A/N: Written for the Quidditch League Fanfiction Competition, round 13 - Seeker, Ballycastle Bats
The Beginning of the End of the Beginning
She met him for the first time atop the Astronomy tower, on a night when the moon was off on its monthly retreat and the skies were darker than charcoal on ink. He'd snuck up on her then but hadn't intended to do so, which is the only reason he was spared from Rose's rather famous Weasley temper.
He was just the boy in her class that her father had asked to better in lessons, and he was just the girl in his class whom his father had spoken rather highly of. Their friendship thus began on uncertain waters.
"What are you doing here?"
Those were the first words she spoke directly to him in their first year at school.
"I needed a quiet place to go to," he replied seriously. "My common room is too noisy. Besides, I have a thing for heights."
She gaped at him with an open mouth but hardly refused him when he came and sat a few inches away from her, swinging his legs over the turrets in a little act of rebellion.
"Aren't you afraid you'll fall?"
He grinned.
"I won't."
He finds her crying there in the second year, great messy tears that leave muddy tracks across her already muddy face and stares at her with wide eyes before rushing off to her side.
"Rose, hey, - "
"Don't talk to me, you scheming cheater!" she shrieks at him, drawing her scarlet robes even closer to her.
He doesn't talk but calmly takes a few steps towards her.
"I wasn't even in the area when Zabini shoved you off the broom, and believe me when I say he's paid for it. No one of the team is happy with him."
She stared at him with accusation written all over her face, her chocolate brown eyes reducing to little scrunches of light as she weighs his words.
"But you're the only one who knew how I like to fly close to the ground for a while after I catch the snitch…"
"Yeah, but I'm not the only one with eyes, and Zabini was darned disappointed that you beat him by seconds. I also heard James threatening to kill him in a, and I quote, man to man duel."
Rose suddenly grinned, and Scorpius smiled with her.
"You Gryffindors are rather dramatic, aren't you?"
She sniffed. "So what if we are?" She held her chin held high with pride at the combined memory of her victory along with Scorpius' soft reassurances and smiled.
"Done being a little girl for the day?" He quipped, getting up and holding an arm out to her. She glared at him reproachfully but took the arm gladly, feeling very sore after that massive shove off her broom by the equally massive Slytherin.
"Don't forget," she said cheekily. "We beat you."
"Well then I have a score to settle with you, don't I?"
Rose smiled as a happy air of butterflies flew around her tummy.
The third years had Astronomy lessons together every Wednesday night and Friday evening. Rose couldn't have asked for anything better – she was being presented with a golden opportunity to spend time at her favourite haunt, jeer at the obnoxious Slytherins and have a good laugh with her best friend, all at once.
Life couldn't get any better.
"Gryffindors to my left, Slytherins to my right. Now, I will call out a name from each house and they will be your partners for the next month, are we clear?"
Angry murmurs travelled through the two groups of students but Professor Brown refused to hear anything.
"Longbottom, Nott!" The two were actually on talking terms and everyone emitted a huge sigh of relief.
"Finnigan, Parkinson!" She groaned while he cheerily headed off to stand in their designated spot.
"Weasley, Zabini!"
All of a sudden, there was a noise like the swarming of angry bees as everyone exchanged shocked looks and surprised whispers. The dire enmity between Rose and Harlan Zabini was a little too famous, both on and off the Quidditch pitch ever since the very first year.
"Er, professor, is it alright if I take Zabini's spot there?" Scorpius' clear voice rang out amidst the confused buzzing of the other students, and Professor Brown wisely chose not to disagree.
"Weasley and Malfoy it is."
Identical, splitting grins crossed their faces as Rose sauntered towards Scorpius instead - but not before she pulled an exceedingly rude face at Zabini.
Rose didn't know how to dance. She'd had two left feet ever since she was a child, and her coordination in the air far excelled her ability to move down on land. She was clumsier than all her siblings and cousins thrown together; even that was a pretty gentle comparison. She made up for her clumsiness on land by being Gryffindor's best Seeker, yet to break only her uncle Harry's records.
She wasn't at all surprised when the first sparkles of snow began whitening the landscape, rendering every fourth year and above at Hogwarts rather excited thanks to the annual Winter Ball. Her friends were already planning for their dress robes and make up even without having been asked to the ball. Rose smartly stayed away from the ruckus that broke out in the dorms every night by returning to her daily haunt instead.
Only that day, she wasn't alone.
"Hello, stranger," she smile at him as he walked towards her with a soft smile playing across his lips, and she nodded her head in acknowledgement.
"How are you not busy 'snagging' all the good girls for the ball? From what I've heard, the Slytherins are beginning to take this ball a little too seriously." She smirked up at him, but all he did was smile softly back and Rose felt a sinking feeling at the pit of her stomach.
