Hi, so this story follows four generation of Hogwarts; Marauders, Fred and George, the trio and then Rose and Scorpius. It's just a four-shot kind of thing that came to my head.
This is the last part. You don't have to read the earlier parts to understand it. :) I hope you enjoy; there are mentions of a few OCs from my story The Magic Word Is Sorry Not Please, the readers of which this story is dedicated to.
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, or any of the characters, I just love Harry Potter.
The Book for the Future: Fourth
9th November, 2022
Sat in the common room late at night wasn't the way Rose Weasley liked to spend her nights, especially with only her cousin to keep her company.
"Remind me why we're still awake?" Al asked, sounding sleepy, as he moved to lie down on the sofa.
"Because Scorp's on prefect duty, and I promised I'd wait up for him."
"Oh that's why! It's not like you see him every second of every day." Al replied sarcastically.
Rose glared, the type of glare that made Al squirm.
Why he'd agreed to join her, he didn't know; he'd been with Maddie for too long that day and was feeling particularly generous. Right now though, Maddie was upstairs and fast asleep, and Al was still wide awake. He got the feeling that Rose didn't particularly like her decision to wait either, though; she was sat deliberately straight as if to keep herself awake.
Never before had Gryffindor common room seemed so perfect for sleep; the wind whistled peacefully past the windows, the armchair Rose was sat in seemed to fit snugly around her body, it was nice and snug and warm, and the fire crackled soothingly.
Jumping up, Rose turned off the fire purely for something to do to distract herself from her own tiredness.
"Why are you doing that-?"
"I was too warm."
"I was perfect." Al said indignantly, standing and walking to where she stood. He flicked his wand, and the flames reappeared.
"Al, please?" Rose replied tiredly, swishing her own wand again and forcing the flames to evaporate.
"Rose, no." Al mimicked, before turning the flames on again. He then, using his skills as seeker, reached out and took her wand from her grasp. She was so tired she didn't even notice fast enough to snatch it back.
"Al…" She said warningly, holding her hand out.
Al twisted her wand between his fingers, annoyingly.
"Al." She crossed her arms, annoyed, and watched as her cousin teased her.
The smirk on his face only made it funnier when there was a loud bang from her wand.
"Bugger!" Al exclaimed, throwing Rose her wand back and looking at where there was now a brick missing in the wall by the fire.
"This is why you should never take anyone's wand-" Rose began, while laughing at him.
He mimicked her angrily, wondering how much trouble he would get in for breaking the fireplace.
"Wait, there's something in there!" Rose exclaimed, after looking at the place the brick had fallen from.
Al reached in, and pulled out a dusty, red book. "Oh, I thought it would be something good, at least." He whined, throwing the dusty book at his cousin and covering her clothes in dust.
She shook her head angrily and sat on the floor, opening the book to their first page.
Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs present The Book for the Future.
This book is to be added to by generations of marauders.
Rose looked up at her cousin as he struggled to place the brick back where it had come from. She considered not telling him what she was reading, as a kind of revenge, but then realised she couldn't; she couldn't keep something that felt so important from him.
"Al, this is by the Marauders." She told him quietly, surprised at the awe in her own voice.
Al rushed to her side, considering taking the book from her but settling for sharing instead. "The Marauders? You mean Sirius and-"
"Remus. Look" Rose looked down and read the name in front of her, which teenage Remus Lupin must have written years ago. Reading his message, 'If you're reading this, and you're my child, then you've proved my fear could be conquered', she felt the back of her eyes turn warm in an all too familiar way.
Al read the entry, before mumbling "Teddy should read this. It would mean a lot to him." He turned to see his cousin with tears in her eyes, nodding silently.
"If this book is by the marauders then they're all… Gone." She realised out loud as she turned the page and saw the name of her cousins' grandfather.
Al wasn't the type to cry; he was more of the strong-and-silent type than scream-and-sob like Rose, but even he, as he read the ironic fears of his grandfather to lose the loyalty of his friends, felt his throat close with emotion. He couldn't speak about what was written in front of him, so instead turned the page again.
It turned out he was the strong-and-silent and ripping-pages-out-of-books-and-burning-them-on-the-fire type.
Rose had hardly had time to read the name on the page before it was burning. "Peter?" She asked quietly, unsure what else to say.
"Yeah. Traitor."
He didn't seem apologetic for wrecking the book, but Rose didn't think he really needed to be. She almost agreed with him; Pettigrew didn't deserve to have his hopes and fears preserved with the others'.
Sirius' entry made Rose laugh; not genuine laughter, the kind of under-her-breath laughter that was muted by her sobs.
