"Where's the flower girl?"
"Where are my shoes?"
"Where are my CLOTHES?"
"Mary, darling, if you can't keep your adorable little demon children out of my cake, I will hang them from the roof."
I laughed at Victoire's statement, pulling yards of my white skirt out of the way of Mary's twin boys, Liam and Shane. They were wearing dress robes covered in flour and being chased by their mother, who was still in jeans and a t-shirt. She rolled her eyes at me as she passed.
"I swear Rose, it's like your house is infested with tricos. They crawl into a child's ear and whisper suggestions for naughty things they can do. You should really get that checked out."
"Mary, your children don't need any help getting into trouble, tricos or no." She nodded thoughtfully before giving up and levitating her two year olds, stopping their progress and taking them away to be cleaned, somewhere far away from the room in my parents' house where I was getting ready.
"Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue," Lily sing-songed as she walked towards me, holding my veil. With a grin, she held up a small coin. "A lucky sixpence in a shoe. Grandad got it for me."
I smiled and kissed her on the cheek, leaning over a massive princess ball gown skirt to do so. "Thanks Lily. You're the best." I slipped the coin into my shoe. It was only uncomfortable for a few seconds before my foot got used to it, but it was probably going to be a bitch later. Oh well, superstition and all that. I wanted everything to be perfect, on my wedding day and after.
Dom took the veil from our younger cousin, setting it on my head and arranging my curls around it before pinning everything in place. She clapped her hands excitedly. "Perfect. Look." She grabbed me by the shoulders, turning me to face the old fashioned mirror behind me, arranging my skirt to fall perfectly. I gasped, covering my mouth with one hand.
The dress was beautiful, with miles of fabric forming a feathery poof below my waist and a simple ruched bodice, all accented by a thin, silver, beaded belt. Not something I'd have ever thought in a million years I'd buy, but I fell in love with it as soon as I put it on. My hair was also simple, curled and pulled into a messy side bun, down by my neck and on the right side of my head. My veil attached just above the bun, not covering my face. I wore an old necklace of my Nana's, all sapphires and silver, that Grandad had given her for their wedding. In my ears hung silver chandelier earrings, purchased just the day before. I wore Lily's shoes.
"Thank you," I whispered to Dom, unable to say anything else. She understood anyway and smiled nodding. I looked at all of my girls, stunning in aqua colored gowns, even Mary, who had returned dressed and sans children. She handed me my bouquet, a waterfall of pink lilies and white roses, and I led the way out into the hall and down the stairs.
Dad was waiting for me at the bottom of the stairs and I took his arm, and we watched the bridesmaids filed past us, outside and down the aisle, as Aunt Luna played something beautiful on the piano.
Dad was trying and failing to look like he wasn't about to cry. "Oh Rosie, you look so gorgeous and grown up. Still my little girl though."
I leaned my head in his shoulder and smiled. "I know Daddy." The music shifted and I straightened up. "There's our cue."
We proceeded down the aisle, everything lined with roses and lilies and other flowers with fancy names I hadn't learned. People turned to smile at me and I saw at least five women in my family with hankies already out, my mother included.
My eyes met Scorpius's and I beamed. Dad placed my hand in his with a half hearted glare and went to sit between my mother and Aunt Ginny.
An old wizard from the Ministry started droning on about love and faith and some other shit that Scor and I either already had covered or could figure out by ourselves.
I was completely zoning out when I felt a small nudge in my side. I glanced sidelong at Scorpius and saw him making faces at the official, which the old man couldn't see because his nose was buried deep in the book he was reading. It took all I had not to laugh and I shoved him just lightly enough to avoid attracting notice.
"Stop it," I hissed, laughter evident in my voice. "This is a very serious occasion!"
"-very serious occasion," parroted the official. My eyes widened and I covered my mouth with my hand to keep myself from bursting out laughing. The old wizard looked at me with concern. "Miss Weasley, are you ok?"
"Fine, fine," I said in a high, strained voice. "Couldn't be better. Please continue."
