Disclaimer- I own nothing, JK Rowling does.
Rose Weasley wasn't one for gossip. In fact, in the evenings when her friends would gather around the coffee table in the common room and share the latest scoop on various people of interest, Rose sat in a lounge chair on the other side of the room, nose deep in a textbook and scribbling down the answers to the next day's homework. Occasionally, one of the girls would try to include her, but Rose would smile sweetly and say something like she was behind on her Potions essay, or sometimes, she needed to study for the Defense Against the Dark Arts test next Wednesday. After awhile, her friends accepted the fact that she wasn't going to join in, and left her be. All except, one, that is.
Lily Luna Potter.
That little ball of insanity and curiosity was just like the girl that her middle name was dedicated to, Rose's Uncle, Harry, had once said. Every night, without fail, when those girls gathered to gossip, Lily skipped over to Rose's reading chair and tried to pull her cousin to the couch with the others. And it was almost always about Scorpius Malfoy.
Tonight, unfortunately for Rose, was no exception.
"Hey Rosie!" Came the bubbly voice from the other side of Rose's textbook. With a sigh, Rose slowly lowered the cover slightly and tried her best to look annoyed. Lily's smile didn't falter in the slightest.
"Oh Rosie! Don't look at me like that!" Lily pouted playfully.
Rose grimaced. "What?" She demanded, not as playfully as her cousin. Lily frowned a bit.
"You might want to be a bit nicer to me," Lily quipped. "because I have quite the little piece of dirt on your beloved Scorpius!" The little pixie of a girl hopped up onto the arm of the lounge chair, waiting eagerly for Rose's response, clearly thinking that it would be of some interest to her.
"Lily, how many times do I have to tell you not to call him "my beloved"," Rose looked over to the group of girls huddled around the table. Thankfully, they hadn't noticed what Lily had said and were still engrossed in their conversation. "We don't even talk to each other."
"LIES!" Lily accused loudly, causing a few curious heads to pop up. Rose shrugged at them, and they went back to what they were doing, accustomed to Lily's oddness. "I saw you talking to him outside of Muggle Studies class yesterday!"
Rose rolled her eyes. "He's my partner."
"Ha! So you admit it!"
"For. Class." Rose snapped, and then mumbled, "Arse."
"Whatever. So? Don't you want to hear what I know?" Lily asked excitedly, her blond curls bouncing as she did.
"If I say yes, will you go away?"
"... Maybe."
"Fine. What about Malfoy?"
A grin spread across Lily's face and she leaned in closer to Rose. She glanced side to side, making sure no one was listening in, and whispered into Rose's ear, "He's never kissed anyone before!"
Lily leaned back with a proud look on her face, waiting for her cousin's reaction. Rose had to admit, that was a bit of a surprise, she'd always assumed the boy was like his father when it came to girls, uncaring and took advantage of them. Still, Rose didn't see why it was so important.
"So? What's the big deal?" Rose asked as she began to lift her textbook back up.
"WHAT'S THE BIG DEAL?" Lily exclaimed dramatically as she slammed the textbook back into Rose's lap, again causing a few people to take notice of the two Gryffindors in the corner of the room.
"The big deal is that that's major "ruin his life" material." Lily explained slowly as if Rose might not hear her if she spoke any faster.
"Not really," Rose said as she looked up at the girl perched on the arm of her chair. "I've never kissed anyone either."
"But can make his life... WHAT?" Lily's jaw dropped as she gasped. "B..b..but... I saw you and Teddy!" Rose looked surprised.
"Lily, you know perfectly well Teddy is like, no, he is, a brother to me."
"Yea... but still... HOW CAN YOU HAVE NEVER KISSED ANYONE?" That got the attention of the group of girls. They began to whisper excitedly to each other and Rose buried her face in her hands.
"Lily..." She groaned.
