A/N: Sorry this took so long! O_o I can't believe it's been months since I updated. I really do apologize. Right, so, seventh year is the next chapter. I dunno, I might even do a Beyond chapter, for after graduation or something (:
Sixth Year
It's summer at The Burrow and things are noticeably different now.
The Quidditch matches, wild barbeque parties and Grandma Molly's lemonade are all still the same, but it's subtle changes that Scorpius can't help but notice.
Now that Rose and Toby are pretty much joined at the hip, he spends a lot of his time lazing around with Albus and Caitlyn instead, while Rose and Toby sneak off to wherever. Because of this, the five of them have now sort of split into Albus-Caitlyn-Scorpius and Rose-Toby.
(He doesn't really want to think too much about where they go and what they do when they go off together, because this shouldn't bother him in the least.)
It's hard to describe what's going on between them, but it's as though Rose and Toby are in their own little world or something when they're together. It's odd, because this never happened when Toby was with Caitlyn. He doesn't really care at first, but this whole Rose-Toby thing starts getting annoying when he realizes that he doesn't get to spend as much time with Rose as he'd used to.
(Shut up. They're friends, alright?)
This becomes especially evident when it's a week into their summer holidays and Scorpius is out running his usual morning laps around The Burrow. It's a beautiful morning and he's kind of, maybe, looking forward to hanging around Rose at the pond like they did every other morning last summer. They've barely talked since the holidays began, after all.
When he rounds a corner, panting and gasping, he sees Rose-and-Toby all curled up in each other's arms, lying down on the dewy grass and giggling about something. His mood worsens immediately and he jogs past without a single word. Because, fuck, he's not going to plop himself between them and become a third wheel. That's just pathetic and sad. Besides, they're probably whispering sweet nothings to each other right now and seriously, Scorpius doesn't need to hear that.
(He doesn't think they even notice he's was there.)
He's irritated about this, yeah, but he's been expecting it. They're a legitimate couple now, so this is just one of the many gag-worthy, lovey-dovey things they will be participating in.
But then it happens every. Single. Bloody. Morning.
Not only that, Toby practically monopolizes Rose for the entire summer. Every time he talks to her, Toby's right by her side. Yeah, Toby's his best mate and all, but it's weird to be talking to Rose when Toby is hanging on every word. There's some things that he'd like to be just between him and Rose. Also, the constant being-in-love-is-amazing look on their faces is nauseating (especially on Toby.)
Scorpius, Albus and Caitlyn are all lying down on the small slope by The Burrow, exhausted after a strenuous Quidditch game when Scorpius decides to bring this up.
"Have any of you both actually properly talked to Rose-and-Toby this few weeks?" he raises his glass of warm lemonade and takes a sip.
Albus, with his arms folded behind his head, snorts. "Believe me, I've tried," he plucks up several blades of grass and throws them into the air lazily. "I can barely get a word in edgewise before Toby cuts in. He's so whipped," he chuckles.
Caitlyn shrugs and readjusts her yellow heart-shaped Muggle sunglasses. "I dunno. I actually prefer it when they're not here. I'm not a huge fan of public displays of affection."
Scorpius feels a tiny stab of awkward embarrassment and mentally berates himself for mentioning her best friend and her ex-boyfriend. He opens his mouth to mutter an apology or something but Caitlyn laughs when she looks at the expression on her face.
"Relax, Scor. I'm pretty much over him," she lifts up her sunglasses for a moment to smile at him, but the smile is strained and tense so Scorpius knows that she's basically lying through her teeth. "We weren't together for that long, and it was just a silly fling." A brief bolt of angry annoyance shoots through him—you'd think Rose-and-Toby would be more subtle around her.
Albus pushes up his glasses and makes a small noise of sympathy. "If it makes you feel any better," he says, grinning. "I think you and Toby looked better together."
"But late for that, isn't it? Too bad I don't give a shit anymore. Besides, Toby was a wanker, anyway," she flips her cornsilk hair back and smiles angelically.
This sends Albus into a fit of minor hysterics. Scorpius is mildly impressed—he's never heard her curse so much before.
"Yeah, well, I suppose we've got to get used to it," Albus says doubtfully after he's done laughing. "They don't look like they're going to break up anytime soon."
(It's the most disheartening thing Scorpius has heard all summer.)
"At least Rose-and-Toby are happy," Caitlyn says this neutrally, but Scorpius can't help but detect a whole lot of bitterness and resentment underneath that dispassionate, calm exterior.
(He suddenly realizes that he and Caitlyn may have a lot more in common than he thought.)
-.-.-
Scorpius wakes up one morning to a shrieking, squealing red-headed girl bouncing on his bed.
It takes him a moment to realize that this girl is Rose Weasley.
It takes him another moment to realize that she is practically straddling him.
This he does not entirely hate. In fact, it feels so good he has to stop for a moment to remind himself that she has a bloody boyfriend.)
(Not to mention the fact that said boyfriend is his best mate.)
"Scorpius!" she practically yells and shoves a letter into his face. "OWL results are in!" Her eyes are all brown and shiny. He blinks his eyes and pulls himself up blearily. It takes a brief second for him to take in the Hogwarts seal on the front of the envelope.
"Holy fuck," he mutters and rips his letter open with a finger. He knew results were coming in but he wasn't expecting them for another week or so.
Rose punches the air with both fists. "I got straight Os!" she looks like she's about to burst with joy. And, well, Scorpius is happy for her and all, but Rose needs to get off him. Because right now she's bouncing around in excitement and a rather pressing problem is arising. Literally.
(Look, can you blame him? Rose is sitting on his fucking lap. The shorts she's wearing don't exactly help either.)
Scorpius props himself up on his elbows. He hesitates a little before ripping it open. His results tumble down and he examines the little slip.
"Straight Os too," he smiles.
Rose pitches forward and gives Scorpius a bone-crushing hug. "I knew it!" she says, laughing. She shifts a little in his lap and Scorpius tenses all over.
"Rose," he says calmly. "I think you should get off now."
She pulls back and looks at him confusedly. "What? Why?"
"It's morning. And you're straddling me. And I'm a hormonal sixteen-year-old teenage bloke. You figure it out," he gives her a pointed look. The penny finally drops and Rose's entire face floods with a frankly delicious shade of red. Her jaw unhinges and she wordlessly climbs down his bed. She's so embarrassed he can't even meet his eyes.
(He thinks it's hilarious how mortified Rose is.)
"Oh Merlin, I'm sorry, I didn't realize—" Rose stammers.
"Oh, don't apologize," he grins and stretches out on his bed. "That's the best wakeup call I've had all summer."
(The outraged, scandalized face Rose gives him after he says that just makes it even better.)
