Aria: Hello everyone! Another exciting chapter ahead. This chapter was strangely difficult and easy at the same time to write and there were certain things I was trying to get across to the readers. Although the time frame of this chapter may seem quick it is building up to Chapter 14 and 15.

Thank you to everyone who has followed, favourited, reviewed or read the story up until this point :) Your support has really encouraged me and my writing.

I don't own HP!

Please Enjoy!

CHAPTER 13 – Actions speak louder than words

Narrator's POV:

Al, Fie, Mya, Rose and Scorpius had all left the Great Hall and were walking to the Gryffindor common room to play a few games of Wizards Chess or Exploding snap. Mya and Al were engaged in an animated conversation while Fie listened. Scorpius wasn't particularly interested in the conversation so he let his thoughts wonder, until he stole a side glance at Rose – who was leaning on Fie like she was a lifeline – her brow was creased with concentration and her face looked flushed. She looked very unstable and sick on the verge of collapsing. Scorpius hoped he was just imagining things and without thinking said her name.

"Rose?" He inquired, it was when she didn't immediately respond that he knew something was wrong.

"Rose?" Scorpius repeated with a slight panicked note in his voice. By this time Mya and Al – who were slightly ahead – turned around to see what the hold-up was. Rose stretched out her arms in front of her towards Scorpius. Scorpius lost sight of his surrounding and pretty much anything else out of his worry for Rose – who would collapse any moment. He held out his arms to catch her but instead Rose used his arms to help her still stand up.

"Rose?" Fie questioned in a concerned voice.

Rose's world was spinning so she leaned her head on Scorpius' chest hoping the spinning would stop. It didn't. Al and Mya were now right next them looking just as concerned as Scorpius and Fie. Then Rose's knees gave out and Scorpius – luckily with his quick seeker reflexes – caught Rose. She had a funny giddy grin plastered on her face as Scorpius carried her bridal style. Much to his surprise, Rose was lighter than he thought.

"What happened? What's wrong?" Mya asked.

"We don't know, she just fainted," Fie panicked answered.

"Let's get her to the Hospital Wing," Al stated.

Scorpius nodded in agreement and the four of them headed to the Hospital Wing.

When they entered the Hospital Wing, Madam Abbott asked, "Is it Ms. Weasley?"

"She fainted," Mya quickly stated.

"Yes, I can see that dear," Madam Abbott calmly replied with a bit of sarcasm, "She can come over here."

She gestured to one of the beds to which Scorpius then gently placed Rose on. Madam Abbott did several things as the group waited nervously. Finally Madam Abbott said, "She just has a cold and a slight fever which shouldn't stay too long." She smiled at the group as they all gave sighs of relief and continued, "She should wake up soon and once her fever leaves she can go back to her dormitories to rest. Can I count on you four to see that she rests?"

"Of course," Mya instantly replied for the group.

"Ok then, you can wait in here if you want just as long as you don't create any trouble," Madam Abbott kindly smiled and left.

"Rose pushed herself again," Fie quietly said, voicing all of their thoughts.

That idiot she has to take better care of herself, Scorpius thought.

Mya and Fie insisted that Al and Scorpius didn't have to hang around while waiting for Rose to wake up.
"Ok, we'll wait in your common room," Al said and before the girls could question how and why Al had the password to the Gryffindor common room, he was practically dragging a protesting Scorpius from the room.

Once outside Al asked Scorpius, "So when did you start calling Rose Rose? I was under the impression you only ever called her Weasley?"

Scorpius stopped cold and thought, Merlin he noticed I was kinda hoping he didn't. He questioned, "I call her Rose?"

Al had a knowing smirk on his face as he replied, "Yep."

"Well…um…er…eh, I think it was just on impulse for some reason, honest," Scorpius said not being able to look Al in the eyes but still tried to pass it off as nothing.

"Riiiight, it was just spur of the moment," Al said in a sarcastic tone.

"It's true," Scorpius said defensively.

You were just defensive of the fact and what makes you think I am blind enough to not see that you're in love with Rose? Al thought then sighed and shook his head.

"Come on let's just go to their common room and somehow convince everyone that we actually have a good reason to be in there, not that many people would bother listening to excuses we give," Al said and started walking over to the Gryffindor common room.

Over the course of the next hour Rose had woken up and had been taken back to the Gryffindor common room by Mya and Fie

"Rosie! Don't scare us that again," Al stated as he saw the three girls enter the common room.

Scorpius looked up from the fire that he had been staring at for the past hour as he half-heartedly listened to Al rabble on about random topics.

"Sorry," Rose replied with a strange voice that made it obvious she had either had a blocked or runny nose, "I caught a cold."

