A/N: Thank you so much to Kermit 304, cleotheo and cruisechick for their reviews on Chapter 14. :)

And now we fast forward to Spring now...and we shall arrive at summer soon! ;)

RxExR!

Pictures on a Wall

Chapter 15 - Spring is in the Air

Luna smiled softly as she let herself into the apartment that her and Blaise shared. It was the middle of March and the first time that she had been able to come home ever since the Christmas break. Blaise didn't know that she was here yet, but she was hoping that she would be able to surprise him with what she had planned for today afternoon.

After all, as Draco had said, the probability of Blaise doing what she was about to do was extremely low due to his fear of commitments. But that would make this even more special. Hopefully.

She had to admit that she was nervous about what she was going to do, despite the knowledge that Blaise loved her and that she loved him, she knew that this would define their relationship even further, put a definite label on it.

It terrified her on some deeper level.

Sighing, she shook her head, to rid herself of these troublesome thoughts and worries and to get rid of the wrackspurts that had been flying around her head for the past hour or so.

She put her luggage into the bedroom and then began with the preparations.

~.~.~.~.~

Blaise groaned as he let himself into the apartment that he only ever really considered his home when Luna was around. It was frightening how attached he had become to her over the past year or so, terrifying to think that he couldn't even imagine life without her anymore.

Before, he had always thought that he would be destined to a life like his mother's - always hopping from one person to the next and forever being cursed to being alone despite the company. With Luna he didn't feel that though, in fact, he knew that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her.

And therein lay the problem.

How does one ask someone else, after only a year of being in a relationship, to marry them? Okay, so maybe being in a relationship for a whole year wasn't exactly the problem as he knew that quite a few people got married after being in a relationship for less than that.

Cue images of his mother and her never ending parade of husbands.

No, it was more the fact that they were still pretty young, he nineteen, about to turn twenty and her having just turned eighteen two months ago. They were oh so young and he wasn't sure whether they really knew what they wanted for the rest of their lives. Well, he was pretty sure he knew what he wanted but he didn't want to put pressure on Luna or make her feel obliged to do something that she wouldn't want to do and would probably end in some sort of disaster down the road.

He should probably consult Draco and a nice bottle of wine over this in the next couple of weeks before Luna came home again.

It was then that he was brought out of his musings as he noticed that for one, the door had been unlocked and therefore someone was already in the house and two, the light was burning in the kitchen.

Only he himself and Luna had keys to the apartment and Draco and Pansy had access to a copy of the key should they need to enter it for whatever reason.

But Luna was still in South America, Draco was at some play of Scorpius (he had told him all about it two days ago when he had been over for a visit) and he had only spoken with Pansy over the phone half an hour ago and she had been in Japan at the time.

So who was in his apartment?

Pulling out his wand, he immediately adopted a defensive stance, his footsteps becoming practically silent as he crept around the corner to the kitchen.

"Oh hello Blaise. I wasn't expecting you home yet." The voice behind him startled him so badly that he let loose a very unmanly sound as he spun around, only to have him nearly poke out his girlfriend's eye with it.

"Luna- what the- are you doing here?" He managed to catch his breath after a couple of seconds, his girlfriend looking at him with clear amusement written all over her face. He lowered his wand.

"I live here. Or I did, the last time I checked." She smiled softly. "I wanted to surprise you. Dr. Scamander let me go on vacation a couple of weeks earlier."

The scowl that had been developing due to her first comment immediately left his face as he returned the smile.

"Believe me, I am glad to see you, just a little shocked is all." He muttered and she smiled that smile of hers again, this time leaning forward to peck him on the lips before going around him and into the kitchen.

"I can see that. I didn't mean to frighten you." She stated and he followed her, his stomach grumbling as his nose picked up the smell of one of his favourite dishes, Beef Cannelloni.

"I wasn't frightened, more surprised." He grumbled, his pride taking a blow as she turned around to look at him with a raised eyebrow, indicating her disbelief at his statement.

He decided to leave it at that, knowing that he wouldn't win this particular discussion anyway.

"And no mention of that sound I made to anyone." He told her, completely serious, as he carried the food to the table a couple of minutes later. A small giggle escaped Luna's lips.

"Of course not." Luna smiled and both sat down to begin their meal. After her question about how his day had been, he quickly descended into a rather heated and impassioned speech about how the said day had been, including comments on the idiocy that he was forced to confront from other sections in the Ministry at times.

"And then he told me that 'The Department of Mysteries is merely a department for all those quacks and crazy people' and that 'anyone who goes there is only there because they are accepted nowhere else' and I really wanted to-"

"Blaise." Her use of his name stopped him mid-rant and he looked up to see her sitting there with an extremely bemused expression on her face.

"Yes?" His brow quirked upwards in confusion and Luna decided to refrain from telling him how absolutely adorable he looked like that.

"I had a question." Blaise's forehead furrowed now and he was looking at her quizzically.

He waited for a couple of seconds but she said nothing. Instead, she looked almost...nervous? But no, that was impossible. Luna Lovegood did not get nervous. Ever.

