Disclaimer: None of this story is mine and I'm making no profit from it.

A/N: Sorry sorry ssorry sorry sorry. I'm like really sorry. I know I said it would be a short hiatus and it's been over a year I'm pretty sure. Sorry. Here you go anyway, I'll update tomorrow and every Tuesday again hopefully for a while before I go back to school in September and the work load catches up again.

Chapter 7:

I woke up the next morning, soaking in the sun shining through the curtains of Dom's room and warming my face. I smiled, taking a breath of fresh air- letting the sound of chirping birds fill my ears.

Then, I remembered what day it was. I remembered a certain family meal, which a particular Slytherin would be attending.

My eyes flew open, my stomach filled up with apprehension and denial- I let out a groan and buried myself back under the duvet. Perhaps I wouldn't have to face the day if I never got out of bed.

"Get up Rosiekins!" Dom yelled suddenly and ripped the duvet off of me. "We've got to go soon, or we'll be late for lunch!" Her voice was sickeningly joyful.

"I'm sick," I lied blatantly, offering a half-hearted cough.

"Stop being silly Rose, get dressed and let's go."

I rolled my eyes and sat up, shooting her a puzzled look. "Why are you so eager to go anyway?"

She grinned, "Byron owled me earlier this morning, he's taken the day off of work to come today. It means he has to work overtime for the next week, but he says he doesn't mind if it'll make me happy." A pink tint spread over her cheeks for a second, before she shook her head, flicked her hair over her shoulder and turned her gaze on me. "Is Malfoy coming?"

I sighed loudly and nodded.

"I doubt your dad will like that."

"No," I agreed. "But he'll have to deal with it."

She nodded, before reaching down and scooping up a pile of clothes and throwing them at me. "Alright, get dressed and let's go."

"What's this?" I asked, looking gingerly at the clothing on my lap.

"Your outfit," she replied simply, shrugging. I rolled my eyes at her, but dragged myself out of bed and began to get dressed anyway.

Ten minutes later Dom was pulling me this way and that through the cold corridors of the castle and to the Gryffindor common room. I had to jog to keep up with her as she walked, heels clicking against the stone floors.

Why was she wearing heels to the Burrow? I wasn't sure. The mud and the grass and the uneven flooring made the whole place a tripping hazard on its own- not to mention all the chickens running about. It was probably a near impossible terrain with heels on.

I supposed she was making an effort for Byron- which I guess was sweet.

At Dom's pace, we reached the common room in under five minutes. She burst through the portrait hole, her excitement only becoming more evident as she walked into the room- then her face fell and her shoulders slumped.

"Where is everyone?" She asked.

Lily jerked up from where she appeared to have been sleeping on the sofa. She looked around the otherwise empty common room, dazed for a few moments, before eventually focusing on Dom and I. "Huh?" She asked groggily, rubbing her eyes.

"Where is everyone?" Dom repeated, slower this time- exasperation evident in her voice.

"Oh... not sure." She shrugged. "Still sleeping I guess, it is pretty early."

Dom rolled her eyes, "It's 10 O'clock."

"Yes," Lily agreed, "but it's a Sunday."

Dom looked as if she was going to argue back, but instead, she just frowned, strutted over to an armchair and sat down, arms crossed. "Fine," she said. "Guess I'll just wait for my substandard cousins to wake up and then we can go."

I mentally rolled my eyes at her theatrics, it was especially ironic- considering the number of times I'd had to wait for Dom whilst she was still sleeping- sometimes well into the afternoon.

"You go ahead Dom," I told her, sitting down next to Lily. "We don't have to all go at the same time."

She considered for a moment, before grinning and jumping to her feet- an act probably fairly dangerous in heels that size. "Ok," she agreed, before walking past me and towards the floo powder on the mantel.

She grabbed a handful of the glittering green powder before stepping towards the fireplace. She wrinkled her nose as she stepped inside. "My clothes are going to get all sooty," she whined. "I can't wait until we finally learn to apparate."

Then she shouted, "The Burrow;" threw the powder down, and was gone in an instant.

Lily relaxed back into the cushions once she was gone. "When are you learning to apparate?" She asked, gazing at the ceiling distractedly.

"I'm not entirely sure- it's soon though."

"You know... our parents learnt how to apparate in sixth year."

