Parts (51-56)


IV

Chapter 9

Births and Wedding Bells


Part 1: The Burrow and The Baby


"Scor!" Molly greeted him happily before Scorpius had time to take in his surroundings, she pulled him into a hug and their lips met for the kiss they'd missed on the platform.

"Come on now. Just because we're here for a wedding, it doesn't mean everyone should be kissing," Maurice's voice complained irritably which was uncannily like Roman's complaining and made them pull apart.

Scorpius got a good look at 'The Burrow' for the first time, he thought it looked rather as if it had once been a room before some kind of explosion happened. He was standing in a kitchen but it was inundated with objects, random things that weren't even usually used in the kitchen. Clothes, trinkets, ornaments, toys, books, boxes and just about anything really. Molly, Orous and Maurice were all standing around as if they'd been waiting for him.

"Sorry about the mess," Molly apologized, "It's not usually like this - well, to a much lesser extent - but everything's just going through a mass clean out and sort to make it nice for the wedding. That's what we're all doing."

"Before Molly started counting down to your arrival, perfect right to the second," Orous pointed out and smiled, "Really cool."

"When did you all get here?" Scorpius asked curiously.

"Dad drove most of the night so we got here this morning."

"I've been here since school ended," Molly added, "Dad's busy with work and often works late sometimes all night so Lucy and I have been staying here mostly. Rose and Hugo are staying here too since both their parents are busy at the Ministry, it's a busy time to be a Ministry employee. They'll be here at some point though."

"There are a lot of people here though to prepare for the wedding but they're not sleeping here. Molly's uncles Bill and George, Teddy and Victoire - the couple getting married - as well as Teddy's grandmother who raised him, Victoire's brother Louis and sister Dom, Brutus and Professor Ashain's father Aurelius. Vern and the Potters - except Mr Potter since he has to work - are coming whenever Michael gets dropped off to them. And obviously Mr and Mrs Weasley, and my Dad are here. Oh and baby Vale which is short for Valerius Rooke as he's Victoire' cousin by her non-Weasley aunt, the Weasleys are babysitting him since his parents are at work. Erm... Did I forget anyone else?"

"No, that's actually pretty much everyone. Well remembered, Orous, because it is a lot," Molly congratulated him and Orous smiled slightly, "Anyone else is just coming tomorrow for the wedding."

"What about Freddie and Roxy?" Scorpius wondered.

"They'll be here tomorrow, their parents are split now so Aunt Angelina mustn't feel like bringing them and hanging out with Uncle George for longer than necessary I guess. Freddie's of age so I guess he could've come but he's spending some time with Caitlin's family anyway which is kind of important."

"Molly, have you- Ah, Scorpius dear, you're here!" Mrs Weasley exclaimed as she came in and saw him, "Glad you could make it."

"No problem," Scorpius offered nervously and fished around in his bag for the wedding present, "Here, it's... it's you know, a wedding present."

"That's very kind of you, dear," Mrs Weasley smiled as she took it, "Orous, would you mind going to put this with the others?"

"People are supposed to bring gifts to weddings?" Maurice realized in surprise before his expression shifted to one of intrigue while Orous left with the present, "Interesting, I wonder if the investment in marriage is just a cover for a couple to form an alliance to gain useful items."

"Yes, Maurice, I'm sure that's it," Molly offered sarcastically, "Especially since the value of the gifts is probably less than the actual cost of the wedding."

"Well, if you will recall, I have said that people dating are crazy and probably blind to their flawed logic."

"Oh my, you... you special boy," Mrs Weasley sighed at Maurice, "They could do with another wand outside if you're up for that."

"For magic? Always," Maurice agreed and headed off.

"What should I do?" Scorpius asked.

"You don't mind helping with these preparations?" Mrs Weasley wondered.

"Of course not, I'm happy to help."

"Well why don't help Molly in here then, after she shows you where you can put down your things. You'll be sharing a room with Hugo, is that alright?"

"Yeah, it's fine," Scorpius nodded and Mrs Weasley opened her mouth to say something else but a baby started crying from somewhere.

"I have to go deal with that, I'll be back soon."

"So why don't I give you the grand tour?" Molly offered with a smile after her grandmother left, holding him out her hand for him to take to go with her, "So downstairs we have the kitchen - which is here - and the living room, oh the scullery which is a tiny room just in there. We'll get to the outside when we come back down, so on the First Floor there's two bedrooms, one that Cade's staying in there and one that Lucy and Rose are sharing. Second Floor is where I am, in my Dad's old room then Orous and Maurice are in the twin's old room. Third Floor is the bathrooms, the small one there with a toilet and shower, one with a toilet and shower/bath that is everyone's favorite. Fourth Floor is my grandparents' room then you're up here on the Fifth Floor in Uncle Ron's old room, it's a bit small but hopefully it should be alright. There's a pull-down ladder just outside to get to the attic where the ghoul lives."

They walked as Molly talked, she pointed out each of the rooms as she came to them and the clutter lessened as they got further up the stairs. Scorpius thought it was rather shabby really, it was naturally smaller than his family's mansion but it was ironically much smaller than Varanian's hideout. It did have more a lived in feel though, Scorpius couldn't put his finger on it but it was almost as if it had something that his home didn't. Similar to how he felt at the World Cup that the Weasleys had something his family lacked, he couldn't put his finger on it though. The room he was sharing with Hugo was quite small, smaller than any other room he'd ever stayed in but there were two beds that were neatly made. The walls were a burnt orange and quite full of Chudley Cannon's memorabilia, all of which had faded with age. He put down his bag on the bed that Molly indicated was for him and they headed back down, he could hear clanging coming from the attic above him as they moved.

"Your family knows there are people that take care of ghouls, right?" Scorpius wondered curiously.

"They know," Molly shrugged, "But they're okay with the ghoul."

"Don't take this the wrong way, but your family are a bit strange," Scorpius pointed out, not understanding why anyone would willingly live with a ghoul if they could help it. Molly laughed.

Molly showed him outside which essentially looked like a white blanket with lumps for the occasional building like a garage or outhouse, there was also a large pond that had - thankfully - frozen over with tendrils of frosted plants stretching their tendrils over the ice. Most of the adults - and Maurice since he was free from the Trace - were outside setting up the wedding pavilion and preparing the garden for the guests, those who were younger were inside clearing out the interior. Scorpius then got to work going through the things in the kitchen, boxing up the decades of junk just to get it out of the way and putting into the scullery so they could clean the kitchen itself. Orous and Hugo were also on kitchen duty while Lucy, Louis and Rose worked on the sitting room with Mrs Weasley overseeing them both as well as caring for baby Vale. Scorpius actually didn't mind it, they talked as they worked and they were his friends, except Hugo but he got on well enough with him and he seemed to know Orous from both being Hufflepuffs.

Michael, Vern and the Potters - minus the patriarch - arrived a couple of hours later, this prompted a break and Mrs Weasley made them a variety of sandwiches for lunch. Scorpius was reminded that there were twenty-four people there as they tried to fit, ending up having to split themselves into the sitting room and kitchen because there was just too many. The adults took the kitchen and those not got the sitting room, where Scorpius saw a tree wedged into the corner that was actually taller than the height of the room and was bent over at the top. It was impossible to get Michael alone to ask him about what he'd told his aunt, Michael did seem in a slightly better mood than usual. After that, it was back to work with Michael and Vern joining them in the kitchen while the Potter kids joined the other three in the other room, the others went back outside or to clean up the upper floors. The clutter started to dwindle and eventually, they were just down to cleaning the house. And then finally it was over, they were given free time - and strict orders not to cause any mess - while Mrs Weasley started on dinner with Mrs Potter and Michael helping.

"Michael," Scorpius managed to grab his friend and finally get him alone as people starting dispersing, "So what did you tell her?"

"You mean after you and 'Aaron' randomly left me standing?" Michael wondered.

"I didn't have a choice, he-"

"It's okay," Michael interrupted and put his hands up, "I told her that he was a friend and teacher who was teaching you some extra magic, your Dad didn't approve since he's overprotective so you lied. It's basically the truth and I admitted there was more to it than that but she was okay with that for now."

"Good. Thank you. And thank her for covering for me," Scorpius offered, "So how's things with your family?"

"Well, Annie won't believe she's a witch, Crystal's too severely sick with pneumonia for the operation she needs and Jack's just got loopy so you know... Just the usual. Anything you can risk telling me about how things are with your fake family?"

"Roman's got issues but wants to be a good Dad, 'Aaron' is usual self pretty much but I think kind of annoyed your aunt noticed him and Wyatt is Grant's son, he's actually alright as far as I can tell."

"I thought he was dead?"

"He got better. Tell you more when we're not so overcrowded."

"Okay."

Michael had to leave soon after that, everyone who wasn't staying in the Burrow went back to their own houses or where they'd be staying at least, Gabrielle Rooke also came to pick up her son so baby Vale left. It still left Scorpius, Molly, Lucy, Rose, Hugo, Orous, Maurice, Cade, Mr and Mrs Weasley which was a fair amount of people. Lucy retreated to her room before Scorpius could take note of her, Mrs Weasley was making dinner with Hugo helping, Cade was explaining what a firefighter did in answer to Mr Weasley's excited questions, Maurice oddly looked like he was listening to this as well with interest, Rose was telling Orous about how much better he would look if he dyed his hair, wore colored contact lenses and used some products to change his skin tone to a more 'normal' tone. Scorpius rolled his eyes at this and noticed Molly was heading upstairs, he went on after her.

"Hey," Scorpius greeted her with a smile, "What are you doing?"

"Was going to go check on Hopper, want to come with?" Molly told him and Scorpius nodded in confirmation as they went up to Molly's rooms, the owl was upon her shoulder almost as soon as she'd opened the door and squawked affectionately before biting her ear, "I missed you too, buddy. You remember Scorpius?"

"Ow," Scorpius muttered as the owl nipped his ear.

"Sorry. Means he likes you though."

"It's okay."

Molly stroked her owl before going to put Hopper back over to his perch, feeding him some treats as she did so. Scorpius got a look at her room for the first time, or at least the room she was using that had originally been her father's. It was quite bland but Molly - he presumed from them not being faded - had made it more her own by putting up banners for Gryffindor especially Quidditch orientated, and pictures, some of her massive family which included her dead mother, two even of their team winning the Quidditch Cup the previous two years that Scorpius hadn't realized existed, one of a red-haired guy with a dragon behind him made him think of Calderon with a painful pang, there were even some of Hopper the owl. Others were paintings, of different landscapes such as the coast or desert, ocean, snow scenes, forest, one of a muggle city with the lights all lit up and one of an open road, many had overcast gray skies. Her bed had a semblance of being made but not absolute neatly, it was a sky pattern and she too had extra blankets. She had three stuffed toys on her bed, an ancient-looking unicorn, a dragon and a lion. There was a messy desk stacked with books primed at studying and Quidditch, she had a blank book open in which she'd started drawing out a schedule for Quidditch practices after the break.

"You really do work out these practices in your free time," Scorpius said half to himself.

"Of course, you think I make up random plans on the spot?" Molly wondered and Scorpius wasn't sure whether to admit he'd always thought that or not, "I was your age when I was made Captain, no one expected anything of me so I thought meticulous overthinking might help prove them wrong. Habit now, Dad still says my time would be better spent studying for NEWTs though."

"Well you do good, I mean we have won ever since you became Captain. I really wouldn't know what to do if I'd been made Captain this year."

"That's pretty much exactly how I felt," Molly laughed and Scorpius smiled in turn, he loved the sound of her laugh, "So what do you think of my room? Sorry there's so many pictures."

"I don't mind," Scorpius brushed it off, "I keep lots of pictures too, of my family and Latimer made me this awesome book with paintings of my friends so now I both. I put pictures of muggle motorcycles by my bed in Hogwarts - I'd be afraid to do that at home though - but I don't have landscapes admittedly."

"I like the outside, always have. Landscapes are all about the outside. Drove my parents nuts, that's why I always got along so well with Uncle Charlie," Molly told him and gestured to the picture of the red-haired man with the dragon as she sat down on the edge of the bed, "He loved the outdoors too, I always thought he was the coolest person ever. He used to joke he didn't have children so he could spend more time being an uncle, he always kept in touch. Until he died anyway. Killed by the Shadow Master, just like my mother."

"I'm sorry," Scorpius offered as he sat down next to her and put his arm around her to try be comforting.

"It's scary wondering who's next. Another Weasley will die I'm sure. Someone else will lose a parent this year."

"We don't know that," Scorpius pointed out and Molly seemed to want to change the subject.

"Uncle Charlie gave me that stuffed dragon toy, y'know? He was crazy about them. I know I'm too old for stuffed toys but I keep it as a memento of him."

"What about the other two?"

"The lion was my Dad after I was sorted into Gryffindor, he said he was so proud of me. Usually he's so focused on how well I'm doing academically so I can have good grades to get a good Ministry job and have a good future but for once, he was just proud for who I was not who he wants me to be. Mostly I keep it to remind myself he does love me really, even when I feel really pressured," Molly explained and with a painful pang, Scorpius wondered how disappointed his family must've been with his house placement, "And the stuffed unicorn was from my Mother when I was very young, it belonged to her brother Roman. Enas, he's called. She wanted me to have something from her family so I keep it."

"I thought your father 'killed' it?" Scorpius wondered curiously as he recalled Roman ranting about Percy being evil for it.

"No, my parents just took it off him and told him that they got rid of it. They thought it might encourage him to make real friends if he didn't have it since he considered it his friend, it didn't work I guess. Then again, my Mother always said that taking a Bludger to the head in a Quidditch match scrambled his brains and turned him against her."

"Really?" Scorpius couldn't help but laugh at the irony.

"Yeah, she never forgave Uncle Ron and Uncle George for teaching him to play. What's so funny?"

"I'm sorry it's just that Roman thinks... Roman thinks that your Dad and the Weasleys turned his sister against him," Scorpius told her as he sobered and Molly laughed instead.

"Oh, Mother," Molly shook her head while Scorpius' attention was drawn to something else odd about the paintings.

"Why do so many of your pictures have cloudy gray skies?"

"I love cloudy skies. I told you before I have a skylight in my room at home, when I was little I used to look up at clouds in the sky and wish I could touch them," Molly explained before blushing, "I always kind of love how you have gray eyes, they make me of think of those lovely cloudy skies."

"Really?" Scorpius wondered in surprise and blushed himself as she nodded, "I never knew that, I always thought they were kind of dull. I always kind of love how you have blue eyes, just like the sky on a beautiful clear day."

"Really? I always thought they were really bland-colored," Molly admitted as she kicked off her shoes and socks.

"No, never," Scorpius assured her as their eyes met, staring as if trying to see who see the deepest into each other's eyes.

Scorpius felt his heartbeat quicken slightly as he realized how close they were, he still had his arm around her too and her scent of cherries engulfed his senses. He reached out to caress her soft face ever so gently with his free hand, a strand of fiery curly hair fell in the way as tilted her head to one side and he brushed it aside as they leaned in to kiss tenderly. Molly managed to pull herself closer to her hands through his hair and he put his arms around her completely, loving the feeling of her body so close to his.

He kissed her harder and she kissed back with a passion to match, gripping the back of his head lightly. They broke apart to breath before their lips locked again in the opposite direction, Scorpius still felt it was as if their mouths were made to fit together, it was so perfect. Her fingers were still intertwined and weaving through with his hair, making his head tingle and further the explosions of pleasure in his mind that shook out any thoughts that weren't of Molly in that moment. He ran his hands up and down her back, feeling the shape of her body through the fabric.

