Disclaimer: I do not own the Harry Potter book series or movie adaptations.

Chapter Seven: Lists

7 July 2025

Miss Weasley,

Congratulations! We at the Daily Prophet are happy to announce that you will be joining our staff. Please write back letting me know when you can start so that I can begin getting you settled in.

Padma Patil
Editor-in-Chief for the Daily Prophet

I froze, a bite of cereal less than three inches from my mouth as a huge grin made its way onto my face. I dropped my spoon with a heavy clatter, and Mum looked over from her conversation with dad, a stern look on her face. She didn't get a chance to admonish me, however.

"I got the job!"

Instantly, her face softened and she let out a happy squeal, to which I responded in kind. I'm not sure how long I sat there with her, talking (read: squealing like schoolgirls) before Dad cleared his throat and began speaking through a bite of egg. "Bloody hell, can both of you please stop screaming and explain what job you got?"

Mum and I settled immediately, but she gave him a stern look. "No talking with food in your mouth, Ronald."

Dad shrugged, and I giggled before explaining what the letter entailed. When I was done, a proud grin spread across Dad's face. "That's great, Rosie!" He sent me a conspiratorial wink, "I would've preferred if you had gone into a Quidditch career, but…"

I laughed. "Not a chance," I said. I was one of the few Weasley children that had absolutely no Quidditch ability. I liked to watch the game, of course, but I could throw a Quaffle about as far as I could throw my father, and with about as much accuracy.

"Alright you two," Mum said, much more sober now than she was a few moments prior. "Rosie, we have to get done eating. We're due to meet the others in Diagon Alley to continue looking for dresses soon."

I internally groaned; she was right, of course. Scorpius and I had managed to complete almost all of the major wedding planning now. There were only two more things to be ironed out: the guest list, and my damned dress.

The time came much too quickly for my liking, and I had just finished my bowl of cereal when it was time to leave. I consoled myself with the fact that I wasn't the only one picking my wedding dress today; both Dierdre and Alice needed to pick theirs. Alice's wedding, which would be a small handfasting ceremony without need for bridesmaids, would be held on July 29, and Dierdre's, which would be just as grand as mine - she was going to be marrying Scorpius' cousin, Emilio - would be held on August 15.

Mum and I floo'd into the Leaky at nine o'clock and immediately made our way to the dress shoppe, where we met the others at the door. Because we'd already done this once before, we each set to work fairly quickly. Within thirty minutes Alice had found her dress, a stunning satin high-low dress with a sweetheart neckline and three-quarter sleeves in an off-white color that set off her platinum blonde hair and tanned skin perfectly.

It took a little while longer for Dierdre to find her dress. She'd found mine days prior (I was to be maid of honor at her wedding), but like me, she seemed to be very picky about which dress would be hers. At some point, she and I resorted to trying on dresses and coming out of the changing rooms together so that we could save time in what would obviously be a very long shopping trip.

At nearly ten o' clock, Astoria brought in a dress for me to try on that was simply stunning. It was a pure white lace gown with small roses embroidered onto it and spaghetti straps instead of sleeves. The gown fit snugly across my chest without being indecent, with a square neckline, and then fell loosely to the floor, where it had a long train. The back of the dress was low, almost nonexistent, but it looked classy as opposed to slutty. I fell in love as soon as I saw it on myself.

I walked outside of the dressing room at exactly the same time that Dierdre walked out of hers, which was just across the hall. The moment that I saw her, I knew that I wasn't the only one that had found my dream dress. Hers was a shade off of pure white, and it couldn't have been more flattering for her pale skin. It was strapless and had a sweetheart neckline, the satin fitting snugly all the way to her knees before fanning out in beautiful lace that fell all the way to the floor. It was the perfect blend of sexy and classy, and I grinned at her.

"You look gorgeous," I said sincerely.

"You do too," she said, grinning back at me. "I can't believe we're actually doing this."

"Me neither," I said with a wistful sigh. "Do you ever wish that we were kids again? Back at the Sorting Hat hoping to be put in Ravenclaw?"

Dierdre nodded. "Things were so easy back then." She held her hand out to me. "Ready to face the music?"

She and I headed out to show the others, hands intertwined.

An hour and a half later, I found myself seated at a cafe, my fiance sitting silently across from me. I'd made plans to meet him for lunch so that we could finalize our guest list, but so far it didn't seem like we'd made much headway on the topic.

"I don't want him there," Scorpius said. I sighed in annoyance; this particular problem had been at the forefront almost since we'd sat down.

"He's marrying my friend, Scorpius," I answered. "She'll be there, so he'll be there. I'm not going to tell her that she has to be dateless so that you don't have to have him there. He probably won't even talk to you."

"He'll talk to you," Scorpius said. "You know I don't like him. You know I've never liked him."

"What I know," I hissed, "Is that you act like a child any time he's around. Nothing happened between he and I, and nothing will ever happen between he and I."

Scorpius' eyes turned dark and he scowled. "He wanted it to," he said stubbornly.

"That's entirely untrue, and beside the point."

"I don't even understand why you want him there."

