Hugs to my reviewers. This could have been better, I know.
Chapter 3
"I want to follow my dad." Lily said suddenly. Scorpius couldn't see her, but he turned to the sound of her voice.
"Why? I thought we wanted to see -"
"I want to see what my mum looks like." Lily replied simply. "And Teddy's mum."
"The room gets set on fire, though, doesn't it?" Scorpius asked her.
"Yeah, but we won't go inside." Lily told him, as though it was obvious. "We'll just wait, so I can see my mum, and Tonks, and then we'll check out the rest of the castle."
He hesitated, and she sighed.
"Alright, you wait here, or go somewhere else or something." She told him, fully aware that he wouldn't. "I'm going after my dad."
He heard her footsteps as she ran towards the stairs.
"Wait!" He hissed. "Lily - I'm coming with you -"
She stopped, which was good as he couldn't see where she was.
"Where are you?" She asked suddenly, and he followed her voice. "This is so weird..."
"Here." He replied, and jumped when her hand grabbed his arm. They ran up the stairs together, with her still clutching his arm so not to be separated. They reached the room of requirement, breathless, in time to see Harry, Ron and Hermione exit. Lily smiled when she saw them, then again when she saw her mother by a window, firing jinxes. Then she noticed the person next to her.
"Tonks." She breathed, and stepped closer. Pictures, Lily thought, couldn't capture the bright hair, the pretty face. But everyone had always said how bright and happy Tonks was...now she was unmistakably terrified, worried, nervous.
Lily was aware of people talking, but her attention was on her mother and Tonks, until Ginny spoke.
"As long as it's not any of our lot!" She said, obviously in response to what one of the other's had said, then sent a jinx out of the window.
"Good girl!" Lily turned to see a grey-haired man leading people past.
"Aberforth. Dumbledore's brother." She murmured with a smile. He called something - she barely understood - and then Tonks spoke.
"Have you seen Remus?" She was clearly desperate, and Aberforth's response caused her already pale face to drain of all colour.
"Tonks," Ginny said, "Tonks, I'm sure he's OK -"
But Teddy's mother was already running. Lily watched her, knowing she was heading to her death, and fought the urge to call out to her, to tell her to get back home to her baby.
Lily turned back to see her mother watching the others, who were walking back and forth in front of the room of requirement. When the door appeared, they ran through it.
Ginny sent another curse out of the window, then turned back to the door, biting her lip. Lily knew she was worried for the others, and was half considering going in with them.
Then the castle shook, the whole building, and Lily stumbled backwards, as did Ginny. Someone screamed, not far away, someone yelled, and Ginny hesitated, glanced back at the door.
Another scream, and Ginny ran towards it.
Barely seconds later, as if from nowhere, three figures appeared near the door to the room of requirement.
"My dad." Lily heard Scorpius murmur, and she looked at Draco Malfoy, thin, pale, and scared looking. He looked a lot like Scorpius, she mused, although right now he looked slightly ill. Scorpius watched him with fascination.
"Maybe we should just go." Draco said to Crabbe and Goyle, the slightest hint of a whine in his voice. "Join the Dark Lord. We don't need to take Potter, the Dark Lord'll find him -"
The larger boys ignored him, and entered the room. Draco followed, albeit reluctantly.
"Idiots." Lily muttered darkly. "They could have ruined everything. No offence." She added to Scorpius.
"None taken." He replied. "What now? Do you want to wait?" He didn't. He didn't want to see that boy, the weak willed, whiney boy he'd just glimpsed, exit the room. Scorpius didn't want to see the person his father had been, didn't want to think of his dad in that way.
"Do you?" Lily asked, moving to the window her mother had stood by. She could see groups of fighters in the grounds, giants, and flashes of light. People were dying out there. Scorpius hesitated, and he, too, saw a flash of green. It wasn't safe to mingle with the chaos.
"We're safer here." Scorpius replied reluctantly.
And so they waited.
----
Teddy's fifteenth birthday party. Lily was five, and tired, because the party had been going on for hours and no one was paying her any more attention. She yawned loudly, then flopped down onto a beanbag her grandma had conjured up a few hours ago. She didn't notice Scorpius Malfoy until her asked her if she was OK. He was eight.
"I'm tired." She told him.
"Go to sleep." He replied, and she shook her head. "If I fall asleep I'll miss the party."
"You look like you're gonna fall asleep anyway." He reported, to which she bit her lip lightly.
"Keep me awake." She said. It was clearly an order, and yet somehow she made it sound like an offer he couldn't refuse.
