Without Magic [Harry Potter and the Cursed Child]

Chapter Six

Joe's Pizza Parlor

We didn't find a bike shop, but Joe's Pizza actually happened to be hiring. At least half of what i said to cheer Scorpius up happened to be true. Maybe it was a coincidence, maybe not.

"How many people are you looking to hire?" I ask the waitress when she comes to take our order. I look on her name tag and see that her name just happened to be Rose. Scorpius is looking at her face, trying to figure out if this is our Rose from London. His face turns perplexed before he looks away.

None of this could be a coincidence. We're meant to be here for some reason. And Scorpius knows something I don't.

"Right now we are only looking for a waiter or waitress." Rose tells us. Her golden blonde hair tells me this isn't my cousin from Great Britain. "Were one of you looking to apply?"

I look to Scorpius and he looks back at me. After a few seconds he turns back to Rose. "We were both looking to apply, actually. We'll have to get back to you after our meal."

"That's perfectly fine." She says, but her undertone sounds slightly annoyed that she might have wasted her time explaining the job when neither of us will apply. "What would you guys like to get?"

We order a large pizza, half plain and half with pepperoni, Scorpius' favorite topping. Rose goes to put our order in and brings us back the drinks we ordered earlier; Diet Coke for Scorpius and Sprite for myself.

"You can take this job, man." I tell Scorpius when Rose walks away from the booth. "You love pizza and could probably get some pretty sweet discounts."

"Are you sure, Albus? It might be hard to come across another job."

I sit forward in the booth to let him know that I'm serious. "Take it. I mean it, Scorpius. I'll find something soon. The only catch is that you'll have to pay for your bike once you have the money."

He laughs, ending the current conversation. Then I ask what I was wondering before. "Scorpius?"

"What's up?" He looks slightly scared at the tone of my voice.

"The way you were looking at our waitress... you looked like you knew her." I say, wording my suspicions the best I could.

"I couldn't help it man." He says. "She looks so much like our Rose from home. Even her voice sounds similar. The only thing that seems different about her is the hair."

Of course Scorpius would be the first one to notice all of this. He and Rose went out of about a year before she broke up with him before he moved to New York with me to start our new lives. She knew it would be impossible to keep their relationship alive when they were so far away from each other. I'm pretty sure Scorpius still likes her even if he doesn't show it to anyone.

"Rose wouldn't be here though, Scorpius. Especially not in the same day we got here. There's no other plane she could've possibly took. It's impossible."

My phone vibrates and I reach to take it out as Rose comes back with our food. "Here ya go, enjoy." She says as she puts our pizza in the center of the table and gives us both plates.

"Rose?" Scorpius asks.

I notice there's a missed call from my mom with a voicemail.

"Scorpius?" She responds.

"How do you know his name?" I ask, now wondering if it could possibly be true.

"Rose Granger-Weasley." Scorpius responds. "What the hell are you doing here?"