*Sorry for the very long hiatus. I've just finished another year of college, so I was super busy with exams, and moving back home and all of that.

*As some of you may know, I authored quite a popular story "To Be A Malfoy", about five years ago now. I'll be posting some extra chapters as a 5 year anniversary treat in the next week, so be sure to check for those!

*As always, leave a review!

The past two weeks had come and gone in relative quiet. For once, nothing out of the ordinary occurred, and Scorpius was thankful for the break, it was much needed time to sort his mind out. He sat in front of the fireplace in his room and spoke to his mother. One of the perks of being Head Boy, one of the only few he'd discovered so far, was having a fireplace in his room so he could Floo whenever he wished.

"How are you, love? You look tired," Astoria questioned. She balanced a rag and a jar of cleaning potions in her lap.

"You always say that, Mother. Being Head Boy is stressful, and I have classes."

"But it's Sunday, you should be relaxing."

"I'll try to, Mother. I promise. What are you doing?"

"Cleaning my jewelry. I've noticed the house-elves have scratched a few of the jewels on my rings, so I've read a book on how to clean my jewelry on my own," she responded.

Scorpius smiled at the focused expression on his mother's face. It reminded him a bit of the way Rose looked when she worked on her homework. "Perfect, now perhaps the elves can have Sundays off."

"You're quite humorous."

Scorpius laughed at his mother's irritation. "What's, next, learning to cook?"

Astoria looked up at her son and shook her head vehemently, her long blonde hair swaying back and forth. "Absolutely not. I'm a horror at cooking, ask your father."

"Where is he?" Scorpius questioned matter-of-factly. He hadn't seen his father since he'd signed the wedding contracts. He'd wanted to ask him a few questions, but exchanging letters was always risky.

"He's still at the Ministry. He's been working so late the past few weeks," Astoria answered, her expression suddenly clouded with worry.

Scorpius pursed his lips. "Has he mentioned why?" he questioned, trying not to give anything away.

Astoria shook her head, busying herself with polishing her rings and then gently setting them back in their organized box. "Not exactly. I'm assuming it's just politics though. You know your father, he's always going above and beyond to impress," she said dismissively. "I keep telling himself he should come home and relax, he's going to work himself sick. But that's a losing battle, isn't it?"

Scorpius nodded, knowing most likely, given everything that was taken place, his father didn't have much of a choice but to work late. He wondered why his father hadn't mentioned anything to his mother.

"Yes, Mother."

Astoria smiled. "Speaking of politics, how are the new students? Have you made any friends with them? Have you gotten to practice your French?"

Scorpius shook his head. "Not really, no. Quite a few of them are in my House, though."

"Oh," Astoria said. "Maybe you will eventually, it may just take time for them to get accustomed."

"Maybe so."

The two of them sat in silence for a few seconds. Suddenly, Astoria broke into a large grin. "You know I have to ask…"

"Ask what?"

"How Maxima is doing," Astoria responded as if Scorpius should have expected it. "I absolutely adore her, is she doing well?"

"She's doing wonderfully, Mother," Scorpius responded. In truth, he hadn't spoken to her in over a week, and even then, their exchange had been short. He'd attempted to confront her about her feelings for Albus, but she'd cut him off, saying her feelings didn't matter if she had to marry him anyway. He hated how she always seemed to accuse him of ruining her life. It didn't make sense to him how Maxima was so certain of her feelings for Albus. They'd only spoken for a couple months, and suddenly she decided he was worth throwing away their entire relationship? Scorpius pursed his lips, hoping his mother didn't pick up on his tense response.

"That's great. The last time I saw her, she was absolutely glowing. Engagement will do that to a woman. Her mother showed me the robes she chose for your engagement party, and they are absolutely fabulous. I've never seen more beautiful robes," Astoria gushed.

Scorpius sighed. "About the party, Mother, I was going to invite another friend. I figured that wouldn't be an issue?" He questioned.

Astoria shook her head. "Absolutely not. I'm sure there'll be enough food and cakes and gossip to go around. Who is it? Is it one of your friends I've never met?" She questioned.

