Author's Notes: Thank you to my reviewers! You make my day, guys. You honestly do. I've sent out some PM's to some of the wonderful people who were following Scarlet, but if you're here because of that, please do not - for the love of Merlin - read this just to do me a favour! If you don't like this story (it's very different from Scarlet), don't read it. I already love you, no need to butter me up.

Dear hashi, so glad to see you back! I'm glad you're enjoying the story so far! Ah, you don't have to worry on the Rose/James front. I changed the scenes, since I received mostly negative feedback on a possible romance between the two. Ah, Ginny... Poor Ginny, she is the one who suffered the most. I couldn't see her react to her daughter's growing up in any other way. But thank you for your review! I'm glad that so far you're liking the ff.

Chapter Three

The wind slapped mercilessly at Rose's face and she came to the conclusion that February was definitely not the nicest month to spend in Scotland. She had forgotten how cold the wind was, or how grey the sky, or how spooky the Forbidden Forest actually looked.

Oh, for Merlin's sake, you're an Auror, Rose Weasley, get a grip on yourself.

"Are you okay?"

She raised her eyes to look at James and tightened her cloak around herself. She gave him a little smile and nodded. "I think I forgot how merciless the weather is up here at this time of year," she told him.

He smiled at her as he wrapped an arm around her quivering shoulders and pulled her to him. "Oh Rose," he said, "here. Is it better?" She felt his body warmth seeping through the cloak and nodded slightly.

This was weird. Honestly, it was. She couldn't remember James ever being a patient and understanding person. No, he usually was a quick tempered young man who had very limited tolerance for crying ladies or anything that had to do with romance. In fact, all he usually talked about was Quidditch and Auror duties, and when someone was crying he tried to joke to lighten the mood; something that Rose was extremely grateful he hadn't done with her.

"Thank you," she murmured, as he rubbed his hand up and down her upper arm.

He looked at her and furrowed his brow. "For what?" he asked.

She shrugged a shoulder. "You know," she replied, "for accepting to work with me… I know Albus dumped me on you…"

"He didn't," replied James, sounding almost indignant. "I wanted to work with you. And… and Albus wanted to work with Scorpius…"

Rose snorted. "Yeah, right," she replied, "and I'm the Easter Bunny."

"Hmm, then I should tell you that I didn't receive my share of Easter Eggs last year," he told her, hugging her tightly. "Okay, are you ready to see the unicorns?"

Rose sighed. "Not looking forward to it, but yes," she replied. "I guess that's what we came here for."

He nodded. "Hagrid said they are there," he told her, pointing towards the trees. "They built a little enclosure to keep the students away. Not that they told them about the killings…"

They started walking towards the woods, James' arm still circling her shoulders in a comforting gesture.

"Where's Hagrid?" she asked him.

James shook his head. "Apparently he is away," he murmured, looking meaningfully at her.

"Right," replied Rose. "Away." Away usually meant that he was with his little half-brother into the woods. Well, that was quite a pity, honestly, she had hoped to see him. It was always nice to chat with Hagrid, and when someone complained to him about relationship problems, he always had a hot cup of tea ready and some rock cake to offer as well as a lot of suggestions on how to mend a broken heart.

Rose shook her head. She was not there to chat though. Unicorns had been slain in the forest and they had to investigate. Of course, she would have liked to continue working on the Tilden Toots case, but that was Albus and Scorpius' case now and there wasn't much she could do about it.

"Right," said James as they neared the enclosure, "apparently, they aren't a nice view. Their horns have been severed and the blood harvested."

Rose nodded. Luckily dead unicorns did not send off any rotten smell, because she felt rather queasy already. What with all the crying she had done in the past few days, and with all the emotions for the break-up, and Emeric already going out with someone else… She wished she would have found someone else as well… She glanced at James, too bad that Emeric knew that he was her cousin, otherwise she could have asked him to help her make her ex-boyfriend jealous. But maybe James knew someone who wouldn't have minded an occasional snog whenever Emeric appeared on the horizon… Yes, she had to ask him that.

"Rose, I know what you are thinking," sighed James.

"Do you?" she asked, blushing suddenly. How the heck did he know?

He nodded. "Yes, you are thinking about Emeric," he replied, " but please, try to focus here, okay? I need you to concentrate, we're a team, aren't we?"

