Good morning! I wanted to give a quick shout out to Avanell, QueenMab69, NeS PoTTeR, CollieKinz, and swimchick1614 for reviewing this story! Thank you so so so much!
And thanks to QueenMab69, who very kindly pointed out that my anonymous review button was disabled, you can now post anonymous reviews for this story! So please review!
This chapter is a little short, but the next two are longer, so don't worry!
Enjoy :)
Chapter 7
On the Sunday morning after Halloween Rose woke up a little earlier than usual, as did the rest of their dorm. They were all getting ready to go on the Hogsmede trip, and Rose was being 'helped' by Becca.
"Honestly Rose, if you don't stand still I'm going to get this in your eye." Becca snapped at her as she attempted for the 4th time to put mascara on her.
"Becca, I really don't see why this is necessary! It's just Ben! He likes how I look!"
"Yes yes, well I'm almost done. Now remember, you're wearing the brown backless sweater and the jeans with the brown boots. Your hair is done, thank Merlin, and your make-up is almost there." Becca focused on Rose's eyelids, painting them like a canvas with eye shadow. "There! Done! You can look now!" Becca stood back admiring her project, clearly very pleased. Rose had to admit; she looked good, even if it was too much make-up for her taste. When she put on the outfit too she was feeling a little more confident. She left Becca to finish her own make-up while Rose went to get some breakfast. As she sat down in the great hall Al wolf whistled at her. "Becca or Mackenzie?" He asked as she reached for a slice of toast.
"Both." She rolled her eyes and smiled at him. "Mackenzie did my hair, Becca did the make-up and the outfit. Be so thankful you're not a girl."
"Oh believe me, I am every day." He assured her as she started eating.
"So Hu, did you get up the courage to ask out the Hufflepuff? Lily asked.
"Erm," he mumbled staring down at his plate. "I don't like her ok? Just drop it."
"So I guess that's a no." Lily shrugged. "I don't see why you shouldn't Hu, she seems to like you too."
He turned around and ignored her, clearly wanting to avoid the subject. "Well," she continued. "I'll have you all know that Collin and I are officially dating." She smiled and looked at Rose.
"Congratulations Lil," Rose raised her goblet to her.
"God, what is with all of the relationships? Sheesh, you girls are so sappy." They all ignored Al's comment and continued to talk about what had transpired between Lily and Collin before heading off to find their dates.
Rose met Ben at the gates. He was beaming at her, clearly very excited.
"You ready?" He asked as she walked up to him.
"Yeah," she replied. "Lets go."
Scorpious felt horrible.
Again.
He didn't know how it started or why, but when Rose told him that she was going out with Ben he felt heart drop into his chest. Why would gorgeous, brilliant, wonderful Rose want to go out with Ben? Was he smart? Sure, he was a Ravenclaw. Was he nice? Yeah, he was. Was he funny? Sort of, in a conventional way. Was he attractive? Scorpious didn't really know, but he wasn't ugly. But none of that mattered. He wasn't good enough for her.
At first he felt depressed that Rose was going out with him. Then it turned into an anger of sorts, and he felt himself wanting to murder Ben. But he knew that was ridiculous, so for now he was simply sad again. He watched her walking away with him and it made him cringe. He knew why he felt this way. He just didn't want to believe it.
In all his years at Hogwarts Scorpious had never really cared about girls. But watching Rose walk away he knew. He knew that he had fallen in love with her.
But that was crazy! Right? She's Rose! She's Rose Weasley, the girl you ignored for years. The girl your family hates. The girl who's your friend. How could you have possibly fallen in love with her in two short months? But he had, and he knew it. But he also knew he was too late.
Besides, what would she want with a guy like him? It would never work, he knew that. Yet a small part of him said 'but what if it could?' which lead him back to sadness again. How could he be around her anymore without showing that something was wrong? But it would be impossible for him to avoid her in so many ways. Not only did he have to see her at least once a week but he also knew that there was no way he wouldn't be able to make it through the week without talking to her. When did he become so reliant on her? His mind went in circles, over and over again.
He walked into Hogsmede alone and went to the Hogs Head, where he knew he wouldn't be interrupted. After ordering a butterbeer he sat down, trying to sort out his thoughts. He had to have a plan. Yes, a plan. That's completely logical and reasonable. He thought it over for a while, through two butterbeers, and finally he decided there was nothing he could do at all. He couldn't break them up, he couldn't ignore it entirely, he could ignore her, he couldn't pretend to not be effected by it, he just couldn't. He would have to just let himself go, and figure out what will come of it. Oh Merlin, this won't go well.
Rose felt herself getting worried.
The date so far had gone well, they went to the three broomsticks for butterbeer and then off to Honeydukes to pick up a few things. After that they had checked out the new products at her Uncles store, which had taken over Zonko's old space a few years after the war. She said a quick hello to George before he had to get back to work. But now they were strolling along the streets, and that made her nervous. They were all alone, and that meant he would probably try and kiss her.
She knew it was coming. But yet it scared her, it was her first kiss. What if it was horrible? What if she messed it up so badly that Ben would never want to talk to her again?
"…but I think if we just add and extra 30 minutes of practice in every week, we should be ready for the game, no problem."
"Mhm," she nodded as she listened to her boots crunch in the early snow. They walked along in silence for a second, Rose waiting for him to say something.
"So, listen. Can I…" he trailed off, turning his head away from her. "Can I kiss you?"
Oh she was so worried he was going to ask. Ugh, that so ruined the moment. Why couldn't he surprise her, sweep her off her feet? But then again it was Ben, what did she expect?
"Yeah," she said quietly and she leaned in slowly. It was a soft kiss, sweet but short. But it felt wrong. Rose didn't get the fairytale feeling. Sure her stomach still flipped a bit and she still felt a tingling on her lips, but something was wrong. She could tell. But she smiled all the same and walked hand in hand with him back to the castle. All in all, it had been a nice date. Rose brought up the only thing she could think to talk about: schoolwork. By the time they had reached the castle she told him she had a lot she needed to do and left. He kissed her on the cheek before leaving as well. She walked back to the common room in a haze, confused and disoriented. Why wasn't it perfect? She found Olivia catching up on some homework as well when she entered the common room and she sat down on the couch next to her.
"Olivia?" She asked quietly.
"What?" She replied, clearly able to tell something what wrong.
"When you kiss Al how do you feel?" she asked.
A small smile crept on to Olivia's face. "I feel… amazing. Like everything's right with the world."
"Even during the beginning?" Rose asked in a small voice.
"Yes. It was different then but yes, it still felt right." Olivia didn't pry for more information though, she simply put her hand on Rose's leg reassuringly and gave her a small smile. Rose tried to distract herself with work, but she found her mind drifting away to her mangled thoughts. Finally she gave up completely and went to bed. But she tossed and turned without being able to sleep. She kept replaying it over and over in her head, trying to figure out what was missing. It should have been perfect. Why couldn't it be perfect? Eventually her mind gave up and she drifted into a heavy sleep.
