Author's Note: Hi people! This is my weekend update, sorry, I know I told you I'd put it in on Saturday, but things came up. The song that it's named after is one of my favorites of all time, so don't hate please! Hope you like it!
P.S. Scorpius is bold, Rose is italics, and Albus is underlined.
Chapter 10: Rumour Has It
"What are you going to do about the Scorpius problem?" Riley asked Amber while putting her blush on in the bathroom. Amber crossed her arms over her chest and smiled.
"Don't you worry," she said maliciously, applying another coat of lip-gloss and rubbing her pink lips together three times. "I've got it all covered."
-A+R+S-
I slipped into the seat between Al and Scorpius in Transfiguration, ignoring the questioning looks they were throwing me at my ruffled appearance—I had a run in with Frank in the corridor— and took my textbook out of my bag.
Why do you look like you were just pulled through a thorn-bush backwards?
Let me answer that question with a question. How do you know what it looks like when someone is pulled through a thorn bush backwards?
Umm… Experience.
Not even going to ask.
You never answered my question.
And that is bad because?
You were with Longbottom, weren't you?
Aha! Boyfriend give you a ruff time Rosie?
Shut up.
That's gross.
And you are pure, are you? How many girls have you slept with again?
I would go with nineteen in counting.
Shut up.
Wait, how do you even keep count on that?
I have my ways.
I don't even want to know.
You really don't.
Um…
…
So…
Ew.
Perv.
Prude.
Single.
You just dissed yourself as well as me.
Whatever.
Haha I'm not single.
Yes, why don't we give you a medal Rosie?
That would be quite nice thanks.
Girls are much more complicated than they think.
Agreement.
You two do know that you could have any girls in the school if you wanted them, right? I mean, single girls.
That's the problem.
You like a girl that's with someone?
No.
I'm confused now.
He means yes but I don't want to tell you.
NO, I mean no.
Sure.
Aw, Scorpy likes a girl. I didn't actually think that that was possible.
And why not?
Because you treat girls like objects that are only used for sex.
…
THAT'S NOT TRUE!
Um, yeah it is.
No.
Yes.
No.
Yes.
No!
Yes!
No!
Yes!
Lovers quarrel.
Shut up Albus.
Yeah, shut up Albus.
-A+R+S-
The Great Hall was alive with chatter, people gossiping lightly as they ate their lunch. A group of girls from the Gryffindor table gasped dramatically as their leader, none other than the Queen Bitch, Amber McLaggen, nodded her head and smirked as she filled them in on the gossip. One girl turned and whispered something in her boyfriend's ear, who leaned over to tell his friend. The friend whispered it in the ear of the girl that was seated on his lap, and she scampered off immediately to sit at the Ravenclaw table, inclining her bleached blond head back to where her boyfriend was sitting.
Her friend gathered a group of Ravenclaws near her and told them what her friend had said. One of the girls pretended to swoon and grasped her friend's arm to drag her over to the Hufflepuff table, scream-whispering the news to her friends there. A chocolate haired boy looked rather disgruntled when his two sisters bent over to him to see what was going on. Alice Longbottom squealed as her sister Grace rolled her eyes and returned to her Caesar Salad, the same reaction her brother had had.
Gossip traveled all over the hall as the three house tables, Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, and Hufflepuff traded news as some of Slytherin house eavesdropped, looking rather bored. The teachers looked perplexed on the fast moving student body, wondering what on earth the gossip was about this time. Some of the girls looked like they were about to feint from happiness, wariness, or hope. Giggling filled the hall as the boys looked confusedly on, wondering how on Earth this was so interesting.
As shrieks filled the hall, three students ambled in late. The whole hall went deathly silent, everyone staring at the uncomfortable trio. The three consisted of Albus Potter, Rose Weasley, and Scorpius Malfoy. Every eye in the room was fixed on them.
-A+R+S-
"Why's everyone staring at us?" I said uncomfortably, pulling down the hem of my skirt. The other two shrugged as we made our way slowly towards the silent Gryffindor table, sound gradually returning to the Hall.
"What's going on Gracie?" Al asked her lightly, sitting down on the bench next to her. Gracie shifted uneasily on the bench, her eyes shifting back between Scorpius and me.
"Um… Well… well, the thing is that…" she mumbled incoherently.
"Oh, I understand perfectly now!" I exclaimed sarcastically, looking around at the eyes that were gradually returning to their plates.
"You just missed the best gossip mill in action that there has been in over fifty years!" Lucy said as she passed me, smirking at Scorpius as she did so.
"Spill Gracie." Scorpius said angrily, stabbing his fork into a bitter lettuce leaf.
"Well, McLaggen, she kind of, said some things about what happened at the Halloween dance." Gracie said reluctantly. Scorpius buried his head in his hands and I raised my eyebrow. Lina answered my unspoken question.
"She said that Scorpius was desperate or something. That he wanted to make someone jealous." Al looked at his friend in amazement.
"And you didn't tell me about this because?" he clapped a hand on his best mate's shoulder, half indignant, half surprised. That wasn't what was on my mind, however. The night of the dance came back to me vividly, the night of our row. 'So? Are you jealous, Weasley?' He had said that, smirking widely. I had yelled at him.
I shook my head vigorously, ridding the thought from my head. Scorpius just thinks of me as a friend. He's told me so before. As people whispered around them, I reminded myself of this fact, pushing away all my instincts that screamed at me for trying to deny the signs. As I looked at Scorpius, I realized that it wasn't at all possible that he likes me. It's like Gracie said about Al, he's like my brother. It's just too weird…
