Don't know anything about you
It was early in the term and the Gryffindor team had just won the first game against Slytherin. Rose wasn't too bothered about the actual result of the match as she didn't particularly care for Quidditch – she just loved that there was an excuse to have a massive party. She felt a slight twinge of guilt at the thought of Albus, Scorpius and Lily sulking down in the Slytherin common room, probably nursing a few drinks to get over their loss. It was only a momentary feeling, though. She quickly forgot about as she downed a couple of drinks – only a couple, she was sensible – and joined everyone on the dance floor. She was surprised none of the teachers had come along to tell them off for the noise yet.
"Hey, Rose!" A voice suddenly yelled in her ear and she turned, grinning, to see Lysander Scamander grinning cheekily at her and looking rather pleased with himself. He was one of the Beaters on the team and had hit several very good shots – Rose had been rather worried for her cousins at several points. She didn't know him very well and hadn't honestly noticed him until today when she noticed the amount of banners with his name on them, all of which was being waved frantically by his little army of female fans
"Lysander!" She replied, having to shout to be heard over the pounding music. "Well done today, you played amazingly!"
"Thanks. You look gorgeous tonight." Rose was slightly surprised by how forward he was; he hadn't made any small talk before plunging right into the flirting. "Want to go somewhere where we can talk without having to yell at each other?" She raised an eyebrow at him but went with him anyway; they left the Gryffindor common room and found an empty classroom where they could talk peacefully. She perched on a desk and he stood in front of her with his hands resting lightly on the desk on either side of her. Being in such close proximity with him made her realise that she had noticed him before today, watching her in the common room, at the Gryffindor table, in class. She realised that he'd been watching her for quite a while now.
"I like you a lot, Rose. I have done for a while." It was as if he was reading her mind. "It may even be slightly stronger than just liking you," Lysander said softly, leaning slightly closer to her so she when she breathed in the only thing she could smell was his musky scent. She blushed slightly and the colour in her cheeks increased as she realised it was him who was making her feel that way. Before she'd thought she'd only ever be interested in Scorpius but he clearly didn't want her back after their nasty break-up in fourth year and Lysander was here, in front of her, practically giving himself up for her. She quashed her feelings stubbornly – she didn't even know the boy in front of her who was now running one hand lightly through her hair as his nose skimmed her neck.
"Lysander… I barely know you…" Even as she protested her eyes drifted down to his lips and it was with a bit of shock that she realised just how desperately she wanted to kiss him. Already he was wrapping his strong arms around her, pulling her into him.
"We can get to know each other," he promised and then his lips were on hers and his hands were everywhere and she felt as if she would sporadically burst into flames whenever his fingers or lips would pass over a sensitive spot. Whenever he heard her gasp he would return to that spot with a cheeky smirk and tease her mercilessly.
"Lysander…" she gasped, trying to protest strongly but failing miserably, "we're not even going out!" That made him stop and pull back so he could look her in the eyes.
"We are now," he replied with that same cheeky smirk and she only just had time to raise an eyebrow at him before their mouths were colliding again.
Give me a break, I'm melting away
"Merlin, give me a break!" Rose screeched at Lysander, ignoring the wide-eyed gazes of other students who happened to be in the courtyard they were arguing in. Several were discreetly packing their things away and edging towards the exits, hoping to avoid yet another fight from the power couple of Hogwarts.
"Oh, I do apologise for being a bit annoyed that my girlfriend is still like this," he crossed his fingers together, "with her ex-boyfriend!"
"Well if you weren't breathing down my neck all the time and watching over everything I do then maybe we could actually have a somewhat normal friendship, rather than one which involves us sneaking around so you don't get pissed off! Merlin, I barely know myself, let alone my friends, because I've been spending so much time glued to your side! I used to know who I was and what I wanted to do – this is all your fault! I often find myself wondering if I'll ever be the happy, carefree, single girl I used to be, not the uptight, annoyed snob who constantly has her boyfriend cemented to her side!"
