The day came for the cousins to return to Hogwarts and Rose found that she wasn't terribly upset. The last few days of Christmas holiday had been awkward and uncomfortable. Albus had continued to ignore her and it seemed there wasn't a room in the magically enlarged house where a person could read without being interrupted by noisy family members. So it was with a sigh of relief that Rose kissed her parents goodbye and hopped onto the scarlet steam engine.
She quickly found the Weasley compartment and sat down warily. Everyone else was still on the platform saying goodbye to their parents, for which Rose was grateful as it felt like she hadn't had a moment to herself in two weeks. She leaned her head against the door, closed her eyes and let out a heavy sigh, wishing the others would choose to sit elsewhere and leave her uninterrupted. The thought of spending all day in the cramped compartment surrounded by her eight cousins made Rose feel claustrophobic and drained.
The glass door slid open and Rose jumped back. Pressing a palm to her forehead and trying to hide her irritated frown, she looked up to see Albus standing before her, his hand running through his hair.
"Er—hi," he said, his eyes flitting up to meet hers. His hand dropped to his side and he gestured vaguely to the spot next to her. "Can I sit by you?"
"Uh—sure," Rose said, frowning slightly as he sat down. It was the first time Al had spoken to her voluntarily since their argument two days ago. She slid the door shut and leaned back against her seat, forcing herself not to look at her cousin.
Albus chewed his lip and they sat in silence for a moment, both fidgeting and taking care not to sit too close to each other. It was horribly awkward for Rose. Albus was one of her favorite cousins, one of her best friends. She didn't know if his choosing to sit next to her was meant as some sort of peace offering or if he still planned to ignore her indefinitely. She squeezed her eyes shut and pressed a palm to her forehead. They couldn't spend the entire train ride avoiding each other. She wanted to make up with Al, but the thought of just blurting out an apology made Rose recoil.
A more tactful person than Rose may have devised a plan to subtly bring up the topic and carefully coax Al into talking about the ugly words that had gotten between them. Unfortunately, Rose being who she was, she chose to square her shoulders and ask perhaps a bit too harshly, "So, are you just going to sit here and not talk to me for the whole train ride then?"
Albus raised an eyebrow and met her gaze, looking rather unsurprised at her outburst. "No," he said. "I was actually hoping we could talk about that."
"Right," said Rose, a bit embarrassed at her boorishness. She dropped her gaze and flushed, regretting her momentary rudeness. "Er, well—" she took a deep breath and exhaled in exasperation. "Oh, I'm sorry, Al."
"I'm sorry too," he nodded. "I shouldn't have sprung it on you like that."
"I shouldn't have been so nasty about it," Rose said, scooting closer to him. Everything suddenly seemed much simpler, much easier now that they had both apologized. "You know when I get angry I say things and I don't mean them—"
"Rosie, it's alright," said Al, giving her a small smile and taking her hand. "Really. I was pretty upset—"
"I know," she muttered.
"But," Al continued, "I know you feel bad about it and I don't want us to be in a fight when we get back to school. And I kind of missed you the last few days."
Rose grinned and nudged him in the shoulder. "Yeah?" she goaded. "Missed your favorite cousin?"
"I never said you're my favorite cousin," Albus grumbled, though he couldn't contain a smile. They both knew Rose was his favorite. And he was hers, right after Fred.
"So we're alright?" Rose asked, her grin fading as she locked eyes with Albus. "Really, Al, I am sorry about it. I was horrible."
"It's alright," he murmured. "But," he added with a sudden smirk, "if you get a Circe chocolate frog card you have to give it to me. I just need her, Gwydion, and Houdini and I'll have a complete collection."
"Fine," Rose mumbled, rolling her eyes and shooting him a half-hearted glare.
The compartment door opened again and Roxanne and Louis entered. They sat opposite the two second years and Roxanne grinned. "Ready to go back?" she asked, putting an arm around Louis.
"Definitely," Rose and Albus responded, catching each other's eye and grinning. Albus scooted closer to Rose and gave her a smile when their shoulders knocked together.
"It's always nice to see everyone, but Merlin, being at the Burrow makes me miss Hogwarts sometimes," Roxanne said.
