It was the summer before their fourth year that a major event occurred in Scorpius' life. It was announced that the Quidditch World Cup would be taking place in Argentina in April, when Scorpius was still in school. His parents sent along word with Diao, but firmly told Scorpius that they would not be attending until the final three matches, for which his father had purchased a private box.

"Matches you're excited to see. Top three. Go." The last week of school, Al and Scorpius sat at the Gryffindor table for breakfast, blearily picking through their food before their final exams. Al turned to Scorpius with unrestrained curiosity.

"Any match with Bulgaria in it," Scorpius replied. "They're brilliant, aren't they? Not the best chasers and beaters, but their seeker…"

"Is apparently quite nice." Rose joined them, daintily taking a seat across the table. She plunked down a stack of color-coded notecards that she had been studying from the previous evening. "He's friends with my parents."

"Krum is friends with your mum and my dad," Al corrected. "Ron hates him, though I don't know why…" Rose shrugged.

"What about you, then?" Scorpius asked. "Top matches?"

"I'm obligated to say Wales, since my mum played for them. It's a necessary bias, otherwise she'll be furious with me. But I'm interested to see how the U.S. will do this year…Dad says they might pick up the slack quite a bit, compared to how they've been doing."

"And you, Rose? Who do you want to see?"

Rose blushed furiously as she spooned out tomatoes and sausages onto her plate.

"Oh…er…I can't say."

"Can't?"

"Well, Merlin's beard, how am I supposed to know? You both know I don't keep up with professional Quidditch like you do. I suppose I'll just say Wales, since there's a family connection."

Scorpius and Al grinned at the same time.

On July 3, Scorpius and his parents arrived in the Patagonian desert. They had taken a Portkey from his Father's Office at Gringotts, along with a few other employees. They arrived in the very center of the campground, which was blindingly hot. The tents surrounding them had been magically enhanced to keep cool, but many a wizard or witch sat out on their artificial lawn, tanning.

"My God," Scorpius' mother declared, fanning her face with a long-fingered hand. "Let's find our area, shall we? I need to get inside, or I'll faint."

"Can't I go find my friends?" Scorpius asked anxiously, turning around as if he could spot them on immediate landing. Instead, all he saw was a rather raucous group of Americans, who were celebrating their independence day a bit early by running around with a star-spangled flag and drinking from red-white-and-blue tin cans.

"Like who?" His mother asked, as Draco examined a map planted in the middle of the campground. An official looking wizard in navy blue robes approached them with an air of importance, before asking in a very thick accent, if he could help them find their way.

"Rose and Al."

"Of course you can, but you have to come with us first."

"Mum!"

"Scorpius!" She smiled a little as he stuttered, trying to find an argument. "Al and Rose are not leaving this match, I can promise you that. I know their parents well enough. As soon as we set up the tent, I will walk you over to their campground, but I don't want you trying to find it by yourself."

"He's fourteen," Draco pointed out. "I think he can find the campground."

"It's crowded, Draco-"

"Stop coddling him, Celia…"

Scorpius watched as his mother's face changed from her peaches-and-cream complexion to a suddenly terrifying shade of red. Scorpius' father seemed to realize this too, and immediately apologized while taking his wife's arm. Scorpius dragged his feet as his parents lead the way to the tent, his father apologizing profusely the whole way.

Mercifully, half way to their campsite, Scorpius heard the unmistakable scream of Rose Weasley. She came running at him from out of his peripheral eyesight, and jumped at him. She caught him by surprise and mid-turn, Scorpius stumbled as Rose threw her arms around his shoulders, nearly taking both of them to the ground.

"I saw you walking," she babbled, letting go. Scorpius smoothed back his hair, which was beginning to get a little too long and messy for his liking. "I thought if I caught up with you, you could come back to our campsite for a bit." She lowered her voice. "Please come back, my mother is trying to force me to sit with the adults and I just can't bear it. Al's being no help, he keeps arguing with his father about what bets they should place."

"Mum?" Scorpius addressed his parents, who had frozen a few feet away. Draco was staring intently at Rose, his eyebrows slightly furrowed, but looked away when Scorpius caught his gaze. "You remember Rose, don't you?"

"Of course," Scorpius' mother replied, smiling beautifully, all anger gone from her features. "How is your mother, Rose?"

"She's fine, Mrs. Malfoy."

"Can I go with Rose?" Scorpius asked.

"How will you find the way to our campsite?" Celia asked.

"You must be in our section," Rose piped up. "All the British tents are here. Where are you sitting?"

"We have a private box."

"Oh, well then you should be in this row, here. They sort the tent sites according to where you sit."

"I'll find you," Scorpius said hurriedly, before scampering off behind Rose.

"This summer has been miserable," Rose lamented, laying a hand on Scorpius' arm. "All they talk about is Quidditch. All they want to do is play Quidditch. Al, James, and Lily all teamed up to try to force me to play with them. But you know that I'm not a natural player like they are. Hugo went along just fine…"

"I'll only play if you play," Scorpius promised as they ducked into Rose's tent. Inside, the tent was covered in beautiful jewel-colored tapestry, and was kept cool by floating rice fans, which flapped furiously when one moved by them. Rose's family was jumbled in the very large living room. When Al spotted Scorpius, he let out a loud shout and scrambled over the back of the couch.

"Hey, mate," Scorpius said cheerfully, clapping him on the back. "I couldn't tell if you'd be excited to see me at all…All your letters talk about is Viktor Krum."

