Chapter 7- Going From Bad to Worse

Disclaimer- Harry Potter and the wizarding world do not belong to me, no matter how much I hope and pray.

Guilt had to be one of the most annoying emotions created to plague the human race.

Well at least Rose thought so.

Even while trying to do her homework, she felt guilt's presence gnawing at the back of her mind, causing her stomach to twist uncomfortably.

And what was she so guilty about? Treating Scorpius Malfoy badly.

Rose gritted her teeth at the thought. She just couldn't win. If she avoided him, they'd somehow be forced together. If she was nice to him, he would get far too close and if she treated him badly, she actually felt horrible about it afterwards.

Maybe you should apologize then.

Apologize? Rose snorted and threw her quill onto her half finished notes, officially giving up on completing them. She could already imagine how well apologizing would go. 'Hey Scorpius, sorry I've been treating you like a pariah for absolutely no reason. Forgive me?'

Rose let out a sigh at the thought. Why couldn't she have been more like Zabini? She definitely never felt bad about treating people like scum or at least she didn't show it.

But you aren't like her, so just apologize.

Rose's face screwed up unpleasantly as she got up from her seat and grabbed her notes, savagely stuffing them into her bag. While she really didn't want to apologize, she knew it was a good idea. Scorpius and her were supposed to have their first head meeting with Longbottom in a matter of hours and she definitely hadn't completed all the tasks the two of them had been given.

"There you are Weasley; I've been looking all over for you."

Rose stiffened at the sound of Scorpius' voice. Did she have a bloody homing device on her, because this was really getting ridiculous. She only had to think about Scorpius and he would show up, even when it wasn't very convenient. Rose turned around slowly to face him, making sure that her facial expression was as blank as she could possibly make it, only to become confused by what she was seeing.

"Why are you wet?" Rose questioned, all traces of indifference lost. Scorpius was sopping wet and she would have thought he had just gotten out of the shower if it wasn't for the fact that his clothes were just as soaked as he was.

"It's raining outside," Scorpius replied distractedly. "We need to do our work for the meeting tonight."

Rose blinked in surprise. Well that was quick to the point. "Er... ya. I was coming to find you myself."

"Well, you found me," Scorpius said sharply and he sat himself down in the seat next to the one she had just been in herself. Rose cringed slightly at his tone but didn't say anything about it. She did deserve it after all.

"I was coming to find you, so I could talk to you," Rose offered, trying to keep her tone light.

"I was hoping that we could wrap this up quickly," Scorpius replied, not even bothering to look at her. "I need to go meet someone before our meeting with Longbottom and I also need to change before then."

Rose gave him a dark look. She had to hand it to Scorpius; he made it really easy to hate him. "Fine. When does your quidditch team plan on practicing?" Rose asked sitting back in the seat she had just vacated.

For the next half hour, Scorpius and Rose created a schedule for prefect rounds that they both silently hoped would be satisfactory for everyone. They also plotted out the Hogsmeade visits for the year with quick efficiency.

But with efficiency came very little time to talk about what Rose actually wanted to tell Scorpius. Even when she tried to cut in, Scorpius would quickly cut her off with another question about their work and she had no choice but to go along with his new direction of questioning.

"What do you think about doing a school event?" Rose asked irritably. "We didn't have one last year, because Rufus believed it would waste valuable study time, and Shasta couldn't do anything to convince him otherwise."

Scorpius looked down at his watch, his mouth twisting into a frown. "I don't have any ideas, but if you have any Weasley, feel free to tell Longbottom and I will go along with them."

Rose shot him a confused look. What was with him? She'd been treating him like crap for the entire week and now he was just acting like he could care less about what she was doing.

Rose's mind suddenly shuttered to a stop. Wait... what was that last thought? Rose's eyes darted quickly in Scorpius' direction, which he didn't notice because he was busy scribbling something on the piece of parchment in front of him. He had been oddly calm today. All week he had kept his distance, but she had still caught him watching her. Now he just seemed kind of bored, like having to be near her was one big giant inconvenience and that he had much better things to do with his time.

The sickening feeling of dread settled itself in her stomach. Had he actually done what she had been hoping he would do for so long? Had he actually given up on her?

