A/N: Enjoy I guess!

THC – Round 9

House: Gryffindor

Class: Astronomy

Category: Standard

Prompts: [Object] Family heirloom, [Word] Develop

Optional prompts: [Trope] Characters are roommates that pursue a romantic relationship. (And they were roommates, oh they were roommates!)

WC: 1,172

~~ Fungi and Sofas ~~

It had all started when Albus had very kindly decided to flood their shared flat.

You might think it was surprising that he should 'decide' to flood a flat, and that those things usually happened by accident, but Rose could assure you that this was probably very intentional.

Probably.

Let's just say that Albus had decided that the ambient humidity in their apartment was insufficient for the potion he was about the brew, and therefore filling all of the sinks and buckets they owned with hot water was a good idea. But, Albus being Albus, he had forgotten about the bath he was running, and only emerged six hours later with a mildly successful potion and water up to his knees.

Rose was not pleased. Neither was their landowner. So displeased that he decided it was the last straw (after other incidents that included but were not limited to an issue with a carnivorous plant and some sort of strange gas that had all made them sleepy).

And so they were evicted.

Rose was then furious. Unsurprisingly. (Though it did seem to surprise Albus a lot).

He promised to task himself with finding her a new apartment to live in while they both stayed at a cheap rental until Albus has succeeded in his house hunt.

Unfortunately, Albus had then decided that it was an absolute necessity for him to go to South America right now to hunt for this really rare and exotic plant he needed right this moment.

Which is how Rose found herself with literally an address in her and literally no other information whatsoever about who she was renting from. As a matter of fact, Rose was pretty sure it wasn't a rental at all, as she had vaguely heard Albus mumble something about 'how cool her new room-mate was going to be' and how 'it's really cheap too' as he disappeared through the floo with a half-packed suitcase.

Rose was now standing in front of a block which was supposedly the right address, though she really couldn't be sure about anything. She was unfortunately determined to accept whatever was given to her; given her busy auror-in-training schedule, she really couldn't afford to a) live in a hotel and b) spend time looking for suited accommodations.

She rang the doorbell resolutely, praying to Merlin who she was to live with wasn't a complete weirdo.

"Come in!" a voice announced as the door buzzed open.

Huh. A masculine voiced. Though intercoms could be very misleading.

Rose was delighted to find that there as no lift, and that she was going to have to walk the entire seven flights of stairs. Absolutely delighted. Thankfully, a quick lightening and shrinking spell allowed her to manage her suitcase, but by the time she was at the door, she was completely exhausted.

"Here goes nothing," she muttered to herself and she knocked firmly upon the door.

Could you imagine the look of surprise on her face when she saw none other than her dearly beloved worst nemesis from her childhood years, Scorpius Malfoy? Let's just say that the look of surprise and mild revolt was exactly the same on his face.

"I am going to kill Albus!" they both declared at the same time.

"Wait," Rose said. "You didn't know I was your new room-mate?"

"No!" he yelled back. "And I don't suppose Albus told you anything either?"

"I swear I'm never going to trust him ever again," Rose muttered once more.

"You can bet on that."

They both sighed in defeat.

Rose and Scorpius had a long history of harsh competition in all possible domains, and every academic achievement was a flaunt to the other. Unfortunately, as the blond prat was also Albus' best friend, she'd had to deal with him throughout her entire schooling at Hogwarts. However, afterwards, he'd somehow faded away, despite the fact that Rose knew he and Albus still saw each other regularly.

Still.

This was not a pleasing occasion. And murder was still probably on her to-do list.

She pushed through, seeing that he clearly wasn't going to invite her in, and flung herself on the nearest sofa she could find, trying to think clear about what on earth she could do to make this situation better.

"Hey, you can't just sit on that!" Scorpius exclaimed.

"And why ever not, I live here now, remember?"

"I never agreed to this!"

"Well, you try contacting Albus now, and I've already paid three months in advance!" she retorted.

"Either way, that's family heirloom!"

Rose glanced down at the sofa. It was a gaudy dark green thing, with carved wooden knobbles and poofs and trim and was the some embroidery? She wasn't even surprised it was family heirloom. She'd always known Malfoy had some tacky taste.

"Family heirloom? Please, I'm sure some sort of nasty fungi has already started to develop in there!"

"Yes, well, why did you think my father let me have it?" Scorpius pointed out.

Rose rolled her eyes. "It's tacky. Get rid of it."

"You can't just order me to do that!"

"This is our shared living space, can too!"

Scorpius huffed and crossed his arms. "Only if you pay for it. I can't afford to buy another one."

"Can't afford?" Rose scoffed. "Please, just ask your daddy dearest to lend you some dough."

"I'd rather not."

"Or tap into your inheritance."

"For a couch?"

"HA! I knew you had a ridiculous inheritance."

"Which I plan on using to actually buy a house!" Scorpius yelled. "Heck, why am I even telling you this!"

Rose shrugged and placed her feet on the ugly living room table in front of her. She was quite aware that Scorpius was probably going to freak and tell her it belong to his great-great-great aunt's third cousin three times removed or something but she couldn't possibly care less at this moment. She was simply to angry to care.

"Because, hi, I'm your new room-mate."

"Yes, exactly!" he exclaimed. "The point is to get more money to buy a new sofa."

"How much could such a thing possibly cost?" Rose snorted, though she really had no clue. She'd picked up their last sofa (also a terrible thing with fungi developing in it) at a garage sale.

"Too much for my salary to afford!"

"What do you even do?" she demanded.

"I'm a teaching assistant."

"Honestly, trust you to pick the most ridiculously low-paying job in the world."

Let's just say that Albus was quite surprised to find out six months later when he came back from his trip around South America to find that his best friend and cousin were not offering him to stay with them, given that they had literally moved in together, and were probably planning on getting engaged.

He did, however, get a note that told him if he was looking for a new sofa, he could come and pick it up from their apartment whenever he wanted.

Because, sometimes, love, just like fungi, develops in really strange places.