'Sup! This is the fourth installment of When a Lass Wants a Crown. I guess I lied about trying to update every week- make that every two weeks.
Disclaimer: Obviously, I am JK Rowling (obviously, I am lying)
-WLWC-
When a Lass Wants a Crown- Chapter 4: Sweet Nothings
Rose Third Person POV
-Fifth Year-
Rose cringed inwardly when she smiled back at Scorpius, the little bugger just couldn't see reason. It's not like she hated him really- merely disliked his unwanted affections immensely. He was like a Chihuahua- cute at first then loud and obnoxious. She had to admit he had some good qualities about him; he was moderately smart, a fair Quidditch player, and fine- attractive. Well, attractive in a black and white movie kind of way. Rose stared at him longer and noticed how incredibly black and white he really was. A black uniform (his cloak of death, really), pale skin barely tanned although he spent most of his time outside, blonde white hair, and white teeth. There was barely any in between colors on him- just his green and white Slytherin tie, his oddly deep red colored lips, and his eyes. The tie, which so many people feared and hated, gave him a look of authority- it amplified his natural confidence. His lips were so flushed; Rose wondered how his skin was so pale. She was instantly reminded of a vampire; lips red and wet with blood and pale skin that was damaged in the sun (not like the fake vampires in that old book Willa always ranted about- sparkly! Really?) Rose always hated vampires- they gave her nightmares. It fit, she decided, that he would look like the creature that kept her up at night.
But what really stood out about his appearance were his eyes. They were gray- or maybe a light mix of blue and hazel and a tad bit of green. It really depended on what he was wearing. Rose decided that with his tie, his eyes were a gray green. His favorite casual Muggle t-shirt, that she bought him, brought out the blue in his steel eyes. With the brown leather jacket he picked for himself at the store, his eyes were more hazel gray.
Rose and Scorpius weren't friends. Well, in her mind, Rose didn't have friends merely acquaintances. She was friendly because it was necessary and expected. Frankly, people were annoying and way too nosy for her taste. Scorpius and Rose spent a few hours together in the Muggle world. Although she didn't hate the experience completely, Rose WEASLEY would never date Scorpius MALFOY. Rose Weasley is Rose Weasley, of course not when she's pretending to be Roz Wesley.
Although Rose didn't notice it, Scorpius took her unrelenting stares as an invitation to come closer. She continued to stare at him until he was in front of her.
Scorpius leaned down and said huskily, "I know I'm undeniably good looking but please Rosie, girls are getting jealous."
Rose snapped out of her thoughts and was startled to find Scorpius now sitting next to her and starting to load various breakfast foods on a plate for himself. "What are you doing? You can't sit here Malfoy."
"Back to Malfoy now hmmm? I miss your little nickname. I can sit where ever I please. And I would rather sit next to a beautiful and alluring flower today," Scorpius replied scooting closer to her.
As Rose scooted away, she answered, "Chauncey, Olive, Willa, and Nat sit here. You can't- you're not even a Ravenclaw. And if you would really like to sit next to a flower, go sit by Professor Longbottom." She gestured in the way of Neville Longbottom who was currently pruning a mysterious and apparent man eating plant. They both cringed as the flower almost ate his pinky finger.
Scorpius settled his arm around her shoulders and said softly, "I can sit where ever I want Rosie. These are barely house tables anyways."
"Go away, it's not summer." She answered back just as soft.
"Don't say that Rosie- you can't just walk away."
"Stop- please. You know I'm too busy for this."
Although there conversation wasn't anything close to sweet words exchanged between lovers, some people seeing the exchange were immediately led to this conclusion.
When Albus Potter walked down to the Great Hall for his first day of classes, he did not expect to see his favorite cousin wrapped in the arms of his best mate. While he was fussing over his confusion and details that might have hinted at his best mate and his apparent affections with Rose, he happened to plow straight into another extremely confused body.
When Chauncey McGonagall glided to grace her subjects after more than an hour of preparing, she did not expect to witness her quiet best mate being contained in the jail that happened to be one Scorpius Malfoy. How dare he touch a pure and sweet thing like her fragile Rosie?! As she contemplated Scorpius' impending doom, she was hit with a force (that force being Albus Potter) that sent her tumbling and accidently tripping her friend.
