Author's Notes: Thank you to my dear reviewers. You always make my day. I hope you'll like this chapter, there are lots of little scenes. I especially love Ron in here! Ah, if you're on LJ, come and find me (link on my profile), I've just revamped it completely and it's very cheerful indeed, plus I'm reccing next gen stories on crack_broom in August, and I swear they're going to be all good recs! Come and find me there!

Chapter Six

Astoria knocked on Scorpius' door, but didn't wait for an answer. She pushed the door open and peered inside, relieved that Scorpius hadn't used an Anti-Alohomora Charm.

"Mother, no," said Scorpius flatly, without looking up from his desk, "I'm not hungry, everything is fine, I need to finish the papers to request a Portkey from Papua New Guinea, I don't want to talk about it."

She stopped and took a deep breath. "I just brought you a cup of tea, Scorpius," she replied quietly. "And what is it that you don't want to talk about?"

"Nothing," he let her know dryly.

She walked to him and placed the cup and saucer on his desk. "Is it the ring still? I'm sure Ginevra will—"

"It's not the ring, Mother," he cut her off roughly, before shaking his head slightly. "I mean, not just the ring… it's just… I don't want to talk about it." He took a deep breath and grabbed the cup, sipping slowly. "Thank you for the tea."

Astoria's lips curved in a soft smile. "You're welcome, dear," she told him. "Do you need anything else?"

He shook his head again. "No," he replied, placing the cup back down and returning his attention to the Portkey documents. "Good night, Mother."

Astoria touched his shoulder lightly. "Good night, Scorpius," she murmured back, before turning away and slowly walking back to the door and out of her son's room. She would have wanted to stay and try to coax something else out of him, but that was not the way Malfoys usually behaved. They kept everything inside and tried to smother their emotions until nothing remained. She knew that far too well.

She closed Scorpius' door at her back and kept walking until she found herself in front of Draco's study. She knocked lightly and walked in, closing the door at her back.

"How's Scorpius?" asked Draco, raising his head from his Guide to the Perfect Crup Breeder. "Did you find out why he wouldn't have dinner with us?"

She shook her head. "He doesn't want to talk," she replied, leaning against the door. "He is just like his father."

Draco chuckled. "We talk all the time," he pointed out, closing the book.

She raised a questioning eyebrow. "You do now," she told him. She wanted to add that he didn't before he had been to Azkaban. She wanted to remind him what kind of person he was. The kind of person who would buy a woman for his teenage son, just to relieve him of his virginity, the kind of person who would not speak more than a few words to his wife each day, the kind of person who had lost himself and forgotten about his family.

"Are you worried?" he asked her softly. "You look worried."

Astoria shook her head. "I'm just… concerned for Scorpius, you know," she replied, "he looks… he looks so unhappy." She looked at Draco and bit her bottom lip. "When he is away from her, at least." She felt her cheeks go up in flames. Did her husband remember what it was like to be young and be in love? Did he remember what they did when they were still engaged? Did he remember staying up all night cuddling at her estate and leaving before dawn to Apparate to the Manor before her father noticed that she had company? Did he remember taking her to Paris to his flat at Les Champs-Elysées for the weekends and making love to her in front of the fire until—

"What are you thinking about?"

Astoria blinked and tilted her head back, until her prim hairdo was brushing against the hard wood of the door. Draco was standing next to her, a hand against the wall near her face, his grey eyes looking intently at her features. She hadn't even heard him moving. "Nothing," she murmured.

"You were smiling," he pointed out softly.

"Was I?" she asked and brought her fingers to her lips to see if they were still curved upwards. They were.

Draco leaned in closer. Astoria only saw his face disappear under her chin before his lips brushed against her neck and he kissed her where her pulsing vein was betraying her excitement to have her husband so close to her.

"I know what you were thinking about," he whispered against her throat.

"You do?" she asked breathily, her fingers twitching on the door handle that poked her back.

