Chapter 9 - Conversations
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The cool air breezed through the trees and grass, ruffling Scorpius' hair as he sat against a large rock. His long legs stretched out in front of him, he stared idly out at the blue-green lake billowing over with ice caps. Lost in his thoughts, he was startled when a voice spoke near his ear.
"What are you doing?"
Scorpius turned his head to see Albus perched up on the rock, chocolate milk in one hand and a cookie in the other. Turning his head back to the lake he answered his friend honestly, "Nothing."
"Well obviously!" Albus voice dripped with sarcasm and Scorpius almost smiled.
"What are you thinking about?"
"Nothing."
"Uh huh."
Albus was silent for the next few minutes and Scorpius was glad for it. Staring out at the lake he once again found himself consumed by his thoughts until Albus said something that made Scorpius jump.
"You like Rose."
"What?!" Scorpius turned towards Albus his face registering shock.
"You like Rose." Albus said matter-of-factly as he took a swing of his milk.
Scorpius continued to stare at his friend, certain his ears were deceiving him. "What?"
Albus rolled his eyes upwards and sighed. "You. Like. Rose." He spoke slowly and softly as if he were speaking to a small child.
Scorpius mind went blank. He turned back to the lake and shrugged his shoulders.
"Maybe I do."
"Maybe?!" Albus grinned and jumped down from the rock, stopping in front of Scorpius. "You're admitting I'm right?? Me, Albus Severus Potter?? Oh holy day, Oh great balls of fire! Are you there Merlin? Its me Al. I would just like to say thanks and say I could have never gotten here without my family, my friends, my turtle Whiskers,"
"Shove off Al." Scorpius said laughing as Albus put his hands over his heart, giving thanks to his other deceased pets. "It's not that big of deal."
"Not that big of deal?" exclaimed Albus as he plopped himself down next to Scorpius, brushing cookie combs off his robe. "You just admitted you like my cousin. Not that I'm thrilled, because you know she is my cousin but still. You just admitted you like Rose. I'm surprised the sky hasn't spilt wide open from the revelation."
Scorpius shook his head teasingly but he did feel as if a great burden had been lifted off his shoulders. While Albus was not exactly the person he would have chosen to tell, Scorpius had liked Rose for awhile and it was nice to have someone else know. Even if said person was her cousin, who had excess to all types of paraphernalia that could possible harm him in many countless ways. Albus nudged Scorpius and he glanced over at his frowning friend.
"As I was SAYING, when are you going to ask her out?"
"What!" yelped Scorpius as he jumped up from the ground, almost knocking Albus over in his haste. "Now wait a minute, I never said anything about asking her out!"
"Aaaahhhhh Merlin!" Albus leaned back on the grass and put a hand on his forehead dramatically. "But you liked her."
"Yeah, so?"
Albus heaved a heavy sigh and sat up, staring up at his friend. "When you like a girl, the next step is to tell her. That means you spend time with her. Means you have to ask her out. See when a man loves a women,-"
"Albus!!" Scorpius covered his ears and shook his head. "I'm not draft mate."
"Well you're something!"
Scorpius glared at his friend who smiled back at him in response. Releasing his ears he started to pace back and forth, trying to think of the ways to explain to Albus what had been giving him sleepless nights for the past week. Finding it, he turned to his friend.
"Look, I'm a Malfoy."
Albus arched a eyebrow. "Uh..huh….?"
"And Rose is a Weasley."
Albus continued to stare at him. "And……"
Scorpius felt exasperated. "That's it. I'm a Malfoy and she's a Weasley."
Albus snorted. "You say it like it's some sort of infection. It's not that big of deal. Everyone's already met you. Uncle Ron even said you were an alright bloke."
"Correction Al. He said I was an alright bloke for being a Malfoy!"
Albus shrugged his shoulder and waved his hand, dismissing Scorpius worries. "That's just him. He meant nothing by it."
"Well still, even if I wasn't so sure I'd be dead by either your family or mine, I still don't know how Rose feels. Maybe she doesn't even like me!"
"Oh please." Albus scoffed and got up from the ground, staring at his friend as if he had suddenly turned purple and started sprouting out prophecies. "Like that's even an issue."
Scorpius glanced at him. "What does that mean?"
"Nothing," continued Albus in a sing song voice, "Me and Kara were just talking…."
"That funny, didn't think the two of your talkkeeddd." Scorpius said just as sarcastically. Albus and Kara had spent the last two weeks joined at the lips much to the amusement of everyone else at the castle.
Albus huffed at him and started to walk away towards the castle waving his hand behind his back. "Whatever………chicken."
Hey!" Scorpius called after his retreating figure. "I'm no chicken! Al! Come back here you little git!!"
