Dragon Heartstrings

Rose hadn’t picked up her broom since Romania. Her lack of practice since then was only now occurring to her, half an hour before quidditch trials. She cursed the witch or wizard that had come up with N.E.W.T.s. 

The girls had spent their weekend holed up inside their dorm, finishing their homework. The weather had been poor the last two days, the winter chill had set in early this year. She glanced up at the ceiling of the great hall and grimaced. 

‘It’s not as bad as earlier,’ Frankie said gently, following Rose’s gaze. 

‘She’s right, it’s worse,’ Albus remarked, as he scraped the last of his pudding off his plate. 

‘Not helping,’ Frankie muttered, giving him a nudge. Albus nudged her back, sidling up closer to her and conveniently forgetting to move away again. 

Rose caught Scorpius’s eye. Their friends had been having lots of moments like this recently, constantly finding reasons to be with each other, sitting next to each other at every chance they got. Rose thought it was only a matter of time before they actually got together. 

‘We better go, prefect rounds,’ Frankie said, touching Albus’s arm. 

‘We'll probably miss most of the trials but we’ll come down for the end of it. Good luck Rosie,’ Albus grinned at her, reaching over to ruffle her hair. She dodged it, leaning back, swatting him away. 

She smiled as she watched the pair walk away, Frankie laughing at something Albus was saying. 

‘Do you think he’ll ask her out soon?’ Rose said to Scorpius. 

It was just the two of them left now. The rest of their friends had gone down to the quidditch pitch already, Roxanne to the changing rooms, and the others to get a good seat in the stands. Watching the quidditch trials no matter which house you were in had become a popular event. People needed to be kept entertained until the matches started. Hufflepuffs had happened the night before, and Slytherin’s were scheduled during the week.

Scorpius shook his head, ‘it’ll be another while yet. He needs to build up the courage’. 

‘She might beat him to it,’ she said. 

‘Ah, give him time,’ he bristled.

‘I better get going,’ she sighed, stretching her arms high above her head. 

Scorpius’s gaze slid down where her top had ridden up. She pulled it down, smirking at him. He averted his eyes, cheeks tinging pink. 

‘I’ll walk you,’ he said, shouldering her broom. ‘I have to find the others down there anyway,’ he added after he saw her expression. 

As they trudged through the grounds the weather seemed to only get worse. Her quidditch gear was already soaked, and she could feel water from her ponytail dripping onto her neck. The path just before the pitch had become a mud slide after so many students had walked over it. 

Rose took a step and nearly slipped. Scorpius let out a laugh which quickly turned into a cough. She scowled. 

‘Go on then, you first,’ she said, crossing her arms. 

He stepped forward tentatively. His clothes were drenched too, his hair now sopping wet curls. He made it further than she had, but after another step he wobbled. It was her turn to laugh now. 

He turned around and held out his hand. She arched her brow suspiciously. 

‘Trust me,’ he winked. 

After hesitating for a moment she took his hand, and let him pull her closer to him. They staggered through the mud together, his hand just under her ribs, keeping her upright. They had almost made it through when a particularly strong gust of wind hit them, Rose lost her balance and leant into Scorpius. He stumbled forwards and fell, dragging her down next to him. 

They froze. The situation seemed so unreal. In the pouring rain, Scorpius was lying on his back in a huge patch of mud, and Rose Weasley was right there beside him, arms sprawled across his chest. They stared at each other, both at a loss for words. Rose felt the corners of his mouth quirk up, and she let out a laugh. She clapped her hands to her mouth. Scorpius bit his lip, saying nothing for a moment, then he burst out laughing. 

They stayed like that for a few minutes, both shaking with laughter. Rose wiped tears from her eyes. 

‘You know,’ Scorpius said after they’d got their breath back, ‘there was a time you would have hexed me for that’. 

Rose grinned at him. They were inches apart, she could see he had flecks of mud in his hair, she had to suppress a giggle. 

He smiled back at her, his eyes crinkling at the corners. He opened his mouth as if to speak, but someone else spoke first. 

‘Alright Rose?’

Rose looked up and saw Kit Fogarty standing before them, broom in hand, mouth slightly open as he stared at the pair of them. The reality of the situation and what it must look like suddenly dawned on her. Here she was, splattered in mud, sprawled out next to Scorpius, his arm still around her waist. 

