Surely he didn’t mean that Potter and that Weasley. Surely Rosie had no connection to the people my father has apparently loathed for all eternity. Surely something was amiss.

My face twisted in confusion.

He continued, “You are me, Scorpius. Only you haven’t made your way down the whole path yet..."

Hunched over in my chair, I said, “If you knew the future, you could stop yourself from making really stupid mistakes or becoming something you do not want to be.”

By the half smile Professor Physick gave me in return, I knew I had answered perfectly for the script of today’s lesson.

She began with a low, drawn-out sigh. “But Mr. Malfoy,” she said, “Must we really know the future to prevent ourselves from taking the wrong path?”

“Yes, yes, merry Christmas to you, too,” she said with a bemused voice. As I went in for another kiss, she held me out by my shoulders. She gave a meaningful look at my knapsack. “Scor, are you sure you’re okay?”

“Of course,” I told her. Life had been good for us, and not once in the past year had I felt the need to burden her with the details of my mum’s death or my father’s bad habits.