The Music Still Plays On

Part 3: It Satisfies My Needs

Chapter 11: I'm Okay

Rose's POV

As I started my third year at Hogwarts, many things changed. First, two more of my cousins started their first year at Hogwarts- Dominique and Fred. Dominique was Victoire's younger sister, but, unlike Victoire, she was quite the tomboy. She hated styling her hair extravagantly the way that Victoire did, always wearing it in a simple ponytail. Dominique also didn't have a group of girls following her around at all times like Victoire did, either- she preferred to hang out with Fred and his guy friends, playing pickup games of Quidditch in the backyard. Needless to say, this didn't please Aunt Fleur at all, who constantly had to tell Dominique to act like a lady and not belch at the dinner table. She had been sorted into Gryffindor, like me.

Fred was Aunt Angelina and Uncle George's first child, and was good friends with Dominique. He was very mischievous and, like Dominique, loved to play Quidditch. He was also sorted into Gryffindor.

Also, because I was a third year, I got to choose some new classes to take. At first, I didn't know which one to choose, as they all seemed so fascinating. I didn't want to be an overachiever like my Mum and attempt to take every elective at once, but it was a hard decision. I finally decided on Ancient Runes, Care of Magical Creatures, and Arithmancy, which were all going very well.

There weren't many changes among my group of friends, though Nellie and I had grown closer than ever over the summer holiday. We'd often whisper secrets to each other late at night, giggling. And as for Scorpius, well, it seemed pretty clear to me what he felt about our friendship. I was okay with how I was at the moment. I had friends, family, and good grades to count on. I didn't need to add any complications.

The change that I was most happy about, however, was that, as a third year, I was finally allowed to visit Hogsmeade. Besides enjoying the succulent sweets at Honeydukes, which was always fun, I got to visit most of my family there as well. Uncle George opened up a second Weasley's Wizard Wheezes store there a couple years back, where Zonko's used to be, and he and Aunt Angelina now lived in a flat above the shop. Most teenagers, I'm sure, would want to stay as far away from their extended family as possible, but I loved staying connected to them.

In fact, this Saturday was the second time that the third years had been allowed to visit Hogsmeade this year, and I was taking up this opportunity to buy some things and visit my family. After Nellie and I feasted on some fudge from Honeydukes, we walked into Weasley's Wizard Wheezes to visit my family and pick up some items that Fred and Dominique had requested, probably for use on some of their classmates that they didn't like.

The first person we saw when we walked in was my cousin, Roxanne. Now five years old, she loved it when I would stop by.

"Rosie!" she squealed, her tiny arms enveloping me in a hug. "You're here!"

"Hi, Roxanne! Why are your hands so sticky?" I had noticed that her hands were covered in a yellow paste while she was hugging me.

"I don't know. Do you want to see my toy broom?" Roxanne asked, quickly changing the subject. I knew she wasn't telling me the whole story.

"Not so fast. What about your hands? Come on, you can tell me," I reassured.

"Okay, but don't tell Mummy and Daddy!" she whispered. "I was trying to get a cookie from the cookie jar on top of the shelf in the kitchen, but then I fell. I put on some of the stuff that Daddy always puts on my bruises, though, and now I'm all better!" I giggled. Roxanne must've put on too much of the Bruise-Remover Paste. I had to hand it to her- she was quite a resourceful little kid.

"Come on, Rosie! I wanted to show you my toy broom, remember?" Roxanne exclaimed, running to the back of the shop. As I followed her, struggling to keep sight of her small body, I ran into several boxes of magical fireworks that were on display. The boxes fell to the ground, some of them opening, illuminating the shop with brightly colored lights. Of course, my first instinct was to try to clean up the mess, but I was stopped by a tall, blonde employee that looked like she had seen better days. Her robes were tattered and torn, and I probably could've counted ten various scars and bruises on her small frame. Even though I had never seen her before, she looked incredibly familiar.

"I'll get that, miss," she said as she began to stack the unopened boxes up again.

"No, I was the one that caused all this, I'll do it," I insisted. But before I could begin to help her, I heard my Uncle's voice.

"Rose! Is that you? So, you've come to visit your dear Aunt and Uncle, eh? Come here and give me a hug!" As I walked away from the spilled fireworks to hug Uncle George, I noticed that the employee I had encountered was picking up the fireworks by hand and not by magic. How odd.

"Ericka! It's time for your break, sweetie," Aunt Angelina said, addressing the employee. "I'll take care of this." Ericka seemed positively overjoyed as she walked out of the shop, followed by a small tabby cat.

"Nice girl," Aunt Angelina remarked as she quickly fixed the firework display with magic. Then, she spotted me. "Rose! How are you? Are you and your friend having a good time?"

"I'm fine, Aunt Angelina. I'm sorry about what I did to the fireworks back there," I apologized.

