Disclaimer: I don't own anything Harry Potter related, nor do I own Taylor Swifts lyrics below.
Chapter Summary: Love can be a ruthless game unless you play it good and write (Taylor Swift, State of Grace)
Last Chapter Recap: So Natalie Boot lives in this ginormous house because her parents are rich from this cosmetic line that she always models for but her dad still tries to act like they're normal so he refuses to hire someone to fix their house's cooling charms so she had to deal with a really hot house for days. Rose's hair is crazy so she needed straightening solution from Ali but Ali forgot and had to make Kensington get it but then Kensy made Ali promise to go to a party with her so now Ali has to go to the Wood's party even though she really doesn't want to. And that's what you missed if you didn't read last chapter. (This Last Chapter Recap was inspired by GLEE!)
Miracle Magic
"And that's a wrap," Damon said a few hours later. "Thank you girls."
"Thank you," Kensy and Ali chorused, finally able to leave the set.
"Girls I need you to wear this tonight," Parvarti said, hurrying up to them both. She handed Ali hair glitter and Kensy a tube of peach lip gloss.
"This doesn't go with my dress," Kensy said in distress. Ali, not wanting to deal with any sort of unneeded conflict, took the lip gloss and handed Kensy the hair glitter.
"And don't forget—"
"If anyone asks, we got it all from Miracle Magic," Kensy and Ali chorused.
"And do not, under any circumstances—"
"Say we got it from our parents' line," they chorused again.
Parvarti smiled and left with one last piece of advice, "Don't stay out too late and I don't want headlines."
"I'll pick you up on my way?" Ali offered as she and Kensy changed back into their regular clothes.
"How about I meet you at yours," Kensy said, having had enough experience with her cousin to know that she shouldn't trust her not to flake out.
"Fine," Ali agreed. "How are we getting there?"
"Lester said we could floo. They're calling their place The Bunk."
"Why—"
"Don't ask," Kensy cut her off and Ali nodded.
"I'll take your word for it."
When Ali arrived back at her house it was miraculously cool and she sighed in relief. She had no idea when her dad got the chance to fix the charm but she wasn't going to question him, thankful that she could take a shower with warm water. She only had two hours to get ready for the party and didn't waste any time. She decided on the dress she had worn for Scorpius' birthday at the beginning of the summer. It wasn't an event so no one would recognize the dress and if she was lucky, she could get a third wear out of it.
The top was made from black silk but from the waist down it went into a tight light blue layered skirt that ended far too quickly to be appropriate for church. She accessorized with a black beaded bracelet her mum had picked up in Brazil and reattached the pearl bracelet Rose and Scorpius had split for her 17th just two days earlier. Padma walked in just as Ali was straightening her hair.
"Are you up for the party?" she asked, taking a seat on the closed toilet.
Ali shrugged. "I promised Kensy," she explained. "Besides, it's about time I patched things up with Lester, right?"
"If that's what you want," Padma said unconcernedly, never really caring much about the publicity part of her job. That was Parvarti's specialty.
"Wear these," Padma commanded, taking out Ali's silver hoop earrings from her jewelry box. Ali nodded and stuck the point through her hole easily, having had them pierced since she was a baby.
"Look out for Kensy, won't you?" Padma asked. "She's not all that street smart."
"I know," Ali sighed. "I'll do my best but no guarantees. If Aunt Parvarti wants her to grow up she's going to have to make it happen."
"I've been telling her that for months," Padma sighed. "But Mrs. Finnegan is constantly berating her and Seamus' parenting styles so I don't want to push it."
"Mrs. Finnegan scares me," Ali said with a faint smile and a brief shiver as she thought of the strict Irish woman. "But Kensy's really not that bad. Just a bit immature but really, she is only fifteen."
"And you're barely seventeen," Padma replied running her hand through Ali's hair.
"ALI, ARE YOU READY?" Kensy yelled from downstairs.
