Warning: Indirect references to adult themes appear in this chapter.

JKR owns everything that you recognize.

March 2025 – June 2029

While Rose was applying for dragon keeping academy in Romania, Alice was shadowing Healers at St. Mungo's, applying for Healer training positions, and receiving offers from around the world. She decides to go to a program in New York City, because "it's a wonderful time in my life to be young and living the good life in a city abroad!" Meanwhile, Scorpius wrote about his experience building permanent shelters and establishing a source of potable water for a low-income, rural community in his application to a civil engineering program at Cambridge, and Albus received an athletic scholarship to play Quidditch for Glasgow.

Rose and Alice met up for lunch once a week at the beginning of their gap year, but as they each became more heavily invested in their respective workplaces, weekly lunches tapered off to dinner every other week, and then to brunch once a month. Rose thinks that if they didn't live in the same apartment complex, they might not even see each other that often, and she is thankful for this anchor to her friend. When they see each other, it is as if nothing has changed at all, and they can pick up from where they left off.

By the end of August, everybody has packed up their lives and drifted off to start a new chapter in their lives. They've each promised to stay in touch, but they somehow know that they'll meet new people and get caught up in their new lives. But there's still the promise of holidays to bring everyone back together to get caught up.

During orientation, Rose becomes fast friends with a classmate called Astrid Leong. Together they take on classes, endless memorization of anatomy and physiology of dragons and related creatures, disappointment over not being allowed to work hands-on with the dragons until their second year, and the insanity of dragon keepers-in-training blowing off steam at the end of each week. They discover that the upper years throw crazy parties most weekends, and it is here that Rose first encounters boys who are testing the waters of manhood.

She decides she likes it.

Two months into the term, after a big test in covering digestive anatomy and physiology of dragons, Rose and Astrid make a pact to get laid this upcoming weekend. Rose has had her eye on a second year called Ryan Lewandowski – he's a little quieter and less rowdy than most of the boys, but still extremely fun when the entire cohort turns up. And thanks to a variety of factors, but primarily Astrid's skills as a wing-woman, Rose ends up in bed with Ryan. It's her first time, and it's awkward and it hurts, but Ryan is careful and respectful and they part in the morning as friends.

During her first term away, Rose sees a couple messages each week from Scorpius – with the most recent being the hilarity of his roommate. Apparently Scorpius has never heard of the concept of being sexiled, so he stays put for the entire time that his roommate and the roommate's girlfriend were getting it on in the top bunk, which entertains Rose enormously. Other than this, she learns that he is taking a combination of muggle and magical courses, all foundational to future work that he wants to do. He generally likes his instructors, but is appalled when Rose says that often her teachers show up at the parties.

"It's a really small community, and most of the students get to be good friends with the faculty by the end of three or four years. It's not like the faculty get up to any of the debauchery of the students – they do still maintain their professionalism. But I feel that as friends, they are entitled to socialize," Rose protests, in their defense.

The first time that Rose comes home for Christmas hols, she spends several days in the company of only her family. While this was pleasant at first, having not seen them in a very long time, they begin to drive Rose completely barmy. Alice's message, then, comes at the perfect time.

A [1023]: Wanna go to a party tonight at the Scamanders'?

A [1024]: A bunch of our yearmates are gunna be there, we can see how much people have changed in the last couple years.

Having tired of the craziness of her family all together again, Rose agrees.

They meet up an hour beforehand, to get coffee and catch up with each other, and Rose is happy to learn that Alice is essentially the same person at heart, and they still click very well together. Healer training is challenging, Alice says, but she's loving every minute of it, and New York is just such a vivid place to be doing it. "You should come visit sometime! We'll go out see the sights, the Hudson River Valley is really gorgeous all the time, experience the nightlife, meet boooyyys and it will be a great time!"

At the party, the first person that Rose notices when she walks in with Alice is none other than Scorpius Malfoy. Alice does not fail to register the surprise that remains etched on Rose's face when they turn to look for the punch bowl and snacks provided by Aunt Luna.

"What's he doing here?" Rose hisses.

"Lorcan is dating his cousin. Persephone Nott? Their mothers are sisters, I think."

"Oh."

"Hey Rose, are you okay?"

"I'm sorry. I was just really surprised to see him here. It's still a shock to see him after, well, everything." Rose trails off and lets Alice recall the horrifyingly awkward situation in their sixth year and the whole situation with Kasper in their seventh year, while praying that this excuse is sufficient to cover up her real reason, which is much more related to their budding friendship which is developing over the phone. In fact, she's a little hurt that he didn't tell her that he would be coming to this party, considering that she knows all about his uni roommate's sex life and they've stayed up late jointly watching trashy muggle television shows.

