Author's Notes: I think in this chapter there's the scene that you've all been waiting ever since chapter one of Scarlet. Hope I made it justice. I love this chapter. So much happens! I hope you'll like it too.

Chapter Seventeen

Scorpius was waiting for his death to come.

But it never did.

Another hand, much bigger and much stronger than Lily's, wrapped around his wrist and when he opened his eyes again he was being pulled up by a brawny man with red hair and a myriad of freckles across his nose.

Charlie Weasley.

"Come on, Malfoy," he barked at him. "Give me your other hand!"

He did and soon he was pushing his feet on the wall of the crack, this time to be brought back up instead of trying to reach that damn flower. Charlie pulled him up as if he was as thin as paper and before he could even understand what was happening he was lying on the floor and Lily was on him, crying and hugging him and telling him that she loved him.

"No time for that," grunted Charlie. "Luna, you get Lily, Rolf, Scorpius seems alright to walk but stay with him. I'll carry Albus. Let's go!"

Out of nowhere, Lily was dragged back by Luna and soon the older witch had her arm wrapped around her shoulder and was running through the columns that were now ruins. Rolf grabbed him in a less delicate way and Scorpius had just the time to turn to cast a glance at the flower and notice that it was not there anymore, before he was yanked away, Charlie following them with an unconscious Albus over his shoulder.

He barely noticed the mess that was the cave now. The walls were falling around them, the columns were already in pieces, the floor was as insidious as quicksand for every inch seemed to crack under their feet and fall into the depths of the earth. They had to jump and climb over pieces of rocks to get to the stairs. And the stairs themselves were almost completely in ruins, they had to pay attention where they were putting their feet, the rumbles of more earthquakes came more frequently now, and if the descent into the cave had been long as hell, the ascent was feeling alternatively even longer and much shorter.

All that Scorpius was aware of – except for the floor and where to put his feet – was that Lily kept looking back at them and Luna kept urging her on, that Charlie seemed tireless as he ran with a passed out Albus over his shoulder, and that there was nobody else in the cave except for them. Well, either that or the other people were well ahead of them or dead.

It didn't matter at that moment. At that moment all that mattered was that Lily was ahead of him and not behind, that Luna, Rolf and Charlie were guiding them outside, and that their chances to survive had just increased dramatically.

Scorpius couldn't feel his legs anymore when they reached the top of the staircase. But the exit was still far away and what had been the wide path skirted with columns that they had walked before was now a catacomb of dead pillars.

"Now Rolf!" screamed Charlie. "We've past the door! Now!"

Rolf grasped Scorpius arm and before Scorpius could even understand what was going on he felt the familiar tug of Apparition from behind his navel and he let Rolf taking him wherever he wanted. Any place would have been better than this one.

In a matter of seconds, he gasped and fell forward on the cold and humid grass of somewhere in bloody Scotland. The silence of the night was broken only by the ragged breaths of the people around him.

"Bloody hell," grunted Charlie, dropping Albus to the ground. "Al. Al! Are you alright? Al? Can you hear me?"

Lily hurried at her brother's side. "Al!" she cried. "Al, please… don't… don't die!"

"He's not going to die," her uncle assure her. "He just fainted." He drew out his wand and pointed it at his nose. "Episkey," he said and they could see his broken nose straighten suddenly. "There, we need to bring him to St Mungo's anyway, but at least he'll be able to breathe now."

"I think he has some broken ribs, or something," said Scorpius.

Luna grasped Lily's wrist and brought her to her feet, cupping her cheeks protectively. "Are you alright?" she asked, tilting her head back. "Are you hurt? Do you feel dizzy?"

Lily shook her head and gave her a hint of a smile.

"What about you, Scorpius?" asked Rolf, patting his shoulder.

"Alright," replied Scorpius. He felt a bit dizzy as the realisation that he had almost died washed over him. But now they were safe and sound, Albus was safe and Lily was safe and he was safe and Luna and Rolf and—

"Wait a freaking second!" he snapped, making everyone's attention turn towards him. "What are you doing here?"

Charlie cocked an eyebrow as he folded his arms across his chest. "Well, we're saving you?"

"How did you know… What did you… how…"

The three of them exchanged a glance, as if to silently decide what they could have told them. Then Luna knelt next to him and moved her cascade of fair hair away from her neck as she turned a bit. At the nape of her neck, well hidden by her locks, there was the tattoo of a flower. The same tattoo that Professor Sprout had had on her neck.

Scorpius felt Lily getting closer to them to have a look at the tattoo as well. Then he raised his eyes and noticed that both Charlie and Rolf were showing them their necks too. They had the same tattoo on their skin.

"What…"

"You're the Order," exclaimed Lily, awe and excitement in her voice. "You're part of the Order."

Charlie turned and beamed at her. "Yes, Peanut," he told her, "you're so intelligent."

"No," snapped Scorpius, "no, wait a second!" He stood up and walked to Charlie. "You're part of the Order? And you? And you?" he asked turning towards Luna and Rolf.

They nodded.

"And Pomona and Tilden," replied Rolf. "Even though Tilden's wife had erased his tattoo before the Aurors could find him."

"Why?" asked Lily, eyes wide.

"To keep the Order and what she had discovered secret."

