Hello Everyone! I'm back with one of my favorite chapters thus far. I hope you all will enjoy it! This chapter is dedicated to Vika Tonks for her incredibly kind words! I always love to know there are people out there reading this story! And without further interruption, back to the story...
Disclaimer: STILL NOT QUEEN J.K. ROWLING
Sixth Year
Muggle airplanes might be the worst technology ever invented. I was holding onto the seat armrests so tightly my knuckles were white, teeth gritted together and eyes squeezed shut as the plane bumped its way across the Atlantic. Curse Molly and Maverick for having their wedding in New York City. Curse Dad for claiming it would be a fun experience for the family to travel the "newfangled muggle way". Curse Mum for researching every little incident with airplanes in the last twenty years and promptly discussing them with me. Curse Hugo for casually reading a book on astrophysics next to me, claiming on wanting to fit in with the muggles. Right, like a thirteen year old boy normally is reading graduate level books. The oversized woman next to him did not think it to be usual for him, she kept sneaking incredulous looks at him. I sighed, looking back out the window to see the rolling layer of clouds, immersing myself once again in the thoughts that I had been thinking over for the past three weeks.
How dare he? How dare he? He can't just waltz into that corner of my brain and never leave. I wouldn't allow it.
That's what my thoughts were as Scorpius disappeared around the corner, presumably to rejoin the others by the lake. He didn't come back to check if I was okay with this bit of news, which I was not. My jaw was solidly on the ground, and I couldn't be bothered to pick it up. I tried to shake off his words, plastering a smile on my face like it never happened. When that didn't work, I settled for the more familiar scowl.
"What's up with you?" Lorcan asked, throwing a arm around my shoulder.
"Nothing." I answered shortly, all while sending daggers at a certain blonde. A blonde who was a remarkably good actor, judging by the way he was laughing with Altair and Al.
"You do seem a bit… weird right now." Cass commented tentatively.
"It's nothing. Really. Just thinking of the wedding."
Cass nodded in understanding, having sat through enough of my rants to know how much I despised the fact that Molly would become a Zabini in a few short weeks.
"Ah. Thinking about your plus one?" Lorcan asked, quirking an eyebrow at me.
Apparently I misjudged Scorp's acting abilities as he heard Lorcan's comment and sent a murderous glare at the tawny haired boy, not that the latter noticed. It was one of many nice qualities of Lorcan, he simply didn't care about what everyone else thought.
"Something like that." I mumbled. "Excuse me, I'm not feeling well." With that I pushed myself up and hurried across the lawn, throwing my shirt on as I went.
I mean, really, I was doing so well, I had gotten Hogwarts back to the same home I had left at the end of third year, I was dating the best guy I could ever dream of, and it was almost summer vacation. But I had a feeling that the conversation Scorpius and I had just had would change the dynamic forever.
"Just look at all this history! The shape shifting buildings, the magnitude of the expansion charms," Mum sighed, resting her cheek against the cab's window. We were zig-zagging through the neighborhood of Merlik, one of the largest wizarding community in the world and smack dab in the middle of New York City.
"It is pretty." I said, gazing up at the high rise buildings.
"And home to the biggest wizarding university in the world!" Hugo exclaimed, bouncing up and down in his seat. "The one that has the best programs in healing, law, charms, code-breaking, and potions!"
"But the British Ministry still has the best auror program." Dad supplied smugly.
I rolled my eyes. "Right, and I wonder which two wizards had to do with that."
It might have been my imagination, but I think Dad puffed his chest out a little.
"Rosie!" Uncle George called, coming out of the hotel, the famous one that was charmed to change facades completely every ten minutes. Even as Roxy followed her dad out, the whole place shrunk from a sleek skyscraper into a charming english cottage exterior. I could practically hear Mum hum with happiness.
"Are we the last ones?" I asked, enveloped in Uncle George's arms.
He chuckled. "The last by a good day. Everyone else flooed here yesterday evening."
I took that opportunity to glare at Dad.
"Rose!" Roxanne cried, her tall frame bounding towards me, black ringlets of hair flying behind her. "You're finally here!"
"Erm.. yeah." I said as she collided with me, as if we hadn't seen each other in years. Never mind it had only been three weeks.
"It's just so unfair that we aren't on the same dorms in Hogwarts. Think of all the extra time we would spend together!" She exclaimed, flipping some of her hair off her shoulder.
"Right." I said flatly. "I think I got over that the second week of first year." In fact, I had been ecstatic that I didn't share the same bedroom with my cousin. It would have been a complete nightmare.
"Rose!" Mum hissed, low enough so the excitable girl wouldn't hear.
"Come on, you lot, let's get inside, Mum is freaking out."
I grinned, imagining Grandma Weasley running around, freaking out about her first grandchild getting married. Victoire was supposed to be the first, but that hadn't worked out as anyone expected it too…..
"Al!" Hugo called, causing the boy to look up from lounging on the couch.
"You knew!" I hissed, grabbing my cousin as he walked into the Great Hall for breakfast.
"Knew what?" Al asked innocently. "Ow! Rose!" He cried as I dug my nails into his arm.
"That he loved me." I growled, tugging him into an empty classroom.
"Loves you." Al said quickly.
"Excuse me?"
"Loves you, not loved. He's still is crazy about you."
I threw up my arms in defeat. "How can somebody know who they love when they're sixteen?!"
Al looked at me, green eyes piercing my own. The boy had x-ray vision, I swear. "Sometimes it's just meant to be."
"Al." I said flatly, tugging my purse further onto my shoulder.
"Still angry with me Rosie?" He asked with a crooked grin, brushing hair from his face.
"As your best mate and cousin, you should have told me." I said as I flopped down beside him. I was tired at being angry with Al. We hardly ever fought, the longest was when we were five and I shoved Al down a hill. Al got a broken arm and I lost my best friend for two months.
"But Rosie, he's my best mate too. There are some things you just have to keep a secret."
"Fine. How long?" I asked, crossing my arms."
"How long what?"
I groaned. "How long have you known Al?"
My cousin scratched his head. "Oh, I dunno, about two years no-"
"TWO YEARS?!" I yelped, jumping from my seat.
"Two years what?" Asked a new voice from behind me.
I spun to see Lorcan, his hands stuck in his pockets as he grinned at me.
"Hi Rose, nice of you to finally show up."
I fell into his arms with a relieved sigh, holding him tight. I had missed him in the three weeks we had been separated. Luckily, I was allowed to bring a date to the wedding. It was something Dad wasn't too keen on, until he heard that Lorcan was Luna's son. "You know my Dad wanted to try out airplanes." I mumbled into his chest.
"Sooooo cute." Al deadpanned from behind me, causing my face to redden as I pulled away. "Way to rub in the fact a bloke is single, yeah?"
I narrowed my eyes. "What about Kim?"
He scoffed. "Right, like I can bring a muggle to a wizard event."
Lorcan whistled. "A muggle, huh?"
"Dunno, maybe." Al muttered, losing his confidence, his ears reddening. "Just a fling."
I narrowed my eyes at my mate, wanting to call his bluff.
"I have to show you this bookshop around the corner!" Lorcan exclaimed, tugging me away with him. "All the books are used and about the hidden secrets of the wizarding world!"
