Flashback (cont'd):

Lily stared, openmouthed as she took in the scene before her. James, Al and Hugo were clearly drunk out of their minds, but Malfoy looked so… serious. She took a deep breath, and quelched the butterflies in her stomach as she forced an icy tone.

"Is this your idea of a sick joke, Malfoy?"

'Lily, you don't know what the last two years have been like for me. I keep replaying that day in my head, wishing I had a time turner. I'm so sorry Lily, and I never want to be without you again.

Lily bit her lip. He sounded so sincere.

"Come on, Lils, take him back. He's a good bloke" Lily rolled her eyes at her obviously drunk brother. What on earth had made them think this was a good idea? Al and James looked remarkably similar when they were drunk, with Al losing some of his serious demeanor and giving her a charming Potter grin.

"He begged me to tell him where you were. And looks… we haves a CARRIAGE!" Albus gestured wildly at the hallway. "Well, you can't see it from here," he looked disappointed, "but I promise it's downstairs waiting"

'You lot are drunk. Come back in the morning' Lily's head was starting to hurt, and Malfoy still hadn't gotten up off the ground. He was just looking at her with that intense expression and holding that bloody ring and…

'Get up' She roughly dragged Scorpius Malfoy into her bedroom, ignoring the catcalls from her family. She pushed him onto the bed, where he blinked and gave her his signature Malfoy smirk. The one that made her weak in the knees, so long ago.

'Is that a yes?' clumsily, Scorpius tried to put the ring on Lily's finger.

'What about Flint, Malfoy?' Lily scowled. She wasn't a home wrecker, and Scorpius BLOODY Malfoy had no business showing up at her doorstep proposing to her when he had all but proposed to someone else, according to the Daily Prophet.

'I don't want her. She still won't eat clotted cream' Scorpius pouted earning a chuckle from Lily. 'You're my dream girl, Lils. You always were. Always will be.'

'Then why…' Lily fought tears as she struggled to speak. If she was his dream girl WHY had he given her up so easily.

'I was calling your bluff' Scorpius was shamefaced. 'I was childish and stupid. I thought you were choosing him over me.' Scorpius Malfoy hung his head, genuine pain flashing across his features. Lily found herself softening. She sighed, her voice cracking slightly.

'It wasn't about him, you should have known that. I shouldn't have been put in that position in the first place'

'Lily' Scorpius cupped her chin, staring deep into her tear filled hazel eyes. 'Not a day has gone by since then that I haven't kicked myself for my childishness. I'm not losing you, Lily. I've been carrying that ring around in my pocket every day for the last two years, reminding myself how foolish I was. I know I don't have a right to ask you this but… will you marry me?'

Blushing, Lily nodded and let him slip the Malfoy ring over her finger, pulling him down for a fierce kiss that released years of pent up longing.

'Bloody hell' despite the buzz, Scorpius grinned his first genuine smile since their breakup. 'I should have proposed years ago.'

'You did, remember?' Lily smiled through her tears as she eyed her ring, remembering the many, fancy and downright irritating proposals Scorpius had come up with during their time at Hogwarts. She had missed him so much.

"OY! Keep your grubby Malfoy paws out where I can see them" In the living room, a drunk James Sirius Potter seemed to have changed his mind about his sister and Scorpius.

"You said yes? Oh my god, she said yes!" Albus jumped up and down, hugging Hugo, while the dark haired baby on the couch watched in curiosity. He had never seen so many strange characters before, they seemed interesting.

'Lily and Malfoy are getting MARRIED! Wait… now I'm the only unattached one. I'm roneryyyyyyyyyyyyyy…' Hugo sat on Lily's blue couch and sulked wishing he could get in touch with Ellie and apologize for being an insensitive git. Maybe his parents had a Weasley ring he could lay claim to – girls seemed potty over heirloom jewelry.

"Come on, mate, have a drink" James soothed his cousin, while clumsily attempting to pour Firewhiskey stolen from his sister's liquor cabinet. "Hey," he stopped and stared at Lily and Scorpius, mortally offended. "You're marrying my sister" he attempted to glare in an intimidating manner, not an easy task with his old Gryffindor tie perched on his head.

"And she's SOBER!" Albus Potter looked mortified, as he attempted to pour his sister a drink. She couldn't get married like this.

In spite of herself, Lily smiled. Her family was crazy, and being with Scorpius again made her so filled with lightness that she wanted to giggle. She was supposed to be babysitting, but she supposed it wasn't right to not toast her own engagement.

"Anyway, after the third round of drinks, your insistence that we get married immediately before you do anything stupid and mess things up again almost seemed to make sense" Lily's voice was trembling as she looked firmly at the ground, avoiding eye contact with the Malfoy scion. WHY in Merlin's name did she never seem capable of learning her lesson when it came to him? She wished her third year self would show up and smack some sense into her.

"We went to one of those 24 hour muggle wedding chapels in the city. Then you lot wanted to go to a casino to celebrate" Lily fixed an ugly glare on her brother and cousin. "Scor and I waited outside with the baby when James came flying out the door, followed by Al and Hugo. You hit your head on the fountain, so Al and Scor carried you to the hospital."

James Sirius Potter was silent as he rubbed the back of his neck. Part of him was furious at Scorpius for causing this whole mess in the first place; he had had NO business showing up and proposing to Lily after breaking her heart. At the same time, he saw how happy Lily had been when she answered the door and how… not happy she was now. Unfortunately, he had to concentrate on finding his lost brother. Albus Potter would not have gone off and done his own thing, knowing his friends and family would worry about him. If Al, of all people was missing, the only reason for that would be that he was in trouble. Big trouble.

Scorpius bit his lip, wishing he could think of something to say to make everything better. If he was understanding correctly, his drunk self had somehow managed to achieve what he had wanted since he was a teenager – Lily Potter's hand in marriage.

"Don't worry, Malfoy" Lily bit her lip, looking at the man who was technically her husband. "I'll ask Uncle Percy to draw up annulment papers. It should be easy enough, since we didn't consummate the marriage or anything" Lily rolled her eyes at the palpable relief in her big brother's expression, and the mildly put out expression on Malfoy's face. "Besides, we were all pissed"

Scorpius' mind whirled, he needed to get Lily off the subject of annulments. Now that he was married to her, he had absolutely no intention of giving that up. All he needed was to get her alone, and to convince her that everything he had said the previous night was true. She had been sober when she agreed to marry him, so he knew she still loved him. Maybe he could divert her attention to a more pressing concern than getting unmarried to him.

'Lils', Lily frowned at her soon to be ex husband's use of her preferred nickname. He was still an insufferable git with no boundaries. 'When did you last see Al?'