A/N: I'VE BEEN GETTING A LOT OF REVIEWS ABOUT STORIES THAT I HAVEN'T UPDATED IN AWHILE. I WANT YOU TO KNOW THAT IT IS VERY POSSIBLE THAT I WILL UPDATE THEM.

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Chapter Eighteen

Don't Forget About Me

Stephen ran an anxious hand through his short brown hair and stared at his reflection in the mirror over the vanity. He was in a tiny, speck of a room over the Three Broomsticks waiting for Rose. It was Hogsmeade weekend and he had the day off so they planned to meet. It would be the first time they spent time together since summer. He'd been busy with Quidditch practice and the weekends he'd had off never coincided with the weekends Rose was at Hogsmeade. He was looking forward to seeing her more then seemed healthy. His happiness shouldn't center around someone else as much as it did, or he didn't think it should.

But no matter how many times he tried to be happy despite the fact that he hadn't been able to kiss Rose, hold Rose, be physically near Rose for months, he just couldn't. His whole being had become so wrapped up in her, being away from her was boarder line painful. Quidditch used to be enough for him, but now getting up for practice in the morning was monotonous, redundant without purpose. But if Rose had been there, laying next to him when he awoke to give him a kiss and wish him a good day. If she'd been there when he got home to give him a kiss, to fall into bed with him, to wrap herself around his body. It would have been perfect. Going to practice would have been great if he had Rose to come home to every night.

He almost wished that in between her letters and the few times they actually saw each other he could just forget about how much he adored her. It seemed unlikely because these days he only went to Quidditch practice so he could make money and make Rose proud. The money was so he could take care of her when she graduated. He wanted to win so that Rose would be proud to be with him. Quidditch, something that used to make him happy all on its own, now revolved, like everything else, around Rose. It was almost as if he couldn't live with her, but he definitely couldn't live without her. Or maybe it was that he couldn't live with her the way he was now. He had to have her somehow. While this was terrible in so many ways, it was better then nothing. Nothing was unbearable. At least this way he was able to tell her how much he adored her.

Looking at his reflection, Stephen noted with curiosity how tired he appeared. It was getting tiresome hiding his adoration for Rose from everyone but her. He couldn't tell his family, his friends or his team mates. All of whom had tried to force him on blind dates. His parents were worried that he was still heart broken over Rose and wanted him to move on because they wanted grandchildren. His friends and team mates thought he was being too mopey and needed to get laid. He was getting tired of avoiding the women they all were constantly throwing at him. He was avoiding his friends and family and team mates all for the sake of remaining loyal to Rose. He was tempted to just tell everyone about his relationship with her, but…

Harry Potter and Ron Weasley went to his Quidditch games with ridiculous regularity. If one of his team mates slipped… His parents were old friends of the Weasleys and Potters, if they ran into them… And his friends were idiots and didn't seem to know the definition of the word discretion. Telling everyone would cause more problems then it solved.

There was a tentative knock at the door. Rose was here. Stephen got up and cracked the door open. Rose peeked at him around the door and all the tiredness and stress of his daily life melted away. Rose slipped into the room and wrapped herself around him. She tilted her pretty little head back and puckered her lips. Stephen covered her pink mouth with his own. Their lips moved against each other. He ran his tongue across the seam over lips asking to deepen the kiss. She opened her mouth and walked them back to the narrow bed. They fell onto the stiff mattress in a tangle of robes and limbs.

They remained that way for quite some time. Lost in the joy of their reunion. Eventually they came up for air, grinning at each other, their lips bruised and red.

"Hey, you," Stephen whispered wanting to preserve the intimacy of the moment.

"Hey, yourself," Rose grinned.

"I've missed you." Stephen tucked Rose into his side and tried to find a comfortable position on the bed.

"Really? I couldn't tell," she rolled her eyes. Stephen laughed and Rose pressed her face into his chest. "I missed you, too," she sighed.

"Oh, Rosie, I wish you were graduating this year," Stephen said, wistfully. "It would make my life so much easier."

Rose kissed his throat. He'd written to her about all the blind dates he'd been dodging. "I wish I was too. As soon as I graduate all this sneaking around can end. I'll be an adult and my father won't be able to say or do anything about us being together."

Stephen snorted.

"What?" she asked.

