AN: Hello my lovelies! A thousand apologies that this chapter has taken so much time, but I think once you all read it you will (hopefully) be happy. I spent a lot of time perfecting it, and also I've just had a ton of things going on in my life that needed taking care of before I could concentrate on this chapter. But because I made you wait so long, I also made this chapter EXTRA long ;). As in 38 pages on Word. So I hope it is to your liking!
I've got some of my job stuff figured out in my life so hopefully that means the next chapter will come soon. I also want to thank everyone who's favorited, followed, and reviewed this story. You guys are what keeps me writing! Anyways, enjoy! And please review!
Disclaimer: I don't own the characters, only the story.
Saturday, December 31st, 2022
Zabini Estate, Upper Flagely, Yorkshire, 1:30pm
The afternoon of December 31st found Rose, Scorpius, and Albus trudging up the path leading to the Zabini's house.
"I never get tired of these grounds," sighed Rose. "They're so gorgeous."
Scorpius smirked. "Funny you mention it. Ella's grandmother used to always boast about how Zabini estate had the best kept grounds and gardens, something she was really proud of. So Grandfather Lucius decided that Malfoy Manor's grounds had to look better than this place, because of course the Malfoys have to be better than everyone," he said sarcastically. "He never succeeded though, since he lost most of his money making reparations after the war, something that always amused Ella's grandmother."
"Your family had to make reparations?" Albus asked.
"Well, not my dad and grandmum. After the war, most of Lucius' assets were seized. While he was in Azkaban, the Ministry decided that at least half of his money should be given to the fund used to rebuild homes that had been destroyed by the Death Eaters. My grandmum had money in her name, and my dad's trust fund was under his control since he was of age, so believe me we still had plenty. But my dad also decided to donate money to helping rebuild Hogwarts. I think he felt slightly responsible for its damage," he finished quietly, looking down at the ground as they walked.
"That was really good of him," Rose said, smiling at Scorpius.
He smiled back. "Yeah I suppose. Still, despite that he still had quite a sizable trust fund. Enough to rebuild a few rooms in Malfoy Manor, and still live comfortably."
"Your grandfather must've loved that," Albus snickered.
Scorpius chuckled. "Not much he could do about it. His punishment included the Manor and all its land passing immediately onto my father. The only thing he let Lucius do was take care of the gardens, which he used some of my grandmother's money for. It's why we've still got those ridiculous damn peacocks running around."
Albus and Rose snorted at the mention of the regal looking white peacocks that strolled the grounds of Malfoy Manor. Reaching the front door, Scorpius lifted the door knocker and knocked three times. A few minutes later, a harried looking Mrs. Zabini answered the door.
"Oh hello kids! We weren't expecting you for another little while," she exclaimed, ushering them inside quickly.
"Sorry Mrs. Zabini," said Rose as she hugged her. "My parents had to run into the Ministry, so they asked us to head over here a little earlier. I hope that's ok."
"Of course it is, dear! Yes, your mum called and told me about the breakout," she said as she hugged Al and Scorpius too. "Terrible, terrible."
"She did?" Rose asked confused. She was under the impression that the Ministry was trying to keep it hushed until they made the official announcement.
"Yes. She seemed to think that the Carrows might try and go after Ella and Aiden as a means of recruiting Blaise since he's the last of the pureblood Zabinis," she said a little sadly. The others looked at each other, not sure what to say.
Trying to lighten the mood, Albus said, "Don't worry Mrs. Z, chances are they'd go after Rose and me first, seeing as our parents were directly responsible for their imprisonment."
Rose elbowed him in the stomach. "Not helpful," she hissed.
"Oh God, Albus dear, don't even joke about that," Evelyn said, though she smiled at him fondly. "Anyways, Aiden's helping Emily at the pub this afternoon so that she can come over later, and Ella went to lunch with her friend Andrew, but you're more than welcome to wait for them. I think Ella should be back soon."
The trio followed Ella's mother into the house. "Have you had anything to eat yet?"
"We had breakfast at my house, but if you have anything lying around I wouldn't mind…" Albus trailed off.
Mrs. Zabini chuckled. "Of course, you're growing boys. Come on, I'll whip up something quickly."
"Oh no, I don't want to put you out Mrs. Z," protested Albus.
"Nonsense dear, it'll be good for me. My own children are always running off somewhere, so I never get to do anything for them," she smiled, leading them into the kitchen.
The three of them sat down as Evelyn began to pull things out of the fridge. "So I hear you're off to Greece for a couple days?" asked Rose.
"Yes, I've always wanted to go, so Blaise decided to surprise me. I wanted to take the kids, but they were adamant about staying here with all of you for New Years. I suppose they don't want to celebrate with their old parents."
"Only old in age, but very young at heart," said Blaise as he snuck up behind Evelyn and pecked her on the cheek. Sitting down with the others, he said, "Hiya kids." The trio greeted him. "And where are my children? Don't tell me they're still in bed?"
Rose laughed. "No, Mr. Zabini. We came a bit early. Aiden's helping Emily, and Ella's on a date."
"A date you say? Who is this boy? Hmm I must question this lad as to his intentions. See what kind of dowry will be needed." The three kids laughed while Evelyn playfully hit her husband on the head.
"Oh stop it, leave the poor girl alone," she said, setting a platter of sandwiches down on the table.
"This looks great Mrs. Z, thanks," said Scorpius, helping himself to two sandwiches.
"Yeah, fanks," said Albus, mouth already full.
Evelyn ruffled his hair affectionately. "It's no problem."
A while later, Emily and Aiden walked into the kitchen. "Mm something smells good mum. Oh hi you lot," Aiden said upon seeing his friends. The boys nodded in greeting while Rose waved and got up to hug Emily, and they all sat back down at the table.
Twenty minutes later Ella strolled into the kitchen looking quite happy. Upon seeing her friends she stopped and adopted a confused look. "Weren't you guys supposed to come later?"
Rose grinned. "Yeah sorry El, my parents had to go to work early so we came over a bit ahead of time. But never mind all that, how was your date?" Rose asked.
Blushing and noticing her brother, dad, and the other two boys looking to interested in her answer, she muttered, "I'll tell you and Em later."
Blaise raised an eyebrow. "And might I ask who this chap is?"
Avoiding her father's eye, Ella groaned. "Dad please, not now."
Blaise turned to Aiden expectantly who looked back and forth between his father's expectant stare and his sister's warning glare. "Sorry dad, she scares me more. But he's on the Quidditch team with me and a nice enough bloke."
"A Ravenclaw eh? Very well, I suppose the background check can wait until the new year," he said, winking at Ella who rolled her eyes.
"Blaise, stop teasing her. Come on, we'd better get the suitcases, the portkey leaves in a half an hour. So kids you'll be away for tonight, but back tomorrow?"
"Yeah mum, there's a small party at Teddy's house, just the Weasley cousins mostly, then the girls are saying over at Molly Weasley's apartment while the boys stay with Teddy," Ella lied smoothly.
"Alright just be safe and everything. You know the combo to the safe if you need any money, and Pokey's here to cook you food."
"I know mum, thanks."
"Ok, well we'll miss you darlings." Evelyn hugged them all. "Be good and have fun."
She walked out of the kitchen. Blaise got up to follow her but as soon as she was out of earshot, he turned back to the kids. "Alright you lot, I was young once so I know there will probably be drinking tonight. There's not much I can do to stop it, so just be safe please?"
"Drinking? Us?" Aiden said, a little to innocently. "Dad how could you even- yeah fine, we'll be safe," he broke under is father's amused stare.
"You better. Have fun, but not too much, and see you in a few days," he said, clapping his son on the back, kissing the top of Ella's head, then waving to the rest of the kids.
Thirty minutes later the parents left, and Ella turned to the others. "Alright, time to get this place party ready," she grinned. "Scorp, Al, and Aiden, you guys go around and gather up anything valuable. Take it to dad's study, because we're sealing off that room tonight. And make a list of where everything goes. Nothing will get past mum the interior decorator. Rose, Em, and I will start decorations and then food." The others nodded. "Also we're gonna have to double up on rooms tonight."
"How come? I thought you said there was enough for everyone to have their own room?" Scorpius asked.
"Yeah, but I forgot that 4 of the extra bedrooms are being used for storage, and dad sealed off three others since we don't have that many guests. So there are five left, and ten of you." She turned to Emily. "Em, are you staying over?"
"Yeah."
"Alright so you can stay with Aiden, then I'm thinking James and Al, Lorcan and Scorp, Rose and Molly, Lucy and Dom, and Fred and Liz. Does that work?"
"Oh thank god, no more Potter snoring," said Scorpius happily, dancing around to dodge a punch from Al.
Aiden smirked, "Yeah now you just have to deal with Scamander snoring."
Scorpius' smile slipped right off his face as the others laughed. "Fuck."
