Disclaimer: None of this story is mine and I'm making no profit from it.
A/N: Alright, here we are: Chapter 5. 25,000 words already, I can't believe it. I've been revising like crazy for my exams next week, it's honestly a wonder this Chapter is out on time, but here you go! I'll try really really hard to update next week, but like I said, I have some (importantish) exams so preparing for those takes priority.
Chapter 5
When I woke up, the first thing I noticed was the emptiness in my stomach- the next was the strange warmth that was radiating from somewhere on the other side of the bed.
I sank my head further into the pillow, dismissing the sensation before my brain surfaced from the fogginess of sleep and my eyes flew open it panic.
Sure enough, I came face to face with a certain blonde-haired Slytherin.
I made a noise similar to a shriek and jumped out of the bed, taking the duvet with me in my hurry and revealing his practically naked body- if it weren't for his boxers I would probably have had to claw my eyeballs out right there and then.
"What?" He asked without even bothering to open his eyes, his voice hardly sounded sleepy, indicating he had been awake for a while.
"You can't just-" I began, before cutting myself off to throw the duvet back over his overly exposed body.
"Distracting you, was it?" He asked, opening one eye lazily and smirking. He was referring- most likely- to his chest. I would have scoffed in indignation, but as it happened I was still shaken at having spent the whole night in the same bed as him.
"Ugh! You're so... insufferable!" I replied, throwing my arms up in the air in exasperation and resisting the urge to stamp my foot like a kid in a tantrum.
"I'm insufferable?" He asked, incredulously, before scoffing.
I crossed my arms defiantly and narrowed my gaze. "What is that supposed to mean?" I asked, lowering my voice in a tone that I hoped sounded intimidating.
"Nothing," He replied, in a voice that let me know it really wasn't nothing. But he didn't elaborate, instead, he dragged himself lazily out of the bed and began to get dressed.
I scoffed after a while and rolled my eyes. "That's what I thought, Malfoy." I spat, more viciously than I perhaps meant to. "Coward."
He turned to me as he stood, an extremely calm expression on his face, "I'm not being a coward, Weasley. I'm sparing your feelings."
"I don't need you to spare my feelings, Malfoy. I'm not so idiotic to let anything you say affect me. I want to hear what you think of me." I demanded, stepping toward him in my anger.
"No, you don't."
"Yes, I do, tell me Malfoy," I said, taking another step closer to him. "Tell me to my face what your bloody problem is-"
"You're conceited," he burst out suddenly, "You're prejudiced and snobbish and spoilt."
"I'm spoilt? Oh, that's rich coming fro-"
"You're brattish and hypocritical." He walked towards me and kept on speaking as if I hadn't even said anything. I balled my hands into fists at my side, rage swelling in the pit of my stomach. "A prudish know-it-all-"
"I don't know about you, Malfoy," I cut in, my insulted pride causing a red flush to crawl over my face and down my neck. "But to me it sounds like you're describing yourself," I hissed, taking a step forward.
"You think you're just fucking perfect." He replied, disgust twisting his features as he came even closer. He inches from my face now. "The perfect daughter of the perfect war heroes-"
"Well, atleast my parents actually fought on the right side of the war!"
I sucked in a quick breath as soon as I'd said the words, as if I could somehow pull them right out of the air and back down my throat like I'd never said them. But I had and the calm that worked its way over his face all of a sudden told me he had heard it all too clearly and I had obviously hit a sore spot.
I crossed my arms over my chest, as if it could somehow hide me from his stare. I could hardly move, his grey eyes seemed to pin me to the spot. Perhaps, if I wasn't so stubborn I would have said sorry. But I would never apologise to Scorpius Malfoy.
He left quickly, scooping up his bag on the way out and letting the door swing shut with a bang. I stood, frozen, for longer than I should have, before collapsing onto the bed and hiding my face behind my hands.
He had been just as rude to me, I repeated to myself over and over again, he deserved it.
Perhaps it was true, but I had crossed a line. The war- and the Malfoy's involvement of it- was not a topic you got into with Malfoy.
He had a thick skin when it came to insulting him. Even insulting his family name, he would ignore you. I'd seen it countless times.
But his parents' role in the war against Voldemort- that seemed to be off limits. And I knew that. A ball of guilt furled up tightly in my stomach.
He ignored me pointedly that day, but I could pretty much feel the hostility radiating from him whenever I passed by.
When it finally came to the end of the day, I knew I couldn't face him. So instead I went and slept in Dom's room. Byron was away that particular night, thank Merlin.
Spring bloomed bright and early at Hogwarts, the warming weather causing Scotland to come alive with greenery and wildlife.
