Scorpius was surprised to find the Potter house empty the next day when he flooed in. Lily had always greeted him in the kitchen when he arrived, and even Ginny could be usually found in her office that was on the other side of the kitchen.
"Hello?" he called out, a sense of worry ebbing within him. He began walking around; expecting to find someone or something out of place, but everything seemed normal except for the fact that no one was there.
Taking the steps two at a time, he rushed up to Lily's bedroom. She had been so tired lately that it wouldn't have surprised him if she had fallen asleep.
"Reds?" he asked opening her bedroom door. The room looked exactly the same as he had left it the day before.
Prior to arriving at the Potter's, Scorpius had spent his day preparing for his date that night with Lily. He had been able to get reservations at the restaurant he conjured up in the room of requirement, and was going to treat Lily to a weekend in Paris. He had purchased a few dresses for the trip that he thought she would love, and was excited to present her with them. His birthday was only a few days away, and he wanted to take Lily on a whirlwind trip as a gift to himself.
He heard a noise down stairs, and turning on his heel he ran to see what it was. Expecting to find Ginny walking into the house, he instead saw an agitated owl flapping at the window.
"Hold on a second, buddy!" he said reaching over to open the window and let him in. The daily prophet was attached to its leg. This struck Scorpius as odd, the prophet was always delivered first thing in the morning, and it was well past midday.
The owl nipped at his fingers, annoyed at having been kept and flew off. Scorpius unfolded the paper and his eyes flew open wide at the title.
LILY POTTER: ARRESTED
There was a picture of Lily in golden cuffs entering the ministry. She looked terrified and confused. Scorpius' heart growled, how had this happened. He quickly skimmed the article for explanation, but it was more gossip than fact.
Without another moment of hesitation, Scorpius flooed to the ministry, ready to take whatever action he had to to get her out.
Stepping into the lobby of the ministry, he was shocked at how large it was. It never dawned on him that he hadn't been inside of it before, but when would he have?
Scorpius felt the beast inside him grow ready to take action. He tried to calm himself, to think logically. Letting the curse win would not be the right way to get her out, by he could feel it overpowering him.
"May I help you?" a petite witch asked. Scorpius' cursed charm was emanating from him, giving the witch the courage to come over.
"Department of Magical Law Enforcement?" he asked in his most authoritative tone.
"Right this way, sir," the witch replied and started heading to a bank of elevators.
"Which floor?" he asked as the elevator doors opened, he could tell she was planning to take him the whole way.
"3b," she responded dejectedly. He pressed the button and let the door close. He could feel his heart racing, and it took him by surprise. In instances like this before, he had never felt nervous or worried, but that was exactly how he felt now.
When the doors opened, people were rushing up and down the hallway. Something was clearly a miss. Looking left and right he found the door to Harry's office, and pushed through the crowd of people.
"Where is she?" he said, and anger radiated from his body. Harry, Albus and James were bent over looking through law books and parchment, clearly not expecting Scorpius Malfoy to burst through the door.
"You!" Albus said angrily, pointing his hand at Scorpius.
"I'll only ask once more. Where. Is. Lily?" the Potter's were taken aback at the visceral tone of Scorpius voice, he practically growled.
"At least she's safe from you," James replied, scathingly.
Scorpius clenched his wand. He didn't want to bring it up, but that required him to resist every instinct in his body. Instead, angry red sparks emitted from its tip.
James didn't know what overcame him. Before anyone realized what he was doing he launched himself at Scorpius, attempting to tackle him to the ground. But Scorpious was much stronger than he had anticipated, and James instead decided to try an elbow to the eye.
The pain reeled through Scorpius, adding flames to the fire burning inside his chest.
"I could snap you in two," Scorpius threatened. At this Albus launched himself into the fray, trying to help his brother. Harry yelled stupefy, but without a word Scorpius was able to reflect the curse back on Harry.
"Enough," he said, and with one giant shake he flung both boys off of him. Eloise Goyle came flying into the room hearing all the commotion.
"My Lord," she said almost bowing her head in respect. Scorpius was too enraged to even process let alone question what she was saying.
"Where is Lily Potter?" he demanded and the witch, still with her head down beckoned him to follow. She walked quickly through the hallway, Scorpius practically outpacing her with every step.
