• • •
lover, haven't you heard?
the devil was an angel first
• • •
With red-rimmed eyes, Rose Potter descended the staircase onto her common room in search of her brother. She scanned the common room, wincing at how many people were there. She pulled her jumper tighter to herself, trying to avoid looking at the corner where she knew the Weasley twins were wreaking havoc.
She failed, sneaking in a peak at the twins. They were surrounded by some of Rose's dorm mates, even some fifth-year girls seemed to be listening to everything the twins were saying. She almost snarled when she saw Angelina Johnson twirling her hair with one hand and the other resting in Fred's arm, she even considered asking Avalon for the spell he taught Amara. She shook that thought, that was no joking matter.
Harry was sitting in the couch before the fireplace with Ron and Hermione Granger. Rose smirked, heading over their way and slipping next to her brother, taking the three fourth years by surprise. They tensed, as if they were discussing a top-secret.
"Did I interrupt something?" she asked cheekily, seeing the way Ron's cheeks flamed. She waved her wand under the table, mumbling a silencing charm under her breath as the fourth years shared looks with each other.
"No!" They chimed in at the same time, Rose arched an eyebrow but shrugged. She was about to speak, but Ron beat her to it.
"Is it true you and Fred broke up?" He asked, his eyes wide as galleons.
"How do you-"
"Ronald!" Hermione swat him in the arm and huffed. "Don't ask that!"
"I want to know if Ginny owes me ten sickles!" Ron said as a defense, he registered his words after he said them because he turned back to Rose. "Wait-"
"You made a bet about my relationship? How did you even know we broke up?" Rose asked, dumfounded. When Ron was about to answer, she waved her hand, she had more important things now. "You know what? Not important. Harry, I need to ask you something."
Harry jumped up at being brought into the conversation, he shot a look to Ron and smiled timidly up at Rose. "What is it?"
Rose took a deep breath, already knowing Harry's answer but having to ask, nevertheless. "I know you aren't fond of the Morgenstern's, Harry, but-"
"Rose," Harry huffed, already annoyed.
"Listen to me first," Rose urged him, returning his glare.
"We're going to give you two a minute," Hermione said, smiling slightly as she pulled Ron up the couch. "Come on, Ronald!"
Rose watched them walk away, and she turned her attention back to Harry. "Harry, please ju-"
"I thought you were over trying to convince me to go there, Rose," Harry sighed, resting further into the couch. "I'm tired. I don't want to go."
"You think it's some kind of monster's den-"
"Death Eater den, more like it-"
"But they're not what you think!" Rose urged, stifling a groan and holding Harry's hands in hers'. "I know your year wasn't exactly great, but I've had the worst year of my life, Harry. I won't bore you with everything you already know, but I really need this. They're family, Harry."
"I thought the Weasleys were family," Harry answered, taking his hand from her own. She felt as if Harry punched her gut, her words choked up and, in that moment, she heard Fred's booming laugh from the other side of the common room. She resisted the urge to look at him again, knowing he was probably laughing at something Angelina said.
"They are-"
"Then why are we not going with them for Christmas instead?" Harry bit back, a scowl begging to form in his features.
"Because the Morgenterns are the last remainder of dad that I have!" Rose snapped loudly, thankful for the silence charm she had cast around them. "You have Sirius, but Remus is barely speaking to me after what happened!" She took a deep breath, calming the tears that were bound to well up in her eyes. "They want to know you. I promise if you don't ever want to go back again, I won't make you."
Harry tensed at her words again, his green eyes switching between her own twining eyes. He sighed, "You promise?"
"I-"
Rose could hear Angelina's words from where she sat, she could hear the beat of everyone's heart, but Rose still clenched her hands when she heard Fred say, "Hey, Angie, you want to go to the Yule Ball?"
She knew Harry wouldn't've heard it, but she still held on to his hand as she fixed her ears to hear Angelina's answer, "Me?" Angelina hesitated for a moment. "Yes, of course!"
Rose's stomach dropped the moment she heard those words; it was too soon. She didn't think of having a date for the Yule Ball after breaking up with Fred, but he did.
