The Flower and the Snake

Scorpious was resting his chin on his hand as she spoke by the time she finished, all but engulfed in her stories.

He couldnt help but grin like an idiot as she told the story of SnowWhite. Funny how his own family history had been turned into a muggle bedtime story involving little people.

He never once interrupted her, simply listening until he realized it had started to get dark. "... Looks like we've been out here for a while."

“Yeah.” Rose said, looking up at the darkening sky. They would send someone to come look for them soon though they’d never find them here. For 17 years they hadn’t found this secret place of hers, she doubted they would now.

“Wait just a sec.” She said, taking his hand in hers to stop him from trying to leave to quickly. She didn’t have to wait long.

As the sun set little lights started to shine around the pond and the surrounding fields. Rose couldn’t help the smile that graced her lips.

“Fireflies.” She said softly, watching them with the same awe that she had when Scorpius had showed her the meadow.

Scorpious blinked, smiled, and found himself sitting beside her on the rock to watch them for a moment. "And here I thought my secret spot was nice." he mused.

He laced his hand with hers, simply enjoying the view.

“Yours is nice. This one is mine. I’ve never shown it to anyone else.” She said softly, reveling in the feel of his warm hand against hers. This felt so right. Like everything was as it was meant to be and that no matter what happened now it couldn’t take away the magic of that moment, of having him beside her as her own. They watched the sun dip below the horizon, just enjoying each others company in the small world they had for that one moment. When there was no family to interrogate him, no looming unknown threat. This was perfect as it was.

However, as life demanded such things were not meant to last. Rose turned to him and smiled her soft smile, her doe brown eyes relaxed for once and filled with dreams like they once had been instead of hard and critical. She looked beautiful in the soft light around them.

Kissing him lightly on the lips, having to get on her tiptoes to really reach him, she smiled again.

"Thank you." She said softly.

He raised an eyebrow, leaning his forehead aginst hers. "Thank you? for what?" he asked, rubbing his nose lightly against hers. it was cold enough out that it was both affectionate and practical.

“For coming here and facing my crazy family. For being with me at all. For….everything I guess.” She said, laughing at her own sentimentality.

“For being you.”

Before she could say anything else really cheesy she laughed nervously and started pulling him back towards her home.

“We should go, we’ll be late for dinner.”

Scorpious blinked, following after her. "I think the last time I had a family dinner was at a funeral..." he mumbled to himself, unable to help the small warm feeling in his chest. He liked Rose's family. He just hoped he had made an alright, or at least tolerable first impression.

With his hand around her waist, they made their way back to the Burrow, Scoprious leaning his head against Rose's shoulder,, exhaustion setting in as his potion wore off. "

Rose chuckled lightly as Scorpius leaned his head on her shoulder betraying just how tired he was. She started to wonder how much sleep the blonde boy had really gotten the night before. She wouldn’t be surprised if it wasn’t much of course, considering the nervous stress he was under at the moment over meeting her family and more importantly knowing that he would have to very soon discuss with a very talented witch the possibility of another threat to wizarding society.

When they made it back to the burrow, Rose tapped him lightly indicating it might be a good idea if he stood on his own for this. She did however take his hand, and walked into the garden where her mother was waiting by the gate they had walked through to get to her secret spot.

“Oh, mom. Time for dinner then?” Rose said nervously, seeing the stern expression on her mothers face.

“Yes Rose. Do me a favor though. Do not run off with Scorpius for hours at a time without telling anyone where you are going while I’m trying to convince your father of something.” Hermione said sternly to her daughter, though when she glanced over at Scorpius her gaze softened.

Rose realized how bad this looked immediately, and blushed crimson. “Mom, that’s not…I mean…I was just showing him…”

Hermione looked between the two of them critically, and then as if she realized it herself visibly relaxed.

“Oh good. I was worried for a bit. After all, there’s bedrooms upstairs that are much more suited.” At this point Hermione was simply teasing her daughter having already realized from Rose’s expression they probably hadn’t done anything of the sort as of yet. This would definitely calm Ron down, Hermione decided.

