Author's Notes: Thank you for all the lovely feedback (that review from a guest saying, "You're so fucking amazing." made my day, my week, my month, my year...) I really like this chapter, because there's Neville (and I love Neville), and there's the last scene there that I really, really like. Hmm.. do I sound extremely conceited when I write these things? Sorry for that! I just like how the plot developed in this story.. =) Happy reading! Love you loads!

Chapter Five

Rose's cheeks were on fire. She wanted to cry, and for the first time since Emeric dumped her, she wanted to cry for something different than her broken heart.

She felt embarrassed and angry. Embarrassed for the way she had behaved the night before. Angry with James for having invited her out and got both of them drunk. Angry for the things he had said to Lily.

And now that she was sitting next to James in the eerie silence of her uncle's office, waiting for the Head Auror and his Deputy to come in and haul them over the coals, she was almost shaking in anticipation of how awful that would have been.

"Rose…"

"I told you to shut up, James," she hissed, "I don't want to hear another word about last night."

"But—"

"Zip it."

The door opened and Uncle Harry, followed closely by Rose's father, walked in there with a severe expression over his face.

Rose was pretty sure that if the night before they had waltzed in the Potters' kitchen completely pissed and laughing and maybe falling asleep with their heads on the plates, Uncle Harry would have just laughed at them and playfully scowled that they shouldn't have gotten drunk.

But James had said those things… and Lily and Auntie Ginny had looked so upset… and Rose had understood that he was going too far even though she could barely understand what was going on.

Rose stood up at once and looked at Uncle Harry with the most pleading eyes she could muster. "I'm sorry, Uncle Harry," she whined, "I didn't mean to get drunk and… come to Grimmauld Place in that state and… and tell Lily those things and… and…"

"Auror Weasley," Uncle Harry cut her off brusquely. "Shut up and sit down." He walked to his desk and sat behind it, while Rose's father just stood near him, his arms folded across his chest as he stared seriously from his daughter to his godson.

Rose sat back down, her eyes low and a contrite expression over her face.

"Dad, I'm so—"

"You shut up too," Uncle Harry reprimanded James curtly. "First, I'll talk and you listen carefully."

Rose nodded, without raising her eyes to look at her uncle nor at her father and she could see James nodding too, out of the corner of her eye.

"Last night you two behaved like children," he told them sharply, "not only you got drunk while you should have been on duty – and yes, I asked Hannah and she saw the two of you at the Leaky Cauldron yesterday afternoon – but you had the cheek to come to my house and talk to Lily that way. Say those things to her when she is already struggling so much with her mother and work and Scorpius."

"I'm so—"

"Did I say you could speak, James?" asked Uncle Harry sharply.

He shook his head.

Uncle Harry nodded. "Right," he said, "now, even though I can't punish you for your reckless behaviour because you are both of age, I can take disciplinary measures because you used the time you should have spent working getting drunk."

"Dad, can I say something?" asked James, and Rose stared as he looked resolutely at his father.

"No, James, I'll tell you when you can speak."

"But I just want to say that I dragged Rose to the Leaky Cauldron and bought her the drinks and… it's all my fault, I swear," he said quickly, "she didn't want to come, it's all my fault, I swear."

Rose lowered her eyes again. She felt the urge to correct him, to tell Uncle Harry that he hadn't dragged her anywhere at all, that she hadn't needed that much convincing. But somehow she felt as if the words were trapped in her throat.

"Oh I'm sure Rose has her fair share of guilt, James," said her father calmly.

Rose nodded, glad to have been spared to talk.

"But she didn't—"

"Enough, James," said Uncle Harry. "Now listen to me, both of you. You are going to be relegated to do office work for two months."

James groaned loudly, but Uncle Harry's glare quietened him instantly.

"The case you were following will be passed on to Hugo and Emeric and you will tidy up the archive starting from today," he told them. "And you'll work even on the weekends if necessary. Except for this Saturday night."

Rose furrowed her brow as she looked at Uncle Harry and at her father. They were both looking quite seriously at them, but Uncle Harry seemed slightly worried.

"Saturday night?" asked Rose softly.

Uncle Harry nodded. "You are going to Roxanne's housewarming party as undercover Aurors," he told them, "and keep an eye on Lily."

"Keep an eye on Lily?" asked James, furrowing his brow.

Uncle Harry took a deep breath before replying, "Yes, your mother doesn't want her to go, but if she knows that you are going to be there and protect her, she'll feel better about the whole ordeal."

James and Rose exchanged a confused glance. "What about Scorpius?" asked James. "Surely he's going to be there and Mum has always trusted him… and wouldn't Lily be suspicious if we were to follow her around?"

Rose couldn't believe that he would ask that. Honestly, the real question was another one. "Protect her from what, Uncle Harry?" she asked sensibly.

Uncle Harry shook his head wearily. "Just keep an eye out for her," he replied, "and Scorpius will be there too, I hope and—"

"Is there something wrong with him?" asked Rose, he hadn't been at Grimmauld Place the night before nor the night before that. Rose couldn't remember an evening ever since Lily had finished Hogwarts that he wouldn't show up at her Uncle's house to be with her. "Did he and Lily have a row or something?"

"Oh dear Merlin, no," murmured Uncle Harry. "Everything is fine between them. You just keep an eye out for her at the party. That's all." He darkened slightly and straightened his back. "Now off you go to see Teddy," he added, "ask him where to start in the archive."

