Chapter 2
A/N: Thanks so much to everyone who reviewed! You guys are awesome. Also thanks to thestarlitrose and Myno.1fan for their beta work. This chapter is infinitely better than it was before they got at it.
Sorry this took so long, but school's started up again and everything's kind of crazy.
~Frosty
Rose shifted uncomfortably on the lumpy infirmary bed. Her back was healed, but a strange, achy numbness remained. Apparently she had suffered rather extensive damage when a Bludger had hit her. She'd been trapped in her own mind at the time, so she hadn't even tried to dodge the dangerous projectile. The nasty injury to her back had only been worsened by the fall to the ground that immediately followed the impact.
Madam Pomfrey had sternly ordered her to take it easy for a few days, but she was going to make a full recovery. Judging from the look the Healer had worn the entire time she'd been tending to Rose, she thought Quidditch just as barbaric as Rose did.
Rose had tried to tell the woman that she wholeheartedly agreed with that assessment, but she'd been sternly shushed and told to rest.
In an effort to ease some of the weight resting on her newly-healed wound, she flipped over to lay on her front. The movement jostled her head and made it start pounding in time with the beats of her heart. She really needed some stronger pain potions, but Madam Pomfrey was notorious for being sparing with the pain potions. The Mediwitch lived with the assumption that students complained of pain just to get more potions.
A first year came in wailing about a splinter or something else equally harmless, snapping Rose out of her reverie. She clenched her teeth in irritation and pulled her pillow over her head. The thin foam didn't really do much to muffle the sound, but it made her feel a little better.
A soft touch on her ankle made her peek out from under the pillow. Scorpius was standing beside her bed. He had an unfamiliar, unreadable look in his eyes.
It was odd seeing him again after that dream thing she'd had on the Quidditch pitch. She kept glancing back at his eyes to see if there was any of the tenderness and affection that she'd seen before. Rose was worried that what she'd seen was going to make their friendship awkward. She couldn't lose her friendship with Scorpius, it was too important. Through force of will, she made herself act normally and stop searching his eyes for something she wasn't going to see.
"Are you all right?" he asked in a clipped tone.
Rose was starting to get a little worried. Scorpius rarely hid his emotions from her so completely. There was usually a flash in his eyes of what he was feeling behind that blank mask.
"I ache a little, but I'm healed. Madam Pomfrey says I have to spend the night here."
He still wasn't showing emotion, Rose felt a bit like she was talking to a statue. The idiot wasn't blaming himself for coercing her into joining the team, was he? Rose winced as she rolled herself onto her back again and pushed herself into a sitting position. If he was being so monumentally stupid, then she was going to need to face him fully so she could tell him how much of an idiot he was.
"Scorpius?" Rose prodded, reaching over to take his hand. His fingers stayed limp in her grasp.
Her touch seemed to jolt him out of whatever trance he'd fallen into. He tightened his hand around her smaller one and bent down slightly so their faces were closer.
"What the hell happened to you out there? You were just sitting there on your broom. I know you don't like the game, but to throw your tryout like that? You could have been killed!"
When Scorpius was really angry, he had a habit of lowering his voice and spitting his words in a hiss. It was scarier than yelling would ever be. There was always so much venom in his voice and he was so precise with his insults. When he wanted to, he could cut people with his words as if they were a razor.
"If I was trying to throw the tryout would I have scored a goal first?" she snapped, irritated with his assumptions. Just because she hadn't been there on her own free will didn't mean she wasn't going to try her best. Rose knew Quidditch was important to Scorpius, so she would play her best to make him happy, and here he was accusing her of trying to weasel out of it? She was actually hurt that he thought so little of her.
The blond had the grace to look abashed. The air seemed to go out of him and he sat at the end of her bed, sagging a little in the shoulders. "Do you have any idea how worried I was when you just fell out of the sky?"
He hadn't released her hand. His fingers were tightly wrapped around hers, as if he was trying to reassure himself that she was okay through the contact.
"I didn't do it on purpose," she mumbled.
"What happened?"
Rose flashed back to the vision she'd had of them together. Had that been their future or just some kind of hallucination brought on by bad pumpkin juice at breakfast? Whether the vision was true or not, it had planted the idea of a romantic relationship with Scorpius in her head. She wasn't sure if she could act like everything was the same after seeing them so happy and... loving. That's what they'd been; loving.
Rose glanced at his eyes again before looking away. There was concern, but none of the tenderness from the dream.
"It was nothing." The sentence was as much to convince herself as it was an answer to his question. It had been nothing and nothing could change between them.
The slight tightening of his jaw told her he knew she was lying and was upset about it, but wasn't willing to press the matter. Scorpius knew when pushing for more information would only make her clam up and go on the defensive.
More than anything, Rose wanted to just blurt it out, but how was she supposed to tell him that she'd dreamed they were together and wasn't entirely opposed to the idea? She had looked so happy with him, and a large part of her wanted that happiness.
