The Red Rose That Has Green Thorns

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.

I pondered something I’d guessed at during the aforementioned match, pulling my t-shirt over my head. Yesterday, it had taken an abnormally long time for the seekers to spot the snitch - trust me, I know my cousin’s a good seeker, and Zack might just be better. The more I thought about how long it took, the more certain I became that the slightly smaller, faster style of snitch that had become standard in professional games had been substituted for the larger, school snitches.

I straightened the black pleated skirt I wore - emblazoned with the Durmstrang crest to the lower right on the front and the word ‘Durmstrang’ across the back (tacky, I know) - the skirt was, in fact, an old uniform skirt of mine that the girls and I had attacked last night. I tugged down the blue shirt, which liked to creep up and now had the Beauxbatons crest across the front - courtesy of the girls and I, again. I’d added my own touch to the back - it boldly proclaimed “DuPré & DuPré” (vertically, with the ‘&’ in the middle). The left side of the skirt listed, “Shockley, Krum, Mullins”. Needless to say, I wouldn’t be supporting any of them over the other. I was neutral.

Finally satisfied with my appearance and, once more, my nearly perfect curls, I stepped out of our bathroom. Scorpius looked up as I did so, seemingly from working on an essay. After a few minutes of taking in what I assumed was my opposing school crests, he picked up his clothes and headed past me into the bathroom.

Glancing at the bathroom door, making sure it was closed, I sat where he had been sitting and pulled his parchment closer. It was with a bit of shock that I read, “Rose: go over these topics and add your own ideas. For Tuesday’s prefect meeting.”

I felt my cheeks grow red in embarrassment. He knew me well enough to know that if it had been an essay he’d left out, I would have taken it upon myself to look it over and proofread it.

As I heard the shower kick on, I let my eyes roam farther down the page, occasionally putting my quill to the parchment and adding my thoughts and suggestions into the mix.

A few hours later, and all of Hogwarts and the foreign delegations were in or near the Quidditch pitch. Walking in with Scorpius, I had seen the players that I knew - as in, Andy, Demitri, Joe, Maria, and Theresa - all walking together, even though two were playing for Beauxbatons and the remaining three would be for Durmstrang. I had called a ‘good luck’ after them, and had received a wave in return.

“Ladies and gentlemen,” the announcer, the same as the one from yesterday who I now recognized as Leanne Jordan, called out as Scorpius and I made our way to where Al and the majority of my cousins were sitting (which happened to be right behind the Beauxbatons and Durmstrang delegations). “Are you ready for the Beauxbatons versus Durmstrang match?”

I let out a whoop, and so did all of my relatives - who, one wouldn’t have failed to notice, had all found their way to the place I’d previously mentioned. Several of these relatives had the traditionally Weasley red hair - excluding Louis, who had Aunt Fleur’s fair, blonde hair, Al, who had Uncle Harry’s jet black hair, and of course Scorpius, who was neither a Weasley nor a Potter, and who didn’t have red hair. Together, the majority of us made the section look like it was on fire.

It was at that moment that the deep, deep red blurs that were Durmstrang’s players shot onto the field.

“Keeper, Alexander Dumas!” Leanne began, having to shout over the cheers. “Next we have Maria Krum, headmaster Krum’s daughter, their seeker! These three coming by me right as I speak are the chasers, Martin Koehn, Theresa Mullins, and Marianne Sarjinsky! Two third years and a seventh…not quite the setup, but will we see the Black team’s Smethley Feint again?! And last but not least, beaters Johan Shockley and Jonathon Pealson! Here’s your Durmstrang team, folks!”

Leanne allowed the crowd their moment to cheer (which, of course, all of us Potter/Weasleys did, as well as Scorpius and the Durmstrang delegation below and to the left). Then the Beauxbatons team shot out like a bunch of blue bullets - bullets were these muggle things, shot out of something called a gun. Mom’s told me about them.

“First out for Beauxbatons is keeper Andrea DuPré, and then her twin brother Demitri DuPré, the seeker! Those three blurs you just saw are chasers! Suzanne Martine, Sharon Klass, and Matthias Jones, by name. That there would be the set up for that Smethley Faint from yesterday, eh, folks?” There were a few cheers. “And once again, last but not least are the beaters, Justin Thomas and Caroline Montgomery! Give it up for your Beauxbatons team!”

Cheering engulfed the stadium once again, especially from the group of Beauxbations students that started down one row and to the left of me. What’s more, an even bigger part of the cheering came from my dark haired cousin, who sat right behind me. I turned around to face Al, looking pointedly at him and raising an eyebrow. He looked down at me, then down to his right.

“You two never cease to amaze,” he remarked. “You’re both raising an eyebrow at me just for cheering her on!”

“Her?” Scorpius dragged it out teasingly.

“We never said anything about a her,” I grinned. Al’s cheeks turned pink.

“I - well - damn!” he diverted his attention, and Scorpius and I shared a quick, knowing look and a smirk as we turned to face the front again.

“This is Match Two of your Quidditch Exhibition,” Leanne’s voice exclaimed excitedly as Aunt Angelina raised the whistle to her lips, “here it goes!”

The whistle’s shrill blast blew to begin the game, and the crowed erupted in an immediate, if brief, bout of cheering.

When Andy blocked Durmstrang’s first attempt to score, I cheered along with Al enthusiastically, our voices (and all the cousins, of course) joining with the loud Beauxbatons group. Likewise, when Joe beat a bludger away from Marianne and Theresa, I let off a loud, shrill whistle that rose even above the slight uproar Durmstrang had caused. Scorpius just looked at me and shook his head, letting out a very un-Malfoy-like snort. Using one of my trademark tactics, being the mature Head Girl that I am, I stuck my tongue out at him.

I would give a more detailed play-by-play of the game, but theirs wasn’t as long as Hogwarts versus Hogwarts had been. Not nearly so long as all of that.

Just an hour and a few minutes after it had begun, it came to an abrupt halt.

Beauxbatons was leading one hundred ten to forty, Andy’s keeping skills keeping Durmstrang’s score low, but they needed a good ninety more points to pull off the same thing as Ireland in the Quidditch World Cup that had happened at the beginning of my parents’ fourth year.

If someone wasn’t into Quidditch, they wouldn’t have understood what I just said.

To put it in easier terms, it truly seemed like Maria Krum had all of her father’s skills; only, Demitri didn’t fall for her Wronski (Wonky, as my mother would have said) Feint early on.

“Aaand Durmstrang wins, one hundred ninety points to one hundred ten! Well played game by your Beauxbatons team though, give them a hand!” Leanne yelled over the Durmstrang uproar as Maria rose into the air, a slight shimmer showing the wings that stretched between her fingers.

As Leanne had asked, there was an eruption of sound for the defeated Beauxbatons team, who took a lap around the field before heading off to the changing rooms.

“We’ll be back here in two weeks for the Black team from Hogwarts versus Durmstrang, but don’t miss next Saturday’s game! It would find you out here to watch the first real Hogwarts match of the season - Hufflepuff versus Slytherin!”

“Damn,” Scorpius said next to me under his breath and shaking his head. “I’d forgotten about that.”

“Until then! Now, go finish your homework!” Leanne’s cheerful voice called out teasingly, and there was a collective, if good-natured, groan.

“You might as well schedule your team a practice,” I told Scorpius, grinning. “The rest of your team might need training.”