Chapter Twenty-Two

Rose was not freaking out. Not at all.

Still, she thought that perhaps it would be best to warn Scorpius about Albus, perhaps going over to his flat instead of waiting for him to knock. Instead, Rose and Albus managed to run into him right as they reached the third floor, key in the lock and about to enter his flat.

Of course, Albus wasn't about to miss any opportunities.

"Malfoy!" he called, rushing over before Rose could yank him back. "Good to see you."

Scorpius glanced between Rose and Albus, either suspicious or confused – maybe a bit of both. "Er, same to you."

"Glad you're actually dressed this time."

"Al!" Rose hissed, elbowing his side.

"We were about to watch a movie," Albus continued, ignoring Rose and holding up a bag of styrofoam takeaway containers they'd picked up. "We have plenty of food. Join us?"

There was a brief silence as Scorpius stared at the two of them, clearly caught off guard. After all, Albus was crashing on their plans, not the other way around, and he'd never shown any interest in befriending Scorpius before. When he met her gaze, Rose sent him an apologetic smile and something softened in his features.

"Okay," he agreed, turning back to his door and pushing it open. "I'll bring drinks."

"Brilliant," Albus said, dragging Rose over to her flat.

They'd just gotten settled on the couch when Scorpius arrived, carrying a large bottle of wine. He'd taken off his lab coat but was still wearing his work clothes, buttoned-up as always. Rose wished Albus wasn't there so she could grab Scorpius by the collar and snog him.

"Albus followed me home," Rose told Scorpius as he sat down beside her.

"Oi, I resent that," Albus said, throwing his feet up on the coffee table. "Rosie, can I move this shit so I can see properly?"

He was pointing to the pile of wood that still had yet to be a bookshelf.

"Let me do it," Rose said quickly, whipping out her wand so fast she nearly poked Albus in the eye. "It's delicate."

"It's not going to break, it's literally in its broken state."

After shifting her unfinished work to the corner, Rose grabbed the remote control for the television and turned it on to flick through the movie options she had.

"What kind of films do you like, Malfoy?" Albus asked, looking over Rose's head to direct his question. "Are you into action, comedy? Horror?"

"Er, I dunno," he replied, shrugging. "I didn't grow up watching them, so Rose chooses what we watch. Not a huge fan of movies so far."

"That's because Rosie is absolutely shit at choosing movies."

"Hey!" she exclaimed, shooting Albus a dirty look.

"It's true," he said pointedly. "If Roxanne or Hugo were here right now, they'd agree with me. You know it."

"That would explain a lot, actually," Scorpius put in, grinning at Rose. "The ones you've shown me are kind of sappy."

"I cannot believe this," Rose grumbled, digging back on the seat cushions and crossing her arms over her chest. Albus complaining about Rose's film choices was a regular occurrence, but usually no one else ever had this critique.

On the other hand, she started to relax. Perhaps Albus had taken what she'd told him to heart about his judgemental comments. It didn't escape her that between Roxanne, Albus and her mother, Albus had been the only one to have a somewhat open mind about Scorpius.

Maybe Rose had freaked out too soon.

"Okay, before we start whatever terrible movie you choose," Albus said loudly, holding up his notebook, "I really need you to help me with my wedding vows."

Scorpius started laughing. "Wait, seriously?"

"It's hard to figure out what to say," Albus complained.

"No, it's not." He reached over to take the notebook and grabbed a spare quill that Rose had lying on the table. Flipping to a blank page, he drew four quadrants before beginning to label them, speaking as he wrote. "First, you say something that you love about her, and why you're promising anything in the first place."

"That's the only thing I have so far," Al admitted.

"Second," he said, switching to the next box, "you say something really romantic and generic, something that you already do and you're going to keep doing."

Rose nudged Albus' leg. "Charlotte loves that you cheer her up when she's down. She always says that, even though it's obvious."

"Thirdly, you want something funny," Scorpius continued. "Figure out something she hates, then promise not to do it anymore."

"Cleaning," Al said immediately. "I am so bad at cleaning." Rose agreed with a wince.

