A/N: I know I said I would have more time now that it is summer but I got a summer internship and it's taking up all my time. Regardless, here is the next chapter! I'm not giving up on this story and so I would like to thank everyone that is still reading. Thank you sooo much to everyone who is reviewing. If I haven't personally messaged you to thank you I'm so sorry and I'll try to get to everyone. I hope you enjoy this chapter and as always suggestions and constructive criticism is more than welcome.
Disclaimer: I do not own!
Molly Weasley was extremely lucky that she was still alive. Normally that sort of statement would be an exaggeration made simply to convey the seriousness of a situation but this time around I really meant it. I had anticipated an owl from her all of last night but she hadn't sent me a single note. Now, the following day, I was making a fool of myself by standing in front of the Ravenclaw tower. It had been twenty minutes and not a single person had entered or left the tower leaving me to wait impatiently. Despite the fact that I was extremely exasperated I was more than willing to wait around the tower for the remainder of the day. After all, classes were over and I had very little homework to attend to. In an effort to stave off boredom I took out my wand and began to produce different colored lights, making them dance in the air. Just as a burst of yellow light came out of my wand the door to the Ravenclaw tower swung open. The colors I had produced instantly vanished as I turned towards the door. As a Ravenclaw boy began to exit the tower I rushed in through the door nearly knocking him over.
"What the hell?" The boy called after me.
There was a small part of me that felt bad enough to turn around and apologize but that part of me was squashed by my overwhelming desire to harass one Molly Weasley. My entrance into the Ravenclaw common room caused the studious students to look up from their books and shoot me curious glances. Because of the inter-house competition they were probably suspicious of my presence but my prominently displayed prefect badge prevented anyone from questioning me. After taking a deep breath I headed up the stairs towards the girls dormitories easily finding my way to Molly's dormitory. Opening the door, I stepped inside and quickly spotted Molly's flaming red hair sitting at her desk. Other than Molly there was only one seventh year girl in the dormitory. Molly didn't even look up from her books as the door slammed behind me and I couldn't help but grin and roll my eyes. My cousin was even more engrossed in her studies than I usually was. I made my way over to Molly's desk and stood beside it. Clearing my throat I began to tap my foot in order to get her attention. Molly's eyes darted down towards my shoes and I heard her take in a sharp breath before she picked her head up to look at me.
"Rosie!" She exclaimed, forcing a smile. "Darling, what are you doing here?"
When I had been waiting downstairs I had been absolutely furious with Molly for not sending me an owl and yet now, seeing how nervous she was, I couldn't bring myself to even think about yelling at her.
"Molly, you know exactly what I'm doing here." I replied, giving her a stern look as I folded my arms over my chest. Just because I wasn't going to yell at her did not mean I was going to let her off easy. As those words left my lips, Molly pushed her chair back away from her desk and nodded her head, giving me a sheepish look.
"I guess I do." She replied, glancing off to the side and biting her lower lip.
"Good! Then I can get straight to the point. Why didn't you tell me?" I exclaimed, my voice raising an octave as I hit her arm.
"I was scared of what you would say!" Molly exclaimed defensively. "I was going to tell you eventually, when I worked up the courage to do so. When you saw me with Emmanuel yesterday I was so scared that you were going to get mad at me so I was too nervous to owl you."
The apologetic look on Molly's face instilled a good deal of guilt in me and I relaxed my stance. With a sigh I sat down on her bed and crossed my right ankle over the left.
"What did you imagine me saying? Must have been pretty bad if you were so worked up." A part of me was hurt by the fact that Molly had been afraid to tell me about this major development in her personal life.
Molly shrugged her shoulders, "I don't know…" She trailed off for a moment, glancing around the dormitory. "I just didn't think you would approve and I thought you would be mad at me for going out with him. You can't blame me for thinking like that Rosie! You know just as well as I do the general sentiment towards Slytherins in our family. Especially Uncle Ronald's perception of Slytherins! Plus, he's a Zabini Rosie. Everyone knows that his parents supported Voldemort for quite a long time during the Second War. I didn't want you to be upset with me." Once Molly had finished speaking she looked at me nervously, her blue eyes open wide.
Furrowing my brows I bobbled my head from side to side for a few moments. Molly's fears weren't entirely unfounded. After all, most of the members of the Weasley-Potter clan still held a blanket disdain towards all Slytherins. While I didn't hate all Slytherins I couldn't claim to be a beacon of tolerance. As I tried to come up with the right thing to say, Molly spoke again.
"On top of all that, Emmanuel is best friends with Scorpius Malfoy." Molly's nervous expression had transformed into one of amusement and she looked like she was about to laugh.
A chuckle escaped my lips. "Molls, just because I occasionally have the urge to break Malfoy does not mean I hold the same sentiments towards Emmanuel." I widened my eyes and pursed my lips, giving her a faux pointed look.
As she smiled, a hopeful look crossed Molly's face. "So you're not mad at me?" She asked.
I shook my head, "No, I'm not mad that you and Emmanuel are dating. I'm happy for you love. I was just upset that you didn't tell me."
