A/N: Sorry for the wait, but this is a long one so hopefully it was worth it! Thanks!

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, get over it, I have.

Chapter Twenty Six

I Love You

Hugo had never felt closer to Ruby than he did in that moment. Now in reality they were across the room from each other with his parents and sister separating them along with a deep uncomfortable silence, but that didn't make any difference to him. And from the look in Ruby's eyes it didn't matter much to her either. They were held together by a bond more powerful than his parents' disapproval. Hugo smiled ruefully at the memory of his mother's reaction when he'd told her and his father that he wanted to enter the Auror summer training camp and that he wanted to have his birthday dinner at Ruby's house in the same conversation.

Before you snort at the poor boy's lack of tact he really hadn't intended to tell his parents he want to celebrate his birthday with his girlfriend and that he had every intention of following in his father's footsteps at the same time but when he shown his application to the camp to his father his mother had flipped. She'd thought that her quiet, intelligent son would be following in her footsteps. She said Hugo was more suited for her line of work. Apparently, in her opinion, he wasn't cut out for the dangerous life of an Auror. And there was no way he'd be able to date a Muggle and be an Auror. So in a fit of irritation Hugo blurted out that he had every intention of continuing to date that Muggle and of spending his birthday with her.

Really Hugo had ever right to be pissed. Damn it, his mum had been born a Muggle why was she so prickly about him being with Ruby? It wasn't like she knew how honest he'd been with his blonde lady love. Her attitude just made no sense. (In reality (i.e. outside the mind of a boy) Hermione's reaction made perfect sense. Her daughter had made it clear that she intended to follow in her Aunt Ginny's footsteps and become a Quidditch reporter. With Hugo becoming an Auror who would do as she had done? Who would she have to mentor and teach in Magical Law? Well the answer to that was Lily but we're not quite there yet.) So after a few hours of arguing they'd decided on a compromise. The whole family would celebrate Hugo's birthday at Ruby's house and Hugo wouldn't necessarily sign up for the Auror program until he'd gone through the summer training and really thought about if it was the path he wanted to take or some crap like that.

A few days later they had spent a "pleasant" meal with Ruby's family and were now "enjoying" drinks in the parlor. Hugo was on a couch next to his sister with his parents hovering nearby (in case he decided to approach Ruby he was sure). Ruby's parents (for some reason) hadn't noticed anything amiss and were trying to talk to Mr. and Mrs. Weasley (sure that this family would soon be joining theirs via marriage). Ruby was sitting on the easy chair across from Hugo watching her little brother, Henry, play with his blocks. Henry was three (about to turn four) and took his blocks very seriously. Every once and a while Hugo would have to pull away from the youngster intent on showing him the cool thing the blocks could do; Hugo's time with Ruby was so restricted these days that he really hadn't been paying as much attention to the little guy as he'd used to or really should've been. By the end of the night he'd be swearing to Merlin (and the ever clever fate) to somehow repay the three foot tall tike.

It would all happen in a moment and for the most part Hugo would miss it, but the parents wouldn't and that was the important thing. Hugo was watching Ruby as she doted on her brother and thinking about her doing the same with their children. He would be an Auror and she would be whatever she wanted. He would come home to a house filled with laughter and yes love. He and Ruby would fall into bed together after tucking the kids in and they would remember their small spring wedding and honeymoon in Northern Scotland. And after making love they would-

"Oh Merl-God!"

Hugo looked at his mother, whose exclamation had stirred him from his daydream she (along with his father and Ruby's parents, Judy and Mitch) were staring in Henry's direction wearing almost identical looks of horror. Hugo looked back towards the center of the room. Little Henry was giggling and stomping his feet while his blocks whizzed around him. He waved his pudgy little hands and the alphabet blocks spelled C-A-T then D-O-G, H-E-N-R-Y and M-U-M and D-A-D. He began to laugh harder when his mum tried to bat the blocks back to the floor where they belonged. Mitch, a bit more sensible at the moment, pulled his wife away from their boy.

Sighing Ron took out his wand, gave it a flick returning the blocks to the floor much to Henry's consternation. "Ron!" Hermione snapped.

"The cat's out of the bag, love," he said calmly. "They'd be getting a visit from a Ministry official in a few hours anyway to explain everything. We're both more than qualified to tell them what's happening, so we might as well… If it makes you feel better you can fill out the paperwork tomorrow."

"Oh, all right," Hermione sighed. "And considering how much power he's exhibiting and at such a young age there would be no way to hide it."

