Scorpius pulled a t-shirt over his head and took a deep breath. Ten minutes ago, Rose had quickly grabbed her clothes, refusing to look at either Scorpius or Al, and disapparated. After quickly convincing Al to lower his wand, Scorpius ran to his bedroom.
He moved painfully slow as he continued to get dress. Scorpius knew Al well; they were basically brothers. The longer Al had to cool off, the better. Honesty was the best course Scorpius thought. Al would respect honesty and bluntness, he told himself. It wasn't like he had much of a choice, the bloke had caught them in the act for Merlin's sake.
He braced himself before going back into his living room. When he walked in, he saw that Al had helped himself to Scorpius's very expensive Swott Malt Whisky. He decided that now wasn't the best time to tell Al that he was saving that bottle for a special occasion.
Al saw Scorpius and grimaced, "so mate, you want to obliviate me now or make me suffer first?"
"I'm sorry mate but in my defense, I had no idea you were coming back from your investigation today."
Al rolled his eyes, "The Head of the French Division said there was no reason why I couldn't do the paperwork from my own desk. But back to you defiling my cousin." Al shuddered in disgust. "So when did you finally realize you had feelings for Rose? When did you tell her? Before I left, we were saying that Rose wasn't ready to date yet. Remember?"
Scorpius looked up at the ceiling, shifted uncomfortably, and pushed his hands into his pockets. Be honest, be honest. "Rose and I aren't exactly dating."
Al rubbed the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes, "what exactly does that mean?"
"It means we are friendly... uh... friendlier... friends with benefits."
Al poured himself another glass of Scorpius's expensive whisky. "So let me get this straight. You're shagging my cousin even though you have zero feelings for her?"
Scorpius considered Al's question for a minute. He was determined not to lie to him. "I wouldn't say zero," he stated slowly still unable to look into Al's eyes.
"So you have feelings for my cousin but you're basically her rebound?"
Scorpius cleared his throat, "Uh. I guess so."
"Wow. I always knew you were mental but this is just... this is just... go-good luck with that. Are you still coming to my family's events?"
Scorpius finally met Al's gaze, "Bloke, are you uninviting me?!"
"No, you idiot. I'm just wondering what you're going to do?"
"Do about what? We aren't going to start snogging in front of your family."
"Merlin Scorp! Have you met my grandmother? You know, the witch that knew every time we were just planning pranks at the Burrow. The one that would send owls when she wanted us to come home after 'sneaking out.' She's going to know as soon as she sees you two. And you better hope Uncle Ron doesn't find out, you know the bloke that taught us everything we know about interrogating dark wizards. 'Don't worry about it Mr. Weasley, I'm just shagging your daughter... for fun!'"
Scorpius shot Al a dirty look, "I will just stay away from Rose around your family. Lou's birthday party is coming up. He would kill me if I missed it. I can't not go."
Al shrugged, "you're right, your funeral either way." Al's green eyes still pierced into Scorpius.
"What else is on your mind, Al?"
"You gonna tell Rose you have feelings for her?"
Scorpius inhaled, "nope."
Al smirked at his best friend, "coward."
Scorpius rolled his eyes, "I'll tell Rose when you tell Ali Longbottom."
That wiped the smug look off of Al's face immediately, "touche. I can't believe this needs to be said but NO SEX IN THE BLOODY LIVING ROOM." Al eyed the couch and shook his head and feigned a distressed expression, "I can never sit there again. I really liked that couch. We, no, no, actually, YOU have to buy us a new couch."
Scorpius rolled his eyes. "If my interrogation is over now, I'd like to hear about your case."
"Thanks Ali!" Rose grabbed her tea and honey scone from her short, blonde friend standing behind the counter. Alice Longbottom was the youngest shop owner in Diagon Alley but Rose was certain she was the most talented baker in existence. Ali's small bakery, "Piece of Cake", was a popular breakfast and lunch spot for Ministry employees and really all wizards because of the delectable baked goods and delicious hot drinks.
