Hi everyone! This is the fourth book in the Rose Weasley series, and the first three are on my account so I'd read those first if you're new, otherwise I hope you like the first chapter! Please review; thanks! -Kelly

CHAPTER 1

MALFOY MANOR

Rose was really starting to get irritated at how much she cared that she hadn't seen Scorpius Malfoy in two months. She and Al had written to him, of course, and it wasn't as if she was bored; in the meantime, she'd turned 14, gone to France on holiday, and played in no less than 27 Quidditch matches with her cousins. She was still excited despite herself, though, when she'd gotten a letter inviting her and Al to come over to Malfoy Manor for a night and go to Diagon Alley together afterwards. She'd known from him that his parents were trying incredibly hard to make up for his childhood, but she honestly wasn't expecting an invitation. Her father didn't like it, of course. But she and Al had gotten permission after a couple days, and she ran down the stairs two days later with an overnight bag to meet Al by the fireplace.

"So I know that you two know how to use Floo Powder, just… make sure that you speak very clearly," Rose's mother said again, and Rose rolled her eyes.

"I know, mum," she said, and she handed her a handful of powder.

"All right, well, have fun," she said. "Al, you'll follow Rose in a second."

"Right," Al said, nodding.

"Remember, Rose, if you see mounted Muggle heads in the parlor, just come straight back," James called from the kitchen, and Rose glared at him as she threw the powder onto the fire. She stepped in after it turned green and felt the strange feeling of the fire on her legs.

"Malfoy Manor," she called out as clearly as she could, and the next thing she knew she was tumbling out of a fireplace in a large stone hall that almost reminded her of Hogwarts. As soon as she stood up, she a small house-elf running into the hall and stopped a few feet from her, smiling. "Hello," she said.

The house-elf almost looked surprised. "Oh! Hello, Miss Weasley! May I take your bag to your room?"

"Oh, er, no, my mum would kill me if I let you," Rose said.

"May I at least show you to your room?"

"Sure," Rose said, and the house-elf nodded. "What's your name?"

"Hetty, Miss Weasley," she said, smiling widely. Just then, Al came tumbling out of the fireplace and Hetty immediately ran over to him. Their conversation was much the same, and before long Hetty was leading them down a long winding tunnel towards what she called the keep.

"Is that where the bedrooms are or something?" Al asked Rose in a whisper.

"Well, yes, in medieval castles, so I suppose," Rose replied, and they walked down the corridors following Hetty. They passed very old-looking tapestries, and to Rose's surprise the art looked Muggle. When they reached the entrance to a tower, Hetty opened the door and held it for them to walk through. It led them to a wide open space with a winding staircase breaking at each floor to a short hallway with one or two doors on the sides of it. Hetty led them up two flights to the second floor, which was two from the top of the tower as far as Rose could tell. There were two rooms on the floor and Hetty opened one for Al, then one for Rose. There was a bed with designs delicately carved into it, and not much else in the room apart from a bedside table and a closet, along with an armchair in the corner.

"These are our guest rooms; are they to your liking?" Hetty asked them, and Rose and Al glanced at each other, amused.

"Er, yes, definitely," Rose said, and Hetty looked pleased.

"I think Master Malfoy is in his room, just one floor above us, I'll let him know you've arrived," she said, and ran up the stairs quickly. The second she was gone, Al looked at Rose in astonishment.

"We get our own rooms?" he asked. "This is mad."

Rose shrugged. "I was sort of expecting this, honestly. It's still strange, though. I mean, I almost feel bad. We gave him a cot in Hugo's room when he stayed with us."

Scorpius came down the stairs with Hetty then and Rose nearly had to force herself to act like she was only as happy to see him as Al was. "Hi, guys. What do you think?" he asked nervously.

"You live in a bloody castle, mate," Al said incredulously.

Scorpius looked uncomfortable. "Er, yeah, I guess. I think dinner's ready, we can go down to the dining room."

"Sure," Rose said, and they started walking down the stairs, Scorpius leading them as Hetty had disappeared somewhere. "So how've you been?" she asked him as they walked through the manor.

"Well, you know, I've written. We went to the British Quidditch finals, they bought me a Firebolt 5, basically they're trying too hard to be good parents or something."

"At least they're trying," Al said.

"Yeah, I guess. They won't leave me alone, though, it's a bit annoying actually."

After a few minutes, they reached a room off of a long corridor at the bottom of the tower and Scorpius opened it to reveal a long black table with many chairs, though only five places were set. "I guess we can just wait here," Scorpius said, shrugging, and they sat down in the three chairs with set places next to each other. In about a minute, Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy came into the room from another door, with Hetty following carrying two platters of food, which she set down in the middle of the five chairs while the Malfoys took the two seats across from them.

"Hello, it's good to see you again, Rose, Albus," Mrs. Malfoy said, smiling, "did you get settled into your rooms all right?"

"Er, yes, thanks," Al said. As they started eating, Rose heard Scorpius in her head.

I wouldn't mention your mum's work, if they ask you change the subject. She's doing Lucius's trial, if you didn't know.

"So, have you been enjoying your summer holidays?" Mr. Malfoy asked after a moment of silence.

