"Mummy, why do I have to wear a new dress?" Eileen asked, trying her very best to stay polite as Lily tied the silky bow around her middle.

"Because, darling, today is very important. Now, hold still," Lily ordered, her tone gentle as she cast the Concealment Charm over her daughter's face, turning her striking silver eyes to the same shade of green she had. She summoned Eileen's hairbrush with Accio next and gently pulled the thing through her long raven locks.

"Why is it important?" Eileen pressed, bringing her now green eyes upwards to meet her mother's in the mirror opposite her.

"Because, darling, we're getting a new Minister of Magic," Lily explained.

"A new one?"

"Aunt Hermione," Lily continued, setting the brush down and summoning the little jacket that would match Eileen's new dress perfectly, which she put around her shoulders. "There, now. I think you look lovely, my darling."

Eileen's brow puckered then, considering. "Why do you change my eyes?"

Lily blinked. "What?" she asked.

"My eyes," Eileen said, looking back up at her mother again. "You change them whenever we're going to leave the house, or if we're around other people..."

Lily swallowed then; like her, Eileen had a very good grasp of the English language, all before the age of two, and the notion that she was very intelligent to boot was not lost on her. "Well, sweetheart, people with our surname..." She hesitated. "It's for your own protection. I promise that I'll explain when you're older, darling, but right now, I need you to trust that Mummy knows what's best for you. All right?"

Eileen sighed, still not fully satisfied, but forced herself to nod. "All right, Mummy. I'll trust you," she said at last.

"Thank you, darling," Lily said, pressing her forehead against her daughter's, knowing full well that things would go more smoothly if trust was given.

Gathering up Eileen into her arms, she casted a quick Warming Charm on the two of them; the venue of their intended destination had not yet been made public, as it was an important event that not everyone had been invited to. The last thing Lily wanted was to be plastered on the front page of The Daily Profit by Rita Skeeter, and branded a bad mother to the entire Wizarding World for not ensuring that her own daughter was warm enough. Shaking her head, Lily made sure to keep a good grip on Eileen as they Apparated to the spot outside the phone booth and slipped inside, making their way downwards as soon as the proper Muggle currency was deposited in the slot. When they got to the fireplace, they were promptly swallowed up by the green sparks, and arrived in the main thoroughfare of the Ministry of Magic where, through the crowds, she caught a glimpse of Harry and Severus standing with Al and Alice, the latter of whom was holding tiny Lilac in her arms.

"Sorry, sorry," Lily said quickly, making her way towards them, and accepting forehead kisses from Harry and Severus, and a quick hug from Al, who promptly took Eileen from her, and she stretched her arms, turning to Alice. "How is my goddaughter and niece?" she asked, stepping closer to the pair of them.

Alice gleamed underneath the praise and gently handed Lilac over to Lily, and Lily carefully took the small bundle in her arms, who squalled slightly at the transfer, but settled down immediately after Lily pressed a kiss to her forehead. "Five days have passed since she was born, and I hardly remember a time before she wasn't here," Alice said dreamily, watching Lily interacting with her daughter.

Severus chuckled darkly. "You will," he assured Alice, ignoring the glare that both Harry and Lily shot at him. "Pretty soon you'll be counting down the days until Lilac goes off to school to be sorted. Slytherin, if I may say so."

Lily glared at him. "You may not," she told him.

"Exactly," Alice said quickly. "Lilac is a Gryffindor through and through," she went on, her tone turning into an indulgent one as her eyes lowered back onto her daughter. "Of course, Al and I would be happy with any house, but something tells me our girl is a lion."

"How do you feel about this, then, Al?" Severus wanted to know, turning to his son, who was becoming quite distracted by Eileen, who was whispering secrets in his ear. "Don't you think your daughter will be in Slytherin?"

"Course not, Papa," Al said, giving a brief look towards Severus before smiling lovingly at his fiancée. "Alice is always right, especially when it comes to the children."

"Children?" Harry demanded then, quickly calming himself down when he saw Lilac fuss in Lily's arms, causing Alice to step forward, but Lily shushed and calmed her quickly, causing Alice to look on with relief. "You're planning on further children?"

"Well, of course we are, Harry," Alice said, letting out a small giggle as Al put his free arm around her waist. "I couldn't imagine going through childhood without my brother. I hope for at least one more child, a boy, so that Lilac can go through that, too."

"Somehow I think having an older brother is different than having a younger brother," Lily put in with a wry smile.

Alice turned to look at Lily. "How do you mean?"

