Author's Note: SO SORRY. I have SO MUCH of this story written, but I've just fallen behind on editing it... Please enjoy!
Lily,
I figured you would need this- I've already had one myself. Thanks for taking care of me last night and forcing me to drink some Sobering Potion. As soon as I sobered up, I just went straight to sleep, I was so tired. Anyways, are we still on for a sleepover tonight at my place?
Rose
My darling cousin Rose,
I love you I love you I love you. Your Hangover potion did wonders! Why is it that when I brew them, they're never as effective as yours?
Could you do me a favor and send one to Darius?
Lily
Oh, and we are definitely on for a sleepover. I think Darius and I are going to dinner first, and then I'll go over to your place for dessert!
Darius,
Lily asked me to send this to you. I imagine you'll need it after the night that we had. I don't think I'll ever get the image you painted of Professor Vector getting it on with Snape out of my head. Ugh, I think I just threw up in my mouth a little- and not from all the drinking last night.
Have fun with Lily tonight!
Rose
Rose,
Thanks for the potion! And you're welcome for that lovely image that'll haunt you forever. I swear, it just creeps up on you. I really can't believe my poor eyes actually saw that. I've been scarred since.
Darius
Lily,
Thanks for asking Rose to send me that Hangover Potion! It's made me feel infinitely better.
Are we meeting for dinner tonight? I know I wanted to ask you, but I don't remember actually asking. Did I do it last night?
Darius
Darius,
I figured we'd be meeting for dinner tonight. After all, today is the day we're "officially" getting together. Remember what we told the two last night?
Lily
Lily,
Ha! I do remember! What say you to The Bubbling Cauldron at 8pm?
I just wanted to tell you that I adore you and I was just in the middle of thinking about you.
Darius
Junior Writer,
Lily asked me to send out a Hangover potion to Darius, which made me think that you might need one as well.
Rose
Al,
Figured you might need this.
Rose
Rose,
Oh Merlin. Thank you. No one brews a better Hangover potion than you.
Al
Rose Weasley,
Why thanks for thinking of your favorite writer! I have to admit, I was in dire need of a Hangover potion.
Currently I am hard at work researching Lycanthropy. It's actually quite fascinating. Do you have any patients in St. Mungo's right now that are afflicted with Lycanthropy? Can you still write to your brother to ask him if he'll let me interview him or at least just have a chat with him about Lycanthropy?
Thanks,
Scorpius Malfoy
Junior Writer
Daily Prophet
Junior Writer,
Lycanthropy really is a fascinating wizarding phenomena. You'd think that with years of research and actual magic, we'd have fixed the problem, but it's a tricky disease. We have a couple patients in our special treatment section that are new to Lycanthropy and are drinking the Wolfsbane potion so that they keep their human mind during transformations. You should talk directly with them, just send me a memo when you get here.
I'll write to my brother right now about talking with him. If you say one mean thing about my brother in your article, I won't hesitate to put you in a body bind and force a potion down your throat that will give you pink and purple dots all over your body and make anything you touch pink.
Rose
Hugo,
Scorpius Malfoy wants to interview you for some article he's writing about Lycanthropy.
How's the potion going?
Rose
Rose,
Since when were you friendly with Scorpius Malfoy? If you think it's a good idea, I'll do it.
Burt's fine. In fact, it's Burt 2.0 now, but I think Burt 2.0 is a little hurt that I gave him a hand-me-down name. To be honest, there are only very minute difference between Burt the original and Burt 2.0 so I don't feel very bad calling Burt 2.0, Burt 2.0 (but don't tell him that!)
Hugo
Hugo,
We're not friends. Our friends are friends and we've become colleagues of sorts. I think it'd be a good idea for you to do the interview. He really wants to get a good grasp on the lives of Lycanthropy patients and all that's being done to help people suffering from Lycanthropy and talking to the best of the best (aka, you) will help produce a great article. It sucks that people still hate werewolves and I'm hoping that his article will do at least a little to help change the common opinion.
I know it won't do much, but can't a girl hope?
Owl him. He won't bite.
And if he does, I'll kill him.
Love,
Rose
Scorpius,
I heard that you wanted to interview me for an article? I'm free in the afternoon today.
Hugo
Hugo,
I'd love to sit down with you to talk about your research. 3pm works for me, can I see you then? Should I meet you at the lab or would you prefer to meet at a café nearby?
