Okay, so I'm a very optimistic person, but at the moment I'm sad, and angry, and stressed, so I decided that I was gonig to upload this because 1. It was about time! and 2. You're all so lovely to me.
I hope you enjoy it because... as usual, I'm worried! I know! I constantly worry what you guys will think but, at the same time, it is my story so what else can I do? I just want to again thank you all from the bottom of my heart for supporting the story and reading/reviewing. You've all been absolutely amazing.
I hope you like Ron's reaction! Don't forget: Ron already knows and likes Scorpius.
Rose's POV
"This is absolutely unacceptable, Rosie!" My father stood in the middle of the living room, a few adult members of my family looking on at the scene of him yelling at me with guilt and fear etched into their faces, seemingly frozen in shock, but the majority just appeared to be irritated with me. "The one family we are constantly telling you all to steer clear of and it's the one person that you decide you want to start dating?"
"I-" I tried to speak but my throat had closed up.
I knew my father would be a little disappointed and pretty angry, but I didn't realise he would be so serious about it - he seemed so angry that I began to think I'd never see him smile again.
"When Al became friends with Scorpius we were pretty annoyed, yes, but they were good mates, that was all and he turned out, surprisingly, to be a nice boy. But dating? That's just a whole new chapter, Rose! Can't you see why we'd be annoyed? Did you even think about us when you started dating him?" He glared at me, as if wanting an answer, but I couldn't move, let alone speak.
"Ron…" My mother, having already had a somewhat heated (but much shorter and fairer) argument about this with me in front of the entire family just ten minutes earlier, seemed to have calmed down and looked at the situation from a logical perspective - Thank Merlin I had Hermione Weasley as a mother. "Maybe you should calm down…"
"Calm down? Calm down, Hermione?" My dad turned to look at her for a minute. "You do realise who we're talking about? This is the Malfoy's!"
"Dad-" I managed to stutter this time. All of my cousins were staring open-mouthed. Lily and Dom had tears in their eyes, like they feared my dad was about to disown me or something.
Somewhere in the back of my mind I knew that I feared that too.
"Listen to me, Rose, the Malfoy's have one son. One possible person for you to start dating, and even that, I figured, was a one in a million possibility. But no, you somehow manage to do it!"
"But-" Even my aunts and uncles were confused - my dad was overreacting more than we thought he would. My granddad sat calmly in his usual armchair. I knew he would never let my father throw me out, if it really came to that.
"I'm really disappointed in you, Rose. I can't believe you'd even think of defying us so deliberately! It seems you've specifically chosen to date the poor boy just to annoy us!"
"Ron," Uncle Harry spoke up this time, but my father didn't even indicate that he'd heard him. "Leave her alone."
"Are you even listening to me, Rose-" My father started again.
We were all surprised when Fred, of all people, interrupted him.
"Of course she's listening to you, Uncle Ron!" He actually shouted as he stood up, which ensured we'd all listen to him. "All she's done is listen to you constantly telling her, these past ten minutes, that she's a disappointment and scare her so much that she's now crying!"
And I was crying, silently, and I hadn't even realised.
"Can't you just let her speak?" Fred sighed exasperatedly. He came and stood beside me, wrapping his arms around me.
I looked at him and mouthed a weak, "Thank you."
"Anything for family," he muttered, obviously directing the comment at my father.
My mother stood up quietly and joined us.
"She's been anything but a disappointment, Ron," my mother whispered.
"But Hermione, even you were yelling at her only-"
"I know I was, but look at her, Ron!" That one statement was all it took for my father to actually notice what a state I was in. "This is not what a typical relationship does to a girl. This is what love does to a girl, Ron."
My father froze, and then he was angry again.
"Love, Hermione?" He argued. "My daughter, my baby girl, is not in love with a Malfoy!"
"Why not?" Hugo stood up too, and joined the small group of us huddled in the middle of the room. He took one of my arms and linked it through his as Lily came and did the same with my other arm.
I noticed Lily take a deep breath to steady her own nerves. She was strong, emotionally and physically, and I needed her strength right then.
I needed the support from all of my family to help my dad get over this.
Surely my dad wouldn't tell me to leave?
Of course not…
Well he was quiet angry…
Stop being silly, Rose, of course he wouldn't.
Wouldn't he?
Will you just stop questioning yourself, for once?
"You're being irrational," Nana Molly tried to tell her youngest son.
"Is he?" Uncle Bill shot me an apologetic look before continuing. "He seems to be the only one thinking about the Malfoys and how much they supported Voldemort."
"What about how much they helped to defeat him?" Uncle Harry, thankfully, had a quick comeback to that.
"Exactly," Aunt Ginny took his hand. "Without Narcissa Malfoy, Harry wouldn't be here today."
