Oh my gosh, you guys are amazing. You know that, right? :D Thank you so much for reading/reviewing/alerting/everything! Here's chapter 10. I hope that the title gives you a hint as to what happens... (don't peek though!)
Disclaimer: I should really write one of these every now and then, so here it is: I solemnly swear I am not JK Rowling. Mischief Managed.
Ever Heard the Expression 'Kiss and Make Up"?
I honestly don't remember ever being this miserable. As the days went by and the daylight hours faded all I could do to keep my mind off of this 'Scorpius' problem was to study. And, even though I study a lot already, this is intense studying. So much so that three of my cousins even wrote to my mother, asking her if they should just leave me be or force me away from the text books I'm constantly pouring over. And how do I know that they wrote this? I stole their letters.
What? Like I said, I'm trying to preoccupy myself... and some of them I just don't trust when they randomly start writing to my parents.
I had also taken to practising at least three hours a day of Quidditch for two reasons; the first was to occupy myself and my thoughts, the second was because there is no way in hell that I am ever putting another member of my family in danger. I know I wasn't involved in that accident with Lily but I want to be as prepared as ever in case I am involved in an accident. And good Quidditch skills can't hurt, especially with the upcoming annual Weasley/Potter Christmas Quidditch Match.
But before I knew it the date was December the 20th, the day before the dance, and I was still as miserable as anything. I've tried to apologise to Scorpius, I try every day now. At first I didn't want to push him too much so I gave him a little time to calm down and assess the situation but he wouldn't listen to me. Then I started to apologise any day I saw him, then even once a day and now I go out of my way to find him so that he'll listen. But he won't. He doesn't even speak to me voluntarily anymore, only when he has to in class or if I have deliberately asked him something that only he can answer, such as about our duties as Head Boy and Girl. He doesn't even speak during rounds. The only time he's spoken to me voluntarily in the last month has been twice in Defence Against the Dark Arts, first because I was about to get crushed by a Boggart and the second was when I was in his way.
After History of Magic on Friday, our last day of lessons before term broke up, a large group of us headed towards the Great Hall; we all had the lesson together, including Scorpius.
"I can't believe the dance is tomorrow," Alice squealed, hugging Al's arm.
"Yeah, great..." I muttered sarcastically.
"Do you still not have a date, Rose?" Dom asked me. I simply opted for shaking my head once.
It's not like I haven't been asked, I have... about four times. First by William Jordan, a couple of days after the party in the Common Room, he asked me in the middle of one of our Charms classes so that I couldn't escape. I told him 'no', though. He's cute but I don't like him like that and it would be mean to let him think that I do. The other people to ask me were Henry Johnson, Cody Bright and William Brown.
You might recall that this last guy, William Brown, had been a guy that I had had a huge crush on back in my Fourth Year and he had caused a lot of 'heartbreak' for me (or what I thought was heartbreak at the time). When he stopped me on my way to Quidditch Practice only yesterday and asked me to go with him to the dance I almost slapped him in the face with my broomstick. But then I remembered that he couldn't have possibly known that I had liked him three years ago and even though we were kind of dating at the time it wasn't definite. I had to let it go. I settled for laughing in his face a little and then telling him that it was a firm 'no'. Looking back on my reaction yesterday I think that I might have been a little harsh. But being miserable made me a bit of a bitch and I just didn't care what affect on other people I made.
Scorpius was right, I realised. I am selfish.
"Don't worry, you can still have fun with us," Dom tried to reassure me as we all sat down around the Gryffindor table. I was surprised to see Scorpius sit with us again; he usually left as soon as we entered the hall for the Slytherin table. Although today he did purposefully speed up so that Al was placed between us and he didn't have to sit next to me. Maybe this was showing an improvement. Maybe he'd forgive me soon...
"Okay, Dom," I snapped at her. "I'm not a social outcast, I just don't have a date. I know how dances work, thank you."
She rolled her eyes at me and shook her head in a patronising way but didn't comment. I think I was starting to get on the nerves of all my family. Except Al - for some reason he still loved me.
"Well, why don't you go with Scorpius, then?"
Maybe I didn't love him after that comment.
Both Scorpius and I shot him glares from where we sat on either side of him. Maybe Al just hadn't been paying attention. He knew that we were arguing a month ago, but evidently he hadn't been paying attention to how we still weren't talking. Nobody around the table spoke from tension. Apparently it was obvious to them that we were arguing.
