DISCLAIMER: I don't own Rose, Scorpius or feeling sick.


Conclusion to Getting it Right.

Blurb …

Six years later, I'm still best friends with Bea, still cousins with Al and still in love with Scorpius Malfoy. Oh, and still trying to get it right. My conclusion … oh, I don't bloody know. :Scorpius/Rose sequel to GIR postDH NextGen:


This chapter is dedicated to bekeyboo, for her amazing continued support for CGIR. Thank you.


Chapter 8: The Sick One.

I'm usually an early riser, thanks to my crazy schedule as a trainee Healer. I'm rather used to leaping out of bed at ungodly hours of the morning, something that irritates Bea to no end, especially when I bang around in the kitchen (as she puts it) making tea and breakfast. I don't think I've ever had a sleep-in on purpose since … forever.

But for some reason, one morning in November, I couldn't even get out of bed past noon.

"Oh, godddddd …" I moaned, rolling over with my head pounding. "What the hell is wrong with me? Did I get horribly drunk last night …?"

"Not exactly," Bea's bright voice said, edging into my room, using her shirt to cover her nose and mouth. I swear, I was happy to see her! But all I could manage was another moan. I hoped she took that as Rosie-code for pleeeeease explain to me why I feel like crap! "I'm afraid you're rather sick, Rosie."

"Nooooo!" I cried, muffled into my pillow. "I've got work at nine! I've got to–"

"Well, considering it's lunch time, I don't think you're going anywhere." Bea smirked behind her shirt and I moaned another complaint. Great, I was going to be kicked off my course just because I have some son of a bitch germ having a party in my stomach!

Oh, now I feel woozy …

"Bea–"

"Oh, keep your knickers on," Bea rolled her eyes as she came and sat down next to me, keeping one hand covering her face and using the other to smooth back my mess of hair from my face. "I owled down when I came to see why you weren't up and you were practically unconscious. I sent it to that receptionist, Catie? She knows you won't be in for the next few days at least."

"But I hate being sick!" I almost literally cried at that.

"I know," Bea said, her voice soothing, the stroking of my hair calming me down. "But if you want to get better, you've got to stay in bed! I'll bring you in some tea and I can owl your friends from work to come round and bring some medicine?"

"Both of them?" I actually smiled at the thought of both Gerald and Ally being forced to work together to come visit their sick friend. "Actually, yes, do that. Thank you."

"You're welcome," Bea smiled. "I'm afraid it's late night printing tonight, so I've got to go in to work soon and won't be back until at least ten. But Al and Scorpius both get off around five, so no doubt they'll come visit you while you're on your death bed!"

"Gah," I groaned, rolling over onto my back. "I feel like dying. Your voice is killing my brain. I love you, but shut–" I was forced to cut myself off because that was when basically everything I had for tea last night decided it wanted to come back up. I retched over my bed and Bea practically jumped backwards.

She was clearly trying not to laugh. "I'll go get a bucket then, shall I?" she asked.


I was sick for three days or so, during which I had so many visitors, you would have thought I actually was dying. Most of the time I was comatose under my bed covers in between vomiting my guts out, so I didn't even register their arrival, but others I remembered a bit more clearly.

The first to arrive was Gerald and Ally, who had actually laid aside their petty squabbles and dramas to come together. Holding a load of different potions that they had gotten for a huge discount at the St Mungo's pharmacy, I was actually glad to see them. "Gerald … Ally …" I murmured the second they knocked on my bedroom door and stepped through with grim smiles. "You came … at the same time …"

"Wasn't my idea." Ally muttered, folding her arms.

Gerald just scoffed at her, but held out the bag of potions. "We got you these!" he said, trying to sound bright. "Bea told us you were hacking and retching all over the place, and she was right, it smells disgusting in here, so I got you Stomach-Calming, Headache-Relieving, along with a load of vitamins and stuff that I didn't understand, but Ally said would help–"

"It will." Ally cut in, shooting an exasperated look at Gerald.

"Thank you, guys." I told them, attempting a smile. I'm sure I looked like hell, curled up in a ball right at the side of my bed, should I need to throw up again, but Gerald and Ally didn't seem to mind. I supposed having worked in magical diseases several times over our training years, one sick person was nothing to them. "… how'd you get in here?"

