Disclaimer: Still don't own any of this
Chapter Summary: She wears the cutest clothes, she has the latest phone, and all the right accessories. Her skin's like porcelain, her hair is perfect and...she's gorgeous and you know she's knows it, she's a size 0 and she loves to show it...working hard to be Miss Popularity (Miss Popularity, Jordan Pruitt).
Last Chapter Recap: So Ali told Rose and Scorpius about her Horcrux hunting gig and they both kind of freaked out in different ways but they were also kind of happy for her and that's all that really matters so just read the last chapter again if you don't remember because I don't feel like writing this after finishing and reading through this 19-page chapter (sheesh!).
Miracle Magic
Ali and Rose left dinner early Sunday so that they could meet Albus in the library to work on the homework Professor Larson had assigned. Rose had more or less invited herself after Scorpius said he was busy all night with a team get-together so that everyone could get to know and (hopefully) like the three new players—two second years and a third year, none of whom Ali or Rose knew. But Scorpius thought they would be decent if they were able to keep their nerves in check, a test that couldn't really be administered until the first match when all eyes were on them.
"Where is he?" Ali asked in annoyance twenty minutes into what was supposed to be her and Albus doing homework. The supposed to part was due to the fact that Albus apparently saw no need to show up. A fact that Rose didn't seem the least bit annoyed or concerned with.
"Relax," she told Ali now, rolling her eyes. "Albus is always late. It's kind of his thing."
"Oh yeah? Well my thing is getting stuff done," Ali snapped back. "If he doesn't show he's not copying."
"Chill out Boot," Albus' voice came from behind one of the bookcases. "I'm here. No need to get your wand in a twist."
"If you were on time I would have no reason to 'get my wand in a twist,' as you so elegantly put it," Ali replied, shoving a book towards him. "Here, you're researching Ellis."
"Such a bossy friend you have," Albus commented lightly to Rose and she, for the first time in Ali's memory, glared at him.
"I meant what I said," Rose told him cryptically and it was Ali's turn to look between Rose and Albus with no idea what they were talking about. Albus held his hands up in surrender and flipped the book Ali had pushed towards him open.
"Just saying," he muttered but both Ali and Rose ignored him.
"What are you doing here, anyway?" Albus asked a few minutes into it, obviously not liking the whole silent thing Ali and Rose had going.
"I thought you could use some supervision," Rose said loftily and Ali snorted.
"Aka Scorpius is busy and Rose decided we were better than sitting in the Ravenclaw common room by herself while she went through the girls on the Quidditch team to make sure that there was no one Scorp could—ouch!"
"Your 'Aka's' aren't necessary," Rose informed her, letting go of the skin on Ali's arm she had twisted.
"Are you denying it?" Ali teased, turning her gaze to Rose. She had been trying to get Rose to cop to her crush on Scorpius for five years. Still nothing.
"There's nothing to deny," Rose said loftily and Albus took that as his cue to intervene.
"Come off it," he scoffed and Ali, for a split second, actually thought that she and Albus may have been on the same side for once. "Rose? Like a Malfoy? There's no way."
"You're kidding me, right?" Ali asked incredulously.
"No," Albus said defensively. "She's a Weasley, she can't date a Malfoy."
"You can't be serious," Ali said in a flat voice. "Please tell me I don't have to spend two hours a week with someone that stupid."
"Right, well I'm just going to go," Rose started but plopped back down as soon as Ali and Albus both sent her looks. She seemed a bit resigned in the split second Ali had taken to glance at her.
"I'm stupid?" Albus scoffed. "You thinking that a Malfoy and a Weasley could ever be together is stupid."
"A Weasley and a Malfoy? You're going to group them based on their last name? So what, Rose is great because her parents were on the 'right' side of the war and Scorpius is evil because his dad and grandparents were on the 'wrong' side?"
"Pretty much, yeah," Albus nodded.
"That's so stupid," Ali repeated. "It's basically saying that who your parents are define who you are. Do you really want everyone to define you based on a dad who saved the world and a mum who played Quidditch? Seems like an awful lot to be expected of a guy, especially if the expectations are placed on you when you're a day old. Who knows, you could have been a squib. Then what?"
"She's got you there Al," Rose pointed out, trying to stop the argument before it got too heated. Albus shot her an annoyed look and turned back to Ali, not going down without a fight.
"So you're really going to tell me your parents don't define you?" he challenged.
"Of course they don't," Ali scoffed. "I'm my own person."
