Thanks—Sabrina Weasley-Potter, BookLuvr1230, acciohope15, diyame, Fall Equinox, kana117, Jane, Zheeba89, aleera, speedsONEandONLY,, HarryPotterGeneration, ShortySC22, evelyn-shaye and girlwhogossips—for reviewing the last chapter. :)

Sorry for the long wait…

Read on! (:

After what seemed like eternity, Scorpius pulled away and said, "We're going somewhere."

"Where?" Lily asked, her head still spinning from the kiss.

"Your house, of course," he said, and before she knew it, he took her hand and Disapparated.

Chapter Fifteen—The Potters and Weasleys

If Lily hated the feeling of traveling by Floo powder, this was nothing compared to it. It was like the spinning was five times as great, making her feel as if an invisible hand was squeezing her stomach from the inside. Let it stop, let it stop, she kept thinking furiously. She would really give Scorpius a good, hard kick for this.

Finally, the spinning stopped. As soon as it did, Lily's knees buckled and she fell with her bum on the ground, feeling nauseated. She took deep breaths, willing herself not to vomit. After about a minute or two, she stood up from the ground and glared at Scorpius.

"You should've warned me you're gonna do that!" she said furiously, kicking Scorpius' shin hard.

"Ow!" Scorpius face suddenly distorted as he began howling in pain. He began jumping up and down the ground on one feet, the other held up by his hands, until finally, he fell on the ground.

Lily bit her lip, feeling guilty. She forgot how painful it was to be kicked on the shin, and she kicked pretty him hard, mind you.

"Having a lover's quarrel already?" someone behind said and Lily turned around to see Teddy. His hair today was a dark shade of blue, almost black, his eyes grey.

"How long have you been there?" Lily asked.

Teddy grinned and said, "Oh, I've pretty much witnessed everything."

Lily, embarrassed, turned back to Scorpius and offered him her hand. He took it and let her pull him back to his feet. He dusted his clothes and looked at Lily. "You kick pretty hard for such a girl."

"Was it…painful?" she asked, concerned.

He smiled at her and said, "No worries. I deserved it, somehow, anyway." His eyes then turned towards Teddy. "Hello, cousin."

Teddy grinned and said, "The last time I've seen you, you were as tall as Lily."

Scorpius grinned back. "Well, the last time I've seen you, you were taller than me," he said, "though I could see, it's the other way around, now."

Teddy raised an eyebrow at him. "You know I could tower you easily if I wanted to, right?" he said as he steered us towards the door of number twelve.

"Yeah," Scorpius said, "you and your psychic abilities."

They entered the house and Lily couldn't help feeling uneasy. "Does mum and dad know you're gonna be here?" she asked Scorpius as they walked through the narrow passage leading to the hall.

Scorpius nodded. "I asked permission before they left. You were so engrossed in looking around that you didn't notice."

Lily sighed in relief. "Good to hear," she muttered. "But I'm warning you, Al isn't so fond of you right now."

He shrugged. "It's only a matter of time before he will," he replied absently, not nearly perturbed as she was.

Lily gave him a look. "Why did you want to come here, anyway?" she asked, crossing her arms across her chest, seemingly annoyed.

He rolled his eyes at her and said with an edge on his voice, "Are you really that ashamed of me meeting your family?"

Lily's eyes softened as he said that. "Of course not," she said, taking his hand. "I'm just upset you didn't tell me you're coming here."

"So, tell me, Lily," Scorpius said. "What're the fascinating rooms in this house?"

"Upstairs," she replied just as they reached the end of the corridor. "Come on."

They were walking halfway through the staircase when James suddenly popped in front of them—literally—making them jump. Which meant he was too lazy to walk so he just Apparated.

"Blimey, James!" Lily exclaimed, her eyes wide, her heart racing. She was really, really startled by her brother's sudden appearance.

