"No! No more! I can't take this!" Al waved his hands around frantically trying to shake off the attached pieces of construction paper. Today they were making thank you cards out of buttons and paper and strings and stickers. And no magic was allowed, whatsoever. "The wedding is tomorrow and we're still doing these brainless activities. Nope, I quit."

"Oh, Al, it's really not that bad," Ara nudged him with her shoulder. Rose exchanged a glance with Scorpius. Nine days had passed since they arrived. Christmas had come and gone, and with its absence came shy flirtations and subtle touching between one Albus Potter and one Ara Waters.

"I can't believe his stupid plan is actually working in his favor," Scorpius had said only two nights before to Rose just before bed. They had fallen into a routine that week. Wake up, eat, join the wedding party for countless amounts of activities—biking, a tour of the city, a second tour of the magical side of the city, card making, gingerbread house contests, three bridal showers, and more. Then at night, Scorpius would sit on the edge of her bed, and they would talk and laugh and everything felt so normal. Like Rose should always be there.

"I still can't believe Ara said yes in the first place," Rose giggled. "I told her everything, Scor. Everything. She knows this was a ruse to set himself up with her, and she still agreed."

"Have to admit, they work well together."

"I know. I think that's what kills me the most. It works," Rose had fallen back into her pillows.

"Al schemes too much for his own good," Scorpius smiled down at her.

"Makes me wonder what else he's got going. He's usually got about three plans in one, and he's not always this transparent," she sighed. "He probably wants you and me to snog by the end of this."

Scorpius had stiffened so suddenly, Rose looked up at him. Scared at first, then thoughtfully. And for a fraction of a second, Scorpius saw a glint in her eyes that might have been screaming "Kiss me now, you fool!" and he wanted to. He really, truly wanted to. He even began to lean down toward her. Those three freckles on her nose getting closer. Her eyes fluttered, lids hooded.

Someone cleared their throat, causing Scorpius to turn around. Mr. Weasley stood in the doorway of Rose's room, a stern look on his face. "It's almost midnight."

"Sorry, Dad," Scorpius glanced over at Rose, who had sat up again abruptly. He felt his heart skip a beat as a blush crept over her features. She turned to him then and threw her arms around his neck, which caused a ripple of panic to course through his veins because wasn't her father still there and what was she doing whispering into his ear? "Night, Scor."

Scorpius had to focus on his poorly constructed card to keep from blushing from the memory. She hugged him again the next night, but there was no soft voice in his ear. No chance of a stolen kiss coming up again.

"You just put a heart sticker over the words 'thank you,' Scor," Rose leaned into him. He looked down at his card.

"Oh well," he threw it toward the middle of the table. "I'm with Al. I'm done."

"Yes! Victory. Slytherins out," Al tried to stand up, but a pair of delicate hands pushed him down into his seat again.

"Not so fast, Albie," Dom smiled, her strawberry blonde hair pulled back into a ponytail. She hadn't really come out of her room much since Christmas Day, but she seemed effortlessly perfect like always. "We're about to start another game."

Al groaned. Loudly. Scorpius wanted to join in, but he had to remind himself that he was still a guest. It was just—it was because they had already played innumerable games. Like Monopoly—which was horrendously stressful and made Lily Potter flip over the table when she lost everything—and they had an egg toss—which ended up all over Rose because she was terrible at catching small objects. Just Quaffles for her please—and then they had a tug of war, some wizard's chess tournaments, a mock duel (Bill Weasley won against Rose's dad, and they sequentially had to sit through a very humorous dinner listening to all the amazing things Ron Weasley had done better than Bill, including, but not limited to, accidentally befriending the Chosen One when he was eleven), and more.

And the games were getting old now. And the projects. And the tours and the socializing and the endless food and Scorpius wanted to go home for a little bit to actually unwind.

"Attention, all!" Vic was standing at the head of the long crafting table. "Grab a partner, it's time for the balloon race!"

"What does that even mean?" Al's face dropped into his hands. Ara instinctively placed a hand on his shoulder, and Rose looked at Scorpius, a glint in her blue eyes.

