Author's Notes: Thank you to my faithful reviewers. You make my day. The plot thickens guys, things are starting to happen for real! It's going to be good! :D To hashi: I'm glad you liked my reply. Ah, I can't spoil anything, but I can assure you that I don't like to write things that have already been written... So... you can imagine that the abuse with the little boy is not going to sexual. That's all I can tell you! Also... you want soooo many characters! And I love your enthusiasm! :D Thank you for that, I promise more moments with more characters will come! :D
Chapter Twelve
Lily smiled her brightest smile when Alfie opened his eyes that morning. She caressed his hair and his face and covered his forehead with kisses.
"Hello darling, hello," she told him gently, "did you sleep well? Are you still tired? Would you like to have some breakfast?"
Alfie blinked at her, before rubbing his sleepy eyes with his fists and yawning in the cutest way in front of her. He finally squeezed the teddy bear to his chest himself and looked at her through his thick eyelashes.
"Breakfast," he told her quietly.
Lily beamed at him. "Of course, Alfie," she told him, "why don't we go and wash our faces, and then we go downstairs and my mummy will make us breakfast?"
He nodded and yawned again and Lily stood up and went to the bathroom to run the water at the right temperature. Once she came back, Sparky was sniffing the child and licking his nose. Alfie giggled and Lily felt as if that was one of the most beautiful sounds on earth.
She knelt on the bed to pick up the boy and brought him to the bathroom where the water was already turning lukewarm. She Conjured a stool out of thin air and put Alfie on it. "Let's wash our faces first," she told him, wetting her hand, "and wipe out all traces of sleep! Especially from the eyes—yes, close them. Good job, Alfie. We need to see what we're going to have for breakfast, right? What would you like? Milk and cereals? Or would you like jam on toast? Tea maybe? Oh we've everything you want, don't worry!"
He was silent as Lily helped him brush away the remnants of sleep from his eyelashes. He let her wash him and dry his face without budging, and once she finished she took him in her arms again, along with the teddy bear, and finally headed downstairs.
"Mummy?" he asked shyly as Lily stepped down the last few steps.
She smiled at him, trying hard to look as calm and serene as possible. "Mummy is not here, Alfie," she told him, "she'll come back soon, but for a bit you're here with me, okay?"
She was ready to wipe away tears, to cradle him tightly at her chest, to ask for Sparky and Patches to help her cheer him up, but instead he just nodded meekly and hugged her neck, leaning his small chin on her shoulder. She rubbed her hand on his back and sighed. That would have been Lily's response back when she was at the brothel if someone had told her that Nott had to be away for a while. Just resignation and maybe quiet happiness.
She sighed as she walked into the kitchen. Kreacher and Taffy were busying themselves at the counter, frying bacon that did smell delicious and preparing eggs to be cooked. Her mother was sitting at the table and reading the Daily Prophet.
She looked up and placed the newspaper down as she saw Lily.
"Alfie," said Lily, putting him down on a chair, "this is my mummy. Mummy, this is Alfie."
Her mother smiled warmly at the child. "Hello, Alfie," she said gently, "did you sleep well in Lily's room? Weren't you too cold?"
He shook his head and rubbed one of his eyes, hiding half of his face behind his palm.
"He's shy," beamed Lily. "What would you like for breakfast, Alfie? Maybe a bit of milk and cereals?"
He nodded quietly, and before Lily could even tell them what to do, Taffy and Kreacher were already elbowing each other to bring him some lukewarm milk and all the boxes of cereals they had in the pantry.
"Thank you," said Lily to the elves.
"Thank you," echoed Alfie.
Lily beamed again at him. "Good job, Alfie," she told him, "such a good, polite boy, you are."
She sat next to him and tucked him under the table. "Shall we put your teddy bear on the chair, Alfie? So it doesn't get all dirty."
He shook his head and grasped it more forcefully.
"But what if we spill some milk on it? Then we'll have to wash it…"
"Let him keep it, Lily," said her mother gently, "if it gets dirty we'll wash it, don't worry."
"Taffy will wash it!"
"No, Kreacher washes things at Grimmauld Place."
"You'll both do it," sighed her mother warily. "Now, Lily, what would you like? Bacon and eggs?"
She nodded thoughtfully, not really interested in her own breakfast at the moment. She poured some cereals and then some milk into a bowl and placed it in front of Alfie. "Can you eat alone, Alfie?" she asked gently. "Or shall I do the Quidditch player for you?"
"I," he replied grabbing the spoon.
As Lily had predicted, the first spoonful ended up on the teddy bear, but luckily nobody panicked. And the second was aimed straight to his mouth and he chewed quite happily.
Lily looked at her mother and smiled, her mother smiled back and for a moment Lily wished that Mrs Whittle never came to pick him up again.
oooOOOooo
"What did Miss Mitzy say about Lily and Alfie?" asked Albus as they Apparated in front of the Whittles' cottage in Cambridge.
