Somebody That I Use to Know

Chapter 4

"Could I not make it up the stairs? Did you really have to leave me in his room?"

"Well, as you reminded me multiple times last night, it was your room first." Charlotte laughed, "and in order to prove to me that you had moved on from Scorpius, a question I hadn't asked by the way, you were going to reclaim it in the name of Granger-Weasley's everywhere."

Rose hit her head against the table twice before letting out a loud huff. Then she heard the ringing of Charlotte's tea cup being sat on its saucer.

"I understand why you don't want to go to the pitch Rose, but-if that's all it would take to put this behind you...and didn't you two hide your relationship for years before Witch Weekly found out? Are you just not sneaky anymore?"

She slumped into the chair next to Charlotte, "That was different. We were in school, we were still kids...I wasn't engaged to somebody else." She heard herself say the words out loud and then whispered to herself, "nearly engaged..."

Suddenly, Charlotte smiled widely at a new idea, "You could wear a disguise! I'm getting really good at transfiguring noses. It'd last a couple hours at least."

Rose smiled sweetly at the offer, "Thanks, but who's to say that's all it would take? What's to stop him from just handing me a riddle when I get there?" Looking down at the folder, Rose felt her heart sink, knowing what she had to do. "He's made his point. I'm not getting through this without Anders finding out."

"Back home then?" Charlotte asked as Rose stood to fetch her jacket.

The term home hit the red head's ears differently than it had the day before and she had to shake out a shiver that ran up her spine, "I'm sure I'll be back soon. I shouldn't have tried to do this without telling Anders. Upsetting news is something you should always present personally."

Malfoy Manor - 19 Years Old

Scorpius had done all he could to avoid this situation, but Rose was insistent. 'He's not going anywhere, Scorpius. If you're really in this then we might as well get the unpleasantness out of the way sooner rather than later,' she kept telling him.

She had underestimated how unpleasant it could truly be.

Draco didn't meet them at the door, but instead was waiting at the dining room table. An attempt to move the evening along as quickly as possible, surely.

"The Ministry." Rose answered his question with as apathetic a tone as she could muster.

Scorpius warned her about being too cheerful as his father would consider it an attempt at flattery and therefore ingenuine, "Right now I'm working with the committee on experimental charms, but I'm hoping to join the Department of Mysteries in a year or so."

"So you enjoy secrets? How wonderful."

The insult made its way through his sentence even though his calculated demeanor never shifted.

Rose looked across the table to find Scorpius gently shaking his head back and forth telling her to ignore the slight. She took in a deep breath and continued poking at the food on her plate before continuing, "I find the work fascinating. I know it's very hush-hush, but even in the abstract, the idea of-"

"Why aren't you there now?" He cut through her optimism as simply as he cut through the steak on his plate. "Surely there are doors open for the Minister's daughter."

She opened her mouth to counter, but Scorpius beat her to it. "Even if there were, Rose doesn't want to be handed a position father, she's putting in the work."