"Don't "Lily" me young lady! We have to get you kissed! But who..." She trailed off. Then suddenly, an evil grin crawled across her features and she said, "Well, perhaps we can kill two birds with one stone." And with that, she grabbed her cousins hand, yanked her off the chair sending her textbook and papers crashing to the floor.
"Lily? What the..."
"MAKEOVER!" Lily squealed and darted toward the stairs to the girl's common room, dragging poor Rose with her.
Scorpius Malfoy sat up in his bed the next morning and yawned. He stuck his hand up and ran it through his ruffled white-blond locks and looked around. Most of the other boys in the dormitory were still sound asleep, and when he looked over to the window, the soft light spilling in indicated that it was still very early.
He sighed, then rolled off the mattress. He trudged sleepily down the steps and into the common room. To his surprise, his best friend, Marcus, was lounging on the couch, lazily shooting sparks into the air with his wand.
"Morning, Scorp." He called out when he heard the footsteps come down the stairs.
"How'd you know it was me?" Scorpius asked as he sat in the chair opposite his friend.
"Who else would be up this early, nerding about?" Marcus replied while shooting more sparks out of the tip of his wand.
Scorpius raised an eyebrow. "Nerding about?"
"Yep" Marcus quipped, popping the p. "You're such a nerd, a came up with a verb to describe you're daily activities."
Scorpius chuckled. He knew Marcus was not the nicest person in the world, being raised by Blaise Zabini, but he sure as hell had some nerve, maybe a little too much for Scorpius's liking. "Well, if I'm such a loser, why do you hang out with me?"
"I didn't say you were a loser, I said you were a nerd." Marcus replied calmly.
"Well, that may be so," Scorpius leaned forward in his chair. "But then how exactly do you explain how my owl has had quite the workout delivering love letters to me everyday, while yours sits napping on its pedestal?"
Marcus shrugged. "They all know I'm a taken man, so they decided to settle for second best. I mean, I can't help that I'm just really… AH!" He rubbed the burn that was now on his left arm. "WHAT THE HELL?"
Scorpius imitated Marcus's shrug. "What?" He feigned confusion.
Marcus growled and lifted the robe of his sleeve to inspect his wound. "Not cool, man." He whined as he poked it, and then winced slightly.
"Oh, don't be such a baby." Scorpius snorted. "I'm sure Potter would be happy to fix it up for you."
"Shut up about Lily." Marcus snapped. "You're just jealous that I have someone and you never… AH! DAMMIT SCORPIUS!" Marcus grabbed his right arm and glared at his companion.
Scorpius smirked. With that old trademark Malfoy smirk, too.
When Marcus was done with his whining, he turned to Scorpius. "Anyway, don't you want to know why I got up early today?"
Scorpius leaned back and propped his feet up on the coffee table. "Do I?"
"Well, it's about Rose…" Marcus wagged his eyebrows. Scorpius sighed. Marcus had been bugging him about the Weasley girl since he started dating her cousin, Lily Potter. Apparently Potter thought it'd be cute for Scorpius and Rose to go out, and the thought had made Scorpius scoff.
That Weasley had been trying to outdo him in everything since the first Potions class they shared. Scorpius's father, Draco, had said that Rose's mother, Hermione, had probably told her daughter to try and "prove" to the entitled Malfoys that they could be superior to purebloods. Whatever it was, that girl was on his nerves and he didn't want to spend even one more minute with her than he had to, let alone date her. Not that she was ugly or anything, Scorpius actually thought she was fairly decent, it was just too bad she annoyed the living crap out of him.
"What makes you think that I care?" Scorpius asked.
"I just thought you might like to know… Lily tells me she's never kissed anyone before." Marcus grinned. "Looks like you two have more in common that you thought…" Scorpius pointed his wand at him again. "NO! Truce! Truce!" He pleaded. "But you have to admit, it's interesting."
Scorpius ran his hand through his hair thoughtfully. "Well, I can't say it surprises me."
Marcus chuckled. "Yea, me either. Lily wanted me to tell you, though."
