Chapter 9: Worth it

"All I'm asking is that you remain calm," Albus' dad sat at the table in the family room of his and Ginny's home. "Your mum will be back soon."

Scorpius wasn't sure how he and Albus made it through the night and to the Potter's home the next morning. After reading the article about Andrew, his fiancé nearly cursed the entire staff of the Daily Prophet. And though he was also livid, Scorpius had to focus all of his attention on Albus to prevent any further damage.

"Dad, I am calm" Albus heard Scorpius sniffle in disagreement, "well as calm as I can be in this situation. Scorpius and me are used to this kind of thing being printed or whispered about. And it still doesn't make it any easier, but we have gotten used to it. Andrew on the other hand..."

Harry moved his chair closer to his son and placed his hand on his shoulder, "I know son, he is an innocent. I truly do understand what it's like to be the center of attention that you never wanted or asked for. I even understand being on the end of nothing but lies from the papers. But the most important thing for you to focus on is Andrew and his protection."

Albus nodded and looked up to see Andrew sitting in the other room playing with a few toys while the TV played in the background.

"It's all just... feeling like if it's not one thing, it's another." Scorpius had spoken up for the first time since entering the house over an hour ago.

Albus, only then realizing that Scorpius was there, sighed at the look on his face. He looked tired and his usual smile was absent. He kept his eyes low and focused on a spot at the table.

The shorter man often became selfish in his rage. He'd forgotten that there were other people involved in the mess they were currently in, one being his partner.

Albus stood from his chair and made a short distance over to where Scorpius sat. Without worrying about his father, he briskly grabbed Scorpius' arm and lifted him from the seat and replacing the now space with his own body. He then pulled the blonde down into his lap and hugged him from behind.

"I'm sorry love. Dad's right though. This will all blow over." He felt Scorpius lean into his chest a little more and nod his head.

Even though he said the words, he knew he didn't sound as confident as he wanted.
"Hi cutie, where are my other boys?" Ginny's voice could be heard from the living room.

"In there, Hawry said they needed to have some adults talks." Andrew replied.

Ginny ruffled his hair as she made her way into the kitchen, calling to the young child, "Well good thing you stayed in here because that sounds terribly boring." Glancing at the men in her kitchen, Ginny raised an eyebrow, "It's a bit tense in here. You boys have nothing to worry about though, I can assure you."

"Gin, what did you do? Please tell me you didn't curse someone. You still have to work there you know."

Ginny only smiled at her husband, "Yes I am aware dear of my current employment. But you also know that I take matters of my family and their personal lives very seriously." James, Albus, Lily, and Harry all had experience with Ginny's conversations with her boss and other reporters about the content of which they post about her family. "I will have you all know, that there will be an edited article circulating in about two hours. The person who wrote the story has been discredited since the source refused to be identified in the basic format."

"But we know who told the Prophet about Andrew, it was clearly Aunt Daphne" Scorpius had tried to remove himself from Albus' grasp out of respect for his parents, but Albus only held on tighter.

"Ah yes, but she apparently ran into this reporter at a bar in Diagon Alley and just started talking after a few drinks. I am not even sure she knew it was a reporter at all. Since she can't be identified as a reliable source, this is all just gossip. The reporter decided to take what little they heard and run to distribute it."

"That's all fine and dandy, that some junior reporter is going to have to retract their statement, but we all know once something is out there, it is hard to convince people of something else. You taught us that."

"Right you are Albus!" Ginny beamed at her son with pride. She adored it when her children listened to her. "Your father and I have also taught you to ignore what others say. People will never stop gossiping and the less attention you give something the less fuel you add to the fire. Causing it to then slowly burn out."

Harry added, "confronting the source is also a good way to ensure that the chances of this happening again are very low."

A moment later, Scorpius got out of Albus' arms. "What's the matter?"

"I am going to dad's house to see if my Aunt is back. This way I can confront the source like Harry just said." Scorpius looked over briefly at Harry who was surprised he was even listening to him.

Albus stood up as well, "Great I'll come along with you."

"No. I want to do this on my own," Scorpius smiled softly at his fiancé's face falling, "I think it would be best if you stayed here with your parents and Andrew. Make a day of it and get some rest. I'll be back as soon as I can."

Albus looked unpleased, but after a moment gave a stiff nod, to which Scorpius took not wanting to have any further discussion.

"Thanks for all your help, Harry and Ginny. I truly appreciate you both sticking up for me and Andrew."

"Oh course dear, you have been a part of our family long before you and my son became a couple," Ginny said wrapping her left arm around her husband's waist and giving a squeeze, making him nod furiously to confirm.

"Alrighty then, see you all in a bit." Scorpius leaned down to place a kiss on one of Albus' cheeks, letting his hand run briefly through his messy curls. "I love you. Tell Andy I will be back soon."

"Love you too."
With that Scorpius stepped outside, and the family heard a faint pop as he apparated away.

