"Albus, honestly, I am not going to have a pillow fight with you. We're in different houses anyway, and I can't just tell you my password, do you want me to get detention?" Rose Weasley argued, though weakley. Albus smirked when he noticed this; he knew she wanted to go.
"C'mon Rosie, you can beat Scorpius ruthlessly with a very hard pillow…," Albus offered, poking his cousin in the ribs. Rose looked at him skeptically, and then sighed.
"Fine, but I'm not taking the risk of people finding out I brought Slytherins into Gryffindor. I'll go to the dungeons." Rose huffed, stopping in front of the fat lady. "Let me drop off my books and change out of my school robes, they're raggedy as it is."
"Okay, I'll wait out here." Albus reassured, covering his ears as Rose whispered the password.
"Alright, get the cloak out, it's pass curfew." Rose whispered, sneaking out of her common room. Albus did as she commanded immediately and threw it over their bodies.
"Merlin, Rose. Do you never stop growing?" Albus snapped; trying to pull the cloak down to cover Rose's large feet. Rose's ears turned red and she looked down at her cousin.
"S'not my fault I got this particular Weasley gene. Actually, I have all the Weasley genes, unfortunately. Such genes don't fit a girl." Rose groaned, gesturing to her tall, gangly figure, long, freckled nose, and red hair.
"Hey, I got a long nose." Albus pointed out trying to make Rose feel better. Rose snorted and rolled her blue eyes.
"And long, luscious black hair." Rose said jealously, fingering her own short, dark red mane.
"Came with the head," Albus said modestly. Rose shivered when her feet suddenly hit the cold tile of the dungeon floor. She looked around at the dark, moist brick walls and shook her head. She didn't understand how Slytherins stood the humidity.
"We're here. You got your pillow?" Albus asked, glancing at his cousin, who nodded and held up a faded blue pillow. "Perfect." He mischievously smiled, and opened the door to his common room. A blonde boy looked up from the high backed chair he was sitting in and smirked.
"Did she come?" Scorpius Malfoy asked, standing up out of the shadows, showing off his green and silver striped pajamas.
"Nice pjs, pureblood." Rose snickered, pulling the cloak off her cousin and herself, showing off her plain, red muggle sleep shorts and yellow, muggle tank top.
"Think you're right funny don't you? Have you seen your socks? Trying to cover you stupid, knobby knees, are you?" Scorpius sneered, pointing to her knee high, purple socks. Rose simply threw her pillow at his face.
"Ginger." Scorpius snarled.
"Shut up, the both of you," Albus growled, pointing to the door of the boy's dormitory. "C'mon."
"I have to admit, you've got it good being the only boy fourth years." Rose whispered; following the two boys through the tunnels she assumed led to the boy's dormitory.
"I know." Albus smiled, stopping suddenly. "We're here."
"Finally," Rose sighed as Albus opened the large, metal door. "Oh, Merlin." She gasped, seeing the room for the first time.
The brick walls of the hall had been replaced with glass, making the room seem like a giant fish bowl. Murky, grey waters lapped against the see-through wall eerily. But Rose didn't dwell on it too much; she was too busy staring at the two brilliant beds that stuck out of the domed walls horizontally. They were covered in magnificent, emerald and silver bedding.
"Weasley, you're catching flies." Scorpius snickered, snapping Rose back to reality. Her ears flared red, and she shifted on her feet.
"Well, I'm glad you have all this padding, that way we won't hit our heads on this bleeding, glass wall." Rose said, collapsing onto the dark green, shag carpet that wrapped around the whole room and almost reached half way up the walls.
"Naturally," Albus smirked, taking in the millions of green pillows thrown across the floor. Scorpius climbed the steel ladder that led up to his bed and grabbed his metallic colored pillow. He slid back down quickly, and immediately slammed the pillow into Rose's long, boyish face. He heard a snarl, and jumped back warily. Of course this effort was pointless when Rose shot up from the floor gracefully, and hit Scorpius upside the head, sending his scrawny body to the ground.
