Chapter Twenty

1st May

The Quidditch Pitch

11oo hours

[Gryffindor versus Ravenclaw]

...

It was as though Rose was watching the match through the eyes of a stranger, perched thousands of feet above the pitch, part of the clouds. If she couldn't feel the scream of her muscles, the roar of the wind whipping her hair from its tight braid, the burn of the hot sun on her face; hear the screams and boos of the crowd, the snatches of commentary, the shouts of the players, she might not have been there at all. For the match that meant so much to her, she felt strangely disjointed. She could have been nothing more than an onlooker, idly kicking their heels as they peered down to the pitch, so far below.

Her body worked on autopilot, her mouth yelling instructions as needed, her brain calculating every angle, every attack. A bludger whistled behind her, and she dropped several feet into its trajectory. She swung hard, feeling the recoil reverberating all the way up her arm into her swollen shoulder - the result of an earlier foul by Juliana Corner. The bludger ricocheted away and Melissa Stretton dropped the quaffle into Lily's waiting arms. Melissa stuck up a finger at Rose, scowling ferociously, before zooming down the pitch in hot pursuit of the quaffle.

'Gryffindor pull ahead with a lovely goal from Oxley', Alfie shouted, his voice magically amplified to reach the players over the roar of the crowd.

'Lucky shot', Jessica groused. 'Keeper Inglebee would have saved it if he hadn't had two bludgers on him.'

'Don't be a sore loser, babe!' Alfie crowed as Erin took a quick lap of honour, one hand raised in a fist. 'Just because Gryffindor is wiping your house's soggy arses on the field today-Ouch!'

'Miss Reading! Put Mr Jordan down this instant!'

A crash, and a sulky 'Sorry Professor', and Alfie was once more cognoscente.

'Power twins Goldstein and Goldstein are really putting the Gryffindor chasers through their paces, forcing them to break up some of their best moves.' Alfie yelled as Ruby and Roger both sent bludgers careering into the centre of the triangular formation Lily, Keegan and Erin had formed. Keegan took the hit, allowing Lily to wriggle out of the blockage and score Gryffindor's twelfth goal of the match.

The bludger had only winged him, but Rose sent a bludger down the pitch anyway. It smashed through the twigs of Roger's Nimbus like so much butter. He jerked sideways, his broom spinning out of control, and Ruby dropped her bat as she flew to her twin's rescue, pulling him onto her broom.

Davies signalled to Coach Hendrix for time-out but he ignored him, blowing his whistle as Melissa shot into the scoring zone without the quaffle.

'Are you okay?' Rose yelled to Keegan, dropping out of the sky to hover next to him.

He grimaced and flexed his shoulder. 'Not broken, but I'll have a killer bruise tomorrow.'

'Filthy disgusting foul!' Jessica was screaming into the megaphone.

'Beautiful bludger work by Gryffindor Captain!' Alfie bellowed over his girlfriend's swearing.

'You bloody tosser!' Jessica made a very rude gesture at Coach Hendrix as he flew past which fortunately he didn't see. 'Biased scummy Ravenclaw-hating-'

Alfie had managed to wrestle the megaphone away from her as Rose flew up to Hendrix and called for time-out.

The whistle sounded, and thirteen brooms hit the grass.

'What's going on?' Scorpius, who had been circling thirty feet above the action, jogged over.

'Giving Ravenclaw time to regroup.' Rose nodded to where a replacement was being brought on for Roger by one of the reserves.

'You're kidding me?' Erin spluttered. 'That was a beautiful hit, and definitely not a foul. If Goldstein couldn't get out of the way that's his own fault-'

Rose grinned. 'Calm down Oxley, your blood's going at the moment.'

She glanced across the pitch to where Davies was huddled with his team. He nodded at her once - high praise indeed - and Rose slung her arm around Erin's shoulders.

'I wanted to give Ravenclaw a fighting chance. It wouldn't be honourable to make them play a man down.'

'You and your bloody sense of honour', Coach Hendrix moaned from behind them. 'The ruddy commentator's accusing me of favouritism now.'

'Prejudiced old bat-'

'Jessica is just very passionate about quidditch', Rose grinned. 'She doesn't really mean it-'

'Let me at the bugger, I'll teach him what a bludger foul is!'