"Hmm," he replied, "you were thinking about Scorpius' wedding day… the Manor full of people… you wearing the most beautiful dress amongst the guests… putting even Mrs Potter to shame… hmm, I bet that's why she doesn't want Scorpius to marry Lily…" He alternated between kissing and breathing against her warm skin and Astoria's head became lighter and lighter, until her eyes fluttered and her heartbeat increased. "Am I right?" he whispered.

"No," she giggled, "I was thinking about us. But now I can see me as the mother of the groom and the centre of attention at the wedding…"

He kissed his way to her cheek. "No, no," he murmured near her ear, "go back to think about us… what were you thinking about?"

She smiled as his lips reached the corner of her mouth. "About us when we were Scorpius' age," she murmured. "Young and stupid and in love…"

"Astoria, dear," he whispered against her lips, "I think we still are young and stupid and in love…"

She turned her head towards him and entangled her fingers in his blond hair. Oh yes, they were, young and stupid and in love… just like Scorpius and Lily were, and Astoria wished them to feel just like they felt thirty years into the future.

"Shall we go to bed?" he asked her as he pushed her against the door.

"Are you tired already?" she breathed.

He chuckled. "Actually I wasn't thinking about sleeping…"

And Astoria's head was even lighter as he guided her to their bedroom and pushed her down on the silk covers of their four poster bed to make love to her and keep her warm in the coldness of the Manor.

oooOOOooo

Mrs Whittle gnawed on her bottom lip as she looked anxiously at Lily. "I'm terribly sorry about last night," she said for the umpteenth time, "my husband… he is not a patient man, I'm afraid."

Lily tried to smile at her. "I… I was just worried for Alfie," she admitted, "he seemed very scared. I didn't mean to stand between your husband and your son." She glanced at Alfie, the boy was colouring a big heart, just like everybody else was doing in the class, and he didn't seem any different from his classmates. He was not as scared as the night before, he looked perfectly normal and he had kissed his mother's cheek just like he did every morning before going to his little desk to colour. Lily swallowed. "I didn't mean to put up that scene," she told her, "my… my boyfriend told me that I shouldn't have… I'm sorry…" She pulled some locks behind her ear and added, "And I'm sure Scorpius is sorry to have hurt your husband."

Mrs Whittle smiled at her. "I'm sure your boyfriend was only being protective," she replied. "My husband is sorry too. He was just… he is not a patient man…"

Lily nodded. "Have you found Alfie's teddy bear, Mrs Whittle?" she asked. "He is really missing it."

Mrs Whittle smiled nervously. "I think… I still have to check his toy room," she replied, "I know, he has it somewhere. I'm… my husband and I are just very busy lately."

Lily nodded again at her words. "Mrs Whittle," she added shyly, "I couldn't help noticing the bruise on your face the other day. I… I just wanted to know if you were alright, if you… if you need any help… my father and my two brothers and… well, almost everybody in my family is an Auror… So, if you need any kind of discreet assistance maybe…"

"Oh my dear girl," smiled Mrs Whittle, bringing a hand to her cheek to cover what was not there anymore, "I… I just fell. Nothing to worry about. I tripped and fell, I can be rather clumsy when I'm in a hurry."

Lily bit her bottom lip. "Yes, sure, I'm sorry to be so prying, Mrs Whittle, I was just worrying," she told her softly, "I always worry for the well-being of the children."

"And we thank you for that, Lily," replied Mrs Whittle gently. "But there's nothing to worry about in our case. My husband was just in a hurry and my son could feel that he was nervous and reacted that way. But don't worry, my husband… he loves our son."

Lily nodded eagerly at her words. "Oh, I'm sure he does," she told her gently.

"Yes," she replied softly. "Oh, my! Before I forget, I have the permission slip right here." She drew it out of her pocket and handed it to Lily. "I think it's a wonderful idea to bring the children to the Ministry, I'm sure they're going to learn and have fun at the same time."

