"So, Daddy," Rose Weasley said, standing in front of her father. She was 17 years old and was home for the summer before her last year at Hogwarts. Ron lowered the newspaper that was hiding his face. He knew Rose wanted something. She only called him Daddy when she wanted something.
"What do you want, Rosie?" He said with a smile.
"Well, I was wondering if I could invite Scorpius over for dinner tonight." Rose said hopefully. She prepared herself for an explosion. He never approved of her being friends with Scorpius in the first place. Apparently, her dad and his dad were sworn enemies at school, but Rose was sure that if he met Scorpius, her dad would surely like him.
"Rose—" Ron started, but was interrupted by Hermione coming into the living room.
"That sounds wonderful, dear. I've been wanting to meet him ever since you mentioned that you were friends." She said. Rose squealed, hugged her mum, and ran up the stairs, probably to send an owl to Scorpius Malfoy. Hermione turned to Ron.
"But—but—" He spluttered.
"No buts." Hermione said sharply. "He's Rose's friend, so I think we should give him a chance."
"But he's a Malfoy!"
"So? That doesn't mean he's like his father."
"But he's a Slytherin!"
"Slytherin is not the breeding ground for Death Eaters that it once was. Very respectable people have come out of Slytherin. We agreed that we would not let our old school prejudices get in the way of our children. Right?"
"Right." Ron said, defeated.
"And if our little Rosie is friends with him, then I'm sure he's perfectly nice."
"But—" Ron started.
"End of discussion." Hermione said sharply, and she turned to go back into the kitchen. She poked her head back into the living room. "And I expect you to be on your best behavior tonight, understand?" Ron nodded and slumped back into his chair.
The rest of the day was spent with Hermione cleaning and fussing over Rose, insisting that she fix her hair and put on a little make-up. Rose resisted at first, but was in such a good mood that she let her mother take over. Hugo spent the whole day teasing Rose about her boyfriend (Ron flinched every time her heard that word). Ron had told himself that he would give Scorpius a chance, but was still in a bad mood about it.
Finally, the moment came and there was a knock on the door. Hermione got up and opened it.
"Hello, you must be Scorpius." She said with a smile.
"Hi, Mrs. Weasley." He ran a nervous hand through his hair and held out a bouquet of flowers that he was holding.
"Oh, these are beautiful. Thank you. Please, come in." Ron looked at the boy. He was tall and thin with blonde hair. He looked a lot like his father. Except there was something different, something friendlier, about his features. He didn't have the famous Malfoy sneer on his face. Instead, it was a nervous smile.
Scorpius spotted Ron and walked over to him. Ron glared at him, which made Scorpius a little unnerved.
"Uh, hello, Mr. Weasley." Over Scorpius's shoulder, Hermione was giving him a death glare. Ron took a deep breath and smiled.
"Hello, Scorpius. Rose will be down in a minute." Ron said. "How is your father?"
"Dad's great." Scorpius said. "He works at the Ministry in the—" Right at that moment, Rose ran down the stairs and jumped on Scorpius.
"SCORP!" She yelled, laughing.
"Hey Rose!" He said. He laughed and gave her a big hug. "You nearly gave me a heart attack!"
"How are you?" Rose said.
"Great. Oh, I have something for you." Scorpius conjured up a red rose and handed it to her. "It's a rose for Rose!"
Rose looked from the flower to her best friend, then laughed again. "Wow! I've never heard that one before." She said sarcastically. She took the flower and thanked him.
"Well, we'll just leave you two to catch up. Dinner will be in twenty minutes." Hermione said, pulling Ron with her out of the room.
"He gave her a ROSE! A RED ROSE!" Ron hissed at Hermione. "That means LOVE. I can deal with Rosie being friends with him, but I don't think I could handle Rose dating him!"
"Oh, hush up!" Hermione said. "It probably means nothing." Hermione doubted her own words. "But even if it did, Scorpius seems like a perfectly nice boy who really cares about Rose. How do you even know what flowers mean?"
Ron turned red. "Don't you remember? When I proposed I gave you a red rose." Hermione smiled.
"Yes I remember. It was the sweetest thing you've ever done." Hermione leaned in and kissed Ron. Ron got a little pink in the ears. "Now. I need to finish dinner. You go upstairs and don't you DARE bother Scorpius and Rose."
Twenty minutes later, Hermione called everyone to the table.
"Wow. This looks great, Mrs. Weasley." Scorpius complemented. Hermione smiled.
"Why, thank you, Scorpius." Rose glanced at her best friend. So far, he hadn't done anything to bother her mum or dad. They loaded their plates up with food and started eating.
"So, Scorpius," Ron said. "Tell us about yourself."
"Well, I'm in Slytherin." Ron's face twitched. Scorpius noticed it. "I don't believe what most of the Slytherins believe, though. I hate the whole pureblood supremacy thing. It's stupid. Who your family is shouldn't define who you are."
"I completely agree." Hermione said.
"Scorp is on the Quidditch team. He's a seeker. He's really good. Not quite as good as Gryffindor, but I'm afraid I might be slightly biased on that one." Rose said. She was a Gryffindor chaser. The team was comprised of Rose, James, and Lily as Chasers; Fred and Roxanne as Beaters; Sarah Wood (Oliver Wood and Katie Bell's daughter) as the Keeper; and Albus as Seeker.
"I'm not THAT good."