"We're not talking," Scorpius muttered fiercely, still chopping up his potatoes with the side of his fork.
"You're never talking," Al muttered back to us both.
"Yes we are!" We both argued with Al at the same time.
Our eyes locked from across Al for a moment, a hint of surprise and amusement passing between us, until he remembered our fight. He looked away quickly.
"Fine, fine," Al held up his hands in a way of surrender. "Go on your lonesome then, I was just trying to help you get dates."
"Maybe check things first, Al..." Roxanne offered.
"Thanks, Roxy," he told her sarcastically. "I could have used that suggestion about thirty seconds ago." She looked a little upset by this.
Well, wasn't my bad mood spreading quickly today? Firstly Dom was annoyed with me, then Scorpius (who already hated me anyway) wasn't too pleased, then Al had been caught in it and now Roxanne. And now I felt even worse for making them all feel bad.
We ate in silence for a while, quite an achievement when you think of how many of us there are, until I muttered to them all, "I'm sorry guys, for putting you all in a bad mood."
They all argued that I hadn't done that, like a good family would, but evidently the apology helped because they were all much chattier.
Scorpius stood up, having finished his lunch, and spoke to me for the third time this month; "Are you really, Rose?" he asked me spitefully and then marched out of the hall.
All in all, it wasn't the best Friday ever.
I spent most of Saturday sulking in bed until Angie, Alice, Dom and even Polly and Niomi, grouped together to get me out of bed at five o'clock. I was quite happy laying there, reading and eating chocolate.
"Stop sulking and just get up!" Lily demanded, marching into our room with half her hair still in rollers and her dress on but not zipped up. She marched over to me, reminding us all that she had gotten her temper from her mother, and started to whack me hard with her mascara tube.
"I'm not sulking," I muttered back, rolling over to avoid her hits.
"Yes you are and I've had enough of it. Now get out of bed. Its five o'clock and you haven't been up once. You haven't got long to get ready and I'm expecting you to look amazing in that dress you've bought because it sure as hell was expensive!"
"Alright, alright," I told her, smiling. "I'm getting up."
"Good," she muttered, marching back out to her own dorm room shaking her head and muttering under her breath about too many cousins and the simple life of being an only child.
"Lily!" I called after her. For a moment there was no reply and I though she was either ignoring me or hadn't heard but then she reappeared in the doorway grinning at me. "Can you help me with my hair please?" I asked her politely.
Her smile widened, "I thought for a moment that you weren't going to ask."
The girls' dormitories had practically been turned into a sort of salon/free-for-all shop. Girls from all years hurried in and out of different year groups' rooms to collect make-up or borrow shoes. It was a madhouse. I showered quickly and pulled on my dress whilst calling for Lily. She came almost immediately, looking stunning in a golden dress – apparently her mother had worn it to our Uncle Bill and Aunt Fleur's wedding when she was sixteen. Lily curled my hair for me, telling me that it looked better down, and then did my make-up for me too so that it was perfect. Eventually it was time to start making our way down to the Hall.
The dance was being held in the Great Hall, like the Yule Ball had been many years before. When we arrived my friends met their dates and I joined them in a large group before we made our way in. Al and Alice both wore silver, Alice's entire dress was silver and Al's tie was too. Angie looked amazing in her long blue dress with her hair tied up in a tight bun with a few tight curls coming loose. Her date, Paul, stood quietly next to her in black and white dress robes. Lily had come to the dance with Tristan, he looked immensely happy to have her by his arm, with good reason too. She wore that golden dress that she had been telling me about for the past five weeks which complimented her figure perfectly, her hair curled similarly to mine but with a golden headband with a golden lily on it atop her head. I couldn't help laugh at how clueless Lily was that Sam Nelson was staring at her the entire time she was within sight distance of him.
I noticed that Peter Maroon had come to the dance with Lauren, a girl from Ravenclaw who usually had a particularly close eye on Scorpius most of the time. I hadn't seen her near him since that day when I had charmed his forehead to read 'inexperienced loser'. And then I thought of something: Who was Scorpius coming with? I remembered what Al had said to us both yesterday, 'I was just trying to help you get dates', which meant that Scorpius doesn't have a date. I saw him approach our group and start talking to Al. He looked... gorgeous. I sighed as they continued to talk animatedly, Scorpius' fringe falling into his eyes as he stood with his hands casually in his pockets.