"So, the date?" Rose prodded. The girls were currently in the kitchen getting snacks together. They'd finished decorating the few rooms where most of the party would take place.
"Oh right," said Ella while raiding the pantry. "We had lunch at this little cafe near his house. It was… nice."
"Nice?" asked Emily while cutting up vegetables.
"Yeah nice. I mean… well… I dunno, it's just he talked about Quidditch an awful lot. And you know me, I love Quidditch, I'm on the team for Merlin's sake, but I thought we might have some other interests in common."
"So not a good date then?" asked Rose as she gathered a variety of cookies together.
Ella smirked. "Well the snogging was good."
The other two laughed. "You little minx," laughed Emily.
Ella smiled. "So did Aiden get over whatever tiff you guys were having? He seemed ok over the past few days."
Emily sighed. "Not so much get over it as ignore that it ever happened and pretend everything is ok."
"What was it even about?"
"Nothing major. He just mentioned our future and kids and stuff and I may have freaked out a little," she quietly trailed off at the end.
Rose chuckled "Isn't the bloke usually the one who's supposed to be scared of commitment?"
"I'm not scared of commitment," Emily protested, "I just don't want to make any major plans when our futures aren't completely determined. I mean I'm positive I'm going to marry that boy, but he wants to play Quidditch and that involves traveling, not even to mention that he might not play for a team in England, and… well… I just don't want to hold him back. I don't want him to be disappointed if we plan everything now and it doesn't happen accordingly."
"That makes sense. Did you tell him that?"
"I tried to," Emily sighed. "But he left so quickly that day that I couldn't explain it properly. And I've tried bringing it up since then but he just changes the subject. He's ignoring the issue and pretending like it never happened."
"That sounds like my brother. He was never good with confrontation."
"Yeah well I'm not letting it go any further. I'm making him talk tonight if it's the last bloody thing I do."
"And how do you plan on doing that?" asked Rose.
"Oh I have my ways," said Emily, with a devious look on her face. "I figure tonight after the party, when it's just the two of us I should be able to make him talk. He's usually pretty tired after we-"
"Nononono lalalalala lalala lala," shouted Ella suddenly, plugging her ears until Emily stopped talking and stared at her in confusion. "Em, please, I do not want to know about what you and my brother get up to when you're alone."
Emily laughed and help up her hands in apology. "Sorry. Sometimes I forget you're not just my best friend, but also my boyfriend's sister."
"Yeah yeah, let's just leave it at you're going to talk to him. Alright so the food is ready, time to go spell the stairs." The other two looked at her in confusion, so she beckoned for them to follow her. "We're going to restrict the party to downstairs. Mels taught me this fantastic spell that allows only certain people to enter a room, and I modified it to apply to the staircases."
"Nott knows that complex of a spell?" Rose asked.
"Yeah. Her brother is always trying to get into her room at home so she used it so only she could get in. Basically I just have to say the spell once, then repeat it including the names of each person allowed upstairs. Lucky the Ministry can't detect who is doing magic." Turning to the staircase, she took out her wand. "Termino totus, " she muttered, swishing her wand, then jabbing it towards the staircase. Stepping forward, she was stopped by some invisible barrier. Satisfied, she raised her wand again and said, "Termino totus praeter Daniella Zabini." Stepping forward again, she was able to walk up the staircase. Turning around she said, "Go on, try and get up here."
Emily walked towards the staircase. Putting her hand on the banister, she attempted to climb the first step, only to be stopped by the invisible barrier. "That's brilliant," she said. "I've got to try this at home. Maybe it'd stop Tommy from trying to snoop in my room all the time."
Ella smiled as walk descended the staircase. Turning back to the stairs, she began to repeat the spell for everyone staying over. As she got to the end, Rose put out a hand to stop her. "Wait. Why don't we mess around with the boys a little," she said, grinning evilly.
Ella looked interested. "What did you have in mind?"
"I can't believe she did that," Aiden said as he picked up a porcelain vase off a stand.
"Believe it mate, it was hilarious," said Al.
"I would not describe it as hilarious Albus Severus Potter. More like humiliating," Scorpius snapped. Scorpius had just finished telling Aiden about the howler Ava had sent him at the Potters earlier in the week. "It bloody exploded just as we were sitting down for dinner, yelling that I'd probably cheated on her and who was the 'whore' I was cheating with. That girl is bloody insane."
"That's lightly putting it," said Al. "Although I think James, Lily, and my parents were all quite entertained."
"Merlin your parents must think I'm awful."
"Nah. Dad said Uncle Ron had to deal with a similarly clingy girlfriend in his sixth year. Although apparently she would just burst into tears all the time," he laughed.
"At this point I'd take anything over the anger," Scorpius muttered.
"No you wouldn't," interjected Aiden. "Remember last year when Lorcan dated that bird- what was her name- Lisa? No Liza! Yeah Liza. Anyways he dated her for what, a month, and then dumped her. She went through some sort of anger phase, and right after that was some kind of seduction phase. She kept trying to snog him all over the place. We'd be walking to class, and she'd yank him into some broom cupboard or empty classroom out of nowhere."
Scorpius groaned. "Merlin that's the last thing I need. What are the chances that Ava will skip the party tonight?"
Albus nodded his head thoughtfully for a few moments before saying, "Slim to none."
"Bloody fantastic. Well I'm spending the entire night avoiding her then."
"That's the spirit!" Aiden said sarcastically, clapping Scorpius on the back enthusiastically. "Avoid the problem, always a good plan."
Scorpius lifted an eyebrow. "Hark who's talking. Talk to Emily about your future recently?"
Aiden froze and narrowed his eyes. "That's completely different."
"Is it? Explain please."
Aiden balked. "I- I mean we just- Well I- oh bugger off." He turned and stomped down the hall to go fetch another vase.
Scorpius turned to Al, who shot him a scolding glare. "Was that really necessary?"
Scorpius sighed and gestured for them to follow Aiden. When they reached him, Scorpius said, "Sorry mate, that was uncalled for."
Aiden sighed. "But you're right. I have been avoiding the subject with her," he said. "I just… I don't wanna fight about it with her anymore. I just wanna forget it ever happened so we can go back to normal."
"Has she tried to talk to you about it again?" Albus asked.
"Yeah," Aiden sighed, "But I keep changing the subject or finding a quick excuse to leave the room. I'm just… I'm just worried that she doesn't see a future for us, that she's just telling me she does to not hurt me."
Scorpius scoffed. "Bollocks. If you two aren't meant to end up together, then I'm a flobberworm. And as you can see I am not a flobberworm, but an extremely handsome bloke." Albus and Aiden rolled their eyes. "You need to talk to her. She probably wants to just explain herself."
"Maybe you're right."
"I'm always right," Scorpius answered confidently, earning a skeptical looks from Aiden and an eye roll from Albus.
The girls picked that moment to enter the room, with their hands behind their backs. "Hey boys," greeted Ella. "How's the valuables round up going?"
Aiden answered. "Good. This was the last hall, so we're done. What's next?"
"I think we're pretty much done, so we were just going- THINK FAST!"
On the last two words Ella, Rose, and Emily whipped out snowballs from behind their backs, and proceeded to throw them at the boys. Momentarily stunned, the boys reacted a few seconds late, giving the three girls a head start in sprinting out down the hall and towards the staircase.
"What the bloody hell?!" yelled Aiden. He ran after the girls, followed closely by Albus and Scorpius. "I swear to Merlin we'll get you back for that."
The three boys chased the girls down the hall, and around the corner towards the staircase.
"Seriously, you three better ru- OOMPH!" Suddenly Aiden ran into the invisible barrier at the staircase, with Albus and Scorpius crashing into him from behind. The three of them fell backwards onto the ground, almost comically, while the girls burst into laughter on the stairs.
"You… should… see… your… faces," wheezed Rose as she clutched her stomach.
Albus, Scorpius, and Aiden all sat up and groaned, each one holding a different injured part of their body. "What the hell is this?" groaned Albus.
Ella descended down the steps. "Just a little spell for only allowing certain people upstairs tonight."
Getting up, Scorpius walked forward and reached out towards the stairs, only for his hand to hit the invisible barrier. "Brilliant. Bloody awful right now, but brilliant," he conceded. "Is this the same one Mels uses at home?"
Ella nodded. "Yeah, she taught it to me. Alright, let me add you guys now that the fun is over," she grinned, while the boys glared at her use of the word 'fun.' "What? Don't blame me, it was Rose's idea."
Rose gasped. "Traitor!"
"Oh ha bloody ha. Rose's idea or not, just you wait until we get all of you back," Albus informed them. "When you least expect it." The girls merely kept smiling, while Rose shot him a 'bring it on' look.
After Ella had added the boys with the spell, the six of them headed to the kitchen to eat an early dinner. Just as they were finishing eating, a loud knock was heard from the front hall. "Must be Lorcan. I'll get him," Aiden offered.
