A/N: It's early in the morning and instead of studying for the most important exam of my life, I'm working on this because of course I am :P. Therefore, for the sake of being less distracted, I'm posting this now before I think of something new or see another spelling or grammar mistake (sorry, this one might be full of them!).
Enjoy! And as always, I truly appreciate the reviews, follows, and favorites!
The two weeks after Louis's birthday party had been very difficult for Rose. The Prosecutor's Office spent countless overtime hours painstakingly reviewing every detail of every case where Eric Franks testified as a witness. Rose also had to testify against Franks who stubbornly refused to plead guilty despite the evidence against him that amounted to the size of a mountain troll. The Wizengamot wanted to hear extensive details about Franks's most recent criminal involvement and also wanted to hear evidence involving his past crimes since being turned by Death Eaters which meant a multi-day trial. Rose had to relive her dementor attack not only as a witness before the Wizengamot but, thanks to Rita Skeeter, also in Daily Prophet gossip articles everyday of trial.
At the end of each day, Rose found refuge in Scorpius's arms. She knew that she had strong feelings for him. She probably never fully got over her teenage crush on him. She also knew it was more than a teenage crush. For Merlin's sake, she was fairly certain that she had stronger feelings for Scorpius than she ever had for Logan. But she refused to actively think about the four-letter word. The last time she said it to a man outside of her family, she had been burned... bad. She didn't know how Scorpius felt and she wasn't going to be the one to put herself out there.
The Franks trial had finally concluded and Franks was swiftly punished with life in Azkaban. Despite the fact that more work needed to be done to ensure that no other cases were compromised by Franks, Lee Jordan immediately pushed Rose out of the Ministry doors and demanded that he not see her for at least two weeks. Scorpius and Al also had some time off before beginning Hit Wizard training in some undisclosed location. In celebration of the trial's conclusion and the promotions, Lily insisted on celebrating at Hog's Head.
"Do you think they'll ever come up for air?" Lily asked titling her head to the side.
Rose sighed as she watched Ali pressed up against the wall by Al, their lips crushed together in a passionate snog. "I think it's charming," Rose commented.
While sharing a round of butterbeers, Al noticed a tall attractive bloke flirting with Ali near the bar. In response, he quickly got up from his seat, swiftly moved through the crowd toward Ali, interrupted the bloke mid-sentence, and planted a passionate kiss on her lips. It took Ali about two seconds to fully comprehend what was happening before wrapping her arms around Al, pressing her body against his, and deepening the kiss. Five minutes later, they had move to a corner of the bar but their lips were still connected.
Lily looked back at Rose. "I give them about ten minutes before they are officially dating. How about you and Scorpius?"
Rose tore her eyes away from the couple and stared back at Lily. "Smooth Lils, very smooth."
"I know I'm smooth," Lily said winking, "but that's not an answer to my question."
Rose sighed glancing at Scorpius talking to Louis at the bar. "I don't want to stop being with him... even if it's supposed to be without feelings."
"Who says it would stop?"
"Lils, he didn't sign up for a relationship and we made rules. Any strong feelings and we would end it."
Lily rolled her eyes. "Rules are meant to be broken, Ro. I told you this whole friends with benefits thing was a bad idea but I see the way you look at each other. There's definitely strong feelings on both sides. Why don't you invite him on your trip?"
Rose wrinkled her nose. "That seems so couple-y and he'll probably feel like he has to say yes. I'd prefer a more tactful approach. A way for him to say 'no' without feeling bad."
"You could just tell him that you've finally decided where you're going for vacation." Lily shrugged then continued, "maybe he'll ask to join you for a couple of days?"
Rose drummed her fingers on the table while considering Lily's plan. If Scorpius wanted to spend their time off vacationing together, that would be a good sign. Maybe it would give her the courage to actually talk to Scorpius about her feelings.
She looked up to see Scorpius and Louis chatting with two pretty blondes at the bar. Rose frowned at the site. What if Scorpius didn't want to come with her? What if he wanted to start dating other people? Her stomach tightened as she watched one of the woman give Scorpius a parting hug. She took a deep breath reminding herself that she technically had no say in who Scorpius decided to flirt with.
The two weeks after Louis's birthday party had been very difficult for Scorpius. In conjunction with the Prosecutor's Office, the Auror Department had to review all the investigations and arrests that Eric Franks was involved in. Scorpius was also closing and transferring his current cases in preparation for Hit Wizard training. Despite his difficult workload, nothing was harder than watching Rose relive the dementor attack.
