Scorpius and I sat on the shore of the Black Lake taking in the last rays of the summer sun. There was already a nip in the air. I rested my head on Scorpius' shoulder while he flipped through chapter 101 in his DADA book, underlining and doggy-earring it (for Merlin's sake!).
He laughed when I told him for the fifth or so time that his treatment of the book was like shoving a knife slowly and repeatedly into my heart. I shut my eyes trying to ignore the crime my boyfriend was committing and was faced again with how heavy my thoughts felt. They swirled around my mind like water going down a drain, every word, every sentence about my parents, my future and school was repetitive and absolutely useless. Everything felt out of control. The death eaters hadn't just taken Uncle Harry…
There was a loud plop in the water as Hagrid no doubt again threw a rock the size of my head at the horizon instead of a pebble. Scorpius released a small sigh and pressed his cheek to the top of my head.
I opened my eyes. "Are you okay, Hagrid?" I called to the large figure with his pants rolled up. He was too deep in the Black Lake for me or Scorpius to go out and not have to swim back.
Hagrid cleared his throat, examining the pebble in the centre of his large palm. "Don't worry about me, Rosie. Just have a lot on me mind is all." Hence us finding Hagrid trying to pass the time by skipping stones. "I doubt I'm alone in that."
Afer a solid thirty seconds of not knowing how to respond to that, I answered, "Okay." My voice was pinched.
Scorpius chuckled. I un-doggy eared one of his pages.
I straightened and stood up, running my hands down the creases in my robes needing something to do with my hands.
"Hagrid," my every step was backed by the crunching sound of the stony shore. "How was your day?"
Hagrid's back was still facing me. "Teachin' and…" he thought for a second. "Tryin' to keep some third years that have no manners away from the hippogriffs." He shook his head. "I've been meanin' to ask yeh and Scorp have yeh seen Lily, Al and the rest of the family around? All I've seen is Freddie and James up to no good."
I turned back to Scorpius to see if he had. He grinned at me for a different reason when I looked at him. I shifted my focus back to Hagrid. "No," I said. "They are at Hogwarts I have seen glances of them but… sometimes it feels like their avoiding me and cutting themselves off-"
"Not Potter though," Scorpius added in helpfully.
"Yeah, Potter's a different subject."
Hagrid's bushy eyebrows furrowed. A silver and brown caterpillar.
"You look like you have a bad feeling," Scorpius said with a humous edge to his voice.
"Yeah, Scorp, I do. By the looks of it a storm's comin' and we all best be ready when she does."
I bit my lip, my eyes following Hagrid's to the clouds up ahead, slowly drifting towards the sun. They weren't typical fluffy and white clouds they were dark and broken.
"What kind of umbrella would you recommend?" Scorpius asked deadpanned.
I threw him a look but thankfully Hagrid was too immersed in the clouds to have heard Scorpius.
Scorpius held up his hands and said to me. "You're paranoia is spreading, Rosie."
I reached down and splashed some cold lake water in his direction, dotting the end of his pants and shoes.
He mouthed a very bad word at me.
"We'll look out for Lily though," I said, purposely leaving out the others. And feeling a pang of meanness in my chest. Was I becoming just as bad as them? I looked at Scorpius, catching him watching me. Like he could read my thoughts he said in gently. "Come here, Gorgeous, my left side's cold."
He stretched his arm towards me. I scowled at 'gorgeous' and how many other better adjectives he could've used but still sat down next to his cold left side. I swung my legs over his so I could nestle my face into his chest. I wanted hide from the world and Hagrid who had gone back to throwing stones like I hadn't even spoken to him. Scorpius' Defence book concealed my face.
"Still on for Hogsmeade?" Scorpius asked, turning the page in his book trying to appear oh-so-casual and cool.
"We're starting to run low sweets," I answered.
Scorpius nodded, accepting that as a yes.
I skimmed a paragraph on wand movement before feeling… bored. This was not our normal. I read books with Abby. I was used to having Scorpius' attention always on me as well as his hands. I was starting to become jealous of a three hundred page book.
