Chapter One
They were not the only couple that had taken advantage of the lawns for a Valentine's Day picnic. A scattering couples from all of Hogwart's Houses, as well as some mixed couples, were spread out thinly across the grass. It wasn't very practical as February was the coldest month of the year at Hogwart's School of Witchcraft and Wizardry so there weren't that many lover's making use of the outside. It was cold enough for snow on the hills and there were light winds coming up from off the lake.
Rose cuddled up to Scorpius on a magically warmed blanket. Their coat-weight wool cloaks spread out around them, black on black and both fastened with silver clasps to shut out the cold. Rose's black winter cloak was a fitted evening cloak and had a distinctive drape and full, gathered shoulders. Scorpius wore a black cashmere wool cloak with embroidered silver snowflakes in different shapes and sizes that swirled around him. His substantial cloak was fully lined with heavy Slytherin green satin for extra warmth and comfort. The cloak's silver clasp was done in true Slytherin style, mimicking the form of a serpent. Both of their uniforms were completely hidden from view by the fullness of the fabric.
"Thank you for the love notes," Scorpius said, "I keep finding them in my textbooks."
"I'm not as good with origami as you are," Rose said, "But I'm still going to write you love notes."
"Thank you." He leaned in for a kiss. He'd been doing a lot of that lately. With Scorpius it was just an offer of affection and she loved it that way. Scorpius kissed her as if he'd never do anything else, never want to do anything but spend all day kissing her. She'd heard horror stories about guys that held too tight or pressed too hard, or both. It had made kissing sound like an hostile takeover. Scorpius was an excellent kisser.
"My present has two parts," he said, pulling back slightly.
"Oh?" Rose was only a little breathless.
"The first, and only if you're okay with it," Scorpius interjected quickly, "is a foot massage. You're always wearing those high heeled buckled boots. They are lovely, but I've heard high heels are uncomfortable."
"They are," Rose agreed, but quietly, with some trepidation.
Scorpius looked at her askance, "What's wrong? If it's not alright with you I'll understand. Don't get upset, please."
"It's not you, it's my feet," Rose said, pulling them closer to herself, "I have ugly feet."
Scorpius stared at her for a moment, then threw his head back and laughed. Rose glared, even as she thought of how beautiful he looked radiating joy.
"I'm sorry, I couldn't help it. I don't believe you," Scorpius said, trying to turn his urge to chuckle into coughing, "And even if it's true, I won't mind. Why don't you think your feet are as beautiful as the rest of you?"
"They're too big," she replied, pulling away to wrap her arms around her drawn up knees, "I'm not tall, I should have smaller feet."
Scorpius shook his head but didn't say out loud what he was thinking. He felt like she was being silly. He looked at her and saw a beautiful young woman. Her brown and red and auburn hair was falling around her face in styled waves, she dressed her hair up a little bit more these days, and those wide, beautiful blue eyes he loved looking into were staring off into the distance, unseeing. But the look in those eyes, sadness and insecurity, weren't as lovely to him. He wanted her to be happy and even if he thought that feeling this way was silly he loved and respected her. He had to respect her feelings on the matter and wait until she felt comfortable and secure enough to share this part of herself with him.
Rose turned back to Scorpius and noticed the determined, solemn look on his face and it was so different from his usual smile that she was startled.
"Fine," he eventually responded, and then he smiled, "I love you."
"I love you, too," she said, wondering what he'd meant by the first part.
"So, are you going to give me back my top hat?" Scorpius asked, for possibly the hundredth time since the Ball. She had it on good authority he didn't really mind that she kept it. It was still a good way to change the subject.
Rose looked at him from beneath lowered lashes, "What are you going to give me that I would want more?"
Before he could respond Rose handed him a potted herb, Moly, instead.
"The black stems and white flowers are pretty and it's also good protection against dark enchantments," Rose said, though they both knew that from first year.
"It goes with the potted asphodel you gave me for Christmas," Scorpius added, "The petals of Moly are one of the ingredients in the Wiggenweld Potion and the root of asphodel is another. In case I ever needs to awaken a sleeping beauty, all I need now is shredded dittany and Wiggentree bark."
