Rose and Scorpius surfaced from their memory-wedding after the memory-bride and groom had exited. For a moment, everything else melted away, and all Scorpius could see was Mrs Rose Malfoy, his blushing bride. He couldn't remember anything past that - he assumed they'd had a honeymoon, and then the 5 years that followed - but he was just happy to sit in this moment, staring lovingly at his wife on their bed.

But, of course, no one ever heard of parents with a toddler getting a moment to themselves.

"Daddy, can I go play with Rachel?" Iris asked as she came running into their bedroom, jumping up onto the bed and sitting herself on his lap. He didn't even realise that he'd automatically wrapped an arm around her and was adjusting her position on his leg until he saw Rose snigger out of the corner of his eye. He looked at Rose with a look of confusion - the name meant nothing to him.

"Yes, you can go see Rachel" Rose replied for him. "We'll floo you through" she said. Iris immediately jumped off of Scorpius' lap and held out her little hand. He realised she was waiting for him to come along too, so he followed them through into the common room. The three of them used their fire to floo into the Slytherin common room, where Iris immediately ran to a quiet girl with her head in a book on the sofa. The girl grinned when she saw the little girl and put her book down.

"Hi Ros-er-Professors" the girl smiled. "It's good to see you back in school, sir. Iris has been misbehaving while you were in Mungos" she said, giving a mock glare of disapproval to Iris.

"No I haven't!" his daughter protested, putting her hands on her hips and opening her mouth in disbelief. Scorpius couldn't help but snigger. He realised that he wasn't meant to do that when about 16 slytherins turned to look at him in surprise. He put his hand across his mouth and turned around to face the fire while he controlled himself. When he turned back around, he saw Rose, Iris and Rachel staring at him with the same look of amusement.

"Are you quite finished acting like a 7 year old?" Rose asked with a laugh.

"Yes, Ma'am" Scorpius said with a mock salute.

"Remember you're a teacher so if you can't behave like a mature 22-year-old then shhh" she said with a wink before turning to Rachel. "I'm sorry if she's given you trouble, Rach. I can't thank you enough for looking after her for those couple of days we were in Mungos" she said with a smile. "In fact, we got you a thank you present" she said, waving her wand in a strange motion. A box of Honeyduke's appeared on the table in front of her. Iris dived at it, but was stopped by an invisible wall around it. "Nice try, missus, but you are not eating all of Rachel's sweets" Rose said. "Now, do you mind looking after her again for a bit - she insisted on seeing you and we really need to get back to our work" Rose said, looking at Scorpius.

"Sure, Professor" Rachel shrugged.

"If she gets too much, send an owl and one of us will come get her. We won't be too long anyway, maybe an hour tops?" The girl nodded happil then turned to Iris, whose face lit up at seeing her friend.

"Who is that Rachel girl?" Scorpius asked.

"My Aunt Fleur's niece" Rose explained. "She's 4th year. But Iris has become very fond of her, not only because she's family, but because she plays with her and gives her sweets" Rose chuckled. "Now, are you going to explain to me what was so funny in the slytherin common room that caused you to behave like a student?" she asked, putting a hand on her hip, her eyebrow raised quizically. Scorpius smirked and walked closer to her. He gently took hold of her other hand and put it on her other hip then grinned.

"That's why I laughed. The look on her face reminded me of you through the majority of our school years, and a lot of other times from the last couple of years, where you have looked at me with your hands on your hips as if you are so much more superior than me" he sniggered. Rose was trying to fight a smile but managed to keep the stern yet amused look on her face.

"Just sit down and stop laughing at me" she said with a sigh, pointing at the armchair. Scorpius sat down, and Rose perched herself on his lap. "Is this...okay?" she asked, not sure if he was comfortable with it.

"Rose, I remember all those times in 7th year where I was your personal cushion, and after re-watching our wedding I don't think I could ever deny you a place on my lap" he said, pulling her legs up so she was sat sideways across his thighs.

