Written for:
The 7 Challenges comp
Orginality in your favourite pairing
The Photobucket Challenge
The Ultimate Next Gen Challenge
"No. No way. I don't believe it. Rosie, love, let me see your head, I think you must have fallen and hit it quite hard. It's the only explanation for you to do something so utterly...ridiculous!" Hermione fussed over her daughter worriedly as she had been doing for the past thirty minutes.
Ron snorted, desperately trying to contain his laughter. Never, not even in his wildest dreams, did he think he would ever find himself in this situation.
Rose slapped her mothers hands away from where they were checking her head for a bump.
"Stop! I'm fine, Mum! Tell her, Dad, she's being irrational!" Rose pleaded desperately, sick of being told she was ill or not in her right mind.
Ron shook his head. There was no way he was getting involved in this mess.
"Oh Rosie dear, but look! I found a bump! We'd best take you to St. Mungo's and-"
"Mother! I am not ill, I did not fall and hurt my head, I am not under the Imperius Curse, and I am not an imposter using Polyjuice potion!" Rose's voice had risen dramatically. It had been over an hour since she had broken the news to her parents. Her father found it hilarious and her mother was in shock.
"I am 18 years old. I'm of age and I don't care if you think divination is a waste of time, I am naturally gifted! I have The Sight! Professor Moustafa said so herself! And I will be a fortune teller whether you like it or not. Scorpius is getting his future predicted today." she said smugly, ignoring Hermione's splutters.
Ron couldn't help it: he burst out laughing.
"So, you're going to have a big stall in the market, with loads of beads and that smelly stuff -"
"Incense." Hermione interrupted.
"Yeah, that stuff, and you'll have a- a crystal ball!" Ron spluttered in between laughs. "And those cards...oh dear Merlin, my daughter's a fortune teller! Hermione! Oh Merlin."
Rose gave her best 'angry Hermione impression': she crossed her arms and glared at Ron at the same time as Hermione did. Needless to say it worked in scaring him.
"I-er-um...I'm off to er, see Harry! Yeah, Teddy! Go see Ginny..." Ron rambled incoherently as he slowly backed out of the room with his hands up in a typical 'I'm innocent! Please don't hurt me!' posture.
Rose continued glaring at him and until he was out of her sight.
"And you! This is my dream! And if you can't accept it then I'm going to somebody who can - like Scorpius! His mother will be more than happy to let me stay. Oh, and I thought I'd tell you now that Scorpius and I are moving in together. We both want to move out, and thought it would be nice, seeing as we are best friends and are supportive, to live together. If you have a problem with that, write me a letter so I don't have to read it. Goodbye!"
She stormed out of the house, making as much noise as possible - stomping, slamming doors, knocking over a hideous vase that had been a wedding present. She didn't hear Hermione sigh.
Rose knew that she was overreacting, she knew that Hermione would never change her views about divination. But still, a little support would have been nice.
She apparated to Malfoy Manor, the new one that Draco had built shortly after the war (he had burned the old one down because apparently there were 'too many bad memories', or something like that).
She was fuming by the time she marched into Scorpius's room and sat on his bed, waiting for him to appear and ask her what was wrong.
It was always like this. She hadn't inherited the infamous Weasley temper as well as the red hair for nothing. Rose and Scorpius had been best friends since they were both sorted into Ravenclaw in their first year. They spent every summer together since, hence why Rose was so friendly with Scorpius's parents.
Needless to say, the same could not be said for Scorpius.
Dad lost it completely when I said I was friends with a Malfoy... Rose chuckled quietly at the memory. Yelled and screamed and stomped around like Hugo in a temper. Mum just stood there with her arms crossed, trying not to laugh. Suddenly, her anger at her parents (which had been slowly dissipating) came back in full force and she scowled, burying her face into his pillow.
"What happened this time?" a familiar voice asked, sounding amused.
"You'd tell me if I was making a mistake, right Scor? You'd tell me if this whole idea of having a shop and practising divination was stupid?" she asked timidly, her voice slightly muffled by the pillow.
He turned to look sharply at his best friend.
"It's not stupid Rose, you have a gift. I assume your mother gave you the whole 'divination is pathetic' lecture again?"
She nodded as best as she could with her face hidden in his pillow. He rubbed her back comfortingly.
He sighed - he knew all about Hermione. Rose had told him countless tales of her over the years. Her disapproval of divination being one of them.
"Get up. We're going."
That caught her attention. She rolled over onto her side to look at him.
"Going where?" she asked cautiously.
"Don't you trust me?" he cried, mock-hurt.
She rolled her eyes and allowed him to pull her off the bed.
"Going where?" She repeated determinedly, placing her hands on her hips and looking remarkably like her Grandma Molly.
Scorpius winced. He knew he shouldn't argue with that tone. Ignoring his better judgement, he winked cockily.
"You'll find out soon enough, sweetheart. Don't worry now, we don't want to use up any more of your limited brain power than absolutely necessary."
She scowled and punched him on the arm.
"Ouch," he mumbled. "That's going to leave a mark you know."
"Serves you right, you arrogant prat."
"Insufferable know-it-all."
"Ferret."
"That only works on my Dad, Rosie. Bitch."
"What can I say? You're the spitting image of your father. Draco Lucius Malfoy Jr. Arse."
"How did you know his middle name? Not even I know his middle name!" he exclaimed, shocked.
Rose 1, Scorpius 0.
She held back a grin and leaned forward so her face was merely inches from his. "I have my ways." She winked. He inhaled sharply. She smirked.
