DISCLAIMER: As stated in the previous chapter, I do not claim to own these characters, nor the world in which they live. These are simply my take on the wonderful creations of J.K. Rowling.
I had so many ideas for this chapter and when I started writing, things got very out of hand and it became lengthly very fast. So while this chapter may not have gotten to the point I would have liked it to, I do intend to get there in future chapters. There will without a doubt be more Scorose interaction and affirmation as the plot thickens, but for now I wanted to set the scene and more importantly outline their relationship thus far (or lack there of). So I hope that can be appreciated. What can I say? Things get out of hand when the muse is high.
I want to thank everyone that reviewed the last chapter, every email about a new review, fave or follow only helped push me towards bringing out this second chapter. It may not have been what you were all hoping but I hope you at least like it.
Rose had made sure that during breakfast she sat far away from the Slytherin table. The last thing she needed was for her cousin to quiz her on why she'd darted away so quickly. Apparently though, there was no possible way that she would manage to flee from questions about the name that she'd been graced with in the early morning. She wished, for that twenty minutes in which she sat at the Ravenclaw table that she could turn invisible. Rose had heard many stories about the invisibility cloak that Uncle Harry had inherited from his own father and she felt if there was ever a time that it would be needed, a sixteenth birthday was definitely a contender.
She was sure that after today the whole thing would blow over, or at least she hoped. It happened time and time again with everyone else, of course not everyone else chose to hide their wrist from view of their friends. In contrast to their preferences, Rose had chosen to wear a rather chunky bracelet to cover that haunting name.
Just then the thought struck her that she'd probably have more of this off of her family, regardless of whether her friends chose to let go of the topic – which didn't seem to be happening any time soon. Groaning internally at the thought, she knew that her father would throw a fit when he knew the last name of the boy who was her supposed soul mate. Not that it mattered of course because Rose was one hundred percent sure that there was some kind of mistake.
'Fate doesn't make mistakes.' The voice of her Aunt Fleur invaded her mind. Fleur must have repeated that very same sentence to Dominque so many times when she'd found a name that was not her boyfriend on her wrist. Rose wasn't quite sure she agreed anymore.
"Just tell us, Rosie, please." Torn from her thoughts from the pleading voice of Rhian. Rose sighed, her blue hues moved automatically to the Slytherin table, finding the platinum hair that belonged to her so-called 'soul mate' instantly. She shook her head, her gaze turned to her friends again. All she wanted now was to leave the table and head over to charms class. It was too early for that though, she reasoned. But did she really want to stay for more interrogation given the fact she had actually finished eating at this point?
She didn't, she decided firmly, standing up immediately. "I'm going to class." She announced, as if she didn't have the very same class with them in about fifteen minutes. She didn't wait to hear their protests bringing up that very point though. Not long as she was wandering the familiar halls. They weren't all too crowded since most people were in the Great Hall, it was an ideal time to make the trip to class. There was no worry of rushing like there might have been if she'd have waited for her classmates.
Sure enough, Rose was the first one to turn up for the lesson. It didn't surprise her given the time she had left the Great Hall, and even though she'd wandered the halls for a little while she'd still missed the peak time for crowded corridors. Still, it was inevitable that she'd find herself waiting outside the room for around five minutes before anyone else bothered to show up. She should have continued walking through the corridors; at least she would have something to do then. Soon her prayers were answered though when Professor Flitwick, the Charms Master showed up and allowed those there early to shuffle into class.
The second row was the redhead's chosen seat, near the middle of the classroom because it allowed for the better view. If she were to sit at the very front she'd be seen as too keen and while that wasn't always a bad thing, in her first year she'd thought it would make her seem to much like her mother, who was renowned for being a know-it-all. Of course she managed to exhibit those traits regardless of her seating arrangements and yet she seemed to be conditioned to stick to the method whenever possible.
Usually, Rose would sit by her cousin, Albus, during lessons they shared with Slytherin. Or Angelina and Rhian. Today though she found herself hoping that someone would change that routine. Time ticked by, Rose scanning through the Charms book for the year, her mind not quite focused on the text. And this time luck was not on her side, because who else would come in with the crowd that waited just one minute before the class started and sit down beside her but Albus? What she was surprised to see though was Scorpius Malfoy -the boy who had a claim to her wrist now – sitting on the opposite side of her cousin. This only confirmed Rose's theory that Albus had known. Known about it and not told her! Oh, she was mentally cursing him.
"Good morning, cuz." The familiar voice to the side of her chirped, a knowing grin plastered onto his face. "You could have told me we weren't walking to class together. You left me walking with this train wreck." He gestured to Scorpius, who scowled.
"Oi, git. I -" Scorpius was cut short by the silencing of the class as the Professor began to speak, commencing class.
The old Professor spoke about how they'd be learning to cast the aguamenti charm. It was mentioned in the small reading list they'd been given as homework before the end of the year, so Rose was already familiar with it. Given the faces of some people in front of them though, not everyone had done the reading. Which Professor Flitwick seemed to catch onto, because at that moment he questioned the class on what the charm was. "No, it does not summon a bowl of water, Miss Shaw." His gaze moved over to their table then. "Mr. Malfoy, care to enlighten the class?"
