Epilogue:

Freckles

Disclaimers: See chapter one.

The Burrow, 2036

The Burrow looked simply beautiful in the warm April sunset. Mini multi-coloured lanterns were strung between the oak and peach trees, and fireflies flitted energetically overhead in a merry dance. There was the strong scent of honeysuckle and jasmine in the air, wafting lightly on the early evening breeze.

Even the usually-stubborn gnomes seemed to be on their best behaviour today, Rose thought with a little smile as she peered out of the crooked kitchen window at the unusually well-manicured garden outside. Maybe that was because her dad had threatened to 'hex their little balls off' if they put a foot wrong tonight. They had even helped him and Hugo to straighten out the overgrown lawn over the past couple of days, though grumbling incessantly all the while of course. Miracles would never cease.

Her gran and granddad had done them proud, she realised with a beam, noting the rose-adorned archway that stood proudly in the orchard, surrounded by waving pink and blue flutterby bushes. The white marquee was positioned nearby and she knew her Uncle George, James and Albus were probably already inside, having a cheeky celebratory drink before tonight's festivities really got underway.

Rose pressed a sudden hand to her swollen stomach, feeling the baby inside kick energetically against her palm. "Ooof," she mumbled with a grin, "well, I definitely think you're a boy, flailing around like daddy does when he gets all impatient about something at the Apothecary. In fact, I'd bet bloody money on it."

"Still talking to yourself?" the sardonic voice sounded from behind her and she knew before even turning around that he would be wearing his trademark grin; "that sounds like a wager to me."

Rose arched a brow and blew a strand of curly hair off her forehead; "well... at least you've stopped calling me 'Weasley' when you get all patronising like that." She tilted her chin as she looked up into warm grey eyes that regarded her with amusement as he leaned against the rickety wooden doorway and pulled her reassuringly into his arms.

"Love, there'd be no point," he reminded her as he gently kissed her forehead, "you haven't been a Weasley for almost five years now."

"I'll always be a Weasley," Rose reminded him affectionately, "deep down. Malfoy now or not."

"Which is why I'll always love you," Scorpius replied with a tender smile. His hand slid to her rounded stomach, "little one still giving you trouble?" Their first baby was overdue by two days already and he knew Rose was absolutely exhausted. Not to mention also slightly perplexed by her pregnancy cravings in the third trimester, which included bags of chocolate éclairs from WH Smiths and bags of pickled onion flavour monster munch crisps. Muggle treats she had never much liked in the past and which Scorpius loved to tease her mercilessly about.

"Doesn't he always give me trouble?" Rose said with an amused roll of her eyes, "it's a boy. I know it's a boy, despite what you reckon."

"How much?" Scorpius' eyes sparkled with pure mischief as he dug into the pocket of his robes to check his loose change.

"Scorpius Malfoy!" came the indignant sounding voice from behind them, "are you betting on the sex of your baby?"

Scorpius smirked at his father-in-law as he pulled out some galleons and raked his eyes over them appraisingly. "I'm not only betting on the sex of the baby, but when it arrives," he divulged with a wicked laugh.

"Oooh," Ron's blue eyes lit up as Phillius and Lysander turned up behind him with a grin, pulling out their own coins eagerly, "that's interesting."

"Ronald Billius Weasley!" Hermione's aghast voice broke into the furore, "you will not gamble over our daughter's welfare! Honestly, men have no idea how much giving birth takes out of you and—"

"I'm in," George appeared next with a grin, pulling out some coins as he straightened his dress robes, interrupting his sister-in-law with a good natured wink, "ten galleons says our Rosie has a girl and she has it on Friday exactly. No earlier, no later."

"She's going to have a boy," Ron interjected smugly, "and I bet fifty galleons she has it by tomorrow morning."

Roses' eyes widened, as did Hermione's at the bold statement; "daddy!" she protested, placing an incredulous hand on her rounded tummy.

"No pressure or anything," her father added hastily.

"It's not often I agree with Weasley," drawled a voice from the doorway, "but I think in this instance, he's right…"

Rose turned with a smile and cast an affectionate grin up at her father-in-law, who had just arrived at the Burrow for Hugo's wedding, which he wouldn't have missed for the world. His blond hair was practically non-existent now and he was as bald as a coot, but he still looked as distinguished as ever in his elegant navy robes trimmed with silver. She brushed her lips to his cheek warmly, "I'm glad you could make it," she said happily.

