Edit: So I added this so that a few things would be clear:
#1 - I think you already know this but I do not own the Harry Potter world of any of the characters involved, J.K Rowling does. (I'm not sure how legally this legally discards responsibility for copyright infringement, but everyone here does it so who am I to pretend I'm special?)
#2 - I'm writing this for fun. I haven't written in years and recently I read a few fanfictions by GraeLiars (go check her out if you haven't yet) and it inspired me to write something myself. I don't have an update schedule per say, but I will undoubtedly post a new chapter at least once a week. Maybe even two or three if I'm feeling inspired and happy with the nonsense that comes out.
#3 - I enjoy and appreciate your reviews. Please leave one, as ego boosts are always a good thing and get me writing faster. I don't necessarily need them to write, but I do enjoy the back pat. Shout out to trinityblue76 and Connected-by-a-Semicolon for being the first to review. I really appreciate it.
October 17th, 2027
EV-D68 can only be diagnosed by doing specific lab tests on specimens from a person's nose and throat, or blood. Many hospitals and some doctor's offices can test ill patients to see if they have enterovirus infection. However, most cannot do specific testing to determine the type of enterovirus, like EV-D68.
Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.
Rose looked up at the clock on the wall of the study room. It was midnight. That meant… sixteen hours and fourty seven minutes left until her midterm. And she was only at E. That meant she was still missing all the Hepatitis. Hepatitises? Was there even a plural?
Despair, thine name is Rose Weasley.
The only thing that could save her from an Exceeds Expectations (or even, Merlin forbid, an Acceptable) was a miracle.
The universe could probably cook one up for her. In fact, the universe probably should. She was two thirds of the Golden Trio, that had to count for something. And it wasn't like she was studying to be something useless like Hugo (urgh, Dragonology).
Nope, she had noble goals, the healing of the masses, the curing of the sick.
She stared blankly at the hands of the clock.
Right about now would be great, universe.
Nothing happened, of course. There was no miracle, no divine intervention to be had. She was fucked, plain and simple, that was what she was. Fucked. Royally and utterly screwed. She opened her book again.
Children with asthma may have a higher risk for severe symptoms from EV-D68 and other respiratory illnesses.
Breathe in and out Rose. In and out. You can do this.
Children with asthma may have a higher risk...
Shit. There was no way she'd be able to wade through what was left of her notes in that little time, not to mention—
Children with asthma…
She heard the door to the study room creaking open but didn't look up.
"How's my favourite cousin in the whole world doing? I brought you coffee."
Still, she didn't look up. She recognized the singsong voice well enough. She knew it enough to be able to pinpoint the exact location Albus Potter if she were in the middle of a crowded Diagon Alley, blindfolded and in water.
In this tiny study room, his voice carried and, even though she wasn't looking directly at him, she could feel him grinning annoyingly.
"What do you want, Al?"
"Can't I just check up on my bestest of best friends?"
She could see a paper cup being waved on the corner of her peripheral vision. From behind a precarious pile of books and notes, twenty-one year old Rose Weasley glowered at the intruder. "Oh, for fuck's sake, Al, cut the crap." She took the cup of coffee from his hand and set it down, lest he disrupt the impossible physics that were holding her books aloft. "What do you want?"
Just what she needed. Family bondind.
Sixteen hours and – a quick look at the clock – fourty four minutes left before her test and this was what the universe had been able to come up with. Family bonding.
She glared at him, and when no response was given she leaned back against her chair, crossed her arms and growled angrily: "WHAT?!"
"I'm getting a flat and I'd like you to move with me."
"No."
"Oh c'mon Rose. Just think about it before you dismiss it." he protested, his feelings clearly hurt.
And yet…
She didn't have the time for this.
"Okay let me think…" She paused for a second, looking at the ceiling pensively, before looking back at him, scowling. "Okay, I've thought about it." She uncrossed her arms and opened her book again. "The answer is still 'hell no'."
"You're getting good money, you're practically a Healer—" Albus' grin had disappeared at this point. He was starting to look frustrated.
Good. Serves him right.
"Healer in training." She corrected him petulantly. "Not a Healer yet by any reasonable measure."
"But you—"
"No." Goddamnit, how many times would she need to say 'no' before he understood?
He seemed to hesitate for a second but then his face set with determination.
"We can't make rent on our own. Scorpius is—"
"Wait, 'we can't' and 'our own'? Is that plural I hear?" He at least had the decency to look guilty. "You actually expect me to move in with you and Scorpius Malfoy? You must be off your damned rocket, Al."
