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Chapter 4
A week later…
Their mother's cooking could not compare to their Grandma's or the house-elves', but Rose and Hugo ate everything, because the journey from Hogwarts had taken its toll from them. Normally, they would have been bubbling with excitement because of the forthcoming Christmas dinner with the whole family, but now, the thought of facing Lily made Rose's blood freeze. They had somehow managed to avoid each other since their confrontation, but it was not easy to pretend that they did not see each other. What on earth would they do in the Burrow face to face, encircled by many caring – and nosy – relatives?! Hugo seemed to share his sister's thoughts, because his face was grim and he ate without looking away from his plate. Their parents looked at each other, concerned, but they were silent too, and finally Rose started to feel like she was attending a lunch after a funeral.
"Everyone ready?" Hermione finally asked, and when the other three murmured 'yes', she pointed her wand at the table, magically clearing all the dishes. After hearing the splashing of water that meant that they were washing themselves in the basin, Rose and Hugo looked at each other and silently agreed that it was time for them to make her escape to their rooms. They made a stealthy step towards the door, than another one –
"Rosie!"
She pretended not to hear her father's voice. Just three more steps –
"Rosie!"
If Ron was to raise his voice a little more, deaf people surely would be able to hear it. Rose sighed and turned to her father. "Yes, Dad?"
"We - your mother and I – need to talk to you."
"I thought so," Rose muttered and sat back on her chair.
"Excuse me?" Hugo asked tentatively. "Do I need to stay here?"
"No, Hugo, you may go," his father dismissed him.
"No, Hugo, stay!"
The boy hesitated again. He had no desire to witness his parents' interrogation, but loyalty came first. He grudgingly went back inside and stood behind his sister's chair, placing his hand on her shoulder.
Hermione smiled inwardly. Being an only child herself, she always loved to watch her children's interactions. Well, not always, but in most cases. She vividly remembered the awful sounds of fighting echoing from their room, when they were very little. She had hurried to bring peace and her two children, sparring on the floor, had looked at her with angry surprise, yelling "What are you doing here? No one called you! Get out, get out! " Ron, on the other hand, had always accepted the children's quite – err, active quarrels – far more philosophically than her, coming to them and leading her out of the nursery. "Leave them alone, Hermione," he had told her more times than she cared to count, "they'll come to terms by their own." Listening to the thuds and yells from the upper floor, Hermione had had no idea how that would be possible, but, to her greatest surprise, after an hour or so they had always come downstairs incredibly dirty, but beaming and chatting amiably to each other. They were a team, Rose and Hugo, whatever happened – an accidentally animated teddy bear, a broken plate of Hermione's best set, or Malfoy.
Malfoy.
Of all things, Malfoy.
Ron cleared his throat. "Erm – Rosie, I don't know how to start it. You know, your mother and I received an owl from Albus."
He stopped expectantly, but Rose was silent.
"Can you imagine what he wrote us in his letter?"
Silence.
"He said some rubbish about you and – you and – and Malfoy." Ron said the last word as if he had foul taste in his mouth.
Again, Rose said nothing. Hugo's hand squeezed her shoulder reassuringly.
"Is it true?"
Rose nodded.
"What? You mean you really date - ?" It was too much for Ron to say the name.
Rose nodded again.
"What do you mean, nodding like this, Rosie?" Ron asked, hoping against hope that she meant something different than what she actually meant.
"She means 'yes'," Hugo finally said, seeing that his sister had obviously decided neither to say a word, nor look away from the carpet.
"YES!"
Here, it was the explosion they had all waited and dreaded.
"Yes! You mean, you really date Malfoy, this scum, this bag of air, this – "
"He isn't like that, Dad!" Rose spoke for the first time.
"The hell he isn't! An apple can't fall away from the tree and that's a fact. Lucius Malfoy – a Death Eater! Draco Malfoy – a Death Eater, and a real bastard at that! Narcissa Malfoy – a candidate Death Eater! Bellatrix Lestrange – the Mad Death Eater Hag! This family is rotten to the core. They shouldn't be allowed to recreate at all!"
