DAY 9

Tap, tap, tap.

Scorpius groaned loudly, rubbing his eyes before raking his fingers through his already tousled hair. He was currently seated at their small table, a quill in his hands and a blank piece of parchment in front of him. He shouldn't be wasting these supplies, but Weasley sure as hell didn't care, so why should he?

Tap, tap, tap.

"Weasley," he barked, turning towards the door behind him, steam billpwing out from under the door. He knew it was cold, but he was a Malfoy for Merlin's sake, and even he didn't waste this much! He heard a muffled what? come from the other side of the door. "That damn bird is back," he informed her,rolling his eyes as the pest began tapping on the window again.

Tap, tap, tap.

Tap, tap, tap.

Tap, tap, tap.

"Are you going to get it, or not?" Scorpius was not happy. This stupid creature had been imposing on his life for too long! And that stupid bird was only making it worse.

"Um, I'm just a little naked, Malfoy," Rose said, rolling her eyes when she popped her head out the door. "Excuse me for trying to be clean." She shut the door.

He huffed. "I take my showers at night, you know this," he muttered. He normally took them in the mornings, but the weasel did as well, and she used all the hot water. He had to change his whole schedule for this woman!

Tap, tap, tap.

"Are you going to get it, or not?" he asked again, turning in his seat to glare at the door she was behind.

He could practically hear her rolling her eyes. "Get it for me."

Scorpius was no one's servant, especially not Weasley's. "If I open the window for the thing, I'm going to burn the letter and strangle the bird. Merlin knows we could eat the damn thi-"

Rose flung open the door, wrapped clad in a towel, her wet hair clinging to her body as she ran across the small space and flung open the window. The owl flew in in a flurry of wings and hooting while Rose shut the window back, similtaneously shooting Scorpius a glare when she made her way over to the bird. "There, there. I won't let the mean ghost hurt you," she cooed, taking the parchment from the bird and planting a kiss on it's head. "Nightfall," she murmured to it before caring it back to the window and releasing it into the freezing air. She shut and locked the window back before walking over to the fire and sitting in front of it to warm up.

"Shouldn't you put some clothes on? I really don't enjoy this," Scorpius said dryly to her.

Rose rolled her eyes. "You wanted to destroy my letter and kill my owl. No." It wasn't like she was showing him anything inappropriate. Hell, he'd probably slip off to the bathroom soon to toss off.

"You're going to get us found."

"I am not, and you know it. You're just jealous that you don't have someone that cares enough to write to you in hiding," Rose said haughtily, smirking.

"I thought you said you were happy you had to break it off with him?"

"I was, but when you're stuck in a shack with a prick, you tend to get lonely. I need someone that actually cares to talk to," Rose muttered, tearing open her letter. "And you don't even know who these are from," she added, beginning to read.

Scorpius smirked. "It isn't hard to guess. You wanted him back, he said yes. Now he writes you constantly, and you never fail to write him back. Someone's going to notice and we're going to die, Weasley."

"Jealous," Rose said, shrugging as she continued reading, a small blush working it's way up her neck and to her face.

"'Oh, Rose. You're so gorgeous. I wish I could touch you here, shag you there. Rub my peni-'"

"Shut the hell up," Rose shot at him, whirling around to face him, blushing like mad. "That is highly inappropriate. You are jealous. Because you don't have someone that cares," she repeated, red from anger, or embarassement? Had Scorpius guessed the contents of the letter correctly?

"My family's dead, need I remind you?" Scorpius shot back, looking back to his parchment with an angry scowl. She was right. He had no one. She was only here because she was a Weasley - a do-gooder that couldn't let Scorpius die. They all cared too fucking much.

"As far as anyone's concerned, all our families are dead," Rose said carefully, shrugging as she turned back to her letter.

