Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

The one thing Rose shared with her family was her love of music. She had grown up listening to The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, The Bee Gees, The Beach Boys (Lily's favourite), and more recently Abba and Queen. It was an unspoken rule that if there was somebody home, there would always be music playing.

Almost a month had passed since she and Lily had come home for the holidays, and it had been almost unbearable. Lily and Rose still shared a room (even though Petunia had now moved out after marrying her boyfriend Vernon,) so Rose spent most of her time in the garden, usually reading or writing letters to friends, in order to avoid Lily and their parents.

It was a particularly warm morning at the end of July, when Rose heard a loud crack nearby, followed by a thud. Her head snapped up and she quickly slid her wand from the pocket of her cardigan. At sixteen, she wasn't yet allowed to use magic outside of school but she knew that was the sound of apparition, and with the war everybody knew was brewing, she would much rather risk expulsion than death.

She placed her book on the bench beside her and stood up, careful not to make a sound. Rose looked towards the small copse of trees as rustling noises emerged. Soon she saw a figure pushing his way out, a little disheveled but easily recognisable.

"James!" She shouted, and started towards him, then paused, holding her wand up again. "Wait a minute, I have to be sure it's you. Where were we when we decided to pretend to date?"

"The Astronomy Tower." He replied without hesitating.

As soon as he did, Rose ran to him and he lifted her up in his hug, both of them laughing with joy. When he put her down, he bent his head to kiss her and Rose smiled against his lips. Merlin, she had missed him.

They separated, breathing hard, and James pressed his forehead against hers.

"I missed you," he whispered, and Rose gently kissed him again.

"I missed you too," she murmured. "Have you got taller? And there's dirt in your hair."

Rose stood on her tiptoes to brush it out as James turned red. "I might have fallen over after I apparated," he admitted sheepishly.

"So much for your Quidditch training helping your coordination," she teased.

They stood there for a moment, enjoying the presence of each other, before the sound of the door bursting open interrupted them.

"Rose are you ok? I heard- oh, James it's just you. Hi!" Came Lily's voice from behind Rose, who sighed in annoyance and pulled away from James slightly. His arm stayed around her waist and she pressed against his side as they turned to face her sister.

"You passed your apparition test then?" Lily asked.

"Yeah I did. Peter can't take his yet but Remus, Sirius and I all passed - took me and Sirius a couple of tries though." He grinned a little. "I'm guessing you passed too?"

"I did it on the first try," she said proudly.

James turned to Rose. "I hope you don't mind me dropping in by the way. I just remembered that it was today last year when we got our O.W.L results, and I thought I'd come for... well, moral support I suppose. Though yours will probably be a sight better than mine were."

"Oh Merlin, I almost forgot. I was wondering when those would come," Rose said. "I'm sure I flunked History of Magic and Arithmancy didn't go so well either."

"I'm sure they went ok," said Lily.

Rose didn't acknowledge the comment. "Mum and Dad went out earlier, right?" She asked Lily, who nodded.

"Yes, it's just us home."

The three went into the house. As she showed him around, Rose couldn't help but find James's wondering looks at all the muggle things rather amusing, especially in the kitchen.

She was leaning against the counter, sipping lemonade and talking to James beside her, when her focus latched on the window opposite. Rose almost dropped her glass, letting out a small squeak.

"What is it?" James asked, concerned. Rose could only wordlessly point at the owl flying across the field towards the house, getting larger every second.

Her breathing became more rapid. "It felt like I did ok, but in other exams that's always meant I've made some big stupid mistake." She grimaced.

"Look, Rose," he turned her towards him and leaned down so he was at her eye level. "It's going to be fine. I know how hard you studied for these. Now, take a deep breath in, and out." He mimicked it for her, helping her to focus, and by the time the owl had reached the window, Rose was feeling considerably calmer.

Still, it was with shaking fingers that she let the owl in and untied the letter from its leg. The owl flew off, and Rose stared down at the envelope before her. She wasn't absolutely fixated on becoming an auror, but these results would still determine what subjects she could take for her N.E.W.Ts, which would determine what she would be able to pursue as a career.

"Deep breaths," James reminded her. Rose looked up into his eyes, and there found her resolve.

Her hands were steady as she broke the red wax seal and pulled out the folded piece of parchment. On it was written the pass and fail grades, and then there they were: her results.

Ancient Runes: O
Arithmancy: O
Astronomy: O
Charms: O
Defence Against the Dark Arts: O
Herbology: E
History of Magic: E
Muggle Studies: O
Potions: O
Transfiguration: O

Rose read it over one, two, three times, hardly comprehending, then James's voice made its way through to her.

