Hey guys, look who it is! Sorry for not writing in an age, but I'm back now, and I hope to complete another chapter before I go back to school in the new year.
Rose smiled a little, before folding the letter up and reaching for her pocket.
"Woah, what do you think you're doing?" Lily asked her cousin, snatching the letter back.
"Putting it away before anyone finds it!" Rose responded, reaching for it back. Lily pulled it further away.
"Not on my watch! We're going to sit and write the perfect reply!" Rose looked dubious. "Now!" Her cousin added.
"Lils, no offence, but I'd rather write it on my own." Rose explained, whilst the feisty red-head steered her back inside and towards the room that would become Percy and Audrey's in a few days, but for now belonged to the girls. At Christmas there were always more people in the house than could really fit, so each set of parents would get a room each, but the younger generation would take over the open lounge are downstairs with pillows, blankets and floating charms (although Arthur Weasley did have a couple of Muggle air-mattresses he always offered).
Lily pushed Rose firmly down into a chair, and handed her a quill and some parchment. "I know you would, but you need my help."
"Lily, you're a second year! What do you know about boys?" Rose sighed, exasperated.
"Excuse me, this is coming from the girl who can't even tell when someone has a crush on her! Shut up and listen to me." Rose rolled her eyes good-naturedly, but did what Lily instructed. "Ok, so you need to be a little flirty- enough to get his hopes up, you know keep him interested-" Lily winked jokingly "-but not too much. So we'll stick a couple of compliments in there, maybe a desire to see him, rather than spend Christmas with your boring family, and you'll have him writing back instantly. which of course he would anyway, but he'll be obsessed with you when we get back to school."
"Lily, you're talking crap."
"I am not!" She sighed. "Look, I know this is out of your comfort zone, but if you want him you've got to do this sort of thing!"
"No, what I've got to do is transform our families into understanding, accepting, non-prejudice beings. Any suggestions on that one?" Lily was quiet. Rose sighed. "I'm sorry, Lils, I'm not mad at you, it's just- well, you know."
"Yeah, I know." Both girls smiled a little sheepishly. "You up for writing a reply?"
"I guess so."
"Right. So how about we start with 'To my dearest Scorpius'?"
"Don't push it," Rose laughed, shoving Lily gently.
"Fine- just 'Scorpius' then?"
"Yep."
"Let's see- the first paragraph is all about how he stayed with you at the station, so it's the perfect opportunity to thank your saviour for with gushing words of love, and say it would be even better if he could whisk you into his arms and carry you to safety next time."
"Hey, stop mocking me! I'm not some form of damsel in distress! There will be no 'gushing words of love' just a 'thanks' or something."
"'Thanks'?! You can't just say that!" Lily exclaimed in mock horror. "Tell him how grateful you are! Talk about how you're forever in his debt!"
"You don't think that's a little understated?" Rose said sarcastically. "Shouldn't I say I'll never be able to repay him as long as I live?"
"Well you could, but I think my phrase sounded better." Lily replied, failing to pick up on Rose's tone of voice.
The pair continued like this; arguing over what to write and teasing the other for their inability to write letters, for around an hour, at which point the letter- still unfinished- looked like this:
Scorpius,
If Hugo and my father behaved anything like the way I imagine they did, then I can assure you that you didn't deserve it- they should be more forgiving and realise you aren't the person they believe you are. But, at the same time, it is hard for them to see past how they already feel about your family. I hope you'll forgive them.
I'm glad our owls get on, even if our families don't. His name's Sven and he can be a bit of a handful- I hope he was ok with Corvus and didn't eat all the food.
The Burrow is my grandparents house- I should have thought to explain this. But, as you can tell, the letter reached me fine. Every year, all the Weasley's spend Christmas together here. There isn't loads of room, but that makes it more fun in some ways. All us kids bunk up together downstairs and our parents have the actual bedrooms, so it's a bit of a squeeze, but the atmosphere's great. In fact, it's what makes Christmas my favourite time of year, although I do miss Hogwarts and my friends there tremendously. Until this year I'd never have thought that I would count you amongst those, Scorpius.
In fact, Scor, I really miss you. We get on far better than I expected we ever could, and I'm so grateful for this tournament as it meant I got to meet you and get to know you as the boy beneath the facade, because I really like him. You're a great person, even if I used to hate you, but I assure you, I don't feel that way about you now.
"Ooh, how do you feel about him then, Rosie?" Lily smirked as Rose pushed her cousin almost off her seat.
"Lily, Rose!" Al shouted up the stairs.
Lily rolled her eyes. "Ignore him. Ok, so then you need to-"
"Lily! Rose!" It was James this time.
"If they're going to have another argument with me about school, I'm really not in the mood." Rose muttered to Lily.
"Will you two come down?" Now it was Hugo yelling to them.
Lily groaned. "Maybe if they shut up."
