Previously published story, I'm updating it and posting it on this account because I had some troubles with the previous one (problems meaning I forgot my email password). Anyway, I'm hoping to upload the next chapter sometime this week and finish this story.
Hope you enjoy this.
I do not own Harry Potter or the Wizarding World.
"Contrary to popular belief, the world does not implode when he kisses her".
(Nowhere you can be that isn't where you're meant to be)
December 31th. New Year's Eve.
The room is warm and the lights are low and The Weird Sister's brand new hit is blasting so high from the speakers Rose Weasley can barely hear herself think.
She tries not to step on anything (or anyone) as she makes her way through the room, a task that has become rather difficult in the past hour or so, as more and more people keep showing up at Brianna Vane's house, where the New Year's Eve party is currently going full blast.
She navigates the sea of bodies, walking towards the makeshift bar where her whole family is gathered.
"Rosie!" Louis yells as soon as he spots her, and the girls around him cheer loudly, swallowing whatever he says next with her cries. They are all making such moony eyes at him one would think they're looking at a god instead of a good-looking boy.
"Hey". Rose says, finally reaching him.
"Here", he replies instantly, handing her a glass full of something bright green. "Try this".
Rosie stares at it suspiciously. "What is it?"
It's a lesson her mum repeats constantly, "never accept a drink if you haven't seen how it was made" (especially if it's from one of her cousins, Rose thinks).
"James' special mix". Says Louis, just as the liquid starts to bubble in Rose's hand, turning suddenly dark blue. She can't remember James' mix ever doing that.
"Forget it", a voice says, and Lily Potter herself materializes next to Rose. "It's awful, Rosie. Don't even try it".
Louis frowns, "Well, Roxanne drank it. And so did Hugo".
"Hugo is an idiot", Lily states matter of factly, and Rose doesn't have the heart to defend her little brother, because anyone willing to try Louis' drink is an idiot.
She turns to Lily, "What are you drinking?"
"Just a butterbeer. You can have it, though, Mike Goldstein offered to get me a drink". Her cousin beams, and Rose can't help but smile back at her.
That's the thing about Lily, she has the ability to make you feel happy simply because she is.
"Thanks" Rose says, accepting the bottle of butterbeer, "Have you seen Al?"
Lily shrugs before wrinkling her nose in disgust. "He must be sucking face with Bomann somewhere".
"She is not that bad". Rose tries, because Eva Bomann is Al's girlfriend and Al is Rose's best friend and she finds the obligation of defending her at some level, but even she can't be too enthusiastic about it.
"Right", Lily laughs, shaking her head. Hew newly cut hair (now curling nicely around her shoulders and with bangs) catches the light and for a second it almost looks like it's made of fire. "I'm going to find Mike now. I'll tell you everything about it tomorrow".
And then she's gone in a flash.
Rose turns to Louis, only to find him pressing a tall brunette against the wall. Hugo is nowhere to be seen, and Roxanne is happily dancing standing on the bar.
She takes exactly two gulps of beer before starting to feel like she doesn't have enough air to breathe again. So she turns and bolts for the back door, that closes behind her with far more force than necessary, and she sees a dark figure jump from where its seated leaning against the stone wall of the house.
When she comes a bit closer, she realizes it's not a dark figure at all, but Scorpius Malfoy.
"Hey", she says.
"Weasley", he replies nodding at her.
And then there's silence.
While it might not be the most uncomfortable moment of Rose's life (that will forever be that time involving a drunk Al and the whole Auror's Department), it definitely ranks on the top five. And she feels the sudden urge to start talking about anything, about everything, just to break the heavy silence that hangs between them. But, of course, she doesn't.
Because this is Scorpius Malfoy we're talking about. And she's supposed to hate him but she doesn't; and he's sort of friends with Al and works well with her as Head Boy. And she can probably count the interactions they've had in the last seven years using one hand; all of them very proper and polite and somehow completely fake.
Because there's something about Scorpius Malfoy that makes Rose Weasley's blood burn.
He is slouched against the wall, twirling an empty bottle of beer in his right hand while he taps his own leg with his left one. And Rose thinks is this nervous gesture (one she's never, ever, seen Scorpius Malfoy do), more than anything else, what makes her move forward.
And sit right next to him.
"Are you okay?", she asks quietly, looking at the ground. Their legs are almost touching.
"Yeah". He answers, in the same soft tone.
After a minute of more silence, she finally raises her head to look at him. He is staring straight ahead of him, frowning slightly. But he looks, well, different from his usual perfectly composed and distant self. It has something to do, Rose believes, with the way his almost white hair is a total mess and the collar of his shirt is completely wrinkled.
He looks approachable.
And for some reason, Rose's stomach somersaults in her belly.
