"No one appointed you as Hogwart's reporter, Rose," snickered Albus as the cousins made their way upstairs to the dormitory. "I mean, they'll just hear everything from us on Christmas. What's the point when we'll just repeat everything again? And everyone will be sad when they've already heard it from Aunt Hermione and Uncle Ron." Al shifted his bag to the other shoulder.

"I'm not claiming position for Hogwart's reporter, Al. I just like to write to my parents. Is that such a problem?"

Al rolled his eyes. "I don't understand how you can turn a week into a million rolls of parchment is all."

Blushing, Rose was quick to recover, "It was just that one week. It's not like I'll take up more than three rolls this time, so quit it." They arrived at the Fat Lady to which Rose said, "Dragon heartstring," and the portrait hole was revealed.

In they went, and before Al could go on, Rose marched up the girl's dormitory staircase and stated smugly, "Have fun completing that star chart and potions and transfiguration essay and bubotuber ---"

"Yes, yes, alright…" Albus stalked off into the corner with some other fourth years, also doing the dreadful list of assignments. Rose simply smiled, finished early as usual, and continued upstairs.

Sitting down at a desk near the window, she pulled out a white feather quill, her well of ink, and a roll of fresh parchment. Sighing, she dipped the pen into the ink and began to write. Before the pen touched the paper however, a thought of keeping the letter short crossed her mind. She was starting to run low on parchment. She never seemed to bring enough… Rose started:

Dear Mum and Dad,

It's me again, of course. I honestly just like writing to you. Nobody seems to understand that. Could you send another pack of parchment? And ink for that matter? I know. I always run low. I promise to keep my letters shorter. In case you're reading this dad, (I know you like mum to read and summarize it for you.) Gryffindor won the first match of the season against Ravenclaw. Hugo's behaving just fine, though I did see him earlier sneaking around with James. You'd think James would have grown up by now. Lily tags along sometimes. I worry about them.

The thing I really want to mention was what happened in Transfiguration class today. A Hufflepuff in the back of the room had a potion he was supposed to turn into the potions master. As he forgot it was on his desk, in danger of getting hit, the kid next to him did just that. He aimed wrong and the spell blew up the potion all over Professor Malter. How can you aim wrong from that close? The wooden box was right in front of him. Maybe he needs glasses. Poor thing, Professor Malter burst into some kind of disfigured reptile thing and had to be taken to the hospital wing. It seems she was transferred to St. Mungo's. I wonder what he put in his potion. As soon as the head of Hufflepuff house came in, he was furious and gave him detention, as well as telling the potions master to flunk the potion he was supposed to turn in.

I think she'll be there for awhile. It's a good thing it's Friday. I wonder who will replace her Monday… I don't want one of those lousy subs again who don't even read our essays. The others don't mind of course. Nothing else exciting really happened. Well, actually there is more but I'm trying to keep my letter short. Al seems to think I use a million rolls of parchment. It was only eight that one week! I hope you're all well. Say hello to everyone for me.

Love, Rose

Now with the letter finished, she went ahead and sealed it, preparing to go to the owlery to mail it to her parents. She packed up and headed downstairs to the common room, packed with fourth years on break. Al looked up in mock astonishment.

"Oh, you've already finished?" James snorted in the corner who was playing chess with Hugo, killing one of his pawns.

"Come back soon Rose, or we'll think Hagrid got you in for a taste of his rock cakes," said Hugo before he used his knight to knock out a castle.

"I will," responded Rose. "And that's wrong." She pointed at Al's essay. "Try the next chapter."

"Thanks." Albus scratched it out and turned the page of his book without hesitation. Rose walked out of the room, bumping into Lily.

"Hey Rose," she replied happily. "Sending an owl?"

"Yes." Rose grudgingly kept the annoyance out of her voice. You can't keep from barging into one of your relatives here… "How are you Lily?"

"I passed one of my Defense Against the Dark Arts tests with 100%. And I passed a test in Charms too."

"Good for you!" Rose was delighted for her. Lily was the youngest but out of all her siblings was the one most dedicated to academics. Al was close behind but Lily had the enthusiasm. "Well, I'll see you later."

"Okay Rose." With that, Lily passed her into the common room and sat to watch the chess match.

Rose navigated the moving staircases up to the owlery. She saw a large, healthy barn owl that looked excited to do something. As she walked over to call it down, a voice seemed to boom in the quite space.

"Hey Rose." A green and silver tie glinted from over in the corner. Out of the shadows came a blond, handsome boy with a smirk on his face. "It must be Friday if you're in the owlery." He came to stand beside her.