Scorpius Malfoy
Junior Writer
Daily Prophet
Rose,
Thanks for letting me meet up with your brother.
Scorpius Malfoy
Junior Writer
Daily Prophet
Junior Writer,
Be happy I'm in a good mood and that my brother is a potions genius. Treat him well. If I get one word that you've said the slightest rude thing to my brother, I'll boil your testicles in a vat of oil and make you eat them.
Rose
Rose Weasley,
Such vulgar things come from your mouth. I'm shocked that a former head girl can speak in this manner, shocked! Wait, no I'm not.
That's right. All those years at Hogwarts, I've heard what you've been muttering underneath your breath and it's not pretty. I also know that you say these sorts of things pretty darn often so I'm actually not afraid of you hexing my testicles off or force-feeding them to me.
I'm really not. And I promise to play nice. I'm actually quite a professional when it comes to my job especially an article that I care about.
Scorpius Malfoy
Junior Writer
Daily Prophet
Al,
So you were a wee bit too drunk for us to properly chat yesterday. Are you seriously thinking about leaving the Auror program?
Scorpius Malfoy
Junior Writer
Daily Prophet
Scorpius,
Yes, I'm actually quite serious. I've talked to the chairwoman of the board of Diagon Alley about my plans and she thinks it's a fantastic idea. I've been in and out of meetings all day at the Ministry and I'm just about to turn in my resignation at the Auror program. I'm thinking that I definitely deserve a drink or two at the bar tonight. Also, Rose told me this morning that I have to be out of the apartment all night as Lily and Rose are having a "girl's night." Can I sleepover your place?
Al
Al,
Of course you can stay over. We'll do manly things like smoke cigars and drink Firewhiskey on my roof. It'll be excellent.
So what have you been talking to all these important people about? If you're seriously going to quit the Auror program, I'll go have a celebratory drink with you at the bar. Have you talked with your father about it?
Scorpius Malfoy
Junior Writer
Daily Prophet
Scorpius,
I'll meet you in front of the lab at 3:30pm.
Hugo
Scorpius,
I have talked with my father about it and he's pretty supportive. Even though he's the savior of the wizarding world, he's never been the type to pressure me into doing something.
A pretty cool dad if I do say so myself. I'll see you at the bar… let's say 8:30pm? I'll invite Darius too and give you guys all the details there.
Al
Oh, is it okay if I invite Lily and Rose to celebrate with me? I know you're not Rose's biggest fan and I know you've been thrown in together with them for the past week or so.
Al,
I don't mind if you invite the girls. It's been entertaining drinking with them.
Scorpius Malfoy
Junior Writer
Daily Prophet
Darius,
The bar tonight? I'm quitting the Auror program today!
Al
Al,
Congrats! I could tell you weren't the happiest there. I can meet you at the bar, but it'll have to be later tonight as I have a dinner appointment.
Darius
Lily,
I'm quitting the Auror program! (Yes, I've cleared it with dad.) Come join me and the boys at the bar to celebrate!
Al
Rose
I'm quitting the Auror program! I know you and Lily are having your girl's night, but have one drink with me before you guys abandon me out on the streets to sleep like a homeless person.
Al
Al,
I have a dinner thing, so I'll have to join you a bit later! Congrats big brother! What are you going to do now?
Lils
Al,
I'll see you at the bar- wouldn't miss your quitting party for the world!
Rose
Rose Weasley
…
Scorpius Malfoy
…
How did you know it was me?
…
I told you, you're the only one that calls me by my full name like that. Seriously, every time you see me, every time you write a letter to me, you always use my full name.
Anyways, why are you bothering me?
…
Don't lie. You know you love it when I come in and brighten your day. Where are you?
…
If I tell you, you'll just come here and bother me.
…
It's either I find you by asking all the nurses and healers where you've been or you just tell me.
If you make me do it the hard way, I'll say that the reason I'm looking for you is that you left the love letters you were composing at the Daily Prophet offices where you came to get advice from your favorite writer.
I will have you know that I write for a living and I can scrawl a flowery, sickening love letter in one minute flat. I think it'll start like this, "Eyes like honey that I could melt into, I'm madly, deeply in love. A love filled with passion that overwhelms me like a tsunami…"
…
No one will believe that I wrote something so sickening.
