a/N lalala I'm off out, have a chapter, I've got something to mention when I get back but no time vite lily vite
ily, enjoy!
Chapter 18
I Was Just Trying To Help, I Swear
The Potters, minus James, stayed for two days, and then they, well, went home. It was really fun though. And I hadn't seen Al properly in ages. Or Lily, in fact. I'd missed them. I hadn't even realised how much I needed my cousins, but clearly I did. My mid-Easter resolution was to spend more time with all of them. Except Molly, because frankly, no time spent with her is too much.
I was roped into refereeing lots of games of Quidditch, that were kind of Gryffindor vs. Slytherin, except everyone except Al and Scorp were Gryffindors, so it was more Harry-Al-Scorp vs. Dad-Ginny-Hugo. Sometimes they managed to make mum and Lily play, and then mum played on Harry's makeshift Slytherin team, while Lily, who is an excellent seeker, played on Dad's Lions' All The Way team. These games normally ended in arguments between Dad and Harry, or Lily and Al, or Al and Scorp, just for the hell of it. Or me and Hugo, because we can argue for England. Sometimes they'd just end in massive family bust ups which involved everyone pissing off into their own rooms, which caused more arguments due to the fact that everyone was sharing rooms. Proper dysfunctional family. We ate remarkably big dinners both nights, where mum, Ginny, Dad and Harry all contributed... somehow. Ginny had inherited Nana Molly's cooking skills, but dad most certainly had not. Harry can make scrambled eggs... and that's it. So I think dad and Harry laid the table. And put lots of effort into it.
So basically, we had a great time.
For a bit, I even forgot that I was a fat whale with a baby in my stomach. And that was really awesome.
Finally, the day after they'd gone, I heaved myself off the sofa with a knitted jumper on and a pair of leggings, and went to visit Dom. Because I'd promised I would, and because I owed her this much.
"I'M GOING OUT, SEE YOU LATER," I yelled at... anyone, before throwing the floo powder into the fire, stepping into the green flames and calling out 'Dom's house'.
A couple of seconds later I stumbled out of the fireplace into Dom's clean, shiny living room. She was waiting for me.
"Rose," she squealed like a girl. Because she is a girl, "Hello! How are you?"
"I'm good," I smiled tiredly. "I've, uh, got something to tell you Dom..."
Just then, someone walked into the room. He was tall, with dark hair, and slightly shifty looking eyes.
Oh holy shit, what on earth have I done to deserve this?
"Hello, Rose, is it?" he said politely, kissing Dom on the side of her neck. Well, I mean, he said it, and then kissed Dom.
"Yes... Matt," I said stonily. "Could we have a minute please?"
"Hey, whatever you want to say, you can say in front of Matt," Dom said calmly.
"No. Dom, I need to talk to you for a minute," I said firmly. "Now. Girl things."
Matt looked vaguely sickened, and I'm sure plenty of things were running through her head. She was battling herself internally, until she decided that I won because I was glaring at him, and her, until she agreed.
"Ok, ten minutes Rose. Come on."
I smiled gratefully at Dom, and stuck my tongue out at Matt on the way past. Because I'm about as childish as my unborn child.
"What is it?" she hissed, closing the door sharply.
"Ok..." I began, and then I stopped because I had no idea how to say it. If she didn't fucking love him or whatever...
"Rose, I'm counting," she warned.
"Ok, Dom, you won't believe me but I swear to God that it's true ok. Right, maybe a couple of weeks ago, er, the day Scorp's dad came in to school, in fact... or maybe the day after?"
"Rose, you're rambling."
"Sorry. Alright, I was walking past one of those tapestries that's got a room behind it, and I heard someone, er, kissing. Well it was, um, more than kissing, I guess. You know..."
"And?" Dom's heavily eyelined eyes widened. "Oh come on Rose, you're not going to tell me that it was Matt?"
I couldn't say anything.
"Oh my god Rose. That's low," she said harshly. "I can tell you don't like him, but clearly you have some serious problem with him."
"No. It's true Dom!" I said, almost desperately.
