Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters or places that you recognize. Everything belongs to JK Rowling and the idea belongs to itsjulialol.

This August came and went, turned me upside down
now I'm getting out of this town
and I told all my friends
"I'm never coming back again, I'm going far away"

Ten thousand miles from here
all the things that could have been, but now
Ten thousand miles from you
all the things I should have said, somehow
it's all that I could do

-Bones Crew by blessthefall

Chapter 11

Lily was sitting by a window in the library trying to get her school work done. She supposed she had been rather neglectful of the late; so she had sat down and decided that she would get everything done today. The truth was though; she was just looking for a distraction as much as she might try and deny it.

"Hey Lily." Scorpius Malfoy said as he sauntered over to where she was sitting.

Lily scowled up at him. She hadn't seen him since that night at the party where they'd slept together and Lily's relationship with Rose had gone downhill from there. Now he had the audacity to stand in front of her and greet her like they were old friends. "What do you want?"

"I wanted to say I'm sorry for all the shit I've caused you." He sighed as he pulled out a chair and sat down in front of her.

"Malfoy," Lily said suspiciously. "Why are you really here?"

"I'm bored and you were the only interesting person here in the library." He drawled.

"Fine then, have you apologized to Rose?" Lily raised an eyebrow; she highly doubted that he'd gotten within ten feet of Rose, and Scorpius Malfoy wasn't one for apologies.

"Nope," Scorpius smirked. "Dear Rosie isn't as smart as everyone seems to think."

They sat in silence until Lily broke it.

"Malfoy?" She questioned.

"Yes Potter?" He replied in a mocking tone.

"Your mum's a healer in St. Mungo's right?" Lily asked sweetly, a plan forming in her brain.

Scorpius looked at her suspiciously. "Yes."

Lily spun her quill between her fingers desperately hoping Malfoy would be of any help. "Do the healers enter St. Mungo's with Floo or do they Apparate or what?"

Scorpius leaned over the table towards Lily. "You're trying to sneak into St. Mungo's?" He asked bluntly.

Lily realized it would be futile to deny it. She nodded and hesitated before replying. "Yes…there's something I need to do."

Scorpius was silent for a while. "You'll need an access card. Lucky for you I have one of my mum's. You're right though, the healers usually Floo straight to their section. Throw the card straight into the fire and wait till it glows gold; then step in and call out 'A. Malfoy, Dai Llewellyn Ward'."

Lily got up and gathered her things; she needed to tell Nicholas. Lily turned slightly. "Thank you, Malfoy."

Scorpius had a strange expression on his face. "You're welcome, Lily." He muttered.

As Lily was making her way to the Ravenclaw Common Room, someone popped up in front of her.

"I need your help!" Rose said frantically.

Lily was surprised. Rose had cold-shouldered her for weeks now, slandered her at any given moment, and now she was standing in front her asking for her help. Lily was furious.

"Why should I help you?" Lily asked distastefully.

Rose winced at the venom in Lily's voice. "It's Albus. He's been acting very strange lately. He won't talk to anyone except for Annie Longbottom. You're his sister. You need to find out why he's not talking to me."

Lily was just about ready to shout at Rose. "Can you hear yourself? Could you seriously get anymore selfish? You don't care about Albus. Hell, you don't care about anyone but yourself. The only reason you're probably even asking is because Al is the only person who listens to you bitch and moan about your worthless shit problems. In case you haven't noticed he and I aren't on the best terms. So just piss off."

"You don't think I've noticed you sneak out of the castle with that boyfriend of yours." Rose hissed.

Lily froze and turned to face Rose. "What I may or may not do is absolutely none of your concern." Lily responded icily. "I don't have time for your shit. Leave me alone."

As Lily walked away, she heard Rose whisper something, but she didn't care to hear what it was.

"Bad choice, Lily."

"It's a spell." Annie said while taking a bite out of her sandwich. The very large pantry in the Hogwarts Kitchens had become a usual meeting place for Albus and Annie. They could spend hours in there talking without getting interrupted.

"Alright, but are you sure it's safe?" Albus asked.

