A/N: I've been really busy lately so sorry I haven't replied to many reviews whilst trying to edit/upload in a timely manner (I've lost track a little ha). Do hope you all realise that I read them and appreciate it! Stay safe all. :)

Chapter 18. Christmas

The door to his house opened and his dog Kaigani – technically his father's service dog but he loved Scorpius way, way more – jumped on him, his huge front paws as high as his shoulders. Scorpius was almost knocked backwards by the exuberance of the jump, and then was assaulted by an excessively wet tongue.

"Hey boy, I missed you," Scorpius said, wrapping his arms around the Belgian malinois. Kaigani only ever jumped on him, only ever licked him. It was solely because Scorpius didn't listen to his father when Kaigani was in training all those years ago. He still had some play left that he saved exclusively for Scorpius.

"All that training," his father Draco Malfoy said, as he was wont to do every time Scorpius came home, "and two seconds of you at home and he goes haywire." His father had short blonde hair that was balding and cut an impressive figure for his age.

He was never seen without his prim and proper work robes on, without an exceedingly straight posture, and without a frown. Scorpius was sure his father had never missed a day of work in his life – whether it was outside with the dogs or working on obedience skills in the newest batch of puppies that were being trained for service, or talking with investors for the Malfoy business venture.

"Good. Too much training is bad," Scorpius muttered into Kaigani's fur. He felt better. He missed his dog's love so much.

"Oh? Is that what you tell your Captain?" said a soft feminine voice. "I seem to recall you in an uproar this summer because there wasn't enough training practices with the team."

"Mother!" exclaimed Scorpius. He lifted Kaigani's legs off his shoulder and then turned to give his mother a big hug. Kaigani, seeming to realise that by catering to one master he was neglecting the other, went to sit dutifully at Draco's feet.

"Oh Scorpius darling, how we have missed you so."

His mother was absolutely the best person ever. Her hair was light brown and up in a messy bun on her head, her smile was wide, dimples evident in both cheeks. And she didn't complain about the dog hair covering him. "We have so much to catch up on. I've asked Ibby to set up tea in the sunroom. Why don't you get cleaned up and we'll meet you there."

"Cleaned up? Mum you're dirtier than I am!" She was wearing her gardener's work clothes, having found a love of growing plants a long time ago. He remembered when they got the small greenhouse out back. He had many happy memories of playing with his old dog Kido while his mother pruned and worked.

However, while his father was supportive of her hobbies – as he himself had the unconventional hobby of training and raising service dogs for former Death Eaters, Azkaban prisoners, and survivors of war – he often did cite that as the tertiary reason from their fall of high society. Essentially his mother's lack of caring about status and fashion and working a blue-collar job didn't help the family name. It took two to manage high society. Even his father's side hobby, while somewhat respected, was still not acceptable with the stuffiest of witches and wizards. It was only the Malfoy venture position that seemed to hold merit – though fragile – with the wizarding world.

They were a rich, old family. Old money. That meant nothing these days and they weren't as welcome as they used to be to some of the events held by the magical elite. One of the major social events they were still invited to – and willingly went to – was the annual Yancy Fudge Christmas Party. Beyond that, they had next to no contact with High Society.

Scorpius was sure they were only invited so others could see how far the family had fallen. Someone needed to be the butt of every joke, create the gossip and scandals of the season, and why not the Malfoys-recently-fallen-from-grace? Scorpius wasn't sure why they went to the Christmas Party every year, but it was really important for his father and his mother always stressed the need to support him on this.

"Oh, but wait until you see what I've been growing. The second generation of Tilda foxtrot is thriving!"

Scorpius nodded, impressed. "Mum that's amazing. I can't believe you got it growing at this altitude though. It's so rare. What about that sub-Arctic pea vine species from Siberia? Any luck with that one?"

The current project of his mother's was growing rare and endangered species. They were quite lucrative for potion making but also very valuable in most medicines. He knew she had sold a batch of the desert cactus Wolfswing to Mungo's recently.

His mother kissed him on the cheek. "A little luck. I've got some sprouts growing, but can't seem to get them beyond that stage. We'll catch up over tea. Ibby will deposit your bags in your room."

The little house elf appeared and bowed to Astoria. "Anything for the Madame. Hello Master Scorpius, welcome home."

"Thanks Ibby … Here, you can take this one and I'll take this one." He pulled up his pants leg to show off the socks he was wearing. "See these?" Ibby's green eyes lit up and a small smile crept on her face. "I wear them to all my Quidditch games. They are the warmest socks ever!"

He hauled his bag up to his room, leaving it in the middle of the floor next to the one that Ibby had already brought back, and then fell backwards on his bed (avoiding the grumpy fat cat seated right in the middle).