"The door was unlocked," Ally told me, sitting on the edge of my bed as Gerald leaned against the wall opposite, setting the potions down on my bedside table. "Bea says you basically haven't locked it for five years. Forgive me when I say that sounds rather counter-productive against thieves."

"What can I say? We're trusting …" I muttered, eyes closed. Despite my pounding head, their voices were soothing and were taking my mind off my churning stomach. "I'm not missed at work, right?"

"Missed?" Gerald actually laughed and even Ally gave a smile. "Hell, basically everyone was wondering where the hell you were! When Catie told the trainees you were sick, Margo made a huge card for everyone to sign! It's in the bag with the potions."

"I feel like I'm famous," I managed a smile. "And thank you. For coming to see me."

"Of course we would come and see you." Ally said straight away like I was talking nonsense.

"No," I waved a hand vaguely. "I mean thanks for coming together. Thanks for forgetting that everything's shit between you right now. Though it's your own fault."

"Oh," Both Gerald and Ally exchanged uncomfortable looks. "Well, Bea said you wanted both of us …"

"I don't care," I said, reaching up with my waving hand and taking hold of Ally's tightly along with giving Gerald a smile. "Thank you."

I liked to think that I made them reconsider, as I saw them exchange looks as they both tried to leave my bedroom door at the same time. But most likely, it just caused another argument. Ah, well. That was about when I passed out again.

That evening, Al and Scorpius finally came to visit me in my sickbed. Or, well, Al sort of saw me, through the bandana he had tied around his face as he stuck his head around the door. As Scorpius strode straight in and jumped down next to me, feeling my forehead, Al refused to even come into my room. "You feeling all right, Rosie?!" he called.

"No!" I moaned back.

"You look like shit." Scorpius helpfully pointed out for me.

I just groaned into my pillow. "Go away!"

"Bea said you've got to take your medicine," Scorpius chided, making me sit up before picking up several potion bottles, reading the labels and giving them a shake. "I'm here to make you."

I reluctantly accepted one of the potions. Scorpius was forced to leap to the side as I practically spat the potion out. It tasted that disgusting. "Holy shit, what the hell is this? Cat pee?"

"It's supposed to help with your head," Scorpius said, checking out the label once more. "Says it's a lovely lemon flavour."

"The only way that shit could be lemon flavoured is if the cat had been eating a lot of them," I muttered. Then, I made a frustrated sound, rubbing my neck with my hand. "Talking hurts! Throat's sore," I glanced up at Scorpius, warily. "You're going to get sick too, if you stay for very long."

"A risk I'm willing to take," Scorpius said, almost cheerfully. I glared at him and his smile as I was forced to choke back more of my potion. "I'd be a bloody useless boyfriend if I didn't look after you."

"You're bloody useless to begin with," I said with a half-hearted smile. "but thank you."

The next day, my parents came to visit me, dropping off a load of ice lollies and asking if I was feeling any better. Apparently, I told them I was doing ok, but I was half conscious at the time, so I was probably lying, seeing as I couldn't even remember them arriving. My brother came the following evening and several of my friends apparently made it up to see me, Libby giving me a giant balloon saying, 'If you don't get better, Rosie, can I have that blue top of yours?' I did managed to notice that Scorpius stayed by my side every night, which was more than Al and Bea did. Determined not to get sick, Al practically hid in his flat, dragging Bea with him. I kept whining for Scorpius to leave me alone, but when I woke up on the fourth morning, I had to admit I felt a lot better.

"Thank the lord!" Bea cried when, upon coming home from work, it was to see me not a lump under my bed covers, but sat up straight on the sofa, gorging myself on ice lollies and a marathon of old Doctor Who episodes. "She lives!"

"Yes, I feel better, thanks," I said, rolling my eyes. "No thanks to you."

"Blame Al, he didn't want to get sick." Bea said, dropping down at my feet.

"In that case, he shouldn't let Scorpius back into the flat," I told her. "He's been over here so often, he's just going to get sick himself!"