"Well, yeah, with Scorpius and me! Am I not –"
Kind? Yes. Smart? Yes. Important? Yes. Kind, smart and important enough to make up for the presence of Scorpius Malfoy, condescending git extraordinaire?
"No."
"Rose, just hear me out, we found an amazing flat. It's two blocks away from—"
"Goddamnit Al, I'm trying to get the symptoms of 107 infectious diseases to penetrate my thick skull and you keep spouting nonsense." What had she been reading before this? She remembered it started with… children?! And nope. It was gone. "Ask James, fuck, ask Lily!" she groaned. "They're the ones socially pressured to love you, not me."
"Yes, but you're my best friend!"
She was, but that was beside the point. Plus, she shared the podium of his affections with the other idiot that he wanted her to move in with, and that would never do.
"And the reason why I am your best friend is precisely because I don't live with you and you usually leave me the fuck alone when I'm studying. Sod off, Al, before I hex you silly."
"It's two blocks away from Saint Mungo's, your place of employment! And you know good and well that James is living with his girlfriend, whom he loves and that Lily is a ditz with the attention span of a goldfish and can't keep a job to save her life."
Of course all of this was true. She had just hoped to distract him from pursuing her. "Still the answer is no. Read my lips, Albus Potter, N plus O equals…?" He glared at her, and she continued, unfazed. "We have enough cousins that you can find someone else, no matter how close to St. Mungo's the place is. Even if we don't, Malfoy probably has a few."
"Rose, it has a fireplace. It has a balcony." He pulled a chair and sat down, his arm supported on the back of the chair. He was making himself comfortable, why was he making himself comfortable?! "It has enough rooms that you can set up an office—"
"I have a study at home." She did, but she didn't use it. She just hoped he didn't know that. "And if this conversation is any indication of the hell our future lives will be together, then I want no part in it. Now bugger off, I'm at infection 23 and I honestly can't remember anything I read since you walked in."
"But the office isn't yours, Rosie. And don't pretend you can study at your parents' place. That's why I always need to corner you in a library or a study room, because you're physically incapable of absorbing knowledge at home."
And he knew. Of course he knew.
She could feel herself getting annoyed, the color of her cheeks rising. "Al…"
"Oh could you just listen before you shit all over my plans, you jerk?" And now Al was starting to become annoyed. He might not have gotten her dad's angry tomato flush, but Aunt Ginny's genes were starting to flare a little.
They both looked at each other levelly, each silently gauging the level of irritation the other was at. Albus won and Rose sighed. "Will you leave me the fuck alone if I don't?"
"No, I will not leave you alone. I will continue pestering you until you listen."
Sigh.
"Will you leave me the fuck alone if I do?"
"Eventually, yes."
Rose sighed for the third time. She brushed a hand through her already disheveled hair (her 'study hair' as her brother called it) and rubbed her temples before assenting: "Fine. Pitch."
She could feel him getting excited again, boyish exuberance flowing with every word. "Now, here's the thing. Malfoy has his allowance and his laughable income from his reserve position at Puddlemere."
Rose sniggered. Yeah, he did, the spoiled brat.
"I have a stable salary from my internship at Gringotts. The house is amazing, it's one of Scorp's dead relatives. Pureblood trash, but amazing windows and high ceilings. The owner is his third degree once removed or whatever cousin and he's renting it to us far below market value. If we—"
His tirade was interrupted by the door creaking open again. From behind it emerged the spoiled brat in all his blond glory. "Convince her yet?" He languidly leaned against the door frame, not bothering to say 'hi'.
Rose glared at him.
If only looks could kill. Or maim, she would settle for maiming.
"Not yet, I was getting there." Al protested. "I was mid pitch. You ruined it."
"Okay good. Don't mind me kids. Just pretend I'm not here."
"Oh for the love of—" Rose groaned. This was going to take twice as much time now with their bickering. "Why the fuck is he here?!"
"Because I have a deep and personal interest in this conversation, you disheveled harpy."
Albus got up and stood between them, aware that Rose's hand had instinctively reached for her wand and that Scorpius' was reaching into his pocket. "Shut up Scorp. And drop your wand Rose, we're adults."
Albus glared at her. Then he glared at Scorpius. The prat glared right back at him.
Rose could practically read the silent conversation between them. The gist of it was 'don't poke the bear, we need the bear to want to move in with us' interjected with a few protests of 'but I want to poke the bear'.
In the end, Albus was apparently successful, because Malfoy leaned back against the wall again, shut his trap, smirked and pretended to lock his mouth and throw away the key.
She needed to ask Albus to teach her how to do that. A quiet Malfoy was a pretty Malfoy.
