Chapter 1: Grounded
Tap, tap, tap.
Rose rolled over in her nice warm bed, groggily wiping an eye. She glanced at her clock. What? It was 1am in the morning! Who on earth was tapping on her window at this time of night?
Assuming a prank from one of the boys, she rolled back the other way to face her bedroom wall.
Tap, tap, tap!
The taps became more insistent. Now slightly worried someone was in trouble and needed her help, she threw the covers off herself and stood to peer out the window. Her wand was already clutched in her right fist.
A platinum head was shining under the moonlight.
"Merlin's beard!"
Rose opened the window. "Scorpius Hyperion Malfoy, what the hell are you doing tapping on my window at one in the bloody morning?"
It was a little funny seeing him hovering there on his Firebolt 16000, clutching the gilded handle with a white knuckled fist, and clutching his suitcase in the other. He groaned, completely exasperated.
"Look, Al told me his window was the fourth one up! If I had known this was your room do you think I would have looked forward to your wrath?"
Rose stood looking down on him with her arms crossed. The cold September air blew in from the window, but every moment that passed was another she could gloat over Scorpius while he floated there.
Rose cocked an eyebrow at Scorpius. "Al forgot to mention that he wasn't counting the garage window."
Not willing to wait any longer, Scorpius used the last bit of his grip strength to thrust his suitcase into the open window. Rose barely dodged out of the way of the heavy, spiraling object. Just as she was about to protest, one of Scorpius' lanky legs followed, and soon enough he was standing up in her room, brushing the dust of the window sill off of himself. He had gotten much, much taller since she saw him last year, where before he was neck and neck with her, now he towered over her.
"Disgusting. You all really need to get your windows cleaned. How often do you clean them, once a decade?" He kept brushing off his robes, which even in the dim light Rose could tell were expensive. Fine emerald velvet lined cloth embroidered the robes with the tiniest of cuffs. The button at the swell of his neck shone brightly, probably silver or something, Rose thought.
Rose pretended to think for a moment. "Hmmm...more like...once in a millennium?"
Malfoy saw her staring at his robes, and pointedly turned away from her. "I don't need you gawking at me, Weasley. Just show me where to go and I'll be out of your hair soon enough." With a flurry of motion, he ripped off the robes to reveal a pretty normal outfit beneath. Wool sweater and khaki trousers, helpful against the cold of the British countryside.
"I can't let you leave." Rose said with dread in her voice. "We all got grounded last night. George pulled something stupid with a firework. And the chickens. Let's just say our coop .is down one brave soul."
The Malfoy boy stared, bewildered, at her.
She continued, unfazed. "Anyway. My dad decided the only way we would learn our lesson was if he relinquished dinner privileges for a couple days and locked us in our rooms each night starting at 5pm."
Scorpius began to massage his temple with long, pale fingers. Rose offhandedly thought they seemed like they would be better suited playing piano or strumming a guitar. "So you're telling me I either sleep in here with you tonight or…"
"Sleep in the chicken coop? You'd probably enjoy the company more with the fowl," she snorted.
"I simply can't. Do you know how many ways your father would skin me alive if he found me here? Or better yet, the ridicule when the rest of the Weasleys find out I was bunked up with their favorite cousin for the night?"
She held up two protesting hands. "Hey! First of all, yes, he would skin you alive, and probably much worse. Secondly, we are not bunking up." Rose began to scurry about the room, gathering a few quilts and laying them on the ground as far away from her own bed as possible. "I know you're probably used to sleeping on a cushiony throne made from pure lambs wool, but this will have to suffice for you."
She had made a rudimentary version of what she and her girlfriends from school normally slept on during sleepovers: a pile of folded quilts , a pillow or two, and a small knit blanket to cover up with.
"Oh, did you have a teddy you wanted to give me as well?" he sneered, sitting his lanky self onto the pile of soft things.
As hard as she could muster, Rose threw one of her teddies at him, aiming straight for his cocky face. The hard button of the Teddy's little apron bonked into Scorpius' forehead, leaving a small red welt in its place.
"Suck it up, now, because I know a dozen different spells that could send you plummeting to the hard, frozen ground outside of that window, Malfoy," she snapped. He was lucky she hadn't drawn her wand on him at this point.
Reluctantly, Scorpius began adjusting the pink pillow so he could lay down. Usually, he slept without so many clothes on, but, well…
God, it smelled terrible in this room! The overpowering scent of rose perfume, vanilla, and that all too familiar dusty musk that came with an old house - how the hell was he expected to sleep in here?
He tried burying his face in the pillow she had given him - Gah! He might as well have opened a bottle of Rose's shampoo and inhaled.
"Why do you keep picking over how rich you think I am? At least I'm not the daughter of the bloody Minister of Magic!" He burst out.
Rose whipped around in bed to glare at him. "Are you stupid? No one has ever said the Minister makes a lot at ALL. The job is about giving yourself to the Wizarding World and serving the people! Not the money, you - you - spoiled brat!"
Scorpius started to reply, but Rose was already continuing. "Besides, I'm not the one prancing around with a brand new FireBolt, velvet robes, silver buttons, and I bet all of your textbooks are new, as well!"
"Of course they're new, I'm the only child!" Scorpius retorted. "It's not my fault the Weasley family breeds like rabbits! You have so many cousins, I bet you only had to purchase one cauldron between the twenty of you!"
With a flick of her wrist, Rose cast a silencing charm between the two of them. A buzzing, light blue barrier created a wall at the edge of her bed. Scorpius stared at it, not only shocked into silence, but forced into silence as well. Where the hell did she learn a charm like that? Wasn't that Auror-level enchantment?
No one could deny she was Hermione's daughter.
Even her looks. Her locks of curly, flame red hair. Her large, glistening brown eyes with hints of amber speckled through them. Her intelligent smile and expressive eyebrows. She was short, slender, with elegant features. Weird, Scorpius remembered her being a lot taller last time he saw her. Now, she was several heads below him.
But then of course, there were things about her that were eerily similar to her father. She had the capacity to flip on a dime. Joy could turn into boiling anger in just a moment. No one was safe from her wrath - he had even seen her chew the head off of her best friend in the whole world, her cousin albus.
He couldn't stand being in the same room as her, and now, he had to inhale her the entire night!