Author's Notes: Thank you my dear reviewers! You're the best. I'm so grateful for each and every single one of you, please don't worry if you can't review every chapter. I know you're there reading this with me and it makes me so happy already! Another collections of scenes in this chapter. Things will start getting hectic starting from the upcoming chapter, I promise. Hope you're ready for that! :D Ah, we're already half-way through this! I can hardly believe it! Time flies!

PS-I kind of have problems with the alerts from this website. I don't get alerts for reviews and PM's and faves and follows during the early hours of the morning, I get them later in the afternoon all together. Am I the only one with this problem?

Chapter Ten

Scorpius couldn't sleep.

He thought he would have collapsed on the bed and drifted into a peaceful sleep five minutes after, but instead he had lain awake for hours.

And that was, first and foremost, because of Sparky. The Crup had kept weeping for most part of the night, and only stopped when Lily hugged him tightly to her chest and put him between the two of them on the bed. So that Scorpius had to move a little bit away from her to make room for the puppy, which was something that had annoyed him slightly.

Secondly, there was the unexpected news of Lily wanting to leave Grimmauld Place to live alone. Scorpius was rather surprised that she would listen to his father's suggestions since Scorpius himself didn't do that. But she seemed to have made up her mind: Draco Malfoy had told her that it was normal for children to leave their families sooner or later and she was going to do just that. And despite the fact that he was gloating for the fact that Mrs Potter would have had to cut the umbilical cord that linked her to her daughter, and that for once it was not Scorpius' fault, he couldn't help fretting at the thought of his girlfriend living alone. She was beautiful and simply too trusty and he could practically see her letting a handsome next-door neighbour into her house with the excuse that he needed some sugar and then… No, no, no. He didn't want to think about it.

As a third and final thing, he had just seen a corpse. And despite him being a big boy and an Auror, he could never quite sleep the night after he had seen a body.

So, now he was sitting on the couch of the living room in Grimmauld Place with a cup of tea in his hands and his eyes fixed on the wall in front of him. Thinking, trying to get himself in the right mood to fall asleep, trying to think about the Toots case, trying not to think about Lily living alone.

"…I know why you're crying, it's because Malfoy called you Brutus. That's no name for a little ball of fluff like yourself. Shall we change your name? To something more apt to a Crup like—oh…"

Scorpius turned his head to look over his shoulder. Mrs Potter, wearing a flowery nightgown and a pair of oversized fluffy and warm slippers, was standing on the door. Brutus, or whatever his name was going to be in a few moments, was in her arms, his tiny mouth was open and his tongue hung from between his teeth.

"Scorpius," she murmured, scratching her head and involuntarily ruffling up her hair even more, "I thought… I thought you were sleeping. I thought everybody was sleeping." She walked towards him and sat down on an armchair close to the fireplace, the pup turned in her arms and jumped down from her legs to the floor, trotting to go and sniff at Scorpius' feet.

"I couldn't," he replied softly, "too many things on my head and… too many things in Lily's bed."

To his surprise, Mrs Potter smiled. "I understand," she replied, "Mr Potter told me to bring Brutus downstairs because he couldn't sleep either. This poor fellow has been tossing and turning for most of the night."

Scorpius nodded. "They miss their mother," he whispered. "That's why they are so restless."

"I know," she replied quietly.

He nodded again and stared as the pup went back to Mrs Potter and stood on his hind legs, placing his front paws on her leg. She smiled and bent over to pick him up and scratch him between his ears. The Crup barked happily and Mrs Potter shushed him by putting him closer to his face, where the pup started to lick her.

She giggled like a child. She giggled like Lily giggled when she was happy, and Scorpius couldn't help smiling at her.

Then, suddenly, she spoke and her voice was serious and focused, "I don't like the idea of Lily going to live by herself."

Scorpius raised his eyebrows at her. Ah, of course… she would have talked about that, sooner or later. Scorpius could have sniggered and pointed out that if she had let him ask her to marry him, she would have never had that crazy idea. But he didn't. He was too tired to start the umpteenth discussion with Lily's mother and if he really wanted to get her blessing at some point, he should have kept his mouth closed. "Me neither," he said evenly.

