August 16, 2026
Nine minutes, thirty three seconds earlier. In the bar. . .
Rose took off after the man. She quickly dodged left and right through the people until Dominique couldn't see her anymore.
Dominique grinned; Rose would get her purse back, she was great like that.
She walked over to Lucy, who was leaning against the wall while sitting on the stool. She was staring at a group of people in front of her with her head lightly nodding to the music. Dominique sat down beside her and beamed at her.
"Qui you checkin' out?" Dom asked, looking at the same group of people that Lucy was. There were three boys and two girls who looked like they were arguing.
Lucy scoffed. "I was just staring forward and they are in my line of sight. You know I would never bring home a guy from a bar, it's not the place I'd want to meet someone. . . "
Dominique shrugged her shoulders. "Whatevs, Lucykins the cynic! I think que le man with le beard was the one who were lookin' at."
Lucy raised her eyebrows and a light pink appeared on her cheeks. Dominique was never usually that observant when drunk and the fact that she noticed exactly who she had been looking at was slightly disturbing. She had, in fact, been staring at the man Dominique pointed out, but instead of letting Dominique know she had been right she quickly changed the subject.
"So, you were quick."
"Quoi? What was quick?"
"Ummm, the shot you alchies were going to do?"
"Oh right! We forgot to faire the shot. When Rose gets back, bien sûr we will."
"Oh, okay. . . Where did Rose go? - the loo? I hope she remembers my advice."
"Uhh, nope," Dominique said distractedly and put her elbows on the bar, resting her head on her hands. "This is ennuyeux to just sit here. Pourquoi do you le fais so much."
"I don't understand you, Boomerang," Lucy retorted. She hated how Dominique mixed up her languages when she drank alcohol. It happened everytime they went out and every time she could barely understand what came out of her mouth.
"Oh." Dominique looked dumbly at Lucy. "What was I saying again?"
Lucy rolled her eyes. "That's why I asked you dummy! Whatever though, not important. We should head back home pretty quick. It's getting late."
"Yeah, je suis fatiguée and my head it spinning," Dominque murmered. "We gotta wait pour Rose to get back though."
"Let's just go get her, since she isn't here yet. It's not that far of a walk to our flat, she can just go to the loo at home."
"She didn't go to zee toilettes!" Dominique exclaimed.
"Hmm? I thought you just – well, okay, is she with Al then?"
Dominique tapped her fingers on the bar for a few moments before responding. "Noppers, a man stole mon purse. She went to get it."
The words that Dominique said didn't immediately register with Lucy. A few seconds later though she crinked her neck, turning it fast to look at Dominique. She stared dumbfounded at her before she shot out of her chair. "WHAT?" she choked out. The arguing group of people looked her way and stared. Even the busy bartender noticed her outburst.
Dominique smiled, not noticing anybody else. "Don't worry, elle va get it back."
Lucy's mouth dropped. She's not serious, she's drunk. . . she doesn't know what she is saying, Lucy thought. However, the more seconds that passed the more she realized that something probably wasn't right.
"I don't care about the purse Dom!" She grabbed Dominique's shoulders and looked at her in the face. "Okay I need you to speak in English. Not French. And not a mixture. And explain exactly what happened."
"Okay. Okay. . . Okay. Uhh well I don't know. I was looking for my lip-gloss parce que.. errr.. I mean because, I don't know, I just needed it and we were about to get our shot at the bar. Then it disappeared. Poof. . . And why are you asking me these, my head hurts to think."
"Just focus," Lucy said dead seriously. "I need to know what happened. Where is Rose?"
"Well. . . she saw the man running and so she said she would get the purse back. And out she went out the door là." Dominique pointed to the entrance.
"Oh bloody hell," Lucy said her voice quavering a little. She took three big steps towards the door and then turned around back to Dom. "Please tell me your joking Dom. . . that Rose really didn't go running after someone. . . that she is just with Al or at the toilets right now. . . Please. . . "
"Why are you worrying? It's not a bad thing, silly Lucy. Rose will catch that man."
