In the Previous Chapter…
"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.
Draco, Astoria and Scorpius all raised their eyebrows.
"You want us to pretend that Rose is Scorp's daughter?" Draco said, his voice sounding restrained.
"Yes, Draco. I haven't had an opportunity to trick your father like this in years!" Narcissa said gleefully. "You should play along with it too. Rose, can you call Draco and Astoria Granddad and Granny?"
"Why?" Rose questioned, confused.
"Hun, Granny wants to play a trick on granddad. He thinks that I'm your daddy. It's hard to explain how he came to that conclusion, but we're going to have a little fun with it" Scorpius explained.
"Alright, Draco, could you levitate your father inside and place him on the sofa in the hall, seeming as he doesn't appear to have recovered from the shock yet" Narcissa scowled slightly. "Then we can all go and have a nice cup of tea and a chat in the lounge while we wait for dinner to be cooked."
Lucius walked in, rubbing a bump on his head, while Narcissa, Draco, Astoria, Scorpius and Rose were chatting over tea and cake in the lounge. Lucius seemed to have to double take several times to confirms that yes, Rose was sat on Scorpius' lap, happily playing with a little toy, and yes, she was a tiny child, probably no more than 3 years old.
"Lucius, I see you've finally joined us" Narcissa beamed, moving over to make space for him to sit next to her. "I believe that you have someone new to welcome" she indicated Rose.
"What's your name, child?" Lucius said.
"Father, be nice" Draco scolded.
"Granddad, this is Rose" Scorpius said, beaming down at the girl in his arms. Lucius almost fainted again at the amount of love he could see in his grandson's eyes. This child must be his.
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Rose" he said in a shaky voice.
"It's nice to meet you too…"
"Great-granddad" Scorpius helpfully finished for her, smirking. His comment had the desired effect. Lucius paled and his hands shook. He leant back in his chair and put his hand over his eyes, muttering to himself. Rose climbed off of Scorpius' lap and surprised Lucius even more by climbing into his lap. He glanced down at the child.
"Rose, come back here, hun" Scorpius said, reaching his arms out, winking at Rose.
Understanding Scorpius' wink, Rose replied "Yes, daddy" before snuggling into his chest.
Lucius looked lost for words as he watched Scorpius wrap his arms around Rose, hugging her tight. This movement, although fitting for their joke, had become a natural movement for Scorpius in the last few months.
"So…Scorpius…" Lucius finally said, clearing his throat loudly, "How old is Rose?"
"I'm 5" Rose said boldly. You could almost hear the clogs turning in Lucius' brain as he did the maths. Several second passed, everyone waiting for Lucius to notice the slip up.
Eventually, Narcissa had enough of her husband attempting to work it out, and said loudly "That would make Scorp a father at 12, Lucius." Lucius stared in shock at Scorpius, still not getting that it was a joke.
"Granddad, this is Rose Weasley" Scorpius said, emphasising the Weasley part of her name.
"YOU GOT A WEALSEY PREGNANT AT 12?" Lucius practically screamed at Scorpius, jumping up from the sofa.
"No, you idiot, honestly, how stupid do you get?" Narcissa said, pulling her husband back down to sit on the sofa before saying "This is Rose Weasley, as is Ron and Hermione Weasley's daughter" she said.
"But…their daughter is in Scorpius' year…" Lucius muttered, another idea hitting his brain as he said it. "You're stuck looking after the girl as you cursed her, didn't you, boy?"
"What, no! I didn't curse Rose!" Scorpius spluttered. "She got slipped a potion by accident and McGonagall put her in my care considering that Mr and Mrs Weasley are too important to the ministry for them to take 6 months off to look after their child again! It sounds ridiculous, but Ron is in charge of the Auror Department with Harry and Hermione controls the Law and Order departments. The ministry wouldn't be able to afford to lose them!" he said.
"So you have been burdened with this child until she can be reaged. Or are you stuck with her forever?" Lucius grinned wickedly. "It must be torture, having to care for a Weasley."
"Back off, father" Draco warned, but too late, the damage was done.
