Could an alliance between Slytherin and Gryffindor ever work? Lily Luna Potter comes face to face with Severus Snape's portrait in the Headmaster's chambers, and it changes everything for her. Lily Luna Potter/Scorpius Malfoy, some Lily Evans/Severus Snape. Post-Hogwarts. Ultimately, like all my stories, this too is a love letter to Severus Snape.

Note: I made Scorpius Malfoy a lovable rogue, so if that doesn't fit with your head-canon, this fic is not for you. :)

It had been Lily Luna Potter's greatest wish to summer in Glastonbury, where legendary Avalon once was. In the summer before her fifth year at Hogwarts, the family decided to indulge her for once, and they went there.

Legend had it that Glastonbury Tor had centuries ago been surrounded by lake, and that today, certain people, special people, could still see it, and even call the barge of Avalon to them. Despite her advanced years and pragmatic ways, Lily still had a romantic streak in her a mile wide, and one misty morning as they made their way to visit the Tor, she broke away from her family, hoping to find the secret gateway to the ancient world of King Arthur and the Lady of the Lake.

She searched for about a quarter of an hour, not sure if she really believed she'd find anything, though the air was still misty enough to enrapture her in mystery. She'd just entered a small wood that had cast strange shadows about her like the Forbidden Forest, and she was about to go back when a voice said behind her "My Lady?"

Instantly she turned round, only to see what she almost believed at first was Lancelot himself, so heightened was her imagination: a young man fair of hair and noble of brow, tall and slender with the grace of knights long past.

However, the pale hair on his head and the wide grey eyes suddenly revolved into familiar features, and she stepped back when she realized that before her was none other than her brother James's arch enemy, and the son of her dad's ancient foe: Scorpius Malfoy.

The entranced expression on his face similarly dissolved as he grew to recognize her, and his pale brows creased into a frown as he said "Potter. What are you doing here?"

"What are you doing here?" she equally demanded.

"My family's summer estate is over yonder," he said, pointing to the east.

"My family's here on vacation," she replied.

"Then what are you doing here alone?"

"I think the same thing you're doing here," she observed wryly.

"Oh? What might that be?" he asked, crossing his arms in front of him.

"Looking for the Lake, of course."

"There's no such thing."

"Is that so."

She held his gaze in hers for a moment, till he finally glanced away, and she smiled to herself.

"Well," she decided then. "We can look for it together, can't we?"

"With you?" he asked with a sneer.

"Oh come on," she said, coming up to him and tugging on his sleeve. "We're not at Hogwarts, you know. No one will know we were together."

"I won't tag along with James Potter's sister."

"I'm not James, you know," she pointed out. "It's not me you have a quarrel with."

He tilted his head and studied her curiously for a moment. Then he laughed.

"You're a funny one, you know that?" he observed at last.

"Never mind that. Let's go."

The spoke no more as they circled the little wood, which seemed to them after all to be the most likely place. But after about a half an hour or so, Scorpius sat down on a fallen log, and said "I've had enough. It's not here."

She was reluctant to give up now that he'd done, even though a moment before she'd felt the same way. "Perhaps we're doing something wrong," she suggested. "Perhaps we need to chant a spell, or something."

"No," he said, shaking his head. "I think they're all dead and gone, now." He said it as if it made him sad, and she found herself sharing in that sadness.

"I don't think it's that," she replied, sitting down next to him. "Rather, I think-well, d'you know how the wizarding world had hid itself from the Muggles? Well, I think the people of the Lost Isle had hid themselves from us in the same way."

"But why?" Scorpius asked, turning to her. "Why would they do that?"

She shrugged. "Maybe for the same reasons. D'you blame them, though? After all, they dodged both Wizarding Wars, didn't they?"

They both chuckled at that, then he grew serious, and said "Well if that's the case then, it must mean they're still here someh-"

Suddenly, he grew still as he glimpsed something behind her shoulder.

"Lily," he whispered, laying a hand on her arm.

She silently turned round, only to see through the mist...what looked like the glimmering waters of a lake before them.

"Lily," he whispered, taking her hand and pulling her up from the log. "Is it...?"

Before she could answer though, a voice broke through the mist "LILY! LILY POTTER! WHERE ARE YOU?"

At the sound of the voice the lake vanished, and she and Scorpius exchanged looks before they each darted off in separate directions, Lily running as fast as she could toward the voice of her exasperated, worried mother.

For as long as she could remember, Lily Luna Potter had been compared to her paternal grandmother, a witch she'd never met but who seemed always held over her head like a reproach.

"Your grandmother Lily was a very brave woman," came the refrain whenever, say, Lily Luna didn't feel like coming downstairs to meet Dad's dull friends from the Ministry (though it was never shyness on her part, but rather a keen aversion to boredom). Or "Your father and your brother get their eyes from Grandmother Lily," which Lily Luna would muse about resentfully as she stared into the mirror at her own plain brown eyes, decidedly not bright and green and pretty like her dad's or Albus's. Or worse, someone would shove under her nose a picture of this perfect grandmother, with her perfect green eyes and her beautiful face and handsome husband and everything Lily Luna had not, except for the name and the hair, the latter of which was Lily Luna's one point of physical pride and which she let grow down to her waist in the old way.

Of course, on top of everything else, this grandmother was so great that not only was she married to a popular, rich Quidditch player, but also was the object of romance for one of the heroes of the Second Wizarding War, Severus Snape himself.

Everybody knew who Severus Snape was, of course. Dad talked about him sometimes, when James and Albus would ask him about Wizarding War 2 over and over again. And there was a statue of him at the Ministry of Magic, though of course it wasn't as big as Albus Dumbledore's. On top of that, every other boy in Slytherin House was named Severus, which caused quite a bit of confusion for her brother, whose middle name was also Severus but who was in Gryffindor.

She knew the story of Severus Snape and her grandmother well. Some of the girls at Hogwarts would grow dewy-eyed as they re-told each other the ancient tale, just imagine if a wizard loved one the way Severus Snape loved Lily Potter! It was rather annoying, truthfully, especially when one of the girls would giggle at Lily Luna and exclaim "But Lily, really! What's it like to know that Severus Snape was in love with your grandmum? Imagine! He could have been your granddad!"

