The Department of Oddities and the Unexplained

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, recreational potion use and drinking, nudity, etc.), and/or 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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Two Weeks Later

Lily woke to the sound of her alarm clock, reaching out blindly to smack it quiet, but her hand encountered a large zone of nothing. She frowned, lifted her head, and opened her eyes groggily, wondering for the briefest of moments where she was. And then it hit her. She was at home, in her flat, in her own bed. Because it's over.

Her alarm clock was still buzzing merrily on the far side of the bed on her little nightstand, oblivious to the heavy weight that had settled in her chest and the sad descent of her heart from her chest to her belly. Life, as she knew it, was officially back to normal. Only Lily couldn't help but feel entirely off kilter. As if she'd been plonked down into someone else's life with poorly inserted memories. Because a mere two months of extended exposure, and two weeks of thoroughly intimate acquaintance, with Scorpius Malfoy had left her so turned around and inside out, she wasn't sure she was even the same Lily Potter who'd last slept in her bed.

Finally Lily turned off her alarm and got up, shuffling into the bathroom to use the loo and shower, wondering what Scorpius was doing. If she had to bet, she'd guess sleeping still, as he probably would be until noon, and smirked a little to herself as she washed up. She got dressed for a day at the office, where she'd probably have a mountain of paperwork to fill out, and a dozen urgent calls to attend to, and headed into the Ministry as the sun rose steadily.

The Atrium was sparsely populated as she moved through it and toward the lifts that would take her up to her office on the second level, and she smiled vaguely at a few other witches and wizards she recognized as she got into a full lift and they started upward. The office for the Department of Oddities and the Unexplained was all but deserted, and Lily found, indeed, a small mountain of paperwork awaiting her at her desk, along with a pair of dozing garden shears atop her In tray that looked as if they'd been causing havoc. Once the shears were dealt with, Lily got to sorting out the rest into most urgent to least urgent, trying not to cringe at the amount of hours she'd be chained to her desk to finish it all, as the office slowly filled up around her. By eight, she was finished her sorting, and told herself, even as she glanced up at his desk for the seventy third time, she wasn't wondering where Scorius was, or if he was alone in bed.

She was just getting started on the most pressing notices when she got a waft of familiar cologne and Scorpius, at last, sat down across from her. Lily tried to smother her smile, but it was impossible, and glanced up at the tall blond pureblood from under her lashes. He didn't look at her. She felt something niggling at her elation. She waited to see if he would greet her, but there was nothing. The redhead felt her relief slowly sinking into dread. Because it was quite obvious Scorpius was one hundred percent as done with her as he was with their assignment. Only apparently, in her case, there was no backlog of paperwork to be filled out for her sake. Just a return to the usual indifference Malfoy normally paid her.

She bit back the urge to sigh and tamped down on the even sillier urge to cry, because she wouldn't be hurt. Oh hell no! She'd known this would happen from the outset, and while she couldn't bring herself to regret her time spent with Scorpius as more than just his work partner, Lily was distinctly disappointed in herself that she'd thought she'd be any different from the rest who came before and would undoubtedly follow her. So instead of saying a word, Lily carried on with her work, feigning oblivion to Scorpius's existence. She didn't see his dark grey eyes dart up and over her as she stood from her chair to pull down a massive reference book.

Scorpius couldn't resist devouring her shape, or what little of it he could see, in her jeans and blouse and over robes that left far too much covered for his memory to do justice. And even though he told himself it was inconsequential, he couldn't help but think of her during that brief moment in time she'd almost, almost, been his. But it was still thoroughly wrong, and so beyond not allowed to happen, he could resist temptation. Even if it would kill him a little.

Scorpius told himself for the dozenth time she was Al's sister, and a co-worker, and he didn't really even like her that way, so she was off limits, but it didn't quite work. And, to top it all off, it was so painfully obvious she didn't care a jot for anything that might have been between them, if her ignoring his existence was any indicator, he was stupid to wish differently.

Just before he began debating taking an early lunch, despite his late arrival, because he could smell Lily's delicate perfume, and it was making him half hard and crazy for her, Barry Balcombe's office door burst open and he barked, "Potter, my office, now!"

Lily jumped up as though she'd been hit with a Stinging Jinx in the rear and hurried into their boss's office. The door slammed behind her, and like everyone else, Scorpius was wondering what the hell Lily, Lily Potter, of all people could be hollered into their boss's office for. For a beat, he wondered if it was because she'd lodged a complaint against him, for sexual misconduct on their case, but then squashed that thought. She'd been as guilty as he there. And then he wondered if that's what she was being called in for. To be questioned about whether Scorpius had stretched the realm of propriety too far. And if she finked, and told Balcombe the truth, Scorpius was pretty well fucked.

