Rose felt her heart drop to her stomach, seeing that Lily was no longer at the top of the stairs. Grasping the railing, Rose hurried up the staircase, rushing to her cousin’s room. But when she pushed the door open, her shoulders slumped. The window was open, and Lily was gone. The suitcase that had been laying empty on the ground was gone, drawers from the dresser all hanging open, one even lying on the floor, as if Lily had ripped it out too quickly in her haste to leave. Rose looked helplessly around the deserted mess of a room, stamping her foot in an effort to hold back tears. Everything she and Travis had worked to accomplish all day, everything Draco Malfoy had willingly put himself through, it was all for nothing because now Lily was gone.

Rose shivered in the breeze from the window, staring morosely outside. Lily couldn’t have gotten far, she told herself, rubbing warmth back into her arms and thinking. Sitting on the bed with a small sigh, Rose ran through her options. She could tell Harry. She could tell him and he’d be out the door in an instant, calling up off-duty Aurors to find Lily. She’d be home in a number of hours, surely. Flinching at the sound of another plate being hurtled against the kitchen walls downstairs, Rose faltered. Could she really blame Lily for running away? Another crash echoed from downstairs, and Rose sniffled, tears suddenly falling down her face, one drop at a time.

If they had been only a moment later in coming home… she thought, crying quietly. She curled her legs underneath herself, reaching for a stuffed teddy bear of Lily’s, and holding it tight. She had been so close, so close to putting everything back how it was supposed to be, and now she was just crying in her cousin’s room, clutching a stuffed animal like she was a child again.

Rose heard the front door close with a soft click and sat up straighter, listening. There were soft footsteps and, her curiosity getting the better of her, Rose peeked around the corner of Lily’s room.

Ginny was standing by herself at the foot of the stairs, finally sitting down on the bottom step and running her fingers distractedly through her hair, the chignon she’d worn earlier in a mess.

“I wish you’d been only a second slower to open that door,” Rose found herself saying in a quiet voice.

Ginny glanced back up at her niece, her eyes red and puffy as she sniffled. “Yeah, me too,” she whispered.

Rose slowly came down the stairs and sat beside her aunt, her hands lying uselessly in her lap. “Lily’s gone,” she finally admitted.

Ginny turned to her in confusion, blinking a few times. “What do you mean gone?” she asked. “What do you mean?”

Rose glanced down at her shoes, biting on her lower lip. “She ran away. She told me on the train that she and Scorpius were going to run away. That’s why I brought Draco Malfoy here. I thought he could talk her out of it, and he did… but then…” Rose gestured helplessly, “then you two came in.”

Suddenly pale, Ginny pushed herself up from the bottom step, running up the stairs two at a time.

Rose simply waited, listening to her aunt calling her daughter’s name, doors opening and shutting upstairs as she searched every room.

“Lily? Lily?”

The front door opened again, and Rose looked up to see both her Uncle George and her two cousins, Albus and James with broomsticks over their shoulders, looking elated as they elbowed Travis behind them. They all stopped rough-housing and joking about when they saw Rose sitting on the bottom step in front of them, her face wet with tears. Everyone started asking what was wrong all at once, Rose’s uncle immediately laying a hand on her shoulder. “Rosie, you okay?” he asked. “What’s wrong?”

Lily’s brothers shared uncomfortable glances, neither knowing what to do.

Rose only glanced up to meet Travis’ blue eyes, his shoulders slumping in realization. “She’s gone isn’t she?” he asked quietly.

Rose nodded weakly, and it was all she could do just to put her head in her hands in defeat as everyone started asking questions and demanding answers at once.

*

Lily sat in a corner of the Apparition point in London, sucking in a shuddering breath and trying not to cry. Scorpius was off trying to change the time of their departure, the destination, everything, the two of them wanting to leave as soon as possible before the Aurors were set on them just like Draco Malfoy had warned her. Lily sat with the hood of her cloak concealing her face, hoping the Apparition patrol could be kept in the dark a little longer, and keep her father from knowing where to find her. Thank Merlin the tickets were in Scorpius’ name and there wouldn’t be a trace of her.