He stretched out his hand to her and she pulled herself up. She turned to offer her own hand to Scorpius but he had already stood up, and was brushing himself off. 

‘You’ve got a bit of mud in your hair mate,’ Kit said to Scorpius, although he didn’t sound too friendly. 

Scorpius clenched his jaw and started combing through his hair with his fingers. 

‘Red wants us on the pitch,’ Kit said, running a hand through his own, conveniently mud free hair. 

‘Right, ehm…’ Rose glanced between the two of them, feeling flustered. 

‘I’ll head up to the stands,’ Scorpius said, holding out Rose’s broom. Her fingers brushed his as she took it, and she felt that tug in her stomach again. 

                                                                          *

The quidditch trials were going as expected, Red was busy barking orders, and the rain was still beating down on them. The only positive was that the mud had nearly washed off her. She glanced upwards towards the stands. Although not as many people as a match would have drawn, there was still quite a crowd watching. They had been here almost two hours, and they were only about half way through. 

Only a handful of the people who tried out had any real chance of getting on the team. Red’s first test was five laps around the pitch, which immediately halved the group of nearly fifty tryouts. Those that were left after some other test drills were grouped up based on the position they were going for. 

Rose and the other chaser Cas Reid joined the rest of the hopefuls to watch the other tryouts drills. Out of all the groups, the chaser’s had the most people in it. 

Only two new people had tried out for beater, and it was immediately clear they were no match for Roxanne and Kit. Rose heard cheers and whistles from the stands when Red announced they’d be keeping their places on the team. She grinned at Roxanne, giving her a thumbs up. No one bothered to go for Keeper, and although Rose wished someone had attempted to put Red in his place, she wouldn’t deny he was the best keeper they’d had in years. 

The chaser drills began with another lap around the pitch. Red axed three of them and then got them to line up, to have a go at scoring from the halfway mark. Those who scored more than four out of five made it to the next round, where they had to score from closer, only this time against the keeper, Redmond himself. 

There were only five of them left after the last drill. Herself, Cas, Jane Knight, Will Holden and Laurie Smith. 

Cas went first. Rose crossed her fingers. She liked Cas as a chaser. They worked well together. She felt that was the key to a good quidditch team - chasers that worked with each other and good beaters that understood how to protect them. Without them, the seeker and keeper were redundant. Cas scored five out of five, and Rose let out a breath she didn’t know she’d been holding. Will scored three, and Laurie and Jane both scored four. 

Rose got to the front of the line. The first four shots were easy. She could make out Red’s face, his mouth a grim line. It’s like he wants me to miss. 

Rose leaned forward to take her last shot. If she made five out of five now, she’d have secured her spot as chaser. If not, she’d have to retry against Laurie and Jane. Her left hand gripped the broom handle. The rain had only gotten heavier. She felt her broom drag slightly with the added weight from her soaked clothes.. 

Rose dove left, her right hand clutching the quaffle. She knew Red would try his hardest to save this one, just to put her in her place. She pulled her broom up right swiftly, giving her a split-second advantage on him. She lunged forward, and dove left again. Red had been guarding the right post. The quaffle sailed through the left hoop. She heard more cheers from the stands, and she grinned up at where she guessed her friends were sitting. 

It was down to Jane and Laurie now for the last spot. Rose said a silent prayer that Jane would win, but she missed her last shot, and Laurie scored them all. Red announced herself, Laurie and Cas as this year's chasers, and received some very rowdy cheers from the stands. 

‘Oi oi Rosie,’ she heard Sandy shout, followed by a catcall. 

Rose blew a kiss, which only prompted more shrieking and stamping their feet.

‘You’re setting a bad example,’ Red said irritably, flying nearer to her. 

‘Oh cheer up Redmond,’ she waved her hand dismissively. 

‘Yeah come on Red, we’ve been at this for nearly two hours, I think my balls have frozen off mate,’ Cas drawled. 

‘Or drowned,’ Roxanne said earnestly, promptly squeezing a fist of her hair to show the amount of water it had soaked up.

