Disclaimer: I'm disregarding Cursed Child canon here and changing up their personalities in this AU. I'm also taking creative license on most of everything since I don't really know how to explain the technicalities behind what they do, so… if you think a character is OOC or something is a bit vague, then that's because I wrote them that way. It's also been a while since I wrote a het pairing so this should be fun xD
This is inspired by the below Pinterest quote. There was no mention of any book or movie, and I was unable to find any other source, so credits to the owner.
He looked at me. His hair was still a mess, and in the bright morning sunlight he looked more handsome and more human than I'd ever seen him. "I guess I'm asking you to trust me," he said.
Dedicated to Maisie Malfoy.
Only a Muse (never amused)
The first time Albus mentioned Scorpius, he spoke about him as "the boy in the next bed that mumbled in his sleep". The next time, Albus spoke about him as "the boy who was terrible at Potions but threw a mean hex". The time after that, Albus spoke about him as "the unexpected friend that saved him from some bullies".
By the end of their first year, all Albus spoke about was his "best friend Scorpius".
"Did you know Scorp's back from France?" Albus asked one morning as they changed into their healer robes.
"No, I did not," Rose replied, fastening the lime-green garment around her waist and pulling on a white lab coat over it.
"Well, he wants to meet up this weekend."
"OK."
When she shut her locker door, she found her cousin frowning at her. She raised an eyebrow. "What?"
"You're invited."
"Oh."
They made their way out of the locker room and to the nurse's station, grabbing two clipboards and heading to the first patient's room to commence the morning's rounds. Her cousin hadn't pursued the topic any further, and Rose had hoped he wouldn't, but as soon as they were out of earshot of the patient and their family, Albus rounded on Rose.
"Well?"
"Well what?"
"Are you coming or not?"
Rose pursed her lips. "If this is your way of convincing me to come, then you're doing a tremendous job of it."
Albus rolled his eyes and stuffed his hands into the pockets of his lab coat. "I know better than attempting to convince you to do something you don't want to do."
Rose smiled, patted him on the arm, and said, "Good. Then this conversation is over."
She then walked away, and her cousin followed behind with an exasperated sigh.
"Don't you want to see him?" he asked again, unwilling to let it go.
"Does he want to see me?"
"Why would he invite you if he didn't?"
Rose stopped abruptly, and Albus bumped into her. She looked up at him, serious. "If he really wanted to see me then why'd he get you to play messenger instead of asking me himself?"
Albus sighed. "As if you would've agreed even if he had."
"Exactly."
"Rosie—"
"We have work to do, Al. Now grab your clipboard and quill and let's go."
Albus sighed again, but this time, he seemed to have decided to lay the subject to rest—at least for the time being.
In their second year, Albus insisted on bringing Scorpius everywhere they went. Whether it was while working on assignments in the library, relaxing in the courtyard, or eating meals in the Great Hall, wherever Albus went, Scorpius followed.
By the end of the year, Rose had a startling realisation: even when Albus wasn't around, Scorpius was.
"I heard Scorpius is in town," Lily said, shooting Rose an expectant look.
It was dinner night at the Potters', and Rose had expected Albus to hound her about meeting Scorpius. When he had left her alone, she should've known that Albus would resort to employing his little sister to do his bidding.
"Did Al put you up to this?" Rose demanded, folding her arms and frowning at the younger witch.
Lily pretended to be more interested in a bit of her hair. "Put me up to what? I only said what I heard."
Rose rolled her eyes. "Right."
Lily glanced at Rose for a moment before turning her attention back to her hair. "Will you meet him?"
"Lily, I swear—"
Lily held her hands up in surrender. "Hey, I'm only asking. It's fine if you don't wanna talk about it."
Rose sighed and relaxed, running her fingers through her semi-tangled curls. "I don't know," she finally said. "Al's been asking me about it for the past few days, too."
Lily was quiet for a few moments, a thoughtful expression on her face. When she spoke again, she said something unexpected.
"I don't think you should."
Rose eyed her cousin, curious. "Why do you say that?"
Lily shrugged and flopped back on her bed, rolling over to face Rose. "You've finally moved on from what happened. I don't see why Al's insisting that you meet him and have to go through it again."
Rose smiled, appreciating the teen for her considerate insight. "Thanks, Lils. I think you're right."
Lily smiled and reached over to intertwine her fingers with Rose's, and Rose squeezed her cousin's hand. If only Albus saw it the same way...
