A/N: Happy reading! :)

Chapter 8: Rose

Saturday, 22 November, 2025

"Come on, Rose, we'll miss the game soon!" Hugo yelled from the sitting room, where he was waiting with their father.

Rose rolled her eyes at the mirror in her bedroom, finishing the spell to tame her frizzy hair, and heard her brother ask Scarlett if she was sure she wasn't going to join them.

"…I mean, James did come by and apologised, right?" Hugo continued.

James had come over the previous Wednesday, and had expressed his apologies to both Scarlett and Rose, telling them how there was no excuse for him to act the way he had, and that he was sorry. It had been awkward, and Rose was glad it had been a short visit. She was also rather sure Scarlett was done with her silly crush on Rose's cousin.

"Oh, yes." Rose heard Scarlett reply with a snarky voice. "I'm just itching to make him think I'm hung up on him or something – which I'm sure he would think if I showed up there."

Rose's father snorted.

"Scar, it's not really –"

"On the other hand, Hugo, my lovely friend – I think you're right. I think I should come, just to make him uncomfortable…"

Rose sighed and barged into the sitting room. "You're not allowed to come." She said bluntly to Scarlett, before turning to Hugo and her father. "Well? I'm ready."

Hugo stared at her for a moment. "Jeesh, Rose, you sure you're going to a Quidditch game?" Hugo asked teasingly, winking at her.

Rose narrowed her eyes at her brother and tried to grab him to shake him, but Hugo was faster, sniggering as he slipped behind their father who was standing in the middle of the room, looking exasperated. There was nothing wrong with her attire – her black jeans and white jumper were exactly what someone wore into a Quidditch match, but her hair and makeup… she might've spent a little more time on them than she usually did.

It wasn't that Rose was hoping to attract an eye of anyone – but they were going to watch a bunch of fit men flying on their brooms for some hours. At least she was prepared.

"Still acting like small kids, I see…" Their father grunted, shaking his head. "Well, Scarlett, good to see you," He said, tipping his head at Scarlett, who was leaning against the kitchen counter, sipping her tea.

"Likewise, Mr. Weasley," She said with a smirk before turning to look at Rose. "You be good Rose," She said, her other brow rising for a short moment.

Rose breathed through her nose. "Let's go before I have to strangle all of you."

They apparated to Bodmin Moor in Cornwall, close to the Magpies Quidditch area, and continued to walk the rest of the way towards their main arena. Rose knew it hadn't always been Magpies' home stadium, as the Quidditch stadiums erected over Britain and Ireland were previously used by many teams, but after years and years of debating with the Department of Magical Games and Sports, the League was finally granted a home stadium and training area for each team.

"Ron! Rosie! Hugo!" Rose's aunt yelled next to a long building close to the main stadium. She was talking with James, who was already in his black and white Quidditch gear. There was a hubbub of excited conversation from over two hundred people behind them.

"Aunt Ginny!" Rose said as soon as they reached her and James. Rose hugged her aunt, and then stepped back to eye her more closely, while both Hugo and her father clasped hands with James.

Ginny looked a bit different than she had been the last time Rose had seen her – which was at least a month ago. Her hair seemed brighter, and overall, she seemed happier. "You look good," Rose said with a smile.

Ginny laughed, shaking her head. "Was going to say the same thing about you. Love the hair," She said, tugging one perfectly bouncy curl that hung against Rose's shoulder. "You okay?"

Rose shrugged. "Sure. And you? How's uncle Harry?" She asked, not having seen him for several months. Rose reckoned the last time she had seen him must've been sometime during the summer when she had spent a lot of time with Lily at her house.

Ginny's mouth tightened. Rose frowned and wondered if she had said the wrong thing, but didn't have time to say anything more, as her father pressed his hand against Ginny's shoulder. "Hey sis. Should we find seats?"

James nodded at Rose before making his excuses. The match wasn't going to start until thirty minutes, and Rose wasn't sure if James's quick disappearance was because it was still too uncomfortable for him to hang out with her, or if he merely had to prepare for the game. She didn't really worry about it either. She knew things would eventually go back to normal between them.

Ginny hugged Hugo, telling him how she was sure he was growing taller every time she saw him – which apparently was something adults said to kids, as it was the exact same thing Rose told to Jasmine every time she saw her.

Hugo shook his head in mild exasperation, nodding his head at the stands. "Mind if we sit with some of my friends?"

Rose looked at the direction and saw some of James's and Hugo's friends at the stands near them, waving at them.

Their father shrugged. "Sure. You kids go ahead, I'll have to catch up with my little sister before we'll cram ourselves into the noise."

Ginny huffed at him, but nodded at Rose and Hugo. "Go ahead," She said, and as Rose and Hugo turned to walk towards the stands, she quipped "Save us seats!"

