A/N: OK, so it's been awhile, but here's my next update. I am colossally sorry for how excruciatingly bad I am at keeping up with this. I have no excuses at all except that I'm a terrible person. I'm not sure if the site alerted you guys when I posted Chapter 22 a few weeks ago because the site might have been having issues (Chapter 22 was round 2 of meet the parents and the final meeting with Longbottom) so if you haven't read that you get a two-for-one deal this time!

Chapter 23

The Quidditch stadium was even more packed than it usually was. As a result, I was crammed onto one of the benches between Dom and Emily with barely enough room to breathe. It always amazed me how many students really went to this school. I didn't know half of them, and I was the Head Girl. Taking a deep breath, I tried to clamp down on the pit in my stomach at the realization that this was the last school Quidditch match I would see. It was too early in the year yet to be thinking about lasts so much. I still had two months remaining in the year. Two months. At the end of those months, I still probably wouldn't know half of these students, but at that point it wouldn't matter. None of them would remember me even if I did.

"Rose," Dom snapped, grabbing my attention. "You have that depressed nostalgia on your face again. Stop being such a downer! This is supposed to be fun, remember?"

Giving myself a mental shake, I returned the grin she shot me. "Right. Fun. Got it."

I needed to focus on the present instead of getting all caught up in the future. If I didn't, my life would just keep passing me by. I almost smiled at the thought process, remembering how last year all I could think about was my future. My father likely wouldn't approve, but Scorpius had made me see that living for tomorrow wasn't always as productive as living for today.

"So is your dad hiding under the bleachers, waiting to curse Scorpius off his broom?" Dom asked when it became clear that neither Emily nor I were willing to make conversation.

I shot her a dirty look. "No. He's probably moping around the house waiting for me to finally answer one of his many letters. He's sent one every day since term started back up."

"Why don't you reply to one?" Em asked, finally making her presence known.

My stomach twisted unpleasantly. "I'm not ready. I get that he's sorry, but I still see his face when… I just can't yet."

"Ok," she said simply, turning back to face the pitch. I loved that Emily took things at face value. Dom, on the other hand, looked like she wanted to pry, but held back since Em did.

I was saved from having to make any more conversation as Harriet Smith started the commentary for the match, announcing the teams as they emerged onto the field. "Alright folks! We've got ourselves one very unexpected match today. At the beginning of the season, who really thought we'd end up with a Gryffindor/Slytherin final? Be honest, now. Both teams looked pretty bleak, but with Adrian Davies being expelled from the Ravenclaw team after the incident with Malfoy and Hufflepuff's outbreak of Scrofungulus in the week's leading up to their final match… Sorry, Professor.

"So we've got our teams mounted and ready to go. Place your bets, because we're about to get underway. Malfoy and Potter are shaking hands at the center, two best friends about to go head-to-head for the coveted trophy. I wonder if Potter will take out what is surely repressed anger about Malfoy dating his cousin- Sorry, Professor, but there's got to be something, right? He's dating his best friend's cousin! Even Davies- Right. Moving on. The Quaffle is up and the Seekers are climbing and the match is under way."

I rolled my eyes at Harriet's commentary, trying to avoid the covert looks everyone was now shooting me. They tried to be discreet, but I could feel my skin crawling. Emily bumped her shoulder against mine in a show of solidarity and I managed to relax again. The rest of the match proceeded without much supplementary commentary from Harriet, though I had a feeling that had more to do with Chang's stern expression in the seat beside her than it did her lack of amusing comments to make. She'd probably spit some of them out at the after party, though.

"This is it! Malfoy's seen it! So has Potter! They're both diving; it's just a matter of who gets there first. Who will it be: Gryffindor, or Slytherin? The hand that closes on that golden ball decides the winner. Potter pulling slightly ahead but Malfoy puts on a burst of speed and manages to catch up. Potter is now falling slightly behind as Malfoy looks like he's pushing his broomstick to the limit in the effort to get there first. He's reaching, reaching, Oh! Potter puts on a last second surge and snatches the ball from right in front of Malfoy's outstretched fingers! Gryffindor wins!"

