A/N: response to comments:

Guest: Thank you so much! I hope you like this new chapter if you're still here.

Ironwoman18: here's a new chapter for you, sorry it took longer than expected writers block is the worst but hopefully the next one will be out much sooner. I like to think little Draco was a little bratty but still had his cute moments and little Scorpius and Lily are my faves! Im glad you liked them.

Quartet of crickets: ah thank you so much! I made myself chuckle imagining Draco's reaction to Hippogiff toys and couldn't resist adding it in, im glad it made you laugh.

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Drastoria

Death eater. The whisper rippled through the air like a stone skimming across a lake. Astoria heard it flitter through the three broomsticks, the loud chatter dulling as everyone in the room seemed to look towards the entrance.

"Is that Draco Malfoy?" she heard a younger girl behind her whisper. She couldn't have been older than a third year and the terror in her voice was evident.

"He should be in azkaban if you ask me" another voice cut in, the reply was lost to Astoria as the whispers all began to meld into one. Every person in the room muttering, proliferating opinions that were hanging in the air like smoke.

Forgetting about her NEWT's revision, Astoria looked up too and the sight of what she saw nearly took her breath away. This Draco Malfoy wasn't the boy she had seen striding about the corridors like he owned them, he bore no resemblance to the person who'd once sprawled across the sofas of the common room or cut across the quidditch pitch like a bullet.

He looked like a ghost, his pale hair thinner and brighter than she'd ever seen it almost illuminating the dark inky wells under his tired eyes. He kept his head down, ignoring the stares and whispers, tugging self consciously at his left sleeve that people glared (and some younger years even pointed) at. He acted like they were invisible and Astoria couldn't reconcile the image of this broken shell of a man with the boy who had stared right at everyone like their opinions and thoughts would bounce right off him. The person who had challenged them, laughed at their petty diatribes and threw even harsher ones back, now flinching at the sound of their voices.

He'd been sat down less than a minute when Corey Stillhouse, a brash Gryffindor 6th year, shouted at him to fuck off, that death eater scum weren't welcome here. Madam Rosmerta didn't even look up, didn't chastise the language used in her pub like she normally did.

Blaise Zabini, whom Malfoy had evidently been meeting, put a hand on Draco's shoulder and said something to him in a low voice but Draco shook his head and stood up abruptly. In three long strides he was out of the pub, the bell tingling after him.

Astoria didn't have time to think about why she was doing what she was doing. Before she could stop herself she was out of her cosy seat by the fire and bursting out of the door onto the harsh cold streets of Hogsmeade.

She watched as Zabini ran after him and though she couldn't hear what he said she heard Draco's furious reply. "I don't belong here anymore, Blaise…" a pause, something she couldn't quite make out and then "I need space…I need air."

She watched as Zabini's shoulders dropped in resignation, watched as he clapped a hand on Malfoy's back and told him to owl soon and then he was walking away. She waited until he was alone to start following him and her footsteps crunched softly in the freshly fallen snow as she hurried to catch up.

Before she could call out his name or think over what she would say he had turned around, his wand pointing straight at her.

She blinked, once, twice and looked from the wand to Draco and back again. "I think hello would have sufficed" she eventually said, raising an eyebrow at his still drawn wand.

"Greengrass?" He looked at her in disbelief for a moment before eventually realising that his wand was still raised and hastily putting it away. "Sorry" he said a little sheepishly "thought you were someone else."

Someone from the pub, she realised. He'd thought she was someone who'd followed him out to attack him. It wasn't like it would be the first time, after all, that he'd been attacked on the streets. "That's okay," she said softly.

Up closer he looked even more haggard, his skin so pale it was almost translucent, his veins standing out blue and striking. He looked far too tired to be only nineteen years old.

"What can I do for you, little Greengrass?" he asked eventually and she realised that she had just been standing there staring at him.

"Errr '' she thought back to how he'd reacted to Blaise's sympathy and didn't think he'd react too well to knowing she'd impulsively followed him out here because she felt sorry for him. Her eyes darted around at the village, catching the figure of Hogwarts looming over them in the distance. "An escort back to the castle" she said suddenly "it's getting late and it'll be dark soon…I didn't want to walk back alone."

For a long moment he just stared at her. "You do know I'm not a student anymore, right?" he said eventually and Astoria rolled her eyes.

"Of course I do but neither is Theo and he walks me back all the time, it's what a gentleman would do."

Theodore Nott was Daphne's boyfriend and often on Hogsmeade weekends he would walk Astoria back to the castle after work, claiming Daphne would kill him if he let her little sister go back alone in the dark. Astoria pretended to be vexed by it but secretly she liked the presence of Theo, like the brother she had never had.

"Right" Draco said, glancing subconsciously down at his left forearm "are - are you sure it's wise to walk with me of all people?"

Astoria blinked, she knew he was referring to his former status as a death eater. Knew he was subtly asking her if she was afraid of him or ashamed to be seen with him. In one step she closed the distance between them and looped her arm through his. "I think I would feel extremely safe walking with you, of all people." she said matter of factly.