"Okay…what was that about?" Rose asked from Hugo when they were out of earshot of their father and aunt. "I asked about uncle Harry, and she nearly bolted!"

Hugo gave her an unimpressed look.

"What? What?" Rose asked quickly, annoyed that her brother seemingly knew more about it than Rose did. She didn't even know how it was possible, seeing as Hugo spent all his time at the hospital.

Hugo let out a sigh, and glanced around them. "They're having a rough time, 's all."

Rose gave her brother an incredulous frown. "What does that mean?" She asked as they started to walk up the stairs to the stand.

"Nothing, Rose. Forget it. Just don't – don't bring him up."

Rose huffed. "Why the bloody hell I shouldn't?" She felt frustrated. Obviously, there was something Rose ought to have known, but apparently, only Hugo had been told about whatever it was. "Why is it always you who gets told every sordid detail, but no one trusts me enough to –"

Hugo whirled around so fast, that Rose nearly collided into him. "Fuck, Rose, stop it! He's acting mental, and it's driving everyone up the walls!" Hugo whispered angrily, and then cursed under his breath as a group of wizards walked past them, giving them long stares.

"W-What?" Rose asked shakily. "Why didn't I know about any of it?"

Hugo pulled her to walk up the stairs with him. "Al told me. And I promised I wouldn't tell anyone. So keep your bloody mouth shut."

Rose felt affronted, but swallowed her irritation and merely nodded at her brother. There was no use to continue the discussion there, in the middle of several people. They reached the top of the stairs and walked ahead towards the seats.

So, her uncle had some… mental issues? Merlin, she needed to talk with her mother. Her mum would surely know what was going on and would explain it to Rose. However, a small doubting voice inside her head started to question her thoughts: would her mother explain it to her, if she hadn't said anything until now?

Rose's mind was so focused on her uncle and aunt – the latter of whom obviously had been upset by Rose's words – that she didn't notice the bloke standing in front of her blocking her way, until she walked right at him.

"Ooof!" She wheezed, falling right to her bum.

"Shit. Fuck. Sorry, Rose," Nick said hastily, taking Rose's arm and pulling her gently back up. "I thought you saw me…" He said with a grimace.

Everyone behind him was watching them from their seats. Rose noted that some of the guys were grinning slyly at their direction.

Rose felt her neck heating up with embarrassment. "Oh. Yeah. I didn't." She said lamely, and quickly continued as she saw the frown deepening between Nick's brows. "Thanks, though. For helping me."

Nick smiled, looking a bit relieved. Like Rose, Nick too was wearing Magpies colours. He was dressed in dark grey jeans and white shirt with the Magpies logo, paired with a black overshirt. "How are you?" He asked, while guiding her towards the benches, his fingers still lightly grazing her arm.

"I'm – I'm fine. Same old," She said with a shrug, looking around them as they sat side by side at the end of the first row.

Hugo and some of his school friends were sitting further down the same bench, leaving out the rest of the seats free, while James's friends – Nick's friends, Rose assumed – sat on the bench two rows up. Rose wondered if it was where Nick had been sitting as well.

"So, how's the coffee shop treating you?" He asked lightly, looking at Rose curiously.

Rose thought he actually seemed interested to hear how she was doing, instead of making small talk and being disinterested about her answer.

"Oh. It's okay, I suppose. Busy in the mornings, boring as hell during noon," she said and was a bit distracted by the grin on Nick's face.

"And you? Still shuffling around papers in your father's office?" She asked with a smirk, knowing it wasn't like that. Nick's father was a solicitor, and he owned a small company that offered legal services to the wizarding population. The last time they had had a good conversation about the topic – a year ago, before Rose had gone utterly legless – Nick had been thinking on taking up an apprenticeship under his father's guidance, and becoming a solicitor himself to ease his father's workload and eventually take over the company when his father would retire.

Nick laughed. "Something like that. I actually started my apprenticeship a few months back."

"Brilliant," Rose said with a smile. "Now I know who to call when I'm in legal trouble."

Nick grinned. "Oh? And what kind of trouble would that be?"

Rose gave him a thoughtful look. "Well, you never know. I mean, I do have these urges to throttle people at times," She said nonchalantly. "Mainly my relatives."

"Dunno if the qualification to deal with conveyancing or drawing up of wills would help you with that," Nick said with amusement.

"What a disappointment." Rose said with a mock-disenchantment, before grinning at him. "You should reconsider. There are a lot of angry minds waiting to do crime."

" – Nick, stop chatting up Weasley – she'll never agree!" One of Nick's friends yelled from one of the rows behind them.

Nick looked pained, but didn't look at his friends. "Sorry." He said to Rose, sounding somewhat embarrassed.

"Agree to what?" Rose asked, torn between feeling curious and reserved.

Nick smiled at her a bit sheepishly. "Going out with me?"

