Chapter One: Picture to Burn
"So watch me strike a match
On all my wasted time
As far as I'm concerned you're
Just another picture to burn!"
-Taylor Swift, Picture to Burn
Rose Weasley woke up to the sound of pounding on her bedroom door. She mumbled some choice swear words under her breath, and rolled over, pulling the pillow over her head in a feeble attempt to drown out the noise.
"Rosie, I know you're in there!" echoed her brother Hugo's insistent voice, "I heard about you and Tom!"
"Go away, Hugh!" Rose shouted with a huff. She was in absolutely no mood to deal with her little brother this early in the morning, especially after having been out so late the night before.
"Are you decent?" he asked. She cautiously opened her eyes and squinted blearily at her pajamas. Yes, she was decent. Answering him would only be encouragement though. Three blissfully silent seconds passed, and then the same obnoxious voice pierced the silence.
"I'm coming in!" he bellowed, in unnecessarily loud tones. Damn, he knew her too well. She pondered the blissful possibilities of her parents having decided that having an only child was best. If only she had been so lucky. She heard the door knob jiggle, and then his whispered unlocking charm before the little brat clomped his way over to her bed, plopping himself down as if he owned the place.
"Bugger off, Dumbass," she muttered. Hugo flipped her the bird cheerfully, and settled back against the wall, plopping his legs onto hers and grabbing a pillow for support. He really was an obnoxious little twerp. She sighed heavily and sat up, mimicking his slouched posture. Now that he was here she definitely wasn't getting any more sleep.
"How did you even get into the apartment?" she muttered. No answer. Of course not. She rolled over onto her side, facing him and glaring. He was far too cheerful this morning, wearing a bright red shirt that clashed horribly with his hair.
"What time is it?" she asked, yawning loudly and hoping he would take the hint. No such luck.
"10 o'clock. You know, way past the normal time for functioning adults to be sleeping, even if it is a weekend." Rose snorted at this.
"Define functioning," she replied. Hugo laughed at that, and tossed her the brown paper bag that she hadn't noticed he was holding. Inside were two pumpkin pasties and a couple of iced coffees from The Three Broomsticks. Perhaps Hugo wasn't such an obnoxious little twerp after all.
"Cheers!" she said, pulling out her half of the loot and tossing the rest back to her favorite little brother. This almost made up for the rude awakening this morning. Almost. She settled back onto her pillows and munched happily on her breakfast.
"So," Hugo began, spewing out pasty crumbs as he talked, "What happened last night?" Rose groaned. She should have known the pasties would come with certain provisions. She also knew that Hugo wouldn't leave until he heard the whole story. Rose had inherited the Weasley temper, but Hugo had all of the stubbornness. It was a terrible combination, really. Why had her parents decided reproducing twice was a good idea, again?
"Well," she began thoughtfully, abandoning her pasty in defeat, "I guess you could say that I chucked him?" Hugo laughed.
"From what I hear, it was less 'chucked' and more 'complete disaster.' At least those were Al's words when he owled me in the wee hours of the morning. Mum almost had a heart attack when she heard the owl pecking at the window." Hugo laughed even harder at that, and Rose had to force back a smile.
"Oh, come on, it's not funny, Hugh! The idiot had it coming. We've been on the rocks for a while now, but last night was the last straw." She looked over at Hugo, and he was sipping his drink and staring at her with a 'go on' sort of expression. She sighed. "Fine. My temper may have gotten the best of me, but you should have heard what he said to me in front of all my friends."
"What did he say?" Hugo asked curiously, still with food in his mouth, "Al didn't give me any details, he just told me to get over here as soon as possible."
"Well we all met up for drinks at the Leaky Caldron. Some of us there hadn't seen each other in months, so we were all catching up, telling stories and reminiscing." Rose paused here, and flushed a bit to remember. "Tom was two years ahead of us all at Hogwarts, so I was trying to explain a few memories to him and fill him in on the details." She trailed off, biting her lip. She knew Hugo – and others – often complained about her bossiness, an inherited trait from her mother.
"And then?" Hugo pressed. She was relieved that his curiosity outweighed his tendency to criticize her.