Yep; he definitely didn't have a date.
But why? It's not like he hadn't been asked. Probably quite a few girls would have asked him because, well, he was Scorpius – practically half the girls in school wanted to date him. I knew for a fact that Lucy had asked him, he had politely declined, telling her that the girl he had wanted to ask wouldn't go with him and that he simply didn't want to go with anyone else. At the time that Dom had told me I just assumed that Scorpius had already asked someone. Besides, he could have asked anyone who didn't have a date. I also noticed that there were a lot of girls (and guys too) around who didn't have dates, just like me, preferring to come in large friendship groups. I felt a little less lonely.
We made our way into the Great Hall. It was decorated beautifully. The ceiling showed, as usual, the nights sky, thankfully a deep black with hundreds of sparkling stars. I could see Hugo a few people in front of me just gazing at it in awe – he loved the stars. Just like Claire.
Stop thinking about anything that relates to Scorpius and just try and have fun tonight, I told myself. I had vowed that I wouldn't ruin tonight for my family just because I was unhappy that I was arguing with a close friend.
The walls had been draped with pure white silk over every surface; the only spaces where there wasn't any white were the windows so that we had a view of the moonlight and stars over the black lake and surrounding countryside. The floor was also covered in that same silk so that the whole hall was white. A Stage had been set up at the far end of the hall where the teachers table usually sat and small tables seating ten or so people had been set up all around the edge of hall, the only open space was in the centre of the room that was for dancing.
I immediately sat down at a table in the middle of the left-hand wall so that I had a great view of the lake, taking a glass of drink from one of the many floating trays throughout the hall.
Professor McGonagall was saying something to us all but I couldn't hear her over the excited chatter of all the students. A moment later and I realised what she was saying, she was trying to get them all to be quiet.
I, already looking for a way to vent my anger, stood up in my chair. Taking another large step I climbed onto the table so that I now towered over everybody and pulled my wand out from behind my ear (hey, it may seem crazy but Aunt Luna knew her stuff, nobody could see it because of the thickness of my hair and I didn't have to carry a purse all the time).
Placing it against my throat and muttering 'Sonorus' I yelled at every student in the school, "Quiet! Professor McGonagall is trying to create some order! Those continuing to speak will receive detention!"
They all quietened down, nobody refused or muttered under their breaths because shouting at them all was what my position of Head Girl allowed me to do.
After a moment or two of complete silence in the hall (which was really strange because there were over a thousands students there) McGonagall shot me a look which told me to get down from the table before I got a detention.
Two hands appeared instantly, offering me a help down from the table, and I took them gratefully, muttering thanks to both persons. It was only when my feet were firmly placed on the floor that I realised that one of those hands had belonged to Scorpius. There were about ten other guys who could have helped me yet Scorpius had chosen to instead. Did that mean he didn't hate me as much as I thought he did?
I turned back to hear what Professor McGonagall was now saying.
"I trust that you will all follow these rules as failure to do so will result in six weeks of detentions and a ban from the Quidditch Stadium and Library during that time also – " Damn, sounds serious... And I wasn't listening. " – I would like to remind the Head Boy and Girl that you are expected to speak to the students at the end of the evening about their overall behaviour so it would be expected that you didn't... break any rules yourself." A lot of the older years laughed at this and I inwardly cursed myself again for not listening to the rules. "I hope you all have a good evening and here is your first band of the night – The Weird Sisters."
McGonagall bolted from the stage quicker than I thought possible for someone of her age as the Weird Sisters took up their positions on stage, students crowding forwards to get a good look at them and others settling for dancing or screaming immensely loud. Even after all this time the Weird Sisters were still famous – they were legends.
At least everyone appeared to be having fun.
"Come on, Al," Alice tugged on his arm. "Let's dance." And they disappeared between the many people.
I sat back down in my seat; throwing back half my drink in one go, still unsure of what it was, as a fast song started up.
"Not dancing?" A voice asked tentatively from behind me.
Turning I said, "No, I don't really feel like it..."
William Jordan came and sat next to me. "I thought you'd turned me down because you'd already been asked."
"I told you, I didn't really want a date."
