September 26, 2026

The thing about wearing invisibility cloaks for extensive periods of time was that you felt like a ghost the whole time, like you weren't part of the living world. For the past three weeks, Rose had taken to wearing the invisibility cloak whenever she went out sleuthing. Since she had been wandering around under one for most of that time, it was now normal to stand out in the open and have people milling around without sensing her. It was rather discomforting to be so completely ignored and unnoticed by society, though she never would have thought it would be given how much she avoided the spotlight on a regular basis.

The other side effect of wearing the cloak for extended periods of time was that she got rather confident with the cloak. Nobody could see her, and if she was quiet and was careful, she could creep around anywhere. Wherever she wanted.

Rose prowled around Coffee for Kooks for a few days, hanging out by the back and front entrances. She had a clipboard in hand that Molly had loaned her and was writing down the miscellaneous details of everyone who went in and out of the store and sometimes their conversations if they spoke about something worthwhile. Sometimes she was sitting for hours at a time. Take that patience!

It was too bad she didn't have her camera with her. In fact, it would probably be better if she took pictures of some of the people she was describing. She was pretty sure she had at least seven people described as 'short,' and ten people described as having 'dark-hair.' Most of her descriptions she couldn't really remember the person she was describing. It was only the select few that she had seen more than once she could remember.

At the back entrance, there weren't too many people and it honestly got boring real quick. However, she stayed there for hours at a time, just waiting for something, someone. Sometimes she got lucky and heard mention of 'the Boss,' 'that doofus Ratgar,' and 'the Hatch.' Even the word 'spiffed' was thrown around a lot, but their jargon escaped her.

She always ended up doodling more than writing when there was nobody for long stretches of time. Rose saw Courtney come out a few times to take out the garbage but she didn't take off the cloak even though she wanted to ask her more questions.

By the evenings she really needed to get up and move because her legs always got incredibly stiff. She went on a few walks around the block while she munched on some food that she brought with her. At the days end, her back was sore from being bent over for the day, her legs were usually stiff from not moving very much, and she usually went home with a large headache even though she made sure she drank plenty of water.

When she got tired of scouting the coffee shop, she walked over to the Luminess Bank, which was perhaps the worst place to scout out because of the hundreds of people who went in and out on a daily basis, or she walked to the sports bar (Micheals All You Can Eat and it's a Sports Bar Too). Her back was always the most sore on those days because she was so paranoid about her feet showing she probably leaned down farther than she needed to.

She chose to focus on the bar with nothing happened at Coffee for Kooks for about two weeks. The bar didn't even open until suppertime and it was always the busiest around midnight, regardless of the day. She sat on the ground across the street, just watching everyone interact before pulling out her clipboard to take notes. The side she sat on was usually deserted; most of the people were congregated around the bar. Friday and Saturday nights were by far the busiest days regardless of when the big sports games were. It was mostly men who were going in and out – a mixture of middle aged and younger blokes. She stayed until the bar closed on the busiest nights at three in the morning and then left. She had a few pages of notes again but she didn't know what to make of them. What good were descriptions? She needed to hear conversations. There was never any sign of Canwood.

The bar had large front windows and so she it was easy to observe everyone from across the street. She did regret that she didn't have a set of binoculars because this would be the time they were useful. The bouncers seemed to throw out some people every night for fighting and being a nuisance. The whole crowd of people in there seemed insanely rowdy at all times and hours – slopping beer, pushing, shoving, and cheering on their team in the football match - or whatever sport was going on at the time.

There was no possible way she could slip inside the bar without getting pushed or shoved in some manner. She didn't know what information she could find anyway if she went inside. She didn't recognize anyone she knew and she hadn't stood close enough to hear conversations. She just had a pile of notes on appearances and heights and possible ages of the men and women.

She had told Molly, Dom, and Lucy that she would be gone in the evenings and true to her statement she was, though she always made sure to be back in her bed before sunrise in case they checked in on her in the mornings. Since she gave them warning and they themselves were gone most evenings, they became less suspicious of what she was doing. Less suspicious, but they still had loads of questions of where she was spending her time.

