Chapter 1 has been rewritten if u guys r curious! ( I do not plan to rewrite any other chapters and the rewrite only polishes it up- no major changes)

Chapter 37: Family Reunion

I didn't know how to will myself to look at any of them, and I knew they didn't know how to look at me either. But Albus squeezed my hand and once again he was fueling my courage. I slowly lifted my head to meet my family's gaze.

No one moved, but I think that was all right. Scorpius was standing in between them and for the first time in five years I truly looked at him. He was so much like my father, the same blond hair that father used to have, the same intense grey eyes, squared chin and slender form. I had never bothered to compare them before, knowing their personalities seemed so different to me.

Was that what father saw of mother in me? The same black hair, same violet eyes and facial structure. He saw how much I looked like her, but I knew he saw our differences.

"Lise." The silence broke and my mother rushed forward. I felt her arms awkwardly wrap around me. I ignored the difference of it from hugs from the Potters; I only focused on the fact that finally it was my own mother who was holding me tight.

A drip fell on my shoulder and I noticed she was crying. My stone of a mother was crying. Dad saw and rested his hand on her shoulder smiling. Maybe just a show of emotion was what he had been waiting for all these years.

"I missed you mum." I wrapped my arms around her in return and saw a glimmer of a smile out of the corner of my eye. The scene seemed to please Albus and he exited the room swiftly before I could call him back.

Her arms slipped away as dad moved her to the couch and I made eye contact with my brother for the first time. He smiled lightly as he looked at me with a gaze I hadn't seen in five years. "Glad you got out of there alive."

"Glad I am too." I didn't know how to ask about him, or the him I heard in Albus's story. I watched his eyes shift towards the window and wondered what he was thinking about. Did he really feel sorry for everything? And, even though Albus had thought he was keeping it from me and that I didn't notice, I wondered if he was thinking about Rose.

I turned to view my parents again, smiling at the look of them simply holding the other's hand and mum leaning against dad. She was waking up, remembering the girl dad always talks about. It only took me almost dying to make it happen.

Was the look in her eyes a look of apology for my childhood, for the fact that I never really had a mother to run to? I wanted her to say it, say she was sorry, but I was expecting too much. Apologizing was below the dignity of a Malfoy.

"So, you and the Potter boy, huh?" I almost laughed at the first sentence my father spoke to me since I woke. Mother silently rose and nudged Scorpius to leave the room with her.

"His name is Albus." I watched my father sigh as I crossed my arms over my chest.

"But he's Potter's boy. I can't trust him."

"I think it only matters that I can." Father laughed and I saw his eyes roll once.

"Just like your mother. Stubborn and someone I have no influence over anymore. Ease this old man's heart for me, how far do you think this will go?" He leaned forward and I looked directly into his eyes.

"As far as we want it to." He winced at my extra emphasis on we. I knew that in that moment he saw no chance of is little girl always being his. Not that he would have usually cared anyways. "You said in the garden at Hogwarts that you weren't going to complain. You said you knew we were a pair."

Father completely lost eye contact with me now as he stared over my shoulder out the window. "I said I wouldn't get involved if Potter didn't."

"And Mr. Potter hasn't. He seemed perfectly fine with it this morning." Father said nothing so I only kept on speaking. "I would think his blood was pure enough for you."

"I don't care about blood-status anymore." His voice was gruff and harsh as he eyed me once again.

"I don't believe that." Father only looked at me intently waiting for more, but I said nothing.

"Lise dear, sorry to interrupt." I turned towards the room's doors to see Mrs. Potter entering the room. "I have your wand. I'm sorry I forgot to give it to you this morning."

I smiled as she held out the wood piece. I hadn't even known I was missing it since I woke. She handed it to me and right away I felt the connection I had always taken for granted. You can't once you are without it.

She glanced quickly at my father who was still holding a vacant expression. I knew Mrs. Potter sensed the room's tension and silently slipped away, knowing it wasn't the place for her.

We stared at each other in silence. "Perhaps you should go speak to your mother."

I laughed as I turned from the room. "I'll speak to mother, but not about Albus. If you cared about it you wouldn't be avoiding the subject." Before he could answer I left the room, walking slowly to avoid pressure on my leg, to find my mother and brother.

They were sitting in the kitchen talking. I stopped at the doorway and just watched them for a moment. They were simply chatting, I had never seen my mother chat with anyone. Were things truly changing now?

"Mum?" She looked up from the table and her eyes were glistening. "Are you alright?"

"In a week I lost my daughter, realized how horrible of a mother I was too her, got her back half dead and now don't even know what to say? And you ask me if I'm alright?" Her face looked serious, but I couldn't believe her words.

"That's all you need to say." She nodded once then shifted her eyes back to the table. I silently turned from the room and hobbled back to the kitchen. Standing this long was not something I was ready for yet.

Were things changing? Yes, but not enough to make it a story book ending.

"How was it?" Albus grabbed my hand before I even saw him there and lowered me into a chair.

"Not any yelling surprisingly. Apparently getting kidnapped doesn't have any possible connection to it being my fault." Albus laughed, taking an apple from the basket in the middle of the table.

"Eat this. You need something in your stomach." I shook my head and closed my eyes.

"I'm not hungry, I really just want to relax." Albus laughed as I opened my eyes once more. He rose from his chair and walked to the cupboards.

"Mum did say something healthy but I guess muggle junk is better then no food. What do you want? Chips, pretzels, popcorn, goldfish…"

"Goldfish? Who would eat a goldfish? There is hardly any meat on them!" I knew he was trying to stifle back a laugh as he pulled out an orange and white box.

"They are just cheesy crackers in the shape of a fish." I laughed at that as he handed my the box. "Now hurry up and eat or you won't have anything to vomit up from all the hugging that will happen once grandmum and aunt Hermione get here."

"That's just gross." I popped one of the small cheese fish in my mouth. It tasted pretty good.

"I'm a boy. Don't girls think all boys are gross?" I laughed as he scooped me in his arms to go back upstairs.

"Not all boys." Albus smiled and kissed my lips softly.

"Lets hope I fall into the category of not."

Hmmm.. I debating one or two more chapters… let me know what you think in the review!