Shades of Grey
11. Knock On Wood
Disclaimer: Well, you know.
Author's Note: Hahaha, enjoy.
Light streamed in through the window, waking Rose up, much to her dismay. She tried to turn in the other direction, but she still saw the brightness behind her closed eyelids. She wished the sun never came up. She wished she was a vampire, and slept in the ground or a coffin all day, and she wouldn't have this problem. The sun burning her to a crisp would be a great excuse for avoiding it. Avoiding its annoying rays lighting up her face very early in the morning. She wished the dungeon windows had curtains. The really heavy sort that wouldn block out any flicker light even if they were on fire. That was what the dungeon windows needed.
"Hang on," she mumbled to herself, finally making sense of what was going. She opened one eye and saw Daphne standing with her wand in her hand, a bright ball illuminating its tip, pointed straight at her face.
"Up," she ordered.
Rose groaned.
. . .
"You're getting inventive," Rose complained as she buttered a biscuit.
"Yeah, six years does that to you," Daphne replied, taking a bite of sausage.
"What does six years do?" Draco interrupted, rudely settling himself in between Rose and Daphne, and grabbing the biscuit out of Rose's hand.
"Oi! That's mine!" she cried.
"Sharing is caring, love," he said with a full mouth.
"Well I don't care," Rose retorted lamely. What was she, ten?
He nodded. "Sure, sure. So what are you beautiful ladies up to this morning?"
Rose gave him a look. "Are you feeling sick, Draco?"
"No, why would I be?" He put his arm around her. "I am just in an extremely good mood."
"And why is that?" Daphne inquired.
"I'm sure Rose can tell you," he replied suggestively. "We had ourselves some fun last night, didn't we?"
She opened and closed her mouth several times like a fish. "What? No! He's lying, Daph, I swear!"
He laughed and gave her shoulders a squeeze. "Rose is in love with me," he explained.
Daphne looked at them. "You are by far the strangest boy I have had the misfortune to meet," she announced finally.
"Splendid!" And with that, Draco stood up and strolled from the Great Hall.
Rose and Daphne looked at each other, shrugged, and continued their breakfast.
. . .
After Ancient Runes, Rose headed to the Slytherin Common Room for a much deserved break before Potions. Several other students that had a second period break were lounging about on the chairs and couches. Rose took a spot on the armchair she often occupied, and closed her eyes. Nothing could tire her out like an hour and a half of Runes. She'd rather run the permiter of the Quidditch Pitch twice than sit through that every Friday morning. As thoughts of burning the Runes classroom to ashes floated around her mind, someone tapped her on the shoulder. She hoped to Merlin it wasn't who she thought it was. Opening one eye, she looked to see a face hovering above hers, and groaned, knowing she had jinxed herself.
"What do you want now, Malfoy?" she asked rudely.
He smirked as if this were very amusing. "Let me sit with you."
She looked down at the one-person chair she was sitting in. "No. Find your own seat."
"Well, well," came an extremely annoying voice from somewhere behind her. Her day just couldn't get any better. "Draco and Rose are actually interacting. There's something you don't see everyday. Funny. You'd think you would..."
"Parkinson, I think Hagrid was looking for you," Rose mumbled, her eyes still half-closed.
"Huh?"
"Yeah, I heard him talking about some kind of disgusting parasite with bad teeth and greasy hair having escaped from its cage; I assume he was talking about you."
There was a pause. "I think she thinks that was funny," Pansy said to someone else. Presumably Millicent.
Rose decided she wouldn't respond to that. She simply yawned and turned her head to the side, showing that she was finished with their conversation and just wanted some sleep.
"I'm not bothered," Pansy continued. "At least I don't have a guy pretending to be in love with me."
"No. There's no one out there that could even stomach pretending, it seems," Rose retorted.
Pansy huffed. "You're not fooling anyone, Martell."
Rose made a funny noise in her throat that was probably meant to sound like scoff. Out of no where, someone's hand began running down the length of her undoubtedly messy hair. She looked up to see Draco sitting on the arm of the chair, stroking the tangled mess. She didn't understand this gesture at first, then looked over to see Pansy watching them with a deathly glare, and knew Draco was playing it up for her benefit. The gentle petting lulled her to sleep, and she took a much needed nap.
