Rose kept her head down, and pushed her infamous, bushy, red hair over her eyes as a kind of make-shift shield from the sun. Hogsmeade was usually busy on weekends but she'd never seen it like this before. Everywhere she looked students walked in huddles of friends, carrying their own body weight in shopping bags and sweating chronically from the heat of the sun. She sat in the doorway of honey dukes, oblivious to the people stepping around her because she was glaring at Albus and imagining the spontaneous combustion of his stupid sun umbrella. Last night she found out about him betting on herself and Scorpius and she'd since been ignoring his attempts to speak with (not that he tried particularly hard). Now that she'd calmed down she was ready to begin interrogation, and possibly negotiation.
When Rose looked up again to see him struggling with his sunbrella, trying and failing to close it so he could get into Honey dukes. Rose gripped her wand in her pocket and muttered "incendio", focusing on the tip of his umbrella.
Albus dropped it and stamped desperately until the fire was out; unfortunately for him, so was every other part of the umbrella. It lay shattered around his feet and passing wizards kicked the broken bits around as they walked. Rose got up and planted herself in the remains.
"Didn't like it much anyw-
Rose lunged at him, swinging her hand up to the side of his head and gripping his ear to yank him out of the crowd of undeterred shoppers. She dragged him all the way to the doorstop of the shrieking shack, hoping to avoid the inevitable eavesdroppers.
"How much money did you make off me and Scorpius?", Rose fumed.
"I don't know wh-
"Sure, I know you placed bets on me and Scorpius, Macy told me last night."
Albus went pale with unmistakable guilt. He pulled his hands together and twisted them in knots, turning his knuckles white. Rose tried not to let his uneasiness make her feel better.
"How much money did you make Albus?", she repeated tersely.
"Three- three hundred and forty galleons", he muttered.
Rose breathed out slowly and Albus imagined steam coming of her nose and ears. He watched her calculating awful punishments for him in her head, butchering up his body and selling it for parts, putting his name down on the volunteer list at the library.
"WE"RE NOT EVEN BLOODY TOGETHER YOU MORON!"
"Try telling everyone else that Rose! They've all heard about the kiss in your muggle studies project and the one in the prefects bathroom, even if you're not together yet, it won't take long and they're basically all rooting for you"
"What?", Rose shook her she wanted to be with Scorpius but she didn't expect anyone to make a profit off their relationship, especially when the person rolling in the money was her cousin. Rose's mind threatened to explode with realisation, she couldn't speak because she was so frustrated. Instead of retaliating again she glared at Albus, only to find that he was staring straight past her, on the edge of speech anyway.
"Rose you should probably talk to Scorpius about this", he said quietly.
"And say what? The whole school thinks we're together and I'm in lo-
"Stop!", Albus yelled, rushing to cover her mouth just in time to make the last words inaudible. He kept his hand clamped shut tight over her mouth until she stopped struggling, he then proceeded to turn her around slowly to face a very confused - but just as angry looking Scorpius Malfoy.
Rose blushed imagining what would have happened if Albus hadn't saved her from professing the love she had for Scorpius when he was right behind her. Somehow, just as fast as he'd infuriated her, he'd been noble enough to win back her support, an attribute that all of the Potter children had inherited from their parents.
"We should probably talk", Rose said pulling Albus out from behind her.
"Yeah, I know, I'm sorry it didn't occur to me to come to you earlier", he apologised.
"It's fine, I needed some time to think about it"
"Anyway I think a certain Potter owes us a few drinks", Scorpius said pointedly.
"I think so too", said Rose as she released her death grip from Albus's arm and shoved him in the direction of the three broomsticks.
Once inside, they found and unoccupied table and sat down while Albus got them butter beers.
The room was full of students, staring shamelessly at them, waiting for signs or gestures that might give some indication of affection. Scorpius noticed this and obviously couldn't deny them the pleasure, he reached over the round table and put his cold hand over Rose's warm one. She flinched in surprise because even though they'd kissed before (twice), both times had been initiated by herself and she wasn't used to Scorpius being so more-than-friendly towards her. She looked up at him and smiled sweetly, only slipping her hand out from under his when Albus came back with the drinks.
"So, when did you start betting on us?". Scorpius said in-between short sips of his butter beer.
"I always had my suspicions but I didn't act until the morning after we played spin the bottle", he answered.
"That kiss was out of compulsion! You couldn't have possibly placed a confident bet based on that!", said Rose hotly.
"That kiss was strictly impulsive", Albus smirked and wiggled his eyebrows (turning Rose's cheeks red (more with anger than embarrassment).
The conversation went on like this for a while until they finally noticed the crowd of student's gathered around their table, all eagerly awaiting the conclusion. Scorpius stood up quickly upon realising that his hand had made it's way back to Rose's. He coughed and spluttered in embarrassment before shooing away the first years and whoever else he could manage, unfortunately that didn't include the students from the upper years. They stood resiliently a few tables back, cupping their hands to their ears in a weak attempt to eavesdrop.
"I guess we better wrap this up", said Scorpius as he sat back down.
"Please don't place bets on us again Albus", Rose said pleadingly.
"Sure", he replied casually.
Rose and Scorpius looked at each other knowingly. Albus betting on them wasn't a problem anymore, he'd already milked their cow for all it was worth. Now that everyone thought they were together, it wasn't likely for them to disagree with his other predictions, nobody would bet against him again after losing so much money the first time. Scorpius nodded and Rose turned to face Albus.
"Scorpius and I want a third of the profit each"
Albus looked crestfallen. He dug into his pockets and fished out a three handfuls of shiny, gold wizard currency.
"I'll get you the rest tomorrow", he grumbled.
Rose and Scorpius collected their shares and stuffed them in their own pockets happily.
"Byeeee Albus!", Rose sang from the doorway.
