Chapter Nineteen

Rose was not avoiding Scorpius.

No, she wasn't exactly seeking him out. That was okay, since friends didn't see each other every single day unless they were in school or coworkers or something. Rose and Scorpius didn't see each other every single day, anyway. It wasn't like it was strange to not see him.

And what he told her about Annika Nott hadn't changed anything, really. She was pretty sure he was moving on with his life, even if he didn't know it; he enjoyed cooking, he liked gardening and he clearly thought about Herbology quite a lot, if the books around his flat were any indication. She also understood Scorpius a lot better, which made her happy for her friend.

Besides, it hadn't been as if he'd sought after her, either.

"I am actually excited for the bridal shower."

Rose glanced at Roxanne in scepticism. "Really?"

"Really."

Roxanne had come over before the party and was currently situated on Rose's couch, compact mirror in one hand, eyeshadow brush in the other. The neighbour's cat was slinking around in a corner, eyeing Roxanne with suspicion. On the other side of the couch, Rose was flipping through Everyday Recipes Every Witch Should Know (she appreciated the direct title).

"I mean, I'm always up for the food," Rose relented with a shrug.

Roxy laughed. "Look, I'm not saying these things aren't a bit stifling, but it is the first time that everyone won't be badgering me about getting engaged."

"That's a good point, actually." Rose sighed dramatically. "Meanwhile, I'm still very single, and it is going to be so dreadfully painful to everyone."

It was an unfortunate part of attending family functions. Without fail, various family members – some she wasn't even sure she was related to – would question Roxanne about how long she and Noah would wait to get engaged. When Rose was with Travis, they would wink and nudge him to propose. Admittedly, it wasn't Travis who had been opposed to the idea, though at the time, Rose wasn't sure why she had hesitated.

Now that she was single, she was gently ostracized or an automatic participant in the "my-friend's-got-a-friend-who's-single" world. Perhaps there was a plus side in having a pity-date to these things; hardly anyone seemed to understand that Rose wanted to stay single by choice.

"They do make a big deal out of it," Roxy said, rolling her eyes. "We're only twenty-four. It's not as though we're sprouting grey hairs anytime soon."

"The way they see it, our eggs are just being wasted away, year after year."

The little cat meowed loudly at their laughter.

"I didn't know you got a cat," Roxy said, her head following the cat as it darted into Rose's bedroom. "What's its name?"

"I dunno," Rose said, pausing her page flipping at an appealing picture of minestrone soup. "He's the neighbour's cat, I just feed him. Roxy, have you ever made soup?"

"Er, no. Have you forgotten I'm completely hopeless in the kitchen?" Roxy finished up her eye shadow and scooted over, looking at the page Rose was poring over. "You never have soup."

"I don't," she admitted, "but here's the thing: I like cooking, I like that I feel more energetic when I eat healthy food, but I'm way too lazy to do it all the time. Even with cooking spells."

"What about leftovers?"

Rose made a face. "Hard pass."

"So what's your plan, then?"

"Some people do this meal-prepping thing," Rose explained, setting the cookbook down on her coffee table and sticking a bookmark in it. "I recently read in Spellbound that it's a popular alternative to takeaway. Just cook a load at once and freeze your meals for the week."

"Isn't meal-prepping just an elaborate form of leftovers?" Roxanne pointed out.

Rose stuck out her tongue in reply.

When Roxanne finishing laughing at her, she sat back on the cushions and sighed. "I hope that meal prepping isn't part of your whole reinventing yourself thing."

"Why not?"

"Because it's bullshit," she said bluntly, causing Rose to frown. "Your goals are great, and I'm glad you're doing them because you seem a lot happier lately, but you don't have to change who you are. You're a great person, reinventing not included."

"What do you mean, I'm happier lately?" Rose felt flattered, and the emerging confidence in her was starting to realize Roxanne might be right: Rose might not need an entire personality transplant. But she hadn't exactly been unhappy before, had she?

