"Al... you've met Rose's family a lot, haven't you? I mean... you practically live with them in the summer."
Albus looked up, clearly concerned by the edge of worry in Scorpius' tentative question. He put his quill down and leaned forward across the table, a little crease between his eyes. "Is this about next week?"
Scorpius shifted uncomfortably, and dropped his gaze to the potions essay they were working on. "Maybe," he shrugged, but even the mention of the visit to meet her relatives at home made his stomach twist with nerves.
The scruffy-haired boy shook his head. "It'll be fine, I promise. The Weasleys are a friendly bunch, they're just... well, there's just a lot of them, that's all," he laughed, then glanced around worriedly for fear that Madame Pince would swoop down and reprimand them at any moment. The librarian may have been elderly, but the three - Al, Scorpius and Rose - had been assured of her excellent hearing more times than he would care to remember.
Scorpius made an unconvinced noise and pushed his hand through his white-blonde hair, staring at a spot of ink in the corner of his parchment. "They would be friendly to you," he muttered, frowning hard.
There was silence from the other side of the table. For a moment, Scorpius thought maybe his best friend hadn't heard, but then there was a soft sigh, and when he looked up he found that Albus was regarding him with a sympathetic expression. "You mean because I'm a Potter, and you're a Malfoy."
Scorpius shrugged defensively. "Her father hates me. I know he does."
"You've never met him, you don't know that."
"Come on," Scorpius said, hearing the evasive tone to Albus' voice and bristling. He knew that the other boy didn't believe the words any more than he did. "Don't try to pretend it's not true. He sent her a howler about me."
"That was months ago!"
"I doubt he's changed his mind."
"I'm sure he will have. Rose will have told him all about how great you are."
"It won't matter. Everyone thinks I'm just like-"
"No-one thinks that," Albus interrupted, forgetting all attempts to be quiet, "Not anyone who has met you, anyway. And besides, a lot of stuff happened in the War. No-one blames you or your father-"
Albus was cut off abruptly as he was thrown off his chair; his belongings packed themselves haphazardly into his bag and seconds later Madame Pince rounded the corner with a murderous expression, her wand in her hand. "This is a library," she admonished in what could only be described as a cross between a hushed screech and a very quiet roar, "It may have escaped your notice Mr Potter, but in a library you must be quiet." With this final word, she pointed imperiously at the door, and then turned to Scorpius. "And you can go, too, Mr Malfoy. I doubt you were innocent in the matter."
And just like that, their conversation was over. Scorpius didn't dare bring it up again - and he didn't really want to, either. No matter what Albus said, he knew that Rose's family weren't going to be as forgiving of his family's past as his best friends were, and there was nothing he could do about it.
No amount of worrying would delay the inevitable, and so on Monday morning the following week, Scorpius found himself outside Ron and Hermione's house in Ottery St. Catchpole, Rose's hand in his.
"Are you sure you're okay?" Rose asked for what seemed like the hundredth time. When Scorpius didn't reply, she added, "You look a little green."
Wonderful, he thought despairingly, Their first impression of me is going to be that I have the complexion of a bogey. Outwardly, he smiled and shook his head. "I'm okay, just tired - you know I'm not a huge fan of Apparating."
"Yeah, I know, you'd rather be on a broom," Rose laughed and shoved his arm, but then her expression softened and she bit her lip. "It'll be fine," she told him firmly, "Don't worry. They'll like you."
It sounded as if she was trying to convince herself as much as him, but still, he allowed her to lead him forwards and into the house.
"Mum, Dad, Scorpius is here!"
Scorpius had a sudden and overwhelming urge to turn on his heel and run. He wasn't a Gryffindor - he couldn't do this - maybe he could just pretend he was ill -
"Nice to meet you, Scorpius." His panicked thoughts were interrupted as Rose's mother appeared before him, a smile on her lips. "We've heard a lot about you."
Scorpius shot Rose an alarmed glance, wondering what she might have told her parents about him.
"All good things, of course," Rose laughed, though he could see from the tightness of her shoulders that she was finding the situation as humorous as he was.
"Of course," Hermione said. "Please, take off your coat and shoes and come through. Ron got a little sidetracked at work, but he'll be here soon."
Scorpius swallowed hard at the mention of Ron, but did as he was told and followed Rose into their living room.
It was nothing like his living room at home; where his parents had chosen sleek, sharp-pointed modernity in cool neutrals, the Weasleys had chosen rounded edges and soft curves and warm beiges. Where his mother insisted on everything having a place, the Weasley home appeared to be in mid-motion; books had been piling on the coffee table, and blankets were thrown haphazardly over the back of the furniture. That being said, it was not unfashionable nor untidy; it was simply a room that he imagined was more for living in rather than looking nice. He sank down onto the sofa beside Rose and looked around with interest.
"It's a bit of a mess at the moment," Rose was saying apologetically, eyeing Scorpius carefully as he took in the room.
He shook his head, and met her eyes as he told her, "It's lovely."
"Would you like a drink, Scorpius?" Rose's mother looked at him expectantly.
"I'll just have some water, please, Mrs Weasley," he said as politely as possible.
The older woman laughed. "Oh, no, please call me Hermione - I feel so old otherwise! Water is fine. I suppose you want tea, Rosie?"
"Yes please," Rose grinned. It was no secret that she had a not-so-secret love for tea in all forms; while most people spent a fortune in Honeydukes, Scorpius was certain she regularly spent over half her money on varieties of tea instead each time they went to Hogsmeade.
