His Final Year

Scorpius didn't think it was right to feel sick with dismay, as opposed to sick with excitement or maybe even nervousness, like the rest of the seventh year Hogwarts students. As he stepped off Hogwarts Express, he didn't think about what it was like to be of age, and he wasn't looking forward to leaving Hogwarts and starting out in the real world. Admittedly, he was happy to have free reign of his magic, but for him, that was the only positive.

His mind was forever wandering back to Lily Potter, despite his efforts to keep his mind off that topic. Since the "incident" in his sixth year—the memory was still painfully clear, particularly the part where he had claimed to forget about what had happened—the two of them probably had the best friendship Hogwarts had ever seen. It was a shock for him, to say the least. But, he supposed, it was probably because when he had fallen for Lily, he hadn't only loved her appearance.

Actually, the first time he'd laid eyes on her, he didn't find her all that good-looking. She was average—hell, she was eleven. But, now, at the age of fifteen, it was apparent to everyonethat Lily Potter had finished with her awkward years and had flourished into a fine female specimen. It was a shame that he'd "forgotten" their midnight rendezvous that night. He often wondered what would have become of their relationship if he had told the truth the morning she confronted him.

It was this terrible thought that always made him recoil from his own mind. Sure, there was the slight chance that if he had been honest, then he would be a whole lot closer to his goal, but it could also work the other way around. As much as it pained him to be nothing more than her friend, it was much more painful to be her enemy. He had learned this the hard way, multiple times. After experiencing that, well, he would do anything to be on her team without hesitation.

"Score!" Of course, it was a bit complicated, trying to get over his infatuation when she was always so happy to see him. "I've missed you so much! You have to tell me all about your summer. You're so lucky, getting to use your magic without punishment. I can't wait until I turn seventeen." She grinned at him as she unwound her arms from his neck. Forever amused by her rambling, he smiled and pressed a friendly kiss to her cheek, as per what had become a usual occurrence for them.

"I think your brother is about ready to hex me into oblivion." He whispered dramatically to her before casting a glance at Albus, who was glaring at him abhorrently. Lily rolled her eyes and waved him away. "Apparently, someoneis too popular for her own good." Playfully, he poked her in the head, shoving her forward as people had begun to complain to them for obstructing the walkway.

"So…what was the first spell you cast? Tell me, tell me!" She bounced as she awaited his answer. He looked away, not being able to completely rejoice in seeing her again when he knew that he would be leaving Hogwarts in months that would pass far too quickly.

"A cleaning spell. It was after the party." He said dully, trying to annoy her. It worked, he noted with a satisfied smirk, as she elbowed him roughly. He pretended to be hurt for her sake, but really, he didn't mind the abuse.

"C'mon. Do something." She taunted with a sly smile. He swallowed through a dry throat and averted his gaze. Yes, there was plenty about her to love, however, that didn't mean he was immune to the fact that she was incredibly attractive. She had practically every guy under a spell, and he was no exception. In fact, he was worse off because he knew all her quirks and charms and had to deal with them everyday. Not that he minded.

"Tempting, but no." He said in a monotonous voice. Once again, she attempted to hurt him. He dropped his arm onto her shoulder and grinned as she buckled under the unexpected weight before regaining her stability. She pouted up at him as a last resort. It worked. "Fine." He grumbled before discreetly pulling out his wand and waving it at the bright green grass. She watched intently as a mound of soil appeared, and from it sprouted a perfect, long-stemmed lavender rose. He leaned over, plucked it, and handed in to her with a deep, mocking bow.

"What a charmer." She said as she curtseyed back, laughing and taking the rose graciously. They walked together to the castle in a comfortable silence. He looked at her through the corner of his eye and felt his ears become hot as he caught her in the motion of bringing the rose to her face and gently smelling it. He was blushing. Scorpius Malfoyhad been reduced to a puddle of giddiness and red ears. "Score, do you think we'll still be friends once you leave?" She asked quietly as she gazed down at the rose and fingered one of the petals.

"Course." He mumbled noncommittally. He didn't mention the fact that the very same question had been ripping him apart for weeks and weeks. "I mean, why not?" He said, though he could think of so many reasons. She smiled at him, taking his word to heart. He felt guilty, but didn't want to think of how she would react if he had said that he didn't think they would be friends, or even acquaintances, once he left Hogwarts.

