Disclaimer: I own nothing.

WARNING: Language and very light smut

Author's Note at the end.

….

Malfoy Manor wasn't home. Not to her. Not yet. It still felt cold and empty. Despite all of the warmth Astoria tried to fuse into it, the mansion still held remnants of the Dark things that had taken place there.

Rose was used to being in homes where everywhere she looked she could see the faces of her family. The Burrow was her favorite place to be. It was small, but bursting at the seams with love. She'd never been a very social person, but she'd always loved being in the midst of so many people who loved her. Now she was rather lonely.

Scorpius had started his training in the Office of Muggle Relations and her granddad Weasley had told her that he was a natural. Rose had snorted at that. The telly still fascinated him for Merlin's sake!

Aside from the number of weddings taking place, things were settling down quite nicely for Rose and her family. She and Scorpius had been to Adara's wedding and Rose honestly felt quite bad for the girl as she obviously did not love her husband. There were still several weddings in the future they needed to attend; Lucy's, Louis's, Albus's, Dominique's, Liam's, and a few other family friends that Rose had. Most of the weddings were spread out nicely over the next few months so Rose had plenty of time in between to try to get settled into her new life.

What made this even more difficult was that she didn't go to work. Her work consisted of sitting at the desk in the bedroom that she now shared with Scorpius and writing different articles and, of course, her Modest Monica works. The one after Roxanne's wedding had been particularly difficult to write. After all, she refused to say anything mean about her family, so she had to be tactful in the way she handled Roxy's pregnancy with the public.

Now that she had nothing else to do and was, presumably, alone in her monster of a house, she decided that she wanted to cook. If she started it soon, she could probably have a roast beef dinner ready for Scorpius and his parents.

He had been correct when he told her that she would rarely see his parents. They never ventured to the part of the house where Scorpius's room was unless they needed to speak with him. Not to mention Draco went to work almost every day, and Astoria had plenty of social gatherings to keep her busy.

Astoria had offered to take Rose to a sort of wizard country club, to meet elite wizards and witches, but Rose had politely refused. Sometimes she didn't feel like she could ever actually fit in with this family. But she was going to try. Starting with dinner.

Feeling just slightly awkward at the prospect of going through the cupboards and stores of food in the house, she instead went to the market. After doing a bit of shopping and returning to the house she got to work.

Rin was the most helpful house elf of the three that resided at Malfoy Manor. Apparently there was one house elf for each member of the family, with duties specific to helping their assigned Malfoy.

"Rin? Do you have a pot that I could boil these carrots in?" Rose asked as she didn't want to search through the myriad of cupboards in the kitchen.

"Oh, yes, Mistress. Rin is having lots of pots for cooking! Is Mistress sure that she is wanting to cook dinner? House elves is liking to cook for the family, Mistress."

Rose smiled, "I'm sure, Rin, I like to cook, too. How about we cook together?"

The two excitedly set to work. Rose was glad for the extra set of helping hands. Whenever she was fortunate enough to have someone else help her with cooking or baking, they were normally complaining the whole time. Especially Albus. It was nice to have someone there who was actually excited to help.

The roast beef was in the oven when Rose started on dessert. After asking Rin what the favorites of the family were, Rose decided to make a few different things. Apple crumble, a toffee pudding, and a chocolate pie.

"Rose?" she heard her name being called from the top of a flight of steps. The kitchen was in a lower level of the house. Apparently there was a basement (where the kitchen was), and then an ever lower basement which was really more of a cellar. Rin said that nobody was allowed down there anymore, and Rose knew instinctively that must have been where they'd kept war prisoners during the Second Wizard War.

"Hey," she beamed at Scorpius as he came trotting into the kitchen wearing his Ministry staff robes. "How did you find me?"

"Well, honestly it wasn't that difficult. You weren't in the bedroom, you weren't in the music room, I couldn't find you in any of the libraries, so the kitchen was the next logical place to look."

"Godric, isn't living here exhausting? You probably got quite the hike searching for me."

Scorpius chuckled, "I thought of it more as a game of hide-and-go-seek." He wrapped his arms around her from behind, with his chest pressed against her back.

"Congratulations, you found me!" she teased as she sprinkled some powdered sugar on her toffee pudding.

"Mmm," he buried his mouth against her throat. "Do I get a prize?"

"Yes," she gasped, "You do." Then she turned around and presented him with the toffee pudding that Rin had insisted was his favorite.

Scorpius looked simultaneously delighted and disappointed. It was almost comical how easily Rose could read him now. Delighted that she'd made his favorite dessert and disappointed that his prize for finding her wasn't sex.

