Using the prompt 'blender'


Chapter Fifty

"Bloody Flitwick; what's with this unnecessary essay?" James growled, jabbing a quill into the piece of parchment he had in front of him.

"NEWTs?" Hugo offered with a smirk.

James scowled, then swore again.

Hugo smiled. They were lounging under that same tree again, like they had many times before, but this time, it had extended beyond just the cousins. Jasmine was leaning against James, her eyes closed, basking in the little bit of sunlight that was escaping between the tree.

Jasmine's twin brothers – Lucian and Quenton – were also there. Even Molly had decided to join them, which was unusual – especially because of her greater dislike for Rose than usual due to what had happened with Scorpius.

The two didn't speak, though. They just pretended the other wasn't there.

Hugo couldn't help but feel happy at what he saw. Everything was back to normal, he thought. He was with his cousins again, lazing around Hogwarts like they used to. James was cursing and swearing at the work the teachers gave him like he usually did. Rose had her head buried in a book, Albus and Lily were playing some game they'd made up, and Molly was being as snobbish as she usually was around them.

The only thing that was missing was Scorpius. He usually joined them, Rose insisting that he join them, but due to them not speaking, he wasn't here.

Hugo thought that after his accident, they had sorted out their problems, but it turned out they had done no such thing. They each blamed the other for what had happened, which had given them both a whole new reason to be angry with each other.

Scorpius now had a girlfriend, but it was rather obvious she was only there to make Rose jealous, or get back at Rose, or whatever Scorpius wanted. Hugo tried not to notice, but he saw the way Scorpius cringed when she kissed him.

Scorpius wanted Rose, but he was too stubborn to admit that.

"You know, the essay wouldn't be so difficult if you actually did it earlier than a few hours before it's due," Rose commented absently, her eyes not lifting from the page. "Then you wouldn't be worrying about it so much."

Hugo smirked. Now, that sounded just like the old Rose.

James simply glared at her, before looking back down at the essay, scribbling out what he had had written.

From the other side of him, Lily let out a cry as Albus managed to pin her to the ground, claiming victory for whatever game they had been playing. Lily pushed him off.

"Now, Lil, you must do my homework for a week," he said.

"That's not fair, though!" Lily argued. "I'm only in third year. I don't even know any of that stuff."

Albus shrugged. "That's not what you claimed two minutes ago when you thought you were winning," he said. "Things change when you actually have to do it, don't they?"

Lily glowered. "Okay, but if I fail you, it's not my fault."

"I'll just tell the professor that my little sister stole my work without me realising, and I do have the original somewhere."

Rose huffed from beneath her book.

"You're upsetting Rose," Hugo warned.

She aimed a kick at him.

"You know how she feels about cheating."

That earned him another kick in the shins.

"Ow."

"Serves you right!" Rose muttered. She returned to her book once more.

"You know," James said after a moment, "I remember the days where we used to do this all the time. Except then… we didn't have Jas, or Lucian, or Quenton… and we had Scorpius."

Rose sunk lower, pretending not to have heard.

"Well, there's a reason for that, isn't there?" Molly said, pointedly looking at Rose.

"Nor did we have Molly," James added. "The delightful person that she is."

They all sat there for a while longer, Albus and Lily beginning round two of their game, James continuing to fret over his essay, and Rose not speaking to anyone. After some time, Hugo looked over to another spot where some of the students were, and noticed Scorpius. He wasn't with his so-called girlfriend, but with friends instead.

It was a first in a few weeks.

"Hey, you don't think Scorpius ditched that Slytherin hussy do you?" Hugo questioned.

Nothing else had managed to gain Rose's attention in the past hour, but at those words, she looked up.

"What?" she asked.

Hugo nodded his head to where Scorpius was. "She's not snogging him," he explained. "She's not even there."

For a moment, it looked as if Rose would jump up herself and run over to him, but then her expression turned neautral again. "Maybe she's just gone to the bathroom," she said.

"She'd take him with her," Albus explained.

"He's right," James said. "I mean, it was rather obvious he didn't fancy her at all."

"What do you mean?" Rose's book lay forgotten in her lap.

"He means that he was only snogging her in every corridor because he was angry at you," Hugo said. "Did you not notice him cringe every time she was near him?"

Rose didn't say anything; her eyes simply watched Scorpius laughing with his friends.

"Go and bring him over here," James suggested. "Our group isn't complete without the Malfoy kid."

Rose didn't need telling twice. Without a second thought, she got to her feet and made her way over to where the Slytherin group were.

Hugo shared a look with James, who shrugged.

"Well, they need to sort their differences out eventually," he said. "They still fancy the pants off each other."

At that, Molly snorted.

"Cheer up, Mol, I thought you were over the fact Scorpius didn't fancy you," James said.

"Never!" Albus cried.

"Well, well, would you look at who's following Rose like a lost puppy again."

They all looked to where Rose had been. She was now on her way back, this time with Scorpius in tow. She looked delighted.

"And who said things would never be the same again?"

As Rose drew nearer, they all waited.

"Hey, guys," she said, "Do you mind if Scorpius joins us?"

Everyone nodded… everyone except Molly.

"Of course!" James said. "We've missed you, Malfoy!"

Scorpius gave a weak smile. "Er… thanks… I think," he said.

Rose smiled too.

"Does that mean you two are… you know?" Hugo didn't want to say the word, lest he jinxed it, but he hoped they were together. It'd put everyone out of their misery.

But, sadly, Rose shook her head. "No, we're just going to stay friends," she said.

"But, I finally got rid of Ingrid," Scorpius added.

There was a loud cheer around the tree.

"I felt sorry for you, mate, watching the two of you," James said.

They all laughed, and Hugo beamed. He couldn't help but wonder… would this be their family in a few years? Would Jasmine be part of it? Would Scorpius?

Would their big family grow even more over the next few years?

Hugo hoped so. These people – despite people's differences with a few of them – were like family already. He hoped, that one day, that would become one, big, happy, blended family.

After everything they had been through, everyone deserved that.

Everyone deserved to be happy.


And that is the end. It's all over. Thank you to everybody who persisted with my sporadic updating over the past 4 years. And thank you to all the betas I had for this, as well! It has been much appreciated. And, I also have a prequel written for this that is twenty chapters long, occurring 18 months before the start of this one. I hope to see you there for that as well :)