From that time to Christmas, the time had passed quickly and pleasantly. Scorpius had done his best to ignore the gnawing feeling in his stomach he often got from thinking too much about his friendship with Lily. Still, they weren't completely repressible. The memory of that night from the previous year often flooded his mind whenever she was angry or sad or unimaginably happy. He loved it as well as hated it when she was truly angry. She would flush and start ranting and raging as she heatedly paced in front of him. It was amusing—until it brought his mind back to the fact that he was hopelessly in love with her.

At that point, it wasn't all that amusing.

"Shouldn't you be boarding the train?" He smiled at her in greeting as she sat next to him. She looked puzzled. "Don't tell me, Draco disowned you for being in cahoots with a Potter!" She joked and nudged him.

"No, not yet, I'm afraid." He replied, finding her playful behaviour infectious. "Mother and Father are visiting relatives in France. I'm stuck here for Christmas, I suppose." She pouted at him briefly—teasing him in more ways than one—before smiling and wrapping her arms around his broad shoulders.

"Albus and I have decided to stay put as well. James is peeved, since this will be our first Christmas apart, but he'll get over it. Now we can have a Christmas together!" She backed away from a bit as she bounced in excitement. He laughed at her.

"Lils, we always exchange gifts, anyway. There won't be much of a difference." She rolled her eyes and hit his shoulder. He ignored it.

"Christmas isn't only about the gifts, you git." She scolded him light-heartedly. "And besides, we never get to see each other's reactions because we're never together! This year will be great! Other than the fact that I won't get to see Mum and Dad and James." She added the last bit with a tiny frown. He sighed and threw his arm over her shoulders in an attempt to comfort her.

"Well, that's alright. You can watch Albus glare at me so viciously that I'll probably implode!" She rolled her eyes at his lame joke. "I'm being serious, Lily. Look." He gestured toward the lean figure leaning against a wall as he talked to Rose and Hugo. His glasses had slipped low on his nose as he watched Lily and Scorpius carefully and bemusedly. Lily sighed and shrugged.

"He doesn't understand why I want to hang out with you. He thinks you're a pompous, obnoxious, spoiled, smug—"

"I get the picture." He interrupted dryly. She sent him a brief apologetic smile. "He doesn't much like me."

"I wouldn't say that…" He raised a sceptical eyebrow at her. "Okay, so maybe he doesn't care for you much. It doesn't matter though. It's my life, and he has no right to butt in, despite what he and James may think about that." She made an irritated face at her brother before standing up. Scorpius followed her lead.

"I have a potions assignment to complete," were the words he used for his parting before he pressed a kiss to her cheek and left. Lily watched as he left the Great Hall before stalking over to her brother and cousins.

"'Lo, Lily!" Hugo welcomed enthusiastically. She paid no heed to him as she rammed her fist into her brother's shoulder. He leaned off the wall and rubbed his shoulders, looking at her with an angry and confused expression.

"What the bloody hell was that for?" He demanded irately. She hit him again, opting to use actions instead of words.

"You—bleeding—dolt!" She punctuated each word with another hit. "Why can't you just mind your own business?" Tired of Lily's persistent fists hitting every part of him they could reach, he grabbed her wrists and pinned them to her sides. She glared at him as she took deep breaths, trying to calm herself.

"If I let you go, will you promise not to hit me anymore without a valid reason?" He asked calmly. This, of course, only made her madder. She nodded curtly, nevertheless. He released her arms, eyeing her warily. She stood there silently and straightened out her robes. Clearing her throat she looked at her brother's face with dignity—before she kicked his shin with every bit of strength she had in her tiny body.

She grinned, satisfied with the loud noise of pain he uttered as she walked away. She felt much better after that.

By Christmas morning, Albus had long forgiven Lily for her outburst and for his severely bruised leg. He grinned at her and sat next to her near the brightly lit tree in the Gryffindor common room. Shockingly enough, they were the only ones there.

"I suppose this is what Hogwarts is like over the holidays. It's so…empty." Albus observed. Lily feigned an expression of awe.

"Wow. I guess you're right!" He rolled his bright green eyes and nudged her with his shoulder. "You know, Al, even though I'm sad we aren't home with everyone, I'm kind of happy to be here with you."

"Me too, kid." He mumbled as he ruffled her hair with his hands.

"I'm not a kid." She grumbled half-heartedly before leaning forward and picking up a gift with his name on it. "Mum and Dad sent this one for you." She told him, picking up the one their parents had given her. Together, they opened the gifts sent from their family members, writing thank you letters to each of them as they went along. Lastly, they exchanged the gifts between the two of them. Lily looked up curiously at Albus from the tiny gift-wrapped item.

