a/n-This chapter picks up right where things left off with Scorpius in Chapter Two.

Chapter Eight-Astoria

The confident expression faded from Scorpius' face as Rose disappeared down the train corridor with Albus.

While he did believe that Rose was over-reacting just a bit with her multiple theories about how her father was going to violently kill her sometime in the near future, Scorpius felt like there might be a hint of truth to those predictions. As he had already told his girlfriend on more than one occasion when the subject had come up, Ron Weasley wasn't about to kill his only daughter; there was no chance. Rather, he would most likely kill Scorpius. Therefore, Scorpius was the one who to worry about his untimely demise at the hands of an angry parent.

But Scorpius wasn't really afraid of Ron Weasley, his girlfriend's father.

Over the years, through his friendship with Albus, Scorpius had gotten the impression that Ron vaguely approved of the Malfoy heir as a friend for his nephew. As a result, there was no doubt in Scorpius' mind that Ron would eventually get over the fact that Scorpius was dating his daughter. You know…eventually. By the time he retired…or was on his deathbed…or after a few centuries of being a ghost. Any way it went, however, Scorpius was confident (or as confident he could be in his current state) that Ron would one day accept him as Rose's boyfriend.

So no, Scorpius wasn't afraid of Ron. But he was terrified of telling his own father, and what said father's reaction would be.

Scorpius knew without a doubt that his father had definitely mellowed—for lack of a better word—out after the end of the second war. Draco Malfoy no longer had a vendetta against all those not of pure blood, and he certainly no longer practiced any kind of dark magic. These things Scorpius could personally attest to, having been raised by the man. In fact, Draco had been pardoned after the war, although his own father had gone back to prison for a brief stint before being pardoned as well.

While the Malfoy family had renounced the Dark Lord and had even been instrumental in rounding up the last few remaining Death Eaters and others sympathetic to the cause, they had ultimately fallen from grace (not that they had been in very good standing with the Ministry at the time anyway). Draco and Astoria were rebuilding the Malfoy name, though. And, with the little he had been told about his family's less-than-illustrious past, Scorpius couldn't be any more proud of the slow-but-sure changes his parents were bringing about.

But Scorpius was still terrified of telling his dad about Rose.

Draco Malfoy might have changed and he might no longer be any sort of Dark wizard, but he was still entirely less than fond of the Weasley family. As it was, he could barely even fathom his son's friendship with a Potter, though he tolerated it. Scorpius didn't want to know how Draco would react to the news that his only son was dating the next worse thing.

Scorpius had been the one to push Rose to agree to finally letting their secret out though, so he couldn't back out now. And so, steeling himself for the worst, Scorpius finally stood and dragged his things out of the compartment, down the train car, and onto the platform. Scanning the platform, he caught sight of a mass of red and black hair—Rose's family. He didn't linger on his girlfriend very long, however, and continued to scan the area when his gaze fell on a blonde woman who had just walked through the barrier and onto the platform. Scorpius quickly made his way over to her.

"Hello, mother," Scorpius said, swooping down and kissing the much shorter woman on the cheek.

"You weren't waiting very long, were you, dear?" Astoria asked, catching her son's arm and pulling him into a hug as he made to stand up straight again. "And what have I told you about calling me the 'm' word? I'm far too young to be referred to in such a manner."

"I only just got off the train, mum," Scorpius said patiently, with a small smile.

"Oh good," Astoria said, finally releasing him from her hold. "I was all set to leave the office an hour ago, but then that blasted editor decided that I needed to rewrite my entire article for tonight's deadline."

"I could have just gone home on my own. I do have my apparition license now, you know," Scorpius pointed out.

"Nonsense," Astoria said, pointing her wand at Scorpius' luggage and vanishing it all back to their home. "I am your mother and I hardly see you for ten months out of the year because you're at school. If I want to pick you up from the train station then I very well will."

"What happened to not using the 'm' word?" Scorpius demanded, smirking at her.

"You're an ungrateful child," Astoria informed him airily. "Now, are we all ready to go? The car is just outside."

"I'm ready," Scorpius said, gesturing for his mother to lead the way back into the muggle world and out of the train station. "But I can't believe that father is still letting you be seen in such a muggle contraption."

Astoria let out a light peal of laughter. "You know you're just itching to finally learn how to drive it this summer. And speaking of your father, he said he's sorry that he couldn't be here to pick you up, too. Apparently it's a busy day at St. Mungo's and he couldn't get away early like he planned."

Scorpius shrugged, none too eager to catch up with his father on everything that had been going on in the younger Malfoy's life since the pair had last seen each other.