He reached for it eagerly but Rose slapped his hand away. "Tut tut," she wagged a finger at him. "Dinner first, then dessert."

"Bloody tease," Scorpius grumbled. "Is that dinner I smell?"

"Mmhmm, roast beef," she informed him.

"Did you make it?"

"I did."

"We have house elves, you know. I know that you like to bake, and you're more than welcome to it, but you don't have to play this role of the little housewife."

"I'm not," Rose said sincerely. "I wanted to cook."

"We could always go out to eat, too. There's this great Italian place up near Yorkshire-"

"Scorpius, we can't eat out all the time. That costs money."

"Which we have plenty of. Cooking food here costs money, too."

"Yes, but I don't feel as bad about it when I went to the market and bought all of the ingredients myself."

Scorpius frowned at her. "You went out and bought the food to cook tonight?" Rose nodded. "Merlin, Rose, this house is stocked full of food! We probably have enough here that you could have made roast beef every night this week without having to go to a market."

"I didn't feel comfortable going through your pantries and things," she mumbled, the tips of her ears turning red in embarrassment.

"…didn't feel comfortable? Rose, damn it, I don't know how many times I have to tell you this, but this is your home now, too! My food is your food, my kitchen is your kitchen, my money is your money!"

"I can't help it! I don't feel right about using your money or your food! I work, I should help pay for things."

"You don't even need to work! If you want to write your newspaper articles, that's great, I love to read them, but don't feel like you have to! You're a Malfoy. We're so fucking rich we don't know what to do with all the money we've got!"

"Oh! So two seconds ago you were telling me that I didn't have to be a little housewife but now you're telling me that I don't have to work? Godric, Scorpius, make up your bloody mind!"

"You're such a stubborn bint!" he growled. "You act like you can't take anything from me! Like we're not in this together! You use your own money, your own food, you barely even touch the instruments and other things that I've provided for you! You act as if it's not yours, well news flash, baby, IT IS!" He screamed.

"YOU'RE SUCH A SPOILED RICH BRAT, MALFOY!" Rose cried, her face turning red now from anger instead of embarrassment. "JUST BECAUSE YOU'VE NEVER HAD TO WORK FOR WHAT YOU HAVE DOESN'T MEAN THE REST OF US DON'T APPRECIATE PUTTING IN SOME HARD EFFORT!"

"ARE YOU BARMY? WHY THE FUCK DO YOU THINK I HAVE A JOB? I KNOW THE VALUE OF HARDWORK! I JUST ALSO KNOW THAT IN A MARRIAGE, YOU FUCKING SHARE THINGS!"

"THEY DON'T FEEL LIKE MY THINGS! WE'VE BEEN MARRIED FOR A COUPLE FO WEEKS! I'M USING THE DAMN KITCHEN, AREN'T I?"

"BARELY! I BET YOU DIDN'T EVEN OPEN A SINGLE CUPBOARD IN THIS BLASTED PLACE! YOU PROBABLY ASKED RIN TO GET THE THINGS YOU NEEDED OUT FOR YOU! YOU WERE PROBABLY PLANNING ON DOING THE DISHES AFTER THE MEAL, TOO!"

Rose bristled, angry at his correct assumption. "SO WHAT IF I DID? IS A MALFOY TOO GOOD TO DO HOUSEWORK? AM I ABOVE SUCH MENIAL TASKS NOW THAT I HAVE YOUR SURNAME?"

"IS THAT WHAT YOU THINK?" Scorpius roared.

"YES," she put her hands on her hips defiantly. "IT IS!"

"FINE THEN! I HOPE YOU HAVE FUN PLAYING HOUSE ELF!"

"GO TO HELL, MALFOY!" before he had the chance to reply, Rose Disapparated.

…

When her feet hit solid ground again, she was surprised where she found herself. "Albus? Hugo?" her old flat.

Albus and Hugo were sitting across from each other with a game of Wizard's Chess between them. "Hey, Rose, what's up?" Albus asked without even looking up from the game board.

Hugo, however, gave her a very strange calculating look before asking, "What's wrong? What happened?"

Normally at this point, a girl would start crying. Rose, however, was one girl who had inherited the Weasley temper, so instead she began to scream. "MALFOY IS A FUCKING PRAT! HE ACTS LIKE HE'S SO HIGH ABOVE THE REST OF THE WIZARDING SOCIETY JUST BECAUSE HE'S RICH!"

"Calm down there, Rosie," Albus leaned back, away from her, as she began to pace while throwing her hands around wildly.

