Oh my god, I'm back. No, I didn't die. Yes, I'm shocked too. I'm so sorry guys, I have no idea what happened but I've had the biggest writers block and I've been cramming for exams and mid-year break and aah! I know that's no excuse but still, it's sort of a reason. I also put up a one shot as a sort of apology for being away for so long, so if you guys want to check that out, it's cool. Anyway, here's this chapter and I'm sorry if it's terrible; I'm still not entirely happy with it but I wanted to give you guys SOMETHING!
Disclaimer: I own nothing. Literally, nothing.
"Want something to drink?" Scorpius enquired, pulling a bottle out of his bag in the cushion-pile he's sitting on. Let's just set the scene a little: I'm in a dark, abandoned room with resident bad-ass and newly discovered nicely-eyed Scorpius Malfoy, all night. You know, the one who's crucial to my rebelling plans? And he's offering me a drink. So of course I'm freaking out a little, and mentally going over all my lessons with Al and Alice. Huh, somehow none of them covered this. Odd, right?
"Uh, sure. What is it?" I ask, deciding that yes is always a better answer. I walk over to where he's sitting and slide down the wall next to him. My school skirt hitched up my legs as I sat cross legged on a fluffy cushion. Good.
"Firewhiskey. Had it before?" Scorpius said, pouring a glass full of the amber liquid.
"Have I ever." I mumbled, accepting the drink and thinking of the Slytherin party. Scorpius only had one glass, so he was taking swigs out of the bottle. Agrippa, he's going for it.
"Want to play a game?" He asks, trying to lift the awkward silence that had settled over the pair of us. I glanced up from my dark purple fingernails and saw his eyes reflecting the light of his wand a few feet away. He had really nice eyes. I know I mentioned that, but I feel like it needs to be focused on.
"Heard of blackjack? It's a muggle game, I play it with Lottie. We can use Oreos as chips. Loser has to drink." He says, pulling a pack of cards and a box of biscuits from his bag. Merlin, what doesn't he have in there? But gambling; gambling I can do.
"Blackjack, huh? I'll deal." I say, grabbing the cards and shuffling them with an expert flick. "I spent a month working in a casino with my Uncle Charlie when I was fifteen." I grin in response to his slightly stunned smirk.
"Well shit, looks like I'm in for an ass-whooping" Scorpius mutters, and takes another mouthful of whiskey.
"Read them and weep, Weasley" Scorpius yells, throwing down a Jack and a nine. A smirk spreads slowly over my face as I set down a ten and an ace on top of his cards.
"Black fucking jack. You've got to be kidding me! I think you learnt how to cheat when you worked the casino. What is it now, seventeen to you, six to me?" Malfoy mutters, pushing the huge pile of Oreos on to my lap. I grin, and crack one open to lick the cream. Over the past hour, Malfoy's game has got significantly worse as he had to drink more and more loser shots.
"Hey, not my fault you suck." I say innocently, staring up from behind my cookie. I get the satisfaction of watching him be mock-offended.
"Well as fun as it is getting owned by you, I think we should stop before my pride actually fizzles up and disappears." Scorpius mumbled out, his words coming out jumbled, as if his mouth couldn't figure out how they were meant to sound. I hadn't realised how much we'd actually had to drink until I looked at the bottle of Firewhiskey and found it empty. I'd only had a few sips! Hadn't I?
"Something else is good" I say, nodding absently and putting the cards back in his bag. I have to lean against the wall to stop my head from spinning, and as I do so, I'm painfully aware of how my skirt is creeping up my thigh and my shirt is riding up to my waist when I stretch my arms. Malfoy seems to have noticed too. Smirking, I stretch my legs out like a cat and start a conversation.
"Tired?" I ask distractedly, all too aware of his eyes on my body.
"Nah, I skipped dinner and slept, so I'm wide awake." Scorpius stretched, and the buttons of his shirt strained against his chest. I could get used to that. "What about you?" he asked, distracting me from my staring.
"I uh- I slept all day. Had a bit of a gath with the girls last night, sleep was optional." I stammered, losing my cool when he caught me looking. He smirked when he no-doubt saw my face turn bright red. Shit.