"Do think my Dad has-?"
Al turned the page to see George and Fred Weasley, under the heading of Honorary Marauders. Confused, yet also interested, Rose and Al read the page silently.
Everything about the twins matched; their handwriting, their horrible attempts at jokes in their messages, their fears… Al felt a horrible loss in the pit of his stomach at the idea that he'd never met one half of the double act.
Rose, by his side, had now given up on even trying to hold back her sobs; she found herself wiping tears away as they dripped down her cheeks. "They're all dead." She sighed to Al. "Remus, Sirius, James, Fred…"
For as unemotionally connected as they were, Al still put his arm around his cousin in an attempt to cheer her up, letting the book fall from their knees and close on the floor.
It was at this moment that Scorpius climbed through the portrait hole, jumping down to see his crying girlfriend sat on the floor with her cousin trying vainly to comfort her.
"What happened?" He asked, running to Rose and putting his arms around her. He kissed the top of her head in a vague attempt to make her feel better, and she stopped sobbing and exhaled deeply.
While Rose tried to calm herself down, Al explained. "We found this book in the wall, and it was written in by the marauders and the twins, so-"
Rose watched as Scorpius nodded understandingly, and passed the book to him. "Read it."
"No, I shouldn't." He shook his head.
"You should." Al corrected him, his eyes steady as if he was in no mood to argue.
Scorpius did as he was told, reading Lupin, James, Sirius, George and Fred's entries. He turned the page again, and smiled to himself as he read Hermione's entry. "Rose, your Mum's entry's really sweet-"
"My Mum wrote in there?" Rose asked, taking the book back and reading the page hastily.
"We didn't get that far!" Al said excitedly, reading over Rose's shoulder, glad that a few more entries might even out the dead to alive ratio.
"'And if you're my child I hope you have red hair.'"Rose read, smiling to herself before turning the page.
"Dad!" Al exclaimed as he read his father's name.
The three of them read in silence, smiling to themselves as they read Harry's entry. Scorpius looked down at Rose after he read 'love is the most powerful magic we just have to believe in it', she smiled back at him and moments later Al groaned impatiently at the two of them.
Al read his Uncle Ron's entry and was amazed at his honesty; amazed at how he was willing to die for her. Aside from his family, Al wouldn't die for anyone, not even Maddie. He turned though, and realised that Rose and Scorpius would probably gladly sacrifice themselves for each other.
"We have to write in it." Rose decided aloud, the two boys not disagreeing with her like she expected. "And we'll tell James and Fred and everyone as well; it's meant to be passed down for generations so that's what we'll do."
"Just like the Marauders wanted." Al smiled, before turning to the blank page. "Anyone got a quill?" He asked.
Of course, the two geeks on either side of him offered him a quill each, and moments later Al's name was scribbled across the top of the page.
Hope: Now that the world's a fairer place, can my hope just be that I'm happy in the end?
He read back what he had written, and then glanced up at the burning paper on the fire; Peter's hope had been to be happy. He hated how similar his entry was to the traitor's, so added to it.
And that the world stays peaceful.
Rose watched as her cousin wrote his fear; That he comes back. She was about to comment, before he added to it. Physically impossible, I know, but I still have nightmares about it.
He bit the end of the quill as he decided on his message. "Can I just reply to others' messages?" He asked.
"Yes, of course." Rose replied, watching as Al began to write again.
"'In reply to everyone else's messages; the world is a better place now thanks to the writers of this book and many others. I'm grateful every day.'" Scorpius read Al's entry aloud, amazed that something so nice could be written by his usually uninspired cousin.
Rose took far less time to write her entry, although she felt the need to write Daughter of Hermione Granger and Ronald Weasley, redhead, under her name, proving they had achieved their hopes.
"You fear inequality, and hope that your family stays together; you sound exactly like a combination of your parents." Al told her, which Rose took as a compliment.
Message: Moony, Padfoot, Prongs and Rapier, RIP and thank you.
Rose finished her entry and held her quill out to Scorpius.
Normally, Scorpius avoided getting involved in anything Weasley or Potter-ish; he didn't feel he had the right. But in this case, he wanted to write in the book, not for himself, but for everyone else.
Rose leant her head on his shoulder and Al watched quietly as Scorpius Hyperion Malfoy wrote his entry.
Hope: For my children to have the surname Weasley.
Fear: That the world could one day become what it used to be; fearful.
Message: It feels wrong to write in here, but maybe having a Malfoy write an entry shows just how much the world has changed. Thanks to the people who wrote in this book, and their sons and daughters and friends, the future is exactly as they wanted it to be.