"She is so beautiful. Just look at her."

Rose giggled and kissed Scorpius' cheek. "You look good with her. And yes, she is very beautiful. Just like her big brother. She was a bit late, wasn't she?"

"Yes, a few weeks. Nothing bad. At least we have holidays now, so I can spend every second with her."

"My love, I am her mother, I too need a bit of time with her."

"Yeah, sure, Mum. When you feed her. She will be with me the rest of the time."

"Okay, deal. Your dad and I will be glad if you get up every two hours in the night to bring her to me to feed her.

"Well… nah, okay. I have her the day, you have her the night. Rose, look at her! Look at her tiny fingers!"

Scorpius was completely amazed by his little sister. She was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen in his whole life. Even Rose was not as beautiful as Cassiopeia. And she understood. The redhead was fine with it. No-one could compete with one's baby-sister. Just like no-one could ever compete with Hugo. He would always be the best boy in Rose's life. Albus and James sadly only came third, right after Scorpius.

"Yes, I can see her tiny fingers!" Rose laughed and lightly touched Cassiopeia's head. "Oh! It's so soft! Her head is like… like clay. That's scary…"

Astoria smiled at her. "I know it is a bit weird. It freaked me out the first time I touched Scorpius. But you cannot break anything. Maybe, if you are lucky, you might even get to hold her."

"No way! She is my baby-sister. I will hold her and no-one else." Scorpius pouted but still gave Cassiopeia in Rose's arms.

"You are too kind", grinned Rose and kissed his cheek. "Hello baby. I'm Rose and I'm your godmother. I am here for the fun part of your life!"

While watching the pair with her little daughter, Astoria couldn't help but think that Rose and Scorpius looked weirdly perfect as a proper family. Maybe one day they would realize. Maybe one day they both would look at each other and simply know. She couldn't believe it was like this. Hermione and she have talked hours about how perfect their kids are for each other, how much they had helped each other grow. Hermione would be glad to have Scorpius as her son-in-law. And Astoria would simply love to have a daughter-in-law who was as spontaneous and generous and adventurous as Rose. But love had to happen, it could not be forced. And if Rose and Scorpius did not fall in love it was fine. It was fine as long as they were both happy, as long as they found someone who would love them the way Astoria loved Draco, the way Hermione loved Ron.

"Mum? We are heading off, okay? We promised Professor Longbottom to be back before dinner."

"Yes, sure sure. But do not even think about taking Cassiopeia with you."

Scorpius grinned and laid his baby-sister in her bed. "I do not want to have her over night; she will stay with you and Dad." He kissed his sister's forehead, hugged his mum.

Rose hugged Astoria, too, before she said good-bye to Cassiopeia.

Back in Hogwarts, Rose and Scorpius were already awaited by their friends.

"So how is she? Is she cute? Babies are always cute! Is she especially cute?"

"Hugo, calm down." Scorpius grinned, proud as could be. "She is perfect. Your sister took a few photos. If you want to, we can go into the Shack or the Room of Requirements after dinner and have a look at them."

"Oh, that would be great! Can't we skip dinner and go there right now?"

"But I am hungry!" James protested, "I really am!"

"So we could just go to the kitchen, grab something and then have a sort-of family dinner in the Room of Requirements", Louis suggested.

After a very heated discussion, whether or not it was acceptable that James could not sit with his friends and bitch about Janice Dicken and Taylor Lorrer dating (like, when did it happen? Taylor had been with James a year ago and now she was a lesbian? James was a bit taken aback by what he had done to turn her around. Louis got very furious about that comment.), but in the end they decided that James should just shut up and spend some quality time with his friends and family. At least as soon as he could. It was his last year in Hogwarts, his last year with his brother and sister, his cousins. Of course he would miss them. Hell, he would even miss Scorpius! Sure, at the beginning James thought quite badly about the blonde, but he began to see the person behind the name, the actual Scorpius, the best friend of Rose and Albus, the guy with the awesome hair. His style was still weird but James decided that he would teach Scorpius how to dress during summer holidays. It was sort of his duty as his best friend's brother. And he could not dress Albus anymore, Al was simply sick of going shopping with James. The girls were much easier. Except for Roxy, maybe. She was really hard to please. But that was fine, so was James.