"Yeah, I just... just thought that maybe—"
"—Maybe I was lying?" he nodded. "No, I was telling you the truth."
"So, I know you don't want a date or anything but... you want to dance? As friends?"
I thought about simply shaking my head and sitting here, feeling sorry for myself. Instead, I smiled up at Will, looking at him through my eyelashes, "I'd love to."
I spent the first forty-five minutes dancing with Will and his friends, all the songs were fast and by the time a slower one came on and all the happy couples had taken to the dance floor I decided that now would be a good time to get some fresh air and check the walkways for people breaking the rules. I still didn't know what the exact rules that McGonagall had said were but I was clever enough to understand the gist of them.
As soon as I walked into the Entrance Hall the cool air wafting through the open front doors of Hogwarts hit me. It was exactly what I needed to cool myself down.
A couple were kissing passionately in the corner behind the doors; apparently they thought they were invisible. They definitely were not. This was the fourth couple that I had had to break up from kissing (the other three being on the dance floor or in their seats), inside at least ten people within the last hour had been taken back up to their dorms because they were either too drunk to walk anymore (I think one of the drinks had been spiked) or because they had become 'unmanageable'. Eight out of ten had been drunk and, out of the other two who had become 'unmanageable', one had been Fred, whom had I spotted about ten minutes ago sneaking back into the dance.
I cleared my throat when I was close enough to the almost-hidden couple for them to not be able to run away from detentions. Both of them jumped apart and I was shocked to see that the guy was Paul, Angie's date, but the girl was not Angie. This girl had cropped blonde hair and was wearing an electric pink mini dress.
Before I could even react, my mind racing with what I would tell Angie, she spoke from beside me, having crept up on the scene. "This is the girl that you choose to cheat on me with!" she screamed at him. Luckily the music inside the hall was so loud that most people would not hear her. The blonde girl looked completely shocked for a moment, then, in one quick, fluid, surprising motion, slapped Paul across the face and came to stand by us.
"I'm sorry, Angie, I had no idea," she pleaded with Angela in a hard voice, glaring at Paul.
"I don't blame you, Kellie," Angie told her, pulling out her wand and pointing it at a frightened looking Paul. "You scum, get out of my sight." She said calmly and suddenly Paul's face swelled, turned bright red and his tongue stretched to drag along the floor, a disgusting purple colour.
Without hesitating Paul ran away as fast as his legs could carry him, his tongue slightly slowing him down as it dragged along the floor.
All three of us girls turned to each other. "You're going to give me detention now, aren't you?" Kellie asked me dejectedly. "For breaking the rules..."
I looked to Angie, who just shrugged, and replied, "Nah, I think I'll let it go."
Kellie grinned at me. "Thanks Rose. Malfoy was right, you are pretty cool."
"Since when do you talk to Malfoy?" Angie asked her before I could. Kellie, as far as I could remember, was a Sixth Year Hufflepuff whose Muggle family hated all things to do with magic and was deeply religious.
"I don't really," she shrugged her shoulders casually. "I just met him yesterday when I was late back to my Common Room. He almost gave me detention but changed his mind, thank G—Merlin. He told me that you'd told him not to always give everyone detention because they were out late and that some people had genuine reasons. Then he said that you were cool like that and waved me away before he changed his mind." She chuckled. "That's boys pretty preoccupied."
"Oh," was all I could think of to say.
Angie shivered. "Come on, let's get back in there and dance."
We agreed and made our way back inside. Angie and Kellie joined Alice, Al, Roxanne, Lily, Tristan and Sam on the dance floor as they danced to a particularly catchy song by the Weird Sisters. I chose to make my way back over to my trusty seat. It wasn't until I had my hands on the back of my chair, ready to pull it out, that I realised that Scorpius was the only person sitting at the table, only one chair between us.
Well, I thought. I can't just turn around and leave now. Besides, this would be a good time to apologise again.
"Hey," he said and I froze with my hands on the edges of the chair, having just pulled it out to sit on.
"Scorpius," I replied, a little shocked that he had spoken first, collapsing into my chair. Neither of us spoke for a moment. "Please don't leave—," I hurried to say just as he also spoke.
"I want to apologise, Rose."
"—I don't want – wait, what?" We stared at each other in confusion for a moment. "Why do you want to apologise? I'm the one who acted like an idiot and I've been trying to apologise for ages, I'm just so sorry, I didn't mean what I said at all. You have to believe me, Scorpius."
