"Hey, Rosie! My dear cousin" the voice of her cousin Albus came through the muggle device that was balanced between the young witch's ear and shoulder, as she was trying to tame the wild ginger mane that was her hair, "how are you?"
"Al, get to the point," she huffed, frustrated at yet another curl escaping her, "I know you need something from me"
"What? Are you accusing me, your darling cousin, of being opportunistic?"
"Oh, no, why would I say that?" said she sarcastically. "Although I wonder why you're calling me…aren't you supposed to be at Malfoy's?"
"Yeah, I'm at the manor" he finally sighed, "we need your help"
"Ugh Al," Rose grumbled, irked, "I was planning on reading my entire day away"
"Reading all day? Rose, it's summer. Go out, do stuff…" Albus let out, exasperated.
"Mind your business" she replied, piqued at his comment, "what do you need my help with?"
"Well…it's better if you come here and see it yourself"
"Did you set this up with Malfoy to tease me?"
"No, Rosie, we really need you," he said genuinely, "and bring your copy of Moste Potente Potions"
"How do you even know we have it at home?"
"I know everything" Albus answered in a sing-song tone before hanging up.
After finally setting her hair up in a ponytail and going to the library to grab the book she apparently needed, Rose went to the kitchen and, grabbing her travelling cloak and putting it on, she took a handful of floo powder. Then, she stepped into the fireplace and said aloud her destination: "Malfoy Manor".
Once the flames died down, she stepped out into what looked like a lavish sitting room. Never had she ever predicted she would see the place in real life. Rose took her cloak off, folded it neatly and shoved it into the magically extended pockets of her jean shorts, all the while glancing around the room.
As she looked at a picture of baby Scorpius on a toy broom – which was quite endearing, if she had to admit – placed on the marble fireplace, the door on the far end where she was standing suddenly opened.
"Oh, Rosie dearest," a pleasantly surprised voice with a slight posh accent made her jump, "what do I owe the pleasure of your visit?"
Rose winced slightly, before turning towards one of the most elegant and most agreeable women she had ever known in her life. "Mrs Malfoy…erm, I mean, Astoria" she corrected herself after seeing the older woman's furrowed brows at her formality, "I…Albus called me to come and help him and Scorpius with a potion holiday assignment"
"Oh, they're doing homework?" Astoria lifted one of her brunette eyebrows dubiously.
"Apparently, yes"
The door opened again and, this time, Albus entered the room. "Rosie, here you are"
"Yes, for the potion assignment"
Albus furrowed his brows in confusion, but went along with her cover-up story after noticing his best friend's mother in the room as well. "Yes, of course," he said, "come with me"
Rose followed him and excused herself from Mrs Malfoy, who called after her with a "it's always so nice seeing you" and a "hope to meet you again soon, dearest"
As Albus walked her through staircases and corridor mazes full of centuries and centuries of Malfoy ancestors' paintings, which looked down on her clearly out-of-place figure, Rose couldn't help but feel intimidated by the severe greatness and the splendour of Malfoy Manor. Her cousin had kept muttering under his breath like a madman for the whole distance and, upon stopping in front of one of the countless ebony doors, he turned to her. "I warn you, this is going to shock you a little" he declared with a solemn look on his face.
Rose rolled her eyes at her cousin's theatrics. He'd always been quite the dramatic one, being Harry Potter's son and all. He opened the door and the two entered the room.
It must have been Scorpius' bedroom, however, Rose couldn't really concentrate on the place itself as she gaped at the figure miserably crunched down on the bed with his back facing the door.
"Oh my" she whispered, gawking astonished at what seemed to be a shirtless Scorpius Hyperion Malfoy – the blond head was way too unmistakable not to recognise him – with two huge white feathered wings attached to his back. As soon as she spoke, he turned his head towards where the two were still standing and his watery silver-grey eyes widened comically, before he quickly pushed himself up and run towards Rose, squeezing her in a breath-restricting embrace.
She was stunned by the surreal situation of a winged Malfoy hugging her as if his life depended on it. She remained frozen in place, until she felt him shake against her with what seemed to be violent sobs, while Albus was almost choking on his own laughter.
Malfoy suddenly backtracked a little, only withdrawing one of his hands from where they were desperately grasping at her waist, bringing it to the side of her face in order to angle her towards his own. His tearful eyes furiously inspected her visage, while his thumb lovingly caressed her cheek. Satisfied with his analysis, he let out a soft sigh and he gazed into her orbs adoringly. "My soulmate is finally with me" he whispered, leaning in to brush his lips against her right cheekbone while inhaling her scent with another dreamy sigh.
