Taming

When Albus and Scorpius arrived at the Potters’ house, none of the other guests had arrived yet. Scorpius found that he was rather nervous about meeting the extended family. One wedding detail that they had actually managed to settle was the matter of attendants. Since Scorpius didn’t have any close family members, they were drawing exclusively from Albus’s family.

They were planning to ask James, Lily, Rose and Hugo to stand up for them. Albus also wanted his older godbrother, Teddy Lupin, to be part of the wedding party, and to even out the males and females, they were going to ask Teddy’s longtime girlfriend, Victoire, who also happened to be Albus’s cousin to be the sixth participant.

Albus also had a little cousin named Lucy, age five, who would be perfect for a flower girl. Albus was worried about leaving people out, but Scorpius persuaded him to not go overboard. For once.

Lily ran into the room moments after they arrived, interrupting Scorpius’s musing. “Hiiiii!” she squealed. “I’m so excited for you two to tell everyone so I can stop keeping it a secret!”

Scorpius laughed. “You didn’t leave my parents’ house until late last night, and it’s still early now. Who would you have had time to tell?”

“Well, I could’ve floo’d Rose.”

“You didn’t, did you?” Albus asked worriedly.

She hit him in the arm. “Would I do that to you?”

“Probably. But I’ll trust that you didn’t,” Albus joked.

“Good. Now don’t you have a hug for your favorite sister?”

“You do know that by that logic, you’re also my least favorite sister,” Albus pointed out, hugging her.

“Fine. Scorpius still loves me best.”

“Naturally,” Scorpius said, dutifully hugging her.

Albus grinned. “You’d better watch it or I’ll change my plans to put you in the wedding party.”

“Ohmigods! Really?!? I get to be a bridesmaid?”

“Groomsmaid,” Albus and Scorpius corrected, in unison.

Lily laughed so hard that the rest of the family heard and came into the living room.

Ginny hurried to greet them. “Lily, why didn’t you tell us the boys were here?” she chided.

But Lily had collapsed on the couch, still in a fit of giggles. “Oh, good. Someone finally drove her ‘round the twist. It was bound to happen. She was halfway there already,” James remarked helpfully.

Lily recovered enough to make an inappropriate hand gesture at her brother. “Albus and Scorpius asked me to be in the wedding party.”

“Oh, that’s lovely!”

“It is, but why is it funny?” Harry asked, bewildered.

“Because I referred to myself as a bridesmaid, and they corrected me, in perfect unison mind you, that I was going to be a groomsmaid.”

Ginny giggled. “That’s a good word for it.”

“You should have seen them, though. They said both said it in this… supercilious tone, as if I should have known. It was quite hilarious.”

Scorpius grinned. “Well, it is rather obvious.”

“Do I get a beautiful gown?” she asked.

“No, you get a burlap sack,” Scorpius deadpanned. When Lily rolled her eyes at him, he said, “Don’t look at me. Gowns are my fiancé’s department.”

“Awwwwww…” Ginny and Lily both made cute-puppy noises.

Luckily, they were saved from yet more mushy conversation by a knock on the door. Lily ran to answer it and Scorpius heard her call, “Gran and Grandpa are here!”

The Weasley invasion had begun.

******************
Albus had given Scorpius a run-through of his various aunts and cousins, but actually being in the same room with them was going to be a little daunting. All in all, they expected over thirty people, and most of them who had arrived so far were crammed in the living room. It was a pretty big room, but Scorpius couldn’t help feeling a bit claustrophobic.

So far, Scorpius had been introduced to nearly all of Albus’s family. He liked Albus’s grandfather, a soft-spoken man with peachy-gray hair who invited him to call him Arthur, and his grandmother, a very outspoken woman who insisted that her call her Gran Molly, as everyone else did. He felt better since he’d at least met Rose and Hugo’s parents before, so the only new people so far were Albus’s Uncle Bill and Aunt Fleur and their children, Victoire, Dominique, and Louis, his Uncle Percy and Aunt Audrey with their girls Molly and Lucy, and his Uncle Charlie, a fascinating man who wrangled dragons in Romania.

He hadn’t gotten much of an impression of the aunts, as they’d joined Ginny and Gran Molly in the kitchen almost immediately. However, he’d noted that Fleur was absolutely beautiful, if a little haughty, and Audrey was petite, and almost birdlike, but very businesslike. She seemed perfect for Albus’s Uncle Percy, who was rather stuffy.

He and Albus sat with the cousins as they waited for George Weasley’s family and Albus’s godbrother to arrive. As an only child, Scorpius found the family dynamics very interesting. Victoire was the eldest at twenty-four, and she was stunningly beautiful. Scorpius thought that he could vaguely remember her from Hogwarts, where she’d been a seventh-year when he began. She seemed like a bit of a snob, but the younger girls were quite in awe of her. He learned that she wrote a style and beauty column for Witch Weekly magazine. It was fitting.