See why we were the perfect pair?
Later that night, I was scurrying through the halls in a misguided attempt to borrow one of those muggle straighteners from Dom for tomorrow. I was darting through the narrow corridors when I ran smack into Scorp.
"Hey!" He exclaimed, turning around. "Oh- um- hi."
"Scorpius?" I asked in disbelief. "What the hell are you doing here?"
He scratched his cheek and looked away. "Al didn't tell you? I- my family, was invited to the wedding."
I was going to castrate Al, and I was going to enjoy every second of it. This was so much worse than me pushing him down a hill.
"Look, Rose…"
I held up a hand. "I can't do this conversation, not now. You ensured that after you ran away." I had successfully avoided him for the last week of school, or maybe he had been avoiding me.
"We can't just be friends again?" Scorp asked, his voice strained.
"I thought we were friends again. Then you told me- those- those words."
"And what if those words were a mistake?" Scorpius asked, fire burning at the core of his eyes.
"You should have thought about that before you said them." I muttered, pushing past him.
"Miss Weasley!" This voice was deeper, friendlier.
"Mr. Malfoy." I said after I turned around, recognizing the regal man who had appeared next to Scorpius. I tried to muster the brightest fake smile I could manage.
"I trust Scorpius has told you the news?" He inquired, shooting a look at his son.
"Actually, no." I said as pleasantly as possible, trying to tamp down the feeling of wanting to rip Scorp's head off and feed it to Callie.
"Scorpius here will be escorting you down the aisle as a part of the wedding party!" He said, putting a proud hand on Scorp's shoulder.
Speechless. I was utterly speechless. "How…. splendid." I mustered a few beats later, my bright smile dimming several notches.
"Yes, I think so… is there something going on between the two of you?" Mr Malfoy asked, finally catching on to the fact we were actively avoiding each other's gazes.
"No." We both said in unison. Normally it would be funny, but as soon as we locked eyes I craned my neck to the ceiling and gulped, afraid of the emotion I might find lurking in Scorp's grey eyes.
"I'm afraid I have to go Mr Malfoy, important business." I mumbled, hurrying away. This time in the opposite direction, my destination having changed.
"How dare you?!" I exclaimed, bursting into Molly's room.
She glanced up from her bed, startled. "Still on me marrying a Zabini?"
"Yes!" I snapped. "But no, how dare you invite Scorpius here and put him in the damn procession?!"
Molly laughed. "That? I thought you would be thanking me."
Thanking her? I curled my fists, silently fuming. "You know me and Scorpius are on a rocky bit right now. I personally told you!"
She sighed, setting down her magazine and waving off my words. "And this is the perfect way to become friends again."
"You… you…." I sputtered, my face red.
Mols groaned. "Rose, you two are best mates."
"Were." I corrected, glaring at her.
"Oh please Rose, this has gone on long enough. We haven't even been really talking, and I still know you and Scorpius have hardly been talking. It isn't right, you two are perfect for each other."
I gritted my teeth. "You know nothing! You've been too busy snogging Zabini's head off!"
Molly regarded me, cocking her head. "His name is Maverick. And I wasn't the only one snogging someone's head off."
"Merlin's balls, I was drunk!" I cried, throwing my hands up into the air.
"Drunk minds speak sober truths. Or in this case, less talk and more-"
"Stop!" I exclaimed as I covered my ears, glaring at Molly's knowing smirk. "Just- take him out and replace him with Lorcan, alright?"
Molly made a face. "Look, I know the Scamander's' are a family friend or something, but-"
"Nothing!" I snapped. "You lot don't get to decide who I find attractive!"
Mols raised a perfectly plucked eyebrow in my direction. "Then you don't get to tell me who to put in my procession. You're being walked down the aisle by Scorpius, whether you like it or not."
I let out a strangled scream. "You're infuriating!"
"Teenagers, honestly. Close the door!" Molly called after me as I stomped off.
"Take my damn hand!" Scorpius hissed, trying his hardest to shove his hand into mine.
"Over my dead body!" I shot back, holding up the rather pretentious bouquet to cover us from the gaze of a certain Lucy Weasley.
Scorpius made a sound of frustration somewhere between a whine and a growl. Quite funny, actually. "For Merlin's sake, Rose, if Lorcan won't even let you hold hands with another bloke…"
I stomped on his foot. Hard.
We were standing at the base of the long walk to the front of the wedding, the rest of the wedding party gathered around us for the rehearsal run through. Never mind we still had 10 days to prepare, Molly had quite the organization streak going. Uncle Percy had never been prouder.
"OI! ROSE!" Scorpius whisper-shouted furiously, comically hopping up and down on one foot.
"Oops. My heel slipped."
"What the hell is your problem Weasley?!"
I growled. "Back to last names again?!"
"Just. Hold. My. Bloody. Hand." Scorp gritted out between clenched teeth.
"Nope. Sorry. Molly didn't say we had to do that." I said, shaking my head and taking a big step away.
"Everyone else is!" Scorp exclaimed.
"And everyone else actually likes their partner." I spit back, running an agitated hand through my messy hair.
"We were the freaking next generation golden trio! What happened to that?!" Scorpius asked.
"You and your fat mouth did." I said flatly, promptly swiveling away from him to hear the order of how things were going to run from Lucy. I sighed internally, looking at all the happy partners that had lined up. And since Molly had insisted that all the female cousins be put into the wedding party, there was a lot of them. Well almost everyone was happy.
To my right, Victoire was edging away from Teddy as much as physically possible without calling Lucy's attention to it. From the way Teddy's jaw was tightened and posture strained, he had noticed long ago. The guy wasn't a code breaker for nothing. The two of them…. I hadn't gotten used to them apart. They had been so close in age that they had always been best friends, which eventually turned into something more.
"Vic, why are you closer to Al than you are Teddy?" Lucy barked, stopping mid speech on the importance of walking heel to toe.
Vic, never one of degrade to childish antics, flipped her hair in a sophisticated manner. For Merlin's sake, was everything she did perfect?
"I didn't even realize." Vic said smoothy, falling back into place beside Teddy.
After what would have been a lethal glare to anyone not possessing veela blood, Lucy continued. "Right, well. All the partners will walk heel toe down the aisle, holding hands-"
Scorpius sent me a smirk. Pompous ass. I groaned internally, while Victoire was the one to groan out loud.
"Must we?" I whined, not caring that I sounded exactly five years old.
"Yes." Lucy answered curtly, not even looking in my direction. "Now, onto the proper way to hold the bouquet…."
"I've been looking everywhere for you, you know."
"Sorry." I muttered, not tearing myself away from the twinkling skyline. There were so many tall buildings; why couldn't London be like that?
"It's beautiful." Lorcan said softly, voicing my thoughts. He eased his way on to the edge beside me. Right now the building was a twisting spiral, and as my feel dangled off the edge, I could barely see the specks of cars and brooms whizzing about below.
I sighed, leaning against Lorcan. Sometimes we sat quietly be each other for hours, breathing in the other's company and nothing more.
"Mum used to love telling us stories about how stars were made." Lorcan said, his eyes reflecting the skies. "Sometimes they would be shermorkles that flew too close to the sun, or sometimes she would say the were each individually arranged by some powerful sorcerer."