I really don't need this right now… In an exasperated tone she retorted,"Yes, it is Friday, and if I get another person commenting on how I write to my parents every week, I may never send this letter at all." She turned to face him.

Rose found him in his normally relaxed stance next to her. She never had any trouble talking with Scorpius. Despite her father's warning, she did become friends with him. Quite good friends, actually. She might even venture to say that he was her best friend. But Scorpius didn't look like he was acting like her best friend now. His face looked a little… bashful? Rose couldn't tell; she had never seen this expression on his face before. It seemed more reserved.

She caught herself examining his face for too long. Blushing, she looked at him in the eye and asked, "Did you come here to joke around with me? If I didn't know any better, you might have been waiting for me behind the door."

Scorpius screwed his face into a mixture of fake disgust and the reserved expression. "Why would I wait for Rosie in the owlery to send a letter to her parents? What do you think, I'm your dog?" He smiled again, white teeth showing. "A person can happen to be in the same room as another person, right? Are you going to report me to a prefect or something?"

Rose grinned back at him. "You wish. Well, what are you doing here then? Did you send a letter to your parents?"

Scorpius' face faltered. Rose figured she said the wrong thing. He didn't like talking about his family much. Not that they treated him terrible or anything, he just didn't like talking about them. To cover up the ensuing silence, she called to the barn owl in the eaves. It came willingly down. In quick motions she attached the letter to its outstretched leg and watched it take off into the sky.

"It's a wonder the owls here can lift your ten ton letters." Before Rose could make a comeback, Scorpius continued. "Did you finish all your homework? Or is that not really a question?"

"I finished my homework so what's it to you?" she snapped. Her arms crossed automatically over her chest.

"I didn't mean to make you mad." He put his hands up in surrender. "Just making friendly conversation."

Rose sighed. "Sorry. Everyone's been on me today. You know, you're lucky sometimes, not having a big family."

"Sometimes," he agreed. He sat on the ledge and patted a seat next to him. Rose sat down.

"Why are you in the owlery though?" she asked in curiosity.

"Guess I was bored, knew you'd be here, with no assignments to do."

"You've finished your homework then? Even the Charm's review?"

"Yup." Rose wasn't surprised. A lot of the time Scorpius seemed to slack in class, only to surprise her with how efficient he got his homework done. He did better than average on tests too. Not the sharpest knife in the drawer but certainly not the dullest.

"If you were bored, then why wait for me? Surely one of your friends would keep your mind busy."

"Most of them aren't real friends. They just flock over because they think I'm popular."

"That fan club of yours does keep a close watch on you. How did you manage to escape?"

"One finds ways. Of course, I've learned some of those ways from your cousins." He looked at her knowingly.

"Of course." She rolled her eyes. "James does attract a crowd."

Scorpius chuckled. "Yup."

They sat in silence for a minute or two. Rose liked this about Scorpius. There was no pressure to talk or not to talk with him. Everything was so natural.

"Well then. I suppose I should leave you to the sharks. I mean your family. Don't want them thinking you're up to no good." With a wave and a smile, he got up and opened the door to leave. "See you later, Petal."

"See you." She continued to sit on the ledge after he left, swinging her feet back and forth, thinking.

Petal. It was an odd nickname. Albus was the one who introduced them. She had been reluctant to talk to him but Al jumped right in after meeting him once in the boys' bathroom. Al had this talent of making quick friends she couldn't fathom. Well, all the Potter children did, really. They argued, her and Scorpius, and in that argument he tried to insult her using the common, overused term "Ginger." In her outrage, she challenged him to come up with something better, since obviously this term could be applied to most of her family. He tried "Flower" to which Rose frowned and Al grinned, then "Plant" where Rose sighed and Al laughed. She called him pathetic and tried to ignore him while Albus tried to help Scorpius sum up a suitable name. Finally, Scorpius settled on "Rosie Petal." Rose twitched toward him, scowling. Seeing this reaction, he rejoiced and continued to call her Rosie Petal until the end of the day.

She got used to it after a time and even some of her cousins used it on her. By that time, he shortened it to "Petal." Thank goodness he shortened it.

Snapping out of her memories, Rose found it getting chilly in the owlery. Taking her bag, she sauntered over to the door and left to go back to the common room where, hopefully, she could find a spot in front of the fireplace to read her book.

A/N: Hey everyone! With luck, this will turn into a multi-chapter fic. However, reviews may make things go faster, hint, hint. Hope you've enjoyed my story. Happy reading!