Setting The Stage

by greenphantomme

Rose's start to Hogwarts turns out very different from what she or anyone else imagined. There's not much she can do but ride the tide, keep her head up, and make sure Scorpius's darn cat stays away from her toads.

6. Act V: Anagnorisis

ACT V - ANAGNORISIS

(Seventh Year)

---

That summer Rose had her first part-time job. She was hired by their neighbour to help with a catering business. It had nothing to do with what she wanted to do after Hogwarts, but it was the first bit of her own money she earned to put away towards it.

It was definitely a different summer. Hugo was off travelling for six weeks to observe the migration of magical frogs and for the first time Rose was home alone while her parents were at work. Usually the two of them would go over to the Potter's, or one of the other cousin's houses, but this summer she found she wasn't active as much. She and Hugo wrote lots of letters back and forth - and it helped, but it wasn't quite the same. To fill the quietness, Rose wrote in her moleskine, to Aziza, one letter to Pippa with no reply back – but it didn't worry Rose since Pippa had never replied to letters in the summer, and to Scorpius who surprised her when he actually responded.

On occasion, Albus and Lily would accompany her into town to go thrift shopping. They managed to add a lot of costumes and dresses to her Dress-Up Trunk and had loads of fun trying on bizarre clothes. The clothes came in handy when they put on little skits around the house, or just for the days Rose felt like dressing up for the heck of it.

It was a relaxing summer when she wasn't washing dishes and serving food for work. She spent a few weekends visiting Roxanne's newest baby and babysitting Molly's kids. Josef was over visiting Al most days, but he wasn't allowed to spend the nights anymore because they were officially a couple. If James and Lily couldn't have their girlfriend or boyfriend spend the night, then neither could Al.

Then, before she realised it, the summer was over and her Seventh Year was starting.

---

"Here," Hugo said as he grabbed her trunk from her hand. "I'll take it for you." He took off with both of their trunks to the train, his long hair bouncing wildly on his head and face tanned from the summer. Rose had no time to protest. Her parents came up behind her holding hands. Rose made a face at them that they just ignored. Parental displays of affection were gross.

"He's just sad you're graduating this year," her mum told her. "You've all grown up so fast. Make the most of your time and please try not to get into any more trouble."

"Study hard too." Rose made a face at her dad. 'Study hard' usually came with a big spiel from her mum. Her dad grinned.

She hugged her parents, the last first day of school hug she would give them at the Platform, and then went off in search of Aziza. And maybe Pippa, if she hadn't changed her stance since the last time they talked.

Her parents joined her Aunt, Uncle, and James as Al and Lily went to the train. Rose thought about catching up with them, but decided against it to walk about the platform. This was her last year; she just wanted to absorb everything one last time.

There were so many tiny humans that were just starting school. Like really tiny. She could never have been that small. The rest of the platform was full of friends greeting each other, parents hugging kids, and cats and owls galore. She felt so old now. She hoped the new students would love Hogwarts and make happy memories within the walls.

Rose didn't really want it to end, didn't want this chapter of her life to be over yet.

As she made her way through the crowd, she finally saw Scorpius – not that she was deliberately looking for him. Nope. He looked decidedly uncomfortable as he stood with his parents. Contrary to the previous years, Nolan and other Slytherins weren't hanging around.

Rose paused in her walking and debated walking up to them. She honestly missed Scorpius this summer and talking with him face to face. Letters weren't quite the same. The impression she received from his father last year wasn't a great one and she could understand why as a kid his boggart was his father. She wondered if it had changed since then. And his mother was standing there. A small part of her was curious to see what she looked like for all she could see was her back.

They were friends now, in public eye. Would he be mad if she came up to them?

Scorpius caught her eye as she stood there and a smile crept up on his face, almost as if he could read her mind. His mum seemed to notice his happy expression and looked around curiously behind her in the crowd, skimming past Rose's face. At the moment, she was just an insignificant person in the crowd. Not for long.

She took a deep breath and patted her toads for moral support as they rested in her two front pockets. She felt self-conscious about them for the first time in her life for some reason, but Scorpius didn't take his eyes off of her as she walked over, distilling confidence into her just by his gaze. His mum eventually noticed her and looked frantically between her son and the oncoming redhead, a frown deepening on her face.

Out of her peripherals, her first view of his mum was of pristine composure. She was a small woman with not a blonde hair out of place on her head, not a wrinkle in her robes, nor any imperfections on her face. Her face seemed to pale as she took Rose in – scrubby boots, a small rip in one knee in her trousers, long green coat, hair a little wild – and the amphibians in her pocket.

"Mother. Father. This is Rose, one of my good friends. You didn't really get the chance to meet her at the end of last year."

His dad jumped about a foot in the air when he saw her standing right beside him. Rose gave a coy grin.

"Pleasure to meet you officially Mr Malfoy." She held out her hand and after a few moments of staring, he reluctantly reached out – almost as if he didn't realise he was doing it, and shook it quickly before retracting his hand and putting it in his pockets. "And you Ms Malfoy."

Scorpius's mum looked between her husband and son before she stuck out her hand and gave a weak and feeble shake before retracting it. She could feel disapproval radiating off of her. Rose just lifted her chin up and tried to ignore it.

"Ready to go on the train?" she asked Scorpius. He was still smiling like crazy through his parents glaring looks, his face positively glowing in happiness.

"I am." He picked up his trunk from behind him and gave a small wave to his parents. "Bye Mother. Father."

His mother managed to say bye, but his father was still rendered speechless by everything around him.

"My lady," Scorpius said as he held out his free arm to Rose. She burst out laughing as she took it. He didn't look back at his parents, but she did and couldn't help but feel a little guilty. They just looked so shocked at their son's behaviour.

"You are asking for a death wish from your parents," Rose said. "And I can't believe I'm helping you."

"They need to loosen up. And I'm so happy to get out of there. Hogwarts here we come!"

He practically skipped all the way to the train as Rigel followed him, meowing loudly. Rose helped him load his trunk in one of the empty compartments and then he was off to find Al and Josef.

Rose slowly made her way all the way to the back of the train to her regular compartment where both Aziza and Pippa were already seated.

She stood outside, observing for a few moments before she entered. Pippa looked like herself for the first time in a year and a half as she was wildly telling some story to Aziza. Bertie Bott's were on the seat, already open, and somehow Rigel beat her there and was curled up on the seat.

She entered the compartment and was greeted with a loud 'ROSE' and two huge hugs. It honestly felt like nothing had changed. It was great.

---

"I mean I'm not big on getting detentions," Aziza said after the feast in a surprising burst of passion. "But it would just be wrong if we didn't get our first one for sitting with each other at the Hufflepuff table. You'd think the teachers would just give up on that first day segregation and let us be."

They were headed down to the kitchen to wash the supper dishes. Since the kitchens were 'supposed' to be this big secret, they were told large vats of soapy water would be in the empty classroom just down the hall.

"Some professors will forever be sticks in the mud. Keeping our wands until the morning? That's so lame," Pippa said as she pushed some hair behind her ears. Her hair was getting longer and it looked like she tried to even out the ends this past summer to make it less choppy. "But at least Alicant knows she's one."

They reached the classroom and stopped in shock at the volume of dishware that was there already. There were stacks upon stacks of plates, cups, and silverware on the three tables that encircled tubs of water. They were given no instructions besides wash the dishes, dry, and then pile them. Aziza guessed the house elves would be by later to pick them up.

"This is going to be fun," murmured Rose. "I thought I'd done enough dishes this summer to last me a lifetime."

"Rose, you should take one for the team and just do them all for us," Aziza said as she playfully pushed Rose's shoulder. "With all the experience you have. . . "

Rose picked up some soap bubbles and threw them at her face. "Yeah right." The bubbles settled on Aziza's nose. She scrunched her nose and blew them off her face.

"Alright. I'll take one for the team and wash first, if someone wants to dry," Pippa said, in an extremely uncharacteristic move. Usually she would be complaining a lot more or just not do anything. She pulled off her robe and rolled up the sleeves on her shirt.

"I'll pass the dirty dishes to Pippa if you want to stack the clean ones on the table?" said Aziza, but Rose had already thrown her robe over Pippas' and was collecting the first plate.

Everything went systematic from then on; dishes were washed, dried, and piled. Occasionally water was splashed around for fun or songs hummed for entertainment.

Only it seemed like the dishes were never ending. They swapped – so Aziza washed and Pippa stacked the clean dishes, and then Rose was washing, and Pippa was passing. And as the hours passed, the dish piles weren't getting any smaller.

"I'm never eating off a plate again. It's hands from now on!" proclaimed Pippa. The dish water was now a murky brown with few bubbles. Pippa was back to washing.

Aziza held her hands out in front of her. "My hands are so pruney. I just keep telling myself that this is our last year, last detention on the first day of school we'll receive, but that doesn't make this experience better."

