Wiping sleep from her eyes Rose groaned as she rolled over in bed. One bleary eye opened and squinted at her muggle alarm clock, nearly 8:00 in the morning. With one last stretch, with several joints cracking in complaint, she unceremoniously rolled off her bed, shoved her glasses onto her face and wandered towards her door. Picking up a threadbare Hollyhead Harpies sweater to pull on over her tank top and shorts she stumbled into the hallway hearing the sound of cooking in the kitchen.

"Morning Scorp!" She stated through a gritty sleepy voice, with glasses slightly askew on her slender nose. She had moved in with Scorpius and her cousin Albus several years ago when she found it much too hard to study for her healer exams while living at home at the Burrow.

"Good Morning Rose, why aren't you still sleeping? Today's your day off isn't it?" Scorpius watched from his place near the stove as Rose walked to the counter nearby and pulled herself up to be perched on the edge. As her legs started swinging back and forth through the air she gathered her unruly red curls into a massive bun on top of her head.

Clearing her voice to rid the last wisps of sleep she stated "It is but I have a volunteer project this morning." Shaking her head she muttered, "I'd rather volunteer to go back to bed though."

Chuckling deeply Scorpius turned his attention back to the eggs he was frying on the stove. He wordlessly passed Rose a cup of coffee with a touch of milk and little sugar. Watching from the corner of his eye he saw the redhead sigh contentedly as she swallowed the first sip.

Rose turned and began to fiddle with the radio they kept on the counter near them, her legs beginning to swing to the tune of the old muggle song she stopped on. Humming along she watched as her blonde friend continued to make breakfast. She was tall, but he was always taller. She looked him up and down while he was distracted, she always thought he was attractive, tall muscular frame that had been built on years of quidditch and then auror training, short but messy blonde hair that he never bothered to do anything with, and aristocratic features with a hard jawline and warm grey eyes. She had to admit, she used to have a school girl crush on him, but since she started healer training she refused to let herself have feelings for anyone, a relationship would take too much time and energy.

"Do you and all have to go in today?" Rose asked brightly, clearly beginning to feel much more awake with her customary cup of coffee in hand and looking for a distraction from her previous train of thought.

Scorpius shrugged and nodded, "Yeah, Harry called a meeting of our whole training cohort, we're meeting at the ministry training facility at ten. We're not really sure what for though, its all very hush hush and mysterious." He noticed that Rose nodded along as he spoke but seemed as though she was hiding a smile. "Do you know anything about it? Didn't hear anything in a conversation at a family gathering or anything did you?"

"Oh no, no I don't know anything about that. I haven't spoken to Uncle Harry lately at all," She shrugged noncommittally and hoped he wouldn't see through her lie. In fact, her volunteer project was a result of her Uncle Harry. She had asked the great Harry Potter head auror at the ministry of magic if she could help incorporate a new health directive being pushed through at the ministry with the auror training program. She would be at the ministry training facility, with several of her healer friends, for this hush hush secret meeting to conduct physicals and health screenings on the aurors to detect any potential injuries before they became worse and untreatable. Rose was quite proud of herself for coming up with the idea, and her superiors at the hospital seemed pleased as well, but she wanted to surprise Al and Scorpius and not clue them in.

"Uh huh, whatever you say red." Scorpius sipped at his own cup of coffee and watched the woman in front of him. They had been friends for years, but he had never quite been able to shake the teenage crush he had on her. She was just so unruly and unpredictable in everything she did. There she sat, happily swinging her freckled legs from the counter, hair haphazardly piled on top of her hair with curls escaping in every direction, glasses still perched on her nose slightly crookedly, smiling happily into her coffee mug. Rose Weasley was something to behold and force to be reckoned with. "Why don't you go wake Al up, you know he's worse than you most mornings, there's no getting him out of bed!"

"Oh you know I love being the one to drag him out of bed!" Sliding off the counter and setting down her coffee she bounded back up the hallway.

Distantly Scorpius heard her singsong voice "Allll-bussss!" several knocks on a door, "Hey Al!"

"Rose, go away!" Came the sleepy disgruntled reply.

Lying through her teeth, "Al we have company!" Knowing what would come next, Scorpius smiled to himself in the kitchen as he plated the eggs and toast he had made.

