Question: Who do you think will be the first person Atria's tells her secret too?

I'm just curious! Enjoy the chapter and remember to thank the J.K. Rowling shrine you have for the glorious creation that it Harry Potter. If you don't have a shrine to J.K. Rowling... build one.

"I've missed you," Albus whispered against Atria's lips.

She wrapped her arms around his neck and smiled playfully. "I know. We've barely seen each other these past few weeks." She pulled him closer and pressed her lips to his neck. Snogging in an abandoned passageway was so much fun!

Albus let out a groan. "That's the bad thing about having Aurors watching your every move." He muttered and then pissed several kisses to the skin behind her ear.

"There's lot of bad things." She giggled and then gasped. "That's why we have the map." Albus ran his hands up and down her sides and it was becoming increasingly difficult to concentrate on the conversation at hand. "Although, it would be nice not to have to sneak around."

Atria's eyes opened. "You want to tell everyone we're dating."

"No! I just want to tell our friends. Everyone else will simply have to figure it out." He said teasingly, but then he pulled back. "Would it really be so horrible?"

Atria sighed, "No, I've been thinking about it a lot."

"So when should we tell them?"

"Maybe after Christmas?" Atria suggested.

"Or we could tell them before the Christmas ball so I can take you on a proper date."

Atria couldn't help but smile at the possibility. But… "Albus, we're staying in the same house for Christmas break. Your parents would freak out if we told them before. If we wait until afterward, we won't have to deal with that awkward conversation." She reasoned.

"Because we'll both be in our own apartments?"

"Exactly." Atria said excitedly. She was happy he finally understood. If they put it off for long enough…

"Have you thought about living arrangements after we graduate?" Albus asked suddenly.

Atria pulled back. "Not really. I suppose it would depend on where our jobs were. Amanda and Rose were talking about the three of us getting an apartment in London, but I'm not sure." She bit her lip.

"Scorpius and I were thinking the same thing."

"I would prefer to just enjoy the moment. We don't even know what we're going after graduation, so there's really no point in making plans-"

"I applied for an internship."

"What?" Atria asked stupidly.

"Well, it's more of an apprenticeship really. With one of the Cevill brothers. The one who's built half of the magical building in Britain!" He said excitedly. "I'm supposed to hear back in January."

Atria threw her arms around Albus. "I'm so happy for you! I know you'll get it."

She couldn't help but feel guilty. Here Albus was, planning his future, a future that included her, and she couldn't stop worrying that she might not even be around. Was it fair to him to let him get his hopes up?

"And you?" He asked breathlessly. "I'm sure Uncle Charlie would give you a job."

Atria laughed uncomfortably. "I haven't really thought about it."

"There's plenty of time." Albus pressed a soft kiss to her mouth.

All this talk of the future made her sad. It made her want to enjoy the moments she had with Albus all the more. She gripped one of his arms and hoisted herself up so she could reach his lips and kiss him hungrily.

He responded quickly, wrapping an arm around her waist and pulling her body flush against his. The hand that was on his arm moved to his abdomen. She loved his muscles. Atria had teased him about being too bulky to be a seeker, but now she loved his muscles. She shivered as his hand rested on her lower back.

He nipped at her lower lip and she pulled on his hair.

Finally, his forehead rested against hers and they were breathing heavily.

"I have another suggestion." He looked at her through hooded eyelids.

"About what?"

"Living arrangements." He clarified and pulled back a little. "What if," He cleared his throat, "we kept the same living arrangements we have now?"

Atria frowned, "You want to live with your parents?"

Albus laughed nervously. "No, but maybe you and I could still live under the same roof?" He ran his hands over her hair a couple of times.

She stared at him.

"I think…" She swallowed, "it's definitely something that could be discussed."

His eyes opened wide. "Seriously."

"Honestly, it's hard to imagine not seeing you everyday. But are you sure you would want that. Amanda has assured me that I am a horrible roommate." Atria bit her lip nervously, but also excitedly. She and Albus! Living together!

And then reality came back to her. She kept smiling but had to dim his hopes a little.

"Trust me, I've seen you at your worst. We share a bathroom remember?" He kept running his hands over her arms and the light touches were making it difficult to think.

"What if we got a big apartment?" Atria offered.

"Um… sure, why not-"

"I mean, for all of us." She clarified. Albus's eyebrows dropped.

"For you, me, Scorpius, Rose, and Amanda?" He droned on.

Atria swallowed. "Yes."

"Wouldn't that be a little awkward?"

"Well, what if we didn't share a room?"

Albus's eyes widened. "Atria, I don't want you to think I'm pressuring you. Whenever you're ready… I'll wait. There's absolutely no rush-"

"Albus!" She snapped and put her hand on his cheek. "I know you're not pressuring me." She kissed his mouth lightly. "It's just… we're still so young. Do you really want to spend that much time with me? Just me?"