-.-.-
When he goes down for breakfast later, he's greeted by the sight of nearly everyone in the Weasley-Potter clan gathered around the kitchen table. There's a huge, hastily constructed banner dangling from the ceiling that reads "Congratulations—You Passed Your OWLs" with a gigantic, wobbly exclamation mark behind.
Grandma Molly has whipped up a whole stack of her special blueberry pancakes and they're quickly disappearing so Scorpius hurriedly grabs a few pieces and dumps them on a plate. A few of the grown-ups congratulate him on his straight Os—Mr Potter shakes his hand, Grandma Molly gives him a monster hug, James Potter claps him heartily on the back (Scorpius finds out later that James got Head Boy). He pulls out a stool and is in the process of wolfing down his five pancakes in the shortest time possible when the fireplace bursts into green flames and his mother appears.
"Mum!" his jaw drops.
"Scorpius!" she cries, smiling. She picks up her formal, green robes and runs over to envelop him in an embrace. "Straight Os! Oh, you make me so proud!" she exclaims tearfully.
It's embarrassing, yes—especially in front of all the Weasley-Potters— but he hasn't seen his mother in months and he sort of misses her so he lets her do it. There's a collective "aww" from everyone at the table and several of them warmly welcome Scorpius' mum into their midst.
(It surprises her just how close his mum has gotten with the Weasley-Potters.)
-.-.-
His mum pulls him aside after he's done with breakfast. She brings him over to The Burrow's kitchen and they stand by the sink. All her previous happiness and joy has dissipated, and Scorpius is dismayed to see that without her smile, she looks years older. The lines around her eyes and mouth seem to have deepened over the course of several months.
"I have bad news, Scorpius," she lets out a tired breath of air and pinches the bridge of her nose. Several strands of golden hair have come loose from her bun.
His heart sinks. "What is it? What happened?"
"Your father and I... we're no longer living together," Astoria Greengrass looks up and for the first time that day he realizes that he's already taller than his mother.
Scorpius stares, open-mouthed, for several seconds. "You mean... you two have... separated? As in, you're divorced?"
(What the fuck?)
"Oh, no," She shakes her head, looking at him anxiously. "I've—I've—temporarily moved out."
Raw panic surges inside him. All of a sudden he feels like he's twelve-years-old again.
Honestly? He saw this coming a mile away. He briefly remembers those two summers he spent at the Malfoy Manor, listening to them row all day. But given the fact that he hasn't really spent any proper time back at home, a part of him sort of assumed that things between his parents are all fine and dandy now. Guilt floods him in waves. But now that it's actually happening, he can barely wrap his head around it.
"We're just going through a rough patch right now, darling," she pulls him in for another hug. He blankly puts his arms around her, head spinning.
"But—why?" his voice comes out all confused and he fucking hates it.
His mother avoids his eyes and washes her hands in the sink. "I'm sure it'll all work out soon," she deliberately avoids his question and gives him a watery smile. Scorpius shuts up when he notices that his mother looks like she's going to burst into tears at any moment.
(The worst part is that he's pretty damn sure that this "rough patch" they're going through is caused by him.)
-.-.-
He spends the whole day sitting out on the loneliest part of the veranda with only a stolen bottle of Firewhiskey for company, completely occupied with his thoughts. He's depressed at first, naturally, but then as he downs more Firewhiskey, the depression morphs into burning resentment and anger.
"I'm sure it'll all work out soon," he mutters his mother's words from earlier, scoffing bitterly. "Yeah-fucking-right."
That was just the way the Malfoys did things, wasn't it? Turn a blind eye to everything that's less-than-perfect in your life and wait for the shit storm to pass. He scowls when he realizes he's been doing the exact same thing to his family ever since he spent his first summer here when he was in his third year.
Scorpius decides he should really stop psychoanalyzing himself, so he stares up at the slowly darkening violet sky and finishes the last of his Firewhiskey. His head feels pleasantly numb. He turns the bottle around in his hands, sullen and just angry at everyone.
"You alright?"
He jumps at the sound of Rose's voice. He turns around and sees her standing there, completely alone. She cocks her head, concerned. "You've been out here all day."
"Wow," he says mockingly. "Toby finally fucked off, did he?"
Rose's expression darkens but she doesn't move. "Don't be such a bloody arsehole," she crosses her arms and sits down beside him. "So go on. Tell me. I can tell something's up."
Scorpius wants to tell her to go away and leave him alone, but he finds himself spilling his guts out to her. Like, he literally tells her everything (including all those pathetic self-doubts he has). By the end of his rant, he's thoroughly miserable. She listens to all this without interrupting once and nods every so often.
He leans back against a wooden beam and closes his eyes. He thinks that whoever said telling someone about your problems would make you feel better is a twat. He feels worse than ever.
Rose sits there thinking for a moment, and Scorpius is completely caught off guard when she reaches over to give him a tight hug. She buries her head in the crook of his neck and pulls back a few seconds later.
"You looked like you needed a hug," she explains, smiling a little.
"Right," is all he can say, for some peculiar reason.
(It actually did feel nice.)
"Scorpius, your mum was probably right when she said everything will be fine. These things have a funny way of working themselves out," Rose pushes back a stray strand of her red hair. "I mean, don't all healthy relationships have their occasional speed bump?" she bites her lip and Scorpius suddenly feels this inexplicable urge to bite it for her.
(Bloody hell, where did that come from?)
(...Must be the alcohol.)
"That's bollocks and you know it," he scoffs. "You don't know my father. He's a big fan of holding grudges against people."
Rose is momentarily stuck for words. "It doesn't sound that bad," she insists. "It's probably not about you, anyway—"
"I'm a Malfoy living with the Weasleys," he interrupts. "My family has this whole fucking history of hating you blokes. Do the math."
"I suppose your father wants you to hate us, doesn't he?" she sighs and fiddles with the hem of her top. "Yes, well, I can see why your father would be angry about this, but hasn't he gotten used to it already? I mean, you already come here every summer and for Christmas."
"Fuck if I know. In fact, if I recall correctly, your dad and Mr Potter actually saved his sorry arse once."
They sit in companionable silence for several minutes as night gently falls. He fixes his gaze on Rose contemplatively. "What?" suddenly Rose is self-conscious. She raises an eyebrow and a slow, steady blush rises on her cheeks.
He opens his mouth and—
"Rose!"
Her head snaps towards the direction of Toby's voice. "I'm here!"
Scorpius mentally groans.
Toby jogs into view with a worried expression on his face. He practically collapses with relief when he sees Rose there sitting down on the wooden veranda with him. "There you are!" he pulls Rose up on her feet. "Hey, Scor," he adds as an afterthought.
Scorpius grunts in reply, suddenly disliking him very, very much.
"You were gone for so long!" Toby says, frowning slightly.
(For Merlin's sake.)