Scorpius looked around himself before replying, "She was worried, especially for Alfie, and kind of for Lily as well, but mostly because she couldn't go to work." He pushed the little gate open and walked into the garden. "And Teddy turned absolutely nuts when I told him what happened last night. He asked why he hadn't been informed and screamed so much I had to drag him to the Apparition point and back to the Ministry before he scared off the children…"
Albus nodded as he walked into the garden and looked around himself. "Hmm," he hummed, "bad news… or maybe very good news. There's no Dirigible Plum tree here."
"There're are so many other plants, though," pointed out Scorpius, "that it looks like one of Professor Longbottom's greenhouses."
It was true. The whole garden was covered in plants and flowers, some of them – despite being February – were already flowering. Surely magic was involved there. Grandma Molly had the same spell on the roses and the lilies in her garden, until Uncle Ron had almost fined her for breaking the law of revealing magic to Muggles – even though there were no Muggles anywhere near the Burrow.
"Can we go inside?" asked Albus. "You did go inside last night, didn't you?"
Scorpius nodded. "There was just a big mess and…" His voice trailed away as he stared in front of himself as if he'd just understood something illuminating. "…and dirt on the floor…" he whispered.
"Sounds a bit like Fred's and Louis' flat," chuckled Albus.
"We need to get in there," said Scorpius firmly. "I couldn't see it very well last night, but… that dirt on the floor, it might have been… violet… and sticky, yes it was sticky…"
"Right," said Albus, "let's get in." He hurried to the door and pushed it open. It was probably unlocked from the night before, when surely they had used a spell to get in. And the inside was just as Scorpius had described it. Messy and dirty.
"Lumos," he said, pointing the tip of his wand to the filthy floor. "Well, this is kind of dark and not very sticky, Scorpius," pointed out Albus, "looks more like dirt than pieces of Dirigible Plum…"
"Look up," said Scorpius softly.
Albus raised his eyes and his wand and stared. On the ceiling, there was a line of little pieces of gooey and dark violet stuff.
"Dirigible Plum," he told him, "remember? It flies."
Albus kept his wand above his head as they walked into the dark house and Scorpius closed the door at their back.
"We need to go back to talk to Toots' wife," said Scorpius urgently. "I mean, if they have been in their garden… and they have the book, I told you about the book right? The book about legendary plants, and Charlie said that he was studying legendary plants and if they got in there and stole it and killed him and—"
"Hmm," said Albus, plummeting on a couch in the Whittles' living room, "someone is finally getting excited about the case…"
Scorpius glared at him. "Not excited," he snapped, "nervous. This man might have killed a person and Lily and your mother are with his son. Do you think he will stop in front of something to have his child back?"
Albus' eyes widened in comprehension. "You're right," he told him, "mark the calendar because you are right…"
"I'm always right," pointed out Scorpius sharply.
Albus huffed slightly, but didn't reply to him. Instead he started shuffling through the books and magazines that the Whittles had on their coffee table for more clues. Quidditch Through the Ages, well that was a classic; The Tales of Beedle the Bard, it was usually a must with little children around; Toots, Shoots 'n' Roots, a Collection of Scripts from the WWN Program, interesting… and finally My Life as a Muggle by Daisy Hookum, who was now known as Daisy Toots, after her marriage to Mr Toots.
"Hey," said Albus, "they have two quite interesting tomes." He raised the last two and showed them to Scorpius.
He darkened slightly. "Grab them," he told him, "we need to go back to the Ministry and have a look at the other book."
"We can't bring these to the Ministry, though," pointed out Albus, "once again we didn't have a warrant to come in here."
Scorpius nodded. "I'll go to the Ministry and start looking at the book," he told him, "and you go to your house and bring those books there. We need to see if maybe there're some traces, some kind of dedication, if Toots knew them or something…"
Without thinking twice about Scorpius' words, Albus stood from the couch and nodded quickly. "Let's go," he told him, he suddenly felt rather excited at the thought that they finally had a trail to follow for the case.
oooOOOooo
Ginny looked at Lily and Alfie from the couch and her heart skipped a beat. They looked very much like mother and son. Too much for her not to feel her guts twist in happiness. Alfie was sitting on Lily's lap on the floor and she was reading to him a tale that had him almost sleeping. His little, plump hands were touching the pages of the books every now and then, but he kept yawning and leaning his head against Lily's shoulder.
She turned her head to kiss his forehead and caught Ginny's eye. She smiled at her and Ginny smiled back.
"You're good, Lily," murmured Ginny, as her daughter brought Alfie to the couch and lay him down to rest. "You're very good. You're going to be a wonderful mother one day," she added in a whisper.
Lily beamed at her. "You really think so, Mum?" she asked softly. "I want a lot of children, I want more than Grandma Molly."
"I know," she replied, "you want enough children to have your own private Quidditch team. I'm sure Scorpius will be thrilled."
Lily went to her mother and sat next to her. "I'll take care of them all, I don't need Scorpius to look after them," she let her know seriously, "I just need him to kiss their forehead before their off to bed."
"Oh Lily," she giggled, "I'm sure he'll want to do much more than that."
Lily cocked her head as she looked at the child on the couch. "I was thinking… maybe… maybe if Mrs Whittle doesn't come back to retrieve Alfie… maybe I could adopt him, couldn't I?" she asked softly.
