Chapter 11- Temptation


It was midnight. The full moon shone like a crystal ball high in the dark sky, giving the Black Lake a silvery glow. The cool breeze rustled her crimson hair as she took in her surroundings. She was sitting on a giant, yellow rubber duck, one leg on either side as if she were riding a horse.

A little way off to her left she sensed movement. She almost fell into the icy water in shock when she noticed a blonde boy, perched on a duck identical to her own, staring at her intently.

"Rose…" he whispered.

"Scorpius!" she gasped. "What are you doing here? What am I doing here?"

"Shh, don't fret, my love," he murmured, reaching out his hand towards her. "Come closer…"

She looked at the mass of black water surrounding her. Swimming was not an option. "How?" As soon as the question escaped her lips, a steering wheel appeared attached to the rubber duck's neck, very similar to the ones that came with WizKart. She steered it until they were side by side.

"Lovely," he said happily. He whipped a flower out of thin air and tucked it behind her ear. "A rose, for my glorious Rose."

"Er, thanks," she mumbled. "Corny, but kinda cute."

"My dearest Rosalind, I am –"

"Rosalind? My name's Rose. Just Rose," she interrupted.

"I am thrilled to see you on this glorious night, Rosalind. You light up the night sky." He gazed into her eyes. "You are not merely pretty. You are not beautiful. You are… as radiant as the Sun."

He leaned towards her, breaking eye contact to glance at her lips. She felt herself tilt towards him automatically, their lips inches apart – when suddenly she was thrown backwards and landed with a painful

slap into the glacial water. She resurfaced, gasping for breath and trying desperately not to drown (she had never been a strong swimmer), when she spotted what had broken them apart: the Giant Squid, glaring at her murderously. It had curly dark brown hair and freckles scattered on its face.

"Stay away from my man!" it bellowed in a familiar voice. "Come on Scorpy, let's get away from her."

With a sweep of a tentacle, Scorpius was sitting on the Squid's back. He looked at Rose helplessly as he rode away into the distance.

"Scorpius!" she cried, swallowing a mouthful of water. "Come back!"

"Rose! Rose! Rose! Rose… wake up, you gingernut!"

Rose rubbed her eyes as she sat up in her bed. "Lizzie?"

"Ahuh. That's me."

"Did you just call me a gingernut?" she asked groggily with a hint of amusement in her voice.

"Maybe. What were you dreaming of?"

"Er… the Giant Squid," she replied, yawning.

"The Giant Squid," Lizzie repeated sceptically.

"Ah-huh. The Squid, eating a pie."

"Really? That's interesting, 'cause you kept saying 'Scorpius, Scorpius, wherefore art thou Scorpius?' Are you sure you weren't dreaming about something else?" Lizzie laughed.

"N-no! I didn't dream of him at all! I dreamt of a nice, warm, steaming apple pie. Speaking of apple pie, I could really do with some breakfast right now. Guess I better go get ready… bye!" she sprinted to the bathroom and hastily locked the door behind her.

She tried not to freak out about her dream. Random people appear in my dreams all the time, she reassured herself as she brushed her teeth. Professor Totty featured in one the other day, and I definitely do not have any weird feelings for her.

Rose rinsed her mouth out a few more times than necessary to shake off the strange thoughts of her professor.

Creepy visuals.

"I'm fine, honestly, Fabian," said Rose, freeing herself from her boyfriend's hold as they left the Muggle Studies classroom full of disgusted-looking students. "Just a little dizzy, but I'll be alright in a minute."

"You puked on my homework, in Professor Wright's top hat and on Bertie McGee's lap. That sounds worse than just 'a little dizzy' to me, Rose," he said, trying to wrap his arms around her shoulders again as they walked.

"It's not my fault I couldn't run out the classroom in time! Plus, the hat was just lying there, looking all clean and polished. It was practically begging to be covered in sick." She snorted, but regretted it when bile filled her throat.

He looked at her worriedly. "Okay, we really gotta get you to Pomfrey ASAP." He put a hand to her forehead to feel her temperature. "You look green."

She yanked his hand away. "Look, I told you I'm okay! I don't need to see the nurse, I'm fine. Just let me rest a second and I'm sure the moment will pass." She closed her eyes and breathed in and out deeply, pinching the bridge of her nose.