James grinned. "So you brought your boyfriend here, eh?" he said, his hazel eyes, so uncannily like Lily's eyes, on Scorpius. "Hello, mate," he said. "I guess this is actually the first time we're gonna meet…aside from school. I'm James—don't call me Jamie, Jamsie, Jimmy, or any other awful nickname. Oh, and don't call me Potter, either, 'cause there's a lot more Potter in this house as you know, eh, Scorpius?" He held out his hand for Scorpius to shake.

Scorpius grinned and took it. "Nice meeting you, James."

The three of them went upstairs to the drawing room where they saw Al and Teddy. Both of them smiled but Lily knew better. Albus was just trying to, for her sake.

Lily and Scorpius sat down on the settee while James went to join the other two on the couch.

"So, Lils," James said. "Why don't you take a stroll around the house while we interrogate Scorpius?"

Lily's eyes widened in alarm. She didn't want them to do that even if she was sure they wouldn't harm them. She just had a tad good idea about what they were up to, and it would be through loads of cunning questions, jokes, friendly-yet-sinister threats, or a combination of the three.

"You don't want us to force you, now, do you?" James said lightly, though from the look in his eyes, she knew that he was serious. And not just about forcing her to get out as they interrogate Scorpius. He was also serious about doing it, thinking it was necessary.

Lily sighed, knowing her eldest brother was too stubborn to argue with. So she nodded and said, "Fine. But I'm only giving you half an hour. Or to translate—thirty minutes."

And before she went out of the room, she gave Scorpius a lingering kiss for her brothers and Teddy to see. She just wanted to irk them a little. Bingo. When she turned around, Teddy looked mildly surprised and Albus was scowling at them. And well, as she expected, James was there, grinning broadly from ear to ear, saying, "Yeah, we know you're in love with him. No need to prove that, sis."

I rolled my eyes and waved them goodbye, having one last look before I closed the door.

"What did they do to you?" Lily asked the moment Scorpius stepped out of the room, looking unscathed. She could see that he was nervous, though, by just looking at the crease between his eyebrows.

He quickly smoothed it and said, "Just a couple of questions. You know. If I'm serious on you and if I would prefer a pure-blood over you and if I had an intention of hurting you, which I don't."

Lily couldn't help feeling a bit uneasy. "Are you sure that's all? Because I swear, you look nervous when you came out of that room. Have they threatened you or warned you or anything? I'm sure I could give them a good talk about it."

But he just laughed and said, "Thanks, Mum. But I'm sure I can handle that."

Lily crossed her arms across her chest and glared at him. "Don't mum me. You and I both know you're keeping vital information from me. Now tell me what is it or—"

"Or what?" he cut in, snaking his hand around her waist. "Honestly, Lils. You're being a paranoid."

Lily pulled away from him and said, "Are you going to tell me or what?"

He shook his head. "I gave them my word. Nothings gonna get out of that room. But I swear—no harm done."

Lily sighed and didn't pull away when he wrapped an arm around her waist again. She knew it was pointless, trying to dish it out of him. He gave his word to her brothers. And besides, it hardly seemed important now.

"Lover's quarrel over?" Teddy said as the three of them stepped out of the room. When they saw them huddled in the corner, he said, "Good. Let's get going then. C'mon."

When she noticed Scorpius following the three of them, pulling her along, she asked, "What on earth are we gonna do this time?"

Scorpius looked down at her and smiled a nervous smile. "The question is 'where', love," he said. "We're going to a place called The Burrow."

"This place is…whoa," Scorpius said in awe as they stepped onto the lawns of The Burrow. He kept looking around everywhere—the tall grasses, the garage where Grandpa Arthur kept all his Muggle collections, the chicken coop, the gnomes peeking out of their holes, and of course, the house. The house itself would intrigue anyone's mind once they stepped in here. It was the most unusual house, even for wizards.

And Lily loved it.

"I know right," she said as she steered Scorpius inside where Albus, James and Teddy were already lounging, asking for food from Grandma Molly.

