Hey guys! Sorry this one is a little short as well, but I figured - not half bad, two chapters uploaded in one day! And this is a juicy one! Enjoy!
Chapter 10: Waltzing with the Enemy
"What do you want?" Rose called out, somehow knowing.
Just as she had suspected, it was Scorpius, clutching her notebook to one of his sides.
She glared at him, not making a single move to rouse from her comfy position. She was also wearing a particularly inappropriate pair of pajama shorts, which she didn't desire to reveal at the moment.
Scorpius gazed at her, a smile tugging at his lips. He had showered since playing Quidditch with Albus earlier, his hair still damp. He wore a loose jumper and some very soft looking plaid pajama bottoms.
"You have several things to explain to me." Rose said tersely.
"Is that so?" he was smiling as if Rose was the greatest joke in the world.
"Why the hell were you late to the meeting today? You made me look awful. And why did you steal the notes I had worked so hard on, only to then arrive late to turn them in? Not to mention, they were crumpled up in your sweaty, disgusting jersey!" As Rose raised her voice, her cat lifted her head sleepily from the foot of the bed, blinking drearily as if only just realizing someone else had entered the room.
"First of all, Quidditch is sometimes the only way Albus and I can really vent out unexpected emotions. Unlike most teenage girls, guys don't normally have the opportunity to cry or whine when life hits them in the balls." he toyed with the notebook in his two unoccupied hands, his long fingers skimming the leather cover gently.
The statement only made Rose want to ask more questions, but Scorpius was being too forthcoming for her to interrupt now. "Secondly, there was an abnormality that you failed to notice while we were patrolling that I had to add to your notes. Perhaps you were busy, lost in thought?" he grinned, flipping the notebook open to look inside. "Thinking about how much you love me?"
Rose whipped the covers from her legs, making her kitty chirp in surprise as she stood from the bed and stepped right in front of Malfoy. She yanked the journal from his hands. "It is not, and will never be, okay for you to go through my personal effects!" She nearly shouted.
Malfoy had gone oddly silent. Rose curled her lip at him, when she realized what exactly he was doing. Looking at her. In her shortest pajama shorts.
There was no time to challenge him about this, she thought. While she had his attention, she had to ask more questions. She snapped in his face, and he shook his head and looked at her, as if he had just been transported to another realm. The name of that realm, of course, was Rose Weasley's Freckled Legs in Booty Shorts.
"Why did you and Al need to vent to each other? Is Al okay? Also, it's impossible I missed an abnormality. I was paying far more attention during the patrol than you were."
Scorpius scoffed, his face still locked in that impenetrable smile…but, there was a glaze over his eyes now since he had noticed the shorts. "Al is fine. I'm fine, not that you bothered to ask." He shifted, his hands awkwardly dangling now that he didn't have the notebook to play with. "And yes, you did miss something. You may have been paying attention to the patrol, but I was paying attention to you."
Silence for a moment, as Rose turned over in her head what the hell that meant. Before long, Scorpius piped up again. "There have been a series of unexplainable phenomena happening when you are particularly…emotional." He went on, his lips pursing slightly as if expecting some resistance from Rose. "You were angry with me, you thought I was going to stand you up. When you confronted me, a whole tapestry fell from the wall. But you didn't even notice. You didn't even act like you heard it."
Rose scoffed, her brow furrowing. "I would have noticed that."
"But you didn't," Scorpius insisted. "And anyway, why would I lie about something like this?"
Confusion mulled around in Rose's brain. Could this be related to the day she had nearly made a hundred books slam into Alice and Scorpius? That couldn't be. If she was really that powerful, or rather, reckless, wouldn't these things have started to happen her whole life, and not just recently?
"But…what about today, when we were arguing before Professor Tulis walked in? I was really mad then as well. Nothing unusual happened."
Scorpius' eyes darkened. "You didn't notice that either, did you?" he sighed, moving his gaze over to where Rose's fireplace was roaring. "A whole stack of papers on the back desk blew over the moment you started poking at my chest." he pulled a hand to his chin and rubbed idly. "We have to figure out what's going on. I did a bit of reading, and this is very rare, but it has been known to happen to Wizards before. Never a Witch, to my knowledge. Some say the cause is –"
"What if this is for me to deal with, and not for you to stick your nose in?" Rose retorted.
