Chapter Four: Not-Snobby

Rainy days were cane days, and Rose was cursing every step she took towards the SoulMates office. It was far too early in the morning to deal with both, and yet here she was, making her way to the upstairs office space in Diagon Alley where SoulMates had taken residence. At least she could levitate herself up the stairs.

The SoulMates office looked oddly like a Healer's office with a large neon 'SoulMates' sign in bright pink and blue behind the reception desk. She found Albus and Orion in the break room, as they always were at quarter-to-nine. They were sitting beside each other at a round table and quietly sipping their tea when she entered the room.

As soon as they looked up and saw Rose, they grinned at each other. She stopped at their table, instantly suspicious. "What?"

"You're back," Orion said to her before turning back to Albus, holding out his palm. "Pay up."

"You couldn't have waited another few days, could you Rose?" Albus groaned, shuffling through his robe's pocket for the right number of Galleons.

Her eyes narrowed and she crossed her arms in front of her chest. "You bet on… what, exactly?"

"You came back to SoulMates," Orion said as he gleefully counted the Galleons. "Albus was sure you'd hold out for longer, but I've been here since the beginning."

"People with unknown matches always come back," Albus explained, smiling sheepishly, "especially if they're interested in someone in particular."

"Unbelievable," Rose muttered, tapping the end of her umbrella against the ground. After finding out about Scorpius' possible girlfriend, she had full intentions to move on—that was, of course, until the owl incident under the desk. Mr. Barnes had managed to immobilize the owls and though it had taken a while, they'd cleared the office of every last owl dropping. Slightly terrifying, but more terrifying was that she had started to dream of Scorpius and his warm hands running down her body.

Orion took a sip of tea before leaning forward, hands folded on the table. "Before you ask, there's no way to find out who your soulmate is without meeting them, or getting them to sign up for the program in any way that isn't voluntary. It's highly illegal."

She sank down in the chair across from them and propped her cane against the table. "No exceptions for favourite cousins?"

"You're no longer my favourite cousin, considering you just lost me this bet," Albus teased.

"Rude," she said, laughing.

"The best thing to do is just relax about the entire situation," Orion put in. "Trust the process. Go about your regular life, do your job, meet people, date, all of it. Your soulmate is out there, waiting to be found—you just have to put yourself out there."

It all seemed like very generic advice, though Orion had clearly recited this spiel more than a few times. "Right. Because it's that easy."

He shrugged and leant back in his chair. "You've got enough going on, I think. Plus, you'll go back to Quidditch eventually, right? Forget about your soulmate until you find them."

Rose stared at Orion; they'd never been that close, but surely he had to know, didn't he? "No."

"You really want to be a journalist?"

"Rose likes to write romance novels," Albus answered for her, and she kicked him under the table with her good leg. "Ow—but it's true!"

"Journalism pays," she dismissed, "and anyways, that isn't even what this is about."

"This is apparently about the fact that our flatmate is a git," Albus added, making Orion laugh, "and that he doesn't believe soulmates can exist, so he does whatever he wants."

"It's real magic, though," Rose said, watching as Orion lifted the teabag from Albus' mug and set it aside; Albus never liked keeping it in his tea, but he hated taking it out. Something warmed in her heart. "It's a revealing spell."

Orion didn't seem to notice Albus reaching over, fingers brushing against Orion's dark skin as he placed the tea bag onto a napkin. "Honey, some people are just afraid of what they don't understand."

She smiled. "I guess it's nice to think there's someone out there that's perfect for me."

"There's the Rose we know and love," Albus said as they both stood up. He ruffled her already messy curls as he passed her. "Time for the daily grind, yeah?"

Though she felt a little disappointed, she knew they were probably right.

Rationally, Rose knew her SoulMate result being unknown meant that her soulmate wasn't in the program, or that they'd never met before. Rationally, she knew she would have to meet someone new to find her soulmate.

But as she walked to work, she questioned why she had taken the test in the first place. Why couldn't she have just told Scorpius how she felt? Was it because he had taken the test already? Had she believed so strongly that he was her soulmate that there was no other outcome of the test? Was she so threatened by the fact that one day, there might be a name that wasn't hers that would be written over his heart?

Not exactly; she was aware of the possibilities.

She just hadn't thought she would have to face them.

At five o'clock sharp, Scorpius put his quill down to the side of his desk and got up. "Right, that's it for me today."

"Plans?" Rose asked. The possibility of Scorpius having a girlfriend still made her stomach twist. Not that it made a difference in the whole soulmate situation, but still.

"Quidditch game," he said as he swung his messenger bag over his shoulder. How Scorpius managed to wear simple white dress shirts to work that still drew her eyes towards him, she had no idea. "You?"

"Dress shopping for the gala."

