all the whispers of the possible become clear

Chapter 7: 6th Year - Part A

"Eleven OWLs?" Albus goggled as he stared at Rose's transcript. "I know I shouldn't be surprised, and yet I am! You're brilliant, Rose!"

"Thanks." Rose grinned happily. "It's not like I got Outstandings on all of them, but at least I passed!"

"'At least I passed', she says." Albus mimicked her. "You got one A, two E's and O's for all the rest- how on earth did you get an O for History of Magic?"

"I like history." Rose shrugged and continued scanning Albus' transcript. "It looks like you passed everything you actually cared about." She looked up. "You didn't really want to do Astronomy or History of Magic at NEWT level anyway, did you?"

"Nope." Albus said cheerfully. "Which subjects are you going to take this year?"

"Mum advised me to take as many as I think I can handle, and then gauge whether the workload is too much. That's also what Uncle Neville said." Rose pondered. "Obviously I don't qualify for NEWT-level Astronomy-"

He snorted at that because he doubted many of their year-mates would be continuing that subject.

"-and I think I don't want to do Care of Magical Creatures nor Arithmancy anymore. I did those mostly to show that I could do it all as well as Mum could, not really because I liked them." Rose admitted quietly. Albus patted her on the shoulder. "And I'm hoping I won't really need NEWT-level Ancient Runes for what I want to do in the future. So I'll take the remaining seven. You?"

"Well, I still don't really know what I want to do." Albus sighed.

"I think you could be Minister of Magic." Rose offered.

"Very funny." He shook his head.

"Why not?" She countered. "You're bright, hardworking, likable, and you've got this ability to sort out conflicts and make people trust you."

Albus blinked in surprise, not realising that she was at least partially serious. "That sounds more like someone who works in Muggle Relations, or something like that."

"You could aim for that, I guess, but I thought you weren't that keen on Muggle Studies." Rose said doubtfully. "Or perhaps something to do with Magical Law Enforcement. Keep your options open."

"That's what Scorpius says." He noted.

"Do you know how he did on the OWLs?" Rose immediately asked.

"Hey, what happened to...not being all crazy about living up to your parents' expectations?" Albus retorted in mock indignation.

"My rivalry with him has nothing to do with being like Mum." She folded her arms crossly.

"No, but wasn't your dad the one who told you to beat him in everything?" He countered.

Rose stared at him for a moment before laughing. "Al, my dad's order was relevant for all of... one month, and from then on it was just between me and Scorpius."

"So you're telling me that your constant need to beat Scorpius has nothing to do with how proud Uncle Ron feels when you do?" Albus persisted.

"Look, I know Dad has this thing about beating anyone from the Malfoy family," she winced slightly at the thought of it, because family feuding always made her feel uncomfortable, "but Scorpius is my rival. He..." She hesitated for a bit, wondering if it was okay to tell Albus this. "...he makes me want to do better, to achieve more. And he makes me believe that I can."

Albus' eyes were wide as saucers by now. "Wow."

"Don't tell him I said that, okay?" Rose quickly demanded. "His ego doesn't need any further inflating."