Disclaimer: If you recognize them, they don't belong to us.
All stories in this collection were written for our Union in Peril forum collab, in which everyone was assigned a partner to write for. There will be a multitude of pairings included. Enjoy!
Title: even the brightest stars shine for you.
Pairing: Rose/Scorpius
Author: Maddie (all the lonely people)
For: Amy (Amy is rockin)
even the brightest stars shine for you
"there is never a time or place for true love. it happens accidentally, in a heartbeat, in a single flashing, throbbing moment."
―sarah dessen, the truth about forever
part 1
My footsteps echoed in the eerily silent house, although it had been years since I'd stepped into the darkened mansion; I knew it like the back of my hand. There was an aura of magic here – not the physical manifestation, but something deeper, something much more real. The sights and smells of a British autumn were completely deaf to my ears; it was as if I'd stepped into a whole other world, a much happier one – or at least, one that had held happy memories, but now smelled like regret. There was an on surge of memories that flooded my brain as I walked through each room – where Lily had kissed Lysander for the first time, after years of anticipation, where James had dropped his glass of red wine, the stain was sill dark red against the crème coloured carpet. It seemed like the memories had woven themselves into the fabric of time, forever imprinted in this house.
I allowed myself a small smile, remembering Scorpius' expression when he saw that James had ruined his carpet, but then, like every time I had thought of Scorpius, there was a bittersweet feeling in the bottom of my stomach. I couldn't deny that I missed him – that would be lying, because he was in my every thought, and everywhere I looked – but if I were to meet him right now, I'd either hex him to Egypt and back or make out with him, and to be honest, I wasn't sure which one I was more likely to do.
There was a slight skittering noise behind me, I drew back instinctively. A solitary ray of moonlight illuminated the corridor just enough for me to see the small, rodent-like creatures. Mice. This place had really gone to the dogs, or rather, the mice; I chuckled slightly, revelling in the thought of what he'd say if he were to see his precious Summerhouse right now. He'd always been really organized. He'd probably have an aneurysm, I grinned, No Rose, killing ex-fiancés is illegal. It doesn't matter if your uncle is Harry Potter . . .
All of a sudden, there was a loud crash, and a muffled yell. Someone or something was definitely in the house, I realized. My body broke into a cold sweat. Maybe I should leave, the rational part of my brain said, but the Weasley part of my brain told me to keep going for what I'd come for. Besides, I could do magic. But still, the thought troubled me, who would break into a house that had stood unused and unloved for two years? Was it some teenage boys goofing around, or something more sinister . . .?
Come on Rose, I chided myself, what would James say if he knew you were scared of a mouse? What would Scorpius do if he saw a mouse in our—
No, Rose, stop. No thinking about Scorpius.
I knewthe answer without thinking, he wouldn't ever let mice in his – our – house, in fact, if he was here, I wouldn't breaking into our former house, just for a glimpse of our memories. Maybe Lucy was right. Maybe I had to "let go of the past" and "move on". But these memroies were like a part of me, and if I knew Scorpius well, after the break-up, he wouldn't have taken any things of mine with him, "closure," as he and Al called it.
But that was utterly ridiculous, after all, Scorpius and I had known each other for a decade, and when someone had been part of your life for that long, even as enemies, was hard.
But then again, the Scorpius from two years ago was much different than the Scorpius of today. By now, he was making another girl laugh, telling her he loved her, taking her to his parents – he had probably chosen a Pureblood princess, so his parents would be pacified – and maybe, they were even planning to move to Summerhouse, settle down, like what he'd promised me—
No. I told myself, you are not thinking of it right now. But I couldn't help myself, the thought of Scorpius and another girl coming to the house, living here, made me sick to my stomach. There was another sound behind me; I wasn't imagining this after all, except these footsteps sounded a whole lot more human. The thought of meeting another human being in our house angered me more than it scared me. "Lumos." My wand tip lit the illuminated hallway. No one, but I knew that people were in this house. I continued cautiously. Finally, I turned the corner and was greeted by familiar oak doors. Nothing had changed, and yet, everything had, it as a dizzying concept.