"Rose Weasley, skived off class after staying up all night. If someone had told me that last year I would've laughed in their face. You've changed a lot since then."
His words were meant as a compliment, but they brought back stinging memories of Lily's and Avy's scorn. "I'm trying to get you to have fun." "What's happened to you, Rose? Last year you were nice." Tears cloud my eyes when I think of how downright awful those two were to me. Lily hated me because I was being responsible and Avy hated me because I wasn't. I'll show them! I have to throw myself in to my plan, no more half-assing it. Pretending to fix my eyeliner, I wipe my face free of any signs of crying and turn back to Scorpius.
"I guess I got sick of the old me. She was ever so boring." I silkily murmur, thinking back to Alice's lessons on how to impress guys. Be coy, she had said. I need Scorpius to like me if I want to get a reputation at Hogwarts.
"Well I'm glad you changed. You're much more fun now, for one, and you interested Lottie enough to get her to talk to you. Otherwise we wouldn't be here right now." Scorpius replied, equally as quiet but much more husky. My tummy did a little wiggle at his words. Oh no, my plans don't factor in wiggles. Why was it wiggling? Boys never made me wiggle!
The way my body was reacting to Scorpius' words brought me back to reality, and my situation came rushing back. I was in a dark room with a boy, at 1am and no-one knew we were here. I hadn't even kissed a boy, and was suddenly very uncomfortable with how close we had gotten while talking. I had strong urge to just get up and leave, go back to my dorm and sleep, but I knew I wouldn't be able to befriend Scorpius if I did that. I had to bring this back to somewhere I was comfortable with. I cleared my throat and pulled my face away from his before re-starting the conversation.
"So, seeing as we're here, tell me something… interesting about you" I chose my words delicately, not wanting to have a sudden and undoubtedly awkward change in topic, but still wanting to steer clear of any risky subjects.
The blond across from me smirked –again- and said slyly, "I have a piercing". He did? As my eyes searched his face and ears I tried to recall ever seeing him with a hole poked through his skin, and failed. Scorpius grinned dangerously and spoke again.
"I'd show you, but we only just met. It's not exactly for public viewing." My face got even darker as I understood the meaning of his words. I'm just glad the feeble wand light wouldn't make it obvious. Wow Rose, great job in making our conversation PG rated! Worked a treat.
"I want one of those." I voiced my wish, which I'd kept secret for nearly three years because Avy said nose piercings were tacky, and mum said they were for tarts. "Not in the same place, obviously, but maybe a nose or belly button one" I continued, ignoring his lewd implications. I wasn't sure if it was the atmosphere or the alcohol that was making Scorpius so forward, but he definitely was acting more confident than usual. Or maybe he just felt like we were close enough that he could joke around with me? Merlin, I don't know how boys think!
"You said you're not tired, yeah? Let's go do that. I know how to do them, I did Lottie's ears last summer, and her stomach only last month." Scorpius asked, getting up from his spot on the rug, and pulling his wand towards him.
Was he serious? He wanted to stick a needle in me? No way, I may be rebellious but I'm not crazy. Or stupid, for that matter. I told him just as much, too.
"Sounds like something the old Rose would say. Haven't you changed?" he asked, grinning like mad at how red my face had gotten.
"Listen, Malfoy, I don't know if this is a good idea. I mean it's late, we don't have any equipment, not to mention –" With a crack he had summoned some big silver spiky things, which he presumably wanted to poke me with. No. Way.
"Come on Weasley, you just said you wanted one! Or are you scared? Need mummy's permission?" Scorpius mocked me, putting on a baby voice to try and rile me up. Well it sure as hell was working. There's no way I can back out of this without losing face, and that wasn't an option right now. Plus, I'm Rose Nymphadora Weasley; I don't back down from a challenge. If I didn't like it in the morning, I could always take out the piercing and heal the hole with some Essence of Dittany.
"Fine, as long as you know what the hell you're doing." I muttered, sitting cross-legged opposite Scorpius as he drank a phial of Pepper-Up that he had summoned with the tools.
"So which one do you want? Stomach or nose?" he asked me, his eyes suddenly more awake than they had been for the past few hours. Well, no-one would ever see a stomach piercing, unless I always wear midriff shirts and bikinis, so nose seems like the sensible thing to do.
