"On the business side of things, I don't think it will harm us. We aren't even in the same location. But it still worries me that they're branching out into my territory."

"Brilliant, can we go now?" Jane asked irritably from her crouched position by the window.

"Not quite. And keep your voice down," Rose admonished her business partner. She returned to looking across the street with the help of her omnioculars. It was a few minutes later before she spoke again. "Business doesn't seem to be booming. At least not yet."

"It's their first day and it's not a Hogsmeade weekend - which was poorly planned, by the way," Jane said. She moved from her crouched position to actually sit on the floor, stretching her legs out with a groan. "Look, I'm hungry and I promised Lily we'd meet her for lunch, remember?" Jane reminded Rose. She let out a sigh and plopped down next to Jane.

"You're right. I don't see what the point is in sticking around anymore without actually going in the shop. That makes me uncomfortable just to think about," she said with a slight shiver.

"Who calls a potion store "U-Brew" anyway? Sounds like a do-it-yourself brewery," Jane said with a disbelieving chuckle. Rose laughed along with her before standing and pulling Jane to her feet. There was a noise from the direction of the door and one of Rose's many aunts poked her head into the upstairs attic.

"Everything going alright?" Angelina asked.

"Yes, we're actually just about to head out," Rose told her aunt. They made their way through the stacks of boxes and random items stored above the Hogsmeade branch of Weasley Wizard Wheezes.

"Learn anything interesting?" Angelina asked as she headed back down the attic stairs with the girls right behind her.

"Not really. Just that we'll have to wait and see," Rose said in resignation.

"Do you think it'll affect you all that much? It's not like the shop is in Diagon Alley," Rose's aunt was quick to point out.

"I know," Rose said with a sigh. "But I can't help being curious. I'd kind of like to see how they do things."

"You could actually go into the shop instead of hiding in an attic like a bandit," Jane complained. They made their way from the back room to the main part of the shop.

"Maybe one of these days," Rose said begrudgingly. "If I can ever get over my pride."

They bid Angelina goodbye before heading out into the cool, late morning. It was the last weekend in October and the temperature had been starting to drop. Rose may have loved the fall, but the minute the temperature dropped below freezing, she became a nightmare with the way she complained about the cold. She even admitted it herself.

They made their way towards The Three Broomsticks. Lily had agreed to meet them there after she finished shooting some family photos on the edge of the village.

"I told Dom she was welcome to join us, too," Rose told Jane as they entered the pub. They felt a rush of warm air as the door thudded closed behind them. Jane gave an annoyed huff.

"Is she still not talking to her husband?" she asked. Rose nodded in confirmation.

"And she only said she'd come to lunch if we didn't bring him up." Rose gave Jane a pointed look and the latter raised her hands and brow in innocence.

"What? You think I can't hold my tongue?"

"You're not the best at it," Rose said. They made their way through the rather small lunch crowd and towards a booth in the back.

"Fine," Jane relented. "I'll do my best. But you have to admit that she's being ridiculous."

They slid into either side of the booth just as a barmaid approached them.

"What'll it be, dears?" the rather stout lady asked.

"Two warm butterbeers, please," Rose requested as she removed her coat. "And we have two others coming so one for each of them as well."

The woman retreated back to the bar with a nod just as Lily entered, a camera bag slung over her shoulder and cheeks flushed from the chill temperature.

"Please tell me you already ordered me a warm mug of butterbeer?" she asked as she slid in next to Jane.

"It'll be out soon," Rose assured her. "How was the shoot?"

"Brilliant," Lily enthused. "It was the perfect morning for it. Did you see the fog? Anyway, the trees are the perfect autumn colors and the twins behaved wonderfully. Those are two of the cutest three-year-old girls I've ever seen."

"Was it the Richardsons? They're wonderful," Jane gushed. "Sarah lived next door to us growing up and used to babysit me during the summers. I didn't realize her girls were three already."

