Chapter Two-Hermione
The next morning Rose woke up with a feeling of dread in her stomach. Her dad was quite probably going to kill her today. And if not her, then definitely Scorpius, before locking Rose in her room for the rest of her life. Needless to say, Rose's outlook on her upcoming announcement to her family was not good.
She went through the motions of getting dressed, finishing packing, and going down to breakfast, dragging her feet all the way, with Alice bouncing and cheerful beside her, happy to go home. Rose would need to do some research and conduct further experiments on the theory, but she believed that time was passing faster than it normally did, but that could have just been because, for once, she really didn't want to go home for the summer.
Why, oh why, couldn't she have told her parents that she was dating Scorpius Malfoy at the end of the previous year, back when they had first started dating? She wouldn't be feeling all of this dread right now, then. In fact, if she had told them a year ago, she'd probably be dead by now, and then she wouldn't have to feel any of this at all.
Sooner than Rose would have liked, it was time to board the Hogwarts Express. As Rose sat in a compartment with her family as per the Weasley-Potter tradition, she focused her attention on the scenery on the other side of her window. But that really didn't do her any good either because it seemed to her that the train was travelling at an even faster speed than it normally did, the way the scenery appeared to be rushing by. Was the whole world against her, then?
In what felt like the blink of an eye since waking up that morning, Rose was standing to gather all of her things as the Hogwarts Express came to a halt at King's Cross Station. She was just about to follow Albus out into the hallway when a hand wrapped around her wrist and pulled her back into the compartment.
Rose looked up in surprise to see none other than Scorpius standing there.
"Scorpius?" Rose questioned. "How did you get in here?"
"Are you alright, Rosie?" Scorpius asked, looking concerned. "You've seemed a bit off all day…and I've been in the compartment with you the entire trip…"
"Have you really?" Rose asked, brow furrowed, attempting to remember if she had noticed him in there before this moment. "I hadn't noticed…"
"I figured," Scorpius said. "Now, are you feeling okay? You look like you're about to walk to your death."
"That's because I am," Rose informed him. "Just so you know, my dad is going to kill me once he finds out that I'm dating you, and that I have been for the past year without telling him. He'll most likely kill you after that."
"Your dad likes you too much to kill you, especially since Hugo has made it quite clear on multiple occasions that he thinks the Cannons are a lost cause," Scorpius stated, ignoring the prediction of his untimely death at the hands of Ron Weasley.
"Hugo isn't dating the only child of his mortal enemy from school," Rose said. "You know, maybe we should wait a bit longer to tell everyone. After we finish school, maybe…or even once we're both established in careers…"
"Or," Scorpius said with wide eyes, "We could just wait until it's time for your dad to walk you down the aisle at our wedding before we tell anyone; I think I like that idea best."
"Prat," Rose said, smacking his arm lightly, though she cracked a smile as she spoke. "And when did I ever agree to marry you?"
"You wound me, Rosie," Scorpius informed her, one hand clutching his heart.
Rose rolled her eyes and, going on her tiptoes, pecked him lightly on the lips. "See you in a few weeks at the wedding."
"Just send me a letter once everything gets…figured out," Scorpius called after her as she turned and made her way out of the compartment.
Rose hadn't taken more than a step outside of the door, however, when she almost ran into Albus. She nearly dropped her trunk on his toe in surprise.
"What are you doing here, Al?" She asked.
"I just noticed that you weren't behind me anymore so I can to look for you," Albus explained, an unreadable expression upon his face. "Why does Scorpius think you're going to owl him this summer?"
"Study schedules for N.E.W.T.'s," Rose lied easily, before her expression turned suspicious. "Were you listening to our entire conversation?"
"Obviously not," Albus replied, "Otherwise I wouldn't be confused about why my best friend and his mortal enemy—when it comes to school—are going to be in correspondence this summer."
Rose just laughed, rolling her eyes with a shake of her head. Gathering all of her things once more, she followed Albus out of the train. Once on the platform, the sea of red and black hair that was the Potter-Weasley family was easily distinguishable from everybody else. Hermione was the first to spot the two seventeen-year-olds.
"Rose!" She cried, throwing her arms around her daughter as the pair reached the group. "Hi, Al. How did the second half of sixth year go for both of you?"
"It was great, Aunt Hermione," Albus said, bending down to give his aunt a kiss on the cheek before going off to find his parents.
"I got top marks in everything, mum," Rose informed her mother, pulling out of the hug slightly, "Except for Potions. Malfoy beat me in that one…somehow…"
"Good job, dear," Hermione said, smiling at her daughter. "If only your brother could pay as much attention to his studies as you do…"
"Mum!" Hugo protested from where he had suddenly just appeared at Hermione's elbow. "It's not even the first full day of the summer holidays yet, and you're already bugging me about schoolwork? Really, mum, really?"
Hermione merely laughed. "Come on, you two, we should be heading home."
"But where's dad?" Rose asked, looking over her shoulder as if expecting her father to be standing right there.
"He had some paperwork he had to finish up at the office," Hermione explained, loading all of Rose and Hugo's luggage onto a cart with a flick of her wand. "He said you'll have to wait until he gets home for dinner to be interrogated about all of the things you haven't written home about since Christmas."
