Dance Lessons - Scorose

Babysitters

"Merlin! She won't be quiet!" Rose complained. 

"Sorry, Rose, she'll go to sleep in a minute and then she'll be no bother. You volunteered remember," Albus said to his cousin whilst rocking his crying daughter.

"Yeah, because I felt bad for you and thought you and and Alice might want an evening off," Rose replied, though now she was beginning to regret her generosity. 

After another ten minutes, Gwen finally succumbed to sleep and Albus laid her gently in her cot. He nudged Rose to leave the room and they walked into the living room of Rose and Scorpius' flat. 

"Okay, so I'll be off now, alright?" 

"Yeah, sure, what are you going to do? Have dinner?" Rose asked.

"No, I'm going to get the first good night's sleep I've had in weeks. Enjoy," Albus said with a wink and disapparated.

Rose looked at the clock. It would be another hour until Scorpius was home. It was fine. Rose could handle Guinevere by herself, it couldn't be that hard. And besides, she was asleep so how much trouble could she cause?

*          *          *

Before Scorpius had even opened the door to the flat, he could hear his god daughter crying at the top of her lungs. He tentatively pushed open the front door to be greeted with Rose desperately trying to quieten Gwen.

"Rose, I thought Albus was going to get her asleep before he left?" he asked as he put his bag down and cast a silencing charm on their flat to avoid their neighbours complaining.

"He did and it lasted all of ten minutes, I haven't been able to get her to be quiet - she's driving me insane! She'll be no bother, he said. Liar,"

Scorpius gestured to Rose. "Give her here, I think you need a break, yeah?"

Rose nodded and passed Gwen to him before running her fingers through her hair and sitting on the sofa. 

"What's all this noise about, eh Gwennie? Shh, sh," he said calmly as he gently bobbed her up and down. He rocked her side to side slightly and after some persistence, Gwen was asleep.

"How did you do that?" Rose whispered. Scorpius gave a half shrug and began to walk towards her cot. "No, no, don't do that, she'll just wake up again,"

"What, so I have to stay like this?" Scorpius asked incredulously. She nodded at him and he sighed. He carefully sat down next to her on the sofa.

"What was it you said to Al? We get all the fun bits and get to give her back?" she teased.

"Okay so that might have been a slight oversight. How was your day?"

"It was okay. I'm kind of stuck for my next column though. Maybe it should be all the down sides to being a godparent," she said and they both gave a quiet laugh.

"We should probably get wedding stuff shouldn't we? Decorations and clothes and things," Scorpius stated. Rose gave an irritated sigh. She hated all of the wedding planning. It was made easier by their 'first thought' idea but it still needed to be done and the 16th October was fast approaching.

"I'll take Vic with me to Madam Malkin's and I'll get a dress in the next few days. I'll get Lily to come with me too, now that she's finally getting over Charlie,"

"That's good. I'm still a little shocked that he left,"

"You're telling me,"

After another ten minutes, Scorpius said, "Rosie, we both have work in the morning. She's pretty deeply asleep now and I need to be as well,"

They quietly put Gwen in her cot and, after making sure she didn't stir, carefully got ready for bed themselves.

"Night, love you," Scorpius said, kissing Rose as he got into bed next to her. She smiled.

"Love you too, night," 

*          *          *

"Merlin's beard! I don't know how they do it, I really don't," Rose muttered as she got out of bed to tend to a screaming Gwen. After giving her a bottle and changing her, she still wouldn't be quiet. Scorpius was out like a light and Rose didn't want to wake him. She took Gwen in her arms but no matter what she tried, she couldn't shush the girl. Out of desperation, and exhaustion, Rose began to sing.

"Oh, hush thee my dove. Oh hush thee, my rowan, oh hush thee my lap wing, my little brown bird..."

She sang it twice and Gwen was happily asleep by the end. Scorpius appeared in the doorway just as she had put Gwen down.

"Sorry, I tried not to wake you, Scorp," she whispered.

"It's okay. What were you singing? I've never heard it before," he replied. Rose blushed slightly. She never sang in front of people, not even her fiance.

"Oh, it's, um, it's a muggle song my grandma used to sing to me when I was little. It's called the Manx Lullaby and it, er, apparently works," she stammered as she gestured to the sleeping Guinevere.

"You're a lovely singer, you know, Rosie," he said, kissing the top of her forehead.

*          *          *

Albus knocked on the front door early in the morning and, almost instantly, Scorpius had opened it.

"Alright, mate? How're things? Good night's sleep I hope. Rose, sweet, get Gwen, would you?" Scorpius said very quickly as he ushered Albus into the room. Seconds later, Rose handed Gwen over to her father.

"There you go. You know, your daughter must take after Alice because, unlike you, she's never quiet," 

Albus laughed. "Welcome to my world. Maybe we should wait a little longer before getting you to babysit again, yeah?"

"Please do," Rose replied. Albus smiled at his daughter and turned and left to go home. Scorpius shut the door behind him.

"Listen," he said. The two of them kept quiet, even held their breath, straining to hear the faintest noise.

"I can't hear anything," Rose replied. Scorpius grinned.

"Exactly," he said hugging her like they had both just made it through a horrible battle. She rested her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes. "Don't sleep, we've got work soon,"

Rose grumbled and headed to the kitchen to make herself a massive cup of coffee.