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"Rose?"
Scorpius Malfoy sat alone at one of the library desks, hunched over a very large pile of books and parchment. The strands of hair on the front of his head was sticking up at odd angles from running his hand through it. Every so often, he would look up from the parchment he was using to write to flip the page of his textbook. He would lift his arms above his head and stretch because he had been sitting there for an awfully long time. I would know, because I too have been sitting here an awfully long time. The library was so quiet, I could hear the scratching of his quill every time he took down a note. Scratch, scratch. It was seemingly innocent image, just a school boy doing his homework, but I knew better. I knew he was up to something devious.
"Rose?"
Seventh year at Hogwarts comes around and Scorpius Malfoy had not broken one rule since we started school. Not only that, but he was finally able to achieve higher marks than me for the first time ever and it was positively eating me alive. It was the perfect plan, really. He was giving off the impression of being a model student until the very last year, the year he would strike. I couldn't believe I was the only one who was seeing through his facade. I was going to have full proof that the "oh so perfect" Malfoy heir was a scheming liar the whole time.
"Rose!"
"What!" I exclaimed, whirling around in my chair to look at my cousin, Lily, who sitting across from me.
"You haven't been listening to a word I've said!" she said irritably, her face stern.
I flexed my fingers around the crumpled up piece of parchment in my fist and raised and eyebrow at her. I could have easily snapped back claiming that I was listening to her, but it would've been pointless as it would have just irritated Lily even more. I turned my whole body around in the chair so I was facing forward again, just then noticing an ache in my back from having it twisted in an odd position for so long.
"Sorry," I said, not feeling very sorry at all.
"Sorry my ass," Lily snorted. "There you go with staring at Malfoy again!"
Just as the words left Lily's lips, my arm shot out and I covered her mouth with my free hand. Lily was going to give me away if she didn't keep her mouth shut. Whatever she exclaimed next was muffled by my hand and I kept it firmly across her mouth before I suddenly felt something warm and moist brush across my skin. She licked me!
"Real mature, Lily," I said, jerking my now wet hand back.
Lily's eyes gleamed at me, as if she was going to snap another retort at me, but she seemed to have thought better of it. Her gaze flickered over my shoulder to where Malfoy was "doing his homework" aka concocting an evil plot, before meeting my eyes.
"Are you undressing Malfoy with your eyes or something? You've been staring at him for a long time," she said, smirking and I scowled. How ignorant.
I tossed the crumpled up piece of parchment that I had been clutching the whole day since I found it tucked away in my potions textbook at her. It bounced off her forehead softly and fell into her lap. Lily flattened the parchment out on the table and her eye scanned the lone sentence that was beautifully scrawled on it. Lily barely even glanced at the note before crumpling it up again and tossing it off to the side, where it fell on the floor out in the open.
Meet me at the astronomy tower at midnight
It took every fiber of my self-control not to scramble onto the floor and retrieve that note. It was my solid proof that I had against Malfoy. No one in the entire school had elegant handwriting like his and there was no mistake on who it came from. There it was, my glorious evidence, laying forgotten on the stone floor of the library where anyone could pick it up. Lily, why?
"Sounds like you have an admirer," Lily said, opening her textbooks again, pretending to look bored.
"It was from Malfoy!" I hissed across the table, quickly looking back over my shoulder afterwards to make sure Malfoy hadn't suspected anything yet. His blond head was still bowed over the table, his lips pursed as he tapped the tip of the quill against the table.
"So Malfoy is your admirer," Lily concluded, picking at her cuticles. She was so annoyed with me.
"No! He's plotting something!" I exclaimed as quietly as I could so the person in question wouldn't hear me because I imagine by this time I was drawing a bit of attention.
"Mhm, I'm sure he is," Lily responded, not looking at me. It wasn't the first time I made this kind of proposal about Malfoy but this time, I was a hundred percent sure of myself. "So are you going to meet him?"
"Of course I'm going to meet him," I said. "I need to stop whatever he's planning. I bet he has no idea how ready I am for whatever it is."
"You're mental, Rose," Lily said, slamming her book shut loudly and shoving her stuff into her back before slinging it over her shoulder. "I'm going to leave before your craziness starts to rub off on me."
As she walked away, her long red hair swishing back and forth with every step, I braved one last glance at Malfoy. I slowly peeked over my shoulder, so as not to draw more attention to myself. Although, Lily slammed her book pretty hard and I wouldn't be surprised if that grabbed his attention. It was like he was waiting for me to look over at me because the second I did, my eyes were locked with his steely grey ones and I froze. It seemed like we were staring at each other for years before he gave me that god-awful smirk of his.
