Wait, what?
Two updates within a month's time?
That's gotta be a new record for me (for this decade) :p
Thank you for all the encouraging messages and reviews for the previous chapter. Now onto the next one - another long chapter!
Disclaimer: Everything recognisable belongs to JKR. Copyright infringement is unintended.
26. Getting There
"Oh dear! I think I just had a foodgasm."
Lily was in absolute agreement with that statement. The pizza she had bit into was truly spellbinding.
She was out with her cousin, Dominique Weasley, at one of the popular muggle Italian restaurants in New York. Dominique was working as a lifestyle reporter with The American Charmer, and was currently running an article series on the best muggle dining spots in New York to try out this year. Which meant Lily had gotten to dine at some of New York's finest restaurants in the last few days.
United States was a welcome reprieve from all the drama that had happened back home. It also put enough distance between her and him.
This is not to say she hadn't been planning to come to New York earlier; she'd been eyeing real estate here for a while now, making expansion plans at the one of the leading fashion destinations of the world. The muggle fashion culture here was incredible, and she'd surely seen a lot in the passing days to make notes for her next fashion line launch.
"So what's your word on this?" asked Dominique, her blue eyes alight in happiness as she looked pointedly at the pizza. Lily simply smacked her lips, indicating how much she liked the food here, causing her cousin to chuckle.
The second off-spring of Bill & Fleur Weasley was her favourite cousin. Dominique was nearly four years older but never treated her like a child. She was the first person Lily spoke to regarding her ambitions of opening her own line of fashion clothes. She was also the first person she'd spoken to when she'd started going out with Ryan Smith. And also the first person she wrote to when he'd broken up with her.
So naturally, when Lily had been looking out for a place to get away to from Ryan, Dominique was the first person she'd thought of.
Besides, Ryan was busy with his Quidditch matches and hadn't bothered to get back to her, be it trying to reach her personally, or by letters.
But there had been no contact from him. Nope. Zilch. Nada.
And it hurt.
Agreed that she was the one who told him to back off, but somewhere at the back of her mind, she felt that he'd fight for her. At least try and stay in touch as friends if not more.
But he hadn't even done that. And all she could think about was what Ryan felt for her - it was most likely momentary, not permanent, like he'd felt for Rose.
Rose...
Another reason to leave England for a bit.
Lily remembered the look of betrayal on Rose's face when she realised that Amelia had been meeting Ryan behind her back, courtesy Lily. She knew Rose would not forgive her, at least for a while.
And Lily was ok with that.
She herself had not forgiven Rose for dating Ryan. But Lily knew that wasn't a good enough reason for doing what she did.
From the corner of her eye, she spotted two men sitting three tables across looking at them. Soon enough, a waiter arrived at their table with two cocktails.
"Hello Ma'am! These drinks are courtesy Simon and Dean from Table 12."
Lily giggled. Dominique simply turned to look at the men who bought them the drinks. They smiled back at her.
"Alright, Lilykins. Time to step out on the prowl." she chuckled, waving at them and alarming Lily.
She really wasn't in the mood for this.
"Oh no no no! You've got this. I'm good."
"Oh come on! What's the harm in some good ol' playful flirting with some fine looking Muggle men?" said Dominique, pushing back her strawberry blonde hair, "It'll help you move on from whatever tosser you're pining after."
Lily did a double-take, "What? I'm not pining for anyone - "
"Save the excuses, and come with me! We both know you need to blow off some steam."
Well, there was no disagreeing with the latter part of her statement.
Her conscience was screaming at her to join those boys with Dominique and have a little fun; it wasn't like Ryan wanted to be with her.
So she did.
But it turns out, Lily needn't have worried. Those were boys too young to hook up with; they were attending college here in New York. But she did end up having a good evening nevertheless; the boys were at least fun to interact with.
Arm-in-arm, Dominique and Lily walked back to the former's apartment, singing a Celestia Warbeck number in an awfully off-key note. The blonde had multiple drinks once the boys had left them, forcing Lily to be the more sober one and ensure that they reached the apartment safe and sound.
Lily looked forward to curling up in her bed; they'd had a rather fantastic meal and it was nearly two am in the morning. Dominique had a wonderful guestroom with the most comfortable mattress, which immediately put her to sleep, much needed after the day she'd had today.
What she, however, didn't expect was to see her elder brother, Albus, waiting for them at the entrance of the apartment building.
"Albieeeeeee," squealed Dominique on spotting Albus, who straightened up in alarm at the noise, before softening his stance.
"Hey Dom!", he said, before looking alarmed as the blonde launched herself into Albus's arms, nearly toppling him.
"She's had a bit too much", replied Lily, trying to hold in a snort when she realised Dominique had passed out in his arms.
"Help me," croaked Albus, as he struggled to balance her weight, "Can't use magic out here to levitate her. And I'm exhausted from all the travelling."
Lily helped straighten Dominique so that Albus could carry her properly in his arms. They walked into the apartment building, sharing a quick 'my cousin's passed out. Don't worry we'll ensure she is fine.' with the receptionist. They entered the elevator and waited for it to take them to the relevant floor.
