October 9, 2026

Friday evening came way quicker than she would have liked.

Rose was pacing frantically back and forth in the kitchen. Molly, Lucy, and Dom weren't home. They weren't home and Rose wasn't sure when they would be back. It was the worst timing ever on their parts!

She was expecting Scorpius any minute and she thought at least one of her cousins would be there; she really didn't want to be alone with him in their flat. Oh, she was anxious.

It was evening now and her whole day had been a waste. Her nerves were frazzled.

At quarter to nine there was a knock on the door.

Oh snap. Oh snapohsnap. Fuck. Do I really have to go to the door, Rose asked herself. Won't he just go away. . .

He won't, common sense told her.

This is a stupid idea. Don't drink too much, Marta advised. You don't want to do anything ridiculous like sign contracts to bounty hunt again.

She made sure her long sleeved shirt was all the way to her wrists and quickly checked her appearance in the mirror.

I shouldn't have showered, Rose thought, my hair is going to get frizzy. Really quick.

Maybe she shouldn't have worn her old trousers. Or maybe she should have –

There was another knock on the door.

Fuck, stop worrying about my appearance! It's just Malfoy!

Just hex him and leave him here while you go out, Greg told her. But she wouldn't. She wouldn't chicken out.

She had seen him every day, alone, for almost a week now. She didn't know why this was the moment when she was caring about her clothing, worried about being alone, and fretting about him.

She briefly calmed herself down and opened the door to a solemn looking Scorpius. He was holding a brown paper bag in one hand and standing upright and still, not his usual nonchalantly leaning against the wall.

"Evening," he said softly. He was dressed in a pair of black trousers with a loose blue jumper. "Can I come in?"

Rose moved out of the way and he walked by, removed his shoes, and looked back at her. His blonde eyebrows were raised. "Kitchen or living room?"

Rose shrugged. Neither, she wanted to say. Let's ignore the past and not dig up old skeletons.

"Well let's sit at the table then."

He pulled the firewhisky out of the bag and set it in the middle of the small table. Rose sat down in the chair opposite him.

"So here's how it's going to work," Scorpius said. His hair was just as wet as hers and looked dark. He also smelled good; like pine and the outdoors, fresh smells. She breathed in his scent and felt comforted; those smells were familiar and dear to her. The bottle of firewhisky that sat between them glistened in the dim lights.

"We will take turns asking questions to each other. Say for example if I ask you a question that you find too intrusive or personal – instead of answering it you'd do a shot. If you do answer it, then I would have to do the shot. We then switch back and forth with questions. The point is to answer as honestly as you can. We'll even add some water to the shots to water them down at the beginning because firewhisky is rather potent and we don't want to finish too quickly."

He was staring directly into her eyes as he explained, his hands only moving briefly to set up the two shot glasses. She could barely find the will power to look away, too entranced by his brown eyes she was. She had been dreading this day since Scorpius suggested it. In a way she understood completely why they needed to do this; they couldn't be working effectively together until they trusted each other a bit more. They needed to unload a few burdens.

She just didn't want to risk her big secrets getting out in the open to someone who could potentially be her downfall.

Scorpius went to the cupboards and filled two glasses of water, placing one in front of Rose before he sat himself back down in his seat.

"If you do this with your coworkers I'm surprised you don't use veritaserum," commented Rose. She never would have consented to this if they did use veritaserum. "You'd think you would have that clearance and then you would know if people are speaking honestly."

"Veritaserum is rather. . . dangerous to have at this time. And nobody should be forced to reveal things they are not comfortable with. It would do more harm than good when working together. The point is to learn boundaries." Scorpius then exhaled loudly. "Ready?"

"No," she said truthfully.

"Same," Scorpius said. He filled the shot glasses a little less than half full of water and filled the rest with firewhisky. Rose grabbed hers and pulled it close to her. It looked so innocent just resting on the table. However, she knew from one past experience that it would burn as it went down.

He nodded at her. "You can ask the first question – just start simple."

What did she want to ask him? The past few days she had been thinking of questions yet she couldn't recall any of them at this moment.