"Wait! Okay, you're part of the Order but you couldn't tell us anything about the freaking Orchid when Albus and I came to ask you?" he growled. "What is wrong with you?"

Charlie stretched a hand and closed his calloused fingers around his shoulder. "We take a oath, Scorpius," he told him, "when we join the Order we accept that we cannot talk about the Golden Orchid with anybody outside the Order. Unless the Maestro tells us that we can."

"The Maestro? Who's the Maestro?" asked Scorpius. "I thought it was one of you."

"Oh no," replied Luna gently, "he's not here. He had other things to do tonight."

"Yeah, like what?"

"Did he save Gurdyroot?" asked Lily urgently.

Luna nodded. "Yes," she replied. "Gurdyroot is safe and sound and ready to work again."

"Except the Orchid is gone," pointed out Scorpius. He turned to look at Charlie and darkened. "And you," he spat, "you had a cure all along for Lily's Memory Charm and you could not ask for a petal for her!"

"That's not how it works, Scorpius," said Rolf gently.

He gritted his teeth. "Well, then, you have to revise the rules of your freaking Order," he snapped.

"I know you're angry, Scorpius, but—"

"I'm furious," he corrected.

"Well," sighed Charlie, "I'm sorry to hear that, but those rules have been implemented centuries ago and they have helped protecting the secret of the Order and of the flower for thousands of years."

Scorpius was about to tell him exactly what he thought about those rules – and it didn't matter that they've just saved them – when Lily threw herself at him. She hugged him tightly about his waist and stood on tiptoes to kiss him and then kiss him again and again and again.

"I don't care about the stupid flower," she told him, "I just care about you. If you died while you tried to get the flower for me, I… I would have just thrown myself after you. I don't care…"

He felt his rage soothe a little at her words. He sighed and hugged her back, kissing her with equal force. He opened his mouth and licked the seam of her lips and she parted them to grant access to his tongue. He closed his eyes and brushed his nose against her as he explored her mouth and pulled her even more tightly against him.

"No, no, no," grunted Charlie, grasping Lily's arm and pulling her back. "No, Lily, darling, that's not how you kiss a boy. His cheek, dear, always go for his cheek."

Scorpius groaned at the interruption, but Lily just giggled and wrapped her arms around Scorpius'. "But he's not just a boy, Uncle Charlie," she told him, "he's my fiancé."

"I beg your pardon?" huffed Charlie.

"Oh, Lily! That's wonderful, dear! Congratulations!" exclaimed Luna dreamily.

"That's not wonderful, Luna," grunted Charlie, "when did that happen? And that cannot happen because nobody asked my permission here."

"I asked her parents' permission," pointed out Scorpius gruffly.

"Well, I'm her uncle, you need to ask me."

Scorpius narrowed his eyes. "You lied during an Auror interrogation, we could accuse you of hindering justice," pointed out Scorpius.

Charlie glared at him for a fistful of seconds before folding his arms across his chest. "You have my blessing to marry my niece," he told him.

Lily's grin split her face in two as she jumped at her uncle's neck and kissed his cheek. "Thank you, Uncle Charlie."

He beamed at her and hugged her tightly. "Anything for you, Lils," he replied gingerly.

Scorpius rolled his eyes at the scene. As if he hadn't just had to blackmail him…

"Alright," said Rolf, "I think we need to bring Albus to the hospital now. He's been unconscious for quite a while."

"Not as much as Lorcan that time that he fell into a Devil's Snare," pointed out Luna, and Rolf nodded thoughtfully.

Scorpius decided that he didn't want to know.

"Just one thing," said Charlie as he still hugged Lily to his chest. "You didn't see our faces, you don't know who we are."

"Oh, okay, Uncle Charlie," replied Lily conspiratorially.

"What about the others?" asked Scorpius. "The people with Toots and Whittle."

"You'll find them waiting for you at the Ministry," replied Charlie, obviously hinting to them that the three of them hadn't worked alone that night. "Let's go now. We'll Apparate you to a safe location and from there you'll bring Al to the hospital, okay? Can you do that?"

Lily nodded. "Yes."

"Of course," replied Scorpius. "I'm an Auror."

"Right," replied Charlie. "And remember, you didn't see us." He planted a kiss on Lily's forehead and then he was gone with her in his arms.

oooOOOooo

Harry was sitting at his desk. Eyes wide and head spinning as he stared at his daughter and her fiancé sitting opposite to him and explaining in excited tones what had happened that night.

He had been woken up by Ron, who had been called by Emeric Zabini, right in the middle of the night, telling him that Lily and Scorpius were at the Ministry with a group of people that were either confessing their crimes or that had been brought in by some cloaked figures earlier on, who hadn't uttered a word, had pushed them in and had disappeared. And to top that, Albus was at St Mungo's.

And now Harry was just looking from one youngster to the other with eyes wide and slightly sleepy and trying to follow their conversation as well as he could.

"…and then there was the mirror, Dad, and it showed our fears…"

"…yes, but we managed to fight them…"

"…Scorpius managed to, Dad, you should have seen him and he asked me to marry him and I said yes! I'm getting married, Dad!"

"Yeah," chuckled Scorpius, "and then there was a house-elf…"

"…yes! Gurdyroot was his name. He was very nice."

