A/N – As usual I've already wrote the entire story. Wedding Bells has 19 chapters in total.
This story is equal Dramione and Scorpius/Lily (With a bit of adult content for both couples). I was going to put Scorpius and Lily on the list of main characters, but I didn't want people complaining that technically the Scorpius in this story isn't the same as the one in canon. In this story Scorpius is very much Draco and Hermione's son. This story is also very much a group story. The Potters and Weasleys play a big part, as do the rest of the Malfoy family and the Zabinis.
As another point I just want to say that in this reality there has never been anything romantic between Hermione and Ron, they were purely friends. Ron got together with Lavender in sixth year, and they've been together ever since. I also kept the names Hugo and Rose for Ron and Lavender's children as it's easier than changing their names to something else.
I hope people enjoy the story.
As it usually was on a Sunday, The Burrow was a hive of activity as various members of the large Weasley family gathered at the family home. Molly and Arthur Weasley encouraged all their family to come to The Burrow whenever they wished, but Sundays were the main day that the family gathered. Molly always cooked a large Sunday lunch and there was always some of her family there for that meal. After lunch she always then laid on an afternoon spread of food and drink and anyone who visited on the afternoon could help themselves to refreshments.
Over the years the Weasley family had grown significantly, not that it had ever been small considering that Molly and Arthur had seven children. Sadly one of their number was lost during the war when Fred tragically died, but the family had grieved together and moved on, although Fred was always with them in spirit and they never forgot him. Out of the other six Weasley children all but Charlie had married and had children of their own. In fact Molly and Arthur's eldest grandchild, Victoire, had recently had her first child with her husband Teddy Lupin, making the pair great-grandparents.
Apart from Charlie, who still lived abroad with his work at a dragon sanctuary, the only person who hadn't visited The Burrow in the previous few weeks was Ginny and Harry's youngest child, Lily. Lily was currently in France and had been there since leaving school two years ago. It was also Lily's imminent return home that was the main topic of conversation in the garden of the Burrow on a warm July day.
"I bet you're looking forward to having Lily back," Lavender Weasley remarked to Harry and Ginny. "I don't know what I would do if Rose had decided to go abroad when she finished school."
Rose was Lavender and Ron's youngest child and she had just finished at Hogwarts a few weeks previously. However, much to Lavender's relief Rose had no desire to go abroad, she was quite happily living at home as she applied for apprenticeships on various magazines and newspapers. Back before she and Ron had started a family, Lavender had worked as a gossip columnist on the Daily Prophet and Rose wanted to follow in her mother's footsteps.
"When is Lily back?" Ron questioned. "When did her course finish?"
"I spoke to her a couple of weeks ago and she said everything should have been finished this week," Ginny replied. "I asked if she wanted us to go and see her graduate, but she reckoned there was no big ceremony or anything. Basically she'll find out if she passed the course and get her qualifications."
Lily had headed to France to attend an exclusive wizarding culinary school in Paris. The school only ever accepted a small handful of students each year, so Lily had done extremely well just to be accepted. However, Harry and Ginny were both disappointed by the choice their daughter had made regarding her future life and career. Ginny had hoped that at least one of her children would take after her and think about a professional quidditch player, but none of them had. Their eldest son, James, had followed in Harry's footsteps and went straight into Auror training, while their second son, Albus, also started work at the Ministry in the Law Enforcement department alongside Lavender and Ron's son, Hugo. Lily however had no desire to go into any sort of law enforcement work, or even ministry work, she'd set her heart on becoming a professional chef so that was what she set out to do.
"Do you know if Lily has any plans?" Lavender continued to press. "Is she coming home, or will she stay in Paris?"
"Why would she stay in Paris?" Harry frowned at the idea of his youngest child moving to another country on a permanent basis. "This is her home, she only went over there to study. Although I'm sure she could have found somewhere just as good in this country."
"I don't know Harry, France is well known for its great cuisine." Ron gently pointed out to his best friend. "Lily would probably find it easier to get a job over there."
"Nonsense," Ginny tutted, glaring at her brother. "There's plenty of wizarding restaurants in this country, she could find work easily."
