Chapter 41- Cinnamon
It was almost six when Scorpius woke Ruby up, she had been snoozing on the first draft of her research project.
"How did it go?" Ruby asked, waking up instantly and sitting up, Scorpius looked paler than usual and a redness around his eyes told her that he had been crying.
"Azkaban, rest of his life." Scorpius said, pulling a sugar quill off Ruby's cheek.
"What about…?"
"Raynards, rest of her life." Raynards was a smaller wizarding prison built after the war, it usually held criminals of lesser crimes such as tax evasion and non-violent crimes.
"Raynards? She just watched you…"
"It's okay, I just want to go home." Scorpius said, running his hand through his hair.
"But…"
"Please Rubes." He whispered, the door of the office opened and Harry walked in with Hermione and Ruby's Grandpa.
"Raynards!" Ruby yelled, standing up quickly and glaring at her Uncle.
"I'm sorry…" Hermione began but Ruby was too angry to be placated.
"Raynards! For not stopping someone get tortured, again!"
"Ruby, it's what the court decided…"
"I don't care, it's a bloody joke!" Scorpius slipped his arm around Ruby and started steering her out of the office. Her Uncle Harry waved his wand and her research folder sealed itself and soared into her bag.
"You've been under a lot of stress lately, Ruby…"
"No I haven't!" Ruby lied, almost bursting into tears. Her grandpa sighed and pulled her into a hug, Scorpius stepped back.
"Ruby you've been stabbed, you've seen Scorpius hurt, Teddy's on a mission, you've had your exams, you've dealt with Umbridge, you've looked after your mother…all in a few months! Take some time for yourself." He rubbed Ruby's back and she hiccoughed before looking back at her Aunt and Uncle.
"It's not fair." She said quietly.
"I know Ruby, believe me, I know." Hermione said softly.
"Go and have a nice evening, I'm staying with Eliza, just go and be young!" Harry said, trying to smile.
"Come on, we'll pick up a takeaway." Scorpius said, putting his hand in the small of Ruby's back, she sniffed and nodded.
When they arrived back at Scorpius' flat he put the food on the coffee table and grabbed some knives and forks from the kitchen.
"I can't be bothered with plates." He said, sitting down next to Ruby and passing her a fork. She went straight for the beef chow mein. They ate in silence for a few minutes and then Ruby turned to her boyfriend.
"Was it awful?" She asked. Scorpius nodded and put down his fork.
"I had to answer loads of questions, about the family, about you…"
"About me?"
"Yeah, how we got together and how the families reacted. Don't worry Hermione made sure the press were out for my testimony, it won't be in the papers."
"I don't care about the papers. How was your Dad?"
"Pretty quiet, he had to give evidence too, he told Lucius that he's going to burn down the Manor and then things got ugly, they had to silence him…god, he just kept screaming about blood purity and the family name and…"
"Oh Scorpius, I'm so sorry. I'm sorry I got upset as well…"
"I like that you got upset about me being upset." Scorpius said with a small smile, Ruby laughed and the continued to eat.
After Scorpius vanished the remains of the dinner Ruby put her legs on his lap and lay on the sofa, he rubbed small circles on her feet and she felt the stress of the past few weeks disintegrating.
"I wish every night was like this." She whispered, closing her eyes.
"It will be, as soon as Teddy's home. What are you going to tell Alice?"
"The truth, the pregnancy will be out by then anyway, she'll understand, I hope."
"I'm going to run a bath." Scorpius stood up and placed Ruby's legs back on the sofa. She drifted off to sleep and was woken a few minutes later by Scorpius lifting her up.
"Ready for a bath?" He asked.
"I thought it was for you." She replied, looping her hands around his neck.
"It is." Ruby smiled and softly rubbed his shoulder as he carried her.
"Careful, I might drop you." He replied, smiling slightly. They entered the bathroom and he placed her on the bench, they both undressed quickly and then Scorpius lifted Ruby up and lowered her into the water, he followed moments later and moved behind her, pulling her onto his lap.
"Look, I can feel a bump coming." Ruby said, drawing his hand to her stomach. He smiled and stroked it lightly.
"I don't think we need to worry about people noticing yet."
"Mom suspects, she hid the cinnamon this morning."
"Well, there's only a few more weeks, I don't think she'll tell anyone, will she?"