Ginny raised both eyebrows at her. That was sudden and unexpected, or maybe just not that unexpected, but surely sudden. "Well, Lily, it's still early, okay? Don't think about that, he's only been here for a little less than a day, I'm sure that if Mrs Whittle doesn't come to pick him up he will definitely have family somewhere…"
"But if he doesn't… I mean… or even if he does, what if… what if his family is just like his father? What if they all want to use him?" she whispered. "What if they want to abuse him?"
Ginny brought a hand to her mouth. "Darling, all I know is that your father won't let anything bad happen to him," she whispered back, hugging her tightly. "I promise. We'll figure out something."
She nodded and leaned her head against Ginny's shoulder. "I love you, Mum," she whispered, "I'm glad Scorpius found me and I got to know you and Dad all over again."
"I'm glad too, Lily," choked Ginny. "I'm glad too…"
oooOOOooo
"Rose, I need that book, now," snapped Scorpius. "I need it. Go and get it, now."
Rose shook her head vehemently. "I'm sorry, Scorpius," she told him for the umpteenth time, "but Uncle Harry said that it was a clue that needed to end up in the Archive, and that's exactly where we put it. To have a look at it, you need to get a permit from the Head Auror or his Deputy."
"They are your father and your uncle," Scorpius gritted through his teeth, "and I need that book now!"
"Listen, that book was taken from a house where we had no warrant to entry," she reminded him, "I had to put it into the Archive before someone noticed. You basically stole it, Scorpius."
"Listen, that book was probably taken from Toots' house," he snapped, "now I need it to check if it actually was or not. So, be a dear and go and get that book for me."
"How do you know it was taken from Toots' house?"
"I have my reasons to suspect that," he replied sourly. "Al and I are investigating, remember? We've discovered something. Now go and get that book for me before I Accio it here."
"Why are you two always fighting over something?" sighed James as he walked to them with a pile of folders in his arms. "Always. Always. Always."
"Because she's being totally unreasonable, as always," snapped Scorpius. "James, I need that book we retrieved from the Whittles' cottage, can you go and get it for me?"
"You need a permit!" snapped Rose.
"I'm afraid she's right," pointed out James, before looking around himself and adding, "On the other hand, I solemnly swear that nobody here will tell on you if you want to consult the book in the Archive…"
"James!" Rose glared at him.
"Oh come on," he cooed her, "he's investigating…"
Rose threw her hands up near her face and shook her head. "If someone comes to check something, you disappear into the loo or under a table, okay?" she told Scorpius, poking his chest with a tiny finger.
"Deal," he growled, walking past her and following James into the Archive. "I don't know how you can work with her, James, she's a pain."
James chuckled softly. "She's just extremely dutiful," he replied, "and incorruptible…"
"Except when you manage to get her drunk during working hours," muttered Scorpius.
"Except for that," agreed James, flushing slightly. He guided him amongst tall shelves and narrow corridors. The Archive was gigantic and Scorpius had no clue how James could orient himself through all those passages and amongst all those folders, but he did. The blond Auror suspected that a certain red-haired young lady had made him study the whole layout of the place not to get lost.
Well, at least, it was useful.
"Here," said James finally, "you can sit here and Summon the book. You have an hour, Scorpius."
"Thank you, James," he replied, sitting heavily on the chair and drawing out his wand. "Accio Book that… hem… that I took from the house last night…" He looked at James and shrugged a shoulder. "I don't remember the title."
James looked at him and shook his head, but it didn't matter because a tome came zooming out of some shelf and landed onto the table with a thud. "Here you go," said James. "I'll be back to my exciting job of cataloguing and tidying the Archive with Rose."
Scorpius nodded distractedly. The book was big and dusty and it looked rather ancient too. It was called Legendary Plants and Flowers of Europe, and he could have guessed that when he had Summoned it. Oh, it didn't matter, it was there now and he was wasting time.
He opened it and on the first page there wasn't the writing This book belongs to… or anything like that. There were, though, some little annotations in faded ink. Someone who knew about plants and flowers had written short comments such as, 'Snow White Lilies are the common Lilies of the Valley' or 'The Toothy Rose has been proven to exist by Pomona'.
Scorpius narrowed his eyes. Pomona. Pomona Sprout. Toots, or whoever this book had belonged to, knew Professor Sprout. Interesting…
He started to turn page after page, reading the names of the plants and flowers at the top. Blue bittercress nuts (which were gathered at midday), Bog angelica flowers (which were usually gathered on Sunday), Death tongue, Eagle's heliotrope, Elvish hawkweed berries (which could be found only in spring), Fairy grass wood (which was usually gathered on Tuesday) and… and then there was the not-so-subtle stubble of a page that had been torn from the book and then a long chapter dedicated to the Green wormtongue.
"Bloody hell," muttered Scorpius as he tried to go back and forward, expecting something to happen that he himself had no idea what that was. That book was in alphabetical order and between Fairy and Green there could have been… Golden. Golden Orchid. Bloody hell. Well, of course it could have been anything… from… Fishbyrishky Booboo to Glaryglary Herb (it was a book about legendary plants after all, surely those names could have existed), but Charlie had talked about a Golden Orchid, he had said that it was a legendary plant, and Luna and Rolf had said that Toots was working on orchids, and there was a page missing where the name Golden Orchid might have fit perfectly well. Of course… unless they wrote Orchid, Golden right under 'O'.
