what if | rosie

[Albus Severus Potter]

don't speak too soon.

last week of term, 2019

THE LAST WEEK OF AL'S THIRD TERM AT Hogwarts felt like a lifetime. It was an important year for him, one where he finally realised that being Harry Potter's son was about as helpful as it was notorious. James, his brother, had loved it. Still loved it. Lily looked more like their mum, and so was hounded by every Quidditch geek in a 6 feet radius, but Al. He was the mirror image of his dad, right down to his eyes, which were failing miserably. But, at least he had Rosie.

Rosie William's never once made Al feel like a freak for having a 'famous' father. In fact, she'd barely acknowledged it. Their parent's were friends, apparently, but that didn't mean Al had to be hers. It had been a subject of great agonising, but eventually Al realised he couldn't be fussy. Plus, Rosie was stubborn and... even fun to be around. Better than some of the quacks his brother hung around with. Or, rather, hung around his brother. Though, he'd never tell her. She'd make fun of him for even thinking it.

However, as Al's third year dwindled down to the eye of a needle, he began being asked the weirdest questions. Was he taking Rosie to the end of term ball? Was Rosie his girlfriend? He'd brushed it off initially, totally hogswallop, but quickly realised that the voices that gossiped had pretty much made up their minds. He and Rosie were inevitable. And, though he'd much protested to begin with, it put a seed in his mind. Just one other thing he couldn't stop thinking about. What would it be like if Rosie were his girlfriend?

Letting himself in to the Hufflepuff common room, Albus found Rosie instinctively, with an armful of books clutched to his person. "Move over," He told her almost angrily, kicking at her feet so that he could drop on to the ground beside her chair. The Slytherin common room had always been uncommonly cold, but the Puff's was like living inside a piece of coal in the fire. He'd gotten a chill, he'd decided, and found Rosie because of it. "I have this big theory piece I have to finish for Potions," He told her as way of explanation. "The Slytherin common's is frozen." He added again, as if he required such a reason. 

rose harriet granger-weasley

NEVERLAND at ADOXOGRAPHY 2.0!

[Deleted]

Rosie at age 13 was never without something sweet in her grasp, and her favorites had always been sugar quills. She felt that they gave you the best bang for your buck. They lasted quite a while and promised a nice little sugar rush; a necessity to get through her study sessions. Rosie was a good student, and she liked studying mostly because she knew that she should. She wasn’t great in most subjects that required physical ability, like flying, or defense against the dark arts. But subjects that were theory or academic based, like potions and History of Magic, Rosie excelled in. She wanted to do well. She wanted to impress those around her. But she also didn’t want to go so far as to kill herself in the process. She was never one to volunteer in class, whether it be to answer a question or demonstrate a spell.

So it wasn’t uncommon to find her studying in the common room. But what was a little uncommon was when members of other houses joined into their little basement plant cellar. She heard Albus before she saw him, and she moved her feet up onto her chair so he could sit down like he asked. He explained that he had an assignment that he needed to get done right away and that his own common room was frozen. “I never understood why they put a common room under the lake.” she admitted for probably the hundredth time. She loved her own common room so much. It was like a little underground burrow, it was warm and comfortable and covered in plants. She felt like a little groundhog or something.

Albus had been her best friend for as long as she could really remember. Sure, on the train to Hogwarts she had accidently met Jamie, and Jamie became an extremely important person to her. But Albus was probably the person in her life who knew her the best. She wasn’t ever afraid of telling him anything, and she knew that she could trust him with even the most secretive parts of her soul. Which was why she was wondering if she should tell him that she was starting to think that she had a crush on Brandon, a boy in their year and in her house.

Albus Severus Potter

[Albus Severus Potter]

don't speak too soon.

last week of term, 2019

WITH A SHRIVELLED SHRED OF HOUSE PRIDE, Albus rolled his eyes at his friend. He agreed with, but nor outwardly. "Because it's cool?" He offered instead, knowing that it was better than starting an argument in an opposing common room. He'd come seeking warmth, after all. Definitely not the company. He could sit any where and be fine. This he reminded himself over and over, but it never felt any more true the more he said it.

