Disclaimer: I still own nothing but the plot.
Violentluck: I guess you will just have to keep reading to find out…And are you sure you're not psychic? Haha, just kidding.
Zana: I'm glad you like it so far.
I might be uploading less often; school is starting tomorrow. I apologize in advance, and I hope you like this chapter. As usual, I love this one (I think I'm a little biased though…)
"What happened to you?" James asked Scorpius later that night, stroking his cheek.
He had snuck out of Hermione's house, riding his broom to Malfoy Manor. He was examining Scorpius' bruises.
"Mum's new boyfriend got mad at me. He said I look too much like my dad."
"Scorpius, that's awful," James said, holding Scorpius' hand. "I'm glad you got out of there before you got really hurt. Maybe you should tell your dad, he could heal you."
Scorpius shook his head. "I'm fine. It isn't going to happen again. Besides, he only got my face," Scorpius lied.
"I worried about you when I didn't get any letters," James said, pulling Scorpius close.
"He promised he would read every letter we sent out of our house. I tried, but he got them all," Scorpius sighed, resting his head on James' chest. "I missed you," Scorpius said.
"I missed you too. I had better get back before they notice I'm gone. Be careful, and let me know if you need anything. It will be better when we get back to school."
"Alright," Scorpius said reluctantly. "Good night, James."
"Good night," James said, climbing out Scorpius' window and flying away on his broom.
A few days later, it was time for James, Albus, Lily, Rose, Hugo, and Scorpius to go back to school. They all sat together in a compartment on the train. Nobody but Lily noticed that James and Scorpius took care to sit next to each other. She watched them the entire ride, looking for some sign of their affection. She couldn't see any, but she thought that was only because she was twelve. When they finally got to Hogwarts, she forgot to keep watching them, and James and Scorpius slipped away.
"I don't want to have to sit at separate tables," James said quietly.
"I don't either, but we have to. Our two houses are supposed to hate each other."
"That doesn't mean we can't be together," James said.
"To the other students it does."
"Well, I don't care what the other students say. I'm sick of hiding it. Our dads don't have to, why should we?"
"You have an excellent point," Scorpius said after a moment. "But we can't let everyone here know before we tell our dads. We don't want them finding out from somebody else."
James nodded, looking sad. "Okay."
"Let's go to dinner," Scorpius said, hugging James.
The two of them walked to the school and into the Great Hall, Scorpius thinking about what he couldn't tell James.
At dinner that night, Scorpius got a letter. "If you tell anyone, I will kill you."
That was all. It wasn't signed, but Scorpius thought he knew who it was from. I won't, he thought, shivering.
"Who sent you a letter?" James asked curiously as the four houses got up to go to their dorms.
"My father," Scorpius lied.
"Oh," was all James said.
"Yeah. We'd better go to bed," Scorpius said, pulling James aside into a shadowed corner where he could kiss him good night.
"I love you," James said, sighing.
"I love you too. Now go, little Gryffindor," Scorpius said, shooing James in the direction of Gryffindor tower.
James smiled at Scorpius and then walked off to go to sleep.
Scorpius leaned against the wall and slowly sank down to the floor, breathing hard, thinking of the letter. He had known it might come to that, but had been hoping that it wouldn't have to. He was scared, so of course he wouldn't tell anyone. Not even James.
~Back at Harry's place~
"I'm sure James will come around, Harry," Ron said reassuringly after Hermione stepped on his foot under the table.
"I hope so," Harry said. "I really regret everything I did to them."
"Yeah, James told us about that," Hermione said softly.
Harry flinched, remembering what had happened. Albus and Lily had caught Harry beating James up after making a comment. Harry didn't even remember what James had said, he had been so drunk. All he knew was that it had made him mad enough to beat his own son. The kids had left that night, showing up at Ron and Hermione's house. Harry knew that James had been covered in bruises and blood. No wonder James hardly wanted anything to do with me, Harry thought, sighing aloud.
"I shouldn't have done that. I don't even know why I did. One thing I know for sure is I will never touch alcohol again," he vowed.
"That's a good promise to make to yourself," Hermione agreed.
"Where's Draco?" Ron asked in an attempt to be nice.
"He wanted to let us talk by ourselves," Harry said, smiling.
"That was nice," Hermione said.
Harry nodded. "I'm glad you two could forgive me," he said.
"You're my best mate," Ron said. "No amount of stupidity could change that."
They all laughed. "Thanks, Ron," Harry said.
"No problem. Now, are you really in love with Mal—Draco?" Ron asked.
"Ron," Hermione hissed.
"It's fine," Harry said. "Yes, I am."
"And he loves you?" Ron said.
"Of course. Why?" Harry asked.
"Just checking," Ron told Harry. "You do know that he used to be a jerk, right? I mean, this is Draco Malfoy, Lucius Malfoy's son we are talking about."
"Ron!" Hermione said, shocked.
"Hermione, its fine. Yes, I do know exactly who we are talking about, Ron," Harry said.
"Good," Ron said.
"Ron, please learn some tact," Hermione sighed.
"What? I'm just asking questions. I don't want my best friend getting hurt," Ron told her.
Hermione just shook her head as Harry laughed.