The Flower and the Snake

Scorpious sat down, watching her, just enjoying the view. "...I would kill for a photo of you right now." he said blinking at her. when she looked at him he blushed a bit, not having meant to say that out loud. "You just looked do calm."

Rose smiled at the comment, and for once didn’t blush at the obvious fondness in his eyes. “I love this time of the morning. When the world is just waking up and I can watch it happen.”

Before they could get any more sentimental she chuckled and turned back to their breakfast.

“Enough of that, eat up, you’ll need it since we usually don’t eat until dinner.” With that she picked up her fork and scooped up some of her eggs, chewing them thoughtfully. She was watching him out of the corner of her eye, waiting for his response to the food she made.

Scorpious took a bite of the eggs and blinked before he took another bite, this time stacking more than one small piece on his fork.

Apparently Scorpious approved of the breakfast menu.

"Rose, this is amazing." he said honestly. "Did you cook them by hand?" he asked, curious.

Rose blushed a bit, happy he liked them so much and nodded at his question.

“I made it last night before I went to bed. I warmed it with magic this morning though.”

Obviously her warming them up hadn’t changed the taste much since he still seemed to enjoy them immensely

When he finished he stood up and brought his empty plate to the sink, turning on the faucet. "Want me to wash yours?" he offered, grabbing the scrubby.

“Uhh sure.” She said, walking over and bringing the plate to him. She watched for a moment while he washed the dishes, doing it the same way her mother always insisted they wash anything, the muggle way.

“I didn’t know you washed dishes like that.” She said, bemused. Forcibly she was reminded just how little she really knew about him, how much there was still to learn.

They didn’t get much more time alone when Lily came bounding down the stairs screaming at the top of her lungs. Literally screaming.

“WAKE UP EVERYBODY!!” She yelled, skidding into the kitchen in her bright pink robe.

“Good. You two are already awake.” Was the only thing she said before turning into the living room. Albus came into the kitchen in her wake, rubbing his eyes drowsily.

“I hate Christmas.”

“You don’t hate Christmas Albus.” Rose said, laughing.

“No. You’re right. Just hate my sister.”

Rose laughed again, patting Albus comfortingly on the shoulder. He plopped down in their recently vacated chairs with a bagel he’d grabbed out of the cabinet and took a bite, his eyes bleary.

“So when’s your bro coming over?” Rose asked, leaning against the counter next to Scorpius.

“Ugh. Probably around dinner, late as usual.”

"You don't like your brother?" Scorpious blinked. "I would killed for a sibling to have had when I was little." He mused.

He wrapped his arm around Rose's waist without really thinking about it. It just felt natural to do so at this point.

"Christmas at my house is very uptight. Not like this at all." He looked around, a small smirk tugging at his lips- imagining what his mother might say about the place. "Still, I'm glad to be here rather than home. It's nice not having to worry about how you look all the time."

Rose laughed lightly when Scorpius asked about Albus’s brother. Dislike wasn’t really the right word to describe the relationship between James and Albus Potter. Where Albus was a bookish, well behaved, and model student, James was the exact opposite. James was athletic, popular, and quite the troublemaker. James had undeniably taken after his father and grandfather, while Albus was more like his mother than anyone else in the family other than his sister. The only thing Albus shared with his father was his need for glasses and his unruly black hair, and Albus had always been jealous of James for it.

It didn’t help of course that James had a huge ego because of his success at Quidditch and popularity with girls. It was a happy day for all the Potters when James graduated and became a reserve Chaser for Puddlemore United. Of course that just made James all the more insufferable anytime he came home.

Rose didn’t explain any of that though. It wasn’t necessary. Scorpius would see for himself why they all groaned whenever James came over.

“Wait, so you’re family is formal even for Christmas?” Albus asked incredulously, stunned for a moment by that information. He knew the Malfoy’s were a very formal family, what with being purebloods, but he didn’t realize that they would worry about what to wear even on Christmas.

"Are you kidding?" Scorpious looked back at James with the same look. "Christmas is the biggest holiday of the year." he said. "Of course we have to look our best. My family hosts a party every year. We have people from all over the globe come, so we have to be presentable, and mind what we say." he frowned. "If I were to leave my bedroom like this-" he gestured to himself, "my mother would hang me from the rafters by my ears."

He chuckled. "Actuality, I'm fairly sure even if I were in my room at this hour on Christmas she still might hang me by the rafters."

