AN: Two things: 1) I highly recommend you read "Broken" first because Fred and Alyssa's background holds a lot more meaning than this story shows, especially in their relationship. You may also read "Forbidden" before or after. 2) This involves cousincest so if you don't like it, then don't read it! Thank you.

It was generally thought that Alyssa Weasley-Granger, the daughter of Olivia Weasley and Evan Granger, and Scorpius Malfoy, the son of Draco Malfoy, would have some sort of relationship during their school years. Most people opted for sworn enemies like their parents, and some shockingly hoped for a brighter future in which their family feud would finally be resolved through a potential romantic relationship. It turned out to be neither.

When they started Hogwarts, Alyssa immediately attached herself to her best friend and favourite cousin Fred Weasley and his friends while Scorpius bonded with fellow outcasts destined for Slytherin and unnecessary redemption. They had no need for interaction other than the occasional partnering up in classes they shared so their outlook of each other was pleasant but indifferent. They were acquaintances. Nothing more.

There were always rumours, of course. The whispers and stares around them could not be ignored. It was quite annoying and uncomfortable to both of them, to be honest. They didn't even know each other and were still on a surname basis so why were people obsessed with the two of them together? Yes, their families had history, but it had nothing to do with them as individuals. They were just two students out of the entire class of 2024.

They maintained a distant acquaintanceship for most of their years at Hogwarts, but they should've known that something would change. It was their sixth year, and they were assigned as partners for an Ancient Runes project. No biggie. They worked together before on such things, even though they hadn't been long-term projects. They were responsible and efficient. They could do this. They could do this and earn an excellent grade with their teamwork.

They met in the library during a free period to start their research. Several books were piled onto their table with two more being cracked open and read individually. Anything relevant and important they found would be written in their notes. As soon as they would have gathered enough evidence, they could start working on the layout.

Scorpius, who could write faster as a pureblood who learned cursive, shut the book he was reading from and reached for another when his eyes landed on someone he never expected to see in a library. "Granger, what's your cousin doing in here?"

Alyssa sighed irritatedly both from being interrupted and from being improperly addressed again. "Malfoy, I've told you that it's Weasley-Granger so many times at this point I lost count. And which cousin are you referring to? I've still got quite a few of them in this castle."

"'Weasley-Granger' is a bit of a mouthful, thank you very much. I'll stick to Granger. I'm referring to the one you're always hanging around with. What's his name again? It starts with F, I think."

Scorpius hadn't expected Alyssa to turn bright red at the mention of her cousin. "Oh, Fred?"

"Yeah, him. Look." Scorpius gestured across the room to the heavily tanned redhead who seemed to be searching for something. "Is he looking for you or something? This is practically your sanctuary."

Alyssa rolled her eyes. "Can it, Malfoy. Of course he's looking for me. He can't stand this place unless he's pulling a prank in here."

"It's rather shocking how the two of you are best friends. Then again, opposites do attract."

She gave him a rather strained smile. "Yeah. Attract."

Weasley finally got the two of them in his field of vision. Scorpius watched as the redhead slowly looked between the two sixth years, the latter's eyes narrowing slightly as they stopped on the former. The blond scoffed. Were all Weasleys this protective of each other?

Looking across the table, Scorpius raised an eyebrow as Alyssa nervously tucked a lock of her bushy red hair behind her ear and smiled brightly at her cousin who began approaching their table, her cheeks still red but abating. "Are you all right, Granger?"

She didn't react to the shortening of her surname. "Completely. Hi, Fred. What's up?"

"Malfoy," Weasley nodded curtly to Scorpius before changing his demeanour completely. "Alyssa, you won't believe this! My dad just sent in a prototype of a new invention for me to test out, and –"

"I am not going to be your guinea pig this time," Alyssa interrupted. "The last time I volunteered had everyone in our house laughing at me for two weeks straight. Including you. Besides, shouldn't you be studying for your NEWTs?"

Weasley waved his hand in dismissal. "I've got those in the bag. Besides, I'm not destined to have some great big important job like you are."

Alyssa nodded slowly. "Uh-huh. Yeah. Okay. Right."

"Lyss, I just gave you a compliment and you look at me with skepticism. I'm wounded." To emphasize his pain, he placed a hand over his heart.

Scorpius sighed. Really, Weasley was the only person who could distract Alyssa from her studies. "Granger, our project?"

