Disclaimer: I own nothing.

WARNING: Sexual content and language ahead!

…..

"Hey, Heather, can I talk to you for a minute?" Heather just came into the house from her shift at work. Fred had called to her from his 'study' which was really the room of the house where he conducted dangerous experiments and tested joke shop products.

"Sure," she dropped her purse onto the sofa and went into the room where her husband was. He sat staring down at a piece of parchment with a frown. Heather's eyes went to the parchment automatically and she became very afraid as she saw the Ministry seal on the top.

"Don't worry," he told her quickly with a smile. "It's nothing official."

Heather didn't trust that smile. It was too pitying. Too angry. Too cynical. "Fred, what does it say?"

"It's from my uncle Percy," he pinched the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes, as if he couldn't say this while looking at her. "Apparently they are considering expanding the marriage law."

"Expanding it? What do you mean?"

"Not all of the couples are as happy as the Ministry was hoping they would be. Their proposed solution? Forcing all of the couples to have a baby."

"No!" she clutched a hand to her throat. "They can't do that!"

"Look at how much they've already done," Fred didn't sound angry, just resigned. "It's not official yet, like I said. It's just a proposal. However, my uncle wanted to prepare all of us just in case this part of the law does pass."

"It…it can't," she could hardly manage to find her voice. Then she turned and strode out of the study.

"Heather!" called Fred, "Where are you going?"

"To…him," she answered.

"I won't do it," he said firmly. Heather stopped.

"Do what?"

"Have a baby with you. I love you, but like a friend, you know? I don't care if they send me to Azkaban. Having a baby with a woman I'm not in love with is where I draw the line. Don't worry, I'll take full responsibility for it. I won't let them take you to Azkaban, too, but please Heather, don't be afraid of me. I refuse to impregnate you."

"Fred, I…I have to go," she gave him a fleeting hug, kissed his cheek, and said, "Ophelia really is a lucky girl." Then she ran up the stairs toward her bedroom. She and Fred slept in separate rooms and she knew that sometimes Ophelia joined him.

It was late in the evening. Hugo was probably sleeping. At home. With his parents. But Heather simply had to see him. There was no place she would rather be than in Hugo's arms at that moment. She needed him to comfort her. Nobody else would be able to.

Knowing she wouldn't be able to Apparate into his house, or Floo there, she took her broomstick from the closet in her bedroom and came stampeding back down the stairs. Fred was still standing in the sitting room, looking unsure of what to do with himself.

As she was reaching for the door, Fred said quickly, "Wait!" Heather flinched. He sighed. "Why do you always do that?"

"Do what?"

"Act like you're waiting for me to just snap and turn into this insanely jealous husband? It's not going to happen, Heather. I don't care that you're going to go spend the night with your boyfriend. I just don't want you rushing out there when you're so upset without even trying to comfort you."

Heather smiled at him fondly. "You're one of my best friends, Fred, and I'm really glad that out of all of the possible pureblood wizards, it's you that I got stuck with, but there's only one person who can comfort me right now."

Fred nodded, the two hugged again, and Heather left.

….

Hugo woke up to a light tapping noise on his window. When he opened his eyes he saw Heather just outside. Without showing any surprise at all, he unlocked the window and let her in. Heather through herself onto him, dropping the broomstick on the floor in the process, and would have knocked both of them over if Hugo hadn't been so solid.

"What's wrong?" his voice was thick with sleep. Heather was clutching him, shaking and crying.

"The Ministry might add to the marriage law," she hiccupped.

"What? What more could they possibly add?" Hugo growled as he gripped her by the upper arms and pulled her back just far enough so he could look at her face as she spoke.

"It's not…it's not for sure going to happen, but they are considering requiring all married couples to have a baby."

"What?" Hugo growled. "You're fucking nineteen years old! They can't possibly force you to get pregnant!"

"I know, Hugo, but I'm so afraid."

"Shh," he enveloped her into his embrace and led her to his bed. He noted with a bit of self-consciousness that she'd never been in his bedroom at home before. But she didn't even seem to notice or care where she was, just who she was with.

"Make love to me?" she asked with a pout. Hugo smiled and brought his hand up to her throat. She sighed and leaned into his touch as his thumb stroked her jaw. Hugo was one of the tallest and broadest men she knew and when she was with him like this she felt positively dwarfed by him but in the best way.

Privately, in her own thoughts, she often thought of him as her own gentle giant. His touch, his kiss, his movements, hell even his thoughts were gentle, but that gentleness was at odds with how intimidating he could look at times.