"Yes, her name is Rose," Scorpius said vaguely, knowing his mother most likely wouldn't connect the dots. "She's a friend of mine and Maxima's, we wanted her to come. Her father's already going to be at the event."

"Oh, that's wonderful. I'm excited to meet her. Who's her father? Is his wife in my circle?" Astoria asked with interest.

Scorpius laughed inwardly at the thought of Rose's mother having tea with his mother and friends, gossiping and discussing and comparing their children to one another. "No, Mother. I don't believe you know her parents," he lied.

"Well, I'm excited to meet them," Astoria said. "Just make sure she has an invitation, they're going to be very strict about it so this whole event doesn't turn into a circus."

"Yes, Mother," Scorpius said. He had a feeling his engagement party wasn't going to go as planned regardless.

Rose packed her suitcases slowly as Roxanne and Lily sat on her bed, making idle conversation. Fall classes didn't end for another week, yet Rose decided to pack anyway to clear her head. She couldn't remember the last time she preferred to think of schoolwork to pretty much anything else that was currently taking place in her life.

"Merlin, he sounds like quite the bloke," Lily said with interest, listening while Roxanne told yet another story about Ivan.

"Do you not have anything else to talk about these days?" Rose questioned pointedly. To be fair, she hadn't even invited Roxanne into her room. She'd invited Lily, and Roxanne had tagged along. Rose still wasn't her biggest fan at the moment.

"I'm in love, Rose. Sue me," Roxanne answered, rolling her eyes.

"You can't be in love with someone you've practically just met. I'm sure you two don't do anything but talk about quidditch and shag," Rose argued.

"Exactly. That's the perfect relationship," Roxanne responded, which earned laughter from Lily. Roxanne narrowed her eyes at Rose, sensing a challenge.

"Well, if you're sure he's the one, why don't you invite him to Christmas dinner, then?" Rose said sarcastically as she stuffed her jumpers into her trunk with a little more force than necessary.

"That's a perfect idea, Rosie. Perhaps he can replace the empty seat left by your disappearing boyfriend," Roxanne countered with a smirk.

"Oh, come on, Rox," Lily said under her breath.

Rose's spine went rod straight. For the first time since she entered, Rose turned to glare at her cousin. "Get out," she demanded, pointing at the door.

"Can't take a joke?" Roxanne asked, annoyed.

Rose shook her head. "Apparently not. Leave."

Roxanne put her hands up in a placating gesture as she stood slowly. "Fine, fine, whatever," she muttered, making her way toward the door. Before leaving, she said to Lily, "Perhaps you can help Rose get the wand out of her bum while you're at it."

"Goodbye, Roxanne!" Rose said, raising her voice.

"Okay, your go next." Albus looked at Maxima, who sat on the bed across from him in her undergarments. She put her finger to her chin in deep thought. Playing cards and a copy of that morning's Daily Prophet sat between them. If this was as close as they'd get to running away together, Albus could certainly accept that.

"Um, if you could live anywhere else in the world, where would it be?" Maxima questioned. She stared at Albus wide-eyed, awaiting his answer. They'd been up into the wee hours of the morning the night before, asking each other silly questions and talking and laughing. He didn't want to leave their little from at the Leaky Cauldron. He didn't want to worry about classes the next day, or exams, or questions from his parents and aunts and uncles about why his marks weren't perfect. All he cared for was with him inside the four walls of their shoddy room.

"America, probably," Albus answered. "Because they've got massive food, and there's not so much pressure over there, you can just be what you want."

Maxima pursed her lips. She twirled a stand of hair around her finger. Her engagement ring sat on the bedside table. "Then I'd want to go there, too," she decided.

"You can't pass up massive food," Albus agreed.

Maxima laughed. "No. The being what I want bit sounds nice, too."

"Maybe we will someday," Albus shrugged, as if the suggestion was natural.

Maxima scoffed. She laid her head in Albus' lap. "Right. After I somehow manage to end my marriage that I'm required by law to go on with," she said darkly. "Then we can run off together."

Albus kissed her forehead. "Don't worry about that right now," he said calmly.

"How can I not? That's easy for you to say when you aren't reminded of it every single day," Maxima protested.