"Oh yeah," I replied, "I had forgotten about that. Prime Minister Kingsley changed it, didn't he?" I couldn't help but feel slightly jealous of my parents as I looked towards the fireplace and remembered the nauseous feeling travelling by floo powder gave me.

Although, from what I'd heard, apparition was just as bad for first-timers.

Hugo emerged from the boy's dormitories then, before taking a seat beside us on the sofa. I wasn't quite sure why we were all waiting here instead of going ahead to The Burrow, but it was what we usually did- so, we waited.

Slowly- very slowly- the rest of my family (and a few fiancés) trickled in. The rabble didn't include Scorpius.

Somehow, I wasn't surprised. Of course he would blow me off, he was a jerk- I'd always known that.

Still, that didn't stop it from hurting just a little.

Al and Alice were the last to arrive.

"Finally!" Lily exclaimed loudly, before pushing through the crowd of cousins, grabbing a handful of floo powder, stepping into the fireplace and being engulfed by green flames.

Hugo followed after, then Louis.

"Rose, where's Scorp?" Al asked me. I replied with a shrug.

"But, you did tell him about today, right?" Alice joined in from Al's other side.

"Yeah."

"And he said he'd come?"

"Yeah."

Al frowned, then opened his mouth as if he was going to reply, but I was already heading to the fireplace. It wasn't a conversation I wanted to be a part of, so I was glad of the excuse to get away.

I clambered in the fireplace with ease, very practised by now, coughing slightly as the ashes flew up in little dark clouds around me. "The Burrow," I yelled clearly, throwing the powder to the floor and feeling that slight edge of fear as the green fire sprung up around me.

Moments later and I was stumbling into my Nana's kitchen, my head swimming from flooing and my feet unsteady on the solid ground.

The first thing I registered was the familiar and comforting smells of Nana Molly's cooking. Then, the tell-tale Burrow sounds- sizzling food, scraping chairs, idle chatter and somewhere- faintly- chickens clucking.

"Rosie" My dad shouted from the corner of the kitchen where he was slicing up a cucumber. He ran over and scooped me into a hug. I clung to him, partly because I had missed him, partly because if I let go I was sure I would collapse.

"Rose, you look positively green," my mum told me, joining my line of sight and putting a hand on my forehead. "Are you feeling ok?"

I waved her away as my dad let go, "I'm fine. It's just..." I gestured vaguely at the fireplace. "Flooing..."

"Ah," my mum nodded in understanding as I heard one of my cousins appear in the fireplace behind me. "I was never very good at travelling by floo powder either, dear."

I sat at the kitchen table until my stomach stopped turning and settled down- as soon as it did, my mind went to Malfoy. He had seemed so genuine the day before. I had almost respected his maturity in that moment.

But then he'd done this- not bothered to turn up like the conceited Slytherin that he is. I rolled my eyes at myself, why I was even wasting time thinking about him, I did not know.

I turned to where Nana Molly was busy cooking and preparing. "Is there anything I can do to help, Nana?"

She put on her muggle oven gloves, (a present from Grandpa Arthur) and took her casserole off of the fire. "Well, I tell you what dear," she replied, "I've sent James, Fred and Roxy out to deal with the gnomes in the garden, but- knowing those three- they could probably use some help."

"Ok," I stood up, happy for a distraction from the intrusive thoughts about a certain stuck-up Slytherin. I made my way outside and walked around the garden.

Fred was already lying on the grass, clutching his finger as James and Roxy stood over him- holding their stomachs and very obviously trying not to keel over from laughing.

"What's wrong?" I asked running over, slightly worried by the look of pain on Fred's face.

"Gnome..." James answered, speaking through gasps of air and laughter. "Bit... him."

I grinned at the now-humorous scene, turning to Fred and crouching down next to him in the dewy grass. "You know," I began, studying the bite on his finger. "Lorcan says gnome saliva is enormously beneficial."

This only made James and Roxy laugh harder- and I couldn't help but join in. When Fred made no move to get up, I rolled my eyes and fished my wand out of my pocket. "Tergeo", I muttered, pointing it at his finger and watching in satisfaction as the blood around the bite disappeared. "Reparifors." A small, purple-white light burst out of the end of my wand and landed on his bite. It began to sew itself back together in front of our eyes.

When it was done, the finger looked good as new. I couldn't help but smile in triumph- I didn't often get to use proper spells in real-life situations.

