5 years later... (Their in they're sixth year)
"No Scorpius!" I shouted at him from across the quidditch pitch. Scorpius swooped downwards on his broom to dangle upside down beside me, he winked. "Aw, C'mon." He elbowed me on my forearm and I pushed him back.
"You will never quit, will you?" I complained, slightly smirking to myself.
Scorpius nodded, accepting my judgment. "Nope. You will go on a date with me Rose! You'll see." Scorpius flipped himself right side up and soared over to Albus, they had a short conversation including lots of odd looks at me and laughter, then they started tossing a quaffle around. Beside me Stewart Langley, the Ravenclaw team captain and a seventh year, blew in on his new sky-master 6000, Stewart's pride and joy.
"Tough break, Rose. On the bright side, I'll go out with you." I scowled at Stewart.
"Not you too!" I groaned sarcastically, Stewart was gay, he was only teasing.
Stewart laughed. "Your so full of yourself!"
"Am not!"
"Are so!"
"Am not!"
Stewart chuckled as his broom pitched to the side. "Hold up, there." Stewart grabbed his broom and pulled it back up to where I was standing. "Hey Rose?"
"Humph?" I said distractedly. As Stewart talked I had taken an interest in Scorpius and Albus, who were now doing loop-de-loops through the goal-posts.
"You think practice is over now? Should I end it soon?"
I gazed out beyond the quidditch pitch to the mountains, which were now tainted with pink and purple. I checked my phone, which was tightly sealed inside my robes. I was not, breaking another one. Mom had already confiscated it enough times. My precious phone wasn't going anywhere.
"I think you'd better Stewart, It's almost eight..."
Stewart nodded before zipping over to the centre of the pitch and calling all the Ravenclaw members to meet him. Six other royal blue clad members swooped into Stewart's circle where they all hovered eighty feet high. Might've seemed impractical, but everyone just preferred to be in the air than on the ground.
I watched them converse for a moment then checked the time again on my phone. 8:07... The Ravenclaw team flew into the changing rooms and I began to pick my way out of the stands and follow the team inside.
Inside the changing room, it was stuffy and cold. I walked over to the corner where an athletic girl with shiny black hair was tending to her broom, I tapped her shoulder.
"Hey Jill." I said.
"Hey Rose." Jillian said without looking up. She continued to play with her equipment and uniform.
"Whats up?"
"Getting my shit together for tonight."
"Awesome. What are you again?"
"I've already told you a million times."
"I know but can you tell me anyways?"
Jillian turned her almond shaped eyes towards me and frowned. "Why can't you remember anything I tell you?" She asked, the slightest of smiles playing on her thin lips.
"Because... Why remember anything when you'll be here to tell me when I forget." I rocked back and forth on my feet for a moment, acting my innocent little girl routine.
Jill only rolled her eyes, she was immune to me and my trickery. Dad wishes he could be like Jill. He can't stand my round soul-searching eyes and pouty bottom lip. I feel bad for him, so I try not to enact that card too often. Mom on the other hand is a completely different story...
"That is some flawed logic." Jill says.
"That's why its my logic."
I leave Jill to muddle what I just said and saunter out of the changing room.
"See you in the common room!" I hear a loud. 'Bye!' From the corner and I wander further from the pitch. I usually try to leave it a little earlier than usual so I don't get any run in's with my cousin and his friend. I think you know who I'm talking about. Though I didn't get very far across the lawn before I was plucked from the ground up into the embrace of Scorpius Malfoy. I was literally swept off my feet, and forced to sit sidesaddle on a broom stick, in front of Scorpius. I could tell it was Scorpius because Scorpius has unnaturally pale hands, which were gripped tight to the broom handle on either side of me. I shrieked as Scorpius flew higher and higher, he laughed at me as I continued to grapple around for a suitable grip on the broom, the only way to stay on was to hold onto Scorpius himself, so I unwillingly hugged his torso. I could feel his smile buried into my tangle of red curls as he zipped us around the castle turrets, over and under the foot bridges and right past the great hall's grand window, where everyone was in the middle of dinner. The ground became further and further from my feet and I became more and more uncomfortable with it. So much for avoiding Scorpius.
"Scorpius Malfoy you put me down right now!" I yelled at him.
"But if I put you down, you might hit me." Scorpius yelled back into the wind. Scorpius flew up and down and spiralled around and around until I was thoroughly terrified and clung for dear life to his Slytherin uniform.
