PLEASE READ: A lot of you mentioned that you were confused about what happened at the end of the previous chapter. I thought I'd clear that out before I went any further.
Do not worry if you don't know who Lancelot is. I will be explaining that in this chapter
Irwin Lancelot is Roslyn's father. In case you're wondering where you heard that name before, go back to chapter two.
At the end of the previous chapter, Rose felt someone was looking at her through the window, but before she could see who it was Roslyn's father introduced himself as Irwin Lancelot.
AND THIS WAS AND WILL BE A ROSE SCORPIUS STORY TILL THE END:D , unless I get hoards of reviews asking me to do otherwise, like with my prev Rose/Scopr story-left unsaid.
Sorry for the confusion, I guess I'm a really bad writer.
Author's note: A lengthier chapter as promised. Feel free to comment on both the positives as well as the negatives of the chapter:). And a warm hug to all those who reviewed. If this chapter is good, its because of your encouragement.:D
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Rose was positive someone was watching her this time, but just as she was about to look at the person's face outside the window, she heard Roslyn's father introducing himself.
"I am Irwin. Irwin Lancelot,"
Rose swiftly turned around as she heard the name 'Lancelot'.
"Please be seated," said the old man kindly.
Scorpius took his seat immediately while Rose, still in shock, took a while to do the same. Mr. Lancelot immediately went to the kitchen to order some refreshments for their guests while Roslyn followed her father.
Scorpius was too busy ogling at the young witch who had walked out of the room to notice Rose's panic filled expression.
"Malfoy, we better get out of here," she said, slightly breathless.
"Why?" asked Scorpius in surprise, turning around to face Rose.
"I've heard his name before," she said.
"Weasley. I know you're a bookworm. The whole of Hogwarts did. So you can keep your tidbits to yourself,"
"Malfoy. I'm serious. I swear I've heard that name before," she pleaded.
When Scorpius saw how grave Rose looked, he asked,
"What do you mean?"
"Back in the Dept Of Mysteries, me Al and James were looking around to see how many wizards were surrounding the place. When we were sneaking around the prophecy room we heard two wizards talking about a recent prophecy that had been made by Sybil Trewlaney. They said the prophecy's contents were baffling,"
Scorpius was suddenly reminded of Professor Trewlaney popping up in the middle of his dreams.
"Apparently the prophecy was concerning two people and one of them had to vanquish the other,"
"Who was it? Scorpius Malfoy and Rose Weasley? Coz frankly I didn't need a prophecy to tell me that," he joked, causing Rose to give him a threatening look.
"Sorry. Go on. Who were the two people?" he asked a bit more seriously.
"One of them was you and the other was a guy named Lancelot," she said worriedly.
Scorpius staggered at having heard this and replied,
"Me?"
When Rose nodded, he looked a bit scared and waited a while to comprehend this informationo before asking
"So you think this old man is the Lancelot the prophecy was referring to?" asked Scorpius dubiously.
"Not unless you take monthly vacations to the seventeenth century and defeat random bad guys," she replied.
"What about his first name. Are you sure you heard the name Irwin?"
"Well I don't remember hearing the first name. But who else could it be. Don't you think it's a weird coincidence that we ended up in 1690 to be saved by a man named Lancelot?"
Scorpius after musing for a while replied,
"Nah. I don't think it's him. I mean, how could he be evil? He runs an apothecary in town. And look at how nice he is and everything,"
"You mean how nice his daughter is?" asked Rose raising an eyebrow.
"What does his daughter have to do with anything? I just don't see how such a respectable man could end up being bad," said Scorpius justifying himself.
"There have been other respectable wizarding families who have been known to have dabbled in the Dark Arts," she said, while putting an unusual stress on the words 'other respectable'.
"And what's that supposed to mean?" asked Scorpius riling up, once he figured out what Rose was hinting at.
"Malfoy, the only reason you don't want to believe he is evil is because you are smitten with his daughter," she remarked while getting angry.
"I have no idea what you're talking about Weasley," he said as he got up to inspect the room, the purpose of which was to hide his flushed face..
"Besides, look at this place. Does it look like the home of a Dark Wizard?" he asked, while looking around the study.
"I don't know. I've never been to the Malfoy Manor before," teased Rose.
"Watch it Weasley," shot Scorpius.
"Look, all I'm asking you to do is be a bit careful. Can you do that? And it will be better if we didn't tell him about the prophecy. And that includes keeping it from his daughter as well. Just in case you feel like showing off," she warned.