"It's nice to have a bit of you back" Rose said with a small smile as she fiddled with the collar on his button-down shirt (which Scorpius realised with horror that he had probably been wearing for at least a few days).

"This shirt must be disgusting" he said, pulling a face. "In fact, I must be disgusting. How long was I in Mungos?" he asked, pulling gently on a couple of strands of her hair.

"You went in on Tuesday afternoon, it's now Monday, so you were in for 5 days really. They didn't tell me at first, so you were in there for nearly 4 hours before I could get there. I didn't finish teaching until 5, and then I had to find someone to watch Iris for an hour or so so I could come see you" she said, pain evident in her voice. "When I got there, they said I couldn't see you as you were still being tested, so I sat outside for nearly an hour waiting. When they said I could finally see you, you were lying in bed unconscious and your skin was so pale, Scorp, I thought you were dead! The Healer assured me that you were very much alive but they hadn't identified the curse you were hit with. They'd drugged you up so you'd stay asleep for the next 2 hours so the Healers could try to trace the spell while the print was still there. At that point I came and got Iris and took her to Mum's. They looked after her for the first 3 days whilst I stayed with you. They did so many tests it was ridiculous, I almost gave up on them. I never gave up on you though - I could tell you would fight it and wake up. After those 3 days, mum dragged me back to the Burrow so I could get some sleep and some food inside me. Then I took Iris back to school as she was so confused as to why she wasn't at the castle. That's when Rachel stepped in. Iris wanted to see her straight away, but when I flooed her in I kinda just...drooped was the word Rachel used" Rose frowned, he whole body seeming to droop against Scorpius as she said it. He wrapped his arm tighter around her. "She refused to let me leave the Slytherin common room, so she owled Minerva who immediately took me up to the Hospital Wing and it was just so embarrassing, Scorp, half our pupils saw me basically collapse then be escorted to the Hospital Wing. Parvati fixed me up quite quickly with some nutrition soup thing and some sleep tablets. I woke up the next morning, which I was not very happy about, I will tell you now, and found that Iris had been placed with Rachel. Minerva then brought me back to Mungos and then a couple of hours later you woke up."

"So I've been in these clothes for 6 days?" Scorpius scowled.

"I'm sorry" Rose said defensively, "I wasn't allowed to touch you in case the curse passed on to me, and the Healers didn't want to touch you either. If it bothers you that much, go and bloody well shower and change into something less disgusting!" she ended up shouting. Before Scorpius could stop her, Rose jumped off of him and stormed out of the common room into the main school.

"Rose, wait!" he cried, racing after her.

"No, I won't wait for you anymore, Scorpius Malfoy!" she screamed. Two students at the end of the corridor quickly scarpered. "I have been waiting for you to wake up for 6 days, and now I have to wait for you to remember who I am. I'm fed up of it. I can't just hold you, and kiss you and treat you like my husband because I'm having to wait for you to come back to me. I've dediacated the last week of my life to sitting at your bedside and the first moment we get alone you are worried about your clothes! Go and clean up and leave me alone." She was crying by this point. Scorpius turned to follow her, but she cast a Disillusionment Charm and ran off, invisible.

Fustrated, Scorpius turned to the nearest wall and leant his forearms against it, his head drooping between them. He sighed a deep sigh before straghtening up. He had no clue where his very very angry wife had gone, so he did the only thing he could think of- he returned to their bedroom. He really did feel gross now he thought about it, so he had a quick shower to get rid of the week of hospital grime. During his shower, he thought hard about how to make it up to Rose.

Although that argument had not been what he wanted, and certainly one he never intended, it had brought back two memories. The first one was a small yet heated argument that they had had just before they began their new teaching jobs at Hogwarts. Rose had been panicking about how she should act, especially with 3 cousins still in the school. Scorpius had just been calm and said to not worry and just be herself, but as a hormonal pregnant woman, Rose had spun it off in the wrong direction and had stormed off. She hadn't come back for 3 hours, and when she did, she found Scorpius lying on the floor of their lounge in their little flat, playing with a tiny orange bundle of fur. "You need something to just relax you a bit" he said as the kitten walked in a circle on his stomach and fell asleep, "and we need a pet" he had said with a shrug. Rose had promptly admitted that as soon as she left, she felt guilty, but because she was still angry she'd gone to the burrow and had ended up staying for a chat with her mum and gran. They'd kissed and made up quite quickly after that one.