'You sure about that?' Hendrix said with a sigh.

'And to be fair', Rose continued, scraping back her hair. 'You do favour Gryffindor.'

'Bollocks', he said. 'I hate all of you equally. Read to hit the air again?'

Rose glanced over at the Ravenclaws and Davies nodded.

'Yes. Let's go.'

The crowd that had been whispering restlessly during the interlude rose to their feet, stamping and cheering as both teams shot back into the sky.

'And we're back', Alfie yelled. 'Gryffindor Captain heroically stops playing advantage to Gryffindor in the name of sportsmanship. Isn't she a saint?'

Rose sent a bludger skimming so close to the commentator's box that Alfie felt a breeze ruffle his dreadlocks.

'Only kidding folks - she's an ogre! Gryffindor lead one-hundred-and-twenty points to forty, and as we come up on the two hour mark the players are getting tired.'

It was true. Rose was easily the fittest player on the pitch, and she could feel her thigh muscles trembling with every swing she took. She could see the strain on Lucy's face and in the way her bat hung at her side when not in use.

Davies broke through the Gryffindor's defence with a back pass to Juliana who rose fast, avoiding Lucy's bludger. Rose was about to tear after the speeding ball when she spotted the Goldstein twins rising fast, keeping the other bludger volleying between them. Twenty feet above them, Scorpius and Johnny Masters were circling, scanning the pitch like hawks for any trace of the golden snitch.

A cheer from the blue and bronze supports as Davies dodged Lily's tackle and sent Keegan spinning into the goal posts.

'Just the keeper to beat, but with the speed Davies is going at, it'll be a miracle if Simpson saves this', Jessica warbled with glee.

'Take out the seeker', Inglebee bellowed from the Ravenclaw posts, but his words were lost in the crowd and the commentary.

'What's Scary Weasley doing?' Alfie howled. 'If we ever need a bludger from her, it's now!'

The oddest feeling, but Rose was suddenly so far above the game that she could see every player, the ants that were the crowds. She felt as though she was perched on one of the fluffy white clouds, casually dangling her legs over the edge as she peered down. The game seemed to freeze beneath her. Even the crowd seemed suddenly struck dumb, as though someone had turned down the volume on a radio until only static remained.

From this vantage point Rose could see everything. Arrows were wiggling across her vision, calculating the angle, working out the speed and the distance. She could stop Davies from scoring and then, isolated as he was far out on the left wing, Lily would be there to seize the quaffle. With Keegan flying below her as protection, her path to the posts was unimpeded. A textbook situation. She could get to Lucy's failed bludger in less than a second. One crack, that was all that was needed.

Rose was not fool, and she knew perfectly well that Davies wanted to win every bit as much as she did. He knew her weaknesses, just as she knew his. It was obvious, tactically, that he had set up this choice. It was what she would have done in his position. Protect the interest of the team - Or Scorpius.

But Rose had noticed something that Davies could not have. The incremental tightening of Scorpius's knuckles, the bunching of his thigh muscles beneath his robes. So subtle. No-one but her would ever have noticed his tells. And it was only because she knew him, every inch of him, as well as she knew every inch of herself, that she swung her broomstick around and rocketed upwards.

Just as Davies scored, just as Ruby and Roger hit the bludger together with a crack that echoed around the stadium, just as Scorpius dived.

There was no time to use her bat, no time to plan. Instead she flung herself into the path of the speeding bludger and felt it shatter her shoulder as Scorpius snatched the glimmering golden snitch out of the air, holding it above his head in triumph.

Strangely enough, it was Keegan, and not Rose, who burst into tears.

...

Never had holding the shining cup aloft, surrounded by her screaming team, meant so much to Rose. Nor had it hurt so much.

Over the years Rose had landed herself in St Mungo's twice, and the hospital wing more times than she cared to remember, all due to quidditch. She had once played on for over an hour, blind in one eye - the product of a partial concussion from an ill-advised scrimmage over a bludger with two members of the Russian underage national squad. She struggled to think of a single bone in her body that hadn't been broken from falls or misjudging bludgers. It was part of the sport, and the price you paid for being the best. Getting injured meant you were riding hard, and it didn't matter how many times you fell as long as you got back on the broom.

