Chapter 4

Throwing her bag and cloak onto a chair in the living room Rose sighed and headed straight into her bedroom to get changed, it had been a long day at work and she now had to dash straight out again to her cousin, Vernon's, birthday party. It was the last thing she felt like doing as she had been dealing with a mountain of paperwork which had sent her eyes funny and had also had to endure yet more gifts, love notes and persuasion from Chris who refused to leave her alone. He had managed to position himself in the Ministry elevator every morning and evening when she jumped in and since her return to work on the second of January she had struggled to get through each day as she now had no excuse to avoid him, he worked in the Ministry too and knew what time she arrived and left. Once or twice she had shown up to work or left early or late but on those days he had sent flowers and owls to her office with sickly sweet messages attached saying how sorry he was and how much he loved her but she had been strong for once and ignored every attempt he made to contact her. At least in the elevator there were always lots of other people so it was hard for him to really talk to her which, she assumed, was why he had started to send daily messages by owl.

He refused to believe that she was really seeing 'that dorker' as he referred to Salamander and she had not been able to deny the fact that she wasn't. What he actually thought she was going to agree to she did not know, he had no intention of leaving his wife and family and she could only assume that he wanted her to have a torrid affair with him and nothing else. But that was not what Rose wanted at all and she kept trying to make it clear to him, however his standard response was that she was a young girl who should be out having fun rather than being tied down to one person, she could live the single life but still have wild and passionate sex with him every few nights. That comment had received him a slap across the face but he had only chuckled and called her feisty which had wound her up even more. They had been in the elevator alone for the first time at the end of the day and he had whisked her into his arms and tried to kiss her but she had slapped him again and flounced out of the lift on the wrong floor using the stairs to get down to the floo network.

Now the last thing she felt like doing was socialising with all the family but she could not refuse to go and after changing out of her work robes she dragged herself wearily back to the fireplace in time for her timed floo appointment. Throwing green powder into the air she shouted, "Number twelve Grimmauld Place," and appeared seconds later in the bustling kitchen of her Aunt and Uncle's family home.

"Rose," said a familiar voice as she stepped out of the fireplace in the kitchen.

"Sal," she coughed a little awkwardly as she straightened up and looked into the face of the man she had not actually seen or spoken to since leaving his bed on New Year's day, "how...how are you?" she coughed trying to sound casual but feeling the colour rise in her cheeks already as she uncontrollably tried to picture his hands touching her naked body.

"Good, good...you?" he stuttered in reply obviously feeling as uncomfortable as she did, was he picturing the same thing that she was? Rose had tried and tried to remember anything about the early morning events of New Year's Day but had come up with nothing and she had been worried about seeing Sal at the party as she was not sure how they would act around each other now. She also did not want people to see them acting strangely with each other and guess what had happened between them so she took a deep breath and tried to act normally.

"Not too bad," she lied thinking once again about Chris' recent bombardment, "working a lot and feeling tired!"

"Sounds familiar," he replied relaxing a little now that she had spoken to him, it was clear to Sal that she was feeling a little uncomfortable but he was as anxious as she was to return to normal without anyone finding out about their little slip.

"Where's the birthday boy?" she asked feeling the need to get away from him, it would not be easy to go back to normal and after the day she had had Rose didn't know if she would have the energy to stop trying to picture Sal's hands all over her naked body every time he spoke to her.

"Over there," he nodded and she smiled sweetly before walking over to give her cousin a birthday hug and hand over the present she had brought with her.

"Hey Rose, thanks!" Vernon replied before turning to greet another guest who had just flooed into the room. Rose took the opportunity to find a seat and sit down at the kitchen table hoping to take a minute or two and get over her hectic day.

"Happy New Year Cus!" said another familiar voice as someone dropped into the seat beside her, "Seems like you had a good night at the Cauldron!" her cousin James joked, "Though I imagine it was a bit different when you woke up!" he continued and immediately she felt her cheeks flush, had Salamander told him what had happened? They were best friends but she had assumed he would keep it to himself as they were both clearly embarrassed about it.

