Title: Light of Day
Author: The Original Horcrux
Rating: T
Date: 24/5/12
Characters: Rose/Scorpius
Word Count: 3,632

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Harry Potter, or any quotes you may recognise in this chapter.

Chapter 6
True Colours

So I might've yelled at Albus a little more than necessary. I was just so angry at him. He may be my cousin, but he is the biggest douchebag in history. He's completely insensitive and clueless and sometimes I want to throw him off the astronomy tower.

"For the last time Rose! I didn't know about Rio's sister, I've already apologised and she forgave me, what's got your wand in a knot?" Albus begged three days later as I scribbled away at an essay.

"Hmph" I mumbled, ignoring him.

"If this is about the Quidditch match, then I'm sorry for yelling at you. I didn't know!" Albus said, I continued to ignore him. "God damnit Rose! I'm sorry alright, so fucking talk to me alright!"

"Shut up!" I yelled "I'm trying to study, I have an arithmancy test on Monday and you are not freaking helping me."

"Now she talks," Albus said, throwing his arms into the air dramatically "I should yell at you more often."

"Go away Albus, you're the last person I want to talk to now." I snapped, pushing him away.

"But I'm still on your list aren't I?" Albus said cornily.

"No, you are not. Now piss off before I hex you."

"Rose." He whined. I drew my wand threateningly. "Alright, alright, I'm going."

"Finally" I muttered as Albus walked back over to Oliver and Daniel, murmuring to himself. I picked up my quill again and scratched a few more words into the paper before putting it back down with a sigh. This whole time I had been forcing myself to concentrate on my studying, and it was working, until Albus had decided to come and bug me for my forgiveness. Well of course I'm not going to forgive him if he pulls me out of my study vibe. The truth was, the studying was just a way to keep my mind off all the shit in my life right now. I feel like I'm carrying the weight of the world, what with Malfoy confiding in me about his pills and then Rio's sister dying, Albus being a complete douche and the fact that Grandma Jean had just been diagnosed with cancer. Mum owled me last night to tell me the bad news. Hugo's still a bit depressed, he and Grandma Jean are really close.

I spotted Ella and Jade sitting by the fireplace, joking with each other about something that I couldn't hear. I sighed, I should be over there with them, not stressing about how bitterly unfair my life was at the moment, even though it's absolutely nothing compared to Rio's or Malfoy's, I'd just had their problems dumped on me, they actually had to deal with them.

I shut my arithmancy textbook, shoved it into my bag and walked across the room to Ella and Jade.

"Hey" I said, sitting down next to Ella "What're you talking about?"

"Muggle studies," Jade said "Did you know that we're still allowed to go comping, but just not outside the Hogwarts grounds… how ridiculous is that?"

"It's camping, Jade" I explained

"Whatever Mrs I-Know-Everything" Jade teased. "What do you do when you go camping anyway?"

"It's quite fun, Mum, Dad, Hugo and I have gone a few times, bloody cold at night though, but we'll be able to us heating charms for that. When did they say we're going?"

"Late January." Ella gulped.

"What!" I exclaimed "They can't make us go then, we'll freeze to death!"

"We'll be able to use heating charms." Jade said carelessly, "We-"

"Oi, Rose!" I turned to see Lily walking towards me.

"What?" I asked angrily as she plonked herself down in between Ella and I.

"Hi Ella" she said before turning to look at me. "Guess what Rosie."

"What?" I said exasperatedly. "Can't you see I'm busy right now?" Lily ignored me.

"You're late for Patrol." She said with a smile on her face. "That's odd, Albus forgot too."

"Shit!" I yelled, jumping up and sprinting to the dormitory, yelling for Albus to be ready when I got back down with my cloak and badge. I burst through the door, saying a quick hello and goodbye to Rio as I darted in and out.

"Late for something Rose?" Rio asked glumly as I ran out of the room.

"Patrol" I shouted back, my face flushing a deep red as I realised that this could not be good for my reputation, for our reputation.

