He'd read the same line about thirty times. If quizzed, Scorpius wouldn't have been able to tell anyone what it said. With a quiet, frustrated sigh, he snapped the book shut and set it on his lap before leaning his head back against the chair and rubbing his face. It had been about three hours since Rose had pushed into the manor ahead of him and disappeared up the stairs without a backward glance, let alone a word. He'd considered asking about lunch, but in light of the situation, space was probably needed more than food at the moment.

Instead, he'd stood there in silence in the foyer for a few minutes before Skilt had appeared next to him asking if there was anything wrong. Scorpius had shook his head, thanked him for asking, and then announced he was going to go into the den to continue studying. The house-elf had just watched him go.

He supposed he could have asked Skilt about getting the car to the manor, but he also didn't want to make that kind of decision without Rose's approval. It was her grandfather's car and her trunk, after all.

Staring at the stone ceiling, Scorpius thought back to the vehicle itself. It had been pristine and well cared for. The prize of Arthur Weasley's collection. He could only imagine how hard it had been for Rose to leave it behind the night before when it died on her. How hard it had been to realize how simple of a mistake caused it to stop running.

Sometimes it was the little things that brought everything crashing back. And she certainly hadn't had a relaxing couple days.

Scorpius couldn't help wincing at his own faux pas. He should have caught himself before he'd slipped so easily into flirtatious banter. He hadn't had to worry much about who he flirted with at school because it certainly wasn't going to be anyone with complicated and far-reaching family ties. But then Rose had showed up and it had been laughably easy to fall into.

He certainly didn't think it was anything she was currently worried about - she had far more on her plate that outweighed it. And, if he was honest, that was what made him so upset with himself. It had been inappropriate. The girl was here to try and make sense of her grandfather's disappearance.

Standing, Scorpius went to the shelf to put the book he'd been failing to read back. Rose hadn't seemed...averse to it, though. He paused as he turned that over for a few moments. Best not to follow that through. Not now. Probably not ever.

Someone cleared their throat from the doorway. He turned around and gave Rose a cautious smile, "Hey."

She bit her lip and glanced down at her feet in the most endearing display of sheepishness he believed he'd ever seen. "Hey. Can we talk?"

Gesturing to the chair she'd sat in the night before, he sank back into his own, "Sure. Are you hungry?"

As she sat, she looked startled at the question, "Actually...yeah. Famished."

With a grin at her, he called Skilt, and soon enough the house-elf was back with two sandwiches. Handing the plates to them respectively, he bowed at their thanks and took his leave.

Scorpius took a bite before registering that Rose was just blinking down at the plate in her hands. Looking at what was on it, he smiled. There were two chocolate covered strawberries placed delicately along the edge of her plate while his own only held the sandwich. At her surprised look, he shrugged, "I'd say he likes you just fine."

A small, pleased smile flitted across her face before she took a bite of her own sandwich. After a few minutes of silence, she set the food down and looked at him, "I wanted to apologize for earlier." She waved him quiet when he started to protest, "It's nice of you, but let me do this. It'll make me feel better." He settled back and nodded. She took a deep breath, "I'm still trying to figure everything out and it gets...overwhelming sometimes. So, between Grandpa missing and you being...you, and me being an idiot with the car I just got caught up and…" she huffed, eyebrows drawing down, "Well, I just want to say I'm sorry if I seemed angry. It wasn't you that I was mad at and I don't want you thinking any of that was your fault."

Scorpius nodded, watching as she rubbed at a non-existent smudge on the plate in her hand, "I wanted to apologize to you, too."

Rose tilted her head in confusion, "What for?"

"Well...earlier...I feel like I maybe...crossed a line?" he looked down at his own sandwich, "I hope I didn't make you uncomfortable."

When he glanced up, she was staring at him. Then, he watched as a grin slowly spread across her lips and she started giggling. Giggling . Now it was his turn to stare at her in confusion. She composed herself, her free hand lifting to cover her still-present grin of amusement as she looked back at him.

"Sorry. I just...wasn't expecting that. I mean...in regards to the... incident ," she gave him a mock-serious look, but the teasing tone of her voice was unmistakable, "I wasn't uncomfortable." He watched with curiosity as pink tinged her cheeks. "I mean, it was entertaining. But...maybe we should just agree to have you save your charms for the girls at school? Saves everyone the awkwardness and the possibility of family massacre?"

