"Can I come with you?" Lily asked enthusiastically, jumping a little on her feet like a kid outside a candy store.

Lorcan narrowed his eyes at that. It didn't make sense to him why she wanted to come along. From what little he knew about her, Lily Potter wasn't an animal person to begin with. He knew for a fact that she had never been able to keep a pet alive in her life. She had given out that tidbit herself quite willingly. Whatever her motive may be, Lorcan still didn't have the heart to say no to her face when she was like this. Merlin knew he had few weaknesses, but hell, they had him by his throat. She had him by his throat. Not that he would ever willingly show his weakness to her. Putting that much power into Lily Potter's hands would be a fatal mistake. So, once again, he kept his face carefully blank as he turned around and looked at Hagrid, hoping to heavens he would say no.

Hagrid apparently had failed to hear that little exchange because he just stared back owlishly at Lorcan. "What?"

"She's asking if she can come with me." Lorcan said a bit loudly, his patience never wavering.

"And go where? To the menagerie? Are yeh oot o' yer mind, missy?" Hagrid turned his glare towards Lily.

"Oh, come on, Hagrid," Lily used her nicest tone and went a bit googly eyed, bringing out all the manipulative arsenal that she possessed. "I have always wanted to know what you have stored up back there. Pretty please?"

Lorcan suppressed an appreciative smile as he rubbed the back of his head. She was good. Hagrid however looked on at Lily with utter distrust.

"I'll be a good girl," Lily added sweetly, hitting the nail right on the head. "I promise."

Hagrid sighed exasperatedly, as if the entire ordeal was somehow increasing the pain in his knee and causing him to sneeze at the same time, and grumbled with a warning finger pointed at Lily, "Yeh'll no' touch anythin'. Yeh'll no' spook me beasts. Yeh will keep quiet abou' this when you leave. And yeh will stay with the boy at all times."

Lily bobbed her head in consent. She could finally be the one who will get the opportunity to see Hagrid's animals. One of the very few. And yes. That was the only reason why this was a great idea. Nothing else.

"You," Hagrid's warning finger now pointed at Lorcan like a gun. "Make sure this one doesna' get into trouble. If yeh think yeh've seen all the beastliness yeh could in there, yeh've got another thing comin' fer yeh with this one here." He indicated towards Lily.

Lorcan rolled his eyes at that. Lily had everyone spooked with her antics. He turned to Lily and offered his hand. "Coming?"

Lily, being her typical self, bypassed his hand and walked right through the door towards the sanctuary as if she'd been doing this all her life without sparing Lorcan a second glance. What she had forgotten during this impressive display of sass was that without Lorcan's key she couldn't get in.

"You don't have to go there again, you know." Harry said cautiously as he walked briskly with Hermione towards one of the ministry corridors.

Hermione smiled to herself. Harry always did that. He still couldn't help protecting people like it was his responsibility. "Its ministry business, Harry. I can't just refuse to go somewhere because I don't like the place."

"Yeah, well," Harry muttered. "That's why we have people."

"We do. And as the Minister its my responsibility to stand in between people and threats. And besides," Hermione gave him a playful look as she said, "Its not like Bellatrix Lestrange will be there lurking behind a statue, wand at ready, the word "mudblood" simmering at her lips, bursting to come out."

Harry frowned at his friend disapprovingly as he said, "That is not funny. I can't believe you would joke about something like that."

Hermione wanted to argue that she didn't have anything to do but joke about it. But instead she added mischievously, "Maybe Ron is finally rubbing off on me. Nineteen years of marital exposure would do that to a person, you know."

Harry just snorted in response, unable to help himself. "Alright. We need to leave now, though."

"That's what I've been saying this whole time, Harry."

A young man with sandy blond hair suddenly came storming towards Harry followed by a dark-haired witch, both tagging along as Harry kept up his brisk pace. "Mr. Potter, sir?" The boy said.

"Can we come with you?" The girl chirped excitedly.

The look of utter exhaustion and defeat that eclipsed over Harry's face told Hermione that these two were the green Aurors Harry had just hired two months ago. They were trainees, really. Fresh out of Hogwarts, bursting to prove themselves to the Great Harry Potter.