"Rose?" Harry asked, concern written all over his green eyes as they darted over to sixth years in the corner. "Are you alright?"
"Perfectly," Rose answered almost immediately, shaking her head, and forcing a bittersweet smile in her lips. "So, you'll come home, right?"
Harry winced, biting his lip and shrugging. "I'll think about it."
• • •
Even though Rose's tender heart was barely healing from her heartbreak, Amara had assured her cousin that she would find her a date so Rose wouldn't go alone. The red head tried to deny, but Amara Morgenstern wasn't one to take a no for an answer... except from Harry; Harry had said no to their invitation to Morgenstern Manor yet again. Both girls had smiled when he told them, secretly sad that Harry didn't want to spend the holidays with them.
Given how much rowdier than normal its residents were, Gryffindor Tower appeared to have shrunk a little bit despite being no less packed than it was during term-time. The twins, Rose had noticed, were working in some type of cream that turned people into birds, they were the loudest in Gryffindor Tower.
The castle and its gardens were currently covered in a thick layer of snow. Compared to Hagrid's cabin, the pale blue Beauxbatons carriage appeared to be a giant, frigid, frozen pumpkin. The Durmstrang ship's portholes were coated in ice, and the rigging was white with frost. Rich, comforting stews and savoury puddings were being made by the house elves in the kitchen, who were outdoing themselves, and Rose seemed to be the only one not playing out in the snow or cuddling with her friends in the Common Room.
The morning of the Yule Ball, she curled up in the library's love seat and pretended not to notice Avalon and Adrian watching her from the other side of the room while she read. She missed breakfast and ignored the pile of presents in her bed when she had woken up; she had sent everyone their gifts, but she still didn't want to open hers.
For Avalon, she had gotten a new set of dress robes from his favourite shop in Hogsmeade. For Amara, she had gotten a copy of a new fantasy-romance novel from an American witch that Amara seemed to enjoy too much. She got Harry a new cleaning kit for his broom and a new pair of dragon-leather gloves. For the twins, she had gotten them a set of really strong fireworks she had found when they had gone to the Quidditch World Cup, she had held onto the fireworks for too long, it was only reasonable she gave them away, even if she hadn't spoken to either of the twins since her and Fred had broken up. She got Lee, Ginny, and Ron sweets and fudge she had gotten from Honey Dukes.
The hardest present for her to find was Adrian's', two weeks before Christmas she still had no idea what to get him. It was only until Amara assured her that Adrian would love anything she gave her, did she start properly brainstorming. Finally, she decided to give him an old and unique book about curse-breaking and its properties. Rose had to admit that she had to write to Borgain and Burkes to get the book, seeing at it the only one in existence, but when she had seen Adrian mess with a curse-breaking book days prior, she knew she had to get the book.
By the time her stomach started rumbling, she sighed and made her way to the boy's table, smiling as they offered her some lunch they had brought in for her to the library. She bit back a grin when she saw Adrian flipping through the pages of his new book eagerly, almost as if he was devouring the words.
Amara came barging into the library and dragged her out, breaking her calm exactly two hours before the Yule Ball, earning herself a detention by Madam Pince for the noise. By the time Amara had forced her into the shower and dried her long red hair with her wand, she sat her down before the mirror, ignoring the desperate shouts of their other dorm mates.
"You can come in once we're finished!" Amara yelled back at the girls after they had screamed a particularly snide comment. Rose wasn't sure how her cousin Amara had gotten dressed so quickly, but she was ready and looked stunning. Her short black hair was tied to the back of her head and let down in a small ballerina bun adorned with curls and small braids framing her face. The pale blue dress she wore collided nicely with her tan complexion, giving it a golden glow that reflected in the dark of her eyes.
"Just let them in, Ames," Rose yawned, moving to open the door. Her hand didn't even reach the handle before Amara was pulling her back into the chair she had conjured and pointing her wand at her hands.
