Fallin' For You
A Story by UndeniablyMe
A/n: This story is a companion piece to the story The Man Who Can't Be Moved by the (fabulous!!) BittersweetSummer. If any of you are curious about the story it can be found on my favorite stories list or you can just scroll down and look for BittersweetSummer on my favorite author's list and go to her page to find it. I'd really recommend her stories, they're amazing if you like Scorpius/Rose and Draco/Astoria ones! :)
Enough chit-chat. Onto the show!!
-UndeniablyMe ;)
Rose Weasley was an idiot.
You'd expect a person who had been left behind by a boy nearly 4 years ago to have moved on. Or, at the very least, be trying to move on.
But no, not Rose.
She was sitting at an empty table at the Leaky Cauldron.
What would he be saying if he saw her now?
--
September 2017
"Hey, Red!"
Rose Weasley gave a little start. Could that possibly be Scorpius Malfoy, the very same Scorpius Malfoy that she had run into at Diagon Alley and dubbed Blondie without even realizing it, calling out to her? And had he just called her Red? Something told her that the reasonable thing to do would be to not mention the fact that no one called her 'Red' and got away with it.
She ignored it. Who was reasonable these days anyways?
"Excuse me?" She turned around coolly to face the blonde haired boy who had been brave enough—or was it stupid?—to call her Red. He gave a smirk.
"No worries Red, you're excused. I was just wondering if you got the got the notes for Transfiguration. I missed the last part of them."
"Of course I did." Rose pursed her lips. Why was he talking to her?
If possible, his smirk became even smugger.
"Can I borrow them?"
Rose looked even more taken aback than before. Was this he, the boy her father had warned her against, being civil to her? And, not only that, but asking for a favor?
"What would your parents say, asking for help from a Weasley?" she asked, trying to force as much sarcasm into her words as she could.
At the word parents the lines around his eyes tightened for a moment.
"Parents?" he looked around mockingly. "I don't see any parents around here, Red. What do you say? Help a fellow out?"
Rose wrinkled her nose and pulled out her nose. "On one condition."
"Oh yeah, what's that?" His smirk was replaced by a genuine smile and Rose felt herself mirroring it.
"You stop calling me Red."
He took the notes from her hand carefully, as if afraid to smudge the already dried ink.
"Not a chance... Red." Not a chance…
It wasn't until Albus pointed it out to her, three days later, that she realized she had managed to have a completely friendly conversation with Scorpius Malfoy.
--
She closed her eyes and pressed the palms of her hands against her eyelids hard. Pools of red exploded behind her shut eyes and, if she strained hard enough, she could almost hear his laugh that day as he walked away from her, Transfiguration notes in hand.
She opened her eyes and the sound of his laugh disappeared.
She was happy it was gone. How could she ever move on if she kept dwelling?
--
January 2024
"Oi! Red!"
Rose flinched. She supposed it was only fair that he had an equally horrendous name in return for the one bestowed upon him, but this whole Red thing was getting somewhat old. What did he want now?
Oh, right. Test scores. He wanted to stop, compare, gloat, and walk away.
She slowed down only slightly, waving her other Gryffindor friends ahead of her with a look that clearly said, "I'll handle this." She turned to look at him and noticed that he'd allowed his bangs to grow longer so that they elegantly fell into eyes with a casual grace.
For a moment she wanted to try running her fingers through his hair. What would it feel like? She suppressed the urge but, nevertheless, she couldn't let the image go.
"What's the name of that Ravenclaw girl you talk to after Charms?"
"I only got an eighty-eight, but it's because—W-what?"
She froze. This conversation sounded oddly like one they'd had right before the Christmas holidays. What exactly was he trying to play at?
"That Ravenclaw girl. The one with the long dark hair?"
"Her? You mean Li-Su Shang?"
Was it just a coincidence that her heart started beating painfully?
"Yeah, that's the one. You two are friends, aren't you? I was wondering if you knew if—"
"She's not single, she has a boyfriend."
"—she has a partner for the project in Transfiguration. I don't have one yet."
The look on Scorpius's face was beyond priceless and Rose blushed.
"Er, no, she doesn't but… I… don't have one either," Rose said, feeling more confused than ever. Scorpius's famous smirk made a comeback.
"Excellent. I'll talk to you later then. Partner."
