Rose looked him over, her gaze lingering on his exposed hip bones. "I see you dressed for the occasion."
"I thought one of us should keep their cool."
Her eyes flashed. "Why do you think I'm in here?"
He looked past her shoulder to the darts board on the wall. "Fond memories?" All their matches had turned into strip darts.
She shut the door in his face. "I'm staying in here until you take me seriously." She didn't yell through the door. She'd cast her own Sonorous Charm.
Scorpius braced his hands on either side of the door to keep from pounding on it. "I do take you seriously."
"Uh huh. That's why you're half naked and trying to seduce me."
"If I was trying to seduce you I'd be completely naked." He hated talking through the door. He needed to see if she was smiling even the slightest bit. "Open up. I want to talk face to face."
"And gauge my reactions and change your strategy accordingly. No. I'm not giving you that advantage," Rose said.
"I don't have to see you to picture your reactions," he said. "Right now you're standing in front of the door with your arms crossed, and your lips parted, waiting for me to finish speaking so you can return fire." He leaned closer. "I don't want to fight. Let me in."
He jerked his head back at the sound of a fist hitting one of the raised panels.
"No! I'm not making up before we resolve our conflict!"
That meant he was tempting her. Scorpius said, "Your hands are on your hips. Did you take off my dressing gown?"
She answered by shoving it under the door to him.
"Thank you," he said. "It's getting chilly out here." He rubbed the material against his cheek.
Tap! Tap! Tap! He imagined Rose poking the wood with her finger. "What are you doing?" she demanded. "Are you sniffing the fabric?"
"Among other things." He put the dressing gown on.
Rose said, "I can picture you tying the sash. Smirking."
"I'm not smirking," he said. "And I'm not smiling. Open the door."
"Not until you listen to me."
He sat down and leaned his head against the walnut panel. "All right."
Scorpius heard a softer Tap Tap by his ear.
"Are you down here?" Rose asked.
"Sitting is more comfortable than standing."
"I suppose you're right." He pictured her sitting down, the door between them a symbol of their divided viewpoints.
Rose was silent for a while, and then she said, "Our fathers have very different personalities, but they both lost family and friends in the war, and they both worry about their children."
"I know."
He heard Rose exhale in frustration. "Then you should have more sympathy, and you should understand why Dad wanted you to promise not to tell anyone we were living together. And showing is telling, don't try to say otherwise."
"I won't."
Now he listened to her surprised inhale. Funny how a tiny sound revealed so much. Scorpius was used to relying mostly on visual cues, but Rose was so expressive he had no problem reading the inflections in her voice and in every breathe she took.
She asked, "Are you admitting to breaking your promise deliberately?"
"Only to your family, not my grandfather."
"That's a yes."
Why did Gryffindors have to have everything spelled out? "Yes."
Even with a Sonorous Charm, he barely heard her whisper, "Why did you do it?"
He laughed without humour.
Another intake of breath: this one sounded hurt and angry.
"I wasn't laughing at you or the question." Scorpius stood. "You'd know that if you could see my face, but maybe it's a good thing you can't. I'm sure my expression isn't pleasant." He tapped a fingertip against the door. "Are you standing?"
"Does it matter?"
Her voice seemed to be coming through the door at about his level. It made it easier to visualise her looking at him. "I was laughing at myself." He cast a nonverbal Accioto retrieve his clothes, wand, and shoes. "I'm an adult, but I still allow parents to dictate rules." He undressed. "I think it's time that changed." He used a Dry Cleaning Charm to freshen the clothes he'd worn to the party and swiftly dressed.
"What are you doing?"
Scorpius heard a slight rattle. Her fingers wrapped around the door handle? He said, "I'm going to do something I should have done months ago." He cast another spell.
The handle rattled. Rose pounded on the door. "Did you use a Locking Spell?"
"I have to do this alone. Man to man," Scorpius said.
"No," Rose said. "You can't. Not without me. We're a couple. Open the door and let's talk about it first. Scor—"
Her voice cut off when he closed the door to the terrace. Scorpius turned and Apparated.
.
The Weaselys' four-storey terraced home appeared between its neighbours on Thornhill Square. He was still on the approved visitor list: at least for now. Scorpius walked up the steps and rang the bell.
Ron Weasley opened the door. He wore a sleeveless t-shirt and matching orange lounging trousers printed with the Chudley Cannons logo. "What do you want?"
"I'd like to speak with you, sir."
"Where's Rose?" Ron craned his neck as if his daughter might be hiding across the street.
"At home." For the moment.
Ron's eyes became slits. "This is her home. This will always be her home."
Scorpius wasn't about to debate the issue. "May I come in?"
"All right." Ron backed into the foyer.
"Do we have a visitor?" Hermione Weasley's amplified voice seemed to come from upstairs.
Ron shot Scorpius a warning glance and said, "No." He walked down the corridor to the library and opened the door, jerking a thumb for Scorpius to enter first. Once the door shut, he said, "You're not visiting. Say what you have to say and then leave."
"I apologise for putting Mini-Crookshanks on the bed, and for Felix nipping your fingers. He was on guard duty."
Ron appeared at a loss for words. "OK," he said finally. "No harm done, I suppose. Everyone took it as a joke."
"I didn't."
"Me either. But I can get over it." If you don't pull another Mini-Crookshanks stunt again was implied.
