In the Previous Chapter…
He picked up the small girl and positioned her so she was sat on his hip. He put one of her hands on his shoulder, and took her other small hand in his own. He slowly started to waltz around the room, spinning them round and round in graceful circles.
"This is much more fun!" Rose laughed, squealing as Scorpius spun her round and round.
"You can dance, Rosie" Scorpius grinned a little while later as he set Rose down on her feet. "I dunno about you, but I'm quite hungry after all that dancing! Let's go and get some dinner."
The next morning found Rose, Scorpius, Al, Hugo and Lily walking together through Diagon Alley.
"What about Madam Malkins?" Al asked.
"Godric, no, Al! Although they do stuff for all occasions, we need to go somewhere more specific. Like here. Inside!" Lily marshalled the group inside the small boutique.
"Mademoiselle Delacour's?" Scorpius frowned.
"Bonjour, Lily, ma chere! Comment allez-vous?" the lady at the counter said, her face lighting up at the sight of Lily. She walked around the counter and embraced Lily in a loving embrace
"Gabrielle! Bounjour! Je suis tres bien, merci beaucoup!" Lily beamed. She turned to see Hugo, Scorpius and Rose staring at her as if she had turned into a different creature.
"Lils speaks fluent French" Al said. "Hi, Gabrielle, it's nice to see you again" he smiled, hugging Gabrielle too.
"It is nice to see you again too, Albus" Gabrielle smiled, hugging Al back. "Who are your friends?"
"Gabrielle, you must remember Hugo" Al pointed him out.
"Oh, sorry Hugo! I did not recognise you! You have shot up since I last saw you! You must have been quite small then!" Gabrielle said, shocked that she had not recognised him. "I must come and see your family soon. How is Rosie?"
"You can ask her yourself" Al beamed. "Gabrielle, this is my friend Scorpius Malfoy and in his arms is Rosie."
"How?" Gabrielle asked, confused beyond extent. Lily launched into an explanation in French whilst the boys regrouped. Once Lily had finished explaining, Gabrielle nodded and turned to them, asking "So, what can I do to help today?"
3 hours later, the group left Gabrielle's boutique and headed for Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour. Scorpius carried Rose's purchases while Lily carried hers. After hours of trying on different dresses with different shoes and with different accessories, they had left with a complete outfit for both girls. Rose had picked a pale pink ball gown that was embellished with silvery diamante jewels scattered all over it, clustering around the waist. It contrasted very well with her red hair, and Lily thought it looked amazing. Lily had finished the look off with some sparkly silver ballet pumps and some small silver trinket jewellery. Scorpius' wallet felt a lot lighter once they had left.
Lily herself had chosen to get a dark green dress that hugged her body, flaring out at the knees. Although it was simple, Lily passed it off well and it looked stunning on her when she wore black heels and an emerald pendant she had fallen in love with.
The 5 were sat eating their ice creams with their bags at their feet when Leo, Lorcan and Lysander walked through the doors. They easily spotted Scorpius, whose platinum hair stood out a mile off. They also recognised him by the fact that Rose was sat in his lap, playing with his fingers.
"You went to Delacour's? Bet your wallet's a bit lighter now" Leo grinned.
"It did feel quite light, but not anywhere near as light as it would have been without Lily's discount" Scorpius said, hoping to save his friend's manhood from Lily's piercing glare. "Mademoiselle Delacour is Fleur Weasley's sister, and she gets on well with Lils, so we got quite a big discount" he said, thanking Lily once again.
"Oh, well, anyway…I got the things you asked for in your letter" Leo said, dumping a bag onto the floor by Scorpius' leg. Rose instinctively dived towards it, eager to find out what it was, but was a bit surprised to find the bag no longer on the floor, but high above her in the air.
"Nuh-uh, missy, that's for Scorp's eyes only" Leo grinned, his wand levitating the bag out of her reach. "I've put a list in there of the things you need to find as well."
"Okay, thanks Leo" Scorpius smiled, taking the bag from the air by his shoulder and putting it on the floor. "Rosie, don't go looking please, it's just for me. I've started finding things out but might need a hand at sweeping out the manor" he grinned.
"Yeah sorry mate, but to this is as far as my help goes" Leo grinned.
"Lazy git just doesn't want to get up off his arse and do physical work" Scorpius muttered under his breath.
"Anyway, we've got to go, but we'll see you at the ball" Lorcan smiled, dragging Leo and Lysander away. Just as they reached the door, Leo ran back to their table, grabbed Scorpius' ice cream from his hand and yelled "I forgot my payment!" over his shoulder as he danced out of Scorpius' reach, exiting the shop.
"You can have mine, Scorp'us" Rose smiled, climbing back into Scorpius' lap to offer him her ice cream.
"I'll be fine, hun, but don't worry, I'll get Leo back eventually" he smirked down at her.
