I PULL YOU PUSH, YOU AND I THE SAME THEN DIFFERENT TOGETHER WE BREAK AND THEN MAKE
WHO AM I? WHO ARE YOU? CAN YOU TELL?
"Where do we go? Unless you actually want to hang around the house? I doubt you would" Rose asked her rinsing the cup over the sink and setting it in it.
Vera stared out of the little kitchen window "I really don't know, I'd hoped you'd have some interesting ideas"
Rose sighed "How about we just sort of….."
Vera stared at her expectantly and Rose shrugged "I have nothing"
The two of them spent their time cracking their skulls over what to do. Both of them weren't keen on going out of the house.
Half an hour later they were seen playing monopoly at the dining table very intently.
Rose yelled "You cheat! I saw that! Put the note back!"
Vera frantically saved herself "What I exchanged a fifty for two twentys and a ten! I swear!"
Rose glared "Shut up and put it back!"
Vera knew she'd cheated but she needed the change to pay Rose's stupidly high rent and she was the banker.
She hated losing and then Rose said "Ok I'm done with this game, you cheat way too much"
Vera began laughing "I don't cheat"
She'd never had so much fun, in fact she'd never played Monopoly before.
Rose had been too surprised to hear it but had taught her the game, there was really not much to it and the fun was really in cheating.
Al emerged out of his room looking at a glaring Rose banging the table and Vera almost falling off her chair laughing Rose said "Ughh! Cheater cheater cheater!"
Vera was grinning and stuffed her fingers into her ears "La la la la la la!"
Albus raised one eyebrow and walked over to them "Keep it down will you two?"
Rose looked up at Al pouting "She cheated!"
Al said angrily "Just shut the racket will you?! I don't care about the stupid game!"
Vera's blue eyes gleamed and she told Al "We're having fun"
Al said politely "Then take your fun outside my house"
Rose told him "It's my house too"
He shook his head at her "Just shut up, is that so hard?"
Vera asked "What are you doing holed up in your room anyway that requires silence?"
He looked at her "It's none of your business"
He walked stiffly back into his room and shut the door with finalty.
Vera looked at Rose and Rose looked at her with the same expression Rose asked "Exactly what is he doing?"
Vera asked pointing to his door "Is he always like that? 'None of your business'?"
She sighed "Yeah I've never been in his room"
Vera nodded "Aren't you ever curious?"
Rose gasped "Always"
Vera smirked biting her lip "Then let's do it"
Rose leaned forward "You're not serious!?"
Vera giggled "We're bored, I'm not his biggest fan and he is really suspicious and I'm probably the biggest sneak on this planet"
Rose shook her head "It's too dangerous, he'll flay us alive"
Vera shrugged "I'm up for it if you are"
They sat planning their incredible scheme. Vera finally nodded to Rose after chalking out the entire plan.
Rose stood up nervously "I've never been a great actress"
Vera patted her shoulder "You can do this, I'm sure you can"
Rose nodded then she stood up and yelled "Al! Al! It's Scorp! Al!"
Al immediately opened his door looking scandalized "What happened?"
Rose said frantically "Scorp! He sent a patronus, telling me to send you to the Manor immediately! He didn't tell me why or anything but he sounded really urgent. Al you have to go and you have to find out what happened there!"
Al looked at her seriously "What?!"
She nodded convincingly "And….and he said don't apparate or floo, you have to go there the muggle way. He doesn't have a phone so you can't call him also he said not to send a patronus. I'm so worried!"
She began shaking and Vera concernedly put and arm around her shoulder "It's okay, I'm sure it's nothing"
She looked at her and kept telling herself not laugh "Nothing?! How can this be nothing?!"
Vera looked at Al who looked horrified, he grabbed his car keys from the bowl "I'm going…..Rose…" He didn't know what to say but then he looked at Vera looking anxious "You…You take care of her"
Vera nodded quickly and Al ran out the door.
When he disappeared out the door Vera ran over and looked out into the corridor making sure he was gone before closing the door and then turning to a frozen Rose.
She started laughing "EPIC!"
Rose looked at her "They're going to kill me when they find out! Scorpius and Al! Scorpius specifically told me not to send Al there today morning"
Vera sighed "Hey, it was an innocent prank right?"
Rose shook her head "Okay I'm going to calm down and we're finally going into his room"
She stood up and Vera had never felt so excited.
When they stood in front of the door Rose looked at her "You don't think he's put up a security system?"
Vera would have laughed but Rose was right, this was Albus Potter. So she took her wand out and performed a revealing spell. Albus' room checked out clean. For now they'd have to trust that there weren't going to be unpleasant surprises inside.
Rose held her hand over her mouth and the door opened and Vera eagerly pushed it open all the way.
To be honest they hadn't known what to expect but it was slightly disappointing that they didn't find anything suspicious.
Vera saw that it was quite a normal room with no posters on the wall not cluttered or messy, she understood that he had a penchant for symmetry.
Rose said "Wow…I was expecting something alien"
Vera didn't reply. His bed was made but on it lay a lot of parchment scrolls scattered.
There were no photo frames of photos. His window was open letting in the wind the white curtains blowing in to the room.