Rose nodded and stood up, James seemed to wanting to reply something, maybe to plead a bit longer about their current situation. He was almost twenty-five after all, and they had just been treated like children by their parents. Instead he desisted almost immediately and stood up and followed Rose outside the office. The door closed gently at their backs.

"Thank you," murmured Rose quickly as they were finally alone.

He shook his head. "I just told them the truth," he replied quietly, "you didn't want to come. I should have never… it was childish, my father is right."

She smiled softly at him. "No, it's okay, we… we both were silly…"

He glanced at her askew. "Are you mad at me?" he asked her. "Because I don't want you to be. I mean… if I can do anything to… you know, to make you forgive me… I mean…"

Rose nodded. "Well, we're going to the party, right?" She stopped dead and sighed. "I mean, it's not as if we've any other choice now, right?"

"Why, you didn't want to go?" he asked with a frown. "I thought you wanted to go…"

"Yes, yes," she replied, "I think a party would do me good… only…"

"Yes?"

"You know… in case Emeric is invited too… you wouldn't help me… I don't know, maybe you can introduce to some of your friends… someone cute… you know someone I could snog in front of my ex-boyfriend?" she asked, trying to smile at him.

James looked at her a bit taken aback. "And make Emeric jealous?" he asked her. "Is that what you're trying to do?"

She nodded sheepishly.

He looked at her and cocked an eyebrow, apparently impressed. "Well, well, look at Miss Perfection concocting a revenge on her ex-boyfriend," he smirked. "I think my friend Josh just broke up with his girlfriend too and he was moping about it the other day. I'll see if there's any matchmaking that I can do…"

"No, no," she replied hastily, "no matchmaking. Just a meaningless snog…"

His smirk grew wider. "Alright," he replied, winking as if he expected. "And Emeric said you're not wild enough…"

Rose looked away, blushing a little. "Okay, we should probably go and see Teddy now," she told him, starting to walk towards their cousin's office. "I mean, the sooner we start to work in the archive the better…"

"Definitely."

"I also want to go and see Lily," added Rose softly, "just to tell her that I'm sorry for last night."

"You didn't do anything, Rose," said James forcefully, "I will apologise to her."

She shook her head. "No, I want to say that I'm sorry too," she told him, "I was laughing when you said those things. I think… I don't remember that well…"

He nodded. "Okay, we'll tell her tonight, okay?"

"Yes," she replied. "Now, let's go before your father comes out of his office and starts scolding us again."

oooOOOooo

Professor Neville Longbottom had always been one of Albus' favourite teachers. He was always laughing, even at the smallest things, and he always had homemade biscuits or sweets in his pockets. Not to mention that he was a friend of his parents and the husband of the woman who had witnessed his first binge.

Scorpius liked him too. Not that he would ever admit that – What? Longbottom? The Herbology teacher? How could I like him? He looks like a big fluffy teddy bear, and we don't like teddy bears in my cold and damp Manor… Not that Scorpius had ever said anything like that, but surely that was what went through his mind at the mention of Neville – but he definitely did like him. Neville had always treated Scorpius right anyway, and Albus' father had swelled with pride for his friend when Albus had gotten back for Christmas during his first year at Hogwarts and told him that Neville didn't seem to be any meaner than he usually was with the son of Draco Malfoy.

And now, they were sitting in his office at Hogwarts, drinking tea and eating biscuits made by Hannah and chatting the afternoon away as if they were just visiting a friend.

Scorpius did look moderately annoyed to be wasting the afternoon as he had whispered angrily at Albus, but he seemed to be enjoying the biscuits since he was already on his fifth one.

"Tilden Toots?" asked Neville as they finally managed to get on the subject after a good half an hour of pleasantries. "Course I knew him, his death was a great a loss for the Herbology community. Especially after, you know…" He sighed and his eyes shone a little with tears.

"Herbology community?" asked Scorpius, furrowing his brow.

Neville nodded patiently. "Yes," he replied, "it's quite a large community. Especially if you count Luna and Rolf and me…"

"And?"

"And there was Tilden and… Pomona…"

"Pomona Sprout?" asked Albus suddenly. What did he mean with there was? She was alive and well, at least to Albus' knowledge.

Neville nodded. "She's gone, Albus," he murmured, "didn't you know?"

Albus' jaw dropped. "She died? No, I didn't know! Dad never—"

"Oh, she didn't die, you silly boy," Neville cut him off, "she is gone."

"Gone where?" asked Scorpius.

"St Mungo's," sighed Neville, "she's gone. Lost it completely." He seemed to grow sad at the thought. Well, his own parents were still at St Mungo's themselves, and Albus' father had told him that they had lost it too. Only that it was because they had been tortured with the Cruciatus Curse by Draco Malfoy's Aunt. Albus remembered what Scorpius had told him about the playroom, about the fact that Nott had wanted to use the Cruciatus Curse on Lily, and he shuddered. If his father hadn't arrived that night and if Scorpius hadn't thrown himself in front of Lily… he didn't want to think about it…

Albus sipped his tea thoughtfully. "Well, she was old, wasn't she?"

