It was the third week of April. My grandfather had been dead for six days, and earlier today had been the memorial service. It was as nice as something like that can really be, but I was glad it was over. It was exhausting to talk to so many people, and I saw the glances some of them were shooting at Scorpius - who was lingering uncomfortably in a corner with his father the whole time. I felt bad, but there wasn't anything I could do about other people's judgement, and I knew he would feel even more out of place if I asked him to come stand with me and socialize. 

Now we were at the Burrow, waiting  for supper to be ready. Scorpius was invited, but he had declined to come. I wasn't offended; I knew that not everyone in my family had come to terms with the fact that I chose to associate myself with a Malfoy, and it made him hesitant to spend a great deal of time with the Weasley clan. I wished that it wasn't a problem, but I wasn't going to put him through a dinner of glares from my dad and Uncle George. 

"Rosie, can I hold Willow?"

The question came from Lily, who was home from school along with the rest of the younger cousins. Smiling, I passed my daughter into her arms. "I'm so glad you're here, Lil. I miss having you to talk to all the time."

"Merlin, I know! It's not the same at school without you… All Lysa talks about these days is graduation, which does nothing but remind me how entirely miserable I'll be next year! All alone…" Her face fell.

I shook my head. "We must find you a boyfriend, you know. Who are the nice boys in your year? I've rather forgotten."

Lily groaned. "They're all awful. You know I used to fancy Charlie Corner, but he's been hanging around with Alec Scamander and he's a jerk now."

I rolled my eyes. "Someone ought to put Alec in solitary confinement so he can't influence any more silly teenagers who don't know any better. Or, for that matter, get involved with the wrong girl and end up in a nasty lawsuit with an overprotective father. Surely he's done plenty that could get him kicked out, if only he wasn't so good at covering it up."

"Damn, Rosie, sounds like you've got a personal vendetta against the guy. What'd he do to you?"

"Well, other than being an all-around piece of shit to every one of us since basically age five, he made some less than flattering remarks to Scorpius about me last year. I'm over it… he's still a jerk, though. So, anyways, back to finding you a boy. What about Mason Bones? Don't you two get along pretty well?"

My cousin looked away. "Yeah, we're friends. But he's… I dunno, Rose."

"Oh, come on, he's charming and handsome and everyone knows it. What's the problem?"

She sighed. "Because we're friends, Rosie, but we're not public friends. We talk, but not, like, when he's around all his people. Besides, you know practically every girl within a year of him has fancied him at one time or another. I mean, he's the quidditch star/genius boy/nice guy. He's perfect, and he's popular, and he's not the type for me. I don't want to be another one of his plethora of admirers, and I don't want to threaten a friendship that might be all I have next year. Forget about him, alright?"

I raised an eyebrow at Lily. "You've thought about this more than a little bit, haven't you?"

She ducked her head. "What gave me away?"

I grinned. "That speech sounded slightly practiced. Like you've said it to yourself once or twice."

A blush spread across my cousin's face. "Maybe. But it doesn't matter, you know, because-"

"Girls, supper is on the table! We're just waiting on you two."

My mother always interrupted the most interesting conversations. I narrowed my eyes at Lily, who looked a little too ready to head in to dinner. "This conversation isn't over, you know. We'll talk later-" But she was already halfway out the door. Shaking my head, I set Willow down in the pack and play that we'd set up a few minutes earlier and went to dinner.

Supper was all the usual things - delicious, long, and filled with meaningless conversation. It was mostly business talk among the uncles, while the aunts discussed their memories of Grandpa. The cousins were seated in their typical groups - the older kids like Victoire and Molly together, me with Al, Dominique, Lily, and Hugo, and the rest of the younger kids off by themselves. Everything was going well, and we were enjoying ourselves, and then it went to hell.

"Well, if it isn't the whooole family back together again." The drawl was loud enough that it immediately caught everyone's attention. One by one, we looked up at the figure in the doorway, silenced by the sudden appearance of someone we hadn't expected to see - James Potter. "Cleeearly I don't mean much to you lot, seeing as you didn't even waiiit for me to start eating."

I glanced at Al and Lily, and both of them had tensed considerably. Looking down the table at their parents, the sight wasn't much better. Aunt Ginny looked as if she might begin to cry, and Uncle Harry's jaw was clenched. The rest of the family seemed unsure what to do, so they simply stared at their laps, silent.

"Welllll, aren't you even going to say hello? Some family I've got. It's no wonder I ditch you people. Who cares about Harrrry fucking Potter anymore, anyways? Thank Merlin the papers know I've cut ties… I'd rather be a good-for-nothing than be a Potter."

