Hello, readers, followers, anyone who randomly clicked on this and kept reading! My sincerest apologies to you all for the long wait. School and life, what can I say? Well, and writer's block, which is just such a pain in the ass. However, I've written this chapter and another one for the story, and I mean to work on it all day, so hopefully I can update tomorrow or Tuesday. Scratch that, I WILL update Monday or Tuesday. But I'll stop blabbering now and get on with the story. Thanks to everyone for their wonderful reviews, I really appreciate the support!
Disclaimer: If I owned Harry Potter, you would not be reading this right now.
Chapter 15: An Apology and A Deal
Luckily for Rose, there was a Hogsmeade trip that very next day, and nearly everyone had signed up to go, Rose included. She and her cousins were planning to spend the day hanging out together. With school and detention so often butting in the way, they were really starting to miss just being with each other.
The morning of the trip dawned bright and cold, and breakfast that morning was an excited chatter that was enough to pull even Rose and Scorpius out of their normally dreary moods. Scorpius could be seen laughing and goofing off with his friends at the Ravenclaw table, and Rose was in an animated discussion with Albus and Lily.
"But honestly, Albus, how can you think that? Professor Slughorn told us the exact opposite in class! Weren't you paying attention?"
Albus snorted. "No. I was too busy concentrating on how James was going to ask out Alice that night."
"You really ought to have been paying more attention," Rose began, but Lily cut her off.
"James? Ask out Alice Longbottom? Oh, Merlin, no one saw that one coming. Did he do it?"
"As far as I'm aware, he chickened out," Roxanne replied, leaning across Hugo to talk to Rose, Albus, and Lily. "But I think his plan was to do it today."
"But he's going to be hanging out with us," Hugo pointed out. "How's he gonna do it?"
"It's James," Lily said dismissively, waving her hand. "He'll figure something out."
No one had anything to say to this until Molly slid into the seat across from them, her head down and her red hair a tangled mess.
"What happened?" Lucy demanded instantly, placing an arm around her sister's shoulders.
"My stupid boyfriend," she muttered. Albus instantly got up and left, sensing that this was a girl problem.
"What'd he do, Mol?" Roxanne asked, narrowing her eyes at the Hufflepuff table, where Lorcan Scamander's blond head was drooping over a bowl of porridge.
"I told you, Rose," Molly said, wiping her eyes. "He doesn't want to go to Hogsmeade today, he wants to stay here with me. I told him I was going anyway, like you said to, and he blew up at me! We...we had a really bad fight," she summed up, her eyes pooling with tears again.
"Oh, Molly, I'm so sorry," Rose said, aghast. "If I'd known he would react like this I never would have told you to do that!"
Molly just burst into tears again, crying on Lucy's shoulder.
"Go get Dom," Rose whispered to Roxanne, who got up and fairly sprinted across the Hall. When the two Weasleys returned, Roxanne sat a little farther away from Molly. Roxanne was never one for tears.
"Tell me," Dom said, holding out her arms to Molly, who was so upset she couldn't talk. So Rose explained instead. When she was done, Dominique furrowed her brow and simply held Molly for a little while longer, thinking it over.
"We're going anyway," she declared. "Screw Lorcan. We need to show him that you are perfectly fine on your own, too. If he picks up on the message, great."
"If not?" Molly asked, peeking at the table, her mascara running.
"If not...then, well, he's not worth it, Mol," Dominique said kindly. "Come on, let's go to the loo and clean you up a bit."
The two cousins left the hall fairly quickly.
"What's the matter with Mol?" Hugo asked, leaning over to Rose, Lucy, and Roxanne.
"Nothing," Rose replied loftily.
"So she comes in sobbing to breakfast every morning?" Louis asked, appearing behind Roxanne and startling her so much she dropped the marmalade. "Sorry, Roxy. But seriously, Rose, what's wrong with her?"
"Nothing," Lucy replied. "She's fine."
"And I'm the queen of England," Fred muttered, but he wisely dropped it after Lucy gave him a rare death glare. The subdued cousins ate in silence until finally, the headmistress announced that they could go to Hogsmeade.