She blushed even more brightly. Yes, indeed they were a team, did she need her cousin to remind her that they were working there? Bloody hell! What did Emeric do to her? Yes, of course, he had moved out of their flat in a rush, and she had had her life turned upside down in a matter of days, but she was an Auror and the daughter of Ron and Hermione Weasley. Blimey! Her parents had their pictures on a Chocolate Frog Card! She was just acting like a stupid teenager there! She had to collect herself.

"I'm focused," she told him in her most business-like voice. "Let's go."

The sight in front of them was quite horrible indeed. Three unicorns were lying on their sides, tongue blue and swollen coming out from between their two rows of teeth, dark eyes wide open, neck slashed by deep cuts and drops of silver blood tainting their immaculate fur. Their horns had been severed away with a charm and most of the blood had been collected as well.

Rose swallowed hard to keep her lunch down. Yes, the corpses weren't smelling, but the sight was still quite atrocious. Especially when one thought that those were such pure creatures.

She felt her eyes sting with tears once again. Surely she was not going to cry now, right? She couldn't. She needed to keep her cool.

"Rose," James called her. "Come here, look at this."

Did she really have to?

"Look at what?" she asked him, furrowing her brow.

"They cut off some fur as well," he told her, pointing to the mane.

She nodded as she stared at the poor animal.

"Fur, blood and horn," he listed, crouching near the corpse to have a better look, "do you think it's something to do with the Dark Market?"

"Well, fur and horn powder are used as potion ingredients and they are very expensive," she reminded him, "but the blood…"

James nodded. "I know, right? The blood would only be used to…"

"To keep someone who is dying alive," finished Rose with a shiver. She had heard stories of Voldemort and Professor Quirrell, and she was pretty sure she would have been sick if she had been the one to witness such a scene instead of Uncle Harry.

"Right," replied James, standing up. "So, blood, horn and hair. I think we'll need to take a little tour of Knockturn Alley to see if we can find anything like that in some dodgy shop. Something that arrived after last Monday."

Rose shivered again at the cold wind. "Yes," she replied, "tomorrow? I'm freezing here, all I want to do is go home and heat some of the soup my mum brought me last night."

James shook his head. "And you'd eat all alone in your lonely flat? No, no, you're coming to Grimmauld Place to have dinner with us," he told her.

She snorted. "Al would be thrilled, and Scorpius too…"

"Well, forget about them," he told her, "I know my parents can't wait to see you and Lily is probably going to squeal through the whole meal and talk girly stuff with you…"

Rose smiled at the thought. She hadn't seen Lily in almost a week. She missed her in fact. "Okay," she agreed. "Let's go to talk to McGonagall and then we better Floo back to the Ministry."

He nodded. "Let's go."

And as they walked up the steep hill that brought to the castle, Rose couldn't help thinking a bit more about his ex-boyfriend.

oooOOOooo

Ginny couldn't concentrate on her book. She just couldn't. Her eyes kept rising from the pages to look at the Grandfather Clock that her mother had gifted her ever since they had found Lily again. Her three children were at 'work', her husband was 'travelling' and she was 'home'.

Nobody was in 'mortal peril'.

There was a rustling coming from the fireplace and as the golden hand with Harry's face moved to 'home', he appeared into the chimney.

"Evening, my dear," he told her with a smile, "had a nice day?"

Ginny smiled back at him. "Yes, dear, you?"

"Pretty uneventful," he replied with a sigh that told her how much he missed a bit of action. "Yours?"

Ginny took a deep breath. "I went to the Prophet today." She lowered her eyes, unable to look into Harry's as she told him about her day, "I finally told them why I couldn't be their correspondent for the British Quidditch Tournament."

She could hear Harry sigh above her. "Ginny…"

"No," she cut him off, before he could scowl her like a child. "You don't even know, Harry. They asked me to go to Ireland for three weeks. That's ridiculous. How am I supposed to stay away from… from home for three weeks?" She looked at him and darkened as he sighed again.

"I swear that home will be taken care of," he replied quietly.

Ginny shook her head. "The question is mute anyway, because I've already said no and they are sending Wilda Griffiths," she said firmly.