Harriet's announcement was immediately followed by everyone around me jumping to their feet, screaming and cheering and jumping. I smiled and clapped along with them, but it was hard to be too enthusiastic when my boyfriend just lost. Besides, I hadn't contributed to either team winning aside from stepping in to practice with Gryffindor those few days. I couldn't understand why everyone was so euphoric at a victory they hadn't really had a part in, but then I never had. Each year I'd stand and watch everyone celebrate and yell 'We did it!' when really, there was no 'we' about it. The Gryffindor team did it; all we did was show up and watch. But that attitude wasn't welcomed at the after party; I'd learned that in second year pretty fast. Back then, though, I'd only had to endure a couple of hours of celebration before they moved the party to the Room of Requirement to celebrate with everyone else. Now, I was committed until the wee hours.

"Alright, let's go so you can make me up," I told Dom with a resigned sigh.

She jerked her head to stare at me in shock. "Since when do you just offer yourself up?"

"Like you weren't going to ask me."

"Caught."

I grinned despite myself, slipping my arms through hers and Emily's as we headed down to the pitch, where the Gryffindor team were being mobbed by the ecstatic crowd. I'd always hated the celebratory mob, but I was trying to live in the moment, and this moment would never happen again. That, and if I didn't show up in the center of that mob, Al would kill me.

"Rosie!" I heard him before I saw him, and before I could even set eyes on him, arms were wrapping around me from behind and swinging me in a circle by the waist. I shrieked, laughing before he put me back down and turned to hug Dom. Once she released him, we were left to watch as he turned to Emily. I could see the hesitation in his eyes before he carefully embraced her. I wasn't sure if it was apparent to anyone aside from me, but he seemed more reserved when he hugged her, as though trying to contain himself.

"Hey," I heard Scorpius's voice in my ear as his arm wrapped around my stomach from behind.

The smile returned to my face as I turned in his arms to see him changed out of his Quidditch robes and freshly showered. I had no idea we'd been out here long enough for that. "I didn't think you'd brave the mob. Being on the losing end and all…"

I was teasing him and he knew it, glancing above my head for a split second before leaning down to press his lips to mine. He pulled away too soon for my liking, and I rose on my tiptoes to follow him and plant another quick kiss on his lips. I turned back to see Al still preoccupied, and figured that was why he'd been so public about it. He never outright said it, but I knew part of his reluctance for PDA had to do with Al. Sure, we were comfortable without needing everyone to know we were together, but he also didn't want to shove it in Al's face if possible.

"How's your hand?" I asked, face sobering.

The smile he gave me in return was tight. "It's good."

Recognizing it for a lie, I took a step back and propped my hands on my hips.

"Fine," he relented, "It's a little… not good. But it's not a big deal, Rose."

"You told me you wouldn't play if you weren't up for it," I pointed out.

'I was. It just started to get a bit sore toward the end, that's all," he shrugged. "I'm fine, Rose. Promise."

I stared at him skeptically for another few seconds before accepting his explanation and turning back around to find Dom and Emily. Scorpius moved around me, his hand trailing around my back as he did, to go congratulate Al. Watching them embrace in that weird guy-hug they did, I couldn't help but return to smiling. I seemed to be doing that a lot today.

Dom, Emily, and I spent a large portion of the exclusive Gryffindor portion of the party in her dormitory as she twisted our hair in various different styles before finally making a decision and moving on to makeup. Usually she had hairstyles and makeup planned out at least a week in advance, making her behaviour strange. Exchanging a sideways glance with Emily, I could tell she was thinking the same thing.

"Dom?" I was sure I sounded as nervous as I felt. Dom usually hated it when anyone besides her brought up her feelings. "Is everything ok?"

"Fine," she replied far too quickly while concentrating on fluffing my hair.

"Are you sure? You just seem… a little off."

"I'm good, Rose. Promise."

