Rose and Scorpius 19 years later

by Slytherpuff and proud

Rose Weasley, Albus Potter and Scorpius Malfoy begin their time at Hogwarts. But will the reputations their parents left stop them from ever getting along? Or will their mutual belief in finding their own paths bring them together? Please enjoy. I aim to write at least 8 or 9 chapters.

3. Chapter 3 THIRD YEAR

THIRD YEAR. 21 YEARS LATER

DIAGON ALLEY, WEEK BEFORE SCHOOL STARTS AGAIN

Scorpius waved to his friends in Flourish and Blott's Bookstore.

"Hey. It feels like I haven't seen you in ages! How was Belgium with Parkinson?"

"The usual. Our family's travel together, stay in the same house and have meals together, but other than that we stay separated. My mum doesn't really like Lloyd's mum. This annual holiday is more of an escape from my grandparents."

Albus chuckled at Scorpius's bored expression when retelling this.

"Where are we meeting Rose?"

"We're not. Her family are getting supplies tomorrow." Albus shrugged, not noticing the slight disappointment on Scorpius's face as he turned to search for the book required for charms lesson.

"I assumed that your families did everything together."

"Yeah, well, they are still at their muggle grandparents's house." Albus sounded resigned. "I haven't seen Rose at all this holiday. I miss her." He shrugged again then suddenly looked up at his friend, "you can't tell her that! She'll get big headed and never let me forget!"

GRANGER HOUSEHOLD

"Hermione, you really should go now. The kids need school supplies. Plus Hugo should be all excited for his new school year!" Hermione's mum, Mary, beamed down at her grandson whom she was hugging at the front door. Hugo skipped off the the car after hugging both grandparents.

"Rose, have fun now dear." Hermione's dad, John, could be heard saying from just behind the front door. "Look after your brother, and stop worrying! We'll be fine. Your grandmother and I aren't going anywhere for a long time." The young girl sniffed, trying to hold back her tears as she kissed Mr Granger on the cheek. "Now wheel me to the front door so I can wave good bye."

Rose complied, then kissed her grandmother on the cheek after a long hug, then ran to the car.

Ron shook hands with his father in law and hugged his mother in law, promising them both that he would take good care of their daughter, then waited in the car in the passenger seat.

"Mum, dad, I-" Hermione choked and wiped away tears. "I love you. We will see you at Christmas!"

With one last hug to both of them, she hopped into the drivers seat and pulled away. The entire family waving to the paralysed old man and the weakening old woman, who waited until the car had completely disappeared to return inside.

"That was a hard goodbye." John spoke after a moment of silence.

"Maybe the last goodbye, for me." Mary sighed and carefully lowered herself on to the sofa.

"Now now Mary, no need to talk like that." He pulled up beside his wife and put an arm around her. "We'll get through this. Focus on the positives!"

"Yes." Mary smiled. "A bright and successful witch as a daughter, a caring husband who loves her, and two beautiful grandchildren."

"Rose is very smart, just like our Hermione. And Hugo is quite loud and fun, isn't he?"

"At least they have Arthur and Molly, and not just burdened with us as their only grandparents."

HOGWARTS EXPRESS

James, Lily, Albus and Scorpius had found a compartment with enough room for Hugo and Rose to join. They were running late. No one had seen them arrive and they were all worried as the train left the station, however Rose and Hugo had got on, just as the doors were closing and were now searching for their cousins.

"Hugo?" Rose whispered to her brother who was walking in front of her.

"Yeah."

"Ex-excited for your first year?" She stuttered, trying to stop worrying.

"Yeah. Excited about the sorting hat too." He suddenly stopped and spun around to look his sister straight in the eyes, they were the same height. "What about you?"

"It's not my first year, Hugo." She smirked. But she knew what he was getting at. "No, I'm not excited, I'm worried. That might have been the last time we ever see them together!"

Hugo hugged his sister. Despite being overly friendly, Hugo didn't hug his sister a lot, so this was special.

"I'm worried too." He admitted as he broke the hug.

"You don't look it." Rose mumbled.

"I have a resting happy face, remember?" He weakly grinned at her. "Believe me, I'm hurting inside. 'Just put on a happy face and don't make our grandparents feel like a burden'. That's pretty much what I've been telling myself to do all summer."

"Dad's been doing that too. The other night I heard mum crying, I looked in and dad was trying to comfort her, he looked worried sick."

"Mum probably won't get much sleep again."

The siblings sighed and put on a brave face. Little did they know how close they were to the compartment of their cousins and Scorpius. They had overheard everything. Hugo pretended that nothing had happened and was his usually bubbly and loud self, which Lily was glad of as she no longer was the chattiest in the compartment.

Rose read her book the entire way, which was not completely unusual, but this time she did not look up for a long time. She sat between James and Albus who were taking it in turns to have an arm around her. At last Lily succeeded in engaging Rose in a conversation, but only after they changed into their robes.

"So what electives are you taking?" Lily was referring to the two subjects which third year students could choose to do along with the rest of their usual subjects.

Rose looked up from her book to see everyone staring at her expectantly with a hint of sympathy which they were trying to hide, apart from Scorpius who refused to meet her eyes.

"Oh, umm. I'm taking Ancient Runes and Care of magical creatures. I was going to take them all but mum advised against it." She added sheepishly, then returned to her book. Her cousins were still watching her and so she slammed her book shut in a huff and over exaggerated staring back. "What?! I'm not some delicate flower that you need to worry about! I'm fine!" And with that she stormed out of the compartment.

"Hey Rose!" Finley Norwood met her in the corridor, a friend of Roses from Hufflepuff. "Want to join me in this compartment? I was with Robin, Felix and Maggie Stirling, they live next door to me, but they got in an argument and are now on opposite sides of the train."

"Oh, sure." Rose smiled kindly at the boy.

"Do you know Felix?"

"I'm not sure that I -"

"He's Robin's twin. Not identical of course. And he's in our year and in Hufflepuff with me. I don't really know him that well. Bit of a loser if you ask me. Maggie and Robin agree. More of a nerdy type. Loves playing chess and mad serious about collecting chocolate frog cards. Oh and some sort of muggle stuff too. Not sure what it is though. He's taking muggle studies this year and something else nerdy I expect. I'm doing divination and Care of magical creatures this year." He waffled as Rose sat in front of him. "You?"

"Care of magical creatures and ancient runes."

"What about Albus?"

"Divination and muggle studies." Finley opened his mouth to speak but Rose put her hand up to silence him. "And before you ask, I have no idea what Scorpius is taking."

"Muggle studies and Care of magical creatures." A calm voice entered before its owner. Scorpius sat next to Rose.

They sat there in an awkward silence for a moment before Finley came up with an excuse to leave. "Oh, err. I should check on Robin."

"No wait!" Rose called out, but he was gone. She stood up and moved so that she was now sitting opposite to Scorpius. "Nice of you to talk to me."

"I could say the same." He shrugged.

"No, no you couldn't. You see, I wrote to you every day. In reply, I got one lousy apology." She now raised her voice and started pacing. "WHAT, IN MERLINS NAME, DID YOU MEAN WHEN YOU SAID THAT YOU DID EXACTLY WHAT I TOLD YOU NOT TO?" She stared daggers into him.

"I mean, I doubted our friendship."

"THAT'S NOT WHAT I SAID!" She suddenly calmed as she realised how confused Scorpius had become. She groaned, then sat down and faced him. "I meant don't doubt me. Me, Scorpius." She took hold of his hand and forced him to look at her.

Tingles ran through his spine, he found it hard to breath. Memories of their kiss in the previous year came flooding back.

"A Malfoy, a Potter and a Weasley. It sounds like the start of a bad joke. We were doomed to doubt our friendship from the beginning! I meant don't doubt me. Because, after all that's said and done, who a cares about old family rivalries or even a silly last name, we are friends with each other not family connections. Don't doubt me because I will always want be your friend, no matter how often we doubt our friendship. Believe me, it's going to happen a lot. No one can see past who our parents are and so no one can understand why we are friends." She let go of his hand and awkwardly hugged him across the aisle between the seats. "Hugo is better at hugs than me. Anyway," she stood up and Scorpius followed suit, "this goes for your friendship with Albus too. We both like you for you." She reached up and gave a friendly flick to his forehead, "stupid Malfoy." They both smiled and rejoined their original compartment.

But Albus was standing in the corridor talking to Rory Green, the Slytherin quidditch captain who was in his fifth year, and were blocking the way back to the compartment.

"Potter, you've got to come to the quidditch tryouts. Imagine, Potter versus Potter in the Slytherin Gryffindor game!" Rory lazily rubbed the back of his head. "Just come and tryout. You'll be just like your brother."

"Seriously Green, quidditch isn't my thing. I prefer to watch it rather than play, you've got the wrong Potter brother here. I can fly and stay on a broom but that's about it."

"Nonsense. You're a Potter. You should be more like your brother." Green rolled his eyes. Albus's resistance was getting on his nerves.

"Hey," Rose angrily interrupted. "If he doesn't want to do it, he doesn't have to. It's not up to you. And why should he be like James?! He should be himself. You can't go around telling people to be someone else simply because its inconvenient to you that their brother is in another house."

Green rolled his eyes again and lazily strutted through the corridor, shouting at some first years to get out of his way.

FIRST LESSON OF CARE OF MAGICAL CREATURES

"Now class," Professor Nye, teacher of care of magical creatures and head of Hufflepuff, said in a booming voice. They were standing outside the forbidden forest, where a rather tall cage had been set up for the class. It was covered by a large cloth and nothing could be heard from it other that the occasional, very dull and quiet, scratch. Not exactly exciting for a first lesson.

"As you may have noticed, the houses are all mixed for this class as not many people choose this subject." Honoratus Nye looked around at his fifteen students, "in fact, this is the largest class I have had in a long time!" He cheerfully boomed on.

"What's with the big voice?" Finley whispered to Rose.

"Sonorous charm." Rose and Scorpius answered at the same time and shared smug grins.

"He's partially deaf and-" Rose was interrupted by Scorpius who finished her sentence.

"-he thinks no one can hear him outside."

"Well I knew that." Finley scoffed. "He is my head of house, it's just that he's never used that -" he forgot what charm they told him was being used. "That, that, that big voice before."

"Miss Weasley and Mr Malfoy, since you are happily chatting at the back there, I hope that you two will be the first to explain what creature these are." The entire class rolled their eyes, they all knew that the talking textbooks would be able to tell him EXACTLY what whatever it was, was. "Just as soon as I-" Nye began to loudly mumbled as he tugged at the cloth covering the cage.

There were a few gasps as two brightly coloured birds were revealed. One was orange and the other was lime green.

"Miss Weasley, you first. What are-"

"Fwoopers, sir" she interrupted

"And wh-"

"The Fwooper is an African bird and have long been a provider of fancy quills. They also lay brilliantly patterned eggs. The Fwooper song, although at first is-"

"That's enough. Very good, thank you." Professor Nye interrupted Rose this time. He tried to look annoyed at the fact that she had both interrupted him and shown him up for picking on her, however he couldn't conceal his joy that Rose had such an enthusiasm for magical creatures. "Mr Malfoy, the Fwooper song…" He peered expectantly over his glasses.

"The Fwooper song, although at first is enjoyable, will eventually drive the listener to insanity." The entire class took a step back from the cage. "The Fwooper is consequently sold with a silencing charm upon it." The class simultaneously gave a small sigh of relief. "But the charm would need a monthly reinforcement."

"Yes, yes. Ten points to Gryffindor and Slytherin. Now Fwooper owners require licences, as the creatures must be handled responsibly. As you may have guessed. Fortunately, these birds came to us with a recently renewed silencing charm upon them and will be returned to their owner in two weeks. In the short time we have them, your homework will be to write notes on what you observe in class. We will be watching the behaviour of the Fwoopers when encaged and when released for exercise. We shall be studying them closely in our next few lessons. If you wish to watch them a little outside of class, you have my permission to go to Hagrid," Professor Nye pointed to Hagrid's hut. "as he will be looking after them for me. He is also quite and expert on all animals stance and colourful."

Rose smiled at the thought of Hagrid caring for the colourful creatures.

The lesson seemed to drone on. The class sat in silence and watched the birds do nothing.

Finley Norwood was getting bored and started playing with the grass, everyone seemed to be muttering to each other. Unlike Rose and Scorpius, who were watching the birds closely, engaged by them. Finely seemed to find this highly amusing and started pointing it out to the class mates around him, who all started giggling at them. Many times Professor Nye had to shush them.

Finally the bell rang and all the students stood up with a groan, they had been sitting for too long, at least they had lunch next.

On their way to the hall, Rose and Scorpius were enthusiastically discussing how interesting the Fwoopers were. Finely overheard and shouted at them, to impress his friends, from behind.

"Oi nerds!"

Rose was shocked at the sudden change in Finley as he was usually quite friendly.

"Oi! Tell me again about your fascination with those birds. How their lack of movement requires four pages of notes. His friends sniggered and he commented loudly to them. "Oh I bet they do it! I bet they both hand in about four pages worth of notes just about today's waste of a, a 'lesson' Is that what Nye said it was, a lesson? More like torture by silence!"

Rose was just about to turn and confront him when Scorpius second guessed her actions and grabbed her arm, forcing her to keep walking. "Don't rise to it." He whispered.

"Well," she huffed quietly to him "I mean-" she groaned and finally got her words out. "Merlin's beard! How was that not interesting? The Fwoopers were obviously struggling with their inability to sing! Oppressed because someone wants to own them!" She whispered harshly.

"Oh, oh! They're holding Hands!" Finley was shouting again.

Rose quickly yanked her arm away from Scorpius's touch with more force than she needed.

"Oi nerds! Dan here," referring to Daniel Layton who was in Ravenclaw. "seems to think you like those dull, stuck up birds so much 'cause you can relate to them!" He let out an over exaggerated laugh.

Daniel looked embarrassed and elbowed Finley in the stomach.

Rose clutched her wand as her nostrils flared. They were nearing the courtyard now, which lead to the hall, where quite a few students were trying to make their way inside. Both Rose and Scorpius were hoping that Finely would stop shouting.

"You relate to stiff, old and boring birds 'cause you guys are just the same. Stiff and boring love birds." Many other students who had overheard the conversation started laughing too, staring at Scorpius and Rose. The latter had turned bright red. "Can you imagine? Another wizard war breaks out during their wedding." He had gone too far. "Parents vs parents, at each other's throa-"

"Aguamenti!"

A clear jet of water shot out of Rose's wand. She had aimed at Finley's feet which made the grass slippery. He grabbed Leyton as he fell on his back, which took his friend down with him. They both ended up laying on the ground, groaning and covered in mud. With another flick of her wand their hair turned the same colours as the Fwoopers, orange and lime green. Neither of them were hurt, just shocked and humiliated. People were laughing even more now, but at Finley and Daniel not Rose and Scorpius.

Rose was still furious and stormed off in a huff up to the Gryffindor common room.

"Rose!" Scorpius called after her as he tried to follow. However, so many students were going towards the hall for lunch in the opposite direction and he lost her. She did not come back down for lunch.

At the Slytherin table, Albus and a few other students were pestering Scorpius to tell the story again and again as gossip travelled fast.

"Is Rose ok?" Albus turned to him after the mass of people left, he was very serious and concerned for his cousin. Before Scorpius could answer, Lily and Hugo came running to the Slytherin table.

"Scorpius!" Lily shouted in panic. She realised some Slytherins in her year had turned to look at her and she gave them a menacing face which made them roll their eyes and look away. She continued in a quieter tone from then on. "Is it true, what happened?"

"Of course it's true! Have you not met Rose?" Hugo sarcastically remarked. "She's been trying to practise aunt Ginny's bat-bogey hex on me all summer. All the same, what exactly happened?"

Scorpius was forced to explain what happened, again. Although he did not mind too much as they were genuinely concerned for Rose, unlike others who were just interested in the gossip.

"Where is she now?" Albus asked as his eyes searched the Gryffindor table.

He saw his cousins laughing and talking loudly at how brilliant they thought Rose's reaction was. They were proud to be related to such a feisty red head.

"In her dorm." Lily replied. "She won't talk to anyone, she wants to be alone. James tried to make her come down and come to lunch but," her voice trailed off.

"She'll be fine." Scorpius assured the two frowning first years, who both nodded in agreement.

"You know Rose, she just needs to cool off and calm down. She'll be back to her normal self in no time." Albus patted Hugo on the shoulder. "Although, she might not want to talk today. You know, people might ambush her with questions. Best to give her some space."

"Malfoy, follow me." Professor Longbottom, teacher of herbology and head of Gryffindor marched over to the Slytherin table. Still with orange and green hair, soggy and covered in mud, Finley and Daniel were trailing behind him. Scorpius obeyed and they were all taken to Longbottom's office.

"Scorpius, if you would wait outside the door while I talk to Leyton and, I'm sorry, what was you name?" Professor Longbottom turned to Finley, who was looking none too pleased to be so humiliated again, this time at the lack of recognition.

"Norwood."

"Very well. In you come." Scorpius couldn't hear what was being said inside and so he waited in complete silence for about ten minutes before Longbottom called him in as Daniel and Finley trudged out. Their hair was back to its natural colour. If Scorpius was not mistaken, they looked even more annoyed than before.

"Now, Malfoy. I would ask you to sit down but, um." Scorpius looked at the seats in front of the desk, they were dripping and had the odd clumps of mud stuck to them.

"I think I'll stand, sir."

"Good, good. This won't take long. Rose is in my house, that is why I am the one asking you questions. I am sure you have been asked plenty of times already in the past half an hour, but I need you to tell me what happened. From when you left your lesson with Professor Nye, to when you entered the hall."

Scorpius quickly and efficiently retold the story. And for the last time, he told himself.

"That sounds about right. You may go."

Scorpius hesitated. "Um, if it's not - I mean, I was wondering, well."

Longbottom understood what the boy was trying to say.

"Leyton and Normwood told me that Rose tried several hexes on them, all of which they managed to dodge, before she performed the Aguamenti charm. At first she aimed for their faces, missed and the water soaked the ground. She then slipped on the very puddle she made, screamed and 'accidentally' turned their hair orange and green. before running off crying."

Scorpius scowled at the ground, angry that they would tell such lies, he was about shout that it was all a lie, when he saw Longbottom's face. The Professor was no fool.

"You don't believe them." Scorpius stated the obvious.

"No. I am more inclined to believe the student who looked me in the eye when relaying the story, rather than the boys who talked over each other and kept on changing the so called 'facts'. I don't believe Rose is likely to be so clumsy either. And can you imagine Rose crying? I haven't seen her cry since she was only just bigger than a quaffle."

"Well..." Scorpius sighed, a small smile threatened to show. Rose did have a way for knocking things over in excitement or tripping down the stairs when she was going too fast.