‘I’ll hex them off if you don’t shut it,’ Red said to Cas. Although Rose caught him try to suppress a shiver as he turned. 

‘We’ll finish up soon,’ he relented, ‘Kit grab the snitch there’.

Rose placed one hand behind her on her broom to support herself and closed her eyes, this drill could take a while. 

                                                                     *

Another hour and a half later they were back in the castle, the gang all heading up to the Commons. 

‘Your brother really knows how to drag something out,’ Louis said to Sandy, rubbing his ears. 

‘Don’t I know it,’ she replied irritably. 

‘Promise not to do that at our tryouts. Done and dusted for eight, eh Scorpius?’ Albus turned to his friend. 

Scorpius nodded sincerely, grinning back. 

‘Most people left after the chaser tryouts, everyone knew Healy would get seeker,’ Noah told Rose. Gary Healy had been the seeker for the last three years, he was often praised to be the best Gryffindor seeker since Harry Potter himself. 

They were just about to turn left at the base of the steps that led to Gryffindor tower when they heard a shout from behind them. 

‘You’re not coming back to the common room?’ Cas asked. Kit and Redmond were standing right behind him. 

‘We’re heading to the Commons,’ Rose shrugged. 

‘Why not just go to our own common room?’ Kit asked icily. 

‘Have a guess mate,’ Louis said, rolling his eyes.  

‘You should celebrate with your teammates,’ Kit countered, his voice had a hard edge to it. 

‘What are you even celebrating? That you’ve made the same exact team from last year with one new addition because the last guy left?’ Scorpius’s lip curled. 

Rose was surprised. She hadn’t heard the sarcastic tone Scorpius had used in a long time. They used to only speak to each other in insults, or in mocking each other. She had gotten used to his more easy-going, witty humour. 

Kit glared at Scorpius. 

‘Why were you at the trials? Spying on us? Trying to figure out our tactics?’ Kit sneered back. 

Scorpius gave a mean laugh. ‘Did you not lose the final last year? To us? Not sure what tactics I’d wanna be picking up if I’m honest’. 

Rose shot Scorpius a warning look. 

‘Better than your dirty tactics. Your Flint twins are the foulest players I’ve ever met,’ Kit snarled. 

‘I could say the same thing for your beater strategy,’ Scorpius practically spat. Kit’s jaw tensed.

‘Right well we’re headed to the Commons, not exactly welcome in your common room by the sounds of it. Rosie and Roxie? Joining us?’ Louis interrupted, sensing the dangerous tone of the guys. 

‘Gotta support inter-house unity,’ Rose said, winking at Redmond as she strolled past them, arm-in-arm with Roxanne.

‘I thought they were about to fight over you,’ Sandy teased as they headed to their usual spot in the Commons. 

‘Maybe they were fighting over me ,’ Roxanne stuck her tongue out at her girlfriend.

‘Oh yes of course my dear,’ Sandy grinned at her and pulled her in for a kiss. 

‘I think the next training session may be a frosty one for you,’ Frankie said, biting her lip. 

‘Don’t start,’ Rose groaned. She glanced over at Scorpius who had picked up the paper on the chair and begun to read it. She nearly rolled her eyes. Typical of him to just pretend nothing had happened. 

Louis clearly had the same thought. ‘We’re just not gonna talk about it?’ he arched an eyebrow at Scorpius. 

‘Nope,’ Scorpius said, not looking up from his newspaper. 

No one said anything for a moment. 

‘Who’s making tea?’ Noah asked, waggling his eyebrows at Rose. 

‘Not a chance! I made it last night, it’s your turn,’ Rose threw a cushion at him, perching herself on the arm of his chair. 

‘Actually, no point anyway, we used the last of the biscuits,’ he grumbled. 

‘Oh!’ Frankie exclaimed. She pulled out a bag from her robes and held it up. 

‘Cake!’ Rose said, twirling around as she took the bag from her. 

‘A selection of it too,’ Albus said, obviously proud of himself. 

‘Rounds interesting so?’ Sandy asked innocently, but Rose saw her nudge Roxanne. 

‘You won’t believe who we caught in a broom cupboard,’ Albus grinned. 

‘Well we didn’t actually catch them, we just saw them on the map,’ Frankie explained. 

