Chapter Eleven: Promise

All characters belong to JK Rowling. I just have a hard time letting them go.

" Yes, the wedding was great Mags...."

Scorpius nodded lightly as his receptionist spoke from the receiver of his mobile.

" I have pictures...I can send them to you..."

He pressed on his tired eyes and restrained a large sigh from escaping him. Around him the headache he was feeling coming on seemed to heighten as the early morning flights began to start their announcements for boarding.

" Yes I had fun Mags..." He cringed as his thoughts suddenly flashed against the wedding and how much fun he had almost had. It was than that his stomach shrugged into uneasiness. He shook his head and was jostled by a band of people running for what could have only been a last call for their flight. " So Joe is okay with the extended trip than? Everything under control?"

He found himself grinning slightly at her response which was of course sarcastic. Scorpius knew that the company wouldn't collapse around his employees just because he was taking a few weeks off, but it didn't stop the images of Adair contracting breaking away from it's very own footings and leaving him pretty well broke, from sifting through his brain.

" I just had something come up..." He rolled his eyes and smiled lightly. " No it's nothing to worry about Maggie...I shouldn't be gone more than a week."

The sight of blazing red hair through the masses of people had his stomach roll again. " But they're calling my flight now so I'll call you when we land and check in..."

Rose sighed from where she stood watching Scorpius bob his way through the crowds that seperated them. The fact that her heart had skipped a few vital beats when she saw him grinning into the phone and the conversation he was having, with whomever he was having it with, made her fingers fidget in her gloves.

They hadn't spoken since the wedding. The had barely said two words too each other during the whole event. He had walked her down the aisle, raised his glass when she had toasted Bree and Albus and even somehow brought himself to dance with her for a few short minutes during the reception, but it had all been done in stone silence that somehow seemed to follow her around the entire night in a set of distracted blue eyes.

" Hey."

" On time I see..." She gripped the handle of her luggage tightly when he stopped to drop his at her feet.

Scorpius yawned at her comment and glanced around the terminal. " Where's the rest of your co-workers?"

Rose blinked. " I didn't say anything about my co-workers coming along."

The exhaustion that seemed to be winning out over the small conversation they were currently having suddenly turned into a brewing storm between them. " What do you mean no one is coming? It was just you? They were sending you across the damn country all by yourself!?"

" Oh merlin you make it sound so dramatic." Rose huffed and took another longer look at the flights that were blinking before them, twisting her fingers tighter in her gloves as she did. She would have passed up the tension tracing through her to flying, but really how absurd was that. A witch scared of flying? Her father would have gotten a kick out of that one. Of course it couldn't have anything to do with the fact that his arm was brushing against her own, or how he smelled like soap and aftershave...or how he was staring at her with that damn fire in his eyes again. " Stop looking at me like that! It's not like they were sending me on a lethal mission or anything Malfoy. It's an investigation. I find him, I study him, and if worse comes to worse I talk to him. That's it!"

" Bloody government has no fucking clue what they're doing...." He grumbled as he followed her lead toward their gate. Rose ignored his growls and snaps as they did.

They passed through security with no trouble, even though she was secretly wishing they somehow they would mistake Scorpius for a person on their no fly list. The idea made her grin slightly, gaining a brighter smile from the male flight attendant presently accepting her ticket from her hands.

" Is this your first time visiting Italy, Miss?"

" Yes it is actually." It really wasn't, but her job had taught her that the opposite answer to the truth when any question was asked of her while on a mission was the correct reply.

The man smiled again. " You'll love Italy, Miss. My family has three villas around Tuscany. Beautiful city."

Rose watched him return her stub and took it gently from his hands. " I'll keep that in mind. I've always wanted to see Tuscany."

Scorpius groaned and pushed her toward the welcoming doors that would take them away from the damn chatter that was making him nauseated.

The man watched Rose go. When he came about to serve his next passenger in line he met a snarl. " Umm....Italy as well than sir."

" That's what the ticket says." The stub was in his hands quicker that it had fallen into Roses.

" Ah yes...well...have a good trip sir."

Scorpius snatched at his carry on and grumbled a forced thank you toward the man still trying to catch a glimpse of the short bob of red curls now turning the corner to board the plane.

Rose was already seating herself when he finally made his way aboard the flight. She didn't look at him when he took his own seat next to her, but her entire body seemed to tighten when his hands fumbled with the seat belt lying close to her thigh.

The minutes passed like hours as the plane boarded and the announcements were made. The captain repeated his happy commands and asked them all to enjoy their flight.

The anxiety was crippling inside of her. Scorpius was gaining another headache that he was sure no spell of drug could cure.

It was only when the plane was turning on to the runway did the words his brain was begging him to sneer came rushing out of his twisted mouth. " Three villas Weasley. He looked more than willing to share that with you didn't he..."