"And yet you're in the same house as them, wear all of their concoctions, and have everyone convinced that you're going to follow in their footsteps. I bet you've never done a thing to upset them your whole life. Afraid they're going to die of heartbreak if you step a toe out of line?"
"Albus," Rose warned but Ali was passed letting Rose placate the situation.
"You're really going to act like you don't care what your parents think?" Ali asked him, totally pissed off.
"I don't," Albus said stubbornly. "I do what I want, make my own decisions, and they can like it or not."
"And yet, so strangely, they seem to like everything you do," Ali said in mock surprise.
"What can I say? I'm a likable guy," Albus shrugged, a cocky smirk on his face.
"So you didn't feel the need to be sorted into Gryffindor to fit in?" Ali asked, not noticing the way Albus' eyes flicked to Rose or Rose's imperceptible shake of her head.
"For your information, my dad said he didn't give a fuck what house I was sorted into," Albus informed her.
"So you felt the need to get your daddy's blessing before you went off to Hogwarts? To make sure that he would still love you no matter what? Yeah, that totally sounds like a guy who doesn't care what his parents think. And then there's the whole Quidditch thing—you didn't feel any pressure being compared against your brother and your mum? And let's not forget that your dad was Captain and the youngest Seeker Hogwarts had seen in a Century."
"You seem to know an awful lot about my parents," Albus said, raising his eyebrows.
"I'm roommates with Rose, it comes with the territory," Ali shot back. "Wanting to make your parents happy and being carbon copies are two different things. I want to make them happy, you're indirectly following in their footsteps, and Rose and Scorpius have more to them than a last name. Case closed."
"Well," Rose said as soon as Ali finished talking. "This has been absolutely lovely but I think I'm just going to head up to our dorm and have an early night. See you guys in the morning!"
"I think we just got ditched," Albus said in amusement as Rose scurried out of the room and passed the librarian who had been sending them a lethal look seconds earlier.
"Actually, I'm pretty sure you just got ditched," Ali corrected.
"You were the one sitting next to her."
"You're the one who made her feel bad for liking Scorpius!"
"She doesn't like Malfoy!"
"Have you ever asked her?"
"Of course not," Albus scoffed. "The idea isn't even plausible. And she wouldn't lie to me."
"So you have asked her?" Ali raised her eyebrows.
"No, but she just said she didn't two minutes ago."
"Did she?" Ali asked. "Because I don't remember her ever confirming or denying my accusations, do you?"
"Yeah, she…"
"Sorry, what was that?" Ali asked. "Did she ever say whether she liked him or not."
"She implied it."
"Implying and saying it are two different things," Ali shrugged. "It's like stretching the truth or fibbing where you tell a half-lie but you don't have to feel guilty because it wasn't a flat out lie."
"You have a warped sense of honesty," Albus stated, frowning a little.
"Maybe," Ali shrugged. "But you can't deny that I'm right about Rose."
"She didn't give a definitive answer but that doesn't mean she likes him," Albus said stubbornly and Ali rolled her eyes.
"Okay, tell yourself whatever you want to, Albus, but when we're at their wedding in five, ten years, I reserve the right to make an 'I-told-you-so' speech."
"Jeez," Albus said, his eyes widening.
"What?" Ali glanced over her shoulder in confusion but saw nothing aside from a shelf of books.
"People in our year will actually be getting married in five years," he said, as though the idea was brand new to him. "That's scary."
"Why?" Ali asked. "If they get together this year they would be dating for five years."
"Yeah but…I've been at Hogwarts for more than five years. And in five more years people are going to get married. That's scary."
"Okayyyy," Ali said slowly.
"Can you imagine getting married in five years?" Albus asked turning his gaze back onto her.
"Well not exactly, no," Ali admitted. "But I'm not dating anyone so that could have something to do with it. Besides, I said five or ten. It's not like they're going to rush down the aisle or anything."
"Still," Albus insisted. "It's weird to think about."
"And this conversation is even weirder," Ali pointed out. "So how about we start working on the homework and forget about marriage."
They lapsed into silence as each worked on their own person, trying to look for consistencies and inconsistencies, anything that would link a person with an object that was important enough to store their soul inside of. Every so often one of them would break the silence with a question or suggestion but aside from that they spent the last hour in silence.
"So you really think Rose likes Scorpius?" Albus asked as the two left the library.
"Yes," Ali replied honestly.
"Huh," Albus said, furrowing his eyebrows. "I just can't see it."