"If you so much as try to open that door, Rose Potter, help me Merlin, I'm sticking your arse to this chair," Amara threaten, glaring at Rose whilst the latter curled a piece of red hair in her wand.
Rose snuffed out a breath, sinking back in the chair as she watched Amara fix her hair to her liking. At last, Amara seemed to decide in a ponytail tied at the back of her head; curls adorned her bare back and a few pieces of flaming red hair framing her pale face. Amara also eye lined Rose's eyes and gave her a bright red lipstick.
"I don't know about the dress," Rose said, twirling in front of the mirror and pulling at the tight white fabric. The dress was long enough that it reached her feet even in heels, it hugged her hips perfectly just before it fell loose down her legs. The top of her dress strapped to the back of her neck, and it clung to her sides until it reached the bottom of her back, leaving it backless. "Or about the colour."
"What are you on about? Stand Still!" Amara responded, snapping a moving picture of her cousin. "You look beautiful!"
"I look as if I'm about to walk down the aisle," Rose huffed, admiring the golden clasp in her neck. Her eyes raised to meet themselves in the mirror, and she couldn't help the way a grin overtook her face.
"You look a lot like Lily in her own wedding," Amara sighed, moving to her bedside, and handing a picture to a stunned Rose. "Mother send you this, she wanted you to have it."
Rose's eyes swam with fresh tears as she saw a ginger woman with bright green eyes twirling in a garden, with the same delicacy that Rose had done, whilst wearing a long white dress and a veil. Rose sniffed, putting the picture in her trunk and nodding at Amara. The brunette smiled, taking Rose's arm and pulling her down the stairs.
They rushed out the portrait, ignoring the angry looks and comments they got from the girls they had kicked out of the dorm and fled. Rose smiled when she saw Adrian and Avalon waiting for them, both in their aristocrat dress robes.
Adrian thought his heart must've stopped; or maybe it was going to beat out of his own chest. She was smiling easily at something Amara said, and he could see the smallest twinkle in her eyes. Her hair looked like fire over her head, he thought he'd never seen her hair shine so much. Yet, there she was, looking like a goddess all mighty; or perhaps an angel fallen from heaven, he thought. Adrian shook his head, trying not to have her too close so he wouldn't lose his mind over her.
"Might've hit my head, Av, because I swear, I've seen an angel," Adrian blurted out before his eyes went wide, his jaw setting as she approached him; a minty but warm scent filling his senses.
"Oi!" Avalon swatted him on the arm, glaring and turning back to his cousin and sister. "You both look gorgeous."
"Is this my date?" Rose asked Amara, smiling up at Adrian who still hadn't recovered from her scent around him.
"Goodness, no!" Amara gasped, placing her hand on her chest. "Your date is waiting at the Entrance Hall, you might want to hurry, Potter."
Rose smirked, shaking her head as the four walked in an easy conversation to the Great Hall. Students were swarming the Entrance Hall, waiting for eight o'clock, when the Great Hall doors will be thrown wide. People who were meeting partners from other houses were weaving their way through the throng in an effort to find one another.
Over their heads, she noticed that the lawn in front of the castle had been transformed into a kind of grotto filled with fairy lights, which meant that hundreds of real, living fairies were seated in the rose bushes that had been summoned there and fluttering above the statues of what appeared to be Father Christmas and his reindeer.
Rose noticed that Fleur Delacour, the French Champion, was going with Roger Davis, the Ravenclaw Quidditch Captain. She saw Harry, standing awkwardly with a Gryffindor girl named Parvati Patil. Soon, the Durmstrang students joined them, and Rose's jaw dropped when she saw Hermione Granger, who she only ever thought of as Harry's friend, clutched to Viktor Krum's arm.
"Nice, Granger," Amara whistled, noticing what Rose had. "Didn't think she had it in her."
"Who's your date, Ames?" Rose wondered, searching through the crowd of students.
"Some boy from Durmstrang," Amara shrugged, smiling at a boy with dark hair and pale skin. "He asked me, and I reckoned he would be the least boring. If I'm honest, I should've considered going alone, but of course Mother would've had a fit!"