The door to the bathroom was closed.
There were no mirrors which gave her the feeling that he was neither normal nor a narcissist.
Everything was clean just the way Vera appreciated like he wanted to erase his finger prints too.
She walked over to the bed and looked at the parchment "What's all this?"
Rose looked at her "Was this what he was working on while we were playing?"
Vera kneeled beside the bed and picked up a scroll unrolling it with anticipation.
If the handwriting was Albus' she was in awe of his precision and perfection because the handwriting was as if he'd been practicing to get it right forever.
Every letter was perfectly aligned, all letters the same size, the dot over the Is right over the line there was a uniformity to it that seemed out of the world.
Shifting her focus from the handwriting to the meaning of the letters she read it.
It was almost a bunch of gibberish to her. It was as if he had been writing a character sketch of somebody.
Making notes. She picked up another scroll to read and saw flow charts, plans but to understand these she'd have to read these in depth.
Then in on lone scroll she came across her name. She picked it up reading with urgency –
Vera Carlson, competition a namesake boss…(all sort of bullshit)…..Orphan, twenty years, student reporter, Draco Malfoy's pet. Weakness-Chivalry, kindness, doesn't understand relationships. Shy, typical human being, manipulative and a control freak…..
He'd written her entire history down, everything about what she'd done, the hospital record everything, her entire life bared for him to read and laugh at. She'd never felt so insulted so naked. He knew her very soul. The reasons for her life and the way she was.
She was pissed, Rose read over her shoulder and gasped "You didn't tell me you're an orphan!"
Vera looked up and then threw the scroll on the bed "I'm going to kill him"
Rose said "Hey wait, you have a lot to tell me, you revealed those things in school? You grew up in an orphanage? Vera? I'm talking to you!"
Vera yelled "Yes! I am! I am an orphan! What do you want me to say!? Whatever's written there is true! But I'm not a control freak! I'm not manipulative! And those are not my weaknesses!"
Rose was alarmed "Hey calm down, relax. We shouldn't have come in here"
Vera pointed her wand at the scrolls and non-verbally duplicated all the scrolls "I'll be damned if I don't make him wish he never messed with me"
Rose was shocked at the length Vera was willing to go to sabotage her cousin "Vera this is under-handed"
Vera turned on Rose "Oh really?! You know what your fiancée and your cousin did in school? Did you ever ask them why Billy Weston transferred schools, why Jenny Karniger came first one year when she'd been at the bottom of the list of studious people? Did you ever ask them what they did in the room of requirement!? No! because you trusted them? Well I didn't! I didn't think I'd ever have to pull you into this shit but I thought you'd at least know the man you're marrying and the things he's done!"
Rose couldn't speak she covered her mouth tears streaming down her face.
Vera walked out of the room and put the scrolls in her bag that she had carried with her.
She was going to leave when Rose stopped her "Wait! Vera, don't go…I know…I know the things he did. He came clean about it….don't you dare say I don't know but what I don't understand is why you'd stoop to their level"
Vera looked at her "Rose I'm not like them, but they are not good people. I can't let them ruin my life which is what I'm sure they plan to do. They seem to think they know everything and maybe they do but I'm not going to be another victim. They are criminals and I'm going to catch them. If they had an ounce of dignity they wouldn't have done this!"
She shoved a sheet of parchment in Rose's face, it contained everything regarding her emotional security, and how vulnerable she was. It disclosed all that they planned to use her for what price she was going to pay.
Rose looked up shocked and Vera told her "You're marrying a man who's going to ruin my life at all costs you can forgive a person for the things he's done but can you forgive a person for the things he's going to do?"
Rose sighed "I'll help you"
Vera was ready to storm out but this threw her off, she faced Rose not daring to believe it.
Rose closed her eyes as if she was in pain "I can't let him make more mistakes or my cousin…..I love them both…I'll help you, anything you want. And you can't tell me to stay out of it, this is my business too now"
Vera hugged her and Rose reacted "I'm sorry, but you can't deal with the idiots on your own"
Vera smiled "I'm sorry, this might put a rift between Scorpius and you"
Rose shook her head "It's not your fault"
Vera said "But what about Al finding out that we made him leave?"
Rose began thinking "There's not much he can do about it"
They shut his bedroom door and made a plan to save their asses.
When the bell rang a hundred times they didn't have to guess who it was. Rose said chirpily "He's angry"
Vera waited for the bomb to blow.
When the door opened, Al burst into the living room "Are you frikking mad?! I called the Manor just in case and Malfoy said he didn't send any patronus and there was no emergency! What were you shitting about?!"
Rose laughed innocently "Fred called later and apologized for pranking us and you"
Al's green eyes widened monstrously "I'm going to kill him"
Rose grabbed his shoulder "Don't kill him not a good idea"
He shrugged her hand off "Bugger off, and I don't care if there's a frikking earthquake after this don't even bother telling me"
He walked briskly to his room and Rose said after him "Yeah we'll just let you die"
He growled in response and shut his door.
