Harry Potter Broken Promise

Scorpius smiled at her, his blue-grey eyes twinkling in the way that she loved so much. "So I'll see you at eleven o'clock on Saturday, and we can go to Hogsmeade together, yeah?"

Rose smiled back, her long red hair falling over her shoulder. "Yeah. Can't wait."

"Excellent, it's a date, then. Love you, Rose," he said, kissing her softly.

"Love you too." She took so much pleasure in saying those words. Finally, she had someone to love her that part of her family, someone to go on dates with, to dance with, to be herself with. Someone to listen to her talk about complete nonsense, someone to tell her that she looked beautiful even in sweatpants and a ponytail. And of course, it helped that her someone happened to be Scorpius Malfoy, who, in addition to being her very best friends,was an excellent Gryffindor Chaser and was incredibly hot.

In short, Rose Weasley loved being in love.

She waved goodbye to Scorpius as he left for bed, and would probably have stared after him for hours if Al hadn't stormed over, looking rather pissed.

"What's up, Al? Everything okay?" she asked, packing up her essay and quills, still in her dreamlike trance.

He frowned. "No, Rose. Everything is not okay. Did you just make plans with Scorpius to go to Hogsmeade this weekend?"

She blinked up at him, confused. Everything had been perfect once she'd started going out with Scorpius; she was supposed to be happy, why was something wrong now? "Yeah, I did. We've been going out for months; what's wrong with us going on a-"

"That's not the point, Rose. What's wrong is that you promised you'd go to Hogsmeade with me, Lily, Hugo, and Louis, remember? We were gonna go Christmas shopping while James, Dom, Roxy, and Fred were at the Hog's Head partying."

Rose remembered. A wave of guilt washed over her. "I'm so sorry, Al, I forgot- I'll come next time, okay? And anyway, isn't Louis going with Marie Macmillan? He's not coming shopping either, is he?" she asked, trying to change the subject in a vain attempt to make herself look like less of a flake. Was she really that bad of a cousin? She couldn't be. She had better stop whatever she was doing, right now, because that wasn't the kind of person that she was.

Al only looked angrier. "No, he told her that they'd go another time. Because this day was supposed to be our day. With the _family_."

"I'm sorry, Al! Maybe Scorpius could come with-"

"Family only, Rose. You promised. And I know you'll probably end up marrying Scorpius someday, sickening though the thought is of my two best friends marrying each other, but he's not extended family _yet_, and sometimes you just have to spend time with the cousins, y'know?"

Rose felt unusually guilty. She hadn't noticed that she'd been neglecting her family- or maybe she had, and she'd chosen to ignore it. She couldn't help herself- she craved the time that she spent with Scorpius, probably because she had never experienced anything like it before. She'd only ever had one other boyfriend besides Scorpius, and he had been in Ravenclaw, so they hadn't even seen each other much, since she was a Gryffindor. But Scorpius made her feel happy, and special, and she wanted to spend every moment with him forever. But she realized that in the process of doing so, her family had been left out. And Weasleys were supposed to stick together, not ditch each other for boyfriends. No matter how attractive said boyfriends were.

Al continued. "And it's not just today, it's all the time. Like when you couldn't help Hugo study because you and Scorpius were owling each other, and you couldn't play wizard's chess with me because you two were having a late night snack in his dorm. I mean, Scorpius is my best friend too, and I'm truly happy for the two of you being together, but you made a promise, Rose, and now you're breaking it. And it's not just me you're disappointing, it's Louis, and Hugo, and especially Lily, whom you almost never even get to talk to anymore because you're so wrapped up in Scorpius. I get that the two of you want to be together, but sometimes you need to remember everyone else too."

Rose felt close to tears. Al noticed, and looked worried. "I didn't mean to hurt your feelings, Rose. But you understand, right? Sometimes you've got to spend time apart from him. Don't be offended or anything."

She nodded. "No, you're totally right, I was being stupid. I just don't know if I should cancel with him now, because I'd hate to disappoint him-"

"_Rose_."

"All right, all right, hold your hippogriffs, I'll tell him I can't come. And Al, I truly am sorry."

Al looked relieved. "Thanks, Rose. I'll see you Saturday."

Rose walked slowly up the common room stairs. Love was great, she realized, no matter if it was among boyfriends and girlfriends or cousins and siblings. And Al was right- sometimes you just have to spend time with your family. Because sometimes family can make you feel truly happy, and sometimes family can make you see things you never would have realized on your own.

So Rose was especially glad that she was fortunate enough to have the greatest family in the world.

**A/N: This started out as more of a Rose/Scorpius story, but eventually morphed into some cousin stuff between Rose and Al. Hope you're not too disappointed about the lack of fluff. **


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Harry Potter, Family, Romance