The doors opened automatically, leading into the master suite. "It's still there," I murmured to myself, looks like I was right. The patchwork quilt seemed to glow in the argentite moonlight, and the whispering of the wind seemed to blow voices of the past to me.
I winced, this sounded so freaking cliché, and everyone knew how much I hated clichés.
The happy laughter of two young people – a man with platinum hair and a smile like gold, and a woman with russet curls and sparkling beryl eyes which danced in the sunlight – I could feel everything they wee feeling: the sunlight on our skin, the flowers and grass tickling our toes, I could smell the fuchsias and orange blossoms and dahlias which permeated my nose like a hazy day.
"I miss you," I murmured. It was the first time I'd allowed myself to miss him—
"I miss you too," a voice behind me muttered. I whipped around, wand raised; after all, I wasn't a Weasley for nothing.
"Fumun—" I shouted.
The stranger yelped, putting his arms above his head. From what I could see, the stranger had pale skin, hair the silken platinum and austere eyes of grey. It looked like the stranger hadn't laughed in a while. He seemed quite familiar, but no. It couldn't be.
Right?
"Rose! Rose! It's me!" There was only one voice that could say my name and still make it sound like a melody: Scorpius.
Damn.
His grey eyes looked at me with a sort of hungry fever, like he actually gave a damn what I looked like, like he cared about me. "Rose, I'm so glad to see—"
Why don't you spout your crap at someone else, I thought.
"DON'T YOU DARE!" I screamed. Scorpius stepped back, scared looking. It had been years since he'd faced the Weasley wrath, and I was not going to let him waltz back into my life with a heartbreaking smile and an apology, and forgive him. I was going to make him suffer, like he made me suffer. I'd drag it out; let him feel the pain of a thousand razor blades digging into his nails until he begged for mercy. That was only a single percent of what he'd made me feel like, I had been in pain for so long, I just wanted him to get an inkling of what he'd done to me. "DON'T YOU DARE, SCORPIUS MALFOY! YOU ARE A COMPLETE ARSE—!"
"Rose—" he tried to interject, I shot him a look of venom, and he flinched, like he actually had given a damn of what went on in my life after he broke my heart. If he'd cared, even a little bit, he'd have asked Al to tell me, if he'd cared; he'd have never hurt me in the first place.
"Don't you dare," I was beyond anger now and he knew it. Surprisingly, he wasn't backing out like the slimy Slytherin snake he was. My voice was quiet, lethal, and unlike me. "You broke my heart. I loved you and you left me!"
"Rose—"
"If you cared," I pressed on, "you'd have at least tried to find out if I was dead or not."
"I did care," he said quietly, "More than you'll ever know." Yeah, right, what did he take me for? I was not the kind of Bella Swan-ish girl who let a man back into her life after he'd broken her heart.
"Spare me!" I spat. "You only care about one person, and that is youScorpius Malfoy." He flinched, like this hurt him, but I continued on with my malicious tirade.
"Ro—" His voice was pleading now, and I almost felt pity for him. Almost being the operative word, of course. No way was I going to let him off this easily.
"Rose, I—"
"Look," I said, pointing to the quilt. "You see that quilt? That's my heart. I sewed my heart into that quilt, my love for you; I sewed every good memory we had together in that quilt. EVER GOD DAMNED MEMORY and you fucked it up." The memory of the summer's day popped back into my head, for but a moment, and my heart felt raw and exposed, like once again, he was breaking it for the first time.
It never got any easier.
"Rose," he began cautiously. I made no move to interrupt him, as quick as the anger had come; it was gone in an instant. "Rose, you have to listen to me, you have to believe me, you're right. I don't deserve someone as smart, or as beautiful, or as kick-ass as you, and whatever we had before, I ruined it by leaving, and I just want to say I'm sorry." I snorted, yeah right. I wasn't Hermione Granger's daughter for nothing, he was not getting off that easily.
"Are you a bull?" I asked.
"Rose, just, can we talk? Please?"
I paused, considering my options: if I let him back into my life, he might break my heart, but if I didn't, I might always wonder what could have been. I got my answer from a woman who was probably only slightly sane, "Follow your heart, and take chances with life."
