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Push & Pull

Chapter 12

Everything's Gone to Shit

"Morning," Rose awoke to Scorpius's lips on her neck, and she knew it would be a good day.

"Shit," Rose muttered to him, spinning around and kissing him quickly before sliding out of bed.

"Shit what? Don't ruin a beautiful morning for me Rose," Scorpius laughed, leaning back against his pillows. He looked so tempting, his muscles rippling across his chest as he placed his arms behind his head.

"I didn't want to sleep over!" she whined, stealing one of his button-ups and grabbing her dress, "I've never had a walk of shame before, and I was not planning on starting ever."

"I don't think there's anything shameful about a good shag," Scorpius eyed her, renewed lust written clearly across his features.

"You put that face away right now, Malfoy," she warned him with a pointed finger.

"Make me," he teased, and she rolled her eyes.

"I've really got to go. I think we promised Albus that we'd show him the lab, and I'm not doing it without trousers on."

...

When Rose saw Scorpius later, she was wearing her own trousers, but still had his button-up layered over a blouse.

"So this is your famous lab," Albus nodded his head, looking around the small space, "Much more sterile than I expected." He entered after Rose into the space, followed by Alice, who looked much more comfortable than he. Scorpius trailed behind them, hands in his pockets and peering around the place that he'd spent every day the last two weeks.

Rose donned her lab coat and led the way around the outside of the benches, flipping on lights as she went. "Yeah, I based my design off of muggle research labs, allowing for very little contamination, which is unsurprisingly a big problem in potion making." She rolled her eyes. Albus looked to Scorpius who shrugged in response.

"Tell him about what you're working on now," Alice encouraged, walking to Rose's bench. Rose grinned that proud smile of hers, coming up behind Alice and taking her rightful place among the piles of books.

"Mopsus potion blahblah history blah blah." Rose waved a hand, opening a book to retrieve her most recent scrap paper, "Long story short, it's a potion that supposedly gives the sight and possibly telekinesis." She raised her eyebrows at her cousin.

"That sounds bloody awesome Rosie," Albus nudged Scorpius, eliciting a reluctant nod of approval from the tall blonde.

"It really does," Scorpius agreed, looking back to Rose. She felt her face warm at his approval, and couldn't help but note a giggle from Alice.

"Anyways," Rose looked back to her work, "I'm missing something. My last few brews weren't quite the light blue from the texts I'm working off of. They're all a bit too greenish."

Albus walked forward, taking the spot at Rose's right shoulder, peering over her paper.

"Mandrake root?" Albus noted, and Rose looked up at him.

"Yes? To maintain sense of self in case of transformative sight," Rose said with a scoff.

"Why not Mandrake leaf?" Albus suggested.

Of course.

Scorpius's mouth was moving, but Rose couldn't hear anything over the ringing in her ears. She was too busy fetching the leaf, "Alice, set up the cauldron!" She called over her shoulder, going into full potioneering mode.

The root of the mandrake was for restorative potions. The leaf of the mandrake was for transformative potions. It was certainly worth a shot to see if the leaf that incited the difficult animagi transformation could incite other powers. She thanked Sam in her head that he'd ordered fresh leaves and not dry ones. She ransacked the stock room, moving boxes to the door and looking in nooks and crannies, but to no avail.

"Alice!" Rose called, hoping her voice was loud enough. When she heard no response, she yelled once more, "Alice, get your skinny arse over here!"

Alice came bounding into the room, almost tripping over a box of empty vials.

"Mandrake? Where did we store the mandrake leaves?" Rose moved another box under a shelf.

"I don't remember storing any. Maybe we should call Sam?" Alice suggested, and Rose frowned, but nodded. She preferred not to disturb him out of hours: she really was a reasonable head researcher, but when her mind was whirling, she couldn't stop it.

Fifteen minutes later, and Sam, clad in sweatpants and a fitted tee, emerged from the storage room with a wooden box.

"Thankyouthankyouthankyou!" Rose cheered, snatching the box from him and running to her already brewing potion.

"You're welcome!" He called out after her, but Rose was too far gone to notice. Now relieved of his one duty, he fiddled with his hands awkwardly, glancing to Scorpius and the other companion.