I smiled. "And Mum just told me they were far away planets and stars."
Lorcan chuckled. "Still whimsical though, even if it is the truth."
"I suppose so." I answered.
"Rose, do you remember back in second year-"
"Yeah?" I asked, pushing myself up from his chest."
"And that Slytherin quidditch party?"
"Yeah?"
"Thank you." Lorcan said softly. "I didn't talk to a lot of people at that point."
I laughed. "And I remember thinking that I should teach you social skills."
Lorcan put an arm around me. "It worked, that party woke me up the realities I was facing."
Come to think of it, Lorcan had slowly changed over the years that I had known him. Really, it culminated in the beginning of fifth year when I realized that Lorcan was one of the most well known students in the school. And not just with our own years, but with the younger years as well. He was the same quirky person he had always been, but now he used the quirkiness to his advantage. And to think that I had started it, well, that was really cool.
"I like you a lot, you know that, right?" I asked, leaning in to place a kiss on his cheek.
"I would hope so." He chuckled. "'Cause I like you a lot too."
The days passed quickly, each filled with Mum dragging Al, Scorpius, Hugo, Lily, Lorcan, Lysander and I around to the wizarding heritage sites, spouting facts from the 1920's and the beginning of a dark wizarding era. It was fascinating stuff, but after five days of looking at crumbling brick buildings and touring the old American Ministry headquarters, I just wanted to wander through Merlik. For their parts, James and Freddie spent the entirety of the ten day period trying to impress American witches with their quidditch skills. Needless to say (and as I told them multiple times), Quidditch wasn't a big thing in the states. Uncle George spent the time touring buildings for his newest branch of Weasleys Wizarding Wheezes, Uncle Harry was off site seeing with Aunt Ginny and the American Minister of Magic, and the others were doing Merlin knows what.
"You're insane, you know that Rose?"
I stopped smoothing my hair for the hundredth time in the last ten minutes to give the blonde a glare. We hadn't exactly been on speaking terms the last week. "You're just now figuring this out?"
"Must have overlooked it." He said evenly, shaking out the sleeves of his suit elegantly. That was another thing about Molly's wedding. She decided it would be completely muggle-esque. She even including an alter and a priest. Well, the priest was a wizard who was not in fact a priest, but it was close enough.
I continued to fidget, shaking out my legs in an attempt to calm down. Despite the fact I regularly stood out from the crowd, I didn't necessarily fancy standing in front of fifty-odd people during the whole ceremony.
"It will be fine." Scorpius said softly, squeezing my hand.
I recoiled, smoothing out my dress. "What do you know?"
Scorpius rolled his eyes. "Please, Rose, give me some credit. We were best friends for so long. I know you."
"Really?" I shot back, crossing my arms. Or attempting to. Bloody bouquet. "Why am I mad at you?"
Scorpius looked away with a strangled expression on his face. "I dunno."
"Then I guess you don't know me that well after all."
"Because you being mad isn't a Rose thing, it's a girl thing. Bugger if I know anything that goes through a girl's mind."
The poor bloke actually looked agitated about the whole mess.
"You had girlfriends before." I said icily. "In fact, you've had many." I looked down at my jeweled heels. "Maybe too many." I added on quietly.
"Well that's the first you and Bella have ever agreed on." He mumbled, fiddling with his tie.
Ravley and me… agreeing? Has the whole damn world gone mad?!
I sighed. "Take my hand."
"Really? Why?" Scorpius asked with excitement.
I cocked an eyebrow. "Because we're about to walk down an aisle and be seen by fifty people, why else?"
Scorpius looked at me suspiciously. "But you were against it a week and a half ago. Very much so, if I remember correctly."
"Yeah," I admitted with a shrug. "But my Dad is here now. Out there, I mean."
"And?" Scorp asked, looking impatient.
"He still thinks we're friends and if we don't hold hands he'll ask about it and it will be awkward and then he'll talk to your dad and-"
Scorpius put up a hand to stop me. "Say no more."
"Rose!" Lucy hissed, frantically scribbling away at a clipboard. "Musty Merlin's balls, you two are up!" Apparently the prim version of Lucy disappeared when she was stressed.
There was a charged moment as the both of us simultaneously reached for the other's hand, our eyes meeting in the process. It was broken when I snatched Scorp's hand and dragged him towards the walkway, positioning my flowers just so and plastering a smile on my face. A soft one, you know, nothing too cheesy. Just enough to convey that I was happy for Mols (or not so much considering who she was marrying) and that I hoped it would be me in the big white dress one day. Phew, that kind of smile took ages to perfect in front of the mirror.
The music changed and the two of us started down the aisle, my smile faltering with shock as I took in the fact Dad and Mr Malfoy were sitting by each other, whispering furiously. Then it brightened again as I caught Lorcan's gaze, who not so subtly looked me up and down with passion in his eyes.
'Wow' he mouthed.
I wanted nothing more than to plop next to him and laugh over the fashion catastrophes that were happening as a result of the only muggle clothes dress code, but Scorpius tugged nonchalantly on my hand, leading me forward. Heel toe, heel toe, heel toe.
And as the two of us parted and took our places directly across from each other, I couldn't help but let a small smile grace my lips. Scorpius returned it, winking at me before focusing his attention back to Maverick.
What just happened? In those few seconds, it was like we were as close as ever, like nothing could come between us. Except, in this case, the bride.
All the guests rose at once as the music changed once again to something more upbeat. Me, being the short person I was, couldn't see Molly and Uncle Percy until she emerged from the rows of people. She took my breath away, not because of the intricacy of her dress, or the way she was glowing. No, it was because her eyes were shining with happy tears as she looked towards her future husband. In the moment, I realized the gamble she had taken when she showed up at the New Year's Eve Party. At the same time, a wave of jealousy overtook me at the idea of having a love so powerful that it was worth risking your entire family for. I mentally berated myself. Lorcan and I could grow into that, right?
"Rosieeee." Jame slurred, throwing an arm around me. "How's my favorite female cousin?"
I quirked an eyebrow at the drunk redhead. "I'd be careful saying that if I were you, there are lots of female cousins around."
James gave me an exaggerated pout. "You're sober, why are you sober?"
"I'm only sixteen!" I scoffed, giving him a playful shove.
"Not- a good-" James paused to gulp some air. "-Enough answer little cousin."
"Pleased to know your take on underage drinking." I said with a hand on my hip. Truth be told, the last time I drank I ended up kissing a certain bloke. And seeing as that bloke was most definitely not my boyfriend, I wasn't too keen on a repeat performance.
"Have you seen Blue around?" My cousin asked hopefully, his unfocused eyes scanning the crowd.
I bit my lip. "James, you and Blue broke up. She isn't here."
James blinked and focused back towards me. He seemed like he was about to refute my sentence for a few seconds, but then his features slid into a look I could only begin to describe as devastated. "S'right, I screwed up Rose, I screwed up bad."
"Why don't you tell her that when we get back to England?" I asked gently, trying to take the cup away from him.
He snatched it away, swaying dangerously as the amber liquid sloshed onto the ground. "I'm too late." He moaned. "She moved to France for her training a week ago. She's probably dating some perfect French bloke as we speak."