"If you'd just go see her –"

"I don't WANT to go to her, why can't you understand that?" she snapped irritably.

He jerked away involuntarily. "Sorry," he mumbled. "It's just – you don't look well."

"Thanks so much, you're such a charmer," she sneered. She stopped walking and slumped back against the wall to rest her head. "Look, maybe you should go back to class, and I'll just rest here for a bit."

"But he told me to take you to Pomfrey –"

"Please just go," she said weakly. She was feeling too low to care about sparing his feelings.

"But Rose, you're ill and–"

"I need to rest."

"You need to go to the hospital wing."

She turned away from him. The conversation was over.

"Get better soon," he said quietly after a while. He stuffed his hands in his pockets and slowly walked back down the corridor, turning back to look at her once with a troubled expression on his face.

Once he'd left she let out a long sigh. She was finally given some alone time, something that seemed to be a special privilege nowadays. He was always by her side, insisting on walking her everywhere, never giving her a moment of peace. It was a nice to be alone for a change.

A short while later, the bell rang to announce the end of the period. Rose was still leaning heavily against the wall, feeling a little less queasy than before but still dizzy.

What could have made her so sick? Maybe it was the suspiciously green-looking piece of toast Bertie had passed her at breakfast. She only ate it to avoid answering Lizzie's on-going questions about her dream. Plus, it didn't even taste so bad, even the green bits.

"Hey," a deep voice called from nearby.

Ugh, Fabian's back already, she thought.

She looked up and was surprised to see Scorpius instead.

"Of all the hundreds of corridors in this god-forsaken castle, he just has to come into mine…" she grumbled to herself.

"What was that?" he asked cheerily as he approached her.

"Nothing. Just wondering why Merlin hates me so much."

"Bad day?" he asked pityingly.

"You have no idea."

He shoved his hands in his robe pockets.

"So, what're you doing leaning against a dirty old wall, looking like you've just seen Voldemort return from the dead and perform a tap dance, whilst creepily twitching your eye?" he asked casually.

She didn't want to tell him she'd been sick. Hasty trips to the hospital wing were not on her agenda. "I'm fed up," she declared dramatically. "I'm fed up of class after class, endless homework and never getting any time to relax. It's all becoming too much, y'know?"

He nodded. "I know how you feel."

Rose looked up into his eyes for a second before quickly looking down at her shoes. A loose strand of her hair came loose and covered her eyes. Scorpius reached out a hand to gently tuck it behind her ear and she looked up at him again.

"Rose…" he began quietly, "do you really think of me as a brother?"

"Wha – I – uh –"

"I mean, I know I said I always wanted a sister, but I meant a really little one. Like, you know, a short one. You're, uh, quite tall."

She nodded lamely. He was moving his face closer to hers and her mind was getting all muddled- she didn't even notice all the people passing by. It felt like they were the only two people in the corridor.

She felt his hot breath on her mouth. "I don't really think of you as a sister," he breathed. She opened her mouth to reply.

He quickly pulled away and scrunched up his face. "Eugh, Merlin, you- you smell like puke."

She soon recovered from her state of shock and the tips of her ears went red. "Yeah, well, I've been sick," she tried to sound unaffected but her voice wobbled at the end. There couldn't be a worse feeling in the world than being sick. Perhaps the cruciatus curse, but still.

"Oh, well thanks for the warning," he said sarcastically, wiping at his mouth.

She stuck her tongue out.

He conjured her up a glass of water and passed it to her, which she took gratefully.

"Do you need to go to hospital wing?"

"NO!" she spluttered, getting water on her shirt. "I mean, no, I'm alright."

He narrowed his eyes. "What've you got against the hospital wing?"

"It's full of sick people. Illness. General unpleasantness. Ugh, it's not my scene," she said, shuddering.

Plus, she thought, it brings back bad memories. I haven't been in there since your Quidditch accident.

"The hospital wing doesn't bother me. You know, I was actually thinking for the last few days about becoming a Healer," he said slowly, gauging her reaction. "I was looking through a leaflet about the Ministry and it sounds pretty boring, being stuck in an office all day. I think I'd rather be doing something to help people, like maybe get a job at St Mungo's."