"I'm excited to have a bed to myself," Rose said. "Lily's worse than a devil's snare in her sleep with all her kicking. It's horrible."
A sudden shout from behind them of "Oy! Exploding snap tournament!" announced James' appearance and Rose turned to see the rest of her cousins filing into the compartment, sliding into seats and squirming to get comfortable in the cramped space. She was now seated between Albus and Fred and couldn't help but smile as James immediately began to deal out cards. Rose took her cards and caught Fred's eye, grinning at him and raising an eyebrow as she set a pair down on the table. Term was already off to a better start than she had anticipated.
Life at Hogwarts resumed quickly and Rose slipped back into her old routines easily, though with a few changes. She and Lucy now spent nearly every evening after dinner in the library, per Lucy's insistence. They were often joined by Albus, except for the days he had quidditch practice, and always joined by Nathan Nott, who didn't seem to mind spending so much time with the two Ravenclaws.
Scorpius Malfoy also joined them often, though he still pretended that Rose didn't exist. Remembering what Uncle Harry had told her, Rose tried her hardest to ignore him, which was surprisingly easy to do when she put her mind to it. Most evenings they managed to work without speaking to each other at all.
Rose's willingness to accompany her cousins to the library was not entirely due to a desire to spend time with them, however. Since coming back from holidays a certain Ly Scamander seemed to have taken up the habit of spending a few evenings a week at a nearby table with his friends. Rose liked to go just for the thrill of being near him, though she blushed furiously any time Lucy waggled her eyebrows and suggested Rose go over and say hello.
One evening in early February Rose was sitting next to Lucy at their usual library table, her quill scratching away as she scribbled out the last few sentences of her charms essay. Albus had quiddditch practice and Tommy was getting extra help in transfiguration from Professor Lyncroft, so the girls were at the library with Nathan and Scorpius.
They were all working in silence. Out of the corner of her eye, Rose caught sight of familiar dirty blond hair and inhaled sharply, forcing herself not to look up.
"Rosie, you promised," Lucy whispered beside her in a sing-song voice, barely concealing her grin as her eyes flickered from Lysander to Rose.
"I know," Rose bit out, frowning at her essay. She bent her head lower so her red curls spilled over the parchment, smearing the glistening ink. "I don't want to, though."
"You shouldn't have made that bet then," Lucy said smugly, shaking her head.
"What bet?" Nathan Nott asked from across the table, looking up with interest at the two cousins. Beside him Scorpius Malfoy glanced up momentarily, cocking an eyebrow when Rose scowled at him and then returning to his work.
"Our cousin James suggested that Rosie and I make a bet over last week's quidditch match," Lucy said, beaming. "And seeing as neither of our families sends us loads of money while we're at school, we decided that whoever won the bet got to dare the other to do something."
"And I take it you won?" Nathan asked, the corner of his mouth twitching up.
Lucy nodded, her grin widening as she turned to Rose, who looked as though she had been fed a vomit flavored Bertie Bott's. "Rose had Hufflepuff winning."
"They would've bloody won too if MacLean hadn't sneezed right as he was about to catch the snitch," Rose grumbled. She sat up and angrily swept her hair over her shoulder, ignoring the spots of ink in it.
"Now, now, Rosie," Lucy crowed, her usually mild face twisted into a gloating smile. "Slytherin won fair and square, and I won the bet fair and square." This earned her a pointed glare and an indistinguishable noise from Rose which sounded vaguely like a string of curses.
Across the table, Nathan looked as though he were trying his hardest not to laugh. "I can't believe you bet on Slytherin and won," he said to Lucy. "Honestly, they've been playing like dung all year, the chasers are horrible—"
"Yes they are!" Rose burst out, throwing her arms wide in exasperation. "And the victory was a fluke! An absolute fluke! If Collin MacLean hadn't bloody sneezed—"
"But he did sneeze," Lucy interjected.
"Well that's not fair!" Rose exclaimed, crossing her arms with a huff.
"That's quidditch," Scorpius Malfoy said quietly, looking up once again and fixing Rose with a look of distaste. "And you're acting like quite a sore loser at the moment."
"I am not!" Rose cried. "I just can't believe I lost the stupid bet!"
"What do you have to do now?" Nathan asked, leaning forward eagerly. "I can't believe Lucy would make you do anything that bad."