"Welp, I'm gonna snag Hugo for this one." And Dom was off again.

"She seems really happy," Rose commented.

"I wonder what's up now," Al raised his eyes to watch his cousin fading into the crowd. As soon as everyone vacated the area, the table shrank into the floor.

"Partners?" Scorpius asked Rose.

She tilted her head. "You know you don't have to ask anymore, silly. Dates for life, right?"

"Right," and he found himself smiling like an idiot while he followed her to where everyone was lining up for the balloon race. Thanks to the b-e-a-utiful word vomit Rose had experienced, Scorpius was graced with the gift of touching her unabashedly for nearly two weeks straight. Not gropey, hormonal stuff. Innocent things, like a hand on her shoulder, around her waist, resting on her knee. But only in public, of course. And only when Teddy was around.

But still. It was more than Scorpius could have wished for before the holiday break.

"Listen, please!" Vic held up a pink balloon the size of a honeydew melon. "The rules are simple. Get your balloon from this side of the room to the other without using your hands and without letting it hit the ground. And NO magic, Louis, so you put that wand away immediately."

"Should we put it in our mouth?" Rose asked him, but Scorpius shook his head. Vic kept explaining.

"These balloons are extremely delicate, because I charmed them to be. If it pops, you and your teammate are out. AND!—oh! can't believe I almost forget this part—both you and your teammate must be touching the balloon at all times."

"So what's the point of this, Vic?" Louis, who looked very put off by his sister calling him out, questioned.

"The prize, of course, is two tickets to the day spa right after New Year's," Vic rolled her eyes. "Alright! Here come the balloons."

The prize. Scorpius almost forgot. All the games had a prize, though he and Rose had yet to win anything.

Hugo and Louis had won the blindfolded race though—Louis had been blindfolded, and Hugo navigated him through a maze of obstacles—and when they opened their prize box, the pair was greeted with one hundred chocolate frogs wrapped individually for either trade or consumption.

Not too bad of a prize.

Vic's mother, Fleur, handed Scorpius a balloon.

"I have an idea," Rose grabbed the balloon from him and placed it against his ribcage. Then she promptly stood in front of him, letting the balloon rest against her chest. She dropped her hands. The balloon stayed. "I am, in fact, a genius. Thank you, thank you."

She bowed her head playfully, like she was accepting an award over her brilliant idea.

Scorpius looked down. The balloon wasn't quite on his chest and it wasn't quite on his stomach. It resided right in the middle. But on Rose, it rested—Scorpius pulled his entire head up so that he was staring at the top of her voracious hair instead of at her… breasts.

Right. That's the proper word for them.

Scorpius cleared his throat.

"Everyone ready! Set! Go!" Vic shouted. Scorpius saw the pretty blonde lean into Teddy, watching as their family members started running around frantically with balloons pressed between them. Hugo and Dom had placed the balloon between their foreheads, Al and Ara had theirs like him and Rose, Rose's parents had their balloon balancing between their elbows.

Everyone was making a mad dash toward the finish line.

Then they heard the first pop. Fred and his dad were out, which only caused more pandemonium as others accidentally popped their own balloons laughing at the disgruntled pair.

"Watch it!" Rose yelled at her cousin Molly when the older girl bumped into her. Rose looked to Scorpius. "They're barking, the lot of them."

Rose and Scorpius took the slow-and-steady approach, taking cautious steps toward the other side. Scorpius would say "step" when they needed to move, and Rose kept her eyes out for anyone who might hit them.

He kept his eyes on her the whole time. When she caught him staring, finally, they stopped dead in the middle of all the chaos.

"We should—"

"Keep going?"

Neither moved.

And then someone accidentally jammed an elbow into Scorpius's back. There was a pop, a small yelp, and Scorpius was pushed up against Rose, their balloon long gone.

Rose's hands had instinctively come up to prevent either of them falling, so that they now rested on his shoulders. Scorpius too had tried to grab at her before they tumbled, and he was firmly holding on to her hips, keeping them steady, and sequentially, against his own.

