Chapter 26:

Rose's POV:

I was distracting myself, as usual, from all of my problems. It was probably a good thing this happened too, because now, I could study pretty well for my O.W.L.s without boys in the way. And I've come to the conclusion that it's easier to hate Malfoy than like him, because then I could just stop thinking about him all together because I couldn't give less of a damn. I slammed my Defense Against the Dark Arts book closed, realizing I had read the same line about Kappas about thirty times. "I didn't think my subject was that horrendous." I looked up and couldn't help but grin when I saw Teddy standing at my bedroom door.

"Hey Ted," I said, running over to give him a hug.

"Hey squirt."

"Why are you here?"

"Well, the excuse is that your Uncle Harry invited me over for dinner tonight and I decided to drop by. But the real reason is that your mum told me that you have not come out of your room since spring break started."

"I... have to study," I said, lamely.

"The Rose Weasley I know has already studied and has time to roam out of the room every once in the while, instead of having her meals delivered to her. What's going on?"

"Nothing," I said, trying to sound convincing. I sat back down on my bed and stared resolutely at the cover of the DADA textbook.

"Right. And Voldemort believed in equality of blood."

"Shut up. It's stupid," I said.

"Well, probably. But I'm not going to judge you."

"You totally are. And you're going to be all like I told you so."

"Just spit it out Rose. We can beat around the bush all day, but we all know you're dying to talk to someone." And he was right, the git.

"So I figured out I have feelings for Scorpius Malfoy."

"Bet Ron would love to hear that," Ted said, rolling his eyes. "Anyway, the boy is positively in love with you. What's the problem? Is it Ron, because I can ask Harry to knock some sense-"

"No, it's the fact that he manipulated me," I said. Teddy raised his eyebrows. I told him the story, and as usual he listened very carefully and let out a very un-professor-ly like curse word when I told him about Helen being in on it.

"I can only say this because I'm not at Hogwarts right now, but those bloody Slytherins!" he said angrily.

"I know! It was just the most humiliating thing to hear. The two of them plotting."

"It's probably better that way anyway. Don't want you to end up like Eve-knocked up. I've heard rumors that Malfoy got around pretty well for a fifth year."

"They're all lies," I said darkly. "He's had sex about as many times as the Virgin Mary."

"Oh. Well you don't need him, Rose," he said, patting my shoulder comfortingly.

"Oh please, as if you've ever had romantic problems. You and Vicky were in love from birth."

"Not always. Actually, in fifth year she started dating someone else. We were never official or anything," he said, in response to my look. "I just assumed it was one of those unspoken things. We had shared a few kisses, but they were few and far in between. And then Ronald Davies asked her out and she went with him for a while. I pretty much retreated into my room and didn't come out for months. Then I realized that if Vicky and I were meant to be, it would work out."

"Aw, Ted," I said, not having known this part of the perfect couple's story. Mind, it wasn't a very big problem, and it was even before they were dating. But even a minor problem between Teddy and Vicky was a pretty huge problem. They were pretty much perfect. "I should just forget about it."

"Or..." he said slowly, as if trying not to offend me, "you could just let it go and be with him. He went about it all in a very Slytherin-esque manner, but he still went about it. And he only kept it between Helen and him. Honestly, I think it's not too much of a big deal. And if you're happy, then you're happy. I wouldn't let this get in the way, if you want my honest opinion."

"I don't," I snapped, getting angry. He was supposed to be on my side. He acted like he was on my side while I was telling the story!

"Okay Rose," he said, as if speaking to a child. He was being annoying.

"If you're not going to take my side, you can leave," I said. Yeah, it was childish, but I was not having a good day. And Teddy was supposed to be the one making it better. He wasn't making it better.

"Actually, I do have to leave now, but the bright side is that you're coming with me!"

"What, no, I'm actually going to continue to sit in here and study, thanks."

"Nope, dinner at the Potter's tonight. Your mum is going to kill me if I don't get you down there."

"You'll be missed," I said sardonically.

"Come on, Rosie," he pleaded with me, "I'll give you an automatic pass in my class!"

"I already will have an automatic pass even if I completely flunk my O.W.L." I said, rolling my eyes.

"Why are you so stubborn?" he asked, standing up, looking angry. "It's just a bloke. You're better than this Rose. Much better. And if you have such a problem with your decision, you can change it, because it was YOU who chose to walk away, not the other way around."

"Ugh, fine," I complied. "I'll go to the stupid Potter's."

/

"Rose! It's been ages, cousin!" Al said, draping an arm around my shoulders as soon as I walked into the Potter's vast parlor.

"Yeah, it's been too long," I replied sarcastically.

"What happened to you?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Nothing. Where are James and Eve?"

"Upstairs, probably snogging." I turned to him, shock on my face.

"So they..."

"Yep," he said with a grin.

"Finally, I thought they'd never catch that train."

"They met adoptive parents the other day. I didn't go with them, because frankly, I don't want to meet the prospective parents of my niece or nephew. But I heard it went awfully."

"What?"

