Chapter Twenty

A/N: Thank you to those who reviewed! I just LOVE checking my e-mail in the morning and finding Review Alerts! I hope most of the story is cleared up and you now understand. I can't believe school starts in a week! :O Warning: the first part is full of Thalia/Albus fluff! I'm not exactly complaining... ;)

Albus's POV

I sat in a chair with my arm around Thalia, who was now sobbing hysterically.

We were on the fourth floor in St. Mungo's for spell damage, and we had snagged an empty ward, thanks to my father and the urgency of our situation, which we had told in a matter of minutes, down at the front desk.

Thalia and I were sitting on chairs beside her mother's unconscious form, which was sitting quite still in the hospital bed. The Healer had said that her heart beat was quite weak.

"The Cruciatus Curse was a contributing factor of her fragile state right now, but it seems as if she's also been smoking a great deal. Her pulse is barely going now; the effects of the curse are still rubbing off onto her. " He hesitated, before continuing. "There may be a slight chance she may not make it. But – "He added quickly, seeing the look on Thalia's face, "We'll try our best to bring her back to health." He said, before leaving the room. After that, Thalia had collapsed into a wreck.

My dad, the other Aurors, Mr. Malfoy, and Thalia's dad were in the tearoom, probably trying to sort out the situation. I didn't blame them for being confused, entering a semi-dark room full of paralyzed Death Eaters, two unconscious women, a confused and distraught American Auror, an exhausted witch, and two shocked teenage wizards. I felt sorry for Leo; as soon as he was pulled out of the ward for 'a word' (in other words, interrogated), he was bombarded with questions, but my dad, the one with the most sense, had suggested they all go down to the tearoom so that everything could be answered, one at a time. This left me with Thalia, who had now subsided into silent tears and occasional hiccoughs.

She suddenly looked up at me, her blue-grey eyes swimming with tears. "Albus?"

I tried to smile for her; instead it came out a strained grimace. "Yes, Thalia?"

She looked desperately worried. "Are-are you going to dump me?"

I was totally shocked. Dump her? "No, I would never!" I said fiercely. "Why on earth would I do that?"

She sighed. "I-I just thought that ever since you found out that I'm a-a Malfoy, you'd break it off."

I gaped at her. "Break it off with you? Thalia, I don't freaking care what your parentage is! You're a special girl; you're bold, brave, and fun to be around. You're one of the best Quidditch players I've ever met. You're something really special. I love you, and I'd never let you go." I blurted out, turning red at the last words.

Thalia smiled, genuinely surprised but looked flattered. "I-I love you, too, Albus. And thank you. Thank you for being there for me."

I hugged her closer and kissed the top of her head. "You're welcome, love."

She looked up at me once more. "Albus?"

I smiled at Thalia again. "Yes?"

"Is everything going to be alright?"

I was convincing myself more than her, thinking about my cousin Rose, who was unconscious on this very same floor. "I hope so, Thalia, I hope so."

. . .

I left Thalia alone with her mother for a few minutes to get a cup of tea to calm my nerves.

Climbing up a flight of stairs up to the fifth floor and walking down the hall to the tearoom, I heard a bunch of voices. They all stopped abruptly as soon as they took sight of me. Several Aurors eyed me suspiciously, probably wondering whether I was safe. I couldn't blame them; I was found in the middle of a Death Eater meeting. That was definitely highly suspicious.

Others just looked over at me and kept talking to each other in hushed tones. I went up to the teapot that was magically Charmed to make tea by itself. I picked it up carefully, the teapot whistling in protest. I poured the boiling liquid into a teacup and went to sit beside my dad, who was in deep conversation with Rose's and Thalia's dads and Mr. Malfoy (they indeed did look like twins if you surveyed them really closely), who was looking quite surprised to be joining in on a conversation with my dad and uncle. Well, come to think of it, Mr. Weasley did look equally surprised and uncomfortable.

My dad stopped talking and went to face me, a smile on his face. "Hey, Al."

I smiled back. "Hey, dad. Mr. Malfoys, Uncle Ron." I nodded to the three men.

After replying with their own greetings, they continued on their conversation, which I was not listening onto, because a sudden thought just occurred to me.

How on earth did those Aurors find us? We didn't send for any. And I don't think that Uncle Ron and Aunt Hermione came home yet...Strange...

I decided that I couldn't keep this in my head any longer. "Dad?" I asked, interrupting something Uncle Ron was about to say, who looked slightly nettled.

"Yes, Al?"

"How did you guys know we were at Malfoy Manor?" I looked around at their faces, and they each looked at my dad expectantly, except for Scorpius's dad, their expressions surprised but curious.

