Summary: She's the air that I need, but I can't breath when I'm around her. How can the thing that's killing me make me feel so alive?
Disclaimer: I own none of the recognizable content.
Breath
All of my chances swim like sinking ships
This time its it
I'll drown or make her mine
~She (For Liz), Parachute
Scorpius sat on the bed he had been given, looking out the window at the world below. He, however, wasn't really focused on what was going on in the yard. His thoughts were a million miles away, on what had happened in the previous few hours.
It had all started when his good friend Albus had invited him over for Easter. He'd been excited about spending an entire week, schoolwork free, with Al. Then Al had explained that Easter weekend would be spent with his entire family at his grandparents' house. Scorpius' stomach had dropped.
Al's entire family meant his cousin Rose Weasley, the girl Scorpius had been hopelessly in love with.
The first time he'd seen her at Kings Cross station she had enthralled him. She, on the other hand, seemed to want nothing to do with him. After he became friends with Albus, he saw Rose more and more and quickly started falling for her. It had gotten to the point that he could barely spend a minute alone with her. He knew she didn't feel the same way about him, and he'd be lucky if they ever became friends. Being near her, and knowing he could never be with her, was slowly killing him.
And yet, he couldn't seem to avoid her.
On the train ride home, Scorpius decided that he could no longer stand his current predicament. Something had to change. He was going to tell her how he felt, consequences be damned.
The Potter's arrived at the Burrow three days before Easter. Scorpius had been anxious and worried about their arrival since he'd stepped off the train. Seeing Rose in such close, personal quarters made his stomach tighten to the size of a pea, and he found it hard to breath. As his feet hit the ground outside the Burrow, the feeling came over him like a giant tsunami wave. It was stronger than anything else he'd felt before.
"You okay, Scor? You look like you're going to pass out?" Al asked, placing a comforting hand on his friend's shoulder.
"Fine. Little queasy from the apparation is all, "Scorpius brushed it off. He steeled himself and began walking into the Burrow. He had decided to tell Rose his feelings as soon as he possibly could. He needed to get it over and done with so he could at least breath fro the rest of the weekend.
He walked in the front door, trying to figure out how to ask about Rose without her family asking too many questions. Luckily, he was saved that potentially awkward situation and the potential third degree that would fall upon him from Rose's male relatives.
"Anyone seen Rose?" Albus asked his aunts who were seated around the large kitchen table. A slight murmur rose from the seated woman before Al's French aunt spoke.
"Rose went to ze town about an 'our ago. She said she'd be zere for a while." Albus nodded a thanks to he aunts and then turned to Scorpius. The blonde hadn't confided in his friend about his growing feelings fro Rose, but in that look, Scorpius knew Albus was aware of exactly how much he felt for Rose.
"Want to go to town? I'm an excellent tour guide."
Albus and Scorpius spent the better part of half an hour touring around the sleepy town of Ottery St. Catchpole. Albus hadn't been lying when he said he was quite the tour guide, but Scorpius wasn't sure how many people would an Albus tour. It consisted of the Weasley-Potter greatest hits, all the locations various members of his family had caused trouble and mayhem throughout the years. It seemed at least 75% of the town had the Weasley-Potter clan on their blacklist.
Finally, they arrived at a small café that Albus walked into without someone saying anything to him, a first on their little tour. Scorpius figured the Weasleys either hadn't gotten to it yet or had purposefully left the shop alone so they had somewhere in town they could go.
Albus pushed the door in and a small bell rung, announcing their entrance to the small coffee shop. A young woman behind the counter looked up at the tinkling of the bell.
"Mr. Potter, your cousin's in the back, if you're looking for her. I'll be around to take your order in a minute."
"Thanks, Mo, "Al replied before heading towards the back. Fake bushes and other customers distorted their view of the area until they were only a few feet from them. Scorpius had been expecting Rose to be alone; his heart stopped when he finally saw her.
She definitely wasn't alone.
Rose sat at the very back table, hidden from view of any passers-by on the street or casual customers. She was sitting at a small, intimate table with a dark haired male. Two cups of coffee sat between them, obviously forgotten. Instead, Rose and the boy were staring intently into each other's eyes. Leaning towards each other and speaking in hushed tones. To top it all off, Rose's hand was resting on top of the boys, drawing small designs on the back of it.
Scorpius didn't recognize the boy, but then again, he wasn't really focused on him. The minute he'd seen the two of them, Rose and this unknown boy, his brain started shutting down. In all the years that they'd been at Hogwarts, Rose had never been alone in the presence of a male that wasn't related to her. It had always given Scorpius the tiniest ray of hope that maybe she wasn't interested in anyone at school and that he may have a chance at wooing her. However, seeing her with someone who was not related to her had absolutely obliterated that ray of hope. It caused his breath to catch in his throat and his stomach to contract to the point where it felt like it wasn't even there anymore.
In the next instance, Scorpius turned on his heel and fled the small café. The minute the cool April air hit his face, the insinuation of what he'd just witnessed ran into him like a herd of stampeding hippogriffs. HE crumpled to the floor as tears ran down his face. His heart was completely shattered.
