No one likes family gatherings. Especially not me.
I sat in the corner of the Burrow's small cramped living room, munching on biscuits and listening in on my family's achievements.
"Hugo has so many N.E.W.T.S.! Just like his Mum..."
"Have you heard of Dominique's promotion at the Ministry?"
"Well James is now the head of the Improper Use of Magic department."
"Roxanne is captain of the Gryffindor quidditch team! She's well on her way to being on the English National Quidditch team!"
Each Weasley/Potter had some great accomplishment. It was impossible and exhausting to try to keep up. I noticed Aunt Ginny had pulled out our family photo album. Which was inconceivably large. Realizing that this situation had quickly become dangerous I quickly shoved the spare biscuits into my bag and turned to my cousins Lily and Molly, whispering " Can we please go back to flat? If Gran starts to cry we'll all regret it."
They both nodded. Lily grabbed Molly and my hand, dragging us toward the door. We were so close I could almost feel the cold november air through the cracks in the wooden door.
"Rose Weasley! Did you really think you could dissapperate before saying goodbye to your Mum? " I heard the familiar voice and winced. I slowly turned to face my mother with the best smile I could muster.
"Mum! I was just going to look for you!" She put her hands on her hips and stared at me with her large brown eyes. I felt like she was burning a hole into my heart. She pulled me close to her and hugged me tightly. She smelled like paper and warm vanilla, just like she always had.
"Your Dad and I love you, Rosie Posie." Mum whispered in my ear. She pulled away from the embrace and looked at me with a slight smile. " You should smile more, dear. You're even more beautiful when you smile." Mum patted my arm and turned back to the party.
"C'mon! Lets get out of here before all of our mum's want to talk to us!" Molly muttered. I laughed as I was yanked outside by my cousins. Lily and I grabbed Molly's arm and she dissaperated us to our flat.
We all lived in a loft above Flourish and Blotts, where Lily and I worked. I love Flourish and Blotts. Mum used to take Hugo and I here all the time when we were younger. We would sit for hours amidst stacks of books, while Mum would hold us and read to us. Its always been my favorite place. Lily and I got jobs there and moved in with Molly soon after Molly got her nursing job at St. Mungo's. Once we landed outside of our flat I unlocked the door and sprinted to my bed. I fell asleep instantly.
"Hey sleepyhead! Time to go to work!" I slowly blinked and opened my eyes to see Lily in her patterned sheep pajamas holding her steaming cup of tea. I noticed the clock and Lily told me how late we were going to be as I shooed her away so I could get dressed. I quickly pulled on some blue tights, a black dress, some boots, and my favorite gray jumper. The smell of more tea tiptoed its way under my door and reached my tiny freckled nose. I followed it to the kitchen where a cup of tea and biscuits were waiting for me alongside a very annoyed Lily.
"I swear Rose, I haven't the slightest idea why I even bother to wait for you in the mornings." Lily sighed at me. Handing me the tea and walking towards the door.
"Its due to the fact that I'm utterly adorable and your life would be hell without me" I retorted as we walked down the old, wooden stairs to Flourish and Blotts.
We quickly opened the shop before the owner, Margaret came in. She was a sweet old lady who had owned the shop since before I could remember. Margaret would come in a little late with bagels and other breakfast-y items. She was too old to do any real work, but that didn't stop her. Any time we tried to interfere she would slap our hands away and tell us to bugger off. I absolutely adored her. Margaret didn't care what we did as long as the shop was tidy. So Lily mostly dealt with customers while I organized shelves and cleaned. I didn't mind, as long as I could listen to music.
"DING!" I turned my head to see Margaret shuffle in from the cold, english, november air carrying a small, white paper sack.
"What goodies have you brought for us today Marge?" I inquired.
"Well, I bought one cinnamon scone, one cinnamon streusel muffin, and one cinnamon apple coffee cake." she said peering into the steaming bag. Cinnamon was Margaret's favorite. It was really the only thing she would eat.
"You got them all from Camden's right?" Lily asked while walking towards Marge.
"Of course! Merlin! What do you think I am, a moron?" Margaret feigned a gasp. I quickly snatched the muffin from the bag and tossed Lily the coffee cake.
Camden's was a bakery and coffee shop farther down in Diagon Alley. It was closer to where Margaret lived. Camden's was our favorite place to eat. Especially because the owner's son, Oliver, fancied Lily. This meant we practically got to eat for free.
"Umm, was Oliver in there?" Lily asked while fiddling with the hem of her pink flowy skirt.
"As a matter of fact he was! The sweet little lad gave me our breakfast!" Margaret stated as she bit into her scone.
"Oh! Did he say anything...?" Lils said still not making any eye contact.
"Well he said lots of things..." Margaret looked straight at Lils.
"Well, did he say anything... you know... about me?" Lily replied turning a bright shade of pink. Obviously, my little Lils had a crush on the local bread boy.
