Author's Notes: I am sorry this is so late! I had minor (HA!) heart surgery (no seriously, I was in and out that day but it was on my heart), my second biggest work event of the year, and a massive amount of other things going on.

On top of that, my beta, Arnel (THANK YOU) emailed me the chapter but it went to spam so I didn't get it and that was like over 2 weeks ago now.

I won't post again in Sept but I should be back to regular once every 4-5 weeks starting in Oct. I appreciate your patience.

One of my books, Duplicity by Sarah Jaune, is up on kindle unlimited FOR FREE if you want to check it out. Please, please, please do check it out if you have a kindle unlimited subscription. I do this for free, but it would be super helpful to get paid for some of my writing.

Sarah
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter

"How does this look, Mummy?" Lily asked as she worried at her bottom lip, twisting back and forth before the full-length mirror in her parents' bedroom.

Ginny studied her daughter's anxious face and wished she could magic the evening away, but there was no help for it. Lily had made her choice to go to the Malfoy's for dinner and as much as she'd have liked to tell her daughter that no, she couldn't go to her boyfriend's house for dinner, she knew she had to let her go. Ginny had spent over an hour speaking with Astoria over tea at a small tea house in Diagon Alley the week before to go over all of the security measures in place on the house, plus her assurances that everyone was going to behave themselves. They would have the safety measures in place to whisk Lily straight back to their house if need be. Astoria had told her that she and Harry could come to dinner if that would make her feel better and it honestly would have, but Lily had for once put her foot down in her Lily way and told her mother she needed to be able to deal with Scorpius' family all on her own.

Of course, her daughter was right on that score. Ginny could see the writing on the wall, as it were, and she could see that in another year's time, maybe two, Scorpius would be asking Lily to marry him and with him came his crazy and somewhat violent family. Of all the people her daughter had to fall in love with, she honestly couldn't have picked a finer young man than Scorpius. Unfortunately, the same couldn't be said for his family.

Scorpius didn't want to have dinner with his family. He'd told Lily no when Astoria had bypassed her son and wrote to Lily herself to invite them for a pre-Christmas dinner, but as was likely to be the pattern for their lives, Lily had wanted to go and she'd sat quietly and listened to all the reasons Scorpius didn't want them to go, the least of which was his grandfather was a murderer who hated the Potters, and then she'd simply said this was important to his mother and they needed to go. And Scorpius had caved.

Ginny was going to have to talk to him about not caving. She was quite possibly the only one immune to her daughter's expressive face, though, so she didn't hold out a lot of hope.

So, what was she to do about her daughter who was targeted by an insane killer when she wanted to go to a small dinner party? The only thing Ginny was absolutely certain of was that none of Scorpius' family was in on what Isabella Crabbe's plan. Crabbe hadn't made any moves to reconnect with her somewhat tenuous family connections, and her brother's actions spoke louder than words. He hadn't protected his sisters from their forced marriages. He hadn't tried to save either Isabella nor his sister, Fiona Goyle, after their marriages fell apart when their husbands died. He'd left them for America to make sure his own daughters were safe and didn't give them a second glance. Actually, Ginny was a little surprised Crabbe hadn't tried to kill her brother for abandoning them, but it was possible in their family dynamic she'd expected it.

In the end of their tea, Astoria had insisted on at least one Auror coming with Lily so they would feel better about Lily coming to formally meet Scorpius' grandparents. The one thing that gave Ginny a measure of comfort was her knowledge that Astoria was not the same timid woman she'd been before Draco had attacked and nearly killed Scorpius. Draco's confinement to St. Mungo's, rather than Azkaban, had given Astoria the push she'd needed to stand on her own feet and make demands of her somewhat unhinged husband. He'd been out of the hospital for a while now and Harry had met with him twice since. He promised Ginny that he was truly remorseful for what he'd done to Scorpius and he knew he had to make a sharp about face or risk turning into his father. It was something he very desperately didn't want to happen. Draco had actually told Harry that on the day before his release from the hospital, which showed Ginny how badly the whole incident had shaken the man.

But was it enough? Was it okay to send Lily into the den of vipers, yes, with Teddy there to watch her, but still by herself with only Scorpius?

What was a mother to do about it?

In a normal life and a normal world, she'd tell her to be polite, have a good time, and don't discuss politics.

