Disclaimer: I do not own the Harry Potter book series or movie adaptations.

Chapter Three: Lineage

7 June 2025

Weasley,

My mother requested that I owl you about your preference for dinner tonight. She wanted to make sure that you don't have any allergies or dietary restrictions. Please owl back, or she may just kill me.

Scorpius

I rolled my eyes. I almost considered not replying, just in case his mother made good on her threat, but then I decided that it wasn't worth the awkwardness of going to a dinner and being unable to eat. I sent my reply, I don't eat pork. That's it, and then turned my attention to my closet.

He'd asked that I dress nice for this evening. After delivering a very cheesy chat up line, my brain reminded me. Regardless, I was curious what he meant. Did he mean I should dress formally? That I should dress in something less rugged? I wished that I had chosen something more dressy for the evening before so that his instructions could have been more clear.

After about fifteen minutes of deliberation, I gave in. With a frustrated huff, I turned on my heel and apparated.

I landed in the middle of the sitting room of Grimmauld Place with a pop. Aunt Ginny, who had been sitting on the couch reading when I apparated in, looked up with alarm. "Rose Perdita Weasley!" she exclaimed. "You nearly gave me a heart attack!"

I giggled. "Sorry," I said, "But I really need Lily."

"She's in her room," Aunt Ginny said. "Maybe take her for some sunlight? She's just about always in there."

I nodded. "I've got her, auntie."

At five twenty-eight I was back at my house, waiting for Scorpius to show up. Lily, as expected, had jumped at the chance to dress me up, and while I had possibly never felt more uncomfortable, even I had to admit that I looked nice.

Lily had thrown me into a long-sleeved, knee-length black dress that, while not skin-tight, hugged my curves in a way that both made me look thinner around the waist and curvier around the hips and bust. The dress had a v-neckline that hinted at cleavage without actually showing anything immodest. She'd tried to make me put on heels, but I had held firm. Instead, I wore a pair of black dress flats. We elected to leave my hair down, but we used some Sleekeazy's in order to make it a little bit less frizzy.

I felt like a Barbie doll.

Five-thirty came around and, right on time, I heard a knock on my door. Mum was the one to get up to get it, much to my dismay, and she greeted Scorpius with the same enthusiasm that she had the night before. I'd just grabbed my bag when he walked into the sitting room.

"Hello," he said, his face emotionless again. "You look nice this evening." There was a teasing twinkle in his eye that I cursed myself for noticing.

"Thank you," I answered tersely. I looked at my mother, who was giving me an encouraging smile, and fought the urge to roll my eyes. "You do too."

I wasn't lying; he did look good, another fact that I was cursing myself for noticing. He wore black slacks again, like yesterday, but he also wore a Slytherin-green button-up shirt. 'Dapper' is the word Molly would have used to describe him.

"Alright," Scorpius said after a moment of silence, "Hermione, it's been very nice to see you again. Weasley, can you come here? I'm going to apparate us there."

I took a deep breath but nodded, going forward and grabbing the crook of his arm as he raised his wand and Mum said her goodbyes to us both, noting that she expected to have me home by nine o' clock unless I was going to owl differently. I doubted it would take me that long to get home.

A sharp tug at my navel later, I stood in the middle of what I assumed to be the famous Malfoy Manor. The floors were hard wood, the walls a homey soft yellow color. And covered in what looked to be family photos. It looked absolutely nothing like my parents' recollections from during the Second Wizarding War.

I was too busy looking around to let go of Scorpius' arm. In fact, I didn't even remember that I was holding it until he stepped away and my arm dropped. A moment later, however, I heard the sound of heels on the floor and the most beautiful woman I'd ever seen walked through the door.

The woman, who I knew to be Astoria Malfoy, had long, flowing dark brown hair that fell to her waist in even waves, a complexion even more perfect than some of the dolls' that I'd owned as a child, and a body that any girl would be jealous of. She wore a knee-length, off-the-shoulder red dress that made her look all the more regal, and I wished for a moment that I could come even close to looking as she did.

"Rose," she said, a smile on her red-stained lips, "It's so nice to see you! I think the last time was at a Ministry function with your mother, yes?"

I tried to smile back. "Yes, Mrs. Malfoy," I said. "It's nice to see you again as well."

Astoria gave me a motherly smile. "I know this must be strange," she said. "I certainly got enough owls home during my son's time at school to know that he was positively rotten to you." She threw a mild glare over at him. If only she knew.

"That's perfectly fine," I said. "We've found a way to make it work, I think."

Astoria raised an eyebrow. "Has he talked to you about-"

"Mother!" I jolted at Scorpius' outburst and she and I both turned toward him. "Not now, please," he said in a softer voice, composing himself.

His mother huffed. "Alright then," she said. "In any case, dinner is just about done. Will you please go get your father from his study while I take Rose to the dining room?"

Scorpius looked tentatively between his mother and myself before nodded and going off down one of the many hallways leading out of this large room. Astoria, likewise, motioned for me to follow her in the opposite direction. There were so many winding hallways that I was thoroughly lost by the time that we made it to the dining room.

When we got to the dining room, I saw more food than I'd ever seen at once just sitting on the table. Roast duck, lemon-basted chicken, steak, rice, noodles, corn, broccoli, you name it. Sitting at the table already there was a woman who I didn't recognize by face, but rather by reputation. Narcissa Malfoy.

The older woman sat to the left of the head of the table; her silver hair was up in a simple bun, and she wore a simple but stunning back dress similar to mine in shape, except that hers dropped all the way to the floor. Her eyes matched Scorpius', and at the present they stared at me as though I was something to be dissected, something that she couldn't quite understand.

