Author's Notes: Dun dun duuuuuun! That's all I'm saying here!
Chapter Fourteen
Lily crouched next to a Flutterby bush and stared at the house in front of her with wide eyes. The lights were still on in almost all the windows and there were shadows moving behind the curtains.
She huffed with impatience and shook her head. Mrs Toots lives alone, that was what Scorpius and Albus had told her. Well, did she now? She looked like she lived with a horde of people.
Lily was sure that Mr and Mrs Whittle were there as well. Maybe at that very moment, someone was torturing Mrs Whittle because she had managed to save Alfie from whatever surely horrible fate his father had in mind for him.
And if Albus and Scorpius were not going to stop that woman and her crazy family, Lily would have done that at their place. She would have used her magic, the magic that she was usually scared to use and she would have created havoc in that house. She would have destroyed everything on her path and then she would have called the Aurors.
The Flutterby bush started to shudder next to her and she brushed away some leaves from her face. What an inconvenient plant! But as she looked at that garden from behind the bush, she noticed that everything was either moving or slithering its way around the grass in that place.
She took a deep breath and raised her wand. She should have gotten her father's Invisibility Cloak, surely that would have been useful now. She could have gotten inside, silently knocked off people with her wand and her elbows and they wouldn't even have known what was coming to them.
Well, Lily Luna Potter was coming to them! She was going to avenge their boldness to use the Floo and get into her house to scare Alfie that way.
She tried to stand up and make her way through the dark garden, but two subtle pops of Apparition and a hand firmly clasped on her mouth made her stop and gasp in surprise.
The hand guided her back down behind the bush as she tried to wriggle free of the body that was pressing against her back and of the other who was grasping her wand out of her hand.
"You are grounded," was the low growl of a very angry Scorpius near her ear. "I'm not your father, but I'm going to ground you anyway."
"Yes," said Albus, from her right. "And I'm going to suggest to Dad to lock you in your room until you are eighty."
She took a deep breath and rolled her eyes as Scorpius released her mouth and let her go. She grasped her wand off of Albus' fingers and turned to look at them, kneeling on the dirty ground.
"How did you know I was here?" she asked almost aggressively. Well, she was about to go in there and knock off some bad people and they had just interrupted her.
Scorpius glared at her. "I've just cuddled and talked to a pile of pillows for the past ten minutes," he let her know. "When I noticed that it wasn't you, I honestly wanted to… to…"
"To?" she asked, biting her bottom lip.
He looked at her and sighed. "You scared me, Lily," he murmured, "I didn't know where you were, you are supposed to be sleeping, you ingested a sleeping draught, I mean… how can you even walk around?"
"I don't know. It must be my magic," she replied, shrugging a shoulder. It wasn't the first time that her uncontrollable magic made her stronger and more resistant to potions and spells. "But now that you are here, we can go in there all three of us. I'll pretend to be an Auror. Let's—"
"No, no, no," snapped Albus vehemently. "We are going back home. Now. And you are not pretending to be an Auror or anything like that. Scorpius and I will come back tomorrow morning and when we get back we'll wake up Dad and tell him that you, Missy, walked out of the house like that and that you were going to… actually what on earth were you going to do?"
Lily gritted her teeth like a Crup. "I was going in there and Stun them all and then arrest them!" she announced triumphantly.
Albus looked at her and shook his head. "Crazy," he muttered, "completely crazy."
"Let's just go, okay?" murmured Scorpius, grasping her wrist. "This bush is moving and I don't like it."
"Well, if it's the bush that you don't like, lad," said a voice above their heads, "you're in for quite a treat. Stupefy!"
And that was the last thing that Lily heard.
oooOOOooo
When Scorpius came back to his senses his head was spinning and throbbing and his arms were hurting. Well, no surprise really, since his wrists seemed tied on his back by some invisible force, and his head was leaning against the cold floor of some sort of… sort of… sort of floor, he imagined. He would have had to open his eyes to check his surroundings, but he really didn't want to. He felt like even raising his eyelids was going to make him hurt even more.