"Well I know she can be a bit clumsy, but not when it comes to magic, she is the daughter of the brightest witch of my generation, for Merlin's sake! She is proving herself to be just as talented. I went to school with both her parents and know them quite well. Rose is just like her mother, she wouldn't make mistakes." Scorpius gave a small smile. Rose would be pleased to hear that. "She will, however, have to serve detention."

"But sir-" Scorpius exclaimed before he was interrupted.

"No buts. Malfoy, I like to be as fair as possible, I will make sure Leyton and Norwid are also punished. She was provoked and had very good reason to do what she did." Longbottom frowned. "Oh, shouldn't have said that. Oh well." He smiled and continued, "as much as I would be willing to punish only the two boys and reward Rose for standing up for herself, and even though she did not harm anything but their pride, I cannot allow students to believe they can hex each other without consequence. Plus, I meet up with her parents and the Potters a lot, especially for birthdays, I would not want to show favouritism."

Scorpius nodded. The professor was right.

As it was, Daniel and Finley were given the chore of organising two enormous files, without magic, filled with every detail of every library book that had been taken out over the past five years. This took up four hours on two Saturdays.

Whereas Rose had a detention with Professor Longbottom, she had to help him reorganise the herbology tools, as first years tended to put them back in the wrong places. This took little over an hour and Rose seemed perfectly cheerful afterwards as she and Professor Longbottom got along well, he had known her all her life. He was practically another uncle.

The next morning, it was a Saturday, Scorpius and Albus sat with Rose at the Gryffindor table, as they did most days. She had seemed back to her usual cheerful self, until the post arrived. She went white as a sheet as Pocket, her barn owl, flew nearer and nearer. She shut her eyes as something dropped in front of her and almost spilt her tea, luckily Albus steadied the mug.

"Rose?" Albus questioned as he tried to give her the post. "Rose?" She wouldn't open her eyes.

She wished she could apparate out of school then and there. Suddenly it dawned on Scorpius, as he had been as confused as Albus. As he had received a howler in his first year, he knew how humiliating and condescending it was.

"Rose," Scorpius put his arm around her shoulders and spoke in a calm voice. "Rose it's not a howler. Just a letter and the daily prophet."

Albus's head shot up and he stared at his friend. 'How the hell did you know that that was what she was scared of?' His eyes seemed to ask.

Rose gingerly picked up the letter and opened it, breathing out one long breath at the same time.

Meanwhile Albus picked up Rose's copy of the Daily Prophet.

"It's from dad." Rose said as she finished the letter. Hugo and Lily had now joined them at the table.

"Oh man, a letter from dad?" Hugo interjected. "What? No howler from mum?"

"Well of course not! All Rose did was stand up for herself. Don't be an idiot Hugo, she did nothing wrong." Lily rolled her eyes.

"He said that mum wanted to send a howler." Said Rose. Hugo sent a 'I told you so' look to Lily, which granted him another rolling of the eyes. "Dad told mum that he would send a letter instead, he had a howler from grandma Weasley once, and what he did was far worse. Basically he said that I could've handled with the situation better but he's secretly glad I set Norwood straight. But I'm not allowed to tell mum the last bit."

They all, except Scorpius, chuckled. Knowing Hermione so well, that they were sure Ron would be in as much trouble as Rose.

"Yeah I can imagine Uncle Ron not wanting to send a howler." Roxanne commented as all Rose's cousins that were in Gryffindor had overheard.

"Well done Rose! Humiliated those kids and got away with it!" James laughed and shouted at Rose as he and Lorcan left the hall. Both were proudly shouting in the corridor that Rose had gotten away with it. Lucy, their prefect cousin in Ravenclaw loudly told them to stop shouting and took points away from Gryffindor.

Fred and Lucy then came into the hall, Fred was also in his fifth year and very close with his cousin Lucy, grinned at her. Although Lucy was trying to look disapproving.

"Wait, you got off with just a warning from your dad?" Scorpius was amazed and they all stared at him. "I got a howler just because I was friends with you! I almost got a second one when they found out what sub-" he realised how loud he was becoming and stopped himself. "oh never mind." He muttered. "See you later, I've got a charms essay to write." he sighed and strolled off to the Slytherin common room.

"What was all that about?!" Albus exclaimed and threw his arms wide to emphasise his question, once he had caught up with Scorpius in the empty corridor.

Scorpius ignored his friend and continued to walk to the common room.

"Scorpius! Listen to me! Scorpius." Albus charged after Scorpius and put his hand on his shoulder to stop him. Scorpius refused to turn around and look Albus in the eye.

"Scorpius, mate. What's going on? You can talk to me, I'll understand."

"No you won't!" Scorpius growled as he tugged away his shoulder. "You have such a perfect, happy and loving family. How could you ever understand?"

"What? Scorpius, your family love you." Scorpius finally looked at his friend, seeing the honest look in his eyes. "I see it all the time at the train station. And don't they write to you everyday?"

"You weren't meant to repeat that ever again." Scorpius scowled.

They had made the pact in their first year, Albus would never tell anyone that Scorpius received daily letters from his mum and Scorpius would never tell anyone that Albus kept a lucky teddy bear under his bed.

"Scorpius, there's no one here." Albus raised and eyebrow and tried not to smile at his friends paranoia.

Scorpius felt embarrassed that he had been so quick to judge and criticise his friend. He turned slightly pink and stared at his feet.

"Hey, it's fine." Albus chuckled which made Scorpius's shame disappear. Everything was a joke to Albus, that's why he was so easy to be relaxed around. "You know I would never tell anyone." He patted his friend on the back.

They both leant against the wall and slid down until the were sitting. Just staring at the staircase which lead down the the Slytherin common room.

"What happened in the hall Scorpius? Lily and Hugo were confused and Rose feels like she did something wrong. You'll be pestered with apologies from her all weekend now."

They sat in silence for a minute or two as Scorpius worked out what to say. He couldn't not tell Albus, he was his best friend. There wasn't anything wrong, just he was very aware of how different they were.

"My mum always says that you have to choose your battles."

"Choose your battles?"

"There are so many arguments to be had between my conservative grandparents and my mum. Some things she just has to let go, otherwise they would constantly be at each other's throats. I know my parents and my grandparents love me. It's just that your family show it. My family will find any fault. My grandparents especially, and sometimes my dad, have huge issues with my choice of friends. He hates you guys." He sighed and looked at Albus, who was staring ahead thoughtfully. Still giving his 100% attention. "I was annoyed because Rose's dad cared so much about not embarrassing her, that he only gave her a warning letter. Both of your parents don't seem to mind about our friendship, whereas my family are against it. I got a howler from my grandfather when he found out I was friends with a Potter and a Weasley. Mum wrote to me at the start of the year saying that she had to talk grandfather out of sending me another howler, once they found out that I was taking muggle studies and care of magical creatures. She said that dad wasn't helping either, he's not thrilled at my choices. He never is. But he stays silent."

"He saved my dads life once." Albus said absently after a few moments

"What? Dad said he told me everything."

"Yeah. It was when my dad, uncle Ron and aunt Hermione were taken to Malfoy manner. Your dad recognised my dad but didn't admit it to anyone. He lied to help my dad. And your grandmother saved my dad, she cared more about the safety of her son than helping the dark lord." Albus lazily turned his head to see Scorpius's shocked face. "If there's one thing your family have, it's love. It may not be obvious to everyone else, but the Malfoy's love each other."

"I-" Scorpius cleared his throat. "I've only ever been told that Draco Malfoy was a bully, my family have always been anti-anyone who wasn't from a pure blooded wizard family. I was taught that we no longer believe that, mum said it was ridiculous from the beginning and dad said it almost tore this family apart. Dad said too many lives were taken and too big a war was fought just because some people didn't accept others."

"My dad is ok with me being friends with you. But I guess, it's kind of weird for him. I mean, our dads were enemies all the way through Hogwarts, and haven't spoken since. But there's a mutual understanding of some sort. Mum is less ok about it, but she agrees that any old hatred between wizard families can only prevent the wizard world from being whole again."

"That's good to know. Your parents didn't speak much to me, but they weren't prejudice." Scorpius hesitated, but he didn't know why. He was almost too nervous to ask. "Umm. Wha- what about, umm, Rose's parents?"

"Aunt Hermione is on the same page as my mum. That no matter what, we should try to get along for future generations. To bridge a gap, to allow this anti-muggle born belief to disappear."

"And Mr Weasley? He's quite protective of Rose, isn't he? And I don't think he likes me that much."

"Yeah." Albus sighed. "He doesn't think much to you or your friendship with Rose." Scorpius stood in frustration and started pacing in front of Albus. "But as long as Rose is your friend, I don't think he'll say anything." He said as he stood and stabled Scorpius with a reassuring hand on the shoulder. "As long as Rose stands up for you, you have nothing to worry about."

SLYTHERIN COMMON ROOM, THAT NIGHT.

Scorpius couldn't sleep. Albus had helped him calm down and now Scorpius couldn't wait until th morning when he could apologise to Rose, Hugo and Lily for his little out burst and just to explain that he was frustrated at his grandfather's prejudices. He was glad James wasn't there at the time, sometimes the eldest Potter could be quick to judge.

Scorpius was now sitting in front of a dwindling fire in the common room, 'Avis' he muttered, playing with a bird conjuring charms. One of his many advanced skills when it came to magic.

"Why are you up?" A snide voice came out of the darkness. Suddenly the birds disappeared and Scorpius spun in his chair to see Lloyd Parkinson behind him.

"I could ask the same question." He retorted.

"Trouble with your so called 'friends'? Did hot headed Weasel and little awkward Potter let you down?" Lloyd hissed with a twisted smile.

Scorpius didn't retaliate.

"I heard something interesting today." Lloyd continued to pester. "I heard that a certain person's family are very disappointed in both someone's choice of friends and choice of subjects. I mean, seriously." He spat. "Muggle studies and care of magical creatures? How pathetic! You're smart, you could have taken ancient runes or arithmancy!"

"I don't think it's any of your business. Stay away from me Parkinson. I like you better when you're no where near me." Scorpius scowled at the angry second year.

"You don't actually think your family could ever accept your friends? Especially after that little stunt Weasel pulled yesterday." Lloyd was malicious, he met Scorpius's icy glare. "You like her don't you? I'd say that you were in love, if you weren't so young and if your family weren't so incapable of such feelings. My mother told me that your father, although he is a great man, could never feel anything for anyone. He looked out for himself. He saw others as simply objects or connections."

Scorpius turned away and faced the fire. Lloyd was repeating all his doubts and fears.

"Your mother was mistaken." Scorpius spat back. Suddenly he calmed himself.

Scorpius tried to focus on what Albus had told him, that his family loved him. He ran this through his mind, 'My family love me. My family love me.' One by one images of his family popped up in his mind. His mother smiled, he could almost feel her warm embrace. His father nodded politely, but his eyes smiled. His grandmother waved with a watery smile. His grandfather sternly wiggled his walking stick at him, but lightly chuckled. Rose looked up and grinned-

Why was Rose in his head? He was thinking about his family. His family who loves him. Rose was a friend, just like Albus. Scorpius shook his head and decided that he needed sleep. Sleep would clear his mind.

And with that he went to bed. Pushing past Lloyd with a shove of the shoulder. Scorpius dreamed of his loving family, and Rose.

ROSE'S BIRTHDAY

The next Saturday, just one week later, Rose was awakened by a pair of feet walking all over her bed. It was still dark outside but she could guess who it was.

"Ugh, Lily. What time is it?"

"About 6:30am."

Rose lit her wand to see her cousin beaming at her. "What do you want?" She grumbled.

"Well, Hugo and I were up at 6am. At, like, 20 past we woke up everyone-"

"Everyone?" Rose bumped her head on the wall. She groaned as she rubbed to back of her head. Making her fluffy mess of out of control hair worse. She took a quick scan of her room to see that the three girls she shared a dorm with were still asleep.

"Not everyone, just everyone."

"Lily, make more sense please."

"Ok, ok. All of our cousins are down stairs. In the common room. Oh and Lorcan"

"Lorcan?" The name puzzled Rose so early in the morning. Even though she had known the guy practically all her life.

"Yeah, Lorcan Scamander, Luna's eldest son. Oh! And Albus is downstairs. James some how knows a way into the Slytherin common room and grabbed Albus and Scorpius."

Rose suddenly sat up and was fully awake at the sound of his name. Annoyed with herself that a simple name was what got her out of bed. Although slightly confused, it was her birthday, Scorpius was there with all of her cousins. Everyone that she loved. Once she threw on a dressing gown, she and Lily ran down the stairs, Rose tripping on the last one and falling face first into the common room.

There they were, her cousins and Scorpius. Rose was delighted to see that they were not keeping their distance from Scorpius but instead were treating him as one of them.

"Hey guys." Rose smiled weakly as she jumped up from the floor.

Ignoring the pain in her arm and trying not to show it. They were all too busy trying not to wake up the entire house of Gryffindor but all trying to say happy birthday to Rose at once.

She sat on the floor between Albus and Hugo, surrounded by family. Opening her presents and noting down which one was from which member of the family. It took twenty minutes, but after that most went back to bed as it was before 7am.

Hugo and Lily decided to play wizard chess in the common room while Albus, Rose and Scorpius went out of the common room to sit in the hallway as the often did. Rose was now wearing her new knitted scarf from her grandmother. It was the Gryffindor red and had a small rose on one end.

"How's your arm?" Scorpius said in an almost whisper. Albus, barely awake, was leaning on Rose's shoulder.

"Oh, I didn't think anyone noticed. No it's fine now." She smiled at her friend.

"I haven't given you your present yet." He handed her a small brown parcel.

Rose pulled off the blue ribbon and unwrapped it to reveal a pocket sized book.

"Open it." Scorpius encouraged her. She complied.

Each page was just big enough for one moving wizard picture. The first picture was of the trio in their first year. The one taken outside, where Rose almost hugged Scorpius. The next was photo of Albus complaining about a chocolate frog card. The third photo was Rose, reading her book and then smiling at the camera. And the last one was a normal Scorpius, until Rose and Albus joined him on each side and he grinned. He rarely smiled so much.

"Oh Scorpius." Her grin grew wider. "Thanks."

"Happy birthday."

"Hey Scorpius." Rose hesitated, she felt she was intruding. "Umm, your birthday is in August, right?"

He nodded in reply.

"I don't think I've ever given you a present. I'm sorry. It's just that we never really see you in the holidays."

"I don't expect a gift. Your friendship is enough."

Rose chuckled. "That was really cheesy." she sighed. "You deserve much better friends. Ones who actually give you presents."

"I don't need anything Rose. Please listen to me."

Rose sighed and rested her head on Scorpius's shoulder. "What do you do on your birthday?"

"My mum always feels bad so she invites over Lloyd Parkinson but I always manage to convince her at the last minute to cancel him. We do presents before breakfast and then spend the day playing games and reading at home. It's peaceful and I enjoy it. Also arguing is banned on that day so my grandparents are silent most of the time to avoid provoking my mum."

They remained sitting in the cold corridor for another hour, before going down to breakfast then spending the day by the lake.

TRIP TO HOGSMEADE

Almost two months after the 'incident' between Rose and Finley, there was a notice on the board in every common room about the next trip to Hogsmeade. And now, in the frosty fog of November, it was here.

"I can't wait to go to Honeydukes!" Albus excitedly exclaimed over breakfast at the Gryffindor table.

"What about seeing uncle George? He always makes a point to be in the Weasley store on the Hogsmeade weekends. Fred and Roxanne wrote to him the other day with all the dates." James reminded Albus.

"How many of your family are here?" Scorpius was amazed. He was an only child, his father was an only child. He had an aunt on his mother's side but she lived quite far away. The closest thing he had to a cousin was Lloyd Parkinson.

"Well there's us, then Rose and Hugo. Fred is in his fifth year and his sister Roxanne who's sitting down there," James pointed down the table, "she's in my year. Oh, Dominique, Uncle Bill's youngest daughter, she's also in my year but she's in Hufflepuff. Uncle Bill's eldest, Victoire, left two years ago. Then there's Uncle percy's eldest daughter Molly, in her last year, who is..." He strained his neck to look around the Gryffindor table for the red head with short, straight hair, "there! And there's Molly's sister, Lucy, she's also in her fifth year, but she's in Ravenclaw. And um, Loius, also uncle Bill's kid, he's the baby of the family and he won't be here for another two years." James waffled on. "Basically, anyone who is a Weasley, we're related. Mum was the only daughter and didn't keep her name so we're the only Potters."

"Yeah. And we're pretty much related to Nev- sorry professor Longbottom. He visits all the time and is quite close to mum and dad. Oh and the Scamanders. Lorcan is in my year too." James flicked a piece of toast at his best friend. "His brother Lysander is moving up next year."

"Are you still here?!" Rose exclaimed as she strolled up to the table.

"Yeah, we were waiting for you. Otherwise we'd be on the Slytherin table." Albus shrugged.

"Oh, you don't want to hang around with your family?" Lily scowled at her brother mockingly.

"Yeah. Not good enough for you?" James chimed in as he rubbed Albus's head, messing up his hair. "See you later guys. I got a date-type thing."

"James Potter has a date? What a surprise!" Rose commented sarcastically.

Scorpius almost smiled, they were a sweet family. Albus didn't notice, he was too busy trying to flatten his hair again.

"Who is it this time?" asked Molly

"Well if you must know, I'm going to the three broom sticks with Lucile Pond." James gave a charming, smug smile. "Off to meet her in the common room now." He messed with Albus's hair again and strutted off. "Later."

"Which one is she?" Said a curious Lily.

"Gryffindor keeper. She's in James' year. I'm pretty sure they dated last year too." said Fred. He turned to Rose, "Didn't he charm a blunger to follow Lucile and her boyfriend last year?"

"She's quite nice but she's like the rest of the school in the fact that that they can't understand anyone wanting to be friends with a Malfoy." Albus answered absently as he munched on his last few bites of toast.

"Are you meeting any special girl for the Hogsmeade trip?" Rose plunked herself down next to Albus, leaning forward enough to see past him and at Scorpius on the other side.

"I - um," Scorpius stuttered, he wasn't expecting this question. 'Does she actually care or just trying to pass the time until Albus finishes his orange juice so that we can leave? No, of course she doesn't really care. Well why would she care? And why would I care if she did?' Scorpius thought to himself. He took too long to answer, so Albus did it for him.

"No. He's not going with anyone."

"Ok, cool. That way we'll spend our first trip all together." Rose beamed at them.

"Wait, why didn't you ask me?" Albus had finished his breakfast at turned to look Rose dead in the eye. Scorpius peeped over his shoulder to see Rose's reaction.

"What?" She was as confused about Albus's sudden change in mood as Scorpius was.

"Well, why didn't you ask if I was going with anyone?"

"Because I know you're not."

"You don't know that."

"Yes I do. Because you would have told me."

"Well then," Albus realised she was right but he wasn't going to let Rose win every fight. "Why ask Scorpius?"