Lucy stared at Dominique. "Do I. . . I don't. . . What do I do?" she burst out.
"Rose will be back," Dom said, trying to be supportive.
"If you weren't so drunk then you would be flipping out to!" Lucy half yelled. "She always gets into horrible situations and does stupid things like this! She's probably dead in some alley somewhere by now."
Dominique looked at Lucy in fright. "You - you don't think that, do you?"
Lucy put her hands to her head in frustration. "No. . . I don't know. I'm going to get Al. We'll go out to find her or something. Stay here."
Lucy left Dominique sitting on the stoor and started looking for Albus, walking quickly throughout the bar. She was taller than a lot of the people there so she just scanned the crowd for messy black hair. There were so many people around her that she had trouble getting through them. Her heart jumped each time she saw black hair, but none of them were Albus. She even became desperate enough to look for his sidekick, Scorpius, but he too was nowhere to be found.
She half-wished she didn't tell Molly and Lorcan to get lost because she felt utterly alone and had no idea where to turn. Rose had left the bar and now she wasn't sure where anyone else was either. The only person she knew was drunk and sitting on a stool waiting for her. Yet when she went back to grab Dominique, she was no longer there. Lucy stared stupidly at the couple who had taken their seats for a few moments before turning around.
"Eff Dom. . . !" she growled. Don't cry Lucy, don't cry, she repeated to herself in her head. Someone jostled her from behind and she half stumbled into another person.
"Where the bloody hell is everyone!" she muttered and started frantically searching through the crowd again, being sure to check each face carefully. She had to find someone, she just needed to. She was pushing the party-hoppers away from her with more force than before. She tripped over some beer bottles that were on the floor when she wasn't looking down and someone grabbed her arm and helped her up. She managed to mutter a "thanks," but her mind was too busy to even look at the person.
She just got to the door when she finally noticed what she had missed before: Scorpius half hidden by shadows in the corner. She felt so relieved she didn't even care that it was him she found first. At least it was someone she knew. Lucy ignored the look he was sending her as she got closer. It was clearly: "Go away. Right now."
"Blondie, where's Albus?" she fired out quickly.
Not moving his body at all, his eyes briefly shot in her direction. "You're not supposed to be talking to me!" he hissed at her, his mouth barely moving.
"Just answer the bloody question! Where's Al?" she said louder, clenching and unclenching her fists repeatedly.
His eyes flicked to her fists and he noticed how she kept shifting her weight from one foot to the other. "Don't use names then, if you must talk to me. And I haven't seen him for an hour at least."
Lucy inhaled sharply and shut her eyes, trying to get some rational thoughts together.
"What's wrong?" Scorpius asked her, when it became clear to him that she was freaking out about something more than usual. However, he was still not not concentrated wholly on her.
"Well. . . it's Rose. And I don't know what to do."
Scorpius's eyes finally snapped to hers and held her gaze. His attitude instantly change, something Lucy noted and stored for interpretation later. He took a step towards her and looked at her intently as he mouthed, "what about her? Where is she?"
"I don't know! Apparently Dom said that somebody stole her purse and then Rose took off after him to go get it. But I don't know what to do! Should I be worried or go out looking or, or. . . " Lucy trailed off, her voice becoming desperate. Scorpius held up a hand though, to stop her speaking.
"Give me one minute," Scorpius ordered roughly and then he was gone before Lucy could blink. She just stood there staring at the wall and trying not to think of anything while she waited. Six seconds. . . thirty seconds. . . forty five. . .
She felt a hand on her elbow and was pulled along to the exit. "What the - ?" she said and then looked up into Scorpius's face while stumbling backwards. "I can walk by myself Blondie."
He released her arm. "Then keep up."
Lucy was momentarily stunned when he abruptly let her go but then turned around and ran a few steps to catch up. They were paving a path through the crowd of people way easier than Lucy was earlier. Instead of having to push their way through, people just seemed to instinctively move out of the way, whether because of Scorpius or not, Lucy wasn't sure.
