DISCLAIMER: I don't own Rose, Scorpius, flirting, puppies or deranged sisters.
Conclusion to Getting it Right.
Blurb …
Six years later, I'm still best friends with Bea, still cousins with Al and still in love with Scorpius Malfoy. Oh, and still trying to get it right. My conclusion … oh, I don't bloody know. :Scorpius/Rose sequel to GIR postDH NextGen:
This chapter is dedicated to one my best friends, Catie. I told you this one would be for you. x
Chapter 25: The Flirty One.
"Good morning, Healer Williams!" Scorpius practically bounded into my boss's office the second his secretary had given him the say so. Located on the ground floor, near his department, the two of us had been sitting for what felt like ages, jiggling our legs and gnawing on our fingernails. Well, ok, that had basically just been me. Scorpius had been the one who tugged my fingers out of my mouth and whacked my leg to stop me jiggling.
Now, he was waltzing in here like he owned the place. We had spent several hours this morning (well, probably an exaggeration) charming his hair red, twisting it around my wand to make it curly and picking clothes that screamed, 'gay love-child of a circus freak'. That had probably been the least nerve-wracking part of the morning, where I had forced Scorpius into suspenders. Anyway.
Basically, he resembled a very convincing male version of me, also known as Cesario Weasley. We had gone through every cover story I had told, including the ones I had made up on the spot, to ensure that we could somehow get away with this. "You're kidding me, I have to be gay?" Scorpius had yelped that morning when I had explained what I had told Gerald.
"Yes and your boyfriend's name is Hyperion!" I had insisted. Only after saying that out loud did I remember where in fact I had gotten that name from. Scorpius had just raised his eyebrows as I'd cringed.
"… Cesario and Hyperion?" he had asked.
"Um, yeah," I had coughed awkwardly. "No idea where I got that."
Which was a blatant lie, but I got the feeling he knew that, so I just dropped it. Thankfully, Scorpius did as well and now he was going to town, selling it. "I'm so sorry about all this, Healer Williams," Scorpius was saying, shaking Healer Williams' hand. For some reason he was speaking strangely with a guttural accent that I'm sure he thought was convincing. "Let's sort this out straight away!"
"For god's sake, I said be gay, not Russian!" I hissed at him under my breath as we all sat down.
"You said I was brought up in Romania!"
"That's about as far from a Romanian accent as – good morning, Healer Williams!" I added hastily, since my boss was glaring at me critically. I tentatively sat down in one of the two chairs placed in front of his desk.
"I appreciate the enthusiasm, Healer Weasley," Healer Williams said, dryly. "Healer Weas–" He cut himself off in a sigh, since it was clear that he was trying to address Scorpius this time. "I'm afraid using your proper titles may get confusing. For the sake of this meeting, may I refer to you as Cesario and Rose?" His glare said that we would certainly have no choice either way.
"Of course not!" Scorpius said, cheerfully.
"Sure." I squeaked.
"Right. Cesario," Healer Williams turned to Scorpius. "I want you to listen closely to what I'm about to say. Everything in this meeting will be recorded. Do you understand?"
"Yes, Sir."
"Rose," Healer Williams stared back at me. "There have been accusations made against you, regarding an ethical dilemma, which I trust you are aware of. For the record, they are this: that you impersonated your cousin, Cesario Weasley, and under the disguise of a male, snuck onto the emergency-procedure training course in February of this year. You have been accused of doing this willingly and in knowing that you were disrespecting the cultural practices of another country, namely our guests from the Brussels Wizarding Hospital, where Healing is carried out only by males. Such a breach in ethics, should I decide that these accusations are true, is damaging enough that your training as a Healer at this hospital would be terminated. Do you understand?"
"Yes, Sir." I said, again with that high-pitched, squeaky tone that I use when I'm nervous.
"There has also been another accusation that Cesario Weasley was just a front, a disguise for sneaking onto the course," Healer Williams narrowed his eyes at Scorpius, who was sitting ram-rod straight. "As he is sitting right before me and that it has been seen that his wand is registered as Cesario Weasley, it has been proven that that particular accusation is false."
I breathed a sigh of relief. That had been the one hurdle we hadn't known how to face. It had taken an extremely weird trip to the Ministry of Magic, General Affairs Office, so Scorpius could officially change his name to Cesario Weasley and then bribe the clerk so it would be approved overnight. Scorpius hadn't been too chuffed with the thought of officially being a Weasley, at least for a few days until we had a chance to go change it back, but it was literally all we could think of within the timeframe we had.
