God, I love writing for Rose and Scorpius in my universe I've created in this story. Usually, I like Scorpius and Albus as a couple, but this story had a mind of its own from the beginning. I'm really happy with how it's turning out, and I hope y'all are too.


Roxie, mum, Aunt Angelina, and I were setting up bean's nursery a little after we bought all the furniture. They'd moved all the stored things out of there and then the group of us started decorating. The walls were gray with yellow flower appliques. I'd picked up a set of hanging lanterns to go in the corner that matched with the bedding perfectly -a muggle find I was partially proud of.

"Where's the crib?" mum asked, finishing off the white trim as Aunt Angelina removed the paint drops from the hardwood floor with a wave of her wand.

"It should be in my room," I replied, watching Roxie and Aunt Angelina go grab it.

"So, how are you and Scorpius doing?" mum asked, pushing a stool over for me to sit on.

I couldn't stop myself from smiling at the thought of him. "They're going really well. I'm in love with him."

Mum smiled and told me, "I knew that would happen. Scorpius is a good man, he's going to be a good father to Penelope."

"The two of them are disgusting," Roxie said as she and her mum brought the crib into the room.

"Don't sound so bitter, Rox," Aunt Angelina teased as I opened the box with a knife from the floor. "You're going to fall in love one day and be disgusting, too!"

I snickered as the three of them started putting together bean's crib. I put the sheet onto the mattress and mum laid it into the crib over top of the decorative box springs. Then I laid the comforter over the front rails.

Roxie painted Penelope's name over the crib in pretty, scripted letters. Penelope Astoria was written in yellow to match the flowers and shimmered with a touch of magic mum added at the last minute. The changing table was constructed with magic, and the rocking chair in the corner was the same one where mum rocked Hugo and I. There were a few more bits and bobbles to be placed, but it was perfect so far.

"Bean's room is perfect! Thank you so much for helping me," I said, flopping onto the couch and sitting my feet on the coffee table. "Do your feet ever stop hurting when you're pregnant?"

"Nope," mum and Aunt Angelina said together, making me groan. Then mum added, "But you have this perfect little baby who needs you, and it's all worth it in the end."

I grinned at that and hugged her, feeling her kiss my head affectionately.

"So, what are you and Scorpius planning on doing after Penelope's born?" Aunt Angelina asked.

I shrugged and replied, "I don't really know. I wanted the nursery here for obvious reasons, and Scorpius practically lives with me anyway. But I really don't want to not live with Rox."

"Well, there is a charm to keep things like this from happening," mum muttered at me. "Spells I've taught you to use… but I digress."

I just sighed and laid my head back against the couch. I sat with my hands on my stomach, my fingers rubbing over the skin under my shirt. Penelope hadn't really moved much today, but mum reassured me multiple times that was normal. I once went a week without moving, just to keep her up all night for two nights straight.

"I miss her," I sighed, stroking over the taught skin of my lower stomach. "Even if I'll probably regret saying that when I can't sleep because she's using my bladder as a bouncy castle, I can't help it."

"That's normal. Freddie was never still, and Roxanne barely moved at all," Aunt Angelina shrugged, making mum nod in agreement.

"I'm not planning on anymore babies any time soon," I sighed, making them all laugh. "I know that sounds dumb but let me live!"


I'd gone out to get dinner for Scorpius and me, but he wasn't at his flat. Albus said he'd been pretty distraught the entire day and that worried me.

"You didn't think you should ask what was wrong?" I shouted, sitting the food on the counter. "Do you know where he went?"

Albus shook his head and went over to the food I'd brought. "Mhm, this looks good. Can I have some?"

"You're an actual sociopath!" I cried, Disapparating to Malfoy Manor because the only other person who might have a clue of his location was his father. "Mr. Malfoy?"

I found him sitting in the study, but he'd come to meet me at the head of the stairs. "Rose? What's wrong?"

"I can't find Scorpius," I told him in a quiet voice, fear gathering deep in my core. "Have you seen him? I'm worried."

I saw his face soften a fraction, and he came down the stairs to stand with me. "You really care for him, don't you?"

"I love him," I replied without pausing. "Can we have this conversation after I find Scorpius? It's a bit more important, no offence."

That made him actually flash me a small smile and replied, "He's in the greenhouse. Now, can you answer my question?"

I looked at his face for the first time since I'd been here and saw that he looked haggard. His hair was disheveled, and his eyes were bloodshot. Shit, this had to have something to do with his mum.

"I promise I want to be with him for the rest of my life and I'm glad he's the father of my little girl," I told him, relaxing a bit now that I knew where Scorpius was and knew he was safe. "I know you think he can do better than me and you're probably right, but that doesn't mean I'm going to stop being with him. I'm going to love him and take care of him for the rest of our lives."

