After the attack, the Weasley-Grangers and Scorpius went back to the flat once Molly and Arthur had everything under control at the Burrow and James was alright. Unfortunately for Rose, that meant she had to sleep in her room which she reluctantly shared with Hugo as Scorpius had Hugo's room. It was Hugo's snoring that woke Rose up and despite her attempts to fall back asleep, her mind was already awake. It was so early than even Hattie was still asleep, so Rose decided to lie in and read the blood boundary spellbook she knicked from her mother's room.
Rose had heard about blood boundary spells in her second year when she and the two boys stumbled upon a book on the subject in the library. The pictures and diagrams used to describe the boundaries were so gruesome and grotesque that Scorpius heaved his school dinner all over the book. It was the last thing Rose imagined her parents would discussed on the night when the three teenagers returned from Hogwarts.
"Listen here, you lot," said Ron. "We have something important to discuss with all of you."
"Is Mum having twins?" asked Hugo.
"No!" cried Ron and Hermione as the two nearly fainted at the thought of raising two babies.
"What is it then?" asked Rose.
"Well, your mother and I have been talking," said Ron. "And, we think for everyone's safety, it would be a good idea to have a blood boundary for the flat." Upon hearing that term, Rose and Scorpius felt nervous as they thought back to the gross images they saw in that awful book.
"What's that?" asked Hugo.
"It's a very primitive spell," said Rose. "It requires large amounts of actual blood in order to draw out a boundary around an area."
"Rose is right," said Hermione. "Ancient blood boundaries are truly horrible. However, I think I've found blood boundary spells that are a little less..."
"Messy?" asked Scorpius, feeling his stomach churn.
"Exactly," said Hermione. "All we need is one drop of blood from everyone, then we can seal the apartment so that only us and Scorpius can enter..."
Rose looked at her bandaged right index finger where she had pricked her finger for the spell. As she went back to reading her back, the door to her door opened slightly. Initially, Rose didn't see anything but the top of some brown curls. Rose smiled as Hattie walked over to her bed sleepily rubbing her eyes and holding an illustrated version of "The Tales of Beedle the Bard" in her other hand.
"What's up, bug?" asked Rose, as she lifted Hattie onto her bed. "You want me to read you a story?"
"Babbity Rabbity, please," said Hattie, yawning as she put the book in Rose's hands.
"Alright," said Rose, adjusting herself so that Hattie could lie next to her and look at the drawings in the book. As she watched Hattie turn the pages to Babbity Rabbity, she noticed her little sister's bandaged finger. The worst part of the blood boundary spell was watching Hattie scream and squirm in Ron's lap as Hermione pricked Hattie's finger for a drop of blood. Afterwards, Rose heard Hermione crying in her room once Hattie fell asleep.
"How's your finger, bug?" asked Rose.
"Read, Rosie!" said Hattie, as she pointed to the illustration of Babbity Rabbity. Rose smiled and kissed the top of her sister's head. If Hattie could forget the pain, then maybe Rose could trust her mother's decision to use the spell.
That night, Hermione craved Indian food and the family decided to eat at their favorite Indian restaurant. Although the restaurant was already busy by the time they arrived, the hostess immediately cleared a table for the family once she saw Hermione enter the restaurant.
"Here you are, Mrs. Granger," said the hostess, quickly clearly a table for the large party.
"Thank you, Medhavi," said Hermione. The restaurant had black plastic chairs that looked like wooden chairs, square tables with white paper covers, maroon floor tiles, and bright yellow walls with various knick-knacks scattered on the choice of venue made Scorpius excited but uneasy as he never had Indian food before and didn't know how he would react to the foreign cuisine.
"Now, what can I bring you all for drinks?" asked Medhavi, turning first to Scorpius.
"I'll have..." said Scorpius, subtly nodding towards Rose for help as he knew that pumpkin juice and butter beer didn't exist in Muggle restaurants.
"He'll have a coke," said Rose. "I'll have one as well, please."
"Me too," chimed Hugo.
"I'm fine with water," said Hermione.
"Beer for me," said Ron, adjusting Hattie in her booster seat. "And milk for here."
"Excellent," said Medhavi, writing everything down. "Are we getting the usual meals?"
All the Weasley-Grangers nodded in agreement, with the exception of Scorpius who had no idea what to order from the colourful menu.
"He'll have the chicken tikka," said Rose making Scorpius sigh with relief. Shortly afterwards, the food was brought out and Scorpius felt his mouth water from smelling the spices permeating the air.
"Scorpius, you're drooling" said Ron, cutting into his chicken tandoori.
Scorpius picked up his fork to get a piece of chicken. Once he took his first bite, Scorpius was stunned that he had been missing out on such cuisine.
"Merlin's beard," exclaimed Scorpius. "That's amazing!"
"Alright son, calm down," said Ron, a little embarrassed at Scorpius' outburst, while Hugo and Rose snickered to themselves. "It's just chicken."
"Why can't we get this at Hogwarts?" asked Scorpius.
"We do," said Hugo. "You've always just had the chips and rice."
"Oh," said Scorpius, his face going red. However, this made Rose laugh even harder. When Scorpius saw Rose's giant smile, bright eyes, and bouncing curls, the crimson left his face as he felt overwhelmed with joy at the sight of Rose's happiness.
"Hugo, Hattie, please don't run down the hallway!" scolded Hermione as the two younger Granger-Weasleys raced down the hallways as the family got off the lift.
"So, we've had that at Hogwarts?" asked Scorpius to Rose, referring to the chicken tikka.
"Yes," groaned Rose from frustration at Scorpius' repetitive questions. "It's been there since our first year!"
"Pretty impressive," said Ron as he walked with Rose and Scorpius. "We just had the standard stuff when I was there..."
"Ron, do you have the key?" asked Hermione.
"Right here," said Ron, as he took out the key to unlock their front door. Even though the flat had the blood boundary around it, Ron and Hermione still needed to lock the flat in case a Muggle burgled or broke into it. Once Ron had unlocked the door, the family entered the flat with Hermione turning on the lights. Just then, the calmness of the flat disappeared in an instance when Rose pulled out her wand.
"STUPEFY!" cried Rose.