A loud knock on the door pulled Scorpius from his deep slumber. Immediately he felt the effects of the night before and he almost fell back asleep before the door burst open. He sat up in bed as his father stormed in, followed by his mother. Scorpius was startled until he remembered how he had connected his flat to the Manor on the floo network. Draco threw a newspaper down on Scorpius' lap and crossed his arms. Scorpius picked up the paper and the images on the cover flooded his memory with events of the night before.
On the front page of the Daily Prophet were pictures of him at the club with Rose. The first two were innocent, them walking in and grabbing a drink. But the other two were more scandalous of them dancing and almost kissing. Scorpius groaned.
"What in Merlin's name are you doing sprawled across the front page of the Prophet with a Weasley?" Draco demanded.
"It was nothing dad, we were just at the same club."
"This is ridiculous, Scorpius. Your father and I have supported you in your quidditch career even though we wanted you to follow your father's footsteps into the Ministry, but this is too much."
"I thought you said you were only friends with the Slytherin Potter boy," Draco narrowed his eyes.
"I am and I haven't even seen him since the school term ended." Scorpius insisted.
"You have to fix this, Scorpius, we cannot have you fraternizing with a Weasley dragging our name through the mud."
"I rather think me being with a Weasley would help our name,"Scorpius murmured and his parents glared. "Don't worry, Rose and I are only friends, and we're barely that."
"Fine, just don't let it happen again," Draco uncrossed his arms.
"And come home for dinner every once and awhile, I don't know how you survive here," his mother insisted.
"Don't make me regret connecting you to my flat," he called as they left the room before falling back into his pillow.
Rose forced herself out of bed early to open the shop, drinking a hangover potion on the way. She was out of the house before anyone else had stirred, and before anyone else had their hands on the Daily Prophet. When Rose picked it up after opening the store, she was panicked and confused. A thousand thoughts rushed through her head. She had thought she had imagined him trying to kiss her, but there it was right in front of her. What would people think about her? What would her family say? Dread passed through her when she realized it was sunday. And for the Weasley-Potters, that meant dinner at the Burrow.
She was on edge for the rest of the day. Every time the door opened she worried he would be there, and she couldn't handle speaking to him in that moment. She didn't know what his behavior meant. He was not the type to go for girls like her, he prefered the Natalies of the world and she wasn't even sure that she had any feelings for him. She had to focus on how she would handle dinner. The Burrow was the last place she wanted to be that day, but it was nearly impossible to get out of Sunday dinner unless you wanted Grandma Molly to hunt you down and leave you out of the sweater-receiving for Christmas.
When the day finally ended Rose begrudgingly flooed to the Burrow, unsure of what was in store for her. Albus was the first one to see her and before anyone else noticed she had arrived he dragged her upstairs to one of the old bedrooms. Albus and Rose were by no means close. After being sorted into different houses in school they drifted apart, playing the occasional chess game at a Sunday dinner or buying each other a drink when they ran into each other while out.
"How long have you been screwing him?" Albus asked as soon as the door shut.
"Bloody hell," Rose groaned. "I have never screwed him. He comes into the shop sometimes, he invited me out as friends and things got out of hand after a few too many firewhiskeys."
"Those pictures look a bit more than friendly."
"Like you've never done anything you regret while drunk," she crossed her arm.
"What's your game plan for tonight?"
"Suffer, but that's nothing new."
"When are you going to stop resenting this family, it got old after 5th year." Rose scowled.
"I'm going to go get a drink."
"Yeah, because that worked out so well for you last night." She let the door slam behind her and stormed off.
In the kitchen she poured herself a large glass of wine. Before she could take her first sip, her cousins Lily, Roxanne and Dominique cornered her.
"Tell. Us. Everything." Rose took a large gulp and set her glass down.
"It's really nothing to talk about."
"Rose, why bother lying to us, the whole wizarding world read this morning's paper," Lily sighed.
"And if you tell us everything, we can help you dodge all the questions we know are coming your way once every Weasley is around the same table," Roxanne chimed in.
"You're never the center of attention Rose, let us help you," Dominique nudged her aggravated cousin.
"Fine. He came into the shop one night and now he comes in, semi-frequently, and we've become sort of friends. There's this whole other dimension to him that I never saw in high school, he actually enjoys reading. Last night, he invited me out and things got, well you saw, a little out of hand. But we're strictly friends, whatever happened last night was a misunderstanding."
"Just friends my ass," Dominique murmured and Rose furrowed her eyebrows.
"C'mon Rose! 'There is a whole other dimension to him'" ROxanne rolled her eyes. "You like him!"
"I never saw Scorpius Malfoy reading a book a day in my life," Lily added. "I don't think it's the books he keeps coming back for."
"Knock it off! Of course I find him," she paused "attractive, but everyone else on the bloody planet does as well. He is so not my type and don't even get me started on our parents. It would never work. Just friends is just the way I want it to be."
"For someone who resents her parents so much, you seem to care an awful lot now," Roxanne said.
"I don't resent my parents," Rose started to raise her voice. "I resent that my parents are the fucking saviors of the wizarding world and that-"
"Alright, let's keep things civil," Lily interjected. "How do you want us to play this off, Rose? This is pretty big news, even for this family.
"I'm just going to ignore it. I'm the angry, resentful one. No one is going to dare say anything to my face at the dinner table, that would be outrageous." Her three cousins were silent. They did not quite agree with her tactic but they knew there was no chance they could change her mind.
Not long after the four cousins had hatched "plan," dinner began. Rose sat in between Lily and Dominique, who both planned on pushing away any stray family member who tried to question Rose. However, even though no one would address her directly, Rose could not ignore the sound of her aunts, uncles, grandparents, cousins, and even her own mother talking about her. After the main course was carried out and she could have sworn she heard someone use the term pureblood slut, Rose could not take it anymore. She slammed down her wine glass and, despite Lily's desperate plea for her to stop, climbed onto the table. For once, silence befell the Weasley sunday dinner table.
"Hello, dear loved ones," Rose said loudly, her face turning bright red. "Thank you so much for your attention. As I have heard you all indiscreetly and disrespectfully discussing over this lovely dinner, I am friends with Scorpius Malfoy. I use the term friends, because that is all we are and all we will ever be. You lot need to get out a lot more if this is the most exciting thing to talk about over dinner and I am sure there was far more important news in that paper than me, spending a normal saturday night as a recently graduated witch with a friend. Now, if we could all return to our food and move on with our lives, that would be lovely." She finished strong.
No one said anything, most of them stared blankly back at her although her mother looked slightly amused and slightly mortified. Rose was about to sit down until she remembered what exactly had made her so angry.
"Oh, one more thing. When I find out, and I will find out, which one of you used the term 'pureblood slut' to describe this top-witch of her Hogwarts' class I will hex you all the way to-" before she could finish her threat the loud crack of someone apparating into the Burrow silenced her. Everyone turned towards the source of the noise to see none other that, Scorpius Malfoy. Everyone was silent, except for Albus, who began to snicker.
"Erm, I see I'm a bit early for the quidditch match this evening," Scorpius grimaced nervously.
"Nah, mate, you're just in time," Albus grinned and pulled out the seat he had just conjured next to him. Rose shot Albus a glare as Lily finally pulled her down from her table. She was going to kill him before the night was over, she was sure of it.