The material wasn't as soft as her face though, he moved his hands back to her face as they broke apart again to lean back in for a slower kiss. He cupped her face in his hands instead, gently sweeping his thumbs across her cheekbones. She moved her hands too, repositioning them to his shoulders and ran them down his chest. Panic pushed through him as the muggles flashed into his mind, he recoiled and fully leaped away to stagger in an awkward standing position, breathing heavily as his eyes snapped open to see he was still in Molly's room. He glanced back to her, she was still sitting there in confusion with a look of guilt.

"I-I'm sorry," she apologized immediately.

"No, no, it's not you, never," Scorpius told her seriously, looking away in shame at ruining everything. Molly would probably want to break up with him now, he'd lost her, "I'm sorry, I'm really sorry. I should.. I should just go."

"You don't have to go," Molly called pleadingly as he started towards the door, "We don't have to make out, we can just sit here and talk like we were. It's not the end of the world."

Scorpius hesitated before going back to her, afraid she really would break up with him if he walked out on her. He sat on the bed beside her but further apart than before, he couldn't bring himself to raise his head in his shame, hating himself. Molly didn't seem to know what to say for a minute and Scorpius just stared at the ground, his leather shoes next to her bare feet. He scowled as he noticed she had scars on her right foot, werewolf claw-shaped scars that twisted up through her ankle and only stopped because of her trousers blocking it. The ankle bone that it went through also looked misshapen too, he hadn't realized she'd actually had scarring from the injury from last year. He must've said it aloud because she responded.

"Yeah, that's why I can't wear high heels or shoes that don't cover them unless I want to join Rose's ugly list," Molly told him and reached down to put her sock back on to cover it, Scorpius grabbed her hand to stop her before she could do it.

"You don't have to hide your scars in front of me," Scorpius insisted truthfully and unintentionally had to meet her beautiful sky blue eyes, "I was just surprised, I didn't mean that it bothers me because it doesn't. You're still just as beautiful to me."

"Really?"

"Yeah. And you're not alone," Scorpius nodded as he hadn't meant to make her feel bad, instead taking off his own shoes and socks to show her the scars on the soles of his feet from possessed-Varanian during his First Year, "See, that's another thing we have in common. Messed up feet."

Molly laughed and things shifted back to how they'd been before they'd tried to make out, talking except this time with their scarred feet touching. Scorpius still was incredibly bothered by freaking out but at least Molly hadn't broken up with... yet. Abruptly the door as shoved open by Molly's sister, Lucy had changed a lot since he'd last seen her as an eleven year old finding out she was a squib. She had long red hair but unlike her sister, it wasn't curly and it was much longer too. Her eyes were a muddy brown like her mother's had been and her skin wasn't flawless like Molly's, instead it was spattered with Weasley freckles. She also had a more womanly shape than Molly had had at thirteen, she might have still been pretty if she wasn't constantly scowling with a glare glinting in her eyes for her sister.

"Dinner's ready," Lucy barked before storming back out and slamming the door behind her.


Cade had never felt about anyway the way he felt about Alzay. He loved her completely and absolutely, he adored her, he was devoted to her. She could do no wrong, she was perfect in every single way. He'd do anything for her, anything she wanted. His friends and co-worker friends all thought he was crazy to be so besotted, even when he lied for her and claimed to be dating six months. He was incapable of seeing how unreasonable it was to be obsessed with her after a single date, especially when he was always so cautious and took things much slower when dating usual. There was just something about her. It was almost as if it was difficult to think of anything else, thoughts of her found their way to wedge into his mind even when he needed to be focused on work. He was ecstatic to discover magic was real, delighting in everything she showed him but more because Alzay was the one showing him. He doted on her son but it also had more to do with it being because of the fact he was Alzay's son, anything from her was perfect.

They were married by the end of the week - which felt like far too long of an engagement - and began the rest of their life together, for a few months Cade was lost in his obsessive infatuation with her. And then abruptly, the bubble burst. He'd married someone he barely knew, actually stood before her and dedicated himself to her in front of witnesses. He was just... confused. He asked her some things that he really should've asked before, she really hadn't struck him as having just come from an abusive relationship but then he hadn't been thinking much of anything recently. He supposed that the honeymoon-type phase had just ended but he really felt as if he didn't love her anymore, she was nice enough but he still felt as if he'd blindly married a stranger for no reason. Alzay wasn't acting any different though, he could hardly just turn around and tell her he wanted a divorce because he suddenly felt as if they'd moved too fast when he'd led her on clearly. It wasn't fair on her, or on Orous and really they'd be through enough with that ex of hers, he owed it to them to at least try give the marriage a shot. He didn't want to hurt anyone. Maybe it was just him freaking out and he'd feel alright it with again soon.

And so routine continued on as normal except now, Cade felt like himself again. The love didn't reignite the way he'd hoped but he did start to feel more comfortable around her again, he tried to set up 'date nights' once a week to catch up on what they'd missed from moving too fast and getting to know her better. He also started trying to set up weekly family outings like he'd had as a child to help them bond as a family, Alzay frequently had to work so it was more of just stepfather-son time. He didn't actually mind this, he enjoyed being a stepfather. It was the closest he'd ever get to being a real father. As much as he wished he could have his own biological children, he felt himself becoming very attached to Orous and treated him as he would his own child. He read to him his favorite fantasy books just the way he had to his sister, also reading him the magical story books Alzay had for him which was just as new to him. He was somewhat paranoid about Orous being in the sun but still took him places like the zoo or the aquarium - with or without Alzay - and even sneaked him into the station to look at the fire trucks. Wizard child, albino or not, apparently the siren was still the most exciting thing. He loved being a dad, seeing Orous grow and learn to crawl, try to walk and starting to talk. He also magically levitated one of his favorite stuffed toys over, apparently accidentally using magic was normal and healthy so Cade was proud. But what really struck him was one of the days when he went to get Orous for his bath, Orous smiled at him and spoke.

"Dada," Orous said happily and Cade was so taken aback by a moment that he froze, starting to wonder whether he'd imagined it before Orous reached out his hands to be picked up, "Dada!"

Cade scooped Orous up and cuddled him as he cried tears of joy, Orous thought he was his dad! He'd never thought he'd get to hear a child call him 'dada' after the fire, he hadn't even expected it from his stepson. But he supposed, he was Orous' Dad, the only one he'd ever really known. Roman didn't know Orous' favorite food was potatoes, Roman didn't know Orous' favorite toy was the stuffed sting-ray he'd bought him from the aquarium, Roman didn't know Orous liked to be cuddled when he felt sick, Roman didn't know Orous favored his left hand, Roman didn't know, Roman didn't care. Cade did, he knew because he cared and just wanted Orous to have what every child deserved, to be safe and happy.

"Dada loves you very much," Cade whispered and kissed the top of Orous' white-haired head gently, Orous gurgled happily and smiled.

He made sure to baby proof the house after that, he hadn't thought about it in his haze of initial obsessive love or do anything permanent after since he had been unsure but he was committed to being a good father now and Orous was still trying to walk so it was more important to put up things like safety gates on the stairs. He threw Orous a party for his first birthday, some of his friends - especially his fellow firefighters - had babies and children and he made sure to invite them. He thought it was good for Orous to socialize with other babies, just because he was an albino didn't mean he should be locked away from the world any more than his sister should've just for having Down syndrome. Alzay was against it but ultimately agreed as long as she didn't have to be there, Cade was forced to agree. She was really shut off to the idea of meeting any of his friends. Orous still had fun though, even if wrapping paper was more exciting than presents. One of the others volunteered to film it so he could show Alzay, she wasn't interested in seeing how her son's birthday had gone either. Cade worried about her sometimes.

"I just don't really like babies," Alzay shrugged it off.

Orous continued to grow, his vocabulary increasing rapidly - although 'dada' remained Cade's favorite word - and had taken his first steps by Christmas. Cade loved seeing his son grow, he took him to see Santa and bought a real tree, decorated the whole house up for Orous to enjoy it. Orous still liked wrapping paper over presents but Cade didn't mind, Orous was entitled to like anything he wanted. The only downside was that caring for a more energetic baby-turning-toddler was more tiring, especially since he worked nights and Alzay seemed to work more erratic hours these days. He pushed through it though, it was still worth it for his family. He threw Orous another party for his second birthday, Alzay again didn't want to come but she did get him magical presents that Cade had to hide while the guests were there. He also her burn a present for no reason, Cade scowled.

"What did you do that for?" Cade wondered in confusion.

"It was from Roman," Alzay brushed it off which was even more puzzling.

"I thought you said he hated Orous for being an albino?"

"He does, calls him a demon. It's just a trick to try make me go back to him because he's weak and stupid, Maurice is deaf and he doesn't know how to deal with it."

"Who's Maurice?" Cade asked, if possible feeling even more lost.

"He renamed Sathan as Maurice Rivers."

"You've been in contact with him?"

"Just this once," Alzay protested before glaring, "Why are you giving me the third degree about it?"

"I'm not, I just... don't understand. Do wizards really have no laws to deal with people like Roman?"

"No, they don't. I told you," Alzay insisted before seeming to think of something else, "And don't tell Orous about this, ever. He can't know about Roman or Maurice."

"Why?"

"He'd just want to see them and Roman would hurt him, I know he would," Alzay told him seriously, "Don't you want Orous to not be hurt?"

"Well yeah but-"

"No buts. I know Roman and you don't. Orous is my son, not yours, and I know what's best for him. Maybe if you could actually have children then you'd understand."

"I... guess... yeah," Cade mumbled in agreement, scratching the back of his head and trying not to feel incredibly hurt. He failed.

"I'll see you later then," Alzay offered and kissed him before leaving.


Draco Malfoy sat in a private room in St Mungo's, he'd paid for it to give them more privacy as really, who wanted to be a crowded ward when you could have a nice room to yourself? Scorpius and Lyra had both been born at Malfoy Manor but Astoria and he had an unspoken agreement that they should have this baby in a hospital, just in case something went wrong again. His concern had grown exponentially the more the pregnancy dragged on, it still continued to do so now after it was over. Astoria lay in the hospital bed beside him, exhausted from labor on top of the late hour and had slipped into slumber not too long ago. Draco couldn't sleep though and so, he sat dutifully by his wife's side with the new Malfoy in his arms. As of twelve minutes past midnight into December twenty-third, there was a new Malfoy.

Scorpius had been so convinced it was another girl that they'd actually started to expect a girl, however it was a baby boy he held. They hadn't decided on a name yet, afraid of committing to a name they might have to see carved into a tombstone. His own mother had refused to be there, too scared of losing another grandchild, and Astoria's sister was in another country, they hadn't told Scorpius yet but she'd fled in fear of the Shadows. Or Soul Eaters. Or whatever they chose to call themselves. For now, Draco was just calling the baby what he was: his son. He was bigger than his elder siblings had been but they had both been slightly early, still incredibly small though, fragile. Unlike his siblings, he was completely bald and had little eyes closed as he slept along with his mother. Draco liked watching the little chest rising and falling, consoling him that his son's little heart was still beating. No sign of whatever sickness had killed Lyra.

Draco actually liked when they were babies, you cold cradle their tiny bodies in your arms and feel as if you could hold them safe forever, he wished that was case. He would have loved Lyra safe from that sickness just because he'd been holding her, he would have loved to hold Scorpius forever to keep him safe from all the evil in the world but Scorpius had grown up. He'd failed them both, failed them as a father and protector. Lyra had died in his arms and Scorpius had been taken from him, hurt and now seemed determined to throw himself into the path of danger. He scowled sadly at the thought of his elder son, they'd been close when he was younger but they'd only been drifting further and further apart since his abduction. Even when he was at home, it felt like he was barely there half the time, sometimes Scorpius didn't even bother answering if he spoke to him with his door shut.

It was like the more they tried to protect him and keep him close, the further away he became and the more he pushed away from them. Draco could see why he'd hate them, they'd failed to protect him and those bastard muggles had hurt him as a result but he couldn't see why Scorpius deliberately threw himself into danger. He was proud of his son, in fact. He thought Scorpius was actually the bravest person he knew and one of the strongest, to have been through everything he had. He had more courage than Draco had ever had, he'd cracked up in his Sixth Year from the pressure but Scorpius was steadfast. He was glad that he'd managed to raise his son to be a better person then he'd been, Draco cringed to think of the things he'd done in his youth and the things he'd seen the Death Eaters do.

But that didn't mean he wanted Scorpius to recklessly risk his life, he'd chosen time and again to fight the Shadows instead of just saving himself and staying out of it. Draco wished he'd had the option to stay out of the Second Wizarding War, he'd believed in pureblood supremacy but the reality of being a Death Eater, killing actual people, killing actual people he'd been to school with for six years - enemies or not - had been too much. He'd really had to rethink his beliefs, he still thought it was better to be a pureblood but he didn't wish death and grievous harm against those weren't and they admittedly weren't all bad. Scorpius' muggle-born werewolf friend had saved his life more than once apparently, he did appreciate that despite living in fear of Scorpius being infected by him although a few months of sharing a room with him in Hogwarts without incident had eased his fears enough to let him stay with Michael now. The poor boy had more scars every time Draco saw him, he was scared of that happening to Scorpius. Scorpius had enough scars. And all from the same thing: the Shadows.

Yet still, if there was another Shadow attack, Scorpius would probably rush to the front of crowd to fight instead of saving himself. First Year, Scorpius had ran around trying to save the students instead of saving himself. Second Year, Scorpius had volunteered to go into a Shadow... lair to save a life. Third Year, Scorpius had run around fighting werewolves instead of getting to safety then going towards the Shadow in the school that was killing people. He just fourteen, he'd been younger for all those things. Sometimes he was actually concerned that Scorpius had an actual death wish, it was thing to be attacked but another to run towards the danger. He was glad his son wanted to help people but he didn't see why he couldn't do it in non-life-threatening situations, Scorpius' life was more important than those people. Draco couldn't lose another child, he didn't think he could physically cope with that much pain. Scorpius had so much to live for, he'd been through enough and he had his whole life ahead of him now to experience positive things. Draco just wanted him to be able to live it, not to die. Not young age. Not fighting. Not before his parents. Not before he got a chance to he deserved to have.

His new son stirred, his tiny nose scrunching up in confusion at the droplets of tears falling onto his face. Draco shifted the baby's position to hold him to his chest with son's head now nuzzling comfortably into his shoulder, one hand now holding his head up tenderly. He cuddled his baby boy close and hoped he'd at least be spared suffering for the sins of his father, not like Lyra and Scorpius had to suffer. For Draco knew it was his fault fate was cruel to them. He could only hope and try his best to not fail, he had to protect both of his sons now.


Part 2: The Wedding


Scorpius thought dinner was strange, all ten of them crammed around that kitchen table when at home they had entire rooms with tables bigger than that just four of them to eat meals at. After that they all chipped in to help with the dishes before turning in, Scorpius had trouble getting to sleep though as he was too preoccupied with worrying about what had happened with Molly. Then he heard what sounded like faint, muffled sobbing and realized that Hugo was crying. Scorpius wasn't sure what to do, did he just lie there and pretend he was asleep or try talking to him even though he was terrible at comforting people and might embarrass Hugo? He supposed he could try asking and if Hugo didn't want to talk then he could just pretend to be asleep then.

