A/N: had a small writer's block following me around for a bit. Annoying. Enjoy the chappy. Ily. 🐢. Oh and the first part of this chapter happens nine months after the Gilbert incident, so it's the beginning of summer break. (Has anyone figured anything out about Gilbert's last name? Yes? No? Comment!!)
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-------nine months later-------

Rose pushed open her bedroom door and tiptoed down the hallway. She paused at the top of the stairs next to Hugo's door, listening closely. From downstairs came the clatter of dishes and the sound of voices. Her parents were up. Judging by the loud snores emanating from behind the closed door, Hugo was not.

Rose waited for a moment longer. She rested her hand on the doorknob, tense and alert like a cat waiting to pounce. The snores continued. In one fluid motion, Rose slammed the door open and flung herself into Hugo's bedroom, pushing off from the floor and aiming straight for the lump tangled up in the bed sheets, while letting loose a battle cry. "Rise and shine, sleepy head!"

A muffled "Oomph" came from the lump as Rose landed squarely upon it. It startled to struggle violently. Rose fought back valiantly, but was overpowered and flung off the bed, to land with a painful thud on the wooden floor.

"Argh!" The lump yelled, disentangling itself from the sheets. Hugo sat up, no longer in lump form, but in full battle mode. "Rooosse! You will pay for that!" He launched himself at her. Rose rolled out of the way and Hugo landed spread-eagled on the floor with painful grunt.

Laughing, Rose helped him up. "I win!"

"I told you to stop doing that," Hugo grumbled.

"Of course you did," Rose said cheerfully, dancing out of the room. "Why do you think I did it? Hurry up and get downstairs, ya big lazy lump! I smell pancakes!"

Leaving Hugo muttering about how it wasn't fair that he had to put up with an annoying twin sister, Rose ran downstairs, pyjama-clad, following the wonderful scent of pancakes.

"Morning!" Rose called, bursting into the kitchen.

"Hiya, Rosie." Mr. Weasley was sitting at the table with a mug of coffee and the Daily Prophet. As for Rose's mother...

"Pancakes!" Rose exclaimed, peering over Mrs. Weasley's shoulder at the contents of the frying pan. (A/N: obviously, Hermione has changed her last name to Weasley. OTP XD)

Mrs. Weasley laughed. "How's my little Rose?"

Rose grinned. At that moment Hugo stumped into the kitchen, looking exceedingly grumpy.

"Pancakes," Rose told him pointedly.

Hugo rolled his eyes. "Whatever, Snake Girl."

"Hey!" Rose protested. "Don't call me that!"

"Your boyfriend calls you Snake Girl."

Rose crossed her arms and glared. "Scorpius isn't my - "

"Scorpius?" Mr. Weasley interjected sharply. "You're still hanging around with him?"

"Um... sometimes," Rose said uncomfortably. "Hey, why don't we - "

"Rose."

"Mum, are we going to - "

"Rose!"

"Dad! We're just friends! There's nothing wrong with Scorpius, he's really nice if you just - "

"Rose!!"

"I know what you're gonna say!" Rose burst out angrily. "'You shouldn't get too friendly with him,' 'you never know what he'll get up to' 'he's a Malfoy' - blah, blah, blah. Well guess what!" Rose's voice was rising right along with her temper. "I don't care! Just because you're too proud to make peace with Scorpius' family, I can't be friends with him? You're hopeless! You won't even try! Has it ever occurred to you that your daughter might just have a mind of her own? No? Well that's just too bad. I'll decide who my friends are, thank you very much. I don't need your stupid grudges to do that for me."

The whole kitchen was silent except for the sizzling of the frying pan. Rose glared at her father, silently daring him to give her another lecture about Scorpius. She didn't give a damn about what he thought of her friends. Besides, it was about time someone did something about this stupid Weasley vs. Malfoy thing.

"Honey," Mrs. Weasley said finally from the stove. "Rosie's right, you know. I think it's ridiculous. You and Draco should have worked things out after the war."

"What?" Mr. Weasley exploded. "Me work things out with Draco? Hermione, you of all people should know that's not gonna happen!"

Mrs. Weasley pursed her lips. "It's never too late to make peace. And your children shouldn't have to suffer because you're too stubborn."

Mr. Weasley blinked.

"Besides," Mrs. Weasley continued. "We've discussed this, Ron. You know what it could mean." She looked pointedly at her husband.

Rose and Hugo exchanged confused glances. There was something going on here that Rose didn't know about.

