Star-Crossed Rivals

Rose and Scorpius were destined to hate each other. She was a Weasley, he was a Malfoy. Children of the longest-rivalling families in the Wizarding World. And when they're both at Hogwarts, it's bound to lead to chaos. Right? Definitely. And when both are sorted into their family houses, it's the same old story - Gryffindor vs Slytherin. But with Rose and Scorpius involved, things can never be so normal.

Rating: T

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or its characters. If I did, I would be rich and famous and blonde, meeting famous people. But sadly, it wasn't to be.

Soccergirl0809 - Haha, yes you areee :) Ahh, really :D Sorry for making her the 'baddie' then :S

UNDERLANDERfromtheOVERLAND - Aren't we all mad at her :')

AN: Hey, hope you're liking these? Well, anyway, this one's in Alexis' POV. I thought Rose's best (well, currently ex-) friend deserved a chance to get her point across. It's a long chapter this time! YAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY! :)

Enjoy!

Chapter Thirteen: A Whole New Rose

(Alexis POV)

Without Malfoy in her life, Rose was evidently not the same person anymore. He wasn't talking or looking at her in lessons; nor acknowledging her presence. And their little 'library sessions' (that had probably been going on since the beginning of the year) had stopped. The first week after the... um... 'incident'... Rose had sat patiently in the library, obviously hoping the Slytherin git would show up. He didn't.

She was suddenly not herself. I didn't like this new version of Rose. The Rose who didn't know how to have fun. The Rose who took insults to heart. The Rose who couldn't defend herself. The Rose who rarely spoke. She'd even stopped putting her hand up in lessons.

I grabbed her as we were going out of Potions yesterday. She tried to shake me off and continue on to the common room, but that only made me hold on more. She spun around, hurt and anger visible in her blue eyes. I'd seen hurt and anger there before, after every fight she'd had with Malfoy. She'd tried to cover it up with a determined smile. Not now. Those eyes stared coldly at me, as if wanting me to know what I'd done to her.

"Rose, listen to me," I quietly pleaded the girl who had used to be my best friend. I felt her stiffen, but it was a sign she wasn't going to leave. "Listen, I'm sorry! I'm sorry I spied on you like that! I'm sorry I've scared him off! But please talk to us. We all miss you Rose."

She simply blinked at me. "I'm still here," she said frostily. "And I can see you're sorry. But being sorry does nothing. And it certainly doesn't bring him back. He's nothing to me anyway."

And with that, she walked off.

I could tell she was lying. That's why she was new Rose. Because she liked Malfoy. I wasn't sure why, or if it was as a friend or something more. All I knew was, Scorpius Malfoy was certainly not nothing to Rose Weasley.

"Hey, Alexis!"

I turned around to face Ethan, Rose's rather nice friend in Slytherin (I wouldn't go as far as saying he was my friend too). "Hey, Ethan!" I said brightly, smiling at him. "What's up?"

He bit his lip, as if scared to tell me what was wrong. Because I knew, just by the look on his face that it had something to do with our mutual currently-distant redheaded friend.

"Have you seen her?" he sighed, running a hand through his already-tousled golden brown hair. His other hand rubbed his eyes tiredly. "She wasn't in our Ancient Runes class this morning. And she wasn't in Defence Against The Dark Arts either." I swore inwardly. I'd had to miss Defence Against The Dark Arts first thing, because I had to talk to Professor McGonagall (that talk about what you want to be when you leave Hogwarts, blah blah blah) and I didn't take Ancient Runes, I took Divination.

"You can't be serious!" I squealed, eyes widening. I began running my hands through my straight black hair. "No, you can't be! Rose would NEVER miss lessons! She loves them!"

"Hey, guys," Rochelle said, walking up to us, arm-in-arm with Alice. "Have you seen Rose anywhere? I don't remember seeing her in Defence Against The Dark Arts, but I was too busy talking to Lysander. I know it's our free period now and all, but me and Alice can't find her. We've checked in our common room, the library, even the Quidditch fields –" She saw the look on my face and a look of understanding appeared on her face. "She's... skipped lessons, hasn't she?"