Bea just laughed. "Do you want anything to eat?" she asked me.

"Oh, god no," I cringed at the thought. "The idea of eating still makes me nauseous, but hopefully I'll be able to go back to work in a few days."

"Well, at least you're conscious again," Bea said happily, patting my legs. "I've been wanting to talk to you."

"Hell. Should I be worried?" I asked.

"Piss off, of course not!" Bea insisted, swatting at me. "No, I just wanted to know whether you've talked to Scorpius about moving in together yet?"

Oh, brilliant. She just had to bring that up. I didn't want to admit that the idea had been buzzing around in my head ever since she'd mentioned it last month. To be honest, the idea thrilled me, but getting the courage to talk about it was another matter entirely. It had been so long since we'd even so much as brought the topic up!

"Bloody hell, I've only just been brought back from the brink of destruction and you're already trying to get me back into the real world …"

"Oh, don't be so bloody dramatic." Bea scoffed.

"Look, Bea, I don't think you really appreciate the awkwardness that conversation would bring …"

"Oh, come on," Bea scoffed. "I know you two fight all the time, but surely you can handle a five minute conversation?"

"Five minutes?"

"Sure," Bea shrugged. "It's easy, you say: hey, wanna move in together? Sure, let's do it! See? That took all but five seconds!"

I just looked at her hopelessly. "Bea, I want to do it, honestly," I said. "but it's nerve-wracking even thinking about mentioning it!"

"Well, fine, just keep thinking about it for now until it stops being so bloody scary!" Bea rolled her eyes at me. "In the meantime, we can drown ourselves in time-travel goodness! What episode are we watching?"

"Big finale, Daleks invading the Earth, all the past companions coming together, the Doctor and Rose are about to be reunited once again …!"


A few days later I was thankfully back to my usual self again. In fact, my first day back at work, Al had dropped by before I headed out the door to hug me enthusiastically and to welcome me back from the dead. And he calls me overdramatic!

For the first time in about five years, I was actually excited to go to work! I'd been gone barely a week, but a week was something like ten years in Healer-time. God knows what could have happened while I was away; I mean, hell, Gerald and Ally had actually spoken to each other, in order to come visit me! The gossip train would be barrelling throughout the whole hospital and I'll admit I'm a bit of a sucker for gossip.

Walking into the trainee staff room at the beginning of my shift was a bit of a let-down; no one was in there. However, after I'd worked for a couple of hours and was allowed on my break, I walked in to have about ten people cheer and call out, "Rosie's back, whey-hey!"

"You'd have thought I'd died!" I said, noticing Sarah, Margo and Bethany sat together at the back of the staff room. Ducking around a pile of second-years trying to figure out where their next cycles were in the hospital, it wasn't long before I joined them and was smothered by their hugs.

"Aw, St Mungo's just goes bonkers without you!" Sarah said, her arm around me.

"Really? I thought I'd be the one making it go bonkers!" I said, honestly.

"Well, I thought so as well, all things considered," Margo pointed out, her black curls practically bouncing as Bethany got sick of her wriggling and pushed her off the sofa entirely. "I mean, there was the time you and your boyfriend got into that huge argument out in the reception area and Healer O'Satan kicked you out … oh, and when you totally encouraged us to gawp at Healer O'Hotness …"

"Now that was one fit man." Bethany mused, hands tucked behind her head.

"Oh!" Margo added, grabbing a chair from the table in the middle of the staff room to sit on in front of us. "And then there was the time you cheered on Gerald and Ally when they snogged in the accidents department!"

"Speaking of Gerald and Ally," Sarah commented, grinning. "You might need to sort them out, Rosie."

"Why?" I said, flatly. "What the hell is their problem now?"

"Er, well, I couldn't exactly get the whole story, because Ally's a bit shy and wouldn't tell me anything and the only thing Gerald said was, 'she's a bitch', but I think it has something to do with you …"

"Oh, buggering hell …" I muttered, rubbing my eyes. I had only just gotten better! If I carried on at this rate, I was going to end up in hospital! "Are they working today?"

