Rose turned the page of Hogwarts: A History for what must have been the hundredth time. The book was falling apart, held together with Spellotape. You had to hold it carefully in case one of the many loose pages fell out. It was now impervious to Reparo because the spell had been used on it so many times. She loved this book more than any other, but not just because of its content, which was now rather out-dated. She had read the modern version too many times to count, but she preferred this one. It was her mother's book. It had survived thirty-two years of page turning, being thrown into trunks, being read again and again and again. It held that beautiful smell of old book: musk, butter, lemon zest and potent knowledge that seeped out of the pages and made the back of her nose tingle. She shifted in the armchair, lying down with her head on one arm and her legs dangling over the other. The crackling of the Gryffindor fire was a soothing background to her immersion in the words and the heat warmed her bare feet.

Her feet that someone thought at that moment it would be funny to tickle. Rose screamed and twisted in the chair so violently that she fell to the floor, causing the few people left in the common room to stare at her. She looked up and saw Albus standing over her with a wicked grin on his face.

"Hey Rosie, is the floor comfortable?" He mocked.

"Oh go away, Albus. I'm busy," Rose snapped and stood up gingerly, her knees throbbing slightly from their unexpected contact with the hard ground. As soon as she was on her feet Albus pulled her into a hug.

"Yeah, because reading a book you've read a thousand times is really important, isn't it?" Albus said to the top of his cousin's head. Rose sighed and laughed slightly.

"Shut up. Why are you here anyway?" She asked, pulling her head back so she could see his face. "Can't find a girl stupid enough to go out with you on a Saturday night?" She laughed as Albus pushed her away roughly. She sat down in the armchair again, pulling her knees up to her chest, still grinning. Albus sat in the chair next to her and sighed, leaning his head back against the velvet-covered padding.

"Says the nun."

"Do you even know what a nun is?"

Albus gave her a withering look. "Your mum isn't the only one who grew up with muggles, you know."

"Calm down, Al, I'm only joking."

"I know," he replied, his expression softening. "And I am sure Felix would vouch for you being most unlike a nun." Rose tried to hit him, but he pulled back, laughing. Eventually he stopped chuckling and looked at her, his bright green eyes, just another feature he had inherited from his father, mischievous. "I'm bored as a niffler in a lead box. Want to go out?"

"Where? To the other end of the common room? That sounds like so much fun Albus, why didn't you suggest it earlier?" Rose was deliberately winding her cousin up, and it was working.

"No, to the hallways! I just feel like going for a walk and as it is one in the morning, and we don't have a tunnel from here to Hogsmeade, that is our only option."

"Fine. But you'd better not get us caught because I am not getting detention in our first week back."

"I'm not stupid, Rose. Come on." Albus stood up and walked towards the portrait hole. Rose unpinned her Prefect badge, which she didn't think was appropriate attire for late night trawling of corridors, and tucked it into the pocket of her robes before following her cousin. They clambered out of the Gryffindor common room and wandered through the silent halls, their bare feet making no noise on the cold stone floor. They walked for about half an hour, whispering and laughing as quietly as possible. The last thing they needed was for Filch to hear them. Albus was not only Rose's cousin, but one of her best friends. They spent the majority of their time together, took all the same classes – except Arithmancy, which Albus refused to go near – and played together on the house quidditch team. Them and every other Weasley and Potter. Playing against the Gryffindor team was like playing against a tiger – they were fast, brutal and striped orange and black. It had started with Victoire being chosen as the third chaser in her first year, as nobody else could do what she could on a broom. The next year, Teddy (who was neither Potter nor Weasley by blood but was considered both) had become keeper, only having applied because he wanted to impress Victoire, but who turned out to rival the famous Oliver Wood in his school days. Perhaps it was his godfather's careful talent-nurturing, but Teddy was excellent, and got everything he could have wanted from the Gryffindor quidditch team – he was now captain of the Tornados and married to the beautiful Victoire, and he still kept up the tradition of morphing his hair so it was striped with bright Weasley ginger and Potter black for each match that he had gained in Hogwarts. From that point on, every Weasley or Potter that passed through the school was on the quidditch team, as they had been for generations before, and it hadn't stopped yet. People stopped complaining that it was unfair when Dominique had captained the team and, due to public outcry, had not put a single Weasley or Potter on the team except for herself. Gryffindor had been destroyed in every single match. After a term, Professor Longbottom, Head of Gryffindor House, had ordered that Dominique, for the sake of Gryffindor pride, get rid of her new team and bring back the Weasley-Potter army. As Rose and Albus walked along the Charms corridor they discussed the new moves James was teaching them and how they could use them in the first match of the season, Gryffindor versus Ravenclaw. Albus was just describing how, if it looked like Scorpius Malfoy was going to reach the snitch before him, he would just curse him when Rose pulled back a tapestry covering a hidden passage and they saw none other than the Ravenclaw seeker himself in a rather compromising position. He had Stephanie McLaggen pinned against the wall with her legs wrapped around his waist and his hands wandering in places Rose didn't care to think about. They broke apart to find Rose and Albus staring at them, looks of disgust on their faces.

