Chapter Six: Not-Dating

Rose wasn't quite sure how they'd fallen asleep on the couch together, but they had. She woke up the next morning from the birds chirping outside her still-open window, half sitting up, legs tangled together. It was probably a testament to how exhausted the both of them were, helped along by wine and talking late into the night.

It shouldn't have happened. If she put aside the whole soulmate problem, they worked together. It was difficult to separate work-Scorpius from the person she'd known at school, especially since he didn't exercise authority in any ways besides taking the lead on their stories. He couldn't fire her, but he was still practically her boss.

Not that it seemed to make a difference to him.

In fact, as she looked at him sleeping, this was the most relaxed she'd seen him in a long time. He was on his side, breathing deeply, strands of blond hair falling onto his forehead. She hadn't seen his guard down like this in the past year, which meant he was usually guarded around her. Why would he have his guard up around her?

Rose was rubbing the sleep out of her eyes when Scorpius woke, eyes blinking from the red-orange sunlight streaming through the window. He immediately sat up, freeing his legs from her own. "Shit."

"Sorry," she whispered, glancing at a clock on the wall. 5:44am. "I think we dozed off."

"Yeah." That guard was back; his shoulders tensed as he checked the time on his wristwatch. "I was supposed to go somewhere last night."

"Oh." Rose felt as though something had plunged into her belly. The words came tumbling out, her head too hazy to think about them. "Someone's waiting for you."

He looked at her, taken aback. "I—not like that. It's just—it's kind of a long story."

She wasn't sure she believed him. Not that his love life was any of her business.

"I'll get you some water, maybe?" she asked, moving to get up, but Scorpius was on his feet and in the kitchen in a flash.

"Stay there," he called, opening and closing various cupboards until he found the cups and glasses. "I've got it."

It was as though he knew. Rose brought her legs off the couch, and the blood rushing down her body was enough to make her rethink getting up so fast. As far as pain went, it always seemed worse in the morning.

Scorpius handed her a glass of water before sitting next to her, drinking his own. "I probably shouldn't have had that third glass of wine, to be honest."

She cracked a smile. "Me neither."

He reached up with his free hand, swiping his fingers gently through her hair, smoothing down the strands that had frizzed up during sleep. She wondered if he realized he was doing it consciously, or if his mind was as fuzzy as hers was.

"You know…" he began softly, "You don't seem as sad anymore."

"I wasn't sad last night."

"No, last year." He brought his fingers down to the ends of her strands, bringing it forwards onto her shoulder. "When you joined Quidditch World."

She shook her head. She'd thought she'd hidden it—or at least, she'd really tried. "It's been a tough year."

"Of course, with leaving a Quidditch career, dealing with an injury and starting a new job you know nothing about." He was playing with her hair, the soft skin at the back of his hand brushing against the side of her jaw. She tried not to shiver; it had been years since someone touched her like this. She could smell his cologne, earthy and sweet.

"Some people said I'm a coward," she admitted, staring determinedly at his shoulder, "that I took the easy way out by retiring."

"Asswipes."

"They're probably right."

"Tell me that when they go through what you did," he said gently. "There's courage in stepping away. I think you're incredibly strong, getting up after all that, working a job and walking to work every day when you're in pain. And you just keep going."

She met his eyes, so serious, so close.

"I'm not that strong," she told him, trying to ignore the lump forming in her throat. "I'm just kind of quiet sometimes."

"You're a bit shy, yes. But that's not what I meant."

He paused, hand still in her hair, throat bobbing as he swallowed. She couldn't bring herself to look away.

And then he was standing, quickly buttoning his shirt and throwing his dress robe back on, heaving an exaggerated sigh. "I'm going to have to find some alley to apparate in, aren't I?"

"Yeah," she found herself saying, though her mind was stricken by what he'd just said—what had almost happened. She looked for the words to question it, but she couldn't find them. Her lips and voice felt as though they were on autopilot. "Apparition is too loud for a muggle building."

Scorpius took out his wand to carefully levitate their glasses to the kitchen sink, the wine bottle hobbling in the air along behind them. "At least there's that, right?" He shot her a quick grin as he stepped into his shoes. "See you Monday?" And before she could reply, he was gone.

What the hell was that?

"You look exhausted," Laila said bluntly as Rose sat across from her at their table.

It was true; whether Rose had slept or not was a mystery to her. After Scorpius left, she'd dragged herself to the loo, finally changed out of her dress and washed up. There was an attempt to sleep until mid-morning, when Rose and Laila had agreed to meet up for brunch, but there was so much tossing and turning there that she hadn't been sure she'd slept a wink.