"We hope so," replied Lily, checking the paper carefully. "You can come and pick him up at the Ministry if you are happier that way."

She shook her head. "Here would be perfect," she replied. "I'm afraid I have to go now, I'm sorry again for the incomprehension with my husband."

"I'm sorry I reacted that way…"

"Don't worry," replied Mrs Whittle faintly. "I'll see you this evening, Lily. Have a pleasant day."

"You too," called Lily, but Mrs Whittle was already walking out of the classroom with quick steps and her chin up in the air. She cast an askew glance at her son, and soon she had disappeared in the corridor.

Lily couldn't understand how she could part from Alfie without even saying a proper goodbye to him. She remembered when she had started Hogwarts, her mother walked her to every class, and she waited for her and then walked her to the Great Hall or the Gryffindor Common Room, and her eyes always almost filled with tears when Lily had to attend a lesson. And Lily's eyes filled with tears as well at the thought that she wouldn't have been able to spend time with her mother for an hour or two.

Yes, in hindsight probably that had been a bit of an extreme situation, none of the other students had ever had their parents walking them around the halls of Hogwarts – at the same though, none of the other students had their parents working at the school as well.

But still, Mrs Whittle's reaction appeared as rather cold to Lily. Lily herself thought that she would have kissed her own children ten thousand times every time they would have a lesson at Miss Mitzy's. Even when the teacher was Lily herself.

For a moment she stopped and thought of Scorpius kissing their children. She thought of him holding them and smiling and maybe reading tales to them before they fell asleep. All twelve of them. Yes, she wanted to fill the house where they would have lived with the laughter and screams of children.

She was still smiling at the thought when she sat at her desk and placed Alfie's permission slip in the drawer with the others she had previously collected. There were still four children whose parents had forgotten to bring the slip back, but that was normal. Actually, Betsy said that Lily was lucky, she herself was still missing more than half of her students' slips.

She closed the drawer and looked at the children. They were colouring some big hearts that they would have given to someone in the class the upcoming week, because the following Saturday was Valentine's Day. She was already getting all giddy with excitement at the thought that she would have spent the day with Scorpius. Well, of course he had promised that they would have spent this Saturday together as well– and they usually spent all the Saturdays and all the Sundays and all the holidays together – but for a special day such as Valentine's Day, Scorpius always had something nice planned for her.

And she did too. This year she had planned to bake a cake for him. Yes, she still hadn't abandoned her desire to learn how to cook. She still wanted to be able to take care of Scorpius one day – what if they lost all their money and couldn't afford house-elves and instead they had to learn how to get by? – she needed to be able to cook. And she was going to do exactly that. She was going to ask Taffy to teach her how to bake a cake – maybe they would have baked it together – and then she would have put a lot of red icing and chocolate hearts on the top and lots of cream inside… She couldn't wait!

With a sigh she tried to get rid of those daydreams and focus back on her students. They were almost done with their hearts and some of them were already wandering for the classroom.

It was time to read a story from her beloved book of The Tales of Beedle the Bard. Today's choice was going to be The Fountain of Fair Fortune, and Lily was all excited about it because she got to be Sir Luckless.

She stood up and walked in the middle of the classroom. She pointed her wand to her clothes and Transfigured them into a shiny armour.

"Gather around, children," she called them as she sat on the floor amongst the clangs of her armour, "for I'll tell you the story of Sir Luckless and the three witches Asha, Altheda and Amata and the magic fountain where they all went to bathe…"

oooOOOooo

"No, no, no, no."

Albus gaped at Scorpius as the blond man kept shaking his head.

"No," he repeated, "no and no, Albus. That's absolutely out of the question. I will not go tomorrow all the way to Papua New Guinea to talk to the Scamanders about Toots."

Albus took a deep breath. "I thought you agreed that there was something worth investigating about Toots' death," he told him quietly.

