Call Me Home

Chapter Four

Rejuvenated Petals

Scorpius sighed as he exited the elevator of the four-storey brownstone and proceeded towards the green door labelled 3B, wondering if his first encounter with Lily and Orion could have gone any worse than it had. He couldn't get the look of anger and betrayal that had been so evident in his son's eyes out of his head, and he had hated himself for putting it there. To be sure, it hadn't been his fault but the way that the wonder had died in Orion's gaze made him feel as though he had been stabbed with a serrated knife through the gut. It had been eleven years since Lily had left, how could he be expected to have remained faithful to a woman who wasn't there? He had no doubt that Lily had had her fair share of male companionship whilst they were separated, she was after all an incredibly beautiful woman but having seen her hurt look made him wonder.

Had she moved on or had she remained faithful to the memory of the two of them? The thought honestly made him feel like shit.

He hesitated before knocking on the door, plucking up whatever courage he possessed to face the family he had thought he would never meet and before he could chicken out he rapped his knuckles against the varnished wood.

Could they be a family? Would Orion still want him as a dad after he had moved on from his mother? Had Lily remained chaste?

The thoughts echoed through his mind and he could feel the beginnings of a headache start to form. He loved Lily but she had hurt him and he didn't know if he could just forget that pain and act on his affections towards her. At the same time, Adrianna was a sweet girl who he knew he could try to be happy with. What was the difference?

The difference was that he knew that he could be happy with Lily because he had been happy with her before and because he still loved her. With Adrianna he would have to force himself to be happy, force himself to grow to love her and he just didn't know what to do. The only reason he had been able to bring himself to face Orion and Lily was his sister Cassiopeia. After Lily's visit he had floo'ed straight to the Manor.

"I was wondering when you would stop by," said Cassiopeia from her seat on the couch, Aurora sleeping on her lap with her head on her mother's shoulder. It was evident that she had been reading, judging by the hastily closed novel on her lap.

"You sent Lily to my apartment!" he accused whilst dusting the soot from his clothes, "Adrianna was there!" Cassiopeia's eyes widened and Scorpius realised that his sister hadn't known that his girlfriend would have been with him.

"If I knew you were entertaining," Cass replied with a small bite in her voice – like Rose, she did not think that Adrianna was a good match for her brother based solely on the fact that he was forcing himself to be happy with her. "I wouldn't have told Lily where to find you."

"I was in bed with her," scowled Scorpius, flushing at the disgusted look on his sister's face. Having two sisters, he often forgot that whilst Rose didn't mind him being candid with her, Cass firmly shied away from any topic that remotely involved her sibling's sex lives.

"Charming, Scorpius," Cassiopeia rolled her eyes at her brother, "So what happened then?"

"I know it's been a while for you Cass but I'm not comfortable discussing what Ade and I do in bed with you," Scorpius smirked as he came to sit beside his sister and niece.

"I mean, what happened with Lily, you git," said Cassiopeia, though the flash of pain in her eyes made Scorpius feel a shard of guilt for bringing up that she hadn't been with anyone since her husband had passed – no doubt inevitably reminding her of him.

"What do you think happened? She left in a hurry after seeing Ade there but . . . but Orion just looked so disgusted with me that I don't know what to do Cassie," he sounded anguished, all trace of his former sarcasm and mischief fading as he got around to the topic that had been bugging him.

"Lily invited me to dinner but I don't think I should go," he continued unhappily, "I don't know if its worth it going back to her after everything she did and I just don't wan–" He was cut off in mid sentence by a sharp slap across the face. Recovering from the attack, he looked up at a livid Cassiopeia whose lip was trembling with emotion and rage.

"Do you love her?" she asked, her voice tense.

"Yes," he stammered, still taken aback that she had slapped him, "But I don't know if I can . . . Don't hit me again!" he exclaimed when he saw her raise her hand again.