"What are you doing here?", whispered Lily anxiously, when she realised Albus was being unnaturally quiet. By now, he'd have bombarded her with questions.
"You know why I'm here," he replied tersely, making her extremely uncomfortable. She knew that stiffness in his voice had nothing to do with the weight he was carrying in his arms.
Oh, she was dreading the conversation that was coming up. Rose had probably spoken to him about her and Ryan.
The elevator opened to their floor, and they all quietly exited. On reaching Dominique's apartment, Lily quickly looked around before pointing her wand at the door lock and whispered, "Alohomora"
Albus walked in with Dominique first and went straight to the bedroom to leave her on the bed.
Lily felt the back of her neck prickling, the buzz from the wine they'd consumed, gone. She waited by the window of the living room. The streets outside looked deserted, except a few souls huddling around a fire in a trashcan.
"Well, let me know whenever you're ready to start talking," came Albus's voice from behind her.
"How did you find me? How did you get here?" she asked without turning to look at him.
"Mum", came the simple response, "Out of all of us, she is one you're the closest to. And had to pull a couple of strings to get portkeys arranged for New York. Insane how it took an entire day to sort that out. But you and I aren't here to discuss portkeys, are we?"
Exhaling deeply, she turned to face her brother, who was leaning against the wall, with his arms crossed.
"Albus. I am not sure I was thinking straight."
"Clearly" he replied rigidly, making her wince, "My question is how? How do you think it was ok for you to decide that Amy should meet Smith?"
"He's her father, Al!" said Lily indignantly, "He had no idea about her existence. And now that he's met her, he absolutely adores her!"
"So?"
"So, Amy can know her father -"
"She already had a father, Lils!", hissed Albus angrily, now uncrossing his arms and walking towards one of the settees to seat himself, "Scorpius raised her as his own blood, or have you conveniently forgot that? There's a reason why Rose did not tell Smith. It wasn't just because of his Quidditch career that he decided to break up with Rose. He was secretly dating Patricia Jones at the same time."
"I am aware."
"And yet," said Albus, raising his eyebrows, "You felt it was unjustified that Rose didn't inform her two-timing ex-boyfriend that she was pregnant."
And there it was, the twisting of her insides, making her feel extremely uncomfortable.
Albus was right, didn't he? Ryan Smith had been a two-timing asshole.
The keyword being had.
"But he grew up." she started weakly, "He wasn't the same person as before."
"Did this realisation sink in before you fell for him again?"
Lily was taken aback. How much did he know? She as sure hadn't told anyone about this.
"Al-"
"Come, sit here," he said breathing long and hard, patting the space next to him.
"No." she replied, rather suspicious of how he was behaving. She'd expect him to start raging the moment they'd started talking about Ryan, but here he was, speaking to her like it was some minor disagreement about what colour to paint the walls.
What world was she living in, where Albus was dealing with things more calmly than Rose Weasley?
"Lily, I just want to talk and understand why", he said, his tone still calm, "Please. Humour me."
As she moved closer to him, the fear started coming back, of him lashing out at her once she told him everything, of him siding with Rose, as always, of him abandoning her.
She seated herself at the other end of the couch, and faced him, ready to talk it out. He looked at her pointedly, his emerald eyes looking sharp.
"I found out about Rose and Ryan at Scorpius's birthday party", started Lily cautiously, "I had been sitting inside the house, and accidentally overheard Rose and Lysander talking about Ryan and Amelia. He'd said that Ryan had found out and he would fight for them."
Just as she was reminiscing about the moment that turned her life upside down, emotions also started crashing down on her.
Of betrayal when Rose disregarded her past with Ryan to date him.
Of heartbreak when she realised Rose got the love she'd always craved.
Of jealousy when she heard Ryan was willing to fight for a woman who didn't love him back anymore.
Of the hurt when she remembered Ryan wasn't willing to fight for a woman who loved him now.
Lily's lips trembled as the dam broke.
For days, she'd held herself back from breaking down. She'd decided that she won't allow herself to think about the whole situation. The more she'd think about it, the more likely she was to sink herself in the misery.
But she'd also wanted someone to speak to about it.
How funny was it that it was Albus whom she was opening up to?
"Hey", came Albus's voice, his gentle hand on her shoulder, "Go on. Tell me - it'll help you feel better."
"Will it?" snapped Lily, angrily wiping off tears, "You'll take Rose's side anyway."
Albus's eyes widened, "Wha-"
"It's always been like that, Al! You stopped being on my side when you left for Hogwarts, and since then, it had been Rose this. Rose that. Gentle reminder, Al! You have a sister. A sister who's always looked up to you. You weren't just my elder brother, but my best friend as well! And over the years, you just glided away to Rose and Scorpius. I am guessing you came here because she told you about what I did. Else, why would you? Why should I expect you to listen to me in fairness? Should I?"
Lily heaved, realising the words that had been suppressed over the years had finally, finally let themselves out. Albus looked devastated as she lashed out at him.
"I tried bringing Amy to him so that he couldn't try and rip Rose and Scorpius apart. He could know Amy without getting into public fights with them, because I believed that he genuinely loved Rose and wanted to get to know his daughter better. Somewhere between fighting for Ryan to stay away from Rose and Scorpius, to getting him reacquainted with Amy, I fell for him. He grew up, he had become kind, and wonderful, and he wanted to be a better person for his daughter. He'd become the man I wanted to be with. I couldn't help it." she finished, whispering as she tasted her salty tears.
