Disclaimer: I don't own HP. Nuff said.

Chances

A Scorpius – Rose Story

Chapter 2 – Unwanted Confrontations

Albus Potter noticed something was wrong with his cousin when he walked down to the Great Hall for breakfast, fresh out of the Hospital Wing. She trailed behind him with her eyebrows bunched together and a small frown etched upon her face, biting down on her bottom lip. Albus knew that Rose only did that when her nerves were a wreck or when she was fighting back tears and when he realized she hadn't said more than a sentence since she'd gone to visit him this morning, he started to worry.

"Rose? What's wrong?" he said, deciding to approach the matter tentatively. The last thing he wanted was to be yelled at this early in the morning, much less by his hot-headed cousin.

He was even more surprised when she answered with a soft; "What makes you think there's something wrong?" Albus scratched the back of his head, unsure of what to say.

"Well…you're being unnaturally quiet. You haven't said anything since we left the Hospital Wing," he finally said as they approached the Gryffindor table and the voices of their friends got considerably louder.

She smiled a little, albeit a little thinly. "Don't worry, I just had a late night," she said as they sat down.

It was Albus' turn to frown as he tried to piece everything together in his head. "Did anything happen last night then? With, you know, Scorp." He asked carefully, hoping that he hadn't touched a raw nerve.

She reached for a slice of toast, buttering it slowly. "Nope, nothing happened," she said finally, putting the knife down and taking a bite out of the bread. "We barely spoke." She added when she saw, probably out of the corner of her eye, the unconvinced look on her cousin's worried face. He bit into a muffin, chewing it thoughtfully.

"Are you sure?" he asked, swallowing. "Because – you…"

Rose's normally warm brown eyes flashed dangerously and she slammed down her hand on the table, inches away from his own. He flinched and pulled away, inching down the bench, knowing that she wouldn't be averse to shouting at him – far from it, actually, seeing as she had inherited her mother's lecturing habits. "Of course I'm sure. Why wouldn't I be?" she said, removing her hand from the table after he'd been silent for a minute or so.

It was at that minute that James Potter decided to swoop down, producing an indigent sound from Albus as he successfully plucked the muffin out of his younger brother's hands. "Say, Rose – what's wrong? You look a little pale," James said, shoving Albus aside and taking his seat next to Rose. She simply stared at him, completely ignoring the smug look on Albus' face. "Well?"

"There's nothing wrong with me," Rose snapped, instinctively reaching for a baguette, tearing it in half and ripping the softer filling out before stuffing her face with it. Both of her cousins proceeded to stare at her after exchanging uneasy glances, their eyebrows raised questioningly. They were very much aware of the fact that Rose only ate her bread like that when she was upset – it apparently calmed her down.

"Are you sure?"

She ripped the bread in half again, viciously tearing at the insides. "Yes."

"It's got nothing to do with Scorpius?" Albus asked again, avoiding eye contact.

"No."

James whipped around to face his brother, "Scorpius?" he mouthed.

"Night Patrol," Albus whispered back, watching Rose over James' shoulder. His brother immediately turned back to face Rose.

"You had Night Patrol with Scorpius? No wonder you look like that…er, I mean…don't look well," James said, hastily correcting his words when Rose glared at him stonily.

"Nothing happened. We didn't even talk," she said coolly, turning her attention back to the food on her plate after glaring at her cousins for a little longer. Both Albus and James thought it would be wise to drop the topic at that point – it was clear that her patience was wavering and further questions of that sort would inexorably be dealt with varying degrees of verbal abuse.

Albus stared at his blond friend, his green eyes growing larger by the second. Scorpius had pulled him aside at the beginning of Transfiguration – it was a lesson that they did not normally sit together in but Albus was glad for the sudden change in seating. Judging by her sullen face, Rose probably thought differently.

"Are you blooming kidding me?" Albus muttered, dropping his voice to a whisper when Scorpius had finished.

Scorpius shook his head, "Of course I'm not."

"Because, when I asked her if anything had happened last night she said 'no'." Albus said, waving his wand and muttering the spell. The rat on his desk twitched slightly in response, but did nothing else. Frustrated, Albus prodded the rodent with the tip of his wand before turning his attention back to his friend who was currently grinning a little and looking in the direction of a certain red-head. "I believe you…but…"

"But?"

"Even if she said she'd give you a chance," he started, a little hesitant, "it doesn't really seem like she's prepared to, you know, let go of her prejudices…yet," he hastily added after seeing Scorpius' crestfallen expression.

