Indeed there was interrogating when I arrived home. Indeed there was interrogating once I was back at the store.
"They seemed…" Victoire seemed to be attempting to suppress a grin. "…Nice."
"Totally who I would have expected as the relatives of your young Mr Eton Prep." Remarked uncle George, straight-faced as always.
Teddy was physically spasming as he tried to keep in his own mirth. "You've got to be kidding." He eventually sputtered out as he dissolved into laughter.
I rolled my eyes. "It's a Finnish thing. They're perfectly nice." I said as I scanned the store for the Fursploding Puffskeins. Of course. Uncle George was standing in front of the display with his arms crossed shaking his head. Curse him and his almost sixth sense.
"Are you insane though?" asked Victoire. "What if your mum had seen them? You know your mum's standpoint regarding exciting colours of hair dye and extraneous piercings."
"She'd just judge them quietly and smugly." I pointed out.
"I'd be more concerned with Ron's reaction to be brutally honest." Pointed out uncle George. "He's already unenamoured of the idea that his little Rosie is dating. Add to that the fact that he whom she is dating has scary looking metal cousins," that was said in a gravely death-metal voice, "and, well, I'm sure we can all imagine the reaction."
We all cringed for a moment.
"So apart from the initial impression…" Victoire indicated that I should fill in the blanks.
I shrugged. "They're nice. They were surprised by my 'shortness'," inverted commas may or may not have been mimed, "but all in all, they're basically just his older sisters, who, once they had decided they approved of me, more or less left us to our own devices."
"Let me get this straight." Cut in Teddy, who was generally five foot ten, although that varied according to mood. "They were surprised that you, at five foot…" he looked me up and down.
"Nine." I supplied.
"They were surprised that you were so short?"
Victoire at five foot six seemed to be wondering the same thing.
"To quote directly, 'he said you were small, but everything is small next to him'."
"That's a valid point, but come on. What were they expecting? Their height?"
"Yeah, pretty much. Apparently everyone's incredibly tall in their little town. It's warped their perceptions somewhat."
"You don't say."
I shrugged and changed the subject. "Does anyone know what colour the Christmas sweaters are this year?" grandma Molly's colour choice was a closely guarded secret each year. The speculating was the majority of the fun. More importantly, it pulled focus. Until, of course, we all arrived at the burrow, whereat (in a creepy moment of déjà vu) I walked inside to find mum, aunt Caitlin, aunt Ginny and aunt Susan in more or less the exact same positions they'd been in the previous evening, but for the fact that aunt Caitlin was, instead of elbow deep in a turkey, prepping the ham.
"How was your day?" asked mum.
"Fine." I responded. "Devoid of injuries."
"Thank heavens. Remember your last sports related injury?"
"Come on. There were extenuating circumstances. That was not the norm."
Mum gave me a look which said 'yeah right'.
"What did you do?" asked aunt Caitlin.
"Went skating, ate reindeer, went skating."
"Reindeer?" asked mum.
"It's basically beef." Said Caitlin. "What?" she protested when numerous eyebrows were raised in her direction. "You seem to forget the fact that your boyfriend's mother and I are good friends. Speaking of his family, why don't you give us a description of his cousins." She had on the mischievous grin she wore whenever uncle George's influence was rubbing off onto her.
"You know the Thrashing Thestrals?" (A/N) Nods all around, combined with mild shock. "Picture them, but without the blood and the eyeliner, and about half the piercings. Other than that, of course, they're lovely, if incredibly tall."
"But Scorpius always seemed so… clean cut." said mum, somewhat confused.
"It's a Finnish thing." I responded.
"Promise me you're not going to… you know… go all metal." She seemed to be having trouble finding the right words.
"You know that's not going to happen, mum. I'm too clean cut."
"I know, I was just checking. And if your father asks, try to sugarcoat it a little."
"Obviously. Do you think I want to be sent to a nunnery?"
"Good to know. Scamper off now."
I rolled my eyes. She ought to have realised by now that I did not scamper.
The next day, as I was delving through the cellar storage area for another crate of a hair product Teddy and I had worked on (basically the idea was to add it to whatever hair product one's target used, at which point their hair would turn technicolour, and stay that way for the next three washes), I managed to hit a fingernail at exactly the wrong angle and noticed it was no longer attached to my hand. Which was good and painful.
Muttering murderously to myself, I trudged up the stairs, trying to get enough compression on my finger to stop the bleeding without actually touching the nailbed, which was far too painful. Needless to say, this was a difficult task, one which failed miserably, and which morphed into me merely trying to keep my clothing blood free. In doing so, I collided with someone tall and firm.
Which meant they got a decent amount of bleeding hand blood all over their shirt. And of course, this was Scorpius, who had an amazing knack for turning up at exactly the times I was most likely to bleed on him. I swore violently, as the force of the collision had aggravated numerous nerve endings, at which point Scorpius noticed that I was bleeding all over him.
"Merlin, Rose, what did you do?" he asked as I blinked involuntary tears from my eyes.
"Removed a fingernail forcibly and by accident." I replied through gritted teeth, waiting for him to move so that I could make it to the 'employees rest area' and rinse off the blood and perhaps out on something which would absorb further bleeding.
Scorpius took the hint and moved out of the way, asking Teddy where the first aid kit was kept and then following when it became evident that there wasn't one. Teddy joined the party once I had my hand under the freezing cold tap, waiting for my blood vessels to constrict enough for the bleeding to subside (aunt Caitlin had taught me well). At least it was numbing the area.
"Give us a look, Rose." Said Teddy, attempting to pry my hand from under the bitingly cold tap.
"It's fine." I replied, knowing that the moment I pulled my hand out, the blood would rain afresh.