"Huh?" Alyssa looked sideways at him distractedly, her gaze falling upon the books on their table. "Oh! Right." Looking apologetically at Weasley she said, "Sorry, Fred. Malfoy and I have a project to do for Ancient Runes so…"

Weasley regarded him with his eyes narrowed again. Scorpius looked back at him calmly. "It's true, Weasley. What do you think we're doing?"

Weasley turned away and muttered something that sounded like "nothing." Flashing a grin at Alyssa, he walked away and left the library.

Scorpius sighed and reached for the book he tried to grab earlier and stopped as he noticed Alyssa staring at the library entrance with a slightly dazed expression on her face. "Granger? Are you all right?"

She jerked and blinked. "What?"

"I said, 'are you all right?'"

"Yeah. Completely."

Scorpius frowned at her odd behaviour but said no more. They had a project to do.

The next evening found the two sixth years in the library again with a large-sized roll of parchment rolled out onto a table. Scorpius held a quill in his hand as he sketched out a few runes while Alyssa had her wand ready to erase any mistakes. "So the main one can be here right in the centre –"

"– with its explanation underneath as a caption."

"Yes, and then the other ones can be in boxes around it."

"Also with captions."

"Yes. Exactly."

Alyssa smiled. "I brought a Muggle ruler with me. How big should the boxes be?"

"Well, the main one is like this. I'd say maybe about fifteen centimetres. The other four can be ten."

Alyssa pulled out her ruler from her bag. "You know what rulers are?"

"Of course. I take Muggle Studies for a reason, Granger."

"Oh." Her face turned slightly pink in embarrassment. "I didn't know you took Muggle Studies."

"There's a lot you don't know about me, Granger."

"I told you –"

"– that 'Weasley-Granger' is too much. Honestly, conjoined surnames are overrated. It wrecks the entire flow of the whole name. It would sound awful if I went by 'Scorpius Hyperion Greengrass-Malfoy.'"

Alyssa huffed. "That's your opinion. I'm proud to be a Weasley and a Granger."

"And when you get married? What are you going to do then?"

She glanced bitterly down at the parchment and muttered something like, "If I get married, that is."

Scorpius frowned. "Surely, you don't doubt yourself that much."

Alyssa shook her head. "It's not that; it's…well…you wouldn't understand."

"Try me."

"No, seriously. And come on, Malfoy. We're not even friends. We're just working on a project together as assigned by a bloody professor."

Scorpius sighed but didn't pry into the topic anymore. "All right."

He knew she was hiding something. It was interesting that he of all people caught it. He wondered if Weasley (Fred) knew about it. He probably did, seeing that he and Alyssa were close enough to be practically joined at the hip whenever they weren't in classes or she was working in the library. Not that Scorpius would ask him, of course, but surely he knew something. Right?

Looking down at the parchment, he groaned. He had been so distracted by his thoughts he drew a line in the wrong direction. "Granger, can you erase this line? Sorry about that."

No response came from her. Scorpius looked up. Alyssa was staring across the room, her eyes slightly glazed over and her cheeks red. Turning towards the direction she was looking at, he saw, to his shock, Weasley. In the library again. What the heck? "Granger. Granger. Granger!"

She jumped slightly in her seat. "What? What?"

"I made a mistake. Can you erase it?"

"Oh," she glanced distractedly at the parchment. "Yes. Where?"

"Right here. See where this line is going in the wrong direction?"

Her eyes glanced upwards for a second before she pressed the tip of her wand against the paper and traced over the line, causing it to disappear. "There. Done."

Scorpius bent over the parchment again and made sure to draw the line in the right direction before continuing with the rest of the rune. "I think Weasley's looking for you again."

"Obviously." He frowned at the slight strain in her voice. "Why else would he be in what he calls the castle's 'hell room'?"

"He must really care for you if he's willing to come in here."

A slight smile came over her face, which he saw in the corner of his eye. "Yes. He must."

Weasley must had seen them because Scorpius heard approaching footsteps and a familiar deep voice whispering, "Lyss. Lyss!"

"Weasley, we're in the middle of a project," the Malfoy heir said, looking up. "Can this wait?"

Weasley glanced at him for a second with one eye twitching out of annoyance before turning to his cousin. "Lexi and I decided to test the prototype on that creep Nathan McLaggen. It worked like a charm! He's currently hiding in our dorm room as we speak."

Alyssa gave him a wry smile. "Should I be afraid to ask what it did to him?"

"Not at all! Shouldn't you be happy? After all, he did hit on you too many times to count."

"Fred, I'm a prefect. I can't be condoning this type of behaviour, no matter who is the culprit and/or who is the victim. I've covered for you too many times as it is."