"It's not because she was old," replied Neville, "she ingested a large quantity of scurvy-grass while she was studying plants up in the Highlands. A quite big quantity apparently, and lost it completely…"

"She did what?" asked Scorpius, narrowing his eyes.

Neville nodded. "Ingested some scurvy-grass," he repeated, "probably she had mistaken it for chamomile. I mean a little scurvy-grass has never hurt anybody, but she must have gotten quite a bit… I don't know how she couldn't recognise it. Her eyesight must have gotten worse with time and she was up there all alone in Scotland to—"

"What was she doing in Scotland again?" asked Albus quickly. Once again, he felt as if something was quite not right there and from the way Scorpius had stopped munching on the biscuits and stared attentively at Neville, he seemed to think just about the same thing.

Neville shook his head. "Ever since she resigned from Hogwarts, she had travelled here and there, doing some research, discovering a new plant every now and then. Always so enthusiastic…"

"And did something happen? Did she find something? Did she come into contact with someone who—"

"Hey," Neville cut him off, "what are you trying to say, Scorpius? It was clearly an accident."

"It might clearly not be," replied Scorpius dryly. "Toots drank something by mistake as well. And his wife said that he was nervous and did something that he usually wouldn't do."

"Exactly," agreed Albus enthusiastically, "and they were both Herbologists. Do you know if they were working on something together, Neville?"

"I don't even think that they knew each other," replied Neville thoughtfully. "And I'm not sure Tilden was working on something, really… he liked to read about plants and stuff, but he mostly worked in his garden. The best way to take care of daffodils and irises, the quickest way to harvest Dirigible Plums without letting them float away." He looked at Scorpius and smiled. "He had some beautiful lilies if you are interested for Valentine's Day, Scorpius."

Scorpius flushed a deep magenta colour as he muttered something that sounded like, "Valentine's Day is sorted, thank you very much."

Neville grinned good-naturedly at him.

"And do you know if they were reading something… I don't know, some book about… hem… dangerous plants? Toots' wife said that a book was missing from her husband's library," said Albus.

Neville shook his head. "Not a clue, Albus," he replied, sighing. "I'm sorry."

Albus shook his head as well. "No problem," he replied, slightly dejected. Then something crossed his mind. "We'll send you two Aurors for your protection, Neville," he said seriously.

Neville looked at him slightly bewildered. "What? I hardly think that's necessary, Albus," he told him, "Hogwarts is the safest place in Britain. And I was an Auror back in the days, remember?"

Albus wanted to point out that he was an Auror before he grew that belly of his, but that wouldn't have been very nice. He glanced at Scorpius to see if he was going to say anything of the sort and scowl him into silence, but he didn't need to worry. Scorpius looked seriously at Neville, his face deep in concentration as if he was starting to believe that there was something there as well.

"Alright," said Albus in the end, "I think we should go now. But thank you for your help, Neville and be sure to tell us in case something suspicious happens in the world of Herbology or if someone shady contacts you, please."

"Will do," replied Neville, standing up.

Scorpius stood up too and so did Albus. The blond man shook Neville's hand, while the dark-haired wizard hugged him in the most manly way he could muster.

"Oh," exclaimed Neville as they walked towards the door. "How's Lily, lads? I heard she is the most patient teacher they've ever had at Miss Mitzy's."

Albus expected Scorpius to reply with praises and his usual rigmarole about how perfect she was in everything she did, instead he kept quiet and seemed to be waiting for Albus to reply.

"Is everything alright with her, right?" asked Neville slightly anxiously now.

"Yes, yes," Albus hurried to reply, "just the usual ups and downs with Mum, that's all. She agreed to let her go a party this Saturday."

The surprise on Neville's face let him know exactly how much he was aware of his mother's suffocating behaviour with his little sister. "Well, that's good," he said, "say hi to her from me, okay?"

"Will do," replied Albus, opening the door. "See you soon, Neville."

"Have a good evening," Scorpius told him quietly.

"Yes, yes," said Neville, grinning, "you too, boys. You too."

The door closed at their backs and before Albus could even take a step towards the Great Hall, Scorpius' hand was on his upper arm. "What do you mean that she's going to a party this Saturday?" he asked him dryly.

Albus furrowed his brow. "You too, remember? Roxy's housewarming party, she invited you yesterday," he pointed out matter-of-factly.

Scorpius darkened. "I didn't think… I thought your mother wouldn't have let her go… I…"

Albus rolled his eyes as he started walking in the corridor and Scorpius' fingers released his arm. "Yes, my mother was being slightly irrational," he told him quietly, "as always. But my father said she could go, and Lily was ecstatic." He cocked an eyebrow at Scorpius. "Are you coming?"

Scorpius pressed his lips tightly together. "Of course," he replied gruffly, "if Lily is going then I'm going too."

Albus chuckled. "Aren't you two adorable?" Then something crossed his brain. "Hey, what are you doing on Valentine's Day?"

The blond man shook his head. "I don't know."

"You just said it was sorted," pointed out Albus.

Scorpius took a deep breath as they stepped on a moving staircase and waited to be transported to the other side. "It was, kind of… but now I don't know…"

"What? Why? What did you have in mind?"

"Nothing, Albus, Merlin! Just mind your own business for once," he grunted, causing some portraits to scowl at them. He took a deep breath and added, "Listen, we should talk to your father about Professor Longbottom. We need to send some Aurors for his protection…"

It was not if Albus hadn't noticed the change of subject. He had, but the fact that finally Scorpius was agreeing that there was something shady with Toots' death was ten times more important to Albus than to pester his Auror partner about his upcoming corny evening with his sister.

