Disclaimer: As always I own nothing but the original characters and the situations all the poor characters get put in. Everything else belongs to someone else and they probably want to keep it that way. Thanks so much for reading, hope you enjoy and let me know what you think!
Congrats to Lupin4Tonks…you nailed it. Quit reading my mind though, I like you too much to want you driven crazy.
Family and Friends
He was going to have to beat up his father? Seriously? His father had taken the news of impending parenthood that badly? He hadn't turned out that badly, had he? Or had something else happened that was so terrible in his father's eyes that it overshadowed the happiness most parents were supposed to feel when they got the pregnancy news. And feeling how close Al was Scorpius suddenly knew that the other man had been brought in to comfort him when the bad news hit.
"What's the bad news, Mother?" Scorpius forced himself to ask softly, steeling himself for the worst.
"Your father's convinced the baby isn't his." Astoria told him, not seeing how she could soften the blow. "Malfoys apparently only ever have one child, so according to him I must have cheated on him. I pointed out that…well that we were still active in that area but that didn't put a dent in his seriously flawed logic. Which, as many of his former classmates will attest to, isn't unusual for him. Needless to say we argued and said some things we…really shouldn't have said to each other. I left him and I've moved in with Andromeda and her family."
While Scorpius reeled from the new information Al asked a question of his own as he gently rubbed the former Slytherin's tense shoulders. "Why are you living there? Not that that's a bad thing…it's just that that's going to piss your in laws off."
"Which was part of the appeal." Astoria acknowledged ruefully, hurting as much for her son as she was for herself. "I couldn't go to my parents because…well my mother and sister didn't approve of my marriage to Draco in the first place, and the last thing I want to hear right now is their 'I told you so' speeches. And I wanted a place where they wouldn't think to look for me…to give me time to figure things out and cool down. What temper Scorpius has he gets from me." She added ruefully.
"And as she is family we gave her the guest room." And the fact that she knew it would infuriate her sister and brother in law when they found out appealed to her too. Andromeda's gaze softened a little as she met Scorpius's shell shocked gaze. "We'll take good care of her until this can all be sorted out, Scorpius. Flora's already drawing the baby pictures and offering to share a selection of her older toys with him or her."
Numbly Scorpius thanked her out of reflex, a shudder running through his body as his mother came over to give him a tight hug, his arms automatically wrapping around her in return as he hugged her back.
What else could he do?
Moving over to stand beside Andromeda Al gave her a questioning look while he watched the two Malfoys. "Victoire is okay with this? She's not exactly pro Malfoy." And that was an understatement.
"You didn't see Astoria when she showed up at our door." Andromeda said in a low voice meant for Al's ears only. "Victoire might not like Malfoys, but she's got a heart as big as her vanity. And once she heard what Draco had said and done Victoire was completely on Astoria's side. We had quite the little Malfoy bashing session, which Teddy wisely stayed out of."
Al's lips twitched before his face settled back into serious lines. "What are you going to do if he or his parents come looking for her?"
Andromeda raised one aristocratic brow. "You don't honestly think they'd present any real challenge?"
He didn't even have to think about it. "True that."
)
Scorpius was still in a state of shock later on when they joined their roommates and friends at their usual table for dinner. The former Slytherin just sat at the table, dumbly staring at the food in front of them while Al tactfully informed the others about what had happened to put Scorpius in the state of shock to begin with.
"Am I the only one who finds this highly ironic given that only a short time ago we were discussing the fact that Malfoys only reproduce once per couple?" Gellert inquired as he spooned peas onto his plate.
"Oh no." Al paled as he realized that their discussion had probably indirectly caused the Malfoys to produce a second child in the first place. And if that wasn't bad enough they might have also sparked the idiot man's suspicion that the baby Mrs. Malfoy was carrying wasn't his. It could all be their fault. "Scorpius, I'm so, so sorry." Al began, reaching out to place a hand on the other man's arm.
"It's not your fault." Scorpius said softly, cutting off whatever else the Gryffindor might have said. "If you're to blame then I'm to blame too. My father's the one acting like an idiot on purpose."
Across the table Domi shook her head, genuine distress on her face. "This is terrible."
Surprised that she would think something terrible happening in his family was a bad thing Scorpius gave her a questioning look, suspicious of her words of sympathy.
"What? It is. I have things I need to do and now I have to meddle in your family affairs on top of everything else. Do you have any idea how hard sign language is to learn? Do you? The slightest movement of your fingers can give your words new meaning! I don't have time to fix your family right now!"