"I can't make any promises, but it'll help. It's a spell that will help me break into your subconscious, but we'll need a binder. I hope you don't mind, but I've asked my sister Lynne. She says we can Obliviate her afterwards if it helps." Annie said offhandedly.

"It's fine." Albus waved her off absent-mindedly.

"So when are we going to do this? It should be your choice." Annie continued conversationally.

"Tonight." Albus looked her straight in the eye; emerald green meeting cornflower blue, Annie's heart skipped a beat.

"Tonight? Are you sure Al? Isn't it a bit too soon?" Annie replied looking rather unnerved.

"It's killing me not knowing who it was. It's not like it's going to help anything the longer we put it off. We should do it tonight." Albus confirmed.

"Well, in that case I'll tell my sister to meet us tonight in the Room of Requirement." Annie said as she stood up and made to leave. "Bye Al, be there right after dinner."

Oliver Wood had been dragged out of the room by an irate Katie.

"—and I can't believe the lack of motion you're showing. Your daughter is dying; yes she is! Don't even try and deny it, the burns are too bad. I can't believe you! You can't even show any emotion much less a tear—"

Oliver cut her off. "—I know she's dying. You don't think I know that. You don't think I care, I care so much; about you and her." This conversation was taking a turn he had not expected but he continued. "Yeah I did say I care about you. I made a stupid mistake and I've regretted it ever since. It took me forever trying to get you to love me, for you to get over Fred, and when I did I fucked you over. You deserve so much more than me; I've gone and screwed up so many times. I've tried to get over what I've done but I can't and I feel so guilty about it. You have almost every right to hate me as much as you do. I'm so sorry. I loved you, I love you. I'm sorry Kates, I'm so sorry. " He held his breath and waited for the shouting to begin.

When Katie came toward him, he'd expected her to hit him. What he hadn't expected was for her to kiss him full on the mouth. He hadn't done this in so long. It was soft and sweet and just so Katie.

"You silly idiot. Hate you? I could never hate you, I love you. I was upset and angry but I didn't hate you."

"Excuse me," A healer in white robes and a clipboard questioned. "Mr. and Mrs. Wood, we need to talk."

Then, what the healer said next made him feel like his everything he knew was crashing down at his feet and he couldn't do anything but watch.

"—we can use the fireplace in Professor Longbottom's office tonight while everyone is watching the Gryffindor vs. Hufflepuff Quidditch match before the Thanksgiving Feast." Lily rushedly explained her plan to Nicholas.

"And we have two hours till we leave to go do this?" Nicholas asked very pale-faced.

Lily raised an eyebrow. "Nobody will notice today, because everybody will be too busy. Most of the St. Mungo's staff will leave for home earlier for Thanksgiving and we have less of a chance of being caught." Lily finished with a flourish of her hand. "Do you trust me?" She asked uncertainly.

Nicholas searched her eyes. "I'll always trust you." And he leaned over to kiss her.

Lily smiled against the kiss. Warm, sweet, cinnamon-y, and Nicholas.

"So you know what to do Lynne?" A wide-eyed Annie asked a tall girl with black hair and the same cornflower blue eyes as her.

"You've only explained this to me about a hundred times." Lynne snapped, as she sat down on one of the comfy armchairs in the Room of Requirement. "Wait for Albus to fall into an enchanted sleep, then cast the spell on you and him that binds the two of you, then put you in a trance, and if you two don't wake up within three hours then go get help." She recanted boredly.

"She was only making sure. You don't have to act like you have a broom shoved up your arse all the time." Albus shot.

"Why don't you shut up Potter? I wanted to go watch the damn Quidditch match, but instead I'm doing you a bloody favor so be grateful." Lynne grumbled. "By the way, who's filling in for you as seeker?"

"My sixth year cousin Louis is filling in for me." Albus responded.

"Can we please hurry up?" Annie asked.

"Fine. Potter, go lay down on one of those beds, Annie lay down beside him and clasp hands." Lynne ordered as Annie and Albus went to go lay down beside each other and grabbed hands.