"I was talking to Scorpius," she explains, brushing lint off her front. "Sorry."
The bloody hell was she apologizing for? He gives Toby an intentionally hard stare. He raises an eyebrow in return, confused at his animosity. Scorpius watches as Rose-and-Toby link hands together and walk back inside.
-.-.-
Summer quickly comes to a close and as always, the Weasley-Potters commemorate the last day of summer with a large, messy barbecue party. Scorpius grabs a few greasy baked potatoes and goes to sit by Albus and Caitlyn. Rose-and-Toby are, unsurprisingly enough, huddled together in a quieter part of the backyard, giggling and laughing over their plates. The food is seriously amazing and Aunt Hermione has charmed tiny little paper lanterns all over the garden so that everything is lit up.
"Oh, Merlin," Albus moans in orgasmic pleasure as he reverently holds up the most beautifully barbecued chicken wing Scorpius has ever seen. "I'm in heaven."
Caitlyn snorts into her jelly pudding. "Boys," she shakes her head.
"I think this just might be the best barbeque we've ever had," Scorpius decides, spooning up some warm, buttery potato. "Grandma Molly and Aunt Hermione have outdone themselves."
He spends the rest of the night laughing with Albus and Caitlyn. At midnight, Uncle George unleashes his usual horde of magnificent fireworks into the night sky as everyone marvels at them from below.
His good mood is ruined when he accidentally sees Rose-and-Toby snogging like crazy during the fireworks display. Because, goddamn, it's disgusting.
(It also reminds him of the time last summer when he kissed Rose, but he quickly puts it behind him and concentrates on a particularly spectacular cluster of Catherine wheels in the sky.)
-.-.-
September first is, as per usual, utter chaos in The Burrow. The same thing happens—everyone wakes up late, there's a mad rush to get to King's Cross Station by eleven and they make it just in time.
They all clamber into a compartment, sniggering fit to bust because, you know, being late for the Hogwarts Express has pretty much become a yearly tradition for them. The train compartment they pick feels even more cramped than usual, because this year Molly and Lucy Weasley are first-years. Scorpius has a killer headache and his mouth feels like sandpaper (he may or may not have gotten completely piss drunk with Albus, Caitlyn, Rose and Toby last night) but his spirits are reasonably high.
Then James announces that he's off to the Head Boy's compartment and Rose pipes up, "Toby and I have to be going too."
Everyone immediately starts whistling and catcalling. Rose and Toby both blush to the tips of their hair roots and their tiny compartment is filled with laughter.
(Scorpius doesn't find this particularly amusing.)
-.-.-
He's positive that this year is going to be his fucking year when this insanely gorgeous new transfer fifth-year student (Flavia Bochinsky) that literally every sane bloke in school is salivating over suddenly starts paying a lot of attention to Scorpius. He becomes the envy of the entire Hogwarts male population.
(He's pleasantly surprised to discover that Flavia can do some rather remarkable things with her tongue.)
(Their snogging sessions help take his mind off some things.)
-.-.-
It's the third day of school and Scorpius wakes up early in the morning for his laps around the Black Lake. And, well, he's sort of looking forward to it because Rose is usually found sitting by that rock beside the lake. It's sort of their spot now and Scorpius smiles as he remembers how they used to meet up there every other day last year.
She's not there when he starts running, and she still isn't there when he's completely exhausted from twenty solid laps.
(He usually just runs fifteen or so, but he was waiting for Rose to show up.)
-.-.-
The Slytherins have Herbology with the Gryffindors and Scorpius doesn't know what to think when Professor Leech puts them into groups of threes for a special group project (they're each given a potted baby Venemous Tentacula and are told to keep the plant alive for the entire year) and he inevitably ends up with Rose and Toby.
(Professor Leech must really hate him.)
Predictably, Rose immediately snaps into action and starts bossing them around. "Toby, go open that bag of soil. Scorpius, hold this for me, will you?"
Scorpius silently does as he's told—Rose can get really bonkers about studies sometimes, so it's best to just comply meekly. He waits until Toby runs out of Greenhouse Seven to fetch a new pot before he asks Rose lowly, "So tell me—why weren't you at the Black Lake this morning?"
Rose looks up, breathing heavily and wrestling with several tiny Venemous Tentacula tentacles with a giant pair of shears. Her eyes widen slightly. "Oh. Oh, Merlin, Scorpius, I'm sorry! I—uh—I was sort of busy," she says apologetically.
"I practically waited for you all morning," Scorpius continues, grinning slightly. "And don't worry about it, Weasley, it's not like I stay up at night crying about it. I am capable of surviving without you, yeah?" Unlike some people, he thinks sourly when a sorely unwelcome mental image of Toby and that daft grin of his pops into his mind.
"Good to know," she laughs. She turns her head several degrees and the bright morning sunlight catches on her hair. Scorpius is momentarily fascinated by this sight.
(He's forgotten how Rose's hair turns this particular shade of red that he's rather partial to when it's in the sunlight.)
His hand, of its own accord, reaches up to cup Rose's face gently and she instantly stops what she's doing. "Uh, Scorpius?" she raises an eyebrow, looking bewildered.
For some reason Scorpius is not privy to, he slowly uses the pad of his thumb to brush away several clods of dirt on her cheeks. Her skin is soft and warm from the sun. "You've got dirt on you," he explains.
"I got the pot—" Toby falters and Rose practically leaps away. Toby stares at Scorpius with a mixture of something that looks like shock and incredulity. Scorpius sort of just shrugs and gets back to whatever he was doing before.
"Toby! You got the pot!" Rose starts babbling. "Fantastic! Now—just put it over here and I'll dump the soil in while Scorpius grabs hold of the Venemous Tentacula—"
(The fact that Rose's face is still red ten minutes later fills him with a tiny sense of gratification.)
(Also, he completely ignores the stupid, glowering stare Toby keeps shooting him every few minutes.)
-.-.-
Unsurprisingly, Toby corners him after Herbology. Scorpius puts on a disinterested, non-committal look on his face and something inside him heavily approves when he sees Toby's flushed face.
"What the bloody hell was that all about?" Toby demands, brow furrowing. "Don't pretend it didn't happen. I saw it with my own eyes! You were touching her face and—and—I know what you're like with girls, Scor. If you're trying to make her move on her when she's my girlfriend—" he tails off when he sees Scorpius' mask of calm morph into disdain.
"Merlin. Her face was dirty. I was helping her wipe some dirt off," he says, crossing his arms. He looks at Toby directly in the eyes. "And don't be such a fucking hypocrite—remember what you did to Caitlyn?"
(This comes out with a lot more venom and malice than originally intended.)
Toby's mouth falls open. "You—you—" he splutters, turning red with embarrassment. "Caitlyn has nothing to do with this!"
