Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of the other awesome things you may recognize in this spiffylicious story.

Also, a happy dedication to all of my wonderful readers who have put up with the long lengths of time in between chapters. I love you guys!

The Rarest Type of Seer

"I've discovered that the less I say, the more rumors I start."

~Bobby Clarke

Chapter 10

Dubious Guests and Rumors too…

"But I don't understand why Chase is here!" An exasperated Lily was never something to mess with. But Cham couldn't help herself, because an exasperated Lily was also a very amusing creature. They were standing against the wall in the main living room of the Burrow. A smattering of cousins and friends and siblings sitting on the many conjured furniture pieces. They kept their voices low so that the others wouldn't hear their conversation.

Bryant Chase (known to one and all simply as Chase) being at the party was one thing that Lily just could not seem to get over and she had been pondering the reasons for it ever since she had seen him show up.

"I told you this morning why he was here," was her reply.

Lily groaned. "I know what you told me this morning, Cham," she practically growled. "I meant, why is he here? At my grandparents' home on the night of my family's Christmas party less!"

"Ah. Well, you see. Apparently he ran into Rose and she invited him along to dinner. It was very nice of her, if you think about it. Him being so far away from home and all that," she paused, hoping to catch any expression that might cross the youngest Potter's face, but Lily remained stoic, and Cham saw nothing. She sighed. "What are you thinking, Lily?"

"Nothing," was the abrupt reply. At her friend's dubious look, Lily looked away and grudgingly began, "it's just – don't you think it's a bit odd that Scorpius and I go for a midnight walk – "

Cham snorted and opened her mouth, but Lily quickly spoke over her, "and then the next day Chase shows up out of the blue. But the next day isn't just any day – oh no. It just happens to be the day of my family's Christmas party. And then he conveniently gets invited, by Rose of all people.

"You're being paranoid. I highly doubt he's a traitor, let alone the traitor."

"And what makes you so sure of that? We were warned not to trust anyone, or did you forget?"

"I forget nothing, as you well know, Lily," the blonde's indignity at the slight was palpable and Lily might have felt slightly ashamed if it had not been for the next words that came from Cham's mouth. "He's here because he was worried about your safety. He knows as well I do what that place was like. When he felt that something was wrong in that realm he came immediately to get you to safety."

Lily didn't reply for a long moment, her thoughts stuck on what Cham had just said.

"Lils -?" She became worried when Lily turned to her with anger burning in her green eyes.

"I was just wondering on the oddness of your statement," was the thoughtful response. "Why it is that Chase came halfway around the world to make sure I was alright," she held up her hand to stop Cham from interrupting, "but my best friend, who has the same type of gift as he does and was, no doubt, much much closer to where I was physically located, didn't even realize or even feel the same 'disturbance', if you will, that he felt and therefore didn't even worry about my safety until my father realized I was gone?"

'Oh shit,' the thought went through Cham's head so fast that there wasn't any time to block it before it was out in the open for all those who could hear other people's thoughts.

The hurt that she saw was worse than the anger, Cham decided. At least she knew how to deal with an angry Lily.

"I was busy," she replied. And she hoped that Lily would miss the brief glance that she sent across the room.

"Uh huh. Okay."

"No, seriously, Lily! I really was!"

"Doing what then? Because the way I see it, if you hadn't been busy doing whatever I wouldn't be in this predicament! Isn't that the entire reason you're supposed to be with me whenever I 'go off on my own'?"

Cham felt as if she had been slapped. "Right, because of course being your friend has nothing to do with it at all! My job is to be your babysitter, right?" she snapped back.

By this time their whispered conversation was becoming so heated, they were drawing the attention of the others in the room.

"That's not what I meant and you well know it," she lowered her voice to a whisper again, intense pain coloring her next words, "he had to claim me just so we could get out of there, Cham! Do you know what that means? Do you truly understand?"

"Of course –"

"You don't!" Lily cut her off vehemently. "And he doesn't even believe that it actually happened! So yeah, forgive me for being just a bit upset for you not being there!" The last sentence was practically yelled and they now had the attention of everyone in the room.

Though she had seen Lily's ire before, she had never actually been on the receiving end of it and she had no idea what to do. She threw another glance across the room but the person she had been looking at before was gone. She sighed.

"I'm sorry, Lily."

"Right. Yeah," she scoffed.