"How come he didn't come earlier?" Emily asked.
"Um I think Luna and Rolf took them to London today. Some family outing or something."
"Bloody tiring is what it was," said Lorcan, following Aiden into the kitchen. He quickly greeted them all before sitting down. "We spent the whole day going around parks so mum and dad could look for some new species of Crumple Horned Snorkacks. And of course Lysander went along with it, trying to suck up to them because he's been itching for a new broom. So I was left with Sarah, who talked my ear off about Albus the entire time." Albus groaned. Mimicking Sarah's voice, Lorcan continued. "'Oh Lorcan what do you think Albus' favorite color is? Do you think he'd like this t-shirt if I bought it for him? It would go so nicely with his eyes,' and blah blah blah. I love you mate, but I swear, there's only so much I can hear about your 'sparkling green eyes'."
The others all laughed as Albus just put his face in his hands.
"But I have the perfect way to unwind, for us all." Lifting his bag, Lorcan reached inside and pulled out a large bottle Firewhiskey and grinned.
"How did you get that?!"
"Nicked it from my dad," he grinned. "What's say we get this party started a little early?"
"Hold on. Let's get ready for the party, then start," Ella reasoned. "I don't fancy trying to do my make up while drunk." She grabbed her brother's arm to look at his watch. "It's five thirty now, let's get ready and meet back down here say… Seven? Party's at eight, so that should give us plenty of time."
"Fair enough," Lorcan said. "What room am I in?"
"Oh right. You guys can pick whatever rooms you want, but Lorcan you're sharing with Scorp. We have to double up on rooms. All the rooms have their own bathrooms. Em, Rose, go shower then come to my room. We can get ready together." The two girls agreed and they all left to get ready.
An hour later, Emily, Rose, and Ella were in Ella's room doing each other's make up.
"Rose what color is your dress?" Emily asked. "I need to figure out your eye shadow colors."
"I'm deciding between a royal blue one or emerald green with silver sequins. What do you think?"
"Is the green one the one we picked out together? From Hogsmeade?" Rose nodded. "Then definitely that one. So when's Zach getting here?"
Rose sighed. "I think he's coming with most of the Ravenclaw team. He said they'd come soon after eight. I dunno I think he might still be a little mad at me."
"Why?" Ella asked as she dried her hair with her wand.
"He finally flat out asked me why I was avoiding meeting his parents, so I told him I didn't think I was ready. He didn't seem to happy about that."
"Hmph, well that his problem. Don't give in to what he wants if you don't feel comfortable with it Rosie," Ella declared confidently.
"Yeah… The funny thing is I don't think he's mad, but more sad. Like he thought we were at that place. I dunno, we seem to be on two different levels in this relationship."
"Are you… are you thinking of breaking up with him?" Emily asked cautiously.
"Oh god no, nothing that serious. Merlin I'm making this it to be something more than it is. I think I just have to sit him down and explain where I'm at right now. I must've given him some impression that I was ready for that step or something." she shrugged. "But no more about this. Tonight is drama free."
Ella snorted. "Ha! Drama free? Let's count the ways that won't happen. First we've got Scorpius' very recent ex girlfriend coming, and Merlin knows she's been causing shit for him all week. Second, Albus' crush is coming with her boyfriend, and Albus himself has a date, so that should be interesting. Then if course there's the fact that half the girls coming have been involved with either Lorcan or James at some point or another, and Lorcan has a date, so that's a disaster waiting to happen. Oh and then there's thelittlefactthatLaureniscom ing," Ella finished, speeding up at the end on purpose.
Rose's eyes snapped open causing Ella to mess up slightly on her make up. "Rose!" Emily cried, trying to fix the messed up eye shadow.
Rose waved her hand away and turned toward Ella. "What was that last part?" she hissed.
"Um well, Lauren and some of her friends might be coming," she said, though it was posed as more of a question.
Rose looked incredulous. "Why would they be coming?!"
Ella sighed in defeat. "I'm sorry Rosie, really I am. But Lauren lives near Andrew and saw us at lunch today. She came over to say hi to him, and he let it slip about the party tonight. I couldn't not invite her after that."
"Yes! Yes you could have!" Rose cried.
"Rose be reasonable. Look I know she's not your favorite person, and you two have this weird competition going on, but I made her promise that she'd be on her best behavior tonight, and that I wouldn't hesitate to kick her out if she started anything with you."
Rose huffed but didn't say anything further as she closed her eyes to let Emily fix her make up. "Ok, but I swear if she starts anything, I will hex her."
Ella smiled. "And you have my full permission. So which do you think Andrew will like better, the silver or the black dress?"
"Black, definitely black," Emily said. Rose nodded in agreement.
"Black it is," said Ella, going into her bathroom to change. She came out five minutes later decked out in a strapless black baby doll dress that stopped mid-thigh.
"Gorgeous," gushed Emily.
Rose nodded in agreement. "You look stunning El."
Ella smiled and went over to get her make up done while Rose gathered her dress and went to change. Pulling the dress over her head, she looked in the mirror. Now that she got a full look at it, she noticed was looking very Slytherin tonight. The dress was emerald green. It had a one shouldered strap, and flowed loosely to just about mid thigh. Contrasting beautifully with the green were silver sequins randomly sewn in all over the material. Lifting plain silver belt, she put it around the dress to cinch it around her waist. Finished, she looked in the mirror and was pleased with the outcome. As she walked out of the bathroom, she asked, "So what do you think?"
"Perfect!" Emily said, while Ella nodded and haves a thumbs up as her lipstick was being applied. "Now for your hair, I was thinking you should put it up to show of the design of the dress."
"Sounds good to me. We almost ready? The boys aren't above starting without us." The other two nodded as Rose sat down to do her hair.
At ten past seven the girls were finally ready and headed downstairs. Hearing voices coming from the living room, they opened the doors to find the boys strewn around the room, and quite a bit of the firewhiskey already gone.
"Merlin, we're only ten minutes late!" Ella admonished. "You couldn't wait?"
"Oh shut it, and just start drinking," retorted Lorcan, handing her the bottle and a few glasses. Ella rolled her eyes before taking it from him and sitting down next to him on the floor. She poured a generous amount of firewhiskey into the three glasses and handed two of them to Rose and Emily. Emily then went over to sit on Aiden's lap on his chair, while Rose took the seat between Albus and Scorpius on the couch, across from Lorcan and Ella.
Leaning towards Rose, Scorpius smiled and said softly, "That's a really nice color on you Weasels."
Rose blushed slightly before grinning at him. "Thanks Ferret. Emily decided on it." Scorpius made a mental note to thank Emily later, as Rose was once again decked out in his favorite color. "I dunno how much Zach will like it though, he's not too keen on the color green."
Scorpius scoffed. "We'll he's an idiot then, you look fantastic." Rose looked down before giving him a weak smile.
"Are you two done flirting or can we get on with it?" Lorcan asked sarcastically, causing the two of them to break out of the moment.
"Oh sod off," Rose retorted, missing Scorpius' slight blush. "And get on with what? We're not doing anything."
"Well, while you two were making googly eyes at each other, we decided to play 'never have I ever.'"
"I thought we decided on truth and dare earlier?" Scorpius asked.
"Yeah well buzzkill over here," he indicated toward Ella, who shot him a rude hand gesture, "said no dares while they're in their dresses. So we're doing this instead. Basic rules, you put a finger down and drink if you've done the given thing. If you say something you've done just to get someone else out, you have to double drink. I think that's it." Lorcan grinned and lifted his hand, wiggling his fingers as indication for everyone else to mirror him.
"I want it to go on record that I think this is an awful idea," Scorpius declared.
"Noted and disregarded," Ella replied, Albus stifling a snicker. "Alright I'll go first. Never have I ever… been caught by McGonagall with my pants down while snogging in a broom cupboard."
Lorcan's eyes widened and he turned to her as everyone else doubled over in laughter. "You bitch," he laughed while putting his first finger down. "You said you wouldn't tell anyone!"
"I didn't, you did," Ella snickered.
"When… did that… happen?!" Aiden asked, clutching Emily so he didn't fall over.
"Last year," grumbled Lorcan, taking a long drink from his cup. "McGonagall was doing rounds that night instead of the prefects. She caught me with Jessica Lewis. Bloody witch took away fifty points and gave me two weeks worth of detentions."
"You told me that that was because you'd gotten into a fight with that seventh year bloke, Damien!" Rose exclaimed.
"Yeah well that sounds a lot better than the actual story. Alright my turn," he said, glaring evilly at Ella. "Never have I ever had a crush on Albus."
The group turned towards Ella who visibly blanched and put down a finger. "Ok ok. What the idiot failed to mention was it was back in third year. And it wasn't even serious, I just thought he was cute." She took a long drink as Albus raised his eyebrows and sent her a mocking wink causing her to choke then laugh. "Alright Em you're- wait, why do you have a finger down? Oh my god, when did you have a crush on Albus?!"