"I like Rowan trees," Rose commented, ignoring the reference to how she tended to fall asleep over his textbooks, "they are so useful. And I like plants. As long as you take care of them, they take care of you." She intended to keep buying him fun potion ingredients, she knew it was his favorite course as hers was Herbology.
"Here is my other present," Scorpius said, pulling out of their wicker picnic basket a box wrapped in Ravenclaw blue and tied with a ribbon of Slytherin green. He handed it to Rose. She took the present with both hands. Scorpius enjoyed the way her face glowed down onto his gift, before she'd even opened it. She untied the satin ribbon slowly and opened the box. She glanced curiously at Scorpius. It was an old-fashioned Muggle pocket watch.
"It's lovely," she said, surprised he'd gotten her a Muggle present. Given a moment, she realized she was pleased he'd made such an effort, it certainly was unlikely a Muggle anything was easy to come across when you're parents were Malfoys.
"It is, but it's also useful. I got the idea from your mum and my dad, actually," Scorpius was very enthusiastic about this accomplishment, "I'm just glad I was able to cast it right, it was bloody awful trying to figure it out pretty much alone. Neither of our parents used the Protean Charm until their fifth year. I wished I had had your help, but I wanted it to be a surprise."
"You cast a Protean Charm on it? Why?" Rose looked at him with her head cocked slightly to one side, which caused her hood to fall back and her hair to fall over one shoulder.
"Well, two charms, really. There's writing on the inside of the front of the watch, see," he opened the watch to show her where the watch had her name engraved on it, "and there's my name on the back. This way we can write each other notes while we're away from Hogwarts."
Rose gasped, "Oh, Scorpius, you're brilliant! I love you, I love you, I love you." His face lit up, especially as she buried herself in his arms, her head coming to rest on his shoulder. He hugged her once, then pushed her away.
"I have to show you how to use it," he said, "Like this, see, you just take a quill and write what you want to say underneath your name and it will appear on my watch--"
"The first Protean Charm makes the inside front of yours change when I write something on the inside front of mine," Rose was a little in awe. This was a N.E.W.T. level charm.
"And when I write on the back of the watch the second charm changes what you read on the back of your watch," Scorpius concluded, very pleased with himself, "I only cast it four times successfully. But it was easy once I got it to work the first time."
"You're the most brilliant boy at Hogwart's," Rose supplied, knowing it was what he wanted and deserved to hear.
"You're the most brilliant girl," Scorpius preened, "so we're a perfect match, love."
"Well, gee, can I join the mutual admiration club?" Asp plopped down next to the two of them, crowding Scorpius for a patch of the warmed picnic blanket.
Scorpius sighed.
"I bet he didn't tell you how I helped with the charm, did he?" Asp said, going nose to nose with Rose as he leaned on the back of Scorpius.
"No, of course not," Asp answered himself, "Dear Romeo, he's a Slytherin among Slytherin, through and through."
"Hullo, Asp," Rose said, "And how are you today?"
"Cold," he decided immediately, "Can't believe you sods are so googly eyed over each other you'd spend a winter's day like this outside. And you! Completely abandoning your best-friend-slave. For shame Scorpius."
Author's Note: Information (reference) on The Protean Charm comes from www.hp-lexicon.info/ and is quoted below.
Protean Charm (PRO-tee-an)
"protean" Eng. able to readily assume a different form, from Proteus, a sea god from Greek mythology who could change his shape rapidly
Complex spell that makes something change form.
Hermione was able to cast a Protean Charm on the fake Galleons the D.A. used during the 1995 - 1996 school year to pass along the date and time of each meeting. The spell caused the numbers on the members' coins to change when Harry changed the numbers on his coin. The Ravenclaws were all astounded that Hermione, who wasn't in their house, could cast this spell, since it's N.E.W.T. level. Clearly none of them could cast this magic at fifth year level (OP19). Ironically, Hermione got the idea from Voldemort's use of the Death Eaters' Dark Marks as a means of communication.
Draco Malfoy, in turn, deliberately copied the notion of Hermione's D.A. coins to enchant coins as a means of communication for himself with Madam Rosemerta (HBP27).