Rose Weasley

"You've got to be kidding me."

"I'm afraid not ma'am. The last train for the night just left."

"But it isn't due for another –" she checked her watch.

Shit.

She sighed and ran her hand through her chocolate brown locks. Shooting the guy at the desk a sheepish smile, she pulled out her cell phone. Dialling her best-friend-cum-cousin Albus Potter, Rose cursed her luck.

"Bugsy, you need to come pick me up from the train station next to work." She informed him, without bothering to introduce herself when he answered her call.

"I'm sorry, do I know you?" a voice said on the line.

"Um," Rose began and checked her phone to see if she'd dialled Albus and not someone else, by mistake. "You basket, it's me Rose." She said once she'd made sure it was Albus that she'd dialled. Albus sniggered, "But why Rosie, did you miss the tube again?" he teased in a sing song voice.

"Yeah, Regina kept me. Yes, again. I know it's frustrating." She said before Al could tell her those exact things. "Please pick me up, babe. If you love me?" she begged.

She heard him sigh, "Pam's going to kill me. Pam, baby, I'm going to get Rosie. She got lost again. Yeah, I know, she's an idiot." Rose heard him say to someone next to him.

"At least bother hanging up first," she muttered ending the call and rolling her eyes at her cousin's idiocy. Her phone lit up in her hand and she felt it vibrate against her palm. It was Lysander Scamander - her boss' boyfriend.

Lysander had taken somewhat of a fancy to her because she'd been so nice to him when they'd first met and Regina had introduced them. Everyone else, including his little brother Lorcan, had been judgemental of the massive age difference that Regina and Lysander had – about thirty years; but not Rose. She was the nicest person ever, Al had told her, smirking.

"Hey Xander," she greeted him as she crossed the road, her phone between her shoulder and her ear. "What's up? All okay?"

"Yeah, hi Rose. Everything's fine. I was wondering actually, if you were free this weekend?"

"Um, yeah I am actually." Rose replied, her eye out for Al's yellow Beetle. The car was actually both and her and Albus' car which they'd bought along with Albus' other best friend Scorpius. The three of them had pitched in with parts from their salary and bought the car. Rose, being the girl who always got her way, had gotten to choose which car; Scorpius the colour and Al got to choose who got to keep it. So naturally, Rose chose the most feminine car available; Scorpius the gayest colour and Albus kept the car for himself. It was all quite predictable really.

What no one could quite predict though was the fight that ensued between Rose and Scorpius. Scorpius wanted the car on specific days of the week but Rose wanted to split the time as and when she needed the vehicle. There were two problems with that:

Rose didn't know how to drive. (Yet, she would argue.)

Scorpius didn't want to know how to drive and insisted on having Rose or Al around all the time when he had 'custody' of the car.

Quite clearly it was a messed up, confusing situation so Albus had taken it upon himself to decide who got the car when. He was pretty good at it too, so far no one had complained even once. Maybe that had to do with the fact that neither Rose not Scorpius had driven the car so far.

Back in the present, Rose didn't know how to react or what to think as her boss' boyfriend asked her out on a date, to meet his family.

"But my family's going to be there as well!" she told him, her voice squeaky. Rose knew for a fact that Regina was in love with Lysander. In fact things were going so well between Regina and Lysander that Regina had told Rose of her plans of asking Lysander to marry her if; and Rose was quoting her here, 'he didn't put a ring on it. "They think I'm single." She added in explanation.

"But I can't go with Regina, Rose!" Lysander protested.

"Why?" Rose asked slowly.

"Look, I just can't okay!" he replied, a few silent moments later. "Just trust me on this, please!" he pleaded. "Please, Rose." He added, desperation colouring his voice.

"Lys, I'm three years older than you." Rose said. "I know that has nothing on the thirty Regina has on you –"

"– hey!" he protested.

"– but it matters to me. I couldn't possibly date someone three years younger than me. Plus, we have nothing in common; except probably Regina. I don't think we would really work." She finished.

"That's the thing! We don't have to work; we just need to pretend to be 'working'. I don't give a shit about your favourite colour or which Quidditch team you support –"

"– I don't really like the sport."

"See? I don't care! I just need someone to be my date for this family thing. I can't turn up with Regina; Lorcan wouldn't let me hear the end of it."

Rose frowned.

"Wait, explain that to me. How does that work?"

"ItolderthatIbrokeupwitheragesago."

"Excuse me?" Rose asked, confused. "I didn't get that."

Lysander sighed, "I told her that I broke up with her long ago. She kept telling me that she's got me wrapped around her finger and that I needed to grow a pair. So I told her that I'd called it quits with her." He said, slowly this time.