Rose shook her head frustrated "I swear, his temper is going to get him in trouble one day"
Vera said "It's his problem he doesn't have a sense of humor"
Rose sat down beside her "He never did as far as I can remember"
Vera glared at the closed door, how she wished she could wring his neck.
Rose's cell phone ringing she looked at the screen "Oh no it's Scorp" She groaned then she disappeared into her room to take it and bring the situation under control.
Vera was still seething somehow seeing Albus her temper was fueled more.
Al came out of the room to go into the kitchen for a glass of water.
He didn't look at her.
She quietly followed him and stood at the entrance when he was going to exit the kitchen with a glass in hand she said when he stood next to her "You don't have a sense of humor do you?"
He said uninterested "I don't, do I need a lecture on the benefits of having one now?"
She smirked "No but just remember, neither do I, I don't like tricks and pranks either"
Their eyes locked and Al searched for a clue in her eyes while she just showed him that she knew his every move. He stepped closer to her that was enough for her to stiffen "It's good to know, I'll remember that although I already know?"
She raised one graceful eyebrow "You already know? You've done some research haven't you?"
He didn't flinch or show recognition "No not as much as I should have. But there are some things about a person that are crystal clear"
This time she stepped closer to him and he didn't move "Oh really? Remember that crystal while clear is also delicate, once it cracks you can't fix it, then you'll lose it all and when you try cleaning the mess up the shards will cut you and cuts as you know bleed"
He looked down at her "I'm always in awe of you pronouncements, you really are made for writing"
She said "And you're not so stay out of my territory, you should go into politics"
He smiled slyly "I did consider it, but you see I always like to be the big fish in a small pond"
She scoffed quietly "That's why you'll never play with the big fish"
Albus loved talking to her even if he didn't like her, she always had a comeback. "Save your wit for the future, don't waste it on someone who sees right through it"
She laughed "I'm crystal clear to you right? Then you probably understand why I'm using my wit on you right now, am I correct?"
Al smirked but it was a façade, he had never felt so unsteady like maybe he didn't know what to say next.
"Putting words into my mouth now, you sure do have talent"
She smiled "And you're avoiding the question, interesting"
He looked down and let out a short laugh "You are correct"
She nodded "Ah, strategic ploy. With your tall claims Mr. Potter you really do know very little about me"
Al's head couldn't get around her defenses .
She said "This might help you, with intelligence it's good to have humanity. Helps understand the mere humans"
She had him trapped in this verbal battle, he said "I'm human Ms. Carlson, it's my tragedy"
She looked at him blue on green "It might be yes, and that is your problem. Your tragedy isn't that you are human Mr. Potter, your tragedy is that you don't want to be"
He wanted to glare at her but he didn't "I will use your advice"
"Congratulations on the magazine" She said innocently, he said "To you too"
They stood there staring a t each other, waiting for the other to make the first move and get out of the kitchen.
Vera looked at him waiting and he said "If you're going to be around more often you must understand that I am not going to oppose your presence there's respect in this rivalry"
She knew exactly how much respect he had for her she smiled sweetly "That's really kind of you"
He nodded and made to get out of the room in the process brushing against her and spilling the water on the floor.
They both stared at the wet floor.
He cursed himself in his mind and went to the counter setting the glass down and went to get a mop.
She left the kitchen and was surprised that Rose was still speaking to Scorpius.
Vera began putting away the Monopoly game and when Albus was done he asked "So did you really cheat?"
Vera's hand lingered over the money she was arranging and when she collected herself she nodded.
He helped her put away the pieces and she didn't say anything "I didn't pin you down for a cheater"
She felt herself see red "You don't have to make conversation. I'm perfectly fine with you not talking to me"
He watched her move gracefully around tucking her hair behind her ear and lift the box into her hands "But you're my cousin's friend now"
She looked at him "Don't pretend to be a social and cheerful person"
He shook his head "I am not but this is protocol"
Her eyes narrowed and he proclaimed "You don't have to hate me"
She snorted "I don't hate you, I don't hate snakes either but I won't make small talk with them"
He grinned "You wound me"
She rolled her eyes and proceeded to keep the Monopoly set in the shelf.
Rose came out the room and then said not noticing the intensity between the two of them "Scorpius won't come for lunch and I'm not cooking, so Vera and I are going to go out"
Vera nodded, Al asked curiously "And me?"
Rose looked at him "Order something home"
Al sighed "Is it alright if I come with you?"
Rose shrugged "Whatever, it's up to Vera"
Vera was shocked she stared at Al and he looked at her questioningly.
Although she was suspicious she nodded not wanting to be rude.
He nodded "Great, let's go"
Vera asked Rose "Is he alright? Is this normal for him?"
Rose told her "No but we'll find out whatever it is"
Vera told her "I just hope he doesn't die outside his habitat"
Rose sniggered "Grab your pen and paper and start making notes"
Oh Vera would, no doubt about that. Now that she had Rose for a friend she was more confident. Even their families didn't like who they were.
She wondered how long it would take for the two men to realize that they were only hurting themselves by putting their brains to all the wrong uses.
Then again maybe they'd never realize it and would destroy themselves before they did.
AN: I had to really think to write this one. But it is what it is
Thanks for reading!
Sahitya Poonacha :)