Chapter 4 – A New Year Brings New Possibilities
Disclaimer - Harry Potter and the wizarding world are not mine - they belong to the wonderful J.K. Rowling.
"Rose," her mother said sternly. "You must promise to write to your father and me after your first day of school. I want to hear everything about your first day as head girl."
Rose sighed. She could already predict the word she would use to best describe her first day and it wasn't going to be pleasant or relaxing, but Rose suspected that her mother's excitement stemmed from the fact, that if her mother hadn't had to drop out of school after her sixth year and go on the run with Uncle Harry and her dad, she would have been head girl herself. "I promise, mum."
"I cannot believe that this is your last year at Hogwarts," her mother said proudly. "You've grown up so fast."
"Thanks mom," Rose replied wryly. "But in case you haven't noticed, I won't be able to graduate if you don't let me get on the train before it leaves."
The train's whistle suddenly blared a warning to everyone on the platform that it was about to leave, confirming Rose's statement.
"Right," Rose's mother replied before giving Rose a quick hug. "Your father told me to wish you luck before you headed off and remind Hugo and Nora to write at least once a week."
"I will," Rose promised with a smile as she stepped onto the train. The Hogwarts Express suddenly lurched forward, causing Rose to stumble back from the carriage entrance as she waved goodbye to her mother, before steadily picking up speed and leaving Platform 9 ¾ behind.
Rose made her way through the student packed corridors until she reached a compartment filled with the familiar faces of Alice, Nora, Al, Andy and David.
"There you are, Rosie," Alice exclaimed in relief. "I was starting to think that you missed the train."
"I was never worried," Andy replied, his bright blue eyes glowing with laughter. "The Hogwarts Express would never leave without our almighty head girl."
"But if we were lucky," David replied as he stretched out his long legs to rest them on the bench in front of him. "It left without Malfoy."
Rose smiled at both Andy and David's comments and sat down in the empty seat beside Andy. Those two were like two peas in a pod and it didn't even matter that they had vastly different personalities and views on life. Andy was a loud-mouthed flirt; while David was the giant shy and loyal teddy bear, but they still somehow were able get along better than any other pair of best friends in all of Hogwarts.
"No such luck, Dave," Nora said with a grin. "I was just talking to Scorpius and he was definitely on the train."
Rose couldn't help but be disappointed by Nora's news. She would be lying if she ever said that she hadn't hoped that Scorpius would miss the Hogwarts Express, which would lead to him being kicked out of his head boy position for showing a lack of responsibility and punctuality. That scenario had been one of many she had cooked up over the past week in an attempt to make herself feel better.
"I'm sure Scorpius won't abuse his position as head boy," Alice replied cheerfully.
"I don't know," Andy replied with a frown. "Something about Malfoy being able to take points away from Gryffindor kind of makes my skin crawl."
Al chuckled before turning his attention to Rose. "Speaking of all that Rose, when do you want to go to the prefect car for our meeting?"
Rose visibly frowned at Al's question. She knew that she should get there early since she was head girl, but she was dreading having to see and talk to Scorpius for the first time in months.
"You should probably get there early," Nora suggested. "You are the one leading the meeting after all."
Rose's eyes narrowed as she stared accusingly at her friend, but Nora's face was the perfect mask of innocence. She was definitely up to something, Rose was almost positive that she was, since she had been out of the house and over at Scorpius' the last week of their break more then she had been all summer. Unfortunately, she had no idea exactly what she was up to.
Rose sighed wearily and looked away from Nora's grinning face. While she definitely did not want to see Scorpius, she knew she really didn't have a choice. "I guess we could go now," Rose replied gloomily
"Cool," Al replied, failing to notice how morose she looked as he got up from his seat and gave Nora a quick kiss goodbye. "We'll see you lot in a bit."
Before Rose could tell Al to slow down, he was already out of the compartment and waiting for her in the corridor.
Rose grumbled a few choice words under her breath as she got up from her seat.
