What has been previously referred to as seven stages in the life of Scorpius and Rose is now reduced to one simple thing: the beginning.

This is the end of the beginning. Melancholy as it seems, Rose doesn't think anything is more wonderful. She loves few things more than to think back to those adolescent years spent inside the walls of Hogwarts castle.

Images flash into her mind: herself at twelve years old, fiddling with her bag strap as she realised Scorpius Malfoy was an actual human being; that same actual human being a year later looking forlorn as he recalled jibes thrown at him by Zabini; both of them grinning as they talked about a hypothetical cat, and lots of astronomy.

She wouldn't take anything back, not even the newspaper clipping she had forced into Albus' hands in second year. Everything that had happened between them made them what they were today – getting married.

At the flick of the conductor's wand, the instruments to Rose's right begin to play a traditional wedding march. Not even old Muriel's ramblings about the "muggleness" of the music can dampen Rose's mood. She and Scorpius had agreed immediately (for once) on what would play when she walked down the aisle.

"I can't believe you're marrying a pure blood," her dad murmurs, loud enough for everyone to hear.

Over the laughter in the marquee, Rose finds her Granddad Weasley's eyes in the front row. "Please forgive me, Grandpa."

The beaming wizard can do no more than wipe his eyes and motion for Rose to continue her ascent. She does, grasping her father's arm the whole way. Her whole extended family span the rows of chairs, all of them grinning ear-to-ear, except her mother, who is trying her best to mop up her tears with the handkerchief handed to her by none other than Draco Malfoy. After a double-take, Rose confirms to herself that it is her soon-to-be in-laws sat next to Rose's mother and Uncle Harry. She can't quite believe it, even as a small part of her nods as if the seating arrangement was inevitable.

Once her dad leaves her stood at the front with the groom, the best man and the maid of honour, Rose finds herself transported back to the kitchens at Hogwarts where she shared endless meals with those stood around her now. When Scorpius grabs her hand and interlocks their fingers, he is all she can see. And she couldn't be happier.

"You look beautiful," says Scorpius. His hair is flatter than usual, his tie pressed to perfection – Astoria (my mother-in-law, Rose thinks) must have fussed over him for hours.

She doesn't think she can speak, but opens her mouth anyway. "I suppose you don't scrub up too badly yourself," she ends up saying. The urge to clamp her hand over her mouth is instantaneous, but Albus leans around Scorpius to raise his thumb in the air for his cousin to see. Rose ignores Francesca's responding sigh as she knows it hides a smile.

With all the enthusiasm of herself in first year Transfiguration, Rose repeats her vows and tries not to turn into a puddle of tears as the groom says his. It's strange, Rose thinks, how something as small as a few words can be so significant, and how something as short as the ceremony can last a lifetime. As she is pronounced Mrs Malfoy, Rose feels nothing but joy. Scorpius, her husband her husband her husband, had assured her that he understood if she didn't want to take his name.

"You don't have to be a Malfoy," he'd said shortly after proposing. "Not with everything that comes with it."

Her first instinct had been to laugh and tell him to stop being stupid, but the look on his face was completely serious.

"You're a Malfoy, so that's all I ever want to be," she'd replied sincerely, and then added "you idiot" for good measure.

Now, just before sealing their future with a kiss, Rose whispers, "I'll never get tired of hearing that."

"We're a family now," she tells him after they break apart, with seconds to go before the guests rain down upon them.

"You're so soppy." Scorpius rolls his eyes but his grin threatens to split his face in half.

"You love it."

"I do."

And so, a new stage begins: no longer the stages of Scorpius and Rose, two separate entities waiting to collide, but of the Malfoys, two stars orbiting each other in their very own universe.