Lily nodded as their drinks were placed in front of them. She looked gratefully up at the barmaid who gave them all a friendly smile and promised to return once the final member of their party arrived. Lily gave the fourth mug of butterbeer a skeptical look.

"Who else is coming?"

"Dom," Rose said. "And we're not to talk about Ben, okay? It's been a long week and she only agreed to come because I said we wouldn't bring him up."

"Got it," Lily said seriously. "We will steer clear away."

"From what?"

They all jumped in surprise at Dom's sudden appearance by their table.

"Dom, hey! Sorry. We didn't notice you come in," Jane said. The words came out in a rather flustered rush, and Dom gave her an amused look as she slid into the seat beside Rose.

"It's alright, but what are we steering clear of?"

"The corned beef," Lily said calmly, causing Rose and Jane to look at her in surprise. "Al was telling Rose that he was out here last week and it made him sick."

Dom nodded and seemed to buy it. Lily smirked at the dumbfounded looks Rose and Jane were giving her.

"Did you two receive your invitations the other night like Rose and I did?" Dom asked Jane and Lily, snapping all of the other girls out of their silent conversation. Ten minutes later they had all received their meals and were deep in conversation about the upcoming benefit that The Davies Foundation would be throwing at the beginning of the year. It had been announced in The Daily Prophet the previous day, and their families were all usually issued personal invitations to these type of events. Even Jane received one since her mother resided on the board at St. Mungo's with Archie's father.

"I never know what to wear to these things," Dom was complaining. "I know it's not classy to complain about my looks, but the Veela blood doesn't help things and I always feel uncomfortable in skimpy dresses because of all the creepy leering. It's even worse when I get all those now, considering I'm-"

She cut herself off and looked worriedly around the table, regretting what she'd been about to say. Jane looked like she was trying to work out a puzzle as she tried to figure out what the end of her sentence was going to be. Lily just stared blankly at her, choosing to ignore her slip, and Rose absentmindedly finished her cousin's sentence.

"Married?"

Lily shot Rose a disbelieving look while Jane choked on her butterbeer. Dom looked slightly uncomfortable, but also surprised by Rose's interjection.

"Right," Dom mumbled, turning back to her shepherd's pie, her face slightly flushed.

"I think I'll try and find something new," Jane said, having recovered from her choking fit and trying to steer away from the uncomfortable taboo topic, which Rose was thankful for as she silently berated herself for her mindless slip. "I'm officially back on the market so I might as well make the most of it."

"Oh, please let's not have a repeat of my parent's anniversary party," Rose pleaded. "You've already scarred all my male relatives, it's best you don't do the same to the whole wizarding world."

"Your clutz of a brother stepped on my dress and ripped it," Jane fought back. "There's no way I'd intentionally moon an entire room of people."

All of the other girls laughed at the memory as Jane scowled at them.

"I think Hugo is still recovering from his embarrassment," Lily said through her chuckles. Jane had steadily been turning pink, but it didn't take long for a reluctant smile to grow on her face as the others continued to reminisce about the disaster of an evening.

"Fine. No trains, nothing too deep, and I'll even put a reinforcement charm on it to make sure it stays intact. Okay?"

Everyone agreed with her as they went on to speculate about what the benefit would possibly be like. The Davies Foundation always came up with a different theme every year and there'd yet to be a dud. The event was always heavily covered by the press and everybody who was anybody usually showed up. Rose was somewhat nervous about the upcoming evening. She hoped to have her burn paste ready to be distributed by then, and she was going to need investors in order to make that happen. This event would be one of the perfect opportunities for her to network and make connections.

But with everyone who was anybody being there, that also meant a particular family that owned a business that somewhat rivaled her own. And she wouldn't put it past Scorpius Malfoy to try and sabotage her every step of the way. While they would all be good citizens and pay their way to be there in order to benefit a good cause, she was fully prepared for him to do something underhanded.

"How's research going, Rose?"

She looked up from her food to see Lily watching her expectantly.

"Uncle George was going on about it to me when I stopped by his shop the other day. You've been having some progress?" Lily asked.

