Disclaimer: J.K. Rowling is the genius behind this amazing world. I am simply momentarily occupying it.

Once Upon All Hallows' Eve

Chapter Four

There is Something in the Air

Rose Weasley sat in her makeshift bed, wide-awake despite the fact that it was well past midnight. Her decent night, as decent as a night could be when one was forced to spend an evening with your enemy, was promptly ruined by a mysterious, undetectable banging noise. Now Rose was wired as her overactive imagination attempted to explain away the noise. Her brain had failed to explain it in any rational way and was now coming up with crazier and crazier possibilities. No matter how much she tried, her brain would not stop working.

However, if Rose was being completely honest with herself, the noise was not the only reason she couldn't sleep. It also had something to do with the blonde sitting next to her, their arms rubbing against each other.

For the past thirty minutes, Rose and Scorpius had sat beside each other in complete silence. They hadn't started off touching arms, but throughout the past half hour the two had slowly drifted together as the eeriness of the room drew them towards each other.

As the seconds passed, the silence grew more and more awkward until Rose could no longer take it. She cleared her throat and opened her mouth to say something, anything to break the awkwardness.

"Any plans for after school?" Scorpius asked, beating her to it. She sighed internally; glad they would no longer be cloaked in awkward silence.

"I have some ideas. I've always wanted to be a healer, but I've heard the program is really competitive; I'm not sure if my marks will be able to compete," Rose offered, not sure why she was confiding her worries to a person she could barely stand to be near.

"Nonsense," Scorpius spoke, "you're the smartest girl in our year. Of course, you'll get in; no one is as smart as you." Rose, who had looked down at her hands when she confessed her concerns, looked up at Scorpius. His pale blue eyes held such sincerity that Rose could tell he meant it, that he truly had faith in her. It was unexpected from the likes of him.

"Thanks," Rose spoke softly, dropping her gaze as she felt her cheeks flush. She had no idea why she was acting this way, why he was making her feel this way. She was being ridiculous and idiotic, and it needed to stop. Now.

"How about you? What are your plans?" Rose asked, still staring at her hands. She hoped her question would draw attention away from her. She knew Scorpius enjoyed talking about himself. She hoped he would take the question as an opportunity to regale Rose with extravagant tales about all the doors that were opened for him as a result of his name and his brilliance.

However, all Rose got was silence.

She raised her head, her previous blush gone. Scorpius still sat beside her, looking down at his hands as he nervously rung them together. Scorpius was never this nervous.

"Are you okay?" Rose asked hesitantly. Scorpius took a deep breath before responding.

"I'm fine, just- the only person I've ever told what I want to do with my life was Al, and that took a lot of alcohol."

"What's so bad about it?" Rose asked, not understanding why he was so apprehensive about divulging his career plans.

"It's not a typical Malfoy job," Scorpius divulged.

"What, it doesn't foray into the dark arts?" Rose asked lightheartedly. When she had first met Scorpius, she had tiptoed around the subject of his family and their involvement in the second Wizarding War. However, she quickly learned that Scorpius was very open about his past, even making light of it at times.

"The exact opposite, actually," Scorpius stated, his tone extremely serious.

"Like… fighting against the dark arts? Like… like an auror?!" Rose's voice rose as realization dawned on her, "You want to be an auror?"

"Yes," he responded, his voice small and meek.

"There's nothing wrong with that," Rose stated, trying to infuse as much sincerity into her words as she could. Scorpius looked up at her. For once, the arrogant, confident exterior Scorpius wore was replaced with a mask of vulnerability.

"I don't know if my father would agree," he stated, his voice smaller than Rose had ever heard it.

"You may be surprised. Your father spent years trying to reconstruct the destroyed Malfoy name, tried to repair it with everything he had. He may welcome you becoming an auror, showing the world how much the Malfoys have truly changed. You'll never know unless you tell him."

Rose usually didn't like to meddle in other people's lives. She knew what it felt like to have unwanted meddling in her life; her cousins were notoriously nosy. She usually preferred to keep to herself and not worry too much about the lives of others. However, there was something about Scorpius' posture and emotional state that told her a little helpful advice would not be unwelcomed.