"Do you honestly believe that your father will let up just because you're an adult? He won't let up until your married and even then he might pop in at random intervals to keep you a virgin," he explained.

Rose's face scrunched up in disgust. "No," she said, weakly.

"Sorry, Rosie." Stephen cupped her cheek and reach down to kiss her.

"Well, if my father won't let up until he dies how will your life be easier if I graduated this year?" she asked. Rose moved on top of him and leaned on her elbows.

"It'd easier to sneak around, of course. Your schedule will be more flexible once you've graduated, depending on what you plan to do. If you follow in your father's foot steps you'll be busy all the time. But if you take a job like your mother's, your schedule will be more regular, more open. But it's all about what you want, Rosie," he said.

"You've thought about this, haven't you?" she asked, her tone light and teasing.

"What am I supposed to do at night when I'm cold and lonely with only my mind to keep me company?"

"You're supposed to do what every other cold and lonely taken lad does when they only have their mind and their hand to keep them company." Stephen feared his slightly pink cheeks revealed how often that scenario took place. He was eighteen after all and he certainly wasn't going to betray Rose by having someone else do it for him. Someone who wasn't her at any rate. "Regardless of what you're doing," Rose went on, "I think its sweet you're thinking about my future, our future."

"I can't think of a future that interests me more then the one I'll be sharing with you."

"That was so sweet I think my teeth hurt," Rose cooed. Stephen rolled his eyes.

"There's no need to be sarcastic, Rosie," he muttered. "Here I am laying my heart out for you and you're making jokes."

"Joke, Stephen. I'm making a joke. Don't get your plurals mixed up with your singulars," she corrected.

"Bloody hell, you're your mother!" Stephen exclaimed in mock horror.

"You should be so lucky." Rose smacked him lightly on the chest and kissed him.

---

"I told you, you bloody blitter! I have a boyfriend," Ruby snapped, pushing the bloody blitter in question away.

"If you have a boyfriend how come he's never about?" the blitter asked. Ruby rolled her eyes and walked away, leaving him and his idiotic friends in front of the mall sport's store.

She wouldn't dignify that moron with a response or a proper name. He was a bloody blitter and a bloody blitter he would remain. Ruby found the nearest bin and threw his disgusting note and phone number away. Hugo would not be happy when he heard about this. In fact he'd probably use one of his uncle's ingenious (if slightly cruel) inventions to prank the prat when he got back for winter break. Unfortunately it seemed that Hugo would have quite a few clueless blokes to prank. Every since her chest nearly doubled in size the pea brain prats that infested her school seemed to believe she was suddenly worth their time. Hugo was going to flip when he saw them.

She'd nearly had a heart attack when she noticed how big they'd gotten. Ruby had had to buy a whole new wardrobe because it seemed that girls in her family grew gigantic breasts during their fifteenth year. Her mother had warned her but nothing could have prepared her for the harsh reality. Hugo would be beating boys off her with a bat by the time they stopped. It was not an encouraging thought in light of one of his more recent letters.

He'd detailed the situation one of his cousins, Albus, was going through in the letter. Apparently some girl was only dating him because his father, Hugo's Uncle Harry, was a famous wizard for one reason or another. The heart breaking situation wasn't the reason he wrote though. The reason he wrote was far more troubling. It seemed that Hugo was worried that the witches who had expressed an interest in him had only done so because he had famous relatives. He made a point of saying that he'd turned down each and every witch who'd ever expressed an interest in him in favor of her, but that didn't make her feel a whole lot better.

Witches were throwing themselves at him while she was stuck at home, twiddling her thumbs waiting for his next letter. Witches who had magic to ensnare him, magic in common with him. Witches who had some knowledge as to why Hugo's uncle and parents were so damn famous. She'd asked him about it once but he'd gotten so damn touchy she had just let it go. And all of those witches throwing themselves at her boyfriend probably had normally proportioned breasts. Some days she had no idea why Hugo had anything to do with her. She was a Muggle to him. So much of a nobody he couldn't even let his family know how much they meant to each other.

Ruby's phone buzzed in her pocket. She glanced back at the tosser who had just assaulted her to make sure he hadn't followed her. She was supposed to be shopping with her friends, at least that was what she told her parents. She didn't like her parents or her friends or anyone really to overhear her phone conversations with Hugo. Not because she was ashamed or anything. Sometimes they talked about things best not overheard. For insistence when she asked him about all the witches throwing themselves at him, it was probably for the best that no one heard her but him.

