"Essay first."

"No—snogging first, then a snack, then Quidditch practice, and then the essay," Albus corrected.

Scorpius gave Albus an exasperated look. He tightened his arm around Albus's waist as they started up the stairs. "Essay, snogging, snack, Quidditch."

Albus paused halfway up the staircase. "I think I can walk up on my own. My legs feel really strong today. I'm going to try."

Scorpius grinned. "Yeah? Okay."

Albus nodded. "Just...catch me if I start to fall down."

"I promise," Scorpius nodded.

He waited nervously on his current stair and watched as Albus walked slowly up, step-by-step, his gait somewhat unsteady but functional. He beamed so widely it made his cheeks ache as Albus stepped up onto the top landing. He turned and grinned down at Scorpius.

"Finally!" he said.

"Yes!" Scorpius cheered. "You did it!"

"I did it! And to congratulate me, you can agree that our Transfiguration essays can be the very last thing we do today."

"Albus, they're due in two days! We have the Halloween party tonight! I can't believe you've managed to keep me from doing mine for this long!" Scorpius said. He walked up the rest of the steps separating him and Albus. Albus took his hand as soon as they were at each other's sides again.

"I can believe it," Albus murmured. Scorpius looked down at him with what was supposed to be a stern expression, but Albus's intense eyes turned it into a smile rather quickly. He tugged on Albus's hand and pulled him over. Their hips knocked. He wrapped his arm back around Albus's waist. Albus might not have needed the support to walk anymore, but Scorpius was used to walking that way now, and it felt odd not to.

"Essay, snogging, snack, Quidditch," Scorpius reiterated.

"Snogging, essay, snack, Quidditch," Albus countered.

Scorpius hesitated. They really needed to do the essays immediately...but that was probably the best compromise they'd make...and really—was earlier snogging a bad thing?

"All right," Scorpius said. "But we have to finish the essays."

"And we will...afterwards."

Of course, sticking to a schedule when they were starting with snogging was no easy feat. Scorpius pulled himself away three times before he finally managed to slip back into a somewhat sane state of mind.

"Transfiguration," he heard himself half-groan. Albus's lips had wandered down to his collarbones. He struggled to pull his head out of the trap of arousal. "Albus. Al..."

The internal battle began: Do we really need to do the essay? Yes. Yes, you need to do the essay, Scorpius. But why? Because you—because you have to—

"Oh, Merlin," he said. He collapsed back down against the pillows. He almost gave in and allowed Albus's lips to travel freely, but his nagging anxiety began again. No. Better stop it now, Scorpius, stop it—no, Scorpius, don't—

His self-scoldings enabled him to gain enough willpower to reach down and gently grasp Albus's shoulders.

"Okay, time-out," he urged.

Albus gave a reluctant groan, but he rolled over onto his back a moment later, leaving Scorpius flushed and slightly out of breath against the pillows. The air felt extremely cold against the skin Albus had just been covering. He shut his eyes and focused on settling his breathing and regaining his self-control before he said a word.

"Our essays," he finally managed.

"But I really think that there are better things to do with our—"

"No!" Scorpius quickly yelped. He reached up and covered his ears. "No, don't do that—don't get sultry eyes or sultry...words, okay?! Because I'll get...going, you know, into it, and then we'll both just go right back to—we—we have to do our essays...Albus!"

Albus—who'd begun leaning his face towards Scorpius's—froze guiltily. He heaved a sigh.

"Oh, all right, then," he grumbled. "But our essays aren't going to be even nearly as fun."

"We can get back to this after we write them, okay?"

"Okay," Albus sighed. "Merlin, I hate when you make me be responsible."

It turned out that their Transfiguration essays actually weren't meant to be left until the last moment. After searching frantically through their Transfiguration book, combing through the library, and crumbling up about an entire roll's worth of parchment, they realized that they were going to need some help.

"All right," Scorpius said. Albus was balling up another length of parchment, his eyebrows pulled low in annoyed frustration. "Shall we try to find our professor, find James, or admit to Rose that we've put it off this long and see if she'll help us?"

Albus dropped his feet down from the chair across from him.

"Not Rose," he said immediately. "Absolutely never Rose. I told her we were halfway finished with it last week because she was nagging me. Let's try for James...if he's still upset from this morning, he won't have it in him to tease us for being irresponsible."

