After two decades of reading novels, I finally noticed the inscription in the front which reads, "This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to persons living or otherwise, is purely coincidental." And now that I think about it, this is common in film, too. I wonder why it's necessary to deny so vehemently that fiction is heavily influenced by the reality of the authors? Perhaps entirely for legal reasons, so they can't be accused of slander and such?

Do I really have to write the same disclaimer at the beginning of every chapter?

June - August 2029

While Rose is cruising through her last term at school, messing around with Matei, and waiting for her new life to start, Scorpius is finishing his degree in magical and civil engineering with an emphasis on water management. He lines up a low-paying job in Egypt at a consulting company which evaluates current water use practices and provides advice to communities about the responsible use of the Nile's abundant, but finite resources. so that future generations might also reap the benefits of the river. He tells Rose that his father scoffed at his choice of gainful employment, as it is apparently not consistent with the Malfoy model of making oodles of money and keeping a high profile.

"But I see it as gaining valuable experience with coordinating the needs of low-income communities with external developers who think they know what's best in terms of housing and water supply. I think, if I rise through the ranks at companies like this, I'll learn enough to start my own company and be able to direct my own projects and make a name for myself that way. After all, I am still only 22 and quite green and there's just so much that I still don't know."

"I think it's admirable," Rose tells him.

Rose, meanwhile, wants to have a last epic adventure before being tied down. After talking with Scorpius, she decides what better place to have an adventure than her new home: she'll take a month long road trip around the American Southwest to see some sights and shake off a bit of her exploring itch. She doesn't feel comfortable going on her own, though, and asks Scorpius to accompany her, which he cheerfully and instantaneously says yes to. She doesn't read into how easily he agrees to travel abroad with her. Together, they spend several late nights on the phone with very little conversation outside of suggesting a stop or activity. By the end they are happy with the desert parks they will visit, hoping that they will be relatively deserted since the parks are treacherous in the summer to those who have no means of managing the outside heat.

"As an added bonus, it's also a very arid region which gets most of its life-sustaining water from a central source which is in high demand and poor management, so that could be like a sneak peek for my new job," Scorpius quips, only half in jest.

"Nerd," Rose accuses.

"Pot. Kettle. Black."

They laugh, a mixed sound which has always been harmonious and comforting to Rose.

"But in all seriousness, this is supposed to be a vacation. Kicking back before we start in the soul-sucking machine of work."

"You don't believe that. I know that you've chosen your career path because it's what's given you the most joy through the years and you think you can make a huge positive contribution in a few lives. If that's what you consider soul-sucking, then I would call you a very confused lady."

Rose pauses a second, taking in this very insightful comment about her hopes and dreams. She hadn't realized that he was paying so much attention to the things she said. But only for a beat, before she fires back, "Oh, you're just a giant hopeless romantic."

"Loud and proud, babe."

Rose could get used to getting called pet names by Scorpius.

Graduation.

A subset of Rose's extended family comes to town for the ceremony, and Astrid and Charlie also return to see their friends off. Not wanting to introduce Matei to her family, Rose breaks it off with him two nights before she graduates. Although they both know this is coming, Rose starts tearing up before she makes it to the end of what she wants to say, and Matei starts crying too, and it all degenerates into a soggy makeout session and rough, needy goodbye sex in a storage shed in an unused dragon pen.

At the end, when they slump against the wall of the shed together, spent, Matei asks her, "Friends?"

Rose is silent for a long time before rolling off of him, and nodding her consent.

"WhOo are you going with?" Ron demands as soon as Rose informs him of her travel plans.

Rose steels herself for this grand reveal. She reminds herself that she's legally an adult and free to do what she wants with her life, including choosing who she trusts and spends time with, before she sucks in a breath and says, "Scorpius."

"MaLFOY?"

"No, Dad. Scorpius Xie, from school." At her father's blank look, she says, tiredly, "Yes, of course, Dad, it's Scorpius Malfoy. How many parents are crazy enough to make their children that?"

Her father's jaw is working although no sound is coming out and his face is approaching a rather alarming shade of puce. Before something can combust, Rose appeals to her mother's sensibilities.