"Ah, we haven't officially met," Albus grinned, reaching a hand out, "I'm Albus Potter, and you must be Sam, the incredible receptionist."

"The one and only," Sam shook Albus's hand, suddenly feeling rather clammy. It wasn't often that you got to meet a Potter in the flesh. And a very tall, muscular, attractive one. And here was Sam, in his sleepwear, "Uh, how's that potion coming Miss Weasley?"

"Give it like five minutes," Rose turned around, wiping her brow.

"Well, I'm gonna sneak off to the loo now so I don't miss the action," Alice left the excitement with very little notice.

Rose grinned at Scorpius, but the tall blonde hardly noticed. His jaw was set, and he was glaring at Albus, who was barely apologetic.

"Are you okay?" Rose reached out to touch Scorpius's arm, but he flinched away. She held her hand where he had been, shocked at his reaction.

"Yeah, sorry Rose, I just have a lot on my mind," he covered, moving back to push his arm against her waiting hand. She retracted it, crossing her arms and looking to Albus who simply shrugged in response.

The four stood in awkward silence until Alice returned, excitedly bounding into the room. Upon her appearance, Rose looked back to her cauldron.

"Yes!" Rose exploded in excitement, grabbing tight onto Scorpius's arm despite whatever mood he was in, "You're a bloody genius Al, grab me a vial!"

Albus hastily did as he was told, and Rose bottled a small portion of the pearlescent blue potion. Just as Rose walked to store it on her shelf, everything suddenly went to shit.

There was a large crash from outside of the lab, and she spun around, "Wha-"

"Damn it," Scorpius rushed to the door, pulling his wand out, "this is too soon!"

Albus spun Rose around so she was facing him, "Rose, there's no time to explain, you have to trust me," She was in shock, still looking past him to where Scorpius stood. Alice and Sam were huddled together in confusion, looking to the door.

"Pocket the vial, burn your work, and destroy the potion," Albus ordered, and Rose snapped back to attention.

"Albus Potter, there is no way I am burning months worth of research-"

"Rose!" Albus shook her, and Rose was steaming, "There's no time to argue. You're brilliant, you can recreate it," Albus pleaded, "You need to believe me, whoever is on the other side of the door absolutely cannot have your research."

After a moment, she finally nodded.

"Alice!" Rose ordered, and her assistant snapped to attention, "Store the books in Auggie's shelves, then grab me the rune stone from the top left shelf," Alice nodded, heading to Rose's bench. Rose scooped up her papers, piling them with the unused ingredients on the center of the lab bench. "Sam!" she yelled.

"Yes Miss Weasley," he was by her side in an instant, wand clenched and shaking in his hand. If Rose was in a right mind to notice, she would have made fun of him for his readiness to assist her in all situations, despite his obvious fear.

"I need you to set fire to these documents and not burn the whole lab down," Rose seemed emotionless as she ordered. She glanced to Albus, "Al, help him."

Rose slipped the little blue vial from her desk into her pocket, pulling the wand from her jacket and directing the cauldron to the sink. She felt sick with the thought that she was about to dump her newest discovery. It was like ripping a piece out of her flesh as she upturned the steaming cauldron into the sink, pouring some Destroying Draught after it. When Rose turned around, she was witnessingthe last year of her life being burned at her own bench. It was only when the heat of the flames warmed her that she felt the wetness on her face.

"Is everything clear?" Scorpius walked to the group, the fire reflected in his eyes. Rose turned away quickly, wiping her tears before anyone saw. "Right, well we need to go immediately. Can you all apparate to Rose's flat?" everyone nodded but Sam.

"It's okay, you can side-along with me," Rose grabbed onto Sam's arm, holding onto him much more tightly than she needed to.

Scorpius looked from Sam to Rose and nodded, "You go first, then immediately move so we don't-"

Rose apparated before the end of his sentence and keyed into her flat, pulling Sam along, although he didn't need much encouraging. He ran over to her kitchen and threw up in her sink. He wasn't even done before Albus and Alice walked in after Rose.

"Don't side-along very often?" Albus chuckled, walking to the kitchen. Rose stood frozen as Alice flicked on the living room light. One last crack, and Scorpius was walking into Rose's apartment as if he'd done it a thousand times before. He stormed straight past Rose and down the hall to Roxanne's bedroom.