He turned the pages quickly, uncaring of the ripping sounds that came from the thin paper every now and then. There were so many flowers and plants and herbs that one could have spent all their life studying them.
Mountain pokeweed, Narrowleaf toadshade, Owl's grass, Purple feverfew stems (which was gathered on Monday), Red nightshade… no! He had to go back, he had missed it. But no, he hadn't. There was no orchid there. Not under 'G' nor under 'O'.
He closed the book. Damn! Someone had found something. Someone had found something about a plant which had some kind of powers. And that plant must have been something powerful, otherwise why would they go to such great lengths for a stupid orchid?
oooOOOooo
Harry walked through the fireplace and stopped in his tracks.
His house was utterly silent, which was quite unexpected and worrying. Ginny was usually writing and reading her articles out loud to herself to see if they flew well at that time of the afternoon, but at that moment, she evidently wasn't. Harry he had imagined that now that Lily was home with Alfie, they would have spent some time together, talking, laughing and making the child play.
But not a sound could be heard in the whole Grimmauld Place.
"Ah! Master is home!" squealed Taffy, appearing in front of him. "Master is early. Taffy prepares Master a sandwich? Taffy takes Master's coat? Taffy brews some tea for Master?"
Well, probably Grimmauld Place was not as silent as Harry thought. He smiled at the elf. "That won't be necessary, Taffy," he told her gently, "I'm only here to quickly check on Lily, Ginny and Alfie. Are they… are they sleeping?"
Taffy shook her head vigorously. "Miss Lily and Mistress and Young Master Alfie are in the garden," replied the elf, "with the Crups."
"Oh," was all Harry could say, "isn't it too cold to be out in the garden?"
"Miss Lily cast a Warming Charm on Young Master Alfie," replied Taffy, "and Mistress cast one on Miss Lily when Miss Lily wasn't looking."
Harry couldn't suppress a small chuckle. "Thank you, Taffy," he replied, "I'll go and say hi before I go back to the Ministry."
The elf nodded again and trotted in front of his feet to open the main door for him. The moment Harry stepped into the cold February air, his ears were filled with the laughter and giggles that he had thought he would have encountered in the house.
Lily was running behind Alfie, who was giggling out loud and screaming every now and then, running away from her and all excited by the fact that he had not been caught yet. Lily was giggling too, visibly refraining herself from grabbing him and pulling him in a big hug.
Sparky and Patches were running and barking happily behind Lily, and Ginny was encouraging Alfie to run away from her daughter.
Harry folded his arms across his chest and smiled at the scene. They looked a lot like a three-generation-family having fun in the garden, and surely that was what the Muggles that walked past their garden must have thought.
"Dad!" cried Lily suddenly.
He looked at her and nodded and smiled. Walking down the steps in their direction, he stopped next to Ginny and wrapped an arm around her shoulders as she stood on tiptoes to kiss him. "Everything's good?" he asked softly
"Perfect," replied Ginny, "we were playing a bit… just to work up an appetite before we have a snack."
Lily reached them with Alfie finally in her arms, the Crups running around her ankles. "Dad," she grinned, "what are you doing here in the middle of the afternoon?" She didn't wait for his answer as she turned towards Alfie. "Alfie, this is my Daddy, do you want to say to him? No? Not even wave your hand? Aww, good boy!"
The child waved a little at Harry before smiling and turning away to hug Lily's neck.
"He's shy," she explained gently.
"Hello, Alfie," said Harry, "are you having fun?"
The boy nodded a little bit, before pushing his hand into Lily's hair and starting to play with it.
"Any problems?" asked Harry softly.
"No," replied Ginny, "he's an exceptionally quiet boy, and he only asked for his mother once. He slept all night, ate breakfast and lunch, napped a little, played… did all the things that healthy boys do."
Harry nodded. "Good."
"What about you? Have you found his mother? Have you found anything?"
He shook his head. "I sent a couple of Aurors to interrogate the neighbours of the Whittles, but it's a Muggle suburb, and all they could tell us was that Alfie's parents led a very private life, they never saw them, they never heard anything, they never talked to them." He sighed. "But that's pretty much what happens with all Wizarding families who live in a Muggle suburb."
"And Albus and Scorpius?"
Harry looked as Lily placed Alfie down again and he started to run away and ask for her to go and get him. She smiled and went after him, the Crups in turn going after her.
"Albus and Scorpius went back to the house as well," he told her, "without my authorisation, and brought two books home. Not even the Ministry, home, here… Didn't you see him?"
She shook her head. "We must have been out here."
"Then Scorpius proceeded to check out the book we got last night and now they are going to the Toots' residence to talk to Toots' widow once again. Don't ask me about what because they wouldn't tell me."
Ginny furrowed her brow. "Aren't you their boss?"
