Questions and Answers

James bounded into Al's room early on Christmas morning. 'Wake up!' he shouted. 'Presents!'

Al's head emerged from under his quilt. His hair was even more disheveled than usual. 'What are you? Two?' he grumbled as he untangled himself from the bedclothes. But his protests had fallen on deaf ears. James was already bursting through the door to wake Lily.

'Is this normal?' Scorpius asked Al groggily from the camp bed.

'It's the only day of the year he wakes up early voluntarily,' sighed Al.

'Lily! Come on! Get up! Why are you still sleeping?' James' voice floated back into Al's room.

'Blimey, James. It's not even six in the morning,' Lily whined.

'It's Christmas morning!' James sang.

'So?' Lily challenged. Al could hear the rustle of bedclothes, as Lily tried to snuggle back into bed.

James couldn't believe it. Nobody wanted to get up. He rolled his eyes, thinking that since he did this every year, they should be used to it. He eyed the lump that was his baby sister, and grasped the edge of her quilt. He yanked it off her bed. 'You can sleep later,' he informed Lily loftily, tugging her out of bed, and dragging her toward Al's room, ignoring her muted protestations. Lily dropped on the first thing she came to, which happened to be the end of the camp bed containing Scorpius. James came tearing back in to Al's room, his arms full of his presents and Lily's, pausing to dump Lily's next to her feet, and then bounced on the end of Al's bed.

Scorpius checked the floor at the foot of the camp bed. There was a package he knew was from his mother, recognizing the carefully wrapped box that usually appeared every year. There was also something else. It was a bit lumpy, and he noticed Al, Lily, and James each had one, too. Setting that one aside, he opened the one from his mother. Inside were the usual things his father would have given him: high-quality eagle feather quills, ink, and parchment. Scorpius barely glanced at them, before unearthing a large volume on magical plants and herbs of Polynesia. He flipped through the book, and looked back inside the box. A layer of old editions of the Prophet lined what appeared to be the bottom of the box. He pulled the newspapers out, revealing the magically-enhanced bottom and his mouth dropped open while his cheeks flushed with pleasure. Nobody else but his mother would have given him this. She must have gone into Muggle London for these. Another book with that boy and his tiger and something called a Magic 8 Ball.

Curiously, Scorpius examined at the lurid box. 'Ask it a question, and see what it says?' He squinted at the black-and-white ball in his hands, and thought for a moment. 'Is today going to be a good day?' he murmured. He flipped the ball over to see, 'Reply hazy. Try again,' floating in a window. He broke into giggles. It was about as useful as Madeline's descriptions of Divination.

'What'chat got?' asked James from his perch on Al's bed. Scorpius tossed the ball to him.

'Ask it a question and turn it over to see what it says.'

James squeezed his eyes shut. 'Will I get a racing broom this year?' He turned the ball over. 'My sources say no,' he read. 'Mental,' James pronounced, tossing it back to Scorpius.

'Yeah, it's brilliant,' breathed Scorpius. His father might have been rubbish at picking out gifts that Scorpius really liked, but his mother always came through with flying colors. The lumpy package beckoned. Scorpius looked at the tag. It was from the Potters. Whatever it was, it was squishy. He opened it, and found a pile of blue wool. It reminded him of the sea by his grandparents' home in Nice. Scorpius separated out a hat, scarf and pair of mittens.

'Put them on!' Lily's voice broke through his thoughts. He hadn't noticed James, Al, and Lily had put their own on over their pajamas. 'Got the camera, James?' James nodded, holding up the camera. 'We always take a photograph for Mum and Dad,' Lily explained, pulling him over to Al's disordered bed.

James arranged the camera so all four of them were in the frame, before scrambling back into place, and jabbing his wand at the camera. 'Say Fizzing Whizbee,' he said. The cameral flashed brightly, temporarily blinding them all. 'Ought to be a good one this year,' he told them, as he left the room.