"I hope so," Rose said with a sigh. "It's been a long road and I think I'm finally starting to head in the right direction after the fiasco that was last June."

The other three grimaced along with Rose at the memory.

"I still have nightmares," Jane said with a shiver.

"Anyway," Rose went on. "I figure the benefit will be a good time to network so I hope to have something to stand on by then."

"By the way," Dom interjected as she scraped the bottom of her bowl. "What's with this new potions shop in town? Did you know that was happening?"

Rose scowled and Jane rolled her eyes.

"Don't get her started," said Jane. "It'll just put her in a foul mood the rest of the day."

"Why?" Dom asked, chuckling at the look on Rose's face.

"Because a certain Slytherin and his family are responsible for it," said Lily. She looked like she was getting too much enjoyment out of the situation.

"I fail to see what's so humorous about this," Rose snapped, stabbing at the last bits of her fish and chips.

"Just your face," Lily said. "And the fact that Scorpius always has this effect on you. As much as I'd like you two to get along, I still get a kick out of it."

This earned a bigger scowl from Rose as the others tried to hide their sniggers.

"He does not always have this effect on me," Rose countered. "Ask Lucy. We ran into him and Davies the other day and I behaved perfectly-"

"Wait, Lucy saw Archie?" Lily asked.

"Yeah," said Rose, confused by Lily's question. "But you knew that was a possibility. They were both at your birthday, remember?"

Lily's hand flew to her mouth in realization. "I hadn't even thought about it. Abigail helped me with the invites and I said she could just put down any of Al's friends that I know. It totally slipped my mind."

"Well you needn't worry," Rose assured her. "They didn't really interact that night. But we ended up bumping into him and Malfoy the next day."

"How'd that go?" Jane asked.

"Not horribly," Rose realized. "I honestly feel sort of bad for Davies. He seems to be carrying both guilt for everything that happened and a torch for Molly at the same time."

"Well why shouldn't he?"

Everyone looked at Dominique in surprise. Her question had come out rather surly, and her face gave away the impression that she'd just tasted something sour.

"I mean, he wasn't exactly helpful, and Molly's fantastic. Of course he still holds a torch for her. I can't believe Al is still friends with him, though. After everything that happened."

"Dom, that's not really fair," Lily argued.

"It's the truth, isn't it?"

"Anyway," said Jane, realizing they were straying into a subject that was still touchy in the family circle. Lily looked like she was about to lay in to Dom in defense of her brother and his friend. "Do you mean to tell us, Rose, that you managed to not get in a scuffle with young Mr. Malfoy when you saw him?"

Rose felt a slight blush rise to her cheeks as her cousins and friend studied her reaction. She sipped her butterbeer to give herself time to regain her composure.

"Why is that so shocking?" she finally asked.

"Cause we've never seen it happen before," said Lily.

"Whatever," Rose said with a scoff. "He was actually rather helpful, if you can believe that."

"I can, actually," Lily somewhat mumbled to herself, but the rest of the girls didn't miss the comment. It was well known that Lily regarded Scorpius almost as if he were another brother, and it bothered her to no end that Rose wouldn't give him the time of day.

At one point, Rose thought Lily might even have a thing for Scorpius. But then she'd started dating her now ex-boyfriend and Rose had forgotten all about her suspicions. But now, Lily was single. Although she was fairly certain Scorpius wasn't, Rose couldn't help but wonder if any feelings that Lily might have had in the past were starting to creep up again. Asking didn't feel like an option, though. She hated when people asked her about stuff like that. And if Lily didn't feel that way, Rose didn't like the idea of planting thoughts in Lily's head. In her opinion, it was best to stay as far away as possible from Scorpius Malfoy.

"Rose, do you mind if we stop in at Belle's Baubles?" Dom asked. Looking around, Rose realized she'd lost track of the conversation and Lily, Dom, and Jane were all preparing to leave.