Heather loved feeling this vulnerable. She loved being in Hugo's arms, the ones that so often lifted her, held her, carried her, knowing that he could so easily hurt her, but he never would. He made her feel dainty, delicate, and fragile.

Finally, after anxious moments of just staring into her eyes, he connected their lips. Every time he kissed her, Heather felt like it was their first kiss all over again. There was the familiar race of her heart, flush in her cheeks, and anticipation coiling deep within her.

Nobody else could ever make her feel this way, and Hugo managed to do it with one simple kiss. His lips were strong on hers, unrelenting until she let her lips part the slightest bit and his tongue slid in to twine with hers. Heather's body trembled as she wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him down on top of her. She so rarely got to feel the lovely weight of his body pressing on hers.

"…don't want to crush you," he mumbled against her lips. Heather chuckled.

"You won't," she assured him, "I want to feel you against me."

More of his weight dropped onto her and she felt like it would never be enough. She wanted all of him. Apparently he wanted all of her as well. His hands were running up and down her sides, as they liked to do, his fingers flexing against her whenever she did something he particularly enjoyed, like nipping at his bottom lip or running her nails down his back.

Because Hugo, as she'd quickly learned, slept without a shirt. His bare chest had a very light trail of hair down the center and it was a slightly redder shade than the hair on his head. The pajama bottoms he wore were baggy on him and rode low on his lean hips.

Heather lightly scratched down his back and dipped her hands into the waist band of his pajamas, digging her nails into his arse, causing him to instinctively buck his hips against her. The friction made her give a soft cry of pleasure.

Hugo's lips twitched as if he was tempted to smirk, but he whispered raggedly, "I know that normally you're a screamer, which I love, baby, but my parents are right down the hall."

She blinked up at him. "I have to be quiet?" she whined.

"Just tonight," he assured her as he brushed soft kisses against her neck. "If you're tempted to scream, then just keep your mouth occupied."

Heather nodded, unable to vocalize her response as Hugo's warm hand managed to creep between them and cup her mound. Her legs parted and with a grunt he settled himself between them, his rigid cock nestled flush against her clothed center.

As she hungrily tugged at his pajama bottoms, Hugo pulled his face back and frowned at her. "I thought you wanted me to make love to you?"

"I do, but skip the foreplay, please, Hu. I need to feel you inside of me." Satisfaction shot through her when she felt his body shiver with delight at her words. "Do you like it when I talk dirty to you, baby?" she teased, knowing that he did.

Hugo growled low in his throat and discarded his trousers, without removing his body from hers. Her breath caught in her throat and her next set of words were shaky while his fingers tugged impatiently at her shorts. "Merlin, Hugo, I can't even think straight when you're touching me."

As he pulled her shorts and knickers down her legs he dragged his tongue down her inner thigh. A soft squeal escaped her as she bit her bottom lip to keep from outright screaming. "I've been thinking about this all day. You taking me like this."

Despite the fact that it was almost always dormant, Hugo did have a secret devious side (he was a Weasley after all), and Heather could bring it out in him more effectively than anyone else ever had. "I'll take you however you want me to," he told her as he kissed just below her bellybutton.

"Own me," she commanded. "Show me that I belong to you."

Hugo quirked one eyebrow at her, testing her resolve. Is that really what she wanted tonight? Because to Hugo, making love to Heather and owning her in bed were two different things. One was sweet and sensual, the other was rougher and more dominating.

When she gazed steadily back at him he knew that this was what she had really wanted. Moving with the practiced agility of a skilled Quidditch player, Hugo slid up her body and slammed into her. Heather bit his shoulder hard to muffle the noises she wanted to release.

"That's right, sugar, keep that pretty mouth on me the whole time," he told her as he began pounding into her hard and fast, resting more of his body on hers than he normally did when they were in this position.

She was still wearing her shirt, but she didn't even care. She'd told him no foreplay and he hadn't wasted any time getting to the good stuff. Heather sucked hard on his neck to keep herself quiet. Godric she never realized how loud she was in bed until she wasn't allowed to be.

With one hand Hugo fucking tore her shirt from hem to collar, balled it in his fist, and chucked it away from them. "It was in my way," was his grunted explanation as she reveled in this fresh contact of his muscled belly gliding against her flat one. Not wanting to remove his hands from their current position on her hips, he bent his head down to undo the front clasp on her bra with his teeth, letting her breasts spring free for him to view and taste. Merlin he loved watching them bounce as he drove into her over and over again.

