The week between her graduation party and related events passed too fast for Rose. Sunday hit her hard as the beginning of her Ministry internship was due to start the following day. She wanted to spend the summer leisurely travelling around with friends and making time with Scorpius, not acting out the boring career Mum was pushing on her. While Mum was quite strict with them, Dad got her to ease up from time to time which was why Rose had been allowed to spend much of her free time with Scorpius instead of staying at home to study or work around the house.

As Sunday was a family day, Rose and Hugo were both forced to stay home through brunch and dinner. Hugo was content to hide in his room between meals when not specifically asked to do something for their parents but Rose was desperate to spend her last day of freedom having fun. By dinner her mood was sullen which Mum noticed right away.

"You'll have quite the exciting day tomorrow, Rosie," Hermione said to raise her daughter's spirits. When Rose didn't respond, Hermione went on, "Teddy asked if you could work on the categorization program he's heading up."

Rose dropped her fork. "When did that happen? I thought I was going to be an assistant to Junior Law Minister Carter."

"Teddy came to me with the idea Friday," Hermione explained, taking Rose's reaction as excitement. "Ms. Carter agrees that you'll gain valuable experience and knowledge working with Teddy."

It was impossible for Rose to tell Mum why she didn't want to work closely with Teddy that summer. A week ago she would have been ecstatic to spend the summer daydreaming about her crush. Now Rose didn't think she could look Teddy in the eye, much less work side by side for the hot summer months. It struck Rose that maybe Teddy wanted a chance to carry on an illicit affair under the guise of Ministry work. The idea made Rose sick to her stomach. Sleeping with him once had been a fool's mistake but falling into his arms (and bed) after he ditched her post-coitus would make her an outright idiot. This reckoning didn't even take into account that it would be cheating – something Rose didn't plan on doing again.

"You're awfully quiet," Dad commented looking at Rose's pale face. "Aren't you excited to work with Teddy?"

"Of course," Rose lied. "I was just caught by surprise is all."

Hugo glanced at Rose and could tell there was more beneath her reactions. He'd seen her lying too much to be fooled like their parents. He decided to change the topic by asking, "Mind if I go see Freddie tomorrow?"

"Will you be at the shop or at George's house?" Dad asked wearily. Mum and Dad knew that Hugo and Freddie could get into trouble together but they had no idea the depths of their bad habits. They assumed that it was Freddie who poorly influenced Hugo when it went the other way around, despite their 2 year age gap.

"Dunno, probably 'round the house," Hugo shrugged.

"I suppose that's alright," Mum said with a glance at Dad. Naturally Hugo gets to do whatever the hell he pleases this summer. Rose drummed her fingers on the table, wanting the meal to be done several minutes ago.

When dinner finally ended, after many more minutes of tedious conversation, Rose hightailed it to her room and shut the door behind her. She couldn't believe that tomorrow would be the first day of her internship with Teddy of all people. Even if they weren't both in relationships with other people, seeing him after their encounter would be awkward. Rose didn't know if she should acknowledge what had happened or pretend it hadn't. Neither of those options felt right.

Sleep found Rose that night with difficulty as she tossed and turned most of the night. When her eyes glanced at the clock at 3:30 in the morning, Rose decided she had enough of feigning sleep. She wanted to talk to someone, anyone really, but this wasn't a time of day most people were awake.

Except for Rhys.

Rose didn't want to seduce the man she'd slept with the previous week but he'd been lovely to chat with. Maybe she could level with him and see if he'd be okay starting over, in a way. It seemed like a selfish request – be my friend when you started off as a lover – but Rose felt hopeful.

Dressed in jeans and a simple t-shirt, Rose crept down the hall. Hugo was making his way upstairs. "Bit late for a booty call with Scorpius, isn't it?" he asked groggily.

"I…" a clever lie escaped Rose so she retorted with, "Mind your own business."

Hugo waved a lazy hand acknowledging Rose's statement before continuing up to his room.

Once she was outside and clear of the protective charms on the house, Rose disapparated to an alley near Rhys' work. The diner appeared to be scarcely populated that morning which might give Rose a chance to talk with Rhys privately. At the door, Rose looked in and didn't see Rhys but rather an older bloke with a set in scowl.

Deciding that she was too close to just leave, Rose pushed open the door. The server on duty didn't greet her but stared as she sat at the bar. "Here's a menu," he grunted by way of greeting.

"Um, thank you," Rose squeaked. She was debating whether to ask the grumpy server about Rhys when a familiar voice met her ears.