So he waited, and worked for something to do, and waited some more, and skipped lunch waiting, but still Lily didn't leave Balcombe's office. And just when crazy paranoid fears started to get to him, like maybe Lily was seducing Balcombe, or vice versa, and maybe they'd already gotten round to doing it, he got up. His temper raged at the thought. Lily, in the arms of another, any other, all her luscious curves bared for another's enjoyment, giving some other lucky sonofabitch the pleasure of listening to her reach the heights of ecstasy around them. Oh hell no.

Just then, the door opened and Lily came out, looking like she was about to cry and/or punch something. He stood there, not caring that she probably didn't want to talk to him, of all people, when visibly upset. But Scorpius couldn't stop the words tumbling out as she got back to her desk. "What happened in there? What's wrong?"

Lily's mouth pursed and she swallowed, then said in a clipped voice, "I'm going home now. Goodbye, Malfoy."

Scorpius merely stared at her, not understanding, and then she went to her desk, Conjured a big box, and started packing her personal items. "Why do you get to go home?" he demanded.

Lily didn't look up, but smiled a tiny bit. "Oh," she said brightly, "that's one of the great perks of getting fired. You get to leave early the day of."

Scorpius felt his mouth fall open. "What?" he asked hoarsely.

"I got fired," Lily snapped, glaring up at him. "What part of that is hard for you to comprehend?" She put her hands on her hips, and the blond couldn't resist peeking down at her lovely breasts, the blouse pulled taut over them as she held her arms akimbo, and admiring them for a beat before looking back up.

"Why?" he asked, then felt something like horror dawning on him. Surely Lily hadn't been fired because they'd-? "If it's because of what happened," he said, then lowered the tone of his voice, "between us, I-"

"Don't worry," she said, sneering. "I kept that little tidbit to myself. I'm not an idiot, despite what you might think, Scorpius," she snapped, and then resumed packing at double speed. A few minutes later, she Levitated the box up, grabbed her handbag, and looked back at Scorpius, who could only sit there, staring at her, unable to believe what he was seeing. How in the bloody hell could Lily fucking Potter, be fired!? She was a damn good DOU agent, and a helluva witch to boot. And if she ever learned to cook, she'd be able to do it all. How could she be fired!? "I just wanted to say," Lily said softly, looking down for a beat, then back up at him, hazel eyes wide and earnest, "I…" She hesitated, biting her lip adorably, then pushed onward, and Scorpius couldn't help but feel in awe of her courage. "I don't regret it. Any of it." She blushed, opening her mouth as if to say more, then smiled, turned away, and walked out of his life.

Lily forced herself not to look back at Scorpius, even as she marched out of the lobby, head held high. So what if she'd just screwed up, 'beyond the realm of repair' no less? She would get over it, and besides, she didn't want to work at a job where what she felt was right went against the rules. And Lily couldn't even see what she'd done that was wrong.

She'd simply, right before they'd packed up and Apparated back to the Ministry, left a note for Alexandra Devon, that warned her her husband might not be faithful. And apparently that had been so far past the rules she'd been fired, for 'interfering' in the lives of the Muggles she'd worked adjacent to for almost a month. Of course, she understood that Alexandra had been furious, and instantly believed her husband that nothing untoward had taken place between himself and Lily, and was apparently putting up a big stink about it. But Lily failed to see how that was her fault. She'd simply told her friend the truth, and if she didn't want to accept it, Lily didn't see that she could make her. But to be fired?

Then again, her boss had told her if there'd been even the slightest whiff of scandal, she'd be out on her ass, and apparently telling the truth constituted such, when Alex even went so far as to hire professional investigators into finding out more about Lily, and default, Scorpius. And apparently they'd turned up loads, all of which had required an awful lot of effort and money from Ministry resources to gloss over. She supposed that might be the reason she was fired, but still. It rankled, and deeply.

She was damn good at her job! And to think there were still pricks like Scorpius, who barely did paperwork and showboated every day of the week, working there, employed and 'rule abiding' dolts! Okay, maybe Scorpius isn't a dolt, but still. Lily pushed thoughts of the tall sexy blond wizard from her head, because that would only worsen the likelihood of crying before she was safely ensconced in her flat to do so. Because she'd almost admitted, assuming it was the last time she'd see Scorpius for any particular reason, she'd actually had a great time with him, and she wanted more, and if he wanted to get together again, she would probably give in with embarrassing ease. Instead, she'd told herself firmly not to go there, because it couldn't ever happen again. Whatever she'd had, or might have had, with Scorpius was simply, well and truly, done, along with her career in the DOU.