Rose stared after him, bemused.
Partner?
--
She looked down at her still full butterbeer, sighing drearily and shaking her head. Why was she still here, sitting all alone at a pub?
Outside in Muggle London the day was slowly expiring into night. The pub was now almost completely empty, with just the owner Hannah Abbott—no, that wasn't right, she was Hannah Longbottom as of last weekend wasn't she?—wiping out glasses.
"Waiting for someone dear?" she asked kindly.
At that moment, Rose finally made the decision.
"No." She laid money on the table next to her untouched drink. "Not anymore."
--
May 2024
"We won! We won the cup!"
Rose dropped down to the ground and climbed awkwardly off her broomstick, the loss of the Quidditch Cup to Slytherin weighing heavily on her mind.
Almost as heavy as the problem of a certain Slytherin did.
She watched him from a distance, the disappointment tasting bitter in her mouth.
She turned and walked away. She couldn't watch him anymore.
"Rose!"
He had called her by her real name, not Red. The surprise was what made her turn around to smile, a horrible and strained smile, but a smile none the less. Was that worry in his eyes?
"Don't worry about me, Scorpius. You played… very well today."
She choked slightly on the words, her pride wounded and her stomach aching. He frowned.
Whether it was the drunkenness of the win or years of suppressed feelings or a combination of the two Rose would never know but the next moment she found herself suddenly surrounded by his arms.
It didn't matter that she was coated in grime and sweat and no doubt was in need of a long shower. He pulled her closer as if he'd never let go.
And, just as unexpectedly as the hug, his lips descended on hers—or had she pushed herself up to find his?—and she was kissing him while her teammates stared on in disgust and surprise.
Something was filling the empty space that had been left by the loss in the Quidditch game, something not exactly the same as the feeling winning would have offered, but a definite entity all on its own. She felt like she was flying but his arms kept her firmly anchored to the ground.
And then, reality. Oh Merlin, she was kissing Scorpius MALFOY!
Both pulled back at the same moment and looked at each other, Rose felt her brain falter, rejecting what her heart was saying. There was no way that kissing him had made her feel that way.
"You called me Scorpius." He sounded breathless.
There was a silence. Let's try this one more time, she thought wryly. Just to make sure it was Scorpius and not just some fluke.
"Shut up and kiss me again."
--
She shook her head and buttoned up her cloak tightly around her. The idea of crashing once more on her cousin Lily's couch at her little flat in London had never seemed so inviting. Lily would ask questions, of course.
She wouldn't tell her.
She wasn't going to tell anyone until she was completely sure of her decision.
She turned on the spot and apparated outside her cousin's flat, frowning inwardly, and thinking hard, trying to cement her decision in her mind to make it unmovable.
She rapped twice on the door and was received by a happy, yet, unsurprised Lily who had already laid out blankets and a pillow on the couch.
"I had a feeling you'd stop by."
She'd been right.
Rose yawned, settling into the comfortable embrace and familiar smell of Lily's blankets and pillow.
Tired and weary, she closed her eyes, wishing she could forget everything.
But there were always the dreams…
--
June 2026
"What do you mean, 'Are you going to miss him?'"
Albus was making frantic gestures to Hugo to shut up but Rose advanced on them both, wand drawn.
"What do you know that I don't know?"
Albus gave Hugo a look that clearly said if he spilled the beans he'd spill his guts, but the look from Rose Weasley was much more frightening.
"Scorpius is going away for four years!" Hugo burst out, his face pale and eyes darting away from Rose's to the door, then back again. "He didn't want us to tell you."
"He what?!" There was a strange roaring in her ears.
"He's leaving."
Albus glared at the younger boy and Rose rounded on him, blue eyes icy and glinting.
"How long have you known?"
"Er…" He looked hesitant to answer but the murder in Rose's eyes loosened his tongue. "A few months, but Rose, don't do anything—"
Albus never got in another word. She left with a shower of angry stinging sparks.
"—rash…" Albus trailed off, shaking his head.
--
Rose woke with a start, confused and cold.
She looked up to see a slightly exasperated red head girl above her holding the bedclothes that had moments before been keeping her warm.
"Yes Lily?"
Lily Luna looked anything but chipper that morning but it was per usual for her. She casually flicked her wand, conjuring two mugs from which steaming hot cocoa was wafting and offered one to her.