I sighed and glanced at Emily again. She wore the same look I did. Something was clearly up, but Dom wasn't feeling inclined to share. Hopefully she'd let us in on whatever it was soon enough. Until then, we'd let her turn us into her own personal dolls in the hope that it would distract her from what was bothering her.

By the time we emerged down the spiral staircase, people were already starting to trickle out to sneak off to the Room of Requirement. We found Al rather quickly, sitting on the couch with Ben and trying to look like he wasn't already buzzed. I suppressed my eye roll and didn't point out that it was seven o'clock. He deserved a night without my motherly judgement. Instead, I dropped down onto the couch next to him after pulling the hem of the too-short bandage dress with cap sleeves Dom stuck me in. It was skin tight and varying shades of black, gray, and white that blended together to actually create a pretty stunning picture. Just not on me. It left me feeling far too exposed to be completely comfortable, but I was doing my best to ignore the feeling.

"You ladies look amazing," Ben said after blinking a few times at the three of us girls. "Ready to take off? I'm sure Scorpius and Gage are already there."

"Let's go!" Al announced, slapping my knee with enthusiasm as he pushed himself to his feet.

The party was already in full swing by the time we arrived, and the majority of the people stopped to cheer as Al emerged through the door. Awkwardly, I let myself melt into the crowd to avoid becoming swept up in the attention focused on my cousin.

"You look… remarkable," Scorpius whispered in my ear for the second time that night. I felt a shiver slide down my spine at the feeling of his breath on my ear. It was different than it had been this afternoon. This time, his voice had a husky quality to it that made me want to turn around and probably end up provoking Albus into cracking.

"This old thing?" I joked, though my voice was too breathless for my liking. I allowed myself to lean back into his chest as he slid his arms around my waist.

The physical contact was a theme throughout the night it seemed. I was never out of arm's reach of Scorpius, and there was always some part of one of us touching the other, whether it be a hand on the small of my back, an arm around my waist, my hand on his shoulder, or our finger tangled together. It was odd, considering our lack of desire to constantly be connected, and it certainly didn't go unnoticed.

"What's up with you guys?" Dom leaned in to ask. "You, like, never touch, but you've been all over each other all night. It's weird."

I laughed loudly, throwing my head back. "A couple of months ago you thought it was weird that we didn't touch."

Dom shrugged, taking a long gulp from her drink. She'd been downing them pretty fast tonight. I had to admit, though, that she had a point. I wasn't sure where this sudden desire to be in contact with him came from, but I wasn't going to question it. We'd gotten freer with the PDA since telling our parents, but that was limited to more-than-occasional brushes of hands, walking with our shoulders brushing more often, and flirting more publicly than usual. This was something new to our public image as a couple. Maybe it was just the fact that it was really official now, what with our parents knowing and all, that had us slowly gravitating toward the more 'normal' couple routine. It was alright to touch each other now since there was no danger of anyone alerting our parents accidentally. A ridiculous fear, but maybe it was there on some subconscious level.

Glancing around the room, I spied Al in one of the armchairs on the far side, but it was the brunette perched to face him on the accompanying stool that really caught my attention. When she turned to look at something he pointed out, I caught sight of her face and realized with a start that it was Carrie Brantley. How he managed to find her again was beyond me, but he was smiling wider than I'd seen him since he'd started to distance himself from Emily, so like many other things tonight, I put my over analytical brain to rest. There would be no questioning things tonight.

On our way back to the dormitory, fingers laced loosely together, I had the sudden urge to be spontaneous. Whether it was the slight fog of alcohol still affecting me or just my suddenly spiking hormones, I tightened my grip on his hand and pulled him behind one of the tapestries that opened into a deserted corridor. I turned to face him, walking backward a few more steps before stopping and allowing him to close the distance between us.

"Are you trying to take advantage of me, Miss Weasley?" He asked teasingly as he tucked a strand of hair behind my ear.

I returned his flirty grin with one of my own. "Maybe."

