A/N: Thank you to all who are reading and reviewing. Yes, I am reading them and I am trying to catch up with replying (but I am totally sucking majorly at it at the moment). I am hoping to keep up with this pace of chapter releasing, but I am unsure that I will be able to, and there might be a week (gasp, a week!) delay here soon, as I am packing up my little car and all my little children and driving several states away for fun and games (ok, not really fun and games). Anyways, I checked and yup, where I will be, there is internet, so woo… there will be updates, but of course, during the 16 hour car drive, typing will not be had… I don't think I can manage to drive and type at the same time, and I don't have time to teach my computer to transcribe while I dictate. Ok… more chapter!

Disc.: Manipulation of a world I did not create.

Christmas the Two

Lily was a lot like her mother, though I'm sure Lily probably hated that. The woman, Ginny, looked at me in surprise as she sat down at the dinner table. Had I had dark hair, she probably wouldn't have done a double-take as she started eating her dinner. I might as well as been a clone to my father, the way that people said I looked like him, but many people didn't realize that to a degree, I was just as much as my mother's son as I was my father's. But Lily, she really was a lot like her mother in ways that she was probably not aware.

Ginny Potter had been a professional Quidditch player but had given it all up for home and family, taking a job at the ministry. I wondered as we all ate whether she ever regretted leaving her job. Part of Lily's intensity for Quidditch no doubt came from Ginny. There were so many of us at the table for dinner, the noise was unlike anything I had ever experienced, but it was fantastic. Between four adults and the seven of us kids, it was like a party. I didn't get a chance to talk to Lily at dinner, as she was sitting by Taryn at the far end from me, but Lily's cousin Rose was quite polite.

"So, you're doing well in Quidditch," Rose said pleasantly. James scowled but said nothing.

"Um, thank you," I said as I looked at her. She grinned.

"So, do you think that Professor Perkins will have us try and brew Vertiserum next term? I'd love to get my hands on a bit of that to feed to Hugo the next time Crookshanks comes around purple," Rose said and I couldn't help but laugh.

"I thought I overheard him trying to convince Professor McGonagall into signing the Headmistress' permission waiver to let us," I told her and Rose beamed.

"That would be a great learning experience, and fun, too," Rose said. I nodded.

"Not to mention passing a little to your brother," James teased as he stopped resisting and joined in the conversation reluctantly. He glanced at his own little brother. "You know, I'd love to give some to Albus to find out what the hell he was thinking by gluing the classroom furniture to the ceiling. You know, he still won't confess it to me." I laughed.

"I think, and I could be wrong, but I think it was your sister, not your brother, who pulled that little prank," I confessed to him. James looked at me in disbelief.

"Nah, not Lily," James said certainly.

"No, I'm pretty sure it was her. See, Damon West, our chaser kept dropping the Quaffle for whatever reason, and Flint threatened to glue it to his hands," I said hurriedly as it all fell into place. "I heard some have a 'light bulb moment', you know? An 'ah-hah' moment? Anyways, the next day the stuff was glued to the ceiling, she was crazy tired, and she stole all my bacon."

"Your bacon?" James asked raising an eyebrow.

"Well, ok. That probably had nothing to do with it, but still," I said laughing. "You have to admit, your sister does have a bit of a wild side to her."

"Yeah, well… hmm…" James pondered that as dinner wrapped up. He hesitated and then looked at me, I assume resolved that I was staying with them and he might as well make the best of it. "Hey, Scorpius, do you want to go up to the game room and play Smash City Brawlers?"

"What's that?" I asked naively. James laughed.

"Oh, this is going to be great!" He laughed again. We abandoned the girls and headed to the room over the garage, accessible by the second floor, near Albus' room. It was a large room with a fireplace, a television, a couch, and other random things. Apparently, Smash City Brawlers was a muggle video game and it was simply addictive. It was good to see that I was not the only one who had never played muggle video games, and I enjoyed whipping Taryn all over the screen, doing to his character what I would have loved to do in real life.

We played well into the evening, even after Rose and Hugo went home. Finally, Harry had to send us off to bed so that Lily could get some sleep. I kicked her cat out of the room, closing the doors between the room and the hall and the room and the bathroom. With the lights out, the room was dark and I peeled my clothes off until I was down to my boxer shorts. I glanced at her bed, uncertainly. It was like bedding down with a lover for the first time. I was a little unsure, a little unpracticed. I pulled down her comforter and top sheet, the pink bedding was insanely soft and worn in my hand. I climbed into the bed and pulled the comforter up to my chin.

