Dance Lessons - Scorose

Heart to Heart

It was the 15th October, a Friday, and the day before Rose Weasley would become Rose Malfoy. She was sat in Hogwarts Library looking out at the lake from the window. There was rarely anyone here on a Friday night so she had the place to herself.

Neville had sorted it so that all of the wedding guests who would be staying the night (to avoid any Apparating Under the Influence issues) could stay in the Room of Requirement. They had no idea just how many rooms it could supply at any one time but it was going to need to be pretty extensive with all of the people hoping to find a bed to collapse into at the end of the evening.

Rose fiddled with her engagement ring just as she heard footsteps enter the room. She turned around to see her dad who pulled up a chair next to her.

"Thought you might be here," he said.

"Victoire kept asking me about makeup and hair and Merlin knows what else, so I snuck out," she replied. Ron grinned. It was at times like these that his daughter reminded him so much of his sister.

"You know, I remember the night before my wedding. I wanted to be alone too, somewhere that was mine. I was staying at the Burrow, you know, gran and granddad's and I just sat in the orchard for hours. It was somewhere your mum was never really associated with and it was nice. To have a little space before everything changed. Clearly, for you, it's the library. Just like your mum, eh?" 

Rose gave a small laugh.

"She always used to sit in that chair over there," he said, pointing to the end chair at one of the centre tables, "I remember sitting next to her trying to get her to eat something. She was working non-stop for the OWLs and - I'll never forget - I kept telling her that she had to eat some time. It was no good if she didn't take care of herself too. I had to physically pick her up to get her down to dinner a few times!"

Rose listened intently. It was rare that her Dad spoke about anything to do with Hermione, especially when it was anything that happened before the War.

"Was that when you realised you loved her?" she asked, though she thought she might be pushing her luck. Ron looked lost in thought as a small grin formed on his face. He paused for a moment before he spoke.

"No, I mean, I'd always liked her, even when she was being a pain in the neck. The first time I realised I liked her was in third year. I had done really badly in a potions essay, and I mean, really bad. And she - for the first time ever - she didn't criticise me. She had known how hard I had worked on it and she gave me a hug and the gobstoppers she had got for her birthday. They were terrible though, sugar free. From her parents. I wouldn't be surprised if she told me she was just trying to get shot of them! And the first time I knew I loved her was towards the end of sixth year. It wasn't anything she did in particular, it was just a feeling, you know? Sorry, I'm rambling now, you don't want to hear all of this,"

"No, no, I do. You hardly ever tell us stories about you and mum," Rose said.

"Of course I do, you know loads of stories," 

"Yeah, that we've heard from mum, not from you. Tell me something that you've never told us before, please, something that isn't in the biographies" she pleaded. Ron looked slightly uncomfortable. Of course there were biographies on him. He was part of the Golden Trio. In fact, there were hundreds for each of them. "Harry Potter: The Boy Who Lived", "Hermione Granger: The Brightest Witch of Her Age", "Ronald Weasley: The Unsung Hero", to name but a few.

"Oh, I don't know Rosie, it's hard to think of something," he paused for a long moment, "okay. After what happened at the Ministry, I got splinched. You know that. And after, your mum patched me up and - I couldn't move much - so she just sat with me for hours on end. Read to me, listened to the radio. She'd only leave once I had fallen asleep and when I had, she'd pull blankets over me and kiss me on the forehead before going to bed herself. I was never really asleep - it was hard to, what with the pain and the constant threat but I faked it so that she'd get some sleep too. I don't think any of us actually slept in those days though,"

Rose smiled fondly. It was nice to know that true love actually did exist and she wasn't fooling herself when it came to her relationship with Scorpius. She knew her parents had found true love and now she had too.

"Dad, I know me becoming a Malfoy is probably the last thing in the world you want, even if you won't say it -" Rose began.

"Don't be daft, squirt. If you're happy, I'm happy. But if he breaks your heart, I will jinx him into oblivion," Ron interjected.

*          *          *

The next morning, Rose was woken up by Victoire.

"Come on, cuz! It's your big day, things to do and no sleeping in!" she cried happily. Rose grumbled.

"If it's my day, I should be able to do what I want, including sleeping in as long as I want,"

But it was no use in protesting. Victoire had created an extensive plan of the entire day. First breakfast, then hair, makeup, dress, flowers, ceremony, cake, first dance... the list was endless. This meant that Rose had dozens of clips in her hair and layers of makeup on even before eleven. Thankfully, Hermione took over after that and despite her equally organised habits, everything was much calmer.

"Okay, so now the dress. Scorpius hasn't seen it has he? It's bad luck," she said. Rose shook her head and Hermione retrieved it from the hook and unzipped the dress bag, "Ready?"

"Ready," Rose confirmed with a broad grin. She put it on and looked at herself in front of the mirror. It was a simple wedding dress. It was floor length with a train that stretched a metre behind her. The bottom of the skirt was lacy and the dress was backless. The jewelled brooch just under the bust was blue, as requested by Rose herself.

Hermione left the room to try and find her daughter's bouquet and a moment later there was a knock on the door. 

"Rosie?" Scorpius said from the other side. Rose sighed happily.

"Scorp, you can't come in it's bad luck," she replied.

"I know, just come to door?" he asked. Rose obliged and rested her forehead against the wooden door. She could tell that he was doing the same. "I love you,"

"I love you too," she replied quietly, "the next time we see each other we'll be getting married,"

"I know, exciting, isn't it? Listen, in a minute, I'll get someone to come in and drop off the something new I got for you, okay?"

"Okay. I'll see you in a bit, I love you," she said and listened as his footsteps receded down the corridor.

About five minutes later, there was another knock on the door and someone walked in.  Rose turned around and it took a minute for her to realise she wasn't imagining things. For standing opposite her was Charlie.