7. Long Way to Happy

Author's Note: C'mon, subscribers! I love getting mails informing me of your loyalty, but it would be fabulous to meet you virtually as well. xD

And a quick question: Do any of you lovely readers actually WANT a smut scene for this story? I mean, I was totally planning on fitting one in here somewhere but if it's not wanted, I won't bother. It would still be rated M for language, I guess, if you don't- and I could always just do a little sexy outtake once it's finished.

Either way, read on and enjoy Noel's second unfortunate appearance.

The first weekend in November was a Hogsmeade trip. Everything soon faded back into normality after the baffling Halloween party; Rose and Scorpius settled back into the comfortable friendship, Roxanne bragged about winning the best costume award and the enchanted night seemed to feel so far away. The only thing that Rose regretted was her unfinished essay for Potions. She got her first detention of the year, and endured it miserably. Still, she supposed, the night had been worth it. Quite a lot of things seemed worth her trouble these days.

Rose was the first to reach the courtyard with her permission slip on the seventh of November. After a week of newly gruelling lessons – the school's professor's seemed to be cramming knowledge into their students early on so that they could focus on revision for exams after Christmas – she was glad to be out in the fresh air. The weather had rapidly declined, so she was wrapped up in jeans, a blue jumper and a white body warmer. Her red and yellow Gryffindor scarf was wound around her neck, clashing horrifically with the calm colours of her outfit. It was cold, but better than the suffocating heating system of the castle. With cool pale hands, she gave her slip to the Headmistress.

Before long, people started to fill the little space. Rose saw Lily bound in, wearing the red button-up coat that Roxanne had bought her for her birthday a couple of days before, and waved pleasantly. The girls met, greeting each other with a hug before launching immediately into a quick gossip.

"Blonde!"

Rose turned at the seemingly random call, and raised an eyebrow.

"It doesn't have the same effect as Red, does it?" Scorpius asked, approaching her. He was wearing black jeans and a burgundy jumper, his floppy grey hat on his head. "I'm running out of nicknames for you. Damn it, I might actually have to start calling you by your real name if I'm not careful."

"Hey, Scorpius," Rose greeted with a chuckle. Her blonde hair had drawn mixed reactions out of her family. Louis, Roxanne and Lily liked it, but James and Albus disagreed and Hugo just found it weird. He couldn't get used to seeing his sister without the flames atop her head.

Rose glanced sideways at Lily. Though she was pleased to see her friend, she was nervous as to how her cousin would react. Lily just smiled pleasantly at Scorpius, though, before scanning the other students for her own friends.

"So... you still friendless for this Hogsmeade trip?" Scorpius asked offhandedly.

"Yeah, pretty much," Rose laughed. "Why, do you want to go with me?" Her eyes glittered mischievously.

"Wow, way to beat me to the punch," Scorpius replied, before adding with completely put-on nonchalance, "But, yeah, totally, I guess I could hang around with you today."

"I'm so honoured!" was Rose's reply as she rolled her eyes.

The pair took off at a fast walk when the gates were opened, leading the giggling, chatting and stumbling group of students down to the village of Hogsmeade. She always felt a desperate longing for each of these trips, but when she reached the village she could never really think of anything to do. Her routine was simple: a trip to Honeydukes for midnight snacks; a visit to see Uncle George at the small Weasley's Wizard Wheeze's branch in Hogsmeade, if he was there (he was often at the main store in Diagon Alley, so if he wasn't present she'd have a quick chat to Verity, the manager); a quick browse around the clothes stores followed by a couple of butterbeers in The Three Broomsticks. Maybe a trip with Scorpius could make her do something a bit different.

"Your scarf looks ridiculous," Scorpius suddenly commented, taking a quick look at Rose out of the corner of his eye.

"Uh- well- excuse me!" Rose spluttered, her hands automatically rising to clutch at the warm material. "I'll have you know that, well-!" She paused to look at him through narrowed eyes. "So does yours!"

Scorpius fell silent, and then looked comically between his scarf and Rose.

"See?" Rose said, raising one eyebrow as they walked along.

Scorpius paused, considering something, before venturing, "Swapsies?"