"Too early for company, bugger off."

In her best Ginny Potter impression that she had spent years perfecting, which really wasn't half bad, "Albus Severus Potter, you get out of bed right now!"

There was a pause, then the sound of a door opening, "Oh bugger off Rose I knew you were taking the piss."

"You know one of these days I'm going to have Aunt Ginny here in the morning and then you'll get a nasty shock won't you! But now that you're up! Scorp is making breakfast!"

The two cousins wandered back to the kitchen to see their roommate holding out plates for them with eggs and toast. The three settled into a comfortable silence as they ate until…

"Shit! I'm going to be late! I'm supposed to be there in 5 minutes!" Rose shoved a piece of toast in her mouth and took off running across the room!

Al ran a hand through his messy black hair and looked quizzically at his friend, who simply shrugged, and the two went back to eating. They had grown accustomed to Rose forgetting what time it was and running perpetually late.

About a minute later Rose came running back down the hall in her green healer's robes that resembled muggle scrubs. She had charmed her eyes for the day so she did not need her glasses and was carrying her bag, rounding the corner and almost tripping, she waved a hasty goodbye and rushed out the door before apparating away from the doorstep.

Slightly breathless from running through the ministry training facility, Rose finally arrived at her Uncle's office. "I'm so sorry Uncle Harry, I lost track of time this morning!"

Smiling warmly down at her, Harry shook his head "Not to worry Rosie, you still have plenty of time, and really you're only a minute past when I expected you anyway!"

"So how do you want us to set up?" She looked up at the older man.

Throwing an arm around her shoulders, Harry said, "This is your show Rose, this was your idea, one that I think is brilliant, so do your healer supervisors at St. Mungo's, so I think whatever you think is best will be perfect!"

Smiling she stood a bit straighter, "Well I thought we'd use the gym area and set up in 5 different stations in order to keep your guys moving through in a timely manner, each of us healers will fill out a different portion of the health screening form I created and then I can bring them to you at the end of the day with a health report on the cohort of aurors."

"Perfect, when the guys start arriving in about twenty minutes or so I'll have them gather in the auditorium and I'll give a brief introduction and then turn it over to you!" He nodded at his niece and god daughter, "You know you're my favorite god daughter by the way."

"Uncle Harry, I'm your only god daughter, but I appreciate the sentiment anyway!" She laughed, "well I guess I'll go get set up so we can be ready to go."

"Before you go Rose," Her uncle looked a bit sheepish before he continued, "I know you can handle yourself, but this cohort is all male and all guys you would have been at Hogwarts with, if they give you any kind of trouble or do anything inappropriate please let me know won't you?"

She should have expected him to say something like this, her uncles, father, and cousins and brother were always filling the role of protector, even when it wasn't warranted. "I'm sure it will be fine, but I'll report back to you anyway!" She resisted the urge to roll her eyes, and she knew they aren't supposed to play favorites in a family as large as hers, but he was her favorite uncle!

"Alright you lot settle down!" Harry Potter's voice sounded through the auditorium. "I know you're wondering why we called you in today as today could have been a day off from paperwork for some of you. We have guests today and I want you to show them the upmost respect and cooperate with everything they ask of you. Got it?" He looked around as sternly as he could manage at the 16 young men in front of him. "Okay then, I'd like to introduce the individual responsible for the program this morning, Healer Weasley, I'll let you take it from here," He indicated for Rose to walk in and join him in front of the group. As she joined her uncle she looked around and found Al and Scorpius in the crowd, they looked happy to see her but had questions in their eyes. She threw them both a wink and plastered a smile on her face. Harry stepped off to the side to let Rose talk.

"As Head Auror Potter said, I'm Healer Weasley, as you all probably know there is a new health directive coming through the ministry." She started her speech that she had been reciting in her head all morning. "Me and my team of healers," she indicated to the side where four other healers stood, "Are here to- "

"Oi Weasley, are you here to give us all physicals then love?" A brunette man in the second row asked loudly while wiggling his eyebrows at her, this was met by some stifled sniggers in the crowd.

