Note: This is a revised version of the original I posted before. Mostly to fix spelling and grammar mistakes but a few other things have changed as well.
Thank you so much to SunriseImagination for Betaing this story for me. You make this story come alive.
Now on with the chapter!
Chapter 4
November 23rd
~oOo~
Astoria Malfoy's POV
Astoria looked up from her plate as the group of friends got up to go to class, all of them laughing at something Rose had said. She felt her heart warm when Scorpius turned and looked over. He gave her his natural carefree grin telling her without words that he was okay and not to worry. Rose also turned to look at the teacher's table and gave her parents a wave and smile.
She watched as they all walked toward the doors leading out of the great hall heading off to their classes. Astoria studied Scorpius and Rose as they walked, noticing that they hardly acknowledged each other when they were with their friends. Rose was turned away from Scorpius leaning towards her friends. It was as if she had a physical bubble between her and Scorpius. Not once did she turn to look at her son to include him in her conversation. Scorpius as well seemed to be attuned only to his friends. He didn't even notice when Rose suddenly dropped a book. It was her friends who jumped in to assist her.
Astoria frowned. It wasn't like her son to ignore a person completely. She hadn't raised him that way. Astoria could remember him always playing with the younger children when they went to parties, never leaving anyone out of the fun.
But when it comes to Rose Weasley, he acts differently.
Since she had arrived at Hogwarts three days before, Astoria had kept an eye on her son and the Weasley girl. What she had witnessed conflicted with the sweet boy she knew and loved.
It was like he was trying to get Rose to notice him. He would tease Rose and get her all riled up, making her insult him and throw digs at him. He was rude, sarcastic, and at times bordering on unkind. He had never acted this way to anyone before. It certainly was a change in character, and Astoria wasn't sure it was for the better.
It wasn't just her son's behaviour that puzzled her. Rose was definitely on her mind as well. The way the girl acted toward Scorpius made Astoria feel less warmly toward her. Rose was constantly insulting her son. And when she wasn't fighting with him, she would give him a cold shoulder. Astoria hated to see the flash of hurt and pain that lit Scorpius's eyes when Rose said something hurtful to him. She saw that behind the calm and confident grin on her son's face that there was a flash of pain, but why the words of the Weasley girl hurt him so much Astoria didn't know.
Astoria loved her son very much and was proud of the young man he was growing into. Sure, he caused more mischief then was half the school combined, but he was still a good boy. She had made sure of that. He was a gentleman who was kind and sweet. There was no real reason for Rose to treat him so badly.
As she watched Rose's back disappear from sight, Astoria made up her mind to talk to the girl. To find out why this beautiful, fierce, stubborn, red-headed girl hated her son so much. Fate had made Rose family. It was time to welcome her.
~oOo~
Rose's POV
By the end of that first day, Rose was exhausted. She was so tired she could hardly keep her eyes open. It was the Bond that was taking its toll on her because she was the Lead, and not because Malfoy had driven her crazy all day long. Although, he definitely hadn't helped matters.
At first, Rose had tried to be more civil towards Malfoy, like her parents had asked. In the end she had given it up as a lost cause. The whole day was spent fighting through mind speak. From the outside, they appeared to be very civil, but on the inside, it was another story. They would arrive to class and Malfoy would start talking at her, making comments about the content, asking questions, calling her his stupid pet-names. It was just like the constant buzz of a fly in Rose's head, always there, always nagging, and impossible to ignore.
Rose had promised herself that she would just stay quiet and ignore him, but it hadn't lasted long. Malfoy would say something, would raise the bait and wiggle it right in front of her, and Rose would just snap. She said some pretty hurtful things, things she immediately regretted afterwards, but Malfoy didn't seem to care. He just made that smug smirk of his and continued to annoy her.
Now she was drained and frustrated. And it was all Malfoy's fault. The Bond wanted them to get along, not to fight with one another constantly. So having a whole day full of almost nothing else but fighting, even if it was just in their heads, it took its toll on Rose.
Malfoy, on the other hand, seemed fine. Happy even. He walked with life in his stride and a smile on his face. The only emotions Rose got from him were peaceful ones, happy and calm. There was no sign of the resentment, tiredness, sadness, or confusion that Rose was feeling.
