I am dedicating this chapter to all of my lovely readers. You guys rock the world! And also to the Daughter who feels that it is "absolutely necessary" to turn 10 on Monday. (I did not authorize such nonsense!) Here, lovelies, have a quicker update! (Well, quick for me anyway).

The Rarest Type of Seer

"Mom, why is it so beautiful, but so deadly at the same time?"

~Life questions from Ginger

Chapter 12

How to Save a Life

It was a veritable snowy wonderland. And it was cold. How, he wondered, did he not realize how cold it was out here? He had been walking the extensive grounds of the Weasley's property for the better part of fifteen minutes and the cold had gradually crept in over him. He had to wonder how it was that he hadn't felt it when he made his rather impressive (Albus' voice in his head countered with dramatic) exit.

Different thoughts flitted through his mind. Everything from 'what is Rose playing at?! No. No. Don't think about that!' To 'how does Lily do that?!' To 'Wow! The Weasley's have a lot of land to explore! I wonder if Father ever realized how wrong he was about these people?' To 'Wow. It is really cold out here!' His thoughts went in circles, over and over, but they were more like a background hum instead of a constant stream. In a way, it was nice to be away from all of the hustle and loud of the Weasley clan and their extended family. Even if he was considered a part of that extended family.

He was so deep in his mind that he didn't hear someone calling out to him in warning, nor did he notice the brook with the thin sheet of ice over it that he was about to step foot on. And then he heard the cracking and everything slowed down and blurred. He could feel himself falling into the murkiness of the icy water, the darkness rising up to surround him, the coldness enveloping him in a freezing hug. His thoughts, as muddled as they were to begin with, became even more so, and he knew without a doubt that he was fast losing consciousness, but just before he did, he felt himself being pulled, as if he had been summoned. That couldn't be right though, could it? A summoning spell only worked on inanimate objects, not people. And that was his last conscious thought.

~SL~SL~SL~SL~

("Scorpius." Someone was whispering in his ear.)

"It's a good job we were there, yeah?"

"I didn't know the summoning spell worked on humans."

The voices that washed over him were indistinguishable at best, but they were definitely not whispers.

"I don't think anyone knew mate…"

"Why d'ya think he was so close – "

"Look! He's shivering! And he's BLUE! Where is his coat?"

("Scorpius…" Or maybe it wasn't his ear…)

He knew those voices. Lily's friends.

"Really, s'bit stupid, don't ya think?"

"Shut up Lys."

"Bloody hell! Why haven't you guys at least used a warming charm!?

("Ah. Albus. It's always lovely when you join the party")

"It's too far to the house."

"Well we have to get him out of the cold!"

"Oh! I know somewhere we can go!"

("Dominique, Scorpius. Always the most level headed. Don't ever forget that. It could save your life.")

What the hell? Was someone talking to him? In his mind?

He had the distinct impression of a grinning face.

"I don't think that would be wise Dom. She may not like us invading her space."

("That would be Molly. She's such a clever little duck. But really, I don't mind. You should probably let them know that you're coming around though. They are getting a bit worried. And Albus is never fun to deal with when he's upset.")

Scorpius groaned as he felt someone try to lift him up.

"Oh good! He's coming around. Even if only a little! That's a good sign, Albus!"

The overly excited vice of Cham broke through some of the fog in his mind. He opened his eyes just enough to realize that it was one of the Scamander twins that had him. He wanted to protest. He wanted to wrap himself up in all of his Malfoy dignity and pride and tell the damn twin to put him down.

As if reading the blonde's thoughts, Lysander said with a tone of amusement, "I would put you down, Mate. Except I'm pretty sure you would just fall on your head and end up colder than what you are already. Let's not tempt fate – or Albus' wrath. He can be scary." He said the last bit as if it were a secret, only he made sure that everyone could hear him.

"This is not funny!" Albus snapped proving Lysander's point. "He could have died, what with how you guys were screwing around and not realizing what was going on!"