"In that situation, protection is expected, and not necessarily resented, due to an older brother's experiences out there in the world, ones he would likely have before his younger sister," Lily explained patiently. "Whereas if it's a younger brother, they will frequently be described as a nuisance for automatically assuming that they know best in any given situation, given that the sister is older."

Al was about to cut in, to give his two Sickles on the matter, when Harry checked the time and said they would have to get going. Presumably, Harry was made aware of the correct location, given the ceremony and how high up he was in the ministry. Carefully, Lily handed Lilac back to Alice, and took Eileen back from Al as the septet meandered in a generally good clump, with Harry leading the way, Severus just behind him. They ventured towards the elevators around the fountain and official ministry statue, where Harry pressed the correct buttons before sliding his hand into Severus's, with Al and Lily rolling their eyes at one another at the intimate gesture, and Alice taking care to smack them both into respect as they walked into the elevator once it had arrived.

"And where exactly is this being held, Mr. Potter?" Severus asked his husband, and Harry smirked beneath his gaze, keying in the correct sequence of numbers as Al pulled the elevator door shut behind them.

"I should think you would be used to me surprising you by now, Professor Snape," Harry said softly, a faint flush blooming on the potion master's cheeks at his words.

"Try not to be too terribly cheeky, or I'll have to find a desk to bend you over to punish you properly," Severus said, deathly soft, to Harry.

"So glad that Lilac's memories won't form yet," Al said, putting a protective arm around Alice's waist as she giggled at the exchange.

"Going to take house points away from me, are we?" Harry wanted to know.

"Eileen is at the point where she understands you," Lily put in softly. "Please attempt to keep it in your trousers until you get back to Potter Park later."

"Mummy, what's a punishment?" Eileen asked, managing to pronounce the word, and Lily wanted to spell a binding curse upon her fathers' mouths.

"I very well may take points if we don't get there quickly enough," Severus said quietly, his granddaughter's question quickly forgotten as the elevator rumbled to a brief stop before yanking them backwards, and then finally pulled to a complete stop, the door opening automatically for them all.

"We're here," Harry said, looping his hand into Severus's and pulling him out, towards some impressive and highly-polished cherry double doors, complete with golden handles. "Good morning," he said, nodding to the guards positioned on either side, who made quick work of opening the doors for Harry and Severus to step through, followed by Lily carrying Eileen, and lastly Al, his arm still around Alice's waist, who held carefully onto Lilac.

"Auror Potter! Professor Snape!" screamed the photographers in the dark blue colored with white accents antechamber they'd all stepped into, the magical camera flashbulbs flashing immediately in their faces. "Are you happy about the election and how it turned out?"

"Senior Researcher Potter! Big smile for us, please!" the next photographer begged her, and Lily had to do her best not to cast a wandless spell at them. "Miss Eileen! Wave to us, will you, please, precious?" chorused yet another group of camera operators as they all walked by.

"Master Potter, Auror Longbottom-Malfoy, is this the official debut of Miss Lilac?" came another vocal photographer, stepping as close as permitted to the couple behind Lily, as the flashbulbs radiated throughout the room, and bounced off the crystal chandelier upon the twenty-foot-high ceilings.

Harry and Severus waited for each member of their family to smile once at their respective photographers, before they motioned for them to follow them into the next room. Lily, relieved, stepped forward quickly with Eileen, and heard Al and Alice stepping behind her. They were permitted in the next room, which was the grandest of all meeting rooms the Ministry of Magic had to offer, and were quickly shown to the Potter box in the back, just above the main pulpit, on the center of the stage. The Longbottom-Malfoy box—slightly bigger due to the fact that it housed two wizarding families—was just next door to the Potter box; the box was currently filled by Neville and Draco in the front, and Scorpius and Eloise in the back. Other boxes in the area were the Bones, the Abbotts, the Crouches, the Fawley's, the Greengrass's, the Lysander's, Macmillan's, the Ollivander's, the Shacklebolt's, the Slughorn's, the Thomas's, and, lastly, the Weasleys. The last of which was positioned on the other side of the Potter box, with Ron in the front row beside Hugo, and Rose in the back with Lysander.