Rose's eyes widened and her head pivoted away from Scorpius to try and hide her frantic expression.

"So, are we done now?" Scorpius asked.

Rose hastily rearranged her hair in an attempt to hide her face. "Ya," Rose replied in a shaky voice. "You can get going."

Rose, keeping her back to him, stood up from her seat and began to arrange the pieces of parchment on the desk in front of her into a neat pile, trying in vain to distract her mind from the alarming thoughts that were springing up with each passing moment.

"Alright," Scorpius replied as he pushed his seat back. "I'll see you later, Weasley."

Weasley?

Rose spun around, her expression panicked, only to find that Scorpius was already walking out of the room. Rose just stared at his retreating figure. When had he started calling her Weasley again?

Probably when you started treating him like shit.

Rose blinked in surprise as the memories from the past came rushing back to her.

She had hated how he had made fun of her. That much she was sure of. However, she had gotten so used to him being around her during her fifth year that his insults only managed to hurt her about half of the time. Instead she had openly anticipated his next attempt at belittling her in the hopes that she would be able to break him before he broke her. Somewhere along the way their fights had become a competition and Rose had always thought that Scorpius had gotten some sort of pleasure out of them. But now, she knew for a fact that she had felt the exact same way about their arguments as well.

Rose shuddered at the thought as she slipped the notes from their meeting into her bag.

She liked the attention and, because of her horror over that realization, she managed to convince herself that she hated his presence and that once he was gone she'd feel better.

Rose walked out of the study room, half in a trance, as she was urged by a small part of her mind to find a secluded place where she could be completely alone.

Sixth year was when their relationship had changed. He definitely hadn't sought her out to make fun of her like during their fifth year. Instead, it seemed that all he genuinely wanted to do was talk to her.

Rose had instantly balked at the change. She was used to fighting with him, not talking about their lives. So every part of her had told her to push away the unknown and she had done just that.

But had she gone too far? Had her unrelenting stubbornness managed to push away something she actually wanted in her life, no matter how annoying it could be.

Yes... yes she had managed to do that.

Rose, now too upset to walk any further, trudged over to the nearest wall and slid to the floor.

"You've really made a mess out of things this time Weasley," Rose said quietly, tucking her knees against her chest before burying her face in them.

"Rose," Longbottom said in surprise before looking down at his watch. "You're here early. Is Mr. Malfoy with you?"

Rose shot her professor a forced smile before settling into a seat in front of Longbottom's desk.

Rose had spent the rest of her afternoon feeling sorry for herself in her room. She had even skipped dinner, something she was seriously regretting now that her stomach was gnawing away at itself. She'd have to sneak into the kitchen's later tonight.

"No professor," Rose replied. "I think he's doing something right now. He should be here soon though."

Rose caught the slight frown that graced Longbottom's features at her comment but it quickly vanished. "Did the two of you discuss everything I told you to go over?"

"Yes," Rose replied. "We got everything finished."

"No problems working together?" Longbottom questioned.

Does acting like an irrational bitch for an entire week count as a problem? "No," Rose lied. "Malfoy is very efficient when he wants to do a good job."

Longbottom nodded in agreement. "He is a very smart young man, especially when motivated."

Rose frowned at Longbottom's comment. He didn't have to be motivated to be smart. Rose sighed and cast her eyes around the room, trying to think of something else to say.

"Are you alright, Rose?" Longbottom asked gently.

Rose's eyes snapped back to Longbottom's serious face but she remained silent. How was she supposed to answer that? No, she was not alright. She had somehow fallen for Scorpius Malfoy and she wasn't able to figure out that she wanted him in her life, until after she had kicked him out of it. But did she want to talk about it?

As of today... yes... yes she did.

"Rose?" Longbottom questioned, obviously noticing the miserable expression that had suddenly appeared on her face.

"Professor?" Rose questioned softly, breaking her gaze with Longbottom to stare down at her lap.

"Yes."

"What do you think my family would do if... if I told them I fancied Scorpius?" Rose asked in a soft voice.

Silence enveloped the room instantaneously and Rose didn't dare look at Longbottom's face. She knew for a fact that if she lifted her head to see what his expression was, she would lose the feeling of relief coursing through her body.

She had told someone how she felt.

