There were only a few days left before Christmas, and Scorpius was due at the Potter's for their annual Christmas party any minute. This was the first time in years he was actually considering not going. It felt like a permanent weight had been placed in his stomach that would only be lifted if he forgot about everything that had happened over the last few weeks.

He hadn't written back to Rose since she'd reached out a week after the night at the cafe. What could he possibly say? He wanted to talk to Daisy, but he currently didn't feel like having anything to do with Rose. Archie was miserable, although doing admittedly better than Scorpius had expected. He hadn't been drinking since the day he saw Molly, which was a good thing, but it also meant he was cranky from the combined lack of alcohol and the knowledge of Molly's presence in the same city. And to top it all off, things had been stalled on the construction of the store thanks to an infestation of Doxys that had remained dormant below the floorboards until this past week.

As he sat in his office that Saturday, pouring over the construction schedule to see what changes needed to be made, he fully intended to go to Malfoy Manor and take advantage of his father's collection of firewhiskey before contemplating the possibility of facing Rose Weasley. His plans were changed when Archie showed up, insisting that if Al and Abigail were making him go, Scorpius better get his arse there too.

He'd finally told Archie a bit of the truth. Rather than saying Rose was Daisy, he'd simply said he'd gone to meet her and was stood up, and Rose just happened to be there as well. He'd needed to come up with something when Archie wouldn't let up asking about why he suddenly seemed to want nothing to do with Rose, when he'd been more than happy to banter with her a few weeks ago. Archie had been very unimpressed with Rose's words, but insisted that Scorpius not let one person destroy his whole social life. This was the argument he presented once again when he pulled Scorpius out of his office and to the Potter's home.

They were a little late to the party, but nobody seemed to mind. There was an assortment of food and drinks off to the side of the great room, and people were milling about a rather tall Christmas tree that stood in the center. Even with the exorbitant number of Weasleys present, it still seemed like a spacious room. Al and Abigail were the first to greet them, and Scorpius gratefully accepted his wide awake goddaughter, who was wearing a Christmas red dress and a matching bow around her head.

"Teddy wanted to say hello," Al told Scorpius. While they hadn't been that close growing up, Teddy had reached out to Scorpius once he was at Hogwarts and had gotten to know Al. They were cousins after all, and Teddy was big on family, especially since he didn't have much of it. He'd gotten to see them for a bit the morning Al and Abigail had left the hospital, but not since.

"Is the whole family here?" Archie asked, running his fingers through his hair nervously and glancing around the room.

"Would you stop that," said Scorpius, batting Archie's hand away with his free one. "You look like a twitchy ferret."

"You're the twitchy ferret, git."

"Play nice in front of my daughter, please," Abigail said in a bored tone. "And yes, Archie. Everyone's here."

The pour wizard's worst fears were realized a moment later when he was approached by a surprisingly pleased looking Percy Weasley.

"Archibald Davies! It's been awhile."

A terrified smile appeared on Archie's face as he accepted the older wizards extended hand in a shake. Since Molly hadn't been home for Christmas in years, her family had always gone to visit her, so an encounter with the Head of International Magical Cooperation was something that Archie had been able to avoid for years as of yet.

"How are you, Mr. Weasley?" he asked in a surprisingly strong voice.

"Wonderful," Percy boomed. "It's an exciting time for my family. Although I'm sure you've already heard that Lucy's getting married."

Archie nodded, but Percy continued before he could respond.

"Of course, it's wonderful to have Molly home as well. Have you two had a chance to catch up? I always thought it was a shame that didn't work out once she left."

Archie's face had drained of all color. It was rather obvious that Molly hadn't quite filled her father in on exactly how her relationship had ended.

"Yes, sir," was all Archie managed to say.

"Dad, Wesley's parents wanted to talk about wedding accommodations."

Archie let out a sigh of relief when Lucy approached her father and pulled him to the other side of the room, giving Archie a sympathetic grimace. Percy only had time to look back and say he'd find him later before being dragged away by his daughter.

Archie buried his face in his hands with a groan.

"Bloody hell. If that's the way the rest of this night is going to go I might as well just die now."

The evening continued, and Archie had so far been able to avoid having any encounters that were as cringe worthy as his one with Percy. Scorpius wasn't quite so lucky. He'd been able to catch up with Teddy and spent some time talking to Harry and Ron, all with Archie close by.

