A/N...I've decided to start his chapter with a little interlude...enjoy:)

Interlude:

Draco rolled onto his back, and he could feel the cold seeping into the left of his body. In the king sized bed that he shared with his wife, the foot or two down the middle was never occupied, unless he felt the need to take from his wife what was rightfully his as a husband. Other than that, they never talked in bed nor touched in bed. The bed, was essentially, only a place to sleep that was comfortable. This is why this night was so different.

"Draco," said Astoria, practically inaudibly. "I wish to speak to you about something."

The unexpected sound from his left, from across the barrier, made Draco jump so badly that he hit his head on the headboard of their four poster.

"For Merlin's sake woman! You're going to scare me half to death!" exclaimed Draco, angry at himself for showing weakness. It was hard to hold your tongue when your head was throbbing. But Astoria, knowing that her husband would be angered if she reacted to the outburst, continued on as if nothing had happened,

"I think that we should get a divorce." she stated simply, as if giving a business proposition.

"No," said Draco immediately, but when he went to give a reason why, he couldn't say a thing.

"Draco, this is ridiculous! I know your father wanted the name to be brought back out of darkness, and thanks to yours truly, it has. This isn't the middle ages! People get divorced now, and no one really cares! It's not working! We hardly speak, except for you to ask me how the finances are or for me to tell you that dinner is ready! I can't handle this...I'm already past forty, and I want to feel loved in my life!" She gasped out desperately, losing her reserved demeanor.

"No," said Draco, again calmly, and he did something that was rarely done in that bedroom. He turned to his side, reached up and touched his wife's face. Expecting to be struck for her insolence, Astoria recoiled from his hand, but instead he just wiped the tears from her cheeks. The barrier had been broken, physically, and emotionally. Draco could feel the warmth coming from his wife's body.

In the moonlight he could see her features, glowing like some sort of faerie creature. Her steely gray eyes, her wavy light brown hair...she was beautiful, and he took it for granted. Of course it was necessary when Lucious had picked her, a beautiful wife, to create beautiful children. But, he had never seen her in this way. For eighteen years, Draco had avoided looking at his wife. The marriage was not for love, it was never for love. Love would only complicate things.

Not knowing how, or why, his body was now pressed against hers, his faces mere inches from hers. She avoided his look, knowing that this closeness meant that he was going to strip her and make her his once again. But, it never came. This closeness was different, more intimate. He tenderly clasped her chin, forcing her to look into his eyes.

"I cannot allow you to leave," he said thickly, emotion threatening to escape with every syllable, "I cannot because...because I love you Astoria."

Astoria's eyes widened with surprise, and then they softened as she gazed at her husband in a way that she had never done before. Suddenly, his lips were upon hers, and he was kissing her. Her lips, her cheeks, her neck, her forehead, everything that he could reach. A moan escaped Astoria's lips as he unbuttoned her nightgown, and trailed the kisses lower and lower...

"Stop!" she cried, while using every ounce of will she had, she pushed him off of her, "just...Draco...I don't understand...all these years..." but he put a finger to her lips and shushed her.

"I love you Astoria. I'm stupid, I've been stupid all of these years. I love your laugh, I love the way you chew on pencils when you're thinking, I love how you look beautiful even when you're wearing sweatpants...I..." the words were coming so fast, from so deep inside him it was almost impossible to stop them.

"Is this true? Is it all true? You're not just trying to get me back through some strange way...so that the family looks good?" she asked, knowing that what she said made no sense.

"It is all true. Now please Astoria, let me do things to you that I've owed to you for over 18 years." and he reached for her nightgown, wanting to take the garment off of her, but she had beaten him to it.

"I love you as well Draco, I love you more than you will ever know," and she sealed her words with a kiss, a kiss that was shared over the middle of the bed, a part that would never be empty again.

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Chapter Five: Magnetism

"Bollocks!" exclaimed Gretchen Neilson as her hair fell limp to the sides of her head. The curl charm that she had been trying to do was just not working for her that morning. Sighing and giving up, she alternatively just pulled her hair back into a messy bun.

Today was an important day, it was the first meeting of the year for the club she had formed the year before. This club was of course called the 'Scorpius Malfoy Club'. It was for all girls in their year who believed that Scorpius Malfoy is indeed God's gift to women. So tall...so refined...so smart...and oh so gorgeous! Of course, the club was actually designed for Gretchen to brag about how the other girls would never get Scorpius' affections. It was her little time of the week to make herself feel better than all the rest...except something recently had irked her confidence slightly: Rose Weasley.