"Oh, good. There you are," she said, smiling as she spotted Lily and Scorpius. "Come, come. I've some cookies for you. D'you like cookies?" she asked Scorpius, smiling warmly at him. He nodded, smiling back. "I'm Molly Weasley, by the way—Lily's grandmother."

"Nice to meet you Mrs. Weasley," Scorpius replied. "I'm Scorpius Malfoy. I would shake your hand, but it's rather full," he added, gesturing to the platter of cookies on her one hand, her wand on the other.

"No worries, dear. Come, take a seat. Put your feet off the couch, Jamie."

James grimaced at the awful nickname and Lily and Albus couldn't help laughing. "Shut up, you two," he said, rolling his eyes. "At least my name's not as awful as ickle Albus Severus."

Albus flushed slightly and said, "I don't have an awful nickname though, right, Jamsie-poo!"

"That's enough," Mrs. Weasley said, putting a platter full of cookies and six mugs of steaming hot chocolate. "Stop acting like kids. Both of you are adults now. Couldn't you behave more like Scorpius, here?"

Out of the corner of her eye, Lily saw Scorpius blush a tinge of pink at the compliment. It was true. He was behaving rather nice today, one of his hand holding the mug of hot chocolate to his lips, the other one holding Lily's hand.

"Yeah, well, Scorpy is raised to be prim and perfect and well-behaved, isn't he?" James said, rolling his eyes.

Mrs. Weasley gave her grandson a look. "When will you ever mature?" she said, more to herself than to James. "Your father was…Harry was never like that. He was always thoughtful and never immature. How absurd, the way his two sons turned out."

"It's not like it's still the dark times, gran," Albus said. "You should be thankful cause we're having fun, not fighting off evil Death Eaters. Though, of course, I'd like to experience that…"

Mrs. Weasley sighed and turned to Scorpius. "I'm sorry about my grandsons. They like a little joke, especially James."

Scorpius smiled at her and said, "None taken."

"I must say, you resemble your grandfather," she said, almost absentmindedly.

Lily felt him squeeze her hand tighter and looked up at him in worry. Her grandfather always seemed like a touchy subject for him. "Looks could be deceiving, Mrs. Weasley," he said in a carefully controlled voice. Only Lily could hear something off in it. "Though, I must say I'd rather be compared to my father."

Before her grandmother could reply, Lily asked suddenly, "Where are Hugo and Rose?" before this conversation go to anywhere that will upset Scorpius.

"Oh, they went to Diagon Alley a while ago for some last-minute Christmas shopping," she answered. "They should be here soon. Oh, and the others are coming, too."

"Others?" Lily asked, eyes widening. No way. She knew whom her grandma meant by 'others'. The other Weasleys. Her loads of cousins. And, quite possibly, their parents, too. She was appalled at the idea of introducing Scorpius—a Malfoy—to her whole family tree…as her boyfriend. What would they think of that? Of her? Of him? "You mean all of them?"

It was Teddy who answered her question. "Yeah. They're coming around here in about half an hour. Or at least Victoire and her little minions are."

Lily bit her lip and turned to face Scorpius. "Did you know what's gonna happen?" she asked him.

He smiled at her and said. "Of course I do. I'm gonna meat a truckload of Weasleys."

"Did you plan all this?" she asked in disbelief. She just couldn't imagine that a Malfoy like him would gladly meet the whole Weasley clan. She just couldn't. Scorpius looked really out of place in this little happy world of Weasleys. He seemed to fit more in the world of Malfoys where everything seemed straight and perfect and…still.

He kissed her temple and breathed, "Of course, I did. I told you I wanted to meet your family, and you, mine. And now that you've already met mine, I feel the need to meet this unusually large family of yours, as compared to my family of five, if you include my grandparents. I would've introduced you to my Aunt Daphne and my only cousin, but I'm afraid they're at the other end of the country."