"Merlin, Lily, just open it." He rolled his eyes as he leaned back on his elbows. Inside was some sort of music device. This time, her expression was ten times more puzzled. "I know how much you love your Muggle music."

"But…Al, Muggle technology doesn't work on Hogwarts' school grounds. You know that." She looked down sadly at the gift, loving it so much just because he was the one to give it to her. Albus sighed irritably.

"Of course I know that. It's not Muggle technology." He pried it from her fingers and turned it on. He placed one of the ear phones next to her ears so she could hear the music playing. She grinned at him, absolutely elated. "See?" She hugged him tightly before he could say anything else. Actually, she hugged him so tightly he could hardly breathe.

"Thank you, Al. Really." She gushed as she blocked his airways with her so-called sisterly love. When she finally pulled back, his expression was humorously dazed. "Open mine." She was on her knees biting her lip with excitement. He shook his head and chuckled at her peculiarity whilst unwrapping the gift. As he pulled the watch from its place in the box, he gawked at her.

"Lily, this isn't…I mean it looks just like…" He couldn't even get the words out as he stared at the watch in wonderment. Lily smiled with pride.

"It was James'. I begged Dad to take me to Godric's Hollow and we went into their house." She whispered to him, getting Goosebumps as she recalled walking through the forgotten, wrecked home that her father had lived in until he was one. It looked like the last time it had been disturbed was when her father had gotten the scar on his forehead.

"But what about James?" In confusion, Lily almost forgot that their eldest brother's name was James, and it was to this younger generation Potter that Albus was referring to. Again, she smiled triumphantly.

"I've given him something else I found in the cottage. When I found this, I thought of you. I'm not sure why, to be honest." Her brother, for the first time she could remember, was looking at her with tears in his eyes. She almost felt jealous that each of her brothers had inherited such dominant features from their paternal grandparents, while she simply looked like a Weasley, sans the freckles. It wasn't a bad thing, by any means—but it would have been nice to be recognized for being both Weasley and Potter.

"Lily, this is the most amazing gift anyone could ever receive." He whispered to her, engulfing her in a hug. For some reason, she felt tears prickling her eyes. Not for the jealousy she felt for her lack of physical resemblances to her grandparents, but because she wished with all her might that she could have met them, even as a child.

"Al," Lily started to ask once they'd pulled apart, "why is it that you hate Scorpius so much?"

"I don't hate him." Albus defended, but Lily simply lifted a sceptical eyebrow at his statement. He gave her a crooked smile. "I don't. I don't trust him, is all." Lily's eyebrows furrowed as she tried to imagine what Albus had seen in him that made him untrustworthy.

"But he isn't a bad guy, Al, really. You never even speak to him." Albus sighed and put his hands on his sister's shoulders as he leaned forward, trying to convey his message as thoroughly as possible.

"I don't want him to hurt you." Lily looked more confused than ever. Aggravated with her, he sighed and waved his hand at her. "Just go. Go, go—I know he's probably waiting for you." She grinned at him, thanked him for the gift, and all but ran out the door.

"Whoa!" Lily was met with this disgruntled rumble as she ran into Scorpius. "In a hurry?" He asked her, amused. She blushed and smiled at him before playfully punching his shoulder.

"Mind where you're going, Malfoy." She stuck her nose high in the air and walked off. He followed, laughing at her demeanour. He grasped her shoulders desperately.

"Oh, please, Lily, forgive me. I don't know what I'd do without you in my life." He batted his eyelashes innocently. Lily, however, was more affected by this than Scorpius had known possible. A little dazzled by the boy's handsome face and captivating eyes, Lily simply nodded and hummed in resignation. He grinned boyishly and walked her out into the courtyard. Giddy with the anticipation of seeing him unwrap her gift to him, she turned to him and thrust it into his face. He laughed at her persistence.

"Open it, open it!" She bit her lip as she grinned up at him. He chuckled lowly as he took it from her. He opened it slowly, purposely watching her as he did, trying to anger her. "Merlin, Scorpius, just open the ruddy package, will you!" She laughed as she elbowed him roughly. He sent her a sidelong glance, pretending to be hurt.

