Apologies to Momosulemanlove albus potter, AlbusScarlett will be back in the next. -_-'

Chapter 24

Rose had made it to Diagon Alley and was through her first beer when her anger subsided and she just felt pain. Scorpius was willing to just throw away all of their hard work because it was easier? After everything they'd been through, how could he even suggest that? It angered her because even if it was hard and she understood, they did it together, they went through it together.

She sat at the bar, staring into space for a long time and it soon became dark. She had intended to run away and not be found, but she had changed her mind already. Even if Scorpius had had second thoughts and betrayed her, she had still left him in that hostile atmosphere. As she came to that realisation, Albus arrived.

He sat beside her, worry etched on his features.

"What do you want?" she asked sharply, sipping at the dregs of her drink.

Albus sighed heavily. "You know Rose, even after everything I've done to you, I've never stopped thinking of you as one of my closest friends as well as my cousin. Though I hate to admit it, you and Scorpius mean a lot to me, the most to me."

There was silence between them. Albus gestured to the barman and he handed over a pint of ale, Albus knocking it back happily.

"I'm a mess," he finally continued. "I've been a mess for a while, but at least you two put up with me."

Rose looked into her glass with a frown. "What are you trying to say?"

"Scorpius spoke to me last week, at the camp. When he was half drunk and he was practically crying." Albus began. "And now I see why we're friends. We're both equally capable of fucking ourselves up."

She looked up at Albus, her brows furrowed. "There's something wrong with Scorpius?"

"He'd never tell you Rose, because he knows you'd take it the wrong way. But Uncle Ron has really done a number on him. He's so scared of your dad but rather than lose you, he puts up with it and does it all without saying a word, without making a complaint, without fighting back. He's so consumed with holding it all in, that he's falling apart." He breathed out hard and took a sip of his ale. "Scorpius is practically having an identity crisis." Albus said incredulously.

Rose narrowed her eyes and turned her body fully to Albus. "He doesn't…I mean he is mostly the same, but he isn't…" She didn't know quite what to say.

Albus sighed again. "It's terrible to say, Rose, but if he didn't know us, he'd be better off. I know that's putting a lot of blame on your dad, but Scorpius isn't the type of person, wasn't the type of person to develop an inferiority complex. He's always been so sure of himself, but when it's come to living with you, dealing with your Dad, it's like he's forcing himself to be someone else. To anyone else, he'd already have fought Uncle Ron, but because he's your dad, he can do nothing but take it. He lies that he's okay, that you'll be okay, when he really doesn't feel that way. He's completely unhinged and so unwilling to talk to you and I hate seeing him that way."

She looked into the bottom of her glass, completely lost. "But why wouldn't he say anything? Why would he let things escalate this far?" Her eyes met Albus', though his own green eyes simmered sadly.

"If he said something, what would you do? You would either leave him or leave your dad. Scorpius can't bear to put you through either of those things. He's an idiot who fell in love with an idiot." Albus continued. "You're both far too emotionally invested in the feelings of others, that he feels unnecessarily guilty for his father's actions when he never did before. Then you don't go far enough. You don't go far enough when your dad is concerned."

Rose looked shocked at Albus' words. She hadn't expected this out of her cousin. "You think it would be okay? To just…let my dad go?"

Albus shook his head. "Not to let him go, but not to let him convolute your relationship." He put his glass down and leant back, demonstrating with his hands. "If you keep him at arms-length, at least for now, you'll both be better for it. You can't let Scorpius continue to break himself down, lose his own faith and respect in his own family and where he comes from, just so that he can be with you. You wouldn't want him to lose his identity. You know how much he loves his parents, what they are to him."

She nodded, feeling the prick of tears in her eyes. Rose pulled Albus into a tight hug, much to his chagrin. She kissed his cheek and hugged him even tighter.

"You have become my angel, Albus." Rose looked at him seriously. "You are an angel, Albus. You always have been. Regardless of all the fights we've got into and will get into, I'll never think differently."

Albus grinned. "Now go take care of Scorpius before he starts crying again."

"He was crying?" she asked, surprised.

He nodded. "Like a hysteric."

