Hey guys, hope you had a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all!

Thanks so much to those of you who added the story to their favourites and alerts!

Super thanks to the reviewers: m0rganosity, MaryandMerlin, Maiqu, Riley (Thank you so so much for the review and the compliment!) and li (Thanks so much for the review and the warning! It was only when you mentioned it that I realised I'd made Rose sound like a bit of an antisocial freak when she just had difficulty making close friends!)

There's something I discovered recently that I just want to add. When reading a story – anyone's, not just my own – please take the opportunity to review. Many people – yourself probably sometimes included as well – tend to read stories who received a fair number of reviews. If you find that reading the story until the latest chapter is easy, or you add it as a story alert, or especially if you add it as a favourite, take a few minutes to tell the author what you think. They entertained you for a few minutes, why not give them a few minutes of joy by giving a review? Remember authors don't mind constructive criticism, they welcome it actually because it means you read the story with enough attention to want them to improve on these parts. Just something to think about…


Chapter 3

It Ain't Over Till the Fat Lady Reveals Your Secrets


"I'm telling you, she's been weird all morning."

Albus Severus Potter frowned at his sister's words, one hand holding the broomstick the person in discussion had threatened to whack him over the head with mere minutes earlier. At first he'd thought she had been dead serious, her eyes had burned with furry as she said it, but then they had inexplicably softened before she murmured, "Thanks Al," He had watched flabbergasted as she'd practically skipped out the common room through the portrait hole. He knew Rose too well to find it anything but suspicious. She'd never been a morning person and had always preferred working late to waking up early. Weekends and holidays were usually spend catching up on sleep and not racing towards the Great Hall like they were handing out free chocolate.

Maybe that was exactly what was going on. Al couldn't possibly think of any other reason Rose would break her lifelong habit of staying tucked in bed until someone threatened to pull her out.

Lilly crossed her arms. "Then again, she's been acting strange for some time now."

Al nearly dropped his broom in surprise. "She has?"

"Come on Al, could you be any blinder? Haven't you noticed that she's been even quieter than usual? The preoccupied stare, her being even more on the go than usual – if that's even possible."

Al hated to admit it – and he never would give Lilly the pleasure of doing so out loud – but he honestly hadn't noticed. He's been so caught up in his own problems that he hadn't taken the time to keep a close eye on his best friend. He felt ashamed with himself, like he had somehow failed her, and Al didn't like letting the people he loved down.

"Course I've noticed," he fibbed, "I just thought it was – you know, girl stuff."

Lilly snorted loudly. "You know Al, it just might be," She turned with a flip of her raven hair and disappeared through the same path Rose had taken.

Her words made him frown even harder. He wasn't sure if she had been making fun of him or had actually meant what she said. Lilly was always like that, whenever she thought she could get away with torturing her brothers, she did. Although, usually James was the one who had to suffer through her annoying taunts. She and Al had a sort of agreement: if Lilly left Al alone, Al would let her get away with playing pranks on her eldest brother – not that they worked, James was way too smart for that and much more of a prankster than Lilly. Unfortunately James had been in his seventh and final year the previous year and their little agreement seemed to have disintegrated without Al realising it.

He never thought he's see the day that it happened, but he missed James.

Lilly wasn't his problem, however, and putting her aside his thought turned back to Rose. Thinking carefully he tried to picture the last two months. The first thought that came to mind was Quidditch. Having been on a bit of a losing streak after his father left and once more on a winning streak since he and James had joined the team, the Gryffindor team was placing a lot of pressure on their new captain to make sure that this year didn't end any differently. Al had no plans of letting them down, but that was easier said than done. They had narrowly been the champions the previous year, the Slytherin team taking second only because Al had managed to catch the snitch in time. The Slytherins had a good seeker, but their true power laid in their chaser, the elusive Scorpius Malfoy.

