Albus' news had gone down better than expected at the family party. He, and especially Alice, had thought that at least a few family members would be disappointed that they were having a child out of wedlock. But it seemed that the War had had a strange effect on all of them. If you asked a teenage Hannah Longbottom what she would have said if her future daughter was pregnant without being married, she would have responded that forcing their marriage was the only possible thing to do. But now, everyone realised that life was precious. They had lost too many in the War, and being a disappointed parent wasn't worth the time.
The party was good fun for everyone. While the Weasleys managed to all get together at least once a year, it was a rare occurrence that the Potters, Longbottoms and Malfoys could join them.
Draco and Astoria had moved their dining table into the largest room in the house, the living room, and magically extended it so that all of them could fit around it. After a delicious meal prepared by their house elf - who was paid due to Hermione's insistence - and many glasses of red wine (not for Alice of course) they moved the table back and returned the room to its original layout.
The fire was glowing steadily in the grate as everyone sat around, either on the floor or on sofas. It was a very cold November night and in a few weeks, the Manor would be splashed with festive decorations. The night progressed steadily: boardgames were played, discussions were had and even a little tipsy dancing happened. Nobody really felt like leaving, so they didn't. People were two or three to a room when everyone went to bed, which was pretty late.
Rose felt strange in her fiance's childhood bedroom. She had never stayed the night here before. Well, she had, but not in this way. Now, she didn't feel like a guest; she felt like family. The walls were quite bare. There were a few posters of quidditch teams and bands but most of them had been taken down when he had moved out and the charcoal grey paint underneath had faded.
She got changed, leaving her clothes on a chair in the corner.
"I still can't believe Albus and alice are going to be parents," Rose said to Scorpius who was in the ensuite bathroom. He walked back into the room.
"I know, do you reckon it was an accident?"
"Scorpius!"
"What? I'm just theorising. It's possible, right?" Rose rolled her eyes and sighed.
"It doesn't matter anyway. They seem happy about it, planned or not," she said.
"Yeah, I 'spose so. It'll be us one day," he said as he leaned forward and kissed her deeply. Rose pulled away.
"Woah, lets not make kids right now, eh?" she said, causing them both to laugh.
* * *
Rose woke up the next morning, untangled herself from Scorpius and went to open the curtains. She was slightly shocked by the scene that greeted her - mainly because the sudden increase in light caused her slight hangover headache to get even worse. She heard Scorpius groan and roll over in an effort to carry on sleeping.
It had snowed. It had actually snowed. Typical - always around or after Christmas but never on the day. Rose felt excitement bubble up inside her and she felt like a child again. She jumped on the bed.
"Rosie, it's so early, go back to sleep," Scorpius grumbled into his pillow.
"Fine. I expect you don't want to know about the two feet of snow outside then," she said nonchalantly. He lifted his head up from the pillow and narrowed his eyes.
"You're lying." She shook her head and looked towards the window. He sighed and reluctantly got up. "If you're lying to me, I'll kill you."
"ALBUS, IT SNOWED!" Scorpius shouted down the hallway to the room he had stayed in last night whilst quickly putting on a jumper and a pair of shoes. Albus emerged from behind the door and glanced out of the window in the hallway. They stared at each other momentarily before they both started sprinting down the stairs.
"Guys, not this again," Rose said as she watched them dash off. None of them even new how it had started but every time it snowed (which was regularly at Hogwarts up in Scotland) both Scorpius and Albus had a childlike need to be the first to ruin the fresh snow.
They had reached the bottom of the stairs. Albus used his arm to hold Scorpius back as he ran toward the kitchen to reach the back door.
"You're not even wearing shoes," Scorpius said, pulling the back of Albus' shirt in an attempt to slow him down.
"I don't care," he replied, pulling the door open and being pushed aside as Scorpius ran outside a fraction of a second before him. They both jumped into the snow to be greeted by Rose standing in wellies in the centre of the garden.
"Rose-" Albus began, confusion on is face.
"You two really are thick aren't you?" she teased, "I apparated out here. You do realise you have magic, right?"
"Yeah, but where's the fun in that?" Albus said as he threw a snowball at her. She retaliated.
"Al, you aren't dressed for this, mate. Put some shoes and a jumper on or you'll catch your death," Scorpius said. Rose followed.
"Ooh, listen to you. Sometimes having a Healer as a friend is no fun at all, you know,"
"You'll thank me later," he said, leading Albus back inside by the shoulders. When they got back inside, they could hear people shuffling about upstairs and were greeted by the sight of Astoria starting breakfast while Neville made tea.
"Honestly, you two are grown men now," Neville said with a smirk on his face.
"Says the man who still takes the secret passage to Honeydukes despite being a teacher," Harry said entering the room. Everyone stifled a giggle.
"You know, Harry, the only reason I do that is to avoid Herbology questions or, in the case of your youngest son," Neville said, glancing at Albus, "bribes for good grades,"
"I did that once,"
"Well, this is news to me," Harry said, crossing his arms in mock disappointment.
"Don't pretend like you're not proud of him," Rose told her uncle.
"Okay, I am. Good Marauder behaviour, Al," Harry said with a wink.
Everybody came down slowly from upstairs. Some stood around the kitchen whilst others sat at the table. They chatted and ate breakfast.
"I suggest we clear breakfast away and have a snowball fight. Just like in the good old days," Harry said, addressing his wife, Ron and Hermione in particular, referencing the winters they spent at the burrow, playing in the snow out in the orchard.
"Sounds like fun! If I remember correctly, the Potter/ Weasley snowball score stands at five nil to, who was it? Oh yeah, us," Ginny mocked, "bit embarrassing considering there's more than twice as many Weasleys as Potters,"
"Honestly, Ginny, you marry the boy who lived and you're a Potter through and through? You were a Weasley once," Ron reminded her, "anyway, we have Victoire this time, so we'll beat you hands down. If she ever gets herself downstairs,"
"Uh uh, no you don't. She's a Lupin now," Ginny said. Ron cursed under his breath.
They spent the morning out in the snow and by the afternoon, the Weasley/Potter snowball score stood at six nil. Ron insisted that they were cheating.