17 November 2029

Scorpius,

I would like to start off with an apology. Ron is most certainly going to do me at this time and I'll hardly blame him for it. I know that not hearing any news on Rose has been unimaginably frightening. But if I could have written to you sooner I would have. I want to assure you that Rose is safe. Our base was infiltrated unexpectedly a month ago and we were forced to flee. Our unit was divided and we were forced to part ways. I have just managed to reassemble our team. It turns out that Rose, along with a few others, have been hiding out near the Russian - Estonian border. Everyone with her is alright, as is she. She is currently under the care of Estonia's best healers for a check-up. She's okay, but they didn't have nearly enough food or warmth when she was in hiding and so she's recovering.

I am furious with myself and so very sorry. This is the kind of fear that I wished to never inflict upon my children which you know that Rose, and by extension, you, are as good as. The not knowing and what not is enough to break a man and I deeply apologize. I have offered Rose the opportunity to come home immediately, but I have to warn you that she's never been one to quit once she's started something. She has yet to give me an answer, but I am sure that you and I both know what it will be.

Best regards,

Harry Potter

Scorpius was shaking. He was seeing fucking stars and could barely hear Albus telling him to calm down over the pounding in his head. Never before had he felt this kind of anger and it was looking as if The Boy Who Lived was about to be no more because Scorpius was going to kill him.

Draco had always raised his son to see how wrong the Malfoy's had been in the war; that Harry had been on the right side of history. He even went as far as calling Harry a good man. And Scorpius had always believed his father. Harry had welcomed him into his home over holiday breaks to stay with Albus, made sure that people in the workforce knew that Scorpius was not unworthy because of his last name, and had stuck up for him against Rose's dad at the beginning of he and Rose's relationship. Scorpius liked Harry. He would even go as far as calling them, friends.

But he had promised. He had promised that Rose would be safe; completely out of harm's way. And for over a month, Scorpius had heard absolutely nothing. He had thought her to be dead! His wife, his very best friend, dead because of Harry fucking Potter and his insistence that Rose take this job. He'd hardly slept, hardly ate, had been forced to stop working because for a month and a fucking half he hadn't known where his wife was. He had become a mad man, completely obsessed with finding Rose and making sure that she was at least alive. He would've done anything to know that she was alive.

"Scorpius," Albus all but shouted. He was red in the face and it was clear that he'd been calling his name for quite a while. "I think that you need to calm down."

"Calm down?" He asked incredulously. "I can assure you that this is calm, Albus. As calm as I can be after finding out that my wife was freezing and without food for a month because your dad couldn't do his fucking job."

"Let's try and leave my dad out of this, alright?" Al snapped. He could deal with a lot of things, but slander against his father was not one of them. It never had been.

"Your dad is the one who convinced her to go in the first place!"

"No mate, I'm pretty sure that was you," Al said solemnly. He ran a hand through his unruly hair and took a deep breath. "I know that you're upset. Trust me when I say that I am too. But there's nothing we can do right now. She's still going to be there for another month."

"I need to see her," Scorpius demanded. He looked almost crazed and he sounded so utterly desperate.

"I don't know how you think that's going to happen." Al was starting to feel uneasy. It was never easy to rationalize with Scorpius when he got like this.

"I just need to see her, Al. Please. Please, mate. You have to help me."

Scorpius was begging now. He looked so helpless and it reminded Al painfully of the boy on the train on their first-ever ride to Hogwarts. Here was his best friend, one of the best people he knew, reduced to behaving like a frightened child.

"Alright, why don't we try and take a deep breath, yeah? I can order us dinner and we can try and talk about this rationally. And if you still-"

"I thought she was dead!" Scorpius yelled, voice cracking as angry, anguished tears slid down his cheeks. He did nothing to conceal them. He was too tired.

"And I'm sorry about that. But this is the opportunity of a lifetime for her. It's one more month, Scor. She probably already feels bad enough about sending you into a tailspin, don't make her feel like she needs to come home too."

Scorpius stuffed his head in his hands hardly trying to mask the way his shoulders had begun to shake. Al said nothing, just crossed the room, patted his back, and left to give him space. Al was right. He knew that. But he had been so scared. He wanted to see her, to feel her, to make sure that she was really alright. But as Al had said, Rose needed to finish what she'd started. He couldn't be the thing to hold her back.

He wiped his face roughly and took a steadying breath. Clumsily, he got to his feet and headed to Al's guest room where he began to gather his things. He needed to get back to his life.

Rose was okay. She was safe. And if she could go back to work after something so traumatizing, then he could too. He wrote Hugo to tell him to bring the cat back over. Rose would be furious to know he'd carted off their newest addition to her brother, but he had hardly been able to take care of himself, much less something else. Over the next few days, he fell back into a steady routine. He worked, ate, and played with the cat. It was incredibly boring, but it kept him from worrying too much about Rose.

He had just retired to bed when something began to peck against his window. He shot to his feet, racing over to let the owl in only to find that it was from Rose. He held her letter in shaking hands noting the tear stains that dotted the page. His heart twisted painfully. Slowly, he began to read the letters' contents, savoring every word written in her near-perfect scrawl.

20 November 2029

Scorpius,

I don't even know how to begin this. I love you. I love you so very much and I am so sorry. I don't want to even try and imagine how scared you must have been. I've missed you so much that I feel like I might just implode. I miss your voice and your face and your arms and your laugh and just about anything else that you could think of. I want to come home to you more than anything. I want a bed and a meal from Nana and to see my mum and dad. But I can't leave now, Scorpius. Not after we've all managed to come together again. The people here are vulgar. I can't believe that people have such darkness inside of them and would be willing to do such horrendous things. I need Uncle Harry and his team to do what they set off to and I need to be the one to get it all down on paper. It's historic, the things happening here, and I can hardly believe that I'm witnessing it all.

While I was separated from everyone else (sans a few aurors and Shauna) I wrote about everything. I wrote about every waking moment and I think I've managed to get some really good stuff. It almost makes all of this worth it. But not quite. It was so terrible, Scor. I was so cold and so hungry and the days just seemed absolutely endless. And then I would think about you and how terrified you must have been and I couldn't bear it. I wanted to write to you more than anything, but I couldn't. Not only did I not have access to an owl, but I didn't want to give our location away in case we were still being followed.

I am so sorry that I've put you through this. I know that you might never forgive me for this, and I would understand that. I don't want you to think I'm putting my career before you either. But I can't quit. I need to stay and finish what I started.

I love you,

Rose

22 November 2029

Rose,

You don't understand how good it is to hear from you. I love you so much and nothing could ever change that. I want you to stay until the mission is finished. Doing anything else just wouldn't be right. It wouldn't be you. You are so brave, Rosie and I've missed you more than I ever thought possible. I was so scared. So fucking scared. And I probably will be until I can really hold you again. But I'm so proud of you. This is what you're meant for.

Ophelia and I will be here waiting for you to come home. But until that happens, please for the love of Merlin stay safe. I need you to come home to me and if not I might actually kill your uncle. You might think I'm kidding but I can promise you that I'm not. Ask Albus.

All my love,

Scorpius

He signed the letter quickly and laughed at his own tears which had fallen upon the parchment messily. He would see her soon, he knew that. Until then, he would just keep going. He had a cat to take care of for Merlin's sake. He couldn't just shut down again. And he wouldn't. Because Rose was alive and well and safe and that's all he needed.