A/N I am so so so so sorry for not updating in such a long time. I have had severe writers block as well as being super busy with work etc. However, I decided that I should start up this story again because I hate not finishing things. So hopefully I'll keep going now. Also, i'm terribly sorry for the appalingness of the last chapter. I was ridiculously jet lagged when I wrote it. However, I'm keeping it in... a) because I'm kind of in a Ron disliking phase at the moment and b) I've written this entire chapter based on the last one, so I shall just continue..
Also, in my deranged jet-lagged state, I also was hugely vague about the whole Rose - Jake scenario. And as of reading you're reviews - please disregard my A/N on the last chapter. I think that you're right and that Rose was raped. (I'm aware at what a sensitive topic this is and I intend to deal with it that way.)
Disclaimer: I own none of JK's original characters. Also, separation and rape are discussed so if you're uncomfortable reading about these sort of things, you have been warned.
Thank you to WeasleyQueen18 (I agree he is definitely a smirk kind of guy), LillyMay17, gimmethefanfic and Rabbitears for reviewing.
So therefore, on with the story. xx
Chapter 13
When I went to bed that night, it takes a while to fall asleep. We'd had enough food to feed a small army, courtesy of Aunt Ginny's culinary expertise.
When I wake up I know, it's too early to be up.
There's whispering coming from next to me which is clearly the source of my rude awakening.
I'm sharing Lily's room, and the girl normally sleeps like a log. So why there's whispering, I have no idea. I look up at her bed (from my spindly camp bed thats lower than hers - demeaning, I know.) And see two figures silhouetted against the dim light coming from behind the curtains.
"Lily." I hiss. One of the figures jumps clearly startled by the noise that isn't her whispering companion.
"Oh shit, Rose, sorry, we didn't mean to wake you up." Lily says quietly.
"And who exactly would 'we' be?" I ask her suspiciously, getting up to go and turn on the lights.
"No one. No one at all." Stutters the second voice. Who is definitely male and definitely someone who is not currently residing in the Potter household.
"Tell me Lily, or I'll switch on the lights and wake up the whole house. You tell just me, or you tell the whole family." I snigger internally at giving this ultimatum, because its so like Fred to do something like this, I didn't even know I had it in me.
"Rosie, no, please." She begs.
"Tell me Lily."
"Fine," She huffs. "Its Connor, Connor Nott."
"Damons younger brother." Clarifies the person who I now understand to be 'Connor'
"Lily. Explain." I hiss at her.
"We're just friends Rose I promise." She whines in her least convincing 'We're only friends Rose I promise voice'
"Friends, my arse Lily Potter. I've never seen the two of you speak. So start talking. Or prepare for your brothers to get a very early wake up call."
"Rose please, no..." Lily implores me.
"Lily." I say warningly, taking a step towards the door and the light switch, knowing she can see my outline in the dark room.
"Well..." She starts hesitantly.
But Connor butts in: "She was having a tough time with some people and once time I accidentally walked in and managed to stop them. Hence we're friends Weaslebee. Get over it."
I smirk. In a way my boyfriend would definitely be proud of.
"Spoke up at last Nott. Glad to see you have some balls. However," I address my cousin, "you're time to meet up, not the greatest Lily."
"I didn't know what else to do." She mutters her voice weakening so much; I think she may be about to cry.
I walk over and plonk myself down next to her on the bed.
"Lils, if you're getting bullied, why didn't you tell one of us about it?" I ask her.
"I couldn't." She says and I feel her weight sink into me as she buries her head on my shoulder. "I can't." She adds and I feel her start to shake against me. I wrap my arms around my cousin.
"Nott?" I ask. Looking up at him, just being able to make out his figure in the gloom.
He pauses for a moment.
"It wasn't... It's not that kind of bullying." He says, standing up and walking over to us. He bends down and gives Lily a small kiss, on the top of her head. Then grabs a broom, opens the window and flies away.
I suddenly understand why my cousin couldn't tell anyone. The same reason I can't tell anyone. The same reason why she is more like me than I had ever cared to notice.
