Hot damn, it's been a while! Like, a while a while. I'm so sorry guys. A lot's happened while I was gone. I survived my senior year (including the hardest course I've ever taken, Physical Chemistry), got a boyfriend, broke up with my boyfriend, graduated college, moved back home, got a job, took the MCAT, and am now applying to medical school.

I'm publishing this short chapter now to gauge interest. While the ending of 6th year wasn't great, it was a good closing point, as things with the mysterious attacks had been solved. There are more threads I'd like to close in writing 7th year, but I understand I understand if no one wants to read the ending of the fic I've had planned - I've been MIA for a year and a half, after all. Either way, I had some of this written already, and now that I had a second to breathe I wanted to finish it and put it out there. This, too, would be an okay closing point if y'all feel like you just aren't invested enough to want more. So, let me know in the comments!

Chapter 37

Year Seven, Part One

"Why does Glinda's wand have a sparkly star at the end?"

"I don't know. She likes sparkly things."

"But why doesn't the Wicked Witch have a wand too?"

"I guess she doesn't need one."

"But if she's powerful enough to do wandless magic, why doesn't she cast a spell to keep water from touching her?"

"Just shut up and watch the movie, Al."

Rose sat on her cousin's bed next to him, with Scorpius on her other side. She rested lightly against her boyfriend's shoulder – it was too hot for them to be any closer. The weather had been growing steadily warmer since they'd left Hogwarts for the summer. Her shirt was sticking to her body uncomfortably despite the numerous Cooling Charms they'd cast around the room. Rose couldn't bring herself to mind too much, though. She'd finally succeeded in getting her two best friends to watch The Wizard of Oz, one of her favorite Muggle movies. Not that Scorpius had needed much convincing; she had been telling him about it for years now, as well as its theatrical prequel, Wicked, and he wanted to see why she liked it so much. He was quiet beside her but seemed to be enjoying himself, despite the confusing way the movie portrayed witchcraft. He was used to her showing him pieces of Muggle culture that depicted magical entities inaccurately. Albus, on the other hand…

"So the shoes are enchanted?"

"Yep."

"Are they Portkeys?"

"No."

"But then how did they just get her back home? What kind of magic –"

"For Merlin's sake, it's a movie! Muggles have no idea how real magic works. Can't you just ignore the details and enjoy it for what it is?"

"No."

She rolled her eyes. "Scor, can you help me out here?"

Her boyfriend tore his eyes away from the screen when he heard his name. "Hmm, what was that?" he asked distractedly.

"See, Al? Scorpius is enjoying it."

Albus grumbled something that sounded suspiciously like the word "whipped", but didn't interrupt again before the movie ended a short while later.

This was Scorpius' second week staying with the Potters this summer, and each day was much like the next. The friends read their seventh year books in the sunshine, played Quidditch with Hugo and James and Lily and other Weasleys who happened to visit, swam in the pond just up the hill to stay cool, and did other lazy summer things that made Scorpius feel happier and more normal than he had in a while. Still, he hadn't completely recovered from the events of last Christmas – it wasn't something that could be gotten over quickly. He'd been tortured, his grandmother had been killed in front of him, and he'd nearly died himself from that awful poison.

Scorpius had come to accept that he would probably never be quite the same as he had been. He suspected, as did Rose and Albus, that he would always be a bit warier and overprotective of those he cared for. Those certainly weren't bad traits, once he learned how to manage them. And he was learning.

Similarly, his problem with Rose was fading but wasn't completely gone. It was still visible in the way they avoided the subject of Rowena Ravenclaw's hidden spell, as well as the Quidditch game in which Fred had accidentally broken her arm with a well-aimed Bludger. They successfully managed to go without speaking of it until Hugo, Ron, and Hermione came to dinner at the Potters' one evening in late August. Andrea had been invited to dinner, just as she had been invited to join Rose and Scorpius at the Potters', but she'd decided to spend time with a friend of hers from the Muggle world for a few weeks. That night, they began talking about Quidditch around the table, which was far from unusual. Specifically, Ron, Hugo, James, and Ginny were discussing the recent injury of Puddlemere United's Keeper Timothy Blenkinsop in a game against the Montrose Magpies.