When Olive Prince giggled and twirled her scarf on her way to breakfast, she was stunned to walk in to find one Scorpius Malfoy forcing himself on an unsuspecting Rose. Knowing that Rose was the smartest person she'd ever met, Olive decided that Scorpius would probably be either dead or hexed something deadly in the next minute. While she was wondering why she didn't see this in her tea leaves, her feet tripped over something body-like and sent her sprawling on the floor and landing by the feet of a very confused Ravenclaw.
When Lorcan Scamander went to breakfast early to avoid his brother muttering about a Crup or Snorkleback or whatever, he did not expect his best mate to be getting cozy with his fellow beater and Prefect. He tried to reason with himself where this sudden change in behavior happened but he could not place his finger on an exact time. He attempted to crane his neck to get a better look at the two but a yelp and a flop grabbed his attention- literally.
When Simon Vine traveled to the Great Hall with his friend Lorcan and proceed to slip on spilled pumpkin juice, he was confused to see Scorpius and Albus' cousin, Rose, getting cozy. While Simon retracted his claims to the said Rose, he did not expect his best mate to jump on the Rose Infatuation Train so quickly. Well, he guess on the actual Hogwarts train he did show some interest but Rose blew him off. As he landed awkwardly in a pool of juice, he also had to avoid a foot coming in contact with his glasses.
When Natalia Nott complained all the way down to breakfast, it was from having to wake up and definitely not from the way her cousin, Scorpius, was trying to calm his raging hormones by trying to get with her friend, Rose. She stepped one foot into the entryway and saw Scorpius and Rose getting cozy, Potter plowing into Chauncey, Chauncey falling and rolling causing Olive to trip, Olive landing on the floor right in front of Scamander, Scamander craning his neck causing Vine to avoid his body, which caused Vine to slip on juice, which in return, caused Natalia to resist the urge to step and crush his glasses. Not to mention, she had pumpkin juice sloshed on her feet. Yes, Natalia saw the Kings and Queens of Hogwarts looking like a bunch of idiots and immediately spun on her heel and went back to the dorm.
When Willa Charles rushed down to breakfast late and half dressed, she didn't notice Albus helping Chauncey, Lorcan attempting to help Olive and Simon, or Scorpius and Rose. Instead, she noticed her hash browns and oatmeal on the Ravenclaw table calling her name and her unfinished summer homework burning a hole in her bag. In fact, one would say Willa wasn't surprised at all or at least immediately accepted the circumstances. She would have helped her friends... but again, hash browns and homework, and decided she'd apologize later as she steered to avoid their mess. Willa was definitely not nonchalant and plopped down on the other side of Rose like nothing was happening.
The couple continued to exchange seemingly sweet nothings (it was actually a really heated argument by now) until Willa interrupted both the silence around them and the two beside her by yelling (with her mouth full of oatmeal), "ROSE, SCORPIUS, CAN I SEE YOUR POTIONS SUMMER WORK? AND YOUR DADA, CHARMS, HERBOLOGY, DIVINATION, ASTRONOMY, TRANSFIGURATION, HISTORY OF MAGIC, AND CARE OF MAGICAL CREATURES WORK?"
Rose, who had turned an interesting shade of red, seemed to snap out of her argument with Scorpius and noticed in a millisecond her friends and Albus' friends sprawled near the entryway and the silence in the hall.
Willa continued to talk, "Seriously, flower, I need it."
Rose whispered back to her, "Talk quieter Willa, people are staring."
"They aren't staring because of me, you squib! Their staring because you and Scorpius look like you're about to shag each other on the t-," Willa stopped talking to chug the rest of her pumpkin juice. "Vedara is going to kill me if I don't have it. I need your homework," Willa said. "Scorpius do you have your homework? Why isn't anyone answering me?"
"It's because you're making everyone really really uncomfortable," Rose answered softly.
