The Girl in the Fireplace
It was well past midnight in the Malfoy household, although sixteen year old Scorpius Malfoy didn't show any signs of sleepiness as he sat by the fireplace in the living room, his eyes glued to a book that he had been reading since six o'clock that night. A mouse would've been able to run up his trouser leg and he wouldn't have noticed. He sat still, the only moving muscles in his body were those of his eyes and his hands as they turned the pages. Anyone who knew young mister Malfoy, knew that he could not be disturbed while he was reading, it was physically impossible. His mother said that he was purposely being disobedient; His father said that he cast silencing charms around the rest of the house, but Scorpius Malfoy did neither. He was simply absorbed in the words that were printed across the page, unable to tear his eyes away from the entire world in his hands. He had read nearly every book that the Malfoy library housed, ranging from books on the Medieval Witch Burning, to Harry Potter's biography.
Now, absolutely nothing could jerk Scorpius out of his world while he was reading, well almost nothing… as Scorpius found out that very night. He was fifteen pages from the end when he heard a crackling sound, he dismissed it quickly as a log being burnt through and falling into the fire. He would've thought nothing of it, if the voice hadn't followed afterwards.
"Rose?" a voice hissed, "Rose are you here?"
For the first time in years while reading a book, Scorpius Malfoy looked up from the pages, and examined his surroundings curiously, wondering if he was getting a bit tired and was starting to hear things. But there was the voice again.
"Rose, I'm flipping serious if you've forgotten about this I'm going to get Hugo to hex you into next century." The voice said angrily. Scorpius rose slowly out of the armchair and made his way slowly over the fireplace, the voice was still speaking,
"Why does nobody listen to me? Do I just have a face that nobody listens to?"
He leaned down curiously, only to find a girl in his fireplace, but more importantly it was her face.
He jumped back in surprise and shock as the girl spoke again.
"Malfoy?" she said incredulously, "What the hell are you doing at Roses?"
"I-I'm sorry, who are you?" Scorpius stammered, knowing full well who she was, he'd only had a crush on her since second year. Of course he knew who she was.
"Dominique Weasley," she said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, "I've only been in your potions class for six years. Nice to know I'm noticed."
"Forgive me, uh, Dominique was it? – but what are you doing in my fireplace?" Scorpius asked, trying to be as polite as possible,
"Wait, your fireplace?" Dominique asked, evidently confused. Scorpius nodded in confirmation. Dominique swore loudly.
"I've done it again! This bloody fireplace, it won't take me where I want to go!" Dominique exclaimed, "And that was the last bit of Floo Powder too, damnit!" Scorpius stared at her, not sure of what to say. He didn't want her to go.
"Would you like something to eat?" Scorpius asked politely, it was a skill that his parents had instilled in him from a young age, whenever someone came to the house, you offered them food and drink.
"That'd be great, thanks!" Dominique said in surprise, "Dinner was ages ago."
"I'll be back in a minute," Scorpius said, hurrying out of the room, muttering to himself. Once out of sight of the fireplace he sunk down against the wall, his head in his hands. It had to be her didn't it? Why couldn't it have been one of her other cousins, one of the annoying ones like Roxanne or Lily? It just had to be Dominique. How was he supposed to go back in there and feed her food in the fire?
He had never been sure when his feelings for Dominique had started, but he knew that they were not going to be satisfied by him sitting out here, he had to go back inside and give her the food, he shouldn't keep her waiting.
He ran to the kitchen, avoiding the creaking floorboards expertly so that he wouldn't wake the house elves. Having been waited on all of his life, Scorpius didn't know whether to give her a meal or just a snack. After taking the fact that he couldn't cook into consideration, he decided to just go for the snack. He opened their mammoth fridge and pulled out the first three things there; a small tub of yoghurt, a packet of fishfingers and a carton of custard. That would probably do her while they talked, this could be his big chance to get to know her better.
Rushing back to the living room, he almost forgot to jump the creaky floorboard right outside and it let out a small creak as he jumped at the last second. Having Dominique here had definitely made him less careful.