Granted she hadn't really been all that specific but she had still admitted it too someone and she wasn't even panicking.

"I... I don't understand what you mean, Rose," Longbottom said in confusion.

Rose, now feeling slightly giddy over how she felt, looked up from her lap too look at Longbottom.

Bad idea.

Rose was shocked by the surprised look on Longbottom's face. He visibly looked like Rose had picked up one of the flower pots scattered around his office and then smashed it over his head. Now, she started to panic.

"I – I," Rose stuttered, face turning a lovely shade of crimson. "I meant theoretically, of course. Like, what would my parents do if I told them I fancied Malfoy?"

"I don't think that's what you meant, Rose," Longbottom said in a serious voice.

She froze. "Er-," Rose mumbled as she tried to find a way out of the horrible predicament she had gotten herself into.

"Rose," Longbottom said sternly. "What's going on?"

Rose stared at Longbottom with wide-eyes. How could she get out of this situation? She could just deny everything; Longbottom couldn't force the truth out of her. However, he would still know that she was hiding something, which would possibly lead to him sending a worried letter home to her parents. Oh bollocks! She was probably going to have to run for it.

"Am I late?"

The familiar voice that called out from behind her brought relief, dread and giddiness rushing down upon her. Rose turned her head and practically beamed at Scorpius, who was standing in the doorway to Longbottom's office, while silently thanking him for having the best timing ever.

Scorpius seemed visibly taken aback by her pleased expression and Rose couldn't help but notice how his eyes nervously darted away from her face before taking the seat next to her.

"No, no, Mr. Malfoy," Longbottom replied with a wave of his hand, while staring at both Rose and Scorpius with a curious look on his face. "Shall we get started?"

The meeting progressed without a hitch. Longbottom asked Rose and Scorpius for the prefect patrol and Hogsmeade visit schedules and had quickly declared them both acceptable. However, Rose still remained uneasy the entire time. Longbottom wouldn't stop watching the both of them as they interacted with each other and he would often slip questions into the mix that would force them to come up with the right answers together. What was even worse was that Scorpius had also begun to notice something was going on and instead of ignoring her; he spent most of the meeting watching her as closely as Longbottom was.

"Well," Longbottom declared cheerfully. "It looks like we're done for the day you two. Good work as usual."

Rose couldn't help but sigh with relief. All she wanted to do now was get out of this stuffy office, take a hot bubble bath, and then figure out what she was going to do about her situation with Scorpius.

"Thanks professor," Rose replied with a smile, before turning her head to where Scorpius was sitting, only to find his seat already empty.

Rose groaned in frustration and grabbed her bag while mumbling obscenities under her breath, no longer caring what Longbottom thought.

"It looks like the two of you had some sort of disagreement," Longbottom said suddenly, causing Rose to turn and look at him.

"You could say that," Rose muttered irritably as she lifted her bag onto her shoulder. "Have a good night professor."

Rose turned away from him and took a step towards the door.

"I think your parents would understand," Longbottom suddenly declared.

Rose turned around in surprise. "What?" she asked in confusion.

"I was answering your question from before. I think you're parents would be surprised at first... but then they would understand."

Rose stared at her professor for a few very long seconds before turning away from him and hurrying out of the room without a word.

What had he meant by that?

Rose groaned loudly as she slowly trudged through the corridors to her room. She had decided to make a detour towards the kitchens, since she was starving and desperately needed a distraction from the day's events. Now, four chocolate croissants and a huge glass of milk later, Rose was slowly making her way towards the head common room, silently hoping that Scorpius would be in his room when she got there.

What had Longbottom meant about her parents understanding her having feelings for Scorpius? Who was he kidding? Her father would probably have a coronary if she went up to him and told him what she actually thought about Scorpius Malfoy.

But what did she actually think about Scorpius?

Rose just let out a depressed moan at the thought as she stopped in front of the entrance to her dorm room.

"Fire orchid," she grumbled irritably, causing the wolf and the golden lab in the portrait to perk up and the portrait hole to swing open.

Rose stepped inside, only to stop when she heard the sound of a pair of voices from around the corner. Great. Just who exactly was in her room?