"Then you need your eyes examined. Good night, Albus."
She waved and turned to start down one of the corridors that would bring her back to the Ravenclaw common room. She had only taken a few steps and only managed to hum two bars of the latest Taylor Swift song before she faltered and turned around.
"What?" Albus asked. "I'm walking the same way."
"The Gryffindor common room is that way," Ali said, indicating the opposite direction.
"You can get to it going this way too," Albus pointed out.
"But it takes at least an extra five minutes," Ali argued, causing Albus to roll his eyes and ask exasperatedly,
"Does everything have to be done your way?"
"Yes," Ali said immediately, "Especially when my way is the right way."
"And who gets to judge if your way is the right way?"
"Me," Ali said as though it were the most obvious thing in the world.
"Don't you think that you judging you might be a bit biased?" Albus pointed out.
"Sure," Ali shrugged. "But you judging me would be biased too. As would my parents judging me or Rose judging me or that fifth year who tried to trip me in the hallway yesterday judging me—making your argument completely unsubstantial. Besides, someone once said that your harshest critic is yourself."
"Who said that?"
"I don't know, someone famous. Probably a Muggle, they seem to really like those kinds of inspirational things."
"'You are your harshest critic' is inspirational how exactly?"
"Well if your feeling bad about yourself then you know that people at least think you're better than you think you are or, if you're feeling really good about yourself, then you know that you should be feeling even better about yourself because other people think you're even better than you think you are, see?"
"No."
"Well I guess there's a reason your in Gryffindor, all brawns, no brains."
"Oh yeah?"
"Yeah…Look at that, no comeback. How surprising."
"I had a comeback!"
"No you didn't, that's why you were dead silent for three seconds."
"You counted the seconds?"
"Not the point."
"Yes it is, I was pausing for dramatic effect and if you had waited four seconds you would have known that."
"Oh, so you were counting to three before you answered? That's so stereotypical."
"Oh and you're not stereotypical? Girl who wears tons of makeup and thinks she knows everything? Snappy comebacks with a bitchy side? Where have I seen that before? Oh, I know, in every Muggle movie Rose has forced me to watch."
"I think you've seen Mean Girls too many times."
"You can never see Mean Girls too many times," Albus scoffed teasingly. "How do you get better than a mum with plastic boobs and a girl being run over by a bus?"
"You actually watched it?!"
"Rose is my cousin, what do you think?"
"Okay, fair point. Where are you going anyways?"
"The kitchens."
"Why?"
"Wouldn't you like to know?"
"Yes, actually, I would if it involves my food tomorrow."
"I would suggest not eating breakfast then."
"Thanks for the tip."
"Anytime…'Night Ali."
"Good night Potter."
Miracle Magic
Ali didn't eat breakfast the following morning and after watching multiple students faces turn bright red she was quite glad she hadn't. Rose and Scorpius had taken her lead and they all snacked on chocolates Ali brought with her to tide them over until lunch which they all hoped would have nothing wrong with it. The people in potions who had been affected by the Paprika and hot sauce that had been replaced in the catch-up and salt that morning glared at Albus as they entered but the others gave him a slap on the back or grin in congratulations. Everyone knew it was him—he, Fred, and Kevin all had a legacy to carry on after their brothers and cousins left school.
"Hey Edric, come sit with us," Ali called out when she saw her potions partner walk into the classroom. He looked like he was about to take her up on the offer when he caught sight of Albus' raised eyebrows and Rose's incredulous stare.
"I'm alright, thanks," he declined.
"Please?" Ali pressed before he could move past them. "My grade has gone up loads with your help and I really need it to stay up."
The truth was Edric probably would help with her grade but she also wasn't stupid enough to think that he would solve her problems. No matter what grade she got in the class, what really mattered was what she got on her NEWT and, even more importantly, what she could do once she was out of Hogwarts. And unless Edric had some sort of dream of being a poodle that Ali could carry around in her bag, she was going to have to learn how to manage without him.
She nudged Rose in the ribs who quickly jumped into action, covering her previously shocked face with a light smile.
"Yeah, take a seat," Rose told him, indicating the place beside Albus and across from Ali. "You're a genius with this stuff."
