A bit of a filler chapter this one! But, touch wood, I'll have another uploaded tomorrow with a bit more action!
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The doorbell rang and, after downing her tea in one, Rose opened the front door to Albus Potter.
"Hi, Rosie, can I, um, stay here tonight?" he asked awkwardly. Rose nodded slowly and stood aside to allow him through the door. She eyed him suspiciously as he walked through to the kitchen, where Scorpius was sat behind the Daily Prophet.
"Hey, Al, how're things?" he asked. Rose rolled her eyes and buried her face in her hands. Scorpius caught sight of her reaction and shot her a puzzled look, causing Albus to look around at her. She quickly changed her expression into a smile.
"I'll, er, make you some tea," Rose said, shuffling around the kitchen, "go into the sitting room. Merlin knows it's more comfortable than out here, now we've got all our furniture,"
Albus nodded and left the room.
"You have to talk to him," Rose whispered to her husband, "you're his best friend,"
"What, why me? You're better with feelings and stuff than I am and you're his family,"
"Exactly. Best friend trumps family any day of the week. Find out what's wrong,"
"Who says anything is wrong with him?" Scorpius asked.
"He asked to stay here tonight. If you don't know that that means something is wrong then Merlin help you,"
Scorpius sighed and left in pursuit of Albus. He was sat in the armchair next to the bookshelf.
"Al, is everything alright?" Scorpius asked as he sat down on the sofa, "Did you and Alice have a fight or something?"
"Something like that," Albus said slowly. Scorpius stayed quiet. "I, er, asked Alice to marry me and she, um, she said no,"
"Oh, mate, I'm sorry. But you've not split up have you? I mean, you're still technically together, right? You have Guinevere," Scorpius replied.
"Oh, yeah, we're still together. I mean, I love her to pieces. Merlin knows I do. I just needed some space and she knows I'm here so it's not like I've run off or anything. It's just for tonight," Albus said, as though eager to show he wouldn't be outstaying his welcome in any way, shape or form.
"You know you're welcome here as long as you need, Al," Scorpius replied, "why don't you go and put your stuff upstairs, take a moment, you know? The spare room is at the top of the stairs, first door on the left,"
"Thanks, Scorp," and Albus left the room. Scorpius walked back out to join Rose in the kitchen. She looked at him, waiting for him to explain.
"He proposed," he paused for a moment, "and Alice turned him down,"
"Oh no," Rose replied, "he must be broken up,"
"Your turn to talk to him now. You have to convince him to go home and sort it all out. You're better at persuading people to do things than I am. Comes with your fiery red hair,"
* * *
Rose walked into the spare room. Albus was lying on the bed, facing away from the doorframe. Rose walked across and laid down on the bed, on her back, facing the ceiling.
"Babbity Rabbity?" she asked, after a moment's silence.
"The Wizard and the Hopping Pot," he murmured in reply. Rose smiled and started telling the tale. Ever since she and Albus were kids, whenever one of them was upset, the other would read them a tale from Tales of Beedle the Bard.
Once she had finished the story, she sighed and said, "you know, it occurs to me that the real reason you're here is because you're worried that Alice doesn't love you anymore. Am I right?"
He said nothing but nodded in reply.
"Then you're barmy. Alice loves you, of course she does. And I bet that every time she looks into Guinevere's face, she falls in love with you a little bit more. Marriage is just a formality after all. It wouldn't really change much between you two. Then again, I think she's worried that things would change, that things would get worse. If it ain't broke, don't fix it, Al. What you've got going on is obviously working, isn't it? So why should this change anything?"
Albus sat up and looked down at Rose. "You're right,"
"I know I am. I'm really clever,"
"Shut up," Albus said, picking a pillow up and hitting her with it.
Rose sat up and held her hands in the air in mock surrender. "Okay, okay, easy. So, do you think that maybe you should go home? Not that we wouldn't love you here,"
"No, I'm going to go home," he said, standing up and walking around the bed towards Rose and the door, "thank you, Rose,"
"You're welcome cuz," she replied with a wink and lowered her voice, "and don't tell Scorpius I told you this because he'll kill me since I told him not to breathe a word to anyone but Scorpius and I are going to have a baby,"
Albus' mouth fell open. "Oh, wow, Rosie, that's great. Congratulations," he said as he pulled her into a hug.
"But you can't tell anyone, okay? We're going to tell everyone when we have our housewarming party so act surprised,"
Albus chuckled and agreed.
He left for home only a few hours after arriving at Rose and Scorpius' house.
"Well, job well done methinks, we could do counselling," Scorpius joked as he stood in the doorframe with his wife, watching Albus leave.
"What do you mean 'we'? I think you'll find I did all the work,"
"Yeah but I decided that you were the best person for the job. It's all about delegation, isn't it?" Scorpius replied shutting the door. Rose rolled her eyes in response.