Scorpius shook his head. "It's not that," he grunted, "I think it's… I'm sure that there's something wrong here… it's just that… that I promised Lily to spend the day with her tomorrow…"

"You'll spend Sunday together," supplied Albus, "and we'll be back for Roxanne's party anyway. You'll spend the whole evening together."

"I need to spend the whole weekend with her," snapped Scorpius hotly.

Albus cocked his head. "Well, aren't you romantic?" he grinned. "I'm afraid you'll have to tell Lily that you can't spend the day with her. You'll make it up to her on Sunday."

Scorpius groaned and collapsed on his chair. "But I promised her…"

"Well, you could come and have dinner at Grimmauld Place like… like you always do, really," pointed out Albus, "I don't know why you would not come anymore."

"None of your business," muttered Scorpius. "Tell me why they can't come to Britain like we'd previously planned."

Well, that was a good question, Albus wasn't sure that Scorpius would have liked the answer too much. "Lorcan and Lysander are too small to travel through Portkey," he told him, "and Luna and Rolf are going to be leaving for Australia by boat next week. So if we want to catch them before they are lost somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean—"

"Pacific."

"Yes, somewhere in the Pacific Ocean, I meant, because that would make it difficult for us to request a Portkey and reach them," he explained. "Thus we need to use the Portkeys we ordered for them the other way round. You know, we go there… they invited us for lunch… we ask them a few questions about Tilden Toots and Professor Sprout and… then we come back home." He grinned slightly, "Maybe… maybe we could bring our swimming trunks as well, apparently they live on a beach…"

Scorpius darkened. "Maybe Lily could come with us," he suggested softly.

Albus laughed heartily at that. He couldn't be serious. "Yes," he chuckled, "and then my mother would die of a heart attack…"

The blond Auror sighed in resignation. Luckily, Scorpius seemed to understand that his suggestion was not dictated by his brain, but by something else. His heart, Albus suspected, since Scorpius clearly wasn't planning on getting Lily naked and pushing her down on the beach and—Albus shook his head, shivering. That was something he didn't want to think about. "So, it's planned," he told him. "You and I, a day at the beach, some talking…"

Scorpius shook his head. "You need a girlfriend," he told him seriously, "you are starting to freak me out."

"It's because I like to freak you out," grinned Albus, "I'd freak you out even if I had a girlfriend, you know…"

"Right," replied Scorpius, rolling his eyes, "let's prepare some questions, I know the Scamanders are prone to forgetfulness and talking nonsense. Better be prepared to keep the conversation on track."

Albus nodded. "You do that, I'm going to tell my father about it," he said, "ask permission to go to Papua as Aurors and tell him not to expect Luna and Rolf for lunch tomorrow."

oooOOOooo

"This isn't so bad, after all," murmured Rose as she moved the umpteenth folder from a pile to another, "I mean, we don't have to focus too much on what we are doing and we have a lot of free time to think about other stuff…"

James glanced at her from behind his pile of folders. "Yeah," he replied vaguely, "if you say so…" He wasn't so happy to have all that time to think about stuff. First of all, he was continuously thinking about the way he had treated his sister two nights before. And even though she had promised him that it was all forgotten and that she knew that he didn't mean those things, he still felt rather ashamed of having actually said those things out loud to her and in front of their mother and the rest of their family. And secondly, he was spending quite a lot of time thinking about who he could have hooked up Rose with at the party. And it was giving him a headache, really. He needed to talk to Josh, see if he was still single. And maybe talk to Josh's ex-girlfriend too, because spending all that time with Rose planning a way to make Emeric jealous was starting to make him feel rather girly.

"Like tomorrow night," murmured Rose, still shifting folders above folders and putting them in alphabetical order for the benefit of nobody at all, really. All a person had to do to find a file in the archive was to Accio it out of the pile. Their work there was utterly useless, a real punishment in the true sense of the word.

"What about tomorrow night?" asked James softly.