"Patience is a virtue, you know." He teased, adoring her eager but annoyed expression. She narrowed her eyes at him, but he knew that she was in one of her playful moods by the way her lips kept twitching up into a smile. He opened the package, needing an excuse to look away from her. He was hopeless. Inside the package was a scarf. A Gryffindor scarf. He grinned, absolutely elated. Seeing his joy, Lily reached up and wrapped it around his neck, covering the bland grey scarf he was already wearing.

"You should be a Gryffindor. I think the Sorting Hat's getting a little rusty." She was only joking, but Scorpius felt a pang of pain in his chest. He wished he could be in Gryffindor sometimes. Actually, it wasn't that he just wanted to be a Gryffindor; he wanted to be anything other than Slytherin to make his friendship-infatuation with Lily easier.

Of course, there was still that whole matter of being a Malfoy. That…well, that was something a little more complicated.

"I sense a theme." He mumbled handing over his gift to her. She smiled shyly and held it gingerly. She tore through the gift-wrap, eagerly biting her lip. He looked away, resisting the memories of that night in sixth year threatening to fill his head. She laughed in delight, pulling the odd hat onto her head, dropping her own carelessly into the snow. It was striped with the Slytherin colours, long and pointy, tumbling down to her mid-back. At the end of the point dangled a large, green pom-pom.

"This is amazing, Scorpius." She told him laughingly. Then, alarmingly quickly, tremendous winds and abnormally large snowflakes whirled about the pair, threatening them with a rather unpleasant and cold burial. Hands planted firmly on her head to keep her gift in place, Lily ran toward the castle's nearest archway with Scorpius in tow. Once within the castle's protective walls, the two immediately burst into a spell of laughter.

"I think we've just created a disturbance in the natural world." Scorpius gasped out between his hearty chuckles. Finally, their laughter subsided and stopped bouncing incessantly off the stone walls around them; with a crooked smile, Scorpius lifted his scarf with deliberation and made a show of wiping the corner of Lily's eyes with it. She let out a bubble of giggles and swatted him away. Her playfulness faded quickly as she cast her gaze upward. Scorpius frowned at this, wanting to demand what she could possibly find so important as to pull away from a moment he would surely remember for as long as he could manage to keep any memory.

Those thoughts vanished from his mind when her eyes pealed from the ceiling and locked with his. He didn't even care about whatever she had been so interested in, anymore, though he did have a pretty good idea as to what it was. It seemed like they had been standing there for an eternity before Lily flushed and dropped her gaze to the floor. Seizing this as an opportunity to see if his hunch was correct, Scorpius glanced up to see a fresh sprig of mistletoe had managed to grow from between the small space between the stones above them. He swallowed and grimaced as a piece everlasting-flavour gum scraped its way down his dry throat. He looked back at Lily, who so much as dared to glance at Scorpius from under her eyelashes before deepening even further into her blush.

"Erm…" Lily mumbled quietly, mostly to herself. Preposterously, Scorpius found himself stepping nearer to her and doming his head toward hers; the memories of the night in his sixth year broke into his mind with the forcefulness of a raging river through a rotting dam. "We don't have to…" Her voice squeaked comically, but Scorpius found nothing amusing about this situation.

"It's rotten luck, you know. Leaving the mistletoe without…" He didn't finish his sentence for fear of more blushing on his part. That was ludicrous, of course. He was seventeen, legally a man, and here he was—blushing underneath the mistletoe with a fifteen year old Lily Potter whom he had pined after for far too long. He really ought not to have said that, though. The rational—and, albeit, frightful—part of his mind insisted that he put a reasonable amount of space between them and admit that it probably would make no different, leaving without kissing under the stupid plant, and no one would ever know anyway.

Except he would know, and that was enough argument to banish logic from his wits.

He barely caught a glimpse of Lily's impossibly sweet smile before she lifted herself on her toes and wound her arms around his neck. In a movement he swore was non-existent, their lips were pressed together in a kiss that was completely opposite to that of which they'd had in front of the entrance to Gryffindor Tower.

He thought, finally, that things were going as they were supposed to.

A sixth year student sitting down the table from him gasped and harrumphedin displeasure and shame as Scorpius gripped his goblet so hard it shattered and sent pumpkin juice splattering as far as to her sleeve. He couldn't have cared less about her indignation; in fact, were it not for the fact that his hand was now bleeding, he wouldn't have noticed at all.

Quickly, before any teachers at the Head Table could notice what he'd done (though he swore he saw a fleeting, amused smile on McGonagall's face), Scorpius repaired the goblet and mended his cut. He then continued his former act of glaring at the Gryffindor table. More specifically, at Jacob Thomas who had his arm wrapped around Lily's shoulders.