His heart dropped as he watched her give an account of what she saw and how she felt during the attack. His hands reflexively balled into fists as he watched Franks shrug nonchalantly and affirm everything she testified to. He unfortunately couldn't do anything to Franks so instead Scorpius made it his mission to dull Rose's pain as much as he could. It was more than just shagging now. Each night they spent together, he tried to make her laugh and he held her tight in his arms.
The more time he spent with Rose, the more certain he was that he was in love with her. However, he continued to suppress those feelings. The idea of being "just friends" made his stomach clench up in knots.
"Good seeing you too, Amelia," Scorpius said to the pretty blonde while smiling and giving her a quick hug. He turned back to see Louis who was glancing at Al and Ali.
"Still going at it?" Scorpius asked.
"Yup, still going at it. It's actually impressive," Louis commented.
"I guess after years of pretending not to be in love, breathing just isn't important right now," Scorpius noted.
Louis laughed then commented, "speaking of pretending, how's my cousin?"
"She's doing great given the Franks situation and no, our arrangement hasn't changed."
Louis grunted before replying, "look Scorp, you're like my brother. This brotherly status means I can get over you dating my cousin but that definitely doesn't mean I'm okay with you treating her like one of your slags for this long."
Scorpius narrowed his eyes, "you know she's not just a slag to me, mate!"
"Prove it," Louis responded before grabbing a butterbeer from the bar and storming off towards Rose and Lily. Scorpius sighed before grabbing his butterbeer and following close behind.
"I guess I'll think about it," Rose concluded.
"Well, he's this way now," Lily whispered.
"Hello again, my wonderful, innocent cousins," Louis greeted them before positioning himself in the seat next to Rose. Lily's eyebrows rose in response while Scorpius rolled his eyes before sitting on the other side of the table next to Lily.
"Louis," Lily stated, "why don't we dance? They are playing a song you like."
"Nope," Louis said glaring at Scorpius, "I don't really feel like dancing."
"Is there something on your mind, Louis?" Rose challenged.
Louis smiled at her. "Just making sure my cousins are safe and protected from all dangers."
"Lou," Lily tried again, "let's go get some more drinks."
"My drink's pretty full Lils, see? I just got one," Louis responded while holding up his butterbeer.
"I think I can take care of all the 'dangers' in the bar, Lou," Rose responded to Louis's earlier comment, "but thanks for your concern."
"I don't know Rosie, you can never be too careful," he replied before turning to glare at Scorpius again. "So Scorp, what are your plans tonight? You, me, and Al should go camping or something," Louis continued while smirking at Scorpius.
"I have a feeling that Al's going to be busy tonight, Lou," Scorpius said while motioning to Al who was now holding hands with Ali while they spoke with their foreheads pressed together.
"Ahh, yes, that makes sense. Looks like those two are dating now, huh?" Louis retorted.
Lily grabbed Louis's butterbeer and spilled the contents on the table before cleaning the mess up with her wand. "Oops. Looks like I spilled your butterbeer, Louis." She stood up, walked over to him, and grabbed his arm. "Come on Lou, I'll buy you the next two."
Louis gave Scorpius another glare before being pulled away by Lily.
Scorpius looked at Rose. "So... Louis knows about our arrangement."
Rose laughed and nodded. "Yup, I figured. I'm sure most of my family knows something's going on at this point." She rubbed her eyes and continued, "he's probably mad at me for not telling him sooner. I usually tell Al, Lils, and Lou everything. It's just that Lou can be so judgmental sometimes."
Scorpius stared at her before stating slowly, "it also looks like Louis isn't too happy with our current arrangement."
"Good thing it's not up to him, huh?" Rose replied while smirking trying to put Scorpius at ease.
"Right, right," Scorpius responded while looking down trying to decipher her exact meaning. He looked over at Louis who was still sending glares his way. Scorpius sighed heavily and looked at Rose again. "Let's get out of here," he suggested.
"You read my mind," Rose stated while also glancing at Louis.
As they were walking toward the door, Louis suddenly stalked in front of them with his arms folded.
"Lou...," Scorpius started.
"Rose, can I talk to you... privately?" Louis cut in ignoring Scorpius.
Rose exhaled deeply while suppressing the urge to roll her eyes, "Sure, Lou." She gave Scorpius a pointed look hoping he would wait for her.
Louis led her through the crowd to the back alley of the bar. Rose deeply inhaled the crisp night air while preparing herself for another infamous Weasley-Potter male overprotective speech.
Louis turned around to face her with arms folded. "Rose, what are you doing?" he demanded.
Rose stared at him blankly. "Excuse me?" she replied defensively, "I'm having an adult relationship with another adult which by the way is none of your business."
"Oh, so I'm not allowed to be worried about my cousin when she's doing something idiotic?"