"Rose?" Someone said suddenly. Scorpius looked up to see Rose's mother, her voluminous hair pulled back into a strangled braid, addressing her eldest child. "Aren't you going to introduce your friend?"

"Oh, right." Rose tugged on Scorpius' arm and pulled him closer to the rest of the group. "Yes, well…okay. Everyone, this is Scorpius Malfoy. Scorpius, this is my mother, but you know her. And then, there, that's my father. And you know Hugo. And next to him is…" As Rose continued to name her family members, of which there were many, Scorpius felt a pair of eyes trained on him. One of the people watching him, with mild apprehension and curiosity was Al's father, Harry Potter. However, he didn't seem to be surprised by Scorpius' appearance, and merely took another sip of his ice water when he caught Scorpius looking back at him. The second person who was staring at Scorpius was Rose's father. He was glancing at Scorpius without any curiosity, but instead, what looked like revulsion. His ears were slightly red, and if Scorpius hadn't known any better, he would have guessed that Rose's father hated him. But it was ridiculous, of course, why would he?

"Scorpius," Rose said firmly, breaking his trance. "My mother asked you a question."

Scorpius blushed furiously. "I'm sorry. I just got distracted by the heat."

"It is hot in here," Al's mother agreed.

"Is your mother here, Scorpius?" Rose's mother asked.

"Oh, yes. She and my father. They're in this row of tents, apparently."

"You don't know?" James spoke up, with a laugh.

"I dragged him here before he could get there," Rose replied with some force. Her father suddenly looked sick to his stomach.

"Hey," Al said suddenly, looking around. "Wanna play Quidditch?"

"Er…" Scorpius looked to Rose.

"Do you play, Scorpius?" Al's father asked politely.

"I'm a chaser at school."

"Our best chaser," James said. "Al's our second best."

"I'm not a chaser," Al replied, frowning. He had joined the team last year as a Keeper, though admittedly, it was not his favorite position.

"Oh, my mistake," James said airily. "I just assumed you were because of how often you let the Quaffle get through the hoops."

"Hey," Al's father said sharply, with a warning tone. "Enough, James."

"Come on," James said, quickly standing up. "I was kidding. Let's go play."

"I'll only play if Rose is on my team," Scorpius said loyally. Rose smiled brightly.

"Right then," James said. "We can't play two on two. How about Al, Teddy and I…"

"Not fair," Rose said as they headed out of the tent. "Teddy's an adult, you can't play with him."

"You can have Victoire," James replied with a smirk.

"That's mean," Rose said in a hushed voice. "You know she's terrible at Quidditch."

"What team will I play on?" Lily Potter strode up next to Scorpius and planted her hands on her hips, laughingly. "I'm gone for ten minutes and you replace me with Scorpius? Really nice, James."

"I wasn't replacing you," Scorpius said.

"Teasing." Lily smiled, her nose scrunching up adorably, and tilted her head to get a better look at Scorpius. She cupped a hand around her eyes to see him more clearly. She looked older than she had when he saw her last, on the train back to London. She had grown a couple inches over the past two years, but her face had gotten more mature. Her brown eyes sparkled mischievously. "How are you?"

"Great. Yeah. How're you?"

"I'm Team Captain," Rose suddenly announced, interrupting them. "Scorpius and Al can be on my time. It works out that way, James. You get whoever you want, in addition to Lily, and because I'm useless, it will even out nicely."

"You're not useless," Scorpius and Al said in unison.

"Use your knowledge of angles and stuff to shoot off a bludger," Al put in.

"I'm sure you'll be just fine," Scorpius assured her.

"I'm not better than other girls," Rose replied.

"But we don't want any other girl on our team," Scorpius said simply. "Just you, Rose."

"Well, I-"

"Scorpius!" Scorpius looked up from the pile of brooms kept outside the Weasley's tent to see his father, standing awkwardly outside the site. "You need to come with me now."

"But Dad," Scorpius protested, gesturing to the brooms. "Quidditch."

"It's your mother, she's worried that-"

But Scorpius' father was interrupted by the sound of the tent flap opening. Al's father and Rose's father stepped outside, and then froze. Scorpius saw his own father straighten up uncomfortably, and then nod. Scorpius had never seen his father so out of place. Rose looked from her father, to Draco, and then back to her father. Al noticed nothing, and picked through the pile of brooms with precision.

"I'm here to collect my son," Scorpius' father said, a tinge of fear in his voice.

"He can stay, if you don't mind," Al's father said, just as stiffly. "They were going to play Quidditch."

"Rose!" Her father boomed suddenly, still pink in the ears. "Your brother needs you."

"What?" Rose asked, her mouth falling open. "Why?"

"He's feeling left out, you need to go talk to your mother about it." Rose mumbled something under her breath and shot a look at her father, but he didn't see her. He was glaring at Scorpius' father with unparalleled hatred. So perhaps he had reason to hate Scorpius after all.

"I'll see you guys later," Scorpius muttered, shuffling off to his father. Harry nodded to Scorpius as he left, but Ron glared at him, too. When Scorpius reached his father, Draco put a protective arm around his shoulders, pulling his son away from the Weasley tent.

"Mr. Weasley doesn't like you," Scorpius noted as they walked away. "Why's that?"

"A long story," Draco sighed.

"He doesn't like me. I can tell."

"It's not your fault. It's rooted in tradition, Scorpius. All of our history with the Weasley family, and our future, I suppose, is all rooted in history."