"Do you think he'll be able to play in their match next week?" asked James.

"Does it matter? They'll still beat the Appleby Arrows, easy," replied Ron.

"I'm not so sure about that. The Arrows have a rookie Seeker, and I hear he's quite good," said Ginny. "I'll get to see for myself in a few weeks – I'm set to cover one of their games for the Daily Prophet."

"Besides," said Hugo, "I don't see why he wouldn't be able to play in a week."

"He broke wrist and got a concussion, idiot," retorted James. "Even with healing spells and potions, of course he won't be fit to play, the healers would never clear him."

"Oh come off it, Rose did worse last term and she was fine after three days tops," replied Hugo. "And Blekinsop's a pro Quidditch player, Puddlemere has to have at least ten healers working with him right now."

James was about to respond, but Ron interrupted him – "Did you just say your sister was injured?"

Rose kicked her brother under the table, making the younger boy wince. It was clear from the look in his eye that he'd realized the magnitude of what he'd just done, though. Everyone gathered around the table knew, could sense it brewing in the suddenly still air of the dining room like the calm before the storm.

"Rose…" started Ron, and this time she was the one wincing. "Rose," he'd called her. Not "Rosie", not "sweetheart", not any of the other million pet names he had for her - he hadn't called her any of those in a year now, not since he'd discovered her snogging Scorpius Malfoy at the Quidditch World Cup. Just Rose. She thought to herself how funny it was that one word could say so much.

"Rose, why didn't you tell me? Why didn't anyone tell me?" Here he took time to glare at Hugo, James, Albus, and Scorpius individually, saving the dirtiest look for last.

"When would I have told you, dad?"

"You could have written me."

"We haven't exchanged letters in a year. Why would I start just to tell you I got a little banged up in a Quidditch match? Madame Longbottom fixed me up before I was able to get a quill in my hand." She didn't mention the fact that she wouldn't have been able to hold a quill before the Hogwarts Matron had healed her, as she was right-handed and it was her right arm that had been broken.

"You could have told me once you'd gotten home."

"I haven't seen you since I got home." She lowered her voice but pressed onward; "You've been avoiding me. And then I went to the Potters to be with my cousins and my…" she deliberated for a moment before continuing, "…boyfriend."

Ron's face grew sour at the word, as she'd known it would. But if they were going to have this conversation, there was no reason to hold back. She felt guilt toward the Potters, of course, for having this argument in their dining room where they were being forced to bear witness, but at this point she really didn't think it could be helped.

Scorpius reached for her hand under the table, which she took gratefully. She began to rub circles on the back of his hand with her thumb in a manner that was comforting both to him and to herself.

Ron turned to his wife. "Did you know about this?"

Hermione's mouth was pressed into a thin line. "I'd heard from Hannah that she'd had a bit of a spill, yes."

Rose saw that her father's face growing redder by the minute. "And you forgot to mention it to me?"

"I asked her not to," Rose intervened. "You're so… Merlin, you're so unpredictable. You don't exactly make me want to tell you things, Dad. I never know how you'll react – can you blame me for thinking it's easier to just not say anything? Especially since it all turned out fine in the end?"

Rose saw the pain in her father's expression as she said these words, but she didn't try to take them back. They were true, after all.

After a moment's deliberation, she decided to push him even farther. "That's what got us into this mess in the first place, isn't it?" she said quietly. "I didn't know how you'd react to my dating a Malfoy… and I let you find out in the worst way possible. I – I'm sorry. For that. But don't you see why I tried to hide it?"

Ron turned to James and Albus without saying anything – her heart sank a little further. "Who did it?" he asked.

The brothers glanced at one another from the corners of their eyes. Albus quickly shifted his gaze to his plate. James feigned innocence. "Who did what? Sorry Uncle Ron, don't know what you're talking about."

