Chapter 6: During Hogsmeade

"Why must you be such a prat, Albus!"

"Because I am your older brother and that's what we are supposed to do," Albus replied. "We're supposed to look out for our younger sisters, and make sure slimy gits don't get their fingers all over them like I just saw."

"James would never act like this! Hell, James would freaking encourage it!"

"Yeah, but James is incompetent, and not the best of role models," Albus replied.

"Oh, and I suppose you are better."

"I just don't understand why you find it appropriate to snog him in every public place there is. Nobody wants to see it. Especially me. I'm your older brother for Merlin's sake! I'm supposed to be looking out for you! Boys do stupid things. I would know. I am currently one of those said boys," Albus then said.

"Albus, it has to be a talent to insult yourself in the same sentence where you are so irritating that I can't even enjoy you insulting yourself."

I walked up to Lily and Albus who both looked very annoyed.

"What's going on guys?" I asked.

"Al decided he wanted to be an annoying, highly hypocritical older brother this morning-"

"How am I hypocritical!

"- and decided to lecture me about Nathan," Lily said, ignoring her older brother.

"I don't thrash around with Natalie where everybody can see us. At least we have the decency to find an unoccupied broom closet," he continued.

"Wow, Albus," I said, trying to hold back my smirk. "That's classy. Besides, Nathan is a very nice guy, and a great boyfriend from what I hear. Now why don't hear stories like that about you?"

Albus started to stutter some comeback, but was failing miserably. I winked at Lily and she smiled, silently thanking me from saving her from her brother's wrath. Besides Al, his little sister Lily has always been my favorite cousin, and though she is two years younger than Scorpius, Al, and I, she is still basically the only female I hang out with on a regular basis.

"Now that that's cleared up," I then said, grabbing her arm and leading the both of us from a very dumbstruck Albus, "Lily, I have a bone to pick with you. I don't know you were dating Nathan Corner, and I had to hear it from this prat over here. I thought we were closer than that," I said, half-joking.

"Yeah, we've been seeing each other on and off all summer, but we kind of just made it official. I was trying not to jinx the relationship by telling everyone too soon. One, Al would find some way to screw the entire thing up for me like he just tried doing, and two, our family is slightly scary. I don't think Nathan would be able to handle them all bombarding him with every question and/or concern about his intentions for me, or some shit like that. They would probably chew poor Nathan up and spit him right back out. He'll never know what hit him," she then continued to rant.

I laughed. It was really true. There are so many of us Weasley's that we would probably overwhelm the poor bloke.

"Anyways, Lily, I think he will be good for you. You two will make adorable little Gryffindor babies," I replied.

Nathan Corner is a sixth year Ravenclaw, and is also very hot. He's actually more like drop-dead gorgeous. He has dark hair and eyes and is kinda tall. He is the silent and brooding type, as if he always has something on his mind. He is very smart, and if you can get him to really talk you find that he has a sarcastic humor side to him. Though at first he may seem intimidating with his overall god-like-ness, he is actually a very nice guy. And I wasn't lying when I said that he treats the girls he dates as if they were the most perfect girl on Earth.

This is why he was perfect for Lily. She is most definitely the exact opposite of him, which is better, because they balance each other out. Lily, like most of the rest of the family, was sorted into Gryffindor. She is a very spunky sort of girl, who has never been afraid to speak her mind. She has the classic Weasley ginger, and is very likeable.

Many people say that she reminds them of her mother, Aunt Ginny, when she was in school. I can totally see that. She has such an upbeat personality, though she also reminds me of Albus a little bit too, the way she can be super stubborn to the point where it is almost annoying. Yeah, that's exactly like Albus.

Lily has never kept any of her boyfriends for more than a couple of week, preferring to be the strong single one, but by the way she has been talking about Nathan, how she doesn't want to jinx their relationship and screw it up by introducing him to our family, it sounds like she may really this him. He already sounded like a keeper.

"As if. I don't think I am much of the children type," she replied with a slightly horrified look on her face.

"So," I then asked, "what were your plans on this fine first Hogsmeade trip of the year."

"I was, um, with Nathan when Albus found us. We were just about to head off to Hogsmeade, but we got a bit, er, sidetracked. Point of story, I told Nathan to go on ahead and that I would catch up to him after I was done lecturing Albus about lecturing me," she said, smiling.