"Yes," replied Albus, "and we should arrange a meeting with Luna and Rolf to ask about any shady business concerning… well, plants…" He looked at him and finally grinned. "Are you convinced that there's something going on here? Something serious?"

Scorpius looked away from him as they walked past the Great Hall and towards the Great Oak Door that led outside. Pupils were looking at them and pointing and whispering. They had recognised the uniforms and were probably wondering what two Aurors were doing at school.

"So?" Albus pushed for an answer, for an occasion to gloat, really.

"Yes," snapped Scorpius, "yes, there's something going on here, happy?"

Albus smiled as they walked outside and into the cold February air. "Almost," he said. "I told you so," he added with a grin. "There, now I'm happy."

oooOOOooo

In all fairness to Emeric Zabini, he looked just as equally embarrassed to be working with his ex-girlfriend's brother as Hugo felt to work with him.

The two maintained a cold politeness throughout their workday, exchanging a bare greeting in the morning and one in the evening and only glancing at each other when a stack of papers would fall or when they needed a new ink bottle. They never talked about Rose, and they never talked in general.

Well, that was up until now, when Teddy told them that they would have had to work on the unicorn case while Rose and James were relegated to the archive for surely some kind of punishment.

And despite the fact that Hugo was looking forward to doing some actual work, he wasn't looking forward to having to talk and collaborate with Emeric.

"Unicorns," sighed Emeric as he stared at the folder. "They should have assigned it to the Finnigan twins, I'm sure they are still… able to attract unicorns…" His brown cheeks flushed slightly and Hugo raised an eyebrow at his comment.

One of the twins surely wasn't, but Emeric didn't need to know that.

"They are already dead," pointed out Hugo. "The unicorns, I mean, we don't need to attract them."

Emeric didn't look at him as he kept studying Rose's and James' notes. "I don't understand though," he said, "they found three slain unicorns; horns, fur and blood gone; they went into each and every single one of Knockturn Alley's dodgiest shops to see if they were on the black market yet; they didn't find anything and… and now what are we supposed to do?" He finally looked up at Hugo, eyebrows high on his forehead.

"Well, I thought we could have looked in Diagon Alley or Hogsmeade, you know," replied Hugo, "paces like Madam Primpernelle's or Ollivander's or—"

"Yes, sure," snorted Emeric, "come on, be serious."

"I am," replied Hugo dryly. "They've already searched Knockturn Alley, what if whoever slain those unicorns was more cunning than that? What if they knew that we would have searched those places first?"

"What if they didn't want to sell those things at all?" asked Emeric back. "What if they wanted to keep them for themselves."

Hugo crossed his arms on his chest, considering his words. "To do what?" he asked. "I mean, if it was for some kind of dark potion, they would have only got the piece that they needed and wouldn't have killed three unicorns but just the one, if it was for something legal they would have probably bought the parts in a shop."

"Maybe they were too expensive," pointed out Emeric, "maybe these people are poor…"

"They slew three unicorns and collected the blood," Hugo reminded him, "they weren't simply looking for ingredients for potions."

"And they sold the blood in Diagon Alley, you think?" questioned Emeric visibly unconvinced.

Hugo sighed. "Well, what I think is that we shouldn't leave anything unchecked," he replied seriously, "we should take everything into consideration, even the most improbable routes."

"Alright," replied Emeric, "since I don't have any other idea, we'll have a look at all the Diagon Alley and Hogsmeade shops that sell these kinds of things. Not that I think we'll find anything, mind you."

Hugo nodded and sighed. He didn't think that either.

"Hem… Hugo…" murmured Emeric.

"Yeah?"

"How's… how's Rose?" he asked, lowering his eyes.

Hugo felt his cheeks burning with contempt. "Perfectly fine," he replied icily, "she is going to Roxanne's party this Saturday."

"Oh," murmured Emeric. "I might too, you know… Mary is going so—"

"Who's Mary?" snapped Hugo much more heatedly than he had intended. He had heard about Margaret, who was this Mary?

Emeric shrugged a shoulder. "Well, the girl I'm kind of seeing in these days," he muttered, "she's friends with Roxanne and was invited and she invited me, so…"

"Tell her that your ex-girlfriend is going," hissed Hugo, "surely she won't want to go then."

"But I want to go," protested Emeric.

"Well, you shouldn't! Rose is there."

"You said she was perfectly fine," pointed out Emeric.

Hugo huffed, "She is. It's just going to be awkward for you and your girlfriend to be at the same party as your ex-girlfriend."

"She's not exactly my girlfriend," murmured Emeric, "she's a bit too chatty for my liking and she sure as hell can't put two and two together, but she… she has a nice neck… and she… you know she is quite good at—"

Hugo's mouth opened wide. "I don't want to hear!" he snapped. "You left my sister for her, I don't—"

"I didn't!" snapped Emeric back. "And I was going to say that she is good at cooking."

Hugo shook his head. "What the heck is your problem?" He raised a hand. "You know what? I don't want to know. You are out of your mind for dumping someone like my sister. She will surely find someone else who is ten million times better than you before you can say Mischief Managed."