They got out of the bar and walked across the street away from prying eyes and ears. Scorpius stopped and he looked at her. "Repeat exactly what Dominique said. It's safe to speak here."
"Okay so, they went up to the bar to go get shots and I guess Dom was looking for something in her purse. Her purse somehow disappeared and they saw a man running away with it. And Rose took off after him to get it. That's as much as I got."
Scorpius swore. "Okay, so is she for sure not in the bar? Did she have her wand on her?"
"Not sure. And yeah I think so, but I doubt she'd think to use it. I wouldn't call her sober and it wouldn't be something she'd think of instinctively after so long in the muggle world."
Scorpius nodded but he still pulled out his wand and a map from a pocket making sure he was in the shadows and keeping it between him and the few muggles standing around the entrance to the bar. Murmuring under his breath a few times and waving his wand on the map he then said to Lucy, "no magic has been used in the area."
Lucy rubbed her hands together nervously. "I told you. I didn't see her when I walked through the bar twice, but I wasn't specifically looking for her. . . Could she be there still?"
"Ah, well, look," Scorpius pointed at something a few metres away. He walked to it and bent down, picking it up. "Rose's shoe," he murmured, holding the black flat and inspecting it.
"Actually my shoe," Lucy corrected. "She would kick them off. Honestly. Look, there's the other one. . ." She pointed to the black flat a little ways farther down the street.
Scorpius picked it up and inspected it. He then handed both shoes to Lucy for her to safekeep.
"She went straight. Follow me."
"Uh, you know because of the shoes?"
"Partly." But he didn't elaborate any more.
They started walking forwards at a quick pace. Every once in a while Scorpius would casually wave his wand in a figure eight motion over the map he was carrying. The moon was a half crescent out and only faintly illuminated the dark streets. It created sharp contrasts of shadows against the walls of the shops that lined the streets and Lucy felt a little spooked.
"Blondie how the hell do you know we are still on the right path? There are a billion other streets that are intersecting here. She might have turned off," Lucy asked through the silence.
Scorpius deigned not to answer, too focused on the ground.
A few minutes later he asked, "why the nickname still?"
Lucy thought for a moment and shrugged. "Because you haven't apologized to Rose yet. I refuse to acknowledge your name when you were such an arsehole to her. Rose deserved better, and you know it. So you will be Blondie until then, or Arsehole. That has a nice ring to it, Arsehole."
"Merlin no." Scorpius paused, ". . .I will get around to it, an apology, I mean." He seemed to be fighting with his words; normally he didn't reveal personal things to just anyone. "She just seems to avoid me whenever I see her. . . It's weird trying to be normal with her, we've never done it. . . "
"You have to try though. She is one of the bravest people I know in everyway except with dealing with emotions. She will avoid your presence to the end of time if you do nothing."
"I know that," Scorpius said gruffly. "I do."
They descended into a silence again as they walked forwards through the half lit streets. Lucy kept pace with Scorpius, afraid that if she went slow he would leave her behind on the dead road. They had not seen any people since they left the bar. This time it was Scorpius who broke the silence.
"You're a lot calmer out here than you were inside the bar."
Lucy looked sharply at him. "Well, you're not freaking out. Should I be freaking out? I thought you knew what you were doing!"
Scorpius shook his head. "Forget I asked."
"No, wait! How are we possibly going to find Rose in London if you don't know what you're doing? She could have gone anywhere! She could be dead right now!"
"No, she went this way. Trust me."
"Holy hell Blondie. . . are you positive you know what you are doing?"
Scorpius nodded as he rechecked the map and Lucy nervously looked at his face before making any movements. They continued to walk forwards at the fast pace that Scorpius was dictating until:
"Stop. We're here."
"What do you mean? There is nobody here. And it's dark out, we can't see."
"Homenum Revelio," Scorpius said and then lit his wand when he got no response back. "Look around on the ground, see if you can find anything."
"Like a dead body?" whispered Lucy in horror.
