Don't Tell Dad I'm Dating a Malfoy

Chapter Eight: It Was Only a Matter of Time

"Do you want some coffee?" Lily asks as I walk in.

I shake my head. "No, thanks."

She eyes me suspiciously but doesn't push the issue. I sit down on her couch and stare at my hands.

"You okay?" She takes a seat beside me.

"I met his parents," I say.

"And?" She urges me on.

"And I really like them. And they really like me, I think. His mother said I was welcome whenever," I explain how the evening went. She's on the edge of her seat by the time I tell her about Draco.

"That's great," she exclaims. She looks confused when I don't respond. "Isn't it?"

"It is. I'm just thinking about, you know, what about when he meets my parents? What do you think I should do?" Despite the fact that Lily is two years my junior, I look to her an awful lot for advice.

"Rose," she grabs my hands. "It's your relationship, and it's your family. I can't tell you what to do. Look at me."

I raise my eyes and stare questioningly into her face.

"You knew this would have to happen eventually. You knew that, when you said 'yes' to Scorpius Malfoy, you would have to introduce him to your family. That didn't stop you then, why are you so worried about it now?"

Why am I so worried about it? Earlier tonight, I realized something about the way I feel. Does Scorpius feel the same? Even if he does, will he after he meets my family?

"I love him, Lily," I say the words for the first time. It feels good to admit it finally.

She smiles. "Well, of course you do. I can't believe it took you this long to figure it out."

"I haven't told him yet."

"Why not?"

I shrug. "It's not the right time yet."

"You and your procrastinating," she mumbles. "What am I ever going to do with you?"

I laugh, and I catch a glimpse of a clock. "Oh, I didn't realize how late it was," I stand up. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have come."

"Oh, don't even pretend to apologize. You'd have come over in the middle of the night, regardless."

"Yeah, I guess you're right."

"If you want to talk, I can stay up."

I shake my head. "I should get going. What are you doing tomorrow? Could you meet me after work for coffee?"

"There's the caffeine-addicted Rose I know and love," she gives me a hug. "Of course. See you then. Now, get the hell out of here so I can get some sleep," she teases.

XXXX

Monday goes by so slowly. Scorpius comes in later than normal but can only stay long enough to pick up his food to go. He gives me a kiss on his way out the door. "A lot of people are out sick today so I'm going to be working late tonight."

"That's fine. I'm meeting up with Lily tonight anyway. I'll see you tomorrow?"

He nods. "I'll be here."

Around four, Lily wanders in and takes a seat close to the door. Nathaniel, the younger one, sees her and lets me know that I can leave early. I hang up my apron and go to the back to fix up my hair. A hopeless cause. Defeated, I brush it and pulled it into a ponytail.

Lily smiles and stands as I approach her. "I know that we're meeting so we can discuss Frank, but I have a quick story."

"Oh?"

She clears her throat. "I have a date on Friday night."

"Really? Who?"

"Er, you remember at my dad's party? I was talking to Chris Allen. Well, we ran into each other in Diagon Alley this morning, and we ended up having lunch together, and he asked me to have dinner with him on Friday night!"

"Oh, Lily! That's fantastic. He was always a really nice boy in school."

"It's okay, you can say it. He was nerdy."

"Well, I always got along with him."

"That doesn't change the fact that he was a nerd, dear Rose."

I laugh.

"In all honesty, he's still a little goofy, but now I find it endearing. But you're right. He is really nice. There aren't enough nice boys in this world these days," she gushes on and on. I smile and allow her to speak freely without any interruptions. At a speed of roughly five hundred words per minute, she tells me all about seeing him today, and she goes on, explaining the outfit she's going to wear depending on the place he decides to take her.

I'm happy for Lily, and I let her know it. Chris, when I knew him at Hogwarts, was a very polite boy, but impossibly shy around girls. I'm glad to see he's gotten over that.

By the time we reach our destination, Lily has slowed to a normal rate of speech, but her face is still flushed with excitement. I open the door and follow her inside.

"This is the coffee shop Scorpius and I come to nearly every day after work," I tell Lily.