"Be very specific," Scorpius advised. "The last one is just the lead up to how you're looking forward to the future. Say something in particular that you'll do with her together."

After a quick underline, Scorpius returned the notebook to Albus, who looked a bit dumbstruck.

"Bit formulaic, isn't it?" he observed.

"It works, and you don't want to fuck it up, do you?" Scorpius questioned back.

"How do you know all this?" Albus muttered, reading through his neatly penned words on the page. Rose could tell Scorpius was avoiding her gaze, but she definitely had a sense by now that he wouldn't want to go into his wedding-slash-divorce details with Albus.

"I'm surprised, Al," Rose interrupted before Scorpius could reply, "you're always the responsible one. Why is this so last minute?"

"Let's eat first," Albus suggested instead. "I can't do feelings on an empty stomach."

Scorpius snorted. "Agreed."

The three served themselves dinner, opening all the steaming and rather oily containers of Chinese food. Rose and Albus had picked their favourites: noodles, spring rolls, rice and plenty of fried chicken.

"I'm going to get plates and cutlery," Rose decided, wrinkling her nose at the flimsy plastic forks. "Anyone else?"

"Rose, it's takeaway," Albus said in a bored voice. "The whole point is that you don't do dishes."

Scorpius grinned sheepishly. "I'll take the real thing, please."

"You too, Malfoy?" Albus almost sounded betrayed.

"I'm not the one doing the dishes," he pointed out, making Albus laugh.

"That's not the only reason," Rose said, getting up to grab the dishes from her kitchen cupboards. She put down a few wine glasses onto the table. "Scorpius is actually very particular about eating food off of real plates."

"It makes the food taste better," Scorpius defended as he popped open the bottle of wine and poured it into three glasses.

Albus whistled appreciatively at the bottle. "Malfoy, you got the good stuff, didn't you?"

"I aim to please," Scorpius said dryly, making them laugh.

"We're watching Forrest Gump, by the way," Rose told them.

Al brightened considerably. "Okay, that's actually a really good movie."

"Is it?" Scorpius sounded sceptical, but his eyes drew to the screen as the movie began.

"I swear. So, what was all that with Aunt Hermione at the bridal shower?" Albus asked, heaping a large serving of noodles onto a plate. "What did you do?"

"Who says I did anything?" Rose asked defensively. "For all you know, I was just saving myself from her wrath."

He rolled his eyes. "Fine, what did she do?"

"Okay, she didn't do anything," Rose admitted, making Albus laugh.

"This was the thing about the letters, wasn't it?" Scorpius asked, forking a spring roll and taking a crunchy-sounding bite. "What happened?"

"Rosie put in a lot of effort to avoid her mum on Saturday," Albus explained, ignoring the daggers in Rose's expression that she was sending towards him. "She roped me into it, of course."

"You offered to help!"

"I don't help for free," Albus corrected with a knowing grin. "And you got away, didn't you?"

"You're the worst cousin ever." She shifted away from him and curled her legs under herself before taking a long sip of wine. "She's just been impossible about the whole job search. She doesn't get that I want to figure it out on my own and keeps hounding me with letters."

"Aunt Hermione helped me write a resume, actually, way back when I graduated from the Auror Academy. I would hear her out, at least."

"I knew you wouldn't get it," Rose mumbled, busying herself with chewing a large piece of chicken to avoid his confused expression. To his credit, Albus frowned, but kept quiet.

To Rose's surprise, Scorpius watched the movie quite intently. He usually gave it a chance in the beginning, but any interest would quickly melt away as the story went on. This time, Scorpius was completely absorbed by the screen, laughing at all the right parts and chewing absent-mindedly on his food; Rose had never seen him not paying attention to what he was eating.

She hid her smile behind a sip of wine.

Sometime later, during a lull in the movie, Albus poked her arm with the back of his fork. "So, Rosie, aren't you going to share the good news?"

"What's that?"

"You got a job offer," he reminded her, sounding a tad annoyed.

