Disclaimer: Don't own the characters that JK made up, but I do own the Roses in both of my stories, and a couple of other characters I made up.
A/N: This is not the same Rose as the one from my other story, I just really like the name Rose... Oh and please read my other story too, but keep in mind that the characters can be completely contrasting to each other so don't compare them with each other, because they aren't complementary fics.
He leaned towards her lips and she turned her head quickly, making him miss. But that obviously didn't matter to Michael Corner. He began to work his way from her ear to her lips very slowly.
"Help!" she screamed, dreading what Michael was planning to do. She could feel his free hand slide down her thigh and back up, beginning to slip under her shirt. She tried to slap him, but he caught her wrist and now held both arms in one hand. Rose could feel his lips moving along her cheek, towards her lips. The thought made her want to throw up. She struggled and he pushed her back up against a wall to prevent her from moving around.
"Help me! Ayuda me! Help!" she screamed, calling for someone to help her. His hand was under her shirt and was now moving upwards slowly and tauntingly.
Just as Michael's lips were about to lock on Rose's, a sudden burst of light threw him into the back wall. Rose collapsed to the ground in a heap. After about a second, Rose felt herself being lifted off the ground by a pair of strong arms.
She looked up into a pair of piercing gray eyes for a moment before the darkness took over.
Draco felt Rose's body go limp in his arms.
"Blaise, we've got to get her to the hospital wing. I guess we'd better take that scum too. It seems that my curse may have knocked him out," Draco said. When Draco had heard Rose screaming, he'd come running, and Blaise had come to back him up. Seeing Michael on Rose like that had made him strangely angry, and his disarming curse had been a little too strong.
Blaise levitated Michael, and he and Draco walked up the path to Hogwarts.
They walked into the hospital wing, and Blaise let Michael, who was finally coming around, drop hard on the floor. Draco called for Madame Pomfrey and laid Rose gently on a bed.
Madame Pomfrey came rushing over to them. "What's happened!"
Draco answered, "We aren't totally sure, but Rose seems to have blacked out."
"Ah, I see. Enervate!"
Rose's eyes blinked open and she gasped.
"Wha- where? How? Who?" she said, surveying the room.
Her eyes fell on Draco. He was sitting on the side of her bed, trying not to look worried. And then, she saw Michael Corner sitting dazedly on the floor. Everything came rushing back to her. She sprang off the bed and pulled out her wand. Michael tried to scoot away, but Rose kept advancing forward.
"What did you think you were going to do, Michael?" she hissed menacingly, preparing a spell in her head.
"Accio wand!" Madame Pomfrey shouted, catching Rose's wand in her left hand. She had thought that this would stop Rose, but she was wrong.
Michael's back was now against the wall, and Rose had clenched her fists.
"Rose, stop! Don't go hurting anyone now! You're Head Girl! You must set a good example!" Madame Pomfrey screeched.
Rose unclenched her fists. Madame Pomfrey let out a sigh of relief, but in a quick flurry of movement, Rose slapped Michael across the face hard.
"Don't you ever touch me again!" she said contemptuously, slapping him once more. Then, as if she had been sleepwalking, she walked back to the bed and fell asleep almost instantly.
"Well...I suppose she can sleep here for the moment. She'll be fine. Mr. Corner, you are free to go," Madame Pomfrey said, shooting a glare at Michael.
"Thank you for bringing her, boys. I'll send her along as soon as she wakes," she said to Draco and Blaise. Blaise headed for the door. Draco didn't move from his spot on the side of the bed.
"I...I think I should stay with her. Just for a little while," he muttered.
"Alright, I guess there's no harm in that, just so long as you don't disturb her sleep," Madame Pomfrey replied.
"See ya later, Draco," Blaise said, walking out the door.
Madame Pomfrey left Draco with a chair to sit on. He sat next to Rose's bed the rest of the afternoon, waiting for her to wake up. When nightfall approached, Draco dozed off, exhausted.
He woke suddenly some time later to the sound of crying. Rose was sitting up in her bed, her face in her hands, crying. Draco stood up and crawled onto the bed next to her, putting his arm around her shoulders, letting her cry into his chest.
"What's wrong?" he asked, unusually gentle.
"I...I was so helpless today. I tried to fight back, to get away...Oh Draco, if it wasn't for you...I don't know what would've happened...," she answered quietly, still crying.
"It's ok, Rose. It's over," he replied, slightly uncomfortable.
"Thank you, Draco."
After a while, they both fell back asleep in each other's arms, dreaming peacefully.
The next morning, Draco was the first one to wake up. He felt a head on his chest and saw Rose curled up next to him. She was still asleep.
"Rose...Rose wake up. It's morning."
Rose rolled over, covering her head with a pillow.
"No Papa. Cinco minutos mas, por favor," she muttered groggily, not fully awake.
Draco laughed and said, "Come on, Rose. You're going to be late for class," knowing that it would jolt her awake in a second.
Just as Draco had predicted, Rose sat bolt upright.
