Albus Potter, Classmates and Elves

Ch 14 Christmas holidays 2018

I want to thank my beta Deb for some significant contributions to this chapter. One section was added just because of her suggestions, and her edits have, as always, made the story better.

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"Let us go to my bedroom," Rose suggested after the children had finished talking to the adults. They met in the bedroom that Rose and Cleo shared in Potter's New Burrow. The large house was almost a mirror image of the house that Harry had built for the Weasley family when the original Burrow was destroyed during the last war. Potter's New Burrow was usually empty except for holidays, when the entire Weasley clan would gather. There were Elf quarters in the attic of Potter's New Burrow, just like in the New Burrow, and they were inhabited year round.

When they arrived at the bedroom, the girls sat on one of the beds, and the boys on the other. "Did you know any of this history?" Rose demanded of Albus, leaning forward with her elbows on her knees.

"Cleo and I have been talking to Galadriel and Thorin," Albus admitted with a slow nod. "Next summer we are going to go back into the oldest part of the caves at the castle and see if we can reach the oldest documents."

"Why you?" Rose wondered as she looked between Albus and Cleo. "Just how important are you and Cleo? Are you the only ones who can get back there?"

"We probably are the only ones, Cleo and me working with Galadriel and Thorin. Do not tell anybody!" Albus stressed, pointing at Rose for emphasis. "We are, it seems, very important, but do not tell anyone."

"People are guessing," Ross scoffed, waved her hands in a dismissive gesture. "Why did you remove the wall in front of the castle? You might as well have proclaimed to all the world that you were the next king and queen. Why did you remove that wall?" She looked at Cleo.

"It was ugly, and made the castle look foreboding instead of welcoming," Cleo stated, leaning back on her elbows with a frown as she remembered the wall. "The castle needs to be pretty, welcoming, a fairy tale castle, not a fortress."

"You are already acting like it is your castle, Cleo," Rose fumed with a glare. "Do you really want to live there?"

Cleo looked at Rose astonished. "Of course! It is just like a fairy tale, getting to live in a castle. It has a huge pipe organ, and rooms and rooms. You could have a hundred children living in that castle! You do want to be a mother, don't you, Rose?"

"NO!" Rose yelled, then paused as she snuck a sideways glance at Scorpius before looking back at Cleo, "Well, maybe, after I'm old, but not NOW. I'm too young to even think about that. I don't even have a boyfriend, unlike you and," looking at Scorpius. "Is Cassie your girlfriend?" she asked with a frown.

"She thinks she is," Scorpius shrugged and shook his head. "I guess she is, but I'm not, it's not, it's not serious or anything. It is just, I guess, we have to learn to dance starting next year, and she is as good as anybody to dance with but I'm not ... I don't know." He finished with a sigh.

"And what am I?" Rose demanded, her hands on her hips as she stared at Scorpius.

"You and Albus are my best friends," Scorpius replied. "Cleo is too, but she is almost more like a sister, but you and I are study partners and best friends, and it doesn't matter that you are a girl."

"I think it matters a WHOLE LOT that I'm a girl," Rose almost yelled, quite offended.

"Do you want me to be your boyfriend?" Scorpius muttered, confused at her reaction.

"How did we get into this conversation, anyway," Rose sighed, obviously frustrated, trying to hide her hurt and jealously. "You already have a girlfriend, airhead Cassie," she said sarcastically. The room filled with an awkward silence as the two refused to look at each other.