Along with my cousins, we all looked at little confused, but remained quiet. We didn't know much about the year that Voldemort was defeated - we were never told. And what we had heard wasn't particularly specific.
I made a mental note to ask Scorpius, or Narcissa Malfoy, what she'd done to help out my uncle.
"And without Narcissa, Draco wouldn't be here. And without Draco, Scorpius wouldn't be here," Aunt Fleur mumbled.
"Hey, that's not a good thing!" Al argued, standing up. "He's my best friend!"
Surprisingly, it was Granddad Arthur who stood up next.
"Okay, everybody," he announced authoritatively. "All of you can sit down now and let's let Rose talk, shall we? She doesn't need everybody's opinion bombarded at her all at once."
He came and stood beside me, whilst the others all took a seat. My father and I shared a long look before he took a seat.
I didn't know what they wanted me to say. I looked to my granddad, scared that I would say the wrong thing and make the situation worse.
"Go on, Rosie Pie," he coaxed gently. "How did this start?"
"Erm," I stuttered. "I don't know. We just… got to know each other this year. With rounds and Head Duties and I…" I didn't know what to say so I turned to Dom, my mother, my Nana and Aunt Ginny, who were all sitting together, and muttered, "He's really good-looking," almost apologetically.
And they laughed. That laughter was all the encouragement I needed to gain some strength.
I wasn't going to be all anxious around my father now. He was not going to be in control of this situation.
My father was not going to tell me what to do because, in this instance, I knew better than him. And it was about time he grew up.
"And, you know what," I stated firmly, addressing my whole family and wiping my tears away with my sleeve. "It doesn't matter how it started because I am not breaking up with him, dad. I don't care if you suddenly think that I'm a disappointment, because I know I'm not - I get the best grades in my year, I was prefect, I'm Head Girl, I'm on the Quidditch team, I was head of the Chess club for a while in my first year and I know practically every spell and potion that I've been taught, so why would I possibly be the disappointment?"
My father, along with Uncle Bill, Aunt Fleur and the rest of my family, exchanged confused looks. I glared at him.
Then the most shocking thing yet happened: My father was quiet.
A single tear ran down his cheek as he stared at me.
"Oh, Rosie," He whispered, opening his arms to me. "I've been a complete idiot."
I was so relieved, I let out a shaky laugh as I went and sat on his lap.
"You have been," I agreed.
"I'm so sorry," he told mostly me, but also the rest of my family.
"I forgive you," I sighed, hugging him hard.
"You know I would never disown you, no matter what?" He checked. "Malfoy or no Malfoy, you're still my baby."
"Hey," Hugo complained. "I'm the youngest! How is it that I'm still not the 'baby' of the family?"
"Want us to call you 'Baby Boy', Hugo?" Uncle George joked. "Cause we can, if you like."
"I'm good," He muttered quickly, seemingly regretting even speaking.
There was an awkward pause. The only sound was that of the grandfather clock chiming.
"Ron, you know what the Malfoys were like…" Uncle Bill continued.
"I know," my father snapped at him. "Just give me a while to think. I need to talk to Hermione."
We all, excluding Uncle Bill and my father, smiled slightly at that.
When my father 'thought' things through, well… he asked my mother.
"Let's go into the kitchen," She suggested.
"I'm…" I had to clarify a few things before they disappeared. "I'm still allowed to date Scorpius, right?"
"Of course."
"And… and it's okay?" I asked.
"It's okay," My father sighed, and I could tell he was still reluctant. He would still be annoyed, if he thought about it too much. "We just need to talk about… about stuff."
I knew my father was still going to push it, in the other room, where he wasn't outnumbered. But he knew, and I knew, and we all knew, that he wasn't going to persuade any of us, so he'd have to accept this.
"Come on, Ronald," my mother's lips twitched into a small smile, like she too knew what was to come.
They disappeared into the kitchen. A few seconds later my mother's head appeared around the door.
"Harry," She called expectantly.
"Right," he agreed promptly, and bounced out of his seat to join them in the kitchen.
After a pause of no more than three seconds, Aunt Ginny shrugged and, grinning, went to join them.
My father's hand came back down to hit the table for the third time during the conversation.
"It's absolutely unacceptable."
"It is her choice, Ronald," my mother argued tiresomely - she knew he'd give up soon. My dad was changing from being okay with my relationship to being annoyed to being angry. This was good though - it meant he was almost at the end of the 'annoyance' phase and was moving onto Phase Two - Sulking.
"But… but-" my father spluttered. "It's… we're talking about Scorpius Malfoy, Hermione."
Neither of my parents spoke for a moment. Then, my mother gave an impatient sigh.
"Harry, help me out here, for Merlin's sake!"
I heard my uncle Harry cough. "Well, erm…"
Dom sighed. I turned to face her, a quizzical look on my face. "Uncle Harry's is no help at all."
