Scorpius was equal parts terrified and elated. He'd been going out with Rose since September, which had, as Albus had told him on multiple occasions, had made him far more obnoxiously pleased with himself than the situation really warranted.
And despite occasional unpleasantness from a few of his housemates, he was, admittedly, very, very pleased with himself.
But this was different. This was a new step. It was a frightening step. It was, possibly, a game changer.
Because now, Rose was going to meet his parents. Five minutes after the Hogwarts Express didn't really count, but staying with them for two days undoubtedly did. He'd almost refused to pass his mother's invitation along at all, because there was so much that could go wrong.
Scorpius was a Slytherin. He liked to avoid unpredictable situations where an infinite number of things could go wrong when he had the option.
Two things had decided him.
First, as someone dating a Gryffindor, he probably ought to go out on a limb a little more often; after all, it had worked for getting himself a girlfriend in the first place.
Second, Rose visiting him also carried with it many opportunities for privacy, which were hard to come by at Hogwarts, particularly when you weren't in the same House.
So here he was. The latter was even tempting enough to convince him to go visit her family in the same manner after this, and that was an even more intimidating prospect. He thought her father might turn him into a frog, though it was really impossible to be sure ahead of time.
When he got to the gate, Rose and her mother were waiting. She looked exceptionally pretty that day; her bright red curls clashed horribly with the red hat covering them, and her matching coat was left unbuttoned and flopping at her sides despite the chilly day. He waved his wand to open the gates and stepped back as they swung inward. Once they'd stepped inside, he locked the gate with the nonverbal counter spell before turning to greet them; his father had drummed the importance of being careful into him at a very young age, along with the necessity of using a nonverbal locking spell just in case someone was listening. It all seemed very paranoid to Scorpius, but it was also reflex at this point, and there wasn't much point in breaking himself of the habit.
He offered his hand to Rose's mother. "Good afternoon, ma'am."
She took it. "It's nice to see you again, Scorpius."
As soon as he stepped back, Rose threw herself into his arms and kissed him with a little more enthusiasm than he'd have preferred, given that her mother was standing directly in front of him.
"Rose," her mother said as her tongue brushed against his, "I may not be your father, but I'd still prefer some restraint."
"Sorry, Mum." She kissed him again, and he hugged her before she could pull away.
"I missed you," he said softly.
"I missed you, too." She grabbed his hand. "So -"
"Granger!" They all turned; Scorpius's father was heading over to them. His thick, knee-high boots crunched the thin icy layer of snow on the ground, and the gloves he was peeling off were strained with green slime.
Scorpius glanced over at Rose's mother, whose mouth had started to curve upward into a rueful smile. "Malfoy," she replied. "Your son has good manners. He must take after his mother." Scorpius's father threw his head back and laughed, but before he could reply, she added, "Have you finally started putting in an honest day's work?"
Scorpius's father glanced over at the gloves he'd just tossed on the ground. "Streelers," he said. "No idea what they're doing investing the rose bushes in the middle of winter, but there it is. I was told that I could either take care of it or attend Astoria's brother's New Year's party. I chose the streelers."
"I like the Greengrasses."
"Yes, well, you would." Scorpius shifted from one foot to the other - he hadn't dressed warmly enough to be outside for this long. Unfortunately, that drew his father's attention to him; blond eyebrows arched upwards. "Though my son's manners seem to be slipping. I saw that greeting."
Scorpius felt his cheeks start to burn. Thankfully, his father turned to Rose. "Draco," he said, sticking out his hand. Rose took it. "It's good to have you here - we've heard so much about you from Scorpius."
"All of it good."
"Of course. He particularly liked it that jinx that gave him red hair - you should do that ad often as possible."
Rose's mother looked at her sharply. "Red hair?" Her tone was deceptively calm; even Scorpius, who didn't know her, could tell from the way her jaw had set that she wasn't amused.
"It wasn't me!" Scorpius couldn't hold back a loud snort; while he had finally established that it had technically been James and Roxanne who'd carried it out, he also knew that it had been Rose's way of getting back at him after he'd called her a coward at the beginning of the year. "Well - he didn't mind! Right?" She elbowed him.
He chose not to respond. "I'm cold. Let's go up to the house."
"Rose -"
"Granger, while I'm all for a good lecture, is now really the time?"
Rose's mother sniffed, but she gestured up to the house without saying anything else.
"Thanks for your support," Rose said under her breath.
"Oh, come on," he whispered back. "Like I'm going to say, 'Yes, Rose, I loved having my hair be bright red for two and a half weeks?'"
She sighed. "That's fair. Hopefully she'll forget before I get home." They reached the fountain in front of the house, dry for the winter months, and she stopped dead, staring at the ivy cascading down near the front door of the house. Its tendrils, which dangled artfully over the large glass windows, sparkled in the sunlight. Behind him, he caught a snippet of their parents' conversation.
"No Weasel? I'd have thought he'd want to prowl every inch of the estate under the pretense of making sure that his daughter would be safe here, but mostly just to annoy me."
"He was tempted, but we decided it was - ah - unnecessary." Rose's mother sounded amused.
"You decided, you mean."