The Aurors could likely trace Scorpius of course, but they’d have a much more difficult time if they could get a head start. For not the first time, Lily found herself hating being Harry Potter’s daughter, wishing she could run away with no one able to find her.

Scorpius finally returned to her with a weary sigh, sitting down next to her. “They changed them. We’re licensed to leave in an hour.”

“Why the wait?” she sniffled.

“Something about getting paperwork to the Apparition point we’re arriving at. Thank God they’re not relying on bloody owls or we’d be here for days.”

Smiling slightly, Lily finally met her boyfriend’s gaze, seeing the dark circles under his eyes, not having slept since coming home. “Maybe you should sleep till it’s time to go,” she suggested, reaching out and lightly touching those dark circles.

Scorpius closed his eyes with a sigh. “Not a chance,” he yawned, wrapping an arm around her shoulders.

Lily leaned her head against his shoulder. She squeezed her eyes shut to block everything out, two tears escaping and rolling down her cheeks.

Scorpius bent his head to whisper comfortingly in her ear, and she burrowed her face against the sleeve of his jacket. The two fell silent, but it was Lily who fell asleep, Scorpius watching the clock in the station and waiting.

*

The Potter house was a warzone. Albus and James sat uncomfortably at the kitchen table, their parents screaming at each other and hurling accusations, George trying to mediate long enough to get the couple to come to a solution.

Rose stayed far away from it all, still on the bottom stair, head in her hands. The only improvement from earlier being Travis on the step behind her, comfortingly rubbing her back. “Hey, it’ll be okay. They’ll work something out,” he promised.

Rose finally sat up, leaning back against him, her arms resting on each of his legs. “I hate this,” she muttered, still hearing the shouts from the kitchen.

“I know,” Travis lightly rubbed her shoulder, his blue eyes wandering towards the other room, brow furrowed at the ongoing argument.

“Malfoy spoke to her last, and if you think I’m not going to question him for your sake, you’ve lost your senses!” Harry roared.

“Rose said he was only here to talk Lily out of leaving,” Ginny countered. “What would he know about where she’s gone?”

“That bastard dares to come into my house, and you expect me to ignore him when ten minutes later our daughter went missing?”

“She isn’t missing! She ran away!” Ginny shouted. “Is it so hard to imagine why with how you’re behaving?”

“Me? You ran after him, you lying…”

“Oi!” George shouted, physically separated them with an arm outstretched against both of them. “Harry, calm down!” he shouted.

“Get out of my face, George! You don’t even know what happened!” Harry yelled, punching his fist against the cabinet doors.

“I lived in Diagon Alley then too, Harry!” George shouted. Harry and Ginny both fell silent, Harry’s shoulders still heaving with labored breaths.

“Then you shouldn’t be asking me to calm down,” Harry bit out.

“I wasn’t asking,” George snapped.

Albus and James looked up from where they were sitting at the kitchen table, Albus’ left hand shaking so that he had to clench it in a fist to stop it. James was unblinking. Finally the arguing had let up, though no one knew for how long the silence would last.

Ginny took a step back from George, leaning against the counter, her arms crossed protectively over her chest. In a quiet voice she said, “Why can’t you find her without tracking down Draco? You have all those Aurors you could send…”

“It’s precisely because I am an Auror,” Harry said evenly, a growl behind his words, “and he’s a suspect.”

“He isn’t a suspect!” Ginny cried. “A lead, sure, but not a bloody suspect!”

“I’m going to find him,” Harry said, green eyes blazing.

He pushed past George and Ginny in an instant, Ginny stamping her foot behind him. “He is not a bloody suspect!”

Harry rounded on her, seething. “When are you going to put your concern for your daughter ahead of protecting him?” he snarled.

Ginny turned white, unable to speak as Harry seized his Auror’s robes and grabbed his wand, ready to Disapparate.

“I brought him here, Uncle Harry.”

Harry stopped, his wand dropping to his side as he turned to face his niece.

Rose stood up from the foot of the stairs, right in front of the door, and in view of everyone. Travis sat on the stairs near her, watching.

“I know you brought him here, Rose,” Harry said evenly. “Your aunt already told me.”