He was leaning against a wall, nursing a firewhiskey after Archie had run off to use the loo. They'd stuck by each other's side throughout the night in an effort to save the other if need be. So of course, the one moment his wingman was gone was when she chose to strike.

Somehow, he'd managed to avoid even catching a glimpse of Rose throughout the evening, although he thought that was partly due to the few times Archie had abruptly pulled him to another part of the room. But now she was walking towards him, looking far too beautiful in a simple black dress that had a conservative neckline, but didn't leave much to the imagination as far as her figure was concerned. It was her hair, though, loose and falling around her shoulders that really captured his attention.

He was so busy taking in her appearance, that he didn't notice the anxious look on her face until she stopped in front of him. She spoke without preamble.

"Can we talk?"

This was so far from what he'd expected her to say, that he just stared blankly at her for a few moments.

"Somewhere private?" she clarified.

"Why should I talk to you?" he asked coldly. In a much more patient voice than Scorpius expected, Rose responded.

"Because you're a better person than me, and I'm asking you to give me the benefit of the doubt."

Part of him still wanted to straight up refuse. Not only was he still angry with her because of what she'd said, but there was a very important aspect of their relationship that she was unaware of, and that he didn't want to reveal by accident. He'd basically decided that he would be keeping his distance from Rose; a choice he might have made even if she hadn't said what she did. That part just made it easier. But he found he couldn't keep himself away from Rose, no matter how much he wanted to.

"Well, you make a good point."

He smirked at the physical restraint she was using to keep herself from rolling her eyes. And so, instead of following his gut instinct to run like hell, he found himself trailing behind a still tense Rose. She led him out of the great room and down a hall with multiple doors. Stopping at a large wooden one, she tapped her wand on the handle and led him inside, snapping it shut behind him.

Scorpius took a moment to take in the room. The walls were lined with shelves that were filled with more books than Scorpius would ever read in his lifetime. Two glass panel doors stretched from the floor to the ceiling on the far side of the room, most likely leading onto a balcony of some kind. There was a rather large desk made of solid wood that sat facing a fireplace. Papers and books and quills were strewn across it, but it looked like it's last purpose had been to host a game of chess. The only other time Scorpius had been in this room was to receive a scolding when he and Al had accidentally set the kitchen on fire while experimenting with some of George's products.

"Fancy a game?" asked Rose, moving to sit in the large chair behind the desk. With a flick of her wand, a slightly smaller, though no less comfortable chair appeared across from her. Indulging her, Scorpius slid into the seat as Rose began to arrange her pieces on the board.

He didn't know what to make of this bizarre turn of events. A quiet Rose was something unheard of as far as he was concerned, unless she were studying or reading. Scorpius watched closely as she made her first move.

"How's Archie?"

He quirked a skeptical brow at her question, moving a pawn.

"I saw Percy accost him earlier," Rose explained. Scorpius let out an amused snort.

"He'll live, though it did frighten him half to death."

A brief smile twitched across her lips as she moved out her knight.

"Why do you care?" he couldn't help but ask, trying to keep the scorn out of his voice.

"Because I care about Molly and its rather obvious that, in spite of everything, she still cares about him."

While that was news to Scorpius, it wasn't surprising. Molly had always been a very caring person. It would take a lot for her to completely write someone off. Especially someone she'd once been in love with.

"Is this what you wanted to talk to me about?" asked Scorpius, growing inpatient as he suddenly remembered that he was supposed to be angry with her. That he was still angry with her. His suddenly cold demeanor didn't go unnoticed by Rose, and she took a calming breath.

"I don't know if it will even do much good, but I wanted to apologize."

They watched each other for awhile, before Scorpius broke the eye contact to take his turn. She took this opportunity to continue.

"I behaved like a self righteous cow, and I never should have said what I did."

He mulled her words over in silence as she took her turn. She was good at chess, he couldn't help but notice. He remembered seeing her play quite a bit in school, but couldn't recall if they'd ever played each other.

"Did you mean it?" he asked, his voice strong and devoid of emotion.

"Of course not," she said in a small voice, her eyes focused on the board as he moved his queen. "I was already upset and you've always known how to push my buttons at the worst of times. I just decided to hurt you the best way I knew how."