"Oh, good one Rosie-," Albus began to say, only to be cut off by a green pillow crashing into his sharp, pale face. Albus laughed manically, and hastily sent a Muffliato charm at the door. He gripped his pillow tightly and ran at his best friend, who ran at him in turn. The two collided in an explosion of feathers and laughter.
"Ha, take that, Potter." Scorpius sneered victoriously, pinning Albus to the ground and hitting him repeatedly.
"Take what exactly, Scorp?" Albus snapped, glancing over the blonde's shoulder happily. Scorpius looked back just in time to see Rose hit him in the face with her pillow, sending him flying off Albus.
"Finally, Ferret-spawn gets his." Rose cheered, jumping around happily, her boy-cut red hair flying around comically.
"Think again, Weasel." Scorpius snarled, flying at Rose, taking her by surprise. But she suddenly twisted her body acrobatically out of the way.
"Ha." Rose grinned goofily, her buck teeth showing as she watched Albus attack Scorpius.
"Excuse me, but this is hardly fair; it's two against one here." Scorpius pointed out, his hand appearing from underneath Albus's body. Albus got off of him, and rubbed his chin thoughtfully. He leaned over and whispered something in Scorpius's ear. The two glanced at Rose, and smiled evilly.
"I suppose we could switch it up. After all, this is our dormitory. My dear cousin shouldn't even be here." Albus agreed, picking up a random pillow.
"Why did you have to grow into your Slytherin personality?" Rose groaned, putting one of her hands on her hip.
"I always had this personality, it just happened to bloom at the right moment." Albus explained, stalking slowly towards his cousin. Rose saw his eyes glittering with playful evil. Scorpius's did the same.
"Prats." Rose growled, raising her pillow bravely. Albus pounced, his cat like body pinning his cousin to the ground as Scorpius hit Rose over and over again with his pillow. Rose managed to slither out from beneath Albus, and run up one of the beds' ladder. She glared down at Scorpius, and jumped down on him.
"Weasley!" Scorpius yelled as she landed on him. She looked down into his silver-grey eyes and smiled gleefully. She leaned closer.
"Ha." She sneered, her minty breath washing over Scorpius's pale, impish face. Scorpius shivered, and snapped at Rose's face. She growled, and sent her bony fist into his side. He groaned, but was suddenly ridded of her weight as Albus dragged her back to the ladder. He grabbed the sheet from his bed, and rolled it up as Scorpius held Rose's hands, leaning back though, wary of her teeth and fearing dismemberment.
"Here you go my dear cousin, have a little rest." Albus laughed, tying Rose to the ladder. Scorpius leaned into Rose now, and chuckled.
"What now, half-blood?" He sneered, leaving the spell of cinnamon toothpaste in Rose's slender nose. Rose shivered herself.
"Now what?" Albus asked; suddenly back into his carefree, regular Albus mood. Scorpius fell to the floor in a heap, finally letting himself feel tired.
"Sleep?"
"I second that." Rose piped, but Scorpius sent her a look and she fell quiet.
"Sounds fine to me, it is one o'clock, and tomorrow we were planning on seeing Hagrid in the morning." Albus nodded, walking over and letting his cousin free.
"Thanks, Al'." She smiled, and blew her ragged bangs out of her eyes. He smiled back, and punched her shoulder softly.
"Please, could you not display your sappy, cousinly love in front of me?" Scorpius gargled, crawling up onto to his bed. Rose rolled her eyes, and looked around.
"Um, where am I going to sleep?" She asked, rubbing the back of her head.
"With Scorpius." Albus said simply, tossing her a pillow.
"Excuse me?" the other two fourth years screeched, their faces twisting into masks of disgust. Albus looked up with a shocked expression.
"What? Scorpius has the bigger bed, and come on; you two have been friends for four years. It's not like it's going to be uncomfortable or anything." Albus explained to the two, looking exasperated.
"I'd rather sleep on the floor." Rose snapped, pointing to it vigorously.
"Okay, but I hope you like freezing to death." Albus said, crawling into his own bed.
"What?" Rose asked nervously. Albus rolled over to look at her.
"After one o' clock the lake always freezes over. I think the Mer-people like it that way or something. And if you're on the floor you'll freeze too." Albus told her, pointing at the water, which was already beginning to freeze.