"But there is still the matter of Rose's supposed impersonation," Healer Williams glared at the both of us. "So Cesario, in your own words, I would like you to describe to me everything that you believe to have happened."
It was crunch time as Scorpius started talking. From Healer Williams' probing questions, I could tell that he was trying to get Scorpius to trip up, mention something that I hadn't done on the course or be unable to answer something, because I'd forgotten to mention it. But Scorpius was amazing, somehow ploughing through all the questions without fail. There was only one sticky moment when he had faltered, when Healer Williams mentioned Dom and the catering company.
"Dominique Weasley was our caterer for the event," he had said and I had frozen. Shit. "While she was perfectly adequate at providing our meals for us, I did notice her greet several of our trainees … enthusiastically," A very mild way of saying that she tried to get into everyone's pants. "I can't imagine that Weasley is a popular last name, so surely she is related to you, too. Did you notice her at all during the course?"
"Oh, yes," Scorpius had ever so quickly glanced at me from the corner of his eye. He didn't know how to answer this one, his gaze told me. He knew that we had all gone out to the pub, but I hadn't thought to tell him about the relationship I had made up between Cesario, Dom and Rose. I prayed to Merlin that he would make up the right answer. "I met up with her later in the week, then several of the boys and I went out to the pub for the night. She happened to be there as well. As for during the week, I said hello, of course, however I kept my distance. Dom, bless her, is a bit of a free spirit and I know that she can cause a bit of trouble when she wants to. I didn't want to disturb the learning's of the course. I fear in my lack of speaking to her, I may have offended her!"
Oh, thank the lord that fit with what had happened. Naturally, Dom had never even heard of Cesario before, so she had flirted with me, as you do, and was as shocked as ever when she realised it was her little cousin, Rosie. In Healer Williams guessing we were related, it would have been suspicious if Scorpius couldn't explain why Dom and Cesario barely spoke. Thankfully, Scorpius managed it.
Healer Williams, thankfully, seemed to accept his statement and continued on. Scorpius kept talking, all the way to Healer Hot-Arse bursting in, announcing that there had been a shop explosion. At this point, Scorpius said that he had wanted to do was quickly get back to his own hospital and ensure that he had efficient numbers on staff, should reinforcements be needed to call in.
"I never received an owl, so I assumed everything had been handled," Scorpius shrugged. "It wasn't until your letter that I realised that these silly claims had been made against my cousin!"
"I see," Healer Williams said, still not looking like he was going to let me off scot-free anytime soon. "So can you explain why you enquired about having the credit from the course you attended transferred to your cousin, Rose, who did not attend?"
"Sir, I have known Rose all my life," Scorpius said, glancing at me. "And …" I felt my stomach churn at his gaze. It was so intense, I felt like I should be melting into the chair. "… I believe that there is nothing she can't do. She is an amazing Healer. Upon completing the course, I felt like I didn't deserve the credit, not while Rose was up here, saving lives during the shop explosion and I was sat back at my own hospital, doing nothing. It was clear that despite the course I completed, she knew more than me. We are the only Healers in the family, so it felt only fair to let her have the credit."
"Well, that is mighty generous of you," Healer Williams said, definitely sarcastic. "But forgive me when I say that it is hard to believe."
"I understand that you only have my word to go on," Scorpius agreed. "Let me explain: it was the shop explosion that really convinced me. When I heard what had happened, I knew that Rose would be called in. I wanted the credit to go to her, because she had clearly demonstrated that despite not having attended the course, she had proven herself just as worthy as those who did during that horrible disaster. Later, when I heard how many lives were saved thanks to her and the rest of your brilliant Healers here, I was only reinforced with my reasoning."
"Hmpft," Healer Williams muttered, though he looked a little chuffed with the slight arse-kissing 'brilliant' comment. I was just thankful that Scorpius was no longer staring at me and I tried to discreetly fan my face. Why was it so hot in here? "Well, thank you, Cesario, I guess, for coming in here today and discussing this matter with me. I will inform you both when I have made my decision."
He gave both of us pointed looks and we quickly took that to mean, get the hell out of my office. After several more 'thank you's and even a bow or two, we made to scarper off down the corridor. However, Healer Williams' voice calling out made me pause.
"Oh, and Rose?" I glanced back to see my boss's grim, but satisfied face. "I thought you might want to know about what the review against Healer O'Sullivan has decided. It has been agreed upon that he will not come back to work at this hospital."
I gave him a small smile. "Shall I tell Healer Carter, sir?"
"Of course," Healer Williams said at once. "That's why I told you."