There was utter silence as Lily silently sobbed.
Albus quietly reached out to her, and wrapped his arms around her, while she sunk in his embrace.
She had missed him so much!
These embraces were all she needed when she was down. Nobody else ever had the impact Albus did. Why? Because for her, he was the one who held her tight and reminded her that she will be okay as long as he was around. And she knew she'd believe the same till the day she died.
"Does he feel the same about you?" she heard him ask softly. There was no judgement, no spite, no anger. A simple question.
"I don't think so," replied Lily truthfully, pulling back from the hug, suddenly feeling much better, "I know Rose will be there on the back of his mind for a while. But.." she trailed off
"He feels something for you. You feel a connect?"
Lily stared at him, taken aback. How did he even know that? "Where are you getting all of this from?"
"Elora was there at the restaurant as well, you know?" said Albus, cocking his head at her and looking at her knowledgeably, "She saw the way he was looking at you and the way he spoke up for you. It was obvious to her."
Lily coloured immediately. Was it that obvious?
Did she make a mistake by telling Ryan to stay away?
"Lils - I need you to listen to me, ok?" started Albus cautiously, placing his hands on her shoulders, "I'm still trying to get my head around how two of my sisters fell in love with the biggest arsehole I've ever had the misfortune to meet. But I trust Rose, and I trust you when you say that he may have changed. Maybe he can be a good person and may even want to be with you. And just like it wasn't ok for Rose to date your ex-boyfriend, it wasn't ok that you took Amy to him behind Rose's and Scorpius's back-"
"But-" came the interruption.
"-let me finish, please," came the stern response, "Amelia is their daughter. Just like I don't have any say in what and how those two should raise her, you don't have a say on whether Rose and Scorpius should let Ryan and Amy interact. You having an opinion is one thing, and then doing what you did is another - which I felt was wrong. Rose and Scorpius should have known this. They are Amy's parents, at least legally. They raised her. And they were happy together."
Were?
"What do you mean 'were'?" interrupted Lily, taken aback.
Albus looked at her seriously; she thought she saw sadness brewing in the depth of his eyes.
"Rose and Scorpius are getting a divorce." he sighed, running a hand through his already unkempt hair.
"WHAT?" yelled out Lily in disbelief; this was ridiculous! "WHAT THE HELL? What does this have to do with what happened with Ryan and Amy?"
Like seriously?
Albus gritted his teeth, "Scorpius never believed that Rose had completely moved on from Ryan, especially since Ryan was Amelia's father. And then with the whole accident thing, he got it in his head that Rose was the one who took Amy to Ryan."
Lily gaped at Albus. This was probably the stupidest thing she'd ever heard Albus say.
"Are you serious?" she asked, horrified. This wasn't something she wanted for Rose, in spite of all the animosity she felt towards her cousin. She knew how much Rose loved Scorpius, and vice-versa. "They are getting a divorce over this?"
"There are many other elements involved, but basically Scorpius doesn't trust her anymore to want to be with her," he growled, visibly impatient with the proceedings, "When I left London, Rose and Scorpius had already discussed divorce. I need you to come back. Help me fix this! Scorpius is being extremely pig-headed and Rose, well, she isn't saying much at all these days, not to mention she'll be leaving for Switzerland in a few months."
Bloody hell! What had all the drama escalated to!
"Albus Severus Potter, you're an idiot!" thundered Lily, getting up from the settee, startling Albus. He seriously was an idiot. All this had happened in the past few days, and he's sitting here listening to stories! "You should have told me this earlier! We would have left for England earlier!"
"But I couldn't have left without knowing the entire story, Lils" he said, shaking his head, getting up with her, "I have been left out of what my best friends went through. You kept me in the dark as well. Next steps could only have been taken up once I had every bit of information. We can't mess this up - things are very delicate right now."
Lily nodded. Too much had happened because people had held back from sharing what they knew.
"So what now?"
"Where's Smith right now? I need to see him."
Lily felt a chill run down her spine at Albus's firm tone.
"Al-"
"There's no debate here," he said, his eyes blazing as it bore into hers, "I need to meet that tosser. And no, I'm not going to kill him. You need to trust me on this."
His tone was genuine. She knew she could trust him with this.
"The last I'd heard, he was in Brussels with the Tornadoes," said Lily in a small voice. She hated to admit that she'd been keeping an eye on his matches, feeling super proud of him as he'd been killing it in his games. The Tornadoes had won the matches in Prague and were playing some charity matches in Brussels.
"Ok, the portkey office opens at eight in the morning. We go to Brussels and pick him up."
Lily's eyes widened at the 'we', causing her heart to painfully flutter at the idea of seeing him again.
"Al, I can't", she whispered painfully, holding onto his arm. She couldn't face Ryan; she needed to be away from him.
"Lily", hissed Albus, glaring at her, "You need to stop running away the moment you think you can get hurt. He can't hurt you again. You're much stronger than you give yourself credit. You can do this!"