I nodded. "But at least he wasn't opposed to the idea of Scorpius and me."
"I still can't believe you, of all people, snagged up that lovely looking boy," Dom pretended to lick her lips.
I smacked her on the arm and she feigned pain.
"Will you two be quiet please?" Fred and Louis exploded in a whisper.
Dom and I sent them both our best sarcastic 'sorry' expressions before all four of us returned to listening through the door.
It had been less than an hour since I'd written to Scorpius, therefore only around half an hour since my parents had started their talk in the kitchen. I'd received no reply yet, but Fred, Louis and Dom had all decided that it was better use of my time if I eavesdropped on my parents than sitting alone upstairs and reading my book.
It was a really good book, too.
"…considering the past the Weasley's have with the Malfoys-" Harry was saying carefully.
"Don't you talk to me about the Weasleys as if I'm not one of them, Harry!" My mum was becoming seriously annoyed now.
"I wasn't-"
"Look, can we just focus back on the problem at hand, please?" My father spoke over them.
My mother scoffed. "'Problem', Ronald?"
"Well, 'problem' seems like an appropriate word given the situation."
"There is no 'situation' or 'problem', Ron," my mother argued again. "She has a boyfriend."
My father evidently made a face at that word because my mother laughed at him.
"She isn't allowed a boyfriend," my father eventually came out with.
"You just told her, only twenty minutes ago, that you were fine with it!" My mother pointed out.
"Well, I was fine with it… twenty minutes ago," He muttered back. "Now I'm deliberating whether or not to change my mind."
"That is tough, Ronald," My mother replied simply. "Because you can't."
"Why not? I'll just tell her that she's not allowed to see him anymore-"
"Trust me, Ron, if I've learned one thing about daughters in my time it's that you cannot forbid them from seeing a boy," Uncle Harry's voice dripped with a tone that suggested he really did have past knowledge of this.
Thinking about Lily and the infamous Victoire-and-Teddy situation when they were teenagers (maybe I'll tell you about it sometime… but it's kind of a long story), he probably did have experience.
"So what are you saying then?" my father was annoyed now, again. "If I ban her from seeing him she'll, what, sneak out the window in the middle of the night?"
My mother laughed, and so did Aunt Ginny - they both knew he wasn't going to forbid me from seeing Scorpius, he'd already said so earlier. "I think you're forgetting some vital information, Ron?"
"What's that?" He asked, suddenly apprehensive of the answer.
"She goes to a boarding school," Aunt Ginny laughed.
"So?" My father was so clueless sometimes.
"So they have dorm rooms-" Uncle Harry sounded protective.
"-And he's a teenage boy," My father added, appalled.
"Nonsense," my mother sighed.
"Yeah, if they wanted to-" Aunt Ginny, evidently doing all she could to annoy her brother, got interrupted quickly by my dad.
"Don't say it!"
She ignored him and continued. "They'd just do it at Hogwarts."
My father didn't speak for a full minute. I looked to Dom as we kept our ears pressed to the door. We both grinned.
"Right, she's going to Beauxbatons."
I couldn't help but laugh.
"It's an all girls school!" Aunt Ginny was the first to reply.
"And their grades are nowhere near as good as Hogwarts'," My mother laughed, knowing he wasn't serious.
"She doesn't speak much French…" Uncle Harry lied. He, of all people, knew how well I spoke French.
"She'll suffocate without any boys," Aunt Ginny added again.
"I'm sure she'll survive," My father muttered.
"For Merlin's sake, Ronald!" My mother laughed. "Stop being so dramatic and let the poor girl have a boyfriend."
"But he's-"
"A Malfoy, yes."
"Exactly!"
"We have been over this already, right Ginny?" My mother jokingly addressed my aunt.
"Hermione," Uncle Harry interrupted calmly. "Maybe we should just have a cup of tea for a minute."
"Can't you just leave the poor girl alone?" My mother sighed.
"Look, maybe we should talk about this later?" My father asked.
"You're just trying to worm your way out of this conversation, Ron!" Aunt Ginny pointed out.
"I can't believe we're even having this conversation," My father muttered.
"Yes, because you are being ridiculous and melodramatic!"
"I am not," my father sulked. "I'm thinking about the future."
"She's not even eighteen yet," Aunt Ginny argued. "She only has to think about what clothes she's going to wear on the weekend or whose party is coming up."
"It's not as if she just announced she's going to marry the poor boy," Uncle Harry tried to reason.
"She better not!" My father scoffed.
My eyebrows pulled together. Sometimes my dad was so narrow-minded.
I caught Dom looking at me with a curious expression on her face - it was the same shocked expression I saw when she arrived at a lesson only to realise she hadn't done the homework.
"What?" I mouthed to her. She simply shook her head and indicated that we should focus back to the conversation on the other side of the door.