In their third year, it became commonplace to see Albus, Scorpius, and Rose together. In fact, it was stranger to see each by themselves than as a trio. The more time Rose spent with Scorpius, the more she realised how much they had in common, and the closer they became.
So close, that by the end of the year, the two of them were planning on spending time during the summer, sans Albus.
"So, Albus tells me Scorpius is in town," her mother, who somehow managed to look indomitable even while sitting in a drab hospital room, wearing a drab hospital gown, said.
Rose groaned. "Ugh, Mum, not you too."
"Whatever do you mean?"
"Yes, I know Scorpius is in town, and no, I will not be meeting him. Does that answer your question?"
Her mother clicked her tongue. Rose rolled her eyes. "What?"
"No, nothing." But it wasn't nothing. "I was only thinking that if you truly hadn't a problem with him, then you would have no reason to avoid meeting him."
Rose snapped on a pair of rubber gloves and picked up a stick with some cotton on the end. "Open your mouth, please."
Her mother did as she was told. Rose scraped the inside of her mother's cheek with the cotton swab and then placed it in a vial of clear liquid. A few moments later, the liquid turned a murky orange.
"Negative," Rose declared, and her mother sighed in relief.
"That's settled, then. I presume I'm fit for discharge?"
Rose pursed her lips but couldn't say no so she nodded begrudgingly. "I still think you should refrain from volunteering in remote areas prone to tropical illnesses," she added.
"When the election is so close? Nonsense. That'll just give the opposition the upper hand."
"And you nearly contracting a life-threatening illness wouldn't?"
"But I didn't, did I?"
"But you could've," Rose argued, just as stubborn as her mother was, if not more. "Besides, don't you find the timing of you being exposed to a rare, tropical illness suspicious?"
"All the more reason for me to be up and about and show them that they haven't just lost this battle but will lose the war as well!" her mother exclaimed emphatically.
Rose sighed. "I'll never understand politics."
Her mother smiled and patted her on the shoulder. "You just continue to heal people. I'll deal with the politics."
"Thank you for your kind sacrifice."
Her mother laughed, and Rose turned away to discard the liquid in the vial as her mother changed into her regular clothes.
"Thank you for the check up, love," she said, hugging Rose.
"I'd prefer if, the next time you come visit me, it's for less grim reasons."
"Of course. Oh, and, Rosie?"
"Mm?"
"This is just my opinion, but I think you should meet Scorpius. People can change a lot in a year. You're more likely to regret not hearing him out than meeting him briefly."
And with a little wave, her mother was off to fight the world. Rose sighed. There was merit in what her mother had said. It had been a long time, after all. Maybe it was worth giving him a chance to explain himself. What was the worst that could happen?
Halfway into year four, Albus had gotten himself a girlfriend. Nobody quite remembered the specifics of how it happened—just that did, and that was that. So the more time Albus spent with his girlfriend, the less time he spent with Scorpius and Rose. And the less time he spent with Scorpius and Rose, the more time they spent together.
By the end of their fourth year, Albus' short-lived romance had come to an end and he had resumed his former position in between Scorpius and Rose. But Rose had come to find that she much preferred to have Scorpius' company all to herself.
"So, you'll meet him, then?"
Rose sighed and nodded begrudgingly.
"Great! I'm sure he'll be thrilled."
"Only on one condition."
Albus groaned. "Here we go." He looked up from his clipboard and gave her his undivided attention. "Alright. Name your terms."
Rose scoffed. "You make it sound like I'm going to ask for something unreasonable."
Albus quirked an eyebrow. "Aren't you?"
"Only if you think Scorpius inviting me himself is unreasonable."
Her cousin had a thoughtful expression on his face, as though he was expecting there to be a catch. Rose turned back to their sleeping patient and made a note on her clipboard.
"That's it."
"That's it?"
Rose propped her clipboard under her arm. "Yup. Next patient."
Albus seemed sceptical but followed her out all the same. "So, what you're telling me is that if Scorpius had invited you himself from the beginning, you may have met him?"
"May being the keyword."
"Still."
Rose shrugged.
"Damn. He really doesn't know you at all, does he?"
Rose stopped by the next patient's bed and looked down at her clipboard, swallowing down painful memories. "No. He doesn't."
Their fifth year saw Rose agonising over her feelings for Scorpius. At first, she was unsure if what she felt was just platonic, but on talking to her female friends and cousins, she decided that it definitely wasn't.
But… what did that mean? What if he felt differently? Although they were close enough, she always sensed that Scorpius put up a wall between himself and her when she got too close—a wall that didn't seem to exist between him and Albus. Did that mean Rose was only secondary to her cousin? Was she not as important to Scorpius as he was to her?