"What are saying? Is this your way of breaking up with me, or something?" Lysander looks upset and so small compared to her huge explosion of anger. "What are you thinking, Rosie?" The bell rang just as she opened her mouth and she gave a small sigh of relief and swept away in the crowd without looking back at him.
I'm out of control, because you want it all
Rose sighed softly, attempting to concentrate on her Transfiguration essay while Lysander rambled on beside her. She wasn't honestly listening to his conversation until she caught a certain phrase and her head snapped up, her quill falling out of her hand and onto the floor as her face crumpled to show how irksome she found the topic.
"…and we could move somewhere in the south, maybe Cornwall, somewhere on the coast anyway, in a big house with stunning views and a big garden, maybe an orchard so we could have somewhere to play Quidditch without muggles seeing…" He trailed off as he noticed the somewhat bug-eyed look she was giving him.
"Lysander," she said in a weary voice. "What are you talking about?" He frowned at her.
"Weren't you listening to a word I said?" He noticed the essay in front of her and understanding dawned on his face. "Well, I was talking about our future of course!" He prattled on about what kind of amazing things they would have in their house, and how much the kids would love it until Rose interrupted him, looking horrified.
"Kids? Future?" She asked him in shock. "Lysander, I'm barely sixteen! Why are you talking about a future we aren't promised to have? I live each day as it comes because you can never be sure that you'll make it through tomorrow! I can't think about the future right now, I barely even know what's going on in class anymore, let alone what I'll be eating on Sunday 21st March in a few years!" Rose's voice was nothing more than whisper – they were in the library after all – but there was an awful lot of venom in her words and he visibly flinched.
"Rose, it's just a plan, it's not set in stone," he said, trying to soothe her, but she wasn't having any of it.
"You know," she hissed, "sometimes I wonder if agreeing to go out with you was a mistake. When you aren't biting my head off because I'm still friends with Scorpius you're hypocritically lecturing me about my studies – which I've been distracted from by you, by the way – or you're nattering on about a future it's not even definite we'll have. For your information; you make it less definite the more you talk about it." She slammed her books shut, earning a glare from Mr Finch-Fletchley who had taken over the position of school librarian when Madam Pince and Filch ran off together.
"Rose, please," Lysander called, following her as she stormed out of the library. "I can't help it, looking into your eyes just makes me feel deeper in love with you! You're just so beautiful and smart I can't imagine how I'd survive without you." She turned on her heel to face him at that point.
"Love? Love?" She cried scathingly, repeating the word with a sneer worthy of Draco Malfoy. "What do we know of love? We're still children in the eyes of our parents and their friends and the teachers, we should be thinking of our studies not of love and marriage and children! I'm sick of this, and I'm sick of you. We're over!" She squeaked on the last word and then turned and marched away, leaving him to stare after her with a confused, upset expression on his face.
I'm out of control, don't you push it to the limit
Rose looked up with an angry sigh as yet another owl appeared on the Gryffindor table, bearing another present and apology from Lysander who was watching her hopefully from the Ravenclaw where he was perched beside his brother. She glared angrily over at him and his hopeful look quickly turned into a desolate but angry expression as Scorpius threw himself down beside Rose and kissed her on the cheek, just to annoy Lysander that little bit more. The letters and gifts had been coming every day for the past week and no matter what Rose or any of her friends said in an attempt to get him to stop they just kept coming.
As Scorpius and Hugo began to methodically pick his way through the various gifts and letters covering the surface table, Rose couldn't restrain herself from glancing over to the Scamander brothers as they conferred. Lysander glanced up before she had time to look away and a triumphant spark lit in his eyes. He knew she couldn't resist him.