It was ridiculous to see Weasley get on his knees in a pleading position. "Please, Lyss? For your favourite cousin and best friend in the whole wide world?"

Alyssa crossed her arms, her expression half-serious and half-joking. "I thought Lexi and Louis were your 'best friends in the whole wide world'?"

Scorpius couldn't help but notice her tone when she not-so-subtly spat out the older female Gryffindor's name.

Weasley grinned boyishly. "Of course not! That title has belonged to you since we were babies! I practically claimed you the moment you were born!

"Likely story. Auntie Angelina told me that you could barely form two words at the time."

Scorpius gritted his teeth. This was getting ridiculous. "Weasley, I'd like to remind you that I'm a prefect as well so I can report you for what you just admitted to. Unless you leave right now."

Honestly, he loved how he was so good with blackmail. As much as a troublemaker Weasley was, getting caught was definitely not one of his favourite things to do.

Weasley sighed melodramatically as he grasped Alyssa's hands. "I must go now, dear cousin. If only certain snakes weren't so insistent with not having my presence around."

And then there was Alyssa practically smiling like an idiot hallucinating something that could only happen in a fairy tale…or the Wizarding world as she observed Weasley's performance. "Yes…if only…"

Weasley got up from his knees and left the table with only a slight glare thrown at Scorpius. The latter rolled his eyes in response. Typical Gryffindors with their drama and anti-Slytherin propaganda. Okay, maybe not all of them. Or most of them. Weasley was probably joking around, anyways.

With a shrug, he went back to sketching the rune he was working on. He didn't miss the odd look on Alyssa's face as she stared off in the direction Weasley left, though.

Alyssa had Quidditch practice the next day so the final draft of their project had to be made the day after that. It was amazing how they were given two whole weeks to complete it. Clearly, professors didn't have faith in their students' efficiency. All right, they weren't exactly wrong, but for students like Scorpius and Alyssa, it was…ridiculous.

"Don't forget the arrows," Alyssa reminded him as she watched him draw on the parchment. "That's what Professor Babbling said so that everyone who sees it knows exactly how to draw it before we demonstrate."

"Right," Scorpius ran a hand through his hair to scratch the top of his head. "But I think you should do them. Your hands are smaller and more delicate so they might be better for drawing those small things."

Finishing the rune in the top left corner, he passed her his quill and let her take his seat. "I must say, Granger, we make a pretty good team."

She nodded with a small smile. "Yeah. I think we already knew that, though. Too bad the professors couldn't have paired us up more often, especially now that we share more classes."

Being in NEWT level, all houses in one year were usually combined for each subject since not all students took everything. This year was the first year they had Charms and Herbology together, and partnering up in those classes was always a good thing.

Scorpius looked across the room at the entrance, half-expecting Weasley to show up and he was not disappointed. "For someone who hates the library, your cousin sure seems to show up quite often."

A slight frown came over her face as did a tinge of red on her cheeks. "Odd. He usually avoids coming here like it's the plague. What in the name of Merlin changed?"

Weasley didn't need to look around this time. He found them immediately. As he approached them, Scorpius said lowly, "I don't think he likes having you around me for some reason."

Alyssa groaned as she finished the last arrow. "He always does that with other blokes. Don't know what's up his arsehole with you, though. Hi, Fred. What do you want this time?"

"Now, dear Lyssie, don't be like that with me. Aren't you glad to see me?" Weasley sat in a vacant seat at the table. Scorpius raised an eyebrow at this change in behaviour. "How's the project coming along?"

"Final draft work today and rehearsals every other day," Scorpius said, causing Weasley to shoot him a look. "What?"

Weasley shrugged and muttered something that sounded like "nothing" under his breath.

"Honestly, Fred," Alyssa snorted as she began to copy down the caption. "You're starting to freak me out here. Coming into the library during three consecutive days? And you're sitting at a table! You said that only the Imperius Curse could force you into a library chair."

"Obviously he has an ulterior motive here," Scorpius folded his arms with a slight smirk. "Is there something you want, Weasley? I still have that incident with McLaggen from yesterday to hold over you. Perhaps McLaggen can back me up if I tell Professor Longbottom?"

Weasley glared at him. "You do not want to get mixed up with that git, Malfoy. Trust me."

Scorpius looked amusedly at Alyssa. "Look at that! Your cousin wants to protect me."

Alyssa paused her writing to laugh. "Aw, Freddie! I knew you had a heart there somewhere!"

Scorpius smirked again as the older male turned bright red with embarrassment. "Freddie, eh? Nice nickname."

