Disclaimer: It's JKR's world!
Chapter 6
**Present Day: Summer After Seventh Year**
"Seriously, man. Just stay for dinner!"
"Yeah, I don't think so. Dinner with your dad is not my idea of fun," I say with a smirk. Hugo rolls his eyes and scoffs.
"Here's the thing. You've met him before. He knows you're dating our dear Rosey here. I'm sure he's aware that you guys are doing whatever it is that couples do. He's over it!"
I look around at the immaculately neat kitchen and remove my arm from around Rose's shoulders, placing my elbows firmly on the heavy wooden table. I fold my hands and lean my chin against them.
I've been avoiding having dinner at the Weasley house all summer. The only time I've ever stayed was when her dad was working late. Of course, Rose has had dinner with my family countless times. I guess I should eventually return the favor.
"He's really not that bad!" she says, trying to convince me for what seems like the hundredth time.
Hugo throws himself into a chair across from us.
"Plus, I invited El to come, and if you're here it will take some of the heat off her," he says quickly, trying to sound nonchalant but not fully succeeding.
I exchange a look with Rose and raise my eyebrows. She looks dumbfounded. This is not going to be good.
"You invited Eleanor Zabini over?" Rose asks in disbelief. "I thought you said there was nothing going on between you two! Also, and this is just a side note: she and I hate each other!"
Hugo looks visibly nervous as he twirls a flower from the centerpiece between his fingers. I try to keep a straight face as my eyes flick back and forth between the red-headed siblings.
"So are you guys finally willing to come out with your relationship then?" I ask, forcing my tone to be less mocking than it's tempted to be. I watch his ears turn trademark Weasley red. He shoots me a glare as Rose shouts in outrage,
"You're in a relationship with her?!" The look on her face is priceless. I mean come on, did she seriously not see what was going on here? She's probably the smartest person I know, but bloody hell, she's clueless.
I lean back in my chair and put a hand on her knee in an effort to calm her down, but she abruptly pushes her chair back and stands up, throwing her arms into the air. "I don't see why you had to break up with Mack. She was a real sweetheart, you know. You really messed this up, Hugo. Zabini is an absolute cow!"
"Hey, now," he says, standing up as well with an offended look on his face, "I didn't complain when you started dating this prick!" He gestures wildly in my direction and I resist the urge to laugh. Becoming collateral damage in the battle of the Weasleys is par for the course at this point.
I raise my hands in surrender. "Leave me out of this, man. This is between you and your crazy sister."
Rose eyes me with a fire behind her glare that I'll never stop loving. I might pay for that comment later, but for now she snaps her glare back to her brother.
"Hu, you cannot be serious," she says with disdain. "She has tortured me for years! You can't bring her here!"
"I can do whatever I'd like, to be perfectly honest," he shoots back with venom.
I interject, turning to Rose. "And, to be fair, I tortured you for years and you bring me here…"
"Would you just shut up?!" She spins to fully face me. I plaster the biggest smirk I can muster across my face.
I lean back on the back two legs of my chair and fear for a second that she might push me. But instead she sits down in the seat next to me to stew in anger.
"She's really not that bad, you know," Hugo begins with trepidation.
What a winning review. I'm sure El would be thrilled to hear that she's "not that bad."
"And she was in support of us from the start," I say, easing all four legs of the chair back to the ground and meeting Rose's sapphire eyes. I put my arm back around her shoulders, resuming my earlier position.
She sighs and Hugo and I wait.
"Yes, yes," she says resignedly, looking back to Hugo. "I guess there's nothing I can do about this anyways, so what else can I say other than I support your ridiculously stupid decision to date a heartless wench and you better not come crying to me when this goes up in flames."
Hugo smiles with satisfaction and sits back down. I don't know how warmly I'd be smiling if someone called my girlfriend a heartless wench, but you choose your battles I guess.
"So, Malfoy, whaddaya say? You staying for dinner?" He eyes me like he's already won.
Ugh. I mean, I guess this has to happen sometime. Might as well be tonight.
I roll my eyes. "Yeah. I guess I will."
At that moment, the door in the entryway slams loudly, followed by the sound of loud chatter. A few seconds later Al turns the corner, followed by a scowling Eleanor.
"Found your girlfriend hanging around outside," Al says loudly to Hugo, throwing a quaffle at Eleanor. She barely has time to react and the ball bounces off her open palms. Al smirks widely as she shoots him a death glare. "Hopefully you already hashed this situation out with Rosey since I took it upon myself to let her inside."
El looks more uncomfortable than I've ever seen her. She nods at Rose and I before sitting down awkwardly next to Hugo.