"I do, Rose," he said, pulling out the chair between us and moving over to sit in it. "I just...I acted like an idiot, not you. I just jumped to conclusions. I mean, everyone says things they don't mean when they're upset. I just... overreacted."
"No, you didn't," I argued, leaning forwards on the table so that people couldn't listen in to our conversation. "I called you just the worst thing ever. And I knew you'd hate it but I still said it, and I didn't mean it. I don't even know why I said it."
"Rose, I called you a blood traitor—," he tried to reason with me.
"No, you said that you might as well have called me a blood traitor,"
"—but I still said it. It was stupid. Can we – can we just forget it?" he asked, looking hopeful.
Why was he looking hopeful? I was the one who needed to apologise.
"If you can accept my apology then I would love to put it behind us," I agreed.
"Definitely," he actually smiled at me and I felt my heart miss a beat.
"You forgive me then?" I had to make sure.
"Definitely," he repeated. And just like that, we were friends again. That incredibly stupid argument had caused us not to speak to each other for an equally as stupid long time.
Quite unexpectedly, Scorpius leaned forwards, closing the small gap between us, wrapped his arms around me and hugged me tightly. I responded after a moment and we hugged right here in the middle of the Hall. It was different hugging Scorpius, maybe it was only because we hadn't had any contact with each other for quite some time.
No, I knew that wasn't it...
In the back of my mind I knew exactly why it felt different being this close to Scorpius... If I had to even think it, let alone say or recognise the truth in it, I would say that I had only just realised that Scorpius was a guy.
We pulled apart and grinned at each other, only a few inches apart, as Al, Lucy, Louis and Roxanne came over, depositing a very tipsy Fred into one of the chairs around our table.
"I can't believe that he could be so stupid. Mum is going to absolutely murder him," Roxanne was saying.
"And Uncle George?" Lucy asked.
Roxanne shrugged, "He'll probably just congratulate him."
Al turned away from Fred and said, "Hey, Rosie, do you want to dance?" He noticed Scorpius and I sitting together and smiled, "Are you friends again? Please tell me you're friends?"
We both nodded. Louis let out a breath, "Thank Merlin for that."
The others laughed whilst I turned to Al. "So, dancing?"
He beamed down at me. "Yeah, come on."
A slow song was playing, the last of the evening by the Weird Sisters, and couples were dancing on the floor. Al and I found a spot near to the edge of the dance floor and I wrapped my arms round his neck as he placed his round my waist. I saw Alice spot us as she went to sit down by Fred, looking alarmed at his expression of exuberance.
"Just borrowing my favourite cousin for a minute," I called over to her, referring to Al, and she laughed but nodded. All my other cousins turned to look at me.
"What about me?" Lucy joked.
"I thought I was your favourite cousin?" Dom asked.
"Hey!" Fred slurred in his drunken state.
"I'm not going to let you borrow my clothes anymore, Rose," Lily called back.
"It's you who steals my clothes, Lily," I laughed. I heard her mutter "That's so true," to the others as I turned back to face Al. He was smiling at me.
"What?" I asked, self-conscious.
"I'm your favourite cousin?" he beamed.
I slapped him on the arm. "Of course you are."
"Thank Dumbledore for that," Al laughed.
"So who do you think the next band will be?" I asked him as we swayed slowly to the music.
"I've heard it's Celestina Warbeck," he joked, chuckling when I punched him on the arm this time.
"Isn't she dead?" I asked.
"Not yet," he replied casually.
"Well she's got to be getting there sometime soon,"
"Trust me, Rose; we'd never hear the end of it from Nana Molly."
That was true, Grandma Weasley was probably the biggest Celestina Warbeck fan ever – she'd even recommended her songs to my Muggle grandparents. My mother had repeatedly told her parents that they didn't have to listen to the same music as Molly, whilst my father laughed every time somebody mentioned it. But apparently Grandma Granger and Granddad Granger loved her music.
The song finished and Al and I returned to our table where a group of six of my cousins, including a now thoroughly drunk Fred, were playing Exploding Snap. Did they have to play it everywhere?
"Where's Scorpius?" I asked them all, collapsing once again into my chair. Scorpius' jacket had been thrown over the chair next to mine but he was nowhere in sight.
