Celebrations and Tribulations

"…so then Steven said I was more good looking than Lucy but less than Belinda!" Annabel whined, Scorpius backed out of the room and Ruby saw her mother smile.

"What am I supposed to do?"

"Concentrate on Muggle Studies?" Immy suggested, stroking Crumbs and yawning. The twins had just been dropped off by Aunt Hermione and Annabel had immediately lapsed into her latest love life dramas.

"I was in Transfiguration!"

"Then definitely concentrate on Transfiguration." Ruby's mother said.

"I got an O on my last essay, and Immy did, we got exactly the same mark!"

"Did you copy?" Ruby asked.

"No, we didn't even do it together, it was weird."

"Hmm, maybe your bond is finally waking up. Anyway, pizza or Chinese tonight?" Her mother asked.

"Chinese!" Said Annabel and Immy at the same time, Ruby snorted.

"I'm going to say hi to Scorpius, you scared him off." Ruby stood up and found Scorpius pulling off his Healing student robes and hanging them up in the living room.

"Hey, how was your day?" She asked, kissing him.

"Dulls-ville, I couldn't concentrate."

"You were worrying about tomorrow."

"Yeah, I really don't want you there. Please?"

"How about I wait in the Auror office until you're finished?" Ruby suggested, she wanted to be there for him but she knew how worried he was about his grandfather saying something derogatory.

"Deal, what time are you off?"

"Two hours, come for a run with me?"

"Sure, let me say hi to you sisters and get changed." Ruby nodded and when she had changed into her running gear she walked into the kitchen and saw her mother looking bored as the twins and Scorpius talked about Quidditch.

"You going running?" She asked, looking at Ruby in a way that made her feel sure that her mother thought she had put on weight.

"Yeah, just a couple of miles, we won't be long."

"I'll get changed." Scorpius said, leaving the kitchen.

"Don't do too much Ruby." Her mother said softly.

"Why? Aren't you doing the marathon again with Uncle Dudley?" Immy asked, looking at Ruby.

"Not this year, I haven't had enough time to train." Ruby replied, not looking at her family.

"Is Vic doing it?" Her mother asked.

"No, like I said we haven't had time to train."

"I want to do it one year, when I leave Hogwarts." Annabel said, more to herself that to the others.

"Ready to go?" Scorpius asked, Ruby nodded and when they were in the front garden they stretched quickly.

"No more than four miles, you've got work and…"

"I know, you're just like Mom!"

"Does she suspect?" Scorpius whispered.

"Probably, come on, I'll race you to the corner!"

They ran around the village raced back to the cottage, Scorpius won and when Ruby caught up she could hear the sounds of laughter from the house.

"I won!" Scorpius said, pulling her in for a kiss.

"I know, I'm out of shape, I threw up in a hedge and that lost me a couple of minutes."

"You should have called me back."

"Not a chance, come on, that sounds like Vic." When the entered the cottage there was not only Vic but also Aunt Fleur and Uncle Bill.

"Hey guys, cats out of the bag." Vic said, laughing.

"Told you it wouldn't be long." Ruby replied, smiling.

"Champagne!" Uncle Bill said, putting a bottle on the table. "And alcohol free for Vic!"

"And me, I'm working soon." Ruby replied, glad of the excuse.

They toasted Vic and then Ruby had a quick shower, when she returned to the kitchen most of the family were there, Grandma was crying and laughing at the same time.

"Oh, isn't it wonderful, Ruby?"

"It is, hey guys, sorry I can't stop."

"Hang on, I need to ask you something about Pox." Vic said, moving through the kitchen. When they entered the living room Ruby saw her cousin put up a privacy charm.

"Spill, Rubes!" She said, pointing at her.

"What?"

"Fine, eat this." She produced a cookie, Ruby had to half way to her mouth when the smell of cinnamon reached her.

"Oh crap, come on Vic, I kept your secret!"

