ROSE POV
There was a small after party in the common room for about an hour with people just cheering and clapping as Graham Montague held up their trophy in the middle of the room.
"It's starting to smell like sweat and wet dog in here." Leo frowned and looked around the room.
"I broke up with him. Just a few minutes ago. In the locker room." I leaned over and informed him.
"When I saw you go in there, I knew you were either going to come out single or fucked, and I'm glad it was the first one." He replied, wrapping an arm around my shoulders and squeezing.
"I'll just pretend I only heard half of that." I shook my head slightly.
Daphne caught my eye from across the room and made a b-line to Leo and I, her eyes wide like she was about to burst.
"When were you planning on telling us that you and Theo broke up, bitch?" she shook my shoulders. Her use of the term was endearing. It was all in the tone.
"It literally just happened. How do you know already?" I questioned. Word travels fast in Hogwarts.
"Well Pansy told me that Millicent was told by Blaise that he caught Theo hanging on some 6th year, and when Blaise went to go confront him, Theo told him." Daphne explained the chain of events.
"Oh wonderful." I sighed.
"So, who broke up with who? What was the reaction? Come on, spill." She urged me on, a cup of pumpkin juice in her hand that I'm sure was spiked with some kind of liquor.
"I'd rather not tell you now and then have to repeat myself merlin-knows how many times for everyone else. Where are Parkinson and Bullstrode?" I searched around the small crowd for them with my eyes.
"Want me to beat his ass? Because say the word and I will." Blaise popped up out of nowhere, ready to defend me if needed.
"No, Zabini, it's fine. I broke up with him. He can do whatever he wants." I was flustered as his sudden appearance and jittery energy.
"Rose! Did you see—" Goyle came up to us suddenly as well with Crabbe not far behind.
"Guys! It's fine. I broke up with him." I exclaimed, putting my hands up to establish my personal space.
"You and Nott broke up?" of all people, Draco chimed into the conversation.
What an actor.
"Yes. Just a few minutes ago, and now I'm sure the whole fucking common room is aware of it, so thank you." I scowled at all of them.
"What is everyone talking about over here?" Theo joined the conversation, and I slapped a palm to my forehead.
Pansy and Millicent ran up behind him, and now we were all crowded as a group in the corner.
"You two just not going to inform us of anything?" Pansy crossed her arms and looked between Theo and I.
"It literally just happened." I threw my arms up, slightly annoyed at their nosey tendencies.
"The drama." Leo jazzed his hands sarcastically.
"Are you guys good?" Millicent stepped in front of me and tried to say in a hushed tone, but we were all so close that her words were heard my everyone.
"Can we not do this here? People are starting to stare, and with how loud you all are, they're bound to try and join the conversation as well." I motioned to the group of 4th years peering over and trying to read our lips.
"Can I help you?" I glared over at the group of kids and raised an eyebrow. Their eyes went wide and they all scattered.
"Look, it happened. It's over. That's the end of it. No need for further discussion. We're good." Theo stated bluntly before returning back to the celebration in the middle of the room.
"He's going to be a joy." Blaise exhaled heavily.
"Just don't fucking bug him about it and he'll be fine. Honestly, you guys are the nosiest people I have ever met in my life." I rolled my eyes.
"This kind of stuff happen in Bulgaria, Riley?" Draco nudged Leo with his elbow.
"Hell, if I know. They're bloody accents are so thick I hardly knew what language most of them were even speaking." Leo huffed in response.
"You went there for how many years and you never learned a lick of the language?" Goyle chuckled.
"I learned it but it doesn't mean I comprehended it, Gregory." He tapped a finger to his temple a couple of times.
I swear, the topics of this conversation were moving so fast I almost got whip lash.
"Okay...I'm going to change out of this coat before I completely burn up in here. I'll see you guys in a couple minutes—um—where are we at tonight?" I asked.
"We can meet in my room. The only one they had left for me was a solo room so I've basically got the set up." Leo boasted, turning up his nose slightly and gleaming his eyes.
"You have a solo room and you didn't tell us?" I smacked his arm.
"Mate, that's the fucking set up right there." Draco smacked his other arm.