"How are we supposed to keep an eye on Lily without her knowing?" she asked, shifting on the chair. "What if she and Scorpius withdraw into a corner to snog. Are we supposed to keep staring at them?"

"I'd rather not, thank you very much," muttered James. "Come on, honestly, we don't have to keep an eye on her. You are right, there's nothing to worry about at a party at Roxy's flat, I mean, it's just going to be us and we'll simply bring her home when the party is over."

"Or at midnight as your mother asked," sighed Rose. "Isn't Scorpius taking her home though?"

James shrugged a shoulder. "Yes, no, I don't know," he replied flatly. "He's a bit… I don't know, he's not exactly warm towards Lily lately."

"I noticed," replied Rose, blue eyes huge as she looked at him, "why do you think?"

"I have no idea," murmured James, "except… Well, maybe… no, it can't be…"

"What?" whispered Rose urgently, quivering in anticipation on the chair. "Come on, what?"

James moved his chair closer to Rose's. Even though there was nobody there, it wouldn't have been good if someone walked in there unexpectedly and found them talking about Lily rather than working. "Well, Albus said that Scorpius told him that he and Lily had never… you know…"

Rose nodded. "I know, I think Albus told everybody already," she sighed.

"Exactly," murmured James, "I… you don't think that maybe he… he got tired of waiting? Maybe he… I mean it's quite an unconventional relationship, isn't it? I mean…"

Rose brought a hand to her mouth, looking at him in horror. "But that's so sad!" she told him. "I mean, no! I don't want to think about it! Poor Lily! No, no, no… they are in love and they'll get married and they'll live happily ever after and…" Her voice trailed away as her eyes filled with tears, surely she was thinking about the fact that she wouldn't have had all these things any time soon.

James' heart raced in his chest. "Hey, Rose, don't cry," he said quickly, "I'm sure you are right… every girl deserves a happily ever after, don't they? Come on…"

"I don't," she replied darkly, brushing away the tears with the back of her hand.

"Everyone," he insisted, "especially you." He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her to his chest, kissing her forehead as her hair tickled his neck. "Come on," he whispered, "we're going to have fun tomorrow at the party… you will forget about Emeric altogether, you'll snog someone silly and then maybe you'll even go home with someone…"

"Yeah," she replied, "I'll go home with you and Lily, remember?"

He sighed. "Yeah," he replied. He kept forgetting that they were going to work undercover at the party.

She pushed her hand on his chest and tilted her head back. "Okay," she said, giving the hint of a smile, "we better go on here, we still have forty piles of these things…"

"I don't think that anybody would notice if we just came in here and napped… honestly, nobody cares whether these things are in alphabetical order or not…" he grunted.

Rose looked at him, scandalised. "Of course someone would notice! The Head Auror for example," she snapped. "And I would rather put the whole archive in alphabetical order than have your father or my father scolding me again like a little child!"

James sighed. "You are right," he agreed, moving his chair back to its original position. "Let's keep putting these files in some kind of order, before someone comes here to scowl at us again…" He lowered his eyes and couldn't help thinking about how lucky Hugo and Emeric were to be out on the field working on his and Scorpius' – and then his and Rose's – case.

oooOOOooo

"I'd rather be back in the office than here," growled Emeric, trying to wipe away the beautifying potion that he had been sprayed all over the face at the entrance of Madam Primpernelle's. "I'd rather be sitting in a chair staring at a pile of documents than walking around Diagon Alley to look for nothing!"

Hugo tried hard to smother his laughter in his scarf, but knew he didn't really succeed when Emeric shot him a glare.

"You think it's funny, don't you?" he grunted.

"I think you are funny," replied Hugo, "the way you complain about everything. Come on, look at the bright side, your skin is basically glowing…"

Emeric seemed to try to kill Hugo with a glare. "I'll look at the bright side alright," he snapped, "this futile research will be over before lunch and we'll be able to focus on something else."

