Chapter two; Hugo's birthday
I was woken up to Hugo bouncing on my bed chanting, "its my birthday today, its my birthday today." I had a splitting headache and felt like my head would crack at any moment. This was the worst thing about staying at a club until midnight, trying to get my friends home and not coming home until about one. I am tired and have the worst hangover EVER!
"Hugo, go away!" I threw one of the cushions next to me at his head. This caused him to fall off the bed.
"Jeeze, Rose, you get cranky in the morning," he said standing up.
"Yeah, but I also don't like a fourteen year old jumping on my bed at… seven am! Hugo, are you mad?"
"No, I'm just exited about my birthday. I am one year closer to being able to use magic outside of school." He smiled at me. God, why seven? Couldn't he have waited a few more hours?
"Well, happy birthday, your present is on my bedside table…" I laid back down and closed my eyes again, trying to shut out the incessant banging going on in my head.
"Wow, thanks Rose."
I gave him a small welcome in return, not really comprehending what he said to me. I was thankful when he finally left the room. I got out of bed and went over to my dresser. That was where I kept my hangover potion. I opened the draw and removed the false bottom; there was only one phial left. I am going to have to stock up soon. I opened it and downed it in one go. The taste was awful but it did its job. My headache and dizziness left almost instantly. My tiredness however, did not.
Well, there was no way on earth I am going to get back to sleep now. I might as well go and get some breakfast- or rather an extra strength espresso. That should wake me up.
Okay so now I'm sat drinking my coffee and most of last night comes back to me. That really nice guy I had danced with all night. James. I wonder if he even remembers my name. I mean we had fun and drank, a lot, but was it a one night thing or not?
Then the image of Scorpius being completely plastered makes its way into my head. I wonder if he has gotten home yet. Surely he would have done. Well if he hasn't either he has been found by Mr or Mrs Jackson (Leila's parents) or his father will have gone up the wall. Which means when he does go home he is in for a massive telling off.
And then there was Ben, bless him. He had finally gotten the courage to ask Leila to dance with him. I wonder what went on between them all night. Would it be too much to ask for if I said it went along the lines of, 'I love you', 'I love you too' and then some kissing? Probably. But I can't help but hope.
Mum chose that moment to walk in. she was looking so bright and happy. I never could understand how she could be a morning person.
"Hi, Rosie. I didn't expect to see you up so early in the morning. Usually, after a night out you don't drag yourself out until about twelve." Ugh I hate that cheery voice. It's too early for this. I need to go back to bed.
"You can thank bouncing Hugo for that." Mum laughed at me. She laughed at my expense! How nice is that? "Why are you laughing? This is not a laughing matter!"
"Sorry, Rosie. It just reminds me of something that happened to Draco Malfoy when we were at school." Draco Malfoy? Isn't that Scorpius's dad?
"What happened?"
"Well, our defence teacher at the time turned Malfoy into a ferret. I can't exactly remember why but for a while after that he was know as 'Malfoy, the amazing bouncing ferret.'" She laughed again. Humm… I wonder if Scorpius knows about that. It is actually quite funny but mum seems to be in hysterics. Seriously, she can't go thirty seconds without laughing. Its madness. I guess you had to be there to get the actual vision in your head.
"Er… yeah, sounds great." I even sounded sarcastic to myself. "I'm going back to bed."
"Rose, don't stay there too long, remember we have to be at grandmas for half past ten, it is eight now."
"Yes mum." Finally I get to go back to bed. Nothing can keep me from sleeping, not even an extra strength espresso.
Okay, I am usually one for a good party but this is ridiculous! Why did I have to be dragged here? I mean it is twelve o'clock and I am already bored! How the hell am I going to get through this party when it lasts until five? That is another five hours! I knew I should have brought a book with me. I can see that fantastic novel sitting on my desk right now, it's mocking me. God that is so annoying.
Where the hell is everyone? Mum said that Albus and Kimberly would be here soon- that was at half ten. Jeeze, I swear I am going to end up apparating out of here soon, and I don't even know how! Where is everyone? The only people who are here are Hugo's really annoying friends. One of them, Mark, keeps asking me to dance to non existent music. I swear he fancies me.