"NO, I DON'T THINK I WILL CALM DOWN, THANKS! ALL I WANTED TO DO WAS COOK! HE ACTED LIKE IT WAS THE WORST CRIME ON THE PLANET! FIRST HE WANTED THE HOUSE ELVES TO COOK INSTEAD, THEN HE SUGGESTED THAT WE GO OUT TO EAT. AM I NOT ALLOWED TO MAKE DINNER FOR MY HUSBAND?"

Rose stomped around a bit more before dropping into an armchair. "Well?" she demanded snippily.

Albus cleared his throat, about to speak, but Hugo cut him off. "I've got this one, Al." Rose didn't even care that they were talking to her like she was a child who needed to have something explained to her. Because honestly, what the hell was she missing here?

Albus gave him a look that clearly said, 'it's your funeral, mate' but let Hugo talk to her anyways. "From what I gathered from that particularly loquacious rant, big sister, is that you and Scorpius had a fight involving you making dinner for him, correct?"

"Yes."

Hugo nodded knowingly and Rose glowered. She and Hugo were both well above average in the intelligence department. The difference between them, however, was that Hugo was always so calm and collected whereas Rose's heated temper sometimes blinded her to logic.

"What exactly happened?" Hugo asked.

Rose briefly went over the conversation, being sure to quote it to almost verbatim, until both Hugo and Albus sported looks of dawning comprehension. "Ah, I see," said Al.

"Well I don't!" Rose screeched.

"Here's the thing, Rosie," Hugo delicately patted her on the knee. "You and Scorpius were raised very differently. You show affection by taking care of the people who matter to you. Your way of taking care of your husband is to provide food for him and probably take care of the laundry, things like that…"

"Are you saying that I'm turning into Gran?" she asked as her eyes narrowed dangerously.

"No," Albus jumped in immediately. "It's just, that's how we were raised, you know? We do things ourselves, we appreciate the effort we put into it, and you in particular need to feel needed in relationships."

Rose contemplated this. Was that true? Did she want to feel like Scorpius needed her? Before she could think too much about it, Hugo chimed in, "Scorpius was raised almost the exact opposite. He shows love and affection by showering you with gifts and expensive things. He was trying to take care of you and show you how much you meant to him by offering to have his house elf cook for you and by offering to take you out to dinner. He wanted to show you that you didn't need to try to impress him or win him over with your amazing talents in the kitchen."

Now that she was calming down she could see the reason behind what the boys were saying. "You both want to take care of each other but you're both very stubborn. If you want this marriage to work well then you're going to have to find ways to compromise." Hugo said this as if it were the end of the conversation.

"I shouldn't have run off just because we argued," she noted.

"No, you shouldn't have."

"I should go back and apologize."

"Yes, but make sure that he knows neither of you were in the right."

"I don't suppose there's much else I can do since it's not like we can just call it quits and divorce. Damn marriage bonds."

Hugo shrugged lightly. "Divorce is both possible and impossible."

"I'm talking about divorce in the wizard world, Hu."

"So am I."

"What?" she looked at him sharply. "It's impossible for wizards to divorce once they've taken the marriage bonds!"

"No, it's not. It's just improbable," Hugo mused. Seeing the look of confusion on his sister's face, he continued. "Marriage bonds aren't like Unbreakable Vows. They're more like…the Unforgivable Curses."

"What do you mean?"

"Think about it, Rose. What has to happen for you to cast an Unforgivable Curse?"

"You have to point your wand and say the spell," she said curtly.

"You have to mean it. If you took the marriage bonds flippantly, without putting any real feeling into them, then they're not very strong and can be reversed. That being said, this marriage law strictly forbids divorce. So even if you didn't mean the words you recited on your wedding day, it doesn't matter because the Ministry will not, under any circumstances, grant a bill of divorce to couples who were married as a result of the law."

"I…I had no idea! Hugo, how did you learn about that?"

His eyes held a panicked look for just a moment before he hid it and said evenly, "I was curious about all of the finer points of the law when it became a reality, so I researched it a bit." If only she knew just how deeply he had researched it and why. But there were no loopholes. There was no way he could be with Heather now that she was bonded to Fred under this law.

"Now go home to Scorpius and fix this. I'd hate to think of my favorite cousin living in an unhappy marriage just because you disagreed about dinner," Albus told her firmly, reminding her again just how ridiculous this fight was. But Rose knew it was about more than simply dinner. She and Scorpius were, in a way, from two different worlds, and they needed to find some common ground.

Rose nodded and stood up, realizing with a small laugh that she was still wearing an apron dotted with food. "Thanks, both of you," she kissed each of them on the top of the head before preparing to Disapparate. "Oh, and Al? Sorry, but Hugo is going to win in three moves," with a wink she was gone.