Since she had been going to the sports bar in the evenings for a few hours she began to recognize a few of the regulars who came quite frequently, almost every night. If it was gang related she knew the members would be regulars, so it was a basis for a start. She also began to notice the layout more, as she spent hours in front of the building and often got bored with people watching.

The bar was in a two floor building, though only the main looked to be in use by the public. In the front, the large windows had small ledges beneath. There were also two small windows in the staircase. One between main and first, and the other between first and second so Rose could see the people who went up and down. There were only a few small windows in the first floor, even when Rose circled around the building. Unfortunatley there were no large windows like there were on the ground floor and so she couldn't really see what the people were doing up there.

Most evenings there was a surprising amount of people who went up to that floor, even though there was barely any light coming from the windows. If Rose had to guess she would say they were playing cards – perhaps poker or other gambling games because muggles always seemed to be fond of that. She had never seen someone go to the second floor in all her time of being there, so Rose had a hunch that it was either storage or someone lived up there.

After the first week and a half of the invisibility cloak, she was taking more risks and shadowing people more. Nobody had discovered her, or accidentally run into her, or brushed her, or guessed at all. Even when she made some noise, nobody was able to identify her. She got more bold and moved closer and closer to the entrance at the bar, trying to pick up more of the conversations as the week wore on.

One evening, she found herself sitting right on the window ledge, testing the waters. Whether it was the paint-chipped wood under her or the attitudes of people, nobody thought to make it a seat as well and she remained unnoticed. It proved to be fruitful. She got some wind of the Snakebitten gang, they were 'looking for people,' and 'looking for supplies to make more 'Spiff',' but 'everywhere was down.' The two men were talking about it in hushed voices right in front of her. And they didn't notice her! She also got more wind of 'the Boss,' she heard the name 'Gradford' being mentioned in the same sentence, another 'can't believe I have to work with the idiot Ratgar again,' and how they were all going out to 'celebrate the win of passage to open up Muffledown Avenue.'

It wasn't until Saturday the 26th however, that her tables turned.

It was nearing midnight when she saw three young men walking towards the bar from down the street. She glanced briefly at them and did a double take. They were very handsome, but only one of them was new: the second tallest man who had dark hair. She had seen the tall blonde and the stocky brown-haired man a few times in the past week when she was sitting on the other side of the street, but never up so close.

The three were laughing, joking, and pushing each other around which led Rose to think they were definitely drunk. Now that she had a closer vantage point she vaguely wondered why they were coming to this bar. It wasn't exactly the nicest place from what she had been able to tell and there were never very many women in it.

They came closer and Rose subconsciously checked that her feet weren't showing as she started to write down their descriptions.

The new brunette had on a pair of blue glasses and his longer hair was in a loose ponytail. He had a short dark beard that covered his face and was dressed in a pair of brown trousers and a tee-shirt that said Hipster Hunting. The shorter man was more muscular but wore a loose jumper and had brown hair gelled up in the front. He was talking animatedly with his hands moving in all directions.

The blonde, Rose thought, was by far the most handsome. He had shaggy long blonde hair that was too short for a pony-tail and also wore a short cropped beard that was a few shades darker than his hair colour. He sported black trousers and had on a loose blue plaid shirt. He was laughing and joking with his friends but when she focused specifically on him she noticed his eyes flicking left and right all around him.

". . . he said, he said – and I quote – I'm serious lads, stop laughing Archie!" the short man said to the Hipster Hunting man, now Archie. "'We are on a mission! To the big cheese!' And then he just jumped out the window. Just jumped! Just like that! Man that stuff is great! Wish he had more of it! He said he paid an arm and a leg for it though."

Archie and the blonde broke down laughing. When they stopped, Archie, who had his hands clapped on the other two's shoulders said solemnly, "we've arrived." They all looked up at the bar and then at each other. Benny shouted, "mission tonight!"

