In the weeks that followed, Weasley's words haunted Scorpius; and his work was suffering for it. That morning, Elspeth had slid an application for the Department of Mysteries onto his already too high stack of paperwork with a knowing look that rankled him. So, she'd clearly heard of Weasley's idea, too - that or he'd been talking in his sleep again - and thought it had merit, which was… something, to be sure. Scorpius raked a hand through his hair with a scowl.
Merlin, he'd been comfortable in his routine. Who did Weasley think she was, tossing a wrench in it? And so casually, too, like it was a passing thought she'd turned into a list of reasons why he should upturn his life on the spot. Bloody brilliant, she'd called him. Yet when faced with a choice - any choice, really, that he hadn't already made before - he found himself plagued by indecision.
So he set the application aside, determined to catch up on his work. He'd figure the rest out later.
It took hours longer than he'd have liked, and he was loathe to admit that Weasley had been right. He was bored. So bored, in fact, that he'd almost given up halfway through; but then Turner gave him a look that had him returning to work with renewed vigor and a deepening scowl on his face. He filled out the application during his lunch break, but he didn't dare turn it in.
Instead, when he finally reached the end of the stack in the wee hours of Saturday morning, he slid the completed application from his desk - and took it home with him.
By the time he stepped through the floo, he was so exhausted he didn't bother checking the flat to see if Al or Elspeth were in. Though they'd gotten back together that night at the club, they hadn't returned to their old routine. He wasn't quite sure how he felt about that, but regardless, he hadn't shown up at her flat that night and he doubted it'd worry her enough to come calling. Spending the night apart was no longer an uncommon occurrence, but she'd probably be there for breakfast in the morning, so he supposed he'd take what time of hers he could get. Besides, he didn't plan on being awake longer than he absolutely needed to be, so it hardly mattered.
He made his way to his room in the dark, shrugged off his jacket and kicked off his trousers and shoes - in that order, which was a terrible idea in retrospect - tossed his tie to the floor, and flopped into bed with a heavy sigh. He lay there like that, legs hanging off the side of the bed, for a precious few minutes before crawling the rest of the way in with a groan. His work may not be physically taxing the way quidditch was, but after nearly fifteen hours of being hunched over a desk, his muscles ached. He peeled off his shirt and stretched, reaching for another pillow - and his hands found a bundle of hair. Elspeth, he thought, and smiled as he reached out blindly to pull the figure toward him; then yelped and leapt out of bed the moment he realized the person tangled in his sheets was most definitely not his girlfriend.
He flicked on the light and blinked wide, panicked eyes at the shock of red hair on his pillow. "Weasley, what in the bloody fuck do you think you're doing?!"
Rose groaned, barely stirring. "Sleeping, Malfoy," she mumbled, looking far too comfortable for his liking. "Reckon you've heard of it?"
Well, this simply wouldn't do.
Scorpius crawled over to her with a scowl, shaking her shoulder until one hazel green eye squinted open to look at him. "I'd bloody well noticed that much, ya batty bint, but why in Merlin's name are you doing it in my bed?!"
"Is it yours?" she hummed, eye falling closed again. "How odd, it sure does smell like Elspeth. In fact, I distinctly remember helping her pick out this comforter." Her voice was somewhere between sleep and sarcasm, a combination that irritated him all the more when she wiggled further into his sheets.
"Oh no you don't," he grumbled, shaking her again, "don't go getting more comfortable, now. Wake up!" Which was when - because clearly he'd ticked off the cosmos and gotten himself cursed - Elspeth entered the room, eyebrows raised. "Els, this isn't what it looks like-" Scorpius started to explain, hands fleeing from Rose's half-asleep form to be held up in a pose typically reserved for surrender.
"Oh? So…" For at least the second time over the course of their relationship, Scorpius found warmth and just a hint of mischief in Elspeth's eyes, where he'd expected to find jealous rage. Her voice, too, was soft and significantly calmer than he thought it aught to be. "You mean to tell me that Rose didn't accidentally fall asleep in your bed wearing… are those jeans? Heavens, pumpkin, think of the scandal!"
"Yes, I imagine the press are out there salivating as we speak," Weasley mumbled in response, a sleepy smile on her lips. "Maybe they'll let Skeeter get her hands on it this time around. Give the headline a little pizzazz, you know?"
Were they… teasing him?
Oh, the gall. These witches would do his head in.
His only solace was that Weasley finally sat up, one fist rubbing at her bleary eyes. "Good morning, plum. I'm glad to see you made it in before Malfoy kicked me out, which I'm sure you've only just saved me from." Scorpius had been about to inform her that no, she most certainly hadn't been saved from that fate, when she asked "Is it safe to assume you're back together, then?"
When they exchanged glances, cheeks coloring in near unison, Rose hummed happily and - with a tone he found both oddly fond and uncharacteristically lacking on the sardonic front - said a simple, "How lovely."
It was hardly the most shocking part of his night-turned-morning, but it gave him pause all the same.
