Happy New Year everyone! And thanks to all of you who reviewed/alerted/favourited (is that a word?)
Ok so, this begins in Rose's third year and this is sort of more the beginning of the plot. Enjoy!
I dipped the brush into the glass bottle and gave it a small whirl before returning it back to my half painted thumb. The Slytherin room was peacefully free of the usual chattering as everyone was outside, making use of the last weekend of sun before winter.
Only Vivian, Grace, Eva and I remained. Eva and Vivian were slowly, but steadily, finishing the last of their homework as Grace and I kept them company. Grace was lounging in a recliner watching them with a smug expression on her face. As I hadn't seen her lift a quill all weekend, I'd safely assumed she'd played some poor Ravenclaw to do it for her.
Eva glared down at the text book and with a frustrated sigh she closed the book with a loud thud. This was quickly followed by Vivian's.
'How do you do it Rose?' Eva asked as I blew gently on my now violet nails.
'Do what?' I asked, looking up. She huffed.
'You never study and only hand in half the amounts of homework the rest of us do. And yet you always get top marks, without even trying,' she looked at me intently. 'How do you do it?'
'Well, that's an answer I'd like to hear,' someone called as the common room door flew open, bringing in Harper and Duane, both of them filthy but with huge smiles on their faces.
'What in the world have you guys been doing?' Grace asked disgustedly, sliding away as Harper flopped down beside her.
'Quidditch,' he answered simply, brushing a handful of crumbling mud onto the carpet. 'So what is Rose Weasley's dirty little secret?' he grinned, leaning back.
'No secret I'm afraid,' I let out a dramatic sigh. 'Just the wondrous combination of Hermione Granger's brain and Ron Weasley's work ethic,' I smirked. Harper's face fell and he let out a mock breath of defeat.
'Damn, I was hoping it was something illegal,' Vivian smirked as Duane punched him good naturedly on the arm, causing a few loose pieces of mud to spray Eva.
'Why were you guys out playing Quidditch? I thought only this morning Duane here was complaining about the massive amount of revision Kenwitt gave you in Ancient Runes,' Vivian asked, her eyebrows raised.
'We were practicing for try-outs,' Duane said happily. 'Thought we'd pull a Weasley and risk detention,' he winked at me. I immediately perked up.
'Try-outs?' I asked.
'Yeah, haven't you heard?' Duane asked. 'Both Brothmore and Anderson were kicked off the team. At practice the other day they were caught trying to bewitch the Quaffle with anti-stick charms,' he shook his head disgusted. 'For the upcoming Gryffindor vs. Hufflepuff match,' Vivian swore.
'It's idiots like that who give the rest of us a bad name,' she scowled, opening her book again and continued writing furiously.
'Why are you so interested, you thinking of trying out?' Harper asked.
'Yeah, I think I will,' I grinned. Harper's eyebrows shot up.
'Really?' he asked, looking surprised.
'Yeah, why?' I replied confused.
'Well, it's just,' he hesitated. 'There haven't really been many girls on the team before,' he ran his fingers through his hair. I glared.
'You don't think I could do it?' I asked, my voice venomous. Harper looked over at Duane who averted his eyes. 'Oh,' I said standing from my seat. 'You don't think a girl could get on the team!' I was shouting by now, looking desperately at Vivian and Eva for back-up. Surprising me, Grace spoke up.
'It's not that you can't do it because you are a girl,' she said bored. 'It's that you shouldn't.'
'What?' I asked, dumbstruck.
'Well,' she said as if I were some ignorant first year. 'It just isn't proper, for girls with any sort of class to fly around, getting all sweaty with a stick between her legs. But I'm not stopping you,' she gave me a cold smile. Of course in Grace's eyes I was never considered something of class.
Vivian and Eva sat with their eyes firmly cast down on the pages of the text book. I could feel my face heating with embarrassment as I tried to form some sort of reply.
Though Slytherin wasn't the pureblood orientated, power hungry house that it used to be back before the war, most of its students still came from very high class old money. This meant they all grew up being expected of certain behaviour, and I, growing up among the Weasleys always felt a bit awkward and rough standing beside Vivian and Grace.
Even Eva, who was a ball of energy and giggles, was graceful, charming and polite among high society and other students. The boys too, when greeting their parents on the platform were nothing more that well-mannered, cool and disinterested.
My tongue seemed to stick to the roof of my mouth as I struggled for a scathing reply. Too thrown to form something coherent I turned my back on the group and marched out of the Common Room, closing the door with a slam.
Well that was certainly graceful, I thought to myself bitterly. Sighing I walked quickly down the familiar route to the Quidditch pitch. Taking my broom from the store cupboard I took off with a sharp kick.
With only a half hour until dinner the pitch was practically deserted, save a few straying students, trying to squeeze in a few laps before going back up to the castle.
Soaring upwards the wind streamed past my face, leaving my cheeks flushed and cool. I could already feel my anger seeping away as I pulled my broom into a few loop-the-loops.
'Oi, Weasley!' I swiveled my broom around to face Scorpius, who hovered only a few meters below me.
'Oh, hi,' I said turning away.
'Hey, wait,' he called, bringing his own broom up beside mine. 'What are you doing out here?' he asked.