Knowing that his cock was hitting all the right spots inside of her, he didn't have to worry about making sure she reached her climax; she was already shaking, writhing, and clutching at his shoulders like she was drowning and he was the life raft.

"Just like that, Hugo, just like that," she told him unnecessarily when she trusted herself enough to speak softly.

"Don't worry, darling, you'll get off, I'll make sure of that," he murmured darkly as he grabbed at her hips harder, pinning them to the bed so they wouldn't move as his thrusts became erratic.

Out of habit, Heather wrapped her legs around his waist, "That's my girl," he noted with pride, his voice low and breathy. "Knows just what I like."

That was the moment her control shattered. Wave after wave of pleasure assaulted her and Hugo followed, as he normally did, after only a few thrusts more. There was just something so wonderful about her pussy convulsing around him that often pushed him off the edge and into orgasm.

"I love you," her voice was hoarse from the strain of holding back her screams.

"I love you, too, sweetheart, and no matter what the Ministry says, you are mine."

Feeling properly claimed by him, Heather curled up in his arms and stroked his chest lovingly until he fell asleep. She tossed and turned for a long time, wondering what the hell she was going to do if the Ministry tried to force her to have a baby with Fred.

When she finally succumbed to sleep, it was fitful and plagued with nightmares.

….

Hugo woke up before her and he could tell from the dark circles under her eyes that she hadn't slept well, if at all, the previous night. Guilt assaulted him. He should have stayed awake with her and comforted her. But she'd seemed so relaxed after the amazing shagging!

Doing his best to be a considerate boyfriend, he kissed her forehead and decided to let her sleep. Quite frankly, he was beyond caring about who knew about them. He was beyond caring about hiding their relationship. He was beyond being embarrassed about his active sex life. Hugo collected some clothes, left the bedroom, took a shower in the bathroom down the hall, and went downstairs.

Both of his parents were already awake, had already eaten breakfast, and were now starting the normal routine of the days they had off of work. His mother was doing house work while his dad went through piles of order forms from the joke shop.

Because of his, his sister's, and his mother's, voracious appetites for reading, they had what they called 'the library'. It was a small room in their house that could have been used as a guest bedroom or a study, but they'd lined it with bookshelves, comfortable chairs, and turned it into a mini library.

That's where Hugo found himself as his beautiful girlfriend slept upstairs. He picked a book off one of the shelves at random, plopped down onto a sofa, and began to read.

….

Hermione Weasley sometimes thought that taking care of her house and family was more exhausting than going to work. Hugo, despite his mature thoughts, was still a boy and had enough of his father in him that he left clothes strewn around his bedroom and only did chores when he was told to.

With a laundry basket tucked under her arm, Hermione creaked open Hugo's bedroom door, planning on using a non-verbal Summoning Charm to collect his dirty laundry. But as she raised her wand, she paused. There was someone in his bed.

Upon closer inspection, Hermione saw that an obviously feminine figure was lying on her stomach, her face obscured by her luscious brown hair, the sheet pulled down to her hips so that her bare back was completely exposed, and she was sound asleep.

Just at that moment her husband was walking by, whistling quietly to himself as he made his way toward the kitchen to get himself a snack. Before he could pass by, however, Hermione grabbed his arm and hissed, "Ronald! Look!" Ron Weasley poked his head into Hugo's bedroom and his jaw became unhinged. His eyes bulged and his ears began turning red.

"Bloody hell," he gasped.

They retreated quickly, still in a state of shock, closing their son's bedroom door behind them. Without saying a word to each other, they went downstairs and entered the library with trepidation.

Hugo lazy licked the tip of his finger and used it to turn the page in his book. "Hugo," Hermione squeaked, sounding nervous. He glanced up at her to show he was listening. "Erm…there's…there's…" he blinked at her.

"There's a naked girl in your bed!" Ron said tactfully.

"Yes, I'm aware," said Hugo as if he didn't find this information particularly interesting. "And she's exhausted, so if you could let her sleep for a bit, that would be great."

"Is that a love bite on your neck?" Hermione's voice was still high pitched and Hugo rolled his eyes at his mum's overdramatic nature. Ron, oppositely, was torn between shock, worry, and pride.

"Mum," Hugo began, but Hermione interrupted.

"Don't use that tone with me! You can't...you're just…damn it, Hugo Arthur Weasley! You're fifteen-"

"Sixteen."