"Theo and Serena are driving me crazy" he blurts out, whipping his head around to look at her while he speaks "They are constantly fighting and they expect me to pick a side, and then they make up and make out and suddenly it's like I'm not even there"
Rose can suddenly recall an image of Theo Nott and Serena Zabini grinding against each other on the dance floor. She wrinkles her nose in disgust.
"It must suck" she tells Scorpius honestly, handing him her bottle of butterbeer "Having your two best friends dating".
He smiles slightly at her, taking a long gulp before answering. "Sometimes, it truly does".
Rose thinks of her parents, and suddenly she feels really sorry for her Uncle Harry.
"What about you?", Scorpius asks, handing her bottle back, "Where's your sidekick?".
"Do you mean Albus or Effie?".
Scorpius thinks about it for a second before shrugging. "Both"
"Well, Al is sticking his tongue down his girlfriend's throat", Rose says making a disgusted face (the corners of his mouth turn slightly upwards) "And Effie is at some kind of fancy dinner at her grandmother's castle".
"That pretty much sucks, too". Scorpius nods "Wait", he says, Rose's words slowly registering "Did you just say castle?".
"Yes I did. Effie's family is even better well off than yours", she says, laughing at his starstruck face.
"Are you for real?".
"She's royalty" , Rose tells him. And yes, she's very serious. Her best friend shares the blood of the Kings and Queens of England. Talk about well connected friendships.
"Effie Howard?". Scorpius asks, apparently still in shock.
Rose puts her hand on her hips, a very Granger gesture she's never been able to stop herself from using, despite being fully aware it makes her look just like her mum.
"Lady Elizabeth Rosaline Victoria Wellesly-Howard", she recites, almost like a song.
Scorpius blinks, and then he takes her butterbeer from her hands once again, and takes a sip. Very slowly, a smile creeps into his features, and suddenly, he's laughing loudly.
"Sorry", he says, "I'm just considering the possibilities of telling my father the Weasleys have higher connections than our family ever did".
He laughs again, and Rose smiles without even realizing it.
Voices start to raise from the inside of the house, and soon enough, everyone seems to be cheering and clapping. Rose can even hear a couple of small explosions that make the house light up.
And only then, she realizes they are welcoming the new year.
"Did we miss the countdown?". She asks Scorpius incredulously.
"I think so", he replies, blinking up at her. And it might be a trick of the low light, but she thinks his eyes are blue instead of gray.
"Oh", she mumbles, looking back at the ground, not really sure of what to do.
"Hey", he says, moving her left leg so it knocks against her right one. "Happy New Year, Weasley".
Rose closes her eyes. She can hear him breathing softly at her side, and the happy sound of her friends and family gathered inside.
But over all, she can feel his warm leg pressed softly against her skin.
"Happy New Year", she replies.
And she truly believes it's going to be a good one.
xxx
(So please, love me do)
February 14th. Saint Valentine's
Rose craves a cauldron cake. Unfortunately, so does what feels like half of the Hogwarts student body.
She can't remember ever seeing Honeydukes so packed on a Valentine's Day. She has to elbow her way through the store and it's so hot she can actually feel her face burning as it turns red. Shouldn't all this lovely couples be sharing a slice of Madam Puddifood's cake and leaving the Honeyduke's sweets for dateless people like her?
"I'm getting a headache". Effie complains, fanning herself with her hand. "Maybe we could just forget about the cakes".
Rose sighs, but nods in defeat. She's pretty sure there'll be none left by the time she reaches the counter anyway.
"Fine", she huffs, "I think Al got a box of them for Eva. I can always steal a couple of them, he won't notice".
"Sounds like a plan" , Effie agrees, grabbing Rose's hand firmly as she tries to reach the door.
It's really cold outside, in a matter of seconds, Rose can't feel the tip of her nose (which she absolutely hates), and she has to wrap her gold and red scarf twice around her neck.
"I can't believe it's not snowing", she complains, "We'd be still freezing to death, but at least it'd be beautiful".
She thinks Effie smiles at her, but she can only see her eyes appearing between her pink hat and her scarf, which she's lifted to cover her nose, something Rose could never accomplish (the last time she tried her hair ended up tangled so tightly around the scarf she almost had to cut it off).
Like Rose's, Effie's hair is curly a slightly too long. Unlike Rose's, hers is not bright red and frizzy. Or slowly driving her into insanity.
"Hey", her friend says, her voice muffled against the scarf, pointing to a small figure in the distance. "Isn't that Lily?".
And sure enough, Lily and her date are about to get into a carriage.
"Rosie!", Lily beams as she approaches. She looks lovely, with a soft blue coat and her cheeks pink from the cold.