Scorpius frowned, any amusement now leaving him. "Because it's dangerous, Weasley! Someone could say something the wrong way to you one day and you could accidentally plummet an icicle into their chest!" His voice was thin and stressed.
The comment stung, mostly because Rose knew it was true. Anger was a dangerous emotion, but when weaponized, could become deadly. "Are you going to tell anyone?" she choked out, her voice sounding small and childish in her ears.
Scorpius' frustration softened, and he stepped closer to her, his hand moving - then falling. Was he about to touch her? "No. Not if you don't want me to. But please, Rose, seriously consider that this could become a problem we should really figure out before anything happens. And you can't do it alone."
"Fine," she said quietly. "I'm not admitting you're right, I'm just…coming to terms with it. I will research with Alice and figure something out to keep my emotions in check until I can control the phenomenon. Did you…did you really write in our patrol report that I made that tapestry fall?"
"No, I just said that we found it had fallen down, and I went back later to hang it back up. That way Professor Tulis wouldn't tie it back to you."
Rose's chest rose and fell, and a thank you almost escaped her lips before she stopped it. She didn't owe him anything.
Well, maybe except for that time he prevented her from suffering severe brain damage.
"Now that you have your notebook back, my knightly duties are done." Once more, Scorpius' eyes slinked down her body, across her legs, and then back up to where her shorts ended at the very curve of her behind. "Nice outfit, by the way."
Rose had taken the barrett off for the day, so she was hoping Alice hadn't been able to hear any of that embarrassing conversation last night. No, she would have to wait for a more apt moment to explain the whole I can make objects move when I'm angry situation.
What was more pressing than her newfound talent was the fact that she had told both Professor Tulis and Scorpius that night. Her hands shook as she brushed her red locks with her heavy horsehair brush. She sighed, then finally picked up her pen to write Alice a quick note.
Magic comb of yours needed. ASAP.
Scrawled with her favorite quill, she handed the note to her owl, and thrust open her window so he could deliver it a floor down to Alice's dormitory.
Soon enough, Alice was standing in her doorway, comb in hand, beaming from ear to ear. "Will you finally let me make you bee-ou-tiful?" Alice crooned. "Not as if you already aren't drop dead gorgeous!"
Rose sighed. "Honestly, Alice, go crazy. I need a little extra confidence today, I'm shaking like a leaf."
Rose told Alice all about her predicament with the Shanghai students coming to visit and having to learn ballroom dancing with her sworn enemy. Alice could hardly contain her excitement about the Tea party, and practically begged Rose to invite her. "I'll see what Professor Tulis says," Rose said, laughing with her friend. "I'm sure we can find some way to invite you and Al to come along."
It was a good morning. The girls talked for about an hour before heading down to breakfast, Rose's hair shimmering into neat, shiny waves down her spine. Alice had even helped her apply some dainty eyeliner and mascara, and in return, Rose braided her friend's hair. Nerves significantly calmed, Rose walked with confidence into the Great Hall to eat with her friends and family before classes.
Rose narrowly avoided conversation with Scorpius all day long. In potions, they started researching various mood-altering concoctions, and much to her dismay, Scorpius had decided to sit right behind Alice and and Rose. He tried asking Rose several times "You understanding everything, Weasley? Don't need me to tutor you through anything, right?"
To her surprise, she never responded, turning her nose into her textbook spine and pretending as if he didn't exist.
Unfortunately, that only made the teasing worse in their next class. The bright greenhouse glittered with millions of leaves and magical plants. Professor Longbottom was studying a poisonous, carnivorous tulip, and while the professor was distracted, Scorpius tickled the back of Rose's neck with a leaf he had plucked from a dandelion nearby.
Rose straightened, knowing immediately that he was trying to get a rise out of her, and moved to the front of the classroom to pretend to ask Professor Longbottom a question. The professor happily replied, going on and on about the carnivorous plant he had just obtained from a greenhouse in Russia.
The day continued in that manner, with Scorpius attempting to make Rose react to him in any way at all. She ignored, ignored, and ignored him some more. When it came time for her to meet him in the old Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom, where they had agreed would be the most spacious room to practice in, her heart beat heavily against her chest. It pounded so loudly that she could feel it drumming in her ears as she walked up to the abandoned classroom door.