"I need more material for Christmas gifts and as long as we're in Hogsmeade," Dom explained. Rose nodded as she rose to follow her cousins and friend out into the chill afternoon. Jane and Lily were quick to say goodbye before disapparating. Dom and Rose made their way across the street to the craft and trinket store that Belle Haskins had opened up shortly after graduating from Hogwarts almost a decade ago. Despite it still being early afternoon, the temperature seemed to have dropped significantly. Rose found herself regretting the decision to forgo gloves on this outing and welcomed the warmth as they entered the shop.

"Hello, welcome in!" a voice sounded from somewhere near the front counter. The small space was filled to the brim with everything you could need for various crafts, as well as an eclectic assortment of decorations and knick knacks. Some of the bins of yarn were stacked too high to see over, obscuring whoever was greeting them from view.

"Hi, Belle," Dom said, recognizing the voice. They made their way through the stacks as Dom began to look through the various types of yarn. "Do you have anymore of that blue yarn that I bought the other day?"

"Sure thing! Up here by the front."

Dom wandered off towards the front and Rose was left to amble around the store while her cousin shopped. As she looked through a collection of miniature figurines of the Hogwarts castle, she heard a small yelp followed by what sounded like a large amount of yarn falling to the floor. She hurried off to the corner of the store the commotion had come from and found a young girl covered in a pile of yarn.

"Are you alright?" Rose asked. She began to shift some of the yarn off the young girl as she struggled to sit up. Rose was relieved to hear her chuckle.

"I'm alright, just getting used to how things work around here."

Finally breaking free from the avalanche of knitting materials, the girl pushed herself up into a sitting position. Her short brown hair was sticking up in multiple directions due to the tumble and the static from all the yarn. She wore the customary purple work apron over a conservative black top and pants. Rose let out a small gasp when she took in the girl's friendly and familiar face. Her deep brown eyes met Rose's at the sound of her exclamation, the bemused smile she wore growing into a pleasantly surprised one. But as she opened her mouth to greet Rose, she was cut off.

"Lizzie," Rose whispered harshly. "What are you doing here?"

The young girl's eyes widened in shock at her tone. She glanced around in confusion before responding in kind. "I work here on weekends. Rose, why are we whispering?"

Rose looked over her shoulder to where Dom had disappeared. She vaguely heard her talking to Belle up at the front and figured she had a decent amount of time to handle the situation before Dominique came looking for her.

"Because your sister-in-law is with me and I don't know how she'd react to seeing you right now," Rose said as she turned back to Lizzie.

"What, she's here?" Lizzie asked. Rose nodded and offered her hand to help pull Lizzie off the floor. "She's been avoiding me for weeks. I'm assuming you know everything?"

Rose nodded again, a skeptical look on her face. She wasn't certain that the seventeen-year-old would know the details that she was privy to.

"Ben came up to see me last weekend," Lizzie explained. "So you can stop looking at me as if I'm too young to know all the gory details. He told me everything."

Rose smiled. She'd always liked Lizzie's fiery and unapologetic attitude.

"Sorry. Dom's been staying with me the past few weeks so I feel more than a little overwhelmed with the whole thing."

"She's staying with you? Brilliant," Lizzie said. "Maybe we can fix this."

Rose's eyes widened at the suggestion.

"Fix this? Lizzie, I'm sorry, but you know how stubborn Dom is. There's no way I could get her to do anything. I've tried fixing it and believe me, it didn't go that well."

"That's because you didn't do it right!"

Rose frowned and Lizzie cringed at her own blunt words.

"Sorry, but sheer force is the only way you'll get her to do anything. I'm willing to bet you just tried talking to her?"

Rose nodded as a mischievous gleam appeared in Lizzie's eyes. They heard Dom saying her farewells to Belle and beginning to move towards them. Lizzie glanced over Rose's shoulder before quickly leaning in to whisper to her, determination written all over the younger girl's face.

"Listen, all we need is to get them in the same place at the same time. Rose, I know he didn't do this, and I'm willing to bet you believe that, too. I've got some ideas and you'll be hearing from me soon, but in the meantime, try getting her to talk about the good stuff. Maybe reminisce a little. Help her realize how ridiculous she's being. And for the love of Merlin, be subtle about it."