This caught Scorpius' attention. He turned to her, a grin growing on his lips. "Really, Rose? It finally happened?"

"Um, yeah," she said weakly.

But then it hit Rose. Perhaps it was because she'd spent so long avoiding thinking about the subject, but she suddenly realized she had a legitimate offer. Nothing like the small positions she'd gotten in the mail without even doing an interview, but something she had to work at to do well. Something she could fail at.

Okay, she was freaking out now.

"That's fantastic, isn't it?" Scorpius asked, peering at her.

"Yes." She swallowed, somehow knowing he could sense the fear that was suddenly racing through the marrow of her bones. His smile faltered a little, confirming her theory. "Yes, it's wonderful. Albus recommended me for the job, I'm really grateful."

"Oh, I see." He turned back to the screen, but put an arm around the back of her seat. Even that was a little comforting, and she felt her heart slowing down.

"I hope you take it," Albus said happily, oblivious to the two of them. "It would be brilliant if we worked in the same office. I mean, I'm trying to get back into the field, but I'd see you way more, right?"

Rose did appreciate that part, at least.

"It's a lot of technical reading and writing," she said, staring at her half-eaten spring roll. She wasn't going to deny that she wouldn't look forward to that part of the job.

"You're great at analyzing that shit," Albus assured. "Remember in school? The way you put your essays together was like this whole other kind of magic. You'll be great at this."

Just because she was good at it didn't mean she enjoyed it. She knew Albus was looking at her expectantly, waiting for an answer, but she still wasn't sure.

The movie flickered onwards. Albus and Scorpius both cleared their plates but Rose's food turned cold, left half-eaten on her plate. She poured herself a second glass of wine anyway, choosing not to think about the conversation that had transpired in spite of Forrest Gump running through a warzone.

Rose could run, couldn't she?

She could also read and analyze text, that was true. She had some high grades on her transcript – didn't that count? And then she felt inexplicably angry with herself; why couldn't she just figure out what she wanted? Why couldn't she just know so she didn't have to disappoint everyone she loved? Why couldn't she just choose something and just try it out for some time, just to see what it was like?

Forrest Gump certainly made decisions and stuck to them. Why couldn't she?

"It occurs to me," Albus said much later, frowning at the television, "that if a bloke like Forrest Gump can figure things out without planning everything out, maybe I should ease up. Maybe you don't need a plan to get through life."

Rose chuckled. "Maybe you plan too much, Al."

"You can't plan your life," Scorpius put in. "Life isn't linear. Shit happens."

"I guess. Look at James," Albus said, referring to his older brother. "When was the last time James planned something?"

"He's planning a proposal to his weird girlfriend," she said, then considered it again. "Well, sort of. He said he's going to wing it."

Albus burst into laughter. "Of course he is. Merlin, I spent months planning my proposal."

"Maybe that's why James is good in the field," Rose suggested with a shrug. "He thinks on his feet, you know? It's good when he's trying to duel with someone, you can't plan exactly what the other person will do."

"It's an advantage, definitely. Probably why he got promoted faster than me." He sighed heavily. "I should plan less. I'm definitely not going to help plan a wedding again."

"No?" Rose teased. "You're handling it so well."

"I'm so in over my head," he groaned, ruffling his messy hair. "I wasn't expecting to pay for a fucking house right after a wedding, you know? We've been saving for years, but… it's a lot all at once."

"Everything sort of piled up for you, didn't it?"

He sent her a grateful expression. "Yes. Fuck, I feel like I'm too young for this shit."

"Really?" she asked. She'd never thought of it that way at all. She thought everyone was moving forward in their life without her because she was behind – not that anyone else was early.

In the corner of her eye, she could see Scorpius smiling; he, of course, was nearly five years younger when he had gone through this. If Albus – always planning, cautious and safe – felt overwhelmed from his wedding, she couldn't imagine how Scorpius felt all those years ago.

"I know I'm ready," Albus explained, "and I know Charlotte's the one, but… it's all a bit fast, isn't it? I'm sort of freaking out, here."

It was comforting to hear, especially as Rose had been freaking out for half the evening.

