Chapter 2

No infringement intended

The days passed slowly and sometimes, Rose could bring herself to forget that she was betrothed. But mostly it was a burning desire to be able to decide her own fate. After two years, she had been ignoring Scorpius as if her life depended on it and he had been neither less nor more civil than he had been in the past. His calm demeanor irked her. Actually everything about him irked her.

He was tall, almost an entire foot over herself. He was athletic and smart. He was arguably handsome with a devilish smirk that most girls found endearing. Rose would never admit to being one of them. He never seemed to let anything get to him. He was as laidback as one could be. Rose believed that to be a sign of not having passion. He never seemed to care about anything. If someone had said something mean to him he just let it roll off as if it didn't bother him. Even with his studies, he never seemed to have to try. He just was.

She however, she was as opposite as they come. She was fiery and full of passion and fight. She knew what she want, and although she wouldn't step on people to get it, she would work hard for whatever it was. She never quit. Especially if it had anything to do with her family. She was extremely loyal. She too was arguably pretty with long softly curled auburn locks. Many boys have asked her out and until she found out about Malfoy, she had been excited to partake in those occasions. She loved school and she was good at it. She studied hard and worked for every grade she received. But none of that seemed to matter quite like it had before.

Ever since she found out, it was like the universe was trying to bring them together. For example, on Monday, a stupid prank was pulled on the Slytherin table and all the slytherins had to sit elsewhere. So where did Scorpius sit? Three seats down from her of course. Or in potions, there was a particularly hard spell due and they needed to pair off. Who got paired? Rose Weasley and Scorpius Malfoy. At this point, Rose was afraid to turn in her Head Girl application, due at the end of the week, because she had a sneaking suspicion that a Mr. Scorpius Malfoy would be Head Boy to her Head Girl.

Frankly it was getting ridiculous.

But she didn't say anything. If he could be stoic than so could she. It wasn't until the trip to Hogsmeade that Scorpius really started to get under her skin.

The day had started out fresh and exciting. Rose had been looking forward to it all week. Finally something to keep her mind off of Scorpius Malfoy. Her two closest friends, Jaramine, who was known as Jerri, and Albus, who was known as Al, both asked someone to go with them so Rose was alone. She didn't mind, she was going to spend the day doing things that she wanted to do. She'd pick up some of those quills that she liked, maybe read near the shrieking shack, and then end the day at Honeydukes. It sounded blissful to her.

When she got to Hogsmeade, she immediately got herself a good strong cup of tea. The weather was chilly and she'd need something to keep her insides warm and toasty. She had just placed the money down and looked up to find none other than Scorpius Malfoy standing behind her. She stared at him dumbfounded and he smirked back.

"Hi." He said in a deep voice.

"Rose Weasley!" The barista called her name but Rose didn't hear.

"I think they're calling you." Scorpius pointed toward the front.

Rose quickly composed herself, grabbed her change and her tea and sat down in a corner table, close to the window. She pulled out her book and tried to focus on the words but she was doing a miserable job.

"Mind if I join you?" Rose looked up and saw Scorpius, eyes aglow, staring back at her.

"Why?" Rose was proud she could mutter something audible, however rude.

Scorpius rolled his eyes and sat down.

"Why not?"

"I thought you didn't care about this prophecy. I thought you wanted to let it happen "naturally"." She mocked.

"I don't care. But you do." Rose eyed him suspiciously, "Listen, this whole thing is ridiculous. I never believed in destiny. And frankly, you being so worked up over it, is equal parts entertaining and annoying."

Rose waited for him to finish but no words came.

"That's not an explanation as to why you are here, with me, in public."

"Would you prefer us to be in private?" His eyebrows danced over his eyes.

"If you don't mind, I had an entire day planned before you came and ruined it. If you have nothing else to say, can you please leave?" Rose stared him down for a half second and then went back to her book.

"I haven't finished my tea."

Rose knew she had no shot at getting him to leave, and she was too proud to walk away herself, so she sat feigning interest in her book, and sighing loudly every few minutes. She drank her tea, more quickly than she ought have and packed up her things to move to her next destination.

"It's been a displeasure Scorpius." She said as she left.

"The pleasure was all mine." Scorpius responded.

Rose went next to the Scrivenshaft's Quill Shop. She could spend hours there. She loved to look and touch the various types of quills and assess their weight, their firmness, and how they felt in her delicate hands. She was an avid writer and a good quill always set her right with the world. She must have been there not twenty minutes when she literally ran into Scorpius, for the second time today. The impact knocked her flat on her bum and she peered at him through a scowl.

"Are you following me now?" She said as she stood up.

"Would it bother you if I was?" Scorpius raised an eyebrow.

"Yes!" Rose said loudly, "That's called stalking."

"Then no, I'm not following you." He smirked a little and Rose could just barely make out the outline of very white teeth.

"Ugh!" Rose through her hands in the air and pushed past him. She walked to the upper part of the store, he followed. She walked down again, he was there. She took her time looking at the quills, thinking that he would get bored and leave but he never seemed in a hurry. She picked five new ones out, paid for her items, and left to go to the Shrieking Shack.

She walked at a relatively fast pace and he sort of sauntered after her, never being more than twenty paces behind. When they reached her favorite bench, she turned around to face him.

"Ok, why are you following me? You don't have other matters to attend to?" Her cheeks were pink from the cold and her nose had a reddish tint.

"No." He met her stare.

"Why are you following me?" He didn't answer for a long while but Rose wouldn't give up.

"Like I said, you care about this thing." He finally spoke, " The more you try to push me away, the more time you've spent in your head thinking about me. Not that I can blame you." His eye sparkled with a hint of mischief.

"I thought you didn't care. Why does it matter if I think about you? It doesn't affect you." Rose challenged.

"But it does." Scorpius stepped closer to Rose, but she didn't back down. "The more you think about me, the more you like me. The more you like me, the more you want to get closer." They were inches from each other now, "The closer you get to me, the more the rumor spreads. If that happens," She could feel his breath on her nose now, "The less chance I have with any other girl."

Rose who had been shrinking into herself as he approached, found herself thrown into the helm of a new wave of anger.

"If you don't want people to misunderstand, why the bloody hell have you been following me around all day!?" Rose shouted.

Scorpius remained calm, "I figured if you could handle being near me, and didn't want to jump my bones, then you wouldn't freak out as much if we happen to be paired together, or sit together, or anything of that nature. It was really sort of a test. You passed."

Scorpius turned to go but Rose was furious. As much as she liked to pass tests, he had no right to use her.

"You are the most despicable person I have ever known in my whole life. I don't care who said what, I will never marry you." She said in a low voice, fueled by the strongest of anger. It was barely audible but he heard it. He kept walking.