Author's Notes: I am actually on time posting this chapter! You should thank me by leaving a review lol

Anyway, I hope you enjoy. I know this is long and drawn out and we have another year or two of timeline left to go, but I'm starting to feel it... we're in the home stretch. If you want to keep up with me, find me on face book at Sarah Jaune. I don't post often, but I'm there.
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter

Scorpius's aunt was dressed in a flawless Muggle linen suit that was cream colored and she had an emerald green scarf around her hair, tied under the chin. It flapped a bit in the breeze as he let Sera out first and their dog wandered over to sniff at Daphne, allowing her to scratch behind the dog's ears, while he helped Lily out of the car.

"You're doing well?" Daphne asked as they walked hand and hand towards her.

"Yes, thanks," Lily assured her as she let go and stepped forward to hug his aunt. "How are you?"

"I am charmingly wonderful," Daphne said in an obvious lie as she turned to hug Scorpius. "I had to go track down your father, Lily, so I could get in here."

Harry wasn't their Secret Keeper, of course. It was Bill. At Scorpius' raised brow, Daphne waved him off. "Yes, yes, then I tracked down Bill Weasley who ran me through a million tests before he let me read the secret. You do not want to be found."

"No," Scorpius agreed. He studied her closely and saw she looked absolutely terrible underneath the scarf. "What's wrong?"

She hesitated only a moment and then finally said, "I need a safe place to stay for a bit. I was hoping I could stay with you."

"Of course," Lily agreed before Scorpius could open his mouth.

He had a lot of complicated feelings about his aunt, namely that while she probably had loved him the best of all the adult family members he had, she was so self-involved and flighty that he'd almost never been able to count on her. For all intents and purposes, the Potters and Weasleys had been his parents. They'd been his family. When he'd needed someone to count on, he hadn't been able to count on her.

But he had to admit, she looked dreadful and unlike his aunt, he wasn't flakey or flighty. He didn't want to be that kind of person. If she turned to him, he wanted to be there for her. "Yes," he agreed, even though it made something inside of him twist. "Come in. Tell us what happened."

Daphne didn't tell them what happened that day. She asked to freshen up, so he'd taken her bag and shown her to a guest room that was at least marginally furnished. When she hadn't come back thirty minutes later, he went to check on her and found she was asleep. It would have to wait.

"Something is very wrong with her," Lily said as he came down and told her she was asleep. "She seems… broken, somehow. I don't know, but she's in trouble. She might be in danger."

Scorpius scrubbed as his face and shook his head. "I would hope that she wouldn't bring danger to my house where my pregnant wife lives, Lily."

They looked at each other and knew that the other was thinking it. She just might. It really depended on what was going on. Also, realistically, no one was going to be able to get her while she was in their house. There was no way into the house unless the person was family.

"Do you think she told my mother she's here?" Scorpius asked as he settled in next to her on the couch, putting an arm around her shoulders and tucking her in close.

Lily shook her head and he felt some of her bright hair tickling at the underside of his chin. "We'll just wait to see what's going on."

She still wasn't awake when they went to bed that night, but Scorpius found her at the table early the next morning as he came down to get himself breakfast. He had to be at work in an hour. He spotted the breakfast she'd already made and raised a brow.

"I took the liberty," she told him with a small smile. She was dressed in lose, comfortable clothing and she had her blonde hair pulled up in a tail that was clearly an afterthought and she had shadows under her blue eyes. "I hope you don't mind."

"I don't mind," he said as he served himself some of the breakfast and sat to eat. "I have about an hour if you want to tell me what's wrong."

When she didn't answer, he glanced up to see her gazing towards the window and a lone tear trickling down her cheek. Scorpius sat back, his food forgotten and studied her. She still looked so young, despite being in her mid-forties. Finally, she swiped at the tear and then turned to him with a small smile. "I'm not sure you have enough time for me to go through everything, my darling. We can talk later."

Odds were good she'd be gone later. "Give me a moment," he told her as he rose and went to the fireplace. He contacted his boss, who he knew would already be in his office, and told him that his aunt had shown up unexpectedly and there was some kind of crisis. He promised to be in as soon as possible and his boss had agreed. Scorpius didn't have any client appointments that day, so he could easily make up his work by staying later. "Alright," he said as he came back to the table. "I have all the time in the world now."

"Imagine you at an office," she mused as she watched him tuck into his breakfast. "I bet your father had a fit over that."

"He did," Scorpius confirmed. "At least, I'm told he did. I refuse to discuss it with him."

"And you marrying Lily?" Daphne asked quietly. "What did he think of that?"

"Also unhappy, I'm sure," he said with an unconcerned shrug. "But in that I also don't care what he thinks of me or my wife, as long as he is polite to her."

Daphne fell quiet for a moment before she said, "I did something very foolish."

If he were honest, Scorpius wouldn't have thought she'd do something foolish. It was more likely that she'd have said exactly what she thought to the wrong man and they'd have taken offense to it. "I'm listening."

