Chapter 36

There was a sudden stop in conversation from the couple; Scorpius looked up to see Rose staring at him, and only then did he realise he must have spoken out loud. He could see the shock in her eyes but also the confusion, uncertainty and believe it or not curiosity. She looked down at him, frozen in the arms of another man, studying him; Scorpius had never felt more alive. Ben's gaze flickered between the two in scrutiny.

"Hello, I'm sorry I don't believe we've met," Ben interrupted, causing Rose and Scorpius to drop their shared gaze. "I am Ben Lincoln," he said with a polite, charming smile and stretched his hand to Scorpius. "Head of Department of International Magical Cooperation and Rose is my girlfriend." Scorpius stood and shook Ben's hand.

"Scorpius Malfoy," he introduced himself.

"Ah, yes, I believe Albus and Hugo have mentioned you a few times."

Rose just continued to stand there and watch the exchange between the two men nervously. Ben's arm that still remained around her waist seemed to tighten as they measured each other up. Rose didn't appreciate being treated solely like his possession, but now was not the time to discuss that with Ben.

"Hello Ben, nice to see you again," Albus approached them with Alison trailing behind; they had obviously been watching the exchange and sensed the tension. Albus came to stand by Scorpius, reaching out to shake Ben's hand in greeting.

"Always a pleasure Albus," Ben said, responding as expected, allowing Rose to wiggle free from his grasp. Alison came to stand by her, Rose also moving to her best friend.

"I see you've met my best mate," Albus said, reaching up a little to wrap his arm around the blonde. "Just got back from…well, everywhere I suppose."

"Hey, remember he's my best mate too," Hugo shouted across the room.

"How could I forget," Scorpius said shaking his head, though he was smiling. All but Ben gave a small chuckle at the comment.

"You couldn't, but everyone else might," Hugo replied as he made his way over to them. "Hey Ben, James has a pool going on the gender, you in?" he added with a mischievous grin.

"How come I wasn't in on the bet?" Rose asked before Ben could get a word out, a little hurt.

"Well, probably because no one asked you," Hugo replied bluntly. "Can you blame us, you were a little pre-occupied," he added, gesturing to Scorpius. Rose, against her will, blushed. Ben seemed uncomfortable; he obviously knew he was missing something.

"Yeah, sorry about that Rose," Scorpius said trying to save her. "When we started catching up, I forgot to ask you."

"Oh…it's okay," Rose replied, with a grateful smile. "James, put me down for a boy," Rose called over to James and Fred who were trying to make Uncle George hit himself in his sleep as they softly and delicately tickled his nose with a quill. Her cousin just signalled okay with his hand without even looking at her.

"Rose, gambling is a very irresponsible waste of money," Ben said turning to Rose.

"There's a responsible waste of money?" Hugo muttered to Al and Scorpius, which resulted in the three of them giggling like school girls.

"We should be happy no matter what the gender is," Ben finished his little rant.

"Oh, it's not only gender; Uncle George reckons it'll be twins," Hugo put in, but Ben ignored him. Scorpius expected Rose to fight back like she always used to with that flash in her eyes, and he saw it for a moment, but then it was gone. Instead, she just nodded silently. This angered Scorpius greatly. Rose was not submissive, never had been. 'What has he done to her?' he thought.

"I don't think that's really the point, Ben," Alison said trying to be civil, but he ignored her, distracted by Uncle Percy who had arrived just after Rose from the Gala, but now was walking towards the corridor.

"Would you please excuse me," Ben cut across Alison, quickly following Percy who was probably in search of a coffee.

"Sorry about that," Rose said to Alison. "You know how he gets; always thinking about work." Alison simply offered Rose a small smile and a nod of the head.

"Well, now that he's gone," Albus perked up. "Is boy your final decision?"

"Yeah, you should be sure before you start irresponsibly wasting your money," Hugo added, in mock-seriousness. Alison and Rose laughed whole heartedly, while Scorpius was trying to simmer himself down, still trying to process what just happened.

"I'll go tell James," Albus said, giving Rose a reassuring smile and moving to kiss Alison's cheek before walking around them towards his brother.

