AN: Finally found this chapter amid piles of paper on my desk… It's a short one, I'm trying not to grow them up too fast, but it's hard!
Chapter 2: Summer between 3rd and 4th years
They don't talk about what happened but it lies between them. It's in the way she sometimes finds herself staring at his shirt clinging to his chest when he's bending over a boiling cauldron. It's in his fascination with touching her. He'll use any excuse really. He'll bump his shoulder against hers when he's teasing her. He'll graze her fingers when he's passing the potatoes. He'll run up to her when they're out in the grounds, throw her over his shoulder and spin her until she's nauseous. He'll slump down right next to her on a couch, so that they're touching from shoulders to toes, and then read as if he can concentrate on anything but her. Technically they're friendly gestures, but she has become hyper aware of them.
In the summer between third and fourth she braves inviting him to the house. He had spent a few weeks with the Potters the previous summer, but had yet to set foot in Ronald Weasley's house. Her father seems to be resigned to a Malfoy's presence in his daughter life in theory (due to much scolding and possibly shrieking on her mother's part) but facing the reality of the 'friendship' is likely to be a different story. Rose decides that the best way to do it is to invite the Potters round while Scorpius is staying with them. She conspires with her mother to make this happen. Hermione's private suspicions make getting her husband to tolerate Scorpius a priority.
Rose watches from the landing as her father opens the door to greet the Potters and Scorpius. Her heart hammers. It feels like an important moment, though she won't admit why, even to herself. Her father dutifully holds a hand out to Scorpius and her breath whooshes out of her in relief. In another minute her father is deep in conversation with Uncle Harry and Scorpius is all but forgotten. She runs down the stairs grinning broadly. She hasn't seen him in over a month while he's been on holiday in France. She pulls him into a tight hug as soon as she reaches him. He's grown so she has to stand on tip-toe to hug him properly.
"You look nice." He tells her when they finally separate. She blushes and smooths the skirt of her dress. It's new and her mother had said that the blue in it brought out the blue of her eyes. She likes how the soft material accentuates her slim waist and the slight curve of her breasts. She wonders if he's noticed.
Al cuts off their staring competition with talk of the upcoming trip to Diagon and soon they are absorbed in general pre-dinner conversation. Once Scorpius and Al are safely ensconced in the lounge, with Aunt Ginny keeping a watchful eye on her father, Rose drops into the kitchen to offer help. She pauses just outside the doorway when she hears Uncle Harry's voice and inadvertently becomes an eavesdropper.
"… was shaking like a leaf when we left, Hermione, if I didn't feel so sorry for the kid I would've wet myself laughing. At one point I think he was actually wearing full formal dress robes. Before we left Lily came huffing down the stairs complaining about Scorpius hogging the bathroom, so I go up to see what's what and there are dress robes flung across the wash basket, three different ties in the sink and Scorpius slicking his hair so far back that you can barely tell he has any."
"Poor Child" Her mum says, clicking her tongue and stirring her pasta sauce, "Why Ron must insist on rehashing old rivalries I don't know. I take it you convinced him he didn't need a tie?"
"Well I walked in, and he looked up at me in the mirror and then said 'he's going to hate me, isn't he?' in this despairing tone. Dunno how I kept a straight face. He's usually a cocky one. You should have seen him the first time he beat Al at an Xbox game! Anyway, so I tell him to lose the tie and maybe find something red to wear, and then I get hold of his hair and give it a good muss. Boy he was put out. So I sit myself down on the edge of the bath and just tell him straight that the best thing he can do to impress Ron is to look as little like his Dad as humanly possible. Took three scourgify's to get all the gel out of his hair!" Harry laughs.
"Harry! How would you like being told to look as little like your Dad as possible?"
"He took it quite well actually. Better than Ron'll take the news of the imminent engagement anyway…"
Having heard quite enough Rose stumbled away from more startling revelations and towards the lounge. She finds her father and the boy in question embroiled in a heated chess game. Though Ron is clearly winning, Scorpius is holding his own quite admirably.
"They've been at it a while" Aunt Ginny tells her "I think your Dad might even be a little impressed."
Rose is not quite sure how to deal with this new reality. A reality in which she feels the need to introduce a boy to her father and the boy feels the need to impress him. She feels as though they are slowly building something much, much larger than she can comprehend. But she can't seem to stop laying bricks, even though the thought of the end product is frightening to contemplate. They're not following a plan, there is no design, but they are perfectly in sync and she has no doubt that they will build this thing right. She's only afraid that if they go too fast it will all fall down on top of them.
AN: Special thank you to all those who reviewed the last chapter: whysosirius7, pocahontas98, ALIASTESIN, Azure, pinklongbottom and MRSCharmander. I really appreciated the feedback! You are all fabulous for taking the time to leave it!