Scorpius slid off Al's bed and retrieved the 8-Ball. 'Will today be a good day?' he barely whispered, holding it in his mittened hands. Closing his eyes, he turned the ball over. 'Without a doubt,' he read. 'I think so, too.'

'When do you think Mum and Dad will be up?' yawned Lily.

Al glanced at his clock. It wasn't yet six-thirty. 'Couple of hours maybe.' He slumped against the wall, the adrenaline from earlier already wearing off. 'I think I might get a bit more sleep. It's going to be a madhouse at the Burrow later.' Al slid under the quilt and pulled it around his shoulders.

'Me, too,' Lily mumbled from the foot of the camp bed, already curled across it and half-asleep.

Scorpius tucked his quilt over her, and sat on the other end of the bed, studying the books his mother sent him. He set the one about the magical plants aside. It could wait until later. Besides, reading about Calvin and his pet tiger was one of his favorite things to do. Maybe he could find some ideas for a snowman or two in the pages.

*****

Scorpius thought he'd grown accustomed to seeing Al's whole family in one place last Sunday afternoon. But when he tumbled out of the fireplace, he was greeted with the raucous sounds of most of the Weasley family crammed into one room. Christmas with his family had nothing on this. He stood up and brushed himself off, only to take a header on the rug, when Lily shot out of the fireplace behind him, and slammed into his back.

Coughing, he spluttered when someone with green hair pulled him to his feet, and pounded his back a few times. 'Stop...' he choked, waving his hands around.

'Did I hit you too hard?' asked Teddy.

'No, I'm okay.' Scorpius looked up at Teddy, goggling a little at how he had managed green-and-red stripes. 'Nice hair,' he commented. 'Very festive.'

'Victoire likes it,' Teddy said defensively.

'She has to like it,' retorted James, who had come out of the fireplace a moment earlier. 'She's the one doing the kissy-face thing with you.'

'Fine,' grumbled Teddy, scrunching his face briefly. His hair turned bright red. 'Better?' he asked James.

'Much.' James ran up the stairs looking for Jacob and Fred.

'C'mere, Scorpius,' Teddy said, taking Scorpius by the hand. He led him to an armchair, where Andromeda sat talking to Molly. 'Hey, Gran, this is Scorpius. Scorp, this is my grandmother, Andromeda Tonks.'

Scorpius looked into the face of a woman who resembled his grandmother, but for the hair and eyes. 'Hello,' he said shyly, ducking his head.

'Have you been having a good holiday?' Andromeda asked kindly.

'Oh, yes! It's been the best. And Mrs. Potter made these for me for Christmas,' Scorpius said excitedly, holding up his mittened hands.

'Scorpius Teddy, let's go! The snowball fight's getting started!' Al called from the kitchen door.

'It was nice meeting you!' said Scorpius brightly and he and Teddy went to the kitchen and out the back door to the snowy garden.

Harry sat down near Andromeda. 'It's a little strange isn't it? To see what Draco might have been like as a child?'

'It reminds me of what Narcissa looked like, before she went to school,' Andromeda mused. 'And he's not in Slytherin. Interesting. I wonder how that happened.' She laughed a little. 'Rather like Sirius, isn't he?'

'Only a little. He doesn't get quite the pleasure out of flouting tradition as Sirius did.'

'Sirius would have hated anything his parents liked, just on principle,' Andromeda stated.

'His mother seems to be nice,' Harry offered. 'She sent a gift to the house for him.'

'Daphne? Oh, yes, she's turned out to be quite a nice girl. Narcissa's written to me about her a time or two and tells me she doesn't try to instill all that nonsense about blood status into Scorpius. Lets him follow his interests. Looks like its working.'

'Working?' Harry looked at Andromeda sideways. 'What do you mean by that?'

'From what Narcissa describes, deep inside Daphne's oh-so-proper pureblood exterior, marches a rebel. And she'd rather have Scorpius grow up happy, than try to stuff him into some role that's been picked out for him before he was born, and make him unhappy. I wasn't sure it would actually work, with Draco for a father. Scorpius isn't at all what I thought he would be like.'

