"Al? Al … Al? Al!" Scorpius called loudly to his mate as they sat inside the Slytherin changing rooms the next day.

Hogwarts had (finally) realized the need for separate male and female changing rooms (though all of the females used the same one and the males on each team got their own) and Rose had separated from the rest of the team to get herself ready for the practice. Scorpius was going to take this chance to find out why Harry called Rose Bug in his letter.

"Hmm? Huh? Wha?" Albus asked in a daze as he stared at absolutely nothing.

"What's wrong with you, mate?" the blonde asked. "You're acting all … wonky."

Albus blinked a few times as he stared at Scorpius. His head was fuzzy and his brain shaken up. It had never been like this before. He didn't even kiss her and he couldn't think of any better date he'd been on.

True, he wasn't as much of a ladies' man, but people thought he was. There were always rumors. He hated rumors. There was never any reason for people to think he was philandering and acting like a general letch. He was reserved and quiet, more of an observer – he assumed that was what the accusations stemmed from. He used to hate it when other students would point and stare and whisper "It's always the quite ones …"

"I'm fine," he responded. "Was there something you needed?"

"Erm, I just had kind of a strange question for you …"

"Well, when a man and a woman love each other …" Al said with a smirk, his head clearing at the opportunity to mock his mate. Really, since he rarely interacted with Lily (though they were better than Rose and Hugo), he loved having a go at Scorpius' love life. Especially since his love life was the same as Rose's.

"Shut it, Potter," Scorpius growled. "I have been racking my brain over this question – don't even think about making a dumb joke – and I can't seem to figure it out. Rose won't tell me so I am being forced to ask you. Please."

Albus smirked again. "Sure, Scorpius. I can answer any question you have about Rose. I know her better than she knows herself."

"Sarcasm is the dumb person's default response, Albus," the blonde said. "Now, please, for the love or Morgana's knickers, tell me why your dad calls Rose Bug."

Al stared at his best friend for a good thirty seconds before bursting out laughing. And it wasn't a controlled, pleasant snicker. Albus Potter was snorting and clutching his stomach, his lungs aching for air, as he absolutely lost his mind over the innocent question Scorpius had asked.

"It's not that funny," Scorpius interjected. "And if you don't know …"

"Oh, I know," Al said. "It's partially my fault – if you can call it a fault."

"Well?"

"Apparently, as I have no memory of this and our family couldn't be bothered with putting it in a pensieve, Uncle George had made a new joke that looked like a bug. Dad told me to go get the bug – I was about two – and I went and grabbed Rosie and brought her to him. I said Here's Bug and that was that."

"Why would you go get her when he asked you for the bug?"

"Well, I had some trouble with my d's when I was little – I used to call Dumbledore Gumblegore when I asked for stories about how I got my name. Anyway, Dad used to call Rosie Rosebud … so I took the Bud and turned it into Bug. And that's that."

Scorpius stared at him for a few seconds before sighing. "And I thought it would be a good story …"

"It could also come from the time that there was a bug on Dad's shirt when he was holding Rose and she picked it up and ate it," Al responded with a shrug. "Whichever it comes from, both are pretty good if you think about it."

"I kissed a girl who ate a bug?" Scorpius asked with a wrinkled nose.

"Did a whole lot more than kiss her, mate!" Al laughed before calling the rest of the team and heading out to the pitch.

"Was it a fly or what?"

"Albus!" Rose screeched as she heard the question from her boyfriend. "I can't believe you told him!"

"You don't even know that I did. You're just assuming by the disgusted look on his face …"

"And the elated look on yours …" she cut in.

"That I told him how you ate that bug off of Dad's shirt and that's how you got your nickname," he finished.

"I hate you."

"Oh, good. Something new and unusual for you. Get in the air."

Rose huffed at him once more before climbing onto her broom and kicking off. Al and Scorpius followed soon after, as did the rest of the Slytherin quidditch team.

"Looks like we have some company today," Warren Holmes said as he flew up beside Al and Scorpius.

The other two looked to the stands and saw Professor Malfoy with a lovely dark haired woman and a small baby.