Rose looked at Scorpius again. He was staring back at her, once again expressionless. There was no way he cared about her as more than a friend. He was Scorpius Malfoy, his past girlfriends were a parade of the prettiest girls in the school and Rose was just, well, Rose.
The silence that stretched between them was just beginning to get uncomfortable when Scorpius stood up. His sharp eyes stared at her for a long moment before he pulled his hand from hers. He reached and smoothed down her unruly mass of hair. There was a pause while he seemed to be debating whether to say something, but she watched him shake his head as the indecision faded from his eyes.
"I'm glad you're all right," he finally murmured, turning and heading towards the exit. "And welcome to the team," he added once he was almost out the door.
Rose's sound of protest was cut off as he shut the heavy wood behind him.
Her blue eyes narrowed in irritation. She hadn't even played a single game and she was already in the infirmary, yet he put her on the team and didn't stick around long enough to let her voice her protests? Did he really want to win that much? That, more than anything, told her that what she'd seen was a hallucination and not a vision. Scorpius cared about her, but she was just one of the guys to him.
If he thought a female worthy of his affections, wouldn't he be protective of her, wanting to keep her away from danger? Instead he was willingly putting her in one of the most dangerous pastimes in the wizarding word – practically against her will.
It hurt a little that someone so close to her had failed to notice that she was even female.
Forcefully, she pushed away the hurt. What she needed was a distraction; someone to keep her mind away from inappropriate thoughts about her best mate.
"What'd you do to Scorpius?" were the first words out of Albus' mouth when Rose got back to the Head Dorms in the morning. She just had time to have a quick shower and change her clothes before she had to get to Charms.
"I don't know what you're talking about," Rose said, irritated that he was wasting the little time she had to get ready. It didn't help that she was still a little stiff from her recent injury. Every time she bent down or to the side, her back would give a twinge of pain. The poor night's sleep she'd had in the uncomfortable and drafty Hospital Wing only added to her foul mood.
"I'm talking about our blond friend coming here last night and having some kind of fit. I couldn't even get a coherent sentence out of him." He nodded his head towards a red-brown smudge on the stone wall. "The idiot punched a wall. I had to stun him before he would settle down."
Rose looked from the smudge to her cousin and back again. "Don't be ridiculous. Scorpius doesn't get that worked up about anything."
It was true; she hadn't ever seen Scorpiusso angry that he lashed out at something physically. He was more the type to use words to tear apart his opponents, and on the rare occasion when that failed, he'd use magic. The boy had an impressive repertoire of nasty curses. He'd once told her it was a requirement when one was a Malfoy.
Albus' green eyes narrowed into a glare. "He does, you just never see it. The one thing that can throw him into a fit is you and I'm the one who always has to deal with him when he's like that!"
Completely baffled and a little disbelieving, Rose walked over to the copper-coloured smudge and leaned in close to examine it. Scorpius had always said that punching was for Muggles and thugs, wizards had magic for that sort of thing.
Albus wouldn't lie to her about something so serious, but it was hard to imagine Scorpius getting so distraught that he'd punched something. And over her?
She reached a hand to touch the smudge. It was rather large, she was worried about the damage he'd done to his hand on impact.
"You need to talk to him Rose. He blames himself for your injury."
Snatching her hand back from the wall, the redhead whipped around to face her cousin. "If he's so torn up about this, then why did he make me join the team anyway?" she demanded.
Albus raised an eyebrow. "Would you really have let him keep you off the team just because you got hurt once and it could happen again?"
Well, when he put it that way... she would have yelled at Scorpius if he had pulled such a chauvinistic move. There were younger girls playing on the house teams, and they stood just as much of a chance of getting injured as she did. The seeker for the Hufflepuff team was a third year who was so tiny, she could probably pass for a ten year old is she wanted to.
There was a thin, blurry line between being protected and being coddled that Rose couldn't always keep straight in her mind. She could hardly expect other people to know those lines. It was surprising that Scorpius had guessed right, though she wished he'd explained his reasoning to her. It would have saved her the upset when she had worried he didn't think of her as a girl.
Catching sight of the clock, she rushed past her cousin. "I have to get to Charms; I'll talk to him in Divination."
The smoky atmosphere of the Divination room never ceased to get on Rose's nerves. She was all for ambiance, but when the incense smell choked everyone and inhibited coherent brain function, it was obviously too heavy. Professor Trelawney should have seriously considered a few scented candles instead of the heavy incense she tended to favour. Rose felt on the verge of a coughing fit because of all the smoke swirling around the room.
Her eyes went once again to the empty seat beside her. Scorpius was going to be late if he didn't show up in the next few minutes. It would be just her luck if he didn't attend class when she really needed to talk to him.
Just as the Professor was calling the class to order, Scorpius rushed through the trapdoor and into his seat. He managed to walk right past her without acknowledging that he'd seen her. It was like he was hoping she wouldn't talk to him.
Well, that wasn't going to happen.
"I was starting to think you weren't going to show up," Rose whispered to him. Trelawney was gesticulating grandly and nattering on about the different ways one can interpret tea leaves and how different flavours of tea could affect the reading.
