Erica and I look for Scorpius after I tell her - with a lake's worth of tears - everything that happened since the day Draco and I got married. I explained how we kept moving around and she listened intently. When I told her of how Draco sacrificed himself, she hugs me as my tears fall freely onto her shoulder. Once I stem the flow, we get back to the task at hand.

"Where would you go?"

"I don't know," I reply.

"Well, where does he like to go?"

I think for a moment. He's not very social so he doesn't have close friends that he could go to. I let him go outside every once in a while and he loves it! I take him different places and he loves them all. Since I cannot recall a time where he has specifically told me his favorite spot, I try to go back and remember the place where he laughed the most, where he smiled the biggest, and that would be...

"The park."

When we arrive, we see that the swings are empty and unmoving in the slight breeze caressing our faces. Scorpy wasn't on the monkey bars or in the play sets or sand box. The only place left is the tubes. Since Erica is smaller than I am (Well, technically, I'm the smaller of the two, but with the new baby, I'm now bigger around the middle.), she has to go in.

Crawling around on almost just her forearms, like a marine sneaking into unfamiliar, enemy territory, Erica climbs through the twisting tubes. Up, down, left, right, she doesn't know where she's going, but makes an effort to look and listen for him.

Finally, when she nears the top of the play set, she emerges into a room with a clear plastic skylight. In the mini room, she spies a very familiar face, one that she had seen when she first came to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. It is a 9 year old boy with bleach blond hair, and stunning blue-grey eyes, made only more vibrant by the teal plastic walls. At his feet sits a Muggle lunch box with a superhero on it. The way he sits with one leg stretched, the other bent, his elbow propped on that knee and his hand fisted against his head, his other arm lying limp in his lap, it is this pose that strikes Erica the most. Already, Scorpius is exactly like his father.

"Aren't you a little old for this?" she says, goodheartedly.

The boy's head snaps up in alarm and he stares at the intruder with wide eyes rimmed with dark circles. Once he gets over the shock, his eyes narrow. "Aren't you?" he challenges. "Who are you, anyways? You aren't my mom."He stares her down, reminding her even more of Malfoy.

"I'm Erica, a family friend."

"Right. How?" he tests the stranger. Erica admires how well he has learned, which is necessary if you have every Death Eater out looking for you.

Patiently, she responds, "I went to Hogwarts with your mum and dad. My name is Erica Stanhope."

"What houses were my parents in?" he asks.

"Your mum was in Ravenclaw - even though she was clearly a Slytherin at heart - and Draco and I were in Slytherin House. Your mum and I are best friends. Your name is Scorpius Malfoy. Your mum's maiden name is Simmons."

"Okay. You know enough." He pauses. "I know why you're here, then, and I'm not coming home."

"You're just as stubborn as your parents are."

"'Were,'" he corrects. "Dad d-died and it was all my fault."

"Nothing happened because of you. It was his choice to try and hold them off for you and your mum. It was his choice that made it too late for him to escape. The fault wasn't yours." Erica pauses to let him think about what she said. "The only thing that would be your fault would be your mother's loneliness and sadness if you do this. You ran away and took the only hope, the only thing she has left of her family."

As he thinks, a frown becomes more and more prominent on his pale face. He looks at her with his guilt-filled, grey eyes. "Thanks for making me feel like crap," he grumbles.

"Anytime," Erica says with a smirk worthy of the boy's father's praise.

The pair come out of the tubes finally and I can't help but utter a cry of relief. I fling my arms around my son and hold him close, never wanting to let him go ever again. "Scorpy, never scare me like that again," I order.

"Don't bother lecturing him or yelling at him. I already guilt-tripped him," Erica reported.

I look down at my son, who is clinging to me and apologizing profusely. "You did good." I stop to admire my friend and take note of just how much she has changed. She has calmed, matured, she's 26 years old now! She has done so much for me, being my one and only companion of almost our whole lives; she always gave good advice, gave me someone to talk to, gave me back my son. I only wish I could do something to repay her.

Okay, I'll admit that's not my only wish. I wish Draco was here with us, making rude, but thankful remarks at Erica, happily holding Scorpy, kissing me. I sigh. I voice my wish under my breath. "I want to annihilate the Death Eaters and live with my son and my husband peacefully."

We go home and enjoy the rest of the day with Erica. The more she and I talk about how it used to be, the more my heart breaks and all I can think of, all I can hope for is that, by some miracle, Draco is still alive.