A/N: I don't think I'm going to do any more author's notes from here on out.
Disclaimer: Much, written in my own hand with my own characters, but this would not be it. Plot is mine, the world is not.
Chapter One
"Do you think I'll get my letter soon?" Theron's voice echoed in the apartment. Lily looked up from the box she was unpacking.
"Usually they come during the summer," she explained as she flicked her wand, sending dishes zooming through the air and neatly stacking themselves in the cupboard. Theron watched in awe, and a twinge of guilt stabbed her. She debated just unpacking them herself but decided that she just didn't have it in her to do so tonight.
"I hope it comes soon," Theron explained as he opened up another box. He wrinkled his nose and pushed the box toward his mother. "Books."
"You can leave them," Lily nodded at another stack of boxes. "Why not take your boxes into your room and start unpacking them."
"Did we really live her once?" he asked as he lifted one of the smaller boxes. He tried to peek above the too large box.
"Once, a long time ago, when you were a baby," Lily explained as she sent the books flying one by one into the book shelf. She didn't look at her son, uncertain if she'd be able to hide the emotion on her face. She worked quickly, sending the contents of the boxes here and there until the boxes were all empty and breaking down.
"It'll be nice when I don't have to walk these down to the refuse bins," Theron whispered to his mother as the two struggled to carry them onto the lift to take them down. Lily couldn't agree more, but for the sake of looking normal she and Theron had to carry them down to the basement.
"Need some help?" a voice asked following down the hallway. Lily looked up and nearly dropped the boxes. Strutting toward her, confident and cocksure was Damon West. She tried to smile at him, but she feared it came off more of a grimace.
"Mum?" Theron asked looking to his mother for guidance.
"It's okay, Theron," Lily promised as she handed off half the stack he was struggling with to Damon. "This is our neighbor, Mr. West."
"Hello, Mr. West," Theron said with a slight frown on his face. Damon moved to take some boxes from him but Theron held tight and wouldn't relinquish them.
"You know, Lily," Damon said with a smirk. "No one's home during the day here, typically. You could just use magic."
"I know," Lily retorted. She whipped out her wand and with a pop, the boxes were gone.
"Mum," Theron groaned.
"It's quicker this way," Lily explained as she looked at Damon.
"Want to go for tea?" he asked, staring at the boy who stood beside her.
"How 'bout it, TC?" Lily looked to her son. He looked between his mother and Damon and frowned even more.
"C'mon sport," Damon said ruffling his hair. Theron frowned even more, deep contempt on his face.
"Please?" Lily asked of her son and he nodded once. Damon grinned.
"Fantastic," he said offering his arm to Lily and Theron. "Ever been to the Leaky Cauldron?"
"No," Theron said glancing at his mother and following her lead. Damon gripped his arm.
"You're in for a treat then," Damon said as the three aparated. Damon held tight at Theron pitched forward, holding him until he was able to steady. The boy pulled away from him and glared at him. If Damon noticed, he didn't say anything. The three of them headed into the pub.
"It's just like I remember it," Lily's breathless awe causing Theron to glance at her.
"Mum, you've been here before?" he asked. There was a hint of contempt and disbelief in his voice. Lily nodded.
"Many times," she replied but she didn't elaborate. An ancient old man looked up and grinned his toothless grin from behind the bar while rags hovered in mid air waiting for a dirty glass or plate to clean.
"Merlin! Is that little Lily Potter I see? All grown up," the man called out, his voice surprisingly strong despite his advanced age.
"Tom," she offered him a smile.
"I've not seen you in years, not since..." the man's eyes misted up as he patted Lily's arm. "Ah, and Damon, always a pleasure but you, my friend, I've seen plenty to not need to greet you with more than a hello."
"Always good, Tom," Damon nodded. The man directed his attention to the boy standing next to Lily, tall and proud.
"And my, this must be... but younger, no?" Tom's frown puckered his face as he tried to place the boy.
"My son, Theron," Lily answered proudly. "He's eleven."
"Has it been so many years already?" Tom murmured as he adjusted his glasses and looked at the boy critically. "But of course, a spitting image of his father."
"My father?" Theron's eyes widened and he looked at the man greedily.