Rose was a bit taken aback by his straightforwardness, and stared at him quietly for a moment.

"Look, Rose. You don't have to. It was just something I –"

"Okay." Rose said, the word coming out of her mouth in a rush. She realised only a moment later what she had said.

Nick grinned widely, and Rose too could feel the corners of her mouth curving upwards. Merlin forbid, she had agreed to go on a date with Nick. She was never hearing the end of it from Scarlett, Rose was certain of it.

Rose didn't know what had compelled her to agree with him without any further thought. Perhaps it was the fact that she had been on so many unsuccessful dates that she was desperate to agree when the offer came from a decent person? She had always been in friendly terms with him, was somewhat familiar with him, and – well, she had already snogged him once. And what she remembered of it, definitely wasn't undesirable. And after that particular occurrence, it seemed like the next time she had seen him – which was at Albus's party – it felt like there was still something… unresolved between them.

Nick ran a hand through his hair. "Brilliant. Can I call you?" He asked, lifting his brows a bit.

Rose swallowed, forcing away all the mixed thoughts swirling in her head. "That would be lovely." She said and smiled at him, feeling how her cheeks tinged with red.

Nick licked his lips, and Rose was momentarily distracted, as her eyes dropped to stare at them. She suddenly remembered their kiss over a year ago, and felt curious – would his lips still feel like she remembered? Would he still guide them against Rose's as effortlessly as he had then?

"…Um. Rose? Your number?"

She blinked. "Right." She said, scolding herself for letting her focus waver. "Of course." She said and took Nick's phone which he had been offering to her.

Nick smirked, evidently having noticed Rose's wandering eye, but said nothing. Rose quickly added a contact and typed her number under it, before giving the phone back to him.

"Thanks," Nick said with another smile, making the blush deepen on Rose's face. "You look nice, by the way."

Rose pressed her lips together, trying to force the colour on her face to resume its normal tone. "Thank you. You too."

She was glad the game was about to start, and that everyone around them – including Hugo and his friends, as well as Nick's friends – was focusing on something else than her and Nick.

"I should… go back to my seat," Nick said, nodding his head at his friends, who were calling him to come back. "Unless – you want to join me?"

Rose shook her head slightly. "Oh. No. Sorry. My dad's about to head up and I promised I'd sit with him," she said with an apologetic look, even though she was somewhat glad she didn't have to sit with a group of moronically smirking blokes.

Nick grinned. "No worries. I'll call you," He said and gave her an intent look, before standing up. "Enjoy the match."

Rose nodded at him. "You too."

She looked at him as he left, and saw him passing her father and aunt Ginny on the way up.

Her father had somehow managed to change into his orange Chudley Cannons jumper that clashed horribly with his ginger hair. Rose wanted to roll her eyes at him – the Cannons were not even playing that day, and he still showed his support for the unfortunate team. She noticed that nearly everyone in their stand was wearing black and white – the Magpies colours. There were some stands around the pitch which were filled with people wearing pale blue and silver, but mostly it was black and white everywhere. It was, after all, Magpies' home game.

"Good seats, Rosie!" Her father said as he sat down next to Hugo, leaving the place next to Rose free for Ginny.

Rose saw Hugo watching her with a curious look, evidently having heard her discussion with Nick, and decided to ignore him. She was going on a date with Nick. Her stomach squirmed slightly in anticipation.

"You okay, Rosie?" Ginny asked, looking like her normal easy-going self again.

Rose smiled. "Sure. You think the Arrows will be any match for Magpies?"

The Magpies were playing their eleventh game since the league had started in the beginning of September, and it was their first time against The Appleby Arrows. James's team had won every match until now, and Rose was certain that their streak would continue – they were very good.

Ginny blew a raspberry. "Not a chance." She said and then sniggered with Rose.

Rose's father shushed them as the commentator started to announce the players from both teams. When it came to James's turn, everyone in their stand started to yell and whoop. Rose could see the small grin on James's face as the man zoomed past them, taking his position with the two other Chasers.

The game went on fast – players were zooming and zigzagging so rapidly in every direction that at times Rose had difficulties to follow who was in the possession of the Quaffle.

'…What an amazing Bludger Backbeat from Davies!' The commentator yelled, when the Magpies Beater sent a Bludger with a back-hand swing to behind him, causing the opposite side to drop the Quaffle.

'Aaand Magpies are in possession – going from Potter to Wright, to Harris, and – and Arrows Chaser catches the Quaffle in front of Potter!"

"Arrows' Taylor and Smith move with precision, something close to Formation Looping – aaand Smith SCORES! Arrows lead with ten to zero!"

"Fucking hell." Ginny grumbled next to Rose, her words drowning into the loud booing sounds around the Quidditch field.

