So Long and Goodnight

written by: albe-chan

DISCLAIMER: This is a work of fiction and I do NOT own Harry Potter or any of the characters mentioned, I am making no money from this, and any similarities with real life are purely coincidental. This work will contain MATURE THEMES, such as coarse language, mature subject matter (scenes containing graphic sex, non-consensual sex and sexual acts, nudity, etc.), and mildly graphic violence. Please, if you are not over the age of 18, or of majority in your country, DO NOT READ THIS! You have been warned!

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Chapter Eleven

"So, um, I have an announcement to make," Lily said shakily, licking her lips and glancing across the dinner table at her parents' house at Scorpius, as if for reassurance. A movement that wasn't unnoticed by both her brothers and father, while her mother's eyes were trained down at her plate, shoulders tense because she already knew just what Lily was planning to say. "I, um…" She trailed off, then sucked in a deep breath, nodded very slightly, as if to reassure herself, and looked directly at her father, into those clear, vibrantly green eyes. "I'm leaving my husband. Or, I suppose, I've left him already, but I just, I'm not going...back. To Thaddeus. I, er, that is, I…" She felt her breath whooshing out and tried to maintain her failing courage, even as dark brows furrowed, and she peeked over at her brother Albus, into identical emerald eyes, and saw the mirrored confusion.

"Go on, Lily," Scorpius said quietly, and she sucked in another breath as she nodded to herself again, flashing the blond a quick smile of thanks for pushing her when she needed it.

"What the fuck is-?" Albus began, gaze darting from his sister to his best friend then back rapidly, but Lily, finding her voice, interrupted him before even Ginny could admonish his language at the dinner table.

"I want to lodge a formal complaint," Lily said in a firm, unwavering voice that belied her internal nerves at what she was going to say. "With your office," she added, looking back to her father, swallowing roughly as Harry's dark eyebrows pulled together harshly now. "Against Thaddeus," she said with finality, and there was a long, heavy beat of silence in the Potter kitchen after the words passed Lily's lips.

"With the Auror Office?" Harry clarified quite calmly, carefully setting his utensils down beside his plate and folding his hands above it.

Lily gulped, her courage wavering, and glanced across at Scorpius again. He regarded her quietly, his steady, dark grey gaze meeting her anxious hazel one, and the redhead drew a shaky breath. "Um, I meant with…" Lily began, tripping over the words, even as her lips and tongue conspired to stop her, as if she'd almost been tongue tied against saying anything against her husband. She squared her shoulders, lifted her chin, and let out a long puff of air. "I meant with the Domestic Affairs branch, actually. I want to lodge a complaint because my husband is abusive."

For another long moment there was nothing but silence, during which Ginny reached out and grasped Lily's hand in a show of silent support, for which the younger redheaded witch was eternally grateful. She didn't drop her eyes from her father, who continued to stare at her, asking myriad questions in the span of a breath within his vibrant emerald eyes, but Lily couldn't speak, or think, let alone even react, to the bomb of information she'd just dropped. To her relief, her brothers, almost in the same instant, seemed to find their voices, and burst into vehement fury.

"Are you fucking kidding me!?" Albus practically shouted, shoving his chair back and rising to his feet abruptly, turning his shocked face from his sister to Scorpius. When nothing but silence met that immediate declaration, he repeated, eyes bulging, "Are you fucking-!?" before his older brother cut him off abruptly.

"I knew that sonofabitch was a no good motherfucker!" James snarled, remaining in his seat, although he banged a fist on the table. Lily couldn't help herself. She flinched hard, away from the loud, imperious bang that resounded, and felt her mother's hand clenching around her own. The younger redhead's gaze dropped almost automatically, holding back the grimace as her mother jumped up and demanded her brothers cease and desist with their violent outbursts and excessive cursing at the dinner table, while Lily cringed again at the resulting shouting from her brothers. She could understand their fury, wholeheartedly, but the exuberance of their displeasure was far too reminiscent of former home life to make Lily anything except terrified and anxious.

She glanced up just in time to watch her father slowly, calmly, and without saying a word, get up from the table and disappear down the hall toward his study. Lily felt tears sting her eyes and a heavy shroud of guilt settle around her. She all but choked on the devastation that she'd so clearly disappointed her father enough he couldn't even bear to be in the same room as her, had her ducking her head, staring down at the mostly untouched food on her plate.

In doing so, the younger redheaded witch missed the positively venomous glare that Albus sent his best friend, lip curling with mingled betrayal and anger while green eyes showed nothing but revulsion for the blond wizard. "And you're the convenient hero, then?" Albus said brazenly, glaring at his best mate of more than a decade, while Scorpius stared back placidly, trying to avoid saying the words he all but knew Albus had inferred.

"I'm the convenient safehouse," the tall blond replied evenly, his fork still loaded with the first bite of the Ginny Potter, who'd learned to cook at the knee of Molly Weasley no less, world famous roasted chicken dinner. "And perhaps the strategically placed out."

Lily, who had looked up as soon as she'd heard Scorpius speaking, all but glared at Scorpius, because that made her sound as if she were some sort of refugee or worse. She most definitely took issue with the mention of a 'safehouse', because the redheaded witch was all but certain her staying with Scorpius was nothing more than a family friend by helping out his best mate's little sister in her time of need. And if Malfoy, the damnable arse, hadn't meddled in her life, or inserted himself into her existence so seamlessly, she doubted she'd have ever been free of her husband.

