Disclaimer: As always I own nothing but the original characters and the situations all characters are put in. Everything else belongs to people with very scary lawyers. Thanks for reading, hope that you enjoy and let me know what you think.

The Power of Brownies

After telling Albus all about the cookie incident with Daimon Rosie was glad to see that it had at least put something resembling a smile on her cousin's face. Albus just didn't look like Albus unless he was smiling.

"Well at least you're making him suffer now." Reaching over Albus patted his cousin's hand as he bit into one of her cookies with the other. After chewing and swallowing he continued, savoring the chocolate taste. "Now Daimon's going to have to spend the rest of his poor, twisted life knowing that if he'd only been nice to you he'd be able to get mind-blowingly good baked goods."

"There is that silver lining, yes." Eyes drawn to the collar just visible under her best friend's shirt Rosie reached out and pulled it up and out, her fingers sliding over the tag attached to it. "Are you sure you should be wearing this? It might make him more upset if he sees it." Not that she could imagine him being any more so.

"I won't wear it if my shirt doesn't cover it." Otherwise, however weird it was, he was wearing it. Or at least until Scorpius either asked for it back or he'd gotten over the other man enough to put it away. Albus was thinking it was going to be on his neck for a good long while.

Eyebrows furrowing with worry Rosie stared at the letters printed on the front of the tag, something suddenly occurring to her. "It's your initials."

"What?"

"This tag, it's your initials. I didn't realize it until I saw it written out in capital letters like this. Asp. A-S-P. Albus Severus Potter. That's so weird."

Instinctively reaching up to touch the collar Albus's eyes widened, the coincidence of his dog name never having occurred to him until now either. How weird was that? It was like somehow, maybe subconsciously, Scorpius had known it was him all along. If only, Albus thought as his hand dropped away. If only…

"Maybe it's a sign." Rosie suggested hopefully, her gaze encouraging.

"From your lips to his ears."

)

The next day Albus forced himself to go to his classes, his many cousins all expressing their concern by hovering over him like worried mother hens. The story they were all given was that Albus had been harshly rejected by a guy he was interested in who was, unfortunately, straight. The name of said guy was not being given and Albus made it clear that that was not going to change anytime soon. Of course they all speculated amongst themselves as to who the mysterious guy could be, but no one came close who didn't already know in the first place. Those who did know shook their heads, thought he was insane to have confessed, and then tried to distract him by pointing out all the other guys he could be mooning over.

Scorpius avoided any and all contact with the Gryffindor, though this didn't strike anyone at the school as unusual. They just assumed it was typical behavior between a Malfoy and a Potter and dismissed it. That the two had seemed to be getting along before had been the oddity worth discussing.

Only Sev and Albus knew Scorpius well enough to see beneath the surface to the level of turmoil going on within him. Albus gave the Slytherin the distance the other man had demanded in the hopes that that would help, and Sev did the same since he wasn't the type to get involved unless it affected him directly.

Watching it all from the sidelines Rosie felt bad for both boys and wanted to help. She could understand how the Slytherin must be feeling, and genuinely felt sorry for him. Especially since he didn't have anyone to lean on the way Al did. She knew Daimon would be zero help in the friend department. He hung out with Scorpius so that he could experiment on him.

After a week and a half of watching them all suffer Rosie couldn't take it anymore. She just had to interfere and try to fix things. It was the girl in her. It took her a while to accept, but eventually she had to admit that she needed Daimon's help if she was going to get anywhere. He was the only one in the school that Malfoy might listen to. Scorpius would never have a heart to heart chat with her, that was for sure.

So Daimon was her only option.

Luckily, Rosie now knew the other man's mortal weakness.

And so Rosie spent an entire Saturday in the kitchens baking up such a storm that even the house elves were encouraging her to take breaks. When she was done she had seven large containers filled with brownies, cookies, chocolates and cupcakes. Two of the containers she had a house elf deliver up to her common room for her waiting, salivating cousins, while the other five stayed with her. Rosie very wisely used magic to levitate the containers in front of her rather than even try to carry them and headed off to make a delivery of her own.

Using all her courage Rosie headed below ground, carefully watching her step as she prayed she wouldn't run into any Slytherins. The last thing she needed was one of them deciding to play a trick on the Gryffindor whose wand was otherwise engaged. If anyone made her drop the food she'd been slaving over all day she'd have their heads on a platter.

Arriving in front of the secret wall Rosie set the containers on the ground and then raising her wand prayed that her patronus wouldn't give away the fact that the last time she'd been there she'd been a cat. She'd sooner die than have the jerk ever know that for a few hours she'd been forced to be his pet.