"Stop, you're working yourself up," Albus whispered. "Things will work out how they're meant to."

"You're right. We could all be murdered before this summer anyway, so perhaps I won't have to be married after all."

Albus sighed. He was quiet for a long moment. "That won't happen either. We'll figure something out. I don't know how, but we will." Maxima nodded blankly. Her expression turned to one of distaste. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," Maxima said, shaking her head. "I just felt a bit ill for a moment."

"See? You're stressing yourself out," Albus warned her.

"I'm not. Being here with you is the most relaxed I've ever been," Maxima admitted. "And it's fun, having this secret to keep. Something in my life is finally interesting."

Albus looked down at Maxima. He couldn't deny his feelings, but he knew he'd be stupid not to consider the scandal that would ensue if they were caught. However, making stupid decisions was like second nature to him at this point. He knew he'd be returning to 'complicated' as soon as he broke up with Bianca and decided to sleep with Maxima. A part of him wondered how Bianca was doing. He hadn't spoken to her in a couple weeks. He'd only briefly seen her a couple times, and then he'd avoided eye contact.

"Pass me The Prophet, please," Maxima said, opening her hand for the paper. She unfolded it and looked at the paper with a serious expression on her face.

"Didn't know you read the paper," Albus remarked, amused.

"I have to. No one tells me anything," Maxima responded bitterly. "Your father's in here…"

"I'm not surprised," Albus responded shortly.

Maxima craned her neck back to look up at him. "How does it feel to have Harry Potter as your father?"

Albus felt he should have had an answer for that by now. Still, he had nothing. "Sometimes it's bloody awesome," Albus admitted. "Lots of people want to give him free stuff, and love him and whatnot. But it's a lot to live up to. Everyone expects me to do something brilliant like him."

"I think you're plenty brilliant," Maxima said with a smile.

"Well, that's one person."

Albus stared at Maxima for a long while. He grinned at her, watching as thoughts turned in her head. "You're coming to my party, aren't you?"

"Of course," Albus assured her. In truth, he was still nervous. He wasn't certain what exactly Maxima had planned for the two of them, or exactly how that fit in with Scorpius and Rose. He also didn't want to be in the middle of whatever family drama appeared to be developing.

"Great. So we can finally see what Rose and Scorpius are on about. My father doesn't have anything to hide. If anything, I think Scorpius is just trying to deflect."

"Deflect what?"

Maxima pursed her lips and smirked slightly. "A couple years back, his father was put on some small trial or something. Thought he was involved with some Dark Arts stuff that was starting to become a problem. Really embarrassed him. I think Scorpius is trying to prove that anyone could be guilty but his own father," she said nonchalantly.

Albus frowned. Of course, he understood why Scorpius hadn't volunteered the information, but it also made him wonder what else the younger Malfoy and his family could be hiding.

"Well did they find anything on him?" Albus questioned.

"Not that I know," Maxima responded. "Then again, the Ministry doesn't punish wealthy people, they just make it look like they might. If you ask me, I didn't think he was guilty of anything, but you never know people."

"You don't," Albus agreed. His thoughts immediately went to Rose, thinking Scorpius could be stringing her along so she could take the fall for whatever was about to happen. "What exactly are Rose and Scorpius trying to do?"

Maxima shrugged. "Try and find anything that will incriminate my father, I suppose. But I have no idea where they think they're going to look, or what they think they'll find," she said bitterly.

"And what are we going to do?"

"Beat them to it. Prove there's nothing to find. Or find something that proves my father has nothing to do with it. You know, there was this clause in one of my marriage contracts saying any dark objects are to be considered Scorpius' property. At first I thought it was something to make Scorpius family go down for something my father did, but I don't see it that way. What if my father knows something, and he doesn't want me dragged into it?" Maxima reasoned. She looked up at Albus with her wide, questioning eyes, searching for an answer he knew he didn't have.

"I don't think he'd let you marry Scorpius, then."

"He would. My father is as elitist as they come. And besides, my father and Scorpius' father are close. He couldn't just refuse the marriage," Maxima explained. "But something isn't right. Either it's with Scorpius' family or it's with mine, but we're going to figure it out."