The Potter box, as the family grew in various times, now sported five seats, and would be remodeled to house two more seats when the time came for Eileen and Lilac to sit on their own, but until such a time, Lily and Alice would take charge of them. Eileen was very excited at all the pomp and excitement around her, and Lily was permitted to set her down so that she could walk towards the other end of the Potter box to get a better look at the stage. From the corner of Lily's eye, she watched Eloise keeping track of Eileen's every move, and felt a lump lodging in her throat at the sight of the dark eyes watching her daughter, and quickly managed to summon Eileen back with a hasty Accio, which made Eileen laugh delightedly, and Scorpius turned to look at her for a moment, taking in Lily holding her daughter, until Eloise took him by the hand and distracted him.

Lily casted a Tempus charm when she had a mind to, and saw that the minutes were counting down quickly to noon, when she knew the announcement would be made. Staring ahead and putting her wand away, she saw Severus speaking to Draco, and Harry speaking to Ron, and wondered when the lull in the room would settle itself. Finally, noon had approached, and the clock tower outside chimed the time, and there was a sudden hush in the room as the sound of the chimes finally died down. There was a curtain stationed at the back of the stage, and when it rose, the entire stage darkened, and a puff of red smoke came forth. Stepping out of the smoke as a light beamed onto her excited face, Hermione Granger-Weasley stepped forward and came towards the pulpit, casting a wandless Sonorus Charm as she beamed at the various people connected to the Ministry of Magic around her.

"Good afternoon to the Ministry of Magic and its direct and possibly indirect associates," she said to everyone, making sure to keep her cool, given that representatives from The Profit, The Quibbler, Witch Weekly, The Wizard's Voice, and The Wizarding World Newssnapped photos or took notes of her speech. "I am happy to report that the votes are in and as of this morning, I am very pleased to announce that I am your new Minister for Magic." Hermione took a breath then, and there was an excited clamor in the news stand section, which was quickly quieted down by their respective handlers, permitting Hermione to continue. "I take over this position from a brilliant wizard, known as Kingsley Shacklebolt, who announced his retirement in the wake of his former position coming up for re-election. Shacklebolt served valiantly on the side of the Light during the Second Wizarding War, and stood in as interim Minister for Magic, before being elected by a majority of his peers. He has held this position for over twenty years, and I cannot tell you how honored I am to succeed him in such a venture. I am the first female of Muggle birth to hold this position, as the last one to hold it with my Blood Status was male, and was one Nobby Leach, who has not held this title for well over fifty years. I am proud to hold my own against the government, who for so long were so intolerant of witches like me. But, I can say that I am so relieved that such a time has passed that I, too, have the opportunity to have a voice in the Wizarding World of politics. And, it is with a heavy heart that I make this my top priority, meaning that I am handing off the new Department of Muggle Rights within the Wizarding World to Mr. Draco Malfoy and Mr. Dean Thomas, who I know will do a wonderful job with the tasks they must accomplish." Hermione took another breath then, giving Draco and Dean a moment to allow the lights to shine upon them, as they waved to the enthusiastic crowd from their respective boxes. "Now, any minister needs all the help he or she can get, and it is with great fervor that I announce to you all that my personal assistant will be none other than Miss Lily Potter, the daughter of Potions Master and Professor for Hogwarts School and Witchcraft and Wizardry, Severus Snape, and Harry Potter, Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. Lily?" Hermione said, turning around, and Lily managed to quickly hand Eileen back to Al, and got unsteadily to her feet, nearly blinded by the light as it hit her, and she gave a wave to the crowd below. "I want to thank you all to be here today, to celebrate my becoming your new minister," Hermione concluded, after Lily had slunk back into the shadows and taken ahold of Eileen again, "and now, I think we will open the floor to the newspapers and such for questions. Yes, Xenophilius Lovegood of The Quibbler?" she asked, inclining her head to the aging wizard with a bright smile.

"Did you know she was going to make that announcement about Lily?" Severus asked as Lily attempted to keep breathing from behind them.

"No," Harry replied, shaking his head at his husband. "But it's a wonderful government job, which is what she always wanted."

"She's more Potter than you realize," Severus put in.

Harry laughed. "Careful. She doesn't care for the fame."

"Neither did you," Severus replied, putting a hand on his husband's leg and squeezing it, making his husband blush.

. . .

Ever since he'd managed to finally achieve appropriate N.E.W.T.'s scores to graduate from Hogwarts, Al had settled in accordingly to his position as Official Potioneer at St. Mungo's Wizarding Hospital. It didn't hurt that his father and namesake was one of the best potion master's in Britain, let alone the world. Al had showed a proficiency for potions from the time he was a boy, and it couldn't have made Severus Snape more proud to have at least one of his children follow in his footsteps.

