Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. Sadly.

Rose POV

He looked at me with wide eyes. It was the first time I had ever told him I loved him. I didn't expect him to be this surprised, though. When he told me he loved me, I was completely shocked, but that's because we weren't together yet and I was certain that he hated me. As we spent time together, I fell in love with him. I hadn't told him, but I was sure he knew. I was being very obvious. I guess I shouldn't assume men know things. Oblivious, they're all oblivious. I continued to smile at him and wait for him to come out of his trance-like state. After a while though, he still wasn't moving and I decided I had to do something.

I moved a little closer to him and waved my hand in front of his face. "Scorpius? Scorpius! Hello?" No reply. He was still thinking. I decided to be really mean. Imitating that psycho Chastity's voice exactly, I called, "Scorpy? Scorpy darling?" The response was instantaneous. Immediately he snapped out of it and I found myself pinned beneath him on the bed, my arms above my head.

"Don't ever do that again, do you hear me? For a second I thought she was really here…" He shuddered.

"You were really that out of it? Wow." I laughed.

"Well, yeah. You just told me you loved me. And we've been together, what, a couple months? I've loved you for a long time, since fifth year, but you hated me. Add that to you being your parents' kid and all. I thought it was going to take you several years to figure it out yourself and then another two to admit it. You see my surprise now?"

"Well, now you know that just because I inherited their stubborn tendencies it doesn't mean I also got their obliviousness. Sadly, that's Hugo. I feel genuinely sorry for any girl who will ever want to date him." He laughed at me. Yeah, I was partially joking but I was also serious. Hugo had to be the most oblivious person on the face of the earth.

"Well, what do you want to do now? It's Christmas, you should be with your family. I'm really happy that you came here, and I know why you did, but you really should go home. Your family is going to be heartbroken if you miss Christmas dinner because of this."

"Well, they'll just have to deal with it. They have to learn that I can be with whoever I want and it's not their decision." Yes, I just admitted I was stubborn. Stop rubbing it in.

"I understand that, but if you stay, your father is just going to blame me. He's going to get whoever he can to believe that I'm corrupting you and I won't let you leave me. We can't let that happen, then they will never accept me. The best thing you can do is go home. They'll be glad you came back, and it might improve their idea of me, which is a comforting thought…" Dang it. He was right. And I knew it.

"Alright, I'll go back but I won't be happy about it. I can promise you that."

"Good. I'm glad. I'll see you later I guess. Want me to walk you to the fireplace?"

"Yeah. I'll miss you."

"I'll miss you, too. But you're welcome here whenever. We'll be home."

"Thanks, Scorpius." I kissed and grabbed some floo powder. I climbed into the fireplace and shouted, "The Burrow!" and he disappeared. Next thing I knew I was falling out of my grandparents' fireplace onto the old rug. Everyone looked to see what the crash was.

"Rose! Oh thank goodness you're home, dear. I've been trying to keep your cousins from eating all the food. There should be some left. Come eat, you're too thin." Grandma's the same as always.

"Oi! Uncle Ron ate more than us!" Albus yelled from the kitchen. I shook my head.

I walked to the gigantic table and sat down at my place by Al. I stared at my plate, not wanting to speak to anyone. Apparently, what I wanted didn't matter.

"So, Rose. Malfoy, huh? Didn't think you were the rebellious type," James snickered.

"Yeah, and even if you were, I didn't think you'd go that low." Fred high-fived James.

"Rose, I know they're annoying, but you can't blame them for asking. They're just curious, and frankly so am I. And the fact that you just randomly disappeared to his house for a couple hours just made us wonder more," Lily reasoned. But I didn't want to be reasoned with.

