"You should be doing more." Astoria's voice broke the silence of her small office inside St. Mungo's.

Rose looked up from the paperwork in front of her, eyes suddenly wide and

face blushing."I'm sorry, I thought you just wanted me to-"

Astoria chortled quietly, shaking her head."No, not right now, you're actually doing more than enough right now," She said, peering over at the chart she had Rose filling out. "I meant at school. When I was in my sixth year, I was volunteering in the infirmary, studying for NEWTS, looking at Universities, ensuring I made Head Girl…" She trailed off, raising an eyebrow.

Rose gulped. She had been yelled at for doing too much, going overboard, but never not doing enough before. She bit the inside of her cheek, feeling insecure."I tutor-"

"How does that help you?."

Rose gave her a pointed look."I tutor, and I'm studying all the time, and I'm a prefect who already has a recommendation letter for Head Girl, and I don't need to look at Universities because as I told you, I'm staying local.

Astoria smiled warmly at her, not offended."I thought I got you to promise you'd apply to New York?"

"That was when I was still intimidated by you and wasn't doing your paperwork for you.' She grinned at her."Is this legal, anyway?"

Astoria shrugged."No one's names is on there, so you're alright. New York?"
"My family would kill me. And that's assuming they didn't die on their own first." She said, frowning slightly.

"You truly believe they need you here?" Astoria's tone was not condescending.

Rose looked up at the ceiling."Well, this morning, my cousin Lily came to me crying because she accidentally scorched off one of her eyebrows in class yesterday, my brother forgot his potions essay was due Monday, so I had to help him with the first six inches, Albus-you know him-spilled juice all over his Quidditch uniform and couldn't figure out how to remove it with magic, and my baby cousin Lucy started her period last night, so I had to have 'the talk' with her." She glanced up at the clock."And that was before I got here at 10:30."

Astoria nodded slowly, staying quiet for a moment. Rose took this opportunity to go back to the paperwork, flushing slightly. She hadn't meant to snap, she was just tired of people failing to understand how much her relatives relied on her for, and she was happy to do it, but it also meant she could not exactly jump ship and move to another country where there was a perfectly good (though not quite as good) healing school in London.

Rose was halfway through filing her last chart before Astoria spoke again.

"You know, we almost didn't send Scorpius to Hogwarts." Rose glanced up at her, trying not to look too interested.

"Hm? Why?"

"Oh, you know. His father thought his last name would make it harder, and I agreed but really, I just didn't want to let him go. I suppose I thought if we kept him somewhere closer, or kept him at home, we could keep a better eye on him. He was a sensitive child, you know." She smiled wistfully."He was soft and sweet and brought me flowers he picked from the garden every morning and said goodnight to every single toy of his every night. I didn't want him to go off to school where suddenly, he'd be met with a sort of darkness that would ruin my soft, flower picking boy."

Rose looked at her, trying to grasp this new image of young Scorpius in her head."And...what changed your mind?"

"I realized I couldn't keep him hidden away from the world forever...And it was hard. I mean, I don't think I've cried harder than that day…"She grimaced," Until I got a letter home from him asking me why the kids at school didn't want him in their study group even though he barely knew them."

Rose studied her face for a minute, feeling guilty. She hadn't ever thought about how early on having the 'Malfoy' last name would affect Scorpius, not that he ever talked about it. Not in front of her, which she wouldn't expect him to, but even Albus had suggested a few times that it wasn't something they ever really acknowledged. She wondered momentarily if this was an invasion of Scorpius's privacy but was too intrigued to end the conversation.

"You're not making a great case for leaving, just so you know…" Rose attempted to break the tension. She was glad it worked when Astoria smiled at her.

"You did not let me finish. I was thinking about pulling him out, bringing him home, until two weeks before Christmas break."

"What changed?"

"Well, I got a letter from Scorp asking if it was alright if he spent Christmas with a new friend named Albus." She looked at her, with a twinkle in her eyes that was not unlike Scorpius's."Followed by a letter of him telling me he finally beat that redheaded girl in a Transfiguration exam-by two whole points."

Rose remembered that day with a grimace. It was around the first real snowy day at Hogwarts, and James and Fred had convinced her to (read: hid her books until she agreed to) enjoy it with them and she ended up losing most of the Saturday she had previously devoted to studying in favor of chucking snowballs at the back of James's rather large head. She decided it absolutely hadn't been worth it when Scorpius had jinxed his 'remarkable' paper to follow Rose around for an entire day until she scorched it, leaving him horrified and her with a scolding from Neville.

"Right." She said, blushing. Asturia smiled warmly at her.

"I think the little competition you two have is good for him. He pushes himself to do better because of it."

Rose nodded slowly, then grinned at her."Sounds like the point you're making is that having me around is a good thing. All the more reason to stay here."
Astoria laughed, rolling her eyes."No, the point is that, sometimes, you have to let go and see that they can do just fine without you, even if it scares you."

Rose sighed and nodded, deciding she was not promising anything but was maybe slightly more inclined to think about New York than she had before they had this conversation. She went back to the paperwork, thinking.

" ?"

"Astoria."