Tears I hadn't even realised were in my eyes begun to trickle down my cheeks. Ethan put his arm around me and hugged me. Usually I would've jumped at any boy having their arms around me. After all, I'd broken up with Jason Smith a week ago. But now, I didn't even care. Rochelle and Alice hugged me too, so the four of us were having some sort of group hug. The old Rose would've burst out laughing and joined us if she saw. The thought only made me cry more.

"Albus!"
"Al!"

Our messy-haired friend spun around, a grin on his face as he saw us running towards him, but as he saw me, the grin dropped from his face and was replaced with a look of concern. "What's wrong, Lexi?" he asked, moving towards me and completely ignoring our other friends. His arms were around my body and he squeezed me tightly.

After what seemed like years, he pulled away and met my dark brown eyes with his emerald ones. "Rose is missing," I admitted, another tear running down my cheek. He immediately reached out, using his thumb to wipe it away. "She... she's skipped her morning classes and we can't find her anywhere."

Albus' face grew pale. I for a fact knew that despite 'not meaning to have favourites' (yep, Al's that nice) – Rose was his favourite cousin and person in the world. He loved Rose. I suppose it's because they're cousins and only have two months difference and they were practically brought up together. Not just that, but Rose isn't like her other female cousins. She doesn't care for make-up (well, apart from her recent love of lipstick), she doesn't flirt with boys – and she loves Quidditch.

Lily and Roxy were the only other Weasley (girl) cousins who played Quidditch – but they weren't half as good or driven as Rose was.

"Come with me."

We were all huddled into the Gryffindor boys' dormitories. Rochelle and Alice's noses scrunched up. Glad to see I wasn't the only one who thought it was a dump.

But it was Al's bellow that made us all jump in surprise. "What's up, Al?" Ethan asked, moving closer to see what's wrong.

He pointed to the scroll that was on his bed. "Rose was in here! And she saw the Marauder's Map! She could be anywhere right about now!"

"Here, take these," I said, handing forty posters to Rochelle and Alice, and keeping forty for myself. Eighty posters which we'd just made (actually, we made one, then duplicated them) which had our redheaded friend's picture on it, under the words 'HAVE YOU SEEN ROSE WEASLEY?' "Put them all around school."

Rochelle and Alice nodded and ran off, sticking posters here and there. I began running in the opposite direction, sticking posters on walls, doors, statues... we had to find Rose.

Ethan and Albus had alerted Lorcan, Lysander and Frank; and the five of them were checking all over school for our redheaded friend –

I suddenly ran headfirst into something hard. I reached out a hand to feel what it was. I'd thought it was a wall, but now I was feeling it, it was sturdy, but rather soft. Like... cashmere?!

My eyes snapped open, and I saw Scorpius Malfoy gazing down at me, a rather amused smirk on his face. Merlin! I'd just felt up Scorpius Malfoy! "Sorry, Malfoy!" I said. I could feel the heat rushing to my cheeks. "I thought you were a wall..." He laughed. The cold Prince of Slytherin actually laughed. It was a nice laugh too, deep and merry. "Well, just be thankful it wasn't Professor Longbottom, Thomas," he teased. "Imagine the reaction. And the letter you'd get sent home." I smiled, but couldn't laugh, as I remembered why I'd run into Malfoy in the first place.

"What are the posters for?" he asked, as if he'd been reading my mind. "Some charity event you Gryffindors have set –" He stopped as he caught sight of one in my hand. He took it from me and gazed at it, completely horrified. "Weasley's gone?" he said, his voice squeaky with shock. I nodded and immediately noticed the tears in his grey eyes.

I nodded and he bit his lip. "What can I do to help?" he said, fear and worry evident in his eyes. Wow. All this time I thought Malfoy was some insensitive git. I thought Rose cared more for him than he did for her. I thought he was just stringing her along and was secretly laughing behind her back. But now it was obvious. He cared. A lot. Maybe even more than Rose cared for him.

"Well, um," I said, suddenly less confident than I usually was. "You could help me put up these posters? Or you could go looking around the school for her? Ethan and stuff are doing the same. But Rose, wherever she is, was looking at the Maurad – Al's map, which shows the passages all around. She could be anywhere."

"You should go to Professor McGonagall," he stated clearly. My eyes grew wide, and he nodded determinedly. "She does really care about Rose, y'know. Throughout the time I've spent with her over the years, you can see McGonagall cares about her a hell of a lot. She'll let us go to Hogsmeade and put up posters there. She'll be found soon enough."