"You're an idiot, Scor," she said, "Ask yourself what I wouldn't give to have Albus in my arms again. You have a second chance, something that I will never have, and you're too much of a coward to take it!" Scorpius leaned in to hug his sister, causing Aurora to protest in her sleep as she was squeezed between the two of them. Cass was right, she would never have another chance with Albus because he was dead – he had a chance with Lily and he would take it.

The door swung open to reveal a smiling youth of eleven and once again his heartbeat increased exponentially as he stared at his son, whose grin seemed to fade upon taking in the sight of him. It rankled that one brief meeting, with no more than two words said between the two had already painted him as the bad guy in his son's mind.

"Hey," he said, chancing a faint smile and flinching at the hard look in those copper eyes.

"Hey," said Orion in a dry voice and once again Scorpius bit back the urge to chuckle, the boy was definitely a Malfoy. He remembered his own father telling him once before that the men in their family loved their parents in equal measure even if they disliked their choices but at the end of the day were fiercely protective of their mothers. He hadn't understood at the time, considering he had always associated with Draco rather than Astoria but now he thought that he did.

Lucius had guarded his own mother from Abraxas' temper. Draco had taken the Dark Mark solely to protect Narcissa. When his parents divorce had first hit the media, Scorpius had vehemently defended Astoria from the spurious accusations directed at her. And now, Orion seemed to view him as a threat to Lily's happiness.

"I'm sorry about earlier," he said after a few minutes of awkward silence, he could hear the rattle of pots in the background and assumed Lily was cooking. Orion held up his hand and Scorpius found himself surprised that he could be so effectively silenced by an eleven year old.

"I don't want to hear it," said Orion, "My mum is the most important person in the world to me, you may be my father and it isn't your fault that you weren't around but mum never so much as looked at another guy while we were in America. So all I have to say is that after hearing what a great person you were for the past eleven years, it makes me wonder if my mum either lied to me about you or if you never really loved her in the first place." Scorpius was stunned by the boys perceptiveness, his mouth hanging slightly agape as Orion stepped aside and allowed him to come in.

She was faithful.

"I brought wine," Scorpius said, gesturing to the bottle he held in his hand. Orion rolled his eyes and pointed at the kitchen before disappearing into what Scorpius assumed was his room. He breathed a sigh of relief, that had gone a lot better than he had thought it might go. He had entertained the notion that the boy may just slam the door in his face.

"Lily," he said as he walked into the kitchen and caught sight of her crouched beside the oven. She straightened, holding a casserole dish in her hands as she turned to face him. There was a pained smile on her face as she looked at him and once again he noticed how differently she held herself when compared to the bright and energetic girl she had once been. Time and grief had changed them all, they had all been made to grow up to fast but he could still see the spark in her eyes that he had fallen in love with, faintly burning in the depths of pain and resignation.

"You came," she said and he flinched because it sounded as though she had not expected him to show up. Then her brow furrowed in confusion and she asked, "Where's your girlfriend?"

Scorpius started, "Why would she be here?"

"Look, Scorpius," said Lily in a somewhat dull tone, "I don't expect you to just drop everything and that you and I will have a big romantic love story here. I understand that you've moved on and I don't expect you to be a part of my life if you don't want too . . . I'm just asking that you be there for Ryan."

"Adrianna and I," he silenced her with a look when she opened her mouth to speak again, "We . . . she happened because I thought you would never come home, Lily. I forced myself to move on with her because I didn't want to be alone for the rest of my life, I mean, even if you weren't dating anyone you had Orion . . . you had a family of your own. I didn't, my siblings and friends all did. I wanted that and I still do but I want that with you."

Lily's eyes flickered slightly at his words and life seemed to return to her, "Scorpius, I can't just show up and break up your relationship." She faltered when he stepped forward and wrapped her in his arms and noticing immediately that despite the time and pain this didn't feel forced or feigned. He genuinely wanted to comfort her.

"It's always been you, Lily," he said softly, "Always."