“Then why are you going after him? Why are you mad at Ginny when I brought him here? She’s just trying to be honest with you. Draco Malfoy isn’t going to know where Lily went. He was trying to get her to stay, not leave.”

“And why would he go doing something selfless like that?” Harry demanded sarcastically.

Rose’s mouth opened and closed, knowing she couldn’t say why. She couldn’t say it was because Draco Malfoy still loved Ginny. She couldn’t answer her uncle like that.

“Right,” Harry muttered, as though he understood without her saying. He glanced back to his wife, his anger still evident, but he was making an effort to control it. “Ginny, I’m just going to ask him a few questions.”

Ginny folded her arms over her chest, but Harry didn’t wait for her approval, he simply waved his wand and Disapparated with a crack.

Ginny unfolded her arms and ran a hand through her tangled hair, trying to even out her breathing.

“Mum, what is going on?” James asked, Albus still clenching his fist beside him.

“It’s just… just a fight that got out of hand,” she sighed, brushing the hair impatiently out of her eyes. “George, could you please stay with the boys?” she asked, her older brother nodding.

“Where will you go?” he asked.

“To visit someone who might actually be of help,” she muttered, George nodding behind her.

With a weary sigh, Ginny walked up to both of her sons where they sat. She wrapped her arms around Albus, kissing the top of his messy black hair, and pulled James in too, kissing his cheek. “I love both of you, understand?”

“Yeah, Mum,” James nodded, giving her a small hug back.

Ginny smiled slightly, looking down to see her younger son Albus, hands still clenched.

“This is what everyone’s been fighting about at school, isn’t it?” he asked.

“Yeah, it’s pretty much all your mum’s fault too,” she smiled self-deprecatingly, her eyes serious. “But I’m going to go and find a way to get Lily back, and we can talk about all of this then, okay? Okay?”

Albus didn’t respond, fingers still clenched, jaw tight.

Ginny’s eyes filled with tears and she took in a shuddering breath, wrapping her youngest son in another hug, tight, tight, tight. “I love you, sweetie,” she promised.

Albus finally nodded, a gruff “I love you too” escaping him.

Ginny rubbed his shoulders before releasing him, smiling tearfully down at both her boys, addressing them and George. “I’ll be back.”

With that she turned and left, grabbing a cloak and raising her wand to Disapparate when she saw Rose still hovering by the steps, watching her. Ginny smiled, walked over, and touched her niece’s cheek. “That was awfully Gryffindor of you,” she smiled.

“But it wasn’t very smart, was it?”

Ginny lifted up her chin, bringing her eyes up to meet hers. “You’re very smart. You’ve done everything you can to solve this mess.”

“It isn’t working,” Rose sniffled.

“Sure it is. It’s just the second phase now. It’s time the grown-ups step in and act their age to fix the rest.”

“Aunt Ginny, I’m sorry…” Rose breathed.

“Oh Rosie, there’s nothing to be sorry about. I’ll send you an owl when Lily’s back home. Cross your fingers that we’ll find her soon.”

“She’ll have changed her ticket,” Rose said tearfully, swiping at her eyes. “Her ticket was to leave in the morning, but she left tonight – she wouldn’t have risked waiting.”

“Thank you, Rosie,” Ginny hugged her. “Now why don’t you have Travis take you home? Hmm?” She smiled warmly down at Rose and then took a step back, Disapparating with a lonely crack.

*

Draco Malfoy sat alone in the dark, still leaning back against the bricks of their old flat building, looking up at the exact window they’d seen the view from so many times before. The lamp light from earlier had been extinguished, and Draco somehow couldn’t bring himself to leave, lost in his thoughts he’d rather forget.

Ginny giggled beside him, lying on her back in the dark alleyway, stretching and pressing against him. Draco looked down at her and smiled in spite of himself, rolling his eyes as he tried to push her away. There was a splash as his hand made contact with a puddle; Ginny was gone. Draco closed his eyes, leaning his head against the palm of his hand, his other pushing at the pavement to hold himself up, street water still dripping off him.

“Ginny…” he groaned, hating himself for having such vivid memories of the girl.

There were footsteps in the mouth of the alley then, and a man’s voice. “I thought I might find you here, Malfoy.”