…
Want to bet? I've gotten a page of this nonsense written now.
…
I'm in the Healer Lounge in the first right-side door on the left hallway.
…
I knew you wouldn't turn down the chance to meet your favorite writer.
…
Well I won't when you resort to blackmail.
Healer Lounge 2:00pm
"I'm meeting your brother in an hour and a half," said Scorpius as he brought in two bags marked "The Cheery Cottage"
"What's in there? Is it for me?"
"Of course it is," replied Scorpius with a smile. "Aren't you glad you agreed to meet with me? I figured you hadn't eaten yet. You never eat properly."
"How would you know that?" asked Rose as she helped him unpack. "Ooo… chocolate chip pancakes and fresh cherries…"
"Well I read it in one of the introductory healer books, plus I've met with you enough at the hospital to know you never have time to eat."
"So why're you here?"
"Can you give me some helpful hints about interviewing your brother?"
"What do you mean? Don't you learn interviewing techniques at journalism school? Are you that incompetent that you can't even perform your job adequately?"
"I'm going to ignore the blatant insult. Of course I know how to interview people, but I get the feeling that your brother doesn't really like me all that much. Plus, you keep going on about how he's not very social."
"He is social. He just hasn't been out of the lab in a while. He's probably inherited most of the smarts from my mother. He's way smarter than anyone else in the family and he doesn't really like stupid people." Rose looked at Scorpius, "I guess you'll have to worry." She started laughing.
"Hey!"
"I'm just kidding. I know you're smart. Anyways…" she continued talking about Hugo and soon it turned into a conversation about her family and the way that her parents had raised the two of them. Scorpius laughed at all the right parts and before they knew it, all the food was gone.
Scorpius stood up, "I'll go grab some tea from the common room, you want coffee, right?"
Rose nodded and continued to munch on the leftovers as he left the room.
A few minutes later, Scorpius opened up the door to see Randall and Rose talking, Randall sitting where Scorpius had been sitting not two minutes ago. Scorpius quickly closed the door so it was only opened slightly to hear what was being said.
"I know we're on a break right now, but I didn't' know whether or not you still wanted to go to the wedding together," said Randall.
"I don't know. I'll ask Victoire if I can cancel my plus one and get back to you."
"Let me know… Rosieposie, I miss you."
"You're the one that wanted the break."
"Yeah I know, but can't I say that I miss you? Don't you miss going out on dates together? What have you been up to?"
"I don't know… I've just been hanging out with some friends. I've been keeping busy."
Randall reached over to put his hand over Rose's and opened his mouth to speak when Scorpius decided that it was the right time to interrupt.
"I have your coffee, Rose," he said as he walked in. He walked right up to where Randall was sitting and stared at him.
"Randall, you're sitting in his seat," said Rose.
"All right," he said, getting up, "but let me know what you think about the wedding. I still really want to go with you."
"Okay," Rose replied as she waved her hand good-bye.
"So what were the two of you talking about? What wedding?"
"Ted and Victoire's wedding. I put down Randall as my plus one, when we were still together, but now we're on this weird 'break' and I don't know whether I should still take him or not… why am I telling you all of this?"
"It's my interviewing skills, you can't help but talk to me about anything and everything. So, you and idiot Randall are no more?"
Rose rolled her eyes at his 'interviewing skills' comment, but replied, "No, we're in this weird murky grey area. We're on a break while the Head Healer in Training competition is going on."
"Oh that's right! Can you afford to be spending so much time with me?"
"It hasn't been that long, has it? I feel like it's only been 20 minutes or so… Bloody hell! It's already 3:00pm? I need to get so much paperwork done! I've got to leave! Thanks for the food and coffee. Gottarunnowbye," she rushed out of the lounge.
Hugo's Laboratory 4:15pm (towards the end of their conversation)
"So why would my sister even tell me to talk with you? Are you two friends now or something?"
"Er, I guess you could say that."
"Since when?"
"I guess a week or so."
"That's weird."
"I guess so."
"Figures."
"What?"
"I saw it coming."
"Me becoming friends with your sister?"
"No, you developing a crush on my sister."
"WHAT?"
"Oh, do you not?"
"Most certainly not."
"Oh, my mistake. It was nice meeting you."
