pairing: rose/scorpius
author: cate (cutecudlyme)
for: jane (not-gonna-grow-up)

"She's engaged to Lysander. They're going to get married."

Scorpius didn't understand at first why it hurt him so much. He didn't know why the news of their engagement made him so upset.

After all, Rose had every right to get married. She was at liberty to get married to anyone, wasn't she?

Whatever had happened between him and Rose was over. They had not been happy together. Their history was now forgotten, and they had moved on.

So why, after all this, why was he feeling this way? Why did he want to hit Lysander in the head whenever they met? Why was he actually hoping for the opposite when he congratulated them for their engagement and when he wished them to be happy together? Why was he thinking of her all the damn time? There was only one explanation, and he just didn't want to face it.

He still loved her. A part of him still cared for her; no matter how small or how afraid that part was, it still did. He couldn't deny it, even though he never admitted it to himself.

Whether he had always loved Rose and hadn't realized it till now, or whether this love had been rekindled after seeing her again after so many years, were questions he couldn't even answer. All he knew was that he was starting to fall for the red-curled and blue eyed Rose Weasley. Again. And that it possibly couldn't lead to anything good.

-:-

Maybe it was his imagination. But as far as he could see, Rose was nowhere near as happy as she should have been with her engagement. In addition, she was gloomy most of the time and had lost much of her former cheerfulness. It was clear that her whole family was happy for her, and none of them noticed her odd behavior. But he thought Rose didn't seem to be too excited to talk about wedding dresses with her Aunts, or to discuss the decorations for 'the big day' with her Mother.

Then again, he may well be imagining everything, and seeing things the way he wanted to see them.

The heart can also play tricks on you sometimes.

It was under this dilemma of Rose's behavior that he was watching her and Lysander talking on the sofa after dinner one night at the Burrow. Lysander was actually the one doing the talking, and Rose was listening to him with a disinterested air, only giving a strained smile or nod when necessary.

Suddenly, she caught his eye looking at her. In the fraction of a second when their eyes met, her mouth gave a small twitch. But in the next second, she pulled Lysander towards her, interrupting him mid-sentence, and started snogging him in front of everyone.

Anger boiled inside his chest, and he resisted the urge to get up and pull that bastard away from her. He turned his face away from them and gave his full attention to Lily and Albus talking beside him in the dinner table.

Afterwards, he reluctantly thought that maybe it was his imagination.

-:-

He noticed how she slipped past and hardly spoke ten words to him in the next few days. And that made him want to talk to her so much more. He was slightly confused as to what to say, but he was determined to get her guard down somehow.

It wasn't until the next weekend that he got any opportunity. The Burrow was full of people with the entire family and a few friends present. It was exactly one week before the wedding. There were so many people that it was hard to notice anyone in particular, though it didn't take him long to realize that Rose wasn't anywhere in the house.

He found her in the garden sitting alone, gazing up at the stars and engrossed in her thoughts.

They did talk, however. He made her talk. Since he knew her in and out, he did the one thing that he thought would soften her up the most. He took a walk down memory lane with her; memories of all the time they had spent together.

He had forgotten how easy it was to talk to her. They talked like old friends meeting after many years. And that was all they were. Old friends.

Reminiscing the past, they forgot the present. For many minutes, there was an occasional outburst like "Do you remember the time when Albus snogged Turpin when he was drunk?" or, "Do you remember when we played Quidditch against each other and I beat you?" "Don't flatter yourself, Weasley. I let you win", or even "Oh, you remember the time all of us sneaked into the Shrieking Shack in the middle of the night?"

But they really couldn't live in the past forever now, could they?

And like always, he was the one who brought them to the present; to reality. After a short silence, when they seemed to have run out of good memories, he said in a kind of rush, "Look Rose. I know things didn't work out between you and me." She snapped her head towards him, but he continued without pausing, "Even if they didn't work out, I still do care about you. And…if you ever need a friend, you know you can always rely on me."

He felt that he had said it all. She, on the other hand, felt a lot of things at once. Guilt, shame, realization, frustration everything peaked, and she responded by doing the first thing that she could think of. She kissed him.

And of course, he kissed her back.

But she was Rose bloody Weasley, and this was wrong. So, she stopped, horror-stuck at what she was doing. She looked at his bewildered face for a moment before rushing to the door of the Burrow without answering any of his questions.

And like always, he was the one left staring at the door and thinking "what the hell had just happened".

-:-

She avoided him all week. He wanted to know why. He wanted to know why she had no answers to his questions. Damn, he wanted to know why she had kissed him in the first place and had to go and make things so complicated.

Before he knew it, the day had arrived. And before he knew it, Albus had dragged him to the wedding and he found himself sitting on a bench and straining his neck like everyone to look at the bride. His heart squirmed when he saw her walk down that aisle. The sun was shining on her red locks making them golden, her dazzling white dress was framing her slender body; she was looking beautiful as usual. Everything seemed perfect at that moment.

Only this was imperfect because it wasn't him. It was wrong because it wasn't him she was walking to. It wasn't him she was standing next to; it was just the wrong blonde boy.

The vows were stated. He was half listening. But soon enough, the time for her "I do" came, and just a little too late, he realized he couldn't watch this.

He stood up abruptly, and started walking towards the other side of the marquee. Eyes turned to him, but only for a second. Everyone was watching the bride too intensely. But the bride herself was watchinghim. Questioning glances and confused murmurs escaped everyone, but she ignored them.

He was now walking fast; unaware of what was going on behind him.

Then, a shaky but determined voice said, "Scorpius, wait. Don't go."

And he stopped.

-:-

He was standing on the hillside, looking at the never-ending greenery and the Burrow in the middle, wondering what was going on there.

Suddenly, there was some movement to his right, and the red-haired figure appeared next to him.

After a few silent moments, he gave her a sideways glance, and said, "You know what you did wasn't your best choice."

"Did what?" she asked, and he was sure she was raising her eyebrows. "Kiss you behind my fiance's back or kiss you in front of my future husband and my entire family? Wow, Scor. I never thought you'd be telling me this."

He couldn't help it. He smiled, looking at her fully now. She looked tired and irritated, but as pretty as she had been the last morning.

He took her face in his hands, and kissed her softly. After pulling apart, he said, "Everything's gonna be alright."

She nodded, burying her face in his chest.

They both knew everything was going to be alright anyway. After all, they were Rose Weasley and Scorpius Malfoy. And they could really fight the whole world; as long as they were together.

a/n: please don't favorite/alert without reviewing, thank you!