"Apparently, that doesn't really work when you're also the father of one of the two boys," he pointed out. "I should head back, now. Are you sure you're alright here alone with Lily and Alfie? Shall I send an Auror over? Maybe Rose? Or Hugo?"
She shook her head. "It's alright," she replied quietly, "but you have to find the mother, Harry. Lily… she's already asked about adopting Alfie… she is really scared that his family might just be like… like… like what she thought was her family…"
"I know," he whispered.
"Remember? She called Goyle Uncle Gregory," she murmured, her voice a bit choked.
Harry hugged her tightly. "I know," he replied, "we'll see to the child. Make sure that he's alright."
"Thank you."
"I'll see you later," he whispered, kissing her head. "Bye Lily, bye Alfie."
Lily stopped to wave at him before running once again after Alfie, her hands arched near her face to pretend she was a monster.
Harry smiled and walked back to the house, wanting nothing else than to keep that child safe.
oooOOOooo
Mrs Toots looked rather surprised to find Albus and Scorpius at her door for the second time in less than a fortnight. Probably it was because no other person had ever believed her when she had talked about her husband being murdered instead of poisoning himself by mistake.
"We might have a trail," said Albus urgently as she moved to let them in, "we found a book about legendary plants…"
"…a book that might have been your husband's. Are you sure you don't know anything about his work? Do you know if he was studying orchids, maybe?" urged Scorpius.
The woman gestured for them to sit on the couch and finally turned to look at them. Eyes wide and lips parted in surprise. "You found his book?" she asked in disbelief. "I told you I wasn't crazy, didn't I?"
"You did," muttered Scorpius with a tone of voice that let them all know that he hadn't believed her at all when he had told her.
"How did you find that book?" she asked again, her face pale. Probably she hadn't believed herself as well at that time.
"It was at someone's house," Albus told her, "we can't disclose this information at the moment, but we took it with us. Now, there is a page missing from the book, though, a page that very probably it was about the Golden Orchid." He looked at her and took a deep breath. "What can you tell us about that?"
"A page is missing?" she asked. "Oh my, oh my! That was a very important book!"
Scorpius narrowed his eyes. "I thought you said you didn't know what book had been taken," he pointed out.
"All of our books are important," she continued, waving a hand, "I'm a writer, remember? Books are like children to me."
Albus and Scorpius exchanged a glance. Well, she was crazy all right. "What can you tell us about the Golden Orchid?" asked Albus.
The woman shook her head, disconsolate. "Nothing, I told you," she whined, "my poor husband… he… he didn't… he didn't share his research with anybody until he found something."
"He must have shared it with someone," pointed out Scorpius sharply, "otherwise he wouldn't be dead now."
"Well, he wouldn't share it with me then," grunted the woman, "after all, I was just a writer, he was the gardener. I really didn't know what he was talking about half of the time."
"Do you know Luna and Rolf Scamander? Or Pomona Sprout? Have they ever been here?" asked Albus. "Because they seemed to have had contacts with your husband. Has he ever talked about them?"
She shook her head. "I know them indirectly," she told them. "Rolf Scamander is the grandson of Newton Scamander, and Pomona Sprout, well, she taught at Hogwarts. She was well known."
"And do you know the Whittles?" asked Scorpius.
The woman seemed to think hard at the name for a moment. "I've never heard of them," she finally replied. "Why?"
"Because your husband's book was at their house," Albus informed her. So much for not disclosing information. But what would that woman do? And the Whittles were nowhere to be found anyway.
Mrs Toots brought a hand to her mouth. "Was it?" she asked softly. "Oh my, I have no idea who you're talking about. Maybe… maybe they came here to buy some flowers… so many people do… I lose count at times…"
Scorpius and Albus glanced at each other again. "Okay," Albus finally said, "okay. Mrs Toots, you can't leave the country. We might need to ask you more things in the upcoming days."
She nodded. "Oh my, I didn't even offer you a cup of tea," she whined, "not even a cup of tea, darlings… would you like a cup of tea?"
"I'm afraid we have to go, Mrs Toots," said Scorpius, standing up. "We'll keep in touch if anything else happens."
She nodded again, her reddish locks bobbing around her face. "Yes, please," she told them.
She accompanied them to the door and stared as they walked into her garden, unlike the first time, her eyes followed them until they passed by the Dirigible Plum and finally stepped out of the garden.
"Didn't she look weird?" asked Albus.
"You mean weirder?" Scorpius asked back. "I don't know… she was quite loony already…"
"All of them seem to be… the Herbologists/Magizoologists, I mean…"
Scorpius nodded. "They do," he agreed. "Nuts… they are just nuts…"
oooOOOooo
"No."
"Hugo…"
"No."
"I'm not talking to you as your father, I'm talking to you as your boss."
Hugo closed his eyes and groaned out loud. "No, no, no," he repeated. "Listen boss, I have a job, I honestly do. Emeric and I are investigating on the killing in Diagon Alley, we are that close, I swear…"
"Teddy will pair someone else with Emeric," pointed out his father calmly.
