"Did You know," Jo's drunken words could only be faintly heard over the music blaring in the common room."That I do not believe in muggles."
Rose cocked an eyebrow at her friend, a small smile tugging at her lips though she tried to remain serious. "You don't?" She questioned, kicking her legs up on the arm of the couch she had been sitting on.
Lily had abandoned them early in the night, and she hadn't been able to locate Albus since they had arrived at the party, which left her nursing a drink she had barely touched and entertaining her friend's drunken stupor alone.
"Uh uh." Jo declared, shaking her head."It makes no sense! I think all muggles are just wizards who have never attempted magic. I mean, there's no biological difference in muggles versus wizards. We're all human." Jo laughed lightly before her eyes grew wide and she stared at Rose. "Wait. I am human, right?" She held her arm up at Rose, staring at it quizzingly.
Rose started to giggle, no longer able to maintain sincerity in the conversation."Yes, Jo. You're human. Arguably more human than most people!"
"Oh, good. Wait. Hey!" Rose's laughter was cut off by a pillow being thrown at her head. Scoffing, she went to grab some sort of decoration that could double as a projectile, when she felt a hand grab her wrist.
"Come on, Rosie. You still haven't grown out of your violent tendencies?" Lysander Scamander's voice was mocking though he smiled as he lifted Rose's legs up to sit, gently placing her legs back on his lap. She laughed at the handsome, bespectacled blonde boy.
"Oh come on, get over it. I was six when I threw that quaffle at you." She shot back, grinning.
"You threw a quaffle at him?!" Jo yelled, making her interest in the conversation obvious.
"Okay, again, I was six, and he-" She jabbed a finger at Lysander's chest," Told me I had nargles in my hair."
"In my defense, I still think that you do."
"I thought that Lorcan was the one who believed in all that stuff."
"Oh, he is, Your hair is just clearly full of nargles." Lysander grinned at her
"Oh, and what is that meant to-"
The rest of Rose's sentence would remain unsaid, as her, and the entire room's attention was now being given to Albus Potter, who it seems, had just shown up. While the son of Harry Potter who coincidentally looked nearly identical to him, save the eyes, had a tendency to attract unwanted attention with him wherever he went, it was typically more subtle than this. No, this seemed to be unrelated to Albus being a Potter, and more to do with Albus being Albus.
He was attracting so much attention to himself because he just pushed his long-time best friend, Scorpius Malfoy, a foot back into the wall as they yelled at each other. Rose stood up quickly, her relaxed state quickly turned frantic as she pushed past people to get to the two boys, for the second time that night.
Rose brought out her wand, ready to cast Petrificus Totalus before stopping suddenly, noticing that any chaotic violence that had just been going on was stopped., and the two boys were no longer movies.
Albus clutched Scorpius's collar tight in his hands as he hissed."I don't know what your problem is but-"
Scorpius scoffed, laughing, with absolutely no trace of humor."My problem? Well, that would have something to do with you throwing that game, Potter."
"Potter? Didn't realize we had reduced ourselves to last names, Malfoy." Al all but spat at him.
"Oh, you made it perfectly clear how important your last name was to you when you threw that game, as per your big brother's request. Nevermind the integrity of the sport, right? Not so long as it interferes with James Bloody Potter's undeserving ego."
"You don't need to bring my family into this-"
"You already did!" Scorpius yelled, making Al glower at him. "Funny thing about our friendship, I thought it wasn't meant to rely on our last names."
"Yeah, well," Al sneered," Any friendship you have is contingent on that, isn't it?"
Rose's eyes widened as people immediately began to whisper-never, in their six years as friends, had Rose ever heard Al mutter anything about Scorpius's last name and what came with it. In fact, she had heard Al defend Scorpius as a different person than his last name to multiple people over the years.
A look passed on Scorpius's face that made Rose's stomach drop, and he shook his head."How long have you been holding that one in, mate?"
Al loosened his grip on Scorpius, letting go of him. He shook his head, looking down, his voice strained."No, no, Scorpius, I didn't-"
Scorpius took a few steps back from him, shaking his head in disgust."Go to Hell, Potter."
Xx
Rose was about to give up waiting for her rounds partner and do the damn thing herself. She wasn't technically supposed to round alone, but she also wasn't supposed to go to parties, Scorpius and Al were not supposed to slam each other against walls.
Nothing made sense anyway, so why wouldn't she just wander around the castle alone?