She didn't look at Rose for a moment, adding mini marshmallows into it with all the seriousness of Professor McGonagall correcting papers. When she finally met her brown eyes Rose sighed.
"Time for confessions Rose," Lily said seriously.
"Ah, Lily—"
"I've been more than fair to you, haven't I? Letting you campout here at my place instead of with that crazy roommate of yours."
Her usually good humored expression was dark. Rose gulped.
"I know, but—"
"Who else would have given you this much time to explain yourself?"
Rose hung her head. "No one."
"Exactly."
Rose bit her lip. "I will tell you Lily, I promise. But… when I'm ready. And, right now, I'm just not."
And, for a moment, Rose looked so vulnerable, so sad, that Lily couldn't help but let her off the hook.
"You will tell me," she threatened, taking her empty mug into the kitchen. Rose gave a small smile.
"I will."
--
She walked down the street of Diagon Alley, wrapped up in her thoughts.
It had been at least four years since he'd left, hadn't it? He had to be coming back soon… That was, of course, if he was coming back at all.
She wouldn't blame him if he never did.
She blamed him for a lot of other things though. Such as not loving her enough to tell her that he was leaving and not just letting it to go through the grapevine to get to her. That still stung, even after four years.
And their last conversation? She blamed him for that too.
If he had just told her about it, that never would have happened.
What had he been thinking? That he'd leave her a letter, that he'd have Albus tell her when she, suddenly, couldn't find him anywhere? She would have tracked him down and jinxed him within an inch of his life if it had been left to that.
But… why didn't he tell her? Four years was a long time, yes, but they could have written, like pen pals, and she could have come to visit every now and then… Maybe she could have gone with him?
Being pen pals wouldn't have been the same though.
It was his dream to work for Gringotts—she knew that so well. It was, in fact, where they had met; at the corner between a blank stretch of wall and Gringotts.
Did that make her a bad person for not supporting him in his dream?
--
She passed the Quality Quidditch supply store and frowned at her reflection. She looked older, much, much older, and worn out, not at all like the old Rose.
A passing young man, about her age, winked at her and she gave a small nod back.
No, she wasn't the bad person, he was.
He'd made her wait.
--
She walked further down the street, holding a new book in her hand from the Flourish and Blotts bookstore, thinking that maybe some reading would get her mind of things. Reading had never not solved a problem before.
Except for maybe this one…
Rosie,
Write me back as soon as you get this message. We haven't heard from you in weeks and your father and I are worried about you. We love you darling, stay safe, be smart.
Love, Mummy
She clutched the piece of parchment in her hand, as if wishing her mother's love could spill over from the parchment and fill up the empty spaces inside.
She loved her mum, but it wasn't enough.
But, in the end, she decided to go visit them. They, after all, were worried and she owed them at least one visit.
--
Tender loving care did miracles for the tortured soul. She almost couldn't feel the hole that he had left inside her heart after spending two weeks at her parent's house and another at the Burrow. In fact, she almost couldn't remember the idiot's name either.
"Hey there Rosie!" Uncle George said, pulling on one of her curls affectionately. "How's life?"
Rose pulled a smile out of the shattered feelings best she could. "Oh, you know, it's life."
Uncle George nodded, looking understanding. He turned to take something from the pan and Grandma Weasley slapped his hand away. Rose's smile felt a little more real at the sight.
"Oh, I almost forgot!" George said, putting a hand to his forehead. "Did you know that Malfoy's son—what's his name? Scorpinock?—anyways, is back from wherever he went?"
Rose choked on her eggs. Scorpius!
"He what?" Albus looked up sharply, his eyes meeting with Lily's worried ones.
"Yeah, he's back. Causing a little bit of a traffic block as I hear it too. Seems to be sitting on a corner and people keep giving him money. Perhaps he got tossed out of his house by his saintly father." Uncle George laughed. "Anyways, thought I'd tell you. You used to be friends with him didn't you, Al? Rose?"
Albus nodded and Rose looked down, frowning.
"Used to be."
"He's been waiting there for about three or four days I think," he continued, apparently oblivious to Rose's increasing discomfort. "Says that he's waiting for someone, some girl I guess. Says that she knows to go there if she ever wants him back."
"Where's he waiting?" Hermione asked. Rose jumped. She had forgotten her mother was in the room.