"Wonder what Mum's doing here …" the blonde muttered. He noticed Draco give a wave and nod, which he took to mean that they would talk after. "Let's make it a good practice, yeah? I want to impress those two beautiful women over there."

"You're lucky I know that's your family, prat, or you would have been in so much trouble for that last statement," Rose said as she flew up beside him. When he reached for her she smiled and pulled away, flying over to the other chasers with Scorpius following.

Draco slowly wrapped his arm around his wife and smiled down at his daughter. "I don't think he expected the two prettiest women in the world to be here to watch him today, do you, little girl?" His baby smiled up at him, her tiny arms flailing about in an attempt to get him to take her from her mother. When he did, she shrieked with happiness and he thought his smile would make his face stick that way permanently.

Astoria leaned over and pressed a kiss against his cheek. "She misses her Daddy when he's gone."

"Her Daddy misses her too," Draco responded in a soft voice.

They then settled in to watch Albus Potter run arguably the best quidditch practice he had ever run. Who the hell needed the Gwenog Jones bint? They were an excellent team and would probably have the Cup in the bag again this year.

After about an hour of practice Al called it a day. It was Sunday after all. And Mrs. Malfoy had brought the baby and he wanted to hold her. Or at least try to. If Scor doesn't try to bite my head off again.

When the team landed, the Malfoy family came down to meet them. It was the first time Draco had really been able to speak with Rose in any kind of private setting. "Miss Weasley?"

"Yes, Professor?"

"How would you like to accompany me to the village this evening and help me collect some new potions supplies? I have already cleared it with the Headmaster."

Rose looked up to Scorpius, who gave her an encouraging smile, before turning back to her boyfriend's father. "I have a condition, sir."

Draco flashed to a conversation he had with Hermione – those bloody Grangers and their stupid conditions – before sighing and giving her a nod as if to tell her to get on with it.

"I'd like to talk about your past," she told him, "in relation to the situation I'm going through now. For every question you refuse to answer, I have the right to refuse the same. Deal?"

"You really are a Slytherin, aren't you?" he asked with a chuckle.

"Yes, Professor, I am," she said proudly. He took that to mean that she was moving into the anger stage of her acceptance of recent events.

Draco smiled and turned around to see his son holding his daughter and his wife smiling at them both. He was an amazing older brother, always watching out for his baby sister. Lyra was only about six months old so she couldn't understand what it meant to have Scorpius there for her. But one day she would realize how lucky she was. Draco just knew it.

"He looks good holding a baby," Astoria said softly as Draco joined her.

"He'd better not have to hold any baby but his little sister for quite a long time," Draco said strongly.

"As I recall, you looked good holding a baby before we had little Scorpius," she reminded him.

"Yes, and if you recall, it was a direct effect of me holding your nephew which resulted in our son. I don't want him getting ideas into his head that it'll be okay to have a kid right now, Tor. I mean, her parents already hate me – well, okay, Weasel hates me, Granger doesn't – but this would … I can't … there's no way …"

He ceased his spluttering when he heard his wife laughing at him. He scowled darkly and turned away to chat with Potter for a moment about something he'd noticed the beaters doing during their practice. Just as Draco was about to give Al a little advice on directing the bludgers they both whipped around at Astoria's gasp.

"What?" he asked nervously. His eyes followed her pointed finger and his jaw dropped. "Sweet Merlin …" he whispered.

The three of them were watching one of the tenderest scenes any had ever seen. Rose was now holding Lyra in the cradle of her arms, a soft smile on her face, eyes meeting those of the baby. Scorpius was standing behind her, arms wrapped around her waist and chin resting on her shoulder, his eyes directed to the baby as well, and a contented smile on his lips.

--

"How is he?" a younger Draco Malfoy asked at about three o'clock in the morning.

"Cranky," his wife responded with a yawn as she tried to rock a baby Scorpius to sleep. Apparently, their son wasn't quite interested in sleeping right now. "He's still not staying down all night. I'm thinking I should take him to his healer."

