Rose woke up to the sight of Lily standing over her.
"Why are you still asleep?" Lily asked her cousin
"Lils, you need to get your eyes checked because I'm awake."
"I mean why did you only wake up a few minutes ago? Do you know what today is?"
"Saturday"
"Yes!!!! And you have a date with Scorpius today. You said you would meet him at ten. That was ten minutes ago."
"Maybe I will just stay here today." Rose sighed
Lily rolled her eyes, "What's wrong"
"I just feel like my life is out of control and I don't know what to do. I love my little girl, but I don't think I can do this anymore. Plus things with Scorpius are all weird and I just feel like screaming." Rose said as she curled back up under her blankets.
"Ok, first thing first. I thought you were excited about the baby."
"I am but how the heck am I going to do this. I have been reading those books I got last week and I realized I know nothing about babies. I'm only seventeen I'm supposed to be off having fun not worrying about a child. How is this going to work?"
"Everything will be fine. It is not like you are going to be alone with all of this. You have all of our family plus Scorpius to help you."
"He loves me" Rose blurted out
Lily studied her cousin before saying, "That is the real reason you are so freaked isn't it?"
"Yeah, but I can't figure out why it is freaking me out so much."
"Rose, this is the first time a guy has ever gotten close enough to you to fall in love. Everybody knows that you and Sammy have dated a lot of guys, but none of them have ever lasted long. What most people do not realize is that you are not like Sammy. She dates a lot of guys because she just likes guys too much. You don't settle down because you don't want to get too attached. You do not like needing people."
"But I let Scorpius in, and now I find myself needing him all the time."
"Exactly."
"I know I don't like to get too attached to guys for my own sake, but I don't care this time. I just worry about Scorpius getting too attached to me. What if I never feel the same way about him that he feels about me? I don't want to break his heart."
"Did you talk to him about this."
"Yes. And he was so great about it that it only made me feel worse when I told him I was not in love with him. He said he understood, but how can he when I don't even understand how I feel."
"Do you love him?" Lily asked with a smile
"I just said I told him I didn't"
"I didn't ask what you said, I asked how you feel"
"I don't know how I feel and that is the problem."
Rose looked up to see Lily smirking at her.
"Why are you looking at me like that?" She asked her younger cousin
"You love him." Lily replied
"No I don't."
"Rose, I can tell. You are in love with him."
"But how can I be? We have not even been dating that long."
"Rose just tell me how he makes you feel and how you feel about him."
"He makes me feel like the most important girl in the world, he makes me feel safe, he makes me happy, I always want to be with him when I am upset, I want him to be happy, I think about him all the time when we are not together, when we are not together I want to be around him, I…………. am in love with Scorpius Malfoy." Rose finished shocking herself.
"See I told you. Now you are going to get pretty, go downstairs and go on this date with your boyfriend. The two of you need to talk and a nice stroll through town would be the perfect opportunity."
"Lily have I ever told you that you are a very controlling person." Rose teased as she pulled on a sweater.
"You would not want me any other way" Lily said as she skipped out the door.
Rose hurried to get ready but it still took her another fifteen minutes before meeting Scorpius. She saw him sitting on one of the couches with a gloomy expression on his face. She walked over and sat next to him. His expression changed to one of happiness when he saw her.
"I didn't think you were coming. You are never late." Scorpius admitted
"I overslept, but Lily woke me up." Rose told him leaving out the fact that she originally did not want to go.
She grabbed his hand and they made their way to Hogsmead. They visited a few shops, but Rose needed to talk to him so she pulled him over to a bench in a secluded part of the village. She knew she needed to tell him that she loved him too, but she did not know what to say. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath as she got up the courage to tell him how she felt.
"What's the matter? Are you feeling ok?" Scorpius asked her when she sat with her eyes closed
Rose smiled up at him, "I'm fine, but there are a few things we need to talk about."
"Oh, ok"
"Well when you told me you loved me that really freaked me out because no one has ever said that to me."
"Rose, I'm sorry I did not want to freak you out. I just wanted to let you know how I felt." Scorpius interrupted
"I know. The problem was that I did not realize why it shook me so much. I was talking to Lily earlier and I realized why I was so worried. I know I told you I needed time, but the thing is that I am in love with you too. I was just too scared to realize it."
"You love me….."
"Yeah, I do. I was in denial because I was afraid that if we were in love one of us would end up heartbroken but I realized that was not a good reason to hide from love. I know I am being super corny right now, please do not make fun of me."
"Rosie, why would I make fun of you when you just told me the one thing I wanted to hear more than anything" Scorpius said before kissing her
"So is this why you have been acting weird this week?" he asked as they broke apart
"Well, that is part of the reason."
"And the other part is….?"
"It's nothing"
"Rose, you can tell me if something is bothering you"
"I'm scared, ok"
"Of what"
"Being a mom. Scorpius, I don't know if I can do this."
"Of course you can. Everything is going to be fine."
"That's easy for you to say. You're not worried about this at all."
"Is that what you think, that I am not worried about having a baby?"
Rose just shrugged her shoulders
"I'm more worried about this than I have ever been in my entire life. Knowing that I am going to be responsible for a human being scares the hell out of me. When your dad came to get me from my house last week I told him I didn't think I could be a good father. He made me realize that I will be just fine and I know you will too."