Mrs Potter looked into his eyes. "I would feel much better if you married her and she went to live with you," she murmured.

Scorpius took a few long seconds to understand what she was saying. He had to wait for the meaning of those words to sink into his brain, but when they did, his lips parted in surprise as he stared at Mrs Potter. Was she really saying… was she… was she giving him her blessing to…? "You mean…"

Mrs Potter nodded as she pushed the Crup back down into her lap. "Yes," she told him, "you have my permission, my blessing, whatever you need. You can ask Lily to marry you."

Scorpius' heartbeat increased. Was he dreaming? Surely, soon he would have bolted awake in Lily's bed, with Sparky licking his face and Lily giggling in his ear and saying that the Crup liked him. Surely, that wasn't reality. Surely… "I… I…"

She raised a hand in front of her face to stop him. "If," she started quietly, "if there's one person that can marry my daughter and protect her and keep her safe—"

"She doesn't—"

"Don't, Scorpius," she murmured. "You can say whatever you want, but she does need protection. Yes, she is strong and all grown up and everything, but… she didn't have a normal… childhood. And anybody else would have just taken advantage of her, she is sweet and gentle and always sees the good in everybody, she needs someone like you to keep her with her feet on the ground. Someone that won't let anything bad happen to her."

For a moment Scorpius wondered if she had had his same vision: Lily and some bloke in her flat, taking advantage of her. Either that or he and Mrs Potter were more alike than he would have thought.

Scorpius swallowed. "So… can I ask Lily to marry me?" he whispered. "Really?" His heart had started beating at double pace now, he tried to subtly pinch his own forearm and nothing happened. It was no dream after all.

Mrs Potter took a deep breath. "Yes," she told him, "but don't think even for a spare second that I won't come and visit you every single day. Even if you were to move to Wales to be close to Lily's work."

Scorpius grinned. "You will always be welcomed at our house."

She nodded seriously. "And you will come here every evening for dinner."

"Free food, who would be such a fool as to refuse that?" he kept grinning.

She smiled a little as well. "And the moment you have your first child, I am moving in with you," she told him.

He chuckled. "Great, as long as you help us bringing up the child like Lily and not like Al…" And as long as he could call her the Help behind her back, but that, probably, was not something that she would have liked.

Mrs Potter giggled now. "Deal," she told him. "And remember that you can move in here if… if your father insists that you two live at the Manor and you don't want to, I mean… Grimmauld Place is big too… I know it's not like the Manor, but…"

"I'd rather live under a bridge than living at the Manor with my father any longer," he told her seriously.

Once again that evening Scorpius was surprised by Mrs Potter's reply. "You shouldn't be so hard on your father, Scorpius," she told him gently, "yes, he might have a terrible taste in Crups' names, but he is not the same man who bought you a… who bought you Scarlet for Christmas." Her voice dropped a little and she looked away from Scorpius.

"He didn't… he didn't change… he is… I don't think I can forgive him," he growled softly.

"Well, then, consider this," she murmured, "if it wasn't for him, we wouldn't be having this conversation."

"Because Lily wouldn't be wanting to go live by herself or because we wouldn't be awake because of the Crups?" he snorted.

"Neither, because he reminded me that I can't keep her with me forever," she murmured, "because he told me that it's time for me to let her go." She scratched her temple and added, "With his weird Crup metaphor…" She sighed. "I mean, Harry and Ron and Hermione had already told me those things over and over again, but… I think I needed to hear it from someone else. From someone who didn't have anything to lose or to gain from this situation. Someone who would tell me just because he knew it was the right thing to do…"

Scorpius lowered his eyes. His father had done that? Really? His father? The one person who had bought him a prostitute as a Christmas present? The one person who had been sent to Azkaban? The one who was friends with the man who had raped and forced Lily to sell her body ever since she was nine years old? Scorpius was slow to forgive, he knew that. He still hadn't forgiven Albus after he had told Lily about the surprise birthday party Scorpius was organising for her three years ago. How could he forgive his father?

