Rose surveyed the quidditch pitch and took in the situation. Firstly, it wasn't really a quidditch pitch - but her mum had done such an amazing job charming Uncle Harry and Aunt Ginny's back garden that it was almost like being at Hogwarts. Except this time it was different - instead of Gryffindor vs Slytherin it was the Weasleys vs the Potters. Although as there were only five of them (Ginny had decided to play on their side to even it up a bit), Scorpius was thrown in with them.
It had been just over a month since she'd found the Wand Rights bill, and the Department of Magical Law Enforcement was working overtime to prepare for a new wand-bearing race. The first wands for Goblins were expected to be sold in two months. Professor Sicarius had been arrested, along with the Aurors who had assisted him, and Uncle Harry had set about rooting out any other traitors from the Auror ranks. The screening for Auror training was even tighter now in an attempt to keep the department free of corruption, but everyone knew that with such a large group of employees, it would be impossible to stop it completely. They just had to accept that and be ready to fight it when necessary.
After Sicarius' arrest, a lot of unanswered questions had been solved. It turned out that he had tampered with her memories to make her forget about his attempt on her life, but Rose had been able to overcome the spell after she'd been faced with both Scorpius' memory and facts that were impossible to deny.
A group started by Abraxas Malfoy had forced Nobby Leach out of the Ministry to try and stop him passing the bill, but the Minister had managed to hide it at Hogwarts, and the group had been searching for it ever since. Scorpius had been worried that his dad had been in on it, but Draco was cleared and the rest of the group arrested.
There'd been a lot of attention from the Prophet and Rose had received hundreds of letters congratulating, condemning or asking her for more details about the mystery. And though she'd hated all the attention from the rest of the students, she almost didn't want to go home for the holidays, because Scorpius always stayed for the mid-year holidays and Al had invited him once again. It wasn't that she didn't want to spend time with him - it was her dad.
Because, although she'd put it off for months now, she'd had to tell him about her relationship with Scorpius. It hadn't been pretty - but then again, it hadn't been too bad either, with her mum there as mediator. Her dad had eventually accepted Scorpius as Rose's boyfriend, but not before he gave him the embarrassing 'don't you dare hurt her or anything like that, mr' speech, which had made Rose cringe and want to go hide in her room and never come out again, especially as they'd been sitting at the kitchen table eating dinner at the time. She also suspected that her dad was secretly happy that Scorpius was on the other team with the Potters, which meant he had an excuse to beat him.
Rose had decided to take rest from her detective work for the moment, but when she got back she knew there would be piles of mysteries waiting for her. After the Prophet had run an article about her being Hogwarts' unofficial detective, readers had written in with all kinds of problems, and though many of them were downright stupid, a few seemed worthy of a case - and best of all, she could probably solve them without even having to leave the castle! She hadn't discussed it with Scorpius, as she knew he'd rather that she stopped investigating altogether, but he also wanted her to be happy, just like she wanted him to be, and anyway, they still had the phoenix armbands in an emergency, which would call the entire DA - a phenomenal force.
One good thing had come out of their last escapade, though - Rise had finally got over her inbuilt fear of flying, and James was now trying to get her to join the Gryffindor quidditch team once their seeker left at the end of the year. She hadn't decided what she was going to do yet, but for the first time she was joining in with the family quidditch matches and having the time of her life.
As the Potter team had Uncle Harry, Aunt Ginny, James and Scorpius who were experienced players, and Lily and Al who were pretty decent, the Weasley team had a few extras. Her dad, Uncle George, Hugo, Fred, Roxy, Louis and Dom were playing with her, and she thought they were a pretty good team. Especially considering that Rose was famous at Hogwarts for her tactics.
The families stood on the ground, facing each other, as her mum held the quaffle in one hand and wand ready to release the bludgers and snitch in the other. (As the Potters and Weasleys were all mad about quidditch, they'd bought a proper equipment set together a few years back.) Her mum raised the quaffle and waited until everyone was still.
Rose eyed Scorpius, who was playing against her as the Potters' seeker (they'd decided that uncle Harry wasn't allowed to play seeker, especially as he'd be against one if the kids - neither her dad nor uncle Fred could play seeker to save their lives). Yes, he was her boyfriend, but if she did join the Gryffindor team she'd be playing him for real, so she'd better get used to it. Rose took a deep breath, and then her mum threw the quaffle into the air and he game started. She kicked up hard, heading in Scorpius' direction, and grinned.
This was going to be totally awesome.