"He's fine, really, and we're friends. He's not his father and he's never done anything untoward to me, not even a prank at Hogwarts. We just got to talking about this and we're both excited about the trip. It's not like we're getting married or anything." She doesn't feel the need to tell them just how long they've been friends, or what it took for them to become friends.

Her parents exchange a meaningful glance, after which her mother says, "We trust you, Rose, and if you trust him, that's good enough for us. But two young people abroad and away from civilization, what if something happened to one of you? We would feel so much more comfortable if you brought another person to watch out for each other's backs."

"Preferably someone we know. Like a cousin."

"Yes, thank you, Ronald."

Before Rose brings this up to Scorpius, she considers who she would bring. Alice is a no-go; when they spoke recently, Alice complained that she was starting at her job so much sooner than any of her friends and she feels that she's made a horrible mistake, not taking more time off. But she needs the income, and she doesn't have any time off for the first four months, when she will also need to be ready to return to the hospital at a moment's notice.

Rose also isn't keen on inviting Astrid, who she was delighted to see again at her graduation. Astrid would likely want to bring Charlie, and Rose just wants a quiet vacation with her friends and not feel like she is third wheeling. Besides, Charlie dropped hints to her that he would be proposing in the near future, and while this is phenomenal and exciting, this may throw Astrid into the insanity of wedding planning. So, no Astrid.

This leaves Albus. He may actually be the best bet, since Scorpius also knows him from school and the two got on well enough. Albus has signed on as a reserve Chaser with the Tutshill Tornadoes, but since the regular season is over, Albus has a bit of time to futz around before needing to report back for off-season training in October.

When Rose brings up the idea of bringing Albus with Scorpius, he hesitates only a split second before agreeing, it's so fast that Rose thinks it may be entirely in her imagination.

Albus is on board, too. "Sounds brilliant," is his input when Rose catches him up on their plans. "I'm down for whatever, so I defer to you."

The trio takes a long-distance Portkey to the McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas, and arrive in a hidden section for International Portkeys. Customs officials scan their heap of backpacking gear, and finding nothing out of the ordinary, release Rose and friends into the dry desert heat. Rose is already sweating buckets by the time they find their way to the one magical rental car company and pick up their vehicle.

Rose collapses into the backseat and speaks a climate control spell as soon as she can, and breathes more easily when it starts to kick in. She Summons her ratty old sweatpants and pulls them over her shorts, and settles in to take a nap on the magically expanded backseat while Albus drives the first leg.

"Where to, captain?" Albus asks her.

"Scorpius knows just as well as I do where we're going."

"You got it, captain," Scorpius grins cheekily at her. "You've got all the jams on your phone, though."

She passes her phone over. "There's no password on it."

After a moment, Scorpius asks her, in a somewhat strained voice, "Who's Matei?"

"Oh. Ugh," Rose sighs. "Morgana and Circe. What has he written this time? Actually, don't tell me. I'm still tired out from that trip."

"So, I take it that I shouldn't send a sarcastic response back?"

Rose sits bolt upright. "I will throw you out of this moving car if you do."

"Bloody hell, woman. I was just kidding," Scorpius exclaims, at the same time that Rose makes eye contact with Albus in the rearview mirror and he says, "You gonna tell us who he is?"

Rose lies back down. "Later."

Albus drives in silence for several minutes while Scorpius fiddles with Rose's phone to get it connected to the audio system. The upbeat opening notes of "99 Red Balloons" begin piping through the speakers, in stark contrast with the strange tension that has settled in the car.

Rose genuinely would like to take a nap, as she usually feels like crap after a long-distance Portkey, but Matei is insistent about being noticed, and sends a message every couple of minutes, which in turn interrupts the music and jars Rose just as she's settling down. Multiple times.

"Bloody fucking idiot," Rose growls as she sits up. "Can I have my phone back, please?"

Scorpius hands it back without meeting her eyes.

"Thanks."

Rose at first wants to turn off receiving messages altogether, but remembers that her parents asked her to send them a message when she arrived. So she does that, saying that they've arrived safely and Albus is driving, then fiddles with the settings until she is able to specifically silence the chat with Matei.