Ali smiled sweetly, "of course, dear! Your table's not taken yet, better hurry!"
Rose handed her friend the proper amount of galleons and sickles, ignoring Ali's protests about how she hated making friends pay, and made her way to a corner table grabbing a copy of the Daily Prophet on her way. Rose looked at the clock on the wall noting she still had a good half an hour before she had to head to work. As she was reading about the upcoming Minister for Magic elections, she heard a forced cough. She looked up to see Al staring at her awkwardly. They hadn't actively been avoiding each other but, yesterday, they didn't watch Lily's game in a bar together like they normally did.
She set her paper down and smiled weakly, "hi Al."
"Hey."
"How are you and Scorpius?"
Al took a bite out of one of Ali's famous Crazyberry Pasties. "I'm great. Scrop on the other hand? I gave him three broken ribs and a black eye," Al stated nonchalantly while shrugging.
"WHAT? SERIOUSLY AL? ARE YOU MENTAL? HE'S YOUR..."
People were now staring. Al rolled his eyes, "calm down Rose, I was joking! Your lover boy is just fine."
"Not funny."
"I disagree, I think I got ya real good." Al gave her a smug look.
"You're such a wanker!"
Al looked serious now, "let's never talk about the incident but you're an adult and I'm always here when you need me."
Rose gave him a genuine smile, "I know." And she did know. While most of her male family members were busy plotting Logan's death when Rita Skeeter published pictures of him snogging a girl that looked nothing like Rose, Al took her to their favorite childhood spot, the Potter-Weasley beach house. He sat with her on the beach for hours while she went through cycles of crying, yelling, talking, and just sitting in silence. She knew Al probably wasn't comfortable with the whole friends with benefits thing but she also knew she could depend on him.
"So, which family members made the Prophet today?" Al asked.
Rose grinned, "Two actually. First, Lily made an amazing dive to catch the snitch against the Montrose Magpies yesterday!"
Al waved his hand dismissively, "that's not news, who else?"
"Better not say that to your mum and sister. They'll take turns bat-bogey hexing you."
Al rolled his eyes, "believe me, my sister knows she's an amazing quidditch player. She doesn't need anymore validation."
"Well, you're not going to like this next one."
"Tell me."
"Well you know the singer, Sam Finnigan?"
"Of course, Slammin' Sammy? He's the famous singer that likes to take off his shirt during performances and girls go absolutely mental," Al was shaking his head disapprovingly. "Wasn't he in our year?"
"Yes, he was."
"What does he have to do with our family?"
"Our favorite person in the world Rita writes, 'the not-so-innocent-anymore Lucy Weasley was seen passionately snogging Slammin' Sammy after his concert this weekend. Readers, my sources tell me that they then headed into his dressing room where noises of...'"
"Stop! EW! Stop! Stop it right now! Lucy? Seriously?"
"Calm down Potter, they've been secretly dating for months now. Molly told me weeks ago. They were trying to keep it out of the news. Poor Lucy though, Uncle Percy's not going to be happy about this."
"I'm not happy about it either! What is she now? 17? All I want is for Lily and all of my female cousins to just never interact with blokes outside of the family. Is that too much to ask?"
Rose snorted, "sure, we'll get right on that for you. Ready to head to the Ministry?"
Al was now eyeing Ali. "I'll catch up in a little bit. I think Ali is about to take a break."
Rose gave him a small smile, "okay, I'll see you later."
As Rose left the shop, she turned and saw that Ali had taken her place at the table while Al was leaning in as if every word she spoke was gold. Rose noted that their fingertips were barely touching as they looked into each other's eyes, their cheeks faintly blushing. Rose swallowed hard as feelings of envy and then guilt for feeling envious of her friends' obvious love for each other threatened to produce tears in her eyes. She quickly made her way to the Ministry ready to bury herself in hours of work.
