'Who's that?' Ebele asked.

Lily turned around to see what Ebele was staring at. Lysander stood at the very far end of the room staring silently back at her with round eyes.

'Oh that's right' Lily suddenly remembered. 'You haven't met Lysander'

Ebele cocked her head to the side questioningly.

'Ebele this is Lysander, Lysander this is Ebele' Lily looked from one to the other.

Ebele was watching him with a certain amount of skepticism in her features. Lysander on the other hand, remained frozen still and wide-eyed as though he had just discovered a new type of magical creature.

'Lysander is my best friend' Lily added, trying to ease Ebele's obvious discomfort.

'What happened to the girl who makes you angry enough to perform magic well?' Ebele asked pointedly.

'Poppy's running late' Lily told her. She checked her pocket watch. It was almost half an hour past the time they had agreed to meet. She had seen Poppy earlier in the day singing with the band of vampires at the three broomsticks, so she couldn't understand how she could have forgotten. In any case, there was no use waiting when they only had a limited amount of floo powder at their disposal.

'I need to know- about the resurrection stone-' Lily began hurriedly. But Ebele seemed to have been expecting the question.

'It was a fake, just as you suspected' she confirmed. 'It's being all kept a secret though, which is why I wasn't able to let you know in our letters'

Lily let out a sigh. The news wasn't surprising but it was still disheartening to hear that Raleigh had succeeded at at least one of his evil schemes.

'I sort of assumed as much from my father's reaction when I hinted at it…' Lily mumbled, thinking back on how surprised Harry had been to hear her mention Babajide Akingbade.

'People would panic if they knew that the resurrection stone had fallen into the hands of a criminal' Ebele said. 'Nobody even knew my father had it except those on the International Confederation of Wizards'

'So then somebody on that council must be an Anguis- or at least feeding them information' Scorpius remarked gravely.

'My father seems to think so' Ebele agreed.

'Well that's not good' Lily sighed again. She had been so wrapped up in the task of trying to expose Raleigh for so long that she hadn't had the headspace to even begin considering how far-reaching the Anguis's influence might be.

'There is some good news though' Ebele's tone brightened. 'The confederation were able to track down a lead- a goblin who said he had been threatened by a wizard claiming to be an Anguis'

Lily's eyes widened. Finally, after months of nothing, here was a hint that might help her locate and finally stop Raleigh.

'He said he'd been held captive and interrogated about the whereabouts of someone- or something- called 'Luesmorter'' Ebele told them.

'Luesmorter?' Lily responded with a frown. 'That sounds like Noirmorter...is it some kind of curse?'

'That's one theory' Ebele nodded. 'But whatever it was the goblin had no idea. And neither, apparently, does anyone in the confederation including my father. He's been trying to find out for months. The only reason I know about any of this is that he's been so focused on figuring it out that he's been muttering about it during family dinners'

'Luesmorter...' Scorpius said softly. Lily turned to look over at him.

'I feel like I've heard that somewhere before...' he told her. His brows furrowed as he wracked his brains in search of the right memory.

'Really?' Ebele's voice rose. 'You'd be the first person to have any clue then. My father has been having meetings with healers from all over the world and nobody seems to know a thing'

'But I can't remember where...' Scorpius put a hand to his forehead and glared at the ground in front of him as though trying to find the answer in the groves of the old wooden floorboards. 'Maybe I'm mistaken. If no one else knows how could I?'

Lily let out the breath she had been holding.

'In any case, now that you've told us we can keep an ear out for it' she said resolutely. Then she turned back to look at Ebele with an apologetic expression.

'Unfortunately I've no news for you, my father keeps his office much better protected nowadays. I've heard absolutely nothing about whether or not the Ministry has any leads on Raleigh's whereabouts'

'That is a shame...' Ebele wasn't one to hide her feelings and so the disappointment was obvious on her features. But she quickly let her mouth slip back into her usual toothy-grin.

'It's good to finally get to talk to you face to face though. You've no idea how hard it's been to stop myself from writing everything I've wanted to tell you in a letter!'

'We ought to have done this sooner' Lily agreed emphatically. 'The more information we can share the better.'