"Yeah. Apparently James and Eve both agreed to the arrangement, nothing in writing of course, but I overheard mum and dad talking about how awful the people seemed-pristine, judgmental, and very overbearing. Dad related them to the Dursleys," Al said with a shudder. I had only met the Dursleys on one occasion-Uncle Dudley's marriage to some prissy faced, pudgy, bad-tempered woman-surprisingly, they invited Harry and his friends, even though we were warned to squash all magic out of us. Teddy, who was of age at the time, spent the entire evening entertaining us by hexing the tea pots to whistle and fly around of their own accord, frightening all of the guests, and probably sending them to therapy. Needless to say, we weren't invited to anything else Dursley related.

"Well then they can't use them as parents, what are they thinking? And why didn't Harry or Ginny speak up?"

"Well Harry and Ginny didn't want to say anything there. Apparently, your mum is going to represent Eve and James throughout this whole thing, and to be honest, I think my mum and dad don't want to seem like they're nosing in too far into all of this. After all, it is James's kid. Who would've thought-James being a father. I thought I'd only have one niece or nephew, and it'd be from Lils."

"Well technically, this kid won't be your niece or nephew," I said, scooping up Lou from the floor next to my feet. He purred and settled into my arms. "He'll be adopted."

"I think they should wait until after the baby's born for all this adoption business. I mean, what if Eve wants to change her mind? Or what if the parents turn out to be psychos?"

"Are you two talking about us behind our backs?" Eve's voice asked. I turned and grinned at her, little bump and all.

"Hey you. How are you feeling?"

"Fine," she said, smiling, and taking a seat Indian style next to us. "The nausea is still pretty prevalent, but I have less urges to kill anyone today."

"Well that's always a plus," I agreed.

"Why haven't you come around yet, Rose?" she asked, rubbing her stomach and watching me with suspicion.

"Because I've been busy studying," I said, probably a bit too defensively.

"Oh yeah, Al's been locked up in his room studying too. I'm glad I finished my fifth," she said, sighing. "I couldn't be pregnant and studying for my O.W.L.s at the same time."

"But you can be pregnant and snogging James at the same time," I said, grinning. She shot an angry glare at Al, but Al just winked. She blushed and I felt like whooping.

"WILL ONE OF MY SONS COME AND HELP ME? AL?" we heard Aunt Ginny scream. Al, eyes wide, jumped up and ran toward the kitchen to help, leaving me to interrogate Eve further on the story. It was kind of heartwarming, I thought, after she had finished telling it, her face flushed with happiness. That, added to the pregnant glow thing, just made her look absolutely divine.

"Eve, I think, about this adoption thing-don't look at me like that, I'm not against your decision-I just think that maybe you should wait till after your baby's born to decide. There are plenty of adoptive parents for newborns, trust me," I said seriously. Eve nodded.

"I've been thinking about that. Those parents kind of creeped my out. At the time, they seemed perfect because they were the exact opposite of my parents. But I realize that's probably not a very desirable thing either. I just... I'm so confused. I feel like James just hates the whole idea, and so does his whole family, and it just makes it so hard," she said.

"You'll do the right thing, but I really think you should wait till after."

"Yeah you're probably right."

"Right about what? Oh hello, my lovely missing in action brother. Where's Hugo? He hasn't been speaking to me of late," James said, flouncing over to us.

"Dinner!" Dad called from the hallway, prompting all of us to run outside to the garden to eat.

/

I think I paced around my room with his letter in my hands for about thirty minutes before plucking up the courage to open it. Well not courage, more like pushing aside the anger I felt. I finally set down on my bed, took a breath, reasoned that I was only reading it not answering, and opened it to read.

Rose,

Thanks for opening this letter. I can almost imagine you pacing around indignantly. Too soon? Okay, I'll shut up. Look, I know that you're angry with me. I know that you want nothing to do with me ever again. But I just wanted to say-I love you. Maybe I went about this whole thing the wrong way, but I kept it between Helen and me. She had her own reasons to pretend, and I was tired of waiting around to see if you had feelings for me. And now you know you do. So can you please just let this go so we can be happy together? Because I know we would be happy together.

I know what you're thinking. Probably that I manipulated you, thought of you as a game, but I really didn't. It's the first time I've ever felt anything like this for another person. Please, please, Rose, I'll do anything. I love you. Believe me.

Looking forward to your letter,

Your best friend,

Scorpius

Damn him! I hated this letter. It made me feel guilty. Especially because he pretty much guessed every single thing I did and felt. And then he signed it off with Your best friend as if I needed reminding that he was my best friend for years and years and I would be throwing all that away by being mad at him. But what about him? Damn him, damn him, I just wanted to pull out all of my hair.

"Rosie bud?" I looked up and saw my father standing at the door, looking at me worriedly. "Is it your O.W.L.s?"

"Yeah," I lied easily. "I just... I don't think I'm going to do well."

"You're going to be great," he said, coming over. I discreetly stuck the scroll under my thigh and let him put an arm around me. I leaned in against him and felt better almost immediately. He smelt like shampoo and musky cologne. "You inherited your mother's smarts, thank Merlin for that. Unfortunately, you also inherited her Quidditch skills." I laughed, agreeing with him. "But I inherited your humor and irrationality," I said, and after saying that I knew what I had to do.

AN: Not happy with this chapter, it's a bit of a filler, but it's necessary. I promise the next one's better.