"Erm... Are you... Are you okay Hugo?" Scorpius called out nervously and the sound ceased for a moment.

"Y-Y-Yes," Hugo sobbed, "I m-mean I ju-just... M-My M-M-Mum an-and D-Dad."

"What about them?" Scorpius asked, trying to sound gentle.

"M-Mum s-s-said sh-she'd try p-pop in tod-today but she d-didn't."

"I'm sure she meant to and just got held up."

"I kn-know but I st-still g-got m-m-my h-hopes up. I miss her," Hugo admitted miserably, "An-And m-my D-Dad, I'm s-s-so sc-scared of h-him dy-dying l-like he ne-nearly did be-before be-because of th-the Shadows. I'm so-sorry, I d-didn't mean to wa-wake you."

"You didn't wake me, its okay. And try not to worry, you'll see your parents tomorrow," Scorpius offered awkwardly, wishing he wasn't terrible at comforting people.

"I h-hope," Hugo muttered but sounded like he was calming down at least, "C-Could you do m-me a favor, Sc-Scorpius? Please don't tell an-anyone I was upset, I d-don't want ev-everyone to know I'm a cr-crybaby."

"I won't, don't worry about it."

"Th-Thanks."

Hugo quieted down and Scorpius was left to his thoughts, now blissfully having something to distract him. He was feeling surprised, he didn't miss his parents. If anything, he was glad to be away from them because they thought he was weak and wanted to keep him home forever. Was he just weird? Communicating with them from afar was easier. Although he was wondering about his sisters, he couldn't exactly summon Lyra with Hugo in the room but he had warned her he might not be able to speak to her for a few days. His new baby sister hadn't been born yet as far as he knew, he hoped she'd be okay and he was looking forward to meeting her. Even if he knew next to nothing about babies. Scorpius must have fallen asleep because the next thing he knew, he was being rudely awoken by banging on the door.

"Wakey wakey!" Orous' voice called and Scorpius' eyes snapped open to see sunlight streaming through the windows, "Gotta get up now for breakfast because we have to prepare for the wedding."

"Coming!" Hugo promised as he clambered out of bed to get the door.

"Okay just need to get dressed," Scorpius pointed out.

"You don't need to get dressed for breakfast."

"Yes you do."

"Do not."

"No one else is dressed, just come on," Orous protested and gestured to the pajamas he wore, "If anyone else is dressed then you blame us, hurry."

"Fine," Scorpius grumbled in agreement as he headed down with the two pajama clad thirteen-year-olds, feeling very self-conscious suddenly about the scars on the soles of his feet.

Orous had been mostly truthfully, Maurice was already dressed although not in dress robes and casually reading the Daily Prophet - or rather just seeming to be finishing it as he put it down - but the others were in pajamas or bathrobes or in Lucy's case, a nightgown. He thought Molly looked rather cute in pajamas, her hair looked even more fiery messy from just getting up. Scorpius smiled at her as he sat down at the table with the others, he opened his mouth to speak but Rose pounced on him first.

"I need your honest opinion here," Rose said and tilted her head at an odd angle to show him more of her hair, "Do you think my roots are showing? I need to know whether to dye it again or if it'll be alright because I want to look the best for the wedding, especially since I don't feel the best."

"Why did you dye it anyway?" Hugo complained of his sister.

"Because Michael likes blondes."

"Rose, Michael never said that. Albus said that as a joke," Scorpius pointed out with a roll of his eyes, "Hair color has nothing to do with why he's dating her and it isn't going to make him like you."

"Plus, it's been a few weeks now. Don't you think if it was going to work then it would already have done so?" Molly wondered.

"Some things take time," Rose insisted, "Michael could be mentally struggling with the decision because he doesn't want to hurt Mirra's feelings. He won't pick me if I'm suddenly not blonde when he's ready."

"If he liked you when you were a redhead, why do you think turning blonde is going to make him like you more anyway?" Orous asked curiously.

"Clearly, his taste in hair color changed."

"I'm pretty sure that dye blasted your brain," Maurice told her coolly, "You just look weird as a blonde."

"You look weird," Rose complained in a huff.

"Are you sure? That girl I made cry said I was handsome, that was annoying. I'd rather look weird."

"You are such a freaking weirdo!"

"And see? Now you're blond, your face doesn't match the color of your hair when you get angry so it just looks even weirder," Maurice explained and Rose's face went an even darker shade of red as she got even more flustered.

"You're even weirder!"

"And see again? Your arguments used to have a logical basis but now you're just spouting childish insults instead of rationalizing and getting your points across."

"I-"

"Come on, eat up," Mrs Weasley interrupted and Rose lowered her voice but continued bickering with Maurice.

"Please don't ever dye your hair blonde," Scorpius sighed of Molly.

"Deal, just please don't ever dye your hair not blonde," Molly countered and they laughed.

They did end up having to wolf down their food and scatter quickly, actually having to fight or wait to be able to use the bathrooms. Scorpius also thought this was rather unusual, he'd never had to do that before as even in Hogwarts there was enough bathroom to go around. Of course, Maurice just had to change into his dress robes since he'd awoken early enough to use the bathroom before all of them. Molly looked utterly radiant in a pastel blue dress that complimented her beautiful eyes. After that it was a bit like pandemonium with people arriving with food, waiters in fancy white robes, the band and the elderly wedding officiant who could probably benefit from Maurice's translator necklace. Family of the couple marrying also came to help with things, George was the first there, Teddy and Andromeda, Aurelius, Victoire the bride - although she was bustled away to be kept out of Teddy's sight - and her father Bill, Dom and Louis too, the Potters - minus Harry - with Vern and Michael, Roxy and Freddie also came with their mother Angelina and Freddie's girlfriend Caitlin, Victoire's Aunt Gabrielle with baby Vale and husband Cel the Auror, Hugo and Rose's parents showed up along with Molly's Dad and his girlfriend Penelope.

Scorpius felt exhausted from the general amount of people moving, just trying to keep track of everyone and the wedding hadn't even started yet. Aurors arrived next as security which put him even more on edge due to knowing there were still Shadows amongst their ranks, although he did feel somewhat bad for them for patrolling in the snow and waiting by the entrance. Louis, Freddie, George and Ron all went to the entrance as well to start escorting the arriving guests to their seats while Scorpius was shooed out with those others also not of age to take their allocated seats already in the huge marquee tend, which was magically keeping the elements for disrupting the wedding. Scorpius surprisingly had a seat in the third row in between Michael and Molly, Albus, Abby when she got there, Rose, Orous and Cade on the same row on the other side of Michael while Molly was right beside the aisle.

He thought this was odd at first but then he recalled that Dom had done the seating plan, she knew they were friends and had seemingly tried to put them together as she had done with other people such as letting Freddie's girlfriend sit by him or Lily with Hugo, August and the Scamander twins who she was friends with. Aurelius had been put beside Dom herself, she'd also put James on the other side of the aisle to them since she knew they didn't get along. The guests started arriving, the Longbottoms were the first due to Abby's elder sister Heather being the Maid of Honor, Professor Hagrid but had to sit at the back due to his size, the Scamanders and Harry Potter himself finally arrived, Corin also arrived with - presumably - his mother who was the same height as Professor Hagrid. They were further back though due to the height of his mother probably. Everyone else, Scorpius didn't know.

"You know," Abby said after they'd gotten bored of watching the guests arrive, "If I ever get married, I wouldn't invite a lot of people. The bare minimum of people if possible. Or just not get married at all, it'd be easier."

"Why? I think its awesome having everyone come together," Albus disagreed, "You just need to make sure to not invite people you don't like."

"Because I think about how I'd have to stand up there in front of everyone and hear the guy say 'would you Abigaia...' then everyone would laugh at my name."

"Why would everyone laugh at Abigaia? It's a perfect name. Now an embarrassing name... That would be like if the Head Healer guy Marigold got married. Hehe Marigold. Wait, is that his first name or last name? Doesn't matter. Or ooh what's his name? Leebin, because his first name is Flannery. Hehe Flannery. Like a girl."

"You are so immature," Abby sighed and rolled her eyes.

"No I'm not, I'm older than everyone on this aisle. Except Molly. And Cade."

"That's not what immature means."

"You were married, weren't you? Before your wife left or whatever," Rose asked - rather too bluntly in Scorpius' opinion - of Cade, "What was your wedding like?"

"A blur," Cade answered after a moment's thought as he scratched his chin, he was looking rather out of place in muggle formal clothes as his stepsons both had dress robes on. As did Michael in fact.

"Is that normal for muggle weddings? I wouldn't want my wedding to be a blur. For my wedding, I want-"

"Rose, its starting," Michael interjected before Cade would have to answer, it was true though as a hush was spreading across the room - or marquee rather - as music started to play.

Teddy and Harry came to the front to stand by the elder wizard presiding over the ceremony, Harry was the best man. Teddy was his godson if Scorpius remembered correctly, both were smiling as they looked for the coming bride. Heads swiveled - except Maurice who had no cue that it was starting yet - to see the bride, Victoire was admittedly a beautiful girl - although still no Molly - and she looked radiant in a simple white dress that seemed to glide across the ground at her feet. It was in stark contrast to her father's scarred face as he led her down the aisle, beaming with bride and maybe a tear in his eye.

"It's a shame Aunt Fleur couldn't have gotten to live to be here," Molly whispered sadly beside him, "Or Teddy's parents, I suppose."

Scorpius recalled Victoire's mother had been killed earlier in the year, he thought it must be rather a bittersweet day in that respect for the family. And somehow he knew that Molly was thinking of her own mother too, who'd also have to miss her daughters' weddings if any happened. He reached out to squeeze her hand comfortingly and she wove her fingers through his, he never wanted to let go. He looked around at the other guests, some people - especially women. Although from the loud sounds coming from behind, Professor Hagrid was also crying - like Mrs Weasley were crying, others looking on with smiles of joy while others looking bored or oddly sad, Freddie had put his arm around Caitlin to hold her close. Dom also casually intertwined her hand with Aurelius beside her, making Scorpius wonder if their kiss during the werewolf attack had led to something more than friendship.

"...then I declare you bonded for life," the officiant announced happily and waved his wand over the couple as they kissed, silver stars rained down on them amidst the applause while Scorpius looked away to clap. Seeing them kiss reminded him painfully of what he was trying to forget, freaking out with Molly.

Something must've happened though because music chimes filled the air with a blissful song over the applause, he looked back to see white birds had burst from the balloons. The officiant told them to stand, they did so and he waved his wand again. This time, canvas walls holding the marquee up vanished to reveal the palest of blue pillars with the thinnest line of white spiraling, giving them a view of the snow-covered landscape but the enchantments keeping the weather away held. Gold spread out from the center beneath their feet to create a dance floor, the chairs lifted into the air and flew over their heads to position themselves around tables draped in the palest of blue cloth. There were white snowflake patterns woven into the material though, falling down the length of the cloth and each one as unique as a real snowflake. The band headed over to the podium to start their song, waiters flooded in from the edges with trays containing different varieties of the food brought in earlier while others had trays of different drinks.

"They don't do that in muggle weddings," Cade commented in awe while the newlyweds became drowned in a sea of people wishing to congratulate them. Others were making beelines for the tables.

"Then muggle weddings must be very boring," Rose scoffed in disapproval and Cade didn't disagree, "Can we get a table? I don't want to stand, I'm feeling kinda... There's one."

Scorpius headed over to the indicated table with Rose, Michael, Molly, Maurice, Abby and Albus while Orous remained with his stepfather, he lost sight of them both with the other people. Albus flagged down a waiter who got them all some pumpkin juice.

"When are you going to tell them, Freddie? You promised," Caitlin pleaded with her boyfriend from nearby.

"After the wedding, I promise," Freddie offered, "I don't want to take away from Teddy and Vic's special day."

"You said that before the wedding."

"Cait-"

"It's fine," Caitlin interrupted, "I just... I just don't think the best way for them to find out is from my parents, you're the one said your parents aren't often in the same place at the same. I want this to be done the right way, you know?""

"You mean there's a right way to this?"

"I don't know but I do know that blurting it out right after my Dad says 'nice to finally meet you, Freddie' is not the right way."

"I guess not," Freddie laughed and Caitlin joined in for a moment, "And I said I was sorry! I was nervous."

"I'm still nervous."

He was momentarily distracted by a baby crying. Reminded of his upcoming baby sister, he glanced to see it was baby Vale with his parents fussing over him. The handsome sandy-haired Auror Cel and the beautiful blond part-Veela Gabrielle, Vale had gotten lucky in the gene department. He wondered what his baby sister would look like, white-blonde hair and gray eyes like he, his father and Lyra? Or have dark brown hair and eyes like his mother?

"At least he started crying after the ceremony," Cel was saying, drawing Scorpius away from whatever conversation his friends were having.

"That's his hungry cry," Gabrielle pointed out worriedly as she struggled to soothe the sobbing infant, "Are you sure you fed him before we left?"

"Of course, he gulped it down like he always does. He seemed so hungry that I even gave him that second bottle, drank it all too. Is he still hungry?"

"He shouldn't be, we'd be in the realm of overfeeding him if I gave him more so soon."

"Okay."

"I don't understand. He's feeding twice as much as normal babies his age but he actually weighs less than normal babies his age," Gabrielle admitted anxiously while Vale seemed to calm down for a minute, his dark brown eyes focusing on a passing bottle of wine that abruptly flew off the tray towards him. The bottle titled at an angle that would perfectly reach his mouth, which started to pour of the blood red liquid. Gabrielle shrieked and moved aside, making the bottle miss uselessly and splatter Cel's robes with red wine, "I-I'm sorry, I think that was Vale being desperate. His first magic. Wine is not for babies, mister. Maybe I should feed him."

"It's quite alright, ma'am, not your fault," the waiter offered and handed Cel a towel while they whipped out a wand to clean the floor. Vale cried even harder.

"I'll go change, I'm sure there's a spare shirt," Cel told her as he saw the towel wasn't doing much, "We can talk about this when I get back."

"Okay," Gabrielle agreed and he kissed the side of her head before leaving, Gabrielle also moved further away to stop Vale's crying from disrupting the music. He hoped his new sister wouldn't have whatever was wrong with Vale.

Music had started playing, Scorpius realized, from the band this time. He looked back to the dance floor, Teddy's hair had gone from jet black to sandy brown now as he led his new wife into dance to another applause. Bill took Andromeda to dance next, Harry with Mrs Potter, Mr and Mrs Weasley, Ron and Hermione, Freddie and Caitlin, Mr and Mrs Scamander, a reluctant Professor Longbottom by his wife, Louis had grabbed some beautiful woman to dance, Molly's Dad with Penelope, Cade with a random woman, Freddie's parents each with different random people, Dom and Aurelius... Was anyone just allowed to get up and dance? Could he ask Molly? Should he ask Molly? He didn't really know how to dance but Molly was his girlfriend and he wanted to prove he was okay with being close to her. His attention was finally drawn back to his friends when he heard an unfamiliar laugh, Maurice.

"What in the world is funny?" Rose demanded in bewilderment.

"Come on, those people look ridiculous," Maurice laughed, "Just randomly moving in some kind of formation for no reason."

"It's called dancing."

"And it looks stupid. And that guy keeps stepping on that girl's toes, this is hilarious."

"You shouldn't laugh, dancing is difficult."

"It's just moving your body in a particular pattern. Any idiot with a decent sense of coordination can do it, Cade's a muggle and he's doing it."

