In the Previous Chapter…
Scorpius flooed him and Rose to his room in the manor. He walked Rose over to the bed and pulled out her puzzle box. "See if you can figure this out while I call someone quickly" he tossed the box at her and knelt down by the fire.
"The Burrow" Scorpius said, throwing a handful of floo powder into the grate and pushing his head through the flames.
"Scorpius, dear, what a wonderful surprise!" Molly smiled, appearing at the grate in the kitchen at the Burrow, "Can I help you?"
"Hi, Mrs Weasey, could I speak to Al and Hugo please?" Scorpius said, glancing behind him as he heard Rose hum in annoyance at the puzzle box.
"Of course, I'll just grab them." Molly disappeared from Scorpius' view, and a few seconds later, her face was replaced by the two boys.
"Scorp, what's up?" Al greeted. "We only saw you yesterday"
"In know, but I was wondering if it is possible that you could take Rose off of my hands for an hour or two? It's just something happened today and-"
"-You want to throw things at your wall without Rose being in the way of potential missiles?" Hugo guessed with a grin.
"Yeah, that's about right" Scorpius shrugged through the flames. "So could you look after her for a bit? I'll come get her once I've finished…throwing things at walls, as you put it"
"Yeah, of course, send her through."
"Actually, Rose isn't going to come through the floo. You know your sofa in the living room? Go stand by that. She'll be over in a sec" Scorpius grinned.
"Scorp, what's going on?" Al frowned, suddenly alert.
"Look, the 'something' that happened today will be revealed when Rose arrives. I'll let her tell you herself" Scorpius said before drawing his head out of the fire, ending the fire call. "Rosie, Al and Hugo would like to see you for a bit, okay? Can you imagine you are sat on the sofa in the Burrow for me? I'll join you over there in a bit" Scorpius said.
"Okay, but don't be too long!" Rose grinned, before closing her eyes and vanishing with a pop.
Scorpius ducked his head back into the fire and reappeared in the kitchen of the Burrow again. He could hear pandemonium on the other side. "AL!" he yelled through the fireplace.
"Scorp! What the HELL just happened? Rose just-"
"Apparated onto the sofa, I know. We found out she can apparate really well, just by thinking about where she wants to be. Make sure she doesn't go anywhere, I'll be over once I've cleared my head a bit" Scorpius rushed to say, before again ending the fire call. To prevent anyone from coming in, Scorpius quickly placed wards on the door and fireplace, and flopped onto his bed, burying his face in his pillow.
With a groan, Scorpius sat up a while later, after thinking everything over. He went to his bedside table and picked up his quill. Leo, I need your help…
Rose laughed to herself as she sat on the sofa staring back at her family, who were all gaping at her.
"Rosie, you can apparate?" Hermione asked exasperately.
"Yeah! Scorp'us was quite su'prised too" she giggled at her family's facial expressions.
"How do you do it, Rosie?" asked Hugo.
"I don't know. I think of where I want to be and then POP! I'm there!"
"Can you show us?"
"No."
"Why not?" blurted Ron, Hermione and Hugo
"Scorp'us and Pro-fessar Magonagall said not to do it unless Scorp'us told me to."
"Please, Rosie?" begged Lily.
"No. Scorp'us told me not to, so I won't" Rose crossed her arms stubbornly, before remembering she had her puzzle box in her hand. She unfurled her arms and started happily twisting it, her face scrunched up in concentration.
"Al, try and get hold of Scorp" Hugo said.
"Already tried, he's blocked the floo" Al said, his lips pressing together in a tight line.
"So we're stuck with Rose until he comes to get her?"
"Pretty much. But to be honest, we won't even have to entertain her; Scorp's puzzle box will keep her busy enough for an hour" Al grinned.
Scorpius paced by the window until Leo's owl came crashing into it. Leo's owl was a bit blind, so couldn't see anything up close, hence why he crashed into everything.
"Stupid owl…" he muttered, plucking the message from the dazed owl's beak.
Scorp,
Merry Christmas for yesterday! Hope the Christmas with the Weasels wasn't too bad. You'll have to spill the beans at the ball.