She stormed in, only to find Scorpius already there, sitting at the desk that used to belong to a long forgotten Professor. "Now that I'm not afraid of plunging a spade or quill into one of my friends with my new powers, why the bloody hell have you been bothering me all day?" she demanded, standing in front of him with her arms crossed to her chest.
It was true, they were completely alone in the old DADA classroom, and Rose no longer feared letting her anger bubble out of her. Except this time, she noticed what happened. The old record player in the corner of the room spun to life, the dusty record scratched and jolted as if being awoken from a deep sleep, and the Hogwarts March started playing in dusty, gasping tones.
Scorpius raised his eyebrows. "That wasn't as bad as it could have been, was it?" he said teasingly. "Why don't don't you always turn on the record players with your anger, instead of throwing books into me?" he was lounging in the old professor's chair lazily, as if not even slightly concerned that Rose's anger could surmount at any moment. His long legs hiked up on the desk, and he twirled his dark oak wand in one long, pale, bony hand.
Rose, surprised at what had happened, moved to the record player, where she gingerly removed the arm from its playing position and blew on the record to remove the rest of the dust.
"Hogwarts March Theme, Recorded in 1999." She read aloud. She turned back to Scorpius. "Really, I'm surprised as you are that I did this. But I'm not going to let you distract me. Why have you been a complete and utter ass to me today?"
Scorpius shrugged, playing with his wand again. "Maybe I don't particularly care if I live or die at your hands." he stated, an amused grin creeping onto his face just like the night before when he had returned her notebook. "In reality, you ignored me the first time, in Potions, and then…well…I just wanted to see how far I could take it."
Why. Was. He. Still. Smiling?
"I hate you," Rose cursed under her breath. "I hate that I have to do this stupid dancing shit with you."
The air was still for a moment, as if they both expected her words to cause some sort of magical reaction in the room. But nothing happened.
Scorpius tsked, shaking his head. "Your heart wasn't in that one, was it?" he said, sitting up so his chest was level with the surface of the desk. "You don't hate me, and you don't hate that you have to dance with me. Hell, maybe you'll even enjoy it."
"If you think that's proof that I don't hate you, you're very much wrong. I am perfectly capable of controlling myself and my anger." Rose stated, although she wondered if she even believed what she said. It was much easier to appear confident than to believe in your confidence.
"Maybe so. But are you capable of controlling your feet?" Scorpius asked, brandishing something that must have been sitting on the desk the whole time. He was holding a shiny black record that looked utterly brand new and utterly expensive. There wasn't much old timey music at her house, mostly talk shows recorded on old records or dusty comedy routines of her Dad's. There certainly wasn't anything like what Scorpius was holding. It must have come from one of those music stores she had been into a couple times with her Muggle relatives from her mom's side of the family. "Dimitri Shostakovich - The Second Waltz," he stated, not needing to read the inscription to know the name of the piece. "This one is easy. At least, the way I was taught."
Rose swallowed, certainly not expecting this. "You…you already know how to dance?" Grand. On top of being entirely uncomfortable, she was going to look like a massive idiot in front of him.
Silently, he stood and made towards the record player, walking right by Rose and brushing against her knitted jumper. She stiffened, then moved her eyes and watched him carefully place the music on the player.
It scratched to life, the sound slow and reverberating. He turned the volume up, again his long, pale hand tuning the machine. Elegant, Rose thought, that's how one would describe his hands.
In a moment or so, the music came forth from the player, crisp string instruments lilting against one another in beautiful, rhythmic thrums. They sounded like a slow, dying heart. But…there was something so gorgeous about the strings, as if they were being played to life again, as if they were crying into a void. They echoed in the dusty room, and then a clarinet sounded, but like no clarinet Rose had ever heard before. It was forlorn, aching, yet calm and serene. There was something missing that this clarinet was longing for.
His footsteps shrouded by the music, Scorpius maintained severe eye contact with her, moving silently towards her until their chests were nearly flush with one another. I suppose this was how close we would have to be to dance, she thought, the blood pounding in her ears, much quicker than the music. So loud she worried Scorpius could hear it.