Before Harry could step forward Rose gave up on her practiced speech as her Weasley temper started to flare, "Well actually MacMillan I am here to perform physicals on all you blokes, although the kind of physical you're hoping for would only ever happen in your dreams, and even then it's not bloody likely!" As her cheeks flared with an angry blush some of the men in the crowd chuckled. She cleared her throat and looked sheepishly at her uncle, "Sorry Head Auror Potter." Harry sighed and waved for her to get on with it.

"Anyway yes, we're doing physicals today. We're coming up with ways to detect some injuries before they happen and take you guys off of your missions. Things like muscle strains and sprains, common overuse injuries and the like. By identifying any weak areas that you have that may create opportunities for injuries…"

Rose continued to explain what the healers were there for and Scorpius couldn't take his eyes off of her. His favorite Rose was when she was explaining something that she cared about, her job was one of those things. Her eyes lit up with a fire akin to when they used to argue nonstop in school, she stood up straighter and spoke with her hands emphatically moving with each word. He thought back to her response to MacMillan's outburst, he loved that angry flush that covered her cheeks that were already dotted with freckles, he sometimes thought about what other activities might make her cheeks flush like that, activities that would be far more enjoyable…His reverie was rudely interrupted by a sharp elbow digging into his side.

"Earth to Scorp, come on mate we have to go join the queue for the stations."

He looked up into his friend's green eyes, "What?"

"Rose is going to kill you when I tell her you weren't paying attention to a word that she was saying," the raven haired man laughed as he stood to walk away, "Come on, we have to join the line to go through each station, they'll tell you what to do when you're at the station."

After joining the rest of their auror team in line they slowly started to make their way through the stations. Chatting amongst themselves Scorpius continued to watch Rose from across the room. She was running the last station they would be going to. He watched as she used a spelloscope (a magic imbibed stethoscope that healers now used) to listen to the heart and lungs of auror Thomas and chatted good-naturedly with him as he held his shirt up for her to give her better access with her equipment.

Al watched his friend from the corner of his eye. He knew why the blonde was so distracted. Al may have been the only person that Scorpius ever told of his crush on Rose, and he is probably the only person who knew the crush never really went away. Just seeing the two interact, he knew they would be a good match if they would just get over themselves and go for it. But his friends were two of the stubbornest people to ever walk the earth. He nudged his friend, "You okay man? You seem distracted today."

"Hmm? Oh yeah, no I'm fine. I just didn't like MacMillan's comment." Scorpius muttered absentmindedly.

Al fought the urge to roll his eyes. "Rose handled herself just fine, you know she'd eat him alive if he ever tried anything."

"Yeah, yeah I know." He reluctantly agreed and moved forward in line. After all, Scorpius thought, he had been on the receiving end of quite a few of Rose's punches, kicks, jinxes, and harsh words in the past. She was quick to temper and he liked to push her buttons after all.

As they made their way through the lines stopping with each healer to do their required tasks. Al watched as Scorpius seemed to stiffen next to him, a movement that would have been lost on anyone who had not spent as much time with him as Al had. He followed his friend's gaze to see Rose dealing with MacMillan. Dylan MacMillan lounged in the chair Rose asked him to sit in, he had completely taken off his shirt and was clearly saying something cheeky while the redhead was trying to do her job. Both Al's eyes widened as he saw MacMillan, who had clearly never faced the wrath of Rose Weasley before, reached a hand out to rest it on her hip. In a move that seemed almost practiced she smacked his hand away and slapped him around the side of his head before standing to the side and pointing away from her indicating she was done with him. Al and Scorpius caught each other's eye and grinned, their girl can take care of herself.

Eventually the duo made it to their roommate's station.

"Why didn't you tell us this was happening today?" Al asked as she forced him down into the chair.

"Am I not allowed to keep an air of mystery around myself sometimes? Come on lift your shirt up Al you're almost done this morning." He did as she asked and she went through her exam, feeling conscious of Scorpius' eyes on her the entire time. Soon it was the blonde's turn in the chair.

As Al moved off to the side he grinned and added "Oh by the way, what did MacMillan say to you? We definitely saw your reaction to him that's for sure!"

"Oh you saw that did you? Come on Scorp shirt up, same thing I just had Al do." She turned to face the man in her chair now, he lifted her shirt and she found it hard not to be distracted. She'd seen him shirtless countless times in the flat and growing up swimming at the Burrow, but he was all man now and part of her desperately wanted to be held against that strong chest. Shaking her head to quiet those thoughts and hoping the boys weren't paying very good attention. "Oh MacMillan said that theses robes look good on me…then he said that he knew he'd look good on me too," with this she shuddered and faked a gagging motion which had them all laughing.