"Is that why you said you didn't want to do movies and takeaway?" she asked, laughing. "Trying to grow up all at once, or something?"

"Please just forget I said any of that."

"It's way too late for that, Albus. I'll be reminding you of this for literally the rest of your life."

Albus remedied his pain by grabbing Rose and squeezing the absolute shit out of her, which just made her squeal very loudly and laugh.

But she did feel like she understood Albus better. She was starting to feel a tiny bit of regret, not because she'd stood up to him – that was a long-time coming – but because she could have timed it a little better. Having demanded his time right before his wedding was a shitty move on her part, wasn't it?

"So," Albus said, not noticing her guilty expression and pouring another glass of wine for himself. "Malfoy. Can I call you Scorpius?"

"Sure," he replied absent-mindedly, eyes still on the screen.

"Anyone special in your life?"

"Nope."

Albus had shrugged off his robes earlier, but he was still wearing his Auror badge on a lanyard around his neck, and he chose that moment to play with it openly. "What have you been up to since Hogwarts?"

"Working," Scorpius said, looking at him over Rose's head to properly explain his job at the Apothecary. It was obvious to Rose that Albus was thoroughly sussing him out, but she wasn't sure if Scorpius had really clued in. And why would he? They were just friends.

Not that Albus was going to go easy on him, regardless.

She was not going to freak out about it. She wasn't.

"… and I've signed up for some Potions classes in September," Scorpius finished. Rose was surprised that he'd volunteered that information.

"Good for you. I'm absolute shit at Potions," Albus said, shaking his head. "I wouldn't have taken that N.E.W.T. if the academy hadn't required it."

"You spent forever in the dungeons practicing," Rose remembered with a scowl, "and forced me to stay, too."

"If it weren't for me, you would've never studied at all."

"That's not true," she protested, sticking her tongue out at him.

"Rose is a very hard worker," Scorpius said unexpectedly, cutting between their banter. "She's a self-starter and perseveres through adversity. Not everyone is like that."

There was a brief moment of stunned silence.

"Yeah," Albus agreed, nodding and observing Scorpius closely. "Yeah, that's true."

Rose's cheeks felt warm. "Anyway. Scorpius is definitely going to get into a Herbology program and he'll probably invent an actual cure for Dragon Pox."

Scorpius smiled at her.

"That's all fine and dandy," Albus dismissed with a wave of his hand, "but here's the real question: what's your Quidditch team? And if it's the Cannons, I'm kicking you out."

"You can't kick him out of my flat, Al," Rose said crossly.

"Magpies," Scorpius answered shortly, turning his attention back to the screen, "and will you two shut up? We're missing everything."

"Magpies over the Tornadoes?" Albus whispered, sounding thoroughly annoyed.

"Al…" Rose warned.

"Well, at least it's not the Cannons."

"Shush."

Scorpius didn't answer; he was frowning at the main character as they ran across the entirety of the United States, seemingly for no reason at all. Rose leaned into Scorpius' side, hoping it was subtle enough that Albus wouldn't notice.

Although both Rose and Albus had watched this particular film more times than they could count, they easily were enthralled with the ending and finally let Scorpius enjoy it properly. When the ending credits rolled down the screen, he stretched out his legs, seeming satisfied in the way Rose always felt after watching this film or finishing a great book.

"This was actually incredible," Scorpius said, sounding thoroughly impressed. "Why didn't you show me this movie before, Rose?"

"I bet she showed you a bunch of comedies," Albus said, shaking his head disappointedly as he turned to put his robes back on. "I'll show you some actually great movies next time, the ones that make you think and reconsider your entire life. And the ones with lots of explosions."

If Scorpius was surprised, he didn't show it. "Sure, that sounds good."

"You're both leaving already?" Rose asked as they stood up. Scorpius was helpfully stacking their dishes, but Albus was looking around her flat, probably for Floo Powder. "It's not too late if you're up for a game of Exploding Snap."

