Chapter One

There are many connotations to the name Weasley: bravery, loyalty, chivalry, pride, family, honour… I am a Weasley and therefore when people first hear of me, they assume I am all of those things, as if my surname was synonymous with those virtues. However, they soon discover that I have none of those things. I am not brave, I am not loyal, I am not chivalrous. I have pride but not in the way they seem to expect and my family does not mean as much to me as people tend to think… and as for honour? Well I have no honour.

Students at Hogwarts no longer associate me with the rest of my family members who uphold those aforementioned virtues but have instead produced a variety of different names for me. The more common of which are 'slut', 'whore' and 'bitch'. The more creative are 'The Thorn' (for I have become a thorn in the side of many girls at Hogwarts and it is no doubt derived from my first name) and 'leech' (because according to a Fourth Year, I suck the happiness out of people's lives). My favourite, however, is 'The Other Woman'.

The irony, of course, is that I am none of those things. Well, almost none, I suppose you could say I was a bitch. You see, while I am constantly on the grapevine of school gossip for steeling so-and-so's boyfriend, little do most people know that I am paid for my kisses. Insecure girls seek me out and beg me to see if their boyfriends are being faithful, asking me to seduce them, so to speak, to see their reaction. Of course, every girl who comes to see me thinks, deep down, that her boyfriend will remain faithful to her. I have yet to fail in seducing a taken man. The girls never seem to tell anyone that they enrolled my services and therefore they all think they are the only ones who have ever asked me for help. Little do they know that half the girls in their dorm have also come to me for assistance.

But the girls are not the only ones who seek me out. The boys come too. They seem to think that because of my reputation, I won't mind helping them out of their 'sticky situations' as they like to put it. Apparently letting your girlfriend find you cheating on her is the easiest way to break up with her. I will never understand boys' logic but as long as they pay me then I could not care less.

You must, no doubt, be wondering how all this came about and how I 'sunk so low' as to ruin peoples relationships for money. Well I suppose I could narrow it down to three events. The first was at the end of Third Year. I was walking back to the common room after ravaging the kitchens when a hand grabbed my arm, pinned me against a wall and a pair of lips crashed down onto mind and started kissing me. It was an awkward kiss; neither of us seemed to be very experienced, in fact, for me, it was my first kiss. I still have not quite forgiven him for taking my first kiss that way.

Anyway, we kissed for a few seconds but before I could even figure out what had happened in my head, or who I was even kissing, or why they were kissing me, a female voice echoed down the corridor. I believe her exact words were: 'Oh Scorpy, how could you do this to me, I love you!' And then she ran of crying and that was the end of their pathetic little 'relationship' and the start of my reputation as 'The Other Woman'. Once she had gone, Scorpius Malfoy pulled away from me, whispered 'thank you' in my ear and walked off.

By the time school started again, people seemed to have forgotten I ended poor Verity's 'relationship' and I once again became the recluse in the library. That was until Dave McLaggen entered my life in mid-September of my Fourth Year. I had been sitting in the library studying for a Potions test when he walked in and asked if I could help him out with something. I nodded, dumbfound, and he sat beside me. He was in my year and was going to try out for Keeper on the Gryffindor Quidditch team, he figured that seeing as I was already on the team, I would know what they were looking for in a potential candidate. Two weeks later, we were a couple and so began the whirlwind that was our romance.

For three months, Dave became the centre of my world. We studied together, we ate together, we spent all our free time together… he even made the team which meant that we practiced together too. The only times we were apart were when we were in lessons, or asleep. Any resemblances to friendships I had before then disappeared completely and I was absorbed in a world where no one but Dave existed.

Then, a week before the Christmas holiday, I walked around a corner to come face to face with my worst nightmare: Dave in the embrace of another girl. He had her pinned against the wall and was kissing her passionately, more passionately than he had ever kissed me, and one hand was up her shirt. For several moments, my mind went completely blank.

When at last I came to my senses, instead of breaking down and shouting at him like a normal girl would have done, I turned around, marched into the Entrance Hall, grabbed the first boy who looked vaguely my age and kissed him fully on the mouth. In front of a large portion of the student body. Of course, luck being on my side (and I am never quite sure if that is sarcasm) the boy I kissed was Scorpius Malfoy.

