I realised that I probably should write a disclaimer, in case I get sued or whatever, so here it is:
DISCLAIMER: I do not own Harry Potter, or anything do with it! (Unless you count my invented characters in this fic, eg: Molly, Katie, Nathan, Graham, Thomas, Tracey, Alex and Emily.) But anyway; please don't hurt me...
Also, Madame Pomfrey features in this chapter, even though I am well aware that she would have retired by this time.
Anyway, on with Rose and Scorpius' story!

As the door swung open, the team were greeted by a bright light. Actually, Rose thought, blinking as her eyes adjusted, it wasn't that bright. They'd just been in the semi-darkness too long. They stepped away from the door into a corridor identical to the one on the other side of the task, to be greeted by some older students and ushered to a seat. Rose released a breath that she didn't know she'd been holding when she realised that they'd finished.

"How did we do?" Rose asked the girl who was checking them for any major injuries.
"Sorry, I don't know," she smiled apologetically, "I didn't get to view the tasks, so I've no idea what happened in there. But seeing as none of you are seriously damaged-" Scorpius coughed loudly, clearly thinking that the gash on his cheek was serious, but the older girl ignored him, "-I can only assume that you've done better than those lot," she gestured along the corridor, where Rose recognised other 4th years, who had clearly come off worst with the Kappa.
Most were ok, with only scratches, but a handful were bleeding heavily, and some had clearly not made the World's Best Potion, if the extra limbs they were sprouting were anything to go by.
"Will they be ok?" Thomas asked anxiously
"Professor Weasley wouldn't have allowed this to go ahead if any students were going to be seriously hurt," the older girl assured him. The group nodded, convinced, and accepted the mugs of foaming Butterbeer that were brought, until a door burst open and a panting Al fell out of it, followed by Flint carrying an unconscious Emily, the Hufflepuff girl Albus had mentioned before, with Louis bringing up the rear.

"Al!" shrieked Rose, breaking the mug she had just been passed; partly because of the Strength Potion she was still under, and partly with shock, "Are you ok? What's happened?" She asked as she ran over. Another older student tried to make her sit down, but she took no notice and barged past him, over to the rest of Al's group who were all looking slightly worse for wear.
"Out of the way!" A voice commanded, and Rose moved immediately. Madame Pomfrey, the miracle worker. Everything would be ok. The nurse picked up Emily, who had gone a strange colour- shifting from purple to blue to green to yellow to orange to red and back again- and carried her to a hospital bed set out in the corridor. Alex Flint rushed over to Emily, and grabbed hold of her hand, as Madame Pomfrey lay her down on the bed, and began to mumble healing spells, sending students to collect pre-made potions. Al and Louis stood back with Rose's group, explaining what had happened.

"It was my fault," they both said simultaneously, before looking at each other and grinning slightly. Al continued: "Emily and I were fighting off that... that creature, whilst Louis and Flint attempted to make up a potion. But it was too quick and violent, so we didn't manage to give them enough time, and it seemed to be immune to all the curses we threw at it."
"It was a Kappa," Rose explained, "Their skin is immune to jinxes and hexes from a wand,"
"Oh, tell us that now, why don't you!" Albus exclaimed angrily, but Rose didn't retort, because she knew he was just worried for Emily.
"Then what happened?" Lucy asked, as gently as she knew how.
"Well, like Al said, Flint and I were trying to make a potion that would open that stupid box, and the first idea I had was one that would give a person the power to melt it. But we must have done something wrong, or the potion didn't brew for long enough... I don't know, but neither Flint nor I would have let anyone take it if we even suspected it wasn't safe..." Louis trailed off,
"Then how did Emily get it?" Thomas snapped. Clearly she was one of his friends.
"It was when the Kappat, or whatever you called it, got too much for us. It threw itself at Emily, but she dived out of the way, grabbed the potion, and drank it before anyone could stop her."
"Then there was nothing any of you could do!" Rose exclaimed, "So stop saying that it's your fault!"
"But why did she take it?" Thomas asked.
"Because it was the next step to finishing, which was the only way to get out, I suppose. Emily took it for us." Louis said sadly.
"You're making it sound like she's dead!" Rose exclaimed, "Mum wouldn't have put anything on that table that could cause any student serious harm, so don't worry, Emily'll be fine!"

