Chapter Six
"So, Luce," Hugo began conversationally, leaning back in his chair, "How many names do we have left? I feel like we've been at this forever; there can't be that many more…"
Ron, too, felt as if his torture had been going on for quite a while now. He really just wanted it all to end. When, in Merlin's name, was that baby going to be born?
"Actually," Lucy flipped through the remaining pages in her book, "We've only gotten through about two thirds of the constellations; you people keep interrupting me. There are plenty of names options left."
"Well, then, we apologize," Teddy said immediately. "What's up next?"
"Octans," Lucy read off. "Which means 'octant,' which is the eighth part of a circle."
"Which makes it an excellent name choice for their eighth child," Fred said reasonably. "Really, I don't know why we're being so picky about what name Rosie and Scorpius choose for their first kid. I'm sure they'll have plenty more to name after constellations."
If there was one thing Ron really hated more than Black family traditions at that moment, it was the fact the he wanted lots of grandchildren to spoil.
"A lot of kids would be useful," Lucy commented. "The next one is Ophiuchus, which means 'serpent bearer.' And I trust I don't have to explain to you lot why that name fits perfectly for Rose and Scorpius' child."
"Any reminder of how wonderful we Slytherins are really shouldn't be passed over," Albus said cheekily. If Ron hadn't been so mortified at the prospect of his grandchild having such a non-Gryffindor-like name, he might have ignored his Auror's oath of justice and hexed his nephew for suggesting such a preposterous thing (Ron may also have chosen to ignore the fact that his boss/the father of previously mentioned nephew was seated directly beside him). Fortunately, however, Ron's mortification at Albus' suggestion was great and he was thus unable to cause his nephew any bodily harm (or potentially lose his job).
It was also rather helpful that a vast majority of Ron's nieces and nephews were also Gryffindors, hence they were rather anti-Slytherin on basic principle.
"That is quite possibly the most preposterous thing I have ever heard in my entire life," Molly declared loudly.
"You're lucky you've never had to live with him, then," Lily said with a roll of her eyes. "Going on about the superiority of Slytherin over every other house was always one of Al's favorite pastimes."
"And he's still alive?" Molly asked, equal parts impressed and disgusted. "I guess he really must be your parents' favorite. It's taken a few years, but I finally believe you, Lils."
"'Bout time," Lily grumbled, but was cut off from continuing by Lucy.
"Yes, well this is all entirely lovely, but moving on…" She said hurriedly, "The next name is Orion. I don't know why, but that sounds vaguely familiar to me. What about the rest of you?"
The assembled cousins just looked at her cluelessly. But before anyone could say anything, a voice spoke up from the doorway.
"That was almost my middle name!"
As one, all of the occupants of the waiting room turned to see that James had finally returned from his mission to brighten up his wife's trip to the hospital. None of the cousins could react to James' statement, however, because it Ginny who spoke first.
"James Sirius Potter!" Ginny all but shrieked, getting to her feet.
Both James and Ron winced noticeably at her outburst. Not for the first time that day, Hermione looked at her husband with concern written across her features.
"Ron?" She questioned. "What's wrong?"
"She sounds just like mum," Ron said with a small shudder. Hermione merely rolled her eyes at her husband as her attention was drawn back to the conversation going on between her sister-in-law and nephew.
"Hullo mum," James said pleasantly, crossing his arms across his chest to hide the fact that his hands had begun to shake at the sound of his mother's furious voice. "Lovely weather we're having, don't you think?"
"What have you done?" Ginny demanded, outraged. "Hermione just told me what happened upstairs! How could you possibly do that? I thought you were going to start acting like a responsible adult! Don't make me talk to Emma about your behavior."
"Mum!" James protested. "C'mon, it wasn't that bad."
At this point, Ginny, too, crossed her arms over her chest as a severe frown settled on her face. She tapped her foot impatiently as, behind her, Harry began humming slightly to himself as he continued on with his paperwork; he hadn't so much as looked up when Ginny had shouted their oldest son's name.