‘Why didn’t you get them? Is that not your job?’ Louis asked, taking a sniff of almond sponge, and handing it straight to Noah. 

‘We felt it was better to leave this one off, no fun if it’s out in the open,’ Frankie smirked. 

‘Do you plan on telling us who it is or?’ Roxanne grumbled. 

‘Max Rivers….’ Albus said slowly. 

‘Shock,’ they all said in unison. 

‘And…’ Albus paused. 

‘Oh spit it out Al,’ Scorpius sighed, looking up. 

‘Max Rivers,’ Frankie finished, eyes glinting. 

The reaction was almost comical. Sandy and Roxanne gasped. Louis' mouth dropped open. Scorpius dropped his paper. 

‘No way,’ Rose laughed in surprise.

‘I know,’ Albus said, visibly pleased with the reaction this news had brought. 

‘Noah? Not phased?’ Frankie said, looking sideways. 

Noah looked at them and shrugged. ‘Just not surprised’.

‘Not surprised?’ Sandy asked incredulously. ‘How?’

‘Well was it not obvious?’ he asked. 

‘No!’ they all exclaimed. 

‘They hate each other!’ said Frankie.

‘Actually she hates him, he just pretends to and teases her to wind her up,’ Rose pointed out.

Noah mumbled something under his breath. 

‘Noah?’ Rose asked.

Noah sighed and leaned forwards, resting his elbows on his knees. ‘She doesn’t hate him either. Are you all dense?’ they responded with bewildered looks. ‘Boy likes girl, girl likes boy, so girl pretends to hate boy, boy pretends to hate girl, but really no one hates each other but they’re stuck with it now and then one day the tension is too much, hence the broom cupboard!’ he sat back, looking amused, watching their reactions.  

Louis started clapping. 

‘ Witches Whispers column could use you,’ Scorpius grinned at him. Noah threw up two fingers at him. Witches Whispers was a popular British magazine for the wizarding community. 

‘I’m impressed Noah,’ Roxanne said, nodding. 

‘So the quiet mysterious persona is all an act. You’re actually Hogwarts number one gossip,’ Sandy said, giving him an approving look. 

‘Our Noah’s got hidden depths you wouldn’t even believe,’ Albus said, puffing out his chest proudly.

Noah groaned and hid his face behind his hands. 

‘They’re only teasing,’ Rose assured him, putting her arm across his shoulders. 

‘Of course,’ Sandy said, ‘but Noah tell me who else you predict?’ she asked eagerly. 

‘Ignore her,’ Rose patted Noah’s head. 

‘She’s just scared,’ Sandy winked at Rose. 

‘Of?’ Rose asked, although she felt a little nervous. 

‘Of who he might say,’ Sandy said smirking. 

‘What?’ she feigned confusion, but Rose had a distinct feeling she knew exactly what Sandy was hinting at. 

‘Well what other boy and girl do I know that claim to hate each other,’ she glanced over at the chair across from them, where Scorpius was talking to Albus. 

Noah wasn’t oblivious, and he began nodding at Sandy, giving Rose a nudge in the ribs. 

Rose gave Sandy a pointed look and Sandy bit her lip, looking guilty. 

‘Hugo!’ Albus said happily, looking behind her. 

Rose had never been so grateful to see her brother. She turned away from Sandy and Noah. 

‘Alright guys,’ Hugo said cheerfully, accepting a piece cake from Frankie. 

‘Everything okay?’ Rose asked. She usually met with Hugo at dinner time, along with the rest of her family, on whatever days she’d sit at the Gryfindor table. She suddenly felt panicked that something was wrong, it was unusual for him to seek her out. 

‘All good, just need to borrow the map,’ Hugo said, looking towards Albus. 

The Marauders Map had been passed down to James, then to Albus, on the condition that it would be shared between the family when they wanted it. 

‘Tell us why?’ Albus asked as he passed over the parchment. 

Hugo just smiled, reaching for another slice of cake. 

‘She must be worth it,’ Louis said, winking at Hugo. 

‘Spikes are looking good,’ Frankie said kindly. 

‘Really?’ Hugo said shyly, lifting his hand to his hair. 