"Wh...what?" she stuttered.

"Well Sal looked like death and I assumed you were the same!" Had it been that shocking to wake up with her she thought, "I suppose you were feeling pretty regretful about it all too!" he laughed and she began to feel the Granger anger rise in her that she got from her mother. Had he told her cousin that he regretted sleeping with her? It hadn't been Rose's finest moment but she didn't exactly regret it she was just confused about how it had all happened.

"I...we..." she couldn't actually form any coherent words as she felt so affronted.

"He didn't tell me much about it all," thank god Rose thought to herself knowing that if he did remember something telling her cousin about her in bed was the last thing she wanted. "Mind you he was that shocking on New Year's day I don't think he spoke to anyone! He did say he was never going to do it again though as it had felt so bad! But we all say that at some point in our lives don't we?"

"He...said...he said it was bad?"

"Yeah!" James laughed and Rose felt herself getting angry with him too, it was bad enough that Salamander had made a joke out of her but for James to do it too was unforgivable, "But surely you agree with him? Like I said we've all been there at some point haven't we?"

"We...all?" she was too furious to form real words and needed to get out of the room as quickly as possible before she screamed at two of the guests in front of everyone. The last thing she wanted was for more of her family to find out so she decided she would leave it be for the time being and visit the toe rag and his flatmate after the party where he would give both of them a piece of her mind. Perhaps she was not going to be friends with Salamander Longbottom anymore if this was what he thought of her.

"Rose?" James asked curiously as she stood up and left the room without another word but he just shrugged his shoulders and put her behaviour down to a rough day at work. He had only been trying to have a joke with her about the other week but she obviously could not take it like his flat mate could.

She hurried up the stairs away from the noise in the kitchen and sought refuge in her Uncle Harry's quiet study. She was absolutely fuming and was already forming in her mind what she would say first of all to Sal for treating their little mistake so casually and secondly to her cousin for quite openly making fun of the situation. How many other people had Sal told? And for that matter how many people had James told? It was obviously just a bit of fun to him, a chance to relive his own wild single days vicariously through someone else but she was not going to have it. So Sal had said it was bad, did that mean he could remember it all? Had she been so terrible in bed that he had had to tell her cousin about it? Part of her wanted to ask him now what had happened as he clearly remembered more than she did but she also did not think she could bare to hear it if he thought her such a disappointment in the bedroom. Why had she drunk so much?

Glancing around the study she saw all of her Uncle's weird and wonderful things, this room was his own little haven where he kept all of his memorabilia from his days of fighting as an auror. That had been before she had been born, in fact he had given it all up when his first son, James, had been born but everyone knew he had been a fantastic auror who had captured many dark wizards in his days. The also knew that he had been the saviour of the wizarding world as they had studied him in history of magic and Defence against the dark arts at school. It had been strange to learn about her Uncle in school lessons, reading about the things he and her own parents had done to bring down the darkest wizard ever known and she was so proud of them all.

On the shelf above her were faded photographs of her Uncle and Mum and Dad in their days at Hogwarts along with old, well used sneakoscopes and other dark wizard sensors. A broken shard of glass with age stains leaned up against a contained golden snitch which shined as brightly as it probably did the day it was caught as she knew her Uncle polished it regularly. All around the room were various cupboards and shelves packed with books and old devises, Rose remembered her Uncle Harry once showing them around the room when she was about eight or nine, he had explained to her and her brother, Hugo, what everything was and she had been in awe, especially when he had shown her a beautiful carved stone basin which had once belonged to his old Head teacher, Professor Dumbledore. The pensive she thought to herself and gasped, in the cupboard nest to the desk she remembered standing up and opening the dark mahogany door. Behind it was the magnificent basin carved with patterns and runes, it was empty and looked like any other basin but Rose knew the magic that it could perform, the magic which could actually put her on an even keel with the despicable Salamander Longbottom.

