Ginny smoothed her hands over the silk of her skirt, tugging at invisible wrinkles. She spun around on the point of her heel, a hand laid upon one of the foyer’s towering columns for balance.

She let her shoe settle back onto the floor from the heel, enjoying the echoing slap it made on the marble. One last time, she ran her fingers through her loose waves of red hair and breathed in deeply.

“Calm down, Mother,” Lily said huffily as she descended the staircase.

Ginny gave her daughter and apologetic smile. “I’m sorry, Lil. I’m just a little…”

“Nervous?” Lily prompted with a knowing smirk.

“Preoccupied,” Ginny corrected sharply. But damn her daughter. What nine-year-old was that perceptive?

“Well, I’d say your hair and dress are just fine, Mummy,” Lily said sweetly. “So you can stop fussing with them.”

Ginny gave her daughter a stern look but lowered her hands to hers sides.

The last six weeks had been a swirl of tangled, uncertain events. One day, she believed they were as happy as possible, filling their new house with the kind of laughter and memories that she had ached for while living with Harry.

But the day after would be strained and dark, beginning and ending with Draco nursing a glass of scotch in his armchair, his eyes flashing dark with worries he wouldn’t share with her.

It was on those days that she doubted everything. She wondered if returning to England was a mistake, or even if leaving her family had been an error. She often curled up in the window seat in the foyer, as she had in the Potter house, and stared out at the rolling hills, wondering if by leaving she had changed anything at all. She would twirl her emerald wedding ring around on her finger and let tears trickle down her face, because there was no danger he would see them. Draco never left his room on those days.

On the next day, he would wake up and kiss her forehead and tell her he loved her. He would take her flying and then spend the entire afternoon teaching Lily the finer points of chess. And sometimes Ginny cried on those days too, for she had never been more confused in her entire life. The world he had brought her into was one of blended shades of gray.

She could only hope that one day, maybe he would be comfortable with sharing some of his past with her. Until then, all she could do was wait through the bad days. She had a feeling whatever demons tortured Draco were ones he wanted to work through on his own, and she wouldn’t accomplish anything by pushing him to talk.

After all, he hadn’t had one of his dark days in two weeks now, and this morning he had been so excited that he hadn’t been able to stop smiling.

But of course the source of his joy was the cause of Ginny’s anxiety. In less than twenty minutes, Draco was due to arrive home with a stranger to this new world of theirs. He would be bringing his son home for the Easter holidays.

Lily sat down on the bottom step and tapped her foot impatiently. Ginny turned around to look at her daughter once more, and furrowed her brow. The girl had pulled her long red hair into a sloppy ponytail, and she was wearing the sweater her grandmother had knitted for her last Christmas. It was almost as if she were trying to look as Potter as possible.

“Lily, darling, didn’t you see the clothes I laid out for you on the bed?” Ginny asked tentatively.

Lily rolled her eyes. “The lovely gray dress? The one that matches my eyes?”

Ginny nodded patiently, waiting for the storm that was currently brewing in her daughter’s eyes.

“I don’t want to wear that dress. I like my sweater.”

“Lily, meeting Scorpius is very important to me, and I would be really appreciative if you would go back upstairs and put on that dress for me.”

Lily simply jutted out her chin and glared at her mother. Ginny sighed inwardly and looked down at her watch. They only had fifteen minutes left.

“All right, young lady, if that’s how you want to play it, I will force you to put on that dress. You can march your butt back up those stairs or I can make you. Either way, I will win.”

Lily raised her eyebrows, but after a moment she sighed heavily and proceeded to stomp up the stairs. Ginny, sensing a rebellion, followed.

Lily was pulling the dress over her head when Ginny entered the room, and once she had poked her head through the collar, she scowled at her mother.

