Forgive me if I st-stutter

From all the clutter in my head

'Cause I could fall asleep in those eyes

Like a water bed

Do I seem familiar? I've crossed you in hallways

A thousand times, no more camoflauge

I want to be exposed, and not be afraid to fall

-For You I Will; Teddy Geiger

CHATPER 20

SCORPIUS MALFOY

Albus and I cornered Fate as soon as we could find her.

"BROWN!" Albus had yelled as I grabbed her arm and slammed her against the wall.

"Ooh, I would play, Scor, but I don't think your girlfriend would be too happy!" She squealed, obviously enjoying this more than she should.

"I swear to God, Brown, if you ever even so much as look at Rose again I will make sure she is the last thing you see." I snarled in her ear. Panic flashed in her eyes but she quickly hid her emotions.

"Why would I want to look at her?" She sneered, and Albus clenched his teeth. "That dirty – man-stealing – whore!" She spoke each word as if it was an individual statement. My grip on her arm tightened and I could see pain flitting across her face.

"You're the whore here, you disgusting tramp." I gave her a look of pure loathing as I loosened my grip and turned to walk away. She beat me to it though, and she yanked her arm out of my grasp and spun me around to face her again.

"You seem to forget, Malfoy," She spoke quietly but there was no mistaking the fury in her voice, "That not long ago it was you who loved my company so much. And here you are calling me a whore? You've probably screwed all the girls in this entire school, and yet you have the nerve to tell me that I'm a tramp? And look who's right next to you, the one who's probably second only to you in the school if we're talking about girls, the one you used to call your enemy, and now you've suddenly become brothers? You can lecture me all you like about being a whore, but that doesn't change the fact that you're one too. If I'm one, then you're most definitely one. Don't forget that, Scorpius."

She turned on her heel and stalked off, leaving Albus and I dumbfounded. Mostly because she had a point, but also because she'd mentioned the fact that Albus and I had become so close lately. In fact, she wasn't even wrong. I counted him as a brother. Since he found out about me and Rose, he's treated me like one. I knew that he felt the same too, which is probably why it had suddenly become so awkward. No one had mentioned the fact that we were so close now, not to us anyway. I saw people raise their eyebrows at us and things like that but the only time anyone had mentioned it is when I brought up something that Albus and I had done and Adrian had almost spat out his food and gone, "You and Potter? Since when were you two together?" which had only made me laugh, something I hadn't done in a while at that time. The weirdest part of our friendship wasn't the fact that we were friends, though; it was the fact that it wasn't awkward between us. We were just…friends. At first, I knew it was for the sake of me and Rose being together, but now it was more than that. I liked him being my best friend. It was comfortable. Albus, Adrian and I all had the same sense of humour and we had, well, banter. It was easy to forget we'd been enemies not so long ago.

"Come on, mate, let's go see Rose." Albus said, and I smiled at the mention of my girlfriend. I loved that I could call her that now. She hadn't told me she loved me yet, but I was okay with it. I could wait. Besides, with the way she looked at me, I knew she did. It was all in her eyes.

Rose was still in the hospital wing, much to her dismay. She looked up from reading one of Dom's magazines and her face split into a wide grin when she saw us.

"Oh great, the Bad Boys are here…" She joked, using the nickname Dominique had sarcastically given us. I smiled and leaned down to kiss her.

"Guys, seriously, get a room…" Al groaned, half-joking half-serious. I smirked at him and closed the hangings around us. "Just an expression…" He grumbled, and this time I knew he was joking. He drew back the hangings and smirked at me.

"Hey, Al, can you go get Dom?" I said, hinting I wanted to be alone with Rose for a second, and he caught on quickly.

"Yeah, sure, give me five minutes." He replied, and walked out the hospital wing.

"What do you need Dom for?" Rose asked, and I smiled at how cute she was.

"I don't." I answered, and I leaned down to kiss her again, but this time with a little more force. I gripped her waist firmly and she ran her hands down my back, responding to my kiss with just as much force. We broke apart, and she grinned. "That wasn't actually what I wanted to do. Well, I did, I always do, but I mean that wasn't my reason for wanting to be alone with you for a minute." I rambled, making her grin widen.

"What did you want then?" She asked, cocking her head to the side.

