Fred and I had been hanging out often ever since our little talk and it was welcome company. After just barely beating Hufflepuff in their last match, Silas had the team practicing like mad, leaving me alone most evenings. The exception to that being my nightly detentions with James, although those were still so silent that I might as well be alone.

I was shocked and grateful for how little Fred brought up James when we were together. He didn't push. He didn't pry. I think there was still probably part of him that secretly hoped if he started spending all of his free time with me that James would get lonely and decide to tag along. But he wasn't hanging out with me to mend the broken friendship, he hung out with me to continue ours.

He kept me entertained and we enjoyed sneaking into the kitchens to put together little picnics with a shared joint at the top of the Astronomy Tower. We would go to tea with Hagrid and he would introduce us to different creatures all of which Fred tried to cuddle even when they definitely should not have been cuddled. Most of the time though we would go for a walk around the Black Lake and just talk until it would get dark enough that we couldn't see the path in front of us.

Sometimes it would be about nothing. We once had a two hour long conversation about macaroni and cheese and what the best cheese to macaroni ratio was. Occasionally it would be about life after Hogwarts and how it excited and terrified us both. It was always his dream to take over a branch of his dad's company and help him run it but he was scared he'd ruin the legacy that George and his twin built. He wanted to get married with a big wedding and have at least four obnoxiously loud little kids that he could test WWW products on. I told him how I wanted to travel, but other than that I didn't have any set plans, which was somewhat true. I was surprised when he didn't question me about being an auror, which meant that James hadn't said anything to him about it. The applications that had once been annoyingly forced in my life had been all him apparently.

Fred would tell me about Allison and every time his face lit up as he said her name, my heart shattered for him a little. He talked about her as if she was his girlfriend and although he never said it, I could tell he loved her with every part of him. When he brought up the possibility of her finally leaving her boyfriend, in such a faux casual way as if he didn't actually care, I felt something in me break. There was a hopeful twinkle in his sweet puppy eyes and I just wanted to hug him and tell him he could do better.

It would've been somewhat of a lie though and I knew it. Allison was basically perfect with the exception of her adulterous habits. She was stunningly beautiful, incredibly kind, wicked smart, and a great lay (at least according to Fred). I got the impression that she probably loved him a little bit too, or else I don't think she'd be the type of person to repeatedly cheat on her boyfriend just for a good shag. The issue was that she loved said boyfriend too and truthfully I didn't see her leaving him anytime soon.

I tried to be casual and lighthearted when Fred talked about her. I'd try and tease him about being 'the other woman' and a dirty mistress when in reality I disapproved of the whole situation with everything in me. When he talked about his big wedding, I knew it was her that he pictured walking down the aisle in a white dress looking like a princess out of a fairytale. When he talked about his four obnoxious children, I knew he wanted them to have her strikingly pretty green eyes and heart melting dimples. He wanted all of her and all she could give him was a decent fuck whenever it was convenient for her. He was going to get destroyed by her someday and I was terrified for when that day would come.

I was slightly dumbfounded and uncomfortable with how quickly I became attached to the kid and how much I cared for him. He was a grown man (well, for the most part) with a toned body nearly twice the size of my own yet I felt a huge need to protect him. Although, despite being a grown woman (for the most part) that can most definitely handle herself (for the most part), I think Fred felt the same way about me.

"You are the most beautiful person to ever walk the planet."

"Don't be ridiculous."

"Hazel, look at yourself and tell me you're not the most beautiful person to ever walk the planet. Izzy, is she not the most beautiful person to ever walk the planet?"

"The whole planet is a bit dramatic, but definitely the most beautiful person in at least Europe."

"Now you're both being ridiculous."

I grinned and squeezed Hazel's shoulders, wishing that she'd understand how good she looked and that she'd get that miserable pout off of her perfectly applied, lipsticked mouth. She had her first official date with Liam Lucas in fifteen minutes after Silas and the boys so rudely messed up the original one.