He had been drinking; that much was obvious. Why the hell did he think showing up here was a good idea? My guess was that he didn't think at all - that was how it tended to go with James.

Nobody moved. In the doorway, James swayed slightly. Godric, what a prat. I had a mind to slap him. 

"Soooo, the old man finally kicked the bucket. Can't say I'm surprised-"

"James." Uncle Harry's voice was sharper than I'd ever heard it.

My cousin had the nerve to roll his eyes. "Bloody hell, don't start. I don't know how I ever stooood living in the same house as such a fraud-"

"Shut the hell up!" Al's voice startled me, as did what he did next. He stood up and strode over to his brother, radiating anger. "Dad's twice the man you'll ever be. You know that, and so does everyone else in this room. Calling him names doesn't make you any less of a pathetic-"

"Oh, you're one to talk," James sneered, his face two inches from Albus'. "The Slytherin failure who can't even sit a broom and spends his time with death eater's sons. I may be pathetic, but at least I'm not a fag."

Under the table, Lily's hand found mine. There were tears in her eyes that she was trying to blink away, but her cheeks were wet. I squeezed her hand tighter.

The entire room had gone very, very still. We must all have been holding our breath, waiting to see what would happen between the brothers.

"Get out." I couldn't see Al's face, and I was glad of it. I could hear the raw pain in his voice when he spoke, and that alone was enough to break my heart.

James laughed. "Make me, little brother."

I saw Al straighten up and reach for his wand. James had already drawn his, a taunting grin on his face.

Nobody moved to stop them. Nobody said a word. Nobody except me.

"Al, don't."

My cousin didn't even glance at me. "Don't try to stop me, Rosie."

"You're being a-"

"Flipendo!"

The jet of light sent James flying backwards. He hit the opposite wall with a crash.

I jumped up from my seat and was at Al's side in a moment. I grabbed his arm. "Listen to me, will you?"

"He deserves it," my cousin snapped. "Just let me best him up, will you?"

"A fight doesn't solve anything! This isn't what you want, Al. Just let him go."

"Who says I'm going?" 

I looked up at James, my grip still restraining Al from casting another spell. "You don't know when to back off, do you?"

"C'mon, let him have a go at me," James said, a mocking grin playing on his lips.

"Get out," I said calmly.

"I don't take orders from a death eater's whore."

He was baiting me. I wasn't going to bite. "Al, go get yourself together. I want to talk to James alone."

Albus knew that protesting would do no good. He shot a final, paralyzing glare at his brother and retreated. 

“Chicken,” my remaining cousin muttered under his breath. Without a thought, I drew back my hand and slapped him. He stumbled back, but then grinned. “You’ve always been a feisty one, haven’t you?”

I scowled, then hit him with a silencing charm. “Look here, you bastard. You’re lucky I made him leave; he probably could have killed you. Now, you’re going to listen to what I have to say, and then you’re going to do exactly as I tell you. And if you don’t, I’ve a mind to beat you up myself.”

James rolled his eyes, arms crossed. He was listening. 

“You have quite a nerve, coming here. Especially tonight, in this state, after not showing up for the service! You’ve put this family through absolute hell, you know that? All they ever did was care for you, and in return you’ve done nothing but toss them aside over and over again! They have tried so many times to bring you back! They have forgiven you every time you’ve slighted them! But there’s always a new betrayal; always a new stupid, careless thing you do that sinks an ever-sharper knife into a wound that never quite healed. You never think of anyone but yourself! You just keep hurting them, hurting all of us, again and again! It needs to stop, James! Now. Before you break your parents’ hearts one too many times and can never come back from it.

“So the way I see it, you’ve got two choices. What you should do is sober up, for Merlin’s sake, and then pray to every god you know that they’ll forgive you for all you’ve done. You don’t deserve it, but they love you and if you’re truly repentant they’ll give you a chance. But if you can’t do that, James, then you sure as hell better stay far away from our family, because I think I can say with pretty good confidence that it won’t be yours anymore.” I wave my wand at him, casting the counter-spell to deactivate the silencio, and narrow my eyes. “Am I understood?”

James stared at me, looking almost sober. I wouldn’t swear to it, but his eyes seemed to glisten as if he was holding back tears. He was quiet for what seemed like a long time. Finally he said, “I understand.” 

Without another word, my cousin turned around and walked out the front door of the Burrow. Now there was nothing to do but hope.