Shoulders slumped, her hair slightly snarled looking from constantly running her hands through it from nerves and not caring at all what she looked like, Rose walked down the small corridor and into her common room with a horrible expression on her face, only for it to quickly change into one of shock.

"What the bloody hell are you two doing in my chair!" Rose screeched as she stared at Zabini, who was currently straddling a slightly uncomfortable looking Scorpius' lap.

Zabini's head shot up in surprise before sending Rose a wicked smile. "Oh, hello Weasley. We didn't hear you come in."

Rose's heart began to pound at an overly accelerated rate. She was so not in the mood for something like this right now. "You didn't answer my question. What are the both of you doing in my chair?" Rose exclaimed.

"What does it look like we're doing, Weasley? Knitting tea cozies," Zabini answered sarcastically.

Rose felt her cheeks heat in anger as she stared at Zabini, who had yet to move herself from her position over Scorpius. She wanted to do nothing more than walk over there and throw her off of him, but she knew that if she did something like that, she would have to answer a few questions afterwards.

"This is Weasley's seat, Tatiana," Scorpius muttered, his face looking anywhere but at Rose or Zabini's chest, which she had strategically managed to place right in front of his face.

There he went with that Weasley thing again. Was he really that angry with her that he would call the slut lounging in his lap by her first name and not her?

Whoa. Where the hell had that come from?

Rose blinked in confusion as Zabini responded to Scorpius' comment. "And I don't give a damn. We were having a good time just now and she ruined it, so pardon me if I could care less about breaking in her chair a little."

Zabini's answer was enough to snap Rose out of her dazed state and she stared murderously at her. "I can break in my own chair thank you," Rose replied heatedly. "Now can you please either take this upstairs or leave before you activate my gag reflex."

Zabini snorted. "Who would want to do anything with you?"

Rose's blood boiled at her comment before recalling something that brought a sly smile to her face. "That's funny. I thought you, of all people, would remember the conversation we had about a person who would be more than willing to do anything with me at any time."

The dumb-struck look on Zabini's face made Rose's day ten times over and she couldn't help but grin in triumph as Zabini did a very good impression of a gold fish in response. However, Scorpius was the first one to say anything. "What conversation?" he asked darkly.

Tatiana, brought back to reality by Scorpius' voice, hopped off of him and walked quickly towards Rose, her eyes shooting daggers at her. "What did you say?" She hissed.

"You heard me," Rose taunted, glaring up at the taller girl. "I'm not even trying right now, Zabini. So just imagine what would happen if I started to."

Rose noticed Zabini's hand rise up in a flash and Rose couldn't help but flinch. She had never been slapped by anyone for real and she was kind of wondering how it would feel.

"Let go of me, Scorpius!" Zabini snarled. Rose's eyes popped open in surprise and she looked up to see Scorpius holding Zabini's raised arm while giving her a dangerous look.

"I think it's time for you to leave, Tatiana," Scorpius suggested in an unfeeling voice that sent a chill down Rose's spine. Scorpius was not pleased, and as soon as Tatiana was out of the room, she was probably going to get an earful.

"Are you kidding me?" Tatiana screeched as she ripped her arm from his grasp. "Just now was the closest we've been in months and now you're kicking me out of the room you let me into."

"You need to cool off," he replied simply.

Zabini shot him a cold look before turning the same expression on Rose. Feeling slightly triumphant that she had managed to get her out of the common room, Rose just smirked in response, which seemed to ignite another spark of rage in Zabini's eyes as she stalked out of the room.

"Was that little charade really necessary?" Scorpius asked coldly once the audible click of the portrait hole closing was heard from the other end of the hallway.

Rose's triumphant smirk was instantly wiped away at his tone and she looked up at his face to see him glaring at her angrily.

"It's been a long day Malfoy and I just reacted badly to the two of you doing... doing whatever it was you were doing in my chair," Rose grumbled. "Besides I thought the two of you were as good as done."

One of Scorpius' eyebrows rose in question at her answer. "And why do you care about what's going on between me and my girlfriend?"

Rose gritted her teeth at the inflection of the word 'girlfriend'. "I don't care." Yes you do. "You can do whatever you like with her." As long as I never find out about it. "It's your funeral." She's a giant slut and you could totally do better.

