It was Christmas evening – only a few minutes before its end and a lone boy was sitting on his bed in his giant Manor home. It was Scorpius Malfoy. He had already taken off his dress robes and had slipped into his silk black pajamas – a gift from his grandmother. On his breast was an embroidered Malfoy crest and he was scratching it as if it would come off if he kept doing it.

He was a grumpy little bugger that Christmas night and for good reasons. One, his grandmother got him silk pajamas. Really? Silk? How old was he, 45? Next, his Aunt Margot kept pinching his cheeks all night and been grabbing his arm to give him kisses on his lips. ON HIS LIPS! Geez! If he wanted a kiss on his lips, he would definitely ask that cute brunette in Ravenclaw but NOT Aunt Margot. Another reason was that it was only his father and Cassie who got him something he actually liked for Christmas. The last reason – the real reason for all the holiday grumpiness – was the events that transpired the previous evening and just a few hours ago. Almost ready to burst in frustration, he grabbed the first quill and parchment he could find and started to write.

Dear Cassie,

Merry Christmas. Well, I do hope yours is merrier than mine. Have you eaten 3 pies as you said you would? How's Christmas at the Burrow? I bet you're having a blast. I heard Mrs. Weasley's cooking is absolutely amazing.

Cass, I don't mean to be a bugger on your lovely Christmas celebrations but I was really hoping I could just talk to you. Well actually, write to you and tell you what's been happening. You're my best friend who coincidentally is also my half-sister and I really, really need to tell you what has possibly changed my life forever. Well, here goes.

Every Christmas Eve, my parents hold this party for all their friends – former schoolmates, mother's equally glamorous friends and father's business partners. Last night was just like any other night. I had to dress nicely, greet people, talk to a few and eat with my best Malfoy manners. (I would have succeeded in the last part had father not whispered a joke in my ear about one of my mother's friends. Let's just say my nose hurts from liquid spilling out.) Anyway, it was well past 11:00 and I was getting tired of having to be "charming" and "adorable" all night. I was also tired of running away from Saundra (Theodore Nott and Pansy Parkinson-Nott's 10-year old daughter). So, I went to find my father to ask for his permission to escape to my room. Sadly, he said I needed to ask my mother as well so I set off to look for her.

Scorpius walked down the hall, away from the ballroom. He passed the parlor, the dining room and the kitchens without any sign of her mother. Thinking she disappeared to fix her hair or re-do her make-up, Scorpius went upstairs. He went past guest bedrooms to the direction of his parents' room when he noticed the door of the library slightly open. Curious, he slipped in silently and was surprised with what he found by the window.

I found my mother sitting alone by the armchairs in our library. She was looking out the window at the falling snow. I walked up to her and sat on the carpet next to her. She didn't look at me. She was just staring out still, a serious look on her face.

"Mother?" Scorpius whispered. No answer. He called her again, a little louder this time.

"Hello Scorpius." She whispered back eventually.

"Are you all right?" he asked, worried. "You're alone in the library on Christmas eve."

"What's so wrong about that?"

"Well, for one you're actually willingly missing out on the party. Two, you chose to be alone and three, you're in the library. Something's wrong, mother?"

Astoria Malfoy only remained quiet. She was still looking out the window – still in deep thought. After minutes of silence she finally spoke.

"Scorpius, you're probably too young to understand this and I don't want you to feel hurt or sad in any way with what I will tell you. You're very mature for your age, and I have your father to thank for that, which is why I know you can handle the truth."

"What are you trying to tell me, mother?" Scorpius asked, now fearful of what he was about to hear.

This time, Astoria turned to look at him. It was the first time Scorpius had ever seen his mother look so sad and broken. She took a deep breath, looked into her son's eyes and said, "I'm thinking of leaving your father."

I didn't really know what to say when she told me the words that shook my entire world. She's thinking of leaving. She's thinking of leaving me and my father, leaving our family, walking away from us. I did not understand. I always knew she was more distant than you would expect a mother and a wife to be but to actually leave us was something I did not think she would ever consider doing. It took me a while to regain my composure to ask her why.

"Sweetheart, you know that your father and I very much care for each other. These past 11 years have showed that. I make sure he takes care of himself in spite of his heavy workload and he makes sure that I am happy by showing me love the best way he can. We were forced into marriage, did you know? Betrothed as young as toddlers and made to forget the life we planned to have."

She continued, "No one knows this but your father was once very much in love with another witch. He does not know that I know. He does not know that he still sometimes whispers her name in his sleep. He does not know that while tidying his office years ago, I found photos of them still buried deep in his desk drawer. He does not know that I hired someone to look for that woman. And I don't know if he knows that they had a child."

She knew about everything, Cass. About your mom, about the love affair she and father had before their marriage. She even knew about you, Cass. I was surprised, not because of everything she was saying but because that all these were coming from her – my very own mother. I always had this idea that my mother was floating in a very perfect bubble – a happy life, a caring a husband, an obedient child, a beautiful house and money that never seems to run out. I never thought that my mother had been carrying such a heavy burden all her life, knowing that she was never the love of the man she ended up with. I felt sorry for her, Cass.

