CHAPTER 3.1

It had been a full week since my birthday. It was a week of endless potions, spells, and bizarre magical treatments. To be honest, I just wished that I would get to go back to Egypt. But Uncle Bill thought I would be a liability, and I was left in England.

The only upside was I got to spend more time with my family and friends. It was, as Uncle Bill put it, "well-earned rest". I guess I'm a workaholic like Mum. I had to be doing something.

At the very least, I discovered that I could still use magic. So long as spells weren't directed at me, the snake didn't creep further up my arm. We- meaning Mum, Dad (okay, not really Dad), Uncle Bill, Hugo, Al, Scorpius, and Maggie- were all doing research in our free time.

They had found countless books on Egyptian curses and spells. Nothing definitive and it was driving me mad. I couldn't turn my back on the research, so I found myself perusing the books in my spare time.

"...Rose!"

I jumped, knocking a pile of books onto the floor of my parents' study- okay, Mum's study- as I whirled about, flinging a quick bat-bogey hex at whoever interrupted my impromptu nap. Blinking, I cleared the haze that lingered in front of my eyes.

Oh great, I thought as I saw the woman before me. I just hexed Aunt Ginny. Kill me now.

"Rose, you're paler than Nearly Headless Nick. Are you okay?"

I nodded slowly before grabbing the quill and parchment I kept hidden in my robes. "Yeah, Aunt Ginny." I wrote. "What brings you here?"

She was bright and cheerful, and there was a childish look on her face despite her greying hair. "Not that I don't mind getting hexed," she replied, brown eyes filled with mirth, "But I came here to see how you're doing. Nice hex by the way. I couldn't have taught you better."

"Well you were the one to teach me," I wrote. "Nobody's got a scarier mastery over that hex. And thanks for caring, but I don't know what to do with this..." I glanced down at the snake that now curled around my elbow.

She sat down in a chair next to me, twirling her own wand between her fingers. "Curses really aren't fun," she whispered, taking my hand in hers. "But you know better than any of us that they can be broken." Aunt Ginny let my hand drop as she put her hands on her hips. It was so similar to Grandma Weasley that I lost focus for a moment. "...don't stay here as though it's already destroyed your life, Rose. It's been three weeks since you cooped yourself up here. Go out, live a little. Go to a party. Meet up with your friends. Get my son to finally propose already."

I could feel my shoulders shaking as a grin crossed my face. The silent laughter was contagious as I brought my hands to cover my grin. I knew something was up. There was an ulterior motive!

She poked my nose and I frowned—I wasn't a kid who could be cheered up with a... oh, who am I kidding—I felt loads better having a quick conversation with my aunt than I had in days. "Seriously though, I have a bet going and I can't afford to lose this. That'd mean your mum would win out."

"Well, excuse me for having a realistic bet!" Mum exclaimed from the doorway. I gaped at her; the frizzy-haired woman rarely took part in the family betting pool.

I raised an eyebrow, silently asking their stakes. Of course, I hadn't seen the two in question- Al and Maggie- other than the occasional meeting to discuss more dead ends. I was actually as uninformed as my family (for once).

"Everyone else bet for earlier or not at all," Aunt Ginny explained. "My betting window lasts until next weekend, and Hermione's is from that point onward."

It was petty, betting against everyone in the family, but hey, that's what we did.

I shrugged, and silence fell.

Mum puffed out her cheeks- an action I never thought I'd see her do, since it was so childish- as she sat down in a chair. "The one time I bet, and you don't even help?" she teased. I sighed- was I the only mature person in the room? My mum and aunt burst out into raucous laughter at my reaction, causing me to bury my head in my hands.

Well, at least they were laughing and Mum wasn't fretting about me.

The door creaked open again, revealing Hugo. My brother glanced at me, then anxiously to our older relations before settling on looking at me again.

Something was up—there was panic in his eyes.

I stood up and smiled at the two women in the room. I picked up the latest books I had been reading—Deities of the Nile and Egyptian Magic—before heading out of the study. Hugo closed the door behind me and grabbed my wrist.