"I wanted to ask if you would come to this lame dinner shit that my parents throw every year. I have a feeling it would be a lot more fun if you were there, and you also get to meet my parents." I said, surprising myself at how much I wanted her to meet my family.

"Well, I suppose I could go… just for you. But what's in it for me?" She used my trademark smirk and wore it well, and I grinned and kissed her again.

"Lots of those." I said, smiling down at her.

"Mmm, sounds like fun." She said, leaning in to kiss me again.

Then Albus and Dom came in through the door and we all sat around Rose in comfortable conversation, laughing at Albus' lame attempts at trying to not say 'fuck'.

XXXXX

ROSE WEASLEY

My parents visited me in the hospital wing again – I'd been in there nearly a week and a half now and I was bored as fuck. Albus, Dom, and Scorpius came to visit me almost every day, except on the days of Gryffindor and Slytherin Quidditch practice.

"Hello Rosie, feeling better?" My mother said, and she glanced at my father. I noticed the tension that had suddenly filled the room.

"Yeah, I'm fine, how are you?" She didn't understand the hidden meaning behind my words.

"Oh I'm doing just fine, and your father and I decided to come down and see how you were doing." She replied, and my father let out an almost inaudible scoff.

"So, where's the Malfoy boy?" He grunted, and my mother shot him a warning glare that he either didn't see or just ignored.

"Scorpius," I corrected, "And he is at Quidditch practice. He's Quidditch captain." Father tried to find something to scorn about that sentence but when he couldn't find anything he just grunted.

"And what about Dominique and Albus?"

"They're with Scorpius. They all like to come see me together so they usually wait for each other to finish Quidditch practice and then come and see me." This was partly a lie, as they didn't really come and see me after Quidditch practice, but I knew that Dom and Albus were with Scorpius at the moment so it was only a small lie. I just didn't want my father thinking Scorpius preferred to play Quidditch over me.

"Right. Well. That's…okay." He mumbled, and I forced myself not to laugh.

"Er, actually I have a question for you two." I stated hesitantly. My mother nodded for me to continue. "Well, Scorpius' parents are throwing this annual dinner party soon and I was wondering whether I could maybe go?" I asked, speaking quickly to get it over with. I spoke to my mother mostly, because I knew my father would be angry.

"When is it, honey?" Mum asked after looking warningly at my father.

"I think Scorpius said it was on the sixth of August." I replied, trying to remember. "In the holidays."

"At Malfoy Manor?" She asked, and I noticed her hand move to her arm, where she had the word 'Mudblood' carved into her arm. When it hadn't gone away, my father had carved 'Blood Traitor' into his own arm to make her feel better.

"Yes."

"Will you be staying over?"

"I don't know. But if I wanted to, Scorpius told me I could sleep in the guest room." This wasn't a total lie. Scorpius had actually said that if I wanted to stay over I could either sleep in the guest room or in his room. I decided not to tell them that.

"I suppose that's okay… will you need a dress?" My mum asked. Scorpius had told me that this was a fancy dinner, and that I should wear a dress, but he joked that he'd love it even more if I turned up in jeans and a t-shirt.

"Yes."

"You can go shopping for it in the holidays then."

"Does that mean I can go?"

"Yes, I suppose." She smiled at me, and I leaned in to hug her.

"Thankyou!" I almost squealed, which surprised even me. I didn't know how much I wanted to meet Scorpius' parents.

We sat in silence for a few minutes, and the tension in the room built up slowly. Finally, I couldn't stand it any longer.

"Okay, what is going on? You've been acting so awkward since you got in here! What is that?" I added, noticing a small bruise on my mother's arm.

"That was from when I trapped my wrist in my office door; don't you remember me telling you?" I did actually, now that she mentioned it. My mother wasn't one to lie, so I didn't question it. "As for your father and I… well we've been having a few arguments. Nothing serious, just a few differences in opinions." She added hurriedly, seeing the look on my face.

"Please tell me you're not getting divorced?" I said quietly, unable to control the tears that had sprung to my eyes.

"Of course not." My father spoke for the first time since he asked about Scorpius. "I love your mother, and I will never stop loving her." He said this last part more to her than me, but I still found it comforting.

"So why are you arguing?" I said, trying not to sound like I was prying even though I was.