Albus looked at the chess game with furrowed brows before mumbling, "…doesn't know what she's talking about."

Three moves later Hugo declared checkmate and Albus started swearing.

…..

Scorpius honestly didn't know where he had gone wrong. He'd offered her the fucking world and she'd thrown it back in his face like he was stupid for offering it to her.

But he still felt the need to apologize.

What the hell was up with that? He hadn't done anything wrong! Had he? But Godric, he missed her already. She'd only been gone for maybe half an hour and he wanted her back. He wanted her right there, in his arms, snogging him.

If all it took to make that happen was an apology then that's what he would do. Perhaps a gift might help also. Yes, that was perfect. He would go shopping, find something nice for her, and then track her down. There were only so many places she would go, after all.

Once he found a gift, he would look at Norah's flat, Albus's flat, James's house, her house, the Burrow….

With a smile, knowing that he would soon be making amends with his lovely wife, he set out for Diagon Alley.

….

Rose arrived back at Malfoy Manor to find it empty. "Rin!" she called loudly as she entered her and Scorpius's bedroom. The house elf appeared immediately. "Is Scorpius here?"

"No, Mistress, Master Scorpius is leaving after his fight with Mistress."

Rose slapped a hand to her forehead. She wasn't the only one who stormed out of a room after an angry argument apparently. "Did he say where he was going?"

"No, but he looked happy."

"Happy?" Rose frowned in confusion. Rin nodded in confirmation. "Alright, thanks, Rin." Rose didn't know what to do. Where would Scorpius have gone? Liam's house maybe? But Rose didn't know where Liam lived.

Adara's? No, definitely not. Patrick, her husband, had seemed to be the jealous type and Rose doubted very much that Scorpius would show up at their house just after their wedding to talk with Adara.

Maybe he'd gone to see Norah. But why would he look happy about that? Shouldn't he be at least a little bit upset that they'd fought? Rose scowled. Stupid tosser.

Not wanting to just be sitting around waiting for him when he came home, like a fucking dog with it's tail between it's legs, Rose stepped over to the fireplace. Her pride wouldn't allow her to just sit and wait humbly. She hadn't seen Fred since his wedding and she'd heard that he got a new house.

She hoped very much that if she Flooed in, he wouldn't be in the middle of doing inappropriate things with Heather. Although, she mused evilly as she remembered how Fred and the others had come busting in on her and Scorpius, paybacks are a bitch.

…

Rose landed in a tastefully decorated sitting room. The house was tiny, cozy, and she felt comfortable here. She recognized a lot of Fred's style; sleek wooden furniture, neutral colors, and his favorite armchair.

She brushed the dirt off of her jeans and heard a distinctly feminine giggle coming from an adjoining room. Thankfully, it didn't sound like any shagging was going on. Maybe just some light snogging.

Cock blocking him would be a good form of revenge. Grinning to herself, she tiptoed across the room, swung the door to the kitchen open, and said loudly, "Hey, Fred!"

Sure enough, she could see Fred's broad back facing her, without a shirt, and there was a dainty figure in his arms with delicate hands locked behind his neck, molding their faces together. Fred gave a start and spun around. Rose froze in disbelief. The girl in his arms was most definitely not Heather.

"Oh! Godric! I'm sorry, Fred!" Rose stuttered over her words just a bit in shock. Then her senses caught up to what was happening and she rushed him with an angry snarl on her face. "YOU PRAT!" she slapped him hard across the face as the girl scrambled back, away from the fighting cousins. "How could you do this? You're married!"

"Rose, calm down," Fred held his hands up defensively and Rose's anger flared even more.

"I'm fucking sick of people telling me to calm down when I am at perfect liberty to be mad about this!" Her hands were balled into fists at her sides and she was shaking.

"I should go," the girl mumbled and started to move.

"Don't you fucking move, bitch!" Rose snapped at her with a finger jabbed in her direction. Ophelia stilled and stayed put. "Now, Fredrick Angelo Weasley. EXPLAIN YOURSELF."

"It's not, erm, exactly what you think it is." She tapped her foot impatiently. Fred scratched his head as he thought over what to say. He opted for the truth. "Heather and I were both seeing other people when the law came out. We talked about it and decided to keep seeing other people even though we're married."

"She's screwing around on you, too?"

"Rose, we don't see it that way. Heather and I are friends. Just friends."

"I'm glad that you're friends, Fred, but don't the two of you want to at least try to make this work? After all, you're stuck together forever!"

