AN: Sorry for the wait. I had planned to update this the day after the last chapter. BUT, when I finished typing this chapter (or rather, the first version) I went to save, and FanFic decided that I wasn't logged in. And since saving is something only people who are logged in can do, apparently, I lost over a thousand words of pure awesomeness. But since it was 11pm when that happened, I wasn't up to rewriting and posting at 1am.
*This chapter was totally inspired by remixes of 'Paparazzi' and 'Bad Romance', both by the amazing Lady Gaga.*
As a notice, this chapter is entirely in Scorpius' POV, just because I didn't feel right with Rose's POV and the situations in this one. I don't know why, exactly, but if a Rose's POV is wanted, I'll write it. But if no one asks, its only ever going to be Scorps POV.
Disclaimer: Ik weet niet wat je zelf te herkennen.
Scorpius' POV:
"So, are you and Rose, like, dating yet?" Lily asked me, completely taking me by surprise. I had been at the Potter's since the night before, and it was only three days into winter holidays. I was currently in the kitchen, alone, with Lily. I had been making a (delicious) sandwich, when she scared the shit out of me with the aforementioned question. I spun around, scowling.
"What?" I asked. In my fright, I nearly dropped the mustard and I was far more concerned with the impending doom to the savory condiment than to Lily's question.
"Are. You. And. Rose. Date. Ing. ?" She asked me slowly, like I was stupid. I maturely stuck my tounge out at her before turning back to my sandwich.
"Obviously not, seeing as all of my anatomy is where it is supposed to be," I responded dryly. Lily snorted and hopped onto the counter next to my plate.
"That doesn't necessarily answer my question, you know," she said, stealing a slice of turkey from the package between us. I glanced up at her.
"What d'you mean?" I asked, not really wanting to hear her answer.
"Rack those Ravenclaw brains of yours, Scorp," Lily said, smirking. I rolled my eyes.
"Welllllll?" She said slowly, like she was waiting for me to dish some serious gossip. I mirrored her tone, "Wellllllll whhhhhhat?" I ended with a sneer.
She threw her arms up in exasperation. "Well! Are you two secretly sneaking around? Huh?" her brown eyes stared into mine like she was trying to pull scenes from my memory. It was a little uncomfortable to have my best mate's fourteen year old sister, whom I considered my own sister, staring at me like that and be in my personal space. I took a step back.
"No, we aren't. Sorry to disappoint." I grumbled. I guess my own disappointment seeped into my tone, because Lily smirked slyly as she leaned away.
"Oooooooh!" she drawled, "Do my ears detect a hint of bitterness there, Mr. Malfoy?" I huffed.
"You wouldn't get it. You're too young." I said, looking back at my sandwich.
Lily made a sound of indignation. "Am not!" she cried. I looked up at her again in blatant disbelief.
"Try me." She implored. I crossed my arms and leaned back against the counter.
"Well, I...I like her..." I said slowly. Lily made an impatient gesture with her hand, urging me to continue. I looked helplessly at her. "I don't know! Ok! I. Don't. Know! I want to date her..." I trailed off, fisting my hands in my hair and sliding down the counter to the floor, resting my elbows on my knees, my hands still in my hair. "I want her to be mine so much...Its just... She's... And I'm...I mean, I'm falling for her, but..."
"But what?" Mr. Potter said, entering the kitchen. My head snapped up in shock. I looked at Lily, who stared back, mouthing wordlessly. Mr. Potter walked over to the fridge and pulled it open, grabbing a drink. "But what, Scorpius?" I just looked blankly up at Mr. Potter. He smirked back at me. "It seems to me, " he started, pulling up a chair and flipping it backwards before sitting down, "That you really like my niece. And you seem like a decent guy to me. Of course, I'm going to be prejudiced against any boyfriend of Rose's, for Ron's sake, naturally." I smiled. So Mr. Potter was somewhat on my side. That made me feel a hell of a lot better, considering that since Al and Rose started hanging out again, everytime I brought her up romantically, he got this blank look on his face. It got so annoying that I just stopped mentioning her all together aroud him. Vic was no help either. She and Rose hated each other, so she was never really an ally to begin with.