Emily huffed. "How do you know McGonagall didn't just catch me snog- oh all right, don't get you knickers in a twist. It was when we were like eight ok? He and James were the only boys I'd ever been around, and James was always off with Fred and Louis."
"Ladies, no need to make excuses," Albus said with dramatic flair. "We all know I'm irresistible." Their reply came in the form of two cushions being thrown at him.
"Yeah yeah, alright my turn. Mmmmm, never have I ever…" Emily said thoughtfully. Suddenly her face lit up. "Never have I ever had a sex dream about a shirtless James Potter."
Albus and Scorpius spit out what was in their mouths, while Rose and Lorcan's jaws dropped and Aiden made a face.
"Em, what the hell?!" Ella exclaimed, while Emily hid her laughing face in Aiden's shirt, and the others stared at Ella. "That was a sodding secret! What is this, 'call Ella out' night?"
"Ew, Ella you had a crush on me, then fantasized about my brother?" Albus said, making a face.
"Ok well those things were like three years apart," she replied defensively.
"Wait, so this dream was recent?" Rose asked, mentally calculating the time.
"Ok no, we are not talking about my sister's dirty dreams while I'm here," Aiden interrupted, before Rose could launch a full on interrogation. "Save it for the slumber party girls, it's my turn." Ella sent a silent thanks to her brother and he nodded back.
"Never have I ever-"
His turn was interrupted when green flames erupted in the fireplace. As the flames died down, James Potter emerged from the fireplace carrying a large case, followed by Louis, Fred, and Fred's girlfriend Liz.
"As per you request my lady, the drinks," James said teasingly, walking over to Ella. "Where should I put this?" He smiled at Ella, who blushed slightly and put on a strained smile as the group focused their intention on her. Lorcan was not so subtly wagging his eyebrows at her, while Scorpius attempted to stifle his laughter and Albus still looked a bit disgusted. Before she could answer, Emily winked suggestively at her, causing Ella to shoot death glares at all four of them. Confused, James began to turn around. "What's going on-"
Ella immediately turned him back towards her and said, "Um nothing. Let's go away from here and put it in the kitchen." Steering him towards the doors, she turned around to scowl at her friends again, only to find them all laughing and Fred, Louis, and Liz looking very confused. Sighing, she followed James out the room and towards the kitchen.
"That was pretty mean," said Rose before erupting into a fit of laughter. "But Merlin, so worth anything she'll retaliate with." The others nodded as Louis and Fred gave up on trying to figure out what they were talking about and joined in to play the game. "You're still up Aiden."
"Right. Uh never have I ever… skinny dipped in the Black Lake."
"That was one time!" Al and Scorpius exclaimed at the same time. "And you were the one who dared us to you git," added Scorpius.
"And it was so worth it when we stole your clothes before you got out," Lorcan snickered avoiding Albus' glare. "Your turn Scorp."
"Um, never have I ever… been in love." Around the room, Aiden, Emily, Albus, Fred, and Liz put a finger down and drank from their cups.
"Predictable," commented Louis. "Except you Rosie, no love for your git boyfriend?"
"Don't call him a git Louis," she scowled, though she didn't comment any further on the matter, to which Scorpius smiled slightly. "My turn. Never have I ever…"
"So was it hard to get then?" Ella asked. She and James were in the kitchen unloading the bottles of firewhiskey and butterbeer from the cases he'd brought.
"Nah. I was having lunch with Demetria Jennings today, you know our captain from last year? Anyways, I mentioned I needed to get it for a party and she offered to do it the legal way. Said she couldn't have Gryffindor losing the Quidditch cup because their captain was suspended or something," he laughed.
"Oh good," she smiled in relief. "Thanks again, I really owe you." He smiled in return and continued taking out bottles.
"By the way, you look really nice."
"Thanks James. I really hope Andrew likes it," she gushed, missing James' grimace.
Wanting to change the subject, he asked, "So what else have you lot been up to today?"
"Not much," Ella replied. "My parents left this morning so we spent most of the day party proofing the place. Then we got ready and were just playing 'never have I ever' when you guys got here."
James laughed. "Oh so that's what that was. And let me guess, they got something embarrassing out of you?"
She blushed. "You could say that," she muttered.
"Go on then, what was it?" James prodded.
"Oh no. Nuh uh, I am not telling you. I'm taking it to my grave," Ella stated.
Suddenly arms grabbed her from behind and pulled her close. "Come on El," James breathed in her ear. "Don't make me… tickle it out of you!" He began tickling her as she squirmed in his arms.
"James… no!" she wheezed as she laughed.
"Not until you tell me," he grinned, still attacking her with his hands. Turning around in his arms while still hysterically laughing, she unsuccessfully tried to push him away.
"James… please…" she gasped.
"Ella?"
James stopped tickling her as another voice came from nearby. Gasping to catch her breath, Ella turned to see Liz at the doorway.
"Oh hey Liz, what's up?" she asked, still breathing heavily.
"Sorry to bother you, but I was trying to get upstairs to put my stuff away and I couldn't get up the staircase."
"Oh Merlin I'm sorry, I forgot to add you." James and Liz looked confused. "I put a spell on the stairs to only allow the people who are staying over to go upstairs. I must've forgotten your name in the multitude of Weasleys," she grinned apologetically. "C'mon, I'll go add you. James, I'll be right back."
"And I'll be trying to figure out your secret," he said, grinning at the mocking look she sent him. Ten minutes later she returned to the kitchen. "So a spell to keep people out? Hmm handy, I should learn that for home so Lily and my mum stay out of my stuff," James noted.
"Yeah I figured it would lessen then number of people from the party shagging in our bedrooms," Ella laughed. "But if you need to get someone else up there, let me know."
"Who would I need to take up there?"
"Oh uh, I dunno," Ella stammered. "Maybe a girl or something…"
James chuckled. "No date for me tonight. The girl I fancy is um… sorta unavailable."
Ella raised her eyebrows and scoffed. "Please James, who's unavailable to you? Mr. Gryffindor King? Mr. Star Chaser? I mean come on, you're smart, gorgeous, and wickedly talented on the Quidditch pitch. Who could resist those charms?" she teased, pinching his cheeks in a joking manner.
James rolled his eyes, but his face grew slightly red as soon Ella turned around to throw away the box. "Apparently one girl," he muttered.
"Hmm?"
"Oh, uh nothing. Um I think that's all of the drinks, should we take it out there?"
"Finally," Ella sighed and nodded. "Let's go." They began to carry bottles and cups to the main party room.
"Never have I ever had sex," Louis declared.
"Yes you have you wanker," Fred tried to smack Louis in the head, but fell over in the attempt, causing Louis to burst out laughing. By this point in the game the two of them had somehow become more drunk than the rest, despite joining in late.
"I know I just wanted to see who had," Louis slurred. Scorpius rolled his eyes in amusement as he put a finger down and looked around the circle. Unsurprisingly, Aiden, Emily, Liz, Fred, Louis, and Lorcan had also put a finger down.
Everyone except Scorpius looked at Al in surprise. "Al?" Rose asked.
"What?" he muttered.
"You and Jill never…?"
Al sighed. "No we didn't. Never felt right I suppose."
"Hmm I always just assumed… Scorp, why don't you look surprised?" Lorcan demanded.
"Because I already knew." He shot a smile at his best friend. Scorpius looked at Rose, who had looked a bit put out momentarily, but as soon as she caught him staring, she looked away.
"Well Rosie, it looks like we're the last ones," Albus said wiggling the one finger he had left.
She grinned. "And it's my turn," she teased. "Knowing most of your secrets will finally come in handy." Albus paled slightly as Rose grinned evilly at him. "Never have I ever had a dirty dream about Mrs. Malfoy."
Albus face drained of color as he groaned and put his face in his hands as Rose smiled and lifted her hands in triumph. Scorpius' eyes widened in horror.
"Bloody hell Al! That's my mum!" complained Scorpius, shuddering at the thought.
"You too, huh?" Lorcan asked Al, causing Scorpius to stare at him in shock. Lorcan grinned at him. "What Scorp? Your mom is hot. Definitely shaggab-"
"Don't you dare finish that sentence Scamander," Scorpius threatened. Getting up he shot his two friends a dirty look and walked towards the door. "I need a stronger drink," he muttered as the others all laughed at him.
"Mate, in my defense it was like fourth year," Al called out, only to be answered with a rude gesture. He chuckled. "Well that's the game. Rosie wins, albeit through dirty tricks." He nudged her, but Rose shrugged in innocence. "C'mon guys, people will be getting here soon."
Emily jumped on Aiden's back and yelled, "To the party room, boyfriend!" He chuckled and held onto her legs as he carried her out. They entered the other room to find James and Ella playfully arguing.