"Don't think though that your father has ever wronged me. Believe me, ever since we got married, he has been nothing but faithful to me. He has severed all ties with that woman and has done everything he could to make me feel loved. He is still the same kind and wonderful man we both know him to be.

Thing is, my dear, I haven't exactly been honest with him, as well. It's not that I have another man I want to be with. It's just that I know that no matter how long we stay together, no matter how much we try, he and I will never really learn to love each other the way husband and wife should. He is the perfect life companion but I'm afraid we will never be truly happy. I think the only thing we agree on that we did right is having you, having a wonderful son. I think that without you, we never would have lasted this long."

After a period of silence, Scorpius was able to find his voice and ask, "Mother, what exactly brought all of this on?"

It was because she saw you, Cassie, you and Hermione in Diagon Alley yesterday. She said she had never seen you in person and what she saw made her world stop. You were my father. Your eyes, your hair, your smile and even the way you spoke. She followed you and your mother into Flourish and Blotts and watched you look around for a book. She also watched Hermione and how she looked at you. And I may never ever understand this but she said that as a woman, she knew exactly how your mother looked at you. She said it was filled with longing and it was then that she knew that your mother never loved anyone else but my father. That years and years after, my father was still the man in her heart.

"Are you leaving us because you want them to get back together?" Scorpius asked his mother in a shaky voice.

"Oh, my darling, no. I don't plan to be a matchmaker. I just really am unhappy and I think that if I prolong my loneliness, I will end up a senile old woman. Mummy can't be old and senile, right?" Astoria said with a little laugh.

"Mum, I think you will always be beautiful and very much alive even at the age of 70." Scorpius said. "But are you really going to be happy with this? Will father be happy with this? Is this really the only way to go about things? Is there no other way I can make you stay? Am I not enough, mother?"

Astoria stood up and sat on the carpet next to his son. She took both his hands and kissed his open palms. "Oh my dear, you are the very reason why your father and I have stayed together for 11 long years. We love you, my dear, but I'm afraid mummy and daddy have to stop kidding each other now."

And just like that, she was all set. She was ready to leave. And I begged her not to. I wanted to beg her to stay and I wanted to yell at father for not loving her enough. But the way she looked at me, the way she told me about what her next plans were – traveling the world and hoping to find real love – I knew it had to happen. I want to scream and yell and throw books out the window, Cass. I really do. It hurts me so much to know that I will never see my mother and father look at each other the way I see other married wizards do. It hurts me that I won't get to see them together at breakfast and at dinner. But I think it hurt them more to be together for too long, knowing that this was never the life they would have chosen.

The most painful part was when mother left after Christmas dinner earlier. It was that sudden, Cass. Apparently, she had talked to my father the moment the guests left last night. They talked all night and told each other everything. It was painful watching them exchange their goodbyes. It was even more painful when my mother said goodbye to me. I cried, Cass, would you believe that? Me, in tears. I only cried once before when my Aunt sat on my pigmypuff when I was 3. She hugged me for a good 10 minutes and told me so many things that I can't remember now because I was crying so hard. The only thing I remember was when told me you were my sister before she left. She knew I already knew. She just explained that that was why she was not very supportive of our friendship from the start. She says she doesn't hate you, she just doesn't know how to feel about you. She said she was sorry for that.

I ran straight upstairs the moment she apparated away. I couldn't look at my father. I'm not angry at him nor do I blame him. I guess I still just want to throw books out the window and trash the ballroom until I get this stupid pain to go away. I don't mean to make you sad with this, Cass, I just really know I needed to tell you about all this. You're my best friend and half-sister and you're creepily smart and mature. I think your maturity rubbed off on me. The before-Cassie-Granger-in-my-life version of me would have thrown the biggest brat attack of the century with this news.

Please write to me, Cass. I think I'm going to need a friend to get through this.

Yours always,

Scorpius

Draco Malfoy was lying on his bed alone for the first time in 11 years. He missed Astoria – her smell, her smile, the warmth that she gave being on the left side of his giant bed. But he knew they made the right decision. Though it pained him to watch her walk away, he knew that he was doing them both a favor by allowing it. They were never truly happy and maybe now, even though they were starting to wrinkle and form grey hairs, maybe now they could have a shot at being happy – truly happy.

That night, he dreamt of a woman with brown hair and brown eyes looking at him with a radiant smile. "Hermione," was what he whispered in his sleep.

A/N: Hmmmm… I did not know the story would turn into this direction! This is my longest story yet, I think. I still don't know where I am going. I am seriously just writing this as I go along. Let's see what my brain will come up with next.

I hope your Christmases won't be as depressing as Scorpius'. I'm so sorry I had to hurt him this way. : (