A/N: His eyes are as green as a fresh pickled toad, his hair is as dark as a black board; I wish he were mine, he's really divine, the hero who conquered the dark lord!

Aaaaand I should like to dedicate this lovely peace of musical valentine gram to the five people who have story alerts! The Marauderet, acompletestranger, KatiePBell and I can't put the periods because the site thinks it's a link, how odd, smartypants023, and runningYODA. You are currently the five coolest people in the world except for me. I hope I don't disappoint.


"Mom, it's not what you think."

"That is the son of Draco Malfoy, Lily," Ginny hissed as she slammed her hands down on the table, eliciting more looks from other tables. "You do know that don't you?"

"Mom!" Lily said desperately. "He's not like his father, he's not!"

"He is a MALFOY!" Ginny screeched far too loudly, causing everyone within the inn and a few people outside to stare.

"What happened to 'people are not their parents' and 'they have their own lives'?"

"They don't when they're a Malfoy."

"Mum," Lily said, anger finally boiling over her fear. "You are being unreasonable."

"Me? I'm unreasonable? You're the one who's dating a-" Ginny stopped and gasped, her hand flying to cover her mouth in shock.

"What?" Lily asked, alarmed.

"You- you... you haven't slept with him have you?" Lily blinked once, staring at her mother. Then, she burst into an uncontrollable fit of laughter. Ginny started laughing, getting up and fixing her chair so that she could sit in it the proper way. She sat back down just as Lily was able to breathe through the tears streaming down her face.

"Oh God, no, no, we haven't... ew. No. Just... no."

"Well, good." Ginny reached out and took her daughter's hands in hers. "Listen, I... I don't like it."

"I know." Lily nodded.

"I don't like it at all, and I don't trust him."

"You don't even know him, mum."

"No, and that's - you're right. You're right, I don't know him, and I don't know what he's capable of, and that can be good or bad, Lily. Please, please, please just understand. That can be good or bad."

Lily sighed.

"He's a good guy, mum. He really is."

"Right, well, that remains to be seen. In the meantime..."

"Yeah?"

"Let's just keep this between us girls, okay?"

Lily nodded.

"Right. So... don't... tell... dad..."

"Er, no," Ginny said. "Don't tell your father."

"Speaking of," Lily said, "Why are you guys here?"

"Well, we came to see you, of course," Ginny said with a look that said 'not here'. She nodded to explain that she understood, and then stood up, wrapping her scarf around her neck as she spoke.

"So, we ought to go see him then, hm?"

"Yes, I suppose we should." Ginny stood up and together they went down to the joke shop to see the rest of their family.


George had done well at taking over Zonko's, and over the years had prospered, largely due to the fact that, even through marriage and fatherhood, he had not matured in the slightest, and was often seen giving people advice on how to drive their teachers mad. He was also willing to tell anyone who asked about how he had lost his ear in an epic airborne battle with the greatest 'slimy, greasy-haired, long-nosed git' ever seen at Hogwarts, something Harry was currently correcting in good humor as he leaned casually up against a wall of candies that boasted a variety of different abilities, the least of which would get a student out of class.

Ginny left Lily at the door and walked over to where Harry was standing. She whispered something into his ear and he nodded, looking over at Lily and then saying something quietly to Ginny, who then went back to her daughter.

"Get your brother and meet us at the Hogshead in half an hour."

Lily looked quizzically at her mother, who simply shook her head and slipped out the door.

Lily made her way into the shop, ducking as a flying frisbee emanating purple sparks whizzed past her head, chased by a terrified first year boy with blond hair and freckles.

"Hey, Lily!" Harry put his arm around her shoulder in a half hug as she stood next to him. "How's school going?"

"It's barely the end of September, dad, there isn't much going on." She looked at him sideways. He looked casually around the store, nodding slightly.

"That's good. I ought to be off soon. Say hello to your brother for me, okay?" An understanding passed between them as they made eye contact, and they both nodded once before Harry left her side, leaving the same way Ginny went.

Lily looked around the shop. There was no hint of flaming red hair but for her own, which meant that a large cluster of Weasleys were now crammed into the tiny office where George did his business deals, and there was no telling what they were talking about. She shook her head, scanning the crowd for her brother.


"Alright, what's been going on?"

Lily leaned up against the desk with her arms folded across her chest, looking back and forth between her parents. Albus was sitting at the desk across from his mother, and Harry was pacing up and down the middle of the room.

"There's been some news," Ginny said quietly.

"This is about the war, isn't it?" Lily asked. "Isn't it?"

"Sweety, we don't know anything for certain, but - "

"But this is about the war. I knew it."

"Knew what?" Harry asked.

"She knew it was coming," Albus chimed in. "I think we've all suspected."

"It is not coming."

"Harry, dear, of course it is." Ginny turned to address her children. "We've heard that it was headed this way and we've kept the prime minister in the loop, thank God Shacklebolt isn't the idiot that Scrimgeour was, but we also have some recon info that says the war is actually coming here. And by here, I mean to your father."

Harry ran his hand through his hair.

"Recon?" Albus inquired.

"Uncle Charlie. The news came from Romania."

"Well, shit." Lily looked at her dad.

"You're the head of the department of magical defense, what do we do?"

"The main thing is to not cause a panic," Harry said. "So we need to build resistance, but we need to do it, one, without terrorizing everyone in the country, and two, without any information about what we're actually up against. Charlie's still in Romania doing what he can with intelligence, and Bill's offered to go back to Egypt but Molly won't let him..."

"Does James know?" Albus asked his mother. She nodded, a look of concern crossing her face.

"All right then," Lily said. "We have no information other than we might be in trouble, and no way of defending ourselves at present. What do we do?"

"I'm glad you ask," Ginny said. She reached into her pocket, pulled out a galleon and held it up to the light.


A/N: Cookies for the first person to guess (or Google) the name of the charm used on the magical Galleon! Cyber cookies, of course. I'm poor.

Normally my chapters rack up around ten thousand words each, but in this story I think it's best I keep them 1,000-1,500 so I can update more quickly, but be warned - this means that I may change my mind and spring ten thousand words on you. Hahah.