At this, Albus, who had almost calmed himself down, broke down into another fit of uncontrollable laughter which gained him a glare from his cousin. Rose, on her part, had started to unconsciously pat Malfoy on his head. "If you'd just stop laughing already and explain what is happening here, Albus, I'd appreciate it…"
"Sorry," after taking a few breathes to compose himself, he answered, not looking sorry in the least, "I really couldn't help myself"
"Get to the point already, will you?" she let out, frustrated, to which Malfoy lifted his head from where it seemed to have taken permanent place in the crook of her neck and looked at her apprehensively, sticking out his bottom lip in a pout. Rose ruffled his hair, weirdly feeling like she needed to comfort him, and he let out a pleased sound, diving his head back into her neck.
Albus looked at them with a small smirk and advanced into the room, leisurely falling onto the king-sized bed at the centre of the room and pointing Rose a sofa. She took the hint and managed to walk her and the body still attached to her over to the sofa and sit both of them on it. Malfoy seemed quite disinterested in letting go of her, which proved her task to be slightly arduous.
"We had been walking about Knockturn Alley" Albus begun to explain, only to be interrupted by Rose.
"What the hell were you there for?"
"We were bored," he explained, being awarded by Rose's eyeroll. "So, as I was saying, we were in Knockturn Alley, when we were approached by a sketchy guy who was selling potions"
"And you bought one?" Rose asked bewildered, as Malfoy placed his head on her shoulder and started playing with a curl that had escaped her ponytail. "Are you out of your mind? Buying things from sketchy people in Knockturn Alley is probably one of the most moronic things you've ever done!"
"That's beside the point," Albus placed his arms under his head, "anyways, we bought the one which looked like the most harmless and came back to see it's effect. We drew straws to decide who was going to drink it and we had bezoars at ready, just in case. So, we weren't being completely irresponsible…"
Rose's face was utterly aghast at the two idiots' behaviour. She was seriously rendered speechless by their senselessness. Albus kept on explaining. "As you may gather, Scorpius was the one who drank the whole thing and fainted. Before I could as much as react, the wings started to grow and I helped him out of his shirt. Then, he revived and looked around confusedly, asking me who I was and where was his soul mate. He started crying and I just didn't know what to do, so I took my phone and I don't know what he thought it was, but he knocked the thing out of my hands. He started fidgeting with it and somehow ended up in the gallery and, seeing a picture of all us cousins, he pointed you out as his soul mate."
"What the heck?" Rose asked out loud, looking between Albus and Scorpius, who had then decided to nap with his head on her lap and his wings curled half around him, cuddling one of her hands close to his chest. Bliss was clear across his relaxed features. Rose tried not to think about his warm skin under her fingers. There were more pressing matters at the minute.
"I know right…" Albus answered her rhetoric question, "and that's not all! I took the phone out of his hands and, touching him, he wailed as if he was in extreme pain, but he doesn't seem to be in pain at all now"
Rose saw her cousin raise his eyebrows suggestively and she rolled her eyes at him for what it felt the umpteenth time, feeling her cheeks grow warm. She tried to move as delicately as she could in order not to wake Malfoy up and reached for the book in her pocket. "Tell me more about the potion," she started with a practical tone, opening the tome and starting to go through the index, "what were its colour, consistency and smell?"
"It was a pale pastel pink, neither too liquid nor too dense and the smell was something delicate, not very strong but pleasant, I don't think I've ever smelled it before"
After browsing through the names of different potions, Rose detected one which might have been the mysterious potion ingested by Malfoy. Opening the referred page, she started reading aloud.
"Angelica Potio, also known as the Angelic Potion, is a brew which allows the drinker to transform into an angelic figure and feel the deepest emotions with the greatest intensity. Of pale pink colour, this potion is extremely difficult to prepare and, apparently innocuous, hides some insidious side-effects. Wait, let me go to the warnings…" Rose scanned through the recipe and turned the page, "here…People who ingest the Angelic Potion forget everything of their life until the effect wears off and their only concern is being attached to their Soul Mates, which are appointed based on the…" Rose hesitated.
"Based on?" demanded Albus, now sitting upright on the bed.
"Based on the person the drinker has deep feelings for", Rose interrupted herself again to glare at Albus, who had started laughing. "Are you done?" Rose exhaled, before resuming her reading, "This need of nearness is acute and the lack of thereof might ignite extreme reactions, such as uncontrollable crying, blind rage or intense jealousy and protectiveness. Furthermore, the touch of others might be severely painful to the drinker."