"Looks like everything's squared away with you, now," Rose whispered to Hugo. A smile overtook Hugo's face as he realized it was true. No more lying, watching every word that came out of his mouth—he was free.

Hugo jumped up. "So we're going to tell them?" he demanded of his parents.

"Tell them what?" Mitch asked, affronted.

"You are going to sit silently while your mother and I explain to these fine people what's going on… but yes," Ron said.

Hugo shot across the room, wrapped Ruby in his arms and whispered, "Remember, you're surprised and confused." He kissed her cheek and cuddled up next to her.

Had Hugo been less excited about what this meant for his relationship he would have noticed the look on Ruby's face. She certainly looked surprised and confused but she also looked heartbroken. Over the hours that followed the surprise faded on Ruby's face but not the confusion and the heart break. While his parents began explaining about Hogwarts Hugo refocused his attention on Ruby. He immediately knew something was wrong. Hugo had known Ruby long enough to be able to know how she was feeling by how she was holding herself.

His Ruby was curled in on herself, clenching his shirt sleeve so hard her knuckles were white. He didn't need to see her face to know that she was fighting tears. He hadn't a clue what was wrong. To his thinking this was a gift. They didn't have to lie anymore. They could have a Wizard Wedding if they wanted and invite her parents. Thanks to little Henry everything was so much simpler. Hugo squeezed her knee and she looked up at him. He saw it then, in her eyes, "Why not me?"

"Dad?"

Ron stopped in misted of describing the moving staircases at Hogwarts to a much calmer Mitch and Judy. "Yes, son?"

"Can I go somewhere and talk to Ruby?"

"Hugo…" Hermione began.

"Please, Mum."

His parents shared a silent conversation. "All right, son. Somewhere in the house," Ron said.

Hugo laced his fingers through Ruby's and led her up the stairs to her room for the first time (ever, probably) they lingered in an uncomfortable silence.

"Tell me, Ruby," he said, eventually.

She shook her head. "You already know."

"I need to hear it."

"Why?"

"Because it's ridiculous, Ruby."

"Is it so ridiculous to wish I was like you? To wonder why it's my brother and not me? Why wasn't it me?" The tears started to run down her cheeks.

"Ruby," Hugo whispered. "I know I didn't get to say this to you in person, but I promise you it's true. I love you just the way you are. I don't love you in spite of the fact that you're not a witch. I just love you, Ruby. If you were a witch I'd love you just as much as I do now."

"It's just not fair, Hugo." Ruby let him wipe the tears from her cheeks. "I've been a part of your world for how long? And it's my brother that gets to actually walk in that world. Who am I kidding? I'm just an outsider looking in-"

"No, Ruby!" Hugo gripped her shoulders. "After we're married, I'll take you to Hogwarts and Hogsmeade. We'll go to Diagon Alley, St. Mungo's and the Ministry. I'll get us a home in a Wizarding village like Ottery St. Catchpole and we'll live in the Wizarding World. Me and you. We just have to wait a bit."

Ruby fell into his arms and cried for a few minutes longer.

After a moment of silence, she whispered, "I love you too, Hugo. Just the way you are. I wouldn't want you any different."

Hugo, who knew his little Ruby better than he knew himself, also knew that for the moment at least her issues with her brother being a wizard weren't resolved.

Scorpius threw a hex over Albus' shoulder taking out the enchanted life-size model of a dark wizard that had been about the "attack" him. The Auror wannabes had been split into groups of three based on a personality test they'd all been forced to take. As it happened Scorpius had been teamed with Albus and Hugo. The test apparently indicated that they all similar temperaments. For the past three weeks it'd been a match made in heaven.

Since Scorpius had been in the program longer than Hugo or Albus he'd been placed in charge of the group. It was his job to tutor them through their lessons, to lead them through their practice courses and just generally help them through the program. Not that they needed much help. The pair of them had so much natural talent every once and awhile Scorpius actually wondered if he was the best choice for group leader. He had to work and study to be as good as he was in the program. Hugo and Albus, on the other hand, just had a knack for it.