"Right, Astoria." She said quietly, and, before she chickened out, mumbled."Scorpius pushes me to do better too,"

She was met with a slight, knowing smile

Xx

"You look like a loser," Rose announced, sitting at a table in the common room where she found Scorpius sitting alone.

"Do I?" Scorpius asked, not looking up from his book but moving his bag over onto the floor so she had room on the table.

"Yes." She said, opening up her own notebook.

"Is that why you're joingin me?" Scorpius raised an eyebrow, crossing one leg over the author and looking at her, a smile playing at his lips

"Nope." She said, smirking slightly. He opened his mouth to respond, then shut it quickly as Al approached them, shoving his book bag under him and sitting down, immediately laying his head in his hands. Scorpius and Rose shared a quizzical look.

"You alright, mate?" Scorpius asked. Al groaned in response.

"Albie?" Rose said, slightly softer and poking his shoulder. He took his head out of his hands to glare at her.

"I'm fine." He grumbled, shaking his hair out of his eyes. "Totally fine."

"Right, our mistake," Scorpius said sarcastically, dropping his eyes back down to his paper, which was probably good because this meant he missed the scathing glare. Rose stared at Albus for a few seconds, frowning slightly.

"What did James say?" Rose asked suddenly, making Scorp look back up. As much as Scorpius and Al teased each other, Scorpus knew James Potter had a special talent for teasing his brother in a way that never failed to really, really tug at Albus.

Al scowled."You don't know that it was him."

"Well, was it?" Rose countered, raising an eyebrow. Al tensed, then relaxed, sighing.

"He sent me a letter."
"Saying?" Scorpius asked

"He's mad at me," He explained, his tone bitter."For how I'm playing Quidditch."

"But...This has been your best season so far." Rose spoke slowly, confused."You've won every game this year." Rose didn't really care for Quidditch, nor did she know much about it really, but her family were fanatics so she generally had some idea of what was going on, somewhat involuntarily. James was particularly big on it-honestly, all the Potter children were- he had played since second year and was captain by his seventh.

Al let out a humorless laugh."Mm, exactly." He said as though that answered her question. Rose stared, still perplexed, though Scorpius seemed to understand immediately.

"He's actually mad at you for playing well for us?"

"Mhm. He told me the only thing that would be more of a betrayal than me playing poorly for Gryffindor, is me playing this well for, but for Slytherin." He said, cringing slightly. Rose's mouth widened and she looked between the boys, amazed they were taking in this information like it was nothing.

Sure, she knew James hadn't really taken a strong liking to Albus's sorting (not that Rose really blamed him), but she didn't think James would expect Al to sabotage his favorite thing in the whole world over a house rivalry.

Rose bit her lip, frowning. "Maybe he didn't really mean it?" She tried

"If he didn't mean it, he wouldn't have told me that I'd be 'doing the right thing' for our mom and dad by letting Gryffindor win this weekend." Al said, grimacing.

"He did not." Al shook his head.

"Mhm. He brought up dad saving the world-as if his main concern was Quidditch and not, you know, the fate of humanity." Al grumbled, rolling his eyes.

"You're not going to do it, are you?" Scorpius asked slowly. Rose's eyes shot to him

"Of course he isn't! Right, Al?"

Al looked between them for a second then nodded."Of course I'm not, bloke."

"Well," Scorpius's tone had changed and he smiled evilly."That just gives us all the more reason to crush Gryffindor this weekend."

For the first time since he sat, Al cracked a small smile-something Rose hadn't gotten him to do. "Right, exactly. You coming to the game, Rosie?"

Rose scrunched up her nose, biting her lip."I don't know...It's supposed to be cold, isn't it? Curling up with a book sounds much more appealing."

Al groaned. "Rooooosie. You're going to be the only person not you can't go to the after party if you don't go to the game…"He trailed off, making Rose laugh

"Oi, perfect."

"Rose!"

"Oh, come on," Scorpius interrupted, still smirking."Let her be. If Rosie wants to be a loser, let her. I need a wingman for that night, anyway."

Al stared at him for a second, then looked back at Rose."Pleeeeease? I'll buy your lunch next time we go to Hogsmeade."

Rose stared at him for a few seconds, then sighed and gave in, raising her hands in defeat with the promise that dinner came with a drink and the night ended by eleven. Scorpius and Al went back to discussing Quidditch tactics and Rose zoned out, thinking about her conversation with Astoria earlier.

She had spent a lot of time thinking about the Healing Institute located in the underground of Manhattan, but it was more of an unattainable fantasy and she felt teased thinking about it. She strived to stand out, to be more than Hermione Granger's daughter who was 'maybe just as smart' and this was certainly a way to do it, but...The only thing she cared about more than herself was her family, and she was nearly certain she'd be too anxious of Hugo blowing himself up or Lily getting pregnant to even be able to focus there,

At least, that's what she told herself.

Xx

Hiii guys I'm sorry about the wait. I was taking a rather intense online class but I'm hoping to be more consistent with updating now that that is over. Hope everyone's doing well and as always, feel free to message me if you want!

Have a good one and please leave a review to let me know what you thought!

See you guys soon xoxo