Written for WitAngerandBravery's Hunger Games Quote Challenge on the Harry Potter Challenges Forum. My quote was "Hey, Finnick, come on in! We figured out how to make you pretty again!''
"I don't believe this." Irritated grey eyes were staring stubbornly in the mirror as their owner was gritting through his teeth and trying to fix his hair. Rose sighed in exasperation.
"Come on, Scorpius. I don't care that someone put some potion in your shampoo. We really have to go now."
She ignored the glare Scorpius answered her with – which would probably be his only response anyway – and stared longingly out of the window of their hotel room. She could see Times Square; the light coming from everywhere was altogether too blinding, but she still liked it. It was her first trip out of her country and also her first trip without her parents. It was New Year's Eve and she was with Scorpius and Al in New York. Everything from this five-day trip was a small victory in a fight with her parents, Al's parent and Mrs and Mr Malfoy about every single thing that could go wrong – and they had won.
And Rose was sure as hell that all of this wouldn't fail because of Scorpius's hair.
"Scorpius." She said, standing up from her place on the bed and glancing at the clock on the wall. "It's almost 11 p.m." her voice was as calm as she could manage it to be. "It really doesn't matter how your hair looks like because there are about three thousand people outside. Nobody's going to pay attention."
"You don't understand!" Scorpius accused her, giving a dramatic gesture at his reflection in the mirror. "People are supposed to pay attention to me! They always do! And I look like…" his voice died' he probably couldn't even find words for it. Rose tried to bite back a chuckle.
Truth was that he was somewhat right. He was usually pretty attractive – she had admitted that at least to herself even back in the years when she had hated him wholeheartedly. People often turned back to look at him when he passed near them. With his pale skin and those silver eyes, he had always been the eye-catching type.
Usually his hair was something he was proud of too. But right now, it had lost its perfect, smooth straightness and his blonde locks were falling in loose curls around his face. It made his pointed features stand out even more and in the same time his face was somehow lost in his hair.
"It makes you look younger." Rose said diplomatically, taking a curl between her fingers and studying it for a moment. "And it's kind of cute. No one will throw rotten tomatoes at you if you go outside looking like that." And if we don't go outside soon, we'll spend New Year's Eve here, she thought, but didn't say it out loud. She knew that when it came to Scorpius, he sooner or later would (probably) regain his sense in no one was pushing him.
Scorpius sat down on a chair and hid his face in his hands. "I'm doomed."
"It's not that bad. You're overreacting again." Rose said, on the point of losing her temper. Seriously, most of the girls she knew weren't that dedicated to their appearance. "Come on, I'll call Al so we can go and–"
"There must be some spell to fix it." Scorpius muttered under his breath as he started pacing around the room again, tapping his left palm with his wand. "There must be."
"He's not giving that up, is he?" Rose was just about to say something rude she would probably regret later when she heard Al's voice coming from the door. He wore a mixed expression of desperation and amusement. "I bet his brother put something in his shampoo."
"Remind me to kill him when we get back home."
"I will." Albus sounded determined. "However, for now I think I have something that will do. Hey, Scorp" he raised his voice. The other boy looked distractedly at his friend and Rose was pretty sure that in his head, he was still trying to recall a spell which would fix his hair into its original state. "We figured out how to make you pretty again."
Hope lightened up Scorpius's face. "You did?" He hurried to them. "How?"
"It's some Muggle thing that I found down in the hotel store… It's supposed to be put on your hair and to make it stand on place… which probably means that whatever was put in your shampoo will lose its effect." Under his friends's questioning eyes, Al pulled out a small bottle from the pocket of his jacket and showed it triumphantly to them. "It's called hairspray."
"Are you sure it will work?"
"Do you have a better idea, Scorpius?"
"No."
"Then shut up and let me do it."
Rose watched them curiously as Al straightened Scorpius's hair with his hand and then spattered it with the hairspray. It took him about ten minutes to do it fully, but – surprisingly – when he removed his hands, Scorpius's hair was indeed staying on place instead of curling back into its previous state.
"Did it work?" Scorpius asked, giving Rose a worried look which said 'please don't tell me it's worse than before'. She laughed and rolled her eyes – she thought it would be better to spare him her response – and took him by his hand as they walked out of the room. She heard the soft click of the door when Al locked the door and they all entered the elevator. Rose felt her whole body trembling slightly with excitement – they were finally leaving the hotel.
o.O.o
"You guys are unbelievable." Al said as they made their way through the crowd in attempt to get closer to the large screen on a building right in front of them. There were about twenty more minutes to midnight and Rose could almost feel the people around her getting more and more excited. "Aren't you supposed to reassure her that she looks great, and not the other way around?" her cousin asked, looking at Scorpius, who – now that his hair was back to its usual condition – wore his trademark smug expression. He raised his eyebrows, seeming almost confused, as if Al was being ridiculous.
"Rose doesn't need to be told that she is beautiful. Everyone knows that she is. Which, of course, generally refers to me too, but I have to put some effort into it to impress her. And Rose is naturally like that." And he smiled at her in that way he did when he was talking to her – that smile that lip up his whole face and made his eyes look like liquid silver.
Even though she was used to compliments when it came to Scorpius, Rose felt her cheeks burn slightly and she could swear that she had blushed.
"You don't have to do anything to impress me and you know it. The fact that I still stand you and your vanity should've already been enough to show you that I love you because of and despite you." Rose murmured, expecting one of his usual snapping responses. Instead, she felt his arm on her shoulders, pulling her closer to him as the first fireworks exploded in the frozen night sky and the air was filled with cheerful voices all around them. What she heard best, surprisingly, was Scorpius's soft whisper.
"Happy New Year, Rose."
Author's Notes: Sorry for the lame ending. Actually, sorry for the lame story in general. But lately I've only written original fiction and so I suppose I've got to get back into shape with this, and I haven't written anything with those characters in ages.
However, I still hope you like it. Reviews are always appreciated. :)