About a month later, the school year ended, marking the beginning of the summer holidays.

 When the Hogwarts Express arrived at King's Cross Station, Marigold immediately ran over to Sirius and Andromeda, hugging them both.

 James, Albus and Lily also reunited with their parents while Rose and Hugo reunited with theirs. There was a bespectacled old man and a rather plump woman, both of whom had greying ginger hair, with the Potters and the Granger-Weasleys.

 “Who are they?” Marigold asked.

 “They’re Ron and Ginny’s parents: Arthur and Molly Weasley,” Sirius replied. “They’re great people, treated Harry like their own son.”

 Just then, the elderly couple approached them, with James by their side.

 “Goldie, I don’t believe you’ve met my grandparents yet,” James said. “Gran and Grandad, this is Marigold.”

 “It’s a pleasure to meet you both,” Marigold shook both of their hands.

 “It’s very nice meeting you, Marigold,” Arthur said pleasantly. “James has told us a lot about you.”

 James hung his head in embarrassment, which made Lily and Hugo start giggling. Arthur smirked at his blushing grandson. Marigold also felt her face flush; she wanted to curl up into a ball.

 “And thanks again for the cake, Mrs Weasley,” she said, trying to change the subject.

 “You are so welcome,” Molly said, affectionately pinching her cheek.

 “My wife has a certain talent for cooking, don’t you, Mollywobbles?” Arthur said, smiling at her.

 As Sirius, Andromeda and the Potters were talking with the Weasleys, Scorpius walked past with his father, who nodded at the others.

 “Marigold, you’re visiting us next week, aren’t you?” Draco asked.

 “Of course,” she replied.

 “We’ll look forward to seeing you, then,”

 “See you next week,” Scorpius said, before turning to the others. “See you when school starts.”

 “Bye, Scorpius,” Albus said, watching as the Malfoys walked away.

* * *

 When Marigold arrived at the Malfoy Manor, Scorpius, his father and his grandfather welcomed her with open arms. On the other hand, Mrs Malfoy remained stiff, only giving a tightly pressed smile.

 “Narcissa, relax,” Lucius told his wife. “She’s our Scorpius’s friend.”

 “Yeah, Mum, please,” Draco added.

 Marigold was flustered; she couldn’t understand why Mrs Malfoy seemed to hate her so much.

 “Anyways, Marigold, let’s go upstairs now, shall we?” Scorpius suggested, trying to diffuse the tension.

* * *

 “So,” Scorpius said. “You’re talking to James again.”

 “Yeah, since Gryffindor won the Quidditch Cup,” Marigold replied.

 “Has he asked you out yet?”

 “No, he doesn’t see me that way, remember?”

 “Actually, Albus told me that James told him that he lied to you.”

 “What?” she asked, confused.

 “James does like you,” Scorpius said, his piercing eyes looking into hers.

 “Oh,” Marigold blushed, looking down at her shoes. “I didn’t know that.”

 “Why don’t you ask him out first?”

 “No way,” she said. “I could never.”

 “Why not?” he asked. “You like him and he likes you. What’s the worst that can happen?”

 “I would much rather do the Twelve Labours than ever ask him out.”

 “Alright,” Scorpius chuckled.

 “By the way, why don’t you ask out Rose? She doesn’t seem to ignore you as much as she used to.” Marigold said.

 “I doubt that she started liking me, though,” he sighed.

 “Right,” she sorry for her friend.

 At that moment, Narcissa walked past her grandson’s bedroom. Before she knew it, Narcissa leaned against the wall to eavesdrop on their conversation.

 “But that’s alright. We still have each other, right?” Scorpius said, grabbing his friend’s hand.

 “You’re right,” Marigold smiled, feeling a rush of affection towards him.

 As Narcissa watched from behind, she was taken back to nearly sixty years ago, when she and an older girl with wavy light brown hair were sitting on her bed under the moonlight.

 “Cissy, no matter what happens, we’ll have each other.” Andromeda, who was nine at the time, said.

 “Of course. We’re sisters, and sisters are forever, right?” Narcissa, then seven, replied.

 “Right,” Andromeda said, holding out her pinky finger.

 Narcissa hooked her pinky onto her sister’s, looking into her kind brown eyes, knowing that they would be together no matter what.

 Narcissa came back to reality and looked at the youngsters again. It didn’t matter anymore: the fact that Marigold is half-blood, the fact that she’s the child of Narcissa’s disowned cousin and a werewolf.

 Narcissa no longer saw Scorpius and Marigold, but herself and Andromeda; she suddenly realised how much she missed her sister.

 Scorpius glanced out of his bedroom to see his grandmother, whose blue eyes were glistening.

 “Nan? Are you alright?”

 “Yeah, I’m alright,” she replied, wiping her tears. “Let me go get you two something to eat.”

* * *

 Later that day, when Marigold came back from the loo to return to the library, she overheard Narcissa talking to Scorpius.

 “Marigold really is a great friend, and I love her so much,” Scorpius said.

 Marigold smiled; she knew he was the best friend she could ever have.

 “She really is a great girl,” Narcissa agreed, before leaning over as if to whisper. “You know, I really wouldn’t mind if she became a part of our family.”

 “Meaning…?” Scorpius pictured Marigold being adopted into the Malfoy family, becoming his real sister; even the thought of it made him happy.

 “You know what I mean, Scorpius,” Narcissa said to his smiling grandson. “I wouldn’t mind you marrying her.”

 Marigold bit her lip, resisting the urge to tell Narcissa that her friend loves someone else, let alone someone from a family her family hates.

 “Oh no,” Scorpius said. “I mean, Marigold is great, and she makes me happy, but I only love her as I would love a sister.”

* * *

 That night, Narcissa still couldn’t shake off the thought that her grandson and Marigold had what she had with her sister years ago, but didn’t anymore, due to her own foolish mistakes, and how much she missed it.

 “I will do the next right thing,” she said to herself.