I'm Dead

Meeting Mad-Eye

'No, he most certainly did not!' Victoire said, and Bill was taken aback. 'He proposed to me a total of eighteen times, and he didn't ask your permission any of those times. That tradition is old-fashioned – it was considered 'proper' when women were practically owned by their fathers. In modern day England, in the wizarding world and the Muggle world, that tradition doesn't help at all in the development of independent young women who want a life of their own to choose. And Mum, Aunt Hermione and Rose agree with me.' She finished her speech, and was surprised to see Bill smirking. 'What?'

'You just reminded me so much of Fleur – er, your mother then,' Bill said, finding it strange to call Fleur the mother of his children but also pleased. He'd only known her a short time, but if there was one thing he'd learnt about her in that time, it was that she could be feisty, and clearly her daughter was just the same. Must be the Veela genes, Bill decided in his head.

'People say that all the time,' Victoire sighed.

'You don't like that?' Bill questioned.

The young woman shrugged. 'It's just hard sometimes, for all of us. I'm expected to be as perfect as Mum, because people think she's perfect. Dom's expected to be a tomboy, because she looks exactly like you and acts more like you. Louis is looked down on because he's somewhere in the middle. It's worse for James, Al, Lily, Rose and Hugo. Their parents are the members of the Golden Trio. Photographers for Witch Weekly and the Daily Prophet even used to camp out in their gardens trying to get pictures of them and Uncle Harry, Uncle Ron, Aunt Mione and Aunt Ginny.'

'I can understand, I would hate that,' Bill said. 'You're all expected to be like your famous parents.'

Victoire nodded. 'It's gotten better. I remember when I was little, and Teddy came round to Shell Cottage, and these photographers arrived out of nowhere. You and Mum were furious, and I didn't have a clue what was going on. It's not like that anymore – or at least it wasn't, until a few weeks ago.'

'What happened a few weeks ago?' Bill asked.

Victoire blushed. 'I can't say, sorry. It's really up to Rose…'

'What did Rose do?' Bill pressed. 'Come on, I'm interested now! I'm not letting it go.'

'And I thought you were the easier parent to handle,' Victoire shook her head, smiling. 'Alright, but you've got to promise not to tell anyone. Anyone. Understand? Or Rose will absolutely murder me.' She shivered at the very idea.

'I promise,' Bill said. 'I'm a curse breaker and I work with goblins, remember? There are a lot of things I have to keep secret – I'm good at that sort of thing.' He grinned at her.

'Fine,' Victoire said. She took a deep breath. 'Rose and Scorpius have sort of been dating for six months.'

Bill's jaw fell open. 'That Scorpius? In there?' He jabbed a finger towards the living room.

'Last time I checked, there weren't many Scorpiuses around,' Victoire said thoughtfully, before her expression darkened. 'James swears he had nothing to do with it, which usually means he had everything to do with it. All I know is that one morning, it was front-page news on Witch Weekly – the daughter of two thirds of the Golden Trio and a Malfoy dating. I can't believe they don't have anything better to do than gossip about people's personal and love lives,' the blonde scoffed. 'So as if that overreaction wasn't bad enough, Uncle Ron completely blew up at Rose, banned her from seeing Scorpius ever again and grounded her for the rest of her life.' She rolled her eyes, and a smirk appeared on her lips. 'He would have jumped straight in the Floo and gone to the Malfoys' to personally kill Scorpius if Aunt Hermione hadn't cast the full body-bind curse on him. According to Hugo it was hilarious,' Victoire giggled.