Finally Scorpius stopped flying, and just floated a few feet over the astronomy tower, up here there was an amazing view of the beautifully forming sunset, I tried not to think about it as Scorpius was staring at me. I turned to look Scorpius in the eye, which was extremely too close of my liking.
"Put me down!" I spat at him.
Scorpius stuck out his bottom lip. "That wouldn't be very fun." He pouted.
"Maybe not for you. But I would very much like to live until I'm twenty, so please, put me down!"
"Don't you trust me?" Then Scorpius did a barrel turn mid-air. My hair was flung all around and Scorpius's smile widened as I grasped at his form.
"Please! God, what do you want Scorpius!"
Scorpius smiled mischievously. "I would like a kiss." Scorpius pointed to his lips. "Right here."
I laughed humorlessly. "Yeah, right. Scorpius, like that's going to happen."
Scorpius smirked. "Yes, Rose." Then he banked backward so I fell further into his embrace. I gasped at the sudden loss of body and resumed my hold on his torso. Scorpius laughed at my cowardice. "Aren't you a quidditch fan?"
"Yes! Well, this might come as a shock to you Scorpius." I said, my voice muffled by his chest. "But your not exactly on my list of trustworthy people."
Scorpius laughed. "And I intend to change that this year."
I rolled my eyes and smirked. "Not happening."
Scorpius made a face like, ho ho, you think you're so high and mighty now.
I made a face like, why yes, I am. I waited a moment before asking.
"Well?" I leaned away from him slightly, trusting him enough to keep us airborne. I looked around at the sky, the castle bellow, the trees in the distance, anywhere but Scorpius's face. "What now?" I questioned the magenta coloured clouds.
Scorpius closed his eyes and puckered his lips. "Ready when you are." He said.
I groaned/laughed loudly and raised one eyebrow at Scorpius, he couldn't see me doing this, but I was awfully aware of Albus now hovering twenty feet above us. In a last minute attempt to take control of the situation I closed my index and middle finger together and pressed them gently to Scorpius' lips. Which were surprisingly tough and firm. I pretended to draw my head from his face as he opened his eyes, making it appear as though I had kissed him.
"NOW PUT ME DOWN!" I immediately yelled in his face after the 'kiss'.
Scorpius smirked as his eyes lit with excitement. "I wonder how many kisses I could get from this?" He wondered aimlessly.
I almost slapped him had he not done a barrel turn and then a spiral around the astronomy tower, before diving and skimming along the lake's bank. Cat tails and weedy grass grazed our feet as Scorpius zipped by. I screamed as he suddenly turned up in an attempt to stop. We swerved around a tall figure on the lawn before circling around again and retreated to hovering beside the person. I was still facing Scorpius and wasn't particularly interested in seeing who we had almost bulldozed.
"Mr Malfoy, please put Miss Weasley back on the ground." A familiar and knowledgeable voice ordered. I whipped my head around to face Professor Longbottom, who was calmly standing in the direct path in which Scorpius had been headed.
Crap!
"And also, put your broom back in the broom shed, as I believe the Ravenclaw and Slytherin mixed practice is over?"
"So sorry Professor. Didn't see you there." Scorpius smiled confidently at the cool teacher and lowered the broom to the ground, I hopped off. Then Scorpius picked up his broom and began jogging away with it towards the pitch. He glanced back only once and winked at me. I resisted the urge to wink back. Teasing Scorpius and testing his self-control was my daily habit.
"Thank you, professor." I said to professor Longbottom. "And sorry about almost running you over."
"No problem." The adult smiled and said. "I fear I have also had one too many encounters with rogue brooms." He shivered, and not because of the chilly evening. "It was not pleasant." The teacher began strolling towards the lake, where the giant squid was squirming and splashing happily in the warmer, shallower parts of the blue lake. Professor Longbottom stopped at the edge and sat down. I watched the man for only a moment longer before I started bounding up to the castle. With each step I became more excited and eager to recount the previous events with Jill. She will love to hear about this. Scorpius is her man crush Monday, (even though its Tuesday). As I approached the front doors I spotted a familiar figure sitting against the stone wall, reading. I walked up to my cousin and sat down beside him. James was holding a hard-cover book that was approximately three inches thick. I couldn't tell what book it was because the cover was obscured by a larger potions textbook. James adjusted his thin rimmed rectangular glasses and furrowed his eyebrows in concentration as he continued to gaze at the pages.
