A/N: So this is my first edited chapter when it comes to the timeline. There were also some other minor things to fix. But the date was the most important. Everything else has mostly remained the same. You don't have to re-read it if you don't want to, but yeah, that date is pretty important to the storyline.

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of the other awesome things you may recognize in this spiffylicious story.

The Rarest Type of Seer

"I love those who can smile in the face of trouble, gather strength from their distress, and grow brave from their reflections…"

~Leonardo da Vinci

Chapter 9

To Omit the Truth is Still Deceit

"Where have you guys been? We've been worried sick about you! Everyone in the house has been searching for you and your father has been almost out of his mind with worry! What's going on Lily?" Ginny Potter passed back and forth in front of her only daughter waving her hands dramatically as she paced. Lily had always considered her mother to be of a sensible nature, so she wasn't entirely certain how to go about addressing the upset harridan that she was currently presented with.

She did feel slightly bad for scaring her parents but it wasn't as if she had any real control over the situation. No. The one to blame was sitting on her left side, currently pondering how he was going to explain to the Potters that he had apparently whisked their daughter away to some other realm, claimed her as a prize in a hunt, and then miraculously brought her back. Oh yeah, and according to some nargles and some sort of shadow creature, he was a Dreamwalker. 'How exactly was he supposed to maintain the Potter's good opinion if the story that he told them, no matter how much truth there was to it, sounded insane even to himself?'

Lily tried to reassure him, but he was so lost in his thoughts, he was oblivious to Ginny's angry diatribe. 'Lucky him,' was the uncharitable thought that crossed Lily's mind even as she winced in pain at the headache that all of Scorpius' unshielded thoughts were giving her.

"Well, Lily Luna? Are you going to answer me?" Lily brought herself back to the present circumstances. She and Scorpius were sitting on the couch in her father's home office. Cham stood by the door with an imperceptible smirk on her face and Lily had to wonder if she was laughing at Lily's present circumstances or something else entirely. You never could really tell with her.

"LILY!"

This sudden exclamation brought Lily completely out of her contemplations. It wasn't like she was trying to ignore her mother, or maybe it was, it was just that so much had happened this past night, and her thoughts were everywhere. Her head hurt and her foot was in some new form of agonizing hell and all she wanted to do was sleep, or at the very least, get out of her mother's presence.

She sighed, figuring that she would have to give her mother some form of an answer or else she would never be able to discuss what had happened with Cham. And she really needed to talk this out – because if anyone would know how to get out of a claiming it would be her best friend. Or so she hoped.

"We went for a walk, Mum. That's all. Nothing happened and we're perfectly safe," she stated. She reached over and grabbed up Scorpius' hand, breaking him out of his reverie. She unconsciously entwined their fingers together as she pulled his hand up into the air with hers, as if to say, "SEE! Perfectly fine!"

Ginny scoffed and significantly glanced at Lily's foot that was currently using Scorpius' lap as a resting place.

Lily felt Scorpius tense up and wanted to at least try to ease his mind. He really needed to stop thinking right now. It was surely hurting her more than it was him.

"I fell," Lily deadpanned. There was a snort that came from the corner of the room and Scorpius turned to look at her incredulously. Her mother gave her a disbelieving look and flopped into the chair behind Harry's desk.

"What?" She addressed the room at large. "I did fall. Besides, Mum. It's just a little sprain. Cham'll heal it up and I'll be no worse off than I was when I fell asleep."

Hoping that the interview was at an end, the dark haired girl grabbed her blonde companions hand and tried to pull him up with her as she stood to leave. But with the excruciating pain that was shooting up her leg from her ankle and the fact that Scorpius hadn't been expecting the movement, Lily ended up falling precariously back onto the couch.

"Oooowwww!" Nobody was sure if it was a moan or a whimper that escaped her mouth, but her mother was back on her feet and standing in front of her daughter with a look of concern on her face. Cham had rushed over and Scorpius was hovering next to her. "I'm fine," she gasped out. "Really, I am."

"Clearly." Ginny let out an exasperated breath. Leave it to Lily to tell them she was alright when it was perfectly clear that she was not. 'Like father, like daughter,' she thought not for the first time.

"I'm not sure where you thought you were going, but since you are clearly not 'perfectly fine', you can stay right there and tell me the truth about where you went." She held up a hand to stall whatever it was Lily was about to interrupt with. "And don't tell me you just went for a walk either. I know it's not the truth."

At Lily's inquiring look, Cham jumped in, "the ward alarms went off when you guys came back onto the grounds. Everyone thought that one of your dad's enemies might have found Potter Place and they were breaking in." Steeling herself for what she was about to impart next, she continued, "what it boils down to Lils, is that the wards – the house – it didn't recognize your magical signature, either of your signatures."

