Erased But Not Forgotten

Chapter 3

The Party and the Heartbreakers

They ended up apparating into the Thorn living room. All her Iowan friends were there, awaiting her arrival. Rose (and Harry too, he couldn't help but be pulled into it) was nearly squished to death by all her friends trying to hug her at once.

"Rose! We missed you!" her friend Klarice exclaimed from somewhere to Rose's left.

"Yeah, why didn't you visit us?" one of her other friends, Leslie, asked.

"And who's the hottie?" her friends Maddie, Haley, Jesse (Olson, there three different girls there named Jessica; Olson, Weiss, and Smith,) and Koobie (their gay guy-friend who was about the coolest 'guy' ever) all asked at the same time.

"Hey, back off! He's mine!" Rose said humorously sharp, smiling the whole time.

In the mass of girls, a few guys emerged: Jason (Ellie's husband, who had decided to voluntarily miss out on the family reunion), Kyle, Jon (Rose wasn't quite sure why he had been invited but welcomed his quirky humor just the same), Micheal, Gordy, Matt, Nat and unfortunately, Dane, Erich (or Fetus-head in private girl talks), Chad and Julius. Rose greeted each with a smile and occasionally a hug until she reached the last unit. Her glance turned into a glare at the sight of Erich and Dane, and fell as her glance stopped on Chad and Julius.

Harry saw her face and looked at the guys. He recognized both of them from Rose's old yearbooks and some never-quite-forgotten boxes of unsent love letters and pictures.

"Why are you here?" Rose asked in a small voice, quite unlike her own.

Chad shrugged. Jul said, "It's you're party. We wanted to see how much you've changed in a year."

Rose felt something crack in the corner of her heart. She turned and looked up at Harry, almost pleadingly. Harry flashed a smile, the smile that made her fall in love with him, and she could feel the confidence wash over her. She smiled back at him and then turned back to the two heartbreakers.

"Yeah, I guess I have changed. I'm not lovesick over either one of you two. I'm just in love." She smiled back at Harry, grabbed his hand and pulled him forward to stand next to her. "I don't believe you've met my boyfriend. Honey, this is Chad and Julius. Guys, this is the love of my life," she paused for dramatic affect, "Harry Potter."

Rose actually saw their jaws drop open and eyes get wider. She had to stifle her giggles before she noticed that almost everyone else in the room had similar looks of disbelief. She saw Harry look a little uncomfortable, but when a giggle escaped her, he loosened up and smiled down at her. Then he did something totally unexpected (but not by any means unpleasant or unwelcome)…he kissed her…right there…in front of a quarter of the population of girls at the Northwestern Iowa School of Magic. Almost every single girl (and a couple of guys) let out an "Awh!" It couldn't be helped.

When they pulled back, Harry noticed the unwavering look of feebly masked shock on Chad's face and of slight regret, almost remorse, on Julius'. He smiled and said to them, "Could we talk privately somewhere?"

"Sure," they replied instantaneously.

"You can go out the front door and onto the porch," Rose said, pointing out the front door to Harry.

"Thanks Sleeping Beauty," he replied before giving her one more kiss and exiting, Chad and Julius in tow.

As soon as they got outside, Harry turned and asked, "What's the matter with you two? Are you insane? How could you do that to Rose?"

They looked bewildered by Harry's accusations.

"What do you mean?" Chad asked.

"I mean, coming to Rose's party just to spite her! If you pulled any of that crap you pulled a year ago now, she'd jack you in the face!" Harry replied heatedly, thoroughly aggravated.

Both boys snorted and burst out laughing.

"Rose! Rose wouldn't hit anyone!" Julius claimed, attempting to control his laughter.

Harry wasn't laughing.

"Well you haven't seen her then. In the last year, I've lost track of how many times she's whipped Malfoy. If you want, I do believe Ron has pictures," Harry snapped. "So what was so horrible about her that you couldn't stand to give her a chance?"

"She was obsessive. And her eyebrows were freaky," Chad stated. Julius cast his eyes down and nodded slightly.

Harry was infuriated. "Do you know how hard it was for her to finally see that you're a jerk that wasn't worth her time?" he asked Chad.

"And do you know how bad she felt when you broke your collarbone and you wouldn't let her fix it?" Harry inquired of Jul. "Yeah, that was also when she started making up spells. So I guess I should thank you, because otherwise I would probably be dead without Rose, in fact I wouldn't have ever met the most beautiful person in the world. We're together because I love every single one of those details about Rose that you both overlooked."

"She's moved on. But now you're going to remember and notice all those things about her that make her so lovable. I don't care if you're around, because she's over you, but we'll all be happier if you cut the crap and start acting like you actually have brains and that you use them every once in a while." Harry turned and walked back inside, leaving two suddenly very thoughtful wizards on the porch.

"So, how'd that go?" Rose asked as Harry pulled her into a hug, his chin resting on the top of her head.

"Well, I hope I straightened them out. But it doesn't matter now, you're mine," Harry said, smiling. Rose smiled back up at him and gave him a sweet kiss.

"Yes, I am."

Later that night, as Rose was walking up to her bedroom after saying goodnight to everyone, Ellie was waiting in the bathroom getting ready for bed.

"'night, sis," Rose said as she gave her a hug.

As Rose turned to walk into her room, Ellie said, "Hey Rose," Rose turned back, the door half open.

"Yeah, Ellie?"

"Nice ring. Congratulations, I'm glad you finally found the right guy." Ellie smiled and winked before going into her own room where her husband was waiting.

Rose laughed and went into her room, saying to Harry, "We've been caught!" Harry laughed too before pulling her into bed, kissing her passionately.

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I had to include the awesome gay-guy friend! it just gives the story a lil spice! tee hee hee! by the way, Ellie would be around 20 and jsut got married and Alex is like 14-15 and going to the magic school in Iowa. I jsut had to feature it in my lil home state that no one ever talks about! hope you enjoyed it! please reply!