"Rose, care to join me in a dance?" There he goes again! Why can't the little blonde kid leave me ALONE!?
"Listen, Mark, I will only say this once more before I curse you into next millennium. I don't want to dance to non existent music, I don't want to dance with you, I don't like you, and I don't date younger guys. So clear off!!!" I said talking to him as if explaining to a five year old that two plus two isn't five. I don't usually threaten younger kids but he is a special case. I learnt long ago that threats were the only way to get rid of him.
Did he just smirk at me? How can he smirk at me when I have just told him that I will curse his butt into next millennium?
"You can't do magic outside of school until March; your still underage." That's why.
I leaned in close to him, you know as if going to kiss him. But changed direction and whispered into his ear, "Wanna bet?"
Ha the look on his face right now is priceless! He looks so disappointed, scared, yet giving me a look that says yeah-I-do-wanna-bet. What an idiot!
"I will give you until three to go away. One…" I took out my wand. "Two…" Ha, there he was, and there he goes. Like I said it's the only way to get rid of him.
"That wasn't very nice, yet totally funny at the same time." I spun around to find Albus, Kimberly and James all stood there beaming and laughing at me.
"Oh thank god! I didn't think I could take anymore! Little kids plus boredom equals annoyance and fun." We all laughed at that.
"Its nice to see you too. Dad got held up at the shop and mum is still at work. But it seems that being at home is better than being here right now. Not much of a party is it?" Kimberly asked. Kimmy, as I call her, is the daughter of Uncle George and Aunt Katie. She also has a brother called Fred who is James's age. Thankfully they graduated last year.
"Why do you think I was so bored? There is no music, no alcohol, no guys- well except them." I said jabbing a thumb back towards Hugo and his friends.
"Yeah, okay Rose, we get the picture," Albus interrupted. "So, all we can do is gossip or play games of our own. Any suggestions?"
"Ooooh, I say we gossip for at least an hour. Then we will still have four to play random games," Kim said.
"Done!" I shouted.
"Aww, come on. We all know Albus likes to gossip like a retard but seriously do I have to listen to this?" James asked. The nerve! We always listened to his latest stories, why can't he listen to ours?
"Well, the alternative is to go hang with a load of fourth years trying to come up with twenty different ways of asking me out. I believe they are up to ten so if you hurry you can catch the best ones." I sniggered.
"On second thought, gossip sounds good."
"That's what I thought. Now if we go somewhere a little more… private, I will tell you what happened last night."
"What did you get it on with Scorpius or something?" Albus asked sniggering.
"Albus! He is my best mate, that's disgusting!" I smacked him on the arm while leading them up to the orchard where we used to play quidditch.
"Rose, where are you going?" damn! How does she do that?
"Just up to the orchard, grandma; so we can talk without being disturbed."
"Rose, I know what you are like, if you try to sabotage your brothers party then you will be grounded. I will make sure of it."
That is not fair! One, I would never dream of doing that to my dear brother- well okay maybe I would but that is besides the point. Two, grounded for the whole summer? That is seriously unfair. Three, why is she saying this to me? James is the one who is allowed to do magic, we are all underage! Not that that has ever stopped me but…
"I promise, grandma." I don't think arguing would be the best way forward right now. Thankfully she nodded and left us alone again. "That was so unfair! Why blame me? We are all just as bad as each other!"
"Yeah, but she gave up on me years ago. I'm more like Uncle George than my parents," James said.
I just rolled my eyes and continued walking. Once we reached the orchard I sat down at the bottom of a tree on the far side; trying to put as much distance between me and the house. The others followed suit.
"So… what happened last night?" Albus asked excitedly. I swear he acts just like one of the girls sometimes. Then again most of his friends are girls with two or three boys thrown in.
"Well, after we left your house we went to that club I was telling you about a few days ago-"
"Wait they actually let you in?" James asked bewildered yet I could hear a touch of admiration in his voice.