"Who was it Lils?" I ask while her tears soak through my pyjama t-shirt.
She takes a deep, shuddering breath. "I can't Rose. I can't." Is all she says.
"Well, I'm here... For when you can." I tell her.
I look out the window where Nott disappeared just moments before, what an unlikely friendship, at least she has someone who knows.
XX
Eventually we both fell asleep and I woke up in the morning stiff and with a crick in my neck. I groan slightly and stretch out my legs, sending my cousin plummeting to the floor. She starts awake and looks dazedly up at me.
"Shit, sorry Lil." I gasp. Trying to maintain a straight face whilst looking at her bemused expression.
Suddenly we both burst out laughing.
"Not the wake up call I was expecting." She says standing up, rubbing her eyes.
We don't talk about the night before. We don't need too.
"I'm going to go and get breakfast." I announce, she nods and I heave myself off the bed and wander downstairs.
When I enter the kitchen, I am greeted by the sight of three half naked men, two of whom are related to me. I scream and cover my eyes. As whilst I normally wouldn't complain about seeing a room of half naked men. Their relation to me does put a dampener on things.
"Please would you please put some clothes on?" I say.
"Why Weaselbee? Afraid of masculinity?" Scorpius sniggers and the other two laugh behind him.
"No," I retort sharply. "Just two of you are related to me, and seeing three VERY scrawny boys just after I've woken up, is not, believe it or not, a pastime of mine." I smirk.
"Watch who you're calling scrawny." James says disgruntled.
"We went out for a swim in the lake." Al explains.
"This early? Seriously?" I even remove my hands to stare shocked at them.
But before, I get a chance to implore them to put clothes on again…
"Boys! Why are you all standing shirtless in my kitchen?" The sound of my aunt's voice rings past me.
Suddenly my cousins all deflate in size slightly and James looks sheepishly up at his mother.
"Sorry mum, we went out for a swim." James has a pretty spectacular suck up voice I have to admit.
Ginny's face softens... "Well don't catch a cold any of you, go upstairs and put some clothes on." She says appraisingly to her eldest son. The three boys troop past us up the stairs.
"Mummy's boy." I mutter at James as he passes me. He elbows me in the ribs.
Ginny closes the door after them.
"Don't tell him Rose, but James is wrapped around my little finger." She winks at me.
I laugh and begin to help my Aunt make breakfast.
XX
The next few days pass in a blur. Lily and I don't talk about what happened that night. But I wake up three times more, twice to Nott being back and once to just the sound of her crying into a pillow. I know I should talk to her. But I don't think I can, without explaining myself to her. Ginny and Mum are on the prowl though. They keep checking in on us. Giving us triple portions at dinner.
The day before Christmas, I find myself sitting on the sofa in the living room reading alone. I hear someone walk up behind me and suddenly I can't see a thing.
"Busy?" Asks a voice.
"Scorp. What are you doing? My mother doesn't know about us and unless I am very much mistaken, she is in this house." I hiss, tilting my head up in the direction of my boyfriend.
He chuckles and removes his hands from my eyes.
"It's fine Rosie, your Mum, Harry and Ginny all went out just now to do some unknown secretive business."
I huff and rest my book on the arm of the sofa as he sits himself languidly next to me. He sprawls across the sofa and plonks his feet on my lap. I give him my best dagger eyes. He smirks, and doesn't move his feet.
"I thought we could have some time… you know, alone. I'm kind of tired pretending to still hate you all the time."
He leans forward and tucks a strand of my hair behind my ear.
"Me too." I reply, I angle my body and lie across him, so my back is against his torso. He wraps his arms around me.
"I miss you Rosie." He mutters into my hair.
I turn to look at him confusedly.
"But I'm right here silly." I say smiling slightly.
"No Rosie, no you're not. Not all of you. Can you please just tell me what's the matter?" He asks quietly.
"I can't Scor, not yet. I can't talk about it."
"Why not?" He demands.
"Because... because, I'm embarrassed, and well, I'm scared Scor, really scared."
"All the more reason to tell me Rosie, I can help you, and I'll stop whatever it is, I promise." He looks at me imploringly.
