AN: Just a note before you read, I didn't put good transitional things in here, but Scorpius and Albus' timeline takes place in late fall/winter. Lily and David's story-when Lily visits him in Germany-is just after school gets out in June, the marriage scene is end of June. The family gathering takes place sometime in July.

This is the last chapter. I am contemplating putting out an epilogue, it will take me a bit to write, but not as long as the hiatus before. This story took a different direction, I know, but I planned that all along. My favorite stories to read are ones that aren't necessarily a happy ending, and the ending for this was planned out before I even wrote the first chapter of 'Till the Wind Sets You Free'. I am posting the lyrics from an excerpt of 'Paper Moon' at the bottom. The one I listen to was sung by Ella Fitzgerald and you can find it on Youtube. Please review!

Two weeks later, Lily was wearing her favorite mint green sundress, something she bought a year ago. David was dressed in a white button down with the sleeves rolled up, dark jeans and tie that stripes similar to the color of her dress. "Are you sure about this?" he questioned looking at Lily as they stood outside the courthouse. "I mean two weeks ago you said 'no' flat out to marriage."

"David you're not helping your case." Lily looked down at the documents in her hand, her passport and all the things they required. There were a few more hoops to jump through, neither of them being a citizen of Germany. Lily had not lived in Britain for four years, and David had been in resident in…Durmstrang? It rested pretty close to the border between Norway and Sweden. "I want to get married before we move to America, I'm a bit traditional."

"We've already lived together." David barely contained an eye roll.

"But this will be for real. We won't be roommates, it will be ours." Lily gave him a smile, she had applied to several jobs and had heard back from one already. They were looking for a house, a real house. Not a cottage or a flat, but a nice house. A starter home, even though Lily insisted that children were not necessary, and that she didn't particularly want them.

"Ours, I like the sound of that." He reached for her hand and interlocked her fingers. As he did this the silver of his ring gleamed in the sun. "Come on."

They went up the steps and waited in line, David doing most of the talking as they stood there, but making sure they got someone to officiate that could speak English. Soon enough they were standing in front of an older muggle man with crinkles around his eyes and a smile that reminded her of her Grandpa Weasley's. "Are the two of you ready?"

"Yes," Lily said, looking at David who only nodded mutely.

"There are the witnesses in the back." He stood up a little straighter as she saw the two office workers there. "Alright, let us begin."

They opted for traditional, non-religious vows that were common to the UK. David was fine with them, said they were similar to the American ones his parents recited in their vow renewal. The two clasped hands and recited the vows each in turn. After they did that they two looked at each other. David rested one hand on her face and they leaned in. The kiss was chaste and short. When they pulled away, though, they smiled as if they had done much more.

"You are now husband and wife."

"You are lovely Ms. Potter," David said.

Lily rolled her eyes and hugged him tightly. He was not perfect, but he was hers and he was just right for her. Not taking his last name was not even discussed after she said she would like to keep hers without a hyphen. It wasn't that she didn't want to, it was that it was a smarter decisions. Being Lily Potter, for better or worse, was a large part of her identity. For many years she would have jumped at the chance to become anonymous with any old last name, but now she realized how much she wanted to keep it.

"Let's go get dinner to celebrate, but I get to pick the place," she teased. "Does it have to fancy?"

"No, there's a lot of great pubs."

"Do you remember to the first one you took me to in Germany? Can we go there?"

"Of course." He slid an arm around her pulling her close. The apparition trip always went smoother when David did it. Things seemed better when they were together instead of in opposite countries.

Scorpius and Albus were running late. As much as he hated to blame his little darling, Scorpius knew that it was Matilda that caused this mess. She was hard to get around sometime and Papa was the one designated to help with her hair while Daddy was the one supposed to get her outfit ready. Albus could never dress himself properly, but Matilda was never allowed out of the house looking less than perfect. Unless, of course, she stated that she wanted dress herself. That always ended up with a tutu with colorful striped tights, ankle boots, polka dot shirt, and headband with a big bow on it.

"Will I see Auntie Lily today?" she questioned examined her hair carefully while she was perched on the counter.

Merlin, Scorpius hated her hair. It was thick and wavy. Currently he was working on some sort of braided headband Bea had told him about in the front. In the back he was going to do a fishtail braid, partly because it looked much nicer than a normal braid.

"Found her sandles." Albus waltzed in with a pair of white leather flip flops. "Do you like this better Mattie?"

"Yeah, but Papa didn't answer my question."

"Sorry, sweet pea, I was trying to make your hair look just as pretty as the rest of you." He pressed a kiss on her cheek. "Thanks, babe." Scorpius stepped away as Albus put them on her wiggling feet. "What was your question?"

