"And I remember that fight, two-thirty a.m.
'Cause everything was slipping right out of our hands
I ran out, crying, and you followed me out into the street
Braced myself for the goodbye,
'Cause that's all I've ever known
Then, you took me by surprise
You said, 'I'll never leave you alone'"
Mine, Taylor Swift
It took a while for Scorpius to be able to look Alex in the eye after witnessing him help Rose when he couldn't get there in time. It wasn't like it was something he had done wrong, Scorpius was just jealous and he knew it was immature and childish to hold a grudge against his friend. It had been almost a decade since Rose had ended things and Alex was in the position below him, held high in the medical community for making his way to the top as an American in the British wizarding society. It would have been short-sighted for him to suddenly ignore his "next-in-command" just because of a girl. Even if that girl was Rose. So, Scorpius held his tongue. He was silent as he watched Alex spend his breaks with Rose and Rose become more smitten with every time he tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, every time their hands "accidentally" brushed together, and every time he winked. Scorpius could practically see her swoon. Sure, he was silent, but that didn't stop a never ending dull ache from growing in his heart at the sight of two of them together. Another thing on his plate he had to deal with was Rose closing upon herself more during their sessions. It certainly didn't help that his superiors kept on pressuring him to get Rose to remember the events from the past three months.
"Sir, you of all people should know that the human psyche is a fragile thing and you can't force memories to come out from hiding. The only person who can try to really help her remember is herself." Scorpius said, tired of relaying the same message to him every week.
"I don't care, Malfoy. The trial date is slowly approaching and if she can't testify, he will go free and hurt more people." Finnegan said, signaling the end of the conversation.
Scorpius still didn't completely know the whole details regarding Rose's trial but he knew that it was a high-profile one. One that, if word got out to the public, would make the people go in a frenzy. The thought of his Rose being caught up in something dangerous like that made his stomach turn. He glanced at the clock and realized that it would soon be time for Rose to come in for her last session before she was discharged from the hospital. Her family had fought for her to finally go home and physically rest with her coming back to St. Mungo's to continue having her sessions with Scorpius. There was a firm knock on his office door and an all-too-familiar face waltzed in. At seeing who it was, Scorpius internally groaned. Scorpius would definitely need more caffeine that his one cup of coffee would give him if he had to deal with this person.
"Lily! What a surprise. What can I help you with?" Scorpius said, getting up from his desk to pour himself a cup of coffee.
"Well, as I'm sure you know, Rose is being discharged today but she will continue her sessions with you," Lily said, crossing her arms. Scorpius rolled his eyes. Dealing with Lily had always been somewhat of a nuisance before the breakup and now she was just an ever-appearing annoyance that popped into his life once in a while. Like today.
"Yes, I've heard, here and there. But I do remember specifically reading about it in my debrief journal." He sarcastically. Lily replied with an eye roll of her own and sat down in the chair in front of his desk.
"Have you made any progress?" Lily asked.
"Healer-Patient confidentiality," Scorpius said, bringing out other files to peruse through during this talk. Lily let out a small sigh and put her hand on top of whatever he was reading, blocking it.
"No, you twat. I'm not talking about Rose's mental state. I'm talking about you. Aren't you planning some big romantic gesture to try to win her back?" Lily said, leaning back in her chair, clearly vexed. Scorpius stared at the red-haired girl in confusion.
"By, big romantic gesture if you mean letting her do whatever she wants with her life as long as she's happy? Yeah. I'm not a part of her life anymore, Lily. Why would I do anything like that? It's none of my business." It was a bit apparent that Scorpius was getting uncomfortable with the way this conversation was going by the way he was rubbing the back of his neck. It had been a habit he had picked up when he had first started falling for Rose and it was one that somehow stuck through the years.
"That may have been true a year ago but not now, Scorpius. Now you're back in her life. Trust me, she wasn't in her right mind when she broke up with you. Now's the time you make your move before that Alex does." Lily warned, gathering her things and getting ready to leave.
