A Night Out for Butterbeer
AN: Ok, I have not read the recently published cursed child. I have not read it, and I've been working on this fic since before cursed child was published. This is my first story published on this website so all constructive criticism is welcome. Obviously I don't own Harry Potter or anything related to it, but you can't be too careful with disclaimers. I hope you enjoy.
Rose Weasley was in her dorm room in the Ravenclaw tower, rereading the Standard Book of Spells Grade 6. It was late at night on Valentine's Day. Gentle snowflakes fell outside the window around Hogwarts School while the stars glinted overhead.
Rose sighed; she couldn't understand how anyone could use nonverbal spells. Half the class in Defense Against the Dark Arts had already more or less grasped the concept of it, but not her. Her two best friends Scorpius and Albus had gotten it. It frustrated her because she was one of the top witches in her year. Rose could master any spell or potion in one lesson, yet nonverbal spells perplexed her. Rose was bothered by it because if she couldn't master nonverbal spells, what would it say about her as a student? I mean her love life wasn't fairng any better at this point.
She closed the book, sighed and looked around the dorm room. It was empty. Everybody was either at Hogsmeade or around the castle. Curfew had extended because most people came back from Hogsmeade very late. All of her dorm mates had dates, yet Rose was alone.
Rose tried to ignore the sinking pit in her stomach. She knew the reason she didn't have a date was that she had never shown any interest in a romantic relationship, plain and simple. All of her friends teased her on how 'she might as well marry her books because she never spent time with anyone else.' Rose didn't complain; after all, they were right.
She thought about her friends, Albus and Scorpius. Albus was going out with his girlfriend. Scorpius didn't have a date. This surprised Rose because it seemed every day this week two or three girls would come up to Scorpius asking him out. (It had gotten to the point where Albus and Rose were making bets on how many girls would ask Scorpius in a day.) She thought that maybe one of them had asked Scorpius enough times that he finally caved in, though Rose would have preferred if he didn't.
Though it made sense if he did. Scorpius was the kind of fellow who would rather brood in corners than go out on a date and Rose guessed all the girls in her year somehow found that attractive where she found it depressing. It seemed he scowled more and more nowadays, and no matter how many times they picked on professor Binns or Albus and Rose gave him cauldron cakes his mood would not lift. They had gotten worried.
Albus, Rose and Scorpius. The golden trio they were called by pretty much anyone. Their family, their friends, and even their teachers called them that. They would whisper in the halls 'oh there goes the golden trio'.
Charismatic Albus, ingenious Rose and cynical Scorpius, everyone knew they were inseparable but no one knew just how deep their bond of friendship was. Rose remembered how she hated Scorpius in their first year. He was arrogant and rude, especially to her. He teased her about her freckles, and how she thought she was greater than everyone else because her uncle was Harry Potter. He called her stupid, and a Weasley. It had always been Weasley. The Weasleys were poor; the Weasleys were pathetic; the Weasleys were blood traitors who just happened to be on the right side of the war.
The bullying had gotten so bad that Rose always felt Scorpius's eyes on her. Every time she raised her hand in class she could see his scowl. It had gotten to the point where Rose wouldn't talk anymore, and at that point Albus had intervened.
The result had been a fight, detention and many points lost from Slytherin house. But there was a positive side too. Scorpius had apologized, but no one would go near him after he had revealed his true self. Albus became his only friend, and after awhile so did Rose.
As Rose and Albus had gotten to know Scorpius they figured out pretty quickly that his cold exterior was all a façade. Scorpius was only emulating the father who was bitter about the past. In the end Scorpius was just like any other boy. He walked and talked and laughed like one, he even smiled like. Rose loved his smile, if Scorpius could smile like that, then Rose figured he deserved a second chance.
The three of them quickly became close friends and the golden trio name stuck. They did everything together. They ate, played and studied together, made visits to Hagrid's hut on Friday afternoons, and occasionally snuck around the castle at night in Albus's invisibility cloak. (When James and Lily weren't using it.) They had been friends ever since.
