Hi everyone! This is the third book in a series, so if you haven't read the other two I think you should probably read them first; the first one is called Rose Weasley and the New Order and you can find it on my profile. Anyway, if you've read those already, thanks for sticking with the series and I really hope you like this chapter! -Kelly

CHAPTER 1

A KNOCK ON THE WINDOW

It was around midnight on Uncle Harry's birthday when Scorpius Malfoy appeared outside Rose Weasley's window. The party that Gran had insisted on having had ended and Rose had finally finished helping Aunt Ginny clean up the garden. Teddy and Victiore had stayed for the night, since Victiore was going to London with Aunt Ginny and Gran in the morning for wedding planning, and most of the rest of the house was asleep. Rose had tried to sleep and found that she couldn't, so she started reading at her desk. It wasn't uncommon for her during that summer; she had been having nightmares some nights about what had happened that May in the Forest. After reading for a while, she heard a sound near her window and looked up to find her owl hovering outside, tapping on the glass with her beak. Rose let Musetta in and passed her a few of the food pellets. "Nice to have you back," Rose said, opening the cage to let her in. "Seen Maximillian around?" Scorpius had stopped sending owls a few days ago and Rose was beginning to worry. Musetta clicked in response and Rose just nodded. She looked at his last letter sitting opened on her desk and sighed, and picked her book back up. She had been reading for a few more minutes when she heard another noise and Musetta made an annoyed-sounding noise. Rose looked up, wondering what could be outside her second floor window at midnight other than her owl and saw Scorpius, sitting on a broom with nothing but a backpack. Rose got up immediately and threw open the window. "Malfoy, what—?" she managed before Scorpius stepped onto her windowsill. She moved back mutely while he came fully inside and shut the window.

"Hi, Weasley. I was going to get here earlier, but I saw lights and stuff and I didn't want to ruin anything—what was it?" he asked, leaning the broom against the wall.

"Er, Uncle Harry's birthday," Rose said.

"Oh. Okay. Well, I, uh… I waited till they'd gone, and I would've gone to the door but I, uh… I thought you'd probably be asleep and I didn't want your dad to answer the door or something. So I just… flew around till I saw you," he explained. "Glad you don't share with the little Potter girl, that would've been awkward."

"Right, but… why are you here?" she asked. "And why haven't you written? You said write every day, but I felt stupid sending letters without replies."

"Um…" Scorpius mumbled. "Can it wait till morning?"

"No, it can't, you knocked on my window in the middle of the night," Rose said. "What's going on?"

Scorpius looked down uncomfortably. "Uh, I… I left."

"You left?" Rose said, still confused. Her eyes widened when she realized what he meant. "You ran away?"

"Not exactly—well, yes," he said, "but no. Can I— can I sit down?" Rose moved away from her desk chair and he sat down as she sat on the bed. "So… you know I've been grounded for the Modernists thing, not that there's anything to do in Wiltshire." Rose nodded and he continued. "So my grandfather decided I was going to go to Durmstrang next year and my father agreed. My mum doesn't really argue with him. I got mad, obviously, and they told me that if I didn't like it then I could stop disgracing my family and leave. So I did." He sighed. "I, uh… I don't mean to… I didn't have anywhere else to go."

Rose looked back at him and blinked. "So you're really leaving?"

"Yeah," he said, and smiled a little. "I haven't even really thought about that yet."

"Where's your things for school?" Rose asked.

Scorpius frowned. "I couldn't get the trunk to levitate without setting off the Trace, and they certainly weren't going to do it. I took my wand and a few changes of clothes, and I thought you might know someone older who'd help me get my things."

Rose nodded. "I think Teddy would help, or Victiore."

"Okay," Scorpius said.

Rose didn't really know what to say; she couldn't just wake up her parents, but she'd be in trouble forever if he stayed in her room. "Er… Teddy and Victiore are sleeping in our sitting room tonight, we can tell them what happened and you could stay there till morning."

"Oh, okay," Scorpius said, shrugging. "Sure. Who's Teddy?"

"Teddy Lupin. He's Uncle Harry's godson, but he's practically adopted. He's 20, so he can help you get your trunk tomorrow, I bet," Rose explained as they snuck downstairs. They got down to the ground floor and reached the sitting room. Teddy and Victiore were curled up on the couch together and Rose almost felt bad about waking them up, but they couldn't really just discover Scorpius in the morning. Rose gently nudged Victiore and she stirred slowly.

"Rose?" Victiore mumbled. "What is it?"

"Uh, hi, Victiore, could you wake up Teddy?" Rose asked.