She's not sure how to respond to being in the same room as him again, but fortunately does not have to figure this out, since at that moment, Lysander calls the room to order and introduces them to a muggle card game which has them all loudly accusing each other of being liars for the rest of the night.

It's not until everyone is getting ready to go, and Rose is waiting for Alice to wrap herself up in all her winter gear, that she has a chance to speak with Scorpius. They make eye contact while he's putting his boots on, and she goes over to him.

"Hey Scorpius."

He looks up from tying his laces and smiles when he sees who is calling him. "Hey Rose. Fancy seeing you here."

"Everyone is so different from what I've remembered but also weirdly still the same."

"Agreed. It was fun though!"

"Yes!" A pause. "Say, would you want to get a bunch of people to see a movie? In muggle London. Or something. They've got the newest installment of that movie where they go gallivanting around in space or whatever coming out next week."

"Sure, sounds like a good plan. And we can try to get dinner after?"

It's not a date because there are other people there, but it feels cozy and just right to spend time with Scorpius Malfoy.

Rose and Ryan sleep together a couple more times until Ryan decides he doesn't just want casual sex anymore, but a legitimate relationship. Rose turns him down, saying that she can't handle the commitment of a relationship on top of their stressful classes, and finds someone else to sleep with. In the meantime, though, Astrid has fallen in love with a classmate one year ahead called Charlie Wu, and Rose sees a happily ever after in their future.

Second year. Starting with the dragons in the field is as amazing as Rose always knew it would be. They tend to the intimidating and territorial males, females who are often even more fearsome than the males when they are in heat, infant and adolescent dragons in health and in illness. Rose takes elective courses to spend more time with the creatures in the surrounding forests, to broaden her horizons with comparative anatomy and physiology, but still her favorite experience in her three years in the field is the night that a very pregnant and very injured Chinese Windrider is brought into the facility. Everybody is roused from their sleep – or in Rose's case, pulled away from video chatting with Alice – to help. And when the first tendrils of dawn crept over the horizon, the eggs had been laid in a secure location and the condition of the mother was stabilized enough so that she could care for her eggs.

Every time Rose comes back from Romania, she finds time to meet up with Scorpius and the gang for movies or board games or water sports in the summer. Somehow Scorpius has been promoted to the position of her non-cousin best friend who she's still in touch with from their Hogwarts days, which amuses her to no end. She doesn't know when during her dragon training and Alice's Healer training the two girls stopped speaking so much, but she contents herself with their infrequent conversations and Scorpius' company in between. Besides, there's so much going on at the academy.

Rose spends two months each summer at school – the students have no summer courses and they are always welcome as extra hands in the field. But she also makes sure to go home for Hugo's graduation from Hogwarts, for family birthdays and family reunions. She goes to see Alice in New York a couple of times, exploring the city, sleeping with a boy with a funny accent, hiking in the Hudson River Valley, and one time even venturing as far north as Canada to see the Niagara Falls, experience poutine, and view some races in the World Cup of a muggle sport called dragon boat.

In Rose's fourth year at the academy, she is mostly finished with her coursework. In fact, Astrid had managed to squeeze her last several courses into a very busy third year, so that she could graduate with Charlie and together they moved back to Singapore, but this means that Rose's closest friend at school is gone. She continues to attend the occasional Friday night party, socialize with her classmates, and mentor the younger students, but she finds that the overall mentality among the fourth years is forward searching: looking for job prospects for the next year and a general itch to get out. She knows Scorpius feels this too; they spend almost every other Friday night in a video call, talking about what they want to do and searching for opportunities to apply for in between catching up on television shows and swapping dinner recipes. She speaks to Scorpius far more often than she speaks to Alice, who was superb during her Healer training and has started her residency at the sister hospital of St. Mungo's in France after three years. Rose therefore spends the majority of her daylight hours working in the field. She makes the acquaintance of more of the technicians and long-term staff, and finds herself spending time with them after hours. She's inexplicably drawn to a gruff and grumpy Matei, who is six years her elder, but after seeing his fun side, they start sleeping together. And even though Rose objected to starting a relationship with Ryan citing the craziness of school, and despite the clear expiration date for Matei (he's continuing as a technician when she graduates and leaves for her job in Arizona), she finds that with her additional free time in this fourth year, she has fallen into something akin to a relationship with Matei.

TL;DR: College was a blur.

A/N: Avalon, anyone? :D The space movie is the new Star Wars sequel trilogy.