Did he not feel some sort of negative emotion toward the Bond? Did he not feel confused as to why this all happened?
Rose gave a small sigh of relief when the group finally made it to the portrait hole. She was done, physically and emotionally and the last thing she needed was to be thinking about Malfoy's mental state.
"Thestrals," Al told the fat lady who opened without hesitation, though not before giving Rose and Malfoy a curious look.
Wonderful, Rose thought dully, now even the portraits were at it.
Rose and Malfoy climbed through first, quickly followed by their friends. Once in the common room, she looked around and was glad to see that not many students were up there yet. Though those who were, gave them the same interested look that the fat lady and the entire school had been giving them.
Rose sent them an annoyed look, beyond fed up with them all. So what if they were Bonded. So what if this was only a thing that happened every century, they didn't need to all gawp like goldfish every time Rose took a breath.
She stalked across the room, walking toward the dorm staircases. She stopped short though once she realized that she actually had no clue where their dorm was.
Rose felt like stomping her foot in frustration. "For Merlin's sake! Malfoy where the bloody hell is the dorm?"
"Up the boy's staircase. The Headmistress said that it was down the hall, the farthest door to the left."
Rose didn't even feel up to asking how he knew this since she couldn't remember hearing the Headmistress saying anything about where their dorm was.
Up they walked. Rose had never been up to the boy's dorms before, never thinking that it proper for a girl to be in the boy's dorms, but it seemed that she was going to be heading up there a lot more in the future.
When they reached the top, they all stepped into the hallway. Doors lined the walls on either side, a good distance between each one. Rose saw that on the outside it was just like the girl's dorms, just a long hall with doors leading into the separate year's dorms.
The group moved down the long hall in silence, Malfoy, and Al leading them past all the doors. Upon reaching the end of the hall, Rose saw the door that must lead into their new living space. The door was marked like all the other doors, except that this one had a golden eight carved into the wood, whereas the other ones only had numbers from one to seven on them.
That's how the doors were marked. First years were in the dorm marked with a one, second years with a two, and so on and so forth. Rose wondered idly why this door had an eight on it when there was no such thing as eighth years.
"It's locked," Rose said as she tried the handle.
"Right well, that can be fixed," Malfoy said as he took out his wand.
Rose made a warning-type sound low in her throat and surged forward, grabbing Malfoy's wand from his hand before he had a chance to cast the unlocking charm.
"Are you mad?" Rose asked him incredulously. "The doors are protected against someone using magic to open them. It would have ended up cursing you or something if you had tried. How do you not know this?" Rose held his wand out of reach just in case he thought he might continue to try to open the door via magic.
"Forgot about that," Malfoy muttered sheepishly taking his wand, rubbing that back of his neck as their friends all snickered.
"Well try not to forget next time, I'd rather not get cursed again thanks. I've had enough of the hospital for one day," Rose said as she crouched in front of the brass knob, looking closely at the handle.
"There's a keyhole," Rose said softly after a moment of studying the handle, none of the other doors had keyholes. There was no need for them. "Give me your necklace," Rose said standing as an idea came to her and holding out her hand to Malfoy.
"Why?" Malfoy asked slowly, his voice leaking suspicion.
"Malfoy!" Rose snapped, "Just give me the damn necklace." Malfoy gave her a calculating look, but then sighed and took the necklace off. He handed it carefully over to Rose, as though it was made of glass.
Rose quickly saw what she as looking for and let out a triumphant sound. Hanging off the end of Malfoy's necklace, hidden among the small circles, was a silver skeleton key. From the look of the worn silver and scuff marks, along with the ancient design that was carved at the top, Rose figured that it must be very old.
Taking the key, Rose turned back to the door, finding that it fit snuggly into the hole. Rose turned the key and with a soft click of the lock the door opened, making no noise as the heavy oak swung inward. Rose stepped into the room to find what looked like a miniature version of the Gryffindor common room downstairs.
