A/N: This is some Scorpius/Ginny platonic flangst that is Cursed Child compliant. Just to give those who may not have read/seen CC, here's some context for this story - basically in Scorpius and Albus' fourth year, Harry went a bit cray and forcibly ended their friendship for a while because he thought Scorpius was evil despite Scorpius being a smol bean and he Albus only really having each other at Hogwarts. This is set a year later. Okay, we all caught up? Cool :)
QLFC Round 12/ Cannons Beater 1: Platonic friendship Scorpius/Ginny - name - strawberry - a man is as good as the company he keeps
Word count: 2959
The Most Okay-est Boy in the World
Albus hurried down the long drive in fast, determined strides, too cold to appreciate the glistening, snow-covered Manor grounds and the twinkling lights that weaved around the hedges and trees. He knocked on the door, then began stamping his feet in the vain hope of jolting some feeling back into them as he waited. The nearest connection to the Floo Network was a half-hour walk away, and given that the one in the Manor apparently led directly into Draco's study, Albus had decided that freezing was worth avoiding a potentially awkward encounter with Scorpius' dad. Right now, though, he was very much regretting his decision.
It wasn't long before the door opened, and he was greeted by a smiling Scorpius on the other side of it.
"Hi, Albus!"
"Hey!" Albus gave his friend a small wave. "You ready?"
"Almost." Scorpius turned and held the door open for Albus as he headed back inside. Albus gratefully stepped into the Manor, closing his eyes for a moment as the warm air tingled his skin. When he opened them, he was greeted by two extraordinary sights. The first was a towering Christmas tree that stood proudly in the centre of the entrance hall, covered in enchanted snow and meticulous decoration. The second was a large suitcase that was no smaller than a Hogwarts trunk. Scorpius' coat was draped over the top of it.
"You're kidding me."
"What?"
"You're not staying for a year, you know!" Albus laughed.
"It's Christmas, Albus," Scorpius said cheerily. "Has it occurred to you that there could be presents in here? Presents that you may not get if you keep making fun of me." He winked.
Albus stopped laughing after that.
In his desperation to see all the Christmas decorations in the streets, Scorpius insisted that they only Floo half way to the Potters' house. A still frozen Albus had been reluctant at first, but his spirits lifted at the chance to indulge on free samples of sweets from the market in his village.
"Look at all the lights, Albus! I bet even Muggle streets look magical this time of year." Scorpius sighed in wonder. "Did you know that the first electric Christmas lights were created by a Muggle named Edward H. Johnson? He was associated with Thomas Edison, who invented –"
"Scorpius," Albus said wearily. "Have you been reading your Muggle Studies textbook for fun again?"
"Of course I have! I can't afford to fall behind."
Albus rolled his eyes. "Just wait 'til you meet my aunt Hermione. You'll get on like a house on fire."
This conversation continued as they walked. Albus had barely gotten a word in edgeways as Scorpius' lectured him about the benefits of being a good student, but he noticed that as they got closer to his house, Scorpius' voice began to trail off. Albus had taken advantage of the opportunity to talk at first, but when it became apparent that his words were falling on deaf ears, he began to feel concerned.
"Are you okay? You're scary when you're quiet, you know that?" He tried to pass it off as a joke, but Scorpius had gone completely silent now, and there was no masking the worry in Albus' voice.
A small whimper came out of Scorpius' mouth instead of words, and he shuddered.
"Are you cold?" Albus asked. "Do you want my scarf?" His fingers crept up to his neck to remove it but he saw Scorpius give a slight shake of his head.
"No, thank you."
His voice was unnaturally croaky and monotone, and his eyes were flickering restlessly behind his vacant stare.
"I can tell something's bothering you," Albus said. "What's gotten into you? You've been acting stranger and stranger the closer we've been getting to my house, and – oh." He stopped in his tracks, causing Scorpius to bump into him. "You're worried about dad."
