Daemon and Lily had bought a house with a garden because they knew they would never find a house that was big enough (well on their budget) to host a Weasley family dinner inside. Lily and Daemon had cooked up a storm. The tables were laden with food and Lily felt quite satisfied.

James Flooed in through the fireplace, a little annoyed because Ariana Longbottom hadn't been at the Leaky Cauldron. It had been a long shot though, he supposed.

"James!" Lily yelled hugging him.

"Hey Sophie," Daemon said kissing Sophie on the cheek.

"I've missed you so much," Lily said, not letting go of her brother. "You have to come home more. It's ridiculous. You get two whole months off when it isn't Quidditch season."

Sophie, who knew that comment was directed more towards her than it was to James, reddened. "But that just makes you coming here all the more special," Daemon said kindly, feeling a little sorry for Sophie.

"Well when are the rest of the brood coming?" Sophie asked, forcing herself to seem interested.

"Should be here now," Lily said. She knew it was horrible but she drew some satisfaction from the fact that Sophie and James didn't seem to be on the best terms. He was avoiding her gaze, which was both reproachful and vaguely annoyed.

"You can put your bags upstairs," Daemon said.

"Trouble in paradise," Lily said to Daemon when they were alone.

"Don't sound so happy," he answered reprovingly.

Scorpius flooed in. He looked rather harried.

"Is Rose here yet?" he asked before even saying hello.

"Not yet," Daemon said. "No one's come yet. Just James and Sophie."

"Okay," Scorpius said, and immediately made a beeline for the alcohol.

"Slow down sailor," Lily said. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing, nothing," he said unconvincingly. "I'll explain later. I need Rose."

And suddenly Lily felt an odd pang in her chest. The way he said he needed Rose, though he probably didn't mean it that way, it sounded like he really needed Rose. Daemon never needed her that way.

"She'll be here soon," Lily said.

Slowly the whole Weasley clan trickled in.

Fred immediately let off a firework in celebration of James' return, much to Lily's horror.

"You two are twenty-eight years old," Lily stormed. "You aren't allowed to destroy my house."

Fred was accompanied by one of his many girlfriends. She was a pretty brunette with large, blue, slightly vacant looking eyes.

When Rose arrived Lily decided that it was time to serve dinner. Everybody moved out into the garden and Rose sat next to Scorpius and held his hand tightly.

Albus noticed how his best friend sort of relaxed when Rose was around. He didn't get that. Rose made most people incredibly tense. He was sort of tense now. His sister-in-law had obviously had a falling out with his brother because she was rubbing her leg against his in a most unplatonic way. Sleeping with her three years ago had been a terrible idea. Even worse had been sleeping with her about a year ago. And that little slip up two months ago had probably been the most terrible by far.

Not that the experiences themselves had been bad. Apart from the first one, which he barely remembered they had by and large been pretty good. Incredibly good he thought guiltily. No it wasn't the sex that was terrible; it was the overwhelming guilt he felt after every time. The last time he hadn't even bothered to go see his brother. He had just screwed his brother's wife. You really know how to pick 'em, Al thought to himself wryly. His last serious relationship had been with a woman nearly seven years older than him and his boss to boot.

"You said you had something to tell everyone," Lily said, poking James in the shoulder.

"I was just waiting for Lucy," he explained.

He noticed how his almost brother-in-law stiffened at that name.

"She probably isn't coming," Lily said, also noticing her boyfriend's reaction and feeling a little queasy.

"I'm here, I'm here," a deep, gruff sort of voice said. And almost unconsciously Daemon smiled.

Lucy sat down next to Louis and smiled at everyone.

"Sorry about my lateness," she said. "Flight was delayed."

It had been nearly two years since Daemon had last seen Lucy and she looked just as beautiful. Her wide smile was still incredibly generous and her presence was both comforting and painful all at the same time.

"Good, now everyone's here I can tell you my news," James said brightly.

"Is it good news Jimmy?" Dominique asked, already a little drunk.

James scowled at her. He hated being called Jimmy.

"Well that depends on how much you like my darling husband," Sophie said, her tone indicating in no uncertain terms that she was in fact not too fond of him.