"A table," Lily interrupted loudly, taking her arm from Damon's and directing her son towards one of the clean but dingy booths. Lily pushed the boy into the booth first, sliding in next to him. Damon sat across from them.
"Mum, did that man know my father?" Theron asked excitedly.
"Theron, not right now," Lily said through a false smile as she snapped her fingers once and menus appeared before them.
"My treat," Damon piped up. "You can order whatever you want, Theron. Don't hold back."
"You'll regret that," Lily chuckled as she perused the menu.
"Want to see something cool," Damon asked lowering his voice. "Tom hates when I do this but... watch."
"What?" Theron asked watching the older man wink at him. Damon pulled his wand out from somewhere out of sight and glanced around before tapping the menu three times. If he said anything, Theron didn't see him. With a crack, plates danced through the air and dipping and diving before them on the table, never settling for more than a moment.
"Merlin's short, Damon!" Tom called from the other side of the pub. Damon laughed and pushed one of the plates toward Lily. It landed with a faint noise, stoneware on polished wood.
"Your favorite, if I remember correctly," Damon said. Lily looked up from the plate of ham and mashed potatoes in surprise.
"I can't believe you remember," her voice mirrored the surprise that widened her eyes.
"I remember everything," he shrugged and turned to Theron. "You, young man, I don't know what your favorite is anymore. When you were little, it was fish and chips." Theron grinned.
"Still is," he said as he pulled the giant plate toward him. "With vinegar and salt, when mum lets me put it on myself."
"You always put too much," Lily responded as she watched Damon pull a final plate from the dancing plates around them, sending the disregarded ones back to the kitchen where they had come.
"So, you've moved back home, have you?" Damon asked cautiously as he tucked into his plate. He grinned when he saw Theron take advantage of the lack of focus on Lily's part to drown his fish and chips in the tangy liquids set on the wall side of the table.
"Theron's going off to Hogwarts in the fall," Lily replied as if that was the most common answer to give. Damon laughed and looked at the boy.
"You must be besides yourself excited about that," Damon said. The boy nodded, cheeks puffed out from all the fried fish he'd stuffed in there. The boy chewed hurriedly and swallowed, nearly choking.
"Boy am I!" his excitement was contagious. "Did you know my mom went there? Same with my dad?"
"I did," Damon said. "I knew your-"
"I hope I'm in Slytherin," Theron rambled, not even pausing to let Damon finish his statement. "I mean, I suppose any house would do, just to get to do magic. Mum says I have to wait until I get my official letter before she'll take me to get a wand, which I think is silly but mum's rules are mum's rules."
"You have to make sure that you get in," Lily reminded her tow headed son. He smirked.
"Mum, I'm a Malfoy," Theron retorted as if that summed it up.
The rest of the meal went without much conversation. Damon settled up with Tom, dropping coins on the bar and offering his arm to Lily. Theron scrambled out of the booth behind her, and the three stood in the pub expectantly. Lily looked at her son and smiled.
"How about we go to Uncle George's shop?" Lily suggested almost hesitantly. Theron looked at her almost warily.
"Are you sure?" he asked. Lily shrugged.
"If you don't want to go..." Lily trailed off as her son's face blossomed into the biggest grin.
"Honestly!" he cheered looking right at Damon. "Mum's uncle runs a joke shop. I've never been, but my cousins all have been. Great Grandma Molly says that its loads of fun."
"Mind if I tag along, sport?" Damon asked Theron. Theron shrugged noncommittally but took his mother's hand.
"Are we aparating?" Theron asked.
"Don't have to," Lily said as the three of them exited the back room of the pub. She pulled out her wand and tapped on the brick like she had as a child and the wall seemed to melt away, opening up to Diagon Ally. The main throughway spilled out before them, shops flanking them on either side. Many had come and gone, but a fair few had remained. Half way down, George and the late Fred's store stood as a beacon of never changing hope.
"Is that it?" Theron whispered in awe. Lily nudged him forward.
"Go on ahead," she encouraged. She pulled a few coins out of her pocket. "Try not to break the bank."
"Can we see the goblins afterwards?" Theron asked with eyes the size of saucers. Lily laughed.
"We'll see," Lily promised. "Go on ahead, and Mr. West and I will catch up." Theron hesitated, looking at Damon suspiciously.
"I'll keep an eye on her until you return," Damon promised solemnly, though there was a twinkle of mischief in his eyes.