Harry nodded tiredly at her and luckily he seemed too weary to continue that conversation with her. Well, he didn't know how she felt when they offered her those kind of jobs. She was alright to stay away for a day when she had to report on the usual Quidditch matches that took place every week. Many times Lily had tagged along and they had had some wonderful mother-daughter time, but three weeks away from her… no, no, no. That was absolutely ridiculous.

"Okay," said Harry, "do I have time to take a shower before—oh, I almost forgot to tell you that James invited Rose for dinner and that—"

A sharp, almost nervous knock on the door cut off Harry's sentence.

There was a squeal coming from the kitchen and Taffy hurried to say, "Taffy will open the door!" That enthusiastic shout was followed by a low growl, "Kreacher will open the door. Taffy will continue cooking!" Then there was a little scream, probably Kreacher pulling Taffy's ears, and then a thump, probably Taffy pushing Kreacher to the floor.

Harry sighed and rolled his eyes. "They are never going to learn, are they?"

Ginny shook her head. "Hermione has a theory, she says that they are in love," she giggled.

"Yes, right," snorted Harry, looking towards the hall. "Shall I open the door?"

At that moment Taffy screamed again and seemed to leap for the door. She opened it and then she was a profusion of, "Master Scorpius" and "Taffy will take your cloak."

Ginny turned to look at the Grandfather Clock again. Lily's hand was still pointing towards 'work'. Why was Scorpius there already? Not that that was unusual, he sometimes came over when Lily was not there, just to have a nice chat with them or ask Harry something Auror-related. But somehow Ginny didn't feel quite at ease about him being there without Lily at that moment.

"Scorpius," said Ginny anxiously as she stood up, "what are you doing here? Where's Lily? Is everything okay?"

Harry smiled at him. "Scorpius, did you get my memo today? Lily is staying overtime for a meeting at the school," he told him, "you are welcome to—"

"She's what?" asked Ginny scandalised. "Why didn't you tell me?"

Harry smiled sheepishly. "I was right about to do it, when Scorpius knocked on the door," he replied.

"Good evening, Mister Potter," murmured Scorpius, and even though his voice was as polite as always, there was a certain edge to it, "Mrs Potter."

"Is everything okay, Scorpius?" asked Harry, furrowing his brow. "You are a bit early, I thought you and Al were going to St Mungo's to have a look at Toots' folder."

"Tomorrow," replied Scorpius quietly. "I… I needed to talk to you…"

"To me?" asked Harry. "Is there something wrong with your new Auror partner? Are you already hexing each other while on duty?"

Scorpius smiled nervously. "No, we haven't already," he replied. "I need to talk to you… I mean both of you… I need to ask you something."

Ginny gaped at him. Her daughter's boyfriend needed to talk to them about something. Something that seemed to worry him greatly if his tone of voice and the way his lips curved upwards while all the muscles of his face seemed to tense were of any indication. Was he breaking up with Lily? Well, he would have told her first, wouldn't he? Maybe he had already told her, and now he just wanted to let them know that their daughter was going to cry her eyes out for the upcoming month or so. Or maybe… no, surely he wasn't going to ask them what Ginny thought he was… That was stupid.

"Well, I was right on my way to take a shower, Scorpius," said Harry, "if you can wait a few minutes, maybe Al and—"

Scorpius shook his head. "It can't wait, I'm sorry," he murmured. He pushed his hand into his pocket and fished out a little square box covered in green velvet. He lowered his eyes to look at it and started to fidget nervously. "I…"

Ginny's heart started to race in her chest. That surely wasn't—

He opened the box and a beautiful gold ring covered in emeralds and diamonds peeked from a sea of more green velvet.

That surely was.

Ginny could feel Harry's breath catch in his throat next to her. She knew he understood perfectly well. For a moment, she almost hoped that Scorpius was really going to break things off with Lily. Yes, that was a terrible thing, but this was just worse.

"That's a beautiful ring, Scorpius," breathed Harry nervously.

He gave a hint of a smile. "It was my mother's engagement ring."

Ginny darkened. "Well, isn't she going to notice that it's missing?" she asked coldly.

Scorpius didn't look at her. Surely he was feeling guilty. He should have felt guilty, honestly. "She gave it to me."

"And I don't think she'd like for you to go around and show it to everybody, then," she snapped heatedly.

