Why did this always happen to her?
Rose was sure there was a cosmic force, maybe Merlin, that was basically playing chess with her life. Yesterday, a rogue owl swooped down while she was posting a letter, grabbed her bag and proceeded to fly out of the owlery and drop her bag from hundreds of feet up.
Her ink bottle had smashed, ruining hours of homework, and her favorite quill had been shattered into a million little pieces.
And then she remembered… it wasn't a cosmic force, it was a cosmic git. Scorpius Malfoy.
"Seriously, it's not that difficult." He hissed, rolling his eyes at her.
Malfoy was the bane of her existence, a gift of spectacular idiocy.
"Well, why don't you try." Rose stepped aside, motioning for him to try and bust the wooden door open. She wasn't sure how they had gotten trapped in the Astronomy Tower together. It was all very hazy… especially the part where she through her vicious Care of Magical Creatures textbook at him.
Yea, if any asked her about that she would definitely say that she couldn't remember.
Malfoy through his shoulder into the door and it shook a little, but that was a solid piece of oak they were trying to break down.
"Well, why don't you have your wand?" He snapped and she sneered at his futile attempts to 'be the man' and use 'brute strength' and all that other codswallop.
"I could ask you the same question." She demanded and glared back at him. Well, she glared up at him. Even though they were standing a few feet away she still had to look up. It was one of the many things that irked Rose. She may have been the smarter one, even if only by a little (that little was very important to her), she may be next in line for the Head Girl badge (she couldn't wait for seventh year), but he was extremely popular with the girls, and even though she could hex him into oblivion, he towered over her.
Not to mention, he liked being physically menacing and the stupid git knew that bothered her. Rose suspected that's why he got so close in her personal space sometimes.
"I didn't think I would need my wand for this assignment," He growled, "considering we just have to look through the bloody telescope and write down some bullshit about how the stars are aligned and we're all going to die." He shrugged casually, but his words were still said through clenched teeth.
Rose had to agree… don't tell anyone about that, Trelawny's assignments were codswallop. But of course this one, they actually had to put some work into it. The assignment wasn't due for another three days and Rose had hoped that doing it early would mean she wouldn't have to share the Astronomy Tower with anyone.
How wrong she was. "I didn't think I'd need my wand either." She admitted and he clenched his jaw. She pursed her lips waiting for him to say something and when he didn't she added, "We may as well do the assignment. By the time we finish, someone will come for us." She said confidently.
"Did you tell someone you were coming here?" Malfoy asked hesitantly and her stomach dropped. Rose had hoped he had told his friends, assuming he had any, because all of her's had been at dinner when she went to the library and then straight to the Astronomy Tower.
"No," She said slowly, already fearing his response.
"I didn't either." He shook his head and laughed humorously. She had to admit the situation was comically horrible. It would only happen to her… the one girl who didn't want to be in the Astronomy Tower with Scorpius Malfoy.
"But they'll notice if we're not back by curfew." She told herself more than she was saying to him. He snorted. Rose told herself it was unattractive to snort and tried not to think about how he sort of pulled it off.
"My roommates will just think I snuck out."
She gave him a wry look.
"Don't lecture me." He held up a hand as she opened her mouth.
She pressed her lips together, but couldn't stop herself from saying, "It's against the rules." She couldn't believe Albus encouraged Scorpius. She couldn't even believe they were friends. Or that Al was even in Slytherin to start with. Not that she cares… it's only been six years.
Malfoy glared at her and let his back fall from his hand. She may or may not have knocked it off of his shoulder. "I suppose we should do the assignment. And then hopefully, your friends will rescue us."
An hour later they had given up on that notion.
"Remind me to never do an assignment early again." Malfoy leaned up against the stone wall with his eyes closed.
"Sounds good to me." Rose had no desire to ever be stuck in this situation again. She would do her assignments early and be left in peace, while Scorpius hung back with the rest of her classmates, slowly sinking into mediocrity and Rose would be at the top… alone.
"What even possessed me to do homework on a Friday?" He continued to muttered to himself. He was so weird.
"I'm bored." He stated ten minutes later. He just wouldn't shut up!
"And what do you suggest I do about it?" She asked condescendingly.
Malfoy shrugged, flipping some of his platinum blonde hair off his face. She was pretty sure he was part veela or something. Not that she noticed, but every other girl seemed to go bat crazy for him.
"Let's play a game." He said in a monotone voice.
She laughed. "That's childish."
He shrugged. "Suit yourself. I'm just trying to pass the time."
Rose bit her lip and looked at her hands. Was it a good idea to play games with him? Probably not, but she was bored as well, but she would never admit it. When looked up, he was watching her with hooded eyes. "Alright, what game?" She said finally and he smirked.
Damnit, this was like admitting he was right. She was forfeiting.
"Truth or dare." He said factually. He stretched his arms over his head, arching his back and his silver and green sweater slid up his stomach. Holy Merlin… he had the 'V'. Like when a boy was muscular and had the edges carved out of his hip bones. It was only a little bit attractive. Or that's what Rose told herself.
"Fine." She sat up on her knees. She looked across the room at him. "You first. Truth or dare?"
"Mmm… dare." He said and his eyes glinted, turning silver instead of grey.
"Let's see… I dare you to admit I'm smarter than you."
"You're smarter than me." He said easily. "That was lame. Truth or dare?"