"Are you ready?" I yelled to Al as I swung my cloak over my shoulders and pinning my badge to my jumper, stabbing myself in the boob in the process.

"Yeah" Al managed to say before I grabbed him by the front of the T-Shirt and dragged him out of the common room.

"Jeez Rosie, I feel sorry for the guy you marry, you're going to be the most abusive wife." Al said as I dragged him down the seventh floor corridor.

"Oh shut up Severus." I snapped, rounding the corner to the Prefect Common room where we were supposed to be half an hour ago.

"Do not call me Severus!" Albus whined again.

"Then quit whining!" I yelled, giving the password to the pumpkin that was disguised as the common room entrance. The pumpkin cracked exactly in half, leaving an opening for us to clamber through.

"Nice of you to show up" I heard Malfoy drawl from a chair in the left hand corner of the room. My retort died on my tongue as I remembered about the pills. He's not himself I thought firmly to myself, forcing myself to look away and ignore him, Apologising profusely to the other prefects as I gave out orders as to where they were supposed to patrol.

"Report back here at midnight." I concluded "Anyone caught out of bed deduct fifty house points from and issue a detention to. All names will be given to either Albus or I so we can organise the detentions."

"We know this already Weasley, why don't you shut your mouth and let us get on with it." Malfoy said, getting out of his chair and pushing open the pumpkin door. To my dismay, everyone mumbled their responses and followed him. I was about to yell something after Malfoy but bit my tongue. It's not his fault, it's the pills talking.

"Do not!"

"Do too!"

"Do Not!"

"Do too!"

"Oh will you two shut up!" I snapped at Ella and Jade as they discussed Ella's flying technique. According to Jade she leant forward too much on her broom and that was why she always got pulled for contact.

"It's true though! You believe me don't you Rosie?" Jade asked, looking up from her homework.

"I have no fricken idea what you're talking about, but you sound like a bunch of two year olds." I reprimanded, attempting to bury my head back into my book, which I had found fascinating until fifteen seconds ago when Ella and Jade began to shout. It was like the incident a few weeks back had never happened. The two of them were as good, if not better friends than before the little 'misunderstanding'. At least they could let things go. Me? I'm still holding a grudge towards a girl who called me a 'ranga' when I was six. That was eleven years ago.

"You just need to lean back a bit, then you won't run into everyone, we almost lost that last game when you barged into Nouveau as he was trying to shoot that goal. You're a chaser Ella, not a beater." Jade said.

"So you're saying we almost lost that game because of me?" Ella said, her expression turning hurt.

"No, I'm just saying that if you keep doing that we will lose." Jade said.

"It's the same thing!"

"No it's not!"

"Yes it is"

"No it's not!"

"Yes it is!"

"Will you shut up already, I thought you were more mature than this, Ella, listen to Jade, Jade listen to Ella."

"I'm not going to listen to her," Ella protested "she's criticising my flying technique, I get the goals in because I'm fast, so no hate JM."

"Never call me that again." Jade said "That is for my mother's lips to say only."

"Stop it!" I yelled "If you're going to be like this then we'll go down to breakfast early, no wonder Rio and Mae taken to escaping to the library in the mornings, it's impossible to get anything done with you two in the room."

"Fine" Ella snapped, crossing to her dresser and pulling out a fresh set of robes. Aiming a kick at Jade she disappeared into the bathroom.

"Do you reckon you could at least be nice with your criticism?" I said to Jade.

"I'm just thinking of the team." Jade said, putting her hands up in mock surrender.

"Would it hurt to think of Ella's feelings too?" I hissed angrily.

"Take a chill pill Rose. Ella's fine."

"Jade, sit." I said, gesturing to my bed. The smile dripped off her face, as she saw the serious look on my face.

"What?" she asked, complying and walking over from her dresser to my bed.

"I've known Ella my whole life and if there's something that I've noticed about her, it's this. Ella loves impressing people. She wants to be noticed, and as the third child and daughter in her family she never really gets noticed as much as Frank, Alice or Abi do. And one thing that Ella hates is when people criticise her. Trust me, I nitpicked the hell out of her essay once and I've never edited another. It's her pet peeve."