Rose did a double take, "Why would you do that? Unless –"

"– please don't. I've been meaning to, for ages. But she's just so –"

"You chickened out! You're despicable!" Rose burst out just as she spotted her Beetle come around the corner.

"Yeah, I know. I know." He said, sounding defeated. "Can you help me out, please Rose? I even told Lore that I started dating someone else. She wouldn't stop setting me up with her bloody friends so I told her that well, I was dating you." he finished, sheepishly.

"YOU DID WHAT!"

"No, no, no, listen to me. Don't freak out. Just –"

"I'm listening." Rose said, glaring at him.

"Lorcan had called me and was trying to set me up with Jennifer Hughes, that's Rita Skeeter's daughter and you know how much I hate that girl. I'd been looking at one of my friend's profiles on a social networking site that shall remain unnamed and you happened to be in one of the pictures so I kind of maybe sort of told Lorcan I had a date with you that night." Lysander finished in a rush. "I didn't say your name though; I just said it was a red head we both knew very well." He added hastily.

"You're not the type I'd go for anyway; too young." Rose said, flipping her hair over her shoulder. "Listen fast and close, I'll do it but not just like that. I've got to go now but meet me after work tomorrow at seven p.m. at Flourish and Blotts'. We'll figure out how we're doing this." She finished quickly and hung up just as Albus stopped and opened the door.

"Who was that?" he asked as Rose got into the car. "And why can't you apparate?"

"No one, it's none of your business and I can't because I failed the test again." Rose replied throwing her bag in the backseat as Albus started driving.

"Ooh, defensive and how long are you going to depend on the tube to take you from one place to another? You're going to have to learn to either drive or apparate at some point."

"We'll cross that bridge when we get there." Rose said dismissively.

"What if I refuse to pick you up at times like these?" Al asked, glancing furtively in her direction.

"Eyes on the road!" Rose barked, avoiding the question. "How's Pam? I haven't spoken to her in ages. I wonder how that is, I spending practically every waking moment that I'm not working with you." She wondered out aloud.

"You're such an idiot Rose Weasley." Albus said, shaking his head.

"I've been told on many an occasion," Rose replied, rolling her eyes and sticking her tongue out at him.

Rose Weasley had so many family members in her life that she had next to none friends to whom she wasn't related to by blood or marriage. Her best friend at school had been Albus, her first cousin. She was also sort of friends with Albus' guy best friend Scorpius Malfoy. Predictably, Rose and Scorpius didn't get along that well. Though they had collaborated on many a birthday party while they'd been at school, they weren't particularly big fans of one another. Rose wouldn't even classify Scorpius as her friend, let alone best friend.

So when Rose had been presented with the opportunity of befriending someone outside her family, someone she wasn't related to by blood or had grown up with (like Ella Mason, her next door neighbour who was a Muggle.); she could hardly pass it up. That was the exact reason why she had decided to help Lysander out with his 'problem'.

"And just so we're clear. I don't like you. I'm doing this because you're my friend and I could do with more friends like you." Rose said as she and Lysander walked out of Flourish and Blotts' bookstore the next day.

"Yeah, okay. I don't like you either." Lysander said stopping as she did as well and turning so he was facing Rose. He scratched the back of his neck as Rose started to say something, which caused her to stop and ask him, "What?"

He raised an eyebrow, "What, nothing. There was an itch there, everything's fine."

Rose pursed her lips, "I didn't say anything was wrong. Why would you assume – what aren't you telling me, Lys?" she asked him, folding her arms over her chest.

"Nothing! I'm not hiding anything. I just had an itch there Rose! Jeez, give me some credit okay; I'm not that bad at lying." He added rolling his eyes.

Rose continued looking at him with narrowed eyes and when he didn't budge, she decided to let it go. "I have a feeling this is going to come back and bite me in the ass." She said as she hugged him before kissing him once on each cheek in goodbye.

"It won't. Trust me. It's just a one-off thing, Rose." He assured her as she stepped back.

Rose shrugged and turned away, "Call me, yeah? We'll work out the details."

"Sure. Bye Rose!"

Rose smiled, shaking her head as she walked away.

You'd think Rose Weasley saw it coming, but she really didn't. Rose thought it would come back and bite her in the ass but it really didn't. Rose thought she wouldn't enjoy it, but she actually did. And at the end of it all, in an odd way, Rose was thankful for Lysander and what he'd done for her. Of course, that didn't make the other crap that'd happened all better. But, she was thankful; in a very odd way.