But what if he hurt me again?
"Fine," my voice was the perfect balance between casual and formal. "Tomorrow, coffee at three."
He looked astounded that I had chosen to accept his offer, and a smile broke out on his face at the thought of redemption, I couldn't help but grin, but my smile quickly turned austere. "Which coffee joint?" he asked, raising his pale eyebrows at me.
"The Metro café," I replied. "The one that's just across from the Ministry's west entrance."
He nodded; we'd been there millions of times together, and I had to admit: I still knew his order, it was like a part of me: every thing Scorpius and I had ever talked about, every conversation, every joke, every fight, every memory, was ingrained on my heart, and deep down I knew that no matter how much I tried, I could never truly purge myself of Scorpius Malfoy – and believe me, I had tried. "I'll see you there." He smiled at him, his crooked smile – the one I used to call his heartbreaker – and I felt my heartbeat racing in my chest.
No, I silently cursed myself, no, no, no, no, no, no, you are not falling for Scorpius Malfoy again, no, no, no, NO, NO, NO, NO!
I turned towards the door, "Wait," I narrowed my eyes at him. "What are you doing here?"
"This is my house," Scorpius replied callously, eyebrows raised. "Our house."
"Shut up," I snapped. "Your house, this isn't home to me anymore."
"It will always be our house." Scorpius shook his head. "You're all over here, every thing I see is like some kind of memory."
I turned back around so he wouldn't see the smile on my face. This mission had turned out a bit differently than I'd expected, that was for sure.
Our of the corner of my eye, I could see my quilt – our quilt – gleaming in the moonlight, once again, I could smell and hear the memories of that long ago summer day, but now I could also see a darkness, between constellations, where no stars shed their light. But for the first time in years, I didn't let it bother me.
Not at all.
What the hell did I get myself into?
.
part 2
"Rose, what's got you all jumpy?" Camille asked me, an ebony eyebrow rose in curiosity. It was the next day, and Cam and I were at work, well, I was pretending to work, while I thought about what I'd say when I saw Scorpius again.
"Nothing!" I said hastily, she looked at me disbelievingly. OK, maybe I was a little bit stressed; after all, it was going to be the first time in years that I was going somewhere public with Scorpius, and I wanted to make a good impression – not that I cared what he thought of me – to prove that I was just fine without him. Like my whole life hadn't just collapsed into a whole fucking mess because he was gone.
"Sure," Camille said indifferently, turning back around. I ground my teeth together – Camille had a way of making you feel like crap, she was the best guilt tripper ever. "Don't tell e anything, even though I tell you everything about what goes on between me and James—" Yeah, she told me every detail, until I clapped my hands over my ears and begged for mercy.
"Fine!" I grumbled. "I'm going out to see someone—"
"AAAAAAH!" she squealed, "How could you not tell me this!" People who were passing in the corridors behind us shot us annoyed looks, but Cam was too happy to care. Her glee seemed to be running off on my, however, because my face soon broke out into a full-on smile. "Who is it?"
Damn.
I thought the excitement of me having a date – er – I mean coffee-break with a bloke would simply render her speechless until Scorpius had once again faded from my life – but did I really want him to, just after I'd found him again? – and this became nothing more than anamnesis of my youth. "Nooneimportant. Just,uh,ScorpiusMalfoy,butit'sreallynotabigdeal—"
"What the hell, Rose?" Camille explained, torn between annoyance, and joy. "First, why did you not tell me that you have a date—"
"—two adults having coffee!—" I interjected. She ignored me.
"—with Scorpius Malfoy. The Scorpius Malfoy. This is just like those Muggle movies! I can't wait to tell Dom—"
"Wait!" I injected, hastily. "You can't tell anyone!"
"Tell anyone what?" asked a curious voice. Oh great, I thought, why don't we just invite Daddy here then, we might as well tell him about this too. Of course, I didn't say it aloud because Cam might take it seriously, and this was one conversation that I wouldn't want my father to witness.
