On Sunday morning Rose took Orion to Ottery . They had left early in the morning so that she could show him around. They toured the bookstore where Rose had spent many childhood summers touring for new books to read. They proceeded to have a quick breakfast at the local cafe. As Orion played around with his pancakes, Rose sent Albus a quick text.

Rosey-Posey: We're in town, what time are you coming?

Albie: Should be there after brunch, noon?

Nana's already convinced everyone to stay for dinner

Lil & L are going into town

Will convince Hugo to come with

BTW, the ladies are fawning over Scorp

It's been a while

He looks overwhelmed

Rosey-Posey: … OK…

Will be here with Orion

Geez

Forgot the rustle bustle of those days

They spent the following few hours walking around the town. At one point Rose bumped into a tall brunette.

"Your child is adorable." looking up, Rose thanked her and smiled. The woman looked her intently in the face.

"Is that you Rose?" Rose looked at her, confused "It's me, Olivia." Rose still couldn't put the face of the woman to anyone she could remember meeting in the past. "We use to play together, before you went to boarding school. You know, near the Potter's home?"

Rose's face shone with recognition. "Oh, Olivia! Long time, no see. Wow, it's been ages! Do you still see my cousins?"

"Yeah. I moved to London a few months ago, but whenever I'm around the house mum's always talking about the latest trip she took with your aunt. I swear the two of them are thick as thieves." she smiled. "I haven't seen you and your brother around lately. I saw James and Lily, maybe a few months ago when they were visiting."

"I have no excuses for my brother, but I've been living abroad."

"Ooh, fun! Where at?"

"In the United States."

"Nice! I've been wanting to visit, I have some distant family there. When I manage to save some money up, then I'll be sure to check out the most important sites." she grinned, before asking "Where abouts did you live?"

"In Boston for a time, and then New York. I still have a house in New York, I couldn't sell it. Holds a lot of important memories."

"That's beautiful. Well, I need to go, I'm supposed to meet up with my boyfriend's family."

"Oh, right. Well, we should meet up sometime."

"Yeah, that would be nice." she ruffled Orion's hair and waved as she bounced away.

Rose looked at her watch, realizing it was almost 12:30, she hurriedly picked Orion up into her arms and quickly walked towards the park.

She was in proximity of the park when she caught a view of her brother. He was casually walking with Albus on one of the paths, both had coffees in their hands. She stopped and pulled Orion back, before sitting down on the steps of one of the cafes around the square, just out of view of the park. Memories were flashing through her mind.

She was certain that Hugo's coffee was filled with tons of milk and sugar as she used to scold him for. She remembered the way that Hugo would run around and tag along behind the group with Lily, when they were still children. And yet, the back of Hugo's body revealed a grown man. He was just a tad taller than Albus, and he'd finally gotten rid of his long, boyish haircut. The little boy, who used to annoy her every chance he got, was never going to be as innocent and naïve as her memory allowed. He had just been figuring out his own life when she had left.

Orion tugged on her jacket's sleeve, "Mummy, it's cold." Rose had been so focused on her own life that she'd almost forgot the time of year, much less her toddler's intolerance of the cold. She pulled him to his feet and fixed his hat. Grabbed his mittened hand and walked around the corner.

When Rose tapped on Hugo's shoulder any bystander could tell you that the man went through the five stages of grief.

Denial. "Rose? Is that you? It can't be."

Anger. "Where the hell have you been? You know what you've put us all through?"

Bargaining. "Please tell me you're not leaving again. I doubt we would survive."

Depression. "It's just been so, so hard."

Acceptance. "I'm so glad you're back."

Hugo gave Rose a long hug. "Hugh, I love you. But I can't breath." Hugo gave her a lopsided smile before peering at Rose's legs where Orion was shyly hiding. Rose picked him up, so that Hugo could see him.

"Who is he?" Hugo looked at her questionably, grabbing Orion's hand. "He's Scorpius' right? What's your name, buddy?" he asked the curious toddler.

"Orion Malfoy," he said extending his arm "nice to meet yew." Hugo gave Rose a pointed look.

"Why did you keep him from us?" he looked at Orion and stared into his storm-grey eyes. "Do you mind?" he addressed Rose, pointing out that he wanted to hold Orion. She passed him over, Orion struggled a bit before becoming fascinated with Hugo's necklace.

"We still have time, right?" he directed his question at Albus.

"Yeah, we can go for a walk."

"Great." he turned to Rose, " Now you can tell me where you've been and what's been happening to you." And so they walked. Rose told her brother about moving to Boston, getting a job offer in New York, buying her home, having Orion, meeting people. She told him about how she kept in touch with Albus and how New York City managed to become her home. How the ministry had heard about her skills and the minister himself had visited her while he was in the US. She told them both about the job offer the minister had given her upon realizing who she was, and how she'd spent months deciding whether or not to take it.

"I think I finally realised that I couldn't keep Orion away from his family forever. By bringing him back, at least he could be accepted back into the family, and maybe he wouldn't blame me later in life for taking him away."

"Why?" asked Hugo.

"What do you mean?"

"Why did you leave in the first place. You and Scorpius were in a great place, you were going to have a child, you'd both gotten promoted recently, you'd finally finished the reparations on the cottage. Your life was perfect."

"I don't know why." she sighed, "You thought my life was perfect, I felt like it was all crumbling around me. How perfect could it be before everything went awry? I didn't have faith in the future." she turned to Orion, who was happily looking around from her arms. "I thought I lost him…"

"What?"

"I was certain that I'd miscarried. I didn't even bother checking. I told Scorpius, and he'd been so happy about the pregnancy. It broke him. I couldn't watch him suffer, I needed him to hold me as I suffered, and he did. But I could tell that he was there for me and I wasn't there for him. There wasn't reciprocation."

"And you just left?"

"No, I had previously gotten a job offer in the States. Scorpius knew about it, but they hadn't provided any information as to where it was. So I took it. It was something that had interested me for so long, and here was my opportunity. When I'd gotten pregnant we'd decided to postpone moving. Then there were promotions and we got caught up in everything."

"Rosie, why didn't you tell us? Scorpius would have followed you anywhere and everywhere. He disappeared for a few months a couple of weeks after you left. He said he was going to find you, dead or alive." Rose wiped a tear from her face. Her cheeks were cold and they'd been walking around the park for the last few hours. Albus pulled his phone out of his pocket.

"It's James, I should take this. Here, Hugo, I'll tell them that you saw some old girlfriend or something. I'll head back." he nodded to them before picking up the call and heading away.

"Looks like Orion is freezing." he made wide eyes at Orion who, despite having a red nose and cheeks denied the statement. "That sucks, I was going to go and buy you guys some hot cocoa."

"Hot chocolate?" Orion asked excitedly, and Rose gladly giggled, happy to have ended the conversation on the subject of her departure.

"I know a great café down the street, let's go warm up, and I want to know all about my nephew!" Hugo took them down the street to a small cafe. They spent a few hours there before Hugo got a call from Albus that dinner was already on the table and the family was getting impatient. Hugo gave Rose a large warm hug as he left, and made her promise to meet him later that week. They agreed on a time, before Hugo wrote down Rose's phone number on a piece of paper in his wallet. That night, for the first time in a long time, Rose felt completely satisfied as she fell asleep.