"They were both due for a break half an hour ago," Bethany said, glancing at her watch. "And I've got to go back to work now, damn it!" She got up in a huff, tugging on her Healer's robe as she did so. "I wanted to watch the carnage!"

"I've only got ten minutes left, they'd better turn up soon." Sarah agreed.

"Are you lot seriously hoping that two of our friends will come in here and scream at each other?" I asked.

"Yes." all three of them said, bluntly.

I shouldn't have been surprised. I kind of wanted to see it, too.

"I'll let you lot know if I see them around the hospital!" Bethany called out to us, walking backwards as she headed for the door to the staff room. Busy waving, she accidentally backed into Alex, another bloke from our year, and after flirting for a moment, made to leave –

Bethany only ended up with a door slammed into her face. As she yelled and backed away, Sarah, Margo and I all sat up in interest as Gerald stormed into the staff room, a thunderous expression on his face. Sure enough, Ally wasn't far behind, sneaking in before the door could bang shut and Bethany could wrench it open again.

"Why didn't you say anything?!" Ally was yelling, darting off after Gerald. Several trainees were looking up now; I noticed that Bethany was sort of hanging in the doorway, her mouth hanging open slightly.

"It wasn't my fault!" Gerald spun around, rounding on her. Ally was forced to skid to a halt and nearly walked into him.

"You smashed the entire shelf into a million pieces!" Ally cried in exasperation. Then, she seemed to notice all the people watching them and she added in a much lower voice, "Erm … I mean, why didn't you tell the clerk that it was an accident?"

"I didn't have enough money to pay for fifty vitamin potions!" Gerald rolled his eyes.

"You didn't have to run out of the store like that! We'll never be allowed back in now! What if Rose gets sick again because of you?!"

"Woe, ok!" I decided that at the mention of my name, it was my wonderful duty as mate to leap in and defuse. "What the hell is going on?!"

"Rose!" Gerald and Ally both looked genuinely happy to see me, both turning and smiling. While it was nice to know that they could agree on something, I still found it a bit sad that the only thing they appeared to have in common was that they both had me as a friend. Why couldn't they get it right?

"Look, before you have the entire hospital taking bets on whether you'll kill each other or not," I began, hastily. "Will you please tell me what's wrong so I can fix it?"

"We went to the pharmacy to get you a vitamin potion, to keep you healthy, but Gerald smashed an entire shelf and he scarpered before he could apologise!" Ally was quick to rattle off, bright red in the face.

"I did not scarper–!"

"You left me to explain to the store clerk! Me! You know I can't speak well to people I've never met before!"

"Look, I can't …" Gerald just trailed off, running a hand through his sandy hair. He appeared agitated, like there was something else he wanted desperately to say, but couldn't bring himself to. Then, before I could kick it out of him, he turned and stormed off for the lockers, immediately rummaging around for his lunch.

"GAH!" Ally cried, immediately hiding her face in my shoulder when she noticed several people trying to smoother their laughter. "Why can't he ever just say what he means?! He never talks to me, Rose, I'm sick of it! I'm sick of him!"

I honestly didn't know what to say to her, so I just patted her on the back gently. Exchanging, holy shit! looks with Sarah and Margo from over her shoulder. Far from looking sympathetic, they were all falling about laughing.

Over at the door, Bethany finally snapped to attention. "Well," she said. "I'm officially late now and Healer O'Satan will probably have my head, but it was so worth it."


The argument between Gerald and Ally stayed in my mind the entire trip home. I mean, that's what Scorpius and I were like, wasn't it? When was the last time we ever spoke about something to do with our relationship? About what we wanted someday, what we wanted now …

… oh, dear. It was basically two years ago.

"Look, Rosie … yes. I want a future with you. I can imagine us getting married, staying together forever and having children. It's a little crazy and a lot insane, but I've seen what being married to a Weasley is like and I want that.

Did he still want that? God only knew. It was obvious from Gerald and Ally that not talking about it was only going to tear you apart …

Maybe I should mention the whole 'living together' thing?

Buggering hell, what's wrong with me?! I'm trying to do something sensible!

