The Red Rose That Has Green Thorns

The scores were high, and so was fatigue. Finally, after six, well, six and a half hours, the players were beginning to show their exhaustion. I couldn’t decide if it was a good ting or a bad thing. I was able to block more shots from the White team’s chasers, and Jacobs was able to block more from Lily, Olivia, and Martha.

“The players must be getting tired, but they’re hiding it well! Just look at those scores, and you will easily see what I mean! Two hundred thirty points for the Black team, and one hundred seventy for White! White has been gaining - slowly but surely, folks - on Black since the fifth hour! This has been a long game!”

“No, shit!” I couldn’t restrain the words from leaving my mouth, even as Al came toward me with the quaffle under his arm.

The look in his eyes had me worried. It was the mischievous glint I knew meant no good, and I wondered just what he could be up to that gave him the confidence he needed to have that look - and his smirk. Maybe they were about to pull the feint we had scored one hundred and forty points with, like Zack had predicted? I’d have to watch closely…

There - Al’s eyes flicked to his right, my left, and since he knew my keeping style like the back of his hand, he would pass to his left…where Buford was fast approaching. I looked to Buford, taking my eyes off the quaffle in what normally would be a foolish move, to see Buford look toward Al almost imperceptibly at the distance. Seconds later, the quaffle was in Buford’s possession, but his actions left me certain that he wasn’t going to be the one to take the shot.

Buford got right up to my rightmost hoop and I feinted like I was going in his direction. The second the quaffle left his grasp, I darted to the left as quickly as my broom would allow and arrived in time to catch Al’s shot.

“So Zack was right,” I murmured to myself, tossing the quaffle back in to Olivia. I circled in front of my hoops, keeping my eye on the quaffle. The White team was going to try to trick me now…and I would have to watch carefully.

“Nice, Rose!” Scorpius said as he hovered nearby, blasting a bludger away from the scoring zone. If it had hit me, it wouldn’t have been a foul because the bludger had just been roaming.

“And that was a nice save by Rose Weasley! How did she see that one coming? I guess that’s for her to know, and the rest of us to probably never find out! And it’s Wood in possession…now Potter, Wood, Smethley - nice sloth grip roll again from the youngster! - Potter…”

I laughed, letting my eyes seek out the team. Scorpius was rocketing after a bludger, but Hugh got to it first and sent it away from our Potter and right at Al. al was forced to roll in order to avoid it, temporarily throwing him off of Lily’s trail.

“What is this I see?!” the announcer’s tone and pitch rising suddenly made me tune in to what she was saying as I scanned the field. “Can I be seeing what I think I am? Yes! Yes, I am! The seekers have spotted the snitch, and just look at them go! From opposite ends of the pitch! Who will get there first? It’s a race, ladies and gentlemen! Six and a half hours at it, and it could come down to this very moment!”

The crowd erupted as both Louis and Zack began to dive. And I saw it, too - flitting back and forth, almost too fast for me to see. How Zack and Louis could see it from one hundred feet up while circling, I’ll never understand, and yet here they were, pelting after it at breakneck speeds in their steep dives.

It looked like Louis was ahead…by a good ten yards. He was getting closer and closer to earning a victory for the white team…until the bludgers came seemingly out of nowhere from opposite directions.

Hugo’s bludger was expertly dodged, but it almost seemed as if the beaters of my team had planned this scenario out…especially when Scorpius’ bludger came into play. It hit Louis’ broom - well, clipped it, so it didn’t cause any damage that couldn’t be fixed - and caused Louis to go spinning around two or three times. Fred, upon seeing the assault of bludgers raining down on his cousin and seeker, sped forward to send one of them back at Zack. Zack dodged it as easily as one might avoid a quite solid tree in their path, and…

“He’s done it! Zachary Zabini has caught the golden snitch, claiming a victory for the Black team!”

“Yes!” I couldn’t help myself. The rest of the team was already speeding toward Zack. Martha was already there, hugging him, and Hugh was slapping him on the back in a friendly, congratulatory manner.

Being the farthest away, I was the last to get there and tumbled quickly off my broom to give Zack and Lily a group hug - Lily was second to last to make it there, so she had just reached him. When I let go, the next person I practically tackled was Scprpius, who laughed and clasped his arms tightly around my back while spinning in a circle. I couldn’t help but join in the infectious laughter.