"You too. Thanks for the interview and thank Burt 2.0 for me. I'll bring Burt the original some flowers next time so you can lay it next to his grave."
"Thanks. Bye," said Hugo as he walked back into the lab.
"That was weird," said Scorpius to himself.
Lily's shop 5:00pm
Pop!
"Darius! What are you doing here? Aren't we meeting later tonight at The Bubbling Cauldron?"
"Since we weren't allowed to start dating yesterday, I thought I'd ask again today. Lily, will you be my girlfriend?" he asked complete with a potted flower.
"Of course you idiot! And you really didn't have to do this!"
"That just makes me want to do these kinds of things more!" said Darius as he gave Lily a hug and kiss.
Darius,
You might want to think about being more careful. I saw you and Lily kissing while I was walking by her store on the way to the office.
Scorpius Malfoy
Junior Writer
Daily Prophet
Scorpius,
Thanks for that mate. If you were Al, or anyone else for that matter, I'd be dead.
Darius
Al,
If I told Victoire that I no longer had a plus one, what do you think she'd say?
Rose
Rose,
Do you not know how she is these days? She'll probably rip your head off. We're seeing her this weekend for dinner at the Burrow, why don't you try boozing her up and then bring up the problem.
Though, I can already imagine her reaction…
"Do you know how many Galleons I spent on every meal? That's one meal that's being completely wasted! WASTED! All my hard earned Galleons, WASTED! The seating arrangements took me ages! AGES! YOU'RE RUINING EVERYTHING!"
And then she'll probably go off crying about it to Ted and he'll probably shoot you a look that says 'Please just do whatever she wants you to do so I don't have to deal with a hysterical Victoire" and you'll probably just wind up having to bring Randall or someone else. Can't you find someone else?
Al
Al,
You're right. She'll rip my head off, but I don't care. I can eat enough for two people and so what if there's an empty chair at our table?
Rose
Rose's Diary 5:12pm
Finally found some time in the day to write in you. I was going to write in you earlier, but Scorpius threatened me into prepping him for his interview with Hugo. He's a major distraction... I'm starting to think I never should have agreed to helping him out at the hostpital. For some reason, every time I wind up spending time with him, the minutes fly by way to quickly and before I know it, an hour has gone by.
Randall came to speak with me about the wedding today. It's in a couple of weeks and I know Victoire is going to shoot me if I don't bring someone. The problem is that I really don't have anyone to bring besides Randall…
But I REALLY don't want to bring Randall; it's only been a couple of days since we've been on our break but I'm starting to think I want to make this break permanent. I need someone else to talk to besides this dumb diary!
Rose,
I can see why you are Scorpius are friends. He's the only one that offered to acknowledge both Burt the original and Burt 2.0. He's a good person.
Hugo
Hugo,
So I'm guessing the interview went well? Also, Scorpius and I aren't "friends."
Rose
Rose,
Yeah, he knew his stuff. I could tell he's done a lot of research on the topic already. It was nice because I didn't need to dumb everything down for him.
He said you two were friends.
Hugo
Rose Weasley
…
Scorpius Malfoy. What are you doing in the hospital again?
…
Where are you? I need to interview those Lycanthropy patients.
…
The Lycanthropy patients are in ward A in LG34
…
Where are YOU?
…
You don't need to know where I am.
…
Yes I do. I need a healer with me so the patients know I'm not some sleazy reporter that's going to write yet another article on why werewolves are a terror that need to be separated from wizarding society
…
Just explain it yourself. You don't need me to convince them.
…
But you presence would help oh so much. I looked on the operation board and saw that you had most of your operations in the morning and you don't have another one till 7:00pm.
…
Wow. You've turned into a stalker.
…
I'm no stalker. It's up on the board for the whole wide world to see. I don't stalk. Now tell me where you are or I'll dye your skin rainbow using that special dye from Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes. You know how potent that stuff is.
…
I'm in an empty room. Floor 5 Room A3.
…
I knew you couldn't resist your favorite writer.
…
Not when he uses blackmail.
…
Ward A LG34 6:00pm
"Hey you guys, this is the reporter I was talking about," said Rose as she brought Scorpius into the Lycanthropy ward. Inside, Scorpius saw that there were two adult males in their mid 20s, one woman in her late 30s and one small little girl who couldn't be more than 10 years old.
