Title: A Few Moments in Rose Weasley's Life

Setting: Next Gen

Summary: Rose's last year at Hogwarts and how Simon Wood changed her life.

Author's Notes: This is in response to Teacher's Lounge Valentine Exchange. This story is for MuggleBeene. I tried my hand at Rose Weasley and MuggleBeene's own creating, Simon Wood. It is not a Valentine date but more a developing relationship. I hope this story meets with the standards of Jeff's writing. Hope you enjoy!

Seventeen year old Rose Weasley could care less about Quidditch but, having been born a Weasley, and to support her cousin James, she had gone to his first match against the Wimbourne Wasps. As he was a reserve beater for the Puddlemere United, it wasn't guaranteed he would make an appearance but his family, who was sitting in the special section reserved for the players' families, were hopeful.

While Rose cared nothing about Quidditch, she cared a lot about her family and James, while he was not always the nicest cousin she had with his constant teasing, was family. And she had to admit, he had grown to be more tolerable now that he was no longer at Hogwarts.

Another thing Rose cared about was her upcoming NEWT year. She was looking forward to excel, just like her mother did before her. And like her mother, she wanted to pursue a career at the Ministry. She wanted to make her parents proud and, to be honest, she felt that being successful was the best way to accomplish this.

Politely, she watched the game with no great interest, wishing she could retrieve her book from her cloak pocket and read until her cousin made his first appearance on the pitch. But she had to be supportive and being supportive was not to engross herself in her interesting history book. Beside, her father, who was sporting his bright orange Chudley Cannons scarf would not be looking very pleased with her if she couldn't leave her book alone for the length of a Quidditch match.

As the hours ticked by and it was more and more likely James wouldn't make an appearance, Rose looked around her. Her cousin Lily, beautiful as ever, was sitting next to her, her long straight red hair blowing softly in the wind. All of the sudden, Rose felt like turning around, as if someone had his eyes on her. She looked behind her and saw HR Boyd sitting next to his father, looking at the game attentively. Rose frowned, turning quickly back towards Lily. Suddenly, she could see them together, walking along a lake in a park, smiling at each other, and laughing. Yes, Lily and HR would end up together which surprised Rose greatly, HR being so quiet while Lily was as exuberant as could be.

With an amused smile, Rose turned back to the game and finally, after such a long wait, it was all over. She was about to stand up to leave when Oliver Wood flew by and asked his father and her uncle Harry to wait a while so he could catch up with them. With a sight, Rose sat down again and waited what seemed like an eternity before Oliver Wood, followed by his son, Simon, joined them in the family section.

The conversation between the adults could interest Rose even less. Quidditch talks always bored her to tears and she began to look around, her eyes crossing over Simon who quickly glanced away as if he didn't want her to know he had been looking at her. Rose frowned, wondering why he seemed so startled that her eyes had chanced by him. Everybody knew Simon at school. Last year, when James had graduated, Simon had become the new Gryffindor Quidditch captain and, even if she could care less about the sport, she recognised a good Keeper when she saw one.

"Rose, are you joining us?" asked Lily next to her.

All of her cousins and friends had gathered together around the cooler and was beginning to help themselves to the remaining butterbeer.

"Yes, of course," she answered, walking towards the cooler.

As she was about to grab the last butterbeer, Simon beat her to it. He opened it with a quick twist and gave it to Rose with a shy smile.

"Thank you," mumbled Rose, surprised and flattered by the gesture.

"My pleasure," he quietly said, shyly putting his hands in his jacket pockets and giving her a small smile.

Rose had liked to be sitting next to him, and for the rest of the summer, she had thought about the Gryffindor Quidditch Captain more than once, wondering if she had imagined things. But come September, when class resumed, Simon had seemed to find himself in her path rather often, saying 'Hi' and smiling at her. Then came the chance meeting on the school ground, which, in Rose's opinion, was anything but chance.

It was a warm Sunday afternoon in October, one of those rare ones everybody enjoyed and wished would happen every year. Rose was sitting on her jacket, under a tree near the Black Lake. She was studying for her Transfiguration class while enjoying the sun when someone walked to her and, without being invited, sat down. She looked up, ready to rebuke the intruder when she saw Simon. He was breathtaking with the sun in his hair and Rose was surprised at her rather strong reaction to him.

"I like it here," he said quietly, keeping his eyes on the lake. "It's quiet."

"Yes," said Rose, turning towards the lake. "I like this weather; it's comfortable."

"Yes," he answered.

Rose did not know what else to say so she remained quiet.

"If you want, I can go," said Simon when she didn't say anything.

"No! No!" she answered quickly. "Stay."

They spent the rest of the afternoon, staring at the lake, rarely talking. It was comfortable and right, and Rose enjoyed it immensely.

From then on, Simon would talk to her every time they would cross path, which seemed to be increasingly often. Rose had suspected he had come to learn her class schedule and she had silently been flattered by it. Then came the week before the Christmas holiday.

Rose had just finished her Transfiguration class and was walking along a deserted corridor on her way to the Ravenclaw tower when she stopped to look out a window. A few moments later, someone she recognised by his nice smell was standing next to her.

"We learned something in Transfiguration earlier this week," he said.