The truth, I thought inhaling his scent, was I had been thinking about kissing him all day, deeply and privately. The thoughts of his warm touch and his equally warm lips made me grin when Flitwick was telling us about biting teacups and made Abby hit me over the head with her homework when I laughed at one of Kenny's dry remarks on the importance of getting to class on time.
"Scorpius." Abby had tutted like his name was a deadly disease.
I ran my fingers along the end of his jumper. Half out of curiosity to see what he would do and half out of something I couldn't name that beat like a second heart beside my own.
He jolted like my touch on his clothing was electric. I drew my hand back, my cheeks flushing with colour.
Before Scorpius or I could really react Hagrid turned back to us. And called, "Will yeh tell Hugo to visit, Rosie? I would like that."
I nodded, not trusting myself to speak and wanting him to turn back around again so I could understand why I could feel Scorpius' heart pounding faster than mine own.
Hagrid instead walked too slowly out of the water and collected his moleskin coat from a rock- again too slow.
He paused to look at us, frozen in an awkward position, with raised eyebrows. "Are ye comin' then for some tea?"
Scorpius and I shook our heads.
"Well yeh better go inside it's about to rain, the air is gettin' thick." He held out his arms like he was about to sandwich the both of us but thought better of it. "Be careful though, the both of ye, times are changin' again…" he trailed off, waving over his shoulder.
Scorpius exhaled heavily onto the nape of my neck making me shiver. His nose was pressed under my ponytail and his book was no longer in his hands. He had his palms pressed against my stomach, holding me to him.
I closed my eyes trying to enjoy this moment. And trying not to think about what might come after it, all the scary places his touch could go or what he was thinking right then.
But that moment was quickly over.
I turned to him my lips meeting his without hesitation. The position was hurting my neck but like a pro I turned my body and his hands easily slithered to my spine. I ran my hands through his hair, it was blonde, it was soft and it was brilliant.
My mouth involuntarily parted taking his lead, his tongue brushed against mine. My heart sped up and my hands slipped from his hair to the crook on either side of his neck.
"Rosie," he murmured his voice lower than usual, the sound vibrated through my bones. He pulled away trailing kisses across my cheek and down my neck, stopping at the neck of my jumper. I held my breath. Wanting him to do it again and again. I could never get sick of his lips on my skin. I did the same to him until I ran out of skin.
I pulled back and we looked at each other's flushed faces for a second, Scorpie's a baby pink and mine was danger-sign red. Scorpius' eyes were clear, taking in every detail of me like I was going to be on a test. I bit my lip forcing back a smile. A smile felt too loud for this moment and I didn't want to shatter it.
He put his hand on my waist and under my jumper. He was going to take off my jumper, I knew, something he had done enough times to do with his eyes closed. But he dropped his hand his eyebrows meeting suddenly.
"We should get back up to the castle." He said, in a far-off voice.
"What's wrong?" I cupped his cheek in my hand, meeting his silver eyes. The smile I had been forcing back broke out across my face.
That made him smile in return. "Nothing. You're too perfect."
"Scorpie." I kissed his pointed chin.
He didn't return that. "Rosie… I want too much of you too fast."
"What do you want?" I beamed at him. My stomach tugged, the fireworks between us dissolving into nerves.
"I'll let you know when I can put it into words." Scorpius tucked a stray strand of hair behind my ear. "But right now I'm fine and your smile really says it all."
I wrapped my arms around his middle pulling him into a tight hug. "The mystery is annoying me."
"Keeping it interesting." He smirked into my hair.
Scorpius and I walked hand in hand back up to the castle, our hands swinging in the tiney, tiny gap between us.
"Hagrid was right," I squinted up at the clouds that were now maliciously dark over us. The sun was now nowhere in sight.
Scorpius stopped, squinting somewhere other than the sky. "Where's Potter going with his gang?"
I stood beside him behind one of the standing stones in front of the wooden bridge. "Let's follow them." I stepped forward, Scorpius' hand weighed me down and pulled me back beside him.