"Maybe he was," sneered Scorpius Malfoy as he intruded into the Gryffindor girls' compartment on the Hogwarts Express. "That's what Rita Skeeter thinks, anyway."

"Scorpius!"

"Well," Scorpius shrugged, unceremoniously sitting right next to Rose Weasley and smoothing his pale hair back from his brow, "who could blame Potter's grandmum? Better to be snogging the greatest wizard of the modern age than some nobody Gryffindor git."

"Severus Snape is not the greatest wizard of the modern age, Albus Dumbledore is!" Rose shouted loyally.

"You suffer from the usual Gryffindor bias," Scorpius said in a bored tone, glancing down at his prefect badge and polishing it with his thumb. "No doubt you probably think Merlin Himself was a Gryffindor, too."

"And no doubt you think he was a Slytherin," Lily observed quietly.

"As a matter of fact, he was," Scorpius replied, immediately turning round and gazing directly at her as though he'd been waiting for her to say something. So he had noticed her presence, after all.

"How do you know?" she managed to reply.

"I'm a Slytherin, that's how."

"Now who's biased?" Lily laughed, holding out her chocolate frog card to him. A Merlin card, it so happened. "Just where does it say he was in Slytherin?"

Scorpius laughed too, plucked the chocolate frog card from her fingers.

"Imagine that," he mused, gazing at the card before returning it to her. "What's that look like then?"

She looked at what his finger pointed to, which was a serpent torque round Merlin's neck. She smirked in acknowledgement of being bested, but her smile faded when she turned her eyes to Scorpius, and found his gray gaze steadily focused on hers.

He was the first to break eye contact, biting his lip as he turned away. Something in her seemed to flip over, and a dizzying bolt went down her spine.

"Why are you in here, anyway?" Rose demanded to him now, interrupting.

"Because this is the last place anyone would expect me to be," Scorpius grinned, recovering himself. The rest of them giggled despite themselves.

While Scorpius Malfoy was a Slytherin, and as arrogant as his father, he was dashing and rebellious, and had a wry sense of humor too. Certainly, not all Gryffindor girls were immune to his charm.

"His nose, though," Rose said now, wrinkling her own dainty one as she returned to the original topic. "I suppose it's brave that he sacrificed himself for Lily's grandmum and everything, but really. You've seen the portrait of him in the Headmaster's chambers, haven't you? His nose is rather large. And he looks unwashed. I doubt Lily's grandmum would have much to do with that."

"Leave it to a girl to worry about a man's bathing habits instead of his heroism," Scorpius shook his head sadly. "Looks aren't everything, you know."

"Oh, of course not," Lily observed wryly, and the girls laughed. Scorpius was famous for his vanity-and for good reason, too.

Scorpius's eyes lit on Lily then, and he calmly studied her face for a moment before smiling to himself.

"But Severus Snape was a Slytherin!" Rose pointed out. "And you know, back then, Gryffindors and Slytherins were enemies."

"Don't tell me they aren't still, especially after Slytherin trounces Gryffindor in Quidditch," Scorpius grinned.

"Not like how it used to be, though!"

"Which is good news for you, isn't it?" Scorpius replied, wriggling his eyebrows at Lily in particular. Lily gasped.

"Anyway, ladies," Scorpius said then, standing up at last. "I'll leave you to it. Try not to miss me too much." And with a bang he was out the door.

"Insufferable," Rose muttered, shaking her head. "He thinks he's the best thing since cauldron cakes."

But Lily was hardly paying attention, since she was still trying to figure out if Scorpius Malfoy had really wriggled his eyebrows at her, or if she'd just imagined it.

Lily was used to being outshone wherever she went. Within her immediate family, James was the brash troublemaker, and Albus Severus was the quiet genius who seemed destined to live up to his namesakes-both of them. Her mother favored Albus, fussed over James, and yelled at Lily every chance she got; often, Dad had to take up for her when Mum started pecking at her too much. Lily had to make chaser for the Gryffindor Quidditch team before anyone in their massive extended family deigned to remember who she was, for she was neither beautiful like Victoire, nor brilliant like Rose. Many of Lily's friends were prettier and nicer than she was, and being tough and scrappy didn't seem to garner you much attention from the boys, except when they clapped you on the shoulder whenever you scored another point for the team. She was good at charms work though, and none of the kids in school could make a patronus like she and her brothers could (thanks to their dad). Oh, she had friends enough, certainly, and no one ever forgot her birthday. But there were times when she truly wondered if anyone would miss her, were she to run away.

This was why it had surprised her to no end when Scorpius Malfoy had noticed her. Why her? Especially since Malfoy's family had been at loggerheads with both the Potters and the Weasleys for generations, and Scorpius and James had hated each other from the beginning.

But it was also why she tended to dislike her grandmother Potter, since she seemed to represent everything Lily Luna was not. However, as one could not stoop to hate one's own ancestors, she'd turned her hatred onto Severus Snape instead, for being so brave and heroic and brilliant, yet throwing it all away on a pretty face: a woman who not only failed to return his affections, but also married his own arch enemy.

Lily Luna Potter was fifteen years old by the time she had gotten into enough trouble to earn a visit to the Headmaster's chambers.

By her brother Albus's standards-top student of the school and Gryffindor prefect to boot-this was incredibly irresponsible of her, and he shook his head in detached disappointment before turning back to his books. By her brother James's standards, however, it was rather late in coming, since James's first trip to the Headmaster's occurred about two hours after he was sorted.

It was all because of Scorpius Malfoy. Over the last few weeks, he'd begun to tease her constantly, whenever they were together. Since he was a year ahead of her they didn't share any classes, but they both were on their Houses' respective Quidditch teams, and they saw each other during games whether they were playing each other or not. They were both chasers, and both quite good, and so whenever he got a chance, Scorpius with his Slytherin mates would taunt her about her flying, her bad eyesight, her lack of coordination. It hurt her far more than she care to admit to herself, especially since she'd begun to imagine that he...well.

All things considered, she might have been able to put a brave face on it, if he hadn't taunted her so badly after the Slytherin/Gryffindor match for missing the goal that led to Slytherin's win. If he hadn't done that, she-eyes stinging, cheeks flushed-wouldn't have punched him in the nose, causing blood to squirt out of both his nostrils as the bone broke with an ugly crunch.