Scorpius simply turns around and walks away because honestly? He can't fucking stand to listen to him blabber on for a second longer.
-.-.-
He spends the next two weeks trying to say as little as possible to Toby-the-Arsehole. Suddenly, everything about Toby irritates him—from that dopey grin that's perpetually stuck on his face to the way his affable nature seems to make everyone love him so damn much.
Scorpius has no idea what's gotten over him—they used to be best mates, for Merlin's sake— but now every time he sees Toby he feels like hitting him with a nasty Bat Bogey Hex.
(The no-strings-attached sex Flavia Bochinsky supplies help immensely when he's feeling particularly frustrated.)
It takes only a few days before Albus figures out something's up with his two best mates. Albus finally asks him what's going on after a particularly awkward and stilted breakfast between the three of them where Albus' multiple attempts to start a conversation between Scorpius and Toby fail miserably.
"Alright, 'fess up. What'd you do?" Albus asks him the second Toby leaves the Great Hall to look for Rose.
Scorpius angrily spoons up more Tarantula Treaties into his mouth. "Toby Arlington is a paranoid wanker," is all he offers as an explanation.
"Seriously, Scor. I don't think you've said more than five words to Toby all week," Albus frowns and runs his hand through his permanently messy black hair. "Did you two get into some kind of quarrel, or something?"
"He thinks I'm trying to put a move on Rose," Scorpius sighs and finishes up the last of his cereal.
Albus does a double take. "Bloody hell. He doesn't really think you'd do that, does he? I mean, you two have known each other since second-year. He knows you'd never do something like that."
Albus' unwavering faith in him is encouraging, but suddenly Scorpius isn't so sure what he'd do or wouldn't do anymore.
(Shit, what's going on with him? This is Rose Weasley. She's a friend. Admittedly a very attractive and appealing friend, but...)
(Whoa.)
-.-.-
Finally, for the first time in a month, Rose shows up at the Black Lake one crisp Wednesday morning. She's all curled up by the rock and her head is buried in a thick, leather tome that looks about a hundred years old.
"Morning," Rose greets, and she's all smiley and beaming so Scorpius can't help but feel his mood brighten considerably.
(He wonders if she knows what's going on between him and Toby.)
"Morning, Weasley," he sits down on a tufty patch of grass beside her and relaxes. "It's been a long time since you've been here," he observes, opening one eye.
Rose looks up from her book guiltily. "Um—yeah, I suppose. I'm really sorry about that. I've just been really busy with school work and all."
Scorpius frowns at her peculiar response. Something tells him there's something Rose isn't telling him. He shrugs and lets it slide. "Tell me something," he murmurs.
"What?"
"Anything. Got any stories?"
The corner of Rose's mouth quirks upward and she spends the next thirty minutes ranting on about everything that's going on in her life. Scorpius likes this—he feels like he's catching up on everything he missed for these past few months.
After Rose is done talking, she leans back on the rock and gazes at Scorpius pensively. Suddenly, Rose looks almost embarrassed at something.
He pulls himself up so that he's leaning against the rock and looks at her inquiringly. "What?"
"I have a question to ask," the faint blush on her cheeks becomes more pronounced.
This is going to be interesting. "Ask away."
"It's about Toby..."
Scorpius closes his eyes and mentally groans. "Thanks for the warning," he mumbles.
"Excuse me?"
"Nothing," he shakes his head, a little glad she didn't hear him.
"Oh. Um, well, this isn't easy for me to say, so I'd appreciate it deeply if you didn't ridicule me," Rose bites her bottom lip. Scorpius rolls his eyes and nods his head. "I have a question about... boys. And—um—sex. And also how badly they really want it."
He blinks at her, because fucking hell — he does not want to hear about Rose and Toby's steamy snogging sessions or whatever. And what's this about sex? He gets a ghastly mental image of Toby forcing himself on a sobbing Rose and his blood just starts boiling.
"Don't tell me Toby's trying to... you know... make you do stuff you don't want to do or whatever—" Scorpius' fists ball up and he swears that he'll beat Toby into a bloody pulp if Rose confirms his theory.
"No!" Rose says quickly, horrified. "No, of course not. We've only been together for a few months, and we're—it's not—it's not like that."
He relaxes. Just a little.
"Right. So why're you...?"
She exhales slowly and lowers herself down from the rock. She sits right beside him and now their arms are gently brushing against each other. "It's like this. Toby and I... we'll be, you know, snogging or whatever..."
Scorpius has never seen Rose this inarticulate. He grins from ear to ear. "And whatever?"
(He's struggling very hard right now not to think too much about Rose-and-Toby doing all that.)
"Scorpius!" she goes horribly red. Scorpius can't help but the think that the way she blushes so easily is strangely tempting. He could get used to making her blush like that.
"Okay, I'm sorry," he says sincerely, and waits for Rose to continue.
She takes in a deep breath and looks down. Her fingers start fiddling with the hem of her robes. "So we'll be, you know, snogging, and it's—it's going really well, but then he'll just stop. He'll pull away, and I just don't know... I mean, I know why Toby does that, but..."
Inside, Scorpius is pretty much laughing his arse off. Toby is such a girl.
Outside, he maintains a mask of composure and thoughtfulness. Then he starts sniggering. "Toby would hate you if he knew you were telling me all this," their eyes meet, and he promises her, "I won't say anything to him, I swear."
Rose sighs in relief.
"So... what're you telling me all this for?" Scorpius wants to know one, why she's coming to him, of all people, for relationship advice (she knows as well as everyone that he's not exactly the perfect gentleman when it comes to girls) and two, doesn't she have any other girl friends to help her with this shit?
(Oh. Right. Caitlyn isn't exactly an option, and Rose isn't really close with anyone else.)
"Er—well—sometimes when we're—when we're fooling around and all that... I don't want to stop," she admits, and quickly looks up at him to gauge his response.
Scorpius' mouth goes dry and he's temporarily lost for words. He takes in all this information slowly. Rose Weasley is telling him that she likes snogging and that sometimes she doesn't want to stop.
And there's not a single thing he can do about it.
Bloody hell.
"Well... uh..." he mumbles before clearing his throat. "Again, what do you need my help for?"
"I just thought that you might have some advice for what I can do. You know, for..." she pauses mid-sentence.
"Weasley," he prompts.
"Never mind. This is mortifying. I shouldn't have said anything," she covers her scarlet face with her hands, laughing weakly.
"Rose," he says, and she removes her hands, looking at him with mild surprise.
"I never thought I'd see the day that you would call me by my first name."
He ignores that. "Look, not a whole lot of blokes can handle... that..." (he tries saying this as delicately as he can) "... without, you know, anything happening. There's nothing wrong with Arlington, or anything."
