This Is What You Fought For
Scorpius POV:
"Are you sure you want to do this, Dad?" I asked, glancing at my dad apprehensively. He looked me square in the eye and uttered the one word that made my heart swell with pride.
"Yes." I smiled wide, happy that he was agreeing to this. We were going to my girlfriend's house, Rose Nymphadora Weasley, who, since my last year at Hogwarts, and even now, my life revolved around, even though we've only been going out for a little over a year. We figured that since we were getting serious with each other and we were able to keep up a stable relationship even after a year of me working with the Daily Prophet and her working as a Curse breaker apprentice to her uncle, that I should finally meet her parents. They knew she had a boyfriend, but we agreed we shouldn't tell them until they saw me in person. Now that I think about it, it was fairly stupid on our part. What was even more stupid that we thought we should have our parents - namely her parents and my dad - sit alone in one room, something they hadn't done in decades. But, I think we figured that we could just finish both off. It was a long stretch, but after talking to my dad, he agreed, almost immediately. My mum and I have never been more proud of him. We were both the most surprised when he didn't say anything about me dating Rose. He had this look in his eye that showed me he was actually proud. For what, I didn't know.
"Mum, we're leaving!" I called out to her. She came from the kitchen, giving each of us a kiss on the cheek.
"Good luck, and Draco, do try to behave yourself." She gave my dad one of her famous warning looks that was enough to make me and my dad cower in the nearest corner. He nodded.
"It's okay 'Storie. It's time I do this. It's been long enough." He replied with a new type of determination that I never saw in him. My mum flung her arms around her neck, her graying hair flying everywhere.
"You can do this, Draco, we have faith in you." She whispered to him, and I found myself nodding in agreement. She pulled away and my dad held her hands.
"It's going to be fine." He told her reassuringly, then looking to me. "Are you ready, son?" He asked. I nodded. My dad's confidence gave me the confidence I needed. This wasn't going to be easy, and we needed to stick together. We left the house and stopped midway to the road.
"Do you know where to go?" I asked him. I went to Rose's house plenty of times with Al, who recently became a close friend of mine, since we worked for the Prophet together.
"Yes, I do." He replied, surprising me. I raised an eyebrow.
"What? How?" I asked him, tilting my head a little.
"Harry brought me there once. For some work." My dad clarified, crinkling his nose a bit. I shrugged.
"Alright then." I spun on the spot. I felt myself being lifted off my feet, and soon, I fell back down. My dad appeared neatly next to me almost immediately. "I'll never get used to this." I muttered as I regained my sense of direction. My dad let out a small chuckle.
"I remember when I used to think that, too." He smiled. I took a deep breath. This is it. "Are you ready, son?" he asked me for the second time today. And for the second time, I gave him a confident nod.
"Dad, I did tell you that Mr. Weasley didn't know? Please, please try to contain yourself. He's not going to like the idea." I told him. He looked me square in the eye.
"I can do this, Scorpius. I know Weasley…I mean Ron won't like the idea, and he might actually be mad, but that's okay. I can maintain self-control." He told me and I knew to believe him. We walked in silence to the front door. Before I could raise my fist to knock, the door swung open. It was Rose. I had a feeling that she'd be watching and checking when we'd come. She was nervous for this meeting all week. She glanced back into the house and stepped outside, closing the door halfway.
"Hey." I said, glad to see her again. She didn't reply, only flung her arms around my neck and hugged me tightly. I smiled into her strawberry scented red hair. We pulled apart and only then did she seem to take notice of my dad standing there rather awkwardly.
"Hi Mr. Malfoy, my name's Rose." She smiled, sticking out her hand. To my delight, my dad shook out her hand, and returned her smile.
"It's a pleasure, Rose." He replied.
"Are you ready?" She asked, turning back to me. I gave her one of my infamous smirks.
"Why's everyone asking me that today?" She only rolled her eyes and led us into the house. It seemed rather quiet, but that was probably because her brother, Hugo, was back at Hogwarts.
"Mum? Dad? Are you in the living room?" She asked hesitantly.
"Yeah, we are." Was their unison reply. We all took a deep breath as we stepped in view of them. And when we did, her dad's face was absolutely priceless. His eyes bulged out and his mouth just dropped and his entire head started turning red. Everything from the tip of his ears down to his neck. Her mum was a little less surprised. She tilted her head and gave us both large, welcoming smiles.
"Come in, come in!" She said, ushering us into the living room. I looked at both Rose and my dad. We were all wearing identical confused expressions.
"Nice to see you again, Gr-Hermione." My dad said with a bit of a struggle. I had a feeling he almost forgot her first name.
"Likewise, Draco." She said with a small nod of her head. "Please, sit down." She said, gesturing the chairs. Rose and I hesitantly sat in the love seat, my dad sat in the lone chair next to us, and Mrs. Weasley sat back where she was before. An uncomfortable silence came about, partially because Mr. Weasley still had his mouth wide open and was staring at my father in complete disbelief. I could tell it was starting to make my dad uncomfortable.
"It's nice to see you again, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley." I stammered, trying to break the silence.
"It's nice to see you again, too, Scorpius." Mrs. Weasley replied, her wide grin never faltering. She was staring me down and it was only just making me uncomfortable. Another silence came about.
"Er...Dad? You're going to catch flies." Rose said quietly, and looking at him in mild concern. All eyes shifted to Mr. Weasley. He closed his mouth and blinked a few times, but his head remained red.
