Written for:
Back To School Challenge:
-Drabble prompt: "Just because you took longer than others, doesn't mean that you failed."
-Team: The Handy Hitwitches.
Hogwarts Houses Competition Round 5:
-Drabble prompt: Ashamed
-House: Gryffindor
Thanks to AJ for beta'ing, and TheoreticalOptimist for beta'ing the the first version of this, which I ended up not posting.
Word Count: 487
She spent Christmas Eve with a Death Eater and his wife, in the house where her mother was tortured as her father screamed and the fate of the world spun on the loyalty of an abused elf.
Loving Scorpius Malfoy meant leaving the world of loud Burrow dinners and flashy clothing and orange hair and a family all over the Ministry for a world where she felt vulgar and crass and ashamed.
Late that night, alone on the veranda, the tears came.
"Rose."
The voice was cold. Familiar, and yet unfamiliar.
"Mr. Malfoy, sir."
Someday, her children would call this man Grandfather. Rose willed him not to leave, to say something, anything so that she might consider this man her father.
"Welcome to our family."
Her engagement ring felt heavy on her fingers. For minutes - maybe hours - they were silent. Snow soaked her thick red hair, but she was far too exhausted to feel cold.
"Do you know what is most important to a Malfoy?"
For the hundredth time that night, Rose's cheeks burned with shame. Because she knew the answer was blood purity and she was marrying into that family. Because she knew Scorpius Malfoy and for him it was loyalty and courage and love, but a part of her heart still condemned him for being a Death Eater's child.
She said nothing.
"The most important is one's own."
Rose turned towards him, enthralled and disgusted.
"You are a part of Scorpius. And Scorpius is a part of you. No matter what, something of you will live in the other. No matter the path of your life, you are a part of my own. My home will always be yours."
No matter the path of your life.
At first, Rose was enraged by his calm. Then she thought of his courage, and she felt her own shame slowly melting away. And for a moment, she allowed herself to feel Draco's.
Something of you will live in the other.
Looking at this strange man who was so like Scorpius, Rose knew that someday she could forgive him. "I - I understand. Thank you. Sir. Fa - for this. I guess - I can. I can be a Malfoy."
Draco almost smiled. "My own father never truly understood. My mother did eventually. I failed. It took me so long. I - I admire you, Rose. You and Scorpius. Astoria. All of you. My family."
What, Rose wondered, must it have been like to grow up as Draco? She looked at the man before her, a man whose shame was probably far greater than anyone else's. Who still loved and raised a beautiful son. Who had a beautiful family.
"Just because you took longer than others, doesn't mean that you failed." Rose offered Draco her hand, letting him pull her inside. They both dripped onto the ground. "Even if it had taken you forever. What matters is you feel it in your heart."