"I need the absolute strongest coffee they offer here," Rose mumbled, looking around for a waiter.

"Who'd you sleep with, then?"

Rose choked on air. "I didn't sleep with anyone."

Laila only raised an eyebrow.

"Well, not in that way." She scanned the menu, trying to ignore that her face was getting hot. "We sort of passed out on my couch. Just talking."

Rose's eyes dropped to Laila's hand, who was swiping through her phone—magically enhanced, of course—and then held it up, a page from the Wizarding Net displayed, a Witch Weekly headline: "Rose Weasley and Scorpius Malfoy seen together at the Quidditch Gala."

"Oh, shit," Rose groaned, taking the phone from her and swiping through. Someone had taken a photo of them dancing, which was sending her heart into a devastating spiral just looking at it. From that angle, they really did look like a couple, closely dancing and smiling at one another.

"Was it really him?" Laila asked eagerly, taking her phone back. "Who you slept with?"

"Literally only sleep happened." She buried her face in her hands. Even though they were at a muggle restaurant, Rose felt like everyone was staring at her. She hadn't missed this feeling; honestly, she hadn't thought anyone would report a story about her after she retired from Quidditch. "Scorpius is practically my boss."

Why did that feel like it was becoming a mantra?

"Only practically, eh?"

Rose groaned again.

Laila's eyebrows furrowed as she tried to give her a reassuring pat on the arm. "Hey, it's only Witch Weekly. Everyone knows they print trash."

"I should've known something like this would happen." Rose went back to the menu, but her eyes couldn't focus on the words. She wondered if Scorpius had seen it; someone was bound to show him, even if he hated Witch Weekly. "Whatever this looks like, we were just working."

Laila regarded her closely. "Why does it feel like that's the thing that's bothering you?"

And that's how Rose ended up telling Laila everything over eggs, baked beans and some very bitter espresso. How she'd been attracted to Scorpius at Hogwarts and how it had come back over the past year they'd been working together. How he'd been patient with her even though she had no journalistic experience. The recent events: holding her hand, taking care of her when her leg hurt, touching her hair.

"If nothing else," Laila said after they ordered a round of lattes, "it seems like he cares for you. Which is more than some friends do."

Rose felt a pang, thinking of Emily. "That's true."

"But honestly…" She tapped a glittery fingernail against the table, thinking. "Friends don't really fall asleep together. Especially on the same couch."

This made Rose laugh. "Right! I agree. The last person I fell asleep with was my ex."

"How long ago was that?"

"It feels like ages ago, now," Rose replied, thinking back to at least two years prior, when they'd broken up. Liam Pratt actually turned out to be a prat, though it had taken a couple of years to properly understand that. It was her first relationship, after all. "We weren't right for each other. He took the soulmate test after we broke up to confirm that—found someone else right away."

"That's rude."

"Tell me about it."

"You know, I wish my soulmate did a better job of putting the toilet seat down," Laila lamented, making Rose giggle, "but you can't get it all, I suppose."

"Amir doing all right, then?"

"Our parents don't know we live together," she confessed. "They know we're soulmates, but they took the news badly because of our families' religious differences."

"I'm sorry to hear that," Rose expressed earnestly. She could only imagine what her father's face looked like if he saw her and Scorpius in Witch Weekly. "I get how family can get in the way of relationships."

"That's not going to stop us," Laila said matter-of-factly as the waiter put their lattes down in front of them, decaf for her, extra-strong for Rose. "We'll have a big, scandalous wedding that will have our family and friends gossiping for ages. We don't care."

"I like that. I should keep it in mind." She smiled, but it faded quickly. "But Scorpius and I are not soulmates, so that's all hypothetical."

Laila took a long sip of her latte before grinning. "Maybe we can both quit our jobs. That seems like it would solve some of your problems."

"Of course," Rose said, laughing. "That's definitely the path of least resistance."

"I've started applying," she added, shrugging. "I mean, I'm always applying, but since we talked about it at painting the other night, I've gotten back at it again. I talked to a few people in my department about their positions, seeing what it's like. I think I might try writing to some other department heads, figure out what I might want to do."

"That's really great," Rose encouraged, secretly feeling like that was an extremely overwhelming undertaking. It had been hard enough to figure out what she wanted to do after Quidditch."I think it will be a while until I feel ready to jump back into the job market."

"How come?"

