Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter

Thank you so much Momo, Ringo Starr's Girlfriend (Nice username! I love me some Beatles), Son of Whitebeard, Guest and JSLaw for your reviews! As always, I really, really, really appreciate any and all insights you have and your praise - it honestly keeps me motivated to carry on writing! If I could ask, though - JSLaw, what is it you're finding confusing? If you could let me know, then I can work out if it's something intentional or something I need to go back and fix ^.^

Okay, that's all my comments for this week. Enjoy!

Chapter 6: A Father's Advice

Scorpius looked at his friends with raised eyebrows. "Okay, well first thing's first - that name is awful."

Joshua huffed. "Told you he'd say that."

"It's better than Operation: Invitation."

"Touché."

Scorpius raised a hand. "Nonetheless. Secondly: what?"

"Well," Albus began, throwing a pointed look at the pair next to him before they really got going, "I've decided-"

"-as the holy cousin-"

"-as the best cousin, that I'd rather you than Daniel Wood or some slick twit from Ravenclaw or whatever."

"Oh, you forgot Jamie Rogers"

Albus deadpanned as silence fell over the common room. "Thank you, Alfie."

"Also Rhys Owens. I heard he was thinking of asking her some time."

Alfie made a sickened face. "Oh Merlin, not him."

Max snorted so hard he was almost coughing. "You're just bitter because he beat you in that race around the castle". Alfie scowled at Max and Joshua.

"Let the man talk."

"Thank you, Scor! Anyway, I'd rather you than some other twat, so we're going to help you out. Your current attempts are genuinely painful."

"Thanks, I've really been pulling out all my best moves." Scorpius declared in the flattest voice he could muster. "I've always planned to shout at girls that I like in cupboards."

"And that is exactly why we're going to help you." Max hit right back.

Albus rolled his eyes. "Anyway, me being her cousin, and these two being slick gits," he thumbed at Joshua and Max, each flanking his side, "means that we've formed a little plan." He looked over to Alfie. "He'll just help us remember to be decent humans."

Alfie raised a hand. "Challenge accepted."

"The ball's in 3 months, which is enough time to work with."

"Yeah, and you could be in her pants in one if you followed my instruct- and she weren't a respectable lady who is Albus' dear cousin."

"I'm stepping in here to say that you should never talk about another human being like that." Alfie looked at Joshua with a slight edge of disbelief on his face. "Seriously, that's creepy shit."

"Oh come on, tell me you never thought about Sabrina like that?"

Alfie raised his eyebrows unhappily.

"Can I finish?" Albus sighed. "By our reckoning, there's next weekend's Quidditch match, at least two Hogsmeade visits and however many Slug Club meetings to work with."

"And it's way too soon to aim for asking her to the first one, so we'll go for the second."

"What's it going to be, like a group date? Because I hate to break it to you, but I'm not into that kind of-"

"I'd rather die, mate, than imagine that ever again."

"Right." Albus looked between Max and Scorpius, trying desperately to not think about what they were thinking about. "Pretending that never happened, I think there's something you can do for the first visit."

"Oh yeah?"

"Since Al has a secret insider's link, he might know where she'll be going."

"Oh, you don't say!"

Joshua laughed dryly and Scorpius' sarcasm. "Then we can just happen to turn up there, and then Alfie or Max or someone can 'pretend' to be in trouble. We make a swift exit, charming her lovely friends with her, and you're all alone."

Scorpius stared at them blankly. Hogsmeade weekends were usually prime time for Max and Joshua to woo whoever their latest crush was. "You'd give up a Hogsmeade visit to help me out?"

"Of course, Scorpius."

"Slicker than you could dream though we may be, we're still your friends."

Scorpius matched their smiling faces. "Thanks."

He'd never meant it more.

"But that's a couple of weeks away. In the meantime, and to actually do any of this, you've got to be on speaking terms."

"Since you sound like an idiot when you're talking to her when she's with her hot friends, or there are people around to watch your idiocy, you've got to start trying to help her more in lessons and finding her in the library."