Now Scorpius counted Albus as one of his best mates and over the weeks had gotten to know Hugo better, but if he had to listen to the two of them gabber on about how freakin' perfect their relationships were for one more day… Well, he'd lose it. Albus was only ever a problem when the topic of sex came up. Most of the time he just complained about Persephone. "She's so shallow…" "All she wants to talk about is Quidditch…" "All she reads is Witch Weekly…" But as soon as the conversation switched to sex all he could do was grin and compliment her. "She's so good at…" "All she wants to do is shag…" "Merlin, I'm lucky…"

Hugo wasn't much better. He and Ruby were the world's most perfect couple. Absolutely nothing was wrong in their perfect little world. Hugo just loved flaunting his true love in front of both of them. All he could talk about was how long they'd known each other, how well they knew each other, how they were each other's first kiss and how when they finally did shag it would be because they loved each other too much not to act on it. Scorpius actually wasn't sure which was worse: hearing about Albus' amazing sex life or hearing about Hugo's amazing love life.

Both pretty much sucked and forced him to think about the flaws in his own relationship. It seemed no matter what he did he couldn't keep Lily from crying over him. If it wasn't him pulling away, it was him not getting overly upset about his parents having another kid. There was always something. His relationship wasn't simple like Albus' any more than it was perfect like Hugo's.

Of course he didn't tell them any of that. As far as they knew he and Lily were in bliss which is not to say he went into any kind of detail about their intimate relationships. Albus was still Lily's brother and Hugo her cousin. Neither wanted to know how far they'd gone (a lot of heavy petting over the clothes and recently quite a bit of petting under) but vague statements like, "Well… you've seen her smile…" or "You know how it is with lasses who know what they want…" It was all hazy enough that Hugo and Albus knew they were fooling around without actually knowing what they were doing.

It was damn hard being mates with your girlfriend's relatives.

But Scorpius couldn't dwell on that in the moment. The course was designed to become more difficult as you successfully moved through it. At this point the three of them had yet to encounter anything they couldn't handle. An Expelliarmus here and Stupefy there and they were almost done with the course. By Scorpius' estimation they had only been in the warehouse maze (much bigger on the inside than it appeared on the outside) for about twenty minutes and they were already half way through.

(In order to keep the younger trainees from freaking out in the middle of the course the instructors (past their prime Aurors who couldn't work the field anymore) had told all the Auror wannabes what to expect in the middle of the course so they would know when it was half over).

As the leader of their three man group Scorpius signaled for Albus and Hugo to duck while he took care of the last Dark Wizard model. When it hit the grove of enchanted shrubs (which quickly engulfed the model hoping was something squishy and screamy) Scorpius led the way forward. They were supposed to find a "victim" in the middle of the maze and find a different route than the one they'd taken out of the warehouse. Their "victim" was an intern in the Auror offices who preferred desk work but offered up her services when the Department Head asked. (Scorpius, along with everyone who had ever seen the seventeen year old girl around Harry Potter, knew that she had a giant crush on him and that had anyone but Harry Potter asked, she never would have agreed).

Scorpius carefully made his way around yet another enchanted shrub to the dead center of the maze where their victim was waiting. He didn't look back to make sure that Hugo and Albus had made it. Half the job, Scorpius had learned, was trusting your partners to look after themselves. If you had to look after them the mission might fail and if that happened someone might die. You needed to have absolute faith in your partners. Luckily for Scorpius with partners like Albus and Hugo that wasn't too hard to manage.

Once Scorpius reached the victim he stopped dead, which was a mistake. It seemed that somewhere along the course there was a boggart. It had somehow gotten lose and for who knows how long had been terrorizing the victim they were supposed to be rescuing. The poor little intern was rolled up in a ball with her arms wrapped around her head, sobbing as the manic clown laughed hysterically at her fear. Scorpius raised his wand ready to banish it, when it turned towards him.

The breath froze in his lungs. He hadn't been aware that boggarts could do what this one just did. Though, in retrospect, it made sense. The boggart had been feeding off the interns fear for a while, it was more powerful than most got the opportunity to become… so why couldn't it turn into multiple people? Why not turn into Scorpius' grandparents, huddled around his parents who were holding him in their arms? Why not have them all gaze adoringly at the Dark Mark on his left wrist? Why not have them all saying over and over again, "Where so proud of you, Scorpius"? Why not?

Scorpius let out a shuttering breath and almost choked. It was all he could see. He couldn't rip his eyes or attention away from it long enough to notice the length of ivy inching towards his ankle. It was all he could hear. He couldn't pay any mind to Albus right behind him raising his wand to banish the image or Hugo fighting back the ivy. He didn't have it in him to see the victim that had unwittingly truly been in need of their rescuing.

As soon as Albus sent the boggart flying over the shrubs, Scorpius snapped out of it. He had a job to do. He could (and would) worry about what his greatest fear was later. He had to get the sobbing woman (and himself) out of this course as fast as possible.