"Right," Scorpius nodded. He gathered their parchment while Albus capped the inkwells. He neatly stacked the parchment into his bag, waited for Albus to finish, and then placed the inkwells in his quill case. His mind drifted to the look of devastation that'd been on James and Nora's faces in the Great Hall that morning. "I wonder what they were so upset about. Nora and James."

"I expect something stupid, like somebody flirting with Nora, or somebody flirting with James..." Albus hefted his bag up onto his shoulder. Scorpius put the last quill in, shut his case, placed it inside his bag, and then did the same. They set off towards the doors. "One time, in their fifth year, James didn't speak with one of his dorm mates for half the year because he said something really filthy about Nora."

Scorpius wasn't surprised. "Yeah, but he didn't stop talking to Nora, did he? Just the boy who said something."

"That's true," Albus agreed. He looked down at his feet as he thought. "You know, now that you say that, I'm having a difficult time thinking up any reason they'd argue."

Scorpius shrugged. "I suppose it could just be the worry and tension everybody is feeling. Speaking of...hold up a moment, I want to see if my dad's in..."

He slowed outside of his dad's office. There were two or three people sitting outside of the closed door, but they had books opened in their laps, so Scorpius figured they'd been waiting a while.

"He's probably not in," Scorpius said. He ignored the way his heart had inched down.

"Let's check anyway, maybe he's taking a break; there have been people in his office practically nonstop since Dad's friend died..." Albus walked up to the closed door. He tapped his knuckles against the wood once. "Draco?"

There was a pause—one long enough that Scorpius assumed his dad really wasn't inside his office—and then the muffled sound of shuffling. The door opened slightly a moment later—widely enough that Draco could peer out, widely enough that they could hear somebody crying in the background, but not widely enough that they could make out who it was. Draco looked concerned.

"Is everything all right, Albus? Scorpius?" he asked.

"Yes," Albus said quickly. "Scorpius just wanted to see you."

Scorpius's cheeks flushed. He didn't want his dad to think he was a baby, or worse, to think that something was wrong and worry. "I...we were just in the library, and I thought I'd pop in and say hello, but I see that you're busy..."

He trailed off, because his dad's eyes had suddenly turned warmer. He smiled.

"Would you boys like to have lunch?" Draco offered.

Scorpius beamed. "Yes! I mean...yes, if you aren't busy."

"I'm not. Albus?"

"Definitely! What time?"

"Meet back here around noon or so?"

"All right!" Albus said cheerfully. Scorpius was still beaming.

"Thanks, Dad!"

"Anytime," his dad smiled. He gestured back towards his office. The sobbing sounds had only grown. "I should get back. I'll see you at lunch."

"Right, okay," Scorpius nodded. He paused. He lifted his voice somewhat. "I hope you feel better, whoever you are."

The sobbing only increased. Oops. Scorpius winced.

"I wonder who was in there," Albus said, as they resumed their journey towards the Room of Requirement.

"I dunno, sounded like a boy," Scorpius said. "Whoever it was, they weren't happy..." his stomach twisted when he thought of how the crying had increased. He glanced down at Albus. "I shouldn't've said anything."

"No, it was nice," Albus said immediately.

Scorpius arched an eyebrow.

"It was," Albus said firmly. He reached down and took Scorpius's hand. He squeezed. "It was."

Scorpius hoped he was right. The last thing he wanted was to make any of this worse for anybody.

"I hope James is in here," Albus said. They came to a stop outside of the Room of Requirement. "Because I really don't want to have to try and convince the Fat Lady to let us into Gryffindor Tower again..."

Scorpius grimaced. "Oh, yeah, no—let's not do that. She intimidates me."

"If Lily could learn to keep her mouth shut..." Albus trailed off darkly.

"Yes, well, after what we caught her doing, she won't be telling on us anytime soon," Scorpius reminded Albus. He felt a brief sting of guilt. He rushed to make himself feel better. "But that's not blackmail because it's only fair. She caught us...snogging enthusiastically—"

"That's one way to put it."

Scorpius ignored Albus. He took a deep breath and continued on. "And we caught her in the Slytherin Common Room doing...whatever it was that she was doing."

"Yeah," Albus admitted. "I'm still not really clear on that one. She was either having a staring contest with Rowle or practicing Legilimency, and knowing Lily, both are equally possible. I was going to tell Dad it was the latter; he'd lose his head..."