"No," Scorpius shot back sharply. "Like a wand, or any other clues. The wand signal ends here."
"Wait, you traced her wand? You can do that?"
"To a point. And not if the owner blocks their wand with a spell."
"Seriously, elaborate please."
Scorpius hesitated for a moment before speaking. "If you know what the core is and what the wand is made of then wands are traceable, yes. But the spell isn't easy to find and most wizards or witches don't know about it or care because it's not common and they have no reason to fear the law."
"Well. .. good to know, I guess."
Lucy fanned out from Scorpius, searching the ground. A few minutes later Scorpius picked something off the ground. "I found her wand."
There was no reply from Lucy.
"Lucy?" Scorpius turned towards her and saw her kneeling on the ground, very still. He quickly ran to her. She was staring at a dagger in her hand. The tip had some blood on it.
"Where did you find that?" Scorpius demanded.
"On. . . on. . . the ground, right there," she whimpered, her voice quaking.
Scorpius gently took it from her and observed it more closely.
"It's from a muggle manufacturer," he said to her.
Lucy looked at the ground, not saying anything as a few tears fell from her eyes that she angrily wiped away.
Scorpius cast a spell over Rose's wand and observed the faint spells that bubbled from it. "Aguamenti. . ." He frowned at what he just said.
"Did she attempt to drown the person? There is no water on the ground or anything, and it being night it wouldn't evaporate. . . "
Lucy shook her head in response, still not letting herself speak.
"This is from earlier this week? Spell practicing and whatnot?" he asked her.
When she nodded Scorpius tried to comfort her. "Don't cry. She's too. . . tough to let some purse thief kill her. Keep looking on the ground for any clues."
When Scorpius found some torn bits of brown material that he recognized to be from Rose's leggings he didn't mention anything to Lucy. After a few more minutes of looking around the area and finding nothing Scorpius told Lucy they should head back.
"But. . . how do you know she isn't farther down these roads or anything?" she questioned tearfully.
"I don't. Her wand trace ends here. But there is a small chance she might be at the bar, and Al is going to be waiting for us outside. If Rose is not there then we'll send out more Aurors to search the area. But we have to be absolutely sure; we also need to check your place in case she had turned up there."
The walk back was more ominous and dark than the walk before. Lucy felt as if time was going slow. The dark of the night was suffocating her as she struggled to hold her emotions steady. Every shadow seemed to jump out at her.
"Her parents are going to kill me," Lucy sniffled, still trying to keep her voice steady and failing. "Same with everyone else."
"Don't talk like she is dead. She isn't," Scorpius snapped. Rose was not dead. She couldn't be.
"How do you know though?" she said frantically as she tried to keep up with his fast pace and failed. "We found a dagger and she didn't have her wand. . . How could she have lived?"
"I just know, okay."
"How though?"
He looked at her from over his shoulder. "I just know. Somewhere in me knows. She's okay, wherever she is."
Lucy looked surprised at him, but didn't say anything back.
"Don't tell her," he said quietly.
The bar was coming into view now and Scorpius somehow picked up his pace again, leaving Lucy struggling to keep up. Scorpius stopped a few metres away from the door and looked around. He turned to Lucy and hissed, "Fuck, Al isn't here. . . Okay, don't use names in the bar, of anyone. I was serious when I said it last time. We're going back in. Look in the toilets for Rose, male and female, and check around the bar. I'll check the back and upstairs. . . "
Albus suddenly appeared in the door with a very unsteady Dominique on his arm. "No we checked the place already. Duncan found me and told me, Scorp, and then I found Dom. Rose isn't inside there at all, a few of us checked thoroughly."
Lucy took a sharp intake of air and Albus walked over and squeezed her shoulder in reassurance.
Scorpius gave Albus and Dominique a quick recap of what they found. Dominique barely took it in whereas Albus's eyes got wide. "Bloody hell. What do we do now Scorp?"
"Well I will contact the– " Scorpius stopped talking when they heard the soft patter of feet hitting the cobblestone.