"Because he's my friend, and more importantly, he's affianced to my other friend."

Scorpius sighed annoyedly, and I squeezed my eyes closed, rubbing my temples. We were discussing August Nott, Scorpius' former housemate and both of our friend. Former friend, in Scorpius' case.

"You had no reason to be jealous of him then," I said, "And you have no reason to hate him now."

Scorpius looked up at me, his eyes pleading. "I've done almost everything that you've asked, Rose. I've let you do the majority of the planning because you wanted to. I've given you as much space to do so as I could. I've been as helpful as I can be. I am asking this one thing, Rose. I don't want him there."

"Give me a reason," I said. "One good reason."

Scorpius looked down at his lap, and I raised an eyebrow. Very rarely had I ever seen anything akin to shame on Scorpius. Regret occasionally, perhaps, but never shame.

"I don't want to have to see him," Scorpius said, slowly, as though he was trying to find the right words. "I don't want to have to look at him while I'm marrying you and remember that my feelings toward him are the reason that I ruined the relationship that we could've had."

"You're marrying me, Scorpius," I said. "I hardly think that it matters."

Scorpius pursed his lips. "I wanted a life with you, Rose," he said. "A real one. Not one that was orchestrated by the Ministry. I wanted to ask you to marry me and have you agree enthusiastically. I wanted a real marriage, which at this point you're unable or unwilling to give me, all because I screwed up. And every time I look at August Nott, all I see is that screwup."

I didn't respond immediately; I weighed the options before me. On the one hand, I could see where Scorpius was coming from. I was still angry at him for cheating on me, of course; I wasn't one of those stupid girls from the romance novels that forgive a bloke for hurting them just because he said he was sorry. On the other hand, however, I found that as time wore on the wound seemed to heal, and I could almost see why I had fallen in love with him to begin with.

I sighed. "Look at us," I said. "At all of this. What the hell were we so scared of back then?"

Scorpius looked taken aback by the sudden change in subject. "My grandparents mostly," he said. "And your cousins. They hated how I used to treat you and we both knew they would have never been okay with this if it was voluntary."

"But still," I said, "Our families accepted this well enough."

Scorpius shrugged. "We were basically children," he said. Then he smiled wistfully. "Besides, I think a part of us liked all the sneaking around."

I looked down at my hands, which were folded on the table in front of me, and tried to hide a smile. "It wasn't that long ago," I said softly. "We weren't that much younger."

A silence fell over the table for a long time after that, each of us lost in thought before I finally looked back up at him. "Look," I said, "I'll talk to Daya. Maybe she'll be okay with going stag. But I still don't like it, and eventually you'll have to get over this. They're both still my friends."

Scorpius sighed. "That's as much as I can hope for, I guess."

"Scorpius," I said after a moment, all but forcing the words to leave my mouth, "I want to try to be friends again. I can't promise anything else, and I still can't quite forgive you for what you did, but if we're to be married I can't very well spend the rest of my life hating you."

Scorpius smiled at me. "Friends," he said.

I nodded. "Friends."

"Now," said Scorpius, "There is one more thing I wanted to talk to you about."

I frowned in confusion. What had we forgotten to plan now? "Yes?"

Scorpius colored, and it would have been cute if he didn't look so uncomfortable. "My father brought something up the other night," he stuttered, "And I just wanted to get your opinion. I mean, I completely understand regardless, I just-"

"Scorpius," I interrupted, "Spit it out."

Scorpius took a quick breath. "My parents want to pay for us to go on a honeymoon," he said quickly, "And I told them I wasn't sure if you would want one or where you wanted to go, and I completely understand if you don't want one, I mean…" He let himself trail off, and I was happy for that. I was worried he had forgotten to breathe for a moment.

I pursed my lips. That was one part of married life that I had completely forgotten about. Sex.

It wasn't that I was unfamiliar with the idea. Back when Scorpius and I thought that we were in love, we had ventured into that territory more times than I could possibly count, though I'd not wanted to take that step as long as we were trying to hide our relationship. A bitter feeling crept into my chest; when he'd cheated, my first thought was that it had been because I wouldn't sleep with him. I didn't know if reality was better or worse.

"I'm not s-sleeping with you," I finally responded, cursing my voice for cracking. "And you can't make me, right?"

Scorpius grimaced. We hadn't done much talking about the curse. "No, I can't," he said vehemently, "And I wouldn't anyway, Rose. I'll never make you do anything you don't want."

I nodded. "If you want to go on a honeymoon," I said, "We can go. I don't want your parents to think me ungrateful. But if we go, there will be no sex. I mean it. If I feel uncomfortable at any time, I'm going home. Is that clear?"

Scorpius smiled. "Crystal."

Author's Note: Hi guys! I won't be doing these notes often, but I wanted to notify all of you that at this point I'm planning on changing the rating on this story from T to M. The story will be a slow burn, and Scorpius and Rose still have a long way to go before they're ready for a real relationship, but at some point they will get there and when they do, well, they're a couple of not-quite-eighteen-year-olds that will be married. You do the math.

Much love!