"Good luck," Alice said, while giving Rose an apologetic look.
"Ya, knock 'em dead with your brilliance," Andy encouraged with a smile.
"Thanks," Rose said with a sigh before giving her friends a forced smile and following Al out of the compartment and out into the corridor.
"Who do you think made prefect for Ravenclaw?" Al asked as they approached the prefect car.
"Well, Ben King, obviously," Rose replied confidently. Luckily for Rose, Al had sensed her nerves and instead of remaining silent as they made their way to the back of the train, he had started a guessing game with Rose on who the new 5th year prefects were.
Al made an unpleasant face at Rose's answer. "I can't believe my sister is dating that git."
"Are you kidding me," Rose laughed. "He's bloody perfect. Lily totally lucked out by snatching him up before any other girl did."
"I still don't like him," Al replied in a bitter voice before suddenly stopping in front of her.
Rose looked ahead of her in surprise upon seeing the door to the prefect car. Her stomach instantly sank as her nerves returned in full force. She was definitely not ready to handle Malfoy. She didn't even know how she was supposed to act around him, let alone have a civil conversation without letting it slip that she hated him because she fancied him.
"You okay, Rose?" Al asked. "You're looking a bit green."
Rose gave him a weak smile. "Nerves."
"I see," Al replied and he put an arm around her shoulders in a show of brotherly affection. "Don't worry, Rosie," Al reassured. "You'll do fine. Just remain calm and everything will go smoothly."
Rose nodded as she tried to convince herself that what Al was saying was true.
"And if Malfoy, or anyone else, gives you grief," Al said. "Just act like Nora does around people she doesn't like."
Rose gave Al a confused look, her nerves momentarily forgotten. "So I should pretend like Malfoy's a worthless piece of dirt and try insulting him while pretending like I'm not."
Al frowned slightly before becoming thoughtful. "I was thinking that you should just be painfully civil towards him, but that works to."
Rose laughed and, with her nerves in check for a moment, she grasped the handle on the prefect car's door and slid it open before stepping inside.
The prefect car was a lightly furnished mahogany coloured room with walls adorned with framed photos of past prefects going back over several decades. It was simple and Rose had to agree that it should stay that way, since people her age could be easily distracted if the room looked like it backed onto an African savannah or the Amazon rainforest.
There were a few prefects already gathered together in a few comfy chairs and on the floor in front of a table that Rose would be standing in front of during the upcoming meeting. Much to Rose's surprise, Tatiana Zabini stood off to the side of the group with one other Slytherin and he was definitely not Scorpius Malfoy. Rose inwardly sighed in relief over getting to the meeting before Scorpius and she raised a hand to greet the prefects who had turned to see who had come into the room.
"Hey Rose, Al," Louis greeted. "Come on over here."
Rose spent the next couple of minutes greeting old friends and welcoming new prefects and after about a half an hour every one of Hogwarts prefects, new and old, were gathered in front of Rose as they waited expectantly for the meeting to begin.
"Malfoy's cutting it a bit close isn't he?" Al said from where he was standing next to her.
Rose stared up at the clock on the wall and then back on the door at the other end of the room. Scorpius and her were supposed to have started the meeting about 5 minutes ago and Rose was becoming slightly irritated. Most of her nervousness about seeing him again had dissipated, as it was replaced with annoyance, and she had been able to decide that the best way to handle Malfoy, at least for now, would be to pretend like nothing had happened between them at the end of the year.
Rose turned her back on the door and stared down at the table she had been leaning on. The entire summer Rose had agonized over the fact that the guy she liked only viewed her as a trophy and so, like a smart girl, she had kept her distance but she couldn't, for the life of her, understand why she hadn't gotten over him. She had even begun to think about the stories her mother had told her about how long she had liked Rose's dad before they had eventually gotten together. Her mother had explained that she had inadvertently tried to make her father jealous on a few occasions and when her father had turned the tables on her, her mother had tried to forget about him, only to find that she had been unable to. This apparently, had been her mother's first real indicator that she more than just fancied Rose's dad.
