In the Previous Chapter…
"Why don't you go and take all of your presents up to your room?" Astoria suggested. "You can show Rose around the house as well, Scorp"
"Okay, mum. Thank you for our presents" he said, standing and kissing his mum on the cheek.
"Thank you, Tori" Rose smiled, before Scorpius carried her and their presents out of the room.
"Draco, darling, it's going to crush Scorpius when Rose is returned to her normal age" Astoria said to her husband as the door closed.
"I know, Tori" Draco sighed. "I haven't seen him this happy before now. I do hope Rose remembers everything when she ages again."
Scorpius carried Rose up two flights of stairs and along a corridor to his room. Rose squealed as he opened the door.
"Your bed is soooooo huge!" she beamed, jumping out of Scorpius' arms and leaping onto his bed, bouncing on it.
"Rosie" he laughed, putting down their pile of gifts by the door before walking over to the bed.
"What, Scorp'us?" she laughed as she bounced up and down on his giant bed, covered in a dark blue duvet.
"Since when do you walk into someone else's room and immediately jump on their bed?" he joked, raising his eyebrow.
"You're bed looked bouncy" Rose quietly admitted, slowing her bounces and sitting on Scorpius' bed. "Sorry Scorp'us" she said slightly sadly.
"Get up, hun" he grinned, before stepping up onto the bed with her. She stared curiously up at him as he towered over her, standing on the mattress. "Bouncing's more fun with two people" he laughed, bouncing up and down, Rose joining in, taking his hand. Together, the pair bounced up and down on Scorpius' springy bed, laughing the whole time.
After lots of bouncing, the pair collapsed onto the bed in a heap. Rose sat panting on top of Scorpius, who was also a little short of breath. "I haven't had that much fun in forever" he said, pulling Rose down into a cuddle. Rose let out a gentle tired yawn as she cuddled into his chest.
"You've had a long day, missus" Scorpius said gently, soothingly running a hand through Rose's auburn hair. It had really grown over the last few months, and was now halfway down her back, as Scorpius hadn't dared to cut it. He loved gently running his fingers through her wavy red hair, and was quite upset that he wouldn't be able to do this for much longer. Scorpius carried on stroking her hair as Rose quietly fell asleep in his lap.
The next morning, Scorpius decided to show Rose around his house. Although it was probably going to bore her a little, Scorpius had nothing much else to do with her. The small girl was, strangely enough, fascinated by everything in Malfoy Manor. She was amazed by the system of secret passages and was always asking questions. What did Scorpius do when he was younger? How does he not get lost with all these winding corridors? Her stream of questions stopped abruptly as Scorpius opened the doors to the large dining room.
Rose stared around, her mouth gaping open. "This is where you eat?" she asked, amazed. The large room had floor to ceiling windows all along one side, which allowed light to flood into the spacious room. The long table was a deep red wood, the same wood as the doors in the house, and was surrounded by lots of elegant chairs with luxurious seats.
But Rose wasn't really interested in the elegant table, or the plush chairs, but in the windows, or more specifically, what she could see out of them. She slowly wandered over to the windows, entranced by the scenic view of the Malfoy Manor garden.
"It's…..it's beautiful" she whispered, awed. When you would expect snow in the garden, there was none. The greener-than-green grass was trimmed down neatly and extended for hundreds of metres. All this grass was outlined by lots of different fruit trees; apples, cherries, pears, plums and lots of other various fruit bushes, all of which were covered in ripened fruit. A neat set of flowerbeds sat blooming with vibrantly coloured flowers as well, all perfectly trimmed. "Why is there no snow?" Rose asked curiously.
"There's a ward over the garden and it has loads of spells on it to make sure it's always summer" Scorpius smiled. "Do you want to go outside" he suggested, taking Rose's tiny hand in his and leading her outside.
For a moment, Rose just stood on the spot and swept her gaze around the huge garden, taking everything in. But the moment soon passed, as she sprinted off towards the trees. Scorpius laughed as she ran towards the trees, but started to worry as she suddenly vanished from sight.
"Rosie?" he called. No answer. "Rosie?!" he called louder, worry very evident in his voice. He jogged towards the trees where he had last seen her. As he got closer, he heard a small gasp, then a giggle.
"Scorp'us!" he heard he giggle from above him.
"How on earth did you get up there?!" Scorpius exclaimed, staring up to the top of the tree in disbelief. Rose was happily perched on a branch high out of his reach above him.
"I don't know!" she giggled. "I saw a birdy up here, and then POP! I was up here with the birdies!" she said.
Scorpius stared up at the small girl in the tree, gaping. He knew that young witches and wizards had sudden outbursts of magic as small children, but he'd never heard of any 5 year old managing to apparate. "Can you get down?" he asked, and idea hitting him.
"Ummmm… I don't know?" she asked, her face twisting into a familiar Malfoy smirk, which Scorpius was amazed to see she had picked up from him.
"This might not do anything, Rosie, but can you try and imagine standing next to me down here?" he knew it was a long shot, but it was worth a try.
A sharp 'pop!' confirmed Scorpius' suspicions. He looked down, and there was Rose, stood right in front of him. "Come on, you. We need to go speak to my dad" Scorpius smirked, scooping Rose onto his shoulders and jogging back to the manor with her laughing gleefully on his shoulders.
"Dad?" Scorpius called once they were inside.
"Draaaaaacooooooooooo?" called Rose as well, joining in.
"Scorp? Rosie? What's up?" Draco suddenly materialised behind them. He had just emerged from a secret passageway behind them.
"We need to go to Hogwarts, Dad, as in, right now" Scorpius said, lifting Rose off of his shoulders and into the crook of his arm. "We have an issue."
A/N: Ooooh I do LOVE adding twists to this! Don't quite know where this is going yet, but I'll leave you in suspense until I update again... Please review, and if i get enough reviews in the next few hours, you may find there is another chapter! -Rxx