"You'd be surprised," Rose growled, throwing a dirty look at her cousin and slouching in her chair. She twisted slightly and looked over at the group of third year Ravenclaws not far away. Lysander sat with his friends, his back to Rose.
"Stop being so dramatic, Rosie," Lucy said, taking a tissue out of her pocket and wiping the ink from Rose's hair.
"I'm not being dramatic."
"Yes you are. You just have to say hello. Honestly, it's not going to kill you."
"Maybe it will," Rose said, pulling away from her cousin. "Maybe the stress of it will kill me. You know Grandma Molly always says that Great Aunt Muriel died from too much stress."
"Great Aunt Muriel died from a heart attack because she only drank red wine for the last five years of her life," Lucy said, tucking the tissue back in her pocket. "And she was already fat as a cow from what your dad said."
"Well—I—I—" Rose sputtered, her blue eyes going wide as she stared at her cousin.
"Wait, what is the dare exactly?" Nathan asked, his eyebrows knitting together. "She's just got to go say hello to someone?"
"Not just anyone," Lucy said. "Ly Scamander."
"Ly—the twin—oh—Rose—oh," Nathan's eyes fell on Rose and she felt her face flush. She looked away and jammed an elbow into Lucy's side.
"Ow!" Lucy cried, jumping to the edge of her chair. "What was that for?"
"Just tell everyone, why don't you?" Rose grumbled. Her face felt as though it were on fire and she glanced involuntarily again towards the third year Ravenclaws.
"It's not like everyone didn't already know," Lucy said, pulling out her herbology notes. "You're horribly obvious about it."
"I am not!" Rose hissed. She looked up and saw Nathan and Scorpius looking at her, Nathan with a smile and Scorpius with a look of disdain. Her face grew even warmer.
"Just go do it, Rosie," Lucy said, flipping a page in One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi. "And then it'll be done and I'm sure the next time we bet on a quidditch match you'll win and make me do something equally embarrassing."
"You can count on that," Rose mumbled. She sat up straighter in her chair and took a deep breath, pulling her fingers through the wild tangles in her hair. She pushed her charms essay to the side and stood up, steeling herself.
"Just pretend he's Fred or Al," Lucy chirped.
Rose nodded dumbly, thinking privately that neither Fred nor Al made her as self-conscious as Ly Scamander, and imagining the pale-eyed blond haired boy to be one of her cousins was vaguely repulsive. Squaring her shoulders, Rose shot one last look at Lucy and made her way to the table where Ly sat.
He turned around as she approached, giving her his usual easy grin and flicking a piece of hair out of his eyes.
"Hullo, Rosie," he greeted her. "How's the studying going?"
"Er, hi," Rose squeaked, her face steaming once again as she stood before Ly. She tucked her hair behind her ear and stared at her shoes, cursing her red face. "It—it's alright—not too bad really." She stopped abruptly and clamped her mouth shut, lest she say anything embarrassing.
"That's good," Ly said, not commenting on her stammering. "And how about that book you told me about at New Year's? What's it called, Pies and Pumpkin Juice?"
"Pride and Prejudice," Rose answered, her eyes darting up to Ly's face and her mouth twitching into a small smile. "It's brilliant, I've brought it to school with me."
"Is that what you were reading last night in the common room then?"
"Er, no," Rose flushed. "That was one of my Anne of Green Gables books."
Ly smiled and his pale blue eyes crinkled. Rose wanted to melt into the ground. "Well," she said quickly, stumbling over her feet as she made to turn around. "I've got to go back and—and—you know write words—and dip my quill—it can't do that on its own I have to be there and I've been away too long so—er—bye."
Without waiting for a reply she hastily spun on her heel, almost tipping over but managing to regain her balance before she fell to the ground. She hurried back to her own table and dropped into her chair next to Lucy, who was grinning.
"That wasn't so bad now was it?" Lucy asked, her brown eyes gleaming.
Rose breathed in sharply and buried her face in her hands. "When I get to dare you, Lucy Marie Weasley, you're going to be sorry."