Hugo rolled his eyes. "No, please, Dad… I'm not… I'm not good with children…"
"It's Remus, Hugo," replied his father. "And Teddy and Victoire are just not feeling too comfortable to send him to school after what had happened with Alfie. They think Alfie's father might be coming to look for him at the school. He wouldn't want any accident, they're sending a couple of Aurors to keep an eye on the children for the upcoming two weeks."
There was a knock on the door and, before Hugo could even find another excuse to avoid baby-sitting duties, his mother walked into the Deputy Head Auror office.
"Am I interrupting something?" she asked as she closed the door at her back. She eyed Hugo and sighed, "What did you do now, Hugo?"
She had the decency to blush a little when he told her, "Nothing! Dad wants to downgrade me to baby-sitter. From Auror to baby-sitter, Mum."
"For Remus," explained his father with a sigh. "And it's not baby-sitting, consider it body-guarding."
"I'm not good with children," he replied sourly, "they always scream and babble and I don't understand what they want and they end up crying and throwing things and I end up using Full Body-Bind Curses on them…"
"Hugo!" exclaimed his mother. "That's not nice…"
"I have a great idea," he told his father, "why doesn't he bring Remus to Grimmauld Place? Lily can take care of him…"
"Lily has her hands full with the other child already," he reminded him, "and apparently Alfie is a very shy little boy, who doesn't like too much company."
"So what? I'm supposed to go and spend my time at Teddy and Vicky's house with a two-year-old because the other two-year-old is a bit of a loner? Socialising is good…"
"I thought you always complained that your family is too big," chuckled his mother.
Hugo glared at her. "Mum, what are you doing here?"
She smiled almost innocently and walked to where his father was sitting. "It's time for my daily snogging session with your father, Hugo," she said calmly.
"Eww," he complained, "I don't want to know."
She shook her head and folded her arms across her chest. "It's lunch time," she told him, "we're going to the canteen. Are you coming?"
"Alright," he conceded. "Since when do you have lunch dates?" he chuckled.
"Since your father is cheating on his diet—"
"That you imposed on me."
"I'm keeping an eye on your health."
Hugo shrugged a shoulder as his father stood up, pecked his mother's cheek lightly and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "Alright," Hugo sighed, "let's go."
"Vicky expects you tomorrow morning," his father told him, "at eight, don't be late."
He sighed again, but nodded. Auror duties. They were Auror duties, he had to remember that.
oooOOOooo
Lily was ecstatic, her mother and her father looked very surprised and her brothers just seemed plain confused. Instead, she was elated and not surprised in the least.
Scorpius was sitting cross-legged in front of Alfie and he was waving his wand in front of the child and sending colourful sparks and creating his dog-shaped Patronus for him to play with.
And Alfie was entranced by the sparks and the Patronus and the movements of the wand itself. And he just kept laughing and stretching his plump arms in front of him to reach the dog and smiling. His laughter and Scorpius' murmured spells were the only things that could be heard in the whole of Grimmauld Place. The child even stood up and tried to follow the sparks around the living room, until he started to yawn and went straight to Lily to ask to sit in her lap.
She picked him up at once and he leaned his head on her chest. His little pyjamas rode up a little around his ankles and Scorpius stretched a hand to pull it down.
"What are you doing?" asked Albus in a whisper.
Scorpius looked at him and cocked an eyebrow. "He must be cold," he told him. "It's winter."
"No, I mean… what are you doing with the child? How are you so good with children?" he asked again. "You are the only son of an only son, I mean… it's not like you grew up with many children around, how do you know how to… interact?"
Lily could see Scorpius flush at her brother's words and she felt the urge to scold Albus as Alfie's breathing slowed down and he fell asleep. "He is obviously gifted at taking care of children," she pointed out, "some people have a gift. That's what Miss Mitzy says."
"Well, you made him forget about his teddy bear being washed," said her mother gently, "that's a great accomplishment, Scorpius."
"Thank you Mrs Potter," he replied, pushing his hands on the floor and going to sit next to Lily on the couch. He treaded his pale fingers in his hair and smiled fondly at the child.
Lily smiled up at him and felt her heart flutter in her chest when he looked at her. "Maybe we can keep him, right?" she asked him hopefully. "I mean, if nobody comes to reclaim him, we can keep him as ours, right Scorpius?"
His eyebrows knitted together. "I'm sure he has family that loves him somewhere, Lily," he told her gently.
Her hand sneaked up and around his wrist. "But if he doesn't…"
"Lily," said her father gently, "we'll think about it."
"No, but Scorpius and I should adopt him," she replied, shaking her head, "not you and Mum…"
Scorpius bit his bottom lip, he looked at her as if he wasn't exactly convinced about that, but luckily, before he could say anything in protest, there was a pop and Taffy and Kreacher appeared in the middle of the living room, the head of the teddy bear in Taffy's hands and its feet in Kreacher's.
"What's going on?" asked Lily's mother, eyes wide.
"Taffy knows how to wash toys," said the house-elf, tugging at the toy, "Kreacher wouldn't listen to Taffy, Mistress. Taffy needs Master to tell Kreacher to stop putting his long nose into other elves' business."