"Prove it," Rose challenged and Maurice's laughter ceased immediately, "Dance with me if you think it's so easy and that you're clever."

"I'd rather not."

"Ah see, all talk and no substance, you agree dancing is difficult," Rose said happily to finally have one over on him as Maurice scowled in annoyance, "You have no right to laugh at people for something difficult and you must admit it's difficult if you won't even try it."

"I don't want to do it because I don't want to look stupid not because I'm wrong about it being incredibly easy."

"Finally I win. Suck it, Maurice. If you can't put your money where your mouth is then it's all for nothing."

"You look stupider not proving your point," Albus agreed and Maurice glared between the two of them murderously before standing, for a second Scorpius thought he was going to storm off but he didn't.

"Fine," Maurice spat as he offered his free hand to Rose, "I'll prove that it's easy and people who can't do it are as stupid as a brain dead troll."

Rose took Maurice's hand and barely had time to glance at Michael to try see if he was jealous before Maurice yanked her on to the dance floor, Scorpius couldn't help but laugh as did the others. However, Maurice actually seemed to prove his point as he danced as flawlessly and perfectly as if he'd had years of practice. His expression set as he focused, Rose just seemed surprised by his skill. That was it, if Maurice was dancing then Scorpius could definitely dance with Molly.

"Molly, do you want to dance?" Scorpius blurted out and Molly blinked in surprise.

"Sur- I mean, are you sure you're okay to dance?" Molly changed her sentence halfway through, "You know since yesterday, I don-"

"Yes," Scorpius interrupted irritably as he stood and held out his hand, "I'm fine to dance. I want to dance. I can do it, damn it."

"Calm down, mate," Albus offered at his tone while Molly took his hand.

"If you feel uncomfortable, just say and we can stop," Molly told him as he led her on to the dance floor.

"I'm fine." Scorpius insisted.

"I know but if-"

"I said I'm fine!"

"Okay, okay."

He glanced at what the other couples were doing and was somewhat relieved to see Molly do the same as if she too wasn't completely sure what to do, at least he wasn't alone and relaxed slightly. Slightly. She took one of his hands and he put his other hand to her back while she cautiously put her free hand on his shoulder, he didn't panic and actually liked being so close to her. And then they started to dance. Or at least tried to. It didn't come as effortlessly to him as Maurice nor to Molly, they stumbled over their own feet and each other's but Molly laughed about it so he didn't feel so embarrassed. No one was really focusing on them, they were busy with their own dancing.

"Well at least we know we both suck," Molly grinned.

"Would help to know which way our feet are supposed to be going," Scorpius pointed out but smiled nonetheless.

"Forward left, forward right, together, back right, back left, together," Aurelius offered from nearby after a moment, he seemed to have tried to include every color in the universe in the randomest of pattern in his fine expensive robes today, "In a box. That's what your feet do."

"Okay thanks. For-"

"And don't look at your feet, you'll do great," Dom added with a wink before they moved out of conversation range in the flow of dance, their movements flowing and graceful. They seemed actually happy and comfortable with each other, talking as they danced too.

"Forward left, forward right, together, back right, back left, together," Scorpius started repeating the mantra of advice over and over under his breathe without looking.

And found they started to do it correctly, no tripping or stepping on each other toes. They weren't perfect but their movements were becoming less jerky and more fluid as they slipped into the routine, Scorpius actually started to enjoy it. He liked being so close to Molly without thoughts of muggles intruding, he gazed into her beautiful sky blue eyes and actually felt happy. She smiled back. Until the music changed up to a slower tune and they had to change their stance, Molly put both her hands on his shoulders and he lowered his hands to her hips like everyone else was doing. He felt his heartbeat quicken, he could smell the cherries in her hair as they were so close with their bodies pressed up together now.

"You okay?" Molly asked him nervously.

"Yeah," Scorpius confirmed and leaned in to kiss her to try to prove it, slow and gentle like the music before pulling his head back. She smiled slightly but he couldn't as he lowered his voice to a whisper as if to not disrupt the music, "I'm fine, really. I like being with you, I like you. Being with you is one of the best things in my life, something good in all the shadows and worries. You make smile and laugh, I just feel happier when I'm with you, I really do. And I like kissing you, really, you're amazing. I didn't mean to panic yesterday, it had nothing to do with you. I just... just... I don't even know... those muggles..."

"It's okay," Molly offered gently and he hung his head slightly in shame, "I like you too, Scor. If we just have to take things a little slower with kissing and stuff if it's easier for you then I don't mind, I want you to make you happy and be comfortable too. As long as we have each other, we can work through all the rest."

"You don't want to break up with me because of it?" Scorpius couldn't help but wonder as he looked up to see the truth in her eyes.

"Gee, you must think I'm a really heartless person," Molly quipped sarcastically and Scorpius blushed but she smiled as she did the same, "Sorry, Latimer's rubbing off on me. Of course I don't break up with you because of it, if anything I was worried you'd want to break up with me."

"Gee, I would but I already got you all these Christmas presents," Scorpius tried his own sarcasm and they laughed before their lips met for another slow kiss. He just hoped he'd never have to lose her.


Part 3: Family Secrets


They danced for a little while longer before breaking for a drink, heading back over to the table while Molly went to flag down one of the waiters for some Butterbeers. Abby and Albus were still there except for having been joined by Orous but Maurice, Michael and Rose weren't there. He glanced at the dance floor and saw only Rose was there, dancing with an incredibly unhappy-looking Corin.

"Corin's dancing with Rose?" Scorpius wondered in surprise.

"She was annoyed at being out danced by Maurice so she demanded Corin show her to dance better like he did with me," Abby explained, "He eventually agreed just to shut her up."

"What about Maurice?"

"No idea."

"Michael?"

"Went to get a refill of pumpkin juice and never came back," Abby nodded to a table a fair distance away where Michael was sitting with Teddy and Harry, "They started talking to him instead."

"Lucky bugger," Albus complained through a mouthful of shrimp, "Wish my Dad wanted to talk to me. Although Cade's even luckier. Every time he tries to sit down, someone else asks him to dance because they've never dance with a muggle before. Next time, I'm totally pretending to be a muggle."

"You might do better if you tried asking girls to dance instead of trying to debate which of Victoire's French cousins are your soul mate."

"Yoink," James announced as he swiped a near-full glass of Butterbeer from Orous' hand and helped himself to the seat that Scorpius had been going to be Molly's.

"I was drinking that," Orous protested while James started gulping down the albino's drink.

"No, you weren't. You were just holding it. For me," James countered when he stopped with half the glass now gone, smiling widely, "Don't be such a selfish prick, Ghosty."

"Ghosty?"

"You look like a ghost and you're freaky so Ghosty," James explained and failed to completely hide the hurt on his face at the insult.

"Why don't you go sit with your friends?" Scorpius complained irritably.

"Carve couldn't come, he was spending the break with his Dad in the Bahamas for once. Why don't you and Ghosty clear off?"

"Well how about anywhere else but here? Go back to wherever the hell you came from and leave us alone."

"I can't, I just came back from going to the bathroom in the Burrow," James pointed out before his face lit up, "And I heard a noise and I went to investigate and I accidentally walked in on Cel changing his shirt because some idiot spilled wine on his dress robes."

"That must've been embarrassing," Abby prompted disinterestedly.

"That's not the point, I saw him shirtless," James told them excitedly, "And he is so fit! He's toned, he's got some nice abs... I mean just damn, he's so perfect."

"What are you, gay?" Albus joked and James lost his joy in an instant, his face clouding over with red rage.

"Of course I'm not!" James shot out furiously, "I'm Harry Potter's son too, the eldest, the best, the one supposed to carry on the bloodline! How dare you say that I'm not?! Just because I don't look like his lazy ass clone, I'm more like him than you'll ever be! You can't cast a corporeal Patronus, you can't fly a broom right, you couldn't a Snitch if your life depended on it and you never stand up for anything right like I do! You're a talentless coward, a disgrace to Dad's name!"

"I was just joking, no need to bite my head off," Albus muttered, visibly upset by his brother's verbal attack while the rest of them were just surprised, "You do it all the time with me, you were the one drooling over Cel's abs."

"Because I care about my physical fitness! If you'd let me finish, you'd know I was excited because I want to be fit like that and if Cel can then I can! If anyone's gay then it's you! You've never even had a girlfriend!" James spat, glaring murderously at his brother, "And how hard is that really?! Even fucking Malfoy and Dragon-breath have girlfriends! Maybe if you cared more about your fitness like I do instead of sitting on the sidelines filling your fat face then you wouldn't be such a fat flabby undesirable large lump of lard that no girl is ever going to want! Fucking asshole."

"I-" Albus started to say but James had already stormed off, Albus pushed aside his shrimp cocktail worriedly, "Am I really that fat?"

"Maybe a little pudgy around the gut," Abby pointed out, "But there's nothing wrong with that. James just freaked out randomly."

"What did I miss?" Molly asked as she finally returned with two glasses of Butterbeer that she deposited on the table.

"James is either insecure or insane," Orous shrugged and sighed as he went to stand, "And I have to go get another drink."

"It's okay, I'll get it. I'm up, you can have mine."

"I don't mind, take a bre-" Orous started to say but Molly had already left, "Never mind then I guess."

"I'll show James, I'll get one of these girls to dance with me. I'll just go right up to one and ask her," Albus announced, starting to sweat profusely as he looked nervous, "Just like that and she'll say yes, why wouldn't she? It's easy, right? Everyone's doing it."

"That's the spirit, Al," Scorpius offered encouragingly.

"But who should I ask? One of them or- wow, Abby, I didn't realize before your sister is kind of stunningly beautiful. I've been mistaking her for one of Victoire's French cousins for ages."

"Well, good for Heather," Abby sighed.

"She definitely got the looks in your family."

"Wait, are you saying I'm ugly?"

"Of course not, you're just you know... you," Albus brushed it off dismissively, "But Heather... Heather looks like she carved by angels."

"That doesn't even make sense," Orous pointed out.

"It doesn't have to. Abby, do you think you sister would dance with me?"

"How am I supposed to know? I'm not Heather," Abby complained with a frown, "I barely even see her anymore, she rarely writes any of us back either."

"I'm going to do it, at least I know she speaks English unlike the other potential future Mrs Potters," Albus said confidently as he stood up.

"Go on then."

"I'm going," Albus insisted, taking a deep breath before he wiped the sweat from his brow and stalked off.

"Going to get something to eat, back in a minute," Abby offered as she also stood and went to flag down waiter, leaving him alone with Orous.

"You're really lucky, you know," Orous told him with a wistful sigh, "Being able to have a girlfriend."

"Don't listen to what people like James or Rose say," Scorpius said seriously, "Just because you're albino, it doesn't mean-"

"Not because of that," Orous cut him off sadly, "Even if anyone could overlook my albinism, I don't think I could do it. Not after those muggles. It scares me to think of being that close to someone, even a girl I really liked."

"But you don't mind being touched. You hugged Cade this morning."

"That's different, relationships are more... intimate. It's a different kind of closeness to family and friends, you know? It's scary and appealing at the same time. It sucks. I dread getting older."

"I um..." Scorpius started but really had no clue what to say to that, "I'm going to go see where Maurice got too."

"Okay."

Scorpius headed off to try find Maurice quickly. Rose and Corin were still dancing, Michael was still talking - or more like listening from the looks of things - to Teddy and Harry, Abby was walking back to their table with the plate of food acquired, he found Vern talking - he appeared to be giving him some advice - to Hugo. He finally spotted Maurice, standing off to one side by himself with a goblet of something in one hand but he seemed to be watching something. Before he could see what, Albus blocked his view.

"I couldn't do it," Albus whimpered, hanging his head low, "I got scared of her saying no. My mouth just clams up and I can't say anything if I try to any girls I like, I guess James is right about me being a loser."

"It's normal to be nervous, it doesn't make you a loser," Scorpius offered, hoping it sounded comforting. Albus shrugged disinterestedly before heading back to the table, apparently it hadn't sounded comforting. Why did he have to be so useless as consoling people?

Scorpius instead went over to Maurice as planned, he followed Maurice's gaze curious to what had captivated his attention. He was surprised to realize it was a woman, one of Victoire's rather attractive French cousins who were dancing in a particularly revealing dress that Maurice's eyes followed. Scorpius touched his shoulder and Maurice jumped in surprise before putting his hand to his translator necklace.

"You may want to be a little more subtle," Scorpius commented dryly.

"Subtle about what? I-I wasn't looking," Maurice lied.

"Really?" Scorpius wondered sarcastically and raised an eyebrow, a blush tinged Maurice's cheeks.

"Yes. I'm going to find my brother now."

Maurice hurried away quickly and Scorpius shook his head before going to follow, only to see that there were now not enough chairs. Along with Maurice, Abby and Albus had both returned but Lily and August had joined at some point which was all six chairs taken. Scorpius realized he'd have to find a different table for him and Molly, wherever she'd gotten too. There were too many people. Michael was still just alone with Teddy and Harry, Scorpius wondered if they'd be allowed to sit there. He went over to ask.

"Well it sounds like your Dad was a great person," Michael was saying, "But if you'll excuse me."

"Okay," Harry nodded and Michael moved away quickly.

"Well, I tried," Teddy commented to Harry with sigh, running a hand through his now mousy brown hair as he leaned back, "Guess he'll take from the Marauders what he will."

"The Marauders?" Scorpius couldn't help but blurt out in surprise as he recalled the map and blushed furiously when both men looked at him, "Sorry."

"It's okay, what's wrong with a bit of eavesdropping?" Teddy laughed, Harry smiled as his godson gestured to the seat Michael had just vacated, "Come, sit."

"Um... Okay," Scorpius agreed, nervous but curious, "And I wasn't eavesdropping, I was just coming to see Michael and caught that as he left. And erm... congratulations on the marriage."

"Thanks. Scorpius, isn't it?"

"Yeah. So what... what are the Marauders?"

"Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs," Harry told him and Scorpius managed to keep himself composed while feeling his blood going cold inside him, just like the map. Had James not stolen it after all? "Were the Marauders, four friends who were former Gryffindor students."

"Mischievous too, I think you forgot that," Teddy prompted with a smile, Harry inclined his head in agreement. Scorpius thought he looked about tired as Varanian did, "Moony was my father's nickname, Remus Lupin."

"And Prongs was my father's, the first James Potter," Harry continued and Scorpius vaguely wondered if the first James was as much of a bully as the second or mischievous in a non-cruel way, "Padfoot was my father's best friend and later my godfather, Sirius Black, who actually left Grimmauld Place to me so that's his family's house."

"Who was Wormtail?" Scorpius asked curious and both men lost their cheer somewhat.

"Peter Pettigrew, also their friend. Or so they thought."

"My father was a werewolf, he was bitten by Fenrir Greyback when he was young," Teddy explained and Scorpius supposed that was probably why he'd been talking to Michael, "Hence his nickname of Moony. The secret passageway between the Whomping Willow and the Shrieking Shack was created by Dumbledore for my father so he would have somewhere to transform without the risk of hurting anyway, this was in the time before Wolfsbane remember. He befriended the other three when they started Hogwarts, all sorted into Gryffindor but he didn't tell them he was a werewolf for fear that they'd not want to be his friends anymore. Werewolves have never really been looked on too kindly by the Wizarding World. But his friends eventually figured it out anyway, they didn't abandon him though."

