AN: so here's something random, but once I started writing it I couldn't stop. I've wanted to write a Rose/Scorpius for awhile now.
read and review, please! I want to know what you think.
Starts With One
part i
Her eyes were shut, but she could still see him.
He was looking at her with hooded eyes, a hand halfway extended, unsure.
He was nothing but serious, the night casting deep shadows to the hollows of his cheeks.
She could almost taste the words he was about to let surface: "I'm different."
"I promise."
~-~
5.
He had her cornered again, and this time she was having difficulty finding a way out.
"Answer me," he commanded with folded arms and a frown.
She scrambled, looking at the Potion ingredients scattered on the table in front of them.
"I, um, I mean I fail to find the relevancy," she finished primly, busying her hands by putting a rogue stopper in an open bottle.
A ghost of a smile flickered on his lips, and she tried not to look.
"So I can't even ask you a simple question? And here I thought after six years…" he said lowly, and she knew that his gray eyes were daring her to disagree.
"That what?" she replied shortly, brown eyes meeting his. "We'd be best of pals and we'd skip off into the sunset?"
His eyes turned to steel, but he smirked at her.
He didn't say anything immediately, but the time in between was enough to make her feel like that was the worst possible way to fire back.
His eyes actually dropped their gaze for a brief second, shaded by an overhanging piece of blond hair before looking back up at her.
"Albus doesn't seem to have an issue."
It was a change of tone, a change of subject, and the fact that he knew that she knew what he was talking about meant it was supposed to be a challenge, she was sure, but his low voice made her chest twinge.
"I'm not Albus," she stated slowly. He blinked.
He gave her a reproachful stare. "I know that," he articulated clearly.
His hands gripped the edge of the table across from her. "I… I know that you guys aren't as close now…" he trailed, voice going soft again.
Her eyes shut and she bit her lip.
She didn't like that soft voice. She wasn't used to it.
"We're going to be late to Charms," she said, eyes sweeping the mess on the Potions table they'd been ordered to clean.
"I don't care."
~-~
3.
"Hey Rose," came a familiar voice from behind her, and she could picture the exact way his neck would strain in the effort to catch up to her.
She'd only known him for all sixteen years she'd been alive.
When he came level with her, she could tell from his shortness of breath- he'd never been much of an athlete- she found herself staring at the ground, at the random passer-bys: anywhere but at him.
"Hey, Al," she said with a reluctant smile.
"Rose," he said warmly, and unwillingly she looked up at him. He was smiling, but she could see the nervousness written in his face.
"So," he smiled, "How have you been?"
She looked around her. "Oh, fine…" she replied distantly. She watched chatting students walk past her, and tried to remember if she'd forgotten to do any Transfiguration homework, even when she knew she'd finished it all.
She could feel his smile falter.
"Look, Rose…" he started, and her head throbbed. She was wondering when he'd attempt to make amends.
She raised a hand to her forehead. "No, Albus, you know what, it's none of my business. It's not like being your cousin entitles me to worrying about you, or anything, I should just stay away. I gathered from what he said that I wasn't allowed to know what the hell-"
"Rose, Scorpius didn't mean-"
"Don't try to tell me what he did and did not mean! I take his words at face value, Al, because there is nothing else behind them. I thought you knew that, but obviously I was wrong. I don't even know how you became friends with him!"
Albus bristled beside her.
"Don't question me about Scorpius, Rose. He's a good person."
"Oh, yes, the best," she said, with as much sarcasm she could muster.
"Rose," he snapped, and when she looked at his green eyes and saw the hurt in them, guilt began to creep up on her.
"I don't know how you trust him, Al. Haven't you heard about some of the things his family has done-"
"I can't believe that you would hold him accountable for something he wasn't even alive for!"
"He was brought up by those same people!"
"Why does this argument come up now? Why not years ago?" he frowned at her.
His question irritated her.
"Because you weren't sneaking off with him after hours to do God knows what with your father's Cloak and Map that you stole! You never would do that! He's changed you, Al!"
Albus growled. "He has not changed me! Christ, Rose, I though you knew me better than that! And for the record, I stole the Map and Cloak from Lily, who stole it from James, who stole it from my father. Which is different," he emphasized with some bite.
He looked back at her, his eyes darkening with his resolve. "You know this, and if you weren't trying to condemn Scorpius for whatever reason you wouldn't even question it!"
He was right, she knew, but this only fanned to flame.
"He's a Slytherin!" she hissed.
Albus let out a short, loud laugh. "Oh come on, Rose. You can do better than that."