Draco didn't always like being at the Manor. Though it was grand and full of exciting rooms and artifacts collected over the years by his parents and grandparents before them, he would often only be found in a few rooms.

His dad didn't care for noise and didn't want Draco lurking around his private things, to which Draco found out years later why. His mother, on the other hand, didn't mind his curiosity but to avoid any riffs with his father, she encouraged him to stay in the gardens or the library if he was outside his room.

Once he began attending Hogwarts and came home over the summer terms he had become more reserved and kept to himself.

It wasn't until Draco met Astoria, his parents moved out, and the two got married that he started to appreciate the Manor for its grandness. His late wife had encouraged him to make the house a home. And before they had Scorpius, he had arranged a few rooms to be more family/friend friendly even though there were few visitors in the house and especially less after Astoria's blood curse began to take.

Once she had passed away, Draco found it hard to be in any room the two had occupied together, which it seemed were all of them. It wasn't until a few weeks after her death that Draco had been looking for his son, and found him in a nook in the library. The nook had been built by Astoria as a place for her and Scorpius to read together from the time he was born until a few months before she passed.

The nook contained little carvings on the walls of various pictures the two had created, and once she was gone and Scorpius was off to school, Draco found himself spending time in that exact spot whenever he wanted to feel the comfort of missing his family.

This exact spot is where Scorpius found his dad today, not to his surprise.

"Dad, is everything alright?" Draco heard his son round the corner of the wall and finally saw his head peep into the small space.

"Yes, of course. Hello son, how are you?" Draco folded the page back of the book he was currently reading and placed it next to him.

Still standing, Scorpius sighed and bowed his head, "I have had better days. Have you had a chance to read the Daily Prophet?"

"Ah yes, I took a peep at it with my morning tea. Complete rubbish. I was wondering when you would arrive. Where are Albus and Andrew?"

"I left them at Harry and Ginny's," Scorpius looked over at his father and shook his head. "Albus had quit the night. He was furious and we barely got any sleep. Every time he would try to fall asleep he would shoot up and rant about the article. I understand why he is upset, but I..."

"Needed a moment of silence." Draco finished making his son chuckle.

"Yes. The Potter/Weasleys are an expressive bunch. Sometimes I just need a moment to think and the Manor always helps." Scorpius hesitated for a moment, "But this isn't the only reason I came here. I need to speak with Aunt Daphne. I am sure that she is the source of the reporter who received all their information to spread the article. I need to make sure this doesn't happen again."

Draco noticed his son was becoming tense and had a feeling it was more than just a need to talk to his aunt. He had thought they had worked passed the gossip of certain rumors but clearly, they still bothered his son. He decided to table it for a while and come back to it once everything was cleared with his aunt.

"I heard the alarms go off early this morning. I am sure it is her. She hasn't spoken a word and she hasn't come down from her room. Laurel though has left. She said she was going out to meet someone for an early lunch of sorts. Your aunt is in the bedroom far south."

"Thanks, dad." Scorpius was heading towards the library door to meet his aunt.

"Do you need me to come with you?" Even though he asked, he wasn't surprised when his son smiled back at him and shook his head 'no,' leaving the room.

Scorpius made his way up the long stairs and headed south to the room his Aunt was in. Though the room wasn't as big as the master suite, it still was grand. Draco, no doubt, had had everything cleaned and replaced upon her and Laurel's arrival.

Once he made his way to the door, he took one final deep breath and knocked.

"Aunt Daphne. May I please come inside we need to talk."

Scorpius waited for what seemed like a long time, and he heard the click of the door right before it opened. His aunt must have used her magic because Scorpius saw her sitting on the edge of her bed which was too far away from the door for her to have made her way back to.

"May I take a seat?" Scorpius gestured to the desk and chair that sat on the opposite side of the room.

"Please, do."

Moving slowly, Scorpius pulled out the chair and turned it to face his aunt, who still sat on the edge of the bed looking at him. Scorpius still had such a hard time looking at her even after the month she had been there. She let her hair fall on both sides of her shoulders and her face was soft. She looked so much like his mother, that he almost ran to her and hugged her. But he had to remember why he was there.

"The last few days have been a whirlwind of events. I am aware that they are not what you may have signed up for. And I apologize if you felt you were in any danger." Scorpius's voice was stern and confident. "But, I will not allow anyone or anything to come and hurt my family. Dad has been nothing but kind to you and Laurel. Albus has been polite even when you seem a little cold. And Andrew, who has a werewolf gene, is only a child. He was left with us under extreme

circumstances. And though we are still learning about where he comes from, he is a part of this family and is under the direct care of myself."

Scorpius paused for a moment thinking his aunt would interject. She only stared directly into his eyes. So, he continued talking.

"I am not sure if you were aware of the company you kept last night, but the person you spoke to was a reporter who took what you said and printed it in the Daily Prophet. Though Albus and I are used to being slandered in the papers from time to time, that is not something we want
for our son. Moving forward, if you intend to truly be a part of this family, it will do you well to keep the family business in the family. No matter how upset you may feel."