The wind howled in the night and Rose shivered. She needed a break from all this homework. It was Friday and most of her homework was done anyway. She grabbed a book and sat down on one of the pillows near the fireplace, the roaring fire crackling. It was almost midnight and all of the first years had gone to bed. Rose settled into one of the couches and started reading; her flaming curly red hair formed a curtain around her face. As Rose continued to read she heard muffled steps, probably some couple having a private moment. She focused her eyes on the text, but her mind started to blank. Everything was silent a few minutes, when suddenly she heard someone scream:
"I don't the answer damnnit! Let me in!"
It was Scorpius.
Rose smiled, and ran to open the door. There was Scorpius. His pale blond hair was disheveled and his cheeks were pink. Rose laughed. Scorpius's cheeks grew pinker.
"I'm sorry Weasley, it's just that I've trying to answer the, uh, riddle so I could, uh, see you and ask you if you would maybe like to go to Hogsmeade with me? I mean to grab a butterbeer since its really cold and such." He said nervously.
Rose was taken aback for a second. He was nervous. This was wrong, Scorpius was never nervous; he was always cool and laid back.
"Sure, Malfoy that's a great idea. Let's go out into the freezing snow just so we can warm ourselves up!" she replied sarcastically, trying to restore the old Scorpius.
"Geez, Weasley if you were so desperate to spend time with me all you need do was ask."
There he was. There was her Scorpius.
"Don't flatter yourself Malfoy, but I would be happy to allow you to be in the presence of my company for this butterbeer you speak of."
"I would be delighted my lady." He said with a mock bow.
Rose rolled her eyes and ran to her dorm to get her coat and mittens and things. As she gathered her belongings she felt her heart soar. She wasn't going to be alone on Valentine's Day! And she was going to spend it with a friend! Rose stopped as she thought of the word friend. Wasn't she going on a date with Scorpius?
But it was Scorpius. He barely tolerated her much less wanted to go out with her. He constantly teased her, and scowled at her, and almost always interrupted her reading. She had had to toughen herself up over the years just to deal with his brutish ways. Yet, tonight he was being rather shy and it seemed so wrong to Rose.
As she went back downstairs Rose thought to herself, had Scorpius always been this cute?
They left the tower and ran down the staircases as if they were late for class. They accidently went into a trick staircase and they had to apologize to the staircase before they could continue. They eventually made it outside the castle and they were laughing.
When Rose and Scorpius were littler, they and Albus would always race each other to class, and would often get lost exploring all the rooms while Rose would always goad the two boys that they would be late for class, which they usually were. Rose smiled at the memories.
They exited out of Hogwarts castle through the doors and into the night. Snow fell gently around the grounds and ice covered the lake with the giant squid. Overhead stars twinkled and there was a chill in the air. They started to walk; they were completely alone. As they crunched through the snow, Scorpius started slowly to scowl.
"What's bothering you Malfoy?" Rose asked
"Nothing." he mumbled.
"Yeah right. Something is always bothering you. Seriously, what's wrong?"
"Just this."
"Well lighten up! Nothing is going wrong!"
"Well everything is going wrong for me!" he screamed.
Rose shut up. She knew Scorpius could get really angry. He took a deep breath.
"I'm sorry. I shouldn't yell, especially at you."
"Daddy issues?"
He chuckled. "Yeah, father and I had a fight over the holidays. I told him that I was tired of him and his shit. I didn't want to become my father as he became my grandfather. I told him I'm running away after I finish Hogwarts. He just said 'Do as you wish.'"
"Hey I know you had a tough childhood. Your dad wants to be at the top of the class. Hell, even the best student in our year."
"Which you have me beat at."
"Naturally."
"Also he only wants me to marry a pureblood."
"I believe it."
"And he wants to be 'happy'"
" Ha! Only if it's within his jurisdictions."
"Exactly! God, he's so pathetic."
"Yep, you sound just like a third year."
"Shut up."