He shook his head, "How can I make it work with Heather when I'm in love with Ophelia?"

"Ophelia?" Rose recognized the name and turned to really look at the girl for the first time. "Mother fucker," Rose hissed as she recognized her. This was Ophelia Bones. She was engaged to Liam Jackson, Scorpius's best mate. "Does Liam know about this? Do you two have a similar arrangement?"

"That's irrelevant," said Fred as Ophelia blushed scarlet and looked down at the floor.

Honestly, Rose didn't know how to react. On the one hand she understood that Fred and Heather's marriage was between the two of them. She'd heard of couples in the past not being monogamous. But when Fred was messing around with a girl whose fiancé didn't know about it, that irritated every ethical bone in Rose's body.

"You two should be ashamed of yourselves," she said before turning and striding out, leaving the exact same way she'd come. Again, she didn't know what to think of this. If Heather and Fred didn't want to act like they were married, then that was their decision, but to wreck other marriages along with their own? That's where Rose drew the line in her own moral compass.

How had things gotten this messed up? Just that morning she'd been thinking about how her life was finally starting to settle down. Now she was in a fight with Scorpius, her cousin was having an affair on his wife, she knew that Scorpius's best mate was being cheated on, and she still didn't have a clue as to what to think about Nathan's claim to being Imperiused.

Feeling both exhausted and fed up with everything, Rose went back to Malfoy Manor, collapsed onto the bed, and fell asleep.

…

Scorpius must have searched every shop in Diagon Alley before finally settling on the gift. He knew that she wouldn't want anything too extravagant, so he had tried to keep it simple. As simple as Scorpius was capable of keeping a present, of course.

It was a necklace that matched her ring. It was a rope of diamonds that would circle her throat and one large oval shaped green diamond in the center. She might not like expensive things, but she had loved her ring and this matched it so perfectly that Scorpius knew he had to buy it for her the moment he laid his eyes on it.

When he came home, he found his beautiful wife curled up under the covers and he began to strip out of his clothes. He wondered if she'd thought to take the roast beef out of the oven, but he knew the house elves would take care of it.

Once he was completely naked, Scorpius peeled back the duvet and settled onto his bed beside Rose. She mumbled in her sleep and cuddled up to his side. Did he wake her or let her sleep?

The answer was chosen for him as she yawned and blinked, focusing her eyes on his face. "I'm sorry," she rasped. "I shouldn't have gotten mad at you for wanting me to be comfortable here."

"I'm sorry, too. I shouldn't have yelled at you just because you wanted to use your own money for things." With a twinge of disappointment he noted that she was still fully dressed. Not even in her usual t-shirt and panties nighttime ensemble, but in jeans, a cute top, and was she seriously still in that bloody apron?

"The truth is, I have a bit of a temper," Rose admitted grudgingly. "When we fight, which we will, a lot, I'm sure, I will yell at you. I might stomp my feet and flail about, throwing a tantrum. And I will, inevitably, storm out dramatically. But I'll come back. We'll work through these things together."

Scorpius tilted her chin up and kissed her soundly on the mouth. "I have something for you," he murmured.

"Is that where you went?" Rose asked curiously as Scorpius reached around, snatched something off of the table, and brought it up to her hands.

"Yes. I felt like this might help soothe your ire."

Rose lifted the lid of the box gently and her breath left her when she saw the gems inside. "Scorpius…this is too much…"

"No, it's not. We need to get this straight right now, Rose Nymphadora Weasley. If you're going to throw fits like a bratty child then I'm going to buy you expensive gifts like a spoiled wanker."

Rose giggled but nodded as she slipped the necklace out of the box. "Clasp it?" she asked as she turned around so her back was facing him. Scorpius happily obliged and was pleased to find that the diamond fell perfectly just at the top of where her cleavage would be if she wasn't wearing that damn apron.

Slowly, purposefully, Scorpius began to tug her clothes off of her until she was just as naked as he was. The only item he left on her person was the necklace that symbolized to both them their commitment to working through their arguments.

He used his body as leverage to press her gently into the mattress, reveling in the little mewl that escaped her when he nuzzled her cheek. There wasn't much foreplay this time, as they were both more than ready for this moment to happen.

Scorpius wasted no time in slipping inside of her, feeling her walls stretch accommodatingly around his thickness. Even though Rose never realized it at the time, she was sincerely making love to Scorpius Malfoy.

She didn't need to cook for him and bake his favorite desserts to express the feelings that were growing inside of her. And he didn't need to shower her with riches to gain her favor. All that they needed to be happy was each other.

….

A/N: Knut for your thoughts?