The walls were a vision of red and gold, the Gryffindor crest hung proudly on the wall opposite the door, and right next to it was a short staircase leading up. There was a large fireplace with comfortable overstuffed furniture surrounding it to the right of the door. Over in the corner sat two dark wooden desks, and on the wall to the far left of the door was a large floor to ceiling bookshelf.
The small group of friends all gasped when they saw the room. It wasn't as big as the common room, but it was still large enough that many people could fit comfortably in it at once.
"This is bloody awesome mate," Al said as he gazed around the room, his eyes wide and mouth slightly slack.
"I second that," Mary said from where she was standing next to Rose. The others all nodded in agreement.
"Look at all the books," Was all Rose said as she walked in a dream-like-state over to the rows and rows of books.
She had always wanted a library. She'd begged her dad to turn the old unused room in their house into a library but had been turned down.
Now, running her fingers gently over the old spines of the books, Rose wondered why she hadn't put up more of a fight. It was a truly lovely thing to have a whole shelf dedicated to books, to just walk by and to catch a whiff of old paper, ink, and leather. Rose adored the smell of books. It was one of the reasons why she spent so much time in the library.
"Some of these are first editions," Rose said in awe as she gently picked up an old dark blue book and flipped through it gingerly. "They're beautiful."
"Leave it to Rose to find beauty in something most people would call a pain," Mary said smiling fondly at Rose as she sat down on the squishy couch.
Rose just gave a huff of annoyance but kept her mouth shut, knowing that trying to sway Mary into loving books like she did would be useless. None of Rose's friends would ever really enjoy reading a good book like she would.
"This is perfect," Al said as he walked around the room looking into every corner. "We can set up all our stuff in here and we won't have to worry about it getting confiscated by Filch"
Back in their second year the Headmistress finally got fed up with the boy's pranks, so to try and stop their almost constant mischief she had given Filch the job of doing random searches in their dorm room. Filch may have been a squib, but he could sniff out contraband a mile away. Most of the boy's prank stock had been thrown out, and ever since they had been hiding them in the weirdest places to keep all their stuff.
"You will do nothing of the sort!" Rose said giving her cousin a glare, "This isn't just Malfoy's dorm Albus, I'll be staying here as well, and if I see even one stink bomb or anything that blows up I'll give you detention with Filch faster than you can blink!"
Al held up his hands to his cousin and backed down "Alright don't get your wand in a knot, I was just thinking."
"Well don't!"
Rose was in no mood for her family's obsessive wild streak, she'd had enough of explosions to last her a lifetime. As she took a breath, Rose realized how fast she went from a calm sleepiness to anger. Less than a minute ago, she had been happily looking at the books, and now she was angry again. She'd need to work on that.
"Love, calm down. You're about to blow a blood vessel," Malfoy said as he placed a warm, soft hand on Rose's shoulder.
Rose's first reaction to Malfoy's touch was wanting to tell him if he touched her one more time she'd turn him into a flobberworm and hex him into next week. Instead, she took a cleansing breath. She gently shrugged off Malfoy's hand and looked at Al.
"All I'm saying is that I don't want anything thing that has to do with pranks in here."
Rose walked over to the couch and sank down opposite to Mary. Making sure that there was still some distance between herself and her friend, Rose cracked open the book and started reading.
Soon everyone was sitting around the fireplace and the place was filled with the sounds of them talking and laughing. Rose sat reading her book, sometimes joining in on the conversation but mostly just reading.
The book was very interesting, and soon Rose was lost in the pages. She read about the history of Unicorns, their nature, habitat, where they came from, and everything about them. Then she reached a chapter about Thestrals, which was just as entertaining. The book was handwritten in small slanting cursive, like most old wizarding books were, and Rose read the beautiful script easily.
She was brought back to the world when she felt a hand touch her shoulder gently. The soft touch made her jump slightly with surprise and her eyes shot up to find Malfoy standing in front of her with his ever-present smirk on his lips.
"Don't do that, you scared me," Rose said as she placed a hand on her rapidly beating heart and stared up at Malfoy with wide eyes.
"Well if you didn't have a silencing bubble cast around you then you would have heard me calling."