"Do you know what someone asked me in the library the other day?" Albus offered quietly, pulling his knees up to his chest and pretending to be engrossed in his school work. But, Al told Rosie everything and he couldn't hold back. Plus, he had rationalised. If he didn't tell her now, someone else would and it would seem weird if he hadn't mentioned it. This was his awkward logic as he scribbled a line on his parchment, the self inking quill bleeding in to the paper as he leaned down to hard. "They asked if we were together-" He snorted, his ears going red as he wrote another line. "Like, together together." And then he outright laughed, for added measure. 

rose harriet granger-weasley

NEVERLAND at ADOXOGRAPHY 2.0!

[Deleted]

Rosie rolled her eyes when Albus said that his common room was cool. Maybe it was, but that didn’t change the fact that he was here now. “I’d rather have cozy than cool.” plus she personally thought that plants and big comfy chairs were cool. But maybe that was the reason that she was a Hufflepuff. Then he went into another comment, saying that someone in the library the other day had asked if he and Rosie were together. Rosie looked down at his head as he spoke, the thought hadn’t ever crossed her mind. Albus was a great friend and someone that she cared about and would say that she loved. But romantically, she had barely thought about anyone in that way, let alone someone that she saw as her brother. Albus laughed and Rosie let herself laugh too. “Why would anything think that we were together like that?” she asked easily. “I wonder if we come across that way?” but maybe they were just at the age where it was harder for a boy and a girl to be friends without anything else involved.

Albus Severus Potter

[Albus Severus Potter]

don't speak too soon.

last week of term, 2019

TILTING HIS HEAD UP UNTIL HIS CHIN WAS parallel with the ceiling, Albus stared at Rosie from under his lashes. "That's exactly what a weasel would say." He muttered matter-of-factly, curling his lip as he dropped his chin back down and snickered to himself. Referring to the badger mascot that all cheery Huffelpuff's shared. He preferred the snake, but that was just his opinion. He didn't have many favourite Slytherin's, but he had a favourite Hufflepuff.

Staring intensely at his notebook, Albus wished he had eyes on the back of his head. He needed to see Rosie's face, but he couldn't risk her looking at his as his cheeks blazed hotly. He shrugged his shoulders, clearing his throat thickly as he paused his mindless writing. "I guess..." He pursed his lips together, struggling to think. "I guess because my brother screws all his girl friends." And then he coughed and bit his lip until it hurt. "I mean, friends that are girls." He chuckled awkwardly and shook his head. Hoping Rosie wasn't taking him seriously. He was certainly trying not to take himself too seriously. 

rose harriet granger-weasley

NEVERLAND at ADOXOGRAPHY 2.0!

[Deleted]

Albus told her that her comment was exactly what a weasel would say. She laughed with an easy shrug. She was a badger after all. She couldn’t be blamed for being okay with burrowing into the ground and staying where it was warm and safe. It was in her nature. Rosie wasn’t much of a risk taker, and obviously, neither was Helga Hufflepuff with her choice of common room location.

When he mentioned that people probably assumed they were together because his brother went around screwing all of his friends who were girls, Rosie nodded. She couldn’t say that she was James Potter’s biggest fan. “Well, you’re not your brother, are you, Al?” she smirked. Maybe she was biased, but she certainly had a favorite Potter, and she knew that Albus was far from being anything like James. He was kind and sweet and caring, at least as far as she was concerned. And while she had been around James as a child, she had never much cared for his personality. “So what did you tell the person who asked?” she asked.

Albus Severus Potter

[Albus Severus Potter]

don't speak too soon.

last week of term, 2019

IT WAS A GREAT COMFORT TO AL THAT HIS BEST friend hated James more than he did. Al's patience for his brother's dramatics had never been great. He tired of his vast reputation and how people assumed he must be like him, especially at Hogwarts. Fending off their disappointment when he had neither the charm nor the looks of his older, more charismatic sibling. But Rosie liked him. She'd always had a thing for a lost cause. Al suspected this was an inherited Hufflepuff trait.