I sighed. The two had broken up mere days after graduation, with the two saying that James' position as a beater for Puddlemere United wouldn't mix well with Blue's four years of required healer training in France. Still, James had been the most depressed I had ever seen him the few times I had popped around the Potter household since summer break had begun.
"Rose, can I talk to you?" A new voice interrupted.
I turned to see the groom standing behind me, his green eyes piercing into my own.
"You have a beautiful bride, Maverick." I said simply, starting with the one thing we had in common.
"Champagne?" Zabini asked after a beat, holding out a sparkling glass. I took it, swirling it around and watching in interest as it changed from a clear liquid to a deep purple. Molly's favorite color.
"Can we walk now that I've given you a gift?" He asked, taking a swig of his own glass.
Despite myself, my lips curved into a smile. "Is that a bribe?"
"Did it work?" He fired back. "Come'n, we have some things to discuss."
I allowed myself to be led away from the giant white tent. "Shouldn't you be with your wife?" I asked.
"Maybe." He said with a shrug. "But I thought this was more important. You mean a lot to Mols."
"Well not enough to warrant an opinion about any of this." I muttered, kicking at the ground.
He sighed. "Rose, back in Hogwarts, I was a nightmare. I was under a lot of pressure from my family, but it isn't an excuse."
"And?" I asked impatiently, turning to him.
"The Zabini's are one of the oldest pureblood family trees is all of wizarding history. They're also one of the most prejudiced. I grew up learning that the death eaters' were wrongly imprisoned and the blending of muggles and wizards was wrong at best, unthinkable at worse. So I preyed on Scorpius because his father had cut himself out of the pureblood mania, and my own father despised him for it. At the time, I thought my father was the center of the universe. So when Scorpius came in and started to say things against him, I got mad-"
"And what do you think now?" I asked, narrowing my eyes.
He scratched his cheek. "Did you notice how there were members from Molly's side of the family on both sides of the aisle? That's because I only sent out one invitation to one person in my family. Otherwise I didn't want anyone to know; lest they try to stop the event."
I wrinkled my forehead. "And did they come?"
Maverick chuckled darkly. "It was to my mother, and no, she didn't come. She doesn't believe in everything my father stands for, but she isn't strong enough to go against his wishes. As soon as I graduated Hogwarts, I immediately severed my ties with the extended family, and eventually my own mother and father. I got a job in Diagon Alley and eventually purchased an apartment there. And then Molly came along and got me an interview in the office of magical laws in the Ministry and I've been there ever since."
I let out a breath I didn't even know I was holding. "Your point is?"
Maverick closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He opened them and brushed my shoulder. "My point is not to ask your forgiveness but to at least have a fighting chance to have you understand me. I'm sorry for what I did to both you and Scorpius on the train. And I'm hoping if you gave Scorpius a chance despite his lineage, that you'll give me one too."
"Thank you." I said softly. "I needed your apology. And I do understand a bit more of what you went through to get here, but-"
"You need more time?" Maverick asked.
I smiled. "Exactly. But tell Molly that I am happy for the two of you, truly."
"Tell her yourself." He said with a grin, turning my attention to the girl racing across the street in a white dress.
"Mav, we're married, WE'RE MARRIED!" She screamed, racing into his arms.
For his part, Maverick sung her around and kissed every available surface, laughing all the while.
"I couldn't be happier Mols." He said sincerely, burying her in his arms.
"I love you so much."
"I love you too. Like no one else on the planet."
I slipped away after that, letting the couple be on their own for the first time all night.
"Miss Weasley…"
"Mr Malfoy." I countered, giving him a curt nod.
"What has happened between you and my son?"
Jeez, he knew how to get right to the point. I sighed mournfully, pushing away the piece of cake slowly. What? It was really good cake.
"It's a rather long story." I admitted, deciding that the elder Malfoy deserved the truth.
He chuckled, leaning back in his chair. "It always is, isn't it?"
I grinned. For all that Dad had complained about Draco, I quite liked him.
"Mr Malfoy, were you actually turned into a ferret?" I asked curiously, unable to stop myself.
He looked sideways at me for a few beats. "They were an interesting few minutes of my adolescence, yes." He said slowly.
I stifled a giggle. "And how did you meet your wife?"
He furrowed his brow at me. "Is there a reason for all these questions?"
I propped my head up with my hands, looking at the blond expectantly. "I've always been curious, and you seem like you're in a good mood."
"Well, Astoria wouldn't look twice at me first, said she preferred brunettes…" Mr Malfoy started, reminiscing.
I tuned out for a second, looking around the large tent. I felt someone's eyes on me, and I was determined to find out whose. Oh bloody hell, of course it was him. His grey eyes were watching me from his seat by Lily, forehead wrinkled as he tried to understand why his father and I were in a long conversation.
I snapped back to his story. "... the brown dye took ages to come out, inferior muggle inventions I suppose, but it did the trick and got Astoria's attention. After that it was just roping her in with my intelligence and devilish good looks."
"You dyed your hair brown?!" I exclaimed, aghast.
"My mother was devastated, said I was ruining my best feature." The man said with a chuckle.
"That's a brilliant story Mr Malfoy!" I said cheerfully, brushing the hair that had come undone from my intricate hairstyle away from my face.
He smiled at first, pleased; then he narrowed his eyes. "I've underestimated your Slytherin attributes, Miss Weasley. I came over here to hear why you and Scorpius are-"
"May I steal Rose away, Mr Malfoy?"
I nearly leaped into Lorcan's arms, that's how much I wanted to get away from the situation.
"Certainly." Mr Malfoy said smoothly, looking amused despite himself. "Well played, Miss Weasley."
"Please, call me Rose." I chirped. "There's too many Miss Weasleys running around. Until next time Mr. Malfoy!"
"You have impeccable timing." I told my boyfriend as we navigated to the middle of the dance floor.
"Oh? What were you and Mr Malfoy discussing?" Lorcan asked, quirking an eyebrow.
I put my hands around his neck and began to sway with him. "Nothing much." For some reason, I wanted to keep Lorcan separated from Scorpius. The two didn't mix well. Or maybe the problem is that they did mix well. Scorpius could charm everyone from here to Beijing, and Lorcan was no exception. In the few days we all were dragged around by Mum, the two had become fast friends. It was… interesting.
Lorcan spun me around. "I'm going to miss being in the same spot as you."
I pouted. "You really have to leave for the Amazon tomorrow? Can't you delay it a bit?"
Lorcan gave me a sympathetic smile. "Mum and Dad are coming by tomorrow to get Ly and I, then we're off until September first."
"Why didn't your parents come to the wedding?" I asked.
"Dad thinks it's all superficial, and Mum had a falling out with your Uncle and Aunt a few years back and didn't want to intrude."
"A falling out with Uncle Harry?" I asked with a frown, peering at one of my favorite uncles. He was laughing about something with Uncle Bill.
Lorcan shrugged. "Mum won't talk about it."
"Apparently neither will Uncle Harry." I muttered, still staring at my Uncle. How many secrets was he keeping?
"Hey." Lorcan whispered, a finger forcing my chin up to look him in the eyes. "Let's not worry about feuds. Let's just worrying about dancing."
A smile tugged at the corner of my lips. "I like that idea."
And so we danced song after song, talking about everything and nothing late into the night.
