A/N: Hiya- two more chapters for the end. Sad, sad, but now everyone can truly speculate on what you think the ending is going to look like. As for Scorpius and Narcissa and the whole inheritance/Life Debt issue- that get covers next chapter, as well as everything Albus believes to be true and is convincing you to be true. There are *two* confrontations that have been simmering since forever to answer a review. To answer another in the end all the characters realize their folly, not just Scorpius, but it doesn't stop them at all. They all want to win, but they don't even know what they're fighting about anymore.

Enjoy!

Chapter 25:

Albus had learned once in Muggle Studies that the Muggle Aurors, the police, set fires on purpose occasionally. It was said to be good for the forest, it removed the dead bush and shrubbery and allowed the healthy new plant life to grow in come springtime. When Albus had heard this he had thought that the Muggles were mad- setting fires and destroying things in order to clear space for fresh blooms, but then Albus had realized that Muggles didn't have the spells or the charm work necessary to do something like make a tent bigger or to save a dying bloom, as Professor Longbottom had. Muggles recognized that in order to move forward in life sometimes destruction was the only option to open one's eyes; sometimes it was the only way to clear a path in a space that was still full of life.

Or that had seemed that way.

No one knew who had set the fiendfyre to the Burrow, and if they could figure it out, like Lily, they weren't speaking on the topic. Albus had had a lot of time to think in the past year- about himself, his hasty marriage to Scorpius Malfoy, and his obsession with his best mate. For it had been an obsession, more than anything else- Albus had taken all the loyalty of a Hufflepuff and transmuted it into something strange and dark and unhealthy; something that had no longer resembled love but the desire to consume another person at any earthly cost.

In a lot of ways, Albus blamed himself for using Scorpius as much as the Malfoys, Louis, and Scorpius himself, who had allowed himself to be led by loyalty. Albus didn't know what had gone on between Scor and Louis and perhaps he never would; in the beginning all he had wanted was an explanation from Scorpius but after they had filed their divorce proceedings Albus had cried for three days straight and realized he didn't want an explanation- he wanted Scorpius to leave Louis and come back to him. Which was never going to happen. .

What Albus really needed to do was focus on was healing his relationships with his family. Albus had expected them to hate him, or to tell him I told you so until they were blue in the face, but it hadn't happened that way. Mum had come up to his room the night after the fire, and when she had seen Albus crying she had touched his hand.

"We've all been daft in one way or another," Mum said softly, stroking his hair. "You're still my baby, and I don't want you to cry- I just knew that Scorpius Malfoy wasn't for you. That was just experience talking, love. Getting your heart broken does that for you."

"I'm sorry, Mummy," Albus sobbed even harder. All these years he had mocked her to himself, at the same rate he'd loved her, without thinking of her as a real person with real feelings that could be as easily hurt as his own. Albus was stupid and he didn't deserve his family- not in the slightest.

"There now," Mum choked out, pulling Albus into a hug. "You'll be fine, fine. I'm going to bring you in some warm milk and some Dreamless Sleep. Rest, alright?"

"Yeah," Albus smiled, kissing her cheek. "I love you."

Mum had pinked a little at that.

A few days later, while the family was still rebuilding the foundation of the house; which thanks to Uncle George and Dad's donations was going to be larger than ever, Jamie pulled Albus aside.

"Hugo and I are going to have a few drinks at Uncle Ron and Aunt Hermione's if you want to pass by," he offered.

"You never asked me before," Albus said, resisting the urge to cross his arms and look for the prank in his brother's invitation- Aunt Hermione's house being empty or a bunch of go-go dancers hired from the new gay club off Knockturn there to greet him. Jamie had always been vicious when attacked.

"You've never been around this much before to be worth asking," Jamie countered, rolling his eyes. "Don't be a shit, Al. You know you love us."

Albus found himself smiling. Yes, Jamie was vicious when he was attacked- but he never was cruel to anyone when they were down, it wasn't the Gryffindor way.