Fifteen minutes later, the two Malfoys were both buckled into the car and en route to the London apartment Draco and Astoria had opted to live in rather than Malfoy Manor after their marriage.

"You're awfully quiet," Astoria commented. Since leaving King's Cross Scorpius had barely said more than a few words, and all of them short, one-word responses to questions his mother had asked him.

In response, Scorpius gave a non-committal shrug of his shoulders.

"Is it because you won't be able to see Al until July because of his cousin's wedding?" Astoria pressed. "Because you know it could be good for the two of you to spend some time apart. You won't share a dorm forever."

"How'd you know about the wedding?" Scorpius asked.

"It's been all over the paper, dear. And I do hope that, after seventeen years, you've realized that I work for the Daily Prophet," Astoria replied, her gaze focused on the heavy afternoon traffic, though Scorpius detected the teasing not in her voice. "Besides, it is the wedding of Victoire Weasley and Teddy Lupin. Considering who they're related to, their wedding shows that that stupid war is really and truly behind us, and that we've rebuilt. It's a big deal. Don't tell me you've stopped supporting your mum and don't read the Prophet anymore?"

"I'll be fine without Al for a few weeks, mum," Scorpius finally said, ignoring his mother's teasing accusation. "I might see him sooner than you think, anyway. He says Victoire is going absolutely insane with wedding plans, so he might end up running away."

"It's not as if she's his sister," Astoria said reasonably. "It can't be that bad for him. But I don't even want to imagine the frenzy that would surround the wedding of one of the Potter children. Or Ron and Hermione Weasley's children, either."

Scorpius didn't know what to say to that. He did figure, however, that it would probably not be a good idea to mention that he was currently dating one of those children within the context of the conversation he and his mum were currently having. But…maybe it would be best to get telling his mum about Rose out of the way before his dad came home. She was awfully resourceful…in fact, Scorpius wouldn't put it past her to find some way of disguising his identity so that he could live out the rest of his life without fear of his father tracking him down to kill him for dating a Weasley.

"You know, it's funny you should mention Rose and Hugo, mum," Scorpius suddenly said.

"Is it really?" Astoria replied. "How so?"

"Well, you see," Scorpius began, nervous despite the fact that he knew his mother would always love him no matter who he did or didn't date. "It's like this: Rose and I are kind of, sort of, maybe dating."

Astoria raised a perfectly sculpted eyebrow at her son, and glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. "'Kind of, sort of, maybe?'" She repeated. "Scorpius, darling, you either are or you aren't. There isn't any 'maybe' when it comes to whether or not you're dating someone. And," She continued pointedly, cutting Scorpius off when he opened his mouth to respond, "I'd imagine Rose wouldn't take very kindly to you saying that you're only 'kind of' dating when it's already been more than a year."

"Fine, we are dating, then," Scorpius rushed out once his mother finished speaking. Then he paused, and turned in his seat so that his entire body was facing her. "Wait…how did you know it's been more than a year?"

"I'm a journalist, dear," Astoria informed her son. "I thought we'd covered that already. And, I notice everything."

"So you've pretty much known the entire time?" Scorpius questioned, slightly amazed. "And you didn't say anything? Wait…you didn't tell dad, did you?"

"Oh Scorpius," Astoria said lightly, taking one hand off of the steering wheel and patting Scorpius' hand gently. "You are my only son. I quite like you being alive, you know."

"I knew it," Scorpius muttered. "Dad really will kill me when I tell him. Even you think so."

"Now, we both know he might over-react…a bit," Astoria said slowly. "Obviously that's why you've waited so long to tell anyone, but he won't kill you. Your father is a Healer; it's part of his job to keep people alive."

"Fine, then he's going to torture me until I'm on the very edge of death and keep me like that for the rest of my life, until I do die, and he can somehow blame it on more natural causes," Scorpius stated.

"You did always have an over-active imagination as a child," Astoria commented, glancing over her shoulder to check the traffic before pulling into the last available spot on the curb outside of their building. She turned off the car and then turned back to face her son. "Will you be telling your father about Rose tonight, or is this going to be a secret you keep until the two of you are walking down the aisle?"

Scorpius sighed. "Rose and I agreed we'd tell our families when we got home from school," he said reluctantly. "So I'll be telling dad when he gets home from work, I suppose."

"Excellent," Astoria said with a nod, pulling her keys out of the ignition. "I'll be sure to make his favorite food for supper then, it's bound to help soften the blow a bit."

Scorpius gave his mother a helpless nod as she got out of the car. Things were going to get very interesting once his father got home…