"Hellooo," the voice sang as it approached. "Why are you peoples all outside. Weren't leaving without me?"
Rose walked into the light, carrying Dominique's purse with a cheerful grin on her face.
Nobody made a noise as she walked towards them all.
"See," Dominique proclaimed, wobbling too and fro, "je vous ai dit that elle would finds my purse."
"Shut up Dom, "Al muttered.
Lucy loosened herself from Albus and stepped dangerously towards her. "Rose fucking Weasley. ROSE FUCKING WEASLEY. YOU ARE SUCH AN IMBECILE! YOU- YOU-" words were not enough and Lucy ran to Rose and shook her. "ROSE DO YOU REALIZE THAT YOU GAVE EVERYONE A FUCKING HUMONGOUS SCARE. NEVER DO THAT AGAIN!"
Scorpius was there loosening Lucy's hands from Rose's shoulders as Rose stared astonished at Lucy's yelling. "NO! LET ME GO ARSEHOLE. ROSE YOU BLOODY WANKER" She tried to pull herself away but couldn't get out of Scorpius's hands.
Lucy had just had enough. There was more than one reason why she hated drinking alcohol. She burst into a storm of tears as everyone stared disbelievingly at Lucy crying. Dominique came over and hugged her waist.
Scorpius went up to Rose and she backed up nervously a few steps, tripping over some of the cobblestones. "Rose. . . " he said. "Listen to me. . . no just listen. Don't run off after someone who steals, or anybody like that. Especially by yourself."
"Don't tell me what to do," she snapped, continuing to back up as he walked forward until her back came to the wall and she couldn't move.
Scorpius took a rapid step forward so he was right in front of Rose and she froze up. They stared at each other for a long time before Rose closed her eyes, barely breathing. "Just don't," he breathed softly into her face, "you gave everyone such a scare."
When Scorpius backed up, Rose stared at him half horrified and half blissful. He stepped back and the connection was ultimately broken between them when Dominique half stumbled for her purse.
Dominique snatched it up and hugged it to her. "Mon bébé, mon petit bébé," she crooned to it.
Albus and Lucy glared at her while Scorpius went into the bar to go talk to Duncan, his boss, really quickly. When he came back out, he indicated that they should all start walking home.
Albus looked freaked out by Dominique's actions still as she continued to rock her purse to and fro in her arms. He instead asked Rose as everyone started walking away from the bar, "so. . . what happened?" He looked over at her. They were all bunched together in a group while Dominique trailed them all in a weird zigzag pattern.
"Umm, I don't know. I got Dommy's purse back?"
"No! Like why did you chase after the guy and where did you go?" Albus said.
"Oh. . . Okay. . . Well, I chased the guy 'cause he stole Dommy's purse. And then caught up with him because I was running very fast and knocked him down onto his back." She held her shirt out away from her body as she looked down at it and showed the group. "He then was trying to gut me with his knife and I pulled out my wand. But he was a Muggle! So I threw my wand away from me 'cause I can't just perform magic on a muggle!"
She took a sharp intake of air in realization and yelled, "BLOODY FUCK, my wand!" She stopped in the middle of the road. Rose looked at everyone and exclaimed, "I need to go get it!" Scorpius grabbed her arm before she went running off and pulled it out of his pocket; handing it to her. Rose looked at in in surprise and took it from his hands, inspecting it for any scratches.
Lucy who had calmed down considerably in the walk, pulled out her wand. "Since we are stopped, I might as well heal your stomach, idioto. Who knows where that disgusting knife has been."
Lucy lifted up Rose's shirt, ignoring Rose's meeps of protest. "Hold your shirt there. And don't let it drop down. Al or Blondie, light your wand for me."
Scorpius stepped forwards before Albus could move and the area was lit. Rose was blushing red. "Stop looking at my stomach Malfoy," she blurted out as she glared at him.
He raised an eyebrow. "You have lots of freckles on your stomach."
Her face turned redder. "You know what, I thin -"
Lucy gave a small shriek. "ROSE, my leggings too! A rip in my leggings? And my shirt? Merlin's balls, you are so hard on clothes!"