"Yeah, telling a girl you're destined to vanquish her father is the best way of winning her heart," he scoffed while perusing the books lined up in the shelves.
Mr. Lancelot soon returned to the room and provided them with tea and biscuits, which both Rose and Scorpius pounced over hungrily. After settling down, Mr. Lancelot began to discuss the main issue at hand.
"So what brings you here my children? How did you reach your present state?"
Scorpius began narrating everything that happened while Rose listened from the side, seeming cagey. Rose was still doubtful of the man, but now that Scorpius had mentioned it, she wasn't even sure if she had heard the name right. It could have been a Lambert or a Landler. Besides, Scorpius was right. A man who would give up a beloved profession in order to take care of his child couldn't exactly belong to the list of dark wizards. But she still felt it was prudent to keep the prophecy from him.
Rose returned her thoughts to the present and saw Scorpius describe what happened once they went through the veil with great enthusiasm. She could tell that he was being extremely formal in his manner of speaking to try and impress Roslyn, who was looking at him with equal admiration and interest.
Rose's initial impressions on Roslyn changed as she saw her sitting on the sofa nearby with her hands in her lap, looking suave and naive. That's not how a young girl should look like, she thought while scowling. She was of course way prettier than Rose could ever hope to be. What else does she have to do except powder herself all day, she thought scornfully.
And it was customary for the Malfoy to sniff after the prettiest looking girl in his radar. He would date a stick with a pumpkin on its head, if the pumpkin wore makeup. Rose scowled as she saw Roslyn laughing at one of Scorpius's jokes and Rose was left wondering which part of being stuck in the seventeenth century and being almost burnt to death was funny.
Once Scorpius finished talking, Mr. Lancelot lay back on his arm chair and contemplated everything he heard. Scorpius and Rose looked at each other, hoping the erudite wizard could help them out of this mess.
After a long while Mr. Lancelot lifted his head back up and said
"I'm going to need more time children. What you have done is violate two forces of magic which does not reciprocate well when tampered with – Time and Death,"
"When you turned the time turners back, you were half way through dying. Should you return to where you came from, I cannot guarantee whether you will be alive. It will ultimately depend on the prodigious question of who is more powerful -Time or Death?"
Scorpius and Rose gulped and looked at the man desperately.
"'If it is Time, then you shall have nothing to worry about. You may be able to return to an instance before you fell through the veil. If the force of death is more powerful, I am afraid the chances of survival, should you return, will be very dim,"
Rose was almost on the verge of tears. All three of them apart from Mr. Lancelot looked grim at what the old man had said.
"As for how you will be able to return, I cannot yet tell you. Although I assure you, I will do my best to help you in this situation. I still communicate quite frequently with the teachers at Hogwarts. I am sure the Headmaster will provide us with his assistance in this matter. But you will have to bear the inconvenience of staying in the past till we find the appropriate solution,"
Scorpius jumped at this opportunity to answer "That's okay, Sir. We assure you, we won't find it inconvenient. In fact I'm already loving the serene austerity of the country side,"
Rose couldn't believe what she was hearing. The old man had just given them a 10 percent chance of making out of here alive and Scorpius was occupied with trying to impress the brown haired witch.
"In that case, you can consider this place your abode, until we find a means for your safe return back home, for we shall provide you with everything you need while your stay here," he said gleaming.
"Rosie," he called out.
Both Rose and Roslyn answered his call,
"Uhm sorry. That's what my parents call me," she said, slightly embarassed and all of a sudden she felt an overwhelming sadness engulf her, as she thought of her parents and as to whether she would ever see them again.
"That's all right dear," said the old man as he walked out of the room giving out instructions to Roslyn.
Scorpius got up to follow them and as he reached the door he saw that Rose was still seated, lost in her thoughts and looking mournful. He moved towards her and said
"Uhm. I think they want us to go with them, to show us around,"
"I'll…I'll be with you in a few minutes," her voice clearly breaking, and her brown eyes welling up with uninvited tears as she thought of the last rage filled words she spoke to her mother.
Scorpius stood there for a while unsure of what to say. He looked over her shoulder, his mind brimming with soothing words, but his pride and her hostility stood in the way.
"Alright," he finally said and walked out of the room silently.
They were shown around the house, starting from the beautiful exteriors, the sunlight lighting up the rows of roses out on the porch. Rose had only read about these kind of country settings in her textbooks. But like Scorpius said, she was beginning to fall for the quintessential beauty of a puritan village.