"Anyway," she said, stretching her arms over her head, "I only came to say goodbye. Well, and to-"
Her words were cut off when Scorpius shoved her out of bed in a heap, sending her to the floor with a thump.
"Okay, rude."
He caught Elspeth pressing her lips together to keep from laughing, which she then failed to continue as she watched Scorpius gather up the comforter and wrapped it around himself like a cocoon, until only his face was visible. "I'm too tired for this," he grumbled. Rose snorted at him from her spot on the floor, and he glared. She stretched her legs out in front of her and leaned her back against his nightstand.
"Goodbye?" Elspeth asked tentatively, "And… where are you going?"
"America."
That brought a scowl to her face in an instant. "Don't tell me you're still marrying that wanker-"
Rose cut her off with a laugh, shaking her head. "Glad to see the tea's worn off." When Scorpius quirked a questioning brow at her, she waved a dismissive hand through the air. "I'll explain more when I get back. Anyway, no. To answer your question, plum, I won't be marrying Graves." That seemed to settle her, but not entirely. "It'll be a short trip this time. I need to gather my things, tie up loose ends… you know how it goes. Won't be gone more than a few days; a week tops, if things don't go my way. Which," Rose frowned, "has admittedly become a more common occurrence than I'd like, as of late, but still. I just wanted to… Well, I didn't want to leave without saying goodbye, and before I go I wanted to ask-" she lifted herself to her feet, looking directly at Elspeth, "-would you maybe want to move in with me?"
"Wait, what?"
"Are you really going to make me ask again?"
"Pumpkin, do you even have a flat?"
"Well, yes. Or, at least, I will, by the time I get back. You see, I've got a job that'll keep me near home for once, and after that… Well, perks of being your own boss." She shrugged one shoulder, feet shuffling anxiously. "I'll be taking a sabbatical. I… want to stick around, at least for a while. So, I've rented out a flat in this building - one right across the hall, in fact. And I thought… well, I thought that you might want to join me in it?" When the room fell into an unsteady silence, Rose fidgeted. "If nothing else, it'll make it easier for you two to pop in on each other," she added, and suddenly Scorpius found himself rapidly warming up to the idea.
Scorpius frowned, however, as a thought occurred to him, and he quickly voiced it with the hope that someone would tell him he was wrong. "Hang on, did you say the flat across the hall? Doesn't someone already live there? Some old guy with too many cats. Gives me the stink eye every time I deign to bump into him while retrieving the morning paper," he rolled his eyes bitterly at the memory.
"His name is Mr. Wilkins, and he's moving out," Rose said, and his heart soared. Her eyes twinkled mischievously. "Got an offer he simply couldn't refuse. He should be gone by, oh..." She looked at her watch, and her eyebrows lifted. "Well, now, actually, if you'd like to go and have a look. Merlin, is that really the time?"
"Let's go," Elspeth said, and was out the door before either of them could blink.
Rose quit tapping on her watch to follow, while Scorpius hesitated. He heard Weasley knocking on Al's door in the hall, but his bed really was so inviting…
In the end, his curiosity got the better of him, and he waddled out after them still wrapped up in his comforter.
The flat across the hall had a layout similar to theirs, but the kitchen had clearly been remodeled more recently, the carpets were cleaner, and- "Is that a balcony? Why don't we get a balcony? This is hardly fair."
Rose snickered at his grumbling, and he glared at her with less venom than he'd have liked to. He chalked it up to his dire need for a good night's sleep.
"This place is great, Rose, but I- I already have a flat."
"Ehh, yeah, but not a good one," Rose retorted.
"Hey!" Elspeth chided, pouting. "Rude." Scorpius laughed, then covered it poorly with a cough when she turned her pitiful excuse for a glare on him.
"The floor creaks. The kitchen is just a fridge, sink, and one quite frankly miniscule counter. The bedroom is barely big enough to fit your bed, and that's with it pushed into the corner."
"Floo's been acting up," Scorpius added unhelpfully.
"And you'd be hard pressed to find a single pipe in the place that doesn't leak. Besides, your lease is up in a few months, isn't it?" Elspeth nodded, gazing at her surroundings with an expanding affection that had Scorpius half convinced she'd stopped listening. Still, Rose continued, "I'm sure I could weasel you out of it early, if you're eager. That useless excuse for a landlord of yours hardly qualifies as a challenge."
Elspeth hummed. "Do you mean it?" she asked after a beat, voice small as she settled her unwavering gaze on Rose.
Weasley took a deep breath and smiled. "Wholeheartedly."
"Well, then…" Elspeth said slowly, cheeks flushed. "I suppose I'd better start packing."
Weasley pumped her fist in the air with a triumphant whoop and rushed to hug her best friend. Scorpius rolled his eyes, but his face was warm and there was a peculiar, almost foreign feeling blooming in his chest.
"Well, that settles it, then. I'll leave you two to it; I'm running late as it is." She gave Scorpius a pat on the back as she made her way to the door. "I'll see you when I get home."
