Chapter 25- The Calm Before The Storm

Disclaimer- Harry Potter is not mine, so please do not sue me. :)

"I'm so happy you two have worked everything out between you," Alice gushed.

"So am I," Al said with a laugh and Nora shoved Al lightly.

Rose heaved a sigh, looking away from that day's edition of the Daily Prophet to stare out the window of the train compartment Rose and her friends were in as the Hogwarts Express passed by a small muggle village that was nestled in a group of green hills.

"I think we're all thankful that you two aren't fighting anymore," Andy said with a hint of exasperation.

Rose smiled a little at Andy's tone. Rose was honestly very happy that Al and Nora had talked and everything had went smoothly. Nora had seemed slightly shaken when Rose had first seen her after she had returned from talking to Al but Rose had a pretty good idea why that was. However, as the week passed by, Nora seemed to calm down a little and Al seemed a lot more protective of her then he had ever been. Rose could tell that Nora wasn't happy about his protective behaviour but she still seemed to appreciate whatever he was doing.

"Anything of note happening in the world Rosie?" David suddenly asked and Rose turned her head to see him gesturing towards the newspaper in her lap.

"Nothing important," Rose responded. "There was just a break in at a potion's shop in Diagon Alley yesterday. Other than that today appears to be a very uneventful day."

"Speaking of uneventful," Alice began. "I think it's high time that we gave Nora her birthday gift."
"My birthday gift?" Nora questioned in confusion.

"Well after what happened on your birthday," Alice explained hesitantly. "We were unable to give you your gift because..."

"Because I wasn't talking to all of you," Nora finished. "You don't need to be sensitive with me anymore. I promise that's all in the past."

"Good," David said with a smile and then he began to rummage through his bag from which he produced a slightly dented wrapped present with a large rumpled silver bow on top of it, which he handed to Nora. "Sorry it's so dented. It's kind of been on a few trips now."

Nora laughed a little and she began to unwrap her long overdue birthday present. Rose watched in anticipation as Nora lifted the lid off of the box that the present had been nestled in to reveal a wooden picture frame with a picture of Nora, David, Al, Alice, Andy, Rose and much to Rose's surprise, Scorpius all gathered together for a slightly entertaining group photo. Alice was trying not to fall off of David's back, Nora and Al were holding hands and staring at each other lovingly, Andy was making funny faces at them to their right and Rose and Scorpius, much to her embarrassment were surveying each other with rather intently. Rose could even describe the look on Malfoy's face as an expression of hunger.

"Well I didn't expect it to look like that but good work Rosie," Andy said with a laugh.

"I don't understand," Nora said in confusion but the smile on her face seemed to show how much she liked her present. "We've never all taken a picture like this."

"Let me explain," Rose began, trying to ignore what she was doing in the picture in front of her. "We all know that you've never really had much of a family so we decided to give you a gift that would help make sure that you always knew that you had a family."

"Okay," Nora said, still confused. "So how is it that this picture is real?"

"That was a lot of charm work from our resident genius," Andy explained.

"Ya," Al added. "We all spent money buying the frame, buying the book that would help Rose make the thing and then the right magical photo paper. It was an effort and a half to get this thing to work right but Rose came through in the end."

"But you still haven't told me how it works," Nora said slightly impatient.

"I was able to charm that piece of magical photo paper to recognize who you believed to be your family and how you saw them in real life," Rose explained. "It was a little difficult to make sure that the photo would change as we got older or as you started to recognize more people as your family and I really had no idea if it was going to work or not."

"But since Malfoy is in the picture now and ogling Rose, it proves that the thing works," Andy commented and Rose shot him a look of displeasure.

"Wait until Malfoy sees it though Andy," David said with a laugh. "He should really find it interesting."

"I don't know what to say you guys," Nora suddenly exclaimed, obviously ignoring Andy and David's comments. "This is probably the best late birthday present I've ever gotten."

"Well you are welcome honey," Alice said happily.

Rose watched with a slight smile as Al took one of Nora's hands and squeezed it affectionately earning him a loving smile.

"Oh young love," Andy replied with an over exaggerated sigh. "I love how much it makes me want to vomit."

Rose laughed as Nora let go of Al's hand and balled up the leftover wrapping paper and threw it at his head and Alice gave Andy a large scowl before commenting on his view of love. "You just wait Andy," Alice warned. "One day some poor unfortunate girl will make you fall in love and then she will be stuck with you forever."

"I doubt that," Andy replied with a smirk in Alice's direction. "I plan on becoming rich and having slightly dumb 20 year olds chase after me for the rest of my life."

"You're so full of yourself mate," David laughed.