“You look very much like Uncle Ron when you do that,” Ginny told her sweetly. She glanced about the room, which had been painted a pale green of Lily’s choosing. Posters of Quidditch players flashed from one wall, while bookcases stretched along another. Ginny was glad to see that her daughter’s personality had been so thoroughly infused into the room.

Getting back to the task at hand, Ginny pulled out her wand and flicked it at her daughter’s head. At once, her red curls were tugged free of the hair tie and fell down her back nicely. Lily clenched her teeth.

Ginny ran a hand over Lily’s hair and bent down to look her in the eye. “I want you to be very good, do you understand? We are going to be a family, all of us,” she added sharply.

Lily folded her arms. “Then why aren’t James and Albus visiting, too?”

Ginny felt as if her daughter had smacked her across the face. Lily smirked in triumph and wrenched her arm out of her mother’s grasp before turning to run out of the room. It took Ginny a moment to find her breath before she stood to chase after her daughter.

She found her looking out the giant picture window in the parlor. Her eyes were red, but Ginny saw no trace of tears on her cheeks. She laid a hand on each of Lily’s shoulders.

“I’m sorry your brothers couldn’t visit, Lil. Your Dad and I decided that Scorpius would need some time to adjust to you and I before he found other strangers in the house. You had that time too, remember?” Ginny said pleadingly. “James and Albus can come to stay over the summer, I promise. And when I go to the Burrow at the end of the week to see them, you can certainly come with me.”

Lily sniffed slightly and looked up at her mother with a hesitant smile. She rubbed her eyes with the back of her hand and nodded. “Okay.”

Ginny extended her hand and Lily took hold of it laughingly. The two of them went back to the parlor to stare out the window in anticipation of Scorpius’s arrival.

As Lily peered out the window, tapping her foot impatiently, Ginny had to marvel at how lucky she was that Lily had adjusted so quickly. Her miniature tantrum about Scorpius was about as angry as she had been since they moved, and Ginny realized that things could have been a lot worse. She could have hated Draco and missed Harry terribly. Overall, things had gone smoothly with her daughter.

Looking back on it later, she thought she should have known that it was too good to be true. Her miraculous attitude towards Draco was just that – a miracle. She shouldn’t have hoped it would happen a second time.

Ginny did a double take when Draco opened the front door and ushered in a young, pale-faced boy. His long, black Muggle coat and gray scarf looked almost regal on him, but when he fixed a cool gaze on her, she almost shuddered.

He was the spitting image of his father twenty five years ago. Even the slight tilt to his aristocratic chin was the same.

Ginny smiled widely. Draco gestured at her as he took his son’s coat and said, “Scorpius, this is Ginny.”

“It’s good to meet you,” Ginny said as if she were addressing an adult. Something about the boy’s reserved smile delivered an understanding that down talking would not be well received.

He shook her outstretched hand firmly and granted her a courtesy smile.

“And this is Lily,” Draco said, nearly tripping over the rug as he moved forward to touch Lily’s shoulder. “She’s your sister.”

This time Ginny actually did shudder as Scorpius fixed a cold glare upon her daughter. Ginny was almost relieved to see Lily with her arms crossed and returning his glare with a ferocious scowl of her own, for it was better that she mutually dislike him than be disappointed with his greeting.

Draco faltered slightly, looking between his children. “Erm, well, let’s go see your room, Scorpius.”

As Draco guided his son up the stairs, Lily shot her mother a withering glare before turning on her heel to stomp through the house. Ginny winced as she heard the back door slam.

She sighed and escaped to the kitchen, resigned to cook dinner now and resolve the family differences later.

Half an hour into preparing the shepherd’s pie, Ginny heard someone clear their throat behind her.

She peered over her shoulder to see Scorpius sitting on one of the counter stools. Although he had changed his clothes, he still looked smart in a dark green sweater and creased trousers. And while his hair hung flat and a little shaggy instead of being slicked back as Draco’s had been in their Hogwarts days, it was every bit as blond as his father’s.

“What’s up, Scorpius?” she asked while chopping up carrots.

