Chapter Ten

…

21st October

The Great Hall

07oo hours

...

The Great Hall was deserted when Lily walked in, head magically cleared from the previous nights inebriation. Possibly because it was a Sunday morning, more probably due to the large quantities of firewhiskey quaffed the night before. In fact, as she opened the double doors and began to walk towards the Gryffindor table, there was only one person already sat there, a book propped open against the jam pot, and it wasn't Rose.

Lily knew for a fact that her cousin would still be running extra laps, punishing herself for her lapse in judgement the previous night, and that she would extend her morning trials in an attempt to placate her own burning feeling of inadequacy. Lily personally thought Rose was massively hard on herself, but there was no use trying to persuade her into a more reasonable course of action. Rose was Rose, and Lily didn't think she would ever change.

No, the persona at the breakfast table wasn't Rose, nor was it some inexhaustible first year. In fact it was Keegan, who was almost the last person Lily had expected but, judging from the warm feeling ghosting the back of her neck, the one she had been secretly hoping to see.

Lily had never really spent that much time with Keegan before he joined the quidditch team. He never spoke to her, and while she had good friends throughout most of the years due to her extended family, Keegan kept himself to himself when she was hanging out with Albus. She had, incorrectly as it turns out, assumed that he didn't like having his friend's kid sister hanging around with them. Consequentially, she had never thought about him that much. She had thought him cute, but in a subtle way, frightening intelligent where she was only average, and above all – Al's best friend, which made him totally off-limits. There were rules about these things you see.

So Lily had put Keegan out of her mind, and then he had joined the quidditch team. Lily soon realised that the reason he didn't speak was due to shyness, not snobbishness, and so she made an effort to get him to open up. It took less than a month for her to realise that he was probably one of the nicest boys she knew, that his intellect had a bent for humour, and that she was in very great danger of beginning to fancy her brother's best friend.

Lily, despite her less than exemplary potions and History of Magic grades, was not stupid. But she also knew that, should he feel the same, a relationship with Keegan might be a wonderful experience for the people involved, but less wonderful for the people around them. There was his friendship with Al to think about, as well as the quidditch team. Lily cared, above all, about family. James was the wild one, Albus the kind one, and she, the loyal one. But then had come last night.

Lily did not drink in great quantities. Normally she was the one holding back the hair of her friends as they bemoaned the mess their lives had become and emptied their guts into the toilet bowl. She got the feeling that Keegan wasn't used to firewhiskey either, at least not the stuff that Hugo had procured for them. It had been powerful stuff, and it only took a few sips for Lily to forget why she had promised herself that Keegan was off-limits.

Now, she sped up and settled into the seat next to him, jostling his arm as he squinted at the book – The Standard Book of Spells, Grade Seven – and wondered what to do.

As it turned out, he made the decision for her.

...

Keegan had known for years that he was in love with his best friend's little sister. But one didn't ever let onto the fact, because he quite enjoyed having a nose that didn't look like a squashed tomato, and Albus was his best mate, and that was that really. Besides, Lily was incredible popular, and he was, well, not. Albus had always made it clear that he was not his brother by removing himself from the people who might have used him for his fame. He withdrew into academics, and focused determinately on his future, becoming prefect, then head boy with little or no competition. They suited each other, and while their friendship had initially been based on academia, it didn't matter now.

Keegan and Albus had watched as Lily dated (though their feelings had stemmed from markedly different sources) through her fourth year, then cheered as she dumped Jason Inglebee, the Ravenclaw Keeper. At the beginning of this year, however, it had dawned upon him that he was running out of time if he wanted to ask her out, and so he swallowed his fear, and ignored Albus's incredulity, and tried out for quidditch. To his shock, Rose had selected him.

What had shocked him was how easy it was to talk to Lily. She was always cheerful, always smiling, and she was highly practical which, while not what most people look for in a partner, had always attracted Keegan who had a dislike for histrionics which mostly stemmed from an inability to know how to cope with them. Lily was beautiful, yes, but she was more importantly one of the nicest people he knew, and she had a way of making anyone feel special, even the geeky best friend of her brother.

Kissing Lily had been everything he had hoped, dreamed and wished. And he wasn't about to lose this chance again.