Scorpius knelt down next to her and managed to pull her blotched from her arms. "What's your name?" he asked.

Albus and Hugo stood silently, vigilantly behind him, watching for danger while giving him the chance to calm the victim before they proceeded to get her and themselves out. It bespoke of their faith in him, that after he'd stuttered over the boggart that they still trusted him to lead them. They were better friends then he'd thought.

She sniffled. "I wanna go home!" she whaled.

"I know," Scorpius said. "Tell me your name and I'll make sure you get there in one piece as soon as possible."

"I'm Stephanie Whitmore, you walk past my desk everyday and never say hello!" She was clearly loosing it, Scorpius decided. It wasn't the ideal situation, but he supposed it was more realistic.

"I'll be sure to make up for that as soon as we get out of here, Stephanie. But we to move and now. Will you come with me?"

Stephanie gave him a teary nod. Scorpius grabbed Stephanie's hand. He led the way out of the clearing at the center of the warehouse towards the path the three of them had decided was the best way out before they began the course. Albus took point in front of him and Hugo behind him, covering himself and Stephanie. Scorpius knew that Albus was an extremely gifted wizard, his reflexes were sharp as a whip and his instinct was impeccable. But he never had a better chance to see his best mate in action than by running behind him.

Albus took care of just about every obstacle they faced. The few that he missed Hugo took care of. Scorpius would have helped, but every time a Dark Wizard model jumped out at them or any matter of Dark Creature approached them, Stephanie shrieked and wrapped her arms around Scorpius' head making it very hard to help defend them. For the millionth time since they entered the course Scorpius was glad that he had Albus and Hugo with him.

Ten minutes later they found out that they had made it through the course in forty five minutes. Fifteen minutes slower than the course instructors. For that they got the afternoon off, much to Scorpius' relief. Now that he was out of the course and the danger therein he'd begun thinking about that damned boggart again and all that it implied. For his family to be proud of him he'd have to dump Lily (both heartbreaking and terrifying), he'd have to stop being friends with the Potter and move back in with his parents content to do whatever they said for the rest of his life (like living in a cage of barbwire, being able to see freedom but having to bleed to reach it).

The worst part, Scorpius decided as he and Albus made their way back to the Potter home, was that Albus and Hugo had seen it. By the end of the night every Potter and Weasley across England would know what went down when he came face to with a boggart. There was no avoiding it. Lily would know and he'd be damned if he wasn't the one to tell her. She'd give him her sad little puppy dog eyes, she might even cry. And he would know that she was crying for him.

Because she loved him.

He knew she loved him. She had to love him. It was the only thing that made sense. After she blubbered all over him because his parents planned to replace him, he'd been confused. It wasn't like her parents were going to replace her, why was she so upset? Then it hit him. She loved him. What hurt him, hurt her too. What broke his heart, broke hers. She loved him, end of story.

So out of respect for that love, he would tell her what his greatest fear was. And then he would tell her how much he loved her. Maybe that would keep her tears at bay. He could hope.

Albus didn't comment when Scorpius followed him up to the main house. Since they were home early, Lily would be there instead of waiting for him in his flat over the garage. They trudged into house together and made a beeline for the kitchen. It was universally acknowledged that after a long day a teenage boy was starving. When they entered they were faced with a sight seen far too often over the summer: Kira and James stealing food from the fridge.

The pair had begun working for George Weasley as inventors. Much to George's chagrin his son was a professional Quidditch player and his daughter was only interested in the business aspects of the joke shop. For a long time he was worried that there would be no one to keep the shop turning out top of the line pranks after his inevitable demise. Luckily for him James and Kira had taken up the mantle of troublemakers and were now making bank at it. Their ingenious line of "Dork Lord" apparel was (often literally) flying off the shelves.

Even though they both had plenty of money, they still had just about every meal at the Potters house instead of at their flat. Kira insisted that "stolen food just tastes better." (Of course she'd said it while snacking on a stolen apple so Scorpius just assumed that that was what she meant.)

Albus cleared his throat getting the begrudging attention of the two of them.

"No need to look so superior, Al," James said, stuffing his mouth full of stolen crisps. "Just because you and Scorpi went the responsible route instead of devoting your life to fun…"

"Oi, Potter," Scorpius warned, with feigned seriousness, "only Lily's allowed to call me that."

"Ahuh, cause that's gonna stop me…" James somehow managed to unhinge his jaw and swallow a pasty whole.

"Oh, bloody hell, Kira," Albus exclaimed. "How do you deal with that?"

