A/N:

Hey Guys!

Don't know about you but, this feels like a relatively quick update for me! Que happiness...

Thanks for sticking with me and being patient, sorry. I have so much work to do but'll update when I can :)

Special thanks this time goes out to:
Evilmidget66 and Archives of stories for the new Favourites!
Justahfan for following. It makes me happy that you guys bothered with the little buttons :D
Um and I guess to J.K Paredes because technically you left a review. Though, it'd be nice to hear what you thought of my story instead.

Hopefully, I'll be able to update soon, though again no promises.

Love you all,

Cookie xx

Chapter 11- A Mostly Happy Birthday

Roxanne slung her bag on the table and sat down, moments later the seat next to her was filled by Logan, her stunningly handsome potions partner. He smiled at her as he sat and Roxanne was glad she now had perfected hair, for some reason the thought of looking like she'd just woken up in front of him wasn't a good one.

"Nice necklace" he commented, staring at the silver snitch hanging below her collarbones. She almost didn't hear him speak, after all why would a handsome sixth year speak to her without a reason? Surely last lesson's conversations were just to pass the time?

"Thanks, it's a birthday present" she touched her hand to the small pendant and its miniature wings extended, fluttering softly just off her skin. She let out a small gasp and noted to tell the boys it still remembered her touch. She touched it again and the snitch stilled.
"Did you catch it in one of your games?" He asked, eyes bright.
"Yeah, how'd you know?"
"Flesh memory of course." He smiled, looking slightly smug.
Roxanne looked almost surprised, not many people knew that. Then again he was Quidditch obsessed too.
"Yeah, I knew" he added as if he could read her mind. She laughed as Slughorn entered through the back wall.

The lesson began and over the course of the first hour, Roxanne found herself laughing in a way she only laughed with her closest friends. She and Logan worked together well and every now and then when Logan was prepping ingredients on the other side of the desk, Roxanne would notice his head lift slightly and feel his eyes on her for a few seconds. His glances made her feel warm and slightly fluttery inside. She wanted nothing more than to be able to glance back at him but was afraid of making a fool of herself. They continued with the potion and again, the pair finished before anyone else in the class with a perfect potion. For the remaining half hour, Logan and Rox were to write up notes on the potion they'd just perfected. They sat side by side, in companionable silence as they worked.

"Hey Rox, what did you put in after the worm-"Logan paused mid question as a curl fell from Roxanne's hastily pulled up hair. He reached forwards and tucked it behind her ear before realising what he'd done. Roxanne swore she saw the faintest blush cross his face. Though she could also feel her own from the slight brush of his hand on her face.
"Sorry. Er I-"
Roxanne smiled, endeared by his sudden shyness. "It was salamander blood" answering his earlier question. He thanked her and went back to his notes. At the end of the lesson, Roxanne began towards the door when she felt a hand around her wrist. Roxanne turned and looked up at Logan questioningly.
"Forgot to say. Happy Birthday Roxanne" he said, flashing a smile. Clearly all confidence recovered.
"Thanks Logan" she replied with a smile sweeping out of the room before his smile melted her right there on the spot. ~

After potions, Roxanne had Herbology with Olivia and as they were talking now, Roxanne was able to spend it gushing over Logan with her best friend.

Then she made her way to Arithmancy, the one class she didn't share with Liv anymore. She usually sat with Lily but instead of heading to the back to wait for her cousin to arrive, if she bothered to turn up at all, she walked to the front of the class.

Roxanne watched the two slightly surprised faces look up at her.
"Can I sit with you guys today?"
"Of course you can Roxy" Hugo replied with a grin. He moved along so there was space on the desk for her to sit next to Lucy. She sat down a little awkwardly and hoped her cousins had meant it when they said they should talk more. Roxanne was tired of Lily and after her friends' revelations last night, she was willing to stop bothering with Lil, after all she'd stopped bothering with Rose years ago and Lily was basically a miniature Rose now. Dominique would be happy to hear it. Roxanne actually had the best Arithmancy lesson she'd had in all her years at Hogwarts. Lucy and Hugo made her feel welcome and actually part of their family. They caught her up on all the family gossip and drama she'd missed over the past five years. Roxanne was surprised about how much had gone on without her knowing.

Apparently, nobody in the family spoke to Rose anymore, other than Lily of course, who when not with her bitchy friends, was with Rose. James and Samantha where still in their on again off again relationship; Molly was still her usual prudish self; Elliot and Fred still caused mischief with James when not in detention or on the Quidditch pitch. Though, Samantha caused James' absence from such pranks more and more frequently now. Albus happily spent his time between Quidditch, studying and apparently the Slytherin common room, where he hung out with his girlfriend and friends. Lucy and Hugo shared a friendship group of mostly Gryffindor fourth years and a few Hufflepuffs. Though they didn't say it, Roxanne could tell they were each other's best friends and were probably closer than she had ever thought she'd been with Lil. Though it was nice to catch up and talk to her cousins, she was slightly disheartened by the fact that she had missed so much and knew so little about her family. She assumed they all still spoke and hung out, when really it seemed as there wasn't much of the Weasley- Potter family unit left.

Roxanne's last lesson was OWL DADA where Roxanne knew no one. Her last three DADA lessons had been theory and the Slytherin girl Roxanne had been sat next to had ignored her when she tried to introduce herself. After that first lesson, Roxanne had kept her head down and stayed quiet. This lesson however looked promising. When she walked into the room, the desks had been vanished and the class had four lines of stools. Two on each side and then two next to each other in the middle of the class. Cleary, they would be splitting into two halves and duelling today. Roxanne was excited and nervous. She'd duelled before, but never seriously. Sometimes she'd have a little duel with Lorcan or Lysander over a chair in the common room or something but they only shot out spells like jelly-leg or tickling jinxes. She knew she'd have to up her game here. She didn't want to look like a joke in front of anyone.

Professor Taylor walked in and about half of the Slytherin girls swooned. Ethan Taylor was young, tall and very cute and Roxanne had to admit she agreed with them. Though swooning over a Professor seemed stupid and she refused to behave like the Slytherin girls, at least while they were here anyway. She and Liv could swoon over Professor Taylor all they liked another time. The Professor ignored the girls' trying to catch his attention and walked to the front of the class.

"Today we will be practising our duelling skills. I am aware that some of you may never have duelled before" he looked specifically at Roxanne and smiled warmly, "but those that have really aren't that great yet so no need to worry"
The class laughed, though Roxanne couldn't tell if it was because they were bad at duelling or not.
Professor Taylor had them reorganise themselves so that they were sitting opposite a member of the opposite sex. He didn't want people messing around because they were friends with their duelling partner. Roxanne stayed put, not wanting to go over to anyone where she wasn't welcome. She felt a slight tap on her shoulder and looked up. It was Logan.

"Fancy seeing you here" he smirked at her and walked across the room to sit opposite. A few Slytherin girls in the vicinity gave her glares and she raised her eyebrows back. It wasn't her fault Logan wanted to work with her and not them. She felt secretly smug that he'd chosen her. She looked across the room at Logan and smiled, wondering how she'd been in his class for three lessons without her noticing him. Then again, sitting with the Slytherin bitches had made her keep her head down more than usual. As she was looking at Logan she noticed another member of her class she hadn't before. Florence was sitting next to Logan and trying to catch his attention. She tapped him on the shoulder and attempted to whisper in his ear. She pulled back laughing but her face dropped when Logan responded with a simple smile and brushed her off, turning back to face Roxy. Logan rolled his eyes and mock sighed, making Roxanne giggle. Though she did furrow her eyebrows at the way Florence had acted. She did that sort of thing with Scor, always trying to get his attention. Surely if she 'loved' him, she wouldn't be after Logan?

