Chapter 24 – Mysteries beginning

- 4st March 2022 -

Narrator's POV

Al and Scorpius walked into the common room to find the furniture rearranged and a stage being put in for the party happening that night. Scorpius didn't care about any sort of party. What was the point of going to a party he wouldn't enjoy?

While walking to the Great Hall Al stopped Scorpius walking. "You are coming tonight right? Because if you don't who knows what will happen to your trunk." Al smirked and kept walking. Scorpius chased after Al threatening to throw him in the lake but he was smiling for the first time in a while.

- In the Gryffindor Girls Dorm -

Lily approached Rose with a huge smile on her face. "I have the perfect dress for you."

Rose was stunned by the declaration. "What do you mean?"

"I'll show you." Lily took Roses hand and led her to the 3rd year girls room.

Hanging above Lily's bed was a beautiful mid-blue, knee length dress with swirling sequins on the torso.

"Try it on." Lily was so excited, the most excited she had looked since the Mark event happened. She had missed this bubbly Lily who liked to help girls with their fashion disasters and was the toughest Chaser the Weasley-Potter's have seen. After Lily helped Rose into the dress, she looked into the mirror and it was the perfect dress as Lily said.

Rose turned to Lily, "Oh Lil it's perfect." Rose hugged Lily and started crying. "I missed you and I'm sorry I haven't said it to you as of recent, but we love you, I love you and we will always be here for you."

Lily was so surprised that she teared up too. "Don't cry Rose, you'll make your eyes puffy and you can't see your dress through those tears."

"You're right," Rose said wiping the tears away she smiled.

"How did you manage to find this dress?" Rose realised as Lily and her, aren't the same size.

"I got it through my network of course," Lily said in a posh voice and giggled.

"Oh Lil thank you a bunch." Rose looked back in the mirror.

"Promise me one thing," Lily said with a smirk.

"Sure."

"That you kill it at that party."

Rose smiled at Lily, "Absolutely."

- In Defence Against the Dark Arts Classroom -

It was a duelling session and the pairs were decided at random and Fie was paired with a well-built guy from Hufflepuff. He was quite fit and got a considerable amount of attention from other girls but Fie just shook her head.

"Don't worry sweet heart, I'll go easy on you," the brute boasted.

"So you say." Fie was determined to beat this guy and something

extraordinary happened, she actually got serious in dueling.

"Take your best shot."

Fie took the chance and sent a shot at him. He let it hit him and he didn't even flinch. After a few attempts of hitting him, he fired back with Fie effortlessly blocking his shots.

"Is that all the tough guy has, a big body and big words but not strength?" Fie smirked. She knew that it was teasing him; and she didn't usually do this, but there was something about him that intimidated her. She felt like she had to show she was stronger or get crushed. They were well matched; Fie managed to get him serious about the duel and she could dish out just as much as she took from the guy.

By the end, it was pronounced a draw and everyone was busy packing up and leaving but the Hufflepuff approached Fie.

"Sorry if that was too rough on you, I'm usually a lot nicer to girls." He blushed a bit and brought his hand to the back of his head.

"It's fine, I'm not made of glass." Fie chuckled.

"How rude of me, I haven't introduced myself, my name is Jack Dixson. And what would Milady's name be?"

"Freya Rowland," Fie shook her head and left the room.

- The Ravenclaw Common Room -

Dominique and Helen were sitting in front of the fire organising some up coming events.

"The end of the year is coming up and I kind of want to finish our year off with something memorable before we leave," Helen said staring at a blank list.

"We should brain storm on it, also it's getting closer to that time of the year. It'll have to be a challenge if we're to find out the right one." Dominique paced.

"That's true this year the range is wider than before," Helen agreed.

"Then they'll find out how we Weasley-Potter's maintain a contribution to running the school."

Helen laughed, "I remember when we found out, it was hilarious."

Dominique chuckled, "We'll have to be prepared this time."

- At Dinner -

"Did you really say that to him? You, Freya?" Mya was surprised after hearing Fie story of what happened in DADA.

"He just is super intimidating, seriously."

"Wait what was his name again?" Mya asked.