"Nose I think. Will it hurt much, Scorpius?"
"Not as bad as some. You've got pierced ears; you had to do that twice! And it sure as shit won't hurt as much as mine did. Getting a hole near your-" "-Okay thanks, that's enough information for me, Malfoy." I interrupted, not willing to see how far he'd continue talking.
Grinning, he held out his hand, which had a small silver stud in it, much the same as an earring.
"Will this be fine, or do you want something different?"
"It'll be fine, just do it. Quickly!" I squeezed my eyes shut tight, trying not to think about the fact that a giant needle would be puncturing my face in a minute. Like, a giant needle. And when I say giant, I don't mean big – I mean flipping enormous. (A/N Please tell me someone gets this reference) Wow, great job not thinking about it. Shut up, me.
There's a moment when I can feel the cold metal against skin, before a small pain and a warm sting replace that. I feel blood rush to my nose as my face flushes. That wasn't that bad for a huge needle! Okay, I need to stop thinking about the needle, it's making me feel slightly queasy.
Scorpius runs his finger over the side of my nose where the stud is now in place, and continues on down the side of my face. "Perfect" he murmered. "You look a bit sick Rose, do you need me to kiss it better?" By this point I was hyperventilating, although I'm not entirely sure if it was from his words, his steely grey gaze or the fact that I have a hole in my face. Whatever was causing though, only got worse as he leant in and kissed my cheek. Oh my God. Oh my God. Oh my mother loving God. Scorpius Malfoy is kissing me. On the face. With his face.
As I may have mentioned earlier, my experience of boys has been non-existent, unless you count the time when I got drugged – which I don't. I haven't even held hands with one, let alone been kissed. Due to this, I was having just the smallest melt down.
He grinned, and pulled back. What happened to not letting things get out of hand, Rose? Huh? Where has your self-control gone? But obviously for Scorpius Malfoy –the guy who had a broom closet named after him because he was so often caught there by Prefects- a simple kiss on the cheek didn't fluster him at all.
While I was busy analysing every second of his soft lips on my cheek, (like, really really soft lips. Softer than any boy's lips had the right to be) he had rolled over and nox'd the light out.
"What are you doing?" I shot out, wincing at how panicked and high my voice sounded. I'm meant to be coy, not sound like a squeaky toy!
"Sleeping, Weasley. It's nearly 2 in the morning! How are you not tired?" I heard his voice come from a spot near my elbow, so he must have been lying down. Of course, I couldn't tell him that I was so wired from our proximity, and the fact that I was so tense from a simple kiss that I would have trouble sleeping in the near future.
So I just said, "I've had later nights than this, believe me" and slid down next to him, trying to put some space between us so that he couldn't feel my heart beat erratically. Why was this affecting me so much? I've seen girls in the Common Room sitting on their boyfriends lap and making out who look calmer than I feel now. Was this what everyone felt like at one point?
From next to me I hear Scorpius snort, and mutter, "You know, we're technically sleeping together right now."
The shock of his words broke all the tension I had been feeling, and I tipped my head back and laughed for a solid minute or two, his throaty chuckle joining me. Suddenly, we were just two friends again. So what if he'd kissed my cheek? I bet he does that to Lottie as well. A friendly gesture.
I elbow him (his stomach is really hard) for his joke, and then roll so my back is facing him.
I can't believe I just did that. I can't believe I just did that! This whole year I've felt as if I was just impersonating someone else, following a set of rules on how to be different. I took small and carefully thought-out plans, unwilling to change myself entirely. But I just did something drastic, unplanned and completely and utterly crazy (by my standards anyway)
I liked it. I liked the way my face was flushed from the rush, and how I knew Scorpius was impressed. I liked the fact that I would look different to how I used to. I liked how only the guy sleeping on the ground and I knew about it. I liked imagining the shocked looks I'd get the next day, and seeing Alice's face. I liked the rush of being reckless.
And that scared the shit out of me.
A/N Okay I'd just like to say again, how grateful I am to all of you who read, review, favourite or follow this story. I logged on today to upload this, and saw tons of reviews asking me to update and I literally just sat on my bed grinning. You guys make me unbelievably happy by showing support and I love you all so much! Sophie