"Hey James." I said.
"Hey pipsqueak." He murmured without looking up.
"Whats up?"
"Reading."
"Since when do you read?"
"Since I discovered this new series."
"What series?"
"This one." James lowered the potions textbook to reveal the cover of the third of The Lord of the Rings series.
"Nice. Whats it about?" I have heard of 'Lord of the Rings' before but never really bothered to actually read them.
James then broke his staring contest with the words on his page and stared, shocked at me for even asking. "Only about the awesomest quest ever!" James proceeded to launch himself into a very detailed description of what the book was about, he told me all about Bilbo and Frodo and Gollum and Gandalf. He couldn't stop. Until I had to put my hand on his shoulder to silence him.
"You know I was only being polite. I actually don't care about the book."
James face drained of all excitement.
"If you want to read an exciting book, read, 'The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society'. It's a novel about this author, in England, during World War two."
"That's nice Rose." James returned the potions book to its position over 'The Return of the King'.
I waited a moment before asking. "Why are you sitting out here?"
"I like the peace. Although it wasn't very peaceful when you were kidnapped by Scorpius and were flung around here, screaming your head off." James peered away from his book, smirking, at me and continued to smile as he read on. A little inside joke that was yet to be shared with me.
"That wasn't my fault!" I cried indignantly. "Scorpius just picked me up from behind! Albus did nothing... Typical"
James laughed. "Yeah, don't count on Albus to help. I think he ships you guys."
"Really?" I asked, slightly grossed out. "Scorpius and I don't match. Honestly, Albus can't fanboy over anything. Other than KD."
James laughed. "Yeah, I've never seen him so happy."
We both chuckled, replaying the memory. Albus had just gotten in his baby teeth, and was quite happy with all the new food choices he had. That's when Aunt Ginny had introduced, Kraft Dinner. Albus loved it so much, he just had to share it with the neighbours. So he left a bowl of the macaroni outside their door. What he didn't know was that the neighbours were away on vacation. And wouldn't get it till the next week. Albus cried anytime someone attempted to move it. Suddenly James tapped my shoulder.
"It's getting closer to suppertime, want to go to dinner now?"
"Sure." I raised my arms. "Carry me."
"Rose, I don't want to give you a shock or anything. But you've gotten a lot bigger since you were five."
We both laughed and I pulled myself up.
He smiled back in return and we made our way to the great hall in silence. Everyone was already seated when we arrived, James and I said a short 'see you later' and we scurried off to our house tables. I plopped down across from Jill, it was easier to talk that way.
"Hey Rose."
"Hey."
"So I heard a little rumour... Something about being kidnapped by a certain someone? Then flown around till she promised a kiss?" Jill smirked knowingly.
"Don't even get me started." I groaned. Slowly I slid a fat piece of chicken pot pie from its pie dish and dropped it on my own silver plate. I swear the house elf's were stalking me, every time I sat down to eat there was a chicken pot pie in front of me. Its my favourite, not doubt about it. I picked up my fork and divided a small piece of pie with a large square of chicken on it. I stuck it in my mouth and looked to Jill, who was now gobbling her own beef sandwich.
"Hey what happened to your new vegan diet?" I inquired.
"I quit." She said through a mouthful of beef and bread.
I laughed. "I can see that."
Jill swept her one short lock of black hair from her eyes and continued. "So tell me what happened?"
I paused and thought a moment before answering. "Well... I had just left the changing rooms when Scorpius came out of no where and picked me up on his broom! It was chilly up there... Anyways, we flew us around for a bit before stopping, he said he wouldn't let me down unless I gave him a kiss."
Jill stared at me wide-eyed, her sandwich halfway to her lips. "Did you?" She gasped.
"Of course not! Who do you think I am?" I got angry for a moment, but the anger passed as fast as it had come. Scorpius was always flirting with me someway or another. Even during the summer I was around him a lot. The Potters had sort of adopted Scorpius as their fourth kid, since Albus had befriended him in our first year. Our huge family was always trying to find new ways of getting together, our parents just couldn't get enough of each other. Every weekend there were barbecues, cousin get together's and adult cocktail parties. The Weasley/Granger house was rather a favourite for those. Scorpius was a regular at every single one of them.
"So what'd you do?" Jill asked. "I heard you two practically made out on the broom for two hours."