Molly put a comforting hand on her cousin's shoulder. "But we did realize. And we got him out and he's fine." Her voice was soothing, much like what Scorpius thought the Weasley matriarch's voice would be like when tending to a sick family member.

But Albus was having none of it. He roughly shrugged her hand away and stalked off in front of the group.

"He'll be fine," Dominique's voice said from beside him. "Besides. How long do you think it will take him to realize he has no idea where we are going?"

"Neither do we," Lysander threw in.

Lorcan snorted from the other side, and Cham giggled. Molly gave a wan smile.

"That is, of course, if she'll even let us find her," said the latter.

"Oh. She will." Cham was very sure of herself when she spoke, and everyone gave her dubious looks. She huffed out a breath at them. "She already knows about the situation and she'll help in any way that she can."

They all looked skeptical at her and she glared in response. "It's not like you guys don't know how this works. She probably knew all about it the second he stormed out of the tent. That's probably why she left so quickly after."

"If she knew what was going to happen to him, then why let him do it in the first place?" Molly asked.

Cham shrugged. "Some things have to happen. Whether we want them to or not. It's the way it is. She doesn't like it any more than you do. Especially in regards to him."

The group fell into silence and continued their trek through the winter woods. Scorpius clung to consciousness by threads and begged all the deities that he didn't believe in for warmth. The others kept a steady stream of warming charms on him and that calming voice in his head kept talking to him and making him stay awake. He wanted to swat that voice away as if it were a fly.

He got a distinct feeling of amusement from the other consciousness that was invading his mind. He hated that.

Albus had rejoined them after a couple of minutes of sulking. "I don't know where we're going," was his mumbled response to his smirking cousins and friends.

They seemed to be walking in a general straight forward direction, following the little brook that Scorpius had inadvertently tried to go swimming in. After another ten minutes of walking they found themselves in a clearing that could only be described as a fairy glen.

Snow covered logs and branches were scattered about everywhere. Winter wild flowers grew randomly between the trees. The few birds that hadn't flown away for the season were heard up in the trees. In the middle of it all was the most fantastic tree that they had ever seen.

There was a collective breath amongst the group.

"Wow," breathed Cham. "Ginny's tree."

"What?" Albus asked.

"It's Ginny's tree. Lily only ever told me about it once. She said it was her mum's hideaway when she was small. She gifted it to Lily one afternoon when things got rough with Rose and…" Cham trailed off and gave a small shrug to Albus. He knew what she meant. They all did.

"You know," Lysander spoke up breaking the tension, "As many times as I've been out here - "

Lorcan snorted and hid a grin. Molly and Dominique giggled.

"And it has been plenty," he continued. "I have never seen this place. At. All. Ever."

"That's because I didn't want it to be found." The voice that had been whispering in his mind became a reality and Scorpius finally succumbed to sleep.

~SL~SL~SL~SL~

It was an old oak tree that housed Ginny Potter neé Weasley's greatest childhood secret. The tree itself had to be at least two centuries. It was encased with charms that kept it hidden from the common wizard's eye. Nothing so strong as a secret keeper needed to be kept, but nothing so flimsy as a disillusionment charm. Some of the charms were so old that witches and wizards of today wouldn't even know how to use them correctly.

It had been a particularly bad day for Lily. She didn't want to be home for the summer, and Rose was making it rather well known what her feelings on the matter was. Albus wasn't making anything known. Whatever Rose said, it was assumed that Albus agreed.

Lily didn't remember exactly what was said that caused her outburst on that fine summer day. (If one can call quietly hexing your brother an outburst.) She was certain though that Rose had referred to Lily's freakishness. Again. Probably. And she, Lily had finally had enough. Again. (This was, after all, an ongoing thing for the three of them.) There was a snarky retort from Lily, to which Albus most likely replied, and Lily hexed him. But this time Lily's hex actually held some spite to it and she had almost broke her brother's arm.