She really couldn't help but wish she was sitting beside him now, perhaps with his arm around her shoulders, or her waist, or with his hand resting on her knee and occasionally dancing up teasingly. She had absolutely adored how much physical attention he lavished on her, greeting her with gentle brushes of his lips across the back of her hand, putting a gentle but strong hand on her back as they walked, intertwining just the tips of their fingers as they walked. She missed his touch greatly but his constant chatter and demand for attention was not something she wanted to deal with. She almost wished she could have a relationship with him that was purely physical, and have the emotional relationship with his twin who was much quieter.
They say, just a pretender, I know something's taking over now
He finally caught up with her later, having been following her all day only to have her slip away into a secret passageway or a class whenever he was about to confront her. She noticed the way his fists tightened around his cutlery at dinner when Scorpius ambled in, took the seat beside her, and spent the entire of dinner with one arm around her shoulders, pulling her into his side as he played with her hair. She wondered if Lysander honestly thought they were back together, or whether he realised that Scorpius was just giving her a hand in her love affairs as he had done since the beginning of fifth year. She still had a tiny flicker of feeling for the boy but he may as well have been another family member because they weren't strong feelings at all.
"Rose," he called when everyone was bustling out in the Entrance Hall. Startled, Rose didn't have time to slip away before he had caught her by the wrist and they were having another infamous shouting match. She turned to face him slowly, not quite accepting her defeat.
"So what, a week after we break up you're back in the arms of Malfoy?" He spat the name and she felt Scorpius stiffen beside her. "I can't believe you… you used me to get Slytherin's brat back! What was wrong with me, huh? I'm sorry I didn't realise you prefer your men permanently wearing a sneer and looking down on every piece of scum around him!" Rose pulled her wrist away from him harshly and threw her hand into her pocket so she could draw out her wand at a moment's notice. Lysander did not miss this and his expression grew wary.
"How dare you!" She screeched, making everyone in the vicinity jump after the moment of tense silence. "I don't know what I ever saw in you – how could you insult one of my best friends like that? Scorpius and I are not back together, not that it's any of your business, and the fact that you think I would use anyone to get someone else makes me want to hex you to Jupiter and back! What kind of a person do you think I am?"
Lysander gazed at her with a mixture of admiration and fear on his strong features. He looked like he wanted to get away from her and her growing anger but wasn't quite sure if he could draw himself away from her passionate rage. Indeed, he noticed, many other boys were gazing at her with similar faces as she continued to rant.
"No, this time you have gone too far! I don't care what you say about me, but my friends? That's a no-go zone." They were standing face to face now, their chests almost touching. Rose's anger had propelled her towards him and now they were standing glaring at each other.
"Rose… If you're not with Scorpius, I'm sorry by the way, then maybe we could…" He said but she shook her head and stepped away from him.
"Please, just leave me alone. I need to focus on my studies and I can't do that when you're around – you make me lose my concentration," she admitted and he found himself wondering if there was still hope for their relationship.
"In the future?" He asked hopefully and she shook her head again.
"I don't know, I can't think straight. When I was with you I couldn't handle the pressure of a relationship and I just know that you're the reason for my bad grades." People had dispersed now, realising the fight was dying down, and Rose and Lysander had drifted outside into the darkness. Rose couldn't help herself – after her comment she snuck a glance at him from under her eyelashes and remembered just why she'd been so attracted to him in the first place.
I'm blinded by your eyes
His eyes reeled her in as she stared at him, unable to speak. There was something about him that was quietly dangerous and Rose felt a sinking feeling of defeat inside her as her feelings raged out of her control.
"Rose, please?" He said softly and she snapped.
"No! You're not good for me… It's like you're dangerous to me or something! I said that I thought you were a mistake but I was wrong." She noticed the hope that sparked in his eyes and shook her head. "You were my biggest mistake."
And then she ran from him, afraid of staying in his company a moment longer in case she looked into his eyes again. As she ran she realised that that had been where it all started. When she had looked into his eyes at the party, he had drawn her in.
You're so dangerous