A/n: OMG the new format has the horizontal divider thank Merlin I missed it so much -cries-

Ahem. Back to the story.

Love~

Chapter 5

Locked Out

"—and then you tell me you forgot to take your key again… Rosie, are you listening?"

Rose groaned and rubbed her face with her hands. "Mum please, OK? I didn't come here to have you lecture me."

Hermione looked over her shoulder with pursed lips. "It's exactly because you're here, that I have to lecture you."

Rose dropped her hands and made a face. Hermione put her hand to her hip and half-turned away from the stove.

"You only ever come home when you either lock yourself out of your apartment, or if you're unbearably sick, or it's one of our birthdays."

"Mum, you know how it gets at the Ministry—"

"Don't give me that," Hermione chastised, cutting Rose off with a wave of her ladle. "I used to work at the Ministry. I know how busy it can get, but that's no excuse for not coming to see your family at least twice a month."

"I've lived on my own for nearly a decade now! Why is it that you keep insisting I come home so often!? I would, if I could!"

Hermione turned fully and leaned her hip against the counter, a blank expression on her face.

"It's not easy being the Head of a department like mine," Rose groused and her mother raised an unimpressed eyebrow.

"You could at least fire-call us every now and then or send us a letter or two."

"Mum!" Rose threw her hands up and stomped away, furious at her mother for constantly badgering her about coming home. As though Hugo didn't annoy her about it enough.

She stomped up the stairs; satisfied by the pained creaks of the wood, and let her feet take her to her room as her mind grumbled on endlessly about her persistently nosy family. As though it wasn't bad enough that she had forgotten her keys in her flat and had no choice but to come back to her parents' house.

She pushed open the door to her room and froze, her foot hanging in the air. She stared at the boxes and boxes of Merlin knew what that were piled haphazardly all over her room, spilling their contents onto the floor and smelling of dust and disuse.

"Mum," she shrieked, and when Hermione didn't bother answering, dashed to the railing and bending halfway over it, screamed, "Mother, why has my bedroom been converted into a storeroom?!"

Hermione took her time pausing whatever she was doing to come and stand at the bottom of the stairs. She crossed her arms and raised her eyebrows as though she was telling Rose she knew exactly why. Rose huffed in disbelief and asked, "Is this punishment? What am I, ten? Are we doling out punishment to those who aren't good children, now?"

When Hermione simply shrugged a shoulder, Rose made a furious sound and banged on the wooden railing. "Mum, this isn't funny!"

Her mother gave her a look that said she certainly thought it was, and walked back to the kitchen, humming a satisfied tune. Rose yelled in frustration and hung her head.

This was a repeat all of that one summer seven years ago when Hugo had upped and decided that his calling had finally come and he was dropping out of school to turn pro. He only lasted till the end of summer though, when he came crawling back with a letter from Hogwarts that clearly stated that if Hugo wasn't on the school train when he was supposed to be, then things would get unnecessarily ugly. Rose always had a suspicion that had something to do with her parents having contacts inside the school.

If her brother's spirits hadn't been dampened enough, he had opened the door to his room to find it overflowing with crates and boxes and what-not that Hermione had Conjured to fill up the space. When he had looked at her with fearful wide-eyes, she had shrugged at him the same way she had just done with Rose and said, "You said you weren't coming back, so… plus, I meant to clean out the attic anyway."

Rose shook her head and slammed the door to her room shut. She hadn't lost just yet.

"And that's why you're on my doorstep begging me to let you spend the night here?"

"I'm not begging," Rose snapped, and then added, "but I am asking as a favour."

Renée raised her eyebrows and pinched her lips together like she was finding the whole situation so completely hilarious that she couldn't help but let Rose suffer a little while longer.

"Are you going to let me in or not," Rose demanded, when Renée started raising her eyebrows one at a time to see if she could get the other to go up just as high. The brunette grinned and said,

"What are friends for, right?"

Rose rolled her eyes and pushed past her friend and through the door. She flopped down on the couch with a sigh and let her eyes drift lazily around the familiar sitting room. She did a double take when she saw the large, black, rectangular thing hung on the wall and goggled at Renée.

"Oh, she's magnificent isn't she? Simply beautiful," Renée crooned, fondly caressing the top of the overly large TV.

"You bought a Muggle idiot box," Rose choked out, rubbing her eyes in case she was seeing things. Renée shot her a triumphant grin.

"She arrived two days ago. We've been getting along so well. Oh, and she even does this thing; if you play around with that black square with buttons – it's called a remote – and wear these funky spectacles, it's like everything's jumping out at you. Want to try?"