Hanging about with Jamie and Hugo was fun, but it also made Albus feel a bit sad for the things he had missed out on in school. Albus had never made any friends in any other houses as so many other students had at Hogwarts, nor had he really ever hung out with his siblings except for occasional chats with Lily during the years. Instead Albus had had many good times with Scorpius, which were now bittersweet, and with Declan and Zims, with whom he had fallen out after he and Scorpius had left Hogwarts so suddenly. Albus wondered if Scor kept in touch with them, and the thought pained him- firstly because he hadn't a clue where or how Scorpius was doing right now and secondly, because he could say the same for his two other childhood friends.

Repairing his relationship with Lily was the easiest and the hardest to do. Knowing that Lily had known everything about his and Scorpius' relationship from the beginning made Albus feel suddenly very weary around the person he had once thought of as one of his greatest confidants. But at the same time he couldn't fault Lily her amazing and miraculous gift, any more than he could fault Scorpius being part-creature. Albus winced. Everything in his life seemed to come back to Scorpius- even trying to escape that cycle and relate back to his family led him back to where he started in the twists and turns in his mind.

Predictably, right when Albus was going to look for Lily, she found him. Lily sat down on his bed. It was so hard for Albus to see her as a grown woman; beautiful and ginger haired- would men treat her differently because she could see their life stories? Albus felt horribly protective over her.

"Don't worry about me," Lily smiled softly, taking Albus' hand. "I'll be alright. Worry about yourself; and Dad- Jamie is going to have takeaway tonight and stink up the bathroom."

Albus laughed hysterically. "Can you really See all that?" Lily shrugged. "Some of it is intuition and some of it's a gift. If you pay attention, Jamie has racid takeaway nearly every Friday. I didn't mean to See your life, though, Albus- that was before I was in control of my gift. I should have kept looking once I had seen a bit; I've no excuse for what I did except for the fact that my life is horribly boring and I was nosy. If I hurt you, I'm sorry for it."

"I didn't believe you," Albus said, patting her hand. "Are you looking anymore?"

"No," Lily laughed, crossing her arms in front of herself, as though to absolve herself from that crime. "Dad's having me work with the Hit Wizards on some missing wizard's cases- I think I'll put my gift to good use from now on, instead being a noisy old Ravenclaw."

"Oh," Albus said, trying to hold back the note of disappointment from his voice.

Magic had raised the Burrow in the beginning and now in the end, magic had brought it back to life. It would have taken a few months with the help of the architects if it hadn't been for the fact that everyone besides Jamie, Albus, Lily and Rose all worked or were still in school, as in Hugo's sake. Uncle George and Aunt Hermione; who was head of the Unspeakables, were the most able to take time off from their jobs and help Mum out, with everyone else coming in shifts, in and out around the clock with the hired crews.

Albus thought that bringing the Burrow back had probably also brought their family back as well- there was no time for Mum and Dad to row when they were also severing 2x4's to hand to the construction crews. Albus and Rose couldn't renew their old deep-seated dislike for each other while they helped Gran carry lightened buckets of paint up the new stairways. In fact some people actually found that they liked each other; Albus and Hugo bonded over a love of the Magic after Midnight wireless program and flamin' hot crisps; and Lily and Rose bonded over some hairstyle that Lily was able to perfect but Rose couldn't, owing to her curly hair.

The Burrow was actually much nicer than before- the bloke that Dad had hired for architect had made the sitting room and kitchen larger, as well as adding an extra floor of bedrooms so that Gran could have more grandchildren and great-grandchildren (which she was eagerly awaiting having) over all at once. Granddad's shed had been made into an actual Muggle garage, an item which had sent him into a frenzy of excitement over; and even Professor Longbottom had taken a day off from school to plant some blooms in the front and back gardens.

Which had brought them up to Yule. Gran had hung holly while crying gently and listening to her new wireless, a gift from Albus' cousin Molly. Mum, Aunt Hermione and Aunty Fleur had managed for the first year to share the same kitchen without a snide remark about each other's cooking techniques, and even Dad had laid off Jamie and the job search for the evening, although he had left the Prophet open to the classifieds the night before as some sort of compromise.