Ali kicked Albus across the table but he just sent her a fierce glare and reached down to massage his shin. Edric was probably too low on the social scale to warrant his attention, Ali assumed. Luckily, Rose's change of heart seemed to be enough for Edric and he put his things down in the empty seat, smiling shyly at Ali who returned it immediately. The truth was, she rather liked her potions partner. He was cool, in the geekiest way possible. But she had come to learn that he wanted to be recognized for his academic talents and achievements so she knew that saying he should sit because he was a fun (alright, fun may have been stretching it a bit) guy wasn't the way to go.
"Alright everyone, listen up," Professor MacMillan said loudly, forcing the limited chatter in the room to cease. "We are moving on to medical potions today. Whether you plan to be an Auror, a healer, an MLE agent, a stay-at-home parent, or continue the family business, you need some background in medicine. Potions such as blood-replenishing and bruise removal pastes help to save lives every day. Put your cauldrons away because today we're just going to be taking notes on ingredients and their uses."
Ali gratefully put her cauldron back inside her bag and tied her hair up in a loose side ponytail to keep it out of her eyes while she wrote. Just as her hand was starting to cramp up Professor MacMillan finished his lecture and dismissed them all to their next class.
"I want a three-foot essay on the similarities and differences between the ingredients, the brewing, and use of burn and bruise-healing paste turned in to me on Wednesday and a five foot essay on blood-replenishing potions for Friday. Off you go."
As had become usual in the last few weeks, Edric and Albus both ran off as quickly as possible, Edric still zipping his bag closed as he scurried out in the way that always caused Ali to be torn between covering her eyes and laughing harder than she had in months. Rose seemed to share Ali's opinion as she turned back from watching Edric with an expression of amused disturbedness.
"I know," Ali said, shaking her head with a smile as she finished putting her things into her bag and zipped it shut. "I never know what to say either."
Rose laughed at that and linked her arm through Ali's, pulling her out into the hallway and down towards the Charms classroom where Scorpius was saving seats. Or, at least, was supposed to be saving seats.
"Where's Scorpius?" Rose asked in bewilderment as she stared at the three seats that normally belonged to three Ravenclaws but were now taken by three other students.
"I don't know," Ali frowned. "He was at breakfast, wasn't he?"
"You mean was the blonde boy making conversation with you for half an hour Scorpius? Unless he has some sort of evil identical twin I would put my money on yes."
"Ha, ha, you're so funny," Ali rolled her eyes. "And there is this thing called Polyjuice Potion."
"You really think that someone took Polyjuice Potion so that they could talk to us about the merits of chips versus mashed potatoes and then skive off of Charms?"
"Well when you say it like that, no," Ali sighed. "So, where do we sit?"
"There are two seats by Al," Rose offered half-heartedly and Ali made a face.
"There's also a seat by the window with what appears to be a spectacular view. See you after class?"
"C'mon Ali, please sit with me?" Rose begged, grabbing Ali's arm.
"I—can't," Ali said, trying to bite back her smile as one of the two seats in the back was taken. "There's only one seat left now and you had better take it before that one disappears and you're stuck by the trashcan. Tyler has awful aim when he tries to throw his gum."
It took Ali all of twenty minutes to get bored and start twirling her wand on her finger, wishing that she was sitting next to Rose so that they could at least start a game of dots or ask Professor Blueberry for permission to move onto the next charm. The class that was normally extremely enjoyable was turning into a complete bore without her friends to keep her company.
Scorpius walked in with just twenty minutes left of class, offering Professor Blueberry a note before searching the class for Rose and Ali who both smiled apologetically. He shrugged and took the only seat left, right beside the trashcan. Luckily Tyler had already tossed out all three pieces of gum.
"Where were you?" Ali asked Scorpius as soon as they were out of the classroom.
"With Professor Vance," Scorpius replied. "She's meeting with all of us to make sure we've finalized our decisions and have all of the necessary requirements and what not."
"So did you decide what you're doing then?" Rose asked, joining the conversation.
"Not really," Scorpius admitted. "At this rate I'm going to end up being a Dishwasher at The Leakey Cauldron."
"What about Quidditch?" Ali asked. "Would you play professionally?"
"Nah," Scorpius shook his head. "I'm not good enough. But it would be fun to be a trainer or a broom maker or something. Hey, a broom maker would be cool. Thanks, A."
"What can I say, I'm a genius," Ali shrugged in fake modesty.
"But I still haven't ruled out being a Hit Wizard," Scopius went on. "I think that would be fun."
"That would be dangerous," Rose countered. "You would have a million people after your head."
"A million might be pushing it," Scorpius grinned at her. "But I would have to watch my back. I don't know, I guess I'll see what happens. We have Career week to talk to people and get an internship before we actually apply."
