I do not own Harry Potter, JK Rowling does. I mean seriously, if I was JK Rowling, I'd be putting this on Pottermore right now. Honestly... :P
Rose Weasley had many faces, but not in the way that you would call her two-faced. Scorpius Malfoy believed that he had seen all of them. He knew Rose Weasley as a vivacious eleven year old, staring back at him across platform 9 ¾ while her father raved with extravagant hand gestures to which he received a scolding from his wife and an absent minded nod from his daughter. She later bumped into him as they walked in opposite directions looking for a compartment and audaciously declared, "Since I've failed to stay away from you before we've even managed to reach Hogwarts, I might as well introduce myself, and maybe we will find out if you are worth upsetting Grandpa Weasley." She said it with a certain pride and confidence that would have made any purebloods that still cared about blood status take a step back and wonder if she was going to be sorted into Slytherin. But it didn't seem to stem from being the daughter of Hermione Granger in the sense of being a hero, but more so the daughter of a respected muggleborn in the wizarding world who has asserted confidence in her offspring. An amazed Scorpius shook her hand and sat with her in a compartment with a small group of other nervous first years, despite many of her family members trying to get her to join them.
From that day forward, Scorpius witnessed more of Rose Weasley's faces as they grew older. Despite that initial first encounter, they never progressed any further than to consider each other an acquaintance or a classmate of a similar intellectual level until they were made Co-Heads. However, this did not stop Scorpius from being fascinated by Rose, who witnessed her joy at greeting her parents and how she acted slightly different around them to how she was in the school common rooms and corridors, although he had seen a similar performance around the Headmistress and many of the professors. He watched as she laughed and joked amongst her friends at the various house tables, smiled at the first years being sorted and winked at the Scamander twins from Ravenclaw, making Lorcan blush and his more outgoing brother Lysander swagger down the corridors. She really was the perfect Gryffindor Princess, outshining her part veela cousins, Dominique and Victoire, with her kindness and brains. It was apparent to Scorpius that her beautiful dark eyes and long curly hair made her admired by boys and girls alike. If asked he would have described Rose's hair as being just a shade short of chocolate, which shone in the sunshine a beautiful copper, blending her parents genes perfectly, before blushing and scurrying off of course.
He also memorised the soft, kindly face she made for boys who stutteringly asked her for dates to Hogsmeade, which would quickly make them beam as she accepted, almost forgetting they had just agreed when she said she'd go, but as friends. However even more interesting to him was the cold almost stony expression she reserved for the not-so-shy older Gryffindor and sometimes Slytherin boys who cockily asked the princess for a date only to be left with a definite "NO!" and sometimes even a hex induced ailment to take them down a peg or two.
But Rose's outgoing face seemed to change in class, becoming more serious and composed, and when partnered with someone, she seemed to sometimes forget they existed, automatically doing the work or just telling them what she would do if they had no objections. Many people simply nodded, unsure what change had come over her as she crossed the classroom threshold, and making a note to avoid her when at the library.
A similar, yet slightly different face and personality came with her prefect duties. On one occasion Scorpius was roped into a prank by the ever persuasive James Potter and Fred Weasley accompanied by Albus, who had as many faces as Rose and was as every bit as mischievous as his brother. However unlike James, Albus was trusted inexplicably by the Professors as he was clever enough not to get caught. During this escapade, Scorpius witnessed her definite Weasley streak when she found them creeping under the stolen invisibility cloak and smiled radiantly, told them in her sternest and fairest voice that they were breaking curfew and she was sending them back to their houses, without points being docked if they were quick. He would have thought she was following her job description to the letter, except, just before she turned away from them, Rose Weasley, 6th year Prefect, winked at her relatives and smirked at his stunned expression saying, "and don't let me catch you again!" before skipping back to her patrol partner, her hair swishing across her back.
But in the end, when Scorpius Malfoy had concluded that he had seen all of Rose's faces, the ones she expressed around her different groups of relatives, friends and in different situations, Rose Weasley surprised him yet again. One night he found her sitting at the top of the owlery, when he was doing his Head rounds. It wasn't her turn to patrol tonight and it was past curfew, so he was surprised she was there and not in the common room where he had left her. She was curled up against the open window, hugging her knees with her head turned to face the moon and when she looked as he entered, Scorpius was stunned, absolutely stunned, to discover a new face, that of a weeping Rose. He stood paralysed as the tears streaked across her cheeks and slight shudders running down her back as she struggled for composure in her time of despair, yet no noise escaped her lips. This was not a side to Rose he wanted to stay around for him to study. So he quietly approached her and uncharacteristically bold, took her hand. They had become closer as Co-Heads and she did not hesitate to let him. He wrapped his arm around her waist and softly murmured, "Rose."
Suddenly a whine escaped her pouting lips and she burrowed into his chest, sudden sobs wracking her petite body. He stroked her hair and looked out at the moon, hoping that she'd tell him once she'd let it all out. Finally she sat up and broke the silence, shrugging his arm away.
"My Grandpa Granger is dead, and Grandma is in muggle hospital in Intensive Care. A car entering from the left rammed into them because the driver wasn't looking properly. Grandma insisted on driving because Grandpa didn't have his licence with him, and the other car hit the passenger side. I just received an owl from Mum. I need to find Hugo and tell him. We have to go to the Headmasters office to floo out to our house and then go to Australia." Rose was now staring straight ahead at the moon with her jaw set. If her eyes weren't red and her cheeks didn't shine in the moonlight, Scorpius would never have guessed what had just happened. She was beautiful.
Rose stood suddenly and started to walk away. "I need to go tell Hugo," she said without looking back at where he still sat on the windowsill and waited, poised for his response. Scorpius moved around to face her and tried to say something, anything about his intrigue for her. But even introverted Scorpius Malfoy who had little to do with people could tell this was not the right time, even if it was almost graduation and he didn't know if she would come back in time for him to tell her. Instead he dropped his hand from where it was about to touch her face and murmured,
"You can owl me you know, if you need to talk to someone".
Then seeing her face about to change back into the tearful one from earlier, the one he never wanted to see again, he quickly stepped back out of her personal space, he had definitely been standing too close he decided. Then, feeling more cowardly than ever before, he spun on his heel and left the owlery. Rose stared after him and ran to one of the school owls. She found a piece of spare parchment and wrote quickly, 'thank you, I will' before sending the owl on its way. She knew that she didn't need to sign it. He'd know.
Scorpius found an owl pecking at this window when he returned from rounds. As he read the little scroll of parchment, he imagined Rose's special face, the one she had when she was bursting with joy and happiness, surrounded by people she loved. Scorpius Malfoy swore that when Rose returned, he would make sure that she would one day smile that way at him. Because that was the face out of all of Rose's that he loved the most.
The face of his Love.
