Why Now?
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Harry Potter characters. I just want to mess with them a little( Warner Bros. should pay them extra for starring in so much fanfiction )
"Oh crap." I muttered in the bathroom one Saturday morning. It was supposed to be a normal summer Saturday. I'd sleep in late and I'd eat breakfast with Mum, Dad and Hugo. I'd tease him, he'd tease me and then we'd all laugh and enjoy the morning. We would go visit Aunt Ginny and Uncle Harry. Lily and I would go up to her room and glare at James as he walked up the stairs with his best friend, the gorgeous… I mean devilish Idiot Scorpius Malfoy. Then we'd all go flying on Uncle Harry's private Quidditch pitch. I'd play Seeker for Dad's team and James for Harry's. Bill and Fleur would come over with Victoire and Dominique. Teddy would be with them, only because he'd been snogging Victoire before they came over. They would join in on the match and my team would win, barely, but we'd still win. Then we all would take a Portkey to the Burrow and have dinner with Gram and Pop. But no, that wasn't going to happen.
"Rose! Will you hurry up and get out of the bathroom? What are you doing in there? It's not like spending time in the bathroom will make you any prettier. Believe me I know it won't." Hugo's voice came through the door. I sighed and stuffed toilet paper in my knickers. "I'm coming. Hold your hippogriffs." I called out. Opening the door, Hugo pushed past me saying, "FINALLY!" I scrunched my eyebrows and held my stomach as I felt a cramp. 'Why did I have to get it today? My first one nonetheless!' I screamed in my head.
Though I knew I was sending myself into suicide, I waddled down the stairs to my parent's bedroom. Knocking on the door, I stood quietly waiting for someone to open the door. Three minutes later, my dad opened the door. He was wearing green striped boxers and a signature orange Chudley Cannons t-shirt. I peered behind him, looking for mom. "Um, whatcha lookin 'for Rosie?" he asked, ruffling my hair. "Morning, dad. Where's Mom?" I asked hurriedly. He raised an eyebrow. "Rose, what are you talking about? Your mom left yesterday evening on an important business meeting in Africa. She won' be back until tomorrow. What happened?" he asked. But I left soon after his 'what happened' left his lips. 'Damn,' I darkly thought.
Then, I suddenly brightened. 'We're going to the Potters today! We always go on Saturdays! Hallelujah!' I thought. I'll get Aunt Ginny to help me. Besides, toilet paper should last a few hours anyway, right. I forced a smile onto my face. "Nothing. Nothing that I could talk to you about anyways." I skipped away before he could ask me about it.
At brekkie this morning, I sat at the table staring moodily at my plate. Dad was in the kitchen, making something that made my stomach churn. "Eck." I pushed the plate to Hugo and went to get a box of cereal. "What's wrong Rose? You were asking strange this morning and now you won't even eat dad's famous Beefy Bacon Bagel!? Man, maybe its Scorpious that's got you down. Maybe he's rejected your 13th love letter. Ooh! Or maybe you got a restraining order against you because he thinks you're obsessed with him! " Hugo said in surprise. I glared at him and went in the fridge for some milk. Normally, a comment like that wouldn't have phased me. ESPECIALLY if it was from Hugo But today, I struggled to hold back tears. 'Damn puberty. Screw it all,' I said in my mind.
"Here you go Hugo. Rose, are you sure you don't want a bagel? The offer still stands." Dad said, putting Hugo's bagel onto his plate. I didn't answer. I could hear dad walk behind me. "Rose?" he asked timidly. "I don't want a motherfreaking bagel! Leave me the hell alone, the both of you! Honestly, I can't turn down a bloody bagel without someone telling me off!" I snapped at him. Dad took a step backwards. I could see out of the corner of my eye that he was shocked. Hugo raised an eyebrow in disbelief. "Rose, what was THAT?" dad asked me, a tone of both shock and repressed anger in his voice. All I did was huff and grab my bowl of cereal to go eat outside.
Three hours after the incident at brekkie, I was still outside looking out at the small lake we had in our backyard, trying to ignore the dull but sharpening pains in my abdomen. I could feel the vague wetness in my shorts, but I had no intention of going in the house to change the toilet paper. I knew upon my return, dad would jump on me to lecture about behavior.