Rose stood. "Because Scorpius doesn't always share. He's a closed book. I can't do legilimency!" She marched out of the hall.

Scorpius and Albus made their way back to the dormitories in silence, to get their coats before going to Hogsmeade.

As Albus was digging in his trunk for a warmer pair of socks, Scorpius sat on his bed staring out the window into the fog.

Suddenly there was a bang as Albus slammed his trunk shut and stood in front of Scorpius.

"What?!" He almost growled at Scorpius. He didn't answer. Albus sat down on Scorpius's bed next to him. "Sorry. She just-" Albus sighed and flopped back.

"She's in a mood for our first trip."

"Yeah."

"You need to-"

"Apologise, I know, I flipped out for no reason which made her flip out for no reason. She's right. Why is she always right?" Albus had now gone back to his usual self and the boys made their way to the Gryffindor common room to meet Rose, if she hadn't left without them.

"She's always right." Scorpius mumbled, thinking about what she had said about him being a closed book.

They leant against the wall waiting for Lily to confirm whether Rose was in her dorm or not.

"Huh?"

"I said, she's always right."

Albus nodded, not exactly sure what his friend was getting at. Rose stormed out of the fat lady portrait and gave a menacing stare to the boys.

"You were right." Albus spoke softly. "But there was no need to storm off."

Rose sighed, folded her arms and rolled her eyes in reply. She knew she had overreacted. They took that as a 'I forgive you' and they left for Hogsmeade in a lighter mood.

Albus and Rose rushed into the Weasley store to visit their uncle George, Scorpius went in with them but hung back outside the office. He wasn't sure he was welcome.

After ten minutes he decided to stroll around the store to kill time. There, he suddenly ran into Rory Green. More like Rory Green ran into him, the Slytherin quidditch captain in his sixth year, was in a hurry to get out the door and smacked into Scorpius, toppling them both over and on to the cold pavement outside the shop.

"Woah!" Rory picked himself and offered Scorpius a hand, which was refused as the third year shakily stood up. "Malfoy, didn't see you there! Man, my bad."

Scorpius nodded in reply. It was Green's fault and he wasn't going to apologise just to be polite.

"Look, Malfoy, I was in a rush. Just found out one of my chasers has to go home for, like, the whole month 'cause her mum is sick, I need to find a new one in just two weeks." Rory lazily leant against the wall while saying this, cancelling out his statement about being in a rush. "Hey, your friend Potter wasn't the worst at tryouts."

"Who was worse?"

"Well there were a few first years who snuck in."

"Kind of expected he'd be a bit better though, don't you think? 'Cause you know, he's a Potter. His mum played for the Holyhead Harpies. Do you think you could ask him?" He didn't wait for a reply, he just gave a friendly, albeit awkward, pat on the shoulder and swaggered off saying. "Cheers Malfoy."

Scorpius did have to wonder whether Rory pushed him over simply to ask him to get Albus to tryouts. But he didn't have much time to reflect as Rose and Albus found him outside.

"Merlin's beard! Why were you waiting out here? It's so cold!" Albus complained as they made their way to the three broomsticks inn. "You know, you could've come in with us."

"If your so cold, then why didn't you bring a scarf? Or wear the jumper grandma gave you last Christmas?" Rose's motherly tone came out.

"Rory Green wants you to tryout for Slytherin chaser. One chaser has had to go home and he needs a replacement for two weeks time." Scorpius stated, after they found a seat in the inn and had ordered three butterbeers.

"Oh? Really? I did tryout at the start of the year, I wasn't that great. Loads of people were better than me." A surprised Albus remarked.

"Well, if you ask me, the person Green actually chose for chaser wasn't the best there. It's just that Rory Green was dating Anjelica at the time." Said Rose, which surprised Scorpius, he didn't know she was interested in quidditch.

"Yeah, Slytherin lost against Ravenclaw last week." Albus nodded at Rose. "You weren't there, were you?"

"No, I had homework which I put off because it was Phil's birthday."

"I don't think Anjelica Gully's mum is ill. He wouldn't look me in the eye, he lied." Scorpius added insightfully.

"I'm guessing they had an argument, they broke up or she wasn't happy that Green got house captain and she didn't. To be fair, she is in the year above him, she should've got captain." Albus added

"So, if there were people better than Albus, why did he ask you to ask him?"

"Exactly my question. James is the quidditch player in our family. Plus, you'd think Green would learn after Gully's disaster against Ravenclaw."

"You are a Potter."

Both Albus and Rose turned to Scorpius, who was quietly drinking from his mug.

"What has that got to do with anything?" Rose demanded forcefully.

"Green mentioned that because he's a Potter, he must be good."

"A lot of pressure on me then! Ugh. Seriously, are people still expecting certain things from us simply because of our parents?!" Albus slammed his empty mug on the table. The inn was so busy that it could barely be heard.

"Albus, you don't have to go." Scorpius pointed out the obvious.

"I won't then. I'd never live up to my family reputation." Albus sulked.

"No, don't say that." Scorpius changed from a straight face and took on an encouraging look. One that pleasantly surprised Rose into silence. "Albus, you shouldn't have to live up to any family name. People expected me to be like my father, to have pure blood prejudices like my family. I refuse to fall to that reputation. You live up to your own expectations. Do yourself proud in whatever you do. Your family don't care either way. We, your friends don't care, we're all proud of you either way. You set your own standards and everyone who loves you will support you unconditionally."

"Rose?" Scorpius called to her after she had been staring for a few minutes. "You ok?"

She only nodded in reply.

THAT NIGHT

Rose couldn't sleep. She was still feeling the embarrassment of being caught staring at Scorpius. He did not make fun of her or make a big deal out of it, Rose was grateful of that. And it wasn't a big deal, she told herself. She was just thinking and happened to stare at Scorpius unknowingly. But deep down she knew it was a lie. She had been staring at Scorpius because she had seen a softer, loving side of him. A side of him that made her like him even more. A side that really cared about Albus, it proved to Rose what a kind person he was despite his passive and stern exterior.

Rose blushed as she thought of the times they had accidentally brushed against each other's hands in potions and the two times she had hugged him. The time they kissed.… the second time they kissed…

She shook her head to get the memory out. They were friends and that was all. Yes he was good looking, tall and mysterious. Light blonde hair which was always perfect seemingly without effort and you could get lost in his misty greyish blue eyes. Yes he was kind, gentle and smart. But she didn't want to think of him in any other way but as a friend. What would Albus think if they were more than that? What would Scorpius' family think of her? What would her family think? Whether they say the have put their arguments behind them or not, Rose still doubted that her family would be completely accepting or happy about it.

Sure they loved her, and so certainly wouldn't disown her if there was anything more with Scorpius. But that wasn't the same as having a partner welcomed into the family with open arms. Her father could be especially protective and was the least accepting of Scorpius and Rose's friendship.

Rose slipped out of bed and quietly took out her packet of Berty Bots Every Flavour Beans and crept downstairs. A nice refreshing stroll in the cold corridors would clear her mind. She placed the sweets in the pocket of her dressing gown as she carefully opened the portrait out of the Gryffindor common room. She sighed and briskly walked to the owlery, she decided to send a letter to her mum just to check that everything was ok at home.

On her way she was lucky enough not to be met by any teachers, prefects or the care taker. She found Pocket, who was very interested in what was in Rose's dressing gown until she realised it wasn't food for her.

Rose strolled over to the large glassless window where the Owls entered and exited. She smiled as the cold wind hit her face, she breathed deeply in the frosty air and closed her eyes. She took out a piece of parchment and a self filling quill and wrote a quick note while leaning on the windowsill. She had trouble keeping it from blowing away but it was only a short note.

Mum and dad

It's late at night and I can't sleep. I thought I'd sent you a quick note, then go back to bed and see if the walk to the owlery had emptied my head of thoughts. Don't worry dad, me and Hugo are fine. And mum, tomorrow is Sunday so I'll have plenty of time to catch up on sleep, so I can concentrate in class on Monday and I've already completed all my homework for this week. So there's no need to send a letter back telling me that I should not stay up so late or whatever.

I wanted to check that everything is ok at home. Please send my love to grandma and grandad Granger. I love you and I'll see you at Christmas. Goodnight

Love Rosie

Rose had seen Pocket leave, probably to hunt, so she decided to wait for her. She found a small stool and sat on it so that she could stare out the window and into the stars, almost wishing she had taken astronomy.

"Rose?" A small voice startled her into falling off her stool and dropping the note for her parents.

The wind did not blow it outside, but made Rose feel a fool as she desperately tried to chase it around the room.

The note landed on the floor and someone stepped on it to stop it from blowing away as Rose made a dive for it. She ended up smacking her head into the persons leg.

She looked up. As Scorpius bent over to pick up the parchment, his head coming into the light of the moon streaking through the window.

He offered her a helping hand to get up. Rose ignored it and stood up in a huff while snatching the note off of him. She was not too pleased to see him, Scorpius was the reason she couldn't sleep.

"What are you doing startling people?! That note could've flown out the window!"

"So your blaming me for your clumsiness? Could it be that you were so startled because you know that you are not allowed out of bed at this time of night?"

"You're not allowed either."

"What are you doing?"

Rose stood there frowning at him. She did not expect Scorpius to answer back, he always stayed silent or nodded in reply. While she stood in silence, Scorpius picked up the stool and put it back in the corner where Rose had found it.

"Well- I- wha-" rose stuttered. "Why are you up here?"

"You still haven't answered my question." He replied calmly as she sat down on the stool in the dark corner.

"I was sending a note to my parents." Rose retorted and continued to frown.

"Not at this time of night."

Rose let out a growl. She was annoyed at him not just because she was tired, but that he was annoyingly calm and correct about everything. "Yes at this time of night."

"I don't believe that's why you're up here."

"Believe what you want. And what's with all the questions?!"

"You still have not answered my first question truthfully."

"Fine. I couldn't sleep. Big deal! I just thought I'd send a note then go back to bed, is that alright with you?" Pocket had still not returned and so Rose leant on the windowsill staring out into the sky again. Although she couldn't loose herself in its beauty as Scorpius was staring at her. Scowling she turned and asked him again. "Why are you here?"

"I meant to write the conclusion for my potions essay before I went to bed, but Albus was so excited about his birthday tomorrow that his constant chatter distracted me. By the time I actually finished the essay Albus was asleep, it was midnight and my head couldn't stop thinking."

Rose sighed. No longer wound up at his calmness. He was always calm. But he was just as annoyed as her because of lack of sleep. She leant against the wall next to him as they shared a comfortable silence and her Berty Botts Every Flavour Beans.

"Rose." Scorpius whispered as he was falling asleep. "You said I was a closed book."

"Yeah." Rose grunted trying to keep her eyes open.

"I'm sorry, I don't really know how to share. I never have."

"It's ok, you just need to work on it."

"It's not ok." Scorpius now stood and started to pace the room, fully waking Rose up. "It's not fair on you or Albus. It's just-"

"I know." Rose stood and placed her hand on his shoulders, stopping him from pacing. She then continued in a wavering voice from exhaustion and emotion. "I- um- I never told you that my grandmother is close to- you know- the end and that my grandfather is recently handicapped. I trust you but it is too painful to keep on talking about. I gather Albus told you, because he trusts you and knows that I trust you. You don't share because you've never had the chance whereas me and Albus have grown up with siblings and plenty of cousins, nothing stays a secret for very long in our family."

Pocket came flying in and landed on the windowsill, looking at Rose expectantly. The red head gave her owl the note and sent her off as she stared out into the stars again. They were truly beautiful to Rose and were very clear on this night. But Scorpius stared at Rose, not the stars. He was thankful to have such understanding friends and he knew that he needed to work on communication, especially with Rose. Rose was special. To Scorpius, Albus was almost the brother he never had, but Rose was special to him.

"Rose." Scorpius spoke softly as he joined her leaning on the windowsill. "I know it sounds childish, but I mean it. I'm glad we're friends."

Rose answered in a light and dreamy voice, still staring at the stars which fascinated her so much. "Me too."

"I wouldn't want to be on the wrong side of you. After what you did to Finley and Daniel, I'm really glad we're friends." He smirked which granted him a mockingly disapproving look from Rose.

"Oh look at that, Scorpius Malfoy made a joke. Who would have known he had a sense of humour." Rose grinned up at her tall friend.

"If we weren't friends, I think I would be the victim of most of your jinxes."

Rose raised her eyebrows and said with a cheeky grin, "What a shock, a Weasley and a Malfoy wouldn't get along?" Her smile suddenly disappeared. "No, you're right. I'd probably pick on you, simply because you're a Malfoy. Even though my dad doesn't really like our friendship, I think both my parents, in fact my whole family, wouldn't like their daughter bullying someone because of who their parents are."

"Rose-"

She interrupted him. "No Scorpius, you're right. I would hate you! I would make your time at Hogwarts a living hell!"

Rose thought about their first kiss last year, she unconsciously touched her lips. Before she knew it Rose had tiptoed and flung her arms around Scorpius's neck, he didn't return the hug but instead stood there in shock with his arms hesitating to touch her. "I'm sorry. And I'm glad that we're friends, if not I wouldn't have known what I was missing."

Scorpius's eyes were wide open. He looked down at Rose's head, his arms still out. After a few long seconds, he gingerly placed one arm around her shoulder and the other around her waist, embracing her for what seemed like forever.

She smelled like flowers, with hint of freshly cut grass and a faint smell of ink. He closed his eyes as a warm feeing spread across his chest. Rose was beginning to feel the same, so she quickly let go. Pushing herself out of the hug and backing away, Rose didn't dare to look into Scorpius's confused eyes.

"Rose?"

"Sorry. Umm, I'm not sure what- I mean- sorry." She turned a bright shade of red that seemed to glow in the moonlight.

"Maybe we should go back."

"Yes." Rose stared at his lips and sighed. "Umm- yeah. Albus is going to be overexcited tomorrow, so- I- you need your rest. You're the first one that he's going to see, and you have the most lessons with - no it's Sunday tomorrow- so no lessons. Umm, bye." Flustered, Rose tried to run out of the room but Scorpius caught her by the waist, stopping her and making her turn and face him.

Without letting go, he spoke very softly.

"Goodnight."

She nodded in reply and went back to her room, spilling some of the sweets out of her pocket as she tripped on the first step, leaving Scorpius to scoop them up as Rose hadn't noticed. She felt more tired than she ever thought possible.

Scorpius waited a little while longer, staring into the stars which Rose had found so enchanting. Deciding that he needed to rest before a full day, he crept back to his dorm but found he couldn't sleep. Albus had heard him come in.

"Scorpius? What time is it?"

"About 1:30am."

"Ugh, where were you?" But before Scorpius could answer the barely audible grumble of a question, Albus had fallen asleep again. In the end Scorpius only managed to get 3 hours of sleep but somehow had energy all day joining in Albus's excitement.

CHRISTMAS HOLIDAYS

As parents bustled and chattered on the platform, the train pulled in filling the station with steam. A collective 'clunk' sounded as every door was opened and Hogwarts students skipped out and embraced their families.

Scorpius gave a small smile and raised a hand in goodbye to his friends as he found his mother standing near the far wall.

"See you later Scorpius!" Albus shouted.

"Found 'em." Lily tapped Albus on the shoulder and led her brothers, Rose and Hugo over to Harry and Ginny. "Your parents should be near them somewhere." they squeezed their way through the crowd and were greeted with hugs from the Potters.

"Mum and dad not here yet?" Hugo piped up, asking his uncle.

"Hugo, Rose." Harry sighed.

"Harry, I'll get the kids to the car." Ginny softly spoke in Harry's ear so only he, Rose and Hugo could hear. Harry kissed her on the cheek and Ginny ushered her children out of the station.

"Look, your parents had to stay at your grandparent's house. They felt that they were needed there, so me or Ginny will take you to them tomorrow morning, you'll stay at our house tonight."

"Uncle Harry, what's going on? Are our grandparents ok?" Hugo asked

"I'm not going to lie, things don't look good. I didn't get a chance to speak to your mum, but your dad said that he would explain everything when we drop you off." Harry escorted his niece and nephew out of the station and saw the Malfoy boy staring at them. He nodded at Mrs Malfoy and continued walking, until he realised that they were coming towards them.

"Potter." Astoria Malfoy smiled as she caught up with him. "Might I have a word?" The two adults went off to the side, leaving Hugo Rose and Scorpius alone.

Rose didn't look at Scorpius, instead she looked at the ground barely noticing anything around her. Forcing herself not to cry until she knew what was going on with her grandparents, she was sure that once she understood the situation there would be no need for trifling little tears which were no good to anybody.

Scorpius stared at his friend but then turned to Hugo with a questioning look. "Hugo?"

"Just- don't worry. I'll make sure she writes to you. I mean- well- she'll explain later. But right now we don't really know what's happening." Hugo's eyes threatened to cry.

Normally he would've hugged or put an arm around Rose, but he knew that if anyone touched him, even a small sympathetic tap on the shoulder, would make him spill his tears right there in kings cross station. That was why he took a step back as Scorpius moved his hand close to Hugo's arm.

"One of us will right to you- or I'll ask Albus, I don't know. Sorry." Hugo shrugged and looked at the ground.

This was the first time that Scorpius had ever seen Hugo sad, he was always such a bright and friendly boy.

Scorpius nodded, accepting the promise of a letter and turned around to see his mother returning. She smiled sympathetically at the Weasley's and wished them a merry Christmas. As they left Scorpius asked what she said to Mr Potter.

"I thanked him for taking you to the beach."

Scorpius didn't answer. He was slightly annoyed with his mother, he had personally thanked the Potters already and found her lack of faith in his manners irritating. In his silence, Astoria knew exactly what her son was thinking.

"I know you already thanked them. I was saying it on behalf of your Father and I. I also thanked him for being so accepting of you despite his history with your Father." Astoria decided to take a muggle taxi back to their home, knowing that it would annoy her parents-in-law the most.

Hugo and Rose did not talk to anyone until they arrived at the Potter's house, but that was only Rose saying that she wasn't hungry for dinner and both of them saying thanks for setting up beds for them. Rose was to sleep on a camping bed in Lily's room and Hugo in a sleeping bag on the floor of Albus' room. Their cousins had offered their own beds but the Weasley's politely refused. Rose went straight to her bed and decided to read while Hugo joined his cousins and aunt and uncle.

Late that night, Rose couldn't sleep. She crept out of the room and downstairs to the kitchen where she sat on the floor next to Pocket who was in her cage on the counter.

"You weren't in Lily's room." A whisper floated through the room. Rose looked up to see Hugo walk in and sit next to her.

"I couldn't sleep."

"Me neither."

"Oh, here." Hugo went to his trunk which was standing upright by the back door, when he returned he passed a small paper bag to Rose. "A little something for Pocket." They were owl treats.

