This Toxic Gravity
Notes- I should posting a new chapter every week at the very least for this 10-part collection. The prompt for each of these one-shots is the chapter name. Feels so good to be back. :)
.o.O.o.
CHAPTER 1: sparkling
Fourth Year
The spindly gold balance wobbled dangerously and Scorpius held his breath, his face a centimeter away from the pile of glittering gray dust on one side of the balance that was supposedly powdered horn of grindylow. The balance all but perfectly level now, with the grindylow horn dust just slightly above the weighted side. Anyone else would've scooped it up and dumped it in their cauldron quite happily by now, but nearly enough wasn't good enough for Scorpius Malfoy. Potions was one of the three subjects he was better at than Rose Weasley and he'd keep it that way if it was the last thing he'd do. He knew by now that everything had to be done perfectly the first time around, otherwise she would catch up to him, and he couldn't have that happening.
With painstaking care, he took the tiniest pinch of the fine shimmering powder and, still holding his breath, sprinkled the smallest amount at a time onto the balance, watching as the balance tilted minutely into place. The boy smirked smugly and prepared to very carefully transfer the pile of dust into a flask, where he needed to add it to infusion of primrose and swirl before mixing the solution with the rest of his Draft of Clairvoyance. The surface of his crystalline blue potion shimmered and glittered, indicating to him that he'd better hurry up and add the next ingredients. He tilted the platform of the balance so that the dust slid smoothly onto a piece of parchment from which he could transfer the dust cleanly into the flask. Just as he lifted the square of parchment, hunching his back to protect the grindylow horn dust from any wayward breeze that might blow across the dungeon classroom, a voice suddenly sounded next to him, tickling his ear and making him jump.
"Malfoy—"
"WHAT?" he snapped. His breath huffed out and what had previously been a meticulously measured-out pile of powdered horn of grindylow became a fine, silvery haze of dust.
"Whoops..."
Scorpius stared in agony at the cloud of shimmery dust floating innocently above the mouth of his flask as Rose Weasley peered over his shoulder.
"Was that your grindylow dust? Uh-oh. I guess you'll have to measure some more out again." The Gryffindor girl spoke nonchalantly but her expression turned alarmed as he glared down at her with livid, icy-gray eyes. "... Or... not..."
"You—!" Rose stared up at him as the boy let out an unintelligible stream of profanities at the ceiling. When he ran out of breath he collapsed onto his chair and banged his head repeatedly against the edge of the table.
Rose leaned against the table next to him and watched him nervously for a while. "I don't think that can be very good for your head," she told him timidly. Scorpius stopped banging his head against the table but refused to look up.
"What do you want, Weasley?" he snarled through clenched teeth.
"Um," she hesitated. "Nothing. I just—nothing. Just wondering if you had a silver dagger but I—never mind. Forget it." The girl tripped lightly back to her own table behind his.
She'd reached her own happily bubbling cauldron and was bending down to retrieve her ladle from the floor when something whooshed inches past the side of her head and buried itself, quivering, in the wooden table. The silver dagger glinted brightly in the light of the flames under her cauldron.
Rose whipped herself around, several choice words towards a certain Slytherin male on the tip of her tongue, and saw said Slytherin leaning casually against his table, his icy eyes locked on her.
When she met his eyes, she held back the words she'd been about to maul him with. Scorpius's face was cold and intense enough, certainly, but against all odds, the eyes she'd expected to be burning with cold menace merely... sparkled.
Rose looked steadily at the boy for a moment, thoughtful. Finally, she turned, wrenched his dagger from her table with some difficulty and vaguely waved it at him. "Thanks," she threw at him with perfect casualty before proceeding to cut up her gillyweed.
Scorpius allowed himself a rare, small smile and turned back to his balance and jar of fine gray powder.
.o.O.o.
A/N: Virtual cookies for all reviews! I love my reviewers, I really do.