"Just put on your best party dress and hurry up or we are going to be late!" Lily Potter shouted while smacking the door to the fifth year Gryffindor girls' dormitory bathroom. She'd been fully dressed and ready to go for nearly twenty minutes, and truthfully, they'd been due half an hour past. She'd been trying to coax her anxious friend out for at least fifteen. "I am begging you!" The response was too quiet to be coherent through the door.
Rose walked in without knocking. Her entire greeting was, "Albus is looking for you."
Lily resorted to knocking at an obnoxiously quick pace, whining as she bounced with impatience.
"What's the hold up?" Rose asked, eyebrow raised at the sight.
Lily heaved a sigh and flopped her arms to her sides, pouting at her cousin. "Kitty keeps changing her mind about her outfit," she explained softly, hands on her hips as she paced. "Kathryn Augustine Bloom, you gorgeous brat, you have a date with one scrumptious snack of a man who would drool if you showed up in a potato sack, for heaven's sake!" Lily bellowed to her hidden friend.
Rose snorted, tossing her an incredulous look. "Isn't she going to the ball with Scorpius Malfoy?"
"Yes." It was Lily's turn to raise a brow. "Even your petty grudge match with that Adonis can't blind you to that jawline, surely?"
"I'm not going to dignify that with a response."
Before Lily could wax poetic about Malfoy's abs or whatever verbal nausea was about to spill out of her grinning mouth, the bathroom door opened to reveal Kitty Bloom, fully dressed and either quite made up or blushing herself three shades darker. She wore a dark red halter strapped column dress that complemented her warm complexion and long legs, elongated even further by sparkly heels that looked dangerous to walk in.
"I hope you've charmed those shoes because it's time to go," Rose said, ushering the girls out of the dormitory with a bowing wave. "Come on."
As they scampered down the steps, Kitty tossed a sheepish look at Lily. "He is quite handsome, isn't he?"
Behind the giggling girls, Rose rolled her eyes. "He's a real heartbreaker."
It was the 25th Anniversary of the Battle of Hogwarts, and Headmaster Longbottom had orchestrated a Memorial Ball with many alumni in attendance. That evidently included not only most of the Weasley-Potter clan, but the Malfoys as well. Rose's only solace was that her father was as vexed by this as she was. She hardly knew anything about the rest of them on a personal level, but she'd heard stories from her older relatives, she'd read history books, and most damningly of all: she'd been subject to the presence of Scorpius Malfoy for five and a half long years. She felt justified in scowling at the number of pale blondes in the hall.
"Stop glowering," Albus chided with a lopsided grin as he sidled up her. "Your face is going to get stuck like that."
Her shoulders relaxed, and she gave him a tight smile in return, but her gaze was still drawn to the off-white git waltzing around with actual cinnamon roll Kitty Bloom on his arm. "He's going to hurt her," she predicted solemnly.
Al gave a long suffering sigh, but his tone remained light. "And what makes you think that?"
"His track record, for one."
"Sure, he's had some messy breakups, but I'd hardly say his track record is any worse than anyone else's."
"Have you forgotten what he did to Elspeth Avery?" When Al opened his mouth to respond with some attempt to placate her, she cut him off by adding, "To you?"
His face turned to stone. "Rose." His tone was so stern she looked back at him in alarm. "That's ancient history. Scorp's my best mate. I forgave him a long time ago." He shook his head at her, brow pinched. "So why haven't you?"
Al's voice was so...softly disappointed that it brought a sinking feeling to her heart. It might have been enough to make her think twice, if not for the sight of Kitty Bloom fleeing the Great Hall. Rose's eyes tracked her path over Al's shoulder, jaw tensing as she took in the fists Kitty swept across her eyes; and the tears that stained her best party dress.
Rose's eyes snapped back to her cousin just as he was starting to step away. "That's why," she hissed, jabbing a finger in the direction of Kitty's retreating form. Al turned to see what she was pointing at. By the time he turned back, Rose was gone.
"Oh, bugger..." Albus groaned. The air was already full of frenzy and tension, but he had the distinct feeling it was about to ignite.
"What did you do?!"