Later that day, Scorpius and Rose had returned back to the Manor and were currently in the ballroom. This was where the ball would be held in a few days' time, and was perfect for a big party, as it was a spacious room with beautiful architecture and a set of glass doors opened up in to the garden. The ballroom had so far been left untouched, so Scorpius wanted to take Rose inside to practice before they were banned from being there while they decorated it for the ball.
Rose had decided that since she was practicing for the ball, she may as well dress up for a pretend ball, so was currently in Scorpius' arms in her pink gown being waltzed around the large room to some music coming from a gramophone in the corner.
After a while, Scorpius put her on the floor and started to spin her around like a ballet dancer, twirling her around on her tiptoes.
"I feel like a ballerina!" Rose laughed as Scorpius spun her around again.
"You look like one, hun" Scorpius smiled.
"I met I'm a ballerina than you, though" Rose laughed.
"Oh really?" he smirked, challenging her by raising his eyebrow.
Draco walked in a while later to find Rose sat on the floor in a fit of giggled while his son pranced around the room, occasionally spinning on his tiptoes or doing an arabesque. "What on earth are you doing, Scorp?" he asked, not even trying to hide to pure shock in his voice. Scorpius turned to face his father, mid arabesque, and immediately straightened up and walked over, scooping Rose up along the way.
"I was proving to Rosie that I'm a better ballerina than her" he shrugged, a grin working its way onto his face.
"Well, I never expected I'd see you prancing around like a ballet dancer when you were younger, but definitely not at 17" Draco laughed. "I just came to find you to say that your grandparents have invited us over for dinner, so make Rose presentable as they aren't going to be overly…happy…about her presence anyway. You may want to change her out of that expensive dress though."
"Oh! Of course, dad. We'll just go change" Scorpius nodded, shocked, taking Rose off to his room.
Rose huddled into Scorpius' chest as they walked with Draco and Astoria up the driveway of his grandparents' house. Scorpius hugged her close, offering his support. He never really had liked his grandparents' house, as it scared him as a child.
After the war, Narcissa had refused to continue living in Malfoy Manor, for it held too many bad memories, so had forced Lucius to move into a 'much nicer place'. Their manor was not quite as big as Malfoy Manor, but looked very scary and domineering from the outside. The once welcoming golden-brown stones were covered in large patches of black and grey, scorched beyond repair. The manor had been abandoned for centuries after it was damaged by fiendfyre in a duel between its previous owner and an angry neighbour.
"It looks scary, hun, but it's really not once you get inside" Scorpius attempted to soothe the little girl as they got closer and closer to the front steps.
"It's still scary" Rose murmured.
"Hun, I wouldn't bring you here if I thought you were in danger, okay? Just remember I love you and that I won't let anyone hurt you" he said, kissing her gently on the forehead.
Their heads shot up at the sound of a gasp and the sound of someone falling to the ground. Scorpius exchanged a glance with his parents and knew that this was going to take some explaining.
It appeared at Lucius had been standing by the door as his son, daughter-in-law and grandson walked up his driveway, and had overheard Scorpius talking to the tiny girl in his arms. Scorpius hadn't seen his grandparents since his 13th birthday, as they had been travelling the globe twice since, revisiting old friends in different countries, and any time that they were back from travelling, he was at school, so couldn't see them.
Narcissa rushed out of the door, kneeling by her husband. She looked quite tanned (Scorpius made a mental note to ask her where their recent holiday had taken them) as she glanced up at Scorpius, her own eyes narrowing in shock. She stood to her full height and walked past Draco and Astoria, stopping in front of Scorpius. She looked him up and down, before turning to Draco and smiling, saying "I should scold you for not telling me that I'm a great-grandmother, least to say that I obviously have been for quite a few years!" she said, her voice graduating to a shriek by the end of her sentence. Draco looked dumbfounded at her words.
"Great-grandmother?" he asked, clueless.
"Granny, please, you have it all wrong" Scorpius said, finally fitting all the pieces together. His granddad fainting after overhearing his last few words to Rose, his grandmother thinking she were a great-grandmother, it made a bit of sense now. "Granny, this is Rose Weasley. I can see by your lovely tan that you haven't been in the country for a while, so I'm guessing you won't have heard about this…" Scorpius quickly explained their situation from the beginning, about how Rose was de-aged and put into his care until February. Narcissa nodded as his story went on, taking her right through everything. Once Scorpius had finished, Narcissa smiled at Rose, who was still hiding in Scorpius' jacket.
"Hello, Rose. I'm Scorpius' granny. You can call me Granny too, if you like" she beamed.
"Hello, Granny" Rose said timidly.
"How old are you, Rose?"
"5"
Narcissa raised her eyebrows. "You looked a little younger at first, hidden away in Scorpius' coat." She suddenly had an idea, quickly glancing down at her husband, who was still lying face down on the ground. "Rose, can you call Scorpius daddy for me whenever my husband is around?" she grinned.
A/N: Hehehe i've written the next chapter...but you can only have it if you review! You love me really!-Rxx