Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

"Hugo, put on your sneakers," their mum said, coming down the hallway while pulling her hair back in a bun.

"Why?" Hugo muttered, not even glancing up from his bowl of cheerios.

"We're going to the Cottage. Everyone's going to be there."

"Everyone?" Rose sipped her coffee.

"Yes. Even Al and Aunt Ginny are going. Now both of you - go get dressed."

"I don't want to go," Rose muttered, starting to drown herself in coffee.

"Rose, you can't hide from your family forever."

"I'm not hiding."

"Hugo, go get dressed."

"Why doesn't Rose?"

"She will."

Hugo stood up, dumping his cereal in the sink, and moseyed miserably down the hallway.

"Alright," her mum said, taking a seat opposite her. "I…I don't think I've done well in handling some…crisis situations recently…" Her mum sat stiffly - straight back, folded hands, eyes glued to the table. Like she was in an interview or something. Rose sipped her coffee, trying to ignore the way her heart skipped a beat. This was not going to end well.

"What do you mean?" Rose sipped her coffee.

"Chris." The name impaled Rose's chest and left her breathless, the memories of his smiling face, his warm hands, his strong body, sending shivers down her spine. And she remembered where he was now. A knot settled in her throat. "You've had a long year." Her mum shifted. "And…and Al…"

"I know about Al." Rose's words were hard and cold. Her mum looked up, slight surprise written on her face.

"Right. Of course. Is that…is that why…"

"No. I don't want to go because I don't want to go. There's nothing more to it. There's supposed to be a quiddtich game at Mattie's and…"

"Rose." Her mum reached out and touched her hand. "It's ok to be afraid."

Rose pulled away. "I'm not afraid."

Her mum looked speechless for a moment. "Of course not. You're my Gryffindor."

"I'm no one's Gryffindor." Rose crossed her arms, erecting her defense.

"You're your own Gryffindor, then," her mum said with a wry grin. "You can't let this

control your life, you know. It wasn't your fault. Letting this…letting him continue to have this…this control isn't going to…to get you anywhere, accomplish anything."

"You don't know what you're talking about."

"What do you mean?"

"You act like you know why I don't want to go, but you have no clue. You think it's because I'm afraid of seeing Al without a leg?" She pushed the disgust from her mind. The disgust of what she had done and the disgust of lying straight to her mother's face. "Pathetic. What do you take me for?" Rose stood up and went down the hallway, leaving her mother sitting at the table. She slid into her room, her hands shaking, and sat down on the edge of her bed. She inhaled deeply, trying to get this shaking out of her hands, out of her shoulders, out of her body.

"Rose?" Her mum leaned against the door, the wood creaking slightly in response. "I'm sorry."

"For what?" Rose snapped, forcing back the trembling fear in her voice.

There was silence. Rose could have sworn she heard a sniffle. Maybe a light sob.

"For letting this happen."

Her mum moved, the step of her feet giving her away. Rose bent forward, resting her elbows on her knees and pressed her palms to her cheeks. She inhaled and exhaled slowly, still trying to gain some sort of control on the shaking still racking her body.

Albus. He shouldn't have had to lose a leg. Her hands tightened into fists. Chris shouldn't have had to go to Azkaban. He just…lost his temper. Got a little aggressive. A little overprotective. He didn't even instigate it. Tears started to prick her eyes. If James and Fred hadn't run off…if she had just told them the truth. She inhaled a shaky breath.

"Rose, are you getting ready?" Hugo asked, completely unamused.

"Um…yeah," she said.

He opened the door and looked at her, his arms crossed.

"I didn't say you could come in," she said, her voice catching in his throat. He closed the door and sat down next to her. "What are you doing?" He wrapped an arm around her, then another, and then squeezed her tightly.

"It's not your fault," he whispered, his words low and confident. "You didn't make us fight."

"Hugo…" She looked at his red hair, messier and longer than it was when they had gotten out of school.

"You can't control us, Rose. We aren't puppets. We chose to fight and we did." He sat up and let his arms hang at his side. "If it's anyone's fault, then its Al's. He…he was the one who jumped in front of the curse." Hugo rubbed his left arm with his right hand, staring at the carpet. He looked up at Rose, his deep blue eyes seeming to go on forever. "Promise me you'll stop blaming yourself."

"Hugo…"

"Please."

"You should go get shoes on before mum starts yelling at you."

"Rose!" He stood up, his cheeks red. "You're being unreasonable!" Rose didn't say anything. "Ugh." He left.

Rose slipped on her clothes and stepped into her shoes before meeting her mum and Hugo in the sitting room.

3

Rose sat on the precipice rock, as usual, and looked down at the beach. Victoire and Teddy weren't arguing for once, but teasing Flora. James and Fred chased Lily and Molly with seaweed and fish or something. Lou, Lucy, and Roxy were swimming. Hugo, Dom, and Al sat up by the picnic tables, talking about one thing or another.

"So, Rosie." Mattie Finn sat down next to Rose. "Fight with your mother, I hear?"

"I don't want to talk about it."

"Fair enough. Perfectly normal, you know. Your Aunt Fleur tried to convince her of that. Nearly had the both of them in frustrated tears. I've never seen Hermione so…"

"Vulnerable?" Rose glanced at her.

Mattie shrugged. "Well, yeah. I mean…" She lay back on the grass. "I've seen her frustrated. I've seen her angry. I've seen her cry. But not like this. Not, as you say, vulnerable."

"Hey, Rose, Mattie," Greg said, sitting next to Rose. He groaned and joined Mattie on the grass. "It feels so good to lay down."

"You had your first practice today?" Rose guessed.

"Yesterday. Appleby." He closed his eyes.

"So I take it you don't have the analysis of the magical creature laws?" Mattie asked, glancing at him.

