AN:: Lollie is my Hero... best Beta evah!!! -glomps like mad- ... anyyyyways... next chapter... apparently this is sad... I've had the idea for months... just not the time to write it... XD...

Heaven

Scorpius Malfoy made his way from the cramped office in the Department of International Affairs, which he shared with three other young graduates, to the lift, which would take him down to the Atrium. He was frowning slightly to himself, his forehead creased with both worry and annoyance; it had been four days since Lily had last spoken to him, by Owl Post or otherwise. It was extremely unlike her. Not that Scorpius thought that she was clingy, he liked the fact that she took the time just to send a short note to say hello on random occasions. And, considering it was the Easter Holidays of her seventh year, he should have seen her around more often than he had.

He entered the lift and backed up against the far wall, anticipating the press of people who may enter at any given time. At that moment though, only two grey haired wizards stood around, talking in soft voices. Scorpius leaned his head on the marble lift wall behind him and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"…Very sad for their loss." One of the two other occupants of the lift was murmuring to the other. "Such a good man he was, that Arthur…" Scorpius' eyes flew open in shock as he strained his ears to hear more.

"Yes, but at least he went peacefully." The second man sighed. "The family must be distraught." The first man grunted in agreement.

"Yes, far as I heard, even the Head of the Auror Department, his son in law, hasn't been in at all this week." Shit… Scorpius thought to himself, his head mentally recalling the suspicious lack of Weasleys at the Ministry in the past few days. "I'll be paying my respects to the Weasley family at the funeral tomorrow." The second man nodded along as the doors pinged open.

Both were shocked out of their wits when the usually demure Malfoy boy pushed past them and rushed for the Apparition points down the hall.

Scorpius appeared with a small crack a few hundred yards away from the Weasley family home of the Burrow, the village of Ottery St. Catchpole visible just on the horizon and glowing with light from the setting sun. No noise was coming from the house, and that was what worried Scorpius the most; the usually full of life place seemed so empty, yet the lights showing from the ground floor proved otherwise. Scorpius bit his lip and made his way forwards in the direction of the kitchen door. He raised his hand to knock, when it suddenly opened slowly. Scorpius came face to face with the elderly Weasley Matriarch. The two of them stared at each other for a few moments before Scorpius bowed his head slightly.

"I only just heard." He whispered lowly to Molly Weasley, who just nodded sadly. Scorpius could make out tears forming in the corners of her eyes, her face already blotchy from what was probably days of grieving. Molly smiled a watery smile at him and raised a hand to his cheek and Scorpius made out the rough texture of her fingers, created by many a hard day's work.

"Arthur always liked you. Hated your grandfather, disliked your father, but he always liked you. He once told me that you were the best thing to happen to Lily. I didn't believe him at first. But he was right." A tear slipped down her weathered and wrinkled cheek and Scorpius offered his handkerchief.

"It's clean." Molly smiled again at his usual mannerisms and wiped her face with the proffered material.

"She's in the Orchard. I can't blame her for wanting to get out of there." She motioned to the still empty-sounding house. "I should be getting back in. Just came out for some air." She nodded in a confirmed manner, her lips trembling slightly. Scorpius watched as she hobbled back inside, the door closing softly behind her.

It didn't take him long to find her. She was sitting nestled in the branches of one of her favourite apple trees, the leaves hiding her from the rest of the world. Scorpius dropped to sit at the base of the tree, her bare foot dangling to hang besides her face. They stared out across the fields and, eventually, the sun left them in darkness.

"Do believe in Heaven, Scor?" Scorpius almost jumped at the quiet, hoarse voice. He could hear the effect that this had taken on her.

"Why do you ask?" He questioned back, still not looking up at her.

"Because I don't know what to believe. I… I never believed in God, or any kind of religion really… but I just… I can't believe that there isn't somewhere, out there, for people like him." Scorpius finally turned his head to her. She was staring down at him; a sad, lost look filling her eyes. Scorpius raised an eyebrow at her, no real meaning behind it, yet Lily understood exactly what it meant. She slid down from the tree and settled herself in his lap, her head leaning back onto his chest as his hands wound their way around her stomach. Scorpius sighed and kissed the top of her head, still wondering what he should say to her.

"I don't know either. I haven't ever had a reason to think about it, so I don't really know." He paused and frowned before starting again. "You hear all of those religious people going on about the after life. They are so certain that it exists, so then to them there must be a heaven. It therefore must exist from pure will of thinking; it comes from their faith and their belief." There was a short silence, where Scorpius couldn't tell if Lily was awake or asleep.

"But what about those who don't believe?" She pushed herself back into him further, as if trying to mold herself into him. Scorpius tightened his grip on her. It was hard trying to talk to her calmly when he knew she was inches away from bursting into tears and he himself could feel a prickling sensation in his eyes. "What happens to them?" Scorpius breathed in deeply, the scent of the Orchard mingling with the smell that was uniquely Lily.

"I… You know what?" Lily turned around in his lap to face him, her nose a blotchy red and her eyes slightly blood shot. Scorpius couldn't help but feel his stomach lurch slightly, filling with a pang which wanted to help her, comfort her, make it all better. But he knew he couldn't; not right now anyway. It would take time before she was completely better.

She had been one of the closer grandchildren to Arthur Weasley, one of the few who had always put up with their grandfather's nonsense and endless talk of Muggles and his raids and what he was planning to do with all of the junk in the shed which he had gathered over the years. She had been the one to introduce him to the wonders of the Internet, the only one who volunteered to go shopping with him in one of the larger Muggle "Malls" in London, the one who had shown him how to send a text message on the Muggle-Magic mobile phone she had given him for Christmas in her fourth year; so that he could stay in contact with her while she was away at school. Scorpius knew, while Arthur would never admit it to anyone else, that Lily had always been his favourite grandchild. Lily wouldn't just get over the loss of her grandfather overnight.

"What?" She whispered, looking into his grey eyes.

"I don't think that it matters whether or not you are religious as to if there is a Heaven or not. I think… we just have to believe that there is one out there. Those people and their God, that's their way of believing in something more. If we believe that a Heaven is waiting for us out there, then there is." Lily nodded and leaned back once more, her eyes focusing up on the nighttimesky; stars spangling the blue-black blanket like tiny fragments of glass.

"So he's up there? In Heaven?" she asked him, her voice still not rising above a whisper. "Do you think he believed?"

Scorpius let out a deep breath. He peered up to see what she was seeing while taking her hands in his, still wrapped like a cocoon around her.

"Yeah, I think he did."