"I think she looks just like your", Hugo smiled at Scorpius.

"You really do? Well, in this picture she is only a few hours old. I can hardly see a resemblance to anyone but all babies in the world." Lily rolled her eyes at her cousin and snatched a scone out of Scorpius' hand.

"Hey! Lily, my dear, she is the most beautiful and perfect girl on earth. She is my sister and if Hugo thinks she looks like me, I am a very proud big brother because that means I am kind of beautiful, too."

"You are very beautiful, my darling." Rose giggled and hugged Scorpius, kissed his cheek.

"You are very pretty yourself, Pumpkin Pie."

"Yeah, I know. I have lots of cousins who keep telling me." She beamed at him and hugged her best friend. "You know, I am so excited for this year to end so I can come to your house and spend so so so much time with my baby-goddaughter!"

"So I suppose I just invite Albus. Otherwise I will be all alone, because Cassiopeia is your one and only."

"Sounds about right." She laughed and hugged him again, snuggled into the comfortable pillows on the sofa.

They both knew Rose was going to spend an awful lot of time with Scorpius. Everyone knew. Everyone kept asking themselves why they weren't a couple. Everyone except for Rose and Scorpius. They knew why and they didn't even think about having a relationship. They just didn't love each other. Well, they did. But as friends, as soul mates. Not as lovers. In their heads they would never ever work. Though they loved being alone together, sharing all kinds of secrets. This night, too, the pair of them stayed behind in the Room of Requirements after everyone else headed to bed.

"You know, Beatrice asked me out few days ago."

"Oh did she? What did you say? She is kinda cute, don't you think? And the way she always looks at you... one could get jealous!"

Scorpius rolled his eyes and put his arms around the red-head. "I did say yes. She seems very nice and I thought it might be worth it."

"Have you ever talked to her?"

"Well... occasionally. I usually sit with you guys and she is at the Hufflepuff table. And since she is a year younger than us I do not share any classes with her. But I did talk to her a few times when I met her and Lily in the corridors."

"Yeah, right! I completely forgot she's a friend of Lily! So, when you marry her, do you want to have a joined last name? Scorpius Malfoy-Creevey. Nah, doesn't sound good. Beatrice Creevey-Malfoy. Sounds better, but not that good either. Beatrice Malfoy is fine, though. Her dad was quite young when she was born, wasn't he?"

"Rosie, I have no idea. You know I do not really care about the family history of anyone or about gossip or which one of your parents' friends had kids at what age."

"I know. But I do!" She snuggled into his arms and sighed. "So, you're gonna eat ice cream and spend the day at Hogsmeade?"

"I guess so, since we will be going out next weekend. Sorry I cannot spend the Hogsmeade day with you."

"Nah, it's perfectly fine. You just make sure to tell me everything about your date."

"I will." He smiled softly and kissed her head, drew Rose closer to his body to soak in her smell. It was lovely. Flowery and light, yet strong and not too girly at all. She was so full of contradictions. Her eyes themselves were sometimes different; they sometimes had a small but very strong golden spot in them. Her hair was amazing. It was red and fiery, fierce and yet so soft and warm. Scorpius was quite sure to never ever meet another person who was as special as his Rose. And still, he could not picture them as a couple, kissing each other, loving each other. Yet he could see them sleeping with each other, although he would have never thought he was the kind of guy to separate sex and love. He did it on New Year's Eve, but he has been very drunk that evening. Drunk and jealous. May that is why he slept with a random girl. Because Rose had Dimitri, because Rose had slept with Dimitri and Scorpius knew it.
Sighing, he looked down on Rose, seeing her sleeping in his arms. Her chest rising up and down softly, her curls falling in her face like the sunshine fell on earth. He could see her lips curing into a slight smile as he lightly ran his fingers up and down her arm. He saw her nose moving like a bunny's nose, they way she always did it unconsciously, even when she was awake. And in this moment he decided one thing: he had to have a girlfriend at the end of next year. Because Scorpius Hyperion Malfoy could not separate love and sex.