I've only been drunk four times and all of those times have been at the fault of James Potter. The first time was at his fifteenth birthday just before the start of my fourth year. Long story short, Al and I ended up passed out in the Potter's basement and Tori, Cara and James took the opportunity to draw choice parts of the male anatomy on our faces. Having been discovered by Aunt Ginny the next morning, we both vowed we would never drink again. Yet that very same Christmas, a heated game of Never Have I Ever at the Slytherin after-ball party led to most of the upper school nursing throbbing heads the next morning. The third time was at James' post-exams party in the Room of Requirement. I would tell you what happened, but in all honesty, I can't remember a moment of it. The most recent time of my intoxication was at the start of this year when Cara came into our room in floods of tears claiming that she was never ever going out with another boy again. We spent the night drowning our sorrows in firewhiskey and cookie dough ice cream, which is always a lethal combination.
That one was James' fault for announcing to Cara that he "really couldn't be arsed" to go out with her anymore. Needless to say that I hexed him and wrote to his mother.
So when I wake up with a pounding headache and sore limbs, the first conclusion my half-conscious mind jumps to, is that this is definitely a 'morning after the night before' affair.
"What happened last night?" I groan, pulling the curtains of my four-poster back. I immediately regret this as a stream of light that's far too bright to be real blinds me. I fall back into my bed clutching at my eyes.
"Is it alive?"
"Should we poke it?"
"I'll do it."
Before I can fight off my intruder, there is a slim teenage girl on top of me poking my stomach repeatedly. I flail my legs wildly in the air until I make contact with something that feels victoriously like a chin.
"Stupid bitch," Tori moans as she climbs back off my bed.
"Don't mess with Rose Weasley in the mornings," I growl and clamber out of my bed. "Especially not when I feel like fricking Shrek."
"Don't be hard on yourself, Rosie. You look far more like ogre-Fiona," Cara laughs and I hit her over the head with my pillow.
"I feel like I was run over by a bus," I say.
Tori raises her eyebrows at Cara and mouths, "I told you she did it."
"What?"
"We know what you did last night!" Cara squeals.
"What did I do last night?"
Tori punches me on the arm, "Don't play dumb, Rosie. Some third year Hufflepuffs saw you and Malfoy coming back up to the castle last night. You and Malfoy did it."
Seriously, why does Tori know everyone in this school's gossip.
"And apparently you were wearing his robes! So romantic," Cara beams.
"No. No. No," I tell them. "You two are way out, you couldn't be more wrong."
"Too defensive," Tori says and Cara nods.
"I hate you both," I say as I head to the bathroom. I may have not drank any alcohol last night but clearly lying on a stone floor for the best part of an hour and contemplating the universe does bad things to my body the next morning.
"You do realise you missed breakfast, right? We have lessons in ten minutes," Cara says.
I hate my life.
"Shit- I need to go and do something," I mumble as I pull on my uniform and robes. "I'll see you guys at break."
"She's going to give Malfoy a morning BJ," Tori calls after me while I grab the plastic bag of robes hurry from the dorm.
"Fuck you," I shout back.
The worst thing is she's nearly right. I mean I'm obviously not going to, you know, suck Malfoy's… you know. But I am going to give him his robes back before class. I feel like I'm disposing of the evidence for some heinous crime.
Actually that's exactly what I'm doing.
By the time I've reached the dungeons, I still don't have any idea what my excuse for bringing him a bag of robes is going to be. He's bound to be with Al or some of the other Slytherin sixth years and right now the last thing I need is more gossip going around about my family. On my way here, I've already been asked if I'm okay three times, what's going on with my brother four times and how many times Hugo's taken it in the arse once.
I sent a stinging hex James' way for that question.
Just when I'm contemplating leaving the robes outside the Slytherin common room with a note that says, "Here's the body." I'm nearly knocked down by two boys who run out of the stone wall throwing a Quaffle between them. One of them runs straight into me forcing me to back right up against the cold wall.
"Shit, sorry," he says. "Wait, Weasley?"
"Top of the morning to you too, Malfoy," I say, pushing him away from me, disgruntled. Al just stands there laughing.
"I need to get out to greenhouses, Scorp," he laughs and then winks at Malfoy who sneers back at him.
"Here," I tell him thrusting the bag at him.
I turn to leave but he catches my arm, "We need to talk."
I stare blankly at him.
"About last night. Wait here for one second."
He mutters a password at the wall that appears translucent for a second and allows him to walk through it. I look like such an idiot: the Slytherins seem to take this as an opportunity to get a good look at me, "That's his sister" is the main whisper.
After a particularly obnoxious group of second year girls whisper fiercely about me behind their hands I lose my (rather short) temper, "Why don't you just take a fucking picture, it'll last longer!"
"Alright, Weasley?" Malfoy laughs, reappearing minus the bag.
"I swear to god I'm going to curse the next person who even looks at me."
"Charming."
"You're not excluded from that, Malfoy," I warn.
"People will have something new to talk about by lunchtime."
I snort disbelievingly, "Yeah they'll probably be onto our love affair by then."