"Maybe I should retract my invitation in response to this abuse." Leo glared from me to Draco, rubbing both sides of his arms.
"Shut it. I'll see you guys there later—" I rolled my eyes, "—You guys coming up too?" I directed towards my roommates.
"I'll be up there in a moment. I just need to let Adrian know." Pansy pursed her lips and sent a millisecond long glare at Draco before walking off.
"She's really sticking it to you, aye Malfoy?" Leo nudged him sarcastically and gave him and dramatic wink.
"Whatever makes her feel better." Draco mumbled and rubbed the back of his neck.
Millicent, Daphne, and I headed upstairs, leaving Draco, Crabbe, Goyle, and Leo to chit chat about some mindless subjects that I don't care enough about.
"Tell me, Rose, does Leo have a girlfriend back in Bulgaria that we don't know about? Because I can't tell if he's flirting or if that's just how he is." Daphne hung her coat up in the closet neatly.
"That's just how he is but...he has a pretty specific type so..." I smirked to myself. Leo's flirty personality has gotten him in trouble many a time, although he means no harm by it. That's just Leo. The pet names, the pecks on the cheek, the arms around the shoulders...it's just how he shows endearment to the people he cares about.
It occurred to me that neither one of us have seen the other genuinely interested in another person. Like reallyinterested. He can read me like a book, so he knew immediately that my arrangement with Theo wasn't one of genuine origins. I've seen him have one or two very top-secret little flings on family vacations to France and Spain, but never anything that actually made me think he was emotionally attached.
Leo and I made a marriage pact with one another when we were fourteen. We made a deal that if neither one of us were married by the time we were 35, we would just get hitched with one another, and grow old in a house on a beach somewhere, talking shit and drinking wine until one of us kicked the bucket.
"Well give a girl some pointers—wait—before any of that—what's his family's financial situation like?" Daphne eyed me with a wily look in her eye.
"Sorry to disappoint but I can tell you right now that there is no possibility of you two happening, Daph. And that's not even meant to be rude. He's just hardly ever found someone he likes..." I shoved my own coat into the closet. Daphne's ear was still tuned towards me as if she were waiting for something else.
I sighed and closed my eyes, "They are very well off, Greengrass. Eros, Malfoy, Black status. The Riley's are up there."
She smiled wide and slipped off her gloves gleefully.
"Why am I so nervous? Why am I nervous?" Pansy came bustling in, ripping off all of her winter wear like it were suffocating her.
"This is new territory for you, Pans. Of course, you're nervous." Millicent slipped into a pair of jeans quickly.
"You're going to be fine. Just don't be a spaz." I jumped as I pulled up my own jeans.
"Wonderful words of encouragement, Rose. Thank you." She pulled her hair out of her pony tail and shook it out.
We changed and chilled out for a few minutes, trying to hype up Pansy, who was weirdly jittery. She acted like she had never had to flirt with a boy before.
Now that I think about it, I doubt she had to do much to get Draco to take her to bed. For a man with moderate levels of restraint, he wasn't too particular with who he chose to bed. The reason for that being that while the girls may have physically been different, in his head, it was always the same girl.
Me.
I barely knocked three times before Blaise threw the door open to Leo's room, "He's got a room our size all to himself. How is that even fair?"
There were still 5 beds in the room, but Leo had obviously transfigured them into one giant bed that almost took up an entire side of the room, which mean he had more room for the couch that he had supersized, and some bean-bag looking chairs.
"This is fucking wicked." We all gazed around the room, amazed at what he had done with the place.
"Good thing your arm is warmed up, Rose. You're playing beer toss. But with some...coconut gin shit." Leo held the bottle in his hand back and read the label.
"What do you mean my arm is warmed—fuck sake." I whispered to myself once I caught his joke. He was always one for inside jokes and dark humor. Dramatic irony was his favorite. He knew something the others didn't, and he could make jokes about it all he wanted and no one would know, which only made it funnier to him.
Draco got it though, and was trying to hold back a snicker behind his cup in his hand.
"One on one or teams? If it's one on one, I have a feeling they'll end up having to peel one of us off the floor. That drink is strong and absolutely vile." I wrinkled my nose as I remembered many a drunk night and hungover morning with the rancid taste of burning alcohol and coconut in my throat.
