"What was that?" Scorpius said, staring at the back door Mr. Weasley had nearly torn off its hinges.
"Mum and Dad are fighting about us," Rose said.
Scorpius turned at the sound of her voice; she was crying. He reached for her hand and squeezed it. He hated the implications, hated what they were doing to Rose, hated having been kept in the dark. "I'm sorry."
"It's not your fault."
"But—"
Rose wiped her cheeks. "No buts," she said firmly. "That's the whole point. None of what happened was your fault. I mean—" She looked down at their joined hands. "You don't think less of my mum because she's Muggle-born, do you?"
"Of course not! How could you even—oh." Scorpius's indignation drained away. Rose knew better, she just needed reassurance. "Nobody deserves to be treated the way your mother was, Rose. Nobody."
She nodded. "I'm sorry, I just—"
"Don't worry about it. Dad said he was going to invite them somewhere else so your mum wouldn't have to come back to the Manor."
Tears welled in Rose's eyes again. "I don't know, Scorpius. My dad has hated yours for a long time. Uncle Harry said your dad made fun of Mum being Muggle-born for years before that night. Victoire told me that our grandfathers hated each other, that there has been bad blood between the Weasleys and the Malfoys for generations. My family have been blood traitors forever."
"Nice of them to tell us," he muttered. "They didn't want us to continue the feud, but they're not willing to stop it."
"Your dad is."
Scorpius felt a tiny bit better. Then the kitchen door swung open and Hugo entered.
Rose scowled. "You're not allowed in here."
He ignored her and faced Scorpius. "What did you say to my mum?"
"Nothing!"
"It's none of your business, Hugo, now get out!" Rose's face was bright red, and she stood up from the table.
"Mum's crying in her room, and I heard Dad yelling, and I know it's about the two of you!"
"Yes, it is—us, not you. So get. Out. Now!"
Scorpius met Hugo's glare without saying anything. He had always got along with Rose's little brother, but it looked like that might change.
"I hope you love her."
"Hugo!"
"Because this is an awful lot of bother just to shag a Weasley."
Scorpius felt his own temper rising to the surface and forced himself to stay seated. He shouldn't be surprised that Hugo had heard the rumors, not with a sister and three female cousins at Hogwarts.
"And if you tear my family apart for nothing, if you hurt Rose, I will hurt you more than you can possibly imagine."
Scorpius gritted his teeth and counted to ten before he trusted himself to speak. "It's not like that."
Out of the corner of his eye, Scorpius saw Rose's gaze going back and forth between him and her brother.
With a final glare, Hugo swiped the last biscuit and left the room.
"Is this about that stupid bet? Getting off with a Weasley girl?"
"You know about that?"
"Of course we do. Why do you think Dom never dated the same boy twice?"
Scorpius kept his mouth shut.
Rose sat down and put her head in her hands. "What are we going to do, Scorpius?"
He had hoped this visit would help somehow, that if he and Rose could just talk about what happened, if her dad would allow him over, that—that what? That her parents would like him? That fighting on different sides of a war could be forgotten with biscuits and tea, as if they were six years old again? He was beginning to wish he hadn't eaten anything.
"Do you—" He swallowed and forced himself to finish the question. "Do you want to break up?"
Rose's head jerked up, and her face paled so that her freckles stood out even more than usual. "No! Unless—do you want to break up?"
"Never," Scorpius said fiercely, taking both his hands in hers. "We'll get through this together. Okay?"
"Do you promise?" Rose looked up at him with brown eyes wide.
Scorpius felt the now-familiar rush of emotion, the desire to make her happy, the need to make her smile. "You give your dad that look right there, and the kneazle's in the bag."