There was a lot of overdramatic screaming from Rose, and the whole lot of the family came bursting into the family room that the three of them were occupying. Rose continued ranting about Lily, Albus was trying valiantly to not show tears in front of his family, but it HURT! And Lily was silently crying. She never meant to hurt her brother. But why did they have to be so mean all the time?

Ginny was the first to notice her daughter's distress and before anyone could say a word to her, rushed the scared child out of the room. The older red head took her daughter out into the woods that day and showed her the best hidden secret of her childhood.

"None of the others know about this place," she whispered, as if trying to not disturb the wild magic that surrounded the area. "Well," she corrected herself, "I take it back. Your grandfather knows. Your father too, but he won't say anything about it. Your grandfather is the one that showed it to me, but nobody else knows, and none of them will, unless you tell them how to get to it. And the best part of it all, is that even if you show them how to get here, and even let them in, the only way that they will ever find it again is if you magically key their signature into it."

Her mother performed some ritual that was ancient and beautiful and made Lily feel as if she was actually one with nature and a part of the grand scheme of everything. She was a part of the brook that quietly babbled in the distance, the scent of the wild flowers became her very essence and the thoughts of the oldest tree in the area became her very own. Her mother swore that she had never seen the ritual take to another human in the way that it took to her daughter. Then again, her mother had only ever seen it done twice before. Still. It was something worth pondering. Later.

The old oak tree became her place of hiding when the people in her family became too stupid (in her opinion) to be around. She loved Lysander, Lorcan, Dominique, Molly, and James to pieces. They could be a lot to handle at the best of times. And some times (more often than not) they were just too much. It was the place that she (unashamedly) hid from Rose, Albus, and Hugo when it was just the four of them at their grandparent's house.

It was where all of her dreams and ideas were thought on. It was where she secretly mooned over one, Scorpius Malfoy. It was where she allowed her emotions to come freely to the forefront. She had many canvas paintings there, a whole library of ancient texts and books and novels.

The entrance was a large squirrel's hole. Lily fit into it perfectly. She supposed that she would have to enlarge it so the larger ones of this crowd could fit through it.

The inside of the tree, like so many other things within the wizarding world, was much different than what one might think. It was divided into multiple rooms with a main hallway connecting them. There was a small kitchen with a just as small stove and refrigerator. There was a menagerie where animals that wanted to find warmth in the winter months, but didn't want to leave, had made themselves at home. There was a room that had summer flowers growing in them, and there were multiple guest rooms and bathrooms.

It was a wonder that Lily ever left here.

Most importantly though, it was warm.

~SL~SL~SL~SL~

"Put him in there. It's the warmest room here." Lily pointed to one of the rooms on the left side of the hallway. The bed was a queen with pillows all over it. The blankets and quilts were in blues and silvers and the walls of the room were painted in a quiet blue. Silver streaks were painted randomly all over the walls, and there was a fluffy light silver and white rug on the floor in front of the bed. The bed curtains were in the same shade of blue and silver as the walls.

"You'll have to get him out of those wet clothes before you actually put him in the bed." Albus eyebrows shot to the roof of his head at Lily's quiet pronouncement.

"What? The girls and I can leave the room while you guys help him get into the bed. It's the only way to really warm him up. Don't be such a prude, Albus." She left them to it and dragged Cham and her cousins to wait in the hallway.

"Do you think he'll be ok?" Molly asked. She was the closest to Lily in their little group and the one that worried the most about her. She was able to keep a level head during all of the excitement, but once everyone was relatively safe, all of her worries kicked in. The biggest one being that Scorpius would be okay. Even if no one else realized it, Molly just knew that he had to be okay for Lily's sake.

"He'll be fine," Dominique answered with a wave of her hand, as if it was nothing that they found the blonde Malfoy freezing outside in a stream.

"He was blue, Dom! How can you be so… so… calm about it?"

