Hello everyone! Did think you'd hear from me again, did you? :) I have a lot of apologizing to do, but feel free to skip my explanations and head straight to the (slightly short) chapter!
I'm really sorry I haven't published a chapter since October (wow, that's crazy even for me to say). So, let me give you a quick summary of why: 1. I got cast in a musical (Rent, as Maureen, if you are a thespian like me and know what that is!) which meant that I had a ridiculous rehearsal schedule from early november until very late February. For the first two weeks of March, I was busy catching up on all the work I had been putting off due to the tech week of our production. And then I went on Spring Break, where I had no wifi connect for two weeks. And now I'm finally back home and back in the normal schedule of things (and my birthday is the 21st, so getting excited for that too!)
But to be completely honest, I dedicate this chapter to The Original Horcrux, TomFeltonLovesx3, and ravenclawpride for messaging me and asking me where I was and why I wasn't writing. And that meant so much to me, because I honestly didn't think that anyone would even notice I was gone (even if it was for five months...again, really sorry). And so it's for them and all my other wonderful and kind reviewers that I publish this chapter and continue to write this story. I hope you enjoy.

P.S. I forgot to mention this when I published the last chapter, but I'm a beta on pottermore and I'm a hufflepuff...I really don't know what to do about my username now...

Chapter 39

Three days had gone by and with each passing moment Rose and grown more and more tired of the stares she received. She started spending as much time as possible outside of the castle; visiting Hagrid, enjoying tea with Neville in the greenhouses, spending time in the room of requirement, and most often watching Scorpius fly around the quidditch pitch to blow off steam. The two of them had been trying to keep each other as calm as possible while they waited for the discussion about their relationship to die down. The rumors were still going strong, the letter from Draco fueling them significantly, and their only hope was to try and wait it out until it becamse less interesting. So far, this plan wasn't having decent results, but they didn't really have any other options.

But Scorpius couldn't always protect her from the glares of others, and she spent the rest of her time with one of her friends from Gryffindor house to guard her. That morning was one of them; Rose sat surrounded by her friends at the Gryffindor table for breakfast. As she was reaching for another pastry, a large letter was dropped onto the plate in front of her.

"Who's that from Rosie?" Lily asked.

Rose began to tear open the thick enveloped to find three pages of writing, smeared and scribbled out in places. Her eyes scanned to the end.

"It's from my mum. She finally wrote." Her family got quiet for a moment as they watched her begin to skim the letter. "I'm gonna go find some place to read this, excuse me." Rose said as she got up from the table in a bit of a rush, leaving the rest of her breakfast untouched.

She walked out of the Great Hall and went to find an empty classroom or something, as she wanted desperately to read the letter by herself. She soon found what she thought was a muggle studies classroom and decided to use it. She sat down on one of the desks, dangling her feet over the edge while her shaky hands opened the letter again. Rose began to read softly aloud to herself, imagining her mother's voice.

Dear Rose,

This is the 6th letter I have tried to write to you. To be perfectly honest, every time I attempted to talk about what happened last week I couldn't find the words. I know that seems rather unbelievable, but your announcement has rendered me slightly speechless. So, even though this is less eloquent than I would like, I had to tell you at least what has been happening since you left.

Your father lost it when you left. I haven't seen him that angry in a really long time, it was slightly frightening. He simply paced back and forth in our living room muttering for over an hour, unable to break the cycle of thoughts in his head. At one point, I couldn't watch him do that anymore and left. He never came upstairs, I found him asleep on the couch in the morning. After that he simply got really quiet for the next day, wrapped up in thoughts that he apparently couldn't voice. The next day was the most interesting. I watched him go through about 50 different emotions in one day. You think I'm exaggerating, but one moment he would be unnaturally optimistic and the next an annoying chirpy bird would make him cry. You actually hit him with that information at a bad time anyway; he was having a particularly unhappy week at work as it was. Day four was probably the one you would be most interested in as that was emotional unloading day. He decided that because he had kept everything bottled up, when he finally started talking he had to explode. And merlin, did he ever.

I could explain to you the many emotional phases your father went through, but that would take more ink that I have left on my desk and might make you feel even more upset than I'm sure you already do. So, I'll try to keep this as brief as possible.

Obviously right now the prevailing emotion is absolute fury. He's angry with everyone: you, Scorpius, Draco, Hogwarts, anyone who could have been involved. After that, he just felt betrayed. Like this was somehow a sign that we didn't parent you correctly, or that you were trying to hurt us. I obviously talked him out of that idea. Then he went into worrying about you. Worrying that Scorpius wasn't being a good boyfriend to you, worrying that you weren't happy. Worrying about how the other kids at school were treating you, which I found extraordinarily ironic given that he was your own father and he couldn't even have the decency to write to you.
He hasn't yet reached a stable emotional place; it keeps changing. Some days, I think he's almost happy for you. But other's he enters this whirlpool of hurt that I've never seen anything like before.

