Chapter 8- Dear Rose


Rose awoke from her two hour nap feeling even drowsier than before but decided her Charms homework was more important that her mental wellbeing. In the library she noticed Lizzie curled up in the corner reading a book and went over to her.

"Heyah Lizzie. What 'cha doing?"

"Nothing much. Just wallowing in self-pity is all."

"Aw, how come? Tell Rose the agony aunt all about it."

Lizzie giggled as Rose took a seat beside her.

"I tried talking to Al. Get to know him better and all that. But all he wanted to talk about was Scarlett bloody Bell! It was driving me insane! Does he not see that I'm here right under his nose?"

Hearing Scarlett's name made Rose's blood boil.

"Ah, the woes of unrequited love," said Rose, giving Lizzie's shoulders a squeeze.

"Elizabeth Potter. Lizzie Lola Potter. Mrs Elizabeth Lola Potter. It has a nice ring to it, doesn't it?" Lizzie put her head on Rose's shoulder. "How come he doesn't like me, Rosie?" she added in a whisper.

"He doesn't know what he's missing. He's bound to notice you one day. Anyway, I blame Scarlett Bell. She's the cause of all our problems! We need to find a way to bring her down a notch. Perhaps we should give James and Freddie a call…"

Lizzie rolled her eyes. "It's not her fault she's so pretty. It's also not fair of you to expect Scorpius to stay single forever, you know."

"Yeah, but without her around, you could have Al and I could- I mean, Scorpius would be free from her wickedness."

"She's not wicked. She's lovely. Did you know she's actually the unofficial first year prefect for Slytherin? Apparently they all go to her for homework help and stuff. Al told me all this. I think he's been following her. And she's pretty and clever and good at Quidditch and –"

"Okay, okay, I get it! She's Miss Perfect."

"Yeah. That's probably why Al likes her so much." Rose's heart ached to see her friend look so miserable. She decided she'd have a talk with Al later.

"She's not going out with Al though- she's going out with the school's biggest imbecile we know as Scorpius Malfoy."

"You created quite a spectacle at lunch today." When Rose didn't reply, she added, "You still like Scorpius."

"Wha- no! No, I don't. I'm over that."

"So why are you trying to make him jealous?"

"I'm not!"

"And I'm not in love with Albus Potter. Listen, Rose, if you like Scorpius you shouldn't be with Fabian. Simples."

"Be quiet. I need to do my homework."

Lizzie gave Rose a knowing smile. "You're either lying to me or in denial. Or both."

Rose stuck her tongue out and pulled out her homework. She didn't care what Lizzie said. She definitely wasn't in denial; she liked Fabian and that was that.

"Hi ladies," said Scorpius smoothly as he joined them at their table in the library a short while later.

"Hi," Lizzie replied awkwardly. Rose didn't even look up from her essay.

"Have you seen Al lately? I think he might be avoiding me."

"I wonder why," Rose muttered and rolled her eyes.

"What do you mean?" Scorpius frowned, his eyebrows knitted together.

When Rose didn't reply Lizzie answered in a defeated tone, "Al's angry that you're with Scarlett."

Scorpius looked genuinely surprised. "Oh. He could have just told me that instead of running away from me."

Lizzie shrugged. Scorpius tapped his fingers on the table top.

"I heard that you've become the school agony aunt, Rose. I have to admit I was quite surprised."

Rose ignored him.

"Nice weather isn't it?" he said after a few minutes, glancing out the window at the light drizzle and grey clouds.

"Not really… um, I'm just gonna go look for a book, or something," said Lizzie as she scrambled away.

As soon as Lizzie was out of ear shot he said, "I enjoyed your attempt at making me jealous in the Great Hall, Rose. Very mature."

This made Rose look up from her work.

"What are you talking about?" She slammed her quill onto the desk and crossed her arms.

"I think someone's a little jealous of Poppy and I," he smirked, lazily putting his hands behind his head and leaning back.

"N- no way!" she spluttered. "Get over yourself."

"I don't think you're promoting the correct image of yourself to the populace of Hogwarts, throwing yourself at Foster," he went on. "Not very lady like at all."

"You can talk!" she said in outrage while her cheeks flushed pink. "Standing there snogging Scarlett like there's no tomorrow while we were all trying to eat our lunch! It was absolutely disgusting!"

"Merlin, Rose, you're almost glowing green with envy. No need for it, though, there's enough of me to go around," he said with a wink.

Rose gasped indignantly and stood up from her seat, attracting a few weird looks. She raised her arm and slapped him hard across the cheek. "How dare you! I'm currently taken, thank you very much, and so are you! You can't just go around flirting with other girls! You're such a pig. An absolute swine." With one last huff she swirled around and marched out of the library. A bit of her dignity was lost, however, when she had to return to collect her bag before exiting the library once again.

"What isher problem?" he mumbled to himself, cradling his burning cheek as he watched her retreating figure.

"Dude, you just got owned by a girl!" sniggered Bertie McGee, who was avidly observing the scene from behind a bookshelf.

Rose regained her composure once she left the library and decided she might as well check her agony aunt box in the entrance hall to see if anyone had left her a question. She wasn't expecting much but felt a bubble of excitement none the less.

She opened the lid of the cardboard box and was surprised to see dozens of letters stuffed inside. Once she was back in her dormitory she found Caitlyn and Leila gossiping about Ethan Hill while Dom was happily ignoring them, giving herself a French manicure. She sat on Dom's bed and eagerly examined her letters.