"And we're all supposed to believe you're just-?" Albus began hotly, looking at his best friend as if the man had somehow done something heinous enough to ruin their friendship. Lily was refusing to hear it. Scorpius, while she didn't like his phrasing, was essentially correct that he was nothing more or less than the lifeline she'd taken hold of to escape living Hell.

"Albus," she cut across her brother in as stern a tone as she could, even as her mother wrung her hands helplessly and James's gaze darted between the two of them. "You're overreacting." Her green eyed brother looked disbelieving still, but at least cooperatively fell silent. "The only thing Scorpius did was precisely what you, or James, would have done should I have come to either of you."

To her undying relief, Albus seemed relatively mollified by that assertion, as did James, while Lily couldn't help noticing her sister in law frowned for the first time, even though she remained silent still. "There you have it," Scorpius said blandly, in response, forcing his face into a brittle smile. Lily glanced over at him, wondering why he looked as if he were as displeased by her assertion to her family as Albus had looked at the thought there was more than anything but strictly platonic friendship between them despite it all.

There was a long beat of silence, where Lily wanted to either scream or curl into a tiny ball and become invisible with the expectant weight of it, before Cleo cleared her throat to break it, looking as nervous and unsure as Lily felt when their gazes met. "Regardless of how it happened, I'm glad you're here, safe with us, Lily," she said in a low, soothing tone that made Lily's eyes sting with tears.

She nodded silently, just wishing everyone would go back to normal, that she'd held her tongue and hadn't felt the need to ruin their family dinner with the news of her drama, hating that she'd believed Scorpius when he'd urged her to tell everyone and reassured her it would turn out just fine.

"So, James," Ginny said bravely, drawing her eldest son's attention to her, and out of the darkly brooding expression he'd been wearing most of the evening since Lily's big speech. "You mentioned earlier you might be thinking of a transfer at work? Something about switching Departments, was it?"

Lily picked up her fork after she was certain no one was paying her the slightest bit of attention despite the fact she was all but certain should she say anything the conversation would falter awkwardly once more. So she simply listened as James launched into the slightly impromptu offer he'd been given by the Head of the Department of Magical Games and Sports near the end of last week, picking at her food absently without eating a bit of it. Her stomach, still tense with anxiety and fear that the facade of normalcy would shatter again, couldn't help but churn guiltily as she stared at her father's place, his full plate still sitting there absurdly.

A soft knock of a knee into hers under the table had her gaze lifting ever so slightly to peer at Scorpius, who offered her a reassuring look. She watched his grey gaze dart down to her plate, then back to her hazel eyes and she sighed, shrugging one shoulder minutely in reply. His mouth quirked to one side, but then he looked away. Lily followed his gaze under her lashes, having realized James had stopped speaking and her father, looking somber, had returned. Lily set her fork back down gently, swallowing past a dry throat as emerald green eyes pinned her.

"You'll have to tell me everything, Lily," Harry Potter said softly, and then redhead nodded numbly, unsure if she could ever utter the words, hoping a written confession of sorts might suffice, even as panic swelled within her, making her breath come short. Spots danced in her peripherals, and she became aware her mother was saying something, but she wasn't at all sure what it was. It was as though Lily was trapped underwater, or perhaps inside a Bubble-Head Charm, because everything seemed horribly muffled and out of focus slightly.

She heard her father respond, and even as Lily felt her field of vision narrowing, she glanced up to see Scorpius rising from his seat abruptly, his mouth forming her name, before she blacked out entirely.

When she came to, Lily realized she was tucked up on Scorpius's sofa, and when she turned her head, she found herself staring directly at the grey-eyed, and gaunt, absolutely exhausted face of Scorpius Malfoy. "What-?" she rasped, feeling thirsty and her head aching.

"Don't worry, Lily," Scorpius sighed, smiling gently as he brought a cup of water to her lips for her. And even though she could see the lines of exhaustion on his face, and she felt beyond guilty for it, knowing she was undoubtedly the reason he'd probably been up half the night, waiting for her to regain consciousness and come to, no doubt worrying as well, along with the rest of her family, Lily couldn't help but feel hope, in that moment, that she wasn't alone, and there really was someone who gave a damn. Despite it all, she wasn't the worst, and even if she was, it didn't matter to the wizard sitting across from her, smiling softly and helping her quench her parched throat. To him, at least, she was important, and not just for his image, but to him.

"Thank you," she whispered once she'd drank her fill, hating that she felt tears stinging her eyes once more.

Scorpius chuckled a little, his eyes turning sad. "You don't have to thank me, Lily," he said quietly.

"No, I-"

"You should get some sleep. No offence, but you look like you've just been through the ringer," Scorpius said again. "And you've had a shit night. Just take a break, relax, and we'll sort it all in the morning, alright?"

The redhead nodded, eyes closing. Even if she hated herself for it, and firmly told herself not to hope and not to trust that gut feeling that maybe, just maybe, she actually meant something important to the tall, handsome blond who she was grateful had inserted himself into her life more than ever. It was a rather heady feeling, and left her feeling warm and comforted, even as she felt herself drift back into unconsciousness.

She didn't notice the way the tall blond, who'd risen to look down upon the woman who was becoming more to him than he should allow, or knew was wise, let his hungry gaze wander over the peaceful lines of her face in slumber. Nor did she feel the gentle brush of his fingers across her cheek, the tiniest brush of contact, before he forced himself to leave her, and went to take a freezing cold shower.

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