Scorpius spent the rest of the evening wandering around the wood and fields that surrounded Ottery St. Catchpole and the Burrow. He was upset, and when he felt that way he would always go for a walk to think things over. It usually helped him calm down and being to see things rationally again, take the heightened emotions out of whatever situation had caused his distress.
Tonight he was mostly upset with himself. He couldn't believe how he'd reacted. He'd gotten his hopes up over the past few days; he'd begun to see romantic hints where there obviously weren't any. He'd thought there'd been lingering glances across study tables, touched that held more meaning than ordinary. He'd obviously been sorely mistaken.
Rose did not feel the same way about him. He shouldn't have been surprised she was with someone else.
It wasn't until the sun began to set and the sky darkened that Scorpius turned and headed for the Burrow. He still wasn't ready to face anyone, even Al. He may have been upset at himself for how he reacted, but his heart was still broken. He just wanted to be alone.
When he got back, the family was gathered in the sitting room. Scorpius headed up to his room as quietly as he could and locked the door behind him. He knew he wouldn't be alone for long –he did share his room with Albus- but he didn't have any better options.
Al came in a little while later, but Scorpius ignored him. He just continued staring out the window at the stars, trying to reconcile everything that had happened.
Scorpius stayed in his room all of the next day as well. Albus tried incessantly to get him to come out, but Scorpius just kept saying he wasn't feeling well. It was only a half lie. After the twelfth time, Albus finally took the hint and left him alone.
"Enough of this, Scorpius. It's time for you to come out of this room. It's Easter; you can't spend it up here alone." Molly Weasley explained as she all but dragged him out of the room. Scorpius had been going on his second day of solitude –Albus hadn't even bothered with him today- when Molly had decided enough was enough.
Scorpius was anything but a ray of sunshine at breakfast. He was still upset at himself and still felling the emotional pain and symptoms from a broken heart. He didn't mean to take out his gloomy mood on the Weasleys, but that was why he'd spent the past day and a half locked in his room.
After being forced out of his room by Molly, Scorpius had decided that he'd only make an appearance at breakfast, eat some food and show the Weasley-Potters that they really didn't want to be around him, and the escape back up to his fortress of solitude.
Al seemed to have a different plan.
As Scorpius attempted to return to the room, Albus grabbed a hold of him and, in a very undignified manner, pulled him away from the stairs.
"Not so fast, Scor. I know why you've been so withdrawn and I'm about to put a stop to it. I've talked to Rose and the whole café situation is not what you think it is. Just listen to her explanation, hear her out. I promise you'll feel better afterwards. And if not, you can beat me with gran's cleaning broom."
Scorpius took a moment to think it over. What more harm could it do? He'd already had his heart broken. It couldn't get any worse. Maybe hearing Rose talk about her love for another guy would hurt him, but in the long run it would only solidify the rejection to Scorpius and help him move passed his silly school-aged crush.
Scorpius nodded and followed Albus out into the garden. Molly had set up an Easter Egg hunt, a Weasley tradition, and all of Albus' cousins, despite their maturing age, were busy looking for the small colourful objects. Albus, on the other hand, was looking for Rose. Scorpius followed closely behind him, a small part of him hoping that Rose would have hidden herself way somewhere Albus couldn't find and the whole thing would be a moot point.
Suddenly Rose was in front of him.
"I want to talk to you," she stated, fairly forcefully. Scorpius was initially startled, but slightly reluctantly agreed to talk. Rose then grabbed his wrist and pulled him around the house, away from the rest of her family. At the contact, in spite of himself and all of the events of the previous few days, Scorpius' felt his face flush red.
"Why have you been avoiding me?" Rose asked, suddenly turning on him and catching Scorpius off guard. He tried to hide his red face but failed miserably. "I saw you at the café, saw you run out. Al sort of filled me in-"
"Who was he?" Scropius interrupted, "I've never seen him before. Where'd you meet him? What's his name? –" Rose's laughter cut him off. He was startled. He knew it wasn't really his place to be interrogating her about her boyfriend, but he still couldn't believe she'd laugh at him over it.
She must have seen his face, taken in the horror and distress he was feeling, because she instantly stopped laughing and her face became straight once more.
"He's just a friend Scorpius. I've know him since I was a little girl. He grew up in the town and we'd run around in the forests when I used to visit gran and gramps. He knew I'd be back in town this weekend and asked if I could give him some advice on what to buy his girlfriend for her birthday. He's always been rubbish at buying things for members of the finer sex and wanted a girl to help him.
"Is that why you've been avoiding me? Did you think there was something going on between us?" she paused and looked up at him, her eyes seemed to be searching his face for something.
"Why would it matter if there was?" She asked the question so softly that Scorpius almost missed it.
Scorpius fell silent for a minute. This was his chance. He'd either be the happiest man in the world or right back where he was a few hours ago. He took a deep breath, steadied himself, and then bent down.
When his lips first touched hers, he felt her stiffen and almost pulled away. The Rose seemed to gather herself and responded enthusiastically.
Once again, Scorpius found it hard to breath. But this time, it was for the best reason in the world.