Dear Rose,
I think I'm in love with the Giant Squid. Its eyes shine like a pond in which the fish of beauty swim. How can I go about asking her on a date, and more importantly how can I get my parents to approve?
Tentacle Lover

"Look at this one," she said, passing the note to Dom who snorted.

"I'll do the reply to this one," she replied with a grin.

Dear Tentacle Lover,

March up to that Squid, look her in the eye and tell her you love her. I'm sure your parents will accept your love once they see how deeply you care for one another. I wish you a long and happy relationship!
Rose

Several more of the letters were asking how to get crushes to notice them. Rose thought it was ironic how she was giving this advice to people when she could never get her own crushes to notice her.

Dear Rose,
I really like this guy but he doesn't even know I exist! Well, he does, but he doesn't seem to take much interest in me. He goes on and on about this other girl while I gaze into his dreamy green eyes and wonder how soft his black hair is… please help me.
Miss Invisible

Dear Miss Invisible,
Keep on waiting. I wouldn't say this about most guys but I know this one is worth it! Maybe you could go out with some other people in the mean time until one day he'll see what he's missing out on. He'll come around. I know it's early days yet, but you totally have to make me bridesmaid at the wedding!
Rose

Dear Rose,
There's this girl I like. We've been friends for ages and I keep trying to drop subtle hints to her but I don't think she likes me back. What should I do?
Siriusly Confused

Dear Siriusly Confused,
My advice to you would be to shower her in compliments, be sweet to her and maybe make it more obvious that you like her. She might not be catching on to these subtle hints. If she starts to show signs of liking you back ask her out on a date and see where it goes from there. Good luck!
Rose

"SiriuslyConfused? Really?" Dom said, reading over Rose's shoulder.

"Eh, I thought it was quite clever actually."

Dear Rose
There's this boy that keeps popping up everywhere I go. I think he's stalking me. Like, yesterday I came out the girls' toilets and he was right outside leaning against the wall, casually reading a book! HAHA! Anyway, I find it really unsettling. What should I do?
Creeped Out

Dear Creeped Out,
The best thing to do would be to confront him. Tell him it's bothering you and to lay off! No one likes a creeper.
Rose

After answering several more questions she called it a day. She put them safe in her bag to hand to Professor Wright the next Muggle Studies lesson. Her brain was nagging her to get that stupid homework done. Not wanting to run into Scorpius again she packed her bag and headed outside.

The grass was damp from the rain but she settled on a dry patch under a beech tree at the edge of the lake and splayed her books out in front of her. It was her favourite place to go whenever she needed some alone time, or in this case to get some serious work done. She'd spent many spring days with Scorpius in this spot under the sun while they cooled their feet in the water.

Fifteen minutes later Rose jumped ten feet in the air when a chirpy voice sang, "Mind if I join you?" She had been so preoccupied with her studies she didn't notice anyone approaching. She looked up and met the warm chocolate eyes of none other than Scarlett Bell.

Greaaat.

"Certainly," she answered with a strained smile. Scarlett emitted so much brightness and optimism that Rose found her quite difficult to look at.

"Excellent!" said Scarlett happily. She plonked herself down on the grass opposite Rose. "Rose Weasley. I've heard lots about you."

"Good things, I hope?" Rose asked tentatively.

"Of course! Scorpy speaks so highly of you, although he did mention you can get a little scary when aggravated."

Rose raised an eyebrow. "He did, did he? Well I think Scorpius is a pompous broom head who doesn't know what he's talking about."

Pompous broom head? Really, Rose?

Scarlett's big brown eyes darkened and her 100 Watt smile slowly slipped off her face.

"Don't you talk about Scorpius like that," she whispered harshly. "He's a wonderful person who wouldn't hurt a fly."

Rose was taken aback. She didn't know what to say. "Er… well, I…"

What's that look in her eyes? Hurt? Offence? She looks as if she might cry…

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean it," Rose said quickly. She didn't exactly know why she was apologizing, but supposed it was the only way to avoid opening the floodgates.

Suddenly Scarlett's eyes brightened and returned to normal. "That's quite alright. He truly is superb, such a gentleman…" she sighed dreamily. Rose held back a snort. Gentleman? Yeah, right. Maybe when trolls fly.

"I really am ever so lucky to have him," she continued, catching a leaf that was blowing in the breeze and examining it. "I've liked him for ages and finally he asked me out. I was so shocked."

"I can imagine," Rose said politely, trying to keep her blood pressure under control.

She wondered why on earth Scarlett had picked her to ramble on about Scorpius to.

"Surely you have your own friends to swoon over your boyfriend with?" Rose cut Scarlett off mid speech about his hair.

Scarlett looked horrified. "Yes, you're quite right, I do. I'm ever so sorry, Rose, it must be strange to hear about your best friend being spoken of that way."

"Just a bit." Rose felt like yanking out Scarlett's perfectly curled hair. She was seriously lacking some dignity and pride, fawning over Scorpius like that.

"Well, I'd better be off. It's getting dark. Don't stay out too long, you'll catch a cold. Of course I could brew a quick Pepper Up Potion and you'd be fine in a jiffy, but still… it's been lovely getting to know you, Rose!"

Scarlett beamed and waved merrily at the red-head before skipping back to the castle.

Rose let out a long sigh and leaned her back against the tree trunk. She was dying to have a nice long chat with Dom. Never before had she been so eager to speak to her pessimistic cousin.

A/N: Any guesses on who sent each of the agony aunt questions? :)