Chapter 10

I held my breath as the door handle was pressed down. But I froze as the door opened. It wasn't Scorpius. It was his dad, Draco Malfoy. I had never met any of Scorpius' parents before, I'd never been to his house. But this man couldn't bee anyone else. He was tall and slim with shabby clothes and untidy blond hair. I noted that Scorpius had inherited his pointed face and grey eyes from his father. Mr Malfoy looked at me for a few seconds and said with a frown:

"Who are y-" then his face cleared up as if he'd just realised something. "You're that Potter-kid?"

I stuttered and tried to take control over my tongue. This was not at all the way I'd imagined meeting Scorpius' father for the first time.

"Y-yeah."

He sighed and suddenly looked very tired.

"Scorpius's not here, he's at his mothers'", he muttered. My heart sank.

"Oh", I said. I was just about to turn around and leave, when Mr Malfoy said:

"You're that boy he's been seeing, right?" I nodded, feeling very uncomfortable. Malfoy nodded as well. "Yeah, he told us about you. Potter...You know I hated your father in school", he let out a short, empty laugh, "and home comes my son and tells me he's in love with Potter! We assumed it was your sister he was talking about at first. Never suspected it might be a bloke, thought we knew him!"

I clenched my teeth. After all Scorpius had told me about his parents, I had gotten a strong feeling I wouldn't like them very much. Well, turns out I was right.

"You don't know the first thing about him", I said, I couldn't stop myself. "You never have. Probably never will either."

Malfoy's expression turned grim.

"I know what he tells people", he said, "but we're not bad parents, you know." He paused, but I didn't say anything so he continued, "You can't blame us for being a little surprised! It wasn't like we threw him out when he told us, he practically ran out! It wasn't our fault."

I eyed Mr Malfoy up and down. He looked a mess. I didn't know if he'd been drinking or if this was just the way he was. One thing was certain though, it was people like him that'd made me resent all Slytherins.

"He ran, because he couldn't stand another day in your house", I hissed, "You and your wife - sorry - ex-wife made this house a living hell." I made a gesture towards the house. Malfoy scowled at me.

"That ungrateful brat had no idea of how much Astoria and I sacrificed for him! And you don't know what you're talking about! We had no money and could hardly get a job, but we kept him and we stayed together for sixteen bloody years for him!"

"I think you did him more harm than good", I said, "He thought you didn't love him, that he was just a stupid mistake."

"Where'd he get that from? We never told him that", said Malfoy and looked a little startled. "I told you, we're not bad parents! We loved our son!"

I snorted. Loved.

"No, but you told each other that. Walls are thin, Mr Malfoy, Scorpius listened to all of your fights."

Malfoy closed his eyes for a second and when he opened them again he took a deep breath and said:

"I love my son, Potter. But I tell you this, if I'd known how this would all turn out, I'd left Astoria the moment she announced her pregnancy. I'm sorry, but thats the ugly truth. Are you happy now? Are you going to tell your perfect little family how evil I am? How I managed to mess up both myself and my son? Go ahead! I don't care anymore! Do whatever the fuck you want, and tell Scorpius the same if you see him. When I was seventeen I promised myself I'd be a better father than mine was and that I would never turn into him. And guess what! I failed miserably!"

He was just about to slam the door shut when I stopped him.

"Wait!" I said, "I need the address to your ex-wife! Please!"

Malfoy clenched his teeth and tore off a piece of parchment. He scrawled down the address, gave it to me and then shut the door in my face.

Gathering the courage to go to Scorpius' mum's house wasn't as hard as gathering the courage to go to his father's. He'd got me mad and now I was all worked up. I had to do this now. So I knocked on the door without the slightest hesitation and straightened my back as the handle was pushed down. This time it was Scorpius who opened. He saw me and froze. My heart made a backwards somersault. The blood drained from my face as I saw his expression. He just stared at me, like he couldn't believe I was actually there.

"Al..." he choked and looked just as pale as I felt. I wanted to throw myself in his arms and just stay there. I wanted to tell him how stupid I was and how much I loved him and everything. But I could barely move at all.

"Scorpius", I said weakly. "I'm so sorry."

He shook his head slowly.

"Why?" he asked quietly, "Why did you do this to me?"

I shrugged hopelessly and felt tears burning behind my eyes.

"I don't know", I said, "I'm so stupid, Scorpius. I'm so-" a tear rolled down my cheek. "I never should have left you. I love you! And these last couple of months have been hell. I'm so sorry. I don't know what's wrong with me! Please forgive me, I need you, Scorpius!"

I wiped the tears off my cheeks. He just kept staring at me.

"P-please", I begged, "I know I don't deserve it."

"You're right", he mumbled finally, he too was on the edge of tears, judging from his voice. "You hurt me."

"Forgive me. Come back and love me again, please. I can't be without you."

Scorpius leaned against the doorframe.

"I never stopped loving you, Al", he sighed, "I tried to, but I couldn't. I need you too."

