Chapter 13 - Little Pygmy

Rose put some muggle Disney princess music for Lyra to play dolls to in the space between the couches. The coffee table had been pushed to the side to give her some room. Sitting on the couch and occasionally talking to the dolls with Lyra, Rose watched Scorpius as he interrupted Lyra's spinning in circles dancing. He knelt and held out his hand, "May I have this dance Princess?"

Lyra giggled and agreed, he picked her up and spun around, she squealed with delight. Rose smiled as she let her mind wander to Scorpius staying at home with an apron on. Chuckle to herself brought her back to the present as she stared at the outstretched hand. Scorpius smirk, "And the Queen must have a dance too." Rose sat dumbfound as she admired the handsome tall blonde man. His long hair still tied in a low ponytail, but his usually clean long sleeves were still rolled up and speckled with flour. He seemed more mature and much older than in high school, though that was to be expected possibly. She felt like she had not changed since she graduated and here stood her high school sweetheart with stubble starting to show from not shaving only one day. He didn't seem to like how long she was taking so he didn't wait for her response when he grabbed her hand and pulled her up from the couch.

He held her close on her lower back and she had her hands around his neck as they slow danced to Disney song Can you feel the love tonight. An involuntary blush formed on Rose's cheeks as they swayed, the love song didn't help with her embarrassment of being hyper aware of how close they stood. Rose thanked the stars that Lyra wanted in on the dance which she was happy to oblige. She picked up Lyra and swayed her from side to side, it reminded her of when her daughter was smaller and less heavy, she'd scream for hours so Rose would have to do this. Sway to music, for hours sometimes to get her to sleep, she's much bigger now and she still fell asleep from the swaying.

Rose was about to move to put Lyra to bed when Scorpius wrapped his arms around them both from behind her. He whispered as if to himself, "how did you get so far ahead of me?" She was going to reply but Lyra shifted, and Rose decided the priority was to not wake the sleeping time bomb. Scorpius dropped his arms and Rose turned with a finger to her lips to signal quiet which he replied with a nod.

She walked down the hallway after getting Lyra into bed to find the living room empty. After a quick look around, she saw a shadow from the back door that leads to the garden. He leaned against the bricks looking out at the wide fields of nothing but grass. She was the first to break the silence, "when did you learn to cook?"

He smirked, "when you start living by yourself you have to if you want to continue living."

"Well, they were some great pancakes that rival a Weasley family breakfast." Rose walked through the garden following the path. It was not a large garden. Just a rectangle patch with a bit of space between each vegetable. She assumed most of them would be vegetables because she could spot almost ripe tomatoes on a vine.

"If my memory is correct, you weren't much of a green thumb." Scorpius commented as she wandered around still dressed the long black dress with thin straps from the Halloween baby shower. Her bare shoulder's made her seem smaller than before and black was too harsh for her fair skin, she has always looked better in blue, but right now she could wear anything and still look as beautiful. Her hair was wild from sleeping and the light created the illusion of fire. Scorpius was brought out of his day dream by Rose's response.

"So what if I'm not, we can get someone to help with it," Rose felt a twist in her gut, "though I guess that depends on how long we will be here."

Scorpius frowned, "I will make sure you get home before Christmas, wouldn't miss a Weasley Christmas for the world. There is no place better to spend a Christmas." He looked down with a deflated spirit as he talked about Christmas. He did always love Christmas at the Burrow, he was always invited with the Potters, we had spent the holiday with Scorpius since he started at Hogwarts. When he seemed to vanish it wasn't the same, it was like there had been a presence missing among the chaos of her cousins.

"Well, there is good news," Scorpius started, and I looked at him with frowned brows, "Hugo will be making a visit soon today."

She almost tripped mid-step, she hadn't seen her little brother since well, Christmas, he sends presents each year for our birthdays and other celebrations, but otherwise he is always working. He had just started as an Auror and had been put on a big case over in America, that was the last Rose had heard anyway. "Doesn't he have work?"

"Mister Potter has made you his priority, he should be bringing new clothes and supplies for us." Scorpius finished his sentence and as if on cue there was a knock at the door.

Rose ran as fast as she could through the house to the door and flung it open. There stood an older man with a golf cap and a cotton tote bag full of groceries. Rose stood confused to a second before the man spoke, "Geez Malfoy did you fail to mention not answering the door to strangers?" It was her brother's voice, and she finally understood. He had used a Polyjuice potion, she dragged him inside and hugged him with a bear grip.

"Hey, I know you missed me but I would really prefer to go change," He did the usual tough guy act and not showing emotion but she didn't care. He shuffled off to the bathroom to get changed. That's when Lyra's scream came from the bedroom. Both of us leapt into action running to our daughter. She lay in her bed thrashing and screaming until Scorpius, who is much faster than Rose, held Lyra and started chanting, "daddy's here, mummy's here, you're safe, daddy's here, you're safe."

She finally woke up and started sobbing, they both squished onto the single bed either side of Lyra and calmed her down slowly as she clung to Scorpius' shirt. Once the crying had stopped Hugo, who is now back to normal red-headed self, handed Rose a cup of water. Lyra perked up immediately when she recognised her uncle. "Uncle Hugu!" followed by a few sniffles.

"Hey there, pygmy, you're bigger than last Christmas," He walks over and sits on the bed. She leans over to hug him which he returns.

"See didn't I saw all of us are here protecting you, nobody is getting close even with a ten-foot pole." Rose rubs her back, Lyra pouts and nods in response.

"So, who's hungry? I can whip up something for lunch," Scorpius suggested with a cheery tone and clapped his hands together as he got up from the cramped single bed. Right as he finished there was a loud growl from both Rose and Lyra, Scorpius internally chuckled at their similarities, like mother like daughter.

"I'll help you get the food ready," Rose slowly sat up from the bed stopping to pet Lyra's fluffy blonde curls, "Why don't you play with Uncle Hugo? You haven't seen him in a while."

Rose smiled and Lyra gave an uneasy slow nod, "Ok," she didn't feel completely safe yet, but Uncle Hugo is still there which made it better. Rose and Scorpius left the room which left Hugo and Lyra alone in the room. Hugo sat beside lyra on the bed making it bounce as he did.

"Any toys you want to play with? Or," Hugo paused and put his hand in his pocket, "do you want to play with Uncle Hugo's extra special toy?" He pulled out a brown teddy bear, "with this trusty friend you can run to Grandma and Grandpa when you are in trouble ok?"

Lyra excitedly takes the bear and hugs it tight, "Thank vou Uncle Hugu." She smiled the biggest smile he'd seen yet.

Hugo leans in and kisses her forehead, "I promise you'll be safe."

After Hugo pulls back and Lyra askes, "Uncle Hugu, will Daddy stay with us now?"

Hugo was startled by the question and caught himself before he fell off the edge of the bed.

Aria: I apologies for the changing between third and first person I hope it will stay more consistent from now on.

Hope you enjoyed this chapter!