Hi guys! I forgot to do an Authors Note on the last chapter, but I've been away for a week again, so I would have updated quicker if I'd been in the country. Anyway, Chapter 37 is here now, I hope you enjoy it!

Draco stood in the threshold of the two rooms, his silhouette branched by his wife one side, who looked terrified, wringing her hands together and glancing between her husband and son with dark eyes that were filled with tears, and the Parkinsons on his other side. Pansy was comforting her daughter but looking slightly awkward and simultaneously disgusted by the situation, whilst Violet's face was vengeful and cruel, but streaked with tears. Aster just let out a low whistle and raised his eyebrows, his arms folded across his chest.

"Dad, I-" Scorpius began,

"Don't 'Dad' me, boy," Draco growled, "we're no longer family in any way but blood." he paused, then added, "'Father' is preferable now." Ignoring Astoria's barely stifled sob and Scorpius' face that drained of the little colour it had, Draco, with the utmost calm, instructed his son to: "Apologise to these two young ladies." But as Draco continued, he began to show his anger, unable to contain it any longer: "Have I not brought you up to be a gentleman? Have I not taught you how to treat a woman? Which sort of women you may consort with?"

"Draco, please," Astoria pleaded, trying to prevent her husband making a further embarrassment of themselves, but he swatted his wife away.

"All these things I thought I had succeeded in! I told myself, although my son may be weak-willed and ungrateful, at least he can pretend he is a gentleman-"

"Draco!" Astoria cried, appalled. Again, she was ignored.

"-he can pretend, and he will not bring disgrace to our family. I had taken that for granted! That you would never have any desire to conspire with our enemies, that you would always have basic manners, and until your return to Hogwarts in September I believed that!"

"Draco, we need to leave," Astoria insisted. People from the party had started to notice Draco shouting and a few wizards and witches were watching.

"Leave? Why on earth should we go anywhere?" Draco's every syllable dripped with sarcasm, "It's not like there's anything to be ashamed of here!"

Scorpius raised his head to look at his father, which had previously been turned to the ground. "No, father, nothing to be ashamed of, aside from you raving like a lunatic," An audible gasp echoed around the corridor, starting with Astoria, but also from Pansy and a few of the onlookers. Scorpius stepped forward, raising his voice slightly, "I mean, I'm not embarrassed of how I feel, so why should you be?"

"Scorpius, don't," Astoria begged.

"Oh, don't worry Mum- I'm assuming I'm still allowed to call you that, or should I revert to Mother now? Anyway, don't worry, it's not like things could get much worse." Scorpius made a break for it, and dived past his parents and the Parkinsons into the room in which half a party was still happening. Although many of the guests had been listening to the Malfoy Drama, as it would henceforth be known, many were continuing to chat and dance, the music still playing from the enchanted string quartet in the corner, but Scorpius' sudden sprint caused him to crash into a table full of glasses, of which he broke approximately half, causing a horrendous smash to echo round the room.

Temporary silence ensued, as someone shut the quartet up, before guests seemed to rush at Scorpius from all angles, helping him up, asking if he was ok, running scans over him with their wands. He was grateful as his parents couldn't reach him- but he waved them away.

"I'm fine, I'm fine," he insisted, climbing onto a chair.
(Scorpius, what are you doing?)
(Mr Malfoy, Sir, are you sure you're ok?)
(Scorpius, my boy, that doesn't look safe,)
(Hadn't you better get down?)
"I have something to say."

"He's got something to say!" A well rounded, greying man in robes that matched his hair colour announced to everyone, "Mr Malfoy Junior has something to say! Here you go, son," He handed Scorpius his wand, casting a Sonorous charm first. Scorpius' mouth was dry with nerves, but greater than his fear was his anger. Anger at his father and at the expectations he faced. Anger at the path that had been set out for him since he was born, anger at the words his father had yelled at him. Anger that outweighed any rational thoughts, until all that was left was a desire for revenge. To humiliate Draco, to make him pay. To show that Scorpius cared nothing for what his father thought of him anymore. So tell them, he thought, let the world know. Scorpius held the wand to his throat and opened his mouth to speak.

"Petrificus Totalus!" A screech from the corridor. The curse his Scorpius and he fell face first off the table, and was bouncing off the chair, closer and closer to the ground (and a nasty bruise at best) when- "Carpe Retractum!" Barely a second between the start first spell and the second one's end meant Scorpius went flying across the room to his parents stood in the corridor. Astoria grabbed his arm and Disapparated.

Unprepared for the sudden journey, and high on his emotions, Scorpius threw up on the carpet of Malfoy Manor's main hallway. No sooner had the contents of his stomach landed, than Tinky appeared.

"Oh, Mister Scorpius, Sir! You're not well! Tinky is terribly sorry, Sir, let Tinky clean up and get your room ready-"

"Oh, don't worry. Scorpius won't be needing his room." Draco stood with his hands on his hips and his cool expression returned, above his son, who was on his hands and knees above a pool of his own vomit.

"What does Sir mean?" Tinky asked nervously at the same time as Astoria said "Draco, don't be ridiculous."

"Just clean it up, elf." Turning to his wife, Draco said, "Well, he isn't living under my roof after that debacle."

"You want to throw him out?" Astoria asked in horror, as Tinky timidly began his business of cleaning up Scorpius' vomit. The young man climbed to his feet, his face covered in a sheen of sweat and wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.

"I don't want to, dear, I just have little to no choice. I'd rather that that never happened, but it has, so this is my only option,"

"Your only option?" Astoria spat. "Don't be so ridiculous! He's our son, for Merlin's sake!"

