CHAPTER TWELVE

THE WEDDING RECEPTION

The last time Rose had been to a wedding was Luna and Mr. Scamander's, and she was only three or four then. She didn't remember much about it except that she hated the dress she was wearing and she fell asleep at the reception. So she wasn't that surprised to learn that she didn't exactly enjoy weddings. Though she did think that may have had more to do with the dress she had been forced to wear. They were, of course, very fashionable, as this was Victiore's wedding, but Rose thought that the pink did not compliment her standard Weasley red hair all that well. She didn't like wearing dresses much at all to begin with.

Rose was sitting at the wedding party table between Min and Roxanne, listening to a young Auror she hadn't met before this morning give the best man speech when she saw it. She glanced at Teddy and Victiore sitting in the middle of the table, looking simply too happy, and then out at the rest of the tables underneath the tent. Some sort of weather spell had been performed, and while it was incredibly cold and snowy outside, underneath the tent it was room temperature. Her eye caught on a small light in a far corner, and she squinted to see. Someone had lit their wand and was reading intently at their table. She looked closer, trying to identify the guest, but before she could, the applause started and whoever it was put out the light.

Once the dances started, Rose was finished eating and was starting to become quite bored when Al sat down in the chair next to her, no longer occupied by Min as she was dancing with Harry somewhat reluctantly. "Have you seen them?" he asked.

"Who? Teddy and Victiore? I try not to look, it's a bit sickening," Rose said, and Al rolled his eyes.

"No. Over there, look," he told her, looking pointedly at the edge of the dance floor and Rose followed his gaze. She nodded slowly as she saw Luna dancing with Neville.

"Where's… Mrs. Longbottom?" she asked, and Al went a little pink.

"Er… she stayed at Hogwarts, I think. My dad says McGonagall asked her to but…. Ariana told me they've been fighting. Especially when Luna comes round."

"Why would she…?" Rose asked, and Al grimaced.

"To see Frank," he said, and when Rose replied with a blank expression, Al's eyes widened. "You didn't know?"

"Didn't know what?"

"Frank's—Frank's Luna's son."

"What?"

"Yeah. Er, Neville took him when they broke up, since Luna was still traveling so much for her work and—you really didn't know that, Rose?"

Rose shook her head, getting embarrassed now. "Well, it's not like anyone talks about it."

"Yeah, I suppose. Hey—what's that Auror doing here? The one from school?"

Rose looked and saw Hestia Jones was sitting with her father and Uncle Harry, deep in conversation, at one of the tables on the other side of the dance floor. Rose immediately remembered the person she had seen reading and stood up. "I don't know, but Scorpius and I heard them talking the other day. I think they're working on the prison breakout thing. Come on, let's see for ourselves."

"It's probably Auror business, Rose," Al said uncomfortably. "I don't think we should…"

Rose looked around and had an idea when she saw her Uncle Percy sitting with Aunt Audrey, Molly, Lucy, and Ava at a table nearby. "Let's pretend we're talking to them and listen," she suggested. Al's eyes widened.

"You're volunteering to go over there?" he asked incredulously. "Are you mad?"

Rose looked at him blankly. "It's the only way to find out what they're talking about, you said it yourself," she said.

Al sighed. "All right, fine." Rose walked out from behind the table and Al followed her to the table. Aunt Audrey looked up when he saw them and smiled. Uncle Percy was deep in conversation with Lucy and Molly. Rose and Al sat down across from Aunt Audrey and Ava.

"Hi Ava," Rose said awkwardly.

"Hey Rose," she said, smiling.

"How are you, Rose?" Audrey asked.

"I'm fine, thanks," she said politely.

"I heard that you're taking Ancient Runes this year? I loved that subject in school," Audrey said. Rose's eyes widened and Al looked at her questioningly.

"No, she's not, she's taking Arithmancy, and Muggle Studies, and Divination, just like Scorpius, right Rose?" Al asked, and Rose nodded quickly.

"Oh…that's what your father told me, anyway," Audrey said, shrugging.

"There's nothing more I can do, Lucy, we've been over this!" Uncle Percy suddenly burst out, and Al and Rose glanced at each other. Audrey coughed nervously.

"That's mad! They can't just stay there with everyone else! Rose and Al know what I mean, right?" Lucy asked, turning to them. Uncle Percy turned to them too and Al looked at Rose in horror.

"Er… yeah, it's not… who are we talking about?" Rose asked.

"Rosier and Burke and Nott and all their friends," Lucy said. "Shouldn't they have been expelled? They kidnapped you!"

"There was no proof that they weren't operating under the Imperius curse, Lucy," Molly said and Lucy scoffed.

"What about the fact that Flint's gone and they're still purist gits?" she remarked. Uncle Percy sighed.

"That's not proof they tried to hurt anyone," he explained.

"Well, they just tried to hurt Hugo," Rose said.

"What?" Molly asked.

"We… there was a fight," Al said.

"Fight?" Molly asked, going pale. "That I didn't know about? I'm Head Girl!"

"Not a very observant one, apparently," Lucy muttered. "And honestly, does no one talk to you or something? I knew about that fight and I'm not in either House."

"Did you really hear about it?" Rose asked, surprised.

"Yeah, I heard you put Rosier in the hospital wing," Lucy said, grinning.

"Rose?" Molly asked weakly.

"The point is," Uncle Percy said loudly, "the students in question are underage and therefore cannot be interrogated using Veritaserum, besides the fact that the case is already closed. If you have any more questions I would direct them to Uncle Harry. I'm getting a drink." With that he stood up and left the table as if he was escaping. Lucy sighed and slid down into her chair. A few seconds later, Al tapped Rose on the arm and looked behind Ava at Rose's dad and Hestia standing up from the table, with Uncle Harry following them, and heading towards the opening in the tent.

