Dear Gerdy: Chapter 7 - The Letter
Look at me!! It’s only been FIVE days since the last update and I’m updating again!!! This chapter is shorter than the others have been… but it’s got good stuff.
This past week I was finally able to map out the rest of the story and I can now say that there will be 10 chapters total, possibly a epilogue (keep going back and forth on that) and I have ideas for a one-shot from Scorpius’ point of view.
Title: Dear Gerdy
Rating: T
Pairing: Scorpius/Rose (eventually)
Genre: Romance, Drama
When: Next Generation
Warnings: n/a
Story Links: Masterpost | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | Epilogue
Summary/Notes:
Rose is in her 7th year at Hogwarts and is new Gerdy for Hogwarts' anonymous advice column Dear Gerdy. That coupled with her school work and changes in her relationship with Scorpius, will make this year interesting.
Chapter 7: The Letter
Dear Gerdy,
I’m worried about my best friend. She hasn’t been herself at all this year and there are a couple nights a week where she seems to be missing. I tried to talk to her about it tonight, but she was really defensive and made up a story about needing time to herself. I don’t know what to anymore. Should I write to her parents about my concerns? Or talk to the headmistress? Help.
Sincerely,
Deeply Concerned
Dear Deeply Concerned,
I know this isn’t what you want to hear, but now that you have expressed your concerns to your best friend, you need to believe her when she saws that nothing is going on until you have solid evidence that says otherwise. I understand that it will be hard, but I’m sure the last thing you want to do is push your friend to a point where she is no longer interested in being friends with you.
By trusting her and remaining supportive, you’ll be the person she turns to if there is in fact a problem.
Remain strong,
Gerdy
Balancing classes, homework, Gerdy and friends was even harder than before as she attempted to ease Scorpius’ concerns.
In the five weeks since her meeting with her cousins, Rose had adjusted her schedule so she could break her Gerdy work up over a couple days: Monday and Wednesdays she got up an hour early and spent an hour reading letters before breakfast; Thursdays she used the time Scorpius was at Quidditch practice to get the majority of the work done; and on Fridays she used her afternoon break (when Scorpius was in Divinations) to put the final touches on the issue.
Of course, the adjustments had meant she could send the issue down to the Great Hall from the Room of Requirement, at least not until she had written to her mum to ask about setting a delivery time on the spell. It had taken a extra flick of her wrist and the addition of ‘Saturday morning’ to set the time.
Based on the hint that Roxanne had given her in Hogsmeade, Rose had expanded her Gerdy work to include reading old issues. They were already bound by year, but Aunt Luna’s creativity had exploded all over them and, since she was planning to read them in company, Rose had to transform them into boring looking books.
Despite her attempts to ease his worry, however, Scorpius had continued to watch and keep tabs on her. It never reached the point it had that evening in the classroom, but she continued to feel like she was under a magnify glass. It was like he was waiting for her to slip up and catch her snogging some guy in a cupboard or practicing dark magic with a gang of Slytherins.
The Scorpius Situation, as she had started calling it in her head, was the main reason she was pouring into the old Gerdy letters. Roxanne had made it seem like she would find all the answers to the dealing with the situation in them, but there hadn’t been anything remotely related to what she was going through.
She had already read through the first twenty years of Dear Gerdy letters and had been surprised with the similarity of the questions every year. Though, each Gerdy clearly had her own voice and opinions, so each response was unique.
With only seven years worth of letters left, Rose was beginning to think that the whole thing was a waste of time. Especially after remembering that Roxanne had played Quidditch second through seventh year and there was no way her cousin had had time to read through twenty-six years of letters.
Unless…
Was it possible that Roxanne had answered a question last year that she thought would help Rose? If she had, why hadn’t she said anything?
Victoire’s words came to mind, “We can help you with the Gerdy situation. But the rest, you’ll have to figure out by yourself.”
With that came the memory of Roxanne’s strange squeak after she had read Scorpius’ letter at that same meeting.
Yes, Rose decided. Roxanne definitely knew something, but hadn’t dared to say it in front of Victoire. Instead, she had waited until it was just the two of them in her brother’s apartment to tell Rose to look at old Gerdy letters.
There was obviously something in them that she thought Rose needed to see.
Armed with that theory, Rose had visited the Room of Requirement to get Roxanne’s letters before retiring to the common room to relax with Scorpius and the other occupants of Ravenclaw tower.
It was there, sitting in a navy blue wingback chair a few feet from where Scorpius was talking Quidditch with one of his teammates, that her eyes landed on the one thing that could make her stop breathing.
There it was. Black as the sky outside the window.
Help.
Taking a deep breath, she moved her eyes to the start of the short letter and read:
Dear Gerdy,
I’m in love with my best friend. Help.
Sincerely,
Goner
Her wide eyes flicked from the letter to Scorpius then back to the letter.
No! No. Absolutely not.
But it had ended with “Help.” just as his other letter had and hadn’t she already used that “Help.” to connect him to the other letters?
Maybe he read this letter and decided to copy it?
No, she hadn’t seen that demanding plea for help on any other letters and she knew that he would never have copied someone else, which meant: “Goner” was Scorpius.
