Chapter Two
Freshly showered and dressed, Scorpius made his way in to the Heads common room. He noticed Rose in her pyjamas reading a book in the armchair by the fireplace. When he entered Rose looked up at him, smirked and resumed reading wherever she was up to in the book.
"What's gotten you so happy all of a sudden?" Rose asked, humour sparkling in her brown eyes.
"Nothing." Scorpius quickly replied, maybe a little too quickly because Rose looked up at him again. She then proceeded to mark the book she was reading, closed it and gave him her full attention.
"First thing's first. Scorpius, you and I have been friends for six years now, I can tell when you are lying to me." Rose replied intellectually as always. "Secondly you are wearing a goofy grin on your face which tells me whatever your hiding has something to do with my dearest cousin Lily. So I suggest that you tell me what's going on before I go to Lily and ask her opinion on the matter." She finished triumphantly, with a grin on her face to match.
Scorpius sighed a long release and debated on whether or not he should tell Rose of the agreement. He valued his best friendship with Rose but he finally had something with Lily that was just between the two of them. After thinking about it for awhile his friendship with Rose won, but only just. He didn't want Rose going to Lily about this so he decided to keep control of the situation himself.
"After the prefect meeting I went to the prefects bathroom instead of ours because of habit, I guess. In there I found Lily in nothing but a bathrobe -"
"Scorpius! You didn't! I mean, how could you? I know that you have feelings for her but still I thought better of you than that." Rose somehow managed to look mortified, disapproving and angry all at the same time.
"Rose, please let me explain. It was nothing like that, okay?" He waited until her face had somewhat calmed down before continuing. "So anyway I walked in and found her in nothing but a bathrobe and then she started screaming -"
Rose leapt out of her chair shaking with anger. "Scorpius, how dare you! You have officially just crossed the line. If you find this unthreatening wait until Albus finds out or even better James or better yet Uncle Harry!"
"Rose!" Scorpius yelled at Rose, frustrated and hurt that she would even think that he would do something like that to his Lily. "You should know me better than that. I didn't do what you were accusing me of, I care for her too much. You know I would protect her with my life and yet you still thought to accuse me of such a thing." He finished with a hurt look on his face.
After a long silence and a lot of thought Rose relaxed. "You're right. I'm sorry for jumping to conclusions Scorpius, it's just that you know what we're all like with her. She's my favourite cousin and don't you dare go telling Albus that." Rose gave Scorpius a look. "In fact she's all our favourite sibling, cousin, niece… it's because she's so precious to all of us. Whenever she's in a room, it's impossible not to feel at ease and whenever she's upset everyone around her get's put out too. I know that she looks up to me but in reality I look up to her." Rose smiled tenderly. "She's the sister I never had but luckily got as a cousin."
Scorpius looked at Rose as he digested this new piece of information. Was it possible that the Potter/Weasley clan centred around Lily? If so, what sort of a chance do I have with her? Scorpius exhaled. "It's okay, I understand."
There was a silence between the two best friends. Rose saw the look of distress on Scorpius' face and ran her hand through her bushy, orange red locks. "So, are you going to tell me the rest of your story? Or am I going to have to go to Lily?" She attempted to steer the conversation back into the light beginning it had.
Scorpius looked up and was slightly relieved to have the conversation go to a more comfortable direction. "I suppose I can tell you the rest, if you don't keep interrupting and keep jumping to conclusions." He smirked at her. "So, when Lily started screaming I naturally went to see if she was all right. Then I find out that she was trying to become an animagus so in return for my silence she and I are both becoming animagi together. Although now I've broken my word so I'm not sure if she'll be willing to stick to her end of the agreement anymore."
Rose took in the information with interest and concern. She was in awe of her favourite cousin's attempt to do magic far beyond her years. Although she was concerned because she read that it was a rather painful process and that she could not only get into trouble with the Headmaster but with the Ministry of Magic.
"Scorpius, you do realise that as Heads of the school we have a responsibility to report this to the Headmaster immediately. Furthermore, if she is successful in her attempts she will be held accountable by the Ministry of Magic for being an unregistered animagus." Rose stated. "But I know that you are going to keep silent about this because of your deal and more importantly your feelings for her. So I too will keep silent because she is my cousin first and foremost and I won't harm her that way."
"Thank you Rose." Scorpius smiled to his friend gratefully. "I'll let you know about our progress and how things are going, if you'd like?"
"Oh yes." Rose smiled. I'll be rather interested to see how this turns out, Rose thought, becoming more intrigued by the concept of animagi by the minute. "Besides, now you owe me with Lorcan since I've given you a huge advantage with Lily. See you tomorrow Scorpius."
Rose left their common room to her private room and left Scorpius to go to his own personal quarters to sift through his thoughts. His conversation with Rose left him unsure of himself in his friendships with Rose and Albus. They were his two best friends in the entire world and he knew that they would leave him in the drop of a hat if he hurt Lily. He thought about it and came to the conclusion that if he were in their positions he would do the same. He would do anything for Lily. Scorpius' thoughts of Lily followed him deep into his sleep where his worries dissolved.