The Red Rose That Has Green Thorns

After an hour, the girls had grown really giggly, talking about guys and about Andy and Al - they were reassuring her, now, that Al definitely felt something toward her and that she should find out what. I had kind of threatened them with slow, painful deaths if they had kept going on about my…you’d call it a crush, right? On Scorpius?

I had steered clear of them after the threat, but I made sure to keep an ear open for them just in case I hadn’t scared them completely off the topic.

“Exploding snap, anyone?” Fred suddenly suggested, flashing a few decks, and Olivia, Molly, Maria, and Lucy broke away from the gaggle of girls to join in. Matt (the White team’s keeper, whose last name [Jacobson] makes me sometimes confuse him for Jacob), Jacob, Fred, Louis, Scorpius, Hugo, Zack, Al, Carl, Demitri, Joe, Olivia, Molly, Maria, Lucy, and I were the fifteen who opted to join in the game of exploding snap. Being a large group just made it more fun to play, and I laughed along with everyone else unabashedly when Hugh’s eyebrows got singed.

In the end, it was between Maria and Fred.

“Maria, you can do it!” I cheered, sticking my tongue out at my cousin playfully.

“Nah. You’ve got it, Fred!” Scorpius nudged me, laughing. I gave him a playful shove and continued cheering for Maria.

Fred, of course, won.

I let out an exasperated groan and pretended to hand Scorpius money. He whooped triumphantly and made a big deal out of taking my ‘bet money’.

“You win this round,” I huffed, he just laughed, and another game of exploding snap began.

The Potter/Weasleys ended up sneaking down to the kitchens at 10:24 PM for snacks. Hunger pangs were starting to hit everyone who had participated in the match today, even though we had all eaten a fairly large supper in the Great Hall. I guess it just goes to show that with all the exertion that playing the game causes, the players themselves need more food to replenish the energy. No wonder some athletes get fat after they retire!

On that note, when Al, Lily, Hugh, Fred, Molly, Louis, Roxanne, Lucy, and I returned loaded down with pasties and cakes, we were hailed like heroes.

“Food!” The ever-literate Zack cried, picking Roxanne up and swinging her around happily - I figured he would’ve done that to any one of the girls, too, had we been the first to put our burdens down.

“Don’t get jealous, Lily,” Louis said knowledgeably in a whisper, with Fred nodding agreement over his shoulder. “She’s too young for him.”

Lily acted as though she hadn’t heard, but her ears were turning red. I patted Louis and Fred on the shoulders, grinning. Louis smirked, rolling his eyes, but I knew Fred was serious because Roxie was his younger sister.

“Nourishment has arrived!” Al said dramatically as he dropped his armload on the table. Scorpius rolled his eyes, and Andy giggled. Maria snorted, looking from Andy to Al and raising an eyebrow when Andy turned to her.

“Don’t expect me to hug you and swing you around,” Zack said bluntly, then grinned and punched Al on the arm in the way that guys do when they’re joking around.

“B-b-but!” Al pretended to whine, but he couldn’t keep the laughter at bay for very long, and broke his façade when he started to laugh.

It looked like Matt had been on the wrong end of yet another game of exploding snap, if his still smoking fringe was anything to judge by.

“Help yourselves,” I said as I diverted my gaze from Matt’s hair so I wouldn’t laugh, also claiming the seat on the couch that someone had vacated. “There’s plenty where that came from, should the need arise.”

“Plenty,” Hugh agreed.

“More than all of us put together could eat in twenty years!” Louis cried, throwing his arms up and falling - pretending to fall, anyway - backwards. He bumped into Zack, and they both started spouting apologies at each other.

If there’s one thing that any of us know about Louis, it’s that he’s one of the very few Weasleys who don’t hold grudges against anyone but his siblings. It was clear to see that he held no hard feelings toward the Slytherin seeker that had came up with the snitch for the Black team. They acted like old friends, in fact, clapping each other on the back and already laughing at what had just happened.

I helped myself to a Pumpkin Pasty, savoring the flavor of a genuine one that was untainted by Uncle George’s test products…which he loved to test on his nieces and nephews. And his own children. The last Pumpkin Pasty I’d had was given to me on Halloween by Fred. I’d saved it for a while, opting to eat it the next night before I fell asleep, while I was reading a book. Thankfully, I’d been in my room, so I’d been able to find a way to get rid of my pumpkin head.

I should have learned by now not to accept food from my family…especially from Uncle George’s son. Then again, maybe Fred should have learned to stop tricking me. He’d had a nasty visit of boils the next day, for which he’d been in the Hospital Wing almost the whole time.

"You don’t have many places to sit,” Lily complained playfully, bringing me back to the present. “Oh, well.”

“Lily!” I groaned as she plopped right down on my legs.

“Yes, Rose?” she grinned, blinking innocently at me?”

“Someone want to assist?” I pleaded, looking around at my (laughing) cousins and friends. “Please?”

“Is something wrong?” Lily acted worried, purposely putting more weight on my legs - not that she was so heavy I was being serious when I pleaded for her to get off, I was just playacting like she was. I rolled my eyes then, grinning.

“Yes. There is. I have a female cousin of mine sitting on my lap and I so do not roll that way.” I retorted, sticking my tongue out as she got up, laughing…only to trip over Zack’s feet, as he’d been sitting right beside me.

“Whoa, Lils,” he smirked, catching her and helping her to regain her balance. “I’m not used to girls literally falling over me.”

Her ears grew red, but she pointedly rolled her eyes at him and, in revenge, chose to plop down - hard - on his lap. Everyone just laughed, especially the girls - whose laughs were more giggles, since they all knew she kind of liked him. Louis was smirking, and when I met his eyes, he let out a real grin…albeit one of the mischievous ones that you’re supposed to worry about.

The next morning, we all woke up when the sun streamed through the windows. We’d really only had about six hours of sleep, but no one questioned that it was time to get up. As Zack put it, “I’m hungry. Let’s go to breakfast, shall we?” and we all straightened the clothes we were wearing, which were wrinkled from having been slept in, and then we headed off to the Great Hall.

The Beauxbatons and Durmstrang match was today, after having been postponed. It was originally scheduled to take place after the Hogwarts match…but it’s plain to see that it didn’t take place then because the light was already fading by the time we’d finished our match.