Rose shied away from Renée, the TV and everything else, as she eyed the room suspiciously. The brunette scowled at the redhead.

"Really, Rose? You have a coffee machine in your office that you never use and you're being prejudiced towards my Linda?"

"Please tell me you did not name your TV."

Rose sighed deeply as she sprawled across her chair and leaned back, testing to see how far it would go. She remained there, swiveling the chair from side to side and stared up at the ceiling. Of all the days to leave her flat without her keys. And just after she'd reactivated the wards on it too.

"This is a pleasant surprise."

Rose shut her eyes and tried to imagine that her perfect moment of misery hadn't just been ruined by the one single person who could possibly make things any worse.

Scorpius slunk up to her desk at a relaxed pace and dropped the heavy box he was holding on it with a loud thud. Rose jumped and looked at him wide-eyed. He smirked and placed his hands in his pockets, as though waiting for Rose to explain exactly what she was doing in her office on a Sunday – the one day she got to take off.

After much consideration, she muttered, "Locked myself out."

"Alohomora?"

"Oh my goodness, why didn't I think of that," she snapped, laying her head on her arms.

"So..."

"Go away."

"Actually, I can't, see. Not with you in here."

Rose raised her head to squint at him. "What."

Scorpius shrugged, his smirk twitching with what she immediately recognized as suppressed laughter. "Nobody's allowed in here on Sundays."

"You're here."

"Except me. I work on Sundays."

"This is my office."

"Not on Sundays."

Rose pressed her lips together and willed herself not to lose her self-control. First her mother, then her best friend and now him. What a perfectly miserable day. And just when she had thought it wouldn't get any worse. She nodded and stood up. Scorpius looked at her with mild surprise.

"You're leaving?" he asked, when she picked up her bag and slung it over her shoulder. She made a face at him.

"You just told me to get out, and now that I am, you have a problem?"

Scorpius raised his hands and eyebrows and mouthed 'wow'. Rose rolled her eyes.

"Hurry up, Malfoy. I want at least a bit of my sanity left to go figure out how to break through my own wards."

Scorpius seemed to brighten and asked, "Can I come?"

"No."

For some unfathomable reason, he seemed quite taken aback by the instant rejection.

"Why not?" he asked with what sounded like genuine curiosity.

"Because you're an annoying know-it-all and you find this whole situation thoroughly amusing."

Scorpius scrunched up his nose and tutted. "You got me there."

Rose groaned loudly and throwing a hand in the air, made toward the door.

"I really can help, though," Scorpius said, squeezing between Rose and her only means of escape and stretching his hand to block her from dodging him.

"Why," she said, hitting him in the chest, "do you care!"

His eyes narrowed and he somehow seemed offended by either what she had said or how she had said it, or both.

"I care," he said harshly, "because you're my boss and you seem to have gotten yourself into a spot of trouble."

"Oh, so you go around offering your help to all your superiors, do you?"

Scorpius threw his hands in the air and shook his head. "Rose, you're being unreasonable. I've been nothing but charming and helpful since I got back and have done nothing to be treated like this."

She knew he was telling the truth, but that didn't do anything to her foul mood other than make it worse. "I'm sorry if you haven't noticed, but I hold grudges and it seems to be something genetic."

Scorpius's shoulders slumped ever so slightly and he put his hands on his hips; looking away and scoffing when she continued to stare at him. Finally he nodded and shrugged.

"Alright. I won't be a bother anymore."

"Thank you," Rose breathed and pushed past him.

He might not have expected that, because he exclaimed and called after her, "I was wrong to think that people don't change in five years!"

"Not really," Rose called back, "just you!"

And she nearly ran to the elevators, praying that he didn't suddenly decide to follow her and keep at it. But even as the thought crossed her mind, she knew it was silly, because what he'd said was actually true. People do change a lot in five years. Scorpius obviously did.

She sighed and leaned back tiredly. She had gotten into three different situations with three different people that day and had stormed out on all of them. Must be all the stress, she tried to convince herself, although she already knew she was going to have to apologize to both her mum and Renée, and definitely Scorpius.

"Auror's daughter alright, bloody hell."

She swore again as her previous spell bounced harmlessly off the ward around her door and hit the railing behind her, turning it into a rope. If only Ron hadn't instilled the idea of 'Prevention is better than cure' in her head since a tender age, she wouldn't be in the situation she was now.

