August 15, 2026

The music was pumping loudly, reverberating incessantly through the air. There were lights flashing from the ceiling, people dancing and talking, and people drinking alcohol at the bar in London.

Rose sat at the counter, watching the bartender make drink after drink and pour numerous shots out for the paying customers. She was lightly passing her own drink back and forth between her fingers as she laid her head on her other hand. Her cousins were all somewhere else in the joint: Molly, Lorcan, and Dominique were on the dance floor, Lucy had left twenty minutes ago to find the loo, and Albus had gone off to stalk some pretty bird.

They had all come to the bar together for their Saturday night because Albus promised to pay the bill. It was in part because Rose had broken up with her boyfriend and was back in the wizarding world, and in part celebration for his restaurants success. However, perhaps the biggest part was that nobody else could afford to go out and the school year was close to starting again.

Yes, Rose was sitting alone at the bar and looking ridiculous in the getup she was wearing. As she only had brought her backpack from her ex's house she was very much lacking in useable clothes, especially nicer clothes for going out. As a result, she had to borrow from Molly and Lucy, as they were the closest in body size to her. Unluckily enough their styles were way different than hers. Molly was fond of her pinks, summer dresses, and skirts. As Rose was a redhead and way more of a tomboy than Molly, she refused to wear any of them. That left her with Lucy's hippie, vintage, and just layer on everything and somehow make it good look.

Right now her toes were pinched because she hadn't been allowed to wear her hiking sandals. Her feet were larger than everyones' yet she was still stuck with a pair of flats that didn't fit right. And even though Lucy insisted she looked adorable in the themed leggings, she felt like she was back in kindergarten. Coupled with the fact that she was already well on her way to getting drunk, she decided to just sit and moodily plot how to infiltrate her old house so she could wear what she was comfortable in.

It had been a week since she left and was now temporarily moved into the small office at Dom, Molly, and Lucy's. Though miniature office or walk-in-closet would be a more fitting name as the room was extremely small. Rose didn't fit on her mattress as she was way too tall and there was only one foot from where her feet ended to where the wall started.

Besides the first two days where she barely got out of bed because her muscles were in pain, her whole week had been rather boring. She had spent most of her week rereading some old school books and practising spells. Most of the spells were doing things they weren't supposed to and it was rather frustrating.

As spellwork wasn't going very well, she had to move onto the next major thing: getting her personal belongings. She didn't think it would be that hard to find everything at her old house, unless Danny had thrown everything of hers out - which she didn't think was likely. She had everything in two rooms in the house and not counting windows there was two ways in and out: the front door and the back door.

The thing she was worried about was that Danny would be in the house while she was getting her stuff. He had barely left the house in the past year so the chances were very likely. She didn't want another encounter with him.

A sleep potion? Or a simple stupefy? Greg suggested.

Hum, I was thinking of that. . . Rose admitted.

To a muggle? Marta said scandalized, Rose you can't do that!

Well, gesundheit, I wasn't fully decided yet, she replied.

Nobody sneezed. And the fact that you even thought of it means that you should lay off the drinks, you need to be lucid in your thinking when you are dealing with him, Marta said.

Oooh, don't be such a spoil-sport. It's not like she is going there right now. She is sitting at the bar, alone and bored. She might as well indulge, it's not like she doesn't have half her family with her somewhere in the bar, Greg reasoned.

Pshaa, not even close to half, Rose said, but I agree with your point of view, I'm not nearly drunk enough.

And she ordered another drink.

Five minutes later, her head was buzzing even more. Where the fuck is Lucy, she thought. She felt like such a loner sitting in the corner. She had the stool next to her saved and had to glare at six different people in order to deter them from sitting down beside her.

She half stood up on the stool, looking over the heads of all the people ordering at the bar. She couldn't see any tall brunette, not even the other half of that tall brunette in Molly form.

However, she did see somebody that caused her to instantly drop down and duck under the bar.

What the bloody hell is that thing doing here! she thought. Okay keep calm Rose. One breaths, Two breaths, Three breaths, FLOOR. Ha ha wow I crack myself up sometimes. . .

She saw a pair of legs appear before her.

"Rose, pray tell me why you are under the bar?"

Rose breathed a sigh of relief. "Lucy! I'm hiding! Shhh. . . ! Why is it here?"

Lucy snorted, "I'm sorry. . . it?" She sat down beside Rose and pulled her up so she was sitting again.

Rose scowled and pointed her finger to where he was standing and ducked her head down a little again. "See, the blonde cheerio there!"

