Hey guys! I had a lot of requests to hear from Scorpius soon, so here's an entire chapter dedicated to him and his version of the Christmas holidays. Hope you enjoy it!

The start of the Christmas holidays in the Malfoy's household were slightly different to that of the Burrow. As oppose to the eleven friendly, joking people who had chattered their way through the day after a rowdy game of Quidditch, Malfoy Manor consisted of only 2 wizards and a witch, rattling around in their over-sized house with an unnecessary crowd of house elves as servants. The silence rang throughout the house, broken only by a door squeaking open; footsteps pacing around the Manor; a cough echoing off the walls; occasional short, business-like conversations between Astoria and Draco.

Scorpius was in his room. As usual. He hated the holidays. He hated them because of the large empty house, which he hadn't minded until the age of 7, as it was all he had known.

He had had a private tutor named Miss Fletcher who was only in her early twenties, and very kind. She had come round to the Manor every day, Monday to Friday, and taught Scorpius all the basics his parents deemed necessary: English and Maths.

Science didn't matter because magic bent most of the rules. Muggle languages weren't important because he would never need them. All the important parts of History he would learn at Hogwarts. Geography didn't mean much when you could conceal places from Muggle view. Religious studies were ridiculous anyway- even for Muggles. Art, drama, cooking, sewing, woodwork, electronics were completely pointless and a waste of time. Things that unintelligent children passed off as 'subjects' because it was the only class they were any good at. Scorpius was better than that.

One extra lesson Astoria and Draco did allow their son to learn was music. In their opinion, every gentleman should be able to play at least one musical instrument, so Scorpius was taught to play the piano as soon as he was old enough to sit on the stool and could 1) Not fall off and 2) Reach the keys.

You could say that Scorpius' education before Hogwarts had been limited, but he had grown up loving those music lessons in which he finally had some freedom from the strict timetable his parents had created for him. Every morning he would learn Maths with the lovely Miss Fletcher until lunch, after which he would spend 3 hours on English lessons, before a blissful hour he would spend sat by the piano, learning the notes, then the scales, then simple traditional songs. Miss Evans was more patient than a seven year old Scorpius deserved, but during those years the two of them grew very close, as Scorpius often seemed to be spending more time with his tutor than his parents. So Scorpius could have coped happily with 4 more years of rigorous English and Maths as long as 1) Miss Fletcher was teaching him and 2) He got his piano lesson at the end. This seemed to be what would happen, until one day Draco stormed in during the music lesson and demanded his son stopped playing when he heard a Muggle song being tapped out un-rhythmically by Scorpius. Miss Fletcher had been fired immediately for daring to teach their son a filthy Muggle song and a new replacement had been found.

The replacement wasn't anywhere near as nice. Her name was Miss Barnes, but she was the complete opposite of Miss Fletcher. Miss Barnes was approaching retirement age, and 40 years of private tuition for spoilt, pureblood children had made her angry and bitter. She made it clear from her first day that Scorpius' next four years would be hell as she had no sympathy for the boy's extremely average piano ability, and suggested to his parents that she taught him for an hour and a half each day instead. She also suggested that the violin may be a nice addition to Scorpius' talents, and she would happily teach him. Draco agreed immediately- he had taken a liking to the new teacher, who seemed that she would be far better at raising his son to be a proper pureblood than Miss Fletcher. Astoria wasn't as sure- she could see that Scorpius was missing his old teacher, and tried to suggest to her husband that maybe learning a Muggle song wasn't that bad- it was widening Scorpius' cultural knowledge. Draco went red in the face when his wife suggested it, and declared that they didn't need to bother with culture of any sort and that Muggle songs would just corrupt the boy. Anyway, Miss Barnes was excellent at getting him to toe the line and by the time Scorpius was old enough for Hogwarts he would make their family proud.

So that was how Scorpius had grown up hating the house, and couldn't wait for freedom in the form of Hogwarts, and was delighted when it came. It was everything he had hoped and more, but he hadn't accounted for the fact that he would have to learn how to get along with his peers. He didn't mind if the teacher's hated him, as Miss Barnes had done and he had coped- just- but Scorpius had never had to mix with others his own age for any length of time before. It wasn't as if he'd been isolated- Draco and Astoria would have their friends round fairly often and send Scorpius up to his room with their friend's children in the hope he would make some friends. So Scorpius did know a few faces when he started at Hogwarts, but they weren't people he would, or could, call friends.

