Chapter 3
It was December the 17th and Scorpius had not heard from his father at all since September, even after all the letters he had sent. Which was why he was rather surprised when Andra gave him a letter addressed to him in his father's neat handwriting at dinner that evening. Scorpius quickly read it as Rose was coming over from talking to her cousins. Fred and James were no longer ignoring her but they refused to sit near Scorpius so Rose tried to divide her time at meals with them, Albus at the Slytherin table and Dominique and Molly at Ravenclaw table. Luckily, the latter along with Louis and Victoire seemed to like Scorpius, well they had no problem with him at least, so they didn't mind sitting with him and Rose at any of the tables.
The note was short and "sweet".
Scorpius
I think it would be best for you to stay at Hogwarts for Christmas. I have a lot of work to do over Christmas and it would make the time unenjoyable.
Father
As Rose sat down Scorpius tore the letter into tiny pieces outraged. He couldn't believe his father was acting like this, it was ridiculous! "Hey what's wrong Scorp?" Rose asked concerned.
"My bloody father! I'm to stay here over Christmas. He's lying about work I think, or asking for more. He's always made sure that we had time on Christmas, whether the work needed done or not" Scorpius said angrily, then added in a calmer voice, "I know I'm probably being stupid but..."
Rose interrupted him at this point, "It's not, you shouldn't have to be alone at Christmas. No one should" After a short silence Rose's eyes twinkled slightly as she perked up, informing Scorpius that she had thought up something, "You could come to the burrow for Christmas! Well mine for the rest of the holidays too obviously!"
"I couldn't barge in on your Christmas Rosie..."
"You wouldn't be! Mum and Grandma love visitors! The more the merrier right? Come on I've got to send them a letter and ask!" Rose grabbed Scorpius by the hand and practically dragged him out of the Great Hall, as he just laughed at her antics. Rose quickly scribbled a letter to her mum once they had reached the owlery and sent it off with one of the school owls. Scorpius, while he didn't want to intrude, hoped that Mrs Weasley would allow him to join them, as he didn't want to be alone for the holidays. It wouldn't have been too bad if some of the other students would be nice to him but other than Rose, Roxy, Victoire, Dominique, Louis and sometimes Molly and Albus no one talked to him, unless they were insulting him of course. The two went to the common room after that, to finish their last bit of homework they had, which happened to be Herbology, before they went to bed.
At just 7am Rose was gently shaken awake by her dorm mate Jessica Zabini holding a letter, probably from her mum. Jess's family had been mostly Slytherin before her, but unlike Scorpius' dad, the Zabini's were proud of her for changing the tradition and being her own person. Rose and Jess met in that first ever boat ride with Scorpius and that cow Penelope Parkinson, who was Slytherin with Albus. Rose felt rather sorry for him. "Roooosssse, post!" Jessica said dragging out her friend's name. Roes grudgingly got up and opened her letter.
Dear Rose,
I wasn't expecting to talk to you until the day after tomorrow, so you're letter came as a great surprise.
Of Scorpius can join us! No one can be alone for Christmas, even if they are at Hogwarts. I'd hoped to meet him anyway. I had to warn you're father who wasn't very happy about it, but he's changed his mind now and promised to be on his best behaviour and not mark Scorpius down as his father just because of his name.
Say hello to everyone for me, including Jessica and Scorpius. I'll see you on Saturday at the station!
Love Mum x
"Yes! I knew she'd agree!" Rose exclaimed, jumping out of bed and rushed out of the dormitory, ignoring the looks she got from Jessica and her other dorm mates, Felicity Brown, Alyssa Jones and Sabrina Castle. She ran into Scorpius just as he was coming out of his dorm and he raised an eyebrow, amused and puzzled. "Morning o lively one."
"!" Rose said quickly, a huge grin on her face.
"Err, come again?"
"Mum said you can come over for Christmas! How awesome is that?"
"Seriously?"
"Yeah!"
"That's great! Tell her thanks from me"
"You can tell her tomorrow! Anyway if you wait for me to change I'll walk to breakfast with you"
"Okay, sure" Scorpius smiled and chucked his school bag onto a nearby couch, sitting in the armchair opposite, as Rose ran back into her dormitory.
After breakfast the classes went by insanely quickly, as if Hogwarts was just trying to get rid of over half the students as soon as possible. By the time classes finished, Rose and Scorpius scoffed a quick dinner with Jessica, who only tolerated Scorpius for the sake of her friend. Once their rushed meal was eaten, they grabbed napkins of desert to bring up to eat while they packed, since none of the trio had even started. Rose didn't see Scorpius for the rest of the night as by the time she had finished it was 11 since she and Jessica kept stopping to play exploding snap. "Rose? Why are you friends with Malfoy?" Jess asked randomly, catching Rose off guard.
"Well, all I heard growing up was bad things about the Malfoy's, you know Scorp's dad and granddad, and dad was always telling me that any "spawn" of Malfoy's would be exactly like him. I just wanted to ignore the prejudices. That's all Scorpius gets. Hassle from people because of his name. No one seems to care that he done nothing and is different you know? It's not fair on him" Rose replied quietly as she changed into pyjamas.
"I guess I never thought of it that way..." Jessica mumbled as the pair got into their beds, trying not to wake the other girls. "Night"
"Goodnight" Rose whispered already half asleep as she snuggled into her bed and falling into a dreamless sleep.