Scorpius rolled his eyes. "Yea, well you can tell her to stay out of my business."
"I could tell her, but we both know she won't listen." Marcus answered, laughing at Scorpius's scowl. "Come on, let's go down to breakfast."
When Scorpius arrived in his first class of the morning he saw Rose at their table, head down and scribbling on a sheet of parchment. Scorpius rolled his eyes and snorted. Rose lifted her head when she heard a noise from the front of the room. She spied the blond-haired boy leaning against the doorframe, looking at her. She narrowed her eyes at him before going back to her work.
"What's up, Weasley?" Scorpius inquired as he glided up the steps to where Rose was seated. "Not done with your homework for next year yet?" He chuckled. "You should really pick up the pace! After you finish that you've still got to complete 6th and 7th year's work."
Rose glared at him. "Actually, I'm editing your part of the essay for the project, since you kindly forgot to meet me during free period yesterday." Rose looked back down at the writing. "But it might take me till 7th year to finish fixing your mistakes, so please refrain from the snide remarks."
Scorpius raised an eyebrow. "Really?" He leaned over Rose's shoulder at his paper. It didn't escape his notice that there wasn't a single correction in sight, but still he asked, "So, tell me, exactly how many errors have you caught so far?"
"I… um… well…" Rose stuttered, a rare thing for her, and blushed.
"I'm sorry? I didn't catch that."
"." Rose mumbled.
"Excuse me? I didn't understand you."
"NONE! HAPPY?"
Scorpius sat down and smirked. "Very."
Rose rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. Since she really didn't have anything to look at in the paper, all she had to do know was avoid conversation with Malfoy and wait for the class to begin. Awkward silence was better than no silence at all.
They sat quietly for a few minutes before other student began to slowly trickle into the classroom. Once everyone was seated and chattering quietly amongst themselves, the professor swooped in and began the class.
"Good morning, students!" Professor Naptail quipped from behind his desk. The students mumbled their greetings in return. Scorpius looked around the bright room. On a night when Scorpius's parents came to visit the school, they remarked on how different this classroom was then the way it was when they had potions class. However, they both had agreed that there was even more of a difference between the teachers.
Scorpius looked up at the portrait of the old Potions professor hanging in the front of the room above Naptail's desk. The pale figure inside was glaring down at the students and flipping through an old textbook, as if making sure they weren't speaking out of turn or misbehaving behind the new professor's back. The solemn and ghostly man was none other than Severus Snape, the half-blood prince.
Even if Scorpius didn't know from his parent's stories about this man in the painting, he knew that this man varied greatly from Naptail, the bright and cheerful man now hopping from desk to desk collecting assignments. Scorpius smiled a bit, glad that he didn't have to go through the brutal assignments Snape gave out, even though since he was a Slytherin Snape would've favored him over the other students.
"Scorpius!" Rose hissed, snapping him out of his thoughts.
"Yes?"
"We need to get started on our assignment, all the other students already have while you were daydreaming!" She snapped, handing him the directions for a potion and pointing at the cauldron. Scorpius huffed and snatched the parchment from her hand, scanning it briefly before standing up to get the ingredients. When he returned, Rose had the cauldron heated up and ready to go.
This, Scorpius realized, was the only time he and Rose didn't argue. Something about working together to accomplish a shared goal seemed to make them forget about their hatred for each other.
Why do we even hate each other? Scorpius thought.
"What?" Scorpius snapped his head up and his eyes met Rose's, which were wide with surprise.
"Um… did I just say that out loud?" Scorpius asked stupidly, knowing perfectly well nothing else would've elicited that kind of reaction from her.
Rose nodded.
"Nothing." And in an attempt to change the subject, he purposefully added too much goblin's blood to the mixture, causing it to turn green and bubble rapidly.