"Good," Hermione interrupted calmly, "then you'd better have a chat with Teddy soon."
Ron blinked at her. Rose and Hugo did the same, all three of them quite uncomprehending. "Teddy?" Ron asked. "What does Teddy have to do with anything?"
"Don't you think he has to know that he and Victoire aren't allowed to have more children? They should be prepared."
"What?"
"He has the Black blood running in his veins, you know. Bellatrix Lestrange's blood."
Ron ran a hand across his face. "Of all the idiotic things – Nothing's wrong with the boy!"
"Does it matter? He shares the same awful, contaminated blood that Narcissa and Scorpius Malfoy have."
Ron shot her a mean glance, but his wife seemed completely undisturbed. "Merlin's pants, Hermione, you can't mix the two things!"
"I can and I will." Hermione smiled at him and took his hand in her own. "Come on, Ron, you've met Scorpius. Has he ever stricken you as highly dangerous?"
Ron angrily shook his head. "No, but he wasn't dating my daughter back then!"
"You think I'm a bad influence on him?" Rose asked, and Ron looked at her, aghast. Rose fought her smile.
"Oh no, now it's the two of you against me. What chance do I have?" He looked from his daughter to his wife and sighed. "I'm worried about you, Rosie. I know you see Scorpius as – well, as just Scorpius, but you have no idea how dangerous his family is."
"I know, Dad," Rose said.
Ron shook his head. "No," he said, "you don't know. You've heard all about this, but it isn't the same thing. They are – they are not good people, Rosie. I don't want anything to happen to you."
"Nothing will happen to me," Rose assured him, and allowed herself to smile a little. "Scorpius isn't like that, Dad. I know him."
Ron looked at her eyes, full of confidence. The last thing he wanted was to see those eyes full of disappointment. "Maybe you don't know him as much as you think," he said, trying to be tactful. Judging by the looks his family kept throwing at him, he was not. "I mean, maybe you see what he wants you to see. I mean – "
"We know, Dad," Hugo said. "But you aren't right. Look, Scorpius has been Rose and Al's friend for six years. Do you think it's possible for someone to lie to other people for six years, pretending to be their friend? The cheated one should be very stupid, and Al and Rose certainly aren't."
"Thanks," Rose muttered sarcastically, and he grinned over her head.
"I still don't like it," Ron insisted stubbornly, and Hermione smiled and caressed his hand.
"Honey, you don't need to like it, you just had to tolerate it. Is that too much to ask?"
"I think it is," Hugo whispered in his sister's ear, barely keeping his laughter at his father's forlorn look. Then Ron looked straight at him and Hugo tried to look as serious as possible.
"Take care of her!" Ron ordered angrily, and Hugo grinned and mock-saluted.
"Yes, sir!"
"He already does that!" Rose complained. "Whenever I poke my nose out of the dormitory, he's always there – he or Al, or Molly, or James, or Lucien, or Fred, or Alastor – I think the only times I can remain alone is when I'm going to the bathroom."
"That's to make sure that you and Lily don't kill each other," Hugo defended himself and his cousins. Rose's face immediately fell – the ongoing quarrel with Lily was one of her greatest concerns.
I can't do anything about it, but no need to worry, Malfoy won't allow his son to have a relationship with Rose, Ron thought.
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The same time...
Oh no, oh no, it's not him.
Stop deluding yourself, Draco.
Draco Malfoy took off his traveling cloak and threw it on the first chair that he saw, then he hurried to the living room and, true enough, there were his wife and son sitting at the one end of the table and his parents sitting at the other one. Lucius Malfoy – an imposing figure with his silver hair and grand voice – was in the middle of his heated speech. "I absolutely forbid this disgrace to go on. It was a horrible disrespect to your name and blood and it ends now!"
