A/N: Longer A/N at the end. I recommend skimming the past few chapters, just for a brush up!

October 10, 2026

"So, are you going to spill more?" asked Molly after Scorpius left with a promise from Rose that they would meet in an hour at the steps of Webstrians Library. "Why did you two get drunk together and spend the night?"

She looked tired, but at the same time evilly cheerful. They had moved to the kitchen where coffee and breakfast were. Lucy had already relocated to the couch to lay down.

"He apologised and we sort of forgave each other for past transgressions," she said. Molly started smiling.

"It's about bloody time Blondie did something," called out Lucy.

"Yeah. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. He was a lot less of an asshole than usual."

"I'm so glad. Did you two talk about. . . you know. . . " Molly gestured to Rose's wrist.

Rose shook her head and pulled the blanket she still had wrapped around her shoulders tighter. "He's not allowed to know anything Molly. Don't you dare say anything," she whispered so Lucy couldn't hear anything.

"But – "

"No. I've already asked him for help to find Canwood and he doesn't need to know anything else. End of discussion."

Molly drained her coffee and set it down on the table louder than normal.

"Wonderful. I'm glad you care so much for yourself."

"Hey!" Lucy yelled out from the living room. "Speak louder so I can hear. I'm still awake you know."

"I'm going to go change," Rose yelled out and then left her half eaten breakfast to go put on clothes. Thank goodness someone invented hangover potion so she didn't have to spend half the day in bed moaning and groaning. She threw open her blinds in the room, letting the sunlight that had been hidden for a few weeks permeate in, and smiled. "Warmth, I missed you so," she said to the sun.

First sign of crazy is talking to yourself, Greg said.

"Actually, first sign of crazy is having voices in your head and second is talking to them. So it seems like I'm already there and might as well embrace it."

She threw her blanket on her bed and put on a long sleeved shirt. Her hair was still a tangled mess but she threw it in a bun to avoid brushing it.

Once her backpack was packed she headed out to the kitchen again to make a lunch to take on the road.

"How long are you two on night shifts?" Rose asked as she dug around, looking for the loaf of bread she used a few days ago. Molly had already pulled out homework and was whittling away at it

"A few weeks. Rotations I tell you, they just like putting us students through extremes. Umm, the bread isn't going to be in there," pointed out Molly as soon as Rose opened up the oven.

"But it's not where it usually is! It can't be gone already, I just opened it."

"Just grab the bagels, I put them by the fridge yesterday morning."

"No bagels!" said Lucy. "I was looking for them before my shift started but I couldn't find them."

"What!" Molly got up and started looking through all the cupboards. She closed each one with a bang when nothing was revealed. "There is no way we're all out. I bought 10! Either we've got a mouse or someone ate them all in one day. . . but that makes no sense! No, I refuse to believe it."

Molly looked at Rose with a frown on her face and Rose raised her hands. "It wasn't me, I swear!"

"Nor I!" came from the living room

"Obviously. I mean it has to be Dom, but that girl doesn't eat bagels. Is she giving them away - ? Where is she, by the way? I feel like this is weird. I haven't seen her in about a week."

Nobody could answer that question.

"I'll just take an apple. Well, the last apple," said Rose as she added it to her backpack.

"What!" shrieked Molly. "There was eight times that amount yesterday! Where is all our food?"

Again nobody could answer that question. Rose left to go meet up with Scorpius.

She wasn't sure how it was going to be between her and Scorpius now. They got rather personal last night and she hoped it wouldn't be too different.

Perceptions were the only thing that changed, Marta told her. He's still the same and you're still the same.

But I don't know what to say to him. What if he starts acting nice now?

He was acting nice before. He's helping you out; he's not just going to ditch you somewhere.

Yeah, but I didn't realise he knew I fancied him at Hogwarts. That's so embarrassing. What if he starts pitying me or something else stupid, Rose said.

Harden your heart and ditch him while you go look for Canwood, said Greg. That sobered Rose up. This was strictly business between them. That was all.

When she got out to the library she sat between the two stone lions, in the sun. You never knew how long sunshine would last and she was going to enjoy it after much too long of miserable rain. She started to think about the previous night and everything they shared. Scorpius now knew the whole story about her and Danny. She felt relieved that it was now out in the open. The less secrets she had, the better it would be.

She heard a high pitched laughter from behind her and turned around. And if last night wasn't a huge shock, staring straight at her with her hands on her hips was one Hermione Smeaton.

Rose's mouth dropped.

"Well, I guess you didn't die like I kept hearing. That's Rose Weasley, folks, always living to disappoint." was the greeting Rose received.