He looked into her eyes and she had a hard time following the words that came out of his mouth because she was lost in a sea of green.

"Attie, I can't imagine a time when I don't want you around."

Atria bit back a grin.

Albus continued, "But I see what you mean. Maybe if we all lived in the same building? You could room with Amanda and Rose and I could live with Scor." He suggested.

Atria pulled him in close again. "We should probably run this by them." She smiled.

"Nah, they'll be fine."

Atria laughed and then put her head on Albus's chest. "For the record, I can't imagine living without you."

"I know."

Atria smacked him.

"Me too." He sighed and she hugged him tighter.

She prayed to Merlin and whatever other cosmic beings there were that she would never have to leave him. She wanted to stay with him more than anything. But there was still a dark corner of her heart and mind that wouldn't let her completely believe it would happen.

No. She mentally berated herself. She was tired of being scared of the future.

"You know what? I think I'll apply for some jobs after all." She said.

Albus raised his eyebrows. "Really?"

"Yeah, why not? I should start considering my options."

"Good. And I'll support whatever you want to do." Albus said firmly.

Atria laughed. "Even if I want to ride dragon?"

"Just promise me you'll be safe. I know you like to be active, but try not to be reckless."

"Deal."

He pressed a soft kiss to her lips. "Brilliant."

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Amanda shut her eyes and leaned against a wall.

Three… two…. one… BOOOMM!

She had left a little surprise for Sal inside his cauldron. It wasn't easy to get out of Transfiguration and sneak some of the Weasley's Wizard Wheezes products into the castle, but it was so worth. Atria had put together a special package and Amanda delivered.

She watched from around the corner as students burst out of the potions classroom, coughing and pushing smoke out of their faces. She wasn't exactly sure what was supposed to happen because Attie was the potions expert, but Amanda had been assured that there would be no casualties.

Students were running down the corridors and then…

Sal came out. Cover in spots and boils. His skin was patchy and red and his face was seething. Amanda covered her mouth to keep from laughing. No other students looked like this, so as promised, there were no casualties. Sal was shouting unintelligible things as he picked at his skin. The professor came out a moment later and Amanda disappeared with the rest of the Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw students.

She found out later that Sal was taken to the hospital wing and Madam Pomfrey had yet to find a cure. Amanda would have to praise Atria later for her brilliant potions skills. Admittedly, when Amanda had suggested they make Sal squirm she hadn't exactly had a plan. She only knew that publicly starting a war would create sides.

That was bad. It was better to slowly drive Salvatore crazy wondering what might happen next. Atria had come up with the details of the plan, how to get him and what would anger him the most etcetera…

Sal would show his true colors soon enough. He had already looked ready to tear someone's head off, if they kept up the torture he would surely snap and Amanda and Atria would make sure that everyone was around to see it.

When Amanda joined Rose and Albus at the Slytherin table for dinner, she was greeted with smiles. Until Rose noticed how happy she was looking.

"Why are you all smiles?" She asked suspiciously.

Amanda shrugged. "I had a good Transfiguration lesson."

"It was rather excellent, wasn't it…" And that distracted Rose for another ten minutes. Until Lily arrived with some of her friends to deliver some "horrible news."

"Sal is in the hospital wing!" She announced and flung her bag onto the table.

"What?" Rose jumped up, splashing pumpkin juice on Albus.

"Hey!"

"Apparently, a potion went wrong." Lily friend nodded vigorously. "Madam Pomfrey still hasn't been able to cure him. I heard his face is ruined!" She sighed dramatically. Rose glared at the younger girl.

"All you care about is his looks?" Rose picked up her things. "I should go see him."

Amanda snapped to attention. "Is that the best idea? What if it's contagious or something?"

"Well, I should at least try." Rose flounced off before Amanda could argue.

She stood there for a moment and then raced after Rose.

As predicted, Madam Pomfrey wasn't letting anyone see the "poor boy" because he needed to rest, not be tussled about by girls. Rose stood outside the infirmary for five minutes, huffing and no doubt thinking of ways to tell of Madam Pomfrey.

"Rose, come on, let's go back to dinner." Amanda groaned.

"No one asked you to come."

Amanda rubbed her temple. "Have you studied enough for that DADA test we have tomorrow? I think I'm a bit iffy on how to repel inferi and vampires? Doesn't fire do the trick?" Amanda baited her. Rose froze.

"I completely forgot! I have to go study more!"

Before Amanda got two words out, Rose were hurrying off to the Gryffindor common room. She sighed, Rose was so predictable. Amanda went back to the Great Hall, making her way through the lamp-lit corridors.