"Teams of two, of course. Not trying to kill anyone here." He stated, dramatically pouring half shots of the liquid into every cup from a tall height.
"Who else is playing?" I looked and raised my eyebrows at the rest of our friends.
"I have the aim of a blind bat, so I don't suggest me. I've never played before either." Pansy pushed her hand behind her ear and shrugged. There was no way in hell I would have picked her even if she didn't say anything. She was clumsy and uncoordinated, and not competitive enough for me.
"Malfoy, come on. You've got some hand-eye coordination, don't you?" Leo motioned to him.
"I haven't played toss but once and it was ages ago." Draco walked up to the table and looked at the cups curiously.
"If you can fly around on a broom for two hours you can throw a ball into a cup." I leaned against the table slightly and waited for his response.
"Fine. But I'm on your team." He glanced over at me and his eyes fell over me for a moment.
"Why not me?" Leo scoffed.
"Because if I remember correctly it was you that busted a window trying to throw a chunk of ice at me that one time at the manor." He downed the rest of the drink in his hand and laughed along with the rest of us.
"What does that have to do with toss, Casper?" Leo pushed his air back.
"The window wasn't even behind Malfoy. You flung it around to the side and busted a window. I thought your mum was going to ring your fucking neck." I laughed at the thought of the rest of us crying with laughter, rolling around in the snow clutching our stomach because they were starting to hurt, and Leo trying to figure out the spell to put it back together again before his mum heard all of the commotion.
"What's going on in here?" two people strolled through the door, looking around at everything, eyes landing on the table.
It was Adrian, and with him Graham Montague.
"Either one of you blokes want to play a game of toss? I won't be able to stand the look of gloat on these two's faces if they win. I'll have to end it all." Leo exclaimed dramatically to the two new people in the room.
"What are the teams?" Adrian raised an eyebrow at me and I felt Draco's mood shift somewhat.
Here we go.
"Eros and I are a team. Riley is the one that needs a partner." Draco motioned his head back to Leo on the other side of the table.
"Alright...guess I'm game." Adrian waltzed over and made his way next to Leo on the other side of the table. "This coconut shit is vile."
"You know the rules. Toss the ball into the cup, the opponent has to drink its contents. You throw and miss; your turn is over. You throw and make it, and you get another turn. No magical influences allowed." Leo stated the rules.
I spun the green ball around between my fingers, trying to remember the best way to go about getting it into the cup.
"Ladies first." Adrian smirked from the other side of the table.
Pansy was standing off to the side of him, constantly fixing her hair and adjusting her clothes.
"I have a feeling I'm going to punch this brute's fucking face in at some point tonight if he keeps looking at you like that." Draco grumbled in my head.
I shook my head and rolled the ball around some more. I decided to go with the direct throw to the cup method rather than using the table to bounce and get it in. The accuracy was better and there was a lesser chance of the table influencing how the ball was going to fly.
The ball left my fingertips at the perfect angle, breaking through the air gracefully, before directly swishing into the point cup in the triangle.
Draco clapped his hands a few times, along with Blaise, Crabbe, and Goyle. Theo drank silently from his cup a couple feet away.
"Beautiful." Draco clapped like he was trying to hype himself up.
"Drink up, losers." I instructed the other team.
"I'm going to be the one peeled off the floor, I have a feeling." Leo took the cup and downed back the drink.
"Lucky shot." Adrian shrugged off the minor damage I had apparently inflicted on his ego.
Draco flicked the ball into the air, and once again, swish.
"For fuck sake." Adrian took the cup and threw that back.
The next one of mine got in again, and Draco and I shared a double hand high-five, and it felt good to touch him. Even if it was just his hands. It was a simple, friendly exchange, but it was endearing.
Draco's next shot tipped off the edge of one of the cups, and it was finally Leo's time to shine.
He tossed it casually, and it bounced between a few cups before barely scraping in on a far edge of one.
"Bottoms up." I groaned, throwing my bed back and shaking my head to distract from the burning in my throat. "That was fucking disgusting."
