Scorpius, Rose and Albus all made their way down to the quidditch pitch for the Hufflepuff-Ravenclaw game. While still in quite low spirits, Rose knew that getting out of the old castle would do her some good.

She was holding Scorpius' hand and a faint smile was on her face. It was the first time they were out in public without having the "Friends Only" sign hovering above their heads. She wondered, briefly, if this was the best time for their relationship to be made known (as everyone knew about the incident with that Ravenclaw git Humphrey) but she couldn't bring herself to really care. Scorpius was her boyfriend and the hell with anyone who wanted to speak out against them.

The whispers and pointing started just outside the entrance to the pitch.

"Are they holding hands?"

"Is that Malfoy and Weasley?"

"Oh! It's like Romeo and Juliet!"

"Shut up, mate. It's just a ruse …"

"I heard she's marrying Paddington Humphrey …"

"I heard she was up the duff with Greg Wilcox's sprog …"

"I heard she was dating Wendy Wilcox …"

"That's a new one," whispered Al as they climbed into the Slytherin stands. "Though you are pretty tough. I bet some people could think you liked girls …"

"Shut it, prat," Rose said with a scowl as she thumped her cousin on the arm. "You're just jealous because I could get Harmony Jackson to shag me before you could," she added with a chuckle.

"Harmony isn't that kind of girl," he spat back quickly. "She's not into parties and random hook ups."

"I thought you were after Columba Harrod. Who the hell is Harmony Jackson?" Scorpius asked with a furrowed brow. "I have never heard of her before and you know I know all of the Slytherins and most of the Ravenclaws …"

"Yes you do," Rose said with a smirk, her thoughts thankfully far away from her problems at the moment, "so it only leads to thinking that Miss Jackson is not in one of those two houses."

"Rose …"

"Will you tell him what house the lovely Harmony is in or shall I, dear cousin?" she asked again.

"I think you should keep your mouth shut," Albus replied.

Before Rose could respond the voice of Lorcan Scamander interrupted, "Good afternoon, Hogwarts! Today's match is between Ravenclaw" he paused for a loud cheer "and Hufflepuff." another loud cheer. " Let's meet the teams! For Ravenclaw –" another cheer "William Bucksley, Cara Hornabret and Marshall Pointer as Chasers" more cheers "Hestia Yancy and George Testerman as Beaters" another loud cheer "Gregory Hines as Keeper" a few wolf-whistles thrown in with the cheers "and Summer Winters as Seeker!"

"I don't see what's so bloody great about Hines. He's not the best Keeper in school …"

"Oh, Scor," Rose said with a giggle, "it's really only me who can score on him with any consistency …"

"You had better be talking about quidditch," he growled as he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close.

"And for Hufflepuff" a loud cheer came from the Badgers' stands "Your 2022-2023 MVP Seeker Braxton Klover as Seeker" a huge cheer ripped through the entire stadium (and Albus muttered that the "poncy prat" was "such a nancy git") "with Beamer Bartsch as Keeper, Jack Vance and Hermes Willowood as Beaters" another cheer (mainly from the Hufflepuffs) "and your Chasers: Henry Jacobs, Roland Filmore and Harmony Jackson!"

"No fucking way!" Scorpius shouted with delight. He completely ignored the stares directed at him from his housemates. "You're kidding me."

"Shut. Up," Albus said from the corner of his mouth.

"You're sniffing after a Hufflepuff?" Scorpius continued with a chuckle.

"He doesn't need to sniff anymore, Scor," Rose butted in. "They're together."

"I swear, Potter, you just made my day," Scorpius said with a smirk. "You're the best mate a guy could ask for." His arm settled around Rose's shoulder and the match began.

--

"You wrote her a bloody letter?!" Ron shouted at his best friend of over thirty years. "What gave you the right to do that?"

"First," Harry responded in a dark tone, "she is my goddaughter and, as such, I write to her often. Second," he added louder, as Ron had tried to speak over him, "she's in a bad spot right now because a certain git is treating her like rubbish."

"This isn't your fight, Harry," Ron said strongly. "This is between me, Rose and Hermione."

"Yeah? Well there seems to be a lot more than tension between the three of you right now."

"What the hell are you talking about, Harry?" Ron asked as he moved around the store room at Weasleys Wizard Wheezes.

"When was the last time you saw your wife, Ron?" Harry asked angrily.

"When we went to Hogwarts on Tuesday," the redhead responded.