"I was excited to have you and Laurel here. It has been such a long time since I have seen you both, but there has to be more effort from you to get to re-know me and dad without mum being here. There also has to be an effort with those whom you are just meeting and who are important to me and dad. We had to create a new family for ourselves once we lost mum, and you weren't here. And I need to know now if this is something you want to be a part of or if you are ready to leave."

With his final word, Scorpius let out a breath he didn't realize he was holding during his speech. He sat and stared at his aunt who had still not taken her eyes off of him. After a moment she stood, towering over his sitting frame. She made no move to get any closer to him, but Scorpius felt a slight nerve by her sudden movements.

"You are not what I remember as a young child. You clung to your parents and I barely heard a peep out of you until you began school at Hogwarts, which was short-lived as you went back to being quiet around me once my sister died."

Daphne looked around the room, noticing for the first time the things around her.

"It was never my intention to react the way I did, even though I had reason to." Scorpius opened his mouth to speak and his aunt held her hand up to him, "Hush child. Let me explain. When I contacted your dad about coming to stay with him for a little while, it wasn't so much my need to connect with family. When I lost my sister, I was broken. There was still you and your father, but we didn't get on very well, so it was easy to put you two in the back of my mind."

"When we moved to Paris, Laurel was already done with school and I figured it would be good for us to distance ourselves from the 'Greengrass curse.' I was sure that she would be fine, seeing as thus far it has only affected the second born child of our bloodline, but Laurel constantly worried about it especially after seeing what Astoria went through. But after a while, Laurel started to miss London. She told me one night that she felt as though we had abandoned you when we should have stayed and kept you close."

"I wasn't convinced, still hurt over my sister. I cracked because I could tell Laurel wasn't very happy there. But when we got here, I wasn't expecting you and your dad's lives to be so... fulfilled. You both have your work, friends, hobbies, and each other. I felt an anger that you two weren't more broken."

"The place where Dad and I are now is not one that we got to with ease. This something you obviously know, as you are aware of the time-turner incident." Scorpius spoke up feeling the need to defend his father and himself.

"Correct, but that made sense. And out of control boy missing his mother, and a Potter child born into mischief." Daphne saw her nephew's eyes roll, "that's what I was expecting to find when we got here. But we didn't. We found normal people doing normal things. And I guess I wasn't too happy about there not being anything for me to fix here. But then Andrew started to act out and his werewolf gene, I see you are calling it, came out and I finally felt like I got the satisfaction I was looking for. You and your dad's lives were in chaos like I had hoped and you were just simply hiding it."

"That is a horrible thing to wish for someone."

"I am aware. I guess being right got the best of me and I made everything worse." Daphne still stood and took a step closer to Scorpius. "I didn't mean to say that your mother would be disappointed in you. You and your father were the best things she ever had. I also wasn't aware of the person I was speaking to the other night was a reporter for the Daily Prophet. I was so riled up that I... well regardless that was not my intention. Laurel found me not long after that and told me how disappointed she was. She told me not to come back to the Manor until I was ready to talk."

It seemed that Scorpius' aunt was done talking. He had noticed that she never did apologize explicitly for her actions but she had come clean about her intentions.

Scorpius also wasn't one to hold a grudge, even when he was treated unfairly. He was known to be a little more cautious when those around him were hurt by someone, especially if the people being hurt were his dad, Albus, Potter/Weasleys, and now Andrew.

He looked over at his aunt once more, and couldn't get a read on her. But deciding not to push any further he stood up and took a step closer to her.

"I appreciate you saying that and telling your side of everything. Though it still doesn't make anything better, it's a start. And a start is a good place to begin building our family. I think mum would have wanted that."

Scorpius took one of his aunt's hands, as a sign of good faith, and smiled at her.

"I agree. I will talk to your father in a bit."

Releasing her hand, the blonde man nodded and turned to leave the room. "Get some rest aunt Daphne. Family isn't always easy, but it's worth it." With that, he left the room.

—-

"So how did it go?"

Scorpius had gone back to the library to meet his father only to discover that he was no longer there. Instead, he found him in the kitchen preparing lunch. Scorpius also noticed that he was fixing two plates and figured his dad wanted him to join him for the meal.

Scorpius shrugged his shoulders, "Is it okay if I stay here for the rest of the day? I would love to spend some time just me and you. I feel like we haven't had much of a chance to do so since Andrew came."

Draco continued to make the food but Scorpius could see his smile grow. "Of course, I was hoping you had a little time today. Al won't mind?"

Scorpius shook his head, "I'll send him a message. I'm sure it won't be a problem. And I can fill you in over lunch in the garden."

Both men finished making lunch, chit-chat passing between them. Once they were done they walked to the garden, had lunch, and spent the rest of the day doing chores around the Manor.

Both Scorpius and Draco were pleased to end their day back in the library nook reading silently and every so often sharing a memory of Astoria, happy to just be in each other presence.

A/N: Thursday's update on the Potter siblings bonding. Until then,

Jazz.