"You know exactly what I'm asking. What's the name of the bastard that knocked my daughter off her broom?"

"Ronald, calm down and watch your language," chided Ginny.

"Oh, that. Right. Um…. Sophie Burke," said James, just as Albus said "David Greene." The brothers exchanged another look, then turned back to their uncle.

"David Greene," said James, while Albus simultaneously said "Sophie Burke."

Lily slid down a bit farther into her seat and hid her face in her hands.

"Boys, why are you lying? Just tell your uncle the truth," said Harry.

"They're trying to protect him," said Hugo.

Ron's eyes turned to his son. "Who?"

"Fred." The expression on the boy's face made it clear that he still hadn't quite forgiven his cousin for injuring his sister.

Hermione raised her eyebrows. "Now that I didn't know."

"He's already been read the riot act, don't worry," James hastily interjected.

"By who? Hugo? Because it seems like Hugo is the only one who was even remotely upset over this," snapped Ron.

Rose snorted. Scorpius gave her hand a quick squeeze under the table.

"Bloody hell, no. Scorpius almost started a fight right then and there on the pitch. I thought James was gonna take a go at him," said Hugo.

"Probably would have too, if Rosie hadn't told them to knock it off," Al added.

"Fred was just doing his job…" began Rose, but she trailed off when she saw the expression on her father's face as he turned to look at Scorpius.

He was looking at her boyfriend in surprise. "You got upset when Fred broke her arm?"

Scorpius looked at Ron as if he had three heads. "Of course I did." He hastily added, "Mr. Weasley. Sir. Mr. Weasley sir."

"You lost your temper?"

"Rosie was hurt. Fred made her crash her broom. Of course I was upset with him. I was terrified, and livid, and all rationality went out the bloody window." He turned to James. "I'd apologize again for going at you…but I'm really not sorry."

James didn't look too pleased, but he shrugged. "What I said … about your grandfather... that didn't help."

"How bad was it really?" Ron asked quietly.

Scorpius turned back to him. "I heard her arm snap when the Bludger hit her. And then she fell from at least four stories up, nearly cracked her head open on the ground… It was awful. I'll never be able to forget what she looked like as she fell, pushing my broomstick to go as fast as it could toward her but knowing I wouldn't be fast enough to catch her." The blond boy cringed.

James snorted. "You make it sound so dramatic, mate. It's Quidditch. She crashed her broom. Nothing a few healing spells couldn't fix."

Ron and Scorpius both turned to glower at him.

Rose rolled her eyes. "Great. My father and my boyfriend (she made sure to use the word with confidence this time) are bonding over how insufferably overprotective both of them are. Merlin save us." But inside, she was relieved. Maybe there was a chance that her relationship with her father wasn't completely unsalvageable after all.

Eleven tawny owls arrived at the Potter residence the afternoon of August 25th. Rose was the first to see them. She sat with Molly and Lucy under the low-hanging, blossom-laden branches of a cherry tree, watching as Scorpius and several of her cousins tossed around a Quaffle overhead. Albus, who'd finally turned seventeen today – the last in their trio to do so – had conspicuously vanished with his on-again off-again girlfriend Phoebe Kitsch, a Hufflepuff in their year.

As the indistinct brown smudge she'd spotted on the horizon resolved itself into eleven winged specks that grew larger with each passing moment, Rose eagerly stood and helped her cousins get to their feet as well. The animals' arrival could only mean one thing: her reading list for her final year at Hogwarts had arrived. She'd already bought many of the texts she knew she'd be assigned and had quickly devoured them, as had Al and Scorpius. But this…this was still monumental. Her last Hogwarts letter. And there was another thought, too, that made her heart race a little more as she watched the eleven owls soar gracefully through the cloudless azure sky – one that she'd tried to bury deep within herself over the past few weeks but could no longer be contained, not now when its resolution (for better or for worse) was literally within sight. Though Rose had striven over the years to be realistic rather than letting herself yearn for things that may not come to pass, right now she found herself hoping against hope that the envelope she was about to receive contained more than just her book list. She had a similar wish for her boyfriend, even though his happiness in this matter would surely coincide with her disappointment. All the sources she'd studied were in agreement: only once in all of Hogwarts history had a Head Boy and Head Girl belonged to the same House – and Rose knew she would never measure up to the likes of James and Lily Potter.