Draco swallowed and for a moment she could see a flicker of something deep and sad in his grey eyes. "Then I would be delighted" he said eventually "to escort you back to the castle Miss Greengrass."

She asked him questions as they walked. Never about the war and never about his family. She asked him things she suspected he missed being asked, normal, boring things. "Did you watch the Harpies game?" "What are you reading lately?" "Have you tried the newest honeydukes sweet? The gobstopper that lasts for hours?"

He answered dutifully and she watched as the stiffness of his shoulder dissipated, as his breath seemed to come more easily, fogging out before him into the cloud air.

"Well this is me" she said as they approached the gates "thanks for walking me back, Malfoy."

"Draco," he said softly, "call me Draco."

She smiled "then you can call me Astoria."

He smirked, "I rather liked little Greengrass."

She rolled her eyes "just because I am Daphne's sister does not mean im -"

"Oh no" he cut her off "you're not little Greengrass because you're the youngest, it's because you're short."

"Hey!" she exclaimed, pushing his shoulder lightly "prick."

He laughed and she found herself smiling back at the way his eyes had genuinely seemed to regain some of their sparkle.

"Thank you Astoria…" he squeezed her hand lightly "for making me feel normal."

"I don't believe that we are defined by who we were in our past," she told him "but by who we choose to be and what we choose to do with our future." she squeezed his fingers back "and you are doing good."

He didn't know what to say but she didn't need him to, she let go of his hand and stepped back towards the castle, "goodnight Draco."

He watched until she had stepped past the gates, until her figure was just a pin prick in the distance near the castle doors. "Goodnight Astoria Greengrass" his words slipped away into the snow and long after it had melted he wondered why he was still thinking about hers.

Scorily

In an alcove, tucked away between the astronomy tower and a broom closet, Lily Potter was crying. She only ever cried like this, hidden away, when no one else was around. When she could let go of her facade and feel everything she tried to hide.

Sometimes Lily wished that she wasn't who she was. She wished she could be anonymous, a faceless, nameless muggle with no impossible legacy to live up to. She wished she wasn't Harry and Ginny Potter's daughter and she hated herself for it.

She was crying so hard she didn't hear the soft rustle of footsteps and it was only when the tapestry she was curled up behind was pulled away that she looked up.

Scorpius Malfoy was standing there, looking down at her, his face impassive and impossible to read in the low light. She shivered and quickly wiped her tears away harshly with the sleeve of her robe.

"Lily?" he asked, his voice cautious and uncertain "are you okay?"

She didn't answer, she wished the ground would open up and swallow her whole, erase her from this moment and the embarrassment that flooded her veins.

She expected Scorpius to run off and grab Albus or James, or perhaps one of her friends. Or she thought, maybe he would just turn around and leave her, shaking his head at the crazy girl. She closed her eyes and told herself that when she opened them she would be alone.

Instead she felt the soft brush of his long legs bumping into hers and when she opened her eyes he'd squeezed himself into the alcove behind her, long limbs tangled and awkward in the small space.

"What are you -" she started to say but he cut her off.

"Did you know" he began, his voice light and conversational, "that the astronomy tower at Hogwarts has one of the best views of the night sky in all of Britain?"

Lily blinked at him, it was dark but she was close enough that she could see his light grey eyes clearly and she searched them for some ulterior motive, for some reason for his behaviour.

He looked perfectly open and earnest though and so Lily shrugged. "No" she replied "I didn't know that."

"It's because of light pollution, '' he told her. "the muggles you see, they have these artificial light things run by their power system electrimcy, I think it's called, it runs in street lamps and things. It's so bright that it dulls out the view of the stars, but we don't have muggle technology here because magic interferes with it so we can see the stars more clearly than in places full of muggles."

"Oh" Lily peered around the tapestry, glancing out at the plethora of stars gleaming outside the tower. ""How do you know all that?" she asked. Suddenly the stars seemed brighter and Lily's heart felt a little lighter, grateful she got to see them when muggles couldn't. She thought about how when she was a little girl she would always complain that there were no stars outside Grimmauld place, she supposed that now it made sense.

He shrugged, picking at a loose thread on the tapestry "muggle studies."

She couldn't believe that Scorpius Malfoy of all people took muggle studies and it must have shown on her face because he laughed. "I like it," he told her, "muggles are interesting."

Lily hummed "my grandad thinks so" she said and he sighed.

"I wish my grandad thought so."

Lily had never met Lucius Malfoy but she shuddered all the same, recalling the stories she had heard. Suddenly she felt guilty for her earlier wishes that she wasn't a part of her family, at least her family were nice, kind people.

Scorpius saw her shoulders drop and Lily felt as he gently reached out to tilt her face upwards.

"Hey" he said softly "what's wrong?"

His eyes were shining the same glittering silver as the starlight and Lily couldn't explain why she trusted him but suddenly her secrets were spilling out to the near stranger.

"Amara Finnegan said I only got good marks in defence because my dads Harry Potter and I only got on the quidditch team because mum plays for the Harpies."