Albus had a feeling Scorpius wasn't going to like the answer to the question he was about to ask. "Domi…why would you meddle in Malfoy's family affairs in the first place? Normally you'd be quite happy to hear that bad things are happening to them."
"I can't be happy because they're family now." Was Domi's grim, not at all happy response to the redhead's question. "Teddy's family is my family, and now that two thirds of Scorpius's family is acknowledging their bonds with Teddy I have to acknowledge them too. And no member of my family is going to be treated so badly, especially when she's knocked up. Your dad is going down, Malfoy, FYI. It's matter of family pride. Men do not treat our women like crap and live to tell the tale. Or at least not live unscathed."
Scorpius stared at the blonde in horror. "Just when I thought things couldn't get any worse."
"Never think that. They always can." Gellert informed his roommate with a look in his eyes that indicated he thought the other man was an idiot for not realizing that already.
"My man the pessimist." Albus drawled out before his face took on a rueful look. "But he is right about this sort of thing. Things usually can get worse, even when it doesn't seem possible."
Al glared at the two. "So not helping here."
Scorpius sighed and gave Domi a cool look, the blonde schooling his features to hide his turbulent thoughts and fears. "Concentrate on learning your sign language, Weasley. This will all be sorted out before the week is over. My father will realize that he's being an idiot and apologize to my mother. They'll fight some more and then everything will go back to normal. Well…normal except for the fact that I'm apparently getting a brother or sister out of the deal."
Ripping out the piece of paper he'd just scribbled on Christopher shoved it towards the Slytherin.
Taking the note Scorpius read it and smiled just a little as he looked up to meet the werewolf's gaze. "Good point."
Shifting over to read what the note said Al's lips twitched as he read. "So the bright side to all this is that he'll be moving out of his parents place when school's over so he won't be stuck living with a baby he'd be expected to babysit, change, and generally cater to."
"Which won't be the case if his parents don't get back together." Gellert pointed out, never having been one to appreciate the importance of a silver lining in bad times. Looking for one indicated you were too weak to face the whole cloud. "His mother might even expect him to let them move in with him after school is over so that he can take over the father role his old man's trying to avoid."
Albus shook his head at his boyfriend, marveling at the man's innate ability to make a bad situation even worse without even trying. "Bad boy. Don't scare the Slytherin."
"You like that I'm bad." Gellert countered, taking one of the redhead's hands in his so that he could bring it to his lips. "And I'm not automatically bad because I refuse to humor him. I'm just being the voice of reason."
"I'm going to be sick." Scorpius muttered as he leaned forward and set his head in his folded arms.
Rubbing the blonde back in long, circular strokes Al glared at his best friend's boyfriend before looking over at the bemused redhead that was supposed to be his best friend. "Get your man to behave or stop talking, I don't care which. My Uncle Ron has more sensitivity."
"Some people just can't handle the truth."
"Turn into Jack Nicholson and I'll have to break up with you." Albus informed his lover with a small smile before flicking the blonde in the forehead. "Now stop making a bad situation worse before Al emotionally blackmails me into shutting you up." That said Albus turned his attention to his best friend's ex boyfriend. "Personally I think that you're right, Scorpius. Your father is stubborn, and not the type to admit it when he's wrong, but he truly does love his wife and you. And since he does have the intelligence to realize he'll lose both of you if he doesn't man up I'm fairly confident that within the week he'll apologize to her."
He might not have been overly fond of Wimbledon, but Scorpius had to admit that he felt a little better knowing that the brainiac thought that his parents would be back together that soon. The redhead had an uncanny understanding of the human mind and was scary good at predicting the thoughts and actions of others. Well everyone but Gellert, but that was no surprise. No on in their right mind would want to understand the workings of his blonde roommate's mind. At least not completely. That would be a guaranteed nightmare.
"Time for us all to eat our dinner." Al announced, pretty sure that they were doing more harm then good. Worse, he was pretty sure the others weren't even trying to depress Scorpius. "We'll give Mr. Malfoy a week and if he hasn't come to his senses…then we'll see what we can do to give him a wake up call. With Scorpius's permission." The Gryffindor added with a commanding look in Domi's direction.
Since everyone was worried and it would annoy him to have to pretend he really cared for any period of time Gellert met his longtime roommate's gaze. "I'll talk to him if you want."