"You're probably right," Scorpius muttered, sighing. "Besides, even though she said she would, it's not like I know how." He became silent for a while and attempted the incantation they were meant to be practicing. "It's not like I'm trying to woo her. That would be too front on, wouldn't it?" he asked, looking miserable. Albus instantly felt bad for him– why couldn't Rose be a little more understanding? – he thought, turning around to glance at his cousin who seemed to be struggling as well.

"It's alright mate," Albus said, racking his brains for something useful to say, "just take it slowly. Don't rush into anything."

"Take what slowly? Don't rush into what? I don't know how to approach this at all."

"I'll talk to her for you -,"

Scorpius shook his head instantly. "No." he said firmly, looking up from the rodent that was half-way through being transfigured into a match. "That defeats the point, doesn't it?"

"I have a bad feeling about this," Albus admitted, bending down so he was at eye-level with his rat. It scurried around the cage for a little while before gnawing on one of the metal bars with its long front teeth, ignoring the long pointy stick that was coming closer to it. "Not too sure if it's rational though,"

"Gut feeling?" Scorpius asked, to which Albus nodded slowly. "I dunno…last night…" he faltered, momentarily stumped, and ran a hand through his light blond hair. "I mean I feel really uneasy about it too. As if I'm bound to fail or something, only I don't know why."

"Just be careful," Scorpius said after a long period of thought. He'd wanted to warn his friend about Rose's odd behavior this morning, but had no idea how to do so without causing Scorpius to feel even less hopeful about his predicament. Before he could say anything more on the topic a distraction arrived in the form of Professor McGonagall and no more was said about it.

"Rose! Rose!"

Rose turned around slowly, knowing exactly who she'd be dealing with. "What is it?" she asked, pursing her lips.

Albus grabbed her arm and proceeded to march her up the stairs to the Gryffindor Common room, a baffled expression on his face. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"Tell you what?" she asked, worried that the reason Scorpius had rooted Albus from his normal seat in Transfiguration earlier today was because he'd wanted to tell Albus about what had happened last night.

"You know what I'm talking about," Albus said, turning to look at her.

She sighed and rubbed the back of her neck uncomfortably, shaking her head slightly. "Did Malfoy tell you?"

"Yeah. Why didn't you tell me during breakfast?"

Rose momentarily squeezed her eyes shut. "Because it's stupid," he looked at her questioningly, urging her to clarify. She cleared her throat and tried again. "I don't know, Al. He said something about me not liking the idea of him instead of not liking him."

"He's right, you know." He said, musing. They entered the common room together, Rose lagging slightly behind her cousin.

"You think so too?" she questioned, looking pensive.

"Too? Who else did you ask?" Albus said, surprised that his cousin would have spoken about it.

"I didn't ask anyone," she said, taking her eyes off the worn carpet. "Last night, I agreed because I thought that he could be right. Of course, I could be right too," she added, trying to take her mind off thinking about Scorpius' words.

"Do you think he'll be able to change your mind?" Albus asked cautiously, throwing himself down on an unoccupied couch before kicking off his shoes. Rose decided to remain standing, folding her arms across her chest protectively.

"I dunno, but I doubt it," she said, watching her cousin stretch.

"Why?"

"Because...he's a Malfoy. You know what they're like. They tortured people in the War."

"I'm sorry, but that's a rubbish excuse." someone said from behind Rose. She turned around, mildly surprised when she saw her younger cousin Lily standing behind her, a heavy book in her hands. "This is about Scorpius, right?"

"Might be," Rose mumbled. Albus nodded, filling Lily in on the story. Rose proceeded listened to his rendition helplessly, scuffing the carpet with the tip of her shoe.

"Well," Lily said seriously after Albus had finished, "I won't lie, I'm surprised that you actually agreed to give him a chance. It's a step in a new direction,"

Rose scoffed, rolling her eyes. "That's stupid." She said bluntly, shaking her head lightly. "It's going to take something big for me to change my opinion of him."

Lily raised an eyebrow, frowning. "Or many little small things," Nothing was said in response.

Rose stopped in the middle of the hallway to peer at the gloomy weather outside. It'd been like this for the past few days, even since she'd had Night Patrol with Scorpius – wet, rainy and far too windy to venture outside for too long. She continued to stare outside, propping an elbow on the ledge and resting her chin in the palm of her hand. She wondered how her father, mother and various other relatives were doing, making a mental note to ask her mother if Victorie and Teddy had scheduled a date for their wedding yet - they'd been engaged for a little over a year now.

"Shouldn't you be down having dinner?" Rose felt a hand rest lightly on her shoulder and she impulsively whipped around, her wand out. She almost dropped it in alarm when she recognized the grey-blue eyes she'd only become familiar with a few nights before, her mind racing. It was the first time he'd said anything to her since that night.