"Wow" Jade said, as I finished. "I was just trying to help her improve, but if she's that iffy about it I won't bother."

"Good." I said, walking to my trunk and pulling out a new set of robes, a short sleeved blouse because today was going to shape up to be sunny, the rising sun was already warming the dorm and I could feel myself starting to sweat. I performed a simple perspiring charm which stopped me from sweating and/or smelling. I pulled my hangings around me and changed into my blouse and pleated skirt.

"Whoa, Jade, can you at least go behind your hangings?" I said, clamping my eyes shut at the sight that lay before me. "We don't all want to see you naked in the mornings."

"Turn your back if it embarrasses you." Jade said.

"Don't worry, I am." I said, squeezing my eyes shut tighter.

"Oh, so it does embarrass you?"

"I don't want to see you get changed… is that illegal or something?"

"Yes." Jade joked. "It's okay, you can look now."

"Are you sure." I said, not trusting her.

"Rose! As if I want you to see me naked."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever" I opened my eyes and proceeded to look for my bag, which I was pretty sure I had dumped somewhere around the room last night. I finally spotted it in the wastepaper basket.

"How the hell did it get in there?" Jade asked, rolling up her long sleeved blouse to her elbows, all her short sleeved ones being in the washing chute waiting to be replaced by the house elves.

"I got in at one this morning, give me a break Jade." I said, stifling a yawn as I packed my books for the day into my bag.

"Ella, you almost done in there?" Jade asked, rapping on the bathroom door. "Only, some of us need to use the bathroom."

"Yeah" Ella's voice said faintly from the bathroom. "One sec." the sounds of splashing water were heard as Ella washed her hands before the door clicked open and Ella emerged.

"Thank you." Jade said quickly, barging past Ella and locking the door behind her.

"Took your time" I said to Ella, "what were you doing in there?"

"Trying to decide whether or not to have a shower or not. I'll have one tonight though." Ella said, pulling the ends of her long sleeved blouse down nervously.

"Long sleeves, really? Its thirty degrees out there!" I said, jabbing my thumb at the window.

"I'm feeling a little sick." Ella said, slinging her bag over her shoulder. Now that I looked, Ella did look a little pale.

"D'you want to go to Madame Pomfrey?" I asked, concerned.

"No, I'll be fine for the day. It's probably just some twenty-four hour thing."

"Mmm" I agreed. "Shall we go?"

"Sounds good." Jade said brightly, striding out of the bathroom and picking up her things. "I'm starving."

I rolled my eyes as Ella and Jade strolled out of the room together, side by side, chatting away about homework and classes. I rolled my eyes and started after them. I never really would understand those two.

"Hi Mae!" Jade said jovially as we saw Mae coming down the hall towards us from the library. "Where's R-dog?"

"Never say that again." Ella said, punching Jade on the arm playfully.

"Fine then" Jade said "Where's Rio."

"She's still in the library, she said she'd be a bit longer." Mae replied.

"Her loss," Jade said, grabbing Mae's hand "Come down to breakfast with us."

"You seem awfully chipper." Mae laughed, following Jade down the marble staircase.

"Must be the sun coming out to play."

"You go" I said to Ella, "I want to check on Rio." Ella nodded and followed Jade and Mae down towards the great hall as I took off in the opposite direction towards the library. I was really worried about Rio. She'd bottled herself away in the three days since Jarrah's death. She'd be going home over the weekend for her funeral and I really wanted to make sure that she was alright and coping.

Of course, Jarrah's death would've hit Rio and her family the hardest, but it had hit me pretty hard too and Jade and Ella as well, though I knew they didn't want to show it. Jarrah had been one of my closest friends that wasn't my age. The Blanche's house was like my third home (The burrow being my second) and Jarrah, or Rio's other sister, Elise had never had any problem with Rio bringing us home for the summer.

