Potter wolf whistled as Scorpius returned with the ingredients. I frowned into my cauldron ignoring the slimy snake for the twentieth or so time.
"He just wants a reaction," I muttered to myself. "Stay calm, Rose."
"Be a doormat, Rose." Scorpius retorted, hearing me. He shot a look at Potter over his shoulder.
I flushed. "I'm not a doormat. I'm sensible. I am calm. I'm not giving Mum or Dad anything to complain about."
"Abby looks like she's about to kill someone." Scorpius grinned at the table next to us.
"It's fine Kenny's got her on a tight leash," I said. "Anyway, we cannot afford to get into any more trouble."
"Sure we can those letters haven't hit home yet," Scorpius said, automatically lining up the ingredients in alphabetical order.
I bit the inside of my mouth forcing back a smile. This was our second potion together and my second time hearing the jars and beakers scraping across the wooden tabletop. It was nice to learn something new about Scorpius.
"Why do you do that?" I asked, unable to help myself. I still wanted to know everything about him.
"What? Breathe?"
"Sort the ingredients,"
Scorpius stopped and examined his hands like he was realising something.
"It's not annoying or anything," I added, flipping to the next page in my potions book. "Handy actually. I was just wondering."
"Because you have to know everything."
"Obviously."
Scorpius smirked. "Habit, I suppose. Father does it."
"Malfoy!" Potter and his goons catcalled in the background. Scorpius rolled his eyes, his forehead crinkling.
Scorpius sighed. "I often wonder maybe ten or fifteen times a day what Salazar Slytherin would say if he was alive today."
"I should've established a no-Potter policy."
"The chamber should've been more of a secret," Abby added as she walked past.
"I shouldn't have been a purist." Kenny hurried after her.
"No. Slytherin is crappy on every level." Scorpius pushed the last ingredient into place.
"Do you ever wish you were sorted into a different house?" I smiled at the thought of Scorpius in Ravenclaw with me. "Imagine us together in the common room late at night by the fire-"
"A Ravenclaw Malfoy." Scorpius snorted. "Yeah, sure I wondered about it. But the only house I fit into is Slytherin."
"I don't believe that," I said. "You're too kind."
"It's not just about being kind. Anyone can be kind." Scorpius suddenly smiled. "You look really pretty today. Big beautiful brown eyes. Everything on your face is just the right size. Even your hands-"
"What do you want?"
Scorpius dropped his smile. "I'm manipulating you."
"Into doing what?" I laughed.
"Passing the book. I was about to get onto your hands and how they are the perfect size for book lifting." Scorpius' arm brushed against mine.
"Attention please!" Professor Redmond clapped her hands together at the top of the room. "Everyone has their ingredients? Everyone ready?" No response. Scorpius yawned beside me. "Right! Today you are in for a treat." She said, her Irish accent sharp and thick. Her 't's were making it rain spit. "The cure for boils was a first year warm up, the wiggenweld potion is a competition." I stood up straighter. "This will give you an idea of what the OWLs are really like. The rivalry, the speed and frustration." Professor Redmond put a hand to her heart. "You have until the end of class so a half hour. The first pair to present to me a quality potion that does what it's supposed to do will receive top marks- which will be added to your Christmas exam result."
Scorpius sat down on a stool beside me.
"This is not a sitting time," I whispered. My eyes had already gone back to my book, I scanned the instructions quickly making sure there were no gaps in my memory.
"You look like you're about to wet yourself, Rosie," Scorpius whispered back.
Professor Redmond chimed in. "When I say go…"
I shoved Scorpius. Abby cheered as he struggled to regain his balance.
"You are all to start. Remember to heat up the cauldron first…"
"You should not have done that," Scorpius whispered menacingly.
"Follow the instructions."
"I'm in this to win this," I muttered back.
"And I'll be right here if you need anything from a high shelf."
"Oh, shut up, Scorpius."
"Go!" Professor Redmond yelled.
I whipped out my wand and started boiling the water. Seconds later a cloud of steam rose up from my cauldron. Scorpius watched me with his cheek resting against his hand. I quickly glanced around the classroom, everyone was going much slower. Potter hadn't even started and Kenny and Abby were fighting over who got to stir.
