Meeting the Parents:
"Are you sure you want to do this?" asked Rose, looking over at her boyfriend of nine months.
"Definitely," said Scorpius. He and Rose were about to step off the train for their summer vacation. All of the Weasleys and the Potters went to the Burrow, and Albus had invited his best friend and cousin's boyfriend to stay the summer with them. All three of them would be starting their seventh year at Hogwarts that fall.
"It might be bad."
"For you, it's worth it." Rose beamed. None of the adults knew that Rose and Scorpius were dating, and Rose was terrified of telling them. All of the kids knew and were being very supportive, because they all knew that Rose's dad, Ron, would throw a fit. Of course, Ron liked Scorpius, but only because he thought that Scorpius and Rose were best friends, like Scorpius and Albus. All three of them were in Gryffindor, and had been best friends since first year.
When they got off the train they were at the center of a group of Weasleys and Potters. James, who had just finished his seventh year, was at the front, with Albus, Hugo, and Lily. Roxanne and Fred were on the left, and Dominique and Louis were on the right. Molly and Lucy brought up the rear and Scorpius and Rose were in the middle holding hands.
When Hermione saw Rose and Scorpius holding hands she beamed. She had thought that something like this would happen; they had been getting too friendly for friendship last summer. As she gave Rose a huge hug she whispered, "Why didn't you tell me?" and in response Rose looked pointedly at Ron, who looked ready to vomit.
Rose quickly let go of her mother and gave her father a big hug, whispering in his ear, "Breath Daddy, this isn't a bad thing. You like Scorpius, remember."
As Rose let go Ron looked between his daughter and the boy who she was now holding hands with, and it looked like he was going through a difficult mental struggle. Before anything terrible could happen Rose's grandmother called out, "Come on you lot, I must start dinner!"
Before her father could say anything rude Rose pulled Scorpius into the crowd of kids, and once out from under the Ron's scrutinizing gaze Scorpius relaxed.
"Well, Uncle Ron didn't actually yell," said Albus, "So that's a good sign."
"Yeah," said Roxanne, "Aunt Hermione was actually happy."
"Plus," said James, "I already told Dad, and he and mum thought it was great."
"I'm sorry," said Rose, looking at Scorpius, "Daddy will come round, I promise," then she gave him a kiss, and he smiled.
"Don't worry," he said smirking, "what with my irresistible charm and unimaginable intelligence he has to love me."
"Not to mention your stellar good looks and amazing Quiditch skills," said Rose with a smile.
All of the kids laughed.
Meanwhile, behind the kids, Ron and Hermione were having a whispered argument.
"I'm not allowing it!" said Ron angrily.
"Yes you are!" said Hermione, just as angrily.
"No daughter of mine is dating Draco Malfoy's son!"
"And why not? She isn't dating Draco; she is dating his son, who, until now, you liked. He's Albus' best friend, and they have known each other since first year. You never had a problem before!"
"They were just friends before!"
"This," said Ginny, coming over and looking livid, "is why she never told you! All of the kids have known about it since September when they started going out, but they were agreed it was safer not to tell you because of your prejudice."
"They've been going out since September!" exclaimed Ron, "How long have you known?"
"James told me and Harry exactly two minutes ago, and I understood their thinking completely," replied Ginny.
"He's a Malfoy!" exclaimed Ron.
"Ron," said Harry, exasperatedly, "I can't believe you didn't see this coming. Anyway, he's a nice boy, and I think that he really loves her. Isn't that what you want for your daughter?"
"Of course, but—"
"But nothing!" said Hermione angrily, "Your daughter has found someone who loves her and who she loves. He was her best friend for ages, he knows everything about her, and I can tell that he really cares about her."
"But they fought all the time!"
"We fought all the time, and look at where we are now, happily married," said Hermione. "I want you to be nice to him. He's important to her, and I want you to make an effort."
"Fine," said Ron, "But I am still not happy!"
When they reached the Burrow everyone divided up and got settled into their rooms. Arthur and Molly had expanded the Burrow so that all of the relatives could visit over the summer. It now had enough rooms for each married couple to have their own room, along with Charlie. The kids had to divide into pairs and share. It was decided that the pairs would be Molly and Lucy, Dominique and Lily, Fred and James, Hugo and Louis, Albus and Scorpius, and Roxanne and Rose. Victiore and Teddy Lupin, who were now married, also came to stay and had their own room.
At about eight o'clock dinner was served out in the garden. Rose and Scorpius tried to keep their contact to a minimum, but couldn't resist holding hands under the table. No one noticed except Ginny and Hermione, who thought that it was extremely sweet.
After dinner everyone moved into the expanded living room and set about their different activities. By eleven the adults were alone in the room talking, with the exception of Albus, Scorpius, and Rose. Rose was sitting in an armchair, her legs over one arm and her back resting against the other, reading. Scorpius and Albus were finishing their game of wizard chess. Ron seemed to have forgotten about Rose and Scorpius and was talking normally with the other adults. When Scorpius finally beat Albus they both announced that they, too, were going to bed. Scorpius came over and gave Rose a very chaste kiss before leaving, something that caused the adults to have a variety reactions. Hermione, Ginny, Fleur, Molly, Audrey, and Angelina were all beaming. Bill, Arthur, and Harry were smiling, not quite as obviously as their wives, but they were happy all the same. Percy looked scandalized, and George and Charlie looked like they had been hit over the head with beaters' bats. Their mouths were hanging so far open that they were in danger of touching the floor. Ron looked livid.
Immediately the beaming women rushed forward to hug Rose.