"Don't you think we should talk to Scorpius about this?" My mother was saying now.
"We could invite him to dinner!" Aunt Ginny was excited now. Mischievous woman.
"No!"
"Yes!" My mother argued only a split second after my father had answered.
"Harry…" My mother obviously had turned to my uncle to sway my father over.
"Come on, Ron," Uncle Harry finally spoke. "This is little Rosie we're talking about. Give Scorpius a chance."
"Fine!" My father sighed. "But he better be polite."
Finally, they all laughed.
"This is Scorpius, Ron, he's incredibly polite," Ginny was obviously smiling now. "I'll write to Astoria now."
The chairs scraped on the floor and, in an instant, Louis, Fred, Dom and I sprung to action.
There was nowhere to hide in the hallway so Louis bolted up the stairs, Fred and Dom quickly took up positions by the stairs, pretending they were simply there by coincidence because they knew they would never reach safety before they were spotted, and I ended up ducking behind the kitchen door as it swung open.
Aunt Ginny wandered into the living room, no doubt looking for an owl and some parchment, Uncle Harry and my parents managed a few steps before they saw Dom and Fred on the stairs. They gave them one suspicious look before Uncle Harry asked them:
"Alright, you two, where's Rose hiding?"
"Behind the door," they both chorused at the same time and escaped up the stairs.
The door was pushed closed by Harry to reveal my innocent-looking face.
"Hey, fancy seeing you guys here," I mumbled to my parents, then shouted up the stairs to Fred and Dom, "I'm going to kill you two!"
I heard them laugh.
"Not if Uncle Ron kills you first!" Fred yelled back.
"You're definitely dating this boy, Rosie?" My father checked one last time, ignoring Fred's comment altogether.
"Define 'dating'…" I mumbled.
"Going out on dates… holding hands…" even that last comment was embarrassing for my father to say.
"Snogging," Aunt Ginny added, not even bothering to act embarrassed as she came back and joined our conversation. "And other intimate things."
"Ginny!" My father exclaimed suddenly. He looked horrified.
I sighed. "Yes, with that definition of dating."
Then I realised how it might have sounded. "No, I didn't mean-"
Aunt Ginny winked at me as my fathers face turned redder and redder from embarassment. "Of course you did, Rosie."
"We've invited him for dinner, Rose," my mother smiled at me, redirecting the conversation, thankfully.
"But you've met him a hundred times before," I complained as my face cooled slightly. I knew it must have been incredibly red. Did I really have to sit through the unfortunate situation of a whole meal with my entire family asking questions?
"But not as your boyfriend, Rose Petal," Ginny smiled.
Harry, Ginny and my mother were all smiling, but my father and I simply looked apprehensive.
"This is going to be so uncomfortable," I mumbled.
"Well… that was strange," Fred commented as I joined them in my room a few minutes later. I nodded my agreement.
Strange? Horrifying, uncomfortable, terrifying.
Still, it had gone better than I'd thought.
Ultimately, my dad loved his family more than anything, even his prejudices.
Dom and Fred started to argue about Quidditch - something they'd been doing a lot of at the moment. The annual Quidditch Tournament was coming up soon and the final was always front page news in the Daily Prophet - every year they would argue that they'd get tickets, and every year they didn't because of different reasons.
"He's so going to beat up Scorpius!" Al exclaimed, slightly too enthusiastically for my liking, as he came barging through the door and landed next to me on my bed.
"Oh, I so hope he does," Fred agreed, grinning.
They both caught my expression and all four of my cousins started laughing.
"Don't be silly," I chided them, then I grinned. "Scorpius could take dad any day."
"He sure does have the muscles for it," Dom winked at me.
Al muttered, "That's disgusting," to her mockingly and gave her a small poke which tipped her off the bed.
"He sure does," I sighed dreamily.
Fred clicked his fingers in front of my face.
"You better not have seen his muscles without a shirt over them," Al was joking, but there was still a hint of seriousness in his voice.
"Hypocritical teenager," Dom muttered under her breath to Al. He glared.
"Why not?" I grinned cheekily, purely for entertainment purposes.
"Because… because-," Al couldn't form sentences. Sometimes I enjoyed seeing him squirm.
"Relax, Al," Dom laughed as she climbed back onto my bed. "You guys went swimming together last summer."
"Good, because for a minute there I thought you guys had-"
"I think that's enough for that topic," I hurried the conversation away from my private love life. There was an uncomfortable pause in which we all scrambled around to find something to talk about.
"So what time do you think-" Louis started.
"Al!" I heard Uncle George call up the stairs. "Rose!"
"-Scorpius will get here…" Louis finished his question as a disappointed statement.
"That was quick," Dom actually looked surprised.
"He probably Floo'd," Louis speculated.
