Questions and Answers

Harry walked into the house with the Muggle post, turning a pink envelope adorned with cheery daisies over in his hand. It was from Dudley and Aaron. He set the rest of the post on a small table by the front door, and slit the envelope open. Several small photographs slid out - one of Sarah wearing a mass of lace that Harry supposed was a dress, and one each of Aaron or Dudley holding her, and a couple of the three of them together. Lily wandered into the sitting room and draped herself over the arm of the chair Harry occupied. 'What's that?' she asked.

'Photographs,' Harry replied.

Lily tilted her head to the side and examined the one of Sarah. 'Who's that?'

'Sarah.'

'Who's Sarah?'

'Dudley and Aaron's daughter.'

Lily squinted at Harry dubiously. 'But there's no mum,' she pointed out with all the logic of a ten-year old.

Harry chuckled a little. 'No, sweetie, but Sarah's mum couldn't take care of her, so she gave Sarah to Aaron and Dudley.'

'Oh, all right.' Lily looked at the photograph again. 'Why does she look so grumpy?'

'You weren't exactly sweetness and sunshine when you were her age,' Harry told her. 'You didn't like anybody, except me, your mum, or Teddy. You didn't even like Grandmum.'

'Uh-uh!' Lily protested.

'Cried every time she held you until you were three months old.'

'I don't believe you.' Lily crossed her arms over her chest and scrunched her nose at her father.

Harry smiled and looked back at the photograph of Sarah. 'Personally, I think that dress would make anyone grumpy. Why would someone do that to a poor, innocent baby?'

'I think it's cute,' Lily pronounced.

'You would,' Harry muttered. He set the photographs on the coffee table, and went to the cupboard under the stairs, where Ginny kept spare photograph frames in a box in the cupboard. She always had a few empty frames around. He found a couple of smaller frames, and took them back to the coffee table. Harry spread the photographs out on the table, and gestured to them. 'This one for sure,' he said, plucking the one of Sarah from the selection. 'You pick the other one,' he said to Lily.

She circled the table, picking up photographs and putting them back down, humming under her breath. Her hand hovered over one, before she pulled it back and moved to another photograph. 'This one,' she said decisively.

Harry looked over her shoulder. Sarah was cradled in Aaron's hands, and one of Dudley's cupped around her head. Aaron and Dudley were looking down on her, with shy smiles on their faces. 'Good one,' he said approvingly. He slid each photograph into a frame and walked to the mantle and set them both next to a photograph of James and Al in their Gryffindor team uniforms.

'Dad? Do you think we'll get to see her? Like we do Hugo and Rosie?'

Harry swung Lily into his arms and dropped a kiss on her nose. 'You're getting too big for me to do this much longer,' he informed her.

'Will I ever get to meet Sarah?' Lily persisted.

Harry set her down on the floor with a sigh, and glanced at the photographs. 'I hope so...' He tugged one of Lily's plaits and headed for the stairs. 'Come on, then. Mum will be home with the boys soon and we need to get their rooms set up.' Harry opened the cupboard at the end of the corridor and began to take out bedding. 'Here, Lils,' Harry said, handing her quilt and a set of sheets. He flicked his wand in the direction of Al's bedroom. 'Can you go make up the camp bed for me?'

Lily wrapped her arms around the mound of bedding her father dropped into them, and walked into the room across the corridor from hers. She had just spread the quilt over the camp bed in Al's room when she heard the car pull up next to the house. 'Dad, they're here!' she yelled, as she pelted down the stairs. Lily would never admit it to anyone, but she missed her brothers. While they were at school, there were no commotions at meals, or anything else in between. Nobody teased her, nobody told her to go away, and it was far too serene for her taste. As much as she complained about her brothers, nothing was the same without them.

Lily enjoyed the chaos the three of them were capable of creating. It was even better when Teddy was there for dinners.

'Go put your things upstairs,' Ginny told the boys. 'And we'll have dinner in a bit.' She collected their coats and hung them up by the door. She wrapped her arms around Lily. 'Hiya, Lils. Day with Dad go all right?'

'Uh-huh. Dudley sent us pictures of Sarah.'

'He did, eh?' Ginny looked up at Harry, who had just walked into the kitchen. He shrugged and took a stack of plates down and handed them to Lily.

'Yep. She looks grumpy.' Lily took the plates to the table and began to arrange them around it.

'I'd look grumpy, too, if someone dressed me in that much lace,' Harry muttered, sending a bowl of carrots to the table.

'Dad put them on the mantle with our pictures,' Lily piped up, digging cutlery from its drawer to finish setting the table.

'Oh, really?' Ginny gave Harry another glance. He shook his head slightly, and sent a roast beef to the table.

'It's nothing,' he told Ginny, with the "we'll talk about it later" look on his face.