"It isn't a disgrace – "
Draco cleared his throat. "Hello."
Everybody looked at him: his mother with surprise at not having heard his entering, Astoria with anger for leaving her to deal with his parents all by her own – well, she was quite good at it, so he was not too concerned about her – and his father and Scorpius were both red-faced and so angry that they did not even have any room for surprise.
"Have a nice journey, Scorpius?"
"Yes, Dad."
"That's good."
Draco sat next to Astoria and tried to catch her eye to know what had happened, but she resolutely refused to even look at him. He could draw his conclusions from the red spots on her cheeks, though. She had never got along with his parents, who'd been terrified by his marriage to her – they had relied on the Greengrass' money to repair the damages caused to the Malfoy fortune by the war, but instead of marrying Daphne, he had married her younger sister and her considerable, but less than royal dowry. Usually, Astoria avoided meeting his parents and they avoided meeting her. It was easy to guess what had happened today, after Scorpius' return. Draco silently cursed his timing – he should have been there, instead of letting Astoria meeting his father's fury all by herself. Yet, he had made the appointment in Italy long before he knew what mess his son had gotten himself in. Vellari was one of his oldest business partners and he could not postpone the business trip. I bet Dad's thrown all sorts of insults at Scorpius while I was gone. No wonder Scorpius is furious.
True enough, almost the same moment that he had thought it, Lucius bellowed, "Don't you dare talk to me this way, Scorpius! It seems that something is seriously wrong with you, otherwise you would have died before even thinking of having a relationship with a blood-traitor, a half-blood – "
"He should have died before – ?" Scorpius' mother interrupted her father in-law, her gray eyes blazing. Draco felt the upcoming explosion that would made everything even worse. He quickly reached for Astoria's hand and squeezed it in a silent plea. At first, she tried to yank it off, but then she looked at him and saw how tired he looked – thoroughly exhausted. Her expression softened and she bit back her furious response.
"She's a girl, a human being, she's great! She's the girl I fancy!" Scorpius said heatedly.
"No, you don't."
"Yes, I do."
"No, you don't. You think you fancy her, but you don't. My grandson, the last of the Malfoy line," here he shot Astoria a nasty look – failing to produce other heirs was one of her many mistakes, "can't be attracted to such a being."
That did it for Scorpius, who had heroically tried to keep at least some composure during the long afternoon fight with his grandfather. Now, the last remnants of his self-control flew through the window and he started yelling, "A being? A being? Don't you dare call her names! She's Rose. She's the girl I've fancied for years!"
Everybody gaped at him – all except for his mother. Draco could easily read what she thought – I told you so. Maybe it wasn't true, after all. Maybe he's just trying to piss Dad off completely, he thought hopefully. Scorpius in love with a Weasley girl – no, it can't be.
"You'll break up with her!" Lucius bellowed, reaching for his wand and then withdrawing his hand.
"No."
"You will or I will disinherit you." Lucius had suddenly stopped shouting and his voice was now cold as ice. "You'll leave this house – "
"No."
It was not Scorpius who said it this time but Draco. He had hoped that he would not have to face both his son and his father this evening – Merlin, all he wanted was a cup of tea and a good rest to be able to deal with Scorpius' crush tomorrow – but things had gotten too far.
"No? What do you mean, no?"
"I mean no, Dad." He turned to Scorpius, who looked intended to leave the house if his grandfather said a single word more. "In this entire tirade, your Grandfather forgot to mention only one thing – that this is my house and not his. I decide who stays and who leaves. You aren't going anywhere – well, right now you are going to your room, but nothing more."
"I'm not – "
"Please, Scorpius,' Draco said, "we'll talk about this tomorrow."
Realizing that his staying there would lead only to another shouting match between him and his grandfather, Scorpius nodded. "Goodnight, then. Mum. Dad. Grandma." He deliberately chose to omit Lucius – his final provocation to his grandfather.