"Instead they tried to help him. Transformations are painful and werewolves often attacked themselves, so they sought to support him. Werewolves are dangerous to humans when transformed because they want to spread the infection, animals are safe to be around them though as they cannot be infected so werewolves have no reason to attack them. So the other three decided to become animagi so they could accompany him during the transformations and make them more bearable. By their Fifth Year, they could all transform. My father into a stag, Sirius into a dog and Pettigrew into a rat, their nicknames were all based off their animal forms in some way."

"Wow," Scorpius breathed as he felt a light go off in his skull. He knew what he needed to do to help Michael now with his condition. That was the perfect way to help Michael, it had helped Teddy's father after all. He could stay with Michael to keep him company, make sure he didn't hurt himself. Scorpius would become an animagus.

"Yeah, it was impressive but they remained unregistered. After they graduated, they all joined the Order of Phoenix which was the organization Dumbledore led to fight Voldemort. You presumably know about the prophecy about Harry being the Chosen One to defeat him?" Teddy took over again and Scorpius nodded as he pulled himself back to the conversation, he was as curious about the rest of story as he was excited for knowing how to help Michael, "Have you heard the Fidelius Charm does?"

"Yes," Scorpius admitted, trying not to feel nervous that he was a Secret-Keeper under that very spell for Varanian at that moment.

"They used that to protect themselves when they went into hiding," Harry explained as his expression became very set, "Initially they were going to use Sirius as the Secret-Keeper but he convinced them to go with Pettigrew since everyone would suspect Sirius as he was obvious choice. Pettigrew betrayed them to Voldemort and that's the reason my parents died. And you know the rest."

"But he was their friend... He just betrayed them?"

"Whose betrayal? What are we talking about?" Cel asked in passing, looking slightly anxious.

"Pettigrew," Harry pointed out.

"Ah that rat bastard, quite literally. Traitors are the worst."

"You can say that again."

"So what happened to the other Marauders?" Scorpius asked curiously before they could veer too far off track.

"Sirius went after Pettigrew for his betrayal, Pettigrew faked his death and killed a bunch of muggles. Sirius was framed and spent the next twelve years in Azkaban before escaping using his unregistered animagus form, he went after Pettigrew. Pettigrew escaped and went on to resurrect Voldemort, Sirius couldn't clear his name but some of us came to know the truth. He fought in the Second Wizarding War against Voldemort in the reconstituted Order of the Phoenix, he was killed by Bellatrix Lestrange when I was fifteen, fell into the Veil you saw last year in the Ministry."

"I'm sorry," Scorpius apologized, feeling slight guilt that someone else related to him had killed someone who sounded like a good man, a good friend. Calderon's mother. And ironically, she was also related to Teddy as well in the same capacity as Scorpius. He also felt somewhat disappointed with Harry, his godfather had been framed yet he was completely against believing Varanian had been?

"Thank you."

"My father fought in the Second Wizarding War too," Teddy spoke up again, "He also was a part of the reconstituted Order. As was my mother, Nymphadora Tonks, she was an Auror just like I'll be when I finish this final year of training. That's where they met, fell in love and got married. I was born the month before the Second Wizarding War ended, my parents both fought and died in the Battle of Hogwarts."

"I'm sorry," Scorpius offered again and felt a stab of fear, "My Father-"

"He didn't kill anyone," Harry cut him off, apparently guessing the reason correctly and Scorpius relaxed slightly.

"So what about Pettigrew?"

"He got what he deserved," Cel told him, "Strangled to death by his own hand, the one Voldemort gave him for resurrecting him. Justice."

"Well good. Very sad though," Scorpius admitted as he thought of the Marauders' fates and lack of good things in their lives, he wanted to ask about the map but was afraid that would give away that he knew about it if it had been rightfully James' or they might not even know. James - or someone who had later given it to James - might've found the map they left behind somewhere.

"Yes, we have such cheerful talk at weddings," Cel commented sarcastically and the other two laughed and Harry stood to stand beside him.

"So I hear your son has a penchant for wine?" Harry wondered and Cel laughed.

"Apparently so."

"Might want to nip that in the bud."

"Ah there you are," Molly greeted him nervously and he turned slightly to see her approaching him with her father, Percy, "Dad wanted to talk to you."

"We were just done here," Teddy pointed as he also stood, offering Scorpius his hand that he shook, Teddy smiled, "It was nice meeting you, and I don't know if you know this but we're cousins since our grandmothers are sisters."

"I know, nice meeting you too," Scorpius said truthfully and shoved aside painful thoughts of his other cousin's potential evilness or at least a darker past than Scorpius had ever thought. He returned the smile before Teddy left with the two Aurors, Molly and Percy sat down where they'd sat instead. Molly looking nervous as she started gnawing on her fingernails while Percy eyed him through his eyeglasses.

"So... I hear you're dating my daughter?" Percy offered in a strict tone as he looked between Molly and him.

"Erm... Yes, sir."

"I see. So tell me about yourself, what are your future aspirations? Have you thought about a career in the Ministry?"

"I haven't really thought about with the war and everything," Scorpius admitted nervously but honestly.

"You really should, it's the best option for a stable financial option," Percy pointed out and Scorpius bite his tongue before he could say he didn't need to worry about money with his family's wealth, "What are your grades like?"

And from that they launched into a conversation, Percy mostly asking him questions about his schoolwork and marks, whether he was expecting to make Prefect and Head Boy, whether he was willing to put in extra work to work towards becoming Prefect and Head Boy, whether he considered his Quidditch 'hobby' more important than his schoolwork, whether he was ever going to get a haircut. He also lectured Scorpius about the importance of the Fourth Year in preparation for OWLs next year, the importance of a Ministry career, the usefulness of becoming Prefect and Head Boy in regards to future success. Scorpius was really starting to wholly understand why Molly felt pressured to worry about her grades. Lucy also joined them at some point with a drink and food for herself, Molly mostly chewed her fingernails.

"How come you never worry about my grades, Daddy?" Lucy complained randomly after a while, interrupting her father completely.

"Because your grades are fine," Percy told her and sounded like he was desperately trying to make his younger child happy, "Absolutely perfect, sweetheart, just like you."

"Except for how I'm a squib."

"We've been over this, there's nothing wrong with being a squib."

"Except for not doing being able to do magic."

"You don't need to be able to do magic, there's nothing wrong with it," Molly pointed out and Lucy eyed her darkly.

"Says the perfect sister who can actually do magic."

"Lucy, we've talked about this," Percy said warningly.

Percy continued but Scorpius was distracted from the rest of the conversation as he spotted his family owl flying towards him, he felt apprehensive as the letter bearing his name was dropped before him. Molly stroked the frozen bird gently as the three pairs of eyes focused on him.

"Your brother's been born," Molly told him with a smile.

"My sister, I know it's a girl," Scorpius countered, "And maybe."

"Just open it and see."

His heart was pounding so loudly that he thought it might've migrated to inside his skull, he swallowed and held his breath as he opened the cream envelope. It would either be very good news or very bad news. There was no letter, just a picture. His face lit up when he saw it, it was of his new sister. His mother's arms - he recognized her engagement and wedding rings - held a little baby, bald with a tiny hand wrapped around his father's finger - he also recognized the rings - as he moved it up and down as if shaking the baby's hand. She kicked her legs energetically and reached up her other hand.

"My sister," Scorpius told the Weasleys watching him happily, Percy smiled.

"Turn it over, genius," Percy offered and Scorpius turned it over to see there was his father's handwriting.

To Scorpius

I just wanted to let you know that your new baby brother was born early this morning. He and your mother are both alright, perfectly healthy. I'll pick you up this evening so you can see him if you'd like, write back quickly. We've named him too: Sol Abraxas Malfoy

Love Dad, Mum and baby Sol

"Ah, she's a boy," Scorpius admitted and blushed, thinking of some of the girl-oriented baby things he'd gotten, "You were right."

"Molly's always right, isn't she?" Lucy complained irritably with another dark look thrown in Molly's way which made her smile waver.

"Does anyone have paper or pen?"

"Yes," Percy told him and took out some blank parchment along with a quill, some ink from a pocket, "You never know when you'll have to write something down in an emergency."

"Thanks," Scorpius told him gratefully and penned a short reply agreeing to be picked up later, handing it back to the family owl who took off. He gave the quill, ink and extra parchment back to Percy to put away.

"No problem."

Scorpius felt elated, he couldn't stop smiling. He was a brother again and the baby was okay, his mother was okay. Leebin had been right, it was okay. Sol would already be on his death bed by now if not dead already if he had the same thing that had killed Lyra, he had to be healthy.

"Percy," a voice interrupted and he glanced to see Bill had stalked over to them, looking somewhat angry in contrast to his previous joy, "You're particularly meticulous about time, how long has he been dancing with her?"

"What?" Percy wondered in puzzlement for a moment and Bill jabbed a frustrated finger in the direction of the dance floor to where Aurelius and Dom were still dancing, they were laughing about something, "Oh, I don't know, I haven't been watching."

"I swear, if they don't stop soon..." Bill growled.

As if on cue, Dom moved her arms from Aurelius' shoulders to his head and ran her fingers through his extremely dark auburn hair, leaning in for a kiss as she did so. Their lips met and Aurelius pulled her closer instinctively, Bill was already storming over angrily.

"HEY! GET YOUR HANDS OFF MY DAUGHTER!" Bill roared and the couple jumped apart, Aurelius in terror while Dom just looked casually confident as she positioned herself in between her father and her lover protectively. The room seemed to stop, music, bodies, all just frozen to watch the exchange, "I'M GOING TO KILL YOU! YOU SICK, INSANE, FREAK-"

"Father please, just calm down," Dom told him, sounding actually calm herself and not at all pleading, if anything it came across more as a demand, "We're all adults here, including me. I'm nineteen. I'm entitled to kiss any other adult who I want to, it's well within our rights and you need to accept that."

"He's older than I am! His children are only a few years younger than I am! Can't you see it's wrong?! You deserve better! He's just trying to take advantage of you! He's just dating you bec-"

"We're not dating," Aurelius interrupted incredulously.

"You're not?" Bill scoffed in a mixture of doubt and surprise.

"Of course we're not."

"Absolutely not," Dom confirmed and Aurelius nodded in agreement, "Then people may get the wrong idea and think he's just using me or that I'm a gold digger or something. Aurelius didn't want that."

"I just saw-"

"We got married," Aurelius interrupted Bill, Dom muttered something and took his hand to show off identical wedding bands that must've been masked by some kind of spell.

"Y-You're married?!" Bill spluttered out in shock, his jaw looking like it was about to come unhinged from being open so wide.

"Almost two months now."

"It's completely legitimate, right Mr Andrews?" Dom pointed out and asked of the officant who nodded readily in confirmation, "Check the Ministry records, we paid two people on the floor to be witnesses and Mr Andrews married us, we signed the certificate and everything. Like I said, we're consenting adults and well within legal rights to get married, I also have every right to kiss my husband in public without my father threatening to murder him. It's up to you to accept it because it's until death do us part. And Vic... I really am sorry for stealing your thunder."

"I-I-" Bill stammered out, still reeling from the shock of his younger daughter's marriage. Every eye in the marquee was on the trio, it was silent enough to hear the slight flapping of the canvas. Dom leaned casually back against her husband, meeting her father's gaze steadily as she waited his reply. Aurelius put his arms around her protectively, his eyes still darting around fearfully. Bill took a deep breath and his face clouded back over in rage, he took a step forward, "I'm still going to kill him."

"So be it," Dom said deathly quietly, in contrast with a thunderous crack that followed as the married couple disapparated.

"NO!" Bill screamed, burying his scarred face in his hands as murmurings spread throughout the reception at the revelation.

"Well that's great," Teddy commented as he scratched his now blond head, "Anyone else in the family feel like spewing out any more shocking secrets while we're at it?"

"I'm pregnant," Caitlin blurted out as she stood, "Freddie's going to be a Dad."

"WHAT?!" George and Angelina cried out in perfect shocked union while the hall went quiet again.

"Caitlin!" Freddie hissed, "You call this the right time?!"

"He did ask," Caitlin protested but looked apologetic, "I'm sorry, I was nervous!"

"Forget that! What the hell, Freddie?!" George burst out in shock as he stalked over to his son through the crowd, frozen like living statues.

"This is your fault, George!" Angelina snapped as she also went over to her son.

"Look, it's not that bad," Freddie insisted as he stood and held out his hands before his father, "We... We got it all figured out, its due over the Easter break so we shouldn't miss any school and her parents have agreed to look after the little guy or girl while we finish the last few weeks of Hogwarts. We get our NEWTs and move in with her parents and our child until we can get jobs, find our own place and provide the baby. It's not the end of the world, we were freaked out too but we're going to make it work. We love each other and sure the baby's a shock, way sooner than we'd ever thought but it's our baby we want to do this now."

"Yeah," Caitlin agreed as she and Freddie intertwined their fingers together.

"You can either deal with it or disown me and we can disapparate out to her parents," Freddie swallowed nervously and glanced between his parents anxiously. George smacked his son round the back of the head before hugging him. A second round of mutterings commenced.

"Huh, this family is almost as fucked up as ours," Maurice commented to Orous from somewhere nearby.

"I'm going to be a great-grandmother!" Mrs Weasley cried, Scorpius wasn't sure whether from joy or disapproval.

"You knew about this," Scorpius realized as he turned to Molly, "That's why Freddie was freaked out and why you didn't let her play anymore."

"Yep," Molly agreed, "He made me promise not to say until they were ready. Did not know about Dom and Aurelius getting married though."

"Well at least it wasn't Roman screwing up the wedding this time," Percy muttered in a sigh.


Part 4: Babies


Maurice was confused, why was his Daddy saying bye-bye? He barely had time to wonder before his shoulder was roughly grabbed and then he felt a painful sensation of being squeezed into a tight space, suddenly it stopped. He thought they were in a different place but he didn't have time to see, he fell to his knees shakily to vomit but a spell hit him before he could and he fell into unconsciousness. The next thing he was waking up somewhere else. He was now lying on his front, his head turned to face against a dark brickwork wall oozing with crimson slime. He'd awoken because he was cold, there was a chill in the air that glided across his naked back, someone had taken off his shirt. He tried to get up but his ankles and wrists were bound in chains, holding him down on the rough wooden bed he was lying on.

Was he having a bad dream? This couldn't be real, he'd just been at home eating ice cream with his Daddy not too long ago. Where was his Daddy? He wanted his Daddy. He wanted to go home. He didn't like this. He was scared. The next thing he was aware of was pain, his wrist was in agony. Searing, burning flames as if fire was devouring his left wrist. He squeezed his shut against the pain, tears streaming through the cracks, his throat felt scorched and if he could hear then he would've heard his own screams being the cause. It stopped suddenly, he lay there for a moment savoring the lack of pain but his relief came too soon. The pain reignited on his back, waves of burning searing across his spine. He had no idea what was causing it, he couldn't even get away from being bound. Without warning it intensified, like a red hot knife had been plunged into his back and dragged through his flesh. And the horrible smell, a sickening scent that dug into his nostrils and his hoarse throat, he wanted to vomit even more. He was glad to pass out.

