The spring brought bluebells, sunshine, and the arrival of Rose and Scorpius' two children.
It was a Thursday and the baby boy and baby girl were a day old and still unnamed. Rose was in bed, at St. Mungo's, holding her daughter, with Scorpius sitting on the foot of the mattress, holding their son.
"We did it, Rosie," he said quietly, aware that the twins were asleep and unlikely to stay that way for very long, "they're perfect,"
"They really are, aren't they?" She replied, "we're parents,"
"It's a bit scary, isn't it?" he whispered.
"Bloody terrifying," she whispered back, laughing slightly.
There was a quiet knock at the door followed by a familiar face; Albus Potter.
"There they are. You've fast forwarded, you two, you've gone straight to a family of four. Pretty sure that's cheating," he said, walking over to the bed and kissing Rose's forehead, "Alice is outside with Gwen - she's having a strop at the moment,"
"Who, Alice?" Scorpius joked and Rose laughed.
"Ha ha," he replied sarcastically, "no, Gwen's in meltdown mode so Alice heroically stepped up and let me go on without her," he held his hand to his heart in a melodramatic fashion.
"You ran away, didn't you?" Rose asked. Albus gave an expression of mock offence.
"Course not. You'll come to learn Rosie that parenting is shared work - Alice drew the short straw this time,"
"Plan's already sorted. He's taking one kid, I'm taking the other," she quipped.
"Sounds like a good strategy. Anyway, what are they called?" Albus asked, looking down at the children.
"Well, we had a deal," Rose explained.
"That I'd name the girl and she the boy," Scorpius finished.
"Classic. And their names are?"
Scorpius and Rose looked at each other and neither of them spoke.
"Wow this is awkward. You've both forgotten your children's names," Albus said sarcastically, "parenting 101, remember what your kids are called,"
They both laughed but neither offered the names.
"Okay. So who's going to say first?" Albus prompted, growing impatient. A moment of silence passed, both Rose and Scorpius remaining stubborn. Albus reached down and touched the cheek of the baby girl, "Well then, hello there little Albus. Yes, that can be a girl's name. Your parents named you after me. Your brother is also called Albus - and any of your future siblings,"
"Okay, okay, fine," Scorpius interjected and Rose's face formed a triumphant look, "She's called Isobel. Isobel Olivia,"
Rose smiled and looked down at her daughter.
"Isobel Olivia Malfoy," she said and then looked up at her husband, "I love it. When did you come up with that?"
"In prison," Scorpius said, "forty-eight hours is a long time to do nothing."
"You weren't actually in prison," Rose corrected him.
"Felt like it to me, Rosie," he smiled, "okay, when I was being held for questioning. Better?"
"Much. They're not growing up thinking their dad's a criminal,"
"Didn't do me too much harm," Scorpius replied and Albus laughed before looking down at the son in Scorpius' arms.
"So what's that little guy called, then?" Albus asked his cousin.
"Well, I wanted to name him after the best man I know -" she began.
"So you did call him Albus - "
"But," Rose interjected, cutting across Albus, "I know that Scorpius doesn't like the whole senior-junior thing because it just ends up in confusion and all that. So, instead, I chose something completely different. Our son's name is Thomas or 'Tommy' Alexander Malfoy,"
Scorpius smiled approvingly. The trio remained quiet for a second.
"Well, welcome to the world, Isobel and Tommy," Albus said, smiling.
The next few days comprised of mild panic and lots of visitors. Being a new parent is hard enough with one child but two at once, that felt impossible at times. However, lots of visitors also meant lots of help. Both Hermione and Ron and Draco and Astoria were desperate to meet their first grandchildren and, besides Albus, were the first to meet the twins.
Despite being spring, the weather was wet and windy on the Cornish coast and the fire was lit inside the house as rain splattered against the windows.
"They're adorable," Astoria cooed, holding Tommy in her arms, having just given Isobel to Ron, "you're going to be great parents,"
"Let's hope so," Scorpius laughed.
"You will be," Draco assured his son.
Ron cooked them all lunch that afternoon and Astoria got out the photo albums she had made of Scorpius when he was younger, much to his dismay. Rose found it hilarious and if she was happy, he was too - so he endured the embarrassing stories and the awkward photographs.
It was also on this day that Draco gave Scorpius the Malfoy engagement ring and explained his turmoil on the night of his proposal. Scorpius took the ring, without question, and put it in the drawer in his beside table where Tommy, at the young age of seventeen, asked his father to remove it for his own proposal. Needless to say, Tommy had inherited his father's looks and his mother's wit and the young lady in question became his fiancee and the first woman to wear the Malfoy ring in over three generations.
**The 55th part (this chapter is part 51) of Dance Lessons will be the last...but fear not! Charlie's story, 'The Magician and the Witch' has begun so go and check that out. Find out about his past, who the love of his life is, his real reason for leaving Lily and going to New Zealand and what their relationship is like after he returns...
There's something off about Charlie. The truth is, he has a massive secret - and you'll get to find out what it is.
It includes his side of his meetings with Rose and the Potter gang and I've been working hard on it so please go and read it (because I think you'll like it, and it'll mean a lot to me!)**