Al forced his mind away from Quidditch. Rose was the problem and the sooner his mind focussed the better. There had been that one time after Defence Against the Dark Arts when she had entered the Great Hall looking like she had just received word that someone had died, but she had told him she was just tired. Or at least he thought she had, he had been in the middle of planning tryouts for the team and had been a tad bit busy. He could almost hear Lilly screaming at him for being an incompetent male. She liked to think that only the male gender made mistakes. He however knew that it went both ways, even if he would never be stupid enough to mention anywhere near his mother and sister. Pretending not to notice usually saved him a month of being glared at. Rose, on the other hand, usually kept her opinion firmly to herself when he told her his opinions. Of course he had only done so once and the words had barely been out of his mouth when he had walked straight into a suit of armour. He didn't know who laughed hardest: Rose or the suit of armour.

Realising he was still holding his broom, Al sighed and jogged up the stairs. When he had asked Rose to fetch it for him the previous night he had been in the middle of finishing a report for Potions he should have done weeks ago and had to be handed in on the following Monday. He had been sure he would never finish it even if he had three more weeks and had turned a little panicky when he realised that he'd forgotten his broom downstairs. Sure he could have fetched it in the morning but he had been afraid someone could surpass Rose's protective charms and there was absolutely no way his father was going to buy him another one if he went and lost his broom. He had nearly kissed her when Rose had offered to fetch it for him, out of pure pity for having such a nitwit as a cousin as she'd kindly reminded him. When the noise grew too loud in the common room he had headed up to his own dorm room and to his greatest surprise he had finished his work in no time at all. When he came back downstairs there had been no sign of Rose and he had headed to bed thinking she had done the same and taken his broom with him. Now, he wasn't so sure.

If Lilly was right and she had been acting weird for some time then he was going to have find her and squeeze the information out of her, and fast.

Few people were up and about this early on a Saturday morning so there was no one blocking his way out of the common room. Peace and quiet for once!

"Hey Potter!"

Well, there went that idea. Al turned around and saw the speaker was none other than the fat lady whose portrait hid the entrance to their common room. Realising that any wrong words could earn him a refusal of entry, Al forced a friendly smile.

"I'm so glad I caught you, your Weasley cousin ran out of here so fast I couldn't even congratulate her. Will you tell her for me?"

Al raked his mind for something Rose had done recently that deserved congratulations but he came up blank. Except for doing brilliant in every lesson, something she usually did, he didn't know of anything. "What should I congratulate her for?" he asked curiously.

"Why, for finally finding a boyfriend of course! And I must say she chose quite well too! I think you young ones refer to them as 'hot'. Wait, where are you going?"

Al was already halfway down the staircase to the next floor, dead set on finding his cousin and forcing every single bit of information out of her.


Rose blinked her eyes against the sharp light that filtered down from the roof of the Great Hall. The roof featured a clear sky, not a single cloud in sight as the sun shone happily. Around her voices rang in excited chatter. Ug, this was why she hated mornings so much. How could anyone be cheerful this early in the morning? If the roof copied her mood it would be having a rain storm with huge lightning streaks flashing through the sky. If she hadn't been so grateful for Scorpius' help she would have happily ignored his request and stayed in bed.

She could see him out of the corner of her eye sitting at the Slytherin table with a few of his ever present friend. She sincerely hoped they wouldn't be joining them after breakfast. Rose wasn't really in a mood to be embarrassed in front of them, even if their opinion meant less than nothing to her. Maybe he'd been kidding when he made that offer, maybe he thought it was funny fooling the prissy head girl, but if he had then he'd obviously never seen Rose in the morning before.

She wasn't always the first in the classroom for the first lesson because she was anxious not to be late. No, usually it was because if she had to another round of 'Good morning, how are you?' she would hit someone with her fully overstuffed bag.

There was a sudden thump next to her as someone occupied the seat. "Okay, who's the cause of these problems with 'girl stuff'?" It was Lilly, looking dreadfully cheery and exited so early in the morning.

Rose stared at the younger girl in surprise. Had she just said girl stuff?

"Al's words, not mine," Lilly said nonchalantly as she reached across the table for some eggs and bacon. "He may not have a clue what's really bothering you but his words did give me an idea."