"Hi, thanks for agreeing to meet with me. I'm Scorpius Malfoy and I'm a writer for the Daily Prophet."
"I'm Ralph," said the guy with light brown hair.
"I'm Terrence," said the other guy who had a skinny build topped with light blonde hair, but not quite as blonde as Scorpius' hair.
"I'm Jane," said the woman in her late 30s.
"I'm Eury," peeped the small girl.
Rose walked to stand behind the small girl, "Eury's a little shy, so don't be too aggressive with your interview."
"I have no intention of being aggressive with this interview. I know that the general wizarding world is composed of a bunch of idiots that don't treat werewolves as normal wizards and witches. I'm trying to write an article to go against the common stereotypes people have of werewolves. Just tell me only what you want to say and I promise I won't push anyone to tell me anything they're uncomfortable with." Everyone in the room, including Rose, looked at Scorpius with a mixture of respect and thankfulness.
"Er, thanks," said Terrence speaking for the group, "Rose told us that you were a good bloke."
The group started the interview and Scorpius asked only the questions that Rose had approved of before the interview. He kept to his word and treated the patients as if they were any other wizard or witch. He made a sincere effort to put littly Eury at ease and quickly won her over with cheesy jokes and had her laughing and talking within half an hour. Rose spent the majority of the interview sitting behind Eury playing and braiding her hair while getting up occasionally to check on the stats of the other patients. The entire group also quickly became enamored of Scorpius and they were all chatting like old friends in and hour.
Rose's wand started vibrating and glowing and she got up, "I have an operation in ten minutes. Can you guys manage without me?" Everyone said their yesses and urged Rose to leave for her operation and continued chatting with Scorpius about how they became werewolves, how their family took the news, how they planned on dealing with transformations and their hopes for the future. At the end of the interview, they made Scorpius promise to visit again. After Rose finished up with her operation, she went over to ward A to see if she could catch the end of the interview.
"Were you hoping to catch Scorpius?" asked Jane.
"I just wanted to make sure he wasn't making you guys feel uncomfortable," said Rose.
"Well, you were the one that told us to trust him. Why would you think he was making us feel uncomfortable?" asked Ralph.
"I liked Scorpius," said little Eury as everyone else nodded along.
"I think she's just looking for an excuse to be around him," said Terrance looking directly at Rose."
"What?" exclaimed Rose.
"I thought you were dating that Randall guy," said Ralph.
"Nah, they're on a break or something," replied Terrance.
"Oh really, who's the one that called for the break?" asked Jane.
"I heard it was Randall, but I also heard from someone else that is was mutual," said Terrance.
"Okay wait," said Rose, putting her hands up, "how do you guys know all this?"
"Hospital gossip," said Terrance simply with a smile on his face.
"Hospital gossip," repeated Rose. "Fantastic."
"So what's the deal with you and Scorpius? Are you two an friends?" asked Jane.
"We're just colleagues. He's writing articles about medical world and I'm helping him out as his St. Mungo's liaison."
"You guys seemed pretty friendly. Ya know, with your own private language and all," said Ralph.
"What?" asked Rose.
"He's right. Your conversations all went something like this: You'd say, 'That's because of that thing,' and he'd say, 'Oh you mean the-," and you'd say, 'Yeah, plus remember the time I told you about that guy?' and he'd nod and say, 'Yeah, okay I see what you're saying.' And then he'd turn back to us and ask us more questions about being werewolves."
"Oh," Rose said slightly flustered, "We've just been spending a lot of time together in preparation for this article," Rose tried to explain.
The patients continued grilling Rose about her relationship with Scorpius Malfoy with Rose denying any connection between her and Malfoy until her wand began vibrating and glowing again.
A week passed by in the same routine, Darius and Lily falling more and more in love, Scorpius blackmailing Rose into seeing him every time he popped into the hospital for in interview or to talk to some specialist. Rose began unconsciously waiting for Scorpius' arrival everyday at the hospital. She found that whenever she actually found time for lunch around noon, she'd find some excuse to put it off and would eat with Scorpius whenever he popped in early afternoon. Scorpius would bring some variation of Rose's favorite foods and The Cheery Cottage even began to recognize him and had his order ready for him as soon as he stepped foot in the restaurant. Al continued his plans to expand Diagon Alley into something bigger and was deeply involved in acquiring surrounding areas and making it Muggle-proof. The group (even Rose admitted that they were a group now), regularly went to The Lucky Cat for drinks and food and to each other's flats for dinner parties or just to relax after long days at work. Rose and Scorpius did their best to hide the fact that Lily and Darius were dating, a difficult feat when the two lovebirds were glued to the hip.
