Chapter 1: Stupid War

My Dear Daughter,

I hope everything is going well at school, and I hope you're keeping up with your studies and staying out of trouble. Make sure you're looking after your brother and keeping him out of trouble, too.

Yesterday your dad told me that he heard around the Ministry that you've been seen hanging around with Scorpius Malfoy. I won't tell you who you should be spending time with, of course, but please be careful. I've told you about his family.

Anyway, I love you very much and I hope to hear from you soon.

-Mother

Rose Weasley rolled her eyes and shoved the letter from her mother into her schoolbag before she sat down in Charms class. Yes, Rose knew the stories all too well. Her uncle, Harry Potter, had defeated Lord Voldemort, the darkest wizard of all time. The Malfoys had been on the side of that dark wizard while her parents, Ron and Hermione Weasley, fought alongside Uncle Harry. Rose was proud of her history—though not quite as proud as her brother, Hugo—but she was just tired of not being able to live her own life out of the shadow of her family. This is not to say that Rose did not love her family very deeply. Now in her sixth year at Hogwarts, Rose was very close with her brother and her cousins, especially her cousin Albus, who she had been best friends with since they were kids. Her older cousin James was in his seventh year at Hogwarts and he was always looking out for his younger siblings and cousins, and Rose did appreciate it. She thought it was sweet the way he stuck up for her, but sometimes she wanted to live how she chose to live.

Rose brushed a piece of her shoulder length, curly strawberry blonde hair out of her face as she waited for class to begin. She was early as usual, but she didn't mind. She enjoyed the time to think to herself, and her mind was reeling with thoughts of her mother's letter. It's not as if she was friends with Scorpius. Quite the contrary; he was a pompous jerk who had an undue sense of entitlement, not to mention a knack for using women as well as always picking on Rose, Hugo, and her cousins because of his rivalry with her cousin James. Each was the captain of his respective Quidditch team, and their rivalry had begun the day they each joined their teams. Scorpius particularly loved to make fun of Rose because he knew how much it bugged her especially. Scorpius took every opportunity to knock books out of Rose's hands and call her names, things James saw fit to defend, verbally and physically.

After only another minute, Rose was joined by her cousin and best friend, Albus Potter, who had just come from lunch.

"Hey, baby girl," Albus said as he sat down next to Rose and planted a small kiss on her cheek. Rose smiled and pushed Albus away playfully. "You look mad," Albus said conversationally.

Rose shrugged. "I'm fine," she said. "My mum—"

Rose was cut off as Professor Flitwick scurried into the room and clapped his hands, signaling the start to class. They spent the class working on Protean Charms, and after class, Rose said a quick goodbye to Albus as he headed off to meet his current Hufflepuff girlfriend, Poppy McDonahue.

As she was climbing the staircase toward Gryffindor tower, Rose felt a strong hand grip her upper arm and turn her around gently but firmly. Rose was about to snap at whoever had grabbed her when she turned and recognized the face before her.

"James, what are you playing at?" Rose said, brow creasing.

Her cousin smiled briefly before his face turned serious. "I didn't mean to startle you," James said quickly. "We need to talk." Without warning, the staircase they were standing on changed and pointed them in the opposite direction that Rose had intended to go.

"Damn it, James, now I have to go all the way around," Rose said as she ascended the staircase the rest of the way and began walking around the castle toward Gryffindor tower. James jogged up next to her and started walking beside her toward her destination.

"I got a letter from my dad today," James began.

"That's nice," Rose said with a smile. "How are Uncle Harry and Aunt Ginny?" Rose asked.

"They're fine," James snapped. Rose looked slightly taken aback by his tone and gave him a confused look. Before she could say anything, he continued. "Look, dad told me that you've been hanging out with Scorpius Malfoy—"

"What—?"

"You need to watch yourself, Rose," James said shaking his head. "The Malfoys are no good, even now. I know the war's over—"

"Don't even start on that stupid war," Rose said, raising her hand and walking ahead of James.

James caught up with her, grabbed her arm and spun her around. "Stupid war?" James's voice was rising with every word. "My dad saved the wizarding world in that 'stupid war.' Your parents and my parents risked their lives in that 'stupid war.'" Rose was trying to wriggle her arm out of James grip, but that only caused him to clutch her arm tighter. "Scorpius's great aunt tortured and almost killed your mum. She killed my dad's godfather. My dad lost almost everything in that war—some of his closest friends and family… his parents. Your dad lost a brother." James's face was red with anger and Rose was standing in front of him with her eyes closed. Her arm was still held tightly in his grip. "I know it may not seem important to you, but that war was everything, and the Malfoys haven't changed."

