/ trigger warnings: mildly obscene language /
Prologue
"Guys, come on," James Potter tugged on his little sister and cousins' arms, dragging them to the Room of Requirement. James wore that signature look on his face that screamed mischief. Rose knew instantly that James was up to something and, of course, she didn't like it. James was always planning and pranking and joking around - regardless of his middle name, she was sure as hell that he didn't have a serious bone in him.
"Where are you taking us, James?" his year-younger cousin, Rose, asked. "I have homework to catch up on."
"You? Catch up? As if," James rolled his eyes.
"She has prefect duties at night, James," his fourth year sister, Lily, mimicked his eye-rolling. "Rose can't do a crap-load of that every night."
"Lily!"
"What?"
"I don't think Aunt Ginny would be happy with that language!" Rose chastised. She had always been the most responsible one out of the Weasley-Potter clan. Especially when it came to the adults' rules and the fact that none of the younger ones followed them except herself.
"Take a chill pill, Rose," James continued tugging the two of them, "All she said was crap. She's fourteen, you know."
"Fifteen this year," Lily reminded.
"James!"
"Rose!"
"You're supposed to be her older brother and role model," Rose continued to go on about James' irresponsibility until he stopped outside the now-appearing door.
"I think it's a little too late to start acting out of character, Rosie," James said, smirking, "Unless you believe that people should change their personalities for the benefit of others, but I think that's a bit superficial, don't you?"
James left Rose astonished as he entered the Room of Requirement, Lily giggling as she followed after him.
"Looks like he got you there, Rose," Lily indicated for Rose to follow into the mysterious room which now looked a lot like the living room back at the Burrow.
Of course Rose didn't mean it like that. James had completely twisted her words, as per usual. He was the most mischievous one and it annoyed the hell out of her. Not that she didn't love him, it's just that sometimes his pranks and manipulations went too far and Rose couldn't help but resent that part of her older cousin. Even with age, he didn't seem to mature and it had surprised her the most when he had been appointed Head Boy at the start of this year.
Proceeding into the room, she sat next to Arizona Jackson. Although Arizona surrounded herself with a group of human Barbie and Ken dolls, Rose couldn't deny the intelligence that radiated from the Ravenclaw in her year. There had always been a slight rivalry between the two for the top grades in the year and no matter how hard either tried, they'd constantly get equal marks. What confused Rose, at that particular moment, was why Arizona was here as it seemed that the only people here were from the Weasley-Potter clan, excluding her cousin Albus.
Now that she looked around, Rose noticed that Scorpius Malfoy and Lorcan and Lysander Scamander were present as well. What was James planning? Why wasn't Albus here? And if she was questioning why Albus wasn't present, she might as well wonder where Iris Jackson was as well.
"Everyone here?" James called, which quieted down the minor population of students. "Okay, so I have called you all here, as the eldest of our so called crew, to discuss the lives of two people. Those two people being Albus Severus Potter and Iris Louisa Jackson."
"Why?" Roxanne, the fifth year Slytherin, spoke up.
"Why what?" James asked sarcastically, "Why do you think, Roxy?"
"Oh, I don't know, James!" Roxanne exclaimed, her voice dripping with scepticism.
"You told us Jack-shit, James," Lucy, another fifth year Slytherin, said, "What do you expect?"
"It's not like most of us give a fuck on what you have to say anyway," Arizona spoke up, not looking up from her freshly painted nails.
"Does anyone actually care for their language in here?" Rose mumbled to herself, but her incoherent mutters didn't go unanswered.
"Nope," Arizona smiled sweetly at Rose, finally glancing around the room.
"Just tell us what you have to say and then let us get back to our own business," Scorpius - Albus' best friend, apart from Iris, of course - snapped. "Some of us actually have lives. Just because you call us all here and we came doesn't give you any reason to think that we won't just get off our asses and leave because of your irrelevant bullshit that no one cares about."
Rose never understood how Scorpius and Albus got along. Her cousin wasn't exactly the most polite boy of the century, but he wasn't flat out rude like Scorpius was. Although Scorpius didn't believe in the pureblood supremacy that his family once was incredibly known for, didn't mean that he still wasn't as obnoxious and big-headed as her father had described Scorpius' father - Draco Malfoy - when they were at Hogwarts together. Still, none of that had stopped Rose from having the biggest crush on Scorpius.
"Maybe if you lot let James speak," Hugo, Rose's little brother in his fourth year and Gryffindor, said loudly, "You'd see that his points are actually not a load of irrelevant bullshit, as you so eloquently put it, Malfoy."
Much to her dismay, Rose knew that her brother had an aura surrounding him - he had the natural authority that their mother had and Rose more than wished that she had inherited it too, yet no matter how much she attempted to influence others with her extensive knowledge people just found her annoying and pushy. She proceeded to give Hugo a pointed look for his language, though he only shrugged with a humble smile.
"Thank you, Hugo," James nodded appreciatively at his little cousin. "We're here because Albus and Iris seem to take great entertainment on our lives and others. It's bloody annoying and I'm kind of sick of it, are you?"
The room seemed to emit mumbles of agreement as James continued his speech - he had also inherited his father's natural authority which insanely irritated Rose as that sort of power is incredibly useful in life, still and all, James used it to manipulate people for his pranks and joking ways.
"The two seem to have banter over betting on people," James resumed, "So why don't we make a bet on them?"