Archie shook the stocky guys shoulder, "Benny, hottest girl."

"I've told you already! This isn't the place to find chicks!"

Archie ignored him and shook the blondes shoulder. "Aaron, you have to talk to her."

Aaron, the blonde, rolled his eyes and Benny shouted out, "yeah you prude! Quit being so goddamn shy and all - all noble every time we head out."

"Well Archie, with all your demands I say you've got drinks then!" said Aaron, saying his first sentence within hearing of Rose.

She froze and her pencil stopped moving. His voice sounded so familiar. Why did his voice sound familiar?

"Only this time! I swear you two drink more every time we go out! Aaron, mate, you owe me a pint from last time!"

"And you bloody well owe me three still!" Aaron replied with a friendly smack to Archie's head. Archie readjusted his glasses, unaware that a red-headed girl sat in horror only a few feet away.

She knew that voice! It was bloody, goddamn Scorpius! She stood up abruptly before her mind realized what just happened. She instantly ducked back down. Her feet had been showing! She cursed her height at that moment and how small the cloak was. Very quietly Rose pulled out her wand and held it in front of her, keeping a wary eye on the three guys. She was mostly keeping an eye on Scorpius who even though he was acting like he was absolutely tanked he still seemed to be aware of his surroundings. She was half guessing that he was faking being drunk. He was definitely working – he had a new name and everything.

What are you going to do? Stun them outside a muggle establishment? asked Marta scornfully.

No clue. But it's better than nothing, she thought back. What would she do if one of them had noticed? Try to sneak out? Jinx someone? It would look as if someone fainted if she used a stun, perhaps that would have been best? Fortunately she didn't have to find out because none of the guys seemed to notice.

She stayed crouched to the ground as they went into the bar. She followed their movements and then watched them from outside.

Her eyes couldn't keep of Scorpius; he looked so completely different from how he always looked that Rose had a hard time really believing it was him. It was the same blonde hair, just longer, the same build, same height, even – and she was loathe to admit it because that meant she had observed him closely – even the same walk. Just – his clothes! and his face! Never would she have imagined that he would 'grunge' himself out and wear clothes so – not classy. It was normal everyday wear for the rest of the population, but it was bizarre to see him in those clothes. It was completely different to what he usually looked like, but he was somehow able to pull it off.

The longer Rose watched him the more she realized it wasn't just his looks. Even his actions were different. He wasn't so high strung right now and she could see him laughing, joking, and clinking beer mugs with his friends like he was a regular here and had been doing it all his life.

She didn't know how long she stayed crouched to the ground for. Five minutes? Twenty? An hour? Eventually she realized her knees were groaning under her weight and then decided she should stretch out and stop being so obsessed with him. She didn't care that this loosened attitude was attractive. Rose walked back across the street and then sat down, letting her legs stretch out their length the best she could under the circumstances. She still kept an eye on the three in the bar out of the corner of her eye.

The more Rose thought about it, the more she realized she could potentially get some collateral against Scorpius. Just in case he ever decided he wanted to question her. He hadn't come near her for almost a month, but she didn't want to be paranoid all the time. Perhaps then she could ditch the invisibility cloak for a few days without always worrying. If she could find something big tonight on him. . . well maybe that would be enough to get him to stay away.

She could feel Gregs approval.

She was just beginning to form a plan in her mind to go find a camera when she saw him leave his friends and head to the men's room. But he didn't go there He turned off at the last second and then blending in perfectly with his surroundings, he followed the wall walking towards the staircase. It was as if nobody was watching him - no heads turned towards him as he walked by. Scorpius ascended the stairs. She saw his face in the window, looking out briefly, and then it was gone.

Rose had a brilliant spur of the moment idea. She put her clipboard in her backpack and left it hidden in a large shrub nearby. She crept to the back of the bar and adjusting the cloak to free her arms, she started to climb the wall of the building using a combination of the old bricks that were sticking out, some pipes running the length of the wall, and the decorative art that was jutting out by the windows and doors.