The ice of February melted into the slush and sleet of March. Although her cousins prodded her constantly, Rose refused to initiate another conversation with Lysander, blushing horribly anytime it was suggested. Furthermore, she was very careful from then on about making bets with any of her family members, particularly those who knew about her crush.
As winter faded away, Rose resumed practicing her quidditch skills, spending four evenings a week out on the pitch running through drills and having her various practice partners try and get goals past her. Dom joined whenever she had time, coaching Rose through complicated maneuvers and offering advice as they flew around in the sharp springtime chill.
Dom, however, was unable to practice as much as Rose wanted, between studying and running regular house team practices. Because of this, Rose often found herself on the pitch with Maren Thomas, much to both girls' surprise. They enjoyed practicing together, as Maren was a chaser and Rose a keeper; they spent hours in the air, keeping a running score of how many goals Maren managed to get past Rose and how many Rose saved.
When they got bored of playing one-on-one Rose and Maren sweet-talked, bribed, and blackmailed Allie Boot and Lucy into joining them on the pitch for two-a-side games. Both Lucy and Allie were dreadful at the game and Lucy refused to fly higher than ten feet in the air, so the matches usually ended with Rose and Maren swearing never to bring their best friends onto the pitch ever again, but they always did and although Allie and Lucy grumbled and complained all four girls rather enjoyed their time on the pitch together.
After one such game in late March, during which Lucy had nearly fallen off her broom and Allie had somehow managed to hit herself in the mouth with the quaffle, the four girls sat on the frozen ground of the quidditch pitch, their brooms lying beside them, talking quietly. They were all drenched in sweat and out of breath, hardly noticing the chilly breeze in the air.
"Merlin," Allie said, "I can't believe we're almost done with our second year here."
"We're not almost done," Lucy replied, twisting a piece of hair around her finger. "We've still got nearly three months left of term."
"Yes, but only three months," Allie said petulantly, her blonde curls rustling around her face as she shook her head in disbelief. "And then we're third years. And we can take new classes and go to Hogsmeade—"
"And Mare and I will be on the quidditch team," Rose said, grinning at Maren.
"Yes, yes, and Lucy and I will be obligated to come to every single match and deck ourselves out in blue and bronze and scream until we lose our voices," Allie said, smiling at Rose and Maren.
"I'd hope you'd do that anyways," Maren said, tucking a piece of dark hair behind her ear. "My dad said if I made the team he'd floo over for every match."
"My dad said the same thing," Rose replied, rolling her eyes but unable to conceal the grin on her face. "He and my mum came with Uncle Harry and Aunt Ginny to watch Albus and everyone else in the Slytherin vs. Gryffindor match, and Dad said hopefully next year he'll have to be here for the Ravenclaw matches too."
"Maybe our dads will start a fan club," Maren snorted. "Y'know they played on the Gryffindor team together? My dad told me that over the summer."
"I didn't," Rose said, laughing. "You should come to the Burrow sometime, Mare, and play with me and Fred and Al—" she broke off suddenly, sitting up straighter and looking around eagerly. "Hey!" she cried. "You two should come visit the Burrow over Easter holidays! Al invited friends, I'm sure Lucy and I can too."
"Er, Rosie?" Lucy said, furrowing her eyebrows.
"It'd be brilliant," Rose continued, ignoring her cousin as she flushed with excitement. "You can meet everyone and we all haven't gotten together over a holiday yet, which is silly, we really should've done it ages ago!"
"Rosie," Lucy tried again.
"And of course it always gets a bit crazy with all the family there but everyone would love to meet you—"
"Rosie!" Lucy yelled, leaning forward.
"What?" Rose asked, raising her eyebrows as she stopped her rambling.
"You can't invite them to the Burrow if you're not going to be there," Lucy said pointedly, giving Rose an exasperated look.
"I—wait, what do you mean I'm not going to be there?" Rose demanded. "Am I being tossed out or something?"
"No," Lucy said slowly, in the voice one might use with a small child, "your family's going to France, remember?"
"Er—" Rose paused and frowned. "What?"
"You're going to France for Easter holidays. That's why you're not going home on the train—"
"I'm not going home on the train?"
"For the love of Dumbledore," Lucy bit out, rolling her eyes. Maren and Allie giggled, watching the two cousins interact.
"How did you know this?" Rose asked, too stunned to say anything else.
"My dad mentioned it in his last letter," Lucy shrugged. "Did your parents not tell you?"
"Er, they might have," Rose frowned, looking a little guilty. "I may have accidentally spilled tea on my mum's last letter and set fire to it trying to clean it off."
Lucy pinched the bridge of her nose and Maren sniggered.
"So I'm going to France over Easter?" Rose asked, the news now really sinking in. "I won't be at the Burrow? I won't have to see that twat—"
"Rosie, please," Lucy gasped. She was somehow still shocked every time Rose used foul language. "You know you shouldn't call people that—"
"Well he deserves it," Rose said stiffly.
"Who's this now?" Allie asked, looking curiously between Rose and Lucy. "Who's the twat?"
Lucy rolled her eyes and tugged at her ponytail. "Rose thinks Scorpius Malfoy is—er—"
"An enormous twat," Rose supplied, elbowing her cousin gently in the ribs as Lucy scowled. "Lighten up, Luce. I could've called him much worse."
"You shouldn't call him anything at all," Lucy mumbled, rubbing her side. "Honestly, Rose—"
"Why's he a twat?" Maren asked.
"Stop saying that word—"
"He just is," Rose said loudly over Lucy's reprimand, scowling at the thought of their blond haired classmate. "He ignores me for no reason, and always looks at me like I just hexed his mum or something."
"That's odd," Allie said, crinkling her forehead. "He seems so quiet and sweet. I can't imagine him being unkind to anyone."
"Well he's unkind to me," Rose huffed.
"I'm sure he doesn't mean it," Allie said quickly, twisting a curl around her index finger and chewing on her cheek thoughtfully. "Really, I can't believe he would act like that on purpose—"
"You just think he's fit," Maren said, waggling her eyebrows.
"I do not!" Allie cried, her face going scarlet as she smacked Maren in the shoulder. "I just think he's a very nice person and I can't see him being rude for no reason—"
"You think he's fit?" Rose asked, whipping around to look at Allie incredulously. "But he's so pale and his face is so—so unhappy all the time—"
"He's nice," Allie muttered, sinking into the ground. "I—I dunno—his eyes are pretty and he's not that pale—"
Rose raised an eyebrow but didn't respond. Allie bit her lip and glanced around at her three roommates. "And he's nice," she added quietly. "He's always sweet whenever I talk to him and you know he adores Nathan and everyone who knows him well says he's wonderful."
"That's what I've always said," Lucy interjected. Allie shot a grateful look at her and began studying her fingernails, her cheeks still sizzling. "And I don't think he's fit," Lucy continued loftily, giving Rose a pointed look, "so it's an unbiased opinion—"
"No, but you think his best friend is fit," Rose interrupted her cousin with a grin.
"So what if I do," Lucy mumbled, her face flaming up to match Allie's. "There's nothing wrong with that."
"I didn't say there was," Rose murmured. She leaned back and laid down on the frozen ground, pulling her knees to her chest.
The girls sat in silence for a few minutes,
"We should get inside," Maren said at last, tilting her head towards the sky, where a full moon could be seen peeking out from behind a cloud. "It's probably close to curfew and I don't much fancy getting a detention."
They murmured in agreement and rose to their feet, wiping dirt off their robes and brushing flyaway hair away from their faces. After stowing their brooms in the broom shed they walked arm in arm back to the castle. Rose looked to Lucy on her left and Maren on her right, smiling to herself. It was nice to have friends in her year other than Lucy and Al. It made Hogwarts feel more like home.
Easter holidays came and went. Rose missed the bustle of Easter at the Burrow, but the thrill of being in France and very far away from Scorpius Malfoy quickly banished any regrets from her mind.
She returned to the castle by floo powder just after everyone else had arrived by carriage. After giving Aunt Minnie a hug and promising to stay out of trouble, Rose dusted off her robes and trotted off to the Great Hall. She had barely gotten through the doors when she was nearly bowled over by a crushing mass squeezing her from every direction.
"Rosie, you're back!" James' voice called from somewhere above her head.
"Y-yes," Rose gasped out, slipping under the many arms which had encircled her and straightening up to see all her cousins beaming at her.
"We missed you!" Dom said, wrapping her arm around Rose's shoulder and giving her a quick squeeze. "How was France?"
"It was brilliant," Rose answered, beaming.
"Was it warm there?" Albus asked. "I think you've got more freckles now than you did last week."
Rose self-consciously covered her nose with a hand. She had thought the same thing, but had hoped nobody else would notice the extra freckles.
"Albus!" Lucy reprimanded, smacking him on the back. "That's rude!"
"Oy!" he yelped, stepping away and glaring. "I didn't say it was a bad thing, it was just something I noticed—"
"The most important thing we want to know," Fred said loudly, drowning out Albus and Lucy's bickering, "is did you bring us presents?"
"Isn't me being here a present enough?" Rose laughed, letting Fred pull her in for a hug.
Fred chuckled and shook his head. "Grandma Molly's Easter egg hunt wasn't the same without you," he said.
"Did you actually find eggs this year since I wasn't there to get them all first?" Rose teased, earning a scowl from Fred.
"Hush," he said, taking her by the arm and steering her towards the Gryffindor table, where all the cousins seemed to be headed despite the fact that most of them were not in that house. "We're all eating together tonight," Fred explained, nudging Rose into the seat between himself and Albus. "Since we didn't get to see very much of each other over the holidays, with your family being abroad and Uncle Harry and Uncle Bill both having to work so much."
Rose smiled and dug into a plate of mashed potatoes, asking questions about the holiday and catching up on news of various family members and relaying her own stories from her week abroad. By the time the dessert plates disappeared she felt as though she had been at Grandma Molly's for Easter after all. Her cousins had recounted nearly every second of the holiday.
Rose and Lucy entered their dormitory that night in good spirits, though both of them were exhausted. Rose flopped onto her bed immediately and crawled beneath the covers.
"How was the Gryffindor table?" Maren asked, chuckling when she saw Rose already ensconced in her blue sheets. "Tiring?"
"Definitely," Rose yawned, turning over on her stomach and closing her eyes. "I'm too sleepy now even to read."
"That's when you know it's bad," Allie laughed. "When Rose is too tired to read."
"Bugger off," Rose mumbled, already beginning to fade away into sleep.
"Must be nice to have all sorts of cousins at school with you," Maren mused, pulling back the blankets on her own bed and climbing in. "You have your entire family right here with you. It seems like it's brilliant."
"Yes," Rose murmured, smiling as she burrowed further into her pillow. Sleep tugged her further and further away from the conversation, but her lip still curled up at Maren's words. "I love being a Weasley."
Time seemed to fly after Easter holidays. The days passed in a blur and before anyone knew it May 2nd arrived and the castle buzzed as older students prepared for the Victory Ball. Rose sat with Lucy on Molly's bed, watching Dom and Molly get ready.
"You look lovely," Lucy sighed, sitting up next to Rose and staring at her sister and cousin with wide eyes.
"Thank you," Dom replied happily, her shimmery peach colored gown pooling around her as she sat on the adjacent bed. Her skin seemed almost to glow in the dim light of the dormitory and her strawberry blonde hair fell down her back in loose waves.
Molly smiled from across the room and applied another coat of pink lip gloss. Her dark red hair was coiled and pinned against her head and she wore a pretty light green dress that draped loosely over her slim figure.
"It's strange not having Vic here to help with our hair," Dom mused quietly. She pushed herself off the bed and walked to Molly, picking up her wand from a nearby table and waving it over Mollly's head to instantly smooth down the flyaway hairs.
"I know," Molly agreed, putting the lip gloss in her purse and turning her head to look at herself from different angles in the mirror, patting her shiny, flyaway-free hair. "It was strange not being able to wish her happy birthday in person today."
"I bet Teddy took care of that for all of us," Dom said with a wicked smirk, shooting a quick glance at Rose and Lucy before leaning over and whispering something in Molly's ear. The two older girls dissolved into giggles.
"What's so funny?" Rose demanded, not happy at being left out of the joke.
"N-nothing," Dom choked out, trying to control her laughter. "I'll tell you in a few years."
"Lucy, will you help me with my earrings?" Molly called out, rifling through a small jewelry box. "I don't think I can get them on without ruining my nails."