"No. Sorry. I'm…I'm probably not going to be able to do them."

"Eh, I figured as much once I got wind of your quidditch schedule. You're crazy."

"I know."

"How'd it go?" Rose kept her eyes on the setting sun, her mind entranced by the colors.

"Pretty good. I was asked to come back for the second day, if that means anything."

"How many other beaters were there?"

"About twenty."

"That's a lot."

"Mmm…yeah. I think only six of us were asked back. They aren't actually looking for any beaters, so the chances of us actually getting a spot there are slim. I know the Falcons need a beater, so I'm hoping to slide in there. It depends, though, if I can work well with Greene. Although, they might just get rid of her, too. Hopefully I'll be able to find someone I can work well with."

"I think the Wasps need a beater, too," Mattie said.

"But they have deep pockets," Rose chimed. "They'll be able to either pick off Greene or make a decent trade. I can't imagine the Falcons will want to hold onto Greene. I mean, sure, she's decent, but a huge part of that was Vista. Without him, I think she'll fall flat. Besides, she just doesn't have the power. She's just a scrawny little thing."

"That can change, though," Greg said. "All she needs to do is spend some more time in the gym."

"But she won't."

"And she definitely has other priorities," Mattie said.

"Like what? She's a quidditch player. It's what he does," Greg defended.

"Lies," Rose said languidly. "She's involved in several charities which deter her from spending any more time than she already is on quidditch."

"Maybe she'll retire," Greg suggested.

"Too young." Mattie rolled over onto her stomach and looked over at the picnic tables. "She's got a decade left."

"Yeah, and I got four."

"If you play your cards right." Rose laid down on her stomach next to Mattie and watched Teddy carry Flora to the picnic tables, Vicky following shortly after, laughing at something Dom said.

"I can't wait to play with the Falcons," Greg said. "If I'm good enough, I'll get some one on one time with Greene."

"They'll be looking for a vet to fill that spot," Rose said. "Greene's a defensive player, not offensive."

"I know, but that doesn't mean she won't be able to help with my technique or something." Greg flopped onto his stomach, his cheek pressed into the grass. "Wake me up for marshmallows."

3

"No! James!" Lily screeched, batting away the burnt marshmallow from her face. "Get it away!"

"What? You don't like a black marshmallow? You seem to like black hair," James said, standing up and teasing her even more.

"James! Stop it!"

"Oh, come on, Lily…" He waved the stick.

She grabbed the stick and snapped it. James looked at the pieces on the ground, his face frowning.

"Now you have to give me yours," James said, holding out his hand.

"No," Lily said, holding her perfectly straight stick with a half-gold marshmallow on the end close to her. "There's no way. It's your own fault."

"Lily!"

"No!"

"Here," Greg said, tossing his stick at James.

"You don't want another?" James asked, picking up the longest stick of the bunch.

"No. I'm good." Greg leaned back against the picnic table bench. "I think I'm gonna be sick with how many hotdogs I ate."

"Well, you did have, like, ten," Rose muttered. She sat down on top of the picnic table, her feet resting flat on the bench.

Lily sat down with Molly by the fire.

"I can't believe the others already went in," Fred said, grabbing another marshmallow. "It's early, isn't it?"

"Sometimes its ten, sometimes it's one, what do you want?" Molly said. "Lily, go inside and grab the firewhiskey."

"No," James said.

"James, she isn't four," Molly said. "And it isn't like anyone's going to notice. They fly through alcohol at these things like candy. One bottle isn't going to make a difference."

"It will when my mum notices the alcohol on her breath."

"Let her make the decision herself," Molly said, crossing her arms and looking towards Lily.

"He's right. My mum would kill me," Lily said.

"So you're not going to do it?"

"Why don't you do it?"

"Because ever since Hugo spilt the beans in front of Vicky about ROR, they've had it out for me. I can't just waltz in there and grab a bottle of firewhiskey. Do you know how obvious it would be?"

"Well, I'm not risking the wrath of my mother," Lily said. "And that's final."

"Rose?" Molly looked towards the picnic table.

"Absolutely not," Rose said.

"Why not? You have the perfect excuse. You're a troubled youth."

"Oh, thanks, Molly," Rose said, crossing her arms.

"So you'll do it?" Molly grinned up at her.

"Um…no."

"You'll get no where with her," James said, touching the goopy marshmallow on the end of his stick.

"Rose," Greg said, tilting his head back so he was looking at her upside down. "Are you doing anything Wednesday?"

"Why?" She motioned towards Fred for the marshmallows.

"I was wondering if you'd come to the last Arrow's recruitment day."

"Why?" Rose caught the bag of marshmallows and shoved two in her mouth. "Isn't it, like, for players only?" She struggled to swallow.

"Well…there's two reasons." He sounded unsure of himself. James and Fred both sat attentive. "I've had some conversations with one of the managers…particularly with the one chiefly involved in analyzing the game…and I'd like to introduce you."

"The Arrows have the worst analyst in the league…even worse than the cannons. He plays experience over talent. Bad move."

"Give me the marshmallows before you eat them all," Lily said, holding out her hand for the toss.

Rose stuck her tongue out, grabbed a handful, and tossed them to her cousin.

"He said he might be able to hook you up with the Harpie's analyst. I hear she's looking for an assistant."

The four marshmallows she was trying to chew fell out of her gaping jaw, dropping with a dull plop onto the bench in front of her, followed by a thick strand of drool.

"So ladylike," Lily muttered, turning her stick.

"I thought you'd like that," Greg said, grinning. Rose quickly wiped the saliva from her lip.

"Wednesday?" She nudged the glob of wet marshmallow onto the ground. "What time?"

"Meet me at my place at six."

"At night?"

Greg laughed. "The morning."

Rose's face paled.