Albus just stared, his mouth hanging open slightly at Scorpius, unable to comprehend what he was saying. This late? To him this was still early! Normally the Weasleys and Potters didn't do anything festivities related until at least noon.

"What in Merlin's name does your family expect you to do Christmas morning at this ungodly hour? I'd still be asleep if it wasn't for my pest of a sister!" Albus said, looking positively horrified at the thought of being up any earlier, let alone formally dressed and prepared to socialize.

"Greet arriving guests. Mingle?" Scorpious blinked shrugging. "The usual?"

"That's hardly the usual." Lilly said yawning as she sat down at the table. "Crazy rich people."

Scorpious blushed, looking to Rose.

Rose shrugged her shoulders, not giving her opinion either way. While she was surprised at what Scorpius had said his family normally did on Christmas, she knew the only reason it seemed odd to any of them was because they lived in such a different environment. For Scorpius, it was the expected norm, and so Rose accepted it without question. If she was ever going to get along with the Malfoy's she would have to accept things like that, and not question why they did what they did.

"Well since we all seem to be up we might as well wake the rest of the family up. Lily go wake up your mom. Once she's up its only a matter of time." Rose said, watching her younger cousin expectantly.

Lilly blinked before nodding and walking off sleepily.

There was a loud squak from outside the window, a large barn owl standing with a rather bulky package in it's talons, glaring in at them.

Scorpious blinked. "... My Fathers owl." he said when Rose looked at it. He seemed hessitant to let it in.

Rose frowned slightly at his hesitance, wondering why he was worried about getting something from his father. From what she understood it was his grandfather he had to worry about, not his own dad.

"Well, I think we should let the owl in don't you?" She asked, looking at him with a quizzical concerned expression, before walking over to the window and opening it wide. The owl have a small dignified hoot of thanks before dropping the package on the table. Hooting again it flew back out the window, leaving the unmarked package sitting on the table in front of Scorpius.

"My father doesn't exchange gifts on the holiday." Scorpious said frowning at the package. He picked it up though, having no intention of opening it. He knew his father well enough to know a note woudl have been written onto the package, as well have arrived the day after Christmas as per their tradition. Odds were, it was sent by his grandfather.

"You're old man sounds rather stingy." Lily said coming back into the kitchen.

"It's not that." Scorpious insisted. "He believes the holiday should be spent with friends, rather than focusing on material things. We exchange gifts on the 26th."

"I think thats a rather nice idea." Hermione said thoughtfully, as she walked into the room. She had overheard their conversation when she had walked down the stairs to get some coffee and was looking at the package curiously. At least thats what she wanted her daughter, and niece to see. The truth was that she was looking very closely at that package, wondering if the Senior Malfoy was trying yet again to get his grandson away from their home.

"Lily, Albus, will you do me a favor please and try and calm down your mother? She may just start an incident with Ron otherwise."

The two looked at Hermione curiously, knowing full well she was kicking them out of the kitchen for the moment. They knew better than to question her though, and left silently, Albus shooting Rose a concerned look before disappearing out the door. Hermione waited a moment before she spoke, making sure the other two were out of earshot.

"Did you tell her?" She asked Scorpius, referring to her severely confused daughter. Once she said those words it dawned on Rose immediately what her mother thought might be going on.

"Tell her?" Scorpious blinked. He was feeling a bit absent minded it seemed.

Time seemed to pass quickly for Jane as they made their way across the seas.

Rose sighed, before taking his hand. “Yes mom. I know whats going on. You think this package isn’t from Scorpius’s dad do you?”

Hermione sighed and shook her head. She was glad that Scorpius had told Rose everything like she’d made him promise when she’d helped him take out his eye. It would make this all easier in the end.

“I would like to take that from you Scorpius. To run some tests.” Hermione asked.

He blinked and nodded. "Of course." he said holding the box out to her. Once she took it he returned an arm around Rose's waist, where it found he felt most comfortable. "Just be careful." he frowned. "Grandpa Lu isn't know for sending nice presents." he warned.

Hermione smiled slightly. She wasn’t going to tell Scorpius just how well she knew of Lucius’s tendency to send out nasty magic. She had been on the receiving end of it often enough to know what that man was capable of. Pulling out her wand she muttered a few different incantations. Some meant to reveal any latent magic within an object, others to disarm any spells meant to cause harm. Before she could get much farther, Harry Potter himself walked into the room, a scowl on his face.

