For Alice (watching stiricide) - happy birthday darling!
It wasn't meant to be his name that she combined with her own, wrote out in swirly letters and doodled hearts all around. (But it sounded so good. Rose Malfoy.) It wasn't meant to be his arrogant drawl that made her heart race when she heard it approaching from the other end of the corridor. (But she knew that drawl could be soft and loving, almost melodic, too.) And it wasn't meant to be him that could get her to let her hair down, swallow her pride and have a bit of fun once in a while. Scorpius Malfoy wasn't supposed to be the one who could bring out Rose Weasley's wild side.
And she was meant to be more sensible than that. She wasn't even meant to have a wild side. She was meant to be the intelligent, driven one, the focused one. And as a child, Rose had promised herself that she would never turn out as one of those girls. The irritating, swooning, hysterical ones. It was not attractive. But Rose swore that being around Scorpius did something to her. He could make her go into a daze, make her forget who she was, transform her into a giggling mess.
But for some reason, she adored it. She didn't have to be sensible, boring, all the time.
And there was something so fantastic about how forbidden it was. Scorpius was a Slytherin, and not just a Slytherin - he was basically the portrait of what it was to be a Slytherin. Now the war was over, none of that should really matter. But there were still the remnants; there were still whispers of that old prejudice. Because nothing that big can disappear that quickly without trace. There was Scorpius, pure-blood, the son of a former Death Eater, and then there was Rose, half-blood, blood traitor, the daughter of two war heroes. How much more different could their backgrounds be?
It was wrong that she found that so exciting. She was sick of being so perfect, so predictable, so like her mother all the time. She loved the fact that she was quietly rebelling, that she was doing something unexpected of her, that she had a secret to keep close to her. It made her feel interesting.
But deep down, Rose knew that soon, she would have to grow up. She would have to pluck up the courage and tell everyone. (She was a Gryffindor, after all.) Of course it would come as a shock to her family and friends at first, but these weren't the Dark days any more. She knew that they would accept Scorpius. Maybe it would even do some good in the world. Rose would be naive if she believed that her relationship alone could eradicate the prejudice that was still present in the Wizarding world - this wasn't a movie, it wasn't fairytale, it wasn't Romeo and Juliet. But maybe it could make a start. Maybe having a wild side wasn't such a bad thing after all.
A/N: Alice - sorry it's late, and short, but I hope you enjoy it anyway :D
Woo my 25th story!
Please review and tell me what you thought, everyone! :)