()()()()
Rose lay across her bed with a copy of Theories of Transubstantial Transfiguration. She had chosen the difficult text in hopes it would distract her from thinking about Scorpius, but it wasn't working. It had been a week since his visit. Dad still wasn't letting them Floo and had yet to make a decision about dinner, which was now only five days away. Scorpius's last letter was lying on her desk; she hadn't bothered answering it because there was nothing new to say. Well, she had been cornered by her cousins—all twelve of them, counting Teddy—at the Burrow yesterday, but since that conversation had disintegrated into who should have been told what about the war with no consensus on what to do, Rose didn't see how it was helpful. She had just started chapter two for the fourth time when someone knocked on her door. She sat up and slammed the book shut. Even Hugo would be a welcome distraction.
"Uncle Harry! What are you doing here?" Rose glanced at her clock. It was barely quitting time; he must have come straight from Auror Headquarters.
"Inviting you to dinner."
Rose fiddled with the cover of her book. It would be nice to get out of the house, to get away from the tension between her parents, but she had planned to press her dad for an answer tonight. And she still wasn't sure how she felt about Uncle Harry taking her into the Pensieve.
"No, thanks."
"Ginny is making shepherd's pie."
Shepherd's pie was one of Rose's favorite dishes.
"Of course, Al's having a friend over, so I'll understand if you don't want to be surrounded by boys."
She dropped her book. "Scorpius is coming?"
Uncle Harry winked. "Six o'clock. Don't be late."
"I won't!" Rose threw open the doors to her wardrobe. What was she going to wear?
()()()()
Rose Apparated to the boundary of her godparents' property and found Lily waiting for her at the gate.
"Is he here yet?"
"Not yet." Lily eyed the rucksack thrown over Rose's shoulder. "Come on, you can get ready in my room."
"Thanks." Rose followed her into the house and up the stairs. "I didn't want to do too much before I left. I didn't want to make Mum and Dad suspicious."
"Have they said anything about Saturday?"
"No," Rose said, whipping her t-shirt off as soon as Lily closed her door. "I was going to press Dad for an answer tonight—at the very least, we owe the Malfoys the courtesy of an answer, even if it's 'no'—but when Uncle Harry said Scorpius was coming…."
"You forgot about everything else." Lily sat cross-legged on her bed.
"Uh-huh." Rose kicked off her shorts. "It's been a week since I've seen him, Lily!"
"A whole week? That's, like, an eternity."
Rose was digging in her rucksack and didn't notice Lily's sarcasm. "I know! Which do you think?"
"That one," Lily said, pointing to the blouse in Rose's right hand.
"What about my hair?" Rose said anxiously, doing up the buttons on her blouse. "Does it look okay?"
Lily got up and opened her desk drawer. "Let's pull the front back and leave the rest of it down. It looked so pretty like that at the last Hogsmeade visit."
Rose stepped into her skirt and was just pulling it over her hips when the door opened. Both girls shrieked, and Al ducked as Lily threw her hairbrush.
"Albus Potter, haven't you ever heard of knocking?" Rose demanded.
"Well, how was I to know you weren't dressed?"
"I don't know, maybe because the door was closed?" Lily said, glaring. "Here, Rose, sit down. I'll do it. What do you want?" she said to her brother.
"Scorpius is here."
"What!" Rose shrieked again and made to stand up.
Lily pushed her back into the chair. "He can wait five minutes, Rose."
"He's in the back garden. Mum and Dad haven't seen him yet."
"Does he know I'm here?"
"Why do you think he's waiting in the garden?"
Rose took a deep breath and glanced at the clock. If she hurried, they could have almost twenty minutes to themselves….
"Al?"
He stopped, one hand on the doorknob.
"Thank you."
He grinned. "You owe me, cuz."
"I should have known," Rose muttered, turning back to watch Lily's movements in the mirror.
"Still, it's so romantic. Sneaking out to a secret rendezvous … Gryffindor and Slytherin, united by love…."
Rose scowled. "We're Ravenclaws."
Lily set down the brush. "I'm talking about your parents."
"They're not united yet."
"It's going to be okay, Rose," Lily said, her eyes fixed on Rose's reflection. "Your parents love you, and they want you to be happy. Scorpius makes you happy. We'll convince them."