"We've waited so long for you, my lord," the witch said in hushed tones.
"What are you talking about?" Scorpius replied angrily, Lily was the only thing on his mind. He saw a sign above the nearest door that said "Holding Cell".
"Our Dark Prince." Her words made him stop dead in his track.
"What did you call me?" his wand was at her throat, and by her reaction he could tell it was not what she expected.
"Our Dark Prince. Your time has come to rise," she said, eagerly.
"Stupefy," Scorpius chanted and the witch flew back slightly, passing out. What was going on?
Without waiting another second he pushed his way through the door to the holding cell. A short stubby wizard who was sitting at a desk jumped up when Scorpius entered.
"My lord," he said and bowed deeply. Without a thought Scorpius stupefied him. The wizard's body was flung against a wall, and slid down to the ground.
"Scorpius," Lily's weak voice said. He turned around to see Lily pushing herself up off the bed. Her appearance was worrisome.
"Lily," he shouted and rushed the cell. Both their faces were up against the bars, their lips crashed against each other.
"We should've run away when we had the chance," Lily said, somewhat remorsefully. Maybe this wouldn't have happened if they had.
"What happened? Why are you here?"
Lily was grasping onto the bars of the cell for strength, she was finding it hard to stand. She could feel everything slowing down; her heartbeat becoming less steady, her breaths shallow.
"They think I hurt Connor," she said weakly, but that's was beside the point now that he was here. "Scorp," she began but he cut her off.
"Let me get you out of here," he said pulling out his wand and pointing it at the lock on the cell door.
Reluctantly Lily let go, wobbling as she took a step back. The door to the cell blasted open, and Lily fell into Scorpius' arms.
With the last bits of strength she stood on her tiptoes wrapping her arms around his neck. She started kissing him as passionately as she could muster. This wasn't how she wanted it to end, how she wanted to say goodbye. She realized, though, that this is all they would have.
Lily parted her lips just far enough apart that she could whisper.
"I've known, and I wouldn't change a thing." She watched a look of confusion come over Scorpius', but before he could process her words and search her eyes for meaning she was kissing him again.
Lily could've stayed pressed up against him till her last breath, but the guard began to come to, grunting as he struggled to get up.
"We need to get out of here," Scorpius said urgently and grabbed her hand. He didn't process how cold it was.
Lily was to weak to speak, but squeezed his hand in assent.
Scorpius pushed the door open and started walking quickly, barely realizing that Lily was tripping over her feet in effort to keep up with him. He let his senses take over, evading the busy hallways he had encountered on his way to her. He didn't want to run into Harry and his sons right now, or anyone else from the ministry. He was technically breaking her out of jail.
Scorpius breathed a sigh of relief as they made it up the elevators and through the lobby of the ministry. But it was only to be short lived.
"Stop them!" Lily and Scorpius heard someone yell. Despite the Ministry lobby being packed the voice echoed off the walls.
Without turning around Scorpius and Lily began running, pushing past the confused witches and wizards who stood there dumbfounded at the situation. No one did anything to stop them.
Scorpius reached the door and slammed it open with his arm, the fresh air blowing on his face.
"Come on!" he said, practically pushing Lily in front of him to make sure no one was following them. Lily began to race down the stairs of entrance as best she could, but she was truly out of breath.
She felt Scorpius' hand on the small of her back, urging her to take another step, their eyes connected for a second and she smiled at him. She couldn't help but feel tears begin to well in her eyes.
Before he could ask why, a jet of red light came flying past their heads, just missing him. He turned around to face its caster head on.
Lily knew it was now or never. Better to slink away like an animal who knew it hasn't got long then to go right in front of everyone. She began to limp for the side of the building, trying to get as far away as possible as quickly as she could. Rounding the corner she turned to look at Scorpius one final time. His back was to her now, furiously casting spells at wizards she couldn't see.
This was it she could feel it. Her legs gave out and she fell to the ground, her knee scraping the pavement. Using her last bits of strength she pulled herself out of sight, allowing her back to rest against the wall of the ministry. She took a shaky breath, gulping down whatever air she could.
She wasn't in pain, though she had expected to be so. Instead, she just felt energy draining from her. Darkness began to take hold of her sight, the buildings around her fading. She took a shaky breath. So this was it?