She shuddered just thinking about it.

A white, silvery cat appeared from the end of her wand Rosie gave it its instructions and then sent it leaping through the stone wall and into the Slytherin dormitories.

)

Sitting in the relatively quiet Slytherin Common Room Sev barely raised a dark eyebrow when a cat made of white smoke jumped up and onto the table he was using to do his homework. His eyebrow did go all the way up however when the cat began to speak with Rose Weasley's familiar voice. The Rose voiced cat informed him that his presence was required outside the supposedly hidden Slytherin front entrance. Now.

Amused and intrigued Sev closed his text book and got to his feet, trusting that no one would be stupid enough to disturb his books and parchment before he got back.

Hands sliding into his pockets Sev ignored the questioning looks he was being given and strolled alone to the entrance, the bricks fading away as he approached to allow him to exit. And there she was, Rose Weasley, looking not at all pleased to be there. There were also five large, plastic containers beside her, piquing his interest even more. Just what was the little Gryffindor up to?

"You meowed?"

Giving him a look that said she didn't find him at all funny Rosie took a deep breath before getting straight to the point since it was all she could do not to think about her time as a cat with him. She still had nightmares about it, and they always came back full force every time she was forced to be in his presence.

"I want to make a trade with you. I need your help with something and since you never do anything for free I'm prepared to bribe you."

"Interesting. And just what is it that you need my help with?" It must be important, he mused, for her to admit even the possibility that she might require his assistance. He would have thought she'd rather stun herself repeatedly.

"I need your help getting Al and Scorpius together. And don't play dumb, you're too observant not to have noticed how things are between them. Al's confessed his feelings, which is why Scorpius is so out of sorts. I need you to convince him to give Al a chance, or at the very least, to stop acting like the end of the world is fast approaching. Al feels terrible about that. He didn't mean to do any harm." She wouldn't tell him about the dog thing, she didn't trust him that much.

Ah, so that was the bee that was up his roomie's butt. He'd wondered if Potter wasn't the cause somehow. He'd never expected the Gryffindor to confess. Apparently he hadn't given the other man enough credit. Interesting.

Sev took a moment to process that before getting to the part he found more interesting. "So if I were to join you in the matchmaking game…what do I get?" While it would be entertaining as hell to screw with Scorpius's love life, that just wasn't enough of an incentive. His time was valuable after all.

Rosie pointed downward, towards the five containers resting beside her feet. "These are filled with desserts that will make your choco-holic soul sing like a nightingale. They're all yours if you'll agree to at least try and help me. If you actually help, either by getting them together or improving Scorpius's mood, I'll make you more. A lot more. I'll even take requests. You want it, I'll make it, no charge."

Eyes immediately going to the boxes Sev could feel drool building up inside his mouth, remembering in vivid detail the one cookie he'd been able to get from her before. And there were some of those, possibly, in one or more of the containers. There were five of them, was all he could think. Five whole containers, and there could be more where that came from if he agreed to her terms. He didn't even have to think about it now.

"I'll do it. Gimme."

Moving to stand in front of the containers, seeing his intention to pounce, Rosie held out her hand with a 'don't mess with me' look on her face. "So we have a deal? You swear you'll at least try?"

Taking the hand Sev shook it, meeting her gaze for a moment before turning his attention to trying to look around her. "You have my word."

"Which is worth so much." Was Rosie's sarcastic response, even as she reluctantly had to accept his dubious promise. Pulling her hand from his grasp Rosie turned and without a good bye strolled back the way she'd come, leaving the first of her bribes for him to demolish over the next few days.

She hoped he got a tummy ache.

Sev watched her for a moment and then turned his attention back to what really interested him. Walking over the Slytherin picked up the containers and then issuing the latest password let himself back into his dormitories. Ignoring the eyes on him Sev walked back over to the table he'd been using and set the containers down on top of it. Quickly packing all his supplies back into his school bag Sev slugged that over his shoulder and then picked up the containers once more. Carting them off to his room Sev had to use his foot to knock, since his hands were full and he didn't want to risk damaging a single one of his bribes by trying to hold them with one hand.

Luckily Scorpius was in, and opened the door for him with a scold Sev had become used to.

Watching Sev cart his load Scorpius's interest was reluctantly piqued. "What's all that?"

"I'm about to find out."

With Scorpius watching with some interest Sev set the containers out on his bed and then slowly began removing the lids, taking a step back with his mouth open in silent awe and appreciation once the lids were all off to reveal their treasures.

