colour: tall evergreen

beautiful word: lissom (adjective; graceful in shape and movement)

pairing: ScorpiusRoxanne

He sits by the evergreen tree, watching the sun go down, and the different shades in the sunset. He watches the colourful sky, and listens to the birds bid each other goodnight. He tries not to think of what he has done, and he tries not to think of where the girl he loves is now. When he thinks of it, it hurts too much. Can he really help it? Can he really help reliving every short moment he spent with Roxanne Weasley?

x-x

He saw her for the first time in the winter. It was a cold, dark day, and Rose had dragged him along to a ballet, insisting that they go to support Roxanne.

"She's my cousin!" she told him, "and I want to support her by going along. Anyway, it'll be fun!"

Scorpius had moaned and groaned and grumbled. He'd never been into the ballet-type activities. It was all a little too girly and a little too boring for him. All he knew was that they wore tights and danced around a stage to music being played by an orchestra. To be quite frank, that didn't exactly appeal to him. Rose hadn't exactly had to physicallydraghim into the Opera House in which the ballet was showing, but it had taken a lot of determination and persuasive tactics on Rose's side to get him in. They took their seats, and Scorpius couldn't help but admire the opera house. It seemed almost circular, with seats on the ground, a balcony, and then a higher balcony. Rose told him the fancy names for each of the seating areas, but he couldn't quite remember them. They took their seats on the highest balcony, the furthest away from the stage anyone was. The seats were made of red velvet, and Scorpius ran his hand up and down the seat, taking in the soft feel of the velvet.

"Scorp, have you got any money?" Rose asked, searching through her handbag for spare muggle change.

Scorpius nodded. "Why?"

Rose smiled, "It's for the opera glasses."

"The opera glasses?" Scorpius asked, "What arethey?"

Rose pointed out the binocular-type things stuck onto the seat in front of them, and explained to him how they were used to see the ballet going on in more detail. Scorpius put in a 50 pence piece and took the glasses out of the holder, and handed them to Rose.

"Don't you want a pair?" Rose asked, curious.

Scorpius laughed. "Okay then, I'll get myself a pair."

He inserted a 50p piece into another opera glasses holder, and took out his pair, and put them to his eyes, looking onto the stage, seeing the glorious red curtain spread across the stage, looking at the ripples in the curtain with a smile. Rose was right; it really was beautiful.

x-x

She caught his eye from the moment she came on stage. The other dancers were beautiful, and graceful, but she was something else. While they danced, she flew, while they glowed, she shone, she was beautiful, and lissom and perfect. Who was she, he asked himself, who was this beautiful girl who had caught his eye? She was tall, and she had a proud look in her eyes, like she knew she was good. She was right- she was good. Every time she spun, every time she rose on pointe, Scorpius was awe-struck once again.

He wasn't even sure what was going on. He knew it was Swan Lake, the ballet, and he was pretty sure the girl who had caught his eye was the main woman, dancing, and twisting and turning and flying. He caught himself having a tear in his eye, and he shook himself. This wasn't normal, this wasn't Scorpius. At the end of the ballet, the girl died; Scorpius couldn't tell exactly why, or how, but she did, and she died gracefully. And maybe that was when he fell in love with her.

x-x

Rose had dragged Scorpius out of the opera house as soon as the final note was played. She grabbed him by the arm, and rushed past the other members of the audience, shouting apologies for banging into people as she went.

"Hurry up, Scorpius," she muttered, "Roxy doesn't know we're here, and I want to talk to her."

Maybe it was that moment, when Scorpius realised what he had done. He realised that the girl who caught his eye, the girl who shone as though she was shining only for him was his girlfriend's cousin. It wasn't exactly on the top of his 'to do' list, to fall in love with his girlfriend's cousin. He tried to think back to his Hogwarts years, only a few years back, and remember Rose's cousin. She was older, he remembered that. She had always intimidated him, and so he had never spoken to her. Besides, his eye was always on Rose back then.