"That's true," Rose conceded. "What would you do for Career Week, A?"
"Same as everyone else, I guess," Ali shrugged. "We'll still go around and meet people. I wonder if we get to go in the field with someone. That could be fun. Assuming I don't die. You don't think they'd send us out there without people who could make sure we don't die, do you? We would need at least three people so that two of them can watch us and one of them can go after the Crux. Or maybe four. Professor Larson said there are usually groups of two or three who go together to make sure you always have backup. Or maybe we would just be paper-pushers. It wouldn't be as useful but I don't think they could let every student be completely hands-on without the training and—"
"Merlin Ali, take a breather," Rose cut her off. "Not everything is black and white."
"Aw, leave her be Rose," Scorpius grinned. "Face it, where would we be without little-miss-analytical over here?"
"We would go down in history," Rose shrugged. Both Scorpius and Ali looked at her in confusion and she rolled her eyes. "You know, because we wouldn't get anything done." They still didn't get it. "Merlin, I mean we would be the laziest arses Ravenclaw has ever seen and we would go down in history as the only Ravenclaws to ever get T's on their exams."
"Oh," Ali and Scorpius said in recognition. Rose shook her head.
"No one understands my humor," she mumbled making both her friends laugh.
"Oh, sure," Rose said, throwing her hands up in exasperation. "Laugh now, when I'm not trying to be funny."
"Think of it as natural humor Rosie," Scorpius told her. "Rather than being a stand-up comedian you're a…err, help me out here Ali…"
"Um, improvan," Ali supplied.
Rose thought about it for a minute and then nodded. Scorpius seemed to take her word for it as well and Ali smiled to herself, thinking that there were a few advantages to everyone thinking that you knew everything.
"Improvan?" someone asked behind her and Ali spun around, coming face to face with Albus.
"What? It makes sense," Ali said defensively. "Improvised humor and deadpan humor—combine them and you get improvan."
"So when Rose goes home over break and claims that she's an improvanist comedian…"
"Then you'll be a good cousin and back her up so that your favorite cousin isn't down on herself because 'witty' is one of the requirements of being a Ravenclaw and no one thinks she's funny."
"Is that really what she said?" Albus asked and Ali nodded.
"She's been obsessed with it since last spring."
"In your seats, everyone," Professor Vance called out and Ali quickly slipped away from Albus to take her seat beside Rose.
Miracle Magic
The second Friday lesson with Professor Larson passed much as the first one had but Scorpius and Rose were forced to wait on their recap since Ali had to be up at four the next morning for a photo-shoot. It was still dark when Ali's alarm sounded and her roommates were fast asleep. But they had long since developed a system that allowed Ali to get ready without waking or disturbing her five roommates.
All of her clothes and needed supplies were laid out the night before, a pathway was cleared from her bed to the bathroom and again from the bathroom to the exit, and both doors had already been tested for any squeaking. She closed the door before turning on the bathroom light and made sure to turn off the light before opening the door. The stairs were still in a slide so Ali sat down and scooted herself down, having learned the hard way that it was impossible to walk or surf down the slick, spiral slope.
She met Kensy in Professor Larson's office and they used her fireplace without supervision. In the beginning she had insisted on waking up with them to make sure that they didn't abuse their privilege but it was a useless waste of time and sleep so she now allowed them to use it with only the sleeping portraits watching.
There was a bit of fruit and cheese for everyone to snack on at the shoot but it wasn't very filling as Kensy and Ali couldn't eat anything that would make them bloated. On good days their parents would treat them to a dinner before they went back to school but Parvarti was obviously running on caffeine and adrenaline as she tried to supervise the shoot while also writing letters back and forth with stores who wanted to sell Miracle Magic products and working out the logistics with the Hogsmeade advertisements. Ali's parents hadn't even made it to the shoot, desperately trying to finish all of the needed testing in time for the first Hogsmeade trip in two weeks.
"Have a good term," Parvarti said, hugging them quickly as she hurried them to the fireplace. "Remember you have an appearance on November 4th. Lavender is designing your dresses so we'll have the fitting Hogsmeade weekend. Oh and there will be a photo-shoot Saturday as well, assuming we're ready to release the new mascara."
"Dinner?" Ali suggested as soon as they arrived back in Professor Larson's office.
"Definitely, I'm starved," Kensy said immediately. "Eat with me?"