"At—"
"The corner by Gringotts. The one that faces the blank wall." Everyone stared at Rose, surprised at her sudden outburst. "It's where we first met."
Ron sat down quickly but Rose paid him no mind. Her eyes were locked on the counter and she looked as if she'd been petrified.
"He's waiting for you," Lily whispered, looking awed. "He still wants you."
Rose looked up, her ice blue eyes unfeeling and frozen.
"He can wait four days, four years or four centuries. It doesn't mean anything to me."
--
Albus went to see him. Rose pretended that she didn't care.
"I told him you knew he was waiting."
Silence.
"He wanted to know why."
Rose wrestled with herself but, again, said nothing. She hadn't been to Diagon Alley ever since Uncle George had told her about the man who wouldn't be moved.
"Rose, I can't believe you're being so stubborn!" Lily snapped, looking angry. "He's camped out on the side of a street for Merlin's sake! Why won't you go to him?"
Hermione watched her daughter, a worried look in her eyes.
"It'd make you happy," she said softly. Rose turned away from her.
"So he didn't visit for the holidays, so he didn't write as often as he should have! The man is sitting on a bloody sidewalk all day!! And you still won't go to him!" Lily slammed her fist down onto the counter. Everyone but Rose jumped.
Albus and Rose said nothing. It went deeper than that. But all she'd have to say was what really happened, how he really left her for four years with no contact whatsoever.
She was mad at him; that was for sure. But not enough to want him dead.
Yet.
--
An official letter from the Ministry of Magic came a week after the idiot had taken up residence on the corner between Gringotts and the blank wall.
Dear Miss Weasley,
We regret to inform you that a young man by the name of Scorpius Malfoy has set up camp on the corner across the street from Gringotts. If you would be so kind as to pay a visit to him, so that he can be removed without the use of force on our side, we'd be ever so thankful.
Yours sincerely,
Terry Boot
Public Security and Safety Office, Ministry of Magic
Rose was so frustrated that she screamed and ripped up the letter, chucking it into the fire.
Did they think this was a joke? He could rot there for all she cared. To Hades with that infernal Malfoy boy, he was going to be the death of her.
She wasn't going back. Ever.
--
The next month, an article with the headline THE MAN WHO CAN'T BE MOVED appeared in the paper, making the front page. Lily showed it to her, as if expecting her heart to be touched and for her to apparate away to his side.
Rose only frowned.
"Don't they have anything else to report on these days?"
--
Two weeks after the first another article was published, this one headlining STILL WAITING FOR JULIET across the top.
Rose was beyond frustrated. She was beyond angry.
She was blindingly, burningly, in all out temper mode.
Words and phrases jumped out of the article at her, things like, "Waiting for his true love!" and "heartbroken!" She ripped up that paper too, shrieking like a banshee. Him, heartbroken? Ha! He didn't know the meaning of the word.
No apology would ever be enough. He'd never feel what she'd felt. He'd never miss her like she'd missed him.
Because he didn't love her like she loved him.
--
She couldn't believe it, but it felt as if her heart was going to win.
No, it won't. I won't let it.
It had started once with journeying back to the Leaky Cauldron.
Just to get a drink, a butterbeer, that's all…
And then she walked to Flourish and Blotts.
For a new book, that's it. I need a new book.
Passed Quality Quidditch supplies and to the apothecary.
I need more potion supplies…
And then to a store, three little shops down from the corner where she'd first seen him.
There he was, leaned against a wall looking determined and stubborn, sitting on top of a sleeping bag and chatting animatedly with a passerby. He flashed a picture of a girl with red hair at the person and Rose blushed. That couldn't be a picture of her, could it?
She was close enough that, if she called out his name, he'd hear her. Would he run to her like she was dying to run to him?
Was Rose Weasley really falling all over again for that jerk?
She didn't know, but she was thinking it was a definite maybe…
His eyes flashed over in her direction and she ducked behind a large stack of cauldrons quickly, praying that he wouldn't come to investigate.
Unbidden, memories of better days spent in his arms trickled back to her. Rose Weasley was falling, falling, falling…
And she couldn't take it.
She was trying not to tell him.
But oh, she wanted to.
Had she been waiting her whole entire life for him, or just four years?