Scorpius winced at the demanding voice of Rose Weasley booming over his shoulder. He closed his eyes for a moment, suppressing a groan. He really didn't need this right now.
"You swine, you-"
"Weasley, calm down," he practically mumbled as he turned to face her head on, hands slipping into his pockets.
"-absolute worm! Kitty is a precious angel of a girl and you should feel blessed that she so much as looked at your conceited, arrogant, heartless arse yet here you are-"
Scorpius pinched the bridge of his nose. "This is not the time for your drama, Red."
She could hit him. "My drama? Oh, I'll bring the drama, Malfoy, you piece of-"
People were staring. His grandfather was staring. Scorpius clenched his jaw. "Red," he tried. She kept screaming. "Weasley." Still screaming. "Oi, you cantankerous bint," he snapped, stepping into her space. She faltered for a fraction of a second, but there was a wildfire in her eyes. He scowled and grabbed her wrist, pulling toward the nearest exit.
"Get your hands off me, you oaf!"
"You're making a scene."
"You started it!"
He raised a brow at her, but continued to wrestle her out the door and down a dimly lit corridor. When she finally shook off his grip, she shoved him against the wall with surprising force. "Whoa, now!" He shook his hair out of his face, one corner of his mouth turning up despite himself. "Careful. Under normal circumstances, I might consider this flirting." The wild way her curls flew around her increasingly flushed cheeks did wonders for her, really. How she'd been put into Slytherin with Al and him when she was so clearly full of that Gryffindor fire was ever a mystery. She pressed her arm to the base of his throat. It didn't help. Is she standing on her tiptoes? he wondered.
"What is wrong with you?"
"I'm sure you have a list somewhere."
Rose shook her head, itching to pull her wand on him. Instead, she took a few deep breaths (not an easy feat when his eyes were roaming her like that), then shoved off him and stepped back. The way he winced gave her some satisfaction, at least.
She hoped a brick jabbed him somewhere sensitive. "You just couldn't help yourself, could you?"
His eyes met hers steadily. "You don't know what you're talking about."
"You break everything you touch." He flinched, but she gave no quarter. "Do you even know what you do to people? No, you- of course you do. You just don't care."
He didn't respond. His throat wouldn't let him. So he glued his eyes to the floor. She scoffed. He tried lifting his eyes, but didn't make it to her face. Instead, his gaze stopped near her waist. He couldn't meet her eyes. The wildfire was one thing; he was used to her outbursts by now. If anything, he found them entertaining. She was a force to be reckoned with, sure, but he found her equal parts intimidating and attractive whenever her face turned red and her eyes sparked. This was different. She wasn't yelling anymore. Her voice was steely, beyond her usual contempt. He didn't want to see her look at him like he was something disgusting she'd found smeared on the bottom of her shoe.
He couldn't handle it.
If he had to find a silver lining, it was that his voice didn't break when he rasped out, "You really hate me, huh?"
"You know, Malfoy... I hope you fall in love one day."
Brow furrowed, he bent forward away from the wall and chanced a startled glance up at her. The tonal shift made no sense. Her face looked almost wistful, nothing like the repulsion and rage from just seconds prior. This girl was going to give him whiplash. "What?"
"I hope you find someone who makes your pulse race. Someone who feels like home, someone who makes every miserable moment of your life seem worth it every time you see their face. I hope they're everything you've ever dreamed, and that you're utterly besotted."
It was her turn to crowd him now. Eyes so cold, so far from the fire he was familiar with, eyes that gave nothing away raked over his face. That bittersweet smile of hers was making him queasy.
"And then I hope they break your heart."
There it is.
She stomped away before he could remember how to breathe, let alone formulate a response. He slid down the wall, rough stone scraping at his dress robes, until he fell into a heap at ground level. He shut his eyes and rubbed his temples.
Scorpius Malfoy was having a very, very bad day.
AN: This idea came to me while listening to god sent me as karma by Emlyn, on repeat. Rated M for language and suggestive themes. As explicit content isn't allowed on FF.N, I will probably be posting longer parts on Ao3.
PS: I may choose a themesong for every chapter. If you have recs, let me know!