It was too sad to be comical. His father stood, one hand braced against the wall for balance, the other reaching for a rectangular frame caught around the tip of his black leather dress shoe. Miniature furniture stood in place around the room. An open carryall bag lay on its side near his father, the bag's Lilliputian-sized contents spilling out, including a tiny mattress.

Scorpius asked, "Are you re-enacting a scene from Gulliver's Travels?"

Draco bent toward his entrapped shoe instead of lifting his right foot. He started to topple over and put his foot down for balance. There was a snapping sound. His father's scowl deepened. "You made me break the bed! Your mother stole my wand so I can't even fix it."

"I'll do it. Don't move." Scorpius walked over and knelt to slip the frame off the shoe. "Reparo," he said. "Why did Mum take your wand?"

"She's trying to undermine my, ah . . . ."

"Authority?"

"Decision." Draco knelt down to grab the bed frame by its winged, upholstered headboard.

Scorpius clasped his wrist. "What decision?"

"We're moving to Paris. Astoria's always talked about opening a boutique on the Rue d'Alger. I say it's time."

"Why?"

"You know why." Draco pulled free and started stuffing shrunken furniture back in. "I can't bear to see history repeating itself. I'd rather be in Paris, imagining that you'll one day come to your senses, than stay here and face reality."

"What reality? What the hell are you talking about?" He grabbed the carryall away from his father.

Draco tried to snatch it back. "You're giving in to Lucius's demands just like I did."

"No, I'm not." Scorpius let go of the bag to steady his father by gripping his upper arms. "I didn't read his letter, Dad. Rose and I are here for a family dinner. That's all. Didn't he tell you?" His father's expression gave him his answer. If Lucius had told him, Draco hadn't heard. "I'm sorry," Scorpius said. "I assumed that he'd used a Sonorous Charm."

"Doesn't matter," Draco said. "I can't forgive him for what he tried to do."

"He said he took back everything he'd written."

"Too late."

It couldn't be. "I need you to stay," Scorpius said. "Grandfather needs you."

Draco smiled sadly. "You have each other."

"It isn't the same." His father wasn't listening. He stared off, lost in unhappy thought. I did this to him. Guilt spurred Scorpius into action. "Incarcerous!" Thin cords materialised in the air and wrapped around his father. "Mum!" Scorpius shouted. "Bring Soberup Potion!"

Draco asked, "How d'you know we have it?"

"You needed it after the last party."

"Oh. Right. Well, I didn't use it." His father's mouth turned down. "Don't want it."

Astoria rushed in with the potion and stopped short. "Is force really necessary?"

Draco said, "Let me go, son. I have packing to do."

"Drink the potion first," Scorpius replied.

Astoria knelt down and put the bottle to Draco's lips.

He pouted. "Mothers always take the child's side."

She kissed his cheek. "Drink, dear."

Once his father swallowed the potion, Scorpius waited until the grey eyes looking into his were sharp and sober.

And then he cast a Memory Charm.

"What did you do to him?"

Scorpius watched his mother cast a spell to get rid of Draco's bonds and gently lower him to lie with his head in her lap. He straightened his father's legs to make him more comfortable. "When he wakes up he won't remember his row with grandfather or his plans to leave the manor."

"I will." His mother's tone warned him not to use a Memory Charm on her.

He'd only considered it for a moment. "But you won't tell him."

Astoria sighed. "I have to say something." She glanced pointedly around the room. "He won't believe I had the sudden urge to become a minimalist."

"I'll do it," Scorpius said. "I've kept secrets, trying to protect you." He saw his mother's raised eyebrow and added, "Trying to protect myself from the guilt of causing you worry." She raised both brows. He finally confessed, "And I didn't want to be accountable to anyone."

She glanced down. "Sound like anyone you know, darling?"

Scorpius froze when his father smirked.

Draco opened his eyes to stare up at Astoria. "What won't you tell me?"

"Something I need to say." Scorpius checked the time. "After dinner." He stood and held out a hand to help his father rise.

Draco accepted the hand up. He helped Astoria to her feet and straightened his cuffs. "A minimalist with shrunken furniture. Good one."

"Thank you. I must remember to share it with Luna." Astoria shook out her skirts. "I hung your dinner jacket in the bathroom so you wouldn't shrink it. Your wand is in the inside pocket."

Draco said, "Let's not keep the others waiting."

.