Still, my relationship with Malfoy had not improved. He ignored me blatantly and I did the same to him.
I had convinced myself that he had no right to be so angry. He was acting as if he hadn't done anything wrong. Well, if he hadn't said such horrible things to me in the first place, I wouldn't have gotten so riled up and retaliated the way I did.
He brought a girl back to our room occasionally, I had taken to sharing a bed with Alice and Al whenever this happened. Or Dom, whenever Byron was busy with work overnight.
My parents wrote to me often. Almost daily- and the replies were starting to become a tedious part of my school life. I didn't have much to say to them, but I felt like I had a sort of obligation to respond to their letters.
It was a Wednesday afternoon and I was sitting at the desk in my dorm when I finally finished my potions essay and pulled out my parents' most recent letter along with a blank piece of parchment. I set them both down on the table next to each other.
I wrote their names carefully, before poising my quill- ready to write, but no words came to my mind.
I sighed in frustration- it shouldn't have been this hard, all I was doing was writing to mum and dad. But nonetheless, the parchment sat blankly in front of me.
"What's got your wand in a knot?" Malfoy asked from somewhere in the room. In my vexation, I hadn't even heard him come in.
"My parents," I replied simply, feeling tension build in my jaw as I forced myself to reply civilly to the irritating question. Mainly, I was just shocked that he was talking to me.
He snorted, "bet their as thrilled about us getting married as you are." Sarcasm laced his words. I was surprised to hear him talk so casually about our... engagement. It had been a taboo subject ever since- well ever since we got the letters really. Not that we had spoken much anyway, even before the argument.
"About as happy as you parents are, I'm guessing," I replied, hardly managing to keep the sourness out of my voice. I was slightly annoyed that he could insinuate that my parents would be judging him, I mean- he wasn't wrong that they weren't very happy about it. But I knew his would be judging me ten times worse.
"Wouldn't know," he shrugged simply. "They don't write much." I frowned as I looked up from my letter and turned to face him. His parents didn't write much? Not even now? My parents had written me every day, to reassure me about the whole marriage law situation, "But you saw them that week after we got the letters. Didn't they talk to you about it then?" I asked, letting my curiosity overtake my spite for him.
He shook his head, gazing somewhere far off out of the window. "Didn't see them, they were in Japan so I stayed here."
I felt a pang of sympathy for him despite myself. He may have been a prat, but seeing my family the week after the law was introduced was all that kept me sane. He hadn't had that, instead, he'd been alone at Hogwarts, no family- not even Al.
"Couldn't they have apparated back or-" I cut myself off, wary of overstepping a boundary and getting involved in a part of his personal life that he didn't want me involved with. I half expected his eyes to snap back to me, glaring, and then for him to walk out of the room.
But he didn't, instead, he shook his head, "mother said she wanted to come back. But dad had important business out there, apparently. Of course, he was too busy to write to me about it himself." He ended with a sour note in his voice, then seemed to catch himself. He looked back at me, a flash of anger crossing his face so quickly I might have imagined it.
I wasn't sure if he was angry at himself or me. I suppose he was angry at himself for opening up- telling me all of what he just had.
He left quickly. Leaving me to turn back to my letter with a new found sympathy for Scorpius Malfoy.
Of course, he was back to being a prick by the time evening rolled around. I walked right in on him sitting on the bed with another girl. They were both fully clothed- thank Merlin- and sitting up, but still much closer than I would have been comfortable walking in on.
He was whispering in her ear when I came through the door, and I know he had heard me come in but he took his time. Eventually raising his head from her ear lazily and looking at me through heavy eyelids.
'Care to join us, Weasley?' He taunted. The girl giggled and turned to face me.
I let out a noise of acute frustration and grabbed my pillow and blanket from the chair in the corner.
Another night with Dom for Rose.
The next day, a sharp tapping at the window in Dom's room woke me from my sleep. At first, I thought I was imagining it... it sounded far off and distant.
It got louder quite suddenly- and more insistent. Eventually even waking Dom from her usually impenetrable slumbering.
"Rose, go kill that fucking owl or I swear to Merlin's saggy right testic-"
"Alright, alright," I practically fell out of the bed in my haste to prevent her from continuing what I'm sure would have become a long string of obscenities.
I all but staggered to the window in my drowsiness and flung it open to admit the snowy white owl that I recognised as Victoire's. It swooped gracefully in and deposited a pile of envelopes on the bed, before eventually settling on the bedside table and cooing proudly.
I rushed over to where Dom was already examining the deliveries. She seemed to have found one with her name on, because she had already ripped open the envelope and tipped out the contents.
