Chapter 11 – Optimism
...
It's dark in a cold December,
But I got you to keep me warm.
If you're broken I will mend you,
And I'll keep you sheltered from the storm that's raging on.
Ed Sheeran – Lego House
I do not own Harry Potter. Obviously.
The weather seems to get progressively colder where it should be getting warmer, and consequently, Al and I end up sitting by the lake in the rain more and more.
It's easier than being with anyone else.
Although Scorpius joins us every now and then which is nice. Al usually leaves after a while …
I have more time to revise than Hugo because he is far slower at his work than me, and so is always stressed with the load he has to do with our exams starting next month.
The same goes for Ellie, although she's on the Quidditch team too which means she has an extra few nights a week taken away for training.
There is another Hogsmeade weekend a few weeks later. I almost don't go because I feel bad leaving Scorpius since he's not allowed to go. But since I missed the last one and we need to get Uncle George a birthday present, Scorpius persuades me to go.
Plus I can actually afford to take a day off from work for once.
He also asks me to get a present for Noah's birthday from him since he can't buy him anything himself.
On the morning of the day we're going, I meet James, Fred, Al, Hugo, Lucy and Roxy in the Great Hall. Hogsmeade days are family days.
Except for Molly of course.
It's been ages since I've seen Roxy because she's not in the same house as me and since we're both doing our O.W.L.s in a couple months we've been completely overcome by our work overload.
I don't know Roxy all that well anyway.
I love her, she's a rebel and a joker, just like Fred, and she loves to party, but because she's so carefree, beautiful and obsessed with always having a good time, she's very popular and doesn't really hang out with her cousins except on these Hogsmeade days.
We head first to Uncle George's shop and Fred and Roxy greet their dad with so much enthusiasm you wouldn't think they'd seen each other for years.
He hands us out loads of freebies and products that aren't actually for sale yet so we can test them out.
I grab a couple of things that Scorp told me Noah likes, and chip in for some rare plant or something that Roxy and Fred want to get their dad from the whole clan.
Then it all seems a bit pointless that I am there at all.
We go to The Three Broomsticks for a little while, but since we have done everything we need to do we decide to just call it a day and head back to the castle.
Another reason is because we seem to be having the first non-miserable day of the year. The sun finally breaks through the clouds and the miserable grey sky turns a little clearer.
We want to just sit in the grounds but when we get there we find that the whole school has stripped off their layers and are trying to sunbathe by the lake.
They don't seem to realise that even if it is relatively sunny, it is still cold, and the grass is still wet from the night before.
Regardless of this, most of the school are outside; meaning our little spot by the lake is occupied by a group of first years who we don't have the heart to shoo away.
Instead, Al, Hugo, Ellie, Roxy and I go to the room of requirement for some privacy. We meet Scorpius and Noah there and go in.
Ellie hasn't seen it before and is immensely impressed until she sees the state inside it.
'You know what I think?' she says, 'I think this place needs some TLC.'
We all look at her blankly. Ellie is a little obsessed with being organised and tidy. She knows more household spells than anyone I've ever met and she's only 15.
It's no wonder she's in Ravenclaw.
'Come on guys! Look at the mess of this place. Isn't this place supposed to be able to provide anything a person needs? No? Well, I'm not surprised it's stopped working. It looks totally unloved.'
'There was a fire, Ellie,' I explain. 'Our parents were here. There was a fire, and it destroyed the place. There's nothing we can do.'
'Don't be silly. We can at least clear up the ashes.' We all just look at her.
'Fine.Ican at least clear up the ashes.' And then she sets to work magically removing the ashes from the room.
Hugo raises his eyebrows at her, and then we all sit down and leave her to it.
After she's finished clearing away the ashes she starts trying to erase the blackened marks on the walls where the fire burnt it. We all watch her work with interest. None of us would have any idea how to do what she's doing. We all presumed the burn marks were inerasable.