"What is your question?" He finally asked, not quite sure what to expect.

"I was wondering whether you would be amenable to me taking on the name Zabini as opposed to Lovegood as my family name?" She questioned quite seriously and Blaise's eyes bulged slightly.

"What?" His throat felt exceptionally dry. Hadn't he just had a sip of juice?

"I was wondering whether you would agree to me shedding my own surname, join your family and thereby take on your surname as my own?" She repeated, albeit slightly differently worded.

"What?" The room was getting cold and then hot for Blaise.

She sighed and sent him a look.

"In simple terms, I was wondering whether you would like to marry me?" She asked and was suddenly down on one knee next to his chair with a ring in her hand and Blaise was pretty sure that his brain had just short-circuited.

He didn't respond, couldn't respond. He briefly wondered whether he was going into a coma. There were so many warring emotions inside him right now that he wasn't quite sure how to react.

"Blaise, not that I mind watching you sit there so adorably confused," There, she'd finally said it, "But would you mind giving me an answer? The floor isn't exactly the most comfortable and my knee is starting to hurt." The air with which she said that finally shook Blaise out of his stupor.

"Yes! Dio mio! Si!" He exclaimed happily. "Non è possible!" He said, slightly quieter to himself. "Of course dolcezza." He whispered as he joined her on the floor, falling back to his Italian roots as wonder overtook him. She wanted to marry him! She actually wanted to spend the rest of her life with him! He couldn't quite believe it.

She slipped the ring on his finger and he chuckled slightly as her eyes shone up at him brilliantly, joy and love being the most prominent emotions within them.

"Now let me." He said, slipping his other hand out of his own pocket as he pulled forth something that he had been carrying with him since Christmas.

"Will you, Luna Lovegood, consent to becoming Luna Zabini?" He asked, the ring that his father had once given his own mother in his hands.

"Yes." Luna nodded happily, small tears forming in the corners of her eyes.

"Yes."

~.~.~.~.~

"Okay, so, let me get this straight. Luna proposed to Blaise who then proposed back and now they're planning to have their wedding in August. And this all happened three weeks ago but they sort of 'forgot' to tell us and you only found this out because you noticed that she was wearing a ring when you met her for lunch yesterday when she was in town to meet Blaise too?" Harry looked at Ginny incredulously. "And on that note, does Dr. Scamander even allow her to continent hopping?"

Ginny chuckled at her boyfriend's expression and nodded. "Yeah. You know how Luna and Blaise are. And yes also to Dr. Scamander. Apparently, once he found out that she was engaged, he told her to go home at least once a week to see her fiancé and that the only sad thing about the whole thing is that this means that he cannot introduce her to his own son Rolf as a potential love interest now."

"He actually said that to her?" Harry asked, now looking amused. "How did Blaise react?"

"According to Luna, he was slightly affronted and said that this 'Rolf' should find his own soul mate thank you very much." Ginny did a near perfect impersonation of Blaise which sent Harry laughing.

"Oh good God." He muttered, wiping the corners of his eyes once the tears had subsided. "They're precious."

"They are." Ginny grinned and both of them dug into their lunch once more.

The last three, or nearly four, months had been amazing for the two of them. Ever since they had finally talked about everything properly, things had fallen back into place and their relationship had flowed from one step to the next as easily as breathing.

"So I was wondering," Harry began, swallowing down the piece of lettuce from his salad, "Whether you would consider moving in with me in the summer?" He didn't look up and continued to chase one tiny baby tomato across his plate.

He was a lot more nervous about asking this than he was letting on because while he may love how easy their relationship was going, it was also frightening because he was pretty sure that things were going a little too well for his tastes. In his experience, the good things in his life rarely lasted.

Ginny's fork stopped mid-air and she blinked a couple of times. She hadn't quite expected that question from Harry. To be completely honest (in the confines of her mind) she had thought about moving in a couple of times already as she was essentially spending all her time at his house anyway whenever she was home from training. She even slept their most nights as well, even if her father decided to ignore that fact most of the time.

"Um..." She trailed off, her brain not quite having caught up just yet.

"I mean you don't have to." Harry said very quickly, his pursuit of the baby tomato halted as his head shot up. "I know that we've only been together for maybe five months and four days but that doesn't mean that you have to say yes. No, I mean- What I mean is that you don't have to say 'yes', especially as we've only been together for not that long and I know we agreed to take it slow, but this just feels right and-"

"Harry, I'd love to move in with you." Ginny stated, amusement in her eyes as she took in her boyfriend's expression.

"You do?" Harry queried, still looking slightly unsure of her agreement.

"Yes." She nodded. "I practically live in your place anyway whenever I'm back from training and most of my stuff is cluttering 'your' bedroom too. So actually, yes, I think it's a brilliant idea." She smiled at him, one that he slowly began to return. Soon it had morphed into a fully fledged grin.

"Oh and, by the way. Hermione was right. You look absolutely adorable when confounded." She grinned at his indignant expression and stood up.

"Where are you going?" He asked as she walked around the table.