Rose's words didn't reassure the others; instead they thought that she was being dismissive of what had happened. Thomas and Albus both opened their mouths to retort, but their words were lost in the commotion of another door being opened and Molly's team flying out.
"We did it!" she shrieked, running over to Rose and hugging her, "We finished!"
"I gathered," Rose laughed, releasing Molly, (realising that the Strength Potion must have worn off, as Molly had not been crushed to death) and nodding a 'well done' to the rest of her best friend's team, as she wasn't really on speaking terms with them. Al, Louis, Lucy and Graham went to check on Emily, whose colour seemed to be improving slightly, whilst Scorpius and Katie went off to discuss the first task in the corner. Rose felt a slight clenching in her stomach at this, which she pretended wasn't there.
"Nathan was amazing, weren't you?" Molly told Rose, throwing one arm around his shoulders in a friendly manner.
Nathan was good-looking, Rose admitted. He had long-ish caramel-coloured hair, which fell into his eyes, and a gentle face, with a cheeky glint in his eyes that even Rose, who had minimal interest in boys, was quite attractive. He grinned sheepishly at Rose under his fringe, through light brown eyes. "I didn't do much, to be honest," he admitted modestly.
"Excuse me, you were the one who decided which potion to make, and made it!"
"Graham helped me, though, and you identified the Kappa," he insisted, grinning despite himself, thus showing off a perfect set of white teeth.
"You recognised the Kappa, Molly?!" Rose exclaimed, "I didn't think you were listening to Mum that morning! Or any morning, to be honest-"
"What are you talking about, Rose? I recognised that scaly bastard from our DADA books. I may not be as studious as you or Nathan, but I do know my Kappas from my Red Caps."
"Oh, right," Rose felt a bit stupid, if not surprised that Molly had actually payed attention in a lesson.
The three stood there for a moment in awkward silence, before Molly asked, "What's going on over there?" gesturing to where Emily was recovering. Rose explained what had happened to Al's group in the task, and Molly gasped. "Why didn't you tell me straight away?" she shrieked.
"Because you didn't give me time to breathe, and I was just happy that you were ok. Besides, do you even know her?"
"No, but that's not the point! Al must be so upset! And she could be seriously ill! How could you be so inconsiderate to put me, when I'm clearly fine, in front of Emily, who might be dying?" Molly was always over dramatic, but now may not be the best time to point it out, Rose thought as Molly barged past her, over to the others, who were all crowded around Emily's bed.
"Don't worry," Rose told Nathan, "she's gets like that when she'd stressed,"
"Yeah, I noticed," he grinned, "back in there, she was pretty fierce. That Kappa was murderous, but as soon as it tried to attack Graham, she flung herself at it, pinning its arms behind its back. She wouldn't let it harm a hair on any of our heads."
Rose smiled, "She's a very loyal, brave friend, despite that ditsy act she puts on."
"So are you two close?" Nathan asked Rose, as he went to sit on the nearest sofa, gesturing for her to come with him. She obliged, telling him that she and Molly were best friends, as she sat down. Nathan sat next to her, slightly closer than normal, or was that Rose's imagination?
"Will you two be ok?" he asked. Seeing Rose's confused expression, he continued, "I mean, she seemed quite annoyed with you then - and apparently girls have a lot of arguments - so I was just wondering if you'll still be friends,"
Rose shrugged, "It's true that in general girls argue a lot, but I hate that, so I try to avoid picking arguments over nothing. And Molly and I are such great friends, that it'll take more than a minor disagreement to make us fall out. Why?"
"I don't know, I was just curious..." Nathan trailed off and looked away from Rose, staring straight ahead.
Sensing that the silence was getting awkward, Rose said, "Well, I'd better go and check on Emily and the others. Molly was right when she said that ignoring her was inconsiderate of me." She went to stand up, but Nathan was already on his feet, giving her his hand to help her up. It was such an old-fashioned, gentlemanly gesture which Rose had read about so often in her Victorian novels, and she couldn't help but smile at Nathan and accept his hand. He smiled back, a faint blush colouring his cheeks.
"It's been nice talking to you, Rose," he said, "Maybe... maybe we could do it again sometime?" he asked in a rush.
Rose would've nodded, said goodbye, gone to join her friends, and thought nothing more of it, but something clicked in her mind. Molly saying that boys had been looking at her across the Great Hall. Nathan sitting practically on top of her, offering his hand to help her up. Him blushing when she accepted it. And now he was asking to 'do it again sometime'... Was it possible that he was asking her out?
Never one to beat around the bush, Rose asked him that very question: "Are you asking me out, Nathan?"
He blushed more than ever, running his hand through his hair out of nerves, before saying, "Well... yeah..."
She might've been one of the smartest in her year, but she was surprisingly slow when it came to human behaviour. She'd nearly missed an opportunity to go on her first date.
She grinned, "I don't see why n-" suddenly she thought of Molly, drooling into her cornflakes about Nathan's dreamy good looks. Did Molly really like Nathan, or was it James she preferred? Did she care about either? Maybe they were both just distractions, someone to flirt with to make her life seem more interesting. Rose wished for the first that she and Molly discussed boys more often. She made a on-the-spot decision.
"I mean, that sounds fun," she smiled,
"Excellent!" he laughed, relief plain on his face. "The first Hogsmeade weekend is a week on Saturday. How about I meet you outside your Common Room at 10am on Saturday then? Oh, wait, I'm allowed inside other Houses Common Rooms whilst the Challenge is on, aren't I? I could-"
"Well, you could, but, I'll be honest. Us Gryffindors prefer to keep our Common Room to ourselves, so you may be subject to several Weasley's Wizard Wheezes jokes whilst in there, especially without a Gryffindor to protect you," she laughed at his scared expression. "It's ok, I'll meet you outside at 10," she patted his arm, before running off to talk to Al.