"Rose," she began, and she didn't know what to say next. "Just... go, please."
I stared at her in despair. Did I not look serious enough?
"Go away Rose."
I clenched my fists, glared at her and stormed out of the room, slamming straight into someone tall.
I looked up, and prayed it wasn't Matt.
"Rosie, what's up?"
It was Teddy.
I burst into tears.
"Vic, I'll be ten minutes!" he called back to Victoire, who presumably was in her bedroom.
"Come outside Rose," he said calmly, steering my shoulders down the stairs and out of the door. "What's going on?"
"Remember that letter I sent you just before the holiday?" I sniffed.
"Yeah?" he replied immediately.
"Well, I told Dom today, that Matt's cheating on her..."
It was sort of tough to say.
"Did you tell her?" Teddy asked shrewdly.
I nodded wearily.
"How did she take it?"
"How do you think?" I countered. Teddy was smiling slightly.
"That well, 'eh?"
"Uh-huh."
"I'll talk to her Rosie," he promised. "Do you want me to take you home?"
I shook my head and wiped at my eyes. "I'm alright," I smiled weakly. "Matt's a prick, and Dom's being stupid. But I'm fine."
"Ok then," Teddy replied, squeezing my shoulder.
"I'll go home now then. See you in a few days or something."
"Yeah. Bye, Red," he smiled, giving me an awkward one armed hug and walking back into the house. I watched him go back in, before walking back into the house and flooing home.
Two days later, we returned to crazy family excitement with a big Easter dinner thing at Nana and Granddad's. None of us are even religious (oh no, wait, Audrey is. Very religious. I'm not sure if you even can be religious and magical or whatever. Don't quote me on any of this).
So we bundled into the car, because dad would rather drive, he said, and drove up to the Burrrow.
Poor Scorp was squeezed in between me and Hugo because I was too effing fat to sit in the middle. Fuckin' hell!
It was an hour to Nana and Granddad's (why on earth did we insist on driving?) and by the time we got out of the car I needed to pee so badly. Since being pregnant, I've hated car journeys with a passion.
Actually, I know why dad insisted on driving. It was because Nana was going to give him a great big rant about marriage, and how lovely mum is, etc. and he was postponing it. They hadn't been anywhere together since he unofficially moved back in a few days ago. They couldn't stay apart long though; he ran away in January and it's April. And I mean, I wish there was no time at all, but I honestly thought it would be about seven months before dad even spoke to mum. It was just about four.
"Hey Nana," I called, running through the house. "Need a piss! Back in a sec!"
"Don't swear!" she called back.
"Sorry!"
I quickly used the toilet, and I returned to the kitchen and sat on the counter. Honestly, because I hated sitting in small chairs now.
"Hello Nana," I smiled. "Hey Lil."
Lily was sitting on the table, flipping through a cookery book. "Hi Rose."
"You ok?"
"Uh-huh. You?"
"Mm-hmm," I confirmed.
"Girls, do you mind helping me for a moment?" Nana asked, stirring furiously.
"Nope," I slid off the counter and went over to her. "What do you need doing?"
"Could you keep an eye on the vegetables? Lil, could you lay the table?"
"Yeah," Lily agreed, dropping the book onto a chair and sliding the cutlery draw open. A couple of minutes later, Dom wandered into the room, and opened her mouth.
"Uh, Nana – oh, don't worry."
She left again.
"What was that about?" Nana asked.
"Matt," I said flatly. "Can you get rid of him?"
"No," Nana replied. "What's he done?"
"He cheated on Dom," I blurted out without thinking. I didn't want to say anything, as Dom still didn't believe me, but Nana would know what to do. Five out of seven of her children got married, and one of them was Dad. She knew as much about relationships as she did about knitting sweaters.
"Oh dear," she said thoughtfully. "I take it Dom doesn't believe you?"
I shook my head. "It's true though! I heard him!"
"Ok Rose dear, I believe you!" she replied. "Calm down!"
"Sorry," I smiled weakly.
"And it was definitely Matt?"
"Definitely," I nodded.
