A nice long chapter for you all! Enjoy!
During Christmas break Rose easily forgot about the incident with Scorpius. Between cousins and family she spent Christmas without a care. A couple of days before they went back to Hogwarts Rose and Hugo went over to the Potter's so their parents could have a romantic dinner to celebrate their anniversary, as they did every year.
Rose was curled up in the living room in some tight jeans and nice big sweater, reading as James and Albus played exploding snap when the bell ringed.
"Didn't uncle harry and aunt Ginny just leave?" Rose said looking up.
"It's Scorpius." Al said jumping from the chair.
"Too slow Al!" Lily called from the door before Albus could get there, "Hi Scorpius! " She said with a smile.
"Hey Lils" Scorpius said coming inside.
"We're in the living room" James called, and Rose considered for a moment going up and changing into something else but decided against it.
She had never dressed up for Scorpius Malfoy and she was not going to start now. She fixed her hair, putting it all to one side, as she avoided looking at Scorpius taking off his fancy coat and folding it neatly to leave it aside.
"Hey mate." Al said smiling greeting his friend, as did James.
The Potter's long abandoned and pre-justices for the Malfoy family. Rose's mother had joined them, thinking it was best to move on from the war, however, her father thought differently, leaving her little brother Hugo to not be completely open to Scorpius.
"Get guys." Scorp said with a smile, "Hey Weaslebee." He said and gave her a smirk.
"Hey little Ferret" Rose said giving him an innocent smile, know exactly how much he didn't like the nickname. She stood up to go get some water from the kitchen.
"Clever as always..." He muttered rolling his eyes.
"I see nothing has changed this year I've been gone from school" James chuckled, "Did you two finally declared your love for each other?" He teased flopping back on the couch.
"Not exactly" Albus said giving Scorpius a knowing look.
Rose caught it and looked over at Scorpius. Did Albus know? Had he told anyone? He certainly hadn't mentioned it to her yet, but she hadn't seen him that much either since she'd spent most of her time speaking with Victorie.
"I see you haven't changed much either. How's training going?" Scorpius asked James sitting down beside him and ignored Albus' s look; he would deal with him later.
"Great, very trying, but great. I barely take off my uniform, it attracts a crazy amount of female attention." He said with a smirk.
Rose pondered whether James' smirk had finally become more annoying than Scorpius'.
"Very nice Mate." Scorpius said his smirk matching James' as he nodded in agreement
"Mom says if he keeps bringing a new girl every other week to meet them she'll disown him." Albus chuckled.
"You are incredible…" Rose said shaking her head as she opened her book on her lap again.
"You know what I say, to win you've got to play the game and James mate are playing it very well."
"To win... What exactly?" Rose inquired with an innocent smile, just to annoy them.
"The girl of his dreams." Scorpius said dramatically.
"The shag of my dreams more precisely." James said snickering.
Rose rolled her eyes. "I thought guys were supposed to grow out of their sex-crazed hormones." she said teasingly.
"Sorry love," Scorpius said, "They're here to stay."
"Well-ugh" Rose was stopped mid sentence by her book falling to a side of the couch. She swiftly stood up and went to pick it up.
Scorpius glanced her way when he saw her bend over and had his eyes on her a little too long.
"Hey, want to play exploding snap?" James said giving Scorpius a look, as he kicked his sheen to get Scorpius' eyes away from Rose's backside for the moment.
"Er..." Scorpius said blushing slightly and forced himself to look away, "Yeah sure..."
Albus had to force himself not to make a remark about the kiss Rose and Scorpius had shared. He knew James wouldn't be as chill about it, mostly because Rose was practically another Lily for him.
"I want to play too." Rose said going over to them and sitting on the next available place, next to Albus, after a moment.
"James you can start…" Scorpius said not really looking at him still.
Rose had Scorpius in front of her. At first it hadn't been much of a deal but as time passed more and more she found herself looking over at him. He was more quiet than usual as they played; apparently more concentrated in his cards. Rose tied up her hair in a bun, and forced herself to pay more attention to the cards than to Scorpius' nice arms and his very soft lips.
It had just been a stupid kiss, and he was still the same idiot. She had probably imagined the whole him holding himself back as he kissed her, he probably just wanted to get it over with and that was all.
The game they were playing ended in a tie and about have way through Mr. And Mrs. Potter came back home from their errands.
They started preparing for dinner so it was time to start washing up.
Al had Scorpius staying the night, which he did quite frequently since the pair became friends. After dinner there was a knock on the door.
"Scorpius dear, would you mind getting that?" Ginny asked since he had helped her being dishes to the kitchen and was right there.
"Of course." He said and went over to see Rose's parents standing in the doorway
"Oh hello Scorpius... Are Harry and Ginny home?" Hermione said gently after the shock of seeing him had passed.
Ron's eyebrow furrowed but he didn't say anything just yet
It took Scorpius a moment to answer, "Yes of course... Mrs. Potter just asked me to get the door..." He said a bit nervously knowing Rose's father did not like him very much and he moved out of the way to let them in.
Ron passed him without giving him a second glance.
"I don't know how you keep inviting that boy over" Ron said to Ginny in a low voice as he got to the kitchen.
"Oh Ron..." Ginny sighed, "He's a very kind and well mannered boy. I'll never understand why you won't give him a chance..." She said just as softly, "Besides he's Al's best mate. Those two are like you and Harry..."
"That's even worse" he said grumpily.