Ebele wanted to know every detail of how Raleigh had gotten away and Lily was happy to oblige. There was plenty of information that hadn't been printed in the prophet; things she hadn't even told her father. Lily told her everything.

When finally they ran out of information to swap about Raleigh and the floo powder stash began to thin, they agreed to call it a night with the promise that they would speak again soon.

Once Ebele's face had flickered away and the fire was reduced to ashes, Lily turned around to see Lysander still sitting quietly at the back of the room. He continued to look past her, his eyes locked onto the pile of smoking ashes.

'You didn't say a word' Lily pointed out. She watched him quizzically.

Lysander's round eyes fluttered over to her as though he had only just remembered that she was there.

'Didn't I?' he commented dreamily. He got slowly to his feet and stumbled over to the trap door as though in a daze.

'Lysander?' Lily called out to him. He already had the trap door open and one leg down it.

'Can I talk to you for a moment?'

Lily jumped at the sound of Scorpius's voice low in her ear. He was standing beside her, watching her with a serious expression.

'Good night!' Lysander called out before leaping down into the dark tunnel and out of sight. Lily was surprised by his uncharacteristic ability to read the room.

'Night' Lily mumbled back. Everything had gone quiet.

She turned to look at Scorpius.

'What's up?' she did her best to sound light but in truth she was worried. Scorpius had always been difficult to read, but something told her there was more emotion than usual behind his marble expression today.

He continued to watch her as though waiting for her to speak. Lily knew he was waiting for a better explanation for why he had found her crying in Lysander's arms than the one she had given him earlier. But as she didn't want to provide one, she pretended not to have realized.

'What happened?' Scorpius asked finally, breaking the long silence.

'What happened whe-?' Lily began to say, feigning innocence. But Scorpius wasn't buying it.

'What happened just now when you were hugging Lysander?' He interrupted her briskly. There was a hardness in his tone that caused Lily to blink back at him in surprise.

'Nothing' she said quickly. 'Lysander was just comforting me- we weren't- I mean it's not like there was anything more to it-'

'I know that' Scorpius said. He was looking her directly in the eyes, unblinking.

'It's just that I thought that if you were feeling stressed or overwhelmed, I would be the one that you would lean on'

'You are' Lily said emphatically. She closed the space between them and put her hands on his chest. 'Of course you are. Lysander just happened to be there when I was having a moment'

Scorpius nodded thoughtfully, avoiding her gaze. He didn't appear entirely convinced. Lily took his hand and appealed to him with earnest eyes.

'You don't want me to hug Lysander?'

'No, that's not what I meant- of course not' Scorpius said with a sigh. 'I'm just saying that if there's something wrong, I want you to tell me'

Lily felt her throat suddenly tighten. She nodded faintly in reply, not meeting his eyes. Scorpius moved towards her and pulled her into a hesitant hug. He ran his fingers gently up and down her back soothingly.

Lily allowed herself to fall forwards against him, sighing into his shoulder.

'Are your OWLs really worrying you that much?' Scorpius asked gently. Lily remained silent. She didn't want to lie to Scorpius any more than she had to. Instead she tightened her grip around his torso in response. Scorpius squeezed her back.

'You'll be fine you know. You're brilliant. You're the Winner of the Wand, remember? The Hero of Hogwarts. The Queen of… Quidditch?'

Lily's face broke into a grin and she snorted.

'The Quaffle' she corrected him.

'Ah yes, that thing, whatever it is' Scorpius smirked, feigning ignorance.

Lily shifted back out of his arms a little so that she could shake her head at him.

'I guess Poppy was right; book smarts really aren't everything' she remarked.

By the time she had made it all the way up the many flights of stairs to the Portrait of the Fat Lady, Lily was feeling emotionally exhausted. Talking with Scorpius and feeling his embrace usually had the opposite effect on her; normally she would have felt calm and completely at ease. Instead she felt guilty about having lied to him, worried about how he had reacted to seeing her crying in somebody else's arms and disgusted at the memory of what Carrow had done to her.

She was longing for the soft mattress that awaited her upstairs in her dormitory as she gave the password to the Fat Lady and crawled through the portrait hole. It was late, so the common room was pitch black as she crossed it in lazy strides. Then suddenly, Lily was pulled out of her drowsy state by a muffled thud.