"I dunno," Roxanne said thoughtfully, as she hadn't realized she'd said it. "I mean, I suppose you weren't crying every single day –"

"Oi, I never cry."

"– but there was something off, you know?" she continued. "You just seem more like yourself these days."

Rose went quiet, looking down at her fidgeting fingers. "I suppose having goals helps. Having a purpose."

"I suppose, yeah."

"I don't think I could tell Al, but he was probably right to kick me out," Rose admitted. "It kicked me in the arse, but it got me thinking about all the ways I could improve."

"We all have ways we can improve in our lives," Roxy added.

"And I'm not happy about losing my job," Rose clarified, "but it's not the only thing I do anymore. I actually kind of like that my life doesn't revolve around work. I like that I think about things that have nothing to do with what I do for a living."

"Like I've been saying, you don't have to do a job you love. Maybe you can come teach in Hogwarts with me."

Rose snorted. "I'd be such a shit professor, Roxy."

"Excuses, excuses," she countered, holding up the palette in her hands. "Anyway, we should probably hurry up. Do you want me to do your eyeshadow?"

"Absolutely not, it just ends up disappearing on half my eyelid," Rose said, glancing at the clock before hurrying to grab her makeup from her bathroom. "Shit, I can't do my eyeliner that quickly. How are we always late for everything?"

"Correction, you are always late to everything," Roxanne amended with a chuckle.

Despite Rose's efforts, it seemed some things were destined to not change.

Rose was not avoiding Nathan.

She could see him in a corner, talking to a man who she assumed was one of Charlotte's relatives since she didn't recognize him. Nathan was wearing a dark grey suit that somehow made him look taller than usual. Not that this intimidated Rose at all; she was simply heading towards the opposite way for different reasons, of course. Besides, he was more of a wedding date, not the bridal shower date.

Right? Right.

Charlotte chose to have the bridal shower in a garden not far from London. It was not the first event in which the two sides of the families met, but Rose could still see some of her relatives struggling to look Muggle enough, and she caught her mum plucking off wizard's hats from heads and hiding them underneath a table. Luckily, most of the crowd was on the younger side, barring a few parents.

Rose and Roxanne quickly located Skye, who was surveying her choices at the drinks table. Upon hearing the situation with Albus, Skye had offered to take over for Rose that day and helped Ella and Charlotte with the bridal shower.

"You owe me one," Skye said to Rose as they approached her.

"How bad was it?" Roxanne asked, picking up a champagne flute.

Skye lowered her voice considerably. "I wouldn't hire this catering company for your wedding parties, Roxy, let's just say that. They were so late I wasn't sure they were going to show up at all. I nearly had to cut a bitch."

Rose barely managed to hold back a snort. "Thanks for covering for me."

"Again, you owe me," Skye said stonily.

They heard Ella's squeal before they saw her. Drinks in hand, they turned around to see the party host practically skipping towards them, smile just a little too wide, blonde hair flying everywhere. It seemed the wedding stress might have gotten to the maid of honour.

"I'm so glad to see you all," Ella exclaimed, throwing her arms around Rose, then Roxanne. "I was so afraid I'd have to do the games without you."

"Games?"

"They're tame," Ella assured Skye's apprehensive expression. "I saved all the dirty ones for the bachelorette party."

Roxanne nearly spit out her drink, giggling.

"What's the plan for the hen party?" Rose asked. "Charlotte has no idea, right?"

"Yep," Ella confirmed excitedly. "She's got a couple of appointments that day, but almost everything is ready. Albus is going to let us into their place while she's out and we're going to surprise her when she walks in."

"I like it," Roxy said, raising her glass. "I'm bringing the tequila."

Skye grinned. "Cheers to that."

Out of the corner of her eye, Rose could see her friends' boyfriends nearing them, Nathan following closely behind. As subtly as she could, she slipped away, mumbling an excuse of trying to find Charlotte and Albus as the boys provided a convenient distraction.