"I won't." Scorpius looked Ron Weasley in the eye, man to man. No more hiding behind Rose. He said, "I'll keep my word and not tell anyone that Rose and I are living together, but I won't hide it from her family like it's something to be ashamed of. Like it's something that doesn't matter."
Ron's face turned red, and it was an alarming sight. "If Rosie mattered, you wouldn't hang out with those Knights of Walpurgis."
Scorpius said, "I wouldn't hang out with them if I was a Gryffindor or a Weasley, but I'm not. I'm a Malfoy and a Slytherin. That won't change."
"Oh yeah?" Ron poked him in the chest. "Then you'd better practice your bloody damned Occlumency, because if Draco can rip through your memories drunk, what the ruddy hell do you think a sober Legilimens is going to find when he goes looking for information?" His voice rose to a shout, "Anything he fecking wants, that's what!"
"Will they?" Scorpius asked coldly. "Use Legilimency on me. Just try."
The library door burst open. Hermione Weasley in a towelling robe, holding her wand, cried, "Ronald! What's going on?"
The doorbell rang. Scorpius bet that Rose had left the flat so quickly she'd forgotten her key. He told Ron, "I'm going to go arrange advanced Occlumency lessons right now." He threw over his shoulder as he strode down the corridor and through the lounge, "May I leave through your back garden?" Scorpius opened the French doors, stepped outside, and Apparated.
.
The houses at number eleven and thirteen Grimmauld Place leaned together as though number twelve Grimmauld Place had ever existed. Scorpius stood on the pavement and considered his options. There was no Instant Happiness Charm to enable him to cast a Patronus when he had no happy thoughts, but he could try to cast a Cheering Charm on himself and hope that his mood didn't turn so optimistic that he'd feel he didn't need Harry Potter's help.
Or he could call for Kreacher.
When a son or daughter of the House of Black called, its house-elf was bound to serve: or so Grandmother Narcissa always claimed. He couldn't keep loitering in front of Muggle residences. Someone would walk out and ask what he was doing or ring the police. Scorpius said, "Kreacher, come to me."
An old house-elf with watery green eyes appeared beside him. "Kreacher's master is Harry Potter, but he will always answer the call of a True Black."
"Thank you. I need you to tell your master that Scorpius Malfoy asks to speak with him on a matter of importance."
The elf wiped his eyes with the hem of his tea towel. "If only Mistress could see family return." He vanished.
Shortly afterward, Twelve Grimmauld materialised between its neighbours. The front door opened. Harry waved him inside. "Kreacher said a true son of the House of Black asked to see me. I assumed he meant you." He smiled a little.
Scorpius glanced around the entrance hall. It was grander than the one at Thornhill Square, but he was glad Rose hadn't grown up at Grimmauld Place. No amount of redecorating could make him forget the nightmare-inducing family stories Grandmother had shared on the rare occasions she'd tucked him into bed. He noticed the other man's striped pyjamas and said, "I apologise for barging in so late."
"I'm sure you have good reason. Let's go down to the kitchen. Kreacher's making tea."
The doorbell rang, followed by several raps of the door knocker and "Uncle Harry!"
"It's Rose," Scorpius said. "She and I . . . ." Are having a row? Playing a non-sexy version of hide and seek?
Harry nodded. "I've been there too." He said. "I'll tell Kreacher to brew a full pot," and left his guest alone in the entry.
Scorpius took a deep breath and opened the door.
Rose stared at him. She was barefoot, with tousled hair. The legs of her fuzzy pyjama trousers showed beneath the hem of his grey silk dressing gown. She said, "We need a new guest room door. I ended up using a Vanishing Charm on the pieces that were left after the Incendio."
He took it as a hopeful sign that she'd said "we" needed a new door instead of "you" and backed into the entrance hall. "Did you use a Summoning Spell for your wand, or did you cast wandless spells?"
"Wandless. That's why there's also some fire and water damage." She closed the door and leaned against it. "I was furious that you went charging off to see my dad without me." She didn't look angry anymore. She looked hurt.
Scorpius took a step toward her. "The Green Knight hides behind his cloak of shadows. When it comes to your father, I've been hiding behind you. I won't do that anymore."
Rose lifted her chin. "So you told him, man to man, that you won't pretend we aren't living together?"
"Not to your family." He tried to smile, but it felt crooked. "Whatever else they may believe about me, I want there to be no doubt that you are the most important person in my life. I'm not ashamed of how I feel about you. I won't hide it." He moved closer. "Will you forgive me?"
She hurled herself into his arms, wrapping her arms around him.
Scorpius held her tight. "I hated that door anyway," he said.
Rose smiled up at him. "Why?"
"For coming between us."
Her lips parted. He bent his head.
"Hold that thought," she said.
"What?"
Rose took his hand and started walking down the corridor. "You came here to ask Uncle Harry to give us advanced Occlumency lessons, right?"
"Yes."
She gave him a saucy look. "The sooner we do that, the sooner we go home and make up." She giggled when he pulled her along in his sprint toward the basement stairs.
.
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A/N: I intended this to be the Sleazy Kneazle chapter, but again, a few things had to be worked out first, so it became a double row instead. I hope readers enjoyed it. :D Thanks to everyone who reviewed the last chapter: alix33, Arcoiris, Bourbon and chocolate, fynnsmom, glassycry, Guest (So mysterious! Are you a reader I know who couldn't log in, or someone new?), Needle In A Haystack (I so wish you allowed Private Messaging), nobodysperfect2133,Rose of the West, trinityblue76, and yiota146!