"Relax. I was just kidding. It's Sunday," he said, still laughing.
She threw a pillow at him.
"Come on, let's go get some breakfast," she said, rolling off the bed. Draco walked with her to the Great Hall.
Before they reached the doors, Rose looked at Draco and said quietly, "Please don't tell anyone about this. If word of it got to my... Well, just don't tell ok?"
Draco nodded and they continued to walk.
When they reached the doors, they split up, both going to eat at their own house tables like the whole thing had never happened.
In the week following the Hogsmeade incident, Rose had been avoiding Draco at all costs. Although he couldn't figure out why, Rose knew perfectly well why she had to stay away from him. The only other person who knew was Ginny, but she had been sworn to secrecy.
Avoiding Draco proved to be a harder task than Rose had prepared for. Not only did they share a dormitory, but they had all the same classes together as well. Rose took to skipping meals just to escape him. He kept trying to talk to her, but whenever he came near her for anything other than official Head Boy duties, she bolted.
Ginny, of course, knew why she was doing this, and couldn't help but think that it was stupid. She knew that despite the fact that they both acted like they weren't meant for each other, they really were a perfect match.
One day during breakfast, Ginny walked over to the Slytherin table and sat down next to Blaise. She didn't know him very well, except that he was Draco's best friend...the second hottest guy in school. She fought the blush that was creeping up her freckled face.
Making sure that Draco was out of earshot and that Rose wasn't around, Ginny turned towards Blaise, who had an expression of curiosity on his face.
"Okay, I don't know if you'll agree, but you're Draco's best friend and you're my only hope if I want any help hooking him up with Rose," she said. His expression encouraged her to continue to explain her plan.
Draco sat sullenly at the other end of the table with some other Slytherins whose names he didn't remember. He couldn't stop thinking about Rose. Why was she avoiding him? It made no sense! He had thought that everything had been going smoothly, but apparently he had been wrong. She wouldn't even stick around lessons afterwards so that he could talk to her. Something was definitely up, and he needed to find out what.
That day after Potions class, Draco ran to the door before Rose could slip out. When she saw Draco waiting for her, Rose panicked. She waited until everyone had gotten out of the classroom and tried to leave. Draco blocked the door.
"Rose, what's wrong with you lately? Why won't you talk to me?" he asked, knowing it sounded pathetic.
"Draco, please move out of the way. We're going to be late for class," she replied coolly, managing to hide her real feelings only slightly.
"No, not until you tell me what's going on."
"Draco, get out of the way."
"No."
"Get out of the way!"
"No!"
"Yes!"
"No!
"YES!"
"NO!"
The students in the corridor greeted this noise with groans, thinking that things were going to go back to normal, with Draco and Rose waking up the whole castle each morning.
"DRACO! MOVE!" Rose shouted loudly.
"NOT UNTIL YOU TELL ME WHAT'S GOING ON!"
"We're going to be late for class and it will be all your fault!"
"Well, we'll just have to be late to class then won't we."
Rose threw a book from her pile at him. He dodged it and Rose ran through the door, heading for their next class.
Defeated, Draco picked up the book she had thrown at him. He turned it over in his hands, realizing that it was not a book. It was a diary. It was black and had pink embroidered words on it. He could read the letters, but he assumed it must be Spanish, because he couldn't interpret what it said. Draco tucked it in his robes for safe keeping. He could examine it later, but for now he had to get to class.
After the day was finished, Rose went to go sit in her bedroom and do her schoolwork, since that was one of the only places that Draco couldn't immediately get into. As she was looking through her books, she noticed something missing. Her diary, the book she kept at the top of her pile, was gone. And then, she remembered the thing she had thrown at Draco this morning.
She had to find it. Draco had probably picked it up, but she knew that he couldn't open it, because it was locked with a charm, and even if he did open it, it was all in Spanish anyways.
Rose darted from the room and ran down the corridor. Then, all of a sudden, she was on the ground. She had bumped into the very person she had been looking for.
"Give me my diary," she said, looking Draco straight in the eye.
"I can't. Since you won't tell me what's going on, I figured your diary might be able to."
"No! Draco, please, just give it back. Besides, you won't be able to read it."
"I already broke the charm you had locking it. Now all I have to do is find that Ravenclaw girl to translate," he said, grinning wickedly, obviously pleased with himself.
"Give it to me!" Rose screamed launching herself at him in an attempt to grab the little book he was holding. She accidentally knocked him to the ground, landing on top of him.
"If I didn't know any better, I'd guess you liked tackling me," Draco said with a sardonic smirk.
Rose screamed in frustration and ran down the corridor, away from Draco. Draco hadn't planned on reading her diary. It just wasn't the kind of thing he would do, but he always enjoyed pestering Rose. Then he remembered that he hadn't given her back her diary. He would just have to leave it in her room.
Draco walked slowly back to the dormitories. He just couldn't understand why Rose was avoiding him. He knew only one way to get answers. He would have to ask Ginny.