Rose then bent down and threw a snowball at Scorpius. It landed on his face and in return Scorpius threw another snowball in retaliation. It landed over Rose's head, she started laughing just as Scorpius threw another snowball at her. It hit its target. They then proceeded to have a snowball fight, until all their clothes were sopping. Then Rose jumped on Scorpius and they tumbled into the forbidden forest. They were laughing and screaming.
Then Rose's head started to throb.
"Scorp, stop. I hit my head."
"Does it hurt?"
"Of course it hurts, but can you check to see how bad it is?"
Rose then sat up. She could barely see the castle and there were only a few feet in the forest. The trees were so thick that there was barely any snow on the ground.
"Well, there's a big bump, but other than that your head seems fine."
"Thanks, we should keep walking to Hogsmeade."
Scorpius was distracted by something in the forest. It was a trail of tiny black spiders following a trail. Rose panicked; she hated spiders.
"Scorpius. Please let's go back."
"Let's follow it."
"Why? What's the point? "
"I'm going to follow them"
"I thought we were going out for butterbeer."
"That doesn't matter."
"What has gotten into you?"
"I'm going on my own path."
" What's wrong with you? "
He then went on. Rose started to turn back. Malfoy was mad. What the bloody hell was he thinking? They were on a date! Ok, not a romantic date, but still. What was he trying to prove? That he was a bad boy? That he could do whatever the hell he wants?
As stupid as he was, Rose wasn't going to let one of her best friends get killed.
Rose turned around and trudged into the forest, wand out and following the spiders, hyperventilating all the way. " Follow the spiders, why couldn't it be follow the butterflies?" Rose thought to herself.
As she continued to walk into the forest she thought about the time her father and her uncle Harry went into the forbidden forest while following a trail of spiders. They had gone into the forest looking for something. Apparently the trail had led them to the home of a large colony of giant spiders. The tale still gave her the chills.
Well then why did Scorpius follow the spiders? Rose kept following the trail as best she could. Attempting to avoid tripping over large fallen branches, scraping against tree trunks and branches hitting her in the head again. As she kept going she realized, even if she found Scorpius how would she get back? Eventually she came to an immense dirt tunnel. The spiders were filing into it, so Scorpius must have gone in there. Rose whispered "Nox" and continued with her wand at the ready, mentally calculating what spells might be useful in this scenario.
As she stepped out of the tunnel there was Scorpius, surrounded by spiders on all sides. She gasped silently with fear, one sound she knew and the spiders would find her than if they smelled her. Slowly more and more spiders gathered around Scorpius. Rose pressed herself against the dirt wall, in part to hide, in part to mix her own smell with the dirt. She tried to think of the right spell for getting rid of the spiders. Reducto wouldn't work, Scorpius might get hurt, but Rose could hear Scorpius's screams and then being suddenly muffled. Rose panicked, just as she heard the scuttling of spider legs became louder and louder. Suddenly, she remembered the spell.
She turned towards the tunnel exit to find a spider poised to strike, without a second to waste she thought "Arania Exumai!" and the spider turned over unconscious. Rose ran into the clearing, surrounded by dark, brooding trees. She found two trees covered by a web with several spiders climbing over each other to get to something. She cast the spell nonverbally again. The spiders fell to the ground, while more spiders tried to take their kin's place; others spiders feasted on the fallen arachnids.
More spiders surrounded Rose, again and again she cast the spells nonverbally, but she was getting overwhelmed. The spiders started getting close enough to scratch her. Scorpius had to get up and help.
"Oy! Malfoy, get up!" she yelled.
She heard a moan.
"Scorp, get up and help me damnnit!"
She heard another moan.
"Scorpius, help me!"
She only heard sounds of struggle from Scorpius until he yelled "Arania Exumai!" All the spiders that were approaching him fell down and more spiders went off to eat them. Scorpius fell down with a loud "OWWWW!"
She started to run towards Scorpius while still holding off the spiders. She approached him, and he already gotten up. He too was fending off the spiders. They were back to back fighting off the spiders as one. Scorpius was bleeding from his nose, and had bruises all over his face and arms. Rose wasn't in much better condition. Her hair had leaves and sticks all over it and her body had several bleeding scratches. The spiders were massing to form a blockade.
