Disclaimer: Harry Potter franchise, etc, belongs to the fabulous JKR, and sadly, not to me.
"How about Henry?"
"Too plain."
"Humberto?"
"Not plain enough."
Scorpius watched as Rose skimmed her index finger along the gigantic book of baby names she held curled into her lap, a little frown creasing her brow as she searched. "'Hyman?" she suggested, looking doubtfully at her husband.
"Hyman Malfoy? Do you want him to get bullied?" Scorpius retorted, scoffing.
With that, Rose shoved the book off her lap and stretched out her long, bare legs. "I give up," she spoke through a yawn, moving from her plush armchair and over to the couch, where her husband held their newborn son. "It's been a week since he was born, we've gone through the book at least a million times, and nothing sounds quite right. I've resigned myself to the fact that he's just going to be referred to as Nameless Malfoy for the rest of his life."
At the sound of his mother's voice, Nameless happily blew a spit bubble.
"See?" she said, gesturing to the baby, "he agrees!"
"My son is not going to be referred to as Nameless," Scorpius rolled his eyes. "So we'd better think of another solution."
They took a second to ponder this as Rose settled in on the couch. It was a new sensation, becoming used to snuggling with a tiny wiggling life force held between them, but the young family adjusted accordingly and fell into a silent comfort. Even the baby remained still, perhaps realizing in his young mind that this was indeed an important matter.
Rose, as she usually tended to be, was the one to break the quiet.
"I still don't see why we couldn't name him Hercules or Taurus, or something astronomical." She smirked out of the side of her mouth, testing him, seeing if he'd rise to the bait. It was their favorite game.
"No. Absolutely not. Rosie, do you know what it was like growing up with the name Scorpius Hyperion? Hell, just learning how to spell it?"
Rose laughed, a tinkling sound that brought a smile to Scorpius' face, despite himself. He found himself joining in with her.
"All right, all right. Nothing longer than two syllables, then?"
"Agreed." He dropped a quick kiss onto his wife's bright hair before she got up to grab her old Astronomy books off their bookshelf. She settled back onto the couch and opened to a page with detailed star maps, and shifting her weight onto one hip, held the book aloft so that he could read along.
"Let's see now, there's Cygnus… Taurus… does Aquila sound a bit feminine to you?"
"Rose, come on. I'm serious, naming the Malfoy heir after a constellation is about the oldest and dustiest tradition in our family, and I'm including that sick one where they used to frame the heads of former house elves-"
"What about Leo?"
"-and you didn't see how wrinkly some of those elves actually were- what?"
"Leo. Leo Malfoy." She shut the book excitedly, placing it on their side table before turning back to her husband, blue eyes shining. "What do you think?"
"That's… not awful." Scorpius glanced down at the baby in his arms and swallowed hard. He wondered if he would ever stop being surprised at how new Fatherhood felt to him. Scorpius was not a soppy bloke, but for the past week, he had been unprepared for the amount of emotion could be associated with just eight pounds and nine ounces of a tiny human being. And now, putting a name, his name, on this baby made it feel all the more real. He had worked all his life to make sure that this little child would not have to face adversity or feel in any way ostracized or embarrassed because of the name Malfoy, and now here it was. The official fruition of his tireless labor.
"Leo Malfoy." He tested the way it sounded on his tongue. Slowly, he smiled, "I like it."
Rose broke into a grin, and kissed him hard on the mouth. When the two broke away, they were all smiles and relieved laughter.
Suddenly, Rose sprang up. She practically bounced with happiness over to the desk in the corner, grabbing a bit of parchment and searching for a writing utensil. "I need to owl my mother," she explained, finally spying a quill that hadn't been broken. "She's been going even more mental than I have about this!" She returned to the couch triumphantly, and began to compose her letter.
Scorpius groaned suddenly, causing Rose to frown and gaze up at him, worriedly. "What is it?" she asked.
Little Leo gurgled, not wanting to be forgotten, and Scorpius laughed down at his son, an odd expression of mixed mirth and pain flitting across his pale features.
"It's just… my father's never going to approve of this..." he paused to stroke the baby's soft platinum tuft of hair.
"…with the name we've chosen, he's sure to be a Gryffindor."
That's all, folks! Thanks so much for reading, reviews and constructive criticism are always appreciated :)