"Hi Lils". Rose smiles, and then her face falls as she realized there are no other carriages around. She turns to Effie, "How long do you think it'll take another carriage to appear?".
"Don't be silly", Lily exclaims, sticking her hand out of the door and grabbing Rose's arm, "You can ride with us. We don't mind".
Lily's date (who is, Rose notices, no other than Mike Goldstein), doesn't look that convinced, but Lily's tone is final and it only takes him two seconds to scoot over on his seat to leave space.
"Thanks", Effie says, jumping up and taking the seat next to Lily's, "It's frigging freezing".
Rose shrugs and gets on the carriage too. She makes sure of leaving enough space between herself and Mike, because although the poor boy is still smiling he looks a bit overwhelmed at being trapped with two seventh year girls.
"Okay", Lily says, clapping her hands together, "Ready to go".
The carriage starts to slowly move, but it's abruptly stopped by a voice.
"Wait!"
Scorpius Malfoy is standing there, looking slightly winded up, like he's been running. He takes a look at the scene in front of him and blinks, for a second, Rose thinks his eyes linger on her briefly; but then he's looking away and she realizes she's just imagining things.
"Malfoy", Effie is the first to recover, "Came on in, I guess".
He snorts as he takes the seat next to her and the door closes once more. This time, the carriage moves faster and his knees keep bumping lightly against Rose's. She tries to move away and so does he, but they are both tall and sitting right in front of each other and eventually Rosie just gives up and regrets wearing a dress instead of a pair of jeans.
"So, what happened to you date?", Effie asks him. She is his partner in Potions this year and although they are not friends they are friendly-ish.
Rose's head snaps up involuntary to look at him.
Scorpius grimaces.
"She kept insisting on going to Madam Puddifood's".
Rose snorts, and he looks at her with a raised eyebrow. "Well" she says "Didn't you know she would like to go when you asked her out?".
"I didn't ask her out", he replies, folding his arms over his chest with a frown. "She asked me, and I thought it was cool of her, so I said yes. But she's absolutely Valentine's crazy".
"So you just ditched her?", Rose asks accusingly, "That's a horrible thing to do, you know?".
"Oh like you're one to talk" ,he snaps back quickly, "You closed the door on Norton's face at the Heads' dorms yesterday when he came to ask you out ".
"Shut up" , Rose hisses, but it's already too late.
"What?", Effie and Lily yell at the same time. And Rose swears Mike Goldstein gulps as he squirms a bit on his seat.
"I was going to tell you", she lies.
"Why would you do that?" , Lily exclaims, throwing her arms up in the air, "Oscar Norton is hot".
Effie nods in agreement and Mike huffs indignantly, but Lily just waves him off.
"Seriously, why didn't you say yes?".
"He didn't ask me as much as commanded it", Rose confesses, wrinkling her nose in disgust at the memory. "And he brought me a bouquet of roses".
Out of the corner of her eye, she can see Scorpius shake his head, and she's pretty sure he mumbles "Amateur".
"Don't you like roses?", Mike Goldstein suddenly asks, startling Rose. He looks truly interested though, which makes her laugh.
"It's not that I don't like them", she explains, "I just hate people buying me them just because my name is Rose. I mean, there are a lot of other flowers I like better, given me roses it's the most cliched thing someone can do. It just proves they think they know me, when they actually don't, at all".
Mike nods, like he understands her. And right then, Rose decides he likes the kid. She makes a mental note to tell Lily latter.
Scorpius' legs hit her once more, and she winces.
He sighs and moves back, and then, out of nowhere, he leans forward and places his hand on Rose's knees, holding her still as he effectively traps her legs in between his own. He lets go quickly, looking as if he's never moved at all.
But Rose can feel his legs brushing against hers once more, and her heart is suddenly beating wildly in her chest. In her ears. Everywhere.
"Are those cauldron cakes?", Effie asks, pointing at one of Lily's bags.
Rose wonders how can she act so normal. As if nothing had just happened. As if Rose's heart isn't about to implode.
"You want them?", Lily asks lightly, also completely unaware, "I'm so full right now I don't think I'm going to be able to eat anything for the next two days".
"I'll take just one", Effie laughs, "You want one too, right Rosie?".
"Sure", she replies slowly. She's surprised to find out she's still got a voice.
"They are charmed", Lily explains as she gets the box ,"So when you touch them they change shape".
Effie grabs one and, sure enough, it turns into a heart. Rose's becomes a small flower.
"At least is not a rose" . Scorpius says, winking at her.
It makes Rose laugh.
From her seat next to the window, Lily frowns slightly, looking between them.
"What?" , Rose mouths to her, after swallowing her first bite of cake.