So she ignored the stabbing pain in her shoulder, the way her left arm hung uselessly at her side, bent out to the right in the way that no arm should. Shock would kick in soon, numbing the throbbing. Madam Patil was already fighting her way through the scarlet and gold crowds flooding onto the pitch.

Six red and gold blurs descended upon her, reaching up to support the weight of the cup. Rose let her trembling but uninjured arm drop to her side as Keegan and Alex hoisted Lucy into their shoulders, and Lily passed their youngest team member the silver cup. Lucy held it above her head, letting out a yell of triumph.

'Rose! Congratulations!' Dinah, Lisa, Jenny and Karen were tearing onto the pitch, Sean and Albus bringing up the rear.

They surrounded the team, chanting and singing, but Rose seized Lily's hand, and dragged her team forward.

'You did it Rose', Lucy squeaked, still on Alex's shoulders.

'No', Rose said, even as Madam Patil finally forced her way through the crowds and began resetting her arm. 'We did this. You guys have made this year mean everything to me, and I want to thank you- ouch!- for teaching me so much about myself as a person. We've proved ourselves a team to be reckoned with -shit!- and I am honoured to have been able to work with you.'

Her speech was interrupted, or perhaps punctuated, with her muffled exclamations of pain as Madam Patil, with a series of eye-watering cracks, reset her shattered bones and expanded the concave dent in her clavicle where the bludger indentation was still visible. Instantly her breathing became easier as the pressure was removed from her lungs, and the roaring agony became a dull throb.

Rose finally unclenched her teeth and hesitantly straightened out her arm. There was a twinge, but nothing she couldn't manage. Smiling, she returned to her team, after a word of thanks to the matron, and the promise of a visit to the hospital wing for pain potions they both knew she had no interest in keeping. Madam Patil however, like most of the staff, let her be. You couldn't really apply the usual rules to Rose Weasley.

'I also want to say how proud I am to pass succession of the captaincy onto my cousin Lily. I know it's supposed to be a secret until next year, but I wanted to tell you all in person, because I am so delighted by the Coach's choice.'

'Me?' Lily said, 'But I'm not-'

'You are going to be the best captain this team has ever seen, and our esteemed coach, in his right mind for once it seems, agrees.'

'What was that Weasley?'

Rose spun on her heel and saw Coach Hendrix and Rhoda Mantis stood behind her. Hendrix was wearing his usual sardonic scowl, but Rose knew he was all snark, and no fangs.

'Just passing on some good news.' She said sweetly, and slung an arm around her cousin.

Hendrix harrumphed, but Rose could tell he didn't really mind.

'Miss Weasley, excellent game.' Mantis said, stepping forward and putting out her hand. Rose grasped it.

'Thanks.'

'Furthermore', Mantis continued as they attempted to break each other's fingers, 'I would like to offer you a position on the reserve Falmouth Falcon's Inter-league quidditch team, and the possibility of joining the first string team for the new season after a summer of rigorous training.'

Mantis took in Rose's face, which had frozen in shock.

'Can I take it you intend to accept the offer?'

'I- Yes! Yes of course, thank you so much-'

'The summer training camp will be exhausting, both mentally and physically.' Mantis continued with playful smile. 'I've heard that the Russian underage team actually dropped out due to exhaustion.'

'Well', Rose said, recovering her voice. 'I never thought very much of the Russian junior team. They cried when we had to do suicide runs in three feet of snow.'

'Bunch of wimps.' Mantis agreed.

They were about to part, when Mantis leant forwards.

'I'm glad it was you who won.' She said, too softly for the others to hear over the noise of the crowd. 'I fought my way up through a male-dominated sport too. I think you'll be a wonderful role-model to encourage more girls into quidditch.'

She stepped back and they shook hands once more, but this time without the bone-crushing grip.

'I look forward to working with you, Rose Weasley.' She said, before turning and walking away.

...

'Oi, Weasley.'

Rose, Hugo, Lucy and Molly all turned around to see Findley stumping across the pitch towards them, a pair of binoculars hung around his neck.

'Sorry, Rose.' He corrected with his crooked smile, and Rose obligingly took a few steps forwards, meeting him half way.