"I can see that, why didn't you say something sooner?" He replied in a concerned tone.

"Well everyone looked like they were having so much fun, I didn't want to be the one to stop the fun," Rose said followed by a sneeze. Fie then passed her a tissue.

"So you let yourself get to the point where you fainted? Yeah because worrying about you being sick is fun," Al said the last bit in a joking voice.

"Sorry," She replied again before blowing her nose.

"It's ok, just rest from now on and we'll make sure you don't work too hard, right Scorp?" Al said.

"You're an idiot, you know that?" Scorpius said to Rose with a slight chuckle in voice and eyes full of concern.

Rose saw the deep concern in his eyes and couldn't help but smile and reply, "Maybe," She genuinely laughed, "but even this idiot with a cold could beat you to top student."

"I'll make you eat those words in the end," Scorpius replied smiling with a slight blush.

Then Mya started laughing which sent the rest of the group into contagious fits of laughter before deciding to start homework – which would be mixed with study because it was currently the of November, next week will be the first week of December with exams starting then.

- The 29th of November -

Fie was on her way to the Library to meet Rose for some study, when she turned the corner to bump straight into Locan.

"Oh sorry Locan," Fie apologized as she was about to pick up a book she had dropped.

Locan had already picked up the book for Fie before she could bend down to pick it up. He gave her the book and said, "Sorry Fie, it was my fault I was going to fast around the corner." He smiled but didn't immediately go to leave afterwards. Ah! What should I talk to her about so she won't leave straight away? Um um, Locan thought.

"So where are you off too?" Locan asked Fie.

"Just about to go to the Library to do some study," She replied with a gentle smile. Fie took a closer look at Locan and then thought, Wow did he grow taller recently? I could swear we were the same height before, now he's a little taller than me.

Fie was snapped out of her thoughts when Locan – who noticed the textbook she was holding and asked, "Did you just come from Care of Magical Creatures?"

"Yes, I have Care of Magical Creatures while Rose has Muggle Studies and Mya has Herbology," Fie replied smiling.

"How was Care of Magical Creatures? Was it fun?" Locan inquired.

"Yes it was fun, today my group of three got chosen to clean the Fire Crab cage, luckily we survived with no burns to anyone but one person had a close call and almost got burnt," Fie explained.

"Wow, yeah you have to be careful with those Fire Crabs but they aren't too bad if they get to know you. I know because Mum had one at home for a little while it started off not liking me but after a couple of days we became very good friends," Locan said.

Fie giggled at how animatedly Locan talked about the experience which made Locan blush slightly.

"Yeah it had beautiful gems on its back the colour of sparkling Amethysts," Locan paused looking into Fie's eyes then continued, "Like the colour of your eyes."

D-did he just call my eyes sparklingly beautiful? Fie thought and blushed. Locan – who was embarrassed, he only meant to say that last part in his head – was blushing and looking around.

He then cleared his throat and said, "Sorry for keeping you so long, Rose is probably wondering where you are."

Fie suddenly remembered where she was and where she was meant to be. Oh darn, I stood chatting too long, but for some reason I don't regret it, Fie thought.

"You're right, I have to go, we'll talk again soon I hope," Fie replied with a smile.

"Sure, bye," Locan said starting to walk away.

"Bye," Fie said and left for the Library.

Once she got to the Library and found Rose, Fie was surprised to find that Scorpius was also sitting with Rose at a table.

"Hi, sorry for being late," Fie said while putting her book on the table.

"Hey," Scorpius greeted.

"Why? Why must I be forced to suffer?" Rose whined with her forehead on the desk – which luckily muffled her words, otherwise the Librarian would kick them out for being too loud.

"Wait, what? What happened?" Fie asked Scorpius in confusion.

Scorpius sighed and then replied, "While somehow managing to do her potions essay at the same time as complain that because of her blocked nose she can't taste her food, so yes the world is now ending apparently."

"Not apparently, it is ending, it's the end of the world as we know it," Rose protested. Why eat when you can't taste the food. You can't get that thrilling sensation you get when you taste something really delicious. Why me? Why? Rose thought.

Fie smirked because she knew how much Rose loves food and how it must be so depressing to have her cold get in the way of that. Fie took Rose's Potions essay to prof-read it and it turned out to be quite a good say especially for someone with a cold.

Then it occurred to Fie that despite there being other tables open Scorpius chose to sit with Rose. Which must mean he was worried about her and has been sitting with her this whole time. He may try to deny it through words but in this case actions speak louder than words, Fie thought.

"Anyway I have to go check on something so, see ya," Scorpius said before he packed up and left.

