You've built your wall so high
That no one could climb it,
But I'm gonna try.


July

Rose slipped on the jumper, and slid on her most worn pair of trousers, huffing when they almost slid down her almost-too-thin hips. Adjusting them quickly, she made way for the door.

"Wear something comfortable," Albus had said, grinning. "Something you wouldn't mind ruining, okay?"

She wondered what her cousin had in store for her. Something brilliant, she'd assume. He was a very perky and cheerful boy - man, now, she thought, with a little nostalgia - and if he could do one thing, he would cheer her up. She was hoping he would cheer her up, because quite honestly, she hadn't been feeling all too great lately.

She had gotten an owl from Scorpius that morning, saying he'd have to postpone their date for another week - Ministry stuff. You know how it is, he had said. She tried not to feel so disappointed, but she did. Was it silly to feel so disappointed? Maybe he just was really busy.

Or maybe he was avoiding her, too.

Just as her thoughts were taking a turn for the worse, the Floo activated and out came Albus, sputtering and grimacing as he scourgified the grime off of him.

"Ugh. Clean your Floo, Rose." He patted himself down once more, winking at her.

"Nice to see you, Al. Has Lily finished Wuthering Heights yet?"

"Yes, and she's been mooning about it for the past few days - oh, Heathcliff! It's so tragic!" He overplayed the part, holding his hand over his chest for dramatic exaggeration.

"Tell her I've got Jane Eyre for her, okay?"

"Sure thing, Rosie. Ready?"

"Where are you taking me, Al?"

"Somewhere special. Like you," he said, prodding her nose with his finger playfully. "Somewhere we both went when we were younger. One of my favorite memories of us."

Rose managed a slight smile - forced. Scorpius had said something like that to her in seventh year.

"Oh, no," Albus groaned teasingly, "do I have to go beat up some blonde git for ya, Rosie?"

"No, Al, although I appreciate the offer," Rose smiled a bit more genuine.

"C'mon. I'm really excited about this." Wrapping his arm around hers, he Apparated them from the shelter of her home.

They were in Muggle London - she recognized it. Herself and Hugo spent many summers walking hand in hand around this area with their Mum, stopping at ice-cream shops and specialty stores and parks, laughing and joking in a way only little children could. She hadn't been here in so long - a million years, it seemed.

Rose felt tears form her eyes. You never knew how much you missed something until you never came back, she mused. The ice-cream truck was still parked next to the pavement, and the park was overrun by small children and over-exhausted mothers.

As she stood on the spot, Albus disappeared for a moment and returned with two items in his hand.

"One chocolate chip mint vanilla for - me," said Albus, teasingly holding the cone out to her before snatching it away. "And one chocolate chip mint vanilla for you."

Rose took the cone from his hand and licked it. It was almost overwhelming her senses. The chocolate chip mint tasted like hot, sunny days at the park and begging to stay just five minutes longer.

This was too much, already. Childhood memories, ones of the Potter children and herself and Hugo running rampant around the park, swinging from swings and jumping from dangerous places. Memories of jumping up and down at the base of the ice cream truck, too short to see the list of flavours.

Albus licked his cone silently. "It's been a while, hasn't it? I was thinking, yanno, about what you said. About how this is real life, this isn't Hogwarts, this isn't our childhood anymore. And when you mentioned childhood, I thought of here."

"Being away for so long makes me miss it even more when I come back," Rose said quietly, leaning against a brick wall next to the park.

"There's nothing like here… there's nowhere like here," Albus murmured, his green eyes shining.

"When was the last time we came? All together, as a family?"

"Merlin, I don't know… we would have been twelve, maybe thirteen? Five, six years ago. It's been that long."

"Six years," Rose breathed.

"Remember that time," Albus smiled, a corner of his mouth tugging upward, "James tried to imitate a dolphin and nose-dived off of the highest slide? Mum was so mad."

"I don't think I can forget," Rose mirrored his half-smile. "He tried to coerce Hugo into jumping with him. Didn't work, suffice to say."

"Your brother was a fiesty little git," Albus laughed, "'Course, he got it from Uncle Ron. Always jumping off of the swings when it reached the top and sliding backwards down the slide. Digging a hole to China."

Rose laughed - a true, genuine, heartfelt laugh. "I reckon the only thing you could see down there was dirt and worms, but he made it a good half-metre or so before Mum went ballistic."

"Remember when my mum tried to help Lily off of the monkey bars and ended up with all five of us clinging on to her as she made her way across?"

"How could I forget?" Rose asked. "I was the one clutching her waist. You were hanging off of her shoe."

"And when you and I tried to climb the tree and we fell ten feet, and just before we hit the ground, James came running underneath us and we crushed him?"

"It was your fault, you convinced me too," Rose blamed, nudging him with a grin.

"True, it was," said Albus. "Some things you just can't forget. I guess these are just it."

Rose titled her head and smiled. If she looked close enough, she could see herself and Hugo in the auburn-haired boy and girl playing tag, winding through the trees. She could see Albus in the shaggy-haired, green-eyed boy who was currently being scolded by his mother for dropping his ice cream cone in the sand. If she looked close enough, she could see them. All of them. Just being here reminded her of her family - her priority.

"What're you thinking 'bout, Rosie? You have that thinking face on."

"Just - being here reminds me of family, you know? And how I haven't' really talked to Mum since last summer or the summer before because I was too busy with Scorpius. And me and Lily don't see each other often anymore - we've resorted through carrying messages through you. And I don't remember the last time Dad and I tossed a Quaffle around in the backyard. And you know what? I miss it. I miss it so much now, I don't know I noticed it before."

Albus turned to her, a soft smile playing at the corner of his lips. "This is for us, Rosie. Family. Nothing like it."


passenger's cover of 'beneath your beautiful'. youtube it. now. it's fabulous. the storyline is my intellectual property, but i own nothing but that. lyrics at the top belong to labrinth, 'beneath your beautiful'.