"COMING!" Ali called back, stepping into her room so that she could slip on her black shoes from Paris and pick up her knock off black and silver clutch purse that was enlarged to fit all of the necessities for a party. Since everyone always expected her stuff to be designer, Ali was able to get away with a knock-off every so often.
"Bye mum," Ali said, leaving her mum in the bathroom as she walked out of her room and took the spiraling stairs slowly in an attempt to ensure that she didn't slip. They had been polished just that morning and were even more slippery than normal.
"Home by midnight," Padma reminded from the top of the steps.
"Okay," Ali agreed, not even wanting to be out that late.
The party was already in full swing when Ali flooed in. Lance Wood, Lester's brother who was hosting the party, had graduated from Hogwarts the year before and had immediately gotten a flat with his twin, Leanne. The flat was so large and grandeur that Ali immediately suspected it had been a gift from their parents. Either that or they wanted them out as soon as possible. The chances of the twins getting a job that paid enough for them to afford the flat after working for two months top was highly unlikely—even if they had gotten they had gotten recruited as beaters like Lester thought they would.
Kensy arrived right after Ali and grinned at the noise and crowd. She lived for parties like this.
Rose was sitting on the couch in the center of the room with her cousin Fred. She was wearing a short, tight, dragon leather dress. It was created by deep blue, black, and green hues—all mixing together like a watercolor. The sleeves were long, the black heels were strappy, and her hair was straightened thanks to Miracle Magic's Straightening Solution. Ali immediately made a beeline for her. Kensy, not having seen anyone yet, told both girls to budge over so that she could fit too.
"Ah, the Miracle Girls," Fred grinned, using his nickname for the cousins.
"Hello Fredweirdo," Kensy grinned at him.
"Hey Fred," Ali smiled politely, giving Rose a hug and allowing Fred and Kensy to start their usual banter.
"I would've invited you but I know you don't like going out after work," Rose explained.
"Kensy dragged me along because her mum wouldn't let her go alone," Ali told Rose quietly, knowing Kensy would kill her if anyone overheard. "If I had it my way I would be in bed."
"Wouldn't you always," Rose whispered back. "You want a drink?"
"That actually sounds really good," Ali agreed and they both stood up, leaving their cousins to move closer on the couch.
"What are the chances of the two of them getting together?" Rose asked.
"Pretty high," Ali shrugged.
"What are the chances of Kensy not breaking his heart?"
"Pretty slim," Ali sighed, picking up a butterbeer from the cooler in the kitchen.
"But you never know, right?" Rose said hopefully.
"Guess not," Ali agreed. "Either way, Freddy knows what he's getting into if anything happens. They've been kind of friends for long enough that he should recognize the risk. Hey, there's Lester. I'll be right back, yeah?"
"Sure, just ditch me," Rose waved her off, turning around to go back into the living room.
"Hi Lester," Ali greeted her ex-boyfriend, tapping him on his shoulder.
"Ali," he exclaimed loudly, obviously having had his fair share of alcohol already. "Where's your cousin?"
"Flirting with Fredweirdo," Ali said, slipping out from under the arm he had slung around her shoulders.
"The sixth year?" he asked, frowning.
"Yeah, the sixth year," Ali nodded, already annoyed. She had no patience for people who were drunk, or tipsy for that matter. It just wasn't classy.
"Listen Lester," she went on, getting straight to the point. "We're fine, right?"
"If you don't care that I cheated on you with your cousin," he said and then laughed like it was the funniest thing he had ever heard. Ali raised her eyebrows, not having heard that particular part of the story.
"What do you mean?" she asked, wondering whether or not she should trust his drunken word. He was a strange drunk, talked without thinking and fabricated stories. When they had been dating and he got smashed he once gave her a very detailed story of how he had defeated a Crumple-Horned Snorkack. Strange kid, to put it simply, and he often led her to wonder why she had dated him in the first place.
"Well she doesn't think it was cheating since we only made out for a bit so I broke up with you and dated her right after so you wouldn't find out. She didn't want to make you mad," he added in a whisper.