***

The next day in the results of the tasks were up in the Common Room:
"First?" Rose exclaimed in disbelief, "but we weren't even that good!"
"No, you probably weren't, although at least none of your group got fatally ill from a potion created by the others," Albus pointed out miserably. His team had been disqualified for not managing to finish, along with several other groups who had also been rescued. Apparently after Emily had taken the potion, she'd collapsed, and the door had flown open. Clearly whoever had been monitoring the task had been instructed to open the door as soon as it appeared that any member of the team was in danger. There were several 4th years that had spent the night in the hospital wing, so Rose knew that her Mum wouldn't be in a good mood at breakfast. Injured students were Hermione's least favourite thing, after students who weren't prepared. The ones in the hospital wing were both.
"Well, I'm quite pleased with 3rd," Molly announced, "although I can't believe you beat us, Rose! With me and Nathan in the group, we so should have won!"
Rose just laughed. She hadn't told Molly that Nathan had asked her to go out with him yet, for fear of her reaction.
"Anyway, breakfast anyone?" Rose asked. The others nodded in agreement, and the three of them headed towards the door of the Common Room. However, before they could leave, Rose felt someone grab her arm.
"Rose," a voice said, "could I talk to you for a second?" it was James. He looked confused and distressed, his usual cool-as-a-cucumber outlook gone.
"Erm, yeah, sure..." Rose replied, surprised. She'd never seen her cousin like this before. She gestured for the others to go on without her, and followed James across the room.
He ran his hands through his hair in agitation. "Rose I know this is really weird, and not the sort of thing we normally discuss, but I need to talk to you about... about girls,"
He was right. This was weird. "What?" Rose asked bluntly, sure she'd misheard.
"We need to talk about girls. Don't make me say it again."
"Erm... ok then. Which girls in particular?" Rose asked, still confused, as they headed to the opposite side of the Common Room.
"Your friend, Molly," James replied, without hesitation, although his staring at the floor showed his embarrassment.
"Ah," Rose said. James must have noticed Molly flirting. It was kind of hard to miss. "Well?" she prompted.
"I was wondering if you could ask her about... about me, and whether she has any... you know... feelings for me," James was blushing furiously, and repeatedly running his hand through his hair, so it was stuck straight up. "Because, I kinda think that... that I might like her-"
What?! Rose thought, James likes Molly back? This could sort everything out! She and he can get together, and then I can go on this date with Nathan, without fear of Molly falling out with me!
"James Potter, you're fantastic!" she declared, much to her cousin's surprise.
"What? Why?"
"Because Molly has been going on and on about how dreamy you are since first year, begging me to ask you about her, and basically everything you said to me just now. Of course she likes you back, go ask her out, that's my advice!"
"Really?" James asked, his face full of hope and surprise, looking very young without his cool-and-confident pretence temporarily abandoned.
"Yes, really," Rose told him," So, if you don't mind, I have breakfast to eat, and I suppose you do too,"
"Of course," he grinned, "Oh, but before you go, Quidditch practise is tomorrow night. Be there."
"You mean I made the team?" Rose squealed.
"Yep. Although I'm gonna be accused of favouritism. Most of the Gryffindor team are my relatives; You, Al, Fred and Roxanne, Molly-"
"Molly's not your relative."
"No, but she is a good friend. A very good friend..."
And with that, James drifted off to breakfast, a permanent smile etched upon his face.

Sorry I've not updated for ages, but I won't bore you with excuses, I just hope you enjoyed it.
I got a request for a love triangle, and there's going to be a freaking love PENTAGON! So, yeah, be prepared for people to get their hearts broken, and Scorpius is likely to be the first, considering that Rose has just been asked out...
Ooh!
Anyway, thanks for continuing to read and review, it means so much! And all your favourites and follows are fantastic! I feel talented! Yay!
If you have any suggestions for future chapters, please feel free to tell me in a PM or review

Lucy x