Now that Hufflepuff and Slytherin were done playing each other for the season, Hazel had nothing stopping her from going out with him. Liam even went up to her just moments after she caught the snitch and promptly asked her on another date, not at all bothered by the fact that she was the reason that his team would likely not have a high chance for the cup.

I supported the hell out of it. After being surrounded my whole life by quidditch obsessed boys, Liam not caring about the outcome of the game and just wanting to have another chance with Hazel, damn near made me burst with excitement.

Liam also seemed like the perfect match for Hazel. He was driven, involved in nearly as many clubs and activities as Hazel herself, got decent marks, was apparently damn good at quidditch, and he was boy-next-door attractive with his messy blonde hair and sweet brown eyes. Also it helped that they had already snogged and Hazel had clearly enjoyed it by the way she unabashedly let him stick his tongue down her throat in front of the entire school.

I spent my whole evening getting her ready. I curled her long silky brown hair that she usually liked to keep trapped in braids and ponytails so that it cascaded in beautiful ringlets down her back. She rarely wore make up so I did just the basics. Hazel was so naturally pretty that she really didn't need much to enhance her appearance. I let her borrow one of my favorite white cashmere sweaters that hugged and suited her perfectly and a pair of earrings that matched her eyes.

She looked amazing and I wanted her to have an amazing time. She deserved it. She went on dates regularly but has always been too hung up on Mitch to go any further with them and it frustrated me to no end. Mitch Walker may be one of my best mates but he's an infuriating, oblivious idiot. Even if he did realize Hazel's secret feelings for him, I don't know that I'd really want him to pursue her. Hazel was too good for him. Hazel was too good for anyone really, but I think her chances of heartbreak are a lot lower with Liam than they are with Mitch.

"You're the ridiculous one." I told her and picked off a small fuzz from her sweater. "Izzy, isn't she the ridiculous one?"

Izzy barely glanced up from her quidditch magazine. "Lucas would be a total git if he didn't propose to you the moment he saw you."

"See, I told you-"

"Although, you really should tell him to practice his dives a bit more. They're a bit sloppy and need work. I hear he's a good captain but he could benefit from-"

"Yes, thank you, Izzy." I said quickly before she went on a Silas-like quidditch rant that would likely go on for the entire night. "The point is, you look great and you're going to have a great time."

Hazel gave a small smile at herself in the mirror and I smiled along with her like a hopeful, overbearing mother. Hazel was far more mature and responsible than me, but we took care of each other in our own ways. Without me, Hazel's entire Hogwarts career would've been spent in the library. Despite not being involved in any extracurriculars myself, I'm the one that encouraged her to start joining them. Before we became mates, Hazel had been painfully shy and spent all of her time with a book in her face to avoid talking to anyone. I helped her break out of her shell. And without her, I don't know how I would have made it through third year.

"He's really nice, isn't he?" Hazel said, finally letting herself get excited for the night. She was more nervous than I had ever seen her for one of her dates and I took that as a good sign.

"Well, he is a Hufflepuff." I reminded her. "He'd be an insult to his house if he was actually a total ass."

"Do you think the boys will be pissed when they find out?" Hazel asked me, chewing on her lip, forgetting that she was wearing perfectly applied light pink lipstick and I nearly had an aneurysm. I became immediately incensed that that was even a thought that was running through her brain. After Silas scheduled practice during the time of her first date to fuck it up, she didn't even care and even bought into all the bullshit about it distracting her from quidditch. Even still, she was worried that him being Hufflepuff's captain meant that he was off limits.