"Dammit shut up all of you! Why do you care so much? Merlin, I just wanted to have a nice, civil dinner with my family and boyfriend. But you people are so narrow-minded that you won't let that happen. You're blinded by his last name so you can't see that he's nothing like his father was at his age and he's actually a really good person! And his dad changed, too! You guys can say that it's just dad, but he's just being the most obnoxious and rude about it! You're all secretly thinking a nicer version of the crap he's spewing and it's disgusting!" I stood up and stormed out of the room, knocking over my chair as I went. I knew it was immature, but I was irate. I nearly ran all the way up to my room, ignoring the shouts behind me. I slammed the door and threw myself on the bed and immediately burst out in tears. Why couldn't they just accept things? Everybody nearly worships this family for all the things they've done, but my family is so judgmental of people who fought on the other side of the war, especially the Malfoys. I know the stories, I know that he was horrible to Uncle Harry and my parents, not to mention Professor Longbottom. But that was over 20 years ago! They should be able to get over it by now!

I heard a knock on my door.

"GO AWAY!" I shouted. I did NOT want to see them right now, whoever it was.

"Rose, can I come in? It's mum." Ugh. She was so nosy. But she was the only one who didn't judge them when she saw them today. And I knew she wouldn't leave no matter what I said. Damn stubborn. Grudgingly , I let her in.

"What?" I asked her. I was not in the mood for mommy-daughter time.

"Rose, I understand. Really, I do. But that doesn't mean you can just yell at everyone like that. I know that your father and your uncles have a particularly hard time getting over anything. It was just a shock to them, that's all. They'll get over it eventually. You just have to be patient."

"But I don't want to be patient! It's not that big a deal! Yeah, I'm dating a Malfoy. So what? What's so bad about it that you're making a bigger deal than when Dominique did Wizard Pot in her 7th year?"

"Rose, Listen. You're being irrational. Yes, your father is making a big deal about this. But he makes a big deal about everything, you know that. I've been talking to him. He'll come around eventually. In the meantime, I think you should apologize to everyone for accusing them all of not being able to accept things. Some people will have problems with it, but your family will always stick by you. Your father is not the only one who is going to be difficult. Other people will be worse and you need to be aware of that. You need to be able to forgive them all, and everything will work out eventually. You have no guarantee that this will last, but if it does, you're in for a whole lot of ugly coming at you from a never-ending parade of stupid. (AN: Hairspray FTW) You'll need your family with you."

"Mum, it's not like we're getting married or anything. We're just dating. And my only problem right now is dad. And no, I'll apologize to everyone else, but not him. I won't apologize to him until he apologizes to Scorpius. Which he'll never do."

'Honey, I know you're angry. He infuriates me sometimes, too. But he always comes around. I know that he'll eventually see that he's not being logical and he'll stop this. You just need to be patient. And if you apologized to him, it might make him apologize sooner. After all, you did directly insult him in front of everyone tonight."

"No. There is absolutely no way I'm apologizing first. I have nothing to be sorry for. He was horrible to me and my boyfriend. That's the end of it." I glared hard at my mother. I wasn't giving in. She could see that. She sighed, and left the room. I lay on my bed, thinking. Though I hated to admit it, my mum was right. I needed to forgive my family for everything because I would need them in the future. And I would apologize. But not to my father. He needed to be able to accept Scorpius. I would never forgive him until he did.

I left my room and went downstairs. Everyone immediately quieted. I cleared my throat. "Well, uh. I just wanted to say, I'm sorry for accusing all you guys of thinking stuff. Even if you were, it doesn't really matter what you're thinking if you can put it aside when it matters. So, I'm sorry for everything I said earlier. Except you, dad. You were horrible earlier and I will not apologize to you until you apologize to me. And Scorpius. Goodnight." I couldn't be there anymore. I quickly went back into my room, before I could get pissed again. I said everything I needed to. I went to sleep thinking about whether my dad actually would apologize. I was pretty sure he would, but you never know…

AN: I'm soooooo sorry for the wait! It actually hasn't been that long but compared to how I was doing before, it was terrible. I had two tests this week, and I had writer's block. I'm really sorry, and I'll work extra hard to get the next chapter out soon, hopefully by tonight or tomorrow. Thank you so much for sticking with my story, and review! It keeps me encouraged.

~BurritoTown