The warmth was nothing compared to the aroma that was simply Lily as it emitted faintly off of everything. It was surrounding me, caressing my senses as I tucked my face into one of her pillows. I could feel my heart racing, my pulse pounding as other parts of me ached and throbbed. I groaned, not wanting to defile her bed the first night I slept in it. The longer I laid there, inhaling her intoxicating scent from her bedding, the more pronounced my conditioned became. Finally, I had no other choice. Either I took matters into my own hands in Lily's bed, or I did so in the bathroom. I tried to be reasonable and slipped off to the bathroom, careful to be quiet as I took care of business, one stroke at a time.

I felt ashamed afterwards, but only because it was still thrilling to have her scent cling so firmly to me. I washed my hands and headed back to her bed, finally able to lull myself into believing that it was normal for a boy to do that when he was that worked up. I sighed softly, catching a lungful of her scent as I drifted off into a strangely erotic dream that involved Lily and me in the middle of the ocean on a water broom.

I yawned stretching as I climbed out of bed. I could hear the other making a lot of noise down the hall, the sounds of video game violence echoing. I grabbed a pair of my jeans off the floor, sniffing them to see if they were still fresh before I pulled them on. I was in the middle of buttoning them when I looked up to see Lily stepping out of the bathroom, a towel wrapped around her. Her hair was damp, and I watched as a water droplet disappeared below the upper edge of her towel.

"Oh," I said in surprise. I couldn't move to finish buttoning my pants or to cover up my bare chest. I was firmly rooted to that spot, watching with envy as water droplets disappeared between the valley created by the towel and the edges of her face. Her face was getting redder and I could tell that one of us had to do something. We couldn't stand there motionless and not have bad things happen between us. As it were, I wanted nothing more than to cross the room, jerk the towel free of her body and take her right there on her bedroom floor.

"Sorry if I woke you," Lily mumbled finally as she moved towards the dresser. She jerked a few pieces of clothing free and practically sprinted back to the bathroom, closing and locking the door firmly. The sound of the lock seemed to echo in the silence of her room and for the moment, I couldn't focus on anything. Finally, I was able to regain control of my body again, and I finished getting dressed in record time, knowing full well that I wouldn't be able to stand it when she came back through the room. I would do something rash.

I glanced in at the others as I headed down to the kitchen, surprised to see that we were all alone. Harry and Ginny Potter had obviously gone to work and we were left to our own devices. I was partially through making breakfast when I heard Albus. It felt like someone doused my inside in ice water.

"Oh for Merlin's sake! Not on my bed!" Albus exclaimed loudly from upstairs. "And not my sister."

"Hey, your sister's hot," I heard Taryn say and I wanted to pound his face in with the hot skillet that I was cooking my eggs with.

"I don't want to know that," Albus' voice wafted down the stairs. "And, I never want to see that again. Don't taint up my bed making out with my sister, man. That's just not cool."

I looked up as Lily jetted down the stairs. I made sure that I wouldn't betray the hurt and anger in my face as I held out the plate of eggs and bacon I had just made. Suddenly, I wasn't hungry anymore. She hesitated, looking at the plate in confusion as I placed it on the table.

"I made you breakfast," I said quietly, trying out my new, controlled voice. I began to pour her a glass of juice, careful not to show how much my hand shook.

"Thank you," Lily said as she sat down at the table. I scooped a little bit of eggs and bacon onto a second plate, though I wasn't sure that I was actually going to be able to eat it. I felt sick to my stomach.

"Are you ok?" I asked her suddenly when I realized that she was staring down at her plate with a rather blank look on her face. She looked up at me, surprise on her face as she nodded.

"Yeah," Lily said though her voice sounded uncertain.

"I just want whatever will make you happy," I promised her quietly as I stared down at my plate.

"Me too," she said and I wondered what would make her truly happy. I wondered if I was making it harder on her, but then again, she didn't know that Darla, my dear sweet Darla wanted us to be together. I began to eat, trying to ignore the way the food seemed to settle on my stomach uneasily.

"Hey, can someone go out to the woodshed and get more firewood for the fireplace?" James yelled down from upstairs. It was just the escape that I needed to clear my head.

