As Rose felt newly awakened thoughts in her, she was just so infuriated with herself right now. How could she like Scorpius Malfoy? Like? Since when did this word appear in her mind? She was really confused. And Weasleys would never mingle with the Slytherins. That was strictly forbidden and every family member followed it by the book. Like Al never associated with any either as well as Lily and everyone else.
She caught a glimpse of Scorpius Malfoy. He looked so slim and so thin, as a bone. She really felt a lot for him, she suddenly realized. All his food deprivation and/or sleep deprivation was because of her. Maybe she really should go offer her apologies. She was really conflicted inside. On one hand, she wanted to please her family, one the other, she didn't want him to ache like this because of her. She caught him staring at her too, in classes and everything. She decided she would sneak out and meet Scorpius and not tell a soul about it. Everyone in Gryffindor would probably either reject her or tell her she was inane for wanting to issue apologies to him. Not that she cared about other people's opinion. Well, she did give it a thought a little bit sometimes, she must confess. She determined she would go later, when everyone's asleep.
She had dinner with her friends as usual, happy-go-looking. When in her heart, she couldn't help but feel a little pang of sadness for Scorpius, her long-time opponent who loved her. And what about Draco Malfoy? Would he accept her as a part of the family? She thought surely not! So after dinner, she resolved to meet Scorpius in the snakes' nest. That's got to take some nerve. She had to speak with all those Slytherins she insulted, put down and secretly laughed at behind their backs.
She resolved herself to go anyway with all the courage she could muster up. Her lips felt wet, almost moist. Her throat felt dry and she wondered how in the world she'd talk to Scorpius. And would he brush her off or not? And so, with her mind all jumbled up, she apparated herself in front of the Slytherin common room. She knocked on the door. As she guessed, a girl opened and gave her the cold shoulder.
Icy-toned, she said: "What are you doing here, Weasley? You caused enough pain to Malfoy already!"
"-I-", she said feebly. Why was she feeling like jello right now? She did nothing wrong in her eyes, really.
At this instant, Malfoy was at the door of the common room and motionned to the girl: "Step aside, Parkinson, please, let me settle this."
"Fine, Malfoy.", answered Parkinson, "If this bitch hurts you again, I'll be right there, ready to hex her".
He shrugged: "No need for that, Parkinson, I just want a talk with her." He turned to Weasley and said: "So, what brings you here? I've poured my heart to you, and you shattered it! Although I want to reiterate that I really love you and I'm holding no grudge against you for what you said to me." He was rambling now, he knew.
"Malfoy, I'm sorry for my rudeness. I could never bring myself to forgive and forget the hard feelings between us, our past competition. Plus my parents and my family, you know... and your parents..." She let it trail off.
"Actually, the message I wanted to convey to you, was that my father was in love with Hermione Jane Granger Weasley, not that you'd know about it of course. He did everything he could in the shadows for her. He sacrificed everything he had in order to help her and her side, even convincing Narcissa to lie to the Dark Lord. And many of us, Slytherins, did that for your side, without any of you knowing." He said in one breath.
She was quite dumbfounded at this. How come nobody ever told her? It may be that nobody knew about it. "Malfoy, my most sincere apologies to you and your house for our prejudices against them. Forgive us. It's time, I think, for us, Gryffindors, to extend the olive branch. On behalf of our house, I'm sorry." Rose replied with heartfelt honesty.
Malfoy answered: "If you really want to make peace with us, please call me Scorpius and tell them what we did for the muggles and the light side. And tell your mother about my father. This should come to light as soon as possible. It's urgent."
"Malfoy, I'm really not used to calling you by your first name, would have a bizarre ring in my ears. As for your father, this will come off as a shocker to my mother. History's already repeating itself, I see. Pardon me for my ignorance. And I'd not dare imagine what my father would think about it. You put me in a tight spot."
"Scorpius, just this once, I'm begging you. As for my father, I'd tell your mom myself. And I've enlisted Dumbledore's help for that. I'd do him a great service, really."