"Good," Rose said, "My family and Al's went to Cannes together in July."

"Oh, Cannes is beautiful," Mrs. Malfoy said. "My side of the family owns a villa there."

Scorpius looked down at his plate as Al glanced at Rose incredulously.

Those are from the 17th century, she thought, and Al nodded slightly.

"Where exactly are we meeting your parents in Diagon Alley tomorrow?" Mrs. Malfoy asked them.

"Weasley's Wizard Wheezes, it's at the end of the main street," Rose said. "My dad works there with my uncle, so he'll take us home at the end of the day."

"All right, perfect." There was another quiet moment then, and Rose tried to think of ways to break the silence until Mr. Malfoy finally did.

"Er, do you follow Quidditch? Of course you do," Mr. Malfoy muttered under his breath, "sorry. Right. Er, I suppose you support the Harpies, Albus."

Al looked grateful that someone had mentioned something he could talk about and the meal progressed with minimal awkwardness from that point, to Rose's relief. She didn't speak much and tried to avoid making eye contact. As soon as they had finished eating, Mr. Malfoy said, "Well, I expect you three would like to catch up, er, Scorpius, why don't you show them the library?"

Rose perked up at this as Scorpius's parents left. "You have a library?"

"Well, yeah. This place is like 800 years old, of course we have books, Weasley," he said. "Come on." He opened a door on the other side of the room and led them down yet another hallway until they reached a room that was very tall and old-looking, stacked high with shelves and shelves of books from all different centuries. Scorpius laughed out loud at Rose's face, and Al sat right down in one of the ornately framed chairs on the walls.

"I don't even know where to start," Rose whispered, and Scorpius rolled his eyes.

"Calm down, Weasley," he said, "here, er, that way's history, I'm sure you'll like that." Rose walked to the corner of the room and picked a book off the shelf. She knew she was reading for a little too long, as she started to lose track of time, and when someone tapped her on the shoulder she cringed when she realized there was no longer light coming in through the windows behind her.

"Rose, it's 11:00. Scorpius and I have been playing chess for three hours. Can we go to bed, please?"

"Sorry," she said, "you should have told me sooner."

"Er, he wouldn't let me. Said you looked far too happy over there. Kept looking at you and laughing."

Scorpius was standing by the door and Rose shot a glare at him. He shrugged and opened the door, and the two of them walked towards him and out into the hallway.

"You don't get to just stare at people, it's rude," she muttered as she passed him. He just laughed, which only made her angrier, and secretly a little pleased he was looking at her, though she wouldn't even admit that to herself.

"I guess I'll see you guys in the morning," Scorpius said when they reached the guest rooms in the tower. Rose entered her room after a quick goodbye and laid down onto the bed, a little too embarrassed to do anything else. She couldn't sleep very well, though, and as much as she liked the library, the rest of the manor felt oddly cold to her. She couldn't imagine growing up here.

After a little while, there was a knock on her door and she opened it for Scorpius, standing in the hallway in his pajamas. His hair was much less tamed than usual and Rose started to think it looked cute before she blocked out the thought. "Hi, Malfoy," she said, surprised.

"Hey. I can't sleep. Can I come in?"

"It's your house," Rose shrugged, and he walked inside and sat down in the chair while she shut the door as quietly as she could and walked over to the bed.

"So… you can't sleep either, can you?" he asked, and Rose nodded.

"It's just… really…"

"Weird? Creepy? Gloomy?" Scorpius suggested. "Yeah. Exactly. That's what I've been starting to realize this summer. It wasn't just Lucius, it was the whole feel of the bloody place too."

Rose looked at him, knowing she looked concerned. "How have you really been doing?"

Scorpius sighed. "I'm… trying. Because I said I would. I'm fine."

"You don't seem fine."

He shrugged. "Whatever. We'll be at school in two weeks anyway."

"Yeah," Rose said, looking down. "I… can't imagine what it was like to grow up here."

"Whatever, Weasley."

"No, it's not whatever. I'm… I'm sorry," she said, and he shook his head.

"What do you have to be sorry for?"

"I don't know." There was a small silence and Rose could tell he was looking at her intently, thinking.

Finally, he said, "Have you told your Al's dad about the stone?"

"No," Rose sighed. "I just… there's never been a good time."

"You really need to," Scorpius said. "Who knows when Nott will come looking for it."

"I know," she said. "I'll… I'll tell him when we get home, okay?"

"Okay, good." He paused for a minute. "So… how's your summer been?"

"Fine. Kinda dull, to be honest. Same as all the others," Rose said.

He smiled a little. "Miss me?"

Rose rolled her eyes. "You wish." She really hoped she wasn't blushing.

"…I missed you," he said quietly. "And Al," he added quickly. She nodded.

"All right, fine, I missed you, Malfoy, happy?"

He smiled smugly and she glared at him. "I can go if you want. You look tired."

"No, it's fine," Rose said. "It's actually less… gloomy when you're here."

"Same to you."

Rose hesitated. "You can sleep in the chair if you want.""Yeah, okay." Rose settled down into the bed and Scorpius opened the closet and took out an extra blanket. "Night, Weasley."

"Good night."