"Taffy doesn't know anything," grunted Kreacher, "Kreacher washed many toys. Taffy doesn't know what soap to use and what magic." He pulled the toy and Taffy glared at him.
"Taffy knows!" she snapped, pulling the teddy bear a bit more.
"Taffy doesn't know!" replied Kreacher snappishly. "Taffy doesn't know anything!" He tugged again and a ripping sound could be heard coming from the neck of the teddy bear.
"Hey!" said James, standing up and trying to grab the toy. "You're going to wake up the child and break the teddy bear. Let it go!" He tugged as well, but none of the house-elves seemed to acknowledge him as someone to take orders from.
"Let it go," urged Harry, "let it go, all three of you, before you—oh, great!"
There was a loud ripping sound and finally Taffy ended up on her back, her brownish legs up in the air as she clutched the head of the teddy bear in her hands. James just stood there, looking at the disaster, hands on his hips while Kreacher was lying and panting, looking very close to needing mouth to mouth resuscitation. The body of the teddy bear lay at his feet, some stuffing scattered all around the floor.
"Oh bloody fantastic, you two!" snapped her mother. "Look at what you did! Look at the mess you made. And now? I need to find a good sewing spell to put it together before Alfie wakes up! You are the two most troubling house-elves I've ever—"
"What the hell is this?"
"James!" muttered Lily, covering Alfie's ears. "Language."
"Sorry, Lils," he replied distractedly, "but there's something in here." He picked up the teddy bear and pushed his hand into the stuffing, rummaging in the body of the toy.
"James, you're destroying it even more," pointed out her father.
"There's something in here," he repeated stubbornly.
"It's called fluff," told him Albus.
"It's called stuffing," Scorpius corrected him.
"It's called a piece of paper," snapped James as he finally drew out a folded piece of paper.
Her father stood up and walked to James' side. "What is it? A message? From Mrs Whittle?"
James unfolded it and once again Grimmauld Place seemed to be holding its breath. The dark-haired wizard furrowed his brow. "It looks like… a page of some book, an encyclopaedia or something…"
"About what?" asked Albus.
"Flowers," replied his father.
"The Golden Orchid?" asked Albus and Scorpius at the same time.
James' eyes shifted from one man to the other. "How do you know?"
Scorpius and Albus were tearing the paper from James' hands before he could even react, eyes equally wide and matching surprised expressions over their faces. "Bloody hell," muttered Albus.
"Al!" protested Lily, looking at Alfie. "Stop cursing in front of Alfie."
"He's sleeping," replied Albus without even looking at them. "Is it…"
"The missing page from the volume," assured Scorpius. "It's the same kind of paper."
"Why would it be in the teddy bear? What's… why?"
"The teddy bear is very important," said Lily softly.
Everybody turned to look at her. "What?" asked Albus.
She shrugged a shoulder. "That's what Mrs Whittle said," she told them. "That the teddy bear was important."
"It's a message," muttered Scorpius. "Of course… they… they found this flower, they found this flower and… that's why Toots died, and probably Professor Sprout. They found the flower and she put the page in here as a message."
"Oh Merlin!" murmured her mother. "What does this flower do that people have to die for it?"
"I'll tell you that," replied Albus, grabbing the piece of paper and sitting down on an armchair. "Shall I read it out loud?"
"Of course," muttered Scorpius, sitting on the armrest next to him and peering over his shoulder.
Albus cleared his throat as James and her father went back to sit down. Taffy, in the meantime, had pushed all the stuffing back into the teddy bear, while Kreacher was still lying on the floor, now fast asleep.
"The Golden Orchid," he started reading, "of the Orchidaceae family, is a legendary flower that is commonly grown in Scotland and Ireland."
"Scotland!" muttered Scorpius. "That's where Professor Sprout was working!"
Albus nodded before continuing, "This species of orchid, though similar to the common orchid in shape and texture, is distinguished by its unique colour. The petals and pistil are of a vibrant gold [see picture] and they are often mistakenly confused for real gold. Legend has it that the witch-princess Michaela I found herself left without transport en route her journey to the Highlands. She chanced upon a horde of Mountain Trolls while she had been walking in search for the night's shelter and, despite being a skilled sorceress, Michaela found herself unarmed and defenceless within minutes; her back was to a tree, and her wand was lost amongst the foliage underfoot. However, upon her resignation to her unavoidable fate of being eaten raw at the hands of the Mountain Trolls, the Green Man successfully scared off her attackers by jumping out from behind her tree and thus saved her life. Although Michaela covered his leafy head with affectionate kisses and caresses, the Green Man would not accept any repayments from her. Being of noble origins, though, Michaela had been taught that all acts of gratitude were to be duly repaid... and so it was that, when she'd found her wand, she tapped a common orchid sprouting nearby. It became like gold and enchanted the Green Man, and thus the Golden Orchid was brought into being."
"Aww," swooned Lily, "that's so sweet."
Albus glanced at her askew. "Yeah," he replied softly, "I guess…"
"Keep going," urged James.
"However, the flower not only shone under the moon's rays with the colour of the sun. It also held the greatest powers and most fantastic secrets inside its golden petals."
"What?" asked Scorpius, furrowing his brow.