I reached my hand out towards him, but he pushed it away gently and said:

"It's just that...", he bit his lip, "How can I know that you wont's just do this to me again, as soon as things gets hard again. How can I know that you wont brake my heart again. I need to know, Al, I can't bare losing you again."

I looked him straight in the eyes.

"I swear, Scorpius", I said, "I'll never leave you again."

He nodded.

"Don't forget you said that", he said.

"I won't."

And we fell into each other's arms. I filled my nostrils with Scorpius' scent. He hugged me even closer and whispered into my ear:

"I've missed you so much, sweetheart."

We pulled apart and I gave him a salty kiss which Scorpius returned immediately. He stepped back and let me in.

"You look ill", he noted when he closed the door behind me.

"I know, I said. "It's been rough."

I shoot a glance at him, he had dark bags under his eyes and his hair - which normally stood up in a handsome messy way - lay flat on his head. Guilt burned inside me. I hadn't just ruined my own life these last months. But now I was determined to make up for it.

Scorpius showed me the way to his room. This house only had two bedrooms, one bathroom and a small kitchen.

"How did you know where I was?" Scorpius asked. I stared down at the carpet.

"I went to your dad's", I mumbled uncomfortably. From the corner of my eye I could see Scorpius's face harden.

"How is he?" he asked grimly. I looked up at him and told him everything. Well, almost everything - I didn't have the heart to tell him what his dad said about wishing he'd left his unborn child. And then Scorpius told me everything. I knew he'd never had a good relationship with his father and it had only gotten worse after the divorce. After a long series of fights and discussions, Mr Malfoy had gotten the house and Mrs Malfoy had moved out. That's when they realised they didn't know what to do with Scorpius. Before he had seemed to be nothing more than a burden to them, now all of a sudden they both wanted him. They forced him to choose and he ended up picking his mum, which made his dad furious. It was all just a big mess.

"I'll move out as soon as I get a job", he said finally.

"You're always welcome at my house", I mumbled quietly.

"Thanks, Al", Scorpius said and smiled, "But I'll need a place of my own eventually won't I? I'd love for you to share it with me, though," he blushed.

I let out a nervous laugh. Living with Scorpius, just the two of us? The thought was both intriguing and a bit scary. We would be like... A family? A real couple? Whoa.

"You're so cute", laughed Scorpius and tackled me onto the bed. I put my arms around his neck and pulled him towards me. When our lips met the front door opened downstairs. We pulled apart.

"That's my mum", said Scorpius and stood up. A woman's voice called from downstairs. "Do you want to meet her?"

I shrugged.

"Do you want me to meet her?"

Scorpius nodded towards the door. We went down to the kitchen. Scorpius mother was a tall and slim woman with long, straight brown hair.

"Hi-" she turned around and startled. "Oh, um... Hello there", she said and gave me a puzzled look.

"Mum, this is Al", said Scorpius, "Potter."

"Oh!" said Mrs Malfoy, now putting things together. She reached out her hand. I took it and said:

"Hello, Mrs Mal- Er, Green-?" What was I supposed to call her? She smiled.

"Miss Greengrass is fine", she said. I nodded. She eyed me up and down. "So you're the boy who stole my sons heart and took the chance of grandchildren away from me?" she said.

I shifted awkwardly and shot Scorpius a desperate glance.

"Mum", he sighed irritably, "we've been through this a million times."

Mrs Malfoy - I still called her that in my head - sniffed.

"I'm just saying, I would much rather spoil my own grandchildren and not some knocked up teenager's little bastard."

"At least we won't have any kids we didn't want", muttered Scorpius. His mother gave him a warning look. The tension was building up in the room and I felt extremely uncomfortable. "Come on, Al", said Scorpius and gave his mum a last, angry look.

He dragged me outside.

"Sorry about that", he muttered and led the way towards a small hill. "She's not very high on adoption."

"No..." I mumbled. I didn't really know what to say. Adoption? Children? Children with Scorpius? It was way too early for even talking about that. Jeez, we just finished school for crying out loud. We sat down on the top of the hill and looked down at the little village below. Scorpius took my hand.

"I wish it wasn't so hard for me to get a job", he said. "It's all my dad's fault... And his parents, of course... Fucking stupid..."

I remember when Scorpius explained this to me just a year ago. Being a Malfoy made it almost impossible to get a job at the ministry. Even now, so many years after the war, people were still afraid to get connected to Voldemort. The Malfoys were known for being on his side, so no one wanted to be connected to them either. It was absolutely unfair, but still true.

I sent an owl to my parents and stayed the night at Scorpius' house. We went home to my house the morning after.

"You guys back together?" asked Lily and yawned when she saw us. "Great." She poured herself a bowl of cereals and lost interest.

Mum and dad were happy for me and relieved to see me eat normally again. James was busy on the phone with some muggle-girl he'd met, but he grinned and gave us the thumbs-up. Everything felt just great at the moment. So great.

A/N: Love it? hate it? You know what reviews are for;)