His job? Marta suggested.

"How do you like being an Auror?"

That had to be the easiest place to start – a question about his job. But Scorpius looked a little embarrassed and turned from her gaze. He didn't say anything but lifted up the shot glass and drank his shot, wincing only slightly.

"What was your favourite country you visited in your years of travelling?" he asked.

Rose just stared at him with her mouth hanging open. "Wait – what? You're not answering that question? I thought that was the easiest place to start!"

He stared at his long fingers as he laced and unlaced them together. "It's a bit more complicated than I'd like to share right off the bat. However, If you remember you can ask that one later. . ."

He indicated for her to answer the question.

Be honest, be open. "Well, there was no country that I hated; every place was beautiful in different ways. But, I would have to say Brazil. Hugo and Lucy flew from England and were with me for one month over there. It was like, like I saw the country in a completely different light than any other place. Everything was much more relaxed, and playful. To see family again and have them travel with me for a few weeks, it just made the country. . . brighter somehow."

Scorpius refilled his shot glass and raised it to her before he drank it down, slamming it on the table afterwards. "That was – that was a good start to this. Good answer."

"Er – thanks. My turn. Why did you move in with Albus a few months ago?"

"I moved out of my parents' house a few months before I moved in with Albus. I was living in a flat by myself yet still found myself at Al's most nights anyway with him and Ty. It's – well I found it lonely to just live by myself. Then Ty decided to go live with his girlfriend and Al asked if I wanted to move into the empty room."

That seemed like an honest enough answer. Rose lifted the shot glass up and tipped it back. True to its name, it burned on the way down and Rose coughed, half-choking on the drink.

"Fuck that's nasty!" She shook her head and shoulders to try to get rid of the taste. "I haven't had firewhisky in so long."

Scorpius raised his eyebrows. "Well when was the last time you had it?"

Firewhisky was still burning in her throat as she answered. "At Hogwarts in Seventh year. It was just one glass. This is the first time I've had some since then. Because I didn't travel with a wand or interact with the magical community at all I just drank muggle alcohol while being away. This is a bit stronger than most of theirs, and Merlin, it burns more! I'll be fine in a few more shots; I just have to get used to it again."

"Fair enough. I'm not the biggest fan of it really. . . it's just the only alcohol I've ever used for this." He gave a small grin at her before he took his shot.

They continued to ask questions back and forth, taking their respective shots. The firewhisky stopped burning after the fifth, and by the eighth they were both very buzzed. They continued with easy questions. "Who was the most memorable person you met?" (An old fella named Fax. He had the most amazing stories about his life as a packer on mountains). "Your most embarrassing moment at work?" (One of the first people I had to bring in with my job managed to vanish my clothes and then bolted away on me. I – er – was in a muggle store and was. . . stuck for some time. I did find him two weeks later.)

"How long did you end up dating Hermione Smeaton for after Hogwarts?" (With a pained look on his face Scorpius said, "two years. Two years too long.)

Rose, dangerously, had rolled up her sleeves to her elbows to combat the heat in the room, exposing the cursed bracelet for the first time to someone. Her hair had dried wildly and was rather poofy, but she had loosened up and didn't have as many reservations of Scorpius. He wasn't even really Scorpius anymore – if she unfocused her eyes he was more of a giant blonde blob.

When he asked why she was looking for Canwood, Rose had to take a shot. Scorpius didn't even seem surprised. He didn't ask any more questions after that pertaining to what she was doing.

"What did you see in Smeaton?" Rose asked. She ran a hand through her hair to push it back out of her face.

Scorpius shut his eyes with a groan and flopped his head down on the table.

"I don't know. . . At Hogwarts, it was like we were in our own world. I never really thought about the after or anything outside of that castle. I thought I was living in the present. Smeaton was attractive, rather intelligent, and she was nice." Rose gave a cough and Scorpius amended, "to me, at least. I tended to ignore the few stories people said about her being a rude. I also knew she didn't like you which I considered a benefit; it wasn't exactly a secret to me that you fancied me. And honestly, knowing that, it scared me. I think I turned to her because I knew that maybe you would keep your distance, and stop fancying me. I'm sorry to say that I always saw you as Al's weird cousin. . . But after graduation, I started working with muggles, something that I never had done before. I started to see how – judgemental and caddy she could be. I can't really remember all the reasons why I did date her because I can think of a few times in the relationship when I wanted to break it off, but didn't. She, she was something else, I'll give you that."

