Disclaimer: Some of this... I created with my own two hands, molded from clay and shaped into what is presented before you, other bits, I manipulated from someone else's world.

Chapter Eight

Lily crossed her arms against her chest, staring at the drawer she had been storing the ever increasing post cards that were showing up randomly in her home. At first, she thought it was a sweet way to remember him. She thought, perhaps, he'd anticipated one day that he wouldn't be there for her and that he set up the cards to come at random increments. She never saw them arrive, they'd just appear when she'd least expect them.

The messages were always sweet, or vague, and Lily would read them over and over, memorizing their words, before locking them away in her side table drawer. She didn't mention them to anyone, thinking that if they were post-humorously sent to her, that was no one business but her own. She didn't usually give them more than a second thought.

TC woke her early, despite it being a work day that she would have been up early anyways, carting a tray of toast and yogurt. She had been taking him in to work with her most days, setting him up in one of the spare offices with books to read, and today would be no different. For a minute, Lily wondered why he was bringing her breakfast in bed.

"It's your birthday, mum!" TC cheered as he nearly knocked the orange juice over.

"Oh, I can't believe I forgot!" Lily had laughed. She watched her son skip from the room to get ready for the day and she climbed free of the bed, eating the toast as she picked out her clothes for work. She went to drop the crust on the plate when she saw a corner of a postcard poking out from under the plate. She pulled it free, reading it.

She frowned at the same familiar hand writing, almost franticly scribbled on it.

I want to come home, Lily. I want to come home. Please, Lily. I want to come home.

Lily quickly dropped the card in the drawer, her heart pounding a mile a minute. She crossed her arms and she frowned, staring at the drawer as if she expected something to pop out from it. TC found her, still not dressed for work, still staring at the drawer a few minutes later.

"Theron, did you put the post card under the plate?" Lily asked quietly. TC frowned at her.

"Post card?" he asked. He shook her head. "I didn't see any post card. Why?"

"No reason," Lily replied with a frown. "I should get ready for work."

"Yeah," TC nodded. He grinned. "Great Granny Weasley is probably going to make the biggest cake ever." He skipped from the room again. Lily dressed, but she kept looking at the drawer suspiciously. In the end, she scooped up the post cards and headed out the door with her son in tow.

"Come on," she urged as she hurried down the street from the apparation point.

"Mum, I hate going in the lady's lavatory," groaned TC as the two of them pushed into the stall.

"You'd be at home right now if you and your cousins hadn't tried to contact the dead," Lily reminded him as she took his hand and helped him into the loo.

"Doesn't this strike you as weird?" TC asked as he wiggled his toes in the potty water.

"Better get used to it," Lily told him. "Tomorrow you catch the train to Hogwarts and that place is all magic, all of the time. So long as you remember your on magical probation."

"I know, I know," TC groaned. The conversation ended as they flushed themselves into the ministry. Lily held tight to her father's old briefcase in one hand, and TC's hand in the other, despite him trying to pull away.

Once TC was set up at his little desk in the spare office room, Lily headed to her desk. She glanced at the briefcase, holding the postcards. She needed to ask someone about them. Someone had to know how they were getting in to her house. The sweet gesture was turning cruel, and she needed them to now stop. Whether they had been a joke, or truly post humorously owled to her, she needed to find a way to get them to stop, because each post card felt like it was picking at old wounds that had healed but had to begun to rub her raw.

"I'm going to go grab something from the lunch cart," Lily told her son, poking her head in the door. "I'll be back in a few minutes, so behave."

"Of course, mum," TC replied looking up from one of the giant books spread out on the desk before him. He didn't hesitate to give her that famous Malfoy smirk before returning his attention back to the book he was reading. Lily nodded and headed down the lift, stopping off on the floor for Auror Affairs rather than taking it to the lobby and getting lunch. She pushed through the door and stopped, a smiling witch standing behind a desk.

"Can I help you?" the witch asked brightly. She had one of those bubble-gum personalities that grated on Lily's nerves straight off the bat.

"I'm here to, er... I need to speak with Draco," Lily told her.

"Is Mr. Malfoy expecting you?" she asked Lily, flipping through a paper calendar not unlike the one Rose had used to keep track of the schedule.

"No, I don't think so," Lily shook her head. The other witch's smile dropped slightly. "But being that I gave birth to his grandson, I'm sure he will be willing to make some time for me."