Emeric didn't seem able to find anything to say to him and Hugo nodded satisfied before turning on his heels and marching out of the office without a second thought back.

oooOOOooo

The children seemed to be particularly excited that day. And Lily loved it when they were so happy and full of life, even though she had to spend most of the time trying to untangle little arms from around her neck or legs, and quiet down her students with a lot of patience and a pocket full of sweets to use as prizes for when they listened to her without complaining too much.

And even though now she was knackered and daydreamed of her bed and of cuddling next to Scorpius, she was happy to have had a full day that had helped her forget the row she had had with her mother and the things that James had said to her the night before. Not to mention the incident with the plate… She had been sure that the days when she couldn't control her magic were well behind her – nothing good had ever come out of her accidental magic, every time she had a burst of emotions that she couldn't control she had caused only sufferance and pain and every time she had almost killed someone.

Of course, when she had almost killed Nott she had also saved herself, Dad and Scorpius and probably Albus as well, all in one go, but still… the thought that she might have killed him scared her to death. She was not that kind of person, she was not a murderer.

"Lily, look," cried Martha from her little desk, turning to look at her, "look!" The little blond girl raised her drawing and waved it in the air to attract Lily's attention. She smiled at the child and went to crouch right next to Martha to see the colourful drawing she had painted.

"Oh that's so pretty, Martha," she cooed her, "this is you." She pointed to a short, baby-looking figure. "And these are Mummy and Daddy, aren't they?"

Martha nodded seriously, ecstatic that Lily would take her drawing into serious consideration. "And this you!" she added, pointing towards a lanky figure with a red mane of hair and a line that went from ear to ear for a smile.

Lily's smile matched that of the drawing. "I'm so pretty," she told her, "you made me prettier than I am, Martha."

The girl shook her head solemnly. "No, no," she told her seriously, "you pretty."

Lily hugged her tightly and gave her a loud smacking kiss on her cheek. "Aww, you're pretty too, Martha."

The girl giggled in her arms and Lily beamed at her, but soon there was a pair of thin, little arms wrapping around her neck and demanding attention.

She turned to look at a small, three-year-old boy with bright green eyes. "Kiss," he demanded, showing her his cheek.

"Do you want a kiss too, Mark?" asked Lily sweetly. "Here you go." She kissed the little boy's cheek and he grabbed her head and kissed her own cheek in response, leaving a wet stamp of saliva where his young lips had touched her skin. Then he jumped away all happy and returned to his little desk to colour his drawing.

Lily stood up and started pacing for the classroom. It was almost time for them to start putting things away, the parents would arrive soon to pick them up and she hoped that Scorpius would manage to swing by as he had promised. She was glad that he would spend some time with his mother as he had told her he wanted to do, but she missed him so much she just wanted to—

Lily's eyes widened. Of course! She could go to the Manor herself! To surprise Scorpius! She would have dinner with his family and spend the night there, just as if they had been at Grimmauld Place, but… they were at the Manor. After all, she hadn't seen Scorpius' parents in a while… she missed them herself, really… even Scorpius' father with whom she had never talked too much, now that she thought about it… Scorpius never let her talk to him, especially not alone. She couldn't understand why, though, he was a perfectly nice man in her opinion. And he had the Crups, and one of the Crups was Lily's, she wondered if the pup still remembered her after all that time…

"Lily," called Remus, tugging at her pinafore, "up!" He stretched his arms towards her and she grabbed him under his armpits to take him in her arms.

"Oh, Remus," she told him, touching his nose with her fingertip, "you are getting heavy, you know. What does Mummy give you to eat?"

"Chocolate!" he exclaimed, grinning.

"Chocolate?" asked Lily, shaking her head amusedly. "Are you sure she doesn't give you vegetables?"

His hair turned green, just like a leaf of lettuce. "No!" he protested, bringing his chubby arms to his head to cover his face in disgust. "Chocolate!"

"Just chocolate?" she giggled.

He shook his head. "Chocolate, sweets, chips…"

"Well, don't we know everything about unhealthy food…"

There was a subtle knock on the door, and then Betsy's head peered inside. "Lily, the parents are coming, Miss Mitzy asked me to remind to give the permission slips for the outing."

"Thank you, Betsy," replied Lily.

Betsy nodded and smiled and then closed the door again, going probably to remind some other teacher to do just that. "Alright, let's start putting our things away, children—come on, Remus, Daddy is coming to pick us up soon, we better hurry."

Remus rushed to his backpack as soon as his little feet were once again on the floor and now there were screams and noises of chairs that moved and children that were looking for their things and stuffing their crayons and papers into their schoolbags with careless hurry.

"Jacqueline, don't ruin your drawing, I'm sure Mummy and Daddy will want to see how pretty it is. Mark, no, don't push John, he didn't mean to take your yellow crayon. Alfie, come on, dear, we need to put the things away for when Mummy comes."

She looked at the mayhem of pushed around chairs and toys on the floor and children running and laughing and screaming before she turned to her desk to grab the permission slips to hand out to the parents. She really hoped that they would all agree to let their children go. The outing would have been tremendously interesting, and not to mention that she would have spent the day with Scorpius and Albus and most of her family, really. And she was really looking forward to that too.

There was a knock on the door and to her surprise, when she went to open it to let the first parent in, she found herself in front of Teddy.