"So. What do I do?" I asked them. I was still a little uneasy talking about this with anyone, but I trusted Lily to not tell Rose and I didn't think Mr. Potter would either.
I looked to Lily, who would be the best one for advice in All Things Feminine. She tapped her chin and looked up. I snorted. She smirked and picked up my sandwich, which I had forgotten about and took a huge bite, much to my horror.
"Well. You need to flirt with her more. Right now, you're concentrating on the whole 'We-used-to-hate-each-other-and-now-we're-sorta/kinda/alittle-friends' thing. You need to flirt more with her." I smiled in relief. I was an expert on how to charm the witches. I wouldn't have such an amazing track record with them if I didn't. Lily, guessing what I was thinking, set me straight.
"Oh, uh-uh" She chastised. I looked at her in confusion. "You can't pull the same crap with Rose as all of your one night stands." I had the grace to blush, not just because Mr. Potter was hearing about my reputation either. "If you want her to even consider you, you need to show her she's not just another girl. You have to mean it. If you really like her, you'll show her she means more to you than all those other skanks," At this remark, Mr. Potter cleared his throat in warning, but Lily was too riled up to head it. "She'll feel insecure; she'll compare herself to the girls before her and it'll ruin your relationship." I looked at the patterns in the marble floor of the kitchen, letting this sink in. Lily was right. It wasn't looking good for me.
"Will you help me?" I asked, directing my question at them both. Lily looked at me shrewdly. I glanced at Mr. Potter, who was staring at the floor with his brows furrowed. I was afraid Lily's speech had changed his view of me. He heaved a sigh and ran a hand through his hair. "Well." he started, and my stomach sunk a bit.
Lily looked at her dad, and he looked back at her. It was like they were having a silent conversation. I felt like my hopes and dreams were in their hands.
Lily broke their stare doen first. She stared at me with narrowed eyes for what felt like an eternity before smiling and saying, "I'm in."
I smiled in relief before sobering up and facing Mr. Potter. He fixed me with an intense stare. I shrank back, instantly aware of how terrifying he looked. Even though his face was blank, he was one powerful ass motherfucker.
"If you hurt my neice, I won't contribute to the bodily harm, but I won't hold anyone back." I gulped at his words and nodded. Mr. Potter smiled at me and I let out a breath. "So, I guess I'm in, too."
In the days since I'd made the pact with Mr. Potter and Lily, things had gone great. I took Lily's advice and flirted more with Rose when the families got together. Well, we teased each other, and I took every chance to say something that made her blush and smile shyly. I mostly just complemented her sweetly and slyly. But Lily assured me it was good. When I told her about Divintation, she clapped and squealed shrilly (causing everyone to look over at us in alarm at the time) and had assured me that it was perfect and that we were farther along than she'd thought. I will admit, I'd never really considered the Divination conversations to be flirting, since a vast majority of my flirting with other girls had consisted of talking about sex and how hot the girl in question was. When I'd mentioned this, both Lily and Mr. Potter had slapped me upside the head.
Mr. Potter and Lily were great alliances to have in the whole orchestration. Every meal time, I never failed to notice how they both sneakily maneuverd the seating so that at every meal, Rose and I ended up next to each other. Everytime Rose would look guiltily up at me and I would smile sweetly back, but I'd catch Mr. Potter hiding his laughter in his drink and Lily would smile like the Cheshire Cat.
On Christmas Day, we all went to spend the day at the Burrow, after opening presents of course. My parents had sent me a nice, expensive, but heartless gift of books and clothes. I snorted when I'd opened them, but appreciated the thought my mother had put into them and the money my father had.