"Rose! Dad said it's time to go to the Potters!" Hugo yelled from the house. I sat there for a few more minutes, tying to register the words. The Potters…. Suddenly, I jumped up. The Potters meant that I could get Aunt Ginny to take me to a drugstore and that she could help me!
I ran to the house with my bowl, dropped it in the sink and race to my room. I dint want Dad or Hugo to catch me for fear of them telling me that I can't go to the Potters. Oh no. Nothing was stopping me, because I need help. "Something tells me that I need o take a shower," I said to myself. And I was right- there was blood all over the inside of my shorts."Crap again," I sighed, walking to the bathroom.
"Is everyone ready?" my dad asked. Hugo vigorously nodded his head. I rolled my eyes. "Dad, yes, we are ready already." I was wearing a gray hoodie, a green tank top underneath that, white shorts and flip flops. My hair was straight because I had straightened it after my shower with a beauty charm that my mum said I was allowed to use. "Alright, then take some floo powder. You know the address right? 904 Potter Place, if you forget." dad babbled. 'Will you please hurry this up? I'm desperate!' I thought. Hugo went first. Then dad. "904 Potter Place!" I shouted, throwing a pinch of powder into the flames of our fireplace.
When I got out of the green flaming vortex, I found myself in the Potters living room, Uncle Harry and dad on the couch watching a Quidditch game on the tellie. "Hi Uncle Harry," I greeted him. Harry raised a hand in acknowledgement. He and dad had beers in their hands. I shook my head. 'Alcohol this early? What has the world come to?" I asked myself. "So um, where's Aunt Ginny?" I asked as casual as I could. "Out back," he and my dad said in a united monotone.
I ran outside to the Quidditch pitch. Hugo, James, Scorpious, Lily and Albus were up in the air, flying around on brooms. Aunt Ginny was lounging on a lawn chair wearing a sunflower yellow sundress and designer sunglasses, working on her tan. "Hi Aunt Ginny." I said weakly, sitting down next to her on the grass. My cramps were getting painful. "Hi sweetie, what's up?" Ginny said casually, turning her head in my direction. I hesitated before beckoning her closer. She took of her sunglasses and stared at me, pale round patches of skin on her face where the glasses used to be. "What happened, Rosie? Is everything all right?" she asked with a concerned voice. "I-I got my period this morning. My first one." I muttered, loudly enough so she could hear me. Ginny grinned. "Really, that's wonderful!" she said. "But there's a slight problem…" I trailed off to hug my stomach. Good grief these cramps will be the end of me. "What is it?" Ginny looked straight into my eyes. "Mum's not here. She's in Africa on a business meeting and I've been using toilet paper all morning. I told her. My cheeks flushed. That was harder than I thought it would be.
Ginny looked panicked. "Oh honey, if that was the case, why are you wearing WHITE shorts?!" she asked. I stared at her blankly. "You could leak onto your shorts." he explained. I gasped and stood up involuntarily. "You're kidding!" I asked. Suddenly, "Hey Rose, there's blood on your shorts!" a cry from above called. I recognized the voice as the one and only Scorpious Malfoy. My cheeks flamed redder than before. "Oh dear," Ginny said, hoping she was inaudible. "Blood?! Where?" I looked around, trying to fool them into thinking they were imagining it. Scorpius flew down and smirked. "Sprung a leak? he laughed. Tears stung my eyes and I tried hard not to start bawling. Lily, James and Hugo flew down. Lily looked intrigued, James looked pained and Hugo looked concerned. 'Great, absolutely wonderful,' I thought. Ginny shooed them away. "Go back to your game. There's nothing to worry about!" she assured them, seeing the look on Hugo's face. "Yeah," I put in, my voice a few pitches higher than usually. "None of this concerns you people. Well, boys anyway," I muttered.
James and Scorpius wasted no time in jumping back on their brooms an flying back into the air. Hugo hesitated a few minutes. "Rose," he said in a low voice. "Are you okay?" he asked. What a good boy. Annoying, but good. "I'm fine Hugo. Don't worry about me. Get back to the game!" I sent him off. He flew uncertainly into the air, looking back as he did. Lily stayed put."Rose, did you get your period? Don't deny it, I can tell." she whispered. I nodded mutely. Ginny looked down at me. "Do you have any supplies?" she asked bluntly. "Aunt Ginny!" I hissed. "Not here!"
