"I don't know what you're so upset about," Scorpius snapped as he slammed the portrait hole shut. "I didn't ask him to come over and certainly didn't make him feel welcome."
"You think I'm mad because of Zabini?!" Rose shrieked. "Why don't you take you're head out of your arse and notice how you've been treating me all day. And then you have the NERVE to act all noble and save me like I should be grateful to you or something!"
"So you're saying you're angry because I protected you?"
"Protected…?" She raged, clenching her fists at her sides. "You are," She stopped to throw him against the wall. "A complete," She pushed him violently, "And total!" She screamed. "GIT!"
They didn't notice the Headmaster enter the room. Scorpius's cheekbones went from extremely white to hot pink as his steel colored eyes intensified in anger. Rose took a step closer, her face even with his shoulder as she glowered up at him. The heat between them electrified the room, as the tension grew almost to a boiling point. The Headmaster decided that would be the best time to interrupt them.
"I was going to come here and take the spell off," the Headmaster declared, a small frown falling on his face. "But it appears that you two could use a little more time. I will give you two an extra week I think."
"But Professor, next week is Easter!" Rose cried.
"Yes," He frown deepened, "You two should have thought about that."
Then, without another breath, the headmaster turned on his heel and walked out of their common room.
Rose's nostrils flared as her face went crimson in pure rage. She turned to Scorpius, and immediately began hitting him. Her hands swinging at him viciously she said, "THIS-IS-ENTIRELY-YOUR-FAULT!"
"OY! STOP IT!" He groaned as he tried to deflect her question. "YOU BLOODY BIRD!"
"This is your fault Scorpius!...You know what?!" She paused and stopped hitting him. Her lips thinning in a deathly calm. "It's actually my fault. I apologize for thinking that you could actually be a fully functional human being! THAT IS MY ERROR!"
He scoffed and rolled his eyes at her, "Rose don't be an idiot."
"Me?! You must be barking if you think I'm an idiot! You're the one who's been acting like a git for no-good-reason!"
"I'm not having this argument with you-"
"Well that's too damn bad isn't it?" Rose shouted, "Because you don't have a choice. We are going to argue about this until you tell me what the hell is wrong with you."
And then he laughed. He was still furious with her, but he couldn't, even for a second, stop the burst of laughter that escaped through his pursed lips. When she was angry her eyebrows puckered together, and she pursed her lips tightly. It was refreshing what a force of nature she was, so stubborn and completely unyielding to him. Most people just relented and moved on from whatever tricky subject was causing the tension, but not Rose Weasley. She didn't back down from anything.
"You're ridiculous."
"Me? I'm ridiculous?!" She let out a strangled scream, "I could kill you!"
Scorpius walked up the girls staircase shaking his head with laughter.
"Just WHERE do you think you're going?" She demanded, her hands firmly on her hips.
"Didn't you say you wanted to shower after Hogsmeade?"
Rose had long forgotten about this conversation and found she was thoroughly caught off guard. "What?"
"Come on." He smirked, "I'm sure you can bicker with me after, but if I have to hear you go on and on I might as well be clean."
Trailing after him, her face became beet red. With every step she took another jolt of fury scorched through her body. She changed into her swimsuit in warped speed, using her rage to fuel her energy. By the time they got into the shower Rose had figured out a plan. It was a simple plan, but it was all she had to work with.
He got in first and turned on the water, unassuming with a smirk still planted on his face. As soon as she got into the shower, she locked the door and cornered Scorpius with her wand pressed against his bare throat.
"Weasley! What the hell-?!" He yelped.
"No!" She cut him off viciously, "You either tell me what your problem is or you stay in here indefinitely. Your choice Malfoy."
He looked at her face and lost his nerve. Glancing away from her he lied, "It's nothing."
"What did I do?" She asked in the smallest voice, her brown eyes softening. "It's clearly something I did, since it was directed at me."
"It's not you…. I was pissed at Collin. It was nothing."
"But why?! He was just joking around! Why did it bother you so much?!"
"I didn't like the way he was talking to you alright?!" Scorpius answered bluntly without thinking.
Rose froze. Her eyes widened, and her chest rose and fell dramatically as hot water dripped down the top of her naked back, glided under her baiting suit top to the peak of her baiting suit bottom. Her hand slowly dropped from his neck, her grip on her wand loosing as her breaths became heavier.
Completely out of his element, Scorpius didn't understand the words that just came out of his mouth. He knew they were the truth as soon as he said them, but he had no idea he felt that way until just then. It made perfect sense, and yet it made no sense at all. He glanced down at her and felt his heart catch in his throat. Her red hair was curling up from the water and steam of the shower. The mascara and eyeliner that had been tracing her eyes was dripping down her face. She looked like a lovely mess, and the longer he took in her soft gentle little lips the more he wanted to do something he couldn't believe he was thinking.
But he was thinking it.
The feeling built from the depth of his stomach and trickled up, spreading across his chest and consuming him. He had felt this way before, when he had kissed a girl for the first time many years ago, but this was completely different. This time he had snogged a girl before. He had gone through the steps and wasn't supposed to feel anything new or special about any of it. But at that moment he did. It was concentrated and stronger than anything he'd ever felt. The feeling knocked him off his feet, and made him unsteady.