Turns out she wouldn't have to, luckily. Scorpius appeared five minutes late, his hair a mess, and his tie unraveled. If Rose hadn't known pretty much the opposite had happened, she would've guessed he had been late because he was behind a curtain with a girl.
"Hey," He grumbled, not looking her in the face."You ready?"
"Um, yeah. I have been. You're late." She added unnecessarily.
He rolled his eyes."Sorry, Weasley. I get held up. I'm surprised you made it, after last night."
"I could say the same to you."
"Eh, I wasn't busy sitting on Lysander Scamander's lap."
"No, you were busy pinning Albus against a wall."
"That was different."
"Was it? It seemed like there might've been some tension there."
"Are you saying there is tension between you and Lysander, then?"
"Careful, you sound jealous."
"Eh, Lysander's a bit too blonde for me."
Rose laughed and Scorpius smiled slightly. She looked up at him, lightly tapping her shoulder against his arm.
"He knows he was being a dick, you know."
Scorpius looked at her, rolling his eyes."Feels like Deja vu."
"Hm, yeah, but, you're me and I'm you."
"You're too short to be me."
"Guess we'll have to use our imagination."
"I don't think I'm that creative."
"You're deflecting pretty creatively." She mused, opening a closet door and shutting it upon inspection.
He sighed."I know he knows. It doesn't make it any easier that after all this time, he still cares about what James has to say about him more than his own house. It's as if he still has some debt he owes to Gryffindor, even though it was pretty obvious he was never going to be there."
Rose stayed silent for a few seconds, partially because he was right, and partially because she was surprised he had said that much to her.
"James is...complicated." She decided on, instantly feeling dumb. He raised an eyebrow at her, and she rushed to add on. "He loves Al, he really does, and he wants him to be happy, he just has a very...fixed idea on what happiness looks like."
"James took it with the most grace, you know." She said, walking into an empty classroom."The whole 'Golden Trio' thing and everything that comes with it. He's always been comfortable with it. I mean, maybe too comfortable, but," She shrugged."It was like he was meant to be Harry Potter's son. Al, on the other hand..."
Scorpius cut in, nodding knowingly."Al gets mad anytime he's referred to as 'Harry Potter's son'."
"Yeah, exactly. James loves it. I think Albus feels bad about it . Like he's a bad brother or a bad son. And you're right, he might still hold some weird Gryffindor loyalty, but it's not because he's not..totally bound to you, or whatever." She rolled her eyes."He just doesn't want James, or hid dad, to think he's just totally abandoned them."
Scorpius nodded slowly, looking around the empty classroom."Right. Maybe you're right."
"I tend to be."
"I'm still not talking to him until he apologizes." He said decisively and Rose didn't try to argue.
"Mm, well, lucky for you, he's more liberal with apologies than some other people in our family." She said, smiling slightly at him. He smirked back at her.
"Well, that I knew."
There was a steady silence before Rose spoke."Right, well, there's no one in here, we should go-"
As she started to move, Scorpius reached out and grabbed her wrist, gently. Rose looked back at him, shocked.
"Malfoy?"
He looked at her in a way that she had never seen him before. She realized, with shock, that he was nervous. "Malfoy?" She tried again, blushing slightly under the hot intensity of his gaze.
"Can I ask you something?" His voice was quiet and she couldn't muster anything in response besides a small nod.
"Do you…" He faltered."You always call me Malfoy." His question became a statement, so she nodded.
"Um, yeah. And you call me Weasley. What about it?"
"Do you...Is that why we don't get along? Because I'm a Malfoy, and you think I'm...you know."
She stared at him for a second, shocked, before shaking her head."No, no, Malfoy, it's not-Al said that because he was mad, he's not-"
"I'm not asking about Al. I'm asking about you." He was whispering, his gaze dropping to the floor.
Slowly, as if her hands suddenly weren't her own, she moved her hand under his chin, raising his face so her eyes locked his. "Scorpius," She tried, trying to sound confident.``We don't get along because you charm paper birds to get stuck in my hair, and we don't like the same Quidditch team, and you're the only one who knows Al like I do, and maybe because you can keep up with me." His expression turned to a slight smirk and she added in."Sometimes."
He nodded slowly, maybe inching slightly closer to her."Do you mean that, Rose?"
She gulped, the sound of her own, familiar name sending a shocking feeling in her body. Attempting to push it down, she tried to smile casually."I hate you because you're Malfoy, not because you're a Malfoy."