That part of her mother's story used to make her heart swell, but she had been 11, naive and not falling for a Malfoy when she had first heard that story. Now she became terrified even when she so much as thought about her mother' story, especially since she was living proof that her mother had been right about more than just liking her dad.
So now Rose's head was filled with the idea that, since she was unable to even forget Scorpius for more than a few hours, did that mean she more than just fancied him? Could that mean that she maybe even loved him?
Rose was snapped from her panicked thoughts when the familiar whoosh the compartment door made when it opened sounded behind her and Rose cringed slightly as she turned to see who had come inside, silently praying that it was just a curious first year.
Rose's eyes widened at who she was staring at and her nerves suddenly returned in full force, when she found herself staring at Scorpius Malfoy. Rose knew that she was not doing a very good job of pretending that nothing happened between them and by the look on Scorpius' face, he also still remembered what happened during their last conversation. Come on Rose. Pull yourself together.
Rose managed to collect her thoughts long enough to remember Al telling her to act like Nora if all else failed. Rose took a deep breath, making sure that she was oozing cool indifference, before addressing Scorpius' presence in the room.
"Nice of you to finally join us, Malfoy," Rose greeted coldly. "I was about to send Zabini out to find you."
Zabini shot Rose an icy glare and Al just stared at Rose in surprise before taking a seat with all of the other prefects, who had all quickly quieted down when they had heard the hard edge to Rose's greeting. It was obvious that they had realized that it may be in everyone's best interest to try and wrap up this prefect meeting as quickly as possible.
"I was sorting something out," Scorpius replied staring back at Rose. "Sorry I'm late."
Rose's indifferent attitude wavered slightly under Scorpius' gaze but she managed to regain control before any of the prefects noticed her slip up.
Unfortunately, since he had been staring at her, Scorpius had noticed the effect he was having on her and he shot her a small grin as he walked through the group of prefects to the front of the room to stand beside Rose.
Rose's insides seemed to purr in appreciation at how close Scorpius was to her own body and Rose had to mentally beat some very unwanted thoughts to the back of her mind, which was something that was very hard to do at that moment. Like everyone else, Scorpius had yet to change into his Hogwarts uniform and he was now sporting quite a laid back look for a bloke who was the heir to a fortune in gold.
Scorpius had on a slightly fitted dark blue polo and a pair of excellently tailored lighter washed jeans that Rose, and all the other girls in the room, could not help but notice fit him in all the right places. Not to mention the dark blue of his polo only seemed to accentuate how flawless his pale skin actually was and Rose wasn't even going to get into how good the shirt actually made his body look without running the risk of drooling all over herself.
Rose's eyes wandered upwards to look at Scorpius' face and she had to bite her check to keep her mind from wandering off as she looked straight into his stormy grey eyes, which were positioned just under the fringe of his shaggy trademark pale blonde hair.
"Would you care to begin, Malfoy," Rose said in a fake pleasant voice as her hormones went haywire.
"Sure," Scorpius replied with a smile and Rose's mind suddenly turned to goo. Rose just stared at him as he turned his head to look at the crowd gathered in front of the 2 of them. Scorpius rarely ever smiled, let alone at her and Rose found herself recalling how much she had liked it last year when he had smiled at her. Rose had to shake her head to get rid of her muddled thoughts before turning to look at all the prefects, only to find that they were all just as confused by Scorpius' new found sunny disposition. Why the hell was he being so bloody pleasant? Nora had made it seem like she was mentally torturing him all summer and right now he looked like he had just gotten back from the beach.
Rose looked over at Al, Louis and Hugo and each of them were staring at Scorpius with similar bewildered expressions and the two female Gryffindor prefects sitting with them, Tessa Bletchley and Alexandra Hastings, were sighing contentedly as they stared at Scorpius, obviously not retaining a single word he was saying.