She looked over her shoulder again in time to see him give her an odd look before the familiar smirk settled over his features.

“Do you…do you want any help?” he asked nervously.

Ginny hid a smile, wondering for a moment if Draco had forced this on the boy. But he looked almost earnest, sitting there on the stool, and she decided to take him up on his offer.

“Sure. There’s dough over there in that bowl. I’ll show you how to fold it into rolls.”

He looked slightly repulsed when she instructed him to dust his hands with powder first but did so anyway. She showed him how to work the dough and where to put the uncooked rolls before returning to the vegetables.

She snuck a look at him every few minutes, silently chuckling at the sight of him working the dough with a furrowed brow, his sweater sleeves rolled up and smears of flour adorning his face.

After ten minutes of comfortable silence, he cried out in triumph. “Done!”

Ginny wiped her hands on the dishtowel and examined his work while he watched proudly. The dough was wrapped a little less neatly than if she would have done it herself, but she was pleasantly surprised at how well Scorpius had followed instructions.

“Well done,” she said, patting his shoulder affectionately. She withdrew a little too quickly, afraid that she had crossed an unspoken line, but the boy smiled appreciatively.

“Can I do anything else?” he asked politely.

Ginny could see he wasn’t too interested in cooking – it was more likely that he wanted to please her and his father. She smiled and replied, “I don’t have much else for you to do. But how about you sit on the stool and talk to me while I finish up?”

He nodded and granted her another half smile before settling on the stool. He tapped his fingers in what she recognized as a nervous gesture.

“How do you like school?” she started conversationally.

The tapping fingers stopped. “It’s all right,” he said cautiously. “I’m not the best in my class. Only second.”

“Oh yeah? From what I’ve heard, you’re a sharp boy.”

“Dad would like to think that,” he said quietly.

Ginny laughed lightly, and the boy looked at her curiously. “Actually, I heard it from Shane.”

His whole face lit up immediately. “Shane?”

Ginny smiled. “Yes, sir. The bartender thought very highly of you. Who’s the best in your year, if not you?”

She turned when he didn’t answer to find him looking at her critically. When she smiled encouragingly, he sighed and answered, “Rose Weasley.”

Ginny felt her stomach drop sickeningly. She should have recognized that. She smiled nervously, fumbling to fix her mistake.

“Well, Rose is a smart girl. But I hear her worst subject is potions, much to her mother’s dismay. I daresay you top her in that?”

An appreciative smile played across his lips. Slowly, he nodded. “Rose is rubbish at potions.”

“And you play Quidditch for the house team?” Ginny asked, encouraged by her success.

Scorpius nodded again. “Yeah, I do.”

“Lily loves to fly. You both should go out this week.”

He wrinkled his nose for a second, but smiled at Ginny. “I suppose.”

Ginny put the dish and rolls in the oven and slid onto a stool beside Scorpius. He raised his eyebrows in surprise, a gesture that sharply reminded her of her daughter, but they soon settled into comfortable conversation as the dinner cooked.

Ginny was feeling panicky as the week went on and the two children refused to interact. On the third day, she was wandering down the hall to the library in the corner of the house. It was smallish in comparison to other libraries in English estates, according to Draco, but Ginny was so thrilled to even have a library at all that she dismissed his comment.

She heard voices as she passed Scorpius’s room, and for a moment her heart fluttered in her chest, hoping he and Lily were finally in the same room. But it sank just as quickly as she heard her husband’s voice.

Curiosity overcoming guilt, Ginny leaned closer to the door, her breath held and legs poised to scurry down the hall if the conversation were to end abruptly.

“…hate spending time with her. Can’t I just stay here over the summer?” Scorpius’s voice muttered.

“You know you have to spend time with your mother. And I would be more likely to consider letting you stay here if you were more inclined to get to know your sister,” Draco said sharply. Ginny winced for the boy, knowing how harsh that tone could be.