“Well, dinner is done and being taken to the table right now. I’ll see you at the table.” With that her mother walked off leaving a crimson colored, very flustered Rose.

Scorpious didn't interrupt the two of them as they had their exchange, instead slid his hand out of Rose's. He himself had a slight blush going from what their mother implied, and even let out a low whistle, looking awayin a sort of 'oh wow, I did not just hear that' way.

After the terror that was his girlfriends mother walked off, he looked back to Rose, with a sigh and rubbed his eye sleepily. "I need to grab something from my things." he said. "Any idea where they might have gone off to?" He had a few more viles of the horrible blue potion, but it would keep him up, and that was what he needed. he didn't want to show up to dinner a drowsy mess, and be nervous on top of it. Bottled sleep was great for keeping away. but after its effects wore of, the user often became even more tired. Like adrenaline.

He kissed her cheek, wanting it to be clear he wasn't running off because of that little embarrassment. "I need to wake myself up a bit before I fall asleep with my face in my plate."

Rose nodded numbly and led him back into the house to find everything had already been moved from the living room. She groaned audibly, her face still tinged with pink as she yelled out where there stuff was. Lily responded with the room on the left second floor before she took a steaming dish of something or other out to the table. Rose sighed and took them up the stairs to the room and fell over when she opened the door.

“You’ve got to be kidding me.” She said softly. Before she let Scorpius into the room she turned, her face newly crimson and said shakily, “I-Ill just let you get your stuff and meet you downstairs okay?” Before he could say anything she literally ran out the door and down the stairs to go find her mother or possibly her aunt and wonder what the hell was going on.

Because just inside that door was not two beds like she expected, but one, and all of her and Scorpius’s stuff was there waiting for them. She definitely needed to have a talk with someone.

"... Uh......" Scorpious blinked then laughed, going over to his trunk. he fished out the bottle, downed the drought and loked at the bed before pulling his wand out. "mimcus he said swiftly, conjuring up a bed identical to the one next to it. He moved his trunk, so Rose would be more at ease. Of course, he wouldn't mind sharing the sleeping space with ehr, though she seemed against the idea.

He pocketed his wand and fixed his hair before quickly taking his eyepatch off, changing the dressing, then headed downstairs, patch back in place.

Rose had found the offending person rather quickly. Of course it had been her aunt Ginny who would pull a stunt like that.

“Why would you do that?! Do you know how embarrassed I was?” Rose said, her voice lowered so no one would overhear her.

“Can you blame me? I thought you would consider it a good thing dear. Afraid of sleeping with him?” Ginny challenged, her hands on her hips. Neither one of them noticed that Scorpius had come back downstairs and could overhear them.

Rose blushed again. “No its not that!” She seemed to get really uncomfortable as she tried to get the words out.

“I just don’t think he would…I mean…”

Ginny couldn’t help but laugh.

“The boy’s a perfect gentlemen. I’m sure he wouldn’t try anything if you didn’t want him too. Besides Rose, you’re 17 about to turn 18. Its time you did something!”

“Auntie!” Rose exclaimed going bright red all over again.

“You are absolutely impossible Rose. That shyness will get you no where. You’re mother was a bookworm too and if it hadn’t been for how pushy Ron was they probably would have never ended up together. Take some initiative girl! He’s going to go the traditional route I can tell, he wont push a thing. I’m not switching the rooms, everyone else is already settled. Ether share the bed or sleep on the couch. Oh and by the way, I set a charm on the bed so even if you magically separate them they’ll just snap back into one.”

Ginny didn’t wait to hear her niece’s groan of exasperation before she left the room, a knowing smile on her face. That last little speech had been for Scorpius, having noticed him frozen at the bottom of the stairs.

"Fraid there goes this idea." he mused. "Rose, feel free to take the bed. I'll take the sofa." he offered. "Evening Mrs. Potter."

Amazing what a little sleep could do for a person.

Scorpious walked over to Rose, slipping his hand around her wait as if it belonged there and kissed her, right in front of her aunt. "Your aunt is right though. I'm rather old school. No bed buisness until I put a ring on your finger."