The shock of seeing Smeaton standing before her was enough to keep Rose quiet. She just stared; she was so surprised to see her that no words were coming to mind. In the four or so years since she last saw her, Smeaton was largely unchanged from Hogwarts. Her black hair was the same length (resting on her shoulders), she was wearing wizarding robes not dissimilar to their old uniforms. The only perceivable difference was that she looked like she gained a little bit of weight in the few years. She still had a pretty face though, and piercing blue eyes.

"Maybe you just got stupider?" Smeaton was looking at her with derision obvious in her face. Rose felt her disgust rise up in her. She didn't even want to talk to her, nonetheless look at her. She turned back around and didn't say anything.

Smeaton wasn't taking any of that. She walked to the front of Rose and stood there again. Rose couldn't help but gaze upon her.

"I have no desire to talk to you," Rose said frankly. "You can continue on your way and pretend you didn't see me sitting here and we'll leave it at that."

"How can I leave when we haven't spoken in so long? No one else reacts as atrociously as you."

Rose rolled her eyes. A four syllable word? She must be reading the dictionary.

"Can't say you've improved with age either. You look just as messy and ugly as you always did."

You have to respond to something like that. Don't let her win this, Greg implored.

Rose just didn't care though. Smeaton was obviously still at the maturity of a Hogwarts student.

"In fact, it's almost like it's a family trait. I saw that slut of a cousin of yours. The blonde one? Dominique? Sleeping on the street yesterday in plain view. Merlin she's a mess."

Rose clenched her fists. Smeaton couldn't go five minutes without insulting someone, or lying; Dominique was not a slut and would never sleep in the street. It was much too dirty. But what an odd thing to mention. . .

The only reason Rose wasn't walking away was because she was meeting Scorpius at this spot. Almost as if Smeaton could read her mind, that was what she brought up next.

"Oh cat got your tongue? I bet you're wondering if me and Scorpius are still together so you can see if you can get your claws into him? I'll have you know I'm expecting the question any day now. You can give up any ridiculous fawning."

Okay, you can't let that one just go by. . .

"Oh? Is Scorpius aware of that fact? I seem to recall him saying last night that you two broke up two years ago. And that he should have actually done it way sooner than that."

This time it was Smeaton's mouth that dropped. Rose could just see her cognitive pieces motoring in overtime, she mouthed last night, as if asking herself a question. Rose waited.

Red tinges started to appear high on her cheeks and with her chin up in the air, she said, "how dare you! Making him cheat on me!"

She came towards Rose with a hand raised as if to slap her, but Rose quickly stood up and backed up a few steps higher.

"Smeaton," Rose said softly. "Just leave. I don't want to deal with this."

Smeaton gave a loud huff, flicked her hair over her shoulder, pulled out her wand, and apparated away with an angry glare. Rose sat down and put her hands on her head.

"Ooooooh man."

That was the way to deal with it, said Marta.

Of all people to run into though.

"Dom's hangover potion didn't work?" a voice rang out to her left not thirty seconds later.

Rose jumped about a foot off the step. What was wrong with a simple hello! Scorpius came up to her holding two coffees. He was freshly showered and had changed his clothes. He looked relaxed and had a loose grin on his face.

He frowned. "You look like you've seen a ghost. You're very pale."

"Guess who just walked out of that library," she said.

"Uh. . . Whitney?"

Rose looked away. "Oh I wish. I don't even know where she is these days. . . No it was your ex-girlfriend. The one and only Smeaton."

All the blood seemed to drain out of Scopius's face and he instantly dropped down, hot coffee spilling over and burning his hands. He looked frantically around.

"Fuck! Where is she? Is she still here?"

"No, she's gone," Rose said with a snort of laughter. Scorpius looked so relieved. He set the coffee on the stone steps and was wiping off his hands. "But not before mentioning that you were going to pop the question any day now. Any amendments you'd like to make from last night?"

Scorpius shook his head. "She's delusional. I haven't spoken to her in about a year and a half."

"She really hasn't changed much. Still as rude as ever."

"I don't doubt it. But anyway – here is about, well – half a coffee now. Figured we needed some stimulants for our day today since we had minimal sleep last night."

He handed the coffee off to Rose when his hands were free of coffee and she stood up and walked down the steps to join Scorpius.

"Ready to head out?" he inquired as Rose adjusted her backpack. "You have the invisibility cloak, right?"

Rose nodded.

"Alright, we are going to stake out one of the members today. I was informed by my boss that a fellow named Ratgar has been wandering into Muggle London and is drawing people over. So we're going to see if we can hear the location he's headed. Did you have extra clothes here? We're going to get dirty today."

