2nd chances (Scorose)

Chapter 40

A/N: Here's the third one - Ron's POV of Rose telling him that Scorpius is her boyfriend.

"Thanks, Rosie," I said, trying to ignore the pain in my knee. She was a good daughter, I knew. I doubted every girl would help their aging father hobble into the house, at least not all of these 'modern teenagers' anyway.

I sighed with relief as she sat me down in the armchair and even picked up the footstool, placing it before me and pulling my injured leg onto it. I smiled my thanks and reclined the chair slightly, resting up.

"You're missing the party, Rosie," I pointed out, not sure why she was still hovering over me. I was getting older but it wasn't like I was going to drop dead in the chair. Not from the old Auror injury anyway. "I don't need you here with me, why not go back out?"

"Actually, I wanted to talk to you, Dad," she replied, surprising me somewhat. It had been a long time since we last had a real father-daughter chat. For the life of me, I couldn't think what she could possibly want to talk to me about. Ever since she hit the age of thirteen, she'd been so moody. She used to be Daddy's little girl and would follow me about, talk to me like I was her best friend. At fifteen, the only people she talked to were Dom, Lily, Al and Victoire and I was made out to be the most annoying person on the planet, the Devil in disguise, if you will.

"Really? Well, fire away," I told her, settling into the chair and resting my eyes. With the stuffy room and the comfortable position I was sat in, I struggled to stay awake.

"Well...you know how you keep asking about my boyfriend..."

I nodded, my eyes fluttering shut. I remembered her saying the word boyfriend but the next thing I knew, I was sure she was talking about constellations.

"Well...it's just that I'm dating Scorpius."

"Oh, that's nice," I murmured, trying to make it look like I was listening.

"Malfoy, Scorpius Malfoy that is."

My eyes snapped open at the mention of his name. Malfoy? She couldn't be dating a Malfoy! I couldn't let that happen. All Malfoys were jerks, scum of the earth. Lucius, Narcissa and Draco had all been dirtbags, so why would their precious son, Scorpius, be any different? Completely stunned, I was sitting wordlessly in the chair for a few minutes.

"Dad?" Rosie asked nervously, shooting glances at me and looking worried.

My mind raced. How had this even happened? I thought Harry and I had told the kids enough to make them wary of the Malfoys. I couldn't even understand what Rose would even see in him. He was just a boy. The Malfoys weren't even that rich anymore. I was sure there had to be some kind of foul play going on. What if this Scorpius kid had bewitched my Rosie? I was sure it was the kind of thing Draco would have done, and after all, the apple never falls far from the tree.

Instantly, I knew what I had to do.

Ignoring the burst of debilitating pain in my knee joint as I moved, I stood up and walked past Rosie without saying a word. She probably wasn't going to like what I was going to do, but I had to do it. I had to protect her.

Climbing the stairs to the study where Pollux usually roosted was agony. My knee protested but I kept going. Retrieving the owl, I returned to the living room, aware of Rose's eyes on me as I began writing three separate letters. I tried to resist the urge to look at her, but I caved every few minutes and as I searched for any sign of the effects of love potion in her eyes (the ones that I knew from experience all too well), I couldn't keep the hard, intense burn from mine.

The first letter I sent to Professor McGonagall - I was sure she would be able to tell me immediately if boy-Malfoy was as devious as elder-Malfoy.