Good Morning, Afternoon and Evening :D

This is shorter than usual, since it's sort of a 2-parter or 3-parter. I'll decide later. But basically this is a short Chapter :/

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.

Chapter 8

By the Charms lesson after lunch the next day, Albus had gotten over the incident on Sunday, and was his usual self again, well as usual as he had been lately. It still wasn't clear to anyone what was wrong with him, and he wasn't feeling very ready to open up.

Tuesday saw Rose and Lorcan sitting at the Ravenclaw table for lunch, reading through a letter given to them both from the Heads'.

"Are they actually serious about this?" Rose asked, frowning at the letter, and turning it over in her hand.

Lorcan shrugged, "well it looks quite serious, it's got the school crest and everything."

Rose nodded, and felt the seat next to her be filled, she turned to see Scorpius with a similar letter in his hand.

He noticed Lorcan looking at the one in Rose's hand and looked confused, and then saw the 'P' on Lorcan's robes.

"I forget you're a prefect sometimes," he said to Lorcan.

"Yeah, that's because he doesn't act like one," Rose said simply, placing the letter inside of her pocket.

"So do you think it's real? We're going to have a Winter Ball this year?" Scorpius whispered to them both.

She nodded, "but I can't understand why they want it to be a secret between the prefects, it won't be one for long, you can already see everyone getting itchy. Plus it says on the letter it will be held the week before the end of term, and the last Hogsmeade weekend is in 2 weeks. People would want to know before then." Rose said studiously.

The two boys nodded in agreement, "I'll see what I can get out of Alastair," Scorpius replied, getting up and walking towards his cousin who was talking to Violet by the door.

"Your face tells me you don't like the idea of a Ball." Lorcan said, "scared nobody will ask you?" he added smiling.

Rose stuck her tongue out and tucked some of her curls behind her ear. "Actually Lorcan, I just think that they are going to make us prefects in charge, and if anything goes wrong, it will be on us."

"Nothing will go wrong, it's just a ball, with teachers there. So I doubt Albus will try and prank you during the ball." Lorcan replied, reading Rose's mind.

"I wasn't thinking that at all," Rose said frowning.

Lorcan smiled, "sure sure Rose, though you should be worried about who you will be going with."

"Well it's not final, and you're not going with me?" Rose asked.

He gave her a look of incredulity, "of course not Rose, that's not how things work, you're not supposed to go with your best friend, plus I was thinking of taking Emma."

Rose frowned and looked at the enchanted ceiling.

"Well you could always go with-," Lorcan didn't get to finish as Rose glared at him. He laughed and she got up, picking up her bag and rushing off to their Arithmancy lesson, 15 minutes before the lessons start.

10:25 AM - The Next Day

Scorpius was standing in front of Lorcan and Rose's desk in Potions, Albus being preoccupied with a scolding by their professor.

"I asked Alastair and he said that its final, the ball will be on the 12th of December. They're sending letters out to parents, and they're going to make the announcement at dinner."

Rose sighed and Scorpius raised an eyebrow at her.

"What's wrong?" Scorpius asked, Lorcan smirked and shook his head.

"One thing you should know about Rose, she is no dancer." Rose glared at Lorcan and shrugged, Scorpius was smiling.

"We'll have to fix that, won't we," he replied simply and walked back to his seat with Albus.

Rose was looking into the potion in front of them and slowly mixing it, Lorcan noticing her ears were looking red.

XxX

By lunchtime there was already speculation over a ball before Christmas. There hadn't been a ball since the Yule Ball in 1994, so the students were eager to hear some good news. The prefects were being continually pestered, the whole student population aware that they knew more than they were letting on, especially Rose's roommates; Marianne, Carina, Chi and Zelda. A ball would be the one thing they had probably been wishing for since they'd come to Hogwarts.

"I've been reading the tea leaves Rose," Chi said sliding into the seat next to Rose in Ancient Runes.

"Not more of that Divination rubbish Chi, it is total garbage, you realise that?" Rose replied exasperated at her friend's illogical love of Divination.

"It's important Rose, just because you're no good at it. My great grandmother was a seer you know." Chi replied, nodding and flicking her jet black hair.

"I know Chi!" Rose laughed and wrote her name on the top of her parchment, Lorcan was on the other side of the classroom with Joseph Corner, Rose partnered with Chi for the year. "Anyway, why have you been reading the tea leaves?"

"Well you've been acting rather strange, so I've been studying and using various means to find the answer. I've looked in my crystal ball, read the tarots, and looked at-."

Rose swiftly interrupted her, "oh don't tell me you've cut open some poor animal and looked at its organs."

Chi made a face of disgust and shook her head, "of course not, I've been looking for fire-omens, and since you would never ever tell me your dreams, I would like to read your palm." She asked smiling, and holding out her hand for Rose to lay her own in hers. "It's the perfect time because Professor Janus is currently held up by a peculiar puddle in her office."

She sighed in reply and let go of her quill, holding her hand out to Chi. Chi quickly grabbed it with a hungry expression, and began running her forefinger over the lines on Rose's hand.

"Ooh, interesting... ahh, very interesting... hmm strange," Chi went on, mumbling into Rose's hand.

"I don't believe you are not just saying random things, to make you seem like you know what you're looking at." Rose said, giving Chi a look.

Chi glared at her and went back to Rose's hand. "I know your secret Rosie."

"Don't call me Rosie! I've told you a thousand times!" Rose whispered angrily, trying not to attract the attention of the class.

"Do you want to know what the tarot cards showed me?" Chi asked, grinning at Rose and letting go of her hand.

"No thank you, I'd rather not be pulled into that rubbish, it's very illogical Chi, you should know better." Rose gave her a look and picked up her quill again.

"I asked myself 'why is Rose acting so strangely' guess what I picked up?" she asked smiling.

Rose rolled her eyes and didn't reply, looking over to Lorcan for some sort of saviour. He wasn't paying her the slightest bit of attention.

"I knew you wanted to know Rose," Chi continued grinning now, "I first picked out The High Priestess, then Justice, The Star, The Moon, The Hanged Man –."

"And death I suppose," Rose interrupted a frown on her face, "what's it supposed to mean anyway, The High Priestess."

Chi smiled sincerely, "don't worry Rose, nothing too dramatic. I interpreted it that you've got a lot ahead. The Moon and The High Priestess together show a lack of clarity in your relationships, you are confused about them. Justice which is usually logic and reason, something you have been lacking, mixed with The Hanged Man shows a distance and complications ahead, the coldness that Justice represents is definitely related to this Hanged Man. But there is hope for you yet, The Star shows regeneration, and everything will be okay. The High Priestess however is important, it was the first card I picked out."

"And what does The High Priestess mean?" Rose asked, suddenly very drawn into what Chi was saying.

"Love Rose," she said smiling warmly, "always love." Chi looked into her bag, removing her parchment, text books and quill. "I know your secret," she repeated, smiling to herself as Professor Janus walked in, coughing lightly to quieten the class down.

Rose stared at Chi as she looked ahead at the blackboard. Truly flummoxed.

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