Avalon and Adrian glared at her, but Rose chuckled, never having seen her cousin dismiss a boy like she had done.
Then Professor McGonagall's voice called, "Champions over here, please!"
"That's your sign!" Amara sang, pushing Roseover to the champions where Cedric Diggory had his arm stretched out beforehim. He smiled at Rose, his eyes roaming over her body before landing over herface with a loving smile.
"You're my date?" Rose asked, taking his arm and kissing his cheek in greeting.
"That, I am," Cedric nodded proudly. "Amara thought I was your best option."
"Option, you say?" Rose smirked, Amara send her a wink before disappearing and Rose turned back to Cedric. "Lead the way then, champion."
They were instructed to wait on one side of the doors while everyone else went inside; they were to enter the Great Hall in procession when the rest of the students had sat down. Rose and Cedric stood closer to Harry, who had his jaw dropped and his eyes switching between Rose and Hermione.
Rose's stomach started to feel butterflies, thinking about how everyone would see her once she reached the Great Hall; everyone would have something to say about her being with Cedric and not with Fred. She was glad, whoever, to know that if she would be photographed by Rita Skeeter at least she would look good.
Professor McGonagall instructed the champions and their partners to line up in pairs and join her after everyone else had entered the Hall. They entered and began to move up towards a big circular table where the judges were seated at the top of the Great Hall as everyone in the room applauded them as they did so.
All of the Hall's walls were draped in shimmering silver frost, and the roof was covered in thousands of garlands made of ivy and mistletoe. The house tables were no longer there; in their place, there were roughly one hundred smaller, lantern-lit tables that could accommodate twelve people each.
Rose could feel every eye on her, but she focused on the feeling of Cedric's arm around her, pulling her towards the table. She looked sideways and caught the eyes of Lee, George, and Fred, all staring at her as if she's committed an Azkaban worthy crime. She turned her eyes back to the front, forcing herself not to show any emotion to them.
As the champions made their way to the head table, Dumbledore grinned joyfully, while Karkaroff appeared speechless. Ludo Bagman, who was wearing bright purple robes with huge yellow stars tonight, was cheering as loudly as the other pupils, and Madame Maxime, who had swapped her normal black satin uniform for a flowing lavender silk gown, was politely joining in the cheers.
But Mr. Crouch wasn't there, Rose realized suddenly. Percy Weasley sat in the fifth chair at the table. When she noticed him catching her attention, she grinned and waved a little, happy to see him after a couple months.
Percy pulled out the chairs next to him when the champions and their partners arrived at the table and fixed a sharp gaze on Rose and Harry. They heeded the warning and took a seat next to Percy, who was sporting a smug smile and brand-new navy-blue dress robes.
Before any of the siblings could even enquire, Percy announced, "I've been promoted," and based on the tone of his voice, he might have been announcing his election as Supreme Ruler of the Universe. "I'm Mr. Crouch's personal assistant now, and I'm here on his behalf."
"That's brilliant, Perce," Rose smiled, taking his hand and rubbing it in affection before taking it back. "You must be so proud!"
Percy opened his mouth to speak, but Harry beat him to it, "Why isn't Crouch here?"
"I'm afraid to say Mr Crouch isn't well, not well at all. Hasn't been right since the World Cup," Percy sighed, a frown appearing in his face. He continued on explaining to Harry, but Rose turned back to Cedric and joined him in his conversation with Krum and Hermione.
"You look gorgeous, Hermione," Rose said, admiring her dress. "That colour looks amazing in you."
Hermione's cheeks flamed as she tucked a non-existent curl behind her ear. "Thanks, Rose, you're dress is beautiful, too!"
"You're too kind, Hermione," Rose waved her off, smirking as she raised her glass and took a compliment the way Seraphina Morgenstern had showed her.
Rose started switching conversations once dinner arrived, she talked with Fleur, who was a little stuck-up but had interesting conversation topics. Fleur also seemed to notice something about Rose, because the moment her eyes met, Rose felt the twinkle of magic back in her fingers whilst Fleur merely raised a brow. She wondered if half-veelas could sense Elementals.