Rose got up, nodding to Albus and leaving to disapparate outside. When she had apparated back to her parent's house at 1AM, the party to her surprise, was over. In fact nobody was even outside of the house. She looked around the garden and then made her way inside. In the living room she found Scorpius curled up on the couch, his cheeks red and he looked sick.

She didn't stop before moving over to him and feeling his forehead. He was warm and she felt tears against his cheeks.

"You idiot," she murmured, kissing his forehead softly."

Once Rose had a cold compress against his forehead, she saw him open his eyes momentarily and he smiled seeing her. She laid down next to him and he closed his eyes again. His arms immediately went around her waist and he pulled her towards him, her face in his neck.

XxX

Ron looked over the pair with great anger and guilt when he came down in the morning. Despite everything he did to separate the two, they couldn't be removed from the other.

He had, had a fight with Hermione the night before. She'd even slapped him multiple times, telling him he couldn't control his daughter like he was trying to. That it wasn't up to him and love didn't just work like that.

He felt embarrassed, but didn't admit it to her.

Now having his morning coffee ruined by his daughter embracing a Malfoy. He wanted to wake them up angrily, but then Hugo appeared and glared angrily at his father.

"Never have I been so disappointed in you in my whole life," Hugo said to his father.

"You shut up too," Ron replied, glaring at his son.

Hugo glared right back before walking away from him.

Rose was awake and could hear her brother's words and knew her father was still there, but decided not to pay him any attention. She looked up at Scorpius, his face still red and she stroked his hair away from his forehead and felt for a fever. He didn't have one. She kissed his jaw and then his lips before hugging him tightly.

"Rose, I'm sorry about what I said, I didn't mean it at all, I just couldn't think of anything else to do," Scorpius began immediately after he woke up, his voice groggy and strained. She realised it was most likely sore from the crying.

She shook her head and tightened her hold on him. "I understand why you said it. But why did you stay around here and make yourself hoarse like this? Your temperature was so high when I got back." Rose looked up at him and met his eyes. "Don't scare me like that again."

Scorpius nodded, hugging her before his eyes glanced to the side and he saw Ron Weasley still standing there. He was mildly panicked and he let go of Rose, despite her not letting go of him. Rose turned in his arms and faced her father. Her expression was filled with sadness more than the aggression it had been painted with the afternoon before. She sat up, Scorpius following suit and they both looked up at Ron.

Rose took a deep breath and felt Scorpius' fingers link with hers, she glanced at him briefly before putting her attention back on her dad.

"I didn't want to have to say this, Dad. And I'm so sorry that I have to, it's just that this is too much for me and it hurts too much. I can't...I can't just follow everything you want, not when what you want is for me not to be with Scorpius."

"You can live without him," Ron spoke gruffly, glaring at Scorpius who remained silent, but held resolutely onto Rose's hand.

"You're right, Dad. I could live without him, but what kind of life would that be? Could you just simply live without Mum? How can you ask me to do something like that when he is the person I love most in this world? If I had nothing, he is all I would want, don't you understand that?" Rose bowed her head slightly, not wanting to cry. Not wanting to ever cry again over this matter.

"Then you should understand what his father and his grandfather did to us, our family. You should understand why I don't want you anywhere near him or his family. I have your best interests at heart. You'll forget about him and find someone else." Ron responded, putting his coffee down on the side table and folding his arms stubbornly.

Rose took another breath. "I would have hoped you would have understood my heart, Dad. For all these years I thought you could get rid of your prejudice and see Scorpius for what he is, forgetting about history, because he is in the present and he is my present and future. This is the only thing I would ask of you, Dad, because I love you and I wish you would understand."

"All the more reason for you to listen to me," Ron retorted.

She nodded now. "If it's going to be this way, then there is nothing I can do." Rose felt tears slip from her cheeks and she wiped at them with her free hand hastily. "I always said I'd never say this, but I don't think I have any other choice." Rose stood up, bringing Scorpius with her. "Don't think of me as your daughter anymore." Ron's eyes immediately grew wide. "I will try not to appear in front of you again, because if it's so hard for you to see me with Scorpius, then I have no other choice. If you get over your hatred of him, then just call me, but right now I can't live like this, Dad. I love Scorpius and I will marry him and if that's too difficult for you, I won't put you through it." Rose began hiccoughing. "Thank you for everything you've taught me and given me, I just hope this goodbye isn't forever."