"Okay," Theron agreed after a long pause. He took off down the street, nearly mowing down an old woman with a cane. Lily and Damon continued on their leisurely pace down Diagon Ally.
"Lily, Merlin, it's good to see you again," Damon said as the two took a seat on a nearby bench not far from the store.
"You, too, Damon," Lily replied honestly.
"He looks so much... so much like..." Damon stumbled over the words.
"Like Scorpius, I know," Lily's words were only slightly edged with sorrow. It had been nine years she'd taken to deal with the death of her brother and father, and the disappearance of her fiancée.
"It's like looking back in time at him," Damon's voice was quiet. "He even has Scorpius' smirk."
"He is definitely his father's son. Down to the over protectiveness," Lily sighed.
"Did you find what you were looking for?" Damon asked and his voice took on an almost bitter edge.
"I left because it was the right thing to do, not because I was looking for anything in particular. It was too hard to be here," Lily explained. "Think how much it hurts to see him, to see my son, and then think on how much he reminds you of Scorpius. You've been around us barely a few hours. Day in and day out, seeing that boy, his smirk and expressions, hearing his words, and you don't think it was the best thing I could have done?"
"No, Lily, I don't," Damon replied. "I think it was selfish and cowardly." His tone was gentle, but the words cut her to the quick.
"Cowardly? Because of me, Maggie lost her husband," Lily replied sharply. "I made a promise to her that she'd not see hide or hair of me. She only just moved away so I could return."
"Maggie never blamed you," Damon challenged. Lily laughed bitterly.
"No, not in front of people," Lily's words were laced with double meaning and thickened with emotion. She wiped the back of her hand across her eyes. "I said I wasn't going to do this anymore."
"Maggie was upset those first few months, no doubt, but it wasn't your fault that James died," Damon placed his hand on Lily's shoulder, keeping her from turning away from him. "James died doing his job."
"If he hadn't have been rushing, trying to get Scorpius back to me on time," Lily took a deep breath. "Look, I really don't want to talk about this. I've had to come to terms with my dad and brother dying within hours of each other and losing the baby, and constantly hoping in vain that Scorpius is alive somewhere."
"Lily," Damon warned.
"No, Damon, I know. If he was alive, he'd have found a way back to me," Lily interjected. "I'm not stupid or naive. I don't allow myself to hope, often. But it used to sneak up on me, and in my mind, I have to believe that he's dead."
"Lils," Damon breathed.
"Please, Damon, don't call me that," Lily's pained face stopped him from reaching for her, his hand closing on empty air and falling against the back of the bench. "Whatever you do, Damon, please don't call me that."
"Okay," Damon said after a few moments of silence between them. "Has Theron seen Draco lately?"
"Draco's been a bit of a problem, lately," Lily replied with a sigh.
"A problem?"
"Yes, well, he and Narcissa have been begging me to allow him to live at Malfoy Manor with them," Lily shrugged slightly as she shivered despite the early coming summer air.
"You don't want him to go?"
"It's not that," Lily took a deep breath. "He won't go, even if I ask him to go. He seems that he has to be the man of the house and protect me at all cost. Par for the course, they both understand. It's just hard when every moment he's not in lessons, he wants to be with me."
"Do you... I mean, perhaps I can take him for a day. Nine years is a long time to not get a break," Damon suggested. Lily laughed.
"He used to not be this bad," Lily explained. "I think he feels like he has to be for me the moon and the stars."
"He's a pretty special kid," Damon agreed. Lily looked to the store and nodded.
"This is the longest that he's willingly been away from me," Lily pointed out.
"Maybe being here, back in London, will help," Damon suggested. "And I'm still just down the hall in our old apartment. As much as you want to protect the world from him, the world needs Theron."
"That's what I'm afraid of," Lily murmured to herself as Damon stood and offered his hand to help her rise. Lily hesitated before she placed her hand in his. He squeezed it gently as she rose to her feet.
"You know, I've missed having you around," Damon said as they closed the distance between the bench and the door.
"Well, I'm back," Lily grinned up at him. "A little older, a little wiser, and a little less naive."
"Older and wiser, yes, but I think you still have that sweet naivety to you," Damon covered her hand with his own. "And I wouldn't change a thing."