"Let's see what you got, Pucey." Draco snarled to our opponents, leaning his arms wide against the table.
Adrian missed, and by a long shot. Draco snatched up the ball as it was about to bounce off the table, seeker reflexes, with a smug look on his face.
The game was close back and forth for a while, until it got to the last three cups, and it seems the alcohol was starting to take effect, as all of us were starting to struggle.
"Oh my—for fuck sake, did you see that? It bounced off the rim!" Draco groaned, running his hands through his hair in frustration.
Leo cracked his knuckles and shook out his arms dramatically just because he knew it would annoy Draco some more.
"And..." Leo dragged on right before he threw the ball, "...That's how its' done."
He made it in. Draco knocked back that one, not even taking time to acknowledge Leo's little victory dance before he started shit talking Adrian.
"Always knew you had shit aim." Draco snarled as Adrian's toss went a little too far back, not even hitting the table.
Draco rubbed his hands together and bounced around on his toes as he waited for me to throw the green little thing.
"Malfoy, you're bouncing around is making me nervous. Can you stand still for a second?" Blaise laughed at the nervously jittery blonde beside me.
"Shut up, mate. Rosie girl over here is trying to concentrate." He directed at him but motioned to me.
He called me Rosie girl.
I threw the ball before anyone could look into his nickname calling, and it barely bounced into the back-left cup, and I exhaled the breath I had been holding.
Draco clapped his hands a few more times and caught the ball as Leo threw it back to him across the table with an annoyed look on his face.
It was fun to see Draco being so competitive. Usually he hid these type of things, didn't make it so obvious, but the alcohol had loosened a bit, and suddenly he wasn't Malfoy anymore.
He was Draco.
A small smile cracked on my lips as I watched him hype himself up for his throw. I was just as nervous as he was. I wanted to win, and I think he looked at this as some sort of redemption for not catching the snitch in today's match.
"Don't muck it up, Dra—Malfoy." I was so enamored watching parts of his true self come to light, that I almost slipped up with the names.
In public, he was Malfoy.
When it was just him and I, he was Draco...depending on the situation.
He noticed this little sip of the tongue and a shy little grin flashed on his lips before we turned back to the game in front of us.
Swish. He made it.
We high fived again, and the look of excitement in his eyes was almost...heartwarming. It was genuine. That's what I think I liked about it.
We were down to one cup, and of course the whole thing was riding on me now. Everyone else in the room was gathered around, but 5 feet back as Draco had ordered.
"We need enough room for play, people, move back." He ordered once the game had gotten more and more interesting.
The alcohol in my system was really doing a number on me now, and I felt an immense sense of confidence for some reason.
Leo and Adrian were staring me down, trying to intimidate me with their eyes.
"Glare at me all you want, boys. You're not going to accomplish anything." I pursed my lips at them.
Adrian flicked his eyes up and down my frame, and that impacted me more than the glaring. Usually I didn't give things like that a second thought. I used to live to be gawked over. To be fawned over. But it hit me in that moment, the only reason I liked it so much was because it drove him mad.
I only wanted to be gawked at by him in this moment, and anyone else looking at me with hungry eyes like that just made me feel...wrong. Like I wasn't anyone else's to look at, and he wasn't anyone else's to look at.
Draco must have noticed the lingering eyes of his fellow teammate, because he started talking shit to him again.
"You're here on Parkinson's accord, Adrian, so why don't you stop looking at her like she's a piece of fucking meat?" Draco exclaimed boldly over the loud music playing.
"What are you? Her keeper?" Adrian scoffed.
Boy if you knew.
"I'm keeping my friend's best interests at heart here. The both of them, actually. I doubt Theo over there likes you making eyes at his fresh fucking ex." Draco yanked a beer out of Blaise's hands and took a chug before handing it back to him.
"Well thanks for that." Blaise wrinkled his nose and wiped off the lip of the bottle.
Theo looked up now, like he had been disrupted from deep thought.
"Ex, huh? Interesting. Ole' Notty boy just not cutting it for you anymore, sweetheart?" Adrian raised an arrogant eyebrow at me, and I cringed in response.
"It's really none of your business, you toad." The insult rolled off of my tongue and I didn't even care how harsh it sounded.