"Who the fuck cares?" I responded with heat behind my voice. "They don't own you and aren't allowed to dictate who you date." I was so sick of having to hide other people from my mates because they disapproved based on quidditch or other houses. It just seemed idiotic and immature at this point. There were nights when I so badly just wanted to say, 'See ya, I'm gonna go hang out with Freddie for a few hours' and not have to sneak around to avoid the world imploding. It was so frustrating to pretend like I agreed when they started talking shit about all of the Weasleys and Potters. I never thought there'd be a day where I wanted to defend their family but couldn't. I still couldn't stand Rose, and James and I clearly were not on fantastic terms, but after hearing stories about all of the cousins and siblings, I knew they couldn't all be as horribly annoying and terrible as I originally thought.

"They have no right to tell you not to go. They can't force you not to go. Besides, it's not like Silas can just call a quidditch practice again in the fifteen minutes before your date starts." I pointed out. "Also, the whole concept of going on a date with someone from an opposing team affecting your quidditch ability is fucking stupid as hell."

"What do you think, Izzy?" Hazel asked, turning to our deeply-passionate-about-quidditch roommate, practically begging her to try and talk her out of it.

"I slept with one of Ravenclaw's players and snogged a second one less than week from a match against them and I ended up scoring 90 points and knocked one of them off his broom." Izzy said nonchalantly with a casual shrug. "The whole experience was deeply satisfying so I say go for it and fuck what Greengrass says."

That was new, and delightfully surprising, information that I was incredibly grateful for. She may have been saying it because she enjoyed disagreeing with Silas on any matter possible but she was as quidditch obsessed as he was. If Izzy was giving her blessing for Hazel to go out with Hufflepuff's captain, then there should be absolutely nothing stopping her, but she still looked slightly unsure.

"I won't let them ruin this for you." I ensured firmly and I stormed out of the room without another word.

Hazel tried calling after me but I was already halfway to the boy's dorm. They seemed to be taking advantage of having a night off from quidditch and were lazily sprawled out across their beds. Scorpius had four different textbooks open in front of him, Mitch and Cyrus both had magazines in hand and were passing a joint back and forth between them, and Silas predictably was flipping through his playbook because the kid didn't know what a true night off from quidditch looked like.

They didn't even notice that I walked in the room until I let the door slam behind me. They all jumped slightly and their heads turned toward me to see a deadly expression on my face and my wand pointing menacingly in their direction. I didn't allow them the chance to speak before cutting straight to the point. "Hazel is going on a date with Liam Lucas tonight and I have some very simple ground rules for how this is going to go," I informed them with a dangerous smile on my face.

"You will be nothing but supportive and happy for her, you will not try to sabotage anything, and you will not guilt her in any way. Break any of these rules and I can promise you that I will personally destroy any future date or potential fuck of your own. Your ability to have children will be lost as a result of the hell that I will unleash on your most prized part of your body and I can assure you that you will be in the hospital wing for at least two weeks to deal with all of the other injuries I will inflict. Are we clear?"

All four pairs of eyes shifted to my wand held threateningly in my hand and they knew they had no chance. Scorpius was the only one that even had a prayer against me solo and his wand was sitting uselessly at the end of nightstand. I'd have the poor bloke stunned before he could even touch it. Mitch and Cyrus' heads snapped to Silas, as they waited for their captain to take charge of the apparent travesty that was their female seeker choosing and thinking for herself.

"You wouldn't hex your brother." He said with his shoulders back and chest out. It was a poor attempt to look tough but there was zero confidence in his voice and in his eyes as they watched my wand nervously.

My hand only gripped my wand tighter and I could tell by the way his eyes glanced at the door that he was trying to decide if he could make a break for it. "Try me."

"This is quidditch, Jordan."

"No, this is a date with a normal, nice Hufflepuff boy who you've already played in quidditch and have no reason to dislike." I corrected. I saw Mitch and Cyrus out of the corner of my eye both try and sneakily reach for their wands like idiots. "Don't even think about it," I hissed at them and shot a warning jinx at Mitch's bed that burned a massive hole the bed hangings.

Cyrus held his hands up in surrender while Mitch violently chucked a pillow at Silas' head. "Do something about this!"