"YAY! Oh my god, this is so exciting! How far along?"

"Only seven weeks, we haven't told anyone, please don't!"

"Of course I won't, I can't wait till you come back to Grimmauld Place!" Vic was practically bouncing off the walls and when Ruby arrived at work she was in a very good mood.

"Evening Weasley." The sight of Walker sat at Scorpius' desk almost dampened her good mood.

"Evening Walker, what are you doing back here?"

"Kyle failed me."

"Well, you did nearly kill someone." Ruby replied, putting down her bag and switching on the kettle.

The office door opened and Kyle walked out of his inner office with the Head of the training programme.

"Oh hello Ruby." Kyle said, apparently they had now officially moved past him calling her Weasley.

"Good evening sirs. Would you like a drink?"

"No thank you, Miss Weasley. I was most impressed by your exam result."

"Thank you sir."

"How is your mother recovering?"

"She's getting there, she's hoping to start on the project again within a month but she's already made some alterations that Healer Shacklebolt and me are implementing. Getting Mom to stop thinking is a bit tricky."

"I can imagine! Well, give her my best. Walker this is your last chance, if you fail you'll be out of the programme I don't care who your parents are!" The Head Healer walked out of the office leaving an embarrassed Walker in his wake.

"Coffee please, Ruby. I've left a complicated hex injury in seven for you."

"Oh thanks, I'll just make the drinks."

"Take Walker with you, hands-off observer."

"Of course sir." Ruby made the drinks and took the coffee into Kyle.

She then put her tea on her desk and picked up her wand.

"Come on."

"My name is Steven."

"Thanks for the update, come on." Walker followed her looking disgruntled and when they entered room seven they found a young witch in considerable distress. Her legs were now a mermaid tail.

"It was just supposed to make them shimmer!" She wailed.

"Try not to worry, Miss…Nile, we'll get to the bottom of it. Are you in pain?"

"No but it's so itchy!"

"I'll give you a Potion for the itching and then I'll have a closer look." Ruby walked over to the Potion cabinet and started preparing the potion, Walker followed her.

"I7, twenty milligrams?" He asked.

"Yes." Ruby replied, annoyed that he was right.

"I can prepare…"

"Hands-off, Walker. You can fill in the paperwork, find out what the spell was." Walker grumbled but snatched up the clipboard and started taking details.

After ten minutes the woman was transferred to Spell Damage to wait for the antidote to be created in the Potion department and Ruby returned to the office with Walker.

She sat at her desk, re-heated her tea and took a long sip before picking up the maternity book that Scorpius had bought for her.

She was quite alarmed to learn about all the things that she couldn't eat, it was going to be bad enough avoiding cinnamon! The book also warned her about a number of spells that she could no longer use. With a sigh she put the book away and went to knock on Kyle's door.

"Sir, I need to talk to you about something, do you have a moment?"

"Of course, come in." Ruby sat down and glanced behind her, Kyle took the hint and turned the glass wall to black to afford them some privacy.

"What is it?"

"I…I'm not going to be able to do the resuscitation spell for a while, I'm sorry."

"I see, is there any reason for this?" Kyle asked, Ruby could tell he had already guessed, his eyes had already flitted to her stomach.

"I'm pregnant, we haven't told anyone yet, Penny found out when Umbridge…"

"Oh how wonderful! Congratulations dear, Scorpius must be delighted!"

"Thank you sir, he is. We aren't announcing it…"

"Of course not, wait till ten weeks, how far are you?"

"Seven, what do I do about the spell?"

"Oh, we can connect the alert spell to Bites and Stings, it's common practice, no one will suspect anything! I assume you'll want to move to clinics when you are further along?"

"Yes, but not for long, I love it here."

"We'll sort everything out, don't worry…"

A knock at the door disturbed them and when Kyle removed the privacy charms and a very upset looking Rosie was on the other side of it.

"Is that one of your cousins?" Kyle asked as Ruby stood up and opened the door.

