Chapter Three

"Well," Dominique said in a decisive tone, after her sister had spoken, "Why don't we keep going, then? Really, there's no need to draw this out as much as we already have."

Ron found that he couldn't help but agree with that statement. Granted, his nieces and nephews probably weren't aware that he had a minor heart attack every time that they mentioned a new constellation name, but it still wasn't necessary to go into this much detail when discussing possible names. After all, the baby wouldn't belong to any of them; the baby's name was for Rose and Scorpius to decide.

Unsurprisingly, however, after listening in on his nieces and nephews for the past several minutes, Ron couldn't help but have very little faith in the idea that his daughter and son-in-law would make a good decision about their child's name.

"Personally, I find it all fascinating," James said airily, before giving a snort of laughter. "Alright, no I don't. But this is really doing wonders to support the theory that Rosie is all sorts of insane."

"Not that I wouldn't love to have that particular conversation yet again," Teddy cut in swiftly, "But moving on—Lucy, what's next on your list?"

"Canes Venatici," Lucy replied almost immediately.

"Huh…" Hugo said succinctly. "Well, maybe Scorpius is Italian."

"Actually," Lucy began, "The origin is Latin. But continuing on, after that is Canis Major, followed by Canis Minor."

"You know, as promising as all three of those sound," Lily said, "I'm not sure I like that whole going by two names thing. I mean, I guess we'd all get used to it eventually, but it still seems like a bit of a mouthful to be calling a baby—or anyone, in general."

"Hmm…" Lucy said thoughtfully, "The next one is Capricornus, which is a zodiac. I just worry that we're ruling too many possible names out."

"You worry too much," Molly informed her younger sister. "Besides, I'm sure it's all pointless worrying. Scorpius and Rosie will want something original and unique for their baby's name. Not something completely normal like a zodiac or…" She reached across the open space separating her from her sister and grabbed Lucy's book out of her hands, "What's next?" She made a face as she said, "Carina. Well that's completely boring. Next is Cassiopeia, though. I feel like that one could have some serious potential."

"Except I've seen that one before," Al cut in. "It's on the Black Family Tree that's hanging in Grimmauld Place."

"You see?" Lucy questioned as she snatched her book back out of Molly's grasp. "It's all completely hopeless. Maybe we should just give up now. Scorpius and Rose will never be able to pick a constellation name for their baby with all of these obstacles in their way."

For perfectly logical reasons, Ron couldn't help but swell with gratitude at Lucy's words. Finally, one member of the second generation was demonstrating their worth. His renewed sense of trust in his daughter to not follow Black family tradition was dashed, however, as the cousins continued their conversation.

"Nonsense," James said simply. "We all know how good Rosie and Scorp are at overcoming obstacles. They're happily married, aren't they? After that, what greater challenge is there than to pick one name out of so many truly wonderful possibilities?"

Louis nodded his agreement. "What's next, Lucy?"

"Centaurus."

"Aunt Hermione is a wonderful advocate for equal rights," Dominique said. "I'm sure some of it has rubbed off on Rosie."

Ron had long ago come to accept that there was no getting around the fact that his wife had a weakness for helping the creatures and people their society had a tendency to look down upon. In fact, he was rather proud of the work she had down for not only the centaurs, but also house elves, goblins, and countless others. Except…well…if Rose ended up naming her child Centaurus as some kind of tribute to her mother, Ron was quite sure he would never forgive his wife.

"And then there's Cepheus," Lucy continued. "Which means 'King,' so I'd imagine it would only be a name they consider if the baby is a boy. After that is Cetus."

Victoire was frowning. "That doesn't really sound like a very appealing name for a person…or a constellation."

"And the list of possibilities lessens even more…" Lucy muttered. Then, louder, "Up next is Chameleon."

"What a perfectly lovely name for a child," Roxanne declared, causing Ron to shudder.

"Are you alright, Ron?" Hermione asked, turning her attention away from the reports she had brought with her and had been reading through up until this point. "You keep shivering. Maybe you should run home to get a sweater if you're so cold. If you go now, I'm sure you'll be back in time before the baby is born."

"No, I'm fine," Ron said swiftly. "I'm just…er…not cold. No, not cold at all. I haven't been shivering."

"If you say so, dear," Hermione replied, sounding rather as if she doubted every word he spoke. But she nonetheless returned her attention back to her work. Ron, for his part, returned to eavesdropping on his nieces and nephews, having missed a few possible names thanks to his wife's interruption.

"This is completely ridiculous!" Lucy was declaring. "We're probably going to have to suggest against the next three as well. They're all two words: Coma Berenices, Corona Australis, and Corona Borealis."

"Maybe just 'Berenices' or 'Australis' or 'Borealis' then," Teddy suggested. "They could just cut out one of the words."

"There are a lot of possibilities," Molly comforted her sister. "We don't need to get hung up on names that aren't going to work out. So what's up next?"

"Corvus."

"You see?" Molly said. "That's a perfectly nice name to choose."

"But we're barely a third of the way through the list," Fred said swiftly, "So we should still keep going."

"Yes, well, the next two don't really seem like keepers either," Lucy stated. "We have Crater and Crux."

"They seem pretty unique to me," Hugo stated. "We really shouldn't rule them out."

Lucy shrugged, but continued reading off her list, "Cygnus comes next."

"I think that was on the family tree, too," Lily said thoughtfully. "And with so many options, I doubt Rosie and Scorp are going to want to repeat a name."

"After that is Delphinus, which is a constellation of a dolphin."

"That sounds wonderful," Roxanne said. "I think it would be a lovely choice of a name for the baby."

"And next is Dorado," Lucy continued.

"It sounds…foreign…" Al said slowly, then continued, "But I suppose that's good because then it's sure to be unique."

The cousins indicated their agreement with Albus while Lucy turned the page to continue reading off names from her book.

"Everyone," Lucy announced suddenly, her tone causing her cousins to immediately fall silent, "I think I've found it. It's just…the perfect name. They're sure to pick it. It's positively lovely. I really don't know why we didn't think of this one to start off with."

Ron stiffened in his seat. If he was sure of one thing, it was that he had no desire to hear what his niece considered to be the perfect name for his first grandchild. He had discovered today that he had absolutely no faith in his nieces' and nephews' taste in names.

"Well?" Louis demanded, impatient. "What is it?"

Lucy looked up from her book and grinned. "Draco."