Nana pursed her lips. "I'll talk to Fleur tonight. I don't want poor Dom's heart being broken by some asshole like that."
Lily smothered a giggle from the corner. I had to suppress a smile aswell.
"Uh, Nana, the vegetables are doing something," I said nervously. "Are they going to explode?"
She rolled her eyes playfully. "No Rose, they're fine. Thank you for watching them, I'll sort them out now. You girls can go now."
"See you in a bit, Nana," Lily called, following me out of the room.
I realised I'd lost Scorpius, so I traipsed through the house, trying to find him. I avoided the sitting room, where boring people like Audrey and Molly were, and instead I tried looking upstairs. Lucy and Victoire's rooms were empty. James had returned from the super important thing that he had to rush off and do the other day, and his room was occupied with him and some skinny blonde girl, who was different to the one he brought at Christmas. I'm not sure what he'd done with Fred or Al, although I assumed Al was wherever Scorp was. Hugo and Louis were having a deathly serious conversation in their room, which I didn't stick around to listen to. Teenage boy problems. Like who had more collectible Death Eater cards. Anyway, that was four rooms accounted for and no luck. I wasn't sure where anyone was!
The last room, which I decided I might aswell check, was mine and Dom's room. I wasn't expecting to find anything, but I thought I'd just peek round the door. I sort of wanted to see if I'd left anything aswell, considering my hurried packing on the day we went back to school. And I felt a bit nostalgic, actually. Not for any sensible reasons, I just felt like a lot happened in that little attic room.
And not in the way you're thinking you dirty bastard!
Except when I got to the door, there were unmistakable groaning sounds. I won't elaborate too much, but I'm sure it's apparent what they were.
"That bitch," a guy said, and with a sinking heart I confirmed my fears.
"'Zis will show 'er," a very French accent agreed. I racked my brains, trying to think of anyone French that Dom's boyfriend could be shagging on her bed.
Holy shit, I hope it's Dom's bed, in the nicest way possible, because God forbid if it's mine...
At the same time I had that gross thought, I realised something else. Sick with horror, I began to creep away, not accounting for the creaking floorboards.
The groaning and heavy breathing stopped.
"Sophie, be quiet," Matt hissed.
Now I had proof. Dom would go mad.
I stumbled back down the old wooden stairs, colliding with someone at the bottom that I didn't even see.
"Rose?"
"Scorp," I grinned. "I've been looking for you!"
"You look flustered."
"Nope. I'm fine," I said cheerfully. "Where were you?"
"Al was giving me a tour."
I noticed Al standing next to him. I hadn't even seen him there.
"Do you like it?" I asked, genuinely curious.
"Yeah," he smiled. "It feels like... home."
I nodded. It does feel like home, to anyone.
The rest of the evening passed as smoothly as it could, with thirty one (oh my god) people in one house. One creaky old house that looked like it could fall down any second. Matt emerged from my room a little while later, and made a big show of being publicly affectionate with Dom, although he successfully sandwiched himself between her and Sophie at dinner, which seemed like a win-win for him. Dom continued to ignore me, despite Teddy's best attempts to get us caught in the same room together, or to put us next to each other at dinner.
Nana Molly out did herself, as usual, at dinner. There was still food left, even after dad and Uncle George had finished helping themselves. Four times. Audrey made a speech about Easter and family, which no one listened to. The highlight of the meal was when Uncle George accidently-on-purpose knocked his drink over and it spilt all over Audrey's white (symbolising purity) dress. It was red wine. She flipped shit out, and George had to apologise over and over. But it worked, because Audrey and family were the first to leave after dinner.
At one point, Nana Molly dragged dad into an empty room and shouted at him for a good ten minutes. She'd tried to block the door with magic, so we couldn't hear her, but Lily, Roxy and I were sitting right outside, waiting to see what happened. Dad was fairly subdued when he came out.
In the end, dad refused to drive home and mum claimed she'd had too much to drink (well why did they drive in the first place?) so we flooed home. It was almost two in the morning when we got back. We only had one day of the holiday left, and we'd be back at Hogwarts again.