The next morning, Scorpius got took advantage of everyone else so tired or so hung over from last night to get up early and sneak out for a morning visit to the greenhouses. The hallways were deathly silent. Even the ghosts and Peeves weren't up at this hour. Good. Then no trouble could arise. Scorpius didn't mind too much anyways. His mind was up on cloud nine with the previous night. Although he'd been skeptical before, and although he was only fifteen years old, not even of legal wizarding age, Scorpius was one-hundred percent certain that he'd met the woman last night he wanted to share his life with until the end of time.
Suddenly, all the teaching he'd been raised on, the teaching of mudblood filth and pureblood superiority, and how purebloods were practically an endangered group of people, meant shit to Scorpius. Castora was all that mattered now. Sure, she was afraid. So was he, in a way. But Scorpius knew he could easily get around that, and once Castora came to her senses and realize that she loved him as much as he loved her, they're be nothing stopping them from having a happy future lying ahead of them. James Sirius Potter, nor Albus Severus Potter, nor Godric Gryffindor or Salazar Slytherin could stop them!
The only trouble now, was Castora. How could Scorpius convince her that there was nothing to be afraid of? That was why he was venturing out to the greenhouses at this hour, the sun was barely up.
Scorpius ran quickly through the Herbology room to get out to Greenhouse #2, where Herbology Professor Neville Longbottom was toying with a few of his rarer stashes of plants. He kept these in the back of the greenhouse and didn't use them for educational or demonstrative purposes. He seemed to be deeply studying a plant that looked like a cross between a daffodil and a bamboo shoot. He also seemed to be muttering to himself.
"Amazing! I've never seen blooms so late in the season!" Neville marveled.
"Professor!" Scorpius sounded. Even he was taken off guard by the happy, high-pitched optimism in his voice. Neville whipped his head around and looked up at Scorpius, who was standing in the doorway. He smiled.
"Up so early, Scorpius, after such a long night?" Neville said. "Come on in!"
Scorpius stumbled into the greenhouse and made his way over to his Professor. "The night wasn't so long!"
"It was for me," Neville noted. "Something caused the beams in the clock tower to crash and Professor Creevey and I had to spend until four in the morning repairing them! We still don't know what caused it—"
"—it was my heart, beating so loud it made the tower collapse!" Scorpius said, seemingly out of breath for no reason. Neville gave him an odd look, a very deserving odd look.
"Son, I think you're out of bed too early—"
"—No! Professor! I'm not kidding. I was up in the clock tower last night, and she made my palms sweat and my heart race, I lost my balance and fell right off the tower, bringing it all down with me!" Scorpius announced, as if it were the most common occurrence in the world. Neville raised an eyebrow.
"She?"
"Oh, Professor Longbottom, I've never been so in love before! I met her at the Halloween Ball!"
"In love? After one night? Impossible!" Neville scoffed. "I really think another hour's sleep will do you some good, lad."
"Oh come now, what about you and YOUR wife?" Scorpius challenged.
"Hannah and I spent seven years at school together before we even courted," Neville said.
"But you must have been in love at my age!"
"Don't call it love, lad," advised Neville, turning to face his plant again. "You're fifteen. It's not love as much as…um…desire, you're feeling. When you learn to distinguish the difference, THAT is when you—"
"—you're not listening! It isn't lust or desire at all, or I would've known! Castora's the ONE, Professor! She's my true love!"
Upon mentioning her name, Neville turned around, his look changed. "What did you say her name was?"
"Oh, her name is poetic! Castora! Castora! Castora!"
"Dursley?!?" Neville almost had a stroke right then and there. "The Gryffindor?!"
Scorpius nodded, without words this time. Neville couldn't believe his ears. A million different thoughts ran through his head. This was trouble, trouble indeed. A pureblooded Slytherin claiming to be in love with a Muggle-born Gryffindor was about as polar as one couple could get. If word got out, all hell would break loose, it was certain. But, then again, Scorpius and Castora both held such high rank with their respective houses that perhaps, this was the key to a long-awaited armistice to the fighting.
"Does she love you back?" Neville asked.
Scorpius sighed. "That's what I came to talk to you about," he said.
Neville's tense shoulder sulked again. "She doesn't?"
"No, she does! We kissed, and she kissed me back without letting go. We danced at the Ball…but she is afraid. I think I am too."
"Good reason too. I always liked her. Castora has good sense," Neville said. "If only all the other Gryffindors were like her."
"I want to be with her forever, Professor! How do I get her to ease her mind?" Scorpius asked.
"I still think you're mental," Neville said, reaching into his pocket. "But this will help, if you're so insistent I help you out." He extracted a small tin, handing it to Scorpius. Scorpius opened it and stared oddly at the grey-green powder inside.
"Floo powder?' Scorpius asked.
Neville nodded. "I'm her Head of House. I'll tell her to come into the Gryffindor common room after curfew. At midnight, you can come to her this way through the Slytherin fireplace for an hour."
"Good idea! Thank you, Professor!" Scorpius couldn't help but give the Professor a big hug. Neville returned it only briefly.
"Now do yourself a favor, get back to your dormitory and get some sleep!" Neville pushed. Scorpius nodded and ran in a whirl to the door, tripping over a freshly-potted gillyweed plant in a watery pot on his way out.