"Should I read the instructions out?" Scorpius suggested, already sounding bored.
"Merlin, no."
"Merlin, Rose, lighten up." Scorpius started reading them anyway.
"Use the ruler."
"I can read."
"You could make a mistake."
"You are a control-freak." Scorpius raised an eyebrow at me. "Did you say earlier you had Bertie Bott's in your bag-"
"No eating over the potion!" I said exasperatedly. "How many times do I have to tell you?" I watched the first ingredient bubble and dissolve into a blue churning liquid. I pressed my lips together. The perfect potion. This had to be.
"A Weasley and a Malfoy." An all too familiar voice came from behind us. "Are you aware you're dating a ginger, Malfoy?"
Scorpius scowled. "Potter-"
"I think it's cute. Don't you think it's cute, Avery? Yes, you do." Potter was grinning, I didn't take my eyes off the potion but I knew he was. It was prodding my soul. I suddenly felt sick- my baby- the potion was in danger.
"Work on your own potion!" I snapped, moving onto step three- I had to be quick a five minute boiling time was coming in step five.
"This class is stupid!" Potter declared. "I just came over to tell you Ron Weasley is writing to me."
Scorpius stood up before I could respond.
"Leave her alone," Scorpius said dangerously quiet. "She does not deserve whatever 'joke' you're about to make."
Potter laughed, high and cold. "I was thinking of replying to him with something along the lines of this 'Malfoy and Weasel sitting in a tree doing and fuc-'"
"Miss Weasley, your potion should be blue not green."
"I know!" I snapped.
"Excuse me-"
"I know! I added the daisy roots before the dragon scales! It makes so much sense yet I couldn't do it!" I said hotly. And I was suddenly aware the entire room was silent and staring at me except for the Slytherins who were sniggering and staring. My eyes stung.
"Twenty points from Ravenclaw and start over."
"I can fix it." I retorted.
"This is a complex potion-"
"I know!"
"Another twenty points and perhaps a visit to your house head."
My stomach lurched. I hissed under my breath. That hurt.
"We'll start over, Professor," Scorpius said. "Potter distracted us. Didn't you say something at the start of class about people wandering around the classroom being a health and safety hazard?"
"Potter, Avery and Nott, go back to your desk. 5 points from Slytherin."
Potter shouldered Scorpius as he walked past.
"Back to work all of you!" The professor clapped her hands together.
Scorpius didn't bother with the potion, he started complaining about Potter I think. I couldn't understand a word he was saying. They all mushed and blurred together as my ears started ringing and my vision started to cartwheel. I really didn't feel good- but at the same time, I didn't have the energy to panic I accepted it. Potter, Potter, Potter played in my head. My hands gripping the edge of the table were the only things keeping me standing.
Then, without warning, gravity took me. Then Scorpius grabbed me back, his fingers digging into my upper arms. With the motion, my body jerked and my head and neck nodded painfully and suddenly everything was back in sharp focus. But my entire being felt weak.
Scorpius was cursing. He forced me to sit down ignoring me as I tried to push him away.
"I'm okay."
"You're not."
"I'm perfectly fine."
"Shut up. Professor?"
"Don't get that bitch," I muttered. Abby was beside me I realised when I heard her laugh. Scorpius' frown deepened. He looked way too serious for comfort.
"Dementor, dementor!" Someone yelled.
"Professor!" Scorpius snapped. "Can you get over here and do your job!" Scorpius looked at me- no he wasn't looking at me. He was looking in my direction. "Keep holding her up, Abby."
"I'm trying. She's heavier than she looks."
"I'm fine!" I protested. We were in the corridor leading to the Hospital Wing.
"You're not!" Scorpius snapped back. "Stop saying that. You were about to faint. It's a bloody miracle I caught you before you banged your head on the table."
"I'm sorry then," I whined. "Just let me go. There's nothing wrong with my legs-"
"And don't say that either," Scorpius said. "It's Potter's fault. And it's my fault I shouldn't have let him upset you- I didn't realise-"
"I just need some air and I'll be fine. It was roasting in there-"
"It was freezing-"
"Stop! Stop! Stop walking!" I pushed weakly against him. I slumped down onto a window sill. The cold stone was nice against the layer of sweat coating me.