"Good luck." There was excitement in his eyes, and she could tell it was for the game. "See you tomorrow."

She took her time to gather her things, thinking about how all these years later, Quidditch still thrilled him. Quidditch World offered seasons tickets for their employees, something Rose hadn't taken advantage of.

Rose wondered if she would get back to that one day; the one time visiting the pitch hadn't been so bad. Could she hear the starting music again and not feel the pang of regret? Could she watch a game without wishing she were out there, while simultaneously wanting to run as far away as humanly possible?

Thankfully, going to the Quidditch Gala—especially now that she wouldn't have to go alone—wasn't so nerve-wracking. At least, not for Quidditch reasons.

Recruiting Laila to go shopping for the gala was a good idea. At first, she'd considered asking Emily, but it had just been so long. Additionally, the fact that Rose was investigating her for work—and her being the entire reason for going to the gala in the first place—was a bit awkward. She'd even had a note written out, owl at the ready, but at the last moment, she'd thrown it away and sent one to Laila instead.

And Laila was good company. As they strolled around the shops, iced coffees in hand, any social anxiety Rose had experienced beforehand melted away. As it turned out, Laila loved shopping as much as Rose did.

"If you look at these," Laila said excitedly, gesturing to an array of floor-length dresses in earth tones, "these are definitely your colours."

"I didn't even know I had colours," Rose admitted, though it sounded familiar; she was sure one of those designers she'd had to work with while playing professionally had mentioned something similar.

"Everyone has colours." Laila pulled down an olive-green, satin slinky dress from the rack that Rose immediately loved. "You're trying this on."

As Rose situated herself in the dressing room, she heard Laila ask, "So… this is your first Quidditch gala since you left, isn't it?" The hesitation in her voice was apparent.

"It is," she replied as she toed off her shoes. "I'm a bit nervous, I won't lie."

"What made you want to go?"

Rose hesitated this time. She didn't know Laila well, and although she seemed trustworthy, she wasn't so sure. "I suppose I haven't quite left the Quidditch world entirely."

"Right, you write for that magazine," she remembered from the other side of the curtain. "Do you have a date?"

"Not exactly."

"A friend-date?"

"I'm going with my supervisor from work," Rose explained as she undressed and pulled the new dress over her head. "He wants to scope the scene, so to speak." She wanted to tell her about Emily, but she nixed that idea straight away. Best to be cautious.

Rose emerged from the dressing room and approached the three-paned mirror beside it. Laila stood behind, nodding in approval. "I love the gold metal straps. This is definitely a contender."

"I think I've actually been lucky enough to find the right dress on the first try," Rose said, turning to the side. "I can't believe this—I have curves."

"Did you just notice?" Laila asked, laughing.

"I've never had curves in my life." Rose turned in the mirror again, as though she were looking at herself for the first time. She'd worn dresses with this shape many times, but they never quite looked like this. While she was definitely rounder around the middle, all abs having left awhile ago, the other parts of her body had also filled out. "I've gained a bit of weight over the last year, thanks to my leg."

"From the Quidditch accident?" Laila looked surprised, just as Albus expressed every single day for the past two weeks. "Couldn't St. Mungo's fix that up?"

"I don't know what happened," Rose confessed. "They said everything is fine from the body scan, but I can't throw a Quaffle the way I used to. And I have pain in my shin that somehow gets worse when it rains."

Laila frowned, twisting a finger around a purple strand of her hair. "Maybe it's psychosomatic."

"It's what?"

"It's a muggle thing," she explained sheepishly, "and I watch a lot of medical television. I'm muggle-born, you know. I've seen characters with bad legs that end up not being in physical pain at all." She tapped her temple with her finger. "It was all in the mind."

Rose stared at her. "You're joking."

"I'm not at all."

"What would cause my mind to create pain in my own leg?" Rose looked down at herself, shaking her head. "Come on, body. I thought you were on my side."

Laila laughed. "Some sort of traumatic incident, probably—rings a bell, doesn't it?"

Of course it did. And maybe it did explain why her leg hurt less at certain times, especially when she was out with Albus and Orion for ice cream or perusing books at Flourish and Blotts. She thought she'd just been distracted.

But something about this stung; the pain was real, it wasn't just in her mind. She didn't choose to be in pain and she wished every day that it would get better. She'd had to justify it to enough people, and still there were people who didn't think the pain was real, like the Healers at St. Mungo's.

And Emily. She thought it wasn't real.

Rose sighed, putting it out of her mind. "There's got to be some sort of magic that would fix it, surely."

"Magic can't fix everything, can't it?" Laila pointed out as Rose turned back to the mirror. "But they say time heals all, if that makes you feel better."

Rose adjusted the dress around her waist. "They say love can heal, don't they?"