With that, Lizzie quickly flicked her wand and all the yarn that was still on the floor floated up around her, blocking her from view as she made her way back through the store, the yarn comically following after her.

"Hey, Rose. Ready to go?" Dom asked as she approached Rose, a massive bag of yarn dangling from her arm as she just missed her husband's younger sister disappearing around the corner.

They quickly left the shop and Apparated back to Rose's flat, where Dominique decided to take a nap, and Rose quickly sat down to write a letter to Leo. She pulled out the letter he'd written to her the previous week so she would be able to respond to what he'd said. But first, she was going to need some advice.

Leo,

I'm not exactly in a pickle, but things are definitely complicated and I could use some sound reasoning and advice. I know I can count on you to give me that. You're always so helpful.

Without giving too much away, there's something going on with someone I'm close to and I'm fighting the age old battle of how much I should put myself in the middle of it. My gut reaction is to steer clear and not involve myself, but she's kind of made me involved. So do I keep as much distance as possible or dive head first into this mess?

The only reason I'm thinking about getting involved is because she is one of the absolute most stubborn people on the planet and I don't see her facing this without a good shove in the right direction. Plus I care an awful lot about her happiness. I just so happened to have found a rather tempting opening. I think I could really help and I do believe the relationship (yes this is romantic drama) is more than salvageable and she's making a mistake throwing it all away.

I believe everyone is at perfect liberty to make their own choices and lead their own lives, but I know from experience that we don't always see our own messes clearly. Things always look bigger to the people in them, right?

I don't really know what type of advice I'm looking for. I guess you can't really give good advice without knowing the whole situation, but I think the fact that a marriage is in trouble when it doesn't have to be is enough to go off of for now.

You sound like you have a lot going on and I'm sorry for bogging you down with all my issues as well. I don't want to tell you what you should do or need to do with your relationship, but you don't sound happy. As much as I love hearing from you and appreciate your confidence, maybe you should talk to her about this instead of me? It's possible she feels the same as you.

She paused as she read back over the last few paragraphs of Leo's last letter. With all the personal topics and the advice being exchanged, they were drifting into very dangerous territory. As she read over his words, she felt nervous and excited and a flurry of butterflies. She felt like she'd really gotten to know him better, too. He was smart and knew what he wanted, even if he had a hard time acting on it. To her, it showed that he cared about the impact his actions had on others and that he didn't take things lightly. Just the way he handled their relationship was evidence of that. But were they ready to come face to face? She could feel herself being stretched and pulled in multiple directions. It had begun to occur to her that her conflicted feelings were unfair to both Leo and Abel. Something would probably have to be done soon, but she wasn't looking forward to making a choice. She dipped her quill and tapped it against the edge of her inkwell, pausing once again to figure out what she should say. She felt Rhea brush up against her leg and Rose looked down at the cat in question.

"What do you think?"

The calico cat blinked its multicolored eyes at her with a tilt of the head. Rose let out a huff.

"Fine. You're probably right."

To be honest, I feel like I've really gotten to know you a lot more over these last few weeks as well. But with everything going on in both of our lives, maybe we give it a little more time before we completely reveal all to each other. I'd really love nothing more than to meet you. But I feel like the timing isn't quite right yet. And I'd really like it to be perfect. We might not get that and you can call me idealistic, but I'm willing to wait and try for it. I hope you are too.

Hope you're well,

Daisy

A/N: I get that we haven't had a ton of Rose and Scorpius interaction. Am I leaving you wanting more? Cause I'm kind of doing the same to myself TBH. IT WILL COME! Just hang in there. In the meantime you have their lovely letters to keep you company.

This story now has 50 followers! That's amazing. I'd love to hear from you all so drop a review and I'll super appreciate it.

Also, HAPPY 2018! Hope everyone is looking forward to the new year. Hope it's better than the last. Happy reading!