Rose sat in the rocking chair in the girls' room, watching over them sleeping. Claire and Mia were in the extra bedroom, sharing the queen size bed. Mia had 'gallantly' given up her bed for Remus to sleep in. That way, Mia and Claire could be together and Remus and Cassie could be together.

Unfortunately, Mia had forgotten about Remus's fear of heights, and Mia's bunk was the top one. Rose had had to convince Cassie to take Mia's bed so that Remus could take Cassie's.

Kate slept on top of her dragon, her bum curled up in the air, thumb in her mouth. Cassie snored lightly. Remus was curled up in a tight ball.

When Rose had last checked in on Mia and Claire, Mia had stolen all the comforters and Claire was practically buried beneath a mound of pillows. Neither one of them were light sleepers, or still sleepers for that matter.

Rose heard the front door open and close.

Must be Scorpius getting home, Rose thought.

But the patronus flying up the stairs to meet her wasn't Scorpius's. It was Al's. "I'm downstairs," it said, before vanishing. A stag, like his father's. James's was a great big dog. Lily's was a terrier, taking after Seamus's. It had recently changed, Rose noted as she made her way down the stairs. Before, Lily's patronus had been dolphin.

Neither Rose's nor Scorpius's patronuses had changed at all. Al told them that it was because they'd already been in love with each other by the time they'd learned how to produce a patronus. Not that either of them had known it at that point.

"Hey, Al," Rose said when she got downstairs. She pulled the sleeves of her sweater down to cover most of her hands. It was strangely chilly downstairs.

Al whirled around from where he'd been facing the family pictures on the wall in the living room. "Hey, Rose. Sorry, I didn't want to come just barreling in here or anything because I figured the girls might be asleep."

"It's alright," Rose nodded. "Did you want to talk to me about something, or did you come to say hi?"

Al made a motion between a shuffle and a shrug.

They ended up sitting on the couch. Rose studied him as he made himself comfortable.

He looked pale. His skin was usually pale, accentuated by the deep black hue of his hair, but this was an even more stark white than normal. He had dark purple smudges beneath his eyes, which were bloodshot. His hair was even more ruffled than James's generally was.

"Are you okay?" Rose asked.

Al gave a derisive snort. "Oh, yes, I'm dandy. Dapper. Fantastic."

"They still haven't found Jessie, have they?"

Al shook his head morosely: no. "Scorpius is working so hard to find her. Everyone else, too, but he's the one who stays the latest every night. At least that's what my dad says. And he doesn't leave until about seven. If he left any later my mum would probably murder him."

Rose knew Scorpius was working hard. He hadn't been home before eight, at the very earliest, any night that week or the one before it. Victoire and Teddy were coming back from their vacation in three days and Scorpius had only seen Claire and Remus a handful of times for the duration that they'd been living with them, so far.

As much as she was grateful for having such a wonderful person for a husband, she sometimes wished he worked less. She knew it was selfish; Scorpius was out there saving people, protecting people. He did good, all day long and, too often, far into the night, whereas Rose entertained the kids all day. No matter how much she loved it, it didn't feel like she was doing as much good as her husband. And because of that, she felt a bit inferior at times.

"They're doing their best," Rose laid a hand on Al's arm.

Al raised his head. His eyes were filled with desperation, melancholy echoing in his mind. "I don't even know if I saw her again, at all," he said. "How do I know what was real and what wasn't? I have all these memories of her, now, but they could've been of Warrington! Bloody hell, Rose, I might've slept with him!"

Rose shuddered.

"Yeah, exactly!" Al said, seeing her reaction. "Did you see the guy? He was nasty and hairy and had moles all over his body! I don't want to sleep with someone like him!"

Rose laughed.

Al's mouth quirked up in a wry grin, before it sobered up again. "I really liked the idea of being with her again. It had to have been her. It had to," Al pleaded, not with Rose, but with himself. Or some greater being he might've believe in.

"Do you love her?" The question took Rose by surprise; she hadn't intended for it to tumble out of her mouth like that.

"Yeah," Al sighed after a pause. "At least, I thought I did. And then she became bitchy. She became the 'Hufflepuff Without A Heart". Now, I'm just hoping that was Warrington."

"I think Jessie was definitely there for awhile, Al," Rose said. She pulled her cousin close to her, stroking his hair as if he were one of the girls. "When she was there at the Burrow, and for quite awhile after, she was vivacious, charming, happy, funny. Warrington could never have been like that. He wasn't a good enough actor in the end, was he?"

Al shook his head no.

"Then he never would've been able to pull it off then, especially surrounded by all those people with such good detective work skills. Or at least extreme nosiness."

Rose coaxed a small laugh out of Albus.

"How about you stay here tonight?" offered Rose. "I'll take the couch and you can take the bed upstairs."

"What about Scorpius?"

Rose shrugged. "Is he coming home tonight?"

Al looked as if his jaw was going to drop.

"Well it's not like I know when he's coming home!" Rose attempted to defend herself.

"You're just mad that he's working so much and not with you and the girls," Al said, only partially accusing her. The other part of him knew that that was at least mostly it, Rose knew. He'd always been very observant.

There was no point in denying it. So Rose nodded. "I'm not mad, per say. Just…something."

"I'll take the couch," Al said, when it was clear that part of the conversation was going no further. "I don't want to be in that bed, anyways." He shivered. "God only knows what you've done in it."

"Oh, Al," Rose said as she stood up. She started to walk upstairs to the linen closet where all the sheets were so she could start making the couch up for her cousin. "I don't think God is that creative."