But of course, this wasn't a normal life and there was a very real chance that angry and ugly words would pass through the air that evening. If she was truly lucky, that would be all that would be passed through the air.

"You look beautiful, as always," Ginny finally told her daughter as she studied her reflection in the mirror, "but more importantly you look dignified and refined, as a lady should. That will matter more in this situation."

Lily smiled but it was clearly forced. "Scorpius really doesn't want to go. He's so worried about my safety."

Ginny was very worried about her safety, as well, but if anything happened to Lily, then Draco would be going straight to jail, and likely so would everyone else at the table that night. Everyone in the Auror department knew Lily was going to dinner at the Malfoy estate that night, so there would be no way they could do anything to her and get away with it.

But still she worried…

Ginny moved in to hug her daughter, inhaling the sweet smell she'd had since she was a baby. "It's his job to worry about you, but this will be as safe as anything can be when you're not home. That's the best we can do unless we want to stop living."

Lily's hug went on until Ginny felt her shoulders relax. "Alright, I think I'm ready to go. I just want them to like me, and I don't think they ever will."

Ginny wanted to argue with her that of course they would like her. Everyone liked her. She was nothing but likable.

But this was the Malfoy and Greengrass clan and they wanted a fully pureblood bride of a certain social standing for their son and Lily just didn't have it because she was part of the Weasley clan. If she'd simply been a Potter before Harry had killed Voldemort, it might have been acceptable. The Potters had money, pureblood, and standing… but no, the Weasleys were the outliers and Ginny grinned to think of it. "Who cares if they don't like you, Lils? Who cares if they snub their noses at you? Scorpius doesn't care and he's the only one who matters. He's the one you love and want to be with. He doesn't even want to speak to any of them anymore. You can ignore what they think."

Her daughter's big, brown eyes met her and she grinned impishly. "You're right. It doesn't matter if this dinner is horrible and they hate me. Scorpius loves me, and I love him, and if they want to be horrible, then we can cut them out of our lives. We'll have you."

"You always will, my darling girl," Ginny promised as she kissed her daughter's cheek. "Now, let's go down so Scorpius can tell you how beautiful you are and your father can fret some more about this dinner."

~*~

Lily stood with Scorpius at the ornate, imposing door of Malfoy Manor and tried very hard to hold as still as she possibly could. She didn't even know why she was trying to hold still, only that it felt like fidgeting would be uncouth and she desperately did not want to seem uncouth or like a sixteen-year-old child. Just at that moment she was wondering what on earth had enticed her to say yes to Scorpius' mother when she'd invited her for this dinner. It had seemed like such a good idea at the time to give her a chance to get to know Scorpius' mother better. It was a chance to meet his grandparents.

But now she was wondering if possibly she'd hit her head on something as they waited for the few seconds it would take for someone to open the door while a chilly December breeze blew at her loose curls and sent them dancing around her face.

"Relax, you two," Teddy said from behind Lily.

"There is no relaxing until we're all out of here alive," Scorpius muttered darkly as his mother pulled open the door.

She had her pale hair pulled up in an elegant knot and she wore tasteful plum dress robes. Her smile was a bit forced, Lily saw with a sinking heart. It wasn't a good sign if things were already going badly. "Scorpius, Lily, and I believe you're Mr. Lupin."

When Scorpius didn't say anything, Teddy stepped forward to shake her hand. "I am, Mrs. Malfoy. I'll try to stay out of the way. We appreciate you accommodating us in this way."

"It is no trouble," she said as she led them into a sitting room where four older people Lily had never seen before sat on matching settees around a large fireplace while Draco stood leaning on the mantle with a drink in his hand, refusing to turn their way.

"Let me introduce everyone," Astoria said as she lightly touched Lily's arm. She was a bit taller than Lily, but just as thin. Years of strain showed plainly on her face as she kept her perfunctory smile in place. "Lily Potter and Theodore Lupin, I would like you to meet Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy, and my parents, Oswald and Virginia Greengrass. Everyone, this is Lily and Auror Lupin."

"It's nice to meet you," Lily said along with Teddy while Scorpius still kept rigidly silent next to her. His only movement had been to take her hand in his, and she wasn't heartened to feel how badly it was shaking or how much he was sweating.