"You heard about that rumour then?" he asks as we begin to make our way up to the Arithmancy classrooms.
"Tori and Cara told me this morning."
"No. No. No."
"My sentiments exactly."
"Nothing did happen last night, did it?"
I come to a halt, perplexed, in the corridor. "What do you mean?"
"The thing is, I, eh, you know…"
"Spit it out, Malfoy."
"I don't actually remember anything that happened after about six o'clock last night."
"Alright?" It's definitely not alright.
"Al and I may have taken some potions last night, just to blow off some steam. Apparently I didn't look quite right. You don't know what happened do you?"
I feel suddenly sick. "Haven't a clue."
"Oh, alright."
"Those were your robes, I borrowed them last night."
"I guessed, why though?"
"It doesn't matter."
"Did I do something wrong, Weasley?" he asks his brow furrowed in confusion.
"Nothing more than usual, Malfoy."
I spend most of Arithmancy glaring at the back of Malfoy's head. How could he forget what he said to me? More importantly how could he forget what I told him? No one forgets what Rose Weasley tells them. I suppose I should be glad, we can both just move on like nothing happened.
Nothing happened.
We didn't cuddle, we didn't kiss, we barely even talked.
"Exactly who did Malfoy kill?" Meredith Ainslee whispers to me. She's in Ravenclaw, but since we're the only two girls who take both Arithmancy and Ancient Runes, we've gotten pretty close.
"No one, but give it a week and I'll probably have killed him," I mutter back and she laughs softly. That's the thing about Meredith she wouldn't hurt a fly. Every movement she makes is soft; she always wears dresses that swish around her ankles and when she walks, it's more like gliding. Basically she's the personification of the word delicate. To be perfectly honest, I'm surprised that we're friends too.
"Rose, you're so funny," she giggles nudging my arm gently.
She thinks I'm joking.
"Is Hugo okay by the way? I didn't really see what happened but you know," she trails off, her blue eyes are wide with concern.
I shrug slightly, "He'll be okay."
"I'm glad," she smiles.
"Miss Ainslee, Miss Weasley, am I interrupting something?" Professor Mensio suddenly barks at us causing my heart to pretty much leap out of chest and tap dance down the corridor.
"Sorry, Sir. Rose was just explaining something to me," Meredith smiles. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is why you befriend Ravenclaws who everyone loves. I nod in agreement and Mensio continues to explain the different uses of the number seven when predicting the genders of babies. Remind me why I take this subject again.
Malfoy turns round and sniggers at me, I glare back with stony eyes.
"Right, Rose Weasley. We want the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth."
"And we'll be able to tell when you're lying."
"Hey guys, if the whole school thing doesn't work out you could definitely get jobs as ministry thugs, I'll put in a good word with Uncle Harry if you want."
"Don't you sass us, Rose."
Tori and Cara have cornered me in the Gryffindor Common room and Tori is now cracking her knuckles menacingly and Cara is pulling her 'threatening' face which really just makes her look constipated.
"I wasn't sassing," I laugh which earns me a light punch from Tori.
"We're supposed to be your friends and you haven't even told us what happened last night," Cara whines and Tori sighs exasperatedly.
"Well you've ruined the menacing thing we had going on now, Cara," Tori says. "But we do want to know what happened."
"Nothing happened, I promise," I say earnestly but for the look they give me, I may as well have just told them that I had sex with the lead singer of The Peace Eaters (our all time favourite band).
"She's lying," Tori says. "Every time you lie, we're going to tell James one of your secrets."
"Starting with the fact that you used to have a crush on your Uncle Harry," Cara laughs.
They wouldn't.
"Oh you best believe we would," Tori growls, reading my face.
"I hate you guys."
"Oh we know," Cara grins.
"Also, just for the record, I was five years old when I had that crush."
"He's your uncle."
They get it out of me eventually, of course. I end up telling them everything, only omitting the part where I fall on top of Malfoy. It would be too painful to even contemplate saying that sentence out loud. When I mention that Malfoy can't remember anything, their reactions pretty much match mine.
"What?" Tori says indignantly. "How dare he forget that?"
"That's what I said."
"Maybe he's just pretending to forget?" Cara offers.
"Why the heck would he do that?" I ask.
She shrugs, "Boys are a complicated species." I can't help but watch her light green eyes flicker over to where James and Ed Roden are seeing who's spit wad can travel the furthest on the other side of the common room.
"So now," Tori says. "Half the school thinks you and Malfoy fucked in the Shrieking Shack, you didn't and he can't remember any of this?"
"The tragedy that is my life."
The next few weeks pass very uneventfully. The rumours about Malfoy and I die out pretty quickly and new infernal stories take their place (I'm pretty sure the one about Hope Stanley and Dan Nott getting caught shagging in the kitchens is true though). Hugo remains the centre of attention for a little longer, we start telling anyone who asks that he's got a record deal and is moving Brazil for the start of his first headline tour. That shuts people up pretty quickly. Malfoy and I have kept our contact on a strictly mandrake orientated level; whether it's my stubbornness or his general obliviousness that keeps it that way I'm not sure. I have to keep reminding myself that it's Malfoy: the boy who I've hated since I was eleven. And yet here he is in my thoughts.