"So you really think we can do this?"
"Yeah, I do"
"Well I'm still scared; I don't know anything about being a mom."
"I'm scared too." Scorpius admitted as he wrapped his arm around his girlfriend
They sat in silence for awhile before he felt her shiver under his arm.
"Come on," he said as he held out his hand to pull her up "let's go grab something to eat at the Three Broomsticks."
When they walked in they saw Albus and Mark and went to sit with them. They ordered some food and sat around talking while they waited for it to be ready.
"So lovebirds, how's the first date going" Mark asked
"Best first date ever" Rose told him with a smile
"That's good" Albus said as he took a sip of his butterbeer, "I would not want to have to beat up Scorpius for taking you on a lousy date"
Rose laughed at her cousin, but her laughter stopped abruptly when their food was place on the table. The smells of the different meals combined together to create a scent that made Rose's stomach churn.
"I'll be right back" She told the boys before hurrying off to find a toilet.
As soon as she was in the bathroom her stomach decided to empty itself. When she was done she splashed some cold water on her face and looked at her reflection in the mirror. She looked horrible. Rose could not wait for this part of the pregnancy to go away. She sighed and made her way back to the table.
"I think I am going to get some fresh air." She told the boys as she grabbed her things. Scorpius threw some money on the table and followed her outside.
"Did you get sick again" he asked as he wrapped his arm around her.
"Yeah, do you mind if we just go back to the castle"
"Of course not"
The couple made their way back to the castle. There were only a few younger students in the common room so Scorpius pulled Rose over to the couch. They lay down together and just watched the fire.
"Are you feeling any better" Scorpius asked after a while
"Mostly" Rose replied, "I just hate that our day was ruined."
"It is not ruined. Our plans just changed a little bit. I can have just as good of a time with you here than I could at Hogsmead."
"After I rest a little bit we can go for a walk." Rose suggested
"See, I told you the afternoon was not ruined"
He looked down and found that she had fallen asleep. He smiled at her. He knew being pregnant was a lot harder on her than she let on. He was glad she had opened up to him about her worries today. Scorpius turned his head when he heard someone plop down into the chair next to the couch. Hugo Weasley was staring at his sister with a thoughtful expression on his face.
"Why her?" he asked after a while
"Um, what do you mean?"
"Why did you choose my sister? You could have any girl. Why did you choose Rose? Why did you have to get her pregnant?"
"Hugo, I love her"
"Then why did you let this happen to her"
"It was an accident. Neither one of us meant for this to happen, but we are ok with this. It will be hard, but worth it. We love this baby."
"I know that the two of you can handle this but what about everyone else? I used to be able to talk to Rose, but ever since she became pregnant she has been too busy for me. Everyone is so concerned about Rose that they do not see how this affects the rest of us. I don't know what I am going to do without my sister."
"You are not losing her; she will still be there for you."
"It's not going to be the same. She will have your new little family to worry about. She is not going to have time for me."
"Hugo, I promise you Rose will always be there for you if you need her. You can come to me too. Was there something that you needed to talk to her about."
"I don't know if you will understand"
"Why don't you try me? I have been known to surprise people."
"Well the thing is I'm sick of all the pressure everyone puts on me. I'm not good at anything. Being the son of Ron and Hermione Weasley people have certain expectations. Rose is pregnant and she still manages to fill people's expectations better than I can. I just wish I could find one thing I am good at."
"There has to be something you are good at."
"Nope, I don't do well in classes, I am horrible at quidditch and pretty much any other sport. I'm hopeless."
"Hugo, I can guarantee you that one day you will find something you can say you are good at. Until then maybe I can help you improve on the things you are not so good at. I can help you with your homework and even give you quidditch lessons. I'm sure with a little help you could be better."
"You would really help me?"
"Of course"
"Thanks, but this still doesn't mean I forgive you for getting Rosie pregnant."
Rose shifted as Hugo walked away. She opened her eyes to look at Scorpius.
"Were you awake the entire time?" He asked as a blush crept up on his cheeks
"Yes, and thank you for being so nice to my brother. He sometimes has a hard time with things. I feel bad that he felt I was too busy for him."
"It's no problem. He always seems like a good kid."
"It means a lot to me that you would do this, and I know it means a lot to him too. I only wish I had realized how much of a caring person you were before I got pregnant. Our baby will be lucky to have you as a father."
Scorpius leaned in and kissed his girlfriend. They were interrupted by the sound of someone clearing their throat behind them. Hugo was standing by the stairs to the boy's dormitories with a barely used broom in his hand.
"Scorpius, I was wondering if you would be willing to work on some quidditch right now." He asked with a hopeful look in his eyes.
Scorpius nodded and kissed Rose one more time before going to get his own broom. Hugo sat down next to Rose.
"He's a good guy Rose."
"I know"
"Don't hurt him like all the other guys."
"I'm not going to. I plan on keeping him around for a long time."
Hugo looked at her curiously but their conversation was cut short when Scorpius returned. They boys grabbed their things and made their way out to the quidditch pitch. Rose decided that she was going to take advantage of the quiet to take the nap she was going to take before.