"Here," a voice that he vaguely recognised said, "this one is awake."
Oh Merlin, he let out a soft groan as he waited for hands to grasp him and unceremoniously pull him to his feet, instead the steps stopped close to him and then Lily let out a whimper as she was dragged to a standing position.
"Let me go! I'm an Auror! Let me go!" she cried.
Scorpius' eyes flew open as he turned to look at his girlfriend in the arms of a dark haired man, her legs wriggling and trying to kick him in the shins. "Hey! Don't touch her!" screamed Scorpius, trying to stand up without managing. "Don't touch her! I'll kill you if you touch her!"
There was laughter and he expected someone to kick him in the ribs for having talked, instead a man grabbed his upper arm and he too was yanked brusquely to his feet. When he opened his eyes again he was staring into the round face of Mrs Daisy Toots.
"Well, well," she murmured, looking into Scorpius' eyes. "Trespassing on a private property in the middle of the night and disturbing my Flutterby bush. I was given the impression that you were Aurors."
"We are!" snapped Lily, trying to wriggle free of the man who was holding her against his chest.
"Stop moving," he growled, "or I'll break your arm this time."
Scorpius looked at the man and took notice of his face. The face he would have punched to a pulp later.
There was a groan from the floor and someone pulled Albus to his feet next to him. The head of the dark-haired man lolled on his neck and as he opened his green eyes and tried to focus them before closing them again.
"Al!" cried Lily. "Al! Are you alright?"
"Shut up!" snarled the man, pressing a hand over her mouth.
"Let her go!" shouted Scorpius. "Don't touch her!"
"Enough," thundered Mrs Toots. "Bring them forth, we're going to use them to get to the other side."
They were turned around and pushed forward. Well, him and Albus were, Lily was picked up at the waist and lifted bodily, her legs kicking the air as quickly as the wings of a hummingbird.
Scorpius looked around himself as he was made to walk. That was not Toots' house. Well, that was not a house at all. It looked like a temple or some place of worship. The floor was made of large – and cold, as he could still feel his cooled cheek – stones, the walls themselves seemed to have been carved out of naked rocks as if the whole place was inside a cave or something.
The three of them were being pushed forward on a wide path skirted by thick columns which went up to the high ceiling. Scorpius couldn't see with precision, but the columns seemed to be decorated with writings and drawings of flowers and people and corpses. Nothing good.
There were three men dressed in black Wizarding robes and holding the three of them tightly. The man that had Lily was the one who must have come to Grimmauld Place earlier that day – or was it already the day before? Scorpius didn't know for how long they had been unconscious. But he couldn't recognise the other two brutes. Mrs Toots was walking in front of them, her long, dark cloak covering her from head to toe, and she moved quickly and nosily on the large stones.
"What kind of place is this?" muttered Albus.
Scorpius was going to reply that he had no idea, when Mrs Toots turned and smirked at them. "Oh, I'm sure you can imagine what kind of place this is," she said silkily, "you have my book after all, don't you?"
"It's where the Golden Orchid is enshrined," muttered Scorpius.
"Very good," hissed Mrs Toots, looking away. She didn't add another word to that and Scorpius was pushed forward a bit more forcefully now, as if he had talked enough and was now time to walk.
He turned to sneak a glance at Lily. She was still struggling in the arms of the man. Her legs kicking the air and making it all the more difficult for her captor to walk with her.
"Put her over your shoulder," snapped the man that was pushing Scorpius forward. "She's going to kick me too if she keeps that up."
"And release her mouth?" asked the man back. "I'd rather have you kicked."
"Shut up," snarled Mrs Toots, without even turning. She guided the group through a high door that seemed to have been fashioned to let giants walk through, and they found themselves at the top of a long and winding staircase. Scorpius looked down and couldn't see the end of it, since it was swallowed by darkness.