Scorpius could imagine how much it took for her to admit that. Her cheeks were tinged slightly pink as her brown eyes flickered up to him briefly.

"Where's this coming from?" asked Scorpius, unable to help being curious. Even if he thought she might apologize eventually, he expected it to be in a much more scornful or mocking manner. He didn't expect her to fully mean it. She took a deep breath, stealing herself and taking one of his pawns before responding.

"I suppose I've owed you an apology for awhile now."

He gave her an uncertain look. "How do you figure that?"

"You know how I said once that some people just can't get along on a fundamental level, and you said you didn't think that was us?"

She looked up at him through her eyelashes, chewing her lip in a nervous and slightly enticing way. He nodded.

"You might have been right."

She took another pawn. "Check."

Scorpius tried to focus on getting himself out of the tight spot he'd gotten his king into while contemplating her words. "What led you to that conclusion?"

She shrugged, a frown forming on her face as he took her bishop. "I just did a little soul searching the other day. Realized I haven't totally been fair to you. You remember the first day we met?"

Scorpius didn't even have to think very hard to come up with the day. He remembered sitting with Al at breakfast the first weekend of term as a first year. He'd been so pleased to make a friend so fast. When the girl with frizzy red hair had skipped over to them, he assumed he'd be making another one. Scorpius had seen her in classes, and Al had told him she was his cousin and that they were best friends. He'd immediately been intrigued by the perky Ravenclaw, until she looked at him like he was filth. There had been a few more attempts on his end to try and form a friendship, but she'd been persistent.

"I remember," he said. "You weren't exactly fond of me."

"I know," she said, wincing at the memory. "I was mad you'd stolen Al."

His eyes snapped to her in surprise. "What?"

She gave a helpless shrug. "I was a kid. I was in a new place and things were already different than I expected. You were just another unforeseen circumstance that I hadn't accounted for."

"So all these years since then, even though you have a great relationship with your cousin, you still find reasons to hate me?"

He was trying very hard not to raise his voice. This whole thing was about stupid kid stuff?

"There's more to it than that now," she said in irritation, taking one of his knights. "You can't blame me for being insecure as an eleven year old."

Scorpius thought he very well could. After everything she'd put him through? When he'd done nothing wrong? Then again, he'd done plenty wrong since then. So had she. Was he going to hold a grudge based on the fact that where they'd ended up had all started because an eleven year old girl had felt left out?

"I don't expect us to be friends now or anything," said Rose, sounding completely okay with that outcome. "But our last encounter made me realize how unfair I've been to you all these years. I'd like to try and only ever have a go at you when you deserve it."

He felt his lips twitch and he made a concentrated effort not to smile. "Do I ever deserve your scathing comments?"

She rolled her eye. "You do realize you approached me that night, yeah? You could've left well enough alone."

"So you're saying I deserved what you said?"

"No," said Rose, growing exasperated. "I'm just saying that as far as our relationship goes, you're not completely innocent either."

He watched her move her queen, knowing she was right, but not fully wanting to admit it to her.

"Is this about the store?" he asked, and she pursed her lips as he moved his castle. "You know that's not personal, right?"

She looked at him with a furrowed brow. "What's that supposed to mean?"

He folded his arms and rested them on the desk, giving a slight shrug. "It's business. I'm not looking to make your life hell, I'm running a successful business that my father started and I've helped make what it is today. It's got nothing to do with you."

She seemed almost offended by this. "I find it hard to believe that a person as conniving and-"

He reacted fast, seeing where this was going. Before she was able to blink, he'd reached out and clapped his hand over her mouth. Her eyes widened in outrage.

"I'm sorry," he said soothingly, not removing his hand. "But I want you to think for a moment, and try really hard not to say something that you'll probably regret. I'm willing to bet this entire conversation would go to waste if you'd continued."

Her eyes softened, and she took a deep breath before he dropped his hand.

"Sorry," she said softly. "Force of habit."

That actually made him chuckle. He knew exactly what she meant. She even seemed slightly amused as well. They continued with their game for a few minutes, and he couldn't help but watch her. She had her elbow resting on the table and her chin in her hand. Every once in awhile, her fingers would lazily scratch her cheek. Her out of control hair would occasionally fall in her face and she'd have to tuck it behind her ear. He was growing distracted, and he didn't think their conversation should just end there.