"I'll be fine," Rose said after she basically finished her coffee with three big gulps. "I packed minimally."

"You're going to need it."

She frowned at him. "Malfoy, I'm fine."

Saying his last name seemed to make him straighten. He looked away from her and finished his coffee as well. "Fine then. Let's go."

That was an abrupt mood change. Rose was slightly taken aback; his whole demeanor was different. The way he stood, how he looked. . .

She followed him to the rubbish bin where they put their coffee cups and without any warning whatsoever, he grabbed her hand and apparated away.

When they landed in the alley she thrust her hand out of his. "What the hell!" she basically spit out. "A little warning would be nice."

His face was expressionless. "Always be prepared for quick apparations."

"Yes I know. But that wasn't a moment where we needed quick apparations! Save it for when it's actually needed."

She didn't know why his mood so abruptly changed, nor why she felt so angry that he was being his annoying self.

Scorpius ran his hand through his hair and took a deep breath. Rose could just see his tense shoulders and wondered what caused it.

"Follow me," he said. He walked to the back of the alley and pulled open a wooden door in the side of the building. Rose followed into the inky black darkness.

"Lumos," Scorpius muttered. A bright light lit the room and Scorpius threw his bag on the ground before roughly pulling out a bundle of dark clothes. "Layer up. Pick whatever, I don't care."

Rose riffled her foot through the clothes. They were old, black, tattered, and worn. Scorpius picked up a jumper and put it over his head, ruffling up his blonde hair. He smoothed it out with one swipe to the side and looked intensely at her.

"You don't have to. But we're going to be crawling in a tight space that probably isn't that clean." His eyes were challenging her to refuse the clothing, but Rose shut her mouth and pulled on a black sweater that basically hung off of her and went halfway to her knees. She didn't say anything. They both put on black sweats and a balaclava. Everything was large on Scorpius too and Rose didn't dare ask where it came from.

He packed up the few articles of clothing left laying on the floor and shoved them in his bag with unnecessary force.

"I'm sorry," Rose blurted out. Scorpius looked up at her in surprise.

"For what?"

"I don't know! You were fine this morning and now you just seem to be angry. And I'm sorry if I did anything."

Scorpius looked flummoxed and her face was slowly turning red.

You're an idiot for apologising, Greg told her. But there was nothing she could do about it now. She never apologised, why now!

"It's not you," Scorpius said slowly. "I was just thinking about something. Sorry. Umm, we're going to be taking a secret tunnel down. And it's almost 100 years old. There's an extra – layer – I guess you could say over Coffee for Kooks. It's fallen out of memory of the general public but during some human wars, wizards would hide muggles in there. Basically a crawlspace. That's where we're going today. With a charm we can hear what is going on below us, but that means they could hear us too. So we're going to have to be quiet when I say so."

"How many people know about this?"

"Two maybe? I befriended a lady in an alley and she told me about it." Scorpius turned his back on her and walked across the floorboards to a particularly large knothole in the ground. He started waving his wand over it while muttering under his breath. A trapdoor opened and Scorpius jumped down.

Well he gave her no such instructions, but Rose wandered over and stuck her feet down. She didn't like that she couldn't see the bottom, nor see Scorpius at all. But he didn't say anything and nothing seemed dangerous so what the hell – she jumped.

Scorpius gave a garbled scream from under her and it wasn't two seconds later that she felt his hands half catch her and nudge her away so she didn't land right on him. But it wasn't like there was any room to go; her back was up tight against the wall. She could feel his hands on her back and she was squished up against his chest, tight. Her hands were between her and him and she could just make out his outline when she looked up

"You are so lucky you didn't land on my head," Scorpius growled. Rose could feel the vibrations in his chest. And the hardest part was that she couldn't even back away!

"Why aren't you moving?" she demanded. This was too close for comfort.

"I was unlocking the next door," Scorpius said. "It's not open yet."

Her face went red and she was glad that he couldn't see it. His hands were moving on her back, slowly, almost sensually, up. . .

"Why didn't you tell me not to jump?"

"I didn't tell you to jump!"

"Well it was implied! You didn't say anything so I assumed I was to follow you."

"No. You weren't."

"I'm not a mind reader. You have to explicitly tell me."

Scorpius huffed loudly. "Noted. Now the door is behind you and I need arm space to do my spell."

Rose tried pushing away but there was literally no space on either side of her or behind. If it wasn't for his hands on her back, she would only feel the wall. He pulled her closer to him and she meeped in protest as she was squished up against him even more.