"I wish it were that easy," Scorpius spoke softly, "but I have no idea how he'd take it. He's never been one to wear his emotions on his sleeve. I don't know what I'd do if he rejected me. I'm not a Gryffindor; I'm not brave…"

"If your father cares for you even a little, I'm sure he'd find a way to accept your career choice," Rose offered after Scorpius had fallen silent for a moment. Instead of responding, Scorpius suddenly bolted up and began walking towards the door. Half way across the room, he stopped. After a few seconds, he turned to face her again.

"Look, can we just change the subject. I'd rather not discuss my father," Scorpius spoke, a slight edge to his voice. Suddenly, the welcoming atmosphere that had been slowly returning to the room vanished.

"Of course. How are you coming along with Merriweather's paper? I'm finding it a little hard to find the ancient use of aconite," Rose began babbling. Whenever she felt awkward, or had no idea what to say, she turned to schoolwork. It was her go to conversation starter, even if Carly kept complaining about how nerdy it made her seem.

Scorpius visibly relaxed at the change in conversation and returned to sit next to Rose, though their arms were no longer touching. Despite herself, Rose missed the contact.

"I had some difficulty with that myself," Scorpius responded, "I searched the library for hours and eventually had to ask my mom if she had a book that would help me. I could lend it to you if you wanted."

"You'd really be willing to share such a precious commodity with your enemy?" Rose joked, trying to break the heavy atmosphere.

"I said the book would help me. I said nothing about it helping you," he responded coyly. The warm atmosphere returned once again and, for a moment, Rose forgot about the mysterious noise.

Hours past as the two previous enemies discussed various topics from schoolwork, school drama, and plans for the Christmas holiday. It was a wholly pleasant conversation, something that had never occurred between the two. They had either been hostile to each other, or simply ignored the other. Pleasant conversations were not even close to a commonality to them.

She was busy revelling in this phenomenon, analyzing what it could mean for her once frosty relationship with Scorpius, when her hair stood on end and her heart rate increased. Off in the distance, a loud thud sounded.

Without even thinking, Rose latched onto the closet thing, Scorpius' arm, for comfort. It didn't mean anything except that, and he was obviously wanted the same when he wound his arm around her back and pulled her close to him. The fact that they sat in each other's arms for a good minute meant nothing; they were just waiting to see if there would be a second, mysterious thudding.

When nothing came, they slowly separated. Even though it meant nothing, Rose still felt her cheeks flushing. She turned away from Scorpius to hide her rapidly reddening face.

"You okay?" Scorpius asked after several minutes of silence passed between the two. His voice was filled with such genuine concern that Rose felt compelled to see his expression, see if the concern was showing on his face.

When she looked into his eyes, a strange, electric feeling overcame her, and she forgot what she was going to say. For a moment, as Rose gazed into his deep, stormy eyes, the world melted away. It was just the two of them; no one and nothing else existed or mattered. After a minute, Rose regained her senses and shook her head to clear her strange thoughts.

"I'm fine. This house and Al's stupid story are getting to me. The sooner we get out of here, the better."

"Yeah," Scorpius responded, though his tone sounded dejected, "We should probably get some sleep." He then stood and walked to the large bed. Rose, despite herself, missed him instantly.

She pushed the thought from her mind and began preparing her sleeping bag for the night. From the rustling noises coming from the other side of the room, Rose assumed Scorpius was doing the same. She climbed into bed, pulled the sleeping bag up to her chin and tried to fall asleep. However, her mind was racing, both with thoughts of the creepy, mysterious sound and the past few hours spend in Scorpius' company. The sound made her heart beat fast, but thinking about some of the things that occurred between her and Scorpius caused her heart to race even faster. Previously, all thoughts about Scorpius resulted in feelings of rage, disgust, or contempt. Now, as Rose thought over the conversation they'd had about careers, the moments after the third noise, and the strange feeling she'd felt, a smile graced her face.

Rose wasn't sure what worried her more. The fact that there was an unexplainable thumping noise within the house, or that she was smiling at the thought of Scorpius.

"I had a decent time tonight," Scorpius spoke through the darkness, "you know, except for the whole noise thing."

"I did too, surprisingly," Rose responded, another smile spreading across her face.

To be continued