"Nah, I gotta see Charlotte before she goes to bed," Albus said, but he looked quite delighted at the thought. At least the disagreements and wedding preparation hadn't dampened their relationship. "I'll see you soon?"

"Yeah," Rose confirmed as he hugged her.

"I'll see you too, Malfoy," he said, giving him a nod. A few moments later, Albus had thrown the Floo Powder into the fireplace and disappeared into green flames.

Rose turned to Scorpius, who was carrying the dinner dishes to her sink. "Are you going to do my dishes after all?"

"Nope," he said immediately, "that's where I draw the line in politeness."

Rose laughed and followed him, waiting until his hands were free to wrap her arms around his middle. "I'm so sorry for tonight. I feel like Albus coerced you into this."

Scorpius snorted. "I don't do anything I don't want to do. It was fun."

"You did seem to enjoy the movie for once."

"Yeah." They broke apart. "I actually have to get going, too. I've started reviewing the Potions class material, but I'm too tired to do it after work."

"You get up early to study?" Rose asked, amazed. "I know you're a morning person and all, but that actually sounds like hell."

"So does the job your cousin offered you," he joked. When she didn't laugh, he looked at her closely. "Wait, are you going to take it?"

"Is that a bad idea?" she asked uneasily.

"No, it's just surprising." He smoothed her curls over her collarbone, keeping his fingers in her hair. "You've just been going on about how you want to find something you love doing, haven't you?"

Rose looked away. "Maybe I was wrong. My mum certainly thinks so."

"You weren't."

"I just don't know what I want yet," she explained feebly, "but I still have to pay my bills in the meantime, don't I? Unless I want to move back in with my parents or be homeless on the street."

Scorpius chuckled at this, but didn't reply.

She searched his expression. "You're disappointed."

"Why would I be disappointed?" he asked, taken aback.

"Because I'm taking a job I probably won't like."

Scorpius slid his hands down to her waist and pulled her closer. "I'm not disappointed. It's not your job to please me, your cousin, your mother or even your neighbour's cat. Besides, you make good decisions, mostly."

"Mostly?" she teased.

"I can't deal with your frozen pizza habits, okay?"

Rose laughed and found herself pulling at his collar, reaching on her toes and pressing her lips to his like she'd wanted to all evening. She hadn't even realized she'd done it before he was grabbing her bum and slanting his mouth against hers, like it was the most natural thing in the world. A grunt came from his throat that made her ache between her thighs.

Her hands slipped to his cheekbones and traced gently. His skin was hot under her fingers, burning nearly as much as she wanted him. His tongue teased hers until she sighed contentedly against his mouth. She felt him smile before kissing her again, slowly this time, dragging his teeth over her bottom lip.

Then he was breaking off the kiss much too early – as in, they were not naked yet, so what was his deal? – and Rose nearly bumped forward into him as he leaned away.

"I need to get up early tomorrow, remember?" he reminded her, looking reluctant.

"Are you trying to get rid of me?" Rose asked, only half-joking. She still had no idea what he wanted to talk about, but she could sense that right then wasn't the moment. Which was very confusing, if he didn't want to be friends anymore – why wouldn't he just say it?

"No," he said, still holding her close, "but I do have to go."

"Fine, fine."

He paused, trying not to smile. "'Rosie' is a cute nickname, by the way."

"Not you, too," she groaned. "Everyone's been calling me that forever, but I just feel like a little six-year-old when I do. Please don't call me that."

"I won't." His fingers played at her waist. "Doesn't sound like you. Not to me, anyway."

She stared at him, wondering what that meant.

"Though, you are adorable sometimes." Scorpius pulled her close and dropped a kiss at her hairline. "Good night, Rose."

True to his word, Albus did not have a free moment to speak with Rose until the night of the bachelor/bachelorette party. She'd dropped by his office to accept the offer, but he looked absolutely swamped with work and hadn't even looked up from his cubicle.

When Rose had visited his flat the day after, she found Albus trying to calm Charlotte, who was swearing furiously at a shoe; turns out, she'd tried to break in her new heels before the wedding, which then broke in a different way. Even if it was easily fixed by magic, Charlotte needed more consoling than strictly necessary.