Her cousin doesn't answer. Instead, a smirk slowly appears on her mouth. It's the same smirk all the Potters share, the one that not Uncle Harry or Aunt Ginny have, and probably belonged to James Potter First himself.
In Rose's experience, that smirk means trouble.
She wonders what she's just gotten herself into.
xxx
(Little darling, I feel the ice is slowly melting)
March 17th . Saint Patrick's Day
Saint Patrick's Day falls on a Saturday, and even though they live in Scotland and most of them aren't Irish, the seventh year, unsurprisingly, decide to throw a party.
Surprisingly, Headmistress McGonagall agrees on letting them use the Great Hall to hold it.
And that's why Rose Weasley is currently charming an endless line of Christmas bulbs to make them all green.
"I hate Saint Patrick's day" Kerry Walsh snarls as she tries to hung evenly a bunch of little shamrocks.
Kerry is the Hufflepuff's seventh year prefect, and Rose has been good friends with her since third year, when Professor Sinistra organized her class alphabetically and they ended up having to sit together.
"Tell me about it" Rose grumbles, pointing at the next bulb so forcefully it breaks in a half. "Damn it".
"I've got it" Kerry says, repairing the bulb with a touch of her wand. "I can finish this".
Rose shakes her head "Of course not. Doing the lighting is my job"
"Doing lighting sounds fine. Everything sound fine compared to hanging shamrocks around" right then, one of said shamrocks decides to fall off in an odd angle. Kerry turns to Rose and claps her hand together "Please, let me do the lights".
"All yours".
A few feet away, Rose can see Al happily talking with a kitchen elf.
"What on earth are you doing?" she yells, practically running towards him.
He raises his hands defensively, "I've already finished everything Scorpius told me to do".
"Oh, that's great. And where, if I might ask, is Malfoy right now?".
"I don't know. He said something about the kitchens I think" Al says shrugging "Wait, Rosie? Where are you going?".
But she's already running down the stairs. Her blood burns in her veins and she sees red. She can't believe Malfoy just left her to do the work for the stupid party he requested McGonagall in the first place while he forgets all about his Head Boy obligations.
When she gets to the kitchen entrance, she tickles the pear with a bit too much force and it lets out a wimp instead of a laugh, but the door opens up for her anyway.
She finds Scorpius Malfoy sitting on a table, calmly eating a piece of chocolate cake and talking with two elves.
She's decides she's going to kill him.
"What the fuck are you doing?" she hisses in his ear as soon as she's next to him.
He jumps, and a piece of cake falls to the floor.
"What the hell, Weasley?" he says, twisting his body to get a good look at her.
He looks pissed of, she notices. Good.
"What are you doing here, having chocolate cake, while the rest of the prefects are working our asses upstairs for the stupid party?" she yells, pointing at him.
"I am working on the party!"
"Oh yes, I can see that. Definitely" she can feel herself getting more worked up every second. And she thinks that maybe he can feel it too, because he raises his hands very slowly and speaks softly.
"Listen, I came here to make sure the kitchens knew everything we need for tonight. McGonagall even gave me a list" he shows her a piece of parchment neatly written "See?".
Rose snatches the paper form his hands with more force than necessary, reading the whole list before slowly commanding herself to take deep breaths and relax.
"Fine" she finally snaps, still on a bad mood "I hate decorating".
"I noticed" he mumbles, but he still offers her what's left of his cake.
She takes it and sits down in front of him, slowly tasting the chocolate until it makes her feel completely relaxed once more.
"This is a great cake" she says to no one in particular.
"So, you like chocolate cake. But no decorating or bouquets of roses" Scorpius says, tilting his head as he is studying her.
Rose nods, too occupied to answer him.
"I like sugar quills" Scorpius suddenly offers.
"Flavored ones?" Rose asks. And she's surprised to find out she's genuinely interested on what he has to say.
She's known Scorpius Malfoy for most of her life now. They've been sharing a common room since last September. And still, she doesn't know anything about him.
And for the first time, she realizes she wants to.
"Plain ones" he answers, and after thinking for a second he adds "Deluxe edition".
"They are the best ones" Rose agrees. "I truly have a sweet tooth" she tells him after she's swallowed a couple of bites more.
"That's good to know" he says.
"Why?"
"Because we have to work a lot together and you have a really short temper" he tells her honestly.
"I do not!" she exclaims, suddenly forgetting all about the cake.
"You are the most impatient person I know" he says, but it doesn't really sound like a bad thing. It's more that he's stating a fact, not particularly annoyed or affected by it "You always act on impulse, and then think. Too bold".
"Really?" Rose asks. She can't recall anyone ever calling her bold. That's an adjective reserved to James and Fred or Roxy and Lily. Not to Rose, who's always overthinking everything and likes the quiet and hides on the roof of her grandparents to be alone sometimes.
