Quid Pro Quo

A/N: I really appreciate all of you who have taken the time to read and review. All your comments have been very helpful.

Lily squealed with delight when Scor’s owl Xerces swooped down onto the breakfast table landing next to her plate. She anxiously removed his letter.

“He must have asked his father already,” she said.

“Asked him what?” Al looked over her shoulder as she read the flowing script.

“If I can come to visit.” She finished the brief note and looked down the table to where her father sat munching a piece of toast. “Scor’s invited me to come the week before school starts. Can I go?”

Harry looked over at Ginny. The silent communication lasted a moment and then her mother turned to her.

“Lily, I’m not sure that’s such a great idea.” Her mum looked a bit pale and Lily remembered the same fear in her eyes when she had spoken of her first year at Hogwarts and Tom Riddle’s diary.

“But Mum! He needs me. He’s miserable there all alone!”

“Lily, I’m not so sure I want you there with Lucius Malfoy. I don’t trust him. He’s mental.” Her father said and then stared through the bowl of scrambled eggs.

“Please, Dad. Scor’s done so much for me. What sort of friend would I be if I couldn’t put up with one barmy old git for a week?” Ginny looked back at Harry and Lily inwardly rejoiced as resignation washed over her parents’ faces at the same moment.

“I guess…”

“I suppose…”

“Yipee!” Lily jumped up and hugged her mother and father before grabbing a quill of the living room desk and scribbling a quick response on the back of the parchment. She tied it to the leg of the owl that had just finished her bacon, and it flew back out the window.


Later that evening as Lily moved around her room gathering up the things she would be taking back to Hogwarts, her mum came in and shut the door.

“Lily, you do know it’s two weeks until you’re going to the Malfoy’s right?”

“Of course—I just want to make sure I have everything.”

“Come sit down a minute and talk to me.”

Lily walked over to her bed and sat on the thick emerald comforter. The same look of fear still covered her mother’s kind face. On impulse, Lily wrapped her arms around her mum enjoying the familiar scent of vanilla lingering in her hair.

Ginny finally pulled away and gave Lily a serious look.

“Lily, you remember when I told you about the diary?”

“Yes.”

“About Tom possessing me?”

“Yes.”

“Well, what I didn’t tell you is that Lucius Malfoy gave me that diary.”

“What!” Lily felt sick. Her mother had shared the horrible experience of her first year at Hogwarts with her daughter to help her overcome her feelings of weakness. Lily had felt so small and gullible for being duped by the dead man’s ghost. Lily still remembered the tears they spilt together and the ache she felt having such a strange bond to her mother.

“He…did that…to you?” Ginny only nodded. Anger rose up like a storm inside Lily. How could he? Why wasn’t he punished—locked away to rot in Azkaban?

“Lily,” her mother’s soft voice interrupted her seething thoughts. “I’m not telling you this to make you hate the Malfoys. I just want you to be careful. Stay away from Lucius Malfoy if you can.”

“Mum, if you don’t want me to go…”

“No, Lily, you were right. Friends are there for each other. You need to be there for Scor, just…watch your back.”

“I will, Mum,” and she wrapped her arms around Ginny once again.


The day arrived for Lily to leave for Malfoy manor. They had arranged to meet Scor and his father in the Leaky Cauldron that morning and Lily’s stomach felt as though it was dancing about like a sprite.

“You’re so lucky, Lils,” Al said around a piece of bacon. “I wish Scor had invited me. Wonder what his house is like? Bet he’s got a whole wing to himself.” Lily didn’t open her mouth to correct him for fear she might be sick.

“Well, if the rooms are as big as the cellar...,” Harry spoke up from the head of the table. “The drawing room is rather large actually.”

“Did they really throw you and Uncle Ron in the cellar?” Al looked ecstatic.

“And Luna and Dean and Olivander as well.” Lily felt her stomach squirm. The smell of bacon was beginning to make her queasy.

“Wonder if that’s where you’ll be staying, Lily?” Al said turning to her. “Nice and dark—it’ll be just like Hogwarts!”

“Al,” Ginny glared at Albus and he returned to his fried eggs.

“Well, we’d best get going, Lily.” Harry said after finishing his last bite of bacon. She stood without a word and moved up the stairs clinging to the banister. She opened the door to her room and took one last look around to make sure she had packed everything. She picked up her two-way mirror and slipped it into her jeans pocket. Her opal pendant lay in the open box on her vanity. She ran her finger over the smooth stone and watched it glow. She pulled it out of the box, lifted the chain over her head, and closed the empty box stowing it in her trunk.

“Got everything?” Harry said from the door.

“I think so.” He waved his wand and levitated her trunk down the stairs to the front door. She hugged her mother and brother (James had already left for Quidditch practice), told her mum she would see her at Christmas, and stepped out the door into the sunny yard. She took her father’s arm when they were far enough away from the house. Harry turned on the spot and they squeezed their way to the Leaky Cauldron.


It took a moment for Lily’s eyes to adjust to the darkness in the small pub. The smell of alcohol and smoke assaulted her senses immediately. The bartender greeted them pleasantly and directed them to one of the private parlors in the back where they were told Mr. Malfoy and Scorpius waited. Lily felt the butterflies return to her stomach in full force. She clutched her father’s arm for support.

“You okay?” He smiled down at her and patted her hand gently.

“Yeah.”

Lily’s heart nearly stopped when they entered the small parlor. Scor and Mr. Malfoy stood to greet them. She wasn’t the only one who had changed over the summer. Scor had grown at least three inches taller and a bit broader in the chest. His platinum hair hung elegantly over his grey eyes. His high cheekbones and chiseled jaw didn’t have the sharp quality of his father’s pointed features. His white Oxford shirt and black trousers fit his athletic frame perfectly. The combined effect made Lily clench her jaw shut to keep from drooling. She barely registered her father leaving her side to talk to Mr. Malfoy in hushed tones. Her eyes were fixed on Scor, her best friend, her love.

He made his way over to her awkwardly giving her a brief hug that she knew she enjoyed way too much. The spicy smell of his cologne left her a bit lightheaded, so she was glad when he held out a chair for her.

“Lily, I…”

“Scor, I…” They both started simultaneously. She saw the color tint his cheeks and felt the heat in her own. Trying desperately to think clearly enough to speak, she breathed a sigh of relief when Mr. Malfoy and her father turned back to their children.

“Well, I guess we had better go,” Draco said and held his arm out to Lily who stood and took it gratefully. Scor grabbed one end of her trunk. Having turned seventeen in March, he had received his apparition license. Consequently, he would have the job of bringing the luggage.

“Take care of her,” Harry said and smiled at Lily. She felt her throat constrict and wondered if she was doing the right thing. Both Malfoy men answered, “I will,” and with a twist and a squeeze, Lily took her first into another world.