'Great game. Really excellent tactical move at the end. How's the shoulder?'

'Bit sore.' Rose pulled aside her robes to reveal a bruise the size of the bludger that had caused it erupting in blues and purples across her shoulder and chest.

'Ouch.' He said, impressed.

'I've had better.' She said, tugging her quidditch robes back up. 'But quidditch injuries are like trophies. The more you have, the harder you're playing.'

He opened his mouth to say something else, but on seeing her inquiring face, he closed it again. A second of quiet, and then he tried again.

'So I never told you this', he said, shrugging his shoulders slightly. 'But I'm not really a groundskeeper. I actually work for the Wimbourne Wasps as a talent spotter, strictly middle league of course, and very junior with that, but I came here to spy out the next big thing, which is you.'

'Duh.' Rose said.

'I know this is probably a surprise- Wait, what?'

'Well it was really obvious.' She said, trying and failing to keep some smugness out of her voice. 'I mean you bought all your little listening charms from my brother for a start.'

'Your brother?' Findley looked aghast. 'But the Underground is a massive network that runs all over the UK.'

'I- what? Hugo- get your ass over here right now!'

Her brother ambled over, his hands in his pockets. Away from his towering shelves, and darkly lit office, he looked less like Mephistopheles, and more like an ordinary fifteen year old boy. Somewhat gangly, with a face so freckled you could barely see the skin beneath. Bad posture, and a splatter of acne. Her baby brother, whom people, and especially clients, always underestimated.

'I run the Hogwartian Underground Recreational club.' He said. 'Nothing more. Well, not really. I have a few fingers in pies.'

Rose's mouth had fallen open. 'But how?'

'Better you don't know, sister mine.' He said with a smile. He reached over, and gave her kiss on the cheek. 'Congratulations on the match.'

Findley and Rose watched him amble away, his carrot coloured hair glinting in the sunshine. He vanished into the crowd as remotely as if he had just apparated.

'You do realise he just admitted to running one of the biggest black markets of all time.' Findley said, raising his eyebrows.

'Actually', Rose said beginning to smile. 'I think you'll find he didn't.'

They stood for a moment more, then Findley shook his head in disbelief once, and turned back to Rose.

'You know I would never have had to search your office if you hadn't found all my listening devices. I had to get ministry clearance to get through some of your wards. You are one very sneaky women.'

Rose was honestly flattered.

'Mind you', she said. 'You do work for a rival team now. I'm not sure I should be associating with you anymore.'

'Now where would the fun in that be?' He grinned. 'Anyway, you've got dirt on me, so it's not like I can do anything to you. I don't think my boss, and the ministry for that matter, would be that thrilled to hear I've broken privacy act by buying illegal listening charms from a notorious black market worker.'

'Why did you do that?' Rose queried.

'I needed an inside edge.' He admitted. 'My boss offered me a big promotion if I could work out who the Falcon's were hoping to win, and poach them for the Wasps.'

'Then let me offer you a piece of advice', Rose said, putting out her hand. 'As one friendly rival to another.'

He took her hand and shook it. 'And what might that be.'

'Offer the position to Marco Ives, the Hufflepuff captain. Believe me, you won't regret it.'

She stepped back and shouldered her broomstick. He touched two fingers to his forehead in an approximation of a mocking salute.

'Aye captain. Here's hoping to see you again.'

'Oh you will.' Rose said with the ghost of her old, terrifying smile returning to her lips. 'I'll be up there in lights.'

...

It was in the very centre of the pitch that Rose and Scorpius finally found each other. Behind them, the team was still holding the cup aloft, the sunlight hitting the silver. Much of Gryffindor house, as well as some of the staff, were still milling about the pitch. The screaming and yelling seemed to fade as they gazed at each other.

'You took a bludger for me.' He said quietly, reaching up and wiping a smear of mud from her cheek.

'Of course I did, you numpty.' She answered, idly passing her broomstick from hand to hand. 'You were far too important to the match for you to be injured.'

'Was that the only reason?' He said, taking a step closer to her.