When he awoke again, he was still in the same place but the pain had diminished. It was still stinging painfully and felt crazily itchy, tears leaked from his eyes. He really wanted to go home now. Where was his Daddy? He felt the bounds opening, the pressure lifted from his wrists and ankles as the restraints snapped off. He started to sit up shakily but someone took his arm to pull him round to face them on the other side with his legs now dangling off the sides of the table, he recognized him as the guy who'd taken him from his Daddy. He went to sign but noticed something on his wrist, he blinked in surprise as he saw that his left wrist now had deep raw red wound track wrapping around it in a continuous line. He looked at it in confusion before realizing it was exactly where the pain in his wrist had been, he touched it and flinched his hand back as it was tender. It didn't hurt as much as his back though. The man was now taking his shoes off, the man didn't look back up until he'd taken off his shoes and socks off so Maurice couldn't wave to get his attention. The man scowled.

'My back hurts,' Maurice signed, still tearful.

'Yes,' the man confirmed before he started off Maurice's pants, Maurice scowled and kicked his legs away from the man.

'I want my clothes,' Maurice signed when the man had looked back to him, 'It's cold. And my back hurts. And I want to go home. I want Daddy. Take me back to Daddy.'

'I have better clothes for you,' the man offered and paused to point to Maurice's left where a pile of clothes lay, 'We can talk after that.'

'Okay.'

Maurice allowed the man to take off the last of his clothes and instead help into new ones, grubby green robes with black leggings and brown boots. That was after wrapping bandages around his back that made him hurt a little less. He took the opportunity to look around the room, all the walls were identical thick bricks with the same red slime as the other one. There was also several chains positioned in different places, there were no windows. He went to scratch his itchy back but the shockwaves of agony that shot through him warned him against it. At least he was warmer in the robes, Maurice waited patiently until the man was done.

'Can I go back to Daddy now?' Maurice signed when the man was done.

'No,' the man signed, 'Daddy doesn't want you anymore so he had us take you.'

'No,' Maurice shook his head desperately, that couldn't be true, 'Daddy wouldn't do that. Daddy loves me.'

'If he loved you then you would be home with him. You're not. You're here.'

'I want to go home. I want Daddy.'

'This is home now. You're a soldier now.'

'No. I want Daddy,' Maurice insisted as he started to cry, refusing to believe the horrible man. Daddy wouldn't give him away, he wouldn't.

The man who'd taken him - Maurice decided he must be called Taker - didn't care thought, he grabbed his injured wrist and hauled him away. Maurice tried to struggle but it hurt his injured wrist too much, instead he cried as he was led away. He was taken out of the cold room, up a long twisting flight of huge stone steps to a nicer place with wood paneled walls and long stretches of velvet carpet. It was dull and dingy, windows revealed an inky sky through thick clouds. It was warmer there but still colder than it had been at home. Maurice was quickly lost, the place was a never ending maze of hallways and staircases that all looked the same. They passed more doors than he could count, each with a plaque with some of those scribbles and several corridors had locks. Taker stopped at one and opened it, shoving him roughly inside and slamming the door behind him. Maurice pounced on the door to get back out, having to jump to reach the handle but it didn't open. Taker must have locked it.

Maurice looked around to see he was in a room, there two a single beds and a desk in between similar to Daddy's with two chairs. There was a door in the gap between the desk and the further bed, that wasn't locked and was actually already open to show a small bathroom with pristine white toilet and sink. There was also a set of steps like the ones at home to drag in between the toilet and sink so he could reach them, there were no windows in either of the two rooms. Maurice wandered back into the other room and pulled himself onto the bed next to the door he'd entered, he buried his face in the pillow and cried. He didn't want his back to hurt. He didn't want to be there. He didn't want to be a soldier. He just wanted to go home. He just wanted his Daddy. Why was this happening to him?


Guests started leaving after those two revelations until only close family and actual family remained, Bill continued ranting and raving against Dom's marriage. Percy's girlfriend Penelope even went to the Ministry to check the validity of the marriage, Dom was indeed Mrs Ashain. The other Weasleys seemed to focus more on Freddie, alternating between scolding him and offering their support. Scorpius also had to retrieve the gifts for Corin and Abby since their families were heading off, both of whom thanked him and said his would arrive by owl since they hadn't thought to bring them. Cade also seemed to have thought along the same lines as he had, both Maurice and Orous also handed over their gifts too.

"Hey Scorpius," a voice greeted him before Scorpius could go over to wish Professor Hagrid a merry Christmas before he left, he turned to see it was Lorcan Scamander.

"Hey Lorcan," Scorpius offered and the blond nodded, looking down nervously. He was distinguishable from his twin from the black rings beneath his eyes and the wand constantly clutched in his hand.

"I just erm... I know that Varanian kind of shows up when Shadow stuff is happening," Lorcan began as he looked up, "And you're usually there too. And in Hogsmeade he said about, or Roman said about gathering support or something. If you ever see him can you tell him that he has my support because I know he's innocent and a hero, as soon as I come of age or before if possible then I'll join him in fighting the Shadows until the day I die. I know some pretty cool spells from Maurice and I practice defensive magic or read about it in my free time so I won't be weak anymore, I'll be able to fight. Just because I'm a Slytherin, it doesn't mean that I'm a coward. You might not see him but I reckon you the most chance of seeing him, if you do please tell him that."

"I erm... I will if I ever see him again."

"Thanks, Scorpius," Lorcan nodded and the ghost of a smile appeared on his face before he started to move away.

"Happy Christmas."

"I wish," Lorcan sighed as he looked as his parents and brother sadly, they were saying goodbye, "I don't belong there anymore."

Scorpius wished he knew what to say to that as he didn't want Lorcan to feel bad but the younger boy had already walked away out of earshot, Scorpius sighed regretfully as he could empathize with feeling different from his family. Professor Hagrid had already gone, so much for wishing him a Happy Christmas. His attention was drawn by a baby crying, he stupidly wondered if it was his brother for a minute before realizing it was just baby Vale who Gabrielle was struggling to soothe again.

"Want me to go to the Burrow and feed him? I think there's still some bottles there," Cel offered to his wife gently, "Give you a break, he's actually due another feeding soon anyway."

"Yeah, alright," Gabrielle agreed and handed Vale over, the baby seemed to cry harder while she smiled at her husband, "You're an angel."

It whittled down to just family or those staying with family in the end, Scorpius took the opportunity to eat something and listen to Albus go between debating whether Professor Ashain would give him better marks since his cousin was now the professor's stepmother. When Albus wasn't laughing at this very fact anyway. They moved back into the Burrow except for some starting to pack up, Scorpius decided now would be a good time to hand out the gifts he'd gotten everyone since his father would be coming to pick him up soon. He was actually starting to feel guilty, should he have gotten Mr and Mrs Weasley something for letting him stay? Was he an impolite house guest?

"You're so generous," Molly protested when he gave out the gifts, Scorpius just shrugged at it unsurely.

"Merry Christmas, Scor," Orous offered as he handed him his present and hugged him.

"Merry Christmas," Scorpius agreed and smiled.

Neither revelation had detracted from his good mood. It was nice to relax instead of stressing about the Shadows, although he did oddly feel a flash of concern for Varanian. He never got a break or relaxed, that couldn't be healthy. He pulled away and Maurice gave him his gift as well, naturally Maurice was not a hugger. Rose and Molly both had his gifts for him too since they'd been staying with their grandparents, he put them in the specially extended bag.

"Scorpius, your father's here," Penelope came in to tell him, "Might want to change out of your dress robes first and grab your things."

"Thank you, Miss Obvious," Lucy scoffed and glared at her father's girlfriend darkly as she continued in a tony heavy with sarcasm, "I'm sure the most basic, obvious thing in the world hadn't occurred to Scorpius because it's not like he's got a brain or anything."

"I'm going," Scorpius assured them and hurried upstairs to change, making sure he had all his things before heading back down to the kitchen. His father was drowning in a sea of redheaded Weasleys - even Teddy had gone redheaded by this point - as they seemed to be awkwardly making conversation, he could feel the tension strung in the air, "Ready."

"Bye, Scor," Molly offered and kissed him quickly in farewell, "Merry Christmas, say hi to your brother for me."

"I will," Scorpius promised but had to endure goodbyes from the rest of his friends before he could finally leave with his father, the elder Malfoy breathed a sigh of relief when they were out in the icy air with snow drops slowly showering them as they walked, "I-I'm sorry."

"It's quite alright," his father brushed it off as they walked, needing to get out of range from the anti-apparation wards that had been put back up after Dom left with Aurelius, "Just a lot of bad blood in the past between our families, my past not yours."

"I got that. Our family's not much like theirs."

"Nothing like theirs."

"Yeah," Scorpius admitted hesitantly and something else returned to his mind, Varanian all horrifically burnt from Death Eaters, "Father, can I... Can I ask you something?"

"Sure, you can ask me anything."

"When you were a Death Eater did you ever... ever light anyone on fire?"

"No!" his father protested fiercely and looked at him in shock, "Why brought that on?"

"I just know they did and wondered if you ever had. I'm glad you didn't."

"So am I," his father said quietly before stopping and putting a hand on his shoulder, "Here's enough, ready?"

Scorpius nodded and a second later was being apparated, the sensation of being pushed through a tube until they were at their destination, it bothered him less every time. His father was already leading him into St Mungo's, he didn't bother with the front desk as he apparently already knew where he was going and instead headed off through the mazes of white walls. His father's mood seemed to be improving and he was smiling by the time he led him through into a private room, his mother was sitting propped up in bed with the new baby wriggling in her arms. She looked exhausted but happy and Scorpius was smiling too as he went over and kissed her on the forehead in greeting.

"Here's your big brother, Scorpius, and here's your new baby brother," his mother told him and shifted her arms slightly to give him a better view.

Scorpius gazed down at the infant, he was a bit bigger than Lyra but smaller than Vale. Unlike both of them, he was completely bald at the moment and looked up at Scorpius with big bright blue eyes as if he was studying him as intently as Scorpius was him.

"His eyes are blue?" Scorpius wondered in surprise.

"Baby's eyes are usually blue and change to their real color as they get older," his mother explained and Sol flicked his little gaze back to her as she spoke.

"Sol Abraxas Malfoy."

"Sol after the sun because it's still a star and we could use some light in our lives, Abraxas after my grandfather," his father told him and Scorpius guessed he'd probably wanted to honor Lucius but didn't want to risk giving the baby his name after he was considered a Shadow, it wasn't a wise idea considering the current climate. Abraxas was still honoring the Malfoy side of the family, not just his grandmother's Black side, "Would you like to hold him?"

"I-What? I don't know what to do," Scorpius babbled in fear of dropping his new brother.

"It'll be fine, just sit here and hold your arms out flat. Make sure one hand is supporting his head."

Scorpius nervously sat down in the seat beside his mother, his heart thundering in his chest. His mother handed Sol to his father, he smiled at his son before slowly moving his arms down to give him to Scorpius. Scorpius stopped breathing as he was handed his brother, petrified of doing something wrong as he did as told and kept his hand under his head. Nothing disastrous happened, Sol just gurgled and refocused his attention to Scorpius. He let out his breath and felt his smile returning, this wasn't so hard. He gently stroked Sol's incredibly soft skin with his thumb and marveled at the tiny ears.

"Say hello," his mother prompted.

"H-Hi Sol," Scorpius swallowed nervously, feeling slightly stupid since Sol was far too young to understand the things being said to him, "I'm your brother. I think Mother might already have said that though, I'm Scorpius."

Sol made another cooing sound and Scorpius felt the flash of a camera as his father took a picture, he didn't mind. He could just hope he'd be a good brother and that Sol would never have to go through everything he'd been through, have a better life than he or Lyra. A strange realization hit him as he thought that, he had another reason to stop the Shadows. He didn't just want to stop the Soul Eaters because of what they'd done anymore, he wanted them to stop so the world would be calm again, so Sol could hopefully grow up in a nicer world than it was right now. He felt a fierce desire to protect his brother.

Scorpius spent the next few hours with his family, doting on Sol and catching up with his parents about the wedding and Hogwarts, he tried very hard to leave out where he'd been before the Burrow. Thankfully, his parents were still in too much of a good mood to really notice. Eventually a Healer came to put Sol - who'd fallen asleep now - down to bed in the baby ward, it was late. His parents wanted him to Floo back to the manor for the night since his father was staying with his mother, who couldn't leave yet. His grandmother was still at the manor so he'd be alright there, Scorpius reiterated he knew the way before hugging his parents goodbye and leaving. He didn't go straight home thought, he detoured to follow the signs to the baby ward. Lyra should get to meet her brother too.

He found the ward easily enough, there were signs and it wasn't far from his mother's private ward nor the maternity ward as it seemed logical to keep the two wards close by. He was surprised to recognize people he knew in the ward, the only occupant was in the furthest bed but he recognized Leebin's wife to be the one, sleeping. Leebin himself was in the chair beside her with his daughter dozing on his lap, his glasses had slipped down his nose as his head lolled as he slept. He still had his hand holding his wife's though, even in slumber. Scorpius continued by curiously, wondering if there were more complications.

He was distracted by Sol was crying his head off as he went into the baby ward. Or not. He'd started to head towards the crying baby but stopped as he noticed his brother's name in one of the strange see-through cribs, Sol was sleeping perfectly happily all bundled up against the cold with a strange device in the corner of the crib emitting a blue glow. He could only hope this was good. Out of curiosity, he continued towards the baby, the only other one in the ward.

This baby's device was flashing red with all kinds of things going off and spinning, he hadn't been given blankets at all either. In contrast to Sol, this baby was tiny and looked unhealthy. Its gray-tinged skin had a sickly, waxy look to it and veins could be seen through in places, it was naked except for the diaper. Scorpius reached out to the baby and felt the skin was like ice, the poor thing was probably cold. It was screaming, tears pouring down his small cheeks as it jerked its limbs about in an uncoordinated fashion. There were two things that surprised him more than all of that though, the first was the crib read 'Baby Boy, Leebin' and the second was the black band of the werewolf bracelet wrapped around its wrist. It looked up at him with baby blue eyes the same shade as his brother, as if pleading him to help.

"Excuse me," Scorpius said to the Healer who'd taken Sol as he noticed her checking on his brother, "I think this baby needs help."

"Don't worry about that, dear," the Healer brushed it off as she came over to him, eying the baby with a look of disgust, "Your brother's over there."

"I know but this baby is crying. And cold. Shouldn't you like do something?"

"I'm a Healer not a magizoologist," the Healer told him stiffly, "I don't want to get infected. It's not in my job description to take care of dogs."

"Dogs?"

"Can't you see the bracelet? It's a werewolf."

"He doesn't even have a bite," Scorpius protested in confusion.

"Because it wasn't bitten, it was just born that way. It can happen if the mother is bitten during pregnancy, it's rare as the mother usually miscarries, or at least never manages to carry the baby to term. They suffer complications and severe health risk for mother and... Baby, if you can call it that. The mother often doesn't survive and the thing born rarely survives past its first full moon, if it even lasts that long. It was only born today a few hours after your brother, full moon is in a week. So you see, its fine to just leave it, it's not really a person and it will die anyway."

"Of course it - he - is a bloody person!" Scorpius snapped furious at her attitude, "Werewolves are people too, my best friend is a werewolf! Maybe the reason the baby doesn't usually survive is because fucking pricks like you just leave them when you're supposed to be taking care of them, it's your job. Either help the damn baby or I will march in there and tell the parents that you're neglecting their son!"

