Disclaimer: I'm just putting this disclaimer up here because I feel like it. I know my readers aren't stupid enough to think that my name is Joanne Kathleen Rowling. Yes, this is my only titled chapter so I could acknowledge the time skip.
It moved so fast that I could barely see it moving, and suddenly seventh year was over.
My parents were worried about how I was when I got home after the year ended. I was malnourished and sleep-deprived. It took me two months to even revert back to normal, but everywhere I looked was still his face haunting me, taunting me.
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I awoke with a start. I'd had my flashback dream again. I looked at the calendar date. It was January fifth, exactly three years before was the last time I had seen Scorpius Malfoy, my first love, in person.
The memory of that train ride was not a good one. I had barely seen him for one minute, and he was so quiet, so reserved.
At first, we had kept our relationship going via owl, but you know what they say about long distance relationships. After that, we still wrote to each other, and then two years ago, I had sent him a letter and I never got a response. I hadn't heard anything from him.
I shook the memory from my head. I had to be alert that day. It was the final test that we, the St. Mungo's interns were getting before we were allowed to become full-fledged healers.
Besides, I had moved on. I had a new boyfriend, and we were pretty serious about each other. His name was Dylan; he was from Australia but came to England to join the Puddlemere United Quidditch team. And he was quite the stud, if I do say so myself. And, to tell the truth, we were in love, but it wasn't the complete, all-encompassing think that I had once felt. I had told myself to never try and find that again, I would only get hurt more when it would have to end. Still, this was enough.
I walked into my flat's kitchen to grab some breakfast before heading off to the hospital.
My roommate, Eleanor Dennison, an advice columnist for the "Daily Prophet", was already there. She was lucky. She was having a day off while I still had to drag my butt into London.
"Mornin' Elly," I greeted her as cheerfully as I could muster up. She knew that I had a hard time on January fifth.
"Good morning," she greeted back. "Hey, you're ok, right?"
She didn't take long to get down to brass tax, that girl. No wonder she made the "Ask Elly" column.
"I'm fine," I promised her. "I have to be for the exam today. And it was three years ago, anyway. I think… well, I think I'm finally over it, you know?"
"Yeah, I think I do understand moving on after tough relationships more than others do, seeing as I get about fifteen owls a day just talking about that subject," she joked. "But you can talk to me about anything, you know that, right?"
I smiled at her. "Yeah," I said. "You're a great friend. But now I have to get to work. Dylan's going to take me out after the exams are done, so I need to finish as quickly as possible while being as thorough as possible so I can get ready for the date tonight. He said that he's taking me somewhere fancy!"
"Well, he does have the budget for it," she smirked. "I still can't understand how you can land the star seeker on a great Quidditch team and I can't even hold a relationship with the new political analyst."
"It's a gift, what can I say?" I joked. "See you later. Wish me luck!"
"Good luck!" she called as I walked out the door.
I got to the hospital, as usual, about ten minutes before I needed to be, which gave me just enough time to cram some extra studying in, not that I hadn't done about three hours the night before. All I knew about the test is that we were all going to be assigned a patient who would have the symptoms of a certain disease. We had to diagnose them and treat them correctly to pass. It seemed simple enough on paper, but when there were ten diseases that had similar symptoms, it would be hard to remember.
All of the interns had to sit in a waiting room outside the test. We had to sign a paper that bound us to not tell anyone else the answer. There was an enchantment upon the paper that made us incapable to speak of it until everyone was done with it.
"Rose Weasley!" the head healer called me in.
Ok, Rose. Inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale. You can do this, I thought to myself while entering the room.
I immediately saw the patient in question on the table. He was covered in purple blemishes.
I narrowed down the choices down to two immediately.
Dragon pox or Spattergroit? Dragon pox or Spattergroit? I thought frantically. I would have known it right away if I wasn't so nervous.
Finally, I calmed my nerves down. "You have Spattergroit," I informed him and I told him the potion that would cure him right up.
"Good job," said the head Healer. "Good job, Healer Weasley!"
I beamed. It was nice to be referred to as "Healer Weasley".
I came out of the room completely and utterly excited. Not only was I a full-fledged healer, but that meant that I had a day off the next day, and the bags under my eyes told me that I needed to sleep in really badly.