"Talk about having time on your hands…" Fred mumbled. I heard Dom agree but I knew they were just being annoying on purpose.
Ignoring them, I sprang up off my bed and hurried down the stairs, followed closely by Al. Louis, Dom and Fred lagged behind.
When I reached the bottom of the stairs I saw an overnight bag with the green Slytherin emblem on it.
Scorpius was definitely here.
I hurried into the kitchen, slowing down into a fast walk. Expecting to see mayhem, or my father with an extremely red face or Scorpius with a bruise, I pushed open the door.
Scorpius was sitting at the table, my grandmother sitting beside him - she looked a little needy, a little too interested in him - and my mother was evidently making him a cup of tea. My father and, what appeared to be much of the rest of my family, were also all crammed into the kitchen, each one of them standing around and chatting to each other quietly.
Scorpius, along with everybody else, looked up at me when I entered the room. I caught the purple bruise on his forehead and forgot that I was surrounded by my entire family.
"Oh my Merlin," I fussed over him as I pulled up a chair. "My dad hit you, didn't he? He did!"
I shot my dad a 'We'll talk about this later look' but he simply looked confused.
Scorpius chuckled. "No, actually, that was my dad."
I tried not to look too shocked.
"Ouch," was the only reply I could think of.
"Don't worry about it," He smiled at me. "Minor family problems."
"You didn't, by any chance, tell him you were dating me?"
Scorpius didn't answer. I took that as a yes.
"You need some ice," I fussed again.
I stood up to get the ice, but Scorpius took hold of my hand and pulled me back down into my chair. "I've had this bruise for a few hours, Rose. I think I'm good for ice now."
"Stop fussing, Rosie," Nana Molly laughed.
"But-"
"Stop fussing," Scorpius repeated. He smiled at me so sweetly I thought I'd melt.
His face was so close to mine I couldn't help but kiss him - I was so used to it. I forgot where I was - he was so intoxicating.
My Nana Molly cleared her throat and that was all I needed to remember where I was.
Scorpius and I sprang apart in a flash, almost as if we had received an electric shocked.
"Great move, Rose," Roxanne mumbled sarcastically, and maybe even a little jealously, from her position next to Uncle George and James and beside us.
"Sorry," I mumbled, my face turning extremely red - so was Scorpius' - and feeling like a spotlight was on me. That wasn't the best move, considering the earlier argument... "I don't know what made me do that."
"It's because Scorpius is fine," Dom declared, drawing the attention of everybody in the room from their individual conversations and making everybody laugh.
Victoire, who was standing beside Teddy (I hadn't seen them arrive), slapped her round the back of her head as everybody resumed their conversations.
I caught a glimpse of my father in the corner of the room. He was sulking this time, but thankfully his eyes had been trained on my mothers face (which was probably not a coincidence on my mothers part).
Thank Merlin.
As soon as he turned round to scan the room, I beckoned him over.
"Well, it looks like nobody cares but me," my father mumbled. Evidently Uncle Bill had given up on his argument too.
I smiled. "Well… why should we get hassle from everybody?"
"But Rosie-"
"I'm a Malfoy," Scorpius finished my fathers sentence. He directed his next words to my father. "It's okay, I get it."
"I like that you see things as they are, Scorpius," my father actually smiled at him.
"I'm sorry I… y'know," Scorpius mumbled.
It was so typical of him to think that he had to apologise to my father for dating me. I had to actually remind myself not to roll my eyes. I did anyway.
My father was about to say something (I have no idea what), but I interrupted him.
"Well I don't care that you're a Malfoy so I don't think anybody else has a right to care either," I spoke to Scorpius but the words were clearly directed at my father also.
Scorpius took my hand from under the table and stared into my eyes for a moment.
"So how long have you been dating?" Aunt Ginny interrupted us to ask inappropriate questions.
"Errm…" I mumbled. Scorpius opted for coughing and staring at his shoe.
"Since the Christmas Ball," Lily joined us at the table. Al followed her, commenting contently that he was glad Lily was here to make things awkward by making inappropriate comments - she was so like her mother.
"No, we avoided each other a little after that," Scorpius informed Lily. "I'd say probably New Years."
"That's… that's, like, three months!" Nana Molly exclaimed.
I exchanged a look with Scorpius and then we both smirked. Had we really kept it a secret from our parents for three months?
My parents and the rest of my family looked on, rather amused.
"Why don't we all clear out of the kitchen so that we can make dinner?" Auntie Angie rounded us all up (she had a special talent for controlling mayhem - well, she'd had a lot of practice with Fred).
We slowly wandered into the living room.
As we did so James and Teddy both slapped Scorpius on the back as they passed him. "We're going to beat you up later, Scorpius… Just so you know."
Scorpius looked alarmed. I laughed and stroked my hand up and down his arm. "Ignore them."