At once Slytherin and Gryffindor were up in arms: the Slytherins for the attack on their champion, the Gryffindors (except for some of the girls) triumphant that one of theirs should lay low that smug Malfoy snake. But amid all the shouting and shoving between the red and gold and the green and silver, Lily surprised an expression of stunned hurt on Scorpius's face before they were pulled away from each other by their own Houses.

"What on earth do you mean by attacking another student, Miss Potter?" Headmistress McGonagall exclaimed as she peered through her spectacles at an abashed Lily. "I don't care if he was insulting you, that's no way to respond! And," she added, "as former head of Gryffindor, I'm sadly disappointed that you should bring such dishonor to our House! What would your parents have to say?"

Lily's shame was suddenly turned on its head by that last statement, and she smirked a little as she muttered "According to Uncle Ron, Dad wouldn't shrink from a starting a row himself. Especially when it came to a Malfoy."

"Such arrogance. But then, one cannot expect much more from a Potter," murmured a voice behind the Headmistress-and Lily peered around Professor McGonagall to find a portrait of a man with a large nose and long, oily black hair, wearing an expression of disapproval on his sallow face. Lily was almost certain she knew who this was.

After suffering the humiliation of having her private hopes dashed, she was done with Slytherins, especially those who were smug and arrogant and rude and chased after girls who didn't want them while they ignored the ones who did and-

"You!" she shouted at the portrait, even as the portrait's expression changed from disapproval to surprise as it came face to face with her. "No one asked you! You think you're so great because you helped to defeat Voldemort, but my own grandmum wouldn't even have you! I don't care if everyone thinks you're a hero! I hate you!"

Her words had the effect she sought: the portrait looked stricken, and something within her kindled with a cruel glee before the Headmistress stood up to her full height, and gazed coldly down at her.

"Lily Potter," the Headmistress said quietly. "I don't know what has gotten into you lately, but you are going down a bad path, my dear. I want you to apologize to Professor Snape immediately, and show him the respect that he deserves."

"No!" Lily shouted, feeling tears sting her eyes. "He's the one who insulted me first! He should be the one to say sorry."

"You will not leave this room until you apologize," the Headmistress glowered down at her. Then she swept out of the room without a look back.

Lily grit her teeth and turned away when the door closed behind the Headmistress. She'd be damned if she apologized first to that great greasy git. Now she understood what Uncle Ron meant. Now she knew why her grandmum had rejected him. It wasn't because he was ugly: it was because he was a bloody bastard.

Her anger grew incandescent, and she beamed it onto a lone pale flower that floated within a clear vase on the Headmistress's desk. The flower began to spin, opening and closing rapidly till it was a mere blur, before it stopped and sunk to the bottom at last, its petals waving feebly.

"You truly are her granddaughter," a quiet voice said.

Startled, Lily glanced up, only to see the dour painting staring down at her with something like sadness.

"But they always go out of their way to tell me how I'm not," she surprised herself by replying. Instantly she felt foolish, and shook her head.

"I don't know who 'they' are, but I assure you, all who would have been in a position to know are dead," the portrait answered.

"Well, they know what everyone knows: she was brave, she was beautiful, she had green eyes," Lily shrugged, forgetting she was supposed to be mad at him.

"Hmph," the portrait said in disgust. "That's not all that distinguished her."

"What, then?" she asked now, taking a step toward him. Suddenly, she needed to know: she needed to know what it was about her grandmother that made this man sacrifice everything for her.

The portrait glanced away, as though sensible he'd said more than he'd cared to reveal.

"Please," she said, then added somewhat guilefully, "I'd like to know more about her, Sir. And only you can tell me."

The corner of the portrait's mouth twitched, but he glanced back at her, and his dark gaze took her in from top to toe. His eyes were black as coal, but somehow no longer menacing.

"Her feet turned in, just like yours do," he said at last. "She bit her nails, too. Your hair is the exact color as hers. Many people think all red hair is the same, but it's not. The Weasleys' hair is garish; but hers..." the portrait's eyes suddenly grew faraway. "Hers was like an autumn sunset."

Lily became impatient. "Do you mean to say she was special because of her hair?"

"Your father was also rash and insolent," the portrait sneered, the wistfulness in his tone suddenly gone. "I imagine you'd heard quite a few unsavory things about me from him, haven't you? No doubt it was he who was so eager to spread word about the break between your grandmother and myself." His voice seemed to grow colder and colder, and the disdainful look returned in his eyes.

"What? No!" Lily said, aghast. "Why would he do that? You saved his life, everyone knows it! It was he who told everyone how you helped him!" she explained. "It's because of him that there's a statue of you in the Ministry! It's because of him that your portrait hangs here! He's your biggest champion!"

The portrait now looked so confused that she laughed. "What! You didn't know all this? Don't those other pictures tell you anything?" She glanced at the one beside him, and realized that it was Albus Dumbledore's. But as his portrait appeared to be sleeping, she couldn't ask him for assistance.

She laughed again. "My brother, you know, was named after him and you," she said, pointing to Dumbledore's portrait, then to Severus's.

"What?" Snape's portrait asked blankly. "James-"

"No, no! My other brother, Albus Severus," she said. "You'll never find him in here though, because he's a genius and a prefect and never gets into trouble. He's so proud to be a Gryffindor but I know that he secretly collects chocolate frog cards of you and-Well what's the matter now?" she asked when the portrait just gaped at her. "You don't even know you have a chocolate frog card?"

"Excuse me," the portrait said, glancing away. "This is all rather...Um." But then, his eyes seemed to light on the bandages on her hand, and he suddenly asked "What happened to you."

"Didn't you hear McGonagall?" she asked. "I punched Scorpius Malfoy in the nose."

"But why?"

"Because he was teasing me," Lily said. Now it was her turn to look away.

"Ah."

"Well? I suppose you wouldn't let people get away with teasing you."

"True. But I found hexes to be much less messy."

Lily smiled at that, then giggled. To her surprise, Severus smirked a little too.

"Why was he teasing you, though?" Severus asked now. "Surely it wasn't merely because you were a Gryffindor."

"Because I lost the game to Slytherin."