"The greenhouse is at the very end of the East Wing," he informed me, pointing at the hall I needed to use. "I'm grateful Scorpius found you… even if you're a Weasley."

I rolled my eyes at his double-sided compliment and followed his directions to find Scorpius. The greenhouse was huge and full of plants, but I found a familiar head of platinum blonde hair among the greenery.

"Love?" I called, making Scorpius look up at me in surprise. "Hey, can I come over to you?"

He just nodded and I scurried over, sitting beside him on the wrought iron bench. He laid his head against my shoulder as his own shoulders started shaking. I held him close and tried my best to comfort him.

We were sitting in front of a familiar plant, muggle jasmine. It was out of place amongst the wizard plants throughout the vast room. My guess about his mum earlier felt even more real -this plant had her name written all over it.

"Do you want to talk about it?" I asked, running my fingers through his hair gently.

"Today's my mum's birthday," he said quietly, stroking my belly under my top. "I wish she was here. She'd love being a grandmum."

"I'm so sorry you lost her, I wish I could change it," I promised, kissing his head. "But bean and I are here for you whenever you need us, and we love you so much. Tell us about her, love."

"She was brilliant," he replied in an awed voice. "She was the most amazing person at charms, she could do anything with a spell, but she grew this jasmine the muggle way. I remember watching her take care of it, even in her wheelchair with her scarf… the disease made her hair fall out. I remember hearing her cry about it and my dad whispering to her… I figure about how much he loved her or how beautiful she was -because she was so beautiful. Merlin, so beautiful."

I felt a tear fall down my cheek and swiped it absentmindedly. "She had to be wonderful and brilliant and beautiful because she's half of you. And you're the most amazing person I've ever met. She'd be so damn proud of you."

He laughed and it sounded wet, but he didn't look up at me. "I always wished I looked like her as a kid instead of my father. It was always hard enough caring the name Malfoy around, but I also had to be identical to my father. If it wasn't for Albus, I don't know what I would've done. He's honestly been my only friend, my real one anyway."

"I'm sure I didn't make that any better, ignoring you like I did," I told him. "I'm so sorry, but I'm glad we're together now."

"I told her about you," he told me, his face heating up against my neck. "I honestly talked about you a lot."

That made me blush this time, something like pride filling me. "Oh, yeah? What'd you say?"

He laughed and his hand paused its massage of my stomach. "I talked about how smart you are, how good you were at Quidditch, how beautiful you are… you know, all kinds of embarrassing things."

"How good I was a Quidditch?" I baited, curious what that meant. "You must've only seen me when I played at the Burrow… you're not really much of a fan."

"I watched every one of your games from fourth year up," he admitted, making me tilt his face up so we were looking at each other.

"You are so much more than I deserve," I told him, leaning forward and kissing him as gently as I possibly could.

Before he could say anything, I felt Penelope kicking against my stomach where Scorpius had his hand sitting. It's like she knew it was him and was telling her daddy everything was okay.

"See that? She already adores you so much," I whispered to him. "I think she already knows when it's you touching my stomach. You know, muggles have proven babies hear you while they're inside the womb… sometimes the baby even recognizes voices when they're born."

He lifted my jumper to expose my stomach and pressed a kiss to my skin before he spoke. "Hi, it's your daddy. I love you and your mummy so much, I just wanted you to know that you're never going to go without anything. I already know you're going to be my best friend, I cannot wait to meet you."

"I would like to formally apologize to all of you for how I reacted when I was told of the pregnancy," Mr. Malfoy announced, making me jump because I'd been so focused on Scorpius being the sweetest thing to notice him come in. "It was my old-fashioned upbringing, Astoria would've no doubt been very cross with me had she heard what I said. I just want the best for Scorpius, and that's obviously what he's found."

I poked Scorpius in the ribs and gestured to his father with my eyes. He nodded and stood, walking over and hugging him stiffly. I could tell this didn't happen between the two of them a lot… I couldn't imagine a life where I didn't hug my parents.

"Thank you," Scorpius replied when he pulled back. Then he added quieter, "I miss her a lot, too."

"I think I'm going home now that I know you're safe," I said, pushing up from the bench and walking toward the door. "I'll speak with you both later."

Scorpius kissed my head and Mr. Malfoy gave me a nod as I passed them, leaving the two of them to try and mend their bond. Everything was finally coming together like it was supposed to. My family was good with Scorpius being the father and his family was good with me being the mother.

… now they just had to be good with co-familying bean.


Like I said, I love writing all these different family dynamics. I can't wait to write more for them!