ROSE WEASLEY, MATCHMAKER
Summary: Scorpius Malfoy, womanizer, twenty-two, is dumped by his long-time - psycho - girlfriend. He tells Rose that he's finally looking for 'The One'. Rose jumps to the opportunity to help out. But does he have anyone in mind?
CHAPTER 1: DRUNK
Rose was getting ready for her date when Lily rang.
Well, actually, she had been spending hours getting ready for her date. She was just finished getting ready for her date when Lily rang. Which was lucky for Lily, because if Rose hadn't yet been ready, she would have been bombarded with questions.
Should I wear my hair up or down? What kind of dress should I wear? Is above the knee too slutty?
Rose was standing in front of the mirror, still not completely sure about her black dress. Maybe it showed a bit too much skin… and the heels… ugh. She looked down at her feet. Could she walk in these all night? But would she really be walking around the entire time? One doesn't normally walk around a restaurant ten times before sitting down…
What awoke her from her thoughts was her mobile phone (a rather annoying device that Lily insisted on her having, even though Lily was the only other person that used it and, naturally, the only person that rang her – along with her mother), which was on her dresser.
"Rose," Lily's voice said when Rose picked it up.
"Yeah?" Rose asked, unable to keep an annoyed tone out of her voice.
There was a pause.
"Is this a bad time?"
Rose frowned at her reflection, and then turned away.
"Why…?" she asked slowly.
"This is a bad time, isn't it? I told him that you'd be busy, that everyone one else in the world has a life. Oh, I'll just get him to call someone else… but that's against the rules-"
"You told who that I'd be busy?" There was a silence. "What is it, Lily?" Rose demanded in a stern tone that she knew her cousin hated.
"You've got a date, haven't you?" Lily asked nervously.
"Yes, I have. What is it?"
"I… you're date will be ruined-"
"Tell me what it is!"
"Heeey, Rosie!"
Rose froze when she heard a deeper, more masculine voice come out of the phone's speaker. She put her hand to her head.
"Scorpius?" she asked with a sigh.
"Get – off – of – my - … Rose? I did not mean for him – I was going to hang up-"
"What are you doing with Scorpius?" Rose asked her cousin suspiciously. A million possibilities came to mind, and she didn't like any of them. Her best friend was a known womaniser, which was fine by her as long as he didn't try any of his 'charm' on anyone Rose knew. It pissed her off if anything. And now Lily was ringing her with a laughing Scorpius in the background…? Rose suddenly felt extremely angry, at both of them, and there was a sick feeling in her stomach…
"Well, I was just coming home from work and I found him drunk on the sidewalk. He's refusing to move unless you come to pick him up."
Rose's stomach calmed down and she let out a breath that she hadn't even known she had been holding. And then she felt angry again, but this time just at Scorpius.
"A Saturday? Is he so deprived of attention that he needs me to babysit him on a Saturday? Lily, I have a date with Aden in half an hour. Can't you take him home? Grab onto him and apparate?"
"I don't know where he lives. And I don't want to touch him. He's kind of freaking me out…"
"Rose, I need you to come, I need to-" hiccup "-tell you something."
"Get off of my phone!" Lily's voice returned.
"What about Albus? Call him, he knows where he lives-"
"Rose, he won't answer. Leave Malfoy here, for all I care. I just asked him if there was anything I could do, because, well, you know… if I left him out here you'd hate me forever."
Rose sighed. That was true.
"Fine. I'm coming. Where are you?"
"Diagon Alley. Outside the Leaky Cauldron."
"I should have guessed… fine. I'll be there in a few."
"He's your friend…" Lily reminded her. Rose growled. Reed, her dog, a chocolate cocker-spaniel, looked up from one of her shoes. Rose's eyes widened.
"Bad dog! Bad, bad dog!" she shouted loudly, putting her phone on loud-speaker and getting down on her knees to wrestle one of her ballerinas out of Reed's mouth.
"Reed, right?" Lily's voice asked slowly.
"Very very bad dog! Bad boy!"
"OK. No, Scorpius, she does not mean you."
"Aha!" Rose finally said, and then she pouted. "Get out of my sight!" she said, pointing towards the bedroom door. Then she thought again. "The bathroom!" she said in the sternest tone she could muster. "Now!"
