Disclaimer: This storyline is mine, but the characters are all developments of JK Rowling's wonderful characters!
The Magic Word Is Sorry, Not Please
(Chapter Eight-When There's No Advice)
Rose didn't sleep. All night she just sat, wide awake, thinking about what she'd done. She didn't even cry, because after about an hour she just didn't seem to be able to form tears any more.
She didn't talk to any of her roommates, even when they asked what was wrong she just ignored them.
How could she say those things? How could she even think those things?
It was like she wasn't even herself last night; she was completely out of control and saying things she didn't mean.
Who cared what Scorp's father did? Sure, it was a little frustrating that she'd been the last to know, but it wasn't exactly Scorp's fault; she could blame her family for that. Scorp was still Scorp, whether his father was a death eater or not and whether his house was headquarters or not. She couldn't judge him by his family; that would be completely hypocritical after years of not wanting to be judged purely by her surname.
But overnight, somewhere inbetween the crying and the hating herself, she'd realised that it was going to be ok. She was going to fix it. She was going to fix it all. She's even devised a plan; to go to breakfast early, and apologise to Scorp when he came down. That way everything would be sorted by the time the rest of the family arrived, and they could write their essays together like they did every Sunday.
Yes, that was her completely naive plan.
When she got down to the Great Hall, after having dragged herself from her bed, she was surprised to see that Lily was already sat down.
"Hey Lils." She sighed, sitting opposite her at the table.
At Lily's side was Craig Cunningham, but surprisingly no Roxanne. Rose couldn't help but think that was weird as they were rarely separated.
"Where's Roxy?" Rose asked him.
"I think her and Louisa are coming down later, they were fast asleep when I left."
"It's Sunday, Roxy'll sleep all day. It's a Weasley thing." Lily joked quietly, reaching and grabbing a piece of toast.
"I might take her up some food." Craig smiled, taking another piece of toast and standing up.
If only Rose had someone to bring her breakfast.
"So, Lily, how are you?" Rose asked, nodding to Craig as he left.
"Fine." She shrugged. "How are you after, you know, yesterday?" She said nervously.
"It's going to be ok." Rose replied, hoping that the more she said it out loud the more true it would be. "I'm going to apologise and it'll be fine. Anyway, why are you up so early?"
"Waiting for a letter."
"Who from?"
"No one special, just Dad."
To anyone else, calling Harry Potter "no one special" would almost be seen as an almost criminal offense, but this wasn't quite the same within the Weasleys or Potters.
"Oh cool. Have you been here on your own then?" Rose asked, trying to find out if, by some miracle, Scorp had got up early and already been to breakfast.
"No, Craig was here when I got down. And Louis and Jake were just leaving when I arrived. They've gone now, clearly."
"Only them?"
"Scorpius hasn't been down." Lily said, knowingly.
Rose smiled slightly.
They sat in silence for a while, Lily simply eating and glancing up whenever an owl flew past, while Rose buttered and ate her toast, thinking about what to say to Scorp.
James, Fred, Dom and Anna came down in a little group - as they always did – a little while later. The second James saw Rose he looked around awkwardly. They all did, in fact.
"Morning." Rose said simply.
"Hi." James nodded, seemingly amazed by the teapot below him.
"Are you ok?" Dom asked carefully.
Rose shrugged. "I'm going to fix everything." She replied simply.
Fred nodded. "That's good." He stated, still not looked up at her.
"So you're not... you're not mad at us for telling you?"
"Us? Only you told, James." Dom said, sternly.
"Ok, fine!" James huffed. "Rose, you're not mad at me are you?"
"No. It's ok." She replied honestly. "I'm glad I know. Not that it really makes a difference to anything. Scorp's still the same person."
They nodded in agreement, and the conversation changed to the first Quidditch training session, which James planned to be next Saturday.
"Are you really ok?" Dom whispered to Rose, while the rest of Weasleys were distracted by Quidditch talk.
"I will be. It's going to be ok." Rose told her. "Right?"
Dom just bit her lip in reply, and suddenly seemed very involved in the Quidditch conversation. How useful, Rose thought.
The hall was slowly filling up, and Rose knew it was only a matter of time until Scorp came down. And then everything would be ok.
She stared at the door, just waiting for him to come inside. Then she would apologise, he would forgive her and equally ask for forgiveness for cursing Dave, and then everything would be fine.
The more she told herself this, the more she doubted it.
She gave up all hope when she saw Al coming through the doors, alone.
He walked towards them, not meeting Rose's eyes. And when he reached the place at the table, he reached over Rose's shoulder and started collecting pieces of toast and crumpets without a word to anyone.
Rose glanced up to see James and the others shifting uncomfortably.
"Wh-where's Scorp?" Rose said, so quietly that she was sure only Al could've heard her.
"He doesn't want to see you." Al replied, his voice almost empty. He wasn't quiet like she had been, in fact, if anything, he was loud. "I don't think he wants to see you ever again, and quite frankly, neither do I."
Rose stared after him, her eyes filling with tears.