"Girls? What are you doing?" Even Teddy was there too, it sounded like. "Come downstairs!" Her currently favourite cousin's presence persuaded Rose to reply.
"Why?" She responded.
"Because I'm here you idiots! Isn't that reason enough?" Fred's voice dashed to meet the two girls, and was followed by 6 pairs of footsteps flying up the stairs.
Rose and Lily exchanged delighted glances, before remembering the incriminating letter on the desk. Rose grabbed it and shoved it into the top draw of the desk on which she had been writing before running to the door where her brother and cousins were about to burst through. Lily threw open the door and hugged Roxanne, Fred receiving the same treatment from Rose.
"Roxy!" Lily squealed. "It's great to see you again!"
Roxanne laughed. "It's not even been a week, little duck, but I agree. It's so nice to be back with the Weasley clan for Christmas." Rose and Roxanne acknowledged each other with a nod of the head: only time would reveal whether either would forgive or forget.
Teddy, sensing the atmosphere tensing, began to usher the everyone downstairs. "So when did you arrive?" Rose asked Fred.
"Only a minute ago, via the Floo Network. I think Dad's still dusting himself off- I swear he always ends up in the wrong grate on purpose, entirely for attention purposes."
Roxy shoved her brother, although agreed with him. "Dad does seem to have a talent for ending up in the wrong place, covered in soot, no matter how clearly he speaks. It really annoys Mum."
Rose followed her cousins downstairs. She continued chatting to Fred, who was play fighting with Roxanne, who was catching up with Lily, who was getting annoyed with James, who was discussing Quidditch with Teddy, who had Hugo in a headlock. No one noticed Al hadn't followed, least of all Rose, who had left the draw with her letter to Scorpius in open- an invitation for a jealous boy to find it.
Later that afternoon the Weasley clan (as they shall henceforth be referred to) were arranging a 'whole family Quidditch game', even if they were still missing a few members. It was to be 6-a-side, but Al, who had been sloping around suspiciously for a few hours, said he didn't want to play. Fred moaned at him, saying he had made the teams uneven, whilst James said he was no loss, but Ginny insisted that for the sake of fairness the opposing team should lose a player, or Al's team should gain one. Everyone looked at each other waiting for a volunteer, when Rose looked over a t Al, and saw him glaring furiously at her. Suddenly she remembered the letter, the open draw, Al not coming downstairs with them, and she knew what she needed to do.
"It's ok," she said hurriedly, "I don't feel too well, anyway." She rushed inside, her queasiness only partially feigned.
He found the letter, she breathed, Oh Merlin, he read the letter. Most of it wasn't too bad she told herself, apart from the last paragraph. Maybe he didn't read it all- oh, who am I kidding? I'm screwed! Al will tell everyone! Why did I listen to Lily? Why did I say anything about how much I like him? Couldn't I have kept it factual? Apparently not!
Rose ran past her grandmother in the kitchen, who asked if she was ok, straight up to her room, where, as expected, she found the top draw lacking a letter. she frantically searched through the other draws, cupboards, anywhere she might have accidentally left it, but as she searched, her breath coming in gasps, she heard a voice from the door.
"Looking for this?"
She span to see Albus stood there, his dark hair windswept and his green eyes stormy, his pupils a tiny boat sinking in a sea of fury. In one clenched fist he held Rose's letter to Scorpius.
"Give it back." She ordered him. "Now."
"Not likely, Rose." Albus walked into the room at sat down on the bed that would become Roxy's for a couple of nights.
"Al, what do you want?" Rose asked him tiredly. She rubbed her eyes and sat opposite him. "So I wrote a letter to a friend. This isn't something I should be embarrassed about, or you angry!"
Al laughed coldly. "A friend? Is that all Malfoy is to you?"
"Yes." Rose replied stubbornly. "Just be grateful that's all there is, since it seems to make you angry enough. Imagine if he and I were a couple!" She taunted.
Al clenched his fists so hard Rose was surprised the letter remained in one piece, although it was already scrunched up into a snowball of disaster. "If that happened," Al began, "If that ever happened..." he seemed unable to think of a curse big enough to wish upon his cousin for that crime.
Rose sighed. "Can I have my letter back?"
"Back?" Albus exclaimed. "You can't expect me to allow you to send a letter declaring that you," He opened the letter out to quote it, "'miss' Scorpius Malfoy, that you 'really like' the 'boy beneath the facade'- tell me, Rose, is that an innuendo?" He spat viciously.
Rose reached out to grab the parchment from him, her cheeks burning. "That's private!"
Al pulled the letter out of her reach. "When did we reach the sorry state in which you are willing to say things to Scorpius Malfoy you don't want your family to hear?"
"Put a sock in it! You get on alright with Alex Flint!"
"I like Alex far less than you like Malfoy, and the Flints aren't our enemies."
Rose jumped to her feet. "Our enemies? Speak for yourself! Since when do I have to use the communal Weasley enemies? Can't I choose my own? Or do we have to share those too?"