"It was nice seeing you smack someone else around for a change, usually you take your temper out on me Rosie," Scorpius added. He enjoyed the slight blush that graced her face when she asked him to lift his shirt and when he teased her like this. Her green eyes smiled down at him.

"Well you're usually more fun to smack around! Alright, you guys are good to go, you can head back to the locker room and change or do whatever!" She grinned, "Oh you guys were the last ones then? Well that went well this morning!"

"Hey Rose! Can you come to my office?" They heard Harry Potter's voice float out across the room.

"Be right there Uncle Harry! Are you guys heading back to the flat?" She fumbled with her paperwork and equipment before starting to walk away from her two tall friends.

"We have to go change then we're going to finish some paperwork so you'll find us at our desks!" Al offered as they turned towards the locker room.

"Rosie I'm so impressed with what you've done here this morning. These forms and assessments that you and your team did really are top notch and will help prevent some injuries!" Harry beamed at his young niece. She really was a great combination of his two best friends. "Actually your father is on his way to join us and then I have some business to discuss with you if you have time today?"

Smiling at the high praise from her uncle, "Thank you so much Uncle Harry I was really hoping that this would be helpful for you guys, and I have nothing else going on today so I can stick around!"

Just then a familiar head of red hair and freckles attached to a lanky frame came through the door. Rose jumped up and gave her father a huge hug. While Rose did not get all of her father's height, she was a respectable 5 foot 8, which was still taller than her mother but shorter than the majority of her male relatives. Ron Weasley embraced his daughter and waved to his friend from across his desk. "Did you ask her yet?" he asked over his daughter's head.

"Of course not, I waited for you!" Harry chuckled, Ron never was one to beat around the bush. "Rose, I've had some discussions with your supervisors at St. Mungo's, and they are fully on board if you are." She looked apprehensive as he continued, "We'd like you to join our staff as one of our on call healers for when aurors come back from missions. As you know we have a few healers on call to come in and check our aurors out when they come back or respond to an emergency if someone is injured. Would you be interested in a position like that?" He watched as several emotions flitted across her face, first excitement, then confusion, then a look of determined resolution settled on her features. He cut her off before she could say what he knew was coming, "before you claim nepotism, your supervisors said they were planning to recommend you for the position anyway, I just beat them to the punch. And seeing how you interacted with this cohort today, despite some unruliness, I think you're perfect for the role."

Rose thought for a minute, then a huge grin threatened to split her face in two, "Of course I'd like the position! This is fantastic! Thank you!" She jumped up and ran around his desk and threw her arms around her uncle. Harry beamed at Ron as Rose then ran to hug her father.

Harry ruffled his hair with his hand then pulled a bottle out from behind his desk, "Celebratory whiskey anyone?" Knowing what their answer would be, he poured three glasses.

As Al and Scorpius changed into their normal non-training attire they were joined by Dylan MacMillan and his partner Ethan Frond.

"Potter I've got to tell you, that cousin of yours is fit!" MacMillan started as he rifled through his locker. Al just rolled his eyes, they were used to Dylan's antics and comments, albeit they never got less irritating. "Malfoy, I just don't know how you keep your hands off of her. She lives with you two right?"

Scorpius turned to face away from MacMillan and tried to busy himself with his bag, although Al noticed his hands were gripping the bag tight enough that his knuckles had gone white.

"Yes she lives with us, no she's not seeing anyone, no she won't be seeing you either Dylan," Al recited as though they had this conversation often, which they did any time Rose decided to stop by the training facility.

"Aw come on Al, you and I get along well enough, think I have a chance with your hot cousin?" Dylan waggled his eyebrows at Al. Scorpius slammed his locker shut and walked out, afraid to stick around and create a scene that he'd regret.

"Just lay off Dylan, if you go after Rose and she's not into it, you will not like what happens." Al stated matter of factly as he fastened his bag.

"Are you saying that all you Weasley Potter men would intimidate me into treating her right or something like that? Eh Potter?"