He was just there, waiting for her. All she had to do was reach out her hand to him.
I think I'm falling again…
But could she do it? Could she take that plunge?
She was such an idiot.
--
"You're such an idiot."
They were the only words she could utter.
His eyes flew open, beautiful and gray, just as she remembered them. She couldn't believe that she had gone for four years without seeing those marvelous stormy eyes. They reminded her of storm clouds, furious and unpredictable, angrily staring at her.
And then, they changed as he realized who she was.
There is no way, those eyes seemed to be saying to her. There is no way that Rose Weasley, stubborn, fierce and over-excitable Rose Weasley is standing in front of me.
All she could do was stare at him, feeling short of breath. Merlin, those eyes… She had almost forgotten what his eyes did to her.
"Merlin, I'm going crazy," she heard him mutter to himself, giving his head an experimental shake. "As if Rose would be standing there."
She couldn't help it. He was such a moron.
She hit him. Hard.
Repeatedly, actually, with the Evening Prophet whose headline bellowed: ROMEO STILL WAITS, WILL JULIET EVER COME?
"You—dolt—how—could—you—Black—mailing—me—like—this—Merlin—you—are—going—to—pay!"
She hit him on every word, increasing the force with which she hit him every time.
Were those tears in his eyes? She didn't even care.
The next moment he was on his feet, towering over her, grinning like the great idiot he was, those blonde bangs of his falling into his stormy gray eyes…
He kissed her.
Softly, caringly, undemanding…
He didn't push her. She had forgotten how rare that was in a boy, how much she had missed that.
She kissed him back.
She was tired of holding back every emotion she'd had for the past four years, in fear that she'd explode.
"Don't think you can fix this by snogging me, Scorpius."
The biggest problem was that she knew he could fix this just by simply snogging her.
"Shut up and kiss me again."
--
"I've missed you, Red. Really, really missed you."
For once the nickname didn't bother her.
They had been sitting on that corner for an hour, apologies had been exchanged, she had called him a git at least fifty times and he'd sworn up and down that he'd never leave her again.
She was counting on that.
"I think I'm falling for you again, Blondie," she sighed, leaning her head back on his shoulder. She could feel the grin as he pressed his face into her hair.
"I'll catch you," he said softly, brushing back the tendrils of coppery red hair that fell into her blue eyes.
"Promise?"
"I promise."
Rose sighed and closed her eyes. A promise was a promise, and Scorpius always meant what he said.
Maybe it was a good thing that Rose didn't always mean what she said.
--
Five hours later…
"OI! Is that her?"
Rose woke up from the nap she'd been taking in Scorpius's arms, startled, and looked up at the figure of a tired, yet pleased, looking Ministry worker who was addressing the boy sitting behind her. Scorpius's smile was blinding, like lightning flashing across the sky.
"Yes," he said proudly. He stared down at her with an expression so blissfully happy that Rose couldn't help but blush. "I told you she'd come back."
The man grunted. "And I told you you'd be waiting for a while, didn't I?"
Scorpius laughed freely. The sound made Rose's pulse leap.
"Yeah, that you did."
They exchanged a look that said volumes of things that could never be spoken, never quite transferred into words, and Scorpius grinned bigger.
"Now, I don't mean to break up what I'm sure is a very happy reunion," the ministry worker said, looking slightly exasperated. "But, son, it's been two and a half months. Now will you go home?"
Scorpius sighed and flexed his arms around Rose, pulling her in tighter. "Yeah, yeah. We're leaving."
Above them the day was quickly turning to night and the enchanted torches were beginning to fill the alley with warm, orange light. Shops were closing up, people were going home, but, for Rose Weasley and Scorpius Malfoy, home now felt more like the corner across from Gringotts next to the blank wall than anywhere else ever would.
And Rose Weasley... Well, she was worth every moment he waited for her.
A/n: HAPPY BIRTHDAY BITTERSWEETSUMMER!!!!!!!!!
I'm sorry about the lateness of the upload! I just got home from school a little bit to upload this--I hope you're not too disappointed! :) Here's wishing you a very, very, happy birthday and many more to come! Thanks for the friendship and support. They mean the world to me.
To everyone else, review! And then go read BittersweetSummer's! Thanks for the time, have a safe and happy holiday season!
Until next time... Mischief Managed!
-UndeniablyMe ;)