Rose leaned against the table and stopped drying. "What if it's morning already and classes have started. But everyone forgot about us?"

"It can't be morning yet. . . Can it? It has to be like. . . two a.m. at the latest? Why aren't there windows here? Medusa this is a horrible detention, at least with other ones we are told to leave when it gets late. I don't see how Alicant thought we'd ever be done."

"I think we have every single dish in this room. Nobody would be able to eat breakfast, so it can't be morning yet. And I change my mind," Aziza stated with a yawn. "We could have gone without this detention. This is exhausting."

"Let's all just go for a walk, maybe outside to get some fresh air and see if the sun is rising yet?"

"Yes! Great idea Rose. I need to leave this musty room," said Pippa. They all were bedraggled and sweaty. Pippa straightened her back with a loud crack.

They walked up to the main floor and opened the huge front doors. They all sat on the steps to peer into the night sky. Thousands upon thousands of stars were visible in the night sky and everything was dark around them. Rose leaned over and put her head on Aziza's shoulder; Pippa did the same on the other side.

"Sun's not up," she stated.

"I think it's a bit lighter in that general direction. . . "

"I wonder if this is how kitchen servants felt, back in the medieval ages," said Rose as she gazed off into the Black Forest. It was truly black at this moment and everything around her felt enchanted. "After the King and Queen or whoever put on a huge feast – there's just a never ending supply of dishes and everyone is up late, and tired, and you can't go to bed until everything is cleaned up. . . without magic. . . "

Aziza chuckled softly. "I think they'd have more than three people washing everything. Write a play about it."

That was certainly something she could think about.

"True. . ." she said softy and yawned.

Aziza prodded them before they fell asleep. "Let's go finish."

They reluctantly got up and dragged their feet back down to the room. To their surprise, it was empty.

"Did we go in the wrong room?" asked Aziza. Rose pried her eyes open and looked around.

"Well there are no dishes here, so we have to be."

Yet when they searched the two other rooms that were in the same corridor, none of the rooms had dishes in them.

"Holy Medusa. We lost the dishes!" exclaimed Pippa. "We are so dead."

"There has to be a reasonable explanation for this. Let's go check the kitchens." Aziza led the way.

It was the first Pippa learned of the kitchens and saw them in all their glory. A few house elves swarmed them when they entered and told them they had the dishes. They were instructed to take them when the three girls left, which they admitted wasn't supposed to be that long.

"So you mean us being responsible and staying this late to clean the dishes wasn't needed?" Pippa said flatly. "Ridiculous. Absolutely Ridiculous."

"Let's just go to bed. Whose dorm is the closest?"

They made it to Hufflepuff dormitory and Aziza threw them all random clothes for pyjamas.

"If anyone wakes me up before noon, you're getting pushed off the bed," warned Aziza. Luckily it was Saturday the next day and they could all sleep in late. Aziza was Quidditch captain and didn't have a scheduled practice for the morning.

They did rock, dragon, wand and Aziza lost - getting stuck with the middle. She complained Pippa should be there as she was smallest, but Pippa and Rose basically laid down on the edges and pulled the blankets up high. There was no room elsewhere. Aziza crawled in last and they were all squished in tight.

"Medusa, they should have given us that for a detention in first year. I probably would have been a better student," remarked Pippa. "I don't want to get another detention like that. It was worse than potion scrubbing."

"Do you really think you'd have been a better student?" asked Aziza.

". . . No. . . Probably not. I'd like to think I would though."

"Well you could try to not get any more detentions this year? Do something different than all the years previous."

"You'd like that." Pippa chuckled softly. "Maybe I will. Professor Mowla will probably have a heart attack though. . . Rose stop pulling the blankets."

"s' cold," replied Rose before she was fast asleep.

---

"Oh Herbology," Scorpius muttered. "I can't wait until I'm done you forever!"

His arms were elbow deep in a pile of hippogriff manure as he dug his way through it. The manure had been sitting outside in tubs all month just waiting for the Seventh Years to dig in. This was their first taste of a professional atmosphere; they were all wearing thick aprons, arm length gloves, face masks, and safety goggles.

The goal was to find the deep rhizomes off the Timbergin plant, pull them up, and then prepare them for the Hospital Wing to take to St. Mungos. Lucky for them that these rhizomes just happened to flourish in hippogriff manure.

"You'll miss it when you don't have it anymore," Rose said through her mask. When Scorpius pulled up the white roots, it was her job to put them in a small bowl of some concentrated acid, quickly wash the roots in the solution and then grabbing each end, twist in opposite directions. She had to pull out the inside - a dark green mushy stick like thing and pass it on to Pippa, whose job was to cut it up in the appropriate increments and package it up in tinfoil to keep it out of the light.

"I don't know. That's highly debatable at this moment."

"It's not too bad."

"I don't see you digging around in hippogriff shit."

"Hey it was you who lost rock, dragon, wand."

Professor Longbottom caught her eye from across the room and gave a subtle smile over at her. It was neat things they were doing, if somewhat undesirable and gross.

Rose tried to focus on her work. The acid was strong and she could feel its potency on the bit of skin that was exposed. But, it was hard to concentrate for more than one reason. Nolan was seated with his partner's right across from them.

She had been going with the whole 'pretend he's not there and ignore him at all times.' It didn't help that they shared numerous classes together. She just wasn't sure what was appropriate. He was still being closely watched and most of his punishments carried over from the previous year, though how much Rose was uncertain for rumours had circulated that were misleading.

She hated him still, she told herself all the time. He was a worthless piece of space and a horrible person. . .

and yet -

she found her temper was fading the more time passed. It was months since the 'Al and Josef incident.'

Nolan no longer strutted around the school with his friends at his back. He spent lots of time alone and was in detentions most evenings. All of his friends were disbanded and he just did everything by himself.

In a way, she was sorry for him. Whenever she thought that, she reminded herself of everything he did, and how judgemental he was. She didn't like him and probably never would. But she somehow felt pity for him. He seemed like he was having some sort of reversal of character this year.

She briefly talked about it with Scorpius, and he said that Nolan was locked in his curtains night in and out; it was him that was avoiding all this friends.

Rose had asked him if he could ever be friends with Nolan in the future if he cooled off. But Scorpius said no, not after everything he did. He could eventually make peace with it though, same with Al and Josef.

Sometimes Nolan caught her eye and opened his mouth, as if he were going to say something to her. He never did however and it left Rose more nervous to be around him. What could he possibly want to say to her that she'd listen to?

Scorpius handed her the next root and she turned and got back to work.

---

They didn't get very far into their Seventh year before it took a busy turn. They were bombarded with assignments, papers, and homework without any reprieve. All the students in their year were suffering from lack of sleep and remarkably, carpal tunnel.

"It's like they want us to come back and repeat the year," Aziza said, frustrated one evening as she massaged her wrist. "They could slow it down just a bit so I could sleep more than a few hours in the night."

Aziza had it particularly bad because as Quidditch captain, she was spending just as much time planning out practices, making plans and playing on the pitch as in the classroom doing schoolwork.

The first match of the season, the whole Hufflepuff team was down for breakfast and in the change rooms before the Slytherin team even woke up.

Pippa met with Rose outside the castle before they went walking down to game that was starting in twenty minutes. Guacamole and Matilda were in her pockets, hitching a ride.

"What on Earth do you have?" asked Rose. Pippa had a large sac slung over her back.

"Chocolate. And candy. Those first year Ravenclaws actually thought there was a ban on Honeyduke sweets," she proclaimed happily. Then she answered Rose's questioning gaze.

"I have lots of betting to do today with Stella, Paul, and Alfie. Duh. And I'm out of practice so I might be off a bit in my judgements. For all I know, Dundolg might have corrected his arm and will stop overcompensating to the left to hit the target for once."

"Oh."

"Well, what do you have?" she shot right back at her.

"Just some papers and –" Pippa grabbed Rose's bag off of her shoulder.

"No. Rose frickin' Weasley we are taking a break this afternoon and are going to go enjoy a Quidditch match. You are not doing homework."

"Pippa we have star charts due Monday and that Care of Magical Creatures essay on Tuesday!"

"So? Don't let homework dictate your life. There's loads of time later for it."

But there wasn't. After the Quidditch game where Hufflepuff dominated and Pippa lost a bagful of stolen candy, Hugo asked her if she wanted to join a chess tournament between him and his mates.

She honestly couldn't say no to beating all the fifth year's arses. It was a victorious day when she beat Hugo for the first time in three years in the final match just before midnight. She only slightly regretted it when she was up until three in the morning trying to do star charts. Care of Magical Creatures would have to wait for another day.

