A/N: Hello out there! I just wanted to let everyone know in the beginning that this was going to just be a oneshot, however I am thinking of doing a couple more companion pieces revolving around the characters in 'Rose's Secret' and this, also, this story takes place after 'Rose's Secret', just to clear that up before we start. Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoy it!
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, but I do get to take credit for the plot and Delia. :)
Delia was sitting before the fire in the Gryffindor common room; her eyes trained on the flames dancing in the grate before her. She was lost in thought, not paying attention to her surroundings. Her main focus was, of course, Albus Potter. Delia heard herself sigh in resignation. She had been friends with him and his cousin Rose for years, but she had feelings that went a bit farther than friendship for the green eyed boy. Rose had been trying to make her tell him for ages, but she just could not make herself do it. It was not as though she had no courage, she was a Gryffindor after all, it was just that she was afraid that if she told him, he would say that he had no romantic feelings for her and then things between them would be awkward. Delia valued her friendship with him too much to risk destroying it in a display of stupidity.
However, this afternoon in Potions, Al came in with a curly haired Ravenclaw in their year named Danielle something-or-other. She had this big grin on her face and she was chatting animatedly with him. Delia had felt something she had never experienced before, it was as though she could not catch her breath, she did not want that jumped up Ravenclaw anywhere near him. She pinned it down to thinking the girl was not good enough for him, but after a second of thinking it through, Delia realized it was not a very friendship motivated feeling after all. When Al broke away from Danielle to sit with her, Delia could barely look at him. Every time their hands touched accidentally, Delia had to stop herself from recoiling. She could not tell why she was angry with him exactly, just that it started when she saw him walking in with that blond witch.
When the lesson ended, Delia rushed out without saying a word to her friend, leaving him with a puzzled expression. Luckily, it was their last lesson of the day, so she was able to run up to the tower. She collapsed on the couch and that was where Rose found her a little while later.
"What's going on?" Rose started off, sitting down next to her friend, "Al said you were mad at him, but he didn't know why. The poor guy is probably still sitting in the library trying to figure it out."
"I don't know why. One minute I was perfectly fine, and then Al walked into Potions with that, that, ugh," Delia pressed a pillow to her face, but threw it at her friend when Rose started to laugh.
"Hey," Rose threw her hands up to protect her face, "I was going to help you, but I guess I could start my Arithmancy work instead."
"Rosie, don't you dare leave me in my time of need!" Delia was betting the use of Rose's childhood nickname would soften her up a bit, and it did.
"Fine," Rose responded, setting her bag back down beside the couch, "Delia, the reason you feel like this, is because you like Al, and when he walked into class with Danielle, you got jealous. Personally, I think that you should just tell him how you feel, it would solve quite a few problems."
"Speaking of walking into class, why weren't you there?" Delia raised an eyebrow at the pink spots that appeared on her friend's face.
"Umm, I was, uh," Rose could not think of anything to say as her face grew steadily redder, she placed the blame for her blushing habits on her father's genes.
"So, in other words, you were nice and cozy in the Room of Requirement with a certain blond Slytherin?" Delia laughed at Rose's guilty expression.
"Yes, because I am happy, and you could be too, if you would act like the Gryffindor I know you are," Rose shot back, she did not like being made to blush, and Delia knew it.
"I'll think about it," Delia said before changing topics, "What are we doing for Al's birthday?"
"I'm not sure, what do you think we should do? Also, you need to work on changing the subject subtly," Rose responded, laughing when Delia stuck her tongue out at her.
"I was actually thinking that maybe we could throw him a surprise party, maybe?" Delia said hesitantly.
"That would be so much fun!" Rose exclaimed, "We could make him a cake and decorate the Room of Requirement and everything!"
"I think you spend too much time in that room," Delia rolled her eyes.
"Hey, it's a very nice place to go when you want privacy, or no teachers interfering," Rose shrugged.