"When are we going to decide which prefects do their round at certain times?" Ben King suddenly asked, causing Rose to realize that she had also not been paying attention to a single thing Scorpius was saying.
"We will create a schedule when all of the Quidditch captains inform us what days they're teams will be practicing, since I know that many of you are on the school teams or are planning to try out this year," Rose replied before Scorpius could say anything, successfully managing to make it look like she had been listening.
King nodded to show he understood and Rose's attention turned to Beatrice Reynolds, a 7th year Hufflepuff prefect, who had her hand raised high.
"Yes," Rose said pointing at Beatrice.
"I was wondering – well, actually, I think we were all wondering," Beatrice said with a wry laugh as she flipped a blonde curl behind her shoulder, "if the two of you will be able to work together well this year?"
Rose just stared at Beatrice. "What?" she asked in astonishment, all the pleasantness from her voice gone in an instant.
"Well," Beatrice replied clearing her throat nervously. "The last time a Slytherin and a Gryffindor were head boy and girl was, like, 15 years ago. Right, Rachel?" Beatrice asked, turning to the short girl next to her.
Rachel nodded eagerly in clarification. "Right."
Beatrice turned away from her friend and continued. "And since we all know that your families – er – have very negative views of each other and that the two of you haven't always been very civil, we're all worried that you aren't going to be able to work well with each other," Beatrice explained cautiously.
Everyone in the room turned their gaze away from Beatrice to look at both Scorpius and Rose. Rose bristled, her fist clenching. Who the hell was this girl? As if she knew a thing about Scorpius and Rose's families or themselves. Rose was about to explode when she felt a hand grip her shoulder.
Rose turned her head in surprise to stare at Scorpius' hand on her shoulder. Rose looked up at Scorpius' face to see him giving her a stern look before he removed his hand and turned to look at Beatrice.
"Rose and I will have no problem working together this year since we both know that it's not wise to linger on our past issues, so there is nothing for you all to worry about," Scorpius replied seriously and Rose frowned at the slight double meaning to Scorpius' answer.
"Oh," Beatrice replied, blinking in surprise at Scorpius' honesty. "Well that's good to know. Thanks."
"Yes," Zabini suddenly said, catching both Rose and Scorpius' attention instantly. Zabini smirked. "There really is nothing to worry about Bea. I'm sure the two of them will get along famously," Zabini replied suggestively.
Rose's eyes widened in shock and she thanked Merlin that Scorpius was too busy looking at Zabini to notice. Another thing Rose had not forgotten over the summer was the conversation Rose had had with Zabini at the end of last year. Zabini telling Rose that she could have Scorpius for the rest of their Hogwarts career, since she would have him forever after they graduated, had made very little sense to Rose and it still didn't. After all, why would any girl encourage another girl to go after her boyfriend?
"Thank you for the vote of confidence, Tatiana," Scorpius replied icily. "I'm sure Rose and I will work very well with each other this year."
Rose's face turned pink at the suggestive note to Scorpius' voice and she couldn't help look away from the murderous look on Zabini's face.
"Well," Rose replied, clearing her throat nervously. "Are there anymore questions?"
"That, by far, was the most interesting prefect meeting I have been to in a very long time," Al said as several prefects filed out of the room and back to see their friends. "And I couldn't help but notice that there was a lot of tension between Malfoy, Zabini and you that was definitely not there at the end of last year."
"I think you're just seeing things Al," Rose said in a tired voice. The rest of the meeting had gone relatively smooth but Zabini had spent the entire meeting glaring at her, which everyone had noticed.
"I don't think I was," Al replied with a smirk. "Especially since I caught Malfoy staring at you rather longingly a few times."
Rose's stomach did a back flip over the news but she hid her pleasure before responding. "Sure Al," Rose replied sarcastically.
"I'm totally sure," Al chuckled. "Since he's staring at you right now."