"I know that," Rose smiles slightly. Her blush is fading away. "Glad to know I'm not doing anything wrong."
"Some blokes can snog for hours. Prime example would be me," he states roguishly, and he snorts with laughter when Rose attacks him with her gigantic book.
(He doesn't miss how Rose's eyes flicker to his lips, even if just for a second.)
"So, just give him a little time. Let him work up some... resistance, alright?" he says.
"You're saying I should just keep snogging him until he... manages to control himself?" Rose says uncertainly, cocking an eyebrow. She looks to her lap.
Inwardly, Scorpius cringes. Fuck, he can't believe he's doing this. He's actually encouraging Rose to snog Toby senseless until Toby finally grows some bollocks. "Yeah. Something like that."
She smiles and bites her lip. Again.
"So. Toby and I are going to the Hogsmeade trip this weekend. Want to come with? I mean, I can't remember the last time the three of us properly hung out together." Rose suggests.
Scorpius barely contains his bark of derisive laughter. "No thanks."
"How come? It'll be fun, I think. I've noticed that, well... Toby isn't as close to you as he was last year, and I can't help but think that it's partly my fault. And I—"
"Rose, I said no," he says firmly.
She looks taken aback at his curt reply., but she sets her shoulders. "Why?"
"Because. It's not a good idea."
(It's actually the worst fucking idea of the century.)
"And why not?" she narrows her eyes and Scorpius recognizes this as a sign that Rose is getting worked up.
"Because I don't do the whole third wheel thing," he runs a hand through his blond hair. "Sitting there while you and Toby stick your tongues in each other's mouths is not my idea of fun, thank you very much."
"I don't understand."
"Oh, really?" he asks, turning to her. He gets in her face a little bit, and he sets his jaw. "Rose, come on. You're the smartest witch of the whole fucking school, you figure it out. I don't know if you've noticed but Toby and I don't exactly get along anymore."
"Don't be silly, Scorpius. Toby would love for you to be there. We're all friends," she insists and climbs up to her feet. He laughs humourlessly and stands up too. "Aren't we?"
"Sure."
"So why won't you...?" Rose inquires, looking flabbergasted.
"Just drop it. For Merlin's sake," he says quietly. Somehow, they're both standing mere inches apart.
"I don't want to," she admits, and her expression changes into something softer. "You're one of my best friends, Scorpius. You're very important to me."
(His heart aches at this—he's not so sure why. Maybe it's just heartburn.)
He glances at her lips quickly—he can't help it, they're all red and pouty and they're right there—and he takes a step back.
"Have fun," he says, and he makes his way back to the castle.
-.-.-
The weekend approaches and on Saturday morning, a large percentage of the student body (Scorpius included) mill towards the Great Hall to get clearance from Filch before journeying up to Hogsmeade.
He goes with Albus and Caitlyn and they have a pretty great time visiting Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes and Honeydukes. The three of them emerge from both shops with their hands full of sweets, candies and various merchandise. Caitlyn insists they accompany her to Gladrag's Wizardwear for some new robes and Albus and Scorpius go into Spintwitches for some extra Quidditch equipment.
Then, Albus goes off with some Hufflepuff fifth-year he's had his eye on for ages, and Scorpius and Caitlyn are left on their own. Scorpius doesn't really mind—Caitlyn's good company and she's easy to talk to. They get two bottles of Butterbeer from the Three Broomsticks and they walk around Hogsmeade, talking and laughing.
Caitlyn's in the middle of telling him about turning a hedgehog into a pincushion during her Transfiguration lesson yesterday when they pass by Madam Puddifoot's. The entire building is puke pink and there's a gigantic window up front where you can look in and see the whole shop.
"I've always hated that place," he remarks, taking a swig from his half-empty bottle of Butterbeer. "S'fucking ugly and girly."
Caitlyn laughs, highly amused. "Not all girls love it. I have personally detested Madam Puddifoot's ever since Toby took me there in second-year. He actually likes it."
Scorpius is, frankly, repulsed. "Something's wrong with the bloke, I swear."
Caitlyn runs up to the giant window and peers in, giggling. She gestures for him to come over too. "Would you look at that! Bloody everyone is snogging in there—" she stops talking. Scorpius presses his nose up against the glass and squints. His eyes pan around the room and his gaze fixes himself on Rose and Toby, all cuddled up in a secluded corner of the hideous teashop and kissing furiously over their coffee.
Something hot and angry coils inside his stomach and he immediately tenses all over.
Caitlyn steps away from the window, face stony. "Let's go," she says shortly. She walks briskly away and Scorpius is left to stare, confused, at her retreating back.
(It's the first time he realizes that Caitlyn and him share a mutual dislike for Rose-and-Toby. He's just not sure if she hates them for the same reason he does.)
-.-.-
This year's Christmas at The Burrow is particularly cold and frosty. Grandma Molly keeps a constant, magical fire roaring in their brick fireplace and they spend most of their nights huddled around the warm flames, sipping endless cups of steaming hot chocolate.
This year, as some sort of sick joke, Uncle Georgia somehow gets hold of some sprigs of mistletoe that he hangs everywhere in the house. Everyone thinks it's a giant hoot but Scorpius could not be less amused.
(Seriously, Rose and Toby don't need any more incentive for public displays of affection.)
On Christmas Day, the Weasley-Potters throw a huge Christmas party and invite practically everyone that lives in Ottery St. Catchpole. Scorpius isn't really in a Christmas-y mood so he basically just drifts around groups, talking to random strangers he's never met before. He even meets some weird, old bloke with straggly white-blond hair named "Xeno" who's wearing some kind of "Santa Claus" suit.
(Apparently, according to Xeno, it's some magical god that the Muggles worship.)
As the party drags on he gets more and more tired. The fairy lights are too bright, he's eaten too much food, and suddenly all he wants to do is go to bed. When it's barely ten o' clock he retires to his favourite pond near the hill and just lies down. He grass is covered in wet, half-melted slushy snow and the damp seeps through his jeans a little but fuck if he cares. His warm breath mists in the cold air and after several minutes he actually dozes off just like that, freezing his bollocks off.
When he eventually jolts awake, the backyard is silent and everyone seems to have left. He mutters a tired shit and slowly makes his way to The Burrow. Scorpius immediately heads towards the fireplace for a source of warmth, stripping off his soaked jacket in the process.
"Where've you been?" a voice very familiar alarms him, but he relaxes when he sees that it's just Rose, curled up by the fireplace with some of Grandma Molly's leftover mince pies.
"Sleeping," he answers cryptically. He likes the way Rose looks, with her legs tucked underneath her and hair loose.
"Don't tell me you've been sleeping outside!" Rose says disbelievingly. "You must be freezing."
"Pretty much," he strips off his sweater and wet socks to warm his toes by the fire. "Why're you up so late? I don't know about you, but I'm exhausted."