I heard snorts behind me and Scorpius was gazing over the official's head with a suspiciously straight face.
A few minutes later, I felt another nudge. I nudged my soon to be husband back without looking at him.
"Bet you five Galleons he uses the words 'a union of souls' at least once," he whispered.
I hid a grin. "You're so on."
"-and we are here to celebrate a joining of two souls in matrimony-"
"That counts."
"No it doesn't. You said 'a union of souls.' He said 'a joining.' You owe me five Galleons."
"Wait, he's not done yet."
"-and such a union of souls is-"
"Dammit," I said, perhaps a bit too loud. The official looked up at me with concern again.
"Miss Weasley, are you quite sure you're ok?"
I blushed. Scor snorted. "Yes. Go on."
"You left off at 'union of souls,'" Scor added in his most innocently helpful voice. There was laughter that I was sure came from James and Fred behind me. Without taking my eyes off the official, I stuck a hand behind my back to flip them off. They only laughed harder, and it sounded like a few more people joined in. The official looked offended, but didn't stop talking.
I nudged Scor. "This is your fault," I hissed out of the corner of my mouth.
I could feel his smirk. "Does that mean that you won't bet again?"
Snorting with disbelief, I raised one eyebrow, glancing at him. "Bet you ten Galleons that if I interrupt again, he asks me to contain myself."
He raised both eyebrows, a smirk still playing around the corners of his mouth. "That's something I'll be willing to take. You probably don't have enough guts to make a disturbance anyway."
My wicked grin made his eyes widen as he sidled away from me. Unnoticed by him, I slid my wand out of a small pocket in my dress that I'd added for just such a purpose and waved it, muttering something I knew Scor wouldn't understand. In an instant, Scor's hair turned a shocking shade of pink and the words 'Rose Weasley is the bomb' appeared on his back in red and gold. I burst out laughing along with everyone else in the yard.
Everyone, that is, except the official. With a haughty sniff, he glared at me. "Really, Miss Weasley, I must ask you to contain yourself!"
In answer, I laughed so hard that I had to sit down. I guess the sixpence worked- not only was I getting married to the love of my life, but now he owed me money.
"You know, this would be much easier if we were using magic."
"You're too used to using magic, just do something the muggle way for once!"
"Whyyyyyy?" my new husband whined, glaring distastefully at the paint brushes and cans sitting in the bedroom of our new house.
I rolled my eyes in reply. "Because I said so, that's why. Merlin, I married a two year old."
Scor grinned, pulling me in for a kiss. "But you love me."
I smiled in return. "I do. Nice try distracting me, but we still have to paint the walls."
He huffed, but grabbed the paint anyway. "What color did you choose anyway?"
"Red."
Looking at me incredulously, he opened the can, revealing the dark red I'd chosen. "No way."
"Why not?"
"I'm not having a Gryffindor bedroom!" A wave of his wand changed the paint to emerald.
I folded my arms and changed it back. "Well I don't want a Slytherin room either."
He glowered at me and changed the color of the paint. "Green."
"Red." I fixed it.
"Green."
"Red."
"Green!"
"Red!"
"GREEN!"
"RED!"
I looked down at the paint and stared. Instead of green or red, our competing spells had somehow turned the paint a bright aqua. I giggled a bit.
In seconds, we were both rolling around on the floor. "I guess our magic was just real tired of our shit," Scor managed to get out.
I nodded, wiping tears of laughter off my cheeks. "I guess. Let's get on this."
Hours later, as we laid on our bed, falling asleep after a day of work, I felt Scorpius wrap an arm around my waist. "Better than green or red," he whispered.
I smiled in the darkness. "Agreed."
A few minutes later, another whisper pierced the darkness. "Slytherin is still cooler than Gryffindor." I kicked him.
"Breathe Rose, just breathe!"
"Merlin, I'm fine." I was not fine, the contractions hurt like a bitch, but I wasn't going to tell Scorpius that. He was already freaking out just about as much as a village experiencing a rather large hurricane.
"We're going to be ok Rose!"