Rose and Grandmother Narcissa sat together on a settee. Scorpius could tell that his grandmother was enjoying their conversation. Her gloved fingertips touched Rose's arm as she spoke. His grandfather projected languid interest, fingers laced together as he listened from his adjoining chair, but he immediately came over to offer Scorpius and his parents a drink when they entered the drawing room.

"Nothing for me, thanks," Draco said.

To an onlooker, Lucius took his son's amiable reply in stride. His eyes flickered to Scorpius. His eyes gleamed when Scorpius replied to his unspoken question with a slight nod. "And for you, Astoria?" Lucius asked smoothly.

"Lemon vodka."

"Excellent choice," Lucius said. "Mrs. Stevens is serving stuffed sea bream for dinner."

Scorpius shook his head when his grandfather glanced his way. Rose was still deep in conversation with his grandmother. He smiled. As his mother and grandfather moved toward the drinks cabinet, he asked his father to take a turn about the room with him.

"What?"

"I want to use a ploy from a novel to get Rose's attention." His father's expression remained blank. Apparently, his Muggle Studies class had never read Pride and Prejudice.

"If you think it will work." Draco cleared his throat. "Let me show you the Inca vase that your great grandfather Abraxas purchased on his final trip to the Peruvian Vipertooth Reserve." They strolled from one side of the room to the other.

Rose looked up.

Scorpius asked if she'd care to join them in viewing the vase.

"Don't touch it," Narcissa said. "I still believe the horrid thing gave my poor father-in-law dragon pox."

"It's beautiful," Rose said when she joined them in front of the lighted niche that held the ceremonial vase. "The handles are dragons."

Scorpius said, "He should have bought the one with jaguars."

"It was dragons or nothing," Draco said. "Even at the end, Abraxas appreciated the irony of dying from what he lived for." His gaze travelled beyond them. "Mother and Father are both conversing with Astoria, and I think she's on her second drink. I'd better intervene before there's en vodka veritas."

"I like your grandmother," Rose said when they were alone. "But I felt like a Muggle speaking with the Queen of England. Next time, take me with you."

"All right."

Her eyes searched his face. "You were gone longer than I expected."

It would take too long to explain, even if he could find the words. Scorpius planted images in Rose's mind. Her jaw dropped. He said, "It was the same charm we planned to use on Teddy. It only affects a couple of memories."

Stevens entered the drawing room and announced that dinner was served.

On the surface, the meal went smoothly. The food was superb, the conversation pleasant. They ate en famille at one end of the table that could expand to seat sixty. Rose sat next to him. Scorpius should have felt at ease. Instead, he was on edge. Did she think they were stuffy? Pretentious? When Rose glanced around the room, he told her more than she probably wanted to know about Abraxas Malfoy's enthusiasm for the Régence period with its sinuous furniture and dragon motifs.

"I prefer the Louis XIV style of the drawing room," Narcissa said.

"Mirrors and gilt?" Lucius replied.

"Exactly."

Scorpius said, "I'd like to show Rose the library after dinner."

His grandfather set down the wineglass he'd just picked up. "Following our discussion?"

"Actually, I have something to say to everyone." All eyes fixed on Scorpius. Stevens, who had entered the dining room with a tray of chocolate fondant puddings, paused to stare. "We'll have coffee in the library," Scorpius said.

Stevens turned to Lucius for confirmation.

"Don't look at me. I'm only the head of this household."

"I beg your pardon, Grandfather," Scorpius said. "May we have coffee in the library after dinner?"

"Very well." Lucius gestured for Stevens to serve the dessert course.

Scorpius ate a spoonful of the gooey-centred pudding to be polite. It might as well have been tasteless. He was already having second thoughts about his last-minute plan, which was feeling more like a rash impulse he should have ignored. He noticed that Rose hadn't eaten any more of her pudding than he had. Scorpius asked, "Would you care for something else?"

"Coffee in the library, perhaps?" Lucius drawled. "None of us are eating. We may as well gather in the library like suspects in a mystery novel."

"The Bletchleys threw a murder mystery party last month," Narcissa told Rose, who seemed surprised by his grandfather's comment. "I was the femme fatale, and Lucius got to play the incompetent Auror. He was so amusing."

"I'm sure," Rose said. As she and Scorpius trailed behind his parents and grandparents, she whispered, "Do you think he attached a fake scar to his forehead?"

Scorpius chuckled at the thought.

Rose softly squeezed his hand. "That's better," she said. "I missed your smile at dinner."

He leaned down to confide in her ear, "Nerves."

Her fingers tightened around his. "You're doing the right thing."