"Jason or Jack Dixson, I can't quite remember." Fie stuffed a piece of broccoli into her mouth.

"That sounds familiar, what do you think Rose?" Mya turned to Rose just as she had a mouth-full of pasta. Mya raised her eyebrow and Rose quickly demolished the mouth-full.

"Oh," Rose abruptly had an epiphany, "He's on the Hufflepuff Quidditch team as a beater."

"Seriously? A broom can lift that? My condolences to the broom," Fie giggled.

"So you seem to like him," Mya inquired with a smirk.

"No I don't, he's down right annoying," Fie huffed.

"Maybe but you've never talked about a guy this much before or made jokes at him. Are you sure you aren't a tad bit even curious?" Mya said.

"Ok ok I am a bit, but that means nothing because the rest of the ladies seem to already have their eyes set on him."

"You're just making excuses."

"Can't we drop it already?" Fie snapped seeming a bit agitated.

"Ok fine, so we should definitely consider going up to get ready for this party soon."

Rose nodded because she was still eating.

- After Dinner -

Emily, Nora and Beth were also going to the party that night. In other words the bathroom was a war zone. Rose decided to go simple with makeup and hair while Emily attempted a complex style of updo. Mya straightened her hair and Fie braided it. With comfort in mind, Rose decided to skip the heels and go for flats.

"Hey Rose," Emily said, "Caught you zip me up, please? I can't reach."

"Sure," Rose was surprised that Emily had asked her but maybe her group was having a bit of a rough time. Emily was taller than Rose, to begin with, and adding six-inch heels made it quite a difficult reach to the top. Rose resorted to using magic because she got annoyed with the zip. "there you go."

"Thanks, Rose."

"You two almost ready?" Mya asked pinning part of her hair back with a bobby pin.

"Almost," Fie said in a pained voice as she slipped her feet into tight fitting boots. "There, done."

"Shall we then?" Mya poshly pronounced.

"Sure," Rose replied with a giggle.

- Outside the Slytherin Common Room -

The Painting demanded, "Password."

"Silver blood," Mya whispered.

"Enter."

"Cheery guy isn't he?" Mya commented.

The door opened and the music volume is what hit you first. There was karaoke and dancing with music, the kind that reminds you that you have a rib cage as it vibrates. Coloured lights and too many people combined with loud music is, I guess, the recipe for a party like that, Rose considered. Occasionally different people would request a song and do some karaoke but on a whole, there was mostly dancing. Some girls wearing drastic heels would definitely be regretting it by the end of the night.

Al found their little group and they danced for a bit before Fie got asked by a guy to dance. Then Al got called away by someone and Mya asked, "Will you be alright for a bit while I find Al?"

"Yep, I'll be around here!" Rose had to shout over the music.

Mya left and it was then that Rose heard, "You're the last person I would have expected to show up here."

Rose turned around and saw Katrina; one of The Toad's used-to-be lackeys and now part of Tremaine's wannabe squad.

"Well, I had to see what all the fuss what about." Rose put her had on her hip. She was not backing down or be intimidated.

"I mean that Tremaine is the one who's throwing the party and I know for a fact that you two don't get along."

Rose just smiled and replied, "Well I'm not intimidated by Tremaine so she's wasting her time if she thinks she can."

"I see, though I'd watch it if I were you, war is not taken lightly with the Cloves." With that eerie comment, Katrina melted into the crowded. Now that was creepy.

Rose kept walking around the crowded room while everyone else was somewhere else. At one point a guy from Slytherin asked her to dance to which she accepted. She wasn't doing anything else apart from drinking the punch anyway. He introduced himself as Daniel and after a while, he got a little too close for Rose's liking. Al, the apparent knight in shining armour, pulled Rose off to the side.

"You looked like you needed a hand," Al stated.

Rose sighed and replied, "Yeah, thanks. I think I'm just going to go to bed now, I'm bored."

Al smirked as if he just started plotting something. Which he was.

"If I can make this more entertaining will you stay for a bit more?"

Rose glared at the suspicious nature of the challenge. Can't be too bad, right? "Fine."