"As am I Rose," he said matter-of-factly, inclining his head to the others, who nodded at him graciously, "Hugo has been driving me crazy talking about this ceremony all week- he's barely got any work done at all, not that that is unusual in itself," he rolled his eyes as the others grinned. "And if I may, I would like to up the stakes on that bet," Draco concluded triumphantly, rummaging in his own pockets.

"What's your stake, Malfoy?" Hermione challenged suddenly, causing the others to suddenly gawp at her, wide-eyed.

"Mum!" Rose protested, spluttering, scarcely believing her mother had joined the contingent betting on her delivery date.

"What?" her mother said, blushing a deep pink as she tucked a brown curl behind her ears, "I just think it sounds an interesting proposal, that's all."

Rose sighed, relaxing immediately as Scorpius nuzzled her neck and whispered soothingly to her. Soon the kitchen was filled with Potter-Weasley's, all pulling out galleons and knuts. Even Albus and Julia's toddler, Grace, got in on the act, holding out a sickle to her great-granddad hopefully, though Rose suspected that her cousin had put her up to it of course. She smiled, bemused, as her little brother finally appeared at last, looking marginally stressed.

"I can't get this bloody robe to sit right," he said, sounding frazzled though looking smart on this, his wedding day, his red hair groomed neatly and immensely handsome in his dark robes. He eyed his relatives and boss, chattering away in the kitchen, looking confused.

"What's going on? Meera hasn't done a bunk, has she?"

"If she has any sense she's definitely legged it," James elbowed him with a broad grin, as Hugo stuck his tongue out at him impertinently.

"Meera's getting ready with her mum and aunty upstairs," Rose said soothingly, patiently straightening the dress robes for her brother and sounding serene, "and she looks beautiful."

"Yeah, I still don't know how you managed to pull her," Ron chimed in with a smirk, "after the debacle at the Yule ball in our fourth year; you would have thought her mum would have warned her off Weasley men entirely."

"It's my naturally charming disposition," Hugo bragged, as the others rolled their eyes.

"She's under the Imperious curse, isn't she?" Harry entered the kitchen next, followed by Lily, Molly and Ginny all of whom were looking excited at the prospect of another notorious Weasley shindig and the addition to the family. "Come on Hugo, you can tell us."

Rose watched her little brother's patient smile as he was teased by the respective members of their family and could hardly believe that he was getting married today, and to one of her best friends, the girl he had been in love with since he had arrived at Hogwarts no less. The time had bloody flown by and she sometimes found it hard to believe that she herself had been Rose Malfoy for more than five years now.

Meera and Hugo had finally gotten together two years earlier, and as Hugo constantly said, it had been well worth the wait. Rose could remember the day almost as if it had been just yesterday...

...

It had been Rose and Scorpius' third wedding anniversary, the date was firmly etched in everyone's minds. The two of them had been immensely busy in recent weeks, setting up their new apothecary in the formerly abandoned 'Slug and Jiggers' apothecary in Diagon Alley, using some of Scorpius' inheritance from his mother and some money they had received as a wedding present and had carefully stored away for such a prospect as this: the abandoned premises which had recently hit the market.

Brewing mail order potions from their cramped flat for so long hadn't been ideal, admittedly, though Rose and Scorpius simply loved what they did. The new premises however, would be perfect for them, though they were completely exhausted with setting it up. Scrubbing, polishing and restoring the dingy shop to its present glory seemed to have taken forever, and they were ecstatic when their friends suggested throwing a party for them in one of the private parlour rooms at the Leaky Cauldron, to celebrate both the new commercial venture and their anniversary.

Rose, with Meera's help, was getting ready in her and Scorpius' cosy bedroom at the flat. Her husband was downstairs with Hugo and Lysander, already having some celebratory champagne before they would join friends and family alike at the pub. She could hear the hubbub of voices and merry laughter from up here, as she slipped on her little black dress robes and excitedly combed her hair. After the stresses of sorting out the new shop, she was more than ready for some frivolity for a change.

Meera however, much as she tried to hide it, was looking slightly downcast. "Um, is Lorcan coming tonight?" she enquired hesitantly.

Roses' heart sank. She'd thought her friend was long over that little crush. "I think so, why?" she asked tentatively.

"Because I wish I'd never bloody gone out with Lorcan Scamander at Hogwarts," Meera burst out heatedly, "that's why! Its wrecked everything and whenever he's around, your brother won't even look at me in the eyes anymore!"