Scorpius was looking at the ground when he turned to face him, but Albus could see he was biting his lip to conceal another whimper, and that was all the verification he needed. "He's not going to pull anything like last year," Albus said fiercely. "I'll make sure of that. He won't split us up again."
Scorpius looked up, a small smile crossing his face. "I'm worried about staying in your – in his – house. I just get the feeling he still doesn't like me. Because I'm a Malfoy. And I want him to like me. I want to keep being friends with you –"
"It's just a name." Albus said. "That means nothing; I'm a Potter in Slytherin for crying out loud!" Scorpius laughed a little at that, and Albus squeezed his shoulder. "It'll be fine. Promise."
This may have reassured Scorpius in the moment, but by the time they were walking up the path to Albus' house, he was beside himself. He was breathing heavily and looked so faint that his already pale face had turned as white as the snow.
Feeling a little anxious himself now, Albus unlocked the door and stepped inside. Scorpius hauled his heavy case over the threshold after him, and gulped when the door closed behind them. The house was warm and welcoming; with plush carpets, photographs and festive garlands adorning the walls, and the sound of carols filling the air. For a moment, Scorpius relaxed - this was far from the prison cell his anxious mind had conjured up a few minutes ago - but then the sight of a redheaded figure in the doorway made his nerves sky-rocket once more.
Ginny didn't notice the boys at first. Her hair was tied back and she was wearing an apron, and was nibbling a strawberry in a tense sort of way.
"Oi!"
Ginny jumped at the sound of Albus' voice. She immediately threw her hands behind her back as though she'd been caught committing a crime. "I wasn't – Oh, hello boys. I was expecting you to Floo in."
Albus was shaking his head. "You better not have eaten all the strawberries, Mum."
"Of course I haven't!" Ginny said. "Do you really think I'd do such a thing? I'm sure you, James and Lily would start a riot if I did."
Albus grinned. "Lily would definitely Bat Bogey you if she could use magic at home."
"She could try," Ginny said, a playful smirk adorning her face.
Scorpius' guard momentarily dropped, and he arched his eyebrows at Albus. He knew all too well about his friend's addiction to strawberries, and he was amused to discover that the other Potters shared this trait.
"Hi, Scorpius," Ginny said, offering him a kind smile. "So glad you could join us. Please excuse me if I'm a bit manic today – lots to do for Christmas."
Scorpius found himself relaxing a little in her presence. He gave her a tentative smile and said, "T-thank you, Mrs Potter." Then, he didn't know what possessed him to do it, but he gave her an odd sort of bow, and came out of it looking deeply embarrassed after he realised what he'd done.
Ginny seemed a little taken aback at this, but much to Scorpius' surprise, she didn't laugh at him. "Please, call me Ginny."
Scorpius was about to thank her for sparing him from torment, but Albus addressed Ginny first. "Where's dad?"
Ginny didn't seem to notice Scorpius tense up at this. "He was called into work." She sighed. "Typical, really. Means I'll have to do all the baking without him. What a disaster that'll be…" A look of dread flashed across her face. "Why don't you show Scorpius the guest room, Albus?"
Albus did as bade, and led the way up the stairs, leaving Scorpius to struggle behind him with his monstrous case. He was particularly ungainly as he was still kicking himself for being such an awkward mess, and blushed furiously when he heard Ginny laugh, though it wasn't an unkind one.
"Here, let me help you with that, dear." She took out her wand and cast a Locomotion Charm on the case to make it fly up the stairs. Scorpius blinked in surprise, once again shocked that she was showing him such kindness. He'd always assumed she was of the same opinion of him as Harry.
"Thank you, Mrs P- I mean, Ginny." He smiled, feeling all the shame and worry turn into elation. Well, most of it, anyway.
Ginny returned his smile. How Harry could have ever thought such a sweet boy could be any kind of a danger to their son was beyond her. "It's my pleasure. Now, let me quickly fix some hot chocolate for you two; you must be freezing."