"Come on, you have to tell me!"
"No James, I don't," she retorted. "Oh hey guys."
"What does she have to tell you?" Lorcan asked, popping an cookie in his mouth.
"What her secret from the game was."
Lorcan grinned evilly. "Oh that. Well see-"
"Lorcan if you want what happened last summer to remain secret, you better shut your mouth," Ella hissed. "And you know what I'm talking about."
Lorcan scowled and shut his mouth promptly.
"Fine," huffed James. "But I will get it out of you eventually." Ella shook her head. The fireplace burst with flames and died down to reveal the rest of the Weasley cousins who were coming. "About time you guys showed up," grinned James.
"Well Jamesy my dear, it takes time to get to this perfection," replied Dominnique, hugging the other girls. Molly and Lucy followed her. "Vic says hi. And to not go too crazy tonight." The others smirked at this as the doorbell rang.
"Ah good, people are here. I'll get it." Ella smiled happily.
As she went to go answer the door, James began pouring out the firewhiskey into shot glasses. Passing the glasses around, he said "Alright kids, bottoms up. It's going to be a long night."
Two hours later and the party was in full swing. A majority of the sixth and seventh years from Hogwarts were there, with a few fifth years thrown in, totaling no fewer than sixty people.
"Albus!" Albus turned from talking to James and Scorpius to see his date, Cassie, walking towards him. "Hi," she smiled and hugged him.
"Hey," he said. "I'm glad you're here. Did you find the place ok?"
"Yeah, sorry I'm late. Got held up at the shop while closing up."
"No problem," he replied. James nudged him slightly. "Oh sorry, uh Cassie this is my brother James, and my best friend Scorpius."
The two of them smiled and shook hands with her. "Nice to finally put a face to the name," said James. "You look familiar though, do you go to Hogwarts?"
"Uh no. You've probably seen me at Fortescues'. Actually I just moved back here six months ago from Austria. My dad was the English ambassador to their Ministry, and when we moved back my mom just decided to home school me for my seventh year."
"An older woman, eh Al," James teased.
"Shut up James. Cassie, you want a drink?"
She nodded and the two of them left. Staring after them, James said, "So what do you think, enough to get Darcy off his mind tonight?"
"Not by a long shot," sighed Scorpius. It wasn't that Cassie wasn't pretty or nice, but rather Albus was fooling himself if he thought it would be that easy to get over Darcy. "Speak of the devil," he muttered to James, nodding his head towards the other side of the room. Standing against the wall chatting happily with some other sixth years was Darcy. "I better go tell Al, he's trying to avoid her and Davies all night."
"Ok," said James distractedly, his focus now on another couple on the other side of the room. Scorpius left and James scowled as he watched Andrew Turner whisper something in Ella's ear which made her laugh. "Fuck, I definitely need something stronger than this," he muttered to himself, finishing his drink quickly.
At the drinks table, Al poured some firewhiskey into a glass. Turning he saw Rose and Zach talking to his date, happy that Rose had taken to Cassie easily.
"Just thought you should know…" Scorpius trailed off as he approached his best friend. His eyes narrowed as he noticed Zach standing with Rose, his hand on the small of her back moving in small circles, as she chatted with Cassie. It seemed that whatever disagreement the couple had been having had been resolved.
"Scor?" Al looked confused.
"Right, um sorry. Darcy's here," said Scorpius.
Albus looked around quickly. "Where?"
Scorpius turned to point out where she had been only to find that she wasn't standing there anymore. "I swear she was just right-"
"Hey guys." The two boys froze and slowly turned around to see a smiling Darcy. She was dressed in a strapless purple dress that highlighted her eyes beautifully. Her hair was a bit straighter than usual and fell in tresses around her shoulders evenly.
"Darcy, h-hi," stammered Albus. "Glad you could come."
"Me too. How was your Christmas Al?"
"Pretty good. Um my cousin got engaged so that was cool. Anything else Scorp?" Scorpius shook his head, trying to figure out how best to help Al out of this situation. Luckily for him, a distraction came their way. Unluckily for them, it was in the form of Darcy's boyfriend.
"Potter, Malfoy," Callum greeted them cordially as he came over. "Darcy, I thought you were getting us drinks?"
"Sorry, I got caught up talking to Albus and Scorpius."
"No problem, I'll get them. Although I think Phoebe was wondering where you went. Says she's having some sort of crisis. Something about Todd Jenkins coming here with another girl?"
"Right, I better go talk to her," Darcy sighed. "I'll see you guys later?" she asked, sounding hopeful.
Al smiled noncommittally and she left. Albus sighed and whispered, "Well so far I'm doing a shit job at avoiding her."
"It'll get easier, mate. She was bound to want to at least say hi to you. Now you can avoid her for the rest of the night. C'mon, let's get you back to your date," Scorpius said. Unfortunately before they could leave, Callum returned from getting drinks and decided to strike up a chat about Quidditch. After ten minutes of discussing how good the Falcons' chances were against the Harpies the next weekend, and not noticing Al's subtle looks of annoyance, relief came in the most unlikely form.
"Callum, there you are! I've been looking for you." Lauren Montague sauntered up to the three boys. "Oh hey Scor. Al. Great party," she purred, winking at them both.
"Thanks Lauren," Scorpius replied. Desperate to escape her flirtations, he quickly added, "Sorry but we've really got to be getting back to Al's date. Have a good time." He and Al quickly left, leaving the two Ravenclaws looking a bit confused.
"Fucking Ravenclaws, I swear," muttered Scorpius, earning a laugh from his friend as he steered them through the crowd.
"Zach, where are we going?" Rose asked, smiling as her boyfriend pulled her along the hallway.
"You'll see," he called back teasingly. She gave up trying to figure it out, and let him steer her down the hallway and into a small study, stumbling slightly from the alcohol she'd had . Once inside, he pulled her to him and kissed her. Rose made small sound of surprise, but melted into the kiss soon enough. Turning her around, he lifted her so that she was sitting on the desk as she linked her hands behind his neck. As he began to trail kisses across her jaw she sighed happily.
Before the party, things had been a little tense between them ever since she'd said she wasn't ready to meet his parents. But as soon as he'd arrived, he'd taken her aside and apologized, saying that it'd been wrong of him to be mad at her for the way she felt. After that things had been much better, and they'd been able to have fun. She'd even managed to avoid Lauren Montague for most of the evening, only seeing her talking to Callum Davies a few times. For the most part, she and Zach had been talking to Albus' date Cassie, until Zach had asked to talk to her privately, which had led them to their current situation.
"Zach," she breathed as he lightly sucked on her neck. "We… should… get back… to… the party."
"Mmm soon babe," he mumbled, kissing back up her neck. She sighed as his mouth made its way back to hers and she pulled him closer, deepening the kiss. Everything was going fine, until his hands slowly started to creep under her dress and she turned her head away.
"Zach, stop," she admonished softly. He didn't hear her as he continued to kiss her neck and slip his hands under her dress.
"Zach, seriously. Stop," she scolded him, pushing him off her.
He groaned. "Sorry, sorry."
She nodded as she straightened out her dress a bit. "It's fine. I'm just… I'm still not ready for that."
"I know, I'm sorry Rosie. I swear I didn't bring you here for that, I just got a little carried away," he mumbled.
"It's ok," she said quietly, and reached up to kiss him softly on the lips. "Come on, we'd better go back. We left most of your team alone with Dominique. Who knows what her Veela charms have done to those poor boys by now." Zach chuckled softly as Rose hopped down from the desk and straightened out her dress.
"Rose?" She turned around to face him. "I was just… well I was wondering when you think you will be ready?" She took a deep breath and hesitated. "I mean I don't want to push you, please don't think that, it's just… I feel like we don't communicate this kind of stuff very well, and I don't want you to think that that's all I want."
She smiled slightly before walking over to him and putting her arms around his neck. "I don't know, Zach. I mean I don't think it's a 'when' thing. I just… when I know, I'll know I guess. But believe me, when I'm ready, you'll be the first to know," she grinned at him, and he smiled in response, leaning his forehead against hers. "Now c'mon. I'm sobering up, and that is just absolutely not allowed." She grinned at him wickedly and took his hand to lead him out of the study and back to the party.
"Scorpius?"
Scorpius jumped and whirled around to find Lucy staring at him strangely. "Merlin Lucy, you scared the pants off of me."
"What on earth are you doing? Why are you hiding behind that plant?"
He beckoned for her to come closer, so she approached him and crouched down. "Ava's here. She just cornered me in the kitchen and tried to maul me." Lucy stared at him for ten seconds before breaking down in laughter. "It's not funny! The girl is bloody insane, and she attacked me!"
"When you say 'maul you' you, you mean…?"
"I mean she grabbed me, pulled me to her and started snogging the living daylights out of me. I barely made it out of there with my pants on!"