"Sure, and let me be the first to tell you, if James and Fred and the others knew that the two of you were still using that room for 'privacy', they would probably castrate him and lock you in a tower for the rest of your life," Delia knew all about Rose's family and how protective they were. None of them were particularly pleased that Rose was dating Scorpius, but Rose had made it very clear what would happen to them if they meddled.
"Well my darling cousins can jump from the astronomy tower for all I care," Rose pretended to be angry for a moment, but the girls dissolved into laughter, Rose could never hate her family that much. Delia felt the same about them, having spent more time at their homes than her own in the past six years.
"So, we're agreed, surprise party on his birthday?" Delia double checked when she regained her composure.
"Yep, we have a couple of days to invite people, which is good because I don't think anyone would appreciate the short notice. Why on earth does Albus have to have a June birthday? It makes planning something so difficult what with exams and such," Rose sounded exasperated, but continued after Delia nodded in understanding, "Alrighty, so you understand why you were angry and we've got the birthday sorted. I feel that this conversation has been very productive," Rose looked very pleased and settled herself more comfortably.
"I'll see you at dinner, I'm going to go tell Al that I'm not angry with him," Delia dragged herself off the couch.
"Okay, see you then," Rose waved her off and started to pull out her books.
Delia thought Rose was probably right about the jealousy theory, but she did not know what to do with the information. Maybe her friend was right, maybe she should just tell Al what she was feeling. Pushing the doors open, Delia made the decision that had plagued her since the winter holidays. She just had to channel Rose; that would work. Her friend had found the guts to tell the whole school about Scorpius, not to mention her family. Telling Al that she liked him would be a piece of cake compared to that. However, the second she saw Al, hunched over a table working on some essay or another, her heart sank. There was no way he would ever feel the way she did, she would just apologize for acting weird and then return to the tower.
"Hey," Delia sat down, waiting for him to lift his head, she had to hold back from brushing her fingers through his messy black hair.
"Hey, Delia," Al said smiling at her.
"I just wanted to say that I was sorry for Potions earlier, I wasn't feeling quite like myself," she gave a halfhearted smile.
"So I didn't do anything stupid?" Al grinned.
"No, you didn't," Delia agreed, "I should probably go get started on my work before dinner starts, I need to write an essay for Astronomy tonight."
"Why don't you just do it here, there's plenty of room at the table," Al suggested.
"Alright," Delia got her things out and started working on her assignment.
The time flew by and it was dinner before they knew it. Luckily, Delia had been able to finish the essay and start on her Defense Against the Dark Arts work. Al was a good working companion, a comfortable silence prevailed over their working space, the scratching of their quills a soundtrack to their efforts. After packing up, the pair made their way out to the Great Hall where dinner was being served. Rose was waiting for them at the table filled with red and gold students, looking hopefully at her friend. When Delia shook her head, Rose rolled her eyes. Luckily none of the others noticed, all of them too involved with their own conversations.
Over the next couple of days, every time Delia was alone with Al, she would try and tell him, she really did, but something would always happen. Either someone would interrupt, or she would get too tongue tied to say much of anything. Delia would always walk away flustered and often, muttering to herself, generally including the words 'stupid', 'Rose', and some select curses sprinkled amongst more mumbled words that were unrecognizable. She was at the end of her rope when the eve of Al's party arrived.
The girls had invited friends and family to the party, and even got James and Fred, who their Grandmum called this generation's Fred and George, to smuggle some butterbeer in from Hogsmeade. That night after dinner, the two girls met in the kitchens to make Al's cake and ask the house elves if they would be willing to make some food for the celebration.
They decided to make the dessert without magic, just to see if they could do it. So, they got out all the ingredients after talking with the house elves. While Delia worked on the wet ingredients, Rose started mixing the flour and other dry components.
"So I think you should tell him tomorrow night," Rose said out of the blue.
"Excuse me?" Delia questioned, not really wanting to discuss the new topic.
"You really should have done it before now, but it's about time really," Rose continued, "And besides, can you imagine what a brilliant birthday surprise it would be?"