Rose instantly went rigid and she turned her head to see Scorpius staring at her in a way that made Rose's legs turn into jelly. Rose groaned in frustration before grabbing Al by the arm and dragging him across the room to the exit. It was official. Her seventh year was going to bring just as much drama to her life as last year and there was nothing she could do about it.
The rest of the train ride had been a blur of occasionally patrolling and chatting with old acquaintances and Rose had actually been surprised when she had looked out one of the train's windows to see it pulling into Hogsmeade station.
Rose hurried her way through the train back to the compartment her friends were in and she arrived just as they were about to leave.
"There you are," Nora greeted as Rose's friends made their way to one of the train's exits. "We thought you'd already gotten off."
Rose smiled and followed her friends off the train and towards where the carriages were waiting to carry students back to the castle.
Everyone clambered into the first empty carriage they could find and with a lurch the thestrals, which were invisible to Rose, began to pull the carriage up the cobble stone street towards Hogwarts.
"It feels good to be back," Andy said with a content sigh as he leaned back in his seat.
"Ya," Rose agreed as the trees that lined the road towards Hogwarts suddenly vanished to reveal the awe-inspiring structure that was Hogwarts castle. Even though Rose had spent the better part of 6 years at Hogwarts, it still never failed to take her breath away.
The carriage began its upward climb up the hill Hogwarts had been built upon and Rose looked away from the castle to look at her friends, only to notice that Nora's gaze was fixed on the gap between the carriage Rose and her friends were in and the carriage in front of them.
Rose had long suspected that Nora could see thestrals, after noticing her eyes linger on the empty areas in front of the Hogwarts carriages more than once, but Rose had never pried for details.
The wheels of the carriages clattered loudly over Hogwarts stone walk way before parking itself in the front courtyard of the castle amongst several other carriages and a sea of students making their way towards the carved stone archway that led inside the castle.
As Rose got off of the carriage, she caught sight of several younger students stopping to stare in her direction.
Rose, knowing that she definitely was not worth staring at for that long, turned to watch as Al gave Nora a hand as she hopped out of the carriage. Rose gasped when she realized exactly what the kids were staring at.
"Nora," Rose hissed. "What's with the light show?"
Nora frowned at Rose and looked at her hand. "Oh," Nora said in surprise. "Guess I'm just happy to be back," Nora replied hurriedly and she closed her eyes in concentration, the glow emanating from her skin slowly vanishing.
Rose frowned. One of Nora's many abilities was that she was able to create a sort a telepathic aura around herself that many more weak-minded people found intoxicating. Unfortunately, with the ministry's new crack down on getting Nora to stop using her more exotic abilities on regular people, meant Nora glowing like a lantern was a big no no to the ministry.
"Are you alright, Nora?" Al whispered, trying to keep his voice down.
"I'm fine," Nora said irritably. "Let's get going."
Rose's frown grew but she decided not to question the matter further. Rose followed her friends into the castle and they slowly made their way through Hogwarts grand hallways before entering into Hogwarts magnificent Great Hall.
Rose and her friends quickly found their seats at the table reserved for Gryffindor's and turned their attention up to the front of the room. The biggest change had to be that instead of McGonagall sitting in the large old wooden chair in the middle of the head table, Monroe now called the seat her own.
Cassandra Monroe, the former Defense Against the Dark Arts professor and head of Ravenclaw, had taken over the headmistress position when McGonagall had retired at the end of last year and Rose could not have picked a better person for the job. Monroe was the perfect mixture of beauty, brains and mystery. For today's festivities, Monroe had her long raven black hair swept up into a messy up do and she was wearing what appeared to be a set of sleek black dress robes that perfectly complimented Monroe's tall slim body, and it seemed to shimmer in the light of the candles that hung magically from above everyone's heads.
Monroe seemed to notice Rose staring at her and she have Rose a small smile, her violet coloured eyes glittering in amusement. Rose smiled back and then turned back to her friends.