"Let's get hexed." He snorted.
"No, let's see what creepy things they are up to in the Forbidden Forest."
"No thanks, I'm starving and do not want to rescue you."
I scowled meeting his eyes. "More like the other way around. It's important…" I trailed off looking back at the Forbidden Forest. Potter and his thugs had vanished, no doubt into it dark cover the trees provided. "Maybe we should tell, Hagrid?"
Scorpius cocked his head like I was a puzzle he had to solve. "I really don't see how that would improve my life."
I groaned, over-dramatic but more effective than an eye roll. "Fine," I gave in. My stomach was craving the pie I heard was going to be served at dinner tonight anyway. "Only because I can't see them anymore." And walking down there and going to the forest looking for them would be almost impossible.
Scorpius pulled me towards the bridge with mock struggle, making me laugh.
"Whatever happened to my scarf that you used to never take off?" he asked, his fingers brushing against my bare neck teasingly.
I looked up at the wooden roof of the bridge. "Yeah, Pumpkin decided it was his and he stole it for his nest." The nest at the end of my bed that consisted of my clothes and clothes that, I hoped, were Scorpius'. I left out the part about the neck sweat that scarf had to suffer through in the hotter weather and how faded and fuzzy the wool was starting to look.
"I'll give you another one." He stated simply and perfectly.
"If you have a spare…"
Scorpius shook his head. "Stop trying to be polite. I know you really don't care."
"I won't be changing the colours this time."
Scorpius raised his eyebrows. "Is that against the rules?" he tested.
"Ha! I already double checked it says nothing in the rule book about wearing a different house scarf. After all everyone does it at quidditch."
Scorpius kissed my cheek quickly but too affectionately to be considered casual. "Have a mentioned I love you?"
I looked blankly at him. "No, not ever."
Just then someone brushed forcibly passed me and Scorpius' smile dropped to into a grimace. His other hand gripped onto my arm. I turned to see James and Fred passing, Fred's hand digging into James' arm trying so very hard to keep him on a leash.
I held my breath. It was like trying to stop a speeding train. Five steps away from us James shook Fred's hand off him and marched over to me and Scorpius with hate written in capital letters across his narrowed pupils.
"How's it going, Rose?" he asked shortly, stopping in front of me. Rose not Rosie. I notice with a pang of pride Scorpius was taller than James and Fred. I squeezed Scorpius' hand, reminding myself this was my boyfriend, this was my 'secret' life on full display for the school.
"Fine," I replied equally as curt. "Hagrid's looking for you. How are you?"
"My father's missing but I suppose I could be becoming a bigot pureblood."
Fred's hand was on James' shoulder, but loosely.
"Don't speak to her like that," Scorpius said dangerously low.
I stepped in front of Scorpius. "You mean like your brother, Potter." I spat.
His eyes flashed but he turned on Scorpius. "Stay away from her unless your dad craves a cold cell in Azkaban." Scorpius' wand was under James' chin in a second. He released my hand. And James' face contorted into shock.
"I'm a seventh year you pureblood prick." James snarled. "And you're letting him do this, Rose? Does Uncle Ron know? What about Aunt Hermione? Hugo even? Grandad- oh I'm sure he'd like a pureblood around that looks at you like that-"
I raised my own wand. "This is your warning, James. Stay away from us."
"It's obvious to everyone you are a total slut."
There was a horrible pause. That made Fred's eyes go wide, me freeze and Scorpius punch James with enough force to knock him over.
James wheezed on the floor clutching his eyes.
"Don't speak to her again." Scorpius stood over him, sparks flying out of the end of his wand in a shower. "Don't even look at her." James made a move to stand up but Scorpius was faster. "Petrificus Totalus." His words were barely a murmur. James' outraged expression and tense limbs were frozen in time.
My mouth was hanging open and continued to hang open as Scorpius pulled me from the bridge and into the Entrance Hall, his grip tight and hot. His face was pale with anger as he cursed under his breath.
His wand was still out when Abby and Kenny jumped up off a bench to meet us.
