ROSE'S POV
"Have you packed everything love?" My mother called as I dragged my truck down the stairs.
"Yes, mum, for the millionth time, I've packed absolutely everything." I huffed.
Today, I had to board the Hogwarts express once again, as our lovely holidays had come to an end. Now, we were off to Hogwarts again, where we could no longer use Wi-fi, party till one, sleep till twelve or play Quidditch all day.
It was back to the hard, driving, stressful OWL revisions where we would have to study all day.
(Not that I care, I've already finished our entire syllabus. Thrice.)
A loud honk pulled me away from my thoughts and I continued dragging my trunk till the car. Dad smiled at me and lifted my trunk to put it in the car.
I sat down next to a mumbling Hugo. (Dad found out about his "crush" and teased him all week.)
As the whole family piled in, dad revved the engine.
To platform 9 3/4, Kings cross.
*****
"Holy shit! Calm down Haze! Ouch! Hello to you too Scar!" My goofballs of friends had lunged at me as soon as I had set foot at the platform.
"Wow!" I said massaging my back, "You guys really missed me huh!"
They both grinned.
"Now, now Rosie dear, we heard some good stuff happend at the Weasleys' New year party. Spill." Said Scarlett.
"Yup. It looks like we missed a lot." Joined in Hazel looking at me accusingly.
"It wasn't my fault that you guys were at Hazel's country house, you know." I huffed.
"Oh just tell us what happened!" Hissed Scar.
"In a minute!" I grinned and headed to bid farewell to my parents.
My mum got teary again, dad gave me his famous bear hug, and the rest of my family hugged me good bye.
"Your brother and boyfriend are on the train already Rosie, better be on the train quick." Grinned uncle Harry.
"Yeah! And remember to always use protection!" Whispered aunt Ginny.
I cringed. "Ew. Ew.I'm only fifteen! Disgusting! Ew."
"Details details." Aunt Ginny waved it off.
"Now listen if you-" she started.
"I'll be off now!!" I yelled and got on the train.
My terribly embarrassing family everyone.
"What was that about?" Hazel asked.
"Nevermind that! So anyways back to Al and Ali. In the party, we were all just standing, chatting around you know, when aunt Luna and Uncle Rolf came through the fireplace. They asked us where Lorc, Sander and Connor were because apparently they had decided to come before them, but they weren't there yet!-"
And till we made our way across the train to the Ravenclaw compartment, I had filled them up on what had happened between Ali and Al.
"But I agree with Ali, who gave Al the right to approve of her friendships?" Hazel said.
"I don't know why Al was getting so worked up, I mean obviously Ali doesn't like Connor right?" Scar asked us. She had an expression on her face that I couldn't quite understand.
"I don't know Scar, but Al was super jealous. You should see him talking about Ali and Connor, his voice has more venom than Nagini did!" I say.
"Whose voice has more venom than Nagini?" Horrified, I turned around to look at someone standing behind us.
I sighed in relief when I saw who it was. Lorcan.
"Damn you scared me!" I mumbled as he hugged me.
"So who were you talking about?" He asked. Standing in the corridor with us.
"You know we're talking about Al." Hazel stated, rolling her eyes.
"Yeah I did. So, I would just like to advise you shut up. " He said flatly.
"What?" I asked him, annoyed.
"That's Albus's compartment you dummy!" He whispered, pointing at the compartment right next to where we were standing.
"Oh shit! What if he heard us?!" Scar whisper-yelled.
"Let's run!" Suggested Hazel.
"What? No, I can handle Albus guys. Guys?" They had already taken off.
Rolling my eyes at their speeding figures I turned towards Lorcan.
"They're cowards." He laughed.
"Biggest ones ever!" I grinned.
"By the way Rosie, I would love to give you something..." Lorcan shot me his nervous smile. And reached in his pocket. Pulling out a lovely grey and blue bracelet, he handed it to me.
"Merry Christmas best friend." Lorcan grinned.
I was awestruck. The bracelet was made of two stands of wool which were intertwined with each other, one grey, one blue. And in the middle, Rose, my name was written in silver. It was plain, yet beautiful. The best gift I had ever gotten in my life.