"Ginny," murmured Harry.

"No! No! No!" she snarled. "No!" She looked at Scorpius, trying to kill him with a glare. She didn't succeed. "She's twenty-one. She's too young to get married!"

Scorpius had the decency to lower his eyes. "I love her," he murmured. "I would never… I just want your blessing."

Well, that was something that Ginny wasn't going to give him any time soon. "She is too young to be anybody's wife," she told him icily, "and you. You still live home with your parents. What would the two of you do? Live at the Manor?"

Scorpius looked at her, bravely holding her gaze. "I don't want to marry her tomorrow," he told her, "I just want her to know that… that I want her to be with me forever."

"Well, tell her… tell her without the ring," grunted Ginny. "Tell her that you love her and don't ask her to marry you." She took a deep breath. "She loves you, I know she does, but… she's just a child, you can't—"

"She's not a child," Scorpius cut her off, surprising her as well as Harry, who stared at him with his eyebrows raised. "She's an adult."

Ginny pressed her lips in a thin lin. She didn't need someone else to tell her what her husband and her two sons kept repeating to her. "She's my child," she thundered, "just like Al and James are. To me they are all—"

"Only she is not," retorted Scorpius, "you have double standards with her. You treat her like she is a little girl, like she is not able to do anything by herself."

"Scorpius, I think my wife—"

"Don't you dare, Scorpius Malfoy," hissed Ginny, feeling her heartbeat pound away in her temples, "if I treat her differently it's because she didn't have the normal life that my other children had. She is different."

"She doesn't want to be," insisted Scorpius. "She wants to be treated like the adult she is… she… she doesn't want to sleep with you anymore. She does that because you want her to."

Ginny brought her hand to her mouth. No, that was a lie. Her daughter… she always asked her to sleep with her when they had a little quarrel. She needed her mother, that's why she slept with her.

"And she wants to be able to come home by herself from work," continued Scorpius, "and to go out with her friends and cousins without needing an escort."

"Shut up," hissed Ginny. "Just shut up."

"And I'm sure she'd want to marry me tomorrow," continued Scorpius, his voice hard as a rock now, "if it was just to get away from you."

Ginny moved so quickly that she was sure that Scorpius hadn't seen her at all. Surely, she almost hadn't noticed her movements herself, but the slap resounded loud and clear in the silence of Grimmauld Place.

She hadn't wanted to slap him. No, she loved Scorpius like her own child. If it hadn't been for him, Lily would have never been found. But what he was saying, his accusatory tone of voice and the way he stared at her with defiance as if to dare her to say that those were lies, just made her blood boil in her veins.

"Get out of my house," she snarled as his cheek started to blush in the shape of her hand.

"Ginny—"

"Get out, Malfoy," she repeated. "Take your ring with you and get out of my house."

"Ginny, calm down." Harry's voice was almost as nervous as she felt. He walked to where she was standing and grabbed her shoulder, making her turn to look at him. "Ginny, please—"

"I don't want him in my house," she told Harry, her throat getting tighter as the echo of his words still stung her heart. "I don't want him here," she repeated. She could feel the tears swelling up in her eyes.

He didn't understand, he was just a boy, he couldn't understand. Lily was her child, her baby, the child that was taken away from her. Nobody understood how she had felt, and now… yes, maybe… maybe she was trying to keep Lily close to her, maybe, but if she did that it was only because she loved her.

She hid her face in Harry's chest and he hugged her tightly.

"I think you should go home for tonight, Scorpius," murmured Harry. "I'm sure Rose will be happy to go and pick Lily up."

Scorpius didn't move. "Mrs Potter, I'm sorry," he said, his voice truly pained, "I didn't mean to… I know you love her, but… I love her too…"

Ginny didn't look at him. She let Harry cradle her in his arms as she listened to Scorpius' steps fading away as he finally desisted, and the front door closing at his back. And then she finally started crying in earnest.

Because Scorpius' words stung.

Because she knew that deep down they were the hard truth.

oooOOOooo

Lily stood up from one of the little chairs where she and the other nine girls in Miss Mitzy's staff had been sitting for the past half hour. She stretched her legs and creaked her back to send the stiffness away.