"Hey!" Delia flicked the spoon in her hand at the red head next to her, splattering her with watery batter, "It's my life and I'll do what I like with it!"
Delia was not prepared for flour to be tossed at her in retaliation and was opening her mouth to add more when it smacked her across the face. While Rose laughed, clutching at her sides, Delia was busy spitting out the dry white substance that had invaded her mouth. When she was able to breathe again, Delia grabbed a glob of batter with her bare hands and dumped it over Rose's head. The subject was promptly forgotten as they armed themselves with cake ingredients and used tables to hide from the oncoming assault. After a short time however, they both ran out of ammo and rose from behind their hiding spots with their hands up in mock surrender. Delia started laughing even harder when she saw Rose's appearance. Her friend had milky red hair and white streaks running from her elbows to her fingertips. She did not think she looked any better though, seeing as Rose was laughing as hard, if not harder at her appearance. Unfortunately for them, the house elves chose that moment to come and check on them, finding their kitchen had been turned into a war zone.
They girls started apologizing profusely, but they were assured that it would be fine and that they could clean it up in a jiffy. Rose offered to clean it up with a quick scourgify charm, but Delia had to remind her that they had left their wands up in the dormitory to prevent them from being tempted to take shortcuts with the cake. Luckily for them, the elf in charge decided having to walk up their tower as they were was punishment enough, besides, the elves quite enjoyed the occasional mishap; it gave them something to do with their spare time.
So, the pair walked out of the kitchen, apologizing again over their shoulders and started the walk up to the tower. Delia was just glad that it was not curfew yet; imagine having to explain their tardiness and their appearance to a professor. The few people they did meet along the way gave them odd looks, but kept walking, shaking their heads as they went. Arriving at the Fat Lady's portrait, Delia gave the password. But before opening, they were given a stern talking to about how they dressed and how they were not acting like proper young ladies. Both Delia and Rose had to hide their snickers at that point and the Fat Lady huffed, finally allowing them to enter the common room. She then went to complain to her friend Violet about the unruliness of the students while the girls made their way to the stairs, laughing any time someone questioned their newly decorated clothing or gave them a funny look. But, when Al crossed the room to speak to them, Delia stopped for a moment.
"I'll meet you up there," Rose declared, giving Delia a meaningful look before departing.
"So, what exactly did you do to yourselves?" Al raised an eyebrow, trying to look serious, but his eyes glittering with suppressed laughter.
"Well, I could bore you with the tiny details, but basically, the kitchen now looks like Rose's face," Delia chuckled.
"And a bit like yours I reckon," Al reached up and wiped a bit of flour from her cheekbone. His voice was softer than before and the pad of his thumb was light on her skin. The atmosphere had shifted from when he had first spoken. Delia felt her breath catch in her throat as she realized how close they were standing.
"Yeah, I guess it does," Delia said quietly, biting her bottom lip slightly, it had been a nervous habit of hers for ages. She could not figure out why he was standing so close, but she could not help but hope the distance would be shortened still.
"Yeah," Al agreed, seemingly to nothing, but there was now only an inch or so between them and for Delia, it seemed the world was standing still. Al's hand was still raised, barely grazing her face. He leaned down slightly, but then, a voice shook them loose from their cocoon, "Delia, are you-," Rose's voice broke off as she saw how her friends were standing and how Al's head had shot backwards when he heard her coming.
"You probably want to go clean up I guess," Al said pleasantly, though his voice was shakier than normal.
"Yeah," Delia agreed, cringing at the way her voice came out all breathy, "I'll see you later."
With that, Albus lowered his hand and moved away, and Delia joined Rose on the stairs, casting a look over her shoulder to see Al looking up at her. She shot him a smile before rushing upstairs with Rose. When they were safely in the dormitory, Delia threw her arms up in the air.
"I was this close!" Delia showed Rose her thumb and pointer finger, separated by only a couple of centimeters with a look of exasperation on her face.
"I am so sorry Delia," Rose said, "I didn't know what you were doing and I was just coming down to check and see if you were coming or not, I am so, so sorry."