"Ronald... I have let my son go to Scorpius' house many times, and Draco is still to give him back with a scratch. Albus and James only speak wonders of the place" She said drying her hands, "Scorpius darling, be so kind as to go get Rose and Hugo please" She said looking over to where Scorpius was standing uncomfortably.
"Yes Ma'am." He said nodding slightly and went out of the room.
"Besides I have been saying it for years and I'll say it again. I highly doubt he is going anywhere so just get use to him." Ginny said as she gave Hermione a hug in greeting, "Why don't you go find Harry." Ginny told her brother, "I'm sure he's in his office."
Ginny then turned to Hermione, "Why did you come back so early? I wasn't expecting you two till tomorrow morning." Ginny asked Hermione.
"I have a headache I just can't manage to get away from and we just decided to call it a night." Hermione said pursuing her lips.
"Did you take something for it?"
"Yeah I did, it's already better but we didn't want to bother you with the children if there wasn't a need to."
"Oh it's never a bother," Ginny said giving her a smile. "They are very good kids, I barely notice them"
Scorpius went down the hallway to the living room, "Oi, Weaslebee, your parents are here." He said to her and then slowly turned around when Al said, "Hi Uncle Ron..."
"Hi..." Ron said in a tight voice and Rose's laugh filled the room.
"Hi Dad" she said as she went over to him and kissed his cheek, "Don't worry it's just a joke." She said on a soft voice, she didn't want her father killing Scorpius, but she didn't want Scorpius to think she'd be defending him just because.
"Right" Ron said on a tight voice. "Hugo we're leaving" he said before storming to Harry's office.
"You are so dead mate. " James laughed as Hugo stood up to go look for his mother to see if maybe they could stay.
"Tell me something I don't know..." Scorpius muttered.
"Mom." Hugo said going into the kitchen, "Can we please stay the night?"
"I don't know..."
"Please Mom, Rose can apparate us home tomorrow morning." Hugo pleaded.
"I'll make sure they are home right after breakfast" Ginny said giving Hermione a small smile. "You go and rest until you feel better."
"If you are sure." Hermione said with a small smile.
"No absolutely not." Ron said coming back in fuming.
"Why not?" Hermione asked not understanding what was wrong. Could he possible be so prejudiced of Scorpius after all this years?
"I absolutely refuse to have my children spend another minute with that Malfoy boy." He said and Scorpius had just entered the room when he said this, "He is just like his father. No good."
Scorpius knew that Al and James were right behind him, he had never felt more embarrassed. Especially since Rose was right there.
"I'm- I'll be right back…" He muttered and went away, stepping outside into the backyard.
He didn't even bother to cast a warming spell around him, he just crossed his arms and tried to ease the knot his stomach was in.
"Ronald!" Hermione said appalled having known that Scorpius was right there and at the same time Rose said, "Dad!" Before she could stop herself.
Scorpius just let the cold surround him, "Am I really so bad..?" He asked his voice soft when he heard the door open behind him thinking it was either Al or James.
"You are sometimes..." Rose said joking softly, trying to cheer him up. "But not for the reasons my father thinks you are."
"Then why?" Scorpius asked looking out ahead.
Rose stayed quiet for a moment. She put her arms tight around her, wishing she had stopped to grab a coat before going after Scorpius.
"You aren't..." Rose said softly. "I was just joking... You're a bit annoying when you tease me but you make up for it the rest of the time." She said so quietly she prayed silently he had heard it, not wanting to say it again. It was weird, being this honest with him, seeing him so hurt.
Scorpius was quiet for a few moments before speaking; "You know that I don't mean anything when I call you "Weaslebee" right?" He asked turning to face her slightly and for the first time ever Rose could see a vulnerable look upon his face.
"I know..." She said giving him a small reassuring smile, "You mean the same I mean when I call you things." She said softly and silently cursed that she didn't have her wand with her to cast a warming spell. She stepped closer to him, worried that her father's comment had hurt him too much. She knew he'd had to fight the prejudice against his family his whole life, it was not fair of her father of all people to be like that.
Scorpius gave her a small smile though it was slightly forced.
He wanted to thank her but it felt slightly strange. He said it anyway…
"Thanks..." and then wanted to slap himself when he added, "It's cute that you care..."
Why couldn't he just shut up for once?
She wasn't all that sure how to answer to that, but she gave a shot at trying to get a smile out of him. "Is this what you do to girls you think are cute Malfoy? Let them freeze in the middle of a snow?" She teased with a small smile.
"Not all the time... Only the special ones. " He replied his smiled widened a bit.
"I feel so honored to be one of the special ones." She said sarcastically with a chuckle and Scorpius thought he'd never seen something more beautiful than Rose Weasely with little snowflakes in her auburn hair and her lips red from the cold, her arms tight around her slender frame.
Scorpius gave her a small smile, before taking out his warm and casting a warming spell around her
"Thank you..." Rose said with a small sigh as she felt the warmth envelope her, "You should come back inside, my mother took my father back home and let us stay..."
"I'll be back in in a minute. You go on."
"Don't let my father get to you..." She said softly, "He's wrong, he just... He can be very thick sometimes."
She put a hand on his arm.
Scorpius turned to looked at her when he felt her touch, "I won't... Thanks Rose..." He gave her a small smile.
Rose felt something she couldn't quite place as he called her by her first name. Maybe it was just the way her name rolled off his tongue but she found herself wishing at the same time that he did it more often and that he didn't do it at all.
"You are welcome Scorpius," She said softly looking into his eyes. "Now come on," she gave playful smile tugging at his arm. "Stop asking the universe for a cold and come back inside. "
Scorpius gave a small chuckle, "Ok…"