Over the next few weeks Rose and Scorpius found themselves stretched pretty thin with work and other responsibilities. Rose was swamped with paperwork for her impending transformation. She complained loudly about the need for such stringent regulation but was silenced by her mother. Hermione loved to point out that while some unregistered animagus only had redeeming reasons for keeping silent, some, like Rita Skeeter, used their unknown abilities for unethical activity. Hermione had never quite gotten over the negative attacks she endured as a teenager due to Rita Skeeter's brand of journalism.
Scorpius had teamed up with a muggle geneticist to assist in coding the genetic material in his sperm. Somehow he had managed to pose the problem in a way that would not violate the Statute of Secrecy or require the unsuspecting muggle scientist to have to be Obliviated. Rose couldn't help but be impressed with Scorpius's slippery Slytherin tongue in crafting a tale that was not only muggle appropriate but entirely honest. She was impressed with his tongue for other things of course, just as he was hers.
Her initial plan for extracting the specimen had to be scrapped. As much as she wanted to pleasure Scorpius in that way, she wasn't willing to risk contaminating the Mandrake leaf. Instead they had fallen into bed that evening and engaged in several rounds of hot, fast shagging. Rose sported some light bruising on her inner thighs from his pistoning hips that she wore like a badge of honor. Scorpius, of course, had freaked out about injuring Rose but she refused to let him feel remorse. She certainly didn't after the copious number of orgasms he had given her.
Rose did assist Scorpius in producing a sperm sample. He very much enjoyed the lingerie she had worn under her dress the night of his return. The next day, she went on a shopping spree and bought several new sets and some daring and risqué corsets, nighties, and baby dolls. Scorpius had enjoyed wanking at the sight of her impromptu fashion show that evening.
Since then, Scorpius had been almost living in the laboratory. He'd return home to Rose late in the evening and regale her with tales of his progress.
"Did you know all my little swimmers were male?" he asked one night over a cup of tea.
Rose sputtered and choked on the biscuit she had just placed in her mouth, "Excuse me?"
"Well not all, that's an exaggeration. It's about the 98% though," Scorpius said. "Dr. Johnson was amazed". The muggle geneticist that Scorpius was working with was named Peter Johnson, and the humor was not lost on Rose that a man named after two slang terms for a penis would become an expert in sperm.
"That's so weird," Rose said, "Do you think it's a Malfoy thing?"
"It must be," he replied. "A child's sex is determined by the father's sperm. It's been about 300 years since there's been a female born into the Malfoy line. I never gave it much thought before since most of my ancestors were only children. Or if there were girls, I wouldn't have but it past my family to kill them off and erase them from the family tree. For so long the only thing that mattered was producing a male heir to carry on the name". He shook his head. "I'm trying to not get my hopes up, but sometimes I let myself daydream about what my child would be like".
"Do you only want one child?" Rose asked.
Scorpius shook his head, "No, it was always lonely growing up as an only child. I believe my parents would have tried for more if my mother hadn't been affected by the curse. If I do have children, I want maybe two or three. Of course, it's up to you too".
"Me?" Rose asked.
He rolled his eyes and gave her a peck on the nose, "Yes you. There's no one else I'd ever want to have children with. Can you imagine it? A child with strawberry blonde ringlets and silver eyes?"
Rose remembered the time in St. Mungo's after Christmas when Scorpius had snuck her down to see baby Philippe. She had a flash of the very child he was describing now. Even before Rose had understood her feelings towards Scorpius, she was already picturing her children with him. No wonder everyone saw it before she did. It had been blatantly obvious. "I've pictured it before".
"We still don't know if it's possible or not. Your theory could still be wrong and then we are back to square one," Scorpius said sadly and look away.
Rose hooked a finger under his chin so that she could raise his head to force eye contact. She stared into his silver orbs and said, "If having children of our own isn't an option, we've got other choices".