A combination of Miss Barnes and his lonliness added up to account for his aversion to hard work, his inability to make friends easily and his disrespect for people who didn't agree with him. This, in turn, meant he was now in a situation where he had only received one letter so far- from Alex, talking about Emily and how they had met up and how amazing she was and how the sun shone from her and her voice was like birdsong and a load of other sentimental nonsense that just wound Scorpius up, mainly because Rose hadn't replied. It was Wednesday when they had had their encounter on Platform 9 3/4 and now it was Tuesday, but still no word from her. He could understand a gap of a couple of days for her owl to reach him, but it was now nearly a week, and Scorpius was trying to accept that there would be no word from her when suddenly there was a pecking sound at the window.

He looked up excitedly to see an owl he vaguely recognised at his window, with a letter clutched in its talons. Scorpius jumped up and ran to his window, opening it with trembling hand as the owl flew towards Corvus' cage where it helped itself to the food and water meant for Scorpius' owl, dropping the letter on Scorpius' four-poster en route. Corvus moved up to make room for the new owl, giving him a friendly peck to say hi, then allowing him to eat from his own food bowl.

Scorpius didn't want to hope in case he was wrong, but he couldn't help himself- was it actually from Rose? He prised open the envelope, getting impatient half way through and reverting to yanking it open, but giving himself a paper cut in the process. He cursed under his breath, and sucked his finger as he pulled out the letter, allowing the envelope to tumble to the floor. He instantly recognised the writing from Potions- her could-be-elegant scrawl of curved letters and extended lines on all the bs, ds, fs, gs, etc; covered the page, smudged in places where she had accidentally leant on the ink whilst it was still wet. It went as follows:

Scorpius,
Don't worry- I wasn't offended, I thought it was nice of you.

I don't know what happened at the station after you left- what did you see? One minute I was saying goodbye to you, the next minute I was hit in the head and falling. I think I blacked out when I hit the ground, because I didn't wake up until I got home. I'm ok, though, don't worry.

My family say you were with me when they found me. I hope everything was kept civil- they haven't really told me exactly what happened. I explained that you were there because we're friends, but Hugo and Dad were really annoyed about that, to be honest. Still, Mum defended you, and I was right in thinking she put us in the same group purposely. She didn't admit it, but came really close to saying so.

So what actually happened after I was knocked out? What did my family say to you? Did they see your parents? Do your parents know we're friends? Will they freak out when you receive this owl? I'll send it at night, just in case.

I'm going to the Burrow in a couple of day's time, so you might be best sending your reply there. But if in doubt just give the owl my name and it should find me.

Thanks for staying with me until my parents came when I was injured- it was really kind of you. Most people wouldn't have bothered. Hopefully I'll hear from you soon.

Rose x

Scorpius fought the urge to grin manically, then decided he might as well whilst there was no one but a couple of owls to see him.

Then he went about dissecting the letter, looking for exactly what she had meant in every sentence, and therefore what he should write back. The first line was referring to the kiss, and Scorpius blushed in mortification at the memory- how could he have been so stupid? Still, it sounded like things could have been worse- from Rose's point of view, anyway. That was good. Then she spoke about her hitting her head and being unconscious. Not so good. She wanted to know what he'd seen because her family don't talk to her about it- that wasn't exactly a sign that they accepted Scorpius. He sighed, and decided just to tell her the truth about that part.

And what was this about the Headmistress- she had put them in the same group purposefully? That was unexpected. Scorpius knew that Rose would probably be biased towards that idea, but if Mrs Weasley had as good as said that that was the case, then it must be Scorpius' other theory: she was putting Rose in Scorpius' group because... because she had some plan to get back at the Malfoys somehow.

Ok, it was a feeble theory at the moment, but he was working on it.

And then a bombardment of questions about last Wednesday, which Scorpius didn't want to answer. Why did she insist on knowing every last detail? Wouldn't it be better for her not to hear about the arguments and accusations? And surely her parents felt the same, or they would have shared the story with her. But it was Rose- he couldn't refuse her anything. I'm the metaphor 'putty in her hands' embodied. Scorpius groaned, embarrassed at his helplessness.

And then she said she was going to the Burrow... where was that? Not her house, that's for sure. And when was 'a couple of days'? He didn't know when she had sent the owl- it had clearly taken longer than she had expected as otherwise sending it at night wouldn't have made much difference. On his end, anyway. He groaned again at the possibility of his reply not getting to Rose, and having to spend the following week-and-a-bit reading about Alex and Emily and their perfect relationship. Scorpius was fully aware of how unattractive his jealousy was, but he couldn't help it at all.

It was the last line that had made Scorpius so happy:

Thanks for staying with me until my parents came when I was injured- it was really kind of you. Most people wouldn't have bothered. Hopefully I'll hear from you soon.