"Thanks. You know, the other day I had Berty Botts Every Flavour Beans and Pocket thought they were treats for her. Wonder if she's over the disappointment." Pocket woke up and looked sceptical at the paper bag. "See."

"Just put it in the cage." Rose took his advice and Pocket eventually ate the treat.

"What are you hoping you'll get for Christmas?" Rose thought of any subject to talk about other than the obvious conversation about their grandparents.

"Not sure. Oh, actually, if I get some money for Christmas and for my birthday, I might be able to buy a proper broom like yours. I want to tryout for quidditch next year."

"That's a good idea."

"What about you?"

"Hmmm, more-"

"Books." Hugo interrupted, knowing his predictable sister so well. The Weasley's smiled and sat in silence.

"Why are you guys down here? The tiles are freezing." Albus joined them on the floor.

"Couldn't sleep."

"Well I guessed that, funny enough." Albus rolled his eyes at Rose's obvious response. He sat in between their out stretched legs, his feet wedged between the Weasleys. "Seriously freezing down here."

"Then you should've worn your slippers you numpty." James stated dryly as he walked into the kitchen and sat on the floor next to Albus, with his legs stretched out next to Hugo.

"Rose, why didn't you wake me up?" Lily tiptoed into the kitchen. "I was worried. Merlin it's cold."

"Thank you Lily, I think we established that." Hugo smiled at his best friend. Lily sat next to him so that James's feet were between them and her legs were side by side with her brother.

They sat in silence, keeping each other warm. Harry had heard them going downstairs and decided to check what was going on. He stopped short, out of view, in the doorway and smiled at the children who had grown to love each other so much that they were each other's best friends. Much like he was so close to Ron and Hermione. Harry crept back to his room and shook Ginny's shoulders.

"Ginny, hey Ginny wake up."

"Ugh." She sighed, sat up and scowled at Harry as he lit a candle. "What do you want Harry? It's really late."

"Where's our camera?"

"What?"

"Camera. Where is it?" Harry whispered as he shuffled through a chest of drawers on the other side of the room.

"Bottom drawer. Why do you want the camera?"

"You've got to see this. But be quiet." He took hold of Ginny's hand and led the sleepy woman down to the kitchen. The children were now smiling and whispering to each other. Harry took a photograph of them all neatly lined up between the cabinets and breakfast table. "We'll get this developed tomorrow if we can." Harry turned around to see that Ginny was now awake and smiling at the children."

"This is nice." She sighed as she hugged Harry.

"It's almost a perfect start to the holidays."

"Almost." Her shoulders dropped as she remembered why Rose and Hugo were there and what might become of the grandparents which they loved so much. Her sad look was brightened by a kiss on the forehead from her husband. Ginny took his hand and the couple emerged into the moonlight which lit the entire kitchen with a pale glow.

"You know, you'd be more comfortable in the living room." Ginny grinned at their startled faces. "Hot chocolate anyone?"

Ginny and Harry proceeded to make hot chocolate for everyone and then joined them sitting on the floor. They stayed up all night talking about their term at Hogwarts. At around 7am, they decided to have breakfast and get dressed. Ginny was to take Hugo and Rose to the Granger's house while Harry stayed home with their children to put up the Christmas lights outside.

CHRISTMAS DAY POTTER HOUSEHOLD

The family was over, each helping in the making and the clear up of Christmas dinner. However there were some missing. Ron, Hermione, Rose and Hugo had spent Christmas at the Granger's house. Everyone was sad that they could not join in, for the Grangers were always welcome and always came to the two day celebrations, but they could not leave the house under doctors orders.

Albus snuck out after clean up, as the family were now lulling about chatting, waiting for the inevitable family game, usually of charades. Albus took out his broom from the shed and flew a few laps around the garden before stopping by the single tree in the middle of the garden. There he hovered just off the ground and stared at the house where he could still see the lights on in every room and could hear faint sounds of laughter. He missed Rose. Christmas wasn't the same without his best friend as she would normally sneak off with him.

Albus and Scorpius had written to each other everyday, Hugo couldn't face writing about why he and Rose were upset at the station so he asked Albus to do it for them. That was not a fun letter to write. Albus had written to Scorpius and sent off his Christmas present to him before dinner and was waiting for a reply which he knew would come within an hour or so.

"Why are you out here?"

The voice had startled Albus, who lost his balance and fell off his broomstick. He looked up to see a giggling James and Lily.

"We saw you leave." Lily explained the obvious

"We always see you and Rose leave, we normally let you alone." James added which ended in him receiving a sceptical look from Albus before they both turned to look at Lily. As she usually followed Rose and Albus outside and interrupt their conversation.

"What? She's my cousin too. I am allowed to talk to her. Plus Hugo always gets into a discussion with grandpa Weasley about muggles. I mean sure, they're interesting, it's just that Hugo and grandpa know so much, that I feel left out." Lily whined and James put his arm around her shoulder, bringing her in for a hug.

"I'm not saying that you're not allowed to talk to her, I'm just saying - ugh never mind." Albus rolled his eyes and sat on the ground, leaning against the tree, his siblings followed.

"Have either of you written to Rose or Hugo?"

"Yeah, every other day. Didn't want to overload them. But I haven't got an answer yet." Lily answered. "What about you Albus?"

"I wrote to both of them the day after they left our house. I got a note from Hugo, saying that they arrived safely and could I please tell Scorpius what was going on as he felt like he couldn't. And a even smaller note from Rose saying Merry Christmas but she's busy so she'll write to us when she has time." Albus sighed

"Meaning that they want to be left alone." James summed up for Lily, who seemed to be upset that her cousins had written to Albus and not to her. "They just need some time with their grandparents before, you know. Don't worry Lily, I'm sure they'll be back to normal when we get back to school."

They all looked up as they saw Roxanne, George's daughter, walking towards them. She was in Gryffindor and in the same year as James.

"Hey guys." She smiled and leant an elbow against the tree, looking down at them with her head slightly tilted. "Grandma's looking for you." While rolling her eyes in mock annoyance, she added. "A game of charades this year. Again. Like we do every year."

James jumped up and grinned at his cousin. "Yeah, but you love it. 'Cause you always win. A pointless talent unless you want to go into the arts industry, but-"

"I do want to go into the arts industry." This was said in complete truth that it wiped off James' grin. He wasn't annoyed or disappointed, he just felt foolish for joking about it. James's intention was never to mock what Roxanne wanted or what she was good at. "Yeah, trying to convince mum to let me go to W.A.D.A."

She was met by blank faces.

"Wizarding Academy for Dramatic Arts. It's for wizards who want theatrical or performance careers."

"Cool." Lily smiled, grabbed Albus's hand and skipped off into the house, dragging her brother behind her. Meanwhile Roxanne and James raced each other to the shed to put away the broomstick.

BOXING DAY

"Hey, mum?" Albus called to Ginny.

"I'm in the living room if you need me. I'm too comfy to move." Ginny shouted back earning her a chuckle from Harry. They were both lying on the sofa, exhausted after Christmas Day with such a big family. But they loved doing it and they knew that everyone had fun. Albus could be heard running down the stairs, the loud thumping woke James up from his nap on the floor. (He was originally on the sofa but somehow managed to slowly slide down and on to the floor, while remaining cocooned in the blanket.)

"Could I invite Scorpius over for the day?"

"What day?"

"I thought I'd be the son of the year and ask you what day would be best for you rather than telling you." Albus gave a cheeky but charming smile.

Ginny sighed. "Meaning that you only just thought about inviting Scorpius over and decided that I should arrange everything so you don't have to."

"Well, if you're offering,"

"No, I'm not organising anything else for the entire year. Invite him over, I don't mind when, we've nothing else planned."

Albus ran upstairs and wrote to Scorpius, inviting him over for the following day.

MALFOY MANOR

Scorpius was excited about going to Albus's house, he couldn't wait, which was a fact reflected throughout the rest of Boxing Day. He wouldn't stop fidgeting and staring into space, a rare occurrence for Scorpius. His parents found his behaviour annoying at first, but seeing how it irritated Scorpius's grandparents even more, they then found it slightly amusing.

Half way through the day, however, Scorpius found that his mood could be brought down. Lloyd Parkinson and his mother, Pansy, turned up. At first Scorpius hid in his room on the third floor, and was writing back and forth to Albus about who had come and why he was hiding and how bored he was. Lloyd soon figured out where Scorpius was, so he managed to sneak into the library which was on the same floor.

"Are you seriously hiding from me?" Lloyd burst into the library and marched over to where Scorpius was finishing an essay on the difference between a poltergeist and a ghost. "Why are you being such a child? Still playing hide and seek, bet your little imaginary friends around here somewhere. You heard me coming and stashed your dolls under a table."

"What do you want?"

"Well, we're friends aren't we?"

"No."

"Since when? We've always gotten along so well. Our parents seem to think we do. "

"There's a difference between being civil and being friends."

"Tut tut Scorpius, I don't think your family would appreciate the way you treat me, you know my mother and your father are pretty close." Lloyd attempted to provoke him further, but Scorpius had already gone back to writing his essay. "I talked to that Finley Norwood the other day, the guy that your weasel friend attacked, and he doesn't seem that bad a bloke. For a Hufflepuff. Oh, and his friend Leyton might have a thing for her, not exactly sure, just that he stares at her a lot more than you do. But his friend Felix Stirling has had his eye on her since first year, even though they have never spoken to each other ever. I don't know what they, and by that I mean including you, see in her. Yeah she's smart, but that's it. Maybe the heap of ginger knots that she calls hair is a flame in a quite literal sense and draws weirdos and nerds to her."

Despite Scorpius's better efforts, this did make him loose concentration for a moment as he looked up at the bane of his existence to see if he was joking, his conclusion being that, although it was said to annoy Scorpius, he was not lying about his and Finley's suspicions, and that he noticed Scorpius staring at Rose.

"Finley picks on people when he's bored. And Rose never attacked anyone."

"Then care of magical creatures is as boring and as much of a waste of space as I thought, and my parents and your grandparents think." Lloyd paced in front of him. "I believe another tut tut is needed here, Scorpius, your disaster of an education has managed to be ridiculed by so many. How is such a mindless subject meant to benefit your future? It's worse enough that you made alliances with weasels and Potters, they will get you nowhere." He dragged a plush but elegant armchair towards Scorpius so that he could face him dead on, he crossed his legs and linked his hands on his lap. "Now, someone like Norwood, even though he's a useless Hufflepuff," Scorpius rolled his eyes. "who has a mother working in the ministry of magic, can create links and open doors. And if you're going to have a crush on a girl, try Stirling's sister, she's smart and has very powerful relatives. Her own uncle is the minister of magic's right hand man."

Scorpius could see his owl, Vincent swooping around outside the third floor and heading towards his room. As Lloyd continued to waffle on about family connections, Scorpius casually strolled out without saying a word, and kicked his only half emptied trunk in front of the door, leaving Lloyd to scowl at an empty chair. Scorpius had a letter from Albus asking him about the finer details for the following day, what time Scorpius would be available and so on.

END OF JANUARY, THREE WEEKS BACK TO SCHOOL

It was odd to be back at school without Rose or Hugo having a constant presence. No one had seen them for longer than a day or two before they disappeared from school, only to return for the maximum of three days, then left again. They offered no explanation for their random comings and goings, when asked they only grunted or shrugged and changed the subject. Hugo, who was normally bubbly and loud, took to doodling in a notepad with a muggle biro pen, instead of talking to Lily. Rose, who had always been a book worm and independent, shrunk more into her books, but stared at the front covers without reading them, and refused to sit anywhere but at the back of the class on her own. If someone tried to join her, she would sigh, nod to the teacher (who all seemed to understand what was happening and so left her alone) and leave the class. This new behaviour was taking a toll on their best friends, mainly the Potters who seemed to have mellowed with them without realising. Albus and Lily almost spoke as little as Scorpius.

One day, after a quiet day in Hogsmeade, Albus and Scorpius trudged back to the castle to see Rose and Hugo returning from wherever they had been for the past two days. Rose saw her friends but ran into the Gryffindor common room, while Hugo hung back.

"Albus," said Hugo staring at his shoes as his cousin approached. "How was Hogsmeade?"

"Cold. Quiet without your sister."

"Did you have fun Scorpius?" Hugo briefly looked up at him before staring off in the distance, not really listening, so Scorpius just shrugged in reply. "Well, I should get to bed- you know- no sleep in a few-" Hugo sighed between his half muttered and unfinished sentences "good night, afternoon- bye"

Scorpius and Albus watched Hugo go through the entrance to his common room through the fat lady. Once the painting swung shut, they simultaneously looked up at the large clock hanging on the corridor, it was 3pm.

"What am I going to do Scorpius?" Albus groaned as they flopped into green arm chairs by the fire in the Slytherin common room. "Wait for them to tell me, what in Merlin's name, is going on? Do I write to my aunt and uncle? Do I write to my parents?"

Scorpius new that Albus was not finished yet so he stared into the fire, not interrupting.

"I mean, they're clearly not happy! If I just knew what was going on, I could-" Albus shrugged, Scorpius shrugged back. "I'm not sure if I could help, actually. I think it's something to do with their muggle grandparents." Scorpius nodded in agreement, he had suspected that since the beginning. "But I'm worried about them. Their not only two of my best friends, they're my cousins. Maybe my mum will know something about it. I mean, Rose is quieter than you!"

"And Hugo is forcing a brave face."

"Yeah. Not a convincing one though. James is worried too. Actually all of us are." Albus suddenly, sat bolt upright. "Hey!" He excitedly gasped, bringing Scorpius's attention to Albus, who was leaning on the chairs armrest, making it lean towards him. "You know on Weasley and Potter birthdays, we all meet up in the Gryffindor common room before anyone else is awake?" Scorpius nodded, remembering feeling awkward and kind of excluded by his friends' family during those two occasions. "Well, we could all meet up and get Rose and Hugo to talk to us, as a family."

"No"

Albus's smile disappeared and was replaced by a lost and disappointed look. "Why not?" He asked, even though he was pretty sure he knew why.

"The last thing they want is it to seem like their family is ganging up on them."

"Yeah, I guess." Moaned Albus as he slumped back into his arm chair, kicking a loose piece of coal closer to the fire. "I don't want to gang up on them, I just want to help."

"You feel like there's nothing in the world that you wouldn't do to make them happy again." Scorpius stared into the fire and thought of Rose. He felt so powerless, he felt there was no way to make her happy other than to leave her alone and hope that everything sorted itself out.

At breakfast the next morning, Rose sat at the very edge of the table right next to Hugo, they looked so exhausted and weren't even talking to each other so everyone left them alone. Their cousins sat bunched together in the middle of the along table, where they normally sat, and Scorpius and Albus sat at the Slytherin table also in silence. When the post came, Rose quickly picked up a letter which Pocket had dropped along with the Daily Profit, and she and Hugo left in a hurry, leaving behind both the newspaper and half of their breakfast. Rose even spilt her untouched tea all over the table and didn't stop to notice. Luckily professor Nye was there to clean it up with a simple flick of his wand before being almost trampled by the Weasley children exiting.

"Hugo, in here." Rose muttered to her brother as she dragged him into an empty corridor, they sat on a windowsill over looking the lake and opened the letter. It was a bit damp in one corner from the tea Rose had spilt.

Rose and Scorpius

I'm afraid grandma has taken a turn for the worst, she wants to see you two again and hopes that you can stay for a week. If you'd can't she will understand as your education is important. But, as we know you will most likely come, your mother and I have informed the school that you will be leaving one hour after breakfast on the day you receive this. If you want to stay, then tell Neville and reply to this letter, otherwise we'll communicate once we've travelled back to grandma's house.

I'm not going to lie, your mother is barely sleeping at all and your grandfather rarely leaves grandma's bedside. I know it would do us all some good if they see you two.

Love you,

Dad

Once they had both finished reading the letter they ran to their dormitories to pack and met each other in the empty common room. Everyone else was in their lessons. Neville walked in, seeing Rose and Hugo in a comforting hug, clinging to each other for emotional support, glad to know that someone else was feeling the exact same worry and helplessness. Neville cleared his throat and led the children to the front entrance where Ron was waiting with his arms wide open.

"What did your cousins say when you told them your were leaving for a week?" Ron questioned as they walked down to Hogsmeade so that hey could use the floo network from George's office.

"Oh, we didn't tell them." Hugo answered absently.

"We rushed as soon as we got the letter. We haven't spoken to them or Scorpius much in a while."

Ron sighed and decided to pick up the pace, the sooner they left, the sooner everyone saw each other and felt a little better. Or at least that's what he hoped, even though he knew that that wasn't going to be the case.

Rose and Hugo had been gone for two weeks when James received a letter from his mother.

Albus sat in his potions lesson, bored and doodling in his textbook while Scorpius took detailed notes with utter fascination. Professor Longbottom knocked on the door, James trailing behind him, and requested Albus be excused from the class follow them to his office. Two minutes later James came rushing back into the class.

"Sorry Professor, this concerns Scorpius too." he nodded at Scorpius whose confusion was shown on his face. The two boys took quick strides up the corridor to Longbottom's office. "It's about Rose's grandma," James explained without looking at Scorpius, "I think she'd want you to be included in this family gathering."

Scorpius saw exactly what he meant once they reached the office. Ginny Potter, all of the Weasley cousins and Potter children were sat looking expectantly at Ron Weasley. Longbottom left the room after giving a quick hug to Ginny and a pat on the back to Ron.

"Umm, thanks for coming, I know you were in the middle of class, but Hermione's mother has died." small gasps and tears pooled around the room. "You all knew her, we all loved her and I believe it would help Hermione and her dad if you all came to The Burrow just for the weekend. Your parents have all confirmed and you teachers have been told. You don't have to come, but if you do, go and pack now, otherwise go back to your lesson."

Everyone stood and scurried to the Gryffindor dormitories and Albus sprinted to his Slytherin dormitory while Ginny and Ron had a hushed and sympathetic conversation by the window. Scorpius stood by the open door unsure of what to do.

"Malfoy." Ron's disapproving voice, so different from how he had spoken to his family only moments ago, startled Scorpius into standing bolt upright. "I guess your not coming then?"

"It's, it's just- I wasn't sure- my parents, they-"

"Harry wrote to your mother, she gave you permission to come if you want." Ginny interrupted seeing the boy's nervous state in front of her brother.

"Yes, it seems that the majority of the family think that Rose would like you to be there." Ron shrugged, obviously disagreeing with the decision but going along with it anyway.

Scorpius nodded. "Thank you Mr Weasley, I will come, for my friend." he shook both of the adult's hands, much to their surprise, and ran as fast as he could to pack.

"I guess he does care about Rose. He's a closer friend to her than we thought." Ginny sighed "I mean, I knew he was close to Albus, I was just never sure whether Rose was just a mutual friend or not."

"It's not just Rose, I think he's even getting along quite well with my Hugo too."

"Perhaps the Malfoy boy isn't as bad as you thought." Ginny ruffled Ron's hair.