"Erm, mum?" Hugo said. "Do you think I could go home with Al and them? See, Al said he had a book I might like to read, but he's been talking about it since Christmas, and he keeps forgetting to bring it with, or send it to me, even, so I told him I'd just follow him home and get it now. So, is that alright with you?"
"Does Aunt Ginny mind that you're coming with?" Hermione questioned.
"'Course not, Aunt Ginny's cool with it," Hugo said with a wave of his hand. "And I'll floo home as soon as Al finds it."
"You had better," Hermione warned him. "Your father and I would like to see you sometime this summer."
"Thanks, mum," Hugo said, giving Hermione a quick hug before making his way over to the waiting Potter family, calling back over his shoulder as he went, "And again, mum, it's not even the first full day of the holidays yet."
Hermione turned back to Rose with an amused grin on her face. "I guess it's just you and I then, Rose."
As her mother spoke, Rose's first real smile of the day crossed her face. With Hugo gone, it would be much easier for Rose to talk to her mother on the ride home. She felt like her mother was the more forgiving of her parents, and it would be so much better to have her mother on her side already when she finally told her father about her boyfriend. Of course, that was only assuming that Hermione didn't crash the car when Rose told her…perhaps this wasn't the best thought out plan, then, but it was as good as Rose was going to get, she was sure of that.
Ten minutes later they had gotten everything loaded into the car and Hermione and Rose were on their way home.
"So, mum," Rose began, fiddling nervously with her necklace, "How have you and dad been?"
"We're good," Hermione replied. She looked at Rose with an amused expression on her face that the younger girl didn't see, as she was avoiding looking at her mother. "And how has everything been at Hogwarts?"
"Good…" Rose trailed off, still not making eye contact.
"Rosie—" Hermione began but was promptly cut off.
"Mum! We've been having this argument since I was eleven: it's Rose," Rose complained. "I'm not a kid anymore."
"Okay then, Rose," Hermione said pointedly, still looking amused, "Was there something you wanted to talk about?"
"No," Rose said automatically. Then she sighed. "Well, maybe…"
"Well, let's just assume, for the moment, that there was something you wanted to talk to me about," Hermione suggested. "Hypothetically, what would it be?"
"Well…" Rose began slowly, all the while knowing that this conversation was going to have to happen eventually and it wasn't doing her any good to continue drawing it out, but doing so anyway. "Hypothetically, it might have something to do with boys."
"I see," Hermione said evenly.
"Or…just a boy," Rose corrected herself.
"Is this boy your boyfriend?" Hermione questioned. "Just so I know the back story."
"Er…yes," Rose said. "You see, assuming I wanted to talk to you about something, it would probably be a conversation about how I have this boyfriend, whom I've been dating for more than a year now, and how I never told anyone about it."
"And would this conversation include an explanation for why you would—or wouldn't, I suppose—do that?" Was Hermione's next question.
"Of course," Rose replied.
"And does this hypothetical boyfriend have a name?" Hermione prompted when Rose didn't continue speaking.
"Yes," Rose said slowly, "But his name is why I, hypothetically, wouldn't have told you about him."
Hermione merely nodded, a small, barely noticeable smile still on her face.
"Mum," Rose said suddenly, unable to take the brief moment of silence any longer. "I've been dating Scorpius Malfoy for thirteen months and I never told you or dad because I know you don't like his parents and they were with the Death Eaters during the war and his dad's aunt did terrible things to you, but I really, really like him and he's been friends with Al for years so you've had the chance to meet him before and you didn't seem to mind him too much then, apart from dad glaring menacingly at him every so often, and I just really want you both to like him but I'm afraid dad still won't even though he's nothing like the rest of his family was, and please, please don't ground me for not telling you about this sooner!"
Rose stopped then, unable to go on without oxygen. Biting her lip in worry as she caught her breath, Rose finally turned to look at her mother, fear written across her face. She was to be disappointed, however.
"That's nice, dear," Hermione commented lightly without even tightening her grip on the steering wheel.
"I—mum? Are you alright?" Rose looked concerned now. "You know that last bit wasn't hypothetical at all, right? I really am dating Scorpius Malfoy."
"Yes, dear, I heard you," Hermione replied, the small smile now becoming more pronounced.
"But…mum, I'm dating Scorpius Malfoy!" Rose repeated, flabbergasted. "You hate the Malfoys!"
Hermione merely shrugged a very un-Hermione-like shrug. "You say he's nothing like his family; I believe you. Besides, I have met the boy before; he's very charming," She gave her daughter a sidelong glance here. "I've also heard you do nothing but complain about him since your first Christmas at Hogwarts. Clearly the two of you have quite a bit in common."
"I…well…this didn't go at all like I thought it would," Rose admitted, her gaze sliding back to the scenery outside of the car. "But I suppose dad's always been the one to get really angry about…stuff," Her eyes widened suddenly and she turned back to face her mother so fast that she cricked her neck. "Mum, you have to promise that you'll stay in the room at all times when I tell dad tonight; there's no telling how he'll react. He was the one back in first year that made the big deal about Scorpius going to Hogwarts with us."
"Alright, dear," Hermione said, still looking highly-amused. "Now, I know you did well on all of your exams, but how was the rest of your term?"
Rose quickly embraced the change of topic and delved into a description of her life since she had last seen either of her parents at Christmas, glad for the distraction. While she had been pleasantly surprised with how her conversation with her mother had turned out, she knew the worst was still to come when her dad got home…