Hi guys! Sorry I haven't updated this fic in a while- I've been incredibly busy! Anyway, today I am heading halfway across the world with school, so I won't be back in England for 10 days, let alone writing anything, so I thought I'd better post what I had- even though it's not finished. Anyway- enjoy!

Scorpius trailed inside, throwing his broom into the outhouse that the Malfoy's had dedicated to the rare occasions the land surrounding the house was used. As he trudged back up to his room, he heard the bell ring for lunch, and groaned at the thought of another awkwardly silent meal with his parents. But knowing better than to be late, Scorpius threw his cloak onto his bed, washed his hands, and, splashing water onto his face, decided he was presentable.

Jogging down the stairs he fell into the dining room, where he was greeted with disapproving glances from his parents who were already sat around the unnecessarily large dining table, a bowl of soup in front of each of them and a third in Scorpius' place. There was a basket of bread in the middle of the table, with a bowl of salad next to it.

"Sit down, Scorpius, you're already late." Draco told his son, when he arrived in the dining room. Silently, Scorpius took his seat and his parents picked up their spoons and began to eat the bowl of what looked like vegetable soup in front of them. Scorpius tentatively took a mouthful. Minestrone, of course, not vegetable. Scorpius was prepared to wolf down the soup as quickly as possible and be excused so he could go back to being lonely, rather than endure a drawn-out meal, but it was not to be.

"So, Scorpius, where are you up to with your homework?" Astoria asked politely, smiling at her son as she offered him the bread.

"Nearly done." He replied, trying to sound happy about this, but the truth was it was only thing to do at the moment.

"Excellent!" Astoria replied, then seeing that an awkward silence would rise added: "Did you have much?"

"Quite a bit. Transfiguration took ages, but Charms was easy and now I've finished my History of Magic essay so I just need to write up my notes from Potions the I'll be done."

Draco nodded approvingly. Astoria smiled. The rest of the meal passed in silence.

After the painful lunch was over, Scorpius returned to his room to find something to do. After wandering around his Slytherin palace, his eyes fell on the letter from Alex still waiting to be answered. It was, as usual, full of stories of Emily and what she had been getting up to, and how excited he was to see her again. Scorpius summoned every ounce of sympathy he possessed (which, honestly, wasn't much) and began to write a reply that pretended he was interested in his best friend's love life.

Hey Alex, how are you doing? Great to hear that you and Emily are still going strong, although I can't say I'm surprised. You're like Hogwarts' power couple at the moment.

I'm literally dying of monotony here- my parents seem determined to bore me into submission, if that's possible. Even if it isn't, I'm sure that they'd find a way.

But there was a bit of light in my otherwise tedious existence today- I received a letter from Rose! Granted, it was mostly full of questions about the day at the station which she was unconscious for, but it was great to hear from her again.

He pondered for a while on what else to write. There was nothing to tell Alex, as he hadn't done anything. Instead, Scorpius blabbered on about Quidditch and homework and anything else he could think of to discuss with his best friend. He asked as many questions as possible to ensure a reply, then rolled up the parchment, fastened it with a piece of string to Corvus' leg, before sending his owl out of the window.

Once that was done Scorpius wondered how else he could pass the day. His eye landed on Corvus' cage, which he promptly cleaned out, down to polishing the metal rungs, then filled it with fresh sawdust and replaced the food and water. He could have got a house elf to do it, but cleaning was at least something to do. Then Scorpius moved on to his room, which was already fairly immaculate as, unlike Rose, he had never been one for creative projects or spreading his school work all over his room. But, he still found things to tidy. By the time he had finished his desk was ordered and all his books placed in drawers or on shelves. He stacked his bookshelf alphabetically. He dusted his windowsill. He rearranged his ornaments. He tried to sweep the floor, but the broom had little effect on the carpet. He made and remade his bed. When he could finally find nothing else to do, he slumped onto his bed (which was silver and green, of course), and closed his eyes.

He wasn't sure how long he lay there, but after a while he decided he had better get ready for dinner- he didn't want to be late for meals twice in one day. He forced himself to get up, and made his way to the ornately carved wardrobe. Throwing the doors open, he rooted through his 'evening clothes' and found a smart burgundy shirt and skinny jeans. His parents had relented on the 'black tie' rule for every evening meal since they realised it was pointless with only the three of them present, but still insisted on 'smart-casual'. What a stupid phrase. Scorpius thought. How can you look smart and casual at the same time? Like this apparently.

Scorpius perched himself on the end of his bed, desperate not to crease his shirt, as he listened to his stomach rumble. Eventually the dinner bell rang, and Scorpius headed downstairs to join his parents around the huge table. Putting on a smile for his father's benefit, he stood behind his chair, waiting for Astoria to be seated, only after she had glided gracefully to her seat in her long dress, before sitting down himself. Draco smiled approvingly, as 3 house elves appeared, carrying the Malfoy's starters of something French-looking. Draco and Astoria made a point of ignoring the house elves and chatting to each other, but once they had their food, conversation turned to their son.

"So, son, how has your day been?" Draco asked Scorpius, as he took a mouthful of the pasta in front of him.

"Fine, thank you father. I practised Quidditch this afternoon- the Slytherin team is doing admirably at the moment, and I don't want to let them down."

Draco guffawed. "A Malfoy let Slytherin House down? That will be the day!"

Scorpius and Astoria laughed along politely; Scorpius trying to hide his guiltiness, as he was fairly certain his feelings for Rose, and anything that might develop from them, would let his House down.

"Have you heard anything from your friends recently, Scorpius?" Astoria asked gently.