'Okay.' Ginny rose on her toes and kissed his cheek. 'That's really nice of you,' she said softly.

The back door opened and Teddy strolled into the kitchen. 'Hiya!'

'Teddy!' James, Al, and Scorpius tumbled down the stairs and clustered around Teddy, all talking at the same time.

Lily sighed happily as she sat down at the table. This is what dinner was supposed to be like.

*****

Harry pushed the sleeves of his jumper back and began the process of washing the dishes from the dinner table. He knew he could have done it all with magic, but years of habit were hard to overcome. He found once he didn't have to do all the washing up and cleaning, he rather liked doing it. It gave him a sense of accomplishment to see all the clean dishes stacked on the drain board. Especially in the early days he worked at the Ministry, and nothing seemed to go right. Teddy carried the cups and glasses from the table and set them down next to the sink. 'Can I have a word with you later?' he asked, the tips of his hair fading from their bright turquoise to light brown.

'Sure. Is anything wrong?' Harry's antennae went up. There hadn't been any incidents lately, and Iain's reports on McNair and Rookwood were blandly dormant. Neither of them had done anything out of the ordinary in weeks.

'No, I just need to talk to you...' Teddy cleared his throat and shuffled his feet uncomfortably. 'Like a dad...' His shoulders hitched under his jumper and he went back to the table, jabbing his wand at it to clean the crumbs and spills.

Harry let the plate in his hands slide into the soapy water. The tone in Teddy's voice had caught his attention. 'Teddy, what're you on about?'

Teddy heaved a sigh and dug into his pocket, pulling out a small box. 'I want to ask Vic to marry me...' He held the box out to Harry. Harry dried his hands on the dishtowel he'd flung over one shoulder and took the box from Teddy. 'The diamond's from Mum's ring, but I had it put in another setting.'

Harry thumbed the box open. 'It's nice,' he said appreciatively. 'She'll like it.' He handed it back to Teddy, who stowed it in his pocket.

'Do you think we're too young?'

Harry turned back to the sink. 'I'm hardly the person to ask that, considering Gin and I were both younger than you and Vic when we got married.'

Teddy picked up a plate from the stack and began to dry them. 'We wouldn't get married for another year at least.' He opened the cabinet and slid the plate into its place. 'How did you propose to Ginny?'

'I fed her Thai food and pretended to knock myself silly at a play park,' Harry said, grinning.

'Did you ask Arthur for his permission?'

Harry pulled the plug from the drain. 'No, and I don't suggest going about it that way. Molly and Arthur were convinced Ginny was pregnant because we ware going about it so quickly.' He glanced at Teddy, whose eyebrow had gone up in inquiry. 'No, she wasn't,' Harry huffed. 'It was a year after she'd finished school and we wanted to have the wedding in the off-season, and didn't feel the need to prolong the inevitable.'

'Bill's going to have my bits on a platter,' Teddy moaned.

Harry checked the calendar tacked to the wall by the refrigerator. 'Hmm. You might have a point. Full moon was last night.' He rummaged in a cabinet and pulled out a bottle of firewhisky and poured two glasses. 'I'd advise waiting a week or two, lad.'

'Yeah...' Teddy sipped his drink cautiously, wondering how Harry could drink the stuff like it was tea. 'Is it... weird?'

'What?'

'Vic and me.'

'No, why would it be?' Harry set his glass down on the table.

'Well, the family thing...'

Harry slouched in his chair a little. 'It's not like you're related,' he said. 'And lots of people marry their childhood sweetheart. Look at Molly and Arthur.' He reached over and ruffled Teddy's hair. 'It's not a bad thing to marry your best friend.'

Teddy sipped his whisky and sat for a moment. 'Do you approve?'

'I'm not quite ready for you to get married, but that's my thing. You're still that baby that peed all over me the first time I changed your nappy.'

'Ah, jeez...' Teddy furiously blushed and gulped half his whisky in one swallow.

'Not that you need it, but you have my blessing,' Harry said softly.

'Do you think Mum and Dad would like her?' Teddy asked anxiously.

'I do. They would both like her very, very much.' Harry blinked rapidly, and rubbed his eyes. 'Whisky fumes,' he muttered.

Later, as he settled into bed with Ginny, he told her about his conversation with Teddy. 'It just feels too soon,' he complained. 'It's like our first child is going off, and getting married...'

'I thought you were okay with it,' Ginny began. 'You did give him your approval.'

'I am. I'm just not ready for my kids to grow up.'

*****

Scorpius sat on the bank of the pond in the Weasley's back garden, tossing pebbles into the water, watching the ripples they created until they faded, then tossed in another one. He heard the grass rustle behind him, and glanced up to see Lily making her way from the melee of the weekly Quidditch game. She dropped to the grass next to him. 'Aren't you cold?' she asked, swiping her nose with her sleeve.

