Chapter Three
As they flew over Rose noticed a large house with a smoking chimney outside the grove where they landed and had been worried.
"We're not trespassing, are we?" she asked him.
"No, I've been here before," Scorpius said, "There's nothing to worry about."
The grass they walked through was such a strong green, she wondered if they hadn't crossed over to Ireland without her noticing. It was wet and the ground was soft from a recent rain. It hadn't rained that day at the Burrorw so she wondered where they were exactly. Instead of asking, she clutched his arm as they walked together. As they pssed through a line of Weeping Willows Scorpius held back a thick curtain of leaves for Rose to pass through and let the curtain fall shut behind them both. It was an enchanted grove, or a grove that Scorpius had enchanted.
The area inside the grove had a pond that was decorated with fairy lights and Scorpius had used candle magic so that a hundred floating candles also helped light the way. The candles drifted upward in a spiraling staircase. A magic mist circled over the pond and drifted up, following the candles like stairs following a banister. Golden bubbles were poured into the pond, a sheen of gold beneath the floor of mist that hovered over the pond.
"Is that an anti-gravity charm?" she asked him, worried. Anti gravity charms tended to look like harmless mist but in actuality would cause a person stepping into the magic mist to immediately realize that the directions up and down have been reversed and that they are currently hanging from the ground over the endless sky. Disconcerting to say the least.
"Not exactly," Scorpius hedged, then directed his wand at the Rhapsodic Phorminx that he'd left sitting up against a tree, "It's more like a floating mist. You can walk across the lake over it, but when two wizards dance over it together... Well, let me show you. Dance with me, Rose?"
Scorpius offered his hand and she took it, trusting him. Together they stepped out onto the mist covered pond while the instrument decorated richly with gold and ivory stood up, floated into the hair, and began to follow them. The instrument accompanied itself with epic singers, while playing itself like an enchanted harp. Scorpius drew her into his arms and they began to dance, gray eyes lost in blue. As they danced they were gently levitated up along the spiraling staircase of mist and candles.
"Why does Asp call himself your 'best-friend-slave'?" Rose asked quietly.
"Hm, it might have something to do with how he always ended up carrying both of our books while I had my wand in one hand and an herb in the other. That was how it went for most of first year," Scorpius recalled.
"Having Asp in Slytherin with me how could I not take advantage? For a while he carried all of our stuff, even my books. He grew a backbone second year, though," Scorpius sounded almost bereaved.
"Told me once that you might have been in Gryffindor," Scorpius said, "What did you mean?"
"The Sorting Hat was torn between Gryffindor and Ravenclaw, but since Albus wasn't in Gryffindor I didn't want to be either and I refused to be sorted there," Rose explained, "So, the hat put me in Ravenclaw."
They danced together, quietly, for a bit longer. Then Scorpius pulled a very small box from his pocket. It was covered in black velvet and when she saw it Rose's jumped, into her throat still pounding.
"I won't marry you," she said.
Author's Note: Oh, I know, I shouldn't stop -- it is too short. But then it wouldn't be a cliffhanger. Mwahahahaha! Ahem. When referring to the "best-friend-slave" stuff, that entire section of the story is about a fanart I found that pretty much sums up my idea of Scorpius and Asp's early relationship with each other. You can see that fan art
HP7: My best friend-slave by ryounkura on deviantART at ryounkura./art/HP7-My-best-friend-slave-60783141
I probably should have resisted the urge to reference the image in my story but this is fanfiction and I am such a fan of this image, I had to share it. It's permanently a part of my Potter-verse. The anti-gravity charm is part of JKR's Potterverse, the misty staircase is my own invention (I think). The Rhapsodic Phorminx is based on a real ancient Greek instrument, the Phorminx, (you should look it up, you'll learn something) but the magical version is my own, though JKR's Potter-verse assumes that any object can be enchanted, there are self-fertilizing shrubs, why not self-playing (and singing) instruments? All other magical charms are JKRowling's, not mine. I use a couple of online Harry Potter encyclopedia's heavily. As in really a lot. For information as well as inspiration.