"It wasn't that bad?" Ginny repeated incredulously. "You destroyed the tea shop!"
"'Destroyed' is such a strong word, mum," James insisted. "I'd prefer to think of it as redecorating. Vic is always saying that the place creeps her out whenever she goes up there during her breaks. It was much too bright and cheerful, but it's better now."
In the blink of an eye, Ginny's expression suddenly changed, a grin spreading quickly across her features.
"You know what, James?" Ginny asked, her unexpectedly sweet voice catching everyone off-guard—even Harry finally looked up from his paperwork at the sound of it. "Let's just forget about this whole thing," She continued, resuming her seat next to Hermione, "You just go spend some more time with your cousins."
And with that last word she turned back to her sister-in-law—thoroughly ignoring everyone's confused looks—and launched into a story about how Astoria Malfoy had been contemplating hexing the Editor-in-Chief of the Prophet for not letting her leave to go to the hospital with Ginny. James, meanwhile, just stared at his mother incredulously for a moment before slowly walking over to where his cousins were seated on the other side of the room and resuming his previous seat.
"That woman is bloody mental," James muttered under his breath.
"You've known her longer than me and you're only just figuring that out?" Albus questioned his older brother.
"Anyway," Lucy said, a tad louder than was absolutely necessary but succeeding in getting everyone's attention, "Getting back on track…the next name up is Pavo."
"Hmm…it sounds Italian…kind of…" Dominique commented in an offhand manner. "What does it mean?"
"Peacock," Lucy replied.
"That's fitting," Albus stated decisively. "The Malfoy have those pet peacocks at their manor. Rosie and Scorp's kid will fit right in."
Ron was quite positive that he would most definitely put his foot down if his daughter chose to name his first grandchild anything that would associate it with Lucius Malfoy's albino decorations.
"It's probably better than Pegasus," Lucy stated, consulting her book once more.
"I don't know about that," Hugo cut in. "Rose did always have a thing for that one Disney movie. She might be open to naming her kid after one of the characters from Hercules."
"You really think your sister is going to be open to naming her firstborn child after an animated horse from some movie based on an ancient muggle myth?" Roxanne questioned. "You're crazier than I always thought you were."
"Not to mention if she likes that movie so much, then she would probably rather name the baby after the title character," Molly added in.
Personally, Ron didn't see any problem with the name his nieces and nephews proposed, for once. Obviously it would be all kinds of wonderful if the next Malfoy heir was named after something so incredibly muggle in origin. Yes, he was quite sure that he wouldn't have any problem doting on a grandchild named Pegasus. Of course, that could have just been his nerves talking…
"Yes, well, we've already agreed that Hercules is a rather plain name compared to some of the other options," Lucy hurried to say before Hugo could reply. "Take Perseus, for example. That sounds like a perfectly lovely name."
"Isn't that the name of some Greek god or something?" Fred questioned thoughtfully. "Hey! Maybe they could name the baby Perseus Pegasus! Or maybe Pegasus Perseus sounds better…either way, it's got that Greek theme going on…"
As one, his cousins all turned to look at him. Fred merely shrugged cluelessly at them.
"Perseus was a Greek hero, actually," Teddy finally spoke up. "But either way, it sounds rather like Uncle Percy's name, don't you think?"
"Hmm…you're right," Dominique hastened to agree. "And I can't really imagine Rosie naming her baby after Uncle Percy; they aren't that close."
Fred sighed in defeat. "I suppose…"
"Phoenix comes next," Lucy announced, still shaking her head slightly at her younger cousin, unable to fathom how he ever came up with half the things that came out of his mouth.
"That would actually be a really cool name," Louis admitted. "Just imagine it…Phoenix Malfoy."
"It's quite the Gryffindor name," Lily agreed. "I like it. Too bad for you, Al."