This year everyone was in the same space- Dad, Uncle George, Uncle Ron and Uncle Charlie were sitting around the wireless in a complex silencing ward that Aunt Hermione had figured out but really wasn't supposed to let anyone outside the Ministry in on. Molly, Fred, and Hugo were looking at some dull book that seemed as though it should be banned after Hogwarts, and Jamie and Rose were playing exploding snap- still eleven, even if they were adults.

"Do you want to play chess, Albus," Lily smiled. She looked lovely in last year's brown Weasley sweater, the double L's done in green.

Albus was about to say sure, if only to escape being roped in by Gran with all the setting up for the huge new table when Aunt Fleur swept into the room.

"'as anyone seen your Uncle Bill yet? 'e was supposed to get back from zhe Ministry a 'alf 'our ago."

"Don't worry, Aunty," Molly said, unlike most of the cousins, Molly actually got on well with Aunt Fleur. "The international portkeys take the longest on holidays- I'm sure they just got caught up in the crush at the Ministry. We'll let you know when they get in."

Molly turned back to the page in her book that she was showing to Hugo, but Albus was curious. No, not curious-interested. Who was Uncle Bill picking up from France if not Teddy, Victoire, Dominique, and possibly Louis and Scorpius. Albus felt his heart began to thud triple time. Could it be true? Could the family have hid that from him? And would they have? Albus sighed, looking down at the blank chess pieces, still frozen as they were not in play. Of course, Mum and Dad would have kept that news a secret from Albus; they didn't want Albus' heart to be broken anymore than it had during that terrible night when the Burrow had been burned to the ground.

If only they knew that Albus' heart was still broken.

Albus looked up. Lily was smiling at him patiently. "It won't be hard, Albus, unless you make it hard."

"What does that even mean?" Albus questioned- Did Lily know more than she was letting on? Had she seen?

Lily shrugged. "I just think you're not letting yourself get over Scorpius Malfoy, Albus; and that really isn't good. He needs to have his own life- his own choices, and his own dreams, independent of yours. And so do you. I think a part of you will always love him, Al, and that's a very good thing- but a part of you wants him, and you can not want what isn't yours- it throws the universe out of order."

"Tell that to my heart," Albus muttered, staring at the chess board.

Uncle Bill and the French party ended up coming at nine. Gran had been worried to death that they hadn't eaten, but Victoire explained that there was a mix up with the timing of the portkeys and so they had stopped off in a bistro to eat something really quickly, nothing too heavy to save space for their puddings. Victoire was there, she looked the same as ever; pretty and fair and cherry-blond, with a giant smile and hug for everyone. Victoire had loved to rough house with the boys before she had moved to France- once she had chased Fred up a tree and like a cat he had been too scared to come down. Even now her robes were too loose and her hair too wild to match her mother's smooth glamour, but unlike Aunt Fleur, Victoire always looked happy.

Teddy was with her, and Teddy was only a little changed; France had changed Teddy's clothes since Teddy could change his appearance whenever he wanted. He was wearing Muggle clothes, a jumper and a pair of jeans; they looked like they were nicer and cost more money than what Albus had gotten in an allowance in a year whilst he was at Hogwarts. Still Teddy was still the same old Gryffindor- he had a hug for everyone and a joke or two especially for Jamie; they had always been the closest, after all.

It wasn't long before Dad, Jamie and Teddy had run off together on some outing as they always had before Teddy had graduated Hogwarts and left to France. It used to make Albus a bit jealous that Jamie and Teddy could so easily grab Dad's attention, but not anymore. Tonight he knew Dad was hoping Teddy could talk some sense into Jamie about the job situation.

There they were.

Louis and Scorpius- standing in the middle of the sitting room like an island amongst the ripples of water that was Albus' family. They weren't holding hands, and they weren't talking, but once again, everything about the way they stood to the way they looked up at each other and smiled at the same moment screamed intimacy. Louis looked like he always had; Louis would never change, he was smooth and slick and awful and if he was handsome (and people told Albus that he was) Albus couldn't see it because of how horrible Louis had been to him throughout his childhood.

