A/N: Enjoy!

THC – Round 3

House: Gryffindor

Class: Astronomy

Category: Drabble

Prompts: (Location) Scotland Mountains

Word count: TBD

Betas: secretfanficlover

Trigger Warnings: 1,000 (wordcounter . net)

~~Hiking and Other Woes~~

"Let me just make this clear!" Rose hollered between shallow breaths. "I absolutely detest you."

Dominique didn't answer, which only infuriated Rose more.

But, then again, it wasn't likely they had heard her. Dominique was probably a good three hundred metres ahead of her, and Rose's lung capacity was so weak right now there was no way she could even dream of projecting that far. Still. She hoped Dom knew how angry Rose was at them.

This was the last time she was guilt-tripped into doing something stupid by her horrible Hufflepuff cousin.

See, Dominique had suddenly come up with the brilliant idea to create a Hiking Club. You heard that right. Hiking. As if anyone actually liked that. Dominique, however, had not seemed to realise that everybody hated hiking, and had been genuinely surprised and quite tearful to see that despite their best efforts to get people to join, only three people were coming to the outing they had carefully planned for the weekend.

And then, Rose had passed by her cousin in tears. But since she was the absolute best and most wonderful of all the Weasley cousins, Rose agreed to come to the hiking outing. All it took were some tears, and some promises of beautiful Scottish landscapes.

Rose, however, was part of the sensible people who hated hiking, and it was only natural that she go and complain to her best friends, Albus and Scorpius Malfoy.

Scorpius, being the sweetheart he was, had very kindly suggested that he sign up too, which only slightly lifted Rose's mood. Albus, however, had not offered to join. Because he had detention. (But Rose knew how glad he was not to be able to come).

And, surprise, surprise.

When Hogwarts student body had learned that the dreamy Sixth Year Slytherin Seeker Scorpius Malfoy was going hiking… Let's just say that Dominique suddenly had a lot more people than expected for their little expedition.

And yet, they still didn't let Rose back out, even though she protested that she would be leaving her space for someone who probably really wanted to go hiking.

And now, here she was. On a Sunday morning. At eight bloody o'clock in the morning. Hiking in the middle of the freezing Scottish Highlands. Even worse: Rose was absolutely terrible, and she was all alone at the back.

Nothing was agreeable about this hike.

She was sweaty. Alternatively too hot and too cold. The cold air burned the back of her throat and it had been two hours since she's had breakfast. Two hours. She needed more food immediately.

Rose struggled to put one leg in front of the other, leaning heavily on her walking stick. They were hiking up the mountain right now. The soaking wet grassy path had already turned her shoes into a sodden mass, and she could feel blisters forming on her heels.

Come on, she told herself, just a few more steps.

But then she looked up, and saw that the path wasn't anywhere close to the top. She could barely see the rest of the group in the distance; the mist was too important.

'The sights will be lovely,' Dominique had said. Rose snorted. What sights? The only thing here is mist.

She was so busy feeling miserable for herself and wondering when the next break was that she almost missed Scorpius, who was sitting on a rock, apparently waiting for her.

"Hey, Rose. Take a break," Scorpius said, getting up from his rock.

Rose almost jumped out of her skin, before frowning. "A break? But I have to catch up with them!" She gestured towards the group in front.

Scorpius smiled. "They took a break here fifteen minutes ago. I offered to stay and wait for you."

Fury boiled up in Rose. "You mean they didn't wait for me?"

"I waited for you. Now, have this cereal bar."

Rose yanked the bar out of his hands, before tearing the wrapper off, and sinking her teeth into the sweet treat, like a feral animal. Oh, that tasted so good. She might have moaned. Who knew food could taste this good?

"You're welcome," Scorpius replied, smirking.

Rose blushed, wiping the crumbs off the sides of her mouth. "I mean, thank you. For the bar, and for waiting for me."

He rolled his eyes. "I did say I'd sign up so I could come with you. Unfortunately, Melanie and Praanvi just wouldn't let me go."

Rose frowned at the mention of the two Gryffindor third years. Boy were those girls annoying. "It's just that I wished I had never come. I hate hiking, I just don't get the point."

"But the Scottish mountains are so beautiful!" Scorpius exclaimed. "And we literally live in Scotland for the better part of the year. It would be a real shame if we didn't explore our surroundings."

"What surroundings?" Rose retorted. "We can't see anything!"

Scorpius shook his head. "Trust me, when we get to the top, we'll be able to see the entire landscape!"

"I can see the entire landscape very well from my dorm room, thank you very much!"

But, in truth, already the mist was clearing up, and Rose could begin to spot the sights of the valley. It was quite breath-taking, between the snake-like tendrils of mist, slowly twirling away to reveal a gorgeous emerald green painting, speckled here and there with brilliant blue lakes.

And what had been cold air burning her throat actually felt more like deep reinvigorating breaths, better than any Pepper-Up Potion.

But there was no way she was ever going to admit that to Dominique.

"Come on, let's go. We don't want the others to completely forget about us," Scorpius suggested, picking up his bag and handing Rose hers.

"I still think this is stupid. There is far too much mist."

"At least it isn't raining," Scorpius said.

"Scorpius! You cured it!"

But he simply laughed. Suddenly, the hike through the Scottish Highlands was quite significantly more enjoyable.