He had been knocked out for a while now, asleep almost from the moment his body hit the old, ratty bed. Before he was too far gone however he made her promise to stay awake until she was tired enough to wake him, so that he could be the look out while she slept.
It was a strange feeling which settled in her stomach, like she, the real Rose, were floating by the ceiling and looking down on them. This must be the the first time in a little more than a week when she was really standing still and it was unsettling.
A little more than a week ago she had entered her apartment after an ordinary day at work, exhausted from trying to be everywhere at once at St: Mungo's, or at least on the floor where she worked as a healer.
The day would however come to a not so ordinary close, as she was met by the sight of a thin box, hovering in midair in the middle of her small sitting room. Unsuspecting, she had walked over to it and opened it to find a bright red rose and a note. Sighing deeply in annoyance, thinking that her aunt Ginny had set Matthew up to do this to get her to agree to that second date she picked up the flower from the box, but the moment her fingers made contact with it she felt a singe as the rose erupted in green flames which slowly rose to the ceiling forming what looked like a perfect image of what she had seen in the history books about the great war, the dark mark.
She had dropped it all to the floor, stunned as the mark slowly faded away before her eyes before she remembered the note, which had left the box and was now lying beside it.
Ms. Weasley, what is more fitting than a rose to a Rose.
You as a healer now what's been about to happen, even as the Ministry tries to silence it, to silence the voice which speaks from the shadows, the voice speaking the truth.
The truth is that our world needs to get back on the road towards what is right, and that means that obstacles needs to be removed.
You are an obsticale, but we know your abilities. That's why we are willing to give you a chance to join us.
You can guess what awaits you if you don't, and a word of warning before you do anything impulsive.
We are out here and it's much harder to find someone when you don't know who to look for, our eyes are everywhere and on everyone. If you choose wrong, you better be good at hiding.
Her thoughts wandered away on their own, towards paranoia and suddenly she noticed Malfoy. Malfoy was one of them, he admitted it to her.
Carefully not to wake him, she moved closer to the bed and to him. Removing his wand was harder as he had a good grip on it, but finally it was out of his hands.
She stood there, thinking about how to proceed from here. To leave him would perhaps be the best idea, but she knew that it wouldn't be satisfying enough, not after what happened at Hugo's house where she had gone after she had read the note.
An anger she had never felt before rose in her chest at the images her mind forced her to recall, how the masked people appeared and began to fight and how her younger brother made her escape even though she refused, he pushed her into the fireplace to get away.
In that moment she decided what to do. With that consuming anger she found herself on the bed, straddling his waist and putting her wand close to his face.
He grimaced and slowly opened his eyes, the surprise clearly displayed at the way he was woken up and he opened his mouth to say something but Rose was faster.
"You are one of them, you know what they have done." She pressed the hand not holding the wand hard onto his chest to keep him from get up. "You know all of it." This time his pained expression didn't escape her notice and it only served to fuel her emotions. "What have you done?!"
It happened to fast for her to comprehend how, but suddenly she wasn't the one on top anymore, but the one pressed between the bed and his body as he stared into her eyes with the intensity only he could manage.
"You want to know the things I've done." He held her hands up over her head as the rest of him held her body in place. "The things I've seen." This wasn't Scorpius Malfoy anymore, she didn't know who it was, he was like a wild animal, unreliable in the ways he might react to anything.
"Do you want to know what it's like to see someone crumple under torture, hear the begging for mercy, see pain and fear and hate, all the hate."
One of his hands had moved to her face, holding it roughly to make her look at him with her now wide eyes. "A life is a fragile thing, it's easy to break it." His grip on her was almost painful now when she tried to get away from him. "Magic makes it even easier."
"Malfoy..." His eyes were unfocused, and it didn't even seem like he had heard her.
"There are people, people on the inside." She thought about screaming, but they were all alone and she knew that bringing others into this wasn't any option. "They keep everything quiet." The hand on her face traveled down to her neck and the fear which had seaped into her, replacing the anger, flared up in full force now.
"Malfoy." Once again he was too far away to hear her, even if her voice sounded stronger this time. "Please, look at me." The thought of actually begging Malfoy for anything didn't bother her, not now.
"You don't disobey, consequences will be severe."
"Scorpius..." She could feel her own pulse under his hand. "Look at me." Her voice sounded thicker than usual.