The second one struck harder. A few weeks after Iris had been born, Scorpius and Rose were at home in their flat. Scorpius had recieved a letter from McGonagall asking for one, if not two, of them to return to Hogwarts to resume their training. Scorpius had shown Rose, who was immediately grumpy. "Why can't we just spent time with our daughter at home for a bit? What is so urgent that we have to go back?!" Scorpius had tried to ease the idea to her that if she wanted to stay with Iris for longer, he would return to work. But that had made it all worse. "Did you seriously just suggest the idea that you'd leave me to cope alone caring for our newborn baby?" she's asked, her eyes glowing with the intensity of laser beams trying to cut through him. "I can't believe you'd prioritise your job before your family, Scorpius! Go and run off to that precious job of yours if that's the case!"

Scorpius had tried to reason with her but Rose was so upset by the argument that she had taken herself and Iris to her parents house. When Scorpius apparated to the door, he'd been met by a very angry Ron Weasley. "What have you done to upset her like that?" he'd asked. When Scorpius explained it, Ron and Hermione (who'd quickly appeared to stop her husband killing her son-in-law) both agreed that he should go home and sleep. They would let Rose and Iris stay the night so that she calmed down, then send the pair home so they could sort out their issues in the morning. The next day, Rose and Iris hadn't come home until 2:30pm. Scorpius hadn't slept the whole night, and it was quite plain that Rose hadn't either. The didn't exchange any words, but Rose put Iris in her crib and then laid down next to Scorpius on their bed. They hadn't spoken for a good 20 minutes, just laid there with their arms around each other. Eventually Scorpius had quietly mumbled "I won't go back if you don't want me to, but if they're sending letters, it means we're pushing it a bit". Rose had replied "We'll both go back. I just wanted for us to spend time with our baby. But you're right, we've taken a long time off as it is, and I can't do it without you, so we're gunna have to both go back." Scorpius had just cuddled closer to her and said reassuring things to her until they both fell asleep. The next day they'd gone back to work, but there was still an unresolved tension between them for a day or two. It'd resolved the second that they introduced Iris to the school, and Scorpius had held their baby with an arm around his wife whilst all of the teachers and pupils cooed and awwhed.

Scorpius sat on their bed for at least an hour thinking about those two fights, and the one that they'd just had. On all three ocassions, Rose had run from her problems. His eyes wondered to the photo albums on the shelves on the wall. The wedding album was still on their bed with the pensieve, so he sumoned the rest of the albums and started to flick through them. The first one he came across was a collection of photos of him, Rose and their friends during the summer after their NEWTs. Every photo brought back another memory.

There was one photo of the two of them, Lily, Al, Hugo, Leo, Lorcan and Lysander. They had all gone down to the lake at the Burrow and were posing for a photo which Hermione had volunteered to take. They had all been dressed in their swimming gear, and they had all looked so happy. As Scorpius watched the photo moved, he watched Lorcan and Lysander suddenly run forwards and push both Scorpius and Leo into the lake. Although the photo finished playing there, the havoc continued in Scorpius' mind. The Weasleys and Al all stood laughing at the side. They'd all shared a look, then raced forwards, pushing the twins into the lake, then jumping in to join them. They'd had a massive water fight, which ended up with all of them floating at the edge of the lake, panting out of breathe and coughing up lake water for the next 10 minutes. When Scorpius looked back at the photo, he thought he could see the slightest of a baby-bump showing on Rose, her stomach quite visible in her bikini. The photo had been taken just two days before their wedding, Rose's engagement ring glittering on her finger, so Scorpius wasn't completely surprised.