---

The first day the snow fell, a barn owl came swooping through the air after lunch, wings flapping gracefully and quietly. All the students who were currently in the Great Hall noticed the owl for it wasn't the regular mail time. Whispers started up slowly, guessing who the recipient of the white letter the owl was holding.

Then when the owl reached Pippa everyone stared at her.

Pippa took the letter from the owl with a pale face, paler than normal. Pippa's daily letters always without a doubt happened in the morning. Though come to think of it, there had been no letter this morning.

Rose and Aziza inched closer, curious as to why there was so much commotion over the letter. They had never before seen the owl; this was the barn owl's first flight to Hogwarts as far as they knew. Pippa waited until the whispers died down and most of the attention was away from her before she slowly started opening the letter, keeping the edges turned away from her friends.

It was a short letter. Short and to the point. Pippa crumpled it up after briefly glancing at it, took out her wand, and lit it on fire. Orange and yellow reflected in her eyes as she watched the flames with no apparent emotion on her face. Then the letter was gone, not a trace that it existed. She tapped her fingers on the table and then she gave a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes to the two girls.

"Well, that was good news. I'm going to finish that Charms essay now." Without another word she got up and left.

Aziza and Rose stared at each other. "What did she just say?" asked Rose.

"I think she said she's going to finish her essay."

"We must have heard her wrong. Right? She's never finished an essay in her life!"

They stared at Pippa's retreating back, unsure at what just happened.

A few minutes later the Headmistress came up to them, a serious expression on her face. "Where is Ms Wentworth?" she asked.

Aziza widened her eyes. "Umm. . . We don't know. She just left."

"Please tell her to come to my office when you see her."

"Bloody hell!" Rose said. "What is going on?"

---

They found Pippa through a combination of luck and coincidence sitting outside the Transfiguration corridor, scribbling away like mad on her essay. Every now and then a drop of water would fall from her face down to the parchment and blur some of the words together. Her legs were bundled under her and she was squeezed in a tiny nook in the wall, making her look smaller than she was.

"Pippa can we sit down and talk with you," asked Aziza softly. Both her and Rose stood hesitantly in front of her. They had never before seen her cry.

She looked up at them and wiped at her eyes. "I'm not crying or anything. I'm happy. I just don't know what to think right now." She looked so miserable even though she said she said she was happy.

They sat on either side of Pippa and she put down her essay and quill. Her fingers started twining together on her lap and she stared straight ahead.

"Hey, we're here for you, okay? No matter what," Aziza said.

Pippa shrugged. Then shrugged again. She wiped some more tears that fell from her eyes before pulled up her knees and buried her head in her legs. "I don't deserve you two as friends," she sobbed; her voice was muffled but they could still hear what she was saying. "I'm a despicable friend and I've treated you two so poorly."

Aziza and Pippa just held her while she cried. They had never seen Pippa like this. Eventually she slowed down and tried to calm herself.

"I suppose you two are wondering what's happened. . . Who the letter was from. . . "

"You don't have to tell us if you're not ready. It can wait."

Pippa lifted her face off her legs. "No, it's not like I'm not ready. I probably should have said something last year. . Or years before that. It's just awkward to bring up and I didn't want pity or anything. I don't know why I'm crying. I'm not really sad over it. . . " She sighed. "Well, maybe. I don't know. You two are probably going to be disgusted with me."

After assuring her they wouldn't be, Rose and Pippa waited for her to collect her thoughts and speak.

"The letter was from this lawyer. I guess my mum just died and he was informing me of her will. Of which I get almost nothing because she had so many debts. . . yay." She attempted to smile, but failed.

That was not what they were expecting to hear.

"I'm so sorry," Rose gasped. "That's awful."

"This is the part where you're going to be disgusted with me. . . " Pippa said. "Because it's not horrible. That bag should have died ten years ago, I absolutely hate her."

"Oh. . . "

"It just struck me that she was all I had. No brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, grandparents, or anything! She was my only family, though I always tried to deny it. And I'm alone now." Pippa flapped her hand pathetically. "It's just a moment of self-pity. And rather stupid. I'm trying to stop crying, but I can't at the moment."

"It's not stupid to cry when your mum dies," Aziza said. "Not even if you. . . hated her."

"I just promised myself I wouldn't cry when it happened; I would celebrate. I just didn't think it would happen for a few years yet."

"Oh, Pippa." Rose rubbed her back consolingly, at a loss for how to act.

"What about your sister?" prompted Aziza. "Is she not okay?"

Pippa's lip started trembling. "Can we talk about this part later. I'm kind of embarrassed about it all."

Aziza frowned. "What do you mean - ? Did something happen to her?"

Pippa threw up her arms. "Oh what the hell, might as well spill everything right here. I'm sorry in advance." She took a deep breath. "I actually don't have a sister."

"Katie -"

"Katie Maurice. Yes, I know I told you guys that."

"I don't understand," Rose whispered.

"I was lonely as a child. . . It was just me and my mother living at home and she was always bossing me around and trying to form me into some perfect daughter or something. I think she was so disappointed by how her own life turned out and how many missed opportunities she had. She used to be a professional Quidditch player, did you know? Then she had me not even one season in after getting signed and never played again. . . So, I tried to escape it all. I invented Katie Maurice to be my imaginary sister and keep me company, help me irritate my mother when she tried commanding me around, and make her think I was crazy so she would stop. Katie Maurice was the only one my age around me, well the only fake one for she wasn't real; just a figment of my imagination. When I first met you two, I really didn't mean to say anything about her but it just slipped out that one day. . . I couldn't take it back without you lot thinking I was insane."

Aziza was stunned into silence, thinking of all the times she heard Pippa talk about her 'sister.'

"We'd never think that," Rose said softly. "Pippa. . . You'll always have us for family. Never forget that."

She nodded. "I don't know what to do now though. My whole life has been in defiance of my mother. She always wanted me to be perfect. . . Perfect grades. . . Perfect attitude. . . Perfect everything. I hated it. She tried to control every aspect of my life and so everything I've ever done was a backlash against her. In a way she still controlled everything because she was always there. But she's not there now. I don't know who I am without rebelling against her."

"You have your whole life ahead of you to figure that out. And we'll help you."

Pippa took a deep breath and wiped at her eyes again.

"And I'm sorry about last year. I honestly just had enough of everything and alcohol made everything bearable, at least for the short term. I pushed you away because I didn't want you to stop me and figure out my messed up life. I knew that all the other girls were just using me to amuse themselves but they provided firewhisky and didn't question anything. . . It turned into shambles. And clearly there are better ways to deal with those things."

"There are. We'll always help you out. Thanks for letting us know," Aziza said.

"I think I'm in shock. I just can't believe she's dead. And I don't know what to even think. I mean I'm happy she's not there anymore. But she's not there anymore! I'm so mad! But not. At the same time."

"It'll take awhile before you will feel normal again. Don't worry about labelling everything right now," said Rose.

Pippa nodded. "Thanks for being here you two. I'm going to go for a walk. I'll be back later tonight, but if I'm not back just don't worry about it. . . Ok? I just need some time alone."

Pippa gave them her bag to take and started walking off.

"I just want to hug her," Aziza said. "I never knew. . . "

How could any of them have guessed? The fact that they were stunned was a reflection of how confused Pippa was feeling. Everything about her finally made sense. Her behaviour, why she was who she was, the daily letters that usually were never opened, the rebelliousness, and why she never replied to their letters in the summer.

"I hope she'll be okay."

"She's Pippa, the toughest girl I know. She'll be fine."

She spent two days away from everyone before she was back in classes and sitting with them at the Hufflepuff table again. She had a chat with the Headmistress and was going back for the funeral that weekend even though she said she didn't want to.

As the weeks went by, Pippa was rather sombre even though she tried not to let it show. She was less spontaneous than usual and succumbed to bouts of quiet at times. Most classes she started paying more attention to the professor and spent less time making them angry. Her attitude about school changed and she became just a little less troublesome, which granted, most people would take as a good thing. Yet she didn't really want to talk to them about her mother or anything else. Pippa and Rose didn't push her for it would come out when she was ready.

---

Rose tied the ice skates up tightly, her palms lined red and white. She was determined to do better than last winter where she couldn't sit down for a week after skating. There was an icy wind blowing that cut through Rose's fingers, and Rose blew on her hands, trying to warm them before starting on her other skate. The ice on the Black Lake was finally frozen after them waiting for weeks for the weather to be cold long enough.

This year they planned everything a little better. Al and Josef were delegated the same task as the previous year – clearing off an area from the mounds of snow that had fallen, Rose and Scorpius were delegated to bring two fallen down logs from the Forbidden Forest and set them up near the ice so they could having something to sit on, and Pippa and Aziza were in charge of snacks and thermoses of hot drinks.