"So I'm guessing this is your boyfriend, Rosie?" He asked in a flat tone. But, I could catch the hint of disappointment. She bit her lip and nodded. His eyes shifted to me and stared into mine, as though he was trying to analyze me. Rose grabbed my hand encouragingly, a gesture that did not go unnoticed by her dad. He stared at our now entwined hands and looked at Rose again. "Really Rose?" He asked, not even bothering to hide the disappointment this time.
"Ron..."
"Dad..." Rose and her mum said at the same time. Her mum was glaring at Mr. Weasley in a way that would rival McGonagall's.
"You can do so much better." Her dad told her, his eyes sweeping over me and my father once again. I saw my dad wince and I cringed. Ouch? I bit my lip, in effort to not say anything sarcastic, a defense mechanism I was very famous for using.
"Dad!" She shrieked in response. He ignored her.
"I can't believe you're actually going out with his son! Aren't there other men? More worthy of your attention? I thought I got lucky when you didn't ever mention him while you were at Hogwarts! What is this, Rosie?" He asked in a clearly disappointed tone. Rose seemed too shocked to even reply. "Sure they might've given up their old ways, but I thought I told you to stay away from them! This all could've been avoided!" He seemed to be getting angrier with each statement. "It just blows my mind that you would choose him! I mean, what is this? Nothing good can possibly come from this child! Do you really want him to hurt you? Because that's definitely all you're getting!" He told her, actually standing up, completely red in the face. He was giving me the death glare. I avoided it by looking at Rose. There was nothing but pure anger in her eyes, which was, also scary. I shifted my gaze to my father. He was keeping his promise: He was just sitting there, taking it all in, and watching. Mrs. Weasley was just sitting back, and had a hint of amusement in her eyes.
"What's your real problem Dad? The one that you're too proud to admit?" Rose asked cheekily. Well, that seemed to be a bit of a slap in the face. Even her dad seemed a bit shocked at this outburst. She stood up, too and faced him angrily. It made her look pretty damn hot.
"Rose! Look at him, already being a bad influence on you! Slytherin I assume? Don't even bother saying anything, I know it's true. I asked Al once. Nothing good can come from Slytherins." He stressed. I crinkled my nose and tried to maintain my self control.
"Dad, are we really bringing this up? What's the matter with you?" She asked just as fiercely.
"He's a Slytherin Malfoy. A PUREBLOOD SLYTHERIN MALFOY, ROSE!" He bellowed. I winced. I looked at my father. He was looking at the ground, probably in effort to not say anything. Mrs. Weasley was grinning widely, and it was getting kind of creepy.
"DAD! I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU!" Rose screeched with a voice I didn't know she had. All eyes turned to her. Only Mrs. Weasley's were amused. "Are you really doing this dad? Really?" She asked.
"Doing what?" He challenged. She had a determined look in her eyes that was absolutely adorable.
"Holding grudges. Bringing up the past. It's all wrong, dad!"
"Don't tell me what's wrong, Rose Weasley!" Her dad yelled back. This was getting interesting.
"Why not, dad? Someone should! You're sitting here, telling me that he's a 'pureblood Slytherin Malfoy', but you know what dad? You're going against everything you fought for all those years ago!" She yelled. My dad's head snapped up. The room was dead silent. "You fought for this, dad!" She exclaimed, pointing between me and her. "You fought so people like us could date, marry, without anyone judging! You fought for equality. You've been preaching about school unity at every war memorial! And what are you doing now? You're going against all of it!" She told him, getting oddly calm. It was creepy. But what was creepier was that Mrs. Weasley was smirking. Rose's dad had his mouth wide open. "Does it only apply to people not directly related to you?" She demanded. "You know, even Mr. Malfoy is okay with this all, and he fought with the other side! Even he knew it wasn't right in the end, and raised Scorpius like that!" She exclaimed, pointing between me and my father. Suddenly, I knew why my dad was proud when I told him I was going out with Rose. It made sense. It meant that even though he didn't make the right choices before, I did, and that meant he did something right. I looked back at Mr. Weasley. You could actually pick out the tension in the air. Rose was giving Mr. Weasley a withering look, and if I was the one of the receiving end of it, I'd feel about two feet tall.
"She has a point, Ron." Mrs. Weasley finally piped up, looking as bright as she did before.
"Why, Hermione, are you smiling?" He asked, sitting back down next to her. I was glad he asked, I was wondering the same thing.
"I'm just glad our daughter realized what this war was about, really. I'm glad that Draco was able to teach Scorpius what was right, and that he learned what was right. And I'm glad someone finally smacked some sense into you." She sent a proud smile in Rose's direction. "And, I don't mean to sound like I'm purposely advertising their relationship, but it's perfect to show everyone that people have moved on from the war, that even though families were lost, there has been some good that came out of it. Their relationship is the perfect example of that." She finished. We all stared at her. "I'm going to go make some tea!" She stood up and left, leaving all of us staring after her.
"Crazy woman." Mr. Weasley muttered. We all turned to stare at him. "Well…this is awkward." He mumbled, but all of us could clearly hear.
"Dad," Rose started softly. "Why don't we start over?" She suggested. Always the peacemaker. You know, while she wasn't yelling her head off at someone.
"Er…right." He said awkwardly.
"Weas-Ron, nice to see you again." My dad said politely. He stood up and stuck his hand out. I smiled, my heart swelling with pride.
"Likewise, Mal-Draco." He replied monotonously. That was a start. At least they weren't yelling. Rose and I exchanged gleeful glances. She held my hand, and we both knew. We were a huge part of the healing process, the process of changing the world, as were they.
A/N: I'm feeling sentimental today. REVIEW? PLEASE?
Love,
SAM :)