Chapter 6 - Scorpius

The Hogshead pub was a full house on a Saturday night. Everyone talking over each other resulted in there being a loud indistinguishable murmur in the pub. Scorpius sat at a large round table in the corner of the pub. His friends from his Auror work dragged him out from his apartment for a drink.

"Hey, remember that time there was this fuck wit who decided to leave all the evidence at the scene of the crime?" Luke, the one opposite Scorpius, asked. He had glasses that were rectangular and were too wide for his face; and a huge distant smile from his now two hours of drinking.

"Yeah, I remember, made our shit so easy," Riley replied. He was tall and lanky as such his knees hit the bottom of the table no problem.

"And the look on his fucking face when we caught his ass," Connor stated starting to chuckle as he said it. The group cracked into laughter, except Scorpius.

He had been sitting silently staring out the window into the night. The severe drop in temperature created a cloudy film of condensation on the window. The noise he drowned out in silence.

He couldn't help but think of how beautiful Rose looked today. In a dress that suited her so well; showing her feminine curves. It had ignited old desires all over again. Memories of that time, their time, flooded back from the depths.

"Scorpius, why aren't you drinking?" Riley, drunk, asked as if it were an insult not to be as drunk as they were.

Scorpius pretended to sip the glass of beer in front of him. He'd been nursing the same beer all night. The rest of the group was too drunk to tell that he wasn't.

The little girl with wild ringlets and blonde hair that was almost white. The memory waved like a red flag in his mind. She had Rose's deep blue eyes, but that hair colour. It was so familiar it was scary. It reminded him of his father's hair. It reminded him of his own hair, with an epiphany it seemed like everything clicked into place.

That girl is my child. She's my daughter...Rose's daughter. They had both been virgins that night at Hogwarts. It had also been close to the term ending and by her age, the math works out. He stood leaving the drunk group to their own devices and left the pub. He needed to go to Rose, to confirm. Where does she live though? "Fuck." A person who would know? Albus. Without a second thought, he apparited in front of Al's house. After rapid knocking, Al finally opened the door.

"Scorp, some people try to sleep at this hour."

"Where does Rose live?"

"Oh, you don't know where it is, do you?" Al smirked.

Scorpius turned red but stayed focused, "Just help me apparite there."

"Fine, I could take you there," Al agreed, grabbing his coat and boots. "Ah the things done for love," He sighed to himself.

Scorpius stood in front of the door for an almost awkwardly long time. Al had decided to wait down the Hall out of sight with the excuse he didn't want to interfere. It was a bonus that he could eavesdrop.

Here he is, finally going to talk to her. Would she even talk to him? What will she think? How could she not tell him? It's not like there were no chances to. What should he do? What is the right thing to say? Why won't this tightness in his chest go away? He already lost her once, he can't screw this up too.

After a deep breath, Scorpius knocked on the door, gentle at first but when there was no response he knocked again louder this time. A clicking behind the door approached and the door swung open. Rose with her wild curls out, an over-sized long sleeve top, baggy shorts and house slippers, dark circles under her eyes, she took one look at Scorpius and frown lines appeared. She looked tired.

"Mr Malfoy, what are you doing here?" Rose's tone was low and could be compared to a growl, paired with glaring, Scorpius had obviously been the last person she wanted to see tonight.

"We need to talk," Scorpius matched Rose's tone and crossed his arms.

Rose hissed through gritted teeth, "Now?"

"Now," He confirmed.

"Merlin help me," She sighed, opening the door further and walking back into the apartment.

The place was small, though, he was comparing it to a house. He followed Rose into the kitchen where Esme was reading at the table with what appeared to be coffee. Esme looked up and suddenly spluttered into a coughing fit.

"Sorry, swallowing and breathing doesn't work," She commented. Ironically it should have lightened the heavy tension in the room, but it couldn't remove three years' worth.

"Esme, can you please check that Lyra is in bed?" Rose gave a faint smile.

"Sure," She grabbed her book and coffee and left, closing the door leading to the hallway behind her.

It was silent for many seconds before Rose grabbed the nearest clean cup and put, what he believed to be a kettle, on.

He had to say something, anything to start with. "Rose…"

She didn't respond. "Rose…is she, my daughter?"

"I cannot believe you just said that, who else would she be?" Rose had a shake in her voice and didn't even stop to take a breath, "How many white blonde men do you think I've slept with, you obviously think that I'll bed anyone, you're git, you prick, you think that I don't care who it is. You have no right to come back after three years and act like I'm the criminal here. Especially when you were gung-ho about that ditzy blonde bitch before you left." The kettle was shrieking and then went quiet again.

Scorpius was shocked, she had just exploded like a volcano. She sniffled a bit and whipped her face before turning to face him with a red nose and eyes. All he wanted to do was hold her close, but he can't, he hated it. Hated the messed-up situation. Why couldn't things be normal and simple? "That, wasn't an answer Rose, Merlin, and who are you talking about?"

"Oh, you know, the one that was all over you in the Great Hall and most of the time before you up and left."

Scorpius took a second to recall the memory of how he left Hogwarts three years ago. Suddenly it twigged, "You mean Chelsea Nott?"

"In the flesh," Rose sarcastically stated scrunching her face up like she ate something sour. "How is she? Wasn't she supposed to be your beloved bride to be?"

"Rose, nothing happened with Chelsea, and in the Great Hall, she got a letter from my father saying things I never agreed to. I never had the faintest idea about it until that day."

"Oh sure, you didn't try and resist her when she kissed you!" Rose's voice gradually became louder. "You know what I don't want to here anymore," She walked towards the Hallway, "I want you to leave." No, don't push me away.

"Rose just listen to me," Scorpius reasoned.

"And why would I when you never replied to any of my letters?"

"What fucking letters? Rose, you never replied to any of mine either!"

"Oh yeah, I'd like to see what evidence you have that you even wrote letters because I don't."

They had walked into the Hallway and Rose opened the front door. "Just leave already!"

Scorpius clenched his fists. She wasn't listening in the typical stubborn Rose style. Why couldn't she just listen to his side of the story for two seconds?

"Fine, but we aren't done talking about this." Scorpius left the apartment with Rose slamming the door behind him.

He was so completely absorbed in feeling as though nothing he did made a difference to anything when it came to Rose, he walked straight passed Al and punched the wall, hard.

"Scorp, I'm pretty sure you just broke some of your bones." Al tried to perform the repair spell but Scorpius wouldn't let him. The physical pain was a good distraction. They both fluued out of the building leaving the apartment block quite once more.

Rose crouched on the floor leaning on the front door. The tears didn't stop, somehow Scorpius managed to bring back all the feelings she had kept buried for the past three years. Hating his stubborn resolve and the way he was so direct at times, how all she wanted to tell him was to stay and hold her, to never let her go. Her own stubborn pride is to blame as well, but she can't forget all that heartache he put her threw when he left Hogwarts. Esme came and sat next to Rose as she sobbed with all her might.