Her Scorpius seemed to have taken a strange interest in her...of course she was exceedingly intelligent, the only person to rival with Scorpius' own wit. It was also hard not to notice her stunning beauty. She was the only person in their year that was more beautiful than Gretchen. Even then, Gretchen knew that she was far behind. She wore pounds of makeup on her face every day, and she had to wrestle with her lank blond locks to make them seem lively. Rose on the other hand, wore no makeup–she did not need it– and her hair was always full, wavy, and glistening.

But the thing that bothered Gretchen the most of all, was the new Head Boy/Girl quarters. Why does this girl get to share rooms with her beloved Scorpius? It was not fair! This...girl...who was not even a pureblood! Gretchen was not a Slytherin, but the thought of this girl brought out the worst in her. She had to do something to put this usurper in her place!

"Marcus darling?" she said as she walked over to a handsome boy sitting in the corner of the common room. He looked up quickly, almost too quickly, with a look in his eyes reminiscent of a puppy dog getting read to sit for his master.

"Yes Gretchen?" he asked, eagerness dripping from every tone. Gretchen smiled to herself and bathed in the glory of having most men adore her. This particular target just happened to be her biggest prize, short light brown hair, green eyes, straight teeth...but best of all, he would do anything for her.

"Marcus honey, do you find the Weasley girl attractive?" he shifted his eyes to the ground, "now tell the truth darling." she said with a motherly tone.

"Well...a lot of boys think that she's pretty attractive, but not as much as you Gretchen!" he said fishing for some kind of recognition, like a figurative pat on the head perhaps.

"Good. I need you to do something for me, I need you to make her like you. I need you to begin to date her, and then I want you to sleep with her...without her consent." said Gretchen coldly but easily, as if she was telling Marcus to put her socks out to dry.

"But Gretchen...how can you...why do you...?" he stammered looking to the object of his desire questioningly, not understanding why he was being asked this.

"Don't ask questions...I want you to make this girl pay. And if you succeed, you will be rewarded beyond your wildest dreams."

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Scorpius closed his eyes and began once again to picture an empty forest...and there, far in the distance was a shadowy animal...it was walking towards him...he called out to it...it was almost close enough to see...

"What are you doing?" said an intruding female voice, "I almost tripped on you!"

Scorpius turned to glare at her menacingly...he had been almost there! Of course he had to grudgingly admit that sitting in the middle of the common room floor with crossed legs wasn't the best place to be...

"You know..." said Rose shyly, completely focused on what she was going to say, not even realizing that Scorpius was picturing her head severing from her body, "I was thinking that we should get this whole 'cooperation' thing a shot..."

"Do you even realize that you just interrupted what I was doing?" asked Scorpius hotly, ignoring what Rose was trying to say.

"I mean..." she continued, ignoring him as well, "we're the best of our year...we could work together to get better grades right? I mean...of course as a business relationship strictly for studying purposes."

Scorpius blinked, thought a couple of seconds, then answered: "Do you realize that we were just having two conversations at once? Great cooperation!" and he burst into laughter.

Rose, who had been completely into what she was saying, looked at him quizzically then also started to laugh without knowing why. As she laughed, Scorpius studied her. Her teeth were so straight...he wondered whether she had altered them magically...he suddenly stopped laughing. He would not let his guard down...of course doing homework together would help him to get higher marks...He had to accept that she was just as intelligent as he was.

"I accept your proposal, Head Girl, what is it you would like to study?" he inquired with a businesslike tone.

"First," she said with the same tone, "You have to tell me what it is you are doing on the floor."

"Take a seat then, and I'll tell you." he said, continuing with the formality, "I'm attempting to do the first step of transforming into an animagus, which is of course, to identify the animal spirit that we are bonding ourselves to. So...I was meditating. You need to completely clear your mind, picture a forest, and try and get the spirit to come forth and show itself to you. In fact, my spirit was just on the edges of my sight when you interrupted."

"Well soorrrry," said Rose sarcastically, the wall of correctitude starting to crack, "Come on, let me try." and she plopped down beside him on the floor, mimicking his position by crossing her legs as well.

"Ooooooooooooohmmmmmmmmm" she chanted, touching her middle fingers to her thumbs, waving her torso side to side dramatically.