I shake my head slightly.
"I promise." He repeats, whispering in my ear.
"I know." I reply softly.
I curl into him and close my eyes. I can feel his hands ghosting through my hair and I wrap my arms round his torso, my fingers curling into his shirt and holding on tightly. He starts humming slightly and the noise makes his chest vibrate slightly. I fall asleep quickly, for the first time in days.
XX
"Look at them, they looks so peaceful, so natural together…"
"They look like they're pretty cosy like that…"
"Do you think they're an 'item'...?"
"They can't have gotten into that position in their sleep could they…?"
"With a Malfoy, what has gotten into my grandaughter...?"
The sound of whispering voices wakes me up. I'm aware of Scorpius underneath me, my fingers still curled into his shirt. Then it hits me...
Shit.
Shit.
Shit.
We're in the living room. A public place. The steady rise and fall of Scorpius' chest tells me that he too is asleep. I open my eyes to see, not just my mother, Harry and Ginny standing above me, but Grams and Gramps as well as George, Angelina, Charlie and Fleur, Percy and Audrey and Uncle Bill.
"Good afternoon Rosie." My uncle grins at me. I groan inwardly and poke Scorpius in the ribs. He wakes with a slight start and looks round. His face falls slightly,
"Ah, shit."
"Going to tell us all what's happening here?" Asks Bill amusedly.
"Isn't eet obvious?" Asks Aunty Fleur.
"Not really Fleur dear? Please do enlighten us though?" Asks Grams
"They're dating." she states simply.
Mum looks so shocked I think her eyes are going to pop out of her head.
"And how do you know that?!" She asks staring at Fleur in complete disbelief.
"Well, look at them, have you ever seen two people look more like a couple? Also, they emit a glow of togetherness..." Fleur starts.
"And, Rox told me they were together." Angelina says interrupts bluntly before Fleur can continue with her reasoning.
"I am going to kill her." I mutter through gritted teeth.
My relatives all laugh.
Except my mother, whose eyes resemble that of a bug.
"What? What do you mean? Dating? These two hate each other, everyone knows that!" She says because, these are the facts she knows, even though she can see perfectly well that I am sprawled across Scorpius like some barnacle, clinging to the fabric of his shirt, her facts tell her that me and him are definitely not the case.
"Well, I think they look lovely together." Fleur says happily and dances out of the room as though the matter was settled.
I slowly pull myself up, so that I'm sitting next to Scorpius on the sofa, rather than molesting him.
"And clearly they don't hate each other 'Mione." Says Uncle George.
"Otherwise I doubt they'd be all over each other like that." Gramps chuckles.
I glare at him.
"I'll leave you to deal with this one 'Mione." Harry says smiling slightly to his friend. He ushers the various prying relatives out of the room, leaving my mother standing shocked in front of us. Scorpius gets up to leave too.
"You. Stay." She barks at him and he sinks back down next to me. I smirk at him. She promptly sits down and looks at me bemusedly.
"Why didn't you tell me?" She asks.
"Just in case it didn't work out." I say back, having planned this answer for when this confrontation came. I feel pretty bright coming up with this, because it's vague but enough to keep her occupied. However, my self-satisfied feeling fades when she says:
"Because of your father and I's relationship with the Malfoy's you mean?" She asks eyeing me shrewdly.
Eugh. I forgot what my mother is like.
"Yeah, that too I suppose." I mutter not looking at her.
"You listen to me Rose Weasely. Whatever happened in the past, with Mr Malfoy's, Ronald, and myself should not mean that you think that you can't tell me about something like this. Scorpius is a lovely boy and nothing like his father at that age. And from what I've hear Draco, has, well, turned over a new leaf shall we say. So Rose, I don't mind that you're dating his son, so long as he treats you right." She finishes, glaring at Scorpius as though he'd just let a blast-ended skrewt loose on her flowerbeds.
"I won't Mrs Weas…" He trails off, not knowing how to address my mother.
"Ms Granger thank you Scorpius, but you can call me Hermione, I'm don't want to seem like some daemon woman to you." She smiles brightly like a light bulb has just been switched on in her mouth.