I rolled my eyes. "I've done this three times already Scor," I pointed out, one hand on my stomach as I made my way out to the car. He rushed around in the house behind me.
"Where's the bag?" he called out in semi-panic.
"In the car, where it's been for the past month. Natalie, Ben, and Kate are going to Nana and Grandad's. They'll be picked up at the hospital. Just get in the car." Even in the middle of a contraction, seven years of being a mother put me totally in charge. Scor took a deep breath and loaded our three kids in the car. Natalie, the seven year old, two time veteran climbed into her seat with no problems, but Ben, 5, and Kate, 2, had about a million and three questions.
"What will happen at Mungo's?"
"Why can't we stay?"
"Is it true that babies come out on rockets?"
I started laughing. "No Ben, darling, babies do not come out on rockets. You can't stay because this isn't something for young children and Daddy will probably use some naughty words." Scorpius glared at me from the driver's seat, but couldn't do much because he had to concentrate on driving. "And what happens is you're going to have to share your toys some more."
There was a chorus of 'awwwww' from the back seat, but I knew they had seen the pile of new toys. They wouldn't have to share much. Besides, they had no problems sharing with their cousins.
When we finally arrived at the Muggle entrance to St. Mungo's (since it was dangerous for pregnant women to Floo, especially pregnant women in labor), I gritted my teeth and pretended we were just a family out for a stroll instead of a family rushing to the hospital. "They need a better Muggle entrance," I hissed to Scorpius as I grimaced my way through a particularly painful contraction. A woman looked at me with concern and hurried past.
"You can bitch to the Ministry later," Scor whispered to me so the kids wouldn't hear the 'naughty word.' "Just focus on getting inside right now. Hello," he added cheerfully to the dummy in the window of the apparently abandoned building. The kids, knowing the drill, were peering in the windows and we looked like plain old Muggles with curious children.
"Rose Malfoy," I bit out shortly. "Currently in labor."
The dummy nodded and the children immediately hopped through the glass. Scor glanced around, then helped me through by my elbow. As soon as we hit the lobby, he yelled, "Pregnant lady, coming through!" A few people chuckled. The Mediwitch behind the counter smiled and directed us to the recently added sixth floor for non magic related problems. Like labor.
At that moment, Nana and Grampa tumbled out of the fireplace. Nana brushed herself off and spotted us immediately. "Hello Rose dear, you look lovely." Oh yes, I always look gorgeous when I'm about to give birth. "Come along darlings," she said to the children. "Time we're off." She was already bundling them towards the fireplace and I took a moment to admire her skill. "We'll send everyone around in shifts so you don't suffocate!" she called over her shoulder before she and the children disappeared. The whole exchange took less than 30 seconds.
Grampa waved cheerfully from his spot next to the fireplace, from which he hadn't had to move this whole time. "I'll make sure she doesn't overfeed them!" he called. "Good luck, see you in a few hours!" He stepped back into the fire, yelling "The Burrow!"
It was indeed a few hours and a lot of pushing, pain, and general uncomfortableness later that I was holding two new tiny blonde scraps of humanity, one in each arm. I smiled tiredly as Scor snapped a picture. I swear, he documented every moment of our lives. He could give Dennis Creevey tips and that man was already an overenthusiastic photographer for the Prophet.
Scor stuck his head in the fire nearby to inform our family of the second child we'd successfully managed to hide from them for months as I whispered, "Hello Gideon Lee. Hello Fabian Cole. We're going to have a lot of fun together." I nuzzled each of their faces with my nose before proceeding to fall asleep as everyone I knew filed in to see the newest little wizards.
I heard a shriek from the bathroom and dropped the ball I'd been rolling back and forth with two year old Fabian. I sprinted down the hall, catching myself on the doorframe to keep myself from cannonballing into my husband. "What? What is it? Are you bleeding, are you hurt?"
"I. Have. A. Grey. Hair. Grey Rose, grey! My hair is supposed to be yellow, not grey!"
I sagged against the door and gave Scor a look. "That's what this is about? That's really what this is about?"