Scorpius frowned, his white blonde brows pulling together "that's not true -" he started to say but Lily threw her hands up in frustration and interrupted him.

"It doesn't matter if it's true or not" she tugged at a strand of auburn hair in frustration "nothing is mine, nothing at all."

"What do you mean?" he asked her and the words fell from Lily in a hushed whisper, the cloak of darkness and the silence of the tower making her feel like she was in confessional.

"Lily comes from my grandmother" she said "Luna from my godmother, Potter from my father. My hair's my mums, my eyes are my dads, my nose is grandma Molly's, my freckles uncle Ron's. I'm good at quidditch because mums a professional, good at defence because dads the saviour of the wizarding world. If I wear a dress I'm trying to be like Dominique, if I wear jeans and skateboard I'm copying Roxanne. Talented at transfiguration? James did it first, Slughorn says i'm just Lily Evans 2.0 for my potions. If im goody im like Rosie, if im cheeky i'm like Fred. Don't you see?"

When she looked up at Scorpius her eyes were filled with tears "Nothing is mine, it was always theirs first…" she sighed "everyone expects things from me…Harry Potter's daughter, the minister's niece. I don't even know who I am outside of them and sometimes I wish I was born to a normal family and that's terrible because all they've ever done is love me."

There was a stretch of silence after her confession and Lily's heart beat rapidly at finally having said the words aloud. Then Scorpius reached out and gently pressed his thumb to the dip below her eye, wiping away a solitary tear and Lily's heart skipped a beat.

"You're not terrible" he insisted "for feeling overshadowed, in a family as big as yours? That would be understandable even without the fame."

Lily shook her head "I am" she insisted "it's selfish and -"

"I told my dad I wished he wasn't my dad once" Scorpius cut her off and Lily stopped, looking at him with an open mouth.

"I did" he nodded at her expression "some kids were calling me death eater spawn, saying my mum shagged Voldemort and I just snapped, took it out on him. " He ran a hand through his platinum blonde hair and looked out towards the stars. "I'm sure you've heard a lot of things about him and he's not a perfect man" he told her "but he's not who he was when he was our age either. This is the man who pushed me on the swings, who read me bedtime stories, who told me crying didn't make me weak, who encouraged me to take muggle studies so I could learn from his mistakes, who had the courage to know he did wrong and try to atone for it and I told him I wished I wasn't his…I broke his heart."

Scorpius sighed "I didn't mean it, I was just sick of the bullies and the people who assumed who I was because of him." He looked at Lily and smiled "we made up in the end" he assured her "and I realised that the right people would know who I am and see me beyond my last name, like mum did with dad. Someone will see you for who you are too Lily."

"What if I don't know who I am?" she whispered, her voice more vulnerable than she would have liked it to sound "what if i'm just a patchwork of everyone before me, unable to form anything of my own?"

"Then figure out who you are" he said as if the most simple thing in the world "figure out what you like, what you want and don't forget that just because something originated with someone else doesn't mean it isn't yours too."

When he said it like that, so nonchalantly, Lily felt as though it really could be that easy. The words of Amara Finnegan faded into the background and she felt an almost giddy excitement to explore, to figure out who she was, that she'd never felt before. The corners of her mouth lifted up and then she was beaming at him. "I will" she promised and he beamed back.

When he smiled like that his eyes were the same molten silver of the starlight and Lily felt it impossible not to smile back even more.

In the interest of discovering herself, and perhaps just to prolong the moment they decided to play a hundred questions.

"What's your favourite colour?" he asked her and she thought of the starlight outside as she answered "silver."

"What's your favourite flower?" she asked him and he told her Fuschia Astoria plants, for his mother.

"Would you rather do six months in Azkaban or wrestle the giant squid?"

"Azkaban" she answered with a shudder thinking of the huge slimy tentacles "definitely, I mean my dads head auror…I could probably get a really comfy cell" she joked.

Ten questions later they were lying on their backs, looking up at the swirling midnight sky.

"Dogs or cats?" "Kneazles."

"If you were the minister of magic for the day what law would you implement?" "I'd make it illegal to join the school choir if you can't sing in tune…"

"Id make all the professors do a full day of classes and then assign them 10 feet of parchment for each one due the next day…see how they like it."

"Starfish."

"Treacle Tart."

"Id go to a muggle cinema."

"Bertie botts every flavour beans" "ew really?" "they're not so bad" "I had a shoe polish flavour one once" "now that's ridiculous, you're making that up" "am not" "you so are" "im serious ask Al!"

They talked until the stars began to fade away, the first streaks of dawn sneaking into the sky and then Scorpius walked Lily back to Gryffindor tower, telling her he hoped she felt better now.

And she did, she felt lighter and happier than she had in a long while the burden of carrying resentment was now released and she felt better for talking about it instead of letting it fester. She climbed into her big four poster bed and curled up under the covers with her favourite green dragon teddy. She'd had it since she was a little girl and she couldn't remember where she'd gotten it from but it never failed to make her feel better. Lily wasn't certain who she was but she had time to figure that out, she thought of Scorpius' easy certainty and knew it would be okay.