Al breezed in to the children's infirmary that morning, crossing to the final bed at the window, wherein sat little Henry Watkins, who was looking far more bright and alert than he'd been upon arrival. Henry was nine-years-old, and came from a Half-Blood wizarding family with a Pure-Blood mother and a Muggleborn wizard father, and he had showed wonderful bits of magic during his fortnight stay here. It was a pretty serious case of dragon pox that had brought the young wizard in, suffice it to say his French-born mother, Isabella Watkins, who had been a classmate of Gabrielle Delacour, was a bit worried for her first child.

"How is our little patient today, Mrs. Watkins?" Al asked, pulling his chair beside the bed with a conspiratory wink at Henry, before giving his full attention to his mother.

"He's been doing much better, Master Potter," Mrs. Watkins replied in a patient manner, her French accent having faded drastically since marrying her husband, Desmond Watkins, shortly after her graduation from Beauxbatons Academy of Magic. "It is the sneezing that doesn't seem to want to leave Henry, or the exhaustion."

"Yes, I see," Al replied, turning to regard Henry then; Al was pleased that his report the other day, regarding Henry's skin returning to its normal pigment, was a truth, and the rash seemed to have dissipated as well. "Perhaps a Pepper-Up potion is in order for the exhaustion. As for the rest, Mrs. Watkins, we'll continue to keep Master Henry in for observation until the sneezing and sparks stop. If that's all right with you, sir?" Al asked, grinning at his patient.

"It is too bad he didn't respond to the cure," Mrs. Watkins said softly. "I know that our girls miss their brother."

"As soon as the sneezing stops, Mrs. Watkins, Bernadette and Claudette are more than welcome to come and see Henry," Al told her softly.

"I miss them," Henry said, his normally energetic voice soft, as he spoke for the first time. "I don't want them having Daddy all to themselves."

"Aren't you happy that Mummy is here, darling?" Mrs. Watkins asked.

Henry grinned. "Of course, Mummy. Don't be sad."

"I'm not, darling, I'm not," Mrs. Watkins said quickly.

Al opened his mouth to speak again, but a nurse from the head of the ward came forward then and smiled at them.

"I've got the Pepper-Up potion for young Master Watkins," she said.

"Thank you, Helga," Al said, unstopping the vial and tipping it gently down his young patient's throat.

"And if you'll excuse me, Master Potter, but there's a Mrs. Longbottom-Malfoy in your office waiting to see you."

"Eloise?" Al asked, his curiosity piqued. "Well, now, I'd best get over to her. Thank you, Helga, really," he said, nodding his head. "I'll see you both tomorrow," he said quietly, shaking Mrs. Watkins's hand and saluting a nearly-asleep Henry as he left the ward completely.

Al made his way through the hallways and back towards his office; he greeted fellow doctors and nurses as he walked down the thoroughfare of the old wizarding hospital. No matter what setting he was in, from as far back as he could remember, Al always had to remain kind towards others, given his family name and the legacy that came with it. Not that he minded charismatic individuals who wanted a moment of his time; it was the obnoxious ones, he decided as he turned the final corner before his office, that could go straight to hell.

"Eloise," Al said, greeting her warmly as he stepped into his office, taking her by the hands and kissing her on the cheek. "So sorry to keep you waiting. I was seeing to a young patient of mine, I'm afraid."

"The little boy with dragon pox?" Eloise asked, her voice filled with understanding as she smiled in thanks at Al permitting her to sit down.

"Yes, that's the one," Al affirmed, sitting behind his desk. "He's still sneezing a bit, and the exhaustion is weakening him."

Eloise shook her head. "Poor boy," she said.

"But this, of course, is about you," Al said, quickly smiling at her, and Eloise promptly returned the smile. "What can I do for you?"

Eloise bit her lip, immediately appearing concerned. "This is... Well, suffice it to say, it is a sensitive matter, one I didn't feel comfortable discussing with the Longbottom-Malfoy family physician, you see."

Al nodded quickly in understanding, and spelled the door to his office closed, and put up a Silencing Spell to boot. "There, now. Now nobody shall hear the conversation, Eloise. I promise to help as much as I am able."

Eloise nodded. "I know you will," she said softly, and let out a small sigh. "Scorpius and I... We have been having difficulties in conceiving."

Al raised his eyebrows. "Oh, I see."

"My mother got pregnant with the two of us after three years of marriage, not for a lack of trying, of course. She recently told me that she had to use a fertility potion, unknowing to her Muggle husband, of course. But once she had us and we showed signs of magic, he left the family, and we haven't heard from him again."