"Barely! Barely sixteen years old! You shouldn't be doing…this!" she waved her hands around frantically, much the same way that Rose did when she was upset.

"Hermione," Ron admonished, "Think about how we were at sixteen. We were plenty old enough to get into…into what this is…"

Hermione flushed angrily. "I don't like it going on under my roof, Ronald!"

"Mum," Hugo tried again, but his parents continued arguing.

"So doing it somewhere else would be okay?" Ron countered.

"It just begs the question, how many times has he brought girls back here? How many other naked slags were in my son's bed? Oh wipe that smirk off of your face!" she glared as she saw the glint of pride in Ron's eyes.

"What smirk?"

"The one that clearly says you want to clap him on the back and tell him, 'good job, son!'" Hermione mocked.

"Oi!" Hugo was going to make sure he was heard this time. Both of his parent's heads swiveled toward him. "Mum, if it makes you feel better, I normally do not bring her back here. And she's not a slag. She's my girlfriend. Has been for over a year now."

Ron beamed at his son. "See, Mione?"

"Then why is she here now and why haven't we ever met her before or even heard of her?" Hermione asked suspiciously.

Hugo glanced at his watch and said, "I would be happy to explain that to you, Mum, but she'll probably be waking up soon and I want to have some food ready for her."

Hermione and Ron were left looking dumbstruck in the library. "Did he tell you that he was seeing someone?" she demanded of her husband.

"No. I had no idea."

"Why wouldn't he tell us that he had a girlfriend?"

The sounds of cupboards opening and closing met their ears, and a minute later the unmistakable sounds of sizzling bacon. "Why is he cooking her breakfast, that's what I want to know. He didn't make us breakfast," Ron grumbled, thinking of the measly cereal he'd eaten that morning.

Hermione rolled her eyes and opened her mouth to make a retort but then an unfamiliar voice reached their ears. "Hugo?" It was the girl! She must be coming downstairs!

"In the kitchen!" Hugo yelled. The girl followed the sound of his voice, took a right at the bottom of the steps, and entered the kitchen. Ron and Hermione scrambled to eavesdrop on the pair of them.

Peeking around the doorway into the kitchen, they could watch their son interact with his supposed girlfriend. Hugo grinned as she entered the kitchen, wearing the clothes she'd arrived in the night before. "I see you fixed your shirt," he tugged at the hem.

"I couldn't very well walk out of here wearing it with a big rip down the middle, could I? What are you making?"

"Just bacon and eggs," Hugo went to her and bent over to kiss her as he was so much taller than she was. Carefully, he lifted her by the hips and set her bum on the counter next to the stove. From this new angle, Ron and Hermione could finally see her face.

"Oh Godric!" Hermione gasped in horror.

"What?" whispered a baffled Ron.

"That's Heather!"

"Merlin's pants! It is!"

"What the hell is our son doing with Fred's wife?"

"That sounds good," the conversation in the kitchen continued, as they were not privy to the discussion Hugo's parents were having. "But after I eat I have to go home."

Hugo's shoulders visibly tensed as she said this. "Heather, I was meaning to ask…how are things…I mean, er, is Fred treating you alright?"

Heather smiled fondly and reached a hand out to ruffle his hair. "You know Fred, he wouldn't hurt a bowtruckle."

"Yeah, well, I'm not in love with a bowtruckle, am I?" Hugo murmured.

"Hu…" Heather beckoned him forward and Hugo stepped between her knees and hugged her tightly. "Don't worry about me. Fred treats me great. He really does. Not as good as you do, of course, but he's my friend and he respects me."

"Have you two…"

"He hasn't touched me since the wedding night."

"Oh thank god," he relaxed against her, holding her even tighter.

As he pulled himself together and continued making breakfast Heather watched silently. "Thanks," she said when he handed her a full plate of food. "Not just for breakfast, but for last night, too."

Just then toast popped up out of the toaster. "Peach jam," they both said at the same time. Hugo knew exactly what she liked for breakfast. "Without the crusts," he added with a wink. Heather nodded.

"Would you come over to my flat tonight? As much as I loved waking up in your bed for a change, I feel awkward being with you in your parent's house."

Hugo chuckled as her words reminded him of what his mother had said. "You liked waking up in my bed?" he teased smugly.

"I did," she said, completely unashamed. "It smells like you."

"Love, you smell like me," he told her cockily.

Heather blushed lightly and they moved to the small kitchen table to eat breakfast together. When they finished, Heather flicked her wand at the dirty dishes and they began to wash themselves. "Alright, I guess I'll be on my way."