With a heavy sigh, Rose opened her eyes and spoke. "Okay…" she began slowly. "I know the war was important, but you don't know that they haven't changed, first of all. Second of all," she continued quickly when it looked like James wanted to interrupt. "I'm not friends with Scorpius. We just happened to be at the same party and at some point in the night we ended up standing around in the same group of people. I never even talked to him. Even if I had," she pressed on, "no one in this family is going to tell me who I can and cannot be around. I know a lot has happened between our family and the Malfoys, and I understand what it all means, but no one is going to control me. I am my own woman. I'm seventeen years old—I'm of age—I can make my own decisions, and I can take care of myself."

"I don't want to see you with Scorpius," James said with a growl.

"Did you just hear anything I said?" Rose said loudly.

"Rose—"

"UGH!" Rose finally pulled herself from James's grip and ran the rest of the way to Gryffindor tower. She was brimming with anger—anger at James and at her mother and at her uncle. She was tired of the expectations and the rules and everything. No one was going to tell her how to lead her life.

When she finally got into the common room, she spotted her brother Hugo sitting by himself looking at a Quidditch magazine. She walked over to him and patted him on the head, hoping to get some comfort from his presence.

"Hey, sis," Hugo said with a smile. Now in his fourth year at Hogwarts, Hugo was a red-headed, gangly boy who greatly resembled their father. He had their mother's soft brown eyes, but other than that, Hugo was all Weasley. Before Rose could say anything in response to Hugo, he said, "We need to talk about something…"

Rose's eyes widened and her jaw dropped. She let out a small roar right before she said, "Don't tell me that mum owled you," she said through clenched teeth.

"She's just concerned—"

"Stop!" Rose stood so quickly from her chair that it toppled over. She bent to pick it up as she said, "Everyone just stop! I'm not friends with Scorpius, and even if I was, it's no one's business! Honestly!" She grabbed her bag and turned on her heel before she left the common room the way she came in. Her eyes were so blinded with rage that she did not see the figure in front of her as she came storming through the portrait hole. She almost fell back when she ran into the person just outside the entrance to Gryffindor tower.

"Hey, baby girl—"

"If you say ONE THING about Scorpius Malfoy, I swear on my life, Albus Severus Potter, I will kill you!" The moment she had realized that it was Albus, she pointed her wand directly at his chest and pushed him up against a wall near them.

With his hands in the air as a sign of surrender, he said, "I have no idea what you're talking about…"

Rose kept her wand pointed at his chest for only a moment more before sighing and lowering her wand. "Oh," was all she said. She turned to walk away, but Albus went after her.

"You just threatened to kill me, and now you're going to walk away like nothing happened?" he said once he caught up with her. "What is going on? Is this about earlier?"

Rose shook her head angrily as she continued to walk along. "I'm sorry, Al," she said. "I just got this letter from my mum today basically telling me to stay away from Scorpius Malfoy, and then I got lectured by James and almost lectured by Hugo. It's just annoying," she said as she threw her hands up in the air in frustration. "I'm not even friends with him—he's a jerk—but even if I was, that's my choice, right? It was just that stupid party last weekend…"

"I was at that party," Albus said.

"Right!" Rose yelled. "Are you getting angry letters from your parents? Of course not! It's so unfair."

"They're just worried about you," Albus offered.

"Don't defend them," Rose gave him a death glare.

"Right, sorry. Awful gits," he added. Rose smiled and put her arm around Albus's waist as he put his arm around her shoulders. "But really, don't worry about it," he said. "They really do just want the best for us."

"I know," Rose said. "I just wish I could show them that they can't control me anymore—"

"I know."

"That I'm my own woman and I can do what I very well please."

"Yeah. They'll understand eventually."

"That no matter what they say, I'll live my life the way I see fit."

"You're not even listening to me, are you?"

"That sometimes they just don't have a say…"

"Rose, I don't like this… You have that look in your eye…"

"Slytherins have Quidditch practice right now, right?" Rose asked. Albus was the Gryffindor Seeker.

"Yeah, why?"

"I have to go, Al," Rose said quickly. Without another word, she darted down the stairs and out of sight.