"Thanks Rose," Fred told me, inspecting his finger for a moment, before jumping to his feet. "Now, where is that buggar?" A worryingly crazed look lit up his eyes, right as he all but dived into the nearby rose bush.

I snorted with laughter and shook my head at my cousin's antics, before heading to the opposite end of the garden and reaching into a hedge. I ignored the scratchy leaves and gruff, gnome-like voice that uttered some un-repeatable words at me for disturbing his peace.

I peered in and snatched at the source of the crude swearing- grabbing a gnome and pulling him out of the thick vegetation- kicking and flailing and cursing.

"Good one Rose," Roxy called, from where she stood- hand fully submerged in a flowerbed.

"If you can get it past that tree stump, you'll be in the lead," James told me, indicating to a stump over the garden hedge and far into the field beyond. I grinned back at him, thrilled at the idea of a challenge and peaked over the hedge to see the tree stump. It was about 17m away.

"Who threw it that far?" I asked.

"Me," Fred raised his hand from where he still lay in the rose bush.

I grinned as he poked his head above the surface of the vegetation. Then, I stretched my arms back, ran forwards, and flung the gnome with all my strength. It landed just before the stump- then rolled past it.

"Woooh!" James and Roxy clapped as Fred shook his head vehemently.

"No, doesn't count, doesn't count." He assured us.

"C'mon big bro," Roxy said, ruffling his hair. "Don't be a sore loser."

I laughed and plonked down onto the grass. "So," I began, "where are you guys' partners-to-be?"

"Brannon has quidditch practice this morning," Roxy replied, practically rugby tackling a gnome that had peeked its head out from a cluster of tulips. "But he's coming a bit later."

"How is he? Do you like him?"

She shrugged in response. "He's a decent guy- pretty down-to-earth which is rare for these big-shot quidditch players. But, I'm not in love with him or anything- I think Fred might be though." She snorted as her brother made a sound of objection. "He keeps making up excuses to come round."

"You're already living with him then?" I asked, absentmindedly picking at the grass.

"Yeah... I know we were given two months to move in together, but I didn't see much point in waiting until the very last moment."

"What about you Fred? Where's... um-"

"Tara. She was out here helping us, just went to the bathroom a few minutes ago."

"James?"

My cousins face turned sullen quicker than I could have thought possible. He turned his gaze away from us and shrugged. "Dunno where she is."

"Is she coming today?"

"Yeah, said she was."

"She could have arrived already," Roxy interjected, "you should probably go check."

"No, I'm good," James replied, digging through another bush to emphasise the fact that he wasn't going.

"Fine," Roxy rolled her eyes exaggeratedly at me, "I'll go see."

I frowned at the situation, before clambering to my feet and brushing myself off. "I'll come," I told Roxy, following after her.

"So what's the deal?" I asked her when I was sure we were out of earshot. "With James and..."

"Daisy," Roxy supplied. "I don't know- he's been sulking ever since the law was instated. Refusing to move in with her, refusing to meet up, he doesn't even answer her owls. Or at least, if he does, it's only the bare minimum."

"Why? Doesn't he like her?"

"He doesn't even know her- isn't giving her a chance. I've met up with her a few times, she's so sweet. She won't say a bad word against James, despite the fact that he's acting like a toddler in a sour mood."

I frowned, thinking about the way James had reacted- not even wanting to check if she had arrived yet, despite the fact that she would be in a new place with only strangers. Usually, James was more sensitive than that. "Why is he acting like this?"

"He thinks it's unfair." Roxy rolls his eyes, "yes, this law is fucked up. But we're all going through the same thing. And at least he got paired with someone decent, you got put with Malfoy and you're taking it much better than he is."

I let out a bitter bark of laughter. But it was a little too real to be funny.

Besides, behind the scenes I was acting pretty similar to James.

Nana Molly was bustling around someone in the middle of the kitchen when we walked through the door. She was wearing a dress covered in daisies and had wild, curly hair and dark skin and eyes. She looked nervous out of her wits, but smiled when she looked up and saw Roxy.

"Roxanne!" She exclaimed, relief evident on her face. I didn't blame her, Nana could be stifling at the best of times, but with a new addition to her family- I shivered at the thought.

"Stop fussing, Nana," Roxy told Nana Molly as she crossed the room and hugged Daisy.