"I thought you told Burroughs it was too early to be discussing things like that?" Scorpius asked.
Rose laughed, "Well everything about our relationship has moved at warp speed so far. There are plenty of children who are born to muggle parents that are given up for adoption at their first sign of accidental magic".
"Can you imagine the look on my grandfather's face when we tell him he has muggle-born grandchild to carry on the Malfoy name?" Scorpius grinned gleefully. "It'll give him the kick in the arse he so rightfully deserves".
Rose giggled and stretched. "Sorry Scorp, but I've got to say the chant now. Can you refrain from mocking me this time?"
"I never mocked you for that, love," Scorpius said.
"Oh really? I remember you always had to point out the way I slurred the words around the leaf when we were in seventh year," Rose pointed out.
Scorpius smirked, "That's because I was a stupid teenager. When you said the chant back then, you poked your tongue out of your mouth and ran in along your bottom lip. You have no idea how much I wanted to capture your lips and play with that little pink tongue. Rather than admit that then, I thought the best course of action was to poke fun at you".
Rose chuckled, "Ridiculous". She swirled the Mandrake leaf around her tongue and recited, "Amato Animo Animato Animagus".
Scorpius groaned, "There goes that tongue again. But this time, I can do something about it," and he pressed her back onto the bed.
Rose was busy at work brewing her animagus potion. She was relieved that the Mandrake leaf was no longer under her tongue. She celebrated by eating a leafy, green salad that was roughly the size of her head. Scorpius had laughed at the voracity with which she attacked the salad, but she quickly silenced him with a glare. Rose had been a bit peeved at him for a few days afterwards but eventually accepted his sincere apology. His apologies turned to moans of thanks when she showed him what others things her new, more mobile tongue was capable of.
Suddenly, a stack of mail popped onto her desk. Magical flying paper airplanes were still utilized for small memos. Larger mail arrived to the ministry mail room via owl where it was sorted and transported to the recipient's office once a day. Rose quickly shifted through her mail. Flyers for renewing a Witch Weekly subscription and wand repair were quickly binned. She wished wizarding mail had a spam filter the way that muggle email did.
She spotted a small white envelope and slit it open. The Annual Remembrance Day Ball was just over a month away. She added purchasing new dress robes to her mental calendar. She wished that she could wear the dress from Roxie's wedding to the event, but it was too much of a faux pas to wear the same dress at an occasion with so many of the same attendees. Rose thought about how lucky wizards were to be able to wear the same dress robes again and again without starting an uproar.
Rose filed the invitation and turned to her remaining mail. She was confused when she spotted an envelope with the Oagadou seal. Professor Faso and Rose typically communicated more directly to preserve the secret nature of her work. Rose slit open the envelope and smiled when she saw that it was a letter for Mr. Adero.
He was inquiring about an internship that summer with the British Ministry. He made it quite clear that he was not interested in Rose's field; he had enough of animagus work to last a lifetime. He said he read about her family's role in the war and hoped that she might be able to help with get an internship with the Auror department. Rose was typically put off when people tried to use her to get to her family, but she felt that this boy was genuine. He'd helped her out and she was happy to return the favor. She dipped her quill in ink and began to write a quick note to Uncle Harry.
Her concentration was interrupted when her door smashed open. Before Rose could even look up, she was swept out of her chair.
"We did it, love!" Scorpius triumphed. He spun her around in his arms as she giggled. He held her so that her feet dangled several centimeters off the ground and crushed his lips to hers.
"Hhmmhmm," a voice cleared from the doorway. Scorpius dropped Rose to the ground and the pair wheeled around to see three wands pointed at them.
"Everything OK, Rose?" Harry Potter asked.
"I think so, right Scorp?" Rose responded.
Scorpius beamed, "Everything is perfect. We did it, Rose!"
Harry gave the other aurors the order to lower their wands and retreat, "We got an alert that an unauthorized person had entered the Department of Mysteries. I'm guessing Scorpius rushed in here without clearing security first".