"Oh, am I? WHY ARE YOU ALL LOOKING OVER HERE? IS IT BECAUSE I'M PRETTY?" Willa yelled to the Hall. The occupants, including some teachers, immediately started to create noise and speak again. When the noise in the reached a comfortably loud level, Rose removed Scorpius' arm and turned to Willa just as her friends and Albus' posse reached them.
Albus spoke first, "What in the bloody hell is going on between you two?"
Chauncey spoke second, "Get your greasy hands off of her Malfoy!"
Lorcan and Olive tied for third with their reprimands, "Albus- talk quieter!"
"Chauncey, please don't be so mean."
Simon commented blinking rapidly and squinting, "Does anyone here happen to have a soft cloth that I can wipe my glasses with?"
It continued in that odd order of reprimanding and questioning, a few shoves here and there until Willa broke it once again with a completely unrelated statement, "What's the name of the spell to conjure those flame things?"
Rose decided to take the distraction and answered, "Either Lacarnum Inflamarae, Lumos Solen, Incendio, Bluebell Flames, Fiendfyre, Flagrante, or Firestorm. Is this for Charms, Transfiguration, or DADA?"
"Charms."
"I would go with Incendio then."
"Thanks, Rosie you're the best," Willa replied finally toning down her volume. "You should deal with them soon."
Rose sighed and turned to the hooligans arguing with each other, "Don't worry about, we aren't dating or anything really. We were actually having an argument and didn't want anyone to hear it."
Albus looked suspicious and Chauncey looked murderous but both turned to look at each other than to Rose and Scorpius, and decided to let it go- for now of course. Scorpius, who was breathing hard from arguing and was tense with annoyance and frustration at Rose, stood up from his seat quickly and proceeded to leave the Great Hall very dramatically. As they watched Scorpius leave, the boys separated to eat at the end of the Gryffindor table, as usual, and the four girls were now seated for breakfast.
After a few moments of silence with the only speaking being between Willa and Rose, Chauncey grabbed a piece of toast and began to question.
"Was he bothering you, Rosie? Was he being mean to you? Did he try to force himself on you Rose?" She asked as she furiously buttered her toast.
Olive turned a bright pink and said softly, "Chauncey, Scorpius is a perfectly nice boy!"
"No, no, Chaunce, he didn't. Like I said we were just arguing about prefect duties. I heard that they are trying to promote inter-house relationships by pairing up prefects from different houses." Rose said easily.
Chauncey, who seemed to accept this answer, said quietly, "Fine. But if he does anything out of the ordinary or tries to pull anything on you, you have to tell me. We're friends and friends stick together."
"WHO THE BLOODY HELL IS URG THE UNCLEAN?"
The group of girls dissolved the tension with laughter as their fifth and final member, Natalia, joined them.
The boys, however, sat down and acted like nothing happened. It was pointless to discuss the event without Scorpius there. So they sat, avoiding anything that had to do with Rose, Scorpius, Simon's previous infatuation, and anything about girls. They basically only talked about the Quidditch Cup Final that year.
When breakfast was over, the Queens headed over to their first class of their fifth year. It was Double Potions with the Hufflepuffs. Every class offered after the war was with another house to increase unity. When the Ravenclaws were with Gryffindors, Chauncey would sit with one of the Gryffindor boys- not Albus, who would sit with Lorcan. The other four would easily split up although Natalia and Rose would try to pair together being the smartest in the class.
When the Ravenclaws were with Slytherins, Natalia would sit with one of the Slytherins- not her cousin Scorpius though, who again, would sit with Lorcan. Rose would usually sit with Olive during this time since Slytherins made Olive feel uneasy (although she wouldn't admit it).
When the Ravenclaws were with Hufflepuffs, Chauncey would sit with Willa and Natalia with Olive. Rose would sit with Alice, although the rest of the Queens would assume Rose just sat with a random Hufflepuff. The Queens never really noticed Rose's and Alice's friendship- they barely knew she existed. Yes, they knew of Alice Longbottom; she was in the same year and a Hufflepuff. Alice was quiet and considered plain. She looked like her father but her features were common. Her hair was a typical light brown that was long and covered her face almost completely. Her eyes were pretty but a common blue. Her figure was average and her grades were average. Unlike Rose, Alice felt no need to live up to her father's image. She disappeared into a crowd easily- she didn't stand out for being beautiful or ugly. Alice was always just there. Half the time Rose disappeared (and she disappeared a lot), it was because she was with Alice. They weren't hiding their friendship- people just never thought to look for her in uncommon places.