"Let me go on," replied Albus impatiently. "It is said that the Golden Orchid can bestow any potion and draught with irrevocable effects, and no Bezoar or antidote could remedy a potion made with any part of the Golden Orchid. A concoction made with its petals and powdered unicorn horn would grant eternal life to the drinker, not unlike the effects of a Philosopher's Stone. The ingestion of its petals is a cure against any charm, regardless of its strength and nature, and a list of the spells that the orchid can nullify can be found at the back of the—hey! Scorpius!"
Lily stared, holding her breath as her boyfriend grabbed the page and turned it over, his eyes roaming for the list. Did he understand? Was he thinking what she was thinking too?
There was something that shadowed his face. Lily didn't know what it was, but the muscles of his forehead contracted and for a moment something flickered in his irises.
"Scorpius…"
"Memory Charm," he said, his voice thick. "It's right here. The Memory Charm: the victim must swallow a petal of the Golden Orchid with two drops of Morning Dew, and all their memories will return at once." He raised his eyes on Lily and gaped at her.
Lily felt her heart race in her chest. A cure to the Memory Charm. Healer Pye had told her that there was no such thing, and she was resigned already to never regain the memories of when she was a child, of her mother and her father and her brothers and her family… She had just had to learn how to love them all over again and… and that what she had done.
But now…
It sounded so easy. A petal and two drops of Morning Dew. And her memories, all her memories… all those times that her mother had told her about her when she was little… all those times… she would know them, then, really know them.
"Lily."
She almost startled as her mother touched her shoulder, she turned and looked at her, eyes wide and lips parted in surprise. "I… I…"
"I'll find it," said Scorpius, looking seriously at her, "I swear to Merlin, I'll find it."
Lily didn't know what to say. Her heart, her poor, little heart, was pounding in her chest. Her hands were clutching at Alfie's shoulders and while her mouth was dry her eyes were now moist with tears.
It was almost a surprise when Scorpius walked to her, cupped her cheeks and kissed her forcefully on her lips. "I'll find it, I swear," he murmured against her lips.
"I…"
"Shh," he murmured. "I know."
Silence followed that statement, everybody was probably looking at them, but Lily didn't mind. All she cared about were Scorpius' warm hands on her chilled skin, his forehead against hers and his eyes on her.
"Keep reading, Al," said her father.
Albus cleared his throat once more. "The Golden Orchid also provides the following powers to whoever ingests any part of its flower: mind-reading abilities independent of Legilimency, natural flight, invisibility, the ability to cast Wandless spells, and other effects that vary from person to person. The existence of the golden Orchid had never been proven, though there are many unconfirmed sightings of the flower. The members of the Order of Dìthean – a secret society whose existence is as obscure as the existence of the flower itself – are rumoured to be the only keepers of the secret behind the Golden Orchid. To read more about the Order and the legends involving this organization, the reader may consult the appropriate volume of Secret Orders of Great Britain and Ireland." Albus huffed and looked up. "Which is not included in the teddy bear, apparently."
"I know that book," said Lily, excitedly. "I know it."
"You do?" asked James.
"How do you know it?" asked her mother softly.
"It's at the Manor," she told them, "I didn't read it, but… but I've read all the titles of all the books in library once when I was bored. It's… you have it, Scorpius, in your library." She took a deep breath and added, "Oh, I wish I had read it now!" Yes, she would remember it if she had read it. All of it, and they would know everything about this Order and that Golden Orchid that seemed to promise her the piece of happiness that was missing from her life.
"I had no idea," replied Scorpius truthfully. "They are my father's books." He glanced at Albus and added, "Right, let's go."
"Now?" asked Lily's father. "Scorpius is late and your parents—"
"And the Manor is so big you can't hear a thing from my parents' bedroom to the library, Sir," he replied seriously.
"I want to come too," said Lily urgently, she grasped Alfie and stood up, the child still sleeping in her arms. "I'll put Alfie to bed and I'll come with you."
"Lily, it's late, isn't it better if you go to bed too?" asked her mother gently.
"No," she replied forcefully. "I want to read about the Order of Dìthean. I need to know, Mum. Memory… I… I could get my memory back… Isn't that what you want too, Mum?"
Her mother bit her bottom lip. "It's a legendary flower, Lily," she replied softly, "it means that it doesn't exist."
"But if people are dying," pointed out Scorpius, "for this flower, it might not be as legendary as the book claims…"
Lily's mother gaped from him to Lily, looking lost. "I just… I just don't want you to get your hopes up for something that it's not going to happen…"
"It is going to happen," said Lily with a beam. "Isn't it, Scorpius?"
"I'll make it happen," he replied firmly.
Lily would have run to him and hugged him tightly if she didn't have a child in her arms. She shifted Alfie and smiled. "I'll put him to bed, wait for me, okay?" But before she could turn to go towards the stairs, her mother went to her and took Alfie from her arms. "I'll put him to bed," she said, "you go."
Lily's heart beat like crazy. "Thank you, Mum," she whispered, kissing her cheek.
Then she was finally running towards Scorpius and they both dismissed Albus' gagging noises as they kissed again.