Second Hand Malfoy

“You always turn questions people make to you to them. I’m not accusing you, this is just a comment. You are always very mysterious. I don’t want to annoy you or something but i can’t help noticing this everytime we talk” 

"I guess questions come as part of the back and forth of conversation for me?” Though he used a questioning tone, he wasn’t looking for Rose to answer that one. “I hadn’t ever thought about it. But I don’t mind being called mysterious. We Slytherins like to keep a bit of intrigue, or, y’know, at least avoid admitting the negative aspects of ourselves.”

“ Do you know what are you going to do?” 

Scorpius tapped a foot, looking towards the door of the Entrance Hall. He didn’t have to think hard on Albus’ question. “I’m going to get myself enrolled in a muggle university and study law. I want to be a defence attorney. I’ve talked to Zabini already so I know that it’s possible to have my Hogwarts grades translated into muggle grades.”

 Rose didn’t know much about Scorpius, the only thing she was sure about him is how mysterious he was. She heard some rumours about what happened between his family and him but she didn’t know if they were true or not and of course she couldn’t ask, and even if she had the guts to ask she wouldn’t because it was non of her business.

“You stayed too, despite having an amazing family who I’m sure miss you. I’m sure you have some good reason for that. You’re not fighting with your family, are you?” Scorpius wore a frown as he asked this. It would strike him as odd if that were true. The Weasley clan seemed so flawlessly bonded.

“Scottish weather and I will never get along. I never seem to get it, you know. It looks good outside, and the next thing you know, the blizzard has locked your doors or something.” It was a carefree observation; Scotland was obviously a lot colder than London, and even more so than California. It was a careful observation on Nate’s part, but did the other boy seem more guarded when he talked? Most probably true, but the English were weird like that.

“Sorry, did I interrupt you?” he asked as an afterthought. Scorpius had noticed the pursing of Nate’s lips and the deliberate closing of his notebook. Perhaps he was annoying the guy. He didn’t think he was particularly great at reading people. Scorpius tried, but people were complicated, and he knew how easily some people could hide their thoughts and intentions behind a carefully crafted facade.

He looked at Scorpius. There was something that made him feel that he should be careful with the words he decided to use. He knew it made no sense but he wanted to make his friend feel like he was always welcome around him and his family.

“But maybe next year or the year after I’ll try a Burrow Christmas. I’m sure we’ll still be in touch after Hogwarts. You got any idea what you want to do after Hogwarts?” He didn’t intentionally change the subject, but Scorpius did think it for the best to get away from who was spending Christmas with who. Asking what others were going to do after Hogwarts was a common question amongst the seventh-year students.

She looked at Scorpius feeling a little bit embarrassed “ If i talk to much about my family and stuff feel free to shut me up” She laughed “I have the tendency of doing that. Sorry”

 “I’m sure that no family is perfect, but what you’ve got is probably close. Several of my friends have adopted me into their families. They’re all pretty crazy, but I mean that in a good way. You should see the Wood family. In that house you get near-silence until about midday because none of the Wood-kids are awake until then, and after that it’s all chaos. They’re practically bouncing off the walls, and the parents aren’t far from it either. Then in the Scott house it’s an entirely different kind of crazy with everyone talking over the top of each other. And then I know what you Weasleys are like when you all get together.”

“ If i may ask, why did you stay? “

Scorpius was not all that comfortable with the question being turned on himself. He wasn’t prepared to answer truthfully, even to a friend like Albus. He kept his upper body still so that he wouldn’t present any ‘tells’ like scratching his neck. “I have never spent Christmas at Hogwarts before so this was my last chance.” It was an excuse he’d already planned in advance. “For the past few years I’ve been spending it at friends’ houses, or with my Great-Aunt Andy.”

She smiled looking at the fire. She couldn’t help thinking about her family, which put her a little nostalgic but she tried to shake it off. “ In most cases we learn what our parents teach us and they learn what their parents thought them. Every generations has a basic knowledge or way of thinking but a little bit modified from the generation that came after them.” She looked at him smiling “Of course there are exceptions to that”

“We call that ‘Dogma’, and it’s generally not a good thing. You can laugh at it as an afterthought, though. Most pureblood elitists seem to think that merely looking at muggle media will turn them into a full-on traitor. Just like how certain straight men seem to believe that buying floral soap will turn them gay.”

“What about you?” He smiled “Waiting for someone special?”  

“Didn’t your parents want you there for Christmas day at least?” Scorpius’ question wasn’t judgmental. He was hardly an icon of good familial relationships. But he was a little interested in the answer. He’d always pictured the Potter-Weasley’s as one happy family; perfect.

“I haven’t heard much muggle music, thought my mother talked to us about it. I do love muggle movies, mostly the fiction stuff. There are amazing series too. But at the end of the day i still go back to my only real true love” She smiled affectionally looking at the piles of books “I’m not going to ask because even i realised how private that sounds but i’m glad you changed your thoughts about muggle culture. They are not as bad as other wizards tell us, i can’t understand why would someone think such things about them.”

“To be fair,” he told Rose, “I can still see why there’s a voluntary separation from muggle culture there. You can see how the divide has helped keep them in positions of power and wealth over the rest of us. But they don’t know what they’re missing out on. Eight billion people on this planet, but only so many with magic, and even less of those producing art, music, and literature. There’s not much range if you stick to wizarding-produced content only, compared to all that is out there.”

 She didn’t know if asking personal questions was fine in that moment, she didn’t want Scorpius to feel uncomfortable but somehow she felt like she could say anything, maybe it was the fire or maybe it was the fact that they were alone in the common room, but she just felt somehow free.

His current guilty pleasures were, admittedly, malicious in nature. Scorpius didn’t want to live up to the darker side of Slytherin’s reputation, but sometimes he felt that he didn’t want to be kind or compassionate. It was the kind of thing he didn’t want to admit even to his best friend.