But Reed didn't understand English at all, and he just wagged his tail.
"Ugh! Shoo! No, not shoe!"
"Wow," Lily's voice said helpfully.
In the end, Rose grabbed Reed by the collar and pulled him into the bathroom and closed the door.
"Why did dad get me a dog again?" she asked Lily, picking the phone up again.
"So you wouldn't get a boyfriend."
"Oh! My date!"
She heard Lily snort lightly, and then she heard something that sounded like a slap.
"Rose, he keeps on trying to grab my arse. Listen, I deal with enough drunks at work."
Lily worked in the Aurors' office, but she had a pretty crappy job now that she got demoted because of a pretty nasty accident involving her father's office and a kilo of Cockroach Clusters.
"Fine, you can leave. I'll be right there. You're free to go. Thanks for calling."
"No problem," Lily said, sounding annoyed. Rose didn't want to imagine what Scorpius was trying to do as the line went dead.
And then she did imagine – a whole load of things.
She pulled off her high heels and rummaged around her closet for a pair of Nike trainers. No luck.
She opened the bathroom door to find Reed in the bath, staring at her.
"I don't even want to know."
When she found her trainers, that had been in her bedroom, she shoved them on without socks and left her flat, grabbing her keys that were by the door.
She looked at her watch. Twenty minutes. Surely she could apparate Scorpius out of the world's way in twenty minutes.
Rose lived in a block of muggle flats in the middle of London – her mother's idea, actually. It wasn't a bad one, either. In the Magical World she was an extremely well-known healer and just met her work all over the place. She didn't mind it – not at all. But it just meant that the stress never ended. In the Muggle World not many people knew her name. Well, Aden knew her name…
Aden was a muggle man that lived on the sixth floor, a floor underneath her. He was twenty five, three years older than Rose, his favourite colour was red, his favourite movie was North By Northwest ,he had a subscription to The Sun, a muggle newspaper…those were only a few of the many facts he had blurted out in Rose's presence. According to Lily, that had been flirting, and they had started dating three weeks ago. And they had been three wonderful weeks… Aden was everything Rose had dreamed a perfect boyfriend to be. He was kind, caring, smart, funny…
And now she was tiptoeing past his door, hoping that he wouldn't ask where she was going half an hour before their date. Well, he was probably still at work, but Rose didn't take any chances.
Out of the building, she crept into the alleyway that she and her friends used to get to and from her home – one of the downfalls of living in a Muggle neighbourhood. You couldn't just disappear on the spot… her cousin, Fred, had learnt that the hard way.
Diagon Alley was bustling with people. She hoped that nobody would come running at her shouting again as she weaved her way through the dark but lively street.
When she found Scorpius she didn't find it a pleasant sight at all.
He was sitting on the side of the pavement, and people were walking past and looking down at him in disapproving ways. But, somehow, he still managed to look good sitting in the gutter. His pale blond hair was a mess, yet somehow looked perfect – he was slouching but somehow he still managed to show off his perfect build. He didn't look sloppy at all.
And he was poking his right foot with an empty bottle of firewhisky.
He's your friend, Lily had said.
"Oh, shut up," Rose muttered to herself as she marched towards him. "Hey, Scor," she said. Scorpius looked up from his feet.
"Rosie!" he said, his speech slurred.
"Oh, great," Rose mumbled when she heard how drunk he was in person.
She hated it when Scorpius was drunk. He wasn't Scorpius anymore. He was this other person that looked like Scorpius but was just a much more vile version of his persona.
Rose saw that Lily had indeed gone as she pulled up Scorpius from the gutter.
"You've gotten all beautiful to come a pick me up, haven't you Rosie?" he asked her, smiling a rather sloppy smile.
"No, I haven't, you big-headed pr-"
"Don't call me names, Rosie!"
"Stop calling me Rosie them!"
He looked at her, and Rose felt that the longer she was stuck her, holding him up (he was extremely heavy, though it was all muscle… she could feel the muscles in his arm and back as she held him), the longer she felt people's critical looks. Rose Weasley, well-known healer, graduated top of her class, daughter of the famous Hermione and Ron Weasley, known amazing war heroes, helping out a drunk Scorpius Malfoy, not-so-good Quidditch player for the Holyhead Harpies, son of the infamous Draco Malfoy, known bastard.