And that she, Rose Weasley, was the best friend he was in love with.
This past week I was finally able to map out the rest of the story and I can now say that there will be 10 chapters total, possibly a epilogue (keep going back and forth on that) and I have ideas for a one-shot from Scorpius’ point of view.
Title: Dear Gerdy
Rating: T
Pairing: Scorpius/Rose (eventually)
Genre: Romance, Drama
When: Next Generation
Warnings: n/a
Story Links: Masterpost | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | Epilogue
Summary/Notes:
Rose is in her 7th year at Hogwarts and is new Gerdy for Hogwarts' anonymous advice column Dear Gerdy. That coupled with her school work and changes in her relationship with Scorpius, will make this year interesting.
Chapter 7: The Letter
Dear Gerdy,
I’m worried about my best friend. She hasn’t been herself at all this year and there are a couple nights a week where she seems to be missing. I tried to talk to her about it tonight, but she was really defensive and made up a story about needing time to herself. I don’t know what to anymore. Should I write to her parents about my concerns? Or talk to the headmistress? Help.
Sincerely,
Deeply Concerned
Dear Deeply Concerned,
I know this isn’t what you want to hear, but now that you have expressed your concerns to your best friend, you need to believe her when she saws that nothing is going on until you have solid evidence that says otherwise. I understand that it will be hard, but I’m sure the last thing you want to do is push your friend to a point where she is no longer interested in being friends with you.
By trusting her and remaining supportive, you’ll be the person she turns to if there is in fact a problem.
Remain strong,
Gerdy
Balancing classes, homework, Gerdy and friends was even harder than before as she attempted to ease Scorpius’ concerns.
In the five weeks since her meeting with her cousins, Rose had adjusted her schedule so she could break her Gerdy work up over a couple days: Monday and Wednesdays she got up an hour early and spent an hour reading letters before breakfast; Thursdays she used the time Scorpius was at Quidditch practice to get the majority of the work done; and on Fridays she used her afternoon break (when Scorpius was in Divinations) to put the final touches on the issue.
Of course, the adjustments had meant she could send the issue down to the Great Hall from the Room of Requirement, at least not until she had written to her mum to ask about setting a delivery time on the spell. It had taken a extra flick of her wrist and the addition of ‘Saturday morning’ to set the time.
Based on the hint that Roxanne had given her in Hogsmeade, Rose had expanded her Gerdy work to include reading old issues. They were already bound by year, but Aunt Luna’s creativity had exploded all over them and, since she was planning to read them in company, Rose had to transform them into boring looking books.
Despite her attempts to ease his worry, however, Scorpius had continued to watch and keep tabs on her. It never reached the point it had that evening in the classroom, but she continued to feel like she was under a magnify glass. It was like he was waiting for her to slip up and catch her snogging some guy in a cupboard or practicing dark magic with a gang of Slytherins.
The Scorpius Situation, as she had started calling it in her head, was the main reason she was pouring into the old Gerdy letters. Roxanne had made it seem like she would find all the answers to the dealing with the situation in them, but there hadn’t been anything remotely related to what she was going through.
She had already read through the first twenty years of Dear Gerdy letters and had been surprised with the similarity of the questions every year. Though, each Gerdy clearly had her own voice and opinions, so each response was unique.
With only seven years worth of letters left, Rose was beginning to think that the whole thing was a waste of time. Especially after remembering that Roxanne had played Quidditch second through seventh year and there was no way her cousin had had time to read through twenty-six years of letters.
Unless…
Was it possible that Roxanne had answered a question last year that she thought would help Rose? If she had, why hadn’t she said anything?
Victoire’s words came to mind, “We can help you with the Gerdy situation. But the rest, you’ll have to figure out by yourself.”
With that came the memory of Roxanne’s strange squeak after she had read Scorpius’ letter at that same meeting.
Yes, Rose decided. Roxanne definitely knew something, but hadn’t dared to say it in front of Victoire. Instead, she had waited until it was just the two of them in her brother’s apartment to tell Rose to look at old Gerdy letters.
There was obviously something in them that she thought Rose needed to see.
Armed with that theory, Rose had visited the Room of Requirement to get Roxanne’s letters before retiring to the common room to relax with Scorpius and the other occupants of Ravenclaw tower.
It was there, sitting in a navy blue wingback chair a few feet from where Scorpius was talking Quidditch with one of his teammates, that her eyes landed on the one thing that could make her stop breathing.
There it was. Black as the sky outside the window.
Help.
Taking a deep breath, she moved her eyes to the start of the short letter and read:
Dear Gerdy,
I’m in love with my best friend. Help.
Sincerely,
Goner
Her wide eyes flicked from the letter to Scorpius then back to the letter.
No! No. Absolutely not.
But it had ended with “Help.” just as his other letter had and hadn’t she already used that “Help.” to connect him to the other letters?
Maybe he read this letter and decided to copy it?
No, she hadn’t seen that demanding plea for help on any other letters and she knew that he would never have copied someone else, which meant: “Goner” was Scorpius.
And that she, Rose Weasley, was the best friend he was in love with.