5 YEARS LATER

Of all the days he could be late coming home from work, Albus had to pick today, I thought miserably. Here I was sitting in a room full of all the women in his family, who had invited themselves around to our flat, whilst he was who knows where. Grandma Weasley, Mrs Potter and the Albus' aunts were talking between themselves to not make it obvious what they were here for and it looked like Lily and Albus' cousins had been forced here just to boost up the numbers.

Scanning all of the intimidating women I looked silently at Rosie for support. Rosie, reading my desperation, came to sit beside me. She patted my shoulder reassuringly as I faced Mrs Potter. No one had to tell me, I already knew that she was the one to instigate this. And I knew why she was here as well.

"Should I make some tea?" I offered quietly, rising from my seat slowly.

"Let me help you, dear." Mrs Potter said, following after me into the kitchen. I made a face when she wasn't looking. Didn't she know that she was the person I was trying to avoid?

Mrs Potter stood to the side, watching me as I started to boil the water. Only once I'd managed to find enough tea cups and had washed them did she start to talk.

"Albus was over at our house last weekend." She said, going to the fridge to get the milk as I put the teabags and sugar into the cups.

"He told me." I gave her a smile, trying to avoid this conversation for as long as possible.

"He did?" Turning my back to her, I poured the boiling water into each of the cups. "He told me something interesting – he says you're not getting married."

"We're not even engaged," I protested quietly, already knowing that she'd talk to me about this. Avoiding her eyes I added milk to the cups.

"There's no such thing as getting married early." Mrs Potter said gently as she came to stand by my side, helping me load the tea cups onto two trays. "I know that Albus wants to marry you dear, but he tells me that you're not so sure if marriage is for you –"

"He said that?" I demanded, silently cursing him. The damn man had tried to throw me under the bus. If he tried to throw me under the bus then the least he deserved was to know what it was like to deal with his mother.

"It's not true then?" Mrs Potter gave me a broad smile as I pointed my wand at the two trays and muttered the levitation charm.

"Of course not." I said softly, the trays hovering in front of me. "We've talked about getting married before Mrs Potter –"

"– Mum –"

"And whilst I'd love to get married, it's kind of hard to do when the groom doesn't want to get married."

"So it's Albus then?" At my nod she narrowed her eyes, following after me when I walked out of the kitchen, the two trays following after us.

Once the tea had been handed out to everyone I settled back in my seat. Raising my cup to my lips, I glanced at Rosie who helped herself to a biscuit.

"What's going on?" She asked cautiously, lowering her voice so no one else heard her.

"Albus tried to throw me under the bus, that's what's up." I rolled my eyes, "So I only did the same thing."

"His mum's not going to be happy." Rosie's eyes flickered over to where Mrs Potter and her mother were sat, talking quietly. "You know she takes after my grandma."

"Well if he didn't want to invite trouble the he should have told his parents the truth that neither of us wants to get married right now, then shouldn't he?" I asked, my eyes moving to fireplace where the Albus emerged followed by a less sooty Scorpious.

"And you can't tell his parents because?"

"Because he made me tell my parents on my own."

The two men walked not the room, warily eyeing the sheer number of women in the room. Albus, quickly realising the situation, sought me out in the crowd of women. When his eyes met mine, I raised my cup to my lips, trying to hide my mischievous smile.

"Do you want some tea Scorpious?"

I offered, rising from my seat as Mrs Potter pulled her son to a corner of the room. Giving Scorpious my seat, I watched as Rosie shuffled away from him slightly and shook my head slightly. Good old Rosie, always so headstrong.

When I returned to give Scorpious his cup of tea, I found him trying to talk to Rosie who was still ignoring him. I understood the problem they were having, really I did, but nothing would get solved if they didn't communicate. Right now Scorpious was all for communicating but Rose was doing her best to stop it from happening.

"Mum!" I heard Albus exclaim, snapping me from my musings. All heads turned to look at Albus and his mother who was standing in the corner of the room. "There's no rush to get married! Merlin, you don't realise it but the more pressure you put on us, the further she distances herself from me! Rushing into marriage is scary for her."

And just like that Scorpious' eyes were boring into me. "We're only 23," I muttered quietly, as an explanation.

"Exactly," Rose piped in, her eyes piercing his. "We're only 23."

"If you want to worry about anyone," Albus continued loudly as he waved a hand in Rose's general direction. "Then you and Aunt 'Mione should worry about Rose – she's the one that's got Scorpious' child growing inside her and she's also the one to have turned down his four proposal's already."

The entire room went still, Albus freezing when he realised what he'd just revealed. Looking wearily at Rose, I watched her rise to her feet. She didn't look around the room; her eyes set onto Al's pale figure.

"You better run Potter," she hissed, charging towards him, "Run far."