"Nope." Albus replied surely, popping the p as he looked down at his knees and frowned deeply. A part of him wondering if maybe his life would have been easier if he had been a little more like his brother. He'd certainly know what to say to a girl if he liked her. "I said that you were my friend." Albus said simply, picking at a loose thread in the knee of his trousers. "And that they should wind their neck in." He huffed a half laugh, tilting his chin up to catch the look on Rosie's face. 

rose harriet granger-weasley

NEVERLAND at ADOXOGRAPHY 2.0!

[Deleted]

Rosie wasn’t expecting anything less from Albus than for him to confirm that he wasn’t his brother. They were far from the same person. Besides a few shared physical features, she couldn’t believe they were actually from the same family. They acted so differently and personality wise they were worlds apart. “And thank god for that.” she mumbled under her breath as she flipped the page in the book that she was now just skimming through and absentmindedly studying. She could go back to it later. She found herself a little more distracted by the Slytherin boy than she cared to admit.

She let herself giggle when he told her what he had told them. It was fair enough, people should learn to mind their own business. Why couldn’t boys and girls be friends without people having to make a big deal about it? Rosie had a close group of girlfriends, why wasn’t she allowed to be friends with boys as well? She was sure Albus felt the same way. “I’m proud of you. They should mind their business…” she wondered who else thought that she and Albus might be dating. The thought crossed her mind as to whether Brandon may have thought the two of them were dating… she certainly hoped he didn’t. She couldn’t say she didn’t have her eye on her housemate. “Gossip spreads fast around the school, though, do you know other people think that we’re together? Do we act like we’re together?” her habit of talking too much when she was nervous started picking up.

Albus Severus Potter

[Albus Severus Potter]

don't speak too soon.

last week of term, 2019

THOUGH SHE HAD SIMPLY AGREED WITH WHAT Albus had already said, there was an odd lump at the back of his throat. Perhaps, deep down, he'd thought she'd ruminate a little more on the subject. That she would hesitate even a little. But, it was second nature for her to agree. They were friends, that was it. And that had been all Albus had ever expected from Rosie. But, lately, as rumours spread and grew hands a feet... maybe he'd thought about it a little.

Sweat prickling his palms, Albus scrubbed the itchy palms against the knees of his trousers. His brows were tented in a tight frown and he felt a headache beginning behind his eyes. Why was he so offended? He couldn't face it, so he stayed quiet instead. "I don't know..." Albus muttered quietly, dropping his chin so that he could squeeze his eyes shut. He picked sleep from the corners and tried to think of something better to say.

"Doesn't matter, right?" He said stiffly, shaking his head. "It's stupid anyway." And then he stood up rather abruptly, brushing dust from the seat of his trousers and clearing his throat. "I gotta use the bathroom, I'll-" Cheeks inflating with air, Albus shrugged helplessly and stormed off without another word. 'God... do I fancy Rosie?' The idea made his face hot and tight, like he was about to explode from his skin. Was that a yes...?

[END AL]

rose harriet granger-weasley

NEVERLAND at ADOXOGRAPHY 2.0!

[Deleted]

Albus started acting a bit odd and then said that he needed to use the bathroom before bolting up from the place he had chosen to sit at her feet and then stormed off, leaving his things lying there so she assumed that he would be back. She sighed, she hadn’t meant to embarrass him. But she supposed she had. Of course he wouldn’t want people thinking that they were dating, if people thought that then he wouldn’t get anyone interested in him, would he? She supposed by asking what might have brought it up it made him feel awkward about the whole thing. Oh well, she’d drop it. She didn’t want to make anything worse for him. She knew how quickly the rumor mill ran when it was being run by 13 years olds. Better to not give them anything to gossip about.

Albus Severus Potter
the end