"Truth."
"Do you actually think you're smarter than me?" He challenged.
Rose bit her lip. "I think I try harder-"
"Not the question."
She groaned silently. "No. You're intellectual ability is the same as mine." She didn't want to look at him, but began to think about what she was going to ask him to do and what question she would ask.
Without her asking, he said, "Truth."
"Why don't you like me?" She blurted out and then cursed herself. Showing him that it bothered her was not a good idea. But it had bothered her for a while. Malfoy didn't seem to have a problem with any of her other relatives, and was in fact friends with her closest cousin.
She looked up at him nervously through her eyelashes. He was looking directly at her.
"I don't." He said softly. "Dislike you that is." He cleared his throat.
Her mouth worked. "You're always teasing me and doing horrible things to me." She stated. In her mind, that equalled dislike.
"It's entertaining." He shrugged and her eyes widened. "You are cute when you're frustrated." He grinned a little, like he thought she was being cute right now.
"You think I'm cute?" She gasped.
Scorpius shook his head. "I think you act cute. I think you're beautiful." He stated and she had to gasp again. She tucked her knees under her chin, ducking her head to hide her blush. "I don't know why you're surprised someone's telling you you're beautiful." He was speaking so casually and it was disarming because this was turning her world up-side-down.
"It's that you are telling me I'm beautiful." She told him.
"I have eyes." He shrugged. And then he didn't feel compelled to say anything else for a few minutes.
"You are too." Rose said finally, not able to bear her own thoughts anymore.
"Huh?"
"You're beautiful... handsome, I mean." She laughed nervously.
"Truth or dare?"
She looked at Malfoy in surprise. "Oh... um... dare?" She was confused at his lack of response.
"I dare you to kiss me."
"What?!" She gasped loudly.
"You heard me." He challenged. Her mouth opened and closed, trying to think of a response.
"Okay, so..." She trailed off expecting him get up or move closer. He did neither, so she stood up slowly, her legs a bit shaky. She had a million thoughts running through her head, but the most prominent one was wondering what it would be like. She sat down next to him and he didn't move. He just looked straight ahead, didn't look at her, and didn't give any attempt to make this easier on her.
"Are you going to look at me?" She asked finally, feeling so awkward. Did he expect her to crawl into his lap to get access to his mouth.
"I'm curious to see what you'll do." He said, perfectly calm.
She bit her lip and then crossed her legs. She reached out and cupped his face, turning it towards her's. His eyes were shining, not displaying the coolness that seemed to ooze out of him. His eyelids dropped had she leaned in a bit and she heard his breath catch.
She carefully positioned her lips in front of his, only an inch away, and she unconscously liked her lips.
Rose parted her lips a little just before kissing him. His lips parted in response and she felt him smile against her lips. She was shocked that after everything, this was the result of them being locked in a room together.
It felt wonderful and freeing. His eyelashes tickled her her cheeks and he tilted his head further. He was no longer passive and cool, now he seemed just as hungry for her kisses as she was for his.
Malfoy's arms came around her and pulled her closer. Eventually she swung a leg over his lap and kneeled above him. This seemed to wake them both up and they pulled back from the increasingly heated kisses that were turning into a full snog.
She breathed heavily. He brought a hand up to trail over her cheek and down her neck. He cupped her neck and pulled her down again, giving her a much softer kiss.
"Go out with me." He whispered against her lips and she pulled back in surprise.
"You're asking me out?" Her eyebrows shot up.
He nodded. "Yes. How about the next Hogsmeade weekend?"
"Um..." She brain was still a bit slow from the kissing. "But you don't date." She blurted out.
He chuckled and twirled a piece of her hair around his forefinger. "If I had asked before, you would have said no." His hands came to rest on her hips. She thought about what he said.
"But other girls..."
"What other girls?"
"The girls who like you." She said obviously.
"I don't them." He shrugged.
Could she go out with him? What were her friends say? And Albus? And dear Melin, her father would have a heart attack. But did they really matter? Besides, it was only one date, what's the worse that could happen.
"ROSE?!" An excited shout came from outside. Rose jumped of Scorpius's lap and straightened out her robes.
"Lia!" Rose called back. Scorpius stood up as well, grabbing his bag and her's off the floor.
"Rose! Merlin, where have you been?" Her best friend shouted.
"Trapped in here!"
"The doors jammed!" Rose rolled her eyes and saw Scorpius do the same.
"That's why we're trapped!" Rose hollered to her.
"Alohomora!" The door swung open and Lia rushed in. She stopped short at the sight of Scorpius. "How long have you been in here?" She breathed heavily.
"Only for about an hour and fifteen minutes." Rose said, taking her bag from Scorpius who followed her movement with his eyes. "Can you go grab me something from the kitchens? I'll meet you at the dorm." She told her friend and luckily Lia seemed to get the hint.
"Uh, sure. I'll meet you there in ten minutes." She gave Rose and Scorpius a knowing look and then left.
"She seems nice." Scorpius (she wasn't sure when she began to think of him as Scorpius) said wryly.
"Yes." Rose said quickly.
"Yes, she seems nice?" Scorpius gave her a confused look.
"Yes, I will accompany you to the next Hogsmeade weekend." She clarified and his eyes lit up. "So long as you tell Albus."
"Deal." He grinned and they left the Astronomy Tower together.