Rose hands her phone back to Scorpius, and goes to lie back down, but Albus prompts her, "So, Rose, we're stuck in this box with wheels together for the next month and gonna be learning all sorts of intimate details about each other. I nominate you to start us off on this journey of oversharing by telling us who the fuck Matei thinks he is to be sending you texts like that, and why this is the first time that any of us have heard of him."

She sighs. They're off to a pretty rocky start to this road trip, and Rose figures that it's not going to get any better until she tells them about Matei. She takes a moment to curse her own stupidity for getting into this mess in the first place, then starts with the basics.

"He was a technician at the academy. No, not was. Is. He's six years older than me, and we started sleeping together during my last term when I was finishing up with a couple easy courses and spending extra time in the field."

"It surprises me that you would just sleep around with some bloke," Scorpius manages to say. Rose can't tell if he's making a snide remark or if he's trying to understand better, and decides to ignore it after her initial prickle of annoyance.

"Would you shut it, mate, and let Rose continue," Albus chips in, rather unhelpfully.

"No, it's fine, Albus. Ask whatever you want, I'm probably leaving out some important details. And yeah, Scorpius, I guess you're right. We were exclusive, so I guess he was my," Rose fumbles for words. "My boyfriend with an expiration date. We broke up before graduation because I didn't care for him to meet everyone, since, well, he had reached said expiration date."

Scorpius barks a laugh, but Albus asks, "So if you're broken up, how come he's still sending you racy messages?"

"Because he wanted to stay friends."

A pregnant pause, which Scorpius breaks, by sniping, "You know that only psychopaths try to stay friends with their exes."

Rose feels this is somewhat unreasonable coming from him, seeing as they are exes of a sort, and definitely friends, but also feels that now is not a great time to alert Albus to this six-years-dead relationship. So she settles for meeting his eyes, and giving Scorpius (what she thinks is) her best stink eye.

"Yes, well, I know that now. I hardly had all my bearings when he still had his prick inside of me after the make-up sex that we had halfway into my breaking up with him."

"TOO MUCH INFORMATION, ROSE," Albus roars from the driver's seat, causing the car to swerve into the lane on the left and the car in that lane to lay on their horn.

"You asked for oversharing, and I'm delivering, am I not?"

Albus only grunts in response, and they spend the next several minutes listening to some boy band singing about one thing.

"This still doesn't really explain…" Albus tries again.

"Merlin, you're so pushy." Rose meets Albus' eyes in the rearview mirror and sticks her tongue out at him.

"My best guess is that he's trying to relive his early twenties vicariously through me. He made some poor decisions in school, when he was my age, and is now still living with his parents and working at a job that he doesn't find fulfilling. I think that being with me really hit home the reality that students are doing what he's doing as a stepping stone to something bigger, and that his life is passing him by. So he wants out of his current situation. But he's too cautious to give up his decent wages and go back into debt to get the training that he needs for the job that he wants. Actually, I don't 'think' this, I know it. Considering the number of times that we've had this conversation." Rose wrinkles her nose at the memory.

Albus and Scorpius make tutting sounds as Rose continues, floodgates opened.

"Twenty-eight is hardly old. It's not like he has no time to learn something new. But he thinks he's an old dog and can't learn new tricks. It's like he just wants to skip straight to retirement and not have to work for it, when in reality, he's only trapped by his own mind. It's so frustrating!"

Albus, tentatively: "Why don't you just cut him off?"

"I've thought about it, trust me, but I don't know, there's something wrong with me, or something. Something about him being my first relationship of any substance, no matter how temporary it was supposed to be. I do care for him and want the best for him. I just wish he'd stop being a baby sometimes and see that's he's capable and he can be more."

"Sounds pretty unhealthy for everyone," Scorpius supplies unhelpfully.

"No shit, Sherlock," Rose snaps, eyes blazing.

"Hey, guys, we have to play nice together for a month still." This conciliatory tone from Albus is a surprise to both Rose and Scorpius and they look anywhere but each other, embarrassed.

"Sorry," Rose offers.

"Apology accepted. And I'm sorry too."

"What are you going to do next, Rose?" Albus asks after the next song, "Brand New," starts.