Rose felt a hand suddenly clasp her shoulder, making her jump. It was Albus, with Phoebe by his side. One look at his face confirmed her suspicions – his lips were red and swollen from kissing, his black hair mussed, emerald eyes glazed over in happiness. She bit her lip to hide a smile. "You're just in time," she said, waving her hand in the direction of the birds flying toward them. "And because the adults will be here any moment to find out what our letters say…" She waved her wand at her cousin and the girl standing next to him, murmuring an incantation under her breath. Instantly, both his mouth and Phoebe's began to return to their normal appearance. Phoebe raised her hand to her lips in surprise, feeling the tingling sensation that came as a side effect of the charm. Albus glanced at his girlfriend's face and his grin widened. "That's a neat little spell," he said. He raised his hand to ruffle Rose's hair affectionately but she managed to dodge him, swatting his arm out of the way. "Now I know how you and Scorpius always manage to look so put-together all the time."

"Me? Sneaking off to snog my boyfriend, and using a spell to hide it? Albus Severus Potter, I'm offended that you would even consider the idea."

Said boyfriend landed and crossed the field to stand next to her before Al could respond. Fred, James, Hugo, Lily, and Louis followed suit. The cluster of bodies grew larger as Lorcan, Lysander, Andrea, Roxanne, and Lucy arrived from inside the Burrow, most of the remaining members of the Weasley-Potter clan in tow. Rose reached out and took Scorpius' hand, not caring if her father saw. "Good luck," he whispered in her ear.

She rose to the tips of her toes to brush a light kiss on his cheek in response. "You too."

Albus looked between them for a moment, reading their emotions deftly in a way he could not for most other people. "What, are you two daft? Of course you're both going to get it. There's no one else as nearly as qualified as you. Either of you."

"Thank you, Mr. Idealistic," started Scorpius, using the nickname Rose had given her cousin long ago, "but we're both –"

"I'm not stupid, I know you're both Ravenclaws. But it's happened before."

A great tawny owl with brown eyes landed on Rose's outstretched arm, saving Rose the trouble of answering her cousin. The other birds did the same with the remaining Hogwarts students present, and the air was quickly filled with the sound of hooting and rustling feathers. With trembling fingers, Rose untied the envelope from the owl's claw. It was addressed to her in blue ink. She let the bird fly off before breaking the wax seal with the Hogwarts crest keeping it closed.

The first thing her fingers brushed upon reaching into the envelope was a piece of parchment. She pulled it out and scanned the writing anxiously. It was the supplies list. Rose suddenly found that at the present moment, she didn't give a damn about what books she'd been assigned this year. She transferred it to her left hand, the one holding the envelope, in order to use her right hand to pluck the next thing out of it: a letter, written in that same feminine script and blue ink.

Dear Ms. Weasley,

I am pleased to inform you that after careful consideration, you have been named this year's Hogwarts Head Girl…"

Rose nearly dropped the parchment. Heart pounding, she reached her hand to the bottom of the envelope and felt the kiss of cool metal. She tipped it and slid the blue and bronze Head Girl badge into the palm of her hand. For a moment, she stared at it in disbelief, suddenly finding herself at a loss for words. All she could do was turn to her boyfriend with a look of excitement on her face in order to gauge his reaction to his own letter.