"Getting drinks," Roxanne muttered back to me, still staring at her game, apparently deep in concentration.
Scorpius appeared a few minutes later, tie loosened, shirt untucked and top buttons undone – in which time Hugo's hair had been burnt at the ends and Lucy had given up playing against him; he was the champion of Exploding Snap. Scorpius was levitating about ten drinks carefully through the crowds of people. He was chatting away with William Jordan as they both sat down, taking a drink after placing the others in the middle of the table.
At the other end of the table there was another bang and the rest of Hugo's hair turned black. I waved my wand quickly and casually in his direction and it all turned green.
"Rose!" Hugo complained, immediately noticing it's colour change – his hair was growing somewhere between his shoulders and the bottom of his ears now so it frequently fell into his eyes. "What was that for?"
"Serves you right for letting it get burnt," I told him sternly. "At least it's not black."
"But it's not normal either!" he said exasperatedly. "Change it back!"
"Alright," I mumbled, waving my wand again casually in his direction. "If you insist, Hugh."
"Thank you," he smiled at me and then returned to his game muttering, "sisters".
"Tough love," Scorpius commented.
I shrugged. "Someone has to do it."
Taking another sip of my drink I realised that the band playing had changed and it was now my favourite song by a band called Hippogriff High.
"This song..." I started.
"It's 'Maybe We Should Dance' by Hippogriff High," Scorpius informed me.
"I know," I mumbled back absentmindedly, still paying more attention to the song than the conversation. "It's my favourite song."
"Mine too," Scorpius smiled at me and then stood up. "Want to dance?"
"Sure," I agreed and, taking the others hand so that we didn't get separated, we made our way to the middle of the dance floor where people were literally bashing into others because the floor was so crowded.
We danced for a bit to that song and then for another two before I shouted over the music and all the chattering to Scorpius, "It's a shame we can't get to the front."
He smirked at me, "Yes we can."
Grabbing my hand again I let him push past people, who didn't care about being shoved at all, and pull me to the front.
"Can you see?" He asked me. I nodded rather than strain my voice through shouting too much.
After another three or so songs of just dancing, jokingly doing the robot on my part and the running man on Scorpius' and then as dirty as possible with each other (I swear somebody spiked my drink a little because I would not have let myself get close to Scorpius like that under normal circumstances, it wasn't spiked too much though as I was still level headed... sort of), Alice found us. "Shouldn't you two be checking the corridors at some point? There's only another fifteen minutes until they get The Chosen to play the last few songs."
I nodded to Alice, "Thanks. Come on, Scor, we better do some patrolling."
He agreed and we just about made our way off the dance floor before a number one song started to play and loads more students flooded the floor.
Again, the cool air in the Entrance hall was just what I needed to cool down. We made our way out of the main doors to Hogwarts and stood on the steps, looking out across the grounds. Strangely enough there was nobody about.
It was a full moon tonight, the moonlight shining off of the Black Lake (and my sparkling dress) and illuminating the peaceful grounds. There was a slight breeze as the wind rustled the trees surrounding the Forbidden Forest. There was a light glow coming from Hagrids Cabin along with smoke from his chimney, evidently he had a fire ablaze.
I shivered slightly.
"Want my jacket?" Scorpius asked.
I just stared at him for a moment. He didn't realise the obvious. "Scor, you're not wearing your jacket."
He looked down as if checking, in case I was lying or something. "Oh yeah," he smiled up at me. "Oops..."
"Don't worry about it," I laughed at him.
"How about this," he pulled me closer to him and flung his arms over my shoulders as I hugged him in the wind, my arms round his neck and my head resting on his shoulder so that I was looking sideways at his neck. Hugging him made me much warmer.
After a few minutes of silence, in which we could only hear the bass line of a new song playing inside the hall, I glanced up at Scorpius and muttered, "This isn't really patrolling, you know."
He smiled, "Yeah, but patrolling would just ruin the fun."
I thought about this for a moment and then realised what I should have just asked somebody before, "Those rules that McGonagall was talking about earlier... what were they, exactly?"
He chuckled in my ear, "You weren't listening?"
"Define 'listening'?"
"Oh, Rosie... I thought you weren't a rebel."
I pretended to look hurt by this statement. "Of course I am."
"Oh really?"
"Really," I assured him.
"Prove it then," he whispered seductively back to me.