My dad smiled at me, as if he had expected me to ask that question sooner or later. "Well, we couldn't have done it without the help of Draco here." Mr. Malfoy looked at his feet, a slight flush in his pale complexion. Uncle Ron and Leo looked as surprised as I felt.

"How so?"

"Well," My dad said, with the air of starting a very important story, "It all started when he came to Auror Headquarters, saying that lately these days, his father was acting quite loopy. I suggested that he should go consult St. Mungo's, but he persisted that it wasn't just your typical insanity case, but he was muttering strange things like 'prophecy', 'twins', and 'lion and snake'. So, I went over to Malfoy Manor and coaxed him into drinking some Veritaserum, and he told us everything, which Leo here had repeated in his story. I asked Draco to keep a watch on Scorpius, in case anything else funny went on, and I also kept tabs on the Wilcox family for the same reasons.

"When Draco had Flooed in and said that Scorpius had been due back home an hour ago, we checked your Uncle Ron's house, where Astoria said he had Flooed to, and we found the evidence.

"We rushed over as soon as we could, and, you know what happened next. We found you five, six including Sally," Leo flushed slightly at his ex-wife's name, "and we rounded up the Death Eaters. Piece of cake, really." My dad finished.

I looked over at Scorpius's dad, who seemed quite abashed under the attention of it all. We had met on countless occasions, but he was the one who always hung back, observing the scene. I had never felt so thankful and awestruck toward an adult before – well, to one who wasn't related to me.

"Thank you, Mr. Malfoy." I said quietly but loud enough for Draco to hear the gratitude in my voice.

He looked up, surprised. Meeting my eyes, he nodded firmly. "You're welcome, Albus."

I smiled in response. While the four adults continued their conversation about the fate of the two dozen or so Death Eaters, I was quite surprised but thankful for Draco's help. I didn't know he cared so for the safety of me, Thalia, Scorpius, and Rose.

Well, Scorpius is his son, I thought.

I realized that I had never really seen Draco give a lot of fatherly affection whenever the three of us came over. He was actually shy when we were around and mostly retreated to his study, where he said that he was doing paperwork. I figured that maybe me and Rose were just a reminder of our parents, whom he had been quite nasty to, according to Uncle Ron (honestly, I think he's a little stubborn whenever it comes to childhood rivalries). I sort of felt sorry for him whenever he went to pick Scorpius up from the Weasleys' because of UncleRon's wary stare.

When I finished my tea, I asked Thalia's dad if I could talk to him for a second.

"Sure, Albus," He said when we were out of earshot of the other Aurors.

"Um, Mr. Malfoy - ?" I asked.

He laughed. "Please, call me Leo."

"Uh, okay, Leo? I really think you should go talk to Thalia." I said.

He looked nervous. "I-I don't know – "

I cut him off. "You have to."

"But I- "

I cut him off once again. "She's quite a wreck right now, and the shock of everything is settling on her. You are her father, you know. And I think you have enough time to make up for those sixteen years you've spent without her."

He sighed and ruffled his already dishevelled pale gold hair, making it stick up. I laughed mentally; I always did that whenever I was nervous, too. "I-I'm just worried that I'll mess up, you know? I'm a coward, a coward! If I had the guts to tell my wife right away that I was a wizard, the three of us probably would have a better life than right now. I mean, she has a great one, what with good friends like you, Rose, and Scorpius, but I think she would've been happier if I had gathered enough courage."

"You know, you can spend your whole life wishing that you could've changed something in the past, that you should have done something different, but why do that when you can change things now? You can't change the past. But you can change the future. I think you should go talk to her." I said firmly, before adding, "It's never too late."

We were silent for a few minutes. Leo looked like he was thinking hard. Finally, he broke it. "I'll do it, but after I finish up over here with the other Aurors. They still want to know everything."

I nodded. "Good luck," I said, before making my way back downstairs to where Thalia and her mother were.

Thalia was busy snoring softly, her hand intertwined in her mum's. She was still sitting in her chair, but she was slightly leaning forward, so that she could hold her mum's hand. I smiled at the sight, and went to sit beside her in a chair.

I took the time to examine both of them. They looked exactly the same, only Thalia's chestnut brown hair was lighter than her mum's, her features were slightly sharper, and her closed eyes were more grey than blue. I smiled again, remembering me and my own mother when I was younger.

Putting my arm around her, I kissed her forehead softly. Placing her head on my shoulder, I let myself drift off to sleep, my last thoughts were of wishing that everything would be okay again before letting a wave of tiredness wash over me.

A/N: Pleases Review! ;D Everything will start to look brighter from now on!