"Hey, Lily," Camille plastered on a fake smile. "We were—er—just discussing the fact that we couldn't tell anyone about James' surprise party—"
I did a mental face-palm. James' birthday was last month. I shot Camille a look, and she responded with a shrug. "James' birthday was a month ago," Lily said, her brown eyes narrowed in suspicion. "I'm not stupid!"
At least one of us wasn't, were the thoughts that ran through my head. Maybe this whole fiasco was trying to tell me that Scorpius and I just weren't meant to be, and I was OK with that. Really. Really, I was fine. "Is that Scorpius?" Lily's and Camille's chorused cry made me look up from my futile attempts at pretending that I wasn't interested in Scorpius.
"With what's-her-face from DMLE?" Camille raised an eyebrow at me. "Lola, I think. Or Leah, or Lizzie."
"Lexie, Lexie Zabini," I replied in a monotone voice. Scorpius, who had looked up when he'd heard his name being shrieked by two women, caught my eye with his gray ones. He smiled slightly, and the light glinting out of the frosted fake windows danced in his hair, making a sort-of-halo. Lexie tugged his arm, glaring daggers at me, and pulled him forward.
Lily, who was not stupid, put two and two together, her chocolate-brown eyes lighting up like a Christmas tree.
"No way," Lily muttered, staring from me to where Scorpius had been to Camille then back to me. "No fucking way."
"Way!" Camille squealed, her long blonde curls dancing in the afternoon sun – or rather, the fake afternoon sun created by the fake windows. "They have a romantic date planned for three!"
I decided not to mention that this was just a coffee between two adults, who had no feels for each other whatsoever.
"How could you neglect to tell me this?" Lily screamed. "Wait – you're meeting him in that?"
Of course, Lily had to notice my clothing options first.
"Yeah," I looked down at my violet robes. "Why? It's just a simple coffee—"
Lily and Camille exchanged exasperated looks. "It is not just a simple coffee! Don't you see the bimbo on his arm? She obviously wants Scorpius too, and they have history—"
"—so do Scorpius and me!—" I argued. Lily and Camille rolled their eyes again, like my logic was so unrealistic it was laughable. It was times like this when I wondered why I even bothered.
"You don't get it, do you?" Camille sighed. "She was hanging on to him – obviously, she wants him back, but with you back in the picture—"
"I'm not back in the picture!" I yelled. "He was just going to explain to me why he ditched me!"
"So you don't want him back?" Lily raised an eyebrow. I felt my will crumbling underneath her bright gaze. Damn. She was right: I did want Scorpius back, more than anything, even if he'd left me broken, I'd still take him back any day.
"Fine," I mumbled. "You're right."
Cam and Lily exchanged smirks, finally they were getting somewhere with me.
"Exactly, and with her practically dancing in front of his eyes, playing hard to get is not an option!" Lily continued, "Men are idiots. They go after the easiest thing in a skirt and tube top! Look at James."
"Yeah," Cam nodded. "Wait, I'm dating James!" Lily and I rolled our eyes.
"OK," I relented. "But how am I supposed to—"
Before I'd finished speaking, Cam had opened a drawer and pulled out a small wardrobe, about something that a small Muggle girl would put Barbie's clothes in. As I sat, eyes wide, she pulled out a stunning outfit: blue jeans, a multicoloured scarf, a turquoise blazer ("It'll bring out your eyes!"), and a white tulle top. "Are you sure this isn't too...?" I let the rest of the sentence hang in the air.
"Only if you mean 'too beautiful—" Cam threatened.
"—or 'he'll fall for you too quickly'," Lily added with a wink.
I conceded, it's not like I had a choice.
"Fine!" I relented for what felt like the millionth time in half an hour. I was a good thing I wasn't a law-enforcement officer, or else I'd let everyone talk me into things.
Five minutes later, I emerged from the Ladies washroom with my new outfit. Both their eyes boggled out of their heads as I turned around self-consciously. "Rose," Lily breathed, for once looking at a loss for words. "You look beautiful."
I smiled; previous experiences with Lily had taught me that Lily would never pay someone a compliment, unless they really deserved it, so it meant something more to hear that out of my perfect cousin's lips. "You do!" nodded Camille. "You'd better get going, it's ten to."