"You don't know what you're talking about!" Albus stood up. "Thanks to our parents we haven't lived through the poverty they did, the poverty that the Malfoys' mocked us for, the poverty that they forced upon us!"
Rose sighed. "This is getting repetitive, Al. If you aren't going to return the letter, and we've had the argument, why are you still here?"
"Because I haven't told you what I want yet."
"Why would I give you anything?" Rose spat.
"Because otherwise I'll tell everyone about your love letter to Malfoy."
She'd seen it coming, but that didn't make it any easier to hear. Rose felt her face drain of colour, but tried to act nonchalant. "Love letter? Yeah, right. Mum, Dad and Hugo already know I write to Scorpius, and they're ok with it-" little white lie "- and I can't imagine anyone else reacting like you."
"Really? Not even if they hear you tell darling Scorpius that your family should be 'more forgiving' towards his?"
Instantly Rose felt guilty for criticising them. "It's true. They should be."
"And you think they would be fine hearing your soppy affectionate words?"
"He's my friend, of course it's affectionate!"
"Well, there's friendly-affectionate, then there's: 'I do miss Hogwarts and my friends there tremendously. Until this year I'd never have thought that I would count you amongst those, Scorpius.' Albus put on a high pitched whiney voice which didn't vaguely resemble Rose's, but it had the desired effect. She became very self conscious and embarrassed, blushing furiously whilst trying to act like she didn't care. She forced herself to hear him out.
"'In fact, Scor,' Awh, a nickname, how quaint," Al added, "'I realllllly miss you. We get on far better than I expected we ever could, and I'm soooooo grateful for this tournament as it meant I got to meet you and get to know you as the 'boy beneath the facade'," This part got an especially mocking tone. "'because I reallllly like him. You're a great person, even if I used to hate you, but I assure you, I don't feel that way about you now.'"
Al finished with a wink, which would have been humorous in other circumstances, but Rose was cringing at her own words. How could she have allowed Lily to persuade her to write such Hippogriff crap? Al could see he had her cornered as she sank into her bed.
"So here's my plan." He said. "I'll keep this a secret if you stop writing to him. Stop speaking to him. Stop all forms of contact with him. Treat him like the little shit he is. Act like the rest of us."
"The rest of us?" Rose almost yelled. "Who the hell acts like that? That's how society falls apart! Discrimination, oppression, we've seen it all before- the Weasleys were called scum because we fraternised with Muggles! My mum was bullied for being Muggle-born! By acting like that we're reinforcing what was destroyed at the end of the war!"
"I don't need a history lesson! But our family were treated like that by the Malfoy's! It's time to get even!"
"It's not all about revenge, Al! We need to move on!"
He sighed. "Rose, we've had this argument before. Are you going to stop this nonsense, or do I tell everyone?"
Rose stared at him long and hard. "You wouldn't."
"Oh, I so would. Yes, it might ruin Christmas, but then at least they would stop you being the idiot you are at the moment."
Rose weighed up her options. On one hand she could have Al exaggerate everything she had said and ruin Christmas for everyone, as well as having they majority of her family hate her for the foreseeable future. On the other, she could stop writing to Scorpius, and lose the friendship that they had worked so hard to build, and return to their relationship at the start of the year. But that would be awful; turning her back on a friend, and she would be breaking a promise to him as well.
Or she could compromise.
"How about you don't say anything, and I don't send that letter. I'll re-write it so you find less... offensive... and send it."
Albus laughed. "No way. No contact at all with that snake."
"What about I send a letter explaining that I will no longer be writing to him?"
"You don't get it, do you? You won't send any letters to him at all! He doesn't deserve an explanation as to why not! And no, you can't reason with me- you don't want anyone to know about you and him, so you have to agree to my deal, with no compromises."
Rose sighed. "You know, it doesn't seem that long since we had a conversation when you said that you'd never blackmail anyone. "
"Things have changed." Al told her calmly, with a tinge of regret and sadness, but mostly cold-blooded fury.
"Clearly."
A pause. "Well, what's your answer?" Al asked.
Rose sighed. Again. "Can I think on it?"
"Think on it?!" Al exclaimed furiously. "You mean the answer isn't obvious?!"
"No, it's not."
"Wow, this is more serious than I thought," He muttered. "Fine. Only because I would have to wait until Christmas Day anyway to tell everyone."
Rose choked. "You'd announce it on Christmas Day?" She almost whispered.
Al leaned towards her. "Oh yes. During Christmas dinner too, I think. It would make a lovely conversation starter." He stood up and headed to the door. "Choose carefully, Rosie." And with that he was gone.
So there you are: Chapter 33! I hope you enjoyed it- I'll write Chapter 34 as soon as possible. Thank you to everyone who bears with the fic, despite the gaps between chapters. You guys are amazing, and it is much appreciated! see you soon! Lucy x