Of Burns And Scalpels

Dreams and Confessions

Scorpius tucked a stray strand of Rose's red curls behind her ear and continued his primary checkup. So far, there were no changes and there were no signs that she was going to wake up any time soon. Her breathing was still regulated and quite frankly, he had no idea what was causing it.

The door behind him was shut, and he suddenly felt as if the room's temperature had dropped. Was it really just a coincidence, with all the new information he'd just learned, that Rose was here purely by accident? That she had just suddenly started feeling worse and that Albus just happened to be there when she did?

Scorpius wasn't usually a suspicious man, but this seemed very fishy to him. It was just too… strange, to be coincidental.

Rose coughed and his thoughts were interrupted abruptly. He turned to her and saw her eyes flutter open. Her eyes shifted around the room lazily, as if she didn't have the strength to lift them all the way. She locked eyes with Scorpius and her gaze widened, and she coughed again.

"Scor?" She rasped, sounding confused. "Why are you- Oh no. I'm not in the hospital again." She coughed violently and Scorpius lifted the back of the bed to give her more air.

"Actually, you are." Scorpius affirmed, smirking in his usual manner." Your cousin brought you in, strangely enough."

"You're telling me." She said, her eyes slightly watering. "He came to see me at work. I couldn't believe I'd seen both him and Alice in one day." Scorpius stood up ram rod straight, suddenly twice as suspicious as he'd been before.

"You saw Alice too?" He asked in a strangled tone. Rose looked at him, puzzled, and nodded.

"Yes…" She said. "But I didn't really think anything of it… though it looks like you do." However Rose couldn't complete her thoughts, for another violent episode of coughing came upon her, and suddenly her face was again green.

"Rose, are you okay?" Scorpius asked, stepping closer to her to place a hand on her forehead.

"Scorpius don-" She started, attempting to push him away from her, but it was too late. She couldn't help herself, and she again vomited, this time all over Scorpius' uniform. Promptly after, her eyes rolled into the back of her head, and she again was unconscious, slumped over the side of the bed.

Scorpius stood silently for a moment, unable to comprehend that he'd just been having a semi-normal conversation that ended in him being covered in vomit.

"This must be how my training school friends felt after getting wasted at a party." Scorpius said, peeling his healer jacket off. He sighed and gently pushed Rose back against the pillow. She looked peaceful, almost undisturbed when she was unconscious. It was when she was awake that she was not well. It was curious, he'd never really experienced a conscious working spell before. It seemed that it was only activated by her being awake and active in some way.

He walked over to the cabinet and pulled out a syringe with a light sedative and injected it into her arm, then lightly tapped her vein with his wand, whispering a sleeping spell over her. It looked like he had a bit of work to do on her, and it was already looking like a busy day at the hospital.

"You just never stop keeping me on my toes, do you Rose?" He asked gently, smiling at her sleeping form. "Then again…" He paused, looking swiftly out the window and at the door, then whispering lowly, "You always seem to sweep me off my feet." He sighed and made his way quietly out the door and onto the floor, preparing for the long day of healing that he had ahead of him.

It was warm. Rose felt like she was taking a warm bath on a cold winters day. It was soothing, calming. She felt as if she were floating. Completely and utterly at ease. Not a care in the world.

But she couldn't open her eyes.

At first, this didn't bother her. No, it was too warm, too comfortable to open her eyes. She didn't want to wake up when she was feeling so wonderful.

But she kept having this nagging sensation that she needed to be awake. So she tried once. She tried again. Nothing.

"Why can't I wake up?" She began to panic, trying to flail her arms around, make noise, do anything to make someone aware that she was paralyzed, trapped, unable to open her eyes, to wake up. But to no avail. It seemed that no matter what she did, her body was not conforming to her commands. She was completely limp.

But she could still see.