At the Burrow, all my familiy related problems were forgotten. On my first few Christmases were slightly awkward. Especially the first. They'd judgedme on my surname at first glance. But I'd made friends with Al's Uncles Charlie, George, and Bill, and his cousins Fred, Roxanne, and Victoire quickly. It had helped that my cousin Teddy had been there too. His grandmother and mine had gotten together a few times to try and reconcile (resulting in a rocky relationship) and my Grandmother had brought me along. I really like Aunt Andromeda. She was much kinder than my Grandmother had made her out to be.
We played Quidditch for a few hours before lunch, with me and Rose on a team every time.
After lunch, I'd spotted Rose walking alone out of the kitchen window. I excused my self from my conversation with George and Teddy and hastily darted up the path she was on to catch up.
"Weasley! Oi, Weasley!" I called. She spun around and furrowed her brows before stalking of towards a large oak on the edge of a small pond in a huff. I was shocked to say the least. I thought we were making huge leaps forward, but it felt like a entire mile back.
Rose sat down on the edge of the pond, sitting with her ankles crossed infront of her and ripping chunks of grass out violently around her.
"Weasley, whats the matter?" I asked, plopping down next to her. She looked down, her hair blocking her face.
"What are we doing, Malfoy?" She asked quietly. I looked at her obscured profile, confused.
"Wha-What do you mean?" I said softly. She turned her head and faced me, her long red hair whiping around her.
"I mean, " she hissed through clenched teeth. "What is there between us? Why have we suddenly stopped hating each other?"
"I... I don't -" I started but Rose cut me off with a humorless laugh.
"Don't even say you don't know. Don't lie to me Scorpius." Rose hissed. I was taken aback. It was the first time she had called me my name. She seemed to realize it to, for she blushed delicately and looked at the pond.
"I think," I said slowly, building up the courage to finish my sentence.
Rose turned to me again. I looked her in those damn beautiful blue eyes.
"I think it means that I'm in love with you, Rose Weasley," I whispered. Her eyes widened, and she let out a small gasp. I cursed myself at my audacity, but a part of me felt good at finally telling her.
"I... I... Malfoy..." She was a loss for words. I built up some more courage and reached forward, puting my fingers under her chin and guiding her face towards me again.
Rose's breathing hitched, but she didn't object. We leaned closer, and just as her lips softly brushed mine, she pulled back.
"Oh...I can't-" she broke off with a sob before leaping up and running back towards the house.
I didn't follow her. I didn't watch the girl of my dreams run from me. I sat there, staring ahead.
I threw myself backwards onto the grass, staring up at the sky. Anger built up inside my chest. I wanted to punch something. I wanted to scream.
So I did.
"WHY DO I SUCK AT LIFE?" I bellowed, surprising myself and some birds at the decible of the exclaimation.
"Well, mate, I think we both know the answer to that." I shot up and saw Al standing behind me, his eyebrow raised.
"Did you come out here to be an asshole, or moral support? Because the lines are really blurred, mate." I seethed sarcastically at him. Al laughed through his nose.
"A little bit of both, to be honest." He said, sitting down in the spot Rose had vacated.
"What Al? Going to bitch at me for makin Rose cry?" I asked lowly, not really caring much if it was true.
"No. But would you care to explain please? There are alot of pissed off gingers in that house." Al inqired. I groaned before relaying an abridged version of the last ten minutes to him.
"So, you proclaimed your love to my cousin, and she ran away?" he said. I died a bit inside at the reminder of my failure.
"What do I do?" I asked hopelessly. It seemed like I'd asked a lot of people that recently.
"Well, you can either go in there and set Rose straight, or you can go home now. I refuse to watch you two dance awkwardly around each other." he said bluntly.
I looked up at him. "And how would I go about setting her straight?" I asked.
Al grinned. "Well, let's pretend this isn't my cousin for a second. In that case, I'd tell you to screw everyone else and snog her sensless. But since this is my cousin, we're going to pretend I've gone temporarily unaware to whatever you choose to do."