"Hi Rose," Emily looks behind me. "Where's Scorpius?" She starts making a drink for me.

"He had to work late tonight. Emily, this is my cousin," I begin, but she interrupts me.

"Oh! You must be Lily! It's so good to meet you finally."

"So you're Emily," Lily says. "Rose is always telling me that I need to meet you."

"Scorpius says the same thing to me about you," Emily admits. "He's never told me why, though."

"Neither has she," Lily points at me. "Weird."

"Very. So," she smiles brightly. "What can I get for you?"

"What do you recommend?" Lily eyes the menu.

"What are you in the mood for? Sweet or bitter?"

"Sweet."

"Hot or cold?"

"Hot."

"Chocolate or-"

"Yes."

Emily laughs. "I have the perfect thing for you. You'll love it," she sets my coffee onto the counter and turns away to fix something for Lily.

Lily leans toward me. "Can I trust her?"

I nod. "I get coffee when I come here, but sometimes I make Scorpius get something different so that I can taste it. It's always good."

"Here you go," Emily sets a cup down in front of Emily. "Enjoy."

Without hesitation, Lily picks it up. She's careful to sip it slowly. Her face lights up. "This is delicious! What is it?"

"It's my own concoction. I call it 'Emily-needs-to-have-a-better-day-now Latte.' It's made exclusively here, by Emily," she takes a bow.

"Well then, I will most definitely have to come back."

Emily looks proud. "Of course you will. In fact, I'm surprised it's taken us this long to meet. Rose and Scorpius are in here almost every day. Speaking of which, you met the parents last night, right? How did that go?"

I open my mouth to speak but it's no use.

"That's actually what we're here to chat about," Lily explains. "And Scorpius is going to meet our family soon."

"Are they still nervous about that?"

"Well," I start to say.

"I think so, but that's only natural. I'm trying to convince her that it won't be bad at all."

"Oh, that's sweet of you. Honestly, I don't know what the problem would be. Rose and Scorpius are both such good people. How could anybody dislike either of them?"

"I know," Lily agrees as she leans on the counter. "They just have to meet him, and they'll love him."

I give up trying to add to the conversation, so I just walk to the back of the shop. Scorpius and I usually sit near a window, but this feels more private, more fitting a place for the conversation we're about to have. I take a seat on a comfortable, overstuffed sofa. The atmosphere here in the back of the shop is different than up front. I look around to see a couple of muggle students poring over their schoolbooks, and another muggle curled up in an armchair reading a book. I watch her for a while, amused by the way her expressions changes every time she turns the page.

"There you are," Lily comes back after about ten minutes. "I was just talking for a second and when I turned around you had just vanished."

All I can do is roll my eyes.

She sits down. "So what's the plan of attack?"

I'd been thinking about this for a while, but I hesitate a little before answering. "I think it would be best to talk to my mum first," I say. "I'm pretty sure she would be the most receptive. As soon as I get her on my side, we'll sit down with my dad, and hope that he doesn't kill me."

Lily nods, her face full of encouragement.

"And then I figure Hugo can't be too angry as long as dad knows already."

"Sounds reasonable. So what are you going to say to your mum?"

"I think I should start out by telling her that I'm extremely happy, and that I feel like I'm in a really good place right now. And then when she asks why, I'll tell her all about Scorpius."

"That sounds like a brilliant plan, Rose. See? This wasn't too hard. I'll even go with you to talk to your mum. You know, for moral support."

I consider this for a moment, but then I shake my head. "I'm a big girl now, Lily. It's about time I start acting like one."

She raises her mug. "Cheers, mate!"

XXXX

I take the long way home. Which is to say I walk, rather than apparate. The air is thick, and it feels as though it's about to rain, but I don't care. Nothing can faze me now. My life is about to be perfect. I can see my building by the time the lightest of raindrops begin to splash on my skin. I hurry inside, but I take my time on the stairs. I can't wait to see Scorpius tomorrow. I can't wait to talk to my mum. I can't wait for them to meet.

Scorpius has been on my mind so much recently that it takes me a second to realize that it's odd that he's standing outside my door waiting for me. He smiles when I take a step back in surprise. "Hey, Scorpius. What are you doing here?" I walk up to him and kiss him on the cheek.