"Yes. Anyway, Scorpius and I had a warm up dance because he is truly awful on his first one. Then he left to get a drink and a really, really hot guy asked me to dance. And, long story short, we danced until about midnight, had a few drinks and a lot of fun. Then Leila said that we needed to get Scorpius out because he was completely plastered. So we took him back to her house because he was in no condition to go home, then James walked me home. We shared a wonderful kiss, and then I went inside and practically collapsed on my bed."
"Oh, not much happened then?" Albus asked.
"Wait a second, I'm confused, James?" Kimberly asked.
"Yeah, the really, really hot guy I danced with." Jeeze she can be slow sometimes. She slowly nodded her head in realization.
For the next four and a half hours we talked about everyone else's summer and played the muggle game, truth or dare. How that kept us going for four hours I don't know, but it did. Then at five to five we made our way back to the house.
"Where have you four been?" mum asked us. I noticed that the rest of my cousins had also arrived and had broken off into smaller groups. Teddy and Victoire where even snogging in the corner. I swear they never made the transition from teen to adult. Victoire is now twenty two and Teddy is twenty four. They also have a child on the way as from a month ago.
"Just at the orchard. We had to amuse ourselves somehow."
"Okay, Rosie, its time to go home." She walked off to find Hugo.
"Okay, I guess I will see you guys on the train if not before. Bye." I turned to Teddy and Victoire. I have to have some fun before I leave right? "Oi! Get a room!"
Teddy broke away and looked at me. He shouted back, "just because you have no one to kiss doesn't mean you should be jealous of someone who does!"
I am actually genuinely offended by that. "How would you know?" I shouted back. I was pleased to see him at loss for words- for once.
Unfortunately for me dad heard our playful exchange.
"I hope what you just said is not true young lady." Bugger! I just gave him a smile and a look that said, 'well-duh!' Yes, I just lied to my father but I wasn't exactly going to say that I had a lovely snog this morning at around one o'clock.
Once mum had gotten Hugo away from his remaining friends we took the floo back home. Thankfully, I am away from annoying kids and I can go back upstairs for an hours sleep before tea is ready.
When I got to my room I literally fell on my bed. My lovely, comfortable bed. I felt something dig into my back. I pulled back the quilt to find my I-pod. I know what you are thinking; why on earth would a wizard want an I-pod? Well actually mum bought it for me. I like muggle music, especially rock music. Mum gave me some of her old albums, Greenday, My Chemical Romance, Avril Lavigne etc. I really liked them so mum decided to get me an I-pod so that I don't have them booming through the hose and so that I could listen to them wherever I go. That is the great thing about having a muggle born mum.
I walked over to my dressing table where last nights clothes where hanging over the chair. I put down my I-pod and subconsciously looked at my jeans. I noticed a small piece of paper sticking out of the back pocket. I picked it up and unfolded it. My heart skipped a beat when I read it. It was James's phone number and e-mail address. Oh my god, he gave me his phone number and e-mail address!
I immediately rushed to the room opposite mine where we kept our computer. Ahh the perks of having a muggle born mother, there are just too many to count.
I switched it on and waited impatiently for it to load. Is it just me, or has this computer gotten slower?
Finally it did load and I sent a quick e-mail to him saying hi and asking him if this was actually James. I mean you can't be too careful. I also wrote a short letter to Leila telling her what he had done. I walked back into my room and woke my owl up. Let me tell you she was not happy.
"Come on, pancakes, one delivery please?" she hooted and stuck her leg out, though it was obvious she still wasn't happy about it. "Thankyou, take this to Leila," I instructed tying the letter to her leg. I carried her to the window and opened it so that she could fly out.
I went back to the computer and saw that I had an e-mail back from James. I was about to read it when mum calls me down for tea. Bad timing or what?
AN: well now that i finally got that out of my system-- thank god. anyway, please please plaese review!!! i only have 1 review for my first chapter so please give me more for this chapter : ) you know you want to. and constructive critasisum welcome just no flames please