Albus simply rolled his eyes at his sister, while Lucy resumed reading off names.
"After that we have Pictor," She said.
"Sounds a bit formal, if you ask me," James commented. "We need something more exciting than that. Something with character. What comes next?"
"Pisces," Lucy stated with a small frown.
"Or not…" James trailed off. "Zodiac names are far too common."
"How many people do you honestly know who are named after a zodiac?" Albus questioned his brother.
James opened his mouth but paused, racking his brain for anyone he had ever met with a name like that. After a moment, he closed his mouth again with a sigh of defeat.
"Exactly," Albus stated. "Maybe we shouldn't be so quick to rule them out."
"There was a kid in my year named Leo," Teddy suddenly said, a thoughtful expression on his face.
"But Leo is boring," Molly stated, reiterating her statement from more than an hour previously. "Even if it is an incredibly Gryffindor-esque name."
"Just keep going, Lu," Teddy said with a shake of his head.
"Well, this one would certainly be unique," Lucy commented thoughtfully, "Piscis-Austrinus."
"Hyphenated first names are weird," Fred stated firmly.
"You're weird," His younger sister informed him. "Honestly…Perseus Pegasus…"
"And still moving on," Lucy hastened to continue, "Next up is Puppis."
"Eh…" Dominique said with a shrug, "It'll do, but I'm sure Rosie and Scorpius could do better."
Or much, much worse, in Ron's opinion.
"Very true," Lucy agreed. "Because after that is Pyxis, which doesn't sound too bad, but the next one is Reticulum."
"No," James said immediately. "Just no. I wouldn't be able to keep a straight face long enough to corrupt a kid into being a Gryffindor if it's name was Reticulum."
"Yes, and Merlin forbid the next Malfoy not be a Gryffindor," Albus said sarcastically.
"Exactly, Al," James said with a grin, choosing to complete ignore all of the irony in his brother's tone. "I'm so glad you're finally starting to see the light."
"And mum's the one who's mental…" Albus muttered to himself.
"Hey, you're the one who said you noticed it first," James reminded his brother.
"Just ignore them," Teddy advised when Lucy opened her mouth to tell the pair off, "They're just being their usual Potter selves.
"I resent that," Lily informed her surrogate older brother. "And I do hope you realize that you also just insulted yourself, seeing as you've always been just as good as a Potter."
"Now kids," Louis admonished them lightly, "Let's all play nicely. I don't think I really need to remind you that thanks to James, here, we've got nowhere else to go in this hospital to escape from each other. Why don't we just keep going with the names. If you don't mind, Lucy?"
"Sagitta," Lucy replied promptly. "Latin for 'arrow.' Followed by Sagittarius, which is Latin for 'archer.'"
"Another excellent pair of names in the event Rosie has twins," Dominique said decisively. "Even if the second one is technically a zodiac."
"And since we're not getting back to that debate again," Lucy said quickly, "The next one is…oh," Her tone was pleasantly surprised as she continued, "The next one is Scorpius."
"Scorpius Hyperion Malfoy, Jr.," Molly tested out, "It has a nice ring to it, don't you think?"
"And the baby really would be a junior this time," Lucy agreed with her sister, "Unlike if he was named Draco."
"Yes…" Hugo said slowly, "But the Malfoys don't really seem like the kind of family to have 'juniors' either way, do they?"
"All the same, we can't very well rule it out based on what history tells us," Albus stated. "Scorp isn't anything like his ancestors—that's not to say that he'd break the tradition of naming his children after constellations, of course. Obviously he'll still do that."
Yes, well, Ron could dream, couldn't he?
"And Rosie has stopped getting mad at us for referring to the baby as Scorpius, Jr.," Roxanne pointed out. "Maybe she's warmed up to the idea."
In his desperation, Ron couldn't help but consider that he wouldn't really mind if his grandchild was named Scorpius. Anything to avoid the poor child being named Draco.