Scorpius's parents had learned to accept his Gryffindor friends long ago, after his first letter home. He had written that he was in Slytherin and everyone was as he expected. Then, in a hasty end note, he wrote that his best mate was Albus Potter. He was debating with himself if he should use the same end note to tell his parents about Rose, his Weasley girlfriend. He was more worried about Mr. Weasley's reaction than his own parents', though.

His grandfather, on the other hand, acted just as brash and ignorant as he always had. Scorpius tried his best not to bring up his friends in conversation, but by the end of Lucius's visit, Draco would be aggravated and trying to soothe his son simultaneously.

Rose and Scorpius had been going out for a month or so when Al asked how his parents took the ordeal. The two knew each other for about six years at the time, so Al knew from Scorpius's face that the news hadn't been broken yet.

"They didn't give a hissy fit when we became friends, so why would they care about you and Rose?" Al asked.

"It's not my parents – it's my grandfather. I could ask Mum and Dad to keep it hush, but Mum's mouth needs for something to be pouring out of it."

"What if they hear it from someone else? They'd just be angry that you didn't tell them, and if Rose finds out that you haven't told them, she'll think that she embarrasses you –"

"Who embarrasses Scorp?" Lily asked. She had an annoying tendency to pop up into one's conversations, one's life, and often into one's troubles.

"No one," said Scorpius.

"It must be someone, everyone is embarrassed by someone. I embarrass my brothers, James embarrasses your friends, (or he tries to) and even you embarrass your Slytherin mates."

"It's none of your business, Lily," said Al.

"It is my business. Scorp's my brother's mate, and my cousin's snogging mate. He's practically family."

Al's stoic exterior broke with the red that overcame Scorpius's face. "It was one time when you walked in on us, and now you can't let it go, can you?" Scorpius said.

"Of course not," she ignored Scorpius's look of weak outrage. "It's not like I'd tell any adults or Slytherins. Like I said, you're family. This is what our family does."

"What's that, exactly? Joke each other?"

"Exactly," Al said. "You can't grow up with our relatives and not know how to take a joke."

His pale hand dabbed at the ink, which was shaking so much that it wasn't long before the entire page was splattered with black ink spots. After throwing another piece of parchment into the rubbish bin, Scorpius finally accepted defeat and decided to postpone the letter. He would be home in a week for the Christmas holiday, so he would most likely tell his parents then. That is, if he would be able to stop shaking.

Al's concern of the Malfoys finding out about Rose slowly sank into Scorpius's head. Rose was too bright to not notice if he started to hide their relationship. She would figure out after a few dropped hands, a few worried look-a rounds, that Scorpius was worried about their relationship becoming known. Rather than creating a row between one of the most hot-headed girls in Hogwarts, Scorpius just held her hand and hoped for the best.

Then there was Lily. Scorpius knew that her intentions weren't mean, but her words sometimes seemed to morph and sound cruel. Or maybe she meant to do that? He didn't know, and he also didn't usually care, but he worried that her voice would carry over to the Slytherin table when she talked about his "snogging mate." There was enough taunting that came with befriending Gryffindors, but if they thought he was gay the joking would be incessant. As he worried about the bullying, he remembered who his girlfriend was. He could picture Rose performing some under the table curses at the Slytherin gits. He couldn't hold his laugh from escaping, which had rather bad timing.

"What're you laughing at, Malfoy?" said Nott. Scorpius realised just how horrible his luck was when he saw that Nott had just emerged as the loser in a vicious round of fighting with a broken nose.

"Oh – I wasn't laughing at you, Nott. I was just thinking to myself."

Nott grew a twisted grin and chuckled. "Thinking of your Weasel girlfriend? Tell me, is she as wild under the covers as she is on the Quidditch pitch?"

The only thing Scorpius was positively aware of was his anger. How if he was dating a Slytherin girl, this wouldn't be happening. He wouldn't be pounding his face into Nott's nose; he wouldn't be pulled off of Nott and pushed onto the ground. He wouldn't be circled by a group of furious Slytherins with no one on his side.

She ran in only to find Al and Lily already at Scorpius's bedside. "What happened?" she demanded.

Al looked exhausted, but he was probably just depressed. "He was in the Slytherin common room, and I suppose he laughed at the wrong time. Nott claims that he was taunting him, but it was most likely the other way around."

"They circled him like a pack of wolves," Lily said. She looked irate; Rose fully agreed with her, even though she had no idea how Lily knew any of this.

Reading her mind, Al asked, "How d'you know?"

"How else could he have sustained these injuries? Someone could have knocked him unconscious, but these injuries weren't planned – the strikes were more harsh and in the moment. The Slytherins formed a circle around him, which is why he's hurt in his front and back."

"And how do you know where he's hurt?" Rose asked.

"Madame Pomfrey left her report around. She really shouldn't do that, anyone could have read it."

"Lily, how many times do I have to tell you? That's none of your business." Al said.

"Again, it is my business. If I hadn't nosed around, we never would have known how he was hurt. Now we can help protect him, because we know that this wasn't just from Nott. The entire house is starting to turn on him because he's friends with you and Rose. It's nobody's fault except for the abusers', but we need to keep a close eye out."

"How can we do that without telling him? Scorp will find out if we act like his bodyguards." Al said.

"Don't act like his bodyguards. Act like you normally do, just keep your eyes on the backs of your heads. It'll be easier for me, since I'm not really in your group."

"When did you become the smart one?" Al asked.

"From too much Rose and Aunt Hermione over the summer. They're horrible influences."

Lily left them to Scorpius and went off to who knows where. She could be an annoying insect if left to her own devices, but sometimes, she seemed to work well. Al remembered what she had said the previous day: "He's practically family."