He turned from where he'd been inspecting his hair in the mirror to glare at me. "Yes, that's what this is about! I'm going grey Rose! I'm old."
Clearly unimpressed, I just shrugged. "I found grey in my hair years ago. Honestly, I chalk the fact that you've just found one up to freaky Malfoy genes. Besides, I think grey hair will make you look debonair." Ok, so I was hamming it up a little. What else does one do for love?
Raising a hand to his hair, Scor looked between me and the mirror with doubt. "Really? You're not just saying that?"
I smiled. "Not just saying that," I swore, leaning forward to kiss him. When I pulled away, I grinned. "Besides, you've been going grey at the nape of your neck for years."
His hand immediately flew back up to his hair and he whirled to try to see the back of his head in the mirror. I laughed and left.
"Witches and wizards, I present to you the Hogwarts graduating class of 2046!"
"-the Hogwarts graduating class of 2048!
"-class of 2051!"
"Witches and wizards, I present to you the Hogwarts graduating class of 2053!"
I stood to clap enthusiastically with the rest of the parents as Gideon and Fabian threw their purple hats in the air with everyone else. That was fine. What worried me was when they pulled out their wands. Suddenly, instead of the air being full of wizards's hats, it was full of doves instead, which, of course, flew around and were pretty for about 5 seconds before someone got shit on. The fact that it was an ex-girlfriend of Fabian's who I had never particularly liked had nothing to do with how hard I was laughing. Nothing at all.
Wiping tears from my eyes as both Natalie and Ben's children ran after the white birds, I turned to Scor. "We raised them well, young Padawan," I informed him.
He just laughed and grabbed me by the waist to spin me around before kissing me. Grinning as he pulled away, he rested his forehead on mine. "Of course. The Force is strong in them."
"EEWWWWWW! Gran and Grampa are kissing!" screamed Natalie's oldest, Catherine. The rest of the children joined in the groaning while the adults laughed.
We managed to stay together and wiggle through the crowd to Gideon and Fabian. I opened my arms to both of them, feeling more tears sliding down my cheeks.
"Aw, Mum! Don't cry or anything, we've only graduated," said Gideon as the two accepted my hugs.
I chuckled. "Love, it doesn't work that way. I'm a mother, of course I'll cry." I felt a hand on my shoulder and looked back at my own mother, who was smiling and crying at the same time.
I turned around and hugged her as Scor moved up to exchange man-hugs with the twins. "Thanks Mum," I whispered. "For always being there." With a smile, I added, "Now I know how hard it is."
She drew back, but kept her hands on my shoulders. "It just works that way," she quoted me. "I'm a mother, of course I'll be there."
"Even when I have to let them go?" I asked in a small voice. I wasn't looking forward to the emptiness of our house after the twins moved out for good.
"Especially then."
Scor and I, now well into our seventies, stood on the front porch of our house, gazing out at the lawn swarming with grandkids, all here for our annual summer picnic.
"Just look at that," Scor said, watching as a small wrestling match developed on the front lawn. "All of these people here are alive because of us."
"Well I'm pretty sure the kids and their respective spouses helped," I said, laughing. "Besides, all of Gideon's kids are adopted. Because, due to the shortcomings of human biology, two males can't produce children."
My husband rolled his eyes. "You always were one to get hung up on the details. The majority of the people here are alive because we're alive."
I shrugged. "I'm sure they don't like to think about it too hard."
"How many grandkids do we even have?" Scor asked. He was clearly joking, since he knew them all as well as I did.
"Seventeen," I answered anyway.
"Bet you can't name them all, grouped by parents."
"Is that a challenge sir?"
"Indeed it is, my lady."
"Natalie and Leo have Catherine, Ronald, and Molly. Maggie and Ben have Rose, Jonathan, and Shane. Louis and Kate: Daniel, Connor, and Reanna. David and Gideon adopted Karen, Casey, Raven, and Alexander. And Fabian and Gail begat Paul, Mina, Michael, and Samantha."
"Did you just use the word begat?"