For as smart as she was, she couldn't think of a way to fix this now.
...
"I don't think he wants to see you ever again, and quite frankly, neither do I."
James stared open-mouthed at his brother, amazed that he could ever say these things to someone. Al wasn't the angry type; in arguments at home he would normally just storm off, not rise to any of James' insults.
He considered saying something, doing the older-brother routine and telling Al off. But before he had a chance Al left without another word, and James just watched Rose nervously.
She stared at the place he had been stood for a few seconds, almost as if she'd been stupefied, then burst into tears far more furious than yesterday's and ran out of the hall without saying anything.
Sat next to James, Dominique put her crumpet in her pocket and ran after Rose. James had known she would do it almost before she did; she tended to be the first to comfort people.
He turned his head awkwardly to Fred, who whistled slowly.
"Poor Rose." Anna sighed.
James was about to reply when he heard someone clearing their throat from behind him.
He turned around to see Louisa, her hair pulled back into a ponytail, pulling at her sleeves nervously.
"Can I sit with you guys? Craig brought Roxy's breakfast up so I'm kind of on my own."
James could've been hallucinating, but he was sure this question was just to him; he was the only person she was looking at.
"Yeah. Yeah, of course." James said, moving up the bench so there was now a gap between him and Lily.
Louisa smiled gratefully and sat down.
James had never been this close to her. She'd sat opposite him in the hall once or twice, and they'd sat with a few people between them a few times, but he'd never actually been sat next to her before; their thighs were touching through their jeans. And, he could swear that Lily had deliberately moved up the bench so Louisa was even more squashed against him, but he wasn't about to complain.
He looked up to see Fred and Anna smirking at him. "Right, well, we'll be off." Fred smiled, standing up.
Completely unsubtly, Fred looked at Lily as if to tell her to leave as well, but she shook her head.
"Why are you staying down here?" Fred said, still clearly attempting subtlety but failing as he tilted his head in Louisa's direction.
"Waiting for a- There!" James glanced up to see his father's owl flying over their head. He looked at his sister confusedly over Louisa's head while she leaned forward for the orange juice, but as a reply Lily just smiled and caught the letter Hedwig III had dropped.
Fred and Anna left, Lily read and Louisa ate. James just watched her, as weird as it sounds. He had nothing better to do.
"Yes!" Lily smiled. "James, Dad says that you have to let me try out for the Quidditch team!" She held out a letter that was covered with their father's messy writing. He didn't even read it, he just shook his head.
"No. The teams set now-" He began.
"But-" She thrust the letter in front of him again, desperately.
"Lils I said no."
Louisa had stopped eating, and was looking at James questioningly.
"James, at least let me try out-" Lily was getting visibly upset; tears were slowly but surely filling her eyes and her voice was getting more and more stuttery.
"No. You can next year, when I'm not captain."
"E-exactly James, you won't be captain." She said loudly. The Hufflepuffs on the next table turned and looked at her confusedly. What's so wrong with me w-wanting to p-play with my b-brother. Y-you let everyone else try out; Hugo, Al-"
"You're different." James sighed, guiltily looking down at his sister as she started to sob.
"You just don't think I'm good enough, d-do you?"
James shook his head. "It's not that-"
"Then why c-can't I p-play?"
"Because I said so." James said simply.
Lily stared up at him for a second, before running off and sobbing, similarly to the way Rose had earlier. Two of his cousins crying before 9; it had to be some sort of record, James thought.
Louisa put down her breakfast and turned around to face him. James couldn't help but notice exactly how close her lips were to his when she was talking to him.
"I know this might seem nosy, but why won't you let her play?"
James bit his lip. "When we were younger, we used to have Quidditch tournaments in the garden of my grandparents' house. And when she was seven, Lily fell off her broom. And my family and I were stuck watching as Dad apparated her away to St Mungo's. I was only ten and I had to visit her for a week, and I don't think I'll ever forget my Dad's face; I couldn't handle it if she got hurt on my team. I couldn't do that to my Dad." James looked down, embarrassedly. He'd just made a complete fool of himself, opening up like that.
But then a smile crossed her face. He'd never seen her smile at him before. She placed her hand on top of his, and James stared to make sure it had really happened.
"I never knew you cared that much."
"She's my little sister, of course I care."
Louisa nodded. "Yeah, of course. You're a good brother, James. But you can't hold her back just because you're scared of what might happen to her."
"I know you're right but I just can't let her get hurt." Louisa nodded as if she understood. "Thanks though."
He looked up into her eyes. They were so unbelievably beautiful; more beautiful every single time he saw them.
When the bell rang a few minutes - or seconds, James wasn't sure - later, she jumped and pulled her hand away.
"Er, goodbye James. I've got to, er, go."
She got up and left, and James just stared after her.
James didn't have many "moments" with girls. But Fred always went on about his and Anna's "moments" before they were going out. "We were just looking into each other's eyes, James, as if we were going to kiss or something!"
And, if James was sure of anything, he was sure that he and Louisa had just had their first moment.
