"Did you know this was going on?"
Al sighed heavily, "For the one-hundredth time, of course not. She's kept it a secret from practically everyone in the family, which is strange but understandable, she probably didn't want to have a whole conversation about her sexuality."
Sam was pacing the length of Al's living room, panicking over Rose's revelation that she had been dating someone before Sam had come crashing back into her life.
Al's flat was located in Bristol where he'd moved after Hogwarts to be the youngest Seeker in history for the Tutshill Tornados.
Of course he'd gotten offers from Puddlemere, the Wasps and the Falcons but they'd all been reserve team positions. Plus, as a Potter-Weasley, he'd wanted some distance from his family (which clearly wasn't working out well as his best friend anxiously obsessed over his cousin and her latest bombshell).
"I mean, it makes sense, of course she wasn't single. What would be the chances of me randomly showing up with Scrofungulus after 7 years of never seeing one another, while she was single? I was so obtuse, but I can't believe she lied to me about it all this time!"
.
Sitting on the couch watching Sam pace back and forth, Al asked himself what he ever did to deserve being thrown into the middle of… whatever the fuck this whole mess was.
Sam and Rose had always had a strange and intense relationship, one minute close friends, the next barely speaking.
But this? This was had flown beyond all previous levels of bizarrity.
'Absolutely barmy, the lot of them' Al thought to himself as he tried not to roll his eyes, and leaned into the cushions, resolving to humour Sam until he wore himself out.
"Sam, I just want to remind you that for the most part in Mungo's, Rose was either getting to know you again or she thought you were fucking dying."
Al held in another sigh, "And not like, long drawn out death with time to tie up your loose ends, but like, this is it, can't even see your family and friends to say goodbye, not going to make it, finished, kind of dying. I mean, she owled your Death letters for you! Thank you by the way, I was very touched and no, I don't blame you for making me keep up the estrangement between you and Rose, you've always had an incomprehensible relationship to me."
Sam finally took a moment to pause and reflect, "Thanks Al - I just really needed to apologise, it can't have been easy for you and I am so glad you stayed in my life."
He loped over to the couch mopingly and sat down heavily, leaning his head onto Al's shoulder, "What am I going to do Al?"
"I don't know Sam," Al replied quietly, "All I know is Rose would never intentionally hurt you, she was probably trying to protect you, especially by the time you'd both developed feelings for each other and you were so sick."
.
Sam looked dejectedly down at his hands, fiddling with the nails, anything to try and distract himself, "She told me she loved me, and I believed her… but you're exactly right, she was probably just being nice because she thought I was going to die."
Before Sam could even blink a pillow had boofed him in the head.
He sat up straight and glared over at Al in shock, "What was that for?"
Al snorted cheekily, "You've been throwing yourself a pity party for the last hour and whenever I try to offer an explanation, you just twist it into a negative. Do you really think Rose is the kind of person to lie about loving someone? She'd never do that, she's always been far too closed off emotionally!"
They both burst out laughing, you know the old adage, it's funny 'cause it's true.
Besides, sometimes you have to laugh... or you'll cry.
.
Sam finally felt the panic and stress ease away with the laughter, "I know I'm being ridiculous, I've just never had to deal with anything this complicated before."
Finally letting out the eye-roll he'd been holding in all morning Al sniped back, "Oh really, wiping her memory after years of tortured friendship and then going to live in India just because she asked wasn't complicated?"
After a long pause, Sam burst out laughing again, "Shut up you twit," he groaned.
Because of course, Rose had always been the most complicated thing in Sam's life, and she always would be.
.
.
Rose was lying on a couch with Bee, Annie and Jen sitting around Bee's living room in her flat in London, ready to support her through yet another Sam-related disaster.
"You know, I really thought you'd left this stuff back at Hogwarts and that going to Healer school and being accomplished in your profession would have ended all this Scorpius-bloody-Malfoy drama," Bee quipped from her seat on the floor by the coffee table, steadily making her way through the cheese and cracker platter she had laid out.