"You have a cousin?" Lily asked, surprised.

He nodded. "Yep. He's a year older."

"What's his name?" she asked curiously.

"Devin," he answered, giving her a look. "It seems like you're interested in my cousin, eh?"

"Er, no," Lily said, shaking her head. "I was just stunned. I didn't know you had a cousin."

Scorpius laughed. Lily frowned, confused.

"You're forgetting something," Scorpius told her, grinning playfully. "See that bloke with bluish hair there?"

"Er, Teddy, right?" Lily said, still baffled.

Scorpius rolled his eyes. "Does he being my cousin—or second cousin—ring a bell?"

"Oh." Lily slapped her palm on her head, feeling stupid. She felt heat rise up her cheeks. How could she have forgotten easily? "Er, right…"

Scorpius laughed again at the expression of her face, drawing circles on the palm of her hand that he was holding. "You're cute when you're clueless," he said teasingly.

Lily was saved from responding by the noise from the Floo Network in the kitchen. Simultaneously, Rose, Hugo and her Aunt Hermione came out of the fireplace, dusting soot off their clothes and hair.

"Oh, good, you're all here," Hugo said, taking a seat beside Teddy, in good view of Lily and Scorpius. He focused his eyes on Scorpius and said to him, "I was wondering whether you'd back out or not. Seems not. Anyway, I'm Hugo Weasley."

"Nice meeting you," Scorpius said, offering a smile—which Hugo didn't return. Lily glared at him, and Hugo rolled his eyes at her, hopping off the seat and bolting upstairs to his bedroom. Rose took the seat he just vacated and gave Scorpius a smile.

"It's so absurd to see you in here," she said. "Anyway, this is my mum."

Hermione took a step towards him and smiled tentatively at him. "Hello, Scorpius," she said. "I must say it's unnerving to meet you. You look just like your father, see."

"I get that a lot of times," Scorpius said, standing up to shake her hand. "It's a pleasure to meet you. After all, you're the cleverest of the Trio."

Hermione seemed flattered, much to Lily's satisfaction. Scorpius really knew how to charm people.

"Why, thank you, Scorpius," Hermione said, beaming. "I think I could of a hint of what Lily liked in you."

Lily smiled at her aunt and said, "Thanks, Auntie 'Mione."

"No worries," she said. "Now off you go, all of you, to the sitting room first while I'll help your grandma prepare dinner."

"Come on," Lily said to Scorpius and led her towards the small, cozy, sitting room and the two of them sat on the floor near the hearth while the others seated themselves on the couch and the rocking chair.

Scorpius looked around and said, "This is nice."

Lily looked at him, frowning. "D'you feel uncomfortable, sitting on the floor?" she asked.

He smiled down at her and kissed the top of her head. "Of course not. Come here," he said gently, resting Lily against his chest, warming her with his embrace. Lily closed her eyes and sighed. Her annoyance at him for not telling her all about this had all but vanished. She felt grateful now that he did this. At least her whole family would get used to them. She didn't even mind letting them see her hugging Scorpius so intimately. She just loved the fact that Scorpius would want to cuddle her like this in clear view of her brothers and cousins. She felt reassured, and just when a fortnight ago, they almost broke up. Well, they did break up…for about a couple of hours. But still, it seemed stupid she doubted him even just for a while because of stupid Nicole.

"You could use my room upstairs, if you'd want some alone time," she heard Rose say behind her.

Lily turned her head around and asked, "Er, why are you offering?"

Rose shrugged. "You look like you could use some time alone."

Simultaneously, Lily's brothers and Teddy wrinkled their noses in disgust. Lily glared at them. "Okay, what the heck is wrong with your faces?"

"Frankly, we'd want to keep you on our sight before Malfoy could do anything to you," James said straightforwardly as usual. "But well, see, I don't really like seeing you and Malfoy being all cuddly on each other even when you aren't kissing. But what I don't like more is Rose offering a nice, cozy room with a comfy bed for the two of you to have an alone time." He shuddered and offered Lily and Scorpius a smile. "Sorry, can't help it. I love my sister, if you haven't noticed."