As every student in the room settled into their seats, the massive oak doors at the end of the great hall opened to reveal Neville Longbottom, the new deputy headmaster, leading a group of several nervous looking first years up the space between the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw tables, towards a stool in front of the head table. And sitting on that stool was a very old and frayed hat.
"They're so cute," Alice cooed as everyone watched the first years march past them as they made their way to the sorting hat.
"Ya, I remember when I was sorted into Gryffindor," Nora said jokingly. "I was so young and innocent."
"If by innocent you mean terrifying, then yes, you were," Andy replied with a smirk and everyone laughed at the memory.
Once the sorting had finished and Gryffindor had acquired about a dozen new members, everyone quickly quieted down when Monroe stood up from her seat.
"Welcome one and all to another year at Hogwarts," Monroe greeted and a few people cheered. "As you may have noticed, we have added a new member to Hogwarts teaching staff, since I no longer will be teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts."
Rose blinked in surprise. She hadn't even realized that with Monroe now being headmistress, Rose would be getting a new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor.
"I don't see any new professors," David said squinting up at the head table.
"I do," Nora said testily her gaze fixed on one of the ends of the head table.
"I would like you all to welcome Professor Grant to Hogwarts," Monroe announced and gestured in the same direction Nora was staring. "He will be taking over my former position as the Defence Against the Dark Arts professor and I assure you all that he will do a fabulous job."
Rose, and pretty much everyone else in the room, turned their head in the direction Monroe had pointed and from the last seat on the end of the table, a man pushed out his chair and stood to greet the room with a large cheerful smile and a slight bow as people clapped.
Rose just gaped at the man at the end of the table as Nora glowered at him. Nora had explained to her over the summer that Monroe's replacement was going to most likely be in the ministry's employment as well because they wanted someone available at all times to monitor her. After all, how were they going to know if Nora was following orders if there was no one there to make sure that she was?
However, what Rose was so surprised about was how young the man was. There was no way that this man was even over 30. He had a full head of curly dirty blonde hair, tanned skin and, while Rose could not tell from far away, he looked quite tall. Over all, he still had the youthful look of a person in their 20's who had spent most of the past few years living in a shack on a beach in Costa Rica.
The only thing that made Rose believe that this man's previous occupation hadn't been a professional beach bum, was the large white scar that went from the side of his forehead, across the bridge of his nose and then sliced its way to a stop half way across his cheek.
"We're far away," David said in awe. "And I can still tell that that is one hell of a scar."
"Hey," Al said suddenly. "I've heard of this bloke. He's only a few years older than Teddy and they both worked together in the auror department."
"How much do you want to bet that he knows legilimency and occlumency?" Nora said in a cynical voice.
"Even with the scar," Alice added. "He is very good- looking."
Rose had to agree. The scar even added to his looks by making him look slightly dangerous.
"So this is the bloke the ministry sent to watch Nora?" Andy questioned.
"I guess," Rose said with a shrug while Nora continued to glower at the man as he sat back in his seat.
"I've got to give the ministry points for this one," Andy said with a slight laugh.
"And why would you do that?" Nora snapped.
"Well," Andy explained. "The ministry obviously knows that Nora would never give any old stuck up ministry official the time of day, so they did their homework and sent an attractive 20 something year old guy, who just happens to be a former auror, to be Hogwarts new Defence Against the Dark Arts professor. Something Nora just happens to want to be. So, the bloke charms Nora by flashing that big old smile her way a few times and he uses the knowledge he gained as an auror, or a sob story about how the ministry betrayed him, to lure Nora into believing that he's on her side. And when she finally lets her guard down around him and starts using her abilities a little too freely while he's around, he'll run straight back to the ministry to give them a full report on how dangerous you are."
"So you're telling us," Al said slowly. "That the ministry has sent some good-looking bloke to seduce Nora into befriending him so he can spy on her easier."
"Pretty much," Andy said with a shrug.
Rose just gaped at Andy. "That has to be the stupidest thing I have ever heard."
