Slipped Away Chapter 1: Waking Up is a Pain, Isn't It?, a harry potter fanfic

Author's Note: This is the revised version of the first chapter.

Chapter One: Waking Up is a Pain, Isn't It?

The smell of old and, in some cases, ancient paper filled Rose's nose. Those weren't the only smells though. Rose breathed in the ink and new parchment as well. Rose was busily working on a foot and a half essay on the effects runes have on spells and some extra rune translations for her Ancient Runes professor, Professor Knight. Normally, she would be out on the Quidditch pitch, hitting the bludger between herself and Chloe Longbottom, her best friend. They made a good duo on and off the field. Many, especially Rose's family, equated them to Rose's Uncle George and late Uncle Fred when they had played.

She looked over to where Al was sitting. He for some reason had not tried out for the Quidditch team nor had no desire. Rose figured it was because enough members of her family had taken over the Quidditch teams that it would seem unfair. He was awesome on a broom nonetheless but even more amazing with a wand. The boy had loosened his gold and scarlet tie and was working on some advanced charms from a book Rose's mum had given him.

Rose went back to working on her own homework. As she lifted her quill again, her stomach rumbled, warning her that it wasn't happy. It never seemed to be happy with her. She always was busy with Quidditch practice and homework and other things, that she didn't have a set eating schedule. Today she had of course had breakfast, the most important meal of the day as her grandma liked to remind her. Lunch had been kind of skimpy but it had been enough to sustain her until now. But dinner she had skipped. The majority of her evening had been spent in the library with a little bit in her dorm room catching a quick nap. Al had come up a little while ago, smelling of food. He was always taking care of her as he was the one person that held their little group from falling apart. Rose knew that he had brought something up for her.

She looked over at him again and he was looking at her. Al raised his eyebrow and pointed to his schoolbag. Rose nodded and Al rolled his eyes and laughed. He leaned down out of sight for a minute and then came back up with a wrapped stack of something. He passed it over to her silently and went back to practicing charms. She opened the food up and saw that it was a stack of toast with some fruit wrapped up on top. Rose smiled and signed 'thank you' in the secret language they had made back (and were still adding to) when they were six. He signed 'you're welcome' and flipped quite a few pages to another section. As she started gnawing on some strawberries, Rose continued working on her essay. Everything was done on it except for the conclusion. All of the ink was dry so she didn't have to worry about smudging. Rose lifted her quill again and set to work finishing her essay.

Fifteen minutes later, Rose was done with the essay. She set to rolling it up. From behind her, Rose heard squelching footsteps and shook her head. It was a good thing Pince no longer was working here. She would've been down on them faster than they could say...well just about anything. As they came closer, Rose smelled the all too familiar smells of rain, sweat, and broom polish. It caused a pang in her heart to know that she had skipped practice, but her grades came first and she had had a lot of homework.

She giggled a little as the two sat down: Chloe right next to her and Scorpius right next to Al and across from Rose. They were both soaking wet and looked very tired. Chloe's dark brown hair looked black as it hung down like wavy spaghetti noodles. She was just tucking her hair behind her ears and was rubbing her eyes, getting what looked like forgotten mud out of the corner of her eyes. Chloe had changed out of her Quidditch robes obviously, but just walking through the grounds to the castle in the still pouring rain had completely soaked her jeans and t-shirt.

Scorpius was the same. His blonde hair on the other hand was now more of a dirty blonde. He was soaked through to the bone as well. His longish hair was flat and messy. He was wearing a sweater and a nice pair of khakis with some nice dress shoes. He was looking down into his lap and wasn't looking up at anyone.

"I'm so sorry I skipped, you guys. Do you want me to dry you off?"

"Oh, would you? Please? I'm really cold…and wet, obviously. And are you—"

"Chloe, I will. And yes, I am finished with the Ancient Runes essay. Which you should've had done most of it already."

"I know, I know. Can you please dry us? Like…now, maybe? And it's no big deal that you skipped. We know what your mum is like."

"All right, all right. Calm down just a little bit and stop talking so I can concentrate."

