In the Previous Chapter…
"Morning Scorp'us" she said cheerfully. "Do I get to see Hogwarts today?" she asked excitedly.
"Yes Rose, I will show you around Hogwarts later, but first we have to get you dressed for breakfast." With this, Scorpius walked through to Rose's bedroom. He picked out two sets of school clothes and shoes and shrunk them down with a simple spell so that they would fit Rose's 5-year-old body.
He helped the small girl get dressed into school uniform before quickly getting dressed himself. He quickly packed his bag for the day before turning to Rose.
"Do you want to go get some breakfast?" he asked.
"Yeah!" Rose grabbed Scorpius' hand and they walked out of the common room towards the Great Hall.
As Scorpius walked into the Great Hall holding Rose's hand, every pair of eyes looked their way, and the hall turned so quiet you could have heard a pin drop. Scorpius took this as an opportunity to speak.
"Hogwarts students, I'd like you all to remain silent whilst I say this. Yesterday evening, someone spiked Rose Weasley's drink with a de-aging potion. She has been de-aged to the age of 5. She doesn't remember anything past this age.
"Speaking particularly to the rest of the Weasleys and Potters, she will not be able to recognise anyone, not even family. The only person she has so far been able to recognise if Professor McGonagall. The de-aging potion used is permanent, until an aging potion can be brewed. This will take 6 months. In the meantime, I would like you to treat Rose with as much respect now as you would have done when she was 17. She is a very clever little 5-year-old, so the decision has been made to keep Rose at Hogwarts until the aging potion is ready. Professor McGonagall has assigned me the responsibility of caring for Rose whilst she is a child." Scorpius stopped abruptly. Rose was tugging on his sleeve. He bent down so that he was at the same level as her before asking "Is there something you'd like to say?"
"Yeah," she whispered, "I just wondered if you could lift me up so I could see everyone." The rest of the student body were surprised as Scorpius lifted Rose so that she was balanced on his hip. Rose looked around before loudly pointing towards her family and saying excitedly "They have the same colour hair as me!"
At this everyone laughed, including Scorpius. "Rosie, they have the same colour hair as you because they are your cousins" he said to her.
"No they're not!" Rose argued back, "They're way too old!"
"Yeah, Rosie, but remember you're meant to be 17, so they're all older too" Scorpius explained patiently.
"Oh. Can I say hi to everyone? Will they say hi back or will they just laugh at me?" she asked Scorpius, but everybody heard. Scorpius knew this and said "I'm sure if you said hi they'd all say hi back."
Rose then turned to face the hall and cautiously raised her hand, gave a small wave and said "Hi everyone!"
A chorus of "Hi, Rose!" echoed back at her. Rose giggled then buried her head into Scorpius' chest, embarrassed, which was followed by a chorus of "awwwwhs" from all the girls and comments like "she's adorable as a kid" from a few guys.
Scorpius then carried Rose over to the Weasleys before saying "I think it would be best to introduce yourselves at lunchtime. I'll take Rose over to meet a few of my friends first so she doesn't get overwhelmed, but we can meet you here at lunch" suggested Scorpius. Although some of the Weasley cousins looked like they were about to complain, Al Potter spoke to them all.
"Look guys, I know this is confusing and inconvienient, but Scorpius is right. We can't overwhelm her yet. We'll meet you here at lunch and then maybe we can go somewhere more private" he said.
"Okay. Sorry that you won't be able to see her now, but I think you'll want to get an explanation out of Hugo first" he smirked. At this, Scorpius left the rest of the Weasleys to glare at Hugo and took Rose over to his small group of friends at the Slytherin Table.
"Rose, these are my friends Leo, Lorcan and Lysander" he said, pointing them all out. "We'll be sitting with them this morning and I'd like you to get to know them better" he said.
"Hi Rose, I'm Leo Nott" said Leo, leaning over the table to give Rose a little hug.
"I'm Lorcan and this is my brother Lysander" said one of the identical twins.
"You're identical twins" Rose giggled, "I can't tell who's who!" she laughed. The four boys joined in with her laughter. Scorpius then said to her "Neither can I, hun, but just call them either name and they won't mind."
Leo, Lorcan and Lysander all looked at Scorpius, surprised. They knew that their friend was quiet, but they never knew that he could be quite so understanding and caring.
"Does she have to come to lessons with you?" asked Leo.
"Yeah, but we have Potions first, so Parkinson should be understanding as she is brewing the potion to get Rose back to normal. But I don't know what she'll be able to do really."
At this point, a snowy owl flew down and landed in front of Scorpius. It contained a brown package. Scorpius had no idea whose the owl was but Rose seemed quite excited by it.
"That's Uncle Harry's owl!" she said excitedly, "He always sends really good presents!" she squealed. Scorpius opened the package and found a Honeydukes Box labelled 'Rose' inside and a large, heavy envelope and another box labelled 'Scorpius' inside. Scorpius handed Rose the box of sweets, at which she giggled in delight at and started to open, and then opened the envelope addressed to him. A large bundle of parchment and a small note fell out that read:
Dear Scorpius,
I heard from Hermione that Rose has been de-aged by her Uncle George. I've sent her some sweets which she will no doubt enjoy, but I have also enclosed something for you. This map belonged to my father. It is called the Marauder's Map, and shows exactly where everyone inside Hogwarts is at every given time of day. To reveal the map, simply tap the map with your wand and say "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good". To close the map, say "Mischief managed". You can use this to find Rose if you lose her by accident or she walks off. I have also enclosed some small toys like building blocks, puzzles, colouring pencils and word searches to keep Rose occupied when you are in lessons.
Please look after my neice well,
Harry Potter
Scorpius stared I awe at the letter. Harry Potter had written to him personally and entrusted him with his infamous marauder's map! He looked over to see Rose happily tucking into a chocolate frog, and quickly put the package away in his bag.
"Rose, I'm going to put the rest of these sweets from your Uncle Harry into my bag and you can have them later, okay? Its just that it's bad to have sweets for breakfast and you have a busy day ahead of you" he said to the chocolate covered girl.
"Okay" she simply said. "Can I see the rest of Hogwarts yet? Lorcan, or Lysander, I don't know which, told me that this is the Great Hall where we eat all our food, but I want to see the house common rooms, and the Quidditch pitch, and the forest, and the lake, and the classrooms, and the library…"
"We can see all of that later, but now we have to go and get you cleaned up for Potions" tutted Scorpius gently. "You can't go to lessons with chocolate on your face!" he laughed. Rose giggled her cute, girly giggle and then grabbed Scorpius' hand.
"I want to go to Potions, Scorp'us, so let's go!" she squealed and dragged the Head Boy out of the Hall, much to the amusement of the rest of the school, as Scorpius stumbled and rolled along the floor before stopping a few metres later. He got up, shook the dizziness out of his head and dusted off his robes before saying "I know you're excited, Rosie, but I can't run that fast and I'm not really used to rolling on the floor, so I think I'll carry you to potions so you don't drag me there", and the rest of the student body watched as Scorpius lifted Rose onto his back and gave her a piggy-back ride to the dungeons.