, but Albus didn't get close enough to read it yet. Instead he stood a few feet back and waited for Scorpius to acknowledge him.

"You're earlier than expected," Scorpius said without looking up.

"James told me to come right over," Albus said.

That got Scorpius to look up. "I specifically asked for James," he said.

"So did someone else," Albus said. "He asked me to meet with you for him."

"I'd rather talk to you anyway," Scorpius said, looking back at the grave. Albus took it as an invitation to walk closer. "I thought you were assigned to the Yard though."

"I am," Albus said. "It's good to have a morning off. I didn't go through three years of Auror School to shove papers all day."

Albus got close enough to read the headstone.

Lucius Malfoy

1954-2027

A good man in the end

"You need to let it go my friend," Albus said, placing his hand upon Scorpius' shoulder. "He's gone."

"He was all I had, after Dad died," Scorpius said.

"Your father died a hero," Albus said. "And the headstone is right; Lucius was a good man in the end. And you'll always have family in us."

"It's not the same," Scorpius said. Albus let the pause last. "You know," Scorpius said, "he spent his whole life trying to prove we're better than muggles. He died with his grandson proving him wrong."

"There was nothing you could have done, Scorpius," Albus said.

"I should have!" Scorpius said, his voice rising. "I'm a healer. I should have been able to heal him. It's my job!"

"It was cancer!" Albus said. "No one can cure that, not even you."

"There's a cure out there Albus," Scorpius said. "One day, I'm going to find it. One day…one day…one."

Albus softened and Scorpius crumpled into his friend's arms. "I miss him," he said after a long time. Albus patted him on the back. "I let him down, I let him die to a muggle disease."

"It's a human disease," Albus said. "Muggle and magic alike."

"I guess," Scorpius said, composing himself.

"You are a great wizard," Albus said. "And you will be a great healer."

"I'm not as great as you," Scorpius said. "You defeated the darkest wizards of the last three ages while still a student."

"You are a great wizard," Albus repeated. "We could not have defeated Grindelwald without you and it was your spell that defeated Travers. Combined with the fact that your father put the finishing touches on Voldemort, the Malfoy family hasn't had more to be proud of in years, maybe ever. The Malfoy family can hold its head high because of you. Lucius went to the grave knowing that. Don't be too hard on yourself. Grieve, but don't blame."

Scorpius nodded. "Thanks," he said.

"Come on, let me buy you a drink," Albus said.

Albus brought two beers over to a table in the corner of Jeffery's pub, where Albus hoped they wouldn't be overheard. James may have thought it was stupid, but he never took chances. The bar was not well lit at night, but it had many windows, which let in a large amount of sunlight during the day. The bar was packed with tables and had an empty stage on the far end with banners all around advertising who would be playing there this week. Albus saw a banner for Toe Jam and made a mental note to come back Tuesday night.

The bar was relatively empty. Albus and Scorpius sat in the corner while three poor-looking men sat at the bar hitting on the female bartender. A few tables down from the two wizards were two businessmen deep in conversation and a woman with a hijab hiding most of her body was enjoying a meal next to the stage. Otherwise, it was empty.

"Toe Jam on Tuesday," Scorpius said once Albus sat down.

"I saw," Albus said.

"Want to come?" Scorpius asked.

"Maybe," Albus said. "I've got a baby to take care of first."

"Right," Scorpius said. "What is it that you do at Scotland Yard exactly?"

"Push papers," Albus said, not hiding the distaste. "It's entry level and Dad has put both James and me there when we first got hired to avoid favoritism. We go undercover at Scotland Yard as a filer and look through the cases for anything that looks like it might be magical in nature. Then we report our findings to the Auror office and they conduct the investigations while we go back to more files at the Yard."

"Sounds terrible," Scorpius said.

Albus grunted in agreement. "So, why did you call James?" he asked. "You said you had some news."

"I don't know if it's news," Scorpius said. "But it certainly is interesting. If he's right, an investigation is needed."

"Harry will decide that," Albus said. "What you got?"

"A man came in a couple days ago," Scorpius said.

"To St. Mungo's?" Albus asked.

"Yeah," Scorpius said. "He was complaining about a chronic illness that had only been getting worse, despite heavy medication. We decided to admit him, run some tests and watch him overnight."

"What happened?" Albus asked.

"The next morning his hair began to fall out," Scorpius said. "Almost like loose sod. We weren't sure what was going on so we began to do some prodding, to question him."

"Get anything good?" Albus asked.

"No, he shut up like a clam," Scorpius said. "Until he asked us if he was going to die."

"What did you tell him?" Albus asked. "And isn't revealing this like against the law or something?"

"Not when national security is at risk," Scorpius said. "We told him that if he didn't help us, he would die. He opened up at that point."

"Did you save him?" Albus asked, taking a drink.

"No," Scorpius said. "Maybe if he'd told us sooner, but by then there was nothing we could do."

"And yet you think you could have saved your grandfather," Albus said.

"That's different," Scorpius said.

Albus shrugged. "What did he tell you?"

"He had been hired recently by a man whose name he didn't know to steal nuclear warheads from the British Army," Scorpius said. "The man needed him to magically enter, cover and then transport the weapons from a high security basement. He said that something went wrong when he was getting one of the weapons ready and was afraid of radiation poisoning. A few short tests later confirmed his diagnosis."

"Nuclear warheads?" Albus said, half to Scorpius, half to no one in particular. "You sure?"

"No," Scorpius said. "He wasn't under the effects of Veritaserum at the time, he could have lied. For all we know he was a terrorist building a dirty bomb or a wannabe mad scientist. But considering that he died from radiation poisoning, I think it's definitely possible."

"Well, if he's right, it definitely needs to be investigated," Albus said. "But, there has not been a report of any weapons missing from the Army. I'll keep an eye out though, and I'll let Harry know."

"Thanks," Scorpius said.

"Anytime," Albus said. "Keep in touch." Then both men set off to return to work.