"Ryan was planning to walk away from Amy, you know?" she blurted, suddenly remembering the reason for their last meeting. They'd never gotten around to talking about what had transpired that got Ryan to give up on pursuing Amelia. "Can't believe I forgot to ask him why."
Albus furrowed his eyebrows, looking confused. "That doesn't add up, especially with his recent behaviour."
"I know. And-"
"All the more reason he should meet Scorpius, and let him know that he won't come between Rose and him! You'll be coming with me."
"Al." started Lily again. She really wasn't ready to face Ryan. And then Scorpius, who would be so, so mad at her for taking Amelia to meet his arch-nemesis.
"Hey. I'm with you," said Albus in a comforting voice, looking at her knowingly, "Besides, he may run or get into a fight with me if I approach him without you by my side. I've got you, alright? You'll be fine."
"Alright." replied Lily, comforted by the soft grip he had on her hands and after the longest time, a small smile broke on her face.
To say Rose had become a bundle of nerves as she arrived at The Den to meet her parents for dinner on her birthday eve was an understatement. Coupled with the numbness she had been feeling for the last two days since she visited Scorpius, everything just seemed to have been falling apart around her. She hadn't been to work in the last two days, grappling with the shock surrounding her separation from Scorpius. She'd called in sick for the last two days.
Besides, she'd been throwing up left, right, and centre, all the while feeling disappointed, desolate, heartbroken, angry, and frustrated.
How did it ever come to this?
She breathed deep and long as she stood right outside the door, readying herself mentally for the interrogation; Amelia, who was in her arms, was already stretching towards the door.
Just then the door opened, and her father appeared wearing an apron.
"Rosie!" he welcomed her jovially, as Rose entered her childhood home, "Happy almost Birthday, love! You're right on time for dinner! And there's my girl." he started cooing to Amelia, causing her to grin at her grandfather. Ron extended his arms and took Amelia from her.
Rose walked in further into the household, the smell of garlic bread and blueberry pie overwhelming her senses, the hunger from not eating for the past two days suddenly resurfacing.
"Mione. Rosie's here with Amy!"
Rose felt an uncomfortable swoop inside her stomach. This was going to be a tough conversation. Breathing deeply, she moved towards the kitchen, where she spotted her mother at the stove, her hair curlier and frizzier in the heat of the kitchen.
"Hope you have grand plans for tomorrow, my love!" exclaimed Hermione on spotting her, walking towards her daughter to hug her and kiss her on the cheek.
"Where's Hugo?" asked Rose uncertainly as she sat in one of the chairs of the dining table, not sure of the audience she'll be having for tonight.
"He's stepped out to pick up some wine for tonight."
The thought of wine made her stomach lurch. There weren't going to be any happy discussions tonight; well except her news about the impending three month sojourn to Switzerland, which she'd accepted the moment she'd received an additional set of official documents from Scorpius's lawyer this morning.
It was over, wasn't it?
The fairytale that she'd had always wanted. The fairytale she'd been living until recently.
Her parents' laughter brought her out of her reverie.
"I hope he doesn't bring that wine we had last time on your birthday!" said Ron lightheartedly as he walked towards her, Amelia in his arms grinning widely.
"You bought that wine, idiot!", said Hermione chuckling, making Ron's ears turn red. She simply stood on her tiptoes to kiss him, which he gladly returned, before extending her arms towards her granddaughter, who happily moved into the embrace.
Rose felt a tug at her heart as she saw her parents interact by the kitchen bar. The sight filled her with pure melancholy, her heartache becoming deeper.
Sometimes, what they had seemed so pure. The affection in each others' eyes when they looked at the other. Then there were those simple acts of love, be it preparing an extra cup of tea, or covering the other with a blanket when asleep on the couch, surprising the other at work with spontaneous dates, or constantly pushing each other to become better, Rose's parents were the epitome of the perfect relationship for her.
Rose knew her parents fought a lot; oh they argued like wild animals, sometimes yelling at each other till their throats were hoarse. Sometimes they bickered over the stupidest things, making Rose wonder how petty could people get.
But the way they always reconciled afterwards indicated no harm to their relationship as a result of their previous fights. There was a silent understanding to keep moving on and forward, because the time they spent with each other was never enough and would never be enough. The war they fought together toughened them. In that time, they almost lost each other, and found their way back to each other. The deep friendship these two had before they got together only seemed to have strengthened a relationship which otherwise would have fallen apart under the stress of so many arguments.
Rose wondered how she and Scorpius might ever recover from this, especially if Scorpius wanted to separate because he wanted to be only friends.
How could they go back to being just friends, after having shared something so beautiful and whimsical? How was she supposed to stop longing for him, to not want his arms wrapped around her like she meant the world to him, to not have him kiss her till she forgot to breathe, to not curl up by the fire with him while reading out stories to Amy?
Was that even possible?
"Mom, dad, can we talk?" started Rose cautiously, bracing herself for the conversation ahead.
Her parents seemed to turn to her in unison.
"Of course" replied Ron, smiling, "Let us all set the table, yeah? We'll set up the dinner. The chicken roast smells too good."
"It does," said Rose, wringing her hands nervously. Food sounded lovely; it'd keep her dad's temper under control.