Scorpius tugged on my arm then and I thanked my boss before following Scorpius out into the corridor. We ran and didn't stop until we reached the main ground floor through-way that led to the accidents waiting room and the wards. Leaning against the wall next to the doors, I closed my eyes and rested my head back, breathing a sigh of relief. "We made it through!"
"Yeah, I can't believe it," Scorpius admitted. "Did your boss mention the dickface back there?"
"Oh, yes!" I said, looking at him happily. "No longer working here! We fired his arse!"
"The world can now rejoice – no, I'm not being sarcastic," he added and I snorted. "So did I come off all right?"
"All right?" I stared. "Scorpius, you were utterly brilliant! For a second there, I actually believed I had a cousin Cesario!"
"Yeah, you so don't owe me for this." he snorted.
"I'm serious, Scorpius," I said. "Thank you. So much. You have no idea what this means to me."
"Oh, hey …" He shrugged awkwardly, though his eyes never left my face. "Whatever. You're welcome."
That night we were to have dinner at Libby's. It was something we hadn't really been able to do ever since last year; y'know, the last time being the one where Al and Bea had finally gotten engaged. With our lives all being so busy and half of my mates ending up in St Mungo's for several days at one point, it was no wonder that we hadn't managed to find the time. But Libby sent an owl around and we had all quickly decided that we had to get together and catch up.
However, before I could even think that far ahead, I had to handle Queen Godzilla.
Scorpius and I had walked back from St Mungo's to our flat building together, awkwardly bumping shoulders every now and then and bickering like we always did. It felt like it should be awkward … but after living through the mother of all awkward phases, this sort of seemed like nothing in comparison. It just felt so confusing to be arguing with him again! One the one hand, I loved it because it meant that we were finally sorting something out … but then I felt almost guilty, seeing as a quote from Al back during sixth-year had been, "Bickering to you two is like flirting like hell to normal people!" It had honestly felt like that, no matter what I told myself.
As we pushed through the stairwell doors and clattered out onto our corridor, it became obvious that something crazy was going on. I could hear faint yelling from inside one of the flats. Naturally, once we got closer, it was to find that the yelling was coming from my flat.
"What the hell is that?" Scorpius asked, coming closer to eavesdrop with me.
"I have a hunch," I said, opening the door. Sure enough, it was to find Bea and her older sister, Annie 'Queen Godzilla' Bowmen, yelling at each other over the kitchen table.
"For the last time, I do not want live swans as the centrepieces for my wedding reception!" Bea was yelling, her face having gone bright red in anger. That told me that my best friend really was extremely pissed off. Bea hardly ever goes red.
"Bea, I only want what's best for you!" Queen Godzilla was saying, throwing her gorgeous blond hair over her shoulder with a huff. With her strapless pink dress, you'd think she was about to hit a night out in the clubs, rather than spend all day arguing with her sister about wedding plans. But Annie Bowmen posed in front of a camera for a living and claimed that, "Beauty is constant. You must always be prepared to have your beauty captured forever! I'm sure you'll understand someday …" She had added that last part at me and Al had been the one to hold me back from jumping the bitch.
"Oh, that's rich!" Bea yelled back, slamming her hands down on the table, riffling several bridal magazines with the force. "You don't give a shit about what I think! Face it, you're basically planning your own bloody wedding here!"
"How dare you!" Queen Godzilla cried dramatically. "Here I am, trying to make your day special and you just throw my help back in my face!"
"Maybe if it was what I wanted, I would actually listen!" Bea cried. "Hell, I had to agree to riding a bloody horse down the aisle before you'd even let my friends be invited! And you wonder why I'm not keeping my last name!"
"Oh, come on, Beatrice Potter?" Queen Godzilla rolled her eyes. "That's just too close to Beatrix Potter, everyone would make fun of you!"
"She was one of my favourite authors! Not that you would poke fun, would you, Annie?"
"You little–!"
"OK!" Scorpius was the one to cut in, which was surprising, as normally he thought rows with Queen Godzilla rather amusing. She was more entertaining than Mrs Bowmen, at least. Queen Godzilla's demands might be unreasonable, but Mrs Bowmen wouldn't compromise on anything. "Before heads start getting ripped off, everyone calm down!" He stormed forward and forced Bea back into her seat while I followed and glanced down at the plans Queen Godzilla was currently trying to enforce. I had to admit, the swan-centrepieces looked adorable, but there would be a minor setback of getting swan poo in our food.