Pansy gasped behind him, slightly covering her mouth. Daphne and Millicent were both stifling cackles.
"Just...shut the fuck up, Adrian." Theo took a long swig of whatever was in his hand and leaned his elbows onto his knees.
"Just throw the ball for Merlin's sake." A thoroughly buzzed Leo groaned, throwing his hands to his sides.
I turned my head to Draco with a mischievous grin, "How much you want to bet I can do it with my eyes closed?"
His face went from surprise to contemplation to disagreement.
"Too risky. If you miss and we lose to them, I'll never hear the bloody end of it." He put his hands on his hips and shook his head no. We had both had a few shots of the coconut flavored liquor, and somehow, his breath still had a hint of peppermint to it.
"Or I could make it and it would be ten times more impressive." I proposed the idea. "Or are you just afraid I'll be taking your spotlight." I fake pouted my lips.
His eyes instinctually flicked to my lips and I quickly returned them back to normal as not to tempt the tipsy man.
"Too. Risky. Just stick to what we've been doing and—" he moved his hands like he was laying it all out for me, but I got impatient.
I threw the ball, eyes still on him, eyebrows raised and lips pursed as I tried not to laugh at the frozen expression he made once he realized what I did.
"Why? Why me? Why did I suggest this?" I heard Leo shouting and stomping around in defeat.
"Did I make it?" I turned suddenly. After the ball left my hand, I realized that this confidence was coming solely from the alcohol, and I wasn't actually too confident at all in my spatial awareness, especially when aiming and throwing.
"Fuck. Yes. Atta girl!" Draco wrapped his arms around me and squeezed once before flipping both Adrian and Leo off at the same time.
Everyone else in the room whooped and hollered at my lucky shot and started to get in on the next game.
DRACO POV
What could this girl not do? Honestly.
She has effectively wrapped me around her finger, changed the way I look at everything, made me genuinely laugh and smile for the first time in a very fucking long time, gave me the single most erotic, unbelievable, dreamed-about nights of my life, and she just won toss without even looking.
I'm not letting this girl go.
There's no way in hell. I'd be the dumbest fucking bloke on this planet to let go of the vison of my happiness personified.
"Oop...looks like she's at her dancing stage. Glad to see she still does that. It's quite entertaining to see her actually let loose for once in her fucking life." Leo came up beside me, sipping out of a glass now.
"Yeah, I know right." I tried to keep my eyes away from her, as to not get a glimpse of those hypnotizing hips and be sucked into another memory from last night.
God she is incredible. Waking up with her laying on me this morning, I felt like a whole new man. A whole new, satisfied and slap-happy man. I saw a new little twinkle in her green eyes that I had never seen before as she opened them this morning and looked up at me.
I could get used to that.
I hadn't even planned on trying to make any sort of move on her last night...it just kind of happened. I wanted to...appreciate her the way I knew she deserved, and she oh...did she repay the favor.
What was different about my interactions with Rose compared to any other partner I have had in the past is that I am actually interested in talking with Rose. I like to just...be with her. It's not all about the sex or the touching or the kissing. I could laugh with her and have conversations with her and reminisce with her and feel even more attracted to her.
Just to be around her was to love her, and I loved to be around her.
When I used to think things like this, I used to kick myself into the fucking ground. Enjoy the company of a woman for more than just sexual favors? That wasn't even something I thought I was capable of.
But with Rosie? I could tell stories back and forth with her all damn day and not touch her once, and feel better than I did at any other point in my life. I actually wanted to show her off, wine and dine her, show her my secret little hideaways and let her in.
Never did I ever want to admit to myself that I would ever let someone in, but I think I was admitting it now. I would let her walk all around the complex maze in my head if it meant she would give into me fully. That she would let her guard down and trust that I would never in a million years treat her like she was disposable.
"Oh...and now she's drinking whiskey? You know what that means." Leo chuckled quietly, taking a long sip from his glass.
"What does that mean?" I turned away from her and looked at Leo. Apparently, I wasn't in on whatever he was implying.