Dominique shrugged. "He was a bit conscious when we found him, so that tells me that he will be all right. She looked over at Lily and Molly followed her gaze.

Lily was pacing through the hallway with a deep look of concentration on her face. Cham leaned against the wall across from them, her arms were crossed over her chest as she watched her friend. "He'll be all right." The blonde said it so quietly that it almost went unheard.

Molly and Dominique were not sure if she were only talking to Lily or encompassing all of them in her quiet platitude, but it was Lily who answered.

Unconsciously mirroring her cousin's waved hand, she said, "Oh. I have no doubt that he'll be just fine. I've already seen to that."

Cham snorted, and with strained amusement replied, "of course you have."

They fell back into that uncomfortable silence for another moment. Lily continued to pace.

It was Dominique who surprisingly broke the silence again. "Lily, please stop pacing! If you have already seen to his well-being – how have you already seen to his well-being?" She added as an aside. "Then what is wrong? Why are you so agitated?"

Lily did stop. Rather abruptly in Molly's opinion, and then she turned and stared at Dominique. She had seen Lily do it before, stare at someone as if they were looking through their very soul. (Usually at Rose, and probably more often than not, Molly thought with some misplaced amusement, for the sole purpose of making Rose uncomfortable). But this was different. Lily had never turned this stare on any of her closest friends before.

"Lily… What?" Dominque sounded just as confused as Molly felt, and maybe even a slight bit scared.

"Rose." It was a statement wrapped in a strangled whisper. Lily's blonde friend stood up straighter at the name. Her brow was creased in thought.

"What about her?" Molly asked. Lily didn't answer right away, just went back to pacing a bit. Molly looked to the girl across from her hoping that she might be able to give some answer, but none was forthcoming.

"Rose is an idiot," Dominique stated.

The blonde sighed. "Yes. But she's a smart idiot. One that –"

"She's not that smart!" Lily cut in. "She's had some help! We need to find out 'who' and 'how'!"

"You already know the 'who', Lils," Cham said sadly. "I think you have probably always known the 'who.'

"No." Lily shook her head. "We need to know exactly 'who'. All we know is the collective 'who'."

Lily, stopped her pacing momentarily and suddenly looked up from her contemplation of the floor. "The boys are done getting Scorpius settled. Let's go."

She swept from the hallway back into Scorpius' temporary room, leaving her cousins and friend to follow in her wake once again.

~SL~SL~SL~SL~

"I'm so hungry," someone groaned nearby. "Why is there no food? We could at least have tea!"

His head felt foggy and there was a drumming staccato pounding through it. His eyes were heavy and his limbs felt like lead weights attached to his body.

"Ugh. Lily. Don't you have something in this place that will shut him up?" There was an angry bite to Albus' voice. Scorpius wondered briefly what brought that on.

There was a sigh and a rustle. Some whispering and whooshing and then some happy grumbling noises from the first voice. "You are an amazing witch, Lily-kins!" Scorpius would have wrinkled his face in disgust if he wasn't in so much pain.

"When's he gonna wake up? He's been asleep forever!" That one, he thought, maybe, was Dominique. "And what about everyone else, Lils? Don't you think they will be worried about where we all are?"

"Nah. I've sent a message. Mr. Potter will make sure they know we're safe." Female voice. Only female here not related to Mr. Potter, or so he assumed, therefore must be Cham.

Someone huffed. "Fine. But that still doesn't say anything about when he's gonna wake up!" Ah. Still Dominique then.

He noticed that he still hadn't heard Lily's voice, though he was aware of her presence due to her being addressed by the others. However, her quiet cadence was conspicuously missed.

The sounds of Lily's cousins and friends wafted around him in a semi-annoying buzz. He needed quiet. His head was starting to pound more. He remembered a presence that had been there with him as he drifted off to unconsciousness. It had helped calm him, eased his mind, made the cold go away. But now that presence was non-existent, and he wondered duly if it had been merely a dream.