"Scorpius, tell her!" Bea cried, throwing a finger in her sister's direction. "Tell her that all I want is just me, Al and our mates in some little ceremony somewhere! I don't want swans, I don't want live doves to be released when we say I do, I don't want a whole bloody zoo of animals for entertainment and I want Trevor and Toby to actually be invited! They may be disgusting blokes, but they're my friends and–"
"Bea!" I cried. "Calm! You won't be able to breathe in a minute!"
"Ah, look, Bea," Scorpius looked a little awkward as Queen Godzilla huffed. "This is sort of a woman's fight, I don't really think I have the right to say–"
"Oh, but you'd agree with me, wouldn't you?" Queen Godzilla cut in, flipping her hair again and smiling at Scorpius. I felt my eyes narrow. The last person who had flicked their hair I had punched in the face (twice in one lifetime now, in fact). "You've always been on my side, haven't you, Scrosius?"
"Uh, it's Scorpius," he quickly said, trying hard to not look at her. "And honestly, I've known Bea longer than you, so–"
"Oh, boys!" Queen Godzilla quickly gave up on the flirting, thank the lord. I was just thinking I would have to smack her. "You're useless the lot of you!"
"Yeah, and you can never hold down one," Bea muttered, bitterly. "It's no wonder you're trying to force your dream wedding onto me."
"What's that supposed to mean?!"
"It means you are such a bitch that no man would ever want to go near you, let alone marry you!" Bea yelled back. "This is probably the closest you'll ever get to your own wedding than you ever will–!"
"That's it!" Queen Godzilla snapped, storming to her feet and beginning to gather up all her magazines and plans, throwing them into her Official Folder of Fun-time Wedding Bollocks. "Fine! If you don't want my help, then I'll take it elsewhere!"
"THANK GOD!" Bea cried, throwing her arms into the air, Scorpius having to duck and narrowly missing being clocked in the head. "Get the hell out of here!"
"… I mean it! I'll leave!" Queen Godzilla said again, shifting her folder higher into her arms.
"I'm sure you do, so by all means, go!"
"Fine! I – I'm going!" But Queen Godzilla wasn't moving. In fact, she was rather looking like she was expecting Bea to change her mind when she realised that her sister was going to leave her. Clearly, she hadn't factored in the point that Bea couldn't stand her at the moment.
"Brilliant! Go on, then!" Bea said.
"I …" Queen Godzilla stormed for the front door, but faltered as she opened it. "I – I'm going …!"
"What are you waiting for?! Leave!"
Queen Godzilla just stared for a moment. When Bea didn't back down, Queen Godzilla huffed and screamed a last defiant, "FINE!" before slamming the door behind her. Finally, all was silent in our flat and Bea let out a triumphant cry.
"Thank the lord!" she said, slumping down onto the table, Scorpius hastily rubbing her back. "Rosie, can you check? Is she gone?"
"Er, no …" I called from the hallway, peering out through the peep hole. "She's still standing there with her folder. I think she thought you were bluffing …"
"Well, I wasn't," Bea glanced up, looking bleary-eyed. "But I have the feeling I haven't got completely shot of her. Mum will be having a go, soon. Scorpius, why do you have red hair?"
"What?" Scorpius glanced up and I panicked, realising that of all the charms we'd counter-acted to make Scorpius look like Cesario, we had forgotten that he still had red hair. "Oh!" He quickly poked his head with his wand and his hair thankfully went back to blond. "Uh, was just trying something …"
Bea decided not to push this, thank god, and she just shook her head, warily. "Ugh, she was here almost all night yesterday, trying to plan all sorts of rubbish. Didn't get up till ten and she was already banging on the door! Where did you two go?" Bea gave Scorpius and I a suddenly suspicious look as Scorpius sat down in the chair next to her and I quickly went to the kitchen to make us some tea to avoid her stare. "You were gone by the time I woke up …"
"Um," I wasn't sure whether to tell her. I mean, originally I hadn't wanted to worry her and with Scorpius agreeing to help me, it had seemed like I wouldn't have to. I had fearfully panicked to my brother about the meeting with my boss, since he had been with me ever since the beginning of this fiasco, but Bea was my best friend; she also deserved the truth. "Honestly … Scorpius spent the morning pretending to be my cousin, Cesario."
"What?" Bea said, glancing confusedly between the two of us.
Scorpius rolled his eyes. "It sort of … got out," I shot him a glare at that. We all knew it was his fault it got out in the first place. "that Rose snuck onto that Healer course. There were rumours going around, so her boss wanted to have a meeting with her and her cousin."