'That explains a lot,' Harry considered. 'Teddy seems to likes him a lot.'

'Teddy's thrilled to have another family member other than his grandmother,' Andromeda said wryly. 'Not that he doesn't love yours like it was his own, but...' She shrugged.

'I know exactly how he feels.'

*****

George lobbed squashy packages around the sitting room. '...Owen, Aidan, Patrick, Nicky, Alex, Hugo, Teddy, Katie, Bronwyn, Fleur, Mrs. Tonks -'

'George, you don't have to call me Mrs. Tonks,' Andromeda reminded him with a long-suffering sigh.

'Mrs. Tonks, the last time I tried to call you Andromeda, Mum smacked me on the back of the head.' George shook his head. 'Sorry, but I really don't want to repeat that.' He fished one of the last packages from under the tree. 'And here's one for Scorpius,' he said, only a faint note of surprise coloring his voice. Recovering quickly, George doled out the rest of the presents from Molly.

'Yes!' Ron shouted. 'Yes! It's not maroon! Finally!' He leapt across the room and threw himself on Molly. 'Thank you, Mum.' The jumper dangled from Ron's hands. It was the same shade of blue as his eyes.

'It only took thirty-seven years,' Ginny said in an undertone to Harry, who snickered. Ron's yearly maroon jumper was an endless source of amusement to the rest of the family. She dug ten sickles out of the pocket of her jeans and passed them to James. 'What did you do? Bribe Mum?' she asked.

'Nope.' James fluttered his eyelashes innocently.

'Yeah, I'll bet,' Ginny muttered.

'Oh, Molly! Where'd you find Man U red?' Teddy loved football, taught all the cousins how to play, and when the weather was warmer, cajoled everyone into playing a match. Teddy pulled the jumper over his head, and began to chant under his breath. 'Who's the team they call United? /Who's the team they all adore?/They're the boys in red and white/And they play with all their might,/And they're out to show the world how they can score!' He would go to Old Trafford to watch the matches with his hair in red and white stripes. All the Muggles around him just assumed he had dyed his hair.

Scorpius had all but forgotten the package on his lap, until Al nudged him. 'Aren't you going to open it?'

'Oh! Yes.' Scorpius pulled open the paper and a jumper, just like the ones the others had received, lay inside.

Ginny leaned down. 'Why don't you try it on and see how it fits?' she suggested. Scorpius yanked the jumper he was wearing over his head and pulled the new one on. It was dark blue with white band around the neck and cuffs. Like the one Al had.

Scorpius looked around the room. Fred and Jacob (he had finally learned to tell them apart - Jacob had a birthmark behind his right ear) were loudly discussing reasons why Molly would need to put their first initials on their jumpers. After all, they knew who they were. Lily was cooing over the tiny roses and vines Molly had embroidered into the edges of the cuffs, neck, and hem of her jumper. Parker patiently helped his youngest brother on with his. Madeline and Isabella compared theirs. They were of a similar size and often shared their clothes. Ron was beaming with pleasure at finally getting something that was not maroon. People were talking over each other and across the room. Wrapping paper littered the floor, and the ornaments on the tree were obviously homemade, and according to Victoire, the ornament on the top was a garden gnome that had been Stunned, Transfigured to a gold color, and dressed in a fairy outfit salvaged from Ginny's old toys in the attic. It was a family tradition, she had informed him. He didn't think it was possible for it to get any more chaotic-looking than it had last Sunday.

He was wrong.

And it was the best Christmas he'd ever had.

Christmases were usually spent at his home in Wiltshire, and some of his mother's family came for dinner, but it was a quiet, staid affair, with lots of forks on the table. No snowball fights, no snowman scenes. No handmade jumpers for classmates who had nowhere else to go. Sometimes, they went to Nice to spend Christmas with his father's parents. They rarely came to England anymore. Christmas in Nice was rather boring, with just his parents and grandparents. Dinner there meant lots of forks, too. And quiet, hushed conversation. At least an hour after dinner ensconced with his father and grandfather who attempted to hammer into his head what was expected of him as a Malfoy, followed by a soothing hour with his mother and grandmother, who gave him cocoa and ginger biscuits, and actually talked with him about what he liked to do.