"No." Harry said in clipped tone as he increased his pace into a sprint. His disciples easily kept up as they jogged along.

"Please, Mr. Potter." The boy practically pleaded. "We will stay with Ed—Mr. Lupin, promise."

Harry rolled his eyes, knowing perfectly well that he had lost the battle. Harry had a reputation as the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. It wasn't exactly a secret that Harry treated his subordinates like a momma duck would her baby ducks. He was stern when it really mattered. But a lot of times he let them loose. He was slightly flexible with rules if it didn't hurt anybody. He was cordial to them most of the time, but mostly he cared about what the youngest trainees were learning from the department. He had strong ideas about it. And he gave his people as many opportunities as he could to learn from the department. Harry was a good leader. A bit on the soft side, but good nonetheless. The trainees, the really good ones like these two knew when to take maximum advantage of Harry's qualities.

"Fine. Stay with Teddy and," Harry glared at the two when they chuckled at Harry's use of Edward Lupin's childhood nickname. "Don't do anything stupid. This is most probably nothing. Underage magic is often just a false alarm. But given the location of it, we need to look into it. Where is Ted anyway?"

"He went to see Vi—"

The girl elbowed the boy and said, "He said he'll meet us there."

"Great. let's go," then added sheepishly as an afterthought. "Oh, and this is Hermione Granger, the Minister. In case you lot failed to recognize her."

It had been ten minutes since Scorpius had fallen asleep, his head on his mother's stomach and his sister doing the same at their mother's feet. Their father was still lying unconscious behind them. Alice was tied to the chair and under the Silencing Spell.

Scorpius felt it before he heard his mother choking. He lifted his head from her stomach and looked at her in bewilderment. Ireland must have felt the same thing because she was shaking mother's shoulder, trying to wake her up.

"No." He whispered, his eyes wide with fear. "No. No! Mother, please stay with me. What do I—" He whipped out his wand and wracked his brain for a spell or a potion—anything really, that would help him save his mother. Unfortunately, sixth years didn't have much knowledge about Healing Spells, but Scorpius had an interest Healing. He had read books. And something suddenly came to his mind. He wasn't sure if it would help him or not. He pointed his wand towards his mother and tried his best to steady his trembling hand as he muttered, "Come on, Scorp. Don't be weak. You can do it."

He concentrated on the magic that he could feel surging just under his breastplate, and with an absolute sense of confidence, he said, "Anapneo."

His writhing mother stilled for a moment. Scorpius broke into a cold sweat, absolutely certain that he had killed his mother. But then she took a shallow breath. Then another. And another. After that, she seemed stable.

Scorpius took a tired breath as he took a weeping Ireland into his arms, sitting cross legged on the floor beside his mother's bed and rocked his sister gently. "Shh. It's okay, Ira. She's okay. I promise."

"What happened, Soap?" Ireland said between sobs. "What happened to mummy?"

Scorpius kissed her on her tear-streaked cheek as he said soothingly, "Mummy's alright now, luv. She was just having a little bit of trouble breathing."

"And Daddy?" she asked, her eyes wide with concern.

Scorpius sighed. He couldn't understand her unrequited devotion towards father. "Daddy is taking a nap." He said shortly.

"Hmm. I'm tired, Soapius."

"I know, babybug. You can nap on that chair for a bit if you want." He indicated towards an empty chair by the window.

Ireland just shook her head as she asked in a small voice, "Can I stay with you instead?"

"Sure you c—"

Before he could finish that sentence, the door to the room blasted open and in came a wizard with hair the colour of midnight blue—almost black, and hazel green eyes, his wand at ready was pointed towards Scorpius. His stature was cautious. "Wand on the ground, Scorpius." He said gently, as if dealing with a spooked dear. "Now, please."

Scorpius did as told. Although, at one point Teddy Lupin had been a friend of sorts. He knew that the Metamorphmagus was now an Auror. Worry spread into Scorpius like a spider web. He got off the ground and shielded Ireland by pushing her behind him.