"He loves you, Scorpius," murmured Mrs Potter, "I'm sure he is hurt by the fact that you don't want to talk to him…"

Scorpius looked back at her, but he couldn't find anything to say. It didn't matter how hard he tried to put the words together, every response he could give now seemed rather petty.

"Think about it," she told him when he didn't reply. "Now," she continued in a more business-like voice, "let's talk about your engagement to my daughter. I'd quite like for you to ask her to marry you before she's even trying to look for a place where to stay."

"I'd like that too," he replied.

"Good, then we shall organise an engagement party," she told him, "Mister Potter and I had ours at the Burrow. There were quite a few people, you know. It was absolutely—"

"Yes," he cut her off, "and I'm sure my mother would like to have a grandiose party at the Manor." He took a deep breath and finally said, "I'd like to ask her alone first though. I want it… I want it to special."

Mrs Potter smiled warmly and stood up, the Crup finally asleep in her arms. "And it will be," she murmured going to him and bending to kiss his forehead. "I'm sure it'll be. Good night, Scorpius."

"Good night, Mrs Potter," he replied and then stared as she made her way back to her room.

oooOOOooo

Lily checked the Grandfather Clock near the door of the Ladybird Room for the umpteenth time. It was well past eleven now, soon she would have had to escort the children to the canteen and then they would have taken their nap and then it was story time, a bit of play time and finally they would have wanted to colour, and she would have had to glue things together to prepare those Valentine's Cards that the children were supposed to give to their parents the upcoming Saturday.

But despite the fact that Lily had the whole day planned out, that her students looked quite vivacious and content to be there, and that she was all happy to have spent the night sandwiched between Sparky and Scorpius, she couldn't help fretting.

Alfie was not there. His mother hadn't Floo Called to let her know what had happened, if Alfie wasn't feeling well or if they had some kind of emergency or if something else had happened. She always insisted with the parents that they should let her know why their children couldn't come to school, because she fretted when she didn't see them in the classroom so unexpectedly like today. They were ickle things, after all, anything could have happened to them.

The bell that signalled that lunch was about to be served in the canteen rang loudly throughout the whole school and the children screamed happily at the thought of warm food filling their small bellies.

They jumped up from their little chairs and went to crowd around Lily, looking up at her with big eyes and expecting her to tell them how to queue properly that morning to reach the cafeteria.

"Two by two, children," she told them gently, "Remus and Martha on the front, and don't pull that face Remus, Martha is adorable. There, and you all queue behind them, yes, take the hand of the child next to you and… right, there's only eleven of you today… Come here, Bridget, I'll take your hand." She stood at the bottom of the queue of children and told them not to run as they walked to the canteen and laughed and chatted about who could eat more pasta that day.

Lily giggled at their discourses, but once they set foot in the cafeteria they ran towards the two little tables that were designed exactly for them, and took possession of the plastic cutlery there. "Be good and I'll go and tell the house-elves that we are here and that they can make our lunch appear, okay?"

They all nodded meekly and Lily could feel their big eyes following her as she walked to the kitchen. The house-elves squealed in delight as they started to put the pasta on some little, colourful plates with little witches playing Quidditch and wizards doing spells on the bottom.

"Oh, Lily," said Betsy, almost bumping into her as she tried to get within earshot of the house-elves too. "We're here too," she told them as she flattened against the door, before turning to Lily. "How are you?" she asked brightly. "All set for the outing tomorrow?"

Lily nodded. "All set for the outing, but… I have a student who didn't come this morning and the parents didn't even send a note or anything," she murmured, "do you think I should send Scorpius to investigate?"

