Scorpius straightened his formal robes in the mirror. A deep bottle green, they made his startling grey eyes stand out, and fitted perfectly. Of course they did- like all his clothing they were tailored to fit him. I wonder what Rose is doing now, he thought to himself. Probably having a better Christmas Eve than I am. Although, on second thoughts, he doubted that, due to the last 'letter' from her. Scorpius had been more than a little worried after receiving the scrawled note from Sven about blackmail, and had sent back one of Corvus' feathers as a sign that he had received the owl and understood, so there was nothing he could do now. Just wait and hope she hadn't been found out.

Who was blackmailing Rose? What with? Why?

These were the questions that had floated around in his mind constantly since he received the owl, and if he allowed himself to think of them, he knew the answers. But he was putting them away, not wanting to believe his presence in her life could make Rose suffer the way it seemed to be doing. And now I won't hear from her for the rest of the holidays. Brilliant.

To make matters worse, today was the day of the Parkinson's Christmas party. Originally planned for New Years Eve, Pansy had moved it forward to allow her parents to attend, as they were going travelling in the new year. Which meant tonight Scorpius would have to be pleasant and sociable around Aster Parkinson, who he hated- no, hate was a strong word- who he extremely disliked, and his sister, Violet, who would throw herself at Scorpius, much to both their parents satisfaction, but not to his own. Still, he would have to endure it if he wanted to get back into his father's good books. After their fight the other night, things were still tense between them, but Scorpius knew tonight would either make or break their relationship for the rest of the holidays.

"Master Scorpius?" Tinky the house-elf appeared, peering nervously from round the side of Scorpius' four-poster.

"Yes, Tinky?" The young man sighed.

"Mr and Mrs Malfoy are wanting to leave for the party now, Sir. They wish for you to join them as soon as possible!"

"Alright, Tinky, tell them I'm coming now," Scorpius smiled gruffly at the elf, who looked panic-stricken, before disappearing.

Heading down the stairs, Scorpius checked his posture (upright), robes (crease-free) and expression (calm, superior and distant) in order to please his parents. He found them waiting patiently at the bottom of the stairs. Astoria was smiling warmly; Draco looked sufficiently impressed.

"Scorpius, dear," his mother greeted him, "You look extremely handsome! I must thank Narcissa for choosing those beautiful robes for you,"

"Yes, son, you haven't scrubbed up badly at all," Draco almost smiled, "Now remember what I said about Miss Violet,"

Scorpius bit back a response and nodded briefly at his father. Astoria shot her husband a warning glance, but once satisfied that there would be no argument, she relaxed. "Gentlemen," Astoria said, offering the two men an arm each, and they Apparated to the Parkinson's home.

Scorpius had been to the Parkinson's before for various social events their mothers had arranged, and it's eeriness never ceased to amaze him. It wasn't like Malfoy Manor as it was far more modern, yet completely lacking in any Muggle inventions, but somehow his parents still seemed to respect Pansy- a single mother bringing up two illegitimate children in a modernised home- which also never stopped surprising Scorpius. He'd always thought his parents would only ever respect those who stuck firmly to tradition, but Pansy was a bit of a maverick. Nevertheless, she was in both his parents good books.

"Astoria!" Exclaimed Pansy, on seeing her friend arrive, ignoring the house elf who had guided the Malfoys into the drawing room. "So lovely to see you again! And Draco! It's been too long!" Swiftly, both Scorpius' parents received a peck on each cheek from their hostess. "And- oh, is this Scorpius? My, you have grown since we last met! Quite the young man now, aren't you?"

Smiling calmly, Scorpius replied, "Thank you, Miss Parkinson, it's lovely to see you again," He kissed her on the cheek as he had been taught, cringing internally at the awkwardness of the gesture and the petty etiquette that was his father's raison d'etre.

"You too, Scorpius! Now, I must find my daughter, I'm sure she would love to see you again. Draco, Astoria, would you like a drink? Please, follow me! Scorpius, I think Aster is over there if you two young men would like a nice chat,"

Scorpius wanted nothing less than to have a 'nice chat' with Aster Parkinson, but he smiled politely and nodded at Pansy, keeping up his well-bred charade for his parents benefit, before heading in the vague direction his hostess had pointed in. Under the pretence of looking for Aster, he actually intended to find somewhere to hide for the next few hours. Shuffling his way through the groups of witches and wizards in various shades of green, silver, or black robes, he dodged glasses of Firewhiskey held obnoxiously far from the drinkers body in a pretentious fashion, nodding politely at anyone who greeted him and blasting through the essential small talk between hurrying on.