They were just reviewing in Potions that day. It was all questions and lectures in every class today. In every class, Rose answered no questions. Professors only called on her whenever someone wouldn't volunteer but she was in a room full of Ravenclaws- someone always volunteered.
Scorpius avoided Rose like the plague. Nobody could tell if their staring at each other was sexual tension or pure hatred. They were betting on sexual tension.
When dinner was finally over, Rose hurried up to the dorms alone. She took out a piece of worn parchment from her trunk. The Queens were very talented and ingenious for their age. In her third year, Rose stole the Maurauders Map from her cousin, James, easily. She found a way to copy it and enhance the map even more. It read, "The Maurauders Map II: Misses MC, Red, Sandy, Birch, and Nevie are proud to present the CROWN: Maurauders Map."
Rose muttered quietly, "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good." She proceeded to throw the parchment into the air in front of her and watched it unfold. Instead of just showing you a two dimension sketch of Hogwarts with names and tiny foot prints, Rose created a three dimension model of both Hogwarts and Hogsmeade. (They were attempting to add The Forbidden Forest on their list but it was proving to be much more difficult than adding on Hogsmeade.) The worn paper would fold itself into a mini Hogwarts with grounds and a connecting Hogsmeade. The people in it were actual paper people with their names floating above their heads. The added the shrinking and enlarging ability at the end of third year. They added Hogsmeade at the beginning of fourth year. The footsteps became people half way through fourth. At the end of fourth, they discovered how to use the summoning charm to find specific people on the map.
Rose walked up to the map and said, "Accio Rose Weasley." The Hogwarts opened and Rose found herself as a mini person. She proceeded to cast a disillusionment charm on her mini person. She successfully wiped herself from her beloved map. It would be almost impossible to find her. She was about to kind of break Hogwarts rules and maybe kind of break a few wizard laws and like two muggle ones. (They were minor ones really.)
She crammed some necessary items into her bag and shook out some of her books. It was only 6:30, she had a lot of time before she had to do her work. It was her OWL year and she couldn't let her already perfect grades drop. She tapped the map again and watched it refold itself and caught it before it could hit the ground. Taking off her robe and changing her sensible slightly heeled dress shoes for half calf tied up boots, she stuffed her wand in the side of her boot. She looked at the watch she was wearing and quickly made a half-formed plan.
Rose quickly left the room and held a Transfiguration textbook in her hand as she waved to the people in the Common Room and left. After a reasonable distance away from the door and away from prying eyes, she shoved her book in a small crevice behind a statue.
Rose was almost to the Hufflepuff Common Room when she was stopped and spotted by two of her relatives.
"ROSIE!" Lily Potter yelled attempting to catch the attention of her cousin. Hugo and Lily looked out of breath and like a bomb just went off. Rose, who was usually very fond of both her younger cousin and her brother, was very annoyed at the moment.
Rolling her eyes internally, she answered quietly, "Yes, Lily? What's the matter?"
"Molly and some Puff were running up the stairs when it suddenly changed and Molly slipped and is now hanging from one of the staircases and it won't move back!" Hugo said hurriedly.
"Humongous, there is nothing wrong with being a Hufflepuff!" Lily reprimanded.
"Shut up, Littly. I didn't say anything bad about Hufflepuffs!" Hugo answered.
Rose, who would usually think their bantering was cute, was a bit preoccupied with the quiet possible death of one of her younger cousins. Molly Weasley II was sorted into Gryffindor house as the third to last Weasley to enter Hogwarts the day before. It was weird to know that Molly was old enough to go to Hogwarts now and in the next year there would be no James Potter or Fred Weasley around either.