"Here," he said, peeling the lid off the tub of yoghurt and pouring it into her mouth. She rolled it around in her mouth for a few seconds before spitting it out.
"Ugh, I hate yoghurt, It's just stuff with bits in." she said with a shudder. "What else have you got there?"
"Just some fishfingers and some custard." He said, holding them both up for her to see.
"Oh good!" Dominique said and Scorpius let out a sigh of relief, he'd gotten through to her with the fishfingers, "Just dip the fishfinger in the custard."
Scorpius stared at her, surely she was mad. He liked fishfingers, and he liked custard, but he had never eaten them together before, that wasn't right.
"Hurry up with it." She said, an impatient look in her eyes. Hastily, Scorpius opened the packet of fishfingers and stuck one in the fire tongs and put it in the fire to cook. Once he was sure it was done, he dipped it in the custard, put it back in the fire tongs and lowered it into Dominique's mouth with a disgusted expression on his face.
"Wha'?" Dominique said as she chewed, "'Ou've never 'ried, fish'ingers 'nd 'ustard?"
"No, I can't say I have." Scorpius replied, a smile spreading across his face at Dominique's facial expression. She swallowed,
"Try some now!" she insisted, "you'll love it."
"No thank you." Scorpius said, looking down at the fishfingers and custard in front of him.
"Oh go on Malfoy, it's amazing." Dominique encouraged.
"Fine," Scorpius said, before adding mentally only for you. He stuck another fishfinger in the fire tongs and let it cook over the fire. Dominique watched him curiously.
"Why are you being so nice to me? Normally you just push past me in the corridors… adding the fact that you didn't even know my name until fifteen minutes ago you probably should've told me to get the hell out of your fire the second you saw me."
"You seemed nice." Scorpius shrugged, "Where were you headed anyway?"
"To my cousins place, she was supposed to give me the leftovers of her mum's pizza, but I ended up here instead and got fishfingers and custard, so I guess it was a win-win situation." Dominique replied.
"How so?" Malfoy asked, turning the fishfinger over in the fire tongs.
"Rose gets to keep her pizza and I get quality fishfingers and custard" she laughed and Scorpius laughed along with her, thinking about how it was the most beautiful sound that he'd ever heard in his life.
"You're okay, for a Weasley." Scorpius said thoughtfully. Dominique snorted.
"Thanks Malfoy," she said sarcastically, "I guess I can say the same for you. You're okay, for a Malfoy."
"I guess our families have some unneeded prejudice against each other huh?" Malfoy said.
"It's pretty stupid actually." Dominique said studying him curiously, "You're not at all like your father, are you Scorpius?" at the sound of Dominique saying his name the butterflies in Scorpius' stomach went crazy.
"I try not to be." He managed to answer. Dominique smiled softly at him.
"Look, Scorpius, I'd love to stay and chat but my knees are getting pretty sore at my end, so I'm gonna have to go. Thanks for the food and all." She said, and for the first time, Scorpius saw a look of discomfort on her face.
"Okay, I guess I'll see you at school." Scorpius said.
"Yeah," Dominique said, "See you at school." And with a pop, she was gone. Scorpius looked down at the cooked fishfinger in the fire tongs. What the hell he thought, dipping it in the custard and taking a bite. It had the most amazing taste in the world.
And from that day on, whenever Scorpius ate fishfingers or custard, he thought of that night, the night that he had spoken to Dominique Weasley.
AN: For the "Whoniverse Titles Challenge" the "Doctor Who Quote Competition" and the Road Cycling round of the 2012 Hogwarts Games.
Okay, lots of Doctor Who references in there… but I figured because it's for two Doctor Who challenges it couldn't hurt… heh. I've actually tried fishfingers and custard and it literally tastes like fishfingers dipped in custard, nothing else. I didn't like it much actually because the custard made me feel sick.
I love reviews :)
This is a oneshot and will not be continued
Potter on
~The Original Horcrux~