Snowflakes in a Storm - [Scorose]

Chapter 15: Shattering

Weeks had past and the attacks didn't stop. Every other day it seemed that either Rose or Albus was receiving an owl from one of their parents explaining that Godricks Hollow, or Knockturn Alley, or muggle towns etc. but there had been no development really – nothing that I cared about anyway. They had caught one of the wizards who had been a part of some of the attacks – Frederick Blowhold. He was in Azkaban now, but there always seemed to be only three wizards to ever attack anywhere from what was being said and after he was captured, there were three at the next attack (according to Rose's father) which means there were more of them and how many of them was unclear right now.

I think what frightened me the most about it all was the attacks seemed to be getting bigger and there seemed to be more to it than there was just a couple of months ago at Christmas time. It wasn't just a case of blowing shit up anymore, they were taking people, but again it was unclear where. From one year old wizards to seventy year old witches, they seemed to be taking anyone they could get their hands on yet there was still no real explanation for any of it, and it was driving me insane.

I sat down by the lake underneath a large tree that towered over me. It was quite a cold day, so there weren't all that many students walking around at that time; most of them would be in the Great Hall or their common rooms. Twirling my wand between my fingers, I turned when I heard footsteps – it was Rose. "Morning." She said with a small smile, looking down at me as the small breeze blew her hair into her face.

"Morning." I replied and she took a seat on the grass in front of me sitting between my legs with her back pressed against my chest. I wrapped my arms around her and rested my chin on her shoulder.

"Do you mind if I ask you something?" She said quietly, almost sounding nervous and I shrugged and told her she could. "What are we doing?"

I raised my eyebrow, confused. "Uh... sitting by the lake?" I said, quizzically.

"No I mean... us... we haven't really spoken about the two of us since New Years, and it's already February." She explained. It was true, in all honestly I'd lost any of the nerve I had to ask her about what was going on. I'd just assumed that we were a couple.

"Well... what do you want us to be doing?" I asked, trying to turn the question to her instead. I felt her lean back and she rested the back of her head against my chest just below my shoulder. She sighed but didn't answer. After a momentary silence I spoke again. "I just assumed we were together to be honest." I admitted.

"Like... I'm your girlfriend?" She asked timidly and I smiled a little.

"Well, if you want to put a label on things." I joked and she hit me lightly on the arm. "Yes... yes, like you're my girlfriend."

"Okay... deal."

"Good." I said and I smiled once more, kissing her cheek lightly.

"Now that we've got that out of the way, there's something I've wanted to do since New Years" and with that, she turned around slightly and looked up at me, kissing my lips softly and placing the palm of her hand on my cheek. I kissed her back, holding her around her waist as we sat there. This was the first time we'd kissed since that night and it was definitely more tender than the last one.

"I don't need to see that shit." A voice said behind us and we broke apart from each other to see Albus towering over the two of us. "It's bad enough that you guys are friends now, but to see you making out is something I definitely want to avoid." He said and I rolled my eyes.

"We're not friends Al'" said Rose as he sat down. "He's my boyfriend, so you're going to have to deal with it." She smiled and I smiled too, kissing the top of her head as she leaned back against me.