She went over to the Slytherin table to sit with Atria and Scorpius.

Amanda's eyebrows shot up. Celaena, one of the girls from their dorm, was mercilessly flirting with Scorpius and Atria was watching in amusement. Amanda made a big show of sitting down, drawing everyone's attention.

"Celaena, what are you doing over here?" Amanda asked, drawing attention to the flirting girl, and Atria choked on some pumpkin juice.

"Just asking Scorpius about the Ancient Runes homework." The girl responded and then went back to "talking about homework."

Atria smirked at Amanda. "Subtle." She muttered before taking a long drink from her glass.

"Hey, Celaena is almost as bad as Jenny. We do not need that right now. It's bad enough sharing a dorm with her. Imagine being in the same room while we're awake." Amanda whispered before fixing a plate from the amazing buffet of food. There was an amazing looking apple pie Amanda had her eye on, but first she had to eat something healthy and with protein. Scorpius was running them ragged in practice and they had had a break between the Hogsmeade attack and the Aurors and ministry officials coming and going, but now it was back to reality.

And Scorpius was going to be twice as hard on them because they had missed the past two weeks of practice. It was already November and Scorpius kept ranting about how they only had three weeks to practice before Christmas break. And then he gave a lecture about how Quidditch players couldn't get fat over the holidays and everyone had to run at least five kilometers a day.

Atria had laughed at that last one.

"You know, I don't think I've done my essay yet, so I can't really help you." Scorpius carefully moved away from Caleana, who had subtly inched closer.

"Maybe we should do it together!" She exclaimed and Amanda smirked at his predicament. Amidst everything horrific and gloomy in the outside world, it was nice to see some things never changed.

"Unfortunately, I have a very busy schedule with Head Duties-"

Atria leaned her elbows on the table and rested her face on her hands. The picture of innocence. "That's why he usually does studying with Rose. They're always together." Atria said and Amanda nodded.

Caleana smiled primly. "Of course! I completely understand, she is the brightest witch in our year. Although I'm sorry you've been thrown together…" She trailed off coyly and while it took Scorpius a minute to catch up to her train of thoughts, the other girls caught on immediately. While Scorpius was busy floundering, Atria slowly pulled out two pieces of parchment.

Amanda laughed when she saw the two lists of the most eligible boys and girls at Hogwarts. "Hmm…" Atria's eyes skimmed over the paper. "Scorpius, I think I might need glasses because I can't quite see this anymore. Could you read it to me." Atria shoved one of the parchments across the table before he could respond. Caleana was looking over his shoulder discreetly and promptly scowled.

"Um… it's the list we made last year of girls we thought were attractive…" He said meekly.

"But not just attractive girls, the most attractive girls at Hogwarts." Atria sneered at Caleana who was now blushing furiously. "And who is number one?"

Scorpius glared at Atria, "Rose Weasley, but I wasn't the only one-"

"So you see," Atria ignored him and spoke to the girl who looked like she was about to cry, "Scorpius is best friends with Rose, who also happens to be the most gorgeous girl in the school, and as you pointed out… the smartest. I hardly think he is sorry he was thrown together with her. In fact, they were both ecstatic. So why don't you go somewhere else and flirt with a bloke who's interested." Atria said condescending and by the end of her speech Caleana was already backing away.

Amanda blinked. "Okay, that was a bit harsh."

"You started it." Atria shrugged.

"Yea, but not to her face and in front of everyone."

"It's not like I was saying something new."

Scorpius finally shook himself out of his stupor. "Attie, ten points from Slytherin." He said quietly with fury.

Atria's mouth opened. "Why?" She exclaimed.

"For bullying. You purposely made her feel bad and you humiliated her in front of everyone." Scorpius said, unphased by her glares.

"She's annoying."

"That's no excuse." Scorpius continued eating. "It's fine not to like her, but you shouldn't publicly scorn her just because she rubs you the wrong way."

"She rubs everyone the wrong way!"

Scorpius sighed and set down his fork. "I can't believe I have to explain to you why bullying is wrong." Atria gritted her teeth.

"I know why bullying is wrong, but I was just playing."

Amanda looked at her plate. "Sometimes you confuse the two."

Atria huffed and then began picking at her food. Amanda looked at Scorpius and rolled her eyes. She loved Attie to death but she had a tendency to take things too far. Sometimes that was a good thing, sometimes it was not.

Going overboard when buying Christmas present: good. Mocking people enough to make them cry: bad.

Atria mumbled something softly. Amanda frowned, "Sorry?"

"No, I'm sorry." Attie sighed. "I don't try to be mean." Amanda put her arm around Atria's shoulders and squeezed.

"We know." Amanda smiled. "You are very passionate and loyal. And protective of friends. But sometimes, you don't consider the feelings of people beyond your circle of friends." Amanda said kindly and Atria shrugged.