This climbing was without major conscious thought. She did have the brief flashback in her head of screaming and the white terror of eyes. . . but she blocked it out and just focused on moving hands and feet. Slowly and steadily. This was her second climb since being back and since she managed to climb the sinkhole fairly easily, she didn't have as many worries that she would freeze halfway up on this building.

She climbed to the first floor without too much difficulty but had trouble manoeuvring the invisibility cloak to cover more of her body as she peered into the window. She had to squint, the window was very dirty but she could just make out candle light in the distance and a few tables out with people sitting around them. It was a bit too dirty to make out people, but the one guy did look like he had blonde hair.

The first floor wasn't accessible, but what about the second. . . ? As quietly as she could she kept climbing upwards. The pipes were rusted against the metal bindings and so didn't make a racket while she was climbing. When she peered into the window she found an empty room. Completely empty, as in no furniture, no people, no animals, no desks, nothing. That was a start. Rose figured if she could get in, she could infiltrate the first floor from above and spy on Scorpius, maybe overhear a conversation. There were way less people on the first floor than the main and it was less risky to walk among them there.

Not worrying too much because nobody was visible inside, but still trying to be quiet, she tried to open the window with no luck. It was stuck shut. She wrapped her arm tightly around the pipe and paused for a moment to think of another way in. There were three other small windows, two that were on the front and the one adjacent to this one, but Rose had a feeling that those would be locked as well. It was then that she noticed the skylight on the roof that looked to be part of the way propped open.

She climbed to the roof and once over the ledge, breathed a sigh of relief that she made it up alright. No worries, no qualms, just straight climbing. She made her way over to the skylight.

Rose checked the floor for people again and then lifted the window. It squeaked open. She triple checked to make sure nobody was in the room and lowered her feet down into the hole. They blatantly stuck out of the invisibility cover and she decided to just toss the cloak over her shoulder and disregard it for the moment as it would just get in the way.

Resting the window on her body she quietly flipped around so she could lay on her stomach and started inching her way down into the room. The window squeaked with every movement and Rose winced, trying to go down more gently. If it went good, she could reset the window to its previous position while hanging and then jump down to the floor, which would be a lot closer when her full body was extended. She was in a vulnerable position at the moment though – she was visible and half hanging out a window. She wasn't safe until she had both feet on the floor with the cloak on. Her ears were listening for the sounds of footsteps – anything that might indicate that she was making too much noise.

Now came the tricky part. She held on tight to the ledge and leaving the window still resting against her back, she tried to lower herself down. However, her arms weren't as strong as they used to be and couldn't support her whole weight. Apparently a year of inactivity really depleted muscle mass. There was also the fact that she didn't have a ridiculous amount of adrenaline at the moment too. She dropped down much faster than she meant to. The window smacked down on her fingers.

"Son of a! Fuck!" Her fingers were throbbing in pain but she didn't let go of the ledge. She was oscillating gently back and forth. She knew that she just made a lot of noise.

She tried to reset the window to what it was at previously but her fingers wouldn't hold her weight now, not with the throbbing. She let go and landed with a gentle thump – not so loud as an elephant would have been, but louder than she wanted. She heard the window close with a snap behind her.

She scrunched her fingers a few times to loosen them and was about to pull the invisibility cloak back on when she felt arms wrap around her and her legs were swiped out from under her as she fell backwards, guided down by someone's hands. She was so surprised she forgot to scream. She fell rather silently onto the floor before her attacker basically jumped on her, putting his full weight on her and knocking all the air out of her lungs. Her eyes were immediately covered, though she probably wouldn't have seen much with minimal light in the room.

One of her arms was pinned under her and the other was between her and her attacker. A large hand completely covered her mouth; she couldn't breathe very well and was trying to draw large frantic breaths through her mouth. The hand was impeding her attempts and so she had to settle with breathing through her nose, though her lungs ached for more oxygen.