"Rosie, is everything alright?" asked Hermione, furrowing her eyebrows. Amelia just giggled in her arms. "You don't look so good. And why isn't Scorpius here?"
Before Rose could answer, Ron replied, "He's unwell. He'd dropped in a leave application earlier today. Is he doing better now, Rosie?"
"Not really," she replied. Honestly, she had no idea how he was. Maybe he was off finally relaxing, now that he had initiated the official divorce proceedings. She was ruining his life, wasn't she? "Guys, there's something we need to talk - "
"Did you all miss me?" Hugo Weasley walked into the room with two bottles of wine.
"Hellooo, my favourite and only sister. Happy birthday eve!" he exclaimed, coming forward and kissing her on the cheek, "Where's Malfoy? Not joining us for the festivities?"
"He's unwell -" started Ron.
"Oh tragic. But then the weather is peaky."
She had to keep her cool. Them getting distracted was not a reason to lose her cool. It always happened a lot here, didn't it?
"Ron, can you hold Amy? The chicken roast needs basting- "
"Mom, I'll take care of that. Do you have fresh thyme?"
Keep calm! Wait for them to be done!
"Of course! The herb garden -"
"Scorpius and I are getting a divorce."
Three pairs of eyes turned towards her, all of them halting in mid-movement. Hugo was about to place the wine bottles on the kitchen; he was now staring at her in incredulity. Hermione was rushing towards the kitchen herb garden they'd set up; she was staring at her in horror. Ron, who was holding Amy, was staring blankly at her.
"Is this a joke?" came Hugo's squeaky voice, torn between laughter and shock. He looked back at her expectantly, as if waiting for her to say 'I just said that to shut you guys up.'
"Unfortunately, no." replied Rose, her voice cracking as something heavy seemed to settle on top of her chest, compressing it, "We are separating. We started the divorce proceeding today."
"Rose!" whispered Hermione weakly, now walking towards the dining table swiftly. Disbelief was written all over her face, "What happened?"
"It wasn't working out. We were arguing too much. It was all getting too much out of hand," said Rose softly while staring at the table, clenching her first, her nails digging into her palm. "This had been happening for weeks now. We tried hard, but we couldn't live like this. Amy didn't deserve this."
"Arguing about what?", said Hugo, looking angry as he also joined them at the table, "You've seen Mum & Dad fighting all the time-"
"It's not the same!" replied Rose angrily. Wasn't that a gentle reminder that she and Scorpius did not have the relationship she wanted? "And we realised that. It's just better if we stay friends, like we always had been."
"Doesn't make any sense! Your relationship had always been about arguments and making up! But nothing was ever that serious! Even back in school -"
"We grew up, Hugo. And we realised that we work better as friends."
"You don't just give up on marriage like that, Rose. It's a lot of hard work! Ron and I - "
"Don't you love each other? Did you fall out of love, Rose?"
Rose's eyes snapped up to meet her father's as he spoke for the first time. His lips were pressed thin, and he was staring at her, his blue eyes seemingly holding in a lot of questions.
"I don't love you anymore."
Scorpius's words reverberated in her mind. But her dad didn't know this, didn't need to know this.
"We still love each other, Dad." said Rose, holding back tears that threatened to fall every time she remembered her last meeting with Scorpius, "And that's why we want to separate before it gets too messy. He's always been my best friend. I can't lose him because we weren't compatible as anything more than that."
There was pin-drop silence.
"I need you guys to let me fight this on my own", continued Rose, taking advantage of their silence. She then turned to her father, who had now fixed her with a calculative look, "Dad, I need you to not let this impact the working relationship you have with Scorpius. It will hurt him, and I am not going to tolerate that," and then she turned to her mother, "I may need a little help with hiring a lawyer. I am confident that things will proceed smoothly. Just that someone needs to look over the papers."
"Of course" said Hermione, her eyes filled with tears as she enclosed her daughters' hands in her own.
"You're being weirdly calm about this," said Hugo uncertainly as he looked at Rose suspiciously, "It's you and Scorpius! You were the dream team! You've loved him since you were a kid."
"And sometimes, that's not enough", sighed Rose, heavyheartedly, meeting her brother's concerned gaze, "We may have grown up together, but in the last two years we have only grown apart. And that's enough to know that we weren't meant to be."
Rose was absolutely exhausted by the time she reached Albus and Elora's home. The conversation with her family was rather intense; it was tough having to lie through her teeth about the actual reasons. She figured that now wasn't the time to dive deep into the backstory; it was meant to be for another day. But that didn't stop Hermione from grilling her about her future plans and her dad from combusting every once in a while, swearing at the whole Malfoy family. Hugo, well, was just being Hugo.
"It wouldn't be right to stay put once the Potter baby comes in, Rose. You can move in with us till May."
"You can stay with me too, Rose. I'll clean up my house, I promise."
"I should have never trusted that Malfoy boy. Malfoys are born to deceive."
"Dad! Amy's a Malfoy too. So zip it. And you are not going to get involved in this - whatever this is - between me and Scorpius. We are adults- "
"You should have told us things were not going well! Why didn't we ever hear about this?!"