"Definitely," Rose said, slipping her red and yellow scarf over her head and trading it for Scorpius' blue and grey one. As she wound it around her neck she inhaled the foreign scent of Scorpius Malfoy. She couldn't pinpoint what it smelt like, only that it reminded her of him. "So, where are you taking me this Hogsmeade trip?" she asked, smiling coyly.

"Ah, I don't know- where do you wanna go?"

Rose groaned. "I hate decision-making!"

"Well, I need to go to the post office at some point. I've got a letter home I need to post." As far as Rose knew, letters were the only way that Scorpius and his parents kept in touch. "And Honeyduke's is a must."

"What about the Shrieking Shack?" Rose asked in an attempt to deviate Scorpius from the norm.

"They're renovating it," he told her as they reached the entrance to Hogsmeade. "It's being turned into Hogsmeade's first hotel, or something."

"No way!" Rose argued. "It's, like, Hogsmeade's biggest tourist attraction? Who's going to pay a sickle each to come and look at a hotel?"

"Nobody," Scorpius immediately replied, "but hundreds of people will pay ten Galleons a night to sleep in one."

"Good point."

Without even really thinking about it, Rose followed Scorpius to the post office. It was a huge building, six or seven stories high and, upon entering, the first thing she noticed was the unpleasant smell. The second thing was the copious amount of owls that sat, perched in named, colour-coded shelving units. Feathers and droppings covered almost everything- the staff were forced to work beneath a wooden canopy of a structure, and carried large umbrellas when they moved to and from the shelves. Scorpius took an umbrella from one of the many stands by the entrance, and gently – almost hesitantly – steered Rose closer to him by the waist until she was under cover. She noticed that he didn't look at her when he touched her, and wondered again if he found it weird.

They posted the letter. Another thing that Rose noticed was that Scorpius effortlessly paid extra – almost without second thought, it seemed – for first class. The first class owls were sleek, black and nasty-looking. Rose's family always used the scruffy-looking brown owls. Their services were free. Even if your mail did occasionally get lost – occasionally meaning ninety percent of the time, of course – then perhaps that letter just wasn't meant to be sent, her father reasoned.

"Don't you have your own owl?" Rose asked, once they were back in the busy Hogsmeade streets. The unspoken 'you're rich enough to' lingered in the air.

"Nah," Scorpius replied, starting off in the direction of Honeydukes. "I don't do pets. Always forget to feed them and give them general tender loving care."

Rose snorted, unsurprised. "I'm just going to pop down to Gladrags Wizardwear, okay? Meet you back here in ten." She needed a new school shirt, and thought she might as well buy herself a new one with her own money instead of telling her family and getting one of Louis or James' old ones- they were always way too baggy for her. In the shop, she purchased two new shirts for a few sickles. They weren't Hogwarts-made ones, but much more fitted ones with three quarter sleeves. Roxanne wore similar, and they hugged her figure stunningly. Not that she and Roxanne were in competition for looks, of course, Rose thought. Her cousin was annoyingly gorgeous.

Once she was done, she made her way back to Honeydukes. She saw her cousin, Albus, on the way, and waved. Scorpius was sat on a bench outside, searching through a gold plastic bag with the famous chocolatier's name written across the front. She greeted him again quickly, and sat down beside him. He held out a big bar of Honeydukes' special extra creamy milk chocolate. She stared at him.

"Well, go on then. Take it," Scorpius said, clearly feeling a little awkward.

"What, that's for me?" Rose asked, blue eyes widening. She held her hands out, but only to shake them defensively. "No, no, I can't accept that."

"Why?" the blond boy asked. "It's only chocolate. Go on, Rosie. Indulge."

Hesitantly, she took it. "I didn't have you pinned as one for gifts, Scorpius Malfoy."

"Guess you learn something new every day, then, Rose Weasley," he replied, getting a bar for himself out of the bag and unwrapping it. His grey eyes shone with amusement as he took a bite.

"Thanks, anyway..." she added as an afterthought, smiling.