"She goes to the library?"

"Sure." Alfie shrugged, as though everyone knew. That they all rounded on him and with shocked expressions said otherwise. "She's Rose Granger-Weasly?" He offered, as though that explained it all. He rolled his eyes in reaction to their unchanging faces. "Okay, probably should've said so sooner. She goes there late in the evenings, sometimes in free time with her friends, but I saw her on her own there near closing time, Thursday and Friday evenings loads last year."

"Alfie, I will never be able to repay you."

"Oh, I'll think of something." He grinned, and there was a dark hint in his eyes. Scorpius only hoped to Merlin's sweet beard it wasn't something like trying to capture the Giant Squid because that thing is fucking terrifying.

"So, library and classes aside, for we can only hope that you get put on prefects rounds together, and you'll be forced to talk!"

"Yeah, but that depends when James changes the rounds next." Scorpius mumbled. He'd been put with Grace Hill who was nice, but she could talk a ghost to death.

"He's changing them in two weeks."

"Oh yeah, I forget he's your brother sometimes." Joshua opined. "He's just— he looks more Weasley…?" He added at Albus' sour look.

"Yeah, well, anyway Scor, just talk to her like you did in potions the other day."

Scorpius frowned. "Wait, what bit?"

"You know, when you suggested that she knock the heat up by three degrees, she actually did it when your back was turned. And she wasn't scowling, either."

"Wha- seriously?!"

"Yeah, she does it all the time. I called her out on it when you went to put the Snail Bile away, and she didn't say anything."

"Albus, you're a great friend, but I fail to see where that's even relevant."

Albus sighed. "You call out Rose for something she doesn't have an answer for, it's the only time she'll ever stay silent."

"Huh."

"So… you're saying… that she's secretly in love with me—"

"—that you have a chance."

Albus and Scorpius looked at each other awkwardly. "Yeah, don't get too excited yet, mate. You've still got a long way to go."

"But if we manage to pull this plan off, you've got a more than decent chance."

Albus nodded in agreement. "She was always my favourite cousin when we were younger. I know her well."

"So, just so it gets into your shiny head, let's make it clear: talk to her whenever your tongue decides to unravel, fly your arse off at Quidditch, maybe she'll even talk to you at the Slug Club meeting, have a 'coincidental' meeting in Hogsmeade, and then…"

"What's then?"

Max grinned darkly. "Well then you've got to ask her out."

"What — like to the ball?!"

"Don't be so dramatic!

"Maybe Slughorn will put another Slug Club meeting in between. That way you can ask her there." Alfie offered nonchalantly, surfacing from his deep staring match with the carpet for the first time in a while.

"And if not, then just ask her to the three broomsticks. It's better than going to that stupid 'Cupid Arrow's Cupcakes'." Max groaned.

"Only because Dominique wouldn't go there with you."

"Shut it." Max rolled his eyes and leant back into the soft cushions of the sofa, playing with his wand.

"Then, when you're at Hogsmeade, she might have decided you're decent, and that maybe she does want to go to the ball with you."

"I think it's a decent play." Alfie added, nodding approvingly at the enthusiastic group.

"Got the humanist's approval, have we?"

"I mean, she's still a person. She might like someone else now, or by then."

"Nah, I asked." Albus declared. "She wasn't lying, I don't think."

"Then you've got a chance. And of course, I want it to go well." Alfie smiled at Scorpius, who smiled back gladly.

"I'm still putting ten-to-one odds on it actually happening like that."

Scorpius shrugged, still grinning his head off. "Sure, whatever you say. Good night, lads, sweet dreams." And he stood up, hopped over the back of the sofa catching the back of his left foot and hopping like a lunatic for a second. "Oh, and thank you." He called behind him before breezing up the stairs to bed.

"Mental." He heard Joshua and Max chorus behind him.

Yeah, Scorpius thought, they were probably right.

