Dance Lessons - Scorose

Names

"Okay, if it's a girl, how about Morgana?" Scorpius suggested.

"Scorpius, that's exactly the same as the reason I said no to Arthur! Let's just avoid all English legend, shall we?"

"Okay, fine. Rowena? How about Rowena, that's a nice name, I mean, I think that's quite a cool name,"

"Yeah, but that doesn't seem to make much sense since neither of us were Ravenclaw,"

"Okay, do you have any better ideas?"

"David, if it's a boy,"

"That's a bit boring, isn't it?" Scorpius said casually.

"Fine. Goliath then,"

"No, we are not naming our child Goliath,"

"James,"

"No, Lucy,"

"No, John,"

"No,"

"Aphrodite," Rose suggested, and there was a long pause, "you haven't said anything."

"Okay, Rosie, I like the name Aphrodite," he replied with a smile.

"So are those twenty galleons mine then?"

"Hey, that only happens when the kid is born and we name them. I might come up with a better one,"

"Ah, I doubt that Scorpius," Rose said cheekily, "you're not that creative,"

"What? Creative? You didn't make the name up," Scorpius replied.

"No, but, you know, I'm smarter than you,"

"No you're not," he said, defensively.

"I got better OWLs than you," Rose said quickly.

"Yeah, and I got better NEWTs than you," he retorted.

"Only because you went back to retake!" she cried.

Scorpius sighed, "Are we really fighting about this again? We aren't sixteen anymore,"

"Okay, fine, you're right. Sorry," 

*          *           *

Rose spent that day talking to her parents. Well, talking of sorts. She had to interview them and her uncle about the Battle of Hogwarts for what seemed like the thousandth time. They gave the usual same old same old answers, made fun of the fact that she had to interview them and joked around with each other. Of course, it wouldn't be complete without one of them saying 'just like the old days'. This time it was her Uncle Harry.

 "Okay," Rose sighed,  after having spent at least an hour with them already, "we need to know your opinions on the new biographies,"

 Ron and Harry looked at each other. "Complete tosh," Ron said.

" Couldn't care less," said Harry.

 "Oh, give me strength," Rose said, closing her eyes and pinching the bridge of her nose. "I can't print that. Well, I could but, you know, it would ruin your reputations,"

"Ah, nothing can ruin my reputation, Rosie," Ron replied, giving her a wink.

" Yeah, we're the Golden Trio. Everyone loves us," Harry joked.

"Okay, so you just want me to, you know, ruin everyone's thoughts of you then? You're okay with that?"

"Yeah, yeah, fine," 

Rose sighed.  She really wasn't getting anywhere. At this point, Hermione chipped in.

"Just say that, like with previous years, we are very flattered that they have decided to write about us and, while we have not read the biographies for we do not wish to present ourselves as vain or self-centred, we hope that they paint us in a positive light and that they are not overly generous with their descriptions,"

"Thank you, Mum," Rose said, truly grateful that her mother was the sensible one of the three.

"You're welcome. Is there anything else you need, Rose?" Hermione asked.

"Yeah, signed pictures perhaps?" Ron cut in, jokingly, causing him and Harry to start laughing again.

"Well, um, I need to ask you, again, like before: Will you ever consider writing an autobiography? That goes to all three of you,"

All three of them spoke at once. "Not a chance," Ron said. "No," Hermione answered. "Definitely not," Harry told her.

"Okay, thanks, I'll make sure that last bit sounds respectful," Rose said with a wink. She stood up and collected her things together. "Thanks, I guess. It'll be printed on the anniversary of the Battle of Hogwarts. Pencil the date in,"

And with that, Rose left to go back to the office. On her way in, she saw Michael.

"Mike, Michael!" she said, clicking her fingers as well to catch his attention, "so how did your date go?" She ushered him into her office.

"Um, it - it went really well, thanks,"

"Is there going to be a second date?" 

"Uh, yeah, we're having dinner next week," 

Rose squealed in reply, smiling as she did so. "Have fun, you little lovebird,"

"Yeah, I'm sure you're going to say that a thousand times before next week so, if you don't mind, I'm going to get back to work."

"Yeah, alright, see you later!" she called after him, dumping her bag down on the armchair in the corner of the room.  She sat down at her desk, pulled out some fresh parchment and began writing an article based on the interview with her parents and her uncle.

*          *          *

Scorpius arrived home later than usual due to a staff shortage at the hospital with some flowers and take away food from the  local chip shop.

"You're too good to me, Scorp," Rose said when she saw him come in. She kissed him and took the bouquet out of his hand to put them in some water.

"I didn't think either of us could be bothered to cook tonight, so I let someone else do the cooking for us," he stated, with a wink.

The two of them ate dinner and decided to go to bed early. Scorpius stayed awake half an hour longer than his wife, reading a book by the dim light of a small candle on his bedside table.

In the early hours of the morning, Rose woke up, clutching her belly.

"Scorpius, Scorp, wake up," Rose said, sitting up in bed and shaking her husband awake, "something feels wrong,"

Scorpius grabbed his wand from under his pillow, flicked it and the room was bathed in a warm glow. He looked up at his wife. Her face was ashen and pale.

"Okay, Rose, stand up," he said. He helped her up off of the bed. He looked down at the sheets. They were stained with blood. "Rose, this isn't good, we have to get to the hospital,"

In a second, they had disapparated. They appeared in the emergency department of St. Mungo's Hospital. Scorpius took Rose straight through a set of double doors and found a colleague of his, who took them up to the maternity ward. 

By the morning, Rose was fine. 

Childless - but fine.