"Lily. Are you alright?" Both girls looked up to see Albus standing in front of them.

"Why do you care?" she retorted scathingly. The black haired boy flinched.

"That's not fair, Lily," Cham jumped to his defense. She was so relieved to see that someone had jumped into the brewing argument, and even happier that it had been him, that she forgot to shutter her response in front of her friend.

Albus gave Cham a warm smile and she replied in kind with Lily looking between the two. An idea slowly formed in her head. When it came to full fruition, she gasped, breaking whatever spell that had come over her brother and her currently former friend.

"Right then. That explains your 'I was busy.' Very cryptic that. But that's alright. I get it, I really do." So many emotions flashed over her face in that second that both of the onlookers were caught off guard. Hurt and anger, betrayal, fear, shame, sadness. There were others too, just as fleeting over her face before she once again closed off. "Congratulations," she whispered before practically sprinting for the door.

Cham tried to grab Lily's arm, "it's not," but she was gone quicker than the blonde could blink.

"You know –" piped up another voice from beside them, "Aunt Ginny always says Lily is just as broody as your dad was when he was that age."

"Shut up Hugo." Albus punched his younger cousin in the arm, but he was grinning all the same.

"She'll be alright though, yeah?" Cham asked.

"Oh yeah," Chase said as he came up to them, "she'll be just fine. You know, overlooking the crazy ancients that are waking up, The Lux Lucis Efrrego wanting to take her down, and of course a cousin that is intent on ruining her. Yep, Lily will be just fine."

"Who in Merlin's name are you? And what on Earth are you talking about?" Albus demanded.

It was her turn to punch someone in the arm and she was not as gentle on Chase as Albus had been with Hugo.

Chase at least had the decency to look contrite. "What? I thought they knew" was his elegant reply to the stormy look on the blonde girl's face.

"Obviously not."

"Clearly."

~SL~SL~SL~SL~

Loud and boisterous was how he would explain the Weasley clan. Of course that could also be due to the fact that there were so many of them. Scorpius had been coming to the Weasley family Christmas Eve dinner since he was eleven and Albus had found out that the Malfoy's didn't do anything special. It had become a tradition after that. Scorpius would spend his Christmas Eve with the Potter's and Weasley's and his Christmas Day with his own family. Even after his recent breakup with Rose, this year would be no different.

They were all unconsciously divided into their own little groups. The men out playing muggle darts in Arthur Weasley's shed, the women standing around the kitchen gossiping and hustling and bustling things out to the magically warmed seating area in the yard. The cousins and all of their friends were also broken up into their own little groups talking about this and that or playing a pick-up game of quidditch out in the snowy glen.

Usually, the Malfoy heir would hang out with Albus and Rose, and occasionally Fred. But this year he didn't really know where he fit in. When he originally started dating the youngest Weasley girl, he didn't think about the consequences of a break up or how those consequences would affect his relationship with her family.

He wandered through the house thinking about his dilemma and feeling as if all the Weasleys' were looking down on him or thinking badly of him. He had yet to run into her father, an encounter that he was not looking forward to. Although, that particular encounter may not be near as uncomfortable as that morning's was with Mr. Potter.

After leaving Lily's room, he had made his way back down to the main part of the house. He was just passing Harry's study when he heard the man himself call Scorpius back in. The Malfoy scion entered the office with something akin to trepidation racing up and down his spine.

He remembered his father once mentioning that Harry could be rather scary when he felt that something he loved was being threatened. "I don't mind you being friends with Albus, Scorpius," his father had said with a rueful glance at his wife, "but do not get on his father's bad side!"

It wasn't that Scorpius had never heeded his father's warning about such a thing, it was just that it had never occurred to him that he would ever need to.

Harry gave nothing away with his expressions and Scorpius figured that Lily had a really good teacher in her father when it came to learning how to be expressionless. Scorpius wished he still had the buffer that Mrs. Potter, Cham, and Lily had provided between himself and Harry earlier. He was certain that the savior of the wizarding world would have frozen him solid for the rest of his life and made him into a statue to show to other young men that laid eyes on his daughter. "This is what happens to young men that try to date Lily Potter," would be printed at the base. The fleeting thought amused Scorpius more than it probably should have. He wasn't even trying to date her. Yes, she was pretty. She was also mysterious and enigmatic and a right pain in the arse, and he should probably tune into what Mr. Potter was saying.