"Thanks," I smiled genuinely.
"Good luck!" they chorused.
"Have fun!" Lily added.
"Don't stay up too late!" Cam winked, waggling her eyebrows.
"Use protection!" Lily giggled, loud enough for everyone to hear. I felt my face going beet red.
.
"Rose!" Scorpius took an intake of breath when he saw me through the window. I took one last deep breath of the autumn air, the smell of foliage and the sound of people walking through leaves calmed me.
The Metro Café was a small family-owned London coffee shop situated by the west End. It claimed to house all the comforts of Starbucks, without the prices of course. When I opened the door, a tinkling bell rang somewhere in the back of the café, and I was immediately asphyxiated by the smells of freshly-brewed coffee, cookies, and high-class perfume as London's finest patrons snacked on coffee and biscotti.
"Rose," Scorpius breathed. "Hey. Do you want to order?"
He looked me up and down, "Sure," I replied self-consciously. We stood in the never-ending line, not talking.
"You look nice," he said awkwardly.
I smiled, his compliment filled me with more warmth than any boiling hot chocolate ever could. "So do you." It was true: in the two years since we'd broken up, he must have had a lot of workouts in Greece or Africa, or wherever he was, because he was looking good. His pale cheeks went pink.
"What would you like?" the barista asked in a faux-happy voice, ironically similar to the one that teachers used for first years.
"I'll have a medium French Vanilla and a chocolate biscotti, and he'll have a Swiss-almond-chocolate coffee and a double chocolate muffin," I said, just as he said—
"She'll have a medium French Vanilla and a chocolate biscotti, and I'll have a Swiss-almond-chocolate coffee and a double chocolate muffin." We exchanged a smile, even after all these years we knew each other like the back of our hands. It was making being mad at Scorpius really hard.
"Same old," he teased, and suddenly, the last vestiges of nervousness that had plagued me since our impromptu meeting last night disappeared. It was just me and him again. If the barista hadn't handed us our coffees, I think I would have started making out with him then and there.
"Let's sit," he led me to a secluded table. "OK, I know you're looking for answers—"
"Listen," I cut him off. "Last night – I may have said a few things—"
Yeah, and Voldemort may have killed a few people.
"Rose, don't apologize, I'm a jerk. I left you." My mouth was completely dry. "I left you because I was an idiot, I was scared of commitment, I was scared of loving you – more than I already did – so I took the coward's way out. " My heart froze for a few seconds, he was right. He was an idiot, and a coward, and he didn't deserve me—
So why was my heart melting?
"You're here now," I whispered. "And don't worry, you'll pay for ditching me, especially when James and Fred and Louis find out—" His face paled at the thought of Weasley-Potter revenge. "I never stopped loving you."
"I never stopped loving you either," he admitted, "every day while I was in Brazil"— That's where he was—"it took all the energy I could muster not to contact you, not to grovel at your feet for forgiveness. And I know I am in no way deserving of you, but I just wanted you to know that."
"Really?" I asked in a hushed voice. "You really cared about me?"
"I did," he admitted. "I even asked Albus for daily updates on how you were doing, if you were still hurting . . . whether or not you'd moved on . . ."
"Scor," I said in a quiet voice. "I want to spend every day of my lie with you. I love you, and although I might regret it at times – a lot, really – I always will. When you left, you took a part of my heart with you."
'I'm sor—"
I raised my hand, "Don't apologize, this is turning into some New Moon write off . . . Let me just say I love you and leave it at that." He grinned, knowing how much I hated sappy romance.
Besdies, who needed Edward Cullen when there was Scorpius Malfoy?
Suddenly, the world around us faded, nothing existed except for his face, which was slowly creeping closer to mine, and my heartbreak, which had accelerated to record levels.
Our lips touched, his tasted of coffee, and chocolate, and love. It was just spontaneous fireworks, every cliché one could ever think of. Normally, I wasn't one for sentimental thoughts, but this was perfect, when we kissed, it felt like our whole bodies were kissing, like our molecules were fusing together, and soon we'd become one person – like the Siamese twins. It was the most I'd ever felt with anyone, and in my head I could imagine Camille and Lily, "Fireworks? Check. Sparks? Check. Feels like there's no one in the world but you two? Check."