Castora laid stretched out on one of the Gryffindor common room couched, thumbing through an old novel, waiting. Professor Longbottom had said that someone wanted to meet her here. Castora suspected her father or Uncle Harry was checking up on her, making sure she knew everyone was behaving themselves in the midst of all the chaos.
But Castora had other things on her mind. All day today, she'd had nothing on her but Scorpius Malfoy. What he'd said to her the night before, and the Ball…how they danced! How they kissed! Castora had never felt that way for anyone in her entire life.
But the handsome boy was very impulsive, she realized. He insisted they start a romance in the middle of a full-out Blood War that centered around their very school, a war that separated them with a very thick, very high wall.
But his eyes, they way they'd gone soft when he came over to her. His mature and poetic way with words, his gentlemanly manner, and his soft touch on her body as he danced with her. The ballad still rung loud in her ears! But, of course, her sense had gotten in the way last night, and she'd run away from him when he proposed that they meet in secret the next day, despite his assurance that everything would be alright in the end.
How she wished to be able to see him again and tell him how she really felt, and that were it not for the Blood War, she'd gladly go out with him!
But some things could not be helped…
A sudden fire erupted in the fireplace near Castora's sofa. As the flames went green, she rolled her eyes. SO, it WAS Uncle Harry checking up on her! How very typical…
But she didn't expect Scorpius Malfoy to step out of the green flames before they went out. However, it was, indeed, Scorpius how appeared, a small smile curling on the ends of his lips.
"Castora," he whispered. On impulse, Castora shot up and ran to him, arms open wide. But before she could embrace him, she hesitated and stepped back.
"Scorpius?! What the bloody hell are you doing here? If anyone sees you, you'll be killed on the spot!" she whispered.
"It's past curfew. No one will come down here," Scorpius insisted. Castora shook her head.
"This…this can't happen!"
Scorpius took her hands in his and ran his thumbs over her knuckled gently. Gently as it was, it was enough to send chills down Castora's back. "But it can, and I want it to," Scorpius insisted. "Do YOU want it to happen?"
Castora bit her lip. "Yes, very much. I couldn't stop thinking about you all day," she confessed. Scorpius beamed.
"Me neither! I think I love you!" Scorpius said, a little too loudly. Castora hushed him.
"You think? You only think?" Castora said after a moment. Scorpius' smile faded. "Because if you were being truthful to me, you'd swear it."
"I do swear, Castora! I love you more than I've ever loved anyone!" Scorpius said.
"How can I be sure?" Castora said. "We are enemies. How can I be sure this isn't some—"
But Castora cut herself off as she looked into the blue eyes. Scorpius was looking at her with a look that melted her very core. He was sincere, she could tell by the look on his face.
"I…I want to marry you," Scorpius said, stumbling in his sentence only the once. Castora almost choked on her spit when she heard this.
"You're mental," Castora said.
"Do you love me?" Scorpius asked. Castora felt his hands in hers, and knew her answer.
"Yes. I do," she answered.
"Castora, we belong together. I can feel it!" Scorpius said, a twinge of youthful excitement in his voice.
"I can feel it too," Castora said. She was finally convinced. Scorpius took her in his arms and kissed her tenderly on her plump lip. Castora returned the kiss threefold, and the lovers let the world melt away around them. When their lips finally parted, Castora was all Scorpius'.
"Castora, Professor Longbottom is on our side. I will make it known to him that we intend to marry before the holidays," Scorpius said. Castora broke away from Scorpius' grip.
"We're only fifteen," she said. "Shouldn't we at least court for awhile?"
"And how do you expect we do that?" Scorpius asked. "Meet secretly by Floo Powder, past midnight every night until we graduate? They couldn't make enough Floo Power in the world!"
"I know, I know," Castora said, going back to Scorpius and brushing her lips against his nose.
"If we marry before holiday recess, we can go home, tell our families, then my father will be forced to understand and your cousins will be forced to reconcile, therefore reuniting Slytherin and Gryffindor! We'll be living happily again by Easter!"
"Even Easter is a long ways off," Castora warned. Scorpius nodded.
"Professor Longbottom can bind us in marriage this very weekend," he promised.
Castora thought a reasonable moment. "Please," Scorpius said. "Before the flames in the fireplace die and I have nowhere to go!"
Castora's heart raced within her chest. It really could happen. Hogwarts could see peacetime again, and all because Scorpius and she were in love and married! She may have only been fifteen, but that was as long as the Blood War had been going on.
"Scorpius, I love you. Let's get married this weekend!" Castora said. Scorpius grinned and took Castora tighter into his grip.
"I love you too," Scorpius said. He then broke away from Castora. "I have to go before the flames go out."
Scorpius gave his bride-to-be one more kiss on the cheek and stepped up to the fireplace. Castora caught his arm again.
"When will you send for me on Saturday?" she asked.
"Tell only your closest friend, then have her come with you down to Greenhouse #2 at noon," Scorpius instructed.
"Scorpius, until then," Castora said. "Be careful."
"You too, Castora," Scorpius said, throwing her one more kiss before stepping into the fireplace and tossing the Floo Powder that would return him back to the Slytherin common room.
Castora felt dizzy from all the passion and rush that had just occurred. She needed to get some sleep before going to tell Rose that she was going to be a bride!