But Rosie, I can feel you tiring of stories of your father and wanting to know what my reaction was. After all, I know some of this won't come as a complete surprise because I am sure that you were expecting it to some extent. But please read all of this before giving up on it, because you might not like everything I need to say.
Rose, to be perfectly honest, I'm disappointed. Disappointed that you never came to me. Disappointed that you lied for so long, and that you pulled other family members into your lie. Disappointed that you felt like just because you might not get the reaction you wanted then you weren't obliged to tell us. But mostly, I'm disappointed because I thought our relationship was better than that.
Then there's how you told us. That wasn't ideal either Rose. The fact that you put it off for so long, and then only told us because it "couldn't wait any longer", and then to find out (again, not from you) that it was because Draco Malfoy was also finding out that night. This doesn't shed a positive light on this relationship in any respect, if anything it makes me more concerned. But, that is a different topic.
Then there is the fact that it's Scorpius. While that idea shocks me, I must admit, I still believe that you are a good judge of character and feel I must trust your decision. I also must trust that he is treating you with more respect and kindness than any Slytherin I have ever met before, and if that is not the case then I am, once again, disappointed.

But, as hard as this may be given what has preceded it, I am still happy for you Rose. I'm happy you have found someone who you love so much that you are willing to risk a lot of things to stay together with him. I'm happy that you seem to have found a strange match for yourself that makes you seem fulfilled and stable. But most of all, I'm happy that you are at least trying to integrate him into your family. Albus and Lily have both written home to Harry and Ginny this past week and they have managed to sway Ginny to the point that she is content with the relationship. And that must have taken a lot of effort, after Ginny had her daughter attacked by the Slytherins this past year.

I'm sorry I could not provide more comfort in this letter to you; I wish I could. But until I come to terms with this a bit more I'm afraid this may be the best I can do. I promise to write to you again soon, I'm sorry this letter took as long as it did.

Love,

Mum
Rose folded the letter quietly and stood there for a moment. Although she knew it could have been much, much worse, she still felt that horrible pit in her stomach. The one that made her feel like she did something horribly wrong even though in her heart she knew she hadn't. The word "disappointment" began to echo through the deep chambers of her hollow mind. She began to run her fingers along the hem of her skirt in her numb thoughts, and her head snapped up when she heard the door open.

"Hey you", Scorpius said soft as he walked into the stream of sunlight pouring in through the window. "I was looking for you".

"It's from my mom," she replied with a whisper.

"I thought so. To be honest, I was expecting a howler from your dad." He said with a sad smile.

"Eh, mum probably stopped that from happening. I'm sure she hid the howler stationary."

He gave a dark chuckle and sat down next to her. "Are you okay?" He asked tentatively.

"Yeah, I am. It's just tough, you know? Walking through the halls and knowing that everyone you pass is talking about you. I'm not used to it." She admitted.

"Please, you're the daughter of Ron and Hermione, you've gotten stares before" he said with a playful smirk.

"Yeah, but not for anything I actually did. This feels different." She sighed and leaned her head on his shoulder, "honestly, it's just tough to do it alone."

"Hey," he said softly, "what do you mean alone?"

"I mean, I have my friends. And they're great and supportive and lovely, but they don't really understand. Only you do, and even though everything is out in the open I still don't get to have you around all the time to make me feel stronger. And it's not like I need help, but it's just nice to have you around."

He turned to look down at her, "come on," he said and motioned for her to follow him out of the empty classroom.

"Where are we going?" She demanded with a hint of laughter to her voice.

"You'll see," he said with a smirk and began to pull her down the corridor, stopping in front of the great hall. He gave her a small, lovely kiss and whispered in her ear "trust me". She gave a small, slightly scared, nod and walked into the hall with him.

She had expected it to get old by now, but people still stared at her when she walked into the room with her "wretched" boyfriend. She looked at Scorpius, wanting him to take the lead, and he gave her a wink and took her hand, leading her back over to the Gryffindor table. Although instead of dropping her off and walking back across to his own, he nudged Albus. "I hear the pastries are sweeter on the other side," he said with the smirk. The noise of the great hall and dropped considerably, and to Rose the whole place had faded away and it was simply her boyfriend and the Gryffindors that she would forever be proud to call her friends.

Review and let me know what you want to see next! Also because I miss all of you :)