With a sigh of relief, she thanked him and took out her hand. Scorpius (Since when was the Scorpius?) took hers in his eagerly. "Let's walk down the hall together, shall we give them a surprise?" said Scorpius suggestively.
"I've no objection at all to this; let's begin by being friends first, if you don't mind that."
"I definitely don't." So they walked down the hall, hand in hands. Everyone goggled at them. Al said, ready to fight: "Rose, what ya doing with this slimy git?"
"Oh, Al, do come off it, he's not that bad, plus Dumbledore has something to say, you should listen."
Dumbledore, seeing the cue, started to speak: "Well, I have something to announce. The bias against the Slytherin house was quite unfounded you see, some of them have aided the light side, despite what people see on the outside. On the outward appearance, they plot, they scheme, but in the inside, some of them were against the muggles' torture. They were courageous enough to do what was in their power for the light side in secret. I preach once again, for house unity. We should all let go of our preconceived ideas about them, it's unfair to them. And some of them were even in love with people in other houses; such as Draco and Hermione.
As everyone listened, they were quite possibly amazed at that. How could this be? A million questions in their mind, they didn't quite know what to think. They eyes swivelled from Malfoy and Rose to the headmaster. Maybe they should really, forget their past and sAs Rose felt newly awakened thoughts in her, she was just so infuriated with herself right now. How could she like Scorpius Malfoy? Like? Since when did this word appear in her mind? She was really confused. And Weasleys would never mingle with the Slytherins. That was strictly forbidden and every family member followed it by the book. Like Al never associated with any either as well as Lily and everyone else.
She caught a glimpse of Scorpius Malfoy. He looked so slim and so thin, as a bone. She really felt a lot for him, she suddenly realized. All his food deprivation and/or sleep deprivation was because of her. Maybe she really should go offer her apologies. She was really conflicted inside. On one hand, she wanted to please her family, one the other, she didn't want him to ache like this because of her. She caught him staring at her too, in classes and everything. She decided she would sneak out and meet Scorpius and not tell a soul about it. Everyone in Gryffindor would probably either reject her or tell her she was inane for wanting to issue apologies to him. Not that she cared about other people's opinion. Well, she did give it a thought a little bit sometimes, she must confess. She determined she would go later, when everyone's asleep.
She had dinner with her friends as usual, happy-go-looking. When in her heart, she couldn't help but feel a little pang of sadness for Scorpius, her long-time opponent who loved her. And what about Draco Malfoy? Would he accept her as a part of the family? She thought surely not! So after dinner, she resolved to meet Scorpius in the snakes' nest. That's got to take some nerve. She had to speak with all those Slytherins she insulted, put down and secretly laughed at behind their backs.
She resolved herself to go anyway with all the courage she could muster up. Her lips felt wet, almost moist. Her throat felt dry and she wondered how in the world she'd talk to Scorpius. And would he brush her off or not? And so, with her mind all jumbled up, she apparated herself in front of the Slytherin common room. She knocked on the door. As she guessed, a girl opened and gave her the cold shoulder.
Icy-toned, she said: "What are you doing here, Weasley? You caused enough pain to Malfoy already!"
"-I-", she said feebly. Why was she feeling like jello right now? She did nothing wrong in her eyes, really.
At this instant, Malfoy was at the door of the common room and motioned to the girl: "Step aside, Parkinson, please, let me settle this."
"Fine, Malfoy.", answered Parkinson, "If this bitch hurts you again, I'll be right there, ready to hex her".
He shrugged: "No need for that, Parkinson, I just want a talk with her." He turned to Weasley and said: "So, what brings you here? I've poured my heart to you, and you shattered it! Although I want to reiterate that I really love you and I'm holding no grudge against you for what you said to me." He was rambling now, he knew.