"How do you know about Alex?" Scorpius blurted out. He instantly regretted it when Lily stopped short of grabbing her bag and leaving. She sat back down and rolled her eyes.
"Do you think I stalk you and Rose every single second? No! Rose gushes about how much of a gentleman he is almost every day you dumb twat." Lily said, now standing up. She flipped a portion of her hair behind her shoulder and looked at Scorpius dead in the eye.
"Do what you want, Scorpius. But know this. You guys separated for ten years and you thought you would never see her again. Somehow, someway, a miracle brought her to you. You can either do something to make up for the last ten years or spend the next ten years moping and alone." She said and walked out the door. Scorpius just sat still in his chair, letting Lily's words sink in. Suddenly, a wave of deja-vue swept through him as there was another knock on his door. He looked up and a smile sneaked onto his face.
"Ms. Weasley, how can I help you?" Scorpius said, gesturing towards his chairs, telling her to sit down. Rose took a seat but peered behind her shoulder. Scorpius took her distraction as a chance to seriously look at her. It had been about a week since he had seen the girl last, with all of her discharge papers being filed and with Rose always being gone or busy. She had a natural flush to her cheeks and her auburn hair was up in a bun with tendrils of hair framing her delicate face. Rose looked at him and rolled her eyes.
"Don't start with the Ms. Weasley stuff. I get that enough from the other medi-witches. By the way, was that Lily I saw storming out of your office just now?" She asked. She started to play with his zen garden, courtesy of his mother, that sat on his desk. Scorpius groaned and spun around in his chair.
"Yes. The one and only, Lily Luna Potter. She had stormed in here to rant about how you weren't getting better or something like that." He fibbed, grabbing the other little rake in his zen garden and messing up Rose's intricate designs in the sand. Rose gently swat at his rake and laughed.
"Sounds like her. Also, get your own zen garden! I was using this first." She said, sticking her tongue out. Scorpius let out a laugh at the sight of her blue tongue.
"First of all, this is my zen garden. And second, why in the name of Merlin is your tongue all blue?" Scorpius said, letting go of his rake and lying back in his chair. Rose let out a short gasp and put her hand to her mouth. Her flush suddenly turned into a deep scarlet as she looked down.
"I went and got an ice lolly." She muttered, not meeting his eyes. Scorpius narrowed his eyes in return.
"I wasn't aware the hospital even sold ice lollies," Scorpius said slowly, looking at Rose.
"Alex may or may not have snuck me out to get ice lollies with me after lunch," Rose muttered. Hearing this, Scorpius' anger and irritation soared through the metaphorical roof. How dare Alex risk Rose's safety and wellbeing just so he could get closer to her? How stupid could Rose have to be to actually go out in public by herself in her hospital clothes with no protection at all? She had only known Alex for what? A week? How could she tr- Scorpius' rapid train of thought screeched to a halt as Rose finally lifted her head and looked at him. Judging by how soft her voice was, she could feel the angry aura radiating off of Scorpius and she knew to tread lightly.
"Scorpius, nothing happened. It was all just harmless fun. I'm safe. You don't need to wo-"
"How can I not worry, Rose? You may not remember what happened but I know and it is not safe for you to be out on your own. How can you trust Alex? I've only known him for a couple months, but you? How long, Rose? A week? Maybe two? How could you be so careless?" Scorpius said, his volume growing every second. At his remarks, Rose could feel a small bud of anger growing inside her.
"I'm not 17 anymore, Scorpius! I can take care of myself. I don't know if you remember the fact that I'm a fully trained auror. I know how to read people and I know that I can trust Alex. The same can't be said about you, unfortunately. I feel like I don't know you, Scorpius." Rose said, standing up. There were tears going down her face and Rose couldn't help but despise the fact that she was an angry crier. When things went wrong, all the stress and anger got to her, making her cry out of frustration. She hated that it made her look weak. She hated that she felt weak. She hated that Scorpius made her weak. Scorpius sat up from his chair and looked away, rubbing his neck and running his fingers through his hair. Despite the heat of the moment, Rose couldn't help but remember the countless number of times her fingers had been the ones ruffling his soft platinum hair, gently caressing the light locks. She couldn't help but wonder if his hair still felt the same all these years or if he still used the same peppermint shampoo.