(*)(*)(*)

Kat's expression was a mask of icy civility as she stepped into the darkened room, slightly uncomfortable in her clothing. She had adopted her teenage dress sense as part of her cover and whilst she was still very much a rebellious tomboy she hadn't worn her piercings and ripped jeans in years. Nor had she worn such dark make-up since her boys had been born but she knew that she needed to act the part, especially now that she had finally managed to infiltrate their ranks.

Tonight she was meeting The Dark Lady, the Cult's enigmatic leader. She dreaded the confrontation, knowing full well what this woman was capable of – she had been one of the first agents on the scene of the Savage Family massacre. She winced at the cold temperature, icy fingers permeating the air and the first thing she noticed was that the room was rife with Shadows, all of whom were visible to her. This did not bode well as only powerful Shadows could achieve true manifestation so that all could see them. Albus' Shadows had only been visible when he had tried to destroy the world.

Her occlumency slammed into place around her thoughts as she approached what looked like a throne of bones, which for all intents and purposes was empty. She needed her mind defences to be strong as she could not allow the Cultists to discover that she was hiding a family. For security reasons she had no idea where Xavier and the boys had gone too – he was their Secret Keeper and had she had made him swear to never divulge the secret to her until she was sure that the Cult would prove to be less dangerous.

"My Lady," said a sultry voice from beside her as the Cultist who had escorted her to the room dropped to her knees before the throne. Kat narrowed her eyes, wondering why Pansy Parkinson was bowing when there was nobody sitting on the throne.

"Kneel, fool," muttered Pansy and Kat obeyed, wondering if the Cultists were truly as mentally deranged as they had seemed. Their headquarters was a gruesome place, curtains made of human skin and fountains that sprayed blood instead of water were but a few of the details the stronghold had to offer. The dungeons had been the worst, they had held her there for two days whilst interrogating her to ensure she was honest in her intentions to join them.

Had it not been for Cassiopeia recently developing an antidote for Veritaserum she would have been dead by now. Thankfully she had been spared the torture devices which littered the dank dungeons, she had watched them torture a girl for sport and had fought the urge to retch the entire time. Having grown up with Rose and Delphin for the most part she was fairly well associated with accoutrements like whips and toys but they Cultists seemed like pure sadists from what she could tell.

Their vision was to complete what Albus had begun by tearing open the fabled Doors of Death – Kat didn't understand this concept as it had been nothing more than a children's tale to most of the wizarding world – and release the Legion of Shadows upon the world.

This had just deepened her resolve to find a way to bring the Cult of Shadows down. She had children to protect, she would be damned if she let them come to harm.

Kat bit back a gasp as a figure manifested upon the throne and it all made sense. The Dark Lady was not a human, how could she be when she committed such heinous acts. She was a Shadow, who exuded dark magical energy like nothing she had ever felt before.

What was worse, was that Katherine Avery had seen that Shadow once before . . . when Albus had first summoned her from beyond the Veil.

(*)(*)(*)

"HERMIONE!" shrieked Draco as he caught sight of himself in the bathroom mirror, his toothbrush falling with a clatter and staining the floor with spearmint toothpaste. He grabbed at his hair, aghast and horrified at what his granddaughter had done to him whilst exercising her accidental magic.

Hermione barged into the bathroom with her wand drawn, looking every bit the war heroine who had slain countless Death Eaters in her youth despite the fact that she was dressed in a fluffy bathrobe and fuzzy pink slippers. For a moment the greying brunette stared at him in shock before bursting out laughing, clutching at her sides as she doubled over in mirth. This day just couldn't get any better, not only had she met Orion Malfoy – who was a very charming young man – but now she got a front row seat to her a magically altered Draco Malfoy.

"This is not funny!" screeched Draco, "I look like a Weasel!" He yanked at his bright orange hair as if to try and tear it off.