Mr. Weasley started to say something, but Mrs. Weasley stared him down. "Fine," he muttered. "But don't expect me get all friendly with Malfoy because of it. We'll just wait and see what happens, okay? Besides, we don't know what - " he broke off at the look on his wife's face. "Anyway, uh, Rose, just be careful around that kid. And his sister."

Rose rolled her eyes. "Whatever."

But she couldn't help but wonder if, in the end, this would be something she could just brush off.

-------four years later-------

"So," Rose said, plopping down beside Scorpius at breakfast. "Another Triwizard Tournament, huh? You gonna try and get in?"

Scorpius rolled his eyes at her. "Gee, I don't know! I'm not allowed too, but sure! Of course I will! And obviously, McGonagall's age line will totally break down. Let's do this!"

Rose slapped his arm. "Mr. Sarcasm."

Scorpius shrugged. "Miss Stupid Questions."

"Hey!"

"Got ya, Snake Girl."

Rose scowled at him. Scorpius stuck out his tongue at her.

"No, seriously," Rose said. "I thought they made a pledge against having more Tournaments, or something. The last time they had one, Harry almost got murdered by You-Know-Who. Why try again? Last time they "tried again" it didn't end so well."

"I know," Scorpius replied. "It's weird. And... a bit suspicious. Maybe..." he trailed off, then shook his head. "No, probably not."

Rose glanced at him, confused. She'd known him for four years now, and he was a lot easier to understand, but there were still a lot of things she couldn't figure out about Scorpius Malfoy. And then there were the butterflies. Scorpius had become much less unnerving as she got to know him, but recently a bunch of exceedingly irritating butterflies had decided to set up house inside Rose's chest, and whenever she met Scorpius' piercing green eyes, they took it upon themselves to have a wild dance party in there. No consideration at all. Rose seriously did not need that racket whenever she was trying to hang out with her best friend. It was extremely inconvenient. Honestly, where was the Pest Control when you needed them?

Rose was jolted from her thoughts when a distraction arrived in the form of Cynthia Malfoy.

"Hiya, peeps!" Cynthia squeezed herself in between Rose and Scorpius, her eternal pigtails bouncing. "Sooo, another Triwizard Tournament. What d'you think about that, hmm?"

Rose gave her friend a sidelong glance and her heart sank. Cynthia's eyes were alight with mischief. This was not going to end well.

"It's... cool," Rose replied cautiously.

"Oh, come on!" Cynthia pouted. "You know what happens with the Tournament!"

"Um..."

Cynthia rolled her eyes. "Think, Snake Girl. It happens at Christmas..."

Rose started to feel extremely suspicious. She was pretty sure she knew what Cynthia was getting at, and if she was right, then this was probably another one of Cynthia's twisted plans to get Rose and Scorpius together. Ever since Rose had made it up with her, Cynthia had been taking her self-appointed role of matchmaker a little too seriously for Rose's comfort. She really liked Scorpius, as a friend. She didn't think she loved him. But Cynthia wouldn't hear of it. Neither would those stupid butterflies.

"You guys were made for each other," Cynthia had told Rose once.

The butterflies... well, they were making it pretty clear who's side they were on.

Now, Cynthia poked Rose's arm. "You know where I'm going with this," she teased.

Rose rolled her eyes. "Unfortunately so."

Cynthia gave her a lofty look. "Hmph. Do not think you're getting away this time. You'll go to the Yule Ball with Scorpy, mark my words.

"Assuming we actually have a Ball," Scorpius pointed out. "And don't call me Scorpy."

Rose couldn't help but notice that he didn't actually refuse to accept his sister's plans. The butterflies got pretty wild at that.

"Oh, we'll have one, Scorpy," Cynthia promised, completely disregarding the last bit. "And when we do, you two - " she put her arms around their shoulders " - will be going together!"

Rose and Scorpius exchanged a look. The butterflies fluttered around. "Okaayy," Rose said. "Why are you telling us that? You've lost the advantage of surprise."

Cynthia grinned mischievously. "Oh, don't worry about that, Snake Girl," she trilled. "I know exactly what I'm doing."

Okay. Was that good? Bad? Scary? Rose felt like any more confusion and her brain would implode. She didn't have a crush on Scorpius, did she? Quite honestly, Rose didn't know what to think anymore. But one tiny part of her, mostly in the region of the butterflies, was secretly hoping that Cynthia would succeed.
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A/N: yes, Cynthia and Rose are friends now. Also, I know I kinda did two GINORMOUS time skips, but it couldn't be helped. Yeah. Comment and vote. I will try to update soon. UNICORNS!!!