"Well, can't an old lady get excited to meet her future granddaughter in law," Nana replied, receiving a timid smile from Daisy and an exasperated look from Roxy. "Oh alright," She conceded, "I'll just be over here cooking lunch and not bothering anyone."

"Can I do anything to help, Mrs Weasley?" Daisy asked, repeatedly fixing her hair and flattening her dress anxiously.

"Oh no dear," Nana turned around and smiled. "You're very sweet to ask though. Roxy, why don't you take Daisy into the living room to meet everyone. I know Lily has been dying to meet her new sister-in-law."

"Ok, if Daisy's up for that." Roxy shot an inquisitive look at the girl in question, who nodded in response. "Well, let's go then. Oh, this is Rose, by the way, another cousin."

"Hi," I greeted, trying my most welcoming smile.

She offered me one in return, before following Roxy into the living room with me trailing behind.

Walking into the living room was how I imagined walking into a zoo would be like- if the animals were all confined to one burrow-sized cage. At least, the noise was similar.

Practically all my cousins and aunts and uncles were there, Granddad Arthur by the fireplace sitting next to Andromeda and scattered around the room were a few faces I didn't quite recognise. Dom was making googly eyes at Byron as he told her an animated story- and Vic and Teddy were in the corner, conversing in low voices.

"Everyone!" Roxy yelled over the din, silencing the room and attracting everyone's attention (no easy feat in the Weasley household). "This is Daisy."

There was a quiet pause for a moment as everyone digested the information and name. Then suddenly, "Daisy!" A blur of ginger and green ran across the room and barreled into her, trapping her in a hug. Daisy let out a soft, 'oof', before hugging Lily back.

"Oh, it's so lovely to meet you." Ginny rose from where she was sitting, "I'm Ginny Potter."

Lily stepped back, letting Daisy breath only for a moment before Ginny engulfed her soon-to-be daughter-in-law in a motherly hug of her own.

"Lovely to meet you, Mrs Potter."

"Oh, please, call me Ginny."

"Alright, you can let go now dear," Harry said to his wife as he rose from an armchair. "I think you're stifling poor Daisy."

Ginny grinned and pulled away, allowing Harry to offer his hand to Daisy. "Lovely to meet you, I'm Harry Potter."

She shook his hand and I saw in her eyes the look I'd seen in the eyes of hundreds' of others when they first met the Boy Who Lived. "I'm glad I could finally meet you all." She said, keeping her voice steady and making an effort to rid the awe from her gaze.

"We're glad too," Harry replied, green eyes twinkling. "So, tell us about yourself, where do you work?"

"Well-" Daisy began, obviously relaxing into the atmosphere at The Burrow, when she was interrupted.

"FOOD'S READY!" Nana Molly's shout was in no way muffled by the door separating us from the kitchen. As soon as she'd spoken, a cheer went up around the room and we were scrambling for the door like a pack of rabid dogs. We piled out of the kitchen and into the garden, where the table had already been set thanks to the insanely effective domestic magic of Molly Weasley.

We sat down and started scrabbling, grabbing plates and potatoes and I'm pretty sure James stabbed Fred with his fork at some point. The new additions to the table- and, I suppose, the family- were looking utterly bewildered.

Apart from Alice, of course, who was well practised in the art of eating with Weasleys.

I had somehow found myself wedged between Daisy and Aunt Angelina, so I snatched a potato from the middle of the table with my fork and dropped it onto Daisy's so far empty plate.

"Thanks," she replied, offering me a small smile.

We ate and talked well into the afternoon- everyone getting to know the new additions to the family. Everyone except James, who said perhaps two words to Daisy the whole meal and otherwise sat there with a sullen face, ignoring the not-so-subtle hints from Ginny to make an effort and talk to his fiance.

Brannon arrived half-way through the meal, not surprisingly causing quite a disruption with the Weasleys. My dad turned as red as his hair as he greeted Roxy's fiance and I couldn't help but humour myself with the idea that my dad would have much prefered Brannon as a son-in-law.

Still- at least he was coming into the family.

The early chills of a day ending were creeping up on us when Victoire and Teddy finally stood from the table and shouted for everyone's attention.

"I know it's getting cold," Teddy began, "so we wanted to say this before we all head inside." He looked at Vic and beamed, the ends of his hair turning pink with glee.