He stayed with her for ages, letting her talk for loads longer than her brothers ever did.
She was five, and she'd forget all about it in a few weeks, but, in the way only children can, she'd fallen in love with him a little bit that night.
Lily smiled as she recalled the lost memory, and spoke, pulling Scorpius out of his brooding thoughts.
"Do you remember Teddy's fifteenth birthday party?" She asked. "I didn't want to fall asleep, and you sat with me. You let me bore you to death."
Scorpius laughed a little. "I wasn't bored. I was fascinated by you. You were this cute little kid, but you had lots to say, lots of opinions."
"I still do." Lily smiled.
"I'll bet. I'd forgotten all about that night."
"Me too, until a minute ago." Lily told him. "Thanks for it, by the way."
----
They could feel the heat emitting from the room, and both kept to the side, aware the people inside would be exiting, soon. Sure enough, Ron, Hermione and Goyle sped out of the door on a broom, which sank swiftly to the floor. A second later, Harry and Draco's broom crashed into the wall.
The two of them watched the exchange, and Lily felt Scorpius grabbed her arm and pull her further to the wall, as sounds came towards them. People were evidently duelling.
Lily gasped, a sound that was lost in the rest of the noise, as she recognised two of the fighters.
One was her uncle Percy. The other...
"Uncle Fred." She muttered.
"What?" Scorpius asked, watching as Lily's father, aunt and uncle ran forward to help.
"My - my uncle. My uncle George's twin. He died. Here." As they watched, the Death Eater's fell.
"Was that a joke, Perce?" Fred's voice carried over to them, and Lily jumped.
"Oh - no -" She stepped back, as the old story came back to her, trying to get away from the group. "I can't - I can't watch this -" She sounded horrified, disgusted.
She was too late. The castle shook, began to cave. She felt Scorpius grope for her arm, pull her back to the wall, and his arm was over her head as bits of rubble fell around them. Lily closed her eyes tightly, but nothing could block out the anguished scream that came when the castle had settled again.
She raised her head, watched her dad and aunt struggle to cross the floor towards the three people. Two alive, one dead...
"Lily." Scorpius murmured, well aware of what had happened. "Lily - come on -"
Lily tried to block out the voices as Scorpius pulled her away, the pain-filled cries chasing after them.
"I'm sorry." Scorpius murmured.
She didn't know where they were, how far they'd walked, but she still felt sick. One minute, his voice had been ringing out, filled with laughter, and the next...
"You shouldn't have had to see that. Hear it." Scorpius continued, sounding faintly sick himself.
"I'm OK." Lily replied, breaking away from him and leaning against a wall. "Really. I'm fine." She heard Scorpius make some kind of impatient noise; then she felt him lift the disillusionment charm from her.
"Hey!" She hurriedly brushed away the few tears that had leaked from her eyes out of shock. "We'll be seen - well I'll be seen." This wasn't likely, as he had dragged her into an empty room.
"Yeah, you look fine." Scorpius said dryly, and lifted the charm from himself, too. "You just watched your uncle die." He told her impatiently. "You're not fine."
"I didn't see anything. I closed my eyes." Lily replied primly. "And I - It's not like I ever even knew him, is it? I'm OK."
"Liar." He muttered.
"Just shut up, OK?" Lily snapped. Someone nearby screamed, and Lily closed her eyes. "I need some air."
"We can't go outside." Scorpius told her quietly. "We won't get out of the castle alive, now. And even if we do -"
"Fine!" Lily cut him off, sliding down the wall until she was sat on the floor. "Fine, I don't care, we'll stay here all night."
Scorpius forced himself not to be annoyed by the bite in her voice, and lowered himself to the floor beside her. She knew why he didn't want to go back out there, and she could see the brooding look in his eyes, but she didn't push him, didn't mention it.
"We were stupid." She said after a minute. "To want to see this. To want to be here."
"Not stupid." Scorpius told her quietly. "Childish, immature. But not stupid."
"Why not?"
"Both our families were tied in this, into the war. It had a big impact on their lives, and on ours. It's normal to want to see it."
She shook her head, glad that they could now see each other. "If my dad knew I was here, he'd go mad. Why would I wish to see this? To hear people die..."
"Because you couldn't ever have imagined it would be like this." He replied, and awkwardly put his arm around her. "We couldn't have known."
She looked into his eyes, again glad that she could, that she'd be able to see his reaction to her question and asked, "What if we never get back?"