"Oh, dear," murmured Betsy, "I… I don't know. I think… maybe talk with Miss Mitzy first?" She bit her bottom lip and half smiled at her. "I mean, I think you should ask her if it's alright to send someone to the house of a child just because he didn't turn up at school… Maybe they had some kind of emergency, and they wouldn't appreciate to see Aurors at their door…" She smiled reassuringly as she looked at her now. "And you need to ask for the address anyway, in case she agrees that it's wise to send someone…"

"Oh no," replied Lily promptly, "I remember it. I remember every address of every child."

Betsy nodded. "I forgot you have your superpower," she chuckled, "well, it's quite convenient to remember all the addresses of the children in your class. It'll surely make you save quite a bit of time when you have to send out things."

"Every child in the school," she corrected Betsy serenely, "and what their parents do, and who to contact in case something happens and what every child is allergic to and—"

"Right, Lily," giggled Betsy, stopping her midsentence, "I envy you. I can't even remember some of the surnames of the children I teach, can you believe it?"

Now it was Lily's time to giggle. No, she couldn't believe it. To her it was just normal to remember everything about everybody. She remembered every name of every person she had ever met, she remembered every place she'd ever been, she remembered everything.

"I should go and talk to Miss Mitzy then," she said thoughtfully. "I'm sure she'll understand that it's quite a situation."

"Lily, maybe he's just sick," pointed out Betsy calmly, "I think you worry because you live with too many Aurors…"

Lily smiled at her. "Probably I do…" Then she remembered something. "Oh! Betsy, I have so many things to tell you, by the way! I got a Crup yesterday, and I'm moving out of Grimmauld Place soon! Isn't that exciting?"

oooOOOooo

"Thank me," said Albus, crumbling up a piece of paper in front of Scorpius and throwing it away.

"For what?" he asked, cocking an eyebrow.

"I was almost going to request a Portkey to Romania, but didn't," replied Albus, sitting across from Scorpius and smiling.

Scorpius' grey eyes seemed to bulge out of his orbits. "Beg your pardon?" he asked sharply. "You were going to request a Portkey to Romania?"

Albus looked at him as if he was stupid. Well, sometimes he did think that Scorpius was stupid, then he remembered that he had saved his little sister and usually sent that thought at the back of his head. "To go and talk to my uncle, naturally," he replied. "But apparently, Uncle Charlie is coming home tomorrow for Valentine's Day or something. I think he wants to spend the day with my grandma, I guess… or maybe he finally decided to bring someone home."

Scorpius gaped at him. "Why on earth would we want to talk to your uncle?" he asked without understanding.

Albus rolled his eyes. "Remember what Luna said?"

"She said a lot of things and most of them didn't make sense," snorted Scorpius, "I remember that she said something about the bat that we had for lunch…"

"She said that Magizoologists and Herbologists all keep in contact with each other," he reminded him, "so…"

"So what? Your uncle is a freaking Dragonologist," he pointed out, "what would it even be his connection with Toots and Sprout?"

"Well, I don't know, but it's called an investigation, right? That's what we do, remember? We are Aurors, we go and ask questions…"

Now it was Scorpius' time to roll his eyes. "Right, I have some great news actually. I've got ourselves another case."

Albus' mouth opened wide. "What the hell, Scorpius!" he snapped. "I thought you agreed that there was something here!"

"There is," he replied calmly, "but at the same time, you know that I was working on the unicorn case with James, right? And that when James and Rose had gotten drunk during duty they had to pass that case to Hugo and Emeric? Well, Hugo and Emeric just dropped that case, they said it wasn't going anywhere, that they even went to the Ministry library to do some research and couldn't find anything about unicorn blood that they didn't know already. So they were super happy when they found the body of a wealthy wizard in Diagon Alley last night, and… well, they are investigating on that now."

Albus folded his arms across his chest. "So what? You got ourselves two cases?"

"Well, put two and two together, you genius," he growled. "One is a case about plants and plant-loving people and the other is about unicorns. We can basically interrogate the same people since there's this great community of magical flora and fauna aficionados."

Albus thought for a moment about his words. After all, Scorpius wasn't that wrong, was he? They could always ask Uncle Charlie about the unicorns, ask him if he knew anything about the uses of the blood that they didn't already know and maybe ask him even about other things—

"Great," said Scorpius, not waiting for an answer from Albus, "I have to go to the Archive for a second, now. I will see you at lunch, Al."