However, when I got in, all thoughts of being sensible flew from my mind. When I slammed the door shut, there came a loud moan from the sofa and confused, I went through to see Scorpius lying across our sofa, taking up the entire space. He looked slightly green and was moaning, "No noise, no noise … ahhhh …"

"Scorpius?" I asked, chucking my bag onto the coffee table and standing over him. "What the bloody hell is wrong with you?"

"N-nothing …" he murmured, blinking up at me warily. "I just …"

"Can't move?" I suggested, trying not to laugh as I sat on the floor next to him. "Scorpius, you're sick aren't you?"

"No!" he complained, forcing himself up right; or well, he attempted to, only he gave up half way and just flopped back down onto the sofa again. "I'm perfectly fine!"

"Uh-huh, and when exactly did you start feeling 'perfectly fine'?" I asked, grinning.

"Um … this morning at work …" Scorpius said, sheepishly. "Kind of got a headache and I didn't want lunch … but I'm fine!"

"Yes, totally," I told him. "Look, you just stay here and I'll fetch you something for your head–"

Unhelping with the head problem, which was likely throbbing if my own sickness was anything to go by, Bea chose that moment to come crashing into the lounge like an elephant stampeding. "WE'RE GOING OUT TONIGHT!" she cried.

"Naaaaaargh!" Scorpius groaned.

"What's wrong with him?" she asked.

"He's sick." I answered.

"No! I'm perfectly fine!"

I gave Bea the look that said, yeah, definitely don't believe him. "Why are we going out tonight?"

"Because–!" Bea looked on the edge of bursting, but that was when Al joined our party.

"Hey, guys!" he called. Then he noticed our positions of Scorpius lying in his bed of pain and Bea bouncing up and down, myself standing across from her. "Erm … what's going on?"

"Scorpius is sick." I pointed out.

"I'm perfectly fine!" Scorpius cried.

"Aw, mate, not this again!" Al complained, striding over and nudging his best mate with his foot. "Scorpius, listen to me: it's ok to admit that you are sick! The office isn't going to cease functioning without you!"

"I'm not sick!"

"I give up." Al said, throwing his arms in the air in exasperation.

"OI!" Bea yelled. "The reason I came bursting in here?!"

"Oh, right!" I added to Al, "Apparently, we're going out tonight."

"Why?"

"I was about to TELL you!" Bea yelled. "I GOT A PROMOTION!"

Of course Al and I both whooped and hugged Bea at the same time. I'm sure Scorpius would have joined, if he could actually get up off the sofa. As it was, he sort of muttered, "Wooooo …" while Al and I cheered. "Bea, that's brilliant!" I cried. "Does that mean no more Monica?!"

"Well, sort of," Bea said, Al and I finally letting go. "Every issue we have this section called 'A date with Sarah-Kate' and Sarah basically talks about life and things she experiences. She gets a whole page to herself! It was totally unfair, because Sarah-Kate has to be about sixty something, at least. That's like, a hundred, in journalism years. Monica's been trying to get her to retire for years, but she just kept refusing to go! Well, now it's brilliant because she broke her leg when she fell out of her chair in her office!"

When she just looked at us triumphantly, Al was the one to say, "Yeah, erm, you might need to expand on that one …"

Bea sighed. "Her injury was enough to make her see that she isn't cut out for the world of journalism anymore! And who gets to replace her segment?! ME! Next issue it will officially be 'Come with me, listen to Bea'!"

"That's brilliant!" Al told her, kissing her on the cheek.

Naturally there was more excited yelling as Bea once more explained that her promotion deserved a night out on the town. "I mean, I haven't exactly got rid of Monica yet," she said, rolling her eyes. "The bitch is still my boss and I kind of have to write other articles whenever she says so … so all the time. But her boss apparently read my article about the survivors of that broom crash, the one up in Yorkshire? So he gave me a segment! Monica was livid! I get a new office and it's on the opposite side of the building to her!"

"You're moving up in the world!" I said, excitedly.

"And Monica doesn't get a say in the matter!" Bea added.

I thankfully didn't have work the next day until the afternoon, so I was all for celebrating Bea's success. However, it seemed that Scorpius was all for it, too.

"I'm coming!"

