When she stepped out of the snow storm blowing through the streets of Hogsmeade and into the Hog's Head an hour and a half later, it was to an uproar fit to burst anyone's eardrums. She stared at the crowd that was standing there—at least seventy people from all the houses and all the classes in Hogswarts, all yelling out their best wishes to her. She smiled, feeling her neck burn as she slowly stepped forward. Albus stood at the forefront of the crowd, looking prouder than a he had when he received eight Os on his OWLs.

"Albus, I'm going to kill you," Rose whispered with a smile plastered to her face as she walked up to Albus. One by one, several of her friends stepped forward to wish her a happy birthday personally. She thanked them, feeling her cheeks burn. She also noticed that there was a sizeable chunk of the crowd that was NOT stepping forward to wish her because--bluntly put--she had no idea who they were and doubted they knew who she was either. She finally turned back to Albus after quite some time. "Who are all these people--and I don't mean to sound ungrateful but why exactly are they here again?"

He gave her a typical Potter grin. She thought she heard at least three girls swoon--both the Potter sons tended to have that effect on them. "In my defense, I'd like to say that I didn't even invite them," Albus told her under his breath. "But this party--it was a much bigger deal throughout the school than I thought it was--I actually had to change venues last minute to keep many more people from coming."

"But why--"

Albus looked over her shoulder and smiled. "There's your answer."

"Hey, baby coz!"

"Oh, my God, James!" Rose lunged into her cousin's arms, hugging him tightly. His coat was warm and snow-free; she assumed he had apparated directly from wherever he had been. "I haven't seen you since you graduated nine months ago!"

James laughed (more girls swooned) and kissed her at her temple, then tousled her hair. "Turning seventeen finally? Damn, you're ancient! And where's the rest of the gang?" They both turned to Albus who turned slightly red.

"Err… well, Lily and Hugo are in detention."

"Detention?" Rose gasped, whirling around. "What're they doing there?"

"Cleaning the Slytherin toilets," Albus replied peevishly. "Er… they've been doing it for every weekend for about a month now."

"Ah, leave it up to Hugo to get them into the worst sort of trouble! Or was it Lily this time? Their stories are never clear—usually confuses me which one told which to do something stupid and which one refused to do it and which one in turn dared the other…. I think they complicat the stories just to confuse Mum." James looked slightly perplexed by his own analysis of the situation, then shrugged.

"What did they do? Who assigned the detention--how long is it for?"

"Oh, Rose, don't turn all motherly on them--you know Lily hates it when James does that."

Rose and James both scowled at Albus ."I don't MOTHER Lily..." James snapped at him. "She's just incredibly stupid somtimes and as her older brother, I feel it is my responsibility to watch over her."

"Well, it's all your fault, you know," Rose pointed out, smiling. "All the trouble you get yourself into--Hugo and Lily actually look up to you, can you believe that?"

"I know right? Don't know what they see in me!" James winked at her. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to get myself a drink and talk to those pretty ladies over there."

She grinned as she watched him walk towards the girls who—all three of them—were about to faint for lack of air. "One word of the return of James Severus Potter and the entire school wanted to be there. Actually, Headmistress Scamander suggested that we hold the party in Hogwarts itself but considering you'd been locked up in the library for ages now, I thought it best to get you as far away from that place as possible. He always makes quite a scene of himself," Albus muttered good-humoredly.

"Like you're any better. Come on, I want a butterbeer--oh, hey, Victor! Thanks! I know, I've been spending too much time in the library. I'm so tired I can't even remember why I walked in there sometimes."

"Are you working on some mystery or something? I mean, of all the people I know, you visit that dingy old place most often, but seven hours on a Saturday is crazy even for you."

"No, I'm just—" she shrugged as they arrived at the bar table "—I'm just doing some research for that internship."

"Two butterbeers for Mr. Potter and the birthday girl!"

"Hey, Frank," Rose grinned at at the bartender--a young man with a completely bald head and a bright blue goatee. He nodded in return, his eyes twinkling with merriment and doubtless several mugs of his own butterbeer. He already had two mugs ready for them and set them on the counter with a slight butterbeer was warm and had a slighttouch of vanilla and nutmeg flavoring to it, just the way Rose liked it. She took a large gulp of it, feeling its warmth spread throughout her body. She looked out into the snow storm raging outside of the pub and was glad she had trekked all the way here despite the weather.

"Rosie!"