"She definitely kissed him though and she was definitely inside the Slytherin Basement. So either way...we caught her doing something naughty." Scorpius nodded. "So it's fair. And it's not bullying a thirteen-year-old."

Albus scoffed. "I wish you'd get over this 'we've got to protect Lily' thing; she is not an innocent flower, she's an extremely annoying, wild little—"

The door appeared suddenly in front of them on the blank expanse of wall. Scorpius blinked Albus's way, stunned.

"Wow. How'd you ask for the room mid-argument?"

"What? I didn't. I thought you did..."

They trailed off. After a confused pause, they looked towards the door. It creaked open a second later and—

"Mum?" Albus demanded, surprised.

Ginny stepped out into the corridor and then came to a stop. Scorpius noticed her stress immediately; she was holding her body rigidly, her brow was furrowed (which, he noted, deepened the fine lines beside her eyes), and she was picking anxiously at her fingers in a way reminiscent of James's anxious self-damaging habit. Like James, she hardly seemed to realize she was doing it. It appeared to take her a moment to process Albus and Scorpius's presence.

"What are you doing here?" Albus finally said.

Ginny stared. "What? I live here."

"No—here," Albus emphasized, gesturing towards the Room of Requirement. "You're not a Seven."

Ginny continued picking at her nails.

"Neither are you. What are you doing here?" she countered.

"I asked you first!" Albus complained.

"And I'm the mum—I ask the questions!" Ginny shot back. She finally stopped injuring her fingers for the sake of crossing her arms tightly across her chest. "Merlin, why are my children so secretive?! I expect the moody emotional repression from you, Al, but from both you and your brother? Merlin!"

Albus gestured towards the Room of Requirement again. "So you were checking in on James then? How'd that go?"

"It didn't. He wouldn't tell me anything. Looked me right in the eyes and lied to me—can you believe it? To his own mother! Something serious has happened and he won't tell me; he won't let me help him." She was back to picking at her skin. Albus heaved a sigh and crossed over to his mum. She looked so worried that she was nearing tears as Albus took her hands in his.

"You're hurting yourself, look," Albus sighed. He lifted her hands. Ginny blinked.

"Oh," she stared at her hands like they'd only just appeared seconds before. "Didn't notice."

"Mum, I'm sure he's fine. He's James."

"But he's not acting like James and that's what so frightening. I can't remember the last time James was upset and refused to tell me why."

"So maybe he needs space or...I dunno, he's a git sometimes. Maybe Nora told him she doesn't think red is his color or something."

Ginny didn't look reassured or amused, but she smiled at Albus anyway.

"Yeah. Maybe. What are you two doing here?"

"Same reason," Albus admitted. "Looking for James. We need help with our Transfiguration essays."

"Oh, well, good luck," Ginny said. "He could hardly focus on our conversation and it wasn't even really a conversation, it was more James panicking silently and me trying to get him to talk to me."

Scorpius frowned. He reached for Albus's hand.

"Albus, maybe we should leave him be..."

"No, let's give it a shot," Albus said. "Who knows—maybe he'd welcome the distraction."

Ginny hesitated. "If you find out anything..." she trailed off.

"Immediately run to you and betray James's trust?" Albus finished, amused.

"...Yeah, pretty much."

"At least you're honest about your own faults, Mum."

"Yeah...right..." she murmured. Scorpius was positive Ginny hadn't processed a word that Albus had just said. She turned back to him and lowered her voice. "So if he or Nora tells you anything...use the Map and find me, okay?"

"All right, but if he didn't tell you, he's not going to tell m—where are you going now?"

Ginny had leaned forward, quickly kissed their foreheads, and set off down the corridor. She turned around to respond and kept up her pace, walking backwards now.

"There's something your dad and I have to do. I'll see you soon."

"That sounds decidedly suspicious," Albus muttered.

Scorpius shrugged. "They're always up to something. What's new?"

"Fair point."

Scorpius had begun pacing and thinking about the Sevens' headquarters, in order to get the door to reappear, when he heard approaching footsteps. He turned around.

"Mum? Forget something?" Albus asked.

Ginny walked back over to them.

"Yes. You and your brother and Scorpius and Nora and James's friends. I wasn't thinking clearly."