Draco shook her awake less than an hour later, urging her to go to class. She swatted his hand away, so he hauled her to her feet and began carrying her to the Potions classroom. She put up a fuss, and he let her down eventually. They were in the middle of a corridor; people were eyeing them questioningly. She hit Draco across the chest in annoyance. He laughed at her.
"By the way, thanks for earlier," Rose said, taking her school bag from him.
"Earlier?"
"Yeah, for covering for me with Pansy."
"Oh," he remembered, "Don't mention it."
She shrugged. "Thanks anyway."
"You know what I don't understand?" he asked as they made their way toward Potions.
"Hmm?"
"Why is it such a big deal? So what if she doesn't think we're getting married out of love or whatever else? I mean, does it make that much of a difference? It doesn't make our contract any less binding."
"No, but if she thought that we were faking it to piss her off, she might be inclined to set fire to me in my sleep. As opposed to if she thought I just stole you from her the old-fashioned way. Then she might set fire to me while I'm awake and I might be able to put out the flames before I died."
"Ah, that makes sense," he said jokingly, rolling his eyes. "I think the worst part is that I know you're right. To an extent, anyway."
"She's a psycho," Rose concluded.
"I concur."
They took their seats in the Potions room, and waited for Slughorn to begin the lesson. Daphne was already sitting in her seat next to Rose. She opened her mouth to ask something when Slughorn appeared through the doorway, carrying a pile of books which he dumped carelessly on his desk before turning to his students with a wide smile.
"Good morning, students," he beamed, and began the lesson.
Rose barely paid attention, leaving all of the work to Daphne, who didn't seem to notice anything out of the ordinary. Rose rarely did much except stir the cauldron. Daphne never complained, as Rose had a tendency to ruin everything she touched in that class. So today was not much different than any other day, in her opinion, which left Rose free to slack off and think. She found that no matter how much she tried to think of one specific thing – or person, really – her mind kept getting distracted and drifting into blankness. She saw Daphne's hand waving in front of her face, and realized she had zoned out again.
"Alive in there, mate?" she asked. Rose nodded. "You alright?"
"Fine," Rose said off-handedly, peering into the cauldron, and wrinkling her nose against the smell.
"When you've finished your potion, please take a vial from my desk, and fill it with your brew," Slughorn announced.
Daphne asked Rose to fetch a vial while she watched the potion. Rose stood with an exhausted sigh and trudged to the front desk. She was met by Draco, who only gave her a look before grabbing a vial and retreating to his seat. She didn't understand what that meant, but didn't think it mattered. He was probably making fun of her again.
After what seemed like forever, Potions drew to a close, and Rose packed up her books to leave.
"Can you drop my stuff off for me?" Rose asked Daphne, looking briefly in Draco's direction. "I'll meet you in the Great Hall."
Daphen sighed. "Sure," she said, leaving the room without another word.
Rose approached Draco, and tapped on his hand for his attention. "Can we go somewhere?" she whispered in his ear.
"Yeah, sure." He put his arm around her waist, and led her out of the room.
The suddent proximity shocked Rose, and she walked forward slowly, looking up at Draco to try and understand his motives. He tightened his hold on her and pushed her along, urging her to go faster. She complied. They walked until they found a classroom door. Draco flicked his wand, unlocking it, and led them both inside. She sat on a desk, and watched him curiously as he shut the door.
"What?" he asked, catching her staring at him.
"Nothing."
"So what are we doing here? Is everything alright?"
"Fine," she replied.
"Are you sure?" he asked again, his brow creasing.
"Yep."
"So why are we here?" he asked again.
She shrugged. "I don't know. You brought us here."
"Because you said you wanted to go somewhere."
"I didn't mean a locked classroom in the dungeons." Rose grinned stupidly. She wondered if she looked as ridiculous as she felt.
"Do you want to...go somewhere else, then?" he tried. Rose shrugged. "I don't understand you, Martell."
"You don't call me Roselyn anymore," she mused aloud.
"I rarely ever did."
"You used to. In front of your friends, you always called me Roselyn. You seem different somehow."
"Do I?" he asked, shifting to lean against the wall. He ran his hand through his hair.