"You're right, this isn't funny," said Hermione in a faux serious voice as she straightened up and came over beside him to inspect his hair, "It's hilarious." Then she was laughing again, causing her husband to scowl at her as he wondered how to undo the colour change that Syrena and Violet had invoked. Curse those girls, he didn't know where they had got their personalities from . . . Rose and Delphin had never behaved like . . . like . . . like Weasley Twins!

"Change it back," he snapped crossly, folding his hands and tapping his bare foot on the ground in an effort to imitate the stance she always took when she was angry.

"How am I supposed to do that?" she asked, amused by his antics. Accidental magic was often extremely powerful and could rarely be safely reversed by anyone who wasn't the caster.

"You are the brightest witch of your age," Draco pouted, "Figure something out."

Hermione sighed, sometimes she felt as though she had six grandchildren, not five.

"Finite Incantantem," she muttered pointing her wand at his head and stifling a giggle as instead of returning to its usual shade of platinum streaked grey, the hair began curl.

"HERMIONE!" he screamed, after his hopes had been dashed by looking into the mirror for a second time.

"Shut up, you big baby," groaned Hermione as she disappeared out the door. Five minutes later she was back, and Draco gulped audibly when he saw what she was holding in her hands.

Peroxide

"Malfoys do not bleach their hair," he sniffled as she forced him into a chair and shoved his whining head into the sink.

"Well, Grangers says they do," she snapped as she began dying her husband's hair.

(*)(*)(*)

"So Lily, what have you been doing these past few years?" asked Scorpius in an attempt to make conversation as they tucked into their dinner. Thankfully, her cooking had improved drastically over the years and was no longer like to give him food poisoning. He fondly remembered her culinary skills from her youth, when she had been unable to make a slice of toast without burning it and somehow setting the kitchen on fire in the process.

"I worked at the American Ministry after graduating from Salem," she said with a faint smile, "Their Department of International Magical Cooperation." Across the small dining table, Orion chanced a wink at his father – he had warmed to the man considerably after seeing that he intended to stand by his mother.

"What did you do there?" asked Scorpius curiously, his brother Hugo had worked in that department at the British Ministry when he had started in the field of magical law and from what Scorpius had heard it was not a very affable department.

"At first I was a secretary but after the Cataclysm I got promoted and worked mostly with the restoration effort."

Scorpius cringed at the blatant reminder of their world's most gruesome loss of life since the First Goblin Wars. The Cataclysm had damaged the very face of the earth, much of the Sahara was still submerged beneath the Mediterranean and Southern Asia had been decimated by earthquakes to the point where several landmasses had broken off the mainland and formed new islands. He knew that America and Australia had escaped the worst of the disaster due to their distance from England but the tsunamis that had shattered their coastlines had killed millions.

"What about you?" asked Lily after a lengthy silence which had been punctuated only by the clink of cutlery on crockery.

"CEO for Malfoy Holdings," he said somewhat proudly, he was after the all the youngest director the company had ever had, having taken the reigns from his father when he was barely out of his teenage years.

"Then you can hire mum!" exclaimed Orion suddenly, looking up from his plate with the air of a child who had just solved everything.

"Ryan!" Lily admonished her son but Scorpius was gazing at them with interest.

"Surely you have a job by now," he said and Lily flushed in embarrassment, "You've been back for close to six weeks."

"My final exam scores aren't the best," she admitted, "I had Ry a week before they started and well . . ." she drifted off.

"We do have a few vacancies in the public relations department," he said slowly and then he narrowed his eyes when she began shaking her head.

"You don't have to do that, Scorpius," she replied.

"Either you come work at Malfoy Holdings," he said in a firm voice, "Or I pay you child support every month and trust me when I say I will be paying a lot more than most fathers if you choose that option."