We talk for a while, Scorpius is unusually quiet. Although it's not so unusual now. He's still getting a lot of shit from home. I try to comfort him but I don't know what to say.
The best thing I can do is distract him, and he seems to like being distracted so I start a conversation about The Cannons and this seems to cheer him up a little.
When Ellie has finally managed to clear the walls so they are clean and white, she starts using all sorts of arty charms she learned in Art – she's one of only four people in our year who took the subject – and she manages to create a comfortable carpet and wallpaper around the room.
She's far too into this to stop now so she starts creating furniture until we have our own little living room which reminds me of the Gryffindor common room except there is less red and gold.
She looks at her work proudly and says, 'I'd like to be an interior decorator. What do you think?'
We all gape at the transformation to the old room. It actually fits in with the rest of the castle now.
'Isn't interior decorating a muggle job?' Scorpius asks.
'Well, yes.' Ellie admits, 'but I could decorate wizard's houses, couldn't I? I think it would be fun!'
We all agree with her. After all, the place looks great and she managed to do it in about half an hour.
We all settle down on the big sofas Ellie's created and continue talking and playing games.
After a little while Roxy goes to fetch some of her friends because she'd rather talk to them than us, and she brings them in to our newly decorated room.
I have a feeling this room is going to become less and less of a private room for the Potter-Weasley clan. Great.
Scorpius puts his arm round me and gets a few raised eyebrows from Roxy and some of her friends.
He just rolls his eyes at them. I grin and lean on his chest.
I'd love to jump up and dance around and do something weird like I normally would, but I'm too exhausted.
As it begins to get late, Roxy and her friends disappear to go to some party in the dungeons and Fred, James and Ellie have to go to Quidditch practice.
This leaves me, Scorpius, Hugo, Al and Noah.
Al – who is obviously a mind reader – wanders back to the Slytherin common room with Noah, and Hugo decides to see if he can gatecrash Roxy's party.
So it's just me and Scorpius.
'Want to go outside?' I ask him.
He gives me a lazy, I-Can't-Be-Bothered look.
I get up and reach for him to take my hand then I pull him up with me. I take him outside and we sit down in our spot by the lake now that the first years have dispersed.
It starts raining again. Typical.
I just reach up and kiss him gently on the lips.
The sky is nearly black and the only light is the faint glow coming from the castle. There is a distant sound of talking and music.
Even in the rain, it's perfect.
He looks down at me. 'Why did I ever hate you?' he asks.
I shrug, 'you were a git.'
He punches me gently on the arm. 'Oi.' He says, and then he kisses me again.
I stand up and reach out for his hand again. 'Let's dance.'
He takes it. 'You're so weird, Lil'.'
We dance together as the rain gets heavier, until the world falls silent and we realise we have missed curfew by about 3 hours.
This is the smell I didn't recognise in the Amortentia.
The smell of fresh air, of rain, and of Scorpius Malfoy.
ϟ O-O¬
It is the next day when we are all back in the room of requirement and Rose walks in.
She doesn't look happy. I suddenly feel quite bad that there are so many people here and she wasn't invited.
'Are you okay, Rose?' I ask.
She smiles, a rare sight. 'Yes.' She says. 'I know what I'm going to do now.'
We look at her worriedly. None of us has any idea what to say.
'Rose …' I say, but she cuts across me.
'This was inevitable, wasn't it? I've just fucked everything up one too many times and I give up.'
'What do you mean?' I ask nervously. 'What was inevitable?'
She smiles again. She looks genuinely happy for the first time in weeks. Months even.
She holds out her hand to me. 'Come with me?' she says.
I get up at once. It's so strange to see her back to her old self so suddenly, so I let Rose drag me out of the room.
Her sudden niceness is making me suspicious, but I have to trust her. She doesn't leave me much choice.
She leads me down to the Great Hall where a lot of students are hanging out since it's the weekend.
Professor Heath is sitting at the teachers table chatting to Professor Longbottom. It is he who Rose is looking at.