I then proceeded to whisper in his ear, telling him to pretend we had been seeing each other for a while and that this was his payment for the end of Third Year and the whole 'Verity Incident'. He agreed willingly and I later discovered that he had been trying to find a way of getting rid of his then girlfriend Camilla. Anyway, my embarrassment that Dave had cheated on me was lessened by the fact that it now looked as if I had cheated on him.

The third event that sealed the deal, so to speak, was the first time someone asked me for help and offered to pay for it. For a while now, I had hated living off my parents' money and the idea of being able to make some of my own while I was still at school took a hold of me like a fever and has yet to let me go. Her name was Edie Edgecombe and she was a Ravenclaw in my year. It was late January and the whole 'Scorpius Scandal' had died down somewhat. Edie was dating a Gryffindor in the year above called Sam Perks. I remember the conversation like it was yesterday…

"Hello," a timid voice asks from behind me. Turning, I see a small brunette standing nervously by my chair. "Are you Rose Weasley?" I nod, knowing she only asked the question as an icebreaker. Everyone in the wizarding world knows who I am. "Um… I was wondering if maybe you could help me with something…?" I raise an eyebrow. "I'll, uh, I'll pay you," she stutters.

"Go on," I promote, suddenly interested.

"Well, it's a bit awkward… And I totally get if you say you can't help… It's just…Well…"

"Just spit it out." Okay, so I am not the most polite person, get over it.

"Ithinkmyboyfriendischeatingo nme." She rushes and it takes me a moment to decipher what she said.

"And how can I help?" I ask, disgruntled.

"Well, you're really pretty and…" she trails off, looking down.

"And what?"

"Well, I know it's ridiculous… But I was wondering if maybe you could, oh I don't know, try and seduce him or something," she mutters. I stare at her. She wants me to seduce her boyfriend?

"You want me to seduce your boyfriend?"

"Try to seduce him. If you succeed then I know he isn't being faithful but if you don't then I can stop worrying because then I know he's not cheating on me," she explains and I begin to understand why I was not sorted into Ravenclaw. Only a Ravenclaw could come up with such a ridiculous but at the same time brilliant plan.

"How much?"

"What?"

"How much will you pay me to seduce your boyfriend?"

"Try to seduce," she repeats as if she believes her boyfriend won't succumb. "And ten galleons."

"Make it fifteen and you have a deal."

"Fine."

"And I want it paid in advance."

"Fine," she snaps and I hear the jingling of coins as she pulls out a bag. "Here's ten and you can have the rest later," she mumbles and gets up to leave. "Oh… and I want to watch to make sure you are not lying to me."

I still think Edie should have been a Slytherin. I did as she asked; it took all of ten minutes to seduce Sam Perks in a deserted corridor with Edie watching from behind a suit of armour. She was furious when he pinned me against the wall and started snogging me like I was an oxygen replacement. She ranted on at him while I just slipped away into the shadows. She had paid the other five earlier and I have not spoken to her since. It appears however, that she never mentioned to anyone that she asked for my help. And I never told anyone either.

After that, I began to really build up my reputation and before long, even those previously confident in their relationships were coming to me, worried because I had proved so many other relationships had been weak enough to crumble with just a little of my flattery.

Once my reputation was built, boys started seeking me out too, aware that I had no qualms about breaking up relationships and asking me to assist them end theirs. It was around this time that I stole the Marauder's Map from my cousin James Potter. It came in handy when waiting for irritating girlfriends to show up.

By the end of Fifth Year, I became known as 'The Other Woman'.

By the end of Sixth Year, I began to question the intelligence of my fellow students. I did not understand how no one had pieced together what I was doing. I was only ever spotted kissing taken boys and it was only ever their girlfriends that caught us. Anyone who put their mind to it would have been able to see the pattern. After two and a half years, I was shocked that no one had.

So entering my Seventh Year, I was curious to see if anyone had finally clicked. By the time I got to Hogwarts, it was clear no one had. Or, if they had, they did not say anything. Instead, I was given my first job of the year by Felicity Smith, whose concerns over her boyfriend's loyalty had grown over the summer to the extent where she was willing to ask for my help.