"Get a room, Malfoy," Rose said, knowing it was childish but not caring at all.

Malfoy prised Stephanie's legs from around his waist and sneered. "Jealous are we, Weasley?"

"Of what?"

Malfoy merely smirked even more and, dragging Stephanie by the wrist, pushed past them down the corridor.

"He is foul," Rose said to Albus as she watched the blonde's retreating back. They began to walk again, in silence this time. Rose was thinking about what Malfoy had said. It was utterly ridiculous that she would be jealous, and of Stephanie McLaggen no less. The girl was a well-renowned slut in the halls of Hogwarts and had no kindness to soften the blow. Rose laughed at her ironic wording of that thought. And then, not only was it Stephanie McLaggen, but she had been snogging Scorpius Malfoy, the person Rose hated most, a fact of which Malfoy was well aware. The feeling was mutual. There was no way that she could be the least bit jealous. As she thought this, Rose was refusing to acknowledge the twinge that she had felt in her stomach when she saw the couple, which definitely had not been due to nausea at the sight of their actions.

Rose,

Meet me at the top of the North Tower tonight at midnight.

Love, Felix

She folded Felix's note and placed it beside her Transfiguration textbook. She looked over at her boyfriend, who was sitting a few desks away from the one she shared with Albus. She smiled at him and nodded. She wasn't sure why he did not just ask her at the end of the lesson, but she supposed he wanted to impress her in some way. She turned back to her book in time to see Albus picking up the note and opening it. She had no chance to stop him.

"What on Earth could Felix want with you in the middle of the night? At the top of an empty tower, no less." Albus was smirking. Rose grabbed the note from his hands.

"It is none of your business. Nothing worse than what Sarah Crawley wanted with you in the broom cupboard on the fifth floor yesterday, I'm sure."

"Do you even like Felix?" Albus was ignoring her comment, although his cheeks were slightly pink.

"That is a ridiculous question and I am not going to dignify it with an answer."

"If it is so ridiculous then why won't you look at me?"

A shadow fell over their desk before Rose could give any retort. They looked up to see Professor Finch-Fletchley standing over them with a disapproving look on his face.

"Miss Weasley should be looking at her book, Mr Potter, and reading it in silence. As sixth years, I would expect you to have more sense."

"Sorry, Professor," they said in unison. He walked back to the front of the classroom, his robes billowing behind him. Rose looked at Albus and she could see him trying not to laugh. With a small snort she returned her gaze to Chapter One of 'Guide to Advanced Transfiguration'.

The bell rang ten minutes later and Rose stood up, stuffing her books into her bag. Felix was by her desk in seconds. She turned to smile at him, but he kissed her before she could process what he was doing. She pulled back quickly.

"Felix!"