Spying a lonely spot mostly hidden by the enormous Christmas tree, Scorpius sighed in relief and finding a place to hide, and sped up his pace in walking towards it. Slowed down by a house elf offering him a drink, the young man grabbed the Firewhiskey and continued to hurry, not looking where he was going, until he ran straight into Aster.

"Whoa, Scorpius, where are you rushing off to?" Aster laughed, leaning his back against the doorframe which lead to the stairway, looking at the smaller boy from sideways on. "You'll spill that drink if you're not careful, and what a waste of a good Firewhiskey that would be!" Aster took the glass off his housemate and swallowed the contents of it in one go, before wiping his mouth of the back of his sleeve.

"You're right, Aster. The house-elves will have enough to do after this party without me adding to the mess," Scorpius agreed, deciding not to argue with the other boy. Scorpius could beat him in a duel, he thought, but if it came to a fist fight he wasn't as comfortable.

"Hah. I'm not bothered about those creatures, but this stuff is pricey!" He explained, tapping on the empty glass to show he was referring to its previous contents.

"Oh. Well, I'm sorry, I'll be careful not to spill anymore." Scorpius tried to skirt around Aster, but the larger boy stopped him.

"Where are you off to, then? You don't know anyone else here do you?"

"Not really, no," Scorpius admitted.

"Shame. There are some lovely witches from Thailand here who have brought some even lovelier younger sisters and cousins, so I would introduce you, but-"

"Honestly, don't worry about it Aster,"

Aster looked confused. "You're not interested?" Scorpius tried to backtrack before he was put in a corner, but Aster dragged him into the empty space near the stairs before carrying on. "Ah, we're on the same page after all, Malfoy!"

Confused, Scorpius asked "Hmm?"

"I was going to say that you'd want to see Violet more, and it seems you do!"

Shit.

"Oh, no, Aster, honestly, I'm fine here, by myself, with-" he picked up a glass from a passing house elf, and looked at the bizarre blue beverage in bewilderment "-this concoction," He took a mouthful as if to prove his point, and tried to hide the gag he made involuntarily.

Aster just laughed like a middle aged man. "I know how you and my sister feel about each other, Scorpius, and I know you'd expect me to be against it, as her older brother, but let me tell you, she could do a lot worse. An awful lot worse. As could you! With the rumours that have been flying round school this year about you and the Weasley girl, well, one of their spawn anyway, I'd have thought you'd want to prove them wrong! What better way to do it than to admit your true feelings for a girl of the right sort?

"I think I can tell the right sort for myself, thanks very much, Aster," Scorpius replied coolly. Aster's face twisted slightly, as though he was trying to fathom what his housemate was insinuating, but before he could say anything, in a burst of perfume and sleek black hair, Violet whirled around the corner.

"Oh, here you are, boys!" She exclaimed, giggling, as she bounded over to the blonde haired boy "Mummy told me you were here, Scorpius, and had gone to find Aster to chat to! You must get so lonely, as an only child," Violet 's voice oozed sympathy with a not at all hidden flirty undertone. "Never mind, though," she added, pushing his hair out of his face, before wrapping her arms around his waist, "I'm here now, Scorpius," Violet practically purred his name, as by this point she had moved in close enough for him to feel her breath on his face when she whispered to him.

Aster was smirking in the background. "Well, I think I'll leave you two to chat-"

"No!" Scorpius exclaimed, jumping out of Violet's arms and towards his new best friend. "I mean, I haven't spoken to you in ages, Aster, old pal, why don't you stay for a while?"

"I have some Thai girls to I'd like to get to know," Aster explained. "Sorry, old pal," he added, grinning, before he shrugged Scorpius' arm off his and turned and strode off.

Scorpius clenched his fists and turned around to find Violet stood right behind him. "Argh!" he screamed, as her big brown eyes seemed to grow in hurt. "Sorry, Violet, I didn't expect you to be so.. erm close," Scorpius told her as she began to trail her hand up his arm.

"I'll always be close to you, Scorpius. If you want me there, that is." Scorpius froze, panicked, as Violet's hand continued up his neck to his face.

"What in Merlin's name is going on here?"

The two stepped apart, and Scorpius span to see Katie Thompson stood in the doorway. Her robes were a deep red, which stood out amongst the drab colours everyone else wore, but looked great on her, as she stood with her arms folded, one eyebrow raised and a disgusted expression on her face.

"Katie!" Scorpius breathed, never so relieved to see the girl before. Violet, however, cowered behind Scorpius. She must have been one of Katie's victims in the past.