Later that week, when it was already getting dark outside and all the irritating little first years were banned from the corridors, Scorpius was on his way up to the prefect's bathroom, towel slung over his shoulder, and jeans and a grey jumper on in place of his robes. His mother had always quite liked muggle clothing, and he and his father had unconsciously adopted it more and more throughout Scorpius' childhood. His mother had always been inviting people over, going to the local village's church meetings and all that. She liked to keep the big, empty house as full of life as she could. That is, until she got ill.

Scorpius traipsed up the last few stairs significantly more downtrodden than all the others. He'd had that dream again, that dream in the room. And every time he had that dream, thought about what had really happened, he couldn't help but get the sense that everything had just gone wrong and wrong and wrong since then...

He almost tripped up the last stair. A ghost giggled at him.

"Oh. Evening Alys." He smiled at the ghost of the little girl with the faint Welsh accent. She'd been a second year when she died seven hundred years ago, running in the Forbidden Forest. It's said that that was when the Forest first got its name - all the nasty stuff living in it came afterwards. Well, it's what Hagrid attested and you could never quite guess what lived in the forest that he deemed the 'nasty stuff'.

"Evening Scorpius. 'ow're you doin'?"

He shrugged. "It's sixth year, so things are getting pretty tight. How's your tower? Why're you so far away from it, anyway? Isn't this like the other side of the castle from the Owlery?"

"Oh, well, you know. It gets a bit cold out there at night, so the owls go crazy in there. Bedlam, I tell you." She shook her head and drifted off, leaving Scorpius to gale at the wall in confusion. How did she even know what Bedlam was? Did ghosts use the library at night? Could they even hold a book, retain information-? He watched the young girl drift off behind him, not a care in the world, yet there Scorpius was, now questioning everything he knew.

They'd met in Scorpius' first year, when he and Albus had fought and, instead of going straight back to desperately scouting for somewhere to sit where he wouldn't be harassed, Scorpius took a detour into the ground floor of the Owlry. And there had been Alys, sitting there so perfectly still that when she first spoke to him Scorpius could've sworn he'd died inside. A friend though she may not quite be, she had been decent company when Scorpius had been utterly alone.

Shaking his head, he took a left and walked down the corridor to the Prefect's Bathroom.

Frankly, the Prefect Bathroom's toilets were the only nice ones outside of the dormitory toilets, but it was actually the baths that Scorpius liked best. Especially when Myrtle was taking the day off. He wouldn't admit it to his friends, but he did quite enjoy just hanging out in the baths - the bubbles, the nice scented oils and shampoos and…

Yes, he knew it sounded feminine, but somehow, he'd stopped giving a damn when the gay rumour had finally calmed down two years ago.

In his hand was a letter, edges slightly crumpled, that his father had sent him this morning. He'd assured Scorpius that no, he wasn't leaving the washing in a pile on the floor, and he was cooking well. But in a show of subtle reading heretofore unseen by his father, he'd actually picked up on the short, anxiety-laden sentence Scorpius had put in his letter: 'We're 'encouraged' to take dates to the Ball with us. I have someone in mind but... girls are girls." His father had written back that he'd actually dated a bit in his Hogwarts days, but he'd married his mother at 19, and the only people he'd ever asked out were fellow purebloods.

There were expectations and regulations for that - you asked the father of the girl instead of the girl herself, which, Scorpius had swiftly concluded many years ago, was a lot easier than the usual way. His father wrote that the best way to ask a girl was plain and outright, and to always be clear - because it's easy to say something stupid that can harm another. Scorpius snorted, he had a feeling his dad had no right to be the one lecturing him on how to treat his peers. He'd heard the stories of his father's Hogwarts years, and no matter how much he wanted to believe that the man he loved now could once be so awful to his classmates, it was something that he knew he was going to have to accept. It was certainly not as bad as the rumours all said, though - that he knew to be true.

But in the letter, innocuously hidden in the middle of a long paragraph, was something that made Scorpius' stomach twist uncomfortably.