Rose watched with a happy smile as everyone began to make fun of Andy for being such an egotistical idiot and she couldn't help but hope that things would stay the way they were but Rose had a horrible feeling that something bad was going to happen soon. Rose had ended up doing more research on Darius and the only conclusion she could come to was that even though he was murdering lunatic, he was a smart murdering lunatic. Rose was 99% sure that Darius was already somewhere in the country biding his time for the opportune moment to strike. Or at least find Hogwarts.

"Hey Rosie!" Andy shouted, struggling to fight off David who was for some reason trying to tackle him. "Would you help me out here? Everyone is ganging up on me because I'm single and they're going mad over what they know they've all given up."

"Poor baby," Rose said mockingly.

"You're a traitor," Andy said in a slightly muffled voice as he tried to push David off of him.

Alice gave David and Andy disapproving looks and she turned to look at Rose. "So Rosie, I never asked you, but what did you do last weekend after we left you to go for our walk," Alice asked.

Rose's face scrunched up unpleasantly at the memory. "I talked to Greyson for a little bit where I found out about Shasta and James."

"Well that's all common knowledge," Nora replied and she gave Rose a large smile. "Anything else?"

Rose scowled as she caught a glimpse of the photo resting in Nora's lap. She had obviously talked to Scorpius. "Nope," Rose lied and gave Nora a meaningful look. "Nothing important."

Nora gave her a large smile and turned her gaze towards Alice; showing Rose that she was ignoring her. "Well I heard that you figured out who sent you your lovely little rose," Nora said.

"She what?" David and Andy chorused.

"You found out who sent it to you?" Al questioned. "Why didn't you tell us?"

"Because she's embarrassed," Nora replied with a grin.

"Oh did that creepy little second year Larry Kline send it to you," Alice said with a disgusted face.

"No," Rose replied, slightly offended that Alice thought would send her a rose would be some weird little first year.

"Wait," Al said slightly astounded. "It's from Malfoy isn't it?"

Rose tried to think up a different excuse but she took far too long to think of something. "Yes," she replied grudgingly.

"Oh my god," Alice exclaimed. "He totally loves you!"

"He does not," Rose replied in a slightly panicked voice.

"He definitely does," Alice squealed.

"Would you shut up," Rose exclaimed. "Someone could hear you."

"Do you like him?" Al questioned in concern.

"Definitely not," Rose snapped automatically. "And he does not like me. I think he just likes to cause trouble or something."

"I think the trouble is unintentional," Nora suggested with a smile and her eyes darted towards the compartment door.

"Whatever," Rose snapped, ignoring Nora. "Can we just drop the subject and talk about something else?"

"I don't think that's possible," Andy replied with a chuckle.

"Why?" Rose protested loudly.

"Because the subject is standing in the door way," David answered awkwardly.

Rose turned her head slowly with a visible grimace to see Scorpius standing in the compartment doorway with a very uncomfortable look on his face. Rose instantly felt her face heat up in embarrassment and she slumped down in her seat in the hopes that she would be well hidden from the guy staring at her in the doorway.

"Scorp," Nora greeted, getting up from her seat to hug her friend. "You just missed me opening up my very late birthday present. You guys don't mind that I invited him to stop by." Everyone shook their heads 'no' when they saw the meaningful look on Nora's face when she turned around to look at them. "Lovely," she replied and turned back to look at Scorpius.

Rose's eyes darted away from Scorpius for a second to see Al struggling not to look annoyed about Scorpius being so close to Nora.

"Did I now," Scorpius responded, his tone of voice easily giving away how unpleasant he found the current situation he was in, but Nora seemed to ignore that fact.

"Yes you did. And there's no need to act so excited Scorp. You're starting to make me think that it's your birthday," Nora replied sarcastically.

Scorpius gave Nora a crooked smile and Rose felt her insides churn in appreciation. Oh Merlin. Just tell him to leave. He's had a long enough visit by now. We both know how much he would rather be anywhere else other then here, especially with Al glaring at him like that.

Without thinking about what other people would think or why she was doing it, since Al's displeased expression would obviously make Scorpius leave faster, Rose kicked Al in the shin causing him to swear loudly in pain. Somehow Al's outburst was all that was needed to get rid of some of the tension in the room since everyone seemed to surprised and confused to act awkward. Al shot Rose a disapproving look and averted his eyes from Scorpius.

"Well," Nora said looking at her boyfriend in confusion. "Would you like to see what they all got me Scorp?"
Rose suddenly began to panic. What would Scorpius think when he saw the picture? "Sure," Scorpius replied with a shrug of his shoulders.

Andy seemed to find this all very entertaining and he began to explain what the picture actually was. "Rose worked really hard on it Malfoy. You see, she was able to charm this special magical photo paper to show only whoever Nora considered to be her closest friends and family. It literally looks like a photo we may have taken one day at Hogwarts but you can definitely tell we never took it."

