Lily stopped abruptly almost tripping over a step at the sound of her own name.
Then she heard the unsettling sound of her grandmother crying.
'We have to warn her Ginevra- did you not warn her about associating with his kind?' Molly lamented.
Lily frowned, her heart beating fast.
'Warn me about what?' she asked, stepping down the last few steps and into the kitchen.
There was a loud noise of paper rustling as Ginny immediately thrust whatever she and Molly had been looking at behind her back.
'Lily' Ginny's face went pale as she addressed her daughter.
Lily looked from her mother's face to her grandmother's. Molly Weasley looked as though someone had died; her face was stained with tears and her nose was running a little. Upon seeing Lily she let out another long, sorrowful wail.
Ginny looked at her mother with an exasperated expression before turning back to her daughter.
'Lily, we don't want to upset you. This could be a little… surprising'
'What is it?' Lily's voice rose and her chest heaved in trepidation. She'd never seen her grandmother so upset- at least not since James had vandalized her signed copy of 'Magical Me' by Gilderoy Lockhart.
Ginny looked her gravely in the eye and slowly took the magazine out from behind her back.
'We need to ask you if this is real' she said swallowing hard.
Lily looked down at the magazine in front of her. Splashed across the top were the words 'Witch Weekly' in large pink letters. But it was what was underneath those letters that made Lily's stomach flip and her entire body start to sweat. Her eyes widened, her lips parted and she let out a small whimper of shock.
Underneath those awful pink letters was a moving photograph- a very close up photograph of Scorpius.
Scorpius with his lips on her lips.
Scorpius with his hands on her neck and his thumbs brushing her cheeks affectionately.
And there she was kissing him back just as passionately.
Their faces took up the whole cover, every movement of their lips and flutter of their eyelids as they moved against each other clearly visible.
The colour drained from Lily's face and her hands shook violently. She looked up at her mother and grandmother with an expression of utter horror before instinctively turning on her heal and running back up the stairs.
'Lily! Lily wait!' Ginny yelled up after her with concern. Her calls were drowned out by the sound of Molly's distressed wails at the realization that Lily's reaction could mean only one thing; that photo was no fabrication.
Lily throttled back into her room and slammed the door shut behind her. She let herself fall back into the door and slid down it into a heap on the floor, breathing heavily.
Her mind raced. Witch weekly. The cover of witch weekly. How many people would see it? All of magical England? Perhaps some of France and America too?
The thought made her feel suddenly nauseous.
Could she stop it? Get her mother to make a complaint to the editors; stop the sale of it?
But of course not- if her grandmother had it then it was already out there. Already printed. Hundreds, perhaps thousands of copies. Of that photo.
Lily gulped. That photo. Judging from the studs in Scorpius' ear and nose it had to have been taken when they kissed on Halloween. Her face burned, her entire body hot with embarrassment.
There was a loud thumping sound and Lily jumped, pulled out of her muddled thoughts. It was Ginny knocking on the door behind her.
'Lily- dear please come out. You- you're not in trouble. Of course you aren't- we just need to...need to figure this out' Ginny pleaded through the door.
Lily stayed silent. She didn't know what to say. What was there to say?
'You need to tell us what's going on with you and this Scorpius boy… just explain so that we can make sure there are no false rumors going around-'
Scorpius, Lily thought with a jolt. She had to warn him.
Lily hurriedly got up off the floor and ran forward to open the window and call for Weebles. He swooped up into her room and she immediately went about writing a short note to send Scorpius;
Our photograph is in Witch Weekly. My family's seen it. Be careful.
She didn't know how, or of what, he was supposed to be careful but in her current state of mind she couldn't think of anything else to say. She quickly attached the small piece of parchment to Weebles' leg and instructed him sternly to give it to Scorpius and Scorpius only.
As Lily watched Weebles fly off into the distance, she could still hear her mother pleading through the door.
She would have to face this. There was no other way but to go back downstairs and explain. Lily gathered her wits about her, took a deep breath and opened the door.
Seeing the look of nervousness on her daughters face, Ginny silently pulled her into a tight hug.
'Come on' she said gently, giving Lily an encouraging smile. With an arm around her shoulders she led her downstairs to where Grandma Molly was still weeping in distress. Only now Grandpa Arthur was standing by her side looking incredibly uncomfortable as he tried to console her.
'Come now dear, don't cry, it's just a photograph… we'll figure this out' he mumbled, sounding stiff and terribly unconvincing.
Lily stopped in front of her grandparents and looked down at her hands, which she was twisting together nervously.
'It'll be alright dear' Ginny said, standing by her side and softly rubbing her shoulder.