Scorpius realized while he didn't miss his father very much, he did miss his mother.

'Hey.' James nudged him.

'Huh?'

'I told Jacob about those snowmen we did last week. They thought it was brilliant, and think we should do one out in the paddock,' James said.

'Let's go!' Scorpius jumped to his feet, and found his coat and scarf in the welter of coats hung on hooks in the kitchen. He put his things on, and before he followed James out the door, he turned around and ran back to the sofa, where Molly sat next to Arthur. 'Mrs. Weasley?'

'Yes, dear?'

'Thank you. For the jumper. It's one of the nicest things I've ever gotten for Christmas,' he said, scuffing the rug with the toe of his shoe. He gave Molly a crooked grin.

Molly smiled at Scorpius, and patted him gently on the cheek. 'You're quite welcome, dear.'

Scorpius turned and ran out into the paddock, joining everybody younger than Madeline, busily engaged in building as many snowmen as they could.

*****

That night, Scorpius stood in the bathroom of the Potter's house letting his mind wander as he brushed his teeth. He wondered if any of them knew how lucky they really were. As much as Al complained about James picking on him, James watched out for Al at school, helping him navigate around the castle, reminding him which staircase moved where and had patiently pulled him out of the trick riser.

And Lily.

He still hadn't figured out what it was about her hair, for Merlin's sake.

She didn't allow the boys to leave her out of anything. She tagged along after them and even though they grumbled about it, they let her play with them. Watch films with them. She had a wicked good aim in snowball fights.

Ginny had actually taken the time and effort to make him a Christmas gift. Harry had treated him better than his own father had and actually talked to him about his nightmares, instead of brushing him off.

The cousins were more his family than his mother's family ever had been. They protected him from the Slytherins who lobbed insults, and worse, at him at school. They had come up with the idea to have him spend the holiday with them.

Teddy. He couldn't say enough about Teddy. Teddy was just brilliant, as far as Scorpius was concerned.

Scorpius spit a mouthful of toothpaste into the sink and rinsed his toothbrush. He had the best of everything money could buy.

It didn't buy the sense of belonging he felt sitting between Lily and Al at the dinner table that afternoon.

It didn't buy his father's acceptance.

Scorpius made a face at himself in the mirror. He made his way down the hall to Al's room. Lily was sitting on the edge of his bed, wearing purple plaid pajamas and a pair of ratty socks. 'Are you lost?' he asked amiably, leaning against the door frame.

'Nope,' she said cheerfully. 'May I borrow your book?' She pointed to his older collection of comic strips.

'Sure.' Scorpius crossed into the room, and picked up the older of his two books of comics. 'Careful. Some of the pages are coming out. I read it a lot at school,' he admitted.

'You can always get Mum or Dad to repair it. Just ask.'

'Are you sure?' If this had happened at home, Scorpius wasn't sure his parents would actually bother to repair it when they could buy another one.

'Yep. James accidentally tore my copy of The Tales of Beedle the Bard in half last year.' Lily stopped at the doorway, and turned around. 'Of course, I did cry quite a bit until they repaired it.'

'Guess it won't hurt to ask, will it?'

'Won't know until you try,' she answered. 'G'night.' With that, she scurried down the hall to her room.

Al walked in his room, yawning hugely. 'Wow. Long day.' He pulled the quilt back and crawled into bed.

'Hey, Al?'

'Yeah?' Al was settling into his bed, the quilt pulled up to his ears.

'Thanks.'

'What for?'

'Inviting me to come home with you. It's been really great.' Scorpius fiddled with the edge of his quilt. 'Could I get a copy of that photograph we did this morning?'

'Sure. I'll get James to make another copy tomorrow.'

'Thanks.'

'No worries, mate.' Al yawned again, and was asleep in a few minutes.

Scorpius reached down for the Magic 8 Ball. 'It was a good day,' he softly informed it.