Ron grunted. "He's still a Malfoy and she's still my daughter, I don't like it but as long as they're friends and he behaves, I'll stay out of it."

"He's a nice boy, very polite."

"Still a Malfoy."

Ginny rolled her eyes.

THE BURROW, FRIDAY NIGHT

Everyone had used the floo network from George's joke shop in Hogsmeade and had travelled in small groups. The last to leave were Albus and Scorpius.

"So, you're coming?" asked Albus

Scorpius nodded. "Well, your uncle said that Rose would want me there. unless you think he's wrong and I should stay behind. I mean I know that your whole family can't be expected to like me let alone accept me into their home."

Albus sighed and patted Scorpius on the shoulder. "It won't be easy mate. But just stick with me and Rose and you'll be fine. Actually Hugo and Lilly will be happy to see you there too, they've grown fond of you. I don't know how, I mean you're pretty quiet and a closed book." Albus smirked

"Your family trust your judgement. I can't say the same about my family."

"Hey, they're letting you come. At least your mum knows how important Rose is to you." Scorpius turned slightly red, it would have gone unnoticed if Albus hadn't known him so well.

Ginny suddenly appeared in the fireplace. "Ok boys, everyone is out of the fireplace on the other end. Stand next to me and we'll go." the boys complied as Ginny grabbed a handful of floo powder. "The Burrow."

They disappeared into the green smoke.

"Al." Rose acknowledged when she saw her cousin, she ran and hugged him. Over his shoulder, Rose could see Scorpius looking awkwardly at the floor while Ron glared at him from the opposite side of the room. "Scorpius?" she let go of Albus to run to him. She resisted the urge to hug him, which she found difficult as Rose had been finding any excuse for physical contact for the past week. "I knew you would come."

Scorpius nodded, he was confused at her happiness. Her grandmother had just died and Rose was behaving as if it was the beginning of a school holiday.

"Oh, Hugo wanted to see you two when you arrived." Rose broke the silence between the three best friends. "Follow me."

As they followed, Albus leaned in and whispered to Scorpius. "I thought she'd be more, you know, I thought she'd be crying. I wonder what is going on with-"

Albus was interrupted by the sight of Hugo and Hermione and Mr Granger. They were all sitting around the kitchen table with dark circles under their eyes from lack of sleep ad tears threatening to spill over. The mood, even though it was quite dismal throughout the rest of the house, was considerably more depressing around these three. And Scorpius immediately understood why Rose was so normal, although slightly quieter than usual. Taking a closer look at her, he saw that she also had signs of lack of sleep.

"Um, hi." Albus softly greeted Hugo. he moved around to hug his aunt. "I'm sorry for your loss." He moved over to Mr Granger. "Umm, sir, I can't- I'm sorry for- well, she was-"

Mr Granger's eyes pooled with water as he gave a soft smile to Albus, his voice shook as he spoke "I know, thank you."

Scorpius stayed by the open door, unsure what to do as he did not know Rose's family other than the brief meeting with her dad. Who didn't like him, so not much progress could been seen there.

"Scorpius." a little voice whispered behind him. It was Lilly. She took hold of his forearm and led him outside to a large tree. "This is where Albus and Rose hang out when we visit, they'll come and find us in a minute or two."

"How is Hugo dealing with all of this?"

"Not well. He's not his usual cheery self and we're all worried about him, actually we're worried about all of them. Aunt Hermione has barely slept in weeks, Mr Granger seems lost all the time and Rose is, I wouldn't say happy but oddly normal."

Scorpius nodded and they sat in silence. It was cold and he wished he had taken his jumper out of his trunk before letting Lilly drag him outside. He looked down at the young girl and saw that she also seemed a little lost, he guessed that without her best friend, she didn't have many people to talk to. Plus Albus would be busy sticking to Rose, and James had been running errands for their aunt and uncle. Thats why she brought Scorpius along with her to the tree, because they kind of knew each other.

"And how are you holding up?" Scorpius asked without sounding patronising. Lily looked up at him, her eyes slightly watering at his kindness .

"You know, it sounds kind of selfish, but it's kind of been bugging me that no one has asked me that." She wiped her eyes on the sleeve of her knitted pink jumper. She sniffed. "I guess you would understand. Rose is your best friend like Hugo is mine and it feels like they've been gone for so long. Ignoring us, not speaking much and now behaving so different from usual. It sucks and I know they're going through a tough time, but we all knew Mrs Granger, she was practically a grandma to everyone. I just want them to know that I'm here if they need me."

Scorpius thought for a moment, then replied "Have you told them that?"

"Well, yeah. We're best friends, its what we say to each other all the time."

"Exactly. Everyone says that they'll be there for you no matter what, and when life is going well, we are inclined to believe it as our friends stick with us. It's when we are going through a tough time, that we actually find out who really loves us enough to stay our friend."

Lilly looked up at Scorpius, she was impressed, "Sometimes I forget how smart you are. Thanks."

"I can't take credit for it, there's a saying, 'a friend in need is a friend indeed'."

"Never heard it before."

"Must be a muggle thing. We probably did it in muggle studies while I wasn't paying 100% attention."

"Well that doesn't sound like you."

Scorpius sighed, "You would be surprised, I surprised myself. To be honest, lately I've been distracted by a certain pers-"

"Hey." Albus subduedly called to them as he and Rose approached the tree. "Lily, I think Hugo could do with someone too remain constantly at his side. I would do it myself but," he looked at Rose and continued quietly, "I've kind of got my hands full with a certain person." Albus tilted his head to indicate that he was talking about Rose. "I feel as though she will have a breakdown at any moment."

Rose gently lowered herself down between Lilly and Scorpius. Lilly stood and Albus took her place, wrapping an arm around Rose's shoulder.

"Right, I'm going in to see Hugo." Lily announced as she marched inside, thinking of the advice Scorpius had given her.

It was beginning to get dark outside as the trio watched the sunset, they sat in a comfortable silence for a while.

Rose finally spoke once the sun had completely set. "Scorpius, would it be alright if you slept on the sofa? Or would you rather James slept on the sofa and you slept in the same room as Albus?"

"No, the sofa is great."

Albus and Rose both raised their eyebrows and gave him a look of amused disbelief.

"Well, not great but-"

"Scorpius, its an old sofa, stop being so polite. Of course it won't be great. I was joking, Albus'll sleep on the sofa."

"No, this is your family's house, you sleep in a bed. I mean it, I'm just glad I can be here for you, Rose." Scorpius took Rose's hand a gave it a compassionate squeeze. The sincere look in his eyes made them accept his kindness.

In the end, the trio had spent too long under the tree and had missed dinner, not that they minded as they were all too distracted to be hungry. Once they finally came into the house, they found that everyone but Ginny had gone to bed.

"Nice of you to come back." Ginny smiled as they entered the kitchen.

Later that night, as Scorpius lay awake on the sofa, he heard someone tiptoeing down the creaky stairs. He peered through the door which had been left open a jar. As he squinted he saw a red blur dash past. He could feel a draft from the back door opening. He grabbed his blanket, wrapped it around himself, shoved on his trainers and quietly shuffled to the door where he pushed open to see what had run past. There he saw the back door wide open and Rose sitting on the step, looking up at the stars, crying.

Scorpius instantly retreated back into the living room. He felt he was intruding and he knew that Rose needed to time alone to cry. Her cheerfulness was an unnatural reaction to the death of her grandmother, Scorpius knew she was putting on a brave face for her mother, brother and grandfather who seemed to be taking it the hardest. But Rose was handling it in the worst possible way. She needed to be alone to be herself.

SATURDAY

Scorpius had barely slept for an hour as he had been up all night waiting for Rose to go back to bed and then, when she finally did, he laid awake worrying about her. Knowing that she wouldn't have had much more sleep than himself. So when he was pushed off the sofa before the sun had even risen, it came as quite a shock.

"Hey, wake up." James spoke in a whisper.

"Hurry up." another small whisper which sounded like Lily.

"And do it quietly, your thud from falling of the sofa could've woken up the entire family." yet another hushed voice came, this time from Albus.

Scorpius groaned and looked up at the Potters, he was still laying on the floor covered in blankets. "I didn't fall, someone pushed me. What time is it? Why are you up so early? What are you doing?"

he added the last question as he felt someone jabbing something into his side. He then realised that they were all dressed and holding broomsticks.

"Oh yeah, forgot to mention that our oh-so-quiet-and-polite Scorpius here isn't a morning person unless the sun has been up for a good few hour."

"Come on, get dressed. Albus will show you where to get a broom, we'll meet you guys by the tree." James gave Scorpius a hard pat on the shoulder just as he was sitting up, which sent him flying back to the ground when he groaned again.

"Come on mate." Albus chuckled and helped his friend up.

James, Lily, Albus and Scorpius spent the hours before breakfast flying around the house and garden on broomsticks. Albus was a bit shaky and Lily only needed the occasional expert tip from James. Scorpius and James were by far the better flyers, Scorpius was perhaps equally as good, a point which Albus brought up at breakfast.

"Why are you not on the quidditch team? Slytherin needs a player like you. Especially playing against Gryffindor, I mean, your just as good as James. And he's their best player." Albus was pacing back and forth behind his quiet family who were trying to eat their toast.

Scorpius just shrugged and the entire family stared at him. He looked awkwardly around the many faces looking at him, expecting him to answer. Hugo, Hermione and Mr Granger were not present at breakfast, they had decided to go for a walk. Harry, Ron and the rest of the parents had also left for work. The only ones left were Molly and Arthur Weasley, all of their grandchildren, Ginny (who had taken the day off work to help her parents look after their many grandchildren and offer emotional support to Hermione) and Scorpius.

"Oh, you were very good. We all saw you this morning." Molly Weasley encouraged

"They wanted you, Albus." Scorpius quietly answered and went back to his breakfast. The attention of the family then turned to Albus who had gone red and finally sat down at his place.

After a few moments of silence Arthur Weasley, his grandfather, finally spoke. "Well, you neglected to tell us that tiny little detail! Albus you could be on the quidditch team."

"Well I don't want to be!" He stood. "It's exhausting living under the shadow of dad, one of the youngest seekers at Hogwarts, and mum, the famous professional Quidditch player for the Holyhead Harpies and James! You're all, like, the best quidditch players Hogwarts have ever seen! I'm not as good a flyer and I prefer watching the game than playing. If I join, I'll be the one Potter who sucked at quidditch!"

"Albus, if you don't want to join, you don't have to." Roxanne Weasley shrugged.

"Sweety, you don't suck. In fact, you're a brilliant flyer and the Slytherin team would be lucky to have you. No one is pressuring you to join, and we certainly don't think any less of you." Ginny hugged her son and ruffled his hair.

"Yeah, and maybe it's better if you don't join, this way I have proof that quidditch isn't the only thing Potters are good at." James chuckled as he leaned back on his chair.

"James! The chair has four legs, you have two. I want to see all six on the ground!" Ginny turned on her authoritative voice and barked at her eldest son. It startled James so much that he fell backwards and landed hard on the ground. "This is why we don't swing on our chairs!"

"It's just a chair Ginny." Molly, Ginny's mother, smiled.

"Mum! It's not the chair, its his safety! How many times was I told off for swinging on the chair, now it's time for me to tell my children off! James, get up this instant!" Ginny shouted louder.

And just like that, the subject was changed and Albus truly believed that his family didn't care that he wasn't part of the quidditch team and that there was no need to live in their shadows.

While the arguing was still going on, Rose, Scorpius and Albus slipped out of the kitchen to the garden.

"If we sit over there, we'll be able to see my family come back from their walk." Rose ran ahead from the boys as they walked to the tree.

Albus hung back a bit to quietly speak to Scorpius, "You can really see the bags under her eyes. I don't think she's been sleeping at all."

Scorpius nodded in agreement but stayed silent, deciding not to tell Albus about Rose crying until he had got up the nerve to talk to her about it.

Rose began to climb the tree and the boys followed. "I think Albus is right, you're a great flyer and the Slytherin team desperately need some help."

"Hey! They're not that bad! I mean, we beat Hufflepuff the other day!" Albus shouted behind her.

"Yeah, well," Rose had finally made it up to a high enough branch to see over the hill where her family would be walking. "Thats only because half of them were in the hospital wing because of some fake Weasley products that Rory Green, your team captain, gave them. They had to find a substitute team within a week."

"Good point. Rory Green sucks." Albus accepted defeat. "He made Anjelica Gully chaser only because they were going out at the time! She wasn't even that good."

"She broke up with him you know." Rose and Albus were now talking between themselves as Scorpius took in the beautiful view of rolling hillsides and tiny clusters of buildings were the near villages were.

"What actually happened there?"

"I think she realised how immature and petty he was, plus she's in her last year. She's about to leave and get a job while he's in the year below and still pranking first years."

"Meh, good enough reason to dump him."

"So why don't you join the team Scorpius?" Rose questioned him

"No real reason other than, I'd rather not."

"Really?" Albus found this both outrageous and hilarious. "What, and you just like sitting there and watching it with me?"

"Actually, yes." Scorpius was so sincere in his answer that it stopped Albus from laughing. "It's one of those rare times that I can forget my homework and any other problems, and just have fun with my friend."

"Naww mate, I enjoy hanging out with you at quidditch matches too." Albus playfully punched his friend in the arm.

"Hey! There they are!" Rose dropped straight down from the tree as she spotted her family pushing Mr Granger in his wheelchair up the winding path to the house and ran to them.

Scorpius and Albus looked at each other then looked at the long drop from the high branch, each wondering how on earth Rose got down without a single scratch or even the energy to run. Not that they were scared of heights, but they decided it would be best to climb down carefully.

The only thing that seemed to put a tiny damper on Rose's mood was the announcement that her father gave after dinner. The entire family were now back in the Burrow, the adults included. Hugo and Mr Granger sat very sullen and still in the corner. Rose stood leaning against the wall next to Albus. Scorpius stood in the doorway with one hand on Rose's shoulder for comfort, she rested her head on his hand. This caught a few glances from the more protective cousins and aunts and uncles, but Scorpius didn't care as long as he knew that he was doing all he could to help Rose.

"We are going to hold the funeral on Sunday morning. We will all go by floo network to the Grangers house, and we'll walk down to the local church where Mrs Granger is being buried." Ron announced as he stood in front of the fire as the family and Scorpius crowded around the living room, either standing or sitting. Hermione started to sob quietly next to him so she sat on the arm rest of a sofa and Ron squeezed her hand tightly and kept holding on for the remainder of his talk. "Then we'll come back here for refreshments and then Ginny'll send the kids back to school in the afternoon. Meanwhile, we would appreciate it if some of you adults stay behind to help us pack up Mr Granger's stuff so that he can permanently move in here."

There were nods of agreements and hands were shown of volunteers, but mostly the room was silent and solum. As each person filed one by one out of the room, deciding to take an early night, they each stopped to hug Hugo, Hermione, Rose and Mr Granger and offer their sympathies once again. Mrs Granger was like a grandmother to all of them. Everyone shared in the grief.

Ron wheeled Mr Granger to the downstairs bedroom, then came back to take Hermione hand in hand up to their bedroom. She was too exhausted to notice what was going on. Hugo nodded to Scorpius, Rose and Albus, then went to bed himself.

"Well, good night." Albus hugged Rose for a third time in the past ten minutes and patted Scorpius on the back as he left.

Scorpius stretched and grabbed his blanket and pillow from the corner on the other side of the room, he assumed Rose had left but she remained leaning against the wall, staring at the floor.

Scorpius was just about to change into his pjs when he realised that she was still there.

"Hey, Rose, are you ok?" Scorpius gently lifted her chin so that she would look at him. For a moment he thought that he saw tears in her eyes, but she blinked and it disappeared.

"Yeah," Rose cleared her throat and shrugged. "I'll see you in the morning." She began to exit when she suddenly spun around. "And thanks again for coming Scorpius, I'm glad my family finally got to meet you, even if it's in such a time of hurt. They can see how much you mean to me and how much you truly care about your friends, they can't judge you by any hostile relationship they may have with your grandparents anymore. You've really helped me Scorpius, its nice to know that you're one of those friends who will be with you through thick and thin." she smiled a watery smile and hurried up the stairs.

Scorpius stood staring at the exact spot where she had just left for over an hour. Once he finally got into bed, he lay awake and stared at the clock. It was around 2am when he heard the creaking on the stairs again, then a sudden red blur dashed past. He followed it to the kitchen to once again see Rose sitting on the step of an open door, crying her heart out. He took a full step into the kitchen and she didn't seem to notice, so he poured her a glass of water and found a box of tissues. He placed them on the ground and quietly slid the box and the glass next to Rose then dashed out of the room.

Rose heard the glass sliding on the floor and suddenly spun around. There seemed to be no one there, and the door leading to the hallway was open slightly, just as she had left it. As she turned back around to stare at the stars, she almost knocked over the glass of water. Someone had been there. But she was grateful for the thought and that they had left her alone. She drank the water and used up most of the tissues then put it all away. She had been sitting there for over an hour and decided to go back to bed.

As she began to softly climb the stairs again, she saw that the lounge door was open a jar. From it, she knew, you could see straight to where she had been sitting. Rose slowly opened the door and saw that Scorpius had been sitting awake watching through the gap.

"Rose. I'm so sorry, I never meant to spy-" Scorpius made hushed excuses but was cut off by Rose's tears.

She had no idea why she was crying again, and it annoyed her that she was. She thought that maybe it was just nice to find out that Scorpius had known that she was in so much pain to not be able to express her grief in front of anyone for fear that it would make Hugo and Hermione worse. It made her cry with relief that he understood enough to let her be alone but still try to take care of her at the same time.

Rose stumbled forward and Scorpius caught her. He laid her on the sofa and covered her with his blanket, while he sat on the floor. He was about to go and sleep on another sofa when Rose grabbed his hand, so he sat on the floor again. His head leaning on the sofa near hers.

No words were exchanged. And for the first time in weeks, Rose slept for more than 2 hours.

SUNDAY

Scorpius woke up to Ron staring hard at him. It was enough to make him jump. Scorpius realised that he was still sitting right on the cold hard floor and holding Rose's hand. Ron glared and left the room, silently beckoning Scorpius. The boy didn't dare to disobey Mr Weasley, so he let go of Rose's hand and gently laid her hand next to her head. He softly brushed a piece of her hair out of her face and took a moment to stare at the resting girl, then followed Ron outside.

"Grab a pair of wellies, there are loads you can borrow by the back door." Ron called from outside. Scorpius did as he was told.

The sun was coming up, it was still cold but not as bad as Scorpius expected.

"Sir, did you want to talk to me about something?" Scorpius asked.