"It's brain food, Al," she explained. "We need to eat at least twice our body weight to maintain optimal inventing capacity."

James' eye lit up as he chugged the last of the milk. "What about a new line of 'Volde-Dork' t-shirts?"

"Genius! You are in the presences of a genius!" Kira threw her arms around James. "Oh my Merlin! I'm shagging a genius!"

"Or a dumbass," Lily muttered as she walked in behind Scorpius and Albus. The pair sniggered appreciatively, the couple embraced across the room blissfully oblivious. "You guys are home early."

"We beat the crap out of the training course," Albus explained. "They let us go early."

"Well that's fortunate because our school letters came today. And you busy tossers missed them."

Albus wondered over the kitchen table were the letters were waiting but Scorpius didn't bother. He needed to talk to Lily not see Albus' get his Head Boy badge.

"What is it?" she whispered against his lips. Scorpius smiled and kissed her deeply until James threw a sponge at his head.

"Why?" he sighed, pulling away from Lily's pretty pink mouth.

"Principle," James shrugged.

Scorpius leaned against the wall next to pantry, wrapped his arm around Lily's waist and began telling her about his day. When he got to the part about the boggart he paused for a moment. Albus was sitting at the kitchen table clearly engrossed in his school letter; there was no badge on the table which was curious. Kira was throwing grapes into James mouth while sitting on the counter. These were his best friends and they would all hear about it eventually anyway…

"What was it, Scorp?" Lily whispered.

"My family," Scorpius didn't bother whispering. Albus stopped shuffling papers on the table and Kira's thrown grape hit James in the eye. The kitchen appeared to freeze. "There was a Dark Mark on my left wrist and they were telling me how proud of me they all were."

The silence lasted a few heart beats. And then…

"Dork Mark! What up?"

"We'll need a picture to go along with it…"

"Could you two be less sensitive?"

"Could you be a bigger nancy boy?"

"Oh, shut it, you ass!"

"Shut it both of you!" Lily yelled finally. "My Merlin, neither of you has any sensitivity, so just shut up!"

While the Potters were screaming at each other Scorpius had wondered over to the kitchen table. He smiled over his shoulder at his girlfriend while picking up his school letter.

"Bit heavy this year, eh?" he asked Albus, mildly.

"Mine felt normal."

"Hmm…"

"Are you all right, baby?" Lily whispered against his throat, wrapping her arms around his middle.

Scorpius closed his eyes and savored her closeness as he ripped open the letter. Something heavy fell out and clunked onto the table top. The room froze again.

"Are you sure you didn't open my letter by accident?"

Albus held up his letter and sure enough written on the front was the name 'Albus Severus Potter.' Scorpius looked down at his own letter. 'Scorpius Hyperion Malfoy' scripted on the front. He ripped open the envelop and searched the contents until he came across the letter from the Headmistress confirming that he, Scorpius Hyperion Malfoy, was to be Head Boy.

"This is madness!" he exclaimed.

"How so?" Albus asked.

"This badge belongs to you, Al. You're better behaved than I am, you've better marks than I have, you-you-you-"

"You better stop while you're ahead," James muttered.

"Look, Scorpius," Albus sighed. "I don't want to be Head Boy. I've a hard enough time being a Prefect. I mean look at my track record. All you've gotta do to get out a detention is snog me."

"Reeeaaallllyyy…"

"Shut up, James. You're better suited for it. You're a natural leader, Scorpius." Albus got up and headed out of the kitchen. "Enjoy it."

"Afternoon feeding frenzy's over, babe," James said. "Back to the grind… we gotta pitch our new ideas… I can see it now. A 'Volde-Dork' t-shirt on every boy and 'Dork Mark' knickers on every girl…"

"A bloody genius! You're a bloody genius! Merlin I'm so proud of you I just wanna tackle you and go bananas all over you!"

"No objections here, babe…"

The front door slammed behind them. Scorpius smiled until felt Lily's lips on his cheek.

"Are you all right?"

He sighed. "You know what really terrified me?" She shook her head. "It wasn't turning into my father, it wasn't the stigma of being just like him or even being a Death Eater. It was losing this," he waved his arms around the kitchen. "Losing moments of pure ridiculousness with James and Kira and talking to Albus about things that matter… It was losing you. That was worse bit. I couldn't bear to lose you."

"Oh, Scorpi…" Lily cuddled into his chest. "Who knew you were such a romantic?"

Scorpius smiled, kissed her forehead and inhaled her scent. "I love you, Lily Potter," he whispered.