"That's a good idea, Malfoy," I said brightly, beaming at him. "Yeah! She'll be found soon enough!" I waved at him. "Well, I'd better be going, see you later –"

"Did you not hear what I said, Thomas?" Malfoy said, raising his eyebrows. He ran a hand through his platinum-blonde hair, giving me the sudden urge to do so too. "She'll let us to Hogsmeade. I'm coming."

I was so stunned by the fierceness and determination in his voice that I simply nodded and let him lead the way.

I stuck a poster on a lamppost and gave another to a passer-by. McGonagall had given us permission to go. In fact, she'd been horrified, and had made another fifty posters for us to stick up. We were missing our classes, but for once, I could tell Malfoy honestly didn't care.

"I think we s-s-should sp-plit up, M-M-Malfoy," I said shakily, rubbing my cold hands together. You cover the west side of the village and I'll cover the east. We'll meet back here in half an hour." The blonde boy nodded and went off, waving me goodbye.

I walked into the Three Broomsticks, to ask whoever was working there (Alice and Frank's mum Hannah was on holiday. Alice said she was thinking of selling the pub to Rosamerta – the old owner –'s niece, because she was finding it exhausting in her 'old age') if I could put a poster up on the window.

But that's when I spotted a familiar redhead slouched over the counter.

Malfoy entered the Hospital Wing, his blonde head bent. When I found Rose, she was cold and unconscious; so I immediately took her back to Hogwarts. Professor Zabini went out to find Malfoy in Hogsmeade and bring him back to Hogwarts, but I'd been the only one allowed in to see Rose so far. I doubt anyone else even knew, though they'd be missing their 'eye candy'.

I was sitting in a corner of the Hospital Wing, my legs crossed beneath me. I'd been crying before Malfoy came in. Rose was always the strongest of our group – brassy, bossy Rose, who was never affected by anybody. It hurt to see her weak and fragile.

It became obvious that Malfoy didn't even notice I was there. He walked over to Rose and kneeled down by her side. He began to caress her face lightly, wincing as he felt how cold she was. He traced her jaw and his other hand held onto hers. "It'll be alright, Rose," he murmured softly. The moonlight hit his face and I saw a tear running down his alabaster cheek. "Hold on, babe. Be strong."

I'd had enough of this. I coughed to get his attention and his head snapped up. He removed his hands from Rose and even in the dim moonlight I could make out his cheeks flushing an unnaturally rosy-pink. "Thomas, I –"

The aging Madame Pomfrey entered the Hospital Wing again and sighed as she saw the two of us. "Miss Weasley has drank a lot of alcohol – Firewhisky to be precise. More than the legal limit. I would pray, because there's a slim chance Miss Weasley won't pull through." Tears ran down my cheeks once again, and I whimpered.

"How did she even get the alcohol?!" Malfoy asked, an angry look on his face. "She's not even of age yet. It's still seven or eight months until she's seventeen. And she's Rose Weasley. Shouldn't the barmaid have recognised her?!" I turned away, not wanting to see the look on his face anymore. I'd never seen anyone this angry.

Madame Pomfrey nodded and tutted irritably. "Yes, Mr Malfoy. I do agree with you. But you see, Hannah was on holiday. All the bar work can get extremely tiring apparently. But due to the short notice, Mr and Miss Longbottom's third cousin simply had to fill in. She'd only just left Beaubaxtons, and thought Miss Weasley was her mother – Mrs Hermione Weasley."

"Stupid barmaid," Malfoy hissed, running a hand through his long hair. I nodded in agreement. I looked over at my still friend and noticed Malfoy had taken her hand again, and was tenderly stroking her thumb. Tears were freely running his cheeks.

"And," Madame Pomfrey continued, taking her glasses off. "Miss Weasley's parents and cousins are going to have to be told. And little Hugo. Him, Lily, Roxanne and Fred are going to be crushed."

Not any more crushed than the Slytherin kneeling next to Rose right now, I thought to myself.

This is the last chapter I put up before my birthday on Wednesday.
Please make me happy by reviewing. I put so much effort into this story.

And if you don't review because I don't review - I'm rarely on my computer, mostly on my phone - because my computer's rubbish.

Hopefully that'll change on my birthday?

So pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeaseeeeeeeeeeee review! 3