Never Be The Same {SCOROSE}

Chapter 40 - Rose

It was the third week of April. My grandfather had been dead for six days, and earlier today had been the memorial service. It was as nice as something like that can really be, but I was glad it was over. It was exhausting to talk to so many people, and I saw the glances some of them were shooting at Scorpius - who was lingering uncomfortably in a corner with his father the whole time. I felt bad, but there wasn't anything I could do about other people's judgement, and I knew he would feel even more out of place if I asked him to come stand with me and socialize. 

Now we were at the Burrow, waiting  for supper to be ready. Scorpius was invited, but he had declined to come. I wasn't offended; I knew that not everyone in my family had come to terms with the fact that I chose to associate myself with a Malfoy, and it made him hesitant to spend a great deal of time with the Weasley clan. I wished that it wasn't a problem, but I wasn't going to put him through a dinner of glares from my dad and Uncle George. 

"Rosie, can I hold Willow?"

The question came from Lily, who was home from school along with the rest of the younger cousins. Smiling, I passed my daughter into her arms. "I'm so glad you're here, Lil. I miss having you to talk to all the time."

"Merlin, I know! It's not the same at school without you… All Lysa talks about these days is graduation, which does nothing but remind me how entirely miserable I'll be next year! All alone…" Her face fell.

I shook my head. "We must find you a boyfriend, you know. Who are the nice boys in your year? I've rather forgotten."

Lily groaned. "They're all awful. You know I used to fancy Charlie Corner, but he's been hanging around with Alec Scamander and he's a jerk now."

I rolled my eyes. "Someone ought to put Alec in solitary confinement so he can't influence any more silly teenagers who don't know any better. Or, for that matter, get involved with the wrong girl and end up in a nasty lawsuit with an overprotective father. Surely he's done plenty that could get him kicked out, if only he wasn't so good at covering it up."

"Damn, Rosie, sounds like you've got a personal vendetta against the guy. What'd he do to you?"

"Well, other than being an all-around piece of shit to every one of us since basically age five, he made some less than flattering remarks to Scorpius about me last year. I'm over it… he's still a jerk, though. So, anyways, back to finding you a boy. What about Mason Bones? Don't you two get along pretty well?"

My cousin looked away. "Yeah, we're friends. But he's… I dunno, Rose."

"Oh, come on, he's charming and handsome and everyone knows it. What's the problem?"

She sighed. "Because we're friends, Rosie, but we're not public friends. We talk, but not, like, when he's around all his people. Besides, you know practically every girl within a year of him has fancied him at one time or another. I mean, he's the quidditch star/genius boy/nice guy. He's perfect, and he's popular, and he's not the type for me. I don't want to be another one of his plethora of admirers, and I don't want to threaten a friendship that might be all I have next year. Forget about him, alright?"

I raised an eyebrow at Lily. "You've thought about this more than a little bit, haven't you?"

She ducked her head. "What gave me away?"

I grinned. "That speech sounded slightly practiced. Like you've said it to yourself once or twice."

A blush spread across my cousin's face. "Maybe. But it doesn't matter, you know, because-"

"Girls, supper is on the table! We're just waiting on you two."

My mother always interrupted the most interesting conversations. I narrowed my eyes at Lily, who looked a little too ready to head in to dinner. "This conversation isn't over, you know. We'll talk later-" But she was already halfway out the door. Shaking my head, I set Willow down in the pack and play that we'd set up a few minutes earlier and went to dinner.