Rose sat at the edge of the lake and tried to focus on her book. Much to her mother's dismay, she'd picked up the habit of reading muggle romance novels. Although they were absolute rubbish, they were still fun to read, and Rose thought she could use a reminder that love was more than a myth. Perhaps it wasn't though, if the only place she could encounter it was books.

The snow fell lightly outside. Students strolled the grounds or sat and spoke with their friends. Rose, however, preferred to be alone. She'd been suffocating in interactions with her family, and Scorpius, and she just wanted an escape for the time being. Even from school. Exams had begun and, for the first year in her entire time at Hogwarts, Rose found herself outside the library for a prolonged period of time during exams week. She didn't know how much more of worrying her mind could take.

Rose tried to focus on her book. But reading the over-the-top prose and cliché dialogue kept forcing her mind to drift back to one person in particular. She wondered how Scorpius was doing. Sure, she'd lost her boyfriend, but Scorpius had lost his fiancée. And she'd noticed he hadn't taken the news of Albus' split from Bianca very well. He, like she, knew that that was no sort of coincidence. Rose cringed to think of how things would unfold at the engagement party, now that Scorpius had invited her, unbeknownst to Maxima. The event was only about a week away, and the pressure of what she and Scorpius could possibly discover wasn't far from her mind.

Neither was the fact that she'd completely forgotten to buy dress robes for the event. She'd thought of wearing the same robes she'd worn to Victoire and Teddy's wedding, but they'd been married in the summer, and she knew she'd look fitfully out of place in a thin set of robes. Perhaps she'd just have to go shopping, or see if her mother had anything for her to borrow.

"Rose, can I have a second? And please, don't make an excuse."

Rose looked up from her book. She sighed and felt her cheeks turn warm. "Lorcan, I wasn't making excuses. I truly am busy."

Lorcan ran his hand through his hair and pursed his lips, clearly deciding not to argue. "Look, this isn't about us," he started.

"What 'us'? You broke up with me," Rose said smartly.

Lorcan sighed. "I mean it's about… you know," he said firmly, lowering his voice.

Rose closed her book, suddenly intrigued. "Has something happened?"

Lorcan frowned. "Sort of…" he said.

"What does 'sort of' mean? I know you didn't come all the way out here to tell me something only 'sort of' important," Rose said mindfully.

"Well you know how my father is the chief magizoologist for the Ministry?"

Rose nodded slowly, unaware of where Lorcan's news was going. She bit her lip with concern. "Yes?"

"Well, he mentioned in passing to Lysander and me there's been an influx of illegal dragon trades in the past couple months. I knew it couldn't be a coincidence, because we learned in Care of Magical Creatures-"

"That black market sales of animals are a way to exchange money…" Rose finished, looking up at Lorcan. "It's a diversion of sorts, to bring attention to that, rather than what the money's really being used for."

"Exactly," Lorcan agreed. He gingerly sat down beside Rose on the grass. She felt a chill, if that were even possible in the already cold weather. "But money for what? That's what I couldn't figure out, and he wouldn't tell me who, so I'm not exactly sure where to go from there."

"It's a start," Rose said kindly. "I'm sure more clues will unfold if we give it some more thought." In reality, Rose couldn't wait to run to Scorpius in order to tell him about Lorcan's revelation, which did prove to be helpful.

"Rose?" Lorcan questioned.

"Hm?"

"You're the only one I told so far, I didn't know what to make of it, and I figured if I told you, you'd have some idea," Lorcan admitted trustingly. "You always knew what to do."

Rose collected her books and stood up. She set Lorcan with a wistful expression. "Well if that was true, we'd probably still be together."

Scorpius held Maxima's hand tightly as they stepped off the train onto the platform. He hadn't seen her the entire train ride, as he'd had to share a compartment with Rose. Regardless, he knew Maxima wouldn't want to sit with him, and he hadn't been too keen on seeing her either. Instead, he and Rose had had a deep conversation about something Lorcan had told her a few days prior, something about illegal dragon sales. Most interestingly, Rose had theorized the money might possibly be intended to purchase any of the metal objects they'd found in his book, belonging to the Stanislov family. Although he deeply admired her brilliance, the discovery still left so many open ends, such as who was raising the money, and whether or not the objects even needed to be purchased.