Rose stared up into his eyes, bit down on her bottom lip, and Scorpius almost lost all control. It would be too easy to just lean down, close the distance. They were already so close, bodies mashed up together, aligned almost perfectly to each other. Scorpius knew it wasn't quite perfect, yet though, because her neck and head were too far away from his own. Rose must have sensed it too, because he felt her rising up on her toes, inching closer to his own face.

Might as well help, right?

"Oi! Great idea guys!" Al shouted at them, and Scorpius and Rose both turned to stare at Al as he purposely popped his and Ara's balloon, sandwiching her in a bear hug. The girl giggled along with Al's antics.

Scorpius felt Rose groan and was happy to realize she was still holding on to him, pressed against him.

"What?" he asked her.

"What a child," she rolled her eyes and let her head fall into his chest. Scorpius laughed and hugged her briefly before Vic's shrill voice yelled, "Rose and Scorpius, you are out! Albus Potter! Quit kissing your girlfriend and get out of the way."

Rose and Scorpius looked toward the pair, and they were indeed kissing. Passionately. Without a care in the world.

"Of course," Scorpius rolled his eyes. And then felt a breeze of cold air as Rose stepped away from him and toward the sidelines to watch.

"Well don't you look dapper," Hugo's reflection said to Scorpius. The older boy turned to face the younger one.

"Yeah?"

"Rose'll love it." Scorpius tensed slightly, but quickly smiled at Hugo. That was right. Al had talked to Hugo about the whole idiotic plan.

Except… maybe it wasn't completely idiotic after all. Al and Ara were definitely a thing now. Almost as bad as Connor and Roxanne. Scorp had walked in on his best friend kissing his new girlfriend's neck twice since the day before. Rose had pretended to get sick all over the floor both times.

Scorpius looked back into the mirror. Hugo was staring at him still. "What?"

"Oh, stop it, Malfoy," Hugo busied himself with fixing his bowtie in the mirror. Wizard wedding, Muggle clothes. Go figure.

Scorpius slid his hands into his pockets. "Stop what?"

Hugo's reflection sought out his own eyes. Scorpius was surprised to see that they were a warm brown color, unlike Rose's blue ones. Hugo also had darker, frizzier, auburn hair. He maybe had more freckles than Rose, and his nose was much larger. But they were definitely siblings.

"Stop pretending you don't have owl-eyes for my sister." Hugo patted down the top of his hair. It was just as bushy as Rose's, that was for sure. "I mean, when Al first told me, I didn't believe him. But, mate, it's so blaringly obvious that you fancy each other, I can't believe it's still taking you both this long."

At least he had the decency to blush. Scorpius raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean about Al?"

Hugo turned away from the mirror again. "Al set all this up for you. Made me promise I wouldn't say a word. Lily woulda killed him. She thinks this should happen naturally, but what's more natural than forced social settings?"

"What are you—"

"Scorpius," Hugo placed a hand on his shoulder, "Al told me his plan before he even thought of asking Rose or talking to you. He knows you two. Better than you know yourself sometimes. He's a weird, little one, but I blame that on the Potter in him. But, yeah, he knew it would be a good idea. And he got Ara in the process."

Scorpius watched as Hugo shuddered. The blond raised his eyebrow.

"You wouldn't believe where I caught them snogging last night," Hugo grinned wide, and Scorpius felt like laughing just looking at him. "But, anyways. You and Rose. I'm on board that train. Heck, Al's already driving it. My dad might need convincing, but—that would be any boy, really."

They fell into an awkward silence, during which the only thing either one could do was stare at the other and then look away abruptly when they made eye contact. Was this a normal thing? To get a girl's brother's blessing before he even worked out how he felt? Because Scorpius knew he was falling for Rose. He knew he wanted to kiss her and maybe see what it would be like alone, away from all the wedding stuff. But he also knew that it was a two-person decision to move any relationship forward. What was he going to do? Grab her face mid-sentence and kiss her? Like she'd go for that in the end.