Rose felt immediately awkward as she wandered around the party; she liked to stick to her friends' sides for this reason. Spotting her father and her Uncle Harry – Albus' father – chatting at a table, she sat beside them, trying not to make it obvious she was hiding.

"Hi Rosie," her dad greeted, pushing a chocolate cupcake towards her. This was why she loved him. "We were just talking about you."

Rose winced as she grabbed a clean fork from the table. "Lovely."

"He's just pulling your leg," Uncle Harry told her. "How've you been?"

"I'm doing all right," she replied with a polite smile, digging her fork into the cupcake. "How're you, Uncle Harry? Ready for the wedding?"

"Yep." He glanced at Albus, who was nearby and had his arm on Charlotte's waist as they greeted Roxanne's brother and his wife. "He's been stressed, I know, but overall he's gotten things together."

"Well, Charlotte has," Rose pointed out absently, frowning. Even if they weren't speaking, she could still tell Albus' smile was strained and there were faint dark circles wedged under his eyes.

Her dad nudged her arm. "Have you spoken to your mum yet?"

"Umm…" She took a long sip of champagne in response.

"Rose," her dad said sternly.

"Why're you avoiding her?" Uncle Harry asked, looking amused.

She put her glass down and carved out a large bite of her cupcake. "It's not that I'm avoiding her, I'm just… taking my time to reply to her owls."

Her dad and Uncle Harry laughed.

"Hermione can be a bit intense about the job search," her dad explained to her uncle. "Meanwhile, I think Rose is a bit confused after getting laid off from her job."

Rose hated when adults – well, older adults – spoke about her as if she weren't sitting right in front of them. "I'm just figuring things out on my own. She doesn't get it."

"Sounds about right," Uncle Harry said, scratching his chin. "That actually reminds me of when your mum tried to figure things out after the war. She couldn't pinpoint what she wanted to do."

"Really?" she asked, surprised.

"Yep. You know what her solution was, of course," Uncle Harry said, rolling his eyes at her dad.

"Going to the library," they said in unison.

Rose felt her cheeks burn; her solution hadn't been much different, had it? The bookstore just happened to be a little closer to her home. "I guess it was."

"'Course, she had to go back to school to do it," her dad said with a shrug. "She said it helped her explore her options."

Rose busied herself with her cupcake. It was a very good distraction, okay?

Uncle Harry and her dad became engrossed in a conversation about politics when her cousin James came sauntering over, plopping down in the chair beside her and flashing her a wide, suspicious grin. Rose half-hoped that if she just ate her cupcake and didn't acknowledge him, he wouldn't bother her. As it was, she didn't have that kind of luck.

"Hey, Rose," he said, slinging an arm over her shoulder, "still single, I hear."

She groaned. "James, I swear to Merlin, I will hex your arm off of me."

James – Albus' older brother – had always been a bit of nuisance. He and Roxanne's brother Fred were attached at the hip, always teasing and annoying Rose, Albus and Roxanne throughout their childhood. Albus always strived to be different than James.

Not much had changed when they'd gotten older; if possible, James had become more obnoxious, loving the media attention from being Harry Potter's eldest son. To make matters worse, he was one of the top Aurors in the Ministry, despite not having worked even a fraction of what Albus had done. Unfortunately, Albus' humility didn't always work in his favour in his career.

"I'm just saying," James said, not moving an inch. "Everyone in the family says you'll be next to be engaged. Not sure what they're on about, considering the whole single thing, but they keep saying something about you being the next sane one –"

"'Everyone' can mind their own damn business," she grumbled, taking a sip of champagne. She glanced at Albus, who had somehow been cornered by James' girlfriend.

"This is what I keep telling Al! He's always worried about what everyone thinks." He grinned at her. "Anyway, you're not getting engaged next, I am."

Rose nearly choked. "What?"

"If she says yes, of course."

"You're proposing?" She tried to imagine it, but all she could see was sixteen-year-old James, bragging loudly in the Gryffindor common room of how many girls he'd snogged and subsequently pissing off every female in the room.