Rose squinted at him, confusion pooling in her blue eyes. She didn't remember casting a silencing charm around herself. She didn't even have her wand on her, it was over on the bookshelf where she had left it. But now that she thought about it, at some point the talk did seem to have faded.
Rose was just about to ask Malfoy if he had maybe cast the charm when she looked past his right shoulder and saw who was standing behind him.
"Mum, Dad!" Rose said standing up quickly.
Besides their parents, the room was empty. It looked like their friends had left at some point. Rose felt a little twinge of sadness when she thought of her friends all sitting on their beds talking and laughing, like they always did before they went to bed.
"Hello, Rose," Hermione replied, smiling at her daughter. Ron grinned at Rose as well and his blue eyes sparkled as he looked at his little girl.
"What are you doing here?" Rose asked as she nervously tucked some of her flaming red hair behind her ear, far too aware of how close Malfoy was standing.
She now noticed that Malfoy had changed and was now wearing a pair of jeans and an old well-worn grey T-shirt that had the name of a muggle band printed on the front. It looked very soft and comfortable. His hair was more untidy than usual and fell across his forehead.
He looked adorable which irked Rose.
"We came to discuss what will be happening during the holidays," Mrs. Malfoy answered for Hermione and Rose squinted at them in confusion.
"What about the Holidays?"
Hermione gave her an odd look, "We need to figure out where you two will be going for Christmas break" She said stiffening slightly, "To whose house more precisely."
~oOo~
Astoria's POV
Astoria had never been in the Gryffindor common room before. She looked around with interest as she, Draco, Ron, and Hermione stepped into the room. It was large and very cosy with large squashy armchairs and couches, the heavy red and gold drapes, and a big roaring fire. It was so different from the Slytherin common, which was cold and dark. It somehow felt far more at home then the Slytherin common room ever had.
The small group headed toward what Astoria supposed was the boy's staircase and climbed it quickly. They stepped into a long somewhat narrow hallway with doors lining each side of them, each one with a golden number on them ranging from one to seven.
With Ron in the lead, they walked down the hall until they reached a slightly larger door of a deeper colour wood. On the door, carved out of the wood and painted gold was the number eight, making the door seem older, antique.
Astoria frowned slightly when she saw Ron smile fondly at the door, glancing at Hermione who smiled back, but she thought nothing of it and just put it under the category of odd things the Weasleys did.
"Are you going to knock or just stand out here all night?" Draco asked suddenly smirking, making Astoria give him a warning look.
With a huff of annoyance and an irritated look toward Draco, Ron knocked on the door. After a moment of silence, there were the soft sounds of a book being put down and then the sound of bare feet on the floors.
The door opened a moment later and Scorpius stepped into the doorway. Astoria felt a smile tug at her lips when she saw her son. Sometimes he could make her smile over the smallest little things. This time it was his choice of clothes that she found amusing.
He chose to wear something very muggle with his jeans, t-shirt, and untidy hair. Suffice to say, this was not an outfit that he would have worn around the house.
"Oh? Hey," Scorpius said looking flustered with his parents showing up on his doorstep. "To what do I owe this pleasure?"
"We came to talk," Astoria answered, "May we come in?"
My, Astoria thought, this is quite a polite conversation. She couldn't remember the last time she had so formally spoken with her son.
"Yeah, of course," Scorpius said stepping aside and making a gesture for them to enter.
They all walked past Scorpius, and Astoria had to stop herself from reaching out and brushing some of her son's hair away from his eyes. It was a habit she usually did when it had fallen across his forehead.
The room they entered was lit only by a bright fire, making the red and gold drapes look dark and almost mystical. The space looked very cosy and inviting even in the dim light.
The first thing Astoria noticed was the girl sitting on the couch.
Rose had taken off her outer robes and boots. The first few bottoms of her shirt were undone and her tie hung loosely around her neck. Her stocking covered legs were pulled up to her chest, and sitting on her lap was a large dark blue book. Rose sat reading with her head bent slightly over the book, her hair pulled up into a messy bun with a few pieces of her curls hanging down to frame her face.
Hermione opened her mouth as if to call to Rose, but Scorpius interrupted her before she could talk.
