The next day, Scorpius didn't see Rose in Potions. Not that he was actively looking, of course. Just. . .observing. After class he approached her room mates and asked about her. They shook their heads.
"Nope," The blond one said.
"She didn't return after she left for detention. Then they turned up their noses at him and marched away. Bloody Gryffindors.
'This was all her fault,' he thought.
'She got herself into this mess, she had to find a way back.' After Rose had left, Malfoy had made his way back to the castle. He thought Rose would explain everything to Hagrid. He still had her sweater folded up in his trunk.
'Nope,' he thought.
'I won't find her. I won't- I-' With a sight, Scorpius hurried out of the castle and ditched Herbology. Curse the good side inside him. He arrived at the place where they had sat, blankets and the thermos marking it.
He looked down the way he remembered she had ran. He easily followed the trail of broken branches, scattered leaves and mussed bushed that she had created in her distraught.
His eyes were focused on the ground, so he saw Rose's wand lying in the pile of leaves in front of him. He could tell t was hers because he'd had it poke him in the chest and send a spell at him. He picked it up and looked around.
About six feet away, a large hole was sunken into the ground. He ran forwards and looked down. At the bottom, sprawled about five feet down, was Rose. She was either asleep or unconscious.
She had a thin layer of snow on her and was wrapped tightly in her cloak. A lump rose in his throat when he recognized his scarf around her neck. He jumped down and rolled onto the hard packed dirt.
"Rose! Wake up!" He shouted and shook her. She moaned and shifted positions. Now he noticed her scraped knew, abnormally arranged arm, and purple tinged lips. As she started to rouse a bit, he swept the snow off her and started healing her knees. As for her arm, he was pretty sure that it was broken.
Stuffing the hem of his cloak into her mouth, Scorpius pointed his wand at her arm, muttered "Episkey," and fixed her arm. A scream erupted out of Rose and she bit down on the cloak stuffed in her mouth.
Despite all that, her eyes stayed closed and her lip stayed tinged blue. It worried him to no end. If she had been out here all night and half the day, who knew what state her was in.
He touched a finger to her bottom lip tentatively. She didn't stir and her lip was chilling cold, Despair filled him. There was only one thing to do. She would kill him but it was just to get her to warm up.
'Just to warm him up,' he told himself sternly. He unclasped his cloak and wrapped it around her. He then lifted up her torso and leaned it on his knees. He gulped and then slowly pressed his lips to hers.
Rose emerged from a sea of freezing black. She remembered nothing from last night, only falling. Her senses bombarded her with feeling and sound.
Although the world around her remained black, she heard the wind whistling in the trees around her, and the hushed breathing of someone else. She felt a burning feeling in her fingers and toes as her limbs started regaining feeling again.
Her lips were another story though. Her lips were a delicious warmth, and the feeling was spreading across her face, from her cheeks to the tip of her nose.
Her eyes creaked open and she registered a pale blur very close to her. It resembled. . . Malfoy?
Rose's eyes snapped open and she screamed. She hurled herself backwards across the pit, only stopping when her head hit the back wall.
"Ouch. . ." She moaned. Scorpius shrugged.
"Sorry. It was the only way to wake you and warm you up." Rose noted he didn't sound too apologetic, but she let it pass.
"We should get back to the castle. I'm late to my classes!" she said, noting the position of the sun in the sky.
"The only thing you need to do is rest. You must have frozen last night, and you haven't eaten in over twelve hours." He protested. Rose looked at him sharply.
"I won't go to the hospital wing! I have so much family at this school. Then they'll know what happened, and then they'll send letters home about it, and then they'll know I got in trouble! I won't!" She declared passionately. Scorpius held up his hands placatingly.
"Alright, alright. But at least let me help you. I didn't want to attend my lessons anyway, and in a twisted sort of way, this is my fault." Rose glared at him.
"Fine." She snapped.
"Let's go." Rose tried to get to her feet, but her stiff legs wouldn't permit her to. Scorpius got up and held out a hand. She grudgingly took it. He brushed off his hands.
"Now, how will we get out?" He said thoughtfully. He was interrupted by a snort from Rose.
"Easy. We levitate each other out. We learned in our first year. You should be a great expert." He nodded and relied with a resentful stare.
"Great. But you don't have to so snarky. This afternoon will go a lot faster if you aren't, your majesty." Rose looked apologetic.
"Alright, I'm sorry. You were the one who got me so I should be grateful." Malfoy blinked and looked towards her. He had expected her to be one of those people who couldn't admit they were wrong.
She tried to walk over to the wall but her legs gave out on her. Scorpius lunged forwards and supported her weight as she tiptoed over to the wall. Rose leaned heavily against it.
"Here, stand in the middle of the pit," she advised and he obliged.
"Wingardium Leviosa," she said, and safely deposited him on the leaves at the top of the pit. He did the same to her and quickly caught her as she started to fall.
Rose leaned heavily on Malfoy, her arm looped over his shoulders. A bit of blood escaped to her cheeks as she realized how close her face was to his. Contempt, obviously.
They started their long trip back to the castle. Halfway back, Rose was exhausted. She was lagging behind, even with Scorpius's help. He spoke up after a couple minutes of this.
"Hey Rose, would you mind me carrying you? It's just, you look really tired, not that it's bad, I mean, I get it, but, so, you might want to rest your legs, and-" She had held up a finger to his lips.
"Malfoy, you're rambling. Sure, I could use some help." At that, Scorpius's face reddened a bit and he swept her up in his arms. After a few minutes, she fell asleep and her head lolled against his arm. He adjusted her so her head was against his shoulder, and set out again.
Once they had gotten through the corridors incident-free, he woke her up only to ask for the password to the Gryffindor common room.
"Unity," she grunted, then fell back into blissful sleep. He nudged the portrait open, then placed her gently on the couch.
He ran up to the boys's dormitories and snagged a comforter. Rose was a Gryffindor, they couldn't be too mad.
He placed it over her, then shifted the couch closer to the empty fireplace. He put a couple logs into it a sent a blue jet of flames at it. He then cast a look at Rose.
Her hair was spread over the couch, making it look like less of a bush, and her freckles were more prominent in the firelight. She looked almost angelic?
No. Not at all. Disgusting! A Weasley? And a Granger? No way! Scorpius knew he was only doing this because he was the one that caused this. That was all.
He the remembered that she hadn't eaten. Scorpius strode out of the common room and down to the kitchen. When he returned with pumpkin juice, a loaf of bread, butter, and a ham, Rose was just waking up.
Her bright eyes were looking around the room but focused hungrily on the food. He had also brought up a little foldable table. She sat up so they could face each other while she ate. She devoured it all ravenously, and Rose decided to ask a question she had wanted the answer to for a while.
"How come you're so normal and nice when we're alone, but when other people are around, you're so mean?" Scorpius fidgeted.
"Can we not talk about this? It's not personal or anything, it's just you're. . ." He trailed off into a confused silence. She chuckled.
"So it's personal, I see." He smiled uncomfortably.
"It's fine, I get it. Some things you just don't want to share with everyone." He nodded. Yeah, it's like that." They finished their meal and rest of their day in silence. But about five minutes before final lessons, Scorpius checked his watch and said,
"Oh, I better get out of here. You don't want the third-degree from your fellow Gryffindors." She nodded. He went over to the couch and tucked her in tightly so her arms were pinned to her sides.
He grinned evilly, then leaned in and left a lingering kiss on her forehead, despite her numerous protests.
He excited quietly, leaving her to wonder about that kiss and if it was more than friendly. He had been finding many reasons to kiss her lately. . . Was it deliberate?