"Yeah, I suppose it wasn't really your fault," Delia's shoulders drooped slightly. She had been so close. All of her delaying and stuttering would have been worthwhile had she been given just another minute before Rose came down looking for her. The only good thing about the whole episode was that she had no excuse now not to tell him, if she was going to base what he thought about it on that almost kiss, then she would have a fairly good chance of him at least hearing her out. That was something wasn't it? She then asked Rose's opinion and was awarded with her friend's agreement on the matter.
"I'm just going to go to bed," Delia said once she had gotten out of the shower.
"That sounds good, I think I'll do the same," Rose agreed.
Delia and Rose were woken the next day around noon when Roxy came in announcing that it was about time they got their lazy bums out of bed. Now, Roxanne was one of Delia's favorite Weasleys, but she did not get up before one on a Saturday for just anyone. So, with a muttered threat, she turned over and snuggled deeper into her blankets.
"But Delia, guess what today is?" Roxy teased in a sing song sort of voice, "It's Al's birthday, and you wouldn't want to miss that, would you?"
Rose, who had started getting up when Roxy first arrived chuckled, "So, did that brother of yours get the butterbeer for tonight yet?"
"I think he and James are going out after lunch for it," Roxy sighed, "I wish it was a Hogsmeade weekend, that would be superb, but no, I was relegated to waking the two of you, while the boys got all the fun."
"Stop pouting Rox, it doesn't suit you," Delia was finally emerging from her four-poster, albeit she was not looking happy about it.
"Fine then, I'm going to look for Lily. If you aren't in the common room soon, I'll get her to come up armed," Roxy left with a cheeky smile and a parting wave. Delia and Rose looked at each other with slight apprehension, Lily's mother taught her how to execute a bat-boogey hex perfectly, and neither girl wanted to be on the receiving end.
"I swear those fifth years get more audacious every day," Rose complained lightly.
"Tell me about it, I tried to separate a couple the other night on patrol and they broke apart just long enough to tell me to shove off and then just went back to what they were doing. Aren't prefects supposed to be authoritative and such?" Delia rolled her eyes at the memory before adding, "Of course that could have been because it was in fact Lily."
"We'd best hurry up before she comes up, remember, we have to be functional for tonight," Rose had a way of making even the simplest comments come out suggestive and it was all Delia could do not to hurl a pillow at the girl's face, the last time had been so satisfying and she was sorely tempted to do it again. However, under the threat of Lily's wand, Delia decided against it.
When they ventured down the staircase, it was only to find Roxy and Lily on their way up, no doubt on their way to enforce Roxy's warning from earlier, however, the two fifth years played it off as they were simply going for a stroll to their dormitory.
"Oh, guys, Al is looking for you," Lily mentioned when they passed each other.
"Thanks," Rose replied before muttering under her breath, "That could have been bad."
"You're telling me," Delia repressed the urge to shudder at the thought of her poor nose and what state Lily would have left it in.
"There you are!" Albus stopped short when he reached the bottom of their stairs, knowing from previous experience that they would only turn into a slide if he attempted to climb up them.
"Al!" Rose hurled herself at her cousin before wishing him a happy birthday. When Rose stepped away, Al opened his arms and looking hopefully at Delia who rolled her eyes before giving him a hug that was just as exuberant as Rose's.
The trio went down to the Great Hall to get lunch, or in the girl's cases, breakfast. Just outside the hall, Scorpius was waiting for them. In the two months since Albus had walked in on a scene that he still claimed had 'scarred him for life', he and Scorpius had become great friends, which had been a relief for Rose because Al was her favorite cousin. Also, it meant Delia did not have to choose between her two best friends.
"Happy birthday Al," Scorpius grinned and clapped him on the back.
"Thanks mate. I was thinking I'd have to spend it all alone, because these two decided not to get out of bed until they were threatened with Lily's hexing abilities," Al and Scorpius had a laugh at their expense and they all went to sit at the Gryffindor table.