"Lily," Betsy called her. Betsy Rogers was the girl who taught the group of five-six years old children, a blonde, tall and beautiful young lady, and the closer in age to Lily amongst all the teachers. "I am so looking forward to go to the Ministry, aren't you?" she asked, smiling warmly. "I've never been there."

Lily was looking forward to the outing as well. Even though she had been at the Ministry more times than she could count, this would have been her first outing with the school and the children, the first time that she was required to keep a proper eye on her students in an environment different from the classroom.

"Yes," replied Lily, checking her notes. "All I have to do is give the parents the permission slits, right? And then collect them back and give them to Miss Mitzy before the end of the week."

Betsy smiled at her. "Oh, don't worry," she told her gently, "it's just that, yes. And then remind the parents about the outing the day before it, some tend to forget and then they come to pick their children up at the same time, but we might still be away."

Lily smiled back, a bit nervously. "And then I have to make sure that none of them wanders off while we are at the Ministry," she said anxiously.

"Well, lucky you that you can ask your boyfriend to help you with that," she grinned, winking at her. "My fiancé doesn't even like children, so he wouldn't help even if we were doing an outing to Quality Quidditch Supplies where he works. Scorpius likes children, doesn't he?"

She furrowed her brow in concentration. She had never seen him holding a child, really, but he had never mentioned the fact that he didn't like them. Of course, he called them 'midgets', but it was usually just to have a laugh. And he smiled at them and Violet had given him a Valentine's card the day before, and he had showed it to her all proudly.

And yes, Lily wanted to have as many children as Grandma Molly—no! Even more. She wanted twelve… and she needed Scorpius to love them as much as he loved her.

"He does," she assured Betsy with a smile. "He loves children. We are going to have twelve of them."

Betsy laughed as if she found it an amusing joke. "That's basically your class, Lily," she pointed out. "Okay, I better go now, Charles will wonder where I am and who's going to cook for dinner…" She sighed loudly. "Not that he's going to get anything ready, he'd rather starve to death than cook…" She shook her head and shrugged a shoulder as if she was resigned already to never expect him to do anything. "See you tomorrow, Lils," she told her, kissing her cheek.

"Have a good evening, Betsy," replied Lily as she kissed her cheek back. She stared at the young woman walking out of the classroom that most of the other girls had already left. Only a few were still lingering behind to talk details about the outing with Miss Mitzy, some were waving their goodbyes and saying, "See you tomorrow," with smiles upon their faces.

Lily pushed the parchment with her notes into her bag and frowned a little upon what Betsy had just said. She lived with her fiancé and he didn't know how to cook, so she had to cook for herself and for him. Well, that meant that they didn't own a house-elf, for sure, but it also meant that Betsy took care of Charles.

Just like Grandma took care of Granddad Arthur, and Mum of Dad, and Aunt Hermione of Uncle Ron.

Did that mean that when Lily and Scorpius became a family, she had to take care of him? That was quite a terrifying thought because… she didn't know anything! She didn't know how to cook, she didn't know how to wash the bed linen, she didn't know how to iron her clothes, she didn't know how to clean a house. Her mother had never showed her, and Lily had learned how to bathe alone only a few years before.

Maybe she could have brought Taffy with her once she moved in with Scorpius. Well, of course she would do that, Taffy was her friend and Lily was her rightful owner, Doge himself had said that. Lily remembered, she remembered everything. It was her gift.

"Lily."

She was snapped out of her thoughts by the unexpected voice calling her. She raised her eyes and met the blue ones of her cousin.

Rose was standing on the door and smiling at her. Her red curls were a halo around her face. Her cheeks were rather flushed as if she had either stood in the sun or in the cold wind for too long. She waved at her and Lily threw her bag over her shoulder and walked hastily to her.

"Rose," she exclaimed happily, as she hugged her. "Thank you for coming to pick me up." She stood on tiptoes to look over her shoulder and see if she was coming with anybody else, but she seemed alone. "Is Scorpius working late?" she asked, trying hard not to sound too disappointed. Rose didn't have to come all the way to Wales to pick her up after a hard day of work, surely she had offered because she was a nice girl and because she loved her cousin.