Scorpius was staring at Rose, pulling on her hand for her to stop, trying to gesture that she shouldn't be doing this, but Rose wasn't fazed.

Rose nodded with finality before she began towards the front door, Scorpius in tow. When she exited, she heard her father following after her. She stopped briefly, looking at him and hoping for some sort of relent, but it didn't come. He just stared at her. So she took her wand out and apparated herself and Scorpius to their apartment, where she immediately broke down again, Scorpius holding her tightly as she cried into his shoulder.

"Rose, I told you not to do that, I told you, your family is more important than me," Scorpius whispered.

She shook her head. "You're my family too, Scorpius. I just can't lose you and then lose my father to my anger, I can't do it."

"He'll change his mind," Scorpius said. But it was a hope that they had held onto for far too long.

"I wish he would," she choked, scrunching his shirt front in her fists.

Scorpius sighed and walked Rose to their bedroom. He took off her shoes as she continued sniffling and removed her clothes before putting her in her pyjamas and tucking her into bed. He knelt by her head, tucking her red hair behind her ear and wiping any stray tears that flowed, despite the fact that she was silent now and just looking up at him.

"I love you," she said, taking the hand that was ghosting against her cheek. "I'm sorry my Dad is the way he is and thank you for not actually running away."

He smiled and shook his head. "I can't help myself. Now sleep a little."

Rose nodded and turned onto her back, looking up at the ceiling before closing her eyes, prepared for sleep to take her.

XxX

Scorpius was slowly cleaning up the living room while he waited for some leftover soup to warm up. He stopped when he came to the picture of Rose and her Dad that was taped to the fridge. Rose was perhaps five years old and Ron held her tightly, spinning her in the air with a grin on his face.

Scorpius felt guilty. He could do nothing about his family, but he felt guilty that he had taken Rose from her father and felt guilt over the fact that he loved her. It couldn't be helped, but he still felt guilty about it. He wished there was a solution to it all, but it was all in Ron's hands.

Scorpius knew what had happened during the war and he understood why Ron would hate his family, but his father was trying so hard to be a good man now and his grandfather was paying for his crimes. What could Scorpius do when he was born into his family? He had never thought to hate his family for Ron's hatred of him, because he loved them, he loved his parents. His father had led a troubled childhood, but he was different now. Scorpius had always thought that if only the two could have a civilised conversation; his dad and Rose's dad, that something could change.

He shook his head and turned back to the stove, stirring the soup before turning the gas off and pouring the soup into two bowls. He put the bowls onto a tray with spoons and was beginning to walk towards the bedroom when he heard a pop behind him. He turned thinking it was just Albus, but it was Rose's dad, staring at him passively.

"Sit down," he said gruffly.

Scorpius put the tray down and obeyed, sitting on the sofa.

Ron sat down next to him and took a deep breath. "My wife advised me that it would be best to have a civilised conversation with you and since I want her to stop slapping me, I have agreed."

Scorpius wanted to laugh, but he was too scared to actually go through with it.

"I never wanted this to happen, but it seems I have no choice. It really seems as if Rose will push me away rather than lose you. It makes me angry that you became the most important person to her, but it seems nothing I do can change that. But you, your family, it can't be forgiven."

Scorpius closed his eyes and his hand turned into a fist. "I have to interrupt you," he said quickly. Ron looked at him, not expecting that, but not looking completely angry at the interruption. "I know in the past that the Malfoy name was never a name you liked hearing, but please, please forget your prejudice. I am the only son of my family, I am its namesake, so no matter what, I carry that name with me, and I will protect my father's name."

"Well that's just typical," Ron began, but Scorpius cut him off again.

"No, you don't understand. My father is a good man and I'm proud to carry his name. Whatever my father may have been before I was born is another story, but now, right now, for the last 25 years, my father has been trying to be a good man. As good a man as he can be. He's worked so hard to make this country we live in, to make the wizarding world a better place. He funds charities, he helps where he can with what money he has and where he cannot, he helps with his skills, even if that may not be many. My father is no Auror, but he has saved lives." Scorpius teared up as he said these words and Ron watched him, listening.