"Hugo. Lily." The pair immediately stopped bantering, "Hurry and take me to wear Molly is."
"Of course, of course! Hugo, you prize idiot, you distracted me!" Lily yelled grabbing Rose's hand and running.
"Whatever Lily! You started it!" Hugo hissed back running after them.
After sprinting from the third floor to the fifth, they finally reached the staircase on the sixth floor that wasn't connected to anything.
Rose set her bag down at the top of the staircase where a first year Hufflepuff boy was crying.
"I didn't know that it would happen! I don't know what to do!" The boy wailed.
"It's okay, what's your name? Everything is going to turn out okay," Rose said patiently.
"Johnny Rolinx. We were just p-playing t-t-tag," Johnny said.
"Okay, nice to meet you Johnny. Will you do me a favor and find a teacher?" Rose smiled reassuringly as the boy nodded hesitantly. "Don't worry; Molly is going to be all okay."
After making sure Lily went with the Hufflepuff and Hugo was waiting at the top of the stairs, she carefully hurried down the staircase to where her younger cousin Molly was.
Molly was at the edge of the staircase and it seemed that the stairs were older and were about to fall apart. Rose could see her hands on the bottom of the staircase and heard her cries of help. The stairs looked so unstable; Rose was surprised it didn't give out earlier. As she was almost to the last stair, Rose said clearly, "Molly, dear? It's Rosie and don't worry, it's going to be okay."
The wails increased, "ROSIE! ROSIE! I'M SCARED. WHAT DO I DO? ROSIE DON'T LET ME FALL!"
"Of course, I won't let you fall, silly! Now I need you to calm down, okay? Breath easily, because your favorite cousin, Rosie, is going to make it all better."
The cries quieted down to subtle sniffling and Rose took the time to attempt to step down farther. As she felt the stairs almost give, she decided if she did go down further down she would have to think quickly.
She sprinted back up the stairs and took out a thick rope from her bag. Rose needed it later but this took precedence over her plans. She began to tie it around the banister and knotted it several times. She then tied it around herself and turned to Hugo, "Make sure this rope doesn't become untied-" Rose was cut off by screams and the sound of crumbling.
"ROSIE!" Rose turned to see the stairs falling apart and Molly start to slip.
She was suddenly extremely grateful that she changed her shoes and started to sprint down the stairs.
"Bloody fucking hell, of course this would happen. Fuck fuck fuckity fuck," she muttered to herself as she jumped of the edge of the stairs after the screaming Molly.
"IMPENDIMENTIA!" Rose felt like crying- she was not a Gryffindor.
Well, I always wanted to try bungee jumping..., Rose thought to herself. She reached Molly in a few seconds, luckily in the time before the jinx would wear off. She doubted she could cast the jinx on herself and felt her and Molly start to fall again. It seemed in slow motion that she saw the rope break. Rose knew she couldn't apparate in the school and didn't have enough time to summon her broom.
"ARRESTO MOMENTUM!" Rose made sure her back was to the ground when they reached an abrupt and brief stop. She knew she didn't cast it fast enough and hopped the hit wouldn't be too bad. She felt the wind get knocked out of her as they still landed hard. Rose briefly closed her eyes but opened them again when Molly continued to scream. The stairs were continuing to crumble and were starting to fall apart completely- on top of them.
"REDUCTO!" Rose's curse caused all of the rubble to turn to dust and happened to also destroy the whole staircase. She saw Hugo yelp and step off the stairs at the last second.
She heard voices start to surround them and felt Molly lifted off of her. Rose reached up to feel her head and felt something wet.
Well, shit. This is just not my day, Rose thought as the world around her began to go blurry.
"Rose!" Scorpius appeared over her and she swore her day became even worse.
And then everything turned to black.
-WLWC-
A/N:
Yep and I just introduced Alice Longbottom, Little Lily, and more of Hughie! IF YOU'D LIKE, YOU SHOULD REVIEW OR FAVORITE OR FOLLOW. 'CUZ THAT BE COOL! IF YOU DON'T LIKE IT, THAT'S OKAY TOO.
All my love,
The Legilimens
