Rose Weasley and The Unfortunate Son of a Lunatic

Another Unexpected Visitor

"That was truly terrible," he gagged.

"Scor!" Al exclaimed seeing him.

"Scorpius!" said Rose delightedly. "What are you doing here?"

"Al invited me for New Years!" he replied beaming. "I couldn't make it for Christmas but the family is getting together for New Year's Eve, and they don't typically want kids there; it doesn't usually go very well."

"You didn't invite me for the New Year!" said Max indignity.

"It doesn't matter now," said Rose. "You're here."

"Ah, Max! You're here too! I didn't know how I missed you, you know, with the-" Scorpius made a gesture atop his head indicating Max's crazy hair. "I've never traveled by floo before, interesting stuff," he was saying taking off his outside robe and sitting on the couch. "I usually do side-along apparition."

"But that's very dangerous," said Rose.

"I've never been splinched," he shrugged. "Dad has, though, lost a whole ear, scary as heck."

"How did you know to come here?" Al asked, smiling.

"Didn't, I stopped by your place. I'll tell you; your family was awfully surprised when I stepped through their fireplace."

"You met my parents?" asked Al. "How did they act?"

"Your dad was a bit iffy, awfully stiff, can't blame him, for what I've heard he and my dad didn't get along in school, doesn't help that I look just like him. But James greeted me and gave me his half eaten sandwich, do any of you guys like corned beef?" He held out a sandwich that had three bites and was now covered in ash. "Yeah, the pickles flew out of it on the way over here, I think he was just trying to get rid of it. Anyway, your mom shook my hand and sent me your way, so here I am!" he held out his hands still holding the sandwich.

"Are you staying with us?" Hugo asked.

"Dunno. I was going to ask to stay with Al, he does have more room, but now he's here, isn't he?"

"Do you hum often?" Hugo asked hopefully.

"Not typically no, can't carry a tune to save my life."

Hugo hugged Scorpius around the middle saying. "You can stay with me!"

"Is that all?" asked Max in surprise. "If you didn't like it, you could have just told me to stop."

"So I can stay here?" he asked.

"I don't see why not. My mum loves house guests, but I'll send her an owl just in case... did you bring a bag?"

"Oh, yeah!" he said excitedly. "Can I have something small that you don't care about losing?" he asked looking around. "Something that'll hold together? Something, yeah, this'll work!" Scor walked to the fireplace, dropped the corned beef sandwich on the dusty floor, took a pinch of floo powder from the bowl above the mantle, threw it on the sandwich and yelled, "My house!" Green flames erupted around the bread, and it vanished. He sat cross-legged in front of the fire and waited.

Everyone else waited too, thinking that he might just be a bit mad. A minute passed, and another gust of green flames appeared, and when dying, a duffle bag was sitting there. Scorpius picked it up and turned as if this was as normal as anything.

"So..." said Al. "You send a sandwich somewhere, and that makes a duffle bag appear, cause that makes perfect sense?"

"Oh," said Scorpius looking confused. "Have you guys never done that? That's the only thing my family uses floo powder for. Yeah, I told my mom that I was heading to your place, if I were allowed to stay, I would send her something as a sign, and she would send my bag. If I couldn't, I would head back, and travel to the Potter's on New Year's Eve."

"I've never thought about doing that," said Hugo.

"Yeah," Rose agreed. "We just bundle what we want to bring with us under our soot robes."
"There's a note," said Scorpius picking a piece of paper from the inside of his bag. "Dear Scorpius," he read aloud. "Hope you have fun, Happy New Year, I'll be here peeling corned beef from the walls of our fireplace. -Mom"

"Something that'll hold together," Al mocked. "I know! I'll send a sandwich!"

"Hey, guys!" Rose whispered. "Our neighbor just disapparated, we can get back to de-gnoming."

"If he just disapparated," said Hugo. "then why are you whispering? Thank God you inherited your mother's brains." Hugo also mocked.

"Shut up. Come on Scor; you can help."

"I hate de-gnoming," he complained.
"Stop complaining, princess," said Rose.

"I thought you said you had house elves," said Al.

"Elves don't de-gnome," said Scorpius obviously. "They're hardly bigger than the things themselves."


For the rest of the day, gnomes were flying and squealing through the air and across the street. Max lessened the distance of his throw and was successful in, now, getting them into Bronta Barnes yard.