Lucy shrugged her shoulders with a small smile at Rose and her actions. "Oh, Scorpius. Yeah, no clue. We did invite him out with us you know." She pinched Rose's mouth shut with her fingers just as it was opening and said, "well he lives with Al! We can't just not invite him. Besides you shouldn't run every time you see him. But point was he said he had to work and so couldn't come."

She released Rose's mouth so she could talk. "Why the bloody fuck would he be here then!"

Lucy sighed. "Rose I have no clue. He is some sort of Auror, so maybe he is tracking someone in this shindig? Or meeting people? Or maybe his plans changed? Make a guess!"

"Awwh, why does he have to be here the one night we go out. . . ?"

"I honestly don't know. . . but I doubt he recognizes you anyways. You look like an actual human being tonight instead of a person who had been living under the ground for a decade. You are wearing clothes that fit you. . . and your beautiful long curly hair isn't-"

"GAH! He's looking over here right now!" Rose exclaimed at Lucy, trying to hide her head.

Lucy rolled her eyes. "Oh get over it. Your red hair sticks out like crazy, it would be impossible not to notice you! Besides, if he is working he won't talk to us and we are technically not allowed to talk to him, for obvious reasons."

Rose ran one hand over her curls self-consciously. "It's so red. I have no chance," she croaked. She sat up took another swig of her drink. "What took you so long anyways Lucyluce?"

Lucy made a face. "Oh gosh. Your drunken self would remember to ask. . . Well the line for the loo was very long on the women's side. And after a billion years with me not moving forward, I gave up waiting and just went to the men's side. So if you have to go, don't even bother waiting in line.

"Eww. Lucy that is sshhhhittt. . . er. . . nasty! Was there any fellas in there?"

"Well yeah, but they were too sloshed to even notice me. I think I was more grossed out than they would have been to have me in there, had they noticed me. My view on humanity has lowered again; people can really be disgusting creatures." She shuddered at some memory.

Rose nodded and stared at her now empty drink. The music seemed unnaturally loud and she really had to concentrate to hear Lucy. Her eyes moved from her glass up to where Scorpius was standing. She seemed hyperaware of his presence and she felt that if he moved to stand elsewhere she would know instinctively. She had moved on from him in Seventh Year, she shouldn't be staring or curious about him any longer. It was the past and it was over. Rose tore her eyes away from him before he saw her gawking and looked at Lucy instead.

Lucy was staring at her own half-full glass in silence, her shoulder-length brown hair falling into her face.

"Do you think I overreacted? With the whole Danny thing? Like breaking up with him, and leaving?" asked Rose quietly. It had been another thought that was plaguing her all week. She was sure she did the right thing. The situation was so complicated and. . . she just needed confirmation; just needed a second opinion for her peace of mind.

Lucy looked over sharply. "Were you happy with him?"

"I was."

"Not when you went traveling with him before moving to London. That was before the accident, right? Were you happy with him when you moved to his house together? And the weeks or months before you left, were you happy?"

Rose swung her head back and forth, calculating a response. "Well, no. I wasn't. . . but I just feel like what I did was too drastic and emotional. Especially because his accident. . . I feel extremely guilty. Maybe if we tried talking instead or something."

"What would talking have done? If you're in an unhealthy relationship, you need to jump ship before you go down with it. Did you ever talk to him about what he was doing?"

"We tried to talk. . . He always said that he would do something and change, or the next day he would. But then never did and avoided looking at me as he plunked down in front of. . . We weren't very open with each other."

"Okay. . . so you did try the talking. You were unhappy and you stayed with him for quite some time. Relationships change, people change. Just because you're with someone now doesn't mean that's how it must be for the rest of your life. Perhaps you lost control a bit, but maybe that's what you needed to do to get out. Why are you questioning your decision now?"

"Well, I had a home. . . and a job. . . and a few friends at that job. . . and money. . . and clothes. . . Right now I'm pretty much homeless." She ticked off her fingers as she named each one and then held up her hand. "My whole life was there. That's five really important things I don't have now. And Danny was in a bad place, he's still depressed and it's just -" Rose sighed. "Should I try to mend things with him? It doesn't seem fair."

"Okay, first of all, you just need to get your feet placed under you again. Give it time, you will get all those things back eventually. And second of all, we don't mind that you're staying with us! As we've already told you multiple times, you bring this fun energy with you and there is never a dull moment, really. When school starts up again in the fall, it will be great to have you around to help us remain positive."

"But I have no money for rent or food. . . !"

