Like Father, Like Son
"Hey," said the small, red-haired girl from her perch on the marble steps of Malfoy Manor.
"Hey," responded the blond boy, not looking at her.
"Are they arguing again?" Lily asked.
"Do they ever do something other than that?" Scorpius replied. She answered him with a laugh.
"They say that they're friends," she said as she shook her head, "but I've never seen my dad argue that much with Aunt Hermione and Uncle Ron".
"Father and Blaise argue all the time; maybe it's just father, he can't seem to have a normal friendship."
"What's a normal friendship?" she asked mockingly.
"I don't know. But I do know that a friendship between a Weasley and a Malfoy is not normal. Mother says that it's absurd, your mother and my father talking to each other."
"Uncle Ron also thinks so too," Lily said with a grin.
"Where are your brothers anyway?"
"Dad's taking them to a Quidditch match."
"You mean Tornados against Holyhead Harpies? Why aren't you going?"
She shrugged.
"Mum doesn't like watching Harpies' games, and I don't want her to be all by herself." The blonde boy looked at her as if there were an extra head growning on the back of her head.
"She's not alone, she's here with my father," he said.
"Dad told me to come along", she said in a whisper. "He says he doesn't trust your father, especially now that..."
"Now that what?" he snapped. He knew just what she meant, but liked to pretend that nothing had happened.
Lily muttered "nothing" in response, and they sat in silence for a long while.
Neither Lily nor Scorpius was old enough to think that their parents' friendship was something unusual. They couldn't really understand all the years that Malfoys and Weasleys hated each other, or the war. She was ten, he was twelve; they had reached that age where they would do anything to avoid a conversation with the opposite sex. However, there was nothing to do while their parents talked but talk to each other.
Lily knew she had said the wrong thing, and that they weren't on speaking terms anymore. The long silence hung between them long enough to help them remember things long forgotten.
He was eight, and his mother was having some sort of crisis. His grandmother Malfoy looked on with pity, and Scorpius wondered what had made his mother so angry. He was quite sure that he hadn't given her any reason to be that upset.
"Always with that Weasley!" she cried, and Narcissa shook her long, blond hair.
"Astoria, dear, being angry; it won't do any good. Just take a deep breath and listen..."
"I think he's in love with her," Astoria shrieked, the older woman's mouth was now a very thin line. "Now, Astoria, that's nonsense."
"He spends so much time with her!"
"That doesn't mean anything. If I were to worry about that, I'd think that Lucius was in love with Be..." her voice tapered off, and she looked away.
"I'm sorry", Astoria said. "I didn't want to..."
"Allecto and Lucius were very close for a while and she was never married." His grandmother's voice was cold. "Still, I never thought Lucius would betray me, and I also don't think you have to worry about Draco doing something like that. He wouldn't."
"Sometimes I think Draco only married me because of my hair color." Her voice was quiet, and Narcisa gave her a small smile.
"Don't be silly darling. There's nothing Weasley-ish about your shade of red. You're intelligent, beautiful, a lovely lady... I'm sure that if Draco was in love with that girl, he would have used any means he had to be with her, nothing would have stopped him. Especially not Potter. He wouldn't use anyone as a substitute. He adores you, Astoria. I can see that he adores you."
"He adores me alright, but he doesn't love me".
The adults told him he was still too young to understand why his mother left. They didn't know he could remember the conversations, the jealousy in her eyes, how she would walk around the study room when Mrs. Potter was over at the Manor. Maybe his father was in love with Lily's mother.
He looked at the girl, ready to apologize, but her eyes were closed. He wondered what she was thinking about. Did Lily also have funny memories about their parents' relationship?
Lily could remember that night as it it were yesterday – even if it was two years ago now—her father had been out for a fortnight on a mission. Her mother had been invited to a beneficent event. Luna was going to spend the night in their house to watch over them while her mother went to the ball. Lily was in her parents' bed, watching her mother put on make up, when the door opened.
She felt her own face getting hot when she saw Mr. Malfoy. He was looking at her mother, and was so still that she didn't think he was breathing. The woman looked at him, utterly embarrassed, only with her underwear on. The girl could see her mothers face getting redder before she spoke.
"I'm not ready yet."
"I can see that", the man replied, and it was the first time in Lily's life that she saw his voice shaken. "I'll wait downstairs, then."
"It won't take long", the woman said, her eyes still in his face. His eyes didn't meet her, looking all over the woman's body.
"Right." He turned over his heels, and said. "Nice underwear."
Her mother laughed and trew a pillow at his direction that missed his head by a couple inches, and Lily thought the man had smirked before pulling the door. Later that night, as her mother said goodbye to Albus, the man had patted her head before saying.
"If you turn out to be as beautiful as your mother is, Scorpius will have some trouble trying not to think of you."
Just remembering that scene made her cheeks feel warm. She opened her eyes, and saw Scorpius staring at her.
"What were you thinking about?" he asked with an eyebrow raised.
"I'm just hoping I turn out to be as beautiful as my mother", she said, looking at the steps.
He was puzzled, she was relieved.
"Why don't you love her?" the woman shouted. He was angry, he was shaking, and mostly he wasn't thinking straight.
"Because she isn't you!" he yelled back at her, and it was as if that was the first time he had heard himself say it. He blinked in surprise, and his surprise was mirrored in her face. Once she recovered, she walked up to him and slapped him across the face.
"I waited for that for twenty years", he could feel the rage in her voice. "Twenty years, Draco Malfoy, for a single sentence."
"A sentence?" His eyes were gleaming, and he barely moved his mouth. "I've been waiting for something else."
And then he was kissing her as she was never kissed before. She couldn't think of anything else but his lips, his breath, the smell of his hair, the taste of his tongue. She couldn't breath, couldn't think, couldn't remember she had a marriage, a life, and a child waiting outside. All she could think of was this arms around her.
Even when they finally parted, it took them a while to recover themselves from the kiss.
"What do we do now?" she whispered, covering her face with her hands. "That's a mistake... That's stupid... That's..."
"The most reasonable thing we ever did" he completed, pulling her hands away. They looked at each other for a long moment, before she spoke.
"It's not that simple."
"Either you keep your fake fairytale, or you give it up for what you really want. It is not easy, but it is simple."
He took her hands into his left one, and used the other to caress her face. Draco got closer to her face and kissed her again.
Scorpius and Lily were out of the room, still sitting in the stairs. The whole house was silent. Slowly, he touched her hand with the tip of his fingers, and she looked at him; his face was as deadly serious as he spoke. "You already are."
She smiled, looking at the floor, her face burning. He used his hand to make her look at him again.
"You're the prettiest girl I've ever seen." He smiled at her. "It's still too soon. But maybe...When you're old enough..."
She interrupted him, putting a finger on his lips.
"Shh. Let's just stay like this."
They looked at each other, still smiling. Draco and Ginevra weren't screaming anymore. All was well.