"Nervous?" she smirked.
"About what?"
"You seem nervous." She made a motion of running her hand through her hair. He glared. She smirked some more. "So what's going on with you?"
"Nothing." He shook his head.
Rose stood and walked toward him. He straightened up. She stood directly in front of him, and looked him right in the eye. He didn't move. She placed her hand on his chest, and stood on her toes to make their faces level. He still didn't move. Rose reached her arm around his waist. She heard his breath catch. She twisted the doorknob behind his back and whispered, "You're in the way of the door."
Almost insantly, his face contorted into a sneer as he stepped aside. Rose laughed, and made to exit the room. He grabbed her hand and pulled her back with enough force to make her stumble and trip backward right into him. He turned her around, slammed the door shut, pushed her against it, and crashed his lips to hers. Somehow, no matter how many times she had imagined this – which wasn't that many, admittedly – she wasn't prepared for it.
The kiss was rough. He was angry with her for pulling a stunt like that and was intent on proving to her that he still held dominance. He wanted her to know that he still had control of the situation, and of his feelings. But Rose knew he didn't. He was a wreck, and she was just one more complication. With this knowledge, she kissed him back just as fiercely. She gripped his hair in her fists, and pushed him to her. He grabbed her hips and pulled himself closer to her, crushing her against the door.
They began battling. And they were desperate. Oh how they were desperate. All the fighting, and the arguing, and the laughter had brought them to this point, and they wanted it more than anything. It was always there, Rose thought. Somewhere amongst their countless nights together in the Room, this tension had built up. And now they were finally releasing it. She had dreamed that this would happen in the Room for the first time, right up against the Cabinet, rather than this classroom door. It would have been more poetic, she thought. But at that point, it didn't seem to matter. She couldn't have care less where they were at that particular moment, except that they were together in the most literal way – well, almost the most literal.
It felt as though an eternity had passed, though, realistically, it was probably just a few minutes, – she found this time-lapse phenomenon happened a lot when there were more important things on one's mind – when Draco finally pulled away. They stood panting for severl seconds before either of them had the energy to say anything. Draco braced himself against the door by putting a hand on either side of Rose's head. She leaned back, and looked up at his face.
"Well then," Rose stated.
"Well then," Draco repeated.
They stood for another few seconds, not sure what else to say. Rose wished she had a witty response or a joke. She was almost certain Draco would have had one. But neither of them said a word. They stood looking at each other, breathing heavily. Finally, Rose smirked.
"I win," she announced.
He looked at her in puzzlement. "What?"
"You broke first," she clarified.
He laughed at this. A real, genuine laugh. "It seems I did. But I will deny it to the ends of the Earth."
"If you want," she nodded, "But I thought it was sexy."
He smirked, raising his eyebrow. "Oh yeah?"
She nodded. "Definitely."
In response, he kissed her again. "Like that?"
"Something like that, yeah."
. . .
"There you two are!" Daphne called, standing up from the Slytherin table. Rose and Draco shot a look at each other. "Where have you been?"
"Oh, you know," Rose replied noncomittally, taking a seat that Daphne had left open. Draco squeezed himself in beside her. They were extremely close. So close, in fact, that Draco wrapped his leg around hers beneath the table. Her stomach flipped. Daphne eyed them suspiciously, but Rose ignored her. She'd share the news with her friend later. For now, she wanted to bask in the moment. Even Pansy, who was glaring at them from six people down the table, couldn't ruin her mood now.
Rose ate her lunch merrily, very aware of Draco's leg still locked with hers. Daphne probably suspected that something was amiss, but didn't raise a question. Even Draco, who, aside from the bizarre scene that morning, was always quiet and brooding, seemed happy. All was well in the land of Hogwarts, Rose thought dumbly. And just to add to the cliches that would undoubtedly ruin everything, she also thought, Nothing could possibly go wrong.
. . .
"Something's gone horribly, horribly wrong, Rose," Draco announced, looking up from an unfolded sheet of parchment.
"What?" Rose snapped her head up. "What d'you mean?"
"You're not going to like this."
A/N: Ooooh, I wonder what THAT means. Review, and maybe you'll find out! #threats