Rose concluded that Scorpius had not been looking at Flitwick due to the way his head had to jerk up at the mention of his name. "It produces a jet of water." He said simply and after a 'thank you' from Flitwick, his head returned to the textbook. Perhaps he was catching up on the reading for the summer, if he hadn't done it. Rose didn't know. She had also become very aware that she was watching him now in curiosity, and she didn't like it. It was natural to be curious, she knew that even without the countless stories of people going to ridiculous lengths to find their soul mate. At least she knew who hers was and could go on with her life without trying to find him, she'd told herself. It was a lie of course because could she really go on as normal? She certainly hadn't been behaving that way since finding out this morning.
Her eyes peeled away from Scorpius when he caught her gaze. Flitwick had just mentioned groups of three to practice the charm with, while also advising them to take a raincoat from the back of the room, which Rose quickly obliged to.
"You, me and Scorpius." Albus had announced to her, following her to retrieve a coat of his own. Rose had searched for Angelina or Rhian to save her, but they hadn't even moved from their seats yet so it was no use. "Come on, I don't bite."
"I know you don't." She replied quickly. "Okay." She added, hoping that with that not too much thought would be put into her initial response.
Returning to the table, she found herself faced with Scorpius who still had no coat. "You'll get wet if you don't get one of these." Rose zipped her coat up while emphasising the last word. "You should know, you answered the question." She added when he took a little too long to respond. And without fail, a smirk appeared on his lips that made her rather uncomfortable.
"Al's got it sorted." Her silvery eyes glanced up at her from the desk before her stood up. "I don't plan on getting too wet." He stated just before Albus returned to hand Scorpius a coat.
Working next to Scorpius and Albus, Rose felt unbelievably short. She was not, she'd actually managed to adopt some of her father's height which made her much taller than Lily, and Rose would argue that in a few years time she'd even be taller than her mother. However, Albus was already a lot taller than his. He was following after James who'd had a terrific growth spurt during fifth year and was now lankier than ever. Scorpius was even taller again; he must have been one of the tallest in the class. So Rose may as well have been the height of Flitwick when around the two of them. Thankfully, that wasn't often. Rose wasn't sure she could bear it.
Soon after gathering coats and buckets, the class had begun attempting the spell. At first a lot of her fellow students managed nothing, now the majority of the class could at least get a few drops out of the wand. The beauty about working in a group was that the partners could be helpful and give you pointers. The bad thing was that her particular group wasn't helpful at all.
"It did not resemble a hose at all, Rose." Albus argued with her. She'd managed just a few tries before to cast an incredible charm – the Professor had praised her and she'd been proud of herself too. She wasn't usually as apt with charms. Albus wasn't having any of it though; either that or he was just trying to wind her up. Scorpius wasn't even trying to intervene on the argument, though that may have been because he was a pureblood and probably had no idea what a hose was, let alone whether the stream of water that Rose had made appear looked anything like that which came from a hose.
"It did!" And with that, Rose waved the wand at her cousin. Water streamed graciously out of the end of her wand. It was her best yet. The only problem was that they were supposed to be making sure most of the water stayed in the bucket and Rose had not only deviated from that rule but her target was almost entirely water-free. Instead, standing before her dripping wet was Scorpius.
A roar of laughter burst through Albus's lips; Rose glared at him, the least he could do was contain it. His best friend was standing there soaked when it should have been him. "Oh Merlin! I'm so sorry." Her cheeks were burning a horrible pink colour – clashing ridiculously with her hair. "Shut up, Al." He still refused to stop laughing. "It – I wasn't meant to…"
She couldn't read Scorpius's face; he made it impossible. "You should definitely work on your aim." Was all he said, in a fairly calm tone but equally impossible to determine. He proceeded to take off the soaking wet raincoat. At least he had some protection, though his hair and shoulders didn't seem to have been saved in the slightest, those were still very wet.
"Miss. Weasley, however excellent the charm may have been, the target certainly was not your partner." His tone expressed irritation and slight disappointment. He shook his head. "Your detention will be arranged promptly. Can't have everyone's textbooks ruined and nothing to show for it." Rose hadn't even noticed that the water had managed to find its way to the table too. Scorpius's book was worse that he was, and Albus's hadn't come out as well as he had – that was some consolation at least. "See me at the end of class." His eyes seemed to bore into her. Flitwick wasn't exactly a teacher anyone was particularly petrified of, unlike McGonagall whom she knew many daren't get on the wrong side of her – rightfully so, too, in Rose's opinion. Still Rose didn't usually get detention. She wouldn't claim to be the most rule-abiding student the school had ever seen, after all her parents were far from it too according to their countless stories, but Rose didn't particularly like getting on the teacher's bad sides and that meant no detention a lot of the time. "All three of you." Rose was torn from her thoughts by the Professor's last minute amendment.