"I think I need to pee," Hugo said as he made his way to the men's room. Rose just shook her head and sighed at her brother's tact. Alison giggled at Hugo, before turning to Rose with a serious face.

"It's getting worse, Rose," she whispered. Rose just let out another exhausted sigh, massaging her temples. "At the beginning he was amazing and perfect-"

"Ali, I can't deal with this right now," Rose tried to say over her best friend, but she just continued.

"-in ways he still is, but I fear that…he may not be-"

"Alison!" Rose cut across her friend in a raised voice, drawing the attention of not only Alison but most in the room as well. However, the two of them ignored the stares. "Not now," Rose hissed. Alison sobered from her shock and scowled.

"Fine," she gritted through her teeth as she turned and made her way back over to Albus. Rose sighed and immediately felt guilty for the way she treated Alison. She glanced around the room and saw everyone divert their gaze from her, all except one. He didn't have to divert his gaze; he wasn't looking at her to begin with.

Scorpius was sitting back down in the same position he had been in previously, concentrating on his cube again, completely oblivious to what had just transpired. Rose nervously sat down next to him, looking down at her fidgeting hands that lay in her lap. She was worried about it being awkward or strained now between them and she didn't want to be bombarded with questions from him. Rose opened and closed her mouth several times wanting to break the silence, as he just twisted and turned the cube in his hands. Surprisingly, Scorpius was the one to break the silence.

"You know what?" Scorpius started, turning to look at her. Rose met his gaze.

"Hmm?"

"I also like 'Kill the Director' and 'Moving to New York'," he said with a smile. Whatever Rose could have possibly expected him to say, that was not it. She smiled gratefully and contently at him, which made him beam even brighter. They laughed quietly together, forgetting all of the unwanted feelings and just being happy.

"Yeah, I like them too," Rose finally said softly, as Scorpius went back to his cube. Rose stole a glance at him and smiled. He said the right thing and made all the bad disappear. It surprised her, but at the same time it didn't. Strangely, she had found this comfort in him before. Forth year came to mind, in an empty classroom where he had held her in his arms as she cried over the death of her cat. He didn't even know how much it worked. It felt so natural, for him to just hold her. Just like now he didn't have to say much, it was just his presence, 'or something like that', she thought.

"So, what's the story behind the Rubik's Cube?" Rose asked, breaking the silence once again, nodding to the object in Scorpius' hand.

"Just one of the things I have collected over the years," he replied with a shrug. "It just helps settle my thoughts, you know, calm me down."

"It's been a while since Muggle Studies, refresh my memory, what do you have to do?"

"Well, the goal is to make it so that there is only one colour on each side," he replied, moving closer to her trying to show her what to do. "See?" he said. He looked up at her and she nodded, continuing to look down at the cube. He put the cube it her hands.

"Here, you try," he said. Soon, they were making some headway as Rose twisted and turned the coloured rows as Scorpius helped her. Together, they had one side completed and the second nearly there also.

"No, try that one there," Scorpius said trying to hold back his cackles.

"What, there?" Rose said through her giggles as she twisted the bottom row.

"No, this way," he replied, laughing as he tried to correct her. They continued to laugh and joke while trying to solve the puzzle together, until they heard a familiar voice call over the top of the chatter in the waiting room.

"Everyone, listen up." It was Teddy and immediately everyone looked up and went silent, except for Uncle George who kept snoring until he was quickly nudged awake by his wife. Teddy was dressed in blue medical scrubs, his forever changing hair poking out of the blue. He wasn't as pale as Scorpius saw him when they arrived; instead he looked quite rosy, but had obviously just come down from an adrenaline high. He took a couple steps forward, drawing out the suspense. Then suddenly, a great beaming smile shot onto his face.

"Who would like to meet my daughter?"


So, there you go. A short one :) Now, we know it's a girl. Of course, I still have some surprises up my sleeve. You won't find out the name until later. But please let me know what you think it should be :) Thank you for reading and reviewing. I will see how I goo but if I don't update in time... I wish all of you and your families a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year :)

Please review, follow and fav :)