"Try and look at it from his perspective," Rose said soothingly as she pulled her curls back into a sleek chignon and charmed them to stay twisted, "you were mad about Lorcan for ages after all and you did kiss Hugo to make Lorcan jealous that time. He probably thinks---"

"Kissing Hugo was the best thing I ever did," Meera confessed sadly as she set down her pale pink lipstick, "it made me realise I was an idiot for being so hung-up on Lorcan for as long as I was. I just--- for ages Hugo just seemed too young for me, even though I liked the attention he gave me of course. I was silly to ignore him for that reason. Then, at your leaving party it was like something clicked and I realised how bloody brilliant he was..." she smiled bitterly, "ironic, isn't it?"

"A bit," Rose admitted, wishing there was something she could do to help as she sat down on the bed and placed a comforting arm on her friends shoulder.

"It really hurts you know," Meera said, lifting her head now. Rose was completely shocked to see that her brown eyes were welling with tears; "Hugo goes out with all these other girls all the bloody time and it's like he makes a deliberate point of talking about them in front of me. About their dates... it's all 'Miranda this' or 'Isabella that...'"

Rose wondered just what her brother was playing at, acting like the proverbial playboy bachelor when there was a brilliant girl like Meera right in front of him. Then again, she and Scorpius hadn't been much better, had they? She'd been blind to his feelings for long enough after all. "It's a Weasley trait," she said simply, "sometimes we don't realise what's just under our noses, that's all."

"You and Scorpius got there alright," Meera sniffled, wiping at her eyes.

"In the end," Rose pointed out with a little smile, thinking of her husband with a familiar beam and glint in her eyes, "but look how long that took."

"I'm sorry to be so mopey on your anniversary," Meera flushed as she realised she was probably bringing a complete downer on the much-longed-for evening, "I think it's brilliant that you and Scorpius are so happy, really I do. I just---"

"You wish it was you and my brother instead," Rose supplied for her.

Meera nodded mutely and then spoke quietly but concisely. "I love him Rose. Really I do."

If Rose had been paying proper attention, she would have immediately realised that the hubbub of voices downstairs had instantly died down at Meera's last remark, but she wasn't. Instead, she gave Meera a kind hug and told her that she was sure everything would be alright in the end.

As it happened, she was right.

The two women clattered downstairs ten minutes later in high heels, their pretty Gohil designed dresses and looking glamorous.

"Ok Scorpius Malfoy, get ready to party!" Rose beamed enthusiastically as she burst into the living room and twirled around with flourish, "because I---" she stopped short at the palpable silence, eyeing the men suspiciously, instantly aware that something was wrong.

That was when she saw them, lying rather incriminatingly on the arm of the squashy blue settee...

Extendable ears, Mark III. The new Weasley's Wizard patent that Lorcan had been dilligently working on for months up in Edinburgh: this one had extra long distance hearing, through walls, doorways and even upstairs with magnified echoes to the audience below with an extra long string. It could even hear underwater... She recognised the opened bright yellow packaging and instantly knew what had been going on whilst she'd been getting ready.

She could tell Meera did too, for she looked stricken and all colour had drained from her pretty face as she halted in the open doorway, her eyes darting from Hugo to the packaging and back again and looking completely numb.

Oh Merlin no. Did everybody just hear that? she thought, agonised, her stomach twisting in shock and dismay.

Rose glared at a supremely innocent looking Scorpius, Lysander and also at the recently arrived Lorcan, the cause of this rather interesting new predicament, who were sitting on the settee and twiddling their thumbs. She could hardly believe they'd resorted to a cheap Weasley gimmick to eavesdrop on the two women's girl talk like that, when she usually told Scorpius absolutely everything anyway. There were hardly ever secrets between a husband and wife. Besides, she hadn't thought Meera's feelings for Hugo were exactly a secret after all.

Clearly she'd thought wrong.

Hugo was gazing at Meera looking completely transfixed, his blue eyes wide and his own face pale even under his freckles. By contrast, Meera was looking absolutely mortified that her declaration of love had been overheard so staunchly. Her cheeks were burning a fierce scarlet and her lips were visibly trembling.

"I—I should go," she stammered, taking a step backwards in alarm and grabbing a big handful of floo powder.

"Meera—" Hugo's voice was hoarse.

"I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!" she sounded near to tears now as she frantically pulled on her cloak, "Rose, Scorp, I didn't mean to spoil your evening---"

Hugo grabbed her arm just before she was about to practically leap into the roaring green flames. "Don't leave---" he begged imploringly.

