Al was waiting for them, Rose's cloak in one hand and a jar of blue flames in the other. "Remind me to thank Aunt Hermione again for this little trick," he said, handing Rose's cloak over.

Together, the three of them stepped out into the biting wind and headed down to the pitch. The rest of the Gryffindor Quidditch team was waiting for them, Lily and Hugo already bickering. Unlike Rose and Al, Lily and Hugo had paired off more by necessity than disposition, but they were good for each other, even if they fought more than the rest of the Weasley clan combined.

"I'm going to spend the rest of my life refereeing Weasleys, aren't I?" Scorpius groaned.

"And Potters," Albus reminded cheerfully, tugging Rose up into the stands.

Rose watched as Scorpius took his place in front of the goal posts, barking orders to his team. Lorcan and Lysander Lovegood were already in the air, and soon Lily, Hugo, Martin Shacklebolt, and Katie Finnegan joined them.

"So he found you then?" Al asked as Scorpius began bellowing orders.

"Obviously."

"I tried to tell him to leave you be, but you know how he gets when he's in a strop about something," Al said, shaking snow out of his messy hair before performing an impervious charm.

"I don't even know how he found me."

"Neither do I, and he won't tell me where it is you disappear to."

"Good." She smiled softly, pulling her cloak more tightly around her. "Thanks for not letting him use the map."

"The map isn't for that kind of mischief," Al said with a grin.

They sat in silence as they watched practice, Rose's eyes following Scorpius as he shifted from hoop to hoop, pausing every now and then to offer a suggestion or, more than once, referee Lily and Hugo's name-calling.

"When are you going to tell him?" Al asked, leaning close to her ear.

She froze, her eyes opening wide and her heart thundering like a herd of hippogriffs in her chest.

"I saw the letter this morning, Rose. Well, the seal anyway. My dad gets them sometimes."

"Al…"

He held up his hand. "Don't apologize. They're called Unspeakables for a reason. I wasn't going to say anything, but you didn't seem surprised to get it and with all the sneaking off and hiding you've been doing, I wanted you to know that you could talk to me."

"Thanks," she whispered, staring at Scorpius across the pitch. His white blonde hair was whipping around his face, his robes billowing around him. He was too busy bellowing at Hugo to notice her staring, and she felt the overwhelming need to drink him in while she still could. "You won't – "

"No. You'll have to tell him eventually, though. Tell everyone for that matter."

"I haven't decided." Her voice was shaky when she said it, and Al rolled his eyes.

"Bollocks. What would stop you?"

"Scorpius. You. Hugo. My parents. Our family."

Al waved his hand airily, a gesture he'd picked up from her Aunt Ginny. "There are plenty of us. No one will miss you if you disappear for a few months."

"Eighteen months, Al. Eighteen months just for the training. I won't be able to see any of you, and I doubt I'll even be able to write. I know I won't be able to tell anyone what I'm doing. You're not even supposed to know I've been asked. Only mum and dad."

He was quiet for a long moment, and Rose was unnerved. Al was never reserved around her or anything less than sure of himself. It was the most comforting thing about him. And also the most annoying. "That's not so long, Rose. Not if it's where you belong."

"But is it?" she asked, her eyes seeking out Scorpius, who was already staring at her, a strangely intense look on his face.

"It's only eighteen months," Al said, and she blushed as his eyes moved from her to Scorpius.

"Easy for you to say. You're not the one who has to disappear."

"It's called wishful thinking, Rose. Merlin, your mum must be through the roof. Not about the you being gone part," he said quickly as Rose raised her eyebrows. "About the intellectual prestige part."

Rose's eyebrows raised even higher. "The intellectual prestige part? And anyway, I haven't told her yet. I was going to sit down with her and dad at the holiday. Dad's going to do a nutter, I'm sure."

"My dad'll talk him out of it," Al promised. "He probably already knows."

"I know he does," Rose said. "He recommended me."

Several long hours later, Rose was sitting on the floor of the empty Gryffindor common room in front of the fire, just starting to defrost, her ancient runes notes spread all around her. Her cat, Linus, was curled on the rug in front of the fire, purring softly.

"Your parents had the right idea," Scorpius said, scowling over his own Arithmancy notes. "Seventh year is ridiculous and we should have skipped out."

"Well, see Scorpius, there was this little thing called a war going on," Al said lightly, scribbling notes in the margins of his potions book. "They were a tad preoccupied with saving the wizarding world."

"Yeah, yeah," Scorpius grumbled, shutting his book. "It's too close to break. I can't study anymore."

"So bugger off," Al grumbled back. "Some of us are busy."

"Not all of us are secret Ravenclaws," Scorpius said, throwing his quill at Al's head.

Rose glared up at them both. "Some of us are wishing we had been put in Ravenclaw. They at least know how to keep quiet when people are preparing for exams."

"Too bad you're a Gryffindor, then," Scorpius countered. "Are you going to tell me what you and Al were talking about in the stands?"

"No wonder we almost lost that match to Slytherin. You're too busy spying on private conversations to strategize," Al said.