He made a conscious effort to not hex Gregory when he nudged Scorpius out of his thoughts of hatred.

"C'mon, mate. You won't do the bloke in by glaring at him from a mile away. Let it go." He couldn't let it go. He refused to entertain the mere thought of letting it go. It had been a month, but Scorpius was still waiting for Lily to realize how stupid this was, and just let him talk to her and tell her it was all a big misunderstanding. So far, any attempt he'd made at talking to her had been met with blatantly being ignored, threats and imaginative curses that resulted in a week's worth of detentions for Lily.

Then Jacob Thomas was suddenly in the picture, and Scorpius had no trouble with hating the bloke after one look at the way Lily smiled at him. Granted, it was nothing like the way she'd smiled at him before she started hating everything about him, but the fact that she was with him was a reasonable enough excuse for Scorpius' repugnance.

He knew she was very hurt by what had happened, and he tried to talk to her and apologize and explain—he tried to do whatever he could. Unfortunately, she wasn't having any of that, and eventually recruited Albus and Hugo Weasley to kindly escort Malfoy the bloody hell away from her. Why she was so ready to believe that Scorpius would knowingly (and willingly) do something to hurt her, he had no idea.

How was he to know that once everyone returned from holidays that Lilac Wood had made a resolute decision to kiss him in the Great Hall in front of everyone to see if he would ask her out? Of course, he didn't, but Lily had seen the spectacle and was gone before Scorpius could pry himself away from Lilac. She had still refused to speak to him calmly, or to listen to a single word he had to say.

He knew he ought to let her take her time to work her way over the hurt she was feeling, but time was running out and he could practically already see himself boarding the Hogwarts train for the last time back to King's Cross. He was extremely anxious to put this behind them, but Lily was making that exceptionally difficult.

"Lily!" Of course, confronting her in a hallway was probably not the best idea to urge her along, either. He only thought this, naturally, after shouting after her in a crowded corridor. She turned to him, David's arm falling from around her. He approached her quickly, making the most of this miniscule chance. "Please, just let me—"

"Leave me alone, Malfoy." She glared at him and moved to turn her back to him. He caught her by the crook of her elbow and made her face him. She sighed wearily. "You're making a fool of yourself, Scorpius." He didn't care, though it was most definitely true.

"Lily, I didn't kiss her. She practically attacked me! I didn't want…" Lily was shrugging him off with a cold stare and moving away from him again. She was ten paces away from him when he did yet another stupid act of impulse. "Why won't you just listen to me?" He cried at her desperately. That was evidently the wrong move to make, because the next moment she was brandishing her wand and he was being sent spiralling into the air before landing rather painfully onto his rump.

"I don't have to listen to you, Malfoy!" Scorpius lifted to his feet and moved away from her as she approached him, looking dreadfully livid. She waved her wand again, sending a stream of red light at him. He deflected it as quickly as he could, but a third year Hufflepuff caught it off the rebound. Scorpius was, regretfully, grateful that he had not been on the receiving end of the impressive hex, for the unfortunate Hufflepuff had sprouted small tentacles all over his face.

Lily spared a glance at the boy before turning her attention back to Scorpius. He continued to block her curses, refusing to fight back despite her constant jeering. He could hardly keep track of the spells she was sending his way, sometimes she shouted the incantation, others she simply waved her wand and sent streams of light at him.

"Somebody get McGonagall!" Someone finally shouted amongst the large crowd of onlookers. Unfortunately, this made Scorpius lose his concentration on Lily. Then, not a moment later, he was dangling in the air by his ankle, looking Lily Potter in the eye. Even upside-down, he noticed, she was remarkably cute. She didn't say anything to him; in fact, she appeared to be waiting for him to speak first.

"I'm sorry, Lily." He whispered, very aware that there were students intruding on this private moment. "I don't know what else to say; I've tried to convince you as best I can." Lily regarded him blankly.

"You've nothing to convince me. You're perfectly free to kiss whomever you please. You never promised me anything." Scorpius felt something inside him growl in anger and desperation. Women were too bloody confusing.

"I didn't wantto kiss her!" Hanging upturned was beginning to take its toll on him. His wand lay useless on the floor below him, and Lily seemed reluctant to let him down. "Merlin, Lily, don't you get it?" Then, to his horror, her eyes were teary and she was waving her wand to let him down. McGonagall was suddenly on the scene, ushering Lily to her office for a thorough reprimanding, no doubt. All Scorpius could think about, however, were the tears that welled up him Lily's eyes.