Without a warning he was pushed forward and had to take two steps in quick succession to stay upright. Then they started the descend.
"Ouch!" cried the brute who was holding Lily. He shook his hand in front of them as if he had just been bitten and Scorpius felt a surge of pride.
"Let me go!" cried Lily. "Let us go! I'll make you pay! I'll arrest you!"
Scorpius tried to turn and look at her, but could only see her legs swinging near the head of her captor as he flung her over his shoulder.
"Stop moving!" snapped the man, spanking her hard. "Otherwise we're going to fall down the stairs and ruin your pretty little face."
Mrs Toots stopped in front of them and turned to look at Lily too. She walked back up a couple of steps and Scorpius stared with his heart in his throat as she circled them and went to stand in front of his girlfriend.
"Hmm," she murmured, "arrest us? How can a poor, little kindergarten teacher arrest us, uh? Oh yes, I know everything about you, Lily, I know you have my nephew at your house, that idiot of my niece brought him there. Are you being a good mummy to him?"
There was a low growl, coming probably from Lily, but before she could retort anything Mrs Toots snarled, "Silencio!" and all Lily could do was humming in protest when the woman slapped her cheek.
"Lily!" shouted Albus.
"Don't you dare touch her!" cried Scorpius, elbowing the man at his back to try to reach his girlfriend. "Don't you dare! I'll kill you if you touch her again!"
Mrs Toots laughed at him as she walked back in front of them and looked into Scorpius' eyes. "Well, well, someone is in love," she hissed. "How sweet, I'm sure we can use this at our advantage…"
She turned again and kept walking down the stairs and once more Scorpius and Albus were pushed forward while Lily's legs were moving far less quickly than before over that man's shoulder.
Scorpius glanced at Albus and saw that he was trying to twist his neck to look at his sister, but every time his eyes left the stairs he stumbled over and had to look forward again.
They kept climbing down the stairs for what seemed hours to Scorpius. There were torches on either side of the staircase, but they only lit up when they walked past them and the fire extinguished when they moved forward. The temperature was becoming higher with every step they took and soon Scorpius found his hairline matted with perspiration and his Auror uniform plastered to his back.
"Do we have to walk long still?" asked Albus dryly.
Mrs Toots laughed. "Tired?"
"Yes," snapped Albus, "and it's bloody hot in here."
They finally reached the bottom of the stairs and Scorpius looked around at the dark and humid cave in front of them. It was properly a cave now, they could even hear a distant underground river flowing angrily between the rocks, there were columns there too, shorter than the ones upstairs – because the ceiling now was much closer than before – but still covered in signs and drawings and writings. The walls were weeping with humidity and the floor was as smooth as if thousands of feet had walked it in the past centuries.
Then, all of a sudden, the ceiling started to become higher again, only it didn't. It was the floor that was descending almost brusquely in front of them, giving them a view of the place from a higher point of view.
There were some more columns and then, near the last one, there was a group of people standing there in a corner and talking nervously in hushed tones, about what Scorpius couldn't tell. They all turned their heads towards them as they started to descend.
Near the group of people there was a bassinet with a silvery liquid inside. Silvery and thick and almost glowing in the light of the torches. On the other side of the cave there was a wall covered in more signs and low reliefs and writings and drawings, but the people seemed to want to stay well clear of that wall, either that or they had been given an order to wait for them there.
It was only when they had reached the end of the sloping floor and the ground was once again even under their feet, that Scorpius could make out some of the people there. Not many, just two, and they were not unexpected. Mr and Mrs Whittle stood there in two very different positions. Mrs Whittle was in a corner, looking positively frightened. Her white face sported a fresh bruise and her hands were shaking in her lap. Mr Whittle, au contraire, looked almost with hatred at Lily and when his eyes locked with Scorpius' he smirked.
The other people – a dozen or so – just stood there and looked expectantly at Mrs Toots, who seemed to be the brain of this gang of delinquent people.
Finally, they stopped right in front of them.