"Hello Lils," he grinned at her, pulling her in a one-armed hug as Remus took a run-up to jump on him, his little foot kicking Lily's side as he did.

"Remus!" scolded Teddy, grabbing his son and having to let Lily go. "You are a little earthquake! Look what you did! Apologise to Lily for kicking her."

Lily smiled as she brought a hand to her side to massage her hip. She was more than used to carefree kicks of excitable children by now. "It's okay, Teddy," she told him, "it doesn't even hurt." She stood on tiptoes and kissed Remus on his nose to show him that everything was alright. "Are you here to pick me up?" she asked as she looked at Teddy and bit her bottom lip. "Because it's a bit early, the children are all still here and I have to wait until the last one is gone…"

Teddy shook his head. "James and Rose insisted to pick you up," he told her gently, "they mentioned something about the two of them being idiots or something…"

Lily lowered her eyes and nodded. "Yes," she murmured. She didn't look forward to talking to them, she was not angry, she knew that they had been drunk the night before, but their words – well, James' really – still stung. "Is Scorpius coming to say hi?" she asked anxiously.

Teddy shrugged a shoulder. "No clue, Lils," he replied, "he is not a very talkative young man."

"That's not true," she pointed out with a dreamy smile, "sometimes we talk all night long…"

"Well, he's not very talkative with the whole world… except you, Lils," told her Teddy with a sigh. "But I'm sure he'll come to say hi to his girlfriend…"

She smiled at Teddy. "Thank you," she told him, before taking a slip from the pile she had in her hands. "Here, you or Vicky have to sign this, Teddy. It's for the outing at the Ministry we're going to have next week."

Teddy grabbed the paper and skimmed through it. "An outing to the Ministry?" he sighed. "Does that mean that you are bringing my little adorable son to me for the whole day?"

Lily giggled and nodded. "Yes, we are all very excited," she told him gently.

"I bet you are, Lils," replied Teddy, folding the slip and pocketing it.

"You can also take him home from the Ministry, he doesn't have to come back here if that's more convenient for you," Lily added.

"Perfect," he replied, "I'll make sure to bring the slip back tomorrow."

"Thank you, Teddy," she smiled warmly, "would you like to know what he ate today?"

"Nah, I trust you."

"And what he did today? We coloured and then we read the Tale of the Three Brothers from The Tales of Beedle the Bard, and then he took a nap and he was very good, only woke up once and—"

"How do you do it, Lily?" asked Teddy with a sigh. "I can barely remember what I had for lunch today and you remember everything, every time."

Lily smiled and flushed slightly, lowering her eyes. "I don't know how I do it," she told him for what was probably the umpteenth time. "I just do it…"

"Right, okay," he murmured, "I better go, otherwise Vicky will start wondering where I am…"

Lily stood on tiptoes to kiss him again. "Bye Remus," she added to the child who claimed another kiss from his teacher.

"See you tomorrow, Lils." Teddy waved goodbye before slipping out of the door with his son in his arms.

Then the parents started to arrive and Lily had to run from one person to the other to keep them up to date with what had happened that day, how much their sons had eaten, what they had eaten, if they had taken a nap at all. She gave them the permission slips and explained the trip to the Ministry, the activities they would partake, the fact that the Ministry would organise a nice, little lunch for them. The parents seemed all quite enthusiastic and Lily was happy to run here and there and tell them everything about it.

"Thank you, Lily," said Martha's mother, "I'll tell my husband and bring the slip back tomorrow. It's quite convenient that we both work at the Ministry as well."

Lily beamed. "It is," she replied, before pecking Martha on her cheek and waving goodbye to them.

When she turned towards the classroom there was only one child left. She furrowed her brow and walked to the little desk where Alfie was sitting quietly and still colouring his drawing.

"Alfie," said Lily gently, "shouldn't you have already packed your things? I'm sure Mummy is coming any minute."

"Look," he told her shyly, turning the drawing towards her.

She looked at the drawing. There was Alfie, what looked like either a cat or a dog and his mother. Then there was Lily, taking Alfie's hand. But there was definitely no sign of his father, which was indeed quite strange, since she knew for sure that she had met his father at the meeting at the beginning of the year, and Lily remembered everything.

"Alfie," she whispered, "where's Daddy in this picture?"

The child shook his head. "No, Daddy no," he told her, taking the drawing back and starting to colour it a bit more.

Lily bit her bottom lip. Why wouldn't he draw his father? A thousand and one thoughts went through her head and her heart started to beat a bit faster.

Now she knew that fathers were good.

Now she did, but back when she was Nott's little play toy, she had always thought that all they wanted was to make their children suffer.

Did Alfie think the same thing?

She swallowed loudly. "Alfie, let's put your things away, Mummy is coming soon," she murmured.

He nodded and started to push his things into the schoolbag, his round face serious as he placed everything with care inside.

Lily smiled. "Good," she told him, "you're a good boy. Look at that, you are packing your stuff like a big boy." She helped him zipping the schoolbag and right at that moment the door opened again.

"Is he ready?" asked a cold voice from the door that was definitely not Mrs Whittle.

Lily stood up and turned, finding herself looking at Alfie's father. She remembered him from that meeting at the beginning of the year, but now he looked slightly more nervous than he was back in August.