Albus kept walking ignoring the yells of his friend. Frustrated Scorpius turned back to the lake and pick up a stone off the ground. Stretching his arm back his threw it, watching as the stone hit the water and caused ripples. He wasn't a chicken. He wasn't.
"Why, oh why do they do this to us?"
Rose looked up from her perch on the window seat to see Kara lying upside down on her bed, holding her textbook above her head and grimacing.
"Do what?"
Kara flopped over onto her stomach, discarded the textbook on the bed and pouted at Rose.
"Make us study!!" Kara mock cryed. "O.W.L.S, O.W.L.S, I hate O.W.L.S!!"
Rose suppressed a smile at her friends antics. After numerous conversations and persuasions on Rose's side, Kara had finally condemned herself into an afternoon of studying for their exams. But more then an hour into it, she was already complaining.
"Did you know if anyone's head exploded from studying too much?"
This time Rose did laugh out loud. "No Kara. I don't think that's possible."
"Are you sure? Never read it in any of those big, huge, gigantic books of yours? Never seen a story on the telly?" At Rose's negative nod Kara groaned and flung her head down on the covers.
"Well there's always a first time for everything!"
Rose laughed again and returned to her studies. The dormitory was silent for awhile, the only noise consisting of Rose's "hmmmss" and Kara's quill scratching loudly. Rose was absorbed in her work, her brow furrowed when Kara spoke again.
"I heard Tony has a new girlfriend."
Rose looked at her friend. "Yeah, I heard that too."
"You okay with it?"
Rose shrugged her shoulders. Truthfully she did not care. She had realized in hindsight that she did not actually like Tony as much as she liked the idea of having a boyfriend. Especially a boyfriend as popular as Tony. Still, in her little feminine heart, she was hurt by the fact that she meant nothing to him, that he cared not one whit about her. Sometimes she wished she could be the type of girl a boy could love. That a boy could adore. But knowing how ridiculous those thoughts sounded she just tried to forget them.
"Yeah, I guess. I mean I don't like him anymore. I heard the girl is Lisette Romero. She's pretty."
"I suppose. If one liked flashy girls." said Kara, whose loyalty to her friend never wavered in its devotion.
"Kara!"
"What??" sauced Kara sending her a grin. Swinging her legs over to the side she climbed off the bed. "Well, I think I'm done studying for the day. I'm going to go found Albus."
"Yes. It's been almost two hours since you've last seen him. He's probably hit a snog low." Rose said sarcastically. She ducked as her friend threw a pillow at her on her way out the door. "Bye Kara, give Al kisses!!" She laughed at the one finger salute Kara threw her before disappearing out the door.
Turning back to her work Rose spent the next few hours holed up in the room studying, only taking brief breaks when her housemates came up. Only when the light grew faint and night fell, did Rose venture out. As she walked downstairs she saw Scorpius coming in, his cheeks flushed red from the cold and his hair tousled.
"Hey Scorp."
He smiled at her as he took a seat near the fire. "Hi Rose."
Rose perched on one of the arm chairs. "Where you been?"
"Oh outside, with Al." He added as an afterthought.
Rose nodded as an awkward silence descended on the pair. Lately Scorpius had been giving Rose queer looks and she had been feeling a churn of emotions at his glances, all of them unfamiliar but in a good way. If Rose didn't know any better she'd swear she liked him. Rose shook her head, trying to cancel the crazy notion out of her mind.
"What?"
"Uh?" Rose looked at Scorpius questioningly, then realized he must have seen her shake her head. "Oh nothing, I um...just remembered I promised Lily I'd go help her with her Divination homework that's all."
Rose jumped up and moved towards the portrait hole when Scorpius stopped her with his arm.
"Wait Rose, I want to ask you something."
Rose waited and looked at him, her brown eyes filled with questions.
"Well, huh…you know how it's my birthday next weekend?"
Rose grinned. Of course she knew it was his birthday. She had been saving for the last few months to buy him his gift. "Yeah?"
"Well I was wondering if you wanted to spend the day with me?"
Rose gasped. Her mind whirled, did Scorpius just ask her out? "You mean just me and you?"
Scorpius nodded, his gaze intent. "Yes, I mean Al and Kara are pretty much wrapped up in each other and I'd rather not throw up on my birthday."
For some reason Rose felt a sting of disappointment at his words. He wasn't asking her out. He just didn't want to spend alone time with the Siamese Twins. Forcing a smile on her face Rose said brightly, "Sure, I'd love to."
Scorpius face broke into a wide grin. "Alright. Cool."
With those words Scorpius rose and strode past her and Rose swore she heard him mutter something about being no chicken. Shaking her head, she walked out of the room, feeling oddly disappointed by the sudden turn of events.