Rose turned to be ambushed by a wild bush of pale blonde hair. "Olivia," She gasped, awkwardly hugging the girl as she practically squeezed the breath out of her. "I'm so glad you could come!" Why did you come? You never really liked me all that much when you were dating—

"James insisted," Olivia waved her hand through the air as though it was nothing. "I mean, I'm graduating this year and I'm going back to Italy, so thought we'd meet up one last time! Oh, there he is now!"

Rose turned to see James whirl around the spot and make his way through the crowd in the opposite direction of the group, but Olivia was persistent as she had always been. "James, over here!" She yelled so loudly that half the room turned to look at her. Unable to pretend he hadn't heard her, James turned around with a large, overly fake smile plastered on his face.

"Olive—didn't even see you standing there!"

"Oh, stop lying, you," Olivia giggled. She took quick leave of Albus and Rose and practically flew to James's side.

"Poor chap," Rose grinned. "He'll wish he had never come here now."

"You'd think that after all that happened, she would get a hint," Albus mused. "Then again, we ARE speaking of Olive. Oh, whoops! Forgot I wasn't supposed to call her that! Only his royal highness, Lord James can call his petty-pookie by that name."

"Stop," Rose laughed at the ridiculous tone of his voice.

"Oh, shoot, almost forgot—" Albus jumped to his feet and disappeared through the crowd, leaving Rose staring after him, slightly perplexed.

"Want another one, pretty little lady?" Frank gave her a toothy grin that was half rotten. She emptied out her butterbeer and slammed the mug down. "Think I brought just enough, so fill 'er up, Frankie."

"Actually, miss, this one's already been paid for."

"What?" Rose frowned. "Albus?"

"Course it ain't your cousin. You're a pretty gal, lotsa' guys here who'd like to pay for your drink."

"Can I get a name, Frankie?" Rose smiled.

"Wish I could tell ya' it was me, hot stuff, but it was actually that guy standing over in the corner there."

Rose turned to look in the direction that Frankie was pointing. At first, she didn't see anything but then her eyes fell on the figure half-hidden by the shadows beside the door that led down to the cellar. She turned away, realizing he was looking directly at her, and stared into her butterbeer instead. She should go talk to him... then again, he was the one who had chosen to pay for her drink. She didn't really ask him... but he DID pay for it. She should at least thank him. She hated it when strangers put her in these kind of situations. Finally, with a deep breath, she rose to her feet, frowning, and made her way towards him. He did not make a move.

"Hi," She smiled. He didn't say anything. "Umm... do I know you?"

He wore a dark hoodie that hung low over his eyes and helped him blend in almost perfectly with the darkness. She squinted and involuntarily stepped closer to get a better look at him but he simply retreated further into the darkness. "Frank said that you--umm-paid for my drink, so I just came by to thank you. I'm Rose."

"Perfect timing."

"Umm..." She looked back longingly at the stool she had been sitting on. She didn't do well with introductions or small talk, especially since this stranger was not actually bothering to make sense. Deciding to give him one more chance, she asked, "Perfect timing for what?"

"Do you know there are exactly ten seconds left till midnight?"

She frowned and looked down at the wrist-watch she wore whenever she was outside of Hogwarts where Muggle technology did not work. Sure enough, the seconds hand was moving closer and closer to the number '12' in—eight seconds, seven, six—she looked up again to realize he was smiling down at her very softly. "Yes...?"

"I have a present for you."

Before she could react, he grabbed her by the waist, swinging her into the darkness and lowered his lips to hers. Her hand dived into her pocket for her wand in a second, but the moment they touched, all thoughts of resistance abandoned her mind. His lips were so gentle and slow upon hers, tasting her with the utmost care. She closed her eyes, feeling as though the world around them had dropped away into blackness and it was only the two of them caught in this tender embrace. She drew her hand up to his cheek and her other arm around his neck, pulling him closer but that was where he stopped. Slowly, he pulled just a fraction of an inch away, his warm breath fanning over her face—almost intoxicating to the senses. His hand left her waist and traveled to meet hers upon his cheek. He pulled her fingers away and placed a small square box tied with white ribbon upon her palm. "Happy birthday," he whispered.

Before she could even think again, he disappeared through the cellar doors and into the darkness beyond. She blinked, simply staring after him, then shouted out, "Wait!"

She rushed down the stairs after him, slightly slipping on the damp rock and landed rather shakily on her feet at the bottom. She looked around in the darkness, squinting to force her eyes to accommodate to the lack of light. He was nowhere to be found. She sighed in frustration. "Damn you," she whispered to the darkness. "Damn you and your stupid birthday gift. It didn't affect me at all if you're wondering. And no, I won't ever think of you again in my life because my encounterance with you was just that boring. So… damn you." She wasn't exactly sure why she had said all that, but she had a feeling it was more to herself than to him. She looked down at her hand which held the small box he had given her. With another exhasperated sigh, she carefully made her way back up the stairs and into the crowd.