Without saying another word Molly stood up and walked over to me, giving me a hug. "Thanks Rosie. I'm sorry that I didn't tell you. It was silly of me."
"You got that right." I replied as we both pulled out of the hug. The two of us laughed and Molly sat down on her bed next to me. "So when are you planning on telling the rest of the clan?"
At those words, Molly turned her head towards me and gave me a horrified look. "Do I have to?" She questioned. Molly knew very well that she would have to let the others in on her little secret eventually so I didn't even bother to answer her. With a sigh, Molly nodded. "I'm just afraid of how the boys will react. I'm afraid that they'll start harassing him and Emmanuel will just wake up and realize I'm not worth all of that trouble." The look on Molly's face was nervous and quite sad. She avoided my gaze and kept her eyes focused on her folded hands.
"Molly!" I exclaimed, genuinely surprised. I couldn't even fathom how she could think that she wasn't worth all of that and much, much more. "Emmanuel is the lucky one in this relationship and if he's a smart guy he knows you're more than worth any trouble the Weasley – Potter boys could give him." Leaning over I hugged my cousin from the side, wrapping my arms around her shoulders.
Turning her head, Molly looked at me and smiled. "Thanks Rosie." A silence befell the two of us and we sat in the comfortable silence for a few minutes. Finally, when Molly spoke I jumped up a bit in surprise. "I know I have to tell everyone eventually. After all, if one of the boys was to stumble upon Emmanuel and I like you did it would be awful. I just have to figure out the best way to do it. Telling everyone one by one doesn't seem like a good idea. Everyone would just pass on the information amongst themselves and then I'll have to deal with people thinking I purposely left them out."
Nodding my head, I mulled over what Molly just said. She was undeniably right. Secrets had a tendency to spread like wildfire amongst the clan. "Yes well, you have quite the situation on your hands right now." I chuckled, giving Molly an apologetic smile. I couldn't even begin to try and put myself in her shoes.
An exasperated sigh left her lips and she shook her head. "I'll figure it out Rosie, don't you worry. I feel better knowing that you're on my side."
"Of course I am!" I gave Molly one last hug before I stood up off her bed. "I'm going to get going. There's a scheduled Gryffindor – Slytherin dueling practice and I want to make sure no one dies today."
Molly laughed and nodded her head, "Good luck with that. Try not to kill Malfoy," she called after me.
"I'll do my best!" I yelled back as I left her dormitory and made my way back down to the Ravenclaw common room. I didn't bother telling Molly that I was no longer as tempted to break Malfoy's neck as I had been at the beginning of the school year. Given how volatile the ups and downs were between Malfoy and myself it seemed like it would be a premature statement. Once in the common room, I quickly headed out of the tower to avoid receiving any more curious glances. As I emerged from the Ravenclaw tower I heard someone yell my last name. Glancing to my left I saw Scorpius Malfoy heading my way.
"What were you doing in the Ravenclaw tower?" Malfoy questioned. "Not spying on them were you? While I completely approve of such actions that seems very un-Weasley like of you."
Rolling my eyes, I shook my head. "I was not spying on them Malfoy. I went up there to talk to Molly." On the tip of my tongue rested the words 'it's none of your business'. However, remembering the way in which Malfoy had reacted to my comments yesterday I refrained from being snarky for the time being. He had completely avoided me yesterday during and after dueling practice so I was surprised that he was even talking to me at the moment.
"Oh, got it. Reckon I know what you two talked about." He revealed his revelations as the two of us began to walk downstairs.
"I reckon you do." I replied, laughing lightly.
"Everything okay?" He asked after a few seconds of silence.
I was extremely confused by the sudden interest Malfoy seemed to be showing in my relationship with Molly. Nevertheless, I nodded my head. "Yeah, everything is just fine." I paused for a few seconds, "Thanks for asking." Though I was still puzzled my Malfoy's interest it seemed only right to thank him for his odd concern.
"Uh…yeah…" Malfoy's voice trailed off revealing his surprise at my thanks.
For the remainder of our walk towards the Great Hall the two of us were silent. Upon stepping into the Great Hall, I was surprised to see that most of the dueling partners were already practicing. I turned my head and exchanged surprised smiles with Malfoy.
"Well, look at that!" I exclaimed. Malfoy opened his mouth to reply when Frank walked up to the two of us.
"Hey Rosie." He greeted, blatantly ignoring Malfoy. Before I could even greet Frank he wrapped an arm around my waist and quickly planted a kiss on my lips. To be quite honest a part of me was slightly nauseous. Kissing one of your best friends wasn't exactly very pleasant. As Frank pulled away I swallowed hard. "Hey Frank." I replied, feeling my cheeks warm up. Out of the corner of my eyes I could see the look of disgust painted across Malfoy's face. Still thoroughly embarrassed, I turned my head away from Frank and looked at Malfoy. "Let's get started." I mumbled to him. Malfoy merely glared at Frank and nodded his head. With that, I placed a hand on Frank's chest and took a step back, "I'll see you later." Turning my heel, I turned away from Frank and began to walk towards the other side of the Great Hall with Malfoy in tow.