"Tea!" Abby exclaimed. "Tea! Tea!" she pulled at my robes. "What happened? You look like you were just knocked out by some bitch."
I held onto Abby's shoulder's swaying. My legs felt tingly and numb.
Kenny shook his head at our exchange and nodded pointedly at Scorpius' hand. "You're bleeding."
"What?" I gasped at the same time Scorpius let out an anti-climatic 'oh'.
I grabbed his hand between mine examining his already obviously bruised knuckles and down the centre, the skin was broken and red raw.
"It's fine." I exhaled. "I can fix it."
Scorpius tore his hand away from me, anger still clear on his expression.
"It's not fine, Rose." He replied sharply but I knew he wasn't referring to his hand.
I picked up his hand again stubbornly as Abby watched wide-eyed waiting for the 'tea' to spill.
"It's a bloody miracle you didn't break your wand." I huffed.
"Whatever." Scorpius snapped. "Why in Merlin's name would he think he has any right to speak to you like that?"
"How am I suppose to know?" I said hotly. "You…" I trailed off none of the words I had lined up felt right. "Shouldn't have…" Scorpius waited his expression growing darker by the second I stalled. I dropped his hand. I couldn't be fair to both of them and I knew exactly where my loyalty lay and who I wanted to be fair to. I pulled Scorpius down to my level by his tie and kissed him as softly as I could. I felt him relax instantly at my touch. Someone whistled and others exploded with laughter and comments.
Abby gagged and Kenny looked the other way.
"Thank you," I whispered, releasing his tie. "Scorpie."
"Why are you a hero, Scorpie?" Abby asked, breaking Scorpius' wide-eyed tranced.
"For the tenth time, Rosie is the only one allowed to address me like that."
Abby flipped her hair over her shoulder. "Spoiled sport."
Scorpius and I informed Kenny and Abby quickly what had happened. And that resulted in many swear words and curses being used by Abby and Scorpius.
"Let me fix it," I said as we watched Abby and Kenny disappear into the Great Hall. The door opening let out a waft of delicious food. But my stomach only churned at the smell. I was holding Scorpius' hand between my own again.
"I'm fine, Rosie, it doesn't even hurt." Then he proceeded to hiss as I rubbed my thumb against the battered skin. "Fine, fine, FINE! Make it quick."
I did the spell not really thinking about it. My mind wandered off to all the dark places it liked to go. Thinking about James and Uncle Harry, Mum and Dad and why Scorpius seemed to be the only one defending me these days. The last one was one of my most burning questions. Not that I couldn't defend myself. It was a nice gesture and said a lot about what Scorpius thought of me.
Scorpius flexed his hand as we walked into the Great Hall. "I'll get you that scarf, Rosie."
He cut across my thoughts and I gave him a small smile, that made a bigger one stretch across his face.
"Thanks, Scorpie," I beamed before we were forced to go our separate ways.
And then, I was back beside Abby pushing my food around my plate and trying not to acknowledge the wave of sadness that had suddenly build up inside my chest. It was going to crash soon. I knew it.
"Rose," Abby said sternly. "Laugh at my joke it's funny."
Kenny didn't look up from his book. "It isn't. It doesn't grammatically make sense."
Abby rolled her eyes to the bewitched ceiling. "Every night, Kenny, I wonder why I still go to class and participate in the 'world'. Then you say something like that and I want to jump off the Astronomy Tower and spend eternity with Dumbledore. But then I think about the unicorn Hagrid promised to show us one day and my purpose in life is renewed. I would like to thank you for that, Kenny. You've created a beautiful cycle." Abby wiped a non-existent tear from her eye.
I shifted in my seat and started chewing on a piece of chicken, it tasted dry and I felt like I couldn't grind it down enough into something I could swallow.
Abby's arm was suddenly around my neck making me swallow involuntarily. "Ravenclaw quidditch tryouts are 48 hours away. I will keep announcing it because I want to be that person with friends screaming their name in the stand." She winked at the sixth year captain. He dropped his fork with a clattered onto his plate. "Yes, Kenny, I want to be that annoying person. And Scorpius will be there so it will be multi-cultural."