Lily was put back to her feet and Scorpius gritted his teeth when he caught sight of her cheek blooming red. Mrs Toots took a few steps ahead of her and turned to point her wand at Lily.
"No!" cried Albus as Lily's eyes went wide.
"Finite Incantatem," hissed Mrs Toots and Lily was free to move her hands and to talk again as she let out a groan when she brought her fingers to touch her cheek.
Then, in quick succession, Albus and Scorpius were released too, but the men behind them grasped their forearms and kept them from even trying to fight back.
"Lily," said Albus quickly, "Lily, are you okay?"
"Yes," she replied, looking at him and then at Scorpius. "She hits like a girl."
Scorpius smiled at her, but then Mrs Whittle rushed at their side and tried to reach Lily before her husband pulled her back. "Lily!" she called her. "Lily! How's Alfie? Is he alright? Is he okay?"
Lily nodded and tried to smile at her. "He's wonderful," she told her quietly, "and safe, don't worry, I protected him."
"Oh my, Georgina," hissed Mrs Toots, "your son was perfectly fine with us. He was just the one that we needed to open that wall, and now…" She turned and looked at Lily. "Now we'll have to go with what we've here…"
She moved forward and tried to grab Lily, but she stepped back and crashed against the man, who immobilised her again.
"Wait!" snapped Scorpius. "What the hell! What do you need her for? Take me, bloody hell, take me!"
Mrs Toots looked at him and furrowed her brow. "I'm sorry," she hissed, "I thought you knew already why you were here…"
"You want the Orchid," said Scorpius, "that's all we know."
Mrs Toots sniggered quietly. "That's all you know," she repeated. "Of course, you don't know anything. Of course, you two are the most incapable Aurors I've ever had the misfortune to meet. Even when you came to my house and asked me about my poor husband and how he died… and who could have ever killed him? Oh my! Oh my!" She sniggered again and added, "Can you guess who killed him now?"
"You," snarled Albus. "You did!"
"Very well," she told him with a sneer, "you're such a clever boy, aren't you?"
Albus growled in reply.
"Why did you kill him?" asked Scorpius quickly. "Why on earth would you do something like that?"
She looked at Scorpius and shook her head. "That old fool," she hissed, "he thought he could keep secrets from me. From his wife! He thought I would never find out that he was part of the Order. He thought I wouldn't notice his tattoo with the flower. He thought he could keep this wonderful secret from me…"
The tattoo with the flower… just like Professor Sprout! Did that mean that… Professor Sprout was part of the Order too! "Did you kill Professor Sprout as well?" asked Scorpius, eyes wide.
"Of course," she hissed, "she put up quite the fight for being such an old hag, but a drop of Veritaserum and we managed to extort the location of the Golden Orchid. She even brought us right at the entrance of the cave, before I poisoned her. And right when we managed to find a way into the cave, my dear Georgina had to hide her child…"
Scorpius furrowed his brow. "Wait. The entrance?" he asked. "Professor Sprout was found in Scotland."
Mrs Toots laughed again and some other people sneered. "Well," she said disdainfully, "did you think that this was my basement? We've Apparated you to Scotland, you idiot."
"Hey!" snapped Lily. "Don't talk to him like that!"
Scorpius would have preferred for Lily to shut up, really, because he felt as if she was underestimating the danger there. "Lily, it's okay…" he muttered.
"She's feisty," growled Mr Whittle, "Aunt Daisy you should have kept her silent."
"I want to hear her scream if she doesn't manage to get through the wall," replied Mrs Toots lightly.
"What?" asked Albus. "She's not getting through anything, Scorpius and I are, but she's not. You are going to release her before we hex you for good and then send you on a one-way trip to Azkaban."
"Such big words from someone in your situation, Auror…" sneered Mr Whittle.