James, Albus, Lily, Rose, Hugo, Louis, Lucy, Fred, and Roxanne all spilled out of the Great Hall, craning their necks, looking for Molly and Dominique.
"There!" Lily shouted, and they all hurried over to the two girls. Molly, Rose noted, looked much better - her hair was combed, her face appeared to have been washed, and her eyes were no longer red.
"Hey guys!" Dominique said brightly. "Ready to go?"
They made their way towards the front of the entrance hall, where the caretaker, Argus Filch, was waiting to check them off a list. The Weasley-Potters got by with no problems, and soon they were out on the lane to Hogsmeade, surrounded by chattering classmates with the autumn wind swirling around them. Soon enough, the group was able to lift Molly out of her bad mood and they were all talking and laughing.
"So, where to first?" James asked once they got into town. "Three Broomsticks?"
"No, let's go there last, that way we can warm up a bit before heading back to Hogwarts," Lucy said. "Let's go to Weasley's Wizard Wheezes first."
And so they did. After Roxanne started going to Hogwarts, George had finally bought the old Zonko's shop in Hogsmeade as an extension of Weasley's Wizard Wheezes. He claimed it was best for business matters, but the cousins all knew it was just so he could see them on the weekends (and report back to their parents).
"Hey, there's my favorite group of kids!" George Weasley exclaimed as they hurried into the shop. "Molly, Percy wanted me to tell you he's not going to be able to make it today. Something happened at the office, according to him." George rolled his eyes. "But anyway, thank Merlin you're all still alive! Grandmum Weasley's been worrying they'll torture you guys in detention. I kept telling her Fred and I survived years of it and we turned out fine, but you know how she is," he said, winking at them all. "So, what can I do for you today?"
"I think we all need a little of everything," Lily said. "That stupid prank war ran us all down on your stuff."
"A prank war is a noble cause to run out of our stuff," George deadpanned, and everyone laughed. "So, let's see...how about a couple Back-to-School packs for everybody? Half off."
"Whoa!"
"Seriously?"
"No way!"
"Cool!"
"Thanks, Uncle George!"
"No problem," he replied. "From what I hear, you got Draco Malfoy's git of a son pretty well. I, for one, thought it was brilliant. I think most of the dads did, but of course all of your mothers were furious, so we just played along. That's a Galleon and sixteen Sickles for each of you, by the way."
As the cousins rummaged around for their gold, George loaded all the packs into a giant bag and handed it to Fred.
"Why do I have to carry it?" he grumbled.
"Because you're my son," George replied. "And you happened to be the closest person to me at the time."
"Dad..."
"If you really don't want to carry it, leave it behind the counter here, but don't forget to come back for it. I have a feeling you wouldn't like how I'd deliver it to you," he said, smiling devilishly. Everyone shuddered at that, remembering the last time that had happened, and promised not to forget it.
"I am assigning Rose to remember to get that bag right now," Albus said as they walked out of the shop.
"Why me?" Rose demanded.
"Because you're the most responsible, and the one least likely to forget," he replied. Rose, although she didn't want to be the one who had to remember, couldn't deny the compliment and accepted with good graces.
"But don't forget it was Albus who decided to appoint me," she warned her cousins as they entered Honeydukes.
The cousins spent the rest of the day wandering about, eating various sweets from their bulging Honeydukes bags, talking, and laughing. Rose couldn't remember the last time she'd had so much fun.
Towards sunset, the lot of them decided they wanted to split up. Molly, Lucy, and Dominique needed to go to Gladrag's Wizardwear; Lily, Albus, and Roxanne needed to go to Scrivenshaft's Quill Shop; and James, Fred, Louis, and Hugo were to go pick up the Weasley's Wizard Wheezes merchandise before heading over to Spintwitches. Rose, however, wanted to go down to see the Shrieking Shack, and no one was willing to go with her. They agreed to meet up at the Three Broomsticks in an hour, then Rose set off alone, drawn to the old shack by an urge she couldn't define.
Her father had always told such excellent stories about the Shrieking Shack, and she'd always been strangely intrigued by the building that had played such a crucial part in the Second Wizarding War, and by the single grave that lay there. Only once had she gone in to see the name on the grave, and it had been one she recognized: Severus Snape. Her family didn't say much about him, but while Uncle Harry had always insisted that he was "the bravest man I ever knew", Rose had once caught her father telling her mother that Snape "was a git and always would be". Rose wished she had known the man so that she could pass her own judgement, but unfortunately, she had not.
