Rose, along with the rest of her cousins and brother, arrived quietly on Thursday afternoon, the day before Halloween and Rose's birthday.
They all bumbled along to the Gryffindor tower, except for Rose who ventured to the Heads' tower, to unpack the belongings they hadn't taken anywhere. It was much easier to say that they needed to unpack rather than that they didn't want to go to class.
Rose meandered along the hallways towards the Heads' dormitories. She had missed quite a few days of quidditch practice, but she wasn't sure how the practices had continued anyways because Albus was the captain and had been gone as well.
The portrait opened up and allowed her inside the dorms where she was greeted not by the emptiness and silence of Scorpius at class, but by Scorpius himself, laying on the couch out cold.
Rose smiled a bit to herself. Scorpius looked so peaceful and naïve when he was asleep. He lost the cocky aura and worry lines on his brow, making him appear very young. She walked over and kneeled down beside him on the couch. "Scorpius," she whispered, her hand brushing his arm. He was usually a very light sleeper; he almost had to be because of Rose sleepwalking.
Sure enough, he jerked awake, startled, and looked around wildly until his gaze landed on Rose. His face broke into an uncontained grin and he jumped up, picked Rose up, and swung her around in the air. "Rose!"
Rose's laughs filled the air and she forgot about all of the problems plaguing her. It felt like they were back in third year when Scorpius had done this exact same thing to her. They had been at quidditch practice and he'd hit her with another bludger to her knee, accidentally. Her knees had always been weak and with the impact of the black sphere it had cracked. She'd cried out in pain and fallen off her broom from at least thirty feet, it seemed. Rose had been knocked completely unconscious and Albus had carried her to the hospital wing. When Madam Pomfrey had fixed up her knee and revived her, she and Albus had returned to the quidditch pitch to finish practice and Scorpius had swung her around just like he was doing now. He did this when he was so overcome with joy he couldn't contain it.
"Hi, Scorp, I missed you too," Rose laughed.
Scorpius finally put her down but he didn't let go of her. Instead, he pulled her onto the couch with him. "How'd it go?"
Rose shrugged. "Nana's fine. She's feeling completely better and the healers healed her up perfectly. Everyone's so relieved that she's alright." Rose's face lighted up suddenly. "And I got to see Claire and Victoire! And Teddy," she tacked on afterwards.
"It's amazing how you always forget Teddy when Claire is mentioned," Scorpius laughed. He knew how great she was with kids and how much she liked them, it was just another reason why he thought she'd be a great mother.
Rose laughed with him. "I just can't help it! She's so cute and sweet and she has the funniest laugh. She'll kind of gurgle and clap her hands together and her eyes will go really wide and get this sparkle and her mouth will open up really wide so you can see all of the teeth that are growing in and – " Rose stopped, a blush creeping up on her cheeks. "I'm rambling again aren't I?"
Scorpius nodded, a smile stuck to his face still. "But you're so cute when you ramble!" Rose blushed a deeper red and Scorpius's smile grew wider. That smile hadn't left his face since Rose had woken him up.
But his smile faded as he thought of a more pressing matter; judging by the look on Rose's face, she was thinking of it, too. "So, erm," he cleared his throat, "how did your family take it?"
Rose was silent for a few moments. "They were all pretty much ready to kill you, even though most don't know it was you, except for Nana. My mum and Aunt Ginny were fine after a little bit, but I know my mum's completely disappointed. She hides it pretty well, though. Victoire was almost, kind of, excited, I think." Rose frowned. "It was weird. Like she was expecting it or something."
"Well, Victoire was always like that," Scorpius agreed. "What did your nana say?"
"Well, before we left, she was talking about our wedding. You know her, very traditional. She must've been appalled at the fact that I'd slept with someone before marriage. I think she's planning the wedding for just after we graduate," Rose laughed. "I think it's a bit cruel of me to want to see her face when I tell her that we're not getting married. She really wants us to get married, even though I don't want to."
"Why not?" The words were out of Scorpius's mouth before he could stop them. He looked at Rose in horror, the same emotion reciprocated on her face as well.
"Scorpius, we're not in love. Both people have to love each other to be in love and able to get married. You shouldn't get married if you're not in love," her words stumbled on their way out of her mouth.
Rose was trying to provide a reasonable answer, but it aggravated Scorpius. "People do it all the time! Besides, you don't even believe in love! You're like that guy in the muggle movie we saw! Ghosts of Girlfriends Past! You're Connor Mead!"
Rose gaped up in hurt astonishment at her best friend. He'd basically just called her an unloving whore. "Excuse me?" she said acidly.
Scorpius backpedaled as fast he possibly could. "That's…that's not what I meant."
"Oh, really?" They'd risen from the couch and Rose was walking towards Scorpius as he was backing away.
"I…I…" Scorpius had lost all coherent sense. He had no idea what he was supposed to say. He hadn't meant that she was a scarlet woman who slept around without caring about anyone, but she certainly had voiced the opinion determinedly that she didn't believe in love, just like the character in the movie. All of a sudden, he regained the knowledge of how to fight back. "How do you even know that its mine? It's not like I'm the only guy you've ever slept with," he snarled. "Who shags their best friend anyways? How does that not create problems in the friendship?"
Rose's eyes were full of tears and Scorpius knew he was digging his grave deeper and shoving his foot farther into his mouth, but he couldn't stop. It felt too good to know that he was finally hurting her a small fraction of how much she'd hurt him over the years. But at the same time, he was feeling all of her hurt which made him almost miserable. Scorpius had his back against the wall, both literally and figuratively, with Rose practically on top of him she was so angry and upset.
"You don't have any right to say any of that! You've slept with plenty of people! And you're the best friend in that situation, so you obviously are in on it too!" Rose shrieked, tears dribbling out of her eyes and down her face. She was biting her lip nervously, and all of a sudden, Scorpius found himself kissing her with a passion with which he'd never kissed anyone before. He flipped their positions so her back was against the wall and he leaned down and angled his head to kiss her better. Her lips were salty from her tears but soft and responding to his lips which were pushing so fiercely against her own.
He pressed himself against her, not wanting to forget the feel of her body against his, kissing him back. Didn't that mean something, that she was kissing him back just as much? Or was it just lust, the comfort of meaningless snogging between friends?
Her lips parted slightly and that was all of the invitation he needed. He poked his tongue in and ran it on her teeth and then teased her tongue with his. His hands were sliding up her back underneath her shirt and holding her closer to him. Her hands were tightly embedded in his unruly hair, pulling him closer to her. Scorpius felt a warm glow of happiness inside him: she wanted him, too.
But it was over far too soon.
Rose pulled back, gasping, tears falling out of her eyes, "What the hell was that?!" she cried, wiping her eyes on the sleeves of her robes.
Scorpius didn't answer, he stared at his best friend, wishing he could pull her into his arms and hug her, scaring away all of her fears like he used to. But if he did that now, it would only make matters worse.
"Rose, I – "
"No! Get away from me!" she sobbed, and bolted into her room, flinging the door shut behind her.
Scorpius groaned and flopped down on the couch.
Why couldn't he ever do anything right?