"No, she hasn't even spoken to me about it." Ruby replied, the water was so relaxing and Scorpius had put a coconut bubble bath in it, it smelled just like him.
Ruby turned around and put her hands on his chest before leaning in to kiss him, he wrapped his arms around her and pushed his tongue gently into her mouth.
Ruby moved her hands, putting one around his neck and the other on his shoulder. She could feel the tension of the day, she pulled away.
"Let me give you a massage, you need it." She said, he smiled and let go of her so she could slip behind him.
"You're an angel." He said, she moved and sat on the back of the bath step, Scorpius perched onto the edge of it and Ruby hooked her legs around his waist, anchoring him to her.
She started rubbing his left shoulder, working out the kinks and bumps, he relaxed into her and started to breathe evenly, when she moved over to his right shoulder he moaned, she smiled and pushed harder, knowing exactly which point turned him on.
"Rubes, you're killing me." He moaned.
"I'm trying to relax you."
"Liar, you know exactly…" Ruby pushed once more and Scorpius pulled away and turned around swiftly, his eyes were full of want.
He kissed her softly on the mouth and put one hand on the small of her back, pulling her towards him. She moaned as his hardness graced her centre, he entered her quickly and within a few minutes it was all over.
He relaxed onto her and she knew he was crying, she rubbed his back and held him, waiting for him to cry himself out.
When he had he stepped out of the bath, without saying anything, and wrapped himself in a towel and then put his hand out to help Ruby up.
A few minutes later they were both lying on Scorpius' enormous bed, staring at the ceiling.
"Can I redecorate in here?" Ruby asked, looking around. "It's too green."
"There is no such thing as too green."
"Of course there is, it reminds me of Aunt Minnie's Manor…"
"Professor McGonagall has green decorations in her manor?"
"Yeah, well, it's green tartan, her family colours or something like that…"
"Well, I never, it's always the most Gryffindor's that are secretly Slytherin's…"
"Ha-ha! Not at chance, Aunt Minnie is more Gryffindor than…my mother!" Ruby finished, after fishing around in her head for the bravest person she knew.
"That is very Gryffindor."
"So, can I redecorate?"
"As long as it's not red, or pink…"
"Have you ever seen me wear pink?"
"No, no I haven't." Scorpius had a strange look cross his face.
"Are you imagining me in pink underwear?"
"Maybe. I'll buy you some. Anyway, what colours?"
"I don't mind green but it's just a bit dark in here, maybe a lighter green, or yellow. I could ask Mom to make a new window, she's amazing at making illusional windows."
"I thought her thing was walls."
"Oh, it is, or it was. She doesn't really do them anymore."
"Really? Why?"
"She'll do little ones, temporary things if Dad needs her to but…she won't do brick one's anymore. Dad was hurt by one in the war, they tried to trap him under a wand wall to send a message to Mom and…she doesn't like to do brick ones anymore." Ruby finished lamely, she had never really had the whole story about her mother's affinity with walls.
"But…the memorial wall?"
"Yeah, mom did that one just before she jumped, it was wandless and everything. They've never had to reinforce it, it's the strongest magical wall in the world, witches and wizards come from all over the world to see it."
"I haven't really spent much time there."
"I have, it's one of my thinking places."
"How many thinking places do you have?"
"A few. Anyway, I'm knackered." Ruby snuggled down and Scorpius extinguished the light with his wand and moved next to her.
"I love you, Ruby." He whispered, she tried to reply but before she could she was carried away by sleep.
"Daddy!" Annabel had thrown herself on her father as soon as he walked through the front door, he jumped about half a mile in the air before realising he was being attacked by his own daughter.
"Merlin, Annabel! Scared the bloody life out of me!"
"Hey Dad." Said Ruby, leaning over her sister who still had her hands wrapped around her father, and kissing him on the cheek.
"Hello Poppet, where is your m…"
"Living room." Ruby answered, her father smiled and pulled himself away from Annabel and pulled an enormous bouquet of tulips out of his bag and walked through. Ruby followed him and saw her mother's eyes widen in happiness.
"There she is." Her father said softly, he swept down onto one knee in front of the sofa and presented his wife with the flowers.
"Hello."
"Hello beautiful." He replied, kissing her firmly on the mouth.
The moment was broken when Immy arrived with Uncle Ron following behind her.
"Ugh, can't you guys be more discrete?"
"We are being discrete." Her mother replied. "Hi Ron, good trip?"