Bee's apartment was right around the corner from the Leaky Cauldron so she could get to work at the apothecary and potions shop she owned with Greg in Diagon Alley.
Being smack-bang in the middle of London, it was also the most convenient house for the girls to gather in, especially when Rose was in crisis mode.
Rose sighed, "This is why I need you all, I know you're all very grown-up and successful women, but you're the only ones who can help me right now. Nobody else gets my history with Sam, everything that we've been through-"
.
Jen spat out her tea as she failed to hold in a laugh and everyone recoiled with a chorus of 'Ewww', 'Jen control yourself' and 'yuck yuck yuck it got in my eye'.
After Jen's coughing fit was over and everyone had wiped off the spray, Jen finally managed to contribute something meaningful that wasn't just tea-backwash.
"Everything you've been through? Honestly Rose, you're the child of war heros and your Mum's about to become the Minister For Magic, you haven't exactly had the toughest life. When my parents came here from Laos, they had no idea what they were fucking doing. They were just trying to find some stability here after the Laotian Ministry all but deported them."
Bee piped in, "Yeah for admittedly questionable activities involving muggles and money - they were running a charmed circus and tricking muggle tourists, you're lucky you didn't end up at a witch's orphanage Jen."
Jen waved her hand as though she was swatting a fly, "How they ended up at West Woodburn charming the muggles to uphold the Statute of Secrecy near an unregistered Magical Creature Sanctuary is inconsequential. The point is they got themselves in some seriously sticky situations, all while trying to balance their hyperactive 4-year-old, constantly getting lost, offending people, struggling with the freezing weather and EVEN THEY HAD THEIR SHIT TOGETHER MORE THAN YOU ROSE WEASLEY!"
.
Jen launched back into giggles so hard she had to wipe tears from her eyes.
After years of dabbling in all sorts of jobs, still never really able to nail down what exactly she wanted to do with her life (and constantly complaining about it) Jen had been offered a position at Weasley's Wizard Wheezes as a developer, which really meant she'd only gotten even better at poking fun at everyone and everything, and was constantly experimenting with new spells and nifty wandwork.
As Rose huffed, Jen attempted to charm the teapot on the table to do a jig, while Annie started listing off all the utterly ridiculous things Sam and Rose had done to each other.
"Everything she's been through," Annie chided back in air quotes, "HAH, you mean the whole cold hard rejection of teenagehood which lead to years of bad behaviour? Ooh ooh and that poor girl Isobel who got caught in the cross-fire, then you asked him to wipe your memory AND HE ACTUALLY DID IT."
She gasped dramatically and flipped her mousey brown hair over her shoulder before continuing, "Merlin, then you forced him to leave the country, no the hemisphere, and now, you literally saved his life and fell in love with him while dating someone else! This is all your own doing Rose."
Rose groaned in confusing mix of embarrassment and annoyance, "Annie, yapping on the Wizarding Wireless Network has made you unbearably theatrical, believe it or not, this living room is not a studio for you to broadcast a bizarre news story-"
Annie gasped even louder and shrieked, "How good a broadcast would this story be! Ooh list all your fave moments."
.
Overlapping voices full of all the ridiculous Sam stories they new suddenly started pouring out:
"Do you remember that time he launched a bludger at her and she got soooo concussed?"
"Merlin's saggy y-fronts! Or that time they went to the Polyjuice Party and ended up accidentally snogging?"
"Nothing will ever beat the time Lily dared Sam to dance with Rose and if he didn't do it he'd have to strip naked and run around The Great Hall!"
Every ridiculous memory only caused more and more guffaws of laughter until Rose had turned a violent shade of pink and covered her face with a pillow.
.
"Wait," her mind catching something even through the veil of intense embarrassment, "It was Lily who dared Sam to dance with me? The bint!"
Everyone had made it a point to never reveal who had made the dare but after all these years Annie had finally let it slip…
That only made everyone laugh even harder, until Bee held her belly, "Ow ow, I ate too much cheese to laugh this hard-" which sent everyone into another tizzy, clutching their sides in pain from laughter-induced stitches.
