Rose Weasley was seriously pissed.

The minute she got out of school, she pulled out her phone and punched in her best friend and cousin's number. The contact appeared on her screen: Lily Potter. It rang her straight into Lily's irreverent voicemail. Yo, wassup, it's Lily! Obviously I can't talk. Try again later because I don't listen to voicemails.

Swearing under her breath, Rose tried again. This time, she got an answer.

"Hey, baby." Lily sounded sniffly.

"You suck, Potter," Rose snapped, getting straight to the point. "Why weren't you at school today?"

"I'm sick. Why, did something happen?"

Rose sighed. "Something happened, alright. I'm coming over." And she hung up without another word.

She started when someone wrapped their arms around her waist, then relaxed in recognition, laughing. "Luke! You scared me!"

"Sorry, babe." Luke Hannagan leaned down to her, and she twisted up and their lips met briefly.

"You look flustered," he noted concernedly, stepping around and entwining his fingers with hers. "Everything okay?"

Rose smiled. He was so cute when he was worried. "I'm fine," she assured him. "Long day. I have to run, though, or I'll be walking. No pun intended."

Luke raised an eyebrow, his dirty blonde hair flashing the autumn sunlight like a mirror. "I can give you a lift."

"That's okay. I'm going to Lily's. I can take the bus." She gave him a parting peck on the cheek, and was obliged to stand on tiptoe to do so. "See you tomorrow?"

"Bright and early, sunshine," he agreed, and grinned, and his dark eyes crinkled up around the corners.

Her bus was just about to leave when Rose leapt on. She flashed a smile at the driver and made for the back, feeling the stares but not acknowledging them. She was more in the mood for burying herself in the Internet, where eye contact wasn't necessary and keyboards were like shields against reality.

Predictably, Albus Potter had saved her a seat. "Hey, Rosie," he grinned, patting the spot next to him. His friend, Tyler Longbottom, smiled at her toothily; dimples broke out all over his cheeks. She smiled weakly back.

"It's Rose." She sat down heavily and leaned her head back, closing her eyes briefly as the bus started up. What a crazy day. "I'm getting off at your stop. Have to give Lily a piece of my mind."

Albus chuckled. "What'd she do this time?"

"She didn't show up."

"Ahh... okay. I'm just gonna assume that's a girl thing..."

Rose let out a heavy breath, opening her eyes and leaning down to her phone. "Whatever. Doesn't matter."

Taking the hint, Albus resumed his conversation with Tyler. Rose scrolled absently through endless quantities of Instagram feed from the past two hours and let her mind wander.

Next time Lily felt inclined to be sick, Rose would have to spray all the seats in her vicinity with anti-Scorpius solution.

Was that even a thing? Maybe she should make it a thing. It'd probably be a huge hit on the market, too. Rose made a mental note to mention it to Hugo the next time they were allowed to visit. It'd make him laugh, she was sure.

Until she remembered that they wouldn't be visiting anytime soon. Which didn't improve her mood in the slightest.

Her phone pinged, and a banner notification dropped down on her Instagram scrolling. A text from Lily.

Lily Is Da Best: Ummmmm should I be wearing armour...?

Rose ;): yes.

Lily Is Da Best: am I gonna die even if I am wearing armour?

Rose ;): yes.

Lily Is Da Best: then I won't bother with the armour😭😭 (crying emoji)

Rose ;): 🖕 (middle finger emoji)

When she and Albus got off, Rose took a photo of the Potters' mansion and sent it to Lily. The reply was instant.

Lily Is Da Best: FUCKING STALKER

Lily wasn't at the door, and Aunt and Uncle Potter didn't appear to be at home. So Rose went straight up to Lily's room, took a photo of her closed door, and sent it to her.

The door opened a moment later.

"I'm gonna leave you a voicemail," Rose announced, taking in a makeup-free Lily. She did look rather under the weather: her nose was red as her hair, which was quite dishevelled.

Lily gasped, clutching her heart dramatically. "No! Not a voicemail!"

"Whatever, Potter." Rose shouldered past her into the lushly carpeted space beyond, and promptly took control of the bed.

"So." Like shut the door and pulled up her desk chair, crossing her pyjama-clad legs, clasping her hands and leaning forward slightly, therapist-style. "Fill me in. What'd I miss?"

"You missed the first day of grade ten, dumbass. And you missed your seat. Malfoy had to fill in for you."

Lily lips formed a perfect 'O', her mood altering entirely. "Jeez, Rose. I'm sorry."

"It's fine, really. I'm sure it was just as bad for him," Rose said ruefully.

"That guy is a slimeball," Lily proclaimed gloomily.

"That's not the problem, Lily."

"I know. I know," she sighed. "God, do I ever know."

They locked eyes for a brief moment, hazel on forest green, and a thousand unspoken words flashed between them. Lily knew. She knew and she understood and she didn't hate Rose for it. For that, at least, Rose was immeasurably grateful.