"I take that as a no," she said to herself. I groaned and tugged on her arm. "Can we go to the drugstore? Please, I'm desperate !" I pleaded. "Sure Rosie. Lily, you're coming with us. You told me yesterday that you ran out of pads and you need more. Remember that you start either today or tomorrow." Ginny told her daughter. Lily nodded.
"Harry, Ron the girls and I are going shopping. The boys are in the backyard on their brooms." Ginny told the two men on the couch. Dad and Uncle Harry grunted in acknowledgement. Lily shook her head in disgust. I stayed quiet. I had to bite the inside of my lips to keep from crying out. How do cramps get so painful SO fast?! "Bye Daddy, bye Uncle Ron," Lily said walking out the front door. I walked out quickly, barely saying goodbye. As soon as I knew that the door was safely closed behind us, I groaned in pain. "Aunt Ginny," I whined. "Oh Rosie," Ginny said in pity. "You inherited your mother's cramps. Poor girl. I remember one time when Hermione was on her period at my house. It was horrendous!" she shook her head. Lily looked back at me. "Mum, I don't think that's helping her very much." she mused aloud. I widened my eyes a bit, crossing my legs. "Alright then, lets go. The store's a bit far though, but close enough to walk. Exercise helps cramps," Ginny nodded at me. I looked down at the cement ground, wishing that we would just go already.
We started on a brisk walk down the street. I could already feel some of the pain dissipating. "Relief, sweet relief!" I breathed happily. Ginny chuckled. Didn't Lily say that she needed MORE pads? "Lily?" "Hmmm?" "Did you, um, get your period before?" I asked, trying to sound casual. "Yeah. I got it the night that I first got to Hogwarts. Cool isn't it?" she smiled at me. A wave of jealousy rippled through the pit of my stomach. Lily, who was 2 YEARS younger than me at 11 years old, had gotten her period before. Here I am, 13 to be 14 in August and there she was, 11 to be 12 in November. 'Tis'nt fair. Why Merlin?' I thought bitterly. I'll bet LILY got help from HER roommates. I'll bet SHE was surrounded by girls. What about me. NO girls anywhere and when I find one, I get found out by the cutest idiot boy around. Life hates me. No. MERLIN hates me.
I crossed my arms across my middle and stared straight ahead. "Rosie, are you okay?" Ginny asked me. I grunted and glanced back. Then I stopped. Apparently, in my sudden rage, I had stomped ahead of my aunt and cousin. "I'm fine Aunt Ginny." I said in a low voice. Ginny wrapped her arm around me. "Aww, honey. I heard you and Lily. Girls can get their monthly's at any age. In this case, Lily got hers at eleven and you got yours at thirteen. It isn't something to dwell on. Now, you're BOTH grown up." she looked at me and Lily both. Lily blushed lightly. "Sorry if I made you upset," Lily apologized. I grinned. "S'okay. No worries. It's all good." I said in a goofy voice. Lily laughed.
Once we arrived at the drug store, I looked to Ginny. "Is this a Muggle store?" I asked. Not that I had anything against them. "Yup. You girls have to buy supplies from here because witches have charms for this sort of thing. Which you can't use anyway because they only work if you're 21," Ginny explained. Weird. I thought the age you're allowed to use magic was 17. Silly me.
Lily grabbed a basket and handed one to me. I took it and we entered the store.
