A/N – Next part of the story. I'm so nice I'm putting it up so soon. I'm not quite sure why it's so soon, but it is. Thanks to Lily18dm, luckydoggy and A.J. Horn for reviewing, to potter-granger-mad and Just Trina T for favouriting and toLily18dm, luckydoggy and A.J. Horn for Story Alerting. You're all awesome, especially if you reviewed (no offence if you didn't, you're awesome too)

If you don't work it out, James is between 6th and 7th years at school. And he's 17. Yes, he will be in this chapter.

Disclaimer – I still own only 50 published words and they're nothing to do with Harry Potter.

Following on straight from the end of the last chapter:

Was she really that bad at making people see she wanted to be left alone? Rose was convinced that if they didn't go soon, she would explode. Probably literally. "Yes Scorpius is gay, yes I failed potions and I failed History of Magic too. And," she glared pointedly at Hugo "why does nobody seem to care that we have no idea where Al is? He could be-"

"He's in France"

"Shut up, Hugo. He could be anywhere, we have no idea and nobody cares,"

There was a short pause as Hugo and Molly asserted that Rose had finished her rant, neither wanting to risk her renewed wrath, then both started talking at once.

"Harry. Freakin'. Potter, Rose. Albus isn't a little kid and neither's uncle Harry. They'll be fine-"

"-please Rose, the family don't need to monitor everything they're doing. I'm sure-"

"-the Harry Potter. The one that spent about a year out of school looking for horcruxes with Mum and Dad-"

"-wouldn't be the first time the Potters had extended their holiday at short notice-"

"Yes, but it would be the first time without telling anyone. They haven't sent any kind of letter or anything," Rose snapped. Really, she had had enough of sound grating viciously against her skull.

"Harry. Freak-"

"Hugo, SHUT UP, or I swear I'll curse you, whether or not I get expelled for it,"

The silence that ensued was the one of the most uneasy times Rose had recently experienced. Frequently, Hugo seemed prepared to shatter it but Molly, ever the sensible one, sensed Rose's tension and put a restraining hand on her other cousin's arm.

Rose didn't know whether to be more angry with Albus or more worried about him. If he would just send her a letter she could relax – a bit, but of course her other issues would still stand. Or maybe she should be angry with James and Lily: if the whole Potter family was there maybe she'd be able to relax a little bit. Five people, she reasoned, would be safer than two. But as it was, the Potter family holiday had been brought to its knees that year. Lily had been so devastated at having to miss some 'massively exciting' Quidditch matches for it that Aunt Ginny had stayed behind to take her to watch them – frankly, Rose thought Aunt Ginny was probably at least as excited about the Quidditch as she had been about the holiday – and James had apparated back, proud to show off his new ability to legally do magic outside of school, a couple of days into the holiday because he was 'pining for his girlfriend'. As if he wasn't planning to spend the whole year thrusting his tongue down Jenni's throat in the Gryffindor common room anyway. As if they weren't already planning to take a gap year to do the same in his parents' house after they'd finished school.

The result, of course, had been a family holiday involving just Al and Uncle Harry – a less easily missed group than the whole family, and probably easier to ambush too. Rose, being the paranoid teenager she was, had assumed the worst when they'd been away longer than expected with no word to anyone.

"Rose?" Molly had finally decided to break the silence "Rose? I understand you're worried about Albus, but maybe, I don't know, they got delayed and forgot to tell us," Rose was about to protest, but her cousin kept going "Look, maybe give it a few days. If we still haven't heard anything by then, we can start getting worried."

Why could nobody see? They should be getting worried now. Rose supposed that was the best she would get though, and she couldn't go off looking for him on her own anyway, she still had the trace and she didn't even know how to apparate. She didn't even know if that was what she would do if she could. She just wanted somebody else to realise the weight of the situation. Grudgingly, she nodded. Maybe she'd be able to persuade one of her older relatives to help her – or one of her younger relatives to agree with her – before then, and if not she was sure Molly would give in eventually.

Right now, though, she couldn't face going to ask anyone to go and search for elusive family members. In fact, the only thing she thought she could face was reading her depressing post again and wallowing in self pity.

"You're in such a crabby mood Rose. It's so boring," Great. Just perfect. Now it looked like she couldn't even do that. After a pause during which Rose seethed and Hugo flipped through one of her books, her pitiable thoughts were once again interrupted "So Malfoy is really actually gay? But, he's been going-"

"Yes, Hugo, Scorpius has been going out with me since the end of second year, and now he's seen fit to tell me that all that time, I wasn't even the right gender for him. Now do you see why I might just be in a slightly crabby mood?" Now are you going to think about giving me some peace?

"Wow," Clearly not. "But don't you think-"

"Look Rose, are you sure you failed those O.W.L.s? It's just, you know..." Molly hastily cut her cousin off, and for a moment Rose was relieved. Then her mind registered what Molly had said.

"What, you think I can't even read now? Can both of you just get out?"

Rose hadn't realised she'd got up until she saw her feet on the floor. She hadn't realised she'd picked up her wand until she saw her little brother eyeing it nervously "Sure," he said, and bounced back towards her door.