"Do you want me to take you home?" Hugo offered.

"No," Heather was smiling at him. Her Hugo. So chivalrous. "Fred still doesn't know who it is that I'm seeing and I'd really rather keep it that way."

"Alright, but at least use the Floo. I don't want you to fly all around the country on a broomstick. Speaking of which, it's still up in my room. I'll bring it over to your flat tonight."

"Okay," she stretched up to kiss his jaw. "Which way is the Floo?"

"Through here. Also, my parents were probably listening to us this whole time, so if you see them, just ignore them."

"What?" she cried. "Your parents! Hugo!"

"It's okay, Heather. They're my parents. I trust them."

"But your mum works for Magical Law Enforcement! They're already thinking about amending the marriage law because so many people are unhappy with it! This is just more proof that so many wizards and witches are ignoring Ministry laws!"

"Heather, my mum's not like that. She wouldn't do anything to purposefully hurt me, and she's against the marriage law altogether."

She nodded, believing him, and Ron and Hermione practically fell over each other as they hurried to duck into the hallway and hide as Hugo led Heather into the sitting room for her to use the Floo network.

"I love you, Hugo, see you tonight."

"Love you, Heather."

And she was gone.

…..

"Amending the marriage law?" Ron asked curiously as the three of them sat around the dining room table. Hugo knew he had some explaining to do but was surprised to find that the first thing on his dad's mind was the marriage law.

"Yes, they are considering adding a clause that forces all married couples to have a baby. I'm not sure of all of the details, but that's what Heather told me."

"Hermione?" Ron questioned. "Why didn't you know about this?"

"I did," she replied evenly. "Before I was pulled from the committee."

"What?" her husband and son screeched.

Hermione huffed and folded her arms over her chest. "They've been talking about amending the marriage law for a while because so many people are opposed to it. Before they could get very far into the discussions, every person who was on the committee and had personal ties to this issue were removed. Any parent who had children subjected to the law or any persons who were subjected to it themselves. It was considered a bias. Since Rose had to marry Scorpius, I wasn't allowed to be privy to this case."

"Bullocks," Ron hissed. "Absolute bullocks."

"Enough about the marriage law. I'm really close to a few of the people who are working on amending it and I do not think that they will go as far as forcing the couples to procreate. What I want to discuss is Hugo's relationship with Heather."

Hugo had already decided that morning that he needed to talk to his parents about this. Scorpius had helped and they were keeping up a steady correspondence in owls, but he needed the advice and support of his parents. "We started seeing each other at the beginning of last summer," Hugo recited, sounding like he'd rehearsed it. "We ran into each other in Hogsmeade and she didn't recognize me at first. We got to talking and it turned out we had a lot in common. I asked to see her again and she agreed because we really liked each other. Once she found out who I was and my age, she became really concerned since she's three years older than me. We decided to keep our relationship a secret until I was of age."

Hugo paused, waiting expectantly for the questions he knew they were dying to ask. "You said that you don't normally bring her back here, but I got the impression that last night wasn't exactly the first time you two did anything, so where do you normally meet?"

"Her apartment in Hogsmeade. Which she kept even after the wedding as a place for us to be together."

"Fred knows about this?"

"He knows that she's dating someone else, but he doesn't know who."

"Does he support this?"

"Yes, he does. He has a girlfriend, too. They're just friends, Mum. The Ministry forced them to marry but they've decided that they don't consider themselves to be married."

"I can't say that I blame them," said Hermione shortly, surprising both boys in the room. Hugo had thought his mum would go barmy at the idea of Hugo with a married woman.

"You don't?" asked Ron.

"Of course not. When the Ministry declared Harry Potter their number one enemy did we agree? When they made Umbridge Headmaster of Hogwarts did we consider her to be any type of reliable authority figure? It's all in perception, Ronald, which is why Magical Law Enforcement is having such a hard time controlling this law."

"It's not just in perception, Mione. Heather is magically bonded to Fred. She can never marry Hugo even if they did end up lasting that long."

Both of them knew that marriage bonds were special. Hermione was more attuned to her husband's magical core and there were certain intimacies that married couples couldn't attain without the magical bonds. But they weren't necessary. After all, muggles weren't magically bonded.

"It will be hard," said Hermione evenly. "Your father is right. Heather and Fred have an intimate connection that you will never be able to have with her. But that's not the only thing that matters. There aren't any romantic feelings between them and that weakens the bonds. That being said, if you still want to continue seeing her, we'll support you."