"How about, from now on," he began slowly. "We only fight when it's warranted. I'm not going to pretend that we can just decide to get along and it be that simple. I doubt that's even what you were expecting."

He looked at her for confirmation and she gave a shake of her head. "I don't expect that. I'm just tired of putting all of my energy into hating you."

"And here I thought it just came naturally," he couldn't help but say with a smirk. She gave him a surly look, moving herself out of check.

"At least I'm trying."

The realization that Rose really was making an effort to be something other than hateful towards him suddenly took on new meaning to Scorpius. Throughout their conversation, he'd been able to compartmentalize. Now he was allowing himself to remember that the girl who sat in front of him was actually the same person he'd been dying to be close to for months now. And here she was, after everything they'd ever said and done to each other, offering an olive branch.

If he wanted to keep Daisy in his life, he now had the opportunity to see if that was possible. She'd apologized, and truly seemed to mean it. She'd made an effort to be civil, and even opened up about why she'd always treated him so coldly for years. It was more than he could have dared to want or even hope for only a few short hours ago. But now that he was starting to see the Daisy he'd grown to care for, peeking through the exterior that was Rose, he realized he'd be crazy not to accept her offer for peace. It might take him awhile to fully forgive and forget the past, but he was willing to try.

"Okay."

She looked up at him in surprise. They'd been quiet for a few moments as they continued with their game, and it looked like Rose was about to beat him.

"Okay?" she questioned uncertainly.

"Okay, I accept your apology, and I can work on the whole civility thing if you can."

For the first time since she'd approached him, she smiled. It was slight, but it was probably the friendliest smile she'd ever given him. Scorpius tried to ignore the way it made his stomach flutter.

"Truce, then?"

He nodded, making what he assumed would be his final move of their chess game. "Truce."

Rose, seeming thoroughly pleased with herself, took her winning move before giving him a smirk that for the first time, didn't seem cold.

"Checkmate."

"So you're friends now?"

"Not exactly."

"But you don't hate each other?"

"Not really."

"Rose."

Jane was giving her an impatient look, her arms crossed as she tapped her foot on the ground. She had seen Rose and Scorpius emerge from the hallway together and had pulled her friend aside as soon as possible to begin questioning her. Rose was still trying to process what had happened herself as she poured herself some punch.

"It's a truce. That's the only way I know how to define it. We're only allowed to have a go at each other if we actually deserve it."

This didn't seem to make any sense to Jane, as she looked just as confused as before. Rose let out a heavy sigh.

"So, I might have realized I've had really silly reasons for hating him all these years and it's about time I stop acting like a child. We'll probably still pick at each other, but I doubt it will be quite as malicious as before."

Jane nodded slowly, almost seeming distracted and maybe a little bored with the conversation as she glanced around the room. "And you're okay with that?"

Rose shrugged. "Why wouldn't I be?"

"It's just with the shop and everything, I didn't really see you coming to a truce anytime soon."

She hadn't forgotten about that aspect of her relationship with Scorpius Malfoy, but she was choosing to do what she could and compartmentalize. At least for as long as she could.

"I'm working on that part," she said, taking a sip of her punch. "It might turn ugly at some point, but I said I'd only yell at him if he deserved it. He said it's not personal."

"You believe him?" asked Jane, fully giving her attention to Rose for a moment, who found herself nodding.

"Yeah, I think I do."

And she did. She could hear it in his voice when he'd said it. He was proud of the work he had done, and it was rather prideful of her to assume his goal in life was to make her miserable, rather than have success in his endeavors.

Jane was back to seeming distracted. Her gaze was far off and unfocused as she sipped her punch. Rose was just about to ask if something was wrong when there was a disturbance.

"I said, stay the hell away from her!"

The shout had come from the other side of the room, and was immediately distinguishable to Rose. Her eyes widened in shock and Jane jumped in alarm. Without thinking, Rose made her way across the room of now frozen in shock people, until she cleared the tree in the center and saw her cousin.