Lupin's eyes drifted towards the people in the room just for a moment before he looked back at Scorpius, who carefully asked, "What are you doing here, Ted?"

"I'm just doing my job. A better question would be what you're doing here, cuz," Teddy asked pointedly. "Aren't you supposed to be at school?"

"Mum's sick. I have permission from McGonag—"

Another interruption came when someone gingerly opened the door with a creak. Harry Potter's head of messy jet black hair came into vision, followed by, well, all of Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, and two familiar looking people Scorpius couldn't quite recall the names of.

Harry slid an utterly disapproving glance towards Teddy who looked at the newcomers dubiously and went back to threatening Scorpius silently with his wand. Harry's eyes left him and moved from and unconscious looking Draco on the floor followed by Scorpius' frightened expression to somewhere behind Scorpius' knees, where Ireland was peekabooing from.

Harry supressed a small smile as the little girl quickly hid behind the boy. He had heard about Malfoy having another kid, but hadn't really seen her before. Hermione must have noticed the same because she put away her wand for a bit, balancing her hands on her knees she said, "Hey, there."

"Stay back, Ira." Scorpius held his sister back, looking like someone who was frightened but doing his best to put up a brave front.

"Put the wand down, Teddy." Harry said irritably and looked at Scorpius. "Scorpius."

"Mr. Potter. Minister." Scorpius nodded at them both in greeting, his hands still behind his back, holding his sister in place.

"There's no need to be frightened, Scorpius, please. We have received an Underage warning coming from this place." Harry said soothingly, "Would you like to tell me what happened?"

Scorpius didn't say anything.

"Mr. Malfoy. Scorpius," Hermione urged. "No harm will come to your sister, I promise. But you must tell us what is wrong. Is that your mother?"

Scorpius had noticed how she only talked of his sister's safety and not his. But he was okay with that. As long as Ireland was safe, he would happily give his life to these people. "Yes, madam. That is my mother. She is ill." He said in a carefully controlled voice.

"And you're here to see her?" Harry asked.

"Yes, Mr. Potter."

Scorpius had never really interacted with Harry despite of his friendship with Al. Their interactions were limited to greetings in passing on the train station. But from what he had heard from Albus, he seemed like a kind man.

"I had permission from the Headmistress." He added as an afterthought.

Harry turned towards the blond wizard behind him and said something quietly. The guy nodded and left the room hastily. Harry looked at Teddy and said, "Ted, why don't you see if we can bring over there back to consciousness while Hermione and I will be having a chat with young Scorpius. Does that sound good, Scorpius?"

Scorpius nodded reluctantly. Ireland peeked from behind Scorpius and Harry said in a playful voice, "And who do we have here?" He glanced at Scorpius silently, as if asking for permission. Scorpius seemed to have relaxed a bit because he nodded slightly with a sigh. "Boy, my eyes are getting weak. Do you see a little girl over there, 'Mione? Or is it just me?"

"I sure do, Harry." Hermione said with a smile. Then said, "Hi."

Ireland looked up at Scorpius to see if it was okay to talk to these strangers, then gave a shy smile, "Hullo."

"I am Hermione Granger. What is your name?"

"I'mIslandIt'sverynicetomeetyou." She said the greeting quickly as if she had been practicing it in front of a mirror for quite some time, and thrust out her hand to shake.

Hermione let out a surprised chuckle as she shook the little girl's hand. Then the girl trotted towards Harry to do the same but Scorpius held her by her collar and picked her up in his arms. "Alright, squirt. Stay quiet now while I talk to them."

"But, Soap—"

"Shh. No." Scorpius put a finger to his lips, successfully silencing his sister. Then looked at Harry and Hermione with a blush on his face. "Sorry about that."

"Oh, not at all. I understand," Hermione said, as Harry smiled at him reassuringly. "Do you feel comfortable enough to talk now?"

"I think so," He mumbled. "But my parents…and that lady—"

"Oh, we're looking forward to that story, I assure you." Hermione grimaced. "But your parents are in great hands now, I promise."

Scorpius nodded, feeling a bit ashamed now.