"Problem was, Cesario didn't exist," I added, coming back with the tea, despite Bea's gaze boring into my head. "But Scorpius said he'd help me. He came to the meeting pretending to be my cousin. Oh, his name is officially Cesario Weasley for the next few days, by the way."
"Why did you do that?" Bea asked Scorpius. Trust me girl, I've been asking myself the same thing ever since he agreed to it.
Scorpius shrugged. "Same reason I told Rose, though she doesn't believe me," he said and I scowled as I sat down. "I reckon she's a great Healer and she deserves to make it. I wasn't going to let her screw it up."
"Oi!"
"Merlin's pants, Rosie," Bea sighed, pouring herself a cup of tea. "Where on earth do you get these insane ideas?"
"Hey, this one was all Scorpius!" I reminded her.
"And I suppose that, yet again, I can't tell Al?" Bea asked, grinning over her tea cup.
"So long as he promises not to breathe a word," I gave in, knowing that Bea would probably just tell him anyway. They tell each other everything, it was rather frightening. "I made a mistake telling Scorpius, though. It was his fault I had to have this meeting in the first place!"
"Look, so I told my best friend!" Scorpius said, exasperatedly. "How was I supposed to know that she'd still have a huge grudge against you?"
"Oh, I don't know, maybe because of the fact that she HATES me?!" I yelled back, slamming my hands on the table and leaning in to glare.
"Come off it," Scorpius countered, mirroring my stance. "she doesn't hate you–"
"Blackmail, Scorpius!" I cut in, as if this one word was all I needed to make my point. "BLACKMAIL!"
There was a moment of silence in which we continued to glare at each other, our faces inches apart. Then, Bea said, "… wowwwww." and we both seemed to realise how close we'd gotten. Sitting back hastily I turned to look at her. Bea had been practically staring between the two of us, back and forth like a Quidditch match. "I haven't seen you two bicker this bad since Hogwarts."
"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked, arguably a lot nicer than Queen Godzilla had screamed it.
"Just saying," Bea smothered a smile into her cup of tea. "Don't do it in front of Sophie."
We had eventually made it to Libby's, Al, Bea and I all arriving together. The entire motley crew was there; Toby and his new Norwegian girlfriend who was about eighteen; Jo, who had brought her new puppy; Trevor, who had brought Harley, to my utter fury; Libby's current flatmate, Candy, who was apparently a stripper and was busy snogging her pimp boyfriend; James, who I don't think had been to his own flat ever since he and Libby got together; and Scorpius, who had arrived ahead of us, since he had of course brought Sophie with him. I was literally the only person who didn't have someone that they had dragged along with them. Even Jo that had adorable, cute Labrador puppy, all brown and wiggly. She was currently on the floor, playing with 'Pants', as she called him, surrounded by the woman in the room, all giggling and 'aw'ing.
James was watching Libby tickle Pants the puppy under the chin with that 'I'm so totally in love with this chick' look that I'd started getting used to seeing on him. Bea was squealing and dragging Al over to pat the puppy. Even Candy looked like she was about to do some pro-creating right there up against the wall!
I don't think I'd ever felt so alone.
"Rosie!" Jo had noticed me arrive, holding her puppy in her arms and squirming as it licked her face. "Come say hi to Pants!"
"You named your puppy 'Pants'?" I asked, resigning myself to the fact that I would be playing with the puppy all night and dropping down next to her.
"His full name is Cutiepants McFluffytin." Jo said, her face absolutely serious.
"Ah," I said as I moved to pet him. What? He was cute. "So why did you get a puppy?"
"Because," Jo shrugged. "It's just like having a boyfriend. He rolls around on the sofa, touches himself, begs for food and loves sleeping with me. The only difference is that this little guy won't ever leave me!" Jo snuggled her face into Pants' fur.
"Oh, I'm sorry," I said. "So you and, was it Ryan …?"
"Oh, yeah, he's history," Jo waved a hand dismissively, like it wasn't important. "But that doesn't matter, because Pants is now the only man in my life!"
At this rate, I would end up just like Jo and little Pants. Everyone had basically coupled off here and had somebody to love. Al and Bea were in full wedding mode now that Queen Godzilla was gone for the time being, discussing what had to be ditched immediately and what could possibly wait to argue about until later. Libby was complaining that they should keep the horse as Trevor and Toby mucked around, throwing sweets through the air and catching them in their mouths. It seems to be a thing we've got going, sweets-toss. Harley was currently judging who was winning as Scorpius and Sophie sat curled together in the armchair in the corner just before the kitchen.
I mean, honestly. Do they have no pride? She was practically draped over his lap, kissing and giggling in that cute way of hers. Damn it, Rose. It was so hard to hate Sophie.