Despite his tone of voice, though, Lily smiled at him. "He's almost ready, Mister Whittle," she told him, "he's putting away his things and—"

"Well, I don't have all night," he snapped.

Lily bit he bottom lip. "Yes, Sir," she replied, "while we wait for him to get ready, I need to give you this permission slip, it's for the upcoming outing to the Ministry, you need to sign it and—"

"Yes, yes," he cut her off, pocketing the slip carelessly. "Are you ready, Alfie?"

Lily turned to look at the child, who was staring at his father with eyes as wide as Galleons. He looked a bit pale as well.

Lily looked back at Mr Whittle. "Wouldn't you like to know what he ate today, Sir? Surely you wouldn't want to give him the same—"

"Listen," barked Alfie's father, "I'm sure you are doing your job and all that jazz very well, but I don't have time for that. He is alive and well, that's all that matters. Now, is he ready or not?"

Lily almost buckled forward when Alfie grabbed her leg, he pushed his face into her thigh and started to sob quietly. She turned quickly and bent down to take the child into her arms. "Oh, no, Alfie," she cooed, "Daddy didn't want to scream, I'm sure. He is just in a hurry, don't worry, dear, everything is going to be alright." She caressed his head and the child brought his little arms to her neck to hug her tightly.

"Exactly," snapped Mr Whittle, "I'm in a hurry, so you better hand over my son because I need to go."

He stepped to where they were standing trying to reach for the child in her arms, but Lily stepped back abruptly. "No," she told him, putting some distance between herself and the man, "he is a bit scared now. It would help if you could stop screaming. His mummy never screams…"

"I don't care," snapped the man, trying to reach the boy again, "I'm not my wife."

Lily almost stumbled over a toy as she stepped back again. "Don't touch him," she cried, "he… he doesn't want to come with you…"

The man looked at her as if she was completely out of her mind. And probably she was, it wasn't her place to tell if children could or couldn't go home with their parents. No, it wasn't. But this boy… this boy was afraid of his father and she knew what it meant to be afraid of one's father.

"Give me my son," he snarled at her, causing Alfie to start crying louder.

Lily shook her head, terrified that if someone came now they would have surely made her hand Alfie over to his father. She didn't want that. "No," she murmured, "no, he doesn't want to go with you."

"Listen, I don't know if you are retarded or just simply stupid," hissed the man, "but if you don't give me my son now, I'll…" He let his voice trail away as his threat lingered in the air, he raised his wand and pointed it at Lily, his eyes narrowing.

Lily gave him her back, hugging the crying child to her chest and shielding him with her body. Whatever that man wanted to do to her, he wouldn't have hurt Alfie as well.

She looked in front of her, to the shelves filled with toys and started to quiver. The teddy bears, the dolls and games were all rattling on the wooden surface, as if they were getting ready to be thrown at the man at her back.

No, no, no, she thought forcefully, don't do it, control it…

"You dumb slut," snarled the man, "give me the child or I swear to Merlin I'll curse your—aaah!"

"Lay a finger on my girlfriend and I'll break your hand," hissed Scorpius with an aggressiveness that Lily hadn't heard in his voice in years.

She heard the man's wand falling to the floor with a loud 'toc', and then the man himself was brought down to his knees. "You broke my wrist," he whined, his voice much smaller than before.

Scorpius didn't reply, but soon he was wrapping an arm around Lily's shoulders and was drawing her to him. The moment his warm fingers closed around her upper arm the toys fell all back to the shelves and she turned and pushed herself and Alfie against his chest.

"Hey, are you okay?" he asked, hugging her and Alfie, his voice slightly shaken and surprised. "Lily, you're shaking, are you okay? Did he touch you? Did he hex you?"

She shook her head and revelled in the familiar comfort of his warm embrace. Alfie was still crying in her arms, but she was not sure that it was still because of his father, probably he had noticed that her ill-controlled magic was about to hit his father. Probably he was now afraid of her.

"You're okay," she whispered to him, "don't worry. I'm here."

"What happened?" asked Scorpius, looking down at her without understanding.

"I'll tell you what happened," snapped Alfie's father. "She doesn't want to give me my son back!"

Scorpius stepped back and Lily looked at the man with eyes wide. He was clutching his hand, his wand was still on the floor. Scorpius must have grabbed his wrist in his fingers and brought him to his knees.

"Lily," said Scorpius, his voice concerned, "is that true?"

Lily looked back up at Scorpius, she opened her mouth to reply, but no sound issued forth, so she closed it again and nodded. "He doesn't want to go with him, Scorpius," she whimpered, "look at him, he's trembling… and his father was screaming… he's all scared."

Scorpius looked down at her with apprehension. "Lily, you can't… you cannot not give him his son…"

She shook her head, eyes wide. "He doesn't want to go with him, Scorpius," she told him imploringly, "please, can't you see? Arrest him, Scorpius."

Scorpius bit his bottom lip, looking from her to the man and back again. "Lily, he just wants his son back," he told her softly. He slowly stretched his arm to grab the child from her, but she stepped back again.

"No," she begged, "no, please, Scorpius. He doesn't want to go with him."

Scorpius took a step towards her. "Lily…" He stretched his arms again and when Lily tried to step back, she found herself in a corner of the classroom.