"Oh for goodness sakes! Lily Luna Potter! Go talk to the bloody boy yourself! And while you're there get me some more scones!" Margaret yelled, throwing her hands up in the air, grabbing Lily's coat, and shoving her out the door. Margaret sighed, "That girl is hopeless." and walked to her office. I quickly ran outside and yelled that I wanted more muffins.
"Well there's no need to shout. I'll buy you some if you really want them.". I turned towards the familiar voice to see the gorgeous face that matched.
"Scorpius?" I stared into his beautiful bluey-grey eyes framed by fair skin and angelic, greased back, medium length, white blonde hair. Scorpius Malfoy was a tall, very muscular man. Basically, he was really fucking hot. I'd had a crush on him since we started at Hogwarts. We were friends for a while, then Louis, who was a prefect at the time, caught me walking to Potions with Scorpius. He found me in the gryffindor common room later that night and told me that it was not appropriate for a Weasley to talk to a Malfoy. I was never close with Scorpius again. I never stopped crushing on him. I would always watch him play quidditch, or study, or talk to his many friends. Now that I think about it, it was actually a bit creepy. Every once in awhile we would make eye contact, but we never talked. Until now.
"Rose, right?" He asked with a little half-smile on his face.
I could only nod. I felt as though I was in a dream. A beautiful, wonderful, majestic dream that I wished would never end.
"Well, would you mind if we hopped on inside? My bloody fingers are about to fall off!" He laughed and looked into Flourish and Blotts. I suddenly realized that we were still outside and I was freezing.
"Oh! Yeah! Come on in!" I quickly went inside and held open the door for him. The door closed behind him and he took off his coat and scarf and hung them on the coat hanger. "Should I put on the kettle?" I prayed he would say yes. I really needed a moment to make sure I didn't look more awful than usual. This morning I hadn't even bothered to run a brush through my knotty red locks! Oh Merlin! I probably looked horrendous!
"Don't be ridiculous. I'll do it." He shouted as he walked towards the little kitchenette hidden in the back, behind the register. I quickly found a mirror and checked my hair. It looked... well it looked acceptable. Then I checked my teeth. They were clear of any leftover cinnamon muffin. "What are you doing" He said laughing a bit.
"I'm just.. I was... I was worried there was something in my teeth and I was just checking them out." I stuttered feeling my cheeks turn bright red. Scorpius laughed and it sounded like the most beautiful song I'd ever heard.
"You look great." He smiled at me and I think I think I died a little inside. " So... how long have you worked here? " Oh Merlin, I'm a bloody moron. He wants something from Flourish and Blotts. He isn't just here to talk to me. Of course not! Poor guy! He wouldn't even of known I worked here! Scorpius is just trying to be nice to me and I'm being creepy stalker Rose Weasley. The only thing he wants is a book. He doesn't want stupid, chubby, awkward me. Either way a hottie like him is probably already taken.
" I got hired summer before sixth year at Hogwarts. Worked here ever since." I stated quickly as I went to get the tea. "How do you like it?"
"Oh um one sugar please." he shouted. "So I really would love to catch up but I need some books. Its for work and I'm kind of in a rush." Scorpius looked as though he truly wanted to catch up, but I wasn't sure. He could just be trying to be polite.
"Well, I suppose I can help you. What book are you looking for?" I asked while I stirred my tea. Scorpius quickly pulled a small piece of parchment.
"One book called The Magic of Running a Business by Malldy Garnet and any books you have on wands." I gave a questioning look and then motioned for him to follow me. I led him to the very large section on wands. He picked out History of Wands by Johannes Frenhelm, Proper Care and Use of Your Wand by Kimberly Ponta, and Wands According to Ollivander by Garrick Ollivander.
" Accio The Magic of Running a Business by Malldy Garnet." I spoke as I whipped out my wand. Nothing happened. I sheepishly turned to Scorpius and smiled. I couldn't even do a simple summoning spell. After what seemed like a million awkward and silent hours later, a large lavender book was flying towards us. As it was about to hit me square in the face, Scorpius grabbed it. I was speechless. He smiled at me and handed me five galleons.
"That should cover it right?" He asked.
"Oh, um yes that should just about cover it. It was uh nice to see you again Scorpius." I struggled to finish the sentence. I was still shocked that he caught the book.
"We should catch up over tea sometime." Scorpius was putting on his coat.
" Yeah. Uh that would be nice. Just um stop by here anytime. I'll be here." Oh shit. Now it sounded like I never left. Now he was looking at me all funny. " Well, you know, I live in the loft up above so I'm here... a lot.." I tried to explain and he just laughed and walked out.
"I'll see you around Rosie!" He shouted as he walked out.
Rosie.
Rosie.
ROSIE! He called me Rosie! He gave me a nickname! Well its not very original but hell! I'll take what I can get! I think this could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship.
So I hope you liked it! I'm kind of looking for a beta reader right now! I wasn't going to post this until I found one but I couldn't wait. If anyone is interested message me on here or message me on my tumblr! the link is in my profile. Thank you so much for reading!
Colette