Scorpius watched me for a second.
"We're almost there." He stated.
"I don't want to go to the Hospital Wing. There's no need."
Scorpius' features curled in anger for the fifteenth time. I looked away from him, out the window. I could see a blob that looked like Hagrid's hut from there.
A couple of seconds later Scorpius joined me. His breath started fogging up the window.
"How do you feel? Really?"
"Annoyed," I answered. "Embarrassed. That potion-"
"Forget. About. The. Potion."
"How do you feel?"
"This isn't about me," Scorpius scowled. "This is about my girlfriend who turned really pale, started sweating and could barely stand."
"So you're annoyed." I finished.
"What?" Scorpius raised his eyebrows. "Why the hell would I be annoyed?"
I shrugged. I didn't have an answer for once.
Scorpius stood up again. He was pacing I could hear his footsteps. "I know…"
"What?"
"But I don't know," Scorpius said.
He reached for my hands. He uncurled my fingers from the fists I was making and pulled me up slowly. He wrapped his arm around my waist. And we started walking again.
Scorpius sat beside me on the Hospital Wing bed waiting for Madam Pomfrey. I rested my head on his shoulder still holding his hand.
"Maybe you should lie down." He suggested.
"I don't want to," I replied.
"Then what do you want to do?" he said hotly. "You don't seem to want to do anything."
"Leave." I suddenly snapped, releasing his hand.
Scorpius looked taken back. "You can't."
"I meant you," I said coldly. "Get out. I can't take it-"
"Rosie," Scorpius said shortly. "I have never been more confused in my life."
I sighed as Scorpius' hand found mine again and squeezed it. "I'm sorry."
"You have nothing to apologise for. I think I'm being more snappy than you."
"Yes you are," I said into his shoulder.
A couple minutes later. Madam Pomfrey delivered her diagnoses: Hunger plus exhaustion.
Apparently forgetting to eat dinner and breakfast after travelling on a train all day was a message for disaster. Who knew? But Scorpius wasn't entirely convinced. He didn't say anything to me as he fished out the Bertie Bott's box from my bag and handed it to me without anyone telling him to.
I cradled the box in my hands. I didn't feel hungry. I hadn't felt hungry since… my excessive constant hunger suddenly felt like a childhood quirk.
"Eat," Scorpius stated. "Quit thinking."
You had to eat at the Burrow. At Hogwarts, it was up to you so I supposed that choice and lack of structure made all the difference.
I frowned at myself, Potter, Longford and the wizarding world for making me miss the meals and making this happen. I popped a strawberry bean into my mouth and suddenly felt very hungry.
"Will you come with me to the kitchens?"
Scorpius nodded but I could tell he wasn't listening. His lips were pressed together and his hands were clasped on his lap.
"It's your parents, isn't it?" Scorpius suddenly said. "That's why you were… you thought you were annoying, you kept saying you were fine. You thought you were taking up too much space or something."
"Too much space?"
"This is their fault. I hate them. They're dung."
I frowned. "I forgot to eat. I forgot to drink. I stayed up studying for class-"
"You what!?" Scorpius stood up. "Why in Merlin's name did you do that?"
"To get ahead," I said. It was obvious. I popped another bean in my mouth. "Some people care about school, Scorpius."
"Some people…" he trailed off.
"What? Go on!"
Scorpius' expression contorted again. "Some people are demented."
"I want to go to the kitchens. Are you coming or not?" I slowly got up, glaring at him.
"Fine."
"Oh, Merlin, we have Divination-"
"No one cares. Go to the kitchens." Scorpius grabbed my hand again and pulled along with him.
Author's note: Hope that wasn't too dark. The wizarding world in this fanfic is changing so naturally, it is going to have an impact on Rose and Scorpius (and let's not forget the attitude the Weasleys have taken). Everything is still going to have light, fluffy moments, don't worry. Thanks for reading and reviewing!