Lily hesitated, her pride wouldn't allow her to take the latter option as she didn't want it known that she lived of his money. On the other hand she didn't want people to think that she had just been given the job because she used to sleep with the boss. She turned slightly to gauge her son's reaction and he was looking at her with such a hopeful look in his eyes that it decided her. She knew it hadn't been easy for him because they had never had much money and especially now with the expenses that accompanied the move she had had to get several of his school things second hand. Once again, her pride hadn't allowed her to ask her brother or mother for money and she had been entertaining the notion of getting a muggle job so that they could get by, especially since the last of the money that Albus had given her before she left had been used to purchase their apartment.

"I'll take it on one condition," she said, biting her lip, "I want you to treat me the same as you would any other employee."

She fought the urge to laugh when father and son both beamed at her with identical Malfoy grins of victory. One thought filled her head.

This must be what it feels like to have a family of your own.

(*)(*)(*)

Remy grinned good naturedly as his father pretended to act stern and berate him about his new tattoo. Victoire had walked into his bedroom that morning to collect his laundry (a flimsy excuse, in actual fact he suspected she had heard Demitria arrive last night) and had not only found the young couple – or whatever it was they were – in bed together, but she had also instantly noticed the angel inked onto his bicep.

He had never truly known the depths of his mother's veela temper until that moment, when it had taken his father and Aunt Dominique to keep her from leaping onto him and pummelling him with a wooden spoon.

Thankfully his father had agreed to have a stern word with him concerning his various body modifications and this had placated his mother to the extent that she had agreed.

Victoire had almost lost it again when Andy had asked if she could get a tattoo as well but had been calmed by Grandpa Bill, who knew more about controlling veela bloodlines than anyone else in the family.

"Now Remy, you know you're a metamorph and can change your appearance at will if you're unhappy with it," Teddy admonished, "Must you aggravate your mother so?"

"I like my tattoos and piercings, dad," said Remy in exasperation, "Mum needs to realise that I'm not a kid anymore."

"We know you're not a kid anymore judging by how often you sneak that girl in," Teddy said wryly, "Don't look so surprised, did you really think your mother and I could be outwitted by a seventeen year old with a wand."

Remy had the grace to blush at this because yes, he had thought he had outsmarted them by keying Demitria into their wards and casting the permanent silencing charm on his bed. Teddy just shook his head, he was the Defence Against the Dark Arts Teacher for nearly fifteen years now – Remy may be good but he was not as good.

"So can you please keep the modification to a minimum until you at least graduate from Hogwarts?" Teddy asked finally when his son had fallen silent.

"I suppose," he mumbled, not looking his father in the eye for the first time in his life because Demi and him had done some pretty crazy things and if his father knew about them then . . .

"Now tell me about this girl," grinned Teddy, revelling in this rare moment that he had his son embarrassed, "Why was she giggling so much last night?"

"DAD!"

(*)(*)(*)

Scorpius grinned at his former lover as he sat beside her on the couch, nursing a glass of the wine he had brought. After many protests, Orion had agreed to go to bed – only after he had extolled a promise from Scorpius that he would be coming by more often.

He had grinned at that because if things went his way then he would be seeing a lot more of his son. The decision had been made in his head from that moment in the kitchen when he had embraced Lily, he would end things with Adrianna and be with the woman he loved instead.

Because though love was painful and happiness was never guaranteed as he and Lily had proved time and time again, it was worth it.

He would rather be miserable (even though he doubted he would be) with his son and Lily than happy with Adrianna Zabini.

Scorpius had finally found what he had craved for so long and as a slightly tipsy Lily leaned her head onto his shoulder he smiled and whispered:

"Family."

(*)(*)(*)

A/N: So this concludes Arc 1 of Call Me Home. Next Chapter will take place with a minor time leap, one or two years after Orion had started Hogwarts. This is because whilst the focal point of this story is their relationship, I need to begin the next arc and I don't want to draw out the story (make it ramble)

Updates will be a little slower – I start work tomorrow and eight hour shifts are going to eat into a lot of my free time. I will try to make sure that the story is updated at least once or twice a week though.