"How nice," Ali said, pursing her lips in a way that made it clear she thought it was anything but. "Well, I think I'll leave this conversation for a time when you can remember it. But in case you do remember this tomorrow—we're good, we don't need to be friends, there's no reason to act weird, and my Aunt Parvarti would absolutely love it if your parents and siblings came to the banquet in November. See you later Lester."
When Ali turned she rammed right into someone and stumbled backwards.
"Sorry," Ali said, looking straight up at Albus Potter.
"You should watch where you're going," he said coolly.
"And you should be more careful about where you walk," Ali countered, stepping past him and allowing the Potter boy to take care of his dorm mate.
Ali and Albus lived in the same world of parties and popularity but they were drastically different. He was a true Gryffindor—he played Quidditch, got decent grades that were nowhere near her own, and partied hard. She was her mother's daughter preferring to read a book rather than talk to people but doing her duty as the face of her parents business while keeping up the grades that she and her family expected from her. She had never been a big fan of Albus deeming him a bit full of himself and he always looked down on her perfect image calling her fake on more than one occasion.
It wasn't as though either claimed to know the other, they just didn't like each other. If he had the chance Ali didn't doubt that he would start arguments with her but over the years Ali had become extremely good at avoiding anything that placed her in an unappealing light—whether it was for a camera or for her general image. To react to any of his jabs would have been admitting a weakness. Instead she stood up for herself when there was a direct attack and ignored him aside from that.
Complication was not something she needed which was precisely why she decided to write Lester's comment off as yet another one of his delusional drunken hallucinations and head home for an early night once she had seen a few more people to assure everyone of her presence that night.
"Hey, I'm going home early," Ali said quietly, pulling Rose aside. "Can you make sure Kensy gets home for me?"
"Sure," Rose nodded, a slight frown on her face. "Are you okay?"
"I'll be fine, I think I just need some sleep," Ali tried to reassure her.
"Tell me later?" Rose asked and Ali nodded, hoping this later wouldn't occur for another year…or two. Really, either was fine.
Unfortunately, Lester's comment was brought up the Friday before term started, catching Ali off guard and forcing it in her face before she had come up with a plan of action that would get the point across to her friends without them turning it into a nuclear disaster.
Miracle Magic
Ali,
You want to come over on Friday? It's our last chance to hang out this summer because I have the Weasley barbeque on Saturday and Scorpius has relatives to entertain that night. Write me back whether you can come or not.
Love,
Rose Weasley.
Rose,
Sounds great and my parents are cool with it. What time?
Ali
Ali,
Whenever after 10, Mum and Aunt Ginny are going out and I really don't want to be dragged along for one of their 'shopping trips.' See you Friday!
Love,
Rose Weasley.
"Hi Mrs. Weasley," Ali greeted Hermione pleasantly when she opened the door. "I thought Rose said you were going shopping today."
"Oh we decided to postpone it until everyone is off at school. Albus put off everything until the last minute so Ginny had to run out with him today. As it turns out I'm needed in the office anyways so I'll be heading out in a few minutes."
"Are there a lot of cases right now?" Ali asked curiously.
"We have two big ones with the same settlement date," Hermione sighed. "They have to be finished by next Sunday and we'll be busy until they're both over."
Hermione's hair was much like Rose's but far darker. She was also much better at naturally taming her curls than her daughter and left it curly more often than Rose did. At the moment the front half was fastened by a large clip and the rest was left to hang down her back. Rose's hair always resembled Bellatrix Lestrange's pictures when she didn't straighten it. Hermione's could have been recently permed.
"I've always thought being a lawyer would be interesting," Ali thought aloud.
"Well we would be very happy to have you if you decide to pursue it," Hermione smiled at her. "Tea?"
"Oh, no thank you," Ali declined politely. "Are Rose and Scorpius here?"