The next album was filled with photos of Iris as a baby. The very first photo had it's own page - a beautiful photo of the three of them, Rose holding Iris and Scorpius with his arm wrapped around both of them. He watched as photo-Scorpius leant down and kissed Rose on the forehead. The little smile that appeared on Rose's face matched perfectly the smile on Iris' face.

The next few pages were filled with photo after photo of newborn Iris, mainly with different family members. There was one of just the three of them, taken inside Mungos. Rose looked more exhausted than she had ever looked, half asleep in her hospital bed. Scorpius was holding a bundle of blankets which he assumed was Iris, and he had never seen a look of such triumph on his own face. Then there were photos of Iris with Rose's parents, then grandparents, Hugo, then cousin after cousin. There was a photo of Rose and Hugo smiling together. Scorpius couldn't remember that one being taken, but it must've been taken the same day they'd taken Iris to the Burrow as both were wearing the same clothes as the Burrow photos. Then came all the photos taken when Iris had visited Malfoy Manor two days later - Scorpius' parents and Grandmother had all smiled and posed in the same fashion as the Wealseys. Scorpius felt a flash of irritation when he remembered that his grandfather had refused to show because Iris was the child of a Weasley. Scorpius hadn't spoken to him since.

The next album was full of odd photos in random orders. There was a photo of Rose and Scorpius stood outside Hogwarts in their graduation robes. There was another one where they both had paint all over them. That had been taken when they were decorating their flat. There was a couple of Iris playing by the lake at Hogwarts last summer, a mass group of students joining her in jumping in the lake on the unusually hot day. Then Scorpius flicked to see a photo of himself, sitting at the desk in their common room, a foot-high stack of essays beside him. As he watched the photo, he watched himself drag his hands along his face with a sigh, then suddenly turn to look dead at the camera and pulled a really unattractive face. He remembered that photo now. He'd been marking some horrific first year essays, and had been about to throw them on the floor in despair when Rose had called him from across the room. He'd seen the camera and pulled a funny face instantly. He remembered that Iris had come running in when she heard Rose crying hysterically on the floor, laughing at the immatuirity of it all.

The other album was a collection of Rose's photos throughout her Hogwarts years. Scorpius smiled when he saw the photo that had been crudely taped onto the front cover - First year Rose in her new Hogwarts uniform, proudly standing in front of the Hogwarts Express. Her teeth were slightly wonky, her hair wild and untamed, her robes way too big, her bag weighing her down and her skirt down to her knees, which was met by knee-length socks. Scorpius looked closely at the photo and saw that his parents were taking a similar photo of himself in the background. Scorpius's hair was short, but still unmistakably Malfoy, and his robes were drowning him in a similar way. The next photo was one of the rest of the Wealseys in a train carriage on the Hogwarts Express. Rose was grinning into the camera lense, the rest of her family crowded behind her. Scorpius recognised the entire Weasley clan, including Vic and Teddy, who were sat with their arms around each other in the corner. Scorpius was amazed that all of the Weasley and Potter children fitted into the carriage, but he remembered the fact that Lily, Hugo and Louis would not have been Hogwarts age yet. There were a couple of photos from that train ride - games of exploding snap, a photo of all of the sweets they bought off the trolley, and a photo taken out of the window, showing the castle in the distance. There were many more from over the years - many that Rose had taken sneakily during lessons. Scorpius remembered that camera, always appearing. But whenever a teacher had searched her bag, they'd only found ordinary equipment. Scorpius took years to realise that Rose was using charms to make her bag a lot bigger and with many hidden pockets, one of which she would hide the camera in.

As he flicked through the resulting collection of photos of their classmates pulling faces or making rude hand gestures or group photos, he saw that quite a lot of photos also had him in them. At first he thought it was just a coincidence, but as it got into the older year photos, he saw that Rose had started to scribble little notes at the bottom of photos, and there were some more photos of him through the years with little inscriptions on them. There was one from 4th year. They had just got back to school, and Scorpius had cut his hair over the summer. It wasn't overly short, but it definitely wasn't the same swishy hairstyle he'd had the year before. Rose's neat scribble at the bottom read "Thank Merlin he cut his hair, I can at least see his face now". The next couple of photos had him in them too. There was another one where he was in the library in 6th year, smiling at the camera with a transfiguration book open in his hands. Scorpius looked closely at the photo, and upon realising there was something written on the back, he pulled it carefully out of its pocket and turned it over.