"What products do you use in your hair? It's so silky and soft." Rose said kissing the top of Scorpius' head. It was a Friday night and the two were watching a muggle movie in their Heads common room. Scorpius was sitting on the ground in his blue silk pajamas (that Rose laughed so hard at when she first saw him in them) and Rose was on the couch, with her legs spread out with Scorpius lying in between them. She had been diligently watching the movie at first but Scorpius' blond hair had been tempting her for years and now that it wouldn't be weird to actually touch it, she quickly seized the opportunity to do so and her hands didn't leave ever since. Scorpius swatted at her hands and threw back a piece of popcorn at her.
"Stop touching my hair, you're making it all greasy." He whined, eating a piece of popcorn for himself.
"Fine. If you want to deprive yourself of this wonderful head massage, it's your loss." Rose said, smirking as she lifted her hands off his head. She knew that Scorpius was secretly enjoying it as well and that it would be only a few minutes at most before he would let her touch his hair again. A moment passed.
"Ok, maybe I was en-"
"Haha! I knew it. But too bad. You said your hair would get oily!" Rose said, adding an extra mocking tone when she quoted his words. At her response, Scorpius turned around and pouted. Sure, they had been dating for a while now, but Rose still couldn't get over how stunning Scorpius was. Even now, in his silk pajamas with his hair all messed up, he looked like a model. A pajamas model that is. Scorpius looked up at Rose.
"If I give you a kiss, will you continue giving me the best head massage I've ever experienced in my life?" He said, waiting for a reply.
"Maybe, but that is a bit of a low price to pay for a wonderful massage. Add another refill to the popcorn bowl and I'll think about it." Rose replied, nodding her head and lying back on the couch. Scorpius scrunched up his nose in disgust and threw a handful of the remaining popcorn at Rose. She shrieked as she tried to dodge the buttery kernels and when she finally came to her senses, Scorpius was doubling over, laughing. He caught her eye and was immediately silenced by her death glare.
"Fine. I'm getting more popcorn. You drive a hard price, Weasley." He joked as he gave her a peck on the lips. Rose smiled into the kiss and let out a small yelp internally when he backed away.
"You know you love me!"
"Sadly, it's true. I do love you, Rose Weasley."
Her reverie was interrupted by the sound of Scorpius sighing.
"Rose, maybe we both should calm down. Maybe you should leave and… I don't know, go distract yourself." Scorpius quickly glanced down at his watch. "Alex is on his break right now." He added, letting out a derisive laugh. Rose closed her eyes in annoyance and took a deep breath. She waited a while to compose herself before she opened her mouth again. Then, Rose looked at Scorpius in the eyes.
"Scorpius Malfoy, you have no right to tell me what to do or not do. Merlin, you don't even have the right to care about me but in a professional manner. We broke up over ten years ago. You can't tell me that you care for me when you haven't even been in my life for over ten years. I'll see you at my next session." Rose said, stone-cold quiet piercing through her ears. Mustering up the little bits of courage she had left in her, she turned on her heel and walked right out the door.
Oooft! I'm sorry for the two month delay in posting! IN MY DEFENSE, OUR FAMILY JUST ADOPTED A PUPPY! She's now four months old and I'm going back to school in a week so I've just been very busy overall. I also started a new story that has yet to be published that is a "To All the Boys I've Loved Before" AU, so if you want to read that, lemme know! This chapter was originally only 1k something but then I added another fluffy memory to contribute to the word count and to make up for the angst at the end. I was having trouble writing past the scene with Lily and beyond but once I got to writing the fluffy memories, the words just kept flowing. I just love fluffy ScoRose. So adorable! Anyways, please please please review. I could care less about favorites and follows (even though they are appreciated ;) but reviews let me know what you guys actually think of the story and you guys give me feedback so I love hearing directly from you guys. Love you all so much. 3