Lucy's teeth were clenched as she healed the puncture on Rose's stomach. Rose forgot what she was going to say so just stopped talking, while avoiding Scorpius's stare. Albus was snickering quietly beside him and Dominique just stood hugging her purse.
They started walking again after Lucy gave Rose her flats back. Rose reluctantly put them on and Albus asked Rose to continue her story. "Err, where was I? Hum, yeah so the dude was counting down before he stabbed me, though I know he wouldn't of actually done it, and suddenly out of the alley comes this other man. The guy I was sitting on let go of his knife and raised his hands in surrender, so I got off him. I think the new guy said something about how I did a great job and then he brought me with him as he took the thief in. And guess what! I got half the money, because I caught him!"
Rose reached into her pocket and pulled out some coins. "See! I made money!"
Scorpius immediately reached over and grabbed them from her hand. He cast a spell on them before Rose could snap. The coins shone a bright red light. Scorpius raised his eyebrows at Rose. "There were listening charms on them. But the money is real. It's wizard money. I bet that bloke wasn't a real muggle, even though he said he didn't know what a wand was."
"He thought my wand was a stick!" Rose said angrily. "He was a muggle." She grabbed her money back from Scorpius and shoved it into her pocket.
Scorpius took over the questioning. "Where did you go? And what do the men look like?"
"I don't know," she said scathingly.
Scorpius hissed under his breath and indicated at Albus to repeat what he said. Rose just shrugged as Albus repeated it.
"No, I'm serious, I don't know."
"What?"
"I don't remember. . ." Rose said.
"How can you not remember?" demanded Scorpius.
"I don't know. . . I - it's all a blur. . . I just remember the guy I was chasing and then the getting the money, and then walking away. . . "
"Probablement because elle est drunnkkkk," Dominique stammered out. Scorpius still didn't look convinced though. He stared at the back of Rose's head and was about to say something else when Albus interrupted.
"How about we discuss it all tomorrow when we've had some sleep and are not still half drunk," Albus suggested diplomatically.
Everyone nodded in agreement except Scorpius.
"No, this is important to do now while it's all fresh. Rose, do you remember any defining features of the men?"
"No! I just can't!" she said. "I don't remember. . .!"
"Give it a rest," Albus murmured to Scorpius. Scorpius looked at Albus, pained, but didn't say anything else.
"You," Lucy stated, "are not allowed to wear my clothes anymore. A hole in my leggings and shirt, and blood too! We are going to your old house and getting your clothes back."
"Its just clothes. . . " Albus stated but Lucy glared at him.
"They aren't your clothes."
"Should Rose even go back there?" asked Albus.
"She's the only one who knows where her things are!"
"But you two together doing it. . . with pscyho Danny there, I don't know. . . "
"We'll figure it out later."
They reached the girls' apartment and everyone went up the back stairs. Lucy went straight to her room without talking while Dom walked a few times around the kitchen and living room before she laid down on the couch and fell asleep there, still hugging her purse. Albus grabbed some Floo powder and disappeared to his place.
Scorpius stopped Rose before she could slip past him. "We need to talk soon," he said to her, his arm leaning against the wall in front of her.
Rose stared hard at him. She was swaying slightly on the spot.
"Please, give me a chance to explain and - and apologize. . ." he pleaded softly.
Rose ducked under his arm without replying and walked to her room.
Dejectedly, Scorpius grabbed Floo powder and disappeared.
Rose changed out from Lucy's clothes and left them strewn on the ground. She put on her pj's, brushed her teeth, and crawled under the blankets, her feet sticking out of her small bed. Her vision was spinning and she couldn't clear it from her eyes. She still had alcohol in her veins and she didn't think she would be able to fall asleep at all.
She couldn't get the feeling of Scorpius's strong gaze out of her head and she hated herself for it.
She stared at the ceiling until sleep finally came over her as the sun started to warm the earth with its morning rays.
X-X-X-X-X