"Is Auntie Lily coming?"

"Is she?" Scorpius questioned looking at husband who looked like he was suspiciously avoiding eye contact.

"Yes, and she is bringing David as well. Do you remember David?"

"He helped me fly!" she exclaimed. "I like him."

"Good. Are the two of you about ready?"

"I was going to the back of her hair…" Scorpius said as their daughter twisted. "I'll just do a simple braid, we're running out of time, right?"

"Yeah, we were supposed to have left about ten minutes ago." Albus said this with humor in his voice. "Are you all ready to go?"

"Yes." Scorpius looked at what Albus seemed to be so amused about, he had one of Matilda's fancy hair ties on his wrist but other than that…He looked down at his feet and saw there were no shoes. "Can you grab the brownies from the kitchen? I'll find my shoes." He looked at his daughter. "Are you ready now? Hair feel good, shoes tight?"

"Check and check," Matilda said with a nod before lifting up her arms.

"Aren't you getting a little old for this?" He hoisted her up and she latched on to her side. "I need to find my shoes, sweet pea."

"I can help." She gave him the most darling smile, but Scorpius set his daughter down anyway. "Make sure Daddy doesn't snack on the brownies, I'll be down in a minute."

He heard the scurry of little feet and being alone for a few moments to catch his breath. It was no secret he and Lily did not get along well. Despite their relationship ending on bad terms, they had been able to patch things up. He ruined it thought by lecturing about David, but seeing the tattoo on his wrist made him seethe. It was hard to view Lily as anything but that girl he found in the common room. Admittedly, even after dating her he still saw her as someone to protect, even if he knew she could do the task herself.

He'd have to be civil. Matilda was, in his opinion, the best child he had the pleasure of meeting. That being said she was extremely impressionable. So, after slipping on his shoes, he took a couple of deep breaths before heading downstairs to where his husband stood with his daughter. Matilda was wearing a lavender sundress and twirling around in it. A carefree, joyful nature that Scorpius never possessed as a child and one that Albus did on rare occasions.

"Are you apparating with Daddy?" Scorpius waited for a nod before watching them disappear and then following shortly after. In no time the trio was on the doorstep of the Burrow and walked right in, as they probably would never be heard over the noise. Molly and Arthur demanded that at least once during the summer that everyone got together; just coming for Christmas wasn't good enough. Since Albus and Scorpius lived close by they dropped by as frequently as they could, Matilda adored Arthur and he was a saving grace when she was transitioning to wizarding life even at the young age of 4. Although Draco and Astoria tried to be supportive, it was still an odd situation for them. Scorpius was the first Malfoy to ever show interest in the same sex, he was also the first one that the heir produced would not be biological. But Matilda was not something he would trade for the world.

"Come on Score." Al clapped him on the shoulder and Matilda danced between them, reaching for his hand as they walked inside. Everyone was there, including Charlie who was sitting on the couch with a bottle of beer in one hand as he talked to two of his brothers.

"Auntie Lily!" Matilda broke free from Scorpius before he could warn her to mind her manners. He was about ready to follow her, but Al grabbed him.

"Let her go, she's fine at the Burrow and I guarantee you she's better behaved than most children that walked through these doors." He took a step closer and lowered his voice. "James was a little shit and Grandma Weasley said that only behaved children she had after Percy was my dad."

"Your dad wasn't—"

"He basically was…" Albus shrugged. "Molly has a thing for taking in strays, once you're part of this family you don't leave." He pointed to the corner where Lucy and Lorcan stood, hands intertwined. They were expecting an engagement party invitation any time soon. "I thought everyone told you that." Albus wrapped an arm around him and kissed him, as the pair watched from the distance.

"Sorry, I haven't been around more sweetie." Lily hugged Matilda tightly. Merlin, she had changed since Scorpius last saw him. She looked more the part of school age babysitter than her aunt. Her hair was piled atop her hair in a messy bun, sun glasses perched there, tangled up. She wore extremely short jean shorts with a flowy black tank top and a pair of flip flops. With so much of her upper body exposed he saw new tattoos peeking out. What appeared to be the phases of the moon dotted the left side of her collarbone and on her right shoulder blade appeared to be an interesting bit of scenery…was it Hogwarts' lake? "Scorpius, Al, I was just talking to Mattie, are those your brownies Al? The ones that Molly said were better than hers?"

"I have the best helper, though, so it's not really fair." Albus gave his husband a kiss before pulling away. "Mattie do you want to bring these to the kitchen with me?"

Scorpius knew it was a ploy to get him to talk with Lily, because their daughter went to his side and practically danced the whole way to the kitchen. "Good to see you Lily, you're looking good."