"Blaise'll just say the same thing he always does – He's a baby, Malfoy. They sleep when they want, eat when they want, and shit all the time. How he got to be a healer is beyond me. And he's only a few months old, love," he said as he wrapped his arms around his wife from behind. "It'll get better as he gets older."

"I know," she sighed. "I'm just so scared of messing up … I mean, we're so young …"

Draco exhaled and let his chin rest on her shoulder, his eyes wandering down to the little boy wrapped in a blue blanket and fussing softly in his mother's arms. "We're no younger than the rest of my classmates, most of whom already have kids."

Astoria nodded with a smile, her eyes trained on the baby. When he stopped fussing, she and Draco smiled silently. "Finally," she whispered.

They stood there for a few moments, silently rocking the baby back and forth before Astoria put him in his crib and they headed back to their bedroom. "Not all of your classmates have children yet, Draco."

"Astoria, don't. Not tonight."

"I'm just saying …"

"Don't. I don't want to talk about her. She's been ignoring me since she married that idiot."

--

Draco shook himself out of the memory, trying to forget the awful row that followed. Hermione, while she was good friends with Astoria and him, was still something of a hot topic. They didn't discuss the fact that Draco seemed more open to his former enemy than his wife and Astoria never told him that Hermione had taken an oath and truthfully explained how there was never any requited romance between them.

Astoria also never told that Hermione had "failed" the part where she said she'd never felt anything but friendship for Draco.

But that was another story all together. They were in love (as were Hermione and Ron) and nothing was going to change that.

--

"Hermione, can you … will you …" Astoria sighed in frustration.

"What is it, Tor?" Hermione asked as she lounged on one of the chaises in Malfoy Manor. Her eyes strayed to Scorpius and Rose for a moment (Ron had no idea that Hermione had brought their daughter to play with the youngest Malfoy) before looking back up to the dark haired woman relaxing on the couch.

"I know this is one of the most inappropriate questions I've ever asked you, but would you be willing to take an oath to declare you and Draco aren't …?"

Hermione couldn't believe, after everything, that Astoria was still wondering. Her eyes wandered to their children once more before she shut her eyes and nodded. "Sure. We can do that."

"You can ask me questions too …" Astoria hurriedly told her.

"No need, Tor. I don't have any questions for you. I have to be honest," she said as she sat up. "I thought you would have asked long before now."

The women both took a few steadying breaths before taking their wands and reciting the spell.

"Did it work?" Astoria asked, her wand lying horizontal in her lap, hands wrapped around both ends. The way the charm worked was that the wand would warm up if the person lied. There would be no reaction if it was the truth.

"It should have," Hermione responded.

"Okay," Astoria breathed. "First question. Your name?"

"Hermione Weasley." Nothing.

"Your occupation?"

"Director of the Office for Control and Regulation of Magical Creatures." Nothing.

"Are you in love with your husband?"

"Of course." Nothing again.

"How old is your daughter?"

"One year, three months and sixteen days." Another truth.

"Have you been with men other than your husband?"

"No." Wow. She didn't think Hermione had only been with one man. She was somewhat shocked that the woman had been truthful. She knew she should have stopped there. But she had one or two more questions, depending on Hermione's answers.

"Has Draco ever cheated on me?"

"Not to my knowledge."

Astoria took a calming breath. This one would prove if the spell worked or not. "Have you ever cheated on Ron before or after your wedding?"

"No." Nothing.

"Have you ever thought about it?"

Hermione paused, eyes wide. "Yes." Truth.

"With Draco?"

Hermione knew why Astoria had asked the question and she almost couldn't blame her. She stood up and moved to collect Rose (who protested loudly) before responding softly, "Of course not."

Astoria's wand grew so scalding hot that she had to drop it.

--

"What're you thinking about, love?" Draco asked as he watched his wife stare into space.

"Huh? Oh, nothing. Just flashing back to how those two look just like we did seventeen years ago."

"I was thinking the same thing," Draco whispered before placing a gentle kiss on her cheek. "Shall we go collect our baby, my love?"