"I hate you." Rose said, glaring at Albus until she reached Scorpius's ladder. She looked up at Scorpius who was glaring at her with a face as red as a tomato, Rose's ears were the color of her hair. She climbed up on the bed, and slipped under the covers, facing away from Scorpius and as far over as possible. She felt Scorpius move around and knew he was doing the same. Scorpius clenched his eyes shut, and fought back the gag that was threatening to surface. The two fell asleep regardless however, the long Friday and pillow fight taking its toll.
"Well isn't that precious." Scorpius heard through the haze of sleep. He gripped his pillow tighter, reluctant to get up. He buried his face deeper into the pillow, finding its minty spell appealing.
"Sod off, Al'." he groaned, waving his hand, hoping it would hit his best friends face.
"Seriously, Albus." His pillow mumbled. He chuckled and nodded his approval. Scorpius suddenly blinked, and looked down at his pillow with an eerie calm. He was right. His 'pillow' was Rose.
"Bugger!" he exclaimed, his calmness shattering. Rose shot up looking frightened and suddenly slipped of the bed. Scorpius leant over the side and caught her before she could bust her head open on the glass. He looked down at her big, surprised, royal blue eyes. Her hair was sticking up in strange places and resembled a bird nest. He sneered and let her fall. She fell on her back, and the air left her chest in a sickening gasp, he heard the thump of her head hitting the ground.
"Rosie!" Albus gasped, climbing down the ladder and helping his breathless cousin up. She gasped for air, holding her freckled elbows and shaking back and forth.
"What the bloody hell, Scorpius?" Albus snapped, glaring up at the boy. Scorpius had his eyes on Rose, a guilty expression written across his pale face.
"I thought me catching her would soften the fall." Scorpius said frantically, slipping down the ladder.
"Well you were wrong!" Albus growled. "I think something's wrong, she would've been breathing normally by now-, oh shit, her head it bleeding!" Albus hissed pressing his hand into the wound, hoping it would slow the bleeding. He scanned the floor where she had fallen and caught sight of something shiny. He grabbed it with his other hand. "Damn."
"What?" Scorpius asked, his eyes still on Rose's face that was now fading into a sickly purple.
"She hit my watch case." Albus groaned, lifting Rose's scrawny body into his arms with ease, and burst out of his room with Scorpius on his tail, his face grim.
"Thank Salazar it's still six in the morning." Scorpius mentioned, glancing briefly at the empty common room as they ran out its door.
"That's what I'm worried about right now." Albus snapped sarcastically, running up the slightly sloping dungeon floor in his white tank top and grey boxers. Rose whimpered.
Finally the two Slytherins and they're wounded Gryffindor arrived at the Hospital Wing. Scorpius ran ahead, banging his hand on Madam Pomfrey's bedroom door. He heard a few muffled movements and the elderly woman burst out of her room frantically.
"What's the problem, Malfoy?" she asked, but she suddenly caught sight of a bleeding and unconscious Rose. "Oh, dear." She said. She ordered Albus to put Rose on a bed stomach first, and she examined her head. She sighed in relief, and picked up a pair of shears. She hastily cut away a large amount of Rose's trademark red hair. Scorpius winced, as well did Albus.
"It looks like she cracked her skull minutely. No matter, a few stitches and some medicine and she'll be as good as new." She reassured the boys. "Of course, considering wear the crack is, and the harm to her larynx, she won't be able to talk for at least a week." She added as though it wasn't that much of a problem.
"Rose is going to be so pissed when she finds out she's half bald and can't talk." Albus whispered to Scorpius.
"When Rose obviously fell, did she fall on her back and lose her breath?" Pomfrey asked, finishing the stitches.
"Yes, ma'am," Albus confirmed nervously; Pomfrey nodded and proceeded to cut Rose's yellow tank top off, revealing a simple, white brazier. Scorpius made a strangled sound and turned around hastily, his chin-length white-blond hair whishing around his beet red face. Albus however, her being his cousin and having seen her practically naked before; simply hopped from one foot to the other nervously.