Rose shot Andy a furious look but he didn't seem to notice. "Why's that?" Scorpius asked curiously.

Nora reached over to where she was once sitting and grabbed her present and Rose stared miserably as she placed it into Scorpius' outstretched hands. Rose watched as he looked down and remained looking down; his face a mask of shock.

"Because you're in it mate," Andy answered with a pleased look on his face.

Rose knew she was probably the colour of a ripe tomato by now. This honestly had to be the most embarrassing moment of her entire life. She would have done anything to get out of this moment, even if it meant committing suicide because, right then, dying seemed like a much better option than remaining stuck in the situation she was currently in.

Everyone watched as Scorpius slowly handed the photo back to Nora with a content look on his face. "I like it," Scorpius said.

"I thought you would," Nora replied and Rose's eyes flitted between the two friends in confusion because they both appeared to be conveying what they were actually talking about telepathically, something Rose was pretty sure Nora could actually do anyway.

"I'll talk to you later since I'm pretty sure I'm over doing my visit," Scorpius said, his eyes both looking at Al and Rose.

"That appears to be true," Nora replied sending a glare in Al's direction. "I'll send you a letter in a couple of days. Merlin knows it will probably be the highlight of your entire break."

"Ha ha," Scorpius replied sarcastically as he backed out of the compartment. "You do know you're not that special Nora."

"Keep talking buddy and you'll be out of this picture before you know it."

Rose watched Scorpius laugh lightly as he walked away down the corridor but not before sending her a fleeting look. Rose felt her insides turn to goo just over the sound of his laughter and she slumped, mentally defeated, even further into her seat. What the hell was wrong with her?

"He seems a lot more pleasant than I remember him," Alice said sheepishly.

"Probably because he is," Nora replied as she sat back in her seat. "And you were not helping anyone by glaring at him like that Al. You were looking at him like he'd just threatened to kill me or something."

"Well he was a giant git when we were younger," David offered.

"And you looked far too tall for your age Dave," Nora shot back. "I've seen pictures. Being a 6 foot tall thirteen year old made you look like a giant. Everyone's different when their kids."

"Hey! I just hit puberty at a weird age," David exclaimed.

"She's right mate," Andy responded. "Everyone thought you were half-giant or something."

David glared at Andy, heaved an angry sigh and fell silent. Alice patted him comfortingly on the arm and looked back at Nora. "I had no idea that you two had gotten so close. It's kind of refreshing to see that a Gryffindor and a Slytherin can be such good friends. Also, he sure did like that picture of the 6 of us and him, which confirms my suspicions about him loving Rose."

Rose spluttered loudly at Alice's suggestion. "Now just wait one minute. How the bloody hell does that prove that he loves me?"

"It just does," Alice replied stubbornly.

"I think what Alice is trying to say is that since he liked the way you two looked in the photo then he must want that to happen in real life," Nora explained.

Rose gave a dirty look and, with no other excuses to think of, decided to voice how pissed off she was. "I hate you," Rose said angrily.

"That's not very nice Rosie," Andy said with a chuckle.

"I don't trust him," Al suddenly said. "How do you know you can trust him Nora?"

Rose stared at her cousin in confusion, anger dissipating slightly. Did Al think that Scorpius knew just as much as he did about Nora? And if that was true, Rose had a sneaking suspicion that Scorpius knew about Nora's past before Al did. Rose sighed since she knew how much Al would hate that.

Nora rolled her eyes. "I know I can trust him Al because he is a lot like me and if you would stop living in the past and actually had a decent conversation with him, you would realize that he is a lot different than he was a couple of years ago."

"Maybe," Al replied, obviously still unconvinced about the new and improved Scorpius.

"Just forget about it Al," Andy replied. "We're going to home soon anyway."

Rose bit her lip in thought. Rose, no matter how much she didn't want to admit it, knew Nora was right. Scorpius had barely said a negative word about her all year. Instead, he enjoyed tormenting her by telling her she was beautiful and then running away as soon as she was about to say something or ask him what the bloody hell was going on.

What the hell was going on? It had to be the million dollar question right now. When the hell did Scorpius start to give a crap about her? Was it when he realized she was a girl? Or was it when he realized that other guys had also realized she was a girl? However, she was never going to be able to ask him any of this because it was as if every time he was put in a situation where he was alone with her, he knew exactly what to do to get away from her. It was the same thing every time. He would say something revealing about himself that would confuse her, but it wouldn't be too revealing in order to not give her a clue about what he was actually thinking. Rose gritted her teeth and looked out the window. Rose was pissed off and confused, but she had come to one conclusion none the less.