"Okay, number one; don't ever use the word banter," Arizona said, clearly irked by James, "and number two; you are not placing bets on my twin sister. Yes, we might not get along like you all seem to do, but it's not like we completely dislike each other. If you want to make bets, I suggest you do it behind my back, or better yet; not at all because Iris and Albus do it for fun, you're doing it out of spite and maliciousness towards your little brother and his best friend on account to the fact that they know which decisions you're going to make before you even think about making them. And you clearly don't like not being under control just as much as I don't like being in your presence - which says a lot. I advise you to stray from this half-witted attempt at revenge before someone gets hurt by your manipulation because as much as you may think you're being exploited by Albus and Iris for the past six years, they do it as a game and you are therefore wrong. You're being petty, so whatever ludicrous nonsense you're planning, leave me out of it."
Before anyone could say anything else, Arizona had left the Room of Requirement without hesitation. As much as Rose hated to admit it, Arizona had a very good point. What were James' motives for this so called bet? What would they be betting on?
"What would we be betting for?" Lily questioned - having the same thoughts as Rose - with a suspicious look on her face.
Lily was used to James attempting to undermine Albus, but maybe this time he was going to far. She knew as much as the next person, but if it came down to nastiness, Lily wouldn't take part. She wasn't sorted into Hufflepuff to even things out with the houses for her family - she genuinely was good and just.
"We'd be betting," James paused, Roxanne and Lucy now tapping their feet on the floor for a drum roll effect, "on when Albus and Iris will finally realise that their alleged platonic friendship is so much more than that. We'd be betting on when they'd fall in love."
James grinned that signature grin, waiting for everyone's reactions.
"Who raised you?" Lorcan - a Ravenclaw in Lily's year, and close family friends to the Potter-Weasley clan - asked, a mildly disgusted look on his face. "Because it sure as hell wasn't Ginny nor Harry."
"How do you sleep at night?" Lysander - Lorcan's twin, and Hufflepuff classmate to Lily - had the same look on his face that his brother had. "Because if you do, demons probably posses you in your dreams."
"What's wrong with my idea?" James' grin faltered.
"You can't force people to fall in love, James," Lily rolled her eyes at her idiotic brother. "It's a natural process that happens because it happens, not because it's easy to manipulate."
"That's the beauty of it though, Lils," he replied, spreading his hands out. "Albus and Iris are already in love; they just haven't realised it yet."
"I'm agreeing with you, Potter - James that is," Scorpius said, "The way Albus talks about Iris - it's excruciating to listen to at night. 'Me and Iris did this today ... Me and Iris did that ... She's amazing ... She makes me laugh ... She's so smart, but she doesn't use her intelligence like Arizona does but I bet if she did, she'd be smarter than even Rose ... She has great skin ...' They might as well get together with a push than never get together and resent it for the rest of their lives."
"Not that I disagree that Albus and Iris should be together," Rose paused, ignoring the fact that Albus thought that Iris - someone who puts no effort whatsoever in anything to do with school - was or could be smarter than her, "I don't think placing a bet behind their backs is going to do anything."
"That's where you've gone wrong, Rosie," James said, "I haven't finished explaining Operation Make Alis Happen."
"Who's Alice?" Lysander asked.
"Alice Perretti in fifth year?" Lorcan added, the twins looking at each other in confusion.
"Not Alice," James rolled his eyes, "Alis - A-L-I-S. A combination of Albus and Iris' names."
"I vote to change that ship name to avoid confusion," Lorcan suggested.
"All in favour say I," Lysander supported his brother's decision. 'I's' could be heard around the room as James frowned - he thought that Alis was a good ship name.
"Any suggestions?"
"Albis."
"Irus."
"Jackster."
"Pottson."
"Selouisus,"
"Bless you."
"No," Rose said, shaking her head, "That's my suggestion. Operation Selouisus. It's a combination of their middle names instead of their first or last because the others could evoke suspicion with the way they sound - it's more discreet this way. Also, ship names are usually the first names or last names - who would guess the middle names?"
"Sometimes, Rosie," James said, "I wonder how you weren't in Ravenclaw."
"Ravenclaw?" Scorpius smirked, "I wonder how you aren't a Slytherin with that deception and resourcefulness."
"Don't insult my baby cousin like that," James gasped playfully.
Rose flushed, "Just finish explaining, James."
"Okay," he rolled his eyes, "The way to actually get them together, just hint things - be complete delinquents. Hey, get them to go out with other people so they get jealous for all I care. Put flea in ear - suggest little things - make things happen. Now, we proceed with when you think they'll get together and how much money you're betting, but I only just announced it. So owl me whatever you want or just come tell me after you've decided. You guys may go now because, as Malfoy said, you young teens actually do have lives."
"You may be the oldest of us, James," Lucy said, "but you're the youngest mentally."
Before James could rebut, everyone was already leaving. Of course, the last to leave were Rose and James, himself.
"We're stepping into a morally grey area here, James," Rose said wearily. She didn't know what to think, to be honest. Of course she wanted her cousin and his best friend to be happy - and yes, she did think they'd be happier if they were romantically involved whilst keeping their best friend status - but was this the right thing to do? Manipulate them into situations that might hurt them? Things that could pull the two apart instead of bring them closer? Rose didn't know what to think.
"It's not grey, Rosie Posie," James grinned as he made his way towards the door which would lead to the corridors, "It's filled with rainbows and hearts. Red and pink and all lovey-dovey sappy-crappy colours." He grinned once more before leaving Rose standing in the middle of the room, nervousness etched upon her face.
"Red's usually associated with danger!" She called after him, but Rose knew that no one was there to hear her warning.