Scorpius grimaced and dug into his pocket, handing her a handkerchief. 'Don't use your sleeve,' he told her. He pulled his coat around his body a little tighter. 'It's not too bad. Compared to Hogwarts, it's practically swimming weather.'

Lily eyed the green water of the pond with a frank expression of disgust on her face. 'Not in that pond.'

Scorpius smiled a little. 'Your mother says the river's better.'

'It is. It's where she taught us to swim.' Lily rubbed the handkerchief under her nose. 'Maybe if you come stay with us this summer, we can come over and go swimming in the river?'

'That would be nice.'

Lily pulled her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them. 'So, um... I'm really sorry about the way I behaved at Christmas.'

Scorpius waved her off. 'It's all right.' He threw another pebble into the water. 'I envy you sometimes.'

'Why?'

Scorpius jerked his head toward the raucous crowd of Lily's family taking a break from the game, standing around, eating biscuits and drinking lemonade. 'Holidays aren't like this for me. And Christmas was...' He shrugged. 'Let's just say it wasn't entirely pleasant.' Scorpius pulled up a handful of grass and began to methodically shred it to bits. 'Parts of it were. But only when my father wasn't around.'

'What happened with your father?'

'He was drinking...'

'Dad drinks,' Lily said offhandedly.

'Not like my father does,' Scorpius corrected grimly. 'He was watching me, when I wrapped your Christmas gifts. Gave me the shivers,' he mused. 'I think I prefer it more when he ignores me,' he told Lily ruefully. 'At least I'm not worrying what he's thinking when he ignores me.'

'That's terrible,' Lily said sympathetically.

Scorpius snorted. 'Believe me, if I had a choice between the constant lessons on how proper Malfoys behave and having my father barely acknowledge my existence, I'll take the second one.'

Lily scooted closer to Scorpius and leaned against him. 'I'm sorry...'

'Thanks...'

*****

Teddy watched Victoire study, marveling at her ability to shut out anything extraneous around her and focus with singular attention on what was in front of her. It made her a marvelous Quidditch player. She scribbled something in the margin of her book with an ordinary pencil, and frowned at the notes in her notebook. She glanced up at Teddy. 'What?'

'Nothing.' Teddy stretched and headed for the kitchen. 'Want something to drink?'

'Sure.' Victoire closed her book and rolled her head around her neck, stretching the kink that had developed from keeping her nose buried in the book all day. It was quieter at Teddy's flat than at home, since Maddie, Nicky, and Alex were home for the Easter holiday, and her exam to continue through to the second year of the Healer training program was next week. Each day was devoted to one of the subjects they had to study beyond N.E.W.T.s - Charms, Potions, Transfiguration, Defense, and Herbology. Like the school exams, they would have a written exam in the morning, and a practical exam that directly correlated to medical usage.

'Here.' Teddy held out a butterbeer to her. 'How's it going?'

Victoire made a face. 'It's been better. Herbology was never one of my best subjects.' She twisted, trying to work the kinks from her shoulders.

'Turn around,' Teddy commanded. He placed his hands on Victoire's shoulders and began to massage the knots from her muscles.

'Mmmmmm,' she purred. 'You can do that all night.'

'Don't you have to go home soon?'

'Yeah...' Victoire sighed regretfully.

'Don't stay up too late.'

'Don't worry. Mum'll go spare if I try to stay up and study. She got tired of coming down in the morning and finding me passed out on the kitchen table.'

'You ought to get some rest,' Teddy chided.

'I know... I'll have time to rest later. After exams are done.'

'What is it? A month?'

'Yeah...' Victoire smiled dreamily. 'A whole month to sleep.'

Teddy worked his hands down Victoire's back, gently kneading the stiff muscles into languor. 'Can I ask you something?'

'Sure...'

'Do you see this going anywhere?' he asked, his heart in his mouth.

Victoire twisted around, pushing her hair from her face. 'What do you mean?'

Teddy kept his eyes on his hands, sliding down Victoire's back. 'You, me... '

'You mean, like marriage, children...?'

'Yeah.' Teddy shrugged nonchalantly.

Victoire was silent. It made Teddy want to squirm. 'I've thought about it,' she said finally.

'And...?' Teddy waited, his hands growing still, his mind drifting toward the ring, nestled in one of his drawers.

'It could be nice,' she conceded, making Teddy slump in poorly disguised relief. 'But...'

'Why does there always have to be a "but"?' he grumbled.

'Not until I'm done with the classes.'

'Well, of course not,' Teddy said, resuming his massage.

'And the trainee portion,' Victoire added.

Teddy stopped and turned Victoire around. 'But that's four more years!'

'I promised Dad,' Victoire admitted. 'When it was apparent you and I were more than some school fling, that I'd finish the Healer training before I got married.'