She forced down her nausea at making him enter this house again, to face these people. She'd done that to him. He hadn't wanted to. He'd begged her not to go. But she'd done it anyway and here they were, stuck with this situation where he was terrified, not only for her, but also for himself. The last time he'd really been in the house, his father had tried to kill him. At the rate Draco was drinking, she thought it might turn nasty again.

"I will stand over here," Teddy told Astoria.

"No, please," Astoria shook her head, clearly trying to be a good host. "I don't want you to feel like you're an intrusion. We all understand that relations between the Malfoys and the Potters have been strained, and naturally they would have concerns."

"Frankly, I don't understand it," Oswald harrumphed from his seat next to his plump wife. They were both gray, now, but Scorpius had told her his darker blond hair had come from his Grandfather Oswald. His grandfather had darker blue eyes, but his grandmother's were closer to a sky blue. Lily knew that, in their youth, Lucius and Narcissa had both had pale hair and eyes, but now they, too, had given way to age and let their hair gray. Of course, their eyes were still pale and they felt piercing as they studied Lily with her bright copper penny hair and chocolate brown eyes.

She did not fit in, not even in looks, their stares seemed to say.

But that was alright. It was fine. She could handle this. Bravery wasn't the absence of fear. It was admitting she was afraid and going on anyway. "I am not allowed to go anywhere unguarded, save for school, and even there I am not allowed to be alone. I do apologize for what might seem like a slight, but it is not personal. My parents won't allow me to visit a shop alone." She felt Scorpius shift next to her, and she didn't know if she'd done something wrong or if it was enough, but she'd said it and now it was out there.

"I will stand over here," Teddy said again and he retreated to the side of the room and to an alcove where he could be seen but was not in the middle of the action.

"Please sit," Astoria told them, practically begging for them to help her maintain some form of normal. "Would you care for something to drink?"

"I am fine, thank you," Lily said as she followed Scorpius to another settee, one on the same side as Lucius and Narcissa, who had yet to speak. She had to wonder if that was so he didn't have to face them or so that they'd be harder to hex, as they'd have to turn to do it. The thought brought on the most inappropriate urge to giggle that Lily had to force herself not to make a sound as they sat. When Scorpius still didn't respond to his mother, Lily shot him a look.

Finally, he turned to her and said, "I am fine, Mother."

"Well," Astoria said as she seated herself in the chair opposite them. "I am so glad you could join us. How was your term at school, Lily? You are in your sixth year, I believe."

"I am, and it was a good term," Lily answered and decided they would carry on a conversation without the rest of them. She was determined to like this woman, as she hoped she'd be her mother-in-law someday, and at the very least she wanted one person from Scorpius' family who was on his side. Lily knew that Astoria hadn't done a fantastic job of protecting her son, but she'd threatened to leave Draco and she'd actually done it, moved out, for a bit until he'd picked up on therapy again after he'd been released from St. Mungo's. If Astoria was willing to grow and change, then Lily wanted to give her a chance.

"Do you know what you might do when you're done with school?" Astoria asked her and something in her eyes wasn't quite right.

Lily took a moment before she answered, unsure of what she was seeing. "I do not think I will have a traditional job or career. That doesn't appeal to me. I might focus on charitable organizations and volunteer my time and talents that way. I can organize fundraisers or parties for various groups who are in need across the world."

Sincere and obvious relief flooded Astoria's face and if Lily was not much mistaken, she'd just passed a test of some kind. She saw, also, that Virginia's expression had briefly flashed with surprise before being smoothed out again into haughty neutrality.

"You do not want a career? Not to play Quidditch or some such other… profession?" Lucius asked slowly, speaking for the first time. His voice came out almost as a sneer but it was aging and hoarse, which took out a bit of the sting she remembered from Draco when he'd spoken to her once, years before.

Lily turned to the man and smiled the smile that had never failed to win her a friend or an ally. "I am dreadful at Quidditch. My mother was so gifted, but I have none of her talents and while there are many wonderful jobs one can have, I think my time and talents could be better employed in other areas."

There. That sounded very grown up.

"Will you live with your parents forever, then?" Oswald asked her sharply.

It was odd that neither of his grandmothers was stepping in to ask questions. It was also odd that he'd ask a question about money. Wasn't that rude? Lily felt like it was rude and she didn't know how to answer the question without being rude, herself. She glanced quickly to Scorpius who had turned a brilliant shade of red and looked like he might explode any second. She didn't understand why he was so upset over this. Yes, it was a bit odd, but it wasn't as though they'd threatened her. "I do not know how to answer you," she finally told Oswald simply. "I hope to marry someday, so of course I do not believe I will live with my parents forever, but if I never marry, I am provided for." She shot Astoria a quick glance and saw her small nod of approval before she let out a small breath.

What was it with these questions? She took in a deep breath and blocked out the negative and nasty feelings emanating off of everyone in the room, save for Astoria. She'd been getting better about it with Sera's help. Her dog's strong energy had been helping her calm and it was in moments like this she was so glad her father had bought her for Lily.

"I have heard your cousin is marrying a Muggle Duke," Virginia said, finally speaking for the first time.

It took Lily a moment to piece together what she was asking of her before it finally clicked into place. "Oh, uhm, technically she's marrying a wizard who is also a Duke in the Muggle world." She didn't exactly understand how the whole Duke thing worked or why it was such a big deal to Muggles, and quite frankly she thought of Andrew as Andrew and not as a Duke, so she struggled to connect Rose as marrying into Muggle royalty, which technically she was. But, of course, it would be seen as a step down to these people, she was sure.

"How… quaint," Narcissa sniffed. It was an interesting moment to interject.

And Lily was correct. They did not find a Muggle Duke to be important. It was more of a slight or shame. Lily had to force herself not to take it that way. They didn't understand love or family the way she did and they were to be pitied for it, not taken seriously. She had to keep that forefront in her mind.

"Andrew is a friend of mine," Scorpius told them through gritted teeth. "We are, of course, going to both the magical and Muggle ceremonies for their wedding this summer."

Lily kept her expression neutral as looks of pure unadulterated outrage flickered over every one of his grandparents' faces.

"I'm going to be one of Rose's bridesmaids," Lily said through a smile that was supposed to be radiant, but might have ended up cheekier than joyful. "I am so excited for her."

"Why," Lucius said finally, breaking the awkward silence that followed Lily's clearly scandalous announcement, "are we doing this?"

More uncomfortable silence fell and Lily knew Scorpius was going to open his mouth and ruin everything. He was still shaking with anger.

So, she stepped in and she had to hope what she said was going to calm everything down. "We are doing this because Scorpius and I love each other. It's our hope to marry. Whether you are in our lives after that or not depends on if you can accept that." Lily turned fully so she could meet Lucius' cold stare. "You don't like me for my name and my blood status. You might dislike me on principle for other reasons I can't even possibly fathom. But I don't know you and I'm willing to give you a chance." She paused for a moment. Should she say anymore? Was this enough? Would it even matter what she said?

"You are not—" Lucius began, but Draco finally broke his silence and interjected.

"Enough, Father," Draco growled, finally turning around to glare at his father. "Scorpius has made his choices and we aren't going to change him. If you don't want him to completely cut us off, then we will have to accept her."

Genuine surprise filled Lily, and apparently everyone else in the room from the look and the rapid mood shift Lily felt from everyone around her.

Lucius rose slowly to his feet. "How dare you."

It was clearly a threat, but Lily was fairly certain Draco was too drunk to take it as such.

Draco pointed over to where Lily and Scorpius sat, with Scorpius clutching tightly to Lily's hand. "Look at them! Just look at them! He chose her a long time ago and he doesn't even want to be here! Tell me the truth," he said rounding on Lily. "You made him come."

Lily didn't want to think she'd made him do anything, but the truth was that yes, she had, so she nodded.

"Do you not see what you're doing, all of you?" Draco said, tilting a little as he pointed around the room. "We've lost! We have no control! The marriage we wanted for him is up in smoke, but you know what else is up in smoke? Us! We are what's rotten in this room, not her!"

"Draco," Narcissa hissed quietly.

"Don't pretend you don't understand what's going on here," Draco growled at her. "You're all sitting here judging Lily Potter as if she's dirt under our feet, when the truth is that we're the dirt under hers. She's a Potter and in the world today that means everything, but rather than see reality for what it is, you're holding onto the notion that you still have some sway in society. Well, you don't."