"Ok, bye," Fie replied and looked at Rose who had fallen asleep only to wake up the moment after Scorpius left.

"Hum? Wait, did that coward abandon his studying? He slithered away so quietly like a slippery Slytherin," Rose said rambling on.

Fie started giggling at Rose's statements which sent both of them into fits of laughter. However, this lead to them being kicked out of the Library so they decided to study in the common room instead.

The next couple of days flew by as the exams were fast approaching. It was the 1st of December and it seemed the whole of Hogwarts was studying.

The Gryffindor common room was packed full of people who were cram studying for exams tomorrow. James – who was franticly studying with Fred and Louis – exclaimed, "I don't get it! I can't remember! Molly help me please!"

Molly looked up from her book and asked, "Why did you choose me?"

"Because you always read and you're smart," James replied in a pleading voice.

"No, because I have my own exams to study for," Molly stated and back to her book as if nothing had interrupted her.

"Fred what am I going to do, Mum will kill me if I fail my N.E.W.T exams," James started to panic.

"Don't look at me, I'm the same, only I think it will be Dominique at both of our throats if we don't pass," Fred replied adding more hysteria to the whole situation.

"Louis how can you be so calm?" Fred asked.

"Because I was studying little bits through-out the term, and I know you guys are freaking out because you haven't studied for tomorrow, and sure as hell I am not going to be on my sister's bad side around this time," Louis replied matter-of-factly.

Louis looked up from the book he was reading to see James and Fred with shocked expressions.

"What?" Louis asked and when they didn't reply he continued to say, "Fine I'll help you two study."

"Thank you Louis," both Fred and James said at the same time.

Actually I'm only doing it because I know that if neither of them pass it will result in them being grounded and punished in some way. That would be boring considering things are much more fun when they're around even if they are complete idiots sometimes, Louis thought.

- 6th of December -

After a gruelling week the O. and the N.E. and other exams were over – and Rose finally got rid of her cold – it was time to head home for Christmas. In the Gryffindor 5th years Dorm yet again was chaos as everyone who didn't pack last night was franticly packing cloths and other items into their trunks. Nora – who was already packed – was helping Beth get packed despite the fact that Beth was really just asleep still. The twins Aria and Amelia were staying at Hogwarts this year and helped a hysterical Emily locate all of her belongs before she had a panic attack. Rose had packed last night, this was also the case with Mya and Fie so they were busy trying to catch Mya's owl, Speckle, as she fly around avoiding capture because she hated her cage.

Once Speckle finally was coaxed into the cage using food, Rose Mya and Fie left with their luggage to make it to the platform in time. They heard the first whistle blow to notify the students that the train will be ready to leave soon. So Rose, Mya and Fie made a run for it and made it on to the train in time.

- On the Hogwarts Express -

"I can't wait to go to the Burrow again," Mya excitedly stated as the three of them were walking down the hallway past all of the compartments looking for an empty one.

"You say that every year Mya," Fie giggled.

"Yeah because when we go there during Christmas I never get tired of the magical atmosphere. Besides anywhere is better than my house at Christmas," Mya said, "Here's one."

The three girls entered the empty compartment. Rose said, "Yeah I know what you mean, Nana Molly always makes really good food and all the decorations have a magical sort of feel about them."

Mya was just about to lift her trunk up, when Al appeared out of nowhere and picked it up for her.

"Please, allow me," Al said.

"Oh, but it's really heavy," Mya said blushing.

"Trust me, this is nothing compared to the boulders James and I were forced to move last summer," Al replied and smiled before lifting the trunk up to the rack in one movement.

"Ha, says the show off," Scorpius said appearing behind Al.

"You could do better?" Al challenged with a grin.

"You bet," Scorpius replied picking up Rose's trunk and effortlessly lifted it up to the rack.

"Now who's the show off?" Al commented also putting up Fie's trunk.

Before Scorpius could reply, Fie said, "Ok boys we get it, thanks for lifting the trunks." She then sat down and Mya sat next to her, Al then sat on the other side of Mya. Which left Scorpius and Rose sitting on the other side.

The group just chatted during most of the journey back to London and at some point Rose and Scorpius had to do a quick Prefect patrol but that didn't last very long. Once Scorpius and Rose returned Rose decided to read while the rest of their group chatted. The problem was that half the time Rose was just pretending to read because she was so tired from staying up late packing. Then Lizzy bolted from her room to make sure the others were still around, Rose read in her head for the third time in a row. Now she was starting to get frustrated as she gritted her teeth.