Remember always that you're a Malfoy, Scorpius. A proud member of the ancient family, a member of the Sacred 28. You are a pure-blood, and whoever you chose to pursue a romantic relationship with is important. The girl I chose throughout Hogwarts was a fellow member of the Sacred 28, and after she died, I married your mother - another of the Sacred 28. Whilst blood status is not as important to me as it was to your grandparents, I was brought up in a very different time. I only want to see you happy, but the treatment by your pure-blood peers may not be worth it in the end. Many of the other pure-blood families are still not so forgiving. We retain our ancient place on the Scared 28 only very tenuously at this point, thanks to your mother's bright and progressive views. So whilst I want you to be happy above anything else, please son - pick wisely. And remember, she will be subject to the pure-blood traditions.

And from what Scorpius knew of the pure-blood traditions, they were weird. They included (from what his mother had told him of when she married his father) passing a particular test of magical ability; being able to recite old views with perfect accuracy; fitting the bill of the patriarch of the most senior family of the Sacred 28 (and who the hell knew who that was anymore), and being married off very, very young. Because, you know. Sex before marriage is 'wrong'. In other words: these rules were weird archaic things that really didn't have a place in this world, but hey it'd make his dad happy if he didn't live to see his two families crossed off the Sacred 28 in his lifetime!

He sighed heavily as he reached the statue of Boris the Bewildered, he paused, staring into the knight's angry face but not really seeing it. Rose Granger-Weasley may pass their test of magical ability with flying colours, but oh boy even if she grew to give him the time of day he guaranteed she'd hate the rest. Half-blood and famous though she was, member of the Sacred 28 she was not.

"Malfoy?" Scorpius blinked rapidly, snapped from his daze by the very object of his thoughts. "Why is it that I only ever seem to see you stuck in a daze?"

"Um, well it's just because I'm always struck by your beauty...?" He offered, truer than she knew, but came out so much like a question he wasn't surprised when she frowned.

"You know, I was getting to know classroom-Malfoy, and I think I like him better." She sighed, with a half-smile lazily on her lips. She came to stand in front of him, instead of hiding behind the knight's statue and tilted her head very slightly. Was she…. Did she not hate him?! Was this an actual, real life, outside of classroom conversation?!

She did look so beautiful, though. Her hair, damp, lay in relaxed ringlets down to her mid-back and so dark with the water it looked almost like a particularly red pomegranate. And beautiful. Her skin was soft looking and even, marked with irregular, and fading, freckles, and the lights caught her eyes in a way that made them twinkle irresistibly. He mumbled something in awe under his breath and watched how her ruby red eyebrows raised in response. She smelled so strongly of roses.

"What? Why're you staring?"

"Oh, uh, I was just saying that I agree." He coughed awkwardly and shuffled his feet, looking down. He finally looked back up to catch her examining his jumper carefully.

"I see." She mumbled suspiciously. She sighed, and folded her arms over her chest. Well, maybe she had once been slightly flirtatious with him but crossed arms were never a good sign. "You know, you're getting better at transfiguration. Your cat's even looking more relaxed these days." She commented. They'd been working on changing the features of their animals for the past few lessons. And whilst Rose had made her owl white, black and every shade in between within the first lesson alone, four lessons later and Scorpius was finally succeeding in making Theia look like a tiger.

"Well, Theia has always really wanted to be a tiger inside. She's always known she has a greater destiny than being just my cat."

Rose snorted. "I bet."

"Can you give me any tips?"

"No. I don't want you to overtake my lead." She frowned, jerking herself back slightly. Well, that was a misstep.

"Want me to help you out with potions in return?"

She scoffed, looking up at the hanging lights. "Are you continuing to insinuate that you think I need your help?"

"No, no I- I didn't; I didn't mean that! At all!" He spluttered, stepping towards her and reaching out her arms, but she only walked further away from him.

She looked at him with a very guarded expression and rolled her eyes. She opened her mouth to say something, but dropped it, without a second thought.

