The World and Her Stars

Chapter Seventy-Four

ROSE POV

7 months before the wedding...

I was not prepared for this day to come.

Every time I thought about it, a knot formed in my stomach. I felt as if I could cry at the mere mention of this day.

My chest hurt in that aching kind of way.

I had already cried today, and it was hardly lunch.

"Rose, are you coming?" Draco popped his head into the bathroom as I stood at the counter, "Ginny and Harry have brought the balloons, and Andromeda brought the cake you have to see it. It's brilliant."

"Yeah, sorry. I'm coming." I ran my fingers through my hair in the mirror and tried to appear as if I wasn't completely heartbroken to see my wee little baby now turning an entire year old.

I felt like I had known him all my life, but that I had only had him just yesterday.

God, I had turned into one of those sappy mother's, but now I understood what all the fuss was about.

It seemed that he was learning a new word every day, and sometimes I thought he could completely understand what I was saying. His personality was surprisingly an even mix between Draco and I, which I found quite adorable.

"It's just his birthday, Rose. We aren't sending him off to Hogwarts..." Draco pouted dramatically in the mirror at me as he came up behind and hugged me, "...yet."

I frowned.

"Not helping." I sighed, letting my shoulders droop.

"Look, since you're so upset about Leo growing up, I could always just...put another one in there and we can do this all over again." Draco smirked, turning me around and leaning me against the counter as he kissed me breathless.

"Leo is a handful already," I smiled, shaking my head, "You'll have to wait a few more years before you go putting another mini Malfoy inside me."

He pouted and shrugged.

"Fine," he kissed me quickly again, "Come on then. He was crawling around looking for you."

I swallowed my bittersweet pouting and came to the realization that Leo would only turn one once, and that I wanted to savor every moment of this day.

And I'm glad that I did.

Blaise and Millicent got him a head to toe miniature Slytherin quidditch uniform, along with a child sized qwaffle, golden snitch, and bludger that would surely end up going through a window at some point.

Draco and I had nearly spoiled him with gifts, but the most special one in Draco's eyes, was Leo's very first broom. It was a child's sized broom that couldn't go more than a foot off of the ground, but it was still incredibly heartwarming to see how excited Draco was to give it to him, and how excited Leo got when Draco helped him on.

"I got him a helmet, don't worry." Andromeda leaned over and whispered to me as I watched with nervous excitement as Leo had a blast on his new broom, with Draco holding on to him the entire time.

Pansy and August—still getting used to that coupling—got Leo a teething wand, so that maybe he would stop finding Draco and I's, and chomping on them.

Daphne got him an assortment of the loudest toys I think she could find at the shop; which Draco was already trying to hide from our son, who always had a knack for wanting to be the loudest in the room.