I did the same after finding a letter with 'Rose' carefully spelt out on the front of it in silver ink.
It was a smallish card- lilac, with a hand-written silver message and a few butterflies flitting across the paper every so often. I read it quickly, skimming through the unimportant bits, before looking up at Dom. My own excitement mirrored in the expression on her face.
"Victoire's having a wedding!" She practically squealed, causing the owl in the corner to hoot along.
"I thought they already got married?!" I asked, confusion taking over my initial elation for just a moment.
"I suppose she wants a ceremony," Dom shrugged, already sorting through the rest of the letters on the bed. "You know Vic, she would never not have a proper wedding. She's been planning it since she could talk."
I nodded, grinning as I realised how true that was. "So who else is there an invite for?" I asked, peering at the writing on the cards she was sorting through.
"Well, all the family of course. Lorcan... Lysander... Alice... Frank and- oh." She paused. "And Malfoy."
I frowned, "Malfoy?" Just the mention of his name made me angry... or exasperated. I couldn't quite decide which. "Why would he be invited?"
"Well." Dom shrugged, continuing rifling through the envelopes. "I suppose it makes sense, Teddy's Grandma's sister is Scorpius' grandma."
I frowned, working it out in my brain. Teddy's grandma... Andromeda. Andromeda's sister... Narcissa. Oh. Now I got it.
"Do you... do you think the rest of his family is invited?" I asked, wondering if Victoire would risk that sort of combination at her special day. Weasleys and Malfoys, surely it wouldn't end well.
"I don't know," she shrugged. "You can give this to him," She tossed me Malfoy's invite without even looking up.
"Why me?" I asked, suddenly uncomfortable.
Dom frowned and looked up. "You do share a room with him don't you...?"
"Well... yeah, but..." She knew about my fight with Malfoy. Surely she knew why I was trying to stay out of his way at all costs. But she didn't say anything else, instead, she kept looking for the envelopes until she got to the very end where she found a letter of a slightly different size.
"Who's it for?" I asked, my curiosity piqued.
"Me," she responded, looking up and raising an eyebrow before hurriedly ripping the letter open, snatching the contents from within it and hastily scanning the letter inside.
"Victoire wants to meet us in Hogsmeade during our next trip there." She informed me.
"Who's 'us'."
"Me, you, Lily, Lucy, Al, Louis and Hugo."
"Does it say why?" I asked, picking the letter up once she discarded it on the bed.
"No, but it's probably just to go over plans or something." She shrugged, lying down so she was on her stomach and grinning up at me. "So," she continued. "Where do you think they'll have the ceremony?"
"I'm not sure. Isn't it sort of a tradition now to get married in the Burrow." I copied her and lay down on the bed amidst the invitations that had somehow been strewn everywhere. "That's where just about all of our parents got married, isn't it?"
She nodded. "Yeah, but you know Vic. She wants the best of the best. I mean, I love the Burrow and all... but come on. There are chickens everywhere." She pulled a face, "and mud. And it smells like a farm."
I laughed, suddenly extremely glad it was a Saturday and me and Dom could talk about Vic's wedding properly. "I guess so. Will you not want to get married at the Burrow then?" I asked.
"I'm not sure. Honestly, me and Byron haven't even talked about it." She grinned, rolling onto her back, "We don't do much talking at all." I pulled a face and threw my pillow at her.
"Gross."
"What about you? I guess you'll be getting married at Malfoy Manor?"
A picture was painted, very suddenly and rapidly, in my brain then and my breath caught in my throat. Me and Malfoy. Saying our vows in front of maybe a hundred people. In this stone cold mansion that I had always imagined the manor to be.
"I don't think-" I pushed down the feeling of nausea forcing it's way up my throat. "I don't think I want a ceremony."
"What?!" Dom asked, flipping back onto her front and facing me. "No ceremony? So, what... you just go into a small room and sign a few papers and then go home?" I nodded, receiving a disappointed sigh. "You'll regret it, you know, if you and Malfoy eventually fall in love, one day."
I rolled my eyes at her, "do you even know how ridiculous you sound?"
"I suppose you're right." She conceded, "Malfoy's a prick."
There was a silence for a few moments and Victoire's owl seemed to take it as the perfect opportunity to interrupt. She hopped easily down onto the bed and started nipping Dom's toes.
"Go away," she told it, swiping at it lazily. "I don't have any food! Go away!" Eventually, it stopped, hooted in annoyance and swooped right out of the open window. She rolled her eyes.
"I'm meeting Byron's parents tomorrow," she told me suddenly, her voice so casual that at first I was convinced I'd misheard her.