"Lorc, I love it! How.. Wait, why, you already gifted me the infernal devices series on Christmas!" I exclaimed.
"I know, this is more like a thank you gift. You were there for me when Zabini treated me like shit, you looked after me and even did my homework! You're the bestest best friend anyone could have ever asked for. You prove that you're going to be there for me everyday." He smiled.
Overcome by a sudden rush of emotion, I hugged him. Everything I wanted to say to him was communicated through the hug.
"You know I love you right? I'll be there for you even through your worst times." I told him.
"I know, but don't let Scorpius hear you say I love you to me, he might get all worked up and jealous again." Grinned Lorc.
"Uh no I wouldn't!" We both turned around to see my boyfriend, aka Scorpius Malfoy standing behind us with an enormous smile on his face.
"Are you kidding me? Of course you would! Dude you got jealous of our friendship all the time last term!" Exclaimed Lorcan.
"Rubbish! I don't get jealous at all! Come on! I don't! " Both Lorcan and I had our eyebrows raised.
"Fine. But the past is past. I'm Scorpius Malfoy. And I would like to be friends with you." He held out a hand for Lorcan.
I looked at Lorcan who had an understanding and happy smile on his face.
"Hi... I'm Lorcan Scamander. I'm your girlfriend's best friend, I will be glad to give this a chance." Lorcan grinned. I legit had tears in my eyes. So many emotions were hitting me at the same time.
Scorp grinned at Lorcan and let go of his had to hug me. Wiping the tears from my eyes, he continued.
"I'm sorry for having been such an arse to you though Scamander."
"It's alright Scorpius, you clap with two hands." Lorc smiled.
"Yeah I do, don't you? I mean, is it even possible to clap with one hand?" Scorp asked bewildered.
"Hun. It's a saying. It means that both of you had a hand in the crime. And that both of you made mistakes. It's honestly no wonder why you weren't in Ravenclaw." I said.
"Fine. Okay. Way to ruin a moment love." Scorp huffed.
I was about to reply when an out of breath Alice Longbottom came running towards us.
"There you guys are! I have searched everywhere for you guys! It's been an hour since the train left! No sign of you two, and here you are. Chatting away to glory with this dufus. I was so worried! Both of you should be ashamed of yourselves!" Ali screamed.
"Wow, I feel loved." Scorpius deadpanned.
"Shut up. Now the two of you. To the compartment. Come on now." She pointed towards the left, where I suppose the compartment was.
"Ohkay mum!" I exclaimed and after a hasty kiss with Scorpius, I was dragged along with Lorc into the Ravenclaw Compartment.
We spent the next few hours talking, playing, sleeping and eating.
A Slytherin prefect came in twice to tell us to change into our robes, and after we were all done, we all sat looking at the beautiful night time scenery of Scotland from the windows.
Just then, Albus Potter came running into our compartment out of breath.
As Ali completely ignored his presence and continued chatting animatedly to Connor, I got up. I knew my cousin the best. One look at him and I could tell something was obviously bothering him. And whatever it was, it was bad enough for him to not even give Ali and Connor a second glance.
"Uh, what's up Albie? " I used the nickname I had given him as a kid, I always used it whenever something was wrong.
"You guys know Bonnie from Slytherin right? The one who constantly hits on me and tries to get my attention?" He started.
"If you're hear to bloat about your love life, then kindly leave Al. No one is interested." Seethed Ali.
"Just shut up for a second Alice." Pleaded Al. He never called her Alice. It had always been Ali. Nothing less. Ali obviously took note of the fact too, as she immediately looked emensely hurt.
"So Bonnie marches into our compartment as usual, and starts going on and on about the latest Hogwarts gossip, because somehow, she's under the impression that I'll be impressed. And I was ignoring her perfectly well when a certain name caught my attention." He paused dramatically. When no one acted rather jumpy and curious like he expected us to be, he crossed his arms and put on a childish expression.
"Who was it Al?" Hazel asked sighing.
"Well now that you have asked me oh pretty-Hazey-bunny-" Al smiled and sat down next to a blushing Hazel, throwing an arm around her.
I cringed. Did he have to flirt with all my friends?! I could definitely see how he was related to James. Friggin Potter Playboys.
And, I wasn't the only one who had cringed.