"You have no right to insult Rose and her family like that!" Scorpius yelled, standing. "Rose is probably the best thing that has happened to me this last year. She loves me unconditionally and I love her too! Her family rose above their prejudices and befriended me and I spent the first week of my Christmas with them!" he said, taking a worried Rose's hand in his own. "If you can't rise above your prejudices like them, then we are no longer staying. It was lovely to see you, Granny. Dad, Mum, I'm taking Rose home" he said, giving no one the chance to stop him by apparating back to Malfoy Manor.
Scorpius looked down to see Rose on the brink of tears. "Hun, I'm sorry, but I couldn't stay there. He was being so mean and heartless" he soothed Rose, picking her up and cradling her in his arms.
"I know, daddy" Rose giggled. "Your granddad's face was really funny when I said that" she laughed.
"His reaction was brilliant" Scorpius agreed. He walked Rose down the halls and into the kitchen, where Dipsey was washing dishes at the sink with magic, humming a little tune to herself. She jumped in shock and dropped a plate when Scorpius and Rose walked in.
"Sorry to surprise you, Dipsey" Scorpius said, pointing his wand at the broken plate, mending it together, "But it looks like me and Rose will be having dinner here tonight." Dipsey carried on cleaning while Scorpius put Rose down on a stool and gravitated to their cutlery drawer. Although he could easily cook, Scorpius wasn't in the mood, so scooped up a handful of muggle takeaway menus and sat next to Rose.
"Have you had a muggle takeaway before, hun?"
"Nope. Mummy always said they're unhealthy" Rose said.
"Well, they might be a bit unhealthy, but how about we get one for a treat tonight?"
"What is a muggle takeaway? Mummy just said they were unhealthy…"
"Well, you can have anything really. You can have pizza, chips, chicken, Chinese, Indian, anything" Scorpius explained, passing Rose the multi-coloured fliers. Rose leafed through them, looking at the pictures. "What would you like, hun?"
"Well, I've never had a lot of this before…" Rose said, a bit confused by all the names. "You choose!"
"Well, have you had any Chinese stuff before?" Rose shook her head. "Well, we'll get some of that then!" Scorpius apparated Rose to a nearby muggle town, and they soon found the nearest Chinese takeaway. While Scorpius ordered, Rose looked around, amazed by the variety of new smells she was experiencing. After staring transfixed at a cat with a waving arm for a while, Rose looked up to see Scorpius handing over weird money in return for their food.
"Is that muggle money?" she asked. The shop keeper looked at Rose strangely, and she suddenly remembered that she was in a muggle town, not a wizard one. Scorpius quickly took her out of the shop and in the nearest back street apparated them home.
"Rosie, you know the rules" Scorpius scolded lightly. "You shouldn't mention magic in front of muggles. Oh well, he'll pass it off as a game or something. Anyway, yeah, that was muggle money. I'll show you it a bit later, after we've eaten."
Chinese takeaway instantly became Rose's favourite foods. She savoured every bite of every flavour from the small selection of dishes Scorpius had ordered. She decided her favourite one was something Scorpius said was 'chow mein'. When they were clearing up their plates a little while later, after every single mouthful of food had been eaten, they heard two pops in the hall.
Draco and Astoria appeared, looking disgruntled. "You could have said a proper goodbye, Scorp" Astoria sighed, sitting down on the stool next to Rose.
"Sorry mum, but he went too far" Scorpius tried to argue.
"We know, son, but- Have you had Chinese?" Draco said, sniffing midsentence and instantly forgetting what he was going to say.
"Yeah, sorry. Rose and I ate all of it. She's never had a Chinese before now, so I just let her eat what she wanted, which happened to be most of it" Scorpius smirked as Rose blushed in front of him.
"Appetite like your father's then, Rosie" Draco grinned. He turned to Rose as she did a massive yawn. "You've had a long day, Scorp. Take Rose to bed" he sighed.
Scorpius picked Rose up, turning to leave. "Night, mum, dad" he said, exiting with an already half-asleep Rose huddled into his chest, holding on to him by winding an arm around his neck.