Rose x

She had thanked him for what he had done. She had appreciated it- appreciated his presence, his thoughtfulness. And had said he was 'kind'! Rose had called Scorpius a lot of things before, but never kind. He wasn't a kind person; he was selfish and cruel. But somehow he got past that with Rose, and became a better person. No, it wasn't a huge, obvious difference, but it was definitely one that mattered, and it was one that would grow.

And then she said that she hopes to hear from him soon! She wanted a reply! Yes, he knew his excitement was pathetic, but aside from the owls (who were getting on rather well now- it looked like a friendship was blossoming) no one was there to judge him.

"Hopefully I'll hear from you soon." Yes, Rose, you will, don't worry. He thought to himself, as he walked over to his desk where he picked up a quill, bottle of ink and a sheet of parchment, before settling himself down to write.

Rose,

Easy part done.

Now for the harder bit.

I'm relieved you're well. I stayed because I wanted to make sure you were ok, or got home safely at least. I was assured of the latter when your parents turned up, but your father wasn't keen on spending any more time with me than necessary. But don't worry, after the way I've behaved up until this year, I understand why.

Professor Weasley- is it weird to hear her called her that?- was lovely to me though; very polite and thanked me for staying with you. Your Dad and brother weren't too happy with her for that. They thought I had hit you or cursed you and that's why you were unconscious. I told them I hadn't, obviously, but they didn't seem to believe me.

Our parents did meet, and I'm afraid my father was rather rude, as is usual with him. He was annoyed with me for helping you, to put it mildly, but mother tried to restrain him, and he let it out once we were home.

Corvus seems very fond of your owl- they are sharing a bowl of water as I write. I intend to send your owl back with this letter as soon as I've written it- what's his name?

Where is The Burrow? I sincerely hope this letter reached you with only 'Rose Weasley' to go on, but I suppose if the owl's yours he should go to you if in doubt.

Please write back soon, with lots of news about you and your family because I'm dying of boredom here. My parents are the only other humans in the house, but they aren't very good for conversation- mainly since they vastly prefer each other. Well, father does, at the moment. Mother has always been more sympathetic towards me.

So please write back as soon as possible- the only other contact I've had so far this holiday is from Alex, and all he does is talk about Emily. Although I'm happy for him, you can imagine how treacherous that gets- it would be great to hear from someone who would like to talk about something else. Or even if you want to talk about Alex and Emily, that's fine too, but it would be nice to hear from you again, Rose.

Scorpius x

He didn't want to evaluate his letter before he decided that he wanted to change something, because he knew that once he started he wouldn't stop. Instead he rolled up the parchment, once he was sure it was dry, and picked up the leg of Rose's owl. The bird hooted in annoyance, but grasped the letter and, after giving Corvus a goodbye peck, flew back out through the window.

Scorpius walked back over to his bed and flopped onto it, face down, as he realised he didn't have anything he wanted to do other than receive another letter from Rose. Or even better, see her.

He imaged her turning up at his window, out of the blue, and waving at him in the excited way she did, with a grin lighting up her face. Most likely her ginger curls would be tousled and windswept from whatever journey she had undertaken to get to him, her chocolate eyes big in her beautiful face. He would rush over and let her in, pulling her into an embrace as she exclaimed how much she'd missed him and couldn't wait to see him any longer because-

He groaned again. When had he become such a mess that his entire life revolved around one irritatingly smart, energetic and beautiful Gryffindor? Quite recently apparently- before Rose's bizarre example of kindness on the 1st September when she had helped him off the train, he would never have seen her like this. Just goes to show how dangerous selflessness could be. Good thing I'm disgustingly selfish Scorpius thought miserably, as he headed out of his room, downstairs and outside, grabbing his coat, scary and gloves in order to practise Quidditch. Alone. As usual.

He felt his parents eyes on him as they watched with pride as he whirled through the sky with the enchanted Quaffle which could hover, or even fly on its own in order to represent other players. Scorpius scored again and again. It wasn't difficult without a Keeper. He felt no sense of pride as he accomplished tricky moves he'd been practising, only a desire to go back to Hogwarts and teach them his friends. Maybe he'd stay at school next Christmas, if his parents would let him. Even if they wouldn't, they couldn't force him back on the train.

But even as he thought it, Scorpius knew he didn't have the backbone to stand up to Astoria and Draco. He would nod miserably and do exactly as they said, because he didn't want to lose what the provided him with: money and reputation. He sickened himself.

Ok, so that's Chapter 31. Chapter 32 shouldn't be too far away, and I hope to have both Rose and Scorpius in it, although not necessarily together. Remember to favourite/follow me/the fic if you haven't already, otherwise you won't get an update for the next chapter, and you wouldn't want to miss that ;) If you'd like to drop me a review, that would be massively appreciated!

Thanks, and keep reading,
Lucy x