"Rose, wait!"

"No." She yelled, and he watched her retreating form.

"Then- I'll see you in the library!" Or any other class you have together, he reminded himself as he felt his gut contract with embarrassment.

She stopped, half turning to face him. "But you're never in the library." She responded in a low voice, more to herself than anyone else. But she was gone, walking away again with her ruby curls bouncing against her back with every step. He watched them like a hypnotising metronome until she was too far away, and he was left with only his thoughts and a password he realised he didn't even remember.

Fridays brought Herbology, and Quidditch nerves. What with them being over a month into the term and the fact that dates were an encouraged part of the Phoenix Ball, the flirting had gone over the edge. He didn't even know if the hormones in the air were making him more nervous than the prospect of their upcoming game, but Scorpius swore, if he got paired with Mia Clarke one more time-

"Scorpius, you're with Mia." Professor Longbottom pointed to a table with tarantacula on it, lashing out and just waiting to be pruned. Scorpius tensed his jaw and nodded, slapping on his signature bright smile. Well, he hoped it was his signature expression anyway. Merlin knows Albus' was a fed up owl and Max' a smug bastard.

"Come on Mia, let's… show these plants who's boss." Alfie snorted violently from next to him as he followed the blonde to their table.

Alfie had often mentioned how uncanny it looked to see the pair. Mia was unquestionably pretty, with long, light blonde hair, pale skin, and red lips that always seemed to be smiling mischievously. The only thing that set them apart were Mia's large, dark irises. Almost black, shimmering dark brown if the right light hit them. Alfie had said that they looked as though he and Mia could be siblings; that she was the female version he could've turned out to be - just with a less ludicrous name. The thought made Scorpius' head spin slightly. She had been so desperate to get in his pants from fifth year up, that he'd often wondered what it might be like to shag the female version of himself. Weird, mostly, and there were other women he'd rather it be. One, in particular, was a stand out choice. He watched as she and Alfie almost took a place across from him, but apparently she had second thoughts upon seeing he and Mia together, and they moved over to nearer Professor Longbottom, an old family friend of hers. She was close with his daughter, it was said. And boy did Scorpius know all about that kind of stuff.

Alfie and Rose deftly worked together on caring for the Mimblus Mimbletona, a very dear plant to the Professor for who knows why. Scorpius watched them for a moment and internally pleaded with Alfie to drop his morals for a second; they needed him to needle where Rose went in her free time from her, since the two got on the best aside from Albus. And if he could spend every spare second talking about how great Scorpius was, it would be muchly appreciated.

But Mia would not leave him to ogle the pair in silence; she kept on standing so close to him, insisting on pruning his tarantacula, leaning over him and resting her hands on his bare forearms more than he really enjoyed. He returned her fluttering eyelashes with narrowed, confused eyes, and he watched her twirl her hair, but it didn't do anything for him - unlike when Rose played with her beautiful hair. It smelled like roses, and she often smelled like grass - especially on Wednesdays, after Quidditch practice. Not that he deliberately noticed these things...

"Scorpius?" Mia cooed, looking up at him with wide eyes. If she didn't utterly cheapen herself like this for him, he'd have so much more respect for her as a person. Pot meet kettle, he knew. But he failed so much in social settings that he presumed he probably didn't count as hitting on someone as much as she did. And he always did up his shirt buttons to an appropriate level.

"Yeah, Mia?" He replied, looking down at the fairly short girl.

"Are you think about your mum? Are you still upset about her death?" Her voice adopted this saccharine, overly soft and sweet tone as she simpered far too much for her dignity's safety at him.

He froze, jaw hanging slightly open, sheers still open in his hand, hovering over some thrashing tentacles. "Erm, I'm doing fine… thanks." It wasn't a pleasant topic and one that he didn't particularly enjoy being brought up in the middle of class by a person he wasn't close with. Besides, she never bothered asking at the time, why three years later? It wasn't even the anniversary of her death or her birthday or anything.