"We're coming back," James said simply.

"Back here?" his mother asked, overjoyed. "For good?"

"For the next two seasons at least," James said. "The Nifflers signed me over to Puddlemere. I'm coming home."

"That's brilliant," Lily shouted, jumping up to hug him.

This family was always so enthusiastic Sophie thought, a tad bitterly. Now Fred was giving James a detailed list of all the possible places he could stay in London. Of course all of them were within walking distance of Fred's house. Not that it mattered. No doubt Fred would set up James' Floo Network to ensure that it was well connected to every single Weasley house.

"Scorpius has to tell everyone something too," Rose said. She was uncharacteristically subdued today.

"More good news?" her mother asked hopefully. She was very fond of Scorpius and would have absolutely no problems if he announced his engagement to her daughter tonight.

"It depends," Scorpius said. "Remember a couple of years ago you told me that if I wanted things to change I had to do something about it?"

"Vaguely," Hermione said. "But you've done an excellent job. You and Albus. I'm so proud of you two."

Scorpius smiled. About two years ago he had set up a law firm with Albus. Potter and Malfoy Associates. It had been wildly successful only hampered by their constant run-ins with the Ministry.

"Thank you," he said. "But that isn't enough. I want to make a difference. Make this world a better place. Protect people who can't protect themselves." There was an odd look in his eyes. If it had been anyone else the words coming out of his mouth would've sounded ridiculous. But because of the utter conviction in his tone they became almost inspiring.

"Merlin," Al said, desperately trying to ignore the hand that was inching it's way up his thigh. "You sound like you're campaigning for Minister."

"I am," Scorpius said. "I sent in my nomination yesterday and Wizengamot accepted it."

There was a stunned silence all around the table and then slowly everybody started to clap.

"Good on you mate," Fred said thumping Scorpius on the shoulder. "We need blokes like you in the Ministry."

"Thanks," Scorpius said, fairly surprised at the response of the family. "Are you sure it's alright though? I mean as it is the press harass you. It'll be ten times worse now because I'm with Rose."

"Nothing we can't take," Ron said. "You don't know harassment until you meet Rita Skeeter. Remember her Harry?"

"How could I forget?" Harry said, amusedly. "Hermione put her in a jar."

"You put a journalist in a jar Mum?" Hugo asked, impressed and a little scared.

Hermione Granger just smiled mischievously. "There's a lot you don't know about me," she said.

"So who's your campaign manager?" Lucy asked.

"Off the record Luce," Scorpius said. "I really don't want any of this leaked."

"Buzzkill," she said. "I could give you excellent press."

"You had better," Scorpius said with a laugh that was mostly just sheer relief. No one was angry, everyone seemed proud.

"You need a team," Hermione said. She was privately almost as happy about Scorpius running for Minister as she was about him potentially marrying her daughter, but she knew it was a long shot. The Malfoys weren't favourites in the wizarding community. Not to mention the fact that before he met her daughter he had been a hot favourite with the tabloids and gossip columnists.

"I know," he said.

"And it has to be a good one," Hermione warned. "Right now you're an outsider in this race. The only good thing for you is that the current sitting Minister has made such a colossal fuck up of his job you might be in with a chance. You have to really want this Scorpius because there's no way you'll get it otherwise."

"I really want it," he said determinedly.

His girlfriend's mother smiled. "Good," she said. "Now all of us will campaign too. We have plenty of political capital here and we're going to use it. Ron and Harry should probably work outside London. People there have longer memories than the ones in the city. The Wizarding Wars are just stories to those children. James being a Quidditch player will probably be more use there. Especially now he's moving back. Fred could probably help him out. Bill, you have contacts with the werewolves and shapeshifters right? We have to bill Scorpius as the candidate who wants to help change their status. They just got enfranchised. That's a massive vote bank, which the Minister will no doubt ignore. Especially after he fought tooth and nail to deny them rights."

She suddenly noticed everyone watching her with their eyes wide open and their mouths slightly ajar.

"What?" she asked, self-consciously.

"You're scary you know that," her husband said. "Brilliant. But scary."

a/n: So I hope you liked it. Tell me what you thinkk :)