"What!?" I asked, "Why didn't you tell me?" I asked. She only shrugged, seemingly bemused by my reaction.
"I didn't think it was that important."
"It is!"
"Well don't say that," she told me, a flicker of worry crossing her face. "It'll make me nervous."
I rolled my eyes at her, "what could you possibly have to be nervous about?" I asked, "they'll love you."
"Well, I hope so." She replied. "But they both have successful careers and they got good grades in school and so did Byron and I'm..."
"You're...?" I asked, receiving a withering look from my cousin.
"Well, I'm usually seen as just a ditzy blonde." She replied, shrugging as if it meant nothing, but averting her gaze all the same. "I'm failing all of my classes and everyone expects me to go into a fashion or something, like Vic."
"Dom," I began. I really wasn't sure what to say. Never once had Dom said anything like this to me before. "Dom, you're not just a ditzy blonde, I don't think anyone thinks that! And you aren't failing all your classes. Every time we go and see Hagrid he talks about how amazing you are at Care of Magical Creatures."
She gave me a look that told me she was completely unimpressed by my reassurances. "Rose, everyone does well in Care of Magical Creatures."
"No, I-" I really didn't know what to say.
"Whatever," she interrupted the comforting sentiment I would have eventually dreamed up next. "We should go give these out." She scooped up half of the envelopes on the bed and marched out. Leaving me with yet another thing to feel guilty about.
I found Lucy and Alice easily and was soon left with only three cards. Lorcan, Al and Malfoy.
I decided to find Al first, then I could give him Malfoy's invite too.
That, however, was a task easier said than done. I trekked up and down countless corridors in search of my cousin. Honestly- I didn't mind because it gave me something to do.
Eventually, I passed by a window and something outside caught my eyes. Upon a second glance, I discovered that it was a figure, circling high above the quidditch pitch, green robes billowing about behind them in the wind.
I cursed myself, sure it was Al and annoyed that I hadn't thought of that. Of course, Al would be out flying, when was he not?
I hurried out of the castle and across the grounds as quick as I would allow myself, until, eventually, I was in the middle of the quidditch pitch. I looked up and noticed, for the first time, that Lily was up there too. They were tossing the quaffle lazily between them. They both looked down and saw me eventually, to which I replied with a small wave.
I beckoned Al down, causing him to toss the quaffle easily back at his sister before making his way leisurely down and landing gently on the ground.
"Here," I told him, thrusting the invites at him. "They're invited to Teddy and Vic's wedding. There's one for you and one for Malfoy."
He raised an eyebrow, "why are you giving me Scorp's? Won't you see him later?"
I scowled, knowing he was pushing towards his best friend on purpose. "Well, I just figured you would see him before then." I replied, keeping my tone light and convincing, "and since I had to give you yours anyway I decided to kill two birds with one stone and-"
"Yeah, you know what- I'm actually kind of busy all day." He said, holding out the invite for me to take back. "I don't think I'll see him." We both knew, just as well as each other, that he was lying.
I snatched the envelope back angrily, before feeling my heart sink at the actual prospect of facing Malfoy. "Please..." I began, feeling in my voice that I was actually begging now.
"Talk to him, Rose." He replied simply, pocketing his own invite and swinging one of his legs over his broom.
Then he was flying back up, away from me.
I was in a positively foul mood by the time I made it back to my room. I hadn't even bothered trying to find Lorcan and give him his invite- it could wait. Right now all I wanted was to just hide away from everyone and sit in my frustration alone.
But, when I opened the door to the common room, I realised someone had planned something else for me. To be honest, I could say I minded much.
"Rose!" Lorcan greeted me, rising from where he sat alone in the room and coming around towards me.
"Lorcan," I replied, leaning into him as he kissed me on the forehead. "Here you go," I handed him his invite.
"Thanks," he replied, peering at it curiously before putting it in his pocket and returning his attention to me. "You look stressed."
"Nah, I'm fine."
"Ok," he looked dubious as he followed me past the armchairs and into my dorm room. But he didn't press me.
"How's your day been?" I asked, deciding small talk was the best way to go from here.
"Alright," he replied, shrugging. "Annette kicked me out of our room. She's redecorating." He smiled, sitting on the bed and pulling me down next to him.
I looked around my own room. At the bare stone walls and floor, wondering if I could redecorate. It might make this room feel more homely... and it would probably piss Malfoy off if I didn't ask him first, which would be an added bonus.
"Sounds... time-consuming." I decided aloud, lying down and breathing out a long breath of exhaustion.
"That's what I thought," he agreed, lying next to me. "Although, I've always quite liked the idea of having my own home. Making it look however I want."
"Me too."
"It was always with you though."