"Didn't you say you had muggle neighbors?" asked Max as he ripped a gnome off his ankle.

"Uh-hu," Rose replied flinging one accidentally into a tree.

"Then, if they look through their window, can't they see tiny, potato-like creatures being flung into the air?"

"Nope, muggles can't see theses gnomes unless a unique charm is cast on them. Nobody had cast that charm of course because their inability to see them is really convenient."

"So if they can't see what we're throwing, then what do we look like?"

"Like we're going mad," she laughed.



Hermione appeared by the front door later that day. The four kids scrambled down from the pomegranate tree to meet her.

"Rose?" she called stepping into the house wearing her work robes.

"Right here!"

"Oh, good. Where's your friend?"

"Max is outside."

"No, your other friend, where's Scorpius Malfoy?"

"Oh, he's stuck in the tree," Rose replied casually gesturing to the window where there was a perfect view of Scorpius' leg caught between two branches, Al jumping up and down from under the tree trying to nudge it out, Max on the ground laughing, and Hugo taking pictures.

Hermione opened the window and shouted, "Mobiliarbus!" The two branches separated slightly, and Scorpius fell to the ground.

Hermione came running out to him. "Are you alright?" she asked worriedly.

"I'm good; I'm fine thanks. Scorpius Malfoy," he smiled, stretching out his hand to shake hers from the ground, but she used it to help him to his feet instead, dusting the snow off his robes with a fuss. "No need," he assured her. "I'm alright, Al here broke my fall."

"Yeah," said Al from the ground, unhurt but being dramatic. "Oh the pain!" he swooned.

"So you're staying with us for the weekend?" she asked.

"If you'll have me. Rosie here sent an owl, but we never got a reply."

"Oh? I sent a response saying that I sent a note asking Ron, I guess his response hasn't gotten here yet."

There was a loud, 'CRACK' and Ron appeared in his brightly colored work robes and covered in glitter – being covered in stuff like glitter or slime was normal when coming home from Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes. He appeared before the front door which he walked through without noticing that everyone was outside.

"Take your shoes off before you enter the house, won't you?" Hermione smiled at them as they trooped in.

"Ron?" she called, entering the house.

"Yes?"

"Did you get my post? About Scorpius Malfoy?" she called making her way to the kitchen where Ron always went first after work.

"Yes, I did. I sent you a reply but I suppose you had already left, or perhaps Kiffly ate it."

"Kiffly didn't eat it, don't be ridiculous."

"Don't be so sure; that man will eat anything. I once saw him chewing on a book when I worked at the Ministry, a book! I wouldn't put it past him to start eating our post. Is the Malfoy kid here?"

"Yes, he's right behind me."

Ron came from around the corner looking tired. He took a deep breath when seeing Scorpius who ruffled his own hair real fast.

"Ron," he grunted taking Scorpius' hand.

"Scorpius, sir," he said.

They continued to look at each other for a moment, both Hermione and Rose looked nervous. Hugo wasn't watching, and Al was smiling cheerfully, evidently thinking that they'd get along just fine. Scorpius smiled and shifted his eyes a bit, waiting for Ron to say something or give him the okay to walk away and never have to stare into his eyes again.

"Question..." said Ron suddenly.

"Yes?" said Scorpius relieved that the silence had been broken.

"This will determine whether you can stay with us or not."

"Ron," Hermione scorned.

"Holac or Housten?"

"Oh Holac, of course!" said Scor as if this was the most obvious thing in the world. Rose had no idea what the question was. "Housten is majorly sloppy in his retrievals and is only still with the Chudley Cannons because he keeps the girls watching, everyone thinks he's so handsome when it's really Halac that deserves his own article!"

Rose understood now.

Ron paused for a moment, then slapped Scor on the back. "He can stay," he said casually before making himself a couple of eggs. "Ugh," he said a moment later. "Why do I smell corned beef?"

"Oh, it's from James' sandwich," Scor replied.

"James'- where is it now?"

"Plastered to my chimney..."


Dinner that night was mostly silent. Though Ron had gotten on with Scorpius alright because of the Chudley Cannons Quidditch team, Rose couldn't help but feel that he still saw Draco Malfoy when he looked at him.

"So?" asked Ron while eating roast beef. "What does your dad do now?"