She could tell he was impatient. "I need more room."

"I could climb back out. . . ?" she offered. If it wasn't so dark in there she would be way more flustered, but as it was she couldn't get far enough away to be comfortable and relaxed.

"There's not an easy way to get out. Duck down."

Like that would be easier. His legs were in the way, but by contorting herself and almost violating Scorpius she managed to sit on the ground. One of her knees was at her eyes and the other was somehow wrapped around Scorpius's legs. There was no room to stretch out and she wouldn't be able to get up unless he moved. And speaking of moving, he shuffled a bit backwards and he kneed Rose in the face.

"OW! Fuck!"

"Sorry! Sorry!" he exclaimed and then moved as if to give her more room but just managed to knee her again in the face. "Sorry." He felt around for her head as if to gauge how much space he had and poked her in the eye.

She grabbed his hand as it started to rapidly backtrack. "Scorpius, stay bloody still or I'll punch your leg."

"Ok. Sorry. I'm doing the spell now. We'll have more space in a moment."

This has got to be a record number of 'sorry's' spoken so far, observed Marta.

It's awkward. We don't know each other very well. Or I know him too well. I don't know.

Her head started hurting as Scorpius was doing more muttering. Her lungs and body felt cramped. She needed space.

"Ok. It's open. I'll climb in first and you can follow me. The area is about a metre and a half directly above you. We'll be crawling for about ten minutes before we reach where we need to be. There will be no light and it's cramped. Just a warning." He shut the trapdoor above their heads, isolating them from the real world and they were plunged into a complete darkness.

"Lovely," muttered Rose to herself. She got another knee in the face as Scorpius pulled himself up above her and into the tunnel. Then she was alone in the cramped space. She used the two sides to pull herself up; her knees and back were touching the wall at the same time. She felt around in the dark as soon as she was standing and located the tunnel. She ran her hands around the edge and then pulled herself in, legs flailing as she climbed very ungracefully inside.

She moved forwards until she felt Scorpius's feet and then they were off crawling. The tunnel was wooden and cramped and completely dark. She only kept going because she could hear Scorpius plodding away ahead of her. The tunnel started sloping upwards. The air she was breathing was stale and dusty and not very pleasant.

Eventually they reached a larger space that was lighter, though Rose couldn't locate the light source. Scorpius crawled a distance away before beckoning her forwards beside him. The most they could do was lay down in the empty area. Scorpius pulled out a clipboard and a pen and pulled off his balaclava. Rose followed suit. Her face felt sweaty and gross and her hair was slicked back, just like his. Their black clothes were covered in dust.

"We're here and will be here for about two hours. As soon as I activate the spell we cannot talk at all. If you need to say anything to me, just write it on paper."

"Ok. What are we listening for?"

"Anything about Snakebitten. This is over the backroom of the coffeehouse so we'll hear lots of unfiltered talk. I'm sure Canwood will be mentioned at some point."

He handed her some paper and an extra pen and then said the spell. Voices filtered in from below.

Scorpius was already writing like mad. Rose could hear three, four voices maybe – but they weren't talking about anything important. Just about buying shirts. Yet there was Scorpius, scribbling away.

Rose settled herself in to listen. At least the baggy clothes were very comfortable.

After about half an hour she heard a voice she vaguely recognised.

" – no you can't keep taking money from here. Do you not understand how a business works? This place is going to get shut down and then where would you lot converge?"

It was Courtney. Rose mouthed to Scorpius "I know her."

Who is she talking to? He wrote on his paper back.

Rose shrugged.

"You're such a hussy," said a slow, seductive voice. "The boss will know you're impeding our trade."

"Yeah, well if I don't impede your 'trade' then you will continue to use this coffee house! You can't keep stealing food, money, and coffee. This is ridiculous, there are more people who rely on this place than just you lot! I will not help your 'business' in any way. What you do ruins lives!"

There was a loud smacking sound as if a hand were slapping the table. "Your insolence will not be tolerated here. You are worthless for this operation and I suggest you watch yourself over the next few days."

"I was here before you. I suggest you watch yourself."

"I'm not the one hiding money."

Rose had a brilliant idea at that moment. She slowly pulled her backpack to her and in the deep recesses of the bottom she found the small cellphone.

After powering it up, she sent out a text.

«Hi, this is Rose – the girl who was inquiring about Canwood. Who are you talking to?»

She pressed send and then heard a ringtone go off below her.

Not even a few seconds later, a reply was sent back. «Some guy called Matild. He's delusional. And crazy. And thinks he's intimidating.»

