I feel like my chapters have gone downhill in length, but hopefully the quality is getting better! See you at the bottom, guys. Enjoy!
Platform 9 ¾
Scorpius walked next to me looking paler than usual as Rose and I searched for our families. Once we had found them we were greeted with warm smiles from the adults and bombarded by our younger siblings' chattering.
Ron's smile faltered as his eyes fell on Scorpius. "What's he doing here?"
My mum and Aunt Hermione stomped on either of my uncle's feet, and he howled in pain.
"He's staying with us for the holidays." My dad explained.
"And just when were you going to tell me this?" He asked, looking from my parents to my aunt.
"Right now, I guess." My dad replied while shrugging. "We knew you'd throw a fit whenever we told you."
"Does mum know a Malfoy is staying at the burrow?" My uncle asked my mum.
"Yes, she does. And she's fine with it, Ronald." My aunt Hermione answered before my mum could.
As the adults bickered among themselves, James appeared and pushed his way between Scorpius and me. He draped an arm around each of our shoulders, drawing all the attention to himself. Scorpius seemed to relax slightly.
"I must say Uncle Ron, your ears are looking as red as ever." James said in a sophisticated tone.
"You don't say." Ron answered still scowling.
Arriving at Godric's Hollow.
James obviously had too much sugar with his friends on the train ride home, because he was bouncing off the walls during the car ride to Godric's Hollow. Lily, who was extremely excited to have her older brothers back and a new person to bother, was just as excited and hyper.
As soon as the car stopped in our driveway, I bolted out of the car with Scorpius close behind. Both of us were eager to put some distance between us and my hyperactive siblings.
We collected our things from the car after James and followed Lily inside. Stopping at the kitchen island, James gave Scorpius an evil grin and whipped the daily prophet off the counter. He laid it on the ground and smoothed it out delicately. When he stood back up he said, "Alright Scorp, this is where you'll sleep."
Scorpius looked to me for assistance and I assured him that we were sharing my room for the holiday break.
If we had been at Hogwarts, Scorpius probably would've responded with a witty comment, but I suppose it was different having my parents and sister here. Instead, my mother scolded him for being rude.
"What?" James shrugged his shoulders. "I don't see what's so wrong with it. Even Snowball likes it. See?"
Lily's fluffy white cat she'd gotten for her eighth birthday was sniffing the paper and curled up in a ball on top of it. My mum told him to pick it up.
James tugged on a corner of the paper, sending snowball rolling onto the hardwood floor. She hissed at him as Lily came running to her rescue. Snowball hadn't been too fond of James since he had started using the cat for random, usually harmless experiments he (and sometimes Fred) thought up.
My father massaged his temple like having his eldest son home was already causing him to get a headache. "Albus. Why don't you take Scorpius upstairs and show him your room?"
"Come on, Scorp." I said nodding my head toward the staircase. On our way to the end of the upstairs hallway, I showed him James's and Lily's rooms (Basically, the two places to stay a safe distance away from). Objects frequently exploded from James's room, and Lily played the most annoying music.
We walked downstairs the next morning to find my mum tending to breakfast while talking to Lily. James and my dad were playing Wizard's Chess at the table.
"Ugh!" My dad exclaimed as James made the winning move. "He beat me again. Did you hear me, Ginny? He crushed me."
My mother shrugged. "You were never that good. You're not much better than Hermione." She finished with a smirk.
My dad ignored her comment. He pointed to James. "You must be taking lessons from your Uncle Ron. He always crushed me when we were your age."
James laughed. "Uncle Ron and Rose are the only people I know that I can't beat. I can still best Hugo, but he's almost as good as me. Hey." He said with sudden realization. "I could go pro someday."
Scorpius snickered. "Doubt it. Let me give it a try." He said as he took the place across from my brother that my father abandoned to help my mum with breakfast. I sat next to James. Lily tried to talk my ear off while I watched the chess match, but I tuned her out, nodding when appropriate due to year of practice.
A few minutes into the game, my mum and dad began to lay breakfast on the table, and Scorpius turned his attention away from the game. "What are you doing?" James exclaimed. "It's your turn!"
Scorpius was taken aback. "Oh. Do you usually do this during meals?"
I shrugged. "Sometimes. It's usually pretty casual. If you're playing wizard's chess, you finish it in this house, even if that means playing during breakfast." I explained as Scorpius made his next move quickly before James lost his patience.
"Hmm. That's different, but it's kinda cool." Scorpius commented as he waited for James to make his move.
"Sorry, your highness, we common folk do things a little bit differently around here." James apologized nonchalantly as he made his move lazily.
My mum opened her mouth to scold him, but closed it, seemingly giving up for the time being. "So how is your father, Scorpius?" My father interjected quickly, changing the subject. "I haven't talked to him lately."
Scorpius shrugged. "He's been fine. I've heard the Auror office has been borderline chaotic lately."
"Yes. It's been unusually busy." My father agreed.
James's jaw dropped. "Since when do you talk to his dad?" he was clearly appalled.
My dad raised an eyebrow. "Since we became co-workers. Especially 11 years ago when we found out that our sons are the same age." That made James shut up.
I looked down at the board when it was Scorpius's turn, and saw a move he could make that would knock out James's defense. I caught his eye and nodded toward the board while mouthing the name of the piece. Getting the message, he finished his turn with my suggestion.
James covered my face with his hand and pushed me away. "No cheating!" He yelled.
"How did you know? You couldn't even see me!" I complained.
"The look on Malfoy's face said it all." James explained plainly.
"You can call him by his first name, James Sirius." My mother warned.
He looked slightly disappointed at our mum's use of his middle name. That usually meant she was fairly serious. "I'd rather not, mum." He said in a cocky tone, but when she raised an eyebrow, he corrected himself, "Fine." He agreed grudgingly, but I knew he'd only obey the terms when my mother was around.
I watched the rest of the game play out, and when James finally won, he yelled so everyone in the house could hear no matter what room they were in. "Ha! Take that! Told you I'd win." James gloated. "Even though you and Al cheated."
Scorpius shrugged and said nonchalantly, "Maybe I let you win." Now he was starting to act more like himself. He always liked to mess with James on a psychological level.
After that sank in, James narrowed his eyes. "I want a rematch then. Without you 'letting me win'."
"Nah, I've had enough chess for one day." Scorpius declined.
I laughed at the antics of the two. "Come on, Scorpius. I'll show you around Godric's Hollow."
I don't really feel like doing the whole "begging for reviews" thing tonight because if you don't want to review, you probably won't. I hope y'all are having a good summer so far! (At least for everyone in the Northern Hemisphere. It's winter for all of you Southern Hemisphere people, right?)