Disc.: My plot.

A/N: Quite possibly the shortest chapter I have ever written... but it's exactly as long as it's supposed to be...

Chapter Thirty Seven

It was a brief good-bye. He could see it in her eyes as Lily looked up at him. His heart swelled for the moment that with everyone who had followed her to this awful place, her eyes instinctively went to him. Scorpius didn't glance away as the ex-minister slammed his hands on either side of them and down they both went, him falling safely away as her head connected with the crumbling stone of Tom Riddle's grave. The sound echoed in the darkening graveyard, carried on the whipping wind. Scorpius ran to her, cradling her head in his arms as Marshall placed his fingers on her throat.

"She doesn't have a pulse," Marshall choked out.

"But the vow!" Draco gasped as he joined them on the ground, laying Lily out on the lichen that grew threatening to take over the whole graveyard.

"She must not have- I'm still here," Marshall urged.

"Can we go in after her?" Scorpius asked. No one seemed to know. Blood trickled from her head wound and from the corner of her mouth. Marshall lowered his ear to her mouth, checking.

"She's not breathing," he immediately pinched off her nose and breathed into her lungs.

"Maybe, we just have to keep breathing and stuff until she comes out of it," Draco suggested as Damon fell beside Marshall to start doing chest compressions.

"Maybe," Marshall answered between breaths. "She's always come out of it before."

"Let me know if you want to trade off," Scorpius told them after a while. Damon and Marshall glanced at each other before looking at Draco and Scorpius. Marshall kept breathing.

"Scorpius, man... it's been half an hour," Damon grunted. "It's possible, we need to consider-"

"She's not gone through the veil yet," Scorpius snapped. Damon stopped doing compressions, Marshall stopped breathing for her.

"Scorpius," Marshall shook his head after touching her neck. "She's starting to cool."

"No!" Scorpius yelled at him. He shot his dad a look.

"Scorpius, don't-" warned Draco as Scorpius grabbed her face, lowering his mouth to hers for a kiss and quickly counted back, sending himself hurtling to the ground. He stopped, the room dark around him. The air was acrid, smoke hung heavy.

"Lily?" Scorpius called out.

"Not yet," she whispered. Scorpius spun around, searching for the whisper.

"Lily! You're out of time, you've been out of time," he shouted. The sound reverberated off the dark and collapsed in on him.

"Not yet," she whispered softly. He strained to hear her, the gasp of breath. He reached out, his hand touching her hair.

"Lily?" he fell to his knees, unable to make her out clearly in the dark.

"You shouldn't be here," Lily told him, turning her face to his hand. He cupped her cheek.

"You shouldn't be here, either," he told her as he crawled closer to her. "You're not breathing. Your heart is not beating anymore."

"This place, it's incompatible with life," she sighed softly.

"Lily, come back with me," he begged her.

"I remember everything now, Scorpius. There's no way that I-"

"What he did to you, it doesn't change how I feel about you," he promised.

"You can't know-"

"I know, Lily," he gripped her face in his and kissed her deeply. "Come back to me."

"What about him?" Lily asked. For the first time, Scorpius was aware that they were not alone.

"Is that the ex-minister?" Scorpius asked.

"I don't want him inside me," Lily shuddered slightly. "I want to be back home with you and Damon, and the kids. I want Damon to know his daughter. I want us all to be happy. If he's here, inside me, I don't know that it could happen."

"I'll deal with him," Scorpius promised as his hand clamped down on the prone man's throat.

"He's already dead, Scorpius," Lily sighed softly. "We just need to take him out of here. Is Marshall okay? I didn't bring us here."

"He's fine. He's breathing for you, Damon's beating your heart, but it's been so long, Lily," Scorpius urged. "Can you get us out of here? Do you have the strength left?"

"I think so," Lily held tight to Scorpius, brushing his hair away. "I've missed you so much."

"I've missed you too, love," Scorpius leaned forward placing his forehead against hers in the dark.

"Ten-nine-eight..." Lily's breathless whispers faded away, interrupted by the loud coughing and choking as he pushed Damon away from him.

"Scorpius!" Draco pushed the other man away, wrapping his arms around his son. Scorpius struggled for a moment.

"Lily?" Scorpius asked and for a moment he was transported back years ago when he'd lost her to the frozen lake.

"She's alive," Marshall called from where he was checking her over. "Weak, but alive. It's a miracle."

"And the ex-minister?" Scorpius choked out, battling to free himself from his father.

"Obadiah Parker is dead."