"Hey, it's not our faults you decided to have a birthday on a Saturday," Delia pointed out.
"How was I supposed to control that?" Al questioned.
"You should have told everyone to celebrate on Friday or something, trust me, you could have figured something out," she responded, tweaking his nose and smirking, something which they all attributed to hanging out with Scorpius too often.
"Oh, for the love of Merlin," Al wrinkled his nose and went back to piling food on his plate, clearly giving up the futile argument.
"Look at it this way mate, we get to spend the rest of the day with these lovely ladies," Scorpius said, sneaking a look at his girlfriend to see if sucking up would get him anything. However, Delia doubted that a swat to the arm was what he was hoping for. They all had a nice laugh while Scorpius pretended to be hurt before kissing the redhead and then going back to eating.
For the rest of the day, the four teenagers traipsed around the castle. A few hours later, the girls left Scorpius to entertain Al while they moved all the food and the large chocolate cake the house elves had gladly made for them, along with their gifts, to the Room of Requirement. All they needed now was the drinks and they would be set. The party was going to start sometime after dinner so the younger kids could get back to their dormitories before curfew. However, anyone in fifth year and above was clear to do as they pleased, Delia and Rose really did not have any power over them, something they had learned the hard way that morning.
Once everything was set up, they met the boys up in the Gryffindor common room after dinner. The red and gold supporters had grown used to the snake that was often seated with Rose and the other two, so no one really expressed their opinion about his presence anymore.
While the boys played a game of Wizard's Chess, Delia and Rose passed the times for the party along to Lily and Roxy to tell the other guests. When Fred and James came in through the portrait hole, Rose got that glimmer in her eye that Delia was equally afraid and admiring of. The boys were the signal that they were all waiting for, and everyone slowly dispersed. Rose made some excuse about stealing Scorpius away before curfew and Al pretended to gag over the board before cutting his friend loose with a well-placed queen, putting Scorpius into checkmate, thereby winning the game.
Rose was the last to leave, giving everyone plenty of time to get to the room. Delia was the one that had to get Al to the room where his party was being held, it was the only part of the plan she was hesitant about. However, it was logistically the only way it could really work without rousing his suspicion. After nearly a quarter of an hour, consisting of one poorly played game of chess and several questions of why her playing was off, Delia was finally sure that they would be safe to head to the party.
"Come for a walk with me, I have something to show you," Delia hoped Al would agree, or all their careful planning would be wasted.
"What is it?" Al questioned, looking curious. Al loved surprises, which was one of the reasons Delia had suggested throwing the party in the first place.
"You'll have to wait and see," Delia grinned, it was going to work!
"Let's go then! Wait, where are we going exactly?" Delia had to laugh at his excitement, and luckily, that happiness did not get pushed out of the way by annoyance when he remained persistent in his wheedling for information throughout the journey to the Room of Requirement.
"Come on, we're here," Delia hushed him as she paced three times in front of the blank stretch of wall, watching a fantastic wooden door appear. It had wrought iron decorations and large circular handles to pull. Based on the door alone, Delia would have loved the room, but what it could do just blew her out of the water.
"The Room of Requirement?" Al sounded confused, but Delia pulled him inside with her, where his face changed to a look of delight.
"SURPRISE!" everyone inside the room shouted before pouncing on Al and wishing him a happy birthday.
The room was filled with every member of the Weasley/Potter family in attendance at Hogwarts, along with Al's teammates on the Gryffindor Quidditch team, and everyone in between. Delia was pleased that even the different houses were being friendly with each other, she would hate for Al's 17th birthday to be ruined by something as stupid as house pride.
When Al was finally released from the hugs and well-wishes of his friends and family, he joined Delia, Rose, and Scorpius who were sitting at a table in one of the corners. The room looked fabulous if they did say so themselves. There was one long table against the back wall where snacks and drinks were laid out, tables on the outskirts of the room and space for dancing in the middle. Rose had even asked the room for a nice cubby in the wall to hide the cake in until it was time. There was a circular table next to the food that was laden with presents in every shape and size. The room was done up in red and gold with loud music blaring; it was fantastic.