Suddenly out of nowhere Rose felt her legs being pulled up. She looked up from the book a bit startled. She then realised that Scorpius had lifted her legs up to rest stretched across his lap. Rose blushed for a second just about to protest when Scorpius said, "You looked tired, I didn't want you to just collapse and cause more trouble," He paused for a second looking away from Rose then instructed, "you have to take better care of yourself, so get some sleep."

Rose tried to hide her smile that tugged on her lips and replied, "Ok then, I will get some sleep then."

She then let her head sit on her shoulder closest to the wall and closer her eyes. She fell asleep almost instantly. I knew it, Scorpius chuckled to himself with a strange feeling of…pride? That he knew how she felt? No, not possible. Absolutely not possible. Still he couldn't help but smile as he ran his fingers through his hair.

Eventually Scorpius also fell asleep leaning back against the seat and the wall.

"Are those two asleep?" Fie whispered to Al and Mya. All three of them were looking across at Rose and Scorpius now.

"Yeah, I think they are," Al replied in a hushed voice. After seeing how comfortable Rose and Scorpius looked with Rose's legs in Scorpius' lap and them both asleep, Al thought, Scorp, this is why you can't convince me that you do not like Rose.

"They look quite comfortable don't they?" Mya asked in a whisper and a chuckle in her tone. Al smiled at how cute Mya was when she said that.

"They do," Fie replied to Mya.

"Let's just quietly do stuff for a while," Al suggested.

Fie and Mya nodded in agreement. So Al played muggle chess with Mya – who suggested it because it didn't really involve speaking – while Fie read a book.

- One hour later -

By this time Al had own 2 out of the three games he played against Mya and Fie had finished her book.

Rose, on the other hand and become somewhat uncomfortable where she was and had moved closer to Scorpius in her sleep. She was sitting right next to Scorpius with her legs still in her lap and her head leading on Scorpius' shoulder. Scorpius – also still asleep – had his head resting on Rose's head.

When seeing this Mya had an idea.

"Al, Fie, we should take a picture of them," Mya whispered to Al and Fie.

"They won't like that we took a picture," Fie replied holding back giggles at the idea.

"Then they won't know, and besides they'll thank us one day for capturing there lovey-dovey moment," Al said in a hushed voice.

Mya then grabbed her camera and lined up the perfect image and then took the picture.

But the camera made a shudder noise to say that it took the picture. It was loud enough to wake Rose up.

Rose quickly came to and – forgetting where she was – tried to walk only to fall flat on her face on the floor. Mya quickly hid the camera in her pocket.

"Oww," Rose mumbled.

This woke up Scorpius who jumped slightly and said, "Hm? What?! What's going on?"

Rose pulled herself back up onto the seat and asked, "Are we in London yet?"

"Not quiet but almost," Al replied with a smirk on his face.

Fie was covering her mouth with her hand to suppress the giggles and Mya couldn't help but smile a knowing smile.

Rose was very confused and felt like everyone knew something she didn't. She turned to see Scorpius also didn't know so she just decided to let it go.

Then the platform came into view in the window.

"We're here," Mya exclaimed.

"No kidding genius," Rose commented sarcastically.

"Very funny Rose," Mya replied back just as sarcastically.

Once they were off the train Rose said, "Ok so I'll see you on Christmas day but we'll obviously write to eachother before then."

"Yep, Christmas it is, see ya," Mya said before hugging both Rose and Fie.

"See you at Christmas," Mya shyly said to Al.

"Yeah, have a good holiday 'til then," Al replied with a smile.

"Later Scorp," Mya said to Scorpius who just replied with a quick, "Yeah."

Mya walked over to her Mum who was waiting for her.

"My turn to go too, see you later everyone," Fie stated while waving and walking over to her parents.

"Well I'll see you two at Christmas then," Scorpius said.

"Yep, see ya then Scorp, I'll write," Al replied lightly punching his shoulder.

"Sure," Scorpius said before walking over to his parents.

"Al, what did you invite Scorpius over for Christmas?" Rose inquired.

"Yeah, I did two years ago and I would have last year but he was on vacation in Scotland with his family, so I invited him again this year," Al replied as he and Rose slowly walked towards to crowd of Weasley's on the platform.

Damn, that means he'll be around during Christmas again, Merlin I was hoping that he wouldn't come. We always get into an argument over which professional Quidditch team was the best and which counter-curse would be best to counter act certain spells, Rose thought bitterly.

"Rose it's ok, I have a feeling it will be different this year," Al tried to assure Rose.

"If by 'ok' you mean the start of World War 3," Rose stated with a huff before walking off to greet her family.

Al just sighed and shook his head. Why can't they just admit it? Al asked in his head. But he really did feel like this Christmas would be the most interesting one yet.

Aria: Please let me know what you think :) Thanks for reading