She tried kicking and squirming to get out but she felt rather than saw a wand digging into her throat. That stopped her squirming for the moment. She tried yelling and saying, "get off me" but no sound escaped her mouth. She couldn't talk. She was spelled.

Her attacker was tall, taller and heavier than her and she felt for the first time, what it was like to be trapped – to be utterly helpless at the hands of someone else and not know what was happening. It was terrifying. Her lungs were hurting as her heart beat picked up and she couldn't get in deeper breaths of air. Regardless of the wand at her neck, she tried kicking herself free again, or at least getting her arms free so she could use them. She would not be subdued and caught. She would fight her way until the end.

A voice however, made her stop. It was a voice that for the first time ever she was glad to hear.

"Would you stop fighting back for once in your life Weasley? Shut up and stop moving. You picked the worst time to interfere. We've got company coming."

She calmed down quickly, at least it was someone she knew, but really? Even though she was happy it was him, she still wanted to throttle him, wanted to yell at him, 'you put a friggin spell on me! I can't say anything idiot!' or yell 'let me free my arms! I can't feel them!' She heard loud footsteps on the stairs and stopped fidgeting. She heard Scorpius mutter something and then felt the curious sensation – like an egg cracking on her. Though she knew that wasn't the case. She was under a disillusionment spell.

She felt Scorpius resettle himself on her with his hand still completely covering her mouth.

Footsteps reached the top and the door swung open with a bang. Rose couldn't see a thing and instead of being terrified like the past few tense situations she had been in she felt rather safe. Though they were in danger, she didn't feel it so much.

"Stupefy!" a few different voices shouted. Through her blindfold she could see some bright red light. Scorpius somehow pushed her down more, putting more weight on her, but his grip on her mouth relaxed. He was heavy. She probably resembled a pancake right now.

"Nobody's here. . ." a voice said.

"I heard something. There was loud noises."

Footsteps entered the room and heavy clomping went every which way.

"Jimmy, this room is empty. What're you lookin for?"

There was a pause. "I don't know. There have been too many weird occurrences the past few weeks."

"The ceiling. Look, the window. It's closed."

Someone swore. "Leaving? Or entering?"

"Not entering. We have the stairs covered."

"Then how did they get up?" asked Jimmy. "It's nobody from the first floor. And you can't get up to the first floor without clearance, so nobody from ground level."

There was more shuffling around of feet and she heard someone go back down the stairs. By her best estimates, there were three people in the room now, not including her and Scorpius.

"Maybe. . . maybe the wind blew it shut?"

"Yeah, yeah Jim. It was the wind. Or a ghost was making the noises. Nobody gets by us!"

Jimmy responded coldly. "Reopen the window then to get some ventilation and try to come up with an explanation for the thumping we heard. I'm going back down to the tables; tell me when you think of something with that abnormally small brain of yours."

Gradually the footsteps all left except one. She could hear pacing back and forth for a few moments before the person said, "ghost. Stop haunting us and bothering us wherever we go. You're interrupting everything. Silencio!"

His footsteps went downstairs and besides the sounds coming from beneath her, it was silent on the second floor.

Rose couldn't feel the arm that was under her at all; it was like it was dead. She expected Scorpius to move and get off of her, but there was no movement by him. He was completely still.

"Malfoy.." she mouthed, forgetting that she couldn't speak. Maybe there was someone still in room? – someone unmoving and silent. She didn't quite understand why he had to be laying on her though. They both could have been sitting separate in the room – in fact, he could just leave her alone and pretend she wasn't here. She felt very deflated and needed more air. Though his hand had loosened, her lungs couldn't expand because of his body weight.

After ten more minutes of getting squished Rose couldn't take it any longer. She didn't care if anybody was in the room, she had to get movement into her arms and get him off of her. She needed to get out of here.