Scorpius stared down at her, a smirk appearing on his face. "You're lying, Weasley."

Rose's eyes widened in shock and she took a step back from him. "I am not," she spluttered.

"Are you sure," Scorpius said teasingly as he closed the distance in between them, in the process trapping Rose up against a wall. "Because you seemed rather upset about catching Tatiana and I together. A normal reaction to seeing us would have been something along the lines of 'get out of my chair' or just ignoring us, but you threatened Tatiana."

"I did not threaten her," Rose lied. "I was just reminding her that, if I tried or cared, I could probably have whatever bloke I wanted."

Scorpius' eyes hardened at Rose's answer and she could tell that he hadn't liked the idea of her with other blokes and the monster her hormones had created seemed to purr in pleasure at his reaction. "Yes, but the two of you were talking about one person in particular," Scorpius said softly as he leaned in closer to her face. "Who was it? Or... do I already know the answer?"

Shit. Rose raised both of her hands and pushed Scorpius away from her, silently fuming over how rashly she had acted when she saw Scorpius and Tatiana together. Hell, when she walked in they hadn't even been snogging and she had practically had a seizure.

Well that is what jealousy does to people.

Great. Now she was jealous of Zabini to the point where she would probably rip out the other girl's hair if she ever saw her straddling Scorpius again.

But why are you jealous?

Well he's mine of course.

Rose instinctively brought a hand up to cover her mouth, afraid that she had just said that last thought out loud. What? Rose stared at Scorpius in complete shock. He wasn't hers. He was dating someone else!

"You okay, Weasley? You look like you just swallowed a bug," Scorpius said with a grin.

Rose glared at him. This was maddening. Now her hormones were trying to convince her that he was hers. Merlin, she was probably going to have to drown herself in the bath tonight because there was no way she'd be able to live with herself if Nora ever found out what she was thinking.

Rose straightened herself up as she tried to regain her composure. "Would you kindly stop being such a pig-headed git, Malfoy? It's an unattractive quality."

Scorpius' smirk just grew wider at her comment and she stomped away from him, silently berating herself for actually enjoying their conversation.

"Did you hear about the Gryffindor quidditch tryouts this morning? Another bloody Weasley is on the team."

Nora rolled her eyes and glared at the bookcase behind her, which blocked her view of a group of Ravenclaw's that were being more than obnoxious.

"Come on Simon. We all know you have to be a Weasley in some way or shagging one of them in order to get anywhere in that house," a girl replied nastily.

Do not get up. Do not get up. Nora gritted her teeth. She hadn't been sleeping with anyone when she joined the Gryffindor quidditch team last year. Besides that girl probably secretly yearned to know what Al looked like without any clothes on.

For the record... 'yummy' was the best word to describe him naked.

"But the thing I love the most about the Gryffindor's is how they're protecting their special little super powered princess," one of the guys grumbled. "We can't say a thing about Wilson without one of them jumping down our throats."

"I know," the girl muttered. "Even though everything we say is completely true. My dad told me that a quarter of the departments in the ministry are swamped with complaints and no one understands why they're protecting her. Apparently the Department of Mysteries is keeping themselves more shut away from everyone than usual."

Nora's head perked up at that last comment. Now why would the Department of Mysteries be hiding themselves more than usual? Nora silently picked up her chair and carefully moved herself closer to the bookshelf that hid her from the group of people on the other side of it.

"That proves that she's a giant freak," one of the guys hissed. "If the Department of Mysteries is clamming up, then she's definitely a risk to our bloody lives. This is why my parents almost didn't want me to come back with her around. How safe do you think we are with somebody who can move whatever she wants with her mind?"

"From what I've heard, that's not everything that she can do," the guy Nora guessed was Simon said.

Nora didn't like his tone. There was no way he could know anything about her on his own but she had no idea who his parents were.

"What are you talking about, Simon?" the girl asked in confusion.

"You know how my dad works for the Prophet," Simon began.

"Ya," both the other guy and the girl said in unison.

"Well my dad recently had a conversation with Henry Caville, the bloke who wrote the first expose about Wilson, and Caville told him that he's still investigating her," Simon said in a hushed voice that had Nora straining to hear what he was saying.

"I thought he got everything?" the other guy replied.