"Stop being modest. He's amazing. If it weren't for Al, Slytherin would win the cup every year." Ron clenched his jaw at the thought of Slytherin winning the Quidditch cup.
"What do you plan on doing after school?" Hermione asked.
"I want to be an Auror." He said proudly. The conversation went on like this the whole dinner, with Hermione asking questions, Scorpius answering them, Ron attempting to look happy, Rose laughing and smiling a lot, and Hugo stuffing his face.
"Hey, Scorp. Let's go for a walk." Rose said once dinner was over. She yelled over her shoulder to her mum that she was leaving.
"Sorry about my dad. It's not that he doesn't like you, it's just, well, he's prejudiced against Slytherins. And Malfoys."
"I don't blame him." Scorpius said quietly. "I hate the Death Eaters. I hate the pureblood mania. I just want your father to understand that."
"And he will. He just needs to get over that fact that you're not your father, and even your father has changed from the Death Eater he once was. It'll just take some time." Scorpius sighed.
"Yeah. Unfortunately, when you meet my parents, it'll probably be worse."
"We'll figure that out when we get there, Scorp."
"Yeah." He said. "Why can't a Gryffindor and a Slytherin be friends?"
Rose sighed. "Yeah…friends." Scorpius stopped. Rose turned around to look at him.
"What's wrong?" Scorpius asked.
Rose was back to her normal self. "There's nothing wrong."
"Rose…" Scorpius said, warningly.
"What? There's nothing wrong."
"I'm your best friend. I know when there's something wrong." Rose groaned. It wasn't good having someone know you this well.
"It's stupid."
"Nothing you have to say is stupid." Scorpius said.
"Fine. There's a guy…"
Scorpius smirked. "It seems like all girl problems start like that."
Rose hit him playfully on the shoulder. "Well, you wanted to know. But this is serious, Scorp."
"Okay, go on. I'm listening."
"Well, I fancy him. A lot."
"Oh. What is he like?" Scorpius asked.
"He's very sweet and funny. He's a Quidditch player and wants to be an Auror when he grows up." Scorpius couldn't believe his ears. He had a feeling he knew where this was going. Rose stared at the ground and her ears were going a very Weasley shade of red. "He's a really good friend. In fact, I might even say he's my best friend." Rose had done it. She'd as good as spelled it out for him.
Suddenly, Rose felt a hand reach out and grab hers. She looked up and saw Scorpius smiling back at her. She laced her fingers together with his and a big smile burst out on her face.
"I love it when you smile." Scorpius said. Rose bit her lip, then stood up on her toes and pressed a soft kiss to Scorpius's lips. She started to pull away, but Scorpius cupped her face and kissed her again. He kissed her like he never wanted to stop. He brought the kiss deeper and let her tongue explore his mouth. She ran her fingers through his hair. He held her waist.
Suddenly, there was a noise of a door opening, light flooded onto them, and a yelp was heard. The couple broke apart to see Ron Weasley, red-faced and fuming, staring back at them.
"Leave." Ron said in a deadly voice. Scorpius stood there, petrified with fear. "GET OUT OF HERE!" He yelled. Then, what he did next, if Rose hadn't been mortified, she would've burst out laughing. Her dad chased her boyfriend down the driveway and out into the street before he apparated away. "AND DON'T EVER COME BACK!" Ron growled.
Rose just stood there looking mortified. Ron glared at the spot where Scorpius had vanished, breathing heavily. Hermione walked out to see what all the commotion was and was staring at Ron disapprovingly.
Hugo stood in the background and chuckled. He was glad the two of them FINALLY got together. Scorpius would be back soon enough. He knew it.
---
Two weeks later
"I can't believe you're making me do this, 'Mione!" Ron complained.
"No, you're not doing it for me. You're doing it for your daughter. Now, go!" Hermione said sharply. Ron grumbled. He went down on his knees and stuck his head in the fire. He dropped the Floo Powder.
"Malfoy Manor!" He said. Suddenly, he was looking at a large, ornate room with a tall blonde man standing there. He turned around and his lip curled.
"Weasley," he said with a sneer. "To what do I owe the pleasure of having your head in my fireplace?" He drawled.
"Malfoy. I would like to speak with your son." He said with contempt in his voice.
"Yes? Come to apologize for chasing him out of your house? Very well, then. Scorpius!"
"Our children are dating, Malfoy." Ron said.
"Yes. I heard. And I must say, I'm not any happier than you are about it."
A 17 year old boy who looked remarkably like his father came down the stairs at that very moment.
"Yeah, dad?" He said.
"Mr. Weasley would like to speak with you." Draco said, gesturing to the fire.
"I would like to invite you to come with us to the Quidditch game this weekend. Puddlemere United against Holyhead Harpies." Ron said with a forced smile.
"Sure! Can I go, Dad?" Scorpius said, turning to his father.
"Yes," Draco said with the same forced smile that Ron had.
"Thanks, Mr. Weasley!" He said.
Ron had a feeling it would be a very long weekend.
So, I loved writing this story. It's based off a true story. Yes, my mom did invite my dad over for dinner. Yes, my granddad did walk in on them kissing. Yes, my granddad chased my dad down the driveway. Yes, my granddad did invite my dad to go with them to Florida two weeks after this incident. And yes, this story has been told over and over so many thousands of times that I could base a Harry Potter fanfiction off of it. Yay!
A big tasty virtual chocolate chip cookie to anyone who reviews!