"Yep, I've got it all planned out," he said proudly, pretending to buff his nails on his shirt. "I'm going to take her to one of those odd museums she loves, and then I'll just wing it."

Fuck, even James was moving forward with his life.

The only hiccup was that James' girlfriend was extremely strange. Even now, Rose could see her prattling on to Albus about something, and because she knew him too well, she knew that his smile was extremely forced and she was being weird. Probably talking about Crup migration patterns – and they were domestic creatures.

Rose chose to keep her opinion – well, facts – to herself. "I wish you luck, James."

"Don't need it. So, are you one of those single people who need to find themselves," James asked, "or the ones who never get married?"

Rose raised an eyebrow at her cousin. "Excuse you, those are only the two choices?"

"Yes."

"The former, then," she answered with a sigh. James could be just as judgemental as Al. "I'm taking a break from dating so I can deal with all the bullshit in my life. But I do want to get married one day, I think it'd be nice."

James nodded in approval. "Have you talked to Lily lately? She's been saying she might get married but she never wants kids. What's up with that?"

"What's wrong with that?" Rose asked, wrinkling her eyebrows. Her cousin Lily was a tough nut, but she was a very caring person, always looking out for everyone else. "If she doesn't want kids, that's her choice."

"Yeah, but that's weird," he emphasized. "Who doesn't want kids?"

Rose barely refrained from telling him not to reproduce.

"Butt out, James," she said bluntly, pushing away her plate of chocolate crumbs. "She's your little sister, for Merlin's sake. Support her choices for once in your life."

He was quiet for a moment, actually seeming sympathetic and understanding. Rose almost didn't recognize him.

"Okay." James turned decisive all of sudden. "Anyway, I need you to do me a favour, Rosie. A serious favour."

"What's that?"

"Can you convince Albus to let us hire him a stripper for his bachelor party?" he whined, and Rose rolled her eyes. There was the James she knew and sort of loved.

She glanced back at Al again, and to her surprise, he was looking at her, too. He almost seemed betrayed, probably because she was sitting with James. In a split second, she decided to go see him.

"I'm going to talk to him," Rose said, draining her champagne and standing.

"Wait, really?" James asked, astonished; he was still going on about the stripper.

She ignored him, making her way through the crowd to Albus. He was still talking to James' girlfriend, looking like he would really like someone to rescue him. Before Rose could think of a good excuse and approach him, Charlotte's curly brown hair swamped her vision and she was yanked away.

"Rose!" she said, throwing her arms around her. "I've been looking for you everywhere."

"Hey, Charlotte," Rose said, squeezing back. "Congratulations, everything looks beautiful."

"Thanks," she said, sounding relieved as she pulled away and looked around. Gardens were naturally beautiful, and the way they set up tables with floral centrepieces was very fitting. "We were about to start the games with us younger ones, you know?"

"Right, right, Ella's mentioned something."

"But before that…" Charlotte took a deep breath and looked at Rose straight in the eyes. "I heard about everything with Al, plus he mentioned something about Nathan. I'm not really sure if you're mad at both us, but I'm really sorry about being a complete bridezilla."

"Oh." Rose felt completely caught off guard. "I don't think – you're not –"

"No, I am," she insisted, waving off Rose's excuses. "I've been going mad, I know it. Rose, seriously, get a wedding planner."

"I'm not getting married anytime soon," she spluttered.

"Yeah, but you and Albus are arguing, and I know it's because of the wedding."

Rose felt a twinge of sympathy. "Charlotte, it's not because of you." Directly.

"Whatever's triggered it, I'm really sorry," she said, and she really did sound sincere and forlorn. "Al's been really torn up about whatever you've been rowing about."

Rose paused. "He didn't tell you?"

"No," she said, looking at Rose curiously. "It's between you two. He didn't tell me, and I didn't ask."

Rose couldn't explain why, but that changed something.

"Anyway," she rushed on, reaching into her sparkly clutch, "I know this can't make it up to you, but I hope this means something."