"I feel good, thanks." She lifted her left hand to tuck away a hair and he caught sight of a band on her ring finger. A beautiful glinting ring rested there now.

"I like…" He gestured to his collarbone and then pointed at her.

"Oh, I've had this for about a year. It was painful, but David helped me through it." She looked down at her feet. "Matilda is great. I never wanted kids, but if they would turn out like her then I wouldn't be against it."

"Thank you, but Al does half the work. I wouldn't have even adopted her if he hadn't pushed."

"She adores you. You also apparently have a gift for hair, I wish I could do it as well as you."

"Thank you once again Lily, but I could not have the Malfoy heir looking as if her hair got stuck in a…what's that muggle contraption that sucks dirt off the floor called?"

"Vacuum," she supplied with a grin on her face as she looked around. Soon, David appeared beside her, handing her a paper cup. "Thanks."

As Scorpius watched he saw a ring resting on David's hand as well. A simple silver band rested there just like Albus' and Scorpius' rings on their finger. "I don't know if you were waiting to tell everyone, but are the two of you…" He gestured in the air.

"We got married a few weeks ago," Lily said softly. "We told our parents we were doing it."

Scorpius could not believe the casual tone she used as she talked about it. "Congratulations…That's amazing."

"We've been busy and we wanted to get it down. Neither us wanted something extravagant… Our families are important, but it was more of a promise to each other than anything else." With her free hand she reached for David to lace them together. "It was great talking to you."

"Yeah."

David pulled away and whispered something to Lily before walking over to James and greeting him with enthusiasm. Quidditch buddies, Scorpius surmised. If he had actually been a decent human being to him, than perhaps they would be getting along.

"It looks like you want to say something else?"

"I want to speak with you, if that's alright."

"We're talking now."
"Alone," he said lowing his voice. "I just want to…clear the air."

"Oh, uh David and I are staying at mum and dad's house. If you can come over after dinner here we could talk in the garden."

"Sounds good, I better go…" Scorpius retreated into the crowd with his polite smile on his face as he walked around greeting the family that technically wasn't his, but still welcomed him with open arms.

Lily had no idea why Scorpius wanted to speak with her. She and David had a lot to sort before they moved to America at the end of September. The Quidditch team was starting up around then and her job began half way through October. One of the healers was transferring to a different hospital so there wouldn't be a vacancy until then, but they seemed delighted to have Lily coming.

"Lily, I have one more box for you to sort through," Ginny said as she walked into her room. With her leaving the country and getting her own house it was time to take all of her belongings with her like James and Albus already did. "It's fairly old, and you told me to throw it, but I thought you might have changed your mind." She set the box down and sat on the floor beside her daughter, waiting for her to open it.

The first thing she saw was a small silk drawstring bag. When she poured out the contents a silver moon necklace fell out along with a watch. "You kept all of it."

"I forgot that we had it in the attic, but when I was looking for some of your old textbooks I found and thought it was a bit inappropriate of a time to give you… It was right around when Albus and Scorpius got together."
"Why didn't you get rid of it when I told you to?"

"Because this box holds a lot of memories. Scorpius and you were inseparable for eight years."

"What else is in here?" She tried to push the thoughts out of her mind as she saw the evening gowns neatly placed inside. "Oh… I don't need these anymore." Her fingers ran over the silver gown and instantly she is transported back to that night.

"Lily, your dad wanted to know…" David stops in his tracks when he sees his wife next to her mother on the floor, clutching a dress. "Are you alright?"

"Perfectly fine."

"I didn't know you had these. You should keep a few, there are some events I have to go to that are black tie, it would be prudent to have gowns."

Lily knew they would still fit. She hadn't grown that much since she wore them last. Besides they were gowns made for witches so they were easy to tailor and let out. "None of them would fit," Lily lied. "What did dad want?"

"To tell you that Scorpius is here." He had a frown on his face. "Did you know he was coming?"

Lily got to her feet, looking at her mother. "Of course, he wanted to speak with me." She tried to play it off like nothing, but the last time Scorpius and her just talked it ended with a screaming match in the kitchen. "I'll be fine." She kissed David on the cheek and then turned to her mother. "Really, mum, thanks, but you can get rid of everything in that box."

Downstairs Scorpius was chatting with his father, the two of them looked serious and Lily guessed it was Ministry business by the file that was in her father's hands. She cleared her throat and they turned.

"Right, it's a weekend, Al will probably hex me if he finds out I tried to rope you into working when you should be spending time with him and Mattie."

"Yes." Scorpius laughed. "I just stopped by to talk with Lily."