"Hey Eliza, Rubes. Yeah, bloody marvellous." He said, sitting down on the arm chair.
"How's your back?" Ruby's father asked, sitting on the edge of the sofa and holding his wife's hands.
"Much better."
"Ruby?" Fred asked, looking at her over the top of his wife's head.
"Much better, mom's been very good and taken all her Potions."
"See." Her mother said, smiling.
"Tea?" Ruby asked, looking around at them all, they all nodded.
When Ruby entered the kitchen she found Immy looking through one of her father's bags.
"What are you looking for?"
"Presents of course, he's wrapped them all!"
"Of course he has, he knows what you're like!" Annabel said, joining them and taking mugs out of the cupboard.
"Immy, can you go away for a minute, I want to talk to Ruby about something. Please?" Immy looked up sharply and looked between her sisters.
"Will you…"
"…tell you later, yes I will, I promise." Annabel replied, looking sincere. Immy nodded and left the room.
"Can you do a spell?" Annabel asked, indicating to the door.
"Sure." Ruby placed privacy charms around the room feeling nervous. Her instant reaction was that her sister had figured out that Ruby was pregnant. Or that Annabel herself had found herself with the same predicament.
"What's up?" Ruby asked, looking at her sister's freckled face.
"It's nothing bad, I'm not…pregnant or anything." Ruby tried to prevent herself from blushing but thankfully Annabel was looking at the floor.
"Good, so…"
"I don't want to be an Auror anymore." She said quickly, Ruby felt herself relax, Annabel wanted to talk about the future, which was fine.
"Okay, how come?"
"I just…I've been thinking and…I want to help people Ruby, like you do…"
"You want to be a Healer?" Ruby asked, surprised. "Annabel, I'm not being harsh but you fainted when Hugo had a nosebleed."
"That was years ago! Anyway, I don't want to be a Healer, it's too gross."
"Oh, okay. Slightly relieved I've got to say. What do you want to be?"
"I want to help people…people like Mom." Annabel finally looked up and Ruby was surprised by how nervous her sister looked.
"Mom?"
"Yeah…people who've been hurt and abused and stuff."
"You want to be a Mind Therapist?"
"Yeah."
"Oh…wow…I…"
"Oh Merlin, it's a stupid idea…"
"No, Annabel! It's not a stupid idea, it's a great idea! It's just a bit of a shock, I can help you, Penny will definitely be able to help you…"
"She will?"
"Of course she will, first of all; she's your Godmother, and second of all; she works with Mind Therapists a lot, kids always need them."
"You don't think it's a silly idea?" Annabel asked, finally looking hopeful.
"I really don't think it's a silly idea. I tell you what, why don't you come with me for my shift in the morning, I'll take you up to Penny?" Annabel nodded.
"Thanks Ruby." Ruby hugged her sister and then they finished preparing the tea and carried them through to the living room.
Aunt Hermione had joined the group, she greeted her nieces and they all sat down to tea.
"So, how are you Rubes? Any news?" Her father asked, dunking a biscuit into his tea.
"I'm fine thanks."
"Any news?" He pressed. Ruby glanced at her mother, fear filling her.
"No, why?"
"No reason." Her father replied, his ears turning slightly red.
Her father started questioning the twins and Ruby tried to calm herself down, her father did not suspect anything. Not a thing.
After twenty minutes Ron and Hermione left and Immy finally convinced her father to bring out the presents and he passed them around. Ruby smiled as she took hers.
"I'll open it later."
"No, you know the rules!" Immy said, shaking hers.
"Yeah, you and Mom have to open them as well, don't they Dad?"
"Absolutely, no exceptions."
The twins opened theirs quickly, the boxes contained joke products, books, Quidditch shirts and a lot of sweets.
"Eliza, you next." Her mother sighed.
"Merlin's sake." She mumbled, opening the parcel slowly.
The box contained some paints, a few Transfiguration books, a plant, a baking book and a small parcel that was wrapped separately.
"Open that one later." Her father said, putting his hand over it.
"But…"
"Trust me Immy, you don't want to see it." He said, smiling.
"Why…eww, you two are disgusting!" They all laughed and then Annabel pointed to Ruby's parcel and she sighed and opened it.
"Honestly, why must my wife and my eldest daughter act like opening presents is some form of punishment?"
"It's embarrassing." Ruby complained, opening the box.
