The fire crackled, and the common room gently rumbled with chatter. Rose turned away from watching Teddy and Victorie cuddle disgustingly on the couch in the common room, and back to her book. But no matter how captivating the words on the page were, she couldn't focus. She couldn't read. She couldn't sleep. She couldn't eat. Not without thinking about him. A slight blush spread across her fair cheeks.
Why am I thinking about him so much? We never even talk. He's so arrogant any way, always strutting about like he owns the Great Hall itself. His eyes.
My lips.
She startled then huffed, and slammed her book shut. She was acting irrational. She was not acting like herself, for goodness sake she was auto filling his voice in again.
Sleep is what I really need. I just need a good night's sleep.
Oh yes you do.
She stood up from her chair abruptly, and slung her bag over her shoulder. James looked over her way questioningly from the sofa chair next to her.
"Heading to bed I think." In response to her cousin's questioning look, and headed up the twisting stairs to her room. She closed the door behind her and leaned back.
I'm going mad. It's the only explanation.
She tossed her bag onto her bed with a soft thud, and promptly plopped down next to it sprawled out. She blew the stray scarlet strands of hair out of her face and looked up at the bewitched ceiling. It looked like the galaxy, she was always changing it. She had bored of the plain old ceiling after her third year, and spent many months trying to work out how to bewitch her own ceiling into something a bit more interesting. Her reward was several months of very irritated roommates, but she had it worked out eventually.
Why was Scorpius always in her head? It was maddening. She rarely saw him outside of potions, they were in different houses, and they ate on opposite sides of the hall. Yes, she faced him on the quidditch pitch every couple months, but otherwise the only time she had talked to Scorpius was when it was absolutely necessary. Such as 'Get out of my way, Prat,' or other general hissing terms on the pitch.
If Dad knew I was dreaming about kissing a Malfoy, he would be livid.
This thought produced a smirk on her face. Rose was very similar to her mother, calculating and clever, but she had a bit more of a taste for breaking the rules, which her mother always explained she had inherited from her father, or Uncle Harry. She felt settled then. Her attraction, if she could even classify it as that, to Scorpius was no more than another way to irritate her father.
It isn't becauseā¦
Because I am what you really want.
She froze. His voice had interrupted her out thought.
"How are you doing that?" She asked the empty air, then laughed a little.
"I need to go to see Madam Pomfrey," she explained to the empty air again.
She glanced at her watch, if she left now she should have enough time to go get a sleeping draft from the Hospital Wing before curfew. She stood up, twisted her hair into a large messy knot, and slid her wand through the wavy curls securing it in place. She loosened her tie as she trotted down the stairs back through the buzzing common room. With a dismissive wave to her younger brother Hugo, who looked like he was about to ask for help with homework, she walked out the portrait door.
The hallway was chilly, she should have grabbed her robes. In early November the season had definitely changed, and snow had blanketed the grounds for weeks. She shivered a bit, but started walking down the hall with purpose. She wasn't going to evade Hugo's never ending stream of questions more than once tonight if she went back in for her sweater.
Rose unrolled the white sleeves of her button up shirt for a bit of added warmth, and continued down to the Hospital Wing reaching her destination in no time at all. After making a fuss to Madame Pomfrey about test anxiety, she had emerged with a vile of sleeping draft and a stern talk about 'not making this a habit.' She started her walk back towards the common room, sound of her own footsteps echoing off the walls. She had about ten minutes before curfew, and with her Dad's luck running through her veins she would run into a professor or Filch for sure. As she passed the dozing portraits which lined the hall she popped the stopper on the vile, tossed her head back, and downed the draft. These things always took a few minutes to kick in anyways.
She heard footsteps as she pulled the vile away from her lips, and looked to see who else was in the hallway. Her deep blue eyes met a pair of gray eyes paired with a full bottom lip which was pulled into a smirk.
Scorpius.