“You played a great game, Scorp!” I told him as he slowed down in his spinning.

“You were bloody fantastic!” he retorted as he came to a complete stop.

I planted a large kiss on his cheek without thinking, grinning from ear to ear. “Thanks!”

As an afterthought, as we stepped away from each other, I asked, “Team party in our common room? Maybe one guest apiece…?”

He grinned at me, eyes twinkling in a way that made my knees feel like jelly. “Do you read minds, Rose Weasley?”

I laughed, and didn’t have to worry about my jelly-like knees anymore because in that instant, Olivia and Martha tackled me to the ground in a hug…a hug that soon became a Black team hug-slash-dog pile with me at the bottom.

Our ‘party’ consisted of the Black team, all Potter/Weasleys, and even the White team. It wasn’t a party for us to brag, but to celebrate a well-played game. And, being a party as it was, we had a few of the Beauxbatons students and Durmstrang students with us. Namely, the ones we knew well, like Andy, Demitri, Joe, Carl, Theresa, and Maria Krum, Uncle Viktor’s fifteen year old daughter.

Fred, Al, Hugo, and I had snuck off to Hogsmeade through the secret passageway, and acquired some butterbeer from Aberforth at the Hog’s Head, and a few party things from Zonko’s - they wouldn’t report us, as Uncle George was a frequent visitor in his Hogwarts days, along with his twin, my late Uncle Fred. When we got back, we’d dropped it all in the Head’s common room so we could all go ahead and get our showers, and then the ‘party’ had begun.

It’s really more of a get-together among friends and comrades, but ‘party’ was fine.

“This one’s to a very well played Quidditch match, eh?” Al said, raising his butterbeer for a toast.

“Hear, hear!” was a chorus of voices, and all of us raised our own drink in agreement with Al’s proposed toast. Al then clapped me on the back, grinning. “You saw how much I tried in that game, so don’t get mad if I don’t try as hard against Ravenclaw on Thursday, eh?”

I punched his shoulder, his statement and my reaction causing those in our immediate vicinity to chuckle or laugh.

“You’re not going to slack off while I’m on duty, Albus Potter,” I retorted, but grinned nonetheless.

“Rose!” Lily dragged me away quite suddenly to a corner where she had been muttering with Olivia, Martha, Molly, Andy, Theresa, and Maria. “Come here, right this instant!”

She sat me down on a pouf, and I became the center of attention of the seven girls.

“Um…what?” I asked, confused. “What’d I do this time, eh?”

“Well…there was something we all noticed,” Lily grinned, the mischievous twinkle that ran in the family glinting now in her eyes. “At the end of our match against the White team. Very interesting development, actually.”

I looked at her questioningly, not taking in what she meant.

“Someone likes her best friend,” Theresa remarked offhandedly.

“Very, very best friend,” Andy giggled, and it started to dawn on me.

“What - what?!” I asked, feeling the heat rise to my cheeks.

“You, Rose,” Maria said, matter-of-factly, “like none other than Scorpius Malfoy. Are we right, or are we right?”

“What? I - don’t - I mean, um…” I couldn’t form a sentence. I glanced at where Scorpius, Hugh, and Al were shoving each other around playfully. The laughter was etched into Scorpius’ features, and I found myself temporarily unable to look away. When I did pull my gaze away, it was to find knowing glances from the group of girls.

“See?” Martha prompted.

“C’mon, Rose,” Olivia jumped in, nudging me. “That kiss? After the game? Even if it was just on the cheek, I could tell it meant something!”

Now the flush was creeping up my neck. “Guys, don’t--”

“It’s true, Rosie,” Lily sing-songed. “You like him!”

“I don’t…” I trailed off, turning to watch him roughhousing with the guys again, this time giving Zack a noogie. His hair was still damp from his shower, and he had a wide, cheerful grin on his lips. And, Merlin, how could he make a normal, long-sleeved, button up shirt look so good? With the sleeves rolled up, showing the perfect forearms he possessed and making my heart beat quicker. I groaned and wrenched my eyes away. “…I do.”

The girls shrieked happily, and started chatting and laughing and teasing me. It was then that I myself got one of the mischievous glints, and grinned at Andy.

“Hey, at least I don’t like Albus…right, Andy?”

Her cheeks flushed pink immediately, and she started to splutter. The girls converged on her, and I got up and walked away, laughing.