Charlotte pulled out a small, folded piece of parchment and handed it to Rose. Charlotte had drawn a small, simple bird, outlined and filled entirely in black. It had thin, fiery wisps coming out of its outstretched wings.

A phoenix.

"I thought you might like it as a tattoo," she said. "I've been absent because of all this wedding madness, but I know you've got your own shit going on with all this reinventing yourself stuff."

"You remember that?" Rose asked, feeling more touched than she thought she would.

"Of course." Charlotte swallowed nervously. "A phoenix symbolizes rebirth, or a new beginning. And I knew you'd like something a little simpler. But you don't have to use this if you don't want to."

Rose let out a breath. She couldn't believe that Charlotte had remembered about her tattoo – she'd been a little caught up in Scorpius' to really think of her own – but it was perfect.

Even if Charlotte and Rose hadn't become proper friends until she'd entered Albus' life, they had been friends for several years. Not as long as Roxanne or Skye, but they had become close. In a little over a week, she was going to be family.

And Rose was quite terrible at keeping grudges, if she was honest.

"I'm not angry with you," she said gently, folding the parchment back up and sticking it in her bag. "I guess it's just been an ill-timed existential crisis I've been going through. It doesn't pair well with a wedding."

Charlotte smiled, but her eyes were welling up. "I suppose not. I really am sorry."

"Thanks, Charlotte." And then they were hugging, and though Rose still wanted to speak to Albus – he was definitely not off the hook – something softened in her chest.

"Come on!" Charlotte exclaimed suddenly, breaking away and grabbing her arm to drag her back into the garden. "We're about to start the games."

Most of the chairs were full, the couples congregating together, and she found herself sitting in beside Nathan, her date by technicality. He gave her a smile as she sat down.

Luckily, some of Nathan's attractive looks had worn off in novelty since they last met, and her belly wasn't doing as many nervous flip-flops and somersaults. Rose nearly breathed a sigh of relief, but stopped herself just in time. Somehow, men as attractive as Nathan weren't so comfortable to be around for her.

When Rose thought of Scorpius, it was different. He was attractive as well, but in a very different way that didn't scream 'I work out every single day.' He was tall and had sharp cheekbones and perfectly messy blond hair, but he didn't have defined muscles and could look a little soft after he'd eaten. He had glasses that were a little dorky.

Looks always wore off. Even feelings wore off, usually. She knew that.

Then she wondered why she even compared the two at all.

"There you are," Nathan said, sounding surprised. "I thought you didn't make it."

"Oh, no," Rose said quickly, pasting a grin on her face. "I'm here. Just been around."

"It's really nice, isn't it?" he asked, looking around. The younger crowd was still finding seats, taking their time before the games started. "I actually recommended this place to Ella. One of my friends had their baby shower here."

"Good choice, yes."

"So," he said, turning back to her, "the last time I saw you, I think you were running."

"I'm still doing that," Rose confirmed with a shrug. "My friend Skye – you met her that day – is going to help me do a five kilometre run sometime this week."

"Oh?"

"Well, I've finished a few now," she clarified with a blush, "but I'm determined to do this one in thirty minutes."

"Congratulations," he said, raising his glass of white wine in her direction. "I know how difficult it can be to reach a fitness goal. That's something to celebrate."

"Thanks."

"Okay, let's start!" Ella called loudly from a small stage up ahead, quieting the murmur of the crowd. "For this game, you're going to need to pair up with someone from the other side. So if you're from the bride's side, pair up with someone from the groom's side, and vice versa."

As people started to shift around, Nathan grinned at Rose, landing his hand on her knee. "Partner."

"You might all know this game," Ella said excitedly as they quietened down again. "Two truths and a lie. The other person has to guess what the lie is between three statements about yourself. Just a fun little ice breaker to get to know each other."

Rose could see Skye in the corner of her eye, paired up with one of Charlotte's Hufflepuff friends, visibly trying to muster up a passable smile.

"We already sort of know each other, don't we?" Nathan asked as they turned to each other.