"No. I don't like that a Malfoy hangs around my nephew, I like it less that the same Malfoy hangs around my daughter. But it seems that she likes you and values your friendship. And the only reason that I won't throw you out of this house right now, is that you are a good friend to her." Ron didn't look at Scorpius as he spoke. As he turned to march back inside the house, he stopped to clap Scorpius on the shoulder. "She hasn't slept in days." Ron meant it as a thank you to Scorpius for helping rose but he did not want to say the actual words. He thought again of the image that he originally disliked of Rose lying peacefully asleep, hand in hand with a Malfoy who rested his head so close to hers while surrounded by tissues. "She hasn't been able to openly grieve, for too long now. You helped her." With a nod, Ron stormed back to the house and left Scorpius looking bewildered.

Once Ron got back to his room, he sat on the bed and held Hermione.

"Rose slept for a few hours, and she's been crying. I think Scorpius has helped her to understand that she can grieve."

Hermione looked at him and gave a small smile, the first he had seen in weeks. "You called him Scorpius."

Ron shrugged. "Yeah, but just this once. Well, I guess this weekend he hasn't been as bad as I thought." his factly suddenly turned hard and his knuckles went white as he made a fist. "But the moment he hurts my Rosie-"

"I know. And I'll be there with you making sure he never hurts her again, but while she still counts him as close enough to help her be herself, we have to accept him."

They sat in silence and listened to the birds singing outside.

"Are you ready for today?"

Hermione sighed "As ready as I'll ever be. At least my dad will be well looked after. This is so hard, I'll miss her so much."

"We all will."

Meanwhile Scorpius had returned to the living room to sit on the floor and watch Rose sleep, daring not to wake her up. He heard her family waking up and coming down to breakfast, hoping that they would be quiet. In fact they were, barely anyone spoke as they were all in too much grief to talk about much else but the funeral.

Albus walked in, saw Scorpius comforting a sleeping Rose and backed out again, knowing that his cousin was in safe hands.

When Rose woke up it was 8am. She had slept for 5 solid hours. The living room was empty and there was a piece of toast and a mug of tea still warm on a stool in front of her. She sat up slowly and a few used tissues fell off her. She remembered Scorpius and his support last night and smiled a little.

She looked at the clock, the funeral started in half an hour and she knew that her family would probably already be there and waiting for her to arrive. There was some floo powder left for her. She ran upstairs to change into her black robes after scoffing down the toast and spilling most of her tea on her pjs. Once she returned to the living room she realised Scorpius was sitting by the fireplace waiting.

"I was in the kitchen, waiting for- but then I heard you go up so I came in here to wait- are you ok?" Scorpius stopped his stuttering explanation when he saw that there were pools in Rose's eyes threatening to spill. Today she refused to hide her emotions, today she was going to mourn for her grandmother.

"I don't know." her voice wobbled. "This is going to be really hard."

"Yes it is."

"Ok." she took a deep breath, then stood in the fire place.

They each took a handful of floo powder and stood in the fireplace. Rose took hold of Scorpius's hand. And they disappeared into the green smoke.

The funeral was short and most people cried. Some muggle friends and family were also there, but they were too sad to notice that the majority were dressed in wizard robes rather than muggle clothing. Ginny ended up staying with the rest of the adults to help move Mr Granger's belongings while Molly and Arthur Weasley took their grandchildren and Scorpius back to their home to get changed then return to Hogsmeade via the floo network again.

On the walk back up to the castle, Rose hung back with Hugo, who stilled looked miserable.

"Hugo, are you going to be ok? Do you need to go back to grandpa Weasley's house for a few days?"

"No." he finally spoke for the first time in days. "I'll be ok, school will help keep me busy and I won't think about grandma as much."

"But we can't forget her, we have to remember her as she was, not as the frail woman near the end who could barely speak."

"I know. I'm just not as strong as you Rosie." Hugo used the nickname her parents usually called her. This showed Rose that he was feeling especially vulnerable and weak. "I mean I haven't seen you cry since the time I was trying to ride a broomstick and I collided into you."

"You broke my arm if I remember correctly." Rose muttered. "But, it- it helps to let someone in. I mean, cry in front of someone you know won't judge you and will be content just to sit and hold you while you need it, to listen when you pour out your emotions and then help you get back to your normal self."

"Like Scorpius did for you?"

Rose looked ahead at Scorpius, James, Albus and Lily, walking not too far away. If they were silent, she guessed they could overhear their conversation. And she was right, the four of them were listening in to see if their grieving friends were going to be alright.

"Yeah, and I'm sure Lily is ready to do the same." Rose said as she pulled her brother in for a hug from the side.

END OF MAY/START OF JUNE

The rest of February went pretty quickly, when valentines came James received piles of letters and chocolates which he ended up sharing with his cousins on a lazy Saturday morning then spent the rest of the day with his new girlfriend. March and April sped past even faster and soon it was the end of May. Students all over the castle were preparing for exams.

Rose was sitting at the Slytherin table at breakfast as their head of house was handing out the exam timetables. She looked up and saw Professor Longbottom was also handing out timetables to those on the Gryffindor table. She was excited and stood to rush off so fast that she didn't notice her orange juice spill all over Albus' toast and drip on to his lap.

The sound of Albus complaining forced Longbottom to look up at the Slytherin table, their head of house only rolled his eyes and completely ignored the mess. Longbottom flicked his wand and Albus was dry, his toast, however was still soggy. This distraction led to him almost crashing into Rose who was running towards him at an alarming pace.

"Rose!" Longbottom warned as he quickly moved out of the way.

"Sorry Professor. Do you have my exam timetable?"

"Yes yes, one moment." He turned to look through his floating pile of papers.

Rose turned to see Hugo and the rest of her cousins staring at their timetables. Apart from James who was too busy talking to some girl to notice the timetable had been given to him. Hugo looked alarmed and Lily was working out how many days she had left to revise.

"This is impossible!" Hugo exclaimed

"I know! There simply aren't enough days to revise." Lily started to panic.

"You'll do fine." Professor Longbottom sympathised with his students. "I remember my first year of exams, I only scraped through, my good Herbology grade making up for my abysmal Potions one." he gave an encouraging smile as he handed Rose her timetable.

She returned to the Slytherin table to study her own timetable.

Monday: Transfiguration. Charms. Study of Ancient Runes.

Tuesday: Care of Magical Creatures. Potions.

Wednesday: History of Magic. Herbology.

Thursday: Defence Against the Dark Arts.

Rose sighed as she wedged herself between Scorpius and Albus. "Well at least I only have one exam on the Thursday."

Albus looked over at Rose's paper, and then at his own.

Monday: Transfiguration. Charms.

Tuesday: Potions.

Wednesday: History of Magic. Herbology.

Thursday: Defence Against the Dark Arts. Divination. Muggle Studies.

"Great, that's the one day I have more than one exam, I won't be able to relax straight away." Albus grumbled.

"That's not true." Rose said in a cheerful tone which made Albus perk up and smile. "Look, you have two exams on the Monday."

Albus laid his head on the table and moaned loudly. Scorpius and Rose smiled at their friend's over exaggerated dismay.

"Let's see yours then Scorpius." Albus looked up long enough to ask before hitting his head against the table once more.

"It's not very different from Rose's. But here."

Monday: Transfiguration. Charms.

Tuesday: Care of Magical Creatures. Potions,

Wednesday: History of Magic. Herbology.

Thursday: Defence Against the Dark Arts. Muggle Studies.

"Oh, I only have two exams each day." Scorpius added happily. This made Albus groan louder at his bad luck.

Rose chuckled. "We'll be ok, it's only three exams for one day. It'll be over before you know it."

"Easy for you to say! You're a genius!" Albus exclaimed.

"No I'm not. You'll be fine, we'll all revise together in the library." Rose put an encouraging hand on her cousin's shoulder.

On the Saturday night before the week of exams, the trio were in the library. This is where they had spent most of their free time for the past few weeks and the sight of the same four walls covered in thick books day in and day out was starting to get to Albus. That, and exam nerves.

"Hey Albus," Rose put her hand softly on Albus which made him physically jump. "Why don't you go to bed. You've stared at the same page of notes for the past hour. I think you've got all the information on the freezing charm that you possibly can, plus you've tried it out on Lily so many times, I think you'll be ok."

"Yeah, I guess." Albus stood. "What about you?"

"I'm staying here for a bit longer, I just want to go over the numbers for my Ancient Runes exam a few more times" Rose chewed her lip and flicked through her book

"Well, have fun. What about you Scorpius? Are you going to bed or staying here with Rose?"

Scorpius looked up from his transfiguration book and looked at Rose who looked messier than ever. The stress of revision was making her more agitated and for the second time he had known her, she was loosing sleep.

"I think I'll stay for an hour or so."

"Right, goodnight you two." Albus gave a lazy wave and trudged off to bed.

Rose sat for a few minutes reading her notes and mumbling while Scorpius watched her. She suddenly started panicking, looking under every book and piece of paper that surrounded her on the desk.

"What are you looking for?"

"There's just this book I got out the other day." Rose's voice trailed off. "It really helped me, I'm not sure if I returned it or not." She stood and started scouring the book shelves until she stopped, looked up and saw it to a top shelf, she moaned. "Well this sucks."

Scorpius stood behind her, he was about a head taller, and spotted the book she needed. He reached up to get it for her, but even he couldn't reach.

"Well, thanks for trying." Rose grunted as she pulled a stool closer to the shelf. She found that, even with the stool, she couldn't reach the book.

Scorpius bent down and lifted her on his shoulders. She was a bit shaky and alarmed that this had been his first idea. Once Rose had steadied herself by holding on to the shelves, she grabbed the book and looked around the library. There were still a few students up and they were all looking at Rose on Scorpius's shoulders.

"People are looking." she whispered down to him

"Let them."

Rose climbed down and found her self flat against the book case, with Scorpius facing her. They were so close. She was breathing heavily.

"Umm, thanks." she nodded and waved the book.

"Yeah," Scorpius cleared his throat. "I thought- I didn't think- yeah- you're welcome."

"You know, I could've used a summoning charm or a levitation charm."

"We don't learn summoning charms until our fourth year." Scorpius's mouth was getting dry and his heart was racing faster and faster, they hadn't really been so close to each other since their kiss in the previous year. She smelt like daises and new parchment. He smelt like peppermint and old books.

"Oh yeah," Rose forced a small laugh.

"I should go to bed." Scorpius rushed out the sentence, he felt that if he stayed this close to her any longer, he wouldn't be able to breath.

"I'll see you in the morning then."

Scorpius took a step back. As he picked up his belongings, he asked, "Do you want me to stay and test you on your ancient runes numbers?"

"Oh, actually," Rose looked at the book she had just retrieved and saw that she had picked up the wrong one. Her ears went a slight shade of pink, embarrassed at her own stupidity because she had been so flustered. "Well, I was thinking of going up to bed myself." She began to put all her own belongings in her bag.

"Why don't I walk you to your common room and I can test you as we walk." Scorpius sheepishly asked, wanting to spend more time with her.

However, on their walk to the Gryffindor dormitories they did not talk about their exams or revision, instead they got to talking about the small things that they didn't know about each other.

"I don't know what you mean, we know lots about each other."

"Not really."

"Like what? What do you want to know?"

"You know, the small things that make up a person."

Rose giggled, which surprised herself as she had forgotten all of her stress, although Scorpius himself was also surprising. "Scorpius, I've never seen you so chatty."

He shrugged. "I guess you just bring it out of me, you're easy to talk to. So, what's your favourite colour?"

Rose frowned. He rarely ever spoke so much in front of her, then how could it be that she 'brought it out of him.'? She shook her head and answered. "Ok, I would have to say green. A dark but vibrant green, like gillyweed. What's your favourite colour?"

"Red, well not red, more an orange red like the colour of a Pheonix feather."

Rose smiled at his enthusiasm. They had arrived at the fat lady painting. "Thanks Scorpius, for helping me relax after revising for so long. I'll see you tomorrow." Rose yawned and turned to give the password to the fat lady.

Scorpius whispered a goodnight and looked at the clock in the corridor, he had about two minutes to get to the Slytherin dormitories before curfew ended or the care taker would have a go at him. So he ran, which he found surprisingly easy despite his tiredness and the heavy bag of books. A relaxing few minutes alone with Rose had given him some new found energy.

Once he got to his dormitory, he found that Albus was still awake, reading his transfiguration text book.

"Hey Scorpius." Albus shut his book and put it on his nightstand. "I assumed you'd be longer."

"That's what I thought but, well, we were tired and Rose looked stressed."

The boys said goodnight and both slept soundly. Rose on the other hand stayed awake in bed for a few more hours, staring out the window. She thought of the fun, however brief, time alone with Scorpius. She thought that if that became a regular occurrence, she might just find herself liking him a lot more.

THURSDAY. LAST DAY OF EXAMS

Rose had just finished her defence against the dark arts exam and was lying on the grass next to the lake. It was sunny with a cool breeze and Rose was enjoying her time to relax, knowing that all her exams were over, she could worry about how they went tomorrow if she really had to. She was waiting for Albus who must have been half way through his divination exam and Scorpius who was doing some extra last minute revision for their muggle studies exam which was straight after. Rose knew that she was going to be on her own for a few hours.

Rose heard foot steps behind her and that person groaned as they sat next to her. She squinted open one eye to see a boy from her year which she kind of recognised.

"Umm, hi." the nervous boy said while not daring to look Rose in the eye.

She sat up and looked at him expectantly, waiting for an introduction of some sort as she didn't think that they had ever spoken to one another.

"Hi?" Rose politely responded

"Oh, s-sorry." they boy nervously stuttered "Y-you probably don't know my name. I'm F-Felix Stirling. Robin's twin brother, I'm in Hufflepuff."

Rose still was a bit confused as to how she had never met him before.

"We were in the same potions class together last year. I was the kid that made the best hair-raising potion and your friend, Philomela Abel-Roy's hair wouldn't go down for a week."

Rose laughed at the memory, "Oh yeah, I remember. Nice to finally speak to you Felix." She stuck out her hand for a firm handshake.

The boy shook it and a wide smile spread across his face.

"So, I guess you're finished with all your exams this year." Felix said as he sat next to Rose. His bag made a loud thump as he dropped it next to him.

"Yep, I'm free. What about you?" Rose grinned.

"Oh, I've got one more exam today."

"That's right, I remember at the start of the year Finely told me that you take muggle studies."

Rose could hear a sniggering from behind her. She snapped her head around to see Mae Blinston, a Slytherin girl who had always laughed at her behind her back,

Felix's face lit up with glee once more. "You know what subjects I take?"

"Well, no, I only know that you take mu-"

"That's so kind of you!" Felix interrupted Rose with his surprise. "You noticed me even before we met! You're such a kind and smart person Rose, I actually can't believe you're taking time to actually talk to me."

"Well, I'm not that great, but thanks, I guess." Rose was a bit overwhelmed by Felix's praise.

Felix had had a crush on Rose all year, and because he had never spoken to her, he made assumptions of her personality based on what little he saw of her. And in his head, he created his own perfect girl whom he assumed was the real Rose.

"So, you've got your muggle studies exam in a little bit." Rose said after an awkward silence where Felix just stared at her. "Do you want me to help you do some last minute revision?"

"Oh! That would be great, let me just get my book out." Felix started to rummage around his large rucksack. "This is so nice of you Rose."

"I'm just trying to make this conversation go somewhere." Rose mumbled to herself as she looked across the peaceful lake which glimmered in the sunshine. When Felix gave her a muggle studies text book, she spoke up. "I'll go to a random page and test you on something."

And that's how Rose spent the last hour of peaceful time on her own, helping someone else revise. She didn't mind, it was just that she would rather be asleep in the sun without some awkward person staring at her and smiling at her every word.

Felix was just answering a question about muggle transport, when Rose spotted Scorpius and Albus exiting the building and walking towards the exam hall. Rose dropped the muggle studies book and ran over to them. Felix was left staring after her, then he packed his bag and slowly made his way to catch up.

"Hey Rose!" Albus greeted his cousin with a smile.

"Hey. How was your second exam of the day?" she clung on for normal conversation without awkwardness.

Albus shrugged. "Divination went ok. I haven't had a chance to think about it as I have just spent the last ten minutes doing Muggle Studies revision with Scorpius."

"I've been doing the same." Rose groaned which gained her a confused look from Scorpius and Albus. "Felix Stirling," Rose turned to see that the boy in question was still making his way towards the trio. "Hufflepuff, in our year. Actually, he's in your muggle studies class. He came to talk to me and I ended up helping him revise."

"Ooh fun." Albus sarcastically smirked.

"He's not a bad guy, he's ok. He's just a bit awkward." Rose shrugged.

And Scorpius knew why, because Felix had a crush on Rose, Lloyd had told him earlier in the year. Scorpius couldn't help but feel a twinge of jealousy and dislike towards Felix, however he hid this.

Felix had finally caught up to the trio.

"Hi Rose, me again."

"Oh hey, look I'm sorry I dropped your book and ran off." Rose sympathised when she saw that he was still happy to see her even though what she had down was quite selfish. "I just wanted to wish these guys good luck before they went to their exam." Rose patted Felix on the shoulder. "And good luck to you too."

"Thanks Rose." Felix grinned. "Can I talk to you privately before I go into my exam?"

Rose looked at Albus and Scorpius, who were pretending not to be listening to the conversation.

"Umm, sure. Lets go over here." Rose led Felix a few steps away from her friends.

"Well, I was wondering if," Felix was obviously nervous. "Well, would you like to, and you don't have to, but well…"

"What is it?" Rose calmly asked even though his stuttering was making her impatient

"Would, would you- only if you want to- do you want to meet up during the holidays? I mean, we could go and get an ice-cream in diagon alley or something."

Rose was surprised at his request, she tried not to show this. She was tempted to say no because just sitting with him for an hour was so awkward, but he was nice, and it took a lot of courage for him to ask her and he seemed to like her so she felt pressured to accept. Plus he was about to go into an exam, she couldn't very well upset him now.

"Sure, it'll be nice." Rose weakly smiled

"Ok!" Felix was over the moon. "I'll send you a letter soon, and we can arrange the date!"

Felix happily ran off to his exam and Rose turned to see that Albus and Scorpius had slowly edged their way towards Rose during that conversation. They had heard everything.

Rose rolled her eyes. "He's about to go into an exam! I couldn't say no!" She sighed "It is going to be really awkward." She looked at her cousin who found this amusing. She gently kicked him and Albus's smug smile went. "Now go to your exam."

Albus sniggered and left with Scorpius, who was still silent.

"Good luck!" Rose called after them before finding a tree to sit under. Exhausted from all her exams and late nights doing last minute revision all week, she fell asleep for twenty minutes before going up to her dormitory to pack.

ON THE TRAIN HOME

Hugo had finally returned to his usual self, with the help of Lily, and was found sitting on his own in a compartment before the train had left the station in Hogsmeade.

Rose had walked in, talking to Scorpius and Albus behind her.

"Hugo found a place to sit." she called back to them.

"Rose, can I talk to you for a sec." Hugo sounded upset. This confused Rose as she had not seen him like this in quite a few weeks.