"Well hello, beautiful," came Rhys' voice.

Beaming, Rose turned to see Rhys with a stack of plates from a recently vacated table. "I was starting to worry you were off tonight," she said with a smile.

"Just bussing tables," he explained. "Guess you really don't have a phone," Rhys commented.

A blush colored Rose's cheeks. "Phoning would have been easier than dropping by," she agreed quietly.

"I don't mind in the least. Lemme get these in the back and I'll take my break. Unless you're here for food?"

"Not really."

Rhys walked through the double doors that revealed metallic kitchen equipment and Rose sat on the barstool feeling ever more nervous by the moment. The other waiter came up and growled, "What will it be?"

"Oh, I'm just waiting for Rhys," Rose explained quickly.

Without a word, the waiter took the menu and went back to his sentry post by the till. Rhys came out of the back with a jacket over his uniform. "Taking my break, Gerry," he called to the other man. He and Rose walked outside and stood next to a bank of gas meters next to the building. "It's either this or the dumpster," Rhys explained with a dry laugh. "I don't fancy the smell of garbage."

"Neither do I," Rose said with a laugh. "Thanks for taking your break to talk," she started slowly. "I wanted to talk to you…"

"I guessed that much," Rhys said with an odd smile on his face.

Blushing again, Rose wished there was an easy way to start the conversation. "I, uh…"

"Did you come by to tell me you have a fella?" Rhys asked bluntly.

The color left Rose's face as she stared at Rhys with a spark of anger behind her eyes. "Why would you think that?" she asked defensively, even though he'd been right.

"Well… you're clearly not here to have another lovely romp and I don't think you'd want more of our food unless you needed to level something with me." Rhys watched Rose's face for a few moments then started to worry he'd just made a complete ass of himself. He'd waited for Rose to call him after the other morning but as time passed his theories about her lack of communication grew more cynical by the day. The two ideas that stuck with him were that she wasn't interested in him or had another relationship. Rose's presence at his work and hesitation made cheating as clear as a bell.

"I'm sorry," Rose said quietly. "It wasn't right for me to do that. Not fair to you and…"

"Why did you come here? I mean… You didn't have to come back and I don't have a way to contact you," Rhys pressed.

"To talk. You are a good listener and I was hoping to try being friends," she said with the realization that her request could very well be difficult for Rhys.

The idea that Rose's candidate list for friends included a man she'd had a one night stand with hit Rhys with a sad realization that her life must be incredibly lonely. "I… um… s'pose that could work," he agreed thoughtfully. "Just friends though. I don't want to be your side of sausage."

Rose laughed at the imagery. "No sausage for me," she agreed with a mischievous grin.

"What's going on with your life?" he asked, quite curious what would drive Rose to randomly seek out his place of work at this time.

"I start this internship tomorrow and, well, the person I'm working for is a bloke who might make me uncomfortable," Rose explained.

Rhys frowned and clarified, "So it's someone you know?" Seeing Rose's nod, he went on, "Can you ask to work under someone else?"

It was clear that getting Rhys' full advice on the situation would require him to know all the embarrassing details. Rose took in a deep breath and explained about her cousin's dish of a husband, the one night stand, his request that they work together. When she finished, Rhys looked slightly overwhelmed.

"Wow," was all he managed at first. Rose blushed. "You had two one night stands in the same night? I'm kind of impressed."

"I'm so ashamed," Rose moaned. Catching Rhys' eye she went on, "I mean, of myself. Not that you weren't lovely and…" Awkwardness silenced Rose for a moment.

"Is that the only time you've cheated on your boyfriend? Well, the only night," he asked with a frown on his face. Rose could tell this was more to assess her than to provide better advice.

"The only time," she said solemnly.

"Your mum could change your internship but you'd have to come clean first?" Rhys verified.

Rose nodded. "That's the part where all-powerful Mum doesn't come in handy."

Sighing heavily, Rhys glanced at Rose's pretty face. "March into the office, do your work, and if he makes a pass at you tell him to bugger the hell off." It wasn't great advice, nor was it different than conclusions Rose had met on her own, but it was nice to have someone else agree with the difficulty of her situation and affirm her plan of action.

Rhys pulled out a rectangular phone, hit a button, and swore. "I gotta get back."

"Thank you for listening and, well, not judging," Rose said shyly.

"Any time," Rhys promised with a wink. While he still felt shock at Rose's information dump and hurt that he'd been involved in her cheating, there was something about her that made Rhys want to keep her in his life, even as a friend.

Rose watched Rhys go inside before disappearing from the alleyway.