Chapter Title: Chapter 74 Part ONE
Author's Notes: Everyone... look, I get how long it's been. I get it! I was going to be gone in May for a long road trip anyway, but then April 27th I got my first migraine of the pollen season and that was it. I'm now 42 days in of MY HEAD POUNDING! The last two days have been not a total loss, though, so yay? *THUD* Seriously, I threw up from my head hurting so badly. It's been a freaking nightmare.

So this is a short part one to tell you I didn't die (even though I felt like dying more than a few times) and I'll get the second part up in the next week or two. Please dear Jesus let the trees stop spewing forth so I can think again...

Thank you Arnel for beta'ing

I am sorry... you can take it to the bank that I really wish my head had been in a place where I could have actually written in the last six weeks. That would have been SUPER.
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. If I did maybe I could have afforded a new head that isn't so broken.

"We gather together to celebrate the life of the beloved Emma Holmes, an amazing woman who…"

The Muggle minister's voice droned on and on as Rose sat with Claire in her lap and Andrew's arm firmly around her shoulders. It was a bright, pretty day outside of the large cathedral where the funeral was being held, but inside it all felt bleak.

She and Andrew had been married for three weeks, only three weeks, and Aunt Emma hadn't even made it through them. The blast at the wedding had definitely been a strain on the already frail woman. It was so stressful she and Andrew had opted not to go on a honeymoon. Alright, it wasn't only the blast. It had also been Lily's kidnapping and subsequent marriage to Scorpius which had sealed it. They hadn't felt good about leaving Emma and Claire by themselves at the house. It hadn't even been two days after their wedding that they saw how quickly Aunt Emma was fading. It had hit them all very hard, but especially Claire, who kept losing everyone around her. She was still a little girl, only eight, and she'd already been to more funerals than most people five times her age.

Claire sniffed softly and clung to Rose, shifting a little closer.

There were dignitaries, or whatever the Muggles called them, in the church. There were other royals in the church. There were a lot of people who would see Claire sitting in Rose's lap as a serious breach of etiquette, but quite frankly Rose just couldn't give a damn. She kept her arm around the little girl and continued to tune out the minister. It didn't really matter what he said. She was going to remember Emma for being Emma. That's all that mattered.

Her parents were at the funeral and seemed to be getting along. Several of her aunts and uncles had come, as well, along with most of her male cousins and her brother. They were, of course, the only family Andrew and Claire had since he'd lost everyone else in the bombing in London so many years ago. Family was such a precious, precious thing and it was nearly impossible to comprehend that Andrew and Claire, and now Rose, were the only Holmes left.

Everyone else was gone and life was simply too fragile. She let the tears silently fall as she continued to hold onto Claire and wished she could hold onto Andrew in the same way. As the duke, he had to stand up and keep a stiff upper lip about everything. He sat rigidly next to her, his eyes fixed ahead as the man before them spoke in words that might as well have been the droning of a bee.

She didn't touch him. He'd asked her not to last night. Last night she'd held onto him as he'd yet again cried for the last adult in his life who had passed on. Even knowing it was coming, it hadn't made it any easier. He'd told her last night that he wouldn't be able to keep it together for the public if she touched him, so she'd kept her hands to herself, except to hold his as they'd walked into the church. She longed to hold him again tonight but she understood completely that he had an image to maintain and as his wife, as the duchess, it was her job to help him get there.

The rules were stupid, though. It was why she'd pulled Claire onto her lap and held onto her. She wasn't her mother, not really. Claire remembered and missed her mother terribly. But she was someone Claire loved and relied on and that was very important to both of them.

Besides that, the current wife of the heir to the throne, the youngest one at least, was very apt to pull her children onto her lap and Rose was more than happy to follow her lead.

She felt everyone stir around her to rise and sing a song. Rose put Claire down to stand with her but Claire put her arms up and Rose obliged, hoisting her up into her arms.

She heard a few faint comments from behind but ignored them as the nattering of useless insects. She didn't need anyone's approval. She was a damned duchess. She was at a funeral for a woman she loved and it was a mere three weeks after her wedding. She could do what she wanted.

There was a reception held after the service, but they left the majority of the people at the reception to go to the graveside first. She, Andrew, and Claire were in the backseat of the car by themselves as they drove to the graveyard. Claire leaned into Andrew now and he whispered words to her as the car moved smoothly down the country lanes.

Would this day ever end?

That was the refrain running through Rose's mind as they watched as the men lower the coffin into the ground and later when she stood at the reception eating food that she could barely taste and thanking people she didn't know or care about for coming to the funeral.

Claire lasted about an hour at the reception before she asked Rose if they could go home. Rose nodded and took her hand, going to Andrew. "I am taking her home," she told her husband.

He gave her a look, which she understood perfectly. They had one magical security guard with them and he was telling her to take him. She smiled and shook her head. "I'll get one of my uncles to come with us or maybe my dad."