"…and he said that we couldn't bring the Orchid out, past the seal…"

"…that something terrible would have happened…"

"…something terrible happened, Head Auror, they brought the Orchid past the seal and everything went to hell…"

"…and Scorpius almost died, but we managed to run away…"

"…but Albus was unconscious. We needed to bring him to St Mungo's…"

"…yes, and—"

"Okay, okay," Harry cut them off, raising his hands near his face. "Okay, I have some questions," he announced.

"Yes, Head Auror," replied Lily with a beam.

Harry cocked an eyebrow at her. "Right," he muttered slowly, "first of all, what were you doing at the Toots residence in the middle of the night, Lily? You should have been asleep. You were under the influence of a sleeping draught."

"I thought I could arrest them, I knew that they were the ones who had broken into Grimmauld Place," she replied, "I couldn't bear to sleep thinking that they could come back at our house at any time."

"You're not an Auror, Lily," pointed out Harry, massaging his temples.

"Well, but I knew that Scorpius would have found me and he could have arrested them together," she grinned.

Harry took a deep breath. "Instead the three of you got Stunned, taken prisoners by this gang, taken to a cave somewhere in Scotland, you don't know where. Albus was beaten to a pulp, and the two of you had to go and find this Golden Orchid, and when you brought it back you exchanged it for Al and then they brought it past some sort of seal and the cave got destroyed, and you were saved by some cloaked figures that you have no idea who they were and that disappeared without a trace after they brought you to safety."

"Basically," said Scorpius, giving the hint of a smile.

"Yes, Dad," agreed Lily, "but you skipped the part where Scorpius asked me to marry him…"

Harry nodded. "Of course," he said softly, "and at some undefined time in this story Scorpius asked you to marry him."

She nodded. "And I said yes!"

"The two of you," he sighed, "need to take a shower because you're covered in dirt. Then you need to go and talk to your mother, Lily, because she has to be up by now, and I'm sure she's wondering where the heck everybody is. And once she'll know that you've been almost killed, and that Albus is in the hospital… well… I just want you to reassure her that everything is alright before she faints again." He turned towards his future son-in-law. "And you go and talk to your parents too, Scorpius. I'm sure they'd like to know what happened last night and that you're safe and sound."

"Can we go to St Mungo's first?" asked Lily, eyes filled with expectation.

"Yes," replied Harry. "In fact, we should all go. And we'll have you checked up as well, why weren't you sleeping and all. But then, you're going straight home, Missy, and you, Scorpius, are coming in tomorrow morning to take care of the reports."

"Yes, Sir," replied Scorpius, as they all stood up.

"And you're coming in too, Lily," said Harry, wrapping an arm around him. "As a witness."

"Not as an Auror?" she grinned.

"No!" replied Harry curtly, before turning to kiss her head. "Let your dad, and your brothers and your cousins and your uncle, and your boyfriend—"

"Fiancé."

"Fiancé," he sighed, "be the Aurors here, you're a wonderful teacher, and Miss Mitzy would cry her eyes out if she were to lose her best employee."

Lily seemed to consider his words as they walked out of his office and then with a shrug of her shoulders and a nod she replied, "You're right." She giggled then and went to Scorpius, enlacing her fingers into his, they walked down the corridor and then up the stairs, whispering things that Harry couldn't hear to each other.

oooOOOooo

Albus' eyelids were heavy as he tried to raise them. And his eyes definitely hurt. And the light… bloody hell! That was one bright light coming from… where the heck was he? Had he gone back to his flat the night before? Or had he stayed at Grimmauld Place? Grimmauld Place, he reckoned… right? Then what was that light? Did his mother came in to open his curtains again? What was the time?

"Al."

He furrowed his brow, and what was Rose doing there? Was he late for something? Was he late for patrol? Oh Merlin, not patrol again…

"Al."

And that was James, why on earth would he side up with Rose to torment him while he was sleeping? He could pretend he was sleeping for just a little bit longer, and maybe they would go away.

"Is he awake?" asked Uncle Ron. "Did he move?"

"He kind of fluttered his eyelids, Dad. Do you think he's alright?"

"He's never been completely alright…"

"Hey!" he snapped, finally finding the force to open his eyes. "Look who's talking, the man who slept with his teddy bear until he went to Hogwarts."

Albus looked at his brother and noticed that he was looking back at him with his lips pressed tightly together. "Well, I knew you were awake," he said flatly. "Just needed a little incentive to make you open your eyes."

Albus' eyes travelled from him to Rose and finally to Uncle Ron, all of them were perched over his bed, looking intently at him, and suddenly he understood that he was not in his flat nor was he at Grimmauld Place.

The room he was sleeping in was white and bare, and he couldn't recognise it at all. He tried to push himself up in a sitting position, but a blinding pain spread from his stomach to his side and he fell back again.

"Take it easy, Al," said his uncle, patting his shoulder and tugging the covers around him. "You've something broken, they didn't know which bones exactly, because you were unconscious, but as soon as the Healers come to see you, you can tell them where it hurts and they'll heal you."

"Something broken?" he asked softly. Then, suddenly, a flood of memories invaded his spinning head. Lily, Scorpius, the Orchid, the cave, Mrs Toots, Mr Whittle, the earthquake… "Bloody hell," he whispered, "where are Lily and Scorpius? Are they alright?"

