He waited patiently for a few minutes as she changed once more. When she came back out, the flush was almost gone from her cheeks again. Awkwardly, she held out her sopping clothes before glancing up to meet his gaze, "Could I maybe get these dried or something? As comfy as your pajamas are, I'd prefer my own clothes."
The corners of Scorpius' lips twitched as he glanced at her, standing in the oversized clothes. He could only imagine how much it was bothering her to be accepting so much hospitality from him of all people: a Malfoy. The glimmers of a smirk disappeared, however, as he remembered she still hadn't told him why she was here in the first place. Skilt popped out of nowhere, grabbed her clothes quickly, grumbled something about puddles, and then disapparated once more. Scorpius found himself chuckling quietly before he rubbed his eyes and turned on his heel toward the den.
He heard her clear her throat behind him and he paused to glance back at her. She lifted her palms up, "Uh...where are you going?"
Rolling his eyes he lazily gestured for her to follow, "I don't really feel inclined to stand awkwardly in the entryway with you anymore. And Skilt will have my head if I keep him from cleaning up your mess any longer." He could sense Rose wanted to argue, but a few moments later he could hear her feet padding reluctantly after him. Moving through an adjoining hallway, they came into the den. It was one of his favorite rooms, second only to his own, and he would prefer talking to Rose in a territory he felt completely at ease in. And his room was not an option. Ever. He felt his lip twitch in the beginnings of a grimace as his mind started to recall the Weasley as she had been only a few minutes ago.
Ever. Never ever.
He heard the quiet, rebellious part of his mind whisper slyly, Never say never.
Shaking his head slightly to clear his head again, he automatically padded across the room to sink into his comfy chair. Only when he was good and comfortable did he let his eyes focus upon the redheaded intruder once more. Rose was still standing in the doorway, her eyes wide as they took in all the books that surrounded the room. He fought down a small smile as he remembered seeing the room himself after his father had renovated it.
Prior to this, the mansion itself was quite...cold. Scorpius barely remembered it, seeing as his father had started changing the rooms soon after he was born. The den had been saved for last, however, and was a surprise for Scorpius after completing his third year at Hogwarts with flying colors. Everything in the room had been designed for him and he had found that the shelves always managed to have enough space for more books.
The hairs on the back of his neck rose as he realized there were eyes on him. Waking out of his reverie and wiping the wistful smile off his face, his eyes snapped sharply to Rose's and her's retreated immediately.
She cleared her throat quietly and quickly turned her back to him, moving about the room to look more closely at the books, "This room is fantastic..."
He blinked at her back, not quite sure where to go with that. No hostile retort? No cold regard? Who was this girl in his house and what had she done with the aloof, angry girl he had practically grown up avoiding?
He sighed, "Rose..."
She turned her head slightly, acknowledging that she had heard, but she didn't respond right away. Her hair was starting to dry more and the curls were falling loosely down her back. He could just see the curve of her cheekbone and the dark length of her lowered eyelashes in that moment and he again wondered where this apparently soft creature had come from after all of the times she had treated him like some sort of vile...thing, so beneath her regard.
Scorpius leaned his head forward and pinched the bridge of his nose. Merlin did he need to sleep. His brain was not working well enough to process all that was going on right now.
He heard the quiet movement of fabric as she settled into the chair across from him. Lifting his eyes, he watched her as she stared at her hands awkwardly. It was then that he realized she wasn't going to tell him anything. At least not anything important or necessarily even true. She had shown up at his house, expecting...no relying on the fact that he was raised to be a good, hospitable host. After some of the things she had said when they were much younger, he found that fact in itself pretty amazing.
Finally, she lifted her gaze, bringing him focus again on the fact that whatever she was going to say wasn't going to be all of it. Meeting her eyes, though, he knew that, whatever it was, it wasn't anything good. There was pain there.
She bit her lip for a moment as they regarded each other in silence then, taking a steadying breath, she started, "Okay...so...I know it's really random I showed up out of nowhere..." She paused, as if expecting a snarky comment on his part. When it didn't come she went on, "But, some things happened and I had to get out of the house. I mean," she lifted her hands up quickly to run them through her hair in agitation, "I had to get away for a little while. And...I didn't want anyone to come finding me. So," she lowered her gaze to her hands again, "I thought of the one place no one would come looking for me."
Scorpius lifted his eyebrows, "So you came here. To my house. Where you just assume that I'll let you stay."
Her eyebrows knitted, but she didn't look up. "I know." It came out in a quiet, pathetic tone. There was silence for a few moments as he watched her. With a deep breath she looked back at him, her eyes pleading with him, "But I also know that you're a good person and you wouldn't just throw a girl back out into the rain, right?"
He scowled slightly at her, "That's asking a bit."
With a small snort, she rolled her eyes, "No, it's not. You're parents aren't home and this house is big enough you probably wouldn't even know I was here."
His eyes widened a fraction, "Wait...how long are you proposing I let you stay here?"
Her form shrunk down a bit in the chair, "Uh...I was hoping a few days...a week at most. I swear!"
Blinking at her, Scorpius tried to process this. The girl had purposely come to his house with the intention of not just hiding out for a night, but an entire week? He frowned at her, "Is it that bad?"
The look of surprise was followed by a small instant of pain before she closed her expression off again, "Maybe."
With a sigh, Scorpius shook his head and stood up, "How the hell did you even get out here? We're in the middle of nowhere. Malfoy's don't like unscheduled visits, you know."
He heard her giggle slightly and he glanced back at her in the chair. Grinning, she gestured outside, "I stole my grandpa's car and it died about a mile down the road."
"You know how to drive muggle cars?" He had known that Arthur Weasley was still extremely interested in muggle artifacts, but he hadn't realized he had bought another one and then taught his children how to operate it.
She full out laughed then, her face lighting up, "Oh heck yeah! Mom taught Hugo and I when we were younger. She insists on us being in touch with our muggle heritage. Drives Dad bonkers..." She trailed off and turned away from him for a moment. Scorpius watched the back of her curls for a moment before sighing and walking out of the room back into the hallway. After a few moments he heard her yelling, "Oi! Where do you think you're headed? This place is too big and I'll get lost!"
He tossed his retort back over his shoulder at her, "I thought you promised I wouldn't even know you were here."
After a moment of quiet, he heard swift footfalls and he turned around to see her hurtling at him. With a small exclamation of surprise, he felt her run into him, arms wrapped around his waist tightly. He stumbled backward with the momentum, but kept his balance and then tried to figured out his situation. He couldn't help the small warmth that reached his cheeks as he became aware of just how many clothes she had given to Skilt to wash and that she was really hugging him. He patted her back awkwardly as he cleared his throat, then he carefully pulled out of her embrace, not looking at her as he turned away again.
"Right..." he said, coughing again, "I'll tell Skilt to get the guest room ready for you as we go."
When he glanced back at her as she followed him quietly up the stairs, she was looking down at the steps with a small smile on her lips and a small flush of red still lingering across her freckled cheeks.