Of course, he did not go to his room. Instead, he squatted next to the door to eavesdrop on their further conversation.
"Dear God, this boy has no wizard pride, no respect to his seniors and no choice in picking girlfriends."
"I'm sorry you think that," Astoria said in level voice.
"Lucius doesn't really mean that – " Narcissa began, knowing in advance that her attempt to reconcile the arguing parties would lead to nothing – her earlier attempts had failed, after all.
"I mean just that – "
"Oh, please, can't you stop?" Draco asked tiredly. "Dad, can't you understand that talking about Scorpius in this way means criticizing us?"
"I don't think you're very sensible parents, considering the upbringing that you gave to your son."
Again, Astoria bristled with anger, but Draco gave her a quick look and said as calmly as he could, 'Those are harsh words and completely untrue. Scorpius is well-mannered."
"He has no idea of his duties, no respect for the purity of his blood, no sense to associate with the right people – "
"For Merlin's sake, Dad, do you hear yourself? He's a sixteen-year old boy who has his first crash, nothing more. I don't like it more than you do, but it won't last long. He isn't going to marry her or anything."
"Who knows? He won't be the first Malfoy who marries an inappropriate woman."
This time, it was too much for Astoria to bear. She stood up, her face burning. "Leave," she said in a cold voice.
"You won't tell me – "
"Oh, Dad, just leave," Draco sighed. "Don't do it worse than it already is."
Narcissa finally managed to drag her husband out of the living room – Scorpius had prudently hid behind the staircase, so they did not see him, - then out of the house, and finally, there was a blessed silence. Scorpius stealthily went back to the door to see if he could hear something more.
"Merlin's beard, it's finally over," he heard his father's voice and suddenly realized how tiredly it sounded.
"You're telling me!" Scorpius' mother was fuming with anger. "You're going to a business trip and leaving me alone to deal with your awful father and now 'it's finally over'. I should be the one telling you this – I and Scorpius! We spend the whole afternoon with your parents, listening to Lucius' insults – did you hear him? 'The last of the Malfoy line', he said and looked at me as if I were a cow unfit for breeding!"
"I'm sorry."
"Well, you should be! And you just stood there, and let him say this to me – no, don't try to placate me! Do you have any idea how furious I am, Draco? As if shouting at Scorpius was not enough, he stabbed me in my most sore spot – you know how much I want another child, more than he does!"
"If I wanted a bunch of children, I would have hardly chosen a tender body like yours, with such thin thighs." Draco was still trying to calm her down. "Daphne was far more suitable, don't you think?"
Now, Astoria felt insulted. "If I am so unfit for this purpose, why the hell did you marry me?"
"Only Merlin knows!" Finally, Draco's patience had worn out. "Not because of your nice character, that's for sure!"
Ling silence. Then, soft laughter – Scorpius' mother had finally started to placate. His father chuckled tiredly. "You're taking Scorpius' news surprisingly well," Astoria said.
"Oh, I don't like the idea of him being with the Weasley girl not one bit," Draco said, "but first, what's the point of trying to dissuade him? It'll only antagonize him."
"Too true," Astoria said.
"Second, he's sixteen and I really believe what I said earlier – he'll grow tired of her, eventually. He's my son, after all. " Scorpius could tell that his father was smiling. "When I was his age, I thought I fancied that stupid Pansy Parkinson. Do you remember her, Astoria? Meanwhile you were patiently waiting for me to come around."
"I was not. If you remember, you were not a likeable person back then," she said. "God, each time I entered the common room, I scanned it for you, thinking 'Let him not be around. Let him not be around.'"
"Third," Draco continued, pretending not to have heard her objection, "her family would put an end to this sooner than you expect. Weasley just won't let his daughter being involved with my son."
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Next chapter – Lily goes to... no, I'm not telling you anyting! You'll have to wait and see. Review, please!