"Purebloods are the furthest thing from multi-cultural," Kenny stated and I couldn't really disagree.
"Scorpius said he will be there." I slid out from under Abby's arm. "And he likes quidditch so he can explain to me what's going on."
"No kissing please," Abby scolded. "Kenny, imagine the number of kids Rose and Scorp are going to have!"
I cheeks coloured but despite myself, I laughed.
"Bets!" Abby exclaimed. "Place your bets!" she pointed at Kenny.
Kenny deadpanned said. "One."
"Five!" Abby cried out. "No seven-"
"Two or three." I answered. Earning myself a nudge, nudge from Abby. "Place your bets!" I called out. "How many children will Abby and Kenny have?"
Kenny snorted.
Abby gasped. "Ten and they will all be girls and named after Disney princesses-"
Abby was cut off by the sound of cutlery being dropped and people from all the house tables suddenly getting up. I looked up at the staff table to see it was empty. A chill went down my spine.
"What's happening?" I called at a fifth year hurrying past us over the voices.
"Someone's after opening the Chamber of Secrets again."
"What?!" both me and Abby exclaimed in different tones. Abby's being excited, mine being fearful. But we both jumped up at the same time and followed the crowd. Kenny being Kenny stayed in his safe zone with his books and pie. I beckoned at a confused looking Scorpius who was pushing through the crowd to meet us.
I held onto Scorpius' hand not wanting to lose him and Abby decided it was appropriate to hold my other hand. It was too packed and loud to bother explaining it to Scorpius or ask what he knew. The crowd led us to the corridor running along the ground floor classrooms. There we were met with Headmistress McGonagall's voice, hoarse with age, telling the students crammed in the corridor to go back to their houses.
Scorpius cursed under his breath, his eyebrows nearly at his hairline. He was the only one of us that could see what was going on, me and Abby jumped uselessly. Scorpius didn't need to be told this was a once in lifetime opportunity to pick me. He easily lifted me by my armpits and I could just about make out the top of something pointy drawn at the end of the corridor in scarlet. It was too thick and violent to be paint. Scorpius put me down and I staggered into Abby.
"Me next!" She exclaimed.
"No!" Scorpius replied sternly. "You're going to start something."
"Was that blood?" I wiped my hands off the front of my robes like I was covered in it.
Scorpius looked back at it. "Not sure." He mouthed.
"So an angry girl painted the wall with period blood." She said loud enough for even Scorpius to hear her. "Recreating the Ginny Potter scene."
"It looks like a lot more than your average period."
"I wouldn't know," Scorpius smirked.
"Go throw yourself and your gender down the stairs, Scorp." Abby scowled.
And like shepherds come to herd their sheep the head boy and head girl stood up on a window sill. The head girl, who looked like she just stepped out of Witch Weekly but with sporty French braids instead of waves and layers, pointed her wand at her neck. Her voice boomed through the corridor. "By order of Headmistress McGonagall, all years are to be escorted back to their common rooms immediately by their house prefects. If you don't start moving detentions will be handed out."
No one budged.
McGonagall appeared. "The first quidditch match of the season will be cancelled if you all are not out of this corridor in thirty seconds."
The crowd suddenly started moving out of the corridor and me who wasn't prepared and who (spoiler alert) hated quidditch was almost trampled.
Scorpius pecked my temple at the Grand Staircase where our paths divided. "Sleep tight, Rosie." Like there was nothing wrong, like he was immortal.
We were torn apart by the crowd. I linked arms with Abby trying not to plummet to my death with the shoving Ravenclaws and Gryffindors.
"Do you think there's a basilisk or do you think it's a joke?" I asked Abby. I was trying to reason with myself. It was probably a joke. But the timing with everything that was going on… nothing really felt like a joke anymore and no one was laughing in the corridor. A couple of first years were even crying.
"Maybe Hagrid purchased a basilisk," Abby patted my back like that was reassuring.