The Healer threw him a look of absolute abhorrence before turning to the baby, waving her wand to conjure the poor child a blanket. Scorpius moved away to leave her to it, keeping an eye from afar but the device stopped flashing and the baby calmed down after a few minutes of being tended to. The Healer stalked back off after that and Scorpius was alone with the babies, Sol still sleeping happily. Scorpius took a deep breath and took out the stone, forcing thoughts of rage out of his head. Maybe he shouldn't have said all those things but he couldn't help it, some people's attitudes to werewolves disgusted him. Even if it hadn't been Leebin's son, his sympathies went out to him. He was all the more determined to become an animagus to further his support for Michael and with any luck, Wyatt would be a help to him there. He pushed it aside as he turned over the stone a few times in his hand, being rewarded with little Lyra appearing.

"Hey Lyra, sorry it's been a few days," Scorpius greeted her apologetically.

"You did say," Lyra shrugged it off and peered into the crib containing Sol curiously.

"That's Sol, our new brother."

"He looks so small and he's bald like Daddy is going to be," Lyra giggled before looking more serious, "Don't let the lady give him the blue stuff."

"What?" Scorpius wondered as he became confused.

"When I was borned, the lady who del-i-ver-ed me gaved me this blue stuff. Tipped it onto my tongue, it tasted like I didn't like it and after that I didn't feel good anymore. I just felt sicker and sicker until I was dead," Lyra told him sadly, "That's why I died. Bad blue stuff she gave me."

"You were poisoned?" Scorpius breathed in horror and Lyra just nodded.


Part 5: Downsides


The next thing Maurice knew was that he was being shaken awake, he cringed as waking meant he had to face the burning pain on his back. He looked at the one to wake him, hoping desperately for his Daddy but was disappointed. It was a stranger, he looked similar to Taker with the same red hair and violently violet eyes but he was different. He was a teenager with a wiry frame and a handful of pimples, his hair was also much longer than Taker's. The newcomer was wearing the same robes that Taker had put on him except brown, along with fingerless leather gloves. Maurice decided he was called Flame because of his hair and the fact he'd woken him to face the pain of his burning back.

'Time to get up,' Flame signed.

'Don't want to,' Maurice signed back lazily, 'I want to go home. I want Daddy.'

'You can't. Your Daddy doesn't want you. You're a soldier now. You have to get up now and learn.'

'My back hurts.'

'Yes. I'm sure it does. You will be hurt worse if you don't get up now. Get up and we can get some food. Aren't you hungry?'

'No,' Maurice lied and felt his stomach gurgling for food, 'Okay. I will get up.'

Flame took into the bathroom to brush his teeth and make sure he'd used the toilet before they left, he danced and tapped his wand at the door which opened it and could lead Maurice away. He walked through the same endless maze of corridors from before, except this time they sometimes passed people. Most of them were children or teenagers, children wore the same robes as Maurice and teenagers the same as Flame. There were some adults too, they were all dressed in black cloaks. They stopped in some kind of mass eating room, people were lining up at a counter on the far side. They came away with bowls of food and goblets of drink before they sat down at any of the variety of tables scattered about, all those non-adults seemed to have marks on their hands or wore gloves like Flame. Flame took him over to the far side to queue, they were each handed a bowl of icky looking glop and a goblet of water. Maurice had no hands to thank the person, he just had to follow Flame over to an empty table.

'I don't like this,' Maurice signed to Flame when the boy attempted to give him a spoon.

'You didn't even try it,' Flame signed back and Maurice tried a spoonful, spitting it out immediately because it tasted so disgusting.

'I don't like it,' Maurice repeated.

'Then go hungry. Breakfast is always porridge, lunch is always a broth and dinner is always stew. Flavor varies day to day but you never have a choice. You're a solider.'

'I don't want to be a soldier.'

'No one cares what you want. You are worthless. Eat up, you have a lot to learn today.'


Scorpius was feeling shaken as he left St Mungo's, Lyra hadn't just died. She'd been murdered. Someone had murdered his baby sister. That evil midwife, Sophia Barrows was her name, she'd delivered Scorpius too. He was angry. How dare she was out there living her life when she'd stolen Lyra's chance to live hers? He wanted her to pay. He wanted justice - no, he wanted more than that. He wanted revenge. He wanted her to die. And there was only one way he could think to do that.

He went home to simply not arouse suspicion and was greeted by his grandmother, thankfully the late hour saved him from having to talk to her so he could just claim tiredness and go to bed. After being hugged excessively, of course. Scorpius actually would've been glad to see her if he wasn't desperate to go to Varanian to tell him of Lyra's murder, even if it meant revealing the stone. Varanian would find that murderous bitch who'd killed his sister so he could avenge Lyra, she was a well-known midwife so it couldn't be that hard to find her.

He locked his door after bidding his grandmother goodnight and ringed out into the raging storm that was apparently demolishing Varanian's hideout. Wind tore furiously the air, spewing a snow and dagger-like rain that Scorpius could barely see even a foot in front of him. He actually had to fight his way through the elements, being knocked several times by the wind before he finally reached his destination and half collapsed into the kind warmth. He had to fight to get the door closed and leaned against the door for a moment to catch his breath, frozen through.

"Oh, it's you," Roman commented and Scorpius looked back up to see the man had clearly come to investigate the sound, he was still dressed despite the late hour, his face lit up excitedly, "Did you see my sons? How is Or-"

"Not now, I need to speak to Varanian," Scorpius brushed it off and headed forwards to get to the trapdoor but Roman put up a hand to stop him, "I'm answer your stupid questions later, this is important! My sister was murdered-"

"Varanian's not here," Roman interrupted, "Both he and Wyatt are out doing their thing, I don't know when they'll be back but it probably won't be soon. And what sister are you referring to? Did your mother have her baby and-"

"No! The baby was a boy and he's fine. Lyra. Lyra was murdered. My sister, she was born a few years ago."

"And you suddenly realized she was killed right now?" Roman wondered dubiously and Scorpius threw him a glare as he fished the stone out of his pocket, Roman gasped.

"This stone can bring back the dead. I've been talking to my sister, I summoned her to meet Sol - our new baby brother - and she told me how she was poisoned by the midwife and died. I need Varanian so I can kill her."

"Did she kill her though?"

"Yes!"

"Scorpius, think about this rationally. Why would a midwife suddenly want to kill a baby?"

"Because-" Scorpius started to snap that it was probably because they were Malfoys and their family name wasn't well liked but it occurred to him that it was unlikely since she'd also delivered him without killing him, "I don't know why but I don't care! It doesn't matter, what matters is she's a killer!"

"In this time of the Imperius Curse, Soul Eaters possessing people, forcing people to do their bidding with the threat of a Specter to destroy their soul and using Polyjuice Potion to frame people... Are you really sure that the midwife killed her?"

"You think the Shadows killed her?" Scorpius wondered in surprise and felt a different kind of cold sweeping through him.

"Don't you?" Roman countered and Scorpius shakily sat down on one of the steps leading to upstairs, Lyra's death was why his parents had sent him away to stay where he'd been when he was kidnapped, "Personally, I think that's more likely. At the very least, you should have Varanian look into it instead of running around killing people. Killing is wrong."

"Killing is wrong? What do you think we're going to do when we find the Shadow Master? Sit him-"

"Or her."

"-Sit him down and have cookies?" Scorpius concluded irritably.

"Bad people go to jail, Varanian and I get our names cleared and everyone can go back to their lives. And that reminds me, you can't tell Varanian about the stone. Just tell him you remember the midwife giving Lyra something strange or I don't know, anything but the stone."

"Why? I told you."

"Do you remember how drawn Varanian was to the Veil last year?"

"Yes... So what?" Scorpius wondered and Roman rolled his eyes as if irritated that wasn't enough to explain.

"Varanian's lost a lot of people. His family were Aurors - I think - and probably not very good ones because everyone died before he came of age, he had a wife and some children and they died too. If he knew you had a stone that could talk to them then he would want it, you would foolishly oblige-"

"You don't want him to know because you don't think he should get to see his lost family? That's just mean, what the-"

"Let me finish!" Roman barked before clearing his throat and continuing, "And also yes. Don't you know the story of the Deathly Hallows? It drives the middle brother mad and he kills himself to be with his lost love, yet another reason why it's best to stay away from women and dating."

"You think Varanian will go mad and kill himself? Michael and I use the stone, we haven't yet and he's been using it for months."

"Kill himself, stop bothering with the Shadows and slowly waste away and die because all his does is talk to shades of people that only he knew and only he can see, whichever. There's a reason it was cast into the forest in the hopes it'd never be found again, it's not a good thing," Roman told him seriously, "It's called the Stone of Resurrection but it's not, not really. It doesn't resurrect people, it doesn't bring them back, it doesn't even bring them back as ghosts which still isn't really 'back' and who would even want that? You and you can alone see them, you're just clinging to something that's not even there anymore. They're not real, just an illusion. People cling to that illusion - why wouldn't you? - instead of caring about their lives, moving on and letting the dead rest in peace. Varanian won't resist it."

"It's not a bad thing," Scorpius tried to protest although as he said it, he thought of Michael withdrawing to talk more to Nick instead of his living friends and considering him alive when he mentioned him. He clutched the stone tighter, "I like talking to my sister."

"And I'd like talking to mine too, and my parents. Varanian would love talking to his dead wife, kids, parents and whatever other assorted family members he has. Wyatt would love talking to his dead mother and roommate. That's the trap, you're happy to focus on the dead ones you love even if it's not real and you forget the real ones you love, you forget to live. Do you understand? Life is for the living, death is for the dead and no magic can change that."

"Maybe you could use it responsibly, balance the too."

"Maybe for a while you could but it's like Dark Magic - in fact, I actually believe it is Dark Magic and was made using a branch of necromancy - which corrupts. It's a slippery slope, you can start to use it with the best intentions in mind but the more you do, the more it makes you want to use it and the more you think it's okay too since you've used it before seemingly without consequences. It blurs your morals more every time so it seems less wrong to go back to it every time anyway, gradually warping you without you realizing it until eventually you've become the very thing you sought to fight. 'Battle not with monsters lest ye become a monster, remember if you gaze into the abyss, the abyss also gazes into you.' That's what I fear will happen to Maurice, I don't want that for him," Roman trailed off quietly as a look of sorrow crossed his face before seeming to recall his original point, "So the stone is like that. You think you can control and resist it but you can't, the only way is to not use it. No matter how badly you want to."

"Take it," Scorpius whispered tearfully at the thought of losing Lyra but... Roman was actually right for once, he'd already lost Lyra. He held out the stone to Roman, the man's eyes bulged and he actually seemed to stop breathing as he gazed at it, "Before I change my mind."

"I can't," Roman finally tore his head away, "I'm not strong, Scorpius, I am weak. I am so weak. I know it. I won't be able to resist it, I know I won't. I've wanted my parents back since the second I saw them die, I can't. Find someone else to hold onto it."

"Like who?"

"And don't tell Varanian because he will not be able to think logically about this like we can. We have people we want to live for, you have you have family and friends, I have my sons. Varanian has no one, nothing substantial to hold on to. Don't tell him, if you care even slightly about him as a person or at the very least because he has the best chance of stopping the Shadow Master, even if he won't accept outside help like an idiot. Plus I'll die without his protection."


Maurice still refused to eat and spent the day being led to different places to do different things with Flame, different classes they were called. There was four, two after breakfast but before lunch and two after. Maurice went along with them because he didn't know how to get home and they were kind of fun for the most part, it distracted him from the pain in his back at least. The first was story time, he sat in a room with lots of other children his age to be shown a huge screen with different images flashing up and some weirdo stood at the front opening and closing his mouth in the weird way that other people did. Flame sat with him slightly apart from the others and signed to him the story that the images were of to explain it, all about war.

The second class was about words, he was again off to one side away from the others with Flame. Flame showed him pictures with squiggles he called words, Maurice took this to mean that the squiggles meant the same thing as the sign for it. If you could learn to decipher the squiggles anyway, Flame promised they would. Maurice was still excited, he'd seen those squiggles all around at home and... Wherever he was, they actually had a meaning. The third class was about numbers, Flame continued teaching him to count like his Daddy had been doing. He missed Daddy. The final class was when they were taken into a big room without chairs and had to exercise, running and jumping and things like that. It would've been fun if his back didn't still hurt, no one cared whenever he said this. He was more involved with the other children this time, he tried signing to talk to them but they just laughed. It took him a few times to realize what they weren't laughing at something but rather at him.

'Why did they laugh at me?' Maurice signed to Flame when he brought him back to the food room for dinner, he'd also refused lunch but he was so hungry he had just finished devouring the stew.

'Most people don't use their hands to talk like this,' Flame explained and Maurice scowled in confusion, 'It looks silly to them. They don't understand so they laughed at you because you're different.'

'Then how do they understand each other? Do they use words all the time?'

'They use their mouths.'

'Their mouths?'

'Yes. They talk with their mouths, like this,' Flame signed and started opening and closing his mouth randomly to demonstrate.

'Like this?' Maurice asked as he started opening and closing his mouth too, Flame burst out laughing and Maurice scowled, 'What?'

'Again,' Flame signed and roared with laughed again when Maurice did, making him do it several more times before Maurice refused as he was trying not to cry now. He didn't like being laughed at, what was so funny? Flame wiped his eyes and stopped banging the table to focus on him again, 'There's more to it. Talking with your mouths isn't just opening and closing it, that just looks funny. You have to make different sounds with it, that's what people understand.'

'Sounds? I don't know what that is.'

'Because you were born unable to notice sounds. Everyone can but you.'

'What are sounds?'

'It's hard to explain. Here look, I'm going to raise this bowl and drop it onto the table. Close your eyes and tell me when it hits the table.'

'How can I know if I can't see it?' Maurice wondered in confusion.

'Exactly. Everyone else will know because when the bowl hits the table, it makes a sound. You can't understand it but everyone else can and will look. I'm going to drop it, watch the people in the room. See how they aren't looking at me but will look when this bowl makes a sound, I'll talk to be sure,' Flame explained as he raised the bowl high into the air magically and Maurice looked away to the crowd of people eating, half-doubting and half-thinking these sound things would explain the odd behavior. Abruptly every head in the hall turned to their table with surprised expressions, Maurice looked back and saw Flame had dropped the bowl, 'You see how they looked? Because of the sound.'

'I want to know sounds too.'

'You can't. You were born broken. It's why your Daddy doesn't want you.'

'Why are you so mean to me?' Maurice signed, feeling hurt and Flame glared at him.

'Sometimes the truth hurts. I'm nicer to you than most will be, just wait until you've caught up to the others in your class. Then you'll feel pain. Feel punishment. It's tough learning to be a soldier.'

'I want to go home. I want Daddy. I don't want to be soldier.'

'You can't. You know this.'

Flame sighed before standing to lead him away again, back to the room where Flame just dumped him and left. Maurice tried to follow but the door was locked again, he swung out of it uselessly before crying. What had he done to deserve this? Was it really just because he couldn't understand these sound things? Surely it couldn't matter that much, could it? He didn't want to be a soldier anyway, he just wanted to go home to his Daddy and toys and his food that didn't taste horrible. He'd give anything for his Daddy to take him away. Why wasn't his Daddy taking him home already? He didn't like this. He didn't. And it would only get worse.