What did her face even look like? Scorpius couldn't quite recall it. From the top balcony in the Opera House, he hadn't been able to see faces, only figures, and splashes of colour and costumes. And watch them dance, of course. Or fly, in Roxanne's case.

Scorpius was vaguely aware of Rose dragging him out of the hospital, and down the cold street, with rain pouring down on the both of them, soaking their skin. Rose hesitated for a moment, and then took the left at the end of the road, and then stopped in front of a battered old door, marked with the words Stage Door.

He wasn't exactly sure how he felt. He was petrified, to tell the truth, to meet her. How had he fallen for a girl whose face he hadn't seen clearly? How could he have fallen for a girl who was a dancer? And how the hell did he end up falling for a girl who was his girlfriend's cousin? He didn't even know if those things were possible. Then again, he was Scorpius, the guy who defied all possibility. Who'd have thought a Malfoy could end up in Gryffindor, who'd have thought he'd have fallen in love with a Weasley? Certainly no one had predicted the mess he'd end up in.

They stood there for minutes that seemed like hours, waiting for the stage door to swing open, and someone to step out. Other dancers made their way out of the door, swinging bags over their shoulders, and sending curious glances at the couple. Scorpius began to cling onto Rose's coat, feeling the cold and wishing he hadn't been so vain, leaving his gloves behind because they were too scrappy for him.

"How much longer?" Scorpius moaned. "I'm cold, Rose!"

Rose laughed. "She's always been vain. She'll be taking off her stage make-up and applying more toned down make up. Probably re-doing her hair as well."

"Do we have to wait?" Scorpius whined.

Rose sighed, "Yes, Scorpius, we do. She's my cousin, and I haven't seen her for months!"

Scorpius decided to stop grumbling, and instead occupied himself with dragging his foot along the ground, backwards and forwards, and watching the rain fall around him. The door opened, and Roxanne appeared.

The first thing that struck him was her eyes. They seemed so deep and meaningful. Those dark brown eyes of hers, that just shone with light and warmth, and a twinkle in her eyes that told him she'd be mischievous as well. Her hair looked beautiful, so different from when it had been in a bun on the stage. It was down to just past her shoulders, and brown and beautiful.

Scorpius shook himself. He should not be looking at her in that way. Roxanne looked at them in surprise, and then it seemed to register in her expression that she realised her cousin was standing in front of her.

"Rose!" she exclaimed, and she rushed forwards to embrace her. "I had no idea you were coming tonight!"

Rose withdrew from the hug and beamed at her cousin. "It was a spur of the moment thing. I've missed you, and Fred told me about this… I just wanted to see you."

"I'm so glad you did!" Roxanne smiled."And who's the lucky guy?" she asked, sending a glance over to Scorpius.

Rose giggled, a rare occurrence, "Scorpius Malfoy - do you not remember him? He's been my boyfriend since fifth year!"

Roxanne furrowed her brow in concentration, "I think I was in seventh year then. Too busy worrying about NEWTs, I think, to pay any attention to your latest toyboy…" she winked at Scorpius, and his insides did a funny jolt.

Rose lightly slapped Roxanne on the arm, laughing, "I think you were the one with toyboys, Rox,"

Roxanne began to shiver in the cold, and Scorpius noticed she only had a thin jacket on.

"How about we take this back to my flat?" he suggested, "It's a little cold."

x-x

The night should not have ended that way. It really should not have ended that way. Scorpius told himself to stop thinking that. It wasn't going to change what happened, wasn't going to change the fact that he had cheated on his girlfriend of five years. He tried not to think of last night, tried to stop thinking of how Rose had gone home, because she had felt ill. How Roxanne had stayed the night, telling Scorpius she couldn't be bothered to go home. How they had stayed up, alternating between playing I Never, and Cheat. Then, how Roxanne had snuggled next to him on the sofa, and they had talked about things that Scorpius hadn't even talked about with Rose, his deepest fears, his darkest secrets, his utmost desires.

That was where it had started, really.

He couldn't even blame Roxanne. He had leant in, and his lips pressed against hers, and she didn't kiss back. She pulled away, and looked him in the eyes.