"Yes, actually. Alex and I have been writing to each other regularly and-" He stopped himself, pretending to be chewing. "And I sent Corvus with a letter off this very afternoon." He smiled stiffly. His parents' responding smile was sincere.

"Scorpius, dear, we've been invited to visit the Parkinsons for a New Year's Eve party. I've told Pansy that we'd be delighted, and I suppose it would be nice for you to have Aster to talk to, rather than being surrounded by adults all the time. I think she's having a few other families round too. Not that I blame her, of course. It must be so lonely with just her children in the house. No adult company." Astoria sympathised.

Scorpius tried to look happy about the prospect of spending time with Aster Parkinson. He was shallow, self-obsessed, creepy and knew how to wrap adults around his little finger. And he had a sister that their parents would no doubt try to set him up with. Fantastic. But Scorpius didn't say any of this. Instead, he said: "That should be lovely, mother. Yes, it will be nice to have some company."

"I thought you'd feel that way." Astoria smiled at Scorpius.

"Oh, and son? I'm sure you remember Violet Parkinson-" Draco began.

"Draco," Astoria interjected warningly, encouraging her husband to hold his tongue.

"Now, now, Astoria. Scorpius knows how highly we rate the Parkinsons, and we would nothing less than delighted if he were to find himself wanting to be romantically involved with Miss Viole-"

"Dad!" Scorpius groaned, mortified. It wasn't that Violet wasn't attractive- she was stunning with her long, sleek, shiny dark hair, and her Barbie-style proportions- but she just wasn't what Scorpius wanted. Or who he wanted, more accurately. Plus, discussing this sort of thing with your parents was embarrassing, even more so if it was someone you didn't care for.

"Come, now, Scorpius! Violet is a beautiful girl from a well respected family-"

"Draco, they're only children," Astoria reminded him.

"Yes, I am fully aware of my son's age thank you, but a lot of his friends will be courting now-"

"'Courting?' Really, Dad?"

"Yes, really, Scorpius." He took a breath. "Look, I'm not trying to arrange your marriage to her-"

"Give it time," Scorpius muttered, but not loud enough for his father to hear.

"-I just want you to be aware we wouldn't mind if you were interested in her, son."

"Thank you. I am now aware of that. But I don't think it's something I needed to know. Aster and Violet are good friends of mine and nothing more, nor will they ever be."

"Well, Aster had certainly better not be." Draco muttered angrily. Scorpius just rolled his eyes.

There was a pause as they finished their starters and the main course appeared. Something chicken based, in a leek sauce, it seemed. Quite nice.

Astoria began to resume normal conversation. "So, what did you do with your day, Scorpius?"

"Homework, Quidditch, wrote to Alex, tidied my room, cleaned out Corvus' cage, came down for dinner."

"Oh. Lovely." Astoria smiled tightly. "Nothing else?"

"What else is there to do, Mum?" Scorpius asked, tiredly. "What am I supposed to do here, day after day after day?"

"Excuse me son, I will not have that talk!" Draco exclaimed, dropping his cutlery. "You are extremely lucky to have this lifestyle! I've worked hard for you to have all this, fought through the treatment we received after father... you know what your grandfather did, but I got past that. I managed to keep the Manor, keep or name, our reputation, our traditional lifestyle, and you're complaining that you're bored? How dare you be so ungrateful?"

"Draco, dear, cut him a bit of slack. He's a boy- he wants company- friends! Is it so wrong for him to not want to be so isolated?"

"Isolated? What are we? House-elves? He could grace us with his presence if he ever felt like it, but he chooses to hole himself away in his room, and then has the nerve to complain he's lonely?"

"But parents aren't the same as peers- you understand how he feels, darling, I know you do! Why don't we let him go down to the nearest village? Let him make some friends!"

"The nearest wizarding village is miles away, Astoria." Draco grunted.

"Then let him go to a Muggle one. What harm could it do?"

"Harm? What harm? Did you not hear anything I said about how hard I've worked for our reputation? To let our son mix with filthy Muggles-"

"Draco, please-"

"-would ruin everything I've worked for! It's absurd. The whole idea is absurd. Scorpius will live like I did. He can grow up in this house like I did. He will be friends with only pureblood wizards and will marry a beautiful pureblood witch. This life worked for me and it will work for him."

Scorpius stood up. "Please excuse me. I'm rather full."

He headed up to his room, walking, then jogging, then sprinting up the stairs, until he collapsed on his bed with too many emotions running through his head for him to define them individually. He lay there, eyes closed, face down in his pillow, until his thoughts became dreams. But he could define his dreams. They were about leaving; of escaping this cold, empty house and going somewhere no-one knew him, where nothing was expected of him; where he could start again.

Rose was walking in the garden with Lily, chatting about the family, and other trivial issues, when her sharp-eyed cousin spotted a speck on the horizon.

"I think it's Sven, Rosie." Lily told her cousin. "I didn't know you'd sent him out. Who were you wr-" She cut off mid-sentence, seeing Rose's face. "A certain Slytherin, by any chance?" Rose felt herself blushing. "I knew it! Let's see what Scorpius Malfoy has to say for himself!"

Rose shushed Lily- who was being far too loud for her liking- but she was so focused on keeping her cousin quiet that she failed to grab the letter off Sven when he reached them- and Lily got there first. "Lils!" She exclaimed furiously, as he cousin tore open the envelope and began to read the letter aloud.

Rose,

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

"Well." Said Lily, once she'd finished reading the letter. "It wasn't exactly gushing with romance, but he does want you to write back- quite clearly."

There you go, Chapter 32. I know- it's not completed, but I didn't have time to finish it. Please forgive me, and I'll see you in a few weeks time!

Lucy x