"Alright," he agreed as he bent to kiss her cheek. He plucked Claire up and held her for a long moment before kissing her temple. "I'll see you both at home."

Rose managed to get her father and uncle Bill to accompany her back to the house and to wait for Andrew to arrive home with their security. They had three men who rotated every eight hours who kept a watch on their home. They weren't able to completely lock the house down because it was a Muggle home and that made everything significantly more complicated than either of them would have like. They feared for Claire's safety.

But their home was actually a famous Muggle estate and everyone was likely to notice if it suddenly disappeared off the map. Things like that were annoying. Very annoying. Rose had suggested finding someplace smaller and quieter to live, but frankly that would be noticed, as well, by the Muggle press and they didn't want anyone noticing them since they were magical and hiding it in plain sight.

Added to that, they had Muggle servants and none of them wanted them to suddenly be without a job.

"I'm going to get something to eat," Uncle Bill told Rose as they entered the big front entrance. "The food there was terrible."

"It was gross," Claire agreed in a small voice. "I didn't want to eat it."

It had been all fancy foods. Rose hadn't felt like eating it, either, but that was mostly because her stomach was in knots over the funeral.

"I'll get the cook to make up a tray and bring it up to your sitting room," Dad told Rose who nodded in thanks.

"We're going to get out of these fancy dresses and maybe watch something," Rose agreed as she took Claire's hand. "Thanks for coming."

"Anytime," her dad promised as he kissed her brow. "Go on, we'll be up in a few minutes."

By the time they arrived back in the sitting room in their most comfortable lounging clothes, her dad and uncle were up there with the food. Both of them had done away with their Muggle jackets and ties.

"Come here, pumpkin," Uncle Bill said to Claire as he held up a plate with her favorite sandwich on it and a few biscuits. "Cook sent this up for you."

Claire, who had always liked her Uncle Bill, moved over to sit next to him, cuddling into his side as she slowly began to eat.

Rose made herself a plate and sat next to her father, crossing her legs on the sofa. "I'm really thankful you and Mum came and that Mum stuck it out with Andrew. It's a lot of pomp and fuss right now."

"Your mum was happy to do it," her dad assured her as they both dug in. "It's been a hard few weeks all around and this was a way she could be helpful. We've all been left feeling helpless as we have to keep taking the blows as they come."

Rose stared down at her sandwich and then took another bite, thankful for the good food and that she didn't have to prepare it. "I'm supposed to go back to school in two days and I honestly don't know how I'm going to concentrate with everything that's been going on. First Lily is taken and then she's married and having a baby… now Emma… poor Emma. I knew it was coming but it still doesn't make it any easier to take. I was hoping she'd be able to pull through for a little while longer."

Her dad reached over to squeeze her hand gently. "It never gets easier. It isn't supposed to, but we do learn how to walk through it and keep going even when it feels hard. You'll go to school tomorrow and maybe you'll be great at it, but maybe you won't. You try your best and eventually you'll be good at it again because that's who you are. You're going to be an amazing potions master and you know Emma wanted that for you. You'll be able to achieve a dream she was hoping for you. It will work out."

Rose nodded and then at Claire's request, put on a kid's show she liked. Within twenty minutes, Claire was asleep.

It took hours for Andrew and her mum to arrive back at the estate. Rose was utterly exhausted as she hugged her mum, thanking her for her help, and then saying goodbye to her parents and uncle.

She spent a lot of time with Andrew that night simply quietly holding each other, their tears mostly spent by then. "I don't know how to process any of this."

Andrew pressed his lips to her brow and rubbed his hand up and down her back for several minutes before he began to speak. "When my parents died… my brothers… I thought, well, frankly I thought I was dead too, at least for a while. While I was in that Muggle hospital there was a lot of pain. It wasn't until I was found and moved to St. Mungo's that the pain was actually managed and I realized I was alive. Then I learned they'd all died and suddenly I wanted the pain back because it consumed everything but somehow it didn't hurt as much as missing my family. Even with Claire being alive, it wasn't enough. It just wasn't. Then you were there, sitting with me, listening to me, letting me cry; you've always been there, Rose. I don't know what I would do without you. It's always been you there, Rose," he told her simply, turning his face until his gaze met hers. "I need you to know… I love you. I'm in love with you and I can't not tell you anymore."

Rose felt her heart nearly trip out of her chest. Feelings she didn't know she had were swimming up as she studied his shattered eyes. They'd had so many things to deal with over the last few months and even in the last several weeks. This wasn't the married life she'd expected, but it was turning out to be a good life. Time was precious and they didn't have it to waste. They could have lost Lily. They could have lost other people when the explosion happened! Instead, they'd had the place magically rebuilt to make it look like nothing had happened but a loud noise.

They'd been given a chance and she was taking it. "I love you, too. I'm so in love with you. I didn't know I would be or that I'd want to be, but you're safe with me and I'm safe with you."

She knew that, at least, was not going to change.