Lily smiled at her brother. She didn't like him being all protective on her, but on the other hand, she really, really loved him, too. And besides, she'd miss him the whole time she was at school.

"We'll just stay here, then, and wait for the others," Scorpius said ahead of Lily. He looked down at her and asked in a soft voice, "Is that okay with you?"

Lily nodded. "That's what I was thinking of saying, too, you know." She sighed. "Are you okay with this?"

He smiled down at her and said, "Of course I am. Why do you think I'd say that if I'm not? And I'd rather be on the good side of your brothers, and even your cousins." He said the last part in a voice barely more than a whisper so only Lily could hear.

Lily smirked playfully at him. "I knew there had to be some hidden agenda behind those words," she said. "But wait till you see how many my cousins really are."

He frowned at her and asked, "Exactly, how many are you?"

His question was answered an hour later. The rest of the Weasleys arrived. Every one of Lily's cousins was present and she introduced each one of them to Scorpius.

"Come on," she said, steering Scorpius towards where her blond, Veela cousins were. "Hey, Vic," she said to the eldest of them.

"Oh, Lils," she said, eyeing her and her hand. "I see; this must be what your mum told us about." She turned to Scorpius. "You're Scorpius, right? I'm Victoire." She extended a hand and Scorpius shook it.

"Nice meeting you," Scorpius said, smiling amiably at her. Not in the way most guys looked at her stunning, Veela cousins, but rather just the normal way.

"Aren't you Teddy's second cousin or something like that?" Dominique asked him.

Scorpius nodded.

"I'm Dominique," she said, shaking his hand as well. When Scorpius wasn't looking, she gave Lily a wink and a thumbs-up.

And finally, "I'm Louis."

They moved to Molly and Lucy next. After meeting them, Scorpius asked, "Are they like, opposites of each other?"

Lily laughed. "Yeah, sort of," she answered. "Molly is more like their dad. And their dad was this super uptight, serious uncle of mine. Molly is sort of her girl version, whereas Lucy is just like every one of us—carefree and loves the fun."

"For two persons so unlike," Scorpius mused, "they seem to get along just fine." He smiled down at her. "Just like us—Gryffindor, Slytherin. Bad-tempered and—"

"Apathetic?" she interrupted, grinning at him.

He scowled at her. "I'm not apathetic," he said. "I'm just…well, yeah maybe a little."

Lily laughed. "Of course, you are. Now, I want you to meet my other favorite cousins."

"Other?"

"Well, technically, my favorite are Rose and Hugo, and maybe you could add Victoire, but next to them, I'm also close to—Hey Fred, Roxanne."

The two of them turned around, wide grins flashing on their faces. "At last! I thought you've forgotten us," Fred said dramatically. "And would you be my dearest cousin's dearest?" he added to Scorpius.

"If you put it that way…" Scorpius said awkwardly, not knowing what to make of her last cousins. "Er, maybe?"

Fred and Roxanne burst into laughter. "He was just kidding," Roxanne said. "By the way, I'm Roxanne and this is my idiot brother Fred."

"It's, er, nice to meet you," Scorpius said, extending a hand hesitantly. "I'm Scorpius Mal—"

But even before he could finish, Fred grabbed his hand and shook it vigorously.

"Stop it, Fred," Lily said, laughing. "He's normally like that," she added to Scorpius. After shaking Roxanne's hand, Scorpius practically dragged Lily away from them. He still wasn't sure what to make of such an enthusiast. James was always cheerful but Fred was way overboard. It was a bit overwhelming for such a person who grew up alone.

"So, I take it," Lily said. "You're not a fan of Fred, are you?"

Scorpius sighed. "He's sort of not the type I hang out with, to be honest. For a second, I thought he was mental."