The train whistle knocked me back into my senses, forcing me to quickly hug goodbye to Mum and Dad and every other aunt and uncle I get my hands on in thirty seconds.
"Remember to owl!" Dad called as I sprinted towards the train, which had started to chug out of the station. I gave him a one handed salute over my shoulder.
"OI! Rose, get a move on!" Hugo hollered, not even bothering to wave goodbye to our parents.
"Keep your pants on Hugo." I said irritatedly as I hopped onto the train. "And brush your hair, for Dumbledore's sake."
Hugo ran a few fingers through his messy red hair. As he got older, the red hue became less distinguished from the brown undertones, and now he practically looked like he was a brunette. It was the same with me, my hair grew a tiny bit closer to brown and less bright red with each year. Still, I was always going to be classified as a redhead. Regardless, my brother had decided he was old enough at fourteen to grow out his hair and not brush it. Typical.
The train ride of Hogwarts each year was usually one of my favorite moments of the school year. Even with the perfect meeting smack in the middle of the ride, I still had plenty of time to spend with Al, Altair, and Cass in our own carriage. But this year was different. While I typically cherished the ride as a time to catch up with my mates after a summer off, Altair and Cassidy had spent the last two weeks at my house (I had spent most of that time trying to get Cassidy's mind of boys and their foolish habit of breaking up with girls a month after they graduate). The one person I wanted to see on the train, after a month of being a part, wasn't going to be here. And it ruined the whole thing.
The large tropical bird might have been the dumbest I had ever had the pleasure of meeting. As I watched in awe from my open bedroom window, the dratted creature smacked into our stone facade three times before moving onto Hugo's bedroom and finally my own. It stuck its leg out with a loud squawk, revealing the brown parchment tied to its leg with a sturdy bit of vine. I ripped it off and sent the bird on its way, I would let our family owl Marcus carry the letter back, no way I was trusting that scatterbrain to carry my letter back to Lorcan. I had been waiting for this letter for ages, owl mail took much longer when it had to cross continents.
Dear my Rose,
I miss you. I know that might be self-explanatory, as your boyfriend, but it's true. I was planning on opening up this letter with some witty quote that would make you smile, but that came out instead. So I miss you. See? I can't stop saying it. As we float down the Amazon, coming in contact with magical communities that are so isolated and special, all I wish is that night will come faster. Because that's when I see stars, and stars remind me of you. Remember that night? The dancing on the rooftop?
If you were here, you would kick me to Hong Kong for what I'm about to write. I'm sorry in advance. You see, we had all planned on staying here for about five weeks. But we've discovered that there's so much more hiding in the jungles than we ever could have thought. Magical creatures Rose, magical creatures that have never been seen by wizards, much less catalogued and drawn. It's the biggest discovery in magizoology in nearly half a century, after Grandpap's great discovery of 1987 (which was completely overshadowed by some events in Britain). So we've written to Headmaster Sapientes to get permission to take a semester off. Ly and I both. I've been bonding and getting to know him again, and it's brilliant. I've missed my twin brother. You see Rose, as much as I want to come back to Hogwarts and you (you especially), this is an once in a lifetime trip. The experience I'm getting, even before I graduate from school, is unheard of. We heard back yesterday from Professor Sapientes. As long as I keep up with my courses, I'll be on track to graduate on time. I'm in love with you Rose, but I'm also in love with the humid crackling life of the jungle, of the thrill of chasing new creatures and humbleness that comes from sleeping on a raft every night, surrounded by the sounds of nature.
I'll see you in December, I promise. We'll kiss like there's no tomorrow at that famous New Year's Eve party that your family throws. I miss you so much. Write back soon.
Love,
Lorcan
My first thought after reading the letter was to scream and tear it up. Maybe if the pieces were all gone, it wouldn't be real. Because the fact that my boyfriend would be gone another four months couldn't be true. It just couldn't. He wouldn't do that, not if it got in the way of academics and me. My second thought was to curl up and cry, and that's how Mum found me two hours later. I was still clenching the letter, hair plastered to my face and face sticky with tears.
She read it quickly, finishing with a small sigh. "When I was near your age, your father and I separated for months and it was the hardest portion of my life. Tougher than defeating Voldemort, even."
I sniffled. "How could he do this? Just decide to be gone for another four months?"
Mum pulled me close, tugging me into an upright position and wiping the tears away from my cheeks. "Rose, you had your big experience. Now it's time for him to have his."
I closed my eyes and buried my head in her chest, just like I did when I was younger. "I'm a selfish person, but I miss him, more than anything."
"Like Scorpius?" She asked gently.
"Scorpius is a different story." I murmured, feeling marginally calmer as Mum stroked my hair.
"I suppose so." She said thoughtfully.
"Mum, will you stay?" I pleaded.
"Rose, sweetheart, I'll always stay." Mum said softly.
I had been in a foul mood ever since, dragging my way through the last couple weeks of the summer holidays. If anything, I missed Lorcan as the person I always talked to. It was almost like he had grown into the spot I once had reserved for Scorpius. With him being away, it was like I was left with a gaping hole in my soul, exactly like the start of fifth year all over again.
Although, being in sixth year did have its perks.
"Welcome to NEWTS level potions." Professor Vesper said, his eyes sweeping over the twenty students in his class. I sat in the third row, fidgeting beside Al.
"Rose!" He hissed. "Stop it, would you? I'm trying to pay attention!"
I rolled my eyes. Any other class (except maybe defense against the dark arts) and he would be playing some muggle pencil games with Scorpius. Who, right now, was flanking Al on his other side.
In truth, I was nervous because I knew exactly what was coming.
"Everyone must select a partner for the remainder of the year. I implore you all to make smart decisions, there will be no switching."
Al shot me a sympathetic glance as he scooched to Scorp's side. Traitor. It didn't matter the two were the top of the class, getting an Outstanding on their OWLS each, cousin-dom should come before best friends. In my pondering, I lost out on any chance to get a good partner. In fact, as I looked around with rising panic, the only other student left was-
"WEASLEY!" Ravley screeched. "Not Weasley!"
I groaned. You would think, now that we were both sixteen, that our feuds would die down. That was not the case. I didn't help that Ravley's hair was down to her waist. That made her even more keen to flip around all over the place.
"Unless there is another student in this class who has been invisible the entire time, Miss Weasley will be your partner for the year." Professor Vespor said dryly.
What, was this second year all over again?
Even Ty looked sympathetic as I moved to sit by the brunette, who was huffing and tearing at her manicured claws. Although, he wasn't sympathetic enough to ditch his partner, Gracie Albertson, and come to my aide. You would think that ex-boyfriends would be more loyal.
"Don't slow me down Weasley. I'm going to go to Menchard for potions." Ravley hissed, turning her attention back to the board. Ahh, The Menchard School for the Higher Education of Wizarding Youth. The best University for the magically inclined in all of Europe. Also know for its prissy and prim students.
I scoffed. Me? Slow her down?
"Did you stir it five and a half times counterclockwise?" I asked, horrified as the potion bubbled unattractively in the cauldron. It was supposed to be a deep, velvety shade of purple. Instead, it was alternating somewhere between brown and burnt orange.
"Of course I did Weasley! Did you add the four handfuls of frog tongues?!"