He knew
I wasn't a stalker, I didn't keep locks of his hair hidden under my bed next to my fully detailed diagram of what he ate for breakfast three mornings ago. However, I'm also not going to say that what I did that Sunday afternoon was particularly sane and I'd probably claim that the stress of the end of my final year at Hogwarts was finally getting to me. Perhaps there was a better way of gaining two steps ahead of Malfoy but following him through the halls was the only idea I could come up with.
I've never followed Malfoy around for half a day before and I expected a day full the usual Slytherin antics. Bullying younger students, getting away with cheating, comparing their inheritances with one another, and kissing the asses of any faculty member who walked by. Anyone who claims that these are normal Slytherin antics are dead wrong because the only activities I've seen Malfoy take part in today was his homework and eating lunch. I've never seen anyone disguise a plan to make it look like an average day so masterly.
He was swirling the remaining contents of his plate around with the fork he held lazily in his hand. His blond head was propped up by his other hand and he look absolutely, positively bored. None of his Slytherin friends were in sight. Actually, there weren't many people in the Grand Hall at all and while usually the place was echoing with loud chatter, the conversations were kept at a soft rumble.
Suddenly, the handle of a broomstick was dropped against the side of the table right next to me with a thud. I jumped in my seat, not realizing how transfixed I was. I glanced up to see who the perpetrator was and Albus stared down at me with quite the displeased expression. His black hair was mused and stuck up in the back and his cheeks were still flushed from being whipped by the wind. The red and gold Quidditch robes he wore were filthy and the smell coming from them was putrid, it made my nose wrinkle.
"If you weren't my cousin, Rose, you'd be off the team for missing practice," he scolded me like one would scold a child who forgot to pick up their toys.
I had to force myself with every fiber of my being to not roll my eyes. If I had a house point for every time Albus used the "If you weren't my cousin, Rose" line on me, Gryffindor would be winning the House Cup for the next fifty years in a row. In my defense, how could one even think about Quidditch when my life could be on the line! Malfoy doesn't just send out fan letters because he's a nice guy.
"Sorry, I have a big exam coming up and I was distracted," I replied, trying to use my peripheral vision to keep Malfoy in my sight.
I must have twitched my eye a little too much in that direction because Albus' focus snapped there too and then back to my guilty face. His eyebrows narrowed at me and he didn't have to utter a word for me to realize he was demanding an explanation. The second Albus opened his mouth, I was already and standing and ready to bolt for the door.
"Were you—?" he started to say.
"Gotta go, bye!" I cut him off and rushed away.
I left the Grand Hall doing a strange half walk half jog, only slowing down slightly when I passed the Slytherin table. Right outside the gapping doorway, I collapsed onto a nearby bench. I buried my face in hands, just then realizing how psycho I must look. There I was, watching a boy consume his food, as though I really were a stalker. Maybe I was just overreacting. Maybe the note wasn't even addressed to me. Maybe Scorpius Malfoy didn't have a plan at all.
"Afternoon, Weasley," a cool, male voice said, jerking me out of my thoughts. I peered through my fingers and there he was, Scorpius Malfoy strolling by, hands in his pockets and a smirk on his face.
Or maybe he's been a scheming bastard all along!
I leaped up from the bench just in time to see his receding figure ascend up the stairs. I paused for a moment, to let him have a head start before I resumed my quest to find out his plan. The second I placed my foot on the first stone step, the quick pattering of footsteps sounded behind me.
"Rose!" Albus shouted. I turned around and shushed him before climbing up the stairs and around the corner of sight.
It was quite easy to stalk—I mean follow someone throughout the halls of Hogwarts. There were so many twists and turns and places to conceal oneself. My calves burned from the sudden stopping and going and crouching behind objects. I felt like I was a secret agent in one of those spy books my mother read to me and my brother when we were young. Although, I don't think this is what she wanted me to get out of those books.
Malfoy halted in front of the fourth door to the left of that hideous, stony Boris the Bewildered statue. He uttered a password and slipped inside. I stuck my foot out quickly to stop the door from closing and I sneaked inside after him.
Inside the room there was a large pool-like bathtub with what seemed like a thousand golden facets hanging over the tub, all of them pouring different brightly colored streams of bubbly water into the in-ground bath tub, filling it remarkably fast. On the opposite side of the room were a line of stalls containing the less impressive toilets. Excellent, the prefect's bathroom.