Lily felt Scorpius' hand twitch in hers but he didn't move otherwise as he watched his father rage against his parents and in-laws. She couldn't possibly have guessed this was going to happen. She glanced to Teddy to see he was fully concentrating on the fight happening before them. She wondered if, at any moment, she'd be sent back home with the Portkey that was her necklace. Teddy could do it with a single word, as could she and Scorpius. She hoped not. As much as she hated the conflict going on around her, because it was very overwhelming and much of it was directed at her, she wanted this for Scorpius. She wanted there to be healing.

"You would dare to suggest that a Potter has better standing than—"

Draco cut his father off again, this time getting directly in his face and splashing them both with whatever the amber liquid was that he was drinking. "Don't be dense! Who does the Minister want to see? You or Harry Potter? It's not you! You can't even bribe your way into her good favor because most of our money is gone! The boy has an actual job, for an actual paycheck, working for the damn goblins because you followed the Dark Lord and we both went to jail and lost everything! Every damn thing is gone now because of you!" he bellowed, practically spewing hate at his father. "Then you," he said spinning around to glare at Oswald and Virginia, "pretending like you still have the money to throw your weight around, but I know it's practically gone! We're all broke, and what that girl was too polite to say to your insolent question was she's wealthy and if you're too stupid to see she's exactly what this family needs then there is no help for you!"

"You need to calm down and sober up!" Lucius roared at his son.

Draco's expression hardened and his voice dropped. "I might need to sober up, but I can't because I can't stand to see the look of hatred and fear in my son's eyes. I don't know how you could stand it, either."

Then he marched out of the room without a backwards glance.

Lily turned to look at Scorpius, who was staring at her, and then towards his grandfather.

"I am leaving this house," Lucius said. "Come, Narcissa."

"No," Narcissa said quietly from her seat on the settee. "I was invited for dinner and I am going to stay. I will see you at home."

He opened his mouth as if to say something, but with a quick glance towards Teddy, he shut it again and whirled from the room.

After a long moment, Astoria said finally, "I hope we can have a pleasant meal."

"Yes," Narcissa said primly. "I may not like the situation, but Draco is correct. Scorpius has made his choice and I do not wish to be cut off completely from my grandson. Also, he is correct that we would do better to align ourselves with the Potters rather than continuing this ridiculous pretense that we have the standing we had before. We do not and to be very blunt, if you want to keep this house, you will need her money."

Lily didn't know if she should be stunned, hurt, or laugh at the turn of events.

"Do you really think—" Virginia began to Narcissa, but stopped when the other woman shook her head.

"What is the alternative, Virginia?" Narcissa asked her coolly. "If we cut him off, then both our houses die with us. We have no legacy. Your other child is unlikely to have an heir at this point, and we only have Scorpius. If we want to bring our reputations back, we have to look forward. Lucius wants to pretend we still have the same clout, but it's been gone for decades now and it's not coming back, not in the way it was before we were forced to pay reparations to the Ministry. This girl," she said, nodding to Lily. "She's beautiful, poised, has nearly perfect pedigree, and she's wealthy. It was more than we could have hoped for and certainly more than we were getting from that girl from Germany. The only thing she had in her favor was blood lines and money, but they were newer bloodlines than the Potters or the Weasleys and she had the face of a horse. We wouldn't have been able to take her places. This girl," she said, again referring to Lily, "she will be a credit to us. Look how she held up against us all."

Lily stared at the other woman who was giving her an odd stamp of approval and decided she really rather liked her own family much better than this.

"I'm afraid I have to agree with Draco and Narcissa," Oswald sighed heavily. "I don't like it, but times have changed. I cannot see this girl bringing shame upon us. Astoria," he said turning to his daughter. "We should eat now. All this disagreeableness needs to be behind us. Auror Lupin, I do hope you will join us for the meal. No need to stand on ceremony when we're all going to be family in the end."

~*~

"Go over this again," Harry told Teddy as they sat at the large kitchen table at Ivy Run fifteen minutes after Lily, Scorpius, and Teddy had arrived back from the dinner at Malfoy Manor. The table was full that night, with Nat's parents, Julienne and Curtis, who had flown in to spend the holidays with their daughter, and also Al, Hugo, Ron, Nat, and Ginny. They'd all barely finished dinner before the three weary house guests arrived back from the Dinner of Doom.