"What do you take me as Ravley, an ameatur?"
"Well I certainly don't know how you got into NEWTS level potions." She fired back, flipping frantically through her textbook as she tried to find what was wrong with our pepper up potion.
I started to take hold of the ladle again.
"NO!" Ravley exclaimed. "Just- leave it, I'm going to go get more cat whiskers- or something. "
As she left, Al walked by enroute to the supply closet. But as he passed our cauldron, he drew back and wrinkled his nose. "Uh- Rose-"
"I know!" I snapped. "I can't figure out how to fix it!"
Curse Lorcan to high heaven. Had he been here, we would be partners and this wouldn't have happened. Curses curses curses.
Al glanced over his shoulder to see Professor Vesper buried to his elbows in essays, then he slipped beside me.
He took the ladle and quickly stirred the potion a couple times. "All you need to do is stir it two and three quarters times clockwise." He said brightly, smiling as the potion shifted from the brown to a deep purple-the right color- and issued a slight peppermint smell.
My mouth fell open. "Al, merlin, you better go into a potions related career."
He shrugged. "Dunno, maybe. Being an auror sounds pretty-"
I groaned. "Don't be brainwashed by my Dad and yours, Al. There are plenty other careers in the wizarding world."
"I know that Rose, sheesh. It just- I want to be able to spread peace and stuff." He actually sounded a little offended that I dare suggest Uncle Harry had anything to do with his decision.
"Peace and stuff. How articulate." I muttered as he walked away, just low enough that he wouldn't hear. It was no wonder that one of Al's weak points was essays.
"Weasley! What- how- you're not supposed to be good at potions!" The raven-haired beauty finished somewhat desperately, her hands filled with newt eyes and owl livers.
I smiled smugly and leaned back in my chair. "Well, it was easy once you and your poisonous perfume left the vicinity."
Ravley looked like she was about to murder me. The only thing that saved me from a gruesome premature death was Professor Vesper calling time on our potions.
"Brilliant as always, Miss Ravley and Miss Weasley." He beamed when he reached our table. "Couldn't have made a better partnership myself. Five points to each of your houses."
He moved on shortly after that, grimacing at something for the couple of Hufflepuffs behind us. However, it was immediately obvious who his favorites would be for the next two years.
"Mr. Potter and Mr Malfoy! This is top notch work, better even than my most advanced students! Look at that deep shimmering purple! The spiraling steam! Brilliant, truly brilliant boys! I'll have to give this straight to Madame Pomfrey, better than anything she could whip up, dare I say it. 40 points to Slytherin!"
I scowled halfheartedly at my cousin, his cheeky grin focused right at me as Professor Vesper continued to fawn over their creation.
"Should have been with Scorp." Ravley murmured, cleaning up our station with a wave of her wand.
I glanced sideways at her. For some reason, she seemed to have said that with a trace of sadness, an emotion I didn't realize she possessed, and none of the bitterness that usually accompanied any statement she said to me.
"And I should have been with Al." I said. Ravley looked momentarily taken aback that I had heard her, but then she did an extraordinary thing. She cracked a smile.
"Try not to mess up the potion next time Weasley." She said a beat later, flipping her hair. Well, that was short. The witch with a b was back in action.
"I'll try not to fix your mistake next time." I huffed, sweeping up my books and hurrying out of the dungeon. Usually after fifth year students would drop a few subjects to focus on the ones needed for their career. I was one of the few who had not only not dropped a subject, but added a couple. What? Bugger if I knew what I wanted to do with my life. As a result, my schedule was horrendous, potions being followed directly by astronomy and then transfiguration.
The year was slipping quickly by, days blurred into weeks, weeks blurred into months and suddenly it was midway through October. As was tradition, the sparse halls of Hogwarts dropped dramatically in temperature, causing students to walk through the halls fully bundled. It also made the armchairs by the fireplace in the common room a hot commodity. Luckily, as the oldest member of the Weasley clan in Gryffindor and a perfect, I could- erm- overstep my powers a bit and force the little first years to scurry on their ways.
"I love when you do that." Lily sighed happily as she sank into the warm armchair, having escaped my notice long enough to flop into the chair I had just forced a second year to vacate for my 'perfect duties'.
"Lily!" I exclaimed, I had really been looking forward to that chair.
"Hmmm?" She asked, busy looking over my shoulder at a fifth year Gryffindor named Benny Lampini. Quite the favorite with the ladies.
I rolled my eyes and flopped onto the floor next to her. "Don't let Al catch you looking at Ben."
Lily snorted. "Please, Al? He wouldn't hurt a fly. I'm more worried about Hug and Louis."
It was a valid point. My brother was a hardcore academic when he was alone, but pair him with Louis and the two were known to do outrageous things. Terrorizing the boy their cousin liked was definitely a thing the two would do.
"I could hurt a fly. In fact, I killed a spider a mere two days ago." The new voice nearly made me jump out of my skin, especially since said voice belonged to a Slytherin. Of course, somewhere in third year I had started to give both Al and Scorp the password to the common room. Scorpius didn't come around anymore, for obvious reasons, but Al popped up here a few times a week.
"Hm. Rose didn't shudder at the word 'spider'. Maybe she's- oh! There she goes!" He said triumphantly, squashing into the armchair next to his sister.
"Hey! Albus!"
"Oh, you know I'm your favorite brother." He retorted, wiggling a little to get more comfortable.
"Oh! Al! Fancy seeing you here!" Marissa, the constant object of Al's lust, said with a happy grin as she walked by, her curly blonde hair bouncing and her arms full of herbology books.
"Oh- um, hi Is. Nice seeing you." Al muttered, staring down at his shoes.
The girl gave Al an odd look before shrugging and bounding away with a flirtatious wave.
"Why, I think you finally might have Marissa!" I said, shocked with this turn of events. After all, Al had been shadowing this girl since midway through third year and although they were friends, Marissa had never even looked twice at my poor cousin.
"Not if that's how you interact with her." Lily pointed out, wrinkling her nose at her brother.
Come to think about it, Al was usually charming with the blond haired girl.
"What's up?" I asked suspiciously. Al wasn't just not being charming, he seemed a little put out with the subject of Marissa.
"It's just- I promised, you know, Kim, that I would write this year." He said softly, dragging a few agitated fingers through his hair.
My eyebrows rose so high they disappeared into my hairline. "But you two are strictly 'a summer thing'!"
Al shrugged, fingering his tie. "I thought maybe we could become a all year round thing."
"You mean she's your girlfriend?" I practically shrieked. Luckily by that point Marissa had disappeared to her seventh year dormitory.
"Now how does that work mate? You're a wizard who uses owl mail; and she's a muggle who uses post." Altair dropped beside me, having overheard a fair bit of the conversation.
"Aren't you supposed to be on some kind of rendez-vous with Emily?" I asked the handsome boy.
"Nah," He shrugged. "I chucked her. She's a good friend and all, but I realized I had feelings for someone else."
Well color me surprised. Well, not that surprised, the poor bloke was deeply in like with a certain best mate of mine.
"So, how are you going about explaining to her why you have an owl?" Altair said, pulling my attention back to Al.
The youngest Potter boy blushed. "I trained Volanti to only drop off the mail at night, and how to open her mailbox."