Rose couldn’t help how red her face was. She couldn’t help the images that raced through her mind, and how much she disliked her aunt at that moment. Ginny couldn’t help but laugh as she walked out of the room giving them a moment of privacy.

“No there’s no need for you to sleep on the couch. I just thought…you wouldn’t…want to…uh….well….sleep next to me.” She said, red as her hair. She hated blushing and it seemed that’s all she was doing lately.

“Anyways, we better get to the garden to eat. They’ll be waiting for us.” She said quickly, trying to bring some sense of normalcy back to the conversation.

"What ever you're more comfortable with." Scorpious promised before releasing her, following her outback to where the tables were set up. "Any designated seats?" he asked Rose, unsure of how the family ran big meals like this.

Rose shook her head no and just took a seat in the middle of the table, pulling him down next to her. Everyone had finally gathered together, and a wizened older man stood, obviously the grandfather that Rose had mentioned earlier.

“Well now that everyone’s here I just want to say welcome to Scorpius for joining us this year for the holidays. You are most welcome here in this house. Alright dig in!”

He didn’t have to say another word before everything seemed to explode into motion and sound. It wasn’t messy necessarily, though it was definitely homey. People were laughing and talking to each other, catching up. Lucky for her Lily was deep in conversation with her mother so she didn’t have to worry about trying to talk to her aunt. Her father on the other hand was another thing entirely.

“So Scorpius, you’re in seventh year as well. Any idea what you want to do after you leave Hogwarts?” It was such a civil question that Rose stopped midway to her mouth, a roll in her hand as she watched her boyfriend talk to her father.

Scorpious blinked. "Well, I was honestly thinking of becoming an Auror or looking into becoming a professional breeder of magical creatures." he answered honestly. Neither of those ideas boded well with his parents, and he didn't expect any different form Mr. Weasley, but he was telling the truth.

"An Auror?" a tall man with dark blue hair looked over. Teddy, a family friend had stopped by for the meal.

Scorpious shrugged. "If I do well enough with my Transfiguration NEWTS anyway."

“Auror is a well standing career.” Harry said, commenting from a bit down the table. His expression was so easy to read. He approved. Ron looked a bit impressed himself.

“Magical breeder? That’s quite different from Auror though. Why that career?” Ron asked, genuinely curious now.

Scorpious chuckled a bit, looking down at his plate feeling childish to admit it. "I like animals, always have." he stated honestly. "I have family in Russia that breeds and races dragons." he admitted. "I'm sure I could get a shoe in with them. It's more of a fantasy really than an actual job option I'm afraid."

“Hm, well before you give up on that you should talk to my brother Charlie. He’s been raising and training dragons in Romania for the last ten years.” Ron said, taking a drink from his goblet. This was going much better than Rose had ever expected. In fact, even Harry was moving closer to get in on the conversation.

“Yeah, have you ever talked to Hagrid about any of this? There’s a lot more than just raising dragons. Can get pretty risky if you’re not careful.”

Rose coughed a little and said, “Hagrid isn’t, easy to get along with.” She said politically, knowing that her uncle would understand.

“Ah.” He did, though instantly looked a bit troubled. It always bothered Harry when people weren’t treated right, no matter who they were.

“I ought to write to him. Haven’t talked to him in ages.” Harry said thoughtfully, taking a bite off his plate.

"Professor Hagrid didn't even want to sign my papers to be in his class next semester. I doubt he would be too keen on speaking with me about career options." Scorpious said frowning a bit. Sometime he hated his family name... Alot.

Teddy raised an eyebrow. "I'm still curious about the Auror route." he said. "How did you parents react to that idea?"

Scorpious shrugged. "Said it woudl be too dangerous. It was actually only my grandfather who encouraged it... But if anything that's just a deterrent for me."

"A deterrent? Why's that?" Hugo looked over, also interested now.

"My grandfather is of the mindset that if you know at least one person in every area of every field, it's as good as owning every area of every field." he chose his words carefully.