Rose wondered how she could see a figure walking towards her with her eyes closed. How strange. Was this some type of illusion? Was she hallucinating? Perhaps in her panic she had conjoured up a savior to take her away from this fear she suddenly felt. But she was shocked to see the figure that approached her in her mind.

"You look lovely tonight Rose." A younger, well dressed Scorpius complimented. "You truly do justice to your name." Rose heard a giggle and saw her hand reach out to fall into his, as he kissed it, she felt the sensation. Her hand tingled.

"Oh Scor," She heard herself say. "You flatter me. Where's your date?" Scorpius scratched his head and rolled his eyes as he always did when he knew Rose was going to have a fit.

"She's around." He said vaguely. Rose could feel her heart begin to beat faster as she felt herself remember this moment. Sure enough, she glanced past Scorpius' face and saw Tabitha, his date for the Founder's Ball, snogging another of their classmates. Instantly her Weasley temper rose. She hadn't felt this angry since the actual Founder's Ball.

"She's kissing another guy" Rose said in an exasperated tone. "And you're okay with that?"

"She's not my girlfriend Rose." Scorpius chided, seemingly unphased by his date. "So what she does with herself at any point and time is really none of my business." Rose gaped at him, surprised that he was so calm.

"Still." She said, shaking her head. "She shouldn't have done that to you. You took her to the dance." Scorpius shrugged.

"I shouldn't have even asked her." He said matter of factly. "I didn't want to go with her to this dance." Rose felt her breath hitch. What was he saying?

"Why?" She heard herself ask. Her curiousity getting the better of her. Scorpius was slowly closing the distance between them when she felt a tap on her shoulder. She spun around and her eyes met with Darryl Thompson. But only for a moment, for he went straight on to look at Scorpius.

"Scorpius." Darryl greeted. Scorpius nodded his head.

"Darryl."

"I was just coming to ask Rose to dance, you don't mind, do you?" He asked, though the tone in his voice made it clear that he was not asking him permission. Scorpius shrugged, though Rose noticed that his face was sad. She hadn't noticed it then.

"She's your date, isn't she?" He asked, and Rose noticed the bitterness in his voice. Before Rose could say anything, Scorpius walked off into the crowd, presumably to sulk. She turned back to Darryl but he was still watching Scorpius walk off. Rose's hand rose to touch his cheek.

"What's wrong Darryl?" She asked. "Scorpius is just a friend." She cringed. She remembered those words coming out of her mouth. Why did they sound so awful now?

"I know, I know." He said, finally paying her attention. "C'mon, let's go dance."

Rose's short memory lane trip seemed to blur past for a few moments until suddenly she was slow dancing on the floor, the tall clocking about to strike midnight. She felt her gaze wander about the cleared out Dining hall looking for signs of her cousin or Scorpius, neither of which were present any longer. She felt herself pull out of Darryl's embrace and look him in the eyes. He was leaning towards her face and his lips touched hers. She gasped and immediately pulled away.

"Rose?" Darryl asked, uncertainty gleaming in his eyes. "Is something wrong? I thought…" He trailed off, suddenly searching for an answer in her eyes. She didn't speak, she just seemed to be at a loss for words. She took a few steps back and exhaled.

"I-Its nothing." Rose replied, touching her lips lightly with her hand. "I just… wasn't expecting it." Darryl's brow furrowed and he seemed confused.

"Rose, I thought the whole point of me asking you out to this dance was pretty clear." He said slowly, placing his hands around her arms gently. "I didn't just ask you because I needed a date. I actually like you, quite a bit." Rose felt her cheeks heat up and her heart speed. Darryl smiled gently down at her and she felt butterflies in her stomach. Why did she feel so strange? She felt… excited, but at the same time, she felt sick.

"I've been waiting to ask you this, but now seems as good a time as ever, considering." He said, scratching his head gently. "But I'd really like for you to be my girlfriend." Rose, for a moment, felt as if her heart was going to stop. She remembered this moment in her school career, and she knew what was about to happen.