He kisses me back. "I just came over to say hello. I didn't get to see you long enough today."

"I know," I open the door. "Why don't you come in for a bit?"

"I suppose I could," he pulls the door shut behind him and places his satchel on the floor. "Hey Gregory," the overweight cat saunters over to him. He crouches down and scoops him into his arms. He looks up at me. "What?"

I'm confused. "What?"

"You have a look on your face. You have a goofy little smile."

I blush. "Don't make fun of my 'goofy little smile,'" I say, shrugging. "I'm just really happy. Thank you for coming over tonight."

"Of course," he walks into the kitchen. "Do you want something to drink?"

"I'll have whatever you're having," I say, watching him. "What are you doing this weekend?" I call after him as I begin picking up books off of my coffee table. I try my best to keep my books put away, but sometimes I get lazy. Scorpius is cute. He always walks into the kitchen quickly, averting his eyes from the messes I've made, and gives me time to clean up. I think it's a good little system we have.

There's a knock at the door, and I wonder if maybe Lily had something else she needs to say.

In the next few seconds, three things happen all at once. First, I open the door. Second, Scorpius steps back into the room to see who knocked. And third, Hugo stands there, speechless.

My mind races, but I can't think of a single word to say. I had a plan! This isn't how this was supposed to happen!

"Oh, er," I hear Scorpius. "Hi, Hugo," he takes a tentative step forward.

Hugo clenches his fists and takes a deep breath. His eyes are narrowed and his face is a shade of crimson I have never seen before.

XXXX

…dun, dun, DUN! That's it for the eighth chapter!

Random. I totally ran into a buddy of mine that I used to go to school with. Um, have I mentioned that I moved? I moved to another country. Wow. It's a small world after all.

Thanks for reviewing! siriuslegolasmad, (Thanks dude! Yeah, I put a lot of thought into how I wanted to portray Draco this time. I changed that scene about three times.) Rebecca, (Yeah, that was fun to write.) JENNABONSFENALIA, Shiva'sGirl, (Thanks, as usual!) doing 25 life in Azkaban, (I'm glad you liked Draco's reaction!) Dramione-Fan 17, PrincessSophie21, (Haha, I almost had Draco yell at Rose. That was one of my first drafts of that chapter.) CullenBoyzAreMyLifeNow, (Yeah, I can't wait to see what happens with Ron.) christy86, Beauty Eclipsed, Gjertrud Louise, (Aw, gee… thanks! I'm glad that you're liking this story more and more. I'm really trying to keep the characters unique/true to themselves. As far as responding to reviewers go, I'm glad you appreciate that. It's just something I like to do. Sometimes people don't like that I put it in my installments, but that's why I put it at the end. That way you don't have to read it.) dracosnumber1girl, (Oh, yes, I heart Draco so much! Um, if that cliffie upset you, let me apologize for this one.) Valmarien, (Yay!) Broken Gold, (Thanks! Haha, yeah, I don't like to envision Draco as the 'omg, Weasleys suck' kind of guy.) karenff, (Very true, my dear. Very true.) SexyWaffles, (Haha, yeah. I like the idea of a mature Draco. Um, I LOVE it out here so far. And I LOVE my little car. It's so awesome on gas, and I feel better as far as the environment goes.) Purplpocadots13, thewandofdestiny, (YAY!) FollowingTheInkTrail, (Oh, the caffeine addiction is definitely my own projection onto Rose. I heart coffee. And chocolate. Mmm… I sent you a PM earlier, so I'll end this here before I repeat myself… Heh.) Metafury, (Oh, I'm sorry you've had bad experiences with RW/SM fics before. Glad you're enjoying this one. Yeah… I'm definitely going to have a bit more fun with the characters (Draco, Hugo, Scorpius, etc.) before this whole thing is said and done.) FaithfulHPReader, kittybloom21, and JoeBob1379, (Thanks for all the reviews dude! I love when readers do that… Meh, it's okay that you didn't raise your hand. I'll admit, I didn't expect anyone to do it for real. Take care!)