I smirked back at Al. "You're the best mate a guy could have, you know?" I said.
"Yeah. Don't forget it." he said gruffly as he stood up and brushed the grass of his pants.
I got up too. We didn't talk as we walked back to the house. I was too busy formulating how I was going to get Rose alone and then what I would say.
"Uhhh, you go in first, mate." I said nervously as we reached the back garden. Through the window, I could see Rose surrounded by every member of her family. There was no way they all didn't know, seeing as there were still tear tracks on her face. I was steeling my self to walk through there and get my bags (and Floo Powder to get to the Manor) when Rose looked out the window at me.
We stared at each other, and it was just like that day in the library all those months ago. Nothing else mattered but her. I lost mky breath and any train of thought I had. Abruptly, Rose looked away and squeezed her eyes shut.
She couldn't even look at me. And that pissed me off.
I stormed through the garden and wrenched open the door. Everyone turned and gaped at me, but I paid them no mind.
"Rose, I can't believe you." I said, breathing heavily. My voice seemed to be magnified, since practically everyone was holding their breath. "I honestly can't fucking believe what just happened." I was to absorbed in making Rose understand me to really care that I was swearing infront of her entire family.
Rose looked at me, her expression blank, but with silent tears running down her face.
"I tell you I'm in love with you, and you run. We almost kiss, AND YOU RUN!" I was shouting now, but I was still to gone to care.
"What the hell kind of Gryffindor is that?" I asked. And I finally got the reaction I wanted from her. Questioning her House had struck a nerve and pissed her off. She stood up so fast her chair flipped. She was breathing heavily and her eyes were narrowed.
"You're an ass, Scorpius Malfoy." Rose hissed. I couldn't help it. I laughed.
"Me?" I said incredulusly. "I'm the one who finally came out and said what we've both been feeling for months! And don't pretend you've got no idea what I'm talking about, Weasley."
"No! I. Hate. You. I've hated you since first year!" she screeched, but I could see absolutely no conviction in her eyes.
"Oh, thats bullshit and you know it!" I screamed at her. She sneered. " We both know what all that 'hate' really was!"
"Oh, what're you trying to say, Malfoy? That I've secretly loved you since first year?" she screamed, throwing her arms up.
"No, but I have!" I shouted. I hadn't meant to. It just slipped out. It was too late now. so I plowed on. "I only let my self feel it when you molested me on the train!" There were alot of questionable murmurs at that.
Rose stared at me, looking like she wanted to cry again.
"So what happens next?" I asked. "Are you going to continue to pretend like you aren't in love with me too?" I took a step closer to Rose. She didn't move. She just stared. "Answer this, though. Just tell me the truth, Rose, and I swear, if its what you want, I'll never talk to you again." I said. Rose crossed her arms, and I took that as a sign of cooperation.
"Is is hard to be around me because you have the mad urge to kiss me? Does your heart beat so fast when you see me that it feels like your ribs are going to crack? Am I always in your thoughts? Does everything else disappear when you look at me? Do I make it hard for you to breathe? Are you in love with me too, Rose Weasley?" I whispered. At this point, I had confessed every thing in me that had been driving me insane since September. I didn't care that I had just poured my heart out to her infront of almost twenty members of her family. I wanted her honest answer; it was all that mattered to me.
Rose took a steadying breath and stared up at me.
"Yes." She whispered.
I smiled at her. Rose cleared her throat and looked at me.
"So what are you going to do now?" she whispered.
I smirked cockily at her. "This," I said before I kissed her.
It was a light, sweet kiss on the lips, but it was enough to reiterate everything I had just said to her.
When we broke apart, a glass shattered, awakening us from our blissful state. I turned and came face to face with an irate Ron Weasley.
For H.D., because of that one lunch time that I promised you a long chapter. I hope I delivered on that promise.
Review please, my lovelies. I'll give you more fluffy marshmellowy goodness :)