…..

After Heather had left, Fred wrote a note to Ophelia. Before he sent it out, however, he tore it up and instead wrote one to Rose.

Lovely cousin,

I wanted the chance to better explain what you walked in on yesterday. Please come to my place as soon as possible. Heather won't be home tonight I would like the chance to speak with you in person. Hope you're doing well. And Scorpius.

Love,

Fred

He didn't have to wait long before the fireplace lit up green and Rose came striding out. Without a word, she hugged Fred tightly around the middle and mumbled into his chest. "I'm sorry I said you should be ashamed. I'm sorry that I made you feel bad. I had just had a fight with Scorpius, I was in a foul mood, and I was so surprised. Also, I still don't think it's right for Ophelia to see you without being honest with Liam."

"Aw, Rosie," Fred squeezed her gently. "You don't have anything to apologize for. You were partially right. Ophelia and I discussed it and she's going to try to bring up the issue with Liam before their wedding. What can I say? I'm a selfish prat and I want what I want. But you should know that this isn't just a meaningless affair. I really fancy her."

"Do you love her?"

"You know what? Sometimes I think I do."

"I want you to be happy, but I can't help but feel that this is going to end badly, Fred. I don't want to see you get hurt."

"It hurts no matter what, Rose. It hurts when she comes and spends the night with me and Heather is just down the hall. It hurts when she has to leave to meet up with Liam. It hurts when she's not with me. It hurts all the fucking time, but it would hurt even more if I stopped seeing her."

"I'm so sorry, Fred. You're not the selfish prat, I am! Here I was all pissed off because I had to marry someone I didn't love, but you had to marry someone you didn't love while being in love with someone else! I'm such an arse!"

"No, you're not," Fred chuckled and sat down, with Rose on his lap. "You didn't know. Nobody knew."

"I should have asked."

"Ha! What would you have said? 'Oi, Fred, do you happen to be involved with anyone else?' Come on, Rose, none of you suspected anything before you accidentally walked in on us snogging."

"So nobody else knows? Not even James?"

"Well, Heather knows, of course, and I'm assuming she's told her mystery bloke that I'm seeing someone else."

"Her mystery bloke?" asked Rose. "Don't you know who she's seeing?"

"No, she kept her old flat and they meet up there. The only thing she's said about him is that he's a muggle-born who she's been seeing for a year."

"Well, hey, whatever works for you guys, you know?"

There was a pause as Fred seemed to be the one comforting Rose, rubbing her shoulder blades softly. They were both avoiding the elephant in the room. They'd both received letters from their Uncle Percy and they both knew that they could be forced to become parents much sooner than either of them wanted to be.

In an attempt to keep that subject at bay for a while longer, Fred said, "I heard you visited Azkaban."

"Yeah, I did," Rose blushed a bit, like she did when she was hiding something.

"Want to talk about it?"

"No."

"What did Nathan want?"

"To apologize."

"That's it?"

"Yes. He didn't think that Scorpius or Norah or Dom would agree to see him so he asked me. He wanted me to convey his apologizes to all of them."

"And did you?"

"Of course."

Fred knew there was more than she was saying, but he was so glad that she wasn't mad at him anymore that he decided not to press the issue.

…

After leaving Fred's place, Rose went to see Norah. Luck was in her favor as she knocked on the door to discover that Albus wasn't there. "Hi, Rose, what are you doing here so late?" asked Norah sleepily as she pulled the door open and ushered her friend inside.

"I had to speak with you," Rose could tell that she'd probably woken Norah, who was in pajamas and looked rather tired. But this was important. "I wanted to tell you about my visit with Nathan."

"You already told me. You said that he wanted to apologize to us for everything that's happened," said Norah with just a hint of anger. Yes, Rose had definitely woken her up.

"That's true, but there was more," Rose had to know. This had been eating at her for almost a week now. "Do you think your father would be capable of putting the Imperius Curse on your brother?"

…

A/N: To answer reviews, no, Rose did not tell Scorpius about what Nathan said. All she told him was that Nathan wanted to apologize for what he'd done. I probably should have written that part into the story, but just didn't think of it. Also! The reason that Scorpius addressed her by her maiden name, 'Rose Nymphadora Weasley' is because, in a way, that's still how he sees her. Especially when she displays that Weasley temper.

Do you think the amendment to the marriage law is going to pass? If not, what else could the Ministry do to fix the problems the law has caused? I'm curious to hear where you think the story is heading!

You are all amazing!

MofDA