"It was mental," Teddy shook his head, while Lily and Scorpius nodded in agreement. "Draco was absolutely sloshed, but he stood up for Scorpius and Lily and told his father off. You're still going to have problems with Lucius," Teddy told Scorpius.

"Don't I know it," Scorpius muttered darkly. "I don't want to wish him dead, but I won't be sorry when he goes."

"Wait, let me see if I understand this," Julienne interjected, pointing at Scorpius with her half full glass of wine. "You went to dinner with your parents and both sets of grandparents, correct?" At his nod, she went on. "This is your father's father who we are talking about?"

"Yeah, my dad's father is a bastard," Scorpius told her. "Actually, my dad isn't much better."

She nodded sympathetically. "They filled me in on what he did to you, and I can completely understand wanting to cut him totally out of your life, but it seems like he's learning from those mistakes."

"I can't believe he stood up to Lucius," Harry said and thought about all the time he'd known Draco. "Draco had always hero-worshiped his father to the point of it being downright stupid. It was one of the things that landed him in jail after becoming a Death Eater."

"The Death Eaters were the ones who didn't want Muggleborns in the wizarding world, correct?" Curtis clarified. "They followed that Voldemort bloke."

"Yes, they were followers of Voldemort," Teddy confirmed with a shake of his head. "Lucius was always part of that crew. They were fanatical about bloodlines and theirs is one of the ones that goes back quite far, but no family has completely pure blood and if we're being honest, that just leads to incest anyway, so it should go out of fashion. Draco was a kid when the second war happened and he fell in with the Death Eaters."

"Do not excuse him by his age," Ginny told Teddy with a shake of her head. "He and Harry are the same age, and you can see what Harry chose to do with his life. He could have joined up, but he didn't."

"But Harry was raised away from all that mania," Teddy pointed.

"Well, what about Scorpius, then?" Ginny argued back. "He was raised by Draco!"

"Not the same thing," Harry said heavily. "Also, Astoria is not Narcissa. She had an influence on him that was clearly positive."

"I think," Scorpius said slowly, making everyone fall silent around him. "I think that from an early age I saw the contradictions in what my father and grandfather were saying. I saw them say that they were the right way and that people admired and feared them. They were purebloods. But then when we were in Diagon Alley, people intentionally avoided us or sneered at us. Some people even said nasty things to my father and I began to see, even before I came to school, that what they'd done hadn't earned them the respect of the community. When I learned they'd both gone to jail, I stopped caring what they said. If they'd done something bad enough to go to jail, then I didn't want to be like them."

"That's a hard thing for a child to process," Ginny told him kindly, gripping his hand with hers where it rested on the table. "I'm very proud of you, Scorpius."

"Can I just say this?" Scorpius said, and Harry saw his eyes were a little brighter than usual, and his voice was a bit gruff. "I'm really glad I know what a real family looks like because I have it here, with all of you. I was so glad I was going to leave that house and get to come back to a family that actually cares about each other and not just about their standing in society."

"I will drink to that!" Al said as he lifted his glass and toasted it against Nat's.

"I want to add my thanks, as well," Julienne went on, holding up her glass for a toast. "We had such chaotic lives and Natalie really didn't have a place to land in her life. But then you all stepped in to give her another family to be with, and a safe place to land. Curtis and I cannot thank you enough for what you've done, and I'm so glad to call you friends and family!"

"To family!"

~*~

"Why don't we dance?" James asked his wife as he snagged her around the waist and began to twirl with her through the kitchen. Dinner was over, Alex was in bed asleep in his own room, and they had at least an hour until they had to turn in themselves. But then again, turning in early always led to interesting developments. Or rather, it sometimes led to them. Sometimes they were exhausted and simply passed out.

"What are we dancing to?" Caroline asked as she threaded her arms around his neck and kissed the underside of his jaw. "The sound of the crickets outside? Nope, they're all asleep until the spring."

"How about the sound of how much I love you?" he asked as he slowly kissed her. He froze as he heard a bang, a curse, another bang, and then a thud. He'd have panicked if he hadn't heard his cousin's very distinctive voice letting out another volley of swear words from the living room. "Might have to pause this," he told Caroline grimly, annoyed at the interruption.

"It's okay," she told him. "I'll slip upstairs and read. He sounds… upset."