Silas took a small, fearful step back but continued with his nonsense. "What if we make it to the cup and play against them and their still together, huh? I can't have her not playing her best-"

"You're acting as if Hufflepuff could ever beat Gryffindor and as if Hazel is some daft, doe-eyed fangirl that would let some boy get in the way of her talent. Stop being bloody imbeciles."

"Dude, will you fucking grow a pair!" Mitch yelled at Silas while he ironically cowered on his bed with his face peeking out from the burnt hangings.

"I'm sorry, do you want to go up against one of her hexes?" Silas retorted with a raised eyebrow. "Be my fucking guest."

"You can't let her go on a date with him!" Mitch shouted regardless and I shot another warning jinx at his bed. He gave a frightened yelp as wood chips from his bedpost blasted in every direction. He used his remaining pillow as a shield and chose to throw his magazine at my brother's head this time to get him to intervene. "SILAS!"

Scorpius and Cyrus waited patiently on the sidelines for my brother to take action and Silas' face set in a hardline as the pressure to do what was right for his team weighed down on him. "I need you to be reasonable here, Jordan. Lucas is trying to steal the cup from us."

I snorted at the irony of him asking me to be reasonable in this situation. "Oh please, if Lucas wanted to destroy any threats to the cup, he'd go after on of Gryffindor's players."

As soon as I said it, I realized how fucked I was. That was the absolute last thing anyone should ever say to four fairly egotistical, quidditch-loving, Gryffindor-hating boys. Scorpius' eyes immediately widened at my words and darted to Silas, whose entire body tensed. Mitch and Cyrus were both on their feet with their arms folded angrily across their chests.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Silas demanded, sounding both furious and deeply offended, but I was saved from answering by Izzy unexpectedly popping her head in the entryway.

"She wouldn't leave until she knew that you didn't kill them." She explained and pushed the door open further to reveal Hazel hovering nervously behind her.

Hazel eyed my wand that was still pointed directly at our idiot friends. "See, I haven't killed them." I said, stating the obvious, although I left out that they all currently probably wanted to kill me. "And they are all so excited for you and want you to have a great time tonight," I lied through the fake smile that was plastered on my face and I could tell Hazel didn't believe me for a second. I swiveled around to the boys again and held my wand a bit higher, "Right?" I hissed in a tone that they wouldn't dare to defy.

"Right." They all responded in dull, unenthusiastic, forced mumbles and I wanted to throttle them all. I created enough destruction with Mitch's bed so I shot the warning curse at the floor instead, causing everyone to jump as it rumbled and sparks flew at their feet.

"Now tell her that you want her to be happy and you love her." I ordered in an upbeat sing-songy voice that still sounded threatening enough to scare the hell out of them.

"We want you to be happy and we love you." They all chorused, this time sounding a little more genuine as well as terrified.

"See?" I said with a smirk, spinning back around to Hazel. Izzy's mouth twisted up into a thoroughly amused grin while Hazel looked vaguely horrified at me holding our four best mates at wand-point.

I sighed and took a baby step toward her. "It's going to be fine." I insisted, lowering my voice, as I squeezed her shoulder in reassurance. "They're going to be fine. I'll take care of them and you're going to have fun, okay?"

"By take care of them? You mean?" Hazel's eyes fearfully shifted down to my wand.

"I'm not going to kill them," I assured her with huff. "Go have fun!" I ordered as I pushed her gently out the door.

"Scared of your sister, Greengrass?" Izzy called behind her with a mocking smirk aimed at my step brother.

"Fuck off, Brooks!" Silas roared at her retreating figure while she just cackled in response.

If Silas wasn't angry with me before, he most definitely was now. I was not only keeping him from stopping a date between his starting Seeker and Hufflepuff's quidditch captain but I also insinuated that they had no chance against Gryffindor and humiliated him in front of Izzy Brooks. Honestly, I don't know which out of the three he hated me for the most.