Her sister, Dominique, was like a slightly younger copy. Physically, anyway. Scorpius learned that she was twenty-two and worked as a junior healer at St. Mungo’s. She was much less aloof than her sister, and seemed to have endless energy. She spent most of her time with Rose, who also planned to be a healer, chatting about her latest cases. Their younger brother, Louis, was twenty and he worked at Gringott’s, as his father did. Although, while Bill had the exciting job of curse breaker, Louis referred to himself, rather stuffily, as an “account executive.” Scorpius didn’t know exactly what that meant, but it sounded like it would involve a long, boring explanation, so he didn’t inquire further.

At the other end of the age scale were Molly and Lucy, Percy and Audrey’s daughters. Even though Percy was older than Rose’s father, he’d been late to settle down. At eight, Molly was a bundle of energy with red pigtails and a gap in her smile where a tooth had recently fallen out. Lucy looked more like her mother, with dark hair and doll-like features. She spent most of her time sitting on Lily’s lap and chattering, which she seemed able to do endlessly. Scorpius hadn’t had much contact with young children, and he found Molly and Lucy to be surprisingly endearing.

Suddenly a voice called from the other room, and Lily and Albus jumped up, yelling, “Teddy’s here!” They returned to the living room, dragging a tall man with sandy blonde hair and a kindly face. He didn’t look like a hardened Auror, but then again, neither did Harry Potter. After greeting Victoire with some rather inappropriate snogging, which everyone teased them mercilessly for – not that they cared – Albus introduced Scorpius to Teddy and Teddy’s grandmother, Andromeda, who had raised him.

It was all very polite until they began hearing screaming. Bill, Charlie, Percy, and Ron all exchanged glances and said together, “George is here.”

Scorpius was confused until they entered the room. “Well, if you would’ve let them have a snack…”

“A snack! We’re going to have dinner in less than fifteen minutes!”

“I wanted a snack!"

“Yes, I know, Freddie, but we don’t always get what we want.”

“You always say that!”

“I don’t know why I couldn’t wear my blue dress! It’s so unfair!”

“Because your mother forgot to have it cleaned.”

“Me? You could’ve done it! Why do I have to take care of the laundry all the time?”

“Because that’s what a wife does.”

“Why you chauvinist pig!”

“Mum! I said I was hungry.”

“Freddie, you’re always hungry.”

“Stuff it, whiner. At least I’m not always complaining about my clothes. Blah, blah, clothes. Blah, blah, shoes. Blah, blah, girly crap.”

“Watch your mouth!”

“Dad says way worse every day.”

“Well, your father is an adult. Technically.”

“Oi! I resent that! I really do.”

“Hey!” This came from Ron. “Do you realize that you’re no longer in the privacy of your own home and we don’t want to hear your constant bickering?”

“Yes, really. Don’t you ever get along?” Percy asked haughtily.

The adults looked shamefaced, and the children mutinous. Albus smiled politely. “Uncle George, Aunt Angelina, Freddie, Roxanne, this is my boyfriend, Scorpius Malfoy.”

George Weasley flushed a little. “I didn’t realize we’d be meeting someone new. I apologize for our, what was it, Ronniekins? Constant bickering? It’s been a long day.” He shook Scorpius’s hand politely.

“It’s been a long ten years,” remarked Angelina, looking pointedly at her children.

Freddie and Roxanne greeted him politely like model children.

Gran Molly poked her head out of the kitchen. “I warned him. Years ago, when he and Fred were pushing my buttons, I said to him, ‘One day you’re going to have a set of twins just like you two, and you’re going to appreciate me a lot more.’”

“But we’re not bad, Gran Molly,” Roxanne wheedled, batting her eyelashes.

“Neither was your father. Just… difficult.”

“I’ve never been difficult in my life!” Freddie sounded indignant. Everyone laughed, and he scowled. He dragged Roxanne away into a corner, and Scorpius was almost sure he heard the word ‘dungbombs.”

Angelina went into the kitchen to see if she could help and George collapsed on the sofa next to Charlie, looking like he’d just been in a war. “It’s too bad that your Uncle George and Aunt Angelina don’t get along too well,” Scorpius said softly to Albus.

“Are you kidding? That’s how they’re happiest. Uncle Ron calls it perverse, but he says that Uncle George isn’t satisfied unless he and Aunt Angelina have at least two fights a day.”

“Well the twins don’t seem to get along, either.”

“Sure, that’s what they want everyone to think. Really, they’re best mates. They just fight to annoy their parents. When it comes down to it, they don’t even care about anyone else. See?” He gestured to the twins who were still standing in the corner, away from all the other cousins. Freddie was whispering in Roxanne’s ear, and she had a rather diabolical smile on her face. Scorpius had to admit that it was a little scary. “They’ll do something evil before the day is out. Just be prepared for it.”

“Evil?”

“Well not like Tom Riddle evil. They’re pranksters. They’re the best in the world already, too. You remember what my Uncle George does for a living, right? Uncle Ron says that Uncle George is secretly proud of the little monsters.”

Scorpius laughed. “Your Uncle Ron is right. He does seem a little perverse.”

“Yes, but we have much more fun with them around.”

Roxanne strolled by, her long, dark hair swinging. Scorpius heard her say in a sweet voice, “Uncle Percy, can I show you my new toy?”

“Of course, Roxanne, what is it?” This question was followed by a most unmanly shriek. The other Weasley uncles dissolved into helpless laughter, started of course by George.