Everybody took a seat wherever there was one and somebody thought to put the radio on quietly in the background.
Things started to feel like normal.
Scorpius and Al started up a game of chess. I sat beside Scorpius on the floor, telling him what moves to make when he went wrong or played a less than perfect game.
Some of the pieces in Al's chess set were dented or battered. I felt bad for kicking them across the room and made a mental note to buy him the Chudley Cannon ones that he liked from Quality Quidditch Supplies. It was his birthday soon, anyway.
I took Scorpius' hand in mine, meaning he only hand one hand to move his chess pieces, and stroked circles on it with my thumb. He grinned at me cheekily.
Having one of the most annoying, nosey families in both the Wizarding World and the Muggle World, they undoubtedly started asking questions after they'd exhausted the topics of Uncle Harry's work, Nana Molly's new kitchen tiles and, unbelievably, Quidditch.
They'd just got on to arguing about where Roderick Plumpton was born when, seemingly out of the blue for me because I was so intent on Al and Scorpius' game, the conversation around me was directed towards my area of the room.
"Where were you born, Scorpius?"
"Do you have any siblings?"
"What are you hoping to do after Hogwarts?"
"Exactly how loaded are you?"
I kicked Fred for that last question. He simply defended himself by saying, "I've always wondered."
Scorpius laughed.
"Leave him alone," I sighed. "And you need to move your knight to B5."
"Stop helping him!" Al complained.
"Sorry!" I smiled sarcastically. "If you want to defend your Queen just move your pawn to-"
"Do you just want to play the game by yourself?" Al snapped at me.
"You know what," Scorpius interrupted our argument. "I don't think I feel like playing chess."
"I'll play," I smirked at Al.
"Anybody but you," Al pleaded.
Lily took up Al's offer.
"I was born in London, I have a little sister called Claire and I'm planning on becoming a Curse Breaker. And, Fred, I don't like to talk about it but… pretty loaded," he looked embarrassed but patient. "Anything else?" he grinned politely.
"Good career choice," Uncle Bill smiled approvingly. As soon as the words 'Curse Breaker' were out of his mouth I knew there would be no more opposition for Uncle Bill - that man was just so easy to get round. "I can put in a word for you at the apprentice programme I went to, if you like."
"That would be great," I watched as Scorpius' eyes lit up. "Thank you."
"How are you finding the Arithmancy NEWT?" My mother just had to add her input.
"Great," Scorpius grinned. "It's really interesting."
"And you're getting good grades?" My mother pressed.
"Of course," Scorpius exchanged a cheeky look with me that said 'Aren't you glad your family love me?'. I grinned back seductively at him, knowing nobody else was looking. I felt his heart skip a beat as I leaned on him and knew my teasing was driving him crazy.
"You didn't seriously just ask that, did you, mum?" Hugo laughed, bringing us back to their conversation.
She looked confused until Lucy explained. "Scorpius and Rose have been huge academic rivals since they were first years."
"But I'm still winning," I grinned at Scorpius.
He wrapped his arms around me. "Only just."
"Just is just," I whispered in his ear.
"Okay, enough with the frickin' love story," Dom laughed. "Who wants to bet how long it takes Scorpius to crack because of us lot and break up with Rose?"
My other family members thought she was being funny, but I opted for levitating a pillow into her face.
"Shut up, Dom," I stuck my tongue out at her. She simply threw the pillow back at me and, the next time I levitated another into her face, she was ready for it. She grabbed it with the unnerving skill that can only come from being a Chaser or Keeper and threw it back a second time. My family were laughing now because we'd thoroughly messed up Nana Molly's "pillow order" in the living room. The second throw missed me (I also called on my Quidditch skills, which I normally used to avoid Bludgers).
Unfortunately for Scorpius, the pillow hit him squarely in the face.
Even I had to laugh at his quizzical expression - it seemed he was taken off guard.
"If you two have quite finished ruining my nice and tidy living room," Nana Molly joked as she returned to the room (her house was never tidy with us lot always about). "You might have realised that dinner is ready."
The kitchen had been charmed so that we could all fit nicely around the table.
I sat beside Scorpius, with Al on his other side and Aunt Ginny on my other side, and the others took their places around the table. Granddad Arthur sat opposite me and winked as we took our seats.
"I think he's perfect, Red Rose," he whispered across the table to me.
I smiled back in response. My granddad always made me feel like we were sharing a special secret.
The meal was actually not as uncomfortable as I thought it would be. I think most of my family members even forgot about the whole "Rose is dating Scorpius" thing for a while - they were so used to seeing him anyway it didn't matter to them.
My dad could be so dramatic sometimes.
After a while Auntie Angie leaned across Aunt Ginny to talk to me. "I have to say, Rosie, you've handled your father quite well."
"It's not easy, Auntie A," I sighed, smiling.