"Not tonight," Ali shook her head. "I have to talk to Rose and Scorpius. I blew them off last night so that I could get ready for this shoot. Why don't you come hang out in my dorm tonight? You can even stay over if you want."
"Alright," Kensy agreed with a half-reluctant sigh.
"What's up?" Ali asked brightly, taking a seat across from Rose and Scorpius at the same time she grabbed a plate and started loading it up with everything she could reach—mashed potatoes, broccoli, a chicken leg, rolls. Just as she placed the last roll on her plate half of the dinner disappeared and was replaced by deserts so Ali grabbed a brownie and two butterbeer cookies.
"Hungry much?" Scorpius teased as she took a huge spoonful of mashed potatoes.
"Starving," Ali said through her food.
"You guys must be pretty tired too," Rose said lightly. "Didn't you forget something?"
Ali froze, terrified of what she forgot to do. She looked down and saw her school robes. Her nails were still polished but she usually left that. Touching her hair she felt that it was down and they had spent two hours washing it so that the semi-permanent streaks would leave her hair.
"What did I forget?" Ali asked in confusion.
"Your make-up," Rose explained, indicating Ali's still clad face.
"Oh shit, how bad is it?" Ali winced.
"Not awful," Rose said carefully. "But it's, err, obvious that you're not going for a natural look, what with eye shadow up to your eyebrows and all."
"I think Little Potter just told Kensy," Scorpius noted and Ali turned around to see Kensy looking at her in worry, waiting for instructions on how to proceed.
For possibly the first time ever, Ali's hunger won out over the logical part of her brain and she just shrugged before going back to stuffing her face.
"Wow, she really is hungry," Rose said in awe. Ali chose to ignore her.
Miracle Magic
"Okay, so tonight is Al's party," Lily told Kensy. "Rose is coming after Al begged her to but it would be so perfect if we could get Ali to come too."
"Oh, I said I would spend the night in her dorm," Kensy admitted, biting her lip. "She won't care if I cancel but she won't want to come. She hates going out after work."
"Can't you at least try?" Lily asked. "If she's going to listen to anyone, it's going to be you."
"If she's inviting me to spend the night don't you think that means she's over it?" Kensy pointed out.
"Probably," Lily admitted. "But don't you want her and Al to get together?"
"They would make pretty babies," Kensy sighed and Lily nodded eagerly. "Alright, I'll do my best. Ooh, and then we'll be, like, cousin in laws!"
"And we could spend all of our holidays together," Lily added.
"And we'll be the Godmother's to their kids."
"I get the first one," Lily announced.
"I have a feeling that one's going to Rose," Kensy said, wrinkling her nose with distaste. "But they're going to need three kids anyways so that they can give one to Scorpius, one to Kevin, and one to Freddy."
"What about James?" Lily asked.
"Oh yeah, I always forget about him," Kensy laughed. "And Ali would probably want Cedric Jordan as a godfather too. Wow, five kids…that's a lot."
"Well some of the PGF's might be taken," Lily pointed out logically. "So if they have three it should be enough to guarantee we each get a kid. I wouldn't be worried about it if I had any sort of confidence in James getting married but he has the absolute worst taste in girls so I have a feeling he's going to be Uncle Charlie down to his last breath."
"Maybe he'll meet some crazy Dragon-taming girl who can tame him," Kensy suggested.
"Maybe," Lily agreed. "Maybe."
Kensy kept an eye on the Ravenclaw table while she talked to Lily and jumped up when she saw Ali leaving on her own, having stayed longer than both Rose and Scorpius. She made it clear from the get go that she disagreed with Kensy's belief that this was a must-attend party.
"What's the big deal? We can just do it another time," Ali said in exasperation to her trailing cousin.
"Please A? Rose is going," Kensy tried again, grabbing Ali's arm to stop her before they parted ways to their dormitories.
"I'm exhausted Kensy," Ali sighed. "I've barely slept at all since we got back here and I have so much schoolwork to get done…"
"I told you not to take so many subjects," Kensy groaned. "Besides, we'd be up all night anyways."
"That's different," Ali insisted.
"Come on, we can have a sleepover Friday night!"
"I'm busy Friday," Ali told her. "Look, you go to the party, I'll go to sleep, and you can do homework with me in the library tomorrow. You need to start studying for exams too."
"At least think about it," Kensy begged, disregarding Ali's study comment. Ali rolled her eyes and walked away.
"See you tonight!" Kensy called after her. "It starts at eight!"