Scorpius grumbled something inaudibly.

“What was that?”

“You didn’t even know about her until a few months ago! I’ve been your son for twelve years! Why is she so much more important?” His voice cracked on the last word, and tears sprang to Ginny’s eyes.

“Scorpius…she’s not. You’re my son, and I…I love you. I just want you to get along with Lily. I want us to be a family.” There was a long pause, and when Draco began his voice was a little heavier. “I know I haven’t been the best Dad. But I’m here now, and it’s important to me that you and Ginny and Lily all get along…because I love you all.”

“Well, I like Ginny,” Scorpius replied.

Ginny smiled through her tears, and the constricting hold on her chest lifted a little. Draco laughed.

“I’m glad. I like her too.”

“I like her better than Mother,” Scorpius insisted.

“Well, keep that to yourself,” Draco said. “I don’t think your mother would appreciate it.”

“Yeah…”

They were quiet for a little while, and Ginny was beginning to move away from the door when Draco said, “Scorpius? Are you glad we moved here?”

“I – I like that you’re here. But I wish you would have kept The Dragon.”

Ginny felt her stomach drop, and guilt seeped into her chest. In her desire to give Lily what she wanted, she had decided to disregard the boy’s feelings and wishes.

“I know. I do too. I’ll miss it. Maybe we’ll go visit it in the summer, just the two of us.”

“Really?” Scorpius asked, trying and failing to mask his hopefulness.

“Really. But will you promise me to make an effort with your sister?”

“Half sister,” Scorpius corrected contemptuously.

Draco cleared his throat.

“All right, all right. I’ll try.”

Ginny was eating breakfast the following morning, scanning the morning paper, when Lily came stomping into the kitchen, fully decked out in her green Quidditch gear. She had braided her own fiery hair and looked angry enough to kill.

“Show him…bloody tosser. Girl can’t fly? Hmph,” she muttered angrily, ripping a banana from the bunch and peeling it violently.

“Going flying, Lily flower?” Ginny asked cheerfully, concealing a smirk behind her hand.

“Yes,” Lily hissed, taking an angry bite of her banana. She ripped open the back door and marched across the yard to the broom shed. Ginny laughed.

Scorpius joined her ten minutes later, wearing similar gear in a bluish gray. Ginny positioned herself so that she could watch from her chair.

In the moments that she glanced up from the paper, she saw that the children were playing with a Quaffle, trying to score goals on one another. From what she saw, both of them only scored one goal apiece.

Soon after that, they grew frustrated with fruitlessly trying to outdo one another and moved on to throwing golf balls as far as they could for the other to chase. Ginny didn’t see a single ball dropped.

Both were pink in the face at this point, scowling angrily at each other from their broomsticks. After what looked like a heated discussion, both soared into the air and lined up along the giant willow tree. Ginny watched with fascination, her newspaper forgotten on the table, as they counted off together and took off through the air. They both zoomed as fast as their brooms would take them, and Ginny’s heart skidded when she saw that Lily’s more juvenile broom couldn’t match Scorpius’s Nimbus.

But when the girl saw that she was lagging, she clenched her teeth in concentration and burst forward until she was dead even with her brother. They both whizzed across the makeshift finish line so close together that Ginny couldn’t tell who won.

She looked on nervously, now on her feet by the window, as both kids shot their fists in the air, grinning widely, until they realized the other had done the same. Both erupted into furious shouts, swooping down to the ground and advancing on each other angrily.

She settled back into her chair hastily as they stormed back to the house, their shouts growing louder with each step. Ginny cringed as the door flew open and slammed into the wall, but the sound was nearly drowned out by the angry shouting of the younger Malfoys.

“I certainly crossed the line first,” Scorpius hollered, his normally pale face flushed dramatically. “Your broom could never compete with mine!”