"Mum! The priority was to sort things out between us-"
"Still can't get my head around the fact that you and Scorpius, of all people, are separating -"
"We've covered that part -"
Voices from the inside the house brought her out of her zone.
The highly enthusiastic voice from the living room could only mean one thing.
James Potter was in the house.
She could not deal with him or his energy. He also had the nose of a bloodhound when it came to sniffing out turmoil in someone's lives.
Groaning softly, she unlocked the front door with her wand and walked in. Amelia was snugly asleep in her arms.
The Potters' living room was strewn with paper, and James and a very pregnant Elora were sitting in the middle of all the mess.
"What is all this?" exclaimed Rose, aghast at the all the papers flying everywhere.
Elora, whose hands were stained with the ink from the quill she was holding, looked up. "James happened."
"Now now, El, be nice" said James, chuckling nervously at he patted Elora's head, making her roll her eyes "She's helping me sort out the finances for The Wheezes. Numbers for the annual reports are not matching. What are you doing here this late?"
"Scorpius and Al are travelling," came Elora's swift response, "So she decided to come over for a bit."
Rose shot her friend a grateful look. Al had indeed been travelling, promising to bring back Lily and Ryan and sorting this mess out at the earliest. But she knew the challenge with her marriage did not end at just them.
After setting a sleeping Amelia on the sofa, Rose straightened up, "Anyone up for tea?"
"Me! You know me so well, Red. It's like we are one person" smirked James, before sifting through his papers again. It was Rose's turn to roll her eyes.
Prat.
As Rose set the kettle for boiling, it prompted James to run for the bathroom ("Can't drink tea on a full bladder") to take a break. Elora leveraged his absence to speak to Rose about the elephant in the room, "How was dinner?"
Rose sighed. "To be honest, it could have been worse. Some reactions were expected. Mom had a lot of questions. Dad went on a rant about Malfoys. Hugo was still trying to get his around the fact that things were not ok anymore between me and Scorpius."
"What the what? Why are things not ok with you and Scorpius?"
Rose and Elora turned sharply to see James at the hallway of the living room, staring at the redhead with his jaw wide open.
"You were supposed to be gone for longer!" exclaimed Elora.
"I usually do! But I had - what the hell Rose? What's happening?" he spluttered, sidestepping Elora's question altogether.
It was only a matter of time before the entire family knew about their divorce, innit? Might as well tell him.
"Scorpius and I are divorcing."
Just then the steam escaped the kettle with a loud whistle.
"No no no no no no", whispered James, looking horrified while approaching her, "What the hell happened, Red? You guys were my OTP - one true pairing!" he added immediately on seeing their confused faces.
"Life happened." said Rose, shaking her head. No other phrase was good enough to explain the mess she was in. Also, what was this with everyone saying that they were the dream couple!
Oh yes, because no one really knew how they got together in the first place.
"And how are you doing?"
Rose's eyes snapped up at James, surprised at his empathetic approach. She'd honestly expected him to get more probing or crack an unfortunate joke.
"Not well at all." she replied honestly.
James quietly walked up to her and embraced her tightly, and just his sensible approach, the one she needed right now, almost got her crying again. She'd been holding her tears back for the past two days, resolving to not cry about this again.
She won't be weak. She was done being the weakling.
If Scorpius wanted to end the marriage, so be it. She was done begging him to consider otherwise.
He didn't love her anymore, anyway. His lawyer, Theodore Nott, had sent the documents to her office, which were then forwarded to her by owl post.
On receiving the documents and going through them, she simply decided that she will inform her parents before signing anything. They had to be kept in the loop before she went around signing divorce papers. Because with official proceedings, news would reach them faster than she could tell them.
"I am so sorry, Rose." he said genuinely, kissing her on the forehead, "let me know if you need anything alright?"
"Thanks James. Really appreciate it." replied Rose, squeezing his hand and letting him know how much she appreciated the support.
"How's Scorpius doing?" he asked tentatively, as he pulled back from the hug.
Her stomach clenched at the sound of his name.
"I don't know. I saw him two days ago. He wasn't that great." said Rose sadly, remembering the bitter expression on his face as he told her he didn't love her.
"And Amy, what about her?"
Rose looked at her daughter who was sleeping peacefully on the couch between the pillows currently peaceful.
When she was bidding her parents goodbye in their hallway, Amelia had spotted a picture of Rose and Scorpius on their wedding day, and had extended her arms towards it, calling out to her father.
For Rose, Amelia will always be a Malfoy, and Scorpius will always be her father.
Although, she realised, she will need to talk to Scorpius about this. There was no way in hell she was taking away Amelia's paternity because they didn't work out. She knew how much Scorpius loved his little girl. She couldn't take his name away from Amelia.
"We will figure out an arrangement. She'll stay with me though."
James nodded. He walked towards the couch where Amelia was sleeping, and gently sat next to her. Rose proceeded to pour out the tea and serve the same to Elora and James.
"Wow!" he breathed, after sipping on his tea, "This is unbelievable. You guys were the last couple we'd even consider would break up! It's you guys! The ever-loved Rosius! And to some, Scorose! Imagine if there had been a pool running for the couple most likely to break up, you guys would have been the least likely."