"Heaven forbid," Rose muttered under her breath.

Lilly obviously heard her and narrowed her eyes. "Ignoring that. Do you want to know what I figure your 'girl stuff' problem is?"

"Do I have a choice?"

"No. I thought about it for a while and figured out what the only thing you haven't had to deal with yet is. It's a guy isn't it?"

Rose, who had just put her fork in her mouth, nearly choked on it. After coughing like a dying person and Lilly thumping her on the back she turned back to her cousin. "I'm glad you have so much confidence in me catching a guy, Lilly,"

Lilly shrugged. "Come off it Rose, we all know you've never had a boyfriend. Don't pretend to be offended now that I've said it out loud,"

Rose shook her head slowly as she rolled her eyes. Lilly had never really been one for subtlety, often saying the first thing that popped into her head even when it ended up insulting someone else. Rose gave her a year or two to grow out of it, but until then she was going to have to live with it. "I don't have problems with a guy, or guys if that was what you're trying to insinuate." Lilly looked disappointed. "I guess you're right, I'm just too much of a boring old know-it-all for the guys to take notice," Lilly didn't answer, just stuck her fork in her mouth and sulked.

Rose was just getting back to actually enjoying her breakfast when Al slid into the space opposite her and pierced her with what could only be defined as a death stare.

"So, who is he Rose?"

Rose turned her glare to her other cousin. "Listen, as I've just explained to Lilly, I don't have a boyfriend. Would you like me to repeat it slowly so that the two of you can understand?"

Al raised an eyebrow. "Yeah? Then who exactly did the fat lady see you with last night? She asked me to congratulate you on getting such a 'hot' guy to fall for you. Okay, she said my 'Weasley cousin' but somehow I can't exactly picture Hugo with a 'hot boyfriend'."

Rose could have strangled the fat lady at that moment. Lilly on the other hand was bouncing out of her seat in excitement at Al words.

"I knew I was right!" She shrieked so loud half of the Great Hall turned to stare at them. Rose closed her eyes in a mix of embarrassment and annoyance. She wasn't in a mood to deal with her cousins, none of whom appeared to be able to keep their noses out of other's business. "Who is it? It's not that guy who kept sending you those weird valentine cards is it?"

"Can't be, he was in the same year as James," her little brother, Hugo, had joined them.

Lilly looked thoughtful. "Oh yeah, darn, I thought for sure it was him. How many times did he ask you to marry him, Rose?"

Rose's good mood had completely disappeared by now. "Three times," she muttered through clenched teeth. "But I still think it was James, it was more like something he'd do just to annoy me," In actual fact she knew for sure that it had been James. She had caught him laughing his head off after she had slapped the Ravenclaw for the third card he had sent. She hadn't thought it was that funny at the time. Neither had the Ravenclaw. She would have told the others that, but acknowledging that her only valentine cards were definitely fake wasn't really something she'd easily do.

"Who was it then, Rose?" Al seemed to be taking this like a personal mission. Rose had to fight the urge to throw him with her empty plate.

Her attention suddenly snapped back to her plate. Wait a minute, she was finished, the others weren't. This was her chance to escape.

"Honestly Al, I have no idea what you're talking about." She got out of her chair as soon as she could. "Anyway, enjoy your breakfast. I'll see you guys later – much later hopefully." She turned to leave but Al called her back.

"Look Rose, I can understand if you don't want to tell us, but let me warn you. If there is a guy, be careful."

"Yeah, we don't usually plan on keeping a commitment this early in life," Hugo added, his joke completely missing Lilly who glared at him in shock.

"Men!" she muttered angrily. "You're all alike! I can't believe I have to love you just because you're family."

Hugo simply shrugged off her words but Al turned to her. "So I'm a guy, what am I suppose to do about it? Quit?"

Rose bee lined for the door as Lilly leaned forward and tried to slap both him and Hugo. Rose would leave her to it; right now she had more important matters waiting for her. Namely, Scorpius Malfoy.