Scorpius on the other hand- was still Scor. Albus had wanted to believe what his family had said; that he would get over it, that time healed all wounds, that if Scorpius had cared about him, he wouldn't have married Albus whilst he was bound more deeply to Louis. But Albus didn't know. He didn't know and he didn't understand why any of this had happened or had to have happen, and so he was tangled up in a web of lust, love, hate, resentment and desire.

"Hi," Molly smiled, putting her book down. "You must be Scorpius Malfoy. Aunty Fleur has told me so much about you. How do you like living in France?"

"I love it," Scorpius smiled, and it was a genuine one-Albus should know, he was well aware of all of Scorpius' moods. "It's really amazing, Louis and I went to Paris last weekend for this rock concert- the wizarding quarter is just beyond. You should visit us sometime, we have the sweetest little house in-"

Louis tugged Scorpius' hand and tilted his head toward Albus. Molly smiled, but it was stiffer now- a little bit more contained and strained. Albus supposed that everyone knew then. The entire family. Were some people on Louis' and Aunt Fleur side and some people on Albus'? Albus didn't know. He forced himself to turn away when Teddy and Victoire came into the room and the conversation switched to rapid-fire French; Albus had no desire to watch Louis and Scorpius play the happy couple, especially around his family after everything else that had happened.

But Albus couldn't escape it. While everyone was dancing after opening their presents, Scorpius didn't dance this year as he had with Lily at Godric's Hollow. The first thing he would have done would have been to go up to Albus and say hello and find somewhere they could be alone to look at a Quidditch mag or snog or share a joke. With Louis he was serious, calm, and almost serene. Louis lifted his arm to brush a bit of hair out of his eyes, and there they were- two discrete fang marks half-way between his elbow and wrist.

Albus ran from the room.

It was cold outside. Albus had left his wand indoors, like an idiot. He should have thought of that before he had left, but he hadn't; he had just reacted like a fool. Louis and Scorpius were happy together and pretending that they weren't wasn't going to make things any easier for him. Albus looked at the garden that Professor Longbottom had helped to plant for Gran- everything was beautiful, winter flowers, and plants under stasis just waiting to bloom come spring. But Albus didn't want to see the change. He wanted the old back garden back; with its lumpy terrain. He didn't want it; he wanted life as it had been.

Inside Aunt Fleur was chatting with Scorpius and Louis, and they were laughing about something; they looked very much like a family- like a woman with her son and her son's lover, not at all like it was a strain on them to accept the situation. Mum and Dad had avoided Louis and Scor all night, and they would probably continue to- even Gran didn't know what to do, on one hand she was happy that Louis had his mate, but on the other she was upset that Albus had gone after Louis' mate and that the two of them had created such a fiasco when there wasn't meant to be one.

Albus wondered if the whole family felt that way. As though Al was an interloper on a romance, not like Albus had proper feelings for Scorpius at all. Albus balled up his fists. Inside someone had put on the romance station and everyone was dancing- even Louis and Scorpius. They were of a height and Albus thought it looked odd when they danced until Scorpius put his head on Louis' shoulder. They swayed together, wrapped in each other's arms, to the music that Albus could barely hear. Albus narrowed his eyes.

"Hello," Albus turned around. It was Victoire. She was wearing a furry cloak around her shoulders, and she had her wand out. With a wry smile, she cast a warming charm around Albus.

"Hey," Albus said, reluctantly tearing his eyes away from the scene inside.

"Don't be angry at him," Victoire said softly. "Some Veela are very possessive- I should know, right? Louis didn't want to even come back to England, but Scor wanted to see his father and grandmother, so they compromised- he doesn't want Scorpius even speaking to you during the time that they're here."

Albus looked up at Victoire, disgusted. How could Louis dictate to Scor who he could and could not speak to? And how could Scorpius just go along with it as though it was fine, no, acceptable behavior in someone he was with? Albus looked into the house- Louis and Scorpius were stuck underneath Uncle George's Merry Mischief Mistletoe and were blissfully snogging in front of the whole family, but Albus was not deceived.

Louis Weasley was a manipulative bastard and Albus was determined to free Scorpius, once and for all.