"You didn't like the party?" she inquires. Scorpius sits himself down carefully beside her.
"Wasn't really in the mood," he says.
"Wait, hold on. Scorpius Malfoy? Not in the mood for a party?" she has an expression of mock horror on her face. "What on earth is the world coming to?"
He grins because, hey, he likes it when she gets all sarcastic like this.
They chat for a little while about all sorts of shit, and Scorpius is just enjoying basking in the heat of the fireplace, until Rose reaches up to unravel her striped Gryffindor scarf from around her neck.
He freezes when he sees this distinct, purplish-yellow bruise on the pale, freckled skin of her neck. Without thinking, he leans forward—effectively cutting Rose off in mid-sentence—and brushes a finger against the mark.
"Oho, Wealsey, what do we have here?" he says in a light voice, but inside he's fucking furious. He knows he's got absolutely no right to, but he's still pissed.
(He might even be jealous, but fuck, Scorpius Malfoy does not get jealous. He doesn't do jealousy.)
Rose's breath quickens as she stares at his finger on her throat. "Um. Toby—Toby did it," her lips pinch into a thin line and she looks completely mortified. "I forgot that was there."
He's been concentrating on the bruise all this while so his gaze flickers upward. "I guess you really took my advice to heart, didn't you?"
Rose is staring at him. Her mouth is slightly open and the dancing flames of the fire casts her face into a shadow. She leans in a little, seemingly instinctively. Scorpius' heart starts trip-hammering, which is ridiculous because he's been in far more sexually-suggestive situations than this. I mean, they're not even snogging.
(Which is, by the way, something Scorpius wants to do to Rose. Desperately.)
He traces his finger down the column of her neck and watches as she starts breathing rapidly, still staring at him with that wide-eyed gaze.
Sod it, Scorpius thinks, and he covers her mouth with his.
(She tastes fucking amazing. Maybe even better than before. How's that even possible?)
Rose freezes in place at first, but when Scorpius starts gently massaging her bottom lip with his tongue she lets out this wonderfully blissful sigh, wraps her arms around his neck (fuck yes) and she kisses him back with just as much as he's giving her. Scorpius' hands inevitably end up tangled in her soft hair and he presses her back against an armchair. The tiny moan she lets out when Scorpius' palm brush her neck nearly makes him go crazy. She does this thing where Rose sucks on his bottom lip and fuck, how'd she get so good at this?
He really doesn't want to think about how Rose got so good at snogging because he should be the only one doing this to her, damn it.
(How on earth did he put off kissing Rose for so bloody long?)
Her hands fist in the front of his shirt and she pulls him even closer so that their bodies are flush against each other. She pulls away slightly to catch her breath. Her hair is mussed up and Merlin, she's beautiful. "What—are—you—doing?" she gasps unsteadily, and Scorpius moves on to her neck, kissing and licking the warm skin with small flickers of his deft tongue.
"Snogging—you—senseless," he replies between kisses, grinning a little. His arms snake around her and Scorpius makes his fingers dance along the waistband of her pyjama pants. Rose's legs tighten around him and he groans softly, because, hell, he doesn't remember ever feeling this turned on. Her head tilts back involuntarily and Scorpius quickly sucks on a particularly sensitive spot on her neck because he needs to mark her in some way, needs to mark her the same way Toby did.
"Scorpius," she sighs, arching back a little, and Scorpius makes a noise from the back of his throat. Her hands, those tiny hands, feverishly make their way into his hair and—
And she jerks his head back rather painfully. "Ow," he exclaims in surprise.
"Stop," Rose says, and Scorpius isn't sure if she's talking to herself or if she's saying it to him. "Just—just stop."
"I don't want to," he says bluntly. Her lips are bruised and all red, she has a dazed expression on her face and yeah, the look in Rose's eyes is plainly telling him that she wants this just as badly as he does.
She untangles himself from him. "This is confusing," she states a matter-of-factly. Scorpius almost laughs out loud. He can only imagine what Rose is going through—he knows for a fact that Rose hates feeling confused. "This is the third time you've kissed me," she adds as an afterthought.
"Yes, it is," he nods, grinning slightly, and leans in for a fourth. Rose stops him with a two fingers pressed up against his lips.
"Toby's my boyfriend," Rose presses her lips together. "Scorpius, what's going on?"
Scorpius doesn't answer, because honestly? He has no idea.
She quickly pulls herself together and stands up. Scorpius watches as she straightens her clothes and runs upstairs without another glance back.
-.-.-
Rose spends the next few days plainly trying to avoid him, even though sometimes he catches her staring at Scorpius from across the room or whatever. He tries to tell himself he doesn't care, because all this that Rose is making him feel is something he definitely shouldn't be experiencing.
(Maybe if he ignores Those Feelings for long enough, they'll go away.)
-.-.-
Their Christmas holidays finally come to close and the whole lot of them board the Hogwarts Express back. Rose-and-Toby take a break from their Prefect patrolling duties for a few minutes and the both of them squeeze into the seat opposite of him. Scorpius is lounging languidly against the window and he deliberately fixes Rose with a mostly neutral gaze as she squeezes herself into her seat.
Roxanne Weasley proposes a game of Exploding Snap and everyone's in the middle of playing when he overhears Toby say with a slight frown, "Did I give you that?"
He turns his head and sees Toby pulling down the collar of her robes. There's a brilliantly purple bruise on the side of her neck. Rose immediately tugs it back up with her face burning. Her eyes dart over to Scorpius for the briefest of seconds. Scorpius arches an eyebrow, but Rose looks away.
"You probably—uh—you probably just don't remember," Rose mutters and quickly changes the subject.
-.-.-
Valentine's Day arrives.
Toby—being the disgustingly affectionate twit that he is—sends over a fucking huge heart-shaped wreath of red roses to the Gryffindor table with a Levitation spell during breakfast. The entire Great Hall watches as the stupid flowers fly into Rose Weasley's arms. Even from across the huge hall Scorpius can see that Rose is more embarrassed than happy about receiving the ridiculous wreath. As she should be — it's a ridiculously over-the-top display of affection.
Everyone cheers and makes catcalls. All the girls swoon over Toby and say shit about how romantic and how in touch with his sensitive side he is. This whole sickening display of love completely repulses him. Seriously, it's so soppy and sugary sweet he wants to vomit.
(There might be another reason why he hated it, but he's not going to look too much into that, because this little thing he currently has for Rose is temporary, anyway.)
-.-.-
He finds Rose there next Thursday morning, sitting by her usual spot by the lake. She doesn't have a book of any sort with her. She jumps up when she spots him running towards her and Scorpius slows down, greeting Rose with a little smile. "Hello, Weasley—"
"I told Toby about the kiss," she blurts, blinking rapidly.