"Why?" she mumbled groggily. She saw Scorpius then and sat up. "Rose?"

"Vic?" Teddy mumbled from the couch. "Why're you up?"

"Rose, why is Scorpius in the sitting room?" Victiore asked quietly and Teddy sat up pretty quickly.

"Who?"

"Uh, hi, Teddy Lupin? I'm Scorpius," he said and held out his hand. Teddy shook it hesitantly and looked questioningly at Victiore.

"The Malfoy Gryffindor I told you about," Victiore explained quickly before turning back to the two of them. "Why…?"

"I, uh, got kicked out. Basically," Scorpius said awkwardly.

"Can he sleep on the other sofa?" Rose asked quickly. "Just for tonight. We'll explain in the morning."

"No, you should probably explain now," Victiore said. "Scorpius, you're 13. They can't just make you leave."

"Well…" he said awkwardly.

"Did they make you leave?" Victiore asked, raising an eyebrow.

"They said I could either leave or go to Durmstrang and… it was just too much, I couldn't take it anymore," he muttered, looking down awkwardly.

"Did you bring your stuff?" Teddy asked, looking at his backpack and broom.

"Not really," Scorpius said. "I couldn't levitate it because of the Trace."

"He was wondering if you could help," Rose added.

"Me? You want me to go get a trunk from Malfoy Manor in the middle of the night?" Teddy asked."No, tomorrow morning," Rose said. Teddy groaned and leaned back down onto the couch.

"This is mental," he said. "Are you sure they really wanted you to leave? What if they're looking for you?"

"They're not," Scorpius said, "trust me."

Teddy sat up again, and at that precise moment there was a loud cracking noise and Holly appeared, wearing a woman's coat that was much too large for her. A large trunk engraved with the letters S.M. landed with a loud thud next to her. Holly looked at Teddy and Victiore in alarm and then relaxed when she turned to Rose and Scorpius. "Master Malfoy!" she squeaked. "They—they freed me, sir…"

"Holly?" Scorpius asked incredulously. "Why?"

"I—I told them that I wished they hadn't told you to leave and they said that I should follow you then and so I did but first I thought you might be wanting your things. I told Maximillian to come here," she added.

"How did you know to come here?" Scorpius asked.

"I thought you would go to Miss Weasley's house, sir, because you wrote to her all summer."

"That was smart, Holly, thanks," he said. "…What did they do when they found out?"

Holly stopped smiling. "Master Malfoy, they… they burned your name off of the family tree."

"Yeah, thought so," Scorpius muttered.

"I think my aunt has some baby clothes in the attic," Victiore said. "We can get you some… er, Holly, right?"

Holly nodded and went over to Victiore enthusiastically. "Thank you, miss!"

"Victiore Weasley," she told her.

"Miss Weasley!"

"What is going on?" a voice asked loudly from the staircase. Rose turned around to find Uncle Harry standing at the top of the staircase looking at them expectantly.

"Uncle Harry… I, uh—this is Scorpius," Rose said, pushing him in front of her. Uncle Harry came down the stairs and stopped in front of Scorpius. Scorpius looked back at Rose and then turned to him.

"Scorpius Malfoy, sir," he said, extending his hand nervously. "Er, happy birthday."

"Thanks," Uncle Harry said hesitantly, and shook his hand, then looked past him at the others. "And who are you?" he asked Holly.

"Er, Holly, sir," she squeaked. "I work—well, I used to work for Master Malfoy and his family…"

"Right, okay, hi, Holly, I'm Harry Potter," he said, and knelt down to shake hands with the little elf that came running for him.

"Harry Potter, sir? It's an honor to meet you, sir!" she said, smiling widely as they shook hands. Uncle Harry stood back up and looked over at Victiore and Teddy.

"His family disowned him, Harry," Teddy said quietly. Uncle Harry nodded and turned to Rose.

"Can he just stay here for tonight?" Rose asked. "Please?"

Uncle Harry sighed. "I don't know, Rose…"

"Well, of course he can!" another voice said from the stairs. Rose turned around and was relieved to see Gran descending the stairs and walking up to Uncle Harry. "Harry James Potter, he's just a boy! Where else would he go? Sleep on the streets of London?" She turned to Scorpius. "Come upstairs with me, love, I'm Mrs. Weasley, we'll get you some blankets."

Uncle Harry looked at Rose and said, "That means yes, then," he said, shrugging. Rose expected as much; she didn't think she had ever seen anyone question Gran. "Get upstairs and get some sleep. We'll talk about this more in the morning." Rose was happy to escape the situation and ran back up to her room. She almost laughed when she thought of what would happen in the morning when the rest of the house woke up.