October had always been Rose's favourite month, even muggle Halloween was a holiday that had always filled her with a feeling of giddiness she could not control, and the fever of the Hogwarts version had only magnified that. It started in late September and consumed her until the actual day of the festival. It was, therefore, unsurprising that she never really managed to make up with Scorpius, he had settled into his schoolwork, determined to call as little attention to himself as possible, and had just sort of drifted out of her thoughts, it wasn't as if she didn't want to be friends with him, it was more that she didn't think it worth the effort unless he actually wanted to be friends with her. Besides Al was a perfectly good best friend, for all that he was her, less-than-exciting, cousin.
Halloween, though, that was exciting. The ghosts were floating around ten times as often, the hallways had magically gained pumpkins for decoration and the entire atmosphere was almost unbearably festive. It was all she could do not to skip from class to class, barely remembering that she was not, strictly speaking, supposed to enjoy any classes, (even if only one period), spent with the Slytherins.
"Miss Weasley, kindly contain yourself." Professor Gaggle's voice rose across the classroom for the third time that period, startling Scorpius into nearly ruining his potion. After spending weeks on Engorging potions they were now attempting the opposite, a Shrinking potion. His potion was the perfect shade of green and had just begun to bubble, exactly as the book recommended. He was, therefore, slightly resentful of Rose, whose potion was also turning a lovely shade of green, for being able to chatter at Albus while she did her work.
"Yes, Rose please stop talking, some of us actually like our potions to turn out." Scorpius knew that he sounded angry, but wasn't sure, after their falling out, how she would take it.
"Well then some of us should measure our leech juice." Rose's response was hardly what he was expecting, a few weeks before she would have said something similar, but her tone would have indicated that she was at least considering what he'd said; of course she'd have kept talking anyway, but she'd have at least acknowledged what he might want, but now she just glared at him, waves of rage nearly pouring off her.
"What did I say?" Scorpius hadn't meant to sound whiny, but that was how it came out.
"What do you mean: what did you say? You obviously cannot stand me. Everything about the way you talk to me makes me think that you would rather me dead than disrupting your precious potions. You don't need to say anything more; I'll try not to distract you." Scorpius looked at Rose with shock. That wasn't what he had meant at all.
"You...think I hate you?" Scorpius had past the point of just whining, he was nearly in tears.
"Obviously, I mean, you haven't talked to me in over a month, how else am I supposed to take that? Should I think that it means you're shy? Well I knew that, but you still spoke to me before! I got the point, you don't want friends, you want to live in your own world, fine, but don't complain when I don't treat you like my best friend." Rose was filled with rage; she had, at some point in her rant, stood up so as to give her lungs more air to scream at Scorpius.
Scorpius, for his part could do nothing more than anyone else in the class, he just stared at her, mind blank with shock. He had just assumed that she had given up on him, and had figured that that meant there was no point in trying to be friends again. He hadn't realized that wasn't how it was supposed to work; he'd never really had any friends before.
"Miss Weasley! Please take your seat!" Professor Gaggle, silent throughout their discussion, could afford to ignore them no longer. Her voice, harshly calling them to task pierced the room. "Kindly stay back at the end of the class, I believe that we have a detention to arrange."
Scorpius looked sharply down at the floor, once again not sure how he was supposed to respond.
Rose looked hopefully over at Scorpius, knowing precisely what her father, or her uncles, would have done in such a situation. They would have burst out that it wasn't fair for her to get detention when everyone was talking, knowing full well that it was fair, she completely deserved it, she really had been screaming. But that wouldn't have mattered, they'd all have wound up in detention, and it probably would have been a grand old time, if their stories were to be believed. Of course, she reminded herself, they hadn't actually hated the people they should have defended, so perhaps the situation was slightly different.
This was supposed to be the best day of the year, it was Halloween, it was supposed to be marvellous. But then that stupid boy, who didn't even want to be her friend, had ruined it. She sighed heavily, wishing that the class would just end; forcing herself to concentrate on the potion in front of her, she felt a tear slide slowly down her cheek.
"Rose, I would like to extend an apology." Scorpius knew his voice was formal, but he didn't really know how else to apologize. He had waited after class for the opportunity and was now debating whether extending a hand for her to shake was too much.
"For hating me? I suppose that it really is only fair, it goes back generations, why should I expect us to be different." While she was no longer yelling, it was impossible to miss the rage still boiling in her voice.
"No, for, for, ignoring you I suppose is the best word. I didn't really mean to. I just thought that you would still be angry with me." Scorpius tried to smile at this, not sure of how she'd react.
"Angry?" Rose's anger had been replaced with a sort of confusion. "But it's been a month! Who stays angry that long?"
"My father. Not that he'll let on about that, but he stays angry for years." Scorpius voice had dropped to a whisper; he could not let the other children of his year hear him discussing his father that would bring far too much trouble.
"My father lets my mother do all the getting angry, or Gran, but she's fearsome." Al had caught up and was attempting to lessen the tension.
"Gran is terrifying! I can't see how Uncle George, or even Dad, survived her. I'm not actually sure that James will." Rose grinned at this, her anger lost once she realized how lost Scorpius was in this new world, not the world of magic in which they had all grown up, but the world of people, the world of friends. "I'll tell you what. Save me a seat at the feast, I've got to scrub off all the desks in the potions room after the afternoon classes. If you do that we'll call it even. We can be friends."
"Deal." Scorpius extended his hand, for once feeling like he was doing the right thing.
A/N: I'm back, startling I know :P
Fitting isn't it, their reunion, and the creation of a group of three happens on Halloween, no troll this time, all the better for them.
Scorpius' life sucks, as you are soon to learn, but really, with Draco, someone whose own life was far from wonderful, as a father what else is there to expect?
I am going to actually try to finish this, review and who knows, it might happen :).
My mission for the next chapter: make Al talk!