Rose pulled out her wand and waved it towards them saying the proper incantation in her head. They immediately became dry and stopped raining on the carpet. Chloe's hair was back to its illuminating wavy dark brown. Scorpius' hair was back to being dry and straight, but curly on the ends. His parents weren't exactly happy about his fashion choices, but they were considerably nicer to him about it than his paternal grandparents.

Well, Chloe, being herself, started talking a mile a minute and thanking Rose. Rose rolled her eyes and just shook her head. She loved her best friend, but sometimes, she just felt like smacking her across the face to just make her be quiet for a few minutes. But every time she voiced her wish, Al and sometimes Scorpius told her she shouldn't do so. There were nicer ways to get her to shut up.

While Chloe kept on talking, giving Rose a play-by-play of practice, Rose pulled her rune translations out and Scorpius still hung his head. Rose paused after translating the first set. She told her three friends that they could have some of the food and grabbed a piece of toast. That was when Scorpius' stature finally caught her attention. Instantly, a wave of worry overtook her. Only when he was depressed or something was truly affecting his emotional state was he like this, even when he had been lovesick for that one girl back in second year.

Rose stared at Scorpius for a few minutes. She ignored her homework. Rose desperately wanted him to feel her eyes looking at him so that he would look back. But he didn't. Chloe noticed something odd was going on and yawned. Al looked up and noticed her yawn.

"Would you like an escort, Miss Longbottom?" He already knew the answer and was picking up his things, his green eyes shining.

"Yes, please." Chloe smiled a sweet smile and stood up. They linked arms and headed off to do some more flirting and to walk back to their common room. Rose wondered when they would just say they were together already. It was so obvious and they obviously both knew the other liked them. She rolled her eyes and turned back to Scorpius.

In awkward silence, they sat there. Scorpius never looked up, never even glanced around. Rose gulped afraid of what might've happened. His family could've disowned him, although that didn't seem likely since his dad was apparently a hundred times better than his dad and what he had been at school, according to her dad. So Rose threw out that option as a million other possibilities spawned in her head. Wondering what she could do, she did the only thing she could think to do. Provoke him into talking by packing up her things and preparing to leave the library.

Rose picked up her books that weren't able to fit in her bag and stood up. Quickly, he looked up and grabbed her arm from across the table.

"Please don't go," he quietly pleaded.

Scorpius stood and walked around the end of the table, still holding Rose's arm. When he was just within a few inches of her, she dropped her books back onto the table. Looking into his eyes, Rose saw a look she had never seen before and Rose knew every single look that ever had brightened his stormy gray eyes. And his eyes were certainly alight at the moment.

He grabbed her arms and turned her to face him, straight on. Rose was a little taken back by this abruptness. For once, Scorpius was entirely silent as he looked at her. Normally, he would be telling her not to do something or reproaching her for getting to heated and almost causing a fight. But now, it was something different. He just stared at her.

A little creeped out by his stare, Rose asked, "What's going on, Scorpius?"

"I had a long talk with Chloe."

"What about?"

He answered her with another stare. He searched her face up and down with his eyes. Rose was mesmerized by them. She knew if she didn't look away, she'd end up kissing him. She didn't want that. Not unless he did too. There had been so much tension over the past who knew how many months and it was peaking right now. At least it was for Rose.

Finally, right as Rose was about to break away, he leaned in close.

"I'm sorry I made you wait."

Before she had the chance to ask, Scorpius kissed her. Not a peck on the cheek or anything wimpy like that. He was pressing his lips on hers. It was exhilarating. She lost all train of thought that she had. The questions vanished and the only thing burning in her mind was how she loved this feeling.

He broke away, leaving her breathless. She wanted more. Why did he have to leave her wanting more? A kiss. She had finally gotten a kiss. After waiting for so long. After so many nights of staring at the stars on sleepless nights after a moment together that would fill her brain for hours.

Rose leaned in, looking into his eyes. He smiled softly. Rose took the initiative and kissed him again.

"ROSE!" Someone was banging on her door, shouting loudly.

It startled her out of her dream and into the real world. Another day at the Burrow with her monstrous family was about to begin.