Hello again :D
Sorry for the late update. I went out last Sunday and it was a mess XD.
This is a shorter one.
Chapter 6
"How was your day?" Violet asked Scarlett and Ava as they walked through the door of her apartment, Scarlett had a wide smile on her face.
"It was lovely, I got some pasties," Scarlett said beaming.
"We had a nice time," Ava gave as a reply, she went past the two and hung her coat up on the rack, and entered the room herself and Scarlett shared.
Violet frowned, "those things are terribly unhealthy, Scarlett," she stated, closing the door and walking after the bag laden Scarlett.
"I had a drink with Albus also," she said.
"Really? What did you say? What did you talk about? Was he a prat?" Violet asked quickly, turning Scarlett by the arm and squeezing it tightly.
"Ow, Violet let go," she said, when Violet had done so, she rubbed at the spot and breathed, "he said a lot of things, we talked about a few things and no he wasn't a complete prat."
Violet frowned and poked her cousin in the arm, "why aren't you giving me the details?" she asked, her voice sounding exasperated.
Scarlett turned to her cousin, her expression making it clear that she thought her cousin was acting foolishly. "Just because you've asked me for this one favour, doesn't mean I have to tell you anything." She replied, a grin on her face.
"Well I only want to know on behalf of you, just to keep you safe and what not."
She laughed in reply, "no, it's because you're nosy, plus you don't need updates, if you had wanted, you could have had Scorpius for the morning, and that's all you wanted."
"I know," Violet replied, she crossed her arms and smirked, "I'm going to take you not telling me as a hint. You like him and want to keep your little crush a secret," she said with a wink.
Scarlett rolled her eyes, her smile not moving, and she lightly pushed Violet, "don't start imagining things, or else."
Violet laughed, "or else what? Remember I've got the law on my side," she said jokingly.
"Ahh, and I've got quite a few spells that haven't exactly passed the grade," Scarlett replied, and before Violet could reply, she stuck her tongue out and disappeared into the bedroom after Ava.
She frowned and crossed her arms, shouting after Scarlett, "don't you want to know what my dress will look like?"
Scarlett's head poked out of the door, followed by Ava, "fine then," Scarlett said with a sigh and stepped back out, a grin on her face.
XxX Albus, Scorpius & Rose XxX
"Well hello again Albus," Rose said as she walked into her flat to see Albus lying on the couch, and Scorpius doing something in the kitchen - most likely making Albus a sandwich.
"Hi Rosie," he said with a smirk, he sat up, putting his feet on the coffee table as Rose stopped next to him, looking down at him as if he were a stain that she just couldn't quite get rid of.
"Scorpius, how long has Mr Potter been here?" she asked, putting her bag on the space next to Albus and taking her coat off.
Scorpius didn't turn, and the sound of a knife cutting into something hard could be heard, "about 5 hours I'd say, he's just been sitting there boasting about his progress."
Rose cleared her throat, closing her eyes momentarily and pushing hair from her face, "if I didn't know better Albus, I'd be very angry."
"What do you mean you're not angry with me?" Albus asked, outraged and sitting forward. "I half ruined your day out shopping and may very well have corrupted Violet's bridesmaid."
It was Scorpius who started laughing first, cutting more and throwing whatever he had been cutting into a pot. Then Rose, it was minutes before she stopped, having to wipe the tears from her eyes.
"Oh Albus, you are far from corrupting Scarlett, she saw your little trip to the Leaky Cauldron as a chance to have a free Butterbeer." Rose said, sitting down next to Albus and fluffing his hair with her hand slightly.
He grimaced and knocked her hand away, "as if, she loved my charm."
Rose smiled at Albus knowingly, "no Albus, she didn't love your charm, she didn't even like it. One thing you should know about Scarlett is that charm is the last thing that will work on her."
Albus gawped slightly and then straightened his back, "and how would you know that?" he asked, the arrogance clear in his voice.
"She told me," Rose replied with a smile. "Anyway Albus, why do you seem to care so much? I thought this was only a game to you?"
He didn't reply quickly, he looked down slightly, thinking, when he looked up to see Rose's questioning gaze, his expression changed, becoming somewhat pompous, a smirk appearing there. "It is, but I've got to know how much more work I've got to put into it. What else did she say?" he said, a little too eagerly, however Rose didn't catch that.
She laughed lightly, shaking her head, "I've got to ask Lorcan how to read you properly, you're hiding something, you never care."
Albus rolled his eyes at Rose's lack of an answer, so she continued. "Well she said she disliked your attempts at faux charm, but she liked the real Albus that she saw, but of course, I have no idea what she is talking about, you're as much of a Prat as always."
Albus made a face, Rose guessed that it was shock and confusion, but it was really surprise. He hadn't expected that he would ever be caught out, and even then, he'd never have expected to be told that reality was preferred over charm. He liked charm, he hid behind charm, reality was flawed and he couldn't be protected if he was just out there, without the shell he put up.
"You realise Rose," Scorpius spoke up, snapping Albus out of his thoughts, "you've just given him good advice, that will actually help him get what he wants, which is not what any of us want."
Rose made a face and got up from the couch, Albus had started to smirk.
"No I haven't," she replied, her voice tight.
"You've given the boy hope," Scorpius said with a grin, wiping his hands with the dish cloth.
Rose glared at Scorpius slightly before turning to the still smirking Albus, "no Albus, considering 'real' Albus doesn't exist, you shouldn't get your hopes up to even get into a dinner situation with her."