"Better than you," came a voice from the door, then he let out a cry of pain as Lily threw herself at him, arms hugging at his chest.

"Lily," said James calmly, "he's not been healed."

She withdrew quickly, a crestfallen expression over her face. "Oh, I'm sorry, Al," she said, eyes wide, "I'm sorry! Did I hurt you? I'm so sorry. Oh, my!"

He took a deep breath and even that hurt. "'S alright," he coughed out. "Glad to see you're safe and sound." He eyed Scorpius and nodded at him. "You and your boyfriend."

"Fiancé," she giggled.

"What?" spluttered James.

"I beg your pardon?" asked Uncle Ron, blue eyes going wide.

"What?" whined Albus. "When did you ask her? When did you find the time?"

Scorpius grinned and shrugged a shoulder. "Between a task and another," he told him lightly.

"In the cave?" asked Albus, a little wrinkle creasing his forehead. "Not up the roof at Grimmauld Place? After all the thinking you did?"

Scorpius blushed as Lily turned to beam at him. "Well, luckily thinking is not a big deal for me," he replied with a smirk.

Albus narrowed his eyes and looked at Rose. "Is that an insult? I'm too tired and in pain to function at the moment…"

Rose nodded patiently at him. "It is, but you don't worry, Al. Scorpius is just nervous because now he's been exposed as the romantic lad he's been pretending not to be for all his life…"

"Shut up, Rose," grunted Scorpius, but Albus just stared at him as he smiled when Lily went to him.

"Oh come on," grinned Rose, "you're romantic and your fiancée is so strong she can defy a sleeping potion and—"

"Oh no, no," said Lily dismissively. "I wasn't under the influence of a Sleeping Potion. Apparently, it was a Pepperup Potion. They mixed things up in the commotion."

"And got her over-excited," snorted Albus, but before he could add anything, his father was walking into the room and looking at him all proud and worried at the same time, and then he was telling him that he loved him and that he had to go and write the report when he was discharged from St Mungo's and that they had just closed two cases in one night and good job and again that he loved him.

Albus wanted to tell him to stop, that he was embarrassing him in front of Scorpius and that the blond Auror would have never let it go, but he didn't have to, because at that moment the Healers arrived and shooed everybody out as they had to heal his broken bones.

And Albus was glad everybody was sent out, because he screamed like a little boy while the Healers healed him.

oooOOOooo

Ginny gaped at Lily.

Mrs Potter's poor heart would have exploded if anybody else would have told her what had happened the night before to two of her children and to Scorpius Malfoy. But seeing Lily wrapped in her bathrobe, with Alfie bouncing on her knees and giggling, and Sparky standing with his front paws on her legs as he tried to attract his owner's attention, while they all eat a robust breakfast had the power to calm her down immensely. As if Lily's tale hadn't really happened to her after all, but it was just that: a tale.

"I almost felt like an Auror, Mum," she told her, swallowing some eggs. "I mean, honestly, I would do that all over again if I knew we'd survive for sure like last night."

"Great," Ginny murmured, unable to find the proper words to respond to the ton of information she'd just been submitted to.

Lily giggled softly and her eyes sparkled. "And I'm engaged, Mum!" she finally exclaimed. "I'm getting married! To Scorpius! Isn't that awesome?"

Ginny took a deep breath. "Awesome," she agreed quietly, still thinking about Lily's adventure. "Absolutely awesome, dear."

"We need to start thinking about the dress," she went on, "and the date, and the house… I mean, where should we go and live? Oh… I guess I'm not going to live alone anymore after all…"

Finally, Ginny felt like she was given a reason to smile. Well, of course, the fact that Lily and Albus and Scorpius were alive was reason enough not only to smile, but to raise her eyes to heaven and thank God for their lives. And even Lily's enthusiasm at the thought that she was getting married should have caused a tiny grin to tug at the corner of her lips. But the fact that her daughter had abandoned the idea of living alone really made her take a deep breath of relief. And the smile finally split her face into two.

"And the place," continued Lily, "I told Scorpius that I'd like to get married at the beach, like Vicky and Teddy, but maybe we should get married at the Manor? I don't know… maybe if they put some flowers it would be nice, wouldn't it, Mum?"

She nodded softly. "It would be lovely," she assured her. "But maybe you can have the engagement party at the Manor and the wedding at the beach."

Lily's lips parted in surprise. "The engagement party!" she exclaimed. "I completely forgot! I've never been to one, you know, Teddy and Vicky were already engaged when I was found." She gnawed on her bottom lip. "Oh, Mum, you're going to help me, aren't you?"

Ginny beamed at her. "I'm going to be cross if you don't let me help, Lily," she pointed out. "And you… you know… you and Scorpius can live here until you find a house of your own…"

"I don't think that would be nice of us, Mum," she replied, "to impose this on you and Dad. We should look for a house." She grinned and added, "And a house big enough to have a few children…"

Alfie splashed his spoon in his bowl of milk and cereals, splattering milk all over the table.

"Oh no, Alfie, that's not nice," said Lily severely. "Gently, you dunk the spoon gently. Good boy."

Ginny smiled at the scene. Yes, Lily could have had a few children and she would have been a wonderful mother. And a fantastic wife.