"You will eventually. But we three have managed for almost five years now, it's not like we're struggling or anything. You're just figuring out what to do and it's not like we mind at all. You are at. . . a crossroads in your life again, and need to just take it slow and move on."

Rose nodded her head. "Okay, well thanks Luce."

"Well, no problem. We'll talk more later too because this isn't the best place for this kind of conversation! And we've both had a few drinks." She looked at the drink glasses that were strewn about Rose. "You way more than me especially. But it's on Albus tonight and this is the only night that he will ever buy for us at a bar, so go do a shot!"

Rose ordered two shots, one for her and Lucy, even though Lucy said she wasn't drinking anymore for someone needed to remain sober. So Rose happily took Lucy's.

After that, things started getting random and more crazy. Rose could only remember half the things that went on for the next few hours.

She could recall that a drunken half-French and half-English speaking Dominique came to find them. She made Rose take another shot with her before she dragged the reluctant Rose and Lucy to the dance floor. . .

. . . She had a run-in with Scorpius not too long after, on the small set of stairs separating the dance floor from the tables as she had a hiccupping attack. She couldn't glare or yell at him because she couldn't breathe. He smirked at her as Molly slapped her back, making her choke even more and trip over the top step. She glowed red in embarrasment as she picked herself up off the floor and got away.

She vaguely remembered when some girl spilt her drink all over the back of Dominique's dress. Dominique started yelling profanities in French and just about punched the girl. They had to pull her back so she wouldn't start a fight. . .

. . . A random man had come up to her sometime in the night and tried to snog her, but then passed out on her instead. Albus helped Rose drag the man to the table where his friends were so he wouldn't get trampled on the dance floor.

Albus thought he lost the money he brought after telling the bartender to made a drink for everyone again. Everyone had a minor heart attack as no one else could pay the growing bill. . .

. . . Molly and Lorcan were snogging on the dance floor, at the table, in line at the bar, and on the way to the toilets. Lucy got mad at seeing them attached everywhere and yelled at them to knock it off. They didn't want to knock it off so they happily headed back to the flat early.

Rose and Lucy finally made it back to their stools a few hours later which were surprisingly empty still and sat down, trying to catch a breath.

"I think I've gone deaf!" Rose laughed, leaning into Lucy's ear so she could hear her over the thumping music.

"What?" Lucy asked, actually oblivious to what Rose just said.

"HA HA, I just made a funny!" she squealed.

Dominique appeared behind them again after they tried to lose her in the crowd. She tapped the shoulders of the two.

"Je tourne my back pour un moment and you deux are sitting again? The only -" She stabbed Rose in the eye with her finger when she was aiming for her nose. "- the only temps que vous pouvez sit ici is if yooouuu are getting les drinks!"

Lucy looked at her dumbly. "Stick to one language please Boomerang. I don't drink enough to understand your nonsense."

"She said 'drinks time!'" Rose exclaimed, nodding her head frantically while rubbing her eye.

"Well yeah, I got the general sense of it. Goodness, you would find us that quickly. Take it easy with the drinks. . . " Lucy said, trying to be somewhat responsible.

Dominique ignored her and pulled Rose off her seat, dragging her over to the bartender to get another drink. "Okay, Sailor, Allons-y to the bartenda!"

"Oui, oui capitaine Boomerang!"

Dominique set her purse on the counter and started digging through it. A pen fell from her bag and she leaned to the floor to get it.

"Order something pour moi. I'm looking for. . . what the?"

Her purse was no longer on the counter.

Dominique looked at Rose in surprise. "Où did my purse va?"

"I don't have it," Rose said.

Dominique frowned at the counter at the spot where her purse just was. "Eez it on la terre?" She asked as she looked on the ground for it.

Rose shook her head and then looked past Dominique.

"I think that fella has it – see the tall one there with the hat. He's running, running, running, oops, he tripped haha, running. . ."

"Quoi? Is he trying to faire. . . ? MERDE, Rose! Ce gars-là just stole my purse!"

"Oh! Don't worry Dominininiqe! I'll get it for you," Rose stuttered and then took off after him before Dominique could reply.

She dodged left and right around the people in the bar, tripping over the small set of stairs again. I'm following the stealer, the stealer, the stealer, I'm following the stealer wherever he may go, she sang in her head to the tune of "following the leader." Babum, babum, oooh, that's a person, a person, a person, that was a person who got in my way. Babum, babum. . .

She reached the door still singing in her head and miraculously dodging more people than she was hitting.

THINK BEFORE YOU ACT, boomed her instincts in her head. But Rose didn't even hear that advice as she continued to run in pursuit of the thief.