Elora looked up at him, sounding curious, "Where would you put me and Al?"
"El!" yelled out Rose indignantly, "Not cool!"
"I'm curious, that's all"
"Maybe just above Ted & Vicky. Al's got a girl wayyyyy out of his league."
Elora grinned at Rose, "He's growing on me."
"Maybe we should start a pool on this." said James, his eyes gleaming, "This will be a goldmine!"
"You guys are morbid." said Rose darkly. Her cousin was an utter idiot.
"But it would help to have some inside information before starting this." said James dreamily.
"What do you mean?" asked Rose, despite herself.
"Well, if there are other marriages on the rocks-"
"Merlin, James!"
"Whaaaat?! You need to have a premise for placing the bet and have a better chance at winning. How else do you think I won the wager around you and Scorpius getting together?"
"Wait, what?" said Rose, straightening up. She never knew what was the waged James had placed that won him a pool of over a thousand galleons, "What was your bet?"
"That you guys were already together and were secretly dating."
Rose was taken aback. She'd presumed it was something related to the time-frame around which they'd get together. Albus had bet that they'd get together in another 5 years time.
But this, this was a new one.
"And what was the supposed inside information?" asked Elora, chuckling.
"Uhhhhh - I caught them hooking up at a club's bathroom?"
Rose promptly dropped her cup of tea, the china breaking against the floor with sharp noise, while Elora choked on her tea.
The noise woke up Amelia, who started wailing at the sound. Quickly waving the wand to repair the cup and clean the spilled tea, Rose rushed to her daughter to pacify her. But this chaos was nothing compared to what James had ignited in her.
What on bleeding earth is he talking about?!
"What do you mean by that?!" Rose asked, her voice trembling. Elora was staring at them, mouth half open in shock.
James narrowed his eyes, "No wayyyy. You guys don't remember bumping into me at Club...Enervate, was it? No wonder you guys didn't react or say anything when I had mentioned winning the bet."
"James, go back to the start!" said Rose impatiently. She was hyperventilating, her heart in her mouth, "What did you see? And when was this?"
He scrunched his eyebrows. "Maybe two months or so before you guys got married? It was just another night for me and my boys at work - Freddie had been there. There was a bird I started talking to who turned out to be really into me. And then she got super frisky, and so did I and we thought we'd take it to the next level. The next thing I knew, we were making out and had entered the women's bathroom and we broke apart because of how loudly the one of the stalls were rattling. Next thing I knew I heard you moaning Scorpius's name, I nearly cursed my ears off - had to put a silencing charm-"
Rose sat down on the couch, trying to comprehend the entire situation. Elora was staring at her, sitting as still as a statue.
"-and then I had to tell other girl to fuck off - because I was planning to confront you guys. You guys were in there for a while. But I stayed put. Malfoy doesn't get to have sleazy bathroom sex with you and not date you - and I was about to tell him the same. And then when you came out..." he trailed off
"What?" said Rose urgently. She needed James to finish this story. Her heart was beating completely out of control. She needed to hear the end of this story. This was unbelievable.
"You both looked so happy and in love," smiled James sadly, "On seeing me you guys had frozen, like you were caught in the act. I had just asked what you guys were up to. Malfoy just turned to kiss you and mention that he was in love with you and that you guys were together. And you, my dear Rose, told me that you'd hex my bollocks off if I went around telling people this incident - why do you look so surprised? Did you really blank out that night?"
Rose was in utter disbelief.
This was absolutely not possible.
Scorpius Malfoy could not have been the man she'd shagged so many moons ago at Kate's bachelorette party.
This tale sounded as ludicrous as possible.
"James!" hissed Rose, startling him. Amelia, who'd quieted down and was observing everything around, merely giggled, "What was I wearing that night?"
"Whaaa - are you serious? Is this that a big a deal?"
"WHAT WAS I WEARING?"
"It - It was a green dress - dark green, a short one, figure hugging type, with those strappy things." spluttered James, raising his hands in defense, "Jeez, what's gotten into you?"
That's when Rose felt that the world beneath her feet had been swept off, making her feel if she was falling in abyss.
She couldn't breathe.
She had been wearing a dark green dress that night.
She'd been rather mad at Ryan, who'd been dodging the idea of making things official between them and had preferred their existing arrangement of casually sleeping together. In a childish fit of rage, she'd decided to dress up glam for the night; she'd watched his eyes cloud with lust while she got dressed, the dress flattering her curves really well, while he'd watched from a distance, asking her if going out was what she really wanted. Just before leaving, she'd only replied that she didn't have a boyfriend to enjoy a night in with, so why bother.
The next morning, she'd woken up in her bed, with no memory of the previous night, with bruised lips that bore signs of some heated snogging, sending her on a guilt trip. But Ryan had turned up later, and she'd told him about making out with a stranger, and the next thing she knew was that he'd asked her to be his girlfriend, proclaiming that he was jealous and that he didn't want anyone else to kiss her lips; they belonged to him.
And thus had begun a short-lived yet passionate relationship with Ryan Smith.
But how was it possible that that it was Scorpius she had shagged merely hours ago?
He'd been the man she'd had bathroom sex with.
Merlin.