Scorpius could hear her scolding him now. He smiled.

"So, how 'bout those Cannons?" Scorpius tried instead. He knew Mr. Weasley was fond of the team, so maybe Hugo would be too. Rose's inclination was with Holyhead. Scorp preferred Puddlemere. But he'd try anything at that point.

And it worked. And they were off on Quidditch and the embarrassment was behind them, thank Merlin.

"Hey, boys," Mr. Weasley poked his head in their room, "ceremony's starting soon. Maybe we could wrap it up, yeah?"

"Sure thing, Dad," Hugo smiled again. Scorpius was starting to really like that kid's grin; he wore it everywhere.

"Ron, Harry and Ginny are waiting for us," Mrs. Weasley popped around her husband in the doorframe. She was dressed in a flowy dress that stopped just above her knees. It was purple in color, and Scorpius could see her husband's eyes light up.

"Yes, coming!" Mr. Weasley said.

"Uh, is Rose ready?" Scorpius asked. He felt out of breath, like saying her name was the most deliciously taxing thing to say. Like he'd just run a marathon and she was the victory speech.

"Dominque stopped by about ten minutes ago looking for help. Rose said she'd meet us at the wedding later," Mrs. Weasley smiled and began to usher her husband out of the room. "Right. We're off—Hugo! Change your shirt immediately."

Scorpius watched as the grin slipped from Hugo's face. "What, why?"

Mrs. Weasley and Mr. Weasley were already walking away toward the front door. Over her shoulder, Mrs. Weasley called back, "There's a stain on the left sleeve."

The front door shut, while Hugo searched his shirt.

"How did she even see that? It's the size of a pea!"

"Just change," Scorpius laughed. "I'll wait with you.

Five minutes later, Scorpius was waiting in their suite's living area. Hugo was mumbling angry things to himself in the mirror… apparently there weren't any other clean shirts anywhere.

"Why don't you just magic it away," Scorpius shouted from the couch.

"I can't. I'm only fifteen," Hugo shouted back.

"Well whatever you decide, hurry up. We're gonna be late."

"If you're so worried, you magic it off. You're seventeen," Hugo yelled back.

"Now why would I do that? This is much more fun." Scorpius grinned at the string of curses leaving his and Hugo's shared room. So this is what a brother would be like. He couldn't complain; it was much like living with Al, though Al wouldn't have thought twice about being underage. Al would have used magic, accidentally burned a hole through the sleeve, then would have covered everything up with a giant feather scarf.

Or something of that nature.

Of course, Al would need to conjure up a feather scarf, which would mean that there would be at least three scarves-come-to-life roaming the hotel as well.

There was a creak and then a bang. Someone had entered through the front door.

"Bollocks!" Scorpius turned his attention toward Hugo as he emerged half dressed from his room. "Mum, I was only trying to find a clean shirt and then I ended up—Rosie?"

Scorpius's head immediately shot toward the new arrival.

There she was, red hair slicked on top of her head, a light blue dress hugging her curvy body, and a pale, drained look on her face. She blinked, first looking at her brother and then at Scorpius. He instinctively rose from the couch. Clearly, Rose was not expecting either of them to be in the room.

She blinked again and smiled. "Hi."

"Rose, you okay?" Hugo asked. He took a step forward, but she already had a hand up.

"I'm fine."

"No," Scorpius said. "We can both see you're not."

Rose looked at both boys again, and for a split second, Scorpius was afraid she was going to run. He prepared to launch himself toward her in order to stop her, but just as quickly as he thought about it, Rose had already beelined for the couch, grabbing his hand in the process.

She sank down into the cushions, bringing Scorpius with her.

"You might as well come over here, Hugo," she mumbled.

Her brother opted for the single recliner across from the pair. Scorpius shared a look with Hugo, both expecting the worst.

Rose was just cleaning up the tissues Dom had left behind. When her older cousin came to her room, Rose didn't even hesitate to go and help her "get ready."