Not that it was anything new to her, getting locked out of her own home. When she had too much on her mind she would - more often than not – forget her keys and leave, only to come back to find that she couldn't get past her wards. Especially since one, they had been placed there by her father, who was a trained Auror even if he was out of the running, and two, because he'd made it in such a way that it could only be unlocked from the inside or by using her keys that had been enchanted to get past the wards. Two kinds of magic she was absolutely useless with.

Also, and she blamed herself for this, the fact that she hadn't bothered paying much attention to her overprotective father seven years ago, as he went on and on about how he would only let her move out if only she let him overdo on the wards on her flat. Sometimes she blamed him for her inability to pay attention to important things the second she sensed the underlying rant.

Not to mention the fact that her parents made full use of her locking herself out to get her to return home. Ron even went so far as refusing to repeat more than the most basic intricacies regarding the spell work behind the wards just to make sure the afore-mentioned happened. How she wished they weren't half as cunning as they were.

She squatted down on the floor and moaned. If only she had listened to Hugo's suggestion of charming her key so it automatically ended up on her person once she was a certain distance away from it. If only she hadn't argued with her mother and stormed out. If only she hadn't gotten irritated by Renée turning the stupid telly on full volume and guffawing at the most idiotic of jokes. If only she had let Scorpius come along and help her instead of being a prat to him.

She couldn't call anyone for help either. Ron wouldn't leave the shop until much later, and she honestly would rather return shame-faced to her mother than listen to another of her father's overly long, doting lectures. Hermione would obviously not help because she was still punishing Rose, Renée was absolutely clueless about such complicated spells, Albus worked the night shift on weekends, Harry was out on a case, Hugo's practice session lasted late into the night ever since they figured out how to manipulate Muggle floodlights with magic, Lily was out of the question, James was in Amsterdam, and she was sure none of her other cousins would be of any use in that situation either.

And she had foolishly thought the day had already finished doling out its worst.

She sighed again, wondering to herself if she was brave enough to injure her pride in order to sleep in her own bed. After some consideration - and the thought of hot chocolate and her comfortable quilt - she decided that yes, it was worth the consequences. Besides, once a Gryffindor, always a Gryffindor.

It shouldn't have surprised her that Scorpius would be more amused than angry with what she had done. From the confident way in which he was leaning on the doorframe and regarding her, she was sure he'd expected her to come running to him for help. It was the thought that she had done exactly that, that irritated her to no end.

"Why Miss Weasley," he drawled, a full, superior smirk of accomplishment painted across his face. She only let him have his moment because she had been despicable toward him. "What brings you back here?"

Rose cleared her throat and tilted her chin up, not quite willing to let him look down on her. Not that it made any difference, since she had to look up at him anyway and he would look down at her unless he was sitting down and she was standing over him. Even that probably wouldn't make much of a difference.

"I'm here," she began slowly, just to make sure her voice sounded controlled and didn't betray how she felt, "because I've come to ask for your help."

Scorpius raised his eyebrows. He was full on grinning by then and she was doing all she could to not hex the smug look right off his ridiculously handsome face. "My help? What in the world for?"

Oh, two could play this game. She eased her face into a smile and looked up at him through her lashes. "It would seem that I've been locked out of my house by my wards and I don't seem to be able to disable them."

Scorpius tilted his head, his silver eyes shimmering. "That's an unfortunate mistake even the most intelligent of wizards make. Although, I would think it customary to learn how to disable the wards around one's own home before enabling them?"

And of course she had expected him to be an absolutely condescending git about the whole situation. But she had come prepared for exactly that. She fluttered her eyelashes and placed a hand to her cheek.

"My, you're absolutely right. I don't know what I was thinking when I left home this morning."

She gave him a smile that she knew could melt the pants off any self-respecting male, especially since she had successfully used it on several exceedingly annoying men to get her way with so many things ever since she joined the Ministry. And it seemed to be working, because Scorpius's eyes widened ever so slightly and he seemed momentarily confused as to what exactly he had been doing.

But of course, she wasn't dealing with any ordinary male either. Being able to faze Scorpius Malfoy for more than a few seconds was an achievement in itself. He propped his elbow on the doorframe of his office and leaned on it, his face shifting smoothly back to its usual self-important countenance.

"I suppose," he drawled and Rose jolted from the silky tone his voice had assumed. He leaned forward ever so slightly and his eyes seemed to have turned into a darker shade of grey, "I could come and aid a damsel in distress."

"You are so very kind," Rose said, a little more breathily than she intended to, but the easy smile that stretched across her lips was a well-practiced one and she spun on her heel, letting the clack-clack of her shoes disrupt the sudden heaviness of the air around her.