"What? Can I not kiss my girlfriend? I never knew there was a law against it." He leaned in to kiss her again, but Rose turned her head so his lips hit her cheek, leaving a small trail of saliva.

"I just wasn't expecting it," she said, bending down to pick up her bag and avoiding him while surreptitiously wiping her cheek at the same time. "And it was in front of Professor Finch-Fletchley, too. I'm a Prefect, Felix; I can't just go around kissing people in public." She stood up again and saw that he looked a bit hurt. "Not that I don't want to," she garbled, feeling guilty, "but can we limit it to the hallways, where there are no teachers?"

Felix smiled and pulled her into a hug. "You are far too good, Rosie."

Rose tried not to growl at his use of this name. Only her family called her Rosie, but Felix couldn't seem to accept this. Finally, he released her.

"I'll see you at lunch, ok? I have to run and see Mark. He seems to think Sophie is going to dump him."

"Alright." Rose smiled at him before he turned and ran to find his best friend.

"You are so lucky you don't have to share a room with that idiot. He's bad enough on his own, but Mark just makes him even worse." Albus was still in the classroom, having stood behind Rose as he waited for Felix to leave. At his remark she turned to glare at him, which she had been doing far too much lately.

"Piss off, Albus. You just hate him because he's my boyfriend."

"Well, yes. But he's also a prick. That doesn't help much."

Rose rolled her eyes and walked out of the classroom. Albus wouldn't leave her be, though, so he linked his arm into hers as they walked down the corridor.

"I don't see how you can like him as much as you say you do if you won't even let him kiss you."

"Albus, will you just drop it? I am not in the mood for this right now." Rose sounded serious, so Albus complied and they walked in silence out to the grounds and towards the beech tree by the lake. There they met Hugo, Roxy and Lily, who were sprawled on the ground, enjoying the last few days of sun that had stretched into September. It was Wednesday, six days after their return to Hogwarts. Rose and Albus dropped their bags next to their cousins' feet and Albus joined them on the ground. Rose, however, walked towards the lake. She pulled off her shoes and socks and shortened her robes with her wand so that they only reached her knees before walking into the water. The liquid lapped across her feet and the little stones mixed in the fine silt stuck between her toes momentarily before they were washed away as her feet moved forwards, further into the lake. She stopped when the water reached the middle of her calves and she stood as the chill of the water travelled up her legs and towards the rest of her body.

"Don't be an idiot, Weasley, your feet will fall off," a voice called behind her. Rose looked over her shoulder to identify the speaker.

"What do you care if I lose my feet, Malfoy? It would give you more opportunities to laugh at me."

Irritation flashed across Scorpius' face, but he masked it quickly. "I simply don't wish to look at two ugly stumps every time I walk into Transfiguration. Your boyfriend already provides enough of an eyesore. You should really have him sorted out. He is offensive to the general public."

"Jealous are we, Malfoy?" Rose repeated Malfoy's question to her, smirking. He rolled his eyes at her. Still smirking, Rose turned her back to him and stared out at the lake. The fact that her feet were now freezing was beside the point. She heard him huff behind her, but he said no more. Finally, she heard him stalk off, muttering to his friends. She clambered swiftly out of the water and hurried to cast drying and heating spells on her lower legs before returning her robes to their normal length. As she pulled on her socks, she looked up to watch the blonde-haired Ravenclaw stalk the remaining distance back to the castle.

Author's Note: Hello! Welcome to Fainting Fancies! This is my first Harry Potter fanfiction, but I don't know how I survived so long without writing one. I wanted a Harry Potter themed title obviously, and Fainting Fancies just seemed perfect to me. As for the title of the chapter, it is of course a pun of Felix Felicis. Fastidi means, among other things, disgust, squeamishness or loathing. Sssshh, I'm a Latin geek, leave me alone! But anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! And I'm just going to ask one more thing of you. Can you guess? Hmm, I think so. Please please please review! Thank youuuuu.