It wasn't a great time.

After Rose and Roxanne spent far too long shopping for phallic-shaped party goods, they arrived at Albus' flat to find men everywhere, gathering for the bachelor party. Not that Rose would complain, but they were mostly her cousins.

"Charlotte is at her mum's until seven-thirty," Albus greeted Rose when she approached him; he was sitting on one of the barstools by the counter, a shot glass full of clear liquid in front of him. "That should give you all plenty of time to surprise her, yeah?"

"How much coffee have you had?" she joked as she and Roxanne hugged him quickly. His words were quick and seemed to jam together. "I took the job, by the way."

"I heard!" He looked extremely pleased. "I promise you're going to love it, Rose."

"Don't you hate the office?" Roxanne pointed out. "You've only been complaining about it every chance you have."

"He does." A voice behind them caused them to turn and see James striding up to them. He put an arm around Albus' shoulder, which clearly annoyed him. "He hates the office, and for good reason. It's boring as fuck."

Albus shot James a dirty look. "Rosie will like it just fine. She worked in the Transportation office for years, didn't she?"

"I wouldn't say I liked it," Rose admitted.

Roxanne clicked her tongue impatiently. "Okay, we're wasting time here. You all should've been gone by now; we need to set up before Charlotte gets home."

"She's right, Al," James said, tightening his grip on his shoulder, "it's time for your first shot."

Albus glanced back at his shot glass, looking apprehensive. "I am terrible with vodka. You should've gotten Firewhiskey."

"Plenty of time for that later." James grabbed a passing cousin with his other arm – Fred – and both of them started chanting loudly, egging him on and capturing the attention of everyone in the room.

Clapping and loud cheers echoed through the apartment as Albus threw his head back and downed the vodka in one go. James finally left after that, leaving Albus to slam the glass down back on the counter and shudder, clearly trying not to cough.

"And that's why I brought tequila," Roxanne muttered, just loud enough for Rose to hear.

"Fuck, I'm going to be so hungover tomorrow," Albus moaned. "Who invited James?"

Rose raised an eyebrow. "You did. He's your best man."

"Not by choice." Albus stood from the barstool, heaving a sigh. "All right, I'm going to make the rounds and get us all out of here."

"Try not to be too excited," Rose called after him, making him snort.

Rose and Roxanne made their way to the bedroom to drop off their bags. Roxy was quick to root through the shopping bag to bring up a large poster board with a muscular man posed in his underwear and letters above him that read, 'Pin the Junk on the Hunk'. A red target covered his genitals.

"I can't believe this is a thing that we actually spent money on," Rose said, giggling.

"I know!" Roxanne looked a bit scandalized, but still excited. "Hey, would you mind getting some of these drinks in the fridge?"

"Oh, right." Rose grabbed the bag of drinks they'd picked up and headed back towards the kitchen. Albus was doing a spectacularly terrible job with rounding up his groomsmen; they were still sprawled everywhere, drinking beer and chatting. Rose had to duck around them to get to the fridge.

"Oof!" a male voice grunted.

Rose jumped; she belatedly realized that when she opened the fridge, she'd bumped the corner of the door into someone.

"Sorry!" she apologized instantly, shoving the drinks inside the fridge, still in the bag, and shutting the door. When she looked up, she found Nathan rubbing his arse gingerly.

"It's fine – Rose!" He brightened considerably, moving in immediately to put his arms around her. "Should've known you'd be here."

"Oh, hey." Rose tried to keep her voice calm, but her stomach went into complete overdrive with butterflies. She thought she was over the whole attraction thing, but apparently not; Nathan looked incredible in his dark, fitted dress shirt, which outlined literally every muscle in his upper body. He'd rolled up the sleeves because of the heat and she could see the veins jutting out in his forearms.

Fuck.

"How are you doing?" he asked, pulling away and smiling in a way that made her blush. A lot.

"Really great," she replied, trying not to let her nervousness show in her grin. "Yeah, things have been going well. Just got another job."