"I need to go to the toilet." And make a call. "I'll be back in a second." She pecked him on the cheek and then hurried to the bathroom.

She had to call and tell Hermione and then Luna about this.

~.~.~.~.~

"Mr. Malfoy! Mr. Malfoy!" Draco looked up and couldn't help the sigh of exasperation escaping as he saw who was hurrying towards him and Scorpius.

Madame Geoffreys, the headmistress of Scorpius' Nursery School. A woman that he was quite sure that world could do without. She appeared to think, for whatever convoluted reason, that they had something in common, only because she was also from Britain and living in France.

"Yes, Madame Geoffreys?" He turned around to face her properly, his face immediately adopting the polite mask that he always wore when dealing with most people outside of his family and circle of close friends.

Scorpius sent him a long-suffering look. The fact that his son didn't really like the woman that much either was just another point against her. Children were known for having quite brilliant instincts when it came to people, even if most people disregarded that.

"I was wondering whether I could have a word with you in my office?" She asked, slightly out of breath as she had been apparently chasing after them.

Not really reassuring.

"Of course, Madame." Draco nodded as he could see no reason to deny the woman her request, after all, it might be something serious. Scorpius tugged his hand and he bent down next to him.

"If it's because the paint then I'm sorry daddy. But Amelia was annoying me. I didn't mean to make it explode." His son looked contrite as he mumbled the words to him and Draco patted his head affectionately. As long as he knew that he had done something wrong, then that was fine.

"Thanks for telling me." He told him before standing back up, at least now having a slightly better idea as to why the headmistress wanted to speak to him.

As it was, the Nursery School, or rather the École Maternelle, was a Muggle school and as far as Draco and Hermione were aware, there were no other magical children present in the school. The idea to send their children to a 'normal' school until they joined Hogwarts had been Hermione's idea and despite some initial scepticism, Draco had agreed to let the children try it out. The fact that the 'École Primaire', the next school after the current one in the French education system, finished at age 11 was good as it meant that it would be quite easy to explain to any of their Muggle friends that instead of going to the local Collège, their parents had decided to send them somewhere else.

What both of them had conveniently forgotten though, was that their children were bound to be magical considering the strength of their parent's magic.

Which was increasingly beginning to lead to discussions with Scorpius' and Cassie's teachers like right now. Draco didn't even want to think about how it would be once Jasper and Ella started school within the next couple of years. It was bound to become a headache for them.

"Wait out here, I'll be back soon." He told his son, reassuring him with a small rub on the back that he wasn't angry at him for something that the six year old couldn't control anyway. Scorpius' light grey eyes lit up at his father's smile and Draco felt relief course through him once again that Scorpius wasn't afraid of him, but afraid of disappointing him and Hermione.

He had always feared his own father until shortly before the end of the war and it had taken a long time for him and his father to finally see eye to eye about most things. He had always wanted to avoid his own children from feeling like that so he did his best to reassure them of that.

Half an hour later, including a painfully long talk about Scorpius' recent 'misbehaviour', he was finally released from the office and he practically fled the school with Scorpius and Cassie in tow. She had still been waiting patiently in her own classroom for her father to pick her up, knowing that his delay probably had something to do with Scorpius and magic. It had already happened quite a few time ever since the school year had started.

"Scorpius, Cassie, you two have to be a bit more careful in school." He told them once they were sitting in the park close to school, both children with an ice cream in their hands. It was the first really nice day this year and the sun was shining with not a cloud in sight.

"We know daddy." Cassie nodded, her eyes dancing as she was easily distracted by a small bird hopping along the way. "Can we feed him?" She pointed to the sparrow and Draco sighed before shaking his head.

"No, you know what happens when you do. Feed one and-"

"The entire flock wants to be fed too. I know daddy." Cassie looked downcast. "But he looks so hungry." She turned to look at him, her own silver eyes sad and Draco swallowed, knowing that she was attempting to manipulate him into letting him feed the birds. His little girl was a Slytherin through and through despite her heart of gold.

"We will be dad, but Amelia-"

"No 'but Amelia', Scorpius. You made the mistake and if the situation should arise, you have to pay for it. Please apologise to her tomorrow for the paint." He looked at his son sternly and Scorpius sighed, his eyes downcast. He eventually nodded and Draco patted him on the back, knowing that Scorpius hated apologising for anything, much less for something that he firmly believed wasn't even his fault.

"Come on, let's go and get some ice cream for your mum and Ella and Jaz as well." He told them and immediately they brightened, beginning to chatter away about the different flavours that they could get the rest of their family and Draco smiled as they ran ahead to the ice cream man, they faces alight.

He got back up and straightened his clothes, following them at a much more sedate pace.

He loved his family.

A/N: Here are some translations for the Italian that Blaise uses.

Dio mio! - Dear God!

Si! - Yes!

Non è possible! - It isn't possible!

dolcezza - something akin to 'sweetheart' or 'my dear'. It doesn't really have a direct translation and is a common term of endearment, one that I find myself imagining Blaise would use when talking to and about Luna.