"Oh, eet ees wonderful that you two are finally togezer," said Fleur, "I always knew zat zis would appen!"
"Me too!" said Audrey, "He's such a nice boy, congratulations!"
"I knew that you two belonged together!" said Angelina, "How long have you been dating?"
"Since September," said Rose, beaming, she was ecstatic that such a large portion of the family accepted the relationship.
"Well," said George in a business like tone, "you've had a fun nine months, but now he's got to go."
"What?" cried Rose, "You can't just ask me to dump my boyfriend!" While she was saying this Hermione wisely put a silencing charm on the door. It wouldn't do for any of the other children to hear this.
"Rose," said Ron, as if he was explaining something very simple to someone very stupid, "That is Draco Malfoy's son, and—"
"NO!" said Rose fiercely, "I am sick of everyone saying he is Draco Malfoy's son! You wouldn't have a problem with him if he was Seamus Finnegan's son! You have to accept that he isn't just 'Draco Malfoy's son' he is a smart, funny, independent person, who gets good grades, is good at Quiditch, and has always been one of my closest friends! And, just so you know, Draco Malfoy isn't a Death Eater anymore! He is now an upstanding citizen, and," she looked directly at her father, "at least he accepts our relationship. When we got off the train for Christmas, before I met you guys, Scorpius introduced me to his father, who was very polite, and said he hoped to be seeing a lot more of me."
"Probably just so he could jinx you," said Ron
"No Daddy! He gets that Scorpius cares about me, and that I care about him, Daddy I LOVE him!"
After one beat of silence the room exploded. All of the women were squealing things like "That's great!" while Harry, Bill, and Mr. Weasley beamed. George, Percy, Charlie, and Ron however started yelling. "Rose," said Ron angrily, "you don't know what you just said! Weasleys don't love Malfoys, they just don't!"
"It's not up to you to decide who I do or don't love," said Rose just as angrily.
"Oh yes it is, young lady! I am your father and—"
"Enough," said Harry, he had not yelled, but the authority in his voice was unmistakable. "Rose is right. None of you had a problem with Scorpius when he was her best friend. Albus has been over to the Malfoy's before, and I have never felt uncomfortable about it. I trust Scorpius with my son," he was looking directly at Ron, "and you need to trust him with your daughter. You know that she has good judgment, and I know that no matter what you say she isn't going to ditch him. Apart from being Malfoy's son, can you think of anything about him that would make him unworthy of your daughter?"
There was a full minute of silence as Ron tried to come up with something.
"I thought not," said Harry.
After an uncomfortable moment of silence Rose said, "Well, I'm going to bed," and with that she left.
When she got to her room Roxanne wasn't there, but Scorpius was.
"Hey," she said quietly, sitting next to him on the bed.
"Did you really mean that?" asked Scorpius.
"Mean what?"
"What you said downstairs."
"Wait, but there was a silencing charm, how did you—"
He held up a pair of extendable ears, "They work through silencing charms you know. But, did you really mean all of the things that you said?"
She looked right into his eyes and said, "Yes, Scorpius I did. I know that you're a good person, and you deserve to have everyone see you that way."
"Yes, but, I don't want you to fight with your father."
"See that's what makes you so special. You don't ever want to hurt me, and you never think of yourself first. You don't seem to understand how special you are. And," she looked up into his eyes, "I love you." It was the first time that either of them had said it out loud to each other.
Scorpius leaned in and gave her a kiss before saying, "I love you too."
They had been snogging for a good five minutes before Roxanne came in. "Hey!" she called, "The adults are coming up, and if any of them see this it's not going to be pretty."
"Goodnight," said Scorpius, getting up off of the bed, "I love you."
"I love you too," said Rose.
At about one o'clock the next morning Rose woke up and noticed a light on in the living room. Careful not to wake Roxanne, she crept out of the room and down the stairs. When she got to the living room she saw her dad sitting in an armchair, staring at the dying fire. Rose walked over and sat down on his lap. It didn't really matter to her that she was much too big for this, because she and her daddy needed to have a talk, and when she was little she always sat on his lap when they had a serious talk.
"Hey Rosie," he said quietly.
"Hey Daddy."
They sat in silence for a minute, just staring at the fire, before Rose said, "You don't hate me, do you?"
"Of course not. Nothing you do could ever make me hate you. And," he took a big breath, as though admitting some horrible truth about himself that he had never told a single soul, "I don't hate Scorpius either."
"You don't?"
"No."
"Then why did you say all of those things?"
"Because, I realized today that you weren't my little girl anymore. And even though it makes me sad, I'm so proud of you. Today you stood up for what you believed in, and you called me out on every bad thing that I said. I know that you're turning into a beautiful young woman, but I'm not ready to see my little girl disappear. I've known everything about my little girl for the last seventeen years, but today, I realized that I don't really know the woman you've become."
"Daddy!" Rose had tears in her eyes, "I'm always your little girl."
"Well I know that too. I know that my little girl is in there, somewhere. And starting tomorrow I'm going to try to be nicer to Scorpius, because I think that I could really like him, I did really like him, before he took my little girl away."
"He didn't take me away."
"Not completely, but I'm not the most important man in your life anymore, and don't even try to deny it," Rose had just opened her mouth in protest.
"Well, I was actually going to say that you were never the most important man in my life. I have to tell Hugo tomorrow that he's been replaced."
"That's my little girl. And," he continued, looking seriously at her, "I really think he cares about you, and I know that my little girl deserves to have someone who cares about her."
They sat there together, staring at the fire until Rose fell asleep. Then Ron carried her upstairs and tucked her into bed, before turning in.