"Malfoy, I'm sorry for my rudeness. I could never bring myself to forgive and forget the hard feelings between us, our past competition. Plus my parents and my family, you know... and your parents..." She let it trail off.
"Actually, the message I wanted to convey to you, was that my father was in love with Hermione Jane Granger Weasley, not that you'd know about it of course. He did everything he could in the shadows for her. He sacrificed everything he had in order to help her and her side, even convincing Narcissa to lie to the Dark Lord. And many of us, Slytherins, did that for your side, without any of you knowing." He said in one breath.
She was quite dumbfounded at this. How come nobody ever told her? It may be that nobody knew about it. "Malfoy, my most sincere apologies to you and your house for our prejudices against them. Forgive us. It's time, I think, for us, Gryffindors, to extend the olive branch. On behalf of our house, I'm sorry." Rose replied with heartfelt honesty.
Malfoy answered: "If you really want to make peace with us, please call me Scorpius and tell them what we did for the muggles and the light side. And tell your mother about my father. This should come to light as soon as possible. It's urgent."
"Malfoy, I'm really not used to calling you by your first name, would have a bizarre ring in my ears. As for your father, this will come off as a shocker to my mother. History's already repeating itself, I see. Pardon me for my ignorance. And I'd not dare imagine what my father would think about it. You put me in a tight spot."
"Scorpius, just this once, I'm begging you. As for my father, I'd tell your mom myself. And I've enlisted Dumbledore's help for that. I'd do him a great service, really."
With a sigh of relief, she thanked him and took out her hand. Scorpius (Since when was the Scorpius?) took hers in his eagerly. "Let's walk down the hall together, shall we give them a surprise?" said Scorpius suggestively.
"I've no objection at all to this; let's begin by being friends first, if you don't mind that."
"I definitely don't." So they walked down the hall, hand in hands. Everyone stared, wide-eyed at them. Al said, ready to fight: "Rose, what ya doing with this slimy jerk?"
"Oh, Al, do come off it, he's not that bad, plus Dumbledore has something to say, you should listen."
Dumbledore, seeing the cue, started to speak: "Well, I have something to announce. The bias against the Slytherin house was quite unfounded you see, some of them have aided the light side, despite what people see on the outside. On the outward appearance, they plot, they scheme, but in the inside, some of them were against the muggles' torture. They were courageous enough to do what was in their power for the light side in secret. I preach once again, for house unity. We should all let go of our preconceived ideas about them, it's unfair to them. And some of them were even in love with people in other houses and couldn't be with each other; such as Draco and Hermione.
As everyone listened, they were quite possibly amazed at that. How could this be? A million questions in their mind, they didn't quite know what to think. They eyes swivelled from Malfoy and Rose to the headmaster. Maybe they should really, forget their past differences.
One by one, Ravenclaws, Gryffindors, Hufflepuffs, started to walk towards the Slytherin table and drew their hands to them. The Slytherins didn't really know how to react to this. Some of them took them, some of them just sat still on their chair. They began to chatter about daily nonsense with people from other houses, just as Dumbledore had in store for them.
Malfoy smirked and leaned his mouth to Rose's level and kissed her, for the first time of his life; such a shock to Rose. To her astonishment, she loved it. She began with snaking her arm around him and then hugged him tightly. That was the beginning of something new. And Dumbledore got what he wanted. Draco'd be able come to terms with his affections for Hermione..
One by one, Ravenclaws, Gryffindors, Hufflepuffs, started to walk towards the Slytherin table and drew their hands to them. The Slytherins didn't really know how to react to this. Some of them took them, some of them just sat still on their chair. They began to chatter about daily nonsense with people from other houses, just as Dumbledore had in store for them.
Malfoy smirked and leaned his mouth to Rose's level and kissed her tenderly, for the first time of his life; shocking her. To her astonishment, she loved it. She began snaking her arm around him and hugging him tightly. That was the beginning of something new. And Dumbledore got what he wanted. Draco'd be able come to terms with his affections for Hermione.