"Knowing Ron it'll be your wedding before it really dawns on him that you're serious - that's when he'll have another overreaction," Uncle George joined the conversation.
"Yeah," Ginny laughed. "That's when he finally realised that Harry and I were a couple."
"At your wedding?" Lucy laughed.
"Wow, dad," Hugo smirked. "That is slow."
"Alright, Hugh," Our dad smiled in embarrassment. "It wasn't my quickest thinking…"
"Or your slowest," My mother grinned mischievously at him.
The rest of us just looked confused.
"Private joke," My mother informed us all, even Uncle Harry didn't have a clue what she was talking about. "Might tell you some day."
My father laughed with her and the look they shared proved to me that they would never tell us that story.
Something told me I really didn't want to hear it either.
I exchanged a mystified look with Scorpius. The corners of his lips twitched into his trademark smirk.
"What?" I mouthed to him.
"Nothing," He mouthed back playfully, tracing tantalizing circles on my leg.
My eyebrows creased together to show him I was confused, but I smiled too.
Once we'd all finished eating and had finally agreed that, yes, blatching was the stupidest move ever a Quidditch Player could make, we, somehow, found ourselves listening to Uncle Bill and Nana Molly arguing about his hair, yet again.
Scorpius yawned unexpectedly.
"The poor boy's exhausted, Rosie," Granddad Arthur smiled at me. "I think it's time you all got to bed."
Us teenagers all but bolted up the stairs - we were free from listening to the same argument we'd heard a million and one times before. Any moment now would be Uncle Bill's line of "But I like it like this, mum."
"Separate beds, mind you!" I heard my father yell as Scorpius and I, followed by a few of my cousins, wandered out into the hallway.
Scorpius and I, hands intertwined, laughed and ascended the staircase just as Uncle Harry's voice responded sarcastically to my fathers comment. "You can talk, Ron."
I heard the quick scuffling of feet and then Uncle Harry yell in pretend pain as the adults laughed.
I shook my head at my crazy family - I did not need that comment explained, unfortunately.
"They we're nice," Scorpius whispered as we turned to walk up the second flight of stairs that led to the room that him, Al, Louis and Fred were staying in.
"At least my father didn't hit you," I agreed.
"Maybe he'll think it over tonight and hit me in the morning," Scorpius added casually. "Or during the night, with Hugo."
I laughed at his bad attempt at a joke. "Very funny."
"Thank you," He smiled back as we reached the door. "I try."
I could hear the rest of my cousins a floor below us, saying goodnight to each other (I swear, it took hours - there were so many of us).
I sighed happily. "Well, I guess I'll see you in the-"
I was pushed up against the wall by Scorpius as his lips crashed onto mine. I kissed him back, obviously, but I was more than a little confused. After a few moments my brain decided that clear thinking was not for me and I wrapped my arms around him like normal.
Scorpius kissed me roughly, seemingly forgetting that he was much stronger than me for a moment as his fingers dug into my arm. I responded eagerly - it was different, he was always careful and I was bored of that.
The sound of my elder cousins tickling Lily only a few steps below us pulled me out of my reverie.
I pushed him away from me, but he was strong.
"Scorpius," I complained against his lips.
He pulled away, but remained leaning on the wall behind me. "Sorry," he breathed.
I smiled. "No problem."
For a minute there was only the sound of our breathing.
"I love you," Scorpius smiled weakly.
I believed him. Of course I did.
His eyes twinkled in the light from the floor below: they were the same colour as the legendary Malfoy eyes. His whole family were blonde and all the men had those same stormy grey eyes. Their genes were so predictable, unlike those from my family (except the ginger hair).
I had inherited the exact features my father had, whereas Hugo had taken his from our mother.
I wondered briefly what colour eyes and hair our child would have, if we had children - would it follow the Malfoy gene or be unpredictable like the Weasleys?
I blinked to clear my mind.
Getting ahead of yourself a little, Rose.
"I love you too," I smiled back.
Scorpius kissed my neck affectionately. I couldn't help but giggle girlishly.
His lips trailed up my neck until they reached my lips again. I laughed against his lips as he whispered in my ear, "You drive me crazy sometimes, Rose Weasley," before kissing me again.
"Oh please," I heard Louis scoff from behind us.
Scorpius and I both sighed in annoyance. I dropped my leg from around his in a split second, and peered around Scorpius' shoulder.
"Why is it that people always interrupt us?" I asked him, even though the question was rhetorical and only for effect.
"Maybe that's a good thing," Hugo muttered protectively.
Scorpius kissed me quickly, lingering longer than necessary, and then hurried into the boys' room, winking at me as he went.
Louis, Fred, Hugo and Al all looked at me and shook their heads in disappointment.
"Oh, this coming from No Girlfriend, Cheater McCheaterson, 'Baby Boy' and Mr Hippocritical?"