She felt as though she had no energy left and so instead of kicking or squirming, she rolled. It took some effort to get Scorpius's dead weight off of her, but he was putting up no struggle. She rolled over until he was off of her and then she collapsed on her back beside him, letting blood flood back into her limbs and getting a few badly needed deep breaths into her lungs. She could feel Scorpius's body heat very near to her even though she couldn't see him when she took the blindfold off; she was surprised he wasn't saying anything. She shook her arms out gratefully.

He's letting you escape, take it! instructed Greg.

Something isn't right. . . thought Rose. Even though she didn't want to stay in the room with him any longer than necessary, something was wrong. He wasn't saying anything – and she was expecting some pretty sarcastic or flippant comments from him. He was just lying there still. After her arms were feeling more like arms and less like limp noodles she pushed him. He half rolled away and then flopped back.

What. . . !

Rose was confused. It was like he was dead. Then she remembered the 'stupefy' that was shot into the room.

"Bloody idiot," she said, though no words came out. She still had the stupid Silencio cast on her from him. "What am I supposed to do now? Carry you from the room? Apparate us away even though I can't speak?"

Leave him, her malicious side recommended.

She couldn't do that though. That was against every personal moral she had and was taught. He was unconscious. She couldn't just leave him. This was 'enemy' territory, for them both. Even though she had a huge secret at the moment and could make a getaway right now, she personally couldn't. She was still her, Rose Weasley, no matter what she was going through. She wasn't some uncaring, heartless person. She would figure out how to deal with a conscious Scorpius when the time came. What if someone came back up the stairs and found him? She could never live with herself.

And even though he was an arse all the time he was still. . . him. Still roommates with her cousin, friends with more than half of her family, cousins to Victoire's children. Still the boy she went to school with, the boy she thought she loved at one point in her life.

She shook him, hoping he would wake up. She prodded him with her wand, though no spell came out. She plugged his nose, pulled his hair, but he still didn't wake. She could feel his beard on his face and she wished she could see it again. She couldn't remember what he looked like with it.

Rose couldn't take him up through the skylight, he was too heavy and she would not be able to lift a limp body above her head. If she had to, she figured she could carry him downstairs, but that was not an option at this moment in time. Apparently the stairs were being watched and the bar was chock full of people.

Since she had the disillusionment charm on her, she linked the invisibility cloak through her black jean loopholes, tying it into place so it wouldn't get left behind. Doing that made her think that she should start wearing a belt, her jeans were getting loose on her. She dragged Scorpius's body over to the windows on the wall and looked down.

Way too high up to risk it, said Marta. Rose reluctantly agreed.

Nobody came up with all the noise she was making by dragging Scorpius around. The Silenco on the room was working for them in one form.

There was nothing else to it. She would have to wait for Scorpius to regain consciousness. Then he would take the blasted Silencio spell off of her and after she could make her getaway.

She settled down for the night. She sat with her back against the wall, facing the entrance to the staircase. She had one leg swung over Scorpius's legs so she wouldn't lose him and also for the comfort of knowing she wasn't alone for once (she didn't admit that part to herself).

The night passed. Rose began to understand why Scorpius was on the third floor. She could hear lots of the conversations going on below her quite clearly. She didn't really care at the moment though and faded from sleeping to wakefulness. Every once in awhile she jostling Scorpius in hopes that he would regain consciousness quicker, but he didn't move.

It was after the bar had closed and the whole building was silent that she felt him finally stir under her. She was half asleep and didn't register it until she felt his groping hand trace her leg up to her arms and then to her shoulders, her neck, her face. She got severe goosepimples. And finally woke up properly.

She pushed his hand off of her.

"Rose. . .?" he asked, not quite lucid yet. She felt him sit up beside her and she took her leg off of him slowly, but still left it close so she knew where he was. He cleared his throat and thumped against his chest a few times. "Weasley?" he asked again, whispered almost.

She moved her leg so it was touching his and then back away. It wasn't like she could talk.

"Where are we?"

