A Rose in a Million • Rose Weasley

Chapter 14

"Morning." I said, sitting down next to my friends in the Great Hall. Nicoletta, Scorpius, Albus, Alice, and Emma were all already there. When I sat down, everyone but my friends scooted away from me.

I rolled my eyes. "It's been a week, you would think that this would have blown over by now." I mumbled under my breath.

Emma heard and sneered. "You'd be surprised what the halfwits of Hogwarts will believe."

I took a piece of toast and smeared butter on it, my mind focusing on this small task. "Still, it should have blown over."

"It's not a big deal." Scorpius shrugged his shoulders, nonchalantly. Even though he didn't let it get to him, I knew that he wasn't as okay with it as he was pretending to be.

I put down my piece of toast and looked at him. "It is a big deal. You're a good person and everyone should know that."

"After a while you tend to forget they hate you." Nicoletta said, speaking up. She had an earnest expression on her face. For a second there, I had almost forgotten that she was there.

Alice scrunched up her eyebrows. "That doesn't seem like something easy to forget."

Nicoletta smiled, but there was something missing from it. "With enough practice, anything is easy."

The sudden screech of the mail owls announcing their arrival into the Great Hall, made us turn our heads. I visibly jumped, alarmed by the sudden noise. Scorpius shoot me a teasing grin, catching sight of how the owls had scared me.

I wasn't expecting any mail, yet a tawny owl landed on the table, an emerald green envelope addressed to me attached to its leg. I took the envelope from the owl's outstretched leg and fed him an owl treat, which he ate happily.

Once the owl flew away, I looked at the envelope. I didn't have to be an expert to know that the envelope was made from an expensive material. I turned it around, noticing the ornate wax seal, a large 'M' at its center.

I turned to Scorpius questioningly. I could tell that the wax seal belonged to a pure blood family and the only pure blood family that I knew that began with an 'M' was Malfoy.

When I turned to him, I noticed how I wasn't the only person with the emerald green envelope. In fact, everywhere I could see, everyone had received one.

James came over to us with Fred in tow and waved the same emerald green envelope at us. "I see we all got one." James said, stating the obvious. He sent Emma a small smile which I'm sure that she saw.

Good, whatever had happened between them was fixed. Thank Merlin we could now go back to normal without James looking like a kicked puppy every time he saw Emma.

"What's this?" I asked, turning the envelope over and over again, too nervous to open it.

Everyone turned to Scorpius for an explanation. "We host a Christmas party every couple of years and I guess mum must have invited the entire castle."

"Wait, we're invited?" Leave it to Albus to ask the stupidest questions.

"Yeah, mum knows you're my friends. She must have thought that it would be a good idea considering the bad press and all." At our silence, Scorpius added, "Look, you don't have to go. I can already tell it's going to be lame. Just a room full of stuck up, rich pure blooded wizards talking about how they are better than everybody."