By the end of the year, Rose found herself spending less and less time around Albus and Scorpius and more time by herself or with her own housemates. And the worst part of it all was that Scorpius never seemed to care.
Rose exhaled a nervous breath as she stood outside the coffee shop they had planned to meet at. She was early, which wasn't an unexpected occurrence with her, but that didn't make her any less impatient for her cousin and his best friend to arrive.
In order to distract herself, she pulled out the letter Scorpius had sent her, asking her to meet with him that day. She smiled to herself at the formal tone of the letter, his nervousness shining through in the awkward writing.
She hadn't replied straightaway, but, instead, had waited for Albus to ask her about the letter and had relayed her acquiescence to him.
"After all that you said about Scorpius not using me as a messenger, you're doing the exact same thing!" her cousin had yelled.
Rose had only shrugged, smug. "See how annoying it is?"
"Merlin, you two are perfect for each other," had been Albus' only retort before she had ignored him for the rest of the day.
"Rosie!" Albus called just then, drawing her from her thoughts.
Her automatic smile at the sight of her cousin faltered when her eyes met the stormy ones of the wizard behind him.
"Rose," Scorpius said as he came to stand before her, his voice deep and rumbling, sending shivers down her spine. Had he always been so tall?
"Scorpius," she said in reply, holding out a hand in polite greeting.
Scorpius raised an eyebrow, an amused smirk tugging at the edges of his lips as he looked from her hand to her face, then back. With a short laugh, he stepped forward and pulled her into a hug, and she caught herself inhaling his scent and revelling in the warmth of the brief embrace.
"So," Albus began as the two pulled apart, clapping his hands and grinning. "What say we head to the pub across the street instead?"
Rose frowned at her cousin. "Tomorrow's a work day, Al."
"Nobody said you had to drink," her cousin was saying as he jogged across the street.
Rose sighed and refrained from glancing up at Scorpius even as she felt his gaze on her. "May as well," she said, following after her cousin.
Besides, a few drinks would definitely help her loosen up and make the conversation flow smoother. After all, despite his weirdly formal letter, Scorpius didn't seem as stricken about meeting her as she had been about seeing him. Maybe she was the only one hung up on something that had happened a year ago.
That thought only further fuelled her mortification-induced drinking spree, and what should have been a pleasant outing in a quaint coffee shop ended with Albus vomiting on the street and Rose getting into a catfight because some floozy was trying to take advantage of an inebriated Scorpius—or so she had thought.
By the time their sixth year rolled in, Rose and Scorpius were practically strangers. They hadn't spoken in months, and the farther Rose sunk into her love-stricken agony, the harder it became to face him.
She had convinced herself that he had never cared about her at all because Scorpius never made any attempt to reconcile with her, Albus being the only one to bother questioning her unacceptable behaviour. When she finally confessed everything to her cousin, he convinced her that the only thing to do was to tell Scorpius how she felt.
So she did. And just like that, the year came to and end, and with it vanished any hopes Rose had of mending their friendship.
When she awoke, it was to a sharp pain in her temples, a knot of nausea unfurling from the pit of her stomach, and a sleeping Scorpius in her bed.
She watched him sleep, a sense of calm settling over her. It surprised her that she wasn't panicking, or even startled to see him there, especially considering the blur that was the previous night.
Maybe she had anticipated it. Hell, maybe she had wanted it. To have him there, asleep beside her, his tousled blond locks falling over his eyes, the pale skin of his naked back in stark contrast against her dark sheets.
It was a familiar sight, one she had thought she would see every day of her life. But then, one day, he had faded away from her life like a wisp of smoke against a stormy sky: there, but hardly visible—hardly tangible.
The thought made her heart ache, and she rolled out of bed, taking careful steps to the bathroom so as to not trigger another wave of nausea. Once she had showered and drunk plenty of clean, cold water, she felt better.
She stepped out, surprised to see Scorpius awake, having forgotten about him for a brief moment. Their eyes met, and in the confused haze of his grey irises, Rose saw the one emotion she was hoping not to find.
Regret.
"The water's hot, if you wanted to shower," she said, tightening the towel around her and moving towards the wardrobe.
"What… why am I… is this your flat?"
"Yeah."
"I didn't know you got your own place."
"Really?" Rose scoffed. "Al didn't tell you?"
There was a moment of silence, followed by the sound of the sheets rustling. "He probably did," Scorpius replied, sounding groggy.