"Rose? Rose, what did you get?"

She looked up at him and passed him the paper, feeling a smile stretch across her face as he scanned through.

"Ten O.W.Ls! That's amazing! I only got eight, I failed History of Magic and Divination. Sirius failed Care of Magical Creatures too. And all Os and Es is incredible!"

Rose let out a sudden shriek of laughter as he picked her up and spun her around. When he put her down, Lily was entering the kitchen.

"Your results came? How did you do?" Lily asked.

Rose's face dropped again as her sister approached. "Well," she said shortly. "Probably not as well as you did though." She didn't actually know what Lily had got in her O.W.Ls. Rose hadn't paid much attention - their parents had celebrated enough for the whole family while Rose and Petunia had quietly slipped away unnoticed. If the eldest and youngest Evans sisters had something in common, it was being pushed aside in favour of Lily.

Lily took the piece of parchment from where James had left it on the surface. Rose watched impassively.

"Actually," said Lily. "You did better. I got seven Os, two Es and an A. Well done." She smiled hesitantly at Rose, who blinked in surprise.

"Oh... I- well, yeah. Thanks." Rose managed to say, then pushed past Lily, out of the kitchen.

James followed Rose up to the small bedroom she shared with Lily. The record player on Lily's desk was playing a tinny version of Wouldn't it be Nice, by the Beach Boys, and Rose took it off the player, then sat down on her bed.

She sighed heavily. James began to look through the collection of records on her shelf. He took one out and with a satisfied nod, carefully set it onto the player.

There was a quick piano intro, then singing, and a saxophone blaring and Rose couldn't hold back a smile as Waterloo played.

Once the song was over, her smile faded.

James sat beside her. "I think," he began, choosing his words carefully, "that Lily's trying to apologise as best as she can, but that doesn't mean you have to accept the apology. You're both trying to manage what happened in your own ways. At the moment, you need space to figure it out, and that's ok. You don't have to talk to her about it if you don't want to." He said.

Rose stared at him for so long that he asked if he had something on his face.

"No." She said quickly, "no you don't. I just had no idea- I guess you're not just a pretty face huh?" She laughed as he waggled his eyebrows suggestively.

"Are you telling me only you agreed to date me for my body? Because it is a good body, but that's incredibly shallow of you Evans."

Rose shook her head in amusement, a wide grin on her face. "I just never realised you knew quite so much about feelings. After all, this is coming from James 'I love Lily' Potter," she teased.

James laughed. "That makes sense." He looked around the room and his eyes caught on an object on Rose's shelf.

"Is that a crystal ball?" He lifted it from it's pedestal, gently tossing it in the air.

Rose smirked. "Oh yeah, I forgot about that. I nicked it from Divination before I dropped the subject. I only took it for a month - the idea was cool but Professor Shanks got on my nerves. Also one time that Trelawney girl was in our lesson for some reason, even though she's in your year, and a Ravenclaw too. I think it was some extra project, or something. Anyway, she offered to read my tea leaves and told me I was going to die. It was so weird."

"Really?" James laughed. "You know, she did that for me too, I completely forgot. We had Divination with the Ravenclaws back in third year and randomly assigned partners. In the first lesson she read my tea leaves and said I was going to die. I got some more stuff later in the year too, about a tragic betrayal and that I would be 'the first.'" He imitated Trelawney's voice.

Rose grinned. "I wonder who's going to tragically betray you. Maybe it's one of those cryptic things where you betray yourself." They laughed, and James carefully placed the crystal ball back in its space.

"So I was hoping you'd get your results today, which you did, and I was also going to ask if you and Lily wanted to come and stay at my house for a couple of weeks? The guys are there too and they'd love to see you." James said. "Oh and my parents want to meet you. I hope you don't mind that I told them about us? I did also say that it's a secret for your safety, so they won't say anything to anybody else." He looked at her anxiously.

Rose was surprised that he'd told his parents, but she supposed she shouldn't be. The Potters seemed to be a close-knit family from what she'd heard and when she'd seen them on the platform at the end of the school year.

"Of course I don't mind that you've told them, and I would love to come. I'll need to ask my parents but they probably won't care on my account, and if Lily's coming, they trust her judgement."

A noise travelled up the stairs - the front door opening.

"Speak of the devils." Rose muttered under her breath. "I haven't told them about us by the way. I will tell them soon, I promise, but now probably isn't the best time, especially with you being here unexpectedly."