"We need to get out of here!" said Rose anxiously.
"I know that Weasley!" he yelled.
"Get your broom."
"What? I didn't bring it with me!"
"No, summon your broom!"
He paused for a split second, but then screamed dramatically "Accio Broomstick!" Suddenly Scorpius's Model 3 Firebolt landed in his hand. He immediately got on the broomstick, and Rose got on after a few seconds hesitation. Scorpius grabbed her hand, and she blushed. Scorpius lifted off the ground with Rose barely getting on the broomstick, a spider grabbing onto her leg. Rose quickly eradicated it, and as they rose slowly off the ground. They bombarded past pine leaves getting in their faces. Scorpius pointed the broom towards the sky and they broke free of the forest.
Once they were above the tree they started breathing heavily. Rose used one hand to clutch her wand and one around Scorpius's middle. He used both his hands to hold the wand and the broomstick. After they had regained their composure Rose started scolding.
"That was the most stupid, selfish thing you had ever done!"
"I know!"
"You could have gotten us killed!"
"I know, I'm sorry!" he shouted and then his voice shifted to a gentler tone. "You have every right to be mad."
"Yes, I do! Wait why are you apologizing?"
"Weasley, I think we established that I fucked up."
"But this isn't like you! You never apologize, especially to me!"
"I apologized to you that one time, you know, before we were friends."
"That didn't count! The only reason you apologized was because Albus forced you to!"
"Well that doesn't mean I wasn't sorry!"
"That's rich coming from you Malfoy! How thick do you think I am?"
"Very."
"And anyway you've been acting weird lately. You're more emo than usually. You scowl more; you have bags under your eyes and not to mention but you almost had us bloody killed!"
"Thanks for the fucking reminder Weasley." But Rose wasn't done yet.
"Do you know what the weirdest part is? The weirdest part is that girls have asking you out left and right and you ignore them! You are bathing in attention! Your ego should be up to here right now!"
Rose made a gesture above her head.
"I didn't like those girls." Scorpius mumbled.
"What, they weren't good enough for the pure blood prince?"
"No, I just, like someone else, and I wanted to impress them."
"Who?"
"Who do you fucking think?"
Rose was speechless. It was obvious, so obvious that she wanted to jump off the flying broomstick, which was just hovering now. It was her.
"Could you at least listen for a moment?"
Rose's expression softened, she hugged him tighter.
"You're my friend, of course I'll listen."
Scorpius sighed and explained.
"I've loved you for a a while now."
"How long?"
"Please don't interrupt Weasley."
"Sorry." She said.
"I guess, since you became my friend. I was so horrible to you and you forgave me and gave me a second chance."
"I felt sorry for you."
"You know you're not making this any easier Rose."
"Sorry." She replied shyly.
"But you know I figured that. I knew that you had felt sorry for me and as time went on you stayed my friend. You were still my friend even if I made new ones. That really touched me Rose."
"I grew to like your company; even if you are an ass."
"Thanks Weasley."
"I'm serious Scorpius. You are my best friend. I love you."
"Just as a friend, huh?"
They stayed silent for a minute.
"I wanted to impress you. So you could see that I'm a good person, at least a better person than my father."
"Is that why you wanted to go into the forbidden forest?"
"I guess, I went in was to prove to myself that I was a man. I wanted to prove that I wasn't afraid of anything the spiders, my father, you. I wanted to do something exciting and incredible, by myself. I wanted to come out of that forest with some sort of pride. I don't why I chose the spiders of all things, but my gut seemed to tell me 'go this way', and I couldn't stop myself."
"Oh," Rose said to herself. "Well, that was still a really fucking stupid thing to do."
"You're never going to let me live that down?"
Rose giggled. "Why are you afraid of me?" she asked with sudden seriousness.