The lesson turned out to be okay as Professor Taylor had simply instructed them to try a few simple spells and counter curses, thankfully none of which were new to Roxanne. Next lesson, he said, there would be two special visitors who would take their double lesson and instruct them on competitive duelling. She landed a few though was suspicious that Logan had purposely let some pass. At the end of the lesson she asked him if he had and he just tapped his nose, and wished her a happy birthday again, giving her that drop dead gorgeous smile of his.~

Roxanne lay back on the common room sofa, eyes closed, hands on her stomach and legs hanging over the arms of the sofa. She felt the end cushion depress and assumed Liv had gotten out of classes and come to sit next to her.
"Hey Liv" She said without opening her eyes, wanting to keep the peace she'd fallen into for a little while longer.

"Hey Rox" she heard Scorpius answer in a high voice, supposedly imitating Liv. Roxanne laughed and heard Liv complain that she didn't sound at all like that.
Roxanne opened her eyes and turned her head looking over to Liv, who was perched on the arm of what was meant to be a two person sofa, next to Lorcan who was next to Ly.
"I hope you know, you're taking up a lot of room." Lysander told her with a grin. Roxanne sat up and looked around. The common room was mostly empty. Not many people came straight here after class, they'd hang around in the courtyards and halls for an hour or so longer.
"There's loads of room" she gestured across with a sweep of her hand.
"Fine. You're taking up a lot of room within our space." He was right, no one else but them and occasionally their other friends occupied their little area of chairs. It consisted of an armchair, two, two person sofas and a three person sofa. But the furniture would occasionally move and swap around so the arm chair and one of the two seaters was gone at that moment, leaving the two sofas opposite each other.
Roxanne sat up and tapped the space that had been occupied by her legs.

"Finally, I can't take being so close to that idiot" Lysander stood and sat next to her. Only to be used as a leg rest while she leaned against Scorpius' shoulder. Lysander began to protest but then sighed. Roxanne did this all the time. He should have known better. Roxanne closed her eyes again.

"Oh and by the way, Scor. Your girl toy was flirting with my DADA partner today."
"Who's your DADA partner?" Liv asked. "I thought you sat near the Slytherin Sluts?"
"Oh I do but I was working with Logan today" Roxanne smiled at Liv as she gave her a knowing look.
"The Slytherin beater?" Ly asked. Roxanne swung her legs off him so she could talk to them all.
"Yeah him. She leaned across and did the whole whisper-giggle thing she does to Scor. Best part was her face when he brushed her off."
"He ignored her?" Scorpius asked.
"Yeah. I don't think you have to worry about him. He must have a girlfriend already. He didn't look the least bit interested. That, or he has standards"
Lorcan snorted and Scorp glared. "What, she has a point?" he laughed again.
"Oh yeah, sorry Scor" Roxanne scoffed.
"Wow, I should give him a medal. Probably the first guy to ignore Florence since she became a Samantha" Liv added grinning at the idea of Florence being rejected.
"Yeah it was brilliant he barely reacted and just turned back to me"
"Oh, he turned back to you did he?" Liv asked raising an eyebrow and winking.
"No Liv" she laughed. "I was his partner, that's all. Don't start."
"Uh huh. Sure" Liv answered.
"Are we missing something?"
"Only the fact that Rox thinks he's super-hot- which he is- and probably has a little crush on him"
"Liv. I don't have a crush on him"
"Whatever you say Rox shall I tell them what you said in Herb-"
"Speaking of crushes" Roxanne interrupted staring at Liv. Who, instantly quietened. Roxanne sat back triumphantly smirking and noticed Scorpius' small smile at Roxanne's threat. She'd forgotten he knew. Liv poked her tongue out and sent a cushion flying at her. Scorp grabbed it and put it behind his back.

"Before you two fall out again, Rox, do you want your present?"
"Of course I do, how could I forget?!"
"Well, you must've been quite distracted today" Liv added.
"Liv, I'd shutup if I were you" Roxanne warned playfully, indeed shutting her up again.
Roxanne turned to Scorpius expectantly. He smiled and pulled out an emerald green box. Holding it out to her but not quite releasing it yet.
"Before you open it just remember that I got this before the twins had their bright idea. But to make it up to you, I've thought of something extra." Roxanne looked puzzled but pulled the box out of his hand all the same.

