Easter at The Burrow was a confusion of red hair, loud noises, and enough wonderful food to feed the army that was the Weasley family. Rose stood in the thick of it, surrounded by aunts, uncles, and cousins, and took in the banquet table laden with eggs, sausages, bacon, fried tomatoes and mushrooms, fresh fruit, toast, pastries, pumpkin juice, coffee, and tea. Her mouth watered in anticipation and she was just about to grab a plate when she was wrapped in a pair of warm, strong, familiar arms.

"Good morning," Scorpius muttered softly in her ear.

"Good morning," Rose answered. "I was wondering when you all were going to get here."

"Well, getting Al out of bed any day is a challenge," Scorpius explained. "But now Lily's dragging her feet too. There was a… an incident yesterday. I'll explain later. Ginny's taken Lily's broom away until the end of the year."

"Oh no!" Rose exclaimed. "What will you do about a third chaser?"

"There's a reserve, but he's not as good," Scorpius replied. "Anyway, she's in a serious strop. I'd steer clear if I were you."

"Thanks for the warning," Rose replied. "Would you like to have breakfast with me?"

"I would," he answered, letting go of her and grabbing a plate for himself and handing one to Rose.

As it was unusually warm for early April, most of the family took their breakfast out to the garden. There were two good-sized tables set up, but Rose and Scorpius found a spot on the ground away from the crowd where they could talk more privately. Rose ate enthusiastically while Scorpius related the row that had happened the day before.

"I don't know what made her do it," Scorpius finished. "It was like she was determined to get Al or James into trouble. Is she cross with them for some reason?"

"Sort of, I suppose," Rose answered. "I heard from my Mum, who had it from Aunt Ginny, that Madam Zingiber wrote to them about Lily. Apparently she skipped so many classes last term that the Matron was concerned about her having a chronic condition. That's when Aunt Ginny told Uncle George that he couldn't sell her any more skiving snackboxes. James told me that Lily tried to blackmail him to buy them for her, but he refused."

"She's got OWLS next year! What is she playing at?" Scorpius asked incredulously.

"She's a fourteen year old girl," Rose said with a shrug. "She's rebelling. That's what fourteen year old girls do."

"You didn't go mad when you were fourteen," Scorpius argued.

"Two words: Jake Smith."

"Fair point," Scorpius conceded. "I hated that git. I couldn't believe you dated him for three months."

"Admit it, you were jealous," Rose accused.

"I was insanely jealous," Scorpius agreed. "But it all worked out alright in the end."

"Yes, it did," Rose said, beaming. They finished their breakfast in silence before pushing their plates aside and scooting closer together. Scorpius wrapped his arm around Rose and laid his cheek against the top of her head.

"Rose, could I ask you something?" Scorpius asked softly.

"Of course," she answered.

"Are you… er, have you been taking a birth control potion?"

An expression of surprise flashed across Rose's features before she smiled up at him.

"Yes, I have," she replied.

"Oh, okay. Good," Scorpius muttered.

"What made you ask?"

"Just something Al said got me thinking, that's all," he replied. "It seemed like something I should know."

"You're wondering whether it will soon be necessary," Rose surmised, smirking. Scorpius shook his head.

"We'll wait as long as you want to. You and I, this isn't about sex."

"That's good," Rose whispered, placing a soft kiss on his lightly stubbled cheek. "But I'm done with waiting."

Scorpius' eyebrows disappeared beneath his fringe as he turned his head to look into her eyes. She smiled as shock, confusion, excitement, lust, and frustration all fought for control of his face.

"Why, for the love of Merlin, are we sitting in a garden surrounded by your family when we should be at Hogwarts with no one around?" he hissed, causing her to chuckle.

"And miss all this?" Rose gestured toward the thick of the crowd. "Trust me. I told you I'd figure out a way for us to spend time alone and I will." She kissed him once more before picking up the plates and taking them into the house.

Inside, she found Lily sitting in the kitchen, sulking. Rose smiled tentatively but Lily only scowled back, so Rose left the plates by the sink and hurried out.

James was in the sitting room, writing something on a piece of parchment, while her cousin Fred and Uncle Harry's godson Teddy played wizards' chess. She dropped onto the couch next to James and tried to peer over his shoulder before he snatched the parchment away.

"What are you writing?" she asked.

"Letter to his girlfriend," Fred supplied, smirking.

"What girlfriend? I didn't know you had a girlfriend," Rose looked accusingly at James. "Who is it?"

"None of your business, so bugger off, the lot of you," James answered, getting up from the couch and moving toward the stairs.

"These Potter kids are all so touchy," Teddy remarked, sending a pawn to smash one of Fred's.

"Well, according to Scor, there was a pretty bad row yesterday," Rose explained.

"Ah, yes, how is my dear cousin?" Teddy glanced up at Rose with a mischievous gleam in his eye.

"He's just fine," Rose answered, doing her best not to blush. "How's my cousin?"

"Bloody brilliant." Teddy flashed her an enormous grin. "Have you seen her?"

"Not yet," Rose admitted. "I should probably go out and say hullo. You two enjoy your game." With that, Rose returned to the back garden, where she noticed that Scorpius had decided to mingle. She scanned the sea of gingers for another flash of blonde and made her way toward the eldest of her cousins, who was standing near the pond, surrounded by aunts.

"Victorie!" Rose greeted her as she broke through the crowd. The blonde woman's face was beaming as she held her hands out in greeting. Rose took them in her own and was about to pull her into an embrace when something beneath her fingers distracted her.

"What's…Oh my goodness!" Rose squealed. Her eyes travelled between her cousin's flushed, smiling face and the elegant ring that adorned the third finger of her left hand. "Did he…? Are you…? Aaaeee!" Rose squealed again and threw her arms around Victoire. The assembled women laughed.

"That's so wonderful! Wait! I have to…I'll be right back!" Rose backed away from her cousin and turned to run back into the house. She tackled Teddy from behind, knocking him into the chessboard and sending the pieces scurrying across the floor. Ignoring Fred's shouted swears, she kissed the side of Teddy's head as he tried to throw her off, laughing. "Congratulations! I'm so happy for you! You're a Weasley for good and all, now!"

Rose finally let go of Teddy, who promised Fred a rematch, and returned to the garden. She spent the day catching up with her aunts and uncles as well as cousins who had left Hogwarts, feasting on food and chocolate, and enthusiastically cheering Scorpius and Al in the family quidditch game.

As the sun began to set that evening, some family members departed for home, but most stayed on. A few tents were set up in the garden to provide sleeping space for those who wished to stay. A campfire of sorts was created by Rose's mother, who then took her leave as the cousins sat around the pretty blue flame and talked well into the night.

Everyone had finally drifted off to bed except Teddy and Victoire, who were snogging, and Fred and James, who were engrossed in a conversation about quidditch tactics, when Rose took Scorpius' hand and silently led him away from the fire and out of the garden toward the orchard.