She had already exited the castle and headed towards the lake when she realised she had absolutely no idea where she was suppose to meet Scorp. She checked her watch and saw that it was exactly five minutes to seven. The mere thought made her groan. If anyone had told she'd be awake this early twenty-four hours earlier she'd have happily laughed herself into a coma.

"Why couldn't he be a late sleeper?" she muttered out loud.

"What fun would that be?"

The unexpected voice behind her made Rose jump around in surprise. She should have known. Leaning on a nearby boulder stood Scorpius Malfoy, his blond hair carelessly wind-tossed and his mouth pulled into grin as he surveyed her. Rose felt herself blush despite the fact that there was absolutely no reason at all to do so. It was strange actually seeing him. Last night they had operated in the dark and the fact that it was Scorpius hadn't really seemed to sink in that much. Now it was hitting her full force.

"How'd you get rid of the curious bunch?" he pushed away from the rock and made his way towards her.

"I left them with Lilly. I give them about ten minutes and they'll be running into the hills,"

"That's a little mean," he was smiling as he said it.

Rose shrugged. "Payback for something she said."

"Ah," As he stopped in front of her, Rose noticed for the first time how much taller Scorp was than her. He had at least a head on her, not something unusual as she wasn't really that tall herself, but it still felt a little intimidating. And, strangely enough, comforting at the same time. "I'm not going to even try and understand the whole sibling-rivalry thing, since I don't have any of my own. I've been told you need to experience it to understand it."

"You do know Lilly is my cousin, right?"

Scorp's smile broadened. "You Weasleys and Potters are all so close, I don't really think it makes a difference."

Rose though about this for a minute. She could see his point, she guessed, if she really looked at her family. Her family had always been close, even before her generation the Weasleys had been known for their family bond, and then dad had married mom and Aunt Ginny had married Uncle Harry and the best friends became family in earnest. They were all bound to be good friends in the end. Even if she did sometimes want to lock Lilly in the basement.

"I guess you're right,"

His smile saddened a bit. "Enjoy it Rose, it's something most of us would kill to have,"

Rose gazed up into his face. It was strange seeing someone whose family went out of their way to avoid each other. She was lucky to have a family who spent each and every one of their holidays visiting the grandparents and then spending that time laughing and poking fun at each other. Trying to lighten the mood, Rose chuckled. "You do know I have James as a cousin, right?"

Scorp's rougher laugh joined hers. "Okay, maybe I wouldn't kill for that,"

"Believe me, no one would. Especially not when he accidentally blew up Gran's pudding last Christmas and tried to blame it on my mom's cat,"

"The cat?"

Rose shrugged. "It was the first pudding covered thing he could see."

"Unbelievable,"

Rolling her eyes, Rose agreed. "That's James for you. Don't you have any crazy relatives?"

Scorp let out one humourless laugh. "Too many to even think about. Unfortunately they don't really have the chance to prove it on Christmas because my father refuses to invite them. He believes Christmas is a time for only the three of us to be together to celebrate. No wonder it's not exactly one of my favourite holidays.

Rose couldn't think of anything to say. Christmas was her favourite holiday exactly because of her family.

"But that's enough wondering off topic for one day," Scorp said suddenly, "Sharing Christmas stories isn't why we're here, is it?"

Rose shook her head. "No, I believe you were going to teach me how to fit in,"

"Teach isn't really the right word. You already know how to fit in Rose, you just need to be reminded a little." He offered her his hand. "And it's going to be a lot easier than you think." Not really sure if she could agree with him, Rose took the offered hand. "But first, this needs to go." In one smooth movement he pulled off the tie holding her hair in a tidy ponytail. Rose protested the change, but her hair was already waving leisurely in the breeze. "See, isn't that much better?"

"I'll tell you as soon as I feel less angry,"

Smiling at her Scorp pulled her hand forward and let her down the shore of the lake. A few steps further they stopped to pull off their shoes and socks and role up their sleeves. "Tell me something,' Scorp said as they left their shoes on a nearby boulder. "But nothing about school or studies, please, I hear enough about that during the week.