Scorpius threw a book this time, which a blushing Al dodged. "We don't have private conversations, Al."

"Scorpius," Rose said placatingly. "We were just talking about the holiday."

"No, you weren't. You had that look on your face that you get when you've been thinking too much. And Al was the smuggest I've ever seen him. I want to know."

"But - "

"What? It's a secret Weasley thing?" he demanded.

"You'd think after seven years you'd have gotten it through your thick skull that I'm a Potter," Albus said indignantly, earning a glare from Rose. "You know what? I'm going to find Katie and ask her about this potions assignment. You two can stay here and duke it out. Just don't come to me looking for a second. You know I could never choose between you."

Rose rolled her eyes, watched him go. She was grateful that he'd managed to keep his mouth shut but annoyed that he'd left her to deal with this alone.

"Out with it, Weasley," Scorpius demanded.

"I can't," she said simply. "I just can't."

"Al can know but I can't?"

"Al figured it out," she said, getting up and sitting next to him on the squashy sofa he'd been sprawled across. "I didn't tell him. I haven't told anyone."

"If Al knows, I should know."

"It doesn't work that way," she snapped, surprised by her flare of temper. "You don't get to know every single thing I think just because we're best friends."

"I always have before!"

"Scorpius - "

"No, Rose. Don't try to reason with me. I've been worried about you for months. And if you won't tell me I'll guilt it out of Al. You know he'll break."

"You wouldn't. You can't!"

"Like hell I can't!" he yelled, jumping to his feet and moving to pace in front of the fire. Linus hissed up at him before trotting over to an empty arm chair and settling down, his gold eyes following Scorpious's path back and forth. "I thought something was wrong with you at first, but you never went to the hospital wing and Al would have mentioned if you were sick no matter what you told him. And then I thought maybe you were just scared about graduating and you needed time, so I tried to give you your space. I figured you'd come to us when you were ready, but I'm not going to be the only one who doesn't know what's going on with you. I won't do it, Rose."

She stared up at him. He was sucking in deep breaths as he always did when he was trying to put his temper into check, his cheeks were flushed, and the combination of the fire and the red of the room gave his silvery hair a strange pinkish tint. She wanted to tell him so badly. He was the one she'd wanted to tell most. She wanted him to talk her out of it. Or maybe into it. She couldn't know what to do without knowing what he thought. Seeing him standing there, that strangely desperate look in his eyes, broke her.

"I got a job offer that I was hoping for," she said, watching him watching the flames.

"A…job offer?" he replied looking up, brow furrowed. "But I don't understand. Earlier you were - "

"I didn't know if I wanted to take it. I still don't."

"But - "

"I was offered a position with the Department of Mysteries."

His whole body tensed before he turned his back on her, leaning his head against the mantle. Without thinking she was on her feet, moving to place her hand on his shoulder. "You can't tell anyone," she said quietly, fighting to keep a tremor out of her voice. "I haven't decided - "

"No," he said, standing suddenly ramrod straight and looking at the ceiling. "No. You have to take it. Of course you have to take it."

"It means - "

"I know what it means. Eighteen months. Eighteen months." His words came out in a strangled kind of whisper, and he buried his face in his hands.

"It's not that long," she tried. "You'll be in auror training and - "

"Not that long?" he demanded softly, still refusing to meet her eye. "Rose. Come on."

"That's why I didn't want to take it," she pleaded. "I can't bear the thought of eighteen months without you."

Now his eyes were locked onto hers, and she froze as the meaning of what she'd just said slammed into her.

"Scorpius - "

He walked toward her slowly, his gaze still locked on hers and her stomach somersaulted. "What am I supposed to do without you for eighteen months?"

"I don't know." She hadn't figured out what she was going to do without him, and had no idea what she could tell him.

"Neither do I," he said, and he reached out and pulled her to his chest. She buried her face in the front of his robes, his head boy badge cool against her cheek. He held her tightly to him for a long time, before finally loosening his grip so that he could look down at her. "You know, the sorting hat didn't want to put me in Gryffindor?"

When she didn't answer, he continued. "It wanted to put me in Ravenclaw, which, for me, of course, was better than Slytherin, no matter what you always say. But I knew I wanted to be a Gryffindor. I knew I needed to be around people who could help me overcome my family name. I flat out told the hat it was Gryffindor or I was going home.

"My dad warned me that people would treat me differently; he told me what he was like to your mum and dad when he was at school before I even got my letter. But I didn't care. I knew I had to be a Gryffindor. I knew from that first day I needed you and Al. You two are the most important people in my life. You know that, don't you?"

"And you're the most important in ours."

"I want you to be happy, Rose. As happy as I know Al and I will be. Nothing will be the same with you gone, and I'll miss you every day, but you can't turn this down. I won't let you; Al won't let you; and we both know you won't let yourself."

"Scorpius," she implored. "I don't want - "

But she didn't finish her sentence, because he'd pulled her to his chest once more. They stood together for a long time, Linus curling around their ankles, before Scorpius ghosted a kiss to the top of her head and slipped up the stairs to the boys' dormitory.