If you recognize it, it doesn't belong to me.

There's strong language in this chapter.

I'm still looking for a Britpicking Beta - this chapter, like the first, remains un-Beta'd at the moment. I appreciate you letting me know if you notice any mistakes - British or otherwise.

My prompt from Nayla: I'd run away. My prompt from the 20 week 20k challenge: yellow.

The next evening, after Courtney is asleep, I dramatically look over the bookshelf. "What should I read you tonight? Romeo and Juliet maybe? Delirium? Matched?"

Cassi looks at me in the way only adolescent girls can. "If you must tell us a story of forbidden love, can't we at least have the story of you and Dad?"

I exaggerate surprise. "You noticed that? Oh, well I suppose if you and Antares insist... you can hear a bit more of our story."

"I asked Dad this morning and he said he never ever snogged Emma Davies," Antares says matter-of-factly as we settle onto the sofa.

"Antares!"

"What? In order to be objective, I have to know both sides of the story." He grins. I sigh. I sometimes wish my children wouldn't use the lessons I try to teach them against me, but they wouldn't be my children if they didn't.

I change the subject; Scorpius was bending the truth to our children anyway. He definitely snogged Emma Davies. "So you two want to know what happens next?"

Cassi looks pensive again, and I swear I see my mum looking out of her eyes. "Not what happens next. We know all about the Sorting Feast and school and everything. Tell us the most interesting thing."

"You don't want to hear about us staring silently at each other for the next two months?"

"Hmm... no, thanks."

"Well, then," I say, and once again lose myself in a memory more vivid than the outline I let our children hear.

With our first N.E.W.T. year came loads of changes, like not having class by house anymore, but only by subject. More free time, more homework, and definitely more relationship drama. My cousins and I were always worrying about who Lily was wrapping her arms around next, even as a fourth year, and Prefect duties were overwhelming on top of everything else. I began to resent Kavya for not having them as much as she slowly began to resent me for being a Prefect at all.

For me, my refuge from the week was always Charms class. I enjoyed Professor Flitwick, and Charms was my favourite type of magic. There was so much good that could be done with Charms, and it was always entertaining. It was also one of the few subjects I had with both Kavya and Scorpius, and that was probably what I enjoyed even more than the subject matter. But still, something was different between us. Though Scorpius was there, he wasn't the confidant I'd found him in our previous five years. There was something formal about the way he handled our friendship, and we didn't tease and joke like we used to.

Bryan Macmillan was there, too, but though he'd acted strangely toward me all year, for the most part I found him easy to ignore, talking and taking our charms work a little too lightly. By mid-October, we were practising Aguamenti, and Kavya and I, at her suggestion, spent most of our lesson drenching each other in conjured water. I'd figured out the spell in a rudimentary way before third year, so I didn't think it was particularly important to take our first lesson in the charm too seriously. I knew I would pay closer attention when we practised its nuances later in the term. Charms work, especially that day, was entertaining.

Scorpius looked on, wearing his Prefect face. "Give it a rest, Rose, Kavya."

"Awww Scor, you feeling left out?" I asked. "Here, let me help you with that. Aguamenti!" My charm sends a spray of water his way, drenching his head and messing up his perfectly gelled hair.

"Merlin, Rose! I tell you to stop and this is what you do to me?"

"You're just jealous! Something changed this summer, Scorpius, and I don't know what it was, but you're jealous, that has to be it." I paused. "And upset I ruined your perfect hair."

I stood as tall as I could, leaning up and into him, my cheeks flushing with anger. His eyes narrowed as he looked down on me, and I kept up the look of my own anger because I couldn't stand the hurt in his own eyes. The rest of the class had stopped work and was staring at us, but I barely even noticed. I was too busy glowering at him. "You think I'm mad about my fucking hair, Rose? If anyone's hair needed drenching, it was yours, anyway! Maybe it would tame that rat's nest of yours that you so poorly transfigured to resemble hair."

"Wow, Scor," I said, my voice suddenly quiet. "You haven't talked to me that way since first year. Something really did change over the summer, didn't it? I thought we were friends."

"Well I thought you would listen to me when I said enough is enough!"

"You sound like my Dad! Or a professor! Shouldn't it be Flitwick chastising us?"

"Oh, Ms Weasley, don't worry. I plan to."

"Professor Flitwick, I'm sorry, I didn't see you there."

"I noticed. Now if you and Mr Malfoy would like to continue this discussion, I expect you to do it somewhere else, and not during class hours. Detention for the both of you, I think, for disrupting my class. Tomorrow night at seven o'clock. My office."

"Yes, Professor Flitwick," Scorpius said dutifully, but I couldn't bring myself to acquiesce so easily.

"Why should I have to go, Professor? Kavya started the water fight and Scorpius started the verbal fight. What does that have to do with me?"

"In both cases, you joined in."

"Well then why isn't Kavya getting detention?"

"Rose! Don't drag me into this!" She shoots me a glare, but in my anger I can't bring myself to feel sorry. She did start it, after all.

"Your antics with Kavya weren't disrupting class. I will see both of you tomorrow at seven. Rose, I'll see you again the night after that."

"Whatever." I rolled my eyes, regretting it even as I did so.

"And again on Friday, Rose."

I used to pride myself on my love for classes. I never once skipped, which I enjoyed pointing out to my parents in my letters home. Dad always went off about noble purposes and saving the world, but I know it was only half true. But I couldn't take Scorpius yelling, or Professor Flitwick's growing list of detentions - my first ever - or the whole class staring. I stared at Professor Flitwick for an instant longer, my wand still trickling water as if to make up for what my eyes weren't doing yet.