"Could you loosen on my hand a bit?" Maxima questioned bitterly, not looking at him. Her narrowed eyes scanned the crowd, probably searching for their parents who undoubtedly had come together.

Scorpius obliged her calmly. "I'm sorry if keeping up this charade is emotionally taxing to you," he shot back.

Maxima turned to glare at him, looking at him for the first time since they'd exited the Hogwarts express. She wore a severe, navy blue set of robes and her curly hair was pulled back in the front. Her look contrasted much from how'd she'd dressed the past couple of weeks at school, as if she were subtly preparing for her own funeral.

"It's no bother, so long as it's what's making you happy" Maxima said with a sickly fake smile.

Scorpius sighed, trying to remain calm. "Well, unfortunately I don't have someone else to put all of my happiness in," he replied accusingly.

Maxima scoffed. "It seems to me that you do," she responded shortly. She turned away from him again.

Scorpius focused his attention on finding his parents. The platform buzzed with parents greeting their children, and friends saying their goodbyes for the extended vacation. He longed to be as happy as any other person on the platform. He felt as if he was suffocating. Before the beginning of the schoolyear, everything in his life had felt so secure and in place and now, he felt as if everything and everyone close to him was changing at a speed too quick for him.

He felt a genuine smile cross his face as he spotted his mother. She was standing on her toes, holding his father's hand, searching for them as well, occasionally turning to say something to Maxima's mother. His father and Maxima's father were in deep conversation.

When she spotted Scorpius, her mother broke out into a wide grin, and she directed the attention of his father and Maxima's parents toward them. He almost let go of Maxima's hand, forgetting about her for a second, wanting so badly to greet his parents.

"Oh, it feels like it's been ages since I've seen you," Astoria gushed, separating him from Maxima once she pulled him into a tight hug. He was sure it was an odd sight, considering he was so much taller than her. "You've grown. You're starting to look so much like your father, soon I won't be able to tell you apart."

"Oh please," Scorpius scoffed, "my muscles are much larger than Father's. And I have far less wrinkles."

Draco chuckled as he accepted his son in a hug. "Well, I dearly hope you have much less stress than I do," he responded, smiling at his son.

"I wouldn't be too certain about that," Scorpius countered. "…What with head boy responsibilities and everything," he added quickly.

"Of course, but you do want to be busy in your Seventh Year. Looks great to the Ministry. You know we're proud of you," Draco added, placing his hand around Scorpius' shoulder. He couldn't wait to come home. Every time after Scorpius returned home from a long time away at school, his parents practically doted on him nonstop. He was ready to relax and spend time with his family, but the engagement party loomed over him like a dark cloud waiting to burst with heavy rains.

"Oh, come here, Maxima!" Astoria cried, opening her arms for a hug from her. Scorpius watched, lips pursed, wondering silently how she would respond. Maxima obliged her with a large smile, and for some reason, it frustrated Scorpius that Maxima had to act happy around his family, since he now knew the truth. He turned away and took turns greeting each of her parents. He hugged her mother and shook hands with her father.

"Lucille, I swear every time I see her, she gets more and more beautiful," Astoria said to Maxima's mother. She then turned back to Maxima. "Your mother showed me the robes you chose for the engagement party, and they are absolutely marvelous."

"Thank you, I wanted to choose something that would absolutely take Scorpius' breath away," Maxima responded with false joy, throwing a smile in his direction for good measure. He felt uncomfortable, now understanding Maxima was going to throw the wedding in his face every chance she got.

"Oh, I know they will," Astoria gushed. "And, I was thinking, when I saw your robes, I realized I have the perfect pair of earrings to match. They belonged to Scorpius' great-grandmother, they're these beautiful silver earrings covered in blue jewels. Oh, you'll have to come and see them, I know you'd love them."

Scorpius frowned slightly after hearing what his mother said. He'd never seen or heard mention of the earrings in mention, but he had a sneaking suspicion they closely resembled Bianca's bracelet.

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