3 YEARS LATER

I was beginning to think that the Malfoy family had mine beat in terms of stubbornness. First it took years to get Scorpius on my side, and it took almost my entire time at school to win over his sister. The only one left was their father. Their father who couldn't stand the idea that his darling daughter was being 'corrupted' by me. And whether that was true or not depended on his definition of corrupted.

I mean, in my opinion, I had successfully managed to get her to loosen up. Not that Mr Malfoy appreciated me having any sort of impact on his daughter – even if it was a good one. But I was determined to win him over. I would do it – eventually, just like I had won both his children over.

"James?" Mum called out from the hallway, trying to get me to come down the stairs. "You're going to be late."

"Just a minute, mum," I called back to her, looking over my clothes one last time.

Mr Malfoy was determined to pick out the flaws in everything I did. The last time I had visited his home – dress rather appropriately, even if I said so myself – he had accused me of trying to show my chest off because my two top buttons were undone. I didn't want him to find any flaw in my clothes again – especially because I was spending the night at the Manor.

Merlin, he was going to skin me alive.

"You can stop your worrying, you know," an all too familiar voice called from the doorway, bringing an instant smile to my face.

I turned to look at her, watching as she walked towards me. "I told you I'd be down soon."

"I didn't trust you," she said with a smile, running a hand through my hair and laughing gently at the irritated look I threw her way. "You were probably contemplating running away. My dad's not that scary."

"That's easy for you to say – you're his daughter."

"I am." Taking my hand in hers, she started to lead me away from the mirror and towards the door. "So, hurry up already."

"Give me a second."

Taking my hand out of hers, I grabbed my overnight bag before accompanying her downstairs. We walked, hand in hand, towards the floo where mum was waiting for us. Mum didn't even try to hide her grin at the sight of us holding hand – Merlin, she was embarrassing.

"We should get going now, Mrs Potter," she said quietly, coming to a stop in front of mum. "I promise I'll return him to you in one piece."

"Oh, please – your father's harmless. He always has been." Mum rolled her eyes at the look of disbelief I gave her; Mr Malfoy could never be harmless. "But you should hurry along now before he starts to think that we kept you for ourselves – which I am very tempted to do."

"Um." She shuffled awkwardly on her feet.

Seeing this, I rolled my eyes, "Mum you're getting way too ahead of yourself."

At least when I thought of things like that I didn't say them in front of her! Approaching the fireplace, we travelled promptly to her home. Her father was already waiting, standing in front of the fireplace with crossed arms, ready to greet us. She stumbled out of the fireplace before me and I followed shortly after her, using an arm around her waist to steady her.

"Remove your arm, Potter," her father ordered, voice cold and I'd never taken my hands off of her so quickly.

Being the traitor that she was, she went readily into her father's arm when he offered her a hug. I stood awkwardly, watching my girlfriend hug her father who was glaring at me from over her shoulder. When they parted, he kept her by his side and I cleared my throat, looking around the Manor.

"Why don't you go and get settled in?" she suggested, clearly trying to ease some of the tension in the room.

"That sounds like a good idea," her father agreed, surprising me. "I've had Minty clear one of the guestrooms – far away from my daughter's room." I knew it was too good to be true. "Is there a problem with that, Potter?"

"Of course not, sir."

"Good." He looked over me from head to toe, "Now follow me – I'll show you where you'll be staying."

After throwing a silent look at my girlfriend, I trailed after her father as he led me through the Manor and to the room I was spending the night in. He opened the door, gesturing for me to enter first. Stepping into the room, I looked around with curious eyes.

Before I could say a word, Mr Malfoy warned, "There's wards placed around my daughter's room that'll alert me if you try and enter it. You won't like what I do to you if you try it, Potter."

"I swear, I won't try anything –"

"You had better not – I promised your father I'd send you back without a scratch but I can't promise that if you try and trick the wards. Is that understood?"

I swallowed nervously, "Yes sir."

"Good. Don't get too comfortable here – dinner is at 8."

With that he shut the door behind him and I let out a sigh, throwing myself on the bed. Had her father always been so intimidating? Had he become more set on intimidating me when he realised I was dating his only daughter? Or had I only noticed just how scary he was once we had started dating?

I sat up at the sound of the door opening, expecting it to be Mr Malfoy with some more scary words. But it wasn't. It was someone much more beautiful. Godric I was whipped – even the sight of her had me smiling like a fool.

"What are you doing here?" I asked, watching as she shut the door behind her.

"What does it look like?" She walked towards me, "I snuck in."

"But the wards –"

"There aren't any around your room," she informed me, settling onto my lap and wrapping her arms around my neck. "Dad could never imagine that his princess would be the one to sneak into her boyfriend's room."

"You're going to get me killed," I groaned, dropping my head into her neck.

"Well you'll die a happy man." I grinned, pressing a kiss to her neck that had her giggling. "Besides, don't take what dad says too seriously – he's like a fluffy teddy in reality."

I snorted, "That's about as true as the fact that I'm ugly."

"Well," she bit down on her lower lip, "I hadn't wanted to say anything, but since you brought it up yourself –"

"Nice try, love."