I couldn't help it. Sophie was adorable. I was starting to see her on a regular basis, mainly because she would sometimes drop by to say hello before continuing down the hall to see Scorpius. Every time I spoke to her, I liked her more and more and it seemed that she really had become a part of our wonderful, if slightly dysfunctional, group of mates. I tried to stop it, honestly I did! I really did my best to hate her guts, but there's just something about that girl that makes you love her. She's cute, blond and probably the nicest person in the world. You just can't beat that.
She's a hell of a sight better than sarcastic, moody, painfully dramatic and far too smart Rose Weasley.
Ok, so I liked her. But watching her with Scorpius still hurt and it annoyed me that it did. I was happy now, I was in a good place! But still, my insides wrenched at the sight. I didn't even want to think about what that meant. Ever since he'd apologised last week, I admit, Scorpius and I had grown a little bit closer, slowly going back to what we used to be like. Bickering, irritating, but slightly more tolerable of each other. I had thought that perhaps, we could make sense of our bizarre relationship and legitimately sort something out. Neither of them seemed to care that they were in perfect view of a room full of people. He bent his head to whisper in her ear and Sophie just raised an eyebrow with an 'oh, really?' look. Good god, this really is pathetic. I didn't blame Sophie for this, though; no, that I was saving for Scorpius. He knew exactly what he was doing.
I didn't want to admit it was working, but I've come to recognise jealousy now when it hits me.
"Er, Rosie …" Jo said, hesitantly. "You're squeezing Pants a bit tight there …"
"Oh, my god!" I quickly let the poor puppy go and he nipped at my hand in retaliation. Great, now even the dog didn't like me. "Pants, I'm so sorry!"
"Why d'you look like you want to break something?" Jo asked me, suspiciously.
"I don't!" I avoided her eye, but I could still see Scorpius and Sophie behind her. "I …"
Jo glanced over her shoulder – ever the obvious one – and let out a snort of laughter. "No way!" she cried. "You're still into him?!"
"Jo! Shut the hell up!" I hissed, smacking a hand over her mouth. Several others glanced over, but Scorpius and Sophie didn't even notice, thank god. Pants had run off, tugging on the hem of James' jeans and my cousin was now swearing and running around, trying to fend the puppy off with little success.
"What?" Jo mumbled around my hand. We were still sat in the middle of the floor, surrounded by dog toys. I hoped Scorpius got up and tripped on one. I moved my hand away warily and she continued, "I had no idea! I thought you'd gotten over all that!"
"I have," I told her. "Well, I'm about as over it as I'm going to get. But you've got it wrong, I'm happy, I don't need a bloke in my life to be happy and I certainly don't want Scorpius again like that."
But despite my reassurances, Jo was shaking her head sadly, almost like I'd somehow let her down. "Oh, Rosie … don't you ever learn?"
"That, what? Scorpius can't flirt to save his life?" I asked, confused.
"No!" Jo insisted. "That all men are bastards!"
"… you're not serious?" I said, blankly.
"Rosie, I'm deadly serious," Jo told me. "All they do is screw you over and leave you to adopt a dog, because you're never going to get another one. All men are bastards and we should never associate with them again, let alone fall in love with one again!"
"But I'm not in … oh, whatever," I figured that arguing with Jo was going to be pointless. I decided to poke holes into Jo's logic. "Are you saying that I shouldn't even talk to Al?"
"Oh, no, he's your cousin, he doesn't count." she said.
"You talk to him …"
"Well–"
"And Trevor," I pointed out. "And Scorpius and Toby, even though he's your idiot brother, and James, those the blokes from your work, and you even spoke to Candy's pimp boyfriend over there–"
"Look, fine!" Jo cut over me, shaking her shoulder-length blond hair all over the place and I laughed. "Merlin's beard, Rosie … I get your point. Not all men are bastards. Just … most of them."
And with that insightful outlook on life, Libby announced that dinner had to be ready now. Pretty soon, the boys were crowding around, trying to have at the meat while Libby snapped back with a carving knife. While sometimes Libby's short attention span could get her into some trouble when it came to serving food (such as forgetting about it and leaving it to burn. Seriously, the amount of times we'd had to call the Fire Service was ridiculous), she was actually a magnificent cook. We managed to have a decent meal all together, without Al and Bea getting into an argument over Al refusing to propose and/or Scorpius and I getting into a screaming match. I had somehow been forced into the chair next to Sophie, which was just bloody fantastic, since Scorpius had sat on her other side and basically flirted all night.
