Chapter 20: The Breakfast Before

POV: Albus

Here's the thing about my family: We are composed of several other bloodlines, all tying back together to form the Weasley/Potter clan. As a result of those many relatives and inherited traits, everything we do is thrived on competition.

Example A: Freddie and Louis currently fighting for a bowl of cereal (like there are not overflowing and ready for their disposal, but no, it has to be that specific bowl).  

Example B: There are currently eight Gryffindors (James, Freddie, Louis, Dominique, Rose, Lily, Roxy, and Lucy), one Ravenclaw (Hugo), one Hufflepuff (Artie), and one Slytherin (me) attending Hogwarts. Naturally, there is a constant battle of House pride surging between us at all times. Bets start at the beginning of the year, and it is survival of the best House throughout those terms. Whoever wins House Cup, Quidditch House Cup, and who gets the most O's in the school year determines the ruler of the rest of us for summer holidays.

Example C: To this day and age, Mum and Uncle Ron continue to argue about who Dad cares for the most. Though the answer is obvious—even if Mum is a tornado—she and Uncle Ron tally points of how often Dad sides with them and then they proceed to hold it over each other until a new wage starts. 

"Get your hands off my food, you nymph!" Freddie shouted, yanking the fork that was about to enter Lucy's mouth, using it to try and stab Louis with it (with the sausage still in the picks, mind you). 

"Oi!" Lucy hissed, standing, reaching over the table to try and take back her fork. "Give that back, Frederick!" 

"Shove—" Freddie continued to struggle with Louis, "off, Lucille!"

Lucy grabbed the toast off my plate, throwing it at our wrestling cousins. "Are you two incapable of acting your age?"

"Yes!" yelled Freddie and Louis in unison.

Sighing, I pushed my plate away.

Sometimes I wonder how calm the lives of others without two grandparents, five uncles, five aunts, fourteen cousins, three siblings, two parents, and five best friends (that somehow ended up bonded in like they were blood) must be. 

"That good-for-nothing, hag, evil incarnated," With a bang of her school books being slammed on the table, Rose narrowed brown eyes at nothing in particular, muttering under her breath, cheeks turning red, "dimwitted, princess want-to-be, fake blonde, annoying bitch—"

"Rose," Lucy scolded, looking exactly like Uncle Percy would if he had heard such language, "what's wrong with you?"

"What's wrong with me?" Rose asked, aghast. "Now I'm the problem?"

With a mouth full of cereal (cereal he'd clearly won from Louis seeing as he was now sporting a black eye), Freddie raised a brow. "What the hell are you on about now?"

Rose let out a cry, banging a fist on the table.

Lucy, Freddie, Louis, and I looked at one another, confused to the breakdown we were currently witnessing from Rose. This was like seeing the unimaginable. Rose pride herself in I'm-holier-and-more-mature-than-thou attitude. Now it was gone.

"Are you throwing a tantrum, Rosie?" Louis asked with a tone of incredulity we were all sharing. 

Rose took my empty goblet and threw it at him. "I am not throwing a tantrum! I just hate—no, abhor Belinda Rookwood!"

Louis glared at the stray droplets of Pumpkin Juice that stained his silver jumper. "All right, you bloody menace, what'd the Slytherin Tart do to you now?"

"She exists!"

"Right," said Freddie, "that explains everything."

Rose opened her mouth, ready to elaborate (or yell), but Scorpius and Lucas made their over to the Gryffindor table, dressed in their casual best. She turned those narrowed eyes at Scorpius (not a surprise there).

"You!" she hissed. "You idiot, Malfoy!"

"You're always a ray of sunshine in the mornings, aren't you, Weasley?" Scorpius returned, impatience already on his pale features. 

Rose jammed a finger in his chest. "Warn that cow you have as a girlfriend that if she ever crosses my path again, she will be obliterated from this planet. Got it?"