Home, finally. To his own room that had much less snoring, to the old Quidditch posters across the walls, and to the ostentatious rug he picked out ten years ago that was striped green and brown. Doris mewled at him and then moved closer to his side. What was a night sleeping without Doris trying to suffocate him? He squeezed Doris tight enough that she gave a squeak. There were the plants that his mother maintained throughout the year while he was away, and his giant bookshelf of all his old favourites. He loved it at home. He missed it.

Breakfast was quiet the next morning. He had slept in and his father had already left for work. Kaigani sat at his feet, Ibby kept him company and updated him on her family. Then his mom came in from outside and sat down with him, picking up some toast to nibble on.

She was so beautiful. Her hair was braided away from her face, as was usual those days she was working in the greenhouse. Her eyes were the same colour as Scorpius's own brown eyes, and he had her nose – a straight nose with the slightest curve at the end.

"What's the latest for your greenhouse?" Scorpius asked. "More expansions?"

"Only one new section since you've last been home," she said with a smile. "I've signed two small contracts – one with Mungo's and one with an apothecary in Godric's Hollow. It's been keeping me busy."

"That's neat. What sort of plants are you producing? What are they interested in?"

"Well, maybe it's time for another tour of the greenhouse and I can update you more. Want to come see the primrose? I need some of your expertise about the best way to harvest it for potioneers to use."

Scorpius swelled with pride that his mother considered him a potioneer. He quickly finished up his breakfast and then they wandered through Malfoy Manor to the back. The place wasn't very used anymore. Even after two huge sections of the Manor were demolished after his accident, it still was larger than they needed for daily life. What was the purpose of all the empty rooms that nobody ever touched but cleaned of dust every week?

Sometimes he wished there was a history of the house he could read. But then from what he'd heard about the last Wizarding War, he wasn't sure he wanted to know what happened in the house where he currently lived. It was the base for Volde-poo and he was sure there were deaths, tortures, and imprisonments. And probably throughout history there was shady stuff that had gone on. It wasn't like the Malfoy's ever broke from Slytherin tradition before him.

He was such a black sheep in his grandparent's eyes.

He was sure some good had happened in it, even if it was a lost story of ages past. His dad rarely talked about growing up in the house though, so even recent history was a mystery.

The back porch was well used, facing south with various plants potted on the steps and wet prints on the floor from the morning. He held the door open for his mum and then followed her into the sunny, cold day. They wandered to the greenhouses, the large plastic covered buildings that had multiplied in the past few years. "So your father and I were talking last night."

"No. You talk to each other?"

"Always a joy to have you around dear. We're wondering if you'd like to invite your young lady to supper for Christmas Eve. It'll be us as your grandparents are going to London for a play and will not be joining us." He knew she meant Malfoy grandparents by the tone of her voice – his grandfather had lived through a lot in the war and was not quite there sometimes, or socially aware of some of the things he said. Not to mention his girlfriend was muggle born so he was sure there would be a few judgemental comments. "She can Floo over, or we can apparate her if she does not have access to a fireplace?"

Scorpius drummed his fingers on the workbench. That thought didn't excite him very much, if he were being honest. That made it all seem much more serious – the meeting of the parents and everything. They'd only been dating about two and a half months or something? That seemed too soon.

"I … ahhhh probably will not invite her. We said goodbye with the assumption of not seeing each other for two weeks over Christmas."

"Hmm."

"Not that I don't appreciate it. I really do! It's not been that long of a relationship, and it's not a big deal."

His mom looked worried. "Scorpius," she spoke delicately, as if speaking to an infant. "I hope you know that she would be welcome here, always. We'd both love to meet her and see what she's about. She sounds amazing if your letters are anything to go by."

"Yeah? She is pretty cool. I mean, you'll probably meet her eventually if everything goes well."

"If … if we said we'd meet at a restaurant in Diagon Alley, would she be interested in that more?"

"I mean I don't know. Sure. Supper here is fine as well. But another time maybe."

She gave him a very pointed look and he didn't understand what she was getting at.

"Scorpius, are you not inviting her because she's a muggle born? Because our families are not about that anymore and blood status makes no difference to your Father or I."

"Oooh. Oh! No! Mum not at all! I didn't even think of that. It's not that at all. I like her, but it's fun. I don't know, I guess with faced with the opportunity to meet the parents, it seems too soon … too serious. I don't know?" he said it rather helplessly. Thoughts swirling around his head in a way he couldn't understand. But while he couldn't articulate the thoughts, he felt it was the right thing to say.

At least his mother looked placated and happy. They worked in the greenhouse for a few more hours. His mind was half not present - trying to rethink Cass Kruger. He did like her. Of course he did. But the thought of bringing her to meet his parents … It just didn't interest him. He did like her, he was sure?

Would she even say yes if he invited her over during Christmas? That thought rather scared him – what did she know about his family? Maybe he was embarrassed? What would her parents say about him and his dark family history? His family was a major player in a genocidal war in recent history. How many kids had baggage like he did?