Rose though about it for a few seconds. What could she tell him that he would find interesting. She hissed as her toes felt the icy water, earning a laugh from Scorpius – at least until she pulled him into the water too. "Would you like to hear about the time Hugo accidentally turned the toilet alive? Now that thing could talk dirty!"


Al finished his breakfast slowly, but his thoughts whirled around at lightning speed. What on Earth was going on? Rose was definitely hiding something, he knew her far to well to fall for her lies. He had seen the slight blush that had crept across her cheeks at the mention of a guy in her life. He was pretty sure no one else had noticed it, not even Rose herself. Lilly had been too busy trying to extract information from her and Hugo didn't really care all too much to notice, but he knew Rose like she was his own twin. He had heard Uncle George tell them about his twin Fred enough times to conclude that his and Rose's relationship was a lot like that – minus the twin telepathy, of course. Not for the first time he wished he had had the chance to meet his Uncle Fred. His mother often mentioned how different Uncle George was without his twin.

If Rose's problem was a guy, why would she hide it from him? They were more than cousins, they were best friends! They shared everything!

Pushing away his empty plate, Al got to his feet. Maybe it would be best to ignore it, maybe if he gave her enough time she would tell him about it. He could give her time, all he needed was to be patient.

He had barely taken a few steps away from the table when Dwayne Brown, fellow Gryffindor and keeper in the Quidditch team, caught up with him.

"Al, I'm sorry to bother you in the weekend, but I can use some help. My father sent me a new broom and I'd really love to test it out before the next practise. Would you mind giving me a bit of practise?"

Al didn't really even need to think his offer through. What he needed right now was a distraction and what better thing to do so that Quidditch. "Sure Dwayne, I'll grab Hugo too so you can have a bit more variation."

A look of pure relief swept across his face. Al was sure he'd been worried about making a fool of himself at the next practise. "Thanks mate, I'll meet you down by the pitch in ten."

As he walked away Al couldn't help but feel extremely glad. His players trusted him as their captain, one of the hugest honours he could ever ask for. He had never really thought that his players would hate him, he had played in the team since his first year just as his father had and therefore the team was a bit like an extended family, but it was still a relief when the players trusted him enough to come as for help.

The journey upstairs took a lot longer than it had downstairs as many more people were now awake and heading down for breakfast. Al slipped past the people blocking the way, diving out of the way just in time as Peeves suddenly dropped a few water filled balloons from overhead before zooming down the passage, scattering people as he went. It was a relief to discover the portrait open as people left the common room so Al didn't have to please explain. He was still quite curious how she had known something was up before he did.

He found Hugo spread out across one of the armchairs, one hand swung across his eyes as he pretended to sleep while Lilly sat across from him finishing her homework.

"Hey Hugo, you feel up to a bit of Quidditch?"

Hugo was out of the chair in two seconds flat. "Yeah, let me just get my broom," He ran up the stairs, taking them three at a time.

Smiling at his sister, Al followed slowly. He had put the broom back into his trunk for safe keeping that morning and didn't have to look far to find it. As he lifted it from the trunk a small piece of parchment followed. Picking it up, Al realised it was the map James had swiped from dad's desk a few years ago. The Marauders Map. James had given it to him at the end of his sixth year so that Al could put it to good use. He hadn't really used it that much, but now seemed to be a good time.

"I solemnly swear I'm up to no good," he whispered and tapped the map with his wand. There he was, standing in his dorm room, while Hugo was pacing by the portrait hole. He glanced at the library, curious about what Rose was up to. He frowned when he realised she wasn't there. He scanned the castle, curious as to where she was. She wasn't in her room, or in the Great Hall, or in a classroom. Maybe she was visiting Hagrid? When she wasn't there his eyes kept on scanning and to his surprise he found her walking alongside the lake. Except she wasn't alone, she was with…

"Scorpius Malfoy?" he whispered in disbelief.


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