"He's been talking about looking for new jobs. Which is a minor improvement, but it's still just talk. He's talking about looking in Arizona, which makes me uncomfortable. I didn't want anything long-term from him, and I certainly think it's aggressively irresponsible to move from Romania to Arizona on a whim. I want my freedom and if he did get a job near me, I'd feel stifled and potentially somewhat threatened."

"Does he know this?"

"No."

"Rose," Scorpius interrupts, turning around in his seat. They make eye contact. "I think you need to break it off with him. Properly."

She pouts. "I can't just, not respond to his messages and hope he gets the message?"

"He might be dumber than you're giving him credit for, and he's clearly more persistent than you expected him to be."

"Scorpius! That's unnecessarily cruel."

"Sorry." He doesn't look sorry at all. "Doesn't make it less true."

Rose sighs wearily. "All right. I knew it was coming to this, I guess I just," she stops, defeated. Scorpius looks genuinely contrite now.

They drive without speaking for some time, Rose mulling over what they've just talked about. Today may be the first time that she put into words the feeling that, despite that he is older than her, she is the more mature of the two and feels vaguely like she's become a sort of mother-figure, which is equal parts disturbing and irresponsible of him to ask of her. It definitely cannot go on, and as much as Rose hates the idea of breaking up with someone not in person, they're not going to see each other again, and this idea of ghosting on him won't stop him from spamming her in the present and drawing her attention away from this trip which is supposed to be fun and relaxing. There's really only one course of action, and before she can talk herself out of it, Rose casts an isolation spell and dials Matei.

"Rose! Hi!" Matei greets cheerfully. "This was unexpected, how are you doing? I trust you had safe travels?"

"Matei," Rose starts, her voice flat. "We can't do this anymore."

"What? I don't understand."

"We broke up—"

"But you said that you still wanted to be friends!"

"I've changed my mind."

"You can't, just," he splutters.

"It's really too bad, I did. Please don't try to contact me anymore, and definitely please don't look for jobs near me. I wish you the best possible life." Rose really needs this conversation to en before she starts choking up like last time.

"Rose," he's pleading with her now.

"You know who my family are, heroes of the Second Wizarding War? Remember them? They're very responsive when I feel threatened, and pretty influential, too." Rose hadn't meant to bring her family connections into this, but it had just slipped out.

"You know what?" Matei's tone is harder now. "Fine. I don't need you in my life either, you crazy bint. But now I know what it's like to fuck the daughter of war heroes, and let me tell you, you're not that good, and I thought your jokes during sex were dumb since the beginning."

Tears are streaming freely down Rose's face now, as she stares into her phone, hearing only dial tone. She gives up trying to swipe at her running eyes and nose, and lowers the isolation spell, to find that Albus has pulled over, but his hands are still clenched on the steering wheel, knuckles white and lips pulled into an angry line. Scorpius, on the other hand, has moved to the backseat with Rose, and the moment she emerges, he gathers her into his arms, with a soft, "Oh, Rose."

She sobs into his chest for some minutes until she collects her bearings enough to sniffle, "Wait, how did you…"

Scorpius waves his hand around. "Your phone was still connected to the car audio system."

This brings on a fresh wave of wails. "I'm so dumb!"

"No, no, Rose, you're not, shh, you're gonna be okay."

Her face is buried in his shoulder and he's murmuring little comforts in her ear and stroking her hair when he meets Albus' eyes.

Albus raises an eyebrow.

Scorpius purses his lips.

Albus glares sternly.

Scorpius rolls his eyes.

"We're gonna talk about this later," Albus mouths, and Scorpius sighs.

A little later, Rose has stopped crying enough to catch snippets of Albus muttering to himself. Something about, "temporary disfigurement," and, "hex his bollocks off," sends Rose into giggles, which makes Albus glance back at the pair.

Rose is straightening her hair, and taking a last swipe at her eyes before banishing her heap of used tissues, and pointedly not looking at Scorpius, who is casting a cleaning charm on his shirt.

"Let's go to Zion," Rose declares.

"Well, about that," Albus says, and opens his door.