Astoria led me to the table and took a seat to the right hand of the head seat, which had yet remained unoccupied, motioning for me to sit at her side. "Rose," she said, "I don't suppose you've met my mother-in-law."

I nodded. "No, I don't believe so," I said. I turned to Narcissa, turning my eyes downward in a show of respect. "My name is Rose Weasley."

Narcissa continued to look at me in silence for a moment. "My name is Narcissa. You will refer to me as Mrs. Malfoy. I don't care for this new-age disrespectful chatter. Is that understood?"

I fought a grimace. "Yes, Mrs. Malfoy," I said evenly.

The door to the dining room opened again, and I looked over. In the doorway stood Scorpius next to his father, and I blinked. They were nearly identical except that Malfoy Senior had longer hair and wore a blue shirt instead of a green one. He smiled upon meeting my eyes.

"Rose," Draco said warmly, "It's so nice to see you again darling."

I grinned back at him. I'd always enjoyed the time I spent in his company; he was the only one at those boring Ministry functions that treated me as an adult and didn't try to dumb things down for me. "It's nice to see you again too," I said. Draco came to sit at the head of the table, and Scorpius sat across from me.

"Now then," said Astoria, "Shall we eat?"

The dinner went quietly, with only general conversation, for nearly the entire meal before Narcissa spoke up again. "Rose," she said in a calm but detached tone. I turned to her. "Have you had a moment to talk to Scorpius about his lineage?"

Scorpius' face turned beet red, and I frowned in confusion. "No, Mrs. Malfoy," I said. "Is there something that he should've told me?"

Narcissa's face hardened and she turned to her grandson, who was now staring at the table. "Scorpius," she said, "You can tell her or I can."

Scorpius took a deep breath. "I was going to tell you after dinner, hopefully in privacy," he said. He looked up and met my eyes. "The thing that my grandmother wants me to tell you is that my family's lineage, going back generations, has had a spell over it. It was put on us to make arranged marriages easier on everyone involved."

My heart began to beat faster the longer he spoke. "Get to the point, please, Scorpius," I said, dread creeping up.

Scorpius looked back down at his plate. "The spell does a few things, you see. It makes it so that neither spouse can cheat, neither spouse can physically hurt the other, and- and-"

"And the Malfoy heir has power over his bride," Narcissa said, a smile on her face. "To make sure that it's never forgotten who the head of household is."

My mouth hung open for a moment, and I looked wildly from one face to the next. Scorpius was still staring at his plate, while Narcissa looked at me smugly, Draco looked as though he was expecting a bomb to go off, and Astoria looked sympathetic.

I closed my mouth and responded in a shaky tone, my voice low. "What do you mean by 'power', Mrs. Malfoy?"

"What she means, dear," Astoria said, "Is that once you marry Scorpius, the magic in his blood will recognize you as his wife. You'll still have full autonomy, but if Scorpius commands you to do something, your magic will respond almost as though you're under an Imperius. There are exceptions, of course - he can't command you to have sex, for instance."

I gasped. "He can command me to do whatever he wants," I repeated, "Except for have sex."

Narcissa began to frown. "This is hardly appropriate dinner discussion," she said in a disgusted tone. I kept my mouth closed, worried that I would scream if I allowed it to open.

"I know that this is a lot to take in, Rose," Draco started, his tone careful. He was still ready to take shelter if a bomb went off. "But trust me when I say that when Astoria and I got married, I did my best to break the spell. I hired the best curse breakers and spent years on the endeavor. If there's a way to do it, nobody has been able to find it."

I nodded vaguely, blood rushing to my ears and drowning out whatever he said after that. I had to think. I had to breathe.

I had to go.

I stood abruptly. "I'm so sorry," I said, "But I really need to go. It was so nice seeing all of you, and dinner was wonderful. I hope to see you all again soon." I gave what I hoped was a convincing smile, but I knew that no one there believed it.

Scorpius got up as well. "Allow me to Apparate you home," he said. "The wards won't allow you to do it yourself."

I nodded and we said our goodbye to those at the table before Scorpius led me back into the room that we'd first Apparated into. We left immediately, landing back in my own sitting room. It was empty for once.

"Rose," Scorpius began.

I spun toward him, my eyes blazing as I glared daggers through his skull. I could feel my cheeks flushing with anger and my eyes beginning to fill with angry tears. "Don't you dare call me that," I hissed, trying not to yell. "How dare you keep that from me?"

"I tried to tell you," Scorpius said, his eyes pleading. I'd only seen that much emotion on his face one time before. "Twice, actually-"

I slapped him.

The sharp sound of a smack resounded around my silent sitting room, and he stared at me first in confusion and then in anger. Before I knew it, he had apparated away.

I ran to my room and slammed the door, throwing myself on the bed and beginning to sob. The more I sobbed, the more I felt like a stupid little girl, which only made more tears spring up. I don't know how long I laid there, feeling sorry for myself, before I felt a gentle hand on my back.

I looked up, wiping tears (and probably mascara) from my eyes as I turned around to see who had come into my room without me noticing.

Albus.

I threw myself into the arms of my best friend and began to sob even harder into his shirt, thanking the sun and the moon for whatever had possessed him to come here so late. He patted my hair and shushed me like a child for longer than I could keep track of, running his nails along my spine soothingly as he did so, until my sobs turned into hiccoughs and I could tell him what had happened that night.

I fell asleep laying with him, my head on his chest like when we were children, just as the sun began to creep above the horizon.