Lucy held a straight face for as long as she could before breaking down in giggles again and clutching Scorpius as she could barely breathe. "Oh my Merlin, wait until the others hear about this." She got up and headed towards Dominique and Molly, who were talking to Aiden and some of his housemates.
"Some help you are Weasley!" he hissed after her, ducking his head once more and crouching behind the plant to keep an eye out.
A few minutes later, Aiden walked over to him. "So I hear you were attacked?" he asked, barely suppressing an amused grin.
"Oh shut up. So you were right. Merlin all I was doing was refilling some snacks, and she snuck up behind me."
"Didn't she come here with a date though?"
"Yeah, Todd something-or-the-other. She said she was just trying to make me jealous. Doesn't matter though, I saw him snogging Phoebe Ackerly like half an hour ago. Anyways, when I told her it wasn't working, she jumped me and started snogging me. Merlin, why did I get the crazy ex?" He scanned the room warily.
"Well I'm pretty sure as long as you don't react to her or give in to her, this phase should pass soon. The only reason it got Lorcan was because he kept giving in to it."
"What about me?" Lorcan asked, passing by them with his date, Jenny Martin. "Jenny love, I'll be right there." She nodded and continued towards her friends.
"Remember when you broke up with Liza?"
"Oh god, she was a nutter."
Aiden continued. "Well first she went through that anger phase. Then after that she started trying to snog you everywhere, right?"
"Oh yeah. That bird was confusing. One minute she was sending hexes at me, the next she was pulling me into broom cupboards. It was mental."
"Right, but you gave into to it. So how long did it last?" Scorpius asked.
"I gave into it like the first few times, but after that she expected us to be in a relationship again. When I told her we weren't, she went right back to the anger part," Lorcan sighed heavily, shaking his head. "But what does this have to do with anything?
Scorpius groaned. "Ava's doing the same thing. She just tried to snog me in the kitchen."
Lorcan snorted but managed to keep a relatively straight face. "Yeah mate, I'd say don't give in to it. Just keep ignoring her as much as possible."
"Easier said than done," Scorpius snapped. "She's tiny and sneaks up on you when you least expect it."
"Scor Scor!" His head snapped around to find Ava making her way over towards him from the other side of the room.
"Fuck it. I'm out. Fucking Ravenclaws."
"Hey!"
"Except you two," Scorpius called out as he practically ran the other way and disappeared through the crowds.
"Wasn't Scor Scor just here?" Ava reached Lorcan and Aiden who were trying as hard as possible to keep their faces straight at Ava's nickname.
"Yeah, uh he said he had to go do something… outside," Aiden said, while Lorcan muffled his laughter by clapping a hand over his mouth.
Ava looked at them weirdly. "Right, ok well if you see him, tell him I'm looking for him?"
"Sure," Aiden sarcastically replied, though Ava didn't seem to notice as she walked away.
Lorcan and Aiden looked at each other before collapsing into a fit of laughter.
Emily wandered down the hall towards the kitchen with a plate in her hands. Reaching the room, she flipped on the light switch to find Al sitting at the table by himself with a bottle of firewhiskey in front of him. "Al? Why are you in the dark?"
"Oh, hey Em. Um no reason, just wanted to be alone for a bit I suppose. Want a drink?" She nodded and went to sit by him as he poured and handed her a drink. She accepted and took a sip out of it, sitting in silence for a bit.
"So, who are you trying to avoid?"
Al looked up in surprise. "What makes you think I'm trying to avoid someone?"
She smirked. "Well for one thing, you have a perfectly cute date waiting for you, yet you're here. And also I just know you. Albus Potter would never leave a party unless he's trying to avoid someone." Albus lifted an eyebrow. "Ok, ok so there are plenty of other reasons you might leave a party. But still, I'm right, aren't I?"
He nodded carefully and took a deep breath before answering. "I thought it would be easier, you know? Once I'd accepted that I needed to move on, I'd be able to do it." Emily nodded. She knew who this was about without needing a name mentioned. "I just… it's just a lot harder than I thought it would be. And I don't know what to do." Albus sighed and laid his head down on the table.
Emily reach across the table to grab his hand. "Albus, look at me." He slowly lifted his head to look at her, his eyes looking weary. "I know that this is hard. But I also know that you're going to get through it. You're strong and you can do this." Albus nodded, not seeming very convinced though. Emily looked at him thoughtfully before speaking again. "Do you want to get over her?"
Albus' head snapped up. "What do you mean?"
"I mean… Look I know you said that you want to move on, but it seems like you're making it harder on yourself than necessary." Albus still looked confused, so she pushed on. "You don't have to immediately jump into anything with anyone else, and you don't have change your feelings for her so drastically. If anything, trying to avoid her is making you think of her more."
He paused before answering. "So… you think that in trying to get over her, I'm what? Subconsciously thinking about her even more?"
Emily looked hesitantly at him before shifting her eyes downwards. "Maybe?" she shrugged.
Albus took a deep breathe and looked down at the table for a few moments before replying. "You're right." Emily's head slowly lifted up. "In trying to avoid her, I'm thinking about her even more and the reason for having to avoid her. Damn it all to hell, I just can't escape this."
Emily looked at him sympathetically. "I think you're best bet is to just let it happen naturally. Don't actively try to avoid her, but also don't seek her out. Does that make sense?"
Albus nodded and they lapsed back into silence for a few moments. Taking a sip from his cup, he spoke again. "So have you solved things with Aiden?"
Emily looked at him in surprise. "He told you guys about that?"
Albus nodded. "Alright, give it to me straight. Why are you avoiding talking about the future with him?"
She paused. "It's… complicated."
"No, it really isn't." Emily glared at him. "What? You gave me the harsh truth, now it's your turn. Fess up Em, what's the deal?"
She sighed and thought for a few moments before answering. "Look first of all, of course I see a future with him. He's all I'm sure of. But… I don't want him to be disappointed if we plan out everything and then it doesn't go that way." Al looked a little confused, so she carried on. "He wants to play Quidditch and I want to work in the Department of Mysteries. He's going to be traveling a lot, and being an Unspeakable demands a lot of hours at the Ministry. I don't want our relationship to hold him back from his dreams. What if we plan to get married soon after graduating, and then have to be apart for our first few years of marriage? What if we have kids, and they end up being raised by our parents or nannies because we're never around? That's not something I want. I'm not saying that I want to break up with him at the end of school, but I don't want to make and break plans. It just doesn't make sense to me."
"Have you told him that?"
Emily laughed. "Have you ever tried confronting that idiot with anything? He bolts fasted than you can say 'Quidditch'." Al smirked and nodded. "I'm gonna talk to him tonight though. This is getting resolved."
"Thank Merlin for that. We can't all be having drama," Al teased.
At that moment, Scorpius burst into the kitchen and dove under the table, pulling at Emily's legs to cover him. "Hide me!" he hissed. Al and Emily stared at him in confusion.
"Have any of you seen Scor Scor? I thought I saw him come down here." They turned around to find Ava in the doorway.
Albus rolled his eyes while Emily answered. "Nope, he's not here. Last I saw him, he was outside."
Ava huffed. "That's what Aiden said too. But I looked and he wasn't there. And it's freezing."
"Maybe you should take a hint," muttered Al.
"What?" Ava asked sharply, her eyes flaring.
Scorpius punched Al's leg under the table. "Uh, I said these grounds are really big. You should keep trying."
Ava looked at him suspiciously before nodding and turning to leave. Al rolled his eyes again while helping Scorpius up from under the table. "So it's not just Aiden who's bad with confrontation."
Scorpius glared at him. "Don't start. I'm fine with confrontation. What I'm not fine with is being jumped."
Al burst out laughing. "So I take it Aiden was right? She tried to snog you?"
"Did she ever," groaned Scorpius. "Give me that bottle." He grabbed the firewhiskey bottle, not even bothering with a glass.
After a few gulps, Emily stopped him. "Ok big boy, let's just put that down and not get totally trashed tonight," Emily said, taking the bottle from him. "C'mon we'd better get back up there. You can get lost in the crowd to avoid Ava," she chuckled.
The three of them left the kitchen and walked down the long hall leading back to the main rooms. However before they reached the main hall, they heard a familiar voice yell, "WHAT THE HELL?!" from the door on their right. Rushing in, they found Ella and James staring at a couple against the bookshelf. On closer look, it was Andrew Turner and Amy Peakes, looking extremely disheveled and flushed.
Ella was having a great night. The party was going well, there had been no big incidents (that she knew of), and she'd spent most of the night with Andrew, talking and drinking with his friends and just spending time together. However at some point, she couldn't remember exactly when, she'd lost him. Currently she was talking to Albus' date, Rose, and Darcy Wood, and the last time she'd seen him, he'd said he was going to get them drinks.