"Getting this job—well, I suppose it wasn't the most difficult thing I've done," she admitted sheepishly. "I didn't go to university for journalism. I'm just a fiction lover who also likes to write, so I applied for a bunch of writing roles, and happened to find one at Quidditch World."

"Just because you didn't formally study, it doesn't mean you don't deserve the role," Laila said kindly.

"Thanks." She smiled, though it was a difficult sentiment to believe. "Are you a reader?"

"No, not at all." Laila seemed unapologetic, as she usually did. "I'm more of a visual person. I like muggle movies and television. Streaming is incredible now, I can get everything on my phone."

"I never really got one of those," Rose said, eyeing the device on the table. The wizarding net had come out while she was in Hogwarts, and she'd never really had the chance to explore it where electronics largely went haywire. She was more attracted to computers, not that she understood how they worked. "Should I look into it?"

"Yes," Laila replied, nodding enthusiastically. "I mean, I am absolutely addicted to it, but I love it."

"You're really selling it for me," Rose teased, slurping at the foam of her latte.

"So, if you like fiction, why aren't you writing books?"

"Ah…" She scratched at her nose. "I mean, I do write novels, not that they're very good. But I get writer's block all the time."

Laila smiled encouragingly. "I bet they're not as bad as you think they are."

"They're okay," she said, feeling like there was no modesty behind the words. "It's just—I know what it's like to pursue a dream, you know? And I was incredibly lucky that being a Chaser worked out for me, but I also know how painful it is when the passion just sort of… fades away."

"I can only imagine how difficult that would be," Laila sympathized. "I mean, if I had actually had talent in anything."

"You're extremely creative, I'm sure there's something there."

She shrugged. "Haven't figured that out yet. Anyway, are you sure that if you pursued writing professionally, it would end up like Quidditch?"

"I don't want to lose it," Rose said, staring at the bubbly milk in her coffee. "I've already lost Quidditch."

"I understand that."

Rose felt a rush of affection for how understanding Laila was. If she was being honest, she'd never really spoken about this sort of thing with anybody; Emily, of course, had Quidditch on the brain. Albus, much braver and impulsive than her, had bothered her about it until they reached an agreement—for the sake of their friendship—that they wouldn't speak about it anymore. Nobody else knew.

"I've always had this dream," Rose confessed, "that I could travel and write for a while. Not for pay, or anything. I hated travelling for Quidditch, but if I had a bit more freedom with travelling… I think I would enjoy that."

Laila propped her elbows onto the table and put her chin on her clasped hands. "That sounds lovely. I'd love to paint on my travels."

"Maybe one day, right?" she said, and they shared a smile.

"But for now, you're staying at Quidditch World?"

"Yeah, for now." Rose swallowed a large gulp of coffee. "I'd love to help out with your job search, if you need someone to proofread anything. I've gotten decent at that over the past year."

Laila brightened. "I'd honestly love that. You'd really want to?"

"Of course." Rose grinned sheepishly. "I sort of dumped my love life on you. I owe you."

"You could make it up to me by coming to the arts supplies shop with me," she joked. "I will spend at least an hour in there. You've been warned."

Actually, it sounded like a good way to spend an afternoon. Away from any thoughts about a particular someone, at least.

Avoiding Scorpius proved to be a more difficult feat than anticipated.

As if he didn't already live in her head, she found him and Orion at a pub the next day. Orion waved her over to join them at the bar before she could dip out, and Rose internally groaned. She really needed to start going to muggle bars; Diagon Alley was too damn small.

"Hey," Rose greeted, propping her cane against the bar before hoisting herself on the stool beside Orion. "All right?"

"Cannons lost," he replied happily, entrapping her in a side hug and making her squeal. Orion's team—The Tutshill Tornadoes—was far better than the Chudley Cannons and stood no chance at all, but she supposed that was the fun of the game, pretending otherwise.

"We just got back from the game," Scorpius added.

Rose observed their jerseys—both Tornadoes, of course—and nodded. "Close game?"

"Not at all," he replied, lips twitching at Rose still stuck under Orion's arm. She wiggled herself free before flagging down the bartender.

After Rose ordered her drink, Orion rounded on Scorpius. "Rose would come."

"Come to what?" she asked.

"We really don't have to do this," Scorpius insisted to Orion firmly. "It's not that big a deal."

"We're having a party to celebrate Scorpius' publication," Orion said loudly, clearly tipsy, "because our mate just got published in the Daily Prophet, and that is a big fucking deal."

Rose immediately perked up. "Of course we're celebrating that. No contest."