‘You’ll flatten them,’ Rose told him, and he hastily pulled his hand away. 

‘How’s the celebrations going?’ Albus asked. 

‘Pretty dull, not sure why we’re celebrating, it’s basically the same team as last year,’ Hugo shrugged. 

‘See!’ Scorpius exclaimed, waving his hand around.  

‘Relax,’ Louis said, patting Scorpius’s knee. 

‘Who’s on patrols tonight?’ Hugo asked Albus and Frankie. 

‘Max and Kati, and Sarah and Brian are in the main castle,’ Frankie said, checking the rota. 

‘Max and Kati are covering the south wing,’ Albus added, looking over the parchment. 

‘Go there so,’ said Louis. 

‘Where the Head boy and girl are patrolling?’ Hugo asked unconvinced. 

‘Trust me, they’re not gonna be checking it thoroughly,’ Noah promised, his eyes glinting. 

‘Cheers mate,’ Hugo said, pocketing the map. 

‘It’s supposed to be a secret Noah,’ Frankie hissed at him once Hugo had left. 

‘Not everyone is as unaware as you,’ Noah said looking around. ‘I’m sure he already knows.

‘We can’t all have your talents for sourcing scandal,’ Louis declared dramatically. 

‘It’s hardly a scandal,’ Noah said exasperatedly, shaking his head. ‘Unless it earns me tea?’ he gave Rose a lopsided grin. 

‘Not a chance,’ she yawned, sliding down to the carpet and lying down in front of the fire. 

She closed her eyes. Only now that she had a moment to think, she realised how exhausted she was. The trials had gone on for what felt like forever, and although she could feel the heat on her face now, she still felt cold. It was like the rain had seeped into her bones and stayed there. She shivered. She felt something soft being gently placed over her. A blanket, she guessed. Rose smiled, too tired to open her eyes. She let the individual chatter of her friends fade into background noise, listening to the crackling of the fire, the sporadic bangs from exploding snap, the low hum of music from the back of the room. 

She thought of Romania, of Charlie and Zach. Charlie had written to her during the week, she hadn’t even had a chance to read it with all the study she’d been doing. She made a mental note to write back later. Her mother’s letter sat unopened in her bedside drawer too. 

Rose had been keeping up to date with her mothers work by reading the newspaper. It amazed her that more than twenty five years after the war, nearly every news outlet was still dedicated to including updates on the ‘Golden Trio’ and their families, in every issue. 

She had read about her uncle Harry approving a new deployment of Aurors in a base in Vienna. Her dad and uncle had the advertisements out already for the Halloween specials in their joke shop. James had begun his training with the Falmouth Falcons, and seemingly given an interview about it. Herself and her brother were mentioned of course, as well as Albus. The journalist had somehow gotten information on their summers, it mentioned Albus’ ‘wild and wicked night in London with his friends’. The papers loved writing about Albus and the other guys. Something about the next generation children of the two sides of the war coming together.  They even commented on Hugo’s new hair, dubbing it as the next trend. She found an excerpt on her week in Cornwall before Hogwarts, but noticed no mention of her trip to Romania - which Rose couldn’t help but wonder if her mother had had something to do with.  

Hermione had attended an opening of a new wing in the British wizarding museum the week before, celebrating the muggle borns who helped bring them victory in the war. This week she had signed off on a new house elf policy. Rose couldn’t remember which one this was, she’d read about so many. Her mother had also added new restrictions on magical creature habitats. From now on any new sanctuary for magical creatures would be subject to a special screening by the top ministry officials. Charlie had told her that before this rule, a sanctuary just had to have the approval of the Board of Trustees for the Safe Harbouring of Magical Creatures. She knew this new process would mean it would be more difficult to get new shelters approved. The article she’d read hadn’t been in the Prophet of course. Not where her mother knew she’d read it. She had found it in her copy of the Monthly Magizoologist’s Guide - Charlie had recommended it to her over the summer. 

Rose tried to push away thoughts of study, of her future, of her mother. She focussed on the hum of chatter from the room, the sporadic crackling of the fire next to her, and the soft material over her which had a distinctly familiar smell. The comfort of the smell helped to sooth her and lull her to sleep. 

                                                                                                                                    *