Bloody hell, I could hear him complaining from my bedroom! "No you're not!"

"Rosie, I'm completely fine!"

I just snorted, goin back to rummaging through my wardrobe. While Al had dashed home to put on something that didn't say, 'I've been sitting in an office for nine hours' and Bea used a mix of phoning and sending owls to call up our friends and see if anyone else wanted to come, I tried to find something decent enough for town. In the back of my wardrobe, I discovered a dress with a huge rip up the side … can't exactly remember that happening, though it might have been the dress I wore when Scorpius was in Russia and I'd sort of gone out on a Scorpius-deprived bender. Tossing that one aside, I noticed a black dress that I'd bought about a year ago, but never wore. I couldn't remember why not; it seemed perfectly fine, if a bit dusty from sitting in my wardrobe for a year. So I pulled it out, cleaning the cobwebs with my wand and put it on.

"Holy …" Scorpius's eyes widened and he actually sat up when he noticed me leave my room, joining him in the lounge. "… god, you're hot."

"Really? I've sort of remembered why I never wore this dress," I tugged on the hem, trying to pull it down once more. "It's too bloody short!"

"Trust me," Scorpius said. He coughed for a moment, but soon returned to staring at me. "You look gorgeous. No other bloke is going to even get near you, not while I'm around."

"For god's sake, you can practically see my knickers!" I cried, tugging on the hem once more. "And you're not coming!"

"For the last time, I'm not sick–"

"Oh, just let him come," Bea laughed, emerging from her room in her own dress. "If he wants to party himself into a coma, I say let him. Might teach him a lesson! And stop mucking about with your dress!" she added to me, tugging my hand way. "If you really want, you can just magically lengthen it, but it's not that short. You want to make Scorpius jealous, right?" she grinned and Scorpius hauled himself to his feet.

"That's it!" he cried. "I'm coming! Just let me – aaaargh!" he broke off in a moan, clutching his head. "I mean … I won't be long …" He gingerly opened the front door and left for his own flat.

"If he dies, I will not be crying at his funeral." I said.


Out in town, the nightlife was thriving! I was surprised to find that a couple of our mates actually came out with us; what with their busy lives, I had guessed that they'd all be too busy. But as soon as Trevor had heard there would be alcohol involved, he'd jumped straight on it, dragging Toby with him (but fortunately not Harley; they'd apparently broken up again. I'd seriously lost count how many times they had broken up and gotten back together). Libby had absolutely refused to get drunk with Bea and I ever since the aforementioned Scorpius-bender night (in which she had thought it would be a brilliant idea to sleep with my cousin – the memory always makes me want to vomit again) but once she heard that Al was coming as well, she had figured that he would be able to keep a leash on her and decided she was coming as well. Apparently, all Bea and I are good at is encouraging stupid ideas.

Of course, Scorpius dragged himself out as well. I'm not entirely sure what he planned on doing the entire time; he hadn't gotten up from our table the entire time we'd been at the nightclub and hadn't even touched his drink. I had enjoyed myself, dancing with Bea and getting myself thrown around by Trevor, but noticing Scorpius with his eyes closed in the corner made me sigh.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Libby said bluntly, dropping down next to him.

"He's sick, but he refuses to admit it." I told her, sitting on his other side.

"Rosie, I'm absolutely–" He started coughing again. "–f-fine! I'm fine!"

"Yeah, you totally sound it." I muttered.

"He does this often, then?" Libby asked.

"Haven't you noticed?" Al's voice said and we turned to see him approaching, Bea in the background as she danced with both Trevor and Toby; any other bloke would be jealous, but we'd all accepted long ago to never take Toby and Trevor's intentions seriously. "Every time he gets even remotely sick, he just keeps ploughing on with his life, pretending he's absolutely fine! He'll only stop once he keels over and can't get back up again."

"C'mon, we should go home–" I began.

"N-no!" Scorpius managed a weak smile. "I'm good! C'mon, Lib, tell us what's been going on in your life!"