"Scorpius Malfoy has actually started noticing me" he read aloud. "We've started seeing each other in the library a lot after lessons, but not talking. Wish I could get to know him - he's quietly clever, and he's a right laugh in lessons with his friends. I wonder if he's as perfect a person as he looks?" He laughed. He then put that photo back in it's pocket, and out of interest, picked the next photo out of it's pocket too. It was a photo of the two of them sat in the library. Scorpius wondered who had taken this one. Towards the end of 6th year, he and Rose had started sitting together in the library as they were studying the same subjects. They were both bend over a charms book, Rose demonstrating something with big arm gestures, and Scorpius looking happily at her. As he pulled the photo out, a piece of folded paper fell out. When he unfolded it, he realised it was dated and ripped along one side - an extract from a diary.

Lily is EVIL. She managed to get it out of me the other day that I've developed a crush on Scorpius, and since then has been making all these comments both in front of him and in front of the rest of the family. Fred and James are getting super suspicious, but I think they've already guessed as they keep grinning at Scorpius. He's noticed, and he told me about it in the library tonight. Because he has detention tomorrow night for causing some sort of trouble with Leo in Potions, he gave me my birthday present tonight in the library. It was a charms book, filled with all the practical joke charms. He said that he thought I'd like to expand my arsenal. And he WINKED as he said it. I mean, we've been cursing and jinxing each other in lessons sneakily for fun, but he WINKED. I wonder if he likes me? Ha ha, what a stupid thought! Rose Wealsey's crush would never like her back! But anyway, we were sat there, me raving about the new book and him just smiling at me, and I could SWEAR I saw a flash from behind the bookcase. When I went to look, Lily was sat there giggling to herslef, my camera in her hands! She'd taken a PHOTO of us sat there, the evil girl! But it's such a nice photo - looking at it now, I do wonder if he does like me - he looks like he might. That smile can't JUST be friendly.

That was where it finished. Scorpius stared at in disbelief. He had liked Rose for the entire year, and now he finds out that she felt the same way. He kicked himself mentally for missing the opportunity to have another year with her. He carefully slipped the photo and diary page back into their pocket and closed the album. He stood up and walked to the bookshelf in their common room. Right on Rose's charm book shelf was sat the very same book he'd given her all those years ago. He pulled it off the shelf and opened the cover. He could read his scrawled message inside he cover. To Rosie, Happy 16th Birthday! Sorry that I couldn't spend it with you due to detention. I hope you like your other presnt too! Love, Scorpius x. Scorpius grinned at the memory of his other present. He could still picture the lok of utter shock on her face when both his owl and her owl had crahsed onto the Ravenclaw table, the birthday cake they were carrying exploding all over her and her friends. Rose had stood up, walked across the aisle to where he was sat laughing on the slytherin table, pulled him out of his seat with cake covered hands, dragged him back to the Ravenclaw table and dunked his face into the rest of the cake explosion. The entire Wealsey family came over to laugh at the pair of them, both sat at the Ravenclaw table covered in cake, before giving Rose her other presents. He remembered Lily had pulled out Rose's camera and taken a photo - that was probably somewhere in the album he'd just closed - and then leant in to whisper something into Rose's ear. She'd turned bright red, but when he pressed her about it, she refused to tell him. After wishing her a happy birthday, he had returned to his own table where his gobsmacked friends bombarded him with questions about the cake.

Scorpius closed the book and put in on their desk in the common room. When he looked at the rest of the desk, he realised that missing a week of school had not vanished all of his marking, so he pulled out a quill and reached for a pile of 7th year project reports.