He suddenly seemed to pull himself back up to the surface, now staring wide eyed in fright down at her. Instantly he let go of her altogether, almost falling off the bed in the attempt to get away from her and stumbling to the other side of the small room.
Mumbling something inaudible with his hands covering his face, his knees gave way and he slumped down against the wall.
She slowly pulled herself up to a sitting position, rubbing her neck lightly and touching her face only to feel something wet. Tears had been running down her cheeks, and she now hurriedly wiped them while her gaze remained on the shaking figure on the opposite side.
Moving to the edge of the bed, she dropped her feet onto the dirty floor and began to stand, but she was interrupted by his hoarse voice.
"Don't." It was a plea, one simple word which said so much more. She wanted to ignore it and just go to him, but figured that perhaps this time she would actually respect his request.
"I'm sorry." He snorted at it.
"You have nothing to apologize for, Weasley." Her fingers were playing with the hem of her shirt and she was silent, wondering why she had even felt the need to make the apology in the first place.
"Can I come over to you?" The tone of her voice was soft, yet he seemed to jump at the sound of her. However she didn't wait for his verbal reply before making her way gracefully over to him and sitting down cross legged beside him while leaning her head backwards against the wall.
He hadn't acknowledged her closeness, still holding his head in his hands while breathing slow and deep as if he was trying to calm himself.
Rose decided that keeping quiet would be best for now, not push him anymore, so she just sat there as the time dragged by.
She had almost dozed off when he moved, after all she hadn't slept in Merlin knows how long. He was studying her face, grimacing as he took in her appearance.
"Does it hurt?" His gaze was fixed at her neck now, as if he was forcing himself to look at what he had done to her. She scooted a little closer to him and put her hand lightly on his knee without saying anything, since she didn't know what would be the words he needed to hear. He wasn't able to look at her anymore, and she held on tighter to him when he tried to turn.
"Weasley, I can't... I did this..." His fingers, now like a gentle breeze, graced her neck as guilt raged over his face. She silently caught his hand in hers and brought it up to her cheek while his gaze followed it. "I never meant to hurt you, I..." The mumbled stutter made her smile sadly up at him, but averted her eyes before unexpectedly pulling him into her arms. He fought against it, but she was much stronger than she looked or at least more stubborn than him and in the end he just gave in to her.
Malfoy relaxed against her and leaned his head against her shoulder. "I'm sorry." It was the pain in his voice which made her do the next thing, she just wanted it to go away, to leave him altogether. Her lips brushed his skin where the neck and shoulder met and she felt him slightly tense at her action, but she continued.
"Weasley..." It was more of a reluctant groan when she gently sucked on his lower lip and he seemed unaware of his fingers running through her hair. "I'll regret this... but..." He trailed of and kissed her, pulling at her to get closer, but then fought to control himself.
The feeling of him this close was indescribable, with butterflies fluttering inside of her, and she knew that this was more than unlike her. She probably shouldn't even consider what was now racing through her mind, but it was easy to ignore the tiny voice which she had listened to for so long.
"Don't you want this?" She wasn't worried about his answer, especially as her suspicion was confirmed when he let out a loud scoff, lightly resting his forehead against hers.
"Oh, I know that you know how much I want this." He moaned when her smaller hands traveled down over his chest and stomach, glancing into her now mischievous sparkling eyes. "I'm going to be a gentleman..." It was a wavering statement and he trailed off when her lips met his again in a teasing peck. "You are enjoying this a little to much, woman."
"So what if I am." She had her hands under his shirt now, loving the way he tried to suppress the way she affected him. "There's nothing you can do about it."
He raised his eyebrows at the challenge before catching her lips in a fierce kiss, fighting for domination as she opened her mouth and let him in.
That's when she pulled away, smirking up at his confusion. "You'll never be a gentleman, Malfoy." The smirk turned into a real smile when a small chuckle escaped him.
"I can always try." The disappointment at her pulling away shone through his grey eyes, but he didn't let it show from anywhere else. "So, want to continue where we left off?"
"Perhaps some other time." She got up on her feet. "It's my turn to sleep now."
On the bed she turned to see him still seated on the floor. "Don't you dare..." Malfoy didn't let her finnish, perhaps that was for the best because she wasn't sure what to tell him.
His voice felt sincere to her as he leaned his head back against the wall. "Just trust me Weasley." And probably with the help of some miracle she did, but she didn't ponder over it to much as she slipped into a restless sleep.