I pulled him the rest of the distance between us, tucking his arm around my back and then extracting my hand from his to wind around his neck. Our lips met gently, teasingly at first, and my hands ventured into his hair. The second my nails scratched against his scalp, the intensity shifted as he groaned and spun me around, backing up until my I hit the wall. My fingers ghosted along his chest, admiring the muscles I'd only been allowed to look at the past couple of years, and then wound around to his back, fisting the material of his shirt in my fingers to pull him even closer. He dragged his lips from mine, trailing them down to my collar bone. I tipped my head back to give him better access, breathing heavily as he left a path of fire on my skin. I finally pulled his head back up to mine, eager to feel his lips against mine again. We couldn't do this in the dormitory, what with the charm on it and all.

Maybe that had something to do with it, too. We weren't really able to be too… intimate in the dormitory, so we had to adapt and just be comfortable with being in each other's presence. As much as Dom thought it wasn't healthy, it made this better. All of the repressed desire was coming out right now, and while I didn't think I would ever get tired of kissing Scorpius, I didn't want to be one of those couples constantly snogging. Sometimes, though, it was just a necessity.

A full week later I sat in the library, trying to concentrate on Herbology and not the fact that I should be starting to hear back from internships soon. I knew everyone was starting to feel the anxiety of exams and careers and graduation, though we were all trying equally hard to ignore it. Scorpius was still struggling with his indecision over his grandfather on top of everything else, and the stress was starting to get to him even more than the rest of us. It didn't help that two of the firms he'd written had already sent back rejection letters. I could tell he was starting to panic about finding a job with the last name Malfoy, and it was only made worse by the fact that there was nothing I could do or say to fix this, or even make it marginally better. My heart ached for him, but I had to remain upbeat about this. I had to make sure he didn't lose hope.

I turned to shoot a dirty glare at whoever dared to laugh in the library and interrupt my focus. Not that I really had any focus to begin with… But still. It's the library for Merlin's sake. However, when I turned to see who was laughing, I was struck into shock at the sight of Albus and Carrie Brantley sitting across from one another at a table in the next aisle. Since when were they study buddies? Since when were they study buddies who didn't even study, from the looks of it? What did they even have to study? She wasn't even in our year, or I'd at least know her.

I waited until after dinner to track him down in the Gryffindor common room for an interrogation. It was my job as his cousin and female best friend to ensure I made him thoroughly uncomfortable about this, and it was one I took pride in.

"So…" I started, allowing my voice to trail off suggestively as I sat across from him.

He dropped his quill immediately at my tone. "What?"

"You seem to be getting pretty close to Carrie Brantley…"

"What makes you say that?" He asks slowly.

"I saw you guys at the party. And in the library. What's going on there?" I questioned, grinning slyly.

His cheeks coloured a bit. "I… er… we ran into each other a couple of days after the incident in the hallway and I asked if she was coming to the party. She showed up, we talked, and then I ran into her again in the library. We barely know each other."

"But you like her, don't you?" I surmised, leaning forward on my elbows.

He half-shrugged. "I don't know, Rose. It's still early, and we're both busy with exams and such. I'm graduating soon and she's studying for her OWLs. It's just nice to, I don't know, talk to someone else. It's a change."

"OWLs? She's in fifth year?" That explained why I didn't know her. It also shocked me a little. I hadn't expected her to be so… young.

Al seemed to catch on to my train of thought and crossed his arms defensively. "What's that tone for?"

"Nothing," I tried to lie. He fixed me with a look and I caved. "I'm sorry… I just… didn't know she was so… I didn't know she was in fifth year."

"Why does that suddenly make you all… judgemental?"

"I'm not!" I retorted, leaning back in my chair. After a moment of silence, I sighed. "Ok, maybe I was a little. It's just… Al, she's the same age as Lily and Hugo. Doesn't that… Isn't that weird?"

He shrugged again. "It's only two years."

"And maybe that wouldn't be such a big difference if we were out of school, but you're turning eighteen in a month, and then you'll be out of Hogwarts while she still has two years left… She's fifteen right now."

"Wow, I'm not planning to ask her to marry me, Rose. We've barely had more than a few conversations."