"Oh, you really don't have to if you're busy," Scorpius called after her.
Ginny turned as she reached the kitchen doorway. "It's no bother. Anything to put off the baking!"
Scorpius beamed, and practically skipped up the stairs after Albus.
"What in Merlin's name was that all about?" Albus mimicked Scorpius' bow and smirked.
"I have no idea!" Scorpius groaned, but he was smiling.
"Why do you look so happy? If that were me in front of your dad I'd want to go live in a hole for the rest of my life."
"Your mum's really nice!"
"You sound surprised." Albus laughed, resisting the urge to poke more fun for now since Scorpius finally seemed like himself again.
"After everything you've told me, I expected her to be scary."
"She is scary," Albus said.
Scorpius laughed at this, but Albus didn't join in.
The boys spent the next hour playing Gobstones, and were just about to dig in to another bag of sweets from the market when Lily came bursting into the room, shouting something about James starting without them and how they needed to team up before dragging them down the stairs. Scorpius then found himself in the most chaotic tree-decorating experience he'd ever had. It was like a war-zone, with the three Potter children scrambling for tinsel and baubles and squabbling over 'claimed' spaces of the tree and stealing the best decorations from each other. It was only a matter of seconds for Scorpius' section to be hi-jacked by James, and he'd been watching wide-eyed from the side-lines when the distinct smell of burning met his nose, and he heard Ginny swear.
The other three appeared to have been too engrossed in their decorating battle to notice anything, and Scorpius slipped out of the room, feeling like he ought to check if everything was okay. There was a trail of smoke leading him to the kitchen, and when Scorpius stepped inside, his vision was completely blocked by it.
"Ginny?" He coughed.
"Scorpius?" Ginny's voice came from the other side of the room. "Hang on."
She cast a spell to clear the smoke, and the scene slowly unfolded before Scorpius. Ginny's cheeks were bright pink, and both she and a lot of the counters were covered in flour and dried egg. She looked frazzled, but nowhere near as much as the charred biscuits that she took out of the oven did.
Scorpius looked alarmed. "Is everything okay?"
"Everything was going okay until that." Ginny indicated towards the ruined biscuits with a sigh. "Well, as okay as it can be when I'm the one baking. Serves me right for using Muggle technology to multi-task."
"I can help," Scorpius said abruptly, momentarily forgetting about his reservations about her and Harry's opinions of him. "I used to bake all the time with mum before she…" He winced. "I always did it the Muggle way, so it doesn't matter that I can't use magic outside Hogwarts yet."
Ginny let out a light laugh. "That's awfully kind of you, but you're our guest. I can get one of the children to help instead; Merlin knows I need it." She paused. "Where are they, anyway?"
"Er, decorating the Christmas tree." Scorpius said it uncertainly; he wasn't sure anything he'd witnessed could technically be counted as 'decorating'.
Ginny's eyes widened. She took a step forward, having half a mind to stop up the war that had almost certainly broken out, but stopped herself. If she dragged one of them away she'd have to drag them all away, and she certainly wasn't in the mood to deal with three squabbling children in the kitchen with her. So as guilty as she felt about it, she accepted Scorpius' offer.
"In that case, I'd love to have you as my little helper." She smiled. "I don't suppose you'd be happy to give the gingerbread another go while I try and separate some eggs for the meringue?"
Scorpius nodded, and Ginny passed over a floury recipe book before they set to work in amicable silence. Well, it wasn't quite silence; Scorpius hummed along to the radio and Ginny muttered to herself under her breath as they worked, but there was no awkward or tense atmosphere, much to Scorpius' relief. Maybe she didn't hate him like Harry seemed to, after all.
Scorpius smiled to himself as he beat the mixture together. It wasn't Harry's approval, but it was something.
Ten minutes later, he had an array of gingerbread men, presents, trees and snowflakes lined up like soldiers on a baking tray.
"Done!" He he said as he slid them into the oven and set the timer.