They ate in quiet for a moment, silently observing their busy, bustling surroundings. A particular group of people caught their attention. A group of students stood by the grass in the space between The Three Broomsticks and the post office, leaning against a brick wall and chatting. They looked old, seventh years, and some of them were familiar. Suddenly, a shorter figure with black hair rushed up the centre. The Red Sea of seventh years parted immediately, revealing James in the very middle. Albus – the shorter figure – hurried up to him and said something. It looked urgent. Rose was worrying about what it was until James looked up from his brother and straight at her. She saw him look to Scorpius with cold, calculating brown eyes and then back to her. His gaze was fierce and hateful, and she shivered.

"I didn't ask for it, you know."

She turned to look at Scorpius as he spoke.

"I don't like it." There was a baffling pause. "I'm not stupid- I know how much they hate me. And I didn't do anything to deserve it, Rose. Seriously." He looked at her and she saw vulnerability there, a deep vulnerability that she'd never seen surface before.

"I- I know you didn't," Rose said, her blue eyes impossibly wide. "Does it... does it bother you-?"

"Bother me?" Scorpius snorted. "Of course it fucking bothers me." Rose had noticed that, whenever he bared feelings that he considered weak, he seemed to swear, as if to toughen up his appearance. But he didn't fool her; she could hear the upset in his voice.

"You should ignore them," she told him. "If they're thick enough to despise you because of your name then they're not worth bothering with."

"That's easy for you to say, Rose," he snapped back. "You're one of them. You don't have to endure the lunchtime duels whenever McGonagall's not looking."

His words stung her harshly. "I'm not one of them," she mumbled back, clutching the chocolate bar in her hands fiercely.

"You are. Maybe you're not as much a prejudiced, arrogant twat as the rest of them are, but you're still one of them. If it came down to it, you'd choose..." He cut off.

"What?!" Rose said, her tone becoming as harsh as his all of a sudden. "I'd choose what? Them, over you?" She thought she saw Scorpius actually flush for a second. "Well, right now I probably would- they're not the ones calling me an arrogant, prejudiced twat!"

Scorpius looked slightly guilty almost straight away. "I didn't mean it like that," he told her.

"You did," she told him, crossing her arms and dropping the chocolate onto the bench. "Or else you wouldn't have said it. I get that what they do pisses you off, but don't take it out on me."

Scorpius scratched the back of his blond head and began, "I'm sor-"

"Rosie Weasley, look at your hair!"

Rose, red and annoyed, turned her body on the bench. She scanned the crowded streets for the source of the voice, and saw a hand reaching above the bobbing heads to wave at her. Seconds later, a tousled and adorably handsome Noel Hunter stumbled out of the chaos to stand before her. "Phew, it's cold today, innit?" he said, pulling the green woollen hat he wore closer around his ears. Scorpius, beside Rose, watched him through emotionless – yet strangely hard – eyes.

"Look at you, though! A blonde! You're a stunner, Rosie, I'm telling you," Noel said, pulling her up from her bench and into his arms for a hug.

Rose fell into the hug, conscious the entire time of Scorpius' constant stare on her back. "Hey, Noel," she greeted awkwardly against his chest. "I didn't know you got days off for Hogsmeade trips."

"I don't," Noel laughed, loosening his grip on her so she could step away. "But Roxie asked me to come with her, so I thought: what the hell?" He chuckled again, and then cleared his throat to continue. "Everyone's in The Three Broomsticks, and apparently she wants to check out your hair or something to make sure it's still looking alright. Do you want to come back with me? They're all just up the road, and they're not sure how many drinks to order..."

Rose hesitated, taking an automatic glance at the blond boy on the bench behind her. He looked up at her coldly, all the regret and guilt that had been in his eyes when she was sure he'd been about to apologize gone now.

"Oh, I'm sorry," Noel said, giving Scorpius a little wave. "I didn't mean to interrupt. I can go up and tell them you're busy if you-"

"No," Rose snapped, cutting him off. "We're done here." She gave the Ravenclaw only one backwards glance as she moved quickly away down the cold street with Noel.

From his distance, Scorpius could see them as they resumed conversation, Noel affectionately plonking his green hat down on Rose's head and laughing as she squealed and fought to pull it off. He averted his gaze, focusing instead on the abandoned bar of Honeyduke's milk chocolate that she had left behind.