Lily gingerly stepped forward and took her grandmothers hands in her own.
'Grandma- I know you might have heard some bad things about Scorpius's family- I know they weren't, well that they weren't on the right side in the war but-'
'Not on the right side? Not on the right side?!' Molly wailed incredulously. 'Lily, they were death eaters! Their lot are responsible for the rise of the dark lord! For the death of Teddy's dear parents- and of your grandparents! For the death of- of-'
Molly's lower lip trembled and she looked as though she might break at the seams from her grief. Arthur quickly put his hands on her shoulders and gently squeezed them as though hoping the physical act of holding her together would keep her together mentally too.
'-of my dear boy, your late uncle Fred' Molly finished with a heartbreaking sob.
Lily's gaze fell and she stared at the table, unable to face her grandmothers grief stricken eyes.
'I know that Grandma- I do' Lily whispered. She swallowed hard and forced herself to speak louder. 'But Scorpius- he has nothing to do with that. And he's a good person, if you had ever met him you would see that-'
'No my poor dear- you've been tricked!' Molly exclaimed, throwing her head back and looking at Lily with alarm. 'I know what their lot is like. I was at Hogwarts with his grandfather! Always seemed so charming, so handsome. A very popular boy that Lucius Malfoy. Fooled all the girls, he did- but he was rotten to the core-'
'Mum-' Ginny cut in quickly, putting a hand to Lily's shoulder again. 'Please, we can't jump to conclusions. None of us have ever even met the boy-'
But Ginny was interrupted by a loud knock at the front door. She let out a sigh and hurried off to open it. Moments later Ron's voice could be heard in the hallway getting louder and louder as he approached the kitchen.
'Ginny! There's something you need to see. Something terribly distressing I'm afraid. Quite shocking indeed. It concerns Lily-'
Ron stopped abruptly upon reaching the kitchen and finding himself face to face with a very annoyed looking Lily. He looked from her to Molly, who was still letting out loud, heaving sobs seated at the small breakfast table.
'Oh...' Ron exhaled awkwardly. 'Already seen this then?'
He held up a copy of Witch Weekly in one hand and Lily lunged forward to tear it out of his grasp so that she could get it out of everyone's line of vision. She threw it angrily in the sink and inexplicably caused a stream of water to burst out of the tap above drenching it.
'Lily! No magic outside of Hogwarts!' Ginny scolded her, hurrying forward with her wand out to stop the stream of water.
'Hey! That cost almost a whole Galleon you know-' Ron exclaimed but he swallowed the rest of his sentence upon seeing the death glare Ginny sent his way.
'A galleon you've just contributed to the magazine that is prying into my daughters private life!' she yelled at him.
'Well I didn't know you already had a copy...' Ron muttered sulkily.
Rose and Hugo peered awkwardly out from behind Ron who still stood frozen in the doorway. Upon seeing Lily, Rose pushed past her dad and ran over to throw an arm around her in comfort.
'I'm guessing you didn't get the 'talk' then' she whispered to Lily sympathetically as Ginny forced Ron down into one of the chairs next to Molly so that he could comfort her.
'What 'talk'?' Lily shot back in confusion.
'The 'no dating Scorpius Malfoy talk'' Rose hissed under her breath.
'I've heard it almost a million times. Dad gives it to me at the beginning of every semester'
Lily shook her head at the ridiculousness of it all. She'd never seen her uncle exchange even one word with Scorpius and yet he'd felt compelled to warn his daughter away from him. She looked over at her Uncle Ron with renewed annoyance. He sat with a comforting hand on Molly's back whispering to her.
'It's alright mum. Remember when Ginny went out with that twat Micheal Corner? That only lasted about three seconds…'
'But I LIKED Micheal Corner!' Molly exclaimed, missing Ron's point entirely.
'Who on earth is Micheal Corner?' James asked lazily from the doorway.
Lily shot around in alarm. She could see Albus standing behind him. The pair were in their good dress robes, ready for the dinner party. They both looked equally confused to see Grandma Molly in tears and everyone else standing around looking shell-shocked.
Lily ran over to the table to grab the other copy of Witch Weekly before her brothers could spy it, but just at that moment there was a tapping on the glass of the kitchen window. A large black raven was perched on the windowsill outside.
It took her a few moments to realize this was the raven that had delivered Scorpius's presents all those years ago when they had spent Christmas in the Room of Requirement.
Lily forgot about the magazine momentarily and ran instead to the window. She opened it up and held out a hand into which the bird dropped a small piece of folded parchment. Lily heard an outraged gargling noise come from behind her signaling that James had seen the magazine.
'LILY- WHAT? WHAT? WHAT- IS- THIS?' James spluttered loudly and stupidly in her direction.