"She won't hear you, Mrs Weasley." Hermione looked at him with alarm and he quickly continued, "She's fine, she's just cast a silencing charm around herself. I'll get her."
Scorpius walked over to Rose and stopped in front of her, reaching out to tap her on her shoulder. Rose jumped slightly and looked up quickly at Scorpius, placing a hand on her no-doubt racing heart.
"Don't do that, you scared me," Rose said as she stared up at Scorpius with wide frightened eyes.
"Well if you didn't have a silencing bubble cast around you then you would have heard me calling," Scorpius answered back. Rose's eyes narrowed in what Astoria thought might be confusion.
She then caught sight of her parents and jumped up from the couch as though it had burnt her, dropping her book on the cushion.
"Mum! Dad!" Rose said surprised, glancing at Scorpius for a moment before looking back at the adults.
"Hello, Rose," Hermione replied, smiling at her daughter, her eyes shining. Astoria could see the love in that smile, it was the same love she felt for her son.
"What are you doing here?" Rose asked and Astoria watched as she nervously tucked some of her flaming red hair behind her ear. Astoria noticed that Rose fidgeted with her hair when she was nervous or unsure.
"We came to discuss what will be happening during the holidays," Astoria answered for Hermione and Rose squinted at her in confusion, her brows bunching together. Even Scorpius looked at his mother with confusion.
"What about the Holidays?" Rose asked glancing at Scorpius again, but he only gave her a shrug.
Hermione gave her daughter an odd look, "We need to figure out where you two will be going for Christmas break," she said stiffening slightly, "To whose house more precisely."
Astoria could see that the Weasley's did not like the idea of their only daughter heading off to a boy's house for Christmas and other breaks, but they had to be fair in this all. If they got to see their daughter during some of the breaks, then she wanted to see her son, especially after everything that had happened.
Whenever Scorpius left for Hogwarts, Astoria missed him terribly. She missed the late night talks they would have in the kitchen, drinking hot chocolate and just enjoying each other's company, while waiting for Draco's shift at the hospital to end.
Astoria loved that her husband was the head doctor at St. Mungos. She loved that he helped people every day and Draco loved it as well. It made him happy. But sometimes Astoria just wished he was home, and when Scorpius wasn't there the large house was empty and lonely.
Astoria and Draco had agreed with the Weasleys that they need to come talk to the children, see what they wanted to do. She watched as Rose closed her eyes for a moment, seeming to compose herself.
"Do we really have to?" Rose asked opening her bright blue eyes and focusing them on her parents.
"Yes, honey, we do. We won't be here much longer and we need a plan before we leave," Hermione said, giving her daughter an apologetic look.
Rose nodded "Well then, please sit down. I have a feeling this may take a while."
While everyone got settled on the couches and chairs, Rose grabbed her book and walked over to the bookshelf on the other side of the room. When she returned, Astoria saw her slipping her wand into the sleeve of her shirt subtly.
Rose gave Scorpius a glare when she saw that he had taken the only chair left. There was still room on the other couches, but not enough for Rose to sit comfortably with the Bond still so new. With a scowl, Rose settled on the edge of the armrest, her back to Scorpius.
Astoria gave her son a disapproving look. She had taught him that if a lady didn't have a seat and he did that he should give her his, it was the proper thing to do. Scorpius gave his mother a sheepish look back but didn't move.
"So how is this going to go?" Rose asked clasping her hands together.
"Like the Headmistress said, we need to work out what to do during the breaks," Hermione said shifting slightly on the couches. She looked like she didn't like the subject at all.
"Well," Scorpius said looking around at the adults and Rose. "We could just stay here. It would be the easiest for all of us."
"Absolutely not," Rose said immediately, giving Scorpius an incredulous look. "I always go home during the holidays, it's the only time I get to see my family. I can't stay here while they all go home."
"I don't want to stay here either, but it would be the best though," Scorpius shot back. "There would be no chance that we would upset the Bond. I don't like the idea of going on the train. It's always crowded and people would bump into us right and left."
"Yes, but by then the Bond won't be as new. We should be able to touch people without getting affected," Rose answered back, glaring at Scorpius.