"She was a bitch. Plain and simple," Rose said. Scorpius reluctantly lifted his head from the table to look at her and she raised her glass to him before tipping it back. These were straight shots now; there was no more water.

"Well, let's hear about your ex then Weasley. Muggle, his name was Danny, didn't know you were a witch. What's the story there?"

Rose ran her hands through her hair, pulling it tightly back from her head. "I feel like just taking a drink to spare you the shit show that our relationship turned out to be," she said bluntly. A few shots ago she might not have shared, but it didn't seem like such a big deal now to tell Scorpius.

"Dooooon't," Scorpius drawled, plainly curious. "Drinking is the easy way out. You should share. I told you about Smeaton."

"It's long," she said. He nudged her onwards. "Alright. . ." Scorpius straightened up and rested his chin on his folded hands as he gave his attention to her.

With the liquor fueling her she talked. She started from the very beginning, the first time they met, and ended with her visit last week to him. She told him about how he was before and what the accident did to him. She told him how their relationship slowly disappeared, how he stopped trying and she just wanted to escape. She told him about Rick and the accident that changed everything, even changed her somehow. Rose did shorten the story where she could but it still took some time to tell.

When she finished, Scorpius reached across the table and grabbed her hand, just holding it and squeezing tight.

"I'm so sorry Rose. About him, about the circumstances. About Rick. It's hard to imagine. And I'm sure it was hell to go through. You're – you're amazing and strong."

She felt rather numb after exposing herself to him. He know knew the whole story. Her parents, Al, Molly, Dom, Lucy, Hugo – nobody knew the whole story yet. Rose was sure they could piece some of it together if they tried. They would be the next people she opened up to.

He gave her hand one last lingering squeeze and pulled back to his chair, took his shot and looked at Rose. What he noticed about her changed in the past few hours, and not totally because of the firewhisky. As they were opening up to each other he was seeing her in a little different light. He never could have guessed what she went through. Her facial expressions and body language didn't give any clues as to what lay beneath the surface.

"Bathroom break," Rose said and scurried off and locked herself in the small room before Scorpius could so much as blink. She sat on the tub ledge, staring into space; she just needed a moment. She couldn't help the few tears that fell down her cheeks and she blamed the alcohol.

Before she went back out she washed her face with water a few times, scrubbing at her cheeks roughly. She felt very light but at the same time felt as if she was so heavy she could barely move.

"So you know my biggest fear right now is falling. . . and heights. What's your biggest fear?"

Scorpius frowned. "I – I don't think I have a fear."

"That's a lie. Everyone has a fear of something. What was your boggart in the form of?"

"It was a vampire. I've moved on from that. That was a child's worries. . . but. . . "

"Yes?"

"It's not so much a fear. . . as just an anxiety that I'm aware of. I've always noticed it and just recently made the connection between the feeling and where I was when it happened."

"So it's a fear."

"Well. No. I don't get scared. I can just get easily panicked. I can deal with it still."

"So it's a fear then. It's the same with me. I'm not physically scared of heights, just nervous with them now. I can still climb and go up high; I'm just really cautious and am always aware of what I'm doing. I can slip easily into an anxiety attack if I let my mind wander."

"Okay. Perhaps. My 'fear' I suppose is crowds and lots of people grouped around where I am. I get easily panicked when I'm in a place that is congested and I'm out in the middle and can't move. If there's attention on me it gets worse and I get nervous and can't focus. I can be in crowds as long as I'm near the edge or around an exit. Or if there is something I have to focus on so intently it replaces that. . . fear."

That made Rose pause for a second. That was illuminating. . . It partly explained a few incidents for her, some things that never quite added up.