Al turned to stare him down, fixing him with the green eyes he inherited from his famous father. "You wish that that's what you have to worry about. In fact, when Rose starts seeing a guy, we pull him aside to warn him not to hurt Rose, for his own safety, you think that little slap she gave you today is anything? I've seen her hex more people than I care to count with more curses than I even know, and she gets creative when she's angry. It's safer for you to just lay off." And with that he turned on his heel and strode after Scorpius.

Sometime later in the afternoon, Rose was still drinking with her father and uncle. Being a slow Friday in the auror department, once celebratory drink turned into several. Rose was soon rather tipsy and grinning like a fool as her father and favorite uncle swapped stories and reminisced. She soon excused herself in search of her friends, the office was slowly becoming emptier and emptier as the day grew later. She walked a path she had had memorized for many years, Al and Scorpius happened to share a corner of the office that her father and her Uncle Harry used to share and Rose used to visit them occasionally at work as a young girl. As she walked she began to really feel the effects of the amount of whiskey she had consumed with her family members. Noticing that the corridor that led to the corner of the office that she sought was empty she began to say loudly in a singsong voice, "Maaaal-foy! Poooottter! Malfoy and Potter where are you?!"

In their corner of the office the two men looked up from their paperwork and stared at each other.

"Was that Rose?" Al started.

"I think its drunk Rose?" Scorpius questioned looking around.

Before the two could speculate any longer a red head that was leaning slightly to the right rounded the corner. "My favorite guys!" She exclaimed then she sat unceremoniously on the end of Scorpius' desk.

Scorpius grinned, "Um Rose, for one, why are you still at our place of work, and two why are you drunk?" Al just chuckled as his cousin just sat and smiled at them. She had always been a happy drunk!

Rose leaned down to touch Scorpius' shoulder, "Well my dear Scorpius, I was actually meeting with my father, and his father," Pointing at Al, "who also happens to be my uncle, but you know that of course," She giggled girlishly. Suddenly she slid off the desk, "Oh but you didn't hear the most exciting news! And also the reason that Dad and Uncle Harry and I started drinking whiskey in the office!" She stood smiling at them.

The two men stood, Al put his hand on her shoulder, she was a happy drunk but kind of a ditz when she'd been drinking, polar opposite to her usual witty self. "Rose what is the news?"

"Uncle Harry asked me to be one of the on call healers for the auror program! I'm going to be working with you guys and checking in after missions! Uncle Harry worked it out with my supervisors at St. Mungo's! Someone has to keep you guys from falling apart!" Al swept her up in a hug, lifting her off her feet in his excitement, he gets to work with his favorite cousin!

"Rose that's amazing news!" Scorpius added sweeping her into a hug once Al had put her down.

"Of course I probably had a touch too much whiskey for this early in the day, but you two know that I like my whiskey, always have, I get that from dad and Uncle Harry." As Rose rambled on happily Al and Scorpius gathered their things into their bags and began to walk her back to Harry's Head Auror's office. The three poked their heads into the office when their heard an uproar of laughter. Both Ron and Harry were doubled over in laughter, clearly enjoying themselves.

Al interrupted their reverie and walked into the room as Rose leaned against Scorpius more heavily due to the sudden absence of Al's support on her right side. "You two ought to be ashamed of yourselves, you let this one go wandering drunkenly through the office!" This was met by more peals of laughter from two infamous war heroes.

Wiping tears from his eyes Ron looked at his nephew, "Oh Al you know she can handle herself, we knew she went to find you two, and she did!" Al rolled his eyes and looked back at his cousin and best friend. Rose was now standing in front of Scorpius leaning back into him and looking as happy as he'd ever seen her. His blonde friend didn't seem to be minding the arrangement one bit either, he was smiling slightly as he watched the two drunken men laugh and had a hand on either of Rose's shoulders to keep her steady against him.

"In any case, we're taking Rose home now, you two should think about heading home soon too before Aunt Hermione or mum get word that you're getting Rose drunk on the job," Al added smiling before walking out of the room. Scorpius steered Rose by the shoulders and followed Al towards the designated apparition point in the ministry training center.

Well at least, Scorpius mused, things will be much more interesting with Rose popping in and out of the office more often, he smiled as he looked down at the drunken woman bouncing along in front of him.