Before Rose realized it, the wedding was upon them and she had to either take Randall or find a date in two days.
Lily,
Are you taking Darius to the wedding? Did you even check plus one?
Rose
Rose,
I was dating that Enoch guy at the time so I checked yes. I'm pretty sure I'm going to bring Darius- I actually haven't asked him yet! It completely slipped my mind! Though, I'm not sure whether I'm going to tell Al that we're going as friends or admit to him that we're dating.
Lily
Lily,
I'm fairly confident that if that's the way you tell Al you two are dating, he won't hesitate to make a scene at the wedding and you KNOW Victoire will kill you. Who do you think I should bring? Randall told me a week ago that he still wants to go with me…
Rose
Rose,
No. No no no. The whole point of being on a break is to not going on dates with him. Why don't you take Scorpius? Al and Darius are going so he might as well come along with us.
Lily
Lily,
Uh, no.
Maybe I'll ask one of the healers that I work with, or one of my patients.
Rose
Rose,
Oh come on, please! If you ask Scorpius, then Al won't be suspicious of me and Darius going together. It'll seem like a group thing instead of a me and Darius dating thing. Please?
Lily
Lily,
Oh fine. I'll ask, but I doubt he'll say yes. No man ever willingly goes to wedding.
Rose
Darius,
Will you come to Ted and Victoire's wedding with me? We can tell Al that we're just going as friends, so he won't make a scene.
I managed, with relative ease, to get Rose to ask Scorpius to go with her. If she doesn't realize that she is actually starting to like the guy, she's officially an idiot.
Lily
Lily,
I'd love to go the wedding with you. I completely understand not telling Al at the wedding, but do you think it might be time to tell him after the wedding? I adore you so much and I don't want to scare you, but I'm fairly confident that I want this to be a serious thing. I want Al to know so I can say all the things I want to say to you even when he's hanging out with us. I want to hold your hand in public and not worry about being seen by Al or any of your other brothers or cousins. I want to be able to tell you I love you, or give you a little peck on the cheek. I want to show you how much I love you without any worries and I can only do that if we go public.
What do you say?
Darius
Oh and about Rose, it figures. Scorpius is also an idiot when it comes to his feelings. I guess it's up to us to make them realize that they're perfect for each other.
Scorpius,
Don't gloat, don't read anything else into this and don't laugh. Don't let anyone else read this letter and don't talk to anyone else about this letter. If I hear one word about this letter from anyone, I will not hesitate to chop off your balls and feed them to a Dementor right before he sucks your soul.
I need a date for Ted and Victoire's wedding and I don't want to go with Randall seeing as how we're on a break and all. Lily and Darius want to go together but they don't want to make it obvious that they're dating so they want us to go together to mask their date.
Rose Weasley
Rose,
Harsh words, such harsh words. I'm assuming that since Darius is involved in this, I can tell him about your letter.
Also, there wasn't a question in that letter. I understand the predicament; thanks for telling me about your datelessness and Darius + Lily's plight. Do you need anything from me?
Scorpius Malfoy
Junior Writer
Daily Prophet
Junior Writer,
You know what I need from you.
Rose
Darius is fine, but don't tell anyone else.
Rose Weasley,
No, I really don't. Can you tell me what you need?
Scorpius Malfoy
Junior Writer
Daily Prophet
The Infuriating Junior Writer Scorpius Malfoy,
Will you go to Ted and Victoire's wedding with me? Say no, and meet your doom.
Rose
Rose Weasley,
Why I'd be happy to go to a wedding with you.
I do hope you know that I'll be holding this over your head for the rest of your life.
Scorpius Malfoy
Junior Writer
Daily Prophet
Junior Writer,
I didn't need to ask you to the wedding. It's only because Lily asked me that I'm asking you to go with me. You can't hold this over my head! Burn that letter. In fact, burn all my letters.
Lily asked me to- no, she demanded that I ask you. It's all to protect her relationship with Darius. Don't think it's because I genuinely wanted to go with you, you ponce.