Harry, having suffered through an investigation under Underage Magical Law could empathize with Scorpius' current state of mind. The fact that he had some idea about the credibility of the boy's ethics from what he knew through Albus was also a good backup. He patted his back and said, "Come on. You can tell us everything."

So, Scorpius did.

"Wow," Lily whispered, looking around with an expression that was part astonishment and part bewilderment. It truly was incredible. There definitely more creatures here than she had originally assumed. And it was definitely not a prison. It was more like a home for these poor creatures.

An Erumpent was casually waddling by as Lily twirled around on her heels like a manic ballerina, her face filled with happiness.

Lorcan, however, had eyes only for this new, surprising version of Lily, who looked so much like her fifteen-year-old self just then.

"This is truly wonderful, Lorcan."

He supressed a smile of his own and gently said, "Yes, well. Some of these can be quite dangerous if you don't know how to handle them. So don't go off on your own, alright?"

But Lily was already fluttering from here to there, resembling a butterfly. "Oh, look! These green things! How cute!"

Lorcan, who was in the middle of gathering a bunch of wood logs, shook his head in disbelief. "Those are Bowtruckles, Lily. You had them in third year."

"I was probably sleeping in that class. Gosh, third year was exhausting." Lily said breezily.

Lorcan lifted his eyes to heavens as he bound the logs together with the help of his wand and levitated them.

Lily must have seen the look in his eyes as she said, "What? Not all of us are blessed with the capacity to study like you do, Scamander."

Instead of rising to her bait, Lorcan just shrugged in response and went back to the task at hand. That made Lily even more miffed at him. She glared at Lorcan—or his back, more specifically. His magnificent back. Lily groaned with frustration and looked around to check for potential witnesses. When all she could find were a couple of creatures-Lily-knew-absolutely-nothing-about chewing green grass like plant thing, she lifted her palm and slapped herself. What in the bloody hell was wrong with her? Why couldn't she stop her mind from going on the Dirty Highway of Slag Nation when it came to Lorcan?

Lorcan must have heard Lily's self-inflicted violence, because he dropped the piece of wood log he had been holding and stared at Lily, his eyes immediately drawn towards Lily's now red stinging right cheek. Apparently, Lily hit hard, even herself. Lorcan frowned at her, looking quite confused as he asked, "Did you just slap yourself?"

"What? No!" Lily said defensively, lying through her teeth, "Do you think I'm that crazy? It must be one of the monkeys."

Lorcan didn't say anything. His back once again towards Lily. The only indication that he had heard Lily's lukewarm explanation was his shoulders shaking with barely suppressed mirth.

"What? Why are you laughing?"

That brought out more chuckles and a few headshakes.

"It's incredibly rude to laugh at someone without telling why you're laughing, you know?"

"I don't- I— Oh, Merlin," Lorcan said turned towards Lily now, holding his stomach. "Oh, my stomach hurts."

Lily, her scowl still at place, was actually a bit lost at the wonder that was Lorcan's laugh. It was the happiest, the earnest laugh she had ever heard. Lorcan recovered from his round of chuckles at last and said, "I'm sorry. That was rude of me," He cleared his throat. "It's just that this is a magical menagerie. So, there aren't any monkeys here, Lily." Lorcan grinned at her.

Lily's other cheek turned a bit red as well, as she avoided Lorcan's eyes and said, "I knew it. I was just joking."

"Uh-huh." Lorcan said, not believing her for a minute but deciding to let it go. "You think you can go a bit further? I need to check on Marty."

Lily followed Lorcan as she asked curiously, "Who is this Marty anyway?"

Scorpius stared at Harry and Hermione in silence. They had been in the library for the past hour. Scorpius had told them everything, starting from his mother's illness, to Alice Whitaker, to what happened after he arrived at the Manor. They asked a couple of questions in between. And the two yound trainees interrupted a couple of times to inform them of the mediwizards' arrival.

They had been sitting quietly for some time now. Scorpius with Ireland sleeping peacefully in his lap. Nobody said a word as Harry scribbled something on his little notepad and Hermione, Scorpius noticed, was staring at him. She realized it as well when their eyes locked and recovered quickly out of whatever she had been thinking.

