2nd chances (Scorose)

Chapter 39

A/N: Hey everyone! Here's another of the bonus chapters: Hugo's POV of being picked up by Jasper. I hope you like it! As always I'd love to know what you think. I'm not sure this is as good as some of my other chapters, so yea here we go

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I stood at the living room window, looking out at our road and searching for a sign of Jasper and his family coming. Nervous energy filled me and I was constantly shifting, moving from sitting on my knees to sitting properly on the window seat and peering round over my shoulder.

"They'll be here soon," Mum said, running a hand over my hair as she walked past me and into the hall to pick up her bag and make sure she had everything in it ready for work.

It was six o'clock in the morning and she and Dad would be leaving in an hour.

"Just make sure you don't forget about the project and get distracted," Mum reminded me.

I nodded and shot her a smile.

"Where do they live again?" Dad asked, tightening the tie on his robes as he came in. "Somewhere in Scotland, isn't it?"

"Aberdeen," I nodded.

"It'll be colder up there - have you packed warm clothes?"

"Yes, Mum, you already checked my packing yesterday," I replied, rolling my eyes but appreciating her care all the same.

Mum nodded before tutting and wiping crumbs of toast from Dad's chin and robes.

"Thanks, Hermione," he muttered, kissing her on the cheek.

Turning away from them, I looked back out the window, getting hopefully to my knees as a dark blue car turned down the road. Spying Jasper in one of the back seats, I smiled and jumped down from the window seat, leaping past my parents in the doorway to get to the front door.

Jasper smiled and waved at me as he saw me in the doorway. Seeing his parents, it was easy to see where he got his looks - he was a close mix of the two of them with his father's blonde hair and his mother's hazel eyes.

"Hey, Hugo," he said with a laidback grin, getting out of the car. He wore a waistcoat over his red hoodie, looking cool but smart and I knew that I would never be able to manage to look as relaxed or sophisticated as Jasper did, though he didn't even look like he tried.

"Jasper," I replied. We'd only met a few times before the beginning of the Easter holidays to try and plan how we were going to finish our project when we were both going home for the holidays, but we'd become good friends. Jasper was just a nice person who seemed to be able to get on with anyone and everyone. I honestly thought he could probably even have a relatively easy conversation with Lucius or Draco Malfoy, not that I'd told him that, of course. I hadn't said anything I thought about him to Jasper.

While I'd never seen him with a girlfriend, I'd never seen him being anything other than friends with boys either. I didn't want to overstep a boundary and say something a bit odd to him.

"Trust Rose not to be up," I mumbled, wishing she could have been there to give me some advice on how to act. I wanted to ask her what Scorpius had done to win her over, but she was still fast asleep despite the amount of times Dad had shouted up the stairs.

"I'll give it one more try," Dad promised. "Rose! Hugo's leaving!" There was no resulting scramble for her to get down the stairs, her bedroom curtains just above us didn't even twitch. "I could-"

"-Don't worry about it, Dad. I'll send her an owl or something when I get there."

"Well, it was nice meeting you, Hermione, Ron," Mrs. Radcon said, for she had been chatting with my parents for a minute or two. Mr. Radcon smiled at me as he picked up my trunk and practically threw it into the trunk. The back-end of the car dipped drastically and a horrid groaning sounded before it evened out.

"Not to worry, it's reinforced with magic," Mr Radcon whispered to me.

I nodded and turned to face my parents, the two of them standing close together and Dad with one of his long arms wrapped around Mum's waist.

"Have a good time," Mum said, trying not to cry.

"He's not going forever," Dad reminded her, grinning at me.

"I know," Mum replied, bringing me into a hug.

"See you, Hugh," Dad said, clapping me on the shoulder.

I gave them both fleeting hugs and got into the back of the car to sit next to Jasper.

Mum and Dad waved us off and then we were on our way. Jasper chatted eagerly to me the whole way, though it was a ten hour drive that required many stops at restrooms along the way. His parents seemed just as friendly, politely asking me questions and telling me funny stories about Jasper while he turned bright red.

"Enough with the embarrassing, shouldn't you be concentrating on the road anyway, Dad?"

"Nah, we're almost there now. Ready to see the castle, Hugo?" Mr. Radcon asked.

"You live in a castle?" I said to Jasper with wide eyes.

"No," Jasper answered with a chuckle. "It's just something Dad always says."

"A man's home is his castle," Mr. Radcon agreed.

The Radcon's turned out to live in a completely normal house, just like ours as a matter of fact - a three bedroom Muggle house - though of course, it was sure to have some magical oddities on the inside.

Mrs. Radcon and Jasper showed me inside and took me to the spare room, where I would be sleeping, while my trunk was brought up by Mr. Radcon.

"We'll let you get settled in," Mrs. Radcon told me. "If you need anything, don't hesitate to ask."

While they left, Jasper stood in the doorway, leaning against the frame. I imagined that after two long car journeys - though they'd stopped overnight at a hotel on the way to my house - he was pretty tired. I knew I was.

"Your parents are so nice," I said, trying to find something to talk about in the momentary silence.

"So are yours," Jasper countered.

I nodded as we fell back into an uneasy silence. Remembering my mum's advice, I said, "So that project?"

"Yeah, my mum had a good idea to get a Muggle perspective of World War II and then a Wizard perspective as well, so we'll go to the Muggle library tomorrow and then use books we've got in the house for the wizards' perspective, sound good?"

"Sure."

"Great."

"Yep, great," I agreed.

Again silence descended on us.

"Well, I'd probably better let you get some rest..." Jasper mumbled, backing out of the room. "I'm just across the hall if you need me."

I nodded, sighing in relief as he entered his bedroom and closed the door behind him.

How was I going to cope if it was going to be so tense whenever it was just the two of us together? I imagined that going to the library would be torture, but perhaps the books would provide enough distraction.

Making me jump out of my skin Jasper shows up behind me and says "by the way you don't have to be nervous, my parents like you and I like you."

"You do" my voice filled with excitement.

"Yeah your pretty chill we should go hang out at the mall or something." he said

"Oh yeah" I said kinda disappointed.

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