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Chapter 2
Two weeks later...
"Rose?"
"Yes?"
"She's here again."
Rose sighed, not looking away from her Charms homework. She already knew who Scorpius meant.
"Rose, if only you'd let me – "
"Don't even think of that! Do what we talked about and all will be fine."
Still, when Lily approached their table, she stood up. "I'm ready with my essay," she announced. "See you later, Lily. Bye, Scorpius."
And she left the library, intending to finish her homework in Gryffindor common room, instead of here.
It was one thing to ask Scorpius to be gentle with Lily and quite another to sit there and watch, while her cousin was trying to make Scorpius fall for her.
"I have to go too," Scorpius said, and started collecting his things.
"Hey, Scorpius?" Lily asked.
"Yes?"
"Are you going to Hogsmeade this weekend?"
Finally! Scorpius was delighted to hear this question because that meant that he could delicately show her that he was not interested in going out with her. "No, I am not," he said. "We have a great Transfiguration homework for Tuesday and I haven't even started it yet. Besides, the girl that I hope to date soon is staying here too, so Hogsmeade is not attractive to me right now."
Her eyes darkened with something like disappointment and Scorpius felt very bad for that, because hurting Lily was the last thing that he wanted, yet it was inevitably: he did not fancy her and he had to help her snap out of her illusions. That would be the best for her – and for him, too, because he wanted to be able to go out with Rose.
"Who is she?" Lily asked.
Scorpius shook his head. "I can't tell you."
"Come on, I won't tell anybody!"
"I know you won't. I just can't." He could vividly imagine her face, if he told her that his love interest was her own cousin.
"Is she in your year?" Lily wanted to know, and Scorpius wondered what he should do now. He decided that it would be better if he did not give her any clues, so he just refused to answer.
Unfortunately, that turned out to be a bad decision, because her eyes started shining again.
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Later this evening...
Rose felt a hand grabbing her arm on her way to the Great Hall. She did not recoil, nor did she cry in surprise, because she knew the touch.
"Come with me," Scorpius whispered in her ear, and she nodded reluctantly. Having her assurance that she would accompany him, the boy released her arm and went outside, turning at the first corner. Not even a minute later, Rose stopped next to him. He saw her face and realized that she knew why he had wanted to meet her.
"Rose, it's not working,' he said.
"I know," she sighed. "She came back more hopeful than ever. What on earth did you tell her, Scorpius?"
"I just told her that there was a girl that I fancied."
"She thinks you've invented this."
Scorpius blinked. "She what –? Why on earth would she think that I am lying to her?"
"Because you didn't want to give her any details. She thinks you've said the first thing that came to your mind to hide the fact that you like her."
Scorpius looked at her as if she were mad. "Sweet Merlin! Rose, this is madness. The whole gentle thing is not working. Finally, we'll find ourselves in a bigger mess than we would have been if you had only let me tell her that it's you that I fancy, and not her."
"No, no, no!" Rose seemed appalled by the idea. 'It would have worked perfectly, if you had told her that – " She fell silent.
Scorpius felt his advantage and used it. "If I what? If I had told her that I fancy a girl my year? How much time do you think she would have needed to figure it out and find out that it's you I meant?"
Absentmindedly, Rose put a lock of her hair in her mouth and started sucking at it. "Well, then we'll have to find another way to make her know that you aren't interested in her."
"Not one that includes gentleness and tactfulness, I hope," Scorpius said. "We already tried that and see where we are now."
Rose shrank him with a look. "The plan was perfect!" she insisted, "You just made it all wrong. And besides, if you had only told me about your feelings earlier, everything would have been in its place."
"Really?" Scorpius felt his blood pounding in his ears. So, I am the one to blame now? No way! "And when was I supposed to tell you? While you were snogging that Ravenclaw guy, Rob?"
"Leave him out of this!" Rose snapped. "You should have told me ages ago and then we wouldn't have been in this mess right now – "
"Well, you might have told me about your feelings for me, am I right?" Scorpius pointed. "Of course, if you have those feelings," he added bitingly.
Rose's eyes narrowed. "And what was that supposed to mean?" she wanted to know. "You think that I don't have any real feelings for you, is that it?"
"You know, Rose, I'm starting to doubt it."
She sighed and the anger left her eyes. "I'm sorry," she whispered. "I just don't want to hurt her. She's the baby in the family, she's never been hurt and I don't want to be the first one who would cause her pain."
Scorpius reached for her and she snuggled in his arms. He buried his face in her hair. "Are you cold?" he asked worriedly, finally noticing that she was only in her jumper and jeans – not a great protection against the sharp wind. "I shouldn't have dragged you out like this."
"I'm not cold," Rose lied. "Just hold me like this a bit longer."
She could not bring herself to tell him the truth – how much Lily's behavior had hurt her, the way Lily had debated with herself aloud about who the mysterious girl that Scorpius supposedly fancied could be. Rebecca Wood, Elizabeth Arden, Mandy Thomas – everyone except for Rose. Of course, Rose knew how the rest of the school saw her – a bookworm, an attractive girl, but not a great beauty. She was too far in her studies to have time and interest for make-up and girlish giggles. Yet, the thought that Lily did not find her pretty enough to even consider that Scorpius could like her, was painful.
"You're trembling," he said. "We should go back inside."
"I'll go first," she said. There was no need to say anything more: by their unspoken rule, he would wait a few minutes before following her.
Scorpius nodded silently in her hair, and Rose detached herself from him and raised a hand to his cheek. "Soon, it'll be all over, I promise," she said.
"I just want to be able to go out with you openly and not like this – hiding in the shadows, as if we're committing the most horrible crime imaginable."
"Everything will be settled soon," Rose assured him, "I promise. In fact, I've got a plan. If pushing her aside delicately did not work, we'll try something different."
Having experienced from firsthand what Rose's plan 'Make Lily Forget about You" had led to, the mistrust in Scorpius' eyes was completely understandable.
"Don't give me that look," Rose said, having correctly read his thoughts, "I know what I am doing."
"Rose, I don't think you do."
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A week later...
Lily shuddered under the sharp December wind and took the shorter way from Hagrid's hut to Hogwarts – she did not want to be caught breaking the curfew. If she came upon Rose, her cousin would give her a lecture about breaking the rules only when it was really necessarily. Rose in her Prefect mood was not a nice companion, but there was an option that was even worse – being caught by Scorpius Malfoy. Lately, he'd been behaving as if she was just a nuisance to him – being rude to her, cutting her short, when she had tried to ask him for help with her homework, telling her that right now, he did not have the time to babysit her. A Malfoy is a Malfoy, I suppose, she thought, irritated. It was only a matter of time, when Albus would see that, too, and would break any contacts with him.
She entered the castle as quietly as possible and took the shortest way to Gryffindor tower. When she had almost reached the last staircase, she froze where she stood and her eyes widened, when she saw the couple that was standing on the upper landing.
Scorpius and Rose. Kissing.
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A. N. So, what do you think? Let me know whether I should continue this or not!
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