"Thanks…. Hermione. I mean… not that you did seem like a daemon woman…" He trails off uncertainly looking at me for support.
"You're really fine with this?" I ask uncertainly.
"Yes Rosie, of course I am. Anything that makes you happy." She replies.
She suddenly smiles unnervingly.
"Oh but your father is going to have a fit." She says gleefully.
Serves him right is all I think. For what he's done to mum.
"I'd rather he didn't castrate me…" Scorpius looks from me to my mother worriedly.
We burst out laughing.
"Don't worry, he has a Granger to get through before that happens Scorpius." Mum chuckles.
"Two Grangers." I add.
Mum's laughter peters off and she looks at me curiously.
"Give us a minute Scorpius?"
"Sure thing." Scorpius squeezes my hand, gives me a quick smile then goes out into the kitchen where I hear a plethora of voices asking him how it is he's managed to survive. I roll my eyes slightly. Then look at my mum.
"Listen Rose, I don't want you to lose your father, however upset I am with him." She says.
"Course I am Mum. I hate what he's done, it's not right. He just brought her into our house, our home Mum, and expected you to leave. Its like he suddenly turned fifteen again over night and thinks that is acceptable to do this." My voice rises slightly.
Mum looks at me, clearly thinking hard, I can practically see her brain whirring.
"Thank you Rosie, you have no idea what this means to me." She says finally pulling me into a very tight hug.
"Mum… can't… breathe… Mum?"
She releases her hold and then pulls back, keeping her hands on my shoulders, forcing me to look at her.
"One thing though Rose, you can be a Granger, but you're not changing you're name. Because you are a Weasley, its your father who isn't one anymore."
"Okay mum."
She looks at me then takes my hand.
"Tea?" She asks.
"Tea." I agree.
XX
"How did you survive that then? I thought Hermione was bound to go mental." Al's says as we all sit in his room that evening.
All the cousins arrived that morning with their parents in preparation for Christmas, which is always an extravagant affair in this Potter/Weasley household.
"It's Uncle Ron they have to worry about." Molly (Percy's elder daughter) says giggling.
"Are you familiar with what castration is Malfoy?" James asks.
Everyone in the room laughs.
Roxanne has done the wise thing and sat as far away from me as possible. The traitor.
"What I don't understand is how Rox is still alive." Says Lucy (Percy's younger one.) Looking inquisitively up from next to me and then over to the traitor.
"Neither do I, Luce." I reply, smiling sadistically across the room at my cousin.
She glares at me.
"Not my fault I have a good relationship with my mother." She says smarmily. There's a small intake of breath in the room.
"Rox. Unnecessary. Apologize." Fred says glaring at his sister.
Rox glares mutinously at her brother. "Sorry." She mutters.
"What was that?" I ask, cupping my hand sarcastically around my ear.
"I said sorry Rose. Sorry for what I just said and sorry for telling my mum. I didn't think it was that big a deal."
"You didn't think, that's right Roxanne. You didn't think. But thank you for apologizing."
The tension in the room lessens slightly.
"Anyway…" Hugo draws the word out. Awkwardness blooms in its place.
"What are we gonna do about this Lavender woman?" Al says into the silence.
The room erupts into talk…
"Wait." I shout over the noise. Everyone turns to look at me.
"We're not going to do anything." I say. "And we are not discussing it." I say sternly as several of my cousins start to protest indignantly.
"It's for mum to decide what to do. Not us." Hugo says looking at me. I smile and him the shoot daggers at the rest of them, daring to contradict us.
"Well I'm looking forward to Christmas." Dom announces to the room.
"That's only because Mum dotes on you and you always get ridiculous things." Louis states.
"Not like you can talk Lou." Fred says as my best friend glares at her brother across the room.
"By the way Dom." I say nonchalantly...
"Why do I get the feeling I'm not going to like what's coming?" She asks.
"Because, you're not." I reply smirking. "You know, you threw up on me, after the end of term party. When I carried you back to the dorm." I raise one of my eyebrows at her.