He took out his wand and before Rose could look at the result of his incantation, he slowly turned her face towards him and kissed her. Rose thought that was the best moment of her life and she felt like she was suddenly flying on a cloud. When Simon pulled away, she wanted to scream in protest and moved towards him to recapture his mouth. They kissed again, and again, and again, and Rose hoped it would never stop. But of course, all good things have an end. When Simon finally pulled away, he took Rose in his arms and hugged her tightly.

"Have I known, I would not have used that trick to get you to kiss me," he said, looking up.

Floating above their head was a rather large mistletoe. Rose giggled and put her head back against his shoulder.

"No, you didn't need that," she said. "But if the size of it is any indication, you really did want to kiss me."

"Yes, I did," he said and Rose could hear the grin in his voice.

In early January, it was officially known they were dating, especially after the way he had looked for her in the train on the way back to Hogwarts. Simon had, at the time, looked all over the train for her, calling her name at the top of his lungs. Of course, when he found her, the public display of affection could not be mistaken for anything else than their dating.

A month later, during the Ravenclaw Hufflepuff Quidditch match, something rather peculiar had happened, which had given Rose her fair share of goose bumps.

She was sitting in the stands next to Simon awaiting the beginning of the game when Albus and HR joined them. As he usually did, HR was talking about wands and Rose was barely listening to him, as she had heard half of what he was saying before. But when he asked to see Simon's wand, Rose looked over curious to hear what he would say. When HR began laughing, Rose frowned, wondering what was so funny.

"Mate, Rose and you are really destined to be together," said HR.

"What do you mean?" asked Simon intrigued.

"Well, your wand is made of rosewood, which would be Rose's name if you were to get married," explained HR. "Yes, definitely, you guys are made for one another."

HR's announcement made a chill go through Rose's spine and she had the feeling HR had seen the truth.

And all of her months of wondering got confirmed a week before the final exams.

Rose was feeling miserable that day. Her school year, except for everything related to Simon, was a total catastrophe. She had studied, studied and studied some more and now, with the exam one week away, she just didn't want to study anymore. She didn't want to be the good little girl anymore, she just wanted to relax and be herself.

She was sitting on the grass at the Black Lake, her books and jacket forgotten next to her, holding a letter in her hand. While she had wanted that letter, at the same time she had hoped she would not get. She had been offered an internship in the Department of Mystery at the Ministry. That was the most prestigious internship anyone could get but honestly, Rose did not want it. She had applied because it had been expected of her. But what she really wanted to do had nothing to do with the Ministry.

"Rose? Are you alright?" asked Simon, sitting down next to her.

Quickly, Rose tried to dry her tears with the back of her sleeve.

"Yes," she answered, sounding anything but.

"What's wrong?" asked Simon gently, pulling her towards him.

But Rose could not answer; she only cried against Simon's shoulder. She was miserable.

"Simon, working at the Ministry will not make me happy," she said between sniffles. "I just want to be me."

"Then why don't you?" asked Simon gently, caressing her hair. "If it won't make you happy, why will you not do something else?"

"Because it is expected of me," she answered.

"I am not expecting it of you," he said. "I rather you work as a waitress at the Cauldron if that's what will make you happy when you come home at night."

Rose pulled away and looked up at him.

"You mean this?" she asked.

"Of course I do," he answered. "Why wouldn't I want you to be happy? What would make you happy, Rose?" he asked gently, caressing her cheek.

"I saw this ad in the Prophet. My uncle is looking for an accountant," she said, feeling the tears coming down her eyes again. "He never thought about asking me because he knew I would go for the big positions. After all, it was expected of me. But really, I want to go work for him, at the Weasleys' Wizarding Wheezes."

"Then send an application," simply said Simon. "You love numbers. You would be good at it."

"You think?"

"Yes, I do," he said. "Rose, I want you to come home to me, every night, for the rest of our lives, happy."

Rose looked at him with a frown, not sure she understood where he was coming from.

"What's wrong?" he asked, alarmed.

"Well, do you mean you want us to stay together?" she asked, hoping with all her heard that he would say yes.

"Yes, I do," he said, seriously. "I want to marry you, Rose, as soon as I am done with school," he said, looking at her directly in the eyes.

Rose just stared back, not knowing what to say. She was hearing what she had wanted to hear for some months now, and now she only felt like pinching herself to make sure it was real.

"Rose," he began, getting on his knees, "would you marry me?"

He took a little box from his pocket and opened it. It contained a simple golden ring but Rose thought it was the most gorgeous thing she had ever seen in her life.

"Oh!" she simply said, bringing her hand to her mouth.

"Rose, will you?" he insisted a few moments later, when she wouldn't say more.

Rose quickly looked up at him.

"YES!" she said forcefully. "Yes! I will!" she said, getting her knees too and kissing him deeply.

When she pulled away, she laughed in happiness while Simon slipped the ring on her finger, a huge smile on his face.

"For a moment there, I thought you would say no."

"Oh! Don't be silly!" she laughed.

The next day, hand in hand, they made their way to the owlery. Rose had written a letter to her uncle, asking for the position at the Wheezes. Her heart light with her decision and her recent engagement, Rose tied the letter to her owl's foot and walked it to the window. With a final look at Simon who was smiling at her reassuringly, Rose let go of the owl and she looked at it fly away, looking forward to the new direction her life was finally taking.