But you forgot, Rose thought to herself, a lump forming in her throat. This is why I didn't want to meet him. I didn't need to be reminded of how much he doesn't care. I already knew.
"Hey, look, about last night—"
"Nothing happened," Rose said quickly, her voice trembling. She turned to look at him, anger and disgust flooding through her. "We didn't have sex, if that's what you're wondering."
Scorpius frowned, looking like he wanted to say something, but dropped his gaze and nodded. "Oh. That's good, then."
Rose turned away, sniffling. She couldn't remember just yet what exactly had happened, and it didn't seem like Scorpius did either, but it didn't matter. She had only said what they had both wanted to hear.
It was only a lie if you chose not to believe it, after all.
"I think you should leave," Rose finally said, unable to hold back the tears from spilling over any longer.
"Yeah." He took a few moments to locate his shirt, put it on, find his wand and other miscellaneous belongings, and make himself look presentable. Rose remained turned away from him the entire time, the tears silently sliding down her hot cheeks.
"Well, I'll be off then," he said, somewhat delicately, as though he was afraid of how she would react.
Rose scoffed and didn't say anything. Scorpius opened the door but paused. A moment later, he said, "Look, I just wanted to say that I'm sorry if I—"
"No," Rose interjected. "No." She finally looked at him, not hiding her tear-stained cheeks. "You don't get to apologise just so you can walk out of here with a guilt-free conscience and feel better about yourself. You don't deserve that. Not after—not after everything."
His shoulders sagged, and finally, finally, he let his emotions show. She was surprised to see how broken and weary he looked.
"Rose," he said, his voice breaking.
"No, Scorpius," she whispered, shaking her head. "You chose this. You chose to leave. You chose to cut me out of your life instead of giving us a chance. You don't get to come crawling back after all this time, pretending like we can go back to how things were. We can't. We won't."
"I wanted to study—I wanted to learn. I thought you of all people would understand that!"
"Of course I do. What I don't understand is how you could selfishly decide that our relationship wouldn't survive it without ever thinking to discuss it with me." She inhaled a shaky breath. "What I don't understand is how you could leave without telling me and never try to contact me after that."
"I fucked up," he said, looking helpless. "I know that now. And I'm just trying to make things right."
She shook her head. Your apology is one year too late, she wanted to say. Instead, she said, "You should leave."
He sighed. "Look, if we could just talk—"
"Leave, Scorpius," she spat, her voice quavering so much that she could barely get the words out. "It's what you're best at, after all."
His eyes hardened and his jaw set. Throwing his hands in the air, he spun around and exited the room, slamming the door behind him. Rose flinched but sighed in relief once he was gone.
This is fine, she told herself. This is what I should've done all along.
Her alarm went off just then, and with a sigh, she got dressed for work.
The thought of returning for their final year filled her with dread. She didn't know if she could survive another year of watching him from the corner of her eyes, following his back until it disappeared around a corner. She didn't want to anymore.
But, to her surprise, she was greeted by a nervous Scorpius standing outside the Prefects' compartment, holding a single red rose, and looking like he was going to be sick. He told her all the things that she wanted to hear: that he had made the biggest mistake of his life, that he had always secretly been in love with her but had convinced himself that it would never happen to the point that he believed it wouldn't, and that he couldn't give her the answer she had wanted before because he hadn't been courageous enough to own up to his feelings.
He offered her the rose in apology, with the hope to start anew, and she accepted it.
And just like that, what she thought would have been the most miserable year turned into a dream come true. So did the next. And the next.
And then, one day, she woke up. Scorpius was gone, a heart full of his dreams, and a handful of hers. But, she had always wondered… every dream was bound to have a happy ending… right?
Written for Hogwarts Assignment #5, Travel and Tourism, Task #4: Turkey: write about being in the middle of a situation.
Also written for the Writing Club.
- Disney Challenge, characters: Timon and Pumbaa - Write about best friends.
- Book Club: Nathan: (genre) Friendship, (occupation) Healer, (scenario) one night stand, (trait) Supportive
- Showtime: 12. Days and Days: (emotion) heartbreak
- Amber's Attic: 1 Agondice: Write about a Healer (canon or otherwise). (5 bonus points)
- Em's Emporium: 4. (situation) Write about picking up the pieces.
- Liza's Lodes: 2. Planet: Mercury - Write about a messenger
- Bex's Basement: 1. Write about a Healer or a Doctor.
Also written for Seasonal Challenges:
- February 9th - Toothache Day: Write about someone being in pain.
- December 23: Write about the end of something.
- Trait: Determined