"Oh, so you really don't know anything, do you?" hissed Mrs Toots. "We need someone pure like a child to get through the wall." She walked closer to Lily and threaded her fingers into her hair before grasping it tightly and forcing her head back. "And you," she hissed to her, "are just the kind of person we're looking for…" She let her go when Lily whimpered. "Of course," she added, "in case you won't work, we'll use your bodyguards here."
"Is that why you need Alfie?" snapped Lily. "To use him to get to the flower?"
"Alas," sighed Mrs Toots overdramatically, "only to get through the first task." She shrugged a shoulder and walked to the bassinet with the silver liquid. "We've tried everything already," she said nonchalantly, "we've tried the unicorn blood. Someone drank it, someone immersed their hands in it… nothing, not even that managed to get them pure enough for the wards."
Scorpius' eyes went to the bassinet. Unicorn blood… sodding hell! That what that was!
"You killed the unicorns!" exclaimed Albus. "You are the unicorn slayers!"
Mrs Toots sneered again. "Oh my! Don't tell me that that was your case as well!" She turned towards Mr Whittle and grinned at him. "Could we've been luckier than this, Pat?"
"I don't think so, Aunt Daisy," replied Mr Whittle. "The two most dim-witted Aurors were investigating on everything we did…"
"And never found out anything…" she agreed. "Au contraire, if they hadn't come and told me about the book that they found at your house we would have never understood that their place was where our dear Georgina had sent her beloved son. A quick research and we found out that they were related to Alfie's irritating teacher and where they lived and then we were so close to get Alfie back…"
Mrs Whittle let out a sob and brought her hands to cover her face.
"You're evil!" snapped Lily. "You're evil people."
"That's why we need you, dear," hissed Mrs Toots, before turning and gesturing towards a corner, "always if you don't end up like Malia and Jason or the other three we used before them."
Scorpius followed her finger and finally noticed the two corpses on the floor. A boy and a girl, glassy eyes wide and mouth open. A rivulet of dried blood colouring the corner of their mouths. The girl's skin was rosier, while the boy looked much greyish, as if he had been dead longer.
Lily let out a cry of despair and brought her hands to her mouth.
"I wonder what secrets they had," muttered Mrs Toots, "so young, and yet so impure… not even the unicorn blood…"
"You should go through that wall," snarled Scorpius.
"The unicorn blood doesn't make one pure," snapped Albus, "if anything, killing a unicorn and drinking its blood makes you even more impure!"
Mr Whittle rolled his eyes, while a murmur raised from the people at his back. "Well, thank you for the lesson," he said impatiently, "we've figured out that much after the fifth casualty."
"Oh too bad you figured that out," snarled Albus, "I would have loved to see you go through that wall."
"Instead you'll see your little sister," snapped Mr Whittle back, "she's going to go through it and then go through the second and third task for us."
"And if I refuse?" growled Lily.
Mr Whittle drew out his wand and his wife gasped as he pointed it at Albus. "I'll let you choose who you want me to kill first," he smirked.
Lily's bottom lip quivered as she looked at Mr Whittle with wide eyes. "I… I…"
"I'll do it," hissed Scorpius. "I'll do it, and if you harm a hair on her head, I swear I—"
"We don't want you," snarled Mrs Toots, "isn't that clear enough? We need her." She eyed Lily hungrily. "So young and beautiful and pure… I hope you are pure darling, pure like a child…"
The words sounded like a threat more than anything. The man behind her released her arms and pushed her forward. Lily stumbled and fell to her hands and knees still too shocked to let out any sound of pain though.
Scorpius tried to wriggle free from the man who was keeping his arms twisted behind his back and he could see a little commotion at his right as well, Albus was probably trying to reach his sister too.
"Lily! No!" cried Scorpius. "Don't do it!"
She looked at him and to Scorpius she seemed outrageously scared. Surely, though, she wasn't scared for herself. No, as always his Lily was thinking that if she failed, if she died, then surely they would have sent Scorpius forward and then Albus and they would have died too, because if she wasn't pure, then they surely weren't as well.
"I'll do it," she said, her voice tiny. "I'll do it, please don't hurt them."