Suddenly she lets go of my hand and yells, 'HEY, PROFESSOR!' And the few teachers all turn to face her.
The hall falls silent. Nobody really knows what just happened. Rose Weasley? Shouting in public?
I have no idea what she is about to do.
She pulls her wand from her robes and aims it at Professor Heath.
Rose has a perfect aim, whatever she wants to hit, she will hit. The teachers are all too startled to do anything.
'CRUCIO!' she yells and the spell flies towards them at lightning speed.
It hits a spot on the wall just to the left of Professor Heath.
Everyone is silent. Rose Weasley has never broken one rule before, and now she is likely to be expelled.
I am sure I am the only person in the room who knows that she missed the head teacher deliberately. She never wanted to hit him.
That spot she hit on the wall will have been the spot she aimed for, because Rose has a perfect aim.
Rose never misses what's she's trying to hit.
What wouldn't Rose do?
Suddenly it all makes sense. She didn't want to hurt anybody, but she wanted to do something bad enough to get herself expelled. She's making her wish of becoming a muggle come true.
All this time she was so unhappy, she was planning a way out and none of us noticed.
She was happy today because she found one. Because she's going home.
ϟ O-O¬
Just when I thought everything was going right, my perfect cousin has been expelled from Hogwarts and I feel I am entirely to blame for not looking after her.
Inside I know I was not, of course, the only reason she did it. She did it because she was unhappy, lonely and desperate for an easier life.
She wanted to be a muggle.
It makes no sense to me, but in her mind, it is logical. So she got expelled only a year before she would have left anyway, and applied to a muggle college where she'd start after Easter.
Rumours fly about Rose, and we, as her cousins, have to defend her.
I get looks and whispers wherever I go because I was the one holding her hand that day.
I ignore people's questions, though.
There will be a hearing, and there I will give my defence, I will explain how she never intended to hurt anyone, how she has perfect aim, and I know I will be backed up, especially judging by her perfect record.
But she broke the law. She used an unforgivable curse. She's lucky she's not of age yet or she'd be thrown in Azkaban. But they won't do that. Even when she is 17. No, it's too obvious that she was out of character that day.
But her wand will be snapped, and she will not be returning to Hogwarts.
Scorpius is a great comfort. I understand slightly more about how it must have felt to be Rose, and to take comfort in someone she used to hate.
But no matter how happy I thought I was, it could never have lasted forever.
We are the Potter-Weasley clan, and we have to cause as much trouble as possible so people don't forget we exist.
Having a father like Harry Potter isn't exactly easy, but I love him, and I love all my family, and I think moments of perfection cannot be perfect forever or things would be boring.
Us Potter-Weasley's need a bit of chaos and weirdness. It's just how we are.
We're lucky we have each other.
Not that I think what Rose did was a good thing, nor has it landed us in a very good situation, but she's happier now, and something was bound to happen judging by the way she was headed.
Now she's got a few weeks at home with her parents who love her and are determined to look after her, and then after Easter she'll go to a school where she might actually be happy.
Things can never be perfect forever. You just have to see the good in things that aren't.
Life isn't meant to be perfect. And no matter how over everything feels and how little I can be bothered to try and sort everything out, it will still happen.
Scorpius has taught me to be optimistic.
At least I have him.
A/N: Soooo what do you think? Good or bad exit from Rose there?
The next chapter will hopefully be more interesting:)
Thank you for all your lovely reviews! I only have one exam left so I will be able to update quicker soon!
Let me know your thoughts!
Love you all! :)
~Mango :)
[Anon: Thank you! I'm so glad you think that, that really made me smile:) I know what you mean, I like warm and fuzzy fluff too :D
Yeah I've definately got to get some more Draco in here soon! It's going to be Easter in a bit I think so maybe then ... ;)
I hope you liked this chapter!
Thank you so much for your reviews, they make my smile:D
~Mango :) X]