"Can I do anything to help, Madam P'?" Albus asked frantically, staring at Rose with genuine fright.
"Calm down, Potter. She'll be just fine. If you want to help so much; get out of my wing. Go get dressed and go down to Hagrid's. He told me at dinner you were visiting him in the morning." The nurse ordered over her shoulder as she walked back to her room to grab her wand. Albus did as he was told, and grabbed Scorpius by the wrist and ran out of the room.
"You're a very lucky girl, Rose; having all these lovely boys care so much about you." Madam Pomfrey chuckled as she came out of her room, her wand at the ready.
;;;;
"Oi, Hagrid!" Albus called, running down the hill, his emerald and onyx robes flying out behind him. Scorpius hurried after him, still pulling his sweater on. The giant man looked up and smiled gleefully, his beetle black eyes sparkling.
"'Ello Al' and Scorpius! How are ye?" Hagrid bellowed, and grabbing the two boys in a back-cracking hug. Hagrid seemed to notice the absence of Rose and asked where she was as he let them down.
"Oh, she fell off her bed, the clumsy lump. She just needs a few stitches." Albus chuckled, patting Hagrid's elbow. Hagrid nodded, though confused at the claim; Rose wasn't clumsy.
"Sad to 'ear that, we were going to make a trip into th' forest today; ye know how much she would've loved that." Hagrid said sadly, stroking his grey beard.
"She's still coming, Hagrid." Albus reassured, following the man into his hut.
"But she won't be able to talk, though." Scorpius added, seeming a bit bored. Hagrid poured them tea, and set out Rock Cakes. "Thanks, Hagrid." Scorpius smiled, looking up at Hagrid. The half-giant's face lit into a very touched expression.
"I jus' don' understan' how ye ever turned out so much better than yer dad," Hagrid told him, patting Scorpius's head. Scorpius laughed nervously, and pondered on this as well. Suddenly, they heard a knock on Hagrid's door.
"That must be Rose." Albus said, getting up from his perch on Hagrid's bed. He opened the door, and something, maybe Rose, walked in.
"Oh Voldy's nose, you have a small animal on your head!" Scorpius screeched, toppling out of his chair. Rose blushed and tried to say something, but rolled her eyes when she remembered she couldn't.
"Wait a second; I think this is her hair." Albus observed, picking up strands of the long, wild mane of red that sprouted from Rose's head.
"Oh, no wonder she keeps it so short, her head looks like a ginger sheep." Scorpius snickered, only to be smacked on the back of his head by Hagrid, which thrust him forward, and onto the floor. He came back up with a dazed expression. Albus and Rose, or Rose tried to, laughed mercilessly. "Oh shut up." Scorpius snapped, getting back to his feet.
"Fine, but you're a git." Albus smirked.
"Thank you." Scorpius scolded, dusting himself off. He walked over to Rose, and looked at her. Glad he was nearly as tall as her, and was able to look her in the eye. He opened his mouth to make an insulting remark, but was cut off by Rose's fist crashing into his straight, perfectly angled nose. Scorpius groaned, and grabbed at his nose. Blood slipped through his long, slender fingers.
"I guess I deserved that, but did you have to break my nose?" Scorpius asked, looking hurt emotionally as well as well as physically. Rose simply looked at him, her eyes practically spelling out: 'You broke my head; I broke your nose, now we're even.'
"Ugh, Weasley." He huffed, taking Hagrid's handkerchief when it was offered. He wiped the blood away, and poked his already bruising nose tenderly. Rose smiled with triumph, and plopped down in Hagrid's giant armchair, crossing her long, gangly legs. Freckles were sprinkled across her knobby knees. She grabbed her hair, and looked at it with disgust. She suddenly turned toward the three men and gestured something along the lines of 'Quill and Parchment.'
"Here," Scorpius sighed, handing her some from off Hagrid's table. As Scorpius did so, Hagrid excused himself, saying he needed to go find Fang.
Rose took the utensils and quickly went to work with them. She handed it to Albus after a moment, and Albus was quick to read what she had to say.