"You're on the Quidditch team? I should have known. Nevertheless, why should his teasing you invite such a physical reaction?"

"No reason," she replied, even though she felt her cheeks grow hot.

"I see."

She glanced up at him, and found him staring down at her with cool speculation.

"Let me tell you a story," he said after a time, "of a boy who once teased a girl incessantly. The girl couldn't understand why the boy would not leave her alone. This went on for years. The girl was certain the boy hated her, until one day, they married. Incidentally, the girl," Severus finished coldly, "had your name."

"My grandmother?" Lily asked. Severus didn't reply.

"Oh." She glanced at the smooth stone floor, then shrugged, said "Then I suppose you should have teased her more, Sir."

"Or perhaps, young girls should learn to not. fancy. teasing boys."

"What if he's in Slytherin though? The boy, I mean. Should she make an exception?" She bit her lip. "Or is it only bad when it's great arrogant Gryffindor Quidditch gits with stupid hair?"

To her amusement the portrait snorted, and Lily grinned.

"I knew that'd get a laugh out of you, Sir. Dad said you hated Grandfather like a plague, and with some good reason, too, since he was something of a prick to you."

"Lily Potter!"

She giggled uncontrollably, then sat in the Headmistress's chair, spun around in it. This was the best fun she'd had in ages.

"You should not be sitting there, Miss Potter. Ten points from Gryffindor for your cheek."

"Wait a minute, you can't take away House points!"

"I can't, can I? What do you suppose I'll tell the Headmistress when she returns?"

"I thought we were friends!"

"You still haven't apologized."

"I'm sorry, Sir."

Suddenly, she heard footsteps coming toward the door, and she remembered she wanted to know what made her grandmother so great. So hurriedly she said "You were going to tell me what was so special about her, Sir. My grandmother, that is. Please, what was it?"

"Lily Potter." The portrait now gazed down at her with an expression of utmost earnestness, all traces of earlier humor gone. "The next time someone says to you that you are not like her, tell them...tell them Severus Snape begs to differ."

Right then the door opened and McGonagall swept in, saying "It's about time, Miss Potter. Now, we will see to your detention. Madame Pomfrey has a bit of work for you to do. Come along..."

"What do you mean, then, Potter?" Scorpius demanded when he caught her alone the next day before her Potions class. His nose seemed to be healed, though he looked a bit black and blue around the eye sockets.

"Is there a problem, Malfoy?" she asked in an innocent voice, even though internally her heart stuttered at the sight of his dazzling grey eyes.

"A bit," he sneered. "Most people would take exception to having their nose punched in."

"Or maybe it's more that they'd take exception that a girl had done it."

He knocked her bag from her hands, then pushed her against the wall. Up close, his eyes were the iron of a winter sky.

In a flash her hand was in her pocket, then her wand was in her hand, and she shoved its tip beneath Scorpius's chin.

"Do it," he whispered, quirking one pale eyebrow.

She remembered what the portrait had told her last night. So with a flame of challenge rising in her, she leaned forward, and pressed her lips to Scorpius's.

Lily half believed he'd shudder back and run away, if not knock her flat; instead, he just gaped at her blindly for a moment, before he gripped her face between his hands, then kissed her so hard the back of her head banged against the wall and she saw stars.

By the time Peeves found them and began to sing a song about "Scorpius and Lily sitting in a tree," Lily was dizzy and breathless, her cheeks flushed, her mouth swollen. Scorpius looked no better, as his face was pink and he looked blurry and dazed and quite delicious, honestly.

"Salazar Slytherin, how I've wanted to do that," he murmured, shaking his head. Then he gave her a lopsided smile, said "Well, we've missed class anyway. Come along then."

"Where are we going?" she asked as he grasped her hand and pulled her along down the hallway. She recalled what her dad said about Apparating, and she thought this is what it must feel like, except better.

"To the lake. I want to show you something."

It was a chilly fall day, but the cool air was refreshing against her flushed face. There was a smell of burning leaves somewhere, and the sky seemed the color of Scorpius's eyes right then: not iron, but the sheen of soft rainclouds. He pulled her along toward the lake, where they collapsed under a rather large tree that Lily all the same had never noticed before, until now.

"Strange, isn't it?" he said, reading her mind. "One can't really see this tree from the grounds, but as you get closer, there it is!" He got up again and wandered round it, till he came to a certain spot, then stopped.

"Here," he whispered, pointing to something on the bark. "Look."

She got up again, went to where he stood. As she gazed where his finger pointed, she felt his other hand rest lightly on her shoulder, and she caught her breath.

On the bark, someone had carved in small, rough letters

S.S.

L.E.

1975

"Is it..." she began.

"Yes," he whispered. "But look," he added. Touching it, the letters vanished.

"It's charmed, you see," he said. "Now, go ahead."

"What?"

"Touch where it was."

She did. The letters returned.

"Does it work for anyone?" she asked in awe.

"No. Only certain people. I knew...I knew it'd work for you," he said, somewhat bashfully.

"Why?"

"Because," Scorpius said. "He told me."

"Who?"

"Severus."

Lily turned to him, stared at him blankly.

"You've talked to him too?" she asked, growing excited.

He nodded. Then, "he told me he'd spoken to you last night."

"How-"

"His portrait in the Slytherin common room," he explained. "I made my father get Slytherin House one of its own," he added proudly, "and when everyone's asleep I go and talk to him."

"Why?"

"Why? Because he's one of the greatest Slytherins who ever lived!"

"And he talks to you?"

"Yes. He says he gets very bored sometimes, and he doesn't mind the company."

"What does he say?"

"Well, he likes to talk about Potions a lot," Scorpius smirked. "He's helped me a lot with my homework, you know. And he just knows loads and loads of things. Especially about the Wizarding Wars, and the time in between. I think...I think it must get lonely sometimes, just hanging around in a frame all day."

Lily giggled at that, then bit her lip.

"Why me," she asked after a time.

"I suppose because you're her granddaughter," he replied.

"I don't mean that."

Scorpius frowned at her. "I could ask the same of you."

"What?"

"After all, I'm a Malfoy," he pointed out. "Your dad and my dad hated each other for years. And my whole family hates the Weasleys. 'Blood-traitors', they say."