"You okay?" he asked her quickly, studying her face.

She nodded and smiled, but she was out of his arms and up the stairs before he could question her further. Now he was annoyed at the interruption and annoyed his cousin had scared his wife. Alright, she probably wasn't scared, but she'd looked uncomfortable.

James stalked into the living room and stared down at the pathetic pile that was his best mate on the floor. "What the hell?" he asked Louis as he reached down to haul him up and drag him over to the sofa. "Ever thought of asking before you barged in at nine o'clock at night?"

"What time is it?" Louis squinted at him as his face filled with misery. "Was supposed to see Annie tonight! Was supposed to be a date!"

James let out a long-suffering sigh and sat down next to him on the couch. "Alright, tell me what happened."

"I dunno what happened," Louis told him miserably as he slumped down onto the couch. "I picked her up for dinner and I thought things were going so well! It was our fifth date and she'd said she wanted to take things slowly, so we were taking it slow! I hadn't even tried to kiss her yet, but then tonight…" he closed his eyes and leaned his head back. "Why do I keep doing this, mate? Why can't I find a girl who will stick?"

"Do you even want a girl to stick?" James wondered. His impression of Louis had always been of a lovable, affable, playboy with an odd bent towards the birds no one else seemed to want. He wasn't sure that Louis would ever want to get married.

Louis shrugged and opened his eyes to stare up at the ceiling. "Since I've been back, I've been… ya know, here with you and here with Alex and Caroline. I'm seeing things, ya know? I'm seeing… seeing… things. I'm seeing things, James!"

"You're seeing things," James repeated, and wondered if he could sober Louis up enough so he'd actually make some sense. Probably not. He wasn't that good with potions or charms.

"I'm seeing that what I've been doing, yeah, it feels good in the moment and I like it, but then when it ends it just hurts and hurts and hurts."

James nodded slowly. "It hurts, I get it."

"No," Louis shook his head. "No, you don't know how it hurts because Caroline loves you back! You don't have to wonder if she's going to leave you or if you'll be alone when you die."

"You're worried about dying, now?" James blinked in surprise.

"Noooooo," Louis drawled out the word. "No, but maybe I will die alone and that'll be because I couldn't find a girl to love me for me and not my stupid face!"

James stared at his cousin, completely blown away by that statement. "Come again?"

"They only want me because I'm part-Veela," he spat out angrily. "Then when the magic wears off, because it always does since it's not real love, they dump me!"

"Uh, I remember that first night you tried to hit on Annie and she was definitely not into you and she very definitely wasn't under any Veela spell," James reminded him. "She told you no when you asked her out and you had to pursue her for weeks before she even gave you the first chance at a date."

"I know that!"

"So what does that have to do with your being part-Veela?"

"I don't know," Louis grumbled in annoyance. "My head hurts."

"Serves you right for getting drunk," James pointed out. "And crashing into your best mate's house without asking when he's trying to dance with his wife." He might have been nicer about it if Louis' drunken curses hadn't scared Caroline. She'd heard enough drunken curses in her life and she didn't need more. Louis was an ass for doing this when he knew just how it might scare her.

"But Annie dumped me!" Louis told him bitterly. "She told me it was never going to work because she wants something different in her life. She wants someone else… not me. Why won't any of them stay with me?"

"Let me ask you something," James said, realizing now was probably his only shot at a straight answer. "Did you find Annie attractive?"

"What?" Louis glanced over at him blurrily.

"Did you find Annie attractive?" James repeated the question.

"'Course I did," Louis slurred out the words as he tried to focus on James by closing one eye more than the other. "Why would I want to date someone who isn't good looking?"

James had no idea what to say to that, so instead he said, "Alright, you need to get home and sleep this off, mate."

"Can't I stay here?" he asked, trying to settle in. "It's comfortable."

"Nope, you freaked out my wife so you have to go. Come on, up you go. I'll Apparate you home."

"You're a good friend, James," Louis told him as he wobbled to his feet. "Sorry I scared Caroline. You'll tell her I'm sorry, right? I won't come back drunk again. I know I shouldn't have."

"I'll tell her and you're damn right you won't. I'll hex you with bat boogies next time if you do."

"Promise," Louis said as he leaned most of his weight on James and let him take the lead.