Come on genius; unspell me so I can talk! And then leave!

She stood up beside him and then reluctantly she found his arm and pulled him up too.

"Ouch, my ribs," he muttered. "Weasley this is you, right? Or am I going crazy?"

She found his shoulder and then reaching upwards she flicked his head.

"Geez! Okay, okay it's you. You realize you do have a mouth and my ears are still working."

For real? Rose flicked him again.

"What! Why aren't you–" he stopped and Rose could just envision a light bulb lighting up over his head. "Ah. . . sorry about that. Wasn't sure it really was you when you dropped down. I actually should still question you still, you could be in disguise –"

She flicked him again.

"Okay! It's definitely you."

She felt him reach out to her, making sure of her position and then mutter the counter-spell under his breath.

She stood still for a moment before she was able to vent. She faced the section of air she thought he was in even though she couldn't see him at all. "Bloody hell Malfoy! What the hell was all that about? We could have been out of this dump hours ago if you didn't cast the stupid Silenco spell. And squishing me to death?"

She heard him sigh, it sounded more like a sigh of relief than of annoyance. "You better be quiet, the floors are thin."

"There's a Silenco on the top floor," Rose said scornfully. "The guy thought we were ghosts." She started walking away.

"Wait," Scorpius called. She could hear him take quick steps forward and then he bumped into her because she couldn't see him to move out of the way. He grabbed her arm and then her hand and held on tight. She couldn't shake it loose.

"This place is always guarded and there are anti-apparation restrictions everywhere. Across the street is safe."

She shook her hand, trying to free it.

"Lovely to know. Well, I'll be seeing you around. Or not. I prefer the second. Let's not meet up again." Rose stopped talking and tried again to shake his hand off. "Seriously Malfoy, let go of my hand. I'm not playing games."

"Neither am I. We're both disillusioned so we'll go down together. It's safer. We won't run into each other."

"I can bloody take care of myself!" Rose cried out and vigorously shook her hand. His hand didn't even falter. She offered a bit of resistance before finally following. A few more minutes with him wouldn't kill her. At least he wasn't questioning her about why she had been creeping onto the third floor, or anything else pertaining to what she had been up to.

All was quiet in the building and the street when they were finally outside. The night air had cooled and Rose shivered a bit.

"I'm apparating us to your apartment and then I'll Floo over to my flat from yours," he said.

"I can apparate myself," Rose said tiredly, giving her hand another shake in an attempt to loosen it. Scorpius said nothing; just gripped her hand tighter. She pulled her backpack from the shrub and then they were gone with a crack.

In the alley, he took off the disillusion charms and she could see his disguised face again. He averted his eyes from hers and seemed embarrassed that she was seeing him like this. She couldn't stop staring though; she wanted to touch his face. She followed him into the apartment and he entered the code at the stairs.

Then he looked over his shoulder and for the first time that night acted like himself: he smirked at Rose. Rose widened her eyes with realization. He knew the passcode! What the hell?

He stopped outside the flat and unlocked the door with a quick spell. He pulled her inside, shut the door and then locked it. He turned to face Rose. She could just see the outline of his face in the dark. "I'll see you Tuesday at one in the afternoon. Do you have a preference of a place?"

"What? Pardon?"

"We're meeting Tuesday. At noon. Either you pick the place or I will. I must confess that I rather feel like eating at The Cricket at your Hearth. They always have a good lunch menu. And it does support Al and Avani."

"Lunch?" Rose questioned. "I'm not meeting you anywhere!"

"Well, Cricket at your Hearth then. Remember, at one. If you're not there, then I'll come find you. I do have the ways." Scorpius twirled his wand in his fingers and raised his eyebrows at her. "Goodnight Weasley. See you Tuesday. One of your cousins can give directions if you don't know the way to the restaurant."

He went to the fireplace and was gone.

Rose stood with her mouth hanging open. She should have left him unconscious on the floor. Damn it.

x-x-x-x-x