No one has ever told Rose Weasley she's bold. She rather like how it sounds.
"It's the first time anyone has described me that way" she tells him quietly "Compared to my family I'm just... ordinary".
"Ordinary?" And there's something in his tone when he says just that one word that makes her look at him "Rose" he says, very seriously "You couldn't be ordinary even if you tried".
xxx
(Take a sad song, and make it better)
April 3rd. Easter
Rose goes home during the Easter Weekend.
She spends two days at the Burrow with all of her cousins and the next one home with her parents and Uncle Harry and Aunt Ginny.
By the time Sunday comes around, she feels like her head will explode if she doesn't get some quiet time soon. So after having breakfast (or really, having a cup of coffee, because his dad had to go to the shop early this morning and as brilliant as her mum is, her eggs with toast are truly awful) she throws a coat over her new jersey and announces she's going to spend the day at Diagon Alley.
Her mum yells at her to be careful and home for dinner, and Rose hears Hugo mutter "Let's hope that's edible" as she passes him while he's still sitting at the kitchen table.
She floos straight to the Leaky Cauldron, and she's surprised to find it almost completely full so early. But when you call the owner Aunt Hannah there's always a table for you, she supposes, because five minutes after stepping out of the fireplace she's seated and the bartender, a man in her thirties that seems to be always smiling, is serving her a plate full of well-cooked eggs.
After she feels like she will never be able to eat again, she finally gets up and decides to go to Flourish and Blott's.
It's probably her favorite place in the whole world. Something about the smell of paper and the sight of people crouched in the corners, reading.
She traces the spine of the books with her fingertips. The great dragon encyclopedia growls, when she touches it and Cheering Charms lets out a soft giggle.
Bathilda Bagshot's The Oracle of Palombo flies right out of her hands.
"I'm sorry dear" the shop assistant, an elderly woman so big it seems like a miracle she can move through the store without colliding with one of the book shelves, says with a wave of her hand, "But a young lady at the front is asking right for this book. I could get you another one from the storehouse, if you're interested".
Rose doesn't have enough money on her. If it was another of the workers asking her, she might consider ask to take the book home and have her dad bring the rest of the money later. But this woman is clearly new and she doesn't know that her boss, Lucy, who is in charge of the bookstore, is Rose's cousin.
"No thanks" she says "I was just looking".
The woman leaves and Rose is about to turn a corner when she sees Sybil Gardner talking to someone she can't see. Rose recoils.
Sybil Gardner is the biggest gossip in Hogwarts, everyone knows that. And Rose's pretty sure she tells thing to someone on The Prophet, because she's lost count of how many times James and Freddie's latest prank had made front cover, or how many times some family fight had been exaggerated and twisted until it sounded like a duel had broken out in the school's corridors. And okay, maybe Rose doesn't have proof, but Sybil is always around when things like this happens and she's Rita Skeeter's niece, which (she believes) is actually all proof she needs.
"Rose, hi" a voice says from her back, and she feels her whole body tense up, because she recognizes him instantly.
"Hi" she says, as she turns to face Scorpius "I thought you were staying at Hogwarts".
"I was going to, but Aunt Daphne insisted I should come home with her even though my parents are traveling" he replies, leaning against the bookshelf next to him.
He looks relaxed, smiling brightly at her. His hair is absolutely disheveled and, for a second, he looks just like he had on New Year's, approachable and nice and most definitely handsome. And suddenly, all Rose can think about is sitting next to him, his warm reaching out to her, the sound of their breathing blending together.
Her stomach does that thing when it raises to her throat before abruptly coming down again. She feels on fire.
"Rose?" he says and she realizes with a start he's been talking to her.
"What?"
"I said I was just going to Sugarplum's Sweets. Do you wanna come?"
She wants to say yes. She wants it so badly it hurts. And she swears she can feel the word on her throat, leaving her lips.
But it never does.
Because right then, she hears a strong laugh behind her. And she remembers Sybil Gardner is here, and she's nosy and she'll tell Rita Skeeter every piece of little, stupid information she hears or sees.
But worse still, she remembers she's a Weasley and he's a Malfoy, and a shot of the two of them walking together around Diagon Alley would definitely make front page in every gossip column and that would make a lot of people angry.
And she's never, ever, hated her whole family so much in her life.
"I can't" she says, and the lie burns in the tip of her tongue "I have to get back home".
"Oh, okay" he says, shrugging, but something in his eyes seems to close, "I'll see you around then".
As soon as he leaves, she wants to take everything back. To get a timeturner and go back in time only five minutes, just this once, and make this right.
