Steel Eyes And Iron Bones
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.
A/N: For Cheeky Slytherin Lass' 'Potter Games, Round Three'. The prompts this time, were: 1) "No matter how silly or stupid, the heart knows no logic."- Northstar (X Men), 2) last, 3) in the shadows, 4) apple, and 5) moment of insanity.
"Oi, Weasley!"
Rose glanced up to see an apple sailing towards her head. She gasped and ducked down, but wasn't quick enough. It bounced off her head and she groaned with pain. There was a spattering of giggles from the students that were filing out of the Great Hall around them.
"What was that for, Malfoy?!"
Scorpius glared at her with his usual icy stare. His grinned at his cronies, two of his fellow Slytherins, and turned back to face her.
"Don't talk to me with that filthy mouth of yours," he spat.
"What do you mean, 'filthy mouth'? I didn't say anything wrong!"
"It's not what you said that's the problem, but you yourself. Daughter of a mudblood-" There were a few shocked noises at this, "-and a blood-traitor… I don't think I can think of anything worse, right boys?"
His friends laughed cruelly and Rose felt small. There were students all around them, but no-one was coming to her aid. She should have been used to Scorpius' cruel japes at her expense by now, but that didn't stop his words from hurting. Tears were welling up in her eyes, but she refused to let him see.
"Get lost, Malfoy!" she cried, before storming away from him. She pushed past a group of embarrassed-looking Hufflepuffs, who she glared at for their unhelpfulness, and ran for the Ravenclaw common room.
She couldn't understand why Scorpius was always so horrible to her. Sure, their parents had been enemies in their school days, but they had gotten over it and had settled their differences. Yet Scorpius didn't seem to care about any of that and treated her like the scum of the earth. It was a constant thing, every single day, and she was beginning to hate every moment of being at Hogwarts. She had enjoyed her First year, and Second, and Third and Fourth, but her Fifth year was turning out to be something awful.
He had never been this bad before. Sometimes he would have made mean comment when passing in the corridors, but now it seemed like he sought her out especially to be horrible.
She just didn't understand it…
_oOo_
Scorpius frowned.
It wasn't working. He was trying to fight against his feelings, but no matter what, they weren't going away. He pushed and he battled, but they only seemed to increase.
He didn't get it. He had never seen it before, but suddenly, Rose wasn't just the daughter of his father's old enemies that he wanted to bully occasionally, but something very different. It was as though a light had just switched on in his brain, changing his thoughts from one thing to another.
Now Rose wasn't that meek, know-it-all Weasley girl, but a (dare he say it) pretty, vibrant girl who drew his eyes wherever she went. He craved being close to her, but he didn't want to. She was a Weasley; no Malfoy had ever been with a girl like her. Not a respectable Malfoy, anyway. Yet still his thoughts were drawn to her, and it made him angrier than anything else ever had.
So he pushed and he battled even harder, but nothing worked. He called her names, he beat her down, he even physically hurt her, on occasion, but still those stupid feelings were there. He had heard a saying stating that no matter how silly or stupid, the heart knows no logic… Well he wasn't sure about the whole 'heart' part, as he definitely knew he didn't love her, but he guessed it made sense to him. After all, he was unaccountably stupid and silly to like a girl like her, yet he still did.
He just hoped that if he directed enough hatred toward her, then the feelings would go and he would be able to convince himself that he never liked her at all…
_oOo_
The rest of her Fifth year was one of the most horrid, miserable periods of her life.
Scorpius' cruelty only ever seemed to escalate, and she didn't know what to do to make him stop. She had tried arguing back, she tried ignoring him, and once she ever told Professor McGonagall about what he was doing. But no matter how many punishments he received, he only came back meaner and more persistent. It had gotten to a point now that she had to try and find odd, winding routes to her lessons, to avoid his presence, but that was often to no avail. He would just be waiting, somewhere, to pounce and inflict more hatred on her.
She kept in the shadows, avoiding everyone, including her friends, in fear that he would use her friends to somehow get to her. She pushed everyone out and spent most of her time alone. She focused on her studies as much as she could, and her social life became non-existent. She was paranoid, and fearful, and it was all because of some awful, low-life Slytherin who couldn't get over a feud that had existed between parents that no longer carried that rivalry. It was pathetic, she knew that, yet she never seemed to fight back, and always let it get her down.
At least, for a while…
_oOo_
He was beginning to break her, he could see that now. She was avoiding everyone and taking long routes through the school to avoid him. It was killing him inside, but he just couldn't help himself. Every time he approached her, he saw fear and despair in her expression, and for a brief second he would consider stopping and telling her what he really felt. But when he opened his mouth, another horrible thing would come out, and then a flood of anger and hatred would follow.
But she would never know that the hatred wasn't a hatred of her, or that the anger wasn't because of her either. Not anymore, at least.
He hated himself for what he was turning her into. He had broken her down, and drained all the light and hope from her life. He was angry at himself, and wished there was just something he could do to change it all.
But what could he do? Confess? She would never believe him, and would likely think that it was another cruel trick. Could he ignore her? Again, no, as he was selfish and needed to have some kind of interaction, no matter what it was.
He could feel himself spiralling out of control, with the pain in his heart and the lies in his words.
Sometimes, he wished it would all end, just so he wouldn't have to think about it anymore. He wished he was stronger, so he could fight the wall in his head that stopped him from breaking away from his cruelty.
But these were all just impossibilities, and he knew he would feel like this until his last breath.
If there was anything that was going to stop this, it had to be from Rose.
It was her move now.
_oOo_
It was becoming too much.
He had ruled over her life for too long, and she wasn't going to let it happen anymore. He was a childish, idiotic boy who thought the only way he could deal with his own problems was to take them out on her, and she'd had enough.
She wasn't a punch bag, and she wasn't some wooden doll that he could throw insults at without some kind of emotional repercussions.
Rose was getting stronger. She could feel it in her blood. Where the cruel words had once broken her further, they now only furthered her resolve to beat him down like he had beaten her.
It was building and building before, in what seemed like a moment of insanity, she turned on him, with steel in her eyes and iron in her bones, and she hit him.
And hit him, and hit him some more until he was a sobbing, bloody wreck beneath her desperate hands. She felt nothing as she stood back and watched him curl up pathetically on the floor, but she could feel that something inside her was changing.
…
It took weeks for them both to recover, him physically and her mentally, but recover they did, and he never lay a hand on her again, or spoke a single word in her presence. And slowly she started healing her life where it had been broken. She fixed her friendships, and never let anyone bully her again.
Scorpius Malfoy had nearly ruined her, but she would never let anyone hurt her again.
Not ever.
She was fixed, at last.
_oOo_
She had done it. She had succeeded.
Her attack had made it stop. Not the infatuation, no, but the need to hurt and push her away. He knew it wouldn't work anymore anyway. His words would have no effect on her. She had been broken down, yes, but she built herself back up to be more powerful than before.
And with that, she had helped him too.
With her beating, he had finally hurt as much on the outside as he did within, and he felt so… balanced and almost happy. It was like she had given him part of her strength, and he knew he could move on.
He still watched her, and admired everything about her. But instead of denying the feelings and using them to hurt, he just squashed them down and instead enjoyed seeing her happy and whole. He hoped he hadn't done any lasting damage, both to her and himself, and that she would one day find a man who loved her in a way she deserved.
After all, he did love her, he supposed.
He had thought it an infatuation, an obsession, but it was love. A ridiculous, cruel love, but love nonetheless.
She had won, and they could both move on.
He would be happy.
One day.