I was worried about what you'd do when you realised how little time you have left caring for the little monkey. You tend to be a bit…disruptive when you get cross. I wouldn't be overly surprised if you'd smashed up half the manor by now. I hope you got Rose out of the way first though…
Anyway, the issue about her being able to apparate…I shouldn't worry about it. She trusts you with her life, Scorp, she'll listen to you. If she was going to apparate anywhere, it wouldn't be far from you, she adores you! So don't worry about her apparating away from you…
I like your idea of a final present for her as well…I know you think it's stupid and soppy, but I think she'll love it. We just need to get everything for it now. Speaking of presents, has the little genius figured out the box yet?
-Leo
Merry Christmas to you too, Mate.
Urgh, the ball, you've just reminded me, I have to go get Rose a dress for that.
You really don't think she'll just disappear randomly? I can't begin to imagine what would happen if she suddenly apparated somewhere in the middle of a lesson – she can apparate within wards, which would be problematic at Hogwarts, as no-one would be able to go after her.
You're gonna have to help with this present, if I do it by myself I'll probably burn it by accident of something. And no, she hasn't quite done it yet, but it won't take her long! At least I can reset it to open a different way once she's cracked it once, that way she'll have something to keep her busy for the next two months.
You better be at the ball. Make Ly and Lorcan come too – if they try making up excuses, tell them I'll set Rose on them, that should scare them enough.
-Scorp
After sending Leo's owl back off into the distance, Scorpius flopped down onto his bed. He felt so drained, he just wanted to curl up in a ball and sleep. He planned on doing exactly that, but was disrupted from his thoughts by a quiet knock on the door.
"Scorpius, honey, would you remove the wards so I can come in?" Astoria said through the door. With a sigh and a flick of his wand, Scorpius removed the spells on his door, and his mum walked in.
"I know you are upset, Scorp, but I'm afraid you need to come to terms with it all" Astoria said, sitting beside Scorpius on his bed and pulling him into a hug. Needing the comfort, Scorpius just relaxed into her arms.
"I know, but, it's going to be so different. For all of this year, I've been sharing everything, from my bed to my Christmas and even my wand, with a five-year-old girl" he frowned. "She's too involved in my life now for me to just forget all of this, and I'm terrified she'll wake up and ignore me for the rest of my life!" he said, his voice breaking at the end.
"She won't ignore you, honey. She loves you just as much as you love her-"
"-She loves me in the way a small child loves her older brother, mum. That's what I am to her, another older brother"
"No, you're not, Scorp. You treat her differently. Her real brother, what's his name, Hugo? He loves her in a brotherly way, and he just tolerates her, with the occasional bit of affection. He's the one that got her in this situation in the first place. You on the other hand, actually love her. You give her constant attention and sacrifice everything for her. She loves you in the same way. When you had your injury earlier this year, she wouldn't leave your side until she was told by many people that you would recover. That's love, Scorp. She won't leave you" Astoria said, running her hand gently through her son's short, soft hair. She paused as her hand ran over his scar, a rough, protruding slash right across the back of his head.
"It looks awful" Scorpius scowled. "It won't go away. Dad says that it'll go with time, but its taking forever."
"It's not that bad, it shows that you have inner strength and courage" Astoria said, "And people might be able to tell you and your dad apart now" she added with a laugh. "You seem better, Scorp. You haven't been this happy in a while. I'm guessing you sent Rose to her family so you didn't hurt her in your…rage" she asked, glancing around the room, which was half destroyed. She muttered a quick reparo and everything jumped back into place.
"While she's gone, have a rest. You haven't had much time to yourself for the last few months, so I'd use this free time wisely. Go and sleep this morning off – I'll wake you in about an hour to go and get Rose" Astoria smiled, standing up and crossing the room to the door. "I mean it, Scorp, get some rest. I know you love her, but Rose can wait for an hour while you regenerate after the stress of today."
"Okay, mum. Just, could you wake me in exactly an hour, please? I don't want her gone too long" Scorpius smiled, yawning slightly as he crawled into his bed. It felt weird, going to sleep alone, after sharing his bed with a small child for the last 4 months. But nonetheless, Scorpius fell straight asleep as soon as he closed his eyes.