"Are you sure?" I checked for the millionth time.

"I'm sure," James responded, sighing in exasperation. To be fair to him, I was sounding slightly obsessive. I couldn't help it – someone had to make sure he was prepared.

"But what if you forget what you're going to say?" I asked, fretting.

"I'll wing it," he shrugged, straightening his tie in the mirror and brushing down his dress robes.

"You can't wing it! Mum will murder you!"

"Merlin, Al, will you stop stressing? You're going to give yourself a brain haemorrhage," he answered calmly, still adjusting his outfit.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm just really nervous." I took a deep breath.

James chuckled. "Yup, I can tell. Hey, have you heard the stories about Great Uncle Bilius? Apparently, he used to hike up his dress robes in the middle of the wedding reception and start pulling bunches of flowers out of his..."

"Not the time, James," I replied, cutting him off before he could finish his sentence. I didn't want to know... I was having enough trouble keeping down the measly amount of breakfast I had eaten this morning.

"Alright. Jeez, Al, you'd think someone was making you walk the plank, not the aisle," he observed. "You're green, mate."

"I don't like attention," I reminded him. He grinned.

"Shoulda gone to Vegas like I suggested then, shouldn't you?"

"Mum would have slaughtered me. Not to mention Gran. Or Rosie... can you imagine how dead I would be when I got back?"

James laughed again, mussing up his hair in a very 'Dad' gesture. "You'd be on a few hit lists, true enough."

He waltzed over to the window, twitching the curtains to stare out at the guests congregating under the tarpaulin erected onto the lawn of the Burrow.

"Hey, look, the Malfoys are here. Well, I think that's Narcissa and Draco, and that looks like what's-her-face, you know, his wife. Selena's getting cute," he observed.

I pulled a face in the mirror. "She's fourteen. You're twenty three. Don't be so sick."

"What? I never said I fancied her, just that she was cute. Al, I'm not perverted." He paused, still scanning the crowd. "Although Dom's friend Grace is gorgeous... and nineteen, so perfectly acceptable to flirt with."

I rolled my eyes. "There's a few veela here too, if you're interested."

James grinned. "I'm always interested. But not so for you anymore, eh? You better enjoy your last ten minutes of freedom."

"I don't want freedom," I replied. "I just want to get this over with."

"I'm sure Sophie will be thrilled to hear that... do you reckon Malfoy will show up?"

I frowned. "You just said he was here!"

James shook his head. "I mean Scorpius. He was Sophie's best mate for years, after all."

I chewed my lip thoughtfully. "Well, we sent him an invitation. Maybe he'll show."

"He knows I'm going to be here, so I doubt it."

I whirled around to find my cousin standing in the doorway, her wavy hair half pinned up with flowers intricately braided into it. Her dress was a beautiful shade of red, it set off her pale skin perfectly. Sophie had picked well with the bridesmaid dresses, I thought. Not that I had a clue, of course.

"Rosie, I didn't see you there," I murmured, wishing she hadn't come in when we were speaking about Scorpius. You couldn't mention his name around Rose anymore, not without her collapsing like a deflated balloon.

"I just came up to see if Teddy was around. Little Remus and Dora are digging up the flower beds, and I think Gran is going to have a heart attack if everything doesn't go perfectly. I thought I'd come up and see if I could find their father before they get caught and skinned alive."

I grinned; Remus and Dora reminded me a lot of Rosie and I at their age. They were the most troublesome twins I had ever met... even Dad said the same... and he knew dead-Uncle Fred and Uncle George, back in the day.

"Where's Vicky?" I asked, and Rose smiled.

"She's sorting out Sophie's dress. I don't want to disturb her, so I thought Ted would need to take parenting duty for today."

My hands clammed up again at the mention of Sophie. "I think Teddy mentioned something about the attic," I suggested, and Rose nodded. She didn't move an inch though.

"Do... do you think Scorpius will come?" she asked, her eyes lighting up for the first time in a long time. My honest opinion was no, but I didn't want to give it. Not when Rosie seemed excited – the only time in the last four years I had seen her as so.

"Maybe," I said thoughtfully. "You never know. I dunno that I'd even know what he looks like now."

"I'll never forget," Rose whispered, and she vanished through the doorway, her eyes morose once more.

I sighed as she left, my own anxieties forgotten. I hoped Scorpius would show up. James stared despondently after our cousin, before turning to me and whispering,

"Hey, Al, I don't think Teddy needed to go hunting for that antique blue jasper bracelet after all. I think Sophie already has something blue... Rose."

A/N: This is placed before the epilogue of A Scorpius' Sting, and all the events still coincide with my other Rose/Scorpius story.

This is obviously right before Albus marries Sophie Avery. And no, Scor doesn't make a cameo. Sigh.