Lucy got up and walked towards her sister, smiling wistfully. She took the small diamond earrings Molly held out. "I wish I could go to the ball," she said mournfully.
"You'll get your chance soon," Molly said, meeting her sister's eye in the mirror and giving her a smile. "Only two more years."
"Or next year if we get asked," Rose added with a grin. She pictured herself with her hair sleek and shiny and pinned up elegantly on her head, twirling across the dance floor in a pretty gown as Ly watched her in adoration, maybe finally realizing that he liked her as more than a family friend. That's how it always happened in books, anyways.
"Is there anyone in particular that would be able to ask you next year?" Dom asked, smirking and cocking an eyebrow.
Rose flushed and bit her lip, turning her attention to a loose thread on the duvet below her as the daydream continued to play out in her head. Dom laughed and stood up, grabbing her clutch bag.
"We should be going soon, Mols," she said. "I don't want to keep the boys waiting."
"You're going with Nick Ferntail, aren't you?" Rose asked, looking up suddenly. She tried to keep the bitterness out of her voice, but wasn't sure if she succeeded.
"Yes I am," Dom answered. "But only because he's a good snog," she added with a wink.
"Dominique!" Molly cried. "Don't tell them things like that, what kind of example are you setting?"
"The example that if a bloke's a good snog, you should go to the ball with him," Dom shrugged.
"When did you snog Ferntail?" Rose asked, furrowing her brow. "Why didn't we know about it?"
Dom snorted and snapped her bag closed. "Oh, Rosie," she said. "The number one rule of being a Weasley woman at Hogwarts is that if you're snogging a bloke you don't want to take home to meet Grandma Molly, don't let your cousins know about it. This is a family of blabbermouths. Make sure you remember that."
"Or, you know, don't snog blokes you don't want to bring home to Grandma," Molly put in, giving Dom a warning glance. "And on that note, I think it's time we left. Have a good night, you two. We'll tell you everything tomorrow."
"You promise?" Lucy asked. "And you'll tell Roxie and James and Fred that we said hello?"
"Yes, yes, of course," Molly assured her younger sister, stooping down to give Lucy a hug. "We'll tell you absolutely everything over breakfast tomorrow."
As it happened Dom and Molly both slept in the next morning and weren't at breakfast to recount the evening to their eager cousins. Therefore Rose and Lucy slid into the Gryffindor table next to Fred and James, who looked tired but no worse for wear, and began bombarding the two boys with questions.
"How was the ball?" Rose asked, pouring herself a glass of pumpkin juice.
"It was fun," Fred said with a shrug. "We put itching powder in Jacob Flint's dress robes so he was squirming through the entire thing it was amazing."
Rose rolled her eyes and chuckled. "Of course you did that," she said. "But really how was it? Did you like the music? Did anything interesting happen? Oh, tell me about the dresses! Who had the prettiest one?"
"I wasn't paying attention to dresses," Fred said, reaching over her for the plate of eggs. "I was more interested in the girls wearing them."
"You must have been paying at least a little bit of attention though," Lucy said, turning to James expectantly. "Really, tell us about them."
"Luce, do I look like someone who can tell you about dresses?" James asked, raising an eyebrow. "I mean, I appreciate all the effort girls put into choosing them but honestly—"
"You must have noticed something."
"I noticed that Madison Mulberry's dress was extremely tight fitting around her—"
"Stop! Okay, fine," Lucy huffed, frowning. "You two are useless."
"We never claimed to be otherwise," James said, ruffling Lucy's hair and grinning.
"Am I still your favorite cousin even if I'm useless?" Fred asked, leaning down to nudge Rose in the shoulder.
Rose pretended to consider her answer as she snatched a piece of bacon off his plate and took a bite. "I s'pose so," she said. "Although Dom is a much better person to talk about the ball with."
"I'm alright with that," Fred chuckled.
Exams snuck up on them and all Rose's friends began studying like mad. Molly, who was taking her O.W.L.s, drew up color coded study schedules for everyone before hiding away in the library day and night.
Lucy followed her study schedule to the minute and shared it with Maren and Allie, who both looked rather frazzled. Rose tucked hers away in her bag and settled into an armchair in the common room with a book. She wasn't terribly fussed about exams. She knew what was going on in every class. She vaguely remembered her vow to study harder for potions this year but honestly, sitting by the fire reading Sense and Sensibility was much more appealing. And she knew what she was doing in potions, anyway. At least, she knew all the important things.