"She's mixing liquors, which means she'll probably be blasting sappy love songs within the next thirty minutes. I will put actual money on it." He explained to me, watching her sway around with Parkinson and Greengrass.
"Does she really not sing anymore?" I raised an eyebrow to him and sipped on my own whiskey. The burning down my throat hardly affected me anymore. It almost felt good.
"Not hardly since you all uh...got that thing on your arm." Leo stiffened slightly as he motioned to his own arm.
It had almost been two years ago now. Is that why she stopped singing? I guess the time line did match up. During summers, we all spent a lot of our time at the Manor, considering out parents were always hosting meetings. Quite often, I would rise to the sounds of her singing in the downstairs parlor room by the piano. It was faint, but it was enough to wake me.
I acted like it bothered me, but I secretly loved it. It was soothing and almost ethereal. I found myself missing her sweet morning melodies once they were gone. Now that I think about it, the last time her voice rose me from sleep was the calm day before our lives changed forever.
That's when I stopped playing the piano. The night before we were given our ranks. I played every night and she sang every morning, until one day, the same day, we didn't. Something I used to enjoy, something I did as a hobby and found genuine satisfaction in doing, was stripped of its beneficial effects on my brain the second I got this bloody mark on my skin. It hurt me to think the same thing may have happened to Rose.
I tensed my jaw and took another sip of my drink. A bigger one. It burned more.
"Remember her waking everyone up every morning from the parlor room? Bloody hell, girl really knew how to make a fucking statement." Leo chuckled, thinking back to the few weeks he spent at the manor with us as well.
"Yeah, I remember." I found myself missing those wakeup calls. I thought back to them with nostalgia and sadness. Darkness made Rosie lose the light her voice brought us all every morning.
"I hope you're not just fucking around with her, Malfoy. Love the both of you to death but you fuck this up and your ass is grass." Leo downed the rest of his drink and looked at me with a stern look.
"I wouldn't dream of doing anything to fuck this up." I whispered lowly to him.
"I'll hold you to that, because I don't know what the fuck you're doing to her, but she's not had a smile on her face like that in a really long time." Leo gazed over at where she was teaching Daphne and Pansy the steps to some sort of little dance she knew.
The smile on her face really was something. It was bright. Could light up this whole fucking room if she wanted to. It made my chest feel warm and my knees feel slightly weaker. My heart seemed to stop for a second as she glanced up at the two of us for merely a second, and I got a clear view of her face.
I hadn't seen her smile like that in nearly two years. And I found myself smiling back just the same.
"Christ you have gone all simpleton for her, have you?" Leo ran a hand through his hair and wore a surprised expression.
"What's that supposed to mean?" I pulled my eyes away from her and looked to him.
"When she first told me about what was going on, not even going to lie, I warned her, because I thought you were just trying to get some points with your lads and all, but—I don't know." He grabbed a random bottle of liquor and refilled his glass.
"What changed your mind?" I was curious to see if my intentions with Rose were as clear as I was trying to make them.
"I haven't seen you smile like that in a really long time, either."
Then a sappy love song came on.
"Told you." He nudged my arm with his elbow and laughed.
"Rose! I didn't know you listened to the cookie cutter shit." Blaise chimed in, "Thought you were too—Eros for love songs."
She rolled her eyes, "No one is too good for love songs, and if you think that, you're lying to yourself."
I wasn't too partial to love songs. Or any frilly song for that matter. The only time I remember enjoying a love song was when it rang out as my morning alarm for the weeks that the Eros's were at the manor.
They danced around with one another, dramatically clutching their hands to their chests as they mouthed the songs and grabbed each other's hands during the choruses.
I couldn't take my eyes off of her, and that could be a problem depending on who was looking at me. Theo was sulking in the corner, talking to some blonde that walked in a few minutes ago. Blaise was going between Millicent and the other game of toss that was being played on the other side of the room. Leo stood by me and watched people's interactions.
"That Adrian bloke is a real pain in the ass. How do you even stand him?" Leo grumbled and looked over towards my teammate.
His smug looking face made me want to hurl this glass in my hand right at him. The eyes he was making at Rose made me want to punch his nose right up into his brain. He was a slimy git, and obviously only agreed to entertain to try and get something from Rose in return.
