Marie waved Scorpius down from the other end of the corridor and began to speak as he came within earshot. "So how can I help you today, Scorpy?"
Marie Vane was a friend of Scorpius; Scorpius had first befriended her older brother, so he naturally got to know Marie as well. At first glance, Marie was a sweet, intelligent, quiet girl, but she also had a bold streak and a wicked grin when she was up to no good. Scorpius appreciated her brazen personality though, as it molded her philosophies. Marie always gave Scorpius another point of view to consider... even when it differed wildly from his own.
"Marie, thanks for coming this way for me. Like I said earlier, I needed to ask for a small favor..."
"Are you sure you can afford to owe me?" Marie joked with a smirk, crossing her arms.
"I'm pretty sure I can since I'm the one who introduced you to the love of your life," Scorpius replied smoothly. "I'm cashing in all my friendship points."
"You would've been more helpful if you had just let me spike his pumpkin juice the other day," Marie parried.
Scorpius snorted and turned his head to the side to search for something in his shoulder bag. "I really don't need Albus doodling your name in hearts all over my Transfiguration notes. And you weren't being serious anyway; the love potion you had was too weak to begin with, and you know it. So why not win his heart the old-fashioned way by actually letting him get to know you?"
"That way's so boring!" She tossed her hair over her shoulder in frustration.
Scorpius looked up and raised an eyebrow at her, hand still in his bag. "It's the normalway, deal with it. Just be yourself, and if he starts to like you back, then great. You're not your mother, and you're not your father, so won't the normal way work out just fine?"
Marie's eyes narrowed a fraction when he referred to her parents, but she simply huffed and changed the subject. "I suppose you have enough friendship points for a small favor..."
"I humbly accept your generosity," Scorpius rolled his eyes. "Anyway, when I told my mum about this gift idea last summer, my father overheard me and wouldn't let me use my normal allowance to buy it. He mentioned character-building and made me help him with his work instead to earn the galleons I needed. It took me forever, but I was able to commission someone to make this," Scorpius finally produced a delicate, golden piece of jewelry: a butterfly necklace. The golden filigree butterfly was accented with tiny, diamond-like stones.
"My mum and I came up with the final design... it's pretty, right? Like it?" Scorpius asked, shifting his hand so that the stones could catch the light. Marie's eyes lit up at the glittering trinket.
"Definitely," Marie plucked the butterfly out of his hand to examine it more closely, letting the long chain dangle and twinkle in the air. "It's like... the sparkles are dancing wherever the light hits. Perfect for the Christmas ball; even moreso for the Ravenclaw afterparty."
Marie raised her head to grin from ear to ear at Scorpius. Scorpius knew that kind of grin always turned into a wicked smile, and he forced out a small cough.
"Uh, I guess so... Can you do me a favor and charm it for me? Have it flap its wings whenever they're touched?"
"Of course, Scorpy. I'm sure Rosie would just love that little detail," she briefly smiled at the trinket in her hand. "I'll even do it right now."
Scorpius froze at Rose's name. "What makes you think it's for Rose?"
"You asked me to meet you in a certain corridor instead of in our common room, where it would be possible to run into Rose. You also picked a time when Rose is normally preoccupied with her cousins – an extra precaution to avoid running into her," Marie frowned slightly in concentration, waving her wand in a graceful, yet deliberate pattern over the golden butterfly. She gently tapped the edge of each wing.
"You keep a small tin of sugared butterfly wings in your bag for Rose when she's having a bad day. She loves wearing gold accessories, too; I've never seen her wear anything else." After touching the butterfly's wing to confirm that the charm was working, she returned the necklace back to Scorpius. He carefully tucked away his treasure.
"And finally: you obviously like her. My conclusion? It's for Rose," Marie finished her analysis of Scorpius and his gift.
"Wait, that's – I'm – no," Scorpius sputtered. "We're friends; I get her a Christmas gift every year! Of course I put some thought into what she likes, I'm not going to give my best friend a cheap, generic present. And it's more convenient to meet in this corridor since I was planning on coming from the library, and you normally come from the Great Hall anyway. And this time was the most sensible time because her cousins are having their weekly "Weasley-Potter Mischief-In-Progress" session. I can't have her cousins ruining my surprise, so this time guarantees that they're all occupied. And if Rose decided to be with them this week, then I'm glad she's having fun. All of that doesn't necessarily mean anything."
Marie crossed her arms again, looking at Scorpius with sympathy. "Oh Scorpy, if that's how you want to explain it to yourself, that's fine. Anyway, I think Rose will love it. In fact, I agree with you – you should use it as an opportunity to ask her to the Christmas ball coming up."
"I didn't even say anyth–"
"That charm for the butterfly wasn't that complicated. Sure, I'm clearly the better one at Charms, but it's well within your abilities. You definitely just wanted a girl's approval of your present and a girl's advice on how to charm someone into this ball thing. How on earth did you get sorted into Ravenclaw?"
"I'm in Ravenclaw because the Sorting Hat said so," Scorpius scoffed. "I worked my entire summer to make enough galleons for the necklace, so I didn't want to ruin it by accident, okay? I obviously had to go to the best Charms student in our year to guarantee success. And I only asked for your genuine opinion of the necklace, I did not need you to say that you liked it if you didn't. If you're going to give me advice on asking Rose to the ball, can you at least say something useful?"
"So you were going to ask for advice! Ask away, my friend, only 5 friendship points per question!"
"Merlin's–" Scorpius threw his arms up. "Marie, can you please just give me advice? You're right, I don't know what to say to ask Rose, okay?"
Marie breathed in deeply and let out a long, exaggerated sigh, successfully irritating Scorpius even more.
"Your problem," Marie emphasized, poking a finger into Scorpius' chest, at Scorpius' heart. "Is not what to say, it's more than that. It's when to say it. Where to say it. How to say it. And most importantly: why you'll say it."
"... are you finished using muggle psychology on me?"
Marie took two steps back and beckoned him to come closer so that she could whisper in his ear. Scorpius grudgingly obeyed.
"Foolish child," she giggled in his ear and swiftly moved to ruffle his hair. "You're very welcome for the favor. This one's for free; save your friendship points for a later date."
Scorpius silently watched his friend trot away as he gripped his shoulder bag tightly. He clenched and unclenched his free hand, furious at Marie for analyzing his friendship with Rose, his most precious relationship.
"... thanks for the help," Scorpius muttered as he began to drag his feet back to his common room.
Hello! If you've been following the main story, LPC, thank you so much for reading this as well! I really appreciate your support. If you're just here to read this as a one-shot, I hope you liked it and that it piqued your interest in the main story.
As I write LPC, I have to mentally fill in the gaps of storyline that I don't necessarily write directly into the story... and realized that some of that could make interesting vignettes in their own right. Hence, this story came along. I have a couple of other ideas, so I eventually want to expand the LPC universe a little more with them. Let me know if you think! And review, please? :)
P.S. For LPC readers, if you squint, you'll see Scorpius' point of view of the scene Rose saw in chapter 4. It's around the middle of the story if you didn't catch it right away. I hope you enjoyed seeing what really happened.