"I thought my eyes might burn that was so disgusting," the blonde girl carried on, heading into the alcove "Violet, what were you actually doing to him? Can't you tell he doesn't appreciate it?"

The younger girl looked so hurt as her eyes became bright with tears. "Don't you, Scorpius?"

"Erm... I, well..." Scorpius grappled for words.

"Of course he doesn't!" Katie continued, "He's head-over-heels obsessed with-"

Scorpius didn't stop to think, just turned around, and grabbed Katie, pressing his lips to hers. At first she froze in shock, then he felt her relax and decide to go with it. She ran her hands through his hair and traced his jaw line as he cupped her face, hoping Violet would leave so he didn't have to speak to her. She didn't, so eventually Scorpius pulled away. Violet looked as though all her dreams had been crushed as she stood there, shoulder slumped and head down.

"-With me." Katie finished. "Head over heels obsessed with me."

"I-I thought you cared, Scorpius," A tear streaked Violet's face, and Scorpius was surprised to feel guilt in his heart. Sure, he felt guilt occasionally, but normally he could justify it. Matters of the heart couldn't easily be justified.

"Violet, you're a sweet girl and everything," Scorpius explained, stepping forwards, but Katie came with him, her arm around his waist. Out of the frying pan and in the fire he thought. "but I can't help how I feel. And I just have feelings for someone else right now,"

"Yeah, me!" Katie exclaimed. He was a little worried she was getting too into this, but it did the job as Violet turned and fled, crying.

Scorpius went to move away from Katie, but found she didn't intend to let him go. "Well, that was unexpected, Scorpius," she smirked, "I had no idea you felt the same," she purred.

"Ha ha. You can drop the act now, Katie, she's gone. Thanks for the bail-out though,"

"Whoa, what? "

"What?"

"What do you mean, 'the bail out'?"

"Well, you were going to tell her I liked Rose..." She stared at him in confusion "...but I kissed you to shut you up..." still nothing "...and you went along with it," Scorpius explained slowly. "so thanks for backtracking and not telling her."

"What? I wasn't going to mention Weasley! I thought you were over her by now!" Scorpius blushed and looked away. "You kissed me to shut me up?!" She was furious now, "That sort of shit doesn't happen in real life! You should have just glared at me, or put your hand over my mouth or hit me or anything else!"

"Sorry, this was the most natural way,"

"Oh don't try flirting now!" Katie yelled at Scorpius.

"Flirting? What? I wasn't!"

"You said kissing me was natural, then you tell me you still like the Weasel? Make up your mind!"

"Why are you so annoyed?"

"BECAUSE I LIKE YOU, SCORPIUS! I have a massive, childish crush on you, and I thought you felt the same, just for those couple of minutes, and it was great. Then you tell me you used me, like that time in Hogsmeade, and you know something? It hurts. It freaking hurts to be messed around by you."

Unable to form a coherent thought on anything else, Scorpius said "You agreed to the Hogsmeade thing! And said you didn't like me then!"

She waved her hand away "It doesn't matter. But you've hurt me, and Violet now. And probably Rose to in some way. Although not as much as I'll hurt her if that little dog keeps ruining my life."

Scorpius' judgements clouded. "Don't. You. Dare. Threaten. Rose."

Katie rolled her eyes. "Whatever, Scorpius. That half blood deserves everything she's got coming to her,"

Without a second thought, Scorpius pulled out his wand and dug it into Katie's throat, ignoring her whimpers, growling "If you're saying that Rose is lesser because of her blood status, you're sorely mistaken you low-life, foul-mouthed, Thestral-shit. I know no one smarter, braver, kinder or more shrewd than that girl- Merlin knows how the Hat managed to Sort her, because she could fit in anywhere!" Sensing his anger fading as he spoke of Rose, Katie tried to squirm away from the firing line of his wand, but in a split second, Scorpius grabbed her arm and pushed it against the wall above her head, the tip of his wand back at her neck. "Don't even think about it." He instructed her. "Rose is seven times the person you could ever be, so I will not be ashamed of my feelings for her anymore. Nor will I allow her to be threatened by jealous gits like you. So say one more thing against her and You. Will. Regret. It."

With a smirk, Katie replied: "I think you're the only one going to be regretting anything today, Scorpius,"

Confused, and put out of his stride at her sudden burst of confidence, Scorpius mumbled, "Erm, what?"

Katie nodded towards the room he had just left, in which the party was happening, and Scorpius followed her gaze to see Aster, Pansy and Violet in the doorway, alongside, of course, his parents.

"Well, son. This explains a lot."