And Ginny would have helped her along the way.

oooOOOooo

Astoria was gasping every few words Scorpius said, Draco was squeezing his walking stick until his knuckles became all white. Even though Scorpius seemed absolutely calm and nonchalant as he talked about how he had almost died for that evil woman, and how Lily had saved him at the last minute, and how a damn house-elf had hung him upside down in midair before he could put his hands on the Orchid… Draco's heart was on rollercoaster every time he would start a new sentence with and then there was an earthquake, or and Lily almost slid down after me…

"Oh Scorpius!" whined Astoria. "Oh my dear! That's… that's horrible."

He gave her a smug grin. "That's ordinary Auror duty, Mother."

"Is it?" she asked, her hand going to her heart. "Oh my, oh my! You're always in such danger, Scorpius!"

He shrugged a shoulder, suddenly looking slightly uncomfortable. "Well, maybe not ordinary, Mother…"

Draco nodded slowly. "Congratulations for closing the case, Scorpius. So, are you on some well deserved holiday, for maybe a couple of days?"

He huffed, "Yes, Father, it's called weekend."

"Well, since it's Valentine's Day…"

"Which is not a recognised holiday, apparently," pointed out Scorpius.

"And you're newly engaged…"

Scorpius furrowed his brow at him, eyes narrowed as he waited for what was coming next.

"I was thinking that you might want to use our flat in Paris for the weekend," finished Draco, "with your fiancée."

Scorpius gaped at him and for a moment Draco thought that he hadn't understood him at all. Not that he knew how to make it any clearer than that, really. Weekend, Paris, Lily, flat that overlooked the Champs-Élysées…

"Consider it an engagement present," he said softly. "If you're interested, that's it."

"Of course I am!" exclaimed Scorpius all of a sudden. "Well, thank you, Father. That's… that's very… that's sweet, thank you…"

Astoria was beaming alternatively at Draco and at Scorpius. "And we should invite the Potters, Draco," she informed him excitedly, "maybe on Sunday afternoon? Maybe for tea? That would be lovely, I'm sure Ginevra is definitely wondering where to have the engagement party and the wedding. We need to assure them that the Manor is always ready to welcome a few thousand people. And maybe photographers and journalists…"

"Mother…"

But she wasn't listening as she just stood quickly from the chair and snapped her fingers, and then went on and on about how to clean that Manor from top to bottom before Sunday afternoon to the house-elves that had appeared before her.

"There you go," grunted Draco, shaking his head, "one tries to do something nice for his only son and that's what you get back. Harry and Ginny Potter invited over for tea…"

When he raised his eyes on Scorpius again he was laughing, loud and clear and in a very amused way.

"Yes, yes," grunted Draco, "wait until your wife makes you do something you don't want to…"

oooOOOooo

Scorpius, a recently healed Albus, and a slightly over-excited Lily were all working steadily to finish writing the reports and schedule the hearings before sunset.

Albus wasn't helping with all his questions about the Order and how could Lily and Scorpius not see who those people were, and what happened at that moment and then at that other moment and then at that… until Lily told him gently to not worry about it, that he was safe and that was all that counted.

"You just want to finish early to pack your stuff and grab a Portkey to Paris," accused Albus.

"Exactly," replied Scorpius gruffly. "So zip it and keep working."

"What shall we do with Mrs Whittle?" asked Lily, biting down hard on her bottom lip. "I mean… she looked like she didn't want to be there exactly… but you know… I just… I mean…"

"You can't keep Alfie," said Albus, without looking at her. "She was as much a prisoner of her aunt and her husband, as I was."

Lily's shoulder dropped as she lowered her eyes. "I just… I…"

"He'll be alright," Scorpius soothed her, stretching a hand to grasp hers and rub it gently with his fingers. "We'll put them under a protection program. Her husband will never be able to trace them when he'll come out of Azkaban, nor will everybody else."

Lily nodded meekly. "And I'll be able to see him?" she asked. "Maybe visiting him every now and then?"

"I can't see why not," smiled Scorpius. "And anyway, she'll have to be cleared of all charges and we'll need to hide her before we can put her under a protection program, you won't have to say bye to Alfie for quite a while."

"Except for tonight," said Albus, still not looking up, "when you'll have to say goodbye to everybody because you're leaving for France."

"It's just a weekend," snapped Scorpius, "and you're just jealous, Albus."

He finally looked up, his face painting with shock. "Of course I'm jealous! You're taking my sister to Paris! Nobody has ever taken me to Paris."

Lily giggled. "You have to take someone," she pointed out. "Like a girl or something."

"I don't have a girl," he huffed.

"That's what we wanted to use the Orchid for," said Scorpius thoughtfully, "we wanted to look for some miraculous potion to make you find a date for the wedding."

"Miraculous?" snapped Albus. "I'm sorry, but I've had more girlfriends than you. They just walk out on me after a few days…"

Scorpius shrugged a shoulder. "It's not my fault if I found the love of my life when I was seventeen," he replied calmly.