"Oh, that was you? I thought that was Roxanne, fooling around again. Don't worry about it. Ericka was already cleaning it up," Aunt Angelina said.

"Thanks for being so understanding. Listen, Fred wanted me to pick up some Canary Creams while I was here- I don't know who he intends to use them on, but it seemed pretty urgent."

"That's my boy! Here, you can have five of them for free- family discount!" Uncle George exclaimed.

"George! Shouldn't we be discouraging that type of behavior in our children?" Aunt Angelina questioned.

"Oh, what's wrong with him having a little fun? He's doing fine in school, isn't he, Rose?"

"Yeah, of course," I lied. I figured that now would be a bad time to tell them about how Fred received a detention after setting Ilene Baddock's hair on fire.

"See? What did I tell you? You girls run along now- I'm sure you want to explore some more," Uncle George said. After saying our goodbyes, Nellie and I walked out of the shop.

"Your family is so nice!" Nellie remarked as we went to join some other students.

"You can talk! I wouldn't have known it- you were positively silent while we were in the shop a couple minutes ago!" I exclaimed.

"I'm sorry. It's just...whenever I see you with your family, I think about mine. I sent another letter to my Mum yesterday, but I doubt she'll reply. I don't even know why I bother anymore." It hurt me to see Nellie so sad.

"Oh, Nellie, I'm sure she'll come to her senses eventually," I reassured. "And you're always welcome to stay with us again, like you did last summer. That was so much fun, remember?"

"Yeah, I guess you're right. I'm okay where I am right now." As Nellie and I prepared to leave Hogsmeade, I echoed her statement. Even though things weren't exactly the same as they were last year, I was okay.

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Scorpius's POV

I always liked visiting Hogsmeade- it was another opportunity to spend time with my friends and just have fun instead of studying for another Arithmancy test. This Saturday, though, I was especially excited to visit. After not hearing from Angelica since her first letter to me, I received another letter about a week ago.

Scorpius-

It's Angelica again. Listen, since you're a third year now and can visit Hogsmeade, I think that now would be the perfect time for us to meet up with each other. I usually have a break at around three in the afternoon on Saturdays, so it will be perfect. The next time you go to Hogsmeade, meet me at the Three Broomsticks. I'd love to talk to you.

Love,

Ericka

Of course, I jumped at the chance to see my sister again. The day we were to visit Hogsmeade, I was both excited and nervous. While I really wanted to catch up with Angelica (or Ericka, as she was calling herself now), part of me wondered if we had anything in common now. I put that thought to the back of my mind, though, hoping that it would be a rewarding experience.

As I walked through the streets of Hogsmeade with Blaine, Blair, Tamika, and the rest of my friends, I wondered what I was going to talk to Angelica about. Certainly, plenty had changed since we last saw each other, which was the day before I was to leave for Hogwarts. Tears were streaming down Angelica's face as she begged me not to leave her. That was probably the only time I regretted going to Hogwarts, as it left Angelica prone to even more poor treatment.

I pictured telling Angelica all about how my studies were going (very well, except for Arithmancy, which was a nightmare). She'd probably want to hear about my friends, too, so I'd be sure to mention how well Blaine, Blair, Tamika, and I were getting along. And as for Rose, well, I didn't picture bringing that up in front of her. I was finished with Rose. Our friendship, or whatever you'd like to call it, was officially over. So what if I hurt her feelings? The girl needed to know the truth. But other than that, I was okay with how I was at the moment. I didn't need any more complications.

The tricky part of the afternoon was going to be breaking away from Blaine and Blair, who wanted to spend the whole time swallowing mouthfuls of chocolate at Honeydukes, and Tamika, who had informed me that she wanted to have some tea with me at Madame Puddifoot's.

"Listen, guys, I have to meet a friend soon at the Three Broomsticks," I told them. Blaine and Blair just shrugged their shoulders and headed off to Honeydukes by themselves, but Tamika looked positively crushed.

"But I thought you were going to have tea with me!" Tamika whined.

"Next time, Tamika. This is important." Tamika stormed off in a huff, presumably to go gossip with her friends instead. Nervously, I walked into the Three Broomsticks, wondering if Angelica would be there and if I would recognize her. I didn't spot her at first. What if she had forgotten? I checked the silver watch that my father had given me that summer. Three o'clock exactly. Where could she be? I scanned the place again, thinking that I must have missed her the first time. Finally, I spotted her. She didn't look at all like she did when I last saw her. Her long, blonde hair seemed to be covered in soot, as if she walked into the middle of a fireworks show. She also looked defeated, almost, even though I knew she must be happy to see me. As always, her cat was curled up in a ball at her feet. I walked over to the table where she was sitting, and as soon as she saw me, she perked right up.

"Scorpius!" she exclaimed, giving me a huge hug. "I missed you so much!"

"I missed you, too," I said.