Once I had put a decent amount of distance between Frank and myself I stopped and turned to face Malfoy. I was expecting him to say something snarky and rude but not a single word came from his lips. There was merely a curious expression gracing his admittedly handsome features.
"Which group do you want to take today?" I asked, avoiding his gaze. I knew very well that I needed to tell Frank that I didn't want this relationship to go further and I didn't need Malfoy's glance to further entrench that.
"I think we should work on us today." Was the reply that came from Malfoy. The curious phrasing of that statement caused me to look over at the Slytherin.
"What?" I asked, curiously.
"We spent all of yesterday's practice helping the others. I think that we should practice together today. After all, I don't have any faith in these bumbling baboons to win the dueling challenge so it's up to the two of us."
"Oh, yeah, right." Was my reply, shaking my head to clear myself of any and all confusion. I wasn't even sure of what I had thought he had meant. "Let's get started." My tone of voice was relatively cheery as I took out my wand.
Scorpius
"Get out." My voice was hardly louder than a whisper but there was a sharp undertone to it.
"What?" Claudia's shrill voice questioned from beside me. Sighing, I repeated myself without so much as pealing my eyes away from the ceiling.
"But Scorpius…" Claudia's voice trailed off and I felt the mattress shift as she moved closer to me. Clearly I had to be even more obvious about what it was that I wanted. Just as she placed her hand on my shoulder I rolled over onto my side so that my back was to her. Claudia remained perfectly still for a few seconds before she sighed and crawled out of my bed. I kept my back to her as she got dressed and stomped out of the room. Once the door had shut behind her a sigh of relief left my lips and I rolled onto my back so that I could once more look up at the ceiling. I was so very bored of Claudia that I could hardly bear it. If she hadn't made that comment about Rose last night I wouldn't have given her another second of my time. A few moments later the door to the dormitory swung open and I groaned, "I didn't mean that you could come back." I snapped, sitting up on bed. However, upon sitting up I saw that the person who had opened the door was Emmanuel, not Claudia.
"Jeez mate sorry. I can leave if you want me to." Emmanuel laughed as he let the door close behind him.
"Sorry, I thought you were Claudia." I grumbled, leaning against the headboard of my bed.
"Yeah I figured. I saw her stomping down the stairs on my way up here." Emmanuel smirked, clearly amused by the situation. "What did you do that's got her PMSing more than usual?" Emmanuel sat down on his bed and sighed happily, stretching out.
I shrugged my shoulders before rolling my eyes, "I'm just bored of her." I admitted.
"So tell her you're bored of her and find someone more interesting." Emmanuel's voice was very matter of fact. He leaned over the edge of his bed and picked up a textbook, rifling through it as if he had nothing better to do.
"She's just so damn clingy." I muttered considering whether or not to tell him about Claudia's comment from the night before.
"Your girls are always clingy." Emmanuel replied, glancing at me for a moment before returning to his reading.
"Yeah but she thinks I've been ignoring her because of all the time I've been spending with that Weasley girl." After I said that I didn't look over at Emmanuel. I still couldn't, for the life of me, understand why I had let Claudia's talk me into keeping her around in the way she had.
"So what?" Emmanuel questioned, sounding honestly confused. Turning my head, I looked over at Emmanuel to notice that he had closed his textbook and was giving me a perplexed look.
"What do you mean so what?" Furrowing my brows, I acted like the answer should be obvious to him even when it wasn't so clear to me. "I don't want her thinking that there's something going on between myself and Rose Weasley. You know how big of a mouth Claudia has. Next thing you know all of Slytherin thinks I'm in bed with one of the Gryffindor princesses."
"Scorp, you and Rose Weasley are constantly trying to tear each other's throats out like a pair of trained fighting dogs. I doubt anyone would ever take such a rumor seriously." Emmanuel raised his eyebrows at me. "Just ignore Claudia and her obnoxious statements and focus on the inter-house challenge. You have to work with Rose to win the challenge and that's what you should do."
Clearing my throat, I nodded my head. "Yeah, your right."
Emmanuel laughed and opened his book once more. "Of course I'm right. Besides, even if you wanted to get Rose Weasley into bed you wouldn't be able to."
Arching a brow I lowered my chin and gave Emmanuel a pointed look. "You're joking right?" In the back of my mind I tried to suspend reality for a second and tried to imagine actually wanting some sort of physical relationship with Rose Weasley. Oddly enough I didn't find it all that difficult and I quickly had to put the thought out of my mind to avoid confusing myself further.
Emmanuel laughed, "Not in the least. That's one girl that you will never get into that bed with you." Another loud laugh escaped Emmanuel before he turned back to his textbook for good. Rolling my eyes, I jumped out of bed and began to get dressed for dueling practice. Emmanuel had been right about one thing today – it was stupid to worry about Claudia thinking that I had anything going on with Rose. I was done with Claudia regardless of whether or not she decided to tell people I was fooling around with Rose Weasley. No one would believe her any way. As for Emmanuel's opinion on the matter I knew he was dead wrong but that was a non starter considering I would never even try such a thing.