'Just felt like a fly,' I replied breezily, pulling at the sleeves of my jumper against the cool air. Scorpius nodded. 'Where have you been all day?' I asked, taking in his grass stained knees and elbows. Scorpius let out a low chuckle.
'Duane, Harper and I we pulling some stunts, have you heard of the game 'Catch'?' I knew of the muggle game with a ball, but I had a feeling that wasn't what he was talking about. I shook my head.
'It's pretty stupid,' he chuckled. 'You fly as high as you can then let your broom go slack. The winner is whoever can catch themselves again closest to the ground, whoever falls the furthest without hitting the ground.'
'That's really dangerous,' I said, my eyes widening.
'Hey, we aren't that stupid,' Scorpius smirked, putting his hands out in front of him defensively . 'We performed cushioning charms first, to escape any major injuries.'
'Sounds like fun,' I eyed the ground below me.
'Rose,' he said seriously. 'Don't go doing anything reckless and stupid,' he eyed me wearily. I frowned.
'Why not, you guys do it,' I countered. 'It would be a bit hypocritical.' Scorpius shrugged.
'Yeah, well, we're guys,' he said carelessly. I glared hatefully at the blond boy.
'What?' he asked, wiping a streak of mud from the handle of his shiny top-class broom.
'Oh, nothing.' I snapped. 'I just didn't think you'd be like Duane and Harper,' Scorpius looked up, confused.
'What about Duane and Harper?' he asked.
'Well, I was up in the common room before,' I said slowly, still a little embarrassed by my behaviour. 'And Harper or Duane mentioned the Quidditch try-outs coming up, I kind of said that I'd like to give it a go and was treated to a few snide comments of how girls of class shouldn't play Quidditch, but I was welcome to try-out,' I felt my face redden, this time in anger. 'You'd think those sorts of prejudices would have evaporated along with Voldemort's sea of supporters,' I growled.
Scorpius sat on his broom quietly letting me rant about the unfairness of such a stupid idea that boys should be given more free rein than girls.
'You can't blame them,' he said. 'That's just how they, we, were brought up.' He sounded surprisingly more logical than his usual self.
'So you're saying you believe it too?' I asked.
'No,' he said slowly, as though he was thinking about how he wanted to phrase his words. 'I don't think it's fair that somebody shouldn't be able to do something just because of who they are.' He looked me straight in the eye, which was enough for me to catch the double meaning behind his words. Scorpius looked away first.
There had been moments over the past three years where people, students and the occasional teacher, would treat Scorpius differently because of his surname.
I remember on one occasion he'd been given a weeks' worth of detentions for being only a few minutes late for class. Vivian had had a fit and complained to Headmistress Sprout. Who'd given the teacher in question a firm talking to.
'Are you going to try out?' he asked. I sighed.
'Yeah, maybe,' I pursed my lips. 'What if the captain is as biased as Duane and the others?' I asked, letting out my worry. Scorpius chuckled again.
'I wouldn't worry about that. Shane or Shawn or something is the captain this year. You're friends with him right?' he asked. I nodded, a smile creeping onto my face. Leaning back on my broom I looked down towards the pitch. The last stragglers were packing away their things and rounding up the Quaffles before darkness hit.
'So,' Scorpius raised his eyebrows. 'Do you want to perform the charm or should I?' I opened my mouth to ask what he was on about, but with a flick of his wand Scorpius fell out of the air beside me.
Gasping, I looked down just in time to watch him pull his broom back under his body and pull away from the ground. 'You coming!' he called breathlessly.
Holding my breath, I closed my eyes and let my broom fall slack. I felt myself plummet full speed towards the carpet of grass, I flickered my eyes open, blinking back the water welling up in the corners. I watched as the ground grew and grew, unable to do anything or feel anything, my senses were overloaded. All I could hear was the wind bellowing in my eyes with a great whoosh, feel nothing except the air streaming beside me, see nothing through my watering eyes. There was no room in my mind for thought or feeling.
It was a natural reaction for me to pull my broom under me, so there would be something between myself and the ground, which was becoming steadily closer.
With a jerk, my broom leveled out. Giving me no time to brace myself I was flung forward and tumbled across the grass, my broom following with a clutter.
'Rose!' Scorpius rushed over. 'Are you ok?' I let out a loud laugh and sat up. Scorpius looked visibly relieved.
'Crap, you scared the shit out of me,' he laughed in relief. I gave him a strange look.
'What?' he asked, helping me to my feet.
'Nothing, I just don't think I've ever heard you swear before,' I said, examining the muddy scuffs along my shins and arms.
'That's because it isn't proper to swear in public, cursing is for those who have something to cure about,' he replied in a pompous manner. I laughed.
'That was amazing,' I said, picking up my broom. 'Pity about the landing though.'
'Hey, that was pretty good for a first timer,' Scorpius said. 'First time I tried it I ended up in St Mungo's with a broken collar bone,' he grimaced. 'But the feeling is so worth it.'
I grinned widely in agreement.
'Like your stomach is going to burst through your head,' he added. I laughed again, hitting him on the shoulder.
'That's one way to put it,' we locked our brooms back in the store room. Scorpius turned to me.
'Do you want to go get something to eat?' he asked.
'Sure,' I smiled as we walked back up to the castle, unable to contain our exhilarated smiles.
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