Rose made a noise close to a gag. Her eyes collided against an all too familiar glare. She smirked. " Do you think? I mean three villas....would you say he has money? Or maybe his family? I bet his family does. Can you imagine it Malfoy, me all married off, barefoot and pregnant, living in one of those Villas with such a nice italian man as my husband..."

Scorpius tasted blood.

Rose laughed. " Promise me you won't visit."

The plane left the ground.


His hand tightened around the smallest fingers he had ever seen before in his life. He had to be careful though. She was so little. So small. He didn't want to hurt her. His eyes worked over the bundle, taking in every piece of her. Every piece of what was his. He wondered if she had his eyes. He hoped not. She should have her mothers.

Damn woman was so sure the kid was going to be his walking clone.

He hoped she was a little version of that damn woman, right down to that bloody mouth she was so apt to use all the time.

The little bundle yawned. Her little fingers wound about his forefinger. He leaned in to brush his lips against her forehead.

A scream pierced the air around them, the calm scene breaking like glass.

The quiet scene changed. The small bundle was gone, taken from him, his hand was empty even though his fingers were still desperate for the little hand that had been snatched away from him.

And when his eyes were able to focus, when his heart was done shattering inside his chest, he saw her.

Her head was resting against her shoulder. Her hair was plastered against her cheek. Her eyes were closed.

She was bound by light. She was bound so tightly her arms and ankles were bleeding.

" Rose!"

Her chest shuttered. Her eyes fluttered.

" Rose!"

His legs wouldn't move. He screamed at her. Yelled at her. Begged her to wake up.

When her head fell forward, he fell to his knees, his wand somehow out of his reach where he collapsed.

And the man that stood behind her, his hand resting on the corpse he had created, had the same eyes as Scorpius.


He was sick.

He had to be sick.

Maybe he needed a drink. He felt the urge to vomit at the thought. Maybe not.

They made it to the hotel where they both checked in as quickly as possible, heading off the questions about if they would be needing champagne or rose petals sent up to the room with little grace. Rose made it clear they were in the city on business and the only thing she would be needing would be a room with a fireplace, which the staff at the Lorelis Hotel happily accomidated.

His only request was a seperate room with a bed.

His eyes were sunken deep into their sockets by the time they landed so much so that even Rose was worried over his state.

The dream...nightmare...whatever it had been had brought him out of a sleep that he never wanted to return to. The shock had stayed with him even after the plane had landed in Italy, the horrible feeling that was now ripping at his stomach hadn't left him either. He was only thankful that Rose had also been asleep when he shot awake somewhere over Germany.

His eyes had absorbed her in that small moment, the clarity and the fear from the nightmare somehow dragging his hand to linger over her mouth where he could feel her warm breath brush against his fingers.

Scorpius shut the door to his hotel room behind him slowly. He dropped his suitcase hard on the ceramic floor and instantly found his way toward the set of floor length windows where the morning sun was now assaulting the exhaustion sliding over his entire frame. He would have ripped all the bed clothes off the immaculate looking bed and tacked them to the wall if it wasn't for his arms feeling overly heavy and weighted. He flicked his wrist and the blinds shut before him, blocking out the damn sunrise and leaving him in a dimness that instantly sent him sprawling against the bed.

He groaned when the images of the nightmare flashed against his closed eyes.

Rose decided to let him sleep. He looked awful when they landed. Pale....even for a Malfoy. Maybe he was sick. She wondered when he had eaten last. She had asked him if he was feeling okay before they parted ways to their seperate rooms, but he had only grunted in response and shut the door on her question.

She grabbed her suitcase, doing her best to diminish Scorpius from her thoughts for the moment, but reminding herself to check on him when she was done setting up.

Her laptop sprang to life, the information she had ordered the Ministry to send her upon her arrival already on her screen. Samuel Grants picture, a present photo was the first thing that she caught sight of, followed by his formal information. He was living in Sicily, in a small village where he was well known as the towns doctor. He was well respected. Rich. Single. No children. He was also a professor at the local university, his teachings ranging from medicine to foreign studies and affairs.

Rose tapped her finger restlessly against the cedar wood desk sitting next to one of the larger than normal windows of the room. She glanced at his profile again, this time coming to a rest upon his interest with foreign affairs. Rose supposed that could only mean, in muggle terms, his interest with magic.

She sat down on the side of her bed, and flipped through some of the files that she had scattered on the sheets already. The names of the many children that looked back at her made her dizzy. How many times had this man taken from them? How many children were forced to give in to something they didn't want? How did he do it? Genetic manipulation was unreal to her. She knew it was possible, knew that the muggles could somehow choose the sex of their unborn babies, could manipulate how they would look, their eye color, their hair...

Maybe it was possible to manipulate something like magic.

The thought scared her.

She shivered, and dropped the files back on to the bed somehow wishing for a distraction. The sky outside was turning into a cloudless blue. The city itself was all white stone, right down to the ground that could have been mistaken for flooring in a majestic palace. Rose leaned her tired body against the frame of her window and let her eyes search the town before her.