It's Friday the thirtieth, the morning before Halloween in other words and so in 'James Potter Land' the ideal time to start planning a costume party.
"Rosell-Posell?" James says in his 'I need something from Rose' voice.
I roll my eyes, "What now, James?"
"Eh excuse me, Miss Weasley. That's no way to address your seniors," he smirks.
"Ah yes, I'm sure those two weeks have made the world of difference."
"You bet they did." He sits down next to me and slips his arm around my shoulders like some corny high-schooler from 1950s America.
"What do you want?"
"What makes you think I want something?"
"So you don't want anything?"
"I didn't say that," he grins. "I need you to help me plan a Halloween party."
That's James for you, no 'please', no 'you know how much I love you, Rosie'.
"By 'help' do you mean do it for you?"
"Maybe."
James is spared my lecture by my owl, Snoop, dropping a letter onto my breakfast and then nipping my ear when he sees that I have nothing appetising to offer him. I open the letter and groan, Mum has her angry handwriting going on. I'm in trouble.
'Rose,
Hello yes, I'm still alive. Thought you might have forgotten about me considering you haven't written in three weeks. I know you're busy and you're probably angry with me for what happened in Flitwick's office but I don't hate you and so I'm going to be the bigger person (metaphorically, of course- you're a giant). How's school? But more importantly how are you? How's Quidditch? How are Tori and Cara? And the rest of the clan in general?
We're all cheery here, except your father and Uncle Harry are going on a 'boy's weekend' to visit Uncle Charlie in Romania so the results of that should be both amusing and terrifying in equal amounts.
Don't be a stranger, Rose. Your old mum relies on your letters to keep me young. Besides, even Hugo is writing more than you right now and it's things like that that upset the balance of the universe.
Sending you all my love,
Mum x'
"Charlie's going to give our dads alcohol poisoning isn't he?" laughs James who read the letter of my shoulder.
"'Fraid so Jamsie," I say as I grab my quill and some parchment and hastily scribble out a reply. Despite how Mum may appear, she's a huge softie at heart. And she loves America's Next Top Model, bet there's something you didn't know about Hermione Weasley.
'Mumzie,
I'm so sorry that I haven't been writing, you wouldn't believe the amount of drama that goes down here.'
She probably thinks I'm joking. Ha. Haha.
'Oh I am having so much fun in these detentions you have no idea, Malfoy and I have decided that we're dropping out of Hogwarts ASAP to become Longbottom's gardening minions. Hope you'll be proud of my decision! Um excuse me, I am not a giant- it's not my fault that a) you're a rather short one and b) you married humanity's answer to giants. (Or I guess that may be Hagrid hmm…) And don't worry about school, I'm doing all my homework on time. As for me as a person, I'm eating all my green vegetables and I'm getting at least 7 hours of sleep a night. Quidditch is going well apart from the fact that my cousin is an actual dictator Tori and Cara are the epitome of everything you would ever want for your daughter's best friends. They definitely did not slip me a love potion the other week that made me think Professor Flitwick was the cutest man on this planet- don't worry nothing happened, I'm not expelled. The clan's all cool apart from James who's being mean to me a lot so if you could maybe mention it to Aunt Ginny it would be much appreciated.'
James, who's also reading my response over my shoulder punches me on the arm.
'Please make sure that Uncle Charlie doesn't get them killed because I have intricately planned my wedding and it would be highly inconvenient to have to reorganise everything.
Sorry that I can't do more to keep all those grey hairs out of your head, hopefully you'll find a potion strong enough soon. Uh-oh I feel the earth shaking, comets begin to plummet from the sky everywhere children, men and women alike are screaming: Hugo 'too-cool-for-school' Weasley is writing to you more than me. I've failed you. Hopefully you can find it in your heart to forgive a silly little kiddo like me?
Returning your love with a hug and a kiss,
Rose x
P.S- You are so lucky that you were pre-occupied with all the slaying Voldemort stuff when you were at school otherwise annoying cousins may have made you plan parties for them with one day's notice.
P.P.S- That cousin is James, Molly hasn't suddenly decided to go off the rails.
P.P.P.S- Imagine Uncle Percy's face if Molly came home all pierced and tatted.'
"You're mental, Rosie-Posie," James laughs, shaking his head.
"I wouldn't be too rude to me, Potter. My party planning services have a limited temper," I say.
"You'll do it?"
"Course I will, your charm wins me over every time."
"Well I am rather charming."
A/N: Slightly shorter chapter than the others but the next one will be a little longer and a lot more dramatic :) The bits in italics are the letters- just thought I'd clarify just in case. Oh and the other thing I wanted to clear up was that Scorpius hadn't taken the potion when he was with Rose. Yes, I refer to him as Scorpius even if Rose refuses to. Hope you liked the update and please let me know what you think x
-Alice x