She noted the green, "How very Slytherin of you Malfoy"
"Unintentional of course Weasley. Now open it."
Roxanne smiled and did as he said, gasping as she looked inside. Her eyes fell upon a small teardrop shaped stone, almost the colour of her robes, attached to a delicate silver chain. The stone was perfectly cut and glinted back at her, a pure sapphire. She wondered if he knew it was her birthstone or if it was just a House reference. Either way; it was beautiful.

"Scorp, this must've been so expensive!" she held it out to Olivia who took the box from her examining it.
"Well, do you like it?" Scorpius asked, ignoring her comment on price. After all money wasn't an issue in his family and he didn't mind spending it on people he cared about.
"Of course she likes it, it's bloody beautiful" Liv answered for her.
"Seconded" Roxanne answered smiling. "Thank you Scor!"

Roxanne practically leapt at Scorpius hugging him tightly. Scor hadn't been expecting the sudden assault so was pushed back further onto the sofa. Recovering, he smiled into her hair as he hugged her back.

"You're welcome Rox. Happy Birthday" Roxanne hugged Scorpius and the twins and Liv studied his present trying to guess how much money had gone missing from the Malfoy family account for it.

Nobody noticed that at that point, Florence had chosen to walk in. Her eyes zeroing in on Roxanne in her boyfriend's arms, almost lying all over him. No one noticed that instead of reacting immediately she stood behind a pillar and watched the group.

Roxanne separated from Scorpius and held her hand out for the box in Liv's hands. She passed it back to Scorpius who for the second time that day swept her hair from her neck and clasped a necklace onto it. To Roxanne and Scorpius, he was simply putting a necklace on for her.

To Florence behind the pillar, the moment looked very intimate and tender, very couple-like. She also stared at the necklace now on Roxanne's neck, the blue stone shone at her and she thought about how spoilt the Weasley girl was. Why would anyone want to buy her something so beautiful? Something so expensive?Why isn't he spending that money on me?

Roxanne looked down at the necklaces on her neck and touched the snitch and blue teardrop in turn. The snitch fluttered to life and she showed the twins, reminding them of a snitch's flesh memory. She addressed the group;
"You guys are brilliant, you know that?"
"Yep."
"Well aware"
"Of course"
"Told you"~

The friends sat and chatted for another half an hour while the common room slowly filled. Florence had walked past the group at one point as if she had just come in. Roxanne was the only one to notice her and thought it weird that she wasn't all over Scorp by now. She said nothing though, why ruin a conversation because of her?

"So Rox, best present of the day? Ours or Scor's?"
"Liv's" she answered automatically. "Though I'm sure she bought it knowing I'd be making her potions with it too."
"You know me too well" Olivia answered. "But it is lovely isn't it?"
"Yeah it is. Thanks Liv"
"Rox you can stop thanking us all now. It's your birthday. You get presents. Nothing unusual."
"Okay" she answered, "But really, thanks guys"
"Merlin Rox. Shut up"
"Tha-"
Both Scorpius and Liv, who was now on her other side reached forwards to clasp their hands over her mouth. Roxanne reacted by biting the hand on the bottom of the pile. Which just so happened to be Scorpius'.
"Ow! Rox, you animal" He laughed, showing his hand to the twins. "Look, a Weasley bite. If I turn ginger, I swear it's your fault."
"Shut it Malfoy before I turn you blonde again"
They all gasped falling silent. His blonde hair wasn't a subject they broached often. Scorpius liked to deny he'd ever been a blonde.
"You wouldn't…"
"Oh?" she twirled her wand. He disarmed her silently and her wand flew into Lorcan's hands. Scorpius smirked, winning the battle. Or so he thought.
"Hey, Liv. Just how good are Mel's potions? You know the almost-everlasting elixirs which only you and I have the instructions to?"
Olivia smiled, "They're brilliant. In fact. You could make one with your new potions set. I remember seeing one for platinum blonde in there."
Roxanne reached her hand out and across to Lorcan palm up. He handed her wand back to her, gesturing that he wasn't involved, before laughing.
"Can you imagine Scorpius blonde again?"
"Rox could give him hair to match Florence's" Scorpius glared and Lorcan lost it at that. Imagining Scorpius and Florence with matching hair colours was just too much for him to take. They all laughed at Scorp's expense.
"Don't worry Scor. I promise not to turn you into a dirty blonde. Though beyond that, I'm not willing to commit to anything" She laughed.
"You're definitely not getting your other present."
"Other present?" Roxanne's head snapped up. "You got me more?"
"Well, as Lorcan and Ly got you a necklace too, I was planning on getting you something else because I thought two necklaces might be too same-y"
"What were you planning to get?"
"Well, I was going to take you to get that piercing you wanted next Hogsmead weekend. But since you obviously will be working on potions for my hair, I won't bother…" He trailed off.
"No, no Scorp, of course I won't be! I love your hair as it is." She laughed moving closer to him running her fingers through it.
"Look guys don't you love how not blonde Scorp's hair is? Cos I sure do." she laughed, stopping.
"So do I still get my second present now?"
"Hm. Maybe" He smiled at her and she knew she'd have her piercing by next Hogsmead weekend.~