The only times Silas and I have fought since we got Hogwarts have all been about quidditch. He once scheduled quidditch practice on my fifteenth birthday because Slytherin had a match against Ravenclaw's shitty excuse of a team the following week. It makes for a pretty lonely birthday when all of your friends play the damn sport and the rest of the school thinks you're a slut.

I would blow up at him for always thinking that quidditch was more important than things that actually matter and he'd rant on and on about how 'It's quidditch, Jordan' as if that made his argument seem reasonable.

Right now I could tell it was time for one of those fights by the way his face was a dark shade of red and the tiny vein popping out of his forehead. It was also pretty evident by the way his wand was pointed directly at me along with three others that flanked him.

I almost rolled my eyes at their idiocy. "Don't be stupid."

"It's four against one." Silas reminded me and I snorted, unconcerned.

"You're acting as if that matters."

"We have Scorpius." Mitch retorted and I spared a glance at Scorpius. His face was blank and he couldn't have looked more uninterested if he tried.

I cocked an eyebrow. "You think he's going to protect you?"

Mitch and Cyrus exchanged glances. Scorpius was the only edge they had and they knew it. They also knew that Scorpius was the least passionate about quidditch in the group despite his talent. He was also the closest to Hazel besides me and the most likely to fight on her behalf. Not wanting to get into a meaningless argument that he didn't give a shit about was likely the only reason he had his wand in my face with the rest of his roomates.

"When will you learn to butt out of quidditch business that has nothing to do with you?" Silas snapped, bravely, and moronically, taking a step toward me.

"It's not quidditch business, it's Hazel business." I hissed and contemplated just knocking him on his ass then and there.

"Hazel business is quidditch business!" Silas explained thoroughly exasperated, forever not able to comprehend my inability to understand that quidditch was life.

"Will you please stop thinking that a bloody sport is the end all be all of human existence?"

"Just because you're too fucking scared to get on a broom-" The second the words were out of his mouth, he crumpled to the floor as a mess of limbs. A small strangled sound came from Cyrus as he stared down in horror at his fallen captain.

I felt zero regret. He should've known better than to bring up my fear of flying, but I still had three wands stupidly aimed at me. "Are you sure you want to do this?" I questioned, mostly directed to Mitch and Cyrus, giving them one last chance to back down.

They glanced over at Scorpius for some sort of reassurance but they didn't find it considering he looked like he couldn't give a single shit about what was going on. They knew they were going to lose but their pride and love of quidditch got Mitch to hurl the first jinx at me. After that, they had no choice.

The only reason they were not down within seconds was that it was three against one and I was going easy on them. Mitch and Cyrus were red in the face but I wasn't even breaking a sweat as I effortlessly deflected anything that they threw at me. Scorpius had twice the power of Mitch and Cyrus combined but all of the hexes he was sending my way were half-assed, making them almost too easy to block.

"Why do you shitheads even care so much about who she dates?" I shrieked as I hopped and whipped my wand around, dodging and deflecting three different curses at once. I shot a particularly nasty jinx at Mitch that missed by mere inches and instead shattered the window directly behind his head.

He ducked and covered his face as shards of glass exploded around him. "Jesus, Mose, do need to get fucked or something? Is that what you're being so unnecessarily aggressive?" I decided the best response to that was to shut him up, which is exactly what I did with a well-aimed hex.

"Oh c'mon!" Cyrus yelled exasperated as Mitch's lifeless body hit the floor. "Will you fucking try, you prick?!" He screamed at Scorpius who wasn't doing a good job of making it seem like he was making an effort. Cyrus, on the other hand, was huffing and puffing as if he just finished a marathon. His normally perfectly tousled brown hair was sticking up in a thousand different directions and his white tee shirt was drenched with sweat.

He looked exhausted and knowing that he wasn't going to last much longer I took the opportunity to take him out of his misery and stun him too. He crashed down in between Mitch and Silas and the room instantly became pleasantly silent.