"Well, my flatmate, Bunny, actually did something cool for a change," Libby shrugged, still eyeing Scorpius like he was about to throw up all over her. "And yes, Bunny is actually her name …"

As Libby started telling her story, I watched Scorpius with concern. I mean, it was his own bloody fault if he got really sick, but I still couldn't help but worry. I decided to leave the whole 'hey, we should so move in together!' thing for now. He'd probably freak out and vomit all over me and that was really not an experience I wanted to have. I would rub his back and feed him pain-killers if I had to, but seeing him retch was definitely not in my version of the 'Supportive Girlfriend Stuff I'm Pretty Much Obligated to Do' book.

He'd stayed by my side and look where he ended up! I warned him, but no

"… and then she nailed it!" Libby cried and Scorpius groaned as Al yelled, "OHHHH!"

"Can't believe she had it in her!" Al added.

"That's disgusting …" Scorpius muttered.

"I know!" Libby said, gleefully. "I reckon this flatmate might just be a keeper! Unless she keeps stealing my food. If the bitch does that again, I'm so going to kick her out."

Scorpius opened his mouth to say something else, but that was when he suddenly coughed violently and the three of us stared as he hacked his guts up all over our table. Eventually, he managed to gasp a few breaths and tried to wave it off.

"Yeah …" Libby said. "You're completely fine."

"I'll take him home," I sighed, standing and grabbing Scorpius's arm. "C'mon, time to go–"

"Aw, Rosie, stop it," he said, thickly. "I'm not sick–" He started coughing again and Al and Libby cringed.

I just tried not to laugh. "Come on, Scorpius." He didn't even resist against me helping him to his feet. I told the others I would see them later and Scorpius waved weakly. On our way out, I called goodbye to Bea, gesturing to Scorpius leaning against me to indicate that I was taking him home. A bit tipsy, Bea waved frantically before grinning like she'd just got a brilliant idea and started gesturing wildly as she pointed to Scorpius's back.

"Moving in!" she mouthed at me. "Ask about moving in!"

I sent her a look that clearly said, seriously? You want me to ask now? Bea just nodded and gestured even more elaborately.

Bloody hell, and I thought it was just Mrs Bowmen and Queen Godzilla that I wanted to murder. As it turns out, I'm trying for the whole family! I really need to learn to control my murderous tendencies towards the Bowmens. Maybe I should invest in therapy?


Scorpius was sick for about a week, much like I was. Every single day that he couldn't get out of bed without coughing or vomiting was another day I had to enduring listening to him complain and complain about the pile of work waiting for him back in his office. To be fair, his office is basically a tiny cubicle thing about the size of your standard wardrobe, so the paperwork was probably filling the whole thing by now, but I still wasn't letting him go.

"Rosieeeeee …" Scorpius moaned the second I entered his bedroom. "Please, I have work in half an hour! Let me go and I'll love you foreverrrr …"

"All right," I said, leaning against the wall. "I'll let you go if you can sit up without retching."

Scorpius glared at me before trying to sit up. For several moments, he wavered and his face went entirely green. Then, he gave an exasperated groan and flopped back onto his pillow. "I can't."

"Well, then," I said. "No work!"

"You're evil."

"I have been told that before, yes. Besides, it's your own bloody fault you're sick! If you hadn't tried to look after me so much, you'd be fine," I said, moving to sit down on the edge of the bed next to him. Stroking his sweaty hair back, I felt his forehead. "You're still boiling, I'm afraid."

"I swear, I feel fine." Scorpius mumbled.

"I'm sure you do," I rolled my eyes. "But as we have already discovered, you can't even sit up by yourself, so it's fairly obvious that you're not fine."

"You're looking after me," Scorpius moaned. "You could get sick again."

"With the amount of potions you forced me to take? Not bloody likely," I snorted. "Now, speaking of potions, I've got another one for you." I gestured with the steaming mug in my hands.

Scorpius groaned once more, pulling his covers up and hiding his face. "God, no!" he said. "Not that stuff again! It's gross!"

"Now you know how I felt! If you drink it, you'll feel better!"

"You've told me that the entire week!" Scorpius's muffled voice said from under the duvet. "It hasn't worked."

"Just drink the bloody potion, Scorpius!"

"No!"

