Scorpius didn't have to wait long for an answer. About five minutes later, Ron sidled into the room, looking extremely uncomfortable and angry with himself. Hary and Teddy left immediatley, muttering something about telling Ginny they would be leaving soon, and that they would be back in ten minutes or so. Ron nodded in a rather grateful way to Harry before the door was shut. Ron took a deep breath. Scorpius could feel his heart beating, but he tried to keep himself looking calm.

"Listen... er- Scorpius, I..." Ron began to stammer. Scorpius didn't say anything, but watched him quietly.

"I'm sorry... I, er... I was- I ruined... I ruined your Christmas, I'm sorry." he finished. Scorpius wasn't sure what to say, so he kept quiet.

"I know you're not like the other Malfoys now, I just..."

"Pre-judged?" Scorpius suggested, but he smiled as he said it. Ron calmed down a bit.

"Yeah. I just... Had a rough time with your Dad, I guess."

"Hardly surprising." Scorpius reasoned. Ron laughed a little.

"I suppose he's still a pureblood loving Malfoy." he said. Scorpius nodded.

"They all are. Except me." he added.

"Does that brother of yours pick on you, then?" Ron asked seriously. Scorpius nodded.

"It's only because he's scared of you." Ron told him. "He must think you're really brave going against your family like that." Scorpius thought about it, and it made some sense.

Harry and Teddy re-entered the room.

"Ready to go, Scorp?" Harry asked. Scorpius smiled and nodded, then turned and smiled gratefully at Ron, who got up to leave, too.

"We just have to pop into Andromeda's house for Teddy's things, then we can go home." Harry told James, Albus and Lily. Lily whined, saying she wanted to stay at Gran's house.

"Come on, Lily, when the boys go back to Hogwarts we can go to Gran's all the time, with Hugo." Ginny reassured her. She still didn't look happy.

"But, James and Al and Rose and Victoire and Teddy and Roxane and everyone else are not going to be there!" Lily complained.

"If you go with them now, you can stay at our house for a sleepover with Dominique the day they go to Hogwarts?" Bill urged her. Dominique nodded enthusiastically.

"Fine!" Lily said in a stroppy voice.

"Okay, you first, Teddy." Harry said. Teddy grabbed some Floo Powder and disappeared in green flames. The rest followed, Ginny, James, and Lily going to Grimmauld Place, the others going to Andromeda's.

-

"Teddy!" Andromeda said and he went over to where she was sitting to hug her.

"How are you feeling?" He asked anxiously.

"Oh, fine. Don't be worry about me!" Andromeda said. "And who might this be?"

"This is one of Al's friends from school, Scorpius Malfoy." Harry explained. Andromeda smiled.

"I'm sure thats not going down too weel with you family, now, is it?" she said knowingly. Scorpius stared at her, looking very surprised. Andromeda laughed.

"Well, do you know Narcissa Malfoy?" Andromeda asked.

"She's my Grandmother." Scorpius said.

"She's my sister." Andromeda smiled. Scorpius looked surprised.

"She said she only had one sister, Bellatrix!"

"Well, I don't think she considers me family anymore. I was in the same situation you're presumably in now." Andromeda explained. Even Teddy listened carefully, it wasn't often Andromeda spoke of her own past, she mostly told him about the war he had lost his parents to. Albus was finding this interesting too. He hadn't ever heard any of this.

"My mother, father and sisters had the same views as the Malfoy family still have today about how superior purebloods were, but I didn't agree, and I take it you don't either?" Andromeda looked at him.

"Of course I don't."

"What surprises me," Andromeda continued, "Is that they let you stay with the Potters."

"It surprised me too. I think they just needed an excuse to not take me home for Christmas." Scorpius shrugged. Andromeda smiled at him, her face full of understanding.

"You have exactly the same attitude I had. But of course, you want them to accept you, understand that blood-purity doesn't matter, and that people like the Potters and Weasleys have it right, don't you?" Andromeda smiled sadly.

"Because that was what I wanted more than anything." she said.

Teddy looked at his grandmother curiously. She rarely said anything that would indicate she even had a family before she married Ted Tonks, and he hadn't realised how hard it must have been for her until he saw little Scorpius in the same situation. Scorpius himself was looking at Andromeda, he seemed a little upset, curious, and surprised that she was completley right. Teddy could see that Andromeda went through exactly what Scorpius was going through, and he felt a lot of sympathy towards her as well as Scorpius.

"Well," Andromeda continued. "If your mother and father were anything like mine, don't expect them to change their views. Just be yourself, and ignore them, if you have to. My cousin, Sirius Black, went out of his way to remind his parents how much he loved Gryffindor."

At these words Harry smiled sadly, lost in memories. Teddy knew Sirius had been Harry's godfather, and Teddy understood how sad losing him must have been, because he, like Teddy, had no parents, and his godfather was the closest thing he had to a father, like Harry was for Teddy. Teddy knew that Harry didn't have so many other people who cared about him at the time, because he lived with Muggles, and Teddy couldn't even imagine how horrible that must have been, especially when Voldemort was still hunting him down. Albus had found out before he went to Hogwarts, and looked up at him sadly.

"... and you have to be proud of who you are, so show them how proud you are." Andromeda finished. Scorpius smiled and Andromeda turned to Teddy.

"I'm guessing you're staying at Harry's?"

Teddy smiled.

"Can I?"

"Go on." Andromeda smiled back. Teddy went off to get his stuff and Harry had a discussion with Andromeda about how Gran Weasley was doing. Soon Teddy came back, with his stuff, and Harry, Teddy, Albus, and a reasonably happier Scorpius, grabbed some Floo powder and left for Grimmauld Place.