Lily swooned at the epithet whereas Albus just rolled his eyes. But Scorpius didn't care, he just stood up, circled his desk and proceeded to kiss the daylight out of his fiancée.

oooOOOooo

Paris was everything that Lily had expected and more. It was a crisp, sunny morning between silk sheets, it was a lot of walking and a lot of eating, it was a lot of sightseeing and a lot of shopping, and it definitely was a lot of snogging. Or how Scorpius had dubbed it: The best. Part. Ever.

It was also a lot of standing in a queue in front of one of the most expensive Wizarding restaurants in Saint-Germain-Des-Prés, just because it was Valentine's Day and they hadn't had time to book anything.

And even if Lily expected it and knew that it couldn't have come at any other moment of any other day, she swooned and cried a little when Scorpius knelt in front of her during dessert and opened the box with the most beautiful ring she had ever seen inside.

And the whole restaurant started clapping when they kissed and he slipped the ring on her finger.

And then he paid and dragged her away, outside, under the moon and in the cold air of the evening, and then back to the flat that overlooked the Champs-Élysées.

oooOOOooo

Lily stretched her left hand over her head and moved her fingers, the little diamonds of the ring caught the light of the candles and shone. She looked at it almost transfixed, and Scorpius stared at her from the bathroom door.

The long, green dress she had worn at the restaurant was riding high around her knees and her beautiful red locks were sprawled all over the white silk sheets of the four poster bed. Her high heel shoes had been discarded on the floor while her silvery cloak was on the chair near the vanity.

He smiled and, instead of walking into the bathroom to change into his pyjamas, he walked to the bed and crawled next to her, until he was lying at her side and looking up at the ring as well.

"You like it?" he asked her softly.

She didn't look at Scorpius, but snuggled closer to him, her head resting against his shoulder. "I love it," she replied in a breathy murmur. "I've never seen a ring more beautiful than this one before."

"It was my mother's engagement ring," he told her. "It's been in my family for generations."

She turned and raised her head a little to kiss him and he kissed her back. Slowly at first, her lips just puckering that much that she needed to give him some little pecks.

"What do you like the most," she murmured, tilting her head back a little, "Lily Luna Malfoy or Lily Luna Potter-Malfoy or Lily Luna Malfoy-Potter?"

"Whatever you like the most," he replied, kissing her cheek. "I just like you. I don't care what you are called." His lips trailed kisses all over her jaw and to her ear. She smelled of the perfume he had bought her that afternoon and he dove his nose in her hair as she giggled against him.

"You only like me?" she asked, a fake pout in her voice.

He grinned and bit jokingly at her earlobe. "I love you," he whispered against her ear, "is that what you want to hear?"

"Hmm… yes…"

"I love you," he repeated, kissing her neck and occasionally scraping his teeth against a pulsing vein, "I'm crazy about you. I'm completely gone for you. You've put me under your spell, little witch, and now I keep thinking about you…" He moved her dress a little to kiss her collarbone. "I think about you every day and every night. When I'm not with you and also when I'm with you…"

She let out a breathy moan at his ministrations and his words against her skin, and he had to shift a little on the bed to move his semi-hard member away from her legs.

Her hands went to his hair and she shifted near him too, her breasts pushing against his chest. "Scorpius," she moaned so softly it felt like a dream.

He swallowed. Merlin, he had to stop. What was he doing? He could feel his erection already starting to strain against his trousers, if he kept that up… he wasn't going to control himself. And that was not what he wanted. He withdrew from her and looked at her flushed face.

She opened her chocolaty eyes and looked at him, lips parted and freckles hiding behind her blush. "Scorpius," she murmured, "I've never… I've never…"

He didn't know what she was going to say, but he just nodded and kissed the tip of her nose. "I'm sorry, Lily, you're just so beautiful," he whispered, "I don't know what I was thinking… I'll go and change, I'll be—"

She pushed two fingers against his lips and looked into his eyes. "I've never made love to anybody," she finally whispered, "nobody has ever loved me like that."

He gaped back at her. He could feel the engagement ring pushing against his chin as she pressed her fingers to his lips and silenced him. Not that he could have spoken anyway.

He really thought that she was saying that she was ready to make love to him. He really thought that. But that couldn't have been. He had been sure they would have waited until the wedding. And then maybe waited a bit longer. He didn't mind. He was ready to wait until she was ready. Even if that meant that they reached that age when travelling on Knight Bus became free before they actually made love.

And instead… she wanted to make love to him. Now.

"You don't want me?" she asked in a dejected murmur, and only then he noticed that she had slid her fingers from his lips to his chest.

He blinked at her. Then his arms wrapped around her waist as he pulled her on top of him. "Lily, I've wanted you since the first day I saw you," he informed her huskily, "I want you more than anything else."

"I want you too," she told him in a whisper. And then she kissed him. She was soft and shy at first, gentle and delicate and he just went with it. And then she parted her lips and licked his bottom lip and demanded access to his mouth and closed her eyes and sighed against him.

She was small and warm and her thigh pressed against his erection and for the first time since he was in a bed with her, he didn't move away, but pressed back to let her feel what he did to her. How excited he was for her.

He would lie if he said that he didn't know what he was going to do. Surely, he had never done it, but he had listened to Emeric Zabini talking about his steamy nights with Rose, and to Albus smugly telling him about basically every girl he had been with. And he had read about stuff and looked at some moving pictures…

But right at that moment, nothing really mattered of what he had heard and what he had learned from some books. Right at that moment it was all about feeling and living and kissing and touching and… Merlin! It was too much!