But of course, she doesn't, so she goes home.
…...
Rose goes straight to bed, excusing herself from dinner saying that she feels sick. Which is not a lie. She feels like she's just been punched.
Her mum and Aunt Ginny say they'll be up with her in a minute, but when she hears the door of her room open from where she's hiding under her covers, it's Lily who comes in.
Her cousin doesn't say anything, just gets on the bed with her and holds her hand while she weeps in silence until her lungs burn and she has to come up for air. She can see herself in the mirror then, and she looks pale and messy and just plain sad.
Oh, she thinks, so this is how a coward looks like.
She hates this person. She doesn't want to be this person. She doesn't want to be someone who gives a damn about what people might thing or someone that spends her life trying to do what others think is the right thing when it feels so wrong.
She wants to fix everything so badly it hurts.
"Lily" she finally says "I screwed up".
"Well" her cousin says, sending Rose a look that makes her seem a hundred years old "What are you going to do to fix it?".
…...
This is what she does.
She goes to Diagon Alley first thing in the morning, before heading to King's Cross, and she buys the biggest box of Deluxe Sugar Quills she can find at Sugarplum's Sweets Shop.
That evening, before Effie picks her up at the Head's dorms to go to the Great Hall, she knocks on his door.
"Hi" he says when he opens up, still dressed in his robes, his hair perfectly in place.
She talks before he can say anything else , too afraid of losing her nerve. "This is for you".
He grabs the box wordlessly, looking at it like it's the first time he's seen a sugar quill.
"What?" he finally manages "Why?".
"Because I really wish I had gone with you to Sugarpum's yesterday" she answers honestly, and it feels so good she wants to scream in delight.
He smiles at her, reaching for something inside his room she can't see. When he emerges again, he holds two boxes of sweets in his hands.
"I bought this for you" he says, handing her one of them. It's even deluxe edition too "I really wish you had come, too".
(Rose stomach feels on fire).
xxx
(Love was such an easy game to play)
May 2nd. Victory day
Rose finds Roxanne sitting by the lake. It's a warm afternoon and the exams are still a few weeks away, so Hogwart's grounds are packed with students sitting in smalls groups or hiding from the sun under the first trees of the Forbidden Forest.
Ro is lying on the grass, her eyes closed and her face turned to the sun. She keeps frowning every time the group of younger girls sat close by erupts in giggles. They are looking at Louis and a boy Rose vaguely recognizes pass a battered Quaffle between them.
She nudges Roxanne with her foot when she reaches her, earning an annoyed glance.
"Hey, what do you want?" Ro asks, sitting up.
"Why do you assume I want something?".
She sends her a meaningful look, reaching up to tie her black hair in a ponytail. "So you don't need anything?".
Rose raises up her voice to be heard over the new set of giggles. "Can I have Bertie to send Victoire her birthday present?".
Ro sighs loudly, "Wait a second".
She gets up and in a quick, fluid motion only a Quidditch chaser would manage, she snatches the Quaffle midair before it reaches Louis. Then she turns to the girls.
"Here" she exclaims, throwing them the ball without much force "Show's over".
They scatter so fast Rose barely sees them running.
"Okay" Roxanne continues, turning to her and ignoring Louis' protests "You can use him, if you can get him to cooperate".
"Great thanks".
As she walks back to her friends, Rose can hear the boys still winning and Roxanne's annoyed tone. "Oh, for Merlin's Sake!, I'll get you another stupid Quaffle":
Rosie waits until it's almost dinner time to head for the owlery. The corridors are almost empty, and everyone she encounters is going in the direction of the Great Hall, where the Victory Feast takes place.
Her parents and Uncle Harry will arrive shortly, she supposes. It's one of the few events they always agree to participate in; to honor the lives that were lost during the Final Battle, they say every time.
She tries to woo Roxanne's owl into taking Vee the small package that contains her gift. But Bertie's never really liked her, and after getting some owl sweets from her, he takes off and lands himself in one of the highest branches of the tower.
"Damn it, Bertie!" Rose hollers, stomping her foot "Come back here!"
But the bird turns his back to her, and she has no other option but get one of the school's owls, who at least doesn't try to bite any of her fingers off.
"I hate you" Rose informs Bertie as soon as the other owl flies away.
When she turns around, she comes face to face with Scorpius Malfoy.
"Well" he says "That's good to know. I guess".
"What? Oh Merlin no. I was talking to the owl" Rose blurts out. And immediately after feels the strong need to gag herself.
"To the owl" Scorpius repeats, very slowly "That supposed to make it better?".
Rose rolls her eyes.
"What are you doing here?" he asks, looking around as if trying to find someone else in the room.