Four days later, Lily finally got an owl back from the Department of Magical Transportation, asking her to come for an interview for the last position she'd applied to, as a Floo Operator. She didn't think it would be a fun job, or even remotely close to utilizing her skills she'd gained being a DOU agent, but it would pay her bills, and she'd get a hefty discount on her monthly Floo fees. And considering she was pushing skint broke since being fired, she wasn't about to complain.

She was in the bathroom at home, getting dolled up, because she was being taken out by her cousin Rose and her older brother Albus for a celebratory drink, when she heard someone arrive by Apparition in her living room. She adjusted her little navy blue, cocktail length dress that she barely ever wore, even less so than her little black dress, and sighed, because even with another half hour, she doubted she'd get her hair managed. So she swiped on some peach flavoured lipgloss and called it quits, striding out of her bathroom and into the living room, smiling because Rose would, undoubtedly, comment on her hair.

But it wasn't Rose standing in her living room, looking with interest over her collection of Muggle literature. "What the hell are you doing here?" she demanded before she could stop herself. Dark grey eyes flicked up to look at her, roving slowly down her frame, and the redhead felt a gush of something hot and liquid course through her in the wake of those dark grey eyes.

Scorpius half smiled, unable to help but think it truly was a crying fucking shame Lily didn't dress like she was currently all the fucking time. Then again, it wouldn't matter if she did, you wouldn't see her. He frowned a bit at that. "I came to get you," said, eyes finally roving back up her long, creamy legs, over her short little dress and the luscious swells of her breasts peeking out from beneath the sheer lace that gave her dress the illusion of modesty.

"What?" she said blankly.

"Rose and Al were both too many drinks in to Apparate. So I got sent to collect you. Come on."

Lily stared at his outstretched hand, shrugged, and grabbed her purse and coat, slinging both over an arm. "Alright," she said softly, and grasped his outstretched hand. Scorpius felt electric awareness tingle over him at her touch, and even though there was nothing sexual about merely holding her hand, he couldn't help but feel turned on. He could smell her perfume, and it was tantamount to torture, because all he could think about was the last time he'd seen her in a dress and how delightfully that interlude had ended.

They Apparated out of Lily's flat to just outside the doors to the Three Broomsticks, and Scorpius told himself it didn't matter that Lily dropped his hand as if she'd been burned the second their feet were solidly on the ground. He held the door for her and couldn't resist looking at her plump, full arse as she preceded him inside the bustling pub. Rose and Albus were right where he'd left them, at the bar, the former with a glass of wine, the latter with significantly less whiskey in his glass than Scorpius had left him with.

"Lily!" Rose said, hugging the redhead close. "Oh Godric, honey, look at your hair," she said, smiling, and Lily laughed, rolling her eyes, even as she snitched her brother's glass and downed the remaining amber liquid like a champ.

"Congrats on resuming employment," Albus said, waving the bartender over. "Now I know my hard earned tax dollars won't be supporting you on Magical Unemployment."

Lily frowned, but shrugged. "Moving on to bigger better things," she said airily. "I'll have a whiskey," she told the bartender, and dug in her purse for some gold.

Scorpius merely put five Galleons down, adding, "Make it two."

Hazel eyes flicked up toward him and the blond pureblood watched Lily's tongue dart out to wet her lips. "Thanks," she breathed.

"Tosser, you never buy me a drink!" Albus grumbled.

"Or me," Rose added, sipping her wine, giving Lily a lifted brow.

Lily blushed, but Scorpius just said, trying to avoid blushing himself, "Neither of you ever get a better job." There was much laughter, and a chorus of cheers, and the redhead tried to tell herself she was an idiot for thinking Scorpius's dark grey gaze kept roaming to her, and thinking he was somehow recalling, as she was, just how magnificent they'd been together in bed.

"Yeah, because that's the real reason," Albus scoffed, and Lily blushed harder still, but the others laughed and the tension dissipated, even as Lily smiled into those dark grey eyes that had become so very familiar.

"Either way, your loss is still my gain," she said with an air of superiority, clinking her glass against Scorpius's as their drinks were delivered. Lily sipped her whiskey, wondering if she was reading too much into the way Scorpius looked at her, or the flutter of excited butterflies that had yet to calm since she'd first laid eyes on the tall, handsome blond that night.

"And that's something I'll propose a cheers to every time," Scorpius seconded with a smile at Lily and, unless she was hallucinating, a subtle wink.