Rose
Rose Weasley,
You don't need to protest so much. I'm looking forward to this weekend!
Scorpius Malfoy
Junior Writer
Daily Prophet
Junior Writer,
I'm not.
Rose
Lily,
It's done. I'm going with that git Scorpius just so you and Darius can hide your precious relationship. You owe me big, Lily Potter.
Rose
Darius,
SUCCESS! Rose Weasley and Scorpius Malfoy are officially going to the wedding together.
I feel the same way about you… and I agree that it would be awfully nice to stroll down Diagon Alley together without constantly looking over our backs. Let's tell Al after the wedding.
Lily
Scorpius,
Heard you two are going to the wedding together. I'm wriggling my eyebrows right now.
Darius
Darius,
I told you to stop wriggling your eyebrows. Stop it. It makes you look like an idiot.
Yes, Rose and I are going to the wedding together but it is purely to hide your relationship with Lily and something for me to make fun of Rose about. I'm planning on making fun of her about this forever. It's going to be great.
Scorpius Malfoy
Junior Writer
Daily Prophet
Rose,
Have you found a date yet for the wedding? If not you should think about asking Darius. He's a nice enough bloke and you guys seem to get along, plus he's been single for a while.
Al
Al,
Actually Lily's going with him. We both couldn't find dates so she's going with Darius and I'm going with Scorpius. As friends, of course. All four of us. You know, cause we all hang out all the time these days.
Rose
Rose,
Er, okay. I guess that works out.
Al
Rose Weasley
…
Scorpius Malfoy.
…
You know what I'm going to ask.
…
I know what you're going to ask.
…
And you know I'll threaten you with something if you don't tell me.
…
Yes, I know.
…
Should we just skip it all and make my life less difficult?
…
I'm a fan of making your life more difficult.
…
Well then. I guess I'll go tell the nearest nurse how I saw you chatting it up with Horny Herbert in room 84B.
…
You wouldn't. No one would believe you.
…
I know how fast gossip flies around in this hospital and if the nurses don't believe me enough to spread the word, I'll just visit my favorite patients in Ward A and I'm sure they'll cooperate and spread the word.
…
I still can't believe they like you that much.
…
Well, I wrote a pretty amazing article.
…
I'm in an empty room on the 8th floor. Room 828.
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I'll see you soon. I've got the chips with the works on it from The Cheery Cottage.
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With the honey mustard on the side?
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Of course. I'm not an amateur.
…
8th Floor Room 828. 2:00pm
"So what are you here for today?" asked Rose as Scorpius stepped in.
"I need to talk to the two healers about the whole cancer situation," said Scorpius as he pulled out the food, "Plus, we need to chat about the details for the wedding this weekend."
Rose cringed as the word 'wedding', " What's there to talk about? I'll just meet you at the wedding, we'll sit next to each other, chat with the people around us, eat the free food, drink the free alcohol."
"Well I need to know what colour dress you're wearing so I can match my tie with your dress," said Scorpius as he dug into the food.
"It's pink," said Rose. "Just ask Lily to pick a tie out from her collection. The dress is from label."
"Perfect," said Scorpius. "Though, you don't strike me as the pink dress sort of girl."
"I just wear whatever Lily gives me," said Rose, "and if you show any hint of smugness about the wedding, I won't hesitate to punch you in the gut- I don't care if there are people around to witness it," she said as she dipped a chip in honey mustard.
"I'll behave like a proper gentleman," Scorpius promised. "So tell me about the two healers I'm meeting today."
Rose proceeded to talk about the two healers and the conversation took a natural turn to how their days had been going. When they were done with the chips, Rose went to the mini fridge in the room and pulled out a bag.
"I was going to eat this myself, but seeing as you're here I might as well share with you," she said as she pulled out two slices of pie and some ice-cream."
"You were going to eat these two slices by yourself?" Scorpius asked skeptically, "Are you sure you weren't saving one for your wedding date?" he asked raising an eyebrow.
Rose punched him in the gut in response and calmly proceeded to lay out the slices and two sets of utensils.
"Okay, okay. I got the message. I won't be cheeky," Scorpius said with a grin and started eating, "Peach pie, my favorite."
"I know," said Rose "I'm not an amateur either," and they continued their conversation over pie and ice-cream.