She had never actually extracted anything from her mind before but her anger and indignation at her cousin's comments spurred her on and she withdrew her wand from her pocket and placed it against her temple. Concentrating hard on the blurry mass in her mind which was New Year's Eve she began to pull out a long swirling ribbon from her head which was neither liquid nor gas and she emptied it into the pensive below her. She looked at the white mass and stirred it with her wand feeling a little bit of trepidation about looking into it, Rose had read about pensieves before but this was the first time she had ever actually used one and she felt a little nervous about what would happen and also about what she would see. Putting her head into it she felt a strange falling sensation before finding herself stood beside the fireplace in James and Sal's flat.

It was dark in the room, the only light was that which the fire gave off, and she could see herself lolled on the sofa with a glass of something in her hand, she was laughing and looked very drunk. Sal was in the chair beside her nursing a tumbler himself and snorting a little at what ever they had just been saying. Seeing him in the chair made the anger rise in her throat again and she had to remind herself that this was only a memory and not reality so she could not swipe him across the face like she longed to do.

"So here's to a New Year of loneliness!" Rose from New Year's Eve toasted holding her glass precariously in the air in the general direction of Salamander and chuckling, "Start as we mean to go on eh?"

"Na, that's not true!" Sal replied refusing to chink her glass as he sat up.

"Of course it's true!" her other self replied trying to sit up, "We're alone to start the year and we'll be alone to finish it no doubt! Well at least I will be, I never find the right man," she slurred, "I'm obviously that bad!"

"Don't be silly," Salamander replied, "you're not bad! They just don't know what they are missing!"

"Whatever," she went on slumping back into the chair, "I'm desperate and ugly and scare them all away, well except for the gits who just want me as a bit on the side because their wives have turned into bitter shrivelled up prunes!"

"You're not ugly Rose," Sal went on and the sober Rose who was watching felt herself grow hot on the cheeks again, had he really paid her that compliment? "You have plenty to offer anyone, not just the married arseholes!"

"Like what?" she retorted without looking up to see Sal who was straightening himself in his chair and coughing as if about to make an important speech.

"You are beautiful and witty and intelligent. You care for everyone and will do anything to make someone happy."

The drunken Rose had sat up at these words and a strange expression had crossed her face, "Really?" she asked perching on the end of the sofa and smiling with embarrassment.

"Yes," Sal replied moving to sit next to her on the couch, "I've always thought that, you're one of the most caring people I have ever known and you have lovely long hair and pretty brown eyes."

"Th...thankyou," Rose from New Year stuttered as the sober Rose watching on began to blush again, is this what started it all? She thought to herself, was he making these compliments because he wanted to initiate something? Was he going to kiss her now? Sober Rose felt butterflies in her stomach at the thought and watched on eagerly momentarily forgetting that she was angry with the tall blonde haired man sat beside her past self on the couch.

"It's true," he said and Rose waited watching intently for him to lean over and kiss her but she was surprised to see that her own bushy haired self was the one to lean over and kiss Salamander Longbottom square on the lips passionately. She watched his arms rise up around her and pull her close as the kiss deepened and her own hands reached up to touch his face. The present Rose felt her stomach flip a little as she watched and she had to look away for a second to compose herself, after a few moments however she glanced back and saw that they had broken apart. Neither of the drunken couple spoke as they stared at each other for a few seconds and then they both leaned forwards to kiss again wrapping their arms tightly around one another as they both stood up and began to stumble haphazardly towards the bedroom knocking over a side table on the way, Rose followed them to the doorway and slipped inside before it closed. She watched on as her former self began to unbutton the shirt Sal was wearing while he tugged down the long zipper at the back of her dress, neither of them pulled away from the kiss until he was completely naked and she was wearing her underwear and heels. Present day Rose could not take her eyes off the strong muscular body of Salamander Longbottom there displayed in all his glory, he was fully erect and she found herself blushing again while the past Rose smiled, kicked off her shoes and discarded her underwear before grabbing hold of his large member and pulling him with her towards the bed where she let go and laid back giggling seductively.