"Rose is in her room (still asleep last I checked) and I haven't seen Scorpius. But you can wake up my daughter if you like. It's about time she realized that the sun rises before noon."
"Great thanks," Ali said, pushing away from the counter and skipping up the steps two at a time.
Rose's room was still dark as Ali carefully opened the door. The blinds were down and the sunlight seeping through made it feel as though it was closer to five than ten in the morning. Ali grinned to herself as she tip-toed over Rose's mess of clothes and school books, gingerly taking a seat on the edge of Rose's bed and covering her mouth to stop herself from giggling. Rose's mouth was hanging open and she was making quiet puffing noises that didn't quite qualify as a snore but were somewhere in the same neighborhood.
Ali leaned forward so that she was right beside Rose's ear and screamed,
"GET UP!" at the top of her lungs, jumping back and off the bed just in time to miss a spluttering and cursing Rose who flew forwards and flailed around for a moment before toppling off the side of her bed. Ali cracked up and eventually fell onto Rose's bed as she lost the ability to stand up.
"WHAT THE BLOODY HELL WAS THAT FOR?" Rose shrieked, ever the charmer.
"I wanted you to wake up," Ali shrugged, putting on her innocent face. "I wasn't expecting you to be such a spazz about it."
Rose glared at her and began trying to untangle herself from the mess of blankets she had somehow managed to swaddle herself in.
"Yeah because six years of sharing a dormitory with me gave you no indication what-so-ever," Rose muttered angrily, somehow managing to get to her feet without the use of her arms. She started hopping around in a circle in an attempt to untangle the bed sheets but only made it worse. After a few minutes of watching her struggle Ali gave in and went over to help Rose get untangled.
Five minutes later they still hadn't managed it.
"Hold still," Ali reprimanded as she found an end of one of Rose's turquoise sheets and started to pull at it.
"I'm trying," Rose snapped back. "But it's a bit hard when you're yanking my body with the sheet."
"If you would just hold still then we could actually get this—AHH!" Ali yelled as she accidentally pulled too hard and Rose fell forwards like a drunken suit of armor.
"Oof," Rose let out a groan as she landed on top of Ali who couldn't make any noise at all because Rose had completely knocked her breath out.
"Whoa, am I interrupting something," Scorpius teased from the doorway, holding his hands up and raising his eyebrows at their awkward position.
"Get…off," Ali finally managed to get out.
"Right, sorry," Rose said, twisting around to get enough momentum to actually roll off of her friend.
"What's going on?" Scorpius asked, sounding amused.
"I was trying to get Rose untangled," Ali explained, pushing herself to her feet and indicating the trapped girl. "It didn't work very well."
"Clearly," Rose muttered from her place on the floor. Scorpius looked at her calculatingly before pulling his wand out from his robes and pointing it at her. In seconds the comforter and sheets had untangled themselves and were flying back onto her bed. Rose blinked stupidly and Ali's mouth dropped open.
"WHY DIDN'T YOU THINK OF THAT?" Rose demanded, whirling on Ali.
"Why didn't you?" Ali shot back defensively. "I can't think of everything around here."
"Clearly," Scorpius stated, still amused. "How the two of you got into Ravenclaw I will never know."
"Hey, I am very smart," Ali huffed. Both her friends raised their eyebrows and she rolled her brown eyes, "Just not when I'm put on the spot."
"That I'll admit to," Rose said. "And you have nothing to talk about Malfoy. I creamed you with our OWL results."
"And yet we're taking the same classes," Scorpius replied smugly.
"You're not taking potions," Rose countered.
"I could have if I wanted to though. And you're not taking Herbology," Scorpius shot right back.
"I could have taken Herbology if I wanted to," Rose said angrily, her face quickly moving towards the DANGER end on the red scale.
"You're both very smart," Ali tried to diffuse the situation. "Now let's enjoy our last free day together before we go back to school."
"Well actually," Rose said, biting her lip nervously. "I kind of still have to do that Transfiguration essay."