Rose. . . don't go by yourself! Marta exclaimed. While Greg kept chanting, self-preservation, self-preservation. . .

None of her voices, her other 'halfs,' were connecting with her. There was a barrier of alcohol between Rose's reasoning and her actions. Rose made it to the door and pushed the last straggler out of the way as she reached the outdoors. The warm summer air hit her and inspired her to keep running after the man. She was doing it for Dominique; she had to get the purse back. It didn't belong to that man.

Surprisingly there were barely any people directly outside the bar. She kicked off her shoes as they were pinching her toes incorrigibly and just concentrated on running. The time was now nearing two in the morning and the streets that Rose was running past were very empty.

She had a lot of energy and so it was no problem to catch up to the man. She was even running somewhat straight. He had had a huge head start but she could hear his breathing becoming louder and louder the closer she got. They passed buildings and roads and lampposts. The alcohol seemed to be fueling her energy somehow and before she knew it she was right behind him.

She leaped and knocked him on the ground, skinning her knees on the cobblestone.

"AH HA! Gotchoo you bloody thief!" she exclaimed, sitting stupidly on his back, thinking there was something she had to do now; she forgot why she had run after him. She felt him move under her.

"Wooaah, I just caught you, you aren't supposed to do shit now!"

She tried to hold his shoulders down with her hands but he quickly flipped himself so he was on his back instead of his stomach. He tried rolling to the side to escape her but she blocked him, not letting herself be pushed or pulled off. The man kneed her in the back, but he wasn't able to get any force behind it and Rose barely registered his attempts.

He then gave up for the moment and lay still. Rose stared wide-eyed into his expressionless face. He had green eyes and light brown hair with a round face and a large nose. It wasn't very handsome, but it was a deadly face. There was a faint scar that ran across his cheek. Drunken Rose got her first shiver of fear. There was something ruthless about this man.

She suddenly felt something sharp touch her stomach. She looked down and her eyes widened. A knife was somehow in his hand. Rose didn't know where he pulled the knife from or how it escaped her notice, but it was there now.

He stared at her and said, "get off me stupid girl."

Rose almost complied, but she saw the purse and remembered that it wasn't the man's. Some stubborn streak also kept her in place.

"Hold up buster," she stated. "You're not seriously about to fucking stab me?"

The man looked surprised she was asking a question and not running and screaming to get away. "Why do you think?" He repeated, "get off me."

"Oh wait! I have an idea! One second, one second. . . " Rose yelled. She pulled up her shirt a little and grabbed her wand that was duct-taped to her stomach. She pointed it at his chest.

"Wohaha! Didn't see this coming, did you?" she said proudly but the man just looked confused.

"You're pointing. . . a stick. . . at me?" he said, enunciating each syllable and letter of his words very precisely.

Don't do it, don'tdoit, don'tdoit, Marta repeated to Rose turbo-speed, but again the words weren't connecting to Rose.

Rose gasped. "Oh fuck! Dammit all! You're not. . . ?" She lifted her wand and looked at it worriedly. ". . . A stick?" she gave a fake laugh. "Where did this come from? I thought I had. . . my, uh, knife strapped there."

She tossed her wand away from her and looked back at the knife that was pointed at her stomach.

"So, uhh, I don't have my. . . stick anymore. . . you're not actually going to gut me?"

"Move and I won't," the man growled.

"Okay. But I just don't understand why! 'Cause I am perfectly justified in trying to get my cousin's purse back. You see that thing in your hand? Yeah that's not yours. I am on a mission for it!"

"I don't give a shit!" the man spat back at her. He pushed the knife a little harder into her stomach.

"Ouch! Woah buddy. I thought we were trying to have a civilized conversation here. . . don't. . . ouch mother FUCKER. Okay, that is an asshole move, this is not my shirt," she spluttered as she saw the first drops of red appear through her shirt.

"If you don't move in five seconds, this knife is going straight through you," he threatened.

"I don't believe you," Rose said calmly, crossing her arms on her chest.

"Five-"

"Nahh I don't think you will."

"Four-"

"Its not that easy to shove a knife through someone-"

"Three-"

"-Purse please, purse please, purse please, purse please-"

"Two-"

A man walked from the alley and interrupted before Rose could say something back. "Well well well, don't we have ourselves. . . a situation here." He wore a red bandana that covered most of his face, except for his dark eyes.

X-X-X-X-X

A/N: If you can't understand what the hell is coming out of Dominique's mouth, don't worry too much. I didn't make it vitally important. As long as you got the general gist of it, it's all you need. :)