"She says that she wants her hair cut, and since Scorpius is an artist she wants him to cut it." Albus explained, crumpling the paper into a ball. Scorpius nodded as if he knew she would've wanted this.
"Fine with me, but I think we should do it outside, I don't want clumps of gingerness floating around Hagrid's house." Scorpius smirked, grabbing his wand out of his pocket, and pulling Rose out the door.
"You're just like a pill, instead a makin' me better, you keep making me ill!" Scorpius heard as walked past the deserted girl lavatory. He had heard the song before; in Rose's room at Christmas. He rolled his eyes at Rose's love of stupid muggle, American music. He opened the door as quietly as he could, and sneaked into the room, hoping he could see the girl dance and sing like the git she was.
"-run as fast as I can, to the middle of nowhere, to the middle of my frustrated fears, and I swear!" Scorpius heard Rose sing in her awful newly revived voice. He watched her from behind the sinks, his jaw on the floor. Rose could dance. Suddenly, she stopped, and turned around, her eyebrows high on her forehead.
"Malfoy?" she asked incredulously as he tripped away from his hiding place.
"I was just walking by when I heard your awful singing, and thought I'd come to put everyone out of their misery." Scorpius sneered, pointing to the wizard-made radio on the edge of a sink. Rose rolled her eyes, and grabbed Scorpius and pulled him towards her. She shot something at the radio, and another song began to play.
"C'mon, Malfoy, live a little, dance with me!" Rose laughed, pulling his arms up and down like they were wings. Scorpius's face merely screwed up with disgust.
"But I know it don't matter cause all we need in this world is some love-," Rose bellowed, flying away from Scorpius in a graceful leap, which strangely fit the song well. Scorpius laughed, and grabbed her, sending her into a twirl. Abruptly, before the song that was playing was over, a slow one took its place. And suddenly, as if on a whim, Scorpius leant down and kissed her straight on the mouth.
00oo0oo0oo00
"Arrghh!" Scorpius yelled, sitting up frantically and shaking his head aggressively. Albus looked up from his book where he was reading on his bed.
"What is it, mate?" Albus asked, sounding concerned. Scorpius looked at him with crazed eyes, and he merely said:
"Bad dream."
"Hey, Rose! Over here!" Albus yelled, waving his hand above his head to catch his cousin's attention. She looked over to her friends, who were walking towards the Quidditch Pitch.
"Coming!" she called back, running towards them, glad she didn't have any plans, as she had forgot they were trying out for Quidditch again this year.
"So, think I'm going to have better luck this year?" Albus asked, pointing at the towering goal posts.
"I think so; you practiced so much this summer. I did to, but I didn't actually try out last year." Rose told him, shifting the heavy weight of her books to the other arm.
"Oh, I'll take those." Scorpius, who had been strangely quiet till then, asked.
"Yeah, thanks Scorp. I took so many classes this year; I think my arms may be limp by the end of it." Rose joked, picking up her left arm as if it was useless, and letting it fall back down again. They all laughed as they walked unto the beautiful green grass of the Quidditch field. Rose took off her robes and sweater, and threw them on the ground as she ran to grab a broom. The boys were hot on her tail. Rose grabbed a Nimbus 4000 and went to stand in line, which thankfully, was short.
"Oh bugger." Scorpius heard Albus mumble. He looked over at the boy, and saw he was staring at the line of people. There wasn't anyone dangerous looking, just the Longbottom siblings, Dennis Thomas, and the Gryffindor Captain; James Potter.
"Oh come on, Al! It's just your brother." Scorpius said, walking towards his own Captain, Sean Bennet.
"Not them, lugless, him!" Albus hissed, pointing to a boy in the stands. He had icy blue eyes, and icy blond hair swept back from his small, heart shaped face. He had his grey and blue scarf wrapped around his neck in some stupid muggle fashion.
"What, the gay guy?" Scorpius asked, laughing. Albus sent him a look.
"There is nothing wrong with gay people." Albus growled, glancing back up at the boy. Scorpius didn't dwell on Albus's dumb interest in the boy, though, he was to busy watching James tease Rose as she mounted her broom.