"In my experience, love causes more problems than anything else."

Rose laughed. "Having trouble in your love life?"

"Of course," Laila expressed, grinning. "I mean, you'd think it would be smooth sailing, us being soulmates and all, but Amir and I can have our differences."

"Wait—" Rose spun immediately, nearly tripping in the process. "You did the SoulMates test. Both of you."

"Practically everyone I know has done SoulMates."

"And you—did you know each other before?"

"Not at all," she said, shaking her head. "It took me years to meet him. I was driving myself mad at one point because I would meet all these great men, but none of them were my soulmates."

Rose could see her future and it gripped her like a vice. "How did you end up meeting him?"

"Good old-fashioned speed dating," she explained, shrugging. "Obviously, a lot of us are in this predicament. I think SoulMates might even have some speed dating events now."

"Right," Rose said as she went back into the dressing room to change, the metal strap at her neck feeling a lot heavier than it had a moment ago. "I suppose that is the fastest way to meet people that are doing the program."

"It's not… well, as romantic," Laila admitted from behind the curtain. "But we did hit it off right away, and when I saw his name on my chest, I was ecstatic it was him."

Rose shimmied out of her dress, thinking over the wording before answering. "It's just… I'm in love with someone. But we're not soulmates. And it's complicated."

There, that was inconspicuous enough, wasn't it? No gossip rag would be into that.

Laila gave a low whistle. "Damn."

"Exactly."

Laila waited until Rose came out from the dressing room again, taking her iced coffee so Rose could use her cane a little easier. "Listen, the soulmate thing… I thought it would be some magical thing, but it hasn't felt that different from dating anyone else."

This made Rose pause. "You don't feel this… how does SoulMates describe it—this pull?"

"Wouldn't you feel that towards anyone you fall in love with?"

Unfortunately for Rose, she knew exactly what that felt like.

"I cannot believe you are reading that crap."

Busted.

Red-faced, Rose smacked down her copy of Spellbound to her work desk so that the cover wasn't visible. "You saw nothing."

"Spellbound, Rose?" Scorpius said, settling down in his creaking chair. "You're willing to fill your brain with that nonsense? Next thing you'll say is you've kept up with The Quibbler."

Rose opened her mouth to defend herself—she'd found it lying around, someone asked her to read a particular article—and then, decidedly, snapped it shut.

"Don't be such a snob," she said instead, and flipped up the magazine to read it again.

Scorpius paused for a moment, making her re-evaluate, but she stood her ground. He wasn't her soulmate, so what did it matter if he knew? The part that actually kind of liked magazines like Spellbound and Witch Weekly, as long as Rose wasn't in them. What was so bad about that?

He startled Rose when he slid the magazine from her hands and began flipping through it. He read aloud, "Why Cormac McLaggan is the latest 'Zaddy'."

"Look," Rose began, leaning forward, "he might be a dick. But you can't deny he's aged exceptionally well."

Scorpius laughed and tossed the magazine back to her. "Okay, I stand corrected. That was some of the most brilliant writing of our day and age."

"Oi, no one said—"

"I am not a snob."

"You kind of are a snob."

"Anyway," he deflected, taking out a piece of parchment, "I think we need to have a game plan for the gala."

Rose tried not to groan. Yes, she had a beautiful dress to wear, but she was pretty sure the gala would be torture. Not only would she be reminded of her retirement, but facing Emily after all that had happened was not at the top of her list of fun ways to spend an evening.

"We need to make a list of people to talk to," he said, adding numbers to the page. "I think you could figure this out, seeing as you're familiar with them. I'll work on questions, and maybe just get Davis as drunk as possible by the end of the gala…"

But now all Rose could think about was Scorpius in dress robes, and him undressing at the end of the gala…

Her poor heart.

Scorpius glanced up. "Are you okay?"

"Huh?"

"I asked, can you get me the list by the end of the day?"

"Right. Yes." Rose was flustered, and Scorpius could definitely tell. To his credit, he just shook his head and went back to work.

Rose needed a plan for the gala, yes—but also, she needed a plan to handle the Scorpius situation. Especially if he had a girlfriend, but even if he didn't. There was absolutely no way she could survive working there another year or two without getting things under control. Not unless she wanted to ruin their friendship entirely.

Which was why, after Scorpius had left for the day, Rose dug out the SoulMates pamphlet from her desk where she had buried it all that time ago. Right there, near the end, was the bi-weekly speed dating event that Laila had been talking about. She circled it before stuffing the pamphlet in her purse.

Speed Dating for SoulMates had to be a step forward. She was sure of it.

A/N: Hey hey! Hope you liked this chapter. Any thoughts on Speed Dating for SoulMates (or your speed dating experiences lol)?

Next chapter: the gala, plus some wine-stealing.