Past Rose lifted up her knees on the bed as Salamander lowered himself onto her, his hands touched her body and present day Rose felt herself grow hot and excited even though he was not actually touching her now. He ran his hands over her small breasts and flicked the nipples tenderly making her moan and throw back her head in desire. The naked Rose lifted her hands to Sal's chest and began to stroke the think hair between his pecks which she tugged gently as if willing him to take her. The now flushed spectator watched his tight bottom lift up as he took her and listened to her gentle groans and deep breaths as he rose and fell above her, she felt as if she was intruding even though it was her own experience she was watching but she could not bare to tear herself away as she looked at the picture she had tried to imagine for the last two weeks. All thought of berating the man had left her head as she watched him take as much pleasure in her as she had in him and after a few moments she heard him cry out her name as he pushed himself one last time inside her and then collapsed on top of her.

"Rose," shouted another voice and she glanced around to see who else was in the room, she had momentarily forgotten the fact that she was watching this in a memory and suddenly remembered that she was actually at her Uncle's house watching the events in his pensieve. The voice she had heard was not part of the memory and with one last glance at the sated couple on the bed she brought herself out of the swirling fog in time to hear footsteps on the stairs outside followed swiftly by the voice of her mother repeating, "Rose." Not wanting to be found snooping in her Uncle's private things she hastily closed the door to the cupboard and started flicking through a book on the desk where her mother found her minutes later. "Rose, what are you doing up here? We're about to eat downstairs."

"I'll be there in a minute," she replied needing a couple of minutes to compose herself after what she had seen and remembering now why she had wanted to see it. It didn't look as if Sal had had that bad a time and she now wanted to know why he had said that, was it simply because it had been with her that he regretted it because he certainly had not appeared to have had a problem while they were in the throws of passion.

Everyone was sat at the table when she walked in the kitchen and she immediately saw Salamander which made her blush furiously again, she didn't actually know if she felt more or less awkward now that she had seen what happened but she did know that she now had a very clear image of Salamander Longbottom touching her bare flesh. Hastily glancing away she dropped into a seat beside her taunting cousin and decided to ask him if he had shared the information with anyone else. "Have you told anyone else about New Year's Day?" she asked.

"I don't think we needed to everyone already knows!" he laughed and she felt herself grow angry again.

"What?" she blustered.

"Well it was pretty obvious Rose."

"What do you mean obvious? How can it have been obvious?"

"The amount of firewhiskey you drained, I think there's only your Mum and who don't know!"

"Thank god!" she shrieked.

"Rose," he whispered, "they do know that you do it, you are a grown up now!"

"Yeah but they don't need to know when I am...doing it," she flushed again, "and neither does everyone else!"

"Well if you want to keep it a secret don't do it in front of everyone!" he guffawed.

"What...I...we...what do you mean in front of everyone?"

"If you don't want people to know then don't do it in front of everyone." He stated matter of factly with a confused look on his face.

"What are you talking about?" Rose asked feeling her blood boiling.

"Downing a bottle of firewhiskey in front of a bar full of people, what are you talking about?" he asked with a hint of intrigue to his voice.

"Oh..." she said, "that, yes...yeah you're right I shouldn't have," she continued, realisation suddenly dawning on her. He had been talking about the hangover not what had happened between she and Salamander, he hadn't told him all about it, he had kept it to himself and she had felt bad for the last hour with no actual reason to. Rose now felt even more stupid about using the pensieve to see what had happened as she realised Sal probably had not known any more than she had an hour ago and as she glanced across the table at him she felt her heart flip as she saw his hand on her bare breast again and she had to look away quickly before he caught her eye.