Temporary Pleasure

4

December 1952

Rose didn't see Tom again for almost two months.

She was busy reassessing her actions and reflecting on her behaviour after the alleyway incident.

Sure, she loved to do things that would infuriate her mother. But she thinks perhaps that was a line crossed. Her reputation could have seriously been tarnished, she hadn't thought it through properly.

She didn't think a lot of things through when it came to Tom. The first night with him, when she gave him her virginity, it took her weeks to be able to look her parents in the eyes. It was a wonder they didn't find out right away considering her whole life Rose had been an open book.

Rose liked to follow the rules, she liked having a clear conscience. Tom was making it increasingly hard for her to do so.

"Our house in France is my favourite. It's a sight to behold and I think you would like the orchard," Felix said, his eyes soft.

She thinks she would, too. She liked orchards.

"I would love to see it one day," she smiled, setting her teacup down. "I've never been to France, which is odd, because I do believe we have a house there too."

That spurred Felix into more talk of how lovely France was. He had been to a lot of places, the Rosiers liked to be worldly.

Not as wordly as Tom, she noted bitterly. From what she had gathered long ago, when she used to see him regularly, he went traveling for research purposes. He was an academic, on a mission to learn everything he could about magic. He was adventurous, he was bold and fearless. These were qualities she thought should have belonged to her, after all her Hogwarts house stood for those traits.

She would love to expand her knowledge of magic. She would love to travel and interact with wizards around the world in a setting where they didn't all have to be polite and dressed up.

Felix talked extensively about France, but she could tell even now how limited his knowledge of France was.

They have the best wine. Our manor is near an estate in Nice, the weather is so lovely there. My father met the French Minister, I got to shake his hand.

"Ah, Felix, back again?" Dorea smiled, entering the drawing room where her and Felix were chatting.

"Yes, ma'am, forgive me but your daughter is irresistible," he said. Looking earnestly at Rose, he lifted her hand and pressed a kiss on the back. "I find myself thinking of her constantly."

Something bloomed in her heart at his words. Warmth. Security.

When she decided to give her suitors a chance to at least have a reason to turn them down, she was pleasantly surprised with how well she and Felix got along.

It was true that he was a cousin of Druella and she knew him. But she couldn't remember ever having a conversation with him. He was Orion's age and in Slytherin. She would have been his annoying little cousin's friend in Gryffindor.

Rose appealed to him now that she was older and he looked into the pool of eligible pureblood women to marry and found it small.

Regardless, she found him charming. He was certainly attractive, but all Rosiers were. He was kind to her, too. She'd be related to Druella if she married him.

And now Rose was seriously considering it.

Tom was on her mind constantly, but that was because he was a part of the scandalizing experience of her life.

She never thought she'd marry him, he was only her taste of freedom. Her means of rebelling against her mother. After the alleyway incident, when she realized just how dangerous he was for her, she considered that itch scratched.