Scorpius always felt he had a firm grip on his life. He knew where he wanted to do, and he knew exactly how to get there. Until this situation with Rose he never considered traveling or doing something based on impulse. He always thought everything had to be planned and scheduled for it to work. But nothing, absolutely nothing between him and this slender ginger girl was planned and it excited a part of him he didn't know existed.
Slowly his hand went to the hand that held her wand, guiding the hand down to her side. Then, it was as if his body was moving of it's own accord. His right hand slipped behind the small of her back tentatively, and as it held her it brought her closer to him. They were inches away from each other, but neither one of them closed their eyes as they wandered well past just an experiment into a whole new place neither one of them had really been before.
Rose shifted onto her tiptoes, and Scorpius squeezed her body into his as their lips met. A jolt shot through them both, and within a second it went from a very gentle kiss to a full on snog. Her arms wrapped around his neck, and his arms skimmed up her body pressing every part of her anatomy to his. Every touch was investigational, but always found great results. Soon their lips parted and Rose was roughly pushing him against the shower wall. Their breaths were searing and passionate, as the air around them grew hotter and hotter with every touch.
Soon Scorpius's hormones kicked into overdrive and he couldn't hold back any longer. He propelled her forward, into the jets of scorching water against the opposite barrier. His lips went after hers hungrily and her hands tangled themselves in his bright drenched hair. They might have kept going, all of the hate and anger they'd been building for seven years was right there on the surface burning them both alive, but they didn't get the chance to find out.
"Rose!" Her cousin Lucy called, her little stern voice managing to cut through the sound of the shower and slice through their embrace. "Rose! I'm waiting in your room okay?!"
Rose groaned and yelped as she and Scorpius pulled away from each other. Her arms were still draped on his shoulders, her body still cradled in his arms as he let out a heavy sigh and leaned his recently shaven jaw against her temple.
"I hate your cousin," He declared honestly.
"Everyone does," She whimpered resting her head on his bare chest.
For a few seconds they stood there. Unsure of how to act, but then Rose laughed. "You know, we might want to actually wash."
"Fine," He handed her his shampoo and lowered his head, "I would like a Mohawk today please."
She giggled, despite the fact…despite everything, she couldn't help herself, she giggled like a school girl and didn't care what it looked or seemed like. And then she expertly arranged his hair like she did before, with a sappy grin on her face. When she finished he rinsed it out and politely moved out of the way. Rose grabbed a handful of shampoo and applied it to her severally tangled hair.
"I'm wearing a swim suit you know." She told him amused by his behavior. "You don't have to face the other way."
Scorpius chuckled, his back muscles tensing as he did. "Believe me, I really do."
She laughed and finished washing her hair, when she finished, she poked his back. He jumped in surprise and spun around. "All done?"
"Yep." Rose grabbed her wand. "Let's go."
"As you say Ms. Weasley." Scorpius smiled vibrantly, his whole face beaming.
Rose changed into her clothes, and so did Scorpius. But as soon as they opened the door to Rose's bedroom the natural alignment they'd discovered vanished. As soon as Lucy's judgmental eyes landed on Scorpius, he felt a shiver of self-consciousness that melted all the warmth the shower had provided him away until he was back to the way he was before they returned to the common room.
A similar effect occurred with Rose, and she subconsciously shifted away from him, wrapping her arms around herself despite the fact that she was more covered now than she was just a moment earlier. Her fingers dug into her baggy white charms club shirt as her hair dripped down her neck.
"Why were you both in there?!" Lucy asked her voice raised in alarm.
Rose blushed, but she raised her eyebrows and kept her voice casual. "We have to shower sometime Luce."
"But…But-!" She protested fiercely.
"We wore swim suits, relax." Rose sighed avoiding any further questions, "Now what's so urgent? It's nearly curfew Luce."
"Didn't you get the letter?" She asked, her eyebrows knitting together.
Rose rubbed her eyes. "Look, I've had a really long day. So if you could just get on with it-"
"We're having a huge family gathering for Easter."
"Don't we always?" Rose groaned.
Lucy shook her head. "No, I mean the ENTIRE family."
"Oh Merlin," Rose gave Scorpius cringe. "So…Malfoy will be there too Luce."
Her eyes darted over to him in suspicion. "What do you mean? The spell should be lifted in two days!"
"We fucked up, and we're stuck like this for another week-"
"YOU WHAT?" Lucy screamed, rising off Rose's bed. "Rose! How could you be so irresponsible?"
Rose rolled her head back and let out a short breath of irritation. "It's already done Luce. I can't do anything about it. I will write mum and dad to…actually I'll write mum and tell my father…never."
"Your father is going to kill you Rose Weasley," Lucy told her scolding.
"You overreact Lucy. My father's blood pressure will rise, I will calm him down, we will get through the week and everything will be fan-tastic." Rose pushed moved her to the door. "But for now I'm exhausted and I want nothing more than some sleep."
Lucy looked from Scorpius to Rose in completely and utter disbelief. She couldn't believe what she was seeing or hearing, but Rose was over Lucy and her appalled expression about the course of events.
"But-" Lucy began, but Rose, with Scorpius drifting behind her, ushered Lucy to the portrait hole and shoved her out.
Not looking at each other, they slipped into their individual sleeping bags, both of them acutely aware of how close they were to the other person.
"Goodnight Rose." Scorpius whispered, grinning in the darkness.
Rose snorted and said, "Night Scorpius."