"Sure," she replied. She tried not to show it on her face, but she didn't think he knew her very well at all. "Do you want to start?"

"Yes." He thought for a moment. "I'm really into horror movies, I sprained my elbow once and my favourite food is chicken curry."

Rose bit her lip to hide a smile. "Really? How do you sprain an elbow?"

"Okay, that was the lie," he admitted. "I made that too easy. Your turn."

"Right. Well, I sing really well, I hate Starbucks coffee and uh," she stumbled, "I got laid off a few weeks ago."

Why did she say that?

Nathan raised his eyebrows in alarm. "Er… it is the last one?"

"No," she confessed, "I actually sing really terribly."

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that," he said awkwardly. "It must have been difficult to lose your job."

"Well, you know how it is," she said, glad she'd kept her hair down that day. Rose knew her ears were absolutely burning from embarrassment. She definitely wasn't going to tell him that she'd taken a break from job applications. "I'm just keeping my chin up and keeping at it, you know? An opportunity is bound to present itself at some point."

"Oh, definitely," he said quickly. "You seem really bright and capable. Do you want some advice for the next position?"

No. "Sure."

"Make yourself indispensible," he said wisely. "Whether it's who you are around the office or if you're great friends with your boss, you know? Make it so that they could never think about firing you, just the next shmuck who sat in the corner and never really made a difference in the workplace."

Was he aware that he'd indirectly insulted her? Probably not; he seemed quite earnest.

"What about otherwise?" she asked, furrowing her brow. "You know, excellence in the quality of your work?"

"Yes, of course," he said with a wave of his hand. "That goes without saying."

Rose felt apprehensive about his advice, but she chose not to shrug it off. "Anyway, I think this whole thing was a blessing in disguise, really. It's been tough, but I've gotten a chance to explore my options, maybe even choose another career path."

"I wouldn't stray too far from what you were doing before," he advised.

"What do you mean?"

Nathan took a long sip of his wine before answering. "Well, it's quite simple. In most cases, the amount of time spent on one thing directly correlates to how successful you are. Most people succeed not because they are the most talented, but in how long they've stuck with it."

Rose didn't quite know how to respond to that one; she really wasn't sure she wanted to work up the ladder, or do a job with so much office politics. "I think it might be time for a change, though."

"I'm just offering the most logical answer."

"Sometimes the logical answer isn't the right one," Rose said defensively. "Besides, success is subjective."

"Not really," he said pleasantly, "not according to the economy and the markets. But maybe personal satisfaction has something to do with it."

"Maybe," she repeated, but she was quite sure it did – at least for her. She could tell this conversation was about to run in circles. "Anyway, I think it's your turn."

The rest of the games were pleasant, and after Nathan stopped running his mouth about job advice, Rose actually had a good time. She switched partners to Roxy for another game, and afterwards, Albus and Charlotte played games on the stage, testing their relationship knowledge. Albus turned beet red with nervous laughter when he got her favourite dream vacation wrong, and it was actually so adorable.

Rose missed him. She wanted to share this special moment with him; he was getting married, and they weren't speaking. She really wanted to work everything out.

But he had said some very hurtful things, too.

After the games finished and they began serving lunch, Rose tugged him away from Charlotte and various relatives. As soon as he saw her, he surprised her by squeezing her in a tight hug. She hadn't known she needed that.

"Hey," she mumbled, squeezing back. "How are you doing?"

"I'm all right." He let her go. "I really want to talk, Rose."

"Me too."

"I just don't know when," he said, raking his fingers angrily through his hair. "The wedding is taking up literally all of my free time, but right when it's all over, we're leaving for the honeymoon."

"I know," she said quietly.

"And," he added determinedly, "you're busy. I get that."

Rose nearly felt stunned. "You do?" She'd gotten a strong impression that he considered her unemployment as free time, when in reality, it was like a clock that was ticking a little too fast.

"Yeah." He glanced over her head as a relative called his name. "Can you owl me? Please?"