Realising that Lily was a touchy subject with the Potters, Ron and Lavender swiftly changed the conversation. Lavender engaged Ginny in talk about a new spa she'd been reading about, while Ron spoke to Harry about work and what jobs they had coming up. Directly after the war Harry and Ron had both entered Auror training and had become fully qualified Aurors. Over the years the pair had proven to be two of the best Aurors the department had ever seen and Harry rose to be Head Auror while Ron was his deputy. However a few years ago the pair decided they'd had enough of front line duty and they both left the Auror Department. Not wanting to be idle the pair set up a consultancy business, which had taken off spectacularly and they even had the Ministry of Magic as a client. The pair were also willing to share their experience with young Aurors and trainees, so they often spoke at lectures around the country and helped out with Auror training.
An hour later the subject of Lily was back again, but this time it was because Lily herself had just made a surprise appearance. Ginny had been quite happily making plans for the summer with Lavender when she looked up and spotted her daughter entering the garden via the back gate. Letting out a loud squeal of excitement, Ginny jumped up and raced across to Lily.
"Lily, you're home," Ginny cried, embracing the young redheaded witch in her arms.
"Hi, Mum." Lily smiled at her mother before she was swept up in Harry's arms.
Once Harry had finished greeting his daughter, several other members of the family were eager to greet Lily. Since leaving for France a couple of years ago she'd only been back for flying visits so the family had missed her. After hugging her grandparents, various aunts and uncles and a couple of cousins, Lily found herself being hugged by her two brothers.
"Wow you two must have missed me. You never hug me," Lily joked as James let her out of his arms.
"We're older and more mature now," Albus said to his little sister.
"Yeah right," Lily snorted. Both of her brothers were rather boisterous, and she couldn't imagine either of them being mature.
"Well, we're older," James laughed.
"Lily, come and get some food and tell us all about France," Molly urged her granddaughter.
Lily happily let her grandmother lead her across the lawn and over to where the food was spread out on a large table beside the back door. Lily had missed her grandmother's wonderful Sunday teas, so she piled her plate high with food before grabbing a drink and settling down on the grass. It had actually been Molly who had inspired Lily's love of cooking and food. From an early age Lily liked nothing better than helping Molly in the kitchen and the joy she got from cooking grew as she got older and she'd known for years that being a professional chef was what she wanted to do.
While Lily enjoyed her tea she told her family all about Paris. She spoke at length about the culinary school and all that she'd learnt there. She also told her family about Lyra, a girl she'd met at culinary school and became great friends with. The Weasleys were thrilled that Lily had made such a good friend as during her Hogwarts years she'd never really bonded with anyone in particular. Of course she'd had friends at school, but Lily was definitely the quietest of all the family and she'd never seemed to make a really good friend that she kept in touch with.
"So are you back home for good?" James asked his little sister.
"No." Lily shook her head. "Before anyone says anything, I have an announcement to make," She said quickly, spotting both her parents opening their mouths to argue. "I also met someone in France."
"Are you telling us you have a boyfriend?" Albus smirked. Back in Hogwarts any boy that might have been interested in Lily had been intimidated by her two older brother and the fact her father was Harry Potter, the war hero.
"I actually have a fiancé," Lily said.
"Fiancé," Harry repeated with wide eyes. "You're engaged?"
"Yes," Lily answered, showing her family the diamond engagement ring they'd all failed to notice. "And I really want you all to meet him. His family have asked everyone to dinner tomorrow evening."
"What's this boy's name?" Ginny questioned. She was totally stunned by the fact her little girl was engaged, but before she gave her opinion on the matter she wanted as much information as possible.
"Scorpius," Lily replied.
"Scorpius," Albus laughed. "What sort of a name is Scorpius?"
"You've got room to talk about dodgy names," Lily shot back at her brother.
"Don't insult my name," Albus spat at his sister. "I'm named after a great wizard."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know who you're named after." Lily rolled her eyes at Albus. "It doesn't stop the name being dodgy though," She muttered under her breath.
"That's enough," Harry said to his two youngest children. With only a year between them, Lily and Albus had always been more prone to bickering. "Lily, tell us more about this Scorpius. Is he French?"
"He was born and raised in France, but his parents are both English and he spends a lot of time in England with his grandparents," Lily answered her father. "Scorpius is Lyra's brother, and that's how I met him. He works at his family's company alongside his father. Scorpius and his family all came back to England with me, and as I said earlier they've invited anyone who wants to come for dinner tomorrow evening."
"And what's this boy's surname?" Harry asked. "We'll need to know if we're having dinner with him and his family."
Lily took a deep breath before divulging the bit of information she knew would cause a commotion with her family. "Malfoy. His name is Scorpius Malfoy."