I walked into the silent library. It didn't take me long to find Rio, as she was the only person in there, everyone else being down at breakfast. She was slumped over her potions textbook, her body shaking with silent sobs. My heart melted with sympathy for her and I reached out and touched her shoulder.

"Rio" I said softly.

"I-I knew you'd come eventually." Rio said, not looking up. "You worry too much Rosie."

"Talk to me Rio." I said, prying her up off the textbook and wiping the tears off her face. Rio shook her head.

"I'm fine Rose, really." She insisted, closing the potions textbook. "Let's go to breakfast."

"You're not fine." I said, standing up with her. "You're a mess, please Rio, talk to me."

"Honestly, I'm coping, don't worry yourself."

"Well, if that's the way you feel…" I said, relenting, I didn't want to pry. "But I just want you to know that if you ever need anyone to vent to or a shoulder to cry on. I'm here."

"Thanks Rose." Rio said, cracking the first smile I'd seen on her face in days. "It means a lot to me."

"C'mere" I said, holding my arms open and Rio stepped into the hug. I just wanted her to be happy, and if that meant being the shoulder to cry on, then I was absolutely content with that.

"Rose, can I talk to you for a second?" Jade said, touching me briefly on the arm as I worked that evening.

"Yeah, sure" I said, putting down my quill.

"Um... can we go somewhere more private?" Jade said, looking around anxiously.

"Alright" I said, raising one eyebrow at her, but following her up to the dorm. The situation was obviously serious, because Jade never talked to me in private, she was one of those, 'let them know!' type girls. I shut the door behind me as Jade sat on her bed.

"What is it?" I asked.

"Please don't judge me" Jade begged, her eyes full of fear.

"Wait... Jade are you pregnant?" I asked, hoping that I'd struck gold. Obviously not.

"Yes." She said sarcastically "And it's yours… of course not you twat." She paused "I'll never get pregnant though, not with a guy anyway." She said, looking at her bedspread. That's when it struck me. Jade was coming out, Finally! I'd known she was gay ever since fifth year, when she and Ella started becoming quite close. I felt a stupid grin come across my face.

"Jade, what are you getting at?" I asked, wanting to hear the words from Jade's mouth.

"What I'm trying to say is, I'm lesbian."

"Oh my god, finally!" I shouted "Yes! Rio owes me six galleons."

"Wait, what? You knew?" Jade said, bewildered

"We've known since fifth year" I said, leaning forward to hug her.

"You've known longer than I have... wait you were betting on whether I was gay or not?" she looked offended.

"No, we were betting on when you'd come out, I said you'd come out before we finished Hogwarts and Rio said that you'd come out afterwards." I explained. "I'm six galleons richer."

"You're unbelievable. How did you figure it out before I did?" Jade asked.

"There are some things you just know" I shrugged

"And you don't want to run away screaming?"

"Jade, If I wanted to run away screaming, I'd have done so by now." Before I knew what was happening she had engulfed me in a hug. "This doesn't change anything Jade. You're still my best friend."

"What about the others?" she mumbled. "They'll care"

"No they won't, this doesn't change a fucking thing."

"They will."

"No they won't, and if they do I'll hex their asses to Neptune and back" I grinned.

"You don't know the full story" Jade said, looking at her hands.

"Go on" I prompted.

"What if I told you that I was in love with Ella?"

AN: oh no, Jade's come out…. I'm about to start shipping her and her respective other more than I ship Scorrose and Klaine…. Watch out for my excessive fangirling, it gets dangerous. Hehehehe.

I wrote this to reward myself for finishing the trek-of-my-life French Assignment which took me two fricken weeks to do.

Oh, and before I forget, EVERYONE GO SEND SHIRA LANSYS SOME LOVE! She's the one who's keeping the updates coming as I have entered this in her Long Haul Competition over on HPFC which means that I have to submit a chapter every week or I get eliminated. I'm super competitive so it's fun :)

Reviews and Feedback are always valued and appreciated

Until Next Time

~The Original Horcrux~