THORNS & VENOM | h.p.a.u

APPARITION

"Hugo's a shite beater. I'm sure you'll do just fine." Althea laughed as she hung upside down from her broom. "Alright, practice over. Go stuff your faces."

He watched as the Slytherin Captain mounted her broom properly and met Roxanne in the stands. 

Albus shot up beside him, heading straight to his family. Scorpius followed in pursuit, dismounting to catch Rose as she threw herself into his arms.

"The NEWTS have been pushed back!" she cried out. "Instead of the middle of May they're making them late June since students will have an extended break while they fortify the school grounds."

What a relief that was. His goal was to become an Auror. And with all the drama over the past few weeks, it would've been hard to get the scores necessary for the job. His father would accept nothing less than Outstanding. And the gleam in Rose's eyes told him that her mother probably expected the same from her, which is why she was so ecstatic about the extra time to study. 

"How did you hear about this?" Scorpius asked as they walked down the steps of the stands. 

"Irving Longbottom posted it in the student editorial section of the Daily Prophet." Dominique pulled a newspaper from her bag.

They all skipped the front page hastily, which showed Brody and Lana's mug shots. In a small section of the back, there was interview done with the Hagrid as he explained all about the tunnel filling between the Shrieking Shack and the Whomping Willow, as well as the importance of explaining the dangers of amortentia and the precautions that would be taken to prevent situations like this from happening again at Hogwarts.

"I wonder how and him and Hera Carrow are doing." Rose wondered out loud once they had cleared the field. 

"What do you mean?" Scorpius frowned.

She laughed, "You can't be that oblivious. He came to rescue her all on his own, remember what Brody said? Honestly, I think he was crushing on her."

Irving Longbottom was the silent type who blended into the background. Very unlike a Grffyindor. Scorpius couldn't imagine Irving with a girlfriend- not because of anything superficial, it was just that he rarely saw Irving have any human connection outside of Professor Longbottom. 

"Let's head to your room." Scorpius pulled Rose into the opposite direction of Slytherin dungeons, straight to the Gryffindor towers. 

She seemed surprised at that. "Why on Earth would you want to go there? If you're forgetting, quite a few people are still miffed over your Death Eater prank."

"At least now it's being referred to as a prank," he muttered, chuckling at Rose's scowl. "What? It's an improvement!"

"I'm just warning you, they may not be as friendly as you expect us Gryffindor's to be." she sang as they finally reached the winding and shuffling staircases. 

He hardly came to the Gryffindor Towers so he let Rose lead the way until they came to the painting of the Fat Lady. 

"Password." she requested haughtily. 

"Bandersnatch." Rose spoke swiftly, stepping into the common room as the portrait swung inwards. 

The common room was surprisingly empty, but it was in the middle of break and those who had been traumatized by the events of yesterday surely wanted to head home after a ruined Yule Ball. It was warm and quaint, with high ceilings. Where the Slytherin common room was long, the Gryffindor common room was tall. He felt more cramped in the rising tower than in the underground dungeons. At least Slytherin's common room had a fish tank (of sorts).

Rose dropped him off in her room to let him shower and change into his clothes in his duffel bag. He never really got to investigate her room before. It was beautifully decorated, surprised that the colors in her room were a clash of blue, red, and gold. No green in sight, but he'd fix that once they lived together. 

He paused mid-shower at that thought. Him and Rose, living together again. It seemed so outlandish even though it had happened since the seventh year began. What scared him most was that he couldn't see himself not living with Rose. Not growing old together with her, not have kids with her, not being there for each other for the rest of their lives.

He knew he loved Rose, but he never expected this year to blossom his feelings into so much more. 

Scorpius left the shower with a fresh pair of dark wash jeans and a black sweater, his go to combination. 

"Hux?" he called out.

The female house elf materialized in front of him, hands full of eggs. "Yes, Young Master?"

"Do you mind bringing the muffin materials here?" he asked politely. "If it's not too much of a hassle."

"Of course not." Hux snapped her fingers and the kitchenette was filled with lots of eggs.

Scorpius swung open the fridge to see a deluge of vanilla extract bottles and sticks upon sticks of salted and unsalted butter that masked what Rose originally had in her fridge. Various types of flour- almond, all-purpose, baking, cake, unbleached- all laid on the kitchen island.

He turned to ask Hux to cut down on the ingredients, but saw Rose instead with her arms full of binders and a hovering quill flitting about her head ready to write. He opened his mouth to explain but all she did was collapse on the sofa and drop all the binders onto the coffee table.

"Let's get started on the upcoming planning for the Yule Ball, shall we?" she tossed over her shoulder a binder that had a list of spells for ceiling enchantments.

His heart swelled as he settled in a Victorian chair similar to the one in the Slytherin common room. "How did I get so lucky to have a girlfriend that ignores 200 sticks of butter apparating in her fridge?"