"Late for what?" he asked when he realized that Elspeth wanted to but wasn't going to.
"I've got to see a man about a briefcase!"
Then the door was shut and he looked at Elspeth questioningly. She shrugged, "Your guess is as good as mine."
Before she could go about her day, Scorpius took his girlfriend by the wrist and tugged her against him on the sofa in the middle of the room. It was one of a handful of pieces of furniture that Mr. Wilkins had evidently left behind, which meant on any other occasion he'd have much rather set it on fire than snuggled on it; but at that particular moment it had the advantage of being the nearest horizontal surface, so it was spared his ire - for now, he thought.
"Scor, wha-"
"Ssshhhh," he mumbled into her hair as he spooned her, eyes already closed. He adjusted the blanket to cover them both, and only remembered he was in naught but his pants when the cool morning air hit his chest during that maneuver. "You can pack later," he yawned. "It's past my bedtime, I'm knackered, and I missed you. So sorry, dearest, but you're stuck."
Elspeth giggled and wiggled against him, getting comfortable. She kissed the back of his hand with a quiet "I missed you, too," and Scorpius promptly - finally, mercifully - fell asleep, with her wrapped up in his arms.
By the time Rose made it to her destination, she was half convinced her heart had been replace by a pair of hummingbird wings, it was beating so fast. It took four tries to convince her fist to knock on the door.
"Enter," came a familiar voice, but it was clipped in a way she'd never heard it before - all business, that tone was.
It was clear she wouldn't be hearing it again the moment she let herself into the office.
"Rose!" Lorcan Scamander nearly knocked over his chair in his rush to stand, wide eyes looking at her like he thought she might be a mirage, and a drop of tea splashed onto his previously impeccable dress robes. She fixed that with a twitch of her fingers and a silent tergeo. His eyes fluttered. "Please," he cleared his throat, running his hand down his front as he sat back down. "Come in. Sit."
She closed the door behind her and leaned against it with a shake of her head. "That's alright, I won't be staying long."
"No? Oh." He frowned a little, but shook himself and eyed her extra carefully for a moment. "In that case... to what do I owe the pleasure?"
She bit her lip and swallowed thickly. "I've come to ask a... rather large favor of you, I'm afraid."
"Of course," he responded immediately. She straightened in surprise, at the sheer earnest in his pale blue eyes as well as his profound lack of hesitation. "Anything." It made her head spin.
Her eyes swept over his hair, each blond wave perfectly in place, and she floundered. "Um, well... that is..." She cleared her throat and looked away in an effort to control her breathing. "My mum told me that yours had inherited a certain... briefcase. But when I asked Luna about it, she said that it'd been passed down to you."
He gave her a smile that made her so dizzy she had to rest her head back against the door to keep her footing. "I know the one," he said.
"I was hoping you might be willing to let me borrow it. Only for a week or so-" she stopped short of her full explanation when she realized that he was already pulling said briefcase out of a previously locked desk drawer, and sliding it over to her. No further questions, easy as pie. She blinked. "You're... not even going to ask me what I need it for?"
"Do I need to?" She tilted her head, and his smile went lopsided. He turned his quill over in his fingers. "Rose, I haven't seen you in two and a half years. If you're seeking me out now, I can only assume that it's important. Besides, I trust you," he paused as his smile faltered, eyes leaving her face for the first time since she'd come waltzing into his office. "Even if you can't trust me anymore."
She let out a long sigh, and when she was sure he had nothing left to say to her, she picked the briefcase up gingerly and turned toward the door.
"Rose, before you go-" of course she'd been wrong, that was the way of things lately, wasn't it? "-I want to apologize. For the way things ended between us."
She looked back at him, one hand on the doorknob. "Water under the bridge, salamander," she said, only realizing how true her words were once they were out of her mouth. His gaze flicked back to her, startled and warm in equal parts. "Besides, I can hardly blame you for falling into Elspeth's bed now, can I? She captured my heart as well, after all."
"Still," he said, cheeks coloring in that barely noticeable way they always had, "the way I treated you was...unkind, to say the least. I was unfair to you, and there's not a day that goes by that I don't regret it."
Her chest swelled and her stomach started doing somersaults. She took a deep breath to steady herself, but she still hadn't opened the door. "Thank you. That... means more to me than you know." He ducked his head at her in a nod that said he really was finished talking this time, but Rose was only halfway out the door when she paused again. "Lore?" she said, voice small as she looked over her shoulder at him.
"Yes?"
"I'll owl you when I get back."
"Please do," he answered, voice just as small.
Then she closed the door behind her, carried the briefcase with both hands, and was off to America to retrieve some beasts and break an engagement.
AN: I tried to go to bed after the last update, but I couldn't sleep because I was obsessing over how I wanted to execute the next few plot points. So, here we are! I hope you enjoyed, and I'll see you again next chapter - after a much needed nap. We pick up again with Rose's return from America.