Why was he even born a Malfoy?

He sighed and pulled some weeds that were growing with the primrose.

Crazily enough Christmas involved visitations from both sides of his grandparents (who never got along as well as anyone hoped), and then his Japanese Greengrass cousins who were coming over for an extended visit in the UK.

It was always such a happy time. His two cousins spoke Japanese around Scorpius all the time to piss him off because he could never follow along that well. He heard the words 'pisshead' and 'ugly' but he wasn't sure if they were talking about him or not. His cousins Miu and Rei went to Mahoutokoro, a prestigious school on a volcanic island. They always seemed to know more than he did about every single subject.

The Greengrass grandparents were loud and very opinionated about the checkered Malfoy past as Daphne, Scorpius's aunt, had essentially married into good Japanese wealth and reputation. Astoria had married into broken Malfoy power, tarnished reputation, and diminished wealth. The Malfoy grandparents accepted the comments for the first hour before retaliating with snarky comments. It was always a weird dynamic and his parents worked overtime to try and smooth things out.

Scorpius got along the best with his Uncle Haru who told the amazing stories of his business dealings in the muggle seafood industry, and all the shady characters he'd met. Scorpius didn't dare believe half the stories, but he could never stop listening. He didn't enjoy his Aunt Daphne as much. She seemed to hold her nose higher in the air than most people and looked at everyone, including her own daughters, with disapproval. She also didn't work at all, enjoying high society in Britain while her husband and daughters were overseas.

They survived Christmas day and then December 26 rolled around. The whole Malfoy house was aflurry with chaos getting ready for the Yancy Fudge Christmas Party. Rei had dog hair all over her and her curses could be heard all over the house at every hair she picked off, Doris apparently stole Miu's earrings (he had swiped them off the bed) and was on a cathunt to get them back, and Daphne had over curled her hair and she informed everyone of that detail twice. Astoria was running from floor to floor to ensure all the relatives and grandparents were finding everything they needed.

His uncle sat in the kitchen drinking firewhisky and cackled at his crazy family. "Scorpius, this is nothing. You should have watched them get ready at the Noburu Gathering last year in Korea. There was a duel over who could wear the colour periwinkle and we had to repaint the whole house because of the scorch marks."

His mother kept barging into his room to see if he was ready yet and to make sure he didn't wrinkle his dress robes or get cat hair on them after his suicidal cat sauntered back into his room after the whole Miu fiasco. He eventually got dressed so his mum would stop bugging him.

Then his cousin's decided they needed his bathroom mirror to do their makeup because it had the best lighting so they stormed his room and scared Doris under the bed. And the party wasn't for a few hours yet! Merlin!

"Scorpius! We brought more hair gel for you. Come here," he heard Rei say to him from his bathroom. Shit. They were always on him about his hair. He quickly ran to the window.

They still had loads of time, so he escaped by broom and went for a short flight over the grounds. That was the only moment of peace he found for the next 2 hours as he was sure his mother's yells could be heard halfway across England when he returned with windswept hair and wrinkled dress robes with dog hair on them (he had stopped by the kennels).

His cousins attacked his hair full on with his mother standing watch and only after that did his father come to his rescue. Aieeeee. His mother was a different person when her sister was around. The formal Christmas Party didn't help matters either.

Scorpius and his father decided to join his uncle who was still in the kitchen drinking firewhisky to escape some of the chaos. Still though, he wasn't totally free from the drama as his father decided that was the time to give Scorpius another speech about the importance of the family name, and face, and staying strong as a family even though they were disgraced.

Uncle Haru kept drinking along, nodding every now and then. The speech continued further then about the party they were about to go to and the social standards that were expected of him (such as no fights with Laila Park's arrogant older brother like the one that happened two years ago). But he'd heard the tirade year after year.

Though Scorpius didn't say anything to his father, he was sure his rich foreign relatives, along with Aunt Daphne's influence were maybe the only thing that kept them invited to this one event. It was basically a pity invite, Scorpius thought. And if he had the choice he would never go.

The only thing Scorpius enjoyed about the night was that the Westlock brothers were there because of some weird connection with their parents to the Minister of Magic. The one year they were abroad in Guam was the year he got into a fight with Laila Park's older brother. What a catastrophe that was.

The Nott's had never been invited, but it wasn't something Nott ever brought up to him at school. Some things didn't need to be said. Regardless, the food was excellent and drinks were free. He had a few allies he stuck with and didn't care about anything else or any of the politics. He also got a small amount of amusement by annoying his two cousins who worked really hard to have a positive presence and make connections.

In the end he survived, as he always did.

The rest of the Christmas break was relatively uneventful. Scorpius was back flying and training as soon as he recovered from his hangover. They went to the coast for a few days for New Years. And then the break was over and he had to go to school the next day. Scorpius hated that whenever he blinked, weeks would pass. It was never enough time.