"We'll be in the backyard if you need us." Lily motioned for Scorpius to follow and went outside to sit on the bench where he sat down beside her. "What did you want to talk about?"

"I just wanted to apologize for my actions previously. Lily, as much as I hate to admit it, you were my friend first. My friend who was basically a sister when I saw David alarm bells went off in my head. It reminded me of Al and Vince."

"Vince was a great guy," she said.

"That broke Al's heart and to this day he still doesn't speak of him." He looked down at his feet. "I feel as though the same thing happened to us. It is odd that I married your brother, but Al…"

"Al and you are much better for each other than you and I ever were," Lily said. "When I was fifteen I needed someone to protect me, and… It's not healthy to need someone in a relationship. To want them there? Yes. To have their support? Yes. But the way we were… In another time or place perhaps it could have worked."

"Do you know the myth that sprouted the idea of soulmates?"

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"I am not usually one for sentiment, but I read it somewhere when Al was looking up age appropriate Greet myths to tell Matilda. But I digress… Anyway it was sad that humans used to have four arms, four legs, two heads, two hearts and they were extremely powerful. Zeus felt threatened and split them up, leaving everyone to search for their other half."
"Oh, but I still don't understand…"

"I'm not saying we were soulmates Lily, but what I am saying is that soulmates sound very plausible but not everyone finds them. Sometimes when you find them it's too late or you find them too early or at the wrong time…Perhaps you are never met to marry them or love them romantically because the pair only needs friendship."

"Scorpius, I should leave."

"Wait, I just wanted to tell you that I'm happy for you. Dom said that you were moving to the United States with David."

"Yeah, I got a job at a clinic and David has a head coaching position."

"The two of you seem happy together. It just seems—"

"It was easier if the two of us were married when we got there for all the legal issues."

"I mean going to the United States, I thought you liked teaching at Durmstrang."

"I didn't want to be a professor for the rest of my life. If I didn't go with him now… We survived long distance for two years with me at Durmstrang and him in Germany, but America is an entire ocean away. He'll be busy with press conferences, practices, games, and traveling… While he'll try to make time, there isn't enough time in the day to travel between continents."

"Matilda will miss you," he said softly. "With Al and I she doesn't get frequent interaction with women and for some reason she latched on to you. After last Christmas she wanted to know when Auntie Lily was coming by again."

"I'm sure if you brought her to work Aunt Mione wouldn't mind seeing her. You know that Teddy and Vicky would love babysitting."

"She loves Teddy too, but it's kind of hard not to."

"He was my favorite brother growing up. I mean Al was pretty great, but Teddy was the coolest." Lily was referring to him being a metamorphagus. "You and Al make good parents though, Mattie is lucky to have you guys."

"Thank you. Would you mind if I gave you a hug? I feel as though this will be the last time I see you."

"Yeah." They both stood up and Lily wrapped her arms around Scorpius. Around the man she always used to take comfort in. It seemed longer than appropriate but they both held on. This was their official goodbye, an apology, a statement of forgiveness… When they finally pulled apart the pair did not say a word. Lily wrapped one arm around herself and the other went to her mouth as she tried to stifle the sound of a sob coming out of her mouth.

"Lily, I saw Scorpius leave are you…" He walked over and looked at her.

"I'm happy," she said. "Truthfully." She wiped away a tear that had fallen down her face. "I love you, David."

"I love you, too." He looked confused, especially when Lily hugged him tightly. But now she knew she was doing the right thing. She loved David and she didn't need a vision to see that they would be together in the future. With Scorpius it was dangerous, she depended on him so much and saw him so perfect…But when she realized he needed help he was so used to being the one that caught her, he wouldn't trust her to do the same. David she saw as a real person a man that she knew was impossibly kind with a hands that wished to hold all the pain in the world, but he still had flaws. Imperfections that he showed to Lily when she showed him hers. There was no such thing as a perfect man or husband or boyfriend it had taken her more than 26 years to figure that out. To continuously search for one was to construct a paper moon above a cardboard sea always comparing the real one to it, ignoring just how beautiful the real one was. Scorpius was her paper moon and David was the one in the sky.

You say it's only a paper moon
Sailing over a cardboard sea
But it wouldn't be make believe if you believed in me
Yes, its only a canvas sky
Hanging over a muslin tree
But it wouldn't be make-believe if you believed in me

AN: Just a note on the interrpretation, I have it a little off from the direct one from the song. The song is essentially saying without love things are fake or seem artificial, that is what I think at least. For the premise of the story, Lily's love with Scorpius is trying to create something that's perfect, the paper moon made to look beautiful, whereas with David it's recognizing that's what's out there in the original form is enough.