Mental note: rough him up next practice.
"He kept making all these snide comments about Rose during toss—" Leo sipped his drink calmly.
"I'm going to—" I gritted my teeth. Fuck waiting until practice, I was seeing red right now.
"Slow your roll there, Casper. I've got it taken care of." Leo put a hand to my chest, stopping me from my pursuit.
"How?" the alcohol was burning in my chest now.
"Let's just say mummy Riley sent me to Hogwarts with a whole chest full of first aid potions and what nots..." Leo looked towards Adrian, who shifted uncomfortably as he leaned against the wall, "...including a wonderfully strong digestive elixir."
Adrian was literally...about to shit himself.
Right as the words left Leo's mouth, Adrian's hand flew to his stomach, his eyes went wide. He started to make a b-line for the loo.
"Sorry mate, no vacancy." Leo sucked in air between his teeth as Adrian's tense face fell to pure terror.
There was no one in that bathroom, Leo was just an evil genius.
"Fuck," Adrian grunted, now rushing to the other side of the room with a very confused Parkinson looking on.
Once he was out of the room, I boisterous laugh left my chest.
"Holy fuck did you see his face?" I cackled, thinking of that git probably losing it right now trying to find a loo.
"Sorry Parkinson, he seemed to be having some troubles in the stomach area. I'm sure he'll be fine." Leo waved off a nervous Pansy, trying not to laugh himself. She turned back to the other girls, confusion still on her face.
I smacked a hand onto Leo's shoulder and continued to laugh along with him.
"That was brilliant, Riley. I admire your handy work." I caught my breath once I got all of my laughs out.
"Thank you, thank you. Keep in mind though, there's a lot more where that came from." His face fell very serious for a second, which caused me to pause, but then he burst out laughing again.
Then the most gorgeous sound started to fill the room, and my eyes immediately followed it to the source.
"Oh, would you looky there...Rosie's singing again." Leo stated, but I barely heard him over the own delirium that was going on in my head.
I watched her again. Her eyes were closed as she started to sing the words of a song I kind of recognized. It was like I was enchanted, being pulled towards her. My brain went fuzzy, and my line of sight went fully to tunnel vision right on her.
It's like she was the only person in the room.
"This is one of the first songs she learned I'm pretty sure. One of her favorites. I play it on the guitar for her all the time." Leo went on beside me, interrupting the lulling melodies coming from the fucking angel across the room from me.
In that moment I felt it stronger than ever. As she sang those beautiful words and swayed her head to the music I realized...
I was completely and irrevocably in love with Rose Eros.
ROSE POV
I couldn't remember the last time I sang. Not like this. Not because I actually wanted to. Right now, in this moment, I wanted to sing.
This mark on my arm sucked the life out of everything I once enjoyed. Singing in the parlor in the mornings before anyone woke up used to be the thing I looked forward to the most. It was like a stress reliever. It was also fun to see Draco's pseudo-annoyed face as he complained that I "woke him up again".
I had a feeling he always secretly liked it. Or maybe he didn't and I was making up what I wanted to hear in my head.
He would complain in the mornings about my singing, I would complain at night about his piano playing. It was a routine.
What he didn't know was that on those nights I came down the stairs to complain that he was "keeping me up", that on my way back up the stairs, I would pause. Sometimes for only a few minutes, sometimes for half an hour, and I would listen.
He was anything but amateur. He was very talented at the piano. I found myself comforted every time I hear the melodious striking of the keys every night. It was sort of like a lullaby to me. It reminded me of him now every time I heard a piano.
I could feel his eyes on me as I let these warm, fuzzy emotions take over alongside the alcohol that was in my blood.
My eyes were closed but I could sense his gaze, and a smile sprung to my lips as I continued on, swaying my head side to side.
This song was one of my favorites. The fact that one of my favorite songs was a love song was outrageous to many, as they thought I was too...me to enjoy a sappy love song.
Every girl deep down pictures herself in a love song. Pictures herself as the princess. Pictures herself as the Juliet and whomever they want as their Romeo.