"Well," her voice became lower, and she stood on her tiptoes to whisper her next words into his ear, breath tickling the sensitive shell of his ear and tone shifting to anything but compassionate. "If you ever need, y'know, cheering up then you know where to find me."

Scorpius' mouth fell open, and he coughed stiffly a few times. He wasn't a trained lothario, like Joshua and Max were, but he was pretty sure he understood what she meant. And, well, he was only a sixteen-year-old boy. But not the Joshua and Max kind of sixteen-year-old boy. "Thanks, Mia." He finally managed to cough out. "But you know, I think I'm good for now."

The rest of their lesson passed in much the same way as before, but oh it felt awkward for Scorpius. And as Professor Longbottom finally dismissed them for lunchtime, Mia managed to spill their clippings all over the floor.

"You guys go ahead," he called to Albus and Alfie as they approached with their packed bags, "I'll meet you up at lunch."

Mia was taking so long on her side; he'd thought everyone else must've gone by the time they had finally gathered everything back up. "Hey Scorpius, I wanted to ask you something."

His stomach seemed to solidify as soon as she said those words. Hadn't she already put him through enough this lesson? "Sure, what do you want?"

"Want to go to the Phoenix Ball with me?"

"Oh." He shuffled awkwardly as they stood in the bright doorway of greenhouse number 6. "Well, there's actually someone else." He mumbled, giving her an apologetic look as he shoved his hands deep inside his pockets. He was dying to say 'anyone else', but he knew he'd probably get a slap and an even more tarnished name for doing that.

She huffed, folding her arms across her chest which somehow only served to make her boobs look even bigger. "Who, then?"

Scorpius' lips pulled into a half smile. "Just this girl. But I've had her in mind for a long time now." Six whole years, in fact, he neglected to add.

Mia frowned, and her nostrils flared very slightly as she moaned in anger. "Scorpius, I'll be straight with you. I'm hot. You're hot. We're both sixteen, and I'll fuck you right now. What the hell is wrong with you?" Before he really knew what was happening, she had a hand on the side of his head and kissed him. It wasn't particularly pleasant, but the longer she persisted, the more he got into it. Actually, he was starting to see why Max and Joshua were so into this so much…

She let him go. He opened his mouth and shut it again, repeatedly and mechanically. That was his first ever kiss that wasn't from his mum or grans, and honestly, now he got it. He was almost about to lose his morals. He was so damn close to just saying yes. And then he thought of Rose. He flushed, and suddenly felt inflamed with shame. "I-uh... thanks. I'll- I'll think about it..?" He offered weakly, and she groaned in frustration as she stormed back off up to the castle, leaving a stunned Scorpius spluttering behind.

Wiping a hand across his mouth, at least he finally understood how her lips were always so red - lipstick came off all over his hand. He didn't know how long he was there for, but he felt someone approach behind him. "I don't know what that was, but I'm going to try and forget that as much as you're trying to forget that." Professor Longbottom's northern accent drawled behind him. Scorpius froze, mortified as his face went boiling hot. Slowly, feeling returned to his fingers and toes as the heat flooded over all of his body, leaving a trail of painful goosebumps all over his skin. He cringed, and his shoulders slumped as he turned to see the Professor struggling to keep a straight face behind him. He couldn't even bring himself to speak - what would he say? But the professor saved him the torture as he left the glasshouse before Scorpius.

"I'm so, so sorry, Professor." He offered weakly at the professor's back, who held up one hand in lazy acknowledgement. Scorpius looked up at the sky in silent despair, hoping to whatever gods there were that no one else saw that. And when he finally turned back to the greenhouse to pick up his bag, he thought he really was the only person left.

But then he heard some footsteps. Harsh and sharp against the stone floor.

Click

Click

Click

"You are unbelievable, Malfoy."

Okay! So, who do you all think that was? Let me know your guesses!

As always, please review if you've got time (pleaaaase) and follow for more. Thanks!