Albus stared as he stood up and walked to the door, without a further glance to his Auror partner. He couldn't even ask him why he wanted to go to the archive that the blond man was gone, leaving Albus in his office all alone.

oooOOOooo

Rose wanted to cry, she could actually feel her bottom lip trembling and her eyesight blurring slightly.

Scorpius was an insensitive git. She couldn't believe that he was asking her… that! She had just been dumped, didn't he remember that? Honestly!

Showing her that gigantic ring and asking her what she thought was the best way to ask Lily to marry him was not okay. Well, thank you very much, Mr Insensitivity. She should have started crying right there and then. She knew how much he hated crying girls, she should have done that just for a little vendetta. Started the whole nobody wants me, nobody loves me, I'll never get married charade. Except, it wasn't exactly a charade and she wasn't exactly comfortable telling him those things.

She pushed the ring back into his hand and took a deep breath. "Nice ring," she finally told him. "Not really my style, but I'm sure Lily won't complain too much."

Scorpius cocked an eyebrow as he pocketed the box once again. "Well, thank you," he muttered, "I guess…"

Rose folded her arms across her chest. "Well, what do you need me for?" she asked rather sourly. Apart from making me want to wear that ring and punch you on your nose with it.

Scorpius took a deep breath. "I… I just wanted a suggestion," he whispered, glancing over at James who seemed to be trying to listen to them without managing. "I want to make the moment I ask Lily unforgettable for her, but—"

Rose flared her nostrils. "Well, Valentine's Day is right around the corner," she huffed, "book a nice restaurant in Diagon Alley and ask her there. Just like every normal person would do."

Scorpius shook his head. "That was my initial plan," he replied, "but I can't wait for Valentine's Day. I have to ask her before she decides to move out of Grimmauld Place."

Rose furrowed her brow. What the heck was he talking about? "Move out? Move where?"

Scorpius shrugged a shoulder. "A flat somewhere her and Sparky alone…"

"Who's Sparky?" What was happening? He had seen Lily on Saturday evening, how many things had happened in a day and a half?

"Her Crup," replied Scorpius. "Listen if you want to know everything that happened yesterday you can ask your aunt, for now I just need you to come up with some nice idea on how I could ask her… You're intelligent, Rose, it pains me to admit that, but you're intelligent."

"Well, obviously a nice idea would be not to ask me," she snapped, "since I've just been dumped." And there she went, if he said the word 'marry' once more, Rose was sure that she would have jumped at his throat like a werewolf. And then she would have sent a I'm sorry I killed your soon-to-be fiancé with my teeth and nails card. Surely they would have something like that at Flourish and Blotts.

"Okay," he replied quietly, "but you're a girl and Lily keeps saying that you're her best friend… I mean, you should know her…"

Was he trying to make her feel guilty? Because he was succeeding pretty well… Rose bit her bottom lip and let out a sigh. "Okay," she finally conceded, "okay. Well, what does Lily like?"

"Me?" grinned Scorpius.

Rose's eyes narrowed. "Yes, and I can't understand why," she hissed. "She likes Chocolate Frogs, books, children, presents, laughter…" She looked at Scorpius and raised her eyebrows. "Nothing? I'm trying to do a little brainstorming here…"

"I'm just imagining myself dressed as a child bringing her a book about Chocolate Frogs as a present…"

Rose rolled her eyes. "Forget it," she muttered, "just be natural. Invite her upstairs to the little terrace on top of Grimmauld Place – yes, don't pull that face, there is one and I know you don't know about it because Aunt Ginny never lets Lily go up there since she thinks it's too cold, too high, too dangerous. But you prepare a little night-time picnic – set up a couple of Heating Charms, maybe – and she'll be ecstatic to be up there, the view is breathtaking and she'll get all happy and then you'll ask her to marry you and she'll say yes even to you…"

"Hey!" grunted Scorpius.