Courtney didn't even ask how Rose was hearing, which Rose thought was a great character trait. She showed Scorpius the text and his eyebrows shot up.

Change of plans, he wrote, we're following him today.

Why? Rose wrote back.

Because he is the most elusive person ever. He's the potioneer for the whole gang. And impossible to track. Any chance I have, I follow him.

Well, I'm trying to find Canwood. Shouldn't it be better if I stay here and listen more while you follow the creepy man?

Immediately Scorpius shook his head.

No, it'll be good for both of us.

And of course the bloody bastard didn't say why.

Rose rested her head on her arms and continued to listen while she typed out another reply. «Does he come by often?»

Another ringing below her and another reply was sent.

«Only when he's not getting his money.»

Rose showed Scorpius.

Ask her if he'll be by again tomorrow.

«Yes» came the reply. «He'll be by every day this week because I'm not keeping any money in the till for his lackeys and he thinks he's sooo much more threatening if he comes himself.»

Scorpius shook his head and wrote to Rose. Dangerous game she's playing.

Rose texted back, «Are you trying to get yourself fired?»

«Yes.»

Well that was a sure enough way to do it, Rose only hoped that would be the worst that would befall her.

«Oh, he'll be leaving in a few minutes now. Just waiting to fill up his coffee mug.»

«Thanks.»

Scorpius started moving, packing up his paper and pen and then was crawling away. Rose followed, trying not to breath in the dust they were kicking up with their movements. He got to the wall, did something with his wand again and then crawled through the open space, disappearing.

Rose was right behind him and squeezed herself out of the hole, only to find out that she was in open air and unbalanced. She fell through the air and landed with a thump on her stomach and ribs.

"Fuck," she said, breathless. She rolled over onto her back and rubbed her ribs. That did not feel pleasant.

"Sorry. I probably should have said something."

"You think," she wheezed out. "You're more hazardous to my health than what I was doing before."

Scorpius winced. "I'm sorry. I'm not used to working with anyone."

Just when you think the record number of 'sorry's' have already been said. . . said Greg.

"I'm realising that."

"Err. . . we should probably get going before Matild gets even further away."

Rose held out her hand. Scorpius stared at it for a moment before slowly reaching his down and pulling her up. He held her there for a moment, face to face, before he let go.

"I'm sorry again."

Rose gave a half grin. "It's okay. I should probably not just blindly follow you. And look before I leap. Something I've never really done."

Wow. Character growth right there, said Marta.

Shut up stupid voice, Rose replied. They both stripped out of their baggy black clothes and Rose redid her hair.

Scorpius put a disillusionment spell on the both of them and told Rose to put on the invisibility cloak, for the extra coverage.

"I'll be more visible than you, so follow me closely. Watch out for people, look at who Matild looks at, how he reacts to things. And we'll see how things go and where we end up. Sound good?"

"What? You just trust me to follow you?"

Scorpius rubbed the back of his head. "Kinda? Starting over, right?"

They did agree upon a truce the previous night. "Well, sounds good then. Let's bag us a potioneer!"

A/N: Soo, you're probably reading this and thinking 'what is this chapter to a story that I can only remember in the deep recesses of my mind?' Yes, it's been updated. Only a year later - better late than never, right? Eeeehh. . . I just got a review asking for an update a few hours ago and I had this chapter half written and just thought 'Fuck it, I need to finish writing and get it up.' So guest reviewer, this chapter is for you. Hope it's worth it!

I would like to apologise for the lateness of this. I have a quote on my author page that says 'if the muse calls you listen,' and last year I got this crazy idea and wrote a story that turned out to be basically 80,000 words and took a lot longer to write than I thought (It's called Setting the Stage if anyone is interested. It's different and I'm really proud of it). Then I got out of the groove of this story and I'm slowly getting my way back in. But right now I have about 7 stories I'm writing - 3 for school, a sequel to the unexpected (STS) story of last year, this story, and a few real-life-personal stories. This one is slightly sitting on the back burner.

What I would like to do is completely finish writing it and then upload on a weekly basis because I know waiting long periods of time between chapters is incredibly frustrating. I do promise that the next update won't be as long as this one was (I will never abandon this story), I just don't know when it will be. I would like this story to be done before next year; now whether that is even feasible will depend on a lot of things. I have gone through and edited the whole thing. I've been doing a few tiny things here and there. Everything except physically writing and finishing it. It shall be done faithful readers! Thanks for your patience!

I do hope you all enjoyed this chapter and that the story isn't completely forgotten.

Cheers!