"Yes. And then we can go show her to Neville. I know he's been chomping at the bit to see her."

Draco smiled and collected Lyra and said goodbye to the students so that he and his wife could go visit with the rest of the professors.

--

"Hey, Hermione. How're you feeling?" Ginny asked as she walked into Hermione's office in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement.

"Tired," the brunette witch smiled as she held up a slip of parchment. "The Malfoy parole information."

"Ahh," Gin smiled sympathetically. "Not getting much sleep?"

"Not really," Hermione replied. "But, then again, it's not just the hearing thing keeping me up a night."

Ginny really didn't know what to say. She had spoken with Ron, who had begged her to tell him where Hermione was staying (though she wouldn't tell him because Harry had told her not to), and she wanted so badly for her brother and sister-in-law to be able to work things out, but she knew that her brother wasn't ready yet. She just didn't know if she should tell Hermione that Ron was asking for her.

"Gin, I know you have something on your mind and I know it's about Ron. You don't have to walk on eggshells around me. Has … has he told you he wants to … wants us to …"

"No!" Ginny cried out. "Of course not. He loves you, Hermione. He's just … Ron. And I know that's not an excuse," she continued before Hermione could respond, "but it'll have to do for now. Just … just know that he's thinking about you. And he's thinking about the whole situation." She paused before releasing a loud breath. "He asked Harry where you were staying."

"And Harry didn't tell him, I gather."

"Refused to," Ginny confirmed as she sat in one of Hermione's guest chairs.

"Good," the older witch responded. "I don't think I'm ready to forgive him yet."

Ginny stared at Hermione for a long minute before nodding and changing the topic to Victoire's latest get back at Teddy for being a prat scheme.

--

"Hey, June. You doing okay?" Hugo asked as he sat beside the first year in the common room.

"Uhm hmm," she responded as she swished her wand around. It looked, if he was reading the text of her open Transfiguration book correctly, like she was trying to conjure a blue bell flame. She wasn't having much luck at all.

"Have you got it right yet? That one took me ages to figure out."

"Really?" she asked. Hugo couldn't help but notice how relieved she looked at that information. "It's just so hard …"

"I know," he said, though he really didn't. His mother had been very adept at conjuring the little flames and he had apparently picked up her charms and transfiguration (as well as every other class) skills and was able to produce them on his very first try. "I think it's your wrist movement that's throwing you off. Here, watch me."

He slowly moved through the movements and incantations before helping her do the same. About twenty minutes later she had gotten it down and could produce multiple flames. "Well done, June!" he cried happily.

"Oh, Hugo, thanks so much," she smiled as she wrapped her arms around him. "You're the best."

The only bad thing about being a Weasley, he thought, was the stupid blush that came with the hair color and the skin tone. He decided he would have to hold onto her until his face cooled down. Not that he minded in the least. She was a nice girl and was quickly becoming a good friend.

"Oi! If you two want to snog then find somewhere else to do it!" Lily shouted in an angry voice.

"What's up with you?" Hugo asked, blush now gone, as he turned to his older cousin.

"What's up with me? I'll tell you what's up with me. Lorcan Scamander is what's up with me. The stupid, gitty, idiotic, revolting, heartless prat!"

"What did he do?"

"You know it's Hogsmeade this weekend, right?" she asked.

Hugo, not understanding the change of topics, nodded anyway. "Yeah."

"So Lorcan's said he's going with a friend."

"And?"

"And his friend is Calliope Quintella!"

Hugo, while he may have inherited his mother's book-brains, had certainly inherited his father's relationship-brains. "Okay … so he's going with some bird with a funny name … big deal."

"He's taking her on a date!" Lily cried as she flopped down beside June. "He just won't admit that it is one."

"So what? Good for him, I say. He's in fifth year and he hasn't had a real girlfriend yet. Maybe this cantaloupe girl will help him become a man."

"Her name is Calliope and you are such an asshole!" Lily screamed at him before rushing up the stairs to her dormitory. Both June and Hugo winced when they felt her door slam shut.

"What did I say?" he asked June.

June just shook her head and sighed.