"Thank you so, so much," Al scooped Rose and Delia up in a hug that left them gasping for air and Scorpius laughing in his seat, "How did you have time to do all this?"
"Well, we couldn't exactly let your birthday pass us by without celebrating did you?" Rose questioned, sitting down on Scorpius' lap instead of the chair she had been scooped out of.
"Well, no, I guess not," Al shrugged, "But I didn't expect anything like this."
"You can thank Delia for it too, the party was all her idea," Rose nodded her head toward Delia friend with a wink when Al turned toward her.
"It wasn't really that big a deal, Rose did most of the planning," Delia assured him grinning, "Plus, you only come of age once."
"I will owe you forever for this one," Al said, looking around in awe.
They chatted for a while, people forever coming over to say hello and wish Al a happy birthday again. Scorpius' friend Terrence even came over and joined them for a bit.
"So, having a good time?" Rose asked the curly haired boy from her position on Scorpius' lap.
"Yeah, this is great Rose," Terrence replied, looking around the ceiling where every once in a while, a balloon filled with confetti would explode on unsuspecting party goers.
"I'm pretty sure Fred and James have something to do with those, because I certainly don't remember putting them up," Delia speaking aloud what they had all been thinking.
A slow song was soon played and Delia watched as Scorpius and Rose took to the dance floor. Delia noticed Terrence's gaze trained on Roxy and heard him sigh a little.
"Just go ask her to dance Terrence, it's not a difficult as it appears, she's actually very nice. Just don't insult her and you'll be fine," Delia shooed him away as Al looked on.
"You know, being her older cousin, I really should have stopped him before Fred punches his face in, but I am in too good a mood to be a protector tonight," Al's smile nearly made Delia's heart stop, though short of that, it did melt into a puddle as she smiled back.
"Come dance with me," Delia said, making it sound a bit more like a question than she intended.
Al took her hand and brought her onto the floor near where Rose had disappeared to a minute or so before. He wrapped one arm around her waist and took her hand in his. Delia delighted in bringing herself closer to him, not really noticing everyone dancing around them. When the song ended, neither seemed willing to let go of the other, but the music was faster than really acceptable to slow dance to, so they made their way toward their table again, Al unwilling to relinquish her hand. Before they got there however, Delia saw Rose and caught her eye. The message seemed obvious in Rose's raised eyebrow and pointed look. Rose was right of course, it was now or never, so Delia tugged a little on Al's hand having him look down at her and before he could say anything, Delia had reached up and pressed her lips on his, hoping that her actions were the right ones. Once Al realized what was going on, he pulled her tighter and reciprocated the kiss, lifting her a little in the air. Delia had never quite thought about how much shorter than him she was, but each thought that flitted through her brain at that moment was gone before it could really be recognized. Her fingers twined through his black hair, finding it just as soft as she had imagined it to be. They broke a part, breathless and pink in the cheeks to wolf whistles being given off by Fred and James and the sight of Lily accepting a couple Galleons from her glum looking cousin, Louis.
"Finally," Rose exclaimed, making her way toward them, pulling Scorpius along by the hand in her excitement, "Now was that so hard?"
"What are you on about?" Al looked a little confused, but still not letting go of Delia's waist.
"That took forever, but I do believe I just made nearly ten Galleons," Rose responded in the most unhelpful way possible.
"What kind of friend are you?" Delia rolled her eyes. Rose had had an unfair advantage, but seeing as she was walking toward James with a smile that was just a bit too innocent, Delia figured she could let it slide.
"I swear, if she had wanted that to happen, she could have just waited about two more minutes last night before interrupting us," Al shook his head at his cousin.
"Yeah, she apologized nearly eight times last night," Delia laughed, "But, I wasn't sure if it was just a fluke, or what though."
"It was definitely not a fluke," Al said before leaning down and pressing another kiss to her lips, her heart fluttering all the while.