It was almost painful to watch. Scorpius was so ridiculously bad at flirting, it had been a running joke basically the entire time I'd known him. Once, before we'd even gotten together when we were about fourteen, he had challenged me and claimed that he could totally flirt … his resulting 'seductive' voice had sent me into peals of laughter and as a result, he had been the one paying me. But for some reason, Sophie was buying it. Maybe she really did like being called 'sexy cotton candy' but most likely she was just too nice to tell him to shut up and eat. I'd have to give that girl some lessons in defying Scorpius Malfoy.
Dinner thankfully passed without incident, unless you counted Pants running underneath the table, alternating between chewing James' jeans and eating food given to him by everyone else. "Seriously, just fatten up my dog!" Jo had cried, when Candy had just thrown all her scraps to Pants, rather than take her plate into the kitchen (the five metre walk obviously too much for her stripper legs). Pants had leapt onto the food and Jo had nearly had her hand taken off when she tried to pull him away.
Everyone moved into the lounge once more to laze around while their stomachs digested. Needing to get away from the Scorpius-and-Sophie-Show, I offered to stay back and wash the dishes. "Oh, no, Rosie that's my job!" Libby had tried to say, but I had shooed her off, insisting that I wanted to do it. Pretty soon, I was alone in the kitchen, the only sounds being the ticking of the clock on the wall, the voices of my friends from the lounge and the scrubbing of the brush against the plates. I could have done this with magic, but I wanted a dull task to take my mind off everything.
Unfortunately, there wasn't much to washing dishes and it left plenty of room for my mind to continue wandering.
It wasn't as if I even wanted him back. I just wanted… well, him. We had just been working things out, we'd been getting things right and then jealousy just had to rear its ugly head. Ok, to be fair, I'd sort of done the same thing to him, but that had been to get even. This was uncalled for and I swear, he knew exactly what he was doing.
"Oh, for god's sake, Rosie!" I hissed at myself, scrubbing hard at a particularly stubborn stain. "You're not jealous! Just stop thinking about it, get it out of your head–"
"Talking to yourself, Rose?"
I shrieked and dropped the plate into the bubbly sink with a huge splash. Water went absolutely everywhere and I whirled to see Scorpius leaning against the closed kitchen door, looking amused. Great, I was sopping wet and all he could do was smirk at me.
"Shut up." I muttered as I yanked out my wand angrily and directed a drying charm onto my clothes.
"Just saying," Scorpius shrugged. "They say it's the first sign of madness."
"The second sign must be speaking to you, then," I retorted, keeping my eyes firmly on my steaming clothes. "What d'you want?"
"Some Mrs Skower's," Scorpius rolled his eyes. "Pants decided to use Candy's shoes as a bathroom. She was obviously not thrilled."
"Wonder when she'll be kicked out?" I said, walking to Libby's cupboard and starting to search. Scorpius joined me.
"Soon, I'm guessing," Scorpius said, staring intently into the cupboards for the stain remover. "Besides, we all know that James will officially move in at some point."
It was hard to imagine that. Fred had been utterly distraught at losing his wingman in his quest to what seemed to be sleeping with every single woman in London; however, James hadn't really cared either way. "I can't believe that," I said, looking behind a large jar of pickles that looked like they'd never been open. "Who would have thought, my baby cousin James, moving in with his girlfriend!"
"Isn't he older than you?" Scorpius asked, confused.
"He is," I admitted. "But honestly, he's so much of a little kid sometimes, I've practically taken care of him his whole life. Oh, here it is!" I pulled it out from between several bug-killers. "Make sure you bring it back, though. I'm going to need to pour it all through my head after tonight."
"What?" Scorpius tried to sound confused, but the bastard was already smirking as I handed him the magical cleaner. "You don't half say some weird shit, Rose …"
"Oh, you know perfectly well what I mean!" I snapped, striding back over to the dishes. "You, trying to have your way with Sophie right there in front of everyone!"
"Come on," Scorpius wasn't even bothering to hide his grin now, tucking the bottle of stain remover under his arms as he folded them. "I'm not trying to–"
"The hell? Of course you were!" I turned to counter him. He looked like he was trying not to laugh at me. "It was truly disgusting! I don't know how the hell you ever managed to get that girl to like you; you suck at flirting."
"I do not!" Scorpius didn't look so chuffed with himself now.
"Are you kidding?" I scoffed. "Scorpius, whispering, 'Hey baby, wanna neck?' has got to be the least sexy thing you could ever say. Face it, you just can't flirt!"
