Sarah Beth slept for fourteen hours on the couch after we got home. I tried to move her, but she hit me. So I let her rest until she woke up, and then the first thing she asked was:
"What the heck happened at the dentist's office?!"
I sat down next to her and sighed.
"Okay..." I began. "You know that book that Jeff keeps called 'Jeff's Greatest Hits'?"
"Uh-huh." Sarah Beth sipped a glass of water I had left her.
"Well, Chapter 27 visited him."
"Carla Murphy? That's the one that worked at the department store in Bath, right?"
"The one that made out with him in the Calvin Klein section, and the one that had a thing for biting his nose."
"Besides Penelope," Sarah Beth added. "But Penelope was unemployed."
"Anyway! Well, she came in with their son."
Sarah Beth almost choked on her water. "S- son?!"
"Yeah."
"Oh my... I'm imagining a little blond twit with a beard."
"Me, too."
"And a loincloth."
"What?"
"It is Jeff's."
"Point made and taken. He also wants us to come and meet him."
"Really?" Sarah Beth asked. "He's keeping his ex there for that long?"
"Well, er, no."
"No? Then how is-"
"She left the kid there."
She gasped and put her hand to the side of her head in shock. "Jeff doesn't know how to take care of a child! The kid'll die in his care, and Jeff will have to go to court! That can't happen!"
"Jeff knows his way around the legal system, but you're right about him being a dad. We should get going."
"No! Wait!" She grabbed her wand from the end table and Disapparated. I sat down and waited until she came back with young Scorpius Malfoy holding her hand. It had taken twenty minutes.
"Sorry, love. Draco had to get Scorpius ready to come with us." Scorpius was wearing a knitted green sweater (No doubt Eleanor's handiwork) that went to his knees but otherwise fit him perfectly. He also carried a yellow backpack.
"Hi Ashley!" The boy waved.
"Hey, chum. Are you ready to go, Sarah Beth?"
"Yeah. You ready to go on a ride in a Muggle car, little guy?"
"Yeah!" Scorpius lit up and bounced out the door behind me.
---
Ding dong
Jeff opened the door and greeted us heartily. "Hey, beautiful! You too, Sarah Beth! And... oh God. Did you have a kid, too? That fast?"
Sarah Beth smiled. "No. This here's Scorpius. A friend's son. I thought he might like to play with a boy his age, so I picked him up."
"Hello!" Scorpius smiled at Jeff, who grinned back.
"What's up?"
The boy looked up and concentrated. "There's a bird over there..."
Jeff laughed. "I already like him! At least he has a sense of humor, unlike Ben."
"Ben?" Sarah Beth replied.
