Scorpius Malfoy sat very still in the passenger seat of the car as it slowly made its way towards the Burrow with Rose Weasley at the wheel.
"Bit nervous there, love?" Rose smirked as she looked over at her very tense fiancé. He glared at her, knowing she knew exactly why he was tense and had every right to be.
"No, I'm just dandy over here. In fact, I'm so happy I think we should refrain from telling your family we're getting married and just go elope now." Scorpius retorted sarcastically, but then his face grew ponderous, as if he were considering his words. "Actually…that's not a bad idea."
"Oh yeah, it's not like my whole family wouldn't freak out if we did that. Come on Scorpius, don't be so nervous, you know they love you. Some of them have just…not gotten around to liking you yet…" Rose trailed off uncertainly. Scorpius looked at her pointedly.
"That, my dear, is the problem. How am I supposed to tell your dad! The man looks at me like I'm trying to murder someone even if I just lean over to tie my shoe!" Scorpius grew pale at that, and then started breathing heavily "You don't think he'll hex me, do you? I mean, I don't think he hates me that much, but-"
"Scorpius. Calm down." He started breathing more regularly again. "There you go. Now I'm sure you can handle yourself with Dad. He's just a bit hard around the edges, but he certainly has warmed up to you since we told him we were dating."
"Yes, I'm almost positive he thought about hexing me that time." He looked out the window to see the familiar overstuffed house of the Weasley's. "I better take a long look at the outside now, I might be too busy when my body comes out in pieces."
After almost three hours at the Burrow, Rose started giving Scorpius meaningful looks, telling him to extract Ron Weasley from the group, and bring him outside for a chat. After the fourth time of Scorpius trying to find his nerve, Ron walked up to him with a glass of buterbeer and an expression that looked like he was trying to be civil.
"Here you are, Scorpius."
"Thank you, sir." At least he had stopped calling me Malfoy. He quickly took a drink and tried unsuccessfully to stop his shaking hands. "Actually, sir, I was wondering if I could have a word outside. Just for a moment." Ron looked down at Scorpius for a moment and then gestured towards the back door, letting Scorpius step out first. He looked more confused than anything,
Good, stay confused. A confused hex is better than an angry one. Scorpius stepped out into the chilly October night and turned to face the father of the woman he wanted to spend the rest of his life with. Figuring he was going to have to speak first, he cleared his throat and started speaking, although it sounded more like he was babbling.
"Well, you see, sir, I really love your daughter and we've been dating for almost three years now, and I know that you're still not completely warmed up to the idea but I'm pretty crazy about her and well, we want to take it to the next step, we both do, and so I was just thinking, I mean, not just right now, but for a while, that I want to spend the rest of my life with her, actually I've always known that, and so I asked her to marry me and well, she said yes, and now I just want to have your blessing and I wanted to tell you that I love her, sir, and I just… Well, I love her." Scorpius finished his rant and was out of breath by the time he was done.
Taking a deep gulp, he looked up at Ron to see his eyes wide and his face blank. He seemed to be in shock. After what seemed like a lifetime to Scorpius, he started to gain his composure and he stated to glare at the young man, opening his mouth, and then closing it, deciding what to say. He finally settled with one word, "Why?" in a voice that sounded like a wounded dog.
"Why?" Scorpius repeated after not knowing what he was asking. "Why do I want to marry her?" His brow furrowed and he looked at Ron with confusion still. "That's what you want to know?" He almost laughed, but kept it in, only letting a small smile slip across his face. He didn't expect to get off this easy. "That's an easy one, actually. I love her. For a million reasons, really. I love that she doesn't know how beautiful she is, I love that she saw past my last name, I love that she loves me back. I love everything about her."
When Ron stayed standing with his mouth closed and his face hard Scorpius kept going. "How do I explain it? I fall in love with her all the time. When she walks into a room and her eyes light up at something, or when she laughs and her eyes sparkle. I love when she talks about her family or the one she wants to have and she smiles to herself, although it makes everyone around her smile too. I want to fall in love with her everyday for the rest of my life. And that's why we're getting married." This time Scorpius knew he had finished strongly and confidently.
"You really love her. And you're going to spend the rest of your life loving her, and making her happy?" Ron finally spoke.
"Absolutely." His reply seemed to reassure Ron of any doubts he had and he soon saw the older man extend his arm to offer a handshake. Scorpius hesitated, and then shook his hand firmly.
"Just know, that if you ever hurt her…" Ron trailed off, gripping his hand a little tighter "I will come hex you into the next century." Scorpius paled at that and after Ron headed inside, he stayed motionless for a moment. Not believing he had just told Ron Weasley he was marrying his daughter and was still breathing. His thoughts were soon interrupted, by Rose herself walking outside to join him.
"So, are we eloping, or not?" She asked, smiling at the shocked look on her lover's face.
"Actually, we won't need to." Shock ran through every word.
"I guessed. So what did you tell him?" Rose stood in front of Scorpius and snaked her arms up around his shoulders to wrap them around his neck.
"I told him, why I love you." He finally came back to his senses and pulled Rose closer, placing his hands on her hips, to hold on to her and her warmth.
"Oh, well can you tell me too then? I'm awfully curious, to be honest." Rose teased.
He smiled at that and then pretended to think about it.
"I'm afraid you're going to have to wait a bit longer then, love. What are vows for?" Rose pouted, but before she could protest, Scorpius bent his head down slightly to kiss her on the lips, effectively stopping her from convincing him to tell her anything except how much she loved him. He smiled at how easy the night had been. And how lucky he was, to have Rose Weasley in his life.