Roxanne and Liv sat with Scarlett, Arianna and Lena that night at dinner. The girls had all remembered Rox's birthday but as they liked to wake up as late as they could manage they hadn't been up to give Rox her presents like Liv had that morning. They told her, her presents would be waiting on her bed for her when she went back to the dorm. The girls mostly talked about school and exchanged gossip. Liv told them about Logan and her theory that he now had a thing for Roxy. Which Rox denied, arguing he didn't even know her. Olivia knew Roxanne didn't mind her telling them, she liked and trusted the girls in her dorm. After all, when you live with someone for four years almost constantly, you do become good friends.

Though, they did have a fifth girl in their dorm, that none of them got on with. Though she seemed to have more of a problem with Rox. Andrea Martin was transferred from Beauxbatons in her second year and must have resented it because she point blank refused to interact with the girls in her dorm. Roxanne knew a little French from spending time with Dominique who was fluent and when Roxanne had tried to speak to her in French to make her feel more comfortable, her reply was something along the lines of 'Leave me alone you stupid little witch' after that: everyone had ignored her, which she seemed to want. Though, she did find it in her to glare at Rox whenever possible. Maybe she'd had a really bad accent. Andrea was like a ghost, only coming into the dorm to sleep. The girls sometimes debated what she'd done to be transferred, possible theories extending from attempted murder to illegal magic.

As Roxanne stood to leave for the common room, she heard her name called from the Gryffindor Table. She turned to see Lily waving her over. A little bubble of hope welled inside Rox. All through dinner she'd been thinking about how all her family had forgotten her birthday. Her parents would give her her presents on the nearest Hogsmead weekend, like they did every year and Dom's always arrived a day late. Like it did every year, it was their thing. But her family at Hogwarts, well they didn't have much of an excuse. She could understand if Rose, Lucy, Hugo or Molly had forgotten. They had never been close. But Lily, up until recently they'd been friends. Her brother and James were what hurt her the most though. They usually remembered. Or maybe her parents reminded them? Freddie was supposed to look after her, check up on her, the way Elliot did with Liv every so often. He never forgot her birthday. In fact, both Elliot and Mel had signed Liv's card for Rox. It struck her that Liv's siblings seemed to care for her more than her own brother did. And that made her sad. Though she could see Lily waving her over and noticed that despite the day's revelations that the Weasley- Potter brood weren't that close- they were all relatively near each other. James and Fred looked up as she came over, waving at her. Elliot next to them managed a smile, but his mouth was full, so he left it at that. When she sat next to Lily, Rox expected a small present, a card, or even a 'happy birthday'. But no, Lily gave her none.