"Sure. Hey Al, can you save this compartment, me and Hugo will just be outside for a bit."

Once outside, Hugo spoke in a panicked voice.

"Oh Rose, I don't know how to do this! I feel so guilty!" Hugo spoke quickly.

Rose held him in a hug which seemed to calm him down.

"What's wrong?"

"Grandma, I haven't thought about her in weeks! I've just been busy I guess, which makes me feel guilty." He paced back and forth fidgeting.

"Hugo, she would have wanted us to move on and not mourn her 24/7. It's good that you have been able to focus on other things, I guess exams are helpful in that way."

"Well, there's that, plus, since as long as I can remember, we've always spent a week every summer at their house. Now what will we do?"

"We'll go to the Burrow and visit grandpa Granger and our Weasley grandparents at the same time."

"Oh, yeah." Hugo chuckled. "It'll be nice for him, he won't be completely alone without grandma."

"I wonder how he'll do living in a wizard house?"

They both laughed at the mental image as Hugo let go of her hug."You're a good sister, did you know that?"

"Yes, yes I did." Rose chuckled. And the siblings got back on the train, they still had ten minutes before the train left.

Meanwhile in the compartment, Scorpius and Albus sat talking about their exams by the window, when Felix Stirling walked in.

"Is Rose going to sit in here with you? Can I join you guys?" he didn't wait for any answer before sitting down next to Scorpius.

Albus could see his friend's growing annoyance as the three boys sat in silence. He was relieved when James walked in.

James didn't notice the stranger next to Scorpius at first and plonked himself down next to Albus. He was sulking.

"Guess what." he sighed as he lazily turned his head to look at his brother.

"Some girl broke up with you."Albus didn't sound surprised

"Jenny told everyone already!" James seemed outraged, but it was obvious that he was only slightly angry.

"I thought it was Milly."

"No we broke up about a month ago. So how did you find out about Jenny?"

Albus shrugged and Scorpius answered, still looking annoyed that Felix was there. "We overheard some girl-."

"I heard them too. Some girls squealing that James Potter was single again. Couldn't not hear it just as we were exiting our Muggle Studies exam yesterday." Felix interrupted excitedly.

Scorpius scowled at Felix, who didn't notice as he was looking at James, then turned back to look out the window.

James, for the first time, noticed Felix. He leaned between Albus and Scorpius and quietly asked, "Who's the eager beaver?"

Felix did look excitable, from his wide eyes, big grin and the fact that he sat upright and on the edge of his seat.

"I'm Felix Stirling. I'm in Hufflepuff and I'm a friend of Rose."

James looked back at Albus to confirm this.

"He has a crush on her and literally only just talked to her for the first time ever, yesterday." he whispered. James nodded and the noticed that Scorpius was looking annoyed.

"So, why are you here Stirling?" James didn't cut corners and asked him directly.

"Oh, well I thought I'd sit with Rose." Felix was not disheartened by James' direct rudeness. "You see, we're going to meet up during the holidays and I really want to get to know her."

"No kidding." James mumbled and relaxed into his seat. "Well, we've also got Hugo and Lilly coming here along with Rose, so you might need to move, or better yet get out, so there's room for them."

Felix nodded. "That's ok, I just wanted to see Rose again before we left."

James was confused by the lack of offence that Felix was taking.

They sat in silence again.

"So Stirling, you're in Albus's year." James started a conversation again.

Felix eagerly nodded in reply.

"So, you know Finley Norwid."

"Actually, it's Norwood, and yes he's in my dorm-"

"I could've sworn his name was Norwid." James muttered to Albus, who just shrugged. He turn back to Felix and smirked. "I see, you're friends with the kid that my cousin caked in mud."

Felix looked perplexed. His image of a perfect girl that Rose was, became distorted in his mind. "Well, I guess. But Rose is a very kind and smart and generous and nice person, she can't have meant to hurt him or anyone else for that matter."

James nodded and scoffed. "Yeah sure, very mild our Rose." his sarcastic comment was lost on Felix. James turned to mutter to Albus "Although I wouldn't get on her bad side. Even if my life was hanging in the balance."

"Your life would be hanging in the balance." Albus made Scorpius smile briefly.

Lily skipped in , but her mood suddenly dulled a bit when she noticed a stranger. She quietly sat down next to James and warily watched Felix. Lily searched her brothers and Scorpius for an explanation.

"This is, someone Stirling." James answered as he sighed, he was also getting annoyed that a stranger sat with them. "He thinks that he's a friend of Rose."

"Oh, but I am a friend of Rose."

Scorpius and James rolled their eyes.

"Well," Lily apprehensively spoke to Felix after seeing the two boys's reaction to him, but Albus didn't seem to care. "I'm Rose's cousin, my name-"

"Is Lily." Felix again interrupted. "I know who you all are, I've seen you with Rose."

The three others in the compartment looked worried. Hugo and Rose walked in.

"Rose!" Felix stood to greet her, accidentally getting in the way so that Scorpius, Albus, James and Lily couldn't see their cousins and Rose and Hugo couldn't enter the compartment. "Hi."

"Umm, hi Felix. What are you doing here?" Rose tried not to sound rude.

"You're so modest. I just came to say goodbye to you, my friend, and have a nice summer!" Felix held her hand and squeezed it. He took a step closer and whispered into her ear, "We'll have a great date this summer, no need to worry about it, I'll see you then." And he gave her the biggest grin she had ever seen and practically skipped out of the compartment.

Of course, the compartment was so small and absolutely full of people, so they all heard exactly what Felix had whispered to Rose. She stood there, frozen. Alarmed that Felix had read more into her brief kindness than she had meant. Hugo managed to squeeze past Rose and sat next to Scorpius, who's mood had improved slightly since Felix had left.

James whistled at Rose, which snapped her out of her worried trance. She spun around to face her family and Scorpius. She still didn't speak, her mouth just opened and closed like a goldfish. Hugo moved so that there was a gap between himself and Scorpius, he patted the seat and took hold of Rose's hand to guide her to the seat. Hugo wrapped one arm around her.

They all sat in silence.

Until Lily broke it a few minutes later.

"So James, Jenny broke up with you." She stated, trying to start a conversation.

James groaned, "How did you find out?"

"Jenny told Rory Green, who's a year above her, because she has a crush on him, he told Anjelica Gully to make her jealous but she didn't care because Jenny is, like two years younger than her and Anjelica is so over Rory. Then Anjelica told her brother, Gregg, who is in your year, James. And he told his friend Grant Hathaway, who is in Gryffindor, in the same year as Al, and he told some guy called Parkinson who told Rory Green, who already knew and he flipped out in the library because he's still annoyed that Anjelica is over him and because of the fact that Jenny has a crush on him didn't make Anjelica jealous. Daniel Leyton and Finely Norwood, those guys who Rose caked in mud, overheard Rory's little outburst and they told Robin Stirling, that guy Felix's twin sister, she's in Ravenclaw. Then Robin told Philomela, who is in the same dorm as Rose, and Philomela told me."

James blinked at Lily.

"You know that I stopped listening half way through, right?"

"Yeah, I know." Lily sighed and Hugo crossed to sit next to her, which squished Albus right into the corner by the window. Albus could barely move.

"I was listening Lil's" Hugo encouraged.

Albus wriggled out of the corner and marched in a huff to sit next to Rose on the other side of the compartment.

"Rose, are you over the shock yet?" Albus asked cautiously

"What shock? Oh, you meant the shock I just had with Felix. No, not over that yet. You meant the shock that I've got a date with some awkward guy I just met yesterday, who seems to know an awful lot about me, and you guys. Right that shock, yeah. No. That was a shock though, right? I mean I barely know him and out of pity I agree to meet up with him and he turns it into a date! I mean I'm only 14 I shouldn't be going on proper dates!" Rose spoke so quickly that no one could completely understand what she was saying.

"Umm, Rose, you're starting to ramble like Lily when she gossips." Hugo smirked

"Or like Albus when he worries or like Albus when he's confused or like Albus when he's-" James interrupted

"Yeah yeah, ha ha, very funny. We get it James, I talk a lot." Albus rolled his eyes.

Scorpius smiled, this family was so amusing to him.

"Are you up for coming with us to the beach again this year?" Albus excitedly asked Scorpius.

"Of course, if your parents don't mind."

James and Lily shrugged and smiled.

"It's fine, they don't mind you." Albus answered,

"Right, I'm going to find Lorcan." James stood and left.

"Are you going to come this year?" Albus turned to ask Rose and Hugo.

The siblings looked at each other.

"Well, I guess. Probably, but we'll have to ask our parents." Hugo hesitated to answer, he wanted to go but he didn't want to get their hopes up.

"Hey! Your parents might come along too!" Lily added happily.

Scorpius slumped a little bit, he knew that Rose's dad didn't particularly like him, which would put a damper on the whole trip. Rose seemed to notice this and whispered to him. No one else noticed as Albus had started rambling about how outraged he was to have three exams on one day.

"My dad probably won't come. The day the Potter's go to the beach is one of the rare days off that my uncle Harry takes off, which means that work starts to pile up for my dad so he has to stay late just to complete it all." Rose had to reassure Scorpius' concerned face. "Which is ok, because my uncle Harry has to do all the work when dad takes a week off to visit my muggle grandp-" Rose slowed down as she fully realised what Hugo had been feeling earlier, that it was the end of an era, no longer could they just pop up to visit their muggle grandparents. That was the week that they could fully appreciate what they had and take a week off from magic. It was also a time of education, where Hermione taught them all about muggle lifestyles.

Scorpius gave Rose's hand a squeeze and softly smiled.

"It's ok, I'll come. And I hope you will too."

SCORPIUS AND HIS FAMILY RETURNING HOME AFTER A WEEK IN BELGIUM WITH THE PARKINSONS

The Malfoy family were just finishing their dinner in the usual large house by the Canal, each year they stayed in a distant relative's home while the relative themselves stayed in Malfoy Manor, visiting Lucius and Narcissa. The small family did not know the relative well but were grateful for the getaway.

Pansy Parkinson and her son Lloyd also joined them for the last evening.

The room was quiet except for the occasional scrape of a fork on a plate and the small crackle of the fire. Scorpius and Lloyd glared at one another from opposite sides of the table, Pansy smiled at Draco whenever he looked up, he however did not notice her and was focused on eating and making mental notes of what he had left to pack and reminding himself where the portkey they would use to get home was located. Astoria, who usually scowled at Pansy at meal times, was instead glancing at the clock every few minutes.

When the clock stroke 7pm, she stood and addressed Draco. "My dear, we must leave."

Draco looked like a dear caught in headlights, he looked around the table to see that Scorpius was also eager to leave. He ignored Pansy's desperately disappointed face.

"Of course." He nodded politely to his guests, then whispered to Astoria. "Shouldn't we wait a little bit? Just leaving would be rude to our guests."

"Nonsense." Astoria spoke loud enough so that all could hear. "We're all staying in the same house, we can leave anytime that we want today." She leaned in to whisper to Draco, "Plus, there's that surprise for," she tilted her head to indicate that she was speaking of Scorpius.

"Yes, you're quite right. Good evening to you both," he once again turned to his guests. "I wish you a pleasant journey home, and we shall see you at Platform 9 3/4 I expect. Come now Scorpius."

Draco and Astoria linked arms and began to leave, Scorpius quickly got up and hurried out of the room ahead of them. He knew his mother would freak if she knew that he had only half packed, being an underaged wizard made packing excruciatingly dull.

"Oh, but Draco," Pansy stood at her place and called for him. He turned to look at her, still linked arm in arm with Astoria. "Why wait until the train journey home? We could visit you at your home any time, I know how Scorpius loves to practise quidditch with my Lloyd."

Draco sighed. "Very well, we'll arrange a day in a few weeks time. But for now, goodbye and I hope you enjoyed your annual holiday with us." He politely nodded and left without waiting for an answer.

Pansy slumped back into her chair and watched Lloyd finish his glass of pumpkin juice.

"Do you actually get along with Scorpius?"

"Well mother, I know he doesn't care much for me."

"Why don't you make more of an effort? Hang around with him more or something."

"He has those other friends who also do not take kindly to me. Potters and Weasleys."

"Oh yes, you said before. It's a shame really that you aren't in his year. You may have been able to keep him away from them."

Lloyd gave his mother a long suffering look. "Well, that's not my fault."

"Don't you use that tone with me!" Pansy snapped then slumped again. "You've been spending too much time with your father. By the way, you'll be living with him for the next week. As soon as we get home, Blaise should be there to pick you up."

Lloyd rolled his eyes then went off to finish packing.

Scorpius was in the entrance hall with Astoria, waiting for Draco to finish the double check that they had packed everything.

"Don't get me wrong, I was glad to leave early, but I don't understand why. You usually love our holidays to Belgium as it's the only time you get away from my grandparents. I'm just surprised that you wanted to go home any earlier than we have to."

"Don't question me Scorpius, we just need to be home as soon as possible and you need to be well rested."

"Well rested? For what?"

Astoria managed to get out of answering as Draco had arrived with his suitcase floating behind him.

"Are we ready?" he looked at his family who nodded in answer. "Very well then, our portkey is that blue umbrella. Hold on and we'll go." he pointed to an old umbrella way lay dusty in a corner by the front door.

Once they had arrived home, Astoria sent Scorpius straight up to bed without evening allowing a quick hello to his grandparents. 'You'll see them tomorrow morning, even if it is for a brief moment.' was her only explanation.

It was almost 10pm by the time Scorpius was ready for bed and, although it was late, he wasn't very tired and decided that Albus would probably be awake so he sent his friend a quick letter.

Albus

Just wanted to say hello and that I'm back home from Belgium. My mum acting suspicious and sent me straight to bed as I need to be 'well rested' for something tomorrow which she won't explain. I'll write to you tomorrow and tell you what it is, that is if I have a chance. Who knows what is going on. Last time she was this secretive, her surprise was that she had invited Lloyd to stay over all week to make my half term less dull, she didn't understand that I like dull.

You don't have to answer this, I know it's a bit late, just send Vincent back, he'll probably go hunting before he comes home.

Anyway, can't wait to go to the beach with you and your family next week!

Scorpius

Scorpius went to Vincent's cage to see that the owl was still awake, the poor guy had been stuck in his cage for a week with his grandmother feeding him dried food from a box. Vincent was eager to stretch his wings and was happy to see Scorpius home. Once his owl had left, Scorpius left his window open so that Vincent could get in. Then he went to bed and slept soundly, dreaming of what fun he might have next week with his friends.

He was woken up by someone shouting on the first floor so loudly that he could hear it in his room on the third floor. Scorpius grabbed his dressing gown and hurriedly put it on as he ran down to see what was going on. As he was coming down the last flight of stairs, a red mass of hair scurried past him in a blur. Scorpius rubbed his eyes, perhaps he imagined the shouting?

"Oh, dear, you're up." Astoria saw he son sitting bewildered on the bottom step. "Come to the kitchen, Petit has made some breakfast."

"Petit made breakfast for us?"

"Yes, well, your grandfather is in one of his moods where no one can tell him anything. He's been especially harsh to poor Petit this morning."

Someone was shouting again, Scorpius recognised it as his grandfather. He asked his mother what the shouting was about.

"Oh, that, like I said he's in one of his moods. And he's just not happy that certain people are within his household." Astoria rolled her eyes and led a even more confused Scorpius to the kitchen.

What he saw there was a shock. Sitting at the long table in the kitchen was Rose, Hugo, Albus, Lily, James and Ginny. All happily talking amongst themselves, ignoring the outraged shout of Lucius.

"Scorpius! Nice to see that you're awake." Albus smirked and walked over to his friend to give him a pat on the shoulder.

"Grandad actually let Weasley's into the house?" was all Scorpius could say.

Astoria scoffed. "Your grandfather doesn't do anything but sit in that armchair in their parlour and complain. I think I've earned more right than him to allow friends of my son to enter my home." She turned to the house elf who was bringing her a mug of tea. "Thank you Petit, but you really didn't have to." Her voice was more sympathetic towards the poor creature.

There was another shout from the large downstairs parlour.

"Sorry, Petit, I think grandfather is calling you." Scorpius gave a small kindhearted smile to the house elf.

Rose saw this and her original disgust that Scorpius owned a house elf melted a little bit. But only a little, she had seen enough of her mother's research on the mistreatment of elves pinned around her office in the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures at the Ministry of Magic. She decided to let it slip for now and just be happy that Scorpius was coming.

She could have a go at him later.

Once Petit had left, Scorpius stood awkwardly looking at his friends.

"I'm guessing you haven't told him yet?" Ginny finally spoke up.

Astoria sat at the head of the table and grinned. "I thought it might be a nice surprise."

"Mother?"

"Well," Ginny answered for her. "We've decided to extend our beach day to a three day trip. If you like, and your mum has already given you permission, you can come with us now or just meet us at the beach on Saturday."

Scorpius couldn't hide his happiness. His face broke out into the widest grin. "If you're sure you want me there-"

"Of course we do mate!" Albus chimed in as his siblings and cousins all spoke at once saying similar things.

"Then its agreed." Ginny smiled. "You will come with us today, once you're packed, stay the night at our house, then we'll all go to the beach for our three-day beach holiday. I hope you don't mind camping."

Scorpius was ecstatic, "I've got to pack!" He had never been camping and he couldn't wait to go. He ran upstairs, forgetting his manners and Albus and Rose followed him.

"Thank you so much Mrs Potter, are you sure this won't be too much for you?" Astoria poured Ginny another cup of tea.

"I think I'll be alright, Harry won't be there. But I've seen my mum raise seven children, I think I can handle six."

"But, are you sure? Why can't Mr Potter go?"

"Well," Ginny sighed and rolled her eyes, remembering her earlier conversation with her husband. "Some people can be slightly unorganised and are unable to finish their work in time to book days off." Ginny smiled at the concerned woman. "It will be ok. I can handle anything, besides, Scorpius is so polite and my children and my niece and nephew get along with him so well, that I don't think there will be any problems." Then she rolled her eyes again as she added "If there is to be any arguing, it will probably be between my own three."

Lily and James gave looks of mock outrage.

"Mother!" James was overdoing his sarcasm which gained him laughs from both Lily and Hugo. "Well, I am shocked! I'm a responsible young man, I should think you raised me well enough not to indulge in the annoyance of my little siblings." then he rubbed Lily's hair, messing it all up.

"James!" Lily growled as she tried to put her hair back in place. Hugo tried to hide his laughter because Lily started to scowl at him too.

Ginny sighed, "I guess having just one child is a bit easier." She smiled as the three children stopped scowling and had a normal conversation.

"One child still isn't too easy. But try having to live your parents-in-law who are not anti-muggle or pro-pureblood but are still quite conservative."

Meanwhile, in Scorpius's room, the young boy was excitedly packing while Rose and Albus looked around.