The Ministry had sent her to Naples. They had decided amongst themselves that the more travelling Rose was to do the better. It kept her out of one place, and always moving, so if Samuel Grant did catch on to her and her motives, at least he wouldn't be able to pin point her whereabouts. So Naples was the first stop. Tommorow she would head to Sicily.

Or they would head to Sicily.

A breeze of warm air snuck in from the open window and she breathed deeply the scent of the ocean as it meshed with the humidity.

The heat brought her back to the day of the wedding.

She growled low in her throat and began to shed her pant suit quickly as the heat swelled against her skin.

Damn him for doing this to her. Damn him for for acting as if he was her bloody protector. And damn him for making her feel this way.

Her suitcase lay open on the bed as well and she quickly found a long white dress shirt, and pulled it over her body, snapping a brown belt across her torso in an attempt to make it look more like a shorter version of a dress that sleep wear. It felt good to feel the air on her legs, and she walked about the hotel room bare foot enjoying the cold ceramic against her heels.

Make the best of it....she had been telling herself that since that early morning flight. Make the best of it. Do what you were sent to do. Try not to kill him.

Rose fell against her bed again and sighed. Try not to find herself wanting his mouth against her lips again. Try not to crave his chest bumping against her own and his hands tracing the skin on her back, her arms....her thighs.

A knock at her door brought her crashing from her own prison of thoughts and she found herself stumbling across the room.

She opened and found Scorpius standing against the wood, and irritated look on his face and a coffee in his hand.

" Here."

" I thought you were asleep?"

He pressed the mug into her hand now and moved around her into the room that he noted looked like a disaster zone. " Not much point in sleeping when I have a neighbor who is making more noise than I even knew she was capable of making keeping me wide awake."

Rose scowled. " Get another room than!"

Scorpius ignored her words, but found he was having a hell of a hard time ignoring what she was wearing once again. He ran a hand over his face and shook his head away from her. " Christ Rose! Can you put something on!"

She cringed at his outburst and glanced down at what she was wearing. " It's a dress!"

" It's a bloody shirt with a bloody belt!"

" Oh merlin!" Rose sighed heavily. " I'm not changing Malfoy. So get used to it. I'm not going to be wearing a damn suit when I'm here on an investigation. The idea is to blend in as much as possible. Would you rather me running about Italy in my finest dress robes and my wand out and at the ready?!"

" I'd rather you put some pants on."

Rose raised an eyebrow toward where he stood. She rolled her eyes and managed to find a pair of brown khaki shorts somewhere in the bottom of her suitcase and pulled them on under the shirt.

" I said pants." He grumbled but finally turned about to face her.

" And I say shut it." She fumbled with her suitcase, throwing it the side than busied herself with the coffee he had brought for her. " I'm going to Sicily tommorow. The Ministry sent me his location and whereabouts."

" You mean we're going to Sicily."

She huffed again and met his steel glare. " Fine. But there are ground rules."

" And what's that." She looked so damn opposite of him. Rested. Ready for anything. Unbareably cool, aside from the fact that he was smothering under his own skin.

" You have to follow my directions at all times. I can't have you jumping at the slightest thing, reacting to something that you don't have to. When I find him I want you to stay clear of him as well, in case he somehow recognizes you. I can't have anything or anyone compromising what I'm here to do. Understood?"

He sneered at her. Actually sneered. He had to fight with his expression to loosen the anger there. " Fine. But you have to understand that the moment I feel any kind of danger, under any circumstance, I'm hauling your ass out of there."

" I'll agree to that, but it won't be necessary."

Scorpius shrugged and watched her walk across the room toward the balcony. Her eyebrows were narrowed, and he knew that she was thinking now. Maybe about the day to come. Maybe about the tactics she had to use and would use no matter what the cost. Maybe about how to lose him along the way...

His own thoughts blanked back to the visions of his nightmare. He felt it now, the danger....something threatening. It lay in his stomach and was twising and turning like a storm about to explode.

" Rose."

She made a small noise close to a reply, but her eyes stayed vacant on the scene before her. He watched her for the moment, swallowing hard when she let her gaze blink back towards him.

" Promise me you'll be careful."

He watched her head bend slightly, the short curls slipping away from behind her ear and dashing across her cheek. " If you promise...."

Scorpius shook his head, cutting her off before her sarcastic quip could leave her mouth.

Rose felt her body repel when he shortened the distance between them. When his hand brushed against her arm, her mouth ran dry.

His eyes were serious. His lips were straight and every feature on his face looked carved with stress.

He searched her face for the truth, for the words that he needed to hear.

" Promise me."

So she nodded and promised him she would be careful.

Not a whole lot going on in this chapter I know. I suppose somethings just have to be written in order to get to where I need them to get. I don't really know where the next chapter is going to lead. I'm going to think about it and see what I can come up with.

Anyhow, keep reading. I hope it's not too boring lol

Breeva

Thanks darinmeg!