Vic looked around the table, lingering on the tension in the air for dramatic effect, before clapping her hands together and letting her face break out into a vision of pure happiness, "We're pregnant!"

Gasps went up around the table and then everyone was shouting and yelling and cheering, Fleur practically climbed over the table to hug her daughter and Uncle Bill wasn't far behind. Andromeda seemed to be on cloud nine, she was beaming from ear to ear and repeating, "A great-grandmother. A great-grandmother," over and over again.

I hugged Vic and Teddy together, "I'm so happy for you guys," I told them, my mind already racing. Their child would be part veela, part metamorphmagus.

I beamed and pulled back, making way for the rest of my family.

We went in after that, the buzz from the news following us inside and into the warmth of the living room. I was just settling into my game of Wizard's chess with Hugo- thinking about how successful the day had been- when a commotion sounded from inside the kitchen.

The room fell silent, frowning in confusion until the door opened seconds later and in stepped a blonde-haired silver-eyed Slytherin.

The silence didn't cease as he revealed himself, instead, it just grew more intense. Perhaps it only lasted a few seconds, but like in most tense situations- the seconds just seemed to stretch and stretch.

"Sorry I'm late." He said curtly.

The silence lingered for a moment longer before Al jumped up, "Scorp." He greeted his friend and made his way over to clap him on the back.

The chatter started uneasily back up again and I turned back to my game with Hugo. After all, Malfoy at the Burrow wasn't previously unheard of- but now we were in a slightly different situation.

I looked up at my brother to see him grinning wickedly at me from across the chess board. I frowned, casting him a questioning glance, but I didn't have a chance to open my mouth to ask him about what he was smiling at before he opened his own annoyingly loud one.

"Oi, Malfoy," He called to the new arrival, "I'm gonna ask if Nan has any leftovers, will you fill in for me?"

I swore fiercely under my breath and cast him the most hateful look I could muster- but it didn't seem to faze in the slightest as he just grinned back at me, got up, and left.

I frowned, already feeling a blush creep up my face and focusing my gaze fixedly on my chess pieces- trying to seem like I was completely concentrated on the game.

I saw him sit down opposite me, but didn't raise my eyes to acknowledge him.

There was a moment of silence before he spoke, "Ignoring me are you, Weasley?" He asked, humour dripping from his voice. Three seconds in and he was already poking fun at me.

I bit my tongue to stop a snarky response from escaping. "Nope," I replied, trying to keep my voice nonchalant.

He snorted, indicating how little he believed me. "Ok sure." He made his move on the chess board, letting the silence stretch a moment longer before speaking again. "So why are you mad at me this time? Is it because I was late. Didn't you hear me say I was sorry?"

I rolled my eyes and looked at him directly in the face. "I'm not mad at you, I just don't like you very much." I turned my attention back to the chess pieces on the board and felt rather than saw him rolling his eyes. "Why were you late anyway?" I asked, keeping my tone light to prove how little it affected me.

He didn't answer for a moment, so I moved my piece to fill the silence. I was beginning to think he would just ignore my question- which would probably mean he had been off with some girl. Then, he replied, "My Grandma had a bad day."

I didn't speak for a moment, taken aback by the response- it wasn't what I had been expecting at all. Eventually, I let out a soft "oh". I felt all the bitterness that had built up inside me throughout the day dissipate. "Is she... is she okay now?"

He moved his chess piece, before shrugging and replying noncommittally, "yeah."

I didn't quite believe him, but I didn't push it.

"Rose!" Someone exclaimed before plopping down to sit beside me. I turned to face Dom, who clutched onto my face. "Rose," she repeated, quieter this time.

"Dom," I replied, mimicking her tone- it was obvious she was drunk. Which was surprising at a family event, but this was Dom... she was a seasoned drinker. She could drink most of the Weasley's under the table- and often did.

"Rose, look, me and Byron are going to..." she seemed to lose her train of thought then and let her gaze fall to the floor- her brow furrowed in confusion. I cast a bemused look at Malfoy, to see that he was watching my cousin with a look of half amusement, half confusion.

"Rose," Dom said again, "listen to me!" She pulled my head back around to face her. "This is really really important."

"Ok," I told her, figuring that I should just go with it. "What is it?"