Daunting silence followed this pronouncement and it was only broken by the entrance of Harry. His black hair was even more tangled and disheveled than usual. There was dirt on his face and his robes, which one could tell were thrown on in haste, were torn and scratched. His green eyes were weary with fatigue. He breathed a sigh of relief when he saw the two wayward teenagers sitting on the couch.

In that moment, Lily felt true shame for the first time in her life. She knew how much her father had on his shoulders and the worry that he often felt when it came to his family and those he considered his own. She also knew, without a doubt, that the only thing her father would ask them about was their welfare.

True to her thoughts, the first thing Harry asked was, "are you alright?" He gave them a piercing look that was reminiscent of his old headmaster making them both squirm under his intense gaze.

"I'm fine," she answered with exasperation

"She sprained her ankle," he said at the same time.

Silver grey and tired locked with deep green and furious for a moment that felt like eternity to the two of them.

Only the clearing of Harry's throat broke their gaze. "Let's see it then," he said walking over to them. Lily shifted uncomfortably under her father's penetrating gaze. She sent a glare at the Malfoy scion for adding more worry to her dad's shoulders.

"I promise, Dad. I'm fine. I just fell and twisted it when we were ru – when we were coming home from our walk."

Harry didn't miss her slip, and he eyed her speculatively for a minute. "What were you running from?" He questioned her as he examined her foot.

"Nothing, Dad! Honestly!"

Knowing that he wasn't going to get anywhere with his line of questioning, he gave it up for loss. "Alright Lily. I won't ask anything else. You keep your secrets. But, I want your word that if you run into any type of trouble, you will come to me."

All too excited that he was going to leave her alone, she gave her word immediately.

Her parents didn't believe her for a minute. Cham just snorted at her and even Scorpius raised his eyebrows in surprise.

Wary from the night's search and frustrated with her daughter's lack of answers, Ginny whipped out her wand more forcefully than necessary and quickly healed Lily's ankle. Thus doing, she waved her hand at the door and ordered the three teenagers out of the office.

Scorpius and Cham preceded her out the door and just before she reached it, Lily turned back to her parents. "I'm sorry for causing so much trouble and worry. It really was just a walk," she began.

"No more Lily! I know as well as you do that it was not 'just a walk'. If you want to tell me the truth, then please do so. Otherwise don't waste mine or your father's time. Just go. We have to be at your grandparent's home later today and your father needs to sleep before we go." Ginny gestured once more toward the door and dared her daughter to say anything else.

The dark haired girl turned once more and just before she left she thanked her mum for healing her ankle.

~SL~SL~SL~SL~

As the door shut behind Lily, Ginny lost all the fight that was in her petite frame. She sank into her husband's plush chair behind his desk and covered her face with her hands. "Ugh!" She cried, dragging her hands down her face. "She's just like you were at that age!" She shot Harry an accusing glare to which he shrugged his shoulders.

"Come on, Gin. It's not all that bad. At least she has her mother's intelligence and discriminating mind to temper the heedless recklessness that she inherited from her father," he gave such a cheeky grin with this speech that Ginny couldn't help but laugh. He always seemed to know what to say.

"Fine," she said on an exhale, "I'll let it be. We have to go get ready anyway, and I'm absolutely certain that you need to rest."

~SL~SL~SL~SL~

Scorpius and Cham stood just outside Harry's office waiting for Lily. There might have been an uncomfortable silence between them had Cham not been so lost in her thoughts and Scorpius paying more attention to his surroundings. As it was, when Lily came out of the office, almost in tears, Cham grabbed her best friend's arm and practically dragged her up to her tower room.

Not really knowing what to do with himself, Scorpius trailed silently behind the two girls. Scorpius had never been to this room in Potter Place. The room was large and circular, as one would expect a tower to be. The walls were a cream color and there was blue carpeting on the floor. There were four large arched windows that allowed sunlight to steam through and each window had a window seat attached to it. In the center of the room up against the wall sat a large bed with blue and gold bedding and a canopy surrounding it. A comfortable looking chaise lounge was up against one side of the room. A fire started up on its own in the fireplace as they entered the room.

Despite the well-kept look about it, there were definite signs of Lily everywhere. Sketches laid about on the floor with open books nearby, and her scent was more prominent here than anywhere else in the house. He tried not to notice the pile of clothes, or the green lacy bra that sat atop it that was sitting in front of what he could only assume was the restroom. Lily Potter may have a sentient room that catered to her whim and fancy, but this room was by far, much more personal.

As soon as he stepped over the threshold, the door slammed shut behind him and Cham turned on the two of them with a menacing glare. "Where did you go!?" She demanded. She held up her hand just as he started to answer. "And I don't want to hear that lame ass excuse that you went for a walk. I'm not stupid and you," she turned on Lily at that, "cannot fool me! So, come on then, out with it. The truth. Where did you go?" She glared at them.