"Futile research?" asked Hugo scandalised. "I beg your pardon, three unicorns have been slain in the Forbidden Forest, do you think that's an unimportant matter?"

"I think we are looking in the wrong place for those unicorn slayers," huffed Emeric. "If James and Rose didn't find anything in Knockturn Alley, we sure as hell are not going to find anything in Diagon Alley! It's clear as day that those people are simply using those unicorn parts for their private potions or rituals or whatever they are using them for. We are not going to find anything here."

Hugo cocked a ginger eyebrow and folded his arms across his chest. "And what do you suggest then, Auror Zabini?" he asked him flatly.

Emeric dodged a plump little angel who was about to dust some stardust on his hair – to make it shinier and softer, read the label that hung from the angel's leg – and looked at Hugo in the eyes. "I suggest that we do a bit of research about dark magic and rituals that involve this kind of ingredients. The Ministry has an equipped library, I'm sure we'll be more than able to find something…"

"And then?" asked Hugo impatiently.

"And then we can… I don't know… track down the magic? Be ready to fight whatever those people are trying to create? Surely nothing good considering that—stop it! I don't want to scrub myself clean! I am clean already!" He slapped one of those little angels away and some girls turned to stare at them. "Let's go," he grumbled, wrapping his scarf tightly around his face to – Hugo suspected – hide from all those unwanted stares. They walked back outside before they could even talk to Madam Primpernelle herself.

"You know," said Hugo thoughtfully, "maybe it's not someone who wants to use those ingredients for some dark ritual or potion. Maybe it's just someone who is desperate because a relative or a lover is dying and they are trying to keep them alive with the blood of the unicorn and—"

"You are more romantic than your sister, you know that?" blurted out Emeric. "She would have already started analysing the situation from a rational point of view and then she would have considered the odds and finally she would have decided what to do next."

Hugo was torn between blushing in embarrassment and feeling rather annoyed. He decided to go with being annoyed. After all, if a girl had told him that he was romantic he would have swelled up his chest and smiled his cockiest grin, but a guy… it sounded very much as if he was making fun of him. Especially because Emeric had just told him that he was more romantic than a girl. "Well, she is more analytical than I am," grunted Hugo. "Let's go. We need to book our time in the library, you know that, don't you?"

oooOOOooo

"No!"

"Yes."

"No, I can't believe it."

"Believe it, Ron," sighed Harry, dressing his salad with some olive oil and a bit of vinaigrette.

"And Ginny threw him out?"

Harry nodded as he mixed the greens. "Yes, she told him that Lily is too young to get married and that she basically forbade him to ask for her hand," he sighed.

"And you don't think that?" he asked him, cocking an eyebrow. Ron's own salad lay almost untouched in front of him, even though Harry suspected it wasn't for the surprise of the news he had just bestowed upon his best friend.

"Of course, I think that she is too young," grunted Harry, "she would be too young even if she were fifty…"

"But?"

Harry sighed. "But she'll have to marry someone sooner or later, I mean… it's the natural order of things, one grows up, gets married, has children—"

"You want to talk to Charlie?"

"Ron," murmured Harry, "what I mean is that Lily surely would love to get married to Scorpius and… if I have to be completely and utterly honest with you, I want her to get married to Scorpius Malfoy as well…" Harry poked at the lettuce with his fork. "I mean, he loves her, he knows what she has been through, he respects her and… honestly, he just knows how to handle her and her emotions. Almost more than Ginny and I manage to do…"

Ron pushed the salad to his side and looked around himself furtively, before producing a sandwich from somewhere under the table. He unwrapped it and took a quick bite of the fragrant bread and mouth-watering salami. "If Hermione sees you…" Harry whispered, shaking his head.

"Exactly," he replied, chewing furiously on the sandwich, "that's why I'm having lunch with you rather than my wife."

"I thought it was to listen to my woes," pointed out Harry dryly.