Dom was nervous. She was nervous because she felt guilty and she wanted her sister to forgive her. And Rose had stressed over and over that what Vic needed was to listen, not forgive.

Dom just wanted things to be normal again. And Rose completely understood. So she sat with her cousin while she cried, then fixed her cousin's make-up, then told her cousin to grow up.

"It won't go away until you accept it and move on. And the only way to make it better would be to march down to your sister's room, tell her you don't care about what happened, all you care about is her and her wedding day."

And Dom had left with the intention of doing just that.

The crumpled up tissues fell from Rose's hand into the rubbish bin. Merlin, if only she could take her own advice. Accept and move on. It happened. Let today be today's focus.

That's when there was a knock at the door. Maybe Dom forgot her key?

Rose looked around but couldn't spot the room card anywhere.

Hesitantly, she opened the door and almost slammed it shut again. She might as well have, because Teddy didn't look too keen on seeing her in Dom's room either.

"What do you want?" Maybe that was a little too harsh, Rose scolded herself.

"I was looking for Dom, but—" why were his eyes dancing? Seriously? They looked everywhere but at her. Down the hall, over his shoulder, into the room. Wild dancing. Wild… panic!

Rose took a deep breath. She knew what that look meant. Quickly, she grabbed Teddy by the wrist and pulled him into the room. The door slammed shut behind her, leaving her trapped in a room with her latest and greatest worst nightmare.

"Rosie, what are you—"

"No. No 'Rosie.' No." Rose felt her entire body light on fire. "You are going to sit on that bed and wait until that ceremony begins. Then you are going to march down there and either break everything off or you are going to marry Victoire and you are gonna like it."

"Rose—"

"No talking!" She shouted. "You are a flight risk. You are horrendously nervous, and quite frankly, track records show you aren't the best boyfriend when you're panicking."

"Wait, that's not fair—"

"Not fair!" Yep. She was going to lose it. "Not fair is being fourteen years old and having your first kiss stolen from a guy you consider to be your brother. Not to mention, he's already dating your cousin and has never talked about the incident again. OH WAIT. He has talked about that incident again. In a bloody letter three years later, reminding you of something you've tried very hard to forget.

"Not fair is having your whole family split down the middle, backing one sister over the other. Not fair is getting married to a man who can't get his own feelings together, let alone his lips," Rose took a deep breath. She had started pacing again. Maybe that was her thing. To pace wildly while ranting about the things in her life she hated most. So she stopped dead in her tracks, stared into Teddy's big brown eyes, and said as calmly as possible, "What are you even thinking, Teddy? What were you thinking then? And what are you doing here now?"

At least he had the decency to cry.

Rose grabbed the box of tissues and sank beside Teddy onto the bed. She rested her elbow on her knees, propping her head up with one hand. De ja vu, really. Was it really a matter of minutes before she was in this same pose with Dom at her side?

Rose looked over at Teddy, and for the first time in a long time, she didn't feel queasy. She felt rather, well, normal. A little annoyed maybe, but nothing as severe as she had before.

Teddy lifted his face, blotting any excess tears with a tissue. "You know I love Victoire, right? I would never in a million years hurt her."

"Yeah, well, you've a funny way of showing that," Rose pulled another tissue from the box and started cleaning Teddy's face of any traces of snot. He really did have a handsome face: square jaw, angular nose, smooth cheek bones. He was more round where Scorpius was sharp, though.

Rose sat up straighter, hoping her blush was hidden enough behind her makeup. Teddy didn't say anything; he just shifted so he was facing her better. "She deserves the world, that girl does."

When Rose didn't say anything, Teddy tried again. "It's just—Vic has always taken care of me. When she got to Hogwrats, she was there for me. Kids picked on me cause of my metamorphmagus abilities. And then when they taught about Dad in History of Magic, and how he was a werewolf, it got so much worse. But there was Vic. I was in love with her instantly. And I was so scared, because, damn, Rosie, how could she like me when everyone else would hit me if they had the chance?"