Then it was his turn for a question again. Scorpius wanted to get to the big subject of the night. He was ready. So was she.

"Alright, let's take a leap back a few years. Seventh year at Hogwarts. Quidditch final. Gryffindor vs. Slytherin. Why did you think I tanked the game? You've been rather vocal about your opinions back then, and even now actually."

Rose could recall that game quite well in her mind. It was the second day after that terrible Hogwarts dance and nobody was ready for Quidditch, yet the game came. Rose had been dragged against her will to it by Whitney on the strict condition that they had to sit on the highest stands away from the Hogwarts students.

It turned out to be a brutal game. Scorpius was the Keeper and he let in shot after shot. The game ended quicker than most people realised, and it was a catastrophe. Gryffindor lost 390-90. Whispers started during the game and continued after. They all believed Scorpius deliberately lost the game and didn't even try for his own house. It was a crap game for a final; so many easy shots were let in.

"You might not believe me, but I don't think you purposely lost the game for your house," Rose revealed. She was embarrassed about this. She saw Scorpius's surprised face before she turned away. "I know for a fact you didn't. You were a true Gryffindor. The rumours only started because of your last name and because the final was against Slytherin. Some students made the connection. . . I saw you briefly before the game and at that point I knew it wasn't going to be good for you. You were dazed and not really there. It's just I knew that those rumours were floating around, and I knew that other people believed it. I only said it to you because I knew it would hurt you. That was me fishing for something in revenge. It was cruel of me, so I'm sorry. Those rumours were undeserved."

Scorpius looked partly relieved. "They weren't quite undeserved. I did play like shit. And the worst part is that I can't even really remember the game. It was all surreal – and blurred; I wasn't ready for it. I'm glad that I don't have to convince you otherwise. Even, everything. If I could go back to the last few months of Hogwarts, there would be so much I would do differently."

"What would you all do differently?" asked Rose. She looked out the window into the night sky. Rain was gently hitting the window pane and the moon was hidden behind the grey clouds that persisted to hang around. It had to be past midnight. The only lights on in the flat were in the kitchen and the whole place was dark.

"Get rid of Hermione Smeaton. Study for NEWTS more. Return library books on time. Take the time to talk to friends more and not take their friendship for granted. Apologise to you – or better yet, redo the dance and that whole day. I know. . . I know I treated you horribly. I know. I just – I kept going back to that day. Over and over and I'm sorry. I'm so sorry Rose. Was I." He took a deep breath. "Was I the reason you went travelling around the world; left everything and everyone behind?"

The firewhisky no longer burned, but her throat felt rather raw. She blinked a few times at him, trying to clear her eyes.

"Not totally. But I'm not going to lie and say you had no influence. Everything was just moving too fast. My mum got me a job at the Ministry and I didn't want to work there at all. I just couldn't say no and see the disappointment in her eyes. I really didn't know what I wanted to do, but it seemed everyone had opinions about where I should be. At that Ministry job all the employees hated me and thought I only got the job because of my last name – which was true. It was miserable there and I was looking for an escape. But, I'm also a lousy witch," she said, confessing, "everyone always expected so much from me. They expected me to be my mum and I wasn't. Half my grades were crap and I constantly did stupid and embarrassing things. Everything was spinning uncontrollably around me and I didn't know how to stop it. I didn't know who I was in that spinning mess. I just wanted to leave and find myself. I'd never been anywhere where nobody knew me, or my name and I was restless. It wasn't just you, but I was really embarrassed after that dance. All the ideals and fancies in my head were shot down and stripped bare. The stupid press kept putting up ridiculous stories and pictures of me and I was losing it. The next thing I knew there was a ticket to France in my hand that I don't exactly remember buying and I was gone the next day."

He took his shot. "I remember when I first heard the news about you leaving. It was only a few months after graduation and I was, well in my mind, I was going to apologise to you. I was scared though, and kept putting it off. And then you were gone. And nobody was exactly sure where you were - they just knew France. They didn't know how long; they didn't know how much money you had; they didn't know where you were staying. You were just gone. The next thing I heard was that you sent a postcard from the Ukraine. And that was it. You were gone and I started work and everything just got pushed back. "

Rose nodded at him. "What was going through your head that day? The night of the dance?"