I don't know what caused me to do it. Maybe it was the slight bit of alcohol that I had had (although that wasn't enough to harm a fly). Maybe it was the moonlight and the peacefulness that I felt in the atmosphere when I was near Scorpius. Maybe it was simply inevitable. Who cares really, all that matters was that I did do it.
I pushed Scorpius lightly so that he had to take a step backwards, hitting the solid wooden doors of Hogwarts, and pulled my body right up against his. Without even hesitating I crashed my lips against his roughly. His arms tightened around my waist as he responded, almost immediately, deepening the kiss.
My hands tangled in his hair as I held on tight to him, a passion I didn't know I held inside me bubbling up and releasing itself in these kisses that Scorpius and I shared. He trailed his lips down the side of my jaw line and then back up to meet my lips as I wrapped one of my legs around his.
It was the most blissful moment until I heard my name being shouted by somebody just round the corner of the doors. We broke apart at the exact moment that Alice turned the corner to see us.
"Hey..." she said into the silence. "What are you doing?"
"Nothing," We both replied in unison.
Alice looked between us as I ran my hand through my hair and Scorpius coughed. "Okay, well, McGonagall is looking for you both. She says that she wants you to speak before the final dance which is in, like, two minutes."
"Oh, right, thanks Alice," I smiled at her and she smiled back.
"Seriously, what are you doing out here in the cold?" She asked again, looking between Scorpius and me, and the unusually large gap between us.
"We're just... err, you know... cooling down," I stuttered.
"Yeah, it's very warm inside," Scorpius added a little too quickly.
For a moment I thought Alice wouldn't believe us but then she nodded her head and said, "It is boiling, Al keeps complaining."
"Come on then," I told them both. "We better get inside."
"Good idea," Scorpius agreed.
Thank Merlin that Alice hadn't seen us. I inwardly sighed with relief as we turned to go back inside.
The relief only lasted a second though as she turned to Scorpius as told him, "By the way, you have some of Rose's lipstick just..." she pointed to somewhere around the corner of her own mouth, "there."
Then she walked back inside whilst Scorpius muttered, "Shit," under his breath and tried to wipe it away with the back of his hand.
We stared at each other for a moment and then burst into laughter.
"At least it was Alice and not McGonagall; we would have broken one of her rules."
"At least there's that," I agreed as my laughter subsided.
"Rose, your lipstick just does not come off," Scorpius complained, now desperately rubbing his face with his hand.
"Yes it does, come here," I pulled him closer to me and carefully wiped away the last traces of make-up.
We stood there, right next to each other, in silence for a few seconds. It was actually quite awkward as the realisation that we had done something wrong crept up in the back of our minds, but not why it was wrong. Then, with a shrug of both our shoulders, we wrapped our arms around each other and continued our passionate snogging. One of my hands rested in the back pocket of his trousers and the other lightly on his back as his tangled their way one through my hair and the other one gently on my shoulder.
Scorpius turned us around so that I was wedged between the cold wooden doors of Hogwarts and his strong, warm body. To be honest, I loved it. Okay, so this was the same Scorpius whose last name was 'Malfoy' and whose forehead I had charmed to read 'I like men' just weeks earlier. And right now I simply didn't care. Again, I felt his lips move down my neck (Merlin, I was going to have a few marks over me tomorrow) until they became increasingly lower and lower. My hand found its way back into his hair and the other pulled him tighter to me as his lips captured mine once more and his hands cupped my face gently.
We were interrupted by Alice again, only about five minutes later, by the clearing of her throat. We hadn't even heard her approach us this time.
"Merlin, am I going to have to throw water over you both?" She whispered fiercely. "Get inside before people start whispering, everybody's waiting for you."
"Oops," I smiled at her tentatively.
Scorpius grabbed my hand and pulled me back through the doors, into the Entrance Hall, straightening his clothes and hair while he went and I did the same. As we entered the hall he let go of my hand, making sure that there was obvious distance between us, and we made our way through the crowds of people to the stage.
Scorpius wiped the heel of his hand over his bottom lip discreetly as I magnified my voice again with 'Sonorus' and addressed the hall of students.