Scorpius took a step forward, towering over Rose with glaring eyes of his own. "First off, Belinda is not my girlfriend. So, if you please, quit being one of those annoying, gossiping witches that keep spreading that rumor around. I don't want to write to my mother again assuring her that no, I'm not dating Augustus Rookwood's granddaughter." Then, adding in, he said, "And secondly, Weasley, I'm not your damn owl. If you have anything to say to Belinda, I suggest you find her yourself."

Rose looked up at him, her anger not diminishing, but something about her looked overwhelmed. She clenched her jaw, turning her back at Scorpius to settle herself on the space beside Lucy.

I let out a chuckle. "What's up with you, mate?"

"Nothing," grunted Scorpius, "I just don't—"

I turned to look behind my shoulder at what had caused him to stop. Sure enough, there was Emily. 

"Well, well, well," said Freddie to her as she joined us, smiling wide, "You are looking especially beautiful this morning, Miss Taylor. What's the occasion? Oh, I know." He snapped his fingers, returning her smile with a smarmy grin, "You've finally realized that one Freddie Weasley is dating material."

Emily laughed, pressing a light kiss on his cheek before turning her attention to me. It was the first time I noticed the wall of ice between her and Scorpius. I started furrowing my brows at that, but she asked, "Are you ready for your date, Al?"

I grumbled something incoherent.

She laughed again. "I saw Evanna on my way here. She seems more than ready."

"Great," I grumbled again, my pulse quickening. 

Emily squeezed my left shoulder. "It'll be fine. She won't eat you."

"Unless you want her to," said Louis with a wink.

Lucy and Rose let out a cry of outrage at his remark. 

"Morning, family!" As breakfast was not complete with more members of the Weasley/Potter clan, James strolled up with Nia and Liam towing behind him (this time rather than being all over each other, there seemed to be distance between the two). "Excited for your snogging-fest today, Albie?"

Just as James dodged Emily, I frantically looked at Nia. She seemed to be looking right through me as Liam turned to her with a curious glint in his eye.

Sighing, I said, "Piss off, James. And don't call me Albie."

"What? I'm just soaking in this miracle. I never thought you'd date."

"Got a date quicker than you," I mumbled back. 

James snorted loudly, grabbing the attention of nearby classmates. "Settle down there, Albie. I've gone on plenty dates before you even knew what a girl was. As a matter of fact, I have a date today, too."

An echo of scoffs traveled among our gathered group.

James glared at them. "I do, you twats."

"Oh, yeah?" Louis asked. "What girl will go out with you when everyone knows you've been fawning over—"

James threw one of Rose's textbooks at him. Louis glanced at Emily, then back at my brother. He gave James a sheepish smile. 

"Well?" pressed Freddie. "Who are you taking to Hogsmeade?"

"Nia Harper, of course," said James, pulling on a smirk and his best carefree expression. He reached for one of Nia's hands and I felt what little breakfast I did have threaten to come back up. Beside me, Emily coughed on her own oxygen.

"What?" Freddie asked with the same outrage Emily and me were experiencing. 

Nia melted her mask of indifference to give Emily a look I couldn't exactly decipher. She tugged her hand back from my brother's grip, raising her chin. "It's not a date," she explained. "He offered to go with me to Dervish and Banges to get my broom repaired since I failed miserably to hide it from that dimwit Saar Finnegan while he toyed with destructive spells."

"Wait, wait," Freddie said, waving his hands. "Liam, mate, you're going to let your girlfriend go on a trip to Hogsmeade with James? You know he got caught snogging a Hufflepuff in the trees our Third Year? Don't trust him."

I glared at Freddie. "She's not his girlfriend."

"She's no one's girlfriend," Liam said, a little rougher than his usual quiet tone. I turned back to him, raising a brow just as Nia was, but then that flash of anger settled when he looked only at Freddie to say, "I'm staying in today, actually."