“Lucius Malfoy will never change.” Hermione said, trying to keep her voice light and airy, though the darkening in her eyes couldn’t be hidden.

“I suppose he still believes in all that blood purity stuff as well.” Ron said darkly, not bothering to hide anything.

“Anyway, you shouldn’t turn from being an Auror just cause of your grandfather. It can be a very rewarding career choice if that’s something you really want to do.” Teddy said, looking over at Harry. Harry was strangely silent on the conversation, once again choosing his words carefully. Anything he said at this point would be taken to heart, especially about Lucius. There was obviously no love lost on that end, as Harry remembered a particularly dark time involving that man.

“All I’ll say is this.” He started, “All I can hope for is that times have changed enough that old thoughts and beliefs have started to fade and have not been passed on to the next generation.” He looked pointedly at Scorpius, his words directly for the teenage boy sitting next to his niece. In that moment, he spoke more than just with words.

He was telling Scorpius quite blankly that he didn’t hold Lucius or his family against him, that only his actions and beliefs would be what Harry would judge him by.

"..." Scorpious glanced at Rose, setting his fork down, the muscle in his jaw clenching again. She could tell he was getting tense all over again. He didn't know what exactly to say. "My grandfather isn't the only one who still believes in all of that rubish..." he said. "I don't but I can't readily say the same about most people I use to call friends."

The dinner topic had gotten rather dark rather fast for Scorpious, and for the moment he was glad he had a long sleeved shirt on covering his tattoo. Then he thought better of keeping it hidden and rolled up his sleeve. "I had this tattoo made as a reminded not to go down that path." he stated. "Most ironic of all is my patronis is a mongoose." he said before rolling his sleeve down again. "So while I've grown up around a lot of.... lesser smiled upon influences, I see it as a way to learn by example what not to be."

Ron looked at the tattoo with surprise, the table going silent as they listened to what Scorpius had to say. Even Ginny was struck silent while he explained what it meant and why he got it. To their surprise it was Molly who spoke up, Rose’s grandmother who had so far remained silent.

“Young man.” She started, looking at him imperiously. “I’ve lost a son, and countless friends to the people who call you family. I myself killed your aunt for what she did to a good man and friend.” Arthur tried to make her sit, afraid of what else she might say but she would not be silenced.

“No Arthur. We’ve all been thinking it, and its time someone bloody says what they’re thinking. Rose is my granddaughter and I love her dearly. I trust her judgement and allowed you into my home but I will not lie and say I was expecting anything good from this.” She took a deep breath. Hermione looked anxious, wanting to say something. Even Ron opened his mouth to say something before she went on.

“I grew up with your grandfather and I have seen your father turn away from that life too late. When I look at you…” She paused, and a small smile broke out across her face. “I see a boy who has been judged for far too long because of what his family has done. Thank you, for showing an old woman that there is still change in the world.”

With that she sat down and began to eat again. The table was stunned, Rose most of all. No one spoke of the war, and there was her grandmother, talking more about that dark time then she had ever heard.

“Here here.” Harry said, and went back to eating his food. From that moment on the conversation shifted and turned back to more simple things, less hurtful or dangerous topics. Harry started up a conversation with Ginny and Lily about her chances of winning the Quidditch cup this year, while Hermione fussed over Jasper. Ron was silent as he ate, digesting what he had just heard.

Rose ate quietly too, not sure what to say or think. Slowly but surely dinner was finished without any other comments or mishaps, and Hugo and Jasper were enlisted to help clean-up.

“Lets go.” Rose whispered, grabbing his arm and pulling him up and away from her family.

Scorpious stood up and followed her willingly, eager to get away form the table. He haddn't gone back to eating like the others had. He had been too busy thinking. "I think I said too much at supper... sorry." he said as she pulled him off.

Her grandmother's words were still ringing in his mind. As were his own grandfathers.

He stopped walking once they were out of view of most of the family and pulled her into a hug, both arms around her back, strong and sheltering. "I feel like I'm about the be the bearer of news your entire family wont want to hear." he said into her ear. "So I'm apologizing in advanced."