"Yes, exactly!"

"All right. You know Teddy Lupin?"

"Of course I know Teddy!"

"Well then. You know his grandmum? She was a Black, you know. My grandmum's sister, in fact."

"I didn't know that!"

"Yes. And your dad's godfather was a Black, too, but he was in Gryffindor. And so maybe I've inherited that thing in the Black family that likes to go their own way."

"Well, maybe I inherited that thing in the Evans family that likes Slytherins."

"Are you saying that your grandmum and Severus really did snog?"

"Scorpius! I'm saying that I think she may have fancied him a little, anyway."

"How so?"

"Because he's...nice," she shrugged.

Scorpius laughed. "I'll be sure to tell him you think so."

Then she asked "Why does he talk to you though?"

Scorpius looked at the ground. "I suppose it's because I understand him."

"What...Oh."

She felt her cheeks burn again, then realized with some surprise how comfortable she'd felt around him. It was as though they'd spoken to each other like this every day of their lives.

"Thing is," Scorpius said, then hesitated. "Thing is," he went on more decidedly, "I knew she had to be a great witch, your grandmum, for someone like Severus Snape to fancy her so. And since you're her granddaughter...I bet you're very like her."

She was about to say she was not, until she remembered what the portrait told her.

"You seem to look up to him a lot," she replied instead.

"Why not? He was brilliant, brave, and-well, there aren't a whole lot of Slytherins one can look up to nowadays, you know. Leastways, besides Merlin and Salazar Slytherin himself," Scorpius opined. "D'you know," he smirked now, taking her hand, "I almost asked the Sorting Hat to put me in Gryffindor, just to piss my grandfather off?"

"No!"

"Yes!"

"Why didn't you then?"

"I was afraid he'd cut me out of his will."

They both laughed, then he said "Wait till he finds out I'm dating a Gryffindor! Potter's daughter, no less!"

"What?" she asked in surprise. "When did this happen?"

"Oh." Scorpius bowed his head over her hand, asked "Will you go out with me, my Lady?"

Something in her grew still, as she recalled that this was how he'd addressed her at Glastonbury Tor before he knew who she was. Then she smiled to herself, realizing that she wasn't the only one who'd thought about that encounter ever since. No wonder he brought her to the lake today.

"What if I said 'No'?" she asked playfully now, secure in his affections.

"Then I'd slash Snape's portrait, because he promised me you'd say yes."

"Why that-that toerag!" Lily exclaimed, affronted.

"Well?" he smiled down at her, but something in his eyes flickered with uncertainty. She almost told him No, just to see what he would do. But she didn't.

"I think you talk too much," she said at last, grasping his green and silver tie and pulling his face down to hers.

"She's going out with Scorpius bloody Malfoy!" James yelled, pointing an accusatory finger at her the moment Ginny and Harry met them at Nine and three quarters for Christmas break.

"Will you stop making a scene," Albus muttered over the parchment he was reading. "All of King's Cross doesn't need to know."

"Ugh, look at her!" James growled as Lily glanced over her shoulder and waved once more at Scorpius, who waved back and mouthed I'll write soon. His dad seemed to look at Scorpius, then Lily, then Scorpius in something like shock, though his mum smirked to herself as she drew her arm around her son's shoulder.

"Lily, you aren't old enough to date," Ginny began scolding her immediately. "Who gave you permission to do so?"

"And I caught them snogging, Mum!" James exclaimed, fairly dancing up and down in indignation. "And skiving off class to do so!"

"Listen to who's accusing whom of skiving off class," Albus rolled his eyes. In one of those strange twists of fate, Albus, the younger, towered over James, the elder, though James was brawny while Albus was reed-thin.

"Sod off, Snivelly."

"Hey!" Harry snapped his fingers at James. "Knock that off."

"Sorry, Dad."

"Anyway, what's this?" Harry asked Lily as he took her bag and put an arm around her. "Is James telling the truth?"

Lily blushed a little, then said "Please don't be angry, Dad. Scorpius is ever so nice to me, really."

Her dad hid a smile behind his collar. But then he sobered a little, said "Well, but if your mum says you're not old enough to date-"

"We're not getting married, Dad!"

"That'd be an interesting wedding," her dad observed with a small grin.

"You aren't mad though?"

"About Scorpius? Because he's a Malfoy, or because he's a Slytherin?"

"Either. Both. I don't know."

"Neither, love," Harry said, tightening his arm around her shoulders. "I want you to find someone who will be good to you, and who you will love honestly, no matter his surname or his House. But if your mum thinks you're too young-"

"Dad! You're not really telling her it's okay to date Malfoy?" James complained.

"No he isn't," Ginny replied, shooting Harry a look. "Lily's not old enough, and that's that."

"When's 'old enough' then Mum?"

"You're not saying it's okay if she dates him when she is old enough, right?"

"Let her date a hippogriff if she wants to," Albus mumbled behind his parchment. "Why does it matter to you?"

"He's a Slytherin!"

"So? Severus Snape was one, too."

"Uncle Ron says he's a greasy git."

"Uncle Ron has a brain the size of a Bertie Bott Every Flavor Bean, and Severus Snape was a genius."

"Oh, that reminds me!" Lily exclaimed, jumping up and down. "I talked to him! Severus, I mean."

Right then the whole family stopped in their tracks, and stared at her.

"How?" her father asked.

"Well," she said shyly, looking down at the ground, "I got detention-"

"What?" "Lily!"

"I know I know, but it was because Scorpius was teasing me-"

"And she punched him right in the nose!" James laughed. "You were all right, Lily, till you decided to let him get his slimy mitts on you."

"Shhh," Albus said, shoving James's shoulder. "What did he tell you, Lily?"

"Well, I was in the Headmaster's, and Severus-his portrait started talking to me!"

"What did he say?"

"Well, at first he said something like I was arrogant like all Potters-"

"See? I told you."

"Shh. What else?"

"Then I yelled at him and said grandmum didn't even want him and that I hated him."

Albus seemed to blanch at this, then recovered himself to glare at her in disgust. "Brilliant," he muttered. "Now he'll think we're all like you and James."

"Why has he never spoken to me?" James demanded.

"Probably because you're such a prat he pretended to be asleep every time you showed up," Lily sneered.