"I can do that." She looked at him, concerned again at the darkness under his eyes, the hunching in his shoulders. "Are you okay, Al?"

"Yeah, yeah," he dismissed quickly, but she could tell he was lying. "Just haven't gotten much sleep. I've been talking to my boss about going back in the field, and Charlotte's an anxious mess about it."

"Charlotte seems to be anxious mess about everything right now," Rose observed. In her peripheral, she saw her mum nodding and laughing with her grandmother, and then setting her sights firmly on Rose.

"Shit," Rose whispered. She knew that look in her mum's eyes and the determined pace towards her; she was in trouble, and was about to get an earful. "Shit, my mum's coming this way."

"So?" Al asked, confused.

"Long story short, I haven't answered her owls in a while," she said hurriedly, attempting to hide behind him, but it was way too late. "Shit, I'm in so much trouble."

"I'll distract her," he said immediately.

As her mum approached them, mouth open and ready to speak – yell, perhaps? – when Albus threw his arms around her. "Aunt Hermione! Thank you so much for coming."

"I – hello, Albus," she said warmly, clearly caught off guard. "How's the wedding planning going?"

He let go, but kept a hold of her arms. "It's going well. Actually, I wanted to ask you about something, there's a bit of an issue with the security of the wedding hall, perhaps we could…"

Her mum instantly was on alert, as the head of Magical Law Enforcement. "Of course, what do you need?"

Rose slipped away as quietly as she could, and Albus sent her a hopeful smile behind her mum's back. She gave him a thumbs up before heading towards the loo, where she could bide out a little more time.

She hadn't forgiven him, but maybe she didn't have to lose him altogether.

Rose's toes were sufficiently pinched by the time she Apparated to Diagon Alley and began the short trek back to her apartment building. The bridal shower had been overall quite pleasant, and she was starting to feel excited for the wedding again. Even though she hadn't really gotten a chance to speak to Albus, she felt like she might not lose him entirely. At least, it seemed Charlotte wouldn't let that happened.

As she entered her building, she noticed her mailbox for the first time in – Merlin, it must have been a while. She'd paid all her bills, so she hadn't checked it, but she noticed the edge of a brown envelope sticking out the bottom of the box.

Rose stuck the golden key into the slot and twisted it. Immediately, the box sprung open, several of the letters falling to the floor. Belatedly, Rose was remembering that there were wizards working in the post office, helping direct mail to magical people such as herself who chose to live among Muggles. It was a great effort to reduce the number of owls that Muggles could spot.

Feeling a swoop of anticipation, she gathered all the letters and shut the box, hurrying up the stairs despite her sore feet. Reading the return addresses, she realized many of the positions she'd applied to that never replied must have sent their responses through the post.

Once inside her apartment, she kicked off her heels and ripped open envelope after envelope, hurriedly scanning through her mail. She read the words, 'Happy to meet a member of the great Weasley family' more than a couple of times. Though there were a few more rejections, there were more positive responses, mostly from the various Ministry positions she'd applied to… through the post. That was the application procedure if you didn't have a direct referral.

She had completely and utterly forgotten that they might also respond through the post.

After opening all her mail, Rose took a deep breath, overwhelmed with the fact that she'd gotten several interview invites, and even a couple of job offers. All those weeks of uncertainty and confusion, and she'd had options.

She just hadn't known.

A/N: Hi there! I really hope you enjoyed this chapter. There was a lot of family development and I know some of you were wondering about Charlotte. Thank you to the one(s) who suggested a phoenix might be Rose's tattoo, I really liked that idea and wanted to include it. Hope you liked that as well, and let me know what you think!

Also, HUGE thank you to everyone who reviews and comments, but especially last week; I had some issues and long story short, I was in so much pain that I couldn't even sit up long enough to use my laptop. Reading your thoughts on chapter eighteen (especially because I think that was a special chapter for me) while confined to my bed made my hellish week go by a little easier. Thank you thank you thank you. :)

Next: Rose works at the bookstore (and Scorpius comes back).