"Can I have your notes from Arithmancy today? I noticed you moved"
Roxanne looked at Lucy and Hugo who gave her encouraging smiles. She'd told them about what she realised about Lily earlier.
"Yeah, I sat with Luce and Hugo today because they actually do something more than copy me every lesson. And no, you should have taken them yourself" Roxanne's words came off more bitter than she'd meant them to but she realised she didn't care. Rose glanced up at her from next to Lily and muttered something that sounded much like the word witch.
Lily looked at Rox, "You're joking right? Rox, we're family"
"Lily please don't pretend you care about me. You only speak to me because you'd fail everything otherwise. I really can't wait for you do your OWLs"
"Rox, what's wrong with you of course I care. We're cousins"
Lily was starting to sound annoyed now. Oh well, let her be Roxanne thought. She was done with Lily and her self-centred behaviour. Albus, James, Fred and Elliot looked up at the little argument Rose was still glaring at Rox from beside Lily, Lucy and Hugo were exchanging worried looks and Molly was nowhere to be seen. The brood had never seen Rox and Lily argue before. They'd never had a reason to.
" Don't start Lil. You don't care. Family or not"
James jumped to his sister's defence. "Lil does care about you Rox. We all do. You are family."
Rox looked up at him, "None of you care about me. None of you know anything about me. The only ones here who seem at all interested in me and how I am are Hugo and Lucy!"
Fred looked up slightly hurt. "Rox, what's wrong? Of course I care about you, you're my li-"
"Don't say I'm your 'little sister' Freddie. Don't. Because, believe it or not, big brothers do a bit more than a wave when they see their sister. They actually say hello, or ask them how they are. They don't forget their sister's birthdays Fred. Even Elliot signed my card. What did I get from you? Nothing, not even a happy birthday."
Fred looked back at her stunned, Elliot gave her a sad smile and Lucy and Hugo tried to be as comforting as possible with their expressions. Roxanne heard Rose mutter about how much of a drama queen she was and tried to keep her temper under control.
Lily carried on. "So that's what this is about? Look I'm sorry I forgot your birthday Rox, I'll make it up to you. But seriously. Can I have your notes now?"
A few people who'd been listening gasped slightly.
"What?" Lily retorted.
The brood sat in anticipation of Rox's answer. She took a deep breath, calming herself.
"No Lily, you can't have my notes. We're not friends, and we haven't been since we were ten. I barely count you as a cousin" Roxanne stood and bent down to pick up her bag. She stood up, bag on her shoulder and looked down at Lily.
"Lily, don't ever ask for my notes again."
She heard Rose's voice now, loud and clear.
"Merlin, she's just like Dominique. Such a bitch"
"And you, can shut up" Roxanne directed at Rose. Rose just laughed at her, it wasn't till a moment later when she tried to make a snide comment that she realised Roxanne had cast a silent spell on her. The silent Langlock meant her tongue was now stuck to the roof of her mouth and she'd probably have to get a professor to counteract it as not many knew the counter-jinx. And even if they did, they wouldn't know what to use as Roxanne had cast it silently.
Roxanne looked over her shoulder at Rose who just glared daggers back at her, she could see Lily sulking next to her but her eyes caught Fred's who looked ashamed and sad, desperately trying to tell her he was sorry with his eyes.~

Roxanne relayed her public fall out with Lily to her dorm mates and the boys in the common room. They could tell she was upset about it but reassured her it was the right thing for her to do. They fell into an easy chatter and being with her friends lifted Roxanne's spirits, she'd almost forgotten about Lily and Fred by the time the common room began to empty. The girls stood up, about to retire when they heard Florence shout from the doorway.
"Scorpius Malfoy!"
The five girls sat back down simultaneously and looked over to Scorpius who was sitting next to Lorc on the sofa. They were all deadly silent and watched as the blonde stormed over to Scorp. Roxanne wondered if he'd finally get his wish.~

A/N:
Apologies for any grammar/spelling mistakes, wanted to just get this posted. Let me know if you spot any glaring ones.

Love Cookie x