"No, Scorpius," she pleaded, "no, can't you see? He's scared. No… let's call Miss Mitzy…"

"Yes, let's call her," snarled the man, "I'm sure that she'll be horrified to know that her employee doesn't want to return one of the children to his father."

"Lily," murmured Scorpius anxiously, "you… you have to give him the child. You don't want to end up in some sort of predicament. Lily, be reasonable…"

"No, no, Scorpius, no please…" But already he was grabbing the child under his armpits and Lily wouldn't have risked to hurt him, so she slackened her hands from around his little body. Her bottom lip was trembling now as Scorpius took the child in his arms.

"There, there," said Scorpius, patting Alfie's back softly. He walked back to Mr Whittle and tried to hand him the child, but he had locked his arms around his neck and buried his face in Scorpius' shoulder. "No, come on, Alfie," said Scorpius gently, "look, your father is here, he'll take you home…"

"Yes," replied the man coldly as he grabbed the wand from the floor, "come on."

Finally, Scorpius managed to disentangle himself from the boy and handed him to Mr Whittle, who took him roughly and placed him on the floor. He grabbed his wrist as if he was afraid that he would run back to Lily and tugged him along. "Let's go," he hissed coldly, glaring at Lily, before turning away from her and walking briskly out of the classroom with the crying child behind him.

"Lily," Scorpius called her and she was surprised to see him so close to him again.

"Why did you do that?" she asked her voice shaky. "Why did you give him Alfie?"

"He's his father, Lily, you can't… it's not legal to keep children from their parents…"

"He was scared," she cried, grabbing his Auror uniform, "didn't you see? He didn't want to go!"

He grabbed her wrists delicately, looking positively shocked to have her screaming at him. It was, in fact, the first time that Lily felt so upset with him. "Lily, listen you couldn't… you couldn't keep him from his father… he would have called Miss Mitzy and then… then what if the Ministry got involved? You might have lost your job, is that what you want?"

"I don't care," she sobbed, "I don't care! I just… he was scared…"

He hugged her and Lily tried to wriggle away, but she needed the contact of his strong embrace more than she needed to be angry at him.

"I know, Lily," he whispered, "I know, I understand, but—"

"No, you don't," she sobbed, hugging him back, "you don't know. You don't understand… you don't know what it means to be scared of your father…"

He didn't say anything else, but he hugged her tightly, probably knowing that he couldn't understand. Not as well as she did at least.

"I'm sorry," he finally murmured, "I love you. You are right, I don't know anything." He punctuated every word with a kiss on her hair and she felt herself melt a little in his arms despite herself.

She sobbed a little more and finally just leaned her head on his chest and let him rock her gently in his arms.

"Let's do this," he murmured, "if tomorrow morning Alfie is not in your class, you Floo Call me immediately and Al and I will go straight to the child's house to check that everything is alright."

She tilted her head back a little to look into his eyes. "Really?" she asked softly.

"I promise," he replied, leaning down to kiss her wet lips.

She couldn't resist him and kissed him back. She really hoped to see Alfie in her class the following day, but somehow if she didn't, she felt rather reassured that Scorpius and Albus would go and check on him. "Can you come to Grimmauld Place tonight?" she asked softly when she broke the kiss.

He took a deep breath and bit his bottom lip. "No, Lily…"

"I want to come to the Manor, then," she told him urgently. "I'm too upset to stay away from you tonight, please…"

He pulled some of her long locks behind her ear and looked at her almost miserably. "I don't think it's a good idea," he murmured, "maybe you can sleep with your mother…"

She shook her head, feeling the tears threatening to spill from the corners of her eyes. "I don't need my mother tonight," she whined, "I need you."

"Lily…" he sighed her name with such despair and she really couldn't understand why he wouldn't want to spend the night with her. "Listen, the day after tomorrow we are going to Roxanne's party, right? We're going to spend the whole evening together… the whole day if you want to, okay?"

"But…"

He kissed her to silence, but she could sense that his lips were quivering a bit in nervousness against her. "I love you," he breathed against her lips.

She didn't reply. She didn't have the time because at that moment, James cleared his throat from the doorway and Scorpius let her go and they turned to look at him and Rose standing there.

"Are we interrupting?" asked Rose softly.

Lily shook her head softly. "I…"

"Lils, wait," said James softly, "before you say anything, I want you to know that I'm sorry for what I said last night. I swear I didn't mean those things, you are not a baby, you don't need baby-sitting, in fact in a duel with you I think I would be running for my dear life. No, I'm certain, I wouldn't stand a chance…"

Lily gave the hint of a smile and looked at him, but before she could tell him that everything was all right, Rose croaked out an apology as well, even though she hadn't done anything at all.

"Why—what… what happened?" asked Scorpius, his hard stare fixing upon James.

James swallowed. "I… I just… I got…"

"Nothing happened," Lily supplied quietly. "Nothing, I swear." She turned towards Scorpius and smiled softly. "Saturday, we are going to spend the whole day together, you promise?"

He nodded. "I promise," he whispered, before pecking her lips one last time and turning towards James and Rose. "You better be home soon," he told them, "before your mother starts worrying."

James nodded.

"I need to tidy up first," she reminded them.

"I'll do it," said Rose, taking out her wand.

Lily looked as all the toys and chairs and desks went to their place, and then Scorpius was gone and she was finally hugging Rose and asking her tiredly to be brought home.