Dumbledore asked the students to stand up after they had finished all the food. The tables then sped back along the walls with a wave of his wand, clearing the floor, and he then created an elevated platform along the right wall. It was surrounded by a drum kit, numerous guitars, a lute, a cello, and some bagpipes were the Weird Sisters now stood.
From there, the Yule Ball became a daze of dancing, sipping spiked drinks and singing at the top of her lungs. She mostly danced with Cedric, who's cheeks were tainted red after he had four spiked drinks, but she had a chance to dance with Harry, who didn't know how to dance at all, and with Adrian as well.
Around mid-night, the party didn't stop there for fifth years and up. It was decided that everyone would go to the Hufflepuff common room, where everything was already set up to continue with their annual Holiday party.
Her feet were aching when she got there, so she decided to ditch her heels at the entrance, where every other girl seemed to leave their shoes. Her and Cedric made their way to the drink table, Rose served herself a rather large cup of Fire whisky and Cedric grabbed himself a butter beer, since he already had four Fire whisky drinks in him.
"Can you believe it's been a year since we broke up?" Cedric asked Rose once they were slumped over the couch. The music was still loud, many people were still dancing, but the sun was sure to come out soon, and whoever wasn't dancing was probably off with someone else. She had seen Avalon leave with a tall French girl that looked like a model and Adrian leave with a Bulgarian girl. Rose had no idea where Amara had gone, the brunette had ditched her date the second she arrived at the party, but Rose didn't see her talk to any other boy except from Avalon and Adrian.
Fred and George hung around for a moment, and Rose cached the moment were Annie and George disappeared into Annie's dorm, she had smiled sadly at that, she missed them both. The red-head had no idea where Fred had gone, but she took a guess given that Angelina was not around either.
"That long?" Rose answered Cedric, leaning into the arm that was draped over her shoulders. "Merlin, where did the time go?"
Cedric chuckled and Rose turned to look at him, his cheeks weren't red anymore meaning that the alcohol wasn't affecting him no longer. She had stopped drinking after Cedric had, which was about four hours ago after their first drink arriving to the party. Cedric's eyes twinkled as he laughed, his jaw seemed to relax but it was still sharp enough like a knife.
She would never know what overcame her, but in a moment of pure instinct, she reached up with one hand to catch his jaw and pressed her lips softly to his. He reacted almost instantly; the hand that was wrapped around her shoulder went down to her waist whilst the other one cupped her face. He pulled her closer, and she obliged, draping her legs on either side of him as he pushed her on top of him, his hands going down to her hips.
Her hands flew up to his hair, messing it up when she ran her nails through his scalp. She pushed her mouth closer to him if it was possible and rolled her hips, swallowing the groan that left his lips. One of his hands dug into her hips, rolling them down in him again whilst the other caused shivers on her back were he caressed her.
She let out a low moan at the friction, and Cedric started placing small kisses down her neck, until he hit a sweet spot and she sighed with pleasure.
In a mess of tongues and fabric, they fled the Hufflepuff common room and appeared in the Head-boy's chamber. Cedric assured her the Head-girl had never even been to the Head-students room, but they still locked the door to his dorm to be sure.
Looking down on her bare skin, Cedric kissed every part of her, even the scar that ran along her torso; he didn't ask about it, and she was glad. He kissed the tattoo that adorned her hip and tried to burn the image of her in his bed forever in his mind. Rose unbuttoned his shirt with no hesitation, sucking on his neck as he freed her hair from the ponytail.
"Are you sure about this?" he asked in a raspy voice, melting when it was her turn to hit a sweet spot in his neck.
"Never been more sure," Rose breathed, looking back at his face and kissing him before laying back down. Cedric shuttered, bowing himself down to her, as she slung her legs around his waist, squeezing her body against his; skin to skin.
She gasped when he pushed down on her, and he groaned when she scratched his back. Her dress was long forgotten on his floor and the sheets were messily wrapped around them by the time they fell into a dreamless slumber.