The Real You - A Harry Potter Next Generation Scorpius/Rose fanfic

Chapter 1 - The beginning

Hey guys, I'm new and I love Scorpius/Rose. I hope you like the story!

Hermione's POV:

There was one word to describe the muggle restaurant; bright, lively and comfy. Ok, maybe that was more than one word but I wanted our night out to be perfect. That's why I chose 'Out of the Blue'.

The war ended ten years ago and everything had finally settled down. Harry and I were Aurors; Ron worked in the Department of International Cooperation and Ginny was taking a course for Healing. We'd had kids too, Harry and Ginny had James who was five, Albus who was three and Ginny was pregnant with Lily (Harry had decided to name his first daughter after his mother and Ginny didn't object). I myself had Rose who was three and I was pregnant with a boy. I hadn't quite decided his name yet but time would tell.

I'd made early reservations at the name of 'Weasleys' and the hostess led us to a corner booth for eight. Harry, Ginny and Ron started talking about the World cup so to entertain myself I looked at the kids. James and Rose were talking and laughing and Albus seemed confused, like he hadn't understood the joke. He probably hadn't, Rose was quite bright for her age (just like she had been) and James often cracked a Joke which she understood and Albus didn't.

She probably felt Albus' confusion and slowly explained the whole joke in her delicate lisp and then they laughed together, I smiled. This was their daily routine but I never found it getting old.

Just then the bell on the door jingled and a cold chill fell over the room. All the cakes fell flat out of the back ovens and the coffee developed a frost around the edges. A tumbleweed rolled between the tables. Ok, I was joking about the whole tumbleweed part but what just happened is just as big a calamity. What happened, you ask? The Malfoys just entered.

I groaned internally. Look, I didn't hate the Malfoys like my husband and his family did, I just didn't want to do over the unnecessary torture of Draco Malfoy and Ron Weasley ever coming face to face again.

Harry saw my wide eyed expression and followed my gaze, so did Ron. They're eyes narrowed as fast as mine had expanded. "Look who it is." Ron whispered loud enough for everyone on our table to hear. "Easy, Ron." Harry whispered back as his hand snaked for his wand. 'Please don't come here' I begged inside my head, 'You'll make life much harder for both of us.'

Annoyingly, Draco chose this very moment to look at us. His usually cold features morphed into one of surprise. He muttered something to his wife, whom I remembered enough to recall that she was in Ravenclaw in Hogwarts, and son, who couldn't have been older than three or four, and they started making their way towards our table.

Great, this is just what I needed. Ron gave a very audible growl and I gave him a look that clearly said 'Don't you dare make this harder for us by acting stupid. Keep your mouth shut and let Harry and me do the speaking or you will have it bad when we get home Ronald Weasley!' He glared at me and replied with a look saying 'I'm not promising anything.'

Just then, Draco cleared his throat. I hadn't noticed him standing at the edge of our table until he had made a sound.

"Could we talk for a bit, peacefully?" He said after clearing his throat loudly.

"Why?" Harry and Ron asked in unison. I glared at them. "There's no harm in talking." I chided. I thought I heard Ron mutter something like "Says the girl who punched him in our third year." Ok, I was going to get him for saying that in front of the kids?

"Right," Draco continued. "I know this seems awfully out of character but I want to say thank you, for saving my life there at the Room of Requirement. I would have died without you. You don't know how much I owe you. I also want to say sorry, for being a pain in the wrong place in Hogwarts. I truly am. Lastly, I wanted to request, could we forget our past rivalries? I'm only asking because I don't want Hogwarts to be the same way for our children." Harry raised his eyebrow, "How do we know whether we can trust you?"

Draco wordlessly lifted up his sleeve to show us his pale left forearm, the Dark mark had vanished. "Hang on," Ron said, "Now that You know who's gone, won't the Dark mark disappear anyway?"

Draco smiled slightly, "I wish that was the case Ron, but for the dark mark to fade away you have to stop believing in the practice of the dark arts completely. My father still has it because he still believes."

"Give us a minute." Harry said. Draco nodded and ushered his family few feet away from us.

"What do you think?" Harry asked.

"He seemed genuine enough." Ginny commented.

"He was a monster in Hogwarts! How can we trust him?" Ron argued.

"He just proved that he changed Ron. Think for the kids, do think the kind of rivalry we had would be good for them?" I countered.

"Besides, if he does anything wrong both of you have every right to crucio him." Ginny pointed out.

"No they don't!" I argued, flustered.

"Fine," Harry decided. "We give him one chance."

We walked over to where they were standing.

"Draco Malfoy, you were a complete arse in Hogwarts and I bet we were too, but all is forgiven." Harry said with a grin.

Draco grinned back and they shook hands.

"How about we sit together now?" Ginny offered. They nodded and we made an irritated waitress take us to a table for ten. She told us to wait while she found one. While we were waiting, Rose walked up to Draco and pulled at his sleeve.

"I don't know what to call you." She told him, adorably.

Draco obviously wasn't expecting that. He looked at the red headed three year old with big blue eyes and said, "Um, you can call me Uncle Draco?" That came out as a question but Rose's grin confirmed it. "K, who are you?" She asked the blond boy who was standing behind his father.

"Scorpius." He said, slowly but with confidence.

"I'm Rose. That's James," She pointed at James who nodded, "and Albus." She pointed at Albus. "Do you want to be friends?" Scorpius looked at his father uncertainly. Draco gave him and encouraging nod and he grinned and said "Yeah."

Just then, a waitress came and told us that a table was ready.

Just as I was about to sit down, I heard Rose tell Ron, "Tell us about mommy punching Uncle Draco, please?" Oh bother.

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