"I did."
"I knew I married you for a reason."
We smiled at each other before I turned to the huge bell hanging from our porch. With a few tugs on the rope, it sent a sound out that could be heard pretty much anywhere on our property. "Lunch!" I yelled over the last echos. Everyone cheered as the adults began floating platters of food down to the grass where there was a carpet of blankets laid out. We dug into sandwiches, potato salad, corn, pumpkin pasties, cauldron cakes, and every other food you could think of as the sounds of the children running from group to group drifted over the trees.
Scor and I sat quietly, pursuing our own little past times. I carried on the Nana Weasley tradition of knitting sweaters as Scor shook his head over the Daily Prophet. There wasn't a blonde or red hair between us anymore- my hair was a silvery grey and his had gone completely white.
Finally, Scor threw the paper aside in disgust. "What news?" I asked, preparing myself for the inevitable complaints.
"Ministry doesn't know how to run itself anymore ever since Nat resigned. The new Minister isn't nearly as good."
"Yes, well you're a bit biased dear," I replied calmly, my needles still clicking back and forth softly.
"It doesn't matter. The Ministry's really gone to the dogs! They've resurrected the old debate of 'tell the Muggles about us or no?' and it seems like that's all anyone can think about anymore. That new Minister is a dodgy fellow, if you ask me! Which no one has," he added with a derisive snort.
I smiled. "Darling," I said conversationally. "Don't you think the new Minister is a bit dodgy?"
Scor stared at me for a moment, then laughed. "Well yes, now that you mention it, I do. Come here you." He stood up and I met him in the middle so he could kiss me on the cheek. He changed his grip on me, placing one hand on my waist and holding one of my hands in his so we were waltzing now. As we passed our music player, he pressed a few buttons. I smiled with a few tears in my eyes as 'Vanilla Twilight' came on.
Resting my head on his shoulder, I whispered, "I love you Scorpius Malfoy. Now, tomorrow, and forever."
He rested his chin on top of my head. "And I you, Rose Malfoy. Forever and farther."
We danced.
Here lie Scorpius and Rose Malfoy. Together in life, together in death, together forever.
Even if they sometimes bicker about it.
Through the grounds of Hogwarts I ran, with Scorpius at my side. We were blonde and red haired once again, young and free. At our sides ranged faces, some familiar in an instant and others for which I had to search for a resemblance to an older figure. Figures Muggle and magical that I'd known throughout my life ranged the whole grounds and there were even some that I hadn't know, but could recognize from stories. The original Lily and James Potter ran beside their son, who was not much younger than them. Sirius Black ran close on one side of them and Remus Lupin on the other, with his wife Nymphadora Tonks. And there was Teddy and Victoire… But if I got to naming them all, I'd never stop.
We ran across the grounds, past the castle, around the lake, through the Forbidden Forest. A host of centaurs galloped beside us for a ways and I yelled with pure joy. We looped back towards the castle. I wasn't even tired. In fact, we picked up the pace until the three Marauders whooped to my right. I looked over just in time to see James burst into stag form as Sirius leapt forward, landing as a black dog. Remus, contrary to my expectation, transformed into a lion mid-stride, and Uncle Harry, who hadn't been an Animagus as far as I'd known, was suddenly a grey-black wolf.
All around us, people transformed into animal forms, forms they would have taken in their life on Earth if they had become Animagi. Even the Muggles could do it. I wanted to change too, but didn't know how.
Regardless of my lack of knowledge, as soon as I had the wish, I was a cheetah, shaking out my fur. Moments later, Scor was what I recognized as a crowned eagle, soaring above my head as I ran. The feel of my muscles bunching and stretching as I ran was new, but natural. Scor-the-eagle let out a hunting scream as I surged forward with everyone else. The smaller animals were carried by larger ones and I saw just about every animal I'd ever imagined. There was even an elephant, which I strongly suspected was Hagrid.
And so forward I ran, back towards the place we'd all called home at one point and would call home again forever, joined by those we loved as they left our last world and turned to this one. Hogwarts.