"What woes? Scorpius wants to ask Lily to marry him and you want that too," he told him as he kept bolting down the sandwich, "it's a win-win."

"Ginny doesn't want Lily to marry. I suspect ever," pointed out Harry.

"She'll get over it," replied Ron, "I mean, she can't lock her in the tower, right? Even Viridina found her knight in the tower and—what?"

"Are you quoting from Viridina and the Knight?" chuckled Harry.

"The Tale of Viridina the Witch and Her Handsome Knight," corrected Ron, "and yes, I know the whole story without having read the book, thanks to your daughter and your wife and my wife even."

Harry chuckled. Talking to Ron always made him feel better, even when Ron was being so Ron. Actually, especially when he was being Ron. Which was all the time, really. He brought some salad to his mouth and chewed it with faked enthusiasm, before raising his eyes over his brother-in-law's head and finding himself staring at a fuming Hermione. Her hands were on her hips in a quit menacing way.

"Hem… Ron…" muttered Harry.

Ron raised his eyes from his sandwich. "What?" he spluttered.

"Your… your wife…"

He stiffened. "Is she standing behind me?" he asked softly.

Harry nodded.

"Did she see the sandwich?" he whispered.

Over his head, Hermione nodded.

"I'm afraid so, mate," murmured Harry.

"Am I screwed?"

Hermione nodded again.

Harry sighed. "I guess so…"

Ron took a deep breath as he stuffed the last bite of his sandwich in his mouth. "What?" he asked as Harry shot him an incredulous look. "If I'm going to die I'm going to die happy and stuffed…"

oooOOOooo

"But… but… I really hoped that we would spend the day together," murmured Lily, "the whole day… you promised…"

Scorpius bit his bottom lip. This was all Albus' fault. Had he imagined that those little fellas were too small to Portkey travel all the way to England, they would have scheduled another day to meet the Scamanders and Scorpius wouldn't have had to work on Saturday and stay another day apart from Lily. Especially now that they were apart more time than not. He cupped her cheeks and leaned in to kiss her. "Listen," he murmured feathering kisses on her pouting lips, "I'll be away the whole day, but I promise that I'll be at Roxy's party tomorrow night and will make it up to you for the day we haven't spent together."

She smiled softly at him, looking up into his eyes with her beautiful chocolaty ones. "You're going to dance with me?" she asked softly.

He took a deep breath. Ah, what one did for love! She loved to dance and he was as good as a rock. Still, every time he stomped on her poor toes or bumped into something or someone, Lily just praised him and told him how wonderful it was for her to dance with him. "We'll dance all night, if that's what you want," he told her softly.

She shrugged a shoulder. "We can snog a bit too, if you want," she told him, "and eat what Auntie Angelina will cook for the party."

He grinned and kissed her again. "I like all these ideas," he murmured, before adding, "I wish you could come with us…"

"I wish that too," she replied, "I really would like to see Luna and Rolf and Lorcan and Lysander…"

"I'll say hi from you," he assured her. "I'm sure it's going to be unbearably hot and humid and full of flies and—"

"And white sand beaches and turquoise oceans," she finished for him. "I wish I could see them…"

He looked into her eyes and saw only longing to go somewhere. Anywhere. Well, if in the end he managed to ask her to marry him, he would have organised the most fantastic and most wonderful honeymoon his friends and family had ever seen. He would have brought her in all those places where she had always wanted to go. Mrs Potter would have had a heart attack, granted, but Lily would have been happy. Scorpius himself would have been happy.

He would have brought her to Paris first and foremost. Because the Malfoys owned a flat there, and they would have taken the bateau on the Seine and they would shop in Les Champs-Élysées and then they would take a Portkey to Italy, to Venice and Rome and then off to some tropical island where—

"You should come to Grimmauld Place tonight… just to spend some time with me before you leave," she murmured, waking him from his reverie.

