Taming

“This is truly unfair,” Hugo complained. When he looked over, Scorpius had to stifle his laughter.

At the end of the huge dining table, a smaller “kids’ table” had been set up for the younger guests. The seating arrangements had obviously been made strictly by age rather than size, which meant that Hugo was stuck with Lucy, Molly, Freddie, Roxanne, and Lily at the little table. His bent knees were higher than the table top, and it made a terribly comical picture. Several people snickered.

Hermione sighed. “Ron, do something.”

“What am I supposed to do?”

“Honestly, Ron…”

“I know, I know. Am I a wizard or what? Watch your elbows, everyone.” With a flick of his wand, Ron lengthened the table enough to fit another chair.

“I’m coming, too, then,” Lily protested. “I’m older than Hugo.”

“By three months. And you fit at that table, Mouse,” Hugo griped.

Ron conjured another chair with a sigh. “Is everyone happy now?”

Business taken care of, they began to eat the wonderful dinner that everyone had helped to prepare. Scorpius was eager to see when Albus would break the news. He’d decided, and Scorpius agreed with him now that he’d seen the way Albus’s family interacted, that trying to make a plan was futile. He was just going to wing it, and wait for a good opening.

About halfway through dinner, Rose provided Albus with the perfect lead-in. “So, Alby, what did Scorpius get you for Christmas?”
Albus grinned. “An absolutely beautiful sweater that matches my eyes. Oh, yeah, and he also proposed.”

“What?!?” she squealed.

Albus held out his hand, which he’d been trying to keep out of sight without being awkward about it, and showed her the ring. The table erupted into chaos. Scorpius was hugged by so many people that he lost track of who was hugging him, until Rose was there in his arms, and he refused to let her go.

“I owe you so much, Rosie,” he said softly in her ear.

She clung to him, sniffling. “I didn’t do anything!”

“You did everything. You’re the one who was able to make me see what I was doing before it was too late. And you showed me the right path. You believed me. You believed in me. And I love you for it.”

“Oh, I love you, too! I’m so happy for you!”

“So what do you say, Rosie, my first real friend in the world, do you want to be my best man?”

“Yes! Of course!” she giggled. “Although we seem to be having some gender confusion.”

“Oh, you don’t even know the half of it yet.”

“Starting to get jealous…” Albus teased and Scorpius finally released Rose.

“We have to stop, Rosie. We’re making my fiancé jealous.”

“Awwwww…” Most of the women made that noise again. Albus beamed, and Scorpius couldn’t resist hugging him. Which turned into kissing him.

This incited another chorus of the cute-puppy noise, until finally Ron said, “Hugo, run outside and get the hosepipe.”

Scorpius reluctantly turned Albus loose.

“Now let’s get back to this food before it gets cold.”

“Honestly, Ron,” Hermione began, but then she ran her hand through her husband’s hair and smiled down at him before taking her seat.

Ron grabbed her hand and squeezed it. “Honestly, what?”

“I was just thinking how endearing it is that you always think with your stomach, even at a time like this.”

“And I was just thinking how endearing it is that someone who’s attained the lofty status of Wizengamot judge can lie so easily right to her husband’s face.”

She swatted him, but she was smiling.

*****************
As the guests finally began to leave, Scorpius watched with joy as his fiancé accepted additional congratulations from each of his family members. Percy and Audrey were the first to leave, since little Lucy began nodding off on the sofa. Bill’s family was next, as several of them had to work the next day. George and Angelina dragged the twins home when they discovered Freddie and Roxanne with an empty itching-powder packet, which neither twin would admit to having put anywhere.

That effectively broke the party up, since no one wanted to be the one to discover where the itching powder had ended up. Lily begged for Rose to be allowed to spend the night, and Harry and Ginny agreed.

When Albus and Scorpius started to get ready to leave, Lily begged them to stay, too. “Lily, we don’t have anywhere to put them! Albus has a single bed, and unless Scorpius wants to bunk on the sofa…” Ginny protested.

“How about I floo my parents and ask if we can take the girls over there for the night? We have a guest bedroom already made up, since Albus keeps neglecting to use it,” Scorpius offered with a grin.

Draco and Astoria were fine with the idea, so they all tumbled through the floo into the Malfoy’s parlor and scrambled upstairs, calling goodnight and thanks to Scorpius’s parents. They all piled on Scorpius’s bed, which luckily was quite large.

“Albus, I asked Rosie to be my best man earlier. That’s fine with you, right?”

Lily giggled. “This is getting confusing.”

Albus laughed. “Yes it is, and of course I approve of your choice. I asked Lily.”

Lily nodded proudly. “He did say I get to be referred to as his maid of honor, though.”

“Oh, I like that much better,” Rose laughed.

“Okay, co-maids of honor. And groomsmaids. We’ll just invent all our own terms,” Scorpius joked.

“Fine with me. As long as you don’t try to replace my favorite term,” Albus said with a yawn.

“What’s his favorite?” Lily asked Scorpius.

“Fiancé. But don’t say “awwwwww’ again. I’m trying to keep supper down.”

Lily poked him.

“So what’s your favorite term, Scorpius?” Rose asked with a smile.

“Definitely husband.”

“Awwwwww…”

“Girls!” Scorpius huffed, sounding like an indignant seven-year-old.

Lily hit him with a pillow. And that’s how the pillow fight started.

*****************

When Astoria knocked politely on the guest room door in the morning to invite the girls downstairs for breakfast, there was no answer. Tentatively, she pushed open the door and saw that the room was empty, the bed untouched.

Puzzled, she went to the next door, Scorpius’s room, opened the door the barest crack and peeked inside. Four tousled heads rested across the bed. Smiling, she opened the door a little wider. Albus and Scorpius were in the middle, and were sleeping soundly, clinging to each other.

Lily was on her brother’s other side, sprawled on her back, with her long hair spilling everywhere, including partly over Albus’s face. Rose was on the other side of Scorpius, one of her arms around his waist, protecting him, even in sleep.

The girls had apparently neglected to bring nightclothes, since all four children seemed to be wearing t-shirts and boxer shorts, although she supposed that was more modest than nighties anyway.

She smiled at them. They were so close to adulthood, though they seemed adorably childlike now, sleeping like puppies in a heap.
She was about to close the door when she saw her husband emerge from their bedroom at the end of the hall. She beckoned him over.

“Whatever are you doing, Astoria?” Draco asked.

“Shhhhh! Look at this.”

He looked into the room and then smiled at her. “Are they actually old enough to get married? They look like babies to me just now.”

“I was thinking the same thing. But I was their age when you and I got married. I know Rose’s parents got married immediately after the war, so they were the same age as well.”

Draco eased the door closed and took his wife’s arm. “Ron and Hermione have certainly been happy all these years. And I know I’ve been happy.”

“Me, too, dearest. You know, maybe I should get my camera. What do you think?”

“I think Scorpius would kill you.”

“Possibly, but Albus would think it was wonderful.”

“Fine, do what you want, but don’t complain to me when you embarrass our son to death with your excessive mothering.”

“Excessive mothering?” she asked, already on her way back up the stairs.

“I refuse to believe such a thing exists.”