Lily slid her hand to the belt of his trousers and his breath hitched as she wormed a hand inside and brushed his erection. He turned his head, letting go of her lips, and let out a groan.

Bloody hell, if he felt like that with just her fingertips feathering on his member, what would he feel when he was finally inside of her? The idea of getting up and hurrying to the bathroom to jerk off and then come back and take it as slow as he wanted went through his brain, but he couldn't. He wouldn't have left that bed not even if there was an earthquake going on.

He rolled her on her back and looked down at her. Her half-lidded eyes were dark with arousal, her lips were languidly curved upwards in a sensuous smile, her arms were stretched above her head, her smooth skin was sliding sensually on the even smoother silk.

"Damn, you're beautiful," he whispered as he half-covered her tiny body with his own. He slid his hand down, down, down, past the curve of her breast and the slight angle of her hip and down, until his palm came into contact with her naked skin. He brushed his thumb around her knee and kissed her again. Her moan of delight was almost lost in his mouth as his hand started its ascent up her body and under her dress.

Hell, he could feel her thigh quiver as he tickled her. He could feel the soft silk of her knickers under his digits. He could feel the taut skin of her belly as he curled his fingers around her waist. "Take this off," he murmured, kissing her another time.

She smiled softly as she sat up, her hands going to the sides of her dress as she took two fistfuls of the fabric and pulled it up. Scorpius bit his bottom lip as more and more of her skin came into view. Pretty, white and soft skin. Her flat stomach, her ribs heaving with every breath, her breasts covered in her lacy bra. And then finally it was over her head, and he grabbed it from her and threw it at the end of the bed, before wrapping his arms around her middle again and proceeding to kiss all that skin that had just appeared in front of him. She arched her back as he trailed kisses down her chest, over the mound of her breast and down to her navel.

Her skin tasted of the vanilla soap that there was in the bathroom, and Scorpius felt like he could have spent his life kissing and licking her, and he would have been just happy. Naturally, his straining erection was feeling the urge to disagree, but he was sure that he could just push it against the mattress as he bit her hip and then he would have come anyway.

But he didn't want that and when Lily's hands went to his shirt to grasp the material as she whispered back a, "Take this off," he was pretty sure that she didn't want that either.

No, that night was their night.

He sat up and worked his fingers around the buttons. He wished his head wasn't as foggy as it actually was, because then he would remember where his wand was – the living room? The bathroom? The bedside table? – and he would just make all their clothes disappear. All of them, even the ones in their trunks. He didn't care for clothes, he wanted to be naked and wrapped around her for the rest of his life.

He impatiently tore the last few buttons and they flew to the floor, he made his shirt slip down his shoulders and off his arms. She almost giggled at him as he wrestled with his belt, before stretching her hands and helping him undoing it. She was almost better than him and he stared mesmerised at her nimble fingers as they pushed the strip of leather through the buckle and finally unbuttoned his expensive trousers.

He grasped the waistband and yanked them down his legs, uncaring if they would torn. Surely the house-elves could take care of those and to be honest he didn't bloody care anyway at that moment.

His white underwear was matted with pre-come, and all Scorpius wanted was to feel Lily around his erection. But Merlin! He couldn't think about it, because the very thought of her walls sliding against him and contracting around him made the heat in his stomach pool even faster than what it was already doing.

Damn, damn, damn! He would have never made Lily orgasm! He would have entered her and come, and that was all. He had to think about something, anything else. About Albus, yes, he had just seen him naked and that was not a good sight at all.

"Scorpius," breathed Lily as she bit her forefinger gently between her white teeth. She was looking at him expectantly and he couldn't do anything but indulge her.

"Lily," he murmured as he went to kneel between her legs. "I want you so much, I don't think I will last…"

She grinned at him and turned her back a little to give him access to the clasp of her bra. He unclasped it so quickly that for a moment he wondered why Albus always complained about that task. He would have loved to go back and flaunt his newly discovered skill in his face if it wasn't for the fact that probably Albus would have punched him because he was talking about his little sister.

Her breasts were round and white and smooth, and even though he had seen them more times than it was probably normal, they looked so damn inviting with those puckered nipples on top that heaved with her almost ragged breath.

He grunted something that he himself didn't know what it was and lay down next to her, turning his head to lave her breast with his tongue. She let out a strangled cry and brought her hand to his hair, enlacing her fingers into his locks. He took the whole nipple into his mouth and raised his eyes to look at her. Her cheeks were flushed, her lips were parted, her eyes almost completely closed.

The window opened suddenly and closed with a loud thud that startled Scorpius from his trance and made Lily's moans turn to a sheepish gasp.

She swallowed and looked down at Scorpius. "I'm sorry…" she whispered.

He shook his head as he let go of her breast. "Are you… are you okay? Shall we stop?" he murmured.

She shook her head frantically. "No, no," she replied, "I'm fine, I swear. I'll… I'll control it, I promise."

He smiled as he kissed her breast again. "Don't," he replied, "nothing bad will happen."

She smiled gratefully at him, probably the task of controlling her wayward magic would have been too much during sex for her, and Scorpius was not afraid.