Lily,
Is there anything going on between Rose and Scorpius?
Al
Al,
Why would you ask that?
Lily
Lily,
Because Rose told me that she's going to the wedding with Scorpius, and you're going with Darius and it strikes me as odd that she didn't insist on going with Darius seeing as how Scorpius is her not one of her favorite people. The only explanation is that they have something going on.
Al
Al,
They definitely aren't a couple, if that's what you're asking.
And Al, I think they've gotten over their little squabbles from Hogwarts. They're no longer competing for the best grades and they are grown-ups now. We've all been hanging out almost every night and they get along fine. Rose and I just mentioned that we don't have dates, and the four of us decided to just go as a group. Don't read into it.
Lily
Lily,
If you say so…
Al
Darius,
Al is such an idiot sometimes. Instead of being suspicious of you and me being a couple, he's suspicious of Rose and Scorpius.
But seriously, Rose and Scorpius are all but official. I know for a fact that they eat lunch together at the hospital almost everyday. If anything, they have to admit that they're friends by now.
Lily
Lily,
Imagine me doing an evil cackle, because that's what I'm doing right now. Everything is going all to plan.
Darius
Lily,
I was wondering if there were any defense techniques I could use against your cousin. I'm a little afraid she might actually kill me at the wedding because a cheeky comment or two might naturally slip out of my mouth. Don't tell her that I told you this, but her punches actually hurt… a lot.
Scorpius Malfoy
Junior Writer
Daily Prophet
Scorpius,
She's really ticklish. Really really ticklish. Especially around her neck and stomach. Don't tell I told you this or she'll kill me. I wish you the best of luck.
Lily
Darius' Office 6:00pm
"Oh hey Al, what are you doing here?" asked Darius.
"As much as I hate to talk with the git, I have to discuss the plans for the Diagon Alley expansion with Uncle Percy. Do you know where he is"
"I think he might have stepped over a couple of offices to the right to talk to Mr. Smith, let me go get him for you," said Darius as he stepped out of the office. Right when he left, Lily's owl came flying through the window and dropped an unsealed note onto Darius' desk.
"What are you doing here, little guy?" asked Al as he absentmindedly petted his sister's owl, "Is this for me?" he asked the owl as he reached for the letter.
Darius,
Hi sweetie. I'm actually getting out of the office a little earlier than I thought. Can you do dinner at 7:00pm instead? I can't wait to see you! I know we see each other every night, but for some reason I still miss you during the day. It's kind of insane just how much I miss you.
Love,
Lily
Al dropped the letter on the desk in shock just as Darius walked back in.
"Hey mate, I think Percy might have actually left for a meeting. I can check his…" he trailed off as he noticed the glare that Al was giving him. If he didn't know any better, he would have thought that he could see steam coming out of his nose and ears. "Er, is everything okay?"
"YOU," Al stated, "MY SISTER?"
"Al, I'm Darius, not your sister."
"YOU'RE DATING MY SISTER? YOUR FILTHY HANDS ARE TOUCHING MY BABY SISTER?"
"Uh, what are you talking about mate?"
Al waved the letter furiously in front of Darius' face. "THIS, YOU PRICK. I'M TALKING ABOUT THIS."
"Oh that?" Darius smiled weakly, "Maybe you misunderstood…"
Al stared at him, "You really want to try the whole 'you're misunderstanding the situation' ruse?"
"Okay, Al. Calm down, please?"
"No. How can I calm down when my best friend is corrupting my innocent little sister?"
"I'm not corrupting her!" Darius protested, "I'm serious about her Al, we were going to go to you after the wedding to get your… permission of sorts. I'm head over heels in love with her Al. I'm pretty sure I'm going to marry her."
Al's expression changed dramatically, "So you and I might become brother-in-laws?"
Darius nodded. "But don't tell your sister yet. I don't want to freak her out."
Al swept Darius up in a suffocating hug. "We're going to be family!"
Darius managed to grunt out, "Don't… tell… your… sister…."
Al was still beaming, "FAMILY!" he repeated, while squeezing the very life out of Darius in the biggest bear hug imaginable.
Author's Note: Thanks to everyone who's sticking with this story! I've graduated and I'm officially...unemployed. X_X So now I've really got nothing better to do than update this story. Sigh...