So here I am, waiting in a deserted corridor near the dungeons. Of all the Houses, I am asked for help most by either Slytherin boys, or girls with Slytherin boyfriends. In this case, obviously, it is the latter. He is a Sixth Year who has succumbed to my temptations at least twice before. When the echoing of voices from the Entrance Hall drift down the corridors, I position myself and nod to Smith, who is tucked away behind a stone statue. It does not take long before students with emerald trimmed robes begin to wander towards their common room.

When I spot Smith's boyfriend, Matthew Flint, making his way in our direction with some other Sixth Year Slytherins, I carefully step into their path as they walk by, purposefully walking into Flint and dropping my books. He looks startled but bends to pick them up anyway, waving his friends on when they stop. The girl amongst them glares daggers at me and I smile sweetly back. Her ex-boyfriend paid me to kiss him at the end of last year.

"Rose," Flint nods as he hands me back my books. No one ever calls me Weasley anymore except for a few of the Professors. "Have a good summer?" Oh so he was going to make conversation with me? This would be over quicker than I thought.

"It was alright," a shrug noncommittally, checking all my books. "I think my Charms textbook is still around here somewhere," I frown and look around by our feet. Flint immediately gets to his knees to check behind another one of the stone statues that so handily adorn the dungeon corridors. When he finds nothing, I offer a hand to help him up. He takes it and as he stands, I pretend to trip. He automatically catches me and I look up at him with grateful eyes. He absentmindedly moves us out of the main corridor and into the side one where Smith is waiting and watching.

"Are you okay?" he murmurs, not letting go of my waist. I just nod and bite my lip. He brushes a strand of hair from my face. "Are you sure? You look a bit pale…" he murmurs again, pulling me slightly closer to him. The 'weak and helpless girl' is my least favourite persona but I am oddly good at it and it has some of the quickest results.

"You just knocked your shoulder against my lip," I mutter, allowing myself to blush slightly. Flint's hand immediately moves from my waist to my mouth but before he touches it, he whispers:

"Would you like me to kiss it better?" Then he presses two fingers against my lower lip and I let out what appears to be an involuntary gasp. It is the gasp that does it. His hand snakes around the back of my neck while the other remains on my waist, pulling me flush against him. His lips are nothing special but I pretend to sink into them willingly. Luckily I do not have to wait long before Smith's voice rings out in a piercing screech.

Flint jerks away instantly and I question how many brain cells he actually has. I mean this is the third time he has kissed me and the third time that his girlfriend has caught him. Seriously, how thick is he?

Oh well, job done, another twenty galleons in the bag (my price went up somewhere in the middle of Fifth Year when a greasy Hufflepuff asked me to seduce her rather disgusting boyfriend; I had to brush my teeth twice after that). Slinking off back into the main corridor, I swing my bag back onto my shoulder and head for the kitchens.

"Already draining the happiness from young couple I see," a voice sneers from the darkness. I roll my eyes and keep on walking. "I'm surprised you picked Flint first though… I would have expected you to come running to me," the voice continues.

"Jealous are we Malfoy?" I snigger in return. Malfoy snorts.

"Like I could ever want a blood traitor like you," he mocks, stepping into stride with me. "You just always seem to be finding new ways to get me to kiss you… I take pity on your feeble attempts at subtlety and oblige you. I could never want you," he explains. I hide my frown behind a sneer. If anyone ever pieces together what I am doing, it will be Malfoy. For some reason, the guy goes through girls like a normal person goes through underwear, or socks. Everything will be fine for a few days and then each and every one of his 'conquests' comes running to me and begs for my help. Kissing Malfoy has become a steady job for me. I would say that his girlfriends come running to me when they want to end things with Malfoy (because that is inevitably what happens when I get involved) but for some reason they all honestly believe that they are his one and only and that he would never cheat on them… I have proved every single one of them wrong.

"Whatever you say, Malfoy," I sigh condescendingly before waving at him over my shoulder and turning down the corridor to the kitchens. Thankfully, he does not follow so I have no witnesses as I tickle the blasted pear and step into the warm bustle of one of my favourite places in the whole world.

Author's Note:

Hello there, I'm IrishMythe and this is my first story on this site, so bear with me. How do you like Rose so far? She is a Seventh Year Gryffindor, not Head Girl though but is on the Quidditch team, any thoughts on what position? If you have any questions for my characters or just want to see what they look like, check out by blog, you can get the link on my profile page. Thanks for reading, much love,

~ IrishMythe