"I meant especially to you," sighed Rose. "Happy, now? Can you leave me alone with my pain?"

Scorpius cocked an eyebrow at her. "Pain? I know what happened at the party, the only pain there was there I think it was that on Emeric's cheek…" he replied amused.

Rose felt her cheeks go up in flames. "That's none of your business," she replied, her voice too high to not sound upset. "He was being a jerk! I am not surprised he's your friend."

"Yeah, right," he murmured, "you were his girlfriend for five years."

She crossed her arms on her chest. "I just helped you out planning the way to ask your girlfriend to marry you," she pointed out, before smirking in a slight Slytherin way, "and I'd advise you to mind your own business unless you want me to accidentally tell Lily that you're about to ask her to marry you…"

Scorpius glared at her, but she just glared right back at him.

"Well played," he muttered, stretching a hand for her to shake.

She shook it. "Well, that's what happens when I'm forced to see you every day at work and then even at my uncle's and aunt's house…"

oooOOOooo

Draco tapped his cane on the floor and flared his nostrils irritably. His grey eyes gaped at the door of the shop impatiently.

"Draco," admonished Astoria, "can you at least pretend you are not bored? You know it's not dignified to act like that in the public eye." She scratched the Kneazle kitten in her arms and smiled.

"I'm not bored, Astoria," he replied seriously, "I'm just irritated that we have to come to Magical Menagerie to suggest to Ginny Potter what kind of Crup food to buy for the pup she stole from me."

"She didn't steal a pup from you, Draco," Astoria tried to reason, "you gave it to her because we are going to be in-laws, and that's what family does. And you didn't have to come, she owled me and I am more than happy to meet Ginevra here… and Draco…"

Draco glanced at her wife. "No, out of the question."

"But I've always wanted a—"

"We already have three owls and a litter of Crups back at home," he told her. "We don't need a Kneazle."

She grabbed the animal under its shoulders and pushed it in front of Draco's face. "But it's so soft," she murmured, "touch it… isn't it soft?"

Draco's nostrils flared again, but he complied. Yes, the animal was soft and let out the most adorable sounds with its defenceless miiii. But Draco was more of a Crup person, rather than a Kneazle lover.

"Aww," the unwelcome voice of Ginny Potter reached Draco's ears, "isn't that adorable?"

Astoria pushed the kitten into Draco's arms. "Ginevra," she exclaimed, walking past her husband and going to kiss Ginny Potter's cheeks, "it's been too long, when are you coming to visit us at the Manor?"

"She was there yesterday, Astoria," hissed Draco, but his comment seemed to go ignored by the two women, who were just exchanging pleasantries as if they were old friends.

Ginny Potter smiled warmly as she linked arms with Astoria. "I know, but I guess that we'll see each other much more often now that Scorpius is about to ask Lily to marry him, right?"

Astoria looked at her, her eyes shining with emotion. "Ginevra," she murmured, "does that mean that… that you agreed to the engagement?"

Draco stared at the red-haired woman as she shifted her eyes on him. "I believe you have to thank your husband for that," she said softly, "he suggested my daughter to go and live by herself, and made me understand that I need to let her live her life." She sighed and smiled as she looked back at Astoria. "And I can't forbid Scorpius from asking her hand, he loves her, she loves him, why would I not give my blessing to them?"

Astoria brought a hand to her mouth and smiled as she turned her head towards her husband. "You did that, Draco?"

Draco felt his face heat up. He shifted the kitten in his arms and darkened. "I was just talking about Crups," he mumbled.

"Oh yes, you were," mocked Ginny Potter with a grin.

Draco took a deep breath, his chest swelling up as he caressed the purring Kneazle in his arms. "Did you sleep well last night, Potter?" he asked, trying hard not to sneer. Surely she had gone through the wailing and tossing and turning with Brutus for most part of the night and surely – even though she must have concealed her tiredness with some charm – she must have been absolutely knackered.