"My child only by blood. I have no affection for him anymore, and he clearly holds none for us. Even if the escapade with those two girls wasn't enough, we then find out he's consorting with one of the Weasley spawn, and the son-of-a-Bludger was going to tell our respectable friends and acquaintances all about it! How could he do that if he cared for us? We'll be ruined if we associate ourselves with him!"

"I am here, you know," Scorpius pointed out.

"And you'll stay here," Astoria added, glaring at her husband.

"He can't. He's conspiring against us."

"Consp- Draco, what are you talking about?" Scorpius could see his mother was reaching the end of her tether.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to bring all this stress on you, Mum, I didn't want anyone to know how I felt about- I mean, that is to say- Oh for Merlin's sake- I didn't want you to know that I'm in love with Rose Weasley because I knew that his reaction would be apocalyptic and it would put strain on everyone. "

"In love?" Draco spat. "With scum like that? How can a decent person be in love with something so beneath them?" Scorpius automatically reached for his wand. "Or maybe you aren't a decent person, boy." Draco's voice went dangerously quite ad he moved closer to his son. "Maybe that would explain you fondness for Half-bloods and Muggleborns and the scum of our society. Maybe you belong with them."

"Draco, no!"

"Mum, I'm sorry, but he's hell bent on getting me out of here. I don't blame him after what happened tonight, but-"He rounded on Draco "if you'd been more understanding, father, if you'd once shown a single piece of evidence that you loved me or were proud of me or cared about me, I wouldn't have tried to do that. I wouldn't have had to do that!"

"Don't turn this on me, boy!" Draco turned to a vase on display at pointed his wand at it, whispering something, before turning to face his son again. "You're the one who betrayed us! I suppose the damn Granger woman should shoulder some of the blame for our downfall, not that that won't give her great pleasure, because she created this cursed Tournament that brought you and the love of your life together! She probably persuaded her daughter to lie to you and pretend she cares about you just to destroy us!"

"Draco, this is ridiculous-"

"STOP CALLING ME RIDICULOUS! I know when something suspicious is happening, and it's happening here, right now!"

"You're over reacti-"

"I. AM. NOT!" He screeched, sounding like a child having a tantrum, but the anger surging through the three in the room became tangible with this screech as the glass coverings on some of the paintings cracked when the magical energy Draco was exuding hit them. "COME ON, BOY, FACE THE TRUTH!" He roared, a string of saliva connecting his top and bottom lip "You don't want to be here anyway! I don't want you here! Your mother may think she does, but with the shame you could bring- that you may have already brought- she doesn't know what's best for us! If you love half bloods and blood traitors so much, why don't you go live with them?"

Before Scorpius could respond, or Astoria could defend him, Draco sent the vase flying towards his son with his wand. It collided with Scorpius' right shoulder, and on the second it touched, Scorpius vanished. As the pain travelled down his arm, he dropped his wand which clattered to the floor. The vase had smashed on contact with the young man and shattered into pieces. His parents watched in silence as the blue and white remnants floated to the floor, tinkling on landing, before lying still.

By noon the next day, Scorpius had given up. He hadn't wanted to go to the Burrow. He hadn't wanted to face Rose's family. He hadn't wanted to believe his father would send him to this lonely place and not come back for him, so he'd waited. Draco had created the Portkey in the late hours of Christmas Eve, so Scorpius had found little warmth or shelter outside in the middle of winter, alone in the countryside. But on surviving the night, Scorpius had naively believed that his father would come back for him in the morning, or at least allow his mother to find him. By midday, when the temperature was nearly a grand 10 degrees C, Scorpius decided he couldn't spend another night outdoors. He hadn't eaten since lunch the day before, so was hungry and thirsty, as well as frozen solid and lonely. To keep warm he had gone for a walk and investigated the little cottage with haphazard extensions on top of the hill, not getting too close in case it turned out to be The Burrow- presumably where his father had intended to send him. It was. So Scorpius kept out of sight of the house, from which he could hear all sorts of festivities and laughter, but close enough so his parents could find him when they came. If they came.

They didn't.

He had wanted to give it 24 hours, but it had been so cold the night before, it was still so cold now that he couldn't wait any longer. His shoulder ached from where the vase had hit him, and he cursed himself for ever reacting to the pain of it. If he had clenched his fist instead on opening it, he wouldn't have dropped his wand and would be far better off that he currently was. So, tentatively, Scorpius headed up the path to the cottage. The closer he got, the warmer he became. He could hear the laughter from inside and smell the food that the family were clearly eating. Just think, Rose is behind that door. Christmas with Rose- isn't that what you always dreamt of?

But he'd imagined it so differently to this.

In fact, was that laughter? Or were they shouting? Angrily? I suppose there must be rows in a family so big, but Scorpius had always seen the Weasleys as an impenetrable barrier of homeliness and affection. He'd tried his best to damage that a couple of times, but never with much success.

Now they were quieter. Less angry. Oh, wait, went they go again. Could he really go inside? Interrupt their Christmas? Whether it was going well or not? Another gust of wind blew, and Scorpius wrapped his dress robes around him tighter, but it had little effect. He had no choice. He'd freeze otherwise. Hating his father, he rapped on the door.

Thanks for reading- hopefully I'll see you around for Chapter 38. It might not be for a while because I start college on Monday and have just got a couple of new commitments recently, but I can't wait to write more because I'm kinda attached to these characters now XD
Also, in a guest review, someone told me that Draco marries Pansy. I assure you this is not the case. Astoria Greengrass becomes Draco's wife. Please check Harry Potter Wiki if you don't agree. But I know not all of my fic is canon, for example Nuna, however Drastoria is.
Anyway, please remember to favourite and follow if you haven't already, and of course reviews are always appreciated, as well as being motivation to write quicker ;)

Keep reading,
Lucy x