Scorpius's face was a strange mix between furious and crest-fallen. It wasn't surprising, since I hadn't mentioned this inability of his since we'd started going out; somehow, I had felt the need to keep his poor boy ego intact and just didn't say anything. "So …" He dropped the stain remover onto the bench next to me and held out his arms. "You mean I'm not the least bit attractive at all right now?"
"No." I snorted.
"Not even if I said I wanna cuddle?"
"No." I said again, though I tried to keep that image out of my mind. The sight of Scorpius standing there with his arms out like he wanted a hug was just a bit too much.
I glanced up slightly and saw his expression; it was cocky like he always was, but I realised there was a hint of doubt in there. He was actually worrying about this.
Oh, Rosie, this is a bad idea. I couldn't help it. He'd been screwing with me all night and messing with Scorpius's head was just too fun to resist. I think a little teasing can be justified.
Scorpius, you're about to be hit with a whirlwind of Rosie!
"But y'know, Scorpius," I grinned, moving towards him. His arms outstretched stiffened and froze the second he realised I was moving. "I never used to mind the fact that you can't flirt."
"… that doesn't really make me feel better," Scorpius said, hesitantly letting his arms drop. I circled him and his head nervously tried to follow me.
"It's not supposed to."
"Merlin, I really hate you."
"And there's my point," I leaned out from behind him to grin. "You didn't need to know how to flirt back then, because we had our own way of flirting."
"What, fighting?" Scorpius sounded confused and just a little bit scared now as I continued circling him like a vulture. I never glanced away from his face and he seemed incapable of breaking it. "Rose, I'm pretty sure that fighting is a socially unacceptable version of flirting for anyone other than – u-us …" He stammered slightly, since I moved even closer. He had his arms wrapped tightly around himself, which was fine because it wasn't my intention to touch him.
"You're forgetting that we have another version of ours," I said, smirking. "The one where we don't speak."
Scorpius visibly shuddered and I felt my heart beat erratically at the sight. "God – um – Rose –" Scorpius seemed incapable of finishing a sentence.
"That version," I began, stopping at his side. "I think is universal."
"Rose–" Scorpius said, weakly.
I leaned in close to his ear. "So, hey baby," I whispered to him. "… wanna neck?"
Scorpius just turned to stare at me and from the look in his eye, I'm pretty sure that if he got his way, he would have taken me right there in Libby's kitchen, never mind the twelve other people plus a dog out in the lounge. However, just as he moved – to do what, I was still a bit frightened of – I danced out of reach with a smug grin.
He was looking rather red around the edges, which I knew meant that I'd really gotten to him; Scorpius hardly ever goes red. "What d'you think?" I asked him. "It's not so hard to flirt now, is it?"
"You …" Scorpius closed his eyes, rubbing his fingers against them as he apparently tried to get himself under control. Then, he muttered roughly, "… you're a dangerous being."
Conclusion to saving my career and Scorpius and flirting being used in the same sentence:
-I left Libby's soon after that display in the kitchen, happy to just bask in my success and to not have to handle Bea's questions, though not before Jo promised to send me a hand-made t-shirt that read, 'All men are bastards!'
-I'm going to admit, my heart went a bit out of control there, but I'm pretty sure it was all a part of the act.
-Leaving the kitchen, I glanced around, trying to find Sophie. I wasn't sure how she would feel if she'd seen what had happened – it had just been a joke, a bit of fun – but if she had noticed, I wanted to reassure her that nothing at all had happened or ever would. But I caught sight of her stare, about ten seconds after I closed the door behind me, and I found myself backing away.
It was confusion. And hurt. And I'd seen that look before on my own face. I was a horrible person.
Rose: 23, Scorpius: 19.
(Well, I'm still winning at any rate).
A/N: Update, 12/5/13: Yes, I have changed the ending slightly. There's still flirting, but it is not Scorpius at fault this time. One review really hit me and made me see that if it had been Scorpius's fault, it would screw up all the positive progress him and Rose have made and essentially, the rest of the story. Rose has leeway; Scorpius hurt her, she's still entitled to a bit of teasing. So I felt this change was necessary to keep the story on the track I want it on, which is Rose and Scorpius heading back to good terms.
This chapter was written to give you guys a little bit of Rose/Scorpius action and I hope it still delivers. I hardly ever do this, change my story after it's been posted, but I felt like this was needed and this is why I feel feedback is so important to listen to. Thank you for reading and I hope everyone agrees that the change was the right thing to do.
You're all seriously amazing and I always love to hear what you all think. Please keep that feedback coming. :)
Until next time -
- Moon. :D