"Wow." He wasn't overly one for sweets, but even Scorpius was impressed as hell by the edible art laid out before them. "Where did you get all this stuff? Did you rob the house elves?" Not that he'd seen even them lay out a spread that would appeal specifically to Sev this much. Someone knew him very, very well. The chocolate had chocolate had chocolate.

Hand actually shaking Sev picked up one of the fudge brownies, holding it up to eye level to worship. "This…is the most beautiful thing I've ever seen in my seventeen years of life."

Rolling his eyes Scorpius thought not for the first time that Sev had tested one too many of his potions on himself. But since they were right there….

Icy blue eyes narrowing Sev watched his roommate dare to pick up one of HIS brownies. Don't kill him, Sev silently told himself repeatedly in his head. If you kill him, Weasley won't need to bribe you into making more brownies. Don't kill him.

So together the two Slytherins lifted the brownies to their lips and discovered the chocolate equivalent of heaven.

And it was a good thing that the doors were solid oak, because if anyone had heard the sounds they were making everyone would have thought they were lovers.

)

The next day Scorpius was in an even worse mood than the day before, owing to the fact that Sev had used Petrificus Totalus on him the night before. The humongous prick. A real friend would let a guy have at least two of the brownies, Scorpius silently fumed as he walked towards the Great Hall. The only thing that soothed him slightly was the fact that Sev was currently looking more than a little ill back in their dorm room.

Half the food containers were now empty, and Sev was paying the price for being unable to stop eating big time.

And it served him right as far as Scorpius was concerned. He would have stolen some more of the brownies when Sev had passed out into his sugar coma, but the bastard had eaten all of them first.

"Excuse me."

Turning his head Scorpius gave Rosie a cool, questioning look. He didn't want to talk with anyone remotely related to Potter, and most especially not this one, who knew about everything apparently.

"I was just wondering where your roommate is."

"He's skipping breakfast. His stomach isn't in any condition to take anything else in."

Rosie spoke without thinking, forgetting that it was probably in her best interests for Scorpius not to know about her being the baker behind Daimon's food supply. "He tried to eat everything, didn't he?"

Surprised Scorpius nodded. "He'd only give me one brownie too, the ass."

"Figures." Shaking her head Rosie could only marvel at how someone so smart could be so stupid. And Scorpius didn't want to be around her, so it was probably best for her to vamoose. "I guess I'll have to catch him later then. Thanks." Heading back to join her friends Rosie could only hope that the gorge fest Daimon had apparently had hadn't put the man so off her treats that he'd rethink their bargain for the sake of his health.

Turning to continue on his way as well Scorpius stopped when he saw who stood in front of him holding out a container about the size of his palm. Not saying a word Scorpius's eyes clearly conveyed the fact that he wanted nothing to do with this particular Gryffindor.

"There are three of her brownies in here. I was going to have them as a snack later. You can have them if you want."

Eyes zeroing in on the container Scorpius was taking it before he could think better of it, greed interfering with his thought processes.

Albus gave him a brief, sad smile and then turned and headed off too, not speaking another word.

And Scorpius followed after him, once he was finished mentally calling himself every kind of idiot for taking it.

)

When Sev still hadn't turned up by lunch time Scorpius took advantage of his next spare and headed back to their dorm room, finding his roommate still in bed, looking a little green around the gills.

If he hadn't already ate the brownies Albus had given him Scorpius would have shook them in the jerk's face.

Instead Scorpius walked over to the side of the bed, waiting until Sev turned to look in his direction before speaking. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm down to two containers."

"Oh for the love of-. Well at least I know why Weasley made you all that stuff now. I have to hand it to her too. This has to be one of the cleverest ways to kill a person that I've ever heard of. You're literally going to eat yourself to death, aren't you?"

Best way to go, Sev thought to himself, even as he considered the fact that killing him really was the girl's plan. And if that was her plan, he wasn't complaining. "Did I miss anything important in class?"

"Not really." And he wasn't letting Sev so much as take a peek at his notes, Scorpius thought vindictively. The man deserved it. "So why are you eating anything Weasley made for you, anyway? Knowing how much she hates you it's a wonder you dared try it without getting some poor bastard to taste test them for you."

"Nobody eats her baking but me." Was Sev's dead serious response.

"I don't think you can tell her who she can and can't bake for, Sev. In fact, I'd go so far as to say you can't tell anyone with Weasley blood what they can or can't do."

Sev wasn't worried, he had a plan. "Well she won't be a Weasley for much longer."

"And why would that be?"

"Because when she marries me she'll take my name and she'll have to do what I tell her."

Scorpius stared at him for a long time.

"This is not going to end well for you."