What she saw brought her up short, and she felt the smile slowly slip from her face. Scorpius' expression was bleak as he stared down at the envelope he held in his hands, his brows furrowed together and lips pressed in a thin line. He hadn't been named Head Boy, then. Rose silently cursed herself for getting her hopes up, and began to compile a list of comforting things she could say to him. None of them would work, of course; nothing she could say would change things, and she had always been absolute rubbish at comforting people. She'd gotten better at it in years past due to necessity and far too much practice for her liking, but –

As if he felt her staring at him, Scorpius looked up and met her gaze. He looked crushed. Utterly heartbroken. Distraught. She hadn't realized he had gotten his hopes up quite this much, though it was certainly hard not to when everyone kept telling you how they were certain you'd get what were you hoping for.

But the emotion didn't seem to meet his blue-grey eyes…

And then Scorpius cracked a smile he was clearly trying to suppress but was unable to contain any longer. It was one of those sweet, dazzling smiles that she loved and had used to cast her first corporeal Patronus, those smiles that she thought of as hers.

Without a second thought as to how her father or the rest of her older family members would react, Rose threw her arms around her boyfriend's neck and rose to balance on her toes so she could press her lips to his. He responded enthusiastically and wrapped his arms around her waist. The kiss only lasted a few moments before she pulled back to whack him upside the head. "That's for trying to trick me,"

"I'm sorry, it was just too tempting. And your expression…"

"You're not really sorry, are you?"

"Not particularly."

She smiled and leaned in to kiss him again, but before she could, Albus wedged his way between them. "Oi. You two. There will be enough time for that later. When you're sharing your own Head Dormitory." He smirked at that, and Rose suppressed the urge to hex him. "In the mean time, you'd better go tell your parents the good news Rosie, before they go mad."

Indeed, Rose could see her parents trying to push their way through the crowd surrounding them. All around them, her fellow Hogwarts students were chatting excitedly with their parents and each other about their plans for the coming school year. Next to her, Fred was attempting to swing Lily in a circle but only succeeded in knocking the small redhead into Roxanne while she laughed – Rose hazarded to guess that the younger girl had been named a Prefect, and made a mental note to congratulate her later. On her other side, Lucy spoke animatedly to Andrea as both clutched pieces of parchment to their chests.

Just as Rose was preparing to elbow her way through the throng to speak with her parents, someone came from behind her and plucked the badge from her hand.

"Well, well, well, what do we have here?" drawled James.

"James, give it back," she sighed, reaching for it. He twisted, managing to hold it out of her grasp. "I've only just gotten it."

The elder Potter's grin grew wider when he spotted the matching pin in Scorpius' hand.

"James, come on…" started Albus.

"Fine, if you say so," he shrugged. He shoved the badge back into her hand and opened his mouth to speak -

Rose understood what his intentions were half a beat too late. "James Sirius Potter, don't you dare – "

"Hey everyone!" shouted James. "Rose and Scorpius have been named Head Girl and Boy!"

Rose shot her cousin the filthiest glare she could muster before she was swarmed with relatives trying to congratulate her. Hands clutched at her from all sides, trying to hug her, squeeze her shoulders, grab her hands, ruffle her hair… she loved her family, but bloody hell, there were so many of them!

"LET ME THROUGH, damn you!"

Ron pushed through the last layer of Weasleys that stood between him and his daughter. Rose wanted nothing more than to throw herself into her father's arms, like she would have done before their relationship had become so strained. Still, she hung back, gauging his reaction to the news that she had been named Head Girl. Was he upset because Scorpius had been named Head Boy? Is that why he was barreling past the rest of their family to get to her? Was he about to start yelling at her, like Christmas all over again? Was he –

Ron wrapped his daughter into a giant hug, lifting her small frame a few inches off the ground in his excitement.

"Congratulations, sweetheart," he whispered in her ear, before setting her feet back down on the grass. He stepped back to look at her, and after a moment the large smile that had been plastered on his face a moment ago slipped.

"Aren't … aren't you happy?" Ron asked her.

Only now did Rose realize that her expression must look more shocked than excited.

"You haven't hugged me in a year," she said, her voice surprisingly unsteady. "Of course I'm happy."