"Alright string bean, you do know how to actually play, don't you?" James Potter joked, poking Rose as she topped her broom. Rose glared at him, watching him ruffling his light brown hair, and flicking his square glasses up his tan, Weasley nose like the git he was.
"Oh, yes." Rose sneered, taking off. James followed her, the Snitch in his hand.
"You ready, Little Cousin?" James chuckled, throwing the small gold ball from hand to hand. Rose nodded, never taking her eyes off the little ball. James nodded, and let the ball go. Rose flew after it, the wind blowing her short red hair back.
The ball flew through the goal posts, and she followed it, trying to pick up her speed. The Snitch suddenly began to descend rapidly. Rose tried to do the same, but just as they were beginning to reach the ground, Rose had a crazy idea. She pulled up early, but she hooked her ridiculously long legs around the broom, falling slightly so only her feet rested on the broom. She reached out and grabbed the Snitch, and pulled herself up. She to back to control of the broom and landed. She jumped off the broom and did a dorky, victory dance.
"Ha, take that Potter!" Rose laughed, waving the Snitch in James's face. James huffed, and rolled his eyes.
"Alright, alright. Please, lower your nose back to the level of us lower level organisms." James snapped, taking the Snitch from Rose before she could do anything stupid like swallow it.
"Sorry." Rose giggled, proving that she didn't feel the least bit sorry. She fixed her shorts, which she hid beneath her skirt, and pulled up her white and purple striped socks as she made her way back to the broom cupboard, scared someone might see the illegal shorts.
"I saw that." Someone whispered from outside the cupboard. Rose jumped, but she quickly pulled her self back together as she stomped out of the space, and pointed her skinny finger at Scorpius's newly crooked nose.
"Don't you say a word, Malfoy, or so help me I will de-break your nose, and then break it again." She threatened, poking him hard in the chest. Scorpius rolled his eyes, and pushed her out of the way.
"Oh no, I'm so scared!" Malfoy mocked, running out of the cupboard with his hands on his head and a false expression if horror on his face. Rose laughed, and threw a rock at him as they reached her books and clothes.
"So, how did you do?" Rose asked, pulling her sweater on, and wrapping her robes around her. Scorpius grabbed her books again as they began to walk back to the castle.
"Good, actually; I think I'll be quite a good Beater. Albus, however, got hit in the head with a bludger, so he'll be in the 'Wing for the rest of the day." Scorpius told her. They walked in silence for a while, the autumn leaves crunching beneath their feet. Finally they reached the Great Hall and sat down for Lunch.
"Oh, I wonder if he'll ask me to go to the ball this year." Rose wondered aloud as she at her potatoes and looked at a boy at the Hufflepuff table. Scorpius spewed his Pumpkin Juice everywhere.
"What?" he thundered, catching Rose by surprise.
"Um, hello, where have you been, Scorpius? I've been in love with Finn Jake for years! I'm just hoping, now that I'm old enough to actually go, he'll ask me to the Honorary Ball." Rose explained, cleaning up the Pumpkin Juice.
"Oh, right, I knew that. Well, I already have a date." Scorpius blushed, looking everywhere but at Rose. Rose scratched her knife against her plate a little too hard, causing a horrible screech.
"Oh, is that so?" she asked politely, pushing her plate away from her.
"Yes, but that isn't important right now. What's strange is that you were actually hoping that someone would ask you." Scorpius smirked, placing his hands in his lap.
"Excuse me?" Rose growled, her eyes betraying her for just a second as they flashed with hurt. But they hardened immediately. "What surprises me, is that anyone would go out with a Malfoy!" she bellowed, shooting up out of her chair, and tromping away.
"Whatever, bitch!" Scorpius called after her. Rose whipped around, her hair suddenly flying up from her head as if with rage, it radiated with a scary, glowing red light. She pointed her wand at Scorpius's shoes, and they caught on fire. She turned back around, and stalked out of the room.
0o0o0o0o0
Oh, holy cow! What's gonna happen next? Will Rose get her date? Will Scorpius have another dream? Will the gay boy show up again? Will Albus ever learn how to keep his big head out of the way of the Bludgers? Tune in to find out!