Dance Lessons - Scorose

Five years later

Five years later

Rose left her job for the weekend. She worked at the Daily Prophet, a career that her mum had first been opposed to. However, when Hermione realised that her daughter wasn't going to turn into the next Rita Skeeter, she finally began supporting her, as along as she promised not to get a Quick Quotes Quill. Rose had been accepted at the paper almost immediately. Not only had she got amazing results in both her OWLs and her NEWTs but she was the daughter of two of the Golden Trio, of course she wasn't going to be denied any job she wanted! Less could be said of Scorpius. He had been reluctantly accepted to St. Mungo's, just like his father had been. Unfortunately, the name Malfoy still was tainted and it took an extra year of studying to get Outstandings in all of his NEWT subjects so that refusing his application was impossible.

Rose appeared on the doorstep of the house she shared with Scorpius. It was actually the flat in the top floor of the house in question. The house had three storeys and both the middle and basement flat were occupied by muggles which restricted their use of magic considerably but they had chosen the place because it was in the middle of London, the city they both loved, so they tried not to complain too much.

When she got up the two flights of stairs and collected the post, she opened the door to find Scorpius sitting on the sofa reading while the dinner was busy preparing itself.

"Scorp!" Rose said in an angry, hushed tone. He looked up, bewildered. "What if Sarah and Ben from downstairs walk up here right now?!"

Scorpius sighed and walked over to her, placing his hands on her shoulders.

"Then we wipe their nemories." he replied with a smirk. She laughed and hit him playfully on the arm before taking hold of all of the cooking implements and resuming dinner by hand.

They ate dinner, exchanging recounts of their day.

"Take my hand." Scorpius said when they were both in the kitchen, having just taken the plates from the table. She gave him a slight puzzled look before holding his hand. She suddenly felt herself being squeezed through a tube and they had apparated into Hogsmeade. There weren't many people about because, despite being a Friday night, it was past school curfew and it being the middle of November meant it was too cold for window shopping.

"Scorp, what are we doing here?" Rose asked, still holding on to his hand. She could see her breath in the air as she spoke and she immediately realised that she was cold; her thin cardigan didn't provide much warmth.

"Just follow me." he replied, pulling his old quidditch jumper out of his magically extended pocket and handing it to her. She put it on and followed him off of the path and into a courtyard. She gasped when she saw it. It was the gazebo that they had danced in five years ago, Rose had completely forgotten about it. Surrounding it were candles that he had bewitched to float in order to provide low lighting. She could hear music coming from somewhere and after walking into the gazebo, discovered that its source was the old pink gramophone from the Room of Requirement.

"May I have this dance?" he asked, leading her into the gazebo so she felt as if she was sixteen again. They danced for what felt like hours until they were only gently swaying, her head resting on his chest.

"I love you, Rose." he said, pulling away from her as he did so.

"I love you, too."

"You are my best friend, you're beautiful, smart, funny and the best thing that has ever happened to me," he paused for a moment as he got down on one knee and pulled a small box out of his pocket. Rose's eyes widened.

"Will you marry me?" he asked.

"Of course I will," she replied, allowing him to put the ring on her finger before pulling him into a tight embrace.

* * *

The next day, Rose and Scorpius sat at a table in the Leaky Couldron. After five minutes, Albus and Alice joined them and they all ordered coffee.

"Hiya guys," Alice began, "we've been dying to catch up."

"So have we. Well, let's not beat around the bush, Rose and I are getting married." Scorpius sat pointing to the engagement ring on her finger. Albus laughed and Alice shrieked in surprise.

"Do your parents know?" Albus asked.

"I went to Rose's Dad to ask for her hand so her folks know but mine don't yet, well, my Mum doesn't. When I told my Dad my intentions, he reminded me that Mum is terrible at keeping secrets." Scorpius said with a chuckle.

"We are honoured that we are some of the first to know," Alice said, "and we have some news of our own."

"We're having a baby." Albus chipped in. Scorpius and Rose sat in disbelief for a moment before offering their congratulations.

"And that's kind of the reason why we wanted to talk to you guys. We'd like you to be godparents." Alice said.

"Wow, really? What about your brother or sister? Not that I wouldn't love to." Rose replied. Her cousin sighed.

"You know how it is. James doesn't seem to show the slightest sign of settling down and Lily is, well, Lily. One moment she wants five kids and the next she wants to spend her life travelling the world. We needed something a little more normal. And that's you."

"Normal? I don't think anyone has ever referred to a Weasley or a Malfoy as normal before," Scorpius laughed, "does anyone else know yet?"

"No, so you have to act surprised because I know my parents, and probably Al's too, will be upset if they aren't the first to know that they're having a grandchild. Actually, that's a point. I'm not sure I want to be there to see my mum's reaction. She won't be pleased that we're not married." Alice said.

"Who cares? She'll be thrilled at the news, Lissy, and your Dad will bring her to her senses if she's even the tiniest bit disapproving." Rose replied.

"Right, anymore news to share with the table? Sudden windfall of cash? A Nobel prize, perhaps?" Albus joked and they all laughed.