He wasn't as confident.

Rose said, "You can always pretend we're suspects in a mystery novel. You'll be the brilliant Auror, and I'll play the femme fatale. When we get home . . . ." Her mouth curved seductively.

He brought her hand to his lips.

.

In a way, it did help to view his family as characters from a mystery novel. It put the family dynamics into perspective. Lucius was the pure-blooded patriarch, Narcissa the grand dame who treasured her position in society. Astoria was the daughter-in-law that didn't fit the family mould. Since she'd given her husband an heir, however, she was forgiven her eccentricities. Draco was the son doted on by his mother and a disappointment to his father, who expected too much and encouraged too little. Rose was the outsider, invited to dinner because of her relationship with the grandson who respected family traditions even as he refused to be bound by them.

Once he stood beside the fireplace, with his parents and Rose sitting together on the long leather sofa and his grandparents in adjoining upholstered chairs with Stevens placing the coffee tray on a low table, however, Scorpius couldn't pretend that he was a brilliant Auror. He didn't feel like a brilliant anything. He'd made mistakes, and he needed their help.

He said, "We're a family. We don't all share the same beliefs, but that doesn't matter. We have to support each other."

"Hear, hear," Lucius muttered.

Scorpius said, "And that means we have to respect each other. No more threatening to leave the country, and no more threatening to disinherit."

Lucius snapped, "You said you didn't read the letter."

"I didn't. Father started shrinking his furniture to move to Paris," Scorpius said. "He wasn't upset over the thought that I'd give in to the demand to wear business robes at the office every day."

"Paris?" Narcissa pressed a hand against her chest. "Isn't the flat in London enough?"

Draco said, "I don't remember threatening to move." He frowned. "What letter? What demands?"

Scorpius told him, "Dad, you don't remember because I cast a Memory Charm."

"No."

"I had to," he said. "We need you to stay."

"Yes, think about my blood pressure," Narcissa said.

"Why? You don't unless it's convenient," Astoria said. "Using guilt to pressure someone is as bad as making threats."

Lucius told Narcissa, "She should know, considering the way she's held our grandson over our heads since his conception."

Astoria balled her hands into fists. "I never said you wouldn't be allowed to see him."

"Her family didn't teach her Occlumency and you were using Legilimency against us," Draco said.

Lucius replied icily, "I was doing my duty as your father."

Draco shot back, "You were trying to break us apart!"

"That's what they want." Scorpius hadn't meant to speak so loudly, but it worked: the arguing stopped. He said, "There are Knights of Walpurgis who want to see our family break apart. They want to use it to prove Lucius Malfoy is getting old and weak, and younger, stronger pure-bloods should lead." Scorpius told his father what he'd told Harry and Albus, "If you don't care about that, you should." He looked at each of them. "Everyone should."

"He gets his dramatic flair from my side of the family," Narcissa said.

At least she sounded proud about it. Scorpius said, "I've kept things from you, Dad, because I didn't want you to worry about me."

"Draco's sensitive," Narcissa said.

Lucius muttered, "Anxiety ridden from birth."

"What was that?" Narcissa asked frostily. When Lucius didn't reply, she told Scorpius, "Go on."

He said, "I've tried to reassure you, but nothing's worked. Deep down, you can't believe that I'd go to the Walpurgis Club and be friends with Knights if I didn't subconsciously share their views." Scorpius took a deep breath and said, "I can make an Unbreakable Vow that I don't."

Draco asked, "Then why—"

"I don't want the Knights of Walpurgis to become Death Eaters again." Scorpius had started out wanting to uncover the truth about Stop Snitching flyers, to search files for evidence of wrongdoing. Discovering Edgar's plan to undermine Lucius led him to deduce the possible end games. Violence. Crime. War. "Grandfather is the only leader in the Knights who can prevent it from happening."

Draco didn't look convinced. "What makes you think he ever stopped being a Death Eater?"

"Yes," Lucius drawled, "Why would I falter in my devotion? I profited so much from my allegiance during the war. I was accorded the highest privilege and favour, my vault filled with gold." His tone sharpened. "I've spent the last two decades building up what the Dark Lord plundered and tore down. I won't let anyone take it from me."

Scorpius said, "The 'New Trio' photograph in the paper was supposed to embarrass Grandfather, but he used it to call for the end of discrimination against Slytherins. He's working to ensure their future prosperity. It gives them something to rally around."

"It's a pre-emptive strike against my enemy," Lucius said with satisfaction.