Scorpius squirmed. It was bad enough when it was Ginny and Harry. He had no idea how scary Cham could be, though he did remember upon first meeting her that Albus said she could be a bit protective of Lily. He was at a loss for what to say though and he could only hope for Lily to help him out.

Sensing his unease and feeling the sudden onslaught of his thoughts, Lily sank down onto one of the window seats almost in a perfect mirror imitation of her mother earlier. "We did go on a walk, Cham," she earnestly replied. "But it wasn't planned, and it wasn't – here," her voice was decidedly weaker at the end of her response.

Furrowing her brow, Cham questioned, "if not here, then where? Lily, you have to understand. It's not just the wards and the change in your magical signature that has us so worried." Lily looked at her friend expectantly. "Chase was here."

"Why?" Her question was hesitant and if he didn't know any better, slightly scared. The Malfoy scion wanted to know who exactly Chase was and why his being here what agitate Lily so much.

"He said he was worried about you. He mentioned that there were some strange things going on in the –" she gave a hesitant look at Scorpius before lowering her voice to a near whisper.

He couldn't make out exactly what was said after that, but he could tell that Lily was not as amused as she was attempting to appear. He vaguely wondered if Cham was bought into the ruse either. Judging by the storm that was brewing in her blue eyes, the silver eyed teen doubted it.

The two girls whispered some more between them, every now and then glancing at him. Scorpius was getting rather tired of them talking about him while he was still in the room. He knew that most girls liked to gossip about guys, but couldn't they at least wait for him to leave the room?

He was about to say something until Lily's raised voice stopped him completely in his tracks. "It doesn't matter though, Cham! There has to be a way to stop the claim. Hell, he doesn't even believe it happened!" Scorpius could feel her agitation and he watched as she began to pace all the while pulling her hand through her dark tresses.

Cham's voice was smooth and quiet in her reply. "Then make him."

"Yeah – I'll just do that," he was sure there was going to be more of her sarcastic retort but she took one look at him, glanced away and resumed her tireless pacing.

"Well, you have to do something, Lily. Tonight's the winter solstice and you already know what that means. Your entire family is going to be there and you know what kind of trouble she has planned. What kind of trouble that they have planned. And if what Chase says is true the ancient ones are stirring –"

"They've been stirring for a while now," Lily dismissed. "I'm not overly worried about them."

"Perhaps you should be, Lils." There was a long silence after this calm reply. Lily had stopped her pacing and was gazing out at the morning sky. Scorpius wondered at her thoughts and the strange wariness that had overcome her countenance ever since the name Chase had come up.

Her almost black hair gleamed with red highlights in the sun. She was covered in dirt and scratches from head to toe, and Scorpius never thought he had ever seen anything so beautiful.

~SL~SL~SL~SL~

It was just a stray thought; that much she knew. They had so many more important things to be thinking about, but when she heard it in her mind, the first thing she did was to flush red with pleasure and then quickly with embarrassment. 'WHY can't he keep his friggin' thoughts to himself?'

She glanced at him quickly and taking in his oblivious stare, decided that the argument, the many arguments, just weren't worth it right now. They were all tired, some more than others, if the rings around Scorpius' eyes were any indication.

"We'll deal with all of it later," she declared to her friend. "At the moment we need to sleep."

"What about -?"

"I'll deal with the issues that Chase has brought to your attention. I promise I will. But it's been a long night and I'm worn out. We need to be at our best tonight if she does her part in their plans."

Chameleon sighed in resignation. "Fine. What about…?" She threw a significant look at Malfoy to which he glared back.

"I'm right here, you know," he spoke for the first time since they entered the room.

"Yes, we know," was the tart reply from the blonde girl. Lily stifled a giggle at the exchange and received two glowers in return. She responded with a shrug.

"What about him, Cham? It's not like he doesn't practically live here already. He can make himself a bed on the floor, go to Albus' room, or make his way down to the parlor. I don't really care."

In some way, Scorpius was certain that he was supposed to feel offended. However, he just couldn't find it in himself to do so. After all, did Lily Potter not just give him permission to sleep in her room – while she was still in there? He felt that he shouldn't read too much into it though, as they did fall asleep together on the chair in her parlor.

Realizing that the two girls were still waiting for an answer, Scorpius sluggishly brought himself out of his tired thoughts. 'Thanks, Lily. I appreciate it, but I think I'm going to head back to my apartment and sleep there. I'll see you at your grandparents' Christmas eve party, yeah?"

He wasn't sure if she looked disappointed or if it was just his overactive imagination, but all thoughts were wiped out of his mind when she gave him a swift hug, so fleeting that he was almost certain it didn't happen. She quietly told him to "sleep well" and then opened her door for him to leave.

He gave a mock salute to Cham and left the tower room, and he wasn't sure, but probably part of his heart as well.