Lily grinned. "Of course you'd think that. He's just sort of like that. Anyway, now that we're finished with the cousins, I think it's around time to meet the aunts and uncles."

Scorpius heaved a sigh, looking tired. "If only I knew just how many your family was, I would've just stuck with the Potter's side and not meet the Weasleys yet. I mean, there are really only five of you Potters, but your cousins… never mind."

"What made you come here in the first place?" she asked.

"That doesn't really matter now," he said, shrugging.

Lily scowled at him. "If you didn't really like coming here, then you shouldn't have."

"I wasn't really planning on coming here," he said calmly, avoiding a fight. "I was forced here by your brothers, okay? There, I've said it. They asked me to come here when we were at your house as they were 'interrogating' me."

"Oh," Lily mumbled. She bit her lip and said, "You could've said something a while ago. You should've just said no to them if you didn't want."

"Believe me, I wanted to meet them," he said. "I was just overwhelmed there's too many of them."

Lily sighed. "So, are you fine with meeting my aunts and uncles?" she asked.

"I'm here already. Better get on with it sooner than later. C'mon."

"I swear I've never seen a family like this before!" Scorpius grumbled as she and Lily were left alone inside the house while the others were playing Quidditch in the cold, winter night. Scorpius just got off another 'interrogation', this time with all of Lily's aunts and uncles, taking him aside to Mr. and Mrs. Weasley's room upstairs. He looked really shaken after that. She had seen him lost his cool, stoic face sometimes, but those were the times when he laughed or cried. Never had she seen him look frightened.

"Oh, I swear to Merlin, I'm going to kick my aunts and uncles' butts off if they've ever done anything to you," Lily swore.

Scorpius managed to give her a small smile. "I'm fine. Really. I'm just…not used to dealing with a really big family filled with overprotective members. You know what? I envy you. You could count on a lot of people while I—"

"You could count on me, you know," Lily interrupted, squeezing his hand. "But you know…something's been bothering me."

Scorpius looked at her in concern and asked, "What is?"

Lily lowered her gaze and said, "You know…in six months, you're going out of Hogwarts." She looked up at Scorpius and continued. "I'm a bit scared, you know. I mean, even if we continue this relationship, you might find someone else who's prettier and mature than I am. And if the same thing happens to me here, I don't know what'll happen to us. You're the first guy I've introduced to my parents, and you're also the first one who had the courage to meet my bunch of relatives on your own accord. And I feel like you mean more to me than I mean more to you and you could easily attract a bunch of women when I'm not around, just like that old hag, Nicole. I don't know what to do if that time comes and even if I want to stop thinking about it, when we're alone, it just pops suddenly in my head I couldn't—"

But Scorpius interrupted her with a kiss. He kissed her slowly, passionately, blowing all her worries away.

After a while, he pulled away and trailed a path of kisses down her neck. Lily closed her eyes, letting her heart rate slow down.

"Don't compare yourself to other girls, silly," Scorpius whispered in her ear. "I don't think I could like anyone like you anymore. This is the first time I've been in love with someone, and I'm not gonna let anyone ruin it. It's even worth it to be grilled by some hot-headed redheads, you know."

With that Lily laughed and said, "Don't flee from me even if those hot-headed redheads are my family."

"Well, they're gonna be my family, soon, aren't they?" Scorpius teased, nudging her slightly.

Lily beamed radiantly and said, "I'll look forward to that."

They both laughed, but inside their minds, they were thinking one thing—their future. Together.

So, that's that. I'm running out of ideas (sighs). Anyway, most likely, there'd be only five more chapters left (if I didn't get any more ideas on what to put in this) so, hope you'll all stick with me until that. It was really exhausting, thinking of what to write on this chapter (and I could feel that you—yes you!—are quite disappointed in me) and I. Am. Depressed! *sighs

Anyway,

Thanks for reading. ;)

Please review :)