AN: Hope you enjoy this! The feedback I've received has really helped me to stay excited about this story! The next chapter will be up next week… Also, I've upped the rating a little due to a tiny bit of swearing.
Chapter 3: Fourth Year
For the first term of fourth year they are in a holding pattern. They visit Hogsmead with Al, play exploding snap in the common room and bicker over group homework assignments. But Scorpius begins to feel the strain of clinging to what was normal two years before when they have outgrown it. Something has to change eventually.
He sees the way other boys are starting to look at her. She is tall and willowy with subtle curves that are easily lost in school robes, but all too obvious in her form fitting duelling uniform. Joining Professor Longbottom's duelling club had been his idea, but he regrets it as he watches Rose laugh with O'Brian after winning their gruelling 10 minute showdown.
"That was some quick wand work Weasley." O'Brian tells her.
"Thanks" She replies, smiling cheekily at him.
"What was that hex you used right before you disarmed me?"
"Phobios?"
"It barely grazed me and I was suddenly filled with inexplicable terror."
"Barely grazed you? I have better aim than that."
"Where'd you learn it?"
"Are you, Demetri O'Brian, asking me to give away the secret to my signature move?" She asked flirtatiously.
"A fair exchange, I think, for demolishing my reputation with a flick of your wand." Scorpius almost loses his dinner when he witnesses O'Brian attempting a roguish wink.
"I shall make my reparations by teaching you the correct wand movement for your shield charm."
"She injures me even as she tries to patch my battle wounds!" He pronounces to the rest of the room. Scorpius is sure he is now the only one who is listening, but the showmanship of this boy is grating. Who does he think he is?
Rose just laughs and begins to demonstrate the correct wand movement for a basic shield. After a few minutes of (feigned) poor wand work Rose is pressed close to O'Brian, gripping his hand over his wand to move it for him. Rose can't see his facial expression but O'Brian is smirking like a fool. Scorpius decides it's past time to break up their tête-à-tête.
He walks towards them, eyes fixed firmly on Rose. She takes a self-conscious step backward when she catches sight of him. He raises an eyebrow.
"We're supposed to meet Al in the library at eight." She stiffens at his hard tone, unsoftened as it is by the usual nicknames, and narrows her eyes slightly.
"Go on without me, I'll come up when I'm done."
They stare each other down for a stretched moment before he spins on his heel and strides from the room. She turns back to O'Brian, but all the flirt and fun has drained from her. His sloppy wand work disappears quickly.
They ignore each other through their study session with Al, who becomes frustrated with their lack of focus. He abandons them to flirt with James's new girlfriend in an effort to provoke James. As soon as they're alone at the table Rose throws down her quill and folds her arms across her chest, a classic Rose battle pose.
"What shitty flavour bean is that then?" She demands. This is Potter/Weasley slang for 'your facial expression is unacceptable to me.'
"It's the same flavour you're eating, if I were to hazard a guess." She hates how superior he becomes when he's angry.
"Just spit it out!"
"The bean, or the supposed problem?"
"Merlin, you're a prat!"
"Yes, I am, and I'm done with runes." He spits, shoving parchment and books carelessly into his bag.
"You'll get detention if Babbling checks homework tomorrow."
"I'll take the detention. Filch is better company than you are anyway."
"Fine! Piss the professor off. I don't care. I'll be glad to be rid of you!" She hisses. "But don't you pretend that this is somehow my fault! I've done nothing wrong!"
He slings his bag over his shoulder and turns away but then pauses. When he speaks it is to the runes shelves rather than to her.
"I think we should date other people." Then he walks.
They don't speak for three days. Al is under the impression that it is because Rose blames Scorpius for their low potions project mark. At the end of day three Rose corners him in the charms corridor before dinner. His defences are terribly low due to hunger and the fact that her robes are unbuttoned, revealing the dipping v-neck of the cardigan she wears beneath them. He sighs and tries to walk by.
"Not now Weasley." She ignores him and grabs his arm.
"I'm trying to tell you that you were right."
He stops trying to detach her fingers from his forearm and looks up at her.
"Excuse me?"
"You were right." She repeats with no hostility. He finds this very confusing. His eyes narrow.
"About what exactly?" This is some kind of trap and he is about to fall strait into it.
"You know, about dating other people." She says earnestly. Then he realises this is not a trap. This is decidedly, terribly, ridiculously not a trap. Although that's not entirely accurate is it? It's his trap and he's tripped right into it.
She was supposed to object to the suggestion. She was supposed to feel as… as… whatever as he had felt when she was flirting with O'Brian. She was not supposed to agree. Merlin. This was what came of leaving such an idea free to run rampant in her convoluted mind. She's still talking and he can't think what more she could possibly have to say.
"… Victoire, we may as well date other people right?" He wants to go back in time and castrate Teddy Lupin before he ever lays a finger on Victoire Weasley.
"It'll be good for us. We'll get all the fighting and the breaking up and mistakes out of our systems. We'll practise on disposable people." Can she even hear herself? Disposable people? But she has that matter-of-fact tone in her voice that's telling him everything he needs to know. She is perfectly serious. His pride will not allow him to beg this woman-child to have him.
"Fine, it was my idea in the first place, let's date other people." He says, resigned, and then begins to trudge toward dinner.
"Hey Scorpius?" He looks over his shoulder at her. "You still want to kiss me though right?" The corner of his mouth tugs itself up into a sardonic smile.
"Still."
End Note: They were a little more grown up in this one and I'm a bit nervous about it. Please let me know what you thought! Special thank you to those who reviewed the last chapter: peacock33, ALIASTESIN, KnockturnSeller, youcunt and pinklongbottom.