This September and October were probably the worst months of Rose's life. There were two reasons for this. The first was merely an annoyance. Every single day, without fail, Scorpius Malfoy managed to pop up somehow. Whether he was actually there in person or just being mentioned in conversation, he had, unfortunately, become a new constant in Rose's life. The second reason for Rose's unhappiness was the never ceasing slap in the face whenever she saw Lily and Roger together. She had never known either of them to be clingy, but they spent every day together. At first, Roger had just met up with her for lunch every day, but then it became necessary to take her out on a date every night as well. Lily had even taken to coming to work with Roger. It was absolutely ridiculous. Not to mention that it drove Rose crazy with jealousy. Rose chastised herself. It wasn't right for her to be jealous, Lily was her favorite cousin (and she had never once mentioned her feelings toward Roger to Lily) and Roger was her boss, she wasn't even allowed to like him because interoffice relationships were prohibited. Rose sighed; she was in quite the predicament.

Rose did not expect anything out of the ordinary to happen on the first day of November. In fact, she figured that it would be perfectly ordinary. Oh how wrong she was. The day started out normally enough though. As ever, Scorpius Malfoy was purchasing a coffee across the street. Rose ducked her head to avoid eye contact, but he seemed to have spotted her anyway. He left the shop, walking as quickly as his long legs would allow him in order to catch up with Rose, who was determinedly not slowing down even though he called after to her, telling her to wait up.

Eventually, Scorpius caught up with Rose, much to Rose's displeasure and Scorpius' amusement.

"Long time no see, eh Rose?" Malfoy questioned teasingly. Rose rolled her eyes; he was going to make her late for work again.

"Actually Malfoy, if I recall, I saw you yesterday."

"The hours when we are apart feel more like eternity to me," Scorpius mockingly told her.

"You know what, Malfoy? I think that you just mock what you don't understand," Rose told him in that know-it-all manner of hers that she reserved especially for a certain irritating blonde.

"Oh, really? What don't I understand?"

"Love," Rose stated simply. When he became particularly irksome, Rose tended to use monosyllables.

"Well, I may not understand it, but I wager that we're in the same boat then." Rose turned to stare at him, an angry expression decorating her face.

"What do you mean by that, Malfoy? I know plenty about love! Don't talk to me about things that you don't understand!" Scorpius did not actually want to make Rose genuinely upset. Sure, she was really fun to tease, but Scorpius was not malicious.

"Alright, let's just drop it then. I'll see you at nine for drinks then, yeah? I'll meet you at the Leaky." And before Rose could tell him that there was no way in hell that she'd join him for drinks, he was walking down the street in the other direction. He's going to be late for work. Was Rose's last thought before she too walked to work.

Work passed normally as well. Lily was dangling over Roger's desk per usual. Rose turned away feeling like she wanted to vomit. That was a feeling that she had become all too familiar with.

Just then, Ally walked into Rose's office cubicle. When the Chinese Italian saw Rose's face, she cocked an eyebrow, asking Rose with her eyes what was wrong. Rose nodded her head in the direction of her scantily dressed cousin and her boss. Ally's head whipped around and she let out a scandalized gasp.

"That little bitch! She's your own cousin and she goes after your man?"

"Ally, keep it down! Someone might hear you! Anyway, it's all my fault, I never told her how I feel about him." Ally's eyes narrowed in disgust at Lily before she turned to Rose.

"Hey, do you want to come over later, just the two of us? It'll help you take your mind off…things." Rose shook her head in response to Ally's question.

"Thanks Ally, but I need to be alone."

….

Rose was one of the last ones to leave the office. She quickly visited Roger's office to pick a few documents that she needed, but something caught her eye. Roger had left his wand on his desk. Rose quickly checked Roger's calendar and saw that he should be in Bistro Italiano from six onwards. Checking her watch, Rose was happy to discover that it was 6:05. Rose picked up Roger's wand and apperated to the elegant restaurant.

The redhead had planned to give the wand to the maître d'and leave. But surprisingly, none were present. So she walked into the restaurant, her eyes peeled for Roger. As soon as she entered the room, romantic music began playing and the words will you marry me appeared in the air. Rose stood, her mouth hanging open in shock. Just as she turned to look at Roger, she heard him call out.

"Hold the music, she's not the one." Those words cut her like a freshly sharpened blade. No, make it a rusty one, that would probably hurt more.

"Roger, I-I found your wand…you left it in your office," Rose stuttered out.

"Huh? Oh, thanks Rose." As if on cue, Lily then entered the room. The youngest Potter child saw the words 'will you marry me' written in the air and looked from Roger to Rose in confusion.

"Roger, what's going on?" Roger used his wand to start the music again, and he made his way over to Lily. He got down on one knee and held out a blue velvet box with a 10 carat engagement ring in it.

"Lily, I know that we haven't known each other for very long, but I've never loved anyone the way that I do you, and I was hoping that you'd do me the honor of becoming my wife." The looks on Lily and Rose's faces could not have been more different. Lily looked elated, like she had just been presented with an enormous diamond (which, of course, she had been). Rose, on the other hand, looked like her dog had just been run over by a bus (not that she actually had a dog, it was against apartment rules). Rose couldn't bear to watch anymore, she walked out of the restaurant as quickly as she could. Once she was out of there she broke into a run, her tears streaming behind her. She ran all the way to her apartment because she didn't trust herself to apperate in this state. It was 6:45 when she finally got home. She cried herself to sleep.

At 7:35 she was woken up by the sound of a door. Rose quickly wiped her eyes so Lily wouldn't notice anything.

"Hi, Rose!" Lily squeaked out in excitement, apparently the hype of being engaged hadn't worn off yet.

"Hey, Lils."

"Rosie, I was wondering if I could ask you something," Lily said, a megawatt smile still etched across her face. And Rose, who could never say no, nodded her head.

"Sure Lily, ask away."

"I was hoping that you'd plan my wedding…" Lily trailed off for a moment, trying to gauge her cousin's reaction. "I know that you love weddings, and it would mean the world to me." The word 'yes' passed through Rose's lips before she could stop it. Lily squealed and hugged Rose as tightly as she could.

They spent the next hour or so talking about details, much to Rose's dismay. Well, more like Lily talked about details and Rose wrote everything down. When it was 8:50 the two women were just finishing up the basic outline for the preparations.

"One last thing, Rose. I was wondering if you could ask that friend of yours to be one of the bridesmaids. You know I don't have many girlfriends of my own, for some reason," Rose almost rolled her eyes at this, "And I think that Allison-" "Ally," Rose interrupted. "Oh right, Ally would look great in the colors I picked," Lily finished.

"You really want me to ask Ally, my friend Ally?" Rose asked in disbelief. Lily nodded enthusiastically, not picking up on Rose's bad mood.

"Yeah, she's really pretty. Anyway, I've got to go. I've got a late mani-pedi appointment. Tootles, Rose." Rose hoped that she would never hear Lily say 'tootles' again.

Rose plopped down on her bed and let out a long breath. She did not want to stay alone in her house. She tried to floo Ally, but her best friend wasn't home. She tried a couple other people too, but they were either busy or not home. Having no other alternatives, she flooed over to the Leaky, firmly believing that she would regret meeting up with Scorpius Malfoy for drinks.