"Well," she started, "Lily said that Sparky settled down rather quickly. He slept in her bed and pushed Scorpius away. While Patches was—"

"Who's Patches?" asked Draco darkly.

"Why, my Crup," she replied serenely.

Draco flared his nostrils again. "His name is Brutus," he reminded her, "Brutus Armand Star de la Flamboyant Sea."

"Yes," replied Ginny Potter, "which is slightly inconvenient when I have to call him. Patches is much easier and nicer. Plus, you let Lily name her Crup…"

"Well, she didn't steal it out of my kennel," he pointed out sharply.

Ginny Potter shook her head. "Neither did I," she replied cheekily, "we are almost family, Malfoy, you can't steal from family."

"Yes, you can and the only reason why I didn't call the Aurors is because half of them are related to you," he told her sourly.

"Oh my," murmured Astoria, "Ginevra, dear, I'm sure Draco means that you can call the pup as you prefer, since he's yours now."

"No, I—"

"And that he shall escort you to choose the most apt Crup food as well as the best accessories to take care of Sparky and Patches," she continued, "I, in the meantime, will go and pay for this fluffy ball of fur." She took the Kneazle from Draco's arms and before he could even protest she was already standing in front of the counter.

He tried to babble something, but suddenly Draco felt rather helpless with all those minxes surrounding him. They knew perfectly well how to play him and they were doing that at that very moment to get anything they wanted.

"I talked to your son, last night," whispered Ginny Potter suddenly, her fingers fiddling with the scarf around her neck. "I told him what you did for him… for us."

Draco glanced askew at her before proceeding to blush. "I was just talking about the Crups," he repeated nervously, before pointing towards a shelf stacked with Crup food and accessories.

"Oh yes you were," said Ginny Potter again, patting his shoulder. "Yes, you were."

oooOOOooo

Rose Weasley – despite her being incredibly annoying at times as well as rather stubborn and an insufferable know-it-all – was a genius. Naturally, Scorpius wouldn't have been able to tell her that without suffering the consequences – which were her telling him in her condescending tone that she knew that she was a genius – but he could think that in the privacy of his own mind.

The terrace on top of Grimmauld Place was small, but quite romantic. Of course, all it needed was a couple of Scouring Charms, a nice Heating Charm for the lady and a picnic blanket with some food and something to drink and quite a few candles.

And Lily, naturally.

Not Albus.

Lily.

"I can't believe you're going to ask my sister to marry you," Albus murmured, balancing his buttocks on the iron balustrade that contoured the terrace. "I mean, she keeps saying, 'When Scorpius and I get married,' and 'When I'll live with Scorpius…' but still… It's kind of a shock."

Scorpius glanced at him askew. "It's a shock to me that you'll become part of my family," he pointed out, "so we are kind of even."

Albus shrugged a shoulder. "Fair enough," he replied, "and when are you going to ask her? Valentine's Day? Oh Scorpius, you are so romantic…"

Scorpius glared at him. "Valentine's Day is too predictable," he pointed out, "I want a special day, a day that it's all ours, a day that we—oh, never mind. You wouldn't understand."

"Hey, I'm romantic too!" protested Albus. "Ask Miriam…"

"She is your brother's ex-girlfriend," told him Scorpius dryly, "nothing romantic about snogging her at the same party where your brother is invited too. Just a little bit creepy." He looked away and muttered, "Or just as nuts as kissing and then slapping your ex in front of everybody…"

"Are you talking about Emeric and Rose?" chuckled Albus.

Scorpius glanced at him. "I wasn't there, but I've been told about the whole scene…"

Albus shrugged a shoulder. "It looked a bit like Emeric still had some feelings for Rose, if you ask me," he murmured.

Scorpius nodded and he was right about to start gossiping like one of Albus' cousins, when he glanced at his watch and saw the time. "I have to go and pick up Lily," he said, "don't tell a soul about this."

Albus shrugged a shoulder as he jumped down from the balustrade. "Who would I tell?" he asked nonchalantly.