"…yeah so my mum decided it would be better to home school me since the schooling in Austria was a bit different. But I sort of miss going to school with other people. So you and Rose have been friends since first year?" Cassie asked. Ella nodded a bit distractedly, her eyes wandering to see if she could spot Andrew.
"Ella?" Rose prodded.
Her head snapped back towards the other two girls. "Oh god, I'm so sorry. I was just looking for Andrew. I haven't seen him in a while."
"Oh I think I saw him go down the hall, that way," Darcy pointed.
"Thanks, I'll just see where he's gone off to." She left the three girls and headed for the hall. On her way out of the room, however, she bumped into James, spilling her drink on him. "Merlin, I'm so sorry James."
"It's no problem," he replied, trying to wipe the stain.
"No it is, I'm so clumsy. Do you have a change of clothes?"
He shook his head. "I was just going to wear this again tomorrow when going home."
"Well I don't think either of us should try any wand work now, so come on then, I'll get you something of Aiden's to wear." He followed her up the stairs and into Aiden's room where Ella began rummaging through the closet.
"Really Ella, I don't need a change. It's fine."
"James I spilled firewhiskey on your white shirt. There's a huge colored stain. Ah here we go." She came out of the closet holding a light brown dress shirt. "This matches perfectly with your eyes."
James raised his eyebrows and began taking off his shirt. Ella eyes widened slightly and she turned. He chuckled. "Ella, it's not like you've never seen me shirtless." She blushed furiously. "Alright I'm done, we can go now."
As they walked back downstairs, she asked, "Have you seen Andrew? I can't find him."
He looked a bit disgruntled, but answered her anyways. "Um yeah, I thought I saw him go down the hall." He beckoned for her to follow. They walked down the hall, Ella slightly stumbling from a combination of her heels and drinking. Finally after the third stumble, James stuck his arm out which she graciously took.
"So is that unavailable girl you like here tonight?" she asked.
James smirked. "I dunno if I should tell you. I mean you didn't tell me your secret."
"Oh come on, that is so not the same thing-" She was cut of by a girlish squeal from the door to the right. Rolling her eyes, she groaned. "I specifically told people that these rooms were off limits for hooking up. I've already had to tell two couples to take it somewhere else." Stomping over to the door she pushed it open and entered the room with James close behind her. "Alright you two, break it- Andrew?"
Andrew sprang backwards, pants unbuttoned and shirt half open, and paled. Beside him, Amy Peakes was trying to pull down her dress. "Ella-"
"WHAT THE HELL?!" Ella yelled. Behind her, Emily, Al, and Scorpius burst into the room to see what the commotion was about. "Seriously? At my own party?!"
"Ella, I can explain-"
"No! Don't bother you bloody tosser. Whatever this was, between us, it's done. Now get the fuck out of my house and away from me." Not waiting to hear his response, she turned and marched out of the room.
"She shouldn't be alone. I'll go find her." Emily said softly, staring at where her friend had left.
"No, I'll go. I think I know where she's headed. You guys take care of this," James said, glaring at Andrew before walking out of the room.
The other three nodded and turned back to Andrew, who had evidently been left alone by Amy. "Get your stuff and get out before I punch you so hard that your grandchildren will feel it," growled Scorpius. Andrew narrowed his eyes slightly before buttoning his shirt and moving out the door. "Fucking Ravenclaws," muttered Scorpius darkly. "Let's go. We'd better find the others and tell them what happened."
Luckily for Albus, Scorpius, and Emily, Aiden and Rose were together when they found them. Unluckily, they were chatting with a group of Ravenclaws, including Rose's boyfriend and some of Andrew's friends. Lorcan was nowhere to be found, so the three made their way over to Rose and Aiden in order to inform them of what had happened in the study.
"Rose," Emily tapped on her friend's shoulder while Scorpius and Al went over to Aiden.
Rose turned around and smiled. "Hey Em, what's up? I haven't seen you all night!"
"Uh well there was sort of a… situation."
Rose looked confused. "Situation? Uh you're gonna have to elaborate a bit."
"Well we sort of found Andrew-"
"HE WHAT?!" Emily was cut off by her boyfriend's furious voice. "Where the fuck is he?!" Aiden was looking around wildly while Albus tried to calm him down and explain things. Scorpius on the other hand seemed to be on the same page as Aiden.
"What happened?" Rose asked, walking with Emily towards the boys. Zach trailed behind her.
"When I get my hands on that son of a bitch I'm gonna-"
"Will someone please tell me what is going on?!" Rose cried, throwing her hands in the air.
Emily sighed. "Ella caught Andrew hooking up with Amy Peakes."
Rose and Zach's eyes widened. "What?" she whispered. Emily just nodded. Rose closed her eyes and took a deep breath.
"Are you sure?" Zach asked disbelievingly. "I mean that doesn't seem like the kind of thing Andrew would do."
The five of them turned towards Zach, each with different looks on their face. "We saw him with our own eyes," Scorpius said, with thinly veiled loathing. "And unless all five of us mistook what we saw, they were definitely hooking up."
"Merlin I just asking. No need to get your knickers in a twist Malfoy."
"Why you little-" Scorpius started on Zach, but was held back by Albus.
"Mate calm down. You're angry at Turner and you're taking it out on him," Albus reasoned. Scorpius took a deep breath before muttering an insincere apology to Zach and stalking off to try and find Lorcan.
"So where is she?" Rose asked.
"I dunno," Emily answered. "She took off after yelling at Andrew, and James went after her. Said he probably knew where she was going. Then we kicked Andrew out and came to tell you."
"Right well we'd better-"
"Weasley!" Rose was interrupted by a voice shouting her name. She turned around to find Ava Goldstein stomping towards her looking angry.
"Ava I really don't have time for you right now."
"Well maybe you should have thought of that before you stole my boyfriend you bitch!"
Rose exchanged confused looks with Emily. Behind her, Zach was looking more and more unhappy by the minute. "What the hell are you on about?" Rose asked.
"You. Stole. Scorpius. Don't even try and deny it, I've seen the way he looks at you!" Ava was practically hysterical now. "The way he always teases you and jokes around with you." Rose kept looking confused, so Ava carried on. "I'm right aren't I? He dumped me for you! You can't have all the guys, so you need to back off-"
"Ok stop!" Rose hissed. "Seriously Ava I don't have time for whatever delusions you're spewing out. Your slag of a friend just hooked up with my best friend's date. So just turn around and walk away, because I am not in the mood right now." The two girls glared at each other for a few moments before Ava finally backed off.
"This isn't over Weasley," she snapped. Turning away she pushed her way through the crowd towards the front doors to leave.
"Merlin what the bloody hell was she on about?" Rose grumbled. Before Emily or Zach could say anything though, she said, "Whatever, I don't care. We need to go find Ella."
"Actually I think it'd be better if we just left this one to James," Emily reasoned. "She didn't really seem in the mood to talk, and I think she just wants to be alone for a while." Rose looked like she was about to argue so Emily quickly said, "If she's not back soon, we'll go find her." Rose sighed and nodded. "C'mon, let's go get another drink. Merlin knows you need one after that spectacle."
"What are you doing up here?"
Startled out of her thoughts, Ella wiped her eyes and looked down to see James climbing up the tree she was sitting in.
"How'd you know where I was?"
James reach the branch Ella was on, and maneuvered his way around her to sit next to her. "You tend to like high places when you're mad." Ella quirked an eyebrow. "Ok and I saw your shoes at the base of the tree. But I am right about the high places thing. Remember the summer before your fifth year? When you were at the Burrow with us, and Al made fun of you for falling off your broom. You got so mad at him, and ran out of the house. I found you in the apple tree thirty minutes later. And then a few months ago, after you got that Acceptable on your Charms essay? You were out sitting on the Quidditch stands for like three hours."
Ella stare at him in surprise. "You remember that?"
"Of course," he replied simply, as though the events had happened just yesterday. "So what's got you out here this time?"
Scoffing, she said, "Did you not just witness what just happened in there?"
"No, I did. I was just wondering what you're crying about."
"Are you serious, James? The guy I was kind of dating was basically shagging another girl. At my party. I think I have the right to be this upset." Ella practically snarled.
James held up his hands. "Ella, I've known you for six years now. I've seen you hex, curse, and punch guys for being jerks before, but never have I once seen you cry over one. Especially a prat like Turner. What's really wrong?"
Ella's glare softened. She sighed and slumped back against the tree trunk. "You're right. I mean I am upset about him, but it's not the whole reason.
James looked at her, silently encouraging her to continue.
After a few moments of silence, Ella closed her eyes and just let everything out. "My dad cheated on my mom."
She opened her eyes to see James staring at her, wide eyed and speechless.
"Ella, I ," he hesitated. "Oh god, I'm sorry."
"Don't be," she scoffed, "It's not like you're the bitch who kissed my dad."
James surprised face melted into a mask of concern.
"I mean he didn't shag her, so there's that," Ella continued, "but that doesn't change the fact that he cheated."