Mrs Toots stretched her hand towards Lily and for a moment she looked like the sweet and pain-stricken old lady that had offered them tea in her living room. "Good choice, dear," she said as she helped Lily to her feet. She patted Lily's hand between hers and smiled at her. "Good choice."
"Lily…" murmured Albus, his voice thick with emotion. "Lily, don't…"
Mrs Toots grasped her hand and guided her forward, but Lily turned to look from Albus to Scorpius. "Do I get to say goodbye?" she asked softly.
"Now, now, none of that, dear," said Mrs Toots guiding her forward, "that would mean that you already think you'll fail. We can't have you thinking that, now can we?"
She swallowed and looked away from Scorpius and in front of her.
Mrs Toots moved behind her and grasped her jacket, opening it and bringing it down her shoulders. "It's hot here dear," she told her, "we wouldn't want you to pass out before you reach the Orchid, would we?"
She shook her head.
Scorpius growled deep in his throat at the way that woman talked to his girlfriend. He wanted to throw himself at them, he wanted to grasp someone's wand and send that woman flying against that wall. He didn't know what would have happened, but surely nothing good judging by the corpses of the youngsters there. The man behind him tightened his grasp around his wrists.
"Now, dear," murmured Mrs Toots, "we've not been close to the wall, but Jason has and he had described it for us right before he was killed. The wall is covered in signs and symbols, you have to find the right one and place your hand on it. That's what you have to do. We've studied the drawings on these walls for weeks and that's all you have to do. Place your tiny, delicate hand on the wall, and the wall will decide if you're pure enough to walk through it."
She turned her head and looked at Scorpius as she moved her lips closer to her ear. "If you aren't," she murmured, "if you aren't pure enough, you'll die dear… The wall will kill you instantly, with a green light, just like the Killing Curse and you'll be no more…"
Even from behind, Scorpius could see Lily's throat move with its swallowing motion. Her hands at her side were trembling slightly. Merlin! He just wanted to reach her and… he just… he just…
Instead, she stepped forward when Mrs Toots pushed her shoulder and hissed a, "Go, now," to her. She stopped suddenly and turned to look at Mrs Whittle before continuing. Scorpius stared as the woman held her breath while she followed Lily with her eyes.
Then Lily took another step, and then another and another, then she was walking steadily towards the wall. A wall that looked like one of those walls covered in graffiti in Knockturn Alley, a wall that had nothing special except the promise to kill his girlfriend as soon as she would have walked close to it.
But no, Lily wouldn't have died. Lily was pure… she was pure… she was nice and gentle and caring and loving and… and… so many other things, surely she couldn't have encountered any obstacles… surely the wall would have let her pass, surely… surely…
She was close now, close to that wall of rock, and Scorpius could see her studying the surface closely. Reading the writings, checking the signs, searching the place where she had to place her hand, where she would have let the wall decide.
The whole crowd of people – even Mrs Toots and Mr Whittle – was silent now. Their eyes were fixed upon Lily, their breaths completely held inside their chests.
Scorpius felt sick. He felt like throwing up. Once again, Lily was going to suffer because of his ineptitude, once again she was the one fighting while he was kept back like a child. A useless, idiotic, stupid—
"It says…" came Lily's voice from the other side of the cave. "It says, Thou must be as pure as a lily, thou must be candid and unspoilt like a child…"
"Isn't your name Lily, darling?" asked Mrs Toots excitedly. "See? It's as if a prophecy was written for you. It's your destiny, you're as pure as a lily."
Scorpius felt a shiver running down his spine. He had already heard those words. She was like a lily… she was… she was like a lily… Where had he heard those words? Had he said those words? Where… when…
Scorpius followed her with his eyes while she was keeping her fingers at a distance from the wall and was trying to find the place she was supposed to touch.
