Chapter Six

Rose had been grounded for the rest of school break. She was grateful that her birthday was in late August and she was even happier that Hermione had convinced Ron to allow her the Hogsmeade trips during the school year. She didn't know what they would do with her over the break or once the school year was over, but she didn't have to think about it for a few months. All around, Rose had a lot to be happy about -- things could have gone so much worse. As Scorpius came up behind her to take her hand and walk her to Divination she breathed a sigh of relief. It was all going to work itself out; everything was going to be okay.

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Epilogue: One Year Later

"Rose?"

"Rose?"

"Rose!"

He barely heard her whispered response, couldn't make it out, but he pulled back some of the curtain created by the Weeping Willows to find Rose crouched and holding herself, shaking. The light of the moon was thin and obscured but there were fireflies flittering about the greenery. It was loud out tonight, another reason why he hadn't been able to find Rose at first -- despite the sounds of her weeping. He felt a tearing in his chest. It was hard to hear her with the tree frogs, cicadas, and Merlin only knew what else was in the trees tonight, but now that he had heard he wouldn't soon forget what it sounded like to hear her heart break. It was dark, Rose held herself tight and small, and her clothing didn't do much to make her easy to see, all in all. She wore a brown cropped military style jacket and brilliant red, long turtleneck with brown slacks. He bent forward to touch Rose's shoulder.

One hand, her right, came up from her knees to cover the hand he'd layed on her left shoulder. Other than that, nothing changed. After several long moments where he simply let her know he was there for her he felt the first drop of rain on his face.

"Bloody, buggering hell," he grumbled under his breath. He slowly drew his hand away from her shoulder and quickly, quietly, retrieved an umbrella from the house. He came back to find that Rose had laid herself back, head resting against the trunk of the Weeping Willow. She'd fallen asleep with tear tracks running down her face. This time he crouched, holding the umbrella out over her head. This last all of six minutes before his arm cramped up.

"Lovely," he muttered, rubbing the sore muscle. Soon, his designer wizarding robes would be soaked and ruined, as would the lovely clothes Rose wore, and they would both catch cold. He shook his head roughly, his long, white blonde hair already wet enough to shake the water out of it. Seeing no other choice, he made up his mind.

"Acio Firestorm!" It would be difficult to carry Rose back to Malfoy Manor on the broom as dead weight, so he pointed his wand at her and cast a gripping charm and a lightening spell on her to make their travel easier. After that it was easy to lift Rose up into his arms, ease them both onto his broom, and make his way back home. She could stay with him and his family as long as she wanted to be with him or at least until she adjusted to having divorced parents and decided where else she wanted to live.

Briefly he wondered about Clapham, near London. Now that they were both seventeen...