"Sure thing," I yelled back. I took a final bite of my food, not really tasting it, and placed the plate in the dishwasher. I pulled my coat on, fastening the buttons, and pulled my hat on over my hair. I heard Lily excite behind me and I turned to look at her as I inhaled the brisk December air. Lily led the way towards the back yard, heading towards a shed. Piled next to it were full sized logs.

"The logs have to be split first," Lily told me as she opened the shed. Her movements were so fluid, graceful and I felt a little uneasy with the thought. "The axe is in here."

"It's dark," I said as I touched her shoulder reflexively as we entered the very dark shed.

"Yeah," Lily said as she looked up at me, the only light coming from the open door. Her eyes were wide with innocence and she wet her lips slightly with her tongue. It undid me. I didn't even bother trying to stop as I pulled her face to mine, my hands on either side of her face. I kissed her, my heart soaring like an eagle. I felt her hands on my face, and for a moment she seemed to struggle with what she wanted. I was so certain that she was going to push me away. She buried her fingers in my hair, knocking my hat aside as she tangled her fingers in my hair. She seemed to hunger for my kisses as much as I hungered for hers. I could feel the desire slamming against the weakening dam that was keeping me from doing something I wanted, something that was stupid.

The knowledge that she was only thirteen, that I couldn't, flooded in my head. My fingers itched to move from her face and to cradle other parts of her body but I relented. She wasn't going to stop kissing me; I didn't want her to, either, but I had to be the voice of reason, the person who acted in her best interest. Reluctantly, breathlessly, I pulled away and looked at her, my hands still on her face. Involuntarily, I touched my tongue to my lips, the hinting taste of cherry remained and her lips looks slightly swollen, her cheeks bright red.

"You taste like cherry," I said needlessly. I figured she knew it, but I had to say something, anything. She blushed, pulling out a small tube of lip balm.

"Cheery Cherry," Lily explained as she carelessly waved the tube between her bare fingers. It slipped and fell to the floor. I was about to pick it up, but Lily was already kneeling to pick it up. She grasped it in one hand and reached up looking for a holding to stand. She grasped my belt, her hand on my side, as she proceeded to stand.

"What in Merlin's Stones is going on here?" Taryn demanded angrily. I looked down at Lily and realized what Taryn probably thought, what anyone would have thought, with Lily down on her knees in front of me. I immediately jumped back, Lily barely on her feet.

"Oh, nothing like that," I explained quickly, my hands up in a nonthreatening manner. I backed up slowly, not wanting to get into a fight with Lily's boyfriend in front of her, not that I couldn't take him, but out of respect for her and her family as a guest.

"I dropped my lip balm," Lily explained as Taryn advanced, curiously aware of how it must have looked. She held up her lip balm as if it was proof, enough to keep Taryn from wanting to fight me.

"Don't stand up for him," Taryn snapped at her. I felt my blood boil at the way he spoke to her.

"Don't talk to her like that," I threatened as I started forward. I clenched my fist just to see Taryn was in the same stance. It was only a matter of moments, we were going to fight. I felt Lily's hand on my chest and I glanced at her to see Lily holding us apart, standing between us.

"Don't tell me how to talk to my girlfriend," Taryn threatened. "Or else."

"Or else what?" I challenged, rising to Taryn's threat. No little Durmstrang beater threatened me unless he planned to put his fist where his mouth was.

"Easy you two," Lily snapped at us. "Nothing happened. Come on, Taryn. Let's go back inside, back upstairs." She began to pull on Taryn's shirt.

"This isn't over with, Malfoy," Taryn shouted at me as he began to let her pull him away.

"No it isn't… whatever your surname is," I retorted, not remembering or caring what his last name was. Lily glanced at me, and I swear I thought I saw her suppressing a laugh. Lily continued to pull on Taryn with all her might, the boy reluctant to walk away from a sure fight. He glared one last time at me before I was alone in the shed. I swore loudly as I picked up the axe and headed to the wood pile. I was surprised how releasing it was to split logs, the manual labor working off some of my pent up anger. With every swing, I imagined the wood was Taryn and I was severing him from Lily.

I gathered an arm load of the freshly chopped wood and hauled it wordlessly up to the television room. I saw Lily sitting in Taryn's lap, and his tightened grip didn't go unnoticed by me. Surprisingly, James tossed his controller to his cousin and he came over to help me stack the wood in the holder. Together, we started the fire and before long the room was toasty warm.