"Your cousins, your brother, your parents, your grandparents, your sister, your—"

"Whoa! Alright, you made your point," he huffed. "Now go and get Lily and don't dawdle."

Scorpius smirked. "Why? Do you worry?"

"Nope, I'm hungry."

oooOOOooo

"…and he didn't show up, Teddy, like never, for the whole day. And I asked Miss Mitzy and she said that if he doesn't come for the whole week then you can go to their house and investigate, but that one day of absence is not enough to alert the Aurors."

"She's right," replied Teddy, nodding seriously. "I'm sure everything is more than fine with Alfie. He's the small child that never speaks too much, isn't he? I don't think he came to Remus' birthday party."

Lily shook her head. "No, he didn't," she replied, "there was Martha, Bridget, Charlie, Mary—"

"Okay," sighed Teddy. Man, that girl made him look like a bad father when she listed down everything about his son and he just could not. "He is not very outgoing, maybe it's a family thing and they don't send out owls if there's nothing out of the ordinary."

Lily lowered her eyes, looking positively unconvinced. "I always tell the parents to owl me when the children can't come," she murmured, "that I worry. I'm worrying, Teddy."

"I know, Lils," he told her gently, patting her shoulder. He needed to change the subject before she asked him to go and check the house straight away once again and then the family reported him for trespassing. "Harry said that you want to move out of Grimmauld Place," he told her, "where did that come from, Lily?"

She smiled almost excitedly now. "Oh, isn't that great? Mister Malfoy told me that I should go, right when he gave me Sparky, he's my Crup, you know, he's just a pup but he's cool, and he cried only a little bit last night, and my mum got a Crup too. You should bring Remus to see them, they are really pretty and sweet."

Teddy nodded, wide-eyed. "And you… you just want to go? Live alone?"

She nodded enthusiastically. "Didn't you live alone too, Teddy? Before you got married to Victoire?"

"Well, I… kind of… I mean, Vicky was always there," he replied thoughtfully, "it's like I've never lived alone, really… it's just… it's a bit lonely to live alone."

"But I won't be living alone," she told him cheerfully. "I will be living with Sparky."

Teddy cocked an eyebrow. "Oh right," he murmured, "poor Sparky and you're going to leave him home alone all day in a small flat in Diagon Alley when you're working then?"

She stopped smiling for a second and then her lips parted slightly in surprise. "I… I haven't thought about it," she murmured, "he's going to suffer away from me all day long…"

Teddy tried hard to keep himself from smiling. Well, if he managed to convince Lily not to go and live alone, his godfather had to give him the biggest present ever. Even bigger than the Firebolt 3000 that he had got him for his seventeen birthday.

"Hi Lily," said a voice at Teddy's back.

It was Scorpius. Naturally.

Lily went to him at once and in the minutes that they were kissing, and then Lily was filling him in on Alfie and her thoughts about living alone, Teddy had managed to grab Remus, make him wear his little coat and push his stuff into the schoolbag.

"I'll see you tomorrow morning, Lils," he told her.

She nodded. "Yes, remember that we're coming to the Ministry tomorrow!"

He groaned a little, he had completely forgotten about that too. "Right, Lils, of course I remember. Ah, Scorpius. How's the Toots case going on?"

Scorpius shrugged a shoulder. "We're going to talk to Charlie tomorrow, just because he probably knew Toots and Sprout."

"Are you going to Romania?" asked Lily, her voice rather whiney and disappointed. "But I'm coming to the Ministry with the children!"

Scorpius shook his head. "Your uncle is coming home tomorrow. We'll be away only for a couple of hours," he told her with a smile. "Al said Charlie wants to spend Valentine's Day with his mother…"

"Aww," swooned Lily, "that's so sweet!"

Teddy snorted. "Charlie has received too many blows in the head from those dragons…" Lily glared at him and Teddy raised his hands near his face. "I mean, I'm happy for the old man… I think Remus and I will go now, see you tomorrow guys."

They didn't even reply, but the moment Teddy had picked up Remus and walked slowly to the door he could already hear the smooching sound of kissing going on at his back.