Study Date | James Potter

Chapter 18 - "Are We An Us Now?"

Only Matthew, Valentina, Lily, the Marauders, and Rose herself knew why she was so happy in the days following her birthday.

She had been meeting James on the Astronomy Tower most nights since, and one frequent topic that came up while they talked was Lily.

It was the first Saturday of May, and when Rose stepped out into the small courtyard, she saw Lily sitting on a bench. It was the same place she had seen James and Lily together almost two months ago.

Rose walked towards her sister and sat down beside her on the bench.

"Hello."

Lily jumped slightly. "Rose. You came."

"James said you wanted to talk to me." She replied evenly. "He's the only reason I'm here."

Lily's mouth tightened and her face fell. "Alright," she said. "Well I'm glad you're here at least."

She was silent for a moment, and Rose waited for her to speak - Rose certainly wasn't going to start this.

Finally, Lily began.

"I never meant to leave you." She said quietly. "I know you always thought that I forgot about you as soon as we found out about all of this, but I was just so excited and caught up in it that I guess I got distracted. I missed you during the whole of my first year here. It was amazing but I kept thinking that it would have been so much better if you had been here with me. The only thing that made me feel better was knowing that you would be here the next year and I could show you everything."

Rose remained silent. She could hear the wobble in Lily's voice as she continued.

"I should never have pushed you away. That argument, I'll always regret it. I was scared, of you getting expelled for making too much trouble, and I was jealous that you were able to do anything you wanted, and Mum and Dad barely cared."

At that, Rose exploded.

"You were jealous of me?" She could barely breathe for the sudden anger that had swept through her.

"You're damn right that they barely cared. Mum and Dad never gave a single shit about what I did. Never cared that I was top of my class in Charms, and Defence, and Potions, because you'd done it all first. I started pulling pranks because I thought it might possibly catch their attention, at least in some way, but they were too focused on their perfect, darling, Lilyflower."

"Oh..." Lily looked shocked, and almost like she pitied Rose, who sneered.

"Don't look at me like that. I don't want you to feel sorry for me. All this time it's always been about you, and I'm sick of it. I'm happy now, and I don't need you."

She stood up. "Like I said, I came here for James. I know you two are friends now and I won't stop that, because being friends with you makes him happy, but I want nothing to do with you. Nothing."

Rose turned on her heel and began to walk away. She had reached the small door that led into the castle when she heard Lily call behind her, "Rose, wait! Please."

She hesitated briefly, the span of a heartbeat, then strode through the door, letting it close behind her with a loud thud.

Years ago, Lily had abandoned her. She didn't get to come crawling back now with some ridiculous justifications for her actions. As if they could be justified.

Lily had left her and Rose owed her nothing.

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The next day, the eagerly awaited Hufflepuff versus Slytherin Quidditch match took place.

Rose watched with Valentina from the stands. It was in Slytherin's best interests to catch the snitch and end the match quickly, and they did. Hufflepuff had scored two goals and Slytherin one, when Regulus shot down right past the Hufflepuff seeker, taking the latter by surprise. The Hufflepuff seeker dived after him, but not fast enough.