Two hours and three drinks later, Lily was feeling not only pleasantly buzzed, but unbearably aware of how good Scorpius smelled, sitting to her left and emitting an enticing personal warmth that made her want to lean into him like a feline seeking affection. Not to mention it was making her so hot and bothered Rose had asked, on their last trip to the loo, if Scorpius was making her uncomfortable, possibly because he was still employed as a DOU agent and Lily was settling for her mediocre future position as a Floo Administrator. The redhead, who had been unable to help laughing at that, brushed Rose's concerns aside, stating that she was simply still feeling a little weird around Scorpius now that they weren't around one another almost twenty four seven anymore.

Rose looked politely disbelieving, and Lily, although she was thoroughly tempted, resisted the urge to confide in her cousin about just what had gone down between Scorpius and herself when they'd worked together. She knew they could still get in trouble over it if anyone who might rat them out heard, and she was reluctant to dish even a little about how great the handsome blond wizard was in bed. Those memories were hers, and hers alone, and so what if sitting next to Scorpius, reliving them, made her pathetic? She figured after getting sacked from the only job she'd ever considered and wanted, she was already there. Might as well embrace it by lusting after a wizard who most definitely was no longer interested in her.

She felt her mouth turn down as her buzz turned sour, making her feel melancholic and a little depressed at how perfectly, in a single stroke, she'd completely fucked up her life in almost every single way. How one stupid, if honest and justified, action had taken the best experience of her life and turned it bittersweet to recall, knowing it would never happen again. When the sting of tears burned behind her eyes, she turned jerkily away from Scorpius, who was commenting on her brother's lack of dancing skill out on the floor with a pretty little blonde witch.

The blond pureblood beside her, unknowingly to the redheaded witch, glanced down at her in some concern, and felt something close to horror constrict his throat when her heard her, through her mane of dark red hair, sniffle as though she were crying, or close to it. His eyes flicked to where Albus was still dancing, horribly, with his new blonde friend, and then across the dance floor to where Rose Weasley was half snogging, half grinding up on some rather young looking, dark skinned wizard, who seemed enamoured with her arse, because his hands hadn't left it in the last ten minutes.

If there was one thing Scorpius could admit was his downfall, it was seeing a witch cry. It didn't matter who, or for what reason, or even if he were to blame for the tears. Without fault, every single time he happened to see a woman crying, the blond wizard couldn't help but feel like he had to make the witch stop as soon as possible, so he wouldn't feel guilt over seeing the loss of control and sign of emotional turmoil. He could admit freely emotions, and all their depths, were far beyond his area of expertise, and he treated most extreme ones in the same way. By making it stop before he lost his mind. But with Lily, he couldn't help but want to simply pull her into his embrace and smother whatever sadness might have risen within her with his arms and a hug. Because her tears made a sharp stab of something like agony fizzle over his nerve endings and he wanted her to know that he could be trusted to hold her when she couldn't manage to hold herself together completely in front of him. It was a sight he'd never really seen first hand, and it was bizarre and discomfiting, enough that Scorpius instantly reached for her hand, brows pulled together.

"What's wrong?" he asked roughly, and Lily's shoulders stiffened, and she tensed all the way down to her fingertips.

"Nothing," the redhead witch replied immediately, but then brushed at her eyes in a telling gesture, that suggested she might have actually shed a tear or two.

Scorpius was faced with two options, as he saw it. Either he let Lily think he hadn't noticed her start to get weepy in the middle of a bustling pub, or he removed her from the situation to take her home and put her probably-drunk self to bed. All in all, it wasn't a hard choice to make. Scorpius gulped the last of his Firewhiskey, feeling himself tilt a tiny bit, then straightened. "C'mon," he said firmly, standing up against the threat of a head rush and grasped Lily's hand decisively.

"Where are we going?" Lily demanded, pausing only long enough to finish her own drink, and Scorpius smirked.

"You're going home," he said brusquely, pulling her from the table and toward the fireplace that patrons were allowed to Floo home from when they'd had a few too many.

"I'm not even-!" Lily began, struggling to pull her hand from his tight grasp, stumbling into a stray chair that hadn't been pushed back into its table as they moved away from her brother and cousin.

"You're completely trollied, Potter," he interrupted firmly, and she glared, narrowed eyed and seeing double, at him. "You need to get to bed."

Lily giggled, even as they drew up to the Floo, and Scorpius grabbed a handful of powder, tossing it into the grate and leaving a shimmering blast of green flames. "Are you planning to join me?" she questioned, eve as she allowed Scorpius to lead her forward.

The green flames licked at her shoes as she stumbled into the hearth, feeling the pleasant warmth of Floo travel surrounding her. "You bet, darling," he replied, and pulled her flush to himself, even as he called out her address and they disappeared from the pub in a whirl of green flames.

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