Chapter 13

Rose pushed a half-filled trunk on a cart through the wild fray of children trying to board the train. She had not encountered Scorpius or Albus leaving the castle. She knew Aurelie was going to have to stay at school this winter holiday. She had wished she had thought of asking her to join the Weasleys to celebrate Christmas, but she hadn't thought of it... She knew Tomoka was staying back at the school since her parents were all the way out in New Zealand, so they would have each other. It was truly amazing to Rose that they let Tomoka stay even though technically now she lived in New Zealand. Hogwarts doesn't accept foreigners; they only serve Ireland and Great Britain. She figured they must have been making an exception.

Rose was toting her cart onto the train with her when she spotted out of the corner of her eye Albus helping Scorpius get his luggage onto the train. Rose hopped off the stairs onto the train and hurtled through the crowd carrying her trunk behind her. "Al! Scorpius!" she yelled after them. "Wait for me!"

Albus turned his head, loosing his foothold for Scorpius, which caused him to lose footing, slip, and fall right on top of Albus. Rosie stopped to laugh at the spectacle of them. She couldn't catch her breath; she couldn't stop laughing!

Scorpius stood up and brushed his robes off. His face was beet red from embarrassment. He lent a hand down to Albus as he said, "You're absolutely useless!"

"Hey, it's all Rosie's fault!" Albus passed the blame to his cousin.

"Alright, alright, I'll take the blame; I'm sorry!" Rose said through her laughter.

Scorpius's expression remained serious as his flushed face began to fade again, but only slowly, "Let's get onto the train," he said gruffly.

The train finally stopped at King's Cross Station. The children all ran out of the train as fast as they could to say hello and hug their parents, or whomever they would be spending the holiday with. Rose, Albus, and Scorpius all walked off together in a somewhat subdued trance. James moved along behind them.

"Could you move any slower?" he said, irritated.

"Yes," Rose answer snappily.

The trio hopped off the train and James eagerly landed behind them, free from their slow movement. James ran to his dad and gave him a huge hug before his brother had the chance to. "Dad!" he said.

Harry laughed and ruffled his son's hair. "How have you been, James? Caused any trouble recently?"

"Not any that you need to know about!" he said and ran off to greet his mum and little sister.

"Hi, Dad," Albus gave his father a big hug. He stepped away and introduced his father to his friend. "Dad, this is my friend Scorpius. Scorp, this is my dad, Harry Potter."

"It's nice to meet you, Mr. Potter," Scorpius stuck out his hand for Harry to shake. Harry took it in his own much larger hand. Scorpius didn't seem like his father; he smiled broadly up at Harry as they shook hands.

"It's nice to finally meet you too, Scorpius," Harry said kindly. "I'm glad Albus is going to get to have a friend over for the holidays. You know, when I was growing up I never got to have anyone over. My first year I had to stay at Hogwarts over Christmas."

"Really? Why?" Scorpius asked innocently.

Harry was a little flustered. No one had ever asked him why, that he could recall. "Well, my parents died the night Lord Voldemort gave me this scar; that was also the same night I moved in with my aunt and uncle on my mother's side. They were very terrible to me. So, of course, when we were given the option to stay at Hogwarts over the holiday or go home, I chose to stay at Hogwarts and avoid having to see my awful family. I also had a friend who stayed behind with me, so that was nice."

"I'm sorry about your childhood, Mr. Potter," Scorpius felt genuinely bad for Harry; he never grew up with the kind of love that Scorpius was lucky enough to experience. He didn't grow up having the kind of love that he shows to his own children.

Harry patted Scorp on the head, "No use crying over spilt milk."

"Uncle Harry, where are my parents?" Rosie finally asked. Her brow was knit with worry. She was hoping desperately that Harry would say, "Oh, they're right over there!" or that he would tell her that he was taking her home. Though, still in the back of her mind was the fear that they were late; that they were leaving her all alone for a while; they weren't here for her. She's afraid of being abandoned, even if it's unintentional. It makes her heart pound and her thoughts fleet; being alone terrifies her.

"We'll be taking you home, Rose," Harry reassured her, putting his hand on her little shoulder. "No worries." He put his hand on her back and pushed the little girl ahead of him. The four children followed Harry through the wall and out into King's Cross. They all walked to the Potters' car.

As they drove to the Potters' house, Harry filled the kids in on what he had been doing while they were away: which summed up to nothing, and what Ginny had been doing: also a big fat nothing. The whole ride Scorpius stared out of the window, watching the world go by. Rose seemed mildly interested in the conversation and would participate every once in a while. Albus hung for dear life onto every single word his father said.

Suddenly they pulled into the Potters' driveway. The door burst open. Two small, redheaded children ran to the car as fast as they could. A small crowd of adults hung in the doorway, following slowly after. Rose opened her door and scooped up a small child. "HUGO!" she squealed, hugging the little boy.

James got out of his door and ran up to his mom in the doorway. Scorpius slowly opened his door. Once he stood up, Albus raced out of the car to greet his little sister, who was standing right beside the car, waiting for her older brother.

Scorpius stood there awkwardly watching the joyful reunion of everyone else. He smiled to himself, thinking this is what it must be like to have a happy family. He always thought his parents were happy, but he never felt happy in his family. He never saw this kind of joy between his family members. Suddenly Scorpius felt a hand on his back. He spun around to see a redheaded woman looking down at him.

"You must be Scorpius," Ginny said, mustering a smile. The little bugger was so cute and he didn't seem like his father. His father held himself with a pompous air, but this boy seemed a little lost and sad, staring at the family reunion that was going on. "It's nice to meet you."

"Hello, Mrs. Weasley," Scorpius said, still looking relatively lost.

"Are you okay?" Ginny asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Scorpius lied.

"Here, let's get your things inside," Ginny took Scorp's light suitcase and led him into the house.

"Where are you going?" Albus called after them when he saw them going into the house.

"We're taking your friend's things up to your room," Ginny said. "You should probably come and show him around." She raised her eyes in a way that told Al he'd have negative consequences if he didn't show Scorp around.

Albus skittered up the stairs behind his best friend and his mother, for fear of the Dragon Lady that hid behind that red hair and freckles.