Scor looked at Al nervously for a moment, not thinking that discussion on his father would be a great idea. Rose gave him a curt nod.


"He, uh, he's a bank owner now."


"He doesn't own Gringotts!" said Ron in suddenly.


"No, see, he's working on opening a series of other Wizarding banks across the globe; we're getting along fairly well in the planning."


"Why would we need another bank?" Ron asked. "Gringotts is the safest place in the world."


"Well with the Wizard population growing across the world, this'll make it easier to those in other continents to access their money. Like the people in China and the Americas have difficulty getting to our bank, so right now, we're working on opening one in each continent."


"Is it bringing in money?"


"We're getting along. We'll be doing really well once the banks are built."


"Do you think it'll ever gonna get there?"


Rose, Max, and Al were sharing sideways glances at each other. The conversation was becoming awkward. Rose was trying to give her dad silent signals to indicate that should stop, but he didn't so much as glance at her.


"Yes," Scorpius replied rather stiffly.


"But the Malfoy family is already very wealthy, why is he going through all this trouble?"


"Because he wants to help people," said Scorpius with a hint of pride in his voice.


Ron dropped the topic after that. Whether it was because of the warning look on Hermione's face, his doubtfulness of that answer, or just to hold his tongue, she didn't know, but she was glad that he had.



"I'm sorry about all that," she whispered late at night as everyone sat on her bed with a candle.

"That's alright," Scor shrugged. "I told you before; I'm used to it."

"I didn't know your dad was opening banks," she said. "That's really cool."

"Yeah. I'm happy dad's doing something he enjoys; he's always liked creating."

"Excuse me for saying this but, I thought, of all people, you wouldn't have gotten along with him. You two are just so different."

"Not really. You've never met my dad; I am told that I have more of my mom's traits, though. But we get along. We have a few issues but who doesn't with their dad. I sometimes feel cheated of a better life, a life where I'm not starred at or mocked when I walk down the street. But I can't hold what he did in his youth against him. It'll only make me bitter."

"I hate when people stare," said Al. "You can imagine how much we get it. That scar on my dad's forehead does attract a lot of attention, and James, Lily and I get it too. The prodigies. I hate it. Not being my dad's son, no, I love my dad. But I wish it could've been someone else who defeated Voldemort sometimes."

"We're watched a lot too," Rose joined in. "Hugo and I. Not as much as Al of course, but still we're asked for pictures a lot, especially when we're with the Potters. My parents are asked to sign their chocolate frog cards even."

"I get looks too," said Max seriously. "My hair, makes people think I'm a rebellious kid. OH, CRUEL WORLD! WHY HAS THOU CURSED ME WITH SUCH VIBRANT LOCKS!" he threw his hands toward the ceiling making the others laugh.

"Why don't you change your hair to be neutral when you're out then?" she laughed.

"Because indigo brings out my eyes," he joked, but then because she remembered that he couldn't lie and he was honest, she laughed harder.



The boys weren't tired at all so Rose kicked them to the floor so she could sleep and found them the next morning asleep on the ground, Al holding Pasty her pumpkin doll, Scor was wearing her knitted hat, and Max was cuddling with his telescope. She had to step over them all, careful not to wake them, so she could use the family camera to take a picture. She was going to have Louis develop the ones they had taken over the week. Some of which including one of them covered in mud from Max's adventure, one of Al sleeping on her plush toys, the one that Hermione had taken of them all playing catch in the air, the one Hugo got of Scorpius stuck in the tree, and this one. Louis owed her anyway for the Galleon she had been cheated.

"So what's the plan today?" Scor asked.

"We're heading out at nine to help Harry and Ginny set up for the New Year party, which will start at ten," Hermione answered. "Until then, spend the day like any other, and don't get dressed in your evening robes until at least eight."


Ron went to work and Hermione – being off – left to go grocery shopping. Rose refused to take them around the neighborhood again knowing that Max wouldn't stroll to enjoy the scenery, but would be looking for every opportunity to create another story. They had sat in the pomegranate tree again – Scorpius now being more cautious as to where he sat – and Hugo was visiting his friend a couple of houses down.

"This kinda reminds me of the garden," said Scor, looking at the greenery around him.

"Yeah," said Rose. "except, not at all."

Hermione had come in laden with groceries a couple of hours later to find them all reading on the couch.