"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" She was now staring up at her cousin her eyes flashing with anger.
"Rose," Louis sighed impatiently, "you know how he treats his slags. He's fine enough when he's in a relationship but when he's not, it's open season!"
Rose's heart stung as she thought about seeing Scorpius with the blonde woman ten minutes ago. She looked away from Louis concentrating on stopping the tears that were threatening to spill from her eyes. "Look, if you're talking about the blonde woman he was just talking to, he can flirt with whoever he wants. I knew what I was getting myself into. I don't even think we're exclusive."
Louis's eyebrows rose. "Who are you talking about? Amelia? She was in our year, Rose."
Rose stared back at him trying to comprehend why that mattered.
Louis rolled his eyes. "Amelia Mathers? She's a lesbian. We were just meeting her partner."
"Oh... well..."
"This is exactly what I'm talking about!" Louis yelled, "he's not even doing anything and you're already getting hurt! And what do you mean you don't know if you are exclusive? This is worse than Logan! Why are you setting yourself up to be hurt again?!"
Rose felt her face heating up as her eyes narrowed into slits. Her eyebrows pulled together as her breathing became heavy. "Don't you dare compare Scorpius to Logan ever again. I'm not an idiot. I know exactly what I got myself into here," she whispered icily. "Scorpius and I are just having fun and he can do whatever he wants," she continued with her voice slightly cracking.
Louis's eyes bugged out as he stared at her. "Do you know who you are bloody talking to? In 5th year when Scorpius broke up with one of his slags, I'm the one you told about how happy you were while drunk at some House Cup Party. In 6th year when he started dating some other slag, you cried on my shoulder for hours in the Room of Requirement. In 7th year, when you first started liking Logan, you came to me about whether you were finally able to move on. So stop talking to me like I'm as bloody oblivious as Scorpius! Or like I'd be willing to let you lie to yourself like Al and Lily. Even if it isn't his fault, I'm so sick and tired of you being hurt by him!"
"Louis!" she yelled, "what do you want me to say?!"
Louis suddenly shifted uncomfortably as he watched something coming into view behind Rose. "Rose...", he warned.
"NO! Let me finish, you got to say your bloody sickening speech, let me say mine. Do you want me to say I'm pathetic? Sure, I'm pathetic for falling for a guy that hasn't reciprocated the feelings I have had for him since I was 14. I'm even more pathetic because he's my best friend and I still haven't told him how I feel!"
"Rose..." Louis pleaded.
"Let me finish!" she screeched. "Do you want me to tell you that I'm actually happy Logan cheated on me instead of proposing because then I wouldn't have found out that I didn't actually love him at all? You want me to say that I've fallen for someone I'm not even supposed to have feelings for?"
"Rose! Please!" Louis tried again looking more uncomfortable by the second.
"Fine! Sure! I've fallen for him! He's the first thing... maybe even the second and third thing I think about when I wake up in the morning! He's the last thing I think about before falling asleep! It doesn't even make sense but my freakin' day gets brighter when I see him! Like, honestly, I think the sun actually shines more when I see him... which is not scientifically possible. For Merlin's sake, I forget how to breath when he touches me... which doesn't even make sense because you don't have to actively think about breathing, your body's autonomic nervous system is supposed to handle it for..."
"ROSE!" Louis shouted while waving frantically for her to stop.
"FINE!" Rose shouted back, "I'm in love with Scorpius Malfoy! I love him, okay?!"
Louis dropped his head in his hands. "Oh shit," he muttered while shaking his head refusing to look up at Rose.
Rose was out of breath as she looked at him with her eyebrows furrowed. "What's wrong with you now?!"
Rose heard someone else taking short, labored breaths behind her. Rose closed her eyes and slowly turned around. No, she thought to herself, even my life cannot be this bloody unfortunate. When she opened her eyes again, her cheeks felt hot as she repressed the urge to vomit.
His grey eyes were open wide and his eyebrows were nearly the level of his hairline. If Rose didn't feel so incredibly mortified, she would have laughed at the perfect O his mouth made. Her stomach dropped as his facial expression didn't seem to change. At first she was frozen as they stared at each other like two deers in headlights, nobody moving, nobody speaking, just breathing hard. Maybe they stood like that for five seconds, maybe it had been a whole minute. Rose didn't know and she really didn't care as her flight instincts finally kicked into full gear.
As she started to move, Scorpius finally broke from the shock of her revelation. He moved to reach for her. "Rose! Wait..."
"Uhh... packing! vacation!" were the only words Rose was able to shout before disapparating on the spot and finally letting the tears stream down her face.
