In the Previous Chapter…
"Lily's gonna show Scorp'us the lake. We're gonna go skating!" she grinned excited.
"Granddad said he checked it and it's safe to skate on, nana, so don't worry" Lily spoke up.
"Okay, I'll go and find out the boots" she smiled, leaving the kitchen in search of about 20 pairs of ice skates.
"I think we should wait for the others before we go skating" Lily said. "Why don't we go and play exploding snap until they wake up?"
One by one, the rest of the Weasleys and Potters drifted down for breakfast. Scorpius gave Rose her newest clothes and let her wrap up warm before summoning his own coat and scarf. Rose giggled when he gave her the scarf, as she noticed the Slytherin crest.
"I'm not a Slytherin!" she giggled.
"But I am" he smirked. "if you don't want my scarf I can always put it away" he said reaching forwards to grab the scarf.
"No!" she squealed, clutching the scarf. "I wanna wear it. It smells like you" she beamed, hugging Scorpius' knees before holding his hand. Scorpius smirked at this – Rose didn't want to give any of his stuff back simply because it was his.
Together, Scorpius, Rose, Hugo, Al, Lily, James, Fred, Roxy, Lucy, Molly, Louis, Dom, Victoire and Teddy all walked down to the frozen lake, clutching pairs of raggedy skating boots in their arms. Scorpius had again shrunk a pair to fit Rose's tiny feet. As they reached the lake, Scorpius was amazed. The large oval lake had frozen completely. It was surrounded by lots of evergreen plants, all covered in a blanket of snow. Scorpius put on his own borrowed skating boots before turning to Rose to do up her laces, and then they were off.
Everyone had a laugh for the first 10 minutes as everyone fell over several times. Rose continued to be a shaky skater, so held tightly to Scorpius' hand. Scorpius loved this. He felt so at home with the Weasleys and Potters at the Burrow. He loved his own family and wouldn't replace them for anyone, but he couldn't help but want to be a part of the Weasleys.
After falling several times, Rose began to really enjoy herself. She was eventually brave enough to let go of Scorpius' hand and skate beside him without support. She hastily grabbed onto his legs when James and Fred zoomed past, causing her to lose her balance, but other than that, she did really well.
Several hours later, the parents came out to watch, bringing lunch with them. Harry cleared a patch of ground of snow with his wand and everyone sat down to eat. Scorpius gratefully sipped the homemade vegetable soup that Mrs Weasley had brought out, warming up slightly as the hot liquid slid down his throat. Rose was also eating the soup, but was instead dunking bits of bread in it and gobbling them up quickly, trying not to burn her fingers.
After lunch, everyone walked back towards the Burrow together. As they neared the ginormous house, the rest of the kids broke out into a snowball fight. Rose immediately begged Scorpius to let her join in (he didn't know why she felt the need to ask him), so he let her go but said that he was going to help with clearing away lunch. Rose nodded and ran away, scooping up snow in her hands and charging screaming at Hugo, who scooped her off the ground, flipped her upside down causing Rose to giggle.
Scorpius was carrying the picnic basket full of leftover food, so followed Mrs Weasley, Ginny, Hermione, Angelina, Fleur and Audrey into the kitchen. As they started to put everything away, the women asked Scorpius about himself. They asked him how his studies were going, what he wanted to do for a career, how he was enjoying staying at the Burrow and many other questions. Soon, the clearing up was done, so everyone except Hermione left to go and laugh at their kids beating their silly husbands in the snow fight.
"Thank you for looking after Rose, Scorpius" Hermione said, sitting at the table and gesturing for Scorpius to join her. "I hope it hasn't affected your school work or anything"
"No, Mrs Weasley, it's been amazing looking after Rose" he smiled. "She's just such a bundle of energy. It makes like at school a lot more interesting."
"Call me Hermione. Calling me Mrs Weasley makes me sound old" she chuckled. "My mother-in-law actually said something about you and Rose this morning Scorpius. Is it true that Rose's nightmares stop when she's with you?"
"Yeah, she was having them every night so I would go and comfort her and she'd sleep soundly the whole night if I stayed with her. I hope you don't mind that I actually just let her share my bed now?" he blushed.
"No, not at all. If the nightmares stop then that's definitely a good sign" Hermione nodded. "I'm going to tell you something, Scorpius, but I'd like you to keep this to yourself. Rose has been having the same recurring nightmare since she was 4, but we never found a way to stop it. We tried dreamless sleep potion and everything, but nothing worked. It seems that you have finally become the answer to her problem" she smiled.
"Do you know what the nightmare is about?" he asked.
"When Rose started a wizarding primary school at 4, a stray spell went straight into her. It left her with a scar on her arm, but since then she's been having the same nightmare about a wizard in a hooded cloak sending the spell at her. Although it doesn't seem scary, Rose has been terrified of hooded figures since she was a child, so the nightmare never went away" Hermione explained.
Scorpius remembered Rose telling him about this event at the beginning of the year, so nodded as Hermione finished. "Who shot the spell at her?" he asked.
"That's the thing, no one knows. Rose claimed to have seen this hooded figure appear out of nowhere then after she had been hit by the spell he was gone. Ron didn't believe her, and neither did anyone else, they all think it was an accidental child burst of magic, but Rose was so scared, so I think that the hooded figure did appear and meant to attack my daughter" she shuddered. "I had the wards increased so he never came back, but I always worry he'll try to hurt her again" she said sadly.
"I don't know why my presence soothes Rose, but do you think it has anything to do with wanting protection?" Scorpius wondered aloud.
"What do you mean?" Hermione asked.
"I mean, lots of insecure girls want a strong guy to come and hold her safe in his arms, right? So what if instead of being insecure, Rose actually craves physical protection so she knows there is no way that this attacker can get her?"
"That actually makes sense, Scorpius. What did you get in your OWLs?"
"12 Os, identical to Rose. I'm taking the same NEWTs as her too" Scorpius said.
"You are a very clever boy, Scorpius. I think you would do well as a healer or a psychiatrist, as you seem to figure out people very easily" she smiled. "I think that your theory may be right, but what happens when Rose returns to her normal age in 2 months? At 5 Rose obviously loves you to bits, so is happy to share your bed, but what will happen when she returns to normal? She'll start having nightmares again" Hermione said gloomily.
"I'll figure something out, Hermione" Scorpius promised, "but I really should go and find Rose. She's been dying to go out in the snow since we got here, so she won't be overly pleased if I'm not out there letting her pummel me with snow" he smirked before standing and leaving Hermione alone in the kitchen.
I can see why Rosie's head over heels for him now she smiled to herself. He really is a truly outstanding boy.