"Scorpius is staying at the Manor for dinner tonight," replied Rose, not looking into her eyes, "so I took the chance to come and pick you up. We haven't talked in ages, Lils, I missed you." She gave her another smile and Lily pushed at the back of her head any thought of Scorpius eating at the Manor and not being able to see him for that day. He didn't even Floo Called her to let her know though, that was weird…

"James invited me for dinner at Grimmauld Place," Rose told her, "he took pity on me, I think…"

"Oh, Rose!" exclaimed Lily, wrapping an arm around her shoulders to hug her. "Of course he didn't," she told her, "I'm sure he just likes to have you around. Just like I do, and Al, and Mum and Dad, and Scorpius…"

"Well, I accepted because I wanted to see you," she admitted. "It's been far too long. You have to tell me everything, is it true that you're coming to the Ministry with the children?"

Lily nodded enthusiastically. "Next week," she replied, "you're going to be there, aren't you?"

Rose nodded back. "Well, unless I'm off staring at more dead unicorns with James…"

Lily brought a hand to her mouth. "Dead unicorns?" she asked. "That's terrible!"

"I know, right?" sighed Rose. "I thought I was going to be sick when I saw them…" She took a deep breath and added, "I think we should go, Aunt Ginny told me to get you home straight away, no dawdling nor chatting." She smiled. "Plenty of time to do that at home."

Lily nodded. She turned to wave goodbye to the few girls who were still there and to Miss Mitzy.

"See you tomorrow, Lily," replied the old woman. "Good evening, Auror Weasley."

Rose nodded and smiled and soon the two cousins were walking towards the front door of the school and into the garden.

Lily looked at Rose and furrowed her brow. "Would you like me to Apparate you to Grimmauld Place?" she asked gently. If she had almost felt sick that afternoon probably it was better for her not to try to Apparate too much.

Rose smiled. "Well, I did Splinch a lock," she admitted, moving away her mass of curls from her side to show her a lock of dark red hair missing, "but I'm alright, I swear."

"Don't be silly," replied Lily, offering her a hand. "Let's go."

Rose took her hand, grinning gratefully at her cousin. The poor thing let Lily pull her in the side-along Apparition and soon they were standing in front of Grimmauld Place. It was nice. Scorpius always tucked her under his arm and Apparated her home, but for once it was actually nice to be the one to have control on the Apparition process. It made her feel all grown up.

Rose took a deep breath and steadied herself. "You are good," she told Lily, "I think you are almost better than my Dad. When I was little and he Apparated me somewhere I always felt rather wobbly afterwards."

Lily gloated at that. Of course, Rose was not little now, but still… It was nice to hear that.

They walked to the door and Lily unlocked it and walked inside, followed by Rose. It felt rather strange not to turn to kiss Scorpius quickly before they walked into the kitchen where the whole family was reunited, nor to hear his voice as they took off their shoes, or having him spraying her with water as they stopped in the little loo to wash their hands. But she was looking forward to chatting the evening away with Rose. Maybe she could have stayed the night and they would have talked and talked and talked until they fell asleep.

"You are late," was her mother's greeting as they walked into the kitchen. "I was worried…" Her voice trailed away as she fidgeted with the wooden spoons in her hands, avoiding to look at Lily. "I was worried I couldn't fend off your brothers' attacks to the pasta."

"I'm starving," complained Albus, standing to kiss Lily's forehead, before eyeing Rose suspiciously. "Hey Rosie," he said, "you okay?"

Rose huffed a reply, "Yes, thank you for asking, Al." She looked over his shoulder at James and smiled. "My favourite male cousin is a much better Auror partner than you." She stuck out her tongue to him and Albus cocked an eyebrow unimpressed.

"Good, because Scorpius cries much less than you do," he replied, sticking out his tongue now, "and only when he has his period."

"Al!" protested Lily, slapping his arm.

He chuckled as he hugged her tightly. "I'm joking," he told her, "I love him. I love him so much you better watch out. I might snatch him from you."

Her dad walked into the kitchen. "Is everybody here?" he asked. "Can we eat? Hi, my sweet." He kissed Lily's head. "Hello Rosie," he added, giving her a one-armed hug.

"Hi Uncle Harry," she replied, smiling. "Thank you for having me."

"Oh, you come whenever you want, Rosie," said Lily's mother. "Don't wait for my uncivilised sons to invite you once in a blue moon. You just come, okay?"

She nodded as they all sat down at the table. "Thank you, Auntie."