"We really don't have to—"

"He doesn't really get a say," Orion said to her, ignoring Scorpius pointedly. "Just shut up and accept our love, Scorpius."

Rose felt her cheeks redden. Scorpius looked thoroughly embarrassed as he met her grin, but pleased all the same. She'd be lying if she said it wasn't cute.

"Fine," he relented.

"You have to celebrate this," she began, turning as the bartender handed her a butterbeer, fully intending on telling Scorpius exactly why he should be celebrating—and that's when she saw it. And, judging by Orion's spine suddenly stiffening, he saw it too.

Albus in the corner booth with the man from the Paint-and-Wine class.

Snogging.

"Mate," Scorpius said quietly, and she could see out of the corner of her eye that he had a hand on Orion's arm, tugging him. "Let's go."

He seemed frozen to the spot.

"Orion. Don't do anything rash." Scorpius practically peeled him off his stool before rummaging in his pockets, dropping a few coins on the bar. "We're going home."

Rose watched as Scorpius dragged him out of the pub. Orion looked so shocked, so heartbroken already; when Scorpius mouthed to her before leaving saying, 'Please talk to Albus,' she didn't even question it.

She cleared her throat when she reached their booth, crossing her arms over her chest. Albus and the man sprung apart, and though the man clearly had no reason to feel bad, he saw the guilty expression on Albus' face immediately.

"Can you excuse us?" she asked politely, trying not to convey how upsetting this was. "I just need to speak with Al."

The man gave Albus a smile before he slid out of the booth. Rose took his place, waiting for the man to settle across the pub before facing Albus. "What the hell."

"How did you find us?" Albus asked, voice small.

"A corner in the pub isn't exactly hiding, is it?" Rose lowered her voice and leaned across the table. "Orion was here. He saw everything."

"Fuck." He dropped his head in his hands. "I didn't want him to know about Ethan yet."

"Ethan? Yet?" Rose's mind was spinning. "Al, he's not your soulmate. There is no you and Ethan."

"He knows," Albus defended, putting his hands up. "He knows that I have a soulmate and he understands what the situation is—"

"But what about Orion?"

"What about him?" Albus burst out, and Rose was taken aback.

"Come on. You've loved him since you were twelve."

"He knows," he said bitterly, "and hasn't done shit."

"Does he know? Have you two talked about it, instead of dancing around the subject the entire time?" Albus was silent, sulking, and Rose pressed on. "Are you serious? Have you ever actually told him you love him, or did you expect SoulMates to do it for you?"

Wow, maybe Scorpius' skepticism was rubbing off on her more than she'd thought.

Al narrowed his eyes. "You idealize soulmates too damn much, okay Rose? It's not as easy as it seems. Knowing who your soulmate is doesn't mean all the pieces automatically come together. I can't force Orion to want to be with me, no matter what the test says."

Rose fell quiet, no longer sure how to respond.

"And Ethan understands," he continued, glancing over at him across the room. "He knows I haven't really been speaking to Orion since I met him. He doesn't care to do SoulMates, ever, and he must be one of the only men in the wizarding world that isn't tempted to try it."

"You haven't been speaking?" she asked.

"Not really, no," Albus confirmed sadly. "Listen, I get that you won't understand how I'm feeling, and that you disagree with this. But I can't let my SoulMates results control my life anymore, okay? I just need to feel something that isn't… I dunno—"

"Love?"

"Pain," he finished definitively. Defeated.

Rose felt her heart breaking for Albus. "Does Ethan care that you live together?"

"He doesn't know," he admitted, "but I've been thinking it's time to change that."

With that, it was becoming clear that this wasn't some sort of fling Albus was trying to throw in Orion's face, or even trying to make him jealous. This was a direct response to a rejection Orion had probably been giving Albus for years, and even if he didn't understand why, he'd had enough.

He was moving on.

It was something that Rose found herself mulling over as she walked home. Whether she had put too much stock in her SoulMate results, whether it was controlling her life like it had for Albus. Though she didn't have her results for nearly as long as he had, was it time for her to move on? What would that even mean?

How was she supposed to move on from someone she'd fallen so hard for?

Rose, deep in thought, reached her flat—all the way, every single step—before she realized she'd forgotten her cane at the pub.

A/N: I love writing this scorose, they are adorable :3 Hope you liked this chapter - anyone angry with Albus for leaving his soulmate, or is it understandable? How do you think Scorpius will respond to their picture in the papers?

Thank you for reading :)

Next: Rose catches Scorpius doing the unthinkable (at least, by her standards).