"Oh, you're Lily Potter!" the witch replied with a single nod. "Well, Mr. Malfoy isn't here, but maybe I can find someone that can assist you, unless this is a family thing?"

"Well, I'd prefer Mr. Malfoy, but..."

"Lily!" Rose cheered as she embraced her cousin.

"Rose," Lily grinned. Rose hugged her cousin.

"Happy Birthday," Rose laughed and started to lead Lily away. "Hold my calls, Ester."

''Will do," the witch said watching as Rose and Lily disappeared around the corner. Lily smiled at her older cousin, the door closing behind her. Lily took a seat in one of the chairs, placing the briefcase next to her while her cousin circled the desk.

"What brings you down from the Minister of Magic's office?" Rose said quietly. The laughter and smile had slipped from her face and she looked very serious.

"I need information, Rose," Lily said with a frown, flipping back the flap on the case and pulling out the stack of post cards. Lily watched Rose's face as she read through them. Rose set them down on the desk and looked at her cousin.

"Where did you get these?" Rose asked cautiously.

"They've been popping up all over the place at home," Lily explained. She flipped the flap down over the bag, and leaned back in the chair. "At first I thought that it was sweet, like he'd left them to be delievered at this point in my life, but Rose, I don't know. I don't feel like Scorpius is dead."

"Lily," Rose warned glancing away from Lily's face for a second. She frowned. "Lily, Scorpius' was the victim of a mission gone-wrong."

"I know, I know," Lily sighed brushing a tear from her cheek. She smiled. "It's hopes and wishes, and I will always have Scorpius in my heart, and I see a living, breathing version of him in my son. But part of my soul feels like there is more answers out there to questions I haven't asked."

"You shouldn't do this to yourself," Rose chided gently. "What good comes of picking at old wounds?"

"Rose, it's just... sometimes I think I can feel him," Lily murmured, pressing her hand to heart. "It's silly, I know." Lily laughed and Rose joined in a second later.

"Your love for him was profound," Rose admitted. "One that probably could outstand all tests."

"Yeah," Lily agreed. Rose stood.

"I'll... I'll look into these post cards for you Lily. No promises," Rose explained. "It's a dead in, surely, but I'll look into them."

"Thank you, cousin," Lily embraced Rose and released her. Rose opened the door to the office, holding it wide as Lily walked through. Lily expected Rose to follow, but found the door had been closed and Lily was on the outside of the door. She frowned and headed out of the Department of Auror Affairs, getting a little wave from the receptionist who was battling with an owl over a parchment.

Lily headed toward the elevator, tapping her foot while she waited for the lift. The grates and doors slid open, Lily hesitated entered as Draco and Damon stepped out, having what looked to Lily an argument. They both clammed up quick upon seeing her, both giving her a forced smile.

"Hey, Lily, what're you doing down here?" Damon asked.

"Oh, I was dropping off these weird postcards. I gave them to Rose," Lily dismissed with a flip of her hand.

"Weird post cards?" Draco asked.

"Yeah, probably nothing," Lily replied. "I'm guess that Scorpius set them up way back when he was taking those trips to Argentina."

"Argentina? What makes you think they're from Argentina?" Draco asked quietly as he shot a look to Damon. Lily would have missed it if she hadn't been looking for some sort of unspoken exchange between them.

"Oh, you know," Lily murmured dismissively again. She smiled with a slight shrug. "They say things like- 'Greetings from Sunny Argentina' and stuff."

"Oh," Damon responded.

"Rose has them now," Lily offered. "Says it's probably nothing."

"Probably nothing, I agree," Draco responded thoughtfully. Damon laughed.

"Scorpius always was a hopeless romantic at heart," Damon murmured. Lily laughed lightly.

"I should get down to the food cart and get Theron something to eat before he starts chewing up some of my books," Lily explained as she stepped on to the lift. She turned and looked at Damon and Draco, both standing there with pensive looks on their faces. "I'm sure whatever shenanigans were going down, the department will get to the bottom of it." She winked as the grates closed between her and them.

Draco turned to Damon, eyebrows furrowed and his mouth drawn in a thin line.

"I want you to rally and roust everyone. Everyone, in command central in fifteen," Draco growled quietly before he turned and stalked off in the opposite direction of the main entrance to the Department of Auror Affairs.

"Damn it, Scorpius," Damon whispered under his breath. "You and your can of worms."