"…so whatever your intentions are, Malfoy, you need to be aware that if you hurt my daughter in any way…" That had been all Scorpius could bare before he interrupted,

"It's not what you think though. We really did go for a walk." And he was so earnest in his response that Harry almost believed him. But Scorpius could tell that there was still some misgivings in the older man's expressions.

The only response he was to receive was "hmmm" before he was sent away.

He shook those thoughts away. 'It's Christmas, Malfoy – think happy thoughts… get in the spirit,' he said to himself.

He made his way into the living room of The Burrow and almost tripped over a wide eyed Lucy Weasley. The buzz of conversation dimmed for a moment but rose back up when Roxanne Weasley started giggling at her cousin's clumsiness.

"OI! MALFOY! OVER HERE!" Turning to the sound of the voice, he saw the Scamander twins with Molly and Dominique Weasley sitting on the floor of the living room in front of one of the couches. Dominique looked as if she had just finished laughing at something one of them had said. He had never really hung out with this group of the family. These were Lily's particular friends, he knew that much. They were a bit on the eccentric side, and there always seemed to be laughter wherever they went.

As he made his way over to them, he looked to see if Lily was with them. He hadn't noticed her anywhere in the room or in his trek through the house and he was somewhat worried that she was not here. He decided not to think too hard on the ramifications of his concern.

"Looking for someone?" One of the Scamander twins asked when he reached them. He couldn't tell which one it was though for he had never taken the time to get to know them. Dominique let out a small giggle and eyed Scorpius with arch humor. Molly just grinned at his obvious discomfort.

Scorpius eyed them warily before he answered. "Not really." The dubious look he received from the four of them told him that they did not believe him at all.

There was an awkward tension that overtook the group for a moment before Molly piped up, "Soooo, Scorpius…," She glanced at her companions with a sly smile and Scorpius just knew that he would not like what was coming. "We were just talking about this interesting rumor that we overheard about you. Would you mind telling us if there is any truth to it? We would so hate to be misinformed."

Not knowing or liking where this was going, he replied, "I will do what I can to ease your minds and set the rumors straight."

One of the Scamander twins snorted, the other grinned wickedly and Dominique let out another giggle.

Molly waved a hand at the sofa behind them and offered him a seat before she began. "The whole house is a buzz with it," she said without preamble. "Apparently Rose is pregnant with your child and when you found out that she was, you broke it off with her. And now you're trying to get together with Lily. Which by the way, if you are, well… Good luck with that."

Scorpius paled at her words. He was stunned at the revelation, though he figured it could be possible for Rose to be pregnant, there was no way that it could possibly be his child. But then the rest of it was even more troubling because he had honestly know idea what to think about Lily. He knew he was attracted to her. He even liked her. But he didn't know her and she was just a tad bit on the weird side. And then there was the whole 'dream' episode that they shared. That dream was in a whole new world of weird.

Before Scorpius could form a response a voice behind them said, "Molly. You shouldn't spread rumors, especially if there isn't any truth to them."

They all turned to see James standing there giving them a significant look. "But James," Molly whined in protest, "how are we to know the truth if we don't seek it out? That's why we asked him."

"Besides," Dominique interceded, "there has to be some bit of truth to it. Otherwise it wouldn't hold any sway with the adults. And," she added devilishly, "they are all in a grand uproar over it! Well, at least Uncle Ron is."

Scorpius groaned. There were looks of sympathy all around but they were over shadowed by the mirth that he could see in their eyes as well.

"So. Is it true?" Molly continued while eyeing him.

"I don't know anything about any of it," he replied. "I would think that she would at least have the decency to mention such a thing to me if she was."

One of the Scamander twins snorted in response, the other muttered, "yeah right." James rolled his eyes, and Molly laughed outright.

Dominique smiled softly though, and he felt as if he might have someone on his side. Then she opened her mouth. "You give her far more credit than she deserves, Scorpius. Then again, she has always had you wrapped around her little finger, hasn't she?"

Scorpius sputtered at her. "OI!"

A/N: I don't even know where I'm going with this anymore. I've been sitting on this chapter for a while. (Sorry 'bout that). I still love you guys though, and I haven't forgot you guys. I'm just going to keep going with this and hope it lives up to your expectations.