But today, she simply wanted to go see the building, not the grave. She hadn't been to see it yet this year and it was high time she did go. It didn't bother her that she was going alone; she had never once encountered another living soul while down there.
So one can imagine her surprise when she saw another figure down in the valley, one with blond hair that glinted in the sunlight. Rose froze in shock when she realized who it was. She debating turning back, but reflected that this would be an excellent time to apologize, and so, with a slightly nervous tremble in her stomach, Rose set off down the hill towards Scorpius Malfoy.
"Hey," she said cautiously once she got to the bottom of the hill. He jumped, then turned.
"Hi," he said, turning back away as a familiar scowl darkened his expression. Rose sighed. So this wasn't going to be easy.
"Nice place down here, don't you think?" she asked casually. "The sunset looks gorgeous." Indeed it did, with the streaks of gold and red and pink burning against a purple background.
He grunted in reply.
"Um, have you finished the assignment for Professor Slughorn that's due Monday?" she asked, shifting her weight.
"Why do you care?" he grumbled. "I'm just Malfoy to you, remember?"
Rose winced. "Look, Scorpius, about that, I'm-"
"Oh, so you've come to apologize, huh? Well, I don't accept."
"Why not?" she asked, bewildered. "I rarely, if ever, apologize to you."
"Because that hurt, Rose," he snapped.
"Oh, and you snubbing me doesn't?" she retaliated.
"It's different," he snapped back.
"How?" she demanded. "Unlike you, I'm actually trying to be civil, or at least I was, whereas you have simply decided to treat me as nothing more than a piece of dirt."
"That's how we've treated each other for going on five years, Rose, why is this any different?"
"Because...because...because we...because I actually got to know you this year, and I think you're kind of nice!"
"Oh yeah? Well I - wait, what?"
"You heard me," Rose snapped, turning away to hide her blush. She couldn't believe she'd actually said that. It had been so embarrassing -
"I think you're nice, too," he said, so softly she almost didn't hear him.
"Are you being serious?" she asked, turning around to see him. He tried to smirk, but the faint pink on his cheeks gave him away.
"No, Rose. I've decided to make up the most ridiculous lies imaginable. For example, the sky will become an egg-yolk yellow tomorrow. And your cousin James shall speak only in squawks like a chicken for ten days. And -"
"Scorpius!" Rose exclaimed amidst her giggles. "I was being serious."
"So was I. The sky really will turn yellow tomorrow."
She hit him gently on the arm. "Come on, Scorpion."
Scorpius looked her full in the eye then, and Rose knew he'd sensed the subtle change in that nickname: instead of being rude, insulting, this time around it had been in a more companionable way, almost in the way that friends would call each other by. His grey eyes were burning with curiosity as to the change, and Rose couldn't even tell herself why she'd spoken differently.
She cleared her throat awkwardly and took a small step back. He was just so close.
"Well, actually, Scorpius, I am sorry about what I said. I was...confused, and angry, but it really wasn't acceptable for me to lash out that way."
He smiled. "Apology accepted. And I'm sorry, too, by the way. For ignoring you for all those weeks, and for the hug."
Rose smiled, but deep inside, something tugged at her. Did she really want him to apologize for the hug? Yes, of course she did. Right?
"Rose?"
"Huh?" she asked, jerking herself out of her thoughts. "I mean, sorry, Scorpius, what did you say?"
"I said, do you think we could call a truce? Again? I'm tired of arguing all the time."
"I - yes, I think we could," Rose replied casually, hiding her shock and happiness at the idea.
"Oh, OK, great," he said, exhaling in a whoosh. "I thought you were going to kill me."
"Well, that would be going against the truce now, wouldn't it?" she teased, and he laughed.
"So...friends?" Rose asked, holding out her hand.
Scorpius' gray eyes met her own as he shook her hand.
"Friends."
Friends...for now. But we'll just have to see how it goes for the two of them as "friends", won't we? :P Anyways, please review!
Lovelovelove -D-