"There's just something that I don't like about him, Albus! I can't exactly-"
"You know, I think this has more to do with you being afraid of Scorpius than you being worried for me." His eyes flashed at her challengingly, and she had to take a breath, realizing that he was serious.
"I am not afraid of Malfoy-"
"That's not what I meant," he said, shaking his head. "You're scared that if you let your guard down, you'd like him too. Maybe you already do. Jesus, Rose, you must be scared to death."
Her pulse raced as she tried to deny it to herself.
"Look, Albus, I don't know what little scenarios you've been playing around with in your head, but you're off the wall with this one. Malfoy will never-"
"'I will never' what?" came a deep voice to the left, and she nearly jumped out of her skin, face unwillingly heating as she tried to pinpoint the time when he'd appeared. How had she not noticed? She could smell his unmistakable scent now, how had she missed it? Reflexively, she brought a hand up to her rapidly beating heart.
"Hey," he said lowly, and his tone compelled her to look at him. He touched the hand at her chest, fingers trailing down the back of her hand before dropping it. "Calm down."
Her hand felt hypersensitive, like it could feel the change in the air surrounding it.
"Hey Al," he said with a quick smile, to which Albus returned the greeting. The familiar and comfortable manner they addressed each other twisted something in her stomach.
"So," Malfoy started again, nudging her in the shoulder. She impulsively took her next step closer to Albus. "What will I never do?" he finished with a small frown.
"Nothing, just, nevermind," she replied, hurrying forward a few steps to beat them into the Transfiguration classroom.
She felt two sets of eyes boring into her back; one, she knew the expression they would take, but the other… She didn't know what emotion those would hold.
She never did.
~-~
6.
She knew that he was attractive; she was not blind enough to not admit to that.
But did she really have to think that he looked sexy while biting the end of his quill?
He was taller than her by almost a head, and he was as built as a Quidditch Beater should be. His gray eyes were penetrating, but proved time and time again to be impossible to penetrate. His light blonde hair was always a mess, giving a disinterested appearance. The bone structure of his face made him look refined.
His disposition imposed on her. She knew when he entered a room. She could smell him when he walked nearby. She could hear his voice across the hall.
The way he had been talking to her recently, after she found him with Al… He'd called her 'Rose' more than a few times. He was being civil, he was nice.
Had he always been that way, and she just hadn't seen it?
Or was there an ulterior motive?
You can never trust a Malfoy, her dad had told her. They'll flip to whatever side'll give them what they want the quickest, he'd warned.
Her dad had helped save the world from the most feared wizard in the universe.
Al told her to make up her own mind.
She was nothing but logical.
~-~
1.
It was late, past midnight, and Rose was sitting, partially concealed from the boy's dormitory staircase, in the common room.
She would have to be stupid not to realize how tired her cousin had been for the past week.
She was concerned. Albus had always been the purer one, a bit naïve, always the one to believe the best in anyone. Who knows what someone could have convinced him to do, she reasoned to herself, watching the dying embers in the fireplace across the room from her.
She wasn't interfering. She was just concerned for him.
Her body became still as footsteps dimly echoed down the spiraling stairs.
There was Albus, looking over his shoulder even in the seemingly empty, safe, common room as he crossed towards the portrait hole.
She held her breath. He was carrying a small bundle, in his other hand his wand.
One last glance over his shoulder, and he was out the portrait hole.
Without a second thought, she followed.
The portrait hole shut as softly as possible, she reasoned as she hugged the walls in her pursuit. She could see the light expelling from Albus' wand, illuminating his messy black hair, in front of her.
Where was he going?
Was he meeting someone?
Whatever it was, she vowed not to step in. She was merely curious. She wanted to make sure that he wasn't getting into something he couldn't get out of. She could do that. She was family, that was allowed.
They descended some stairs, and soon they were nearing the Hufflepuff common room. She'd dated someone who'd been in Hufflepuff.
Standing in the near distance, was a figure leaning casually against the wall.
Stopping, Albus clapped hands and shook with him.
"Knox" she heard him say, and the light went out, but not before she could see the identity of the person next to him.
What in the hell was Albus doing with him? This late at night?
She crept silently closer.
"… yeah, I sent it," she heard Al say. It?
She heard him sigh deeply before replying, "Okay. I mean, I didn't know if it would be read if it was sent otherwise…"
"Yeah, I understand."
"So, are you going to help me with this?" he asked Albus.
Rose was almost too close. She could smell his distinct scent now.