"Lily!"

"Anyway, McGonagall made me apologize to him but I wouldn't, so she left me there with him till I did. Except we had a nice long chat before I said I was sorry, and he told me I was like Grandmum and that when boys tease you it means they fancy you and he basically set me and Scorpius up."

"He told you that?"

"Well, no, Scorpius did because there's a portrait of Severus in Slytherin House too, so-"

"I can't believe it," Harry said, shaking his head. "Severus Snape, matchmaker."

"He's very nice, Dad," Lily nodded.

"I'm glad to hear it," Harry smiled ruefully.

"Well that means that Lily has to date Scorpius," Albus pointed out. "If Severus Snape sanctioned it."

"Dad, are you sure you didn't name him Severus Albus instead of Albus Severus?"

"Shut up, you ignorant flobberworm."

That night, a couple hours after she'd gone to bed, there was a tap on her window. She looked up, and smiled when she saw a snowy white owl with a black spot on its brow holding a letter.

After she'd quietly opened the window and let the owl in, she took the letter from him, unrolled it, and read. When Scorpius had said "soon," she'd hardly dared hope he meant immediately.

Dear Lil:

I've hardly been home for half a day, and already my parents are driving me distracted. Well, my dad, anyway. He kept asking me why I was looking over at you at King's Cross this afternoon and why you were looking over at me. I finally let him have it, and you should have seen the expression on his face! Poor Father! 'Well, that's the Black in you, I suppose,' he said at last. He didn't seem angry though, which surprised me. What do your parents think?

I'm already missing you. Write soon. I hope we can meet during break. You know who else I miss? Severus. Sometimes it seems he is my best friend, aside from you.

Love,

S.

She got up from bed and lay the letter on her desk. As the owl waited, she unrolled a fresh sheet of parchment, uncorked her ink, and picked up her quill, to write:

Dear Scorpius:

I was ever so glad to get your letter. I hadn't been able to sleep this night, you best would know why. I'm glad your dad wasn't angry. My dad wasn't angry either. Mum thinks I'm too young to date, though. Albus doesn't care, he said I could date a hippogriff and it wouldn't matter to him. James however had a stinking fit, right in King's Cross, too! He won't speak to me now.

It'd be lovely to see you during break. Maybe we can meet at Diagon Alley? Let me know what you'd like to do.

I miss Severus too, even though I'd only talked to him the one time. When we get back to Hogwarts, you should try to sneak me into the Slytherin common room so that I can say hello to him. I can ask Aunt Hermione to give me her polyjuice recipe. One time my dad and Uncle Ron used polyjuice potion to pretend to be Slytherins in order to get information from your dad. Isn't that wild?

Write soon.

Love, Lil

"Dad," Lily said to her father over breakfast the next day, "would it be all right if I went to Diagon Alley during break?"

"Do you need more school supplies, love?" Harry asked as he scooped a portion of eggs onto his plate.

"Er," she hesitated, glancing over at her mum, then James. James scowled.

"I know why! She wants to meet that Malfoy git!" he exclaimed.

"I thought you weren't speaking to me," Lily sneered at him.

"But that's the reason, isn't it? Dad!"

"No she is not, because she's too young to date," Ginny said flatly over her tea. "Isn't that right, Lily."

"But Mum," Lily complained. "Why can't I just see him? We won't do anything."

Albus lowered his head and sniggered behind his Daily Prophet. Lily shot him a look. "What?" she asked.

"You'd better let her, Mum," Albus said to their mother, "otherwise she'd just find a way to sneak off."

Lily scowled at him. As a matter of fact that had been her plan, had her parents refused. After all, she and her brothers have been nicking the Invisibility Cloak for ages without their dad's being aware of it.

"I have a better idea," Harry announced. "Why don't we invite him over for supper?"

Ginny spluttered out her tea; Albus choked on his toast; James gnashed his teeth; and Lily gazed at her father with wonder, and admiration.

"I won't sit at the same table as that sneaky arse!" James shouted, standing up from his seat.

"Sit down and finish your breakfast," Harry ordered. "Now, Ginny, what do you think?"

"But she's too young to date, Harry-"

"Who said it had to be a date? They're friends, too, I should say-at least I hope so-and so what's the problem with inviting her friend for supper? Besides," he added, "it would allow us to get to know him better."

"And it would tie Draco into knots," Ginny rejoined with a smirk.

"Right you are, my wife," Harry grinned wickedly. Lily laughed.

"I say, Father, I think it's a splendid idea," Albus nodded. "Scorpius isn't a bad sort, for a Slytherin, and he can tell us all about Severus's portrait too."

Lily smiled at him her gratitude. Albus did have a tendency to take her part, especially against James's wily ways.

"What is the matter with all of you?" James shouted. "He's a Slytherin, and a Malfoy! Don't forget what that family has done to ours!"

"And don't forget that Scorpius's grandmother helped save my life," Harry replied quietly. "It might have been only to protect her son, but still."

"I didn't know that," Lily said softly.

Harry nodded. "Not all Slytherins are bad, and it's time James realized this," Harry said. "I used to think as he did-and certainly, there was a time when Slytherin was synonymous with Lord Voldemort-but if it hadn't been for Narcissa Malfoy, then I'd be nowhere. If it hadn't been for Severus Snape, I probably would not have lived beyond my eleventh year." Harry turned his eyes to Lily now, and he went on "As a matter of fact, Draco Malfoy also helped me in his own way. He could have easily thrown me to Bellatrix Lestrange, but he didn't."

"I'll write to Astoria to ask if Scorpius can come over for supper then," Ginny mused over her tea, her eyes on her husband. "No doubt it will be one of the more unexpected letters she'll ever receive."

Scorpius had been a little stiff and reserved at first, but her dad's determination to make him feel at ease soon asserted itself, and before long, Scorpius and Harry were laughing uproariously as Scorpius described Draco's reaction to his son's being invited to the Potters'.

"Poor Father looked like he'd been Langlocked when Mother read him Mrs. Potter's letter," Scorpius smiled, blinking tears of mirth from his eyes. "I dare say it was the last thing he'd ever expected to hear."

"I dare say you're right," Harry grinned, handing Scorpius a butterbeer. "Poor Draco."