"The night of the dance. I'm going to start the day of the library, when Albus and I were finishing up the Charms essay." Scorpius said, sounding like he had rehearsed it beforehand many times. "You came to the library when we were just finishing up and I saw you slinking around behind the shelves and pointed you out to Al. To bug me, he called you over to come talk. He also knew you fancied me and liked putting me into awkward positions. Besides his ulterior motive, I think he did have something to ask you, but you were nervous. And you were half stumbling all your words together. I guess Al just gave up trying to get a coherent answer out of you and said he had to leave – but of course not before mentioning that stupid dance.

"I remember when you offered to carry my books. I was rather smug and thought it hilarious that a. . . well I'm not proud of my thoughts. . . but hilarious that a Weasley, namely you, would carry them around for me. So I let you. I never took you seriously, never thought about feelings, emotions, and what you would think. I knew they were heavy and I knew I was – abusing the friendship that you held for me. I didn't stop myself though, I just let it happen. My mind was off wandering and then we were at my common room before I quite realised it and you were talking again. . . Not really listening coupled with your stuttering meant I didn't understand or catch a word of what you said. And that's the sad fact. If I was paying more attention then maybe the whole debacle could have been avoided. I just shrugged at you and said yes to whatever you had said to get you to leave because I was bored and wanted to go practice Quidditch. . . Your face had momentarily lit up before you turned away and I did briefly wonder what you asked, but not enough to track you down later to ask."

Rose was intently looking at him, watching his face and his eyes. Scorpius was staring down at the table as he talked. He kept an even tone, without fluctuating up or down.

"The night of the dance approached and I ended up asking Smeaton. I didn't realise it but I guess it was kind of assumed by her, and everyone, that I would go with her because we were dating at that time. I hate dances. So I was honestly planning on skipping the whole thing. Al had known my aversion to dances but he still had to tell you I didn't have a date that day in the library. Smeaton wouldn't let me skip and I very reluctantly decided to go and only stay for ten minutes, regardless of how much she whined. To piss her off I wore some black and orange dress robes, even though her dress was some other colour and we didn't match. She knew there was going to be a photographer there for the students and we had to show up right when the doors opened and she had to be the first one in so she could get her picture, sit at the table and remark to me what everyone was wearing. It was incredibly caddy and I tuned her out completely and was planning my escape.

"Then I guess you entered at that time and next thing I knew I was being violently dragged to the dance floor and in my hand was the red drink I hadn't had time to set down. She stopped walking somewhere in the middle and I got really nervous and there were students all around us who were pushing against us. I told Smeaton off at that point because I needed to get out of the Great Hall. I was about to leave when you showed up suddenly in front of us in your light blue dress robes. And you looked beautiful and. . . different. It was like wearing dress robes boosted your confidence and you had this glow about you. I got even more nervous at that point. Smeaton was petting my arm and I just needed space and you asked for a dance with me. Your face – I remember you were avoiding looking at Smeaton. She then just said incredibly rude things to you and you were confused and Smeaton realised that you thought we were going to the dance together – she pushed closer to me somehow and it was really hot in the room and somehow all the attention of the other students was on us. . . I used my idiotic mouth to try to get you to leave so Smeaton would leave me alone. I said horrible things and it was like my mouth wouldn't stop moving and the words kept coming out. I'm sorry about everything I said. I just couldn't think straight. And then I don't know exactly what happened but the arm Smeaton was holding was moving forwards quickly and my cup was flying out of my hand and then the juice was all over you and on your face. You had such a shocked look on your face and we both turned to leave, but I was standing on your robes somehow and they ripped. . . All the students were laughing and you tried to cover yourself up and then you ran out. . . The photographer snuck pictures of the incident, blew everything wildely out of proportion, sold it to the press, and it was in the newspapers the next day. "

Scorpius shrugged helplessly. "That's everything as far as I can remember. I feel like I can't apologise enough for my actions. I keep going back to that day. It was my attitude, it was the atmosphere, it was the room, it was the people, it was my stupidity not to see what was happening and prevent it from happening. I'm sorry."