"No, Ron. I think that was the last time you were in the same room as your wife. But, tell me, when was the last time you really saw her?"

"I don't know what the hell you're talking about, Potter. If you have something to say then just bloody say it!"

"She's been miserable, Ron. She's been absolutely miserable and you're not doing anything to try and make her feel better. I don't know how you can live with yourself after what you've done to Hermione and Rose. So what if she's a Slytherin, Ron?"

Ron cut him off before he could get any further into his rant. "Is that what this is about? Are you kidding me? You're hacked off that I don't like the fact that my angel is in Slytherin and she's doing Merlin knows what with Draco Malfoy's son? Well, Harry, I think it's time you came to grips with the idea that I will never be happy about either of those things."

"And I think you need to face a bit of reality, Weasley. Hermione's not as strong as she used to be. Years with you have made her feel safe and she's let down her defenses. Then you lost your bloody mind when Rose was Sorted and she's started building those walls again. And it seems to me that you didn't even notice. She doesn't talk to many people, Ron. She works and she either goes out with Ginny, Luna, me or Draco …"

"She's still seeing the Ferret?" Ron screamed loudly.

"Ron …" Harry sighed.

"She shagging him too?" the irate redhead asked. "She never told me they got up to anything like that before we were married but, hey, she could be doing it now, couldn't she?"

Harry had to literally tell himself not to beat the shite out of his best mate. He knew this wouldn't be an easy conversation but, Merlin, Ron was as stubborn as a hippogriff sometimes. "They're just friends."

"Just like they were just friends before Hermione and I got engaged?"

--

"Ron? I'm going to the cinema with Draco. And then we're going for coffee. Would you care to join us?"

"No, I'd not care to join you," the redhead said with a pout. "This is your time to catch up with him and find out how his life has been since you met him last week."

"I'm not fighting with you tonight, Ronald," she said with a sigh before pressing a kiss on the top of his head (as he was sitting on the couch) and walking out the front door.

He waited about twenty minutes before apparating to the cinema he knew the two of them would be at. He knew he shouldn't be jealous – well, no, he didn't exactly know that – but he wanted to see for himself what kinds of things they got up to when they met.

He sat in the back of the cinema through the entire (ghastly, foreign) film and then slowly followed them out. His eyes stayed glue to them as they walked to Hermione's favorite café. He spent the entire time in the shadows watching as they talked. They didn't act as if they were meeting for some sort of affair but he could tell by the looks in both of their eyes that it would take very little to spark the flame and send them both to a place where neither should be.

He decided, as he watched them smiling and talking, that he would ask her to marry him that night. He loved her for Merlin's sake and he knew she was waiting for the ring he'd had hidden for nearly six months. Well, he thought to himself with a smile, no time like the present.

He was comfortable with the knowledge that she loved him and she was not cheating on him with Malfoy. He just knew he would feel better if she had his ring on her finger. He wanted to marry her anyway (and his mum brought up the lack of a ring at almost every brunch seeing as how Harry had asked Ginny three months before) and he was happy with her. He'd loved her since before he knew what love was.

So when Hermione got home that night (looking as composed as she had when she left), he apologized profusely to her.

"I'm so sorry, love. I shouldn't have acted out. It's just … I was jealous. You know how I can be," he whispered as they sat together on the couch.

"It's okay," she said with a smile. "You don't have to be jealous. Especially not of Draco," she said with a slight giggle. "He's so in love with Astoria that I could parade around in front of him in my birthday suit and he would ask me if I was feeling a bit warm. And," she added in a lower, huskier voice, "there's only one man I love and he's got fantastic red hair, a goofy grin and a jealous streak longer than the Great Wall of China."

"I'm going to ignore that last muggle reference because Harry's probably the only one who would understand it and simply say I love you too."

He pressed his lips to hers and was quite satisfied when she responded enthusiastically and climbed onto his lap. He debated inside his mind whether he should propose now and shag later or the other way around. He decided the sex would probably be much more passionate if she had the ring on her finger first.

He didn't even think about how git-ish it was to think about his engagement in terms of his sex life.

"Hermione," he whispered as he pushed her away slightly. He smiled as she pouted and tried to move back in for another kiss. "Hermione, love, slow down a minute …"

"What's wrong?" she asked as her bottom lip jutted out petulantly.

"I want to talk to you for a minute …"

"We can talk later," she said with a smile as she leaned back in.

Ron was amazed at his willpower as he slowly slid out from under her to the floor. "Please, love, let me talk first."