Rose, snapping out of her shock, gasped and grabbed Scorpius's arm, dragging him back as their assignment exploded. The entire class stopped what they were doing and turned to the partners in disbelief. Naptail sighed and waved his wand, causing the spilled cauldron and the smoldering desk to disappear.
"Everyone, class is dismissed. Please evacuate the room." He instructed calmly. The students grabbed their things and scrambled out of the room, leaving Rose and Scorpius standing in the back, covered in the green liquid.
Naptail waved his wand once again and out shot a jet of water, aimed at the 4th years. When they were thoroughly cleaned, and wet, the water ceased, and Naptail, without drying them, nodded towards the door. Rose scrambled to grab her soaked books and wand before standing straight, tucking a piece of wet hair behind her ear, and sending a death glare at Scorpius before stomping down the stairs and exiting the room.
Marcus slipped out of bed late that night and tip toed over to Scorpius's trunk. He reached his hand into his robe and pulled out the book Lily had given him at dinner. Unlatching the trunk with an the combination Scorpius had given him years ago, he lifted up a few of Scorpius's textbooks and slipped the book he had into the stack, setting the others back on top of it. He crawled back to bed unnoticed, smirking as he fell asleep.
Rose shot up in her bed, gasping for breath, waking the previously slumbering Lily in the bunk next to her.
"Another bad dream?" Lily grumbled sleepily. Rose nodded, still trying to catch her breath.
"Well, it was just a dream, try to get some sleep, okay hon?" Lily smiled reassuringly and turned back over, falling asleep once again. Rose sat back against her pillow and stared at the ceiling. The dream she had just had wasn't a nightmare, no matter how much she wished it had been. This dream was full of comfort and love and forgiveness, and it scared the daylights out of Rose.
But Rose would never tell Lily that she wasn't having a bad dream. This was a secret she would carry to the grave. Rose pushed the covers off and made her way down to the common room. She sat in her favorite chair and picked up her book from the table beside it. She wouldn't let herself sleep again tonight, in fear that the boy with the white blond hair would once again haunt her dreams.
The next morning Marcus was shoving sausage into his mouth when Lily approached him.
"Where's Scorp?" She asked, looking up and down the Slytherin table.
"Hef fleeping." Marcus replied, chewing on a biscuit.
Lily slapped him on the back. Chocking slightly, Marcus swallowed the bread in one large gulp. "Care to repeat that?" Lily asked sweetly.
"He's sleeping!" Marcus coughed, taking a large swig of pumpkin juice.
Lily grinned. "Good," She sat down next to her boyfriend and tried to look as inconspicuous as possible. "So… did you plant the book?"
"You bet! That dude sleeps like the dead!"
"Excellent, just make sure he finds it." Lily winked and got up when she saw Rose enter the hall.
"Yes, ma'am!" Marcus saluted before resuming his pig fest. Lily rolled her eyes and made her way back over the Gryffindor table.
"Hey, Lily." Rose greeted when she say her cousin approaching.
Lily smiled. "Hey Rose! Did you wake up early this morning? You weren't in bed when I got up."
"Nah, I was reading down in the common room, couldn't sleep after that dream." Rose shrugged and sat down.
Lily gave her cousin a reassuring pat on the back and said, "Why don't you tell me about it, maybe I can help."
Lily say a brief flash of panic go through Rose's eyes before she regained her composer. "Oh, no, I'm fine, really!" Rose stuttered, looking down at her plate.
Lily raised an eyebrow. She knew when Rose was lying, and this was one of those times. "Rosie, pleeeaaase! I can't bear to see you so upset!" Lily pouted.
"Now Lily, that puppy dog face may have worked when we were kids, but…" Rose made the mistake of looking at her cousin and all resistance melted. "Merlin! I really hate you sometimes!"
"I try," Lily winked. "Now tell me, what are these nightmares about?" She leaned in and propped her elbows on the table, genuinely concerned for Rose's wellbeing.