James nodded in understanding, and the two made their way downstairs. Lily was already talking to their parents when James and Rose reached the living room.

"Here they are. This is James." She said, and James stepped forward to offer their father his hand.

"Mr Evans, it's nice to meet you. I'm a friend of both of your daughters from school. I'm sorry that I came by unannounced." He flashed a charming grin.

"Call me Joe. You seem like a good lad, don't worry about it. We hardly ever get to meet their friends." Rose's father said, and Rose suppressed an eyeroll. She had asked multiple times if she could have Valentina over, but had been told the house wasn't big enough.

"Mrs Evans," James turned to her mother, taking her hand and kissing it. Her mother blushed and giggled, and Rose mouth tightened. She almost stepped forward but felt a hand clasp her own. She looked sideways to see Lily shoot her a warning glance.

"Your home is beautiful," James continued, "as are you and your daughters..."

He kept up an easy conversation with them for a few minutes, then broached the topic of Rose and Lily staying with the Potters. To Rose's surprise they agreed almost immediately.

Soon the two girls were excitedly packing, and for once, things seemed easy between them. They both wrote quick notes to all of their friends, sending them off with Lily's owl Athena, before heading back downstairs, lugging their trunks behind them.

It had been decided that they would stay with the Potters for the remainder of the holidays, and head back to Hogwarts with James and the Marauders when September came.

Rose said a quick goodbye to her parents, with an obligatory hug to each. Lily spent a little longer, and James shook each of their hands again, although their father clapped him on the back, and their mother pulled him down into a hug.

Eventually they were ready to leave and made their way outside, heading into the trees so they weren't seen by any curious muggles. James told Lily the address for the manor, then turned to Rose.

"Have you apparated before?" He asked, and Rose shook her head.

"I know some of the theory though," she said.

"Good, so you need to hold onto me tightly, and focus on the address ok?"

"Got it." Rose wrapped both arms around his middle, and James wrapped one around her, the other taking the handle of her trunk.

One moment they were surrounded by trees, the next, everything was black and Rose was struggling to breathe. There was an intense pain in her head, caused by her ears popping as they twisted back into reality.

"Merlin, that was not fun," Rose gasped out. James laughed.

"Oh it gets better, don't worry." He said, then confessed, "well you get more used to it at least. I think it's better when you're doing it yourself rather than side-along, and the first time is never great."

Rose realised her arms were still tight around James, and she released him, looking around to see she was in front of the large gates to an equally sizeable Manor house.

"By Godric, your house is big." Rose hadn't noticed Lily standing beside her until she'd voiced the same thing Rose had been thinking.

James grinned. "Been in the family for generations. You can see it's got lots of room for guests." At his words, three boys spilled out of the front door, two adults close behind.

The gates opened, and James, Rose and Lily began to make their way up the drive, James and Lily floating the trunks ahead so they didn't have to carry them.

Halfway to the house, they were intercepted by a very enthusiastic Sirius, Remus and Peter. After greeting each other, all six finally reached the door.

"Hello Mrs Potter," Rose held out her hand with a smile, only to be pulled into a hug.

"Euphemia, please dear. James came home and wouldn't stop talking about you. We just couldn't wait to meet you."

Rose felt her cheeks warm and heard James beside her complain, "Mum! It wasn't that much."

James's father roared with laughter. "Only if not that much means every other minute." He held his hand out to Rose and she took it, shaking it firmly. "Fleamont Potter, we've heard a lot about you," he said, drowning out James's further protestations.

"All good I hope," Rose grinned. "Thank you for letting us stay," Rose said to both of them, as Euphemia ushered the small party into the house.

"Of course dear," the woman beamed as she sent Lily and Rose's trunks upstairs with a wave of her wand. "There's always been an imbalance of women to men in this house, especially when my son started to bring his friends home." She looked fondly over at the Marauders, who were whispering something in a small huddle, James's father adding a comment here and there. "Having another couple of girls here will be lovely, and hopefully a good influence."

"A good influence? I wouldn't be so sure of that." Sirius butted into the conversation. "Did James tell you about the love potion prank?"

Rose glared at him. Sirius smirked and began to tell the story while Rose's cheeks grew to match her hair.

When he had finished, Euphemia was laughing, and as Sirius left to talk to Remus, she leant over to Rose. Quietly she said, "you know, I was quite the troublemaker back in my day. Perhaps there's some old tricks I could teach you? I think we have an ideal audience to test them on."

Rose grinned. "That," she said, "sounds like an absolutely fabulous idea."