Chapter Twenty One: Rose Weasley

Yes, I'm Rose Weasley. Yes, I'm a Gryffindor. Yes, I'm a Seeker. Yes, I'm dating Scorpius Malfoy. No, I'm not answering your other question.

Ever since Lacy and Albus got together, he's been very distant. Some days, though, he'll take the time to go to the library with us, or to practice Quidditch.

It's hard not to be mad.

Even Scorpius seems a bit sad these days, because Scorpius was his most absolute best mate. Besides me, of course, but that's different.

I think about these things as I prepare for my first ever Quidditch match. We are playing against the Slytherins. Scorpius says that I shouldn't worry about what Milly had planned, because he took care of it, but I can't help but to be nervous.

The feelings fade away as Scorpius wraps his arms around my waist.

"Hello there," I smile at him, pulling on my Quidditch gloves.

"You aren't nervous, are you? About Milly?"

"Just a little bit. What did you tell her, anyway?"

He shrugs, smiling a little bit. "I just told her that if she even thought of it, she'd be out of Hogwarts before she could even raise her wand. Besides, I have Ava and Alice sitting on either side of her. It'll be fine."

"I have my own personal bodyguards? I feel so special!"

"That's because you are," he laughs.

I try not to blush. I'm still not used to being talked to like this, really. I like it though.

"We'd better get going, the game is about to start," he says, dropping his arms and instead taking my hand. We see Albus as we walk out.

"Al?" He doesn't even have his Quidditch robes on, which you are supposed to do once you get in in case there was an immediate start.

"Oh, hey guys," he says hurriedly. "Lacy kept me back…"

"What is it with you and Lacy, anyway?" I say, squeezing Scorpius's hand. "You never have time for us anymore."

He tugs on his robes. "Well, it's just that Lacy likes to have me to herself sometimes, I guess-"

"Sometimes," interrupts Scorpius, "Meaning all the time."

"That's not fair," Albus says, pulling on his gloves.

"What's not fair is that we hang out with you, what- one or two hours a week? We used to always be together, Al," I say, and I realize how much I've missed him. All of us. It's not the same without Albus.

He opens his mouth to say something, but just then the captain, who's name I learned to be Quinn, popped into the locker room.

"We've been looking for you three," she says sternly. "The game is about to start- c'mon then!"

We all walk out to the field, and my breath gets caught in my throat by the sheer number of people in the stands. I knew there were going to be a lot- but not this much.

I look straight over to where the Gryffindors would be sitting, and there they are, Alice and Ava. And right in between them, Milly Greenwood, who doesn't look very happy.

I smile, and walk to the center of the field. "I want a fair game, all of you," Professor Tryke says, looking pointedly at the Slytherin team.

"Alright then, on your brooms!"

I mount my precious broom, a Soundsplitter, one of the newest brooms out. My mother managed to surprise me with one when I delivered the news that I was the new Seeker. My father was overjoyed, of course.

"Hey, Rose," Scorpius calls from his broom.

I turn. He's grinning at me from his position.

"I'll race you to the Keeper's spot when she says go."

I roll my eyes. It is so on.

When the whistle sounds, I kick off the ground as hard as I can, speeding toward the goals where Scorpius is supposed to Keep. I can't hear anything but the wind whistling in my ears, but I'm pretty sure everyone would be wondering why I headed straight toward the goals. They hadn't even released the balls yet.

When I reach the goals, Scorpius nearly runs into me, but he turns just in time. I smirk, flying up right beside him. "I do believe," I begin, "That I won." He squints at me and waves me off. I laugh and fly up to the Seeker's spot to find the captain waiting.

"What was that, Weasley?"

"Sorry," I say, playing dumb, "I guess I kicked off harder than I thought."

She eyes my broom. "Yeah, be careful. That broom is pretty sharp."

I nod earnestly as she lies off, and I can see Scorpius cracking up. He probably thought I had gotten in trouble.

I fly up to meet the Slytherin Seeker. He is an older kid, probably in his 4th or 5th year. He was big and burly, and not the usual figure of a Seeker. But he was still competition.

He stares me down as I wait for the second whistle to sound. It takes a moment, and when it does, I immediately take off. I fly straight up, like Quinn showed me, and began circling the pitch.

"Look for the golden gleam," she had said. "Don't make it too obvious where you are flying, so you don't allow the other Seeker to see it right away."