After returning from the kitchens, Pippa quickly put her skates on and went on the ice. It turned out she already knew how to ice skate; she learned when she was small and could actually do it decently. It was lucky for Aziza for she had a personal teacher now. Pippa didn't talk much as she did a few laps around the ice, going slow enough for Aziza to keep up. Josef and Al were also skating already, Josef pulling Al around as apparently he hadn't improved at all from the previous year.

The last two were still tying up the boots. They took their time finding good logs to drag out, Scorpius taking her on a mini adventure to his favourite spots as they tramped through the deep snow. As a result everyone was already on the ice by the time they were back.

"I'll race you to the end of the pond," Scorpius said after he tied his last double knot and straightened his legs out in front of him. He started scraping some ice with his blade, creating a small snow pile.

"That'd be interesting. . . " Rose said. She kicked her legs out as well in front of her once she finished and started putting her hair in a ponytail. "Two fumbly beginners who can barely stay standing in a race."

He waggled his eyebrows at her. "That just means neither of us will have the advantage," he proclaimed.

Once the elastic was in she dropped her hair on her back and put on her mitts and tuque, pretended to be contemplating.

"Weelllll," she dragged out. She faced him and looked at his sparkling hazel eyes. "Okay." Suddenly she roughly pushed him off the log they were seated on and stood up, gaining a head start as he lay stuck in the snow.

She quickly looked back once she made a little distance and his legs were sticking in the air as he yelled, "no fair" before twisting himself around and crawling to get back to the ice. She shouldn't have turned around to look at him; it was hard to skate whilst laughing and she lost the potential to get even farther away.

"Oh, you're going to get it Rose Weasley!" he called out as he started skating quickly, trying to catch up. Neither of them were efficient skaters and so he wasn't able to gain much distance.

Rose gave a little scream and as she tried rapidly turning back around, her skates half flew out from under her. Luckily she managed to steady herself with her arms. With Scorpius's cajoling, she couldn't help her laughing as she tried to reach the finish line ahead of him.

She avoided falling by not turning back around to look at him. She was sorely tempted though. She could hear his journey just fine – blades scrapping on the ice, the swish of his clothes moving, breathing increasing and his voice calling out. She had a horrible yet gleeful feeling that he was going to catch up to her, but she didn't stop trying her best to make it to the end.

It was like fox and rabbit; Scorpius kept on her tail but couldn't seem to quite reach her. She was almost at the opposite bank and was just tasting victory when she finally gave into the urge to look behind her (stupid stupid!) and caused herself to lose balance and fall on her backside. At that moment she knew she was hooped. She started screaming for help from her friends and tried crawling forwards away from him, but before she could get very far, Scorpius got to her and jumped on her back.

"Face wash!" he yelled and snow was in her face and she was laughing and trying to pull away, but he was too heavy on her and her skates had no traction. All she could see was his black mitten and the white of the ice and snow that was being shoved to her exposed skin.

"Ah! Cold! Help!" she yelled as more snow went in her face. Her hands were around his wrists as she tried to push back his arms, but she had an awkward angle to push at and he was relentless

"Azzy! Al! Josef! Pippa! Heelllllp!"

Nobody came to her rescue. She was so going to go find new friends.

After her face had been sufficiently frozen, Scorpius rolled off her and lay on the ice beside her, looking at her and grinning.

"Caught you," he said. She wiped the snow chunks off her cold face and threw it at him, crinkling her nose. She couldn't even feel her skin. Rose pulled her scarf up over her cheeks and breathed out warm air to try to warm up.

"You're an arse," she said to Scorpius. He was still laughing and she threw another chunk of snow at him. It was impossible to be angry at him when he was laughing. That dimple.

"You realise nobody has made it to the end yet? This race is still on!" Yet he made no motion to move.

"Let me unfreeze my face first."

Her scarf was doing nothing, so she took her mitts off and put her hands directly on her face. Her skin was rosy red from the cold.

"I can't feel my face," she muttered to him, trying to scowl and not smile.

"Couldn't help myself."

"Of course."

This time they both stood up and started racing from the exact same spot. Scorpius ended up winning by penguin diving at the finish line and sliding into the snow bank. Up until that point they were both neck in neck.

"Sorry for washing your face with snow," Scorpius said after he pulled himself from the snow bank. He was just as covered as her now.

"It's all fun," Rose said. They brushed off and he slowly made his way over to Josef and Al while she skated over to Aziza and Pippa. Aziza hadn't fallen once so far and was concentrating steadily on feet placement. Rose felt like a human snowball she was so covered in snow. She had frozen hair framing her face as well.

"So started dating Scorpius yet?" said Pippa as she turned around and started skating backwards to look at her.

Rose's eyes opened wide in surprise. "No! It's not like that."

"Rose."

"I'm serious!"

"You're face is giving you away," Aziza pointed out. "And it's not a bad thing! You two have great chemistry together."

Rose could feel the blush come forth, but at least her face finally felt warm. "You guys. It's not like that."

"Hey, come what may, Rose. Just don't be scared or run when it does happen, because I'm sure it will. You really like him even if you don't want to admit it right now. We're just saying that we support you and that if you don't eventually date him we might have to knock some sense into you."

"Thanks." Her face was radiating so much heat that Rose took off her scarf.

Pippa beamed and punched her shoulder, causing her to topple over sideways into Aziza. Rose managed to regain her balance, but Aziza finally came into contact with the ice, her legs and arms flying in all directions. She grumbled a lot before Pippa helped her back up.

Afterwards they pulled out the brooms and started dragging and whipping themselves around.

They skated until sundown. Because they improved immensely, ice skating was a lot more fun since they weren't constantly falling down on their arses. As they opened up the thermoses and sat on the logs, Josef skated for them again; a different routine than last year. One they made the beat to and Albus whistled for, his voice sharply cutting through the winter air with a clear quality, ending a brilliant day.

---

"What the hell!" exclaimed Rose to Pippa as they all put their Transfiguration essays on the table to compare marks. "You got a higher grade than me on my essay!"

"Than all of us, actually," muttered Scorpius with a frown as he riffled through hers, observing for himself this rare phenomena.

Pippa shrugged. "It's not like it's that hard to write essays if you actually put effort into it."

"You're such a difficult kid. You've been getting shitty grades for the past six years and now you're suddenly a genius?"

"Well it's because I was trying. And finally wrote the required length. Don't get too torn up about it. It probably won't last longer than hmmm. . . Right now."

Rose hit her head with her hand and Scorpius started laughing in disbelief. "Well don't stop! Keep at it!"

"No. I've got better things to do. This was just to prove to Professor Dumbpants that I can write a decent essay because she keeps bitching at me. And plus I was up 'til four last night. No grade is worth losing what little sanity I have by lack of sleep."

Pippa actually finishing an essay didn't take them by as much surprise at it should have. They were getting used to the subtle changes in her character as days went by. She also was mysteriously gone a few evenings, with no explanations of where she was. But Rose soon found out what that was about one chilly afternoon when she was with catching up about NEWTS, OWLS, boys, and graduating with Lily.

Just around the corner from them, Pippa was flirting with the Ravenclaw Quidditch Captain. Hardcore.

"He just touched her arm in an affectionate manner. They have to be seeing each other," Lily protested.

"This is the first I've seen them together. And we've already been in school over six months. She would have said something to us! I'm sure of it."

Rose and Lily totally weren't spying on them; at least not on purpose. They were already seated with their large mugs of tea when they heard talking around the corner from a familiar voice.

"Look! She kissed his cheek!"

"Well, it was a friendly kiss. . . One that's like 'thanks for helping me with my homework Mr Ravenclaw Hottie Quidditch player sir. Please accept my friendly and totally platonic kiss on the cheek in exchange for - Oh. Bloody hell. They could have gotten a room or something. Don't have to be eating each other's faces right in plain view. . . "

Rose's face contorted in disgust and Lily started cracking up at her. Rose averted her gaze from the snogging couple.

"Alright. Maybe something is going on," she acknowledged. Lily couldn't stop laughing and that eventually drew Pippa over.

She put her hands on her hips.

"How's it going ladies?" she said, cheeks flushed, scowl evident.

Rose had to answer for them through giggles as Lily was totally incapable of forming words at the moment – her small hands were covering her face and she was struggling to breath. "It's going snogg - I mean, swell . . . just admiring the fine Ravencl - I mean, view from the window. Were you around the corner snogg - I mean, were you in the vicinity? We didn't notice. . . "

"Very funny," Pippa said. "We're not dating or anything. And we won't. I'm just using him for a shag."

Lily started coughing, choking on her spit as Rose's cheeks turned red. "Oh. Alright. That's cool. Fine. Y'know. We all have those shag-buddies. . . Heh. . . "

"You two are priceless," Pippa said, finally dropping the disapproving exterior. She was clearly amused at the two of their actions and facial expressions. "So what're you talking about?"

She joined the duo, telling the backstory between her and the Quidditch Captain. Pippa told the two that they didn't want anything serious and her heart was staying out of it.