"Enemy?" Draco asked. "Scorpius said there were Knights—"

"Led by Edgar Goyle," Lucius said. He smiled a little at the shock on his son's face. "History repeats itself."

"Gregory wasn't anyone's best mate. Not even Vincent's. Edgar isn't like him," Draco said.

"Agreed. He's far more intelligent and cunning," Lucius replied.

Narcissa said, "He gets that from the Bulstrodes. They only look thick."

"Scorpius, have you talked to Edgar?" Astoria asked. "Has all this been confirmed?" At his nod, she came over to hug him. "I'm sorry."

Draco walked over to pat Scorpius on the arm. "I'm sorry I threatened to leave. We'll be here for you, son."

Lucius said, "If the charming display of family unity is over, Stevens is waiting to serve coffee."

They smilingly disengaged. Scorpius sat closer than necessary to Rose on the sofa. His shoulder and thigh pressed hers. "It's a display of partner unity," he whispered when Rose slanted a questioning look.

"Something you'd like to share with the rest of us?" his grandfather asked.

Rose said, "He suggested we all go out to dinner one night to show family unity in public. I think it's a brilliant idea."

His parents agreed enthusiastically, his grandparents more reservedly. Schedules and restaurants were discussed over coffee. When he thought no one would notice, Scorpius whispered to Rose, "You play the Auror and I'll be the homme fatale." Her eyes sparkled.

Lucius heaved an aggrieved sigh.

Scorpius said, "Grandfather, Rose and I would like a word in private with you before we go."

The room became tensely silent.

"On a . . . personal . . . matter?" Narcissa asked.

"No, ma'am," Scorpius answered.

His family visibly relaxed. His parents and grandmother claimed tiredness and said goodnight. Stevens removed the coffee tray.

"What just happened?" Scorpius asked.

Lucius said dryly, "They thought you wanted to speak with me about becoming engaged."

"Not yet," he and Rose said, almost in unison. They laughed.

Lucius had enough tact not to say "Thank Merlin," although Scorpius could tell he wanted to. He paused to let them regain their composure and then asked what they wanted to speak with him about.

"The Stop Snitching flyers in Diagon Alley," Scorpius said. "Who's behind them?"

"I require a wizard's handshake that what I say will remain confidential, and once I answer your question, you will answer one of mine," Lucius said. After Scorpius and Rose each made the binding promise, they followed Lucius over to his desk and watched him remove a flyer from a drawer. He handed it to Scorpius. "Rufus Scrimgeour's propaganda during the last war was my inspiration."

The flyer proclaimed:

STAMP OUT THE ENEMY!

Alongside the bold words was a drawing of a wizard with an upheld wand and upraised boot. A tiny Death Eater was drawn prostrate, ready to be stomped. At the bottom of the page in smaller bolded font Scorpius read:

BE AWARE OF DEATH EATERS. REPORT TO THE MINISTRY IF YOU SPOT ANY SUSPICIOUS WIZARDS.

"I couldn't step inside the club without someone complaining that an Auror had showed up in the park when he was celebrating his child's birthday or at a restaurant when he was entertaining clients, or taking his wife out for dinner," Lucius said. "The men weren't under surveillance. They weren't followed. Someone had told the Aurors where they would be and when they would be there."

"Informers," Rose said.

Lucius said grimly, "Knights started accusing each other in meetings. Dissension was growing. It had to stop."

"Has it?" Scorpius asked.

"Somewhat." That was as close as his grandfather would come to admitting failure.

Scorpius said, "Ask me why it hasn't worked."

"Tell me why you brought up the matter."

Rose said boldly, "Uncle Harry wants to know whether the flyers are meant to cover up something the Knights have done, or something they plan to do."

"He isn't aware that Knights are snitching to Aurors," Scorpius said. He told his grandfather, "You and Harry Potter have something in common."

Lucius curled his lip. "Merlin forbid."

.

.

A/N: A day late, but not a Galleon short, since I'm not a Malfoy with a vault filled with gold. :D The readers whose reviews of the last chapter were priceless were: alix22, Arcoiris, asiastana, cjconner326, Connected-by-a-Semicolon, ctc, HopeWithinDarkness, Leena7, Needle In A Haystack, nobodysperfect2133, rosesnlilies, scribbleeexx, Siriusmunchkin, VandyFNP, and yiota146.

ETA: I saw the STAMP OUT THE ENEMY! Scrimgeour propoganda flyer on Harry Potter Wiki.