"It's…well…about you actually." My mother mumbled. "About your involvement with Mr. Malfoy." For a moment I thought she was talking about Scorpius' father, but then I realised she meant Scorpius.

"What about my relationship with Scorpius?"

"Your father doesn't approve." She replied as calmly as she could, and I refrained from saying "No shit".

"No, I don't, but your mother would like us to 'give him a chance'." My father replied stiffly.

"Why do you not approve? Scorpius has been nothing but polite to you."

"That may be so, but he is still a Malfoy!" He said, his voice rising. But now it was my turn to be angry.

"Yes, he is a Malfoy! So what? You base your entire hatred for him around his father! Scorpius is not his father! And his father was never even a real Death Eater!" I added, remembering what Draco Malfoy had revealed under Veritaserum. He and his mother had only supported the Dark Lord because his father had told them to, and threatened them.

"He has the Dark Mark!"

"And Harry has a scar on his forehead."

"What?"

"I'm sorry; I thought we were listing things that weren't relevant." I said sarcastically, and my father growled.

"It is relevant! He was a Death Eater, he has the Dark Mark, and no son of his is coming to hurt my family!" I froze. That's what he was scared about?

"You think Scorpius is trying to hurt our family?"

"Why else would he be in a relationship with you and be best friends with Albus? You've been enemies for six years!"

"It was Albus' choice to befriend Scorpius. And he is in a relationship with me because he loves me!" I blurted out.

"The hell he does!"

"And I love him!" Now my father froze.

"You what?"

"I love him. I love Scorpius."

"You don't know what love is, you're too young!"

"I'm sorry, wasn't Uncle Harry sixteen when he fell in love with Aunt Ginny?"

"That's different."

"How?"

"Because Ginny isn't my daughter!"

"No, she's your little sister! You still let her fall in love when she was my age!"

"I wasn't responsible for her!"

"Dad, if you don't approve of Scorpius, I don't care. I'm still going to be with him, and you can't change that. And if you're going to try, I'd rather you just get out." I said.

"I'm not going anywhere."

"Then don't talk about Scorpius as if you know him."

"All I'm trying to do is protect my family!"

"I don't need protecting!"

"You're in the hospital wing!"

"I fell down the stairs in the common room!"

"So I need to protect you!"

"What, from stairs?" I asked sarcastically. "Do you hear yourself? I appreciate you trying to protect me from whatever it is you think Scorpius will do but I'm sixteen! You can't dictate my life! I need to be free to make my own decisions."

"I told you that, Ronald." Mother said, making me laugh.

"Daddy, don't be mad at me for being in love." My father's face finally lost all of its anger, and he sighed.

"Tell Scorpius that he has my blessing or whatever you want to call it." I could see the conflict on his face as he said it, and I resisted the urge to laugh.

"I'll do that. Thankyou, daddy."

"Just remember that no matter how old you are, you're my little girl." He said, kissing me on my forehead. I lifted my arms and he leaned in to hug me.

"We should go, Rosie, we've got a busy day tomorrow. Harry and I are being forced to help with planning the wedding." He groaned. Teddy and Victoire's wedding was coming up and all my aunts were the wedding planners.

"Okay, have a good day. Tell Teddy I say to write to me more often." I grinned.

"Will do. Love you, Rosie."

"Love you too, Dad."

He smiled and kissed me on the forehead, walking out of the hospital wing with my mother's hand entwined in his.

XXXXX

At midnight I woke up to movement beside my bed. I opened my eyes and I saw Scorpius.

"Sorry, Rose, did I wake you?"

"Yeah, but it's okay. Why are you here?"

"I couldn't sleep." He said, lacing our fingers together. I smiled and he kissed me gently. I rested my head against my pillow and closed my eyes again. I fell asleep almost instantly, but not before I heard Scorpius whisper one more thing.

"I love you, my beautiful red Rose." I felt a smile creep across my face before sleep finally took over my body.

AUTHOR'S NOTE

Okay, so for this chapter I have to thank #marrou for giving me some ideas about Fate.

I really cba to write much more on this a/n so I'll just say that there will only be another two chapters left in this story. Also, I probably won't start the sequel straight away, but it will be up eventually and I would really love it if you read that one when I post it.

Please review!

thanks guys,

beccasophX