"As am I," Scorpius said, putting a hand on his cousin's shoulder. "Belinda and I are going to catch up on homework. And, no, I'm still not dating her," he added when Rose glared at him. 

Rose scoffed. "I'd think you were mental if you were. She'd probably use your bones as a toothpicks after she's done devouring you."

Emily cleared her throat, flashing green eyes at Louis and Freddie. "What are you two doing today?"

"Detention," Freddie sighed sadly.  "The Headmistress thinks a month of serving detention with Filch is the price to pay for us accidentally letting some Hippogriffs escape last week."

Louis made a face. "You'd think detention was the worst part, but no. It's having to listen to old Filch swoon over his cat that makes me want to drown myself in the Black Lake."

James laughed at our cousins. "I'm so glad Neville asked me to make up an exam the day you released the Hippogriffs. Mum would've killed me, and you all know she's capable of that through a Howler."

Just as Lucas asked how they managed to free the Hippogriffs, Rose nudged Emily with an extended hand, an excited glimmer in her brown eyes. "He's here, Em!"

Emily let out a surprised squeak when a tall bloke marched in our direction, his golden eyes locked on her. It was Lance Greyback. A fellow Slytherin—a fellow Seventh Year Slytherin.

"Hey, Em," Greyback said with a sharp grin, his deep voice silencing the bickering across our group. "Potter. Malfoy. Zabini."

"Hey," Lucas answered, hesitant and unsure, as I nodded and Scorpius glared.

"I thought I'd walk you to the carriages instead," Greyback continued, his attention back on Emily. He extended a hand out. "Ready?"

Emily smiled happily, about to give him her hand, but she caught sight of all the shocked faces. Her pale cheeks grew pink. "Um...Guys, this is Lance. He's my...my...um..."

"I'm her date," Greyback finished. "Nice to meet you all." Somehow, the tone of his voice suggested it was not nice to meet the others. 

By the silence everyone kept, the feeling was definitely mutual.     

"Okay," clearing her throat, Rose stood again, gathering her books, "Well, we're off. Lance and Em are joining Lysander and me. See you all later."

Emily tried to smile back at us, but Greyback put an arm around her shoulders, steering her out of the Great Hall just as he offered to carry Rose's books. Rose thanked him, and the three headed their own way.

With furrowed brows, I turned to Scorpius and Lucas. "She's lost her mind."

"Why?" Lucy said. "He seemed nice."

"That's Lance Greyback," Louis said, a frown settling over his blue eyes. "He's not nice. His kind don't know how to be nice."

"Prejudice much?" Lucy returned.

"I don't mean werewolves," he returned angrily. "I meant Greybacks. His father...he attacked Dad in the first Battle of Hogwarts. Fernier Greyback is also the one that changed Remus Lupin back when he was a child. They're bad as they come. I wouldn't trust him with Em."

The severity of the issue (of the truth in history) made a Lucy frown now, too. "Emily's smart—"

"Emily is naive," Scorpius interjected. James nodded in agreement, silent and stoic from where he stood. "She'd trust anyone so long as they smiled at her."

"We'll keep an eye out for her," Nia said, nudging James in the ribs. "Won't we?"

Liam reached over for Nia's hand. Whatever barrier of steel had shot up between them was instantly lowered. "Don't do anything dumb."

"Dumb?" Nia asked, a hesitant smile on the corner of her mouth.

"You don't necessarily know your limits when protecting your friends."

Then whatever form of peace vanished when Nia said, "There's no limits of what I'll do for those I love."

Merlin, in that very moment I wanted her to turn around and look at me. I wanted to see a truth I've been longing to see in her blue eyes, but she didn't look at me. She didn't even look back at Liam. She pulled back her hand, and with her chin raised high, she walked toward the exist of the Great Hall.

I knew then there was no hope for Nia and me. I would always be her friend. Because of that, I needed to move on. 

I needed to meet Evanna Nott by the carriages for our date.