It was quite a shock when Alyssa suddenly turned on him with information he didn't even know she had. "Don't worry, Freddie. I heard his cousin Nott call him 'Scorpie' once when she thought no one could hear her. And this happened last year!"

Damn it, Lauren! And curse Weasley for learning this and laughing at it. "Suddenly, Freddie doesn't seem so bad. I pity you, Malfoy. So much."

Scorpius put his head on the table and groaned. "Thanks a lot, Granger. Now the whole school will know by tomorrow morning!"

He felt a small hand pat his back. "Don't worry, Malfoy. Freddie and I can keep secrets, can't we Freddie?"

A chuckle was heard from Weasley. "Of course we can. Blackmail is much more useful, isn't it?"

Scorpius groaned again. "Are you sure you're not a Slytherin, Weasley?"

"Hell no! I'm no snake!"

"That was a compliment, you dolt."

"I think Louis once said that you were a hatstall," Alyssa chimed in. "I'm sure it was between Gryffindor and Slytherin because you're certainly no Ravenclaw. And you're too cruel to be a Hufflepuff."

"What's this? I'm too cruel? You wound me, Lyssie."

Scorpius lifted his head to find Weasley placing his hands over his heart. "Always the melodramatic person, aren't you Weasley? Well, I suppose one of the two of you has to be. A melodramatic brainiac would be too much so thank Merlin it's not Granger."

Weasley smirked slightly as he looked at Alyssa. "No, but she's an aggressive brainiac whose love of books can set her off in a rage if anyone dares to 'defile' the precious things."

Alyssa smiled sweetly. "And I'm sure you remember that all too well from back when I was seven and you were eight." To Scorpius she said, "He cried like a baby for three hours straight after I bit him and screamed in his ear like a banshee because he spilled pumpkin juice on one of my fairy tale books."

"It was an accident, and you had beaver teeth at the time!" Weasley protested. "You remember her teeth from earlier in our school career, right Malfoy? Her front ones were huge."

"To be honest, I didn't pay that much attention to her teeth. I had no need to."

Alyssa snorted. "It's been five years, and people still look at us to see if we'll hex each other to oblivion unless they think we're Romeo and Juliet."

Scorpius checked around them to see if people were looking at them. There weren't except for one or two glances. "Clearly, they got bored today. And yesterday. And the day before that."

"I remember when teachers were afraid to put us together as partners because they thought something would happen. They were completely wrong."

"And now here you two are working on a long-term Ancient Runes project," Weasley gave an exaggerated sigh as if he were nostalgic. "Amazing."

As interesting as this conversation among the three of them was getting, Scorpius knew that he and Alyssa had a lot of work to do today. "Alyssa, you done with that caption?"

"Huh?" Alyssa looked down at the parchment that she had been ignoring for the past several minutes. "Oh! No. Let me finish. You two just…keep talking and ignore me."

To be honest, Scorpius thought that Weasley was being a bit too distracting for them to keep working in peace. "Well…it's been nice talking to you for the first time…"

Weasley raised an eyebrow. "I suppose you're kicking me out now?"

"It's nothing personal; it's just that we need to work and –"

"– I'm too distracting for the both of you. Got it." Weasley gave him a smile that seemed a little strained. "I get it. This is part of the daily routine here. I must go now. See you around, Malfoy."

"See you around, Weasley."

Weasley got up and glanced at Alyssa. "See you in the common room, Lyss."

Her head shot up. "You're leaving?"

Scorpius frowned slightly at the crestfallen tone in her voice. While it seemed understandable as to what she was feeling, it seemed to be a bit too much. Her voice was soft and almost…pleading? She did not want him to go. But go he should because at this rate they weren't going to get any more work done.

"Yeah," Weasley's voice, too, was soft with disappointment. "Duty calls for you and Malfoy after all. I can just…plan a prank with Lexi…probably…"

She nodded slowly. "Right…Lexi…"

"…Bye."

Scorpius shifted comfortably in his seat as Weasley left. The look on Alyssa's face did not go by unnoticed. "All right, Granger. Spill. What was up with that?"

"What was up with what?" Her voice was slightly higher than normal, and the grip she had on his quill tightened. He eyed it warily, hoping she wouldn't break it.

"That thing with Weasley. You're acting weirdly around him. I swear, it's almost familiar, but I can't put my finger on it."

She shook her head. "You're looking too deeply into unimportant matters, Malfoy. Drop it, and let me finish this caption."

Scorpius sighed but let her. As soon as she was done, she gave him back the quill and switched seats with him. Without even starting the next drawing he said, "I can't drop it, Granger. It's bugging me."