Scorpius was scared. And what was he scared of?

Well, as of that moment, she could only think one answer.

Scorpius Malfoy was scared of her.

Leaning up against the cold grey stone pillar in King's Cross Station was a young man with pale white skin, long black hair and a slight beard that was in desperate need of a trim. He peered around the wall he was slightly concealed behind to see several different people appearing out of the wall in between Platforms 9 and 10 in the middle of King's Cross station.

"Smart," he whispered aloud in his silky voice his black eyes soulless eyes staring intently at the families that walked away from the barrier. "What better way to hide a train platform reserved only for witches and wizards then in plain sight for all muggles to completely ignore."

Security was probably light. They most likely had no idea that he was in the country right now so why would they place guards near the opening to platform 9 3/4. Why would they even put any magical boundaries on the gateway either? He smiled gleefully as he watched a chattering family pop out of the barrier.

"Maybe I should check?" he said a loud, still smiling broadly. The young man pulled out his stolen wand, but kept it hidden at his side, and loped into the crowd towards the barrier. He stood a couple metres in front of it, looked to both of his sides to see if anyone was watching him, closed his eyes and then ran at the barrier; promptly disappearing from anyone's view only to reappear again with a loud laugh that startled several people around him. He ignored them and ran back to the spot where he was previously hiding from any searching looks. While no one was looking for him, he still knew there were a couple of people who could recognize him.

His back once again to the stone wall, he peered around the corner to watch as several more families popped out of the barrier, as his plan slowly began to fall into place. Now all he needed was the perfect disguise.

That was when he saw her. She popped out of the barrier laughing with several other people her age. "Nora," he whispered a loud, his voice slightly in awe. She was glowing slightly, something even the muggles in the station could notice without trouble. He watched as a few adults appeared behind the group of teenagers and the young man instantly slunk back into the shadows when he recognized a couple of them. He glanced quickly past the wall to see Harry Potter talking with someone who had to be Hermione Weasley. He quickly turned his gaze away and exhaled to try and calm himself. That had been the risk of coming here today. He knew that there was a chance of Harry Potter being there but he knew that even the Harry Potter doubted that he was smart enough to get out of Canada.

Was he ever wrong.

Pushing his hair out of his eyes, the young man peered around the wall to watch Nora talking with people who appeared to be her friends. He watched as a guy with dirty blonde hair said his goodbyes to the rest of them and then rushed off to where ever his parents were and Darius looked back at Nora only to recoil in disgust and fury.

"Who the hell is that!?" he whispered with a snarl. The man was absorbed by the scene in front of her. He watched as a boy that looked to be Nora's age slung one of his arms around Nora's neck and then proceeded to give her a quick kiss on the lips. The revulsion the man felt was almost uncontrollable and he grabbed his wand, ready to hex the boy who had his hands on Nora.

"No," he whispered to himself. "You can take care of him later."

The young man lowered his wand and watched as Harry Potter and Hermione Weasley approached the group of teenagers Nora was with. Harry Potter put a hand on the shoulder of the boy who had kissed Nora and the man realized who he was.

"He's Harry Potter's son," the man hissed angrily and an older couple who walking by stared at the dishevelled looking man warily.

The man watched as Harry Potter led his son away from the group of teens along with another son and a girl that obviously had to be Potter's daughter. The rest of the group began to file away to their families leaving Nora alone with two red headed and Hermione Weasley. The red headed girl that looked about Nora's age had a very angry look on her face and Nora seemed to be trying to cheer her up but the girl appeared to not be listening.

The young man watched as Nora walked away from the wall that hid Platform 9 ¾ and he longed to follow her but he knew he needed to figure out what his disguise was going to be.

And then it appeared in front of him like a sign sent to him from the heaven's.

The young man smiled sickly as a pair of twins popped out of the barrier and began to walk towards the bathroom he was standing near.

"Sarah you totally stained my shirt," one of the twins exclaimed.

"I did not Sharon. You walked into me," the other girl exclaimed.

The first twin huffed loudly in indignation. "Whatever. Let me wash this off and then let's go find mum and dad."

The man watched with a smile as one twin stopped walking and the other walked past him and into the washroom that was right near him. The young man looked back to make sure the other twin wasn't going to follow her sister into the bathroom and then, with a smile, followed her inside, wand outstretched.

A/N- This chapter had all sorts of things. A whole bunch of fluffiness, Rose and Scorpius tension, Al/Nora interaction and a dangerous man in the shadows. Three guesses as to who it is. The next few chapters will be filled with drama since we are slowly getting to the climax of the story. Anyway, I will update quickly for the next few chapters as well. Please read and review. Thanks! :D