"I can't stay—" she babbled incessantly, "not after---"

"I lied." Hugo's direct voice cut straight into her stammering.

Meera's eyes lifted to his in utter bewilderment. Rose and the other's watched the scene with almost bated breath as it suddenly occurred to Rose that maybe this had been somewhat deliberately planned after all, judging from Lorcan's innocent but curious expression now. "Lied?" Meera repeated blankly, stopping fidgeting with her cloak instantly.

"About the other girls," Hugo was looking supremely uncomfortable. "There were no other girls. Well, I mean there were, but I never did anything with them...." the tips of his ear were turning red at the admission. "Not like I said I did. I lied about all that to try and make you jealous."

Lorcan and Lysander both winced in unison, like two mirror images. Rose and Scorpius exchanged startled glances as Rose slipped her hand into her husbands and his fingers twined around hers.

"You never..." Meera sounded perplexed now, "all those times? Never?"

Hugo shook his head and cracked his knuckles. "I just--- at the leaving party when you kissed me like that and it was to make him," he jerked his head bitterly in Lorcan's direction, "jealous... it really, really hurt. I'd liked you for ages and you were just using me."

Lorcan shrugged contritely before finally speaking up, "Hu, if it's any consolation, Meera and I were over a long time ago," his brown eyes were kind, "right about the time she kissed you infact. We all saw it that day. It might have started as a ploy but it certainly changed course from that moment on."

Meera cast Lorcan a grateful look. The first genuinely considerate look they'd probably exchanged in years. Rose felt her heart warming at the notion that Lorcan had probably been planning this for a long time.

Hugo ran a hand tremulously through his red hair, looking doubtful; "I just--- I wanted to hurt you back," he confessed, his eyes meeting Meera's again, "but a bigger part of me reckoned that you didn't really like me after all. I always thought you'd turn your attentions back to Lorcan in the end. It seemed easier to pretend I was a bloke in hot demand rather than spend any more time mooning over you when nothing could happen between us."

Meera shook her head wordlessly as Hugo shakily finished his speech, his voice somewhat wobbly; "I always felt like if we got together, I'd just be the poor substitute..."

The words reminded Rose of what Jacques had said so long ago to her in Paris. This time though, she could see they were clearly far off the mark. Meera's eyes had filled with tears.

"You were never the substitute," she insisted firmly.

"You really love me then?" Hugo asked her, looking hopeful as he took a disbelieving step towards her.

"I really love you," she confirmed shakily, hiccoughing on a little giggle, relieved to get it off her chest after so long.

"Oh," he sounded stunned too. "So er, what now then?"

"I reckon we should kiss," Meera said firmly, decisively.

The two of them did just that, stood in front of the fireplace in Rose and Scorpius' living room, almost as if they were the only two people left in the world as Scorpius and Lysander grinned proudly and Rose gave Lorcan a huge hug and whispered a relieved 'thank you' in his ear.

"S'alright," Lorcan muttered looking embarrassed as he looked down at his watch, though Rose secretly thought he was rather happy for the couple too, if his own amused smile was anything to go by.

Or maybe it was just relief that the new extendable ears worked brilliantly after all.

With Lorcan Scamander, no one could ever really tell.

...

Coming out of her reverie and reflections on Hugo and Meera's happiness and that passionate kiss she'd witnessed that day that had led to this very event, Rose now took Scorpius' hand and tugged him out of the crowded kitchen for a bit of momentary peace and quiet. The Burrow was full of wedding guests- family and friends alike and the wedding party was just moving out into the seats in the garden where Lorcan was setting up the fireworks accompanied by her Uncle Teddy, awaiting the start of the ceremony. It was hard to find some quiet space, but eventually she found an area of the garden free from people and disgruntled gnomes. "One hundred galleons says I'm going to have a son--" Rose began, as Scorpius' eyes widened in speculative surprise, "--by the end of tomorrow morning. I agree with our fathers."

Scorpius grinned; "you're betting on your own welfare now, too, love?" he said teasingly.

"I think in this instance it's rather fitting," Rose said with a smile, "besides, it was your idea and I'm never one to back away from a challenge."

Scorpius made his voice as high-pitched as he could manage; "oh you're going down, Malfoy," he chirped, reminiscent of their very first flying lesson with Madam Hooch so many years ago.

Rose swatted him playfully, bubbling over with merry laughter and memories; "how long have you been waiting to say that?"