Finally, despite class being barely half over, I turned on my heel and left without another word, running once I was on the grounds, and making my way to the lake to sit alone. Thank goodness I was a sixth year with free periods; no one could question whether I was supposed to be there or not.

I'm not sure how long I sat there, watching the sun drag across the sky, reflecting into the lake a dim, dull yellow that was more like stains from dandelions than gold. But I stayed and my eyes took over where my wand left off in class, crying over a million things at once. I was ashamed of my back talking, offended by Scorpius's words, still wondering why Kavya didn't defend me and when Scorpius and I stopped being friends. I didn't make it to another class that day, and for the first time, I didn't care. I was almost at the point where I'd run away and wait to see who followed, see who my true friends were.

Maybe by sitting there and skiving classes, I had already run away. So when Bryan Macmillan walked over and sat beside me, finding me before Kavya and Scorpius, who would have known where to look, I couldn't have been more surprised.

"Bryan? What are you doing here?"

"Looking for you, Rose. I was worried about you after Charms, and then not seeing you in Ancient Runes... well, I wanted to make sure you were okay." He sat down beside me, looking out over the lake.

"Well I'm not, thanks. Kav and Scor are in that class, too. Did they say anything?"

"No, they didn't. It was like they hadn't even noticed you weren't there."

"Hmph. Figures." Bryan's yellow Hufflepuff tie was reflecting in the water, now, and maybe my mood was getting a little better because it looked like pale gold again. Maybe he was the one to shake me out of everything and make me whole again. "Scorpius was my best friend, next to Kavya. I just didn't think he would ever be so... rude to me, you know? It stung."

"He's a scorpion, Rose," Bryan said, taking my hand and holding it gently, like I mattered. "Of course he was going to sting you."

I blinked back tears and tried to gain composure of my voice. "I thought it was because he was male," I teased, hoping that imitating a light mood would help me feel one again.

"Of course not, Rosie. I'm male and I would never say something like that to you. It'll be okay. I'll take care of you." Even in that moment, I knew I didn't want him to be the one taking care of me. I wasn't even sure if I wanted taken care of at all. But at the time, it was exactly what I needed to hear. "Rose, will you be my girlfriend, please? I have liked you for a long time, Rose, and I think you need me. I can take care of you."

Despite our row, I hadn't stopped loving Scorpius. The love I felt only made the row worse. But I thought, based on our conversation and his irritability, that there was no way he could love me, and I let myself settle. I nodded, and he pulled me gently toward him. I buried myself in his kisses, kisses that made me feel nothing at all, kisses that only reinforced my numbness. But being numb was what I needed. I let down my guard and fell - not into love, necessarily, but into something like it.

I practically stop my story mid-word when loud music suddenly fills the living room air. "Cassiopeia Malfoy, what is that?"

Her head is bent low, strawberry-blonde hair creating a curtain around her face. "My mobile..."

"And when in the world did you get one of those? Don't tell me Nana gave it to you. She always finds Muggle devices so important."

Cassi bites her lip nervously and the guilt in her eyes shames my anger at my mum. "No, it wasn't Nana. Mum, please don't be upset."

"I'll let you know whether I'm upset after you tell me what's going on. And I promise you I will be much more upset if I find out you're lying than I will be if you tell me the truth. Regardless of what the truth is."

Cassi glances over to Antares, who sits beside her with the look that only adorns children when their siblings are about to get in trouble. She looks back at me, a question in her eyes, and I nod. "Antares, go to bed."

"But, Mum-"

"Now, please. I love you."

He folds his arms and stomps theatrically out of the room, but before he reaches the staircase, he calls reluctantly over his shoulder. "Love ya, too."

Together, Cassi and I listen to his stomping, followed by the slam of his bedroom door, and together we laugh at him. "Okay, Cassi. Let's talk, please."

"Jake gave it to me. He wanted us to keep in contact."

"That Muggle boy who lives across the street? You couldn't keep in contact by, say, walking over and saying hello?"

"See? I knew you wouldn't get it! You'd be all harsh and judgmental and everything."

"Cassi, calm down! I was just making sure I was thinking of the right person!"

"No. I knew you'd hate him. You don't like Muggles much."

I laugh nervously and put my arm around her. "What makes you say that? I know you never met them, but I have Muggle grandparents, your Nana Hermione's parents. And do you remember your great-granddad Arthur?"

A smile lights up her face. "I forgot about his garage full of Muggle artefacts."

"Or your great-aunt Audrey?"

"Oh yeah, she's Muggle, isn't she? I forget. She fits in well."

"Yes, she does. And the Weasleys wouldn't have been the same without her. Your Papa says that Audrey is exactly what Uncle Percy needed. That he used to be even more of a prat."

"Seriously?"

"Definitely." I pull her close and sneak a kiss on top of her frizzy hair before she has a chance to object. "Oh, and one more thing. Do you really think that the woman who married the son of her parents' enemy has any right to judge who your friends are?"

She blushes but responds to whatever Jake sent her on that device before answering me. "No, definitely not. You're going to get to the part in the story where you and Dad end up dating, right?"

"Eventually, but it's bedtime."

Cassi nods. "Okay. But Mum? Just one more thing..."

"Yes?"

"About Jake Conway? I wish he wasn't just my friend."

"Give it time," I say, and squeeze her close for a moment longer than she probably appreciates at fourteen. "Good night, Cassiopeia."

"Night, Mum."