Al took Rose's hand and lead her to the karaoke machine through the crowd of people and up onto the stage. Oh no, he's going to make me sing. He changed the song and readied the microphone and people cheered. Al handed the microphone to Rose and she heard a Taylor Swift song start playing. The secret of Rose's childhood was that she listed to a lot of Taylor Swift. So yes she was a Swiftie in secret.

The song played on for a bit. As Rose stood there. She had never sung in front of anyone before. She heard a few people in the crowd chant and encourage her, and she knew exactly who they were. So she took a deep breath.

"Oh, a simple complication, miscommunications lead to fall-out. So many things that I wish you knew, so many walls up I can't break through. Now I'm standing alone in a crowded room and we're not speaking, and I'm dying to know is it killing you like it's killing me, yeah? I don't know what to say, since the twist of fate when it all broke down, and the story of us looks a lot like a tragedy now."

She looked around the crowd as she sung and most people had stopped doing things and started dancing or chatting. She felt like they were ignoring her until she saw Scorpius standing off to the side looking directly at her. It was in that moment she decided to only look at him.

"How I was losing my mind when I saw you here, but you held your pride like you should've held me. Oh, I'm scared to see the ending,

Why are we pretending this is nothing? I'd tell you I miss you but I don't know how, I've never heard silence quite this loud."

These words seemed awfully true to Rose as she stares at Scorpius, who didn't look away. This is how Rose felt and this is how she has been feeling since that day where Scorpius was hitting on Tremaine.

"This is looking like a contest, of who can act like they care less, but I liked it better when you were on my side. The battle's in your hands now, but I would lay my armour down If you said you'd rather love than fight. So many things that you wish I knew, but the story of us might be ending soon."

Scorpius started walking towards the stage when Tremaine decided to make an appearance for the first time tonight. She stood blocking Scorpius' path; so he instead walked out of the exit. Tremaine didn't follow and turned to look at Rose with a smile.

"The end." Rose got off the stage faster than she thought she could.

Mya and Fie were waiting, Fie said, "I love your singing Rose why have you never sung before?"

"I didn't feel like it." Rose nervously laughed. All she could think about was that Scorpius left. "I'm pretty tired so I think I'll pop off to bed."

Both Mya and Fie looked at each other with a knowing look and Mya said, "Tell him he's a git from me." She winked at Rose.

"I will." Rose laughed and ran out the exit.

It was fairly deserted outside but that could be because it was late. Rose followed the corridors and suddenly was pulled to the side. Scorpius as there hugging her, holding her tight. She knew it before she even looked because she could smell his minty cologne. She melted into the hug as he talked in a hushed tone.

"Who exactly were you looking for?"

"You." She mumbled.

"Why?"

"Because..." Tears started to pickling in Rose's eyes. She had been avoiding him for weeks. Rose remembered Tremaine and stepped back.

"Because I have to ask you something." Rose stood with her arms crossed.

"Ask away." Scorpius sighed.

"What happened with Tremaine?"

"Nothing. She hit on me and I rejected her, so she came closer and I was about to move away when you came around the corner."

"Well, what about tonight?"

"I left when I saw her."

Rose nodded.

"Rose please, have I ever made you doubt my trust before?" Scorpius asked.

"No," Rose answered sheepishly as she felt bad for making it seem that way.

"Rose, I should have told you a long time ago, but, the only one for me is you." Scorpius looked at Rose even though he went red in the face.

Rose stood there shocked. "Do you mean you like me in, the love sort of way?"

"Yes," Scorpius replied fidgeting.

Rose was ecstatic and shocked that maybe what she felt was not her imagination after all. Scorpius gently pulled Rose close again and whispered, "How do you feel about me?"

Her voice wasn't working, even though she wouldn't trust her words anyway. Without a second thought, Rose closed her eyes and pressed her lips on Scorpius'. The kiss was awkward at first because Rose had never kissed anyone but it got better the more she kissed him. Scorpius was warm in contrast to the chill of the corridors; it was comforting. When they broke off for air Rose was so embarrassed she had turned as red as the Gryffindor colour.

Scorpius chuckled, "I'm glad my feelings were returned." Rose nodded still shocked about what happened. "Well it's getting late shall I walk you to your dorm?" Scorpius held out his hand to Rose and she allowed him to escort her back.