But he didn't have time to think about that because when he returned his attention to her chest, he was lost again. The way her back moved against his arm, and the way her hand grasped the sheets under her, and the way her toes curled and her hips bucked… hmm… it was too much for Scorpius, it was entirely too much.

He let her nipple go and raised his head to give her a quick and passionate kiss on her lips, before hooking his fingers on the waistband of her knickers and brining them down her legs.

He had to bite down on his bottom lip to push back his release as she moved her legs and helped him discard her underwear. And he had to bring a hand to his erection and squeeze its head through the material when she slid a hand to her folds and pushed a finger into her. The fire in the chimney died suddenly before sparkling back to life and then dying again and returning once more.

Lily's eyes widened for a moment as she looked at Scorpius, and she seemed suddenly free from the fog of lust that had clouded her sight until a second before, he thought that that was it. That she was thinking again about it, that on second thought she didn't want to go all the way with him.

He swallowed as she bit her bottom lip and moved her finger around inside herself.

"What?" he asked softly.

"I've never been so wet," she breathed out, "nobody has ever made me so wet before." She stated that as a fact, and she probably couldn't understand what it meant to Scorpius. She took out her finger to show him just how ready she was, and he captured it with his lips. She tasted sweet and smelled divine and she let out a groan as he licked her clean.

And now he had to think about Quidditch scores and reports to write and Albus naked again, but somehow nothing worked anymore. He scrunched his eyes and blindly reached for the waistband of his underwear, pushing it down quickly and finally freeing his aching erection.

When he opened his eyes again, Lily's had opened her legs for him, her knees were slightly bent and she was staring at Scorpius and waiting for him. Waiting for him to take her. Waiting for him. Him. Him.

He knelt between her spread legs and took his erection in his hand. He inched forward until he bumped into her clit. She took a sharp breath and bucked her hips a little and Scorpius wrapped his hand around the inside of her thigh to find leverage and then…

Then he was slipping into her, and she was warm and wet and tight and everything that he had expected and more and so much more. And too much and oh Merlin! He pushed and pushed, slowly and gently until Lily was mewling under him, and she was raising her hips to take him deeper, and the curtains of the bed were wavering around them, and her foot was brushing against his buttock, and one of the pillows started to hover in mid-air.

"Tell me if I'm hurting you," he breathed he as pushed the last inches inside of her.

She shook her head, almost jerkily and the mirror on the vanity broke. "You're not," she murmured huskily, "never, never…"

It was all he needed to hear. That and the fact that he hadn't come the moment he had entered her, contrary to what he had thought he would do, spurred him on and soon he was sliding out of her and then back in. And then out. And then back in.

He leaned down on his forearms and fastened his lips on hers as he thrust into her. She didn't kiss him back though, she was too lost already. The bedside tables crashed to the floor and the drawers of the dresser opened and closed as if Peeves was pull a prank on them. He looked at her as her eyes rolled back and Merlin! She was coming already and he could feel her walls becoming even tighter around him and fluttering as she tilted her head back against the pillow and cried out her release. The wardrobe opened and Scorpius heard their clothes flying to the floor.

And then it was really too much for Scorpius. He dropped his face into her hair and groaned out loud as the pleasure finally reached its peak. His balls tightened and then he was coming deep inside of her, in that velvety heaven that had driven him insane.

He gasped as he tried to catch his breath. Lily's hair was tickling his forehead matted with sweat, her own ragged breath was like music in his ears.

He pushed his hands near her head and slowly slid out of her. He rolled to his side and onto his back, his mouth was still open as if to gulp down air. It had been better than anything he had ever done. It had been ten million times better than leaning against the shower wall with his hand wrapped around his erection.

Lily snuggled closer to him and he instinctively wrapped his arms around her, pulling her to him.

She kissed him and leaned her head against his chest. "I've never felt like that," she whispered, her tone a little breathy still, "nobody has ever made me feel like that. I… I didn't know I could feel like that." A pillow hovered over their bodies. They ignored it.

There was wonder in her voice but all Scorpius could do was feeling a smug smile creep on his lips at her confession.

He turned his head towards her and she looked up at him. He brought his hand to her forehead and brushed away her locks from her face. "I told you I wanted to make love to you," he murmured, "only love. Always."

She nodded and leaned her chin on his chest. "It was so different from what it was for me at the brothel," she whispered shyly, as the fire went out another time and then sparked back to life once again, "I just didn't know it could be so good."

He smiled and stretched his neck to kiss her forehead. "Glad to hear that."

"Was it good for you too?" she asked softly.

He chuckled at her question. "Good?" he asked back. "Blimey, Lily, good is not the right word, you know… more like, bloody fantastic…"

She giggled and he beamed at her. "I love you," she whispered, the window opening and closing as if to punctuate the force of her statement.

"Hmm, good, because I love you back, very much," he told her. "And I really hope that you had a good look at Paris today."

She furrowed her brow as she looked at him. "But we still have tomorrow, don't we?"

"Yes, but I'm not planning on getting out of this bed tomorrow," he told her, before he pulled her on top of him again, his half-hard member nestling between her legs, "nor to let you get out either."

She laughed and he kissed her, the drawers closing all together.

And then they fell asleep in each other's arms with the furniture all scattered around the bedroom and smiles on their faces.