"Scor, no - " she began, just as his lips parted. "Rosie, I was wondering if - "
Both fell silent at once, allowing the soft snowflakes to blanket the awkwardness between them. Rose cursed silently. Just as everything was going so well, too.
They say together for an entire hour, each stealing glances when they thought they other wasn't looking.
Neither spoke a word to the other.
"Scor, I've been thinking."
He looked up at her from the potion he was brewing and gently pushed her damp red locks of hair away from her eyes as she peered at the extremely fine print on the ageing book.
"Is this about the OWLs?" She flushed red as the words left his mouth and he found his heartbeat pick up speed.
"Am I that obvious?" She chewed on her lower lip and he wanted to do was kiss her worries away. He shook his head. "No, but there isn't much you've been talking about lately." She giggled nervously. "Well, we do have the oddest transfiguration professor in all the world, and I need an O in the subject to become an Auror, so..."
He paused for a minute while he stirred the potion exactly seven time clockwise while she waited for a response. Setting the steaming cauldron aside, Scorpius gently caught one of Rose's palms in his and while she was pretty surprised, she didn't pull away.
"I always thought you'd end up taking Quidditch as a profession, you know? Somehow, sitting in a stuffy office while preparing never-ending reports and waiting for something exciting to come your way...it didn't seem like something you'd do, to me."
Her eyes narrowed in question. "I have two questions for you," she began seriously. He nodded. "Yes?"
"What do you plan on doing after all this is over?" She swept her hands before her, and he imagined she was referring to a time when they would have left school.
"I'm not quite sure yet," he admitted, feeling more than a little embarrassed. She grinned.
"How about we aim for O's in all our OWLs and leave the career planning to a little later?"
Scorpius nodded in agreement. "Sounds like a plan."
A huge owl rapped urgently by her window in the dead of the night. Rose wondered who it was and how they'd even expected to be awake.
When she let the giant owl in, however, recognition dawned upon her features but she wondered why he'd be sending her a message when they practically lived under the same, though rather enormous roof.
Rose,
Meet me up on the Astronomy Tower in six minutes? I promise not to keep you for too long.
Scorpius.
Rose stared at the letter for a few minutes before her lips curled into a devious smile. Maybe she could have some fun, after all.
What she didn't know was that Scorpius had planned a little midnight adventure that ended up involving desserts upon the tower, an impromptu Quidditch match and a lot of yelling that only didn't give them away as they were smart enough to have enchanted the place.
They only scampered back to their respective dorms when the impending daylight threatened to reveal their mischief and they parted with happy smiles and warm hugs.
Nothing was the same between them anymore, though.
She'd been hunting for him the entire Sunday afternoon but her efforts had gone in vain. Her trunks were packed and her little owl was already home; she'd sent a last later from Hogwarts to her parents with fond reminiscence.
"Scor, where are you?" She muttered impatiently as she brushed past scores of nostalgic students. And then it hit her like a flash of lightning bolts frying her brain and she turned around, running blindly.
She reached the top of the Astronomy Tower in a few minutes, gasping loud enough to turn several heads. Sure enough, here he was - swinging his long legs off the turrets just as he had all those years ago, and Rose felt various emotions stab at her.
She walked up to him slowly, terrified of startling him lest he fall off the tower entirely. Her laboured pants and loud footsteps broke his peace and he turned around, his blonde hair glowing as it caught the rays of the sun.
"Hey, you."
He smiled softly at the familiar greeting and hopped back on to solid ground.
"Why do you keep hanging like that, Scor?" She knew that he was addicted to the thrill - she'd seen enough and more of that on the Wuidditch pitch as he flew in ways most students would tremble to.
The expressions on his face changed from surprise to question to happiness to melancholy so soon that Rose found herself confused. Was he really alright?
He walked right up to her and cupped her cheek, and she nearly gasped. "I'm okay," he began, and she smiled. He'd always been able to tell what was on her mind - it worked both ways.
"I'm going to miss this place," he said as his thumb began circling soft patterns on her cheeks which were now more pink than tan.
"Me, too," she stammered out.
He grinned.
"Do I make you nervous, Rosie?"
She placed a warm palm on his cool one, perched up on her toes and kissed his cheeks softly, two kisses per cheek. She smiled with satisfaction at his sharp intake of breath and brushed her lips tantalizingly close to his, without actually kissing them.
And just like that, she broke all contact with him.
"Do I?"
His lips met hers in response.
Entered in:
The Race to the Top of Mount Potter - prompt, Astronomy Tower
The Battle of the Houses, prompt #6
The Diagon Alley Challenge - Flourish and Blotts