"Then why do you pretend like nothing's wrong?" Scorpius demanded, turning to look at her small form on the carpet in front of the fire. "Why did you run back to him, figuratively, of course, when you know you'll never see him again? Or your parents? Or brother? Cousins? How come you owl him, but not them? The one's that I know you care more about?"

Rose sighed. "Because if I wrote to them and the owls were intercepted, they'd be dead."

Whatever Scorpius had been expecting for an answer, that wasn't it. "That doesn't explain why you owl him, still. We could be caught."

"I don't like you, Malfoy." There it was again. Her bluntness. Damn, she said it so truthfully that he almost didn't like himself! "And I'm selfish. Aren't we all? I need someone to talk to. Someone that knows me. But if he's caught-"

"You don't care if he dies," Scorpius finished for her.

She didn't miss a heartbeat. "Basically."


DAY 13

She was always so truthful with what she said, wise beyond her years, that there was no way Scorpius could ever find himself hating her or looking down upon her because she was, well, simply put, human. Everyone was, but no one would ever live up to the fact the way she did. He hadn't been raised the way most thought he was. In the beginning, yes, he was raised with his father's Pureblood antics, but it wasn't to the extreme, like Lucius had branded into the back of Draco's eyelids. It was more of a here are the facts, do with it what you will. I look down upon the lesser in blood, but I've seen this at it's worst.

And Scorpius didn't care what his father thought. He had dated around, Pureblood or Mudblood, Slytherin or Gryffindor, rich or poor. He didn't necessarily care. Because after his father was murdered all his preconceptions were thrown at the window and he was left with a hysterical mother and a Dark Mark on his arm he didn't want.

And he went to Rose.

And then it had seemed like a great idea. She had such a way with words, he knew she could convince her family to protect him, and he knew she wouldn't bat an eye about it. She was too good for her own good sometimes.

Then on their first night when she had told him she had stepped up to be his pair, he was thanking high heaven because he wasn't going to die.

But now he just wanted to kill himself.

He had never realized just how much he and the weasel didn't get along, nor had he realized how anoying the bird was, nor how completely crazy she made him feel.

"Shut. The. Hell. Up."

"Piss off," Rose said, completely unphased by him as she continued singing along to the music, playing around with her, twriling it around her fingers, braiding some pieces, etc.

"I'm trying to concentrate. And it's kind of hard to do with your pitchy bitchy voice constantly ringing in the background.

Rose laughed. "Good one, Malfoy. You almost hurt my feelings just then."

He was going to slit his wrists.

No. Her wrists.


DAY 21

"'Can we meet tonight, Rose? I desperately need to see you. Malfoy wont care if you leave. I have to fuck you so bad-'"

"Don't you have something better to do besides pester me?" Rose snapped, pressing the note against her chest from her place in front of the fire.

"Don't you have something better to do besides fuck him in writing?"

Rose flushed bright red, scowling at him. "You have no idea what's contained in these letters-"

Scorpius barked out a harsh laugh. "I think I have a pretty good idea," he promised her, pushing her feet out of the way as he started to make his bed in front of the fireplace.

"I don't think you do," Rose snapped, pushing his carefully laid blankets out of her foot space, earning a growl from him.

"I do know, and that's why you get so pissy everytime I talk to you when you read his letters." He pushed her feet out of the way as he knealed on the floor, remaking his bed.

"You don't know anything, Malfoy. This letter happens to be from Albus." She smirked. He wouldn't be expecting that.

"Really?" Scorpius snatched the letter out of her grasps, earning a loud, "HEY!" from her as she jumped up to retrieve it.

"'Dear Rose,

Merlin, do I miss you-'"

"Stop it!"

"'-so sorry you have to be stuck with the prick. I hope he's not hurting you. You can tell me, you know that. I'll come for you-'"

"That's personal!"

"'-Caroline isn't back yet. She's been gone for two days. I haven't recieved an owl, or anything-'"

"Malfoy!" He was terribly taller than her.