Hermione sighed cutely and nodded for him to continue. He couldn't believe that she didn't spot the fact that he was down on one knee in front of her.

"I love you so much," he whispered. "I loved you before I knew what love meant and I wanted to be with you the moment I understood what boys actually see in girls." He smiled briefly before taking her hands in his. "You mean more to me than anything in the world. You're my reason for living, Hermione. I don't know what I would do if I didn't have you in my life …"

"You'll never have to find out," she promised with a smile as she swept his fringe from his forehead.

"D'you really mean that, Hermione?"

"Of course," she whispered.

He cleared his throat and shifted a bit before pulling a box from his trouser pants. "Hermione …"

"Oh, Ron …" she whispered as tears sprung to her eyes.

"Hermione," he said again, "I don't know the romantic way of asking this but you always said that being straightforward was the best way to go. I love you. I never want to be without you. Will you marry me?"

As Hermione looked down into his innocent, smiling, nervous face, she knew that she never wanted to be without him either. So, with an enthusiastic nod, a few falling tears, a sniffle and an exclamation of "Yes!" she hurled herself at him and they made love on the floor between the couch and the coffee table.

--

"Yes, Ron," Harry said as he interrupted Ron's musings. "Just like they were before you got engaged. She never cheated on you, Ron. You know she wouldn't."

"I know," the redhead reluctantly agreed.

"And you promised her on your wedding day that you would love her forever and always try to see her side of every argument. I don't like to think you lied to her, Ron."

Ron sighed again. His remembrance of his proposal to Hermione had brought back all of the feelings of love he'd had for her. He knew they were still as strong as they were before and he couldn't figure out what was making him so bloody angry all the time. And then, suddenly, his mind flashed to Rose.

She wasn't exactly like her mother – she wasn't quite like anyone, really – but he had always compared the two. He would always think of Rose as a mini-Hermione, as she had acted quite like her mother used before his little Rosie left for Hogwarts. And when she got to Hogwarts and was put in Slytherin, his perfect Hermione-clone image was shattered. He hadn't liked the revelation that she wasn't really like her mother at all. And that's when he had started treating her as less than she was. He didn't like being proven wrong.

"Harry …" Ron whispered. "I've been a shit, haven't I?"

"Yes," the raven-haired man responded unrepentantly.

"To both of them."

"More than just them."

"Where is she staying, Harry?" Ron asked desperately. "You've got to tell me."

Harry stared at his friend for a long moment before sighing. "No, Ron. I don't have to tell you. And I won't. Not now. You think you've worked through everything in your head but you haven't. If you go to her before you've really reconciled your behavior things will get much worse. You broke her heart, Ron, and you've broken Rose's as well. I won't let you see Hermione until I'm certain you won't do something that will ruin your marriage for good. And I don't want you to try to talk to Rose until the Gryffindor-Slytherin match in two weeks. She needs time, Ron. Just like you do."

Ron narrowed his eyes at his best mate before reluctantly nodding. "Fine. But just know that I'm not doing this because you told me to."

"Wouldn't dream of it," Harry said sarcastically. "Now, I'm going back to work. When George comes in tell him I said to stop selling those rubbishy glasses to my aurors."

Ron smirked at him. "Everyone wants to be like Head Auror Potter."

"Yes, well Head Auror Potter and Hermione Weasley, Esquire, are trying o figure a way to keep Lucius Malfoy in prison, so we don't need all those gits walking in and distracting us thinking they're funny."

"Right," Ron said. "No more glasses to aurors."

"Just until we finish the Malfoy case. Then you can sell those stupid things until your heart's content."

"Thanks, mate," Ron said as Harry was half out the door.

They both knew he wasn't talking about the glasses.

--

Albus quietly excused himself from his friends as he made his way towards the Hufflepuff changing room. He had promised Harmony that he would meet her there after the game, win or lose.

And Hufflepuff had won hugely. She alone had more than seventy points. Looks like Rose isn't the only one scoring on Hines. And then he screamed at himself for thinking about scoring at all.

There were rumors around the school that Albus was a bit of a player. He and Scorpius were known as Slytherin's bad boys. He'd been linked romantically to almost every Slytherin and Gryffindor above third year.

Truth was, Al had only had one girlfriend. And she didn't really work out.

Earlier that same morning he had asked Harmony – who was his partner in Herbology and Care for Magical Creatures – if she would consider being his girlfriend. The usually calm, cool, collected Albus Potter had been a stuttering idiot. He was certain she would laugh in his face.