Scorpius lowered his wand and looked down at our three unconscious mates. "Honestly, I'm surprised you didn't finish them off sooner."

"I was giving them a chance to realize their mistake." I said with a grin and stuffed my wand in my pocket, knowing that Scorpius wasn't going to continue the pointless duel. "Wanna go get a drink? They should be out for a few hours at least. I didn't want them waking up until after she got home."

He glanced back at the forgotten, open textbooks sitting on his bed and then back at me. "I've got some pretty decent wine that I took from my parent's cellar before term started." He admitted with a tiny smirk playing at the corner of his mouth. "Shrieking Shack?"

The Shrieking Shack used to be Scorpius and my spot when he first got to Hogwarts during my second year. Silas spent every spare minute on the pitch as the youngest on the team, we didn't become friends with Hazel until third year, and Mitch and Cyrus thought they were too cool to associate with a first year, despite having known Scorpius for ages, so, as step-cousins, we stuck together.

Not much had changed in the past few years. The number of cobwebs and dust may have doubled but all of the candles, pillows, and blankets that we stole from the common room ages ago were still there. It took just a few minutes to light the place, spread the blankets across the floor, and prop the pillows against the wall to make it feel like old times.

"So what's your take on the whole Hazel situation?" I asked after curling up and taking a massive gulp of wine. Scorpius was right when he said it was decent, but I should've known. The Malfoys didn't fuck around when it came to quality. I passed the bottle back to him and he took a hefty swig. "Clearly you didn't care that much by the way you were dueling. No offense."

"I'm not going to lie, it concerns me a little," He admitted with a light shrug and my eyes narrowed. "Not because of quidditch," He defended quickly and downed some more wine before handing it back to me. "Just because, I don't know-" He sighed and leaned his head back against the wall. "I guess I just worry about her. She'll fight for you when it comes to asshole guys, but I don't think she'd do the same for herself."

"Aw Scorpius Malfoy showing that he cares about someone," I cooed obnoxiously and nudged him playfully even though my heart was melting a little at his words. Once she came into our group, Hazel and Scorpius bonded over their mutual love of studying too much and working too hard so it was no surprise when they became close.

"Shut up or I'm not giving you anymore wine," He threatened, fighting a smile, as a faint blush crept up on his cheeks.

"Look, Hazel isn't me, okay? She won't make the same kind of mistakes that I did." I reassured him, but now he had me suddenly worried. "You think Liam Lucas is an asshole guy?"

"She's been in love with Mitch of all people for years and it's not like he's exactly bring-home-to-mum material." Scorpius reminded me with a snort. "Who knows what this bloke is like?"

He had a point and it was doing nothing to make me feel better about the fact I practically forced her on her date.

"So why'd you let her go and not try and take me down to go after her?" I questioned, turning on my side and propping my head up against my hand so I could face him.

"Cause she can make her own choice about who she wants to date regardless of quidditch or house," He said, proving yet again that, despite being a year younger, he was way smarter than the rest of our mates.

"If it only it were that simple," I said with a little sigh as I flopped down on my back and stared up at the ceiling. I was unable to stop my thoughts from suddenly flashing to James for some inexplicable reason and I hated it.

"Tell me about it." He mumbled as he brought the bottle of wine back to his lips. I knew he was thinking about Rose and while the thought sickened me, I was still focused on Hazel.

"If he hurts her, I'll kill him." I stated firmly and Scorpius made a noise of agreement.

"We all will, but we'll let you have first dibs." He promised me and I grinned at the possibility of destroying anyone that wronged Hazel. "Not that there will be anything left after you're through with him."

"Do you think it's going to be a battle every time if this date goes well?" I wondered aloud and hoped for all of our sakes that it wouldn't be.

"Who knows? Silas has always had a soft spot for Hazel so he'll probably let it go eventually. If it had been Izzy, he most likely would've kicked her off the team."