"And then he told me – loudly, so all my friends heard! – he told me that he didn't need me to explain everything to him like he was a little child. He said that he was smart enough to train in the Auror program at the Ministry, which meant he could understand a hell of a lot more than someone working at a shop!" she finished in an angry rush. Rose swore under her breath and Hugo nodded in satisfaction.
"So you flipped out on him?" he asked, "Good for you. It sounds like he deserved it." She sighed.
"I may have gotten a little carried away," she admitted, "But I did at least ask him to step outside with me before I let him have it. Albus only caught the tail end of the breakup speech, because he came outside to check on me. I don't think anyone else heard."
"Did you tell Al the rest of what happened?" Hugo asked this last question as he brushed crumbs off his chest onto Rose's blankets.
"Oi! Keep your mess off my bed, you little bugger!" Rose huffed, reaching over to shove her brother off the bed. He laughed, holding up his arms in defense and leaping onto the floor.
"Sorry, sorry!" he yelled, laughing like an idiot. He most definitely was not sorry, but as Rose knew quite a few jinxes, she was sure that he was only apologizing out of fear. Being the older sibling did have certain perks. She laughed with him, glad to know that her authority still held, even at the ages of twenty and twenty-two.
"I told Albus the whole thing last night after we apparated home," she explained, "Though I suppose I better let him know that I'm alright, once he wakes up. He was pretty concerned before we went to bed. Though in all fairness, I did spend a good half hour setting fire to all my pictures of Tom with my wand." She laughed sheepishly. It had seemed like a good idea at the time.
"He's up already," Hugo said, "Who do you think let me into the apartment?" With a laugh, he sauntered out of the room, closing the door behind him.
"Take your trash with you, you little berk!" Rose shouted after him as he went. Of course, he ignored her. She heard him yell down the hall to Albus, something fairly unflattering about Rose. She muttered to herself, and pushed herself out of bed to get ready for the day.
Twenty minutes later, after a nice shower, Rose ambled down the hall to the kitchen, pulling a Harpies sweatshirt over her head as she went. Albus and Hugo were poring over the Quidditch section of the Prophet, arguing stats and making season predictions. She rolled her eyes. The pair of them were nothing if not predictable. Albus looked up as she approached.
"About time the little heartbreaker woke up!" he exclaimed, trying and failing to suppress a laugh. He gestured to the pile of burnt photos Rose had destroyed the night before.
"Shove off, Al," Rose grumbled, hoisting herself onto the counter and glaring at her cousin, "You're supposed to support your best friend in her time of need, not rag on her at every opportunity."
"Whoops! Sorry, I always confuse those two things. We can't all have your brains, Rosie." Hugo chuckled and high fived his older cousin. Rose glared at the pair of them again, before pulling her wand out of the pocket of her hoodie and vanishing the ruined pictures. She caught a glimpse of Tom's grin evaporating right before the small stack disappeared.
"Well, it seems like you're remarkably cheerful for someone who just broke up with her boyfriend of a year," Hugo said sarcastically, "It doesn't really seem like I'm needed here. I better get home before Mum starts asking too many questions. "
"Ah, the joys of still living at home," Albus replied cheerfully, "Give Aunt Hermione and Uncle Ron our best. Oh, and ask Uncle Ron and Uncle George if they'll send over some more of those testers from the store. Scorpius and I had a blast pranking the other interns at St. Mungo's."
"Will do!" Hugo said, clapping his cousin on the back, "Bye, Rosie! Let me know if you need any moral support, or more pumpkin pasties." She smiled and hugged him. He and Albus really did mean well, even if they were obnoxious about it. She watched Hugo walk out the front door, and listened for the telltale 'crack' sound that meant he had apparated safely.
"And then there were two," she said, turning back toward her cousin. Albus smiled at her.
"You really are OK, aren't you?" he asked in bewilderment.
"Yeah, I am," she said thoughtfully. "Like I told Hugh: we had been on the rocks for a while, and it was only a matter of time before it ended. Tom and I were together for a year, but more out of convenience than anything else."
"So, up for Sunday errands, then?" Albus asked.
"Sunday errands," she agreed. And so, the newly single Rose Weasley and her cousin/roommate/best friend Albus Potter embarked on their weekly Sunday adventure: grocery shopping.