"Oh, yeah," he responded earnestly, and she grimaced.
"Thanks."
"So I brought some supplies to, you know, help us out," Albus said, and she could hear the smug smile on his face. "This is the best Invisibility Cloak you will ever know-" her mouth dropped open- "and this. This is invaluable. This map will blow your mind."
She couldn't believe him.
"Lumos!" , and two shocked faces were exposed.
Malfoy's eyebrows shot right up, smile sliding right off his face.
Albus looked confused, then angry.
"Rose, what are you doing-"
"No," she interrupted, her gaze was sure to be murderous. "What are you doing?"
His chin jutted out. A glance showed Malfoy's eyebrows to now be furrowed, his mouth set in a straight line.
"It's none of your business," Albus replied.
"You were going to show him the map! Your dad's Invisibility Cloak!" she nearly yelled, eyes ablaze.
A hand shot out, fingers wrapping around her wrist to lower her wand. Her head whipped, mouth open to protest, but he cut her off.
"Sh," Malfoy said, raising a finger in front of his mouth. "Too loud."
She wanted to scream louder, but then they'd all be in trouble.
Maybe they were already were.
Albus was looking at the Map.
"Ah! Quick, guys, get under, get under!" he whispered hurriedly, gesturing frantically towards the outstretched cloak.
She let the light fade from her wand as Malfoy, not having let go of her hand, pulled her with him under the safety of the Invisibility Cloak.
His chin grazed her head as they stood, pushed together in the small confines of the cloak. Somewhere to her right, Albus whispered, "Teacher."
A light from down the hallway.
Footsteps.
Rose didn't get in trouble. She had a spotless record. Wishing she could melt, she moved impossibly more backwards into Malfoy's chest. An arm wrapped around her front, hand curling at her side, pulling her flush against him.
She could feel her heart in her ears that his slow breaths skated across.
The light passed them.
Footsteps faded.
The light disappeared around the corner.
After a few more seconds to ensure their safety, Rose threw the Cloak off from over them.
Quickly she created distance.
This time, she looked only at Malfoy.
"What the hell is going on?"
"Easy, Rose," her cousin whispered. "Look, sorry, but it's really-"
"None of her business?" finished Malfoy, his voice hard. "We're wasting precious time, Albus. Get her out of here so we can finish this."
"What?" she hissed, looking at Albus.
He just shrugged and shook his head.
"Really, Rose, you need to get out of here."
He wasn't going to leave.
"I… I'll tell your Dad."
He frowned, but stared resolutely back at her.
"Fine."
She wouldn't anyway, but she was shocked as hell.
"Let's go," Malfoy said impatiently, grabbing Albus' arm.
"Go back," said Albus, and then they disappeared.
She couldn't follow them. She didn't know where they were.
~-~
4.
She tried not to stare at his perfectly sculpted forearm, visible from the way his long fingers had rolled up his sleeves a few minutes earlier, when they'd been assigned as Potions partners.
His veins stood up as he tried to hold the shriveled bean in one hand while cutting it, and she forced herself to look away.
Was she really admiring Scorpius Malfoy?
"Hey, could you get me another silver knife, Rose?"
The way his voice wrapped around her name had the hairs rising on her back.
She blinked at him.
He only stared, eyes endlessly deep as he looked back.
"Rose..?" he said leadingly, gesturing towards the cabinet.
She crossed her arms. "That's Weasley, to you," she said for good measure. She tried to recover her pulse.
A corner of his lips raised in a chagrin-filled half smile.
"Alright, Weasley then," he said, "Care to get me another knife? This one's dull."
"Well, fine," she conceded, and she left his probing, dark gaze.
~-~
2.
He shook his head.
"No, Rose, I can't tell you. Well, I could, but it's not up to me. Scorpius came to me, not you."
She ground her teeth. Albus could be impossibly righteous when he thought he had a cause.
"C'mon, Al, I'm worried to death about you. What have you gotten into. With Scorpius Malfoy?"
He sighed, running his hand through his hair across the table from her.
His green eyes sought hers. "Rose, don't push me on this. You don't have to worry, we weren't doing anything wrong. Dad would agree with me."
"How would you know," she spat, frustrated. It was like talking to a wall. "Nothing that you could be doing with the likes of Malfoy could be acceptable by anyone, let alone your dad."
Albus' face rearranged into a frown, quickly.
"I think I know my dad a slight better than you," he returned, with some pride.
"Albus-"
"Now don't go bothering Scorpius about this, ok? This was hard enough for him as it is without you torturing him and holding him for a grueling inquisition."
