For the "A New Era Challenge" on the HPFC, and Pearl's dare on the NGF.
Dedicated to Becca (Aebbe/PaperBagPrincess) for her anniversary.
-X-
Scorpius and Roxanne had what could only be defined as an… odd relationship. Despite his best friend being Roxanne's cousin, they never acknowledged each other outside of a few catastrophes they called meetings.
Yet, they were friends, of a sort. Friends that saw each other about twice a week, and rarely spoke to each other outside of Roxanne's laboratory. But it worked for them. Roxanne had never been about high maintenance, and she doubted that "maintenance" was even in Scorpius' vocabulary, especially in terms of girls.
-X-
They were best defined as a series of moments, connected but not joined. Scorpius; the self-absorbed, high class Malfoy, was a piece of a completely different puzzle to that of Roxanne; the ambitious, courageous Weasley.
And since when had a Weasley and a Malfoy ever been the same?
-X-
Scorpius walked down Diagon Alley, a determined look on his (incredibly handsome) face. A flash of light caught his eye, and he slowly and unwillingly turned his head to face the elaborately decorated purple building.
"WEASLEYS WIZARD WHEEZES", proclaimed the loud, obnoxious sign. Weasleys, Scorpius thought, rolling his eyes, they always have to be better than everyone else. Like Malfoys. Except, we are better than everyone else.
With that thought in mind, he continued down the Alley, before walking through the garishly painted front door of the joke shop. True to form, the door let out a loud hoot as he passed through it, covering his ears from the expected noise.
He turned to walk towards the front desk in the hopes of finding Al, but bumped into Fred before he could get very far.
"Fred, have you seen Al? He said he was coming in today," Scorpius said.
"Er, I think he's upstairs… helping Roxy or something," Fred replied with a slight frown. "Now, don't go aggravating her, Scorpius, she's very excited about the new line, and if she's unhappy, I'm unhappy. Mostly because then I'll have to do most of the work, but still."
But Scorpius had already headed upstairs, unheedful of Fred's warning. He always said the same thing anyway.
-X-
He entered the cold, smoky laboratory with mincing steps, mindful of the fact that Roxanne often left piles of frogs legs, slimy toads and newt eyes lying on the floor. He had learned that through personal experience, and wanted to avoid doing it again.
He watched as she stirred the sickly potion in the cauldron exactly three times for exactly seventeen seconds – she had always been a bit of a perfectionist. She inserted a long tube into the bubbling goo with her right hand, while recording her observations with her left.
"Oh, you're left-handed, are you?" Scorpius asked, his cool-as demeanour disappearing in his curiosity. He had always felt surprisingly comfortable with Roxanne; probably because she, a fellow Slytherin, understood his ambitious ways. Add that to the fact that they had known each other for years, and they could almost be classified as "friends".
She was startled by his voice, accidently flicking the uncorked vial of potion in his direction. He could only watch as the oozing green concoction flew towards him, almost in slow-motion. It splattered all over his pristine white shirt and impeccably gelled blonde hair.
"Scorpius! You just about gave me a heart attack!" she said as she wrung her hands, a habit of hers.
He wasn't listening to her; instead, he was staring at the pale green tendrils of colour that were slowly creeping up his hands.
"Roxy!"
"But really, you should have told me you were there, don't you knock?" she continued, a spark of her Gryffindor-esque temper flaring.
"Roxy!"
"What?" she said aggravatedly. "Oh."
She had finally noticed the vines of darkening green curling from the tips of his fingers to his elbow.
"Scorp! Why didn't you tell me?"
"Because you weren't listening!" he replied heatedly.
"Oh, calm down! You'll be fine, just let me get the antidote!" Roxanne started laughing as Scorpius began turning a deep Slytherin green.
-X-
After giving Scorpius the orange reversal pills they kept just in case of an accident such as this, he had returned to normal. Almost. His hair still remained a sickly puke green.
"Why is it every time I come in here I get covered in something, gross, slimy and stinky?" he questioned her laughingly.
"Just lucky, I guess," she replied, turning her head to watch a silver bubble float by, courtesy of Fred's demonstration. She tripped over a small Decoy Detonator lying on the floor, but he grabbed her arm and steadied her before she could fall face-first into the ground.
They chatted amicably for a few minutes, before Fred spotted Roxanne and called her over.
"Oi, Roxy! Get over here!"
"Bye, Scorp. I'll see you 'round," she said.
"Wait," he said, holding out a sparkling green marble. "Here, have this, as a reward for stopping my perfection from being completely diminished."
And he knew she would be watching his retreating back in utter confusion, probably looking at the marble. He turned back for a final look, and almost laughed at his prediction coming true. But, of course he didn't, because Malfoys didn't laugh in front of girls like Roxanne.
She was a splash of colour on an empty white page; he was a child on a path of destruction, but this boy was going to change his path. 'Cause she wasn't a dreaming princess (like Lucy), or a cynical playwright (like Rose), or a wild temptress (like Lily). She wasn't like anyone else in her family; all Gryffindor temper and Slytherin ambition, and dark auburn curls paired with coffee-brown eyes.
-X-
It was yet another Weasley gathering – and didn't all the drama happen at the Burrow?
Scorpius was there, of course. He hadn't missed one since The Great Treacle Tart Disaster, and if he wasn't accompanying Albus, he was usually with one of the Weasley girls. Rose, Lily, Lucy, Dominique, even Victoire, for a moment – and Weasley girls all seemed to fall for the same guy, which made for some awkward conversations. He tended to pay attention to one girl at a time, though never Roxanne.