"It's a good stress reliever, for me at least. It's helping me focus more on the now instead of dwelling on everything. I have to channel all that energy somewhere since I'm trying to not get more detentions and I don't have to piss off a mother anymore."

"I don't want you to get hurt again though."

Pippa smiled. "I'll be fine. This is good. I'm happy right now."

---

Rose was in the library studying with Al and Josef when suddenly she received a swift kick in the leg. Her eyes started watering and she looked in disbelief at Al, who was suddenly frozen and staring somewhere behind her head.

"Was that necessary!" she exclaimed. "You could have just. . . oh." She looked behind her and Nolan was approaching them.

He was approaching them.

And getting closer.

She could do nothing but stare and wait. There was a flight instinct that was yelling at her to scarper, but she held still. She checked under the table for her toads and they were there, safe. Out of sight.

He stopped in front of them and stood there, fidgeting. His eyes were downcast.

Rose couldn't say anything. Al and Josef were unresponsive. The table was all his.

"I just - "

He was looking everywhere except at them.

"– I just came to say that I'm sorry. For everything." It came in a rush. "I was ignorant, stupid, and bull headed and it hurt you all."

He was met with silence.

"I've been talking with a lot of people and they've helped me realise that I have some issues that needed to get sorted. Anger stuff."

More silence. He looked even more nervous now.

"I guess that's all I have to say. . . I wish I could have done everything differently and tried not to have senseless hatred. I'm sorry again. For hurting you all." Rose looked at Al and Josef. This apology was directed more at them than her.

"I would appreciate it if you told the Headmistress that I apologised in person. I was supposed to write a letter doing it. But it didn't feel right. But I guess if you don't want to. . . "

Albus stood up abruptly and held out a hand.

"Thanks Nolan. We'll tell her." He wasn't saying he forgave him, wasn't saying he wanted to form a friendship with him; he just acknowledged the deed that was done.

Nolan looked dazed as he slowly reached out and shook his hand. Josef stood up after Al and similarly shook hands.

"Thanks," he said softly.

It was closure and she knew she should follow example. There was a small part of her that just wanted to turn his apology back in his face for everything he had done, but Al and Josef were able to say thanks and she couldn't wreck the peace. It was the hardest thing to stand up and even harder to put her hand out. He gripped her hand and withdrew it. Then it was over and Nolan left.

The three were still standing. Al was flapping one hand in front of his face as his other gripped Josef's, squeezing tight.

"I hope that chapter never opens up again. I am glad he said sorry in person though. It's more meaningful," he said with a deep breath. "Shall we start studying again?

---

Even though Rose and Pippa had lifelong bans from Hogsmeade for the remainder of their time at Hogwarts, they snuck out one chilly spring evening for Aziza's 17th birthday. They borrowed the invisibility cloak and Marauders map from Lily who gave it over without hesitation; she was always promoting mischievousness and said she'd make some ruckus in the common room to clear out the room for them that evening.

At about four in the afternoon, Lily set off some Ruckus Clackers in the Gryffindor Common Room. They were extremely loud horns and whistles that went off for hours; a Weasley Wizarding Product that wasn't very popular, except for circumstances like this.

Predictably, everyone vacated the common room to escape the horrible noise. The few who tried a silencing charm on the noisemakers were subject to their skin turning bright pink for a few hours by a defence mechanism on the clackers. Since it was almost supper, everyone headed down to the Great Hall early. Nobody was in the Seventh Year dorm when Rose, Pippa, and Aziza got up there so the three girls put a silencing charm in the dorm and got ready.

It was the first time Rose had really gotten deliberately fancy for anything. Sure, there had been a few events she went to with her parents, but she didn't try to look exceptionally nice. Because it was mostly Ministry functions, dress robes were a requirement and those always seemed to be the drabbest things. She never felt the need to tame her hair or use any cosmetics.

This on the other hand, was a different occasion. Aziza was turning 17! And since none of them ever dressed up for dinner before it turned out to be rather fun getting ready and trying things on.

The three girls decided to wear muggle dresses to escape the everyday robes that they had to wear for their uniform. Rose had a few dresses she'd never worn that had been accumulating from her random thrift shopping. Aziza was closer in height to Rose so she had some choice in what to wear, but Pippa was way smaller than the two of them and had trouble fitting into the dresses; they were all too long and big. Eventually after Pippa tried on every single one with nothing fitting properly, they decided to shrink one of the dresses for her.

"I think I'm going to wear this one," Aziza said as she stood in front of the mirror. It was a cute red number that hugged her body and ended just above her knees. Rose and Pippa gave their approval when she put it on.

Rose decided on a black dress that flowed out loosely to mid-thigh. It was the fanciest dress she owned and even had an open back. Pippa's choice was a pastel multi-coloured maxi dress because it would be easiest to shrink so she wouldn't be tripping over it the whole time. She said it wasn't really her style, but she would wear it anyway.

"If we get caught before we get to Hogsmeade, I'm probably going to hex the prefect and stuff them in a broom closet," Aziza said rather wickedly. Pippa and Rose looked at each other in surprise. Aziza never liked belittling her fellow prefects or undermining their authority. "I just think we need a night out to relax from homework and get away from certain people. And you know what, I'm seventeen now and I haven't been to Hogsmeade with you two yet," she said by way of explanation.

"I'm not complaining," Pippa said. Her mother had never signed her permission form and so she always made sure to have detentions to avoid telling her friends the real reason she couldn't go to the village. "Is this because a certain someone is paying a bit too much attention to you?"

Aziza jerked her head to the side. Recently the Head Boy had been paying a little more attention to her.

"I don't think I like him like that," she said. "But I will give him a chance and go out on one date with him because he's so damn insistent. And shut. Up. You. Two. Stop. Laughing."

Pippa fell backwards on the bed, unable to control herself very well. "You two can have dates where you organize the House Tables by sock colour."

"Azzy, he's a babe," Rose said. "We're not going to tease you too much. But just a little."

"You always get defensive when we tease you about Scorpius," muttered Aziza as Rose glared at her for saying the blasphemous name.

"It's my birthday. I feel like I shouldn't be teased today," she then said poutily. Rose and Pippa sniggered a bit, but refrained from commenting further. Pippa finished up the braid that encircled Aziza's head and fluffed up the rest of Aziza's short curly hair around it.

"One down, two to go," Pippa sang. Rose was next and she sat down. Pippa braided a few different pieces in the front and connected them in the back, leaving the rest to hang down her back.

"You're amazing," Rose said. There wasn't much they could do with Pippa's hair. Her hair was growing back the slowest out of them all. And it was languidly coming along – just not enough that the two girls could do anything with. They pinned back her bangs and the rest hung straight down by her cheeks.

The last step was putting on a smidge of makeup. Pippa was the only one with a little knowledge on that subject and they didn't end up putting very much on because they didn't own a lot.

"Oh bloody hell," Rose said as they finished. "Shoes."

"What do you mean?"

Rose started laughing. "We don't have shoes to wear! Only our school shoes."

It turned out that Rose was correct. They had nothing to wear but their ankle high black school boots.

"Well. . . We could look through your roommate's things," suggested Pippa as she shrugged her shoulders, trying to think of something.

"We don't really talk and it wouldn't be right. I don't want to give them more reason to hate me."

"Oh who cares," Aziza said. "It's just us going out and we'll all wear these tacky boots together. We'll make them work."

It only looked mildly hilarious when they put them on. Their hair was done nicely, makeup on, dresses fitted, and then the black boots. Rose stared at her reflection in the mirror and almost didn't recognize herself. She looked grown up. She looked really fancy for basically the first time in her life and she almost wished Scorpius could see her like this, see she could wear clothes that weren't always old and holey. She could fit in if she tried.

But alas, it was a girl's night. "Let's head out!"

The common room was completely empty still as the clanging went on full force. The three covered their ears and ran for the entrance. The invisibility cloak was only needed for their return, for they would probably be out after hours. They did however pull out the Marauders map to check and see if the path was clear to the secret passage.

"I think I wore the wrong dress to tromp around in underground tunnels," Aziza said as they climbed down into the tunnel. She had to pull her tight dress up to get her legs over the ledge. Rose had to catch her on the ladder as her leg got caught on the edge. She only received a lovely blow to her jaw from Aziza's boot.

"I'm so sorry Rose!" she exclaimed as she held onto the top rung, now waiting for Rose to descend all the way. "I don't feel very classy right now!" They lit their wands and followed the tunnel.

In no time, they emerged into Hogsmeade. They wandered around for a few minutes, showing Pippa the popular spots before they made their way to a small Italian restaurant that no one had been to yet. They walked into a candle-lit atmosphere with fancy settings and small tables everywhere. For a Friday evening the place was full, but nobody paid them much attention. Luckily Rose had made reservations a few days earlier. They were seated near the window and given menus.