Sure enough Lily's announcement was met by practically everyone shouting at her that she couldn't marry a Malfoy. Lily however ignored everyone as her focus was on her father who was turning bright red and looked as though he was on the verge of exploding.
"Malfoy," Harry exploded. "You cannot be serious, Lily. I will not allow you to marry a Malfoy."
"You don't have a choice," Lily said as she got to her feet. "I'm marrying Scorpius with or without your blessing." Reaching into her bag she pulled out a piece of folded parchment and placed it on the table, wedged under a plate so it wouldn't blow away. "There's the address of Scorpius's family. I really hope you'll at least come to dinner and give him a chance. Please, do it for me."
Ignoring the protests by her family, Lily turned and hurriedly left the garden of The Burrow. The second she was outside the house's boundary line she pulled out her wand and apparated away before any of her family saw the tears that were falling from her eyes. Even though she'd been expecting such a reaction from her family, it still hurt to have them all shouting at her and telling her what she could or couldn't do.
Lily's exit did little to calm things at The Burrow as several people expressed their disgust in her choice of boyfriend. Like the rest of the family, Lily had grown up hearing about the war and the part her family played in defeating Voldemort. That also meant she'd heard all about the families that had supported Voldemort, including the Malfoys. Of course with Harry as her father and Ron as the uncle she had the most contact with, Lily had also grown up knowing just how much the two men despised the Malfoys, especially Draco. As such everyone was shocked to hear who Lily had gotten herself involved with.
"What do we do?" A tearful Ginny asked Harry. "We can't let her marry a Malfoy."
"Don't worry, it won't happen," Harry replied confidently.
"I think you should all think very carefully before trying to tell Lily what to do," George advised his sister and brother-in-law. "Look at what happened with Hermione. You tried to do the same to her and now you haven't seen her in over twenty five years."
After the war Harry and Ron's best friend, Hermione Granger, had gone back to Hogwarts to take her final year and she'd ended up getting friendly with Draco Malfoy, who was repeating his last year as part of his probation. When the friendship turned to romance, Hermione informed Harry and Ron of the situation and her two friends didn't react very well to the news. They were convinced that Draco was just using Hermione to help his reputation after the war and they told her that as long as she was with the blond Slytherin that they couldn't be friends. Hermione refused to give up her relationship with Draco, and as a result Harry and Ron walked away from their friend and they hadn't seen or spoken to her since.
"That's not the same," Ron argued. "Hermione was our friend and we were just looking out for her. It's not our fault she walked away and didn't come back when things fell apart."
"What makes you so sure things fell apart for Hermione?" George's wife Angelina questioned.
"If Lily is involved with this Malfoy boy, he must be Malfoy's son," Harry replied. "That means Malfoy is married, and there's no way Lucius Malfoy would have allowed his son to marry a muggleborn."
"Malfoy was never going to marry Hermione," Ron snorted. "He was using her so people would think he was making an effort to change. I bet the second they left school, he dumped Hermione and got cosy with some pureblood snob."
"If that's the case, why didn't Hermione get back in touch?" George asked.
"You know what Hermione was like. She'll have been too stubborn to admit she'd made a mistake," Ginny said. "She wouldn't want to come crawling back to have to admit she was wrong all along and we were right."
"Whether you're right or wrong about Hermione, don't make the same mistake with Lily," George warned as he and Angelina stood up to leave. "She's an adult, you can't tell her who she can or can't marry. If she wants to marry the Malfoy boy, you'll have to accept it."
"Is George right?" Ginny quietly asked Harry as her brother and his wife made their exit.
"I don't know," Harry said quietly. "I don't want to lose Lily, but I don't want her marrying a Malfoy either."
"Why don't we reserve judgement until after tomorrow evening?" Arthur suggested. "We can go to dinner and meet this Scorpius before deciding what we're going to do."
"He'll be just like his bloody father," Ron complained.
"That's what I'm worried about," Harry sighed.
"As I said, let's reserve judgement until we've met the boy," Arthur cautioned.
"We will," Harry promised his father-in-law. "But if he's anything like his father, we're finding a way to get Lily away from him."
Ginny, Molly, Ron, James and Albus all nodded along in agreement with Harry's vow. None of them were happy about Lily being involved with a Malfoy and if they got their way things would be over very swiftly. Hopefully one dinner would be all they had to sit through before they managed to get Lily away from the Malfoys, and back home with her family where she belonged.