"You know -"
"Wow," Rose breathed, and he refocused on her. She was staring "Your house is - um - really nice."
Scorpius tried not to look smug at her reaction to his parents' house - which really was quite nice. Albus had informed him that being smug about it made him look like a prick. "Thanks," he said instead.
She glanced at him, and some of her composure returned. "You're smirking," she informed him.
"I do that sometimes." He grabbed her elbow before it connected with his stomach again and kissed her cheek, which mollified her enough for him to pull her inside.
Her mother lingered a bit longer than he'd hoped - while he didn't much know her mother, she seemed nice enough, and from the way they were talking, his parents both knew her much better than he'd realized. Still, it left him twitchy and uncomfortable to have her there; he couldn't properly relax when he was worried about first impressions and her judging him, and after Rose's greeting, he felt very self-conscious about how closely she was huddled next to him on the couch across the room from where the three adults were sitting.
"Will you calm down?" she muttered. "You're so tense right now - what's wrong with you?"
"When is your mum going to leave?" he hissed back. "I feel like she's judging me, and if I touch you, she'll judge me more, and -"
Rose kissed his cheek. "You're fine," she promised. "You kiss me like that all the time."
"But not in front of your mother."
Rose's mother left shortly before they sat down to dinner, which was punctuated by Rose peering into different corners of the room. It took him about ten minutes to realize that she was probably scrutinizing the color rather than the decor itself. His suspicion was confirmed when his mother finally asked her what she was looking at.
"I - well, it's just that your house is so green."
"So?" he asked. "I like green. And Slytherin is the best house."
"Mm," his mother said. "I beg to differ." At Rose's frown, she added, "I was a Ravenclaw."
"So why isn't the house more blue?"
His mother glanced from him to his father. "I suppose I'm less prone to superficial displays of house pride," she said after a long pause. His father sneered at her but chose not to comment.
Rose giggled. He wasn't sure what she found so funny - he'd have bet most of a year's worth of pocket money that her house, like the Potters', was almost blindingly red, with perhaps a little yellow for her Hufflepuff brother. He let it go, though - for the moment, anyway. He'd make sure to tease her if her house was as red as he was expecting it to be.
That aside, dinner went rather well; his parents seemed to like her, which he supposed shouldn't have surprised him as much as it did. After all, they'd always liked Albus, and Scorpius had come to realize that deep down, Rose and Albus were a lot more alike than he'd given them credit for prior to dating her.
He led Rose down the hall and into their sitting room while his parents cleaned up the dishes. "Well?" he asked, pulling her down to sit on the couch with him. He felt significantly less self-conscious doing so now that her mother was gone.
"There's no way your dad was a Death Eater."
Scorpius couldn't hold back his laugh, even though the matter really wasn't very funny. "Rose, only you." He pulled her closer to him and kissed her cheek.
"There's no way. He's being so nice to me. And he was nice to my mum, too."
"Yeah, he does that." Scorpius shrugged. "He was, though - he usually wears long sleeves, but I've seen his scar. It's pretty light at this point, but it's there. It was a long time ago, and - well, you know. Do we have to go over this again?"
"I guess not." She shook her head, red curls bouncing with the movement. "I just can't believe it." She refocused on him and changed the subject. "So - do you think you'll be able to sneak in to where I'm sleeping? Once your parents go to bed, I mean?"
Scorpius felt a grin start to spread across his face. "Yeah," he said. "I think so."
"Oh, good." She began to run her fingers through his hair. "I really missed you."
He shivered and glanced at the slightly ajar door. Through it, he could hear that his parents were both still in the kitchen, which was good enough for him to lean in for a kiss.
He'd fully intended to keep an ear out for when his parents finished clearing up, which would allow him and Rose to detangle themselves and look completely innocent. Unfortunately, the week apart proved to be too much for both of them; one of his hands tangled in her hair as he lost himself in her touch. Kissing Rose was one of his favorite activities; she was very good at it.
They only realized that they weren't alone when Scorpius's father cleared his throat from the doorway.
The very best thing Scorpius could have said about the situation was that at least neither of them had their hands in places more incriminating than his outer leg or her back. That had not always been the case when they've been interrupted at school.
Usually by Rose's family. He knew that James and Roxanne had used that stupid map on a regular basis to track them down and embarass them, and he suspected that even Albus had used it toward that end on one or two occasions.
"Hi, Dad," he said weakly as Rose slid off his lap and back onto the couch, a blush staining her cheeks red.
"Mm." He didn't look amused, though he did at least have the decency to not mention it to Scorpius's mother when she came in a few minutes later. Scorpius was fairly certain that he would once everyone had gone to bed, but as long as he didn't have to deal with his mother's reaction in front of Rose, he'd count himself lucky.
"I have a question," Rose asked suddenly. His mother raised her eyebrows. "You were doing the dishes. So does that mean you don't have a house elf?"
"No, we don't. I can't abide by them," his mother replied. "It doesn't feel right. My family never had one when I was growing up. I told Draco before we got married that he had to promise he'd never try to get one."
"Which I've held to," his father said. "So stop giving me that look. They're just convenient, is all. And most purebloods do have them - it's not strange that I did."