"Sending my cousin Vee her birthday present" Rose explains shrugging as if it totally normal to wait until dinner time to send the owl "She turns twenty-four today".
"And you spent the whole day doing nothing next to the Great Lake instead of finding ten minutes to send it?" Scorpius asks suspiciously.
"I forgot" Rose lies, and then she realizes something "How do you know where I've been all day?".
For a second, she swears she can see him blush.
He mumbles something that might be "I was around", but could as easily be a death threat. Rosie decides to let it go, you know, just in case.
"Why are you not on the feast?" Scorpius asks, looking straight at her. And there's something in his eyes, in the dark corners nobody knows, that tells her he really cares.
"Because I hate the feast" she tells him "Being the daughter of my parents is... wonderful, mostly. But on days like this I always end up feeling like I can't breathe with all those people looking and me and talking to me or about me. And expecting me to be... I don't know. More".
Scorpius nods, as if he perfectly understands her. Then again, taking his own family history, maybe he does.
"So you are just going to hide here? Because you know, if I found you so would your family".
She knows he's right. But Gryffindor's or Hufflepuff's common rooms are the first place where they'll look for her, right after the Heads' dormitories. She's not ready to be found just yet. To hear Uncle Harry's speech and smile for the couple of cameras allowed just for the occasion and assure the Prophet journalist on duty that she's very proud and very emotional and very sad.
She looks at Scorpius, who she has not seen at the Victory Feast in the seven years she's been attended it. It's worst for most of Slytherin's, she ponders, they feel absolutely uninvited and no one has the intention of correcting that impression.
Suddenly, she realizes something.
"Where do you go?" she asks him, and seeing his confused face she adds "When you are avoiding the Feast, where do you go?".
"Slytherin's common room" he shrugs "Is always packed today. I usually end up playing chess against Theo".
"I bet I could beat you both" Rose says, and she knows she's just trying to get him to tell her to come with him as soon as she says it.
"I seriously doubt it" Scorpius smirks.
"My dad taught me to play. Believe me, I'm the best". Come on, she thinks, invite me.
"Alright, let's see about that" he tells her, moving towards the door.
Rose can barely stop herself from doing a victory dance all the way to the Slytherin's Common Room.
She spends the rest of the evening annihilating Scorpius and then Theo Nott. And eventually everyone stops looking suspiciously at her, some kids even join the game. She pays alone and she plays doubles and watches as Serena Zabini tries to get invested in the game without much use. When she defeats a boy named Eli Pucey, who Scorpius introduces as his cousin, he asks her to marry him and Scorpius sends him a death glare that makes Eli immediately retreat. For some reason it makes Rose happy.
And she can't remember laughing that much in a long, long time.
xxx
(I hope you see, that I would love to love you)
June 3rd . Scorpius' birthday
It happens so fast.
They spend the morning chasing after Scorpius as he walks the corridors, singing him happy birthday horribly out of tune while he promises and swears he'll never speak to any of them again.
Al and Rose and Effie bake him an enormous chocolate cake for lunch, and even though is slightly burned and sticks in your throat unless you accompany every bite with a gulp of pumpkin juice, it still tastes mostly good. Every seventh year of the four houses ends up sitting around and demanding a piece of it and when it's finally finished Scorpius looks at them beaming and says they are the greatest.
And Rose explodes in a million tiny pieces inside her.
Unfortunately, the Slytherin against Ravenclaw match (the last of the year) is programmed for the afternoon. And not even Al can follow him to the Slytherin's locker rooms to sing him one last happy birthday for luck.
And it happens so fast.
One second she cheering as the teams appear on the field, sitting between Effie and Al and surprisingly Theo Nott and Serena Zabini. And the next thing she knows, Scorpius is being hit by a bludger, and he's crashing to the ground way too fast.
And people are gasping and shouting and is not until her ears stop ringing that Rose realizes the horrified scream that pierces the air comes from her.
Madam Hooch takes him to the hospital wing and Aunt Hannah is on him in a second, waving her wand and soaking cotton clothes in a green substance before applying them to his left shoulder, which is currently in a position no left shoulder should ever be.
Rose lets out a breath she didn't know she was holding when she realizes he's not hurt on the head, and immediately feels terrible about it because she's pretty sure his arm is broken as well.
Aunt Hannah sends all of them away after a couple of seconds. Theo Nott seems to contemplate arguing with her, his feet firmly planted on the ground, but at the ends he seems to think better of it and follows Serena out of the doors. Rose and Al promptly follow, and so do Scorpius cousins.
It's ironic, she thinks as she takes a look at him, that just yesterday he was talking to her about how badly he wants to become a good healer.
"He's okay" Albus keeps repeating, as they all wait behind the hospital wing doors. But Rose is not sure if he's trying to reassure her or himself, so she slides to the floor and puts her knees against her chest and tries not to cry.