"Er, excuse us," Rose said quickly, and they ran over to the three Aurors. "Dad!" she called out, and her father turned around.

"Hi, Rosie, what are you two doing?" he asked.

"Are you going somewhere?" she asked.

"Oh, er, Uncle Harry and I and—have you met Ms. Jones?" Rose nodded, glancing quickly at Hestia, and he continued. "Well—we have a job. I can't tell you what it is, it's secret, but it'll only take a few days, maybe a week at most. I'll be back before you leave for school, all right?"

"Okay," Rose said slowly, and Al said goodbye to his dad before the three of them Disapparated away.

"That was weird," Al said. "I think you and Scorpius are right."

"Yeah," Rose said quietly.

"Well… I'm going to go talk to Ariana," Al said quickly. "I, er, well… Emma wants me to dance with her. Says she fancies me." He grimaced and walked away. Rose sighed and walked over to the edge of the floor, where Emma was standing.

"Hey, Rose!" she said cheerfully. "I'm having so much fun! I love weddings, and the snow outside is so cool…"

"Yeah," Rose said. "I don't know how much I like it."

"Have you even been dancing at all?" Emma asked.

"No," she admitted. "But I saw Hestia here, and I think Scorpius and I were right about—"

"Can we not do this tonight?" Emma groaned. "I've been listening to you for the past two days and I can't stand it anymore. I should have stayed in Lily's room."

"Thanks," Rose said, rolling her eyes.

"Did Al dance with Ariana?" Emma asked.

"Yes, he's dancing with her right now," Rose said.

"Good… have you seen James, by the way?"

"No, why?"

"He's been asking Alice to dance every half hour."

"So have they been dancing?"

"No. She keeps reminding him he has a girlfriend."

"Well, that's James."

"Yeah. Do you mind if I go find Roxanne? She's been keeping track of the Min and Harry situation."

"Go ahead," Rose laughed, and Emma darted away. After a moment, Scorpius walked up to her and smiled.

"Hey, Weasley."

"Hey, Malfoy. Where've you been?"

"I got put at the Scamander table, but Luna's dancing with Professor Longbottom and the twins are… well, God knows where. I'd rather talk to you anyway."

"I'm flattered," she said. "By the way, my dad left with Uncle Harry and Hestia Jones. I think it was what they had been talking about."

Scorpius nodded quickly and glanced at the floor. He looked nervous. "Right. Good."

"Are you okay?" she asked.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine, Weasley," he said. "Er, I like the dress."

"I don't," she snorted. "Pink isn't my color. And it's, you know, a dress."

"It looks good on you," he said, shrugging.

"Okay," Rose said slowly. "Are you being nice to me? What's going on?"

"I don't know, I like weddings," he said. "I like dancing."

"You like dancing?" Rose snorted.

"Yes, I do," he said, sounding a little self-conscious. "Why, don't you?"

"I don't know, I don't really dance," she said.

"Dance with me," he said suddenly, and Rose was so startled she just stared at him for a couple seconds before managing to reply.

"Dance with you?"

"Why not?"

"The song's almost over," she spluttered.

"The next one, then," he said.

She hesitated. It couldn't hurt, could it? And anyway, she figured she should dance at least once tonight. "All right, fine," she conceded. It wasn't until the song ended that she realized, to her horror, that the next song was far too slow for comfort. "This wasn't the plan," she argued when he held out his hand.

"You said next song," he insisted, and she groaned.

"Fine," she muttered, and he pulled her out onto the floor. She glanced around nervously as Scorpius put his hands on her waist, looking for a well-timed tantrum of James's, but eventually gave up and reached her hands up around his neck. They swayed a little awkwardly and Rose was very tempted to run screaming from the tent.

"This isn't so bad, is it?" he asked, smirking, and Rose glared at him. He smiled and she couldn't help but smile back.

"Er, so anyway, Hestia was looking at a book during the speeches, and I don't know what that would mean except a job, and that's where my dad said they were going, so it has to be—"

"Rose," Scorpius interrupted. "Just—just don't right now, all right? We can just be quiet."

Rose glared at him again, but stayed quiet, if only to prove she could. After a minute or so, she realized how comfortable she felt around Scorpius, having never really noticed before. She was still incredibly anxious about Min or James or God forbid Emma seeing them, but she did notice that she didn't feel awkward or anxious at all about the actual dancing part. She also started to notice how much she liked his smile and how she didn't really care that the song felt like it was going on forever. Towards the end, she saw Al across the floor, standing at the edge, openly staring at the two of them, and shot him a look that made him look away very quickly. When the song was over, Rose almost felt a little bit disappointed when Scorpius moved away from her hesitantly. "Another song?" he asked, and Rose couldn't tell if he sounded hopeful or just curious. She heard that the next song was also slow and shook her head quickly.

"No, I—no," she stuttered, and quickly left the floor. She ducked out from under the cover of the tent and stood just at the edge of the weather spell. It was just a dance, she told herself. There's no reason that it had to mean anything. You're only in third year, after all. You can dance with your friend. He's your friend.

Did you just dance with Scorpius? Rose?

She ignored Al's foreign thoughts in her head. She didn't fancy him. She couldn't fancy him. She absolutely could not fancy Scorpius Malfoy.

She knew she was lying to herself, but she continued to do so until the reception was over, and then went quickly up to her bedroom and went to sleep before she could think any more about the whole thing.