She took them both by the elbow. Scorpius and Albus exchanged confused looks above her head.

"Me? Us? What for?" Albus demanded.

"There's a plan. You've all got to be briefed; we need all the Sevens, too. I got distracted with the James drama...here we go..." the door had reappeared. Ginny marched them forward and opened the door. Inside, Clementine, Ben, Evvie, James, and Nora were huddled closely on the sofa, Louis and Roxanne were perched on the arms of the sofa, and Jacques, Bec, and Sara were sitting on the floor, leaning back against their fellow Sevens members' legs. All were engaged in tense, secretive whispering. They jumped as they spotted Ginny.

"Merlin, Aunt Ginny!" Roxanne cried, her hand covering her heart. "Don't do that, I didn't hear you coming in!"

"Mum!" James complained. He'd gone a bit teary. "Please don't ask me what's wrong again, okay, because I can't—and I don't want—Mum, I'm allowed to have a secret! One secret, I can have one secret!"

"No, no you can't! No secrets! A new rule!" Ginny rebutted. She turned to Albus. "No secrets!"

"Er...okay? How will you know, though? If we've got a secret?"

Ginny narrowed her eyes. "I can read it on your faces. I made those faces; I know them better than you do."

James had his arms crossed. He was clearly steeling himself for another interrogation. But Ginny let it go—with what looked like extraordinary reluctance.

"There's a plan for the party tonight. After Grey's death, things are very...well, we don't know what to do from this point without more information. So we've got a plan to get more information. And I was hoping that you lot might help out."

"Of course we will," Louis said at once.

"How can we help?" Bec asked.

Ginny looked to Albus and Scorpius. Albus sighed.

"Yes, sure, Mum." He reached over and took Scorpius's hand tightly. "Guess that ruins our plans to skip the party."

"Mmhmm," Scorpius agreed.

"Though it seems like they've got plenty of help..." Albus continued thoughtfully, as every Seven rose to help.

"Albus," Scorpius said carefully. "Not that I'm calling you nosy...but I don't think you'd be able to relax in the dorms while a secret plan was unfolding at the party."

"Fair point," Albus allowed.

The first thing Scorpius noticed when they entered the Potters' living quarters was Lily's brilliantly smug smile. She wasn't even in the center of the room, but somehow, everybody's eyes were drawn to her anyway. She was giving off waves of brimming satisfaction.

"Oh, Merlin and God..." Albus groaned.

Scorpius allowed his eyes to take stock of the other inhabitants: Harry and Caden Rowle, who were standing in front of Lily and appeared to be involved in conversation, Rose and Iset, who were on the sofa together with Fitzroy the fluffy white cat, who was batting quite demandingly at Iset for petting, and Hermione, Ron, and Scorpius's dad. The very definition of a full house.

"Hello all," Ron greeted. "A full recruitment, I see."

"Yes," Ginny agreed distractedly. Scorpius looked at her curiously. Her eyes were on James and Nora, who'd lingered near the door and were now standing very closely together and talking in rapid, urgent whispers. It looked like another argument. "Yes...somebody just...bring them to speed...I've got to check something..."

"Gin—" Harry tried to say, but she was already inching backwards to eavesdrop. It was fruitless, though. As soon as she'd made it close enough to make out what was being said, Nora straightened and turned, her eyes falling on Ginny. She and James took a step back and then joined the larger group. Ginny looked like she was swearing internally; her face had gone red.

"What's the plan, Dad?" Albus asked. His eyes flickered to his smug little sister. "Please tell me Lily looks so thrilled for a completely unrelated reason."

"If only I could, Al..." Harry trailed off with a grimace. "So, the thing is—"

"I get to infiltrate," Lily interrupted. "So it has everything to do with me, Albus."

"Great," Albus muttered, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "Of course. I'm not even surprised anymore. Just—throw her in there. Sure. Whatever!"

"Infiltrate?" James demanded. That, it seemed, had been enough to tear him from his panicked thoughts. He pushed his way through his group of friends and looked at Harry in disbelief. "You're letting Lily immerse herself with Carrow's friends? With Avery?"

"Not exactly. This is a conditional and temporary infiltration that will probably be unsuccessful, but we're going to try. Lily has a very clear set of rules, and she's going to follow those rules. Isn't that