"But he didn't obstruct me, which says quite a lot for the good man," Scorpius nodded over his butterbeer. "He can be rather pompous and set in his ways, but he's nothing like Grandfather."

"Ah, yes. Lucius," Harry observed, bemused. Ginny cleared her throat then, and excused herself.

Albus, while fiercely proud to be a Gryffindor, had nothing against Scorpius personally, and therefore did not hold any rancor toward him as he leaned forward and asked "So Lily here tells us that you've a portrait of Severus Snape in the Slytherin common room, and that he has quite a lot to say."

Scorpius darted his eyes to Lily, and she shrugged, waved at him.

"Well, it's not common knowledge," Scorpius replied hesitantly, though he arched an eyebrow at Lily's smirk, "but yes, I have spoken with him from time to time."

"Does he not speak to people in general?"

"As far as I can tell, no."

"Why you, then?"

Scorpius shrugged, said "Who knows?" Lily knew he was being evasive, but she thought better than to coax him to speak more on the subject.

"Well, what does he say?" Albus asked, his green eyes eager. "Does he talk about the Wars? Does he talk about Dumbledore?"

"Occasionally," Scorpius answered, crossing his ankles.

"What's he like? Is he severe? Dad says he was very severe."

"He is, but he's also funny," Lily broke in.

"'Funny'?" Harry asked her, flabbergasted.

"Yes! He laughed at my joke, and make a joke of his own."

Harry looked at her like she'd grown three heads, and Scorpius concurred "He does have a sense of humor, Sir. Rather dry, but it's there."

"Has he told you any potioning secrets? Did he tell you how he came up with Sectumsempra?"

"Albus!" Harry exclaimed.

"Just academic curiosity, Father," Albus assured him. "Severus Snape was brilliant, you know. I'm merely curious how a mind like his works."

Scorpius looked at Albus with approval, and Lily smiled.

After supper (which went smoothly enough, since James in a huff had gone to stay with Uncle Ron and Aunt Hermione), Scorpius made his departure (but not before craftily cornering Lily in secret to steal a sweetly illicit kiss), and Harry said after he'd seen him off "Well then, Lily, d'you know who he reminds me of? Besides his dad, I mean."

"Who?" Lily asked as she helped clean up the dining table.

"My godfather, Sirius Black," Harry replied. "Oh not in looks, to be sure. But he's got Sirius's sense of humor, and he's rather dashing in that same way. Independent, too," Harry added with a smirk.

"He did say he thinks he takes after the side of the Black family that likes to go their own way," Lily told him.

"So he does."

"Well?"

"Well," Harry said, coming up to her and touching her shoulder. "He's welcome over here, any time."

"Are you sure this is going to work?"

"Shh! And yes, I'm sure! No one is awake right now."

"What if someone gets out of bed though?"

"Too bad for them. I'm a prefect, I'll just send them back to their dorm."

Disguised with black hair and a green and silver tie, Lily Potter was led down to the dungeons by Scorpius Malfoy, his warm hand in hers making her feel safe and secure, despite her trepidation.

"Besides," Scorpius whispered with amusement now, "what's the worst that could happen? You could get sent to the Headmaster's chambers again, and talk to Severus that way."

Lily giggled behind her hair, but then fell silent when they reached a blank wall.

"Levicorpus," Scorpius whispered, and suddenly a door materialized from the stone.

"Wicked," Lily murmured under her breath.

"Come on then," Scorpius said, leading her through the door.

On the other side of it was a great chamber lit with dim green light, filled with carved snakes and skulls which gave it a decidedly creepy air.

"It's like being in a graveyard," Lily whispered to him as he led her before the fireplace. But then she stopped dead when she looked up, and saw the portrait that hung over the hearth.

It was larger than the one in the Headmaster's chambers, and more detailed, so that Lily was able to see every strand of black hair, every line around the eyes. She could gaze with impunity too, for it appeared that Professor Snape was sleeping at the moment, his arms folded loosely, a faint frown on his brow.

Quietly, she pulled a footstool up to the fireplace, and stood on it, so that she could study him in detail. Strange: but up close, he didn't seem as ugly as she'd remembered. Maybe it was because, in slumber, he no longer wore that stern expression, but seemed almost...

"Oh!" she gasped when he suddenly opened her eyes.

"What?" he hissed, blinking back in surprise.

"It's all right," Scorpius whispered to the portrait now, standing up on the footstool likewise. "Just me. And you know who this is, I think."

The portrait gazed soberly down at Lily for a moment, then nodded curtly.

"Miss Potter," he addressed her in a formal tone. Then, his eyes wandering over her black hair, he added "I preferred it the other way."

"It's just a disguise," she replied as though this should have been obvious. "What would you have done if a Gryffindor had broken into the Slytherin common room?"

"I would have taken fifty points from Gryffindor," the portrait replied dourly.

"See?"

"Why are you here?" the portrait demanded, then glanced at Scorpius before turning his gaze back to Lily again.

"I wanted to say Hi," she shrugged, a bit bashful now.

Severus sniffed. "'Hi'?"

She grinned. "Yes! I was jealous the way Scorpius said he was always getting to talk to you, so I made him let me talk to you too."

"Hmm," Severus replied, lifting his eyebrows skeptically. Lily giggled, then aped his expression till Severus smirked.

"Lily! Don't be so rude!" Scorpius admonished her, though he too had a faint smile on his face.

"I'm not! Am I?" she queried the portrait.

"No more than one would expect from a Potter," the portrait observed dryly.

"Ha! You see, Scorpius? Like we told Dad, Professor Snape had a sense of humor."

"What are you telling your father about me?" the portrait asked severely.

"It's all right, Sir. I was over at the Potters' for supper during break," Scorpius explained, "and Lily had to go tell everyone about the portrait of you here," he added, narrowing his eyes at her. She grinned. "So of course her brother-Albus Severus, that is-asked me all sorts of questions about you, and...Well," Scorpius finished lamely when Severus had begun to gaze at Scorpius with an expression of incredulity.

"They invited you to their house for supper?" the portrait asked in a faint voice.

"Yes. Well, Lily and me...you know," Scorpius blushed, taking Lily's hand in his.