“Then that’s the mark that I’m the better flier,” Lily countered furiously. “If my shoddy broom could keep up with your smarmy-”

“You would like to think that, wouldn’t you?”

“I know it!”

“You don’t know anything!”

“Enough!” Ginny shrieked, standing up. Both children quailed under her fierce glare. “You are both acting like toddlers. If you cannot come to an agreement like the young adults I know you to be, you will not come to one at all. Go upstairs.”

They nodded obediently, scurrying to the stairwell, but Ginny heard their furious whispers echoing once they thought she was out of earshot. But silence engulfed the house once more, and Ginny was afraid that she’d startled them out of what little bonding they may have accomplished, no matter how angry it had been.

The next afternoon she was mourning that thought when a loud crash followed by a cry sounded from the upstairs corridor. Ginny looked up, alarmed. The cry had sounded like the bellow of a wounded animal. She rushed up the stairs to find Scorpius standing in the hallway, covered from head to toe in thick, pink slime.

“Scor – Scorpius?” Ginny stuttered. “What happened?”

Scorpius shook himself like a dog, splattering the walls with the stuff. He looked up at her and gave another enraged cry before turning to stomp back into his room.

Ginny stared at where he had stood, bewildered. Draco burst out of the office, looking around wildly.

“What the hell happened?” he cried, looking at the splotches of pink.

“Lillian Kaida Potter Malfoy!” Ginny screeched. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Draco cringe at “Potter.”

Scorpius burst back out of his room, still covered in pink.

“No!” he gasped, breathless. “She didn’t do anything. This was my fault. Don’t…don’t tell her. I think she’s outside.”

He looked at them both desperately, and then ran back into his room.

Draco looked up at Ginny, his mouth open slightly. “What was that?”

“I would say…that they’ve started a prank war,” Ginny said slowly, a smile playing at her lips.

And so it was. Later that afternoon, Ginny heard Lily scream and found her stuck on the toilet in the upstairs bathroom, a victim of her own Biting Toilet Seat. The next morning, Ginny turned in time to see Scorpius catch a butterfly out of the air and shove it into his pocket, and she balked when he belched up another.

The pranks, which Ginny understood were supposed to stay between the children, continued through the week, getting more and more vicious. Draco had to take Scorpius to St. Mungo’s because thee fingers on his right hand were missing, and no one could figure out how to put them back. Ginny couldn’t fathom how Lily had managed to do it, but assumed that something had made her daughter so angry that she had produced a raw, uncontrolled magic to remove her brother’s fingers. At any rate, after they returned from the hospital, Ginny told Draco she thought they should put a stop to the pranks.

“Are you kidding?” Draco laughed. “They’re having fun together. We couldn’t have asked for anything better.”

Ginny wasn’t sure. On the day before Scorpius was due to return to school, Lily stormed down to the kitchen for lunch with green hair, grumbling about how much she hated “that git.”

The next morning, Draco and Scorpius loaded the bags into their car and came back into the foyer to say goodbye. Lily had refused to be present.

Ginny bent down to hug the boy, smiling gently as they pulled back. “It’s been a pleasure having you. I hope we see a great deal of you over the summer.”

He smiled widely, and Ginny felt as though her heart might burst.

Draco gave the staircase one last sad look, and turned down to his son. “Well, I guess that’s it then.”

They opened the front door and were halfway out of it when they were startled by the sound of thundering footsteps. “Wait!” a voice called from upstairs.

Lily came barreling down the stairs, carrying a bag bursting with what looked like Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes products. She stopped awkwardly in front of Scorpius for a moment before throwing her arms around him.

Both kids pulled back quickly, but were smiling shyly. Lily pressed the bag into Scorpius’s hands.

“For pranking Al and James, yeah?”

“All right, then,” Scorpius replied.

Without another word, Lily spun on her heel and dashed up the stairs again.

Author notes: Thanks to all of you who have left reviews: I hope you continue to. And if you haven't, now is a lovely place to start.