If it was possible Scorpius paled even more. "No thank you."
"Well I offered."
)
Lying in his bed that night Al wished he knew what to say to the man currently lying in the bunk under his own. He couldn't say that he understood how the other man was feeling, because he didn't. How could he? His parents were still together. Of course they fought, all couples did, but he couldn't ever remember actively fearing that they would separate or divorce. That his family was a unit was something he'd always taken for granted as a given. And he could lie and bed and try to imagine all he wanted, but Al had a feeling his thoughts weren't coming close to how it really felt to currently be in Scorpius's shoes.
But maybe it was something like how he'd felt when Scorpius had dumped him, Al considered, remembering that agony well. When you suddenly realized that the future you'd been planning for yourself was no longer going to happen whether you liked it or not. Was in fact completely out of your hands. It hurt like hell to have to face a future without someone you'd considered vital to your happiness in it...or not a part of it the way you'd expected, the Gryffindor silently corrected. And your parents, well they were supposed to be your rock, the people you could always turn to in times of trouble. The constant, loving force that held your family together no matter what happened. And when parents ended their relationship…well that safe rock split in half and became a hell of a lot more unstable and untrustworthy.
Because if you're parents could stop loving each other…then maybe they could stop loving you too.
Scorpius's parents loved their son but he would still be stuck in the middle if they split up. He'd still have to see and deal with their pain and anger, still have to balance his time between the two so that neither felt slighted or overly favored. Holidays and other special occasions became minefields, and what had been would always haunt them all.
And lying in bed, trying to figure out how Scorpius was feeling was just plain stupid, Al decided as he sat up in bed, throwing off his covers. He was never going to get to sleep this way and there was just no damn point in both of them worrying separately when they could be worrying together. That they weren't a couple anymore didn't matter…not if there was a chance that him being close would help the other man.
Being as quiet as he could Al climbed down from his bunk and down to the floor, carefully pulling back the curtain around the other man's bed just in case Scorpius had somehow managed to fall asleep in spite or everything. The blonde's back was to him, a still form under the covers, but Al knew the answer in his gut without having to ask.
Crawling across the covers the Gryffindor shifted under the blankets and then scooted over so that he could mold his body up against Scorpius's, wrapping his arms around the other man's waist as he silently offered what comfort his presence could give.
Scorpius was silent and didn't move for several minutes, and then, just when Al was beginning to think he'd been wrong to rashly force his presence on the other man, the blonde reached up and placed his hands over Al's, lacing their fingers together in a tight grip.
"What will I do if my father refuses to admit he's wrong? Or he waits so long that my mother won't forgive him for the things he said?"
"Albus and Gellert are geniuses, and Domi, Victoire and Flora have been manipulating men since they were in their cradles. And you know that no one can set a man straight the way Andromeda can. I'm not quite sure what Teddy, Christopher and I can do, but we'll think of some way to help you guys fix this. We'll all do what we can. And if that's not enough…then you love them and learn from their mistakes when you make your own family."
Scorpius's voice dripped with sarcasm. "Because Malfoys are so bloody good at family relationships."
"There have been worse. And when push comes to shove you Malfoys are there for each other."
"My grandmother hasn't been there for Andromeda once since she was disowned." Scorpius countered, determined to be pessimistic. "And we're as likely to put each other in dangerous as we are to save one of our own. We care way too much about our name and how others perceive us, to the point where we do incredibly stupid and prideful things that only get us into more trouble. We-."
"Hush. That's enough. Serious cynicism is Gellert's forte, not yours. And you're only saying those things because you think it's better to anticipate the worst, rather then hope for the best."
"Blind optimism is a Potter's forte, not mine."
Al's lips twitched. "I wouldn't call it blind optimism per say. It's more obstinate stubbornness on an epic level."
It was weak, but Scorpius had to chuckle a little at that.
"So close your eyes, go to sleep, and tomorrow we'll start plotting." Al squeezed the other man's fingers, determined to get it into the man's head that he wasn't alone in this. "Things will be better then, you'll see. And if they're not…well then I'll convince Victoire to pay you a visit so you two can bitch each other out."
Squeezing the man's fingers back Scorpius felt like a baby for asking, but couldn't seem to stop himself either.
"Will you stay with me?"
Al shifted so that he could place a tender kiss on Scorpius's pale neck, nuzzling his face over the spot. "I'm not going anywhere, promise."