'Oh...' Teddy was confused. 'So, if I were to ask...?'

'Nobody says we have to get married right away,' Victoire said with a shrug.

'Oh... Okay...'

'Ted?'

'Yeah...?'

'Are you asking?'

Teddy tilted Victoire's face up and kissed her. 'Believe me, Vic, when I ask, you'll know.'

*****

Scorpius stood on the edge of the Potters' back garden, watching Harry chase Lily around the tool shed, laughing as Lily darted around Harry, taunting him with her quickness. Al tackled Harry around the waist in an attempt to bring him down, but he couldn't manage to pull his father down. Lily flung herself at Harry, making him topple over to his back in the grass. James, who had been practicing different ways to throw a Quaffle with his mother, tripped over the tangle of bodies on the grass and landed with a grunt on Al, who began to tickle his brother with a savageness that only siblings could produce.

Their laughter echoed over the garden, and Scorpius quietly slipped away toward the pond in a small clearing behind the garden. He thought he had managed to get away unnoticed, but Ginny had stopped mid-throw and watched the boy trudge toward the woods. She put the dark red ball on the ground next to the broom shed and followed Scorpius to the edge of the pond.

He sat on bank, his knees pulled to his chest, arms wrapped around them. Ginny sat down next to him, carefully avoiding making eye contact with him. 'So...' she said, staring out over the surface of the pond.

'Hi, Mrs. Potter.'

'It's a little chilly for swimming,' Ginny commented lightly.

'Yeah.' Scorpius nodded a few times.

'Are you having a good time?' she asked, keeping her eyes fixed on the pond.

'Yeah... I suppose.' He shrugged, hugging his knees a little tighter.

Ginny said nothing. She suspected Scorpius was like Harry - he would talk when he was ready. The sound of the others' shouting drifted into the clearing. She noticed Scorpius flinch slightly. His hands were fisted so tightly his knuckles turned white. His head turned toward the garden, and Harry's voice rose distinctly over the children's. 'Why doesn't my father want me?' he murmured indistinctly.

Ginny reached over and began to gently stroke the fine blonde hair from the boy's face.

'He won't talk to me. He pretends I'm not in the room at meals when I am at home. He talks about me like I'm not even there.' Scorpius swallowed heavily and hunched into a smaller ball, as if he wanted to disappear, all his attention fixed on the sounds drifting from the garden. 'He's never done that with me, not even when I was small,' he whispered hoarsely.

'Done what?' Ginny asked softly, still stroking Scorpius' hair. It was something she did to Lily, James, and Al when they were upset.

'Played with me, I guess. My grandmother's the one who built sand castles on the beach with me. My mother used to let me work in the garden with her. Still does. Grandmother taught me how to play chess, and Mother used to play Exploding Snap with me when Father wasn't home.' Scorpius rubbed his nose across the sleeve of his coat, noting ironically it was what he'd told Lily not to do. 'It's not the same as that,' he said, tilting his head toward the commotion from the garden.

'No, it's not,' Ginny agreed. She wrapped an arm around his tense shoulders. 'It's your father's loss,' she said quietly. 'If he keeps doing this, he's never going to know what a brilliant kid you are.' She dug a handkerchief from her coat pocket and handed it to Scorpius, looking at her feet, to give him some time to collect himself. 'Your father had a pretty rough time growing up. It gets lost among everything else about him - the family history and the like. He had everything money could buy, but I don't think his father cared enough about him until it was too late.'

'How do you know that?' Scorpius snuffled into the depths of the handkerchief.

Ginny heaved a sigh, and resumed her perusal of the pond. 'A few days after the last battle at Hogwarts, I needed to get out and grabbed a random broom from the school's broom shed. I accidentally took his broom. I didn't realize it until I landed. He'd been watching me fly around the pitch. I gave it back to him, and he destroyed it, muttering about all the things his father forced him to do that he didn't want to do.' Ginny looked at Scorpius, who was watching her with a wide-eyed expression. 'I've never told anyone that,' she admitted.

'Why did you tell me?'

'Things go in circles,' Ginny explained. 'Your father is probably treating you like this because he doesn't know any other way. It's not right, and it's not fair to you.'

'Why does he do it?' mumbled Scorpius, twisting the handkerchief.

'I don't know,' confessed Ginny. 'It takes a lot of courage to buck centuries of tradition, and some people can overcome that and some can't.' She hugged the boy for a moment. 'Maybe one day, he'll come around. And hopefully, you'll be able to at least listen.'

Ginny got to her feet, dusting off the seat of her jeans. 'Come on, let's get back before they start to worry. Maybe I can talk Harry into making some hot chocolate. He makes the best hot chocolate.'

'Mrs. Potter?'

Ginny turned. 'Yes?'

'Thanks...'

'You're welcome.'