And how he regretted that it had been him to put them there, yet again.

He was about to board the Hogwarts Express for the very last time. He could have Apparated right out of Hogsmeade, but somehow, this seemed more fulfilling. It seemed like a proper closing for his years at Hogwarts, despite his wishes that he could stay behind with Lily. Even though she hadn't spoken to him since the hallway debacle, he still didn't want to be away from her. He certainly didn't want to leave on this note, positive that they would lose contact.

The image of hisLily hugging a tall, dark-haired and rather unpleasant stranger swam in his mind vaguely as he hoisted his trunk onto the luggage rack in the compartment. It wasn't fair. Fate was being particularly cruel; punishing him, perhaps, for his father's and grandfather's wrongdoing. He had finally been with Lily, without consequence (other than the principally ferocious glare that would undoubtedly have been sent by Albus Potter had he been given the chance).

A short knock on the compartment's door tore him from his thoughts. Annoyed with the interruption, he gave the intruder a guttural grunt, hoping they'd take it as a sign that they should leave. To his dismay, they took it as a grant to enter the compartment. Scorpius raised his eyebrows questioningly as Lily entered and plopped herself grudgingly into the seat across from him.

"Are you lost?" He blurted without meaning to. She stayed quiet and, for a horrifying moment, he thought that maybe she would get up and leave.

"All the others are full. Albus refused to let me take his spot in the compartment with Hugo and Rose and some others." He felt his heart sink into his stomach like a pit. That wasn't exactly the response he was hoping for. They sat in silence for the entire way back to King's Cross. Accepting that Lily was no longer interested in being even his friend, Scorpius mumbled goodbye to her before stepping off the train.

He walked along the platform, trying to ignore the scene taking place in his peripheral vision. Lily and Albus, reuniting with Harry and Ginny Potter, as well as James, the Weasleys and a tall, lanky young man with turquoise hair. His own family was waiting for him, at home with a small party, no doubt, but knowing that didn't ease the nagging he felt inside himself.

"Wait! Scorpius, please, wait!" He'd barely had enough time to turn around to face the person who had called after him before there was a cloud of red hair in his face and a pair of arms wrapped tightly around his neck. "I'm sorry. Merlin, Score, I'm really sorry," she hugged him with more fervour; his heart stuttered, "You were right. I was silly to worry and to not trust you—I was really jealous, I suppose—" she flushed deeply but Scorpius felt a sick pride swell inside his chest. He covered her mouth with his, ignoring the fact they were standing on platform nine and three-quarters.

"Oi! What's that bloke doing to my sister?" Grinning, Lily pulled away from Scorpius and shot a glance back at her family. Albus looked mildly surprised but it passed quickly, whereas James, who had been the one to yell and gain the attention of others on the platform, was outwardly shocked and disgruntled. Ginny was wearing a small, crooked smile, rubbing her husband's arm comfortingly as he tried to contemplate the situation and decide how best to handle it.

"You'll write, won't you?" She looked up at him wonderingly. He grinned at her. "Promise?" He assured her in every way he could think, kissing her once more before saying goodbye. Albus, pointedly, looked away while James watched with a careful eye, ready to jump in when he found the interaction to become inappropriate. Harry, on the other hand, looked at though the whole thing was inappropriate and that his daughter shouldn't have been anywhere near any boy whatsoever.

"Oh, relax, Harry." Ginny told him quietly, though, albeit, laughingly. "She's fifteen. The same age you were, I believe, when you snogged Cho Chang? Or, better,myage when we went out." She lifted an eyebrow at him, insinuating all they had gone through. Harry turned green.

"She's not leaving my sight for the rest of her life." He grumbled before gathering up his family and leading them out of King's Cross, disregarding the secretive grin on Lily's face, or the knowing one of Ginny's.

A/N: AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. ATTACK OF THE ABSENT AUTHOR. OMG I suck. I totally know it. It's been SO LONG since I updated this. I don't know why, because I absolutely adore this pairing and I'm fond of my idea here. Anyway, I like this chapter well enough. I'll understand if you send me a bunch of hate mail and flames and set up a mini-mob of the interwebs.

BUT, if you liked the chapter you can tell me that in a side note with your threats of violence and proclamation of loathing. Just saying, you know. C:

Thanks for reading!

-Alaina