When I got home, I immediately screamed, not caring if Elly was taking a nap or if the people in the flat below could hear.
"I'M A HEALER!" I screamed.
"Great job, Rosie!" Elly yelled from the kitchen.
"Weren't you just here when I left two hours ago?" I asked her, laughing, as I sat down at the kitchen table.
"I can be as slow as I want today," she defended. "It's my day off, so I can take as long as I want."
I smiled. "Well, I have the rest of the day off, and I was planning on getting a new dress for my date with Dylan tonight, since I have absolutely nothing to wear at the moment. Plus, I just got my first paycheck today since I passed the exam. Would you like to come with me?"
"Sure," she said. "I need to see the town again. I haven't been out in so long." I giggled a bit about that. "Well, we can't all be dating famous Quidditch players, now can we?"
"Sorry," I said. "Let's go at around noon. We'll get some lunch and then do some serious shopping. I'll probably need to get a new pair of shoes with the dress and possibly some new make up."
"Ooh, girls' day out! Yay!" she gushed. "Maybe I'll get some stuff for myself as well."
"We both know that you will," I laughed.
At noon, we both set out to go into Diagon Alley for some shopping. I got a sparkly blue dress that was uneven at the bottom. On the right side, it cut off a little bit below my knee, and on the right side it went down to mid calf, though a point of it went to my ankle. I got a pair of blue strappy shoes. What can I say? My favorite color was blue, but I didn't go all out like I did that one time at the Halloween dance.
I barely allowed myself to think of that anymore.
When we got back home, it was three in the afternoon, and Dylan was going to come get me at six which gave me three hours.
Of course, Eleanor insisted on doing my hair for me. All of my curly red hair was being straightened and pulled at. She brushed and brushed and brushed until it was impeccable. Of course, she didn't stop there. She also made me sit down as she acted as my beautician. This made me a bit suspicious.
"Elly, do you know something I don't?" I asked. "You nearly never help me this much in getting ready for my dates."
"Oh, I know," she said. "Just, I felt like doing it, is that so wrong?"
"No," I said. "I still think something is going on, though."
She sighed. "Oh, just get your dress on," she said. I looked at my watch. It was already 5:50. Getting my dress on was about the only thing I had time for.
At exactly six o' clock at night, the doorbell rang.
I opened the door, and there was Dylan with a bouquet of roses in his hand. "Roses for my Rose," he said, smiling. He grabbed me by the waist and kissed me sweetly on the lips.
I blushed. "That's so sweet," I said. I handed them to Elly, who I thought I saw giving him the thumbs up out of the corner of my eye. "Where are we going?"
"Have you ever heard of a restaurant called 'The Golden Cauldron'?" he asked, smirking.
"You didn't!" I nearly shrieked.
"I did," he said, apparently liking my reaction.
"The Golden Cauldron" was one of the most exclusive restaurants in all of England. It was nearly impossible to get into if you didn't have a reservation months in advance.
"Shall we go?" he asked me, offering his arm.
"We shall," I said, linking arms with him.
He quickly disapperated, and we were in the front of the restaurant before you could have time to blink.
Dylan walked up to the maître d'. "We have a reservation under Dylan Saunders," he said.
The man looked up. "Ah, right this way monsieur, madamoiselle," he said in a thick French accent that sounded like the more masculine version of my aunt Fleur.
We follwed him to a small table for two near a stage where four men were playing soft music.
"This place is incredible!" I exclaimed quietly.
"Yeah, you are," Dylan said.
I looked down, blushing.
The dinner was, as expected, amazing. Dylan had ordered us a bottle of champagne.
By the end of the meal, I saw Dylan serruptitiously wink at the man singing on the stage. He got up, grabbed my hand and pulled me up to it.
"Dylan, what's the meaning of this?" I asked, blushing scarlet. Everyone was looking at us now.
"Rose," he said. "We've been going out for a long time now."
My pulse began beating faster, and I knew what was happening.
"Rose, would you do me the honor of agreeing to marry me?" His face was hopeful and happy.
At once, my mind flashed to Scorpius. But I pushed it away. He was my past. I could see myself having a future with Dylan.
"Yes," I said, smiling brightly and starting to cry.