"You're room is massive! I'm afraid you'll have to share a room with me tonight." Albus was staring out the huge window which faced the large gardens as he leaned on the window seat which could easily fit an adult lying down.

"Yeah, and the tent is pretty big but you'll have to have a cramped bunk bed." Rose commented as she marvels at the sheer size of his desk.

"It's ok, I've never been camping and I'm really looking forward to it." Scorpius sat on his suitcase to try and close it.

"This would be easier with magic." Albus grumbled while he helped Scorpius struggle with the suitcase.

Rose flopped on to the bed. "So, you have a house elf." She tried to say casually but both boys new that she extremely disliked it.

"Yeah, well, no. Petit is my grandparent's house elf, they said she was a wedding gift to my parents, but mum was against it all and dad didn't know how to refuse the gift without making my grandparents hating my mum more than they already do." Scorpius said uninterestedly as he continued to close the buckles on the suitcase.

"So why not set her free?" Rose was annoyed at his excuse

"That would extremely offend my grandparents."

Scorpius and Albus then cheered as the suitcase closed. They both flopped on to the bed next to Rose. "We told Petit that she didn't have to do anything for us, that she can just live here, but my grandparents now order her around so she didn't really escape, plus she's so eager to help that we seriously can't stop her."

Rose rolled her eyes, she still wasn't satisfied with his answer, but it would have to do if they were going to have a harmonious time at the beach.

They used the floo network to get back to the Potter residence, before Scorpius left he decided to poke his head into his grandparents parlour to say goodbye. His grandfather called him a traitor to all the family, and that Weasley's or anyone related to them were not welcome within ten miles of Malfoy manner. Astoria overheard this and told Lucius to get off his high horse and start to accept others. This is when an agreement broke out and Scorpius slipped away to follow Rose into the fireplace.

FRIDAY MORNING

Scorpius slept soundly on a mattress on the floor in Albus' room. At around 6am he was shaken awake by Hugo. He realised that, despite the rough shoving, Scorpius had the nicer wake up call as Albus had a bucket of water dumped over him by James and Rose.

"MERLIN'S BEARD!" Albus shouted as he sat bolt upright.

His cousins and siblings couldn't stop laughing at him.

"WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT?!" Albus was still shouting. "Shoot." he suddenly whispered, "Have I woken up mum and dad?"

Once the rest had finished laughing, Rose answered.

"Nah, your dad has been up for about half an hour and he's about to go to work, he wanted to say goodbye before we left. And your mum has been up, since like 4am 'cause she wanted to finish all her work so she doesn't have to do anything while we're camping."

The six of them ran downstairs to say goodbye to Harry, he hugged his children and told them to have a good trip the he ruffled his niece and nephew's hair. Albus was glad that, for once, his hair wasn't being ruffled. Scorpius held back a bit, not wanting to intrude on their family time and feeling slightly awkward.

"Hey, Scorpius." Harry called before turning on the spot to apparate, "I'm glad you're going with them, you're a good friend to my kids and they all like you. I'll be here when you get back." He kissed Ginny for the fifth time that morning on the forehead, turned and vanished.

Scorpius smiled, he had, at least, been accepted into the Potter family. It was just Ron Weasley who didn't seem to like him.

FRIDAY NIGHT IN THE TENT

Ginny blew out the last candle and lit her wand to check on the children. James was on a top bunk, lying on his front, his face all squashed as he snored. His arm hung off the bed and right in Albus's, who was on the bottom bunk, face. Ginny then realised that James had taken his brother's blanket. She slowly removed it from him and tucked in her sleeping youngest son. Hugo was also on a top bunk and lay sprawled out across the mattress in an odd shape and Scorpius on the bunk below him. Ginny bent down to check on Scorpius. He lay peacefully, with a book laying open on his chest. Ginny smiled. Lily was curled up in a neat ball on the top bunk, with her blanket kicked half off the bed as it dangled down, blocking the view of Rose on the bottom bunk. Ginny gently lifted it to see that Rose was not there, a sudden spike of fear arose until she realised a small blue light dimly shining from outside. She unzipped the canvass door to see Rose, sitting in her red jumper with a large 'R' on it from her grandma Weasley, holding a jar with a single bluebell flame inside it and an old book laying closed next to her.

"Rose, it's late, don't you want to go to bed?" Ginny spoke softly as she sat next to her niece.

"If it's alright with you, I'd like to sit and watch the stars for a bit. It's what I do if I can't sleep, they're so fascinating."

Ginny smiled, "These bluebell flames are pretty cool. But you know, you're technically not allowed to use magic. You're still underage."

"I know, but mum taught me how to do them. I love them, so does dad. And I don't think I'll be kicked out of Hogwarts for a tiny bluebell flame anyway. Plus, it's stuck in a tiny jar. No damage is possible."

"Unless you drop it." Ginny chuckled as she joked with Rose.

"Ah, true I could drop it, but it's quite safe from my clumsiness. The bluebell flame can be touched, penetrated and held without it burning the holder, though it is known to burn materials such as clothing and plants. As such, it may be safely carried in small objects, like this jar, without the object being damaged. These unique flames can also be directed to a desired location by its caster, and return to its original position." Rose grinned smugly.

"Straight out of a text book?" Ginny asked knowingly, giving a small smile as Rose reminded her so much of Hermione.

Rose sighed, she wasn't offended by her aunt's teasing, but she was right. "Am I that predictable? I mean, I remember stuff well and that comes in handy. I answer all the questions first in class, if Scorpius doesn't get there first. I know people tease me behind my back, they get annoyed because I'm a 'pretentious little know it all' and a 'walking textbook'."

"Rose, never apologise for being you. And if brains is you, then who cares what other people think? Hermione didn't and she is awesome. And you know what, so are you." Ginny hugged her niece. "I'll see you in the morning."

Ginny slipped quietly into the separate compartment within the tent which was big enough to a small double bed, and slept.

Scorpius heard the zip of Ginny's separate compartment close. His eyes flew open and he sat up to look around. He closed his book quietly and held it close. He scanned each bed. Everyone seemed to be asleep. Grabbing his wand, tiptoed out of his bed, light a candle and softly moved towards the canvass door. He didn't notice the tiny blue light

Rose was sitting about a metre away from the tent, clutching her bluebell flame inside the jar. It felt like a tiny piece of home as her mum liked to keep them lit them the hallway so that if anyone got up in the night, they would be able to see without waking others up with a light of their own.

Scorpius stopped short as he saw Rose. She didn't see him at first. She was looking up, her crazy red mass of hair moved gently in the breeze. He couldn't help but stare for a moment.

"Oh, Scorpius!" Rose gasped when she heard someone behind her and suddenly turned. "I thought everyone was asleep."

"So did I." He sat himself beside Rose, leaving a good gap between them.

Rose laughed quietly when she saw the candle stick, "Scorpius, come on. You must have known that the breeze would blow out the candle."

Scorpius shrugged at the candle as twirls of smoke curled off of it. It must have gone out as soon as he left the tent. He looked at the blue light in the jar in excitement and awe. "Is that a bluebell flame?!"

Rose had never seen his eyes so wide. She handed to slightly warm jar to him for inspection. "My mum taught me."

"This is amazing Rose." Scorpius breathed.

Rose suddenly realised the gap between them and frowned. Scorpius gave back the jar and she wedged it into the sand in front of them, crossed her legs and shuffled closer to him for warmth.

She stared at the stars.

He stared at her. She noticed and gave him a confused look.

"Oh, umm, what are you reading?" he shook his head.

"'If everybody minded their own business, the world would go around a great deal faster than it does.' "

Scorpius looked at Rose sceptically

"That's a quote from the book, 'Alice in Wonderland' by Lewis Caroll. My grandma and my mum used to read it to us when we were kids."

"Missing your grandma?"

"Yeah, this is usually the week we would visit." Rose sighed

After a moments silence, Rose remembered that she was mad at Scorpius. She turned to face him full on and scowled.

"So, you have a house elf."

"My grandparents have a house elf."

"That was a gift to your parents." Rose growled, she was sitting on her knees now, staring down Scorpius as he still sat cross legged. "I can't believe you, I thought you cared about magical creatures!" She raised her voice but it was still only a harsh whisper.

"I do care!" Scorpius sat up to match her level. "It's just that it would be rude-"

"Oh yes, we wouldn't want Scorpius's reputation for impeccable manners get in the way of the freedom and rights of an innocent creature!" Rose finally stood, accidentally lop-siding the jar. Luckily it was wedged into the sand enough that it didn't break or roll away.

Scorpius didn't speak. He knew Rose was right. But he also knew that she could never understand the immense feeling of pressure that he and his parents felt from his grandparents. Yes they loved each other, but that atmosphere in the house was usually so tense between generations.

"Rose-"

"No, Scorpius." Rose sighed. "Sorry, maybe this was the wrong time to bring this up. Now I have to spend three more days with you, knowing that you're not who I thought you were." She grabbed her book and turned to walk back to the tent. "I have to know," she stopped to talk once more, "all those times in class, all those long talks about Fwoopers, were they all just a way to get back at your grandparents? I mean, you can't do it face to face, you can't free a poor elf because you're afraid of them. So you chose subjects that would annoy them."

Scorpius couldn't look Rose in the eye. He stared down at the bluebell flame in the jar. He had thought himself that the only reason he chose muggle studies and care of magical creatures was to get back at his grandparents, but he had come the the conclusion within the first week of choosing these subjects, that he had chosen them because he enjoyed them. He wasn't trying to impress anyone or rebel. He was just trying to be Scorpius.

"I'm going to bed. Maybe by the time we get back to school I'll have forgotten about this and we can get along."

"You know that won't work Rose. The thing about our friendship is that if we don't sort something out quickly, it grows into a problem that neither of us can tackle." Scorpius managed to catch her hand as she was about to turn around again. He blushed and dropped it. "This is obviously something you care about deeply." Returned around and watched the peaceful sea in the distance between thin line of trees. "And it's something I've been thinking about for years. I like Petit, but she deserves to be free."

Rose felt a twinge of hope amongst the guilt of accusing him so quickly. Rose could see the sudden longing and determination in his eyes as he stood to look at her.

"I decided a while ago, and I never told anyone, that," he took a deep breath "when I move out, I'm going to free her. I don't care if it offends my grandparents. But I can't now. To my grandfather, having a house elf shows wealth and the stability of tradition." He looked Rose in the eyes. "You have to know that they're not bad people, it's just that they love my family so much that they would do anything, since the second rise of Voldemort they have learnt to fight for family. They lost all belief in a pure blood society, which is great, but they don't have anything to believe in but each other and rely on my dad to uphold their traditions. I think they feel useless, especially since my parents are now in charge of the house."

"Scorpius, I'm sorry for being so quick to judge, you know how hot headed I can be."

He smiled in agreement as he picked up the jar. "When we get back to school, you need to teach me how to do these." He grabbed Rose's hand and she led them quietly back into the tent.

"Sorry again." Rose whispered as they drew closer to the bunk beds.

"Is hot headed Miss Weasley is apologising?" Scorpius's eyebrows arose in mockery.

"Is serious Mr Malfoy is making a sarcastic comment?" She retorted with a grin. "Goodnight." Rose patted him on the shoulder and slipped into bed.

Scorpius slid his book on to the table and hopped into bed still holding the jar. He propped it up so it leant against his pillow. It's warmth and dim lighting sent him to sleep within a few minutes.

SATURDAY, LUNCH TIME

Lily, Hugo and Rose had gone with Ginny in search of sandwiches while Albus and Scorpius stayed by the tent.

Scorpius sat cross legged infant of the zipped door, reading his book. The line line of trees between him and the beach allowed the light to flutter in and dance across the page. A few meters in front, Albus was laying on the sand in the sun, just in front of the trees. He sat up and watched his friend.

"You're quite relaxed." Albus called over to him.

Scorpius did not look up from his book but shrugged.

"I thought you'd be freaking out more about exam results. They're coming in less than a week."

Scorpius closed his book and looked up at Albus. He could see that his friend was obviously nervous. "I'm not too worried, I've come to terms with the mild anxiety. I know that I couldn't have done any more than I did." Scorpius squinted at Albus. "You seem quite calm too."

"Yeah, I'm just a bit worried. But, you know what? I wish I hadn't brought it up."

"Not talking about it makes you forget and then you're able to enjoy yourself, huh?"

Albus smiled. "Hey, I think we've got wizarding chess packed. Want to play while we wait."

"Sure, but be prepared to lose."

Albus laughed. "Remember, I'm related to Ron Weasley, one of the best players of wizarding chess that Hogwarts has ever seen. I'm always prepared to lose." He turned to go into the tent with Scorpius following closely behind. "Oh, and just a heads up, never ever play this game with Hugo or Rose. They'd crush you."

The next few days went past with a blast. And no one mentioned exams again. On the Sunday, a fun fair had arrived in the town just by the beach and so they spent their time divided between sandcastle competitions, swimming races, rollercoaster rides and water fights. Scorpius had never had so much fun. Thats why he was sad to leave on the Monday. Ginny was helping Lily find her wand outside amongst the fallen twigs of the forest floor, while the rest were packing their things.

"Albus, are you sure you're alright coming for dinner in two weeks? My grandfather might be a bit, you know." Scorpius spoke quietly.

"Yeah, we'll have fun! Besides, I'll be the perfect angel I always am and he'll have nothing to complain about." Albus smirked.

"Oh, perfect Albus? Impossible, no such thing exists. Don't be fooled Scorpius." James jumped down from his bunk with a thump, landing on Albus. James didn't loose his balance for a second and simply strutted off into the kitchen area to grab his wand. Albus had fallen hard on the floor and accidentally knocked his open suitcase over so it spilled everywhere.

Hugo chuckled as he and Scorpius helped a groaning Albus stand up.

"So you're meeting up with Albus, when are we gonna next see you Scorpius?" Hugo asked and Rose listened in near them.

"Diagon Alley I guess, we'll go around Uncle George's shop together. Sounds fun, doesn't it Rose?" Albus answered for his friend then spun around to address his cousin. Both he and Scorpius were staring at her.

Rose paused as she was folding a t-shirt then sighed as she flopped it in her suitcase. "For you guys yeah, but I promised Felix that I'd meet him while we're at Diagon Alley."

"You're waiting until the end of summer for your date? Merlin, how awkward is that kid?" James scoffed as he strutted back to his bunk to continue packing. "I mean, why is he putting it off for so long?"

"Maybe he's building up the courage to spend time with that load of hair and the scary fireball of a girl attached to it." Albus smirked and nodded is head indicating to Rose's uncontrollable mass of hair.

"Maybe it takes him all summer to find the perfect outfit." Hugo giggled

"Or maybe it takes the whole summer to find a new personality." James laughed along with Albus and Hugo. Scorpius had turned around to continue packing. The boys stopped short when they noticed the daggers in Rose's eyes pointing at them.

"Oh come on Rose, it's just a joke." James uncomfortably busied himself, trying to avoid eye contact with Rose.

"You have to admit, he's not really anything like you. Plus, I'm pretty sure he knows nothing real about your personality." Albus defended James.

"Yeah, he's shy, he has no confidence, he's not very smart, he's a bit too chirpy and he thinks you're an angel." James said. "Look, all we're trying to say is, you can't be very serious about him." James sat on the bed next to Rose. "Rosie, that guy is nothing like you and doesn't deserve you"

'Yeah, absolutely, wholeheartedly agree with that. No one deserves Rose' Scorpius shoved that thought out of his mind before he spoke it out loud.

Rose slammed her suitcase shut, almost catching James' hand in it. Then said in a huff "Well I thank you for you 'expertise' but I think I know what I'm doing. And I know I can handle myself without any of you." She picked up her suitcase and began to storm out of the tent to where Ginny had been stacking all the suitcases. Rose turned around to face their subdued faces. "And if you must know, I'm going out with him next week, just the two of us. It didn't take him very long to ask me out. And meeting up at Diagon Alley, alone, while our families shop for school stuff, was a charming and friendly idea he had." They could see the flames in her eyes grow as she almost growled, "Believe it or not, some people actually like me enough to go out with me! I'm sorry that's so hard for you to believe." And with that she threw her suitcase on the pile and stormed out.

Ginny walked in looking shocked and concerned at seeing Rose's fuming face. she then turned to the boys, each one looking as guilty and remorseful as the next.

"What did you do?" Ginny asked knowingly.

Lily scowled at her brothers then ran off to catch up with Rose.

"Nothing." Albus shrugged as he untruthfully answered his mother.

Ginny decided to let it go as she was busy trying to organise and clean the tent. Finally they were all ready to leave. Lugging their suitcases through the town granted them a few weird looks from the local muggles but they all just ignored them. Rose ignored everyone except Lily and Ginny.

"Ah! Mrs Potter, lovely to see you and your family again." Mr Fugal greeted the group with a wide grin as they walked into his antique shop. "Are you going home now?"

Ginny and Mr Fugal chatted away while Rose and Lily decided to look around at the antiques. The boys did not speak to one another, each was just as ashamed as the next for being so mean to Rose. They all knew that she had enough of it from the people at Hogwarts, she didn't need her own family making fun of her too.

Scorpius had not said anything to upset Rose, yet he did not defend her. Something which he knew Rose had picked up on. However, he couldn't help but feel a little chuffed at the fact that he wasn't the only one who disliked the idea of Rose dating Felix Stirling. Although Scorpius guessed that the reason why he didn't like it was very different from the reasons why her brother and cousins didn't like it.

"Now then," Mr Fugal son clapped his hands together and watched closely as the only muggle customer in the shop left. "If you'll all follow me, we can get you lot home."

Rose and Lily were the first to follow Mr Fugal into the back room.

Mr Fugal was a very old wizard and opted to live amongst muggles as his wife was a muggle. He had been Ginny's old boss at the Daily Profit when she first became their Qudditch correspondent. When Mrs Fugal's father died, the couple decided to run his old antique shop as tribute to him.

The back room was more of a sitting room on one half and on the other it was a storage room full of stacks of boxes. This was because the fireplace, which was usually at the centre of a room, was in fact closer to the left hand wall. So by filling up the right hand side with boxes, they seemed like two different rooms.

Mr Fugal reach out and snatched a small pot from on top of the fireplace, he then reached inside the pot and took out three items. A smaller pot, a bunch of keys and box of mints, he shared around the mints. Then Mr Fugal took the smaller pot and reached in, his hand completely disappeared. Lilly looked confused.

"Undetectable extension charm." Mr Fugal explained with a wink as he pulled out a handful of floo powder.

"Rose and Hugo," The two Weasley's looked at their aunt. "Go on straight to the Burrow, I meant to tell you earlier that your parents are there visiting."

They nodded.

Scorpius watched as each person disappeared into green smoke one by one. Hugo, Lily and James had already gone. Now it was Rose's turn. She looked at him as she took some floo powder, she made no attempt to say goodbye or even smile.

Scorpius wouldn't see her or contact her until September when school started.