I feign-glared at them each in turn, calling "Love you," to them as I left so that they knew I wasn't serious.
Half an hour or so later I was alone in my room. Today had been such a blur that I couldn't even remember what conversations I'd had this morning.
I sighed and looked out the huge window in the room that used to belong to Uncle George and Fred.
It was a beautiful place to build a house. The whole village of Ottery St. Catchpole were nice, and they were always willing to help. More than half of the residents had been Obliviate'd because they'd seen a broom flying slightly too high during one of our particularly enthusiastic Quidditch matches or because one of us had been blabbering about going to Hogwarts a little too loudly when we were younger.
The door opened, I heard the quiet creak, and then Al came and stood beside me.
He didn't say anything for a few minutes - and I didn't ask him to. We just stood side by side, looking out across the crops and fields that swayed in the wind.
"I'm an idiot."
I blinked a few times and then turned to him. "I'm sorry?"
"I'm an idiot," Al repeated. "I shouldn't have had a go at Scorpius the other day."
"No, you shouldn't have," I mumbled back at him.
"I should have realised that you two would have enough trouble as it is with the parents," Al continued. "He's a nice guy and he really does seem to care for you."
"He does care for me," I replied slowly.
"Of course he does," Al agreed. "That's what I'm saying."
"Right…"
"Right."
I looked at him then, and raised my eyebrows, the corners of my lips twitching into an amused smile. "So what made you realise that he actually loves me?" I asked.
"Well, for one because you guys were snogging the faces off of each other like there was no tomorrow earlier."
I glared at him. "And the second reason?"
"Because he told Uncle Ron."
I spun to face Al suddenly.
"He what?"
Al took a deep, dramatic breath, then smiled. "When he got here Uncle Ron and him were talking outside for a minute-"
"How do you know-"
"-Lily told me. Anyway," he smiled at me. "Apparently they were polite to start with, and then Uncle Ron got all annoyed, like he does. Lily and everyone-"
"Everyone?"
"They were all standing by the window and spying."
"Ahh-"
"Anyway, Lily and everyone thought that Scorpius would, I don't know, back down or something but he actually got annoyed too."
"Well what did they say?" I was desperate for specifics. Something had seemed off, but I hadn't been able to put my finger on it. Now I knew - they'd been normal - respectful - around each other.
"Lily didn't know," Al mumbled.
"Come on, Al," I sighed impatiently. "This house is hardly sound proof."
"Okay," Al was so easy to cave sometimes. "Uncle Ron said something about Scorpius being a Malfoy and so 'bad blood' or something and then Scorpius said that he obviously didn't have the same ideas about blood as 'the older generations' because otherwise he wouldn't be dating you-"
"Ouch," I interrupted. "Dad does not like to be argued with."
"I know, right?" Al grinned at me, which didn't help the situation.
The floorboards outside my door creaked and we heard somebody go into the bathroom across the landing.
Al continued in a whisper. "Scorpius told Uncle Ron that if his mum and his dad and your mum and all the rest of us could get past this dramatic 'history' everybody has been dragging out, why couldn't he?"
I couldn't help but smile. "Clever boy," I whispered.
"Well, Uncle Ron was speechless, so… pretty clever," Al agreed. "And then Scorpius said that the only important thing should be that it's a miracle that the two of you got past the history enough to even be friends, let alone date, because you've… disliked each other since I became friends with him."
"Then what?" I was so wrapped up in what Al was saying I forgot to keep my voice down.
Al 'shhh'd' me and glanced towards the door.
"Then he said that he was blessed to have even found somebody who he loved as much as he loved you…"
"He…" I didn't know what to say to Al about that. I finally thought of something to say after three long, silent minutes. "In front of my father?"
"Even worse," Al grinned. "To your father."
I smiled weakly back at my cousin.
I couldn't believe Scorpius had told my father that he loved me. To his face. And I hadn't even realised. How had I completely missed this?
With any boy it would be risky telling my dad that they loved his daughter, but for a Malfoy? For a Malfoy whilst my father was already on edge? It's potential suicide.
"He really likes you, Rose," Al whispered. "I don't know who I'm more worried about now."
I sent him a confused look. What did that mean?
Al walked towards the door. I turned to face him before he left, still puzzled.
"Just… don't break his heart, Rosie," Al mumbled before the door closed behind him.
I had to have Al at the end. I love him, and Fred, and I just had to. Also, possibly my favourite thing about this chapter is Arthur Weasley - I was close to my granddad and they're childish nature and curiousity are exactly the same. So Rose's relationship with him is based on that. I hope you liked this. I'm sure you've all read FFs where Ron goes mental. This is one of the ways I saw it, one of the less angsty ways (after all, this story isn't exactly angsty! LOL), and I'd love to know your thoughts.
Thank you all!