"Well, they're not exactly nightmares… they're about a guy." Rose blushed. That wasn't a lie, she just neglected to say which guy it was.
"Eeeeeee! Oh I knew it!" Lily squealed, causing a few of our housemates to glance in our direction. "WHO WHO WHO?"
"Lily, please, I don't want to say right now." Rose said, concerned about her classmates overhearing their conversation.
"Oh Rosie please tell me! I can't bear not knowing something this earth shattering!" Lily put on the face again, however, this time Rose was smart enough to look away.
"Please Lily, not now." Rose pleaded as she gathered her books. "I'll see you at lunch." She said before walking quickly out of the room, but not before bumping into a slightly disheveled looking Scorpius before she could escape.
"Watch it, Weasley!" He hissed.
Rose snorted in disgust before pushing past him and into the corridor.
Scorpius scoffed and walked over to Marcus, who was still stuffing his face.
"Hey, man."
Marcus nodded in greeting.
"Have you seen my Potions textbook? I can't seem to find it anywhere?"
Marcus gave him a surprised look. "Did you try to Accio it?"
"Yes! It's just gone!" Scorpius groaned and slammed his head down on the table.
"Did you look in your trunk?" Marcus offered. Scorpius lifted his head up.
"No, no I didn't!" He said goodbye to Marcus before rushing out of the hall and to the dungeons.
When Scorpius was out of sight, Marcus grinned and sent his girlfriend a big thumbs up from across the room.
"Lily! Please stop asking!" Rose begged as the pair walked into their empty common room.
"Not until you tell me!"
"I can't tell you!" Rose insisted.
Lily rolled her eyes. "And why not!"
"I just can't, okay?" Rose snapped, looking anywhere but at her cousin.
Then it dawned on Lily. "It's Scorpius, isn't it?"
"I said stop…" Rose stopped dead in her tracks. She turned slowly and looked at Lily warily. "How…?"
Lily shrugged and smiled a bit. "He's the only guy you wouldn't want to tell me about, so when you were so resilient, I just put the pieces together." Rose slumped her shoulders in defeat.
"Lily," Rose whispered, getting very close to her cousin. "You cannot tell anybody!" She hissed. Lily smirked to herself, quickly formulating a plan in her head.
"I won't…" Lily grinned. "If you do something for me."
Rose narrowed her eyes at Lily's evil-looking smile. "What?"
"Now don't yell," Lily warned, looking side to side making sure no one was there before speaking. "I'm only doing this for your own good."
"Lily…" Rose said warily.
"I want you to kiss Scorpius." Lily said calmly, lifting her hand to inspect her nails.
Rose's expression could only be described as pure shock, with a slight bit of horror. "WHAT?"
Lily sighed. "You heard me!"
"Lily," Rose said frantically. "You can't be serious! I hate him!"
"Exactly! You two "hate" each other only because of your parents deciding it!"
"And he's a git!" Rose added.
"Hush!" Lily snapped. "Now you know as well as I do that that's the only reason you two don't get along! You're both brilliant, stubborn, and not bad on the eyes either. I can't stand to see two people with so much potential to get along fight all the time!"
"That doesn't mean I have to kiss him!" Rose pleaded.
"Yes, it does!" Lily sighed. "You both have feelings for each other and you both know it. I'm not going to sit here and watch you never try!"
Rose groaned submissively. She really did not doubt that Lily would tell everybody, or at least Scorpius, if she didn't comply, and she figured one little peck wouldn't be as bad as the whole school knowing that she dreamed about him. "Do I really have to?" She tried one last time to get her cousin to back off.
Lily nodded.
"And if I do, you'll never tell a soul about my dreams, and leave me alone about Scorpius?"
Lily nodded again.
Rose sighed in defeat. "Okay, so what's your plan?"
The evil grin returned to Lily's face and she leaned into her cousin, whispering ideas into her ear.
Didn't see that one coming so soon huh? Well, I'm not one for beating around the bush, so there it is! Review!