Her eyes flew upwards to see a tall shadow moving across the bookshelf at the far end of the room. Lily raised her palms instinctively, her heart beating fast as her eyes adjusted to the darkness. A few seconds had ticked by when she realized with a start that the shadow was the back of a man wearing a dark cloak. He had his arms raised, his palms flat against the bookshelf holding back a pair pale of wrists.

'Incendio!' Lily screamed. An enormous fireball, far larger than the one she had been intending to produce, streamed out of her palms and flew towards the man. He jerked backwards just as it approached, pulling the person he had trapped out of harms way with him. Lily saw a flash of silky blond hair before she heard Poppy's angry voice.

'Why are you always trying to set me on fire you crazy witch?'

Lily's mouth dropped open. Poppy stood gaping incredulously at her from the other side of the room, her wrists still in the clasp of the cloaked man. The bookshelf beside them was now an ashen mess.

'Get off her!' Lily demanded angrily. She darted forward through the smoke so that she could get a better view of the pair in front of her.

But as the man came into view, Lily stopped dead in her tracks. Long ice-white hair framed the pale, pointed face of Nicolas Malfoy.

'What in the name of Godric Gryffindor are you doing?' Lily cried. She looked from Poppy to Nicolas and back again with a horrified expression. Then a terrible realization dawned on her and she looked over at Poppy and gasped.

'Was he trying to suck your blood?'

Poppy tutted loudly. She twisted her hands out of Nicolas's grip so that she could put them on her hips.

'We were snogging Potter! Before you interrupted anyway'

Lily's mouth dropped open again. Somehow she was filled with even more outrage than before.

'WHAT?'

Nicolas cleared his throat and flashed Lily a charming smile. Lily responded with a glare.

'Get out. Right now. Get out' she ordered him. Nicolas's face fell.

'Excuse me?' Poppy scoffed. 'I thought your name was Lily Potter, not Lily Party Pooper'

'Poppy' Lily seethed at her through clenched teeth. 'He's like, really old! Like, really, really, really old!'

Poppy folded her arms and shrugged. Nicolas put his palms up in front of him in defense.

'Technically I haven't aged a d-'

'He's also Scorpius's great, great, great, great, great uncle!' Lily yelled in frustration at Poppy, ignoring him completely.

'That's far too many 'greats' and we've agreed on the term 'cousin'' Nicolas countered.

Lily refused to look at him. Instead she stood facing Poppy and folded her arms right back at her.

'Oh heaven forbid anyone but Lily Potter get to have a scandalous romance' Poppy cried mockingly.

'That's not what this is about!' Lily growled.

'Isn't it?' Poppy shot back. 'Because I would have thought that you of all people would understand-'

'HE'S A VAMPIRE!' Lily threw her arms open again in frustration.

'Oh, is that what that pointy thing I felt with my tongue was?' Poppy turned to Nicolas and winked.

Lily made a disgusted gagging noise before marching quickly up to Poppy and grabbing her by the arm.

'We're going to bed' she announced.

'All of us?' Poppy teased.

'He's leaving!' Lily was not amused.

'I'm shocked you know' Poppy muttered sulkily as Lily dragged her towards the stairs. 'I didn't think you were one for prejudice'

Lily groaned.

'I'm not prejudice Poppy, I just don't want you to end up with holes in your neck okay?'

'You think I'm going to drink her blood?' Nicolas called out indignantly from where he still stood behind them. 'I've been a vampire for centuries, I know how to control my urges Potter!'

Lily turned around to fix him with a withering look.

'Coming from someone who snuck into a school dormitory to snog a girl about one hundred years younger than you, that's not entirely convincing!'

It seemed the only response the vampire could come up with was an resentful 'hmph!'. He folded his arms and frowned before transforming in the blink of an eye into a bat and fluttering out the window.

Poppy watched him disappear into the night sky with a sullen expression.

'Have I ever told you how much of a killjoy you can be?' she asked Lily flatly.

'Goodnight to you too' Lily muttered, tramping up the stairs ahead of her.

A/N: Sorrrry again for leaving it so long between updates! I felt super bad this time because so many people thought something bad had happened to Poppy lol. It's okay, she was just enjoying her teenage years...