Rose had to look up to meet his gaze, and once again she found herself wondering how, for two such tall, skinny people, they fit together so well. Like jigsaw pieces, like they'd been designed to fit together. Or maybe it was just coincidence, and it meant nothing at all in the grand scheme of things. In this moment though, it was hard not to see some expansive cosmic design, magnetically drawing them together.

'No.' She whispered, taking a small step forward as well.

They'd teetered on the edge of this so many times. And every time Rose had allowed her insecurities, her fears, her ambitions to force her back. And all those times she thought she could jump, she found herself instead clinging to the cliff face, desperately scrabbling back to safer ground. For someone who was so fearless in the air, she was a coward when it came to the things that really mattered.

His overlong hair was hanging over his forehead as he tilted his head down to look at her, and she reached up a muddy hand, smoothing it back. His eyes closed momentarily at her touch, surprised at the gentleness of her calloused fingers.

'Are you coming to the party?' He murmured, still feeling the echo of her fingertips dusting across his skin.

'Not yet.' She replied, and he opened his eyes to see her watching him, her too-large blue eyes sombre in her sweaty not-beautiful face. There was something so serious about the set of her jaw, and the furrow between her brows. He wanted to reach out his thumb and smooth away the crease. The euphoric joy as all her dreams came true seemed to have left her for the moment, and he wondered why.

'Why not?' He asked.

Her eyes dropped back to her hand which was idly scraping some mud from the handle of her broomstick. He saw her throat move as she swallowed nervously, then she looked back up, meeting his gaze again.

'Because there's something I need to do before.' Rose found herself saying. 'Something I need to remember for the rest of my life.'

And, somehow, seizing her fleeting courage in both hands, she was reaching up, sliding her arms about her best friend's shoulders. Her broomstick slipped from between her hands to fall, forgotten, in the mud as she pressed her lips against his.

His breath was cool, and his lips so soft, but his arms when they encircled her were strong and Rose, who had never felt like she needed anyone but herself, who had always thought she worked best alone, clung to him as his mouth devoured hers. It was sweaty, and muddy, and so utterly perfect that the noise of the crowd was lost, and it felt as though there was nothing left in the world but themselves.

A shrill wolf-whistle broke through their fevered kiss and they broke apart, breathing hard.

They were surrounded by their teammates, their friends from all four houses, all seven years. Coach Hendrix was stood with Findley a way back, his usual sarcastic expression slipping for the slightest of moments.

'Bloody hormonal teenagers.' She could have sworn he'd muttered, but there was a small smile on his face non-the-less.

Her brother was there, and Molly and Ruthie, leaping about like the first years they were. Lucy, with Trevor, Alex and Tommy, Erin and Amélie stood hand in hand. Keegan, with his arms wrapped around Lily.

Rose has spent her life waiting for her real life to start, for her quidditch career, to truly be herself. Now though, as she gazed around her friends, she felt such a genuine warmth settle inside her that she couldn't help the smile that parted her lips. After so long, she truly felt home.

'I take it you two aren't coming with us to the party?' Albus said, then winced when Cecelia elbowed him in the gut.

Rose couldn't drag her eyes away from Scorpius's face, the crooked smile, the way the light was shining bright in his grey eyes, and he was equally transfixed by her. He reached up, smoothing a wayward curl from where it was trapped in the dried mud on her face.

'No', she whispered, as Scorpius bent down to kiss her again. 'But we'll meet you there.'

...

FIN

...

A/N.

Finite.

I can't believe how long this has been since I last updated, and I am so sorry about the wait. A lot has happened in the last two months, and I cannot apologise enough, especially when this was the very last chapter!

Last chapter was the final culmination of all the other characters, but I wanted to dedicate this chapter entire to Rose, because really this is her story. I hope you've enjoyed watching her grow into an adult. I know I have.

I am going to be writing a brief epilogue detailing the 18 months later for each of the members of the quidditch team, but if there are other characters you want to know about, drop me a review, and I'll reveal all.

That only leaves me to say: THANK YOU!

Thank you to all of you for sticking with me throughout this story, thank you for the people who have subscribed, and clicked favourite, and thank you to those who have reviewed.

A special thank you to Gandalf537 who has been there every step of the way. Your reviews have meant everything to be, and helped me to keep going with this rather mammoth story.

I guess that's everything there is to say.

Yours very truly

A.A.A.