"What was hard for him? Look, no matter what he told you, it's wrong. Don't listen to him, Al!"
"Don't act like you know him better than I do, Rose."
"Then answer my questions!"
"No!"
"Fine! We are not speaking, Albus, until you decide to change your mind!"
"Fine!" He spat, looking decidedly away.
As she got up from the table, she could feel herself starting to feel bad. Albus hated when people were angry at each other.
She tried to remind herself that this was for his own good, not her curiosity.
~-~
7.
She tried to remind herself that this was a good idea, meeting Scorpius on the grounds this late at night.
The moon cast shadows onto the hollows of his cheeks, and the shadow of his hair veiled his eyes.
He was looking at the ground, hands in his pockets, waiting for her on the steps.
Her pulse sped up.
She had to admit it to herself: she was dangerously attracted to Scorpius Malfoy. What would her father ever say if he knew?
"Hi," she said timidly as she stepped next to him.
His eyes, usually so solid, were unsure as they flicked to recognize her own.
"Hey,' he said, kicking a stone down the stairs.
They both listened until it hit the bottom.
"So…?" she said, trying to catch his gaze.
He looked back at her grimly.
"So," he said.
She sighed. "Malfoy…"
"Scorpius," he corrected.
She grimaced.
"Look, Rose…"
"Weasley."
"Rose," he maintained firmly, his mouth a firm line.
"Ok," she conceded with a sigh.
"So…" he began, and she could tell how difficult this was for him by the way he shuffled his feet, his irregular breathing, the way his hands fiddled in and out of his pockets.
She just looked at him.
He sighed, running a hand through his hair.
"Look, I know that you don't trust me. Hell, I know that you don't like me. But I need you to know that I'm doing nothing to hurt Albus. I wouldn't… He's a good kid, Albus," and he gave her a small, nervous smile.
"Yeah, he is," she gave a small smile back.
His expression lifted, if only just a little bit.
"It's just… I know my family's done bad things, you know?" He didn't let her comment, it seemed he was going to keep going, and Rose didn't want to stop him.
"Sometimes not for the reasons everyone thinks, but still bad things, I know, and sometimes I feel like I can't escape it."
He looked so downcast, so sad, so troubled…
She just wanted to hold him together in her arms.
Irrational thought.
She closed her eyes.
"Look, but Rose…" he said,
And she could see him with a halfway outstretched arm, and she could almost taste the next words on his lips.
"I… I'm…" he paused.
He sounded so raw, so honest.
She wasn't used to it.
"I'm different," he said, sticking his chin out proudly, as if daring her, anyone, to disagree.
She gave a sad smile.
"I promise."
"You can trust me," he said more softly, looking at her earnestly.
"I…" she started, and she could tell how he hung on her words.
"I believe you," she said simply.
He took one of her hands, pulling her down to sit alongside him on the top stair.
She stared at their joined hands, marveling.
When she looked up again, he was studying her.
"I'm going to tell you everything. I need to tell you. I'm… I'm not as bad as you suppose me to be. What I was doing the other night, that Albus was helping me with, well if it makes you feel any better before I start your uncle, Harry, was behind me… I didn't bring Al into something that he didn't want to or agree with."
She nodded, and squeezed his hand with hers. His eyes shot down to look at them, before looking back up.
"Scorpius, I'm listening."
~-~
8.
The feeling of Scorpius' arm around her, hand curled around her waist, as they walked down the hallways was something that extended beyond how she'd begun to imagine it.
Albus was jabbering away on the other side of Scorpius, who laughed at one of his silly phrases.
Rose loved his laugh.
They were going home for summer holiday soon.
Although they came from opposite spectrums, she knew she would see Scorpius over the break.
Oh, no.
Rose froze in her steps. Scorpius automatically stopped, and as soon as Albus realized he was talking to air, he turned around too.
Scorpius was searching her face for a clue. "Rose? What's wrong?"
Eyes wide, she looked up at him, at his worried-filled eyes.
"My dad," she only said.
Albus broke into a laugh. "Oh, that'll be good. I am there the first time he comes to visit, you hear me, Rosie?"
Scorpius only smiled down at her softly. "Believe me," he grinned, looking down at her, "he's got nothing on my grandfather," and bent down to give her a kiss.
AN: So, a little different for me. Please review, I don't know if this made sense enough.
Did you like it? I dunno... I kind of like it. I know, I dont' tell you what they were doing.
Yet.
Stay tuned for PART II yeah man...
Review and let me know what you think!