Even though Rose was mortified, she she could see their point.
She and Sam had made many absurd, outrageous and (with hindsight) hilarious decisions that were entirely their fault, and this was honestly just the cherry on top of a very unstable and strangely flavoured ice cream sundae.
As she put her hands up to her flushed face to try and cool down and return to an even vaguely normal colour, she thought about what made all of this so much harder to navigate.
Aaliyah.
.
Aaliyah was the amazing Healer Rose was dating. She had topped her class in Healer School, had an incredible way with patients, all the kids absolutely loved her, and her record with treatment plans and recoveries was impeccable.
She knew exactly how to communicate how she felt, she was mature, she knew how to support Rose, but also open up and be supported when she needed it.
Aaliyah was one of the kindest, most interesting and beautiful people she had ever met, Rose had spent many a lunch break gazing shyly at her beautifully twisted black dreadlocks and dark radiant skin until she'd finally gathered up the courage to talk to her.
How could she possibly end things with Aaliyah, just because Sam and come back into her life?
"Seriously guys, you've met Aaliyah, you know why this is so difficult!"
Their laughter petered off and they all sobered up and nodded in agreement.
There was no arguing that Aaliyah was an absolutely wonderful person and Rose would be crazy end things with her.
Bee patted Rose's shin (the only bit of Rose she could reach from the floor), "Rose, you know we all love Aaliyah, but you and Sam have a history… an unexplored, unfulfilled relationship of love and loss, and you said to his face that you loved him. I don't really think there's much competition-"
.
"Hang on, I think we can all agree Aaliyah is more attractive. That translucent Malfoy look has never been good," Jen snidely commented, only half-joking.
"Jen this isn't about looks," Annie said exasperatedly, "Look, it's 2030, having more than one partner is not that out of the ordinary. You're twenty-four Rose, if there was ever a time to try out some new things, it would be now - it's not like you've shown even the vaguest signs of interest in marriage."
Rose sat up and looked curiously at Annie, "You're right, I hate marriage, I think it's an outdated, boring institution and it makes me shudder to think of it."
Shrugging her shoulders, Annie threw her hands up in a 'well there you go' kind of expression.
"Annie they don't call it 'One True Love' for nothing," Bee vehemently disagreed, scoffing at the suggestion that Rose try and date, have meaningful a relationship and maintain her work-life balance with two different people - it was hard enough with one!
Jen let out a snort, "Who even believes in that 'One True Love' bullshit anymore anyway Bee, I have to side with Annie on this one. I've passed on a lot of guys because I was waiting for the mythical and ever-elusive 'the one', but honestly, they were all pretty great and I could have stayed with any of them, I just wasn't really willing to put in the effort, it's honestly so much work."
.
Rose grew still, mulling it over in her mind, "I've never really thought about polyamory, I mean it's just not come up. I can usually barely get one person to date me, let alone two, but maybe it actually could be an option."
Bee shook her head smiling, but obviously of the opinion that everyone had gone completely barmy, "Look Rose, the bigger question is, what have you told Aaliyah and would either Sam or her even agree to that kind of arrangement? You can't just decide this on your own."
"I've met up with Aaliyah and explained everything, she told me to take my time. She knows about Sam and she said she'll respect whatever I decide, but I haven't broken it off with her."
Rose lay back down on the couch, her head spinning with confusion and possibilities.
An expression that didn't usually come up on Annie's face spread across her features, she was sombre and concerned, "I know this is hard Rose, just to emphasise, we support you no matter what - except if Obliviation is involved, then we're tying you up, stealing your wand and never letting you out of our sight again."
She could only hold her face seriously for a moment longer before she, and everyone else cracked up, trust Annie to be unable to say anything serious for very long without cracking joke.
As they all continued carrying on and organically moved on to other topics Rose relaxed. With friends like this, she knew whatever happened she was going to be all right.