" Because you're amazing Weasley, and, again, I want to impress you."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, you're the best goddamn witch in this school, and so much better than me." Scorpius replied coldly.
Rose wanted to tell him that it would be alright, that it didn't matter to her what he did as long as he was himself, as long as he was her friend. But he didn't want to be friends; he wanted to be more. She didn't want to stop teasing him, or insulting him, or studying with him, or being with him in a comfortable way. She liked their dynamic, so she said the worst possible thing she could say at that moment.
"Wow, Malfoy. I can't believe you are envious of moi. I thought you thought you were the best wizard in the entire school? Does this mean you finally admit that Weasleys are better Malfoys?" Rose teased.
"Phhf. You wish." He laughed halfheartedly.
Rose filled with anguish. Oh no. Scorpius, the boy who thought he was better than anyone else, the boy who was admired and loved and hated and envied by everyone. The heir to the Malfoy estate, he was rich, he was a pureblood, and to top it all off he was handsome, with his smooth skin and heartbreaking smile. Rose was getting carried away but the point was that Scorpius loved her and she wasn't ready. She tried to break the ice.
"It's nice up here."
"Rose stop."
"Stop what?"
" Acting awkward. If you don't return my feelings you can just say so."
"Well you can stop acting like a prick!"
"Shut up Rose."
"No you shut up! I love being your friend and I don't want to change that! I want to be with you forever but if we were, together, then what if we broke up? What if we got into a fight? I don't want to fight you anymore Scorpius. I like it when we're together! I don't want things to go back to the way they were before!"
Scorpius's eyes had widened, and immediately tipped the broom towards the ground, right on the edge of the forbidden forest. Rose jumped off the broom. Her eyes were brimming with tears. What had she done?
"I'll just go. Thank you for taking me out Scorpius…"
"Rose come here."
She looked at Scorpius. His arms were outstretched and he was extremely pink, and Rose couldn't have run fast enough.
She crashed into his chest and buried her nose into his coat. They had never hugged like this before, just the two of them. When they hugged Albus was also there. This was so much better.
They were crying, mourning for a friendship that could never be the same. Scorpius stroked Rose's hair and Rose squeezed him so hard he was going to pop like a jelly slug at any moment.
"Rose I will never hate you." Scorpius whispered in her ear.
"How do you know?" Rose sniffed.
"It's just, something I've always known."
The moon had risen high in the sky. The February snow swirled around them. Their boots were soaked and icicles were starting to hang from their noses.
"Scorpius?"
"Yeah Rose."
"Could we get that butterbeer now?"
'Sure."
And so Rose and Scorpius walked to the Three Broomsticks hand in hand. They trudged through the snow; ignoring the stares of a drunken couple, or the twinkling stars, or the falling snow. They only wished to have a moment where it would just be the two of them and their blossoming feelings.
The two of them arrived at the Three Broomsticks, but the door was locked. They sat down on the doorstep.
They burst into laughter, their laughter echoing in the empty streets. Their exhaustion was apparent but they couldn't very well freeze to death.
Rose put her head on Scorpius's shoulder. Scorpius obliged. Scorpius took Rose's gloved hand. She obliged.
After a minute they both got up silently and trudged through the snow, Scorpius holding his broom in one hand, and Rose's in the other, while Rose held the wands.
The pair got to the main gate, still holding hands.
Scorpius cracked a little smile. Rose remembered how much she loved that smile, and how she loved him, without realizing it.
"Well, I guess we have to go back to our dorm rooms." Scorpius said glumly.
He dropped her hand started to leave.
His stoic demeanor, his teasing, his jokes, his laughter; the way his eyes crinkled when he smiled, all disappearing. Rose had to stop him before it all went away, everything that she loved.
"Wait!" Rose barked as she reached for his hand. "Wait, I have something to tell you."
"Yeah?" Scorpius said with a pokerface.
"I love you."
"That's good to hear Rose, that feels so good to hear."
He started to turn back again.
" And Scorpius,"
"Yeah."
" Would you like to go out for butterbeer, sometime, with me?"
And he smiled.