"Scorpius. Weasley." Her tone is curt and I give her a teasing grin. Before I can make a sarcastic quip, Al turns to me.
"So, Scorp, what's going on? Ready to play some quidditch?" He grabs the quaffle from the floor and tosses it to me. Unlike El, I catch it.
"You mean so I can kick your arse again? Definitely." I hop up from my seat and catch a do-not-leave-me-with-Hugo-and-that-cow glare from Rose. I hesitate.
"Rosey, you should come with us. Leave Hu and his lady to their own devices…" Al winks suggestively and I see Rose's eyes flash.
She scoffs. "Anything to get away from those two," she mumbles as she rises from her seat. She steps in front of us and speeds to the backyard. Before leaving the kitchen, I catch a glimpse of El climbing onto Hugo's lap and I shake my head.
"You guys could at least go to a less public area of the house," I call over my shoulder.
As I walk away, I hear El mumble something that sounds suspiciously like, "Suck it, Malfoy."
An hour or so later, I've beat Al three games to one. We land back on the ground and sit down in the shade of the patio awning with Rose.
"Still can't believe you didn't want to go pro," he says, shaking his head in disbelief. "You could've gotten me free tickets. After all, I'm pretty much your future cousin-in-law at this point!"
I grin and elbow Rose, watching her familiar scowl form once more.
"Who would've thought the Malfoys and Potters would ever be related?" he continues, doing his best to annoy his cousin. "Hell, we might even have a Zabini in the mix someday."
Rose scoffs dramatically. "Shut up, Albus Potter, before I hex you until your many girlfriends don't even recognize you."
He laughs loudly. "Oh, don't get your knickers in a twist."
"I'm going inside," she says haughtily, standing up in the process. "I think I heard mum come in."
Al and I stand up as well, much to her dismay. I might as well say hi to Mrs. Weasley. It's probably best to remain in her good books since I'm pretty sure Rose's dad is going to make dinner miserable for me.
We walk back to the kitchen and Mrs. Weasley is already running around getting things ready for the meal.
"Oh hello, darlings!" she calls as we walk into the room. "I'm quite surprised you're still here, Scorpius. Here, have some lemonade." She flicks her wand and several glasses self-fill and fly to the table.
"Thanks," I say, sitting down and taking a sip. The cool liquid tastes delicious, espeically after flying around in the warm sun for so long.
Rose and Al sit down at the table as well, both grabbing some glasses for themselves.
"Before I forget," I say, watching Rose's mum charm some carrots to chop themselves, "my dad says hello. He told me to tell you that he's back in the office tomorrow and free for lunch."
She turns and smiles. "Great! I have-"
"Lunch?!" a booming voice calls."With DRACO MALFOY?!" At that moment, Mr. Weasley storms into the kitchen, face as red as his hair. "What is this about lunch with that arse?!"
Rose, Al, and I exchange nervous glances. This dinner is starting out great.
"Hello, dear," Mrs. Weasley continues in her most charming tone. "Didn't know you'd be home quite yet!"
He looks as if he's about to boil over. "Don't you give me that crap, 'Mione! What's he talking about?" He points haphazardly at me and I curse myself inwardly for agreeing to stay. I try to catch Rose's eye, but she is staring at her parents in horror.
"Well, as you know, Ronald," her mum starts, any hint of sweetness gone from her voice, "Draco and I have been on good terms for years. And his wife is just a lovely woman! I tend to get lunch with them from time to time."
He throws his arms into the air. "And you didn't think this was something I'd like to know?!"
She slams a bowl down onto the counter and spins to face him head-on. "No, actually. I didn't. I'm sure you can't imagine why I'd want to keep this from you!"
"No! I can't!" he yells back.
She shoots him a glare that looks quite similar to the one Rose gives me. "Because you're totally unreasonable!" she says heatedly. "He has tried to be friendly to you for years and you just won't grow up!"
"Because he's a sniveling little ferret!"
I watch Al discreetly get up from the table and Rose and I follow suit, attempting to ignore the shouting match going on behind us. We are almost out of the kitchen when her dad yells,
"And you!" I turn around and he's pointing directly at me. "What else aren't you telling me?!"
I stare in shock, not knowing what to say.
"Leave him alone, Dad. You're overreacting." Rose says in exasperation. She grabs my arm and pulls me towards the living room.
"Overreacting? Overreacting? First my daughter starts dating a Malfoy. It's fine. I've moved on," he starts, eerily calm. "And then I find out that my wife is hanging out with a former Death Eater on the sly! What's next, Hugo starts dating some long lost kid of Gregory bloody Goyle?"