I focus. It's pretty sunny today, unlike the past week, so I keep my eyes searching. I fly low, up high, in circles, and sometimes backwards. I can feel the opposing Seeker watching m, as if he were relying on me to find it so he could grab it before I could. What a joke.

Sometimes, when I fly really low, I'll grab a handful of dirt. It's harder to fly with one hand on my broom and one clutching dirt, but I manage. Until I get to where Scorpius is keeping, of course. I make sure the Quaffle is well on the other side of the field before flying up behind Scorpius, and chucking the dirt as hard as I can at his back. Usually, the dirt doesn't do anything except pollute the air with tiny dirt particles everywhere. But sometimes, the dirt clumps together and I give Scorpius a pretty good start.

About 15 minutes into the game, I can see that my teammates are getting tired. So is Slytherin, for that matter. What if I never find the Snitch? What f it lasts for ages? Maybe when I tried out, when I caught the Snitch off the bat, it was beginner's luck. Maybe I'm not cut out to be a Seeker.

But a golden glint stops my thoughts in its track.

The Snitch.

It's right in the middle of the field, right in the bulk of all the players. I fly straight over it, not making things too obvious.

If I didn't get it, I'd have to find it all over again. And it's just hovering there, right in the center of the field. So without thinking, I dive straight for the ground. There's no stopping, unless I want to give the Snitch up. I can see the tiny golden ball just hovering there, momentarily undisturbed…

I reach my arm out, and in the matter of three seconds, my hands close around it.

I've caught the Snitch.

"I've caught the Snitch!" I repeat my thoughts out loud, and there is the announcer, his voice booming over the pitch, "Rose Weasley has caught the Snitch! Gryffindors win!"

All of the people sitting on the Gryffindor section of the stands stand up and cheer, and I can only vaguely hear the Slytherins booing. Even the Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs are cheering. Scorpius flies right up to me, a big smile on his face. "You're brilliant, Rose!"

"Haven't you already noticed that? I'm quite a hit," I tease, flying in circles around him.

…

That night, a real celebration went on. Every Gryffindor was in the common room (Except Milly Greenwood, who I didn't see), and some were carrying great big Gryffindor banners in their hands.

"Imagine what'll happen if we win the Cup," I mutter to Scorpius, smiling when needed.

Quinn walks up to us, and there is a smile in place of her usual stern look. The other players form a small crowd. "You all did great today," she says to us, "We won the first game of the season! This is great!"

"You've got to have more faith in us," one of our Beaters call. There are laughs from the group.

"What was I supposed to do? We've welcomed four new players! Of course I was worried!" She beamed at all of us. "But you did excellent. I'm proud of you. All of you."

Scorpius and I continue through the common room, finally grabbing a seat on the couch.

"Was the dirt necessary, really?" I burst out laughing, feeling happy.

"It was, actually," I say, grinning.

Scorpius smirks. "Could you explain your reasoning for-"

"Scorp? Rose?" A voice from behind us interrupts whatever he was about to say. It's Albus, standing there.

"Yeah?" Scorpius asks.

"Look, I'm really sorry about Lacy-"

"Of course it's fine, Al," I say, exasperated. "We're not saying that you can't ever spend time with Lacy. But remember, you have friends, too. We miss you."

"A lot," Scorpius adds on, crossing his arms.

"I've missed you all, too. You both and Ava and Alice…" He looks like he was about to say more, but he stopped himself.

"How can I make it up to you?"

I smile. "Well, how about tomorrow we all spend the day together. Lacy can tag along, if she wants."

"Deal," he agrees quickly, a smile coming upon his face.

This will be nice.

…

Which house would I be in? Well, I'd like to think that I'd be a mighty Gryffindor!

Though I still haven't gotten my letter yet… Bugger.

Poll:

Butterbeer

Or

Chocolate Frogs

This poll makes me hungry.

Ah, someone pointed out that I didn't do the little intros on the chapters on Scorpius's! I am dearly sorry, I must get around to that and edit it. The thing is, I write the chapters before I actually write the little intro, and sometimes it slips the mind. Thank you for pointing that out!

Another thing, about the whole competing and teasing each other- there will be more of that (plenty more, I have a million of tiny ideas running through my head), but right now I'm updating so much, trying to get this story really going, that sometimes I forget about their competitive behavior toward each other. It's so hard, because back when I read these fanfics, all I did was read. Now, I write them, and I realize just how difficult it is- I didn't expect it!

But thank you very much, EVERYONE who reviewed, and " .Read." I'll definitely try to fit more of that in there.