"And your parents don't disapprove?" the portrait asked, his eyes wandering to their linked hands. Scorpius and Lily both shook their heads.

At this, the portrait sighed heavily, then turned away.

"Sir?" asked Scorpius, his brow creased with concern. Why-why, he loves him! Lily thought, amazed. He loves Professor Snape as he would a father or a grandfather-perhaps as the grandfather he wished he had, rather than the one he was stuck with.

She tugged on Scorpius's sleeve then, and when he turned to her, she gestured to the door. He nodded.

"I wonder what's the matter with him," Scorpius said after he'd led her out of the common room and escorted her toward Gryffindor Tower.

"Maybe seeing us makes him sad for what he didn't have," Lily shrugged. "Scorpius, I was thinking."

"What?"

"My grandmum...she was a great big git for not going with Severus, wasn't she?" Lily asked, turning to him.

Before Scorpius could answer, Lily pushed him against the cold stone wall, then kissed him with all her might.

"What was that for," he asked breathlessly when she released him at last. He had a faint smile on his face, but his eyes seemed sad somehow, as though full of a painful longing. Lily seemed to remember seeing this same expression in his eyes on the Hogwarts Express over a Merlin chocolate frog card, and then, later, seeing a similar expression on Professor Snape's portrait, the night she was in the Headmaster's chambers.

"Do I need a reason?" she whispered at last, touching the tip of her nose against his.

"Wait," he murmured, reaching into his pocket and pulling out his wand. "Get rid of this bloody stuff," he said, pointing the wand to her head and muttering a spell so her hair was red again.

"Better," he replied, pocketing his wand, then drawing his arms round her tightly. "And to answer your earlier question: maybe Severus was a great big git for never asking her in the first place."

"Didn't he?"

"No, he never did," Scorpius replied softly, his eyes focused on hers.

"But-"

"Shhh," he murmured, then kissed her back.

It was perhaps the strangest assembly of witches and wizards ever seen in Britain on the day Harry Potter gave away his daughter Lily Luna to Scorpius Malfoy.

The bride's side was loud and bright with redheads, in contrast to the sleek pale solemnity of the groom's. Indeed, many of the remaining Blacks and Malfoys had refused to attend at first, but Narcissa, now the matriarch of both families, bullied the reluctant invitees until they grudgingly checked "yes" on the sober invitation card. Not that she much cared for that half-Weasley witch with the Muggle stain in her ancestry, but as Scorpius was the most miraculous boy alive, he should be thwarted nothing, not even disgruntled wedding attendees from the Black/Malfoy clades. These erstwhile joy-wishers gazed bemusedly at the sea of Weasleys across from them, where all manner of chaos seemed to break out as youngsters-and not-so-youngsters-played merry loud pranks on one another.

For the Weasleys and their spouses, the wedding was something of a Hogwarts reunion, as every Weasley wedding always was. For instance, there was Lily's other namesake, Luna, with her husband Professor Longbottom, their daughter Alice by their side, her pale waterfall of hair similar to her mother's. All of Dad's Gryffindor mates were there, of course, and they all took turns asking Lily what had gotten into her, marrying her dad's arch-enemy's son! But she was glad to see they were quite nice to Scorpius, even if they were stiff, though polite, to Scorpius's father.

Scorpius himself seemed amused at both sides' confusion, but Lily knew that over the years, Scorpius had learned to love disrupting convention. During the toasts, when he stood up and swore that his and Lily's first son would be named Severus Sirius, he laughed merrily at the clash of cheers and boos that rang out, and Lily giggled because she knew that Scorpius was only half joking. It was he who suggested their wedding be red and green, but since she vetoed it as too much like Christmas, it was gold and silver instead.

Dad's speech was as soft-spoken, heartfelt, and gallant as the man himself; but when he welcomed Scorpius to his family and raised his glass to his new son-in-law, Lily had to bite back tears, since how in the world was she so lucky to have a father like this?

The entire assembly fell quiet when it was Draco's turn to speak. Unlike her own father, Draco's hair was thin, and he seemed stooped as with a weight on his shoulders, one that was too much for his frail form. He coughed a little before he began, then smiled thinly.

"Don't worry, I'll be brief," he said. There were several appreciative laughs in response.

"I suppose that whenever a man has a son, his first wish is that his son shall bring honor to himself." Draco looked round the room. "Perhaps it's not what most men will admit to their wives, but there it is. I think that most sons grow up with the understanding that their fathers expect this of them." Draco glanced down at the ground. "This was certainly true with me. Dad's gone now," he added, looking over at Narcissa, "but I'd like to think I'd made him proud, at least a little." Narcissa pressed her lips together, nodded to her son.

"Anyway," Draco said, wiping the sweat from his brow. "Some might say I'd failed, somehow, as a father, in allowing Scorpius to marry a Gryffindor. To marry into the Weasley family. To marry," here Draco rolled his eyes dramatically, "Harry Potter's daughter." A smattering of laughter here, and Lily saw her dad grinning in appreciation. "Some might say," Draco went on, holding up his hand, "that Scorpius had failed me, for wanting to do so." He paused, and looked over to where the Blacks and the Malfoys were assembled.

"But let me just say this," Draco continued. "We are Slytherins. In some ways, we are Slytherins before we are Malfoys or Blacks or what have you. And never let us forget that the ultimate traits of a Slytherin are greatness, and loyalty. Somewhere down the line, we lost focus of that, and began to confuse greatness with superiority, loyalty with prejudice. But I will tell you now that my son Scorpius Malfoy had always been great in the old manner, in whatever he set out to do; and there has never been a son more loyal..."

Draco paused here, reached into his pocket. As he wiped his eyes with his handkerchief, Scorpius squeezed Lily's hand, brought it to his lips, then stood up, and went to his father.

The assembly was silent as Scorpius led his father to his seat. But after a moment, Lily stood up and began to clap, as did, surprisingly, her brother Albus, followed by Narcissa, Astoria, then Harry. Lily beamed proudly at her father, and he nodded at her, wiped his own eyes. As even George Weasley managed to put his hands together once or twice, Lily looked round the room, and she could almost feel the Ancient Ones reach out to them right at that moment, through the mists of time and memory there at the foot of Glastonbury Tor.

-End.