"I met a man in Italy," she explained quietly as she used her fork to prod some of her eggs, but didn't actually take a bite. "He was handsome and charming. He was clever and interesting and very wealthy. We became an item."

Scorpius blinked back his surprise. As far as he knew, his aunt hadn't willingly given any man any attention in all the years of his life. She'd been hurt, badly, by a man when she was young, although she'd never discussed it with him. He'd overheard things his mother had said through the years and he knew how to read the signs. He'd actually thought she'd moved on to women with how much she didn't trust men.

"He…" she cleared her throat. "He was the first man I'd been tempted by, at least in a very long time. I thought… well, I thought he might be the one."

"What happened?" Scorpius asked as a mixture of dread and curiosity filled his insides.

"I… married him," she said as she finally looked at him. "I married him, impulsively, in a Muggle ceremony and we went on a long honeymoon and then when we came back, he went back to work at the company he owned."

"What does he do?" Scorpius asked her, absolutely sure it wasn't what the company purported to do.

She shrugged. "It's something with Muggle medicine, I don't know. I didn't understand that bit. He was a wizard, but he was Muggle-born and his family has owned the company for a long time. They're actually based out of America."

This was not sounding promising, especially since they were in the middle of a Muggle pandemic.

Daphne slowly put the fork down and stared at her plate. "He didn't really need to work, you know. It was just something he said he liked to do, something to keep busy. He had enough money that wasn't necessary. I didn't question it much until two days ago."

"He's part of the poisoned vaccine plot," Scorpius realized with horror. "How did you find out?"

"I walked in on him having a meeting with Aunt Isabella," Daphne said quietly as she closed her eyes. "She didn't recognize me, but I knew it was her at once. I apologized, walked out, and then I quickly packed a small bag and left."

"Did you tell Harry about this?" Scorpius demanded quickly.

She shook her head. "I didn't want to risk anyone overhearing anything," she told him. "You can have him come here to talk, but I remember how tight security always was around his family and I knew it would be the same for you. Scorpius… I don't know if my husband would have hurt me, but I do know I c-couldn't stay with a man working with that crazy bitch."

The tears were coming quickly, now, so Scorpius rose and retrieved a tissue for her. "Thank you for coming to us. I'm… I'm so sorry. Of course, you can stay as long as you need."

She let out a mirthless laugh as she shook her head. "That might be forever, my darling. I'm not going to be safe in the world if my husband turns on me. He's a very wealthy man. I thought… well, I thought I'd finally found love."

"You might have," Scorpius reminded her as he perched on the edge of the table. "He truly might love you and you love him, but that doesn't mean he's not a little crooked when it comes to business or making money."

"After the childhood we had I just can't do that anymore," Daphne told him. She closed her eyes and sucked in a big breath before blowing it out. "There, now, I'm alright. You go on to work and maybe ask Harry to come see me. I'll tell him what I know."

"What's your husband's name?" Scorpius asked her curiously.

"Anthony," she said quietly. "I called him Tony but no one else did. His full name is Anthony Bugatti."

~*~

Harry almost couldn't believe the coincidence of Daphne's story. After leaving his daughter's house, he'd gone to visit Andrew and he'd learned a lot about Bugatti."

"It says here," Andrew said, reading from a website, "That the Bugatti family emigrated from Italy over a hundred and fifty years ago and as soon as they were in America, set up their business. They had money, family money, and they fell in with a type of mob scene in Chicago." Andrew glanced up at Harry and shook his head. "I didn't know any of that. I only knew that their pharmaceutical company, Salute, was a powerhouse in the industry."

Harry let out a long sigh and tried not to let the tension headache win. "But they're not someone you've wanted to do business with?"

"Actually, no," Andrew admitted with a grimace. "I've not seen any hint of corruption from them. Well…" he shook his head ruefully. "Every single large corporation has corruption. It's just a matter of where and how much. They're all profit driven, which means that someone is getting taken at every moment, but I didn't hear anything that alarmed me about Salute."

"If Bugatti is meeting with Crabbe," Harry said quietly, "and she's going to Italy to meet him, then we can get her."

Andrew gave a small shrug. "I imagine with Daphne doing a runner, her husband's going to tell Crabbe not to come back. He's going to be really, really confused as to why she left."

"Do you think he knew that Isabella Crabbe was Daphne's aunt?" Harry asked, even though he knew Andrew wasn't going to know. "It's just such an odd coincidence."

"I don't necessarily believe in coincidences and this one seems like it's a bit too much to bite," Andrew pointed out.

Just as he said it, the pieces clicked together in Harry's brain. "Well, damn it. If he knew, it meant he was going to use Daphne, probably at Crabbe's request, to get to us."

"Are you sure she hasn't already?" Andrew asked in alarm.

"I'm sure," Harry let out a frustrated growl. "I've known Daphne a long, long time and I know that the only person she loves without reservation is Scorpius. She's rather terrible at showing it, sometimes, but she wouldn't ever betray him."

Andrew gave a nod and Harry wondered if he believed him or not. "I'll keep digging and I'll try to find out where Bugatti is right now. If he's still in Italy, you might be able to send someone to watch his house."

