Disclaimer: This applies to all the chapters i will ever put up on this site- I don't own nuffink. Baah.
Thanks to those who reviewed chapter two: lilbuddie715, Lizzy0308, XXX-meggie-loves-to-readXXX, Lottie, Pal the bad ass, Missdagane and Cass. I loved hearing from you all! And for those who reviewed anonymously:
Lottie- I really loved your review. It was honest and constructive and really helped me. I agree with all the points you made and yes, i know that technically Scorp should hate her more, but bear in mind that it has been five years and I've given Scorp a more laidback attitude then is portrayed in most fics. I'll try to work on it so it comes off better in the future chapters i write, though! Your analogies were brilliant, by the way. :D Oh, also, the flashback-type portion of what happened in seventh year isn't really over yet. So maybe it'll get explained later, yeah? Oh, and this is the first time I've attempted to write something that actually makes any sense so I suppose i'll get better with revealing stuff at the right time with practice. Thanks for the wonderful feedback, it really made my day :)
Pal the Bad Ass- Anonymity's not the only thing that's going to rock your socks, baby. I'll give you a demonstration :* Lulz, don't kill me. (I say lulz in an ironic way, not an airhead way. Okay?) Keep stalking, amigo.
Cass- Oh, you made me grin like a maniac with your review! I'm glad you think i write well, that means a lot to me! And yes, you can look forward to some RxS soon :D (I'm trying to pace it of course, can't have them all over each other in just a couple of days. But rest assured, stuff will happen!)
And of course, thanks to those who alerted/favourited: CalliopeGalaxy, She's Automatic, meru90, thebrookester, snowflake26, yehso, Pinakamataas, and asianchick44. Leave a comment, guys! I want to know your thoughts as well but i'm not a legilimens, sadly...heartbreakingly..
Chapter 3:
Rose marched over to where her dad and godfather were bickering like children, rolling up her figurative sleeves as she went. The two were really letting off some steam now. They'd more or less abandoned the topic of Rose's safety and had moved on to other, more important things.
"I can't believe you told Ginny I ate that last cookie! She didn't talk to me for two days! Two ruddy-"
"Well, sorry if my sister refused to shag you because you're a hog, it's your own damn…..-"
"-told Al purebloods are monsters when he was five! Who does that? Who? He's got a complex now, thanks to…-"
"SHUT UP!"
The two men whirled around to face her, matching looks of fury on their faces. Apparently their discussion on cookies was more important than she'd surmised. Whoops?
A firm hand grabbed her by the arm and yanked her back, till she was standing behind Scorpius' tall frame.
She shoved him sideways, trying to see around him but he didn't move an inch. What a patronizing bastard. As if she needed saving from her dad and uncle.
"You should probably put those away," he said levelly.
She leaned around him to see the two men sheepishly stowing their wands away, both their faces red. "Sorry," Uncle Harry mumbled. "War reflex."
Scorpius spared a fleeting smirk in her direction and she narrowed her eyes at him. Ruddy smartarse.
"Anyway," Harry continued cheerfully. "At least I know you're taking your job seriously. I think Rose should show you her apartment now." He turned to look at her expectantly.
Rose picked up on the cue. "Er-oh, right. Yeah. But wait- I never agreed to-"
She broke off as the two adults legged it out of the living room.
She'd never agreed to having Scorpius as her pet auror.
So where the hell were the people she was supposed to be screaming at?
"So…..shall we go then?"
Rose resisted the urge to thump her head against the nearest surface.
XXXXXXX
Rose hastily dropped Scorpius' hand as they appeared outside her apartment. It had been incredibly awkward using side-along apparition because that required physical contact. Which was something Rose really wanted to avoid because time had done nothing to dull the swooping sensation she'd always felt when they were touching.
She unlocked the door with her key and shouldered it open. The door had been jamming weirdly ever since she'd fixed it. Glancing back to see he was following, she continued on through to the living room, kicking off her shoes. He was glancing around the small flat, his face not giving away any of his thoughts.
Rose mentally slapped herself for wondering and caring what he thought of her home.
"You should probably give me a key to this place," he said suddenly.
Rose jumped, startled. She'd almost forgotten that normal people would have said something to each other by now.
"I'm not giving you a key to my house, Scor-Malfoy."
She bit her tongue harshly, mad at herself for almost using his name, as his eyes flickered to her for a brief second.
"I don't think you fully appreciate the extent of the situation, Weasley." Rose cringed inwardly at the emphasis he put on her last name. "I'm going to be living in this hell-hole as well and I need to be able to come and go as I please."
"Hey!" Rose was already protesting before his words had fully sunk in. "This is not a hell-hole, do you know how much muggle money I have to pay a- Wait, what do you mean, you're living here?"