"Caville's convinced that he didn't. The person who tipped him off about Wilson wasn't a high ranking member of the ministry so there's the chance he or she didn't know everything. And there's also the fact that since the ministry is still being so secretive, there has to be more to Wilson than the ministry is letting on," Simon explained.

"Bloody hell," the girl replied in an astonished voice. "So Wilson could be even more of a freak than what we know now?"

Nora gritted her teeth at the girl's statement.

"Ya," Simon replied. "And how much do you want to bet that Albus Potter and all of his friends know everything about her and are protecting her."

The nameless guy snorted. "Which means we're never going to find out if there's more to Wilson. Half of the ministry is terrified of ever getting on the Weasley's or the Potter's bad sides."

"Still," Simon replied. "My dad told me to keep my eyes open for trouble because he doesn't trust that the ministry has got Wilson as under control as their claiming."

Nora just stared vacantly at the empty air in front of her. Why couldn't they just leave her alone? They had no right to go snooping in her life! Nora clenched her hands into fists as she tried to remain calm. She didn't want to hurt anyone. Didn't they see that?

No, they didn't see a thing because they were so wrapped up in the negative aspect of everything. She was something different and they were rejecting her whole-heartedly. Just like she knew they would. Nora felt her anger rising at the thought. They had no right to judge her. They had no right at all! She could flatten them like a bug in an instant and they hadn't even realized it yet.

The thud of objects falling to the floor jerked Nora from her dark thoughts and she peered around in confusion at the dozens of fallen books around her.

"What the hell was that?" Simon's voice said in panic.

"I don't know," the girl said worriedly. "The bookshelf just started shaking completely on its own and the books came flying off of the shelves."

Nora's eyes widened in horror and she bolted up from her seat. Had she done that? Oh please tell her that she hadn't done that. Nora quickly grabbed her things and, with her head bowed, she hurried past the group of Ravenclaw's and through the library doors as several people got up to see what all the commotion was about.

"Shit, shit, shit, shit," Nora muttered as she practically jogged through the hallways. She wasn't about to admit it to anyone, but she was having trouble keeping her abilities in check when she let her emotion's get carried away. It wouldn't be anything horrible, just things would start shaking or something would sort of toss itself off of a shelf, but it had never been something like that. She could have tipped the entire shelf over if she hadn't stopped herself.

"Take deep breaths," Nora mumbled in a panicked voice. "Take deep breaths. No one – oof!" Not looking where she was going, Nora stumbled directly into someone, causing her to stumble.

"Shit. I'm sorry," she said frantically and she looked up to see who she had bumped into, only to let her eyes widen in shock as she stared at none other than Professor Grant.

"That's quite alright. These things happen to me more often than you think," he said with a dry laugh before looking up at her, his joking expression quickly turning serious when he saw her face.

Nora ducked her head and brushed past him. "I need to get going," she said in a rushed voice. "Places to go, people to see-."

"Miss. Wilson," Grant interrupted in a serious voice. "What is wrong with your skin?"

Nora's head whipped around to stare at him in confusion. "Wha-?" She said, her voice trailing off when she looked down at her hand.

It was glowing.

Nora's eyes widened in horror before she quickly turned away from Grant and hurried away from him, ignoring him calling her name.

Nora rushed around a corner, her eyes searching in vain for a place to hide, where they quickly stopped at a broom cupboard. She rushed forward and grabbed a hold of the door handle before quickly running inside and closing it behind her.

"Take a deep breath, Nora," she muttered to herself as she tried to calm herself down. "Take a deep breath and it will all go away."

Nora stared miserably down at her hand as the glow on her skin slowly faded, leaving her shrouded in complete darkness. Convinced that she was completely alone, Nora sunk down on to the floor with her head buried in her hands.

It was getting worse. Why was it getting worse?

A/N- I know, I know that it's been awhile since I've updated but I was suffering through a large case of writer's block but here is chapter 7. So we have Rose realizing that being a twit is only going to result in her losing Scorpius, which she has realized she does not want to lose, and Nora is having a bit of trouble controlling her abilities. Hmmm... I predict trouble on the horizon. Anyway, I plan on getting up the next chapter much sooner than this one so please read and review as always. Hugs and kisses.