"Shall we order wine ladies?" asked Aziza. "If that's okay Pippa?"

She speculated and then nodded. "Yes. . . I'm just having one though."

To complement the white wine, they ordered a vegetarian pizza – and Pippa didn't take one jab at it.

When the wine came, they did a toast.

"To the first one to turn 17," Rose said.

"To the beautiful, strong woman sitting before us," Pippa said.

"To great friends and great food," Aziza said.

They clicked glasses together.

"Thanks for sneaking out to come to dinner with me," Aziza said. "I know there was the chance that we might get in trouble but I just want you to know I appreciate it."

Pippa raised an eyebrow. "Who cares if we get in trouble? It's your special night! Oh, hello Professor Mowli."

"You're joking," Aziza said as her wine glass was halfway to her lips. She turned to look behind her and slopped wine on her lap when she realised the professor was actually right there.

She quickly stood up and pulled the wet napkin from her nap, hands shaking like mad.

"Oh Professor, I'm so sorry -"

He raised his hand to stop her. "I just came to wish someone a Happy Birthday. And I trust you ladies won't be out too late."

Pippa grinned. "Of course not. You know us."

The professor gave her a severe look. He knew all her antics. "Alright. Well I didn't see any of you out of Hogwarts. Be safe and enjoy your evening."

Aziza stood standing until he left the restaurant. She sat down with a thump and put her head in her hands. "I can't believe we snuck out. What a stupid idea."

Rose rubbed her back. "Hey. He just told you to enjoy your evening. Lucky it was him and not Alicant."

"He's got us covered," Pippa said. "He's a good fella. Wish there was more like him"

The pizza came and the three were occupied for the next hour, sipping on wine, eating pizza, and talking. Aziza relaxed again and had a few more glasses of wine. Rose had one more and Pippa had none.

Rose and Pippa split the bill for Aziza and took her arms as they made their way back to the castle. She was tipsy and kept stumbling over her feet.

"This is fun," Pippa said. "When you're with real friends enjoying a few glasses of wine. It's a lot different than what I was doing last year."

"I'm sorry we didn't try to stop you more and. . . well, anything we could."

"No, you couldn't have done anything. I was a stubborn mule and probably would have done something fanatical if you tried to control me."

"Ha ha. . . Mule. Stubborn," Aziza giggled.

"Alright drunk 17 year old. Let's get you to bed." They both secured Aziza a bit more. She was dragging her school boots on the ground and they were clunking loudly.

"This is going to be fun getting her back through the tunnel in that dress."

"Don't worry," Pippa assured her. "We'll be fine. Especially since you have that map. What I would have given to have that last year. . . We're probably not taking her to Hufflepuff though. Gryffindor would be closest."

"Ha ha. . . Puffers. Hufflepuffers."

"That's totally fine. We can all camp out in my dorm."

"I do love annoying your pretentious roommates."

"Ha ha. . . Prenshous."

They reached the secret passageway entrance. Rose climbed down first and had to catch Aziza as she missed the rungs on the ladder.

"Sorry Roe. The ladder is heavy. And my boots missed." Rose stood Aziza up and straightened her dress that was bunching up.

"It's okay Azzy. We're almost back."

Pippa tied her long dress in a knot around her waist before climbing down the ladder. They took her arms again for the trek through the tunnel before reaching the ladder at the opposite end. It was much harder to get Aziza up to the Hogwarts floor than it was getting her down from Hogsmeade. Rose took the brunt of her weight and was behind her, pushing her up. Aziza eventually rolled over the ledge and thumped on the floor.

"That hurt," she stated bluntly as she lay on the floor. "My arms and legs are like octopuses." Then she started giggling again. "Thanks for being here Pose and Rippa."

Rose pulled Aziza up as Pippa pulled her dress down again and flung the invisibility cloak over them all.

"Apparation practice tomorrow is going to be fun," murmured Rose. So far, only Al, Josef, and Pippa had successfully apparated. Rose was willing to bet that Aziza would not be the next added to that list.

The castle was quite busy that evening and they had to wait hidden in the hallway for it to clear up, with a hand over Aziza's mouth, and keeping an eye on the map.

"Alright. Finally here," Pippa said to Aziza outside the Fat Lady as Rose gave the password. Lily was sitting alone on the couch waiting to hear all about the trip.

"You guys look amazing!" she gushed. "Rose, I've never seen you wear a dress in public!" She helped them put Aziza in Rose's bed and then they all came back down to sit before the fire and talk about the evening.

---

Big brown envelopes appeared by owl to Rose, Aziza and Pippa in April. In fact, big brown letters came to almost all of the Seventh Years.

For Rose, it was conditional acceptance letters to the two drama schools she applied for: The Austrian Wizarding Performance Arts School in Vienna and the Anglish Old Vic Theatre in Bristol.

Aziza was accepted to the Edward's School of Business in Ireland.

After they had finished being excited over their letters, they realised Pippa was reading her own. She wasn't saying anything and so they peered over her shoulder to see what her letter said.

"But - No! I thought you were joking!"

"Nope." Pippa put the letter back in the envelope and turned to face her friends. The letter was an acceptance to join the summer training program to be an Azkaban guard.

"Why!"

"Well because I think with what I want to do in life, this is a good way to start. I've been getting better but I'm still messed up inside. What better place to start working than in the place where people are more messed up than me. And I need some bad-assery experience first. If I ever meet a person like me, I need to not want to wring that turkey's neck."

"Pippa. . . It's a horrible place there. There are so many other places you can go for learning all that."

"I appreciate the concern, but I'm not staying there forever. And there's no dementors anymore. We'll see how training goes and maybe I'll go to school, or work elsewhere, or stay there. This is just the start."

"But. . . Why?"

"It might have a small reason to do with that they'll pay for any extra education I want and I get a free place to live. I have next to no money when I leave. And I know you keep offering, but I'm not accepting money from you. This'll work. Trust me."

"Pippa, that would mean you're signing a contract. You're stuck there for at least five years if you're going to cash in on the free education. Maybe more."

"I don't know why you folks are worried about me! It's them who you should be thinking of. Have you not been around me these past seven years?"

Rose shook her head, exasperated. "I hope they give you a hard time."

Pippa stuck out her tongue.

---

Rose was seated on a bench in the courtyard with a book on her lap, open. She wasn't much attuned to it however. There were some butterflies that had her attention as they floated and flew and frolicked around the blades of brown grass. Then her attention was turned to the tall, lean blonde that was making his way towards her. She quickly looked at the book to make it seem as if she was reading and occupied so he wouldn't come sit. Because if he did. . . there were signs recently. . . Her heart rate picked up and her hands started shaking. She was so nervous. Yet she held her ground and didn't bolt.

He sat down nonetheless, not beside her on the bench but leaving sufficient room for a few people to sit in between. He didn't say anything. Just leaned forward and put his elbows on his knees, looking out.

Rose was watching him from the corner of her eye. What was he doing? Was he not going to say anything? She flipped a page to keep up her pretense.

A few minutes passed and she flipped another. And another.

Then she caught it –

Scorpius was shifting almost imperceptibly closer to her.

His face was trained outwards and it was slowly turning red. He pulled out his magic compass from his pocket and looked at it for a long time before putting it back and moving a tiny bit closer.

At least fifteen minutes later, he was finally within a few centimetres of her. It was enough time to calm her shaking hands, but not enough to stop her heart from pattering like mad. She could do this. When he cleared his throat loudly to get her attention she couldn't help but laugh.

"That was smooth Scorp."

"What! But! I didn't think you noticed me," he said. His face turned redder. "I was giving myself more time to think about what to say."

It had only happened once. . . twice. . . Okay, maybe fifteen times where Rose was so attuned to her reading or writing she didn't notice him as he approached her at all. Everyone seemed to think she did it all the time now, which she totally didn't.

"Why didn't you just sit down next to me and save yourself all the trouble?"

"Well I'll do that next time." Rose felt a little trill run through her. "I don't do this very often you know."

"I can tell," she teased and Scorpius elbowed her in the side.

"Want to go on a date with me? This Saturday?" he asked.

Rose shrugged, heart racing but trying to appear nonchalant about it all. "This Saturday is Hogsmeade. I can't really go, remember. Banned." Aziza's birthday was the only exception.

"Oh I know. We can have the date here. I'll go to the village in the morning and pick up some food and drinks. . . Then maybe we could have a picnic? Or if that sounds lame –"

Rose put her fingers to her lips and he stopped talking. "Well I was going to hang out with my fellow banned friend -" Scorpius's face dropped "- but I really like the sound of this picnic."

Scorpius grinned and his dimple appeared. Rose resisted the urge to reach out and touch his cheek. "Awesome. Great. Can't wait."