"Are you coming?" Rose asked when Ali walked into the bathroom and started taking off her makeup.
"Yeah," Ali sighed. "Do you think I can get away without makeup?"
"You always can," Rose told her. "But you're not even going to try tonight."
Ali chose not to reply, knowing it was true.
"Aren't you going to bring a present or something?" Ali asked as they made their way to the Gryffindor Common room.
"Nah, his actual birthday is Wednesday," Rose informed her. "I'll give it to him then. Lily planned this whole thing, if it were up to Al he would probably say there wasn't going to be a party since his birthday fell in the middle of the week."
"Your cousin, miss out on a chance to be the center of attention? Yeah right," Ali scoffed.
"He says he gets enough attention the day of," Rose shrugged. "But he feels bad because Lily puts so much work into it each year."
"How thoughtful," Ali rolled her eyes.
"When we get inside you're going to have to say that like you mean it," Rose warned. "Bullbladder."
Lily had worked hard, Ali noted as she looked around. There were streamers all over the room, pictures of Albus covering every window, and a huge HAPPY BIRTHDAY banner hanging from the ceiling.
"You came," Kensy exclaimed and Ali was relieved to see that she was still completely sober.
"No Firewhiskey?" Ali asked, looking around to see everyone acting normal.
"Nah, you're thinking of James' birthday. Albus only allows Butterbeer because there are so many underclassmen and since we haven't been to Hogsmeade yet…" she trailed off and shrugged. "No alcoholic beverages allowed. Want anything?"
"I'm going to go find Al," Rose said, giving Kensy an obviously fake smile before leaving.
"Err, she's just PMSing," Ali said as Rose left.
"Right," Kensy snorted. "And you're supposed to be a good liar."
"Well I'm not used to lying to you," Ali pointed out. "Come on, I need some juice to keep me awake."
By ten Ali had lost both Kensy and Rose so after she was able to disengage from a conversation about the best times to exfoliate she found herself alone. No one had left yet which gave her no excuse to leave so she settled herself on the couch across from the fireplace and tried not to fall asleep.
"If you weren't into the party you didn't have to come," Albus said, taking a seat on the armrest.
"Rose doesn't think you're all that into it either," Ali said lightly, barely suppressing a yawn.
"Well Rose is wrong," Albus shrugged.
"Right, and that's why you're talking to me instead of out on the dance floor."
"I'm checking on my guests," Al said loftily.
"Quit BSing me," Ali sighed. "I'm too tired for this."
"Fine," he relented. "But at least I fake it better than you. Sitting by yourself staring at the fire does nothing for you."
"Yeah, you can really lecture me about appearances when you clearly put so much thought into how you would present yourself," Ali said sarcastically, indicating his baggy, faded jeans and t-shirt.
"What's wrong with what I'm wearing?" Albus asked, offended.
"Nothing," Ali said. "You know, if you were polishing your broom in the dead of night with all of the curtains drawn."
"I always dress like this at home," Albus argued.
"At home, fine," Ali shrugged. "But couldn't you have at least put on a leather jacket or something? It is a party; a little effort wouldn't kill you."
"No one else seems to care," Albus shrugged.
"That's because everyone else here is either in love with you, wants to be you, or has seen you in far worse conditions than you are in now."
"So I normally look better than this," Albus said, smirking.
"No, it's just usually easier to ignore because you're on the other side of the classroom instead of a few inches from my face."
"You know, for a weekend your retorts aren't what they usually are," Albus commented lightly, moving off the edge of the couch and sitting beside her.
"Well some of us had to work today," Ali snapped. "I have better things to do with my free time than think of retorts for the next time I see you."
"Ah yes, how could I have forgotten your little show in the Great Hall? Publicity stunt I presume."
"It wasn't a publicity stunt," Ali said in exasperation. She knew that's what everyone would think. "It was me being too tired to notice that we had forgotten to take the makeup off. Aunt Parvarti is going to be pissed if she finds out. There's supposed to be a huge reveal of everything Hogsmeade weekend."
"I just don't get it," Albus said, shaking his head. "Everyone makes this big deal about your modeling when all you do is sit there and smile at a camera for an hour. Anyone can do that."
"Well obviously you can't since you're always scowling in your Witch Weekley photos," Ali bit back.