She eyed him warily as he turned to give her a look that spelt Idiot. As in idiot Rose, not Idiot Scorpius.
"What did you think, I was going to spend the next few months sleeping on your ruddy welcome mat?"
Rose flushed. "No, of course not. But couldn't you get another flat somewhere nearby? Like say, a hundred kilometers from here?"
He ignored the bite in her words and examined a cup cheerily displaying Give me some sugar, baby across the front. He snorted and set it down. "If I live anywhere but here, how on earth am I supposed to save you if that psycho breaks in again? Not to mention, I'd have to blast your door off its hinges every time I dropped by."
This time Rose's face flushed with anger. "Listen here, you git. I don't care what you've been told, but I don't need looking after like a bloody dog or a toddler. If you love your job so much, go be someone else's baby sitter."
She stumbled after him as he wandered away in the middle of her speech, looking around like a tourist in a shopping mall. He kept picking up embarrassing mementos and sniggering at them; Rose felt like hitting him over the head with the table lamp.
"I can take care of myself, d'you hear?"
"Clearly," he sneered, pointing at the mirror with the tar message still scrawled across it.
Rose turned and looked at their reflection, the two of them standing side by side with the ugly words floating around them. Scorpius looked as perfect and lazy as ever while she looked completely frazzled, with her hair turning frizzy. She even had crazy person eyes from all the throttling she'd been wanting to do all day.
Scowling, she stamped away from the mirror, heading to the tiny kitchen. She needed a bloody kettle full of tea to cope with this.
She could hear Scorpius moving around in the tiny flat, going through her most personal possessions, no doubt.
Rose settled for making tea the muggle way as it took more time. Maybe if she made about twenty cups of muggle tea a day, she could avoid Scorpius entirely. She'd either be shacked up in the kitchen or the washroom and surely his job description didn't entail him following her in there?
Scorpius entered the kitchen at that moment, something dangling from his index finger that made her face and neck burn a brilliant shade of red. With a strangled cry of indignation, she snatched the bright pink thong from him and stuffed it into her pocket. "What are you doing with that? You bloody pervert!"
He just smirked at her. "It was lying on my bed. Been having romantic encounters with other women in the spare room? Didn't know you swung that way, Weasley."
How could he be so bloody casual all the time?
"I don't. That's mine, you wanker," she said sourly.
"Even better!"
Scorpius followed her as she strode past him, to her bedroom. Hell, he didn't even stop at the threshold as would have been polite. He just strolled in, plonking himself down on her bed as if this were completely normal for him.
"Do you have a habit of strolling into random women's bedrooms and splaying your arse of a self over their beds?" Rose stuffed the offending garment viciously back into its drawer. Damn conspicuous underwear. She'd have to burn it now.
"As a matter of fact, I do."
Rose rolled her eyes. Bloody pompous little….
"Well, get off! I need to fix this place." She half wished he wouldn't move just so she could have an excuse to hit him, but to her disappointment, he rolled off instantly, sitting up.
Her room was still a disaster zone, torn clothes strewn all over the place and the ripped curtains hanging limply from their rods. As she'd found out to her consternation, the reparo charm did not work on fabric as it wasn't really 'broken'.
She could feel Scorpius' eyes on her as she moved around the room, gathering clothes, assessing the damage. Ignoring the awkward tension this created, she concentrated on separating her clothes into two piles: Useable and Discard.
The discard pile was a mountain compared to the former, sadly. She'd have to go shopping soon. Maybe she could get Dom along…
Oh wait, she was mad at Dom. Right.
"You do realize," Rose jumped again at the sound of Scorpius' voice. "that the kettle you left on the stove is probably going to explode any second?"
Right on cue, there was the sound of a metallic bang from the direction of the kitchen. Rose gritted her teeth as she ran in to find the ceiling and cupboards sopping with tea. She turned the full force of her glare on Scorpius, as he leaned casually against the door frame, behind her.
"Yes," he said. "You're clearly capable of taking care of yourself."
A/N: Admittedly not very long, but I do tend to end chapters where i think they ought to end, so some will be long and some will be short. Minimum of 2000 words a chapter though! (Probably). Anyway, for my quick update, gimme a review? :D It keeps me inspired. Which is something i need because it's hard juggling tests, bad scores, hair-ruining rain and the pressing need for sleep. Because i like flattery, and am a horribly vain person, could any of you tell english is not my native language? And do you think Scorpius is better off with a chilled approach to life with moments of anger and passion thrown in or is he better off as an angsty, my dad was a criminal, brooding type? (Nothing against that last type, I think it can make for some hot moments...)