"Yes…Rosie, are you okay?"

"Yeah, everyone's fine, don't worry…I just…"

"Take a break Ruby, I'll send a message if we need you."

When Ruby sat Rosie down in the completely empty canteen Rosie broke down completely.

"Rosie, what's happened?" Ruby asked, rubbing her cousin's back gently.

"It's…it's Josh! He…he…"

"He what? Is he hurt? Or ill?"

"No….well I cursed him a bit but…"

"What happened?!" Ruby gasped, Rosie had a temper but was more likely to shout than to curse.

"I got back from my shift early and…he was in bed with the next-door neighbour!"

"Oh, Rosie!" Ruby sighed, pulling Rosie into a hug.

"I…I was…he just asked why I was home…"

"Bastard, I'm so sorry, Rosie!"

"I didn't know where to go so…I just came here!"

"I'll take you home…."

"No, I can't face my parents!"

"How about Aunt Ginny? She'll list curses for you."

"Perfect." Ruby walked her cousin to the Floo-point and then watched her Floo to Godrics Hollow. When she returned to the office Kyle asked her to treat another patient, when she arrived there was a small child with a bucket stuck on it's head.

"It's got bleach in it!" The mother wailed.

"I'll just get a Paediatric healer down here and we'll have it off in no time." Ruby said, when Amber arrived in the room Ruby was delighted.

"Hey Rubes, what do we have here?"

"Milly here has a bleach lined bucket stuck to her head."

"Oh dear, that won't do will it?" Ruby had never heard Amber use her child-patient voice, she appeared to have learnt a lot from Penny.

"Do you have the bleach bottle, Mrs…"

"Mackenzie. No, shall I get it?"

"Can you remember what it was?" Ruby asked, knowing that Milly would not be happy being abandoned by her mother.

"Yes, Mrs Dougal's Magical Mess Remover, I spilt a cauldron of Pepper-up."

"I'll get the leaflet, Amber." Ruby said, the smell of bleach was making her feel queasy so on the way to the archives she popped into the bathroom and splashed some water on her face.

When she returned with the leaflet Amber was playing a clapping game with the still-bucketed-Milly.

"Here we go, it's got quite a lot of ingredients, I'll prepare an oxygen pump, shall we get a Cleansing potion? Do they do a paeds one?"

"No, we'll have to dilute, 10 to 2 with C4. Calming patch as well." Amber looked up at Ruby and mimed 'injection', they would have to put a numbing patch on Milly's arm and then inject her with a calming potion before she noticed anything.

"We better sort out a bed, I think we've got one…"

"She'll have to stay in?" The mother wailed.

"I'm afraid so, bleach is toxic we'll need to do a blood cleansing procedure, it's standard practice though. I can arrange a bed for you to stay in if you'd like?" Amber asked, standing up and summoning a clipboard. Ruby started preparing the potions.

"So, I heard Scorpius is doing a summer internship in Paeds." Amber said, coming and filling in the paperwork next to Ruby.

"Yeah, have you managed to sort out a move to Obs?"

"Amazingly, yes. I've got another two weeks and then I'm transferring, the Obs intern is moving to Paeds, thank Merlin!" Ruby laughed and they chatted quietly as they prepared the procedures.

When they were ready they calmed Milly down so that she was almost asleep and then Ruby vanished the bucket and Amber worked quickly to minimize the damage left by the bleach. It took a further hour before Ruby could officially sign off the child to Paeds and Amber escorted them after making plans to have lunch with Ruby the following week.

Ruby returned to the office and spent the rest of the night shift sleeping in the campbed, they had a few patients but Kyle was happy to take Walker and Ruby managed to get a few hours sleep, all of them involved nightmares of the following day's trial.

At seven am Ruby floo-ed back to Wales and when she went into her bedroom Scorpius was awake in the bed, just staring at nothing.