Part 6: First Taste


Maurice soon found his life settling into a new routine in this new place with Flame. Every day, he'd wake up - or Flame would wake him up - and Flame would help him get dressed, make sure he brushed his teeth and take him down for the disgusting slop called porridge. Flame would take him to the two classes to learn, take him to lunch for broth that or may not taste nice depending on the day's flavor, take him to the last two classes and finally to dinner for a stew that also may or may not taste nice depending on the day's flavor. After that, Flame would either take him back to their room and leave him or it would be shower time, it was no fun like bath time and instead he just stood there in rain-like water falling on him while enchanted things cleaned him then dried him off. It alternated between nothing and showering every other day, afterward Flame would take him back to the room anyway. Flame also took him to the toilet when he needed it or got him a drink if he was thirsty - the only thing Maurice was allowed to drink at all was water - at any point during the day and for the first few weeks, Flame also changed the bandages before he must've healed up enough for them to leave. His back still hurt though for months after, decreasing but still there.

Maurice didn't mind the classes, the order changed but it was the same four. The stories of war were interesting and the pictures glorified the great soldiers, crushing their foes and saving the world from the bad ones. Numbers continued learning to count, what the numbers looked like as writing, adding and taking away. Words continued learning about them, about how they were made up of individual letters, the letters of the alphabet and other ways of saying them such as in sign or Greek or Runic. Exercise continued to be just that, running, jumping, doing obstacle courses, weaving in and out, rolling, and ducking. Maurice thought they were fun, Flame was great and seemed to know more - or maybe was just better at signing it - than his Daddy, and often told Maurice things in between such as explaining about family or how the world worked or even how the place worked. Those in green robes like Maurice hadn't passed the test, they were younger and newer students while those in brown robes were the more advanced older students who had passed the test. When they were old enough, they had to take a second test to become a fully-fledged soldier. Maurice didn't mind all that, it kept him distracted anyway.

The times when Flame left him alone in the room were the worst. There was nothing to do. Nothing to distract himself from the fact he was stuck there without his Daddy, despite the positives, he'd much rather be at home with his Daddy. He'd much rather his Daddy be caring for him, teaching him, loving him. He'd much rather be at home. He had no toys, no source of comfort. He missed his Daddy so much that he often felt physically ill during these times or was brought to tears by the waves of loneliness, he wanted his Daddy. Whenever he asked, Flame always said his Daddy didn't want him and he couldn't go back. He often cried himself to sleep, Flame would wake him to get him to brush his teeth and change into white pajamas that were identical to Flame's. Flame would sometimes talk with him for a while, sometimes not depending on how tired Maurice was and how much Flame could be bothered as sometimes he had to clean the room with Maurice helping to keep it neat since they were inspected apparently.

Flame always took out a strangely flat book that he seemed to transfigure into robes - clothes were kept under the beds - to hide it during the day. He only ever saw the colorful words and the single picture of a lady from the waist up with no clothes on except a black bar across her chest, the strange thing was the picture didn't move. Flame didn't like to be disturbed when he was reading and Maurice frequently fell asleep during this time since Flame put out the light on Maurice's side. Either that or he'd untransfigure something else, stick wires into his ears and fiddle with a box thing they were attached too, nodding his head, dancing or opening and closing his mouth. Maurice thought Flame might be a little mad. He looked a little mad.

The only change up to the routine was a month for the duels after dinner, students dueling each against other or sometimes other teachers in front of everyone. There was a massive stadium with seats all around for them to watch the pair in the center, it was a big event and incredibly fun to watch. People often cheered on their favorite, it was annoying when they had to stop because one of the duelists got too hurt though and had to be taken out by stretcher. Flame said they were the weak ones, the weak ones sucked. Despite it all though, Maurice still thought it was more fun playing with his toys at home. With his loving Daddy. And where he wasn't chained up and put in pain upon arrival.

After a few months, a new boy joined the class. Maurice didn't pay an exceptional amount of attention to the faces of the other children, not after they'd laughed at him but he noticed this boy. He was overly chubby, Flame pointed it out to him and mentioned he'd have trouble in exercise. Maurice didn't really understand why this was until they actually did exercise, the boy couldn't keep up with the others and just seemed red-faced, out of breath. He didn't improve for a few classes so the teacher did something, fired a red spell at him. The boy fell to the ground, writhing with their mouth open and their face contorted in pain.

'Stop, you're hurting him!' Maurice signed frantically but it was ignored.

He started to run over to help determinedly, he wished someone had helped him when he was in pain. It just seemed like the right thing to do. He narrowly missed Flame's swiping arm trying to stop him, he jumped in between the boy and the teacher. And immediately regretted it. Every possible fragment of his being was in agony, as if every part of him that was capable of feeling pain had been attacked at once. A scream he couldn't was ripped from his body as he fell back onto the floor but the teacher let him go, he lay there crying and shaking as waves of residual pain coursed through him. Flame pulled him up and Maurice clung to him for dear life as he allowed himself to be led away, holding on so tightly that his nails dug painfully into Flame's arm. He really wanted to go home now.


Scorpius took the rest of his things before leaving Varanian's hideout, glad to be away from Roman because he just needed to think about this. He lay awake for a long time, staring at the stone as if it would somehow make it reveal all its secrets. Sleep claimed him at some point, he was surprised but glad that it was a dreamless night. The following day was Christmas Eve, he got the last of his gifts wrapped and sent off if need be. His room was as untouched as when he'd left, in comparison to Molly's it was surprisingly lacking in personality. Everything was tucked away neatly, he kept his photographs contained to the bedside table and everything else was out of sight or had come with the manor unless in use. He was oddly remained Varanian's basement, aside from the photographs by his bed. Everything else or put away unless in use except the board of accumulated information but that wasn't anything to do with him, not any more than the moldings in the room were of Scorpius.

He shoved that thought aside, he was nothing like Varanian. He spent a good chunk of the day with his grandmother, she insisted they catch up and had Yip make them up cocoa to sip by the fire. In typical grandmotherly fashion, she failed to notice the double digits in his age. She asked him about his year in Hogwarts so far and about Sol since she hadn't met him yet, she didn't ask about the rest of his stay. In typical Malfoy fashion, she also seemed to just pretend that he hadn't ran away. When she was satisfied, they finally went to see his parents and brother in the hospital. He was surprised to find his mother chatting with Leebin's wife casually, at least the tiny werewolf was safely in the arms of its mother. Or maybe he shouldn't be surprised, why wouldn't his mother want to stretch her legs and meet the only other mother in the maternity ward? His father was cradling Sol and seemingly ignoring the women, Leebin's daughter was playing on the floor beside them but no sign of Leebin. His parents left them alone anyway with his grandmother's arrival, moving slowly - he didn't think his mother could walk very quickly at the moment - to go back to their private room.

"I do wish people wouldn't wear those bracelets," his grandmother complained, "You can't tell who's a werewolf and who's just being supportive."

"That's the point," Scorpius pointed out, noticing none of his family were wearing the bracelets.

"And it's a silly point, I don't want to be around werewolves. What half-brained half-blood thought that up?"

"I did," Scorpius protested and all three adults looked at him in shock, apparently none of them read the Quibbler, "My friend Maurice and I came up with it to try ease or eliminate the prejudice against werewolves to make it easier for Michael, it's hard enough for him being a werewolf without dealing with that."

"I meant intelligent purebloods, you genius boy. And so loyal to your friends," his grandmother changed her mind immediately as they reached the room, "But maybe you could think of another way to help your friend?"

"I think it's a brilliant idea," his mother announced brightly and patted him on the shoulder before starting to climb into bed, "The Shadows won't have a difficult time winning this war if the Ministry is too busy going after werewolves instead of going after them. I don't know if Myriam is a werewolf or not but she's perfectly nice and not hating us for being Malfoys, her baby is a werewolf and he's perfectly normal."

"Except for being a werewolf who won't survive past this week, probably," his father pointed out.

"Try be positive, Draco, dear."

"I bet she's not a pureblood," his grandmother complained before sighing, "Why are we discussing about all these gloomy issues? I want to meet my new grandson."

And like that, the conversation shifted and the werewolf issue was dropped. He used Leebin's technique to clear his mind for the time being. Scorpius spent the rest of the day in hospital again, he even got to hold his brother again which made him smile. He and his grandmother returned in the even while his mother and father remained in St Mungo's, the house elves had already made dinner. It was strange eating in the Malfoy Manor, ample distance on the table in the formal dining room in contrast to what he was used to of late. He lay awake for a long time letting his thoughts wander, going back and forth between agreeing with Roman and thinking the stone was a good thing if used right. Finally he summoned his sister to talk to her and play some more Wizard Chess before he went to sleep, one more use would be fine.


Cade continued trying to be a good husband and father, although it wasn't always easy on the former. Alzay seemed to become more distant from him, annoyed when he tried to pay attention to her such as snapping at him for asking her how was work and took it upon herself to frequently remind him that he wasn't Orous' real father. He knew this was true but it seemed unfair, she used it like an insult because she knew it bothered him. So he wasn't Orous' 'real' father, he was he one raising him and tucking him in at night. Didn't he get any credit for that?

At least Orous was still a happy, healthy toddler and Cade still loved being a father. Orous was getting better at talking and communicating, understanding things as he grew now which was very rewarding. It was a wonderful Christmas that year, or at least for Orous since it snowed, it didn't always where they lived. Orous loved the snow, Cade could show him how to build snowmen - and snow animals as Orous suggested - and snow angels, pull him along on a sled. He even took him ice skating with some of his friends from work and their kids, they had some kid friendly things to play and Orous was thoroughly enjoyed it. Every time Orous flashed him a toothy grin, he was reminded that he was doing something right with his life. He started on potty training in the New Year, Alzay would have no part in it.

He worried about her relationship with Orous, she remained disinterested in spending much time with him and seemed to also be withdrawing as much from Orous as she was from him. Even when she did spent time with him, she wasn't very affectionate and seemed frustrated with him more than anything. One evening in the spring, he was washing the dishes after dinner while she was playing with him in the sitting room when he heard Orous crying. He barely had time to wonder why before Orous ran to him in tears, throwing himself to hug his legs and bury his little white head against his jeans.

"Hey, what's wrong, Orous?" Cade asked gently as he lowered himself to Orous' level.

"Mummy hate me," Orous sobbed as he met his eyes with his red, tear-filled ones.

"Mummy doesn't hate you."

"She sayed it!"

"I didn't say I hated you, I asked if you were completely stupid," Alzay insisted from the doorway, arms folded crossly and her expression set angrily as she leaned against the frame, "Can you not get anything right?"

"I sorry!" Orous cried before running out still in tears.

"Running is cowardly! You can't run from your problems, you idiot!"

"What is wrong with you?!" Cade snapped before he could stop himself, wiping his hands so he could go comfort Orous, "You don't go around telling kids their stupid, are you trying to destroy his self-esteem?!"

"Merlin's sake, Cade," Alzay snapped irritably, "Sometimes the truth hurts, he has to learn to handle that. It's not my fault he's stupid, I'm highly intelligent, I got Os in freaking everything! He doesn't even know the alphabet!"

"He's two, he's still learning!"

"Maurice can read the alphabet in three different languages! And all numbers up to twenty! And he can count to twenty! And he knows how to add and take away, he's very good at it! Your muggleness is making him stupid!"

"Kids learn at differ- Wait, are you still in contact with Roman?! You shouldn't trust anything he says," Cade changed his sentence halfway through as he realized the implication of her knowing this, before becoming distracted by Orous' continued cries, "We'll talk about this later, I have to go fix what you just broke."

"I- HOW DARE YOU WALK AWAY FROM ME WHEN I'M TALKING TO YOU!?"

Alzay's voice became a screech as Cade turned his back on her to head to the door, this was a mistake. He felt something strike him in the back, in the instant he was in agony. Worse than fire or possibly just being on fire everywhere all at once. He didn't remember hitting the ground but he was on it, trying to contort his body into a position that didn't feel like dying. He bit down on his tongue hard enough to draw blood to try stop himself screaming, in the back of his mind he thought his screaming might scare Orous and he didn't want his little boy to be scared. It only muffled his screaming though, he could taste the coppery liquid in his mouth. It was unbearable and after a few more minutes, he couldn't help. He screamed so loudly his lungs hurt. Alzay just stood there with her wand aimed at him, his oceanic eyes rolling with rage and the corners of her lips almost seemed to curl into a smirk of satisfaction.

Abruptly she moved her wand away, the pain vanished but residual fragments sparked in him. His body was trembling against his will, she jabbed her wand in the air before starting to lower it... Cade leaped to his feet quickly and unsteadily enough to practically stagger into her but he did it in an instant, he grabbed her right wrist and jerked her arm away which caused a flash of red to crash into the wall instead of him. He had his right hand against the wall over her shoulder to steady his still-shaking body, he kept outstretched with the grip on her wrist, breathing heavily and trying to comprehend what had just happened. Alzay just looked at him in absolute shock as if she couldn't believe what had just occurred, her mouth was actually hanging open, she was that astounded.

"Don't... Do that... Again..." Cade said hoarsely, make blood drip from his lips and Alzay looked at him for another moment before bursting into tears.

"I'm sorry!" she cried and buried her face in her free hand, "I-I j-just thought y-you were g-going to hu-hurt me like R-Roman, I w-was so sc-scared and I p-p-panicked, I just tr-tried to protect myself. I'm sorry, Cade, I'm so sorry. I d-didn't mean to hurt y-you."

"I was walking away from you," Cade pointed out incredulously, wondering what he'd possibly done to seem threatening as he lowered their outstretched arms by their side instead.

"FEARS AREN'T RATIONAL!" Alzay shrieked as she sobbed, "Y-You d-don't kn-know what it's l-like. I'm s-sorry, Cade, I'm so-sorry."

"I-It's-Wh-I-" Cade just babbled nonsensically, he supposed it made sense and maybe that was a normal wizard defensive spell. What did he know? He wasn't magical. He shouldn't condemn her for having been through a lot. Although it still didn't explain her interacting with Roman though or being so hard on poor Orous. She was right, he didn't know. He hadn't wanted to inadvertently frighten her, he'd never hurt a woman let alone his own wife. He slowly released her wrist, half-expecting her to immediately lash out at him but she didn't. Instead she him put his arms around her gently, she buried her head against his chest and she hugged him back, "Its okay, I'm sorry too. I love you, I'd never hurt you."

"I love you too," Alzay whispered as she seemed to be calming down.

"I just wor-"

Alzay silenced him with an abrupt kiss, smacking her lips against his with enough force to send his shaking body back a step for balance. She stretched up her arms and wrapped them around his head as she kissed him, her tongue darted into his mouth and made him shiver in a bad way as it aggravated the bite mark he'd inflicted on his tongue. Mostly he was confused, had she not just been crying her eyes out? And that was after they'd been arguing angrily after however many minutes ago that was. And now she wanted to kiss him? Passionately. He pulled away as carefully as he could. He really not in the mood, he was still shaking from her spell. Plus they had to deal with Orous.

"Not now," he told her truthfully and she looked confused again at his lack of interest, "Orous will still be upset."

"I'll go make up with him put him down to bed. You're right, I shouldn't expect too much of the boy," Alzay offered brightly, a lascivious smile playing on her lips as she kissed him once more slowly on the cheek, "You just go lie down in bed, I'll be in shortly."

On that note, she turned and left him there. Still utterly bewildered by her behavior and hurt, the echoes of pain resonated through him. He wondered if all women were like that or just all witches or if it was just Alzay, he really felt he didn't know her sometimes at all. He sighed shakily and headed to the room, thankful that at least he could hear her apologizing to their son. He just lay down on the blissfully soft bed in darkness as he tried to process everything. He still didn't know what to think.