"Rose, where you been? I got a surprise for you--!"

He smiled up the stairs, listening to her cousin as he brought out the cake he had stored in the kitchen for her and called for everyone's attention. He hummed the tune to the birthday song along with the rest of the crowd, then turned away, clapping his hands. "You'll think of me, Rose Weasley. And worry not, we shall meet again very soon."

(0)

"Scorpius!?" Rose slapped her hand to her forehead at the sheer stupidity of the situation. "Scorpius Malfoy was the one who threw you off your broom? Are you kidding me, Albus?"

"Hey, the guy rides well! What do you want me to say?" Albus was more than a little irritated by his defeat at the Quidditch match between Slytherin and Gryffindor that had occurred only a few hours ago.

"I want you to say, 'I would die before I let Scorpius Malfoy beat me at anything considering that his father was the mortal enemy of our parents while they were at school'—that's what I want you to say. Now hold still, those jeans are not going to mend themselves after your fall down thre flights of bleachers."

"Good ol' Spike caught me nonetheless," Albus grinned, patting his battered broom fondly. "Never lets me down, my gal. Not in the eight years that I've owned it. Remember that one time when I was trying to veer around Fat Pam in the Hufflepuff match to get to the crazy bludger—Rose? Rose, you still with us?"

Rose's eyes snapped up to his and she blinked blankly.

"You… look kind of confused… you okay?" Albus stated.

"I'm fine." She shrugged after a moment. She tucked her wand into her robes and stood up abruptly. "I remember the time with Fat Pam, Albus, and yes, good ol' Spike has seen you through a lot, that's for sure."

"Don't walk away from me now—who's going to mend my jeans? I don't even know how to do it!"

"Well, you better learn, Albus Potter. I'm not going to be here to mother you for the rest of your life."

"No, I've got Mother to take care of that," Albus muttered, staring down at the wide tear in his jeans that ran down all the way from his knee to his ankle. "Rosie, where are you going?"

"Library. Wanna come with?"

"Nah, I think I'd rather go have dinner with the Slytherins."

"You better," Rose grinned, turning around at the door with her backpack swung over her shoulder. "It's tradition—losers allow the winner full rights to an entire evening of gloating."

"Stupid tradition," Albus scoffed.

"You started it."

"Because your dearest Mum thinks developing good relationships with our peers—despite their familial background and their House—is the key to a healthy, problem-free community."

Rose laughed, "Don't look now, but you actually sound like you're believing it."She knew that was not the main reason Albus had started the tradition and many others to increase relations between the houses. He was not the type to get involved with drama or conflict and preferred to be friendly with everyone whether he actually liked them or not. She didn't think there was a single perosn in the entire school who actually DISliked Albus, a characteristic that she much envied. It wasn't that she knew anyone who disliked her either--except for Malfoy--but he had always been able to make friends so quickly with any number of strangers. Simply put, he was a charmer and it kept his life uncomplicated and enjoyable according to him.

"Believe it, bull shit. I do it only because Dad and Uncle Ron said it was a good idea too, however grudging their words sounded. Rose, can't you take a little break and join us? You'd be a good buffer, trust me!"

"Err, between you and Scorpius?"

Albus opened his mouth and then closed it when Rose quirked a challenging eyebrow. "Okay, well perhaps not with Socrpius, but you're pretty close to some of the girls in Slytherin."

"Not… as close as you are."

"Point being, there's a perfect reason for you to be there. You've been going to the library so much people have been wondering if you transferred schools. Besides, I need the moral support."

"Albus, I have work to do."

"And you know, Hugo and Lily will be there too because Lily's on the Quidditch team. You've been trying to get a hold of them all week long, maybe this is the perfect opportunity for you to be able to yell at them to your heart's content for whatever mischief they have now done to land themselves in detention?"

Rose pondered the thought for a moment. "Hmm… peacefully do my own work in the library or be accused of being too overprotective by my younger brother and cousin?"

"I'll help if you want. I think it's time I finally stepped into the elder brother's role."

"You being overprotective is like the banshee dancing with joy."

"That was a terrible analogy."

She shrugged. "Served its purpose."

"Of… proving that you come up with terrible analogies?"

"Fair enough. Fine, let's go get dinner."