The week before term ended Fred came to the Ravenclaw common room and took Rose out for an evening fly to the astronomy tower as they had done the year before. Rose told him about how Jane Austen was her new favorite author, to which he answered with enthusiasm. After that Rose told him what Dom had said about not letting family know if you were snogging a boy you didn't want to bring home. Fred didn't find that comment amusing, telling Rose if he ever found out she were snogging someone and hadn't told him, he would have to hex the boy.
Exam week arrived. Rose's roommates were all stony faced and nervous. Molly drove everyone insane with her grumbling and strangled cries that she was going to fail her O.W.L.s and be forced to live with her parents forever. To everyone's surprise, James Potter spent two evenings in the library studying for a charms exam because he had made a bet with Roxanne that he could get an O.
Rose still spent her evenings curled up by the fire, though she did look over her potions notes briefly the night before the exam.
All of a sudden it was the last night of term. Exams were over and everybody felt, for the most part at least, that they had done alright. Potions had gone better than expected and Rose thought happily she wouldn't be at all surprised if she managed to beat Scorpius Malfoy this year.
Slytherin had won the quidditch cup; Al had caught the snitch in an astounding fifty seven seconds. Gryffiindor won the house cup, although Ravenclaw came in second. To celebrate, in the Great Hall at the end of year feast James and Fred set off fireworks that took the shape of a giant lion that roared so loud the plates and silverware trembled on the tables. McGonagall walked over and shouted at them, but didn't punish them as it was the last night. Rose swore she saw the headmistress smile as she took her place back at the staff table.
Exam results came that night and the second year Ravenclaw girls all agreed not to open theirs until they were in their dorm by themselves and could either cheer or cry as loud as they wished. Rose held the heavy envelope loosely, unlike Lucy who had hers in a death grip.
"Ready?" Allie asked, looking around. "Open them…now!"
They all tore into the envelopes hastily. There was a rustling of parchment and a general sigh of relief that signified that nobody had failed.
"An O in charms and E's in all the rest, except transfiguration," Maren said, smiling contentedly as she tucked the parchment into her trunk.
"Me too except I got an O in herbology as well," Lucy said, looking relieved as she laid down in bed.
"I got all E's and an A in History of Magic and potions," Allie added.
"How about you, Rosie?" Lucy asked, giving Rose a knowing smile. "Top of the class in everything?"
"Except potions," Rose grumbled, tossing the parchment into her trunk in disgust. "Bloody Malfoy beat me again."
"But you're top in everything else, aren't you?" Lucy said.
"Yeah," Rose mumbled. "But I thought I beat him this year."
"You still did really well, though," Allie said.
Rose crossed her arms and scowled. "I hate the git."
"Rosie, really," Lucy admonished, putting a hand on her shoulder. "You're being ridiculous. And you're not allowed to be in a foul mood the last night of term."
"Says who?" Rose demanded.
"Says me," Lucy said firmly, narrowing her eyes and glancing towards her wand. "We're going to have a nice night before summer starts and I don't get to see you every day. And I won't have you ruin it because you're too competitive for your own good."
Rose rolled her eyes but dropped onto her bed with a sigh, unfolding her arms.
"Good," Lucy said, rummaging under her bed for something. "Now girls, I have an entire year's worth of Witch Weekly and we can do the quizzes. Ready to find out what amortentia smells like to us?"
They stayed up far later than was wise, taking the Witch Weekly quizzes and laughing over their results, reminiscing over the past two years and making plans for the next five. Rose climbed into bed in the wee hours of the morning, very tired and full to the brim with affection for her roommates.
"Make sure you lot come visit me at my dad's office this summer," Maren said sleepily. "We can go out for ice cream."
"We will," Rose answered, snuggling into her sheets. Within minutes she had fallen asleep, her red curls splayed out over the blue pillowcase and her fingers twisted in the silky blankets. In the stillness the wind could be heard tinkling in through the windows, ushering second year out and beckoning third year in.
Thanks for reading!
Edited 3/26/2017