"Me and Byron," she giggled as she cast a glance at her fiance- who currently sat on the other side of the room in a conversation with Louis. "We're getting married." She stopped, and I waited a few seconds but she didn't continue- she just looked at me expectantly.

"That's... great Dom, but we already knew-"

"Shhh." She interrupted me, putting a wobbly finger to my lips and rolling her eyes exaggeratedly, "you didn't let me finish. We're getting married on Sunday!"

"That's great Dom," I repeated my words, much more earnestly this time. But honestly, was it? If Dom and Byron had fallen in love the normal way, without the law, I would definitely not think them getting married so soon was great.

But anyway, I didn't voice those thoughts.

"And," she continued dramatically, "I want you to be my bridesmaid because I'm doing the whole white magical wedding thing. I know you said you wanted a register office wedding Rose, but I don't want that so I'm doing this and you have to be my bridesmaid."

I felt my cheeks heat slightly and snuck a glance at Malfoy to see if he had heard, but his attention appeared to be on something across the room. Not that that meant he hadn't heard.

Rationally, I didn't need to be embarrassed about him hearing what I had said to Dom about our wedding. Irrationally, I was anyway.

I turned my attention back to my cousin. "I'd love to be your bridesmaid Dom, but... Sunday is only a week away. How are you going to pull off a big white wedding in seven days?"

She shrugged, her eyes glazing over slightly, which I suppose had something to do with the alcohol in her system. "Don't know, but I'm gonna have to aren't I?"

"You could change the date, give yourself two weeks, or three," I suggested.

She rolled her eyes at me again, "I would love to, but the deadline is on Monday, silly. Everyone has to get married before that."

I felt my heart fall into my stomach as I looked back to Malfoy with a sense of panic, he had definitely heard this time, his eyes had snapped to Dom and I suppose he was shocked too, but he didn't really show emotion in the same way as normal humans.

"Monday?" I repeated, "as in, the Monday that's a week away?"

"Yees," she drew the word out, exasperation evident in her slightly slurred tone.

I met Malfoy's gaze, but his eyes were unreadable.

"Oh," I replied, as nothing else came to mind. How had I forgotten? How had something that important just slipped my mind?

She paused a second, looking between me and Malfoy, before shrugging her shoulders and bouncing to her feet. "Well, I have to tell everyone else now." She told me, then she left, swaying slightly as she walked.

There was another moment of silence as I thought of what to say to Malfoy. How did I start a conversation like this? 'Hey Malfoy, I know we hate each other, but apparently we have a week to get married... so?' Somehow, that didn't seem quite right. As it turned out, my musings were for nothing as he was the one who spoke first.

"Friday," he told me, snapping my attention to him.

I paused, giving him time to continue, but apparently that was all he had intended to say.

"Care to elaborate?" I prompted, my tone laced with sarcasm.

"Let's do it on Friday." This time, I knew exactly what he meant. "After classes, or during- I'm sure McGonagall won't mind. At the ministry... we can sign a few papers and it'll be done." He spoke simply, as if talking of a business deal or contract, but his eyes didn't meet my gaze.

It'll be done, as in I'll be Mrs Malfoy.

No, I would keep my name, that I was adamant about. I knew Malfoy would probably disapprove, or at least his dad would. But in a way, that made the prospect all the more appealing.

I moved my chess piece, more for something to do than anything else, before eventually nodding. Then, for something to lighten the mood, "It's not exactly the romantic proposal I always dreamed of, but I'll take it."

He smirked in response to my joke and I shook my head internally. Joking with Scorpius Malfoy, what had the world come to?

He moved his chess piece, but I wasn't paying close attention. Not until he said, "Checkmate." My eyes snapped to the board, expecting to see him having made a mistake, but he was right.

"That doesn't count!" I cried, letting my Granger competitiveness shine through.

"How?" He replied, smirking coolly at me from across the table.

"You distracted me," I told him.

He raised an eyebrow. "Well, I apologise for that Weasley, but unfortunately I can't turn off my Godly charm and good-looks, no matter how distracting they may be."

I rolled my eyes, "rematch?"

"Sure," he shrugged, "as long as you don't mind getting beaten again."

I grinned, accepting the challenge as I reset the board.

A/N: Sorry again for the long wait, like really long wait. I hope you enjoyed the chapter anyway. Did anyone pick up on the symbolism of the last sentence? I hope so, though it's quite obtuse so probably not. :)