He rocked back and forth a few times and then looked at her, hazel eyes sparkling. "So, I've wanted to do this for a few years now. . ."

Rose was just about to reply, when she realised he actually meant something quite different as he started leaning towards her. Her eyes widened and she was so shocked by his boldness she couldn't quite process what was happening as he got closer and closer. Then he was right before her, only centimetres away.

His hands came up first, softly brushing her freckled cheeks and cupping them. When her eyes closed he kissed her gently on the lips. Instinctively her lips opened and he deepened the kiss, moving closer to her. Her hand lightly ran from his fingers on her face to his forearm, tugging him forwards.

Her eyes were still closed when he broke it off. She didn't want it to end.

Still grinning, he got up, brushed off his pants and started walking away, his hands in his pockets and a strut in his step. He turned around before he completely left the room. She hadn't moved yet, barely breathed.

"Noon. Meet in the Great Hall, okay?"

Rose could only nod; she felt very heated.

Scorpius left, but wasn't out of view so Rose saw him click his heels together before skipping off.

"What a goof," she said as her book tumbled off her lap to the ground, forgotten. She was afraid she would fall over from the happiness that was radiating off of her.

---

Saturday turned out to be the second time in her Hogwarts career that she wore a dress. And she did it willingly. She returned the long maxi dress that Pippa had worn to its original size and put it on. Getting ready, she just couldn't stop twirling around the room, humming or dancing. She felt supremely happy and it showed.

"Took him long enough to ask," said Aziza. "You two have been flirting nonstop all year."

"All year? They've been bloody well flirting nonstop since first year!"

Pippa braided a few strands away from her face and left the rest hanging down her back. She opted for no make-up because make-up wasn't her. Dressing up with all her friends was a lot different than a date with Scorpius; Scorpius was a boy.

And it wasn't anything like sneaking out to go to supper with friends. Students who were at the school still were going to see her. Pippa and Aziza stayed in the dorm with Lily while Rose left for her date.

As it was, nobody could stop staring at her in the common room. Her face got redder and redder as she traversed through. Most students were just waking up and seated around in their pyjamas. Paul and Alfie whistled at her as she passed them on the couches and Stella gave a thumbs up. Rose glared at them and quickened her pace. Her fellow Seventh Years all stared at her in disbelief with each swish of her dress. Rose wished she brought a coat or something to cover up in.

As soon as she reached the stairway, it was freedom. She calmed down a little and took a secret passage down to avoid most of the other students.

Scorpius was seated on the steps with a bag at his feet. He was out of his school uniform and dressed up in some very nice muggle clothes that looked suspiciously similar to what Albus wore lots last summer.

Rose brushed the dust off her shoulders and approached him, her hands nervously holding the loose material of her dress and her footsteps muffled by the carpet on the floor.

"Hey. . . you all ready to head out?" Oh there went her face again, red red red.

Scorpius jumped up and stared at her, his eyes wide. His dimple appeared. "I. . . Yes. . . You. . . Merlin Rose, you look beautiful."

Of course her face could go redder. "Thanks," she said, trying to keep her composure. "You look pretty sharp too."

"Yeah. . . I realised yesterday I didn't really have any appropriate clothes with me. Luckily I have stylish friends."

Rose grinned. He certainly did. Even his hair was gelled out of his face upwards, showing his refined cheekbones. She was willing to bet that Albus and Josef were with him before their date just as her friends were with her.

They picked a place to eat that was in the sun, but out of view of the castle. The grass was rather wet and brown still, but Scorpius had pulled the large blanket off his bed and brought it with him exactly for this purpose. The weather was warming up, but not enough to melt all the ice off the lake.

Scorpius had filled his bag with egg spinach sandwiches, fruit salad, and raspberry chocolate cupcakes. She was pleased he knew her favourites.

Not too long after they dug in, Rigel came trotting out of the Forbidden Forest. He started winding around Rose's arms and purring.

"Your cat is such a rascal. He has caused me so much stress!"

Scorpius nodded. "I agree completely. But he's matured, and doesn't like dragging your toads to me all the time."

"All the time - ? You mean. . . "

"Oh yeah, happened loads of times. I usually didn't tell you though. You always freaked out a lot."

Rose's eyes were wide.

"It's not like he ate them or hurt them!" said Scorpius quickly. "He's, as you said, a rascal!"

Her stomach twisted a little at the thought. "Maybe it was a good thing you didn't say anything. I had no idea."

Both their eyes turned to Rigel and they watched him frolic around.

"What are your plans for next year?" he asked her. "Sticking around?"

Rose hesitated. Was it presumptuous of her to want to stay around? Her and Scorpius weren't dating. . . yet. She wasn't going to keep lying to herself and insist nothing would ever happen.

She almost wanted to stick around in England. She felt stupid for thinking it as soon as it was thought, because maybe she was reading too much into whatever she and Scorpius were – maybe they'd never end up together and she'd waste her opportunity for Austria. However, she was raised differently; school and education were of the highest importance. No matter the small misgivings she had, her mind was set on Austria.

"I did get accepted for drama school in Bristol. But I think I'm going to go to Vienna."

Scorpius raised his eyebrows. "Vienna in Austria?"

"Yes."

He looked impressed. "No way! I have relatives that live there. You'll love it in Vienna; the city is amazing."

"I'm excited and nervous. But that's good! I've heard many good things about the city. What are your plans?"

He told her he was hanging around England and going to be training to work in a town as a Magical Law Enforcer. The schooling was three years and then he could go work wherever he wanted.

After he said that, they both fell into silence and finished eating. They would be so far apart. . . if they ever tried to make anything of this.

She was going to do it, but Scorpius moved first. He came closer and sat in front of her. One hand cupped her cheek and the other was on her shoulder, playing with the thin strap of her dress. Her traitorous heart started racing.

"Did I tell you that you look beautiful today, always do?"

Rose smiled. "You did."

He caressed her cheek and then ran his thumb over the smooth skin of her neck. Her eyes closed and her head fell back slightly. It felt good; it felt right.

"Rose, I don't know what the future will bring, but I want to try to make things work with you. Even if we're hundreds of kilometres apart. It's going to be hard, but I've never felt so right about anything in my life. And I'm finally at a place where I can do something about it."

She hummed and could feel his fingertips. Her stomach was doing ridiculous flipping like butterflies, wasps, and grasshoppers were ricocheting around it.

She opened her eyes and reached out to him, putting her arms around his neck and playing with a few wisps of his hair.

"I've never felt so right either."

They didn't do much talking for the rest of the afternoon, but packed up their picnic when it started to rain and slowly headed inside, holding hands.

The three girls and Stella were seated on Rose's bed when Rose eventually came in. They all guiltily looked at her: they were wearing costumes and it looked like they'd been heavily digging through her Dress-Up Trunk for clothes were strewn everywhere. There was food and blankets all over the place as well and it looked like they had built a huge blanket fort.

"You guys, I have to sleep here tonight!" They started laughing like mad when they saw her and started frantically brushing crumbs off the bed.

"So!" exclaimed Aziza, she was wearing a ridiculous hat and very poofy pants.

Rose shrugged. "What?"

"You're smiling, you're soaking wet, you were out there for hours. . . ! Start talking woman!"

Rose squeegeed her hair out over a towel and changed into some more practical clothes to join them on the bed.

"I don't know. We talked and ate and all that stuff."

Pippa's eyes were bulging. "Rose if I get one grey hair from you right now. . . "

Rose shrugged again. "Well. It was a date. We did date-like things. Talked about what we're doing after Hogwarts. About school. Everything."

Lily sighed in frustration. "Rose. Did you snog him?"

Rose glared at her. "Yes."

There was some screaming. Aziza clapped her hands together happily.

"Are you guys dating now?" asked Stella excitedly.

". . . No."

Their faces dropped. "What?"

"Well, it was only a first date. Who says yes on a first date?"

"When you've known him since you were eleven and liked him for equally as long. So I think, yeah, that's okay," Pippa said sarcastically.

"And we're graduating in three months time. I don't want to start up something that's potentially going to fail when we leave. Or when I go to Austria and he stays here."

"Rose!"

"We're still going to. . . 'see' each other. We're going hiking together in the Forest next week. But I don't want to ruin things between us by taking this all too fast and not adjusting properly."

"Since when are you so sensible? Take a risk with this! Follow your heart!" Aziza said.

"I'm trying to be mature! I thought you'd understand. And I'm pretty positive that we're going to end up together. He thinks the same about all this."

"He only said that because you did. He's in love with you!"

"We're too young for love."

"Rose. I know you're a hopeless romantic at heart. Look what you read!"

"Azzy! I hate romances," exclaimed Rose.

"But it adds depth to stories and I know you like your happy endings. Just don't string him along. Either you're sure, or not. Don't be afraid to make that distinction and act on it."