"What? That's not what happened. I tricked him into thinking I kissed him. I did this." I pressed my two fingers to my lips quickly before resuming my hold on my fork. I looked down at my plate, more than half of the slice of chicken pot pie was gone. I must be hungrier than I thought. "He thought I kissed him but I really didn't. And he kept flying around and showing off. I nearly fell off every time he turned directions. I had to hold onto him, which he thoroughly enjoyed."
Jill almost swooned off her seat. "Ahhhh, give him a chance Rose. He likes you! Embrace it."
I laughed shortly and played with the remaining food on my plate. "My father wouldn't. Besides, Scorpius is a show off, and a little obnoxious."
"He's hot! Don't forget he's also hot!" Jill interjected, she pointed at me and waggled her finger.
I smiled. "O.k, he is a little attractive." I admitted. "Emphasis on 'little'."
"Oh, good to know." A male and confident voice said. I didn't have to turn around to know it was Albus.
"If you tell him I said that I will hurt you." I ate another bite of pie. "Then Jill will rape you." I ended.
Across from me Jill choked on her pumpkin juice and covered her mouth with her hand, her eyes crinkled in a huge grin as she disappeared under the table in a fit of giggles. I smiled to myself as Albus sat beside me and looked me in the eye. He looked so much like his dad it wasn't even funny.
"Rose, Scorp wants me to relay a message."
"Oh really now? That's not really his style. Sending messages through people."
"Well he asked specially."
"Oh, specially now?"
"Yes. Well, he knows you didn't actually kiss him and he is expecting another 'proper' one later." Albus looked at me expectantly. "Personally I don't recommend you do it. It will only encourage him."
Jill resurfaced from under the table, a pained look on her face as she attempted seriousness.
"Your not actually going to rape me are you?" Albus asked.
"If your lucky." Jill winked at Albus and bit her lip seductively. Jill and I smiled at Albus and we both started laughing, and we didn't stop for awhile. My cheeks heated and my lungs began to shake as I got louder and more out of breath. Albus stared at us for a long time. Figuring out what just happened.
"You two are strange." He confirmed.
"Tell-" I gasped and wiped a tear from my eyes. "Tell Scorpius that I will kiss him when pigs fly."
Albus stood up and rolled his eyes. "That will only encourage him more as well..." Al left us to go to Scorpius. Who had been watching us intently. He looked away while he listened to Albus talking. I immediately lost focus and turned to Jill who was on the verge of another laughing breakdown.
"Was that really necessary?" She got out.
"What?"
"I wouldn't actually rape Al... He's too skinny."
I coughed into my sleeve as Jill said this. "Albus was actually acting really strange this summer."
Jill calmed down enough to finish her beef sandwich, and was swallowing a bite when she asked. "How so?"
I shrugged and ate a bit more pie. "I don't know, he was just, really... protective? Usually he and Scorp always want to hang out with me and everyone else. But this year he didn't seem so ecstatic about it. He was especially cold to me." I stared off in an indirect spot in the air as I contemplated what I said.
"Maybe he's in love?" Jill said offhandedly. "Wants to talk to Scorpius about her?"
"Maybe... But who is it?"
We both fell into silence as we thought about it. We didn't talk till the end of dinner and Jill suggested bed. As we trudged up to Ravenclaw tower Jill asked. "Hey where's Spencer?"
"He said he needed to go to the library." I answered. "I think he was looking up something about the stunning charm."
"Why would he want to do that?" Jill asked.
"I dunno. Maybe he's trying to show off to someone?"
The pair of us smiled at each other, the inside joke quite hidden in our passive faces. Spencer has been smitten with a certain girl since he was thirteen. Spencer still won't reveal who it is. It's been three years and he still insists on keeping her secret. For all we know she might not even exist. For all we know, she, might be a he. If you catch my drift.
"Why won't Spencer tell us who this girl is?" I asked.
Jillian shrugged. "Who cares."
Jillian isn't as intrigued or concerned with Spencer and his ways. Spencer, Jillian and I were friends in first year, but then he went sort of 'lone wolf' on us and preferred his own company. Then in third year he kind of came back, and now he trails after us and dotes on Jillian. Almost the same thing happened with Scorpius, for me. Albus pretended to be fine with Scorpius's new obsession, although after a month or two he got protective, over who I don't know. Only that Albus was not happy. He still isn't.