Lily let out a sigh, closing her eyes. She still couldn't believe this was happening. She heard Albus muttering and tutting under his breath, seemingly unsurprised.
'Merlin Lily- I told you this would happen…'
Lily ignored them both and quickly opened up the folded parchment, hoping whatever Scorpius had to say about this sorry situation would somehow be comforting.
But she had no such luck.
Lily's eyes bulged and her heart thud upon reading the neat, cursive writing in front of her.
'No! No!' She exclaimed in despair.
Ginny rushed forward to see what was wrong as James continued to have a meltdown in the middle of their kitchen.
'SCORPIUS MALFOY? MALFOY? LILY WHAT WHERE YOU THINKING?'
'What is it dear?' Ginny asked hurriedly, taking the piece of parchment out of Lily's stunned hands to look. She looked down and gasped under her breath.
The small piece of parchment read;
Don't worry- I'll come over and explain.
Lily looked up at her mother with a pained expression.
'He's coming here! Mum he's coming here-!'
Lily felt panic flood her veins. She did not want Scorpius to see her family like this.
'Yes, not such a good idea right now' Ginny agreed hastily. 'Perhaps owl him back and let him know now is not a good time. He's welcome of course some other time- after, well, after I've explained all this to your father-'
Lily's stomach clenched with dread; her father. He was still at the Ministry but the moment he came home he would find out. He would see it. That photo. In fact, maybe he already had.
'THE BOY WHO THREATENS PEOPLE WITH UNFORGIVABLE CURSES!? THE BOY WHO SPENDS ALL HIS TIME READING UP ON DARK MAGIC? YOU CHOSE TO SNOG THAT BOY?!'
James was still yelling in the middle of the kitchen and his descriptions of Scorpius were causing Grandma Molly to gasp in despair that her suspicions about his character had been confirmed.
'SHUT UP JAMES!' Ginny roared, sending the entire room into a tense silence.
Lily ignored them all and rushed around looking for a quill and ink.
She tried to find the right words to put it politely but in her current panicked state all she could think of was; Don't come. She lent on the kitchen bench and began to write, but her shaking hands caused her to blotch up the paper and need to start again several times.
'Lily hurry dear, he might be on his way…' Ginny said quietly beside her.
Lily took a few deep breaths, steadied her hand and went about writing;
Scorpius, please don't come. Now is not a good time.
She folded it up and held it out to Scorpius's raven. The bird just blinked back at her.
'Please take this to Scorpius and please hurry' she begged, willing the menacing looking creature to listen to her. The raven cocked it's head to the side before opening it's large, sharp beak to take her parchment.
To Lily's surprise it flapped its wings and flew not outside but inside. It shot past her stunned looking relatives and down the hallway towards the front door.
Lily rushed after it, a feeling of dread tugging at her heart. Just as the bird reached the end of the long, slender entranceway, the doorbell rang.
Lily skidded to a halt in front of the door. She groaned internally. It couldn't be. It truly couldn't be.
She gingerly opened the door to find a very nervous looking Scorpius standing on the doorstep, wearing a pair of ripped black jeans, an old grey t-shirt and the dusty brown apron that he wore when helping his father with the shop. He must have come directly from Knockturn Ally and thus arrived so quickly. The raven immediately flew out and deposited the parchment into his hand.
'Lily-' he gasped as he took the parchment from the bird. He looked more stricken than Lily had ever seen him.
'I don't know how this happened- but I think we ought to explain this to your parents and-
Scorpius stopped suddenly and looked her up and down in surprise.
'You- you're dressed nicely' he noted looking at her dress robes.
He absentmindedly opened up the parchment and began to read as more words tumbled out of his mouth.
'Anyway I thought- I thought I should really help you explain seeing as how this is sort of my family's fault for being so notorious and all and- oh'
Having let the words on the parchment sink in, Scorpius's face became even paler.
'S-sorry. I'll- I'll go-' he spluttered turning around quickly and making to disappear as fast as he had appeared.
Lily rushed out and grabbed his wrist.
'You're welcome to come in Mr Malfoy'
Lily and Scorpius both turned quickly around at the sound of Ginny's voice. She was standing in the doorway looking much more together and calm than either of them, beckoning for them to come in.
'Go on. You've come all this way' Ginny said gently giving him a kind smile.
Scorpius looked at Lily's face to see if it was okay. Lily looked back at him blankly, her mind racing. This did not seem like a good idea.
This did not seem like a good idea at all.
https://m.fanfiction.net/s/12973166/100/
Fanfic: Lily Potter and the Villain in the Valley Ch 100, Harry Potter | FanFiction