"Hey, are you okay?" Ruby asked, moving over to him. Scorpius jumped and then let out a frustrated sigh.

"Yeah… fine, good shift?"

"Did you get any sleep?" Ruby asked, pulling off her boots and robes.

"Off and on." Scorpius replied.

"What time have you got to be at the Ministry?"

"Ten, I'm meeting Mum and Dad in Bath at nine for breakfast." Ruby slipped into Scorpius' old Quidditch T-shirt and climbed into the bed next to him. He was still sat straight up so Ruby eased him down and nestled into him.

"It's going to be okay, Aunt Hermione is going to make sure…"

"I know Rubes…just…just…"

Scorpius started crying softly and Ruby sat up and wiped away his tears.

"Just let me hold you." He whispered, Ruby nodded and rolled over. Scorpius put his arm around her waist and held her tightly, his hand stroking her stomach softly and his mouth kissing her lightly.

Ruby drifted off the sleep and she was woken a few hours later by her mother.

"Ruby, time to wake up."

"Mom?"

"Yes, sorry to wake you but you said you wanted to go…"

"Yeah, I know." Scorpius had already left, Ruby sat up and looked across at the space he had left, her mother sat on the edge of the bed looking at Ruby carefully.

"I'm worried about him."

"I know, hopefully by tonight it will all be sorted out, uncertainty always makes these things worse." Ruby nodded and looked back at her mother.

"How are you feeling?"

"Well, thank you. Did you have a good shift?" Ruby nodded and then looked over at her desk, she could just see a picture of her parents from years ago.

"Have you heard from Dad?"

"Yes, I spoke to him through the mirror this morning, he sends you and Scorpius his best."

"Does he know when he'll be back?"

"Friday, the deal is being finalised today. Ron's coming back too so it should be a full house at the Burrow on Sunday…"

"I'm working." Ruby said, blushing only slightly. She had swapped shifts to make sure she was working for the next few Sundays.

"Oh, that's a shame."

"Penny wants to work with the Longbottoms again, she's been off this week, Umbridge made things a bit foggy apparently." Her mother nodded and then smiled slightly.

"I had a dream last night, a memory dream.."

"A nightmare?" Ruby asked, concerned.

"No, just a memory. Do you remember when Annabel asked me and your Dad when we first said 'I love you' and we couldn't remember?"

"Yes, she was horrified." Ruby replied with a laugh.

"Well, I remembered."

"Really? When was it?"

"Fifth year, when Umbridge was at the school, she was holding me in detention every night for not speaking and taking all of Gryffindor's house points…"

"Merlin, every night?"

"Yes, Minerva was livid but I told her to stay out of it, anyway…Fred and I were in the common room and he had a letter from Percy…don't mention this to anyone, Ruby?"

"Of course."

"Well, at that time Percy was with the Ministry, right in Fudge's pocket. He sent Fred a letter advising him to break up with me, I was so upset and Fred told me that Percy was an idiot and that he's sooner do what Draco Malfoy wanted him to do than Percy…" Ruby snorted and her mother smiled before continuing "…and then he said that he wasn't going to leave me, and that he loved me. I said it back, Umbridge had a hand in that, not that she intended to, of course."

"She was horrible." Ruby said, she was about to continue when she suddenly felt a wave nausea.

"Sorry Mom, I need the loo." Ruby scrambled out of bed, forgetting that she was only wearing a T-shirt and scurried to the bathroom. She shut the door so hard that it bounced open again and then threw up.

When she was finished she washed her face, brushed her teeth quickly and then walked back into the bedroom. Her mother was still sat on the bed with a small smile on her face.

"Right, I better get dressed." Ruby said, avoiding her mother's gaze.

"Yes, I'll ask the girls to make breakfast, we'll skip the waffles today." Her mother hobbled out of the room and Ruby waited until the door was shut before biting her lip and sinking back onto the bed, her mother definitely knew.