I turned to lie on my side and face him. "Huh?"
He mirrored my movements so that we were face to face, "It was always with you that I imagined that. You know, buying a new house..."
I closed my eyes under the pretence of tiredness. Really, I just wanted to hide the emotion that I knew was swelling up in them. I hadn't expected the conversation to take this turn.
"It would have a big garden," he continued, "like the burrow."
"A forest nearby," I added, losing myself to the picture he was painting.
"A frog pond."
"A library."
"An apple tree."
"And maybe a chicken or two."
He laughed softly, reaching up and stroking a strand of hair behind my ear. The action pulled his shirt up, and my eyes flitted down to the strip of bare skin that had been exposed.
"I've always wanted to know how you got that scar," I told him, my fingers tracing the faint white line that ran from his belly button to his rib.
"Lysander through a gnome at me when we were five." He chuckled, "that gnome sure did have sharp nails."
I winced, feeling his pain and lightening my touch, suddenly conscious of not hurting him.
"It stopped being painful a long time ago," he told me, reassuringly.
Then, he leant in and kissed me. I arched into it, letting my hand travel further up his shirt. It felt more intimate, much more intimate than anything we'd ever done before. It was only kissing, but something about that fact that we were on a bed made it feel as if we were crossing into some foreign territory in our relationship.
I deepened the kiss, glad that I would be entering this unknown terrain with him and no one else. His hand found my waist and I let my unoccupied arm snake around his neck and-
The door was flung open with a slightly louder than usual bang. We sprung apart, sitting up and turning to face the intruder, flustered and panting.
Malfoy stood there, a look of contempt on his face. He didn't move or say anything for a few seconds. Before eventually, he looked directly at Lorcan.
"Get out," he told him. His voice was emotionless and cold. If I was Lorcan, I might have run out of the room right away, apologising profusely and praying to Merlin he didn't hex me on my way out.
But as it happened, Lorcan just stood up, puffing his chest out. "No," he began, "this is Rose's room as much as it is you-"
"I said," Malfoy interrupted, "get out." He didn't threaten him or anything, but his hand went, quite intentionally, to curl around something in his pocket.
"Go," I got up, practically pushing Lorcan towards of the door, not wanting to see him hexed into next week. "I'll see you later."
He gave me a look that, without a doubt said: 'are you sure.' I nodded and his gaze moved from me to Malfoy, and back to me again. Before eventually he offered me a forced smile, kissed me quickly on my head, and left the room.
There was silence for a few moments, neither of us moved until I was sure Lorcan was properly gone. I knew if he heard shouting he would come running back in here.
"What. The. Fuck. Was that, Malfoy?" I asked, whirling around to face him, a fire crackling dangerously behind my eyes.
He sneered, "pest control." Was the simple reply I received.
"Oh," I laughed humourlessly, forcing as much malice into my voice as possible. "Pest control? You have no right to do that. Your parade girl after girl through this room and I bring back ONE boy, who is, by the way, my actual boyfriend!"
He didn't reply.
"You make me sick, Malfoy," I told him as I fished the remaining invitation out of my pocket. I thrust it into his chest as hard as I could as I pushed past him and out of the room, making sure to slam the door on my way out.
I went to the library. It was the only place I could think of. I could have gone after Lorcan, but honestly, I was worried that, with nowhere else to go, my anger would be channelled onto him.
Alone in the library, I could project my rage into my work. It was a very effective way of studying, actually. I sat for hours- missed lunch. But not even my complaining stomach could sway me.
I got through pages and pages before I eventually sat back, satisfied with my progress, and noticed the darkening sky. I checked my watch, 7:45. I was already half an hour late to dinner.
I practically ran to the Great Hall, starving and desperate to get there before they took the plates away. I didn't much feel like a trek down to the kitchens tonight.
The room was still full of people and, to my great delight food. I slipped into my usual space, grabbing a sausage from Hugo's plate whilst he was talking to Lilly and shoving it right in my mouth.
My eyes travelled to the Slytherin table... I couldn't help it. It was as if they were drawn by some magnetic force. I tried to pull them away, knowing the sight of his face would just annoy me, but I couldn't.
But he wasn't there, he wasn't anywhere on the table.
I frowned, allowing myself a moment of confusion before pushing it down. He could have been half way across the world for all I cared
A/N: Right so the first argument scene in this Chapter was actually really difficult to write, not gonna lie I thought it would stop me updating on time. So shoutout to Bourbon and Chocolate for the amazing help! Like I said, I'll try update for next week, but I have exams so I can't promise anything. Like always, reviews are greatly appreciated! Who do you think was in the wrong in the argument?