Hermione hurried out, and Rose turned to Scorpius. "See?" she smiled. "It's not so bad, right?"
"No," he agreed. Not yet. Not while Ron isn't here, he thought.
It was then that Hugo appeared in the doorway, red hair mussed up in what he imagined to be a stylish-yet-dangerous-looking style and cheeks flushed. "Hey Rosie, hey Scorpius!" he grinned. "Mum and Dad been embarrassing yet?"
"Dad's not home from work yet," Rose answered. "And so far the only embarrassment is the bird's nest on top of your head. You know Mum's going to make your brush it if she sees you."
Hugo shrugged, unconcerned. "Whatever. Hey, Scorpius, guess what?"
Scorpius tilted his head. "What?"
"Dad's been teaching me a new hex. He says that it's so if you ever hurt Rosie, I can get revenge."
Scorpius blinked, his chest going cold. His stomach felt empty, and yet at the same time he thought he might be sick. Her father was teaching Hugo how to hex him if he hurt Rose? This was worse than he'd imagined...
"He's joking, Scorpius, he doesn't mean it." Rose's hand was on his arm, pulling him back from the sudden horror he'd felt. "It's just a joke, right Hugo?"
Hugo laughed, eyes alight with mischief. "Your face! Yeah, I'm kidding. But seriously..." he trailed off, his face going serious and his eyebrows pulling together. "Don't hurt Rose, he'll probably jinx you himself." Hugo's face straightened out again, and he disappeared out of the living room, almost knocking Hermione over on his way.
"That was another joke," Rose assured him while Hermione set down the drinks on the table, "Honestly, he thinks he's hilarious, but he's so embarrassing..."
It was then that there was a loud crack from outside. Seconds later, the front door opened and Ron's voice came floating down the hallway and into the room. "Sorry I'm late! Merlin, that paperwork took forever..."
He appeared in the doorway, and Scorpius froze, meeting Rose's father's gaze in fear. There was a moment's silence, and then Rose hurriedly broke it with the unnecessary introductions. "Dad, this is Scorpius - Scorps, this is Dad."
"Nice to meet you, Scorpius," Ron in a slightly forced voice. He looked around the room and at Hermione, who visibly mouthed something at him that Scorpius didn't catch, and then came in and took a seat.
"Nice to meet you too, sir," Scorpius said, then cringed. Sir?
The silence that followed was the most uncomfortable silence Scorpius thought he'd ever experienced. Nobody seemed to know what to say, and so it dragged on like an unwanted and uninspiring History of Magic essay.
Eventually, Hermione was the one to break it. "What else do you have planned for these holidays, Scorpius?" she asked.
Relieved by a question he knew the answer to, Scorpius tried his best for a smile. "Not a lot; just a bit of studying for the end of year exams, and some quidditch practice."
"Oh yes, you play Quidditch, don't you?" Hermione asked, smiling.
Scorpius nodded, "I'm the Ravenclaw seeker."
"You should come and watch a match," Rose added, "He caught the snitch in fifteen minutes once!"
"So you got in on talent, then?" Ron asked, looking suspicious.
Hermione shot him a glare, and Rose frowned. "Obviously he got in on talent, what else would he get in on?"
Scorpius shifted uncomfortably. His father was not perfect, he knew, and once he had admitted that Scorpius' grandfather had in fact bought brooms for the whole team in order to get Draco onto it. I won't need to do that, though, his father had said, You've got the natural talent for it.
"I didn't buy my way onto the team, no," he said firmly.
Rose looked between Scorpius and her father, understanding dawning on her face. "Scorpius was better than all the others who tried out for seeker," she said, "And half of them were years older than him at the time."
Ron made a 'hmph' sound, but didn't argue.
"We were thinking of meeting up to study together a bit in the holidays, too," Rose said, meeting her father's gaze. "If that's okay."
"Of course it is," Hermione said before fixing her eyes on her husband. "Isn't it, Ronald?"
"I s'pose," Ron grumbled. "Just so long as they're not unsupervised."
Another uncomfortable silence. Rose thought about pointing out that she and Scorpius had spent many unsupervised hours at Hogwarts together, but she had a feeling that would only make things worse, so she stayed quiet.
"And your parents are fine with this relationship, are they?" Ron asked eventually.
Scorpius hesitated, then nodded. "They were... surprised," he said, "But they got over it. My grandparents aren't so pleased, though," he admitted.
Ron scoffed. "I'm not surprised. We're blood traitors to your kind."
Rose stiffened beside him, but somehow, Scorpius felt calm. "You're not blood traitors to me, nor to my parents, I assure you." He glanced at Rose and smiled. "Besides, even if you were at one point to my parents, I would not let that stop me."
Rose's face lit up, and when Scorpius looked back at Ron, his expression had softened slightly. "Well, if you're going to be hanging around here more often with our Rosie, I imagine you'll have to get used to how busy it gets at times. It must be quite different from your home."
Scorpius looked around the cosy living room, and imagined it full of red-haired Weasley relatives. "Different, yeah," he acknowledged, "but I.. I think it's brilliant."
And slowly, inexplicably, Ron's mouth pulled up into a genuine smile. "Then in that case, I guess you'll fit in just fine."
The knot in Scorpius' stomach dissolved; somehow, he'd said the right thing. He knew it would still take a while for all her relatives to accept him, but for the first time, it felt like it was possible.
Now all that was left to do was to introduce Rose to his parents - but that was a challenge for another day.