After slipping Rose's diary under her door, Draco walked to the portrait of the Fat Lady. Being Head Boy, the Fat Lady had to let him through. He walked in and saw Harry sitting at the table studying.
"Harry, have you seen Ginny?" Draco asked, walking over to the table.
"Yeah, she's over there by the fireplace," he answered. If he was surprised to see Draco in the Gryffindor Commonroom, he didn't show it. Ginny, who had heard her name, didn't look too surprised either.
"So, you and Rose have another fight? You really have to work on that if you want to get her to like you back," she said knowingly.
Draco hadn't realized how obvious his infatuation with Rose was. He looked ruffled.
"I...you...how did you know?" he stammered.
"Well, I don't know if you've noticed, but everyone knows that you have a thing for Rose," she replied matter-of-factly.
"Wha...I...uh..."
"So what happened, where is she?"
"She ran. She got angry when I didn't give her her diary back right away."
"You stole her diary?"
"No! She threw it at me when we were leaving our potions class," he said.
"Of course. Um...why don't you go do something while I find Rose. Come to our table at dinner. She does like you back you know, but pranking her is definitely not the best way to win her over."
"Alright, thanks," Draco replied. He walked out into the corridor and decided to go for a walk around the lake.
He walked along the path, arguing to himself.
'She likes me, but she won't speak to me. Maybe Ginny was wrong, maybe Rose doesn't like me. But then why is she so worried about me reading her diary?' he mused to himself, not watching where he was going. He bumped into Ron, and startled himself out of his reveries.
"Sorry about that, Ron," he said, helping him up.
"No harm done. Anyways, why're you out here? Is it Rose?" Ron asked, brushing himself off.
"Is it really that obvious? We just got in some stupid fight."
"Really? That's an odd coincidence. Me and Hermione are in a row too! Something about not wanting to hurt me or somat. It's all rather stupid, really," Ron said.
"Girls. They're way too complicated for their own good."
"Definitely."
As this conversation was going on, Ginny was pestering Rose in the Great Hall, where she'd found her.
"Rose why are you avoiding Draco? He likes you! The least you could do is talk to him. Besides, you're not accomplishing anything by ignoring him," Ginny argued.
"It's not that I don't like him! I really do! It's just that...well there are other things that complicate the situation...," Rose replied, not saying what those other things were.
"Such as...?"
"Well, for one thing, we always argue. And, even if we were to...get together, it would probably never last...mostly because of my family...but also, what kind of example would it be if the Head Boy and Girl were caught...kissing or something?"
"Rose, don't you realize that all of those things can be compromised? You two could stop arguing, although just because you fight doesn't mean you have a bad relationship. Look at Hermione and Ron! And, if you don't kiss in public, then you won't have to worry about the last one. The one big problem is your family... But, they don't have to know! Just don't get caught and you're alright."
"I don't know...maybe...but I just don't know..." Rose replied, beginning to cave.
"Well, why don't you try it out? You two can get together and see how it goes. Then you can make your decision," Ginny suggested, sounding hopeful.
"Well...that doesn't sound like a bad idea, but what about my family? If they find out..."
"Relax! They're not going to. Please, just try it? It'll be good for both of you," Ginny pleaded.
"Ok, but only if he asks. I won't be doing a turnabout and asking him."
"Great! Oh, Rose, it's so good to see you smiling again!" Ginny exclaimed to Rose's smiling face. Rose laughed.
Meanwhile, outside, Ron and Draco felt their stomachs rumble.
"We'd better be getting inside; we're going to miss supper! And besides, Ginny might have talked to Rose already," Draco said.
"Not to mention, I'm starving!" Ron replied, walking towards the castle with Draco. They walked to the Great Hall and went over to the Gryffindor table. To Draco's surprise, Rose was sitting right next to Ginny, eating a little bit of dinner for once. He sat down next to her.
"Rose...I-" Draco started, but Rose cut him off.
"Draco, wait. I...I'm sorry for avoiding you...I just wasn't thinking straight..."
"So does this mean we're talking again?" Draco asked hopefully.
"Of course," she said smiling. Draco smiled back and walked back over to the Slytherin table in a daze.
After dinner, everyone went back to their commonrooms. Rose and Draco sat on the couch next to each other.
"This next Hogsmeade weekend shouldn't be as hard to organize as the last," Rose said brightly, although she hadn't forgotten about Michael.
"Definitely not. Rose I was wondering...would you like to spend the day with me at Hogsmeade?"
"That... would be nice. I'd love to," Rose replied, relieved. This was a date and protection from Michael. Draco had made the first move too, exactly like she'd wanted.
Draco let out the breath he had been holding. He had never felt so nervous about a girl before. Most girls had asked him first anyways, but Rose wasn't like any of them. They were all flirty and annoying. They had no grace, and he only went out with them for the sake of having a girlfriend. Rose was different. Rose had confidence, grace, intelligence, leadership, integrity... everything that Draco could ever want in a girl. He could tell that she didn't want to rush into things, but he couldn't help falling for her.