Harry took a measured breath and let it out. "I need you to be careful," he told him and then held up his hand when Andrew would protest. "You're not a spy, you're not even a government employee, and I am asking you to put your life at risk. I'm risking Rose and Claire, as well, and I would be devasted if something happened to any of you."

"Same will apply to last time," Andrew promised him. "I have people who hire people who hire more people and so on. This isn't going to come back on us. I'll make sure the family is shielded."

Harry nodded and gave his nephew-in-law a tight smile. "I'm having to use every resource I can against this woman. I am glad I have you as one of them."

~*~

Louis stared down at his newest niece and grinned as she smiled in her sleep. Her facial expressions kept shifting, so he figured she was dreaming. He had no idea what a baby who was only a week old might dream about, but she seemed happy about it.

"Uncle Louis," Emma said, grabbing his attention as she stood next to him on the sofa, putting bows or ribbons in his hair.

He needed a haircut, Louis knew. He'd needed one, oh, probably four months ago, but he just kept putting it off and putting it off, which meant that when he sat down around his nieces, they had to make him pretty. "Yes, baby?" he asked Emma, attempting to move his head to look at her, but her little hand held his head still, indicating that she was still hard at work and he shouldn't move.

"Mummy says we are going to have more babies," Emma told him.

Louis felt his brows raise, but then again he couldn't say he was surprised. "Did she?"

"She said she wants lots and lots more babies," Emma assured him as he felt a tug at his hair and he tried not to flinch. "I thought I wanted a brother, but I think I like just having sisters."

"Sisters are very nice," Louis lied smoothly. Alright, to be fair, his adult sisters were excellent now. Victoire had helped him walk through his sobriety and Dom had been unfailingly supportive of him as he'd struggled to come to terms with his past. He'd finally told all of his family what had happened to him. It had been beastly telling his dad that a man had taken advantage of him, but his dad was maybe the most understanding of all of them. He'd gone out of his way to be supportive and to keep checking in on Louis.

"Aunt Dom and Aunt Gwen," Emma began, referring to Dom's partner, "came by yesterday and they let me do their hair up pretty."

"I bet they did," Louis agreed with a grin. His hair was going to be a wreck by the time Emma was done, but she did enjoy doing it. Maybe that was why he hadn't gone for a haircut yet.

"Emma," Victoire said as she came into the room, the twins trailing behind her. "Uncle Louis' hair is beautiful, but maybe you can stop now."

"I'm not done," Emma informed her primly. "He's not ready for the ball yet."

"Are you going to a ball?" Victoire asked him with a smirk as she settled down on the sofa and the other girls clambered up. "I didn't realize."

"Apparently we are having a ball here in about ten minutes," Louis informed his sister seriously. "I'm not dressed appropriately, but at least my hair will look nice."

"Indeed," Victoire agreed as they both tried valiantly to hide their laughter.

Teddy walked in, stopped, and burst out laughing which he had to quickly hide with a cough so as not to hurt Emma's feelings.

Teddy was the smart one; he kept his hair short at all times.

"Well, uh," Teddy said as he fought to keep the tears of mirth from escaping, "Teeny says dinner will be ready in five minutes."

They ate and talked, laughed and enjoyed. Louis watched his sister and brother-in-law. He watched his nieces and helped with the messes. He took all of it in, every single moment, and he wondered if he'd ever have these moments with a family of his own. He'd been single for a long time now. It was actually the longest that he'd been single, but he needed it. He had a good report with Al's Auror partner, Lena, and he'd thought she might be developing feelings for him, but he'd made it clear to her that he wasn't interested and needed some time to himself. She was a good sort, though, so she'd stayed his friend.

Part of him wanted a family. Part of him liked the routine and the noise. He liked the love he felt in this home and all the homes of the rest of his family, but he wasn't sure if he was in a place, yet, to do much about it. Theoretically it would have been nice to have children at the same time as James and Caroline, but for that he'd need a wife and that was not happening right now.

Dom had asked him if he'd donate when she and Gwen eventually had children. They'd decided Gwen would be the one to carry them. They weren't ready yet and Louis told her he had to think about it, but he thought he might do that for them. It was one small thing he could do to show his family love and care as they'd loved and cared about him.

Dom and Gwen had also talked about adoption and they were exploring that, as well, but as far as he knew they had to be married to adopt and the two hadn't yet done that. They'd been together for a very long time, so he expected that to happen soon.

At least one good change had come to the magical society of England. Back in the days of his grandparents, gay couples weren't allowed to marry or adopt, but about fifty years ago the law had been changed and now all couples were allowed a soul bond and the rules on adoption were written that the couple had to be married. That was it, so there was no need to change that rule.

"How's work going?" Teddy asked as he cut up some food for Olivia. "Is Uncle Bill making you work too much?"

"It's been good," Louis began and then paused as he heard the fireplace.

Teddy was up and moving towards it. He saw Aunt Ginny speaking to Teddy for a moment and then Teddy came back with a big grin.

"We have another baby on the way!" he told everyone. "Caroline's in labor.