She breathed through her mouth and was mildly shocked at how fast her heart was racing and how hot her face was. Goddamned Scorpius Malfoy and his bloody pheromones.

Rose watched as Scorpius squatted in front of her door and peered into the keyhole as though he expected it to suddenly decide to unlock itself. He hummed thoughtfully and then sat back on his heels, pulling his wand out of the waistband of his pants. She bit her tongue to stop herself from commenting on that. She could do it once she was sitting down on her favorite sofa with her favorite mug in her hand.

"Do you know the logistics behind the spell work?" he asked her, interrupting her thoughts.

"My one house key – that I left inside – has the exact same spell trace on it that lets the wards recognize it and lets me through them."

Scorpius looked up at her with an impressed look on his face. "That's some highly complex spell work. Let me guess, your dad?"

She probably should have been offended that he immediately disregarded even the slightest chance that she may have been the one to think of that. Which was quite obvious, considering that was why he was there in the first place. She nodded, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. She probably should have been more concerned by how he followed that simple motion with the same concentration with which he had been staring through the keyhole.

"Yeah, that was one of the conditions on which he let me move out. He absolutely wouldn't have it any other way and I really couldn't stand all the arguing any longer."

She waved her hand when he frowned slightly. "My parents like arguing. Apparently it keeps things 'fresh' between them. Illogical, I know, but it's worked for so long."

He snorted and turned back to the door, gesturing to it with his finger. "I'm not exactly sure on the intricacies of it, considering I haven't had any formal training regarding this like your father has, but I may be able to confuse the wards enough so you can Alohamora yourself in. You'll have to be swift though," he added, glancing at her high-heeled shoes.

She slipped them off and held them in her hands, exclaiming at the coldness of the floor. He stood up and taking a step back, looked at her with an excited grin. "Ready?"

"You're enjoying this, aren't you?" she asked mildly and he shrugged.

"It's not every day you get to break down a trained Auror's wards."

Rose snorted and smiled. His childish excitement reminded her of how he used to be during their time in Hogwarts, when he'd learn spells much higher than their grade simply for the thrill of it. They had been very much alike when it came to that.

"And out of simple curiosity, your dad didn't think to tell you how to disable the wards?"

"Well... he probably did, somewhere in between all the yelling and swearing and demanding that I stay at home, but after weeks of it, I just stopped listening."

"And you never thought to ask him again?"

She shrugged. "My parents were much happier that locking myself out at least forced me to go back home. And one way or another, he probably overestimated me too much anyway."

He scoffed and she pursed her lips. And it was the perfect reason for her to go home every now and then. Ron was certainly smarter than he looked, that was for sure.

Scorpius raised his wand and Rose followed, hoping whatever he was about to do didn't backfire and throw them off the railing at their backs. Her flat was on the fifth floor and she didn't want to think about being blasted off it.

"Alright," Scorpius said and twisted his wand slowly, his lips pursed in concentration. Rose focused on the lock and replayed the wand movement for Alohamora in her head, like she was a student practicing for a test.

"Easy does it," Scorpius grunted and the wards on the door shimmered and turned from bluish to reddish.

"Uh-oh."

"Uh-oh?" Rose hissed, not looking away. "Don't tell me you messed up."

"I didn't," he replied in a way that implied that there was more to it.

"But?"

"But I think I missed a key factor regarding the core spell work."

"You better be yanking my chain, Scorpius, because this isn't funny."

"Just out of curiosity," he said, his voice getting a strained edge to it, "what exactly are the protective spells your dad instilled into the wards?"

"We're on the fifth floor! It doesn't matter even if he put a simple repelling jinx in it!"

"Fair point well made, Miss Weasley.*" but even as he said it, the air around the wards was starting to distort and glow, and Rose involuntarily took a step back. She was debating if putting up a shield would somehow make the situation better, and just as she moved her wand, Scorpius yanked her elbow and pulled her against his chest, his back to the door. The protective spells imbued into the wards were starting to take effect even as Rose muttered the shield charm.

"Protego," was the last thing she remembered before the explosion threw them over the railing.

A/n: *The first person to get that reference gets giant virtual cookies and their name mentioned in the next chapter. x)

So I brought Hermione into this. See, I'll tell you now, there is no Harry Potter without Hermione Granger(Weasley). Ron is easily replaceable, but Not 'Mione. She is just sooooo amazing.

Tell me what you thought about this chapter and the cliffhanger! Reviews are the Hermione to my Harry Potter!

Love~