"I respect my father. He turned his life around. He was never in a good household growing up, which is why he ended up the way he was during school. His father was a terrible person who is paying for his crimes, but you would never understand the scar that my grandfather left on my family and on my father. You would never understand that to this day we are still rebuked by many and people want us dead."

Scorpius' lips trembled. He was wary of his own words, scared that they would be a catalyst but adamant in his heart that he had to say them.

"I've never told anyone this, I've always felt too guilty to say it," Scorpius started. "The fact that it wasn't well known helped with that." His hands began to shake, tears slipping down his cheeks. "I had a little sister, she would have been Hugo's age if she were..." Scorpius looked away from Ron briefly, took a breath and met his gaze again. "When I was kidnapped, they took my sister too and she never made it home. It was my fault and I hate myself for it because I couldn't protect her, I couldn't bring her home. I failed my parents, I failed my father and I failed my family name." Scorpius took another breath and looked down at his clenched fists.

"This war may have ended for you over 20 years ago, but it's still here for me and my family and there's no escape from prejudice and hate so we learn to live with it and hope that we can live peacefully. Whenever you say you hate me and my family, it hurts because everything I am is my family, it's nothing I can lose or change and because you're the father of the woman I love, what can I do? I can only take it and hope you change your mind, because no matter how much I love Rose, you're her family and I have no right to take her from you. I don't expect this to change your mind, but I hope you would understand that I'm not a bad person, my parents aren't bad people. All they want, all I want, is to be able to live happily and we'd give all the money in the world for that."

Ron was silenced by Scorpius' words and he watched as the young man cried silently in front of him. His desperation from yesterday was gone and it seemed as if he was showing all his cards. He had nothing left to show or say anymore. This was his last chance.

The Auror had always known about various placements within the Malfoy residence over the years. He had been annoyed about it as a 'useless waste of resources', because why protect Malfoy's? Truly he was blinded to the fact that Draco Malfoy had a young child. Had once had young children. Children who had no choice where they were born and who they were born to. And he had been so busy hating, tossing the work of Draco Malfoy aside and even the good work his son had done, and that he was good to his daughter and loved her. So wasn't that enough at the end of it all? That his one and only daughter was loved, was happy and was taken care of?

His eyes fell on the bowls of soup Scorpius had put down and then around the room to the pictures that scattered the walls and surfaces; of the two of them and of them and their respective families. There were even photos of Scorpius and his parents that were happy and full of life, even though they lived troubled lives. He even noticed a photo of Scorpius, his family and Rose, all smiling whilst covered in mud after the charity maze run that he had heard Rose speak about.

His eyes fell on Scorpius again, who had ceased crying, but stayed silent with his eyes closed tightly, as if in meditation.

"Scorpius," Ron began.

Scorpius' eyes snapped up, never having heard his name said from Ron's lips.

"I shouldn't blame you for the sins of your grandfather, I should never have. I apologise for that. But everything we lost back then, before my time even, they are scars too. You can understand my unwillingness to let my daughter be related to anyone who made those scars. But even then, I acknowledge that you love my daughter and will protect her to the best of your ability and beyond. Even if I don't like you because I don't like your father or your grandfather, I should know that the daughter I brought up can make good decisions." Ron bowed his head slightly.

A creak sounded as the bedroom door opened and Rose stumbled out, her hair a mess, asking where there was food because she was starving. When she opened her eyes and saw her Father, she nearly had a heart attack right then, but the fact that he was sitting, his face not angry and Scorpius was silent, confused her.

"What's happening here?" she asked, not wanting to get closer.

Ron stood up. "I'm sorry, Rose. I'm sorry for being selfish. If you want to get married, get married, but don't expect me to act the way you want me to, or be the person you want me to be. Just know that I give you my blessing, I won't try and separate you two anymore."

Rose blinked and Scorpius stood, wiping his face for any remaining tears and he reached for Rose's hand.

"Just go back inside."

She didn't know what else to do, so just followed Scorpius' instruction.

"You should tell Rose what you just told me." Ron murmured finally.

Scorpius turned back to Ron. He nodded his head slightly as a sign of respect and picked up the soup bowls again, bringing them into Rose. By the time he had put the bowls down on the bed, they heard the pop of Ron's disapparation.

Thanks for reading. I felt it was heavy the first time I read through it. Now I just think it's bad. whoops