“My son tells me Scorpius got a package from his father. Then he tells me you three are hiding out in the kitchen. Care to explain whats going on Hermione?”

She stared dumbfounded at her best friend, wondering how the hell he caught on to her so quickly. As if sensing her confusion, he obliged her with an explanation.

“Come on Mione. I knew something was up the moment you started eyeing Scorpius with that overprotective look you get. Besides, you still bite your lip when you’re worried about something.” Taking a deep breath he walked over to Hermione and plucked the package out of her hands and sat down at the table, across from Scorpius., seemingly ignoring that his arm happened to be wrapped around his niece’s waist.

“Now, care to tell me whats going on, or do I have to bring in Ron as well?”

"I-" Scorpious frowned, looking from Hermione to Mr. Potter before sighing. "You'll think I'm lying." he said not sounding very keen on telling him. He had already explained his fear of going to the authorities. He didn't want to be accused of lying or tried, or worse have his father and mother roped into the mess.

His arm did slip from around Roses waist though. So much for Happy Christmas.

When the man continued to just stare he frowned and began to explain, even mentioning when he found out his false eye had been enchanted.

"So, I've been trying to avoid him."

Harry listened attentively, falling into the look he always wore when he was on duty as an Auror. When Scorpius finished his tale, Harry simply nodded before looking down at the package. There was no question in Harry’s mind that Scorpius spoke the truth nor was there any doubt that when he said his father and mother didn’t know what was going on that he was lying. Harry was pretty damn sure Draco would have nothing to do with this. He’d never let his father put his family in danger again like he had with Voldemort.

Harry held out in hand over the package, his eyes intent on the object before it started to glow blue before turning to an angry red color. With an audible pop the color vanished entirely and Harry sighed.

“Rudimentary. He must think you wouldn’t mention any of this to us. Otherwise he’d have realized any trained Auror would be able to break these spells.” Harry said, mostly to himself.

“Scorpius, I hate to do this but officially I’m required too. From this moment on I am putting you in protective custody of the Auror department. That means you cannot leave the premises of this house without an Auror or someone directly approved by me accompanying you, nor are you allowed to send out or receive any mail without it going through a screening process first.”

Harry sighed and pulled off his glasses, rubbing the bridge of his nose before putting them back on. “I know this is not the best of options, but at this point its the only way I can be certain of keeping you, and everyone else you happen to care about safe. We can talk more about this another time. For now, its Christmas, and its time we enjoyed the holiday.”

Scorpious frowned. Protective custody was not the gift he had in mind form good old father Christmas...

But he knew how to choose his battles and instead nodded, glancing to the package. "Should I bother opening it?" he asked, honestly curious as to what might be IN the package his grand father had sent.

He woudl have to ask Harry to keep this quiet later. After all, his father was going to run for minister... this sort of family drabble wouldn't bode well with the public.

“You’re welcome to now, but I doubt you’d find anything worthwhile. Your grandfather put a rather simple summoning spell on the package so that the moment it touched your fingers you would be impelled to go to him at once. A rather simple spell but not one you yourself would know how to break. Its a more removed version of the Imperious curse, something I’m sure you’re familiar with. A curse your grandfather was very good at using. He created this one during the old days because it was less obvious and easier to get away with. This particular dark spell isn’t a lifetime sentence in Azkaban after all. I’m surprised he dared to use it again, let alone send it to you when you’re under my care.”

Harry did seem truly perplexed by it all. Lucius must have been pretty sure of his grandsons hostility towards the Potters and Weasleys to believe that he wouldn’t go to them for help. OR at the very least assured of his loyalty towards him. Either way, it didn't bode well for Scorpius that his grandfather was willing to use dark magic to try and coerce him.

"No offence sir, but I think you're underestimating me a little." Scorpious said. He pulled his wand out, flipping the box with it. He tapped one seam and it buzzed a dark red color before fading, unfolding for him. If he hadn't it would have stunned him.

He didn't bother looking at the inside of the box. Instead he looked out the window frowning. The only reason it woudl have stunned him was if his grandfather planned on swooping in and grabbing him. Or having someone else do it.

But the Burrow was surrounded by grass. TALL grass. And it was impossible to see if anyone was hiding outside in the early morning light.