He dragged me into my old bedroom (which I happened to be using until I broke this idiotic spell) and cast a muffiliato spell at the door. I snorted; it wasn't as though I would be able to make noise anyway.

"I need your help."

I refrained from rolling my eyes. Of course.

"Seriously, Rose. Well, I need your help to help Al."

That piqued my interest. I waved my hands in a 'go on' motion.

"He needs you to keep Maggie busy while he sets something up."

I could feel the figurative gears setting into place. He rarely cast spells for the heck of it. Hugo wasn't a secretive person to begin with... But if it's about Al and Maggie...

I took a seat on my bed, dropping the two tomes next to me. Sighing, I glanced out the window, which showed a path that led to a small clearing in a nearby park.

"He plans to propose?" I wrote in the air using my wand. The letters lingered for a few seconds before falling like snowflakes that dissolved before reaching the ground.

Hugo nodded, "He wants it to be 'perfect'. But Al's always stressed the details. So he completely forgot one major thing—his girlfriend shouldn't know about the plan." He sighed, "And because Al is Al, he's stressing so much that it's blatantly obvious. You could cover him with James' cloak and you'd still know what's going on."

I would have laughed, but I could feel a pang of jealousy in my gut. Why hadn't they asked for my help earlier? I noticed. But he didn't say anything.

Hugo sat down next to me and elbowed me in the ribs. "You know, he was really mad when he couldn't get letters through to you. Something about it bothering you while you were at work. That... and Uncle Bill would have thrown a fit if he realized it was Al's owl. And then he didn't want to stress you out any more... with everything that's been going on."

I smiled, but I could feel myself getting annoyed. It wasn't at Al anymore; the fact that I could be so easily jealous even when the reasoning made sense was frustrating and unlike me.

I waved my wand again. "You serious?"

Hugo nodded. "All he needs you to do is to keep Maggie away from where they're going to dinner until he has everything set up."

"And what day is this...?" I wrote, my curling script floating in the air next to me.

"We've got two weeks. Next Saturday, can you keep Mags occupied?"

I nodded slowly. Sure, no problem. I'll just take Maggie- I shuddered at the thought, -shopping for new clothes.

"Thanks, Rose. You're the greatest," Hugo grinned. "Now to tell Scorpius..." He stood up, dusting off his trousers. He raised his wand arm to apparate, but I caught him before he could. "Yeah, Rose?"

I titled my head to the side, giving him a curious glance. "Who knows?" I formed the words slowly so that he could read my lips.

He slumped back onto the bed, kicking up another pile of dust. My eyes closed of their own volition as I scrunched my nose in an attempt to avoid sneezing. It was unsuccessful.

"Bless you. And only you, me, Scorpius, Mags' Mum and Da. Oh, and Teddy. Which means Victoire. Oh, and Lily. But she's sworn to secrecy..." He sounded doubtful—Lily had an incapability of keeping secrets. "I think she had Al cast a tongue-tying curse?"

I smirked in response. Yeah, that'd make sense.

He glanced at the clock on what used to be my desk. "Well I've got to get going. Mia is waiting for me—something about muggle television shows? And I've still got to talk to Scorp."

I smiled, waving a hand as he apparated with a loud crack that resounded through my room.


A/N: Thank you so much for reading. And apologies for any errors-I didn't send this to my beta because I just wanted to get it up before I forgot... again. Sorry it's been so long since I've updated. And sorry if anything doesn't make sense. I'm going on a temporary hiatus for a couple reasons. 1. It's not fair for me to say that I'll update soon and then forget for MONTHS. 2. I need to get the backstory behind this story under wraps before I can continue. I have it planned out, but several of the other family members don't have strong enough characterization. 3. I'm working on a miniseries about the main four (Rose, Scorpius, Al and Maggie) and their time at Hogwarts. 4. I really need to get my life in order.
*This chapter is 3.1 because chapter three was meant to contain more plot than this but I haven't been able to get it written. Writer's block combined with life stinks.

Thank you again for reading (and actually paying attention to this insanely long author's note). Please Review!~

-Cler