The blond shrugged, still not looking at her. "I was in the library finishing off the Potions essay that's due next week. Lost track to time."
As he ran his hand through his hair, Rose noticed that his knuckles were pink with freshly-healed skin. Albus had been telling the truth. Not that she had thought he'd lie; it was just startling to see such blatant proof. Did that mean Scorpius really was blaming himself for her injury?
The class poured their tea and waited for it to steep. Rose watched as her friend stared blankly out the window behind her and tapped the fingers of his freshly-healed hand on the table. How could she have not noticed how agitated he was when he had come in to the smoky class?
She reached over and set her hand over his to still the movement. "It's not your fault," she said, meeting his silver eyes. There was only a glimpse of emotion in the mercurial depths before he smothered it behind a sardonic expression.
"I'm a Malfoy, isn't it always my fault?"
Ever since first year, Scorpius had been carrying a chip on his shoulder. Many people in the wizarding world had no problem blaming the son for the sins of the father – and grandfather. He tried to hide it, but this bothered Scorpius to no end and hardened him against new people. Few people were allowed to see past his cold exterior to the person underneath.
"I have never put sins that weren't your own on your shoulders. Your last name is just that; a name," she hissed quietly. He wasn't the only one who didn't like being judged based on the achievements of her family. Great things were expected from her, and it was sometimes a strain to try and live up to those expectations.
Scorpius glanced at the girls watching them from the nearest table. Apparently she hadn't kept her voice as quiet as she'd intended.
"Tea's done," was all he said. His look clearly told her that they were done with the subject.
They sipped the beverage in silence, Scorpius wincing because he absolutely despised the flavour of raspberries.
Rose snatched his cup before he'd even set it down on the table. She barely even glanced at the dregs. "You're being stupid and blaming yourself for an injury to someone close to you, even though she doesn't blame you at all and is completely healed."
If it wouldn't have been completely inappropriate in class, Rose would have turned around and lifted her shirt to show him that her back was as good as new.
His eyes narrowed. "I'm sure your leaves say that Albus needs to learn to keep his bloody mouth shut."
Before she could even open her mouth to protest, the blond turned the full force of his irritated gaze upon her. "I don't want to talk about this," he snapped, pulling his textbook closer and pretending to read it.
After a few more attempts on Rose's part to make conversation, she gave up and they spent the rest of Divination in silence.
"Why do you look like you lost your best friend?" a dreamy voice asked her at dinner.
Rose looked up from the potatoes she'd been pushing around her plate and into the faraway blue eyes of Lysander Scamander. The boy was a year younger than her, but like many Ravenclaws, was wise beyond his years. He took after his slightly odd mother both in disturbing perceptiveness and in kindness, but the black hair was from his father.
"Because it feels like I have," she sighed. Her blue eyes darted across the hall to where Scorpius sat with his Slytherin friends, a petite brunette could be seen pressing her breasts against his arm as she pretended to reach in front of him. The git hadn't so much as glanced at Rose since Divination, which was an impressive task considering they were constantly paired up in nearly every class.
Lysander looked in the direction she was staring. "He's all torn up inside and needs some time to sort himself out," he said.
Rose knew her friend shied away from dealing with strong emotions, instead preferring to hide them away so he didn't have to deal with them. But did he have to shy away from her as well? If he'd let her, she could have helped – and not in the way that slag over at the Slytherin table was.
Rose forced herself to look away as the brunette clinging to her friend suddenly pulled him down for a kiss. If she had been jealous of herself when Scorpius had kissed her in the vision, then it was nothing compared to what she felt when some Slytherin whore was all over her friend like Goyle Junior on a cupcake. What could he possibly see in that girl? Her personality was annoying and abrasive. Rose assumed the girl's only redeeming quality for Scorpius was her breasts.
Her attention was drawn back to the boy beside her when he patted her shoulder comfortingly. "Some space might be good for the two of you. It'll provide some perspective. In the meantime, I suggest going on a date with me."
For a shocked moment, she could only stare at him. Was he serious? She'd always looked at the Scamanders as something of adoptive cousins, so it was strange to think of Lysander as something else.
Lysander seemed to sense some of what was going through her mind. "I understand if you need some time to adjust to the idea. The Giant Squid is great with problems, you could go talk it out with him and then get back to me with an answer."
Rose wasn't sure that the Giant Squid would be of any help to her when it came to matters of the heart, but she did know that she would probably have a good time with Lysander should she decide to go out with him. She glanced one more time at Scorpius and the slag that had latched onto him like a barnacle. There could be no way that he liked Rose as more than a friend when she wasn't even assured of his friendship.
"I don't need the time to think. It would be great to go out with you sometime," she said with a smile.
They made plans for the Hogsmeade trip that weekend. By the time Rose had finished her dinner, she felt a little less miserable about the day she'd had. Who would have thought the severe pain and injury she'd suffered would be the easy part of her day?
