Chapter Two

Disclaimer: Naturally, the characters and setting and just about everything belong to J.K. Rowling. Only this plotline belongs to me. And perhaps some minor characters that pop up along the way.

I had expected, like Rose, to see the Great Hall being swarmed by hungry students, but when we left the common room only a few sleepy students wandered the halls.

We arrived at the Room of Requirement, finding the place to be empty, and spoke to the portrait in the back of the room. Suddenly, the door swung open, and we crossed through the tunnel towards the Hog's Head. We had a relatively long walk ahead in the darkness, and an awkward silence was not something I was willing to deal with.

"Hey, Rose?" She turned to look at me, the dim lights in the walls casting an odd glow upon her face. "You made these plans in advance. How did you know things would be alright between us?"

She smiled, as if hiding a secret, and whispered, "I know you. And I just had this feeling. I mean, we've never been fighting for more than, what? Three days? You just can't stand being apart from me, can you?" Her last sentence was more of a statement, than a question, and although she was only joking, it still rang true. Honestly, every time she was mad at me, I was utterly miserable, and not in the sense that she would do things to bug me, but because not having her around was actually painful. And this round was no exception. The only reason I hadn't tried to mend things earlier was because she was so damn difficult to find.

"Oh my, you've found my secret. Nothing brings me greater happiness than your presence." She giggled, rolled her eyes and hugged me around my middle as we continued to walk, hanging awkwardly from my side. After a few steps, she realized it was too difficult and let go of me.

We were nearing the edge of the passage way when Rose suddenly decided that she didn't have enough patience to keep walking. She grasped her hand firmly in mine and ran towards the second portrait dragging me behind her, stumbling to keep up. The lights steadily grew darker until the only light we could see was filtered from the other side of the portrait, obscured by the screened canvas that stood between them and Hogsmeade. We pushed at the frame and hopped from the stone tunnel and onto the wood floor on the other side. Aberforth Dumbledore was snoring loudly in an armchair near the stairs. Rose walked over to him and shook his shoulder gently.

"Mr. Dumbledore? Hello?" she spoke hesitantly and quietly. Dumbledore woke abruptly looking around quickly in an attempt to find an intruder. He looked over to Rose and I, and began to chuckle.

"My word Rose, I thought you were going to kill me. What time is it? I thought you were coming at 8 when I open the pub." He looked up at the clock hanging next to the portrait. "Rose, it's only 6. What are you doing here so early?"

She looked at her watch and laughed uncomfortably. "I'm sorry… forgot to fix my watch time."

I glowered at her. I could be sleeping right now, instead of bundled up in my coat, a full hour and a half before anything in Hogsmeade was open. I walked over to a couch right next to the fireplace, determined to rest until we could actually do something here. Rose looked over at me confused.

"What on Earth are you doing?" I suppose it looked like I was leaving. After all, I was about two feet away from the portrait and I hadn't said I was going to sleep.

"I'm tired. I don't know about you, but I'm not going to stay awake until Hogsmeade is officially open for the day. I'd rather sleep." She nodded as I sat down, and joined me on the couch. So we sat there, near Dumbledore, who had fallen back to sleep, sitting on the couch closest to the fireplace. I closed my eyes and leaned my head back, falling asleep quickly. I barely registered Rose wiggling under my arm and a gentle pressure on my chest before everything went dark.

When I woke up, the chimes in the clock on the wall were ringing. Once, twice, eight times. Aberforth stood over my shoulder, gently shaking me.

"I have to go open up the shop. I'll be up there with something to eat when you two decide to get up." He smiled knowingly, and walked down the staircase to the pub.

I looked down at Rose who was comfortably snuggled into my side, arms wrapped around my middle like they had been in the tunnel, loosely hugging me as her head rested on my chest as she breathed deeply. One of my arms lay on her shoulder, and with the other, I pushed her hair out of her face. She would no doubt be upset when she realized I had let her sleep this long, but she looked so content and carefree, getting the best sleep she's had in a while.

"Rose? Hey Rose?" She began to stir, but her eyes remained shut. I took her hands and tried my best to pry them from my side. I got one hand loose, and a small groan of complaint came from Rose. The next thing I knew, I had a light stinging sensation where Rose had just lazily slapped me.

"Ow!" I rubbed my cheek.

"Sorry, I misjudged the distance." She mumbled. She brought her hand up to my injured cheek and turned my face towards her. "I am sleeping. Shhhhh." Her hand dropped to my shoulder, head nuzzled back into me, and held onto my waist with her other hand. She sighed softly, and I almost felt guilty to be waking her.

"Come on Rose…" I carefully pulled myself up off the couch, dragging Rose like a dead weight. "Seriously. Rose. It's past eight." Her eyes flew open and she immediately let go of me.

"Why didn't you wake me sooner?" She looked at me, and suddenly remembered me trying to wake her. "I'm sorry. Let's go. You ready?" She smiled at me and grabbed my hand again as she ran up the stairs and into the Hog's Head.

When we got up there, Aberforth had left out two plates of food for us, which we wolfed down before running out into the village.

Every time I go to Hogsmeade without Rose, I forget why I love it so much in the first place. With her around, I don't have to pay attention to what we are doing and where we want to go. We just go. So that's what we did. We just went. We wandered the village, went to Honeydukes, walked around sat making angels in the snow, and just sat and talked. In these moments, everything was absolutely perfect. I had what I needed right there with me.

Moments like this can't always last, but at least they are here for now. Life with Rose is a rollercoaster, but I love the feeling deep in the pit of my stomach as we go over the hills.

We were back in the castle by dinnertime. When Rose and I walked into the Great Hall, laughing, McGonagall was already standing at her post, waiting for everyone to quiet down. Rose and I quickly took our seats and everyone settled down.

Once every student had stopped talking, McGonagall began to speak.

"This year will be here full of tradition and changes. Hogwarts has always been a school of tradition, yet open to tradition. For this reason, I am pleased to announce the arrival of some dear friends. Please welcome the witches and wizards of Beubatons and Durmstrang."

The hall fell silent as streams of students entered and took seats surrounding the four main tables. Tabitha sat on the other side of the table, jaw dropped. Things were about to get crazy.

AN: Sorry about the long wait. I was anticipating a story that took very little time to write and an easy amount of work to deal with. But college stuff has been coming up and I was really stressed. Not only that, but this chapter and the next chapter were the least developed in my mind, and I have a lot of trouble pushing through them. The rest will come MUCH faster, I promise. January will probably be full of time to write, and the next few chapters will go much faster. OH. And in case you were wondering, most of the story takes place in whatever season I post during. This is all a fall to winter transition story, lasting until February or March in the story, and probably in real life. Purely coincidental.

Yes this chapter is short. I rushed through details in Hogsmeade because this isn't our only time there. This feels like a load of filler to me, and I apologize for that, but everything has importance eventually. This just acts as a transition into "normalcy" for Rose and Scorpius and to create a stage.

I'll edit later. I'm too lazy. And sorry for the time mess-up in last chapter. It was supposed to be 6:30 not 8:30. But I fixed it. Yea.

Please review. It encourages me to write, otherwise I tend to feel like I'm wasting my time. Even if it is just to say "I like your story" or "Write more", PLEASE review. I appreciate every single one and I love to hear from people who like my story.