I've been to Muggle pharmacy's with my mum, but she never bothered to take me into the women's aisle before. I wouldn't blame her; just passing it made me feel embarrassed. Now, as we walked now to the section, my cheeks flared. I couldn't talk because my tongue was glued to the roof of my mouth. Lily smirked when she saw my face. "Cat got your tongue Rose?" she snickered. I made an effort to speak. But it came out as a squeak instead. Lily laughed again and reached up to take two boxes off a shelf. She dumped them in her basket before I could take a good look at them. I copied her best I could, grabbing two packages. Ginny glanced into my basket. "Rose, you took tampons. You're too young for them. Here," she scooped the packages out of my basket and dropped in two boxes. The outsides were blue and white and I could see the words 'Always Infinity' on both boxes. There was a little clear panel on the front, and I could see individually wrapped green squares. "These are the one you want." Ginny told me. She herself took Tampax. Lily took another two boxes off the shelf. "This one has pantiliners in it," she showed me a long, skinny purple box. I took on for myself. "This one has wipes. For a nice, clean feel." she showed me a green box. I took one as well. Ginny explained that pantiliners were for my lightest days and for if I didn't want to be caught off guard. She told me I should wear one everyday. "Let's go pay ladies," Ginny announced. I numbly followed her to the counter. There was a man cashier. I tried not to look him in the eye as I put my stuff one the counter. All he said was, "15 pounds, Mrs. Potter." "Cash, debit or credit?" "Paper or plastic?" I snuck a quick peek at the man. I saw no expression on his face and he was wrapping up our purchases. 'Wow. Dude's got guts,' I thought in amazement.
Soon, we were walking out of the pharmacy and into the sunny outside. "That was easy," I said, clutching a paper bag. Lily sighed. "Now we have to go to Diagon Alley for our pain potion ingredients. They don't have them at Hogwarts, so we need to stock up." she explained. I nodded.
Ginny took each of our hands and Apparated us to Diagon Alley. "Wait here," he told us. She walked inside a hut-type place after handing us her bag. She walked out a few minutes later with a brown pouch. "These are the potion ingredients. Toad stool, unicorn hair, octopus jelly and chamomile in that order. Might not sound good, it doesn't really TASTE good either, but the stuff work wonders." she said to me. "Aunt Ginny, I think I need to go to the bathroom. Like, right now." I squirmed a bit. I was getting real itchy between my legs. Ginny looked t her watch. "It's 1:30. We'll go to Shell Cottage and I'll drop you girls off their for the afternoon. Something tells me that you might not want to change at home Rosie," Ginny gave me a pointed look. I didn't hear her, but I think I heard Lily mutter 'Because of Scorpius!' She snickered to herself.
At Shell Cottage, Uncle Bill opened the door. "Hullo baby sister! How goes it?" he asked in a goofy voice. Lily giggled. "Hi Bill. I'm NOT a baby, but my Lily is." Ginny playfully teased. Lily huffed good-naturally and grinned. "Hi Uncle Bill," I greeted him. "Rosie, my girl! It's been so long!" Bill hugged me with one arm and let us in.
After shutting the door, Bill ushered us to the living room. "What brings you to my humble abode?" he asked, conjuring some drinks. They floated out form the direction of the kitchen. Ginny took a water bottle. Bill grabbed a beer. Lily and I helped ourselves to green Hawaiian Punch. "I'm dropping Lil and Rose off here for the afternoon if you don't mind. I have a feeling that that won't want to be home right now, them being surrounded boys and all." Ginny shrugged. "It's alright with me. Fleur is shopping with Hayley and Sam right now, so she's got the little one's. Dom and Tori are upstairs. Lily, Rose, why don't you go on up. Ginny and I have some catching up to do." Bill said to us, jerking his head in the direction of the stairs.
Lily and I carefully got up and walked up the stairs. I had my bag in my hand and I was holding it tightly. 'Should I tell Tori and Dom about it? Tori probably got it already, naturally. Dom SAID that she got it two weeks ago.' I debated telling my cousins my news in my head. It sounded like a good idea. But then again, I wouldn't want people fussing over me.
At the top of the stairs, we found Tori's bedroom door open. I walked over to the doorway. Victoire was sitting on her bed, face in a pillow. I knocked on the door. "Knock knock, let me in." I said softly. "Ooops, I'm already inside."