Albus cleared his throat. "Like I was saying… if you pitch in with your almost Healer salary, that house could be ours. You could have a room of your own and another room that we would turn into a study into which we solemnly swear we would never, ever, ever step foot into."
"Unless you die from all that studying, in which case we'd need to pry your cold, lifeless body from it." Scorpius added helpfully.
Albus threw him a dirty look and ignored him. "You could have all your books available, close by, and not have to lug them around whenever you need to study. It would do wonders for your back Rosie."
"The man has a point. Your posture is kind of shit, Rose."
"Oh, fuck off Malfoy."
"Yeah, fuck off Malfoy." Albus repeated, grinning at him before continuing his tirade. "On top of that, we could make you coffee in the morning. Or not if you don't want us to."
"But—" She was running out of reasons not to. She looked around at the dinky, poorly lit room whose only benefit was not being inside her house.
She hated leaving the house to study.
She hated having to go back home after an all-nighter.
She especially hated all the wasted commute time.
"Pipe down, Weasley." Scorpius looked intently at her, almost as if he were aware of her train of thought. "Let Al finish."
"We would be stellar housemates." Al said, seemingly encouraged by his friend's support. "You wouldn't have to put up with your dad barging into your room to see how you are doing or your mother worrying about how you haven't eaten in days when you're on one of your crazy study binges or your brother messing up your study when searching for things that aren't even there. We would leave you all to your lonesome."
"Yup. We couldn't care less if you starve yourself. We'll just remove you from the premises when you start to smell." Interjected the prat.
"That all sounds lovely but—"
"Roseeee, please? Pretty please? If you don't do it because of you do it for me. I need this. I need independence." At this point Albus had resorted to pleading.
From his corner of the room, Scorpius guffawed. "Yeah, do it for the man child Weasley, before he cries."
Albus ignored him and continued appealing to her sentiments: "I've been working so hard and all I wanted was—"
Rose had already made her decision. She was going to regret this, wasn't she?
"Fine."
"What?!" Both Albus and Scorpius had sputtered it out at the same time.
"I said fine." Rose replied quietly, closing her eyes. Her brain was like a freight train at this point, working feverishly on the chaos that would ensue. She would need to move. Her mum would be proud, her dad would be worried, Hugo… well, Hugo probably would think it was neat. "Fucking fine."
She was going to regret this wasn't she?
"I'll move in with you. Now leave me the hell alone before I change my mind."
"Yes, oh Merlin, yes, we'll leave! Come on Scorp." Contented puppy that he was, happy that he had gotten what he wanted, Albus made his way to the door. Just before he went through however, Scorpius stopped him, a hand grabbing his arm.
"How do I know you're not just trying to get rid of us?" he asked, gray eyes narrowing at her.
She glared right back at him. "Malfoy, get out."
"Can I get your consent in writing before we go?" He smirked, seemingly intent on annoying her.
Why did he always seem to be intent on annoying her? And why did she always fall for it, hook, line and sinker?
"Malfoy, I swear to god if you're not out that door in three seconds… Three-"
"You may develop a convenient case of amnesia—" he protested sniggering.
"One… oh wait, time's up. Petrificus Totalus." She pointed her wand at the sniggering asshole, and he dropped like a fly. He wasn't even sure how she'd gotten her hands on the wand. She got up from her chair and peered thoughtfully at her handywork, a smile tugging at her lips. She then picked up the cup of coffee and silently toasted him. "Thanks for the coffee. Lug him away, Al. We'll talk about this Wednesday when I don't have a theoretical exam from hell in sixteen hours."
Albus did, grinning a little to himself. Mission accomplished.
He placed one of Scorpius' arms around his neck and dragged his limp body toward the door. When he was about to close the door, he heard from inside:
"Oh, and Al? Make sure he hydrates when he wakes up."
The smile plastered on his face grew and he gave Scorpius a pull to make sure he was well accommodated before dragging him along the corridor toward the entrance of the Healer College.
"You're a dick you know that?" He gently lowered Scorpius to the ground and removed his wand from his pocket. "A heavy on at that. But I think that made her feel a little better. She was smiling when we left, y'know?"
He grinned to himself.
"Maybe she can hex you every day when we move."
He then grinned at Scorpius.
"You'd probably enjoy that, wouldn't you? Come on, let's get you home."
He grabbed the blonde's arm and mused quietly: "Can't wait to hear you explain to your mum that you annoyed my cousin to the point that she felt the need to hex you. Pity she likes Rose so much, or she might actually believe you when you tell her my cousin is a… what was it? Disheveled harpy?"
With a pop, the pair disapparated into the night.