"So, how is school, Scorpius?" she asked brightly. "Do you like it?"

"Uh, yeah."

"What are your favourite classes then?"

"I like Potions, Defence, and er…Muggle Studies."

Hermione raised her eyebrows, clearly impressed. "That's wonderful."

Harry looked up from his notepad and grinned at him. "You aren't thinking of skipping my class next week, are you?"

"No, sir. I—" He stopped himself, looking at them questioningly.

When both Harry and Hermione waited patiently for him to continue, he said, "I'm confused."

"About what?"

"Am I expelled?"

Harry sighed and looked at Hermione who nodded in quiet understanding, then looked at Scorpius. "No, Mr. Malfoy. You're not expelled. And before you ask, no. We won't be taking away your wand from you. Not this time at least."

"Thank you," Scorpius released a laboured breath. He still couldn't grasp the situation though. "I'm sorry, I appreciate that you're not kicking me out. But...why? I broke the law."

"Do you want me to "kick you out"—as you put it?" Hermione raised an eyebrow.

"No, of course not." Scorpius' pale face went a bit red at that.

"I'm joking, Scorpius," Hermione took his hand in hers and gave it a reassuring squeeze. "Yes, underage use of magic is a crime. But only if it is used inappropriately, or to harm someone. From whatever you've told us, I feel that you were just trying to protect yourself and your sister. So I'll let this go."

"And besides, your file here says that you will be of age in about two weeks," Harry said with a smile. "I think it would be terribly unfair to you if we went ahead and ruined your life. I'm sure you had your reasons for what you did. Believe me when I say that I've seen worse cases of inappropriate use of underage magic."

"Thank you so much." Scorpius gave them his first genuine smile.

"Alright, now. About your family situation," Hermione sat up a little straighter in her chair. "Both your parents have been taken to St. Mungo's for further investigations. I know your father didn't wish for your mother's condition to be public but these are dire circumstances."

"No, I understand. Thank you."

Hermione nodded. "About your sister, we have a couple of choices here." She looked to Harry for elaboration.

Harry pursed his lips and then said, "Scorpius, your father—he is… unstable. He needs help. He will probably be staying at St. Mungo's till the Psych Healer clears him. And as you know, your mother will need to be under constant medical supervision. Which leaves your sister without a guardian."

Scorpius looked at them with bewilderment. "What about me? I could drop out of Hogwarts. I can work jobs. I will—I will—I'll do anything. Please."

"Scorpius. Scorpius, listen," Harry said soothingly. "I know what you are going through, alright? But you still have a few days left until you can be appointed as the official guardian of Ireland. Till then, I cannot allow you or her to live here unsupervised. It could be dangerous. Especially at times like this when children are getting abducted left and right."

"Then what will I do? How do I keep her safe?" Scorpius said, his voice deadly quiet, his eyes brimming with unshed tears. "Don't you understand, Mr Potter? I am all she has. All she has ever had. I can't leave her alone."

"You don't have to. Look. We will take this as we go. But for now, I suggest you pack a few things and come with us."

"And where will that be?"

"To my home, of course. You and your sister will be staying under my custody for the time being."

"Is that legal?"

"Mr. Malfoy," Harry smiled. "I am the Head Auror. Neither I nor my wife is a serial killer. We have fostered other children before. I can assure you, you are in safe hands."

Scorpius was too shocked to respond to that.

"And besides, don't you think its time you visited your best friend's home?"

A/N: Well, look at that! I don't know where all of this is coming from, to be honest. I wanted to wait a bit longer before I posted this chapter. But I am not really good at the whole delayed gratification thing. I hope you like this chapter.

I don't usually talk about my writing music, but this one I wrote while listening to "Pillow Talk" by Wild Child, "Dear Wormwood" by The Oh Hellos, "Should Have Known Better" and "Fourth of July" by Sufjan Stevens, "Bloom" by The Paper Kites, and "Upward Over the Mountain" by Iron & Wine.