The television was playing a daytime soap. Rose watched the main character try to kill his evil twin. She snorted. Ridiculous. Muggles were a bit over the top sometimes, though wizards were far worse. She and her entire family, were living proof of that.
She stretched out on the sofa and tried to focus on work. If she didn't get Lily the answers for the advice column in the Prophet soon, she'd be out of a job. Lily, one of the few people who still liked Rose, had offered her the job because not only could she work at home, but no one would have to know who she was.
Scorpius hadn't been as lucky. He couldn't find a job anywhere, not, at least, in the wizarding world. He had to go look for a muggle job. But unlike Rose, he hadn't been at all surprised.
"This is how it is. It's going to be like this for the foreseeable future, I'm sure." He had told her, "I did tell you didn't want to be a Malfoy."
Rose didn't regret him. Not meeting him, not dating him, not falling in love with him. She certainly didn't regret marrying him.
She did regret (and resent) the name. She hated being a Malfoy.
"Rose, are you sure you want to do this?" He had asked her, weeks before their wedding at the tiny church in the muggle town.
"No, I'm not at all sure I want to be buying this dress." She spun around in the mirror again. "What do you think?"
"Rose, you'll look perfect no matter what. Isn't it bad luck for the groom to see the dress before the wedding?" He arched an eyebrow. "And that's not what I meant."
"I don't believe in bad luck, and I don't have any girlfriends to help me. So you'll have to do." She had rolled her eyes. "If you were talking about the wedding, I haven't changed my mind."
"Well that's good to know." He said in mock relief. "But actually I meant are you sure you want to take my name?"
"Rose Malfoy has a nice ring to it doesn't it?"
"Rose, you have no idea how horrid it is to be a Malfoy."
"Yeah, because I've only been with you for like, six years." She snorted.
"That still doesn't prepare you for actually being a Malfoy." He insisted.
"I can handle it." She lifted his chin so she could look in his eyes. "I'll have to, because Scorpius Weasley sounds absolutely terrible."
That had gotten a smile. She then added, "I mean, really, what's in a name anyway?"
That had been twelve years ago. She had realized that he had been right and that she had definitely been wrong in the first six months. But it was already too late.
He was usually right. He was right when he thought she was pregnant a year into their marriage (she insisted it was the flu). He was right when he told her they would have twins (he soon wished he hadn't been). He was right when he noticed Ana was a squib.
Now her twins were both at their respective schools, as they were both eleven.
Ana, Rose often thought, was the lucky one. She could be a full muggle and be accepted by her own kind. She didn't have to face the full part of the discrimination against the family.
Ana had gone to a boarding school in Wales. Her letters home told of how much fun she was having and about all the friends she had made. The thing was, Ana was always much shyer than Scott.
Her twin brother, however, was a wizard and he had to go to Hogwarts. Rose wanted to send him somewhere else but the Ministry wouldn't allow anyone descended from death eaters to leave the country.
So Scott had gone. His letters home told a far different story than Ana's. He was bullied, he said, made fun of, and beaten up. He said that the teachers mostly looked the other way. He did what he could to stand up to them, but when he did, he got in trouble, not the bullies.
It made her want to cry. Why did this prejudice have to continue? None of them had ever done anything.
What's in a name? Apparently a lot.