...

'Hello', Lily smiled at him, and he felt his heart race. She looked incredibly perky for someone who had been drunk enough to kiss him last night, which would have been annoying, especially considering his own hungover state, but this was Lily and she was incapable of annoying him.

'I have a present for you', she continued, reaching into the pocket of her robes.

'A present?' He queried, but she was already holding up a tiny glass vial full of a bluish liquid. It caught the bright sunshine from the enchanted ceiling, and twinkled at him, merrily mocking.

'You are an angel', he croaked, downing the hangover cure in one gulping mouthful. He handed the vial back to her and felt his headache lift as the potion rehydrated him.

The niceties completed, both fell into an awkward silence, not knowing how to proceed.

Keegan took a deep breath and blurted: 'Lily I was wondering-'

'Look Keegan, about last night-'

They both stopped, and both gave an awkward laugh.

'You go first.'

'No, you go first.'

'I said it first', she retorted with a laugh.

'I was wondering', he said, with a calm that surprised him, 'If you'd like to go out with me.'

Lily opened her mouth to answer, but at that moment the double doors crashed open and Rose stormed in, still in her running gear with mud splashed up her long legs. There was a woebegone expression on her face, and even from this distance Lily could see the lines of pain and worry on her cousin's face. Lily knew in that moment that she couldn't bear to bring her cousin any more hardship, at least for now.

'You know I want to', she said, picking her words carefully. 'You have to know that I really want to, but-'

'You can say no Lily, you don't have to pretend last night meant something to you if it didn't.' Keegan couldn't look up, couldn't meet her eyes. He could almost feel his heart breaking.

'It's not that', she said urgently. 'You have to believe me! I really like you, but we can't. The quidditch rules, the team. We're not allowed-'

'Damn the rules', he exploded. The force behind his own words shocked them both. 'Lily, I'd quit the team if it meant I could be with you. I only joined to I could talk to you-'

'No.' Lily's voice was equally as forceful as his had been. 'It would break Rose's heart to watch her team fall to pieces, and I can't let that happen.'

'I'd wait', he whispered. 'If that's what you wanted. Until the seasons over. Then, maybe, I could ask you again?'

Hidden beneath the table, Lily laid her hand across his, stroking her thumb across the back of his palm. 'You won't have to ask again. You already know the answer.'

…

The Greenhouses

09oo hours

...

So used to getting up at five am was Rose's body that even her hangover wasn't enough to stop her eyes from peeling apart, and her muscles automatically moving to carry her out of the warmth of the bed. What was harder to ignore was the way, when she shuffled out from underneath his arm, Scorpius had curved his body around hers as though he hadn't wanted her to leave.

It had been a long time since she had slept in the same bed as her friend, but it felt so different now, as though she was aware of every millimetre of flesh that was pressed against him. In those few seconds before she rolled out of bed, she had wondered if he even felt a fraction of the security she had in his arms.

She ran two laps of the Black Lake to drive all her confusion from her, and by the time she staggered into the Great Hall she was so light-headed that she thought she might pass out. Half a litre of water later she was making plans.

Rose tracked Alex Simpson down eventually in Greenhouse Four where he was repotting venomous tentacula with the help of a freezing charm, a shovel and a large pair of lethal-looking secateurs. She had been unable to face another full house try-out, and Alex had out flown the rest of the competition.

'There's a training session tonight at seven', she called over her shoulder as she left the greenhouse. He simply nodded in affirmation, and Rose found his quietness oddly soothing after the continuous babble of Mack.

…

The Corridors

21oo hours

...

'Oi! Loo-roll, where do you think you're going?'

Lucy swore under her breath, and clenched her fists, wondering if she could deal with this one her own, or whether Rose would hear her if she screamed loud enough. It was a less dignified solution certainly, but it would surely be effective.

'Tillian'. She growled. 'I have just spent two hours training in the cold, I have an essay to write for tomorrow, I am not in the mood to put up with your childish behaviour. Go away.'

'You can't make me', he taunted, and Lucy once again wondered how he had ever made it into Ravenclaw when his retorts and insults lacked anything in the way of originality. She told him as much, which was probably a mistake because his flabby, unhappy skin flushed dark red and he took a couple of menacing steps towards her.