Even she was confused, though it was evident from the boys' faces that she wasn't quite as confused as they were. Scorpius opened his mouth, Rose could only assume to protest but Albus had beaten him to it. "But sir, it was me and Scorpius who got—" he was cut of by the Professor, his face clearly stating he didn't want excuses.
"I assume, since that was no accident, that it was for a reason, Mr. Potter." On that note, the discussion had ended.
The rest of the day had gone by quite smoothly for Rose. It was certainly not the best start to her morning, getting told that she would have detention that same night – on her birthday. It wasn't so bad, the detention would only last an hour but it had still put a damper on her day. She was still mentally cursing Albus, for more than one thing now.
Lessons seemed to pass fairly quickly given the fact that there were no more incidents in the classroom. Divination went by smoothly, or as smoothly as could be with the spouting of untrue prophecies by her classmates. They seemed to view the lesson as the place for stories rather than actual visions of the future. Rose wasn't complaining however, some of the things her classmates would come up with were funny. And Rose had shared the same discontent with the subject that her mother had when she'd taken it in her third year. Rose differed from her mother though because despite her protests, Rose was actually praised by the Professor for her efforts.
Soon enough the day had come to an end and she found herself in her dormitory, setting the cards from friends and family on her dresser. She'd lost track of time and soon enough she found it was exactly seventeen minutes until she would have to be in detention. Rose liked to be punctual usually, but she didn't know whether the same principles applied with detentions. Still, she quickly readied herself to head out of the common room, not before forgetting her bracelet. It wasn't the comfiest of things, though it was charmed to stay securely on her wrist so that may have been the reason. She'd received it from Victoire a few days before her birthday and had opened it prematurely. And naturally, Victoire had no sense of comfort when it came to fashion. Still Rose couldn't complain too much because it did a brilliant job at covering up the name that would linger forever on her wrist. Perhaps that was Victoire's plan all along; Rose would have to inquire.
The redhead had come to Flitwick's classroom to find she was the very first one there. "Excellent," he'd exclaimed from his desk the very moment she'd walked into the room. "I'd like the whole room to be spotless when I get back. Ensure the wood isn't damaged from the masses of water and check that everything is as it should be after today's classes." He instructed her and Rose simply nodded. "When the other two get here, do take note of whether they are late or not, and let them know what's to be done. It should last the hour." And with a simple nod, he finally walked out of the classroom, obscured from Rose's vision. A sigh left her lips as her blue hues searched the classroom. It looked fine to her and there was a large nagging at the back of her mind that told her she could just leave if she really wanted. She had to reason with herself that it wasn't a good idea, and she would definitely be caught. So instead, she got on with it – without the boys.
She was fumbling around by Flitwick's desk, inspecting, when Albus pranced in. "Trying to find some dirt are we, Rosie?" She ignored him. She wasn't very happy with him since it was her fault that she had detention after all. "Snooping around teacher's desks isn't very smart," he continued. "A Ravenclaw—"
"A Ravenclaw would realize she's cleaning." Scorpius had intervened before Rose could, which caused her to raise a brow, looking up from the desk and taking in the two boys. Al was shaking his head at Scorpius as if he knew something that Rose did not. She chose to ignore that, too.
"And cleaning is what you two should be doing too, by the way." She added, placing the final book in the neat row she'd created on Flitwick's desk. She walked around the desk, moving towards them. "And checking for water damage, apparently." She was sure that the desks could withstand the water that they had been drenched with today but who was she to question Flitwick's instructions?
"So we're here to do nothing." Scorpius leaned against the desk just opposite the one they'd been working at that morning.
"No, we're here to clean and check for water damage in—"
She was cut off, much to her disapproval. "In the desks belonging to the charms classroom – with a Professor who has probably made them water-resistant." It wasn't a hard charm, and that had never actually crossed her mind before he'd said it. Still, this was detention and they were supposed to do something. She barely even associated with Scorpius over the years they'd been at Hogwarts – only when it was necessary – and now he was stood there questioning what Flitwick had told her to tell him. It didn't sit well with her.
Almost as if he was sensing her annoyance, Scorpius continued. "I'm just saying that I'm more likely to have water damage than these tables." He made no effort to hide the accusation in his tone, though admittedly it was rightfully placed. "It's a pointless task… something to keep us busy." He was probably right but she didn't really want to admit to not having thought of it in the first place.
"If you ask me this is just a perfect time to neglect detention duties and play," Albus paused mid-sentence, as if debating what it was he wanted to play. Rose wasn't sure she wanted to play anything. However she did know that playing a game was a lot better than cleaning on her birthday. She needed some excitement, even if she was pretty sure that she'd be going back to a dorm of surprises. There hadn't been a year thus far where Angelina had failed to organise a small surprise party in their dorm room and these days it was becoming less and less surprising – but still fun. "Exploding snap." His lips had curled up into a smirk (though Rose didn't know why exactly, it was only exploding snap) and he removed a pack of cards from his pocket, placing them on the table. It was almost as if he'd counted on this happening. But Rose felt relieved that he hadn't picked something a little more extreme.