She swallowed, feeling anxious. "What about you?" she managed, forcing herself to relax.

He gave a little smile, ruffling his hair good-naturedly. "I got carried away with reading," he confessed.

"What were you reading?" she asked, genuinely interested.

He blinked in response and was no doubt surprised by her question. "A few Quidditch books," he said finally, "Quidditch Through The Ages, How Quidditch Has Evolved, the like,"

"Do you do that often then?" she said, calm enough to look up from the polished stone floor. "Get carried away with reading, I mean,"

It was his turn to avert his eyes and incline his head, his fringe sweeping over his eyes. "Yeah, I do. Sometimes I even miss meals…" he added with a fleeting smile, his expressive eyes peeping out from his blond fringe.

"I'm not surprised," Rose said, still a little jittery at his close proximity.

"Anyway," Scorpius said, looking down the empty hall, "we'd better get to dinner." He swept his hair out of his eyes before they started to walk towards the Hall, together. They passed through the high arch into the brightly lit Hall, both aware of the many odd looks they were getting; a hush had even fallen over those who knew them personally.

Rose turned and headed towards the Gryffindor table, only to be stopped by Scorpius' sudden grip on her hand. "What?" she said, unable to look at anyone in the eye, let alone him.

"See you around," he said softly before letting go of her hand and giving her a light shove in the direction she had been walking in. Rose obliged, bracing herself for the worst as she moved towards the table, completely aware of the stunned faces that were fixed on her as she sat down. Damn that Malfoy, she thought angrily, trying to ignore the eerie silence – what did it matter to him, anyway, if she didn't eat? Her fork quivered slightly in her hands.

James was the first one to build up enough courage to speak, making a show of clearing his throat. "So, uh, what was that?"

"What was what?" Rose asked in a polite tone, not looking up from her plate. Next to her, Albus was busy occupying himself with pretending to read - it took a huge amount of willpower for Rose to refrain from telling him that the book was upside down – and Lily was staring at her pile of steamed vegetables as if she'd just stumbled across a pile of rubies.

"You've just walked in with Scorpius Malfoy, you know, the guy you regularly refer to as a 'sniveling weasel'?" James said, now thoroughly worried. "Are you feeling unwell?"

"I'm feeling fine, thanks." She said through clenched teeth before attacking her chicken breast with a lot more energy than the actual task required.

"Rose, hey, are you okay? Malfoy didn't try anything funny?" The voice of Rose's younger brother projected across the long table, "You're okay, right?"

"Hugo," Rose snapped, brandishing her fork, a piece of chicken hanging off it dangerously, "I'm fine – and don't yell. Come over here if you want to talk to me."

"Sor-ry," Hugo said childishly, rolling his eyes and turning his attention back to his food and friends.

Over on the other side of the Hall Scorpius Malfoy was engaged in a conversation of the same topic with a few of his friends, and it was tiring him out. For Merlin's sake – Scorpius thought, a little irritated – they'd just walked in together; there was nothing else too it.

"Well," Christian Nott said, stirring his pumpkin stew, "I can't see why you want her. She's a walking beanpole – there are barley any curves on her."

"It's nothing of that s-sort," Scorpius said, going a little red.

"Oh." Regan Bulstrode sounded, clearly bored. "I wonder if she's a good snog," he said, to which Scorpius spluttered and coughed. "Who cares if she's hasn't got curves if she's a good pull?"

Christian rolled his eyes, flicking bits of his soup across to the Fifth Year girls, making them squeal in disgust and inch further down the bench. "I like curves. Dunno what your father would say about her though, Scorp."

"I'd really be more worried about my grandfather," Scorpius said grimly.

"So there's something for them to be worried about?" Regan said, raising an eyebrow.

"No," Scorpius said. "I'm just talking about this hypothetically."

"Hypothetically my father wouldn't hesitate in decapitating me, if I got caught with her. Your father, grandfather, whatever would probably decapitate you and everyone else within a ten-mile radius," Regan said matter-of-factly. It still hurt Scorpius to hear members of his family being spoken of like that – the Malfoys were still respected, but a far cry from being feared. "Because, you know, she's not only half Weasley, she's half muggle. And -,"

"Shut up, Regan," Christian said, throwing him a disgusted look when it was obvious Scorpius would not intervene. The other boy shrugged and opened his mouth to continue.

"And, from what I've heard, your father wasn't exactly friendly with the Golden Trio."

"Whatever. It's hypothetical." Scorpius said, staring at his plate.

A/N: Edited 03/12/2014 Please read and review!