Scorpius looked a little sheepish, "Sorry Harry. I just couldn't wait to get to Rose. It won't happen again," he promised.
"It better not," Harry grumbled, "you're lucky I recognized you, Scorpius. Otherwise you'd probably be in a world of hurt right now. An intruder throwing my favorite niece around the room".
"So I'm your favorite, huh Uncle Harry?" Rose asked.
He laughed, "Just don't tell the others!" and left to return to his office with the crisis averted.
Rose looked at Scorpius questioningly. "What happened, Scorp?"
"You were right, Rose. I can't pass on the curse," he whispered as though he still didn't completely believe it.
Rose squealed and threw herself into his arms. He caught her easily and twirled her once more. Rose could see the jubilation sparkling in his eyes. They laughed with absolute abandon but stopped when they became dizzy.
As the world came into focus once more, Rose asked, "Can you explain it to me?"
"It was just like you thought, love. The curse must be tied to mitochondrial DNA. It's in my blood because I carry my mother's mitochondrial DNA. But it's not in my sperm to pass on to a child. Do you know what this means?" Scorpius asked.
"You can have children," Rose replied.
"We can have children," he retorted and pressed a brief kiss to her lips. "When the time is right of course, we can have children of our own".
Rose sobered for a moment, "What about your aunt Daphne?"
Scorpius fell silent, "It's terrible to say, but I had forgotten about her for a moment in my excitement. I suppose nothing has changed for her. I'll have to test her eggs, but I'm pretty sure I'll find the curse there".
"Sorry to ruin the good mood," Rose said.
"No, it's alright, love. Now that I know where the curse is, I can work on targeting a way to treat her. She won't have to worry about the curse unless she has children. It can't kill until it is passed on first," he noted.
"Maybe I can work with you? I don't know much about healing and I'm not sure what I'll be able to contribute, but I'm willing to listen and talk through ideas with you," Rose suggested.
"Don't sell yourself short, Rose. You're the one who cracked the mitochondrial link," he gave her a quick kiss. "I've got to go tell my father what I've discovered, but I want to take you out tonight to celebrate. Are you up for that?"
"Come by my place at 7," Rose said, "say hi to Draco for me". She pulled him in for one last kiss before shoving him out the door. She returned to her desk and resume writing the note to Uncle Harry with a small smile gracing her face.
A week later found Scorpius once again in Rose's office in the Department of Mysteries. The last week had been a whirlwind of activity. Scorpius had met with Daphne to discuss his findings. He told Rose that Daphne was happy for her nephew but could barely conceal her own pain. He promised her that he would work tirelessly on ending the curse. Daphne suggested that maybe it was best that she was alone and it nearly broke Scorpius's heart to hear her being so defeatist.
She did agree to allow Dr. Johnson to extract a few eggs to test. According to Scorpius, the needle they had used was about 15 centimeters long and would have caused Rose to faint. Rose felt guilty for looking forward to her own future with Scorpius when the curse still hung like a black cloud of despair over Daphne. They spent most evenings discussing possible methods of treatment.
Tonight, however was different. Rose's animagus potion had finished brewing and she invited Scorpius and Professor Faso to watch her transformation. Rose was still mentally scarred from the horrifying sight of Mr. Adero in the hospital bed, and wanted to have people on hand who could assist her if anything went wrong.
"Now, Rose," Faso instructed, "the potion is foul tasting but you have to consume it all".
Rose glanced at the murky blue liquid with tried to steel her stomach. "I'm ready," she said and downed the potion in a solid stream. She fought off the urge to regurgitate the potion and locked eyes with Scorpius.
The last thing she saw as the world twisted was a look of sheer terror on his face before her vision was obscured by thick black smoke.
-AN Again, I am not well versed in genetics. If I made a mistake on the science, please just go with it. Thanks for reading! Any guesses what's going on with Rose's animagus transformation?