Rose gasps and scrambles to get out of the car also, to take in the stunning view of the desert.

Scorpius grabs her wrist before she opens the door on the desert heat, and cast cooling and sunscreen charms over her before letting her go again, causing Rose to laugh, and call out over her shoulder, "Thanks, mum!"

Scorpius scowls after her, and Albus playfully hits his shoulder and states what's on Scorpius' mind: "You'd hope that she sees you as more than a mum after that display in there."

It's high afternoon, and after Scorpius and Albus throw on their own protective spells and step out of the car, they see heat shimmering off of all their surroundings. The landscape is dry and barren and sparsely occupied with plant life, but in the two-minute head start that Rose got, she's somehow already managed to make friends with a tiny dragon who has made her home at the base of a cactus.

"She's a miniature flying gecko," she tells the boys fondly as the little dragon scampers between her fingers.

The little dragon, sensing the boys' presence, freezes, does a couple push-ups, and when that doesn't frighten the intruders off, she opens her wings and flies off.

Rose stands and brushes her hands off. "Say, Albus, do you ever do push-ups to scare off bullies?"

"No, but that was wicked!"

"Stay with me, coz, and you'll see so much more," Rose laughs.

They reach the campground soon after, and find that it's surprisingly crowded despite the heat. They feel lucky to find a camp site, and spend some time setting up their tent. It was a gift to Rose from her father, and is more modern and rather smaller than Rose's grandfather's tent, but large enough that Rose can have her own bedroom separate from the boys. There's also a kitchen and a common area, but they'll have to use the public bathroom facilities and tap.

They decide to have an early dinner and play some card games before going stargazing later in the evening.

Unfortunately Rose doesn't make it to the board games – she falls asleep on the floor of the common space immediately after dinner. When Albus goes to jostle her awake, she mumbles something about, "Wake me up… stars…" so he decides to leave her alone for now. Scorpius has already fetched blanket and pillow from the linens closet, and tucks them around Rose.

"Let's talk," Albus says to Scorpius, in a tone that suggests that he doesn't have a choice in the matter.

"Alright," Scorpius agrees.

The two boys wander into one of the sleeping rooms, where they sit with their backs against the bedframe of the bunk bed.

"So," Albus begins ominously. "You're in love with Rose."

An equivalent thought had been developing in Scorpius' mind for quite some months, but it hadn't quite reached the crystal clarity carried in Albus' accusation.

"Hang on, why do you say that like it's a bad thing?"

"So you're not denying it!"

"Well, no, she's one of my best friends, but wouldn't you say that you love your best friends?"

"That's a different kind of love. There are things that you'd be willing to do for Rose that you wouldn't do for your other friends. Say, for example, comfort them while they're crying. Stroke their hair while you're comforting them."

Had Scorpius not stopped listening halfway through Albus' second sentence, eyes glazed over and pupils dilated, he perhaps would have been more active about voicing his opposition to the first – he'd definitely comforted others of his friends when they chose to come crying to him. But alas, he was jostled out of his daydream when Albus slapped him across his face.

"Oi! Quit having dirty thoughts about my cousin!"

Suitably chastised, Scorpius mumbles, "Sorry."

"And besides," Albus continues in a reasonable tone, "you wouldn't want to be her rebound from that piece of filth…"

The two boys share a moment of silence, plotting a variety of horrible things they wanted to do to Matei after his little show on the phone earlier. But Scorpius breaks their pleasant reverie by saying, "Rose wouldn't want us to."

"You're right, but it doesn't mean that he couldn't handle a little scare… Hang on. We were talking about you and how you're keen on my cousin."

Scorpius sighs. "Remind me why you have to do this, again?"

"Because when I was born into the Potter-Weasley clan, I by default signed an oath in blood to threaten to carve off your reproductive organs with a rusty spoon and have your house elf serve them to your parents while you're off dying somewhere of blood loss and tetanus if you (1), lay a finger on Rose, or (2), hurt her."

"Look, I'm not planning to, okay, you already pointed out the obvious that it would be a dumb move to be her rebound, and besides, it's not like long-distance relationships work and there's the matter of how she doesn't look at me in that way at all. We're just friends, I swear."