Al sighed, shaking his head. "I'm so sorry, Eloise. No one should have to go through such a devastating thing so young, or at all."

Eloise smiled. "Thank you, but I'm all right, really. I'm just convinced that my inability to conceive naturally... Well, I think it is my fault, or, rather from my half of the family, you see, as Neville and Draco had both Scorpius and Alice, not to mention Frank and Alice having Neville, and Lucius and Narcissa having Draco."

"You're asking me for a fertility potion, then, I take it?"

Eloise nodded. "Yes, I am. Money is no object, of course; I'll pay whatever is required. I just want this to stay between us. That's all I ask."

Al smiled at her. "From the moment you stepped in here requesting my help, I became your potion master, Eloise. Like doctors, there is a confidentiality agreement. It doesn't matter that Scorpius is my best friend; I'm obligated not to tell him anything we discuss here if you don't want me to."

Eloise sighed in relief. "Thank you so much," she said with relief. "Will you have to brew the potion, or do you have them on hand?"

"I keep a few vials of Puer Caritate on hand," Al said, getting to his feet and crossing the room, accessing a locked cabinet, hidden behind a Vanishing Spell. He unlocked it quickly and stared at the bottles inside of it, grabbing one deep blue glass and casting an Unbreakable Charm upon it before locking and vanishing the cupboard again. "Now," he went on, returning to his place behind his desk, "as for the matter of payment..."

"Yes, of course," Al replied. "I brew them myself, and since you're practically family, I'll give you a discount. Shall we say, a thousand galleons?"

Eloise grinned at him then, spelling the coins out from her purse, which boasted an undetectable extension charm, onto the top of his desk. "Done," she replied. Once the correct amount of coins had moved into place, Al handed over the bottle to her, and walked her out of the office, waving goodbye as Eloise disappeared with a crack.

. . .

Suffice it to say that Lily had successfully managed to ignore the entire Longbottom-Malfoy clan—save for Alice—in the wake of the announcement at Christmas that Scorpius and Eloise were expecting their first child. After the holidays, Lily found herself underneath piles and piles of paperwork to scan before she handed them off to Hermione. It was a new normal for her, and, given that Eileen was due to turn two the following month, all she truly cared about was earning a decent living in order to give her daughter everything she deserved. Not that the wizarding government was unimportant, but everything else would pale in comparison to her devotion to her only child.

As she looked through the checklist document—a paper that fulfilled requirements on urgency, necessity, and all other things deemed important by Hermione, before she would even think to see any bills—she heard a pair of expensive shoes from outside her office. Her office; it was an amusing thing that, given that her door was always open, as she was the guard, so to speak, that could prevent people from just waltzing in willy-nilly into see the Minister of Magic. Granted, Hermione had extensive wards put up just in case, but Lily liked the notion that she was the gatekeeper, of sorts.

"The minister has a meeting until lunch, and she will be speaking some time with her family, followed by the January budget meeting. If you would like to make an appointment with her, you'll have to see me for that..." Lily cut herself off then, feeling her face turning white as she bolted to her feet, seeing Scorpius standing on the other side of her desk. "H... Hi," she somehow managed to get out, yanking a bit on her plait, which Hermione tried to convince her to keep in a bun, but Lily thought it too severe a style for her, so it just kept flowing freely down her back, getting longer and longer as the months went by. "How can I help you?" she asked, knowing that she needed to keep the conversation going.

"I came to make an appointment with Hermione, but it seems as though she's a bit busy today, but I assumed you knew that, on both accounts," Scorpius said, a gentle chuckle escaping his lips—his beautiful lips—which made Lily flush and look down. "When would she be available to see me?"

"Um, let's see," Lily said, sitting back down and pulling Hermione's official calendar towards her. "Oh. Have a seat," she muttered from the side of her mouth as she scanned the upcoming dates, thinking to herself. "She has an availability next Tuesday at two, for about twenty minutes before another meeting of hers. Will that suffice, or do you need more time? In which the next appointment isn't for another three weeks after that, and then you'd only get an hour..."

"Next Tuesday is fine," Scorpius said, and Lily nodded, hastily penciling him in. "The Improper Use of Magic Office gives me some days, here and there, especially because I'm in charge of scheduling and event planning for the Department of Civil Right of Muggles within the Wizarding World," he explained, and Lily briefly looked up at him before she looked over the next several days on Hermione's behalf. "What with the baby coming next summer, it's always good to have a little breathing room."