"Cantata somno." Lynne chanted; Albus immediately fell asleep. "Coniungere subconscientiae mentis." One ring of golden fire wrapped around Annie and Albus' wrists linking them. "Coniungere voluntatem." A second ring wrapped around their wrists. "Coniungere cogitationum." A final ring wrapped around their wrists.

"Ready Annie?" Lynne raised an eyebrow, and Annie nodded. "Lorem cantata ecstasi." Annie fell unconscious.

Lynne cast the final spell with a wide flourish of her wand, and sat down to wait.

Lily and Nicholas waited until the last stragglers went down to the Quidditch pitch before sneaking up to Professor Longbottom's office.

"Alright," Lily turned to Nicholas. "Are you ready?"

Nicholas nodded with a determined look on his face.

Lily turned to the fireplace and threw Astoria Malfoy's access card into the flames. The flames immediately started burning bright gold.

Nicholas turned to Lily and held out his hand. "Together?"

"Together." She nodded as she grabbed his hand and they both stepped into the flames.

Annie stood up and looked around. She was in a place with millions of hallways, and cabinets that went all the way up; it looked very unreal.

"Al?" She called out nervously.

No answer.

"Albus, this is not funny." Annie was starting to panic. "Answer me. Where are you?"

"He can't respond to you." A soft voice answered Annie's frantic pleas'.

"Who are you? Where am I?" Annie started, tears threatening to break out.

A soft light bathed her; it looked like a patronus in the shape of a fox.

"Who are you?" Annie asked looking very scared.

"I'm a guide." The patronus fox replied circling around her. "One of the five guides of Albus Severus Potter's mind. As to why he can't answer you and you can't see him, he is the subconscious; he can see you, hear you, and sense you but you cannot do the same."

"Oh." Annie gasped weakly.

"We will explore his emotions first, as I am an emotional guide." The patronus fox said and Annie somehow found herself on its back.

"Are you ready?" The fox asked her.

Annie nodded before she had time to hesitate.

And they disappeared.

Lily and Nicholas tumbled out on what seemed to be a dimly lit, empty staff room. There were white healer robes freshly folded on a rack, and a table filled with food, what seemed to be a cabinet filled with medications and files and papers, there were a few chairs haphazardly set around the room, and a large portrait of a wizard in a rather pointy blue hat that was seemingly asleep.

"I think we should pull on some of those robes." Nicholas gestured to the pristinely folded healer robes.

"Right." Lily walked over and grabbed two sets from the rack and tossed one to Nicholas.

Within minutes they were dressed, and out in the hallway.

"Which way?" Nicholas whispered to Lily.

"Fourth floor. Magical cuts and burns." She replied under her breath. "We're on the seventh floor right now."

As they hurried away, Lily bumped into an elderly healer carrying a basket of potions.

"Healer Weasley? I thought you went home early for Thanksgiving." The elderly witch said as she peered over her glasses.

Lily was momentarily confused as to why the elderly healer thought she was a Weasley. Then she remembered that her cousin Molly worked here, and that she had red hair too.

"I left my wand on the fourth floor, and I was just showing the new healer to the kitchens." She invented quickly.

"Well, be quick. You wouldn't want to hold your parents up on Thanksgiving?" The witch smiled at Lily fondly.

"Here we are." The patronus fox whispered, letting Annie down gently in what seemed to be the edge of a looming forest.

Annie looked around in interest. "What exactly am I doing here?"

"You must look for Fear. This is as far as I can take you as this is not my realm." With that the patronus fox disappeared.

"Drat." Annie muttered having absolutely no clue as to what to do next.

Suddenly Annie felt herself going very cold, and what seemed to be the figure of a woman was making its way towards her.

After many twist and turns Lily and Nicholas finally found their way to Cecilia Wood's room.

Lily turned to Nicholas and squeezed his hand. "Ready?"

Nicholas nodded shaking slightly, and opened the door.

Hey guys I'm seriously sorry for not updating for so long as I was caught up and school and such, but you can expect a new update by Thanksgiving.

Love Naomi Grace.

OH and it would be amazing if you guys could check out my story The Perks of Being Rose Weasley.