Ruby flipped her phone and quickened her step. There were several secluded places in the bookstore so she headed in that direction. "Wait a second, Hugo," she said instead of a proper greeting.

"Merlin, I missed your voice," he answered. Ruby couldn't help the smile that stretched across her face, his voice was deep and husky over the phone. It made him sound older and somehow sexier. Ruby curled into an overstuffed chair in the corner of the history section. "How are you?" she asked. She couldn't help it. It had been weeks since she heard his voice. It was so easy to let go of every stressor and just revel in the joy of actually talking to him.

"Exhausted," he sighed.

"Oh, why?"

"The whole family's been running interference between Daisy and Albus, because she's decided she can quote 'learn to love him.' So we've been trying to spare him some residual humiliation by keeping her away from him. James and Kira have been hexing her and the bloke she was cheating with, Martin."

"They're pretty pissed at them, huh?" Ruby asked.

"Well, yeah, but he refused to believe that Daisy meant it when she dropped him. I've cornered him a few times trying to hex Al. He seems to think that Albus has tricked or threatened Daisy into chasing after him by throwing around the fact that his father and family are famous. It's positively ridiculous. I haven't a clue what to do about it. Half the family is in detention for hexing Daisy and her stalking moron. While I'm inclined to hex them as well, if I'm in detention who will keep Daisy and Martin away from Al? The guy's been through enough. He doesn't deserve this crap," Hugo said, clearly exhausted and upset.

"I think you're doing the right thing," Ruby said.

"Really?" There was a strange edge to his voice that Ruby didn't understand.

"Of course. Not only is it irrational to rely on violence to solve problems it's also irresponsible. Albus needs you. You can't do much good in detention," she said, absently trying to understand his tone. He'd sounded almost relieved.

"See, I knew you'd understand. James got all upset when I tried to reason with Martin about Al instead of just hexing the idiot."

"Well… James is Albus' brother right?"

"Yes," Hugo said.

"He's probably feeling protective of his brother. He's being aggressive and irrational. Just like Martin. Hurt and hardship can do that to people."

"Is there anything I can do?" Hugo asked almost desperately.

"You can try to reason with them. But strong emotion isn't rational they might not listen. The best thing you can do is fight your own inclination towards violence and remain on course. Revenge isn't what's important. Protecting your cousin is. Just remember that and you'll be all right," Ruby assured him.

"Thank you so much. I really needed to hear that, Ruby." Ruby sighed. There was something she needed to hear but had no idea how to broach the subject. She didn't want to sound like she was attacking him or accusing him of anything. When he said that he'd turned down all those witches in favor of her she believed him. The real problem was that she didn't understand why. He had so much more in common with those witches, what was so special about her? "Is something wrong, Ruby?"

Hugo's voice brought Ruby out of her musings. "Hugo?" She hated how meek her voice sounded.

"Yeah?" He sounded worried. She very rarely seemed anything but absolutely strong and self assured. Hugo knew her well enough to know that something was up.

"Why did you refuse all those witches who had an interest in you?" she asked, lightly, hoping that he wouldn't realize how much she needed to know.

"Because I'm with you," he said, confused.

"Oh."

"Ruby, what's going on?" Sharp one, that Hugo Weasley.

"You have so much more in common with those witches. Magic, acceptance, hell you could introduce any one of them to your family, but not me, never me!" Ruby said.

Hugo was quiet for a while and after a few minutes Ruby began to worry he'd hung up on her. He'd hung up on her in the middle of conversations before but those times had always been accidents. "Ruby, I want you to listen very carefully to what I'm about to say."

"Okay."

"From the moment I first met you, to this day this very second, all I've ever wanted was you. I'll take you how ever I can get you. I don't care that you can't do magic or that we have to sneak around behind my family's backs. All I care about is being with you… But if it bothers you…"

"It doesn't I just… I feel like those witches know you better then I do," she admitted.

"How? How could they possibly know me better then you? No one knows me better then you. You're my world, Ruby. The only people who know me better then you are my family and I have no interest in snogging any of them," Hugo commented lightly. Ruby laughed. "You matter Ruby, you matter more then anything else. Don't forget that."

"I won't, I promise."