Pure as a lily… the words kept echoing in Scorpius' head… pure as a lily… that was a place where a magical flower was kept… flowers had meanings… pure as a lily… what was a lily… a lily… a lily was purity and…
Scorpius' breath caught in his throat.
A lily was purity and virginity.
Yes, he remembered now. He had said that to Nott, he had called her as beautiful as a lily and Nott had scoffed at him. And then, he remembered, he was semi-unconscious on the floor of the playroom, fluctuating almost… he remembered Nott talking to Lily's father, telling him that her name was Scarlet, that he had wiped her real name from her, that she was no more pure.
Pure. Pure. Pure.
Lily was not pure. She wasn't.
Lily was going to die.
The thought made Scorpius' cold sweat run down his back. He couldn't stay there and stare as her as she walked towards her fate.
He turned his head towards Albus and called him in a frantic whisper, but his eyes were glued to his sister, just like everybody else's. But he had to call him, he had to talk to him, he had to let him know. "Al!" he called him out loud.
Nobody turned to shush him, nobody even noticed. All eyes were trained on Lily, all eyes were staring at her.
Albus turned to look at him, mouth wide and face pale.
Scorpius looked at him and mouthed the words, "Not pure, brothel," to him and then stared at him as his skin became almost greenish with the realisation that he was about to witness to his sister's untimely death.
Scorpius wanted to tell him to do something, anything, but he himself didn't know what that would have been. Would they have believed him if he told them that by the age of fifteen the girl standing there had had more sexual encounters than any of the people there? Would they have believed him if he told them that she had been a prostitute? Would they have listened to him if he let them know that she was not pure, that… that he was pure but that she was not and that—
"Bloody hell," he muttered. He was pure. He was the one who could have opened that wall.
"I found it," came Lily's shaky voice. "It's… it's a flower… it must be it…"
"Yes, dear, a flower," said Mrs Toots excitedly, "yes, indeed, touch it… touch it!"
Scorpius jerked his head towards Albus again and he was glad to see him still staring at him. "Diversion," he mouthed to him. He looked around himself and added, "I am pure."
Albus sudden confused expression was replaced by one of extreme surprise as if he finally seemed to follow Scorpius' train of thoughts. He nodded and didn't waste any time as he elbowed the man behind him in the ribs and stepped on his foot.
The man cried in surprise and pain and finally people diverted their eyes from Lily. Even the man at Scorpius' back, Scorpius could feel him turn his head to look at the scene and his hands slackened on his arms.
And that was all he needed. He wriggled free and turned to punch him in his face unexpectedly rather than forcefully.
Then, when the man that had kept his hands on Lily tried to grab him again, Scorpius just swirled out of his grasp and threw himself in a frantic run towards the wall.
"Stop him!" snarled Mr Whittle.
There were spells fired against him. He could hear them crash against the floor and the wall, some dangerously close to his head. But he didn't care. If Lily was going to die, there was no reason for him to live either. Albus would have just had to find a way out by himself and report the tragic case of his sister and her boyfriend killed by a group of flower-fanatics.
But for now he just kept running.
Lily was looking at him, her hand only a few inches from the flower she had to touch. Her eyes wide and her lips trembling as he got closer and closer to her.
But he didn't know what to do. He didn't know if he should have screamed at her to get away from that wall and then try to run away with her, but how? They were surrounded, and they didn't have wands, and surely they wouldn't have thought twice about killing Albus.
No. He could only follow their rules. If they wanted to open that damn wall, Scorpius would have done that for them.
"Don't touch it!" he cried to Lily.
She brought her hand down instantaneously and took a step back from the wall, scared.
And then he reached her.
He had just the time to find the flower with his eyes before he was pressing his own hand against it.
Then he grasped Lily in his arms almost spasmodically as he tried to shield her with his body.
Next thing he knew, a white light flashed through the cave and there was a rumble as if of thunder and Scorpius closed his eyes as he squeezed Lily in his arms and prayed that the wall would not consider him impure because of all those times he had spent in the shower thinking about Lily and with his hand around his prick.