The truth was all the potter/ weasley kids are fucked up. dom ran off to france and became a model, molly has been friends with molly since fifth grade and half the time vic drinks herself to sleep. freddy hasn't held down a job in months, james' saving grace was a popstar with more than enough of her own issues. al was a big sports star who liked partying, lucy was a workaholic, roxy was already caught cheating and rumour had it lily luna was spending time more nights in random dormitories than her own.

so when scorpius sees rose, she's not the most fucked up weasley he's seen in a while. but the rose he knew, the rose who studied and tried so very hard to be the perfect gryffindor she so clearly wasn't for her parents.

and so rose is leaning outside a cafe, red lipsticked lips wrapped around a cigarette and a short leather skirt and heeled boots, a long sleeved white blouse hiding her arms completely from sight. she's screwed up, scorpius can tell even from this distance.

"rose?" scorpius calls out, his voice sounding harsh in the crisp winter air, which carries the sound well. "is that you?"

rose whirls around, pulling her cigarette out of her mouth, and drops it to the ground when she sees scorpius. "well hey," she says, lips curling up in a way that they never did before. it's predatory, slytherin. "haven't seen you in a while."

"thought you were out of the country," scorpius says, as casually as possible. "how've you been?"

"just working," rose shrugs. "here and there."

"working? here and there? that doesn't sound like the rose weasley i know," scorpius says, although the truth is he was always more al's friend than rose's.

"i'll tell you something," rose crushes her cigarette under foot. "you make a lot of connections as another nameless young waitress in lipstick and a short dress."

and she walks away and scorpius remembers why the weasley girls are called heartbreakers.

the next time he sees her it's at al's. three of her cousins are drunk out of their minds, and from the way she's walking, she's drunk a bit as well. "you've had any shots?" she smirks, swinging herself onto the couch next to him.

"no, but i think you have," scorpius smirks.

"maybe just a little," she holds up her hand to move her fingers close together and show 'a little'. "but what's a friday night without alcohol?"

"louis isn't drinking," scorpius nods towards her blonde cousin, who's talking quietly to his new wife.

"louis converted," rose shrugs, and picks up a bottle of vodka, and sips straight from the bottle. "he can't drink anymore, and him and noor are actually happy. surprising isn't it?"

"maybe it's what he needed," scorpius shrugs and tries to take the bottle from her gently. of course that's when rose shakes her head and leans back and guzzles it down like it's water.

"maybe it's what we all need," rose is being loose with her words. "someone to keep us grounded. teddy and vic are happy, even dom and nabilah, louis and noor, james and alexa. we all need someone to keep us grounded, because the lot of us are fucked up and screwed up and goddamn messes the way no one else is."

"you just need to find someone just as fucked up," scorpius says before thinking. "someone who will be able to deal with your fucked up self."

"maybe," rose smirks, and chugs down the vodka.

they meet at the weasley's grandparents house.

alexa grey and james potter have an engagement party, and alexa smiles sweetly and blushes and cries.

james is a mess, and he doesn't even need t drink for that to happen.

scorpius makes his way to stand next to al, where he's sipping on a drink, watching james and alexa dance. "they look happy," scorpius says.

"of everyone," al shakes his head. "the eldest son of a war hero and a popstar are the ones who end up happy."

"well there was louis' conversion," scorpius points out. "that was a bit out of the blue."

"true," al shrugs. "it's funny. james being so happy like this."

"really?" scorpius asks.

"james wasn't that happy," al shakes his head. "but now? he's over the moon. it's funny, especially now rosie is back in town."

"yeah?"

"she predicted it," al points out, and sorpius frowns, thinking about rose being back. "years ago. when alexa and dom first came back."

"maybe she'll get a romance now she's back," scorpius says, watching alexa lean her head on james' chest smiling brightly.

"i doubt it," al scoffs. "i'm surprised we'e had this many happy stories. the weasley kids run away from feelings, from thoughts. they don't deal well with emotions and relationships. we're probably all going to end up divorced ten times."

scorpius nudges al's shoulder. "you'll be fucked up the same as everyone else."

"nah," al shakes his head. "we're always worse."

rose echoes her cousins thoughts when she comes to visit scorpius one day.

it's a sudden, abrupt and out of the blue visit - the sort his mother would disapprove of - so of course scorpius lets her in immediately, a wicked grin on his lips.

"i've fucked up," rose says, dumping herself on his couch. "i've fucked up real bad."

"yeah?" scorpius asks, pouring himself a cup of coffee. "we all have."

rose takes it out of his hand and sips, before passing it back to him, red lipstick stain on the rim. "no," rose shakes her head. "you may be trying to disappoint your parents the worst you can, noor may be fighting against her mosque and alexa may not be talking to her parents, nor has she done so in the last three years, but you don't fuck up the way we fuck up. the potter kids, the weasley kids, our parents got too good of an ending to be true. so they get us. fucking drunks and addicts, depressed and angry and bitter. we're their punishment."

scorpius sits down beside her, places his coffee down, and takes her hand in his own, staring into the deep brown pits they called eyes. and then all of a sudden she surges forward, wraps an arm around his waist and practically sits on him, lips pressed against one another, and her ringed fingers catching on his blonde hair. and then she pulls back, bright eyed and red lipped, and shakes her head, murmurs no no no and walks out.

and he's left with an aching heart and lipstick prints and a half drunk coffee and reminds himself that the weasley girls are fucked up.