"D'you know if he's planning on coming to your party?" Lily wondered after a moment, looking away.

Her party? Oh, right. Rose'd nearly forgotten about the huge party her parents always hosted after the first week of school in September. It tended to be pretty awesome, as far as parties go. Everyone in Upper District showed; you could say it was open to the public. There would be a lot of people, a lot of dancing, a lot of booze, a lot of drugs that weren't invited but showed up anyway, and no one would go home until the following afternoon, and everyone would be at least a little hungover.

"Probably," Rose shrugged. "Doesn't he usually?"

"Guess so."

"There's something else, though," Rose said after a moment. "Something else that happened today, I mean."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. It's — um. I..." She trailed off, unsure of how to word it and almost afraid to say it aloud, and in that moment wishing she had Lily's powers of directness. "There was this article I saw by accident online today."

Lily was quiet, watching Rose inscrutably.

"It's — there's — there was a prison breakout last week. At Azkaban." Rose shut her eyes, unwilling to see Lily's expression when the dots connected... there was a long, long moment of silence.

"Hugo?" Lily whispered finally, shakily.

Rose nodded, swallowing hard. "He's missing. Him and a couple others, I think."

"...Jesus Christ, Rose."

Damn right. The girls lapsed into silence again, and Rose didn't once open her eyes.

She had absolutely no desire to go home. The article had been a fairly new one, but surely her parents knew about Hugo by now — why hadn't they told Rose? That kind of stung. As if she couldn't be trusted to deal with the information. Unreasonable. She'd dealt with all the other Hugo information just fine; this was no different. A confrontation would be necessary tonight. But Rose was so tired.

Presently she heard Lily thump to her feet, and her footsteps padded across the room. The sounds of drawers being opened, the rustling of clothes, rummaging. A good five minutes later the end of the bed dipped down under Lily's weight, and Rose opened her eyes.

She noted, with alarm, that Lily was now sans pyjamas and bedhead. Torn black skinny jeans and a Fall Out Boy t-shirt were the replacements, and her red hair had been half-brushed and pulled up in a messy bun. She'd also sort of applied her usual makeup; Lily always wore black eyeliner all around her eyes, and was rarely seen without it.

"Come on," Lily said cheerfully. "We're going out."

Rose's frown deepened. "No we're not."

"Yes, we are. Let's go bowling or something. You, my friend, are in desperate need of a pick-me-up."

"Aren't you sick?"

"I'm alright now."

"Um..." Rose fished around desperately for an excuse not to go bowling. "Wait — don't you have something with Ava tonight?"

Lily's perfect eyebrows shot up, and she snatched her phone off the night table. And proceeded to punch wildly at it with her thumbs; pause, punch, pause, punch, an I win smirk. "Not anymore!"

"You're evil," Rose grumbled, unable to hold back a smile. "Pure evil."

"I try," Lily said sweetly, offering Rose a hand and dragging her up and out of the room and down the stairs.

Rose's evil best friend wasted no time in kidnapping an unfortunate James Potter and convincing him to drive them to the bowling alley on the other side of town, as well as enlisting him to pick them up. How Lily managed to pull such things off was beyond Rose. Maybe there was some sort of hypnotic power in her eyeliner, or maybe in her hair, or maybe she was just someone who you couldn't say no to. Rose suspected the latter. No, Rose knew it was the latter. Lily's hair was unnerving enough as it was; a splash of bright colour in a perpetual sea of black.

"Watch Ava break up with you tomorrow," Rose teased.

Lily sniffed indignantly. "As if. I would just kiss her back into her right mind if she pulled something like that."

"I don't doubt it." Rose rolled her eyes. She spent enough time plotting ways of getting Lily and Ava a room with no windows and soundproof walls and locking them in and destroying the key. Those two were always way overdoing the PDA. They might as well parade around 24/7 with huge neon Gay Pride banners.

Bowling, as it turned out, wasn't such a bad idea after all. They stayed at the alley until Rose's parents phoned her and demanded to know where on earth she was and what the hell she was doing. They drank way too much Dr. Pepper and Lily left Rose in the dust because Rose couldn't bowl to save her life. And they annoyed the pants off an elderly couple in the next lane over, because they spent more time laughing and being dirty-minded teenagers than they did actually bowling.

Lily was still drinking Dr. Pepper when a tired-looking James showed up to relieve the elderly couple. "Now I have plans with Ava," Lily said smugly as they emerged into the growing darkness.

Rose facepalmed. James guffawed.

*'*'*'*

A/N: Lily is bæ in this, do not even try to argue with me on that.

Obviously, Azkaban is a regular prison in this. Just to clarify. It's not like super terrible and spooky. It's just a prison.

Well that was two chapters to get us rolling. Tell me what you think!! Chapter 3 should be up soon!!

~The Unicorn Queen