Scorpius takes a moment to contemplate this. "And what did he say?" he asks casually. He hates how there's two feet of space between them and she's acting all distant and strange all of a sudden.
"I told him yesterday. He was... he wasn't happy," she admits, and looks down at her sneakers.
"What made you tell him?" he crosses his arms and cocks his head.
"You have no idea how guilty you made me feel!" she lashes out, and his head jerks in surprise. "I feel like the worst girlfriend ever. I—we were talking last night and he was asking me about this—" she tugs down her collar and jabs at the large bruise he gave her angrily. "—again so I just had to tell him."
"You're not very good at this, are you?" Scorpius says in a mockingly disappointed tone. "When you cheat, you're not supposed to tell the person you're cheating on."
Yeah, he knows he's acting like a total wanker but he's just so fucking angry. Angry at Toby, angry at Rose, but mostly angry at himself.
"You—" she's lost for words. Her face is flushed with fury. "Toby and I argued for hours last night. About you. About the way—the way you kissed me—"
"Did you tell him you kissed me back?"
Rose's mouth drops open. "That is not the point. The point is, you kissed me when you knew I was with Toby—"
"Oh, don't pretend like you didn't want it too." He scoffs and looks at Rose straight in the eye because, fuck, he knows she wanted it.
Rose clamps her lips together and Scorpius realizes that she's mentally counting down from ten to calm herself down. "You're making things really complicated," she states simply.
"Do you remember that Toby kissed you when he was still with Caitlyn?" he challenges. He has his face composed into a mask of icy apathy, just to piss Rose off even further.
Her face drains of colour. His anger dims and he mutters a silent shit to himself because now Rose just looks like she's about to cry. He reaches out to pull her into a hug. He wraps his arms around her and tucks her head under his chin. "Bloody hell, I'm sorry. Fuck, I really am. I was a complete tosser. Don't know what came over me," He mumbles into her hair.
"I'm sorry, too," she says into his shirt.
"You don't have anything to apologize for," he feels like the biggest arsehole in the entire world.
"No, it's just—I'm sorry because—well, Toby told me to stay away from you."
Scorpius blinks and pulls away a little. "Excuse me?"
"He doesn't want me to spend time with you anymore," she clarifies. She detaches herself from him and looks at him with pleading eyes. "You have to understand, Scorpius."
"So... Toby-fucking-Arlington wants you to stay away from me?"
"He told me that I'd done the exact thing he was worried about," she starts pacing around a little. "He—he told me that he knew something like this would happen sooner or later," she explains shakily.
(This doesn't make sense.)
"Wait. Toby told you to stay away from me... and you're listening to him?" he says disbelievingly. "Rose, I know you. You don't let anyone—least of all a bloke—walk all over you."
"This is different, okay?" she closes both of her eyes and exhales deeply.
What is it about bloody Toby that has Rose so smitten? He's never known her to be this meek before. She's the most opinionated person he's ever met. Rose should be the one ordering Toby around, not the other way around.
"So you made a deal with the devil," he says bitterly.
Her eyes snap open. "Toby is not the devil," she rebukes hotly. "In fact, I think this arrangement would be better, too. At least until things... cool off a little."
He nods and shrugs. "Fuck Toby," he says decisively. "Fuck all this shit. Rose, we're friends. I'm sorry I kissed you, I really am. I shouldn't have done that. It was out of line."
"I know you're sorry, and I'm sorry too. It's just that... when you kissed me... I felt something." She says haltingly. Scorpius' heart judders to a stop.
"Right," he manages, and it takes all of his strength not to pull her in and kiss her hard on her mouth, right there and then. Merlin, Rose just told him that she likes it when he kisses her.
"I don't exactly know why, but yes, I felt something," Rose admits. "And—I—don't—"
Scorpius interrupts gently. "I get it. I understand."
Rose looks at him for a long, silent moment. Then she comes out with a ridiculous statement: "You have feelings for me." She says this like it's a fact, like something she's known all along to be true.
Scorpius pauses for a moment before laughing. He injects his laughter with as much scorn and ridicule as possible. He's being an arsehole again, he knows, but somehow he just can't stop himself. It's so fucking toxic and he hates it. "Don't flatter yourself, Weasley," he says, and turns around to walk away.
-.-.-
The second he walks into Divination with the Ravenclaws, Toby comes out of fucking nowhere and punches him in the face. It hurts like hell (the bloke's a fucking Beater) and blood spurts out of his nose. There's several screams of shock from their fellow classmates and suddenly everyone crowds around Toby and him. Professor Shortgreen is appalled. Scorpius presses his palm to his broken nose in a futile attempt to stem the flow.
"Toby!" Albus rushes over and gawps. "What the hell did you do that for?"
Toby is breathing heavily and the look on his face plainly says I can't believe I just did that, holy shit. But Scorpius can see just how angry Toby really is.
How did things get so fucked up so fast? a distant part of his mind wonders.
"Stay the fuck away from Rose," he grinds out.
Scorpius puts on a Malfoy sneer. "I don't suppose Rose told you that she kissed me back too."
Probably not the smartest thing to say, but Scorpius finds that he really doesn't give a fuck anymore.
Toby turns puce. "You shut up about her!" he roars and Scorpius whips out his wand, but before he can mutter a quick Blasting Curse, Professor Shortgreen and her huge girth worms her way through the throng of gawking students and gives them both detention ("Muggle fighting in classrooms! Really, whatever will you wicked schoolboys think of next?").
(He gets his nose fixed in the Hospital Wing.)
-.-.-
"Toby just punched you today in Divination," Scorpius looks up to see Albus sliding into his usual seat in Transfiguration. "I think you owe me an explanation, mate."
He thinks Albus is probably right. So, he tells Albus everything.
(Everything except the part where he's suddenly developed this... thing for Rose.)
When he's done, Albus is staring at him in incredulity. "Um, how the fuck did I not know about this earlier?" he demands. "Way to leave me in the dark."
Scorpius sighs and leans back in his chair. "Sorry. And I'm sorry about... what I did to Rose."
"Yeah, that wasn't cool. I mean, we're cousins and all, so... it's kinda weird that you kissed her."
"I know. It won't happen again, swear."
"So... what happens now?" Albus asks uncertainly.
(To tell the truth, he has no idea himself.)
-.-.-
Scorpius would like to repeat that he doesn't do jealousy.
Seriously. Usually he's the one causing the jealousy. But apparently, he does jealousy now. Over Rose-fucking-Weasley.
This is a problem.
So he tries to solve it. He turns on his "magical powers of attraction"—Caitlyn's words, not his—and makes it his mission to shag as many girls as possible. Mostly because he fucking can, but also because the way Rose dominates his thoughts sometimes legitimately scares him. Like, seriously.
