House: Ravenclaw
Position: HoH
Category: Standard
Prompt: [Speech] "I liked my life before you came into it."
Word Count (excluding header): 1299
Betas: Sarah and LadyS
AN: This story is post-Cursed Child. That being said, I hope people who haven't seen/read CC can dive right into this story.
Following the events of the Time-Turner catastrophe, Scorpius and Albus became slightly more popular at Hogwarts. That is to say, every student wanted to cozy up to them and hear about their nearly fatal adventure and the capture of the true heir of Voldemort.
After years of being treated as the "freak" Potter of Slytherin, Albus was thrilled with the change in circumstances. He started to thrive in school and joined a few clubs. His relationship with his family, particularly with his father, improved remarkably.
Scorpius was just happy that his classmates no longer thought he was the spawn of the Dark Lord.
Well, that wasn't entirely true.
He was happy that Rose Granger-Weasley, his long-term crush, no longer looked like she wanted to curse him every time their eyes met.
From the first day they met, she made her resentment of him known. She alienated her own cousin when he'd chosen to sit by Scorpius on their first journey to Hogwarts and things had only gotten more strained since. Sure, she never went out of her way to humiliate Scorpius and Albus like some of their peers, but she never attempted to defend them either.
Things began to change in their fourth year after Scorpius and Albus had nearly rewritten history with time travel. When they'd returned to Hogwarts with their parents following their trip to the past, Rose had been waiting to give Albus a bone-crushing hug and even granted Scorpius a small smile. She'd been perfectly cordial at the end of the school feast and even wished him a good summer. When she visited her mother for lunch at the Ministry one day in the middle of July, she'd been polite when she discovered Scorpius working as an unpaid intern in the office. After he received his Prefect badge, she'd shocked him by sending him a congratulatory letter saying that she was looking forward to working with him.
On September 1, Scorpius said goodbye to his father at Kings Cross Station and boarded the Hogwarts Express. He spent the first half of the journey as he had for the last four years, sharing a cabin with Albus, eating sweets, and playing exploding snap.
When his wand alarm rang, he headed for the Prefect cabin at the end of the train to meet his fellow Prefects and the new Heads. He anticipated sitting next to Rose since she'd expressed interest in working with him. He was running a bit late, so he hoped she had saved him a seat.
The broad smile on Scorpius's face slipped when he slid open the door and his eyes landed upon a sixth-year Gryffindor Prefect cozying up to Rose.
"Ah, Scorpius!" greeted the Head Girl, a Hufflepuff who had never been overtly cruel towards him. "That's the last Prefect. I'm calling this meeting to order."
Scorpius watched as Rose hissed at her paramour before attempting to scoot away. She shot Scorpius a sheepish look before turning her attention to the Heads.
Reluctantly, Scorpius forced his eyes away from his crush and tried to listen to the Heads as they explained their goals for the year and divided up initial rounds. When the Headboy announced that Scorpius would be paired with Rose for rounds, a startled hush fell upon the group.
"Rose shouldn't have to be stuck with him," complained the sixth-year whose name Scorpius now knew was Kyle McLaggen. "We can switch. I'll take rounds with Rose and Malfoy can be paired with Trish Beckham."
"We want to pair Prefects from different houses," the Headgirl explained.
"So I'll take Malfoy then," McLaggen countered as he shot Scorpius a mildly threatening glance.
"I'm perfectly happy to work with Scorpius," Rose firmly stated.
"But Rose一"
"一No buts, Kyle. That's my rounds assignment. You have your assignment and we," she motioned to Scorpius and herself, "have ours."
"Great!" said the Headboy. "Now that's resolved, the next thing we need to discuss is the Yule Ball we will be hosting this year."
Scorpius's attention was divided for the rest of the meeting. He listened to the Heads as they explained their expectations, but his eyes were continually drawn to Rose. Kyle had noticeably pulled away from her, crossed his arms in a defensive gesture, and was shooting him glares that Scorpius could only classify as mental Avadas. Rose's eyes remained trained on the Heads, seemingly not bothered in the least about the pouting boy beside her.
When the Heads adjourned the meeting, Kyle was the first one out of his seat.
"Come on, Rose," he ordered.
"I'll join you in a minute, Kyle," she replied. "I'm just going to talk to Scorpius for a bit."
Kyle shot Scorpius another nasty look before huffing, "Fine." He stomped out of the Prefects' cabin and was followed by the rest of the students looking to escape the palpable tension.
"You didn't have to do that," Scorpius said when they were alone. "I would have been fine working with McLaggen."
"Kyle would have gladly made your life hell every time you had rounds," Rose pointed out.
"True, but you still didn't have to do that for me," he said.
"I didn't do it for you. I did it for me. He has no authority to dictate what I can and cannot do."
"But he's your boyfriend," Scorpius stated.
Rose shook her head. "One: he's not my boyfriend. Two: even if he were, do you believe I'm the type of woman who'd allow her partner to makes decisions for her?"
Scorpius's heart gave a little flutter. "I thought一"
"一I know what you thought," she cut him off. "Kyle has asked me, but I'm only interested in him as a friend. Unless his attitude and caveman tendencies improve, we might not even be friends for that much longer."
"Oh."
"You know Scorpius, I liked my life before you came into it."
Scorpius's briefly revived heart froze in his chest.
"Everything was simple before you. Albus was my best friend in the family and I had our lives all figured out. He was going to be sorted into Gryffindor with me and Fred. We were going to go on grand adventures like our parents did when they were at Hogwarts. I had everything planned. But then you showed up and disrupted everything."
Scorpius fought the urge to look down in shame and instead met her eyes. "I'm sorry, Rose."
"Don't apologize. You've got nothing to apologize for. It was easier for me to blame you than to accept that maybe my plans were built on a complete fantasy of who Albus is. Even if you weren't around, he would still have been sorted in Slytherin. It's part of who he is just as being a Gryffindor is part of who I am. I was wrong and I'm sorry."
"You don't have to apologize. I understand," Scorpius promised.
"When I'm wrong, I say I'm wrong. You'll need to know that about me if we're going to be friends."
Scorpius's heart began to beat once more. "You want to be my friend now?"
"I know I made a lot of mistakes," Rose admitted. "I let my prejudice and jealousy dictate my actions for too long, but I'd like to change that from now on. What do you say, Scorpius?"
Scorpius smiled. "We can't forget what happened before, but if we can agree to forgive each other I think we can be friends. But what will people like McLaggen think?"
"I couldn't care less what they think," Rose said. "We make our own choices from now on. Deal?"
He nodded. "Deal." He'd gladly accept the opportunity to be her friend. "Want to come back to my cabin and hang out with me and Albus for a while?"
Rose smiled as she replied, "I'd love to."