"Just follow me," Scorpius said, just barely loud enough for her to hear over the clarinet's sad melody. "Let me lead you, and it won't be difficult. I swear." His voice was low and strong, as if for a moment, he actually cared about her ability to learn the dance. It was also gravely, as though he was trying to hold something back.
Before she knew what was happening, one of his large hands was on her waist, right where the curve of her hip ran into her lower spine. She lifted her hands, knowing she was supposed to be doing something with them, but her brain was too busy thinking about the strange tune and the pressure of his hands on her. "On my shoulder," he said gently, using his other hand to guide hers. His hands were cool to the touch, but steady and persistent. She allowed herself to look up for a moment, finding his eyes burning on her, with that same glazed expression he had when he looked at her last night. She couldn't look away. If she had ever seen molten metal, she was sure that's what his eyes would remind her of.
They were moving. Scorpius pushed her gently with the hand on her waist, in order to show her whether she should be stepping back or forward. They moved in a small oval around the room, the simplest of steps, and it was at that moment when Rose realized the hand that wasn't on his shoulder was clasped in his.
Oh god, she thought, I haven't tripped yet. How could it be? He really had led her, just as he said he would, and now, was she dancing? Surely it couldn't have been that easy –
She looked down, her skirts were billowing up and flapping around her as they took a turn. As soon as she removed her eyes from Scorpius', Rose stepped forward when she was supposed to be stepping back, fully standing on his toes, causing him to lose balance and they both fell to the floor with a loud crash.
Moments passed where Scorpius had accidentally pinned Rose to the ground below him, both his arms over her and his stomach and hips pressed tightly to hers. She could feel his hip bones crushing into her, and she could hear him breathing heavily as he looked at her in surprise. Suddenly, his chest began to shake and she realized he was laughing. "You're not supposed to look at your feet while dancing," he said, highly amused. With every laugh that escaped him, breathlessly, his body sank further and pressed harder into hers. Something stirred within her, a tight knot that pulled deep within her belly. It was something she had entirely never felt before.
She realized her hand was still on his shoulder, and she removed it, using the same hand to roughly push his chest away from hers. But it was too late. She had taken far too long to remove herself from under him. Several moments had passed where all that existed in the world was their bodies, pressed together, him laughing genuinely and her face growing hot as the piercing realizations hit her.
That it felt good to hear him laugh. Amazing, actually. His genuine laugh was light and gentile, two things that he was usually not - at least not in front of other people.
Even more concerning was that his body against hers…it felt…otherworldly. Her body warmed to his touch, responding autonomously to him like a moth to a flame. The horrifying thought struck her that when they were laying like that, she had to physically keep her back from arching to press even further into him. Why, why, why had her body tried to do that?
She stumbled to her knees, breathing heavily as she brushed the dust and dirt from herself and her uniform. She used a shaking hand to calm the waves of her hair, which must have been terribly messed up from the tumble. Put your eyes anywhere but on him, she told herself, and instead she used her newfound energy to bolt forward and turn off the record player.
"I'm done dancing for today." She stated, looking at the floor, her voice shaking.
Scorpius stopped laughing, looking at her curiously. "Look, Weasley, it's nothing to be embarrassed about. Plenty of people look at their feet their first time dancing, it's a natural human thing to do–"
Rose stomped over to her bag, still not looking at Malfoy. "Yeah, smartass, I don't need you to condescendingly describe to me how dancing works. I'm going to go read a book about it and that's how I'll learn. I don't need you to teach me."
Scorpius grumbled frustratedly. He stood, aggressively wiping his dusty hands on his pants. "You can't learn how to dance from a book!" he exclaimed. Then, his tone turned gentle once again. "Was it because I was laughing? I swear, Rose, I wasn't trying to embarrass you." Why was he being so damn gentle? Like she was a fragile doll, like she was in danger of being crushed in his hands? The thought made her livid.
"Go ahead and try to stop me. But I am never, ever ending up being pinned to the floor like that with you. Ever. Again."
As she turned to leave, she thought she heard him say, very quietly and under his breath, "If you say so."
What do you all think so far? More dancing scenes? If you get a chance, try listening to that Waltz while you read - its sooo romantic ;)