They spent the rest of the day hanging around inside, dressing up, and playacting. When Rose's dormmates returned, they were chased away by a band of rogue lady pirates wielding small swords.

No one said they had to grow up quite yet.

---

"Well, this is it girls. Our last jump, ever, in the Hogwarts career," Pippa said solemnly.

"Last jump into freezing cold water. . . can't say I'll miss it too much," said Aziza as she shivered in her bathing suit. They had grown so much since they were small second years jumping in. They weren't the same people standing there.

"I think I'll miss it," said Rose. "It's symbolic to us."

"Almost like a cleansing ceremony every year. Winter to spring. The only students brave enough to do the jump."

"Well, except your cousin and friends," Pippa said.

"Doofuses, they were!" muttered Rose.

"No less crazy than us," Pippa said. "I keep checking behind my back just because I half think they're going to come push us in! . . . What's he doing now? James, I mean. Something with Quidditch?"

"Actually, no. He's had like five or six different jobs in the past few years, but I think he's found his calling as an Auror, and I think that's where he feels he belongs. Or something along those lines. It might have changed again for all I know."

"Wow." Pippa seemed rather impressed and didn't say anything else.

They stood facing out towards the water. Usually they jumped around noon to get the maximum sunlight, but today, the sun was just setting in front of them.

"I just want to tell you two that I'm glad we're friends and that you two stuck by me throughout the years, even though I didn't always appreciate it. Hogwarts wasn't what any of us expected and definitely didn't turn out like all the stories we hear, but regardless of everything, I'm glad we made it through to the end," Pippa said in an oddly nostalgic moment. "The future is scary. Not going to lie. Even if we move away from each other, get crazy or weird jobs, find our significant others, have kids. . . we'll always be there for each other. Best friends until the end."

Aziza wrapped her arms around Pippa and Rose followed suite.

"We're in this together, Pippa. Always." They let go.

"That was rather sincere," joked Aziza. "I'm glad you're both are coming with me to Kenya for one month before we start – AHHH!"

Both Aziza and Rose screamed out as they were violently pushed into the water. Rose's arms were flailing and she hit the cold water with a large splash as a burst of bubbles cascaded around her. She scrambled to the surface and tried to get air into her frozen lungs but couldn't take deep enough breaths in the cold to satisfy her body. Pippa was standing on the grass above them with a triumphant grin on her face.

"Haha! Take that bitches! Seventh year is ending, woo woo!" She plugged her nose with one hand and cannonballed in, splashing the two girls.

"Tr – tr. . . trust P. . P. . P. . Pippa t- to t-take a h - h - h - heart-warming m.. moment and wr. . wr. . wreck it," stuttered out Rose.

As soon as Pippa surfaced, she was dunked down again by the combined efforts of Rose and Aziza. The three stayed out there for longer than they had any other time – enjoying and treasuring the brief slice of their youth before it ended completely.

---

The Quidditch finals that year were between Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw. For the second time since Aziza made the team, Hufflepuffs made it to the final, albeit narrowly.

When the game day came around, everyone took a break from studying for exams to go watch. In the Gryffindor stands was such a motley crew of Houses who were all cheering for Hufflepuff because most of them were bitter that Ravenclaw beat them in the semi-finals (Lily especially). Al and Josef were the only ones to not pick sides seated in the Gryffindor seating, for Ravenclaw was Al's house. Rose, Scorpius, and Pippa were whole heartedly in Hufflepuff colours.

The game was the longest Rose had ever gone to. For starting in the afternoon, it was well after supper that it finished with Ravenclaw finally catching the elusive snitch. It was an incredibly played game with Ravenclaw winning by only 50 points.

After the game, NEWT studying was on full force again. Time was ticking down to write the exams and everyone was cramming.

It was a bittersweet time for Rose. Now that they were in their final year, final month, she wasn't ready to leave. She was scared to go off into the world and be an adult. She felt too young. Too inexperienced. There was nothing she could do to stop each hour as it went by, each day. She spent most of it with her friends, her family, and Scorpius (they still weren't dating).

The tests were hard, but nothing they hadn't prepared for. The only noticeable mistake Rose did was to do a left swish instead of a right for the Transfiguration practical and turned the desk into a baby elephant instead of an oak wardrobe. She quickly made the appropriate correction.

Everything was going well and graduation was creeping up on them. Rose had one last exam and practical, Potions, when her world came crashing down. A small disaster happened that was completely unrelated to school.

Matilda wouldn't wake up.

She thought nothing of it as she got ready for the day. But as Guacamole hopped behind her when she was leaving, Matilda was still on her bed.

Realisation dawned.

"Hugo. Hugo!" Rose sobbed as she ran down the stairs to the Gryffindor Common Room. She had eyes only for her brother. "Hugo. Matilda is dead." She thrust out her hands to her brother where her toad lay. This was her first pet, the one she received when she was nine, the pet she had almost half her life.

The toad whisperer lifted Matilda from her hands and checked her heartbeat. He looked sadly at Rose as he pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and wrapped Matilda in it, tying a knot at the ends.

"She was a noble toad," he told her, "but her time has come. She lived a long life."

Hugo wrapped his arms around her and hugged her tightly.

She wanted to be alone as she went outside to bury her. Rose chose a spot by the lake shore where Matilda loved to jump in the water. She left nothing on the surface to mark the spot. Nobody but her would ever know the final resting place of Matilda because nobody except her understood the imperative role her toad had in her life. Guacamole seemed more sombre than usual as well as they stood by the waters, as if he understood what was happening.

Scorpius came up behind Rose as she stood there after Matilda was buried. He reached out to grab her hand.

"Hugo found me," he said softly. "He also said you wanted to be alone. . . but implied that you would probably want someone with you."

She squeezed his hand tight, grateful for his presence. "It's stupid I know. It's just a toad –"

"No, it's not stupid."

There wasn't much she could do after that. Scorpius took a few hours off his day to just sit with her and provide company, away from everyone.

She couldn't spend more time than that away from her books. This next test was quickly coming up and she needed to study. After that, there would be a small graduation ceremony and then they were all out of Hogwarts. Forever.

---

"Can you believe we survived Hogwarts? And now we're off to the real world now? Butternut squash," Rose said as she lounged in the compartment with her feet propped up on the seat opposite to her and Guacamole on her lap. She popped a jelly bean into her mouth.

Pippa snorted. "Butternut squash, yeahh right. Try pumpkin. I honestly won't believe it 'til we start school."

"It is pumpkin! For real Pippa how the hell do you guess these things!"

"Pure talent I must say. Pure talent."

They didn't stay by themselves for long. Soon Scorpius, Hugo, Al, Josef, and Lily filled the compartment and joined their guessing game with some trepidation. Nobody could guess the right flavours except Pippa who got it right twice more.

"Ready to officially meet my parents?" Rose whispered to Scorpius when they both leaned back in the seat and took themselves out of the game. He had his arm around her shoulders and she was snuggled in closely.

"Bloody scared. But they can't be worse than my parents, so I'm okay."

"It'll help that we're not dating."

"I wouldn't be scared of your parents if we were dating," he said quickly.

Lily rolled her eyes at Rose as she caught Scorpius's sentence.

Rose just wanted to wait - for what, she wasn't quite sure. Scorpius was right by the window and so she had a scenic view as they quietly talked amongst themselves. Her eyes eventually closed to his soothing hand running up and down her arm.

She faded in and out of consciousness to the noises around her. She had never felt so safe, comfortable, and unjudged. Someone threw some jelly beans at her and she could feel the deep rumble in Scorpius's chests when he spoke to tell them to stop.

He gently shook her awake when they reached the station and she honestly didn't want to get up. Austria would be so far away. . .

He waited for her as she fixed her hair and straightened her robes.

She grabbed his hand before they left the train and stopped him. "Okay, I'm done being an idiot," she sighed. "I'm just scared for the future and don't want putting a label on us to wreck our friendship and relationship. It won't though. I fancy you too much to let you slip through my fingers. Even though it's going to be tough to do long distance, I really want to make this work. . . so, want to officially start dating?"

Scorpius grinned at her. "Are you just testing that statement I made earlier? See if I'll run before I meet your parents?"

"'Course you won't run. I'll catch you."

"You are a smidge faster than me," Scorpius pointed out. "But I'll never run."

"I won't either."

They took deep breaths, clasped hands, and headed out to their future. She was sure her dad would handle it, no problem. . .

---

~xx~

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Literature referenced (indirectly):

Anne of Green Gables (1908) - L. M. Montgomery

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A/N: Only the epilogue now.. story is almost over :( But seriously, did anybody catch the Anne of Green Gables reference? It wasn't something blatant, but just a similarity that gave away a plot point back in Act I - and something only mentioned briefly in the first book of the Anne series. If you haven't read it, you probably won't know - but anybody who has... ?