"Dear Merlin, I'm sorry Rose. I had no idea, I can barely remember anything from that night."
"Quelle surprise" Louis mutters under his breath.
"Again Lou, like you can talk." James says grinning at the younger boy.
"What!? I did not throw up all over anyone thank you very much." Louis says stricken.
"Well clearly you don't remember too much of that night either little one." Fred says amusedly.
"Merlin, what did I do?"
"Something fairly similar to your dear sister, embarrassment wise anyway." James informs him.
"You went round every person in the room, telling them how much you loved them, and then you decided that taking your top off and trying to get a petition started for an interhouse Kneazle racing competition. It was fairly amusing."
"Oh Merlin, sorry?" He says questioningly.
"Sorry for what? Sorry you can't hold your drink?" James teases.
"Oh shut up. The pair of you." Louis snaps although he's grinning slightly.
"We'll only have to give him one glass of wine tomorrow and he'll be on the floor." Dom says laughing.
"Awh, poor little Louis, he'll be telling everyone how much he wuvvy dovey squoves them." Rox says in a baby voice pinching Louis' cheek.
Louis crosses his arms and huffs at his cousin, whilst everyone else roars with laughter at his disgruntled face.
"Dinner." Uncle Harry calls up the stairs.
"Last one at the table is a flobberworm." Hugo shouts and there's a mass exodus out of the door, leaving just Scorpius and I alone.
"Hey, Scor..." I say, walking my fingers up his chest then wrap my arms around his neck. "When are you going home?" I enquire.
"That eager to get rid of me Weaselbee?" He chuckles.
"No, of course not, don't be ridiculous, it's just it is Christmas day tomorrow, won't your parents want you back?"
"Well, I was going to go home this morning but I got an owl from my father saying that he and mother have gone away to France. So 'Don't come home Scorpius. Because we won't be there. I'm sure you'll find someone to take you. We'll see you on the twenty-seventh.'" He mocks his fathers voice. "And your Uncle Harry then insisted I stay here."
"Why didn't you tell me?" I demand.
"Well, silly…" He kisses the top of my nose. "I was about to tell you when you fell asleep on me, and then we had a small interrogation session. So there wasn't really an 'apt' time as it were."
He smiles. "At least this way, I get to stay with you for longer."
"Good." I reply, and I don't think my cheeks could stretch any further from grinning at him like a fool.
"Not pleased about that are you Rose?" He asks smirking slightly at my expression.
"Not in the slightest." I reply.
He bends his head down and kisses me lightly.
Suddenly the door swings open and there's a bright flash. I pull away and see Dom with a camera in her hands.
"One of you is definitely a flobberworm." She says grinning then runs back downstairs.
"Well, it's not gonna be me." Scorpius says and lunges for the door.
XX
Christmas morning I wake up early to the sound of Lily sniffling.
I get out of bed, get under her duvet and wrap my arms around her.
Suddenly I hear her small voice, talking into my shoulder.
"They hurt me." She whispers to me.
"Oh Lily." I say, and pull her into a hug.
"They keep cornering me, to try and hurt me again." She says. "Luckily, Connor's there most of the time. That's why we're such good friends now. He looks out for me."
"Good. I'm glad he looks after you. But Lily, if you want to tell someone else about it, you can always talk to me. Because, well…" I take a deep breath and without even meaning to I tell my cousin… "I know exactly how you feel."
She pulls out of my hug and looks up at me angrily.
"How? How Rose, you have no idea how it feels, to be hurt like that. To not be able to stop them."
My resolve breaks slightly, having to say it out loud feels like too much of a commitment. But I have to explain that she's not alone.
"I know Lily, because it's been happening to me too. All term." I realise i snap slightly when I say this.
Her face softens.
"Merlin Rose I'm sorry. I didn't know…"
"I know you didn't Lily. And no one else does either." I say.
"I won't tell anyone. Promise."
"Good."
"Love you Rose."
"Love you too Lily."
A/N sorry, one last thing, been kind of nervous about posting this chapter, so please review so I know if it's any good! Thank you!