She seems to do that a lot, Astoria thought feeling irritation for this girl.
"We still can't be far apart. I may not know as much about the Bond as you Weasley, but I still understand that we can't be far apart for almost a year after the Bond. How would it work? We can't each go to our houses, they are way too far apart."
"That's why we're here Scorpius," Astoria said before Rose could reply. "We need to figure out a schedule that suits us all."
"Then why don't we just split the holidays. For the first few days of the Christmas break we can go to Weasleys', then we can go to my house. That way we all get to be with our family for the Christmas break," Scorpius said looking around at the others.
"That's what we were thinking and it would work except for one thing," Draco said talking for the first time. "If we do that, then one of you wouldn't be with your family for Christmas."
"But that's easy to fix," Hermione said looking at the Malfoy's, smiling slightly. "If Rose comes to our home for the first few days, then you and Astoria are more than welcome to come and spend Christmas day with us and Scorpius. That way you get to spend Christmas with your son and Rose gets to see her family."
Ron opened his mouth as if to object to this suggestion, but quickly shut it when Hermione discreetly elbowed him in the side.
Astoria turned to Draco and had a silent conversation with her husband.
"Well," Astoria said. "I see no problem with it. That is, if you're sure that it is alright?" She looked at Hermione who nodded smiling at Astoria.
"What do you two think?" Ron asked turning and looking at Rose and Scorpius.
"I don't have a problem with it," Scorpius said with a shrug. "What about you?" He asked glancing at Rose.
"If I get to see my family then I don't care," Rose said grinning, seeming so happy that she was going to see her family at Christmas instead of staying at Hogwarts over the holidays.
"It's settled then," Hermione said smiling as well.
They talked a bit more about the other breaks and soon had a working plan that everyone agreed with and that was fair for both parties. Astoria watched Rose talking to her mum and dad, watching how sweet she was when around them. She smiled and even laughed a little. Her whole demeanour changed, and Astoria saw that Rose was actually could enjoyable to be around.
She was funny, smart, and really quite sweet and caring. Astoria felt herself soften her cold opinion of the girl and admitted to herself that maybe she wasn't as bad as she first appeared. The way she acted with her friends and family showed her that Rose was a beautiful and enjoyable girl.
But this made her wonder if she could be like this around all the people she cared about and respected, why was she so terrible to Scorpius?
And why did Scorpius not seem to mind?
It was just as they were getting ready to leave that she saw it. They were all getting to their feet and pulling their coats on when Astoria looked over at Scorpius.
Rose was still smiling from something her father had said, looking happy for maybe the first time since the Bond with her blue eyes sparkling. Both she and Scorpius were still sitting down with Rose turned slightly away from him so that Scorpius was out of her line of sight.
Scorpius turned to look at Rose and in just a split second when he thought no one was looking, his face softened. His grey eyes were bright as ever, but there was something different about them now. Something was shining in his eyes, something warm, soft and maybe even a little hopeful.
But just as fast as it had appeared, it was gone. Scorpius looked away, his expression hard, his eyes hiding everything. Astoria had still seen it though. She didn't know what was gleaming in her son's eyes, all she knew was that it was far from contempt.
There was more to the story than she had been led to believe. Scorpius had always talked about how much he avoided Rose Weasley's company and that it was mutual. But she knew she had seen something closer to affection than any kind of dislike.
As Astoria looked at her son, she felt her heart sink. She knew Scorpius, but she couldn't read his mind. If Scorpius wasn't careful, he would get very hurt, and Astoria Malfoy had a feeling it would be that beautiful smiling redhead standing next to him who would be the one to break him.
~oOo~
Hey, guys. I'm so sorry for such a late update. I was sick this weekend and forgot to update on Saturday, but I promise that I will update on time this coming Saturday.
Anyway, I hope you liked this chapter. It isn't one of my favourites but I think it's a good one, you guys get to see a bit more about what Astoria thinks about the Bond. I promise more will happen next chapter, and hopefully you guys like that chapter as well.
If you like this chapter PLEASE PLEASE REVIEW :) and tell me what you think. I love hearing from you guys.
Well, I'll see you guys later.
Cara