Inside the house, they were both shown their separate rooms. It seemed they had used magic to enlarge a few portions of the house, since it seemed smaller on the outside.
Meanwhile Scorpius was getting along more than well with Roslyn. He seemed to have shifted from the awkward gear to the slick mode and she was falling for it like all the other girls Rose had witnessed in this age old act.
"This is your room. I hope you find it suits your taste," she said sweetly.
"I love it. It's simply stupendous,' remarked Scorpius.
"I am really glad you liked it. I was apprehensive about your tastes, which is not acquainted with our quaintness,"
"Oh I love old fashioned things. Our Manor is filled with antiques and has an old fashioned architecture. I belong to one of the most egregious pureblood families, The Malfoys," he vaunted proudly.
"What did your father do for a living, Mr. Malfoy?"
"He worked in the Ministry of Magic," he stated pompously.
"That is quite a respectable occupation," she replied. Rose, meanwhile, decided to but in.
"Oh yes it is, indeed. But Scorpius's family used to have another wonderful profession. Something his father used to partake in, right from when he was in school. Why don't you tell her abut that Scorpius? The young lady would be really impressed," she said to him, referring to his father's death eater activities.
"Oh please do tell me about it," said Roslyn with great interest.
Scorpius, swearing at the Weasley in his mind, replied.
"We uhm...were quite good with collectibles. We used to have a business based on that," replied Scorpius uncomfortably, while Rose added.
"In fact their valuables were so good that the Ministry took an interest in it and hoarded it all up themselves. My grandfather was the one who took care of the transactions. You must have received a good amount for that in return. Right Scorpius?" asked Rose faking a curious expression.
Scorpius knew she was referring to the raids that had been carried out when his father was young, confiscating all the dark objects that had been hidden in their Manor. And worse it was the Weasley's grandfather who had carried out the raid.
"How interesting. It seems you come from quite an affluent family," remarked Roslyn oblivious to the jibes the two rivals were throwing at each other.
Scorpius once again took the opportunity to speak boastfully of his family while Roslyn continued with her panegyric responses.
Rose gawked at the pair in front of her, wondering how anyone could withstand such a high level of sweetness, without getting diabetic. When she started to find the entire conversation too cloying she remarked,
"Roslyn. Forgive me for interrupting. But do I have a room as well?"
Roslyn apologized for making her wait and soon guided her into her room.
Rose's room, which as expected was much smaller than Scorpius's, had a wonderful view from its windows. She opened it to let in the breeze, wandering the outdoors with her eyes. She suddenly felt a whim to walk outdoors and experience some fresh air and asked permission from Mr. Lancelot to take a stroll outside. She got dressed in the traditional 17th century garbs, in case someone were to spot her, took one look outside the window and left her room.
Within minutes she was outside relieving her mind of all the worries they had entangled themselves in. What will be, will be she recalled her father's words. She started moving towards the woods from where they had arrived. It seemed she was following a strange pattern in the path she was taking.
She turned around the corner and stopped abruptly. In three steps she tackled the person that had been spying on her, who was hiding behind the bushes, toppling the wand out of his hand and using an anti apparition charm on him. She had spotted him from her window above and as soon as she saw a wand in the person's hands she decided to take him on.
Pointing his own wand at him, Rose spoke in a menacing voice.
"Who are you and why were you following us?" she shouted.
The person standing at the end of the wand looked gruff and wild. His hair was dangling loosely on both sides, giving him a primitive look. He had a pair of dark black eyes that struck a deep knell inside Rose as he stared at her. He looked no older than eighteen and yet he was more masculine than any boy she had ever seen.
His clothes were torn and dirty, his stubble adding to the dirt that had darkened his face. Overall, he was one of the most feral and uncivilised beings Rose had ever laid eyes on. An intimidating image, she was getting rather afraid of, and had she seen him properly before she exploded, she wouldn't have dared raise her voice.
"I am Galehaut. William Galehaut," he replied in a deep baritone voice that trembled Rose's inner chords. She was getting increasingly revolted by this wild being and wanted nothing more than to get away from him and call for help. But she realized she wouldn't need to do so when he added,
"I am Mr. Lancelot's nephew,"
Author's note: So what did you think? I hope this chapter was long enough. And I know that the quality of this chapter might not be up to mark, since I put it out in a rush, but you are welcome to criticize it.