"And you repay her by—"

"Look, I know. I know. I'm not cut out for this whole thing, this love thing. Three years ago… Gran had just died, you know, and I had no one. I had no home, no real career other than odd jobs in Diagon Alley, and maybe twelve galleons to my name. But I had Vic. She was my constant. She is my constant. But that New Year's…"

Tiny tears caught in Teddy's eyelashes. He blinked once. Twice. When he opened his eyes the third time, Rose felt like crying herself. Tears were brimming over, and there was no doubt there was regret in his eyes.

"I shouldn't have done that to you. I shouldn't have. It was all my fault. I took advantage of a situation. I was drinking and miserable and made a mistake that I can't take back. And I'm so sorry, Rose. I'm really, truly sorry."

"You should be," she said quietly. She wanted to sound more angry than that, but it wasn't anger she was feeling. Not anymore at least. They sat in a strange silence, like the room was being vacuumed of everything but Rose's words. The yellow curtains, white walls, blue carpet, it was disappearing, greying, fading. It was just them in silence. So instead of letting that be it, Rose kept talking, barely above a whisper. "You really did a number on me. One I haven't really shaken. And it was all because you were with Vic."

A pause. Teddy shifted. Then, "I wasn't."

Rose squinted, her nose scrunching up in the process.

"In that moment, I wasn't with Vic… she, she broke up with me after Christmas, before New Year's. Thought that we hadn't given ourselves a chance to really explore other people. I was twenty years old, without any family to call mine. I know Uncle Harry means well, but godfathers only count for so much. I was so scared, thinking I'd lost Vic, and there you were, Rose, and you and I were talking and it was nice and... Damn it. I'm sorry."

"You weren't with Vic?"

"No. Not in that moment. But we soon reconciled," he rubbed the back of his neck. "Maybe two days later. And everything felt right again, so I didn't dare bring up my New Year's fuck up."

"Teddy…" Rose watched him as he searched her face. Her whole world was reeling again, much like that New Year's party. For years, Rose felt that guilt—the guilt of kissing her cousin's boyfriend and liking it—weigh upon her. She had refused to date, feeling so disgusted with herself, thinking she didn't deserve anyone.

And now she learned that she wasn't a mistress or whatever she would have been called. Her conscience was free. And Rose just wanted to slap Teddy and leave.

"Rose, we should have talked sooner," Teddy's head drooped. "And I shouldn't have written that letter to you. I panicked, what with all the Dom stuff."

Her ears perked up. "So… what is all the Dom stuff then?"

At least he had the decency to look ashamed this time.

"It's half and half, Rose. Dom and I were talking, I told her how scared I was. Excited, yes, but also scared. And Dom told me she thought I could do better if I was really feeling scared. That if I had any doubts then I wasn't where I should be."

"Are you telling me that Dom did come on to you?"

"No," Teddy stood up. "No, I initiated it all. But she wasn't pushing back as hard as she claims. And I've talked about this to Vic, of course, and here we are. We are getting married, because I love her and I want a life with her. I want to call her my very own family every day. And I came here looking to clear the air with Dom, because Vic deserves to have her sister back. Vic deserves to have millions of beautiful and wonderful days ahead of her. She deserves nothing but the best."

"Teddy," he turned to her. He had started pacing now, "go tell her that."

"But—"

"No but's. You're going to be late to your own wedding." Rose took a deep breath. "A wedding you are definitely ready for."

"Rose, I—"

"I forgave you already. Get going," Rose stood and pointed toward the door. Teddy smiled bigger than Hugo.

Before he left, Teddy leaned down and placed a soft kiss on Rose's cheek. "Thanks, love."

And he was off, out the door, ready to take on the world of marriage and babies and all the other things that came from being wed.

But Rose wasn't going to see it. She needed to unwind, maybe nap, and then maybe she'd attend the after party.

Because in that moment, Rose as too tired and too shocked to care. She had better things to worry about, like her new revelation that she forgave Teddy long before that day.

Yes. She'd just head back and relax now.