Though part of her knew to doubt that everyone would be thinking all that, she was still turning as red as her hair, which she had spent hours in taming into a more or less OK ponytail.
"You touch my hair and your dead," she growled at her drunk best friend as he slowly lifted his arm.
"But it looks so soft, Rosi- Rose."
"Come on, Mr Sober," she said, and apparated them away from everyone staring.
As soon as her feet felt the ground again, Scorpius let out a groan.
"What is-"
Scorpius put a finger on her lips, and she frowned and pushed it away.
"Go home!" she said.
He shook his head frantically.
"No, not to Sarah," he whispered, pointing at the house.
They were standing in a garden, a garden that Rose knew from attending various dinner parties with Scorpius and his girlfriend, Sarah Redwood. But now he was shaking his head frantically and attempting to climb over the little picket fence carefully.
"What are you doing?" Rose hissed.
"She broke up with me," Scorpius said. "We're over."
He fell with a thump over the fence and Rose heard a noise from inside the house. As a reflex, she ducked. Sure, she had been to loads of dinner parties, but those were more for Scorpius' sake than for her own. Actually, she hated Sarah. But she was still sad for them breaking up, of course.
The front door opened, spilling light onto the dark lawn.
Rose breathed in the grass with a groan. Now she was going to be found out lying face down in Sarah Redwood's lawn by the very same (psycho) Sarah Redwood.
But then, she heard the door close… and nothing.
She chanced a look up, and saw that Sarah had gone back inside. On the other side of the fence she heard laughing.
She scowled as she stood up and brushed grass off of her dress. God, if she got grass stains on her, she'd have to spend another hour getting ready for… her date!
She jumped over the fence faster then she'd ever done anything in her life.
"Scorpius!" she hissed at her friend, who was curled in a ball on the pavement underneath a street lamp, laughing hysterically. "Get up!" She was reduced to pulling him off of the ground. "You're getting too old for this!" she snapped. His expression turned sombre, and his grey eyes were suddenly full of sadness.
Rose sighed.
"Listen. I'm sorry about Sarah," she said. "But it's hardly a reason to-"
"Rosie," Scorpius interrupted. "If Sarah breaking up with me isn't a reason to get pissed, I don't know what is."
Rose immediately felt guilty. She wondered how she would feel if Aden left her. Pretty rotten, actually. She might even open a bottle or two…
"OK," she said finally. "Where should I take you?"
"You've got a date, haven't you?" Scorpius asked sadly. He was still 'pissed', as he put it, but when he was sad he sounded more like himself. Rose realized that Scorpius very rarely laughed like he had been laughing just then.
"Yes, I have." Rose looked at her watch. "In ten minutes, actually, so-"
"Just take me home," Scorpius said. "I'll get a bit more pissed there, dad's got a liquor cabinet-"
"Scorpius!"
Scorpius raised his eyebrows. Rose bit her lip.
"Fine," she sighed at last. "If you destroy your liver, that's really none of my concern."
"Really?"
"Really."
Scorpius smirked, and then hiccupped. Rose took his arm – apparating while intoxicated was not a good idea, and kind of illegal. She was glad that he had stayed outside of the Leaky Cauldron rather than leave a leg there, and with Lily the Auror.
They were outside of the gates to Malfoy Manor. Rose couldn't help but shudder when she saw it because of what had happened to her mother, and for who had stayed there. Scorpius had once told her that he didn't like it either. He wasn't completely sure as to why his dad kept the place. Neither was Rose.
She looked at him, and he was looking at the gates sadly.
"Well-"
"Would you dump me?"
Rose blinked.
"Pardon?"
"Would you dump me?" he repeated.
"If I were Sarah…?"
"No, if you were you."
Rose felt uncomfortable.
"I don't understand…"
Scorpius laughed, but he didn't seem very amused.
"Rose, don't do that to me. You're the smartest person I know. After me, of course."
Rose's lip twitched – they had been constant rivals at school, and they still argued about who was the smartest – but something told her not to laugh.
"Well… I'd say that what you mean to say is… would we be good together as a couple."
She waited, ignoring the strange sensation in her stomach, but then he shrugged.