"So I guess that means you are going to have to go then?" I asked.

"Yeah, but who are you going with?" she asked.

"Um, I actually have a date," I said, awkwardly. "I'm actually quite surprised the entire school doesn't already know, since rumors in this school fly faster than a golden snitch."

Lily gave me a dumbstruck look that matched Albus's perfectly before saying, "You what!"

"I am going on a date," I replied trying to be more nonchalant this time.

"I was wondering why you were a bit more dressed up than usual," Lily said. "Well, good for you. After King last year you totally needed a step up. Somebody totally new and improved. So who is this mystery bloke?"

"Um, Ian. Ian Thomas," I replied, hoping her reaction would be good.

Lily didn't say anything at first. She just kind of gave me this questioning look, as if she really didn't believe I was going out with him.

"What? Is it really that much of a surprise that I am going out with Ian?" I asked a bit exasperated. I was kind of over all the shit I have been getting about this one measly little date.

"No, it's not that. Rose, you could get practically any guy you wanted. I just assumed that you would be going with Scorpius," she then said.

Now it was my turn to be confused. Whatever she was going to say, I never in a million years expected her to say that.

"Why would you say that?" I felt myself starting o blush, and I silently cursed my Weasley genes.

"I don't know. I guess I just thought because you two are so obviously in love with each other. I mean you a practically made to be together," she replied casually, as if it wasn't a big deal.

Yeah, right. You couldn't go around saying Scorpius Malfoy was in love with me without it being a big deal.

"And how would you know this?" I asked through gritted teeth. It almost seemed like she was mocking me. I didn't think I was being that obvious, and Scorpius was most definitely not in love with me.

"The whole entire school knows it, Rose! You should see the way you two act when you are together. It's like if one of you shifts the other does too. It's actually quite weird. I'm surprised it has taken you this long to even realize that you two fancy each other."

"We do not fancy each other!" I said, barely softer than a shout. But between the look on Lily's face of disappointment and the guilt of just partially lying to her I added, "Well he at least doesn't fancy me."

He face instantly brightened. "So, you admit that you fancy him."

I nodded.

"This is great!" Lily said, clapping her hands. It looked like Christmas had come early or something like that.

"How is it great?" I asked. "If you haven't noticed I am going on a date with Ian today, and Scorpius is dating Emma."

"Details," Lily merely said.

This was one of those times that she reminded me of Albus. I could see the beginnings of a scheme being formed on her face.

"Anyways," Lily said, coming out of her train of thought. "I probably should go find Nathan before he thinks Albus murdered me or something. I don't think he would like that very much."

"Yeah, that would be a bit of an issue," I replied, laughing.

"Anyways, have fun today!" she said while giving me a little wave and running down the hall.

"Yeah! You too!" I called after her.

I walked off to go find Ian. Even before I walked into the Entrance Hall, I knew something was wrong. For one thing, nobody was talking which was very unusual; secondly, I heard a loud bang.

I ran into the hall to find both Ian and Scorpius with their wands out. They were both glaring at each other. The phrase if looks could kill ran through my mind. Al stood a couple of feet away along with some of Ian's friends. They all looked like they were about to join the fight, but some unknown force held them back. There was a large crowd of kids surrounding the group.

"Rose," Al said when he realized I had walked into the room.

Scorpius and Ian both turned to look at me. Scorpius dropped his wand. Ian just smiled and walked over.

"Hey beautiful," he said, planting a kiss on my cheek. I saw Scorpius tense out of the corner of my eye. He then reached for my hand, but I backed away.

"What's going on here?" I asked more calmly than I felt.

"Nothing," Ian replied. "Malfoy and I were just having a conversation."

"Really," I said a bit sarcastically. "And what about may I ask?"

Scorpius picked up his wand off the floor, walked up to the two of us, and said, "I was just wondering what he was planning on doing to with you this fine day."

I couldn't tell if he was upset or not. If there was one thing that Scorpius was good at, it would most definitely be hiding his expressions.

"Sure. That's exactly what it looked like."

"Really, Rose," Ian then said, reassuringly. "It was nothing to worry about. Let's go."