With the persona I put up, one would think that there was no way an Eros believed in fairytales and destiny, but there was a part of me that wanted to. It resided with the part of me that wanted to let my guard down and let someone...anyone...into my head. It was with the part of me that wanted to run away from all of this with the people I loved and just...roam.
But I learned from a young age that fairytales don't happen to people like me, and that I needed to think realistically.
Innocence was lost the day I learned about what the "business meetings" our father attended were all about, and who exactly their "boss" was. After that, the walls went up, and it's been all compartmentalization ever since.
I opened my eyes for a moment. He was looking at me like I had never seen him look at me before. It was a look that brought blush to my cheeks like I was some sort of embarrassed little school girl.
That terrified me in the best way possible. Just his gaze alone made me feel emotions that hadn't been brought to the surface for years. He was breaking my walls down, and I was letting him.
That's when I realized...
Oh my god...I'm completely and irrevocably in love with Draco Malfoy.
THEO POV
I saved her fucking life and this is how she repays me? She would be dead right now if it weren't for me breaking that fucking low life traitor's neck. I saved her.
This is the thanks I get? A half-assed break up in a sweaty fucking locker room that she clearly didn't give a shit about?
And look at her now, singing and dancing away like nothing even fucking happened.
This random 6th year whose name I could not remember for the life of me, was practically crawling to get into my trousers, and Rose didn't even fucking flinch.
Nothing.
She wasn't even looking at me. Her eyes were closed and she looked as happy as a clam. Why was she so happy? Did she even care?
My fists clenched and my jaw tightened.
My eyes had been on Rose Eros the day I met her first year. A little school boy crush that took flight after a match our 6th year, when we first started our little "fuck buddy" situation.
I was hooked immediately, but I didn't want her to know that. That would scare her away.
So, I watched and waited as she went on her merry little way, giving flirty little smiles and captivating the gaze of anyone that walked past her.
She was the hottest girl at this school, easily, and I had her.
Had her.
Anger bubbled up in my stomach. I thought I was going to keep her. The sex was great, I saved her fucking life, and we were the perfect looking couple. On paper and in person. Everything was great, or at least I thought, until her little slip up in the room of requirement.
Fucking Malfoy. The little shit loved to fuck around in people's head.
Ever since that incident, she hardly even spoke to me. Something changed with her. It was like she out this wall up between the two of us, and there was no way for me to tear it down.
I tried to deny the fact that she was pulling away from me. I tried to pull her back to me, but none of the usual tactics worked.
The look on her face as she flinched off my touch time after time stuck in my head. She looked like she was almost uncomfortable. Like it was wrong.
There had to be someone else.
I could feel it.
In my drunken sulking, I had narrowed it down to two people.
The first being the new kid in town...Leonardo Riley. The day he shows up is the day she randomly breaks up with me? I couldn't help but draw a line between the two.
They were close. Closer than I have seen her be towards any of the girls she currently lived with. He called her names that if I would have called her, she would have cringed immediately. There's just something...off about him.
The second person was Adrian Pucey. He had been making eyes at her all night, and I read his lips as he slipped crude comments to Leo during their game of toss. By her face, it looked like she was disgusted by him, but maybe that was all a part of the act. Trying to throw people off the scent.
I saw her talking to him yesterday, and they looked close. Maybe. Maybe it was him. Not really her type as he is a bit of a bone head with some grab hands, but who fucking knows what's going through her head these days?
Maybe the shit Black did to her knocked a part of her brain loose, and she completely losing her mind.
I watched her.
Singing.
She never sang.
She was good at it though. It was pretty.
Her eyes were closed and her head swayed to the music.
Who is it, Rose? Tell me. I know there's someone else taking you away from me.
She opened her eyes and looked ahead, and her face read like her breath was just taken away.
She had never looked at me that way.
It was full of...endearment and shy happiness. Her cheeks turned rosy.
They had never done that for me.
Who the fuck was she looking at that made her turn all shades of pink?
I followed her gaze carefully, and I was not prepared to see who was staring back at her.
Draco fucking Malfoy.
Hell no. This was not going to happen. No way in hell. He would destroy her. He would chew her up and spit her out just like he did with every other slag at this school. Rosie didn't deserve that.
And it looks like it's my job to save her...yet again