I nodded, impressed. "You and Kim always did seem to be more than just a summer fling."
"Tell me about it." Lily groaned. "He brings her around all the time in the summer. Which is great, but then Mum tries to cook the muggle way, which is always disastrous."
"Although," Al said thoughtfully. "Dad is weirdly good at making bacon and eggs."
I laughed. "Well, all the same Al, I'm happy for you. It's about time you came to your senses."
Al's cheeks reddened even further. The boy might look like Uncle Harry, but he had inherited the Weasley blush. "We've barely been dating at all."
I rolled my eyes as Lily snorted. "Please, Al, you two have basically been dating since you were eight."
Al groaned, covering his face with his hands. But not before I saw a hesitant smile poke through.
"Hey, are you getting anything for Scorp's birthday?" Cass asked as she filled her plate with eggs.
I rubbed my eyes, the whole world blurry from staring at the charms textbook for the better portion of an hour. "When'd you get here?" I asked blearily.
"About ten minutes ago. I said hi." Cassidy said cheerfully as she poured me a glass of pumpkin juice, bloody morning person.
"Why would I get Scorpius anything for his birthday?" I asked, irritated at the thought.
Cass quirked an eyebrow at me. "Because his birthday is in a week and it's the biggest one of a wizarding youth?"
I grimaced. Bugger all, I would have to get him a gift.
"Don't know what to get him?" Cassidy asked slyly, digging into her breakfast. The girl knew me too well, I'm telling you.
"I have some things in mind." I mumbled, crunching through my piece of toast. "Ugh! Why do I even have to get him a gift?!"
"Because he loves you." Cass said simply, as if it was the most logical thing in the world. She was the only one besides Al that I had told the whole story to. Now I was regretting it.
"Keep it down!" I said warily, making sure no one at the Gryffindor table was eavesdropping on our conversation. Call me paranoid, but tidbits of my life in Hogwarts always ended up on the front cover of Witch Weekly.
"Yeah, yeah. I know. You're dating Lorcan and everything is terribly complicated. Heard from him lately?"
A scowl weaseled its way onto my face. "No."
Cassidy gave me a sympathetic look. "Boys are terrible creatures."
"Yeah." I sighed. "Except they're really not. They're just out having bloody amazing adventures in the Amazon."
In the end, I decided that buying a gift for my ex-best mate/enemy/guy who was the first person to tell me that they loved me was a terribly difficult task. That's why I sought him out on the day of his birthday with no package, no envelope. Only me.
Scorpius had been surrounded with his friends all day, who had made the whole Great Hall sing happy birthday to him at both breakfast and lunch. Luckily, I finally found him alone in one of the lesser-known courtyards of Hogwarts, were a crumbling statue of Helga Hufflepuff stood amongst overgrown plants and a small pond.
"Hey." I said softly, announcing myself to the boy sitting on the bench, his eyes closed.
He stiffened. "Hi."
"Happy Birthday Scorpius." I said sincerely, sliding next to him.
He opened his eyes and looked me up and down. Finally he let out a defeated breath of air. "Thanks. What do you want?"
I bit my lip. "My gift to you is a start over card."
"What?" He asked, scratching at his neck.
I swallowed and looked out at the tangled rose bushes, dead now that the first frosts of winter were upon them. "I miss my best friend Scorp. I miss when everything wasn't so horribly complicated between the two of us and we would talk for hours every day. So I think we should just start over. Forget everything that has ever happened between us-"
A hand brushed my shoulder, startling me to look into the passionate grey eyes. "That's a really great gift Rosie."
Somehow, Rosie didn't seem childish when it came from his lips. It seemed comforting.
I smiled and stuck out a hand. "It's nice to finally meet you Scorpius Malfoy, my name's Rose Weasley."
A small shock ran through me as Scorpius clasped my hand, his eyes never leaving my own. "It's a pleasure."
Our truce was the beginning of a new dynamic between the two of us. Some days we would joke and laugh with one another like we had never endured a fight in our friendship, other days we strayed dangerously close to forbidden topics, like love and dating and America. Those were the days I realized how fragile our new allegiance actually was. One thing could cause the whole facade to crumble and leave us even more alienated from each other than ever before.
"I can't believe you outscored me." I grumbled, hugging the charms book closer to my chest. "I love charms!"
The blonde laughed from beside me. "You just have to accept that I'm better than you at every subject."
"Not transfiguration." I pointed out.
Scorpius sighed mournfully. "No, not that bloody class."
I giggled, and Scorpius look at me oddly.
"What?" I asked. "Oh Salazar, do I have something in my teeth?" I immediately started digging in my bag for a mirror.
Scorp shook his head. "Nah, it's just, I don't remember you giggling."
I narrowed my eyes. "People change. Like, for example, when did you start put your hair back in a ponytail?"
Scorpius reached back to finger his hair. "It was just getting in the way, that's all."
I eyed him critically. "You know, I think you would look better with short hair."
Scorpius gave me a smirk. "Oh?"
I rolled my eyes. "Don't let it go to your head."
"I can't get used to you two together again." Al said, dropping down next to me at the table. "It's like, everything is right and wrong at the same time."
"Al!" I groaned. "You're breaking the rules again!"
"Oh?" Al asked, snagging a bread roll. "What are you going to do about it Miss Perfect?" He winked and stood up, tossing the roll in the air before catching it again with ease.
"Better look out." I muttered softly. "Someone's giving you goo-goo eyes over there."
Al scowled. "Can't she just understand that I'm dating someone else?"
"Not if you keep coming 'round the Gryffindor table. Poor thing thinks she has a chance with the great Albus Potter."
Al looked at Cassidy, an eyebrow raised.
"What?" She asked. "I pay attention to the happenings. Now shoo so I can talk to Rose about your best mate."
"And why can't I join into that conversation?" Al asked, his cheeks bulging with bread.
Cassidy looked thoroughly unimpressed. "Because it's girls talk, for Godric's sake!"
"Fine!" Al grumbled. "I'll go find Scorpius and talk about… guy stuff!"
Cass and I looked at each other for a few seconds before we both burst out laughing.
The youngest Potter boy just scowled and stuck out his tongue, marching across the Great Hall to the Slytherin table.
"So?" Cassidy asked, turning to me.
"So what?"
The dirty blonde haired girl sighed impatiently. "Merlin, Rose, do I have to spell it out for you?"
I stuck a few chips in my mouth. "Apparently."
"You and him. Friends again?! For what, like, the fourth time this year?"
I shrugged. "Seems like that's the case, yeah."
Cass looked like she wanted to throttle me. "But how? Why?"
I reached up to absent-mindedly twirl one of my curls on my finger. "I suppose I'm banking on the idea that we'll both just forget the past and move on."
Cassidy looked unamused as she shook her head. "Rose, that's a terrible plan."
"Worked so far, hasn't it?"
"Yes, but eventually something will happen that will ruin your friendship forever." Cass said thoughtfully, turning back from staring down the table at Altair. "You're better off talking about it."
I made a face. "I'd rather not. I'm sure everything will be fine." Maybe.
"Don't splinch yourself!" The blonde drawled.
Thanks for putting that image in my head, Scorp.