"Stop it, I'm serious!" cried Scorpius, smacking her leg lightly and...affectionately? Rose looked down to where he had hit her, and moved a few feet away from him.

"Sorry," she said, as the invisible wall of formalness formed once again between them, "Let's meditate together...for school's sake."

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However, over the following two weeks, the wall between the Head Boy and Girl had cracked significantly. Every once and a while, Scorpius would make a mean sarcastic remark towards her, which would cause their relationship to slip back down further to where it had been before, but it would fix itself almost immediately. Both teachers and students were noticing the difference in the two students. The teachers noticed that their usually 'Outstanding' work was even more 'Outstanding' than usual, and the students saw smiles more and more often on both of their faces, something that meant in the past that a sarcastic or angry remark was going to come their way. But, the smiles were not sarcastic smiles, they were of genuine happiness.

Rose's head had been throbbing almost constantly, and she had to rub her temples to even picture the forest lately. She knew her memory was extremely close to coming back, but as she struggled to remember positive memories of Scorpius, all she could discover at the back of her mind were are all the times they had been pitted against each other for academic superiority. As she became more and more close to Scorpius, the less she wanted to know what was being hidden from her by her own mind. She knew that it must be negative memories...and she didn't want to fight with him anymore...she kind of liked the times that they studied or meditated together...

Rose had never had someone to be this close with. As the days passed, she found herself enjoying more and more the time she spent with Scorpius. They often went to the library together, and at the first trip to Hogsmeade they had gone to the book store together to look for animagus books.

The Friday after the aforementioned trip, Rose was climbing up the stairs from her second last class of the day, potions; her head throbbing as usual. Lately, it had been so bad, that she had to leave class to splash cold water on her face to keep herself from passing out. As she reached the top step, her head throbbed excruciatingly, and her stomach lurched nauseatingly. Stars filled her vision, and she could feel herself falling back...she neared the floor...waiting for her head to hit the stone steps...her head cracking...brains leaking out...

But, a pair of strong arms had caught her before the terrible apparition came to pass.

"Are you alright? You almost seriously hurt yourself!" said a deep male voice. Rose turned to see her saviour, and her heart dropped unexpectedly as she looked into green eyes as opposed to blue...it was not who she hoped it would be. It was Marcus Lindsey, the Hufflepuff Keeper. Rose separated herself from him, leaning on the wall instead for support.

"I'm fine..." she said shakily as she stepped up the last step, but she became dizzy once more and had to support herself against the stone wall.

"That doesn't look fine to me, I'm taking you to the hospital wing." said Marcus resolutely, picking her up and cradling her in his arms as easily as if she were a child.

"She doesn't need you to pick her up, Lindsey." said a cold voice from behind her. Rose saw that it was Scorpius. He was standing on the landing below them, his arms crossed, his face pale...from fear?

"Well I don't see you helping her Malfoy." returned Marcus, looking very intimidating –considering that he was a foot taller than Scorpius when they were on the same level–"I'm taking her to the Hospital wing, she's sick, not like you would care anyways you selfish Slytherin git."

"Whatever." said Scorpius, and before Rose passed out again, he looked directly into her eyes, and she could have sword she saw a look of concern flicker across his stormy irises.

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Rose woke up three hours later, and was shocked to find that she had missed her charms class. She could always get the notes from Scorpius later...but her notes were always better than his. Her head still hurt, but it felt slightly better. She looked on the bedside table and was shocked to see a vase with a dozen red roses in it. She read the attached card.

Roses for Rose,

I don't want you passing out anywhere and hurting yourself again. Therefore, I will sacrifice my Friday night to make sure you don't go falling down all over the place. You must be underfed, so I am going to take you out for dinner tonight to make sure that you're well nourished.

See you at 6,

Marcus

Rose read the note three times, trying to understand. She read right through the feeble excuse for the date right away, but why did Marcus want to go out with her? He was one of Gretchen's cronies, and had only ever spoken to her once, to ask her what the homework was or something. She sensed something fishy...and resolved to keep a look out for anything suspicious.

As if on cue, Marcus came in the door. Rose couldn't help but noticing how attractive he was...his light brown hair fell to his chin, perfectly framing his square jaw. Although he was wearing a button-down shirt, his muscular shoulders, arms, and chest seemed to be almost bursting through the light-blue material.

As Rose admired how good he looked in his jeans, for one blissful moment, her headache disappeared.

Well, I guess I'll give him a chance she thought, and she rose to take his outstretched arm.