"Oh. So that's why your boy looks like he's accessory to a violent homicide." He had a point.
"I tore a nail off my finger. I'm waiting until it stops bleeding, at which point I'd disinfect it if we had any disinfectant, and then I'd bandage it. This is well below your skill set."
"Are you sure?" he asked.
I glared at him, and he shared a look with Scorpius, in which Scorpius rolled his eyes in a 'you're not going to get anywhere' manner, and Teddy shrugged as if to say 'she's all yours'. I checked on the progress of the vasoconstriction. It was close enough. I grabbed some paper towelling and made a makeshift pad, secured it around my finger with duct tape, grabbed my coat and told Teddy I was off to buy iodine and bandages. There was a pharmacy a block down from the Leaky Cauldron.
"Take him with you." instructed Teddy, so I waited for Scorpius to get on his coat, before setting off.
"Sorry about bleeding all over you." I said with as much of a smile as I could muster given that my finger was smarting like hell.
Scorpius shrugged and put an arm around my shoulders. "That's what cleaning charms are for."
"What brings you to this neck of the woods sans your inimitable cousins?"
"I bring news." He paused for a moment. "Guess who's going to be a big brother!" he finally burst out, clearly thrilled.
I stopped in my tracks to give him a hug. Screw the bleeding, this took precedence. "That's amazing! When's the baby due?"
"The start of June. Apparently it's going to be a girl."
We restarted walking. "Is that what you came to tell me?" I enquired.
"Indeed it is. I toyed with the idea of email, but to be honest, I just wanted some time with you without the cousins watching over."
"I'm touched, truly I am," and I was, "but at the moment I'm more excited about disinfectant and maybe something that doesn't feel like it's made of sandpaper on my recently mutilated fingernail."
We reached the pharmacy, and with medical goods in hand returned to the store, at which point Scorpius got all Eton on me and insisted he do the bandaging. Which did in fact come in handy when it came time for the disinfecting, which was inordinately painful, and I probably wouldn't have done properly, which when taken in consideration with the fact that I have managed to get dirt into more or less every wound I have ever sustained, probably wouldn't have boded well.
This of course gave me time to survey the surprisingly large bloodstain decorating the front of Scorpius' shirt, making him into a walking pathogen risk. "You're going to have to do something about that." I remarked. "You can't go out in public with that much blood on your chest."
"In all likelihood not, but since we're both underage, there's not much we can do about it." He said, as he washed his hands, my finger more or less immobilised (which was perhaps overkill) but nonetheless clean, dry and not nearly as painful as it had been.
"TEDDY!" was the logical response.
"Can I help you kids?" he asked.
"I've turned Scorpius into a pathogen risk. Would you be nice enough to-"
Teddy cut me off with an eye roll and turned to Scorpius. "As much as I hate to say this, shirt off. Wash off any blood that made it through to your skin."
He did as he was told, at which point I was momentarily distracted. I'd only seen him with his shirt off once before, and I reminded myself to do so more often. To say that he was smokin' hot didn't do justice. He noticed me looking and winked as he pulled his now clean shirt back on. Teddy rolled his eyes. "Verity's going to be coming in at any moment, and you're not exactly going to be working at peak productivity. Go home."
I had to admit that he had a point. I grabbed my things and headed for the fireplace, with Scorpius following. Once I'd been deposited in the living room, I noticed that someone had left a note addressed to me. I noticed because it was enchanted to poke me in the shoulder incessantly until I opened it. It was from Dominique – that much was evident from the fact that it was written in purple fountain pen. I unfolded it, no mean feat might I add because she had a knack for origami, and tended to go the extra mile when it came to folding things, and started reading.
Hey Rose
I was going to call you, but then I realised that you have no use for a phone until you graduate. Anyway, the reason for which I had this piece of paper abuse you so was that Jamie's with me at the Burrow, and I'm trying to introduce him to the family gradually so that he isn't subjected to the full onslaught all at once... Dear god that was a convoluted sentence.
So if you'd be able to pop over ASAP, that would be spiffing.
Feel free to bring the Viking if he's there with you.
Mini.
I had only made it to the second sentence when Scorpius had appeared, walked up behind me and started kissing my neck in the most disconcerting fashion. I may have squealed slightly and tried to edge away, which of course led to him wrapping his arms tightly around my waist and continuing with gusto.
After a moment or so, he stopped and asked "Who's the Viking?" apparently he'd been reading over my shoulder.
"You're the Viking." I said, attempting to extricate myself so that I could get some painkillers for my thumb. And failing.
"I don't follow."
"You're giant and Scandinavian. As far as Mini is concerned, you're a Viking."
The response I got was a muffled noise of assent as Scorpios went back to my neck. I let him continue for a moment (I was rather enjoying the melting feeling) before bringing him back to the task at hand. "You read the note." I pointed out.
"And?"
"And our presence is requested."
"It can't wait?" he had, clever little multitasker that he was, already succeeded in untucking my blouse and was working on the buttons. And whilst I had in theory no qualms with where the afternoon was heading, I knew that Mini wouldn't have left a note if she hadn't really wanted me there. I put my hands on top of his, stopping him from getting any further.
"Later."
He chuckled, and I could feel it rumbling in his chest. "You know I'm going to take you up on that."
And trust me, I did.
A/N: The Thrashing Thestrals are a wizarding metal band invented by my friend in her Oliver/Percy fic 'Between Love and Hate'. Search it. Her user is 'Lege et Lacrima'.
Whilst Legs didn't really go into the details of what variety of metal the Thestrals indulge in, I'm going to go ahead and ponder. In my universe, they're an ultra-death speed metal band. Kind of like Dethklok on steroids. And, of course, Finnish. Like all the best metal bands.