For Merlin's sake, you'd think I was looking after a bloody five-year-old! I certainly didn't get enough credit for this. As much as I hated to have to force the thing down his throat, I definitely wasn't past doing it. Scorpius knew this from experience, so despite his protests, he still drank it willingly.

It wasn't as if I liked causing him more discomforted. I hated seeing him like this, his stained sheets twisted up around him, his clammy skin and tissues tossed everywhere but in the bin. We stayed together practically every night, but thankfully Scorpius hadn't gone as far as to share a bed with me while I was sick and now, I was definitely following suit. I was getting little sleep because of it. I hadn't realised how used I was to having him snoring next to me, but apparently I was and I missed it terribly.

I could honestly imagine us living together and somehow making it work. It's not like we planned on going anywhere any time soon. As Scorpius choked down his potion and I waved my wand, collecting up all the used issues and throwing them into the bin, I considered Bea's suggestion of seriously talking to him about it. She and Al had been busy this week working and avoiding the Bowmens and their crazy wedding-planning, so she hadn't pushed it as hard as she probably would have but now would be the perfect time, wouldn't it? The cold potion always makes Scorpius tired and he's all hazy from his sickness anyway … he'd probably just agree to anything I said!

Ahem. I mean, I'm so not using the fact that he's sick to get what I want or anything. Totally not.

"That is just disgusting …" Scorpius flopped back down, curling up on his side as he blindly held out the mug for me to take off him. "Oh, now I feel dizzy …"

"Stop being so dramatic," I snorted. "Just sleep and get better, yeah?"

"Mmm … yeah …" After a moment, he rolled back over to face me with a hazy smile, the potion clearly kicking in. "Rosie?"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks for looking after me," he said. Oh, great. "Seriously … you're brilliant. And a Healer, so that's better. But thanks, I love you …"

"You're, erm, welcome," I said, hesitantly. Bloody fantastic, now I feel bad. "I love you, too."

"Yaaaay …" Scorpius muttered vaguely.

Oh, well. Got to seize the moment as they say, no matter how sick his is and how much he loves me. "Hey Scorpius?" I asked after a moment of him coughing. "Did you know that Al and Bea want to move in together?

"Hmm? Oh … yeah." Scorpius coughed.

"Well, thing is … they want to move in here. Into this flat. Alone."

"Yeah," Scorpius muttered. "Dunno what to do."

"Well, Bea had the idea and I was just thinking," I said, hoping the potion had addled his brain enough by now for him not to be thinking clearly. I am so going to hell for this. "What if … well, what if you just swapped flats and we moved in together?"

At that, Scorpius actually opened his eyes. Shit, I wasn't expecting that. Scorpius stared at me for several moments as he opened and closed his mouth like a fish. That's it, he's actually going to dump me this time. Well, screw him, I'd like to see Al take on the position as his personal Healer! Just as I was about to tell him to piss off before he could, he opened his mouth again …

And that was about when he vomited all over me.

Conclusion to being sick:

-Vomit is gross. But you don't need me to tell you that.

-Naturally, I didn't get an answer out of Scorpius. He didn't even apologise, just moaned some more and requested an ice lolly. That's probably karma for me trying to get a potion-induced 'yes' out of him.

-If Bea keeps trying to bring up this whole 'moving in' thing, I'm going to vomit. Again.

Rose: 14, Scorpius: 13.

(Despite the nausea, Scorpius had absolutely perfect aim. Have to give him some credit).


A/N: I'm exactly like Scorpius. When I'm sick, I insist that I'm not sick and I try to go about my usual day, making myself even more sick until I can't get up. Then, and only then, will I admit that I'm sick. This is totally just the beginning, people. :)

Another note, I want to say thank you to those people who have continually been reviewing CGIR. Personally, I hate asking for reviews. I will thank and appreciate everyone's efforts, but I feel like if I ask, I'm nagging you all and I basically never do it. But I know that there are people reading this story and I honestly need feedback. It is the only thing that is going to help me progress in my writing and help make CGIR just as good as GIR was.

So please, review and tell me what you think about my story! For those of you who have been reviewing basically every chapter, you are amazing and I thank you once more.

Until next time -

- Moon. :D