At that moment, Rose pokes her head in through the tent flap which divides their room from the common area. She's groggy and her hair is tousled and Scorpius has never seen anyone more beautiful than Rose in that moment.

As she wipes sleep from her eyes, she manages, "Who's just friends? And is it dark enough to go see stars yet?"

Albus cuts Scorpius a look that says, "We're not done here," which Scorpius ignores in favor of getting up to join Rose.

They light their wands, which to the muggles look like they are holding flashlights or wearing headlamps, and trek up a ridge near their campsite to lay out, gazing at the Milky Way and wishing on the occasional shooting star. They've brought a couple blankets, and Scorpius longs to be together with Rose under one, but at Albus' silent insistence, he concedes to let Albus sit between them as they huddle for warmth under the stars.

Upon returning to their tent, Rose requests in a very small voice to not sleep alone tonight. Wordlessly, Scorpius conjures another cot for "their" room and the group never speaks of the reason that Rose is unhappy sleeping alone with her own thoughts.

The next day, they go hiking along a riverbed. Albus walks in front, enjoying scrambling over rocks and the burn in his legs when the trail slopes upwards. However, after twenty minutes of dead silence from Rose and Scorpius halfway into the hike, he turns around and realizes that they're not behind him. Panicking and irrationally worried that Scorpius chose this inopportune moment to make a move on Rose, Albus retraces his steps on the trail at a jog until, ten minutes later, he sees them. Scorpius is standing on a little ledge two meters above the trail, and is running his hands reverently over the stone and for some reason he is talking about water and how the shape of the canyon reveals the history of water movement. Rose seems to be only half listening, she's taken her shoes off and has dipped her feet into the water, and is giggling when fishes come to nibble at her toes, and has a little aquatic snake curled around her ankle.

Albus sighs.

"Hey, guys. I thought we were going on this hike?"

Rose looks up at him, mirth still etched across her features. "Sorry, Albus! We just got so caught up with this patch of river, but as soon as I convince Miss Venomous Stryker that she can resume hunting for herself and not just eat the fish that are nibbling my toes, I'll be ready."

Albus shudders and turns around to look just as Scorpius lets himself down from the ledge and dusts off his hands. "The water history of this region is remarkable," he declares to no one in particular, and is not very put off when no one responds to him.

This was not something Albus bargained for when he agreed to go road tripping with Rose. He hadn't realized just how big of nerds these two were, but it seems they'll need to allot more time for these two to get distracted on their hikes.

Later that night, they're perched on the ledge again with the stars, when Rose says, "So, Albus, you all know about my failed love life, but what's up with yours? Are you still with that girl you met in school? Her name is… Vivian Lao?"

A goofy smile crosses Albus' features and he says, "Yeah, things are good with Viv. She's still got a year in school left, and job opportunities for her major are scarce near Tutshill, so I've been thinking that I need to make a good impression on my coaches and admin staff so I can get a good recommendation for if I need to transfer to somewhere closer to her."

Rose and Scorpius exchange a glance.

Rose tries gently, "But you'll have only been with the Tornadoes one year. Isn't that, well, you know, not quite long enough to secure a really solid recommendation or good impression?"

Albus sighs. "Yeah. I've been thinking about all the counter-arguments. I wish I had a little longer, even one more year would be good, for this to be a really good line item on my resume."

"Also, mate, if you were to live together after she graduates, couldn't she just, you know, use magical means to commute? Things like, Floo?"

Rose hears the subtext of the clause, "if you were to live together," and knows that he's on the same page as her about maybe not starting off by living together right out of college, especially if she's keen on living in a city center to be close to the nightlife.

"Thanks, guys," Albus grumbles. "I was just trying to tell you about how much I love Viv, and you've turned it into an interrogation."

"Sorry, sorry!" Rose concedes. "We just are so excited to see you playing professional Quidditch, and you know, we're still so young and settling down can happen later."

"Yeah, mate, we would hate for you to throw away your chance at the big times just to stay in and be a homebody."

A long pause from Albus, then, "It's just that, out of all the girls I've met, Viv is the only one who really gets me, you know? And she doesn't like me because I'm an athlete, or the progeny of war heroes. And I don't want to throw that away."