At this very moment, Hugo pokes his head around the doorway, an uncomfortably cheery smile plastered across his face.
Al, Rose, and I freeze in place. I'm not seeing how this can end well.
"Actually, Dad, I did want you to meet my, um, girlfriend?" He pulls Eleanor around the corner. She looks more miserable than ever. "This is Eleanor. Eleanor Zabini."
Mr. Weasley stares blankly at El while her cheeks turn pink.
"So," he says finally, after a minute of uncomfortable silence. "I'm guessing you're Blaise Zabini's kid?"
"Yep," she says quietly, but still with an air of pride.
Everyone watches with baited breath. Mr. Weasley stands stock-still and I brace myself for an explosion.
But instead, he just throws his arms into the air once again and flops into one of the chairs at the table.
"Well, your dad was a Slytherin. But I guess there's one positive: At least he wasn't a Death Eater."
At this, Mrs. Weasley laughs loudly and shakes her head before going back to her dinner prep. The tension eases.
"Welcome, welcome, Eleanor! Make yourself at home! Are you staying for dinner? Good, good. Wash up, everyone. Dinner is in 15 minutes," she says while tending to some dinner rolls. I resist the urge to laugh at the stunned look on Eleanor's face. I remember my first time in the Weasley house. It's a rather overwhelming experience.
Rose tugs my arm again, but I'm stopped by Mr. Weasley's voice once again.
"Malfoy!" he calls, and I turn around nervously, bracing myself for the worst. He looks me over as if sizing me up.
He puts on a stony face before saying, "You really messed up."
I am not sure what he's referring to, but I have the urge to start apologizing. Before I can think of what to say, he continues.
"You should've accepted that position on the Wimbourne team. I'd like you much better if you were able to get me into quidditch games for free." To my surprise I see the hint of a lopsided grin on his face.
I'm about to retort when Rose steps in. "Stop it, Dad. Quidditch isn't everything!"
He laughs loudly and I find myself chuckling, eyebrows raised in disbelief at this entire situation. She pulls my arm and I follow her back outside.
Once we reach the patio she says gleefully, "Well, now that that's out of the way, dinner should be fine! My dad is normally pretty jovial after he gets things off his chest." She laughs and I shake my head. "See, I told you he's not that bad! He's really coming around!" I think back to the shouting match that just took place.
Yeah. Really coming around.
These Weasleys are crazy.
I raise my eyebrows at her. "I guess I see where you get your temper from," I say slyly and she slaps me on the arm before grabbing my hand and pulling me to the tree line at the edge of the property.
"You know we're supposed to be washing up right now…" I say teasingly, just to annoy her. She stops walking once we are blocked from view of the house.
She leans against a large oak tree and pushes her hair from her face. Her eyes sparkle in a ray of sunlight shining through the layers of leaves above us.
"So, Malfoy," she says coyly, "just so you know, I haven't forgiven you for taking Hugo's side over mine earlier."
I grin. "Is that so, Weasley?"
"Yep," she says, twirling a strand of hair around her finger. "So I guess you'll have to figure out a way to make it up to me." She flashes a dazzling smile. God, she looks good.
I take a step toward her. "And how do you suggest I do that? You know pricks like me don't apologize."
She tugs the front of my shirt lightly, and I step closer to her. "Who says you have to apologize?" she says quietly, raising her eyebrows at me.
As I'm about to lean in and kiss her, a shout comes from the direction of the house.
"Get back in here, you two! It's dinner!" Mrs. Weasley yells into the backyard.
I sigh and step away. "Oh, come on!" Rose says indignantly.
I roll my eyes. "You heard your mum. It's dinner! I'm not about to hang out here and make your dad go back to straight up hating me."
She huffs in irritation. As I turn to go, she catches my hand.
"Hey," she says quietly. I spin back to face her, a questioning look on my face. Her freckles are standing out against her skin and she looks more beautiful than ever. "I love you," she finishes simply, the corners of her mouth turning upwards.
I step into her and push her back against the tree. The second my mouth hits hers, her hands are in my hair and I feel her lips smiling against mine.
Screw dinner, I think to myself. Her dad can learn to like me another day.
A/N: So that's it! Hopefully you all enjoyed this journey into the mind of Scorpius Malfoy :)
Stay tuned, because I have a new story in the works! It's still Rose/Scorp, but with new characters. The first chapter is written, but I'm going to wait until I'm a few chapters ahead to start posting. I've put an excerpt in my profile, so feel free to check it out so you know what to look out for!
Can't wait to read your final thoughts on the Intoxication/Infatuation saga :) Thanks, everyone!