"Have you washed your hands, Lily?" asked her mother.

She nodded. "Yes, Mum," she sighed. "Al, why is Scorpius not coming tonight? Is he alright?"

"Lily, help yourself to some pasta, dear, Taffy cooked it for you and Kreacher helped," said her mother, her voice slightly tense.

"Thank you," she replied, helping herself a generous spoonful, before looking back at Albus again. "Was there some problem at work? You didn't have a row, did you?"

Albus swallowed the bread that he had stuffed in his mouth. "Nope," he replied, "but he had something to do this afternoon, but wouldn't tell me what… He had lunch at the Manor, though."

"Oh, did he?" asked Lily.

"Probably he was just missing his mother, Lily," said her mother, "probably he wanted to spend some time with her. After all, he is always here. People miss their mothers, don't they, dear?"

Lily looked at her thoughtfully. "Yes, I guess."

Her mother smiled nervously. "Wouldn't you miss me, Lily, if you didn't see me every day?" she asked, her voice a bit choked.

Lily smiled at her. "Immensely, Mum," she assured her.

Her mother nodded and closed her eyes. Somehow she seemed to take a deep breath of relief, as if she hadn't been sure that might have been her daughter's reply. "Exactly," she murmured. "And I would miss you so much."

"Hey!" called Albus. "Nobody would miss me here?"

"No," chorused Rose and James, before the whole table burst into laughter.

Albus rolled his eyes and just demanded for the pasta to finally be passed around. Then they all ate and the pasta was delicious and Lily thought that it would have been nice to ask Taffy how she made it, and then one day cooking it for Scorpius…

oooOOOooo

Draco flicked his wand and the Crup food appeared in the bowls in front of the hungry parents and their five puppies. Well, puppies, so much for puppies now, they were almost seven months old and were loud and vivacious and definitely quite aggressive towards the Muggles of the nearby village. Draco had had the pleasure to notice how they loved to make people scream and run. Honestly, he loved that breed. And if it hadn't been for the Ministry restrictions, he would have never severed their forked tail at six weeks.

They all ate avidly, all except for one. Little Sparky there. He just licked a bit at the expensive food, before turning away and, with a proper sigh, lying down, his sad snout on his paws.

Draco sighed too. His Crups should not be called 'Sparky'. His Crups were called Brutus and Rex and Noble and Cleopatra, not… Sparky. Surely that was why that little boy there wouldn't want to eat. Surely he could sense that his name was so ridiculous.

Draco sighed again. No, that little pup there missed his little owner. Somehow he could sense that the young lady who gave him that ridiculous name was his owner. The one Draco himself had gifted him to. And somehow he missed her even though they had had very little time to bond, thanks to Scorpius' desire to keep Lily away from the Manor and from Draco.

The door to the room Draco had destined to the Crups opened and Astoria's soft steps neared him.

"Are they all well?" she asked, looking at the eating animals as she placed a hand on her husband's shoulder.

Draco turned his head to kiss her hand. "All well except for Sparky," he told her, "he misses his owner."

"What if we invite Lily over to cuddle him a little," she replied, "would that help?"

"It would help if she brought him home with her," replied Draco curtly. Or if she came to live at the Manor, but from what Scorpius had told them about his discussion with the Potters, that didn't seem to be happening any time soon. Draco would have never imagined that one day he would have actually felt rather disappointed that the Potters – well, Ginny Potter – would forbid his son to ask their daughter's hand in marriage. If anything, he thought he would have been right there with them, shaking his head in disapproval, but now, all he wanted was for Scorpius to marry the woman he had done follies for. The one he had paid two thousands Galleons just to talk to.

The Crups licked the bowls clean and then licked their own muzzles.

Astoria whistled gently. "Regina," she called her Crup, patting her leg. The animal ran to her and started to jump up and down around her ankles. "Who's a good girl?" asked Astoria, bending down to scratch her behind her ears. "Who's a good girl? You are. Yes, you are."

The Crup woofed at her and tapped her tail on the floor happily.

"I might take them out this weekend," said Draco nonchalantly, "maybe for a little walk in the village…"

Astoria looked at him and cocked an eyebrow. "You are not going to set them on the Muggles, are you, Draco?"