"Is this all you've been doing all day?" she asked in disbelief.

"Yup."

"Mom, there's nothing to do!"

"Sure, because you have your three best friends with you and can't find anything to do. You know I approve of reading, but those are fiction novels anyway. Why don't you play in the snow before it all melts?"

"Mum," Rose complained. "There's like two feet of snow, it's not gonna melt, and we've already been out today."

"Going to," her mom corrected "It's not going to melt. And if you're so bored, then why not clean the attic, it hasn't been touched in a couple of years."

Rose stood up from the couch.

"Where are you going?" asked Max.

"To clean the attic," she replied.

"Why?"

"Because she told us to."

"No, she said – why don't you? – the answer is because we don't want to."

"When mom suggests something, it's usually not a suggestion."

"That's right," Al huffed when getting up.

They spent the rest of the day picking up old and broken items, cleaning out doxy eggs and dusting cobwebs. The boys got distracted with the old box of dress up clothes that every attic had.

"Look at this!" laughed Max slipping on a really old, very shabby, brown dress robe with half ripped frill around the collar and hem. "Do you want to go to a ball with me?" he said bowing to Rose who was the only one working.

She raised her eyebrows at him, and he turned to Scorpius instead. "Do you want to go to a ball with me?"

"Do I ever!" Scor grinned taking his hand and skipping about the attic laughing.

There were a couple of thumps from under them from Hermione telling them to keep it down. Max checked himself in a cracked mirror.

"You know; I could probably bring this back in style."

"Why would you want to?" Al asked going through a box of corks.

"Why would anyone keep a cracked mirror?" Scorpius asked.

"It's bad luck to crack a mirror; it's ten more years if you throw the mirror away after," Rose replied breaking down a box.

"Are you superstitious?" Scor asked.

"No," Al replied. "But she is stuck."

Rose just realized that she had barricaded herself inside a wall of boxes.


"Time to get ready, guys!" Hermione called from the kitchen. "Oh! Just first wash your face and hands, you're covered in dirt."

Rose had just cleaned up and gotten into her gold New Year dress before the guys had even finished washing their face. A loud 'CRACK' announced the arrival of her dad, and she went out to greet him but decided otherwise when seeing that he was coated in syrup.

"Hi, Rosie," he said. "Not gonna hug me?"

"Not today, dad."

"Oh come on, just one hug? I haven't seen you all day!" he said nearing her quickly.

"No!" she laughed running away. "Don't touch me, No!"

"Ron," Hermione smiled entering the room with an apron around her waist and more food on her front than was probably being made.

"Hermione! Wanna hug?"

"Don't you dare," she smiled. "Rose has just got into her things; we don't want her getting dirty."

"Where's Al? I bet he'll want to see me."

"He's getting cleaned up in the first bathroom," she replied moving aside.

Ron crouched toward the bathroom and flung the door open. Rose heard screaming from the other side, and her dad say, "I just wanna feel loved!" Al emerged from the bathroom holding his arms out beside him and covered in sticky sap. Max and Scor were laughing when Ron double took at Max.

"Where the heck did you get that!" he exclaimed seeing as Max was still wearing the shabby old dress robes.

"Found it, in the attic."

"Hermione! I thought I said to get rid of it!" he called.

"No," said Hermione entering the room smirking. "I believe your exact words were 'pull in from thread to thread, put it through a wood chipper, soak the piece's in gasoline and burn them the muggle way.' Sorry dear, but I couldn't part with them."

"Wait, you've actually worn this, like, in public before?" Max laughed.

"I wore it to a ball."

"A ball? I thought perhaps it was worn a couple of centuries ago! Not a couple decades! Oh, I bet you were the belle of the ball," he said sarcastically.

"I was actually; the girls couldn't keep their hands off me," Ron replied.

"Oh?" Hermione laughed. "The only hands on you that night were my fists, or did I miss something?"

"I will give you five sickles, if you wear that all evening," Ron bet Max.

"Five sickles?" Max grinned. "Deal!"

"Cool, you'll have to change your hair to be red also," he said shaking his hand. "I'm hungry."

Al had to take a shower now while the others dressed in their party clothes.

"Oh, we're running low on floo powder," said Hermione peering into the bowl as the kids lined up to leave.

"Why don't we just do double travel, you know, two at a time?" Scorpius suggested.

"That's very dangerous," said Rose. "You're spinning so quickly that you can fracture your skull on the other person's head you're spinning too fast. Or you can be pushed from the wrong grate, or hit a limb on the wall around you snapping it off, or you could-"

"Okay, sweetheart," Hermione stopped her. "We'll be fine for now. There's enough for you guys, Ron and I are apparating. We're bringing a dish anyways and don't want to fling egg all over their house when we land. Here, go ahead and take a handful." She held out the powder.

Rose went first, experiencing the typical unpleasant sucking feeling and loud roaring in her ear before appearing in the Potter's fireplace.

"Hi again," she said to the few people in the living room. "Louis! I'm gonna kill you! You lost me a Galleon!" she said chasing after him.

Al appeared, then Scorpius, to a few of the family's surprise, but their shock at seeing Scorpius was nothing then when Max appeared.

He stepped out dusting off the old dress robe and looked up with red hair as Ron had instructed him to do. There was a pause then Harry began laughing.

"I thought those were supposed to be burnt the muggle way!" he laughed. "Isn't that what you had said, Ron?" he asked Ron who had just appeared with Hermione in their living room. "When we were helping you move, you said you wanted them shredded."

"They survived."


They had gotten there an hour early to help set up, but there really wasn't much to do. A few streamers hung from the ceiling, the food was set out and the hosts were ready for everyone to arrive.

"What now?" said Scorpius looking excited.

"Haven't you ever done a New Year's party before?" Rose asked.

"Nope. Every other year, the Malfoys get together and have a family dinner to celebrate the last time we'll be together for the year, then we all go home and sleep."

"Oh, well, we eat, and talk, and listen to music until around twelve where we all meet in the lounge and count down the last minute of the year. Then we open bottles of wine – the kids get sparkling cider – we're not allowed to have even butterbeer until third year."

"But we drank butterbeer at The Three Broomsticks," said Scor.

"Yeah well we were also in Hogsmeade two years early," she whispered.


The night went just as she had described. She felt a little sorry for Scorpius who was constantly being peered down on. Al was chatting, and Max was getting a fair amount of attention because of the robe. Rose spent most of the night with Scorpius and Hugo who had gotten on very well with him. Apparently – Rose had no idea of this – Scor could do close up magic with playing cards and performed to Hugo's enjoyment for a good amount of the night. Lily, Lucy, and Louis watched as Scorpius performed for them as well and to Rose's relief, a crowd of people started gathering. That is how Max was accepted rather quickly, because he had told stories, Scorpius was getting to do the same thing, but with illusions.

"You know this is what muggles think is magic," said Scor as he pulled three foam balls from Lily's previously empty hands. "But really it's just sleight of hand, working quickly to keep the audience focused on one thing while you perform the trick with the other hand. It's deception." He said this last part while pulling a flower from Lily's hair and Rose had no idea how he had done it.

"We sell a few of these muggle tricks at our joke shop," said George sitting beside him. "I've never been able to get the hang of it, though."

"We have five minutes until midnight, guys," said Harry. "We should all wait in the lounge."

That's what they did. Everyone waited and ate there listening to the radio until the family heard the host say, "Good evening everyone! I'm am pleased to be starting off the countdown to a brand new year in five seconds. How about you all join me in counting down from, 60, 59, 58, 57, 56, 55-"

"54! 53! 52! 51! 50! 49-!" everyone counted together until, "5! 4! 3! 2! 1! HAPPY NEW YEAR!"

Confetti shot from the adult's wands as the kids danced in it. The parents all kissed, and the children raised their glasses of sparkling cider as the host from the radio said, "To good memories passed, and to brand new beginning! To ancient times, and to distant music!" It was all very fun for the first five minutes until they all had to pick up the confetti. Other than that, the evening was rather slow. After that, a few people stood up to share their resolutions that everyone knew they weren't going to keep. The food was all cleaned up and put away, and the Potter's house was set back the way it was when they got there. Fred was chased into the snow by Grandma Weasley who was waving a book at him because he had tried to sneak hard jellybeans to the kids. They all bid each other goodbye, this time knowing that they weren't going to see them until after the year was over. They all left whether by floo or by apparition to await the next morning where they would be brought back to Kings Cross station to catch the Hogwarts Express at eleven.