"Well, it shouldn't." Her voice was slightly hard and strained.

"No, I know there's something up with you, and I want to know what it is."

"Well, it's none of your business."

He raised an eyebrow at her words. She just confirmed that something was going on. She seemed to realise this and muttered something that sounded like "shit" under her breath and began packing her things. "Going somewhere, Granger?"

She turned to face him with her expression cool and masked. "I just remembered that I have something to do. Can we continue this tomorrow?"

"Do you really? Or do you just want to avoid my questions? If you really do, what is it?"

She narrowed her eyes at him. "It's none of your business."

Curse himself for not being good at coaxing others out of their…whatever. His mother had been much better at this before she passed, especially with his closed-up father. Of course, the way they looked at each other helped so – Wait. The way they looked at each other?

A mental image from his memory of Alyssa and Weasley looking at each other from several minutes ago came to mind before switching to one of his parents before his mother died. No way. He thought there was something familiar about her expression…but it never came to mind because of their familial relation. Wow. Alyssa really was Juliet. The only difference was that Romeo was already family. Too close family, for that matter.

"What?" Alyssa said, watching his expression. She did not like it.

Scorpius stared at her in shock. "Are you…?" He couldn't finish his sentence.

"Am I what?"

She was visibly trembling, and he could tell why. She was scared. No, terrified. If someone figured this out, they most likely would tell the whole school and her reputation would be ruined. All right, he already did. But was he going to tell the entire school? Well, first no one would believe him (except for a few looking for a scandal) and second, that would be cruel. Especially when it would come back to Weasley. Scorpius suspected that it was mutual, but chances like this could not be taken. Not with something like this. Instead of asking the question fully, he offered her the only thing that would calm her down. "I won't tell. Not a soul. Not even my friends."

Judging by the look on her face, he knew that she knew he knew. She stared back at him fearfully. "How do I know you're telling me the truth?"

"Since when do I have any reason to ruin you? If I were in love with my cousin Lauren Nott, I'd wouldn't want anyone to know either. Not that I am, but that's empathy for you. We can make an Unbreakable Vow if you want so I definitely won't tell."

Alyssa shook her head slowly. "No. That's going too far, and we would need a third person to act as bonder. No." She looked at him seriously. "I think I can trust you."

"I promise you that you can."

A small smile formed on her face and her body eased from the tension of fear. "Thank you, Malfoy."

"With a big secret like this being kept, I think we can finally move on to a first-name basis, don't you think? That is, if you want to, of course."

Alyssa nodded and held out her hand. "Alyssa Weasley-Granger. Call me Alyssa."

Scorpius took it. "Scorpius Malfoy. Call me Scorpius."

3 November 2024

Dear Alyssa and Fred,

I don't know if my owl can find you, but if you can, please tell me that you're all right. It's all been in the papers. Apparently, your aunt (the quarter-Veela one) had been a little too enthusiastic to share what her daughter had caught you guys doing. As a Slytherin alumnus, I would normally chide you two for being foolish enough to get caught, but the fact that you had to keep your love a secret is already unfair enough. I just want to wish you two luck wherever you are, and that hopefully you'll tell me where you went so I can visit at some point (I won't tell anyone, of course). The odds of you coming back are slim, but I hope that you will eventually. My life has changed so much because of you two.

Best regards,

Scorpius Hyperion Malfoy

17 November 2024

Dear Scorpius,

Sorry for the long wait. We had to let the owl rest for a while because it's a long flight from England to down under. As to exactly where, we can't say in case this letter is intercepted. If you come out here, you'll have to take a Muggle plan to the Darwin International Airport. You'll have to wait for us to find you because our disguises make sure that no one here knows who we are other than the fact that we're a really young married couple. Yes, we actually did get married (no issues about conjoined surnames as you mentioned once!). At ages eighteen and nineteen? We've always known we were meant for each other, despite the cousin barrier so running away had to lead to eloping. You probably disapprove, but we've never been happier. Don't worry, we're not going to have any children. We'll probably adopt when we're older, but certainly no biological children. Our ancestry is already messed up as it is with the stupid pureblood bigotry that led to several incestuous marriages and procreations that weren't even for love. Anyways, we hope and look forward to see you soon at some point.

Always,

Alyssa Rose Weasley-Granger & Fred Lee Weasley

AN 2: Reviews are greatly appreciated so thanks in advance to those of you who do! Forgive me for being picky, but I prefer reviews that are more than two-worded compliments. Let me know what you like and/or didn't like!