"Really?" Came a surprised cry from behind Rose. Darryl looked up and Rose spun around to see Scorpius, seemingly just having come inside from walking about the grounds, looking shocked, surprised, but most of all, hurt.

"Scorpius!" Rose heard her voice squeak out. "How… How long have you been there?" Scorpius' fists were clenched and his nostrils were flared.

"Long enough." He said in a cold, controlled tone. "Well Rose, don't leave the poor man hanging, why don't you answer him?" And without so much as a backward glance, he strode out of the dining hall, leaving a very surprised Rose behind him.

"Scorpius, wait!"

"Rose-"

"Darryl-" Rose stopped. She realized how this seemed now. If she ran off after Scorpius without answering Darryl, she'd be hurting Darryl. But if she waited to approach Scorpius till another time, she'd be hurting Scorpius. She'd never seen him look so upset. She was frantic, and she realized that, at that time in her life, she'd been confused about how she really felt. She felt her younger self look into Darryl's eyes and again saw the look of sorrow that would haunt her for the years after that.

"I'm sorry." She said softly, touching his cheek. She quickly followed after her friend.

Scorpius made a lot of progress through the castle in the time it took for Rose to register what had happened and apologized to Darryl. By the time she caught up to him, he had already reached the room of requirement and was pacing outside of it, in deep, brooding thought.

"Scor." Rose said slowly, trying not to startle him. He looked up at her and she noticed that his eyes were still scrunched in anger.

"Rose, I really don't want one of your lectures right now." He replied curtly. "I'd rather you just left me alone." Rose ignored him however and took a step closer.

"Scor, I know what that looked like to you." She said. "I just want to understand what you're feeling?" If Rose was expecting Scorpius to calm down and tell her that he was just being an overprotective friend, she was very wrong.

"What I'm feeling, Rose? What I'm feeling?" He seemed to gain height in just a few moments and Rose felt suddenly much smaller. "I'm feeling like I should have just done what I wanted to do months ago. Ask my best friend to the ball. Instead, I ask a girl who I don't care about to go, I ignore my friend when she comes up to me, I allow her to go with a guy I don't particularly care for, who is, by the way, more than lucky to be able to dance with such a beautiful girl, and he does exactly what I have wanted to do for years, but haven't had the guts to do. So I'm feeling pretty angry. I'm angry at him for doing what I wish I could do, and I'm angry at myself for not being man enough to do it. For God's sake Rose, he kissed you." Rose felt her eyes snap wide. So he'd seen more than she thought.

"And I know it's my fault." He said, his voice slowly coming down. "I shouldn't be upset over something that is my fault. I should have asked you, I should have been there to show you I cared." He shrugged and laughed bitterly.

"But instead I was a coward, and you know what Rose? I'm fine with that. So why don't you go back to Darryl and tell him the answer I know you want to give him." Rose felt something drop onto her slightly outstretched hand, and looked down to see a tear. Her hand touched her face and she felt another. She was crying. Scorpius looked up and pain flickered across his face.

"Rose, wait-" But she had already begun to run. She ran, and ran, all the way to the statue that asked her in almost a mocking tone, "What is the cure for a broken heart?" She choked out, "Love", and ran to the girls dormitory, slamming the door behind her. However even upon throwing herself on the bed and willing herself to cry, to shed some sort of sorrow for the way Scorpius had thrown words at her, she didn't feel like she deserved to. All this time, and she hadn't realized that Scorpius actually liked her. All this time, and she'd been blind.

Rose fell again into a comfortable, peaceful black, this time however, the feeling was not also present in her heart.

Hello My Readers! Merry Christmas! I present to you, chapter 12~

Now, I know I haven't updated in a while, I'll be honest, Navy life and personal life have gotten in the way of my creativity. My drawings have gone down, my writing has decreased… Its just been hectic. And My creativity is suffering.

Anyway, forgive me, and I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I'll try to kick out a few more while im on leave. Tata. 3