"Rosie" Effie says, crouching down next to her "Are you okay?".
"I'm scared" she confesses.
"He's alright" Effie tells her confidently, squeezing her hand.
And Rose doesn't know how to explain that's not what she's scared about. She knows Scorpius is going to be okay, Madam Hooch stopped his fall before he crashed against the ground and he didn't even took the hit on the head.
What she's scared of, Rose realizes, is the fact that she felt sick when he got hurt. The fact that she felt the urge to jump to the pitch and get to him now, now, now. The fact that she felt her heart try to leave through her throat.
She's scaring of whatever she feels for Scorpius Malfoy. Because she's just realized it's not a crush or a simple attraction. And suddenly she understands all those heavy looks Lily has been sending her way, the ones that told Rose her cousin knew something she didn't.
Except she does know.
She knows.
xxx
(Take this broken wings and learn to fly)
June 28th . Graduation day
She thinks he's going to kiss her.
It's a beautiful day, the sun is shining over the Great Lake and Rose has just spent almost the whole graduation speech dreaming about being finally able to take her Hogwarts robes off.
When McGonagall appears she and Scorpius are allowed to get off the stage and join their classmates. She can hear people still clapping when they reach the back stairs and she feels a bit like laughing, and a bit like crying as she looks up to the huge castle.
"We did great" Scorpius says, turning to look at her when he reaches the ground.
"We truly did" Rose laughs, and before she can stop to think, she throws herself at him and hugs him tight.
It seems to take Scorpius a couple of seconds, but he hugs her back.
She can feel his arms wrapped around her waist and his face buried in her hair. But above all, she can feel his heart under his robes, beating so wildly for a second she believes is hers.
Rose moves back a bit, surprised. But none of them let go and she finds her face so close to his it takes her breath away.
And she thinks he's going to kiss her. He has this determinate look in his eyes and there's a half-smirk on his lips and his arms are bringing her closer somehow.
He is definitely going to kiss her. Or maybe, she thinks, she'll kiss him.
But the moment passes and they haven't moved yet. And Rose can hear people starting to get up from their chairs behind them.
"We have to go" Scorpius mumbles, but he still doesn't move.
"We do" Rose confirms, and she's surprised of how sure her voice sounds. They need to go out there or someone is going to come and get them and make a big deal out of this.
She pushes herself back.
He lets her go.
"Come on" she tells him, already turning and walking to the crowd.
"Rosie you look gorgeous" Lily tells her later, as their whole family takes turns to congratulate both Rose and Al.
"It's truly beautiful" Vee agrees, letting Teddy's hand go and turning to attend the cries of Aunt Audrey, who is demanding to see her engagement ring right now.
Rosie hugs her parents and Hugo, and all her cousins and Teddy and even Lucy's boyfriend and even Effie's family, who don't pay her much attention because are absolutely fascinated with the floating glasses and plates of food around them. She hugs everyone and smiles and laughs and even does a couple of twirls in her new summer dress. But her heart isn't really in it.
She should have kissed him.
"Rosie" Al says, grabbing her arm to take a¡her away from Molly, who is in the middle one of her rants and doesn't look like she'll be finished anytime soon "We have to go to the boats".
The boats are the end of the graduation ceremony. Every seventh year gets on one and just like they did the first time ever they got to Hogwarts, they cross the Great Lake. Except this time they are doing it backwards, the castle becoming smaller every time until it finally disappears from sight.
Rose can imagine her heart breaking a little bit.
Without being distracted by the view of the castle, Rose can focus on other things. Like the fact that Scorpius Malfoy is staring at her. She tries to ignore it, but she can feel his gaze on her face. Roaming her cheeks and her chin and the curve of her nose.
It almost feels, she thinks after a moment, like he is trying to commit every single one of her features to memory.
When she can't take it anymore, she looks at him. She looks at the familiar hair, so blond it's almost white, at the blue eyes and the wide forehead and the mole right on the middle of his left cheek.
And she wonders if she'll ever known another person by heart the way she knows him.
(She can't believe she's never going to kiss him)
As soon as they reach the shore, she runs to the train and throws herself inside an empty carriage, closing the door with all her force. And for the rest of the ride, she laughs with Effie and Al and pretends to listen to them and convinces herself she is perfectly happy.
She's got her place in the Auror training program, she's moving to London with her best friend in a month, her parents are thinking about taking her on a trip to France and her live couldn't be any better.
She won't see Scorpius Malfoy for a long while, maybe even for years. And she'll forget all about him as soon as she gets used to not seeing him every day.
It's not as he's the love of her life.
(What if he is?).
xxx