It contained a wand holder which was engraved with 'Healer Ruby Weasley', some wool and a knitting pattern book, some chocolate frogs and a large jar of cinnamon.
"Thanks Dad." She said, smiling and holding the wand holder up to show the others.
"I thought you'd like it."
"I do, it's perfect, for a few months time of course."
"Try the cinnamon, Rubes!" Immy said, looking at her sister with excitement still in her eyes.
"It's nearly dinner time." Her mother said quickly.
"Yeah, I don't want to ruin my dinner, Grandma sent it around."
"Don't be silly, a bit of cinnamon won't ruin your appetite, I bought it from a market in the Amazon wizarding community."
"I'd rather wait…"
"You didn't have cinnamon the other day." Annabel said distractedly, flicking through one of her new books.
"Didn't I?" Ruby said, keeping her eyes down.
"No, we'd ran out." Immy added, looking confused.
"We ran out of cinnamon?" Her father asked, Ruby looked up at her mother and her face told Ruby that it was too late to save the situation.
"Oh my God!" Said Immy jumping up and pointing at Ruby.
"No way!" Annabel added, springing up as well.
"Ruby?" Her father asked, looking quite pale.
"Yes Dad?"
The Floo alarm went off and no one turned to the fireplace.
"Oh, welcome back Fred." Scorpius said brightly, Ruby looked at him. He was brushing dust off his robes but when he looked up it was clear he understood what had happened.
"Would you like a cup of tea, Scorpius?" Ruby's mother asked, filling the awkward silence.
"Umm…yes please."
"I'll get…" Ruby started, she made to stand up but her father cut across her.
"Sit down!"
"Girls, go and make a pot of tea please?" Her mother asked, looking to the twins.
"I want to…" They both began.
"Now." She replied sternly.
The twins grudgingly left the room and Ruby saw her mother add privacy charms.
"Scorpius, take a seat." Her mother said, waving her wand and extending the armchair that Ruby was sitting on to a sofa. Scorpius sat down.
"Dad…"
"Quiet." Ruby nodded and looked to her mother for help.
"Fred, it's okay." She said, taking her husband's hand.
"I…You knew?" He asked, still looking at Ruby with wide eyes.
"Sort of."
"Sort of?"
"Mom guessed." Ruby said.
"We were going to tell you soon, honestly." Ruby continued, looking at her father with pleading eyes.
"When?" Ruby still couldn't tell if her father was actually angry, he just seemed shocked.
"At the ten week point, we're seeing Penny next week…"
"Penny knew?" Her mother asked, looking surprised.
"It's actually Aunt Penny's fault really."
"How?" Her father asked, looking bemused.
"She gave Scorpius a Potion when he was hurt and it…had some interesting side effects…okay it wasn't really Penny's fault. I didn't know until I saved Umbridge and passed out!" Scorpius placed his hand on Ruby's, clearly trying to calm her down.
"The truth is Mr Weasley." Apparently Scorpius felt that it wasn't the right time to refer to his girlfriend's father by his first name. "Ruby is pregnant, and although it came as a surprise we are both very happy about it and we hope that you can be too."
"Of course we are Scorpius, right Fred?"
"I just need a minute, I'll be in the basement." Ruby's father stood up and left the room, moving like a sleepwalker.
"So, how are you feeling?" Asked Ruby's mother, her face breaking into a smile as soon as her husband shut the door.
"Is he mad at me, Mom?"
"Oh, he'll be fine! Now come here and give me a hug, both of you!" Ruby smiled and walked over to her mother.
When they broke apart her mother hugged Scorpius and then held both of their hands, her eyes shining with tears.
"I'm so happy for you, don't worry, I'll keep the girls quiet until you're ready."
"Really?" Ruby asked, amazed that her mother could accomplish such feats.
"Of course, I'll hide their broomsticks or something."
"Should I go and talk to Mr Weasley?" Scorpius asked, looking at the closed door.
"No, Ruby you go and talk to him. He was in there for two hours when Ginny found out she was having James. Go and talk him round, Scorpius can fill me in on all your plans." Ruby nodded and went to find her father.
A/N So the cat is out of the bag! What do you think? Sorry for the slight delay!
xXMizz Alec VolturiXx- Thanks!
Luna- Immy and Annabel figured it out first, Fred needs a bit of time in his basement to come to terms with everything!