She let everything soak in. His explanation helped make everything clear, and she could understand more of what was going on during the incident.

"I – I forgive you," Rose told him. He jolted upwards and looked at her, stunned. He didn't think she would go down without a fight. "It wasn't just you, it was Smeaton as well. And well I'm tired of letting that bog me down. It's in the past, now, we can only move on. I forgive you."

She filled her shot glass did her shot. There was only about a quarter of the firewhisky left in the bottle. The two sat in silence for twenty minutes, contemplating everything they'd learned so far with their hazy minds. Scorpius picked up the liquor bottle and swooshed it around.

"I can't believe we almost finished this off."

"Are you not feeling it yet? I'm at the point where I know if I drink more that it won't be good."

"It's a shame not to finish the bottle though. . . do you have any more questions?"

Rose shook her head.

"I don't either. Well, shot for shot to finish it off?" Scorpius filled up their glasses.

"I'm going to hate you tomorrow for this," Rose said as she raised hers at him. "Cheers."

"Cheers."

"I'll tell you a sec - a seckret," Scorpius mumbled out forty five minutes later. The firewhisky bottle was on its side, empty. "I've another fear - feurh that I nevar told you. Nevar evar. It's you. You scare me Rose. Sooo much. You have alwayyyyys."

Rose wasn't listening to him at all. It was like her neck didn't want to support her head anymore and she set it on the table.

"Alrighhhht Rosee. I'm going back thataway," he raised his hands and pointed behind him towards where the bedrooms and loo were. "I think the firewhisk is empt-y, all empt-y now. I. Sleep."

Turns out they were both on the brink of foolish drunk when they had started shot for shot. Rose was undeniably and completely smashed now. She didn't know how many shots they just did but she was out as soon as her head hit the table.

Scorpius got up and stumbling and leaning against the walls he disappeared down the hallway to an oblivious and sleeping Rose.

Unfortunately she wasn't able to get into a deep sleep before she was woken abruptly by a loud bang from below their apartment floor. She shot upwards with a start. Her stomach started turning and gurgling and her vision was blurring.

With one hand across her stomach, she painfully got out of her chair and made her way to the bathroom. She stubbed her toe on the doorway before just making it to the toilet to heave the contents of her stomach up.

Afterwards she sat on the ground and put her head on the toilet seat.

"Never. Firewhisky. Drinking. Fuck. Fuck. Stupid." Her stomach was still gurgling and then she threw up again, now emptying her entire stomach.

"Fuck. Malfoy. Idiot. Scorpius. Drinking. Done." She was tired, and everything was spinning. She laid her head down on the toilet seat again and then discovered there was vomit in her hair.

Oh, why did she go shot for shot with Scorpius! Rose closed her eyes again and had a very brief nap. Her limp head fell off the toilet and hit the floor with a thud.

"Nooo, leave me alone mum," she moaned as she rolled onto her back and opened her eyes. The white of the bathroom ceiling stared back. Very slowly she got up and turned on the shower, stripping to her bra and underwear and got in. The water was absolutely freezing but she couldn't find the effort to change it.

Luckily she remembered to turn the water off when she was done. Leaving all her clothes strewn on the bathroom floor, she padded to her room, threw on the lights, and put on her flannel pyjama bottoms, one leg slowly at a time over her wet undergarments.

"Oh, shit." She put her head against the wall as her stomach started turning. "I need to go to bed. I. . . stupid. . . ugh." She held her shirt in her hands, but didn't put it on.

She turned off the lights and sat down on her bed, ready to crawl in under the covers. But somebody was already there. She was sitting on a torso.

"What?"

She squinted her eyes through the dark and saw Scorpius laying down.

"What?" It took her a few moments to comprehend what she was seeing.

"This is my bed. . . Scorpius. Scorpius. Scorpius." She was pushing his shoulder with her hand. "Wake up. Scorpius. Scorpius."

There was no movement from him.