He took a deep breath. "Lily…"

She brought a hand to his lips. "No, not for me," she hurried to say, "I mean, if you don't want to come for me… I understand, it's for… for Luna and Rolf and the twins, I made something for them, you know, I just wanted to give them to you so that you can give them to the Scamanders…"

He kissed her fingertips and moved her hand away. "Of course I want to come for you," he replied, "I just, I have to get things ready for tomorrow. Which is really tonight, considering the time difference…"

"But…"

"Give them to Al," he suggested, "I'm sure he'll be happy to bring anything you've prepared for the Scamanders tomorrow."

She nodded and lowered her eyes. It was clear as day to him that she just wanted him to come to Grimmauld Place, she was his super intelligent girlfriend, of course she knew that she could have given any present she had for them to her brother, she just wanted him to go to her house. And he wanted that too. How long would have it taken Mrs Potter to either forgive him for his daring action or to give him her blessing?

"Who's coming to pick you up?" he asked her softly. The parents had all come and gone, even Mrs Whittle, and all she had to do was flicking her wand to clean up and tidy, and then she could have gone home. But whoever was coming seemed unaware of the fact that she finished a bit earlier on Fridays due to the parents picking their children up half an hour before the usual time. They usually spent those minutes snogging, or with Lily showing him what the children had done that day or with him telling her about his day at the Ministry, or even more often with the two of them deciding what to do that weekend.

"Teddy," she replied, "he just brought Remus home and said he'll be back—"

"Now," Teddy finished for her from the door. "Are you ready, Lils?"

Scorpius let her go and she nodded and drew out her wand. She was quick to tidy and clean the classroom that looked more like a battlefield at times.

"I'll just go and change real quick," she told him and hurried to the changing rooms reserved to the teachers to take off her pinafore.

"Still not going to Grimmauld Place?" asked Teddy once they were alone.

Scorpius glanced at him and shook his head.

"Still not telling what's up?"

"Nothing's up," pointed out Scorpius dryly.

Teddy snorted. "Yes, sure," he replied, "did you have a row with someone? Harry perhaps?"

Scorpius bit his bottom lip. "No," he replied. "And even if I had I hardly think it'd be any of your business."

Teddy raised his hands next to his face. "Sorry," he murmured, "just trying to understand what's wrong between you and Lily…"

"Nothing's wrong between us," he replied quickly, "we're perfectly fine."

Lily walked back into the classroom, her pinafore neatly folded in her hands, her coat tightly wrapped around her waist.

"I'll see you tomorrow," murmured Scorpius, kissing her forehead, "at the party.

"I can't wait," grinned Lily. "Say hi to your parents from me. And to the Scamanders tomorrow."

"I will," he replied, pulling her in a tight embrace before letting her go and turning towards Teddy. "Are you coming to the party?" he asked him.

Teddy snorted. "With a two-year-old child I am definitely not coming…" he sighed. "Especially when our favourite baby-sitter is going out partying as well."

Lily giggled and went to Teddy. "You could bring him to the party," she suggested with a grin, "I'm sure he would have fun…"

"You silly girl," chuckled Teddy, "you'd love to see his parents running behind him as he got lost in the crowd."

Lily laughed at that and Scorpius' lips curved into a smile as well. That would have been fun.

"Better if we go before Ginny throws something at me because I've brought you home late," he told her. "Have a nice trip to Papua New Guinea, Scorpius."

"Thanks," replied Scorpius as he walked out with them.

"Remember to bring some sun lotion," suggested the blue-haired man.

"I'm going there to work, Teddy," he reminded him.

Teddy pushed the door open and Lily walked in front of him. "I know, but knowing Luna and Rolf they'll probably talk to you on the beach or in the ocean…"

"Have fun," murmured Lily, kissing his cheek. "Remember to say hi to Luna."

"I will, Lily."

Teddy nodded at him and then hugged Lily and finally whisked her away in a side-along Apparition. Leaving Scorpius there to contemplate the place where they had just disappeared and wishing he was the one with the girl in his arms.