"Don't you have a girlfriend Al?" Ali questioned.
"Oh yeah I do, but I'm going to break up with her, she's too bossy and snooty. Not worth my while. So I'm checking out all the best girls at Hogwarts. Don't worry Alice. I won't check you out, I wouldn't want to say something to you or come between you guys. " And very surprisingly, he winked at Connor, who smiled back looking very unsure.
"What?-" Ali started, but I cut her off.
"Who's name caught your attention Al?" I asked him, getting rather impatient.
Al returned to his completely sympathetic mood and looked at Zoe before beginning.
"I'm so sorry Zoe, but I heard Aiden's name."
Zoe looked indifferent. "Okay, Bonnie mentioned my boyfriend. So?"
Al bit his lip before going on.
"You know she's Marlie Robinson's dorm mate right?"
He asked her. Zoe raised her eyebrows. "Okay, so she sleeps in my boyfriend's, best friend's dorm and mentioned my boyfriend. So?"
I think I knew what was going on. I hoped it wasn't true. I prayed it wasn't.
"So, Zoe, on Christmas, your.. 'boyfriend' kind of did it with his best friend. "
All of our eyes widened with shock. Damnit. Why do I always have to be right?!
But Zoey didn't seem to have caught on.
"What do you mean by 'it' ?" She asked, bewildered.
"Zoe, your boyfriend cheated on you. He and Marlie were heavily drunk from some stupid party thrown by some seventh years staying behind and, uh cheated on you." Al said.
The look of horror on Zoe's face was unbearable. I felt a sudden rage bubble inside me. The famous Weasley temper started taking over me.
And she started crying. It was worse than Ali when Al had started dating Zabini.
And the Weasley temper increased. We all hugged Zoe. None of us knew what to say to make her feel better.
"This too shall pass. " Lorcan said silently while rubbing Zoe's back.
I looked at Al, the only person here except me who had the Weasley temper.But he was too busy soothing Zoe down.
And the train gave a jolt. And a long whistle indicated that we were at our destination.
"Take care of her guys." I snatched up my bag from the seat and rushed out.
"Where are you going?!" Ali screamed from behind me. Footsteps indicated that she was still following me.
"To kick ass."
"Count me in. "
We caught the the first Carriage and quickly went up the castle.
We hurried straight past Uncle Neville and ran up the 23 staircases towards the Slytherin common room.
We stopped in front of their common room portrait.
"Do you know how to get in?" asked Ali.
I nodded and said, "Pureblood" the password was still the same from so many years ago, when my dad, mum and uncle had attended Hogwarts.
The door swung open and we walked inside an Emerald common room. The Slytherin common room was magistic yet cold. It was filled with snake furniture and portraits of various Slytherins.
We found that ass Aiden sitting next to Robinson.
We matched right up to him. He looked up when he saw us. Very nervously he shut his book.
"Hey there Weasley. Longbottom. You guys back from the vacations?" He smiled. That piece of shit.
"No. We're back because we signed up for an internship with Filch. Of course we're back from the vacations!" Ali snapped.
"How dare you do that to our Zoe?" I hissed in my most dangerous voice.
"What?" He looked at Robinson who was pretending to read a book.
"Oh don't even try to pretend you assholes." Ali growled. Both of the flinched.
"Fine. I cheated on her. Big deal. Mar is my best friend and she's just some plain old Ravenclaw. She was just a tool. " He smirked.
"It is people like you who give Slytherin a bad name. Why would you do that to her?" I yelled.
"Because, Miss Rose Granger-Weasley. She was a friggin tool I used for popularity. You won't know how it is to be unpopular, none of you two. But I do, and if being a playboy makes me famous, then I'm gonna be a playboy too. And Zoey O'Connor was my first target. Got your answer right? Now leave." He pointed at the door.
"Oh not that easily you Dog." Ali smirked.
And before he even had time to think "help" my fist came crashing into his face. Aiden screamed and dropped down to the floor, clutching his nose.
Ali pulled him up by the collar and whispered in his ears.
"Try to mess with any of us again, and you're dead."
***
Woah!!! 2413 words !!! Milestone.
And two updates in a friggin week! I'm on fire babyyy!