Wait, no…
I hurriedly went behind Malfoy's still clothed back and slipped into one of the stalls, the stall door creaking slightly. I held my breath, hoping he didn't hear the noise. He didn't say or do anything so I assumed I made it. I had made a terrible mistake. Not only I was trapped but I was trapped in a room with a soon to be naked Malfoy. I cursed myself silently for being so stupid. I should have just stayed on the bench like a quitter.
I sat on the toilet seat, hiking my feet up towards my chest so Malfoy couldn't see them. Mentally, I was prepared to be in that bathroom for a long time. Unsurprisingly, a frequent problem with having a co-ed bathroom is that someone ends up getting stuck in one of these stalls to save themselves the embarrassment of peeking on another student in the bath.
There was a soft thump of multiple clothing items hitting the tiled floor. Dear Merlin, send help.
Perhaps this was Malfoy's plan all along, murder me in the bathroom so the last thing I'll ever see is his wet naked body. I guess there could have been worse last images. I could imagine the words carved into my gravestone.
Here lies Rose Weasley. The bloody idiot died on the toilet.
My eyes were trained on the closed stall door in front of me and I tried to keep my breathing as quiet and as even as possible. The splashing stream coming from the facets came to a halt, and suddenly the bathroom was eerily quiet, save for a few spare droplets hitting the water. I found myself praying that he wasn't one of those people who liked to take hour or so long baths because I had plans today. None of them included sitting on a hard, cold toilet seat all afternoon.
A slow moving figure floating overhead caught my attention and my eyes snapped upwards. Moaning Myrtle was drifting lazily overhead, a knowing smile drawn on her translucent face. I pressed my index finger against my lips to signal to her to be quiet but she didn't get the name Moaning Myrtle from being known for her silence.
"Spying on boys while they bathe?" Myrtle said, her voice echoing throughout the tiled room. "Here I was, thinking I was the only one."
I froze. It felt like my heart was trying to climb out of my chest through my throat and my hands were becoming sweaty. Water splashed on to the tiled floor, like someone was scrambling out of the tub. I let my feet fall to the floor, deciding to just play this off as casually as I could. I pushed the stall door open with a creak and emerged out of the stall. Scorpius was standing in the middle of the room with only his trousers on. Myrtle cackled loudly above.
"Just using the bathroom," I attempted to say as casually as I could, but I could feel my face heat up otherwise. "Damn those co-ed bathrooms."
"That's not what it looked like to me," Myrtle said in a sing-song type of voice. "It's okay to peek, he's cute. I remember when his daddy went to school here. He sure never left a woman waiting on him."
She finished with a wink and Malfoy visibly grimaced. My face was probably as red as my hair at this point and was warm enough to cook an egg on my cheek. I ignored what Myrtle was saying as best I could as I took the walk of shame towards the door to exit this awful situation. It felt like I was moving in slow motion and the door was creeping away from me. My hand finally curled around the cool, brass handle of the door knob and I saw myself out, not bothering to look at Malfoy or Myrtle one last time.
I wandered up the flights of stairs, intent on hiding in the Gryffindor common room for the rest of my life. I barely made it past the fifth floor before I heard a voice calling my name behind me.
"Weasley!" I didn't even want to turn around, but my body betrayed me.
Malfoy had climbed up the stairs, his clothes were haphazardly thrown onto his body. His light blond hair was still wet and sticking to his forehead. He opened and closed his mouth a few times, making him look like a fish out of water.
"What?" I snapped, irritated with the fact that he decided to follow me.
"I—I don't know," he said dumbly.
"Okay, then." I turned to continue my shameful march up the stairs, but he grabbed my wrist, preventing me from going any farther.
"Is there any particular reason I should be aware of for why you've decided to follow me around the whole day?" Malfoy drawled, seeming like he regained his composure.
"I prefer the term investigating," I answered, retrieving the crumpled up piece of parchment out of the pockets of my robes.
It was the same piece of parchment Lily had tossed to the side in the library, but I couldn't just leave such vital evidence laying around. I was practically shoving the worn parchment in his face, which he eventually snatched out of my hands. His grey eyes carefully scanned over the eight delicately written words. He promptly crumpled it back up and tossed it over the railing of the staircase and it fluttered all the way down to the ground. It took all my self-control not to run down the stairs after it.
"I didn't write that, if that's what you're implying," he said.
"No one else has handwriting like that!" I exclaimed.
"You've memorized what my handwriting looks like?" he questioned, raising a single light blond eyebrow at me.