The Magpies scored three goals in the next twenty minutes, followed by two goals by the Arrows during the next thirty minutes. Rose saw both Seekers flying over and amongst the rest of their teams, eyes trained into the field around them, trying to detect a glimpse of the Snitch.

When the game had been going on for an hour and a half, the Magpies were leading seventy to sixty, which wasn't much – and even though Rose hadn't been at James's games recently, she knew something was off in his game. She glanced at her aunt, who looked worried.

"What is it?" Rose asked, nodding at the field.

Ginny shook her head, tearing her eyes away from the pitch for a moment. "It's James. He's not in his best… Something's distracting him."

Rose nodded, trusting her aunt's opinion. She knew that even though Ginny co-coached the Harpies, the woman never missed any of James's games – and was probably very attuned to James's playing tactics.

There was an uproar, and both Rose and Ginny whirled back to look at the game.

'And would you look at that! Arrows' Smith snags the Quaffle from the pass between Magpies' Wright and Potter – and this is the second time their Porskoff Ploy fails! Lads – better luck next time! And Smith SCORES!'

Rose could see James and his teammate – one of the Chasers – yelling at each other.

'Looks like Magpies Chasers are trading some carefully selected words – and – IT'S THE SNITCH, EVERYONE! Arrows' LeBlanc catches the Snitch! The Appleby Arrows win!'

There was a stunned silence, and only a small part of the crowd was cheering – the one wearing the blue and silver colours.

Then there was a lot of shouting, a lot of booing, and screams of displeasure.

The Arrows were cheering, landing in a great heap on the grass, followed by a weary and disappointed looking Magpies team.

"Merlin," Ginny gasped next to Rose, standing up and leaning against the railing. Rose followed her and she too watched as James shouted something at the other Chaser as they flew towards the edge of the pitch, looking enraged.

"Blimey." Rose's father grunted.

Blimey, indeed, Rose thought, as she watched how James threw his broom aside the moment he landed and marched towards the building behind the stands.

Rose wondered what in the Merlin was going on with James, and if it could have anything to do with what had happened with Scarlett the previous weekend. Whatever it was, she hoped he would be able to solve it.

As soon as the game ended, Hugo disappeared back to St Mungo's, explaining to their father that he was needed when someone had called in sick, and that they were already short of staff. He promised to meet Rose at their mother's place the next day, and accompany her to their father's in the afternoon, which eased a bit of the disappointment on their father's expression.

When Rose got home later that evening, after stopping by at Diagon for a couple of drinks with her father and aunt – only butterbeer for Rose, since her father thought she was still his innocent little child – Hugo's owl India was waiting for her at the windowsill in the kitchen.

"Scar?" Rose called to the silent apartment, before moving to open the window. India hopped on her arm and gave her the letter. The owl pecked her fingers softly, and then flew off from the open window.

It was a bit odd that Hugo always preferred sending India, even though he too had a phone and they both lived in muggle buildings that were not attached to the floo network. Rose knew that there was even a small zone in the hospital that was made for muggleborn witches and wizards – or anyone basically who had muggle relatives and couldn't receive owls – where phones worked adequately. Rose thought that Hugo preferring to send letters over texting was because he was attached to India, especially after Rose had given the owl to him after she had graduated. Even though India had been a gift for Rose from their parents, both Hugo and Rose had regarded the owl as their familial throughout Hogwarts.

She opened the letter and sniggered after reading it.

Hey sis. So, apparently mum's bringing her BOYFRIEND tomorrow to lunch. Any idea if I need to practice my offensive spells? Or defensive, seeing we'll go to dad's afterwards?

-H

It was about time their mother was officially dating someone, Rose thought with a smile. The little she had seen the week before, Bruce had seemed like a decent man, and their mother had been positively glowing – something Rose hadn't seen in a long time. Sure, Bruce was a muggle, which brought its own set of problems, but if anyone would be able to figure it out, it was Hermione Granger.

Rose dug her phone from the pocket of her jeans. She had a couple of unread messages. One of them was from Scarlett, who had texted to inform Rose that she had gone to her parents for the night and that she would be back on Sunday afternoon.

The other one was from Nick. Rose's insides jumped slightly as she saw his name on the screen. She quickly opened the message.

What does your next Saturday look like?
-Nick

Rose pressed her lips together to stifle a huge grin, even though she was alone in the flat and no one would see if she smiled like a loon. She quickly typed her response.

Free as a bird.
-Rose

Rose stared at the screen, tapping her foot against the floor as she stood in the kitchen, still dressed in her overcoat while she waited for Nick to reply to her. She was hopeless, she knew it, but it couldn't be helped. Then, a moment later his reply came through.

Brill. I'll pick you up at…say eight?

Rose licked her lips and frowned at the phone. Did Nick know where she lived? The answer to her thoughts came as Nick sent another message.

…if you'll tell me where. :)

She smiled and sent her address to him, already excited even though their date was a week away.