"Sometimes you don't consider the feelings of your friends either." Scorpius muttered.

Atria huffed. "I'm sorry for calling you a maniacal tyrant but do you really expect us to run five kilometers each day over break? Really?"

Amanda grinned as the tension between them defused.

"What happened to Rose, anyways?" Scorpius cleared his throat.

"Oh, she went to go study for the DADA test tomorrow."

Atria's eyes widened. "We have a test tomorrow?"

"Yep."

"Why didn't anyone tell me? I am going to fail this class!" She abandoned her dinner and began packing up her things. "Who needs Defense anyways?" She mumbled before running off. Amanda looked at Scorpius who simply shook his head.

"Um… everyone." Amanda said to no one.

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Scorpius found Rose bent over her textbook, scribbling notes in the Head's common room. She was so engulfed in her studying she didn't hear him come in or come up behind her.

"Hey."

Rose jumped up and screeched a little. Scorpius leapt back as Rose clutched her chest, trying to catch her breath. "Scorpius you scared me!" She smacked his arm. "Why would you sneak up on me?" She sat back down and brushed down her hair.

"I wasn't trying to." He sat on the couch adjacent from where Rose was in her armchair.

She shook her head and refocused on studying. He liked to watch her study. Whenever she remembered a correct fact her eyebrows would shoot up in surprise and then she would conceal a smile which would eventually come out. Her hair looked amazing today. It always looked amazing, except for when Dominique Weasley had convinced her to put some potion in her hair which took out all of her curls and frizz.

Scorpius happened to love when Rose's hair looked like this. It was loose and a little bit crazy, like she had just stepped off a broom or completed a dual. Her especially loved it when her cheeks matched her hair and the beautiful flush continued to her ears.

Without looking up Rose said, "Why are you staring at me?"

Scorpius smirked confidently. "I like to." He also liked to see her riled up. Rose had never handled any type of compliments well. So naturally he liked to tease her. She thought he was only teasing, but he meant every word.

"Well, can you stop?" And there was that lovely blush.

"No."

Rose looked up at him for a moment and then put her quill down. "Can I ask you something?" She said seriously, her lips thinned into a line.

"Of course." He frowned.

"What do you think of Sal?"

Scorpius frowned… and maybe growled a bit.

"Because," Rose continued, "I know Amanda and Atria don't like him. I don't know why though. They seemed to like him in the beginning and then Atria being Atria, changed her mood. And now Amanda doesn't seem fond of him either."

Scorpius wasn't sure how to answer this without sounding like a jealous boyfriend. Which he wasn't. She would never go out with him… or see him as more than a friend. "It's hard to tell what goes on in their brains." Scorpius said carefully.

"I know, but what do you think of him?" Rose persisted.

"He seems… fine." Scorpius said slowly.

"But you don't like him?"

No. "I don't really know him that well," Scorpius evaded the question. Of course he didn't like the bloke who was trying to move in on his best friend whom Scorpius also happened to be in love with.

"I think he's nice, but there's something about him." Rose shook her head. "I feel like I can't trust him, he's too charming."

"Well, then you can't date him." Scorpius said quickly. "If you can't trust him, you can't be with him." Rose bit her lip thoughtfully. "Rose, where do you see yourself in five years?"

She looked at him with a confused expression. He waited for an answer. "Working at the Ministry I suppose. In the Department of Magical Education." She smiled.

"Right, and is Sal in that future?" Scorpius demanded.

"Well, no."

"So if you can't imagine yourself with him in five years, why date him now? You don't want a fling and you know it's not going anywhere."

Rose smiled brightly. "You're right. I'll wait for the right guy."

That didn't make Scorpius feel better, but at least he had avoided one disaster. "Exactly. The one person you can't live without." He sounded much more convinced than her felt. He looked at Rose, but she was staring off into space with the expression she got after finally figuring out an Arithmancy question.

"Rose?"

Her attention snapped back to him. Sort of. She sat down and didn't look at him.

"Thanks for the advice." Her voice was far away.

"No problem, I'm just going to have a shower." He said, but he knew she wasn't paying him any attention. He wondered what she was thinking about but then thought maybe it was better if he didn't know.

His heart hurt a little bit. It was difficult talking to Rose about the imaginary man that should would end up with one day. He didn't want to think about when that man stopped being imaginary and it became a reality.

It would happen and it would kill Scorpius to watch Rose fall in love with someone else.

That would be the day his heart would break.

Hi! So what did you think? I got some requests for a little bit more Rose/Scor so here it is. What do you think Rose was thinking about in the end.

Also who do you think will be the first person who finds out about Atria's secret? I know I asked that already but just in case you forgot.

- Alex