Dominique was scowling at a seriously pissed off Archie Davies. Molly was standing behind Dom, looking a mix between annoyed and terrified. Dom had a grip on Molly's arm, almost as if she'd pulled her behind her back and out of harm's way. Rose glanced at Scorpius, who arrived just after she did and stood behind Archie.

"Dom, it's alright," said Molly soothingly. "You don't have to-"

"You've done enough damage," Dom said, pointing threateningly at Archie.

"I didn't do-"

"Shut up," Dom snapped at him, sparing a glance at Ben who was approaching her, a look of concern on his face. She turned her attention back to Archie. "Stay the hell away from our family."

At these words, Archie's cold expression softened a bit, his eyes betraying a sense of sorrow. He glanced at Molly, who looked conflicted. Scorpius slowly approached Archie, placing a hand on his friend's shoulder. It was shrugged off as Archie turned and stalked through the crowd. People moved aside without comment as he walked out of the house, slamming the front door behind him. Scorpius was on his heels, murmuring a slight apology as he walked past Harry and Ginny, before disappearing out into the cold. Rose immediately rushed towards her cousins.

"What the hell happened?" she asked, surprised to see that Molly was now glaring at Dom, who was looking smug and didn't seem to notice.

"What the fuck, Dominique?" Molly snapped at her, and Dom looked at her cousin in surprise. "You had no right to do that."

Dom stared at Molly as if she'd gone crazy. "Shouldn't you be thanking me for getting rid of him?"

"I can take care of myself, Dom!"

"Alright, people are still staring," Ben said from behind Dom, and Rose glanced around to see that some people had gone back to their conversations, but the majority were still watching them. Grabbing Molly and Dom both by the arm, she pulled them out of the room and back down the hall towards the study she and Scorpius had recently vacated. By the time she'd cast a silencing charm and turned to face her cousins, they were glaring at each other.

"What's the matter with you?" Dom asked. "He destroyed your life."

"No he didn't!" Molly insisted. "If you can't tell, my life's been going pretty well lately. Especially since I got away from this controlling family."

Rose thought this was a bit of a low blow, but Molly did have a point.

"I worked my arse off in a job I hated because I felt pressured into it by family," she continued. "Quitting that job and leaving the country was one of the best decisions I ever made. I should be thanking him for breaking my heart, otherwise I might never have seen sense to actually take control of my life."

"You don't mean that," Dom said, her voice a little uncertain.

"Maybe I do," Molly said, sounding confused and hopeless and all around unsure of how things could have gotten to this point. "Maybe for the first time in my life I decided to fight for myself and I wound up better off for it."

There was deafening silence as her words sunk in. Neither were scowling anymore, but Dom still didn't seem convinced.

"But even if it did turn out alright in the end, you'd actually consider getting back together with someone who drove you to that point of utter misery?"

Molly sighed, running her hands through her hair and turning away from her cousin. "I was just talking to him, Dom. I'd only had the chance to say hello when you butted in. No one said anything about us getting back together."

Dom looked guilty now. Rose could understand why. It was obvious she had overreacted.

"But no matter what happens," Molly continued, dropping her hands from her hair and fidgeting with her fingers. She turned around and her eyes flitted between both of them before a sense of resolve washed over her. "It would be my choice. And you'd have to respect that."

This was going to be hard for Dominique to accept, and even Rose was having trouble at the idea. Could she even be referring to the possibility of a reconciliation? It was obvious that Archie still loved Molly, if the way he'd looked at her both times he'd seen her was anything to go by. Molly could read people better than anyone Rose knew, so it was probably obvious to Molly as well. Did she feel the same? And if he stated his case well enough, would he get a second chance?

"Of course, it's completely hypothetical that anything will even happen at all," Molly said, brushing her comments aside. "But I do want you all to respect my decisions. I've already had enough of people asking me when I'm planning on moving back."

She appeared amused by this, even though she was annoyed, and Rose found herself able to breathe a sigh of relief. Dom let out a small yet tentative smile as she walked forward and pulled Molly into a hug.

"I just don't want to see you get hurt," she said softly, and Molly gripped her a little tighter.

"I won't."

A/N: GUYS! Over one hundred follows! That's amazing. I'm blown away. Your reviews are so incredible and I love sharing this story with you. As always, I'm excited and nervous to hear what you think!

Happy Reading and Reviewing :)