When Ruby had dressed, in her favourite green tartan dress, she walked downstairs and into the kitchen. Annabel and Immy were both in a pancake flipping stance.

"Hey Ruby, watch!" Immy flipped a pancake and it nearly hit the ceiling before flopping back into the pan.

"I can get it higher!" Annabel insisted, her attempt hit the window and her mother levitated it back into the pan.

"We're making pancakes." Immy said, putting a cooked one on a huge pile.

"I guessed that, funnily enough." Ruby said, sitting down and accepting a cup of tea that her mother poured for her.

"We've ran out of cinnamon though, I couldn't find it, sorry." Annabel said, putting a jar of Nutella on the table. Ruby casually glanced at her mother, they always had cinnamon in the house. Always.

"I'm not very hungry, thanks though. I'll just have cereal."

"We wanted to make Waffles, to show our support, but Mom didn't want them." Annabel said, clearly worried that Ruby would be upset.

"It's okay, I ate at work."

"So, is the trial going to be finished by tonight?" Immy asked.

"Probably, Aunt Hermione said it was pretty straight-forward with Lucius, Narcissa is probably going to be more complicated."

"We should have a big dinner tonight, to celebrate…"

"I think you should stay with Scorpius tonight, Ruby. Go to his flat, I asked Harry to stop over, he doesn't mind." Ruby's mother said, reaching out to take Ruby's hand. Ruby nodded.

"Thanks Mom, he'll like that. I'll cook a special dinner."

"Buy some champagne!" Annabel said, suddenly looking serious. "And strawberries dipped in chocolate, you could get some cinnamon topping. Then light some…"

"Alright Annabel, I'm sure Ruby knows how to make a special dinner."

"I know, I was just suggesting how to make things more romantic…"

"His grandfather is going into prison, I don't think romance will be the top of his agenda." Ruby interrupted, looking at the clock. It was quarter to ten.

"Are you watching the trial?" Her mother asked.

"No, I promised Scorpius I'd wait for him in the Auror office, he doesn't want me there."

"He'll be worried about what Lucius might say, don't worry."

"Will you be watching?" Ruby asked, her eyes twitching up to her mother's head, the bond would give her access.

"I doubt Harry would let me, I'll probably get the highlights."

Ruby ate half a bowl of cereal and then Floo-ed to the Ministry. When she arrived she saw Scorpius and his parents talking to Uncle Harry, Scorpius spotted her and walked over.

"Hey, thanks for coming."

"As if I wouldn't, are you ready?" Ruby had never seen Scorpius look so nervous.

"No but, it doesn't matter."

"Uncle Harry's staying in Wales tonight, we can stay at your flat, I'll cook dinner." Scorpius almost smiled.

"Thanks Rubes." Uncle Harry signalled that it was time to go down, Scorpius nodded in acknowledgement and then hugged Ruby tightly.

"I love you." She whispered.

"I love you both." He replied, and then kissed her briefly and walked over to the lifts, pulling Ruby along.

"Hey Uncle Harry, Mr and Mrs Malfoy."

"You're not watching are…"

"No, no need to tell Mum, I'm waiting in the Auror office, James said he'll buy me lunch." Ruby replied, rolling her eyes.

"Oh good, tell James he can take a long lunch."

"Will do." The lift stopped and the Malfoy's and Harry walked out, Scorpius squeezed her hand tightly and the walked out.

"Good luck." Ruby said, quietly. Mr Malfoy nodded and almost-smiled with the exact same expression as his son.

The lift door closed and the waiting started.

A/N So the trial is finally here, any guesses on the outcome?

The editing of the Words series has now finished, check my profile for new scenes!

Hunger Games fans please read and review my new Johanna Mason story- Against the Grain.

LUG-14- Yep, Eliza already hid the cinnamon! Yep I definitely recommend the Hunger Games books, and the Gone series by Michael Grant, they are amazing!

xXMizz Alec VolturiXx- As I said above, she's already suspicious!