"Scorpius. Scorpius. You're layin on my blankets. Scorpius. . . At least give me my pillowwww," she whined. She felt rather cold but it didn't even occur to her to put her shirt on. If her bed was larger she might have even fell asleep next to him, but instead, when he didn't respond to her prodding, she gave up, slid off the bed, bunched her tee shirt up, and used it as a pillow on the floor. She was shivering from her cold shower and managed to curl up into a tiny ball on her side. It didn't take long to fall asleep.

A few hours later she woke up and her stomach was gurgling again. She changed positions to try to appease it and pulled the blankets up higher.

Blankets?

She didn't have any blankets before! Scorpius had been laying on them.

She looked over and realised Scorpius must have woken up and put them on her because there was just sheets on the bed now. He also didn't have a pillow and Rose realised it was under her own head now, her shirt pushed to the side.

"Idiot." She threw the blanket back over him and re-curled up on her side. "I have pillow and you get blanket. I don't need no chivol – chivalroi – chivalrous bull." She talked herself to sleep.

The next time she woke up the sun was shining and she had the blanket again. The good thing was that her stomach didn't hurt, the bad news was that her head was pounding. She flipped the blanket off her in anger. Then she noticed she didn't have a shirt on.

"Oh FUCK!" Her cheeks turned instantly red and she pulled the blankets back towards her and up to her chin.

"How 'bout I never mention your black lace bra again if you snag me some of Dom's hangover potion."

Scorpius peered over the bed at her, blurry eyed and wild-haired.

"What are you still doing here!"

"You're shriek woke me up. You look like hell Weasley."

"Likewise." She rubbed her eyes and then realised the black bracelet was not covered at all. She quickly threw her hands under the blankets. Scorpius noticed and frowned at her.

"You're in my bed I hope you realise," Rose told him as she sat up and wrapped the blanket around her, keeping her hands hidden.

He gestured to his feet. He still wore his clothes from yesterday though they were quite rumpled. "This is your bed? And your room? The bed wouldn't fit a child! Do your feet not hang out?"

"Yeah they do. I don't even notice it."

Scorpius laid back down and put his arm under his head to hold it up as he looked at her. He ran his hands through his hair a few times making it stick up even more.

"Are we – are we good now?" he asked nervously. "I apologise again and probably will do so for the next few weeks. . . maybe not good good, but there's really nothing left to say, right? We can both. . . work together reasonably for right now?"

Rose pulled the blanket tighter around her. "It's better. I mean, we're adults. Can't live in the past forever; there's bigger things to worry about right now." She put the palm of her hand to her temple - the hand without the bracelet. "I mean, never mind. Ignore that and follow me, I think there's some hangover potion in the cupboard."

With the blanket still wrapped around her she walked out the door –

– to a tired looking Molly and Lucy both drinking coffee right outside her room. They were wearing lime green robes and had their hair up in ponytails. Rose could only tell who was who because of the nametags sewn on the robes.

"Good morning," Molly said cheerfully. "Did you two have a good sleep? I noticed the empty firewhisky bottle on the table. I really hope it wasn't just you two who drank the whole thing. Were you two alone all night? And are you a little chilled Rose. You're sure covered up. . ."

"Not that we're implying anything of course," Lucy said as she casually sipped her coffee. "I hope you two had a lovely PG rated sleepover," Molly gave a wicked grin at Rose. Rose scowled at them both.

Scorpius looked at them over Rose's head. "Oooh, coffee. Is there still some in the pot?"

"Help yourself Blondie," Lucy said, with raised eyebrows at Rose.

"We're. . . better," Rose said after Scorpius headed to the kitchen. "Nothing happened though, I swear!"

Molly winked at her. "Sure nothing did. . . But if you head to the kitchen there's breakfast on the table and coffee in the pot. I'll get the hangover potion."

"You two are amazing," Rose said as she tried to untangle a large knot in her hair that was hanging in front of her face. "Seriously. Thanks for everything."

"I'm just glad you have happy hangovers," Lucy told her, "and avoid pulling a 'Dom!'"

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