He brought a hand to his heart, faking indignation. "Astoria, my dear, you can't set a Crup on a Muggle," he replied, "it's in their instinct."

He kissed her scowl away before she could retort something to him.

oooOOOooo

Rose changed into one of Lily's nightgowns and folded her Auror uniform on a chair. She hurried to the bed and lay down next to her cousin, bringing the blankets up to her chin.

"Your house is cold," she told Lily, staring at the canopy. "Have I ever told you that?"

Lily giggled. "Every time you came to stay," she replied.

And even before you were taken away, Rose wanted to tell her, but she didn't. "Well, I'm sorry, but it is," she let her know. "My poor toes are freezing."

Lily giggled again and Rose heard her moving on the bed, until her own feet were touching hers. They were cold too, but they brushed them together and she felt instantaneously better. "Scorpius is always warm," she told her.

Rose sighed. "Emeric was too," she whispered. She was not going to cry. No, no, no. She was all cried out over that stupid of his ex-boyfriend. She was going to enjoy her time there with Lily, they would talk a little, then sleep than go to work the next day. End of story.

"I think Emeric is silly," said Lily all of a sudden, turning to look at her and propping herself up on her elbow.

Rose sighed. "Do you?" she asked reluctantly.

Lily nodded. "I don't think that anybody in their right mind would ever leave you," she whispered. "You are the best Auror – don't tell Scorpius –, the most beautiful girl – don't tell Dominique –, the nicest person – don't tell my mum…"

Rose laughed quietly. "Oh, come on, Lily," she told her, "tell me what you want and stop flattering me."

Lily giggled as she moved a bit closer to her. Rose wrapped an arm around her cousin's shoulders and Lily leaned her head on her shoulder. "I'm not," she replied, "I'm stating the truth."

"Well, thank you," replied Rose, "I'm happy you are my cousin."

"I'm happy too," sighed Lily. "Rose?"

"Hmm."

"Can you cook?"

Rose furrowed her brow. "Well, I'm not like Grandma, but I'm not too bad," she replied slowly, "I'm good with you know bangers and mash, and fish and chips and meat pies… all things that are not good for your health."

"I want to learn how to cook," said Lily seriously.

"Really?" asked Rose, that was new.

Lily nodded against her shoulder. "Yes, for when I have to take care of Scorpius," she confessed, "I mean, it'll happen sooner or later, right? We'll have a family…"

"Sooner than me, that's for sure," sighed Rose, feeling her throat tightening. Not again!

Lily kissed her cheek "Sorry," she told her, "right, let's talk about something else. Tell me everything about the unicorn case."

Rose wrinkled her nose. "Why don't you tell me everything about the children, anything interesting happened lately?"

"Actually, yes," replied Lily, "Scorpius said not to worry, but I probably need a woman's opinion on this."

"Come on, then."

And as Lily told her everything that had happened with the little child and her mother sporting a bruise, Rose managed not to think about men for a the rest of the night.

oooOOOooo

"You think I'm wrong," said Ginny from her vanity.

"No," replied Harry calmly, "after almost thirty years of marriage, I think you are always right."

"Harry…"

He folded the Prophet and put it on the bedside table. "I swear, Ginny, you are right."

"And Scorpius is wrong," she murmured, as she stood up and shed her nightgown.

He shook his head. "No, he is right too," he replied, "you are only seeing things from two different perspectives, but you are both right."

She sat on the bed and finished spreading her hand lotion on the back of her hands. "You think we should let her go, don't you?" she asked, almost accusatorily. "You think it's right that she goes off and marries to the first boy she fell in love with."

"She will have to go off and do something without us sooner or later," he pointed out, "we are not going to be here forever to protect her."

Ginny snorted. "We still have at least eighty years ahead of us," she replied curtly. "I'm sure as hell planning to spend them close to my daughter."

Harry chuckled as she finally pushed away the covers and lay down. "Well, yes, I think that by the age of a hundred she'll have discarded all those silly thoughts of having her own family and marrying to the boy she loves."

Ginny darkened. "If you say it like this, it makes me feel like I am wrong."

"Does it?" asked Harry, taking off his glasses and setting them on his bedside table.

Ginny tugged the covers up to her chin. "Goodnight," she said rather gruffly.

"Night, dear," replied Harry softly as he turned off the light.