I inhaled deeply, trying to get a grip on myself. He didn't need this, and it really wasn't that big of difference… It just felt like it was. "I'm sorry. I guess I just thought of it in terms of where you're at in your lives. You'll be starting to deal with the reality of being on your own and Auror training, and she'll still be in classes. You saw how hard it was for Em and James to adjust… I shouldn't have brought them up. This conversation is not going at all the way I planned and I am just an awful cousin. I'm sorry, Al."

He tried to smile, but it felt a little forced. "Actually, I wanted to talk to you about something. I, er, I've had a letter… Actually, I've had about four letters… Quidditch teams who want me to play for them after graduation. Well, their reserve teams."

My mouth dropped open. "Seriously?! Al, that's…that's amazing!"

"I'm not sure why they want me. I mean, our season was atrocious. But apparently they sent scouts to the match and they were impressed."

"Wow. Which teams?" I asked, still trying to play catch up with this information.

"Well, the Chudley Canons were first, and the Appleby Arrows, then the Tutshill Tornadoes. I got a letter from the Quiberon Quafflepunchers yesterday."

"The Quafflepunchers?" I frowned. The name sounded familiar but I wasn't quite sure who they were. They certainly weren't a commonly mentioned team name around my house, and Dad was the biggest Quidditch fan there was. "Are they even in our league?"

"No," Al replied, looking down at the table as he continued, "They're in the French league. I thought it was strange, that they'd come to a predominantly British school to recruit, but their letter said they wanted to broaden their horizons, and that I might have a chance at being on track for the French National Team in the years to come if I signed on with them."

"Wow," I breathed out again, slouching in my seat. "What are you going to do?"

At this, Al groaned, dropping his head into his hands. "I have no idea! I've never considered playing professional Quidditch before. I never thought I was good enough. It's always been the plan to enroll in Auror training after graduation and follow in Dad's footsteps. I may have started out because James didn't go down that road, but I'm starting to wonder if maybe he had the right idea, steering clear of Dad's shadow. Would I like being an Auror? Most likely. But there's so many expectations tied to that path. Dad… well, they'll expect me to be as good as him."

"Wouldn't they expect that out of you in Quidditch, too? Uncle Harry was supposedly the best Seeker this school had seen in ages."

"True. Maybe I just need to think on it for a bit. Don't… don't tell anyone just yet, yeah? I need to figure out what I'm going to do."

Promising him that I would keep it to myself, I left the dormitory with a spinning head. I'd gotten far more than I'd bargained for when I went to tease Al about his budding relationship. I was so busy wondering what Albus would do that I almost missed Emily sitting on the floor outside the Heads' dormitory. She looked a conflicted mess and my guard immediately went up.

"Em, what's up?" I asked carefully as I approached.

She tilted her head up to look at me. "Can we, uh, go up to your room first?"

I nodded, still unsure of what was going to happen. Why was everyone having such a rough time today? I was starting to feel a bit like a therapist, and I was the last person who should be handing out any sort of advice. Nonetheless, I led her up to my room and hopped onto the bed before I finally got her to spill.

"I got a letter from the program in France today," she told me, looking at the parchment I was just now noticing in her hand. So this was more career angst. Her eyes flicked up to mine then, and I saw immediately that this wasn't solely about her career. "I got in."

A/N: Ok, so I will TRY to be better, but I cannot make any promises. There was some Scorpius/Rose fluffiness in there, as well as some progression of Albus and Carrie, and it wouldn't be fun without creating some hurdles for Albus career-wise and Emily/James. Are you happy that Albus is starting to move on, or would you rather he fight for Emily? Or do you think that he needs to at least try to have another relationship before he can say for sure that he wants his brother's girlfriend? Do you think she'll even still be his brother's girlfriend for much longer? She got in to the program in France, and it was her dream, so will she go, or will she stay, and what will happen to her and James once she tells him? Finally, what about Scorpius? Will he meet Lucius? Will he get a job, or will he be forced to re-evaluate his career ambitions because of his last name?

As always, reviews are great, even though I don't deserve them…