"Ye... Yeah," Lily said, stumbling over the English language again as she unnecessarily slammed the calendar shut, and peered up at Scorpius. "Well, now that that's settled, you'd best return to your department now, Scorpius."

Scorpius blinked, unused to being brushed-off. "Look, Lily, I know things got intense last summer at your dad's party, but that's all behind us now, right?"

Lily swallowed, lowering her eyes and attempting to busy herself with another task, hoping that Scorpius would take the hint and go away.

"Because, I know I stepped out of line, severely, last time we had a proper conversation," he went on, obviously not taking the hint. "I know that you've moved on now—clearly, because Eileen is here," he went on, and Lily let out a huffing sound. "And now that Eloise is expecting a baby, I think it would be good for us to act more mature—"

"Oh, I'll show you mature!" Lily growled under her breath, spelling Scorpius through the door and attempted to summon it closed behind him. She let out a growl of annoyance when Scorpius managed to get through beforehand, and shot up to her feet. "What the hell do you think you're doing?!" she demanded through her teeth.

"I don't know what the hell I'm doing, Lily," Scorpius replied, never taking his eyes from hers, and their mutual heavy breathing certainly wasn't helping things. "I think I should ask you the same thing, though. What are you doing?"

Lily shook her head at him then, and stomped past him, only to struggle opening her own office door. "Fuck," she whispered, becoming more and more convinced that Scorpius had cast a locking spell, thus preventing either party from leaving until this was resolved. "I want you to leave, Scorpius," she said, somehow managing to keep her voice under control, which was easier to do, now that she wasn't looking at him. "Apparate out of here, unlock the goddamned door—I don't give a shit. Just get out. I have a bunch of work to do and I won't have a little boy prevent me from doing it."

"Little boy?" Scorpius demanded then, his voice soft with unequalled rage as he stepped towards her, his breath hot on her neck, which caused her to stiffen at the sudden change in temperature around her. "That's rich coming from you, Lily. Given that you're the one acting like a child right now."

Lily swallowed then, finding that she was glued to the spot in front of him, founding that she enjoyed the delicious sensation of being afraid to move. "You made me like this, and you know it," she ground out, still speaking through her teeth.

"Was that an admission?"

"Maybe," Lily allowed.

"Interesting," Scorpius drawled, "because it sounds like you feel guilty about something."

Lily sighed, and yet still remained stiff. "We all feel guilty for things, Scorpius. Nobody can manage to live a perfect life."

Scorpius reached out then, towards Lily's fingers, and a soft gasp of surprise escaped his lips when Lily clung to them unexpectedly. "What could you possibly have to feel guilty about in your life, Lily? Name one thing."

Lily trembled then; maybe it was him accurately assuming she had something to hide, or perhaps it was the tremors he evoked from her whenever he touched her. She knew she had to think of something, and fast, because he likely wouldn't unlock the door until she coughed something up for him. "I was a Hatstall," she said at last.

Scorpius didn't remove his fingers from Lily's grip, but merely stared at the back of her head, finding that he felt disappointed in the confession, although not entirely so. "Which other house did the hat consider?"

"Yours. Slytherin," Lily replied.

"And why would the hat do that?" he wanted to know.

Lily swallowed then, and replied, "Maybe because I'm in love with one," in Parseltongue, which, of course, Scorpius couldn't speak, but he was well-aware of what the language sounded like to human ears.

The shock that ripped through him then caused him to rip his fingers out of Lily's grasp, and it wasn't long before he took her by her shoulders and yanked her around. "Lily, talk to me," he begged her then, gazing down at her as he cupped her face in his hands.

She blinked. "What?" she whispered, back in English.

"We used to be so close," Scorpius said then, his voice shaking with emotion. "You kept pushing me away after I told you the truth..."

Lily swallowed. "I did..."

"Why can't you afford me the same treatment? Tell me the truth."

Lily shook her head then, willing herself to use all the magic she could, and she finally heard the door click open from behind her, and flew open completely. "I can't do that," she replied then, her voice resigned, causing Scorpius to drop his hands from her face.

"Why?" he whispered.

Lily gently took him by the arm then, guiding him outside her office, and planting him there before she wandlessly re-established her wards, preventing him from crossing the threshold without permission. "Because," she said simply, "you'd just end up pushing me away once you discover the truth," she concluded, before shutting the door softly on his face. She turned around then, and leaned against the door, forcing herself not to break down until she'd casted a Silencing Charm, and after she heard him finally walk away.