"Ok, now read the remedy"
"Oh, wow, Albus…thanks for saying that" Rose replied, voice thick with sarcasm. "Although the effect may wear off on its own, as this process may take between 72 and 96 hours after the consumption of the potion to vanish, there is another remedy, which takes less time. It is a counter-potion, Remedium Angelicae Potioni. In order to prepare this cure, the procedure to follow is in the reverse order of the Angelica Potio."
"Ok, so either we wait or we brew this potion"
"Seems like it," Rose sighed, scanning again through the recipe, "although it's quite complicated and we're supposed to follow it in reverse…"
Scorpius mumbled in his sleep something akin to 'my soulmate' and turned uncomfortably onto his side. Rose handed the book to Albus and absentmindedly let her now-free hands run through Malfoy's blond hair, making him sigh happily. Her short fingernails lightly scratched his head as she observed his sharp side profile. How innocent and peaceful he looked in deep slumber.
Albus cleared his throat, drawing her attention away from the angelic view. Her cheeks were bright red at the knowledge that her cousin saw her momentary lapse and she scowled at the sly smile he was sporting. "I'll go back to Knockturn Alley to see if I can find the seller again and buy this other potion, or else I'll go to the potions' shop"
"Maybe it's better if you go directly to the potions' shop," she mused out loud, "you may never know if they're giving you the real antidote"
"Alright, then…" Albus got up and went to the door, only stopping a second to suggestively add, "take good care of your angel, Soulmate"
Rose shook her head at his antics and looked back down, right in time to see Malfoy's eyelids flutter open and a fond smile slowly take place on his handsome face.
"That strange guy has finally left us alone" he whispered reaching out a hand to brush a curl out of her face.
"Weren't you asleep?"
"I was only waiting for us to be alone, my soulmate"
His hand descended from her face to her arm, squeezing it affectionately, while getting up into a sitting position. "You don't know how difficult it was for me to wake up in this unknown place without you by my side" he muttered, resting his forehead against hers, and looked deeply into her eyes.
Rose felt her heart speed up a few paces and mentally cursed herself for it. This was not the real Scorpius Malfoy, no matter the fact that she was, in fact, his appointed soul mate for a reason. She averted her eyes, unable to keep up with the intensity of his.
"Is something the matter, love?" he worriedly asked her, his lower lip starting to quiver.
"No, don't mind me…" she readily answered, not wanting to see him cry again, "I'm just a bit pensive. That's all…"
"Is it for that strange guy?" he let out a low growl, protectively wrapping his hands around her frame.
"No, it's nothing like that"
He relaxed a bit and smiled to her. "What about I help you think of something else?" he suggested cheekily.
Not giving her much time to reply, Malfoy leaned it to peck on her lips sweetly. Flashing her another blinding smile, he started his tender attack to her mouth. His kisses were light and saccharine enough at first, him taking his time building up the intensity.
Overcoming the initial shock, Rose couldn't find it in herself to fight the kaleidoscope of butterflies invading her stomach and let herself indulge in the warmth of his arms around her, his hands caressing her, his lips fervently moving against her own.
He kept muttering sweet nothings against her mouth in between kisses, eventually bringing his lips to glide over her neck, giving her a chance to catch her breath for a couple of minutes.
Rose opened her eyes and, with her hands on the sides of his face, moved Scorpius away from her neck to look at him. She let herself smile at the sight of his puffy lips, his dishevelled hair and his dazed eyes locking with hers adoringly. "This potion is really something…" she murmured, stroking his cheek as his eyelids fluttered shut and pleasantly tortured sound escaped past his wet, parted lips. She couldn't help herself, she closed the distance between them once again, as their kisses resumed.
Neither did notice the door slide open and a messy black-haired head pop inside the room. "Sweet suffering Salazar, I'm going to spew" Albus fake-gagged, as Rose and Scorpius broke away from their kiss.
Scorpius groaned out his frustration for being interrupted and let his forehead fall onto Rose's shoulder. Albus chuckled, advancing in the room while shaking the vial of potion in his hand. "Here's your fix, lover boy"
"What is that supposed to be?" the blond asked, eyeing the vial suspiciously.
"A tonic, for the nerves" said Albus humorously, offering him the cure.
Before taking it from his hands, Scorpius looked back at Rose, who was looking at him encouragingly. He drank the content of the vial and, just like when he'd drunk the first potion, he fainted against Rose. The wings seemed to shrink back into his back. Once they'd completely disappeared, Scorpius started to revive.
His unfocused eyes scanned Rose's face confusedly. "Rose?"
"Well, I think you'll be able to handle the explanation, Rosie" said Albus, adding, "also, I think you two must have much to talk about, so I'll make myself scarce"
He disappeared behind the ebony door with a wink.
That brat.