There was no time for Rose to feel relieved, or register that Molly had completely ignored her and was wandering over to her now vacated desk before Hugo stopped at her door for the second time that day and called back "Oh yeah, mum said to tell you you'd better come down and get some breakfast, 'cause there's so many people eating here, all the good stuff'll be gone soon. Come to think of it, the good stuff probably will be gone by now..."

"Thanks Hugo," Rose muttered to his retreating back. Perfect. Shit O.W.L results, no word from Al, a gay boyfriend and no food. I have such a great life.

"Hey Rose, wait," Rose groaned. Molly still stood by her desk, holding an official-looking piece of parchment and frowning "Rose, I think-"

She didn't have time for this. "Molly, I have to go, I'm hungry."

She closed the door. Peace. Finally. Maybe she should just stay on the landing all day, hungry, but blissfully alone.

"Rosie," James Potter stood leaning against the wall, inches from her door, no doubt having been listening quietly to her raging in her bedroom. Maybe not then.

"So, little Scorpy's gay..." James confirmed her thoughts. Well done Rose, great deduction. 10 house points. Sometimes, Rose hated the sarcastic voice that she nurtured in her brain.

"I'm not Rosie, and Malfoy's not Scorpy. But yes, he's gay," she was mildly irritated to find her voice had been reduced back to a boring monotone.

"Malfoy now is it? You used to call him Scorpius..."

Did nobody get it? "Yeah, then I found out he'd been lying to me for more than three years."

"Well, sorry Rosie," Really, Rose hated it when other people were sarcastic.

"Rose,"

"Rose, then," James must've had the sense to avoid inducing even more anger than he already had in his little cousin.

"Wait, you must care about Albus,"

"What gives you that impression?"

Rose sighed. The times when James was funny and not just downright annoying were getting fewer and farther between. She had been sure people were supposed to get more mature, not less, as they got older. Maybe it was just her messed-up family. The same messed-up family that was key in defeating Voldemort... Really, Rose wished her mind would just shut up. "You're his brother,"

"Yes, but he'll be fine. He's with –" the corners of James' mouth twitched up in a slight smirk "Harry Freakin' Potter,"

She could have screamed. Really, she could "Just because my brother is a complete idiot, that doesn't mean-"

"But to be honest, it is getting a bit long since we've heard from them,"

Finally, the voice of reason. Rose was actually glad she'd been interrupted "So will you come and search for them with me?"

"What?" James seemed to be as surprised by what his cousin had just said as she was "Um. Rose, you can't just march over to France and start searching the country. Well, maybe you could... maybe I could anyway, but you couldn't. You can't even apparate or anything," for one of the wittiest guys in the school, James could be quite stupid "Oh. right. That's why you need me." There was a pause. Rose didn't have the energy for talking to James. Really, it could be seriously tiring.

"Anyway, I have to go." What? Had James just agreed to coming with her?

"To France?"

"Really, for one of the cleverest girls in the school, you can be so stupid, Rosie," Yeah, well at least I only do it when I'm depressed. "I'll consider taking you to France when I get back. If Jenni won't miss me too much. But right now, I have to go to the internet cafe in that muggle town."

Now Rose was completely bewildered. "What?"

"Big news, Rose. You and Scorpy. I have to put it on facebook,"

"No. Don't you dare, you big-headed-" but he had turned on the spot and was gone. At least Rose now fully understood why she sometimes hated her family. At least he had said he might come to look for Albus with her. Hey, when did I even decide I was going to go and look for Albus? Sometimes life could be so confusing.

Well, she'd need something to do – other than eating what little food there was left over – before he got back. It was too bad she couldn't manage to do anything that didn't involve thinking about Albus, her O.W.L results, or Scorpius. No, Malfoy, not Scorpius. She growled, wishing she could confront him.

She was still on her way downstairs when she realised she may as well do just that. She'd have to talk to Scor- Malfoy at some point and she couldn't think about anything else. There was the minor drawback that she had no idea where he lived, but she could take the Knight Bus or something. Somehow, she managed to convince herself that it was a good idea.

Hastily, Rose hurtled back up the stairs, scribbled a note to James that if he decided he did want to come she'd probably be at Malfoy's and sent her owl to deliver it to him. She clattered back down the stairs, wolfed down something – she wasn't quite sure what – for breakfast, and called to her mum that she was going to meet Scorpius – not really a lie at all, but Hermione wouldn't assume she was going to his house to rant at him. She received a sighed 'OK' in response and frantically left the house.

Sorry if this chapter flows badly. It felt weird to write, but I think it reads OK. If not, or if there's any other reason you don't like it, review and tell me it's no good and I'll maybe edit it or rewrite it, or if it does review and tell me that. If you like.

So Rose will probably enlist somebody's help and go and look for Albus, being the irrational teenager she is. If you have any preferences as to whom she persuades to come with her, or whether she goes at all (but if she doesn't that would probably considerably shorten the story) review and tell me and I'll take your preference into account.