I shot up so fast at the audacity of that statement that I almost spit out my wine. "Off the team? For a date? Are you joking? He can't-"

"It's quid-"

"If someone says 'it's quidditch' to me one more bloody time as if that's supposed to mean-"

"Look, all I'm saying is that he's captain and he can do whatever the hell he wants to do," Scorpius defended quickly, effectively cutting me off from what was going to be a long rant. "But honestly I think he'll be too scared to go up against you again. He should've known better in the first place. You need to duel people more often to make the the whole school fear you."

I snorted at the suggestion. "I think that's the most Slytherin thing I've ever heard you say."

"We picked the house for a reason, right?" He said with a smirk and my eyes washed over his face as my mind raced back to the night where we revealed to each other that we asked to be in Slytherin.

We had been in the same room with the same silky green blankets and overstuffed pillows, but almost everything else was different. We were different. He was no longer the scrawny, shy little first year and I was no longer the naive, innocent second year. Our friendship was different too. We hadn't hung out just the two of us in years when we used to do so almost every night. We went from telling each other everything to keeping huge secrets, but I still trusted him. He was the only person besides James that knew that I maybe wasn't meant to be in Slytherin.

And perhaps I was nostalgic for how we used to be or maybe it was the wine that was making my head feel fuzzy, but suddenly I found myself turning to him and telling him something else that only James knew. "I'm thinking about applying to be an auror."

"An auror? Really?" He couldn't hide the tone of surprise in his voice and he was looking at me with raised eyebrows and I felt stupid for saying anything in the first place.

"Do you not think I'd be good at it?" I asked, unable to stop my face from falling.

He scoffed and rolled his eyes. "Are you kidding? You'd be bloody brilliant at it-"

"But?" I continued hesitantly, already knowing what he was going to say. He grew up the same way as me, with a last name that immediately had people looking at you suspiciously after they met you. He had it even worse. My parents were too young to have been involved in anything with the second war, but my grandparents were supportive of Voldemort during the first war and would've been for the second if they hadn't died before he came back. Scorpius' family, on the other hand, were in his innermost circle and Uncle Draco still wears long sleeves every day just to hide the Dark Mark burned into his skin.

"When was the last time you heard of a Slytherin and pure-blood witch or wizard getting accepted into the program?" He finished and I frowned, despite already knowing that my chances were slim.

"So basically you're saying that the likelihood of me getting in nonexistent?" I asked just to confirm what I already knew. It made me feel better to just know I wasn't going to get in. James spent so long throwing auror applications my way trying to get my hopes up, but he was clueless with what it was like for us. He could submit an application with nothing but his last name to anywhere and they would hire him in a second. He had no idea what it was like to have doors shut in your face for the same thing.

"I never said that. I've just learned to not get my hopes up after all of these years." Scorpius explained with a little shrug. "If your dad wasn't head of St Mungo's then I doubt I'd ever have a chance of working there."

What he was saying stung, but I was grateful for it and I felt like I should've gone to him sooner about it. He was always honest even if he was saying was something I didn't want to hear, which is what made him sneaking around with Rose so much harder. I wasn't use to him lying.

"It fucking blows." I groaned and stole the wine back from Scorpius. I was definitely feeling the drunk coming on at this point and by the redness on Scorpius' face, I could tell he was too. "I hate that my family background is enough to keep me from something that I could actually be good at."

Scorpius shrugged. "I don't know, I feel like it's not something I should be allowed to complain about."

"What do you mean?" I questioned with my brows furrowed. He got called Death Eater spawn by ignorant shits weekly. How could he not want to bitch about it?

"Don't get me wrong, I bloody hate all the crap that comes with my last name, but when I think of the alternative a few decades ago, I feel lucky." After seeing my frown of confusion, he continued. "If we were muggle born, we would've had to go into hiding. We would've had our wands taken and we could've been killed by the people our grandparents supported." He explained with a small shake of his head. "We're lucky all we have to deal with is getting passed up for a job and some negative comments."