He tucked a strand of red hair behind her ears, "feels like forever," he said solemnly, and her cheeks grew warm. "I think," he added seriously, "that we are going to have a daughter. A daughter who likes to flail her arms when she's impatient and wants to get her point across, just like her mother does. She is going to be particularly stubborn, just like you, darling and I cannot wait."

"No chance," Rose said, shaking her head in denial and unwittingly proving his point.

"What's more," Scorpius concluded as he tilted her chin to his and brushed a kiss to her freckled forehead; "she's going to be here by the end of the night."

"Have you been overdosing on your confundus potions again?" Rose teased him brightly.

Scorpius had once had an "incident" when bottling the confundus curse in their apothecary, a potion had gone awry, exploded, and had resulted in him summoning Cornish pixies to their shop and engaging in an elaborate sing-song and dance routine with the highly-mischievous creatures. Rose still loved to remind him of it now, even over a year later.

"I know I'm right," Scorpius finished with a smirk, though his cheeks reddened at the humiliating memory, "I am bloody brilliant after all."

"And bloody big-headed too," Rose stood on tiptoes and pressed her mouth to his in a sweet, tender kiss; "it's a good thing I love you."

HPHPHPHP

In the end and not for the first time, Rose lost another wager to Scorpius. She wasn't sure if it was the sound of Lorcan's super-duper whizzpopper fireworks bursting overhead as Hugo and Meera walked down the aisle, or the emotion of the day as her brother finally married his beautiful bride, but her contractions kicked in some point after the celebratory toasts and during Lily's hilarious "best-man" speech.

Scorpius looked smug as he helped her to her feet; "I think it's off to St Mungo's with you, darling," he said with a smirk, "and maybe we'll bypass Gringotts on the way so you can get me those one hundred galleons you owe me. Chop-chop."

He was amused to see his father and father-in-law shaking hands, looking satisfied, as the rest of the guests grumbled at the notion that they might have won the bet. It certainly looked like the new addition would arrive before morning after all, if Rose's pained face was anything to go by.

Rose elbowed Scorpius, panting between contractions; "it might stay in there till tomorrow morning," she said almost hopefully, breathing more easily as her Aunty Ginny cast a quick pain-relieving charm at her.

Hermione and Ron exchanged glances and Draco folded his arms with a grin. "Doubt it, love," her mum said and she and the rest of the wedding party waved them off as the fireworks continued bursting overhead in a shower of colourful sparks, "if this baby is anything like you, it's going to be bloody quick."

HPHPHPHP

And quick it was. Rose was surprised later at how fast it had been, but the pure elation of finally holding their baby dimmed her irritation that once more, Scorpius had won the bet, though she imagined her father and Draco would be as surprised to lose as she was. The stars twinkled brightly outside the sky of St Mungo's as their baby gave its first shrill cry, just before the clock on the wall signalled 12:00am.

"This is one bet I really don't mind losing," Rose said with a contented smile an hour later as she curled up tiredly against the cotton sheets. "She's beautiful, isn't she?" She ran shaking fingers over the baby's cupid bow lips as she snuffled happily, curling her little hands. Her own tiny fingers were splayed like starfish as her parents gazed down at her in awe, at her pale blond hair and even paler skin, wrapped in a blue and bronze blanket. Annabel Astoria Malfoy. The new generation of Malfoy's.

"Perfect," Scorpius echoed simply and sincerely, his brow furrowing slightly as he looked down at his new daughter; "though, Rose…"

"Yes love?"

He couldn't hide his smirk as she rested back in his arms and his daughter gazed up at him; his own grey eyes were expressive and wondering as he gazed back down at her just as incredulously, "I have to say, I've never seen a Malfoy with freckles before."

THE END

A/N1: The part about betting on the date of the baby's arrival was borrowed shamelessly from F.R.I.E.N.D.S before anybody asks. I couldn't help it, it just seemed to fit!

A/N2: Thanks for sticking with this story and for all your reviews which mean so much to me, so I hope you'll take the chance to hit that purple button just one more time and let me know what you think of this chapter too :) Cliche? Yep, all the way.

A/N3: I have no plans for a sequel to this but may work some one-shots around it if they fit, though first of all I'm going to take some time to read other people's fanfiction for a while! I'm always working on one-shots and have another Rose/Scorpius coming up fairly soon- so please put me on alert if you think that any of my other stories might be of interest to you!Once again, thanks so much for reading and sticking with me!

Happy New Year! Pinkjimmychoos :)