"These games are addictive," I said as my turn came up. Hugo handed me his controller, the plastic warm. "Makes me wish I didn't live in an all magical household."

"I love living in an all magical house," Taryn said glaring at me and I rolled my eyes.

"Anyone want to help me make lunch?" Rose asked. I turned to see Rose touch Taryn's shoulder, volunteering him. He looked less than pleased. "Taryn, why not you?"

"Uh, sure," Taryn said. Lily seemed almost eager as she climbed free of Taryn's lap. She snatched up James' controller and smirked as she sat on the very edge of the chair, ignoring Taryn as he left, much to my pleasure. We waited impatiently as the fighting game loaded up.

"I hope you don't mind getting your butt kicked by a girl," Lily teased me as she chose her character. She picked a very cute little girl character with pink pig tails and brass knuckles.

"You talk a big game, Lils," I taunted as my own character had huge muscles and spikes in his head. "Let's see if you can put your fist where your mouth is."

"You mean your money," Lily laughed at my misquote of the muggle saying.

"Either way," I grinned.

The game began, and we both dodged, jerked, and twisted our bodies as if we were the characters in the game even though the movements did nothing for the game play, actually. It was the dance of the gamer, the bobbing motions to avoid the opponent at all cost. Lily and I both played our hardest, and for a moment, I was certain that I had her but Lily was victorious. Her little character snapped my character's head off, laughing as the blood spurted from the stump of a neck. Lily cheered as she jumped up and down. Her controller was an extension of her, held high over her head as she looked at me, laughing.

"I won! I told you!" Lily laughed, not evening being slightly modest about it. I smirked, though it was slightly humiliating to be beaten by a thirteen year old girl, but I took my defeat with grace and handed my controller over to James so that maybe, perhaps, he could regain some of the testosterone in the room that I had lost for team male in my defeat. James laughed, not seeming to be doing much better at it than I had against Lily, when Rose stormed in, nearly slamming the plate of sandwiches down on the table. Taryn was right behind her, looking a little smug and a bit annoyed, carrying a pitcher of juice and a stack of cups. He placed them down on the table and pulled Lily roughly into his lap, ignoring her sound of protest as James' character overtook hers in the moment of distraction. She tossed the controller to Albus and tried to reach for a sandwich.

"I missed you so much," he whispered to her. I only barely overheard him because I was sitting so close "We should go for a walk."

"Now?" Lily asked frowning as she struggled again to reach a sandwich from her place on Taryn's lap. She didn't seem too eager to go for a walk, but I knew she'd go.

"Yes, now," Taryn said. He wasn't smiling and I wondered if it had anything to do with Rose's sudden change in attitude. I watched as Lily shrugged and followed him out of the T.V. room, and I was curious to find out what he had done.

"Rose, what's up with you?" James said dismissively as he jerked his head, dodging one of Albus' blows.

"Nothing," Rose snapped quickly. James placed his controller on the table, surrendering, and looked at her.

"What happened, Rose?" James asked.

"I don't want to talk about it," Rose said shaking her head as she shot him a dirty look.

"You never not want to talk about it," James said. Rose glanced at me and I put my hands up quickly as James glared my way.

"I was here with you the whole time," I said quickly.

"James, don't be stupid," Rose said with a sigh as she rolled her eyes. "Just drop it, ok?"

"If someone hurt you…" James threatened and he momentarily glanced at me.

"James, Scorpius didn't do anything," Rose said with great exasperation.

"Seriously, man, I was here kicking your sister's butt up until the end where she completely murdered my character," I reminded him.

"Old habits," James muttered as he shoved an entire sandwich in his mouth at once. I was impressed at his ability and he grinned, waving his hand at me in challenge. I tried but gagged.

"Wimp," Rose teased though she wouldn't even attempt it.

"I don't see you trying," I taunted her. She laughed.

"Who do you think taught James that?" Rose asked and we all laughed. I glanced at the window for a moment, wondering if we were going to ever get snow, if Lily was going to come back to the television room, and what Taryn had done to get Rose so worked up. I didn't have long to think about it because Harry returned home in the middle of our trying to shove sandwiches in our faces and he took up one of the controllers in his hand.

"Who's up for a little Smash Bash?" Harry asked as he waved the controller at us… the siren song to the sailors as it were. Before long, we were engrossed in video games and completely, blissfully unaware at the passage of time.