He looked impressed. "Congratulations! I think Albus had mentioned that to me earlier."

"Thanks." Rose glanced around to avoid looking at him straight-on. "I'm surprised you got in here – did Al get you through Diagon Alley?"

"Yeah, he got me permission. I've been here a couple of times, actually," he told her. "I've been around a lot to help Charlotte with the wedding, and Albus and I have been getting along well enough. Well, enough to invite me to his bachelor party."

"That's good," she said, though the prospect of Nathan hanging around a lot made her jittery.

"Yeah, definitely." Nathan suddenly stepped back, eyeing her outfit for the bachelorette party and giving a low whistle. "I have to say, Rose, you look amazing."

She flushed even redder. "Thanks. Well, I gotta get ready for Charlotte, so…"

"Right, right." He flashed her another grin and backed out of the kitchen. "I'll see you later, then. Probably tonight, if all goes to plan."

After he left, Rose let out a breath she hadn't known she was holding and pressed her palms, still cool from the drinks, to her cheeks. She wondered if some people were allowed to be that perfect, because it was seriously unfair to non-perfect people like herself.

"What was that all about?"

Rose whipped around and saw Albus behind her, sitting at the barstool on the outside of the kitchen. She hadn't noticed him when she'd come in, but she should've figured; Albus hated mingling for too long.

"What was what?" Rose asked, dropping her fingers from her face.

"All that with Nathan." Albus was frowning. "That was weird. You were acting weird."

"I was not," she defended, "I was just saying hi. He's my wedding date, remember?"

"Yeah, I remember." He looked at her sceptically. "He was flirting with you."

"I guess."

"And you didn't stop him."

"How am I supposed to do that?" she asked, raising her shoulders. "I'm not going to be rude and turn down a compliment."

Albus still looked extremely confused. "You're redder than a fucking tomato. I thought you wanted to stay single and be independent. You've been saying a lot of shit like that lately."

"He's just my wedding date," she repeated defensively, "and it's a favour to your fiancée, if you remember?"

"Don't talk about her like you're not friends."

"I'm not doing anything."

"You're being weird, Rose," he said again, but more strongly this time. "I dunno what's going on with you, but you can talk to me about it. I promise I won't judge you."

Rose took a deep breath. Albus not judging her was laughable. "Even if I believed you, I don't understand what the big deal is. So what if Nathan was flirting with me?"

"But what about Malfoy?" Albus asked, incredulous.

Rose stared at him; she knew she had a good reason to freak out that night.

"What about him?" she asked, perplexed. "We're friends. It's not like that with him."

"Oh yes, it is," he said with a disbelieving laugh. "It sure as hell is, unless I dreamed up that whole night that we all hung out. You are absolutely in love with him."

"I'm not!" The words were instant, tumbling out of her mouth on reflex. "We're just friends. We're really good friends, but just friends. I don't want to date him or hold hands or whatever it is I'm supposed to want."

"I've seen you two together now," he dismissed, as though Rose hadn't spoken. "I've honestly never seen you like that before."

"That's because I'm not in love with him," she said firmly. "It wasn't like that with Travis, remember?"

He snorted. "That's because you weren't in love with Davies."

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"Yes, why are you talking instead of drinking?" James said loudly, coming up beside Albus. "Come on, we've got to get to the pub so you can do twenty more shots!"

Albus groaned, and Rose almost felt sorry for him. He was never one for parties.

"All right, let's do this," he mumbled, shoving the stool back and getting up. "At least we're not going to a strip club."

"You should really have an open mind, Al," his older brother reasoned, attempting to sound wise.

"No," Albus said firmly, rolling his eyes. Despite this, James was grinning wickedly behind his back.

And so the chaos began.

A/N: Helloo! I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter, there was lots of silliness that was a lot of fun to write! :) But the drama starts now, and the next few chapters are going to be quite dramatic - apologies in advance. But a fun dramatic, I promise! Anyone have any thoughts of Albus and Scorpius, or even Albus and Nathan?

Next: the bachelor/bachelorette party (of course).