Ian started to pull me out the door, when Scorpius grabbed my other hand. Ian shot him a look, but I said, "It's ok Ian. You go on ahead. I just want to talk with Scorpius and Albus real quick. I'll meet you there."

He didn't look too happy about it, but he didn't protest. After he was out of earshot, Scorpius said, "Rose. Seriously, this is a bad idea. Ian isn't right for you."

"Scorpius, you are not my father, or my older brother, or some other overprotective family member. You don't get an opinion about who I date or don't date, so please, can I just enjoy myself today without you bugging me about it?"

"Rose, I care about you. I just don't want to see you get hurt."

I truly believe that this guy is purposefully playing with my heart.

"I won't," I merely replied. Then I walked out of the Entrance Hall to go and find Ian.

I found Ian waiting for me on the entrance steps to the school. "You ready?"

I nodded, trying to let go of any thoughts about Scorpius.

"So, where are going?" I asked.

"I was thinking we could head over to the Three Broomsticks," he replied.

"Okay, yeah," I replied, trying to calm my nerves.

We talked about a bunch of different things all the way until we made it to the Three Broomstick. He led me to a table in the back, so we could be out of eyesight of any other kids from school. Somehow we got on the topic of the Second Wizarding War.

"So," Ian then said, "It must be weird, being the daughter of two-thirds of the Golden Trio."

"Eh, you get used to it eventually. It's really no big deal."

That was a partial lie, though. Even though you do in fact get used to it, because nobody treats you any differently -I guess being the child of doesn't get any perks- it really is a big deal. Not that I would ever tell me parents, but I have a collection of"Ronald Bilius 'Ron' Weasley" and "Hermione Jean Weasley (née Granger)" chocolate frog cards. I have about a hundred of each. I guess you could say that I am lucky to have them.

"And then you must of really turned them around when you ended up being best friends with a Malfoy," he then continued to say.

At this point it started to feel awkward. I didn't want to be talking about Scorpius while I was on a date with somebody else.

"Um, yeah. They are actually pretty cool about it. Both of them a over the entire 'everyone should hate purebloods because they hated us first' deal."

"I still don't understand why you hang out with him though," he said with a dark look flashing in his eyes. It was so fast that I thought I may have imagined it.

"He's my best friend. I guess you don't really choose your friends. They just happen. Why is it such a big deal?"

"It's not," he said, smiling again. "Just making conversation I guess." I gave him a very confused look, which he chose to ignore. Instead he said, "Let's get out of here. I'll go buy you some candy at Honeydukes."

As we were leaving I saw Scorpius sitting at a table near the door. Though Emma was sitting next to him and chatting quite loudly, he was looking at me. I couldn't tell if he was angry or not. I tried not to meet his gaze as we passed by his table, or when I felt his eyes following me out the door.

Ian and I walked around Hogsmeade for a little bit longer. After Honeydukes, we visited the Weasley Wizarding Wheezes that was located in Hogsmeade.

"Doesn't your uncle own this place," Ian asked me as we walked in.

"Yeah," I replied. "It was a joke shop called Zonko's before the Second Wizarding War. Uncle George bought it right before his twin died. My father actually worked in this shop before going on the being an Auror, while my mother went to school."

"Wow," Ian replied enthusiastically. "You sure have a great family."

We looked around the shop a bit more, before deciding to leave Hogsmeade. It was getting late and the Halloween feast was going to start soon.

We just entered Hogwarts when Ian said, "I had a really great day today."

"Yeah, I did too," I replied, and I wasn't lying. Except for that little bit on the Three Broomsticks about Scorpius, today was actually one of the best first dates I had ever had. It was nice.

"Would you like to do it again sometime?" he then proceeded to ask.

This was the part I was bad at. I hadn't been on many first dates and even less second ones. King was the only real boyfriend I had ever had, and you can see how well that turned out. If I said I would like to go out with him again does it mean that we are officially together? Do I want that?

"Yeah. I think that would be nice."


Thanks to everybody who has reviewed, story-alerted, or favorited my story. It's really nice to know that people actually are reading this, and even better to know that they like it.

With that said, I probably won't updating as quickly as I have been anymore. Just wanted to let you know. Don't hate me for it, I'm just not going to have a lot of time for writing in the upcoming couple of weeks, so bear with me.

Anyways, thanks again for anybody who took the time to read this! Please tell me what you think!