Rose leans her head on Albus' shoulder. "I'm sorry for being harsh on you, Albus. It's clear that you love Viv a lot, and I would hope that maybe she loves you enough in return to make some sacrifices also for your career and happiness."

Albus leans into Rose. "Thanks, Rose, it means a lot to me that you care."

Rose jokes, "Ah, you know, it's because we're related. If that wasn't the case, well, I'd be outta here. Feelings make me squirm. You do your own life and all that jazz."

"THANKS ROSE WE WERE HAVING A MOMENT AND NOW YOU'VE RUINED IT."

"SORRY ALBUS HOW CAN I REPAIR THIS? I CAN HELP YOU PLAN WHAT COLOR THE TABLECLOTHS WILL BE AT YOUR WEDDING OR SOMETHING."

"What! We aren't getting married yet!"

Scorpius cuts in at this moment, "Will you two shut up and enjoy the pretty lights out there."

Rose turns to Scorpius. "Oh all right mister. We're sorry for neglecting you in our conversation about relationships. Do entertain us with tales of your love life!"

Scorpius scowls (which Rose cannot see from the other side of Albus) and his shoulders hunch forward by a shade (which Rose can see, and makes her feel a small amount of guilt).

"You know I haven't got one, Rose."

"But it's hardly because you're unattractive or not meeting new people." Rose snorts inwardly. Not unattractive. Understatement of the century.

"Well, yeah. We'll see what happens when I move."

"It's a little farming town, right?"

"Yes, and the dating opportunities will be plentiful."

"Circe, Scorpius, you could afford to be a little more optimistic than this."

"Sorry that I'm just realistic."

"You boys are both downers. I'll not ask you about your relationships again."

This is obviously untrue as relationships continue to be a favorite conversation topic in the next several weeks, as the three friends hike, meet small dragons and the occasional large one, learn desert hydrology, and visit Bryce Canyon, Arches, and Grand Canyon National Parks.

At the end of the month, they return to Vegas, and they have one night before Albus and Scorpius are scheduled to return home and Rose takes a short trip by Floo directly to her new apartment. They've previously agreed to have one party night, and at Rose's insistence ("I demand a room with a shower"), they've booked a room at the Wynn, where they spend some time washing up and resting up before they wander out in search of dinner somewhere on the Strip. Having eaten their fill of fast food on the road between parks, they decide to spring for some nice sushi.

They're back out on the strip in time to see sunset colors over the Bellagio fountains, and return to their room to dress up and pregame.

Forty-seven minutes later finds Rose in a deep red curve-hugging crop top, tight skinny jeans, strappy silver sandals, and a touch of eye and lip makeup. She's left her hair down; it's liberating after a month of ponytails. She does a spin for Albus and Scorpius; Albus is wearing a sky-blue, short-sleeved button down embroidered with glittery tiny golden Snitches and has also thrown on some clean khakis, while Scorpius has rolled the sleeves of his forest green button down to his elbows and is also wearing silvery slacks.

"You're so Slytherin that it hurts my eyes," Rose opts to poke fun at Scorpius instead of complimenting him, because she's unsure that she'd be able to contain the accompanying wolf-whistle.

"Thanks," Scorpius responds, mentally telling himself not to drool. "You don't look so bad yourself."

They hold eye contact for a long moment and likely would have lost track of time had it not been for Albus loudly placing the bottle of Grey Goose on the table, startling Rose and Scorpius to look at him. He's already poured three shots and declaring, "I propose a toast. To a truly excellent adventure and not killing each other in the process."

"That's dark, Albus," Rose says with a concerned look at Albus, as if the heat has gotten to his head.

"You gotta admit, though, Rose, he's kinda right. It got close a couple of times," Scorpius muses.

"Remember that time that we had to get on the road super early and Rose was driving and threatened to tie us up if we didn't play her freaking country music?"

"Or the time when Rose thought you hadn't showered so she cast that Freshening Charm on you and accidentally attracted that giant pterasaur?" Scorpius adds, struggling to hold back a laugh.

"Okay, okay, we get it, can we get back to doing shots?"