"We didn't. And Brendon never has, either."
"Yeah, well. Your brother's just continued the proud Greengrass tradition of not being a proper pureblood. He's practically a Weasley." He glanced over at Rose. "No offense. She's nearly as bad, and I did marry her, so clearly it didn't bother me too much."
Rose's eyes were shining. Scorpius wasn't sure whether that was a good thing or a bad thing. "Why isn't he a proper pureblood?"
"What my husband really means that he's not a proper Slytherin." His mother's mouth curled upwards. "My brother is the head of Werewolf Capture. Draco thinks that he approaches danger with a little more excitement than a Slytherin should."
"He approaches danger with a little more excitement than anyone should." Scorpius's father smiled at Rose. "Have you ever met my niece Johanna? She works for your father and Harry."
Rose let out a laugh. She finally seemed to be relaxing; this was familiar ground. "No, but Scorpius, is she the one who wrote to you about me?"
Scorpius winced. He'd tried very hard to repress the memory of that letter, which had started with Scorpie, dear and only gone downhill from there. "Yes."
"Well, she's such a poor excuse for a Slytherin that your father thinks she's the best post-war Auror they have."
That led to a conversation about Scorpius's Greengrass cousins, which was a mixed blessing; on one hand, it was common ground which both his mother and his girlfriend approached with great enthusiasm, which was good for them and plainly amusing to his father. On the other, Scorpius suspected that this conversation might find its way back to his cousin Johanna, who would mock him mercilessly, and he also suspected that his mother might start joking about nuptials in the near future.
He just hoped she'd refrain from doing so in front of Rose.
Scorpius tried to focus on the conversation, but he was having a very hard time not fixating on the clock. Kissing Rose had only reminded him of how much he wanted to keep kissing her, and he was quite relieved when his mother yawned and glanced at the clock.
"Is it that late already? Rose, let me show you where you'll be sleeping."
Rose bounced up and started up the stairs after his mother.
He was about to follow her when his father stopped him. "Scorpius, a word?"
His heart leapt into his throat, and Scorpius followed his father into his study. He could just hear his mother showing Rose the room she would sleep in when his father closed the door.
"What's up?" Scorpius asked, trying to look as nonchalant as humanly possible.
His father fixed him with a look and settled into one of the armchairs. "You know 'what's up.' Don't play dumb." He pointed at the other chair. "Sit."
Scorpius considered feigning innocence anyway, but his father's expression told him that it would pointless. He sat.
"Were you planning to wait to sneak into her room until we were asleep, or just until we closed the door to ours?"
Sometimes, Scorpius wished his father was a little more of an idiot. "Er - I guess until I thought you were asleep." He sighed. "You're going to put charms on the doors now, aren't you?"
His father leaned back and considered him. "Your mother thinks we should - she likes people, you know, and she knows that Rose's parents would prefer it." Scorpius slumped down in his chair. They could probably find a way around the charms, but not for tonight, and likely not until Rose's next visit. "Now," his father continued, "I think they're a waste of time. You'll find time during the day to do whatever we stopped you from doing at night, and I don't want to waste energy monitoring you to make sure you don't."
Scorpius's ears perked up. "Oh?" he asked cautiously.
His father regarded him for a long moment before sighing. "Do you remember what we talked about over the summer?"
Scorpius felt his cheeks start to burn. "Yes," he mumbled.
"Have you needed to use what we talked about over the summer?"
Scorpius shook his head.
"Are you planning to need to use what we talked about over the summer tonight or tomorrow night?"
Scorpius shook his head again.
"The truth, Scorpius. Look at me."
Scorpius had been studying the deep brown wood of the floor. He dragged his gaze up to meet his father's grey eyes. There was no hint of amusement in them now. "No. Really, Dad, we're not, I swear. We just want a little… er… alone time."
"Because I do not want Ron Weasley showing up on my doorstep because you got his daughter pregnant. Nor, for that matter, do I want my sixteen year old son getting anyone pregnant."
"I'm not going to get her pregnant! We aren't even doing that yet!"
"Repeat everything we talked about this summer back to me anyway. And I also don't want to hear anything about you pressuring -"
"Dad, I'm not! She's the one taking my clothes off!"
He hadn't meant for that to come out, and he immediately wished that it hadn't.
"I thought you said you hadn't needed it."
"We haven't. It was - it was just my shirt. And it was in my dormitory, it's not like we were in…"
Scorpius trailed off. He could tell that he wasn't helping his case, and he didn't want to talk himself into such a deep enough hole that his father decided they needed the charms after all.
"I was under the impression that Rose was in Gryffindor. What was she doing in the Slytherin dormitories?"
"Everyone else was at Hogsmeade. It was my birthday."
His father sighed. "Don't get caught. You'd lose Slytherin a lot of points and probably end up in detention for a month."
"We won't. Is that all?" He started to get up.
"Sit. Repeat it back. All of it."
Scorpius groaned. This was promising to be a much more awkward conversation than it had been the first time around, and that was saying something.
A/N: So I meant to post this last month. Oh well. Hopefully you all forgive me. I hope you enjoyed the chapter, and I'd love to hear your thoughts!