Rose knew full well the effect she could have on guys if she wanted to. Sure she was no Lily Luna, who practically had guys drooling in their sleep over her, but she definitely caught their attention.
He snarled at her, grabbed her waist and pulled her to him. She felt the odd sensation of turning on the spot and the familiar nausea that came with apparating.
She squealed. It was always a contest of who had the upper hand between them. It was part of the reason why they always squabbled. She squeezed her eyes shut and buried her head in the crook of Scorpius's neck and his arms wrapped around her, holding her tight. She resisted the urge to slap him as he chuckled.
She felt the heartbeat in his chest speed up as she snuggled into his chest and his arms tightened.
"Rosie? You can look up now," he murmured, amused.
She looked around. It was a small, colourful street, off the main road of Diagon Alley. She gasped. There was a little shop, simple and without any of the frivolous things such as fancy drapes and smoky hazes that people often associate with fortune tellers. She loved it. She couldn't tear her eyes away from it but rather took in every little magical detail possible. She knew instantly why Scorpius had brought her here.
"Go catch your dream," he said softly, gesturing her to step through the doors into the little unnamed shop. "I thought you'd like to name it yourself." he said, a little sheepishly.
How does he do that? How does he always know what I am thinking? Because we're best friends...or something more?
She stood in a stunned silence. Scorpius Malfoy had bought her a place, a shop for her to carry out her dream.
She squealed and jumped into his arms, wrapping her arms around his neck as he chuckled. She couldn't help but shiver as she felt the vibrations from his laugh move through her, setting fire to her veins. Merlin, she wanted to kiss him...
Wait … what?
A voice that sounded suspiciously like her mothers sounded in her head.
"Sometimes the heart sees what is invisible to the eye." It was one of Hermione's favourite sayings. Rose had no clue why it chose to appear now, of all times.
Scorpius's deep laugh brought her back to the present.
"I take it you like my surprise then?" he asked hopefully.
She grinned in response.
"Care to be my first customer?"
"Welcome to Predicting the Future by Rose Weasley!" she cried. He nodded absently.
Malfoy, he thought. Should be Rose Malfoy.
No. Scorpius did not fall in love with Rose Weasley the day he met her. Or at least, if he did, he never realized it. No, he thought as he recalled how annoying he used to find Rose in their first year. I definitely didn't love her then.
He figured it was around 6th year when he accidentally saw her in only her bra and skirt as she was changing for Quidditch. She was incredibly fit, reasonably tanned and … Merlin! He was drooling just thinking about her.
He shook his head as to bring him back to the present where Rose was attempting to predict his future using a crystal ball. Personally, he agreed with Hermione that Divination was a load of Hippogriff dung, but Rose was convinced she had a gift, and once convinced she wouldn't budge.
"So. What's my fortune?"
"Well, I can't see much, but-" She squinted into the ball comically. It was all he could do to refrain his sniggers. "But - I see something! It looks like...like...you and a girl, you saying something you should have said a long time ago but you were too blind...what else? So you'll be getting a love life soon. And there are other things floating around, like a rose … maybe you'll develop a taste for gardening?"
Scorpius snorted. He was fairly sure that that wasn't what the rose symbolized.
"This looks kind of like you, but you look like you're wearing a clown suit! And there's singing - I'm getting 'I like to move it' mixed with 'Afro Circus' vibes..." Scorpius paled as he tried to picture himself on stage in big red shoes, stripes and the honking nose singing "I like to move it move it, I like to move it move it, I like to, MOVE IT!"
He groaned. "Please, spare my wounded pride and tell me that you, as my best friend-" that I'm in love with"Will allow me, humble Scorpius Hyperion Malfoy, to save my dignity and never do that on stage."
"What about in private?" she grinned at his glare and went back to her crystal ball.
"Oh no...wait. Scratch all that. Apparently the clown suit is actually dress robes, like for a wedding...your wedding? Again, more roses! Gosh, Scor! That's an unhealthy obsession... I see a girl, a girl very close to you becoming something more...who's a girl that's very close to you?" She pondered for a while.
Suddenly the realization dawned and her eyes widened ...she almost looked...hopeful? He sucked in a breath and didn't let it out until he convinced himself that he was only seeing what he wanted to see.
He absently picked up and unwrapped a fortune cookie.
'There are millions of things that you want, but only one thing you really need.'
He snorted. Yeah, and that one thing is you. Trust you, Rosie, to always make my life 10 times harder than it needed be.
He chuckled.
"Oh," she said softly. "It was you who sent me the bouquet of lilies for Valentine's Day in 7th year. It must have been you, because you're the only one who could possibly know that I hate roses. And there was the locket."
He couldn't allow himself to hope that maybe, just maybe, she returned his feelings.
She studied him for a moment.
"You're in love with me." It wasn't a question, but a statement.
"We're best friends, Rosie. I don't know what you're talking about."
It was the little things he realized that made him love her: the way she bit her lip when she was worried, the way she drummed her fingers when she was bored, the mishevious grin she got whenever she planned a prank on Albus, the reddening of her cheeks when she was mad. He knew her inside out and upside down, he could usually predict what she was going to do because of that.
But one thing he never expected her to do was kiss him. And that's what she did.
He was surprised, shocked and more than just a little bit pleased to finally feel what he'd been dreaming of for years, to have her lips crash and move with his and to feel the fire burning through his veins, the passion igniting in his bones. This felt so right.
They were both breathing heavily by the time they broke apart.
"I've wanted to do that for years," he breathed, resting his forehead on hers. "Rose Weasley, be mine?"
Betaed by the uber amazing Being A Wallflower! I owe you so muchxx
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