"What about Rose?" she had said, "You can't do this to her."

Scorpius had looked at her with urgency, "I don't care about Rose. I want you."

Roxanne hadn't objected past that point, and this time she had initiated the kiss, and they had spent the night together and… no. Scorpius didn't want to think about it, because it didn't happen.

She had left abruptly in the middle of the night. She had looked at him seriously, and he had known what was about to happen.

"I can't do this," she told him, and he nodded. She turned away, and left the flat.

She didn't look back.

x-x

Scorpius tried to forget, he really did. He wanted to forget, wanted to pretend that everything was normal, and he still loved Rose just as much as he did before- but he couldn't. Why was he drawn to Roxanne anyway? She was two years older than him. He couldn't stop thinking about her lustrous hair, and the graceful way in which she moved. He couldn't help think of her laugh, her cheek, the sparkle in her eye, and her steady wit and humour. He barely knew her, for crying out loud! What was wrong with him? He didn't know.

Roxanne visited him a few weeks after what Scorpius referred to in his mind as 'the incident'. She let herself into the house, and called his name, until she found him, slumped in an old, worn armchair. Scorpius noticed that she had come straight from the ballet, not even bothering to take off her stage makeup, or remove her hair from her bun. He noticed a loose hairgrip, and reached out to remove it. Roxanne ignored the movement.

"We need to talk," she told him, and he sighed. Why were girls so into talking about things? If anything bad every happened, it was'we need to talk about this','I think we should talk'.

"What is there to talk about?" Scorpius asked, "We had sex, we've agreed not to talk about it again…"

Roxanne growled, "I can't do this to Rose! She's my cousin, and she's fragile. I can't lie to he any more."

"Can't we just pretend this never happened?" Scorpius pleaded.

"No," Roxanne told him firmly, "I'll give you a week to tell her. Or I'll tell her myself." she walked away, leaving him.

She never looked back.

x-x

He looked at her, and she was just numb. She stood there, and she stared, looking at him, looking at Roxanne, as if she was trying to process what Roxanne had just told her.

"It was only one time," Roxanne told her, "And you have no idea how sorry I am."

No expression registered on Rose's face, but she turned sharply on her heel and walked away. As he walked away, he heard her whisper,

"And don't come running back to me when things get tough, Scorp."

He let Roxanne take him in her arms, because he needed someone in that moment, and Roxanne was there. And maybe, just in that moment, she was perfect for him.

x-x

Maybe it had all been a bit much for Scorpius to wish for a happy ending. The clue came with the surname. Malfoys simplydidn'tget a happy ending. He'd screwed things up beyond recognition, and there was no going back from there. He'd fallen in love, and he'd fallen out of love with Rose. The thing was, he'd never fallen out of love with Roxanne.

Two years wasn't that much of an age difference, was it? Scorpius knew couples with more than a two year age gap between them. Maybe it wasn't the age difference that made Roxanne reject him; maybe it was the circumstances. Whatever it was, Roxanne hadn't wanted him, and had left him. Yet he still couldn't stop thinking about those eyes of hers that were a deep chocolate brown, and the way her hair looked, and shone against the lights when she was dancing on the stage. Maybe he had fallen in love with the wrong person. He'd fallen in love with the ballet dancer, Roxanne Weasley. The one who chose to take a muggle job, the one who danced so elegantly, the one who was beautiful and strong and amazing. Was that Roxanne the same person as the Roxanne who lived in the real world? He didn't know.

So Scorpius sits by the tall evergreen tree, and he looks at the way the light reflects of the pine needles. He watches the orange sunsets go by, and wonders if anything could ever be the same again. Maybe in a different time, a different place, a different situation, they could have worked out. But no matter how much Scorpius wished it, nothing was going to change. As Roxanne went off and married Teddy, and Rose married Lysander, there was nothing Scorpius could do. He couldn't even find a star to wish on any more.

Okay, so I hate myself for writing ScorRox- what is the world? This was for Lovisa's challenge- 150 Beautiful and Colourful prompts. Lovisa is flawless- love her.

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