I had never thought of it like that. I was never brought up to think of it like that. Any time my dad read the Prophet and saw a pureblood name being trashed, he would scoff and say how pathetic the ministry had become. He may not have been a Death Eater, but he was raised valuing blood status and he most definitely didn't support Harry Potter and the change he was trying to bring.

Uncle Draco and Aunt Astoria also may have more progressive views than their parents but these thoughts definitely weren't coming from them either.

This was Rose.

This was all Rose and while the thought sickened me, I couldn't exactly disagree with what he was saying.

"You don't always have to be so right, you know." I told him with a slight huff and a playful nudge.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to kill your dream or anything-" He began but I waved him off.

"Dream is an exaggeration." I said quickly with color rising slowly to my cheeks.

I hadn't allowed myself to think about it enough for it to truly become my dream. "Besides, I can't imagine what it would be like to work under Harry Potter." It wasn't far from the truth, but I said it with enough disdain in my voice for him to believe it was because I couldn't stand self-righteous Gryffindors and not my complicated relationship with his firstborn.

"How are your two months of detention with Potter going by the way?" He asked, raising a curious brow as he took another sip of wine. It was probably not needed considering the way his voice was beginning to become somewhat slurred.

"Fucking miserable." I sighed truthfully and sunk back against the wall, stealing the bottle away from him yet again.

"You spend two to three hours together every day and you haven't become best buddies yet?" His tone was sarcastic and there was a teasing smile on his face, but I couldn't find it in me to fake a laugh.

"Don't make me gag. Those two to three hours are spent in total silence." Not a lie. "I don't think the bloke knows how to have a conversation with someone outside of his family." Again, not a lie.

"That's probably because no one can tolerate being around his standoffish attitude for more than five minutes at a time." Scorpius concluded with a small snort. "At least you got a good duel out of it and got to destroy his dorm in the process."

My mates just assumed I went to put James in his place after he fought Cyrus, which was only half true.

"Can we not talk about James Potter?" I pleaded. Scorpius' eyebrows raised at the sudden change in my tone and my fallen expression. "I see enough of him as it is," I added quickly, so he didn't read anything into it, but it was too late.

"What's he done?" Scorpius demanded with a hard expression on his face.

"I don't know what you mean," I lied, trying and failing to appear nonchalant as I chugged more wine and refused to look him in the eye.

"C'mon," He scoffed, "Most Slytherins that I know would come back from dueling James Potter and not be able to shut up about it but we can barely get anything out of you about it."

"There really wasn't anything to tell-"

"Is he being an ass to you?" He questioned, cutting me off. His stormy gray eyes were remarkably serious and I didn't exactly know how to respond to the question.

"When has Potter been anything but an ass?"

"You know what I mean," Scorpius said duly, shooting me a look. "If he's treating you poorly, we can handle it."

'We' meaning him, Cyrus, Mitch, and Silas. I almost laughed as I tried to imagine the four of them trying to duel/fight James. He'd have everyone but Scorpius down the second they raised their wands.

"You don't think I can handle it myself?" I hissed, narrowing my eyes ever so slightly.

"You know that's not what I'm saying. You shouldn't have to spend two hours every night with a bloke that-"

I didn't let him finish. "I'm fine, Scorpius, okay?"

"Jordan-"

"Please," I practically begged. My voice sounded pathetic, but it wasn't a conversation I wanted to have. It wasn't even a conversation I could have, especially not with Scorpius. "I really don't want to talk about it."

I didn't like talking about James. I didn't like even thinking about him and I had been trying to not to ever since our duel but with our detentions it was impossible. It sucked to be around someone that you once trusted and thought of as a friend to just nothing. Actually to even less than nothing considering he hated me. And I hated that I wanted to hate him, but couldn't.

He saw the look on my face and decided not to push it any further. "Fine, no talking." He agreed. "Let's kill the rest of this bottle and see if the guys have risen from their Jordan Moseley induced slumber."

"Deal."