"Is that why you've been so angry recently?"
Ella stared at him. "What?"
"Well at the last Quidditch practice you were hitting bludgers at all the guys on the team."
"So?"
"Ella, you're a chaser. You stole the bat from Fred, and proceeded to try to, in your words, 'show him how to play the damn sport.'"
"Ok ok, so I've been a little angry. But that was only when I knew they were having problems. I found out about the kiss last week, before I saw you in Diagon Alley. Anyways, that's why my parents are in Greece now. Trying to 'reconnect' or some other bullshit."
"Have you told anyone else?"
"I just… No, I haven't. Aiden is having his own relationship issues, he don't need this on top of it. Rose is always so busy with prefect duties or schoolwork and has her own relationship problems, so I don't want to bother her. And Lorcan just wouldn't understand. He'd try to cheer me up, but I don't want to cheer up. I just want my family to be ok," she finished, letting out a sob. Tears began to slowly fall down her face.
James sighed. There was nothing he could really say to make her feel better. So instead he beckoned for her to come closer. Ella looked at him in question, before scooting over next to him on the branch. James maneuvered her head onto his shoulder, resting his head on top of hers, and put both his arms around her. She in turn wrapped her arms around his waist. "Just let it all out."
They sat there for a while, James stroking her hair and Ella crying. After about twenty minutes, her sobs started to lessen. James patted her back soothingly as she pushed her head into the crook of his neck, her breathing steadying out.
"It'll all be ok, Ella. I promise," he said quietly.
She shook her head slightly, still resting her head in the crook of his neck. "How do you know?"
"I just do," he murmured.
After another five minutes, Ella lifted her head and wiped her face. Giving James a sad smile, she hugged him properly. "Thanks. I really needed that."
James nodded his head, smiling back at her. "Sometimes you don't need people to cheer you up or try and cheer you up. Sometimes you just need a good cry."
"Ugh, my make up is all smeared," she said, looking to see black on her palms. "I must look awful."
James shook his head, and said softly, "You look beautiful."
Ella gave a small laugh. "Yeah right, but thanks anyway." She shivered slightly, so James took off his coat and wrapped it around her shoulders.
Suddenly they heard cheering from the direction of the house. Looking at his watch, James saw that it was 11:59. "One minute until the new year," he murmured.
Ella let out a sigh and tugged his jacket closer around her. "I think any hope for a New Years kiss at midnight went out the window, along with Amy's class," she said, causing James to laugh.
From the house they heard shouts of people counting down.
"TEN! NINE! EIGHT!"
James turned to Ella and smiled.
"SEVEN! SIX! FIVE!"
"Come here," he said quietly.
Ella shot him a questioning look. He just smiled at her, so she moved back towards him.
"FOUR! THREE!"
Moving until their faces were about a foot apart, James put his hand on her cheek. Ella looked up to see his warm hazel eyes staring at her own.
"TWO!"
Leaning in, James whispered, "Happy New Years Ella."
"ONE! HAPPY NEW YEARS!"
Ella closed her eyes just as James' lips pressed against her own. The kiss was simple and chaste, yet perfect. She could feel her stomach slightly stirring with some new emotion that she couldn't make out. It lasted mere seconds before he pulled back. Opening her eyes, she saw him smiling at her.
"I couldn't let the tradition get ruined," he said softly.
Ella let out a small laugh. "No, I suppose you couldn't."
"Come on, we better get back inside or we'll both freeze to death."
"Actually, can we just stay out here for a bit longer?"
James smiled. "Sure."
Rose woke up the morning of January 1st to sunlight streaming in through the window and directly onto her face. Groaning, she turned over, trying to go back to sleep. However, before she could, she was startled by deep breaths emanating from beside her. Yanking the covers off her unknown companion, she found Scorpius sleeping soundly beside her.
"Ferret!" she exclaimed. "What are you doing here?!"
Groaning, Scorpius blindly reached around for the blanket. "Rose will you please lower the volume? My head is pounding."
"I will if you tell me why you're in my bed!"
"Rose! Volume!" he snapped, still searching for the comforter with closed eyes.
"Scorpius! Explain!" she retorted.
Sighing, Scorpius slowly opened his eyes to find Rose clutching the blankets around her looking extremely confused. "Right, sorry. I was, uh, kicked out of my room last night. Lorcan managed to get Jenny upstairs. And every other room had two people in it except this one.
"Yeah Molly went back home-"
"And I swear, I slept on the floor at first-"
"Scor-"
"-but it was really cold last night and-"
"Scor! It's fine. Really, it is," she repeated, seeing his doubtful look. "I was just a little shocked. The end of last night is a bit fuzzy."
"Yeah me too. Oi open the drawer next to you? I put hangover potions in all the rooms yesterday."
"Oh thank god." Reaching over to the drawer she took out two vials and handed one to Scorpius. "Cheers." They both downed the potion in one go, shuddering afterwards from the awful taste. "I'd better go check on Ella. I didn't get to talk to her after… well you know." After midnight had passed, the gang had waited about an hour until finally Ella and James had come back. Wordlessly Ella went upstairs, and James told them all that she was fine and just wanted to be alone. After sending everyone home, they'd all turned in for the night.
"Yeah sure, let's go then," Scorpius yawned, slowly getting out of bed. They left the room and ambled down the hall towards Ella's room. Opening the door, they found her curled under her blankets.
"Ella?"
"Yeah?" came her muffled voice.
"Are you ok?"
Ella shook her head, then turned over and patted her bed for them to come and sit. Rose and Scorpius went around and took the opposite sides of her, getting under the blankets. Rose wrapped her arms around her best friend and let Ella rest her head on her shoulder. "I suppose I've been better."
"He's a jerk, and when we get back to Hogwarts you can bet I'll make sure everyone knows it." Ella's laugh was muffled by the blankets.
"And I'll get Roxanne to pound Bludgers at him relentlessly in our next game against Ravenclaw. Hell I bet we can even convince Aiden to hit him with Bludgers," Scorpius added.
"They're on the same team," Ella laughed.
"Your point?"
Ella smiled and moved over to hug Scorpius too. "Thanks, you guys are the best. But I think I've given up on men for a bit now."
"Famous last words," teased Rose, but she continued to stroke her best friend's hair gently. A few minutes later the door opened to reveal Aiden and Emily standing in the doorway.
"He's an ass," Aiden said without pause, walking over to the bed. He climbed over Scorpius to squeeze in between them and hugged his sister. "You can bet that prat will get hit with tons of Bludgers at our next practice." Ella laughed into his neck and Emily joined them all, sitting next to Rose. Lorcan came in ten minutes later, promising to rearrange Andrew's face once they got back to Hogwarts.
They sat like that for a while before Ella declared they had to clean up the house before her parents got back. Going to wake up everyone else, they made their way downstairs for some breakfast before cleaning up the manor. Luckily for them, it wasn't too hard because at some point in the morning, the Zabini's house elf had taken it upon herself to clean up most of the mess.
"Pokey, you really didn't have to do that!" Ella cried.
"Tis' no problem miss," Pokey said shyly, accepting a hug from Ella.
The kids all thoroughly thanked the house elf before going to retrieve the valuables they'd stored away and putting them all back in place. By noon, the manor looked just as it had before the party.
"We might actually get away with this," Aiden reflected.
"We'll see. The true test is when mom gets back tonight. Nothing gets past her interior decorating eyes."
The others nodded and began saying their goodbyes after Rose noted that they'd better get home before their parents found out they weren't at Teddy's or Molly's places.
"We'll see you tomorrow, on the train back, ok?" Rose said, hugging Ella. She stepped into the fireplace and was followed by the rest of the Weasley cousins and Scorpius. Only James lagged behind after a significant look from Ella. Aiden and Emily left to get her things from upstairs, leaving Ella and James by themselves.
"James I- I just want to thank you. For last night. It was exactly what I needed," Ella said.
He smiled. "Your welcome. You know you can always talk to me, right?"
She smiled and nodded, then stepped forward to hug him. "You're a really good friend. Thanks for everything." He gave her a small smile before stepping in the fireplace to floo back home. After he'd left, Ella turned around to go back upstairs. She had to admit, despite the incident with Andrew, the party had been pretty successful. Going back to school is going to be very interesting she thought to herself.
Wow lots going on in this chapter. I hope you all enjoyed it. Some of the school/relationships drama is beginning to unfold a bit more, and more of that will come soon enough. I've got the next chapter half planned out, so hopefully it will be coming soon! I'm hoping to get at least 10 reviews (I know it's weird asking for reviews but hey, they make me feel good and like you guys enjoy the story ;D), and as you know reviews make me write a bit faster ;). So please review and tell me what you like/dislike. I can't promise you that I'll change the story accordingly, but I LOVE hearing your feedback!
Next up: The kids go back to school
xoxo Tara