But she hadn't, to his surprise. She had smiled and said yes. And then asked him to meet her after the game.

So there he was, the "Slytherin Playwizard", standing outside the Hufflepuff changing rooms like a nervous first year before his first class.

"You came," a soft voice said from his left.

"'Course I did," he responded with a smile as he turned to look at Harmony. "Said I would."

"Yeah, I know … I was just …"

"I know," Al said softly. "But you have to believe me, Harmony, and not what you hear. Okay? Promise me that if you ever hear something like … well, I know what the rumors say … just promise you'll come to me or Scorpius or Rose first."

She smiled shyly and whispered, "I promise."

He nodded with a smile of his own before shyly taking her hand in his. "So, would you like to have a picnic by the lake to celebrate your victory? Or were you planning to go on with your team?"

She watched him for a moment, still not entirely sure this was the real Albus Potter, and then slowly said, "A picnic would be nice."

"Good," Al replied with a small smile still on his face. "Why don't you go get changed and meet me out by the gate in twenty minutes? I'll go get the picnic."

She was going to ask him how he was planning on doing that when he brought her hand to his lips and pressed a gentle, lingering kiss there before heading back into the castle.

She simply stood there, quite in shock of his gentleness and his gentlemanliness, before rushing off to change for her first date with Albus.

--

"You called a good game, Lor," Lily said with a smile as she returned to the castle with the Scamander brothers, Hugo and June Longbottom.

"Nothing special," his little brother grumbled under his breath. "I could do that …"

June quietly giggled behind her hand.

"Thanks," Lorcan responded with a smile. "There was a lot of movement with the chasers. And I was shocked Hines let up so many goals …"

"Yeah, Jackson really took him to town today," Hugo responded with a whimsical grin. "It's so nice to see that stupid git knocked off his high horse."

"Didn't Harmony Jackson score on you about five times last Gryffindor-Hufflepuff match?" June asked with a smile.

"Two. And I was distracted," Hugo replied petulantly.

"By Harmony Jackson …" Lorcan mumbled to Lily (to which she giggled).

"I don't fancy Harmony Jackson!" Hugo cried loudly.

"Good," Lily responded. "Because she's too old for you."

Hugo and Lysander both snorted. "Age is but a number, Lily," the latter said.

If June noticed Lorcan take a step closer to the youngest Potter she kept it to herself.

--

"Can I read the letter, love?" Scorpius asked softly as he and Rose settled down on the coach in their common room.

She smiled slowly as she reached into her pocket and pulled it out. "How did you know I had it with me?"

"Because it came from your uncle and you're still his little princess at heart," he smirked. He opened it as soon as she handed it to him, pulling her down to she could rest her head on his shoulder.

Dear Bug –

Hey. I got a rather disturbing letter from my youngest son this morning. Now, don't get hacked off with him; he's only concerned for you.

I don't know the whole story, Bug, and I'm not going to ask. I'm simply going to impart some wisdom on you. The advice is simple: don't push everyone away. You have to let them in and help you. I know this from experience, Bug. It was your mum who helped me get this attitude into my head and now I guess it's my turn to get it into yours. Instead of just repeating it outright (don't shut yourself in!), I will tell you a little bit about what happened when I did that.

My fifth year was not going as I had planned .I was brooding and unhappy – not to mention angry – all the time. There was a time, after your granddad was attached by Voldemort's snake, when I wanted to bite the headmaster.

I closed myself off to my friends and tried to do everything alone. And it only hurt me (and your mum) in the end. I was so wrapped up in myself, Bug, that I didn't listen to a thing she said. That's what got my godfather killed.

Your mum brought me back out of that and made sure I knew that she was there for me – and so was your dad. And Gin and Neville and Luna as well. They all helped me when I didn't think I could be helped. They made me see that it was better to let the people around me show support and let me lean on them when I needed it. So now I'm telling you that.

Don't shut people out, Bug. Please. Talk to anyone you want – me, Scorpius, Al, your mum, Mr. Malfoy … just talk. Don't let this ruin you, Rose. I know everything will work out in the end. It did for me and it will for you.

Remember that I love you, Bug, and so do Al, Scorpius, and your mum (and dad, even though he's acting like a giant git) and Aunt Gin.

Please talk to someone – anyone!

Love,

Uncle Harry

"Do I even want to know why he calls you Bug?" Scorpius asked with a smirk.

"No," Rose said decisively with a blush.

"Okay," he laughed before leaning in and pressing his lips to hers.