'You're going the right way for a slap-'

'What the hell are you doing to my cousin?'

Lucy sometimes wished that Rose was slightly easier to talk to, but there were times when she was incredibly glad that, at least outside the family, Rose was bloody terrifying. Tommy looked like he was trying to melt into the wall behind him.

'I- I- Nothing, I wasn't-'

'How dare you! How dare you threaten my family! How dare you bully my cousin! You are filth, you are pond sludge and Lucy is ten, a hundred times the person you are!'

Tillian was broad, yes, but Rose had three years and at least a foot on him, and when she seized the front of his robes she managed to hoist his bulk into the air without problem. He tried to kick her, but she simply shook him like a rag doll.

Fury was racing through her, fury at Tillian for bullying her cousin, her team mate, her friend; fury at McClaggen for all her had cost her; fury at herself for not stopping this sooner, for not being good enough.

'Don't you dare come near my family again, do you hear me?'

'MISS WEASLEY, WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?'

'Professor Marchling! It was my fault, Rosie was just-'

'That is enough Miss Weasley. I suggest you return at once to your dormitory.'

'But Professor-'

'Enough. Rose Weasley, put that boy down this instance!'

Rose dropped Tillian onto the ground, and only now that her anger had subsided did she feel the powerful ache in her arms from where she had hoisted him off the ground.

'Mr Tillian, if you are not hurt, then I suggest that you also return to your dormitory.'

Tillian scrambled away and took off down the corridor after Lucy.

'Miss Weasley, follow me.'

Rose traipsed after Marchling, trying, without much success, to stop her thoughts racing ahead. She'd blown it now. Losing the match, well, however much she blamed herself she could also assign at least some of the blame onto Mack. But this, this was all her.

Sitting in the hard-backed wooden chair in front of Professor Marchling's office brought back memories of her careers meeting, back in fifth year, when her head of house had been so supportive, willing to help Rose achieve her dream, even when her mother hadn't been thrilled. And while Rose might pretend to be above caring what other people thought, she did care about how her professor saw her.

Professor Marchling shouted at Rose for at least a quarter of an hour, then offered her a cup of tea.

'I'm happy to do the detention, I deserve it. But Professor, Tommy Tillian is the scum of the earth. Everyone knows he's a bully, and I'm one of the only people he's scared of.'

'Why didn't you come to me, or Professor Longbottom, or any of the other faculty members? For Merlin's sake Rose, your cousin is Head Boy, you could have at least gone to him, if you wouldn't come to a member of staff. I am incredibly disappointed in the way you behaved today. I know you're disappointed with the outcome of yesterday's match, but that is no excuse to go around threatening someone three years younger than yourself.'

'You're right. Of course you're right', Rose said glumly, staring down at her interlocked fingers. 'I've been a bloody fool.'

'Now there's no need for that kind of language', Professor Marchling remonstrated, though there was a smile on her face. 'Miss Weasley, I'm going to give you some advice. Don't give your all to your quidditch dreams and have nothing left for the people you love. Being so single-minded will begin to drive people away if you don't let them in.'

Rose swallowed the lump that had uncharacteristically risen in her throat.

'I have always had a great deal of admiration for you Rose. You are an incredible role model for the younger years, and I know a great number of the girls look up to you. But another stunt like tonight and you will lose that respect. Your determination to protect those you care about is wonderful to see. Do not throw that away on a sport. In the end, you'll care more that you gave up your friends, than your career.'

Rose pondered her professor's words as she made her way back to Gryffindor Tower, and, such was the respect she had for her professor's wisdom that, when she saw the girls from her dormitory stretched out in front of the fire, gossiping and eating chocolates, she joined them instead of heading to the dormitory to work on quidditch plays. When the box of chocolates was passed her way, she didn't take one though. She wasn't ready to give up on her dreams just yet. But as they sat there, Rose suddenly realised how much she had missed this.

And maybe that was a small start, but it was a start none-the-less.

A.N.

Some much needed character development for Rose! Alas, no Scorpius or Findley, but I felt this chapter was important!

How are you liking my (and the wonderful J K Rowling of course!) characters. Let me know!

Love and hugs

A.A.A.