"Well we'll skip the dinner and go straight to dessert, if you know what I mean," Albus replied with a wink, and Rose dry-heaved.
"What I mean," Rose began again, straightening herself and stepping closer to the kitchen, "is that the part of Albus she finds redeeming does not exactly exist, and therefore cannot become prominent, therefore you probably won't even get to first base."
Scorpius groaned knowing that Rose had made a mistake.
"Ah ha," Albus exclaimed, "probably is not definitely, thanks Rose." He said and picked up the remote, turning the volume up on the television.
Rose smacked herself in the forehead, moving towards the stove and looking at the soup that Scorpius had been making.
"You nearly got him," Scorpius whispered, a smile on his lips. "But you were helping him, why were you doing that?"
She closed her eyes and breathed through her nose, "I'm not entirely sure, I think it's what Scarlett said. I don't know, maybe I'm hoping that he can change and she's the one who will change him."
"Why, what else did she say?" Scorpius asked lowly, stirring the pot and adding some pepper to the pot.
Rose breathed again, pushing her curls behind her ears, "well like I said before, she said that Albus was mostly charm, but then she said something, I don't know, unexpected. She said that 80% of the time Albus is all charm and then the other 20% he is real. I don't get it, as far as I'm concerned, Albus is 100% charm and that's the real him."
Scorpius thought and put the spoon down to rest against the counter. "Well what's real?"
"She said he was… nice," Rose said with evident distain.
"Nice?" Scorpius replied, quite shocked, "you've got to ask her what on earth she means."
Rose nodded, "I will, it's just what if," she looked up at him, excitement in her eyes.
"What if what?" Scorpius asked, smiling again.
She smiled fully now, her lips stretching across her face, "what if this is it. This is the turning point and we get the old old Albus back, the 10 year old who was kind and nice, who was helpful and just the sweetest boy on earth."
"Don't dream too big Rose," Scorpius said with a laugh, "anyway, that was your Albus, not mine."
Rose pouted, her arms crossing, "a girl can dream, but you've got to think about that. Mind you, if this comes to pass, I'm taking the credit, my family would start to worship me."
Scorpius laughed, "I suppose there would be various perks, but I think if I took the credit, your dad might like me a little bit more."
She shook her head, sympathetically patting his shoulder, her hand went to rest on his cheek and she gave him another sympathetic glance, "that wouldn't work on my dad, Scorp."
He sighed and turned back to the soup, Rose's hand slipping from his face, "a girl can dream," he said repeating the exact voice Rose had used.
Rose poked him in the chest and looked into the pot quickly, "well serve it up, waitress, and just remember the most important thing Scorpius," she said seriously.
"What's that?" Scorpius asked, a smile on his face.
"You've got my mum," Rose replied, and she turned to the sofa and the TV, Albus was looking at them, a disgusted expression on his face.
"Sappy!" he exclaimed, "now where is dinner?" he asked.
Rose rolled her eyes and made her way over to the sofa, grabbed a cushion and hit Albus with it. "If you're not careful, nobody will take you to Nan's for Dominique's welcome home party."
"Welcome home party?" Albus said, perking up. "I could always just get someone else to take me," he said like it was obvious.
"Well I think I can find a few objects that are pretty good for bribary, i'm sure anyone willing to side-along Apparate with you, can be convinced otherwise." Rose replied simply.
"You wouldn't dare," Albus said, glaring at her.
Rose smiled, "how can you be so sure Albus?"
He screwed his face up at her and sighed, "well what if I learn?"
Both Rose and Scorpius broke out in laughter, "a girl can dream, hey Scorpius?" Rose said, turning quickly to her boyfriend, a grin on her face at the expense of the scowling Albus.
"I could, I bet I could," Albus said adamantly.
"Well I bet you could, Albus," Scorpius replied, "but would you be able to do it in 2 or 3 weeks?"
He nodded, his arms crossed across his chest, "I bet I could do it."
Rose looked at Scorpius, they shared a glance and she turned back to Albus with a smile, "then I bet you that you can't pass your Apparition Test in 3 weeks."
"I bet that I can and if I do pass it, you two have to cook me dinner for a week," Albus said.
"Like we don't do that already," Rose replied, rolling her eyes. "If you don't, you can't have dinner here for a week."
Albus frowned and paused in thought, after a couple more seconds he nodded and held out his hand for Rose to shake, she shook it and smiled at the prospect of not having to feed Albus for a week.
"And now Rosie, you've given me the perfect excuse to spend some more time with Scarlett," he said with a grin.
Rose raised her eyebrow, "and how would that be?" she asked.
"She can teach me how to Apparate, a pretty face is better motivation than a wizened old wizard," Albus replied with a wink.
"If you could even convince her to do that," Rose said.
Albus nodded, "I can be very convincing."
"Sure you can Albus," Rose said, patting Albus' shoulder and turning back to Scorpius who was serving the soup and putting it on the table.
"I'll prove it, I'll ask her," Albus replied with an assured nod.
Rose leant against the table and waited for Albus to reach for a phone, when he didn't she sat down around the table and smirked. "I knew you wouldn't."
Albus sent her a glare as he walked around to the other side of the table to sit down. "I'll do it in my own time, Merlin Rose, can't you see we are about to eat? The speed in which you want this to go down is strange, it's like you want this to happen. I thought you didn't want me to corrupt any of Violet's bridesmaids?"
"Well," Rose started, but she didn't have an answer, so she quickly took up a spoon and began eating. Leaving Albus to smirk and Scorpius to laugh softly.
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