"What? No! I just know!" I huffed, my hands on my hips.
"Are you going to pay the author of that note a visit?" Scorpius asked.
"You mean am I going to meet you at midnight in the astronomy tower? No," I replied.
"That's not what you told your cousin earlier." He smirked and I could feel my face grow hot for what felt like the hundredth time today.
"You shouldn't eavesdrop!"
"I couldn't help it, you're just so bloody loud." He climbed another step closer to me causing me to climb another one backwards to get away from him. I was going to run out of stairs to retreat on and the staircase hadn't moved yet. "I'm not planning anything, but I'll tell you what. We'll both go to the astronomy tower at midnight and see who did leave you that note."
I hesitated, not quite sure how I should have responded. It seemed like an okay plan, he wouldn't be able to surprise me if I knew where he was at all times to begin with.
"Fine," I stated. The staircase below our feet began to rumble before it hoisted us up to the next set of stairs.
The halls were pitch black and I was a bit cold while standing there waiting for Malfoy to arrive. I pulled the sleeves of my sweater over my fingers and crossed my arms over my chest, shivering slightly. The castle felt like it was encased in ice when there was no fireplaces around. I stood with my back to the wall so no one could sneak up on me and my fingers were curled around the handle of my wand, which was sticking out of my pocket.
I glanced down at my watch.
12:02
As being someone who was always on time and after Malfoy made a big deal about coming with me, I was irritated that he had the nerve to show up late. He probably wasn't going to show up at all or he had forgotten. He was just going to leave me standing here in the dark like a fool. It was damn difficult to sneak my way over here, too.
"Ready?" a voice coming from the darkness asked. I jumped, my fingers curling tighter around my wand.
Malfoy's pale face became illuminated by his own wand, making him look like he were a ghost. My heart was beating hard against my chest, still startled from his surprise arrival.
"Whatever," I said and started the trek up the twisted staircase. I paused for a moment, remembering that I shouldn't let Malfoy get behind me, just in case. "You go first."
"I thought Gryffindors were supposed to be brave?" Malfoy chuckled and pushed past me, his wand lighting up the stairs. I chose to ignore his comment.
It felt like I had been climbing up these stairs for ages, my thighs were burning from pushing my body up stair after stair. We finally reached the wooden door at the top and Malfoy's slender fingers grabbed the door handle and shoved it open. I followed him inside, letting the door behind close with a drawn out creak. It was just as dark in this room as it had been in the hallway below, save the steady streams of moonlight leaking in from the window. Malfoy walked through the beams and it looked as though his light blond hair was glowing.
"Well I guess that note wasn't addressed to me, let's leave," I said and turned around to exit the room.
"Wait," Scorpius whispered. "Come here."
It felt like my legs had a mind of their own when they carried me in the direction of Malfoy's voice. It was quiet except of the sound of my shoes against the stone and my breathing. I reached out in front of me so I wouldn't run into anything and my fingertips touched the soft material of Scorpius' sleeve. His hand shot out and grabbed my wrist. I gasped. I was right! He had a plan to get me all along.
I clenched my eyes shut, awaiting my impending doom but instead I felt his warm mouth press against mine. I stood there, frozen to the floor, while Scorpius Malfoy moved his lips against mine in attempt to coax a reaction out of me. His hand traveled to the small of my back and suddenly I didn't feel as cold anymore. His other hand found itself tangled in my hair, while my own hands still hung limply at my sides. Malfoy seemed to be aware of the fact that I was unresponsive and pulled away, his breathing heavy.
"Sorry, I—"
"You scheming bastard planned this the whole time!" I exclaimed and his hushed me. "Don't shush me!"
"You're so loud!"
I was going to shout something else at him, determined to be even louder, but he pressed his lips against mine again before I could. He was more aggressive this time, backing me up against the stone wall, I had no choice but to put my hands on his shoulders to keep myself from falling over. Malfoy pulled me closer to his body so we were flush against each other. It felt as though my stomach had tied itself in a knot and I was having a difficult time breathing. I managed to regain some sense and I pulled away from him.
I turned on my heels once I was free and marched straight for the door, angry that I fell for such a stupid trick. I should have known all along he was going to pull something and I felt like an idiot. My face was hot and my palms were sweaty. I felt his hand grab my wrist again, which only infuriated me even more. He attempted to yank me towards him but I pulled in the opposite direction.
"One more for the road?" he said, and I could almost hear the smirk in his voice.
That was the last time I ever stalk Scorpius Malfoy again.