Her heart gave one last thump, and she smiled. He was cured.
When Scorpius realized that the caster of the spell had been Albus, he turned on him with a vengeance.
The stupid Potter men, didn't they get it? Didn't they understand? He felt the beast take over him completely, it roared in anger at having been kept at bay for so long.
Scorpius began casting spells in the direction of Harry and his sons with abandon, not even sure what they were. The Potter's deflected them to the best of their ability, narrowly missing some, others just grazing them. Scorpius continued to unleash a flurry of spells on them, barely noticing that more Ministry witches and wizards appeared.
Scorpius threw his body into spell casting, blinding white rage burning through him. He felt it in every part of him, his fingers, his toes. But then he saw Harry's eyes, the sunlight hitting them at just the right angle so the flash of green – Lily's green – made him pause.
Despite his body being on fire, his heart grew calm. An image of Lily came to the forefront of his mind. Her red hair shining in the sunlight, her warm smile, her laugh. Steadily the rage that burned through him began to dissolve. He dropped his wand.
Wizards raced upon him, physically grabbing him and pinning his hands together, but a sensation of relief washed over him.
Scorpius tried to catch his breath. He couldn't explain the feeling that just occurred, but the sensation of rage was gone. The beast, which for so long lived in the deepest parts of him, was eradicated.
Scorpius felt tears in his eyes. He felt so light and so free; a feeling he didn't know existed. Where was Lily? He wanted to tell Lily. He had beaten it.
"No!" he heard someone scream. It wasn't a scream of defeat or anger, it was guttural, it was sadness from a depth he knew not existed before.
Scorpius heart dropped, and he held his breath without realizing he was. He began to press against the wizards holding him, their grips firmer than he realized.
"Let me," he struggled. "Get off," he pushed harder. What he didn't realize was that the wizards around him saw what was going on. "Lily!" he screamed. He twisted his arm free, and used his body to force himself through the crowd.
Breaking free of them he saw James stand on the corner pale as a ghost.
"No" he thought. He refused to think it. But his body moved forward in that direction. Stepping closer he saw Albus on his knees, wand splayed out beside him, jaw agape.
"No" he thought again. He felt fear rising inside of him, in his throat. His footsteps sounded heavy in his ears. He took a step and then another.
Harry was on the ground, holding his daughter in his arms. Her body was limp.
"NO!" he sobbed. He reached her and collapsed to the ground, across from Harry. "No, no, no," he began repeating over and over again. "Lily!" he cried, barley able to get out the word. He touched his hand to her face, brushing the hair out of her eyes. "Lily," he whispered. Tears flooded down his face. How could this be, what had happened.
He brought Lily's hand to his face, rubbing it against his cheek, kissing it. She was so cold, already. Minutes ago she had been fine.
"Don't touch her," James said. The words didn't register with Scorpius.
"Lily," he heaved again.
"Don't say her name," James said. Anger like he never felt before coursing through his veins, but it fell on deaf ears.
Harry's eyes left his daughter's lifeless body to look at Scorpius. If he weren't holding his only daughter's body in his arms, he would've been startled. Scorpius looked like a devastated little boy.
His face was red and splotchy, and he was sobbing loudly as a child, clutching onto Lily's hand. The gold bracelet that Lily had been wearing for months dangled around her wrist, and Harry's heart burned inside of him. Scorpius' cries for Lily sounded muted, the feeling of the wind felt far away. Lily, his Lily, his only Lily, was dead.
With his daughter firmly in his arms Harry stood, but Scorpius clung on to her hand like he was a child lost without his mother.
"Let go of her," Harry heard James practically screech, but Scorpius didn't let go.
How could this be, how could this be?
James tackled Scorpius who was already on his knees. Scorpius fingers were forced away from Lily's hand as his head hit the ground with a loud thud. He saw James laying into him, fist after fist, punch after punch, but he didn't feel it.
"Kill me," he whispered. If there was no Lily, there was no life left for him. "Kill me," he said louder. He watched as James pulled his fist up one more time and punched him square in the face. He thought of Lily as everything went black.
A/N: Ahhh! I know, I feel that way to and I know what's coming next! As I have finished writing this story, I'm working as quickly as possible to get it posted for you lovely readers. But as you read, tell me what you think!