"'-I really enjoyed the owl from yesterday. Thanks. Really got my spirits up. I just wished we could be together for real. There're only so many times I can toss off while reading before I finally go insane-'"

Scorpius stopped reading, handing her back the letter before he lost it in a fit of laughter. "Merlin, you are having sex with him!" He continued laughing, completely oblivious to the tears that began leaking out of Rose's eyes.

She had to share everything with Scorpius, and the one thing she had that was solely hers, he had taken from her. Intruded upon her personal life. Rose climbed into her bed and pulled the blankets tight against her, casting a silencing charm around the bed before she cried herself to sleep that night, Scorpius laughing away in the background.

It wasn't her fault she wanted everything a man had to offer when the world was ending.


DAY 30

"We need food."

Scorpius looked up at Rose, surprised she was actually speaking to him. It had been short, clipped, cold one-liners from her for days, but this sounded simply dead. Perhaps because it meant they actually had to go out.

"Let's go, then," he said, standing up and grabbing his things before they disapparated.

Rose and Scorpius had their meet up spots when they HAD to leave their shack. They never apparated together. In case they were caught. It was safer.

Rose pulled her cloak tighter against herself, the small weight from the coins against her leg soothing as she weaved in and out of the small crowd of people. Death Eaters hadn't taken things to the extreme, just disposing of Mudbloods and Blood-traitors first, so it wasn't unnatural to see someone that wasn't on their side in Diagon Alley. They just had to be careful.

Especially Rose.

Scorpius had a Dark Mark, having been inducted as a Death Eater. As far as everyone was concerned, he was away in the states recruiting. So if he was spotted, his fast and witty tongue would assure his safety.

Rose nervouslt glanced around, noting that not many people traveled this deep into Diagon Aleey. Nowadays, everyone got in and out as quick as possible, for fear of running into a Death Eater on a bad day. But Rose desperately needed parchment and ink. It wasn't on her list, but she was good at haggling, and figured she could deviate a little, use a small portion of her money for this secret stash she could call her own.

She felt terrible about leading Kyle on like she was, but, really, what were the chances of them making it out of this alive? The both of them? Besides, Scorpius wasn't the best company to keep, and there were many things Rose had yet to experience in her life that she wanted to before she died. And death seemed to be nearing at an excrutiatingly fast pace now.

And, well, it wasn't like they were having actual sex. Just he and Rose expressing there wishes through words. Ahem. Very sexual words. Rose flushed at the memory of Scorpius reading her note. Arsehole.

Rose saw her favorite book shop up ahead, decked out with everything from history to fiction and parchment to scrolls. Perhaps she could snag a cheap little book to occupy her time in seclusion.

Scorpius hardly counted as company.

She hated everything about the foul Malfoy, from his towering stature to his pale, beautiful defined skin, his sharp, beautiful bone structure to his golden, silky hair, and lastly, how unbelievably bloody beautiful the git was.

Merlin, and he knew it.

He was Scorpius Malfoy, for Salazar's sake. The man knew how women fawned over him, and, in the beginning, he was kind enough to act polite around Rose; afterall, she had more or less saved his life for him. Rose knew him growing up, and everyday she contemplated what was just so damn attractive about him. Yes, there was no denying he was gorgeous, but his attitude was off the charts. He treated women like time; they came and they went, becoming nothing but a memory, if even that. He wasn't horrid to them, actually, he was quite nice. A lovely boyfriend, truely. But he was so unsufferable! Honestly, what fun was it shooting Rose those infuriating smirks everytime he had a girl on his arm?

God, she hated him.

Rose jumped when she felt a hand brush across her back, a scream getting muffled as a hand clamped down over her mouth. She began thrashing about, yanking at the strong grip as she was pulled away, towards an alley. Shit.

She bit the hand, the man - she could tell from his his of pain - releasing her mouth for only a moment. "Scorpi-!" The hand crashed back over her lips, her only chance at life escaping with the sound of her voice.