A chuckle bubbled out of him, "I'm all for less bloodshed."

She grinned widely at him, "Exactly."

He cleared his throat, "As for your apology...you really don't need to. You've got a lot you're dealing with. I think you're doing a great job, so far."

Her smile dimmed, but lingered softly, "I hope so."

Scorpius picked up his sandwich again, "I also hope that 'me being me' isn't quite so terrible as the rest, so you've got that going for you." She gaped at him. He raised his eyebrows, "I mean, imagine you showing up here and me kicking you out like any 'Evil Malfoy' would do." He emphasized with finger quotes before taking a bite of his sandwich.

That got a small laugh out of her, which he counted as a victory. She tilted her head and watched him for a moment, smiling, "I suppose I didn't expect to find you so...normal. It keeps throwing me off." She blinked at his raised eyebrows before rushing, "Not in a bad way! Sorry!"

He laughed her off and they finished their food in comfortable silence. He stood and collected her plate, giving a contemplative hum as he stacked them.

"What?"

"Just a small question in regards to your earlier request." She waited expectantly. He really should just drop it. But he couldn't help himself, "When you said I should save my charms for the girls at school...when it starts back up, wouldn't you be included in that group?"

She blinked, mouth dropping open as color rose in her cheeks.

He shrugged, "Just thought I'd ask." He was about to head toward the door when there was the quiet 'pop' announcing Skilt's arrival. Turning, it was to see Skilt standing there glaring at Rose.

"Um…" came quietly from the girl, "Thank you for the strawberries, Skilt?"

The house-elf blinked slowly at her in acknowledgement, but the glare remained.

Silence stretched.

"Skilt," Scorpius finally ventured, "is something wrong?"

Skilt's gaze never left Rose, "An unfamiliar owl was repeatedly flying into the front door of the manor. Instead of letting Skilt take the letter upon opening the door, the creature has decided to perch on one of the sconces in the foyer and is now making itself quite at home." The house-elf finally looked to Scorpius, "Skilt requests the young master deal with this most recent of surprise visitors so that Skilt may again ," glare to Rose and then back, "clean the foyer."

Scorpius blinked, "Oh...of course." An unfamiliar owl? His gaze came to settle on Rose and took in the tense set of her shoulders. "Of course." He held the plates out to Skilt, "Would you please take these to the kitchen and we'll take care of the owl."

"Thank you."

They were alone again, but before he could say anything, Rose stood and started toward the foyer. He followed quietly, gaze darting around when he passed through the doorway before settling on the small tawny owl that was shuffling on the edge of the darkened sconce. He immediately saw the offending mess below that had bothered Skilt so much. Scorpius hoped there wouldn't be anymore visitors or messes for the house-elf's sake.

His attention returned to the matter at hand as Rose lifted her arm and made a quiet whistle and the owl swooped down to land delicately on her forearm. She stroked the bird's feathers, "Hey, Smit. You got something for me?"

The owl held the letter out patiently with one leg, eyes drifting half-closed at her attention. She stopped petting him to pull the envelope out of his talons.

"There's a small owlery at the top of the manor, if he wants to rest," Scorpius offered.

Rose nodded as she went back to the door and opened it. Smit nuzzled her shoulder briefly before pushing off and making a beeline up toward the roof of the manor. Scorpius watched this and wondered how his own owl, Pip, would feel about the unexpected intruder.

Returning his attention to Rose, he was quiet as she stared at the letter for a few minutes, as if by not opening it the thing would miraculously disappear. After a deep, slow breath, she lifted her eyes to meet his. Her lips twisted and she shrugged, eyebrows pinching together, "I'm scared to open it."

He looked back to the letter resting in her hands. It wasn't a Howler…

"It's from my mum."

Oh.

AN: Signs of a world that exists outside of this little bubble they've found themselves in? I am really excited for the next couple chapters. THE ANGST. Okay, I'm done now.

As always, thank you so much to those who are following this story. The lovely reviews give me life and every time a follow/like comes through I'm just as surprised as the first one. haha Thank you and I hope you continue enjoying where these two take the story. :)