Plopping down on the bed, I carelessly dropped the bag on the floor. One of the boxes rolled out, but I didn't care. Victoire would understand anyway. "Hi Tori." I said loudly. Tori lifted her head just enough to see her face. "Oh, hi Rose. What are you doing here?" Tori sat up and shifted onto her stomach. "Aunt Ginny's dropping me and Lily off here for the afternoon. I was hoping to have a girl afternoon." I said. I sounded perky, like I had drunk a bit too much coffee. "Why?" Tori sounded interested. I gestured to the floor. Tori looked down at then back up at me. "No way! When!" she gushed. "This morning, of all the luck." I said. "In fact, I have to go put one on. Be right back," I jumped off the bed and scooped the box into my hand. I headed in the direction of their bathroom.
I locked the door behind me and slid down, hugging the box to my chest. "Oh," I groaned. "Now what do I do!" I shook the box. "You must have the answers Box! Tell me your secrets!" I shook the box again. This obviously wasn't working. "Well here goes nothing…." I trailed off. I opened the box and stared into it. All I saw were rectangles and spring green wrappers. I took one out and set the box down next to me. I held the square in my hands. It felt smooth and papery in a sense. I stood up, because I couldn't do this sitting down. My hands were sweaty while I slowly unwrapped the pad. I discarded the green wrapping and held the pad in my hands. It was soft and…..I don't know…..cottony or something. Unfolding it, I peeled off the paper on the bottom of the pad. The underside was sticky and obviously meant to stick to my underwear. But then, I discovered that there were flappy things on the sides. They were also sticky. Beautiful.
Here goes nothing. I pulled my pants down and gingerly lifted the makeshift toilet paper pad out. It was bloody and red all over. Then, I set down the actual pad and pushed the flaps around my knickers. 'There. That wasn't so hard was it?' I thought to myself. I pulled my pants, dropped the toilet paper and wrappings into the garbage, picked my box and unlocked the door to walk out.
When I walked back into Tori's room, Dom and Lily were in there. "Hi Rose. Congrats on getting your monthly!" Dom squealed. I waved a hand. "No no, there's nothing good about today. First, I got it this morning and my mother wasn't around. She left on a business trip to Africa yesterday night and won't be back until tomorrow. Then, I had a major mood swing during breakfast. NEXT the cramps started. And I got the painfully bad ones. AFTER THAT I leaked onto the back of my shorts at the Potters house. Things can't get much worse for me." I said sitting down onto Tori's bed. Lily patted my back. "Aww Rose. Poor you. When I got mine, I was reading Quidditch through the Ages on my bed and when I got up to get a drink of water, I saw that I had left a Galleon sized bloodstain on the sheets! I was freaking OUT." she chuckled. I suddenly felt bad about what I thought about Lily earlier.
Dominique went next. "I was on my broom when I got mine. I didn't even realize I had gotten it when Tori called me down and told me to go to the bathroom. Imagine how shocked I was!" Dom made a face that made us all laugh. "I remember that. Mum was the one who told me to call her down. After Dom got out of the bathroom, Mum made a huge deal about it. She even had us eat out that night. Same for me. But I, apparently am the only one to have gotten their period in a pool!" she dramatically paused. Lily pretended to faint and I gave a small theatrical scream. "Well, what happened was that when I was 11, Dad had taken me and Dominique to the pool on Aster. Anyway, I was swimming when I suddenly saw that the water around me turned red. Not all of the water, but it did change color to a rusty orange. When I got out of the pool, Dad was squeaking at me and gave me 25 cents. 'Go to the bathroom' he said. I didn't know what he was talking about and when I got into a stall, I understood why."
I sniggered. "So your dad was the one around, huh. I haven't told my dad yet. I don't plan to until Mum comes back." I said. This was nice. We all had an embarrassing story for our first period. "You should tell him. That way, he'll understand if you feel like sleeping instead of full out running on," Tori made air quotes, "'Family Exercise Day' It always works for me." I thought about it awhile. "That's a good idea!" I said.
So today I learned something. One: my cramps are REALLY bad. Two: don't think negative about things. You see how bad things got today? Three: you might not know it, but you're friends might have embarrassing moments too. Tell them what happened, and they'll probably tell you. It'll make you feel better. I should know. It's works!
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A/N: Hello pplz! This story is a lot more…..IDK…… girly than my other stories. But oh well. I did this on a whim, so DON'T HATE ME. This story is complete already, but I'm thinking of making a sequel to this. Tell me what you think about it. Read and Review!!!!