"Hey, everyone, I hope you've all had lots of fun tonight. You've, mostly, all been great this evening – really well behaved and stuck to the rules. There were a few exceptions, and those of you know who you are, who have been given detention and hopefully will behave better next time we hold an event similar to this. Overall, though, you've all been brilliantly and... err, I hope you all had fun... and Merry Christmas. Scorpius?" I turned to him and performed the counter spell so that my voice was no longer magnified. I caught his discreet wink in my direction just before he turned to the hall full of our school.
"Yeah, Rose said it all really so just Merry Christmas."
The other students in the hall chorused back with a cheery 'Merry Christmas' also as The Chosen made their way back on stage to play the last song of the evening.
Scorpius and I found our way back over to our table.
"Ha, what do you know," Scorpius exclaimed, looking down at his seat. "It's my jacket."
I replied with a sarcastic, "Ha, ha," as I sat down in my seat. The other members of my family were there also.
"Will you dance with me, Alice?" Al asked her politely and she took his offered hand happily, giving me a pointed 'I-need-to-have-words-with-you- Rose-Weasley look' and they walked out to the dance floor where a slow song was now playing with a beautiful piano part playing the main melody.
"That was one of my dreams," I whispered, more to myself than Scorpius but he heard me anyway.
"What was?"
"Playing the piano," I replied.
"It's not anymore?" he asked me, still in hushed tones.
"I don't know how I'd ever go about learning it," I sighed.
Scorpius didn't reply for a moment and I thought that he just thought I was stupid for wanting to play a Muggle instrument. Then he breathed back, so quietly that I had to strain to hear him, "I can play the piano."
"You can?" I think my shock was evident in my voice as well as my actions as my face snapped up to look at him.
He nodded. "I can teach you if you like."
I smiled but didn't get round to saying anything back as Roxanne, Lily, Al and Louis appeared and sat down opposite us.
"Seriously, Albus, why can't you just leave me alone?" Lily was obviously angry at Al but, luckily, she wasn't shouting at him. Yet.
"I can't believe that my fourteen year old sister was kissing a sixteen year old Slytherin guy in the middle of a corridor and she's telling me to just leave her alone," Al replied. I couldn't see Alice anywhere in sight.
Sighing, I turned to Roxanne and asked, "What are they arguing about this time?"
"Lily was kissing Tristan and now Al's gone all 'older-brother-ish' about it," she told me.
"But isn't Lily dating Tristan?" I pointed out.
"It doesn't matter!" Al exclaimed at us all. "She shouldn't be snogging Slytherin's."
"Oh, Al," I told him. "Let it go, if it's any consolation Lily'll probably be dating a Gryffindor next anyway."
"What do you mean?" Lily asked me suddenly.
"Well," I started. I knew I had to choose my words carefully. "If you do break up with Tristan, like this year, it's kind of obvious that Sam will ask you out."
Thankfully my girl cousins nodded they heads or verbally agreed with me.
"Sam?" Lily asked softly. I nodded as a response. "Sam likes me?"
"Yeah," Dom sighed. "A lot, Lils."
"Really?" She asked us again for confirmation. When we agreed she stood up. "I'm going to talk to him."
"What about Tristan?" Louis asked her.
"We... we sort of called it off a few minutes ago,"
"Why?" I asked.
"I wasn't sure then, but now I know it was because, well... because I like Sam," she said and turned, disappearing into the crowds to find him as the last song of the night finished.
We all looked at little disappointed as we traipsed up the staircase together, one large Weasley family with the Potters and a few other friends.
"It's a shame tonight's over," Dom announced. "It was fun."
"Fun would definitely be one word to describe tonight," Scorpius agreed, shooting a covert glance in my direction. I blushed and Alice shot me a 'it's your own problem' look.
"But you know what..." Roxanne started and we all looked to her, wondering where she was going with this sentence. "It's Christmas soon and then what's happening?"
I knew straight away and answered her whilst the others just looked confused. "Teddy and Victoire are getting married!"
We all went to bed with smiles on our faces.
Mine lasted just until I was lying in my bed, with the silence letting me process my thoughts and clearing my head of the confidence the slight bit of alcohol in my system had given me.
Oh Merlin. What now? Scorpius Malfoy was not a one-kiss guy. At least, not in my books.
When I uploaded chapter one I read it back and really wasn't pleased with the way it was written, but reading this back I actually like it. I hope you liked this chapter too! More coming real soon. :D Please drop me a review, it'll only take a second, cause I really want to know what you think! :D