A Note Before You Begin: I've recently had a few comments inquiring into why Albus and Scorpius aren't friends considering Albus is in Slytherin and they are, in fact, friends. This fanfic was started before Cursed Child was released. I had the plot points, the characters, and a large majority of the story all figured out by the time that it did. As it is my story, I didn't want to change any part of it, SO the events of Cursed Child are not in anyway related to this fanfic. Nothing in the play will be mentioned in this fanfic. Think of it as an AU but still within the Hogwarts universe 😂 Sorry for any confusion but I hope you still enjoy it all the same <3
"Seriously?" Albus Potter muttered as Rose Weasley finished ranting and raving about the ten things wrong with Serena Thomas. "I still don't understand why you it bothers you so much, Rose."
"Al," Rose sighed in frustration, pushing the now cold egg around on her plate. She'd come into the Great Hall that morning, starving, ready to devour the full English breakfast. Her appetite was lost, however, when she witnessed Serena and her followers—which included some young and deluded wizards, as well as witches—leering down at Scorpius Malfoy as he tried to eat in peace. "It's not right. His father may have made some bad choices in his time but your dad's explained this to us so many times—he's changed since his days here. Scorpius can't have his father's actions held against him."
Her cousin peered curiously up at her, his gaze burning a hole in her forehead. "You know, for someone who claims not to be fond of Malfoy, you sure are protective of him."
Rose scoffed, rolling her eyes at him. "Oh, come off it, Al!" It was times like these that Rose resented Albus and his, dangerous, at times, curiosity streak. "I'm not protective of him, I'm just--" she faltered, unable to give him a feasible explanation. It was one of those rare moments when Rose Weasley didn't know exactly what to say to get herself out of trouble—something which she found herself in more often than not with her prankster of a cousin, James Potter.
Albus cocked an eyebrow. "You're just? Go on, Rosie, do enlighten me."
"I do not have to explain myself to the likes of you," she teased, already plotting her way out of this mess. "Plus, he doesn't need protection; he is a Slytherin, after all." She dropped her fork onto her plate with a clatter. "You ready to go? We've got a Potions test in half an hour and I want to do some last-minute cramming."
He pushed up from the table, rolling his eyes and ruffling his dark hair with his hand. "Like you need the extra revision."
It was true that, in terms of brains, Rose was very much like her mother, Hermione. However, Rose and Albus were very much aware that, following in the example of her father, Ron, she lacked motivation for studying and homework, usually completing her assignments in the late hours of the night by the dim light of the Gryffindor common room after everyone else headed off to bed. Ever the slacker, she was frequently accompanied by James, who, more often than not, bored himself to sleep and left Rose to complete his homework for him out of pity.
Honestly, Rose didn't mind the extra workload that James brought. He was in the year above, but Rose found that, after a bit of light reading on the subjects, she could complete his assignments rather easily, only resulting in making the following year that much simpler.
The entire family knew of James' plans to join their cousin, Fred, in the running of the Weasley joke shop, which Rose's Uncle George and his late twin brother had opened upon leaving school in their sixth year. Despite cousin Fred leaving after his sixth year, Aunt Ginny and Grandma Weasley had been less than pleased about James' lack of intention to finish his education, although, Uncle Harry was much more laid back on the subject.
Rose couldn't complain. Her family often weighed her academic gifts against her cousins and younger brother, Hugo, all of whom rolled their eyes and huffed silently when the subject was brought up. Despite the many stories she'd been told of her father teasing her mother about her dedication to her classes when they attended Hogwarts, he frequently encouraged Rose to get the highest marks over all the other kids in as many assignments as possible.
As she and Albus made their way towards the exit into the Entrance Hall, Rose's gaze fell back on the, thankfully, alone blonde Malfoy boy. Her father's words from her very first year at Hogwarts rang through her mind loud and clear: So that's little Scorpius. Make sure you beat him in every test, Rosie. Thank God you inherited your mother's brains.
Rose had stayed true to her father's word. Every test, assignment, practical and sport, Rose made sure she beat out Scorpius Malfoy. In the six years they'd both been attending Hogwarts, Rose couldn't be sure if he ever noticed her determination to always come first to him—and everyone else, of course.
Rose kept her gaze on Scorpius as she and Albus walked past him. As if he could feel her gaze, he shifted his attention from his bowl of cereal. His steely silver eyes met hers, and Rose felt her cheeks flush from being caught staring at him.
In a hasty effort to avoid further embarrassment she, rather obviously, forced herself to look away from him, hurrying after her cousin as he strode through the grand doors of the Great Hall.
Rose didn't dare turn back to look at the boy with the piercing gaze. However, the entire way out of the hall, she felt it boring into the back of her head, sending shivers down her spine and making the hairs on the back of her neck stand up.
- - - -
Rose had thanked the stars that she and Albus had crammed in some last minute revision when the Advanced Potions class was informed of what was expected of them during that lesson. Their Professor had tasked them with the seemingly impossible challenge of brewing Draught of Living Death, a particular potion her mother had warned her about.
It was so taxing for Rose, who's weakest subject was most certainly Potions—she was so focused, in fact, that she almost managed to completely ignore the presence of Scorpius Malfoy at the back of the class.
Almost.
In her hustle and bustle on her half of the bench she shared with Albus, Rose snuck a few too many glances at the blonde boy, noting the way his tongue poked out between his lips while he was concentrating particularly hard on a part of the potion, or the way he irritably dragged a hand through his hair when a few blonde strands fell in his silver eyes.
She hadn't missed the fact that Albus had noticed, and that he kept shooting her suspicious looks. She ignored him, however, focusing solely on her potion until he returned his attention to his own, before waiting a couple of minutes until she next took a glance at Malfoy.
Half of her curiosity towards the quiet, cold-fronted boy was her internal battle over Albus' earlier words—why was Rose so concerned with what happened to Malfoy? From what they'd been told by her mother, father and Uncle Harry, Draco Malfoy had been undeniably horrid to them during their Hogwarts years, but Rose couldn't help the fiery anger that flared up inside her when she thought of the words his son got thrown at him, all because his father made some mistakes? Granted, being a Death Eater was a fairly serious "mistake" for one to make, especially at such a young age as Draco Malfoy had been. However, even Uncle Harry admitted that it was clear that part of Draco's life had disappeared with the death of his father, Lucius.
Even with such pressing matters weighing her down, the other half of Rose's mind told her a more plausible, explanatory reason for her almost-obsession with Scorpius: he was hot. And she couldn't deny it; Scorpius was positively gorgeous and, while he hadn't noticed, she would happily and shamefully sneak a few sly glances at him.
Needless to say, Rose's own sample of Draught of Living Death was nowhere near as good as was expected by the Professor. Yet, much to her satisfaction and the other students' chagrin, it was still much better than most of theirs.
"Catch you later, Rosie!" Al called in farewell as he rushed from the class to make it in time for his Charms lesson.
Rose thanked her timetable for the free period she had after this, and