"Me too!" Ginny cried, discarding a mountain of egg shells triumphantly before setting the whites off whisking themselves. "That's fantastic, Scorpius. Thank you so much." She was so happy that she could hug him.
"You're welcome." He smiled. "Is there anything else to do?"
"Yes. Could you -" She waved her wand at a kettle and Scorpius watched as it transformed into a large bowl of strawberries. "I had to hide these from the kids so they couldn't eat them all. Could you wash these for me?"
"Of course!" Scorpius stumbled a little as he carried the bowl to the sink. He didn't know strawberries could be so heavy.
Ginny's heart clenched. Every second she spent getting to know this boy just made her feel worse about what happened last year. Harry, and even she to an extent, had grossly misjudged Scorpius, and all because of a name. The guilt was rapidly rising to the surface. She couldn't contain it.
"I'm so sorry, Scorpius."
He turned around, genuinely confused. "What for?"
Ginny was looking at him sadly. "For Harry coming between you and Albus last year," she said. "And for me not being able to stop him."
"Oh." Scorpius' face fell. He suddenly felt anxious and tense again.
"He realised his mistake, you know? He's admitted that he was wrong to think you were the 'black cloud' around Albus that Bane spoke of, and –"
"Does he hate me?" Scorpius blurted suddenly. "Harry? Because I'm a Malfoy? I – I know that's part of the reason he suspected me in the first place."
His outburst took Ginny by surprise, but it made her heart ache.
"Sorry," Scorpius said. "I just want him to like me. I've been so nervous about facing him all day." He knew it was probably a bad idea to be saying this to Harry's wife, but as crazy as it was, he felt like he could trust her.
"Harry doesn't hate you," Ginny said soothingly. "His judgement was clouded by how he experienced your father at school. Some people think a man is only as good as the company he keeps, and I think Harry assumed you'd be just like Draco. And so did I to an extent." Scorpius winced at that but Ginny squeezed his shoulder reassuringly. "But you are nothing like your father was, Scorpius. You're a wonderful person, and I think Harry and I realised that too late. We're both very, very sorry."
Scorpius' eyes were welling up. "Thank you for being so nice." He sniffed. "It means a lot."
Ginny smiled and pulled him into a hug. "I do hope you can forgive us one day."
A tear escaped Scorpius' eye when they parted, and he hurriedly wiped it away.
"So what are we doing with these strawberries?" he asked, trying to change the subject before he became too emotional.
"We'll be making a Christmas tree," Ginny said, catching on. "Or trying to, anyway. It's a lot easier said than done. The meringue I'm making will be a snowy base for it."
"I like a challenge!" Scorpius grinned.
After the strawberries were washed, Scorpius and Ginny worked together to arrange them into a circular pyramid, making sure the ends of the berries were pointing outwards to resemble branches. It was indeed, a lot easier said than done, but they managed it eventually, and Scorpius drizzled some melted white chocolate over the whole thing to resemble snow as a finishing touch. They carefully placed it onto Ginny's meringue base when it was ready, and stepped back to admire their creation.
"It's perfect," Ginny said. "Thank you so much for your help today, Scorpius. I couldn't have done it without you."
"Thank you, too," Scorpius replied. "For… you know."
Ginny nodded. "It's my pleasure. Now go and find Albus; I've taken up enough of your time."
Scorpius gave Ginny a parting smile and headed out of the kitchen. He found Albus in the lounge playing Exploding Snap with James and Lily amongst the carnage of broken baubles and ripped tinsel beside the very haphazardly decorated tree.
"I was gonna come find you, but these two raised the stakes." Albus indicated to the pile of Sickles and sweets off to the side of the playing field. "Where'd you go? Are you okay?"
"Albus," Scorpius was grinning from ear to ear. "I'm more okay than you can believe. I, Scorpius Malfoy, am the most okay-est boy in the world right now.
A/N: I totally friend ship these two now, just sayin'. Thank you for reading! :D