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It was after 1 AM when Rose returned to the common room. She was in a very good mood considering the circumstances...usually she hated going on dates. He was a little slow...but they had OK conversation, which got better as the night went on...perhaps due to the prolonged alcohol consumption. Plus he had asked her on another date the day after. The best part of the evening was that her head hadn't hurt at all the entire time. It was as if his presence was somehow medicinal...

Rose was careful not to let the door slam, she turned the lights on and gasped. Scorpius was sitting on the couch, eyes open, looking at the door...at her.

"What are you doing out here so late?" asked Rose.

"I could ask you the same thing," said Scorpius. When Rose gave him an inquiring look he continued, "I couldn't sleep...so I came out here to meditate...but I can't even make the forest come for some reason..." he trailed off looking out of the window.

"Well you know that happens to me a lot..." she said while walking towards to sofa. She sat down next to him, facing his right side,"turn so that you're facing me."

"Why?" asked Scorpius as he turned, skepticism coming through in his voice, eyes narrowing with suspicion.

"Just do it, I know what I'm doing believe me, now close your eyes."

"Ok..." said Scorpius, still sounding a bit apprehensive.

Rose reached out and placed her both her fore and middle fingers on both of his temples. Scorpius flinched at the coldness of her hands and opened his mouth to speak, but Rose shushed him. She began to rub small circles, alternatively increasing and decreasing pressure. She did this for a few minutes, then dropped her hands to his shoulders and began to massage. A deep moan came from the back of Scorpius' throat, and his lips parted. Rose's pulse quickened, as another suggestive moan escaped his beautiful full lips...She found herself leaning towards him, longing to press her lips to his...she was so close she could count his eyelashes...her lips brushes his...and his eyes snapped open.

"Your boyfriend wouldn't like you doing that." said Scorpius sarcastically...coldly. Rose snatched her hands back quickly, and got off of the couch.

"What boyfriend?" she asked, feeling a flush creeping up her face.

"Marcus Lindsey. Your saviour" he said with the same sarcastic tone.

"He's not my boyfriend!" said Rose, raising her voice for the first time in two weeks.

"Then why did you go on a date with him?" said Scorpius, jumping to his feet as well.

"What...I...um...He just wanted to make sure I was OK! If you hadn't noticed I was quite sick this afternoon! He was the only one who helped me!" she yelled heatedly.

"Oh really? So he's the one who cares is he? Are you stupid? He's one of Gretchen's lackeys! He would never really care about you. He just wants you because you're just some hot piece of ass to him!" He screamed back, chest rising and falling with anger.

Rose slapped him. "You are such a jerk!" and she stomped into her room, slamming both the bathroom and bedroom doors behind her.

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Scorpius stalked through the hallways, not knowing where his final destination would be, his rage blinding him. "So she wants to play it that way does she?" he asked to empty hallway, "Fine! I try to help her but noooo...of course not...she can have her hunky Quidditch boy...she can be hurt by him! See if I care! She can fuck whoever she wants! I can fuck whoever I want too! "

He rounded a corner, and found himself down the warmly lit corridor where the entrance to the kitchen was. He noticed that he was directly in front of the entrance to Hufflepuff's common room. Not knowing why he did it–although his anger of course played a part in it–Scorpius created his patronus. He sent it through the wall, and channeled a message through it, to Gretchen Neilson's bedroom.

"Meet me outside the common room," said the silver fox using Scorpius' voice, "There's no need to change out of your bedclothes."

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Rose woke up at 9 in the morning, unable to sleep. She felt horrible for slapping Scorpius...he was just worried about her...maybe even a little jealous. She had been apprehensive about Marcus in the first place too...Hearing the shower turn on, she decided to go and apologize.

"Scorpius..." she started to say, speaking loud enough so that he could hear her through the door and running water, "I'm sorry I hit you. Please forgive me...I know you were just concerned...if it really bugs you I won't go out with him tonight...come on...say something!"

The water turned off and the door opened.

"Will you shut up? I'm trying to take a shower!" said an annoyed voice.

There, standing in the doorway, wearing nothing but Scorpius' green towel, was Gretchen Neilson.

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A/N...Holy cow! Longest chapter ever lol...it was actually supposed to be a bit longer too...I just got way too tired of writing haha...anyways the next one should be up relatively fast then...cuz half of it is already in my head :D...anyways...let me know what you think!

PS...did you like the interlude?

tenchi