"Hey, Roxy!" a familiar voice called as she made her way towards the huge buffet table in the kitchen. "Roxy, wait up!" the voice persisted, and she struggled not to break into a smile at the petulant tone in his voice. Perhaps, if she ignored him enough, he would go away.
Walking towards the kitchen, she tripped over a small rubber chicken lying on the floor. I wonder how that got there, she thought. Believing that it was probably part of a practical joke, she decided to steer clear of the kitchen – at least for the next half-hour.
Brushing the cake crumbs that had made their way from the floor to her knees, she turned to walk back the way she came, only to stare in horror at the immaculate blond-green hair that was making its way toward her.
"Roxanne Marie Weasley, why is it that you are ignoring the magnificence that is Scorpius on this fine day?" he said with a wink, finally catching up to her, as she was trapped between the rubber chicken and the large table in the hall. He employed the same smooth tone that he used with many other girls; he always forgot that she, while not a typical Slytherin, was still Slytherin and could pick up on his tricks almost instantly.
She walked silently up to the empty corridor that divided the bedrooms, before stopping and turning. Scorpius, as she expected, was right behind her, and as she turned she bumped her nose with his.
Ignoring that incident, she plowed on with the carefully constructed speech she had composed in her head when she and Scorpius were walking up the stairs.
"What. Are. You. Doing?" she all but yelled in a deadly whisper. Yes, she thought, just the right amount of fury, and absolute power.
"Doing what?" he asked mock-stupidly, pretending that he had no idea what she was talking about. Fine, she thought, two can play at that game.
"Why are you talking to me? We never speak in front of our family; hell, we never talk at all. Much," she replied, purposely speaking like a spoilt child, though she was, in fact, unconsciously mimicking Scorpius' tone as a child.
"Is it so bad that I wanted to talk to my favourite girl?" he questioned her, bringing into play the puppy dog eyes he was so famous for. Damn, he is good. Scorpius pushed out his lower lip, and she was so taken aback at his uncanny resemblance to a kicked puppy that she simply… let go.
And that was an accomplishment in itself, as Roxanne Weasley never backed down. She saw no reason to tell him this, however, as that would result in him bragging for, most likely the rest of eternity. That, combined with Albus telling everyone in hearing distance about his superior catch in the last Quidditch match, would result in her slowly becoming insane. And it's not like I'm not insane enough already.
"Very well. Talk," she said in a clipped voice which was nothing like her, hoping to catch him off guard.
"I-uh-uh-er…"
"That's what I thought," she declared, sweeping down the empty hallway, Dominique-style.
"You look pretty today!" she heard him call from behind her. She tried to hide a smile, but couldn't stop, his words bringing inexplicable joy to her, until she was laughing so hard that Molly and Lysander, walking quickly in the other direction, gave her stares that clearly said they thought she was crazy.
She didn't care what they thought (for once), slumped against the wall with a sparkling green orb in her hand, and an insane smile on her face.
-X-
She was observant, and watching him quickly becomes her favourite past-time. And not in a creepy-stalker way, either. He was a contradiction in himself; all sweet and kind, then cunning and deceptive. But she supposed that's what being Slytherin was all about, though she was never bought into the myth that all Slytherins were evil. Just powerful, and charismatic, and dishonest, and altogether in control. But never evil. Mostly.
She noticed that he looked at her constantly from the corner of his eye, and that made her less guilty about her own tendencies to stare at him.
-X-
"Scorpius!"
A sharp hiss cut into Scorpius' contemplative state. He quickly turned his head to face the whisperer, but still kept an eye on Roxanne. Ah, Roxanne, he thought. Roxanne of the mint-chocolate eyes, and scent of lemon, and –
"Scorpius!"
"What?" he said irritatedly, sounding uncannily like Roxanne when she was annoyed with him.
"Stop staring at my sister, damn it! I refuse to let her be another Lily!" Fred said, unaware that his voice was rising steadily in volume.
"You won't let me?" a strong voice said in disbelief. Roxanne, who had apparently been listening to their entire 'conversation', had decided to take offence to Fred's way of putting things. "Oh, so now you control me? So, what if I decided to date Scorpius? What would you say? No, sorry Roxy, I won't LET YOU?" she yelled, attracting the attention of the various Weasleys and guests scattered around the room. Oh Merlin, Roxanne's really mad, isn't she? Time to leave.
"You can't tell me what to do Fred!" she screamed, and he had just gotten up to leave when he felt a sudden warmth against his mouth, and he could taste lemons and strawberries, and those sugary Muggle sweets she liked.
Obviously, he had missed the memo which said they were together. He didn't really mind. At all.
-X-
They were together for a few months; admittedly they wouldn't have lasted that long if they hadn't been trying to prove Fred wrong.
Because stormy grey eyes and pale blond (green) hair didn't mix well with brown eyes and cinnamon tresses. They were simply too different, yet too much the same to ever work. But they would always own a piece of the other person's heart, for they had left an imprint of themselves on each other.
Yet, even when they found their happy-endings with someone else, everyone present would reminiscence about the time Scorpius Malfoy's frozen heart fell in love with the temperamental Roxanne Weasley.
Because he was ice, and she was fire, and baby, that's how they would always be remembered.
-X-
Becca, I'm sorry this isn't the happy ending you asked for; but you can pretend Scorpius ends up with Lucy, if you like?
Please review, I always love to hear what you are thinking, such as things you like, things you hate, even stories you'd like to see from me soon .
And if you favourite, please review!