"Maybe…"
Rose remembered that he was drunk, and she mentally slapped herself. He wouldn't be saying this if he were sober.
"You'll be back on your feet in no time," she said, pushing the awkwardness – yes, that had been awkward – behind them and patting him on the back. "Scorpius Malfoy, Slytherin womaniser. A woman a night."
She never approved of his behaviour, obviously, but feeding his ego normally seemed to work. But today he let out a loud exasperated sigh.
"No, Rose, you don't understand," he said, shaking his head, perhaps over exaggerating the shaking bit because of the intoxication. "Sure, that's nice, but it never works on the people that matter, you know?"
"Well, Sarah mattered-"
"And now look. I'm tired of being a 'womanizer'. Why can't I just be with someone, you know?"
Rose did know, and she was speechless.
She had known Scorpius for nearly ten years, and she had been friends with him for nine years. Never had he mentioned the desire to settle down; That was more her idea of a perfect relationship. Never a one-night stand, things that Scorpius had become famous for after graduating from Hogwarts. And now he just wanted to be with someone?
"I'm want the one."
Now Rose just stared. She forced herself to speak.
"Um... do you have anyone in mind?"
He laughed, and then fell serious.
"Maybe," he finally answered.
A tugging at her gut told her that she was going to be late. Scorpius was staring at the gate again, looking lost. She decided that she should probably come back to this later, when he was less intoxicated. Maybe this was the alcohol talking. But there had been a touch of honesty to her words… she almost felt sorry for him.
She vowed to herself to help him out – but first, her date.
"Well, I have to go," she said. She felt almost guilty for voicing those words. So she put her hand on his shoulder and he looked up at her. "We'll sort this out. Get as pissed as you want, pass out, we'll talk about this tomorrow. Preferably in the afternoon."
"You and Aden are that close?"
Rose took a second to realize what he was talking about, and then she blushed a deep shade of red for reasons that were pretty immature. She was twenty-two, and not a virgin.
"That's none of your business!" her voice came out high and squeaky. Not good.
"But you just said-"
"You might get a hangover! I didn't think that the morning would be a good time to-"
"Fine. Whatever," Scorpius said, walking towards the gate slowly. Rose watched him, guilt, sympathy and a whole mix of emotions that she didn't quite understand welling up inside of her.
"Scorpius," she said. He turned back. "I really am sorry about Sarah."
"She dumped me because she said that my head was in it."
Rose frowned.
"Pardon?"
"My head was in it," he said, pointing to his head. "My heart wasn't." He pointed at his chest.
Rose couldn't help but feel a little impatient. She was going to be late.
Then she couldn't help but feel guilty.
"We'll talk about this when you're sober," she said.
"My heart was somewhere else," he continued quietly, staring right at her. Rose suddenly felt hot, and she looked behind her. Nope, nobody there. She looked back at her friend, who was close again. Actually, closer than before. A no-go zone, actually. She jumped back in a not-cool fashion. First what would it be like if we were dating? And now this? She swallowed uncomfortably.
Scorpius was drunk – there was no doubt about that. She could smell the alcohol on his breath (Merlin, he was that close?), and his posture was slanted. There was a dark shadow across his face, and he looked as if he was concentrating on something – maybe that was why he was so close. His blond hair was falling in his eyes, his grey eyes that were staring right into her blue ones. It was making her head feel all … muddled. Her eyes flickered to his lips and then she looked back up to his eyes, her heart rate increasing. She did not just go there. She looked back down and she saw that his lip was curled into a smirk, as if he knew what she was thinking.
Scorpius was her friend. That was it. She, Scorpius and Albus had formed a little Gryffindor/Slytherin Aliance in their second year and had continued with it up to their seventh year. That was it. This was completely confusing, and also all wrong.
"I'm going to be late," she finally managed to whisper, her voice coming out a quiet, high-pitched squeak. She told herself to step backwards – she did.
She watched her friend's reaction uncomfortably. And then he nodded and stepped back too.
"OK," he said. "I'm going to get even more drunk."
AN- Yeah, another nextgen fic. But I'll finish this one, I promise! It's gonna be humour/romance/drama, and it's gonna be awesome, I promise! I need to stop promising things... (And no, I have not forgotten about TMTHDM, do not worry my pretties... wait, that sounds creepy...)
Please review!