"Seriously though, we've been here all night, Lils," another voice said. "You're a wreck and We don't have any clothes other than what we were wearing yesterday!"

"There are other things to worry about than the clothes on your back," said the voice he had decided was Cham. "Besides, if you're really worried about it, there should be clothes that will fit you in the rooms you slept in last night. Or," she added as an afterthought, "You could just leave." There was an edge to her voice in her last sentence, but it seemed from all of the spluttering and arguing going on around him, no one was going to take her up on the last option.

"Quiet. All of you." Her voice was a balm to his pounding head, soft and low, and surprisingly calming to him. "He is awake, Albus. He has been awake for the better part of thirty minutes, and he is wishing all of you to silence."

(One of these days he was going to figure out how she knew stuff like that. Not right now though. Right now he was going to open his eyes. Maybe.)

There was a breath of silence in the room at her pronouncement. Not a word was spoken. Then in a harsh whisper Albus said, "How do you know, Lily?" Her name was pronounced scathingly and left no room for doubt that he somehow blamed her for whatever mess they were in.

There was a collective breathy gasp of "Albus!" from pretty much everyone but Lily.

After a moment, he heard Lily sigh and say in that same quiet voice, "it's fine."

"But, it's really not," Dominique started.

"We have other things to worry about," the Potter girl practically snapped out. The room was far too tense and quiet for a few minutes after that. He wanted to find a way to break it, but he wasn't sure how to go about it. If only he could open his damn eyes.

"Well, then," Albus bit out, "Why don't you enlighten us on everything?"

"I will. Just not –"

Scorpius took that moment to finally attempt to get his eyes open. He groaned lowly at how heavy his lids felt and the pain that came with trying to force them open. He took in his surroundings in a glance. The blues and silvers on the walls were almost as refreshing to his pounding head as Lily's calm voice when she spoke. Albus, Cham, and Molly were standing on one side of his bed, while Lysander and Dominique were on the other side. Lorcan stood more to the end of the bed, but on the same side as his twin.

A frission of panic went through him when he didn't immediately see her, but he squashed it down as best as he could. He had, after all, just heard her. So she had to be there somewhere. Then he saw a slight movement behind Lorcan and he saw her leaning against the wall as nonchalantly as ever. But she looked like the wreck she was accused by her friend earlier. Her eyes had bags under them, her makeup from the day before was smeared and unwashed from her face, and her hair was a tumbled everywhere as if she had just come in from a rather harrowing quidditch game.

She was gorgeous.

Her eyes locked with his in that moment and everything else faded away. She was assessing him, looking at him everywhere, though how she could without breaking eye contact was a strange sensation. He didn't know how long they stared at each other. It could have been seconds or hours, but then the presence in his mind flared to life and the voice from the day before said succinctly, "Good. You're truly all right." Then Lily nodded at him once and broke the eye contact.

"I'll leave you to it, Albus," she glanced briefly at her brother and then left the room.

Another tense silence followed as everyone else processed what just happened. Then, with some emphasis, Lorcan said, "Good Grief! She can be so dramatic!"

Cham sighed. "She's not being overdramatic. She's a bit overwhelmed right now." She looked at Scorpius asking him some silent question that he had no idea how to answer and coming to a conclusion that Scorpius was unsure that he would ever figure out or understand. "Right, then. I'll go talk to her." She started to leave, but then turned back to the room with a bit of hesitance. "Albus, you and the twins keep Scorpius company. Molly and Dominique, go see about rustling up some real food and tea. Not whatever it is Lily pulled from thin air." At everyone's agreement, she quit the room in search of her wayward friend, leaving behind a very confused Scorpius.

A/N: First of all, thank you all for reading, reviewing, favoriting, and following! You guys are all wonderful and make me want to muddle through the strange mess of this story. Second, I do realize that this seems like another filler chapter, but there is a method to their madness, (I hope). I really just follow where the characters tell me to go.