We finally broke apart, panting. "That was perfect," I breathed.
"You're perfect," he said sappily.
"What did I say about clichés?" I raised an eyebrow.
(Says the living, breathing, Romeo and Juliet paradox)
.
part 3
A month later, Scorpius and I were lying on the front lawn, staring at the stars. "That's Cassiopeia," he said, pointing out a constellation, "and that's Draco—" I yawned, letting the gentle lull of the dying leaves whistling In the trees calm me. "—and that's my constellation," Scorpius continued, oblivious to my almost-comatose state.
This was quite strange for him, as he was usually so observant. Now that I looked at him more closely, he had seemed really nervous all week . . . ever since our impromptu visit to see my parents, when he and my dad had a 'man-to-man' chat. . .
I briefly wondered if my dad had threatened him, but I didn't allow the thought to form in my head for more than a second until I dispelled it. Dad wouldn't – would he?
No, he couldn't a) because mum would kill him and b) because he knew I'd never forgive him if he came between Scorpius and I. He knew that I'd never choose between them, I loved them both, and he'd never make me choose.
"Rose," Scorpius asked, "are you listening to me?" I jerked back to the present, Scorpius' pale face loomed over mine, reflecting the bright stars. My face turned red when I noticed how close we were to each other, how easy it'd be to just stay here forever, just me and him. Always. "Rose?"
"Yeah?" I asked, sitting up. The expression on Scorpius' face was unreadable. and I had a momentary spasm of panic. What if he'd said something important? What had I missed?
"Rose, I love you, and I want to spend the rest of my life with you"—he saw my confused expression and dropped on one knee. My brain refused to function"—what I'm saying is, will you marry me?"
My jaw dropped, and the world spun. My heart felt like it was lodged inside my throat, I could let out a word. The black diamond ring in the box looked like a dark star. The grin on Scorpius' face faded, turning to anxiety, then worry. "Of course I will," I managed. His face broke into a cautious smile and he leaned forward, touching my lips to his.
This was the way I'd always remember us, I thought to myself, nothing special, just two reckless in love people sitting on an almost-frozen lawn at 2am in the morning. I that wasn't perfection, I don't know what was.
Romeo and Juliet have nothing on us.
.
part 4
It's kind of funny; I read a quote once that said, "Happy endings are just stories that haven't finished yet." Mum had always told me to stay true to myself, because the people who are truly your friends like you anyway. I'd grown up a cynic about fairy-tales, and happily-ever-after's and Prince Charming sweeping me off my feet, unlike Lucy and Dominique and Molly, who believed in all of that, I was more interested in getting a good Potions mark. School came first, love came second.
But I'd never truly realized how wrong the quote was. Scorpius was my – albeit flawed - Prince Charming: he was there for me, he cared about me and in his own way, and he was my perfect opposite.
Our happily-ever-after did come, eventually, after dad finally gave up on trying to convince me that "lot's of people got married at forty or later now" and that "what you feel for someone now is not necessarily what you'll feel in twenty years". We got married, in the most clichéd fairytale wedding ever, and the in-laws – specifically Mr. Malfoy and dad) only fought twice!
Of course, the ceremony would have been better if James hadn't ruined it y yelling, "NAME YOUR FIRST KID AFTER ME!" My dad's face, to this day, turns purple at the memory.
We moved into the Summerhouse, restoring it back to its original splendor. My memory quilt grew, each one more pleasant than the last, and now, as I prepare the baby's room, I remembered how we got together again.
Because you only fall in love once, I mean really fall in love, the kind of love that makes your head spin and your face go sappy. Love is actually kind of scary; it takes a lot of work, and sometimes, you want to bash them over the head with a rolling pin – but I can't – I wouldn't trade these memories for anything.
look at the stars
look how they shine for you
and everything you do
—yellow ; coldplay
fin.
A/N: Please review if you read it! NGF members, you get points for reviewing :)
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