"You may think its stupid now my dear," Andy replied. "But just you wait."
Rose sighed in exasperation and looked over at Nora who was still glowering at Grant. "You don't actually believe Andy do you?"
Nora turned to look at Rose and gave her a meaningful look. "I've heard weirder ideas Rose, believe me."
"Now onto other matters," Monroe declared and Rose refocused her attention on the headmistress. "As you all know the Forbidden Forest is off-limits to all students and Mr. Filch would like me to remind you all that all Weasley's Wizard Wheezes products are not allowed anywhere on campus. Now," Monroe said before pausing, giving the room a large smile, "like all the many great headmaster's and headmistresses before me have said many times before, let the feast begin."
Upon her command, the empty table top in front of Rose suddenly vanished under an array of plates, cutlery and giant platters of every kind of food imaginable.
"This," Andy said gleefully, gesturing to the food in front of him. "Is why I come back to school every year."
"How are you all enjoying your first day back?" Professor Longbottom asked cheerfully.
Every year without fail, Professor Longbottom would make his rounds around the Gyrffindor table to ask everyone how there summer's had been and try to find out where all of his student's heads were.
"We're enjoying it immensely, Professor," Andy replied as he shovelled food into his mouth.
"It's just good to be back," Al replied.
"Well that's good to hear," Professor Longbottom said with a smile. "Congratulations on becoming captain of the Gryffindor quidditch team, Al, I know we'll stretch out the winning streak to 6 years in a row with you leading the team."
"Thanks professor," Al replied. "But I need to find replacements for my brother and Fred, which won't be easy."
"I'm sure you'll find someone," Longbottom said with a reassuring nod before turning to look at Rose. "Before I go, Rose, will you meet me up at the head table once the feast is over? I need to show Mr. Malfoy and yourself to where you will be living this year and then we'll go over a few of your new responsibilities."
"Sure, professor," Rose replied with a smile.
"I will see you soon then," Longbottom replied. "Enjoy the rest of your dinner all of you."
Rose watched as Longbottom moved his way down the table to a group of 3rd years and she sighed. Please, please, whoever controls fate, destiny and the entire world, let tonight go smoothly.
"Your dad is always so positive, Alice," Nora commented. "Are we all sure he was once an auror?"
David frowned before responding. "Believe me, Nora. He definitely used to be an auror. You should have seen him when he gave me the 'don't hurt my daughter, or else' speech. Do you know how uncomfortable it is for me to sit through herbology lessons knowing I'm dating his only daughter," David explained vigorously.
"Oh, don't be a baby Dave," Alice replied in exasperation. "He's just bluffing."
"I'd love to test that theory," Andy said with a wicked grin. "Since something tells me that the good professor has no idea what his daughter was up to this summer."
Al and Nora suddenly erupted in laughter, causing several people to turn and stare, as David turned as white as a sheet.
Alice shot Andy a dangerous look. "If you say a thing to my father Andrew William Goss, I will shove numerous sharp edged objects inside a place that will make it very uncomfortable for you to sit down," Alice threatened.
Andy's eyes widened to the size of a pair of saucers and he held up his hands in a show of defeat. "I was kidding, Alice," Andy explained, laughing nervously. "Do you really think I want to talk to your dad about the things you do with Dave when the two of you are alone?"
Nora and Al's laughter increased and Rose broke into a wide smile when David's ghostly pale face suddenly turned a bright shade of crimson.
"Would you shut your mouth mate," David hissed. "People are staring at us."
"No, please don't Andy," Nora exclaimed as she wiped a happy tear from her eye. "This is the most I've laughed in over a week."
Rose let out a laugh as Alice rounded on Nora and David sunk lower in his seat in embarrassment; half of the room now staring at their area of the table in confusion and interest.
Even though Rose had no idea what the future held, she couldn't help but think that everything would be alright as long as she had her friends around to cheer her up.
Rose smiled. Yes. It was good to be back.