"So, how are you doing? It's my break from work right now, so I thought I'd try to meet you here. It's been so long since I've had anyone to talk to except for Miss Abby here, and, well, it's hard to have an engaging conversation with someone who won't talk back." I chuckled. Soon, we ordered two mugs of butterbeer and were conversing on various topics. I told her all about how I helped Slytherin beat Gryffindor in our Quidditch match last week by lobbing a bludger straight at Gryffindor's seeker as he was about to catch the snitch. She, in turn, didn't have as much to say about what she was doing, but I could tell that she loved hearing about what I was doing. After I finished recounting a prank that Blaine and Blair had played on some unsuspecting first-year Hufflepuffs, she asked me another question.

"I know about Blaine, Blair, and Tamika, but do you have any other friends? Any girls?" she hinted suggestively. That final question took me by surprise, but I tried to play it cool.

"No, of course not. I mean, I do have other friends, but as for girls...not much else, besides Tamika, that is." I was violently blushing when I said this, but I hoped that Angelica didn't notice.

"Right. You always blush when you lie, Scorpius. Have you forgotten that I've known you since you were born?" Angelica had me there. I sighed. I wasn't originally going to tell her about Rose, but since she asked...

"Well, there was this one girl...but we're not friends anymore. It's not important," I said, trying to brush it off.

"Who?" Angelica asked.

"Rose Weasley," I mumbled.

"Oh, I know her! She just came into the shop with her friends today! She seems like a sweet girl. So, what happened between you two? Dad must've had a fit when he found out," she said.

"First of all, Mum and Dad don't know about this, so don't say anything to them. Second, did you just say that you worked for the Weasleys?" I asked, surprised.

"Yes, I do work at Weasley's Wizard Wheezes. It was the only place that would hire me. They're so nice there- from what Mum and Dad said about them, you would think that they were the meanest people around! I figured that working for them was a small infraction compared to all the rest of the damage I did to our parent's reputation," she explained. I laughed. I had forgotten how funny Angelica could be sometimes.

"Rose was nice, but she didn't understand that our friendship couldn't last forever," I explained. Gradually, I told Angelica all about what had occurred between Rose and I during our time at Hogwarts. I talked about how I first saw her that day on the train- how she was nothing like I thought she would be. Then, I told Angelica about that time that she told me we were falling in love- how I was confused and scared at such a prospect. I discussed playing Quidditch with her, how I hated to lob a bludger her way when it was obvious that she was one of the better players that Gryffindor had. Finally, it came time for me to tell Angelica about what happened between Rose and I right before school ended last year. As I finished my take on the incident, Angelica began to look angry.

"And so then I finally told her that I never wanted to see her again. That girl needed to grow up!" I finished.

"You bloody idiot!" Angelica shouted. I was confused. I didn't know what I had said to make her that upset.

"What did I do?" I asked.

"What did you do? Scorpius, I can't believe you! Don't you see? You're acting just like Dad always did. You only care about your reputation and nothing else!" she yelled.

"That's not true!" I protested.

"Oh, I think it is. You told me that you liked being with Rose, that she was so different from everyone else. Well, if you really liked her so much, then why did you go and say all those nasty things to her?" In fact, I had been wondering that same thing myself, but I figured that what I did to Rose was for the best.

"Because...because I didn't want everyone to know that I was good friends with a Weasley! Rose's father sent her a Howler after he found out- can you imagine what Dad would do to me?"

"So you ended a friendship that was going well all because of the girl's last name? That sounds pretty lame to me, Scorpius. Tell me- do you miss spending time with her?" Of course I missed her. I missed talking about our lives together in that classroom. I missed looking forward to that one day of the week that we had to ourselves. And she probably would be able to help me a lot with my Arthimancy homework if we were still friends- she was at the top of the class.

"Well, I guess I miss her a bit," I admitted, knowing that Angelica would be able to tell if I lied. "But even if I do, there's not much I can do about it now, is there? I basically burned all of our bridges when I yelled at her last year."

"You could apologize to her," she suggested.

"Yeah, like that would work. The last thing I want to do is apologize to her. I'd sound like an idiot, and there's no chance in hell that she'd accept it, either, after what I said to her."

"Scorpius, the Weasleys are some of the nicest people I've met. I'm sure Rose would accept your apology."

"I guess, but I don't need to apologize to her. I'm having a good time at Hogwarts as it is- I don't need her complicating things."

"Well, I guess it's up to you, then," Angelica said. "But coming from the viewpoint of another girl, it would probably make Rose incredibly happy if you apologized. Trust me. If you miss her that much, then I bet she probably misses you to." Angelica looked at the clock hanging on the wall of the Three Broomsticks.

"Oh- look at the time! My break's almost over. Think about what I said, Scorpius. Bye!" As Angelica left our table, it was clear that I had a lot of things to think about. Maybe my life wasn't as okay as I thought it was.