"What?" Ali asked disbelievingly. "I told you to do that two weeks ago!"
"Sorry mother," Rose rolled her eyes. "Look, just help me with it and I'll be done in ten minutes."
Ten minutes turned out to be nearly two hours because Rose didn't believe a word either of her friends told her and insisted on checking their book to make sure that every sentence they gave her was one hundred percent correct.
"What's the point of having us help you if you don't listen to us?" Scorpius had asked an hour into it.
"I just want to make sure I have everything right," Rose had replied. "You guys tell me what to write and then I fact check it."
Ali feeding Rose lies after she got bored waiting for her to double-check only made it take longer but by the time lunch rolled around Rose was finally satisfied with her work and they were all hungry.
"We could go over to the Potter's," Rose had offered when they were all staring into her bare pantry. "Ginny is probably making something and she always has extra."
"How about not," Ali said. "We can make do with what you have or we can go over to my house. We have food."
"Do you know how to make it?" Rose asked and Ali grimaced. She hadn't inherited her either of her parents' potion or cooking skills.
"I'll brave Ali's cooking over the Potter house any day," Scorpius replied.
"Al really isn't that bad you guys," Rose tried to reason with them.
"Hey, I have no issue with him," Scorpius defended, holding his hands up in mock-surrender. "It's his friends I don't like."
"Well then what's wrong with going to his house?" Rose pressed, sounding exasperated.
"I don't want to go there," Ali put in. "It's weird. I don't know them. Our parents may be kind-of-sort-of friends but I'm definitely not friends with him."
"To be fair you haven't really tried," Rose pointed out.
"We have nothing in common," Ali rolled her eyes. "Besides, it's not like he's making any effort so why should I?"
"You guys argue so damn much," Scorpius declared, rolling his eyes.
"We do not argue," Ali and Rose exclaimed in unison.
In all actuality, Rose argued with everyone. She didn't like being wrong and she hated it when people didn't listen to her. She argued with Scorpius over grades, she argued with Albus over both of their friends, she argued with her parents over rules and expectations, and she argued with Ali about everything though the serious arguments generally revolved around Ali's cousin, Kensy. Rose's way of showing that she cared was being pushy—usually a bit too pushy.
"How about we go to Diagon Alley?" Rose finally suggested. "I have no money so you guys have to pay but it's better than nothing."
"Fine," Ali shrugged. "But can we stop—"
"No," Rose said, picking up a handful of floo powder.
"But I just—" Ali tried again, turning to Scorpius.
"No," Scorpius cut her off, following Rose.
"Some friends you guys are," Ali muttered, tossing in her handful of the green powder and showing up right behind them in the main Diagon Alley grate.
"Hannah!" Rose greeted the Landlady for the Leaky Cauldron with a hug.
Rose, it seemed to Ali, knew virtually everyone and the few business owners and politicians she didn't know knew her. While Rose wasn't the type of person to lead a rebellion or talk in front of thousands of people she was very good at getting people to like her. When she was around politicians her manners were impeccable. When she was talking to her parents friends from school she was warm and cheeky. And when she was meeting people she knew nothing about she was polite, sweet, and to the point.
She may not have gotten her mother's leadership but she was very good with people when they were talking to her rather than staring at her.
They found a booth in the back, away from the rush of people that would be coming through the doors and up and down the steps as they came and went from their inn rooms. Hannah took it upon herself to make sure they got everything they needed and even joined in their discussions from time to time—giving her opinion on the new Miracle Magic hair streaks that were still burning peoples heads as well as her thoughts on the new bill facing the Wizengamot about Giant rights.
It had been an all together rather enjoyable day in Ali's opinion but as they were waiting for Hannah to bring them a bill her cousin crashed the party with a not-so-welcome declaration.
"Lester said he told you he cheated on you," Kensington spluttered.
Miracle Magic
A/N: Please review and tell me what you thought. Don't be afraid to be brutally honest, I promise I won't get mad!