It was our third weekly lesson on apparition, something I was excited to learn. Unfortunately, the "exciting" classes were nothing more than envisioning and imagining and some other bullshit about a hoop. Now, for the first time, the lot of us were trying our first apparition. I mean, how hard could it be? All you did was turn in a tight circle, envision landing inside the hoop, and CRACK!
I was standing smack dab in the middle of the pumpkin patch that bordered Hagrid's hut.
"Excuse me, what?! And then I immediately leaned over to throw up. Well, ew.
But this wasn't my envisioned gold hoop! What the hell had gone wrong?
Breathe, Rose. All I had to do was apparate back. Simple.
CRACK!
I stumbled into our apparition guide from the Ministry, thoroughly dizzy and nauseous. Whoops. That still wasn't my designated hoop. And meanwhile, there were about fifty pairs of astonished eyes on me.
"Miss Weasley!" The little ministry official squeaked. "Where did you go?"
"Um-" I started sheepishly. "Hagrid's hut."
His eyes widened. "And you didn't splinch yourself?"
"I'm not fainting of blood loss, so no." I drawled sarcastically.
"Marvelous! Absolutely marvelous! I say, it must be due to that Uncle of yours! Great man, great man…"
I barely suppressed the urge to roll my eyes and point out the fact that Uncle Harry was not, in fact, genetically related to me at all. The amount of times I had come across someone who had fawned over Uncle Harry- well- the number was too high to count.
"I was told he wasn't great at apparition." I pointed out.
The official looked enraged. A real Harry Potter fan club member, then. "Who told you such a thing about Harry Potter?"
This time the smirk was already on my face before I could stop it. "The chosen boy himself."
"Al, honestly, don't you think this is a little…" I trailed off.
"Crazy?" Scorpius finished for me, pushing his hair from his face. In the flickering torchlight, his hair almost looked brown. Well, as the years passed, his hair color had edged away from platinum blonde, settling somewhere in the dirty blonde hues. But still, a Scorpius with brown hair was just plain weird. Like a world without magic.
Al looked disappointed with us, even though to face the two of us he had to twist his head back at an unnatural angle and stop shuffling his feet. "What'ou mean?" He asked.
I sighed, trying to adjust my own hair but instead just elbowing Scorp in the stomach. Whoops. The three of us were nearing the main entryway, crammed under the invisibility cloak that Al now had the sole ownership over. It may have worked for us back in second year and maybe it was even slightly doable in third year, but we had grown up. And the invisibility cloak had decidedly not grown with us. Both Scorpius and Al were pushing the six foot mark at this point, and without hunching over to the point where it was comical the cloak only came to their mid shins. But the great Albus Potter had decided we needed to 'bond' as a trio again by jumping in the lake in mid November. Mid fucking November.
"It's bloody cold outside, mate." Scorpius said. "And it's late."
I couldn't help but nod in agreement. Al looked slightly disgusted that I had betrayed him.
"Honestly," He whined. "Where are your senses of adventure?!"
"Back in bed." I mumbled.
Scorpius cracked up beside me, the two of us forgetting the fact we were out hours after curfew. And, oh yeah, we were perfects. I was so not making head girl next year. Sapientes was going to give it to boring Gillian of Hufflepuff. I bet her cousin never made her do crazy things in the middle of winter
Al sighed. "Honestly? I think we should do it now 'cause who knows how long the two of you will be friends for this time?"
Well, way to nail the overlying issue right on the head, Al. Like I've said before, the boy was too damn perceptive for his own good. Why he didn't take after his blockhead brother in this category, I didn't know.
Scorp and I shared a mildly uncomfortable glance.
"Good point." We chorused, smiling slightly at the other.
"Right!" Al said, cheering up now that we were back on board. "Plus, I brought towels!" He exclaimed cheerfully.
I gave my cousin an incredulous look. He did remember that we were wizards with access to drying charms, right?
"I take it back-k-k." I shivered, standing at the edge of the lake. "This wasn't a good idea."
"I think we all agreed it wasn't a good idea." The blonde drawled from beside me, neatly stepping out of his pants. Right. Scorpius. Only in boxers. For Merlin's sake Rose! Get a grip, remember Lorcan!
"Hey!" Al called defensively, stripped down to his boxers as well. "I thought this was a good idea!"
"And clearly you aren't in your right mind." Scorp muttered.
"You coming, or what Rose?" Al asked impatiently, rubbing his arms.
I looked down at my pajamas. "I'll just go in with these, thanks."
"Oh no!" Scorpius said fiercely. "If I had to strip, you bloody well have to as well!"
I grimaced, shooting a glare at my so-called friend.
"Well," Al said with a mischievous grin. "I think that settles it. Off with your clothes!"
"You're my cousin!" I exclaimed, tugging my bottoms off despite my misgivings.
Al made a face as Scorpius snorted with laughter. "Ew! Rose! No, it's purely for blondie's benefit over there."
That shut up Scorpius. Wonderful.
I sighed and took my shirt off with one swift motion. I was just about to triumphantly turn to Al when a hard hand shoved me, sending me flailing into the icy water. I emerged seconds later, sputtering and in shock as the frigid water invaded every single crevice of my body. Merlin, it was cold.
"Scorpius! Al!" I shouted, enraged.
"It was him!" They said simultaneously, pointing at the other.
I growled audibly as, in one swift motion, I reached up and tugged both them in by the ankle. Two satisfying splashes later, the two boys emerged, teeth chattering.
"Fuck!" Al said loudly.
"Salazar's ghost!"
I smirked at the two boys, sending a playful splash to my cousin. "It's just peachy in here, isn't it?"
My smirk quickly vanished as the best friends lunged for me, sending me under the surface of the black water once again. And in contact with something slimy. Like, really slimy.
There may have been screaming when I resurfaced, my brain conjuring up images of spiders that could swim.
"Spiders! Sp-spiders! Underwater!" I gasped, frozen.
"Please, Rosie, it's just the giant squid." Scorpius said smoothly, rolling his eyes. The same two eyes that widened immediately after he realized what he had said.
Needless to say, all three of us managed the quickest dash to the shore in the history of mankind, practically flying to our clothes.
"I-I am never, ever, ever- listening to you again Albus Potter!" I gasped, hands on my knees.
Even through his heavy breathing, Al still managed a very Slytherin-like smirk. It was disturbing, actually. "I thought it was a fun time."
"And you're clearly mental, mate." Scorp said angrily, drying himself with a wave of his wand. And then he flicked the wand in my direction, drying me instantly.
"Hey!" Al protested as I pulled my slippers back on. "What, you're not going to dry me?"
Scorpius was trudging back to the school at that point, toweling his hair off. "Nope." He called back. "And I took your wand, the towels, and the invisibility cloak, so good luck!"
I could hear Al's swearing over my giggles as I ran to catch up with the blonde. Served him right for forcing us to jump into that bloody lake.
"You're cousin is a basket case." Scorp remarked as I finally caught up with him, offering me a towel.
"Yeah, but I'm stuck with him because of family. You, my friend, chose him."
"Too right." Scorpius muttered, throwing the invisibility cloak over the two of us.
Some filler, I will admit, but I promise things are about to get very very interesting. I guess you'll have to keep reading to find out, huh? ;)
Will Rose and Scorpius be able to continue to be friends?
As always, I LOVE REVIEWS! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE!