Albus smiles at Rose, eyes twinkling. "Thanks so much for inviting me along with you, I doubt my last month would have been as eye-opening if I'd been at home."

"Cheers, to Rose, and our last grand adventure," Scorpius lifts his glass.

Rose smiles and shakes her head, and drinks, not breaking eye contact with Scorpius, because they'd previously discussed the completely stupid superstition that if you don't keep eye contact with the person you're toasting, it's bad luck and seven years of bad sex.

Eventually they make it downstairs to the club, where they skirt the shallow pool and beeline for the dance floor.

They go to acquire drinks before pushing into the mass of sweaty, dancing bodies, and when Rose tries to pay for hers, the bartender waves her cash away, saying, "Compliments of that gentleman," and gesturing to a tall, tan dude, who winks.

Scorpius glowers, and Rose laughs, leaning into him. She asks the bartender, "Can you put my friends' drinks on his tab too?"

The bartender shrugs, and Rose decides that she doesn't care what the bro thinks, so she takes her drink and Scorpius' hand and pulls him toward the dance floor.

Speech and hearing are impossible even on the fringes of the dance floor, and Rose has to release Scorpius' hand for a moment to charm all of their glasses to not splash when jostled. Considering all of their states of inebriation, it's surprising that it mostly works. Lacing her fingers with Scorpius' and nodding for Albus to follow, Rose plunges into the dance floor.

Finding a small clearing near the DJ large enough for the three of them to have a weak approximation of dancing, Albus has to forcefully remove a greasy-looking man wearing a fedora and a lei from grinding against Rose. Rose, in turn, rolls her eyes and fishes out her phone and messages the group.

R [2334]: Merlin's saggy left bollock, it's fine, it's just part of the experience.

Matching scowls appear on Albus and Scorpius' faces.

S [2335]: Charm us to be forgettable.

A [2335]: Not sober enough to be confident that I wouldn't mess up.

R [2336]: Would you just shut up and dance!

Albus and Scorpius lock eyes, and if Rose wasn't lost to the beat and the drink, she would have noticed that they seemed to be having a conversation.

Scorpius' eyes flick down to Rose and he wraps his arms around her dancing form, and she responds by draping herself over him and gyrating her hips. Albus frowns, but gives a little jerk of his head, seeming to concede that making Rose appear taken would be an effective strategy.

Scorpius sees in a private message:

A [2342]: And besides, who am I to deny your dream.

Rose, meanwhile, thinks she has figured out Scorpius' game, but since it's in line with what she wants, she doesn't say anything and enjoys the feeling of dancing with her best friend.

The next morning, Rose cracks an eye open, then immediately regrets it. Even the dim light from the bathroom shining into the room is too much for her throbbing head.

"Hangover remedy!" she mumbles into her pillow, and throws out her hand. Miraculously, she feels a glass press into her hand, which she sees contains liquid of the appropriate color, so she props herself up and downs it.

Fifteen seconds later, she sits up and declares, "I love magic."

The mood is somber as they wash up and pack up and grab a quick lunch at New York, New York before returning to the airport. Everything has already been said, and Rose wraps first Albus, then Scorpius in tight hugs, perhaps lingering a little too long on the second to cover her damp eyes.

"Best of luck, Rose," Albus says.

"Thanks, Albus. See you at Christmas."

Albus heads into customs first, after first giving Scorpius a pointed glare.

Rose laughs. "What was that?"

"Nothing, nothing," Scorpius mumbles.

Silence.

"Thanks-" they both start at the same time, then laugh.

"Thanks for joining me on my adventure, Scorpius. It wouldn't have been the same without you."

"Thanks for inviting me in the first place! And, I don't think it will be our last great adventure."

They've somehow ended up loosely holding hands, and Scorpius gives their linked hands a squeeze. "Stay in touch, Rose."

"Yeah, you too."

Another pause before Scorpius wraps her in another tight hug, then turns on his heel to walk to customs without another word.

A/Ns:

1. "Only psychopaths try to stay friends with their exes." I read it on the internet, so it must be true.

2. If anyone's curious, the card game they're playing while glamping is Hanabi.