"Scorpius, what are you doing?" Rose questioned, forcing her legs to move forward.

"Rosie…" Albus peeked his head out of the kitchen as she walked by, and she spun towards him.

"Don't you Rosie me!" She shoved his chest hard, though he barely moved under her strength, "You just made me destroy some of my best research, and now your friend is running around in Roxanne's room like he fucking owns the place. I need some bloody explanations, now."

"You'll get them in a few minutes, but we need to move," Scorpius pushed past Rose to her fireplace now wearing a large backpack. He motioned to the floo powder. Albus dragged Sam out of the kitchen.

"No way," Rose planted herself firmly, "I'm not moving until you tell me what the bloody hell is going on!" Rose shouted, but Scorpius was not listening.

"I don't remember this bloke being with us," Albus laughed, supporting a still nauseous boy.

"It doesn't matter," Scorpius checked his watch and swore, "Malfoy Manor, I have a touch-sensitive portkey there, go."

Alice went first, disappearing quickly. Then Sam, though Albus made him pronounce the address once before grabbing powder. On his departure, Rose heard a large bang from downstairs.

"Rose, hurry!" Albus pushed Rose into the fireplace. She grabbed the powder with a shaking hand, disappearing just as her door broke down and spells were thrown into her flat.

She tumbled forward into a dark room, landing on something hard.

"Oi, get off of me!" Sam shouted from under her, and Rose scrambled to her feet.

"What the hell is going on?" Alice wondered aloud, standing before them. She muttered a lumos, and the room lit up dimly. Rose helped Sam to his feet, trying to ignore the gothic theme around her. It was certainly a much colder place than she had grown up. Rose didn't want to think about it too much. A light crack sounded from Rose's right, and she ran to a window, looking out into the night's darkness on the Malfoy lawn. Flashes of light flew by, and with a grunt, one figure fell. Two others bounded away from it, entering the door with no problem.

"Come on," Rose beckoned, leaving the sitting room they had fallen into and entering a large hallway. She turned to her right and proceeded slowly down the hallway, seemingly toward the direction the figures had entered into the house. Her wand was pulled, and a curse was ready on her lips.

"Rose, don't you dare hex me!" Albus called down the hall, though Rose didn't drop her guard, "It's just me and Scorpius, bring the others this way."

Albus stuck his head around a corner, and Rose finally allowed herself to relax.

"How did you know it was me?" she threw at him accusingly, walking down the hall. It opened up into a not-so-cozy livingroom with a single rusty spoon sitting on the table in the center where tea should have gone.

"In good time, grasshopper," Albus bowed to her, and Rose rolled her eyes.

"Come on guys, portkey," Scorpius motioned towards the spoon. Rose nodded. Of course that was what it was. The dirty old spoon didn't fit what little beautiful decor she could see. The group squeezed together around the table, and Rose looked around. Scorpius was decidedly avoiding her gaze. Albus supported the clearly shaken Sam. Rose felt a pang of pride for her cousin, helping a stranger. Rose caught Alice's attention as she looked to her friend. Alice looked the most afraid, and with a start, Rose realized how serious the situation was. What had been chasing them? What waited at the other end of the portkey? She didn't have any more time to consider.

"Hold hands tightly, and don't let go," Scorpius instructed as if Rose had never used a stupid portkey before. She grabbed onto Alice's hand and Albus's, nodding to Scorpius. Albus grabbed onto his arm, and Scorpius reached forward, activating the high-tech portkey with his touch.

Author's Note - Howdy y'all! I hope this mayhem was unexpected. More importantly, I hope that it's received well! Let me know what you think. Despite my lack of replies, I read every single comment and take your thoughts into consideration (I might not make changes based on every single one of them, but let me know)! I'm also rewriting the story as a clean version in an attempt to reach a wider audience, but it won't affect my regular Sunday posting of the main story. I do want to take a moment to recommend my two inspirational stories, the best Rose/Scorp fanfiction EVER by Slide(JustSlide), The Stygian Trilogy /series/438892, and the romance novel that inspires the dynamic, The Boss by Abigail Barnette. Both INCREDIBLE series that I couldn't put down. Have a lovely week, and I'll see you next Sunday!