How drunk was she even to hook up with him? Her sober version wouldn't have even had the guts to touch him in any way other than friendly.
And him, he'd mentioned to James that he'd loved her. He'd only even mentioned as seeing her as a sister before!
What the hell happened that night?!
Also, how did Scorpius black out from the memory as well?
Wouldn't be unusual, given how Scorpius raged pretty hard after graduating from the Auror Academy. Blacked out nights were pretty common for him.
Her eyes dropped to look Amelia was now looking back at her curiously.
"Mamma" she said simply, her lips upturned in a crooked grin.
Just like Scorpius's.
It was like a lightening had struck her. She was extremely dizzy, forcing her lean back against the sofa she was seated on, as an tortuously heartwarming thought entered her mind.
"Two months or so before you guys got married-"
Nine months before Amelia was born.
What if-?
This was impossible though, right? This was too perfect to be true, too impossibly wonderful to be true.
Breathing deeply, she looked at Elora who was looking back at her, the cogwheels in her head moving; Rose could tell she was adding up the numbers as well.
She thought she would be sick any moment now.
"She is Scorpius's daughter, isn't it?" breathed Elora in disbelief, causing Rose's heart to nearly break out of her ribcage, every nerve ending on fire as her face flushed furiously.
"Of course she is!" snapped James indignantly, oblivious to the tempest Rose was facing at the moment,"Why the hell would you say that?! Amy is a Malfoy through and through. Just look at her face!"
"I know! I meant-", said Elora immediately, "It seems like Amy was conceived that night."
"Ohhhhh, that makes sense. She was born quite early into your marriage; had wondered if Scorpius had knocked you up before getting married", said James, scratching his head. And then suddenly turning gleeful, "That night you were blessed with the force of love that is James Potter. Hallelujah!"
What the fuck? What the actual fuck?
Even though they'd hooked up that one time, there was an actual possibility that Amelia was Scorpius's daughter. One in a million of possibility that Amelia was Scorpius's flesh and blood. A truly wonderful possibility that Rose found herself praying for.
The Malfoy bloodline had a wonderful possibility of living on, through Amelia.
There was a part of Rose that doubted James's story. It was too good to be true. But given everything the two of them gone through together, her & Scorpius getting together wasn't something so impossible.
Maybe this was fate's way of bringing them together.
"Oh my god!" let out Rose softly, the enormity of the situation crashing on her.
"Oh my god!" exclaimed Elora, holding back a smile.
"Oh my god?" said James, looking confused.
"Oh my god!" breathed Rose, now chuckling. She wanted to cry as well. This was heartbreakingly hilarious.
"Oh my god!" laughed Elora, hiding her face in her hands to hold back her laugh.
"Oh my god! Seriously, you both need to stop." said James offhandedly, "Now let's get back to work-"
Rose was alarmed as she saw Elora's expression turn into a grimace.
"Shut up, James!" hissed the blonde, clutching her bloated belly, before crying out in pain.
"Elora! exclaimed Rose, worried, immediately setting down Amelia, and rushing towards her friend, "Breathe slowly and deeply. Get up slowly."
Rose held out her hand to Elora, who held on tightly and got up before crying out again and sitting on the sofa.
"What's happening?!" said James, panicking as he too stood up, "R-"
"Sshh!" hushed Rose, flapping her hands. Turning to Elora "El, talk to me, please? Tell me about the pain."
"It comes and it goes", she breathed, clutching Rose's hand tightly, eyes tearing up, "Feels like someone's stabbing my belly. Oh god, here comes another one."
"James, hold her hand." said Rose hurriedly as she felt Elora's pulse; it was going at nearly 120 per minute. While accelerated pulse was common during pregnancy every time the child moved, the pain was not. She needed a check-up at the earliest, "We need to take her to Mungo's."
"Is she going into labour?" he asked, still panicking as he held Elora's hand, "Ow! OW! OW! You have a death grip, El!"
"She is five weeks from her due date." said Rose frowning, checking her watch. It was about eleven thirty. There should be enough mediwitches at Mungo's to help them out. She needed to make a floo call to Mungo's. And to someone else as well. "We need to contact Albu-"
"NO!" said Elora, her eyes flashing, "Let's please do that if it is something serious or if the baby is coming. He's out doing something important." she looked pointedly at Rose, "Don't want him panicking for nothing. He is very sensitive to any discomfort in my pregnancy."
"El-" hissed Rose impatiently, but she cut her.
"Just trust me on this, alright? Let's please get to Mungo's first. This pain is unbearable." she cringed at the last part,
Rose nodded, steeling herself to make a call to Mungo's.
Looked like a long night lay ahead of them.
What a way to bring in her birthday.
AN:-
To alllllllllll those (well, there were a lot of you) who saw this "twist" coming and repeatedly kept mentioning this - yes, yes, you told me so :p
So how many of you saw James being the news-bearer of this oh-so-new-that-it-is-old news? Tee-hee!
Question is - Is Scorpius actually Amelia's father though? If yes, is it too late for Rose & Scorpius? Is it enough?
Loved the chapter? Found it too slow? Or just excited about the quick update - do share your views!
Until the next update,
WeasleyKingRocks