He supposes it was already this way for a while, but ever since that amazing kiss, it's as though everything is twice as bad now. Seeing Rose-and-Toby all pressed up against each other in hallways and classrooms with their hands entwined makes his fists clench and teeth grind.
It is completely absurd. And he pretty much hates Rose for it.
Actually, that's a lie. It's messed up, but he can't hate Rose, no matter how hard he tries (but he's sure this'll eventually pass).
Toby, however, is a different matter.
So, he avoids Rose. It's easy—it's already April and there's only about one more month left of his sixth year before summer comes. All he has to do is stop jogging at the Black Lake (he switches his route to around the Quidditch Pitch) and stop talking to her. He evades her eyes when he passes her in the hallways. He uses girls as distractions and it works perfectly. Almost.
(It's what she wants, anyway, so yeah, he's giving her exactly what she wanted. For him to stay the fuck away.)
-.-.-
He spends his seventeenth birthday alone, wandering the hallways of a third-floor corridor with a half-empty bottle of extra-strong Firewhiskey he pinched from the house elves. He has no idea where he's going or why he's doing this since it's more than likely that he'll be caught by some patrolling Prefect anyway but he likes the empty, silent atmosphere of Hogwarts at night. It's strangely calming and the liquor makes his mind go blissfully blank (which is what he seriously needs right now).
He rounds a corner and is in the middle of chugging another mouthful of the burning liquid down when he bumps into someone.
"Scorpius?" a terribly familiar voice asks.
He focuses his eyes on Rose and grins. "That's me," he slurs his words slightly.
She looks at the square bottle in his hands. "You're drunk," she tells him needlessly.
"It's my birthday," he explains. Fuck, he's missed her. Like, seriously missed her. He can't even comprehend why. Other girls he can get over in mere hours but this girl... he shakes his head. It didn't make sense. It didn't make any fucking sense.
"Happy birthday, I guess," she smiles, even though Scorpius can tell she doesn't want to. He's surprised when she doesn't lay onto him about underage drinking and all that shit.
"Happy birthday to me," he laughs sourly and studies Rose. He studies the gentle curve of her neck, the smattering of freckles on her nose, her lips and unconsciously commits them all to memory. This is the first time in a month that he's been alone with her.
"You really should get back to bed," she says quietly.
"I should, shouldn't I?" he doesn't budge an inch. He just keeps on looking at her. Then, without thinking, he leans forward to give her a chaste peck on her lips. His lips barely brush against hers but Rose blushes to the tips of her roots. She doesn't say anything, doesn't admonish him or reprimand him or tell him that she has a boyfriend.
(He's not sure if that's a good thing, or not.)
"I should be going," he says, before he leans in to do more. He turns around and fumbles away, leaving Rose in his wake.
-.-.-
"There's a seventh-year graduation party up in the Gryffindor common room tonight," Caitlyn tells him the day before, and Scorpius grins before telling him that he's so fucking there. It's the last day of the entire school year and frankly, he's sick of school. Exams are over and his brain is still sore at the amount of knowledge he's had to cram into his head with his last-minute revision.
The party is going on in full swing when he arrives at ten. The music is thumping, everyone is swaying to the beat, and someone has thoughtfully charmed kegs of strong mead to float about above their heads for anyone to drink from.
He gets into the common room with the help of Caitlyn and her password for the Fat Lady and that's when he sees her. She's wearing these tight, sexy jeans and Toby's arm is around her waist and the whole fucking image is wrong. He quickly makes use of the charmed kegs and within half an hour he's already riding a pleasant buzz. Several of his mates are calling his name and they clap, so he drinks some more.
(He ignores the fact that the only person in the room who doesn't seem impressed is the one girl in the whole world he'd probably do anything for. Another pull off the bottle, and she starts to blur a little.)
He's standing by one of the armchairs, in full view of Rose and Toby, when the most attractive girl in the room comes up to him and starts flirting. He drapes his arm around her shoulder, because she'll do. After a while, he's got no clue what she's saying (does she really think he cares?) and he notices Rose looking, so he speaks into the girl's ear and asks her if she wants to go somewhere quiet.
He finds himself in an empty bedroom with this gorgeous girl topless and sitting on his lap, but he feels nothing. Sure, his body is reacting, but she's too skinny, and her voice is too soft, and her skin is too tanned. He stands up, setting her down on the bed in one swift motion, and she smiles at him before she realizes what's going on.
He grabs his shirt and pulls it over his head and leaves the room, ignoring the girl's confused questions. He's being such an arsehole, but he's way too drunk to care about that now.
He leaves the stupid party at a ridiculously early hour (he seems to be doing that more and more often lately) and goes to bed at eleven-thirty.
(He fucking hates how pathetically miserable he feels.)
-.-.-
The school year comes to a close next morning. Scorpius and Albus both pack their trunks companionably, with Albus telling him some story about what happened the night before. Toby has mysteriously disappeared—Scorpius has a strong suspicion that Toby's sleeping somewhere in the Gryffindor dorm on a certain redhead's bed, but he'd rather not dwell on that right now. By nine o' clock, the train pulls out of Hogwarts' station and summer officially begins.
The train ride is mostly uneventful, and when they eventually reach King's Cross, Scorpius is—as always—exhausted from the long train ride. Grandma Molly, Mr Potter and Aunt Hermione meet them at the platform with huge smiles and hugs for their children. Scorpius stands at the edge of the group, and stays back when all of them make their way out of the packed train station.
Albus turns around and frowns when he realizes that Scorpius isn't following them. "You okay, mate?"
"Yeah," he's unsure how to say this. "I'll be spending summer at the Malfoy Manor this year." He'd made the decision a month ago.
Albus does a double take. "But you haven't spent summer there in years," he says doubtfully. "You always come to The Burrow."
"Not this year," he shakes his head a little sheepishly.
"But... why?"
Good question, Scorpius thinks. Maybe it's because his family is in shambles and he has to do something about it. Maybe it's because he misses his mum. Maybe it's because if he has to spend another summer seeing how deliriously happy Rose is around Toby, he'll fucking kick himself in the bollocks. Take your pick. "I've got some stuff I need to take care of," he finally says.
"Oh. Right," he gives Scorpius a puzzled look. "Yeah, well... you're welcome to come over anytime you want, though." He gives Scorpius a quick pat on the back. "See you later! Send an owl whenever you can!" he calls over his shoulder as he hurries to catch up with the rest of his family.
Scorpius waits until they're all gone before stepping out of King's Cross by himself. He hails a Muggle taxi, loads his trunk into the boot and goes straight home.
A/N: OMG 11,000 words. This is madness! And I still have seventh year to go... I might even break that up into two parts... Seriously, this is the longest thing I've ever written!