He nodded again, not returning the smile but he was absolutely closer he had been a moment again. She stood frozen, not sure what was happening when, if anything was happening when-
"Miss Weasley!" The two broke apart and Rose's face flushed as she turned around, her heart hammering in her ears.
"Fancy seeing you here, you're all over the castle lately." Professor Carter was grinning at Rose, and she tried to return the expression.
"Right, well." She held up her badge."Prefect duties." She said, attempting to sound casual.
"Right, of course. That explains why Mister Malfoy is with you, in this empty classroom."
"Yeah, you know."Scorpius cut in, the sound of his voice, clear and charming, back to normal, shook Rose slightly."We were just making sure there was no nonsense going on here."
"And? Did you find any students snogging in here?" Carter raised an eyebrow, smirking slightly. Rose couldn't figure out why, but she moved a half step closer to Scorpius.
"No, no, definitely none of that." Scorpius ensured."So I guess we can continue on our way. Ready, Weasley?"
The switch from 'Rose' to 'Weasley' stinging slightly, Rose hesitated before nodding."Yeah, we'll get out of your hair, Professor."She smiled politely, walking out of the room that she was nearly certain was much bigger when they had first entered it.
He looked between the two of them, raising an eyebrow."You know, Mister Malfoy." He stopped him, speaking as if he hadn't heard anything they had said."They must trust you a lot, to be alone in empty classrooms with Miss Weasley, especially knowing what you kids get up to."
A silence ensued for a moment, Scorpius and Rose both too embarrassed to muster up a reply, before Professor Carter's demeanor returned to its normal, bright state. He said, smiling now."Well, I guess that's the point of prefects. You too should go on, I'll see you in class tomorrow."
They rushed out, Rose too focused on the oddity of that comment to notice her and Scorpius were alone again until they were walking down the hall.
She wondered if Scorpius had the same awareness, and whether he was going to bring it up, because she sure as Hell was not when he looked at her, smirking slightly.
"You know, he's right."
She spluttered slightly." W-what?"
"They must trust us a lot. That, or they're so confident in our own feud they figure they have to be more worried of us blowing up a classroom doing rounds than they are of us taking advantage of it."
"Yeah, well," She rolled her eyes, trying to match his casual tone."If we did, it'd be your fault."
"Right, except for when we did start a fire in potions, that was your fault." He reminded her, smirking.
She gaped, "That was your fault!" She yelled, glaring, secretly feeling slightly relieved he was teasing her. The ease in which they went back to arguing made Rose certain he had no intention of discussing any deserted classroom activity, and she knew they both knew she'd never bring it up.
"Right, and how exactly was I trying to help you out by putting in the bursting mushroom into your cauldron while you were in the bathroom, me trying to engage in pyromancy?" He questioned, raising an eyebrow.
"You knew I wouldn't trust you and would need you to put my own in!"
"Hm, yeah." He pretended to consider it, smirking. "Still seems like that was your own fault." He decided.
"Whatever." She rolled her eyes, though the fact she was grinning didn't fail to escape both of their attentions. Despite the light conversation, and her own internal attempts to stay focused on rounds, Rose's mind couldn't help but keep wandering back to the empty classroom. She kept thinking of the oddity of seeing Scorpius so quiet, so vulnerable. She hadn't ever been so close to him, had never seen how the outer rim of his eyes was considerably darker than the inner part, had never noticed the blonde roots of his eyelashes.
"Well, that's the end of our route."Scorpius's words brought Rose back to reality, and she realized they were back where they started. He took her hand, smirking, and kissed it lightly."I thank you for the pleasure of another invigorating rounds session, Miss Weasley." He mocked, smirking.
"Yeah, well. I wouldn't be here if I didn't have to." She said, trying to remain cool even if she couldn't really look at him.
"Even so." He shrugged, suddenly looking at her sincerely."Really, Rose, thank you."
She blushed again."Yeah, well. Just...cut him some slack, okay? I know he didn't mean it. He shouldn't have said it, but...you know Al. He loves you."
"Yeah, I do." He said, more to himself than her."Goodnight, Weasley."
"Goodnight, Malfoy."
Xx
Authors note Hiii. So sorry, first of all, I genuinely didn't realize how long it had been. I wrote the first half of this chapter a few months ago, forgot I had it, and just finished it yesterday. Sorry for the long wait but I promise next chapter won't be quite so long.
Let me know what you thought!