She nodded thoughtfully. "You'd make a good healer."

He laughed. "Thanks. You wouldn't."

She shoved his arm. "That's no way to treat a patient."

"You're my patient?" he said, raising an eyebrow.

"Yup, I'm your first one ever. Tell me, Healer Malfoy, how will you cure me?" she asked innocently. She was suddenly feeling a whole lot better.

"Let me think." He put an arm either side of her face against the wall, effectively trapping her. Her pulse instantly quickened. "A good diet is always important in order to be healthy. I say you meet me in the kitchens, ten o'clock tonight, and I can show you exactly how to do it right."

She felt herself blush and let her hair fall like a curtain around her face. Scorpius wasn't having that; he tenderly brushed it back from her face and forced her to look at him.

"Sound good to you?" he murmured.

Rose nodded. "Yeah, sounds great." She had no idea what she was agreeing to. She was too fixed on his eyes, trying to decide whether they were grey or a very light shade of blue, which were darkening with every second that passed.

He slowly stroked the side of her face with his finger, touching the faint outline of a dimple on her left cheek.

The gurgling liquids in her stomach exploded into thousands of little butterflies, fluttering around wildly. The skin he touched tingled pleasantly.

"I never knew you had a dimple," he muttered curiously.

His eyes suddenly rested on her lips. Rose waiting with bated breath, waiting for him to lean in even closer.

Lysander suddenly came down the corridor and wolf-whistled, giving Rose a cheeky wink as he passed them.

"Scorp," she whispered quickly, "Stop."

His eyes were glued to her mouth.

"Please." She had to drag her own eyes away from his mouth. "Remember Scarlett?"

Remember Fabian, who you treated terribly earlier? she added to herself.

"She doesn't need to know," he whispered back with a smirk.

"Scorp!" Rose said sharply.

He sighed resignedly and slowly took a step back, freeing her. "Alright."

Rose took a few more steps away from him to avoid temptation and folded her arms across her chest. He ran a hand through his hair.

"So, uh –"

"This has got to stop. It's not fair on Scarlett, on Fabian, nor me or you. It's got to stop," she said firmly.

"But, Rose, we can't help it. I just can't resist you."

She rolled her eyes but couldn't help the blush that crept up her neck. "Well we need to try harder to resist. How would Scarlett react if she found out about this?" she gestured between them. "I know for a fact that Fabian wouldn't be too happy."

Scorpius looked a little guilty. "You're right."

"Of course," she replied smugly.

Scorpius looked deep in thought for a few moments.

"I'll have to break up with her."

"I can't believe you actually admitted I'm right – what?" she cried.

"I've been thinking about doing it for a while," he admitted. "I feel more of a brotherly protection for her, you know? She's so naïve and vulnerable. I feel a need to protect her but not so much in a, er, romantic way. I just don't want her hurt."

For the second time that day Rose felt like she had fallen into the icy waters of the Black Lake.

"You're going… to break up… with Scarlett?" she asked, confused.

He looked at her inquisitively. "Yes, that's what I just said."

"Okay. But why?" she suddenly asked. "You seemed to really like her."

"Of course I like her; she's a really good person. I just don't like her in thatway, if you get me."

Rose continued to look dumbstruck- obviously a very attractive look.

"I know you don't particularly like her. You've made that obvious. But seriously, she's a nice girl. She just has a lot of emotions."

She stifled a giggle. "You can say that again."

Suddenly, a flying piece of parchment flew into the back of Scorpius's head and fell onto the floor. Grumbling, he picked it up and noticed the word 'Rose' was scrawled on the front.

"For you," he shrugged.

Rose immediately recognised her brother's untidy handwriting. It was hardly legible. She unfolded it and read the note:

Remember- Operation Scarlett will go ahead tonight. Be there or be square.

A/N: If you have a spare minute, leave me a review telling me what you thought. I love hearing your views :-)
p.s. I know, too many people like Scarlett considering she's all weird and bipolar. (Yes, she is bipolar, that's why her emotions are so extreme). But without getting to know her properly she just seems like a sweet, pretty girl who's on the Quidditch team. Kay? :D
p.p.s. sorry for the long wait! (of like, a week ;) ) next update will be quicker.