This is exactly what she meant about Albus having the worst timing in the world. She was tired, she was in a bad mood, she wanted to go to sleep, and instead she was at a party talking to the one person who acted like modeling was some sort of inconvenience that was given too much credit. She knew a lot of people thought it but they at least had the decency to do it behind her back. Besides, most of the girls were too busy trying to be her friend to really bitch about it and most of the guys didn't really care. It's not like she purposefully drew attention to herself.
"Don't hate on me just because I don't pretend like I have a perfect life," Albus said, holding his hands up in surrender.
"I don't fake anything," Ali said in exasperation. "I pose for photos to make people want to buy products. It's not fake, it's acting. And believe it or not, it is hard work."
"Prove it," Albus said back. "I've posed for photos before, how is modeling any different than taking a Christmas photo?"
Ali considered ignoring him. It wasn't like she owed him an explanation; he was just being an arse like always. Besides, explaining it wouldn't really change his mind. But then she saw the self-satisfied smirk on his face that looked so similar to the one the whole Gryffindor team wore when they beat Ravenclaw in the last match and she decided that while taking him down a notch was a long shot, she had to take it. It's not as though telling him would do her any harm. Worst case scenario, he keeps thinking she's a stuck up bitch. That wouldn't be anything new.
"I don't really know how to explain it," Ali said slowly. "But it's kind of like you're a Barbie doll for the day. You wake up at 4 in the morning and spend about three hours letting people poke and prod you. You try on outfit after outfit and have people doing your makeup and put your hair up in various styles and then you spend another few hours in front of bright camera lights while you smile and pout and look mean and then sexy and then sweet and then you look at the lense and look out the window and try not to blink when there's a flash and try to listen to five people at once who are trying to get you to pose in a different way while your entire family stands behind them watching and eating food you can't have in case it bloats your stomach and people start to think your fat but you also can't be too skinny in case rumors surface about eating disorders and completely destroy the idea of normal girls becoming beautiful."
"Huh, you really do hate modeling," Albus finally responded.
"No," Ali sighed, having no idea how to explain all of the emotions that surrounded being the face of her parents business. "I don't. I just…I hate being told what to do, you know? I hate having to act a certain way and say certain things but I'm in my element at shoots. I get to play a character. But once the shoots done I want to take off my makeup and just be able to be myself and chill out in sweats. Playing a part off the camera…that's exhausting."
Ali bit her lip when she finished, worried she had said too much, especially to a guy she didn't know very well. And yet the fact that he, too, was in the public eye almost made it better because she knew he wasn't going to give the scoop to Witch Weekly. If Albus Potter is your source, you don't agree to make the tips and comments anonymous. Not to mention, if they did use his name, it would reflect worse on him than on her. Being such good friends with Rose, most people expected her to be close to Albus also. She wasn't.
"Okay then, let's ditch," Albus stated after letting her long ramble sink in.
"Excuse me?" Ali said, completely caught off guard.
"You don't want to be here, I don't want to be here, no one here actually cares who stays and who leaves so let's disappear. No one will notice and I'll be back before the party gets shut down to make some sort of speech."
"We can't just leave!" Ali exclaimed.
Albus raised an eyebrow. "Why not?"
"Be-because it's your birthday party!"
"So what?"
"So you're the host! You have to walk around, talk to people, play your part."
"I already played it," Albus said. "Did you not see my entrance?"
"I hardly think standing on a table and yelling: 'what's up bitches, it's my birthday, everybody scream,' counts as playing your part."
"Natalie, this is Hogwarts. People just want a loud party with good music, a bit of drama, and some cussing. The music's loud, Sarah Borelli already ran up to her dorm crying, and I cussed. The oldest person here is 18—I don't have any dignitary handshaking to do."
"Don't call me Natalie," Ali told him. "But even if you don't care about letting your sister's work go to waste," Albus rolled his eyes at that, "I can't go anywhere. It looks bad if I'm the first person to walk out of a party unless I'm taking some sort of moral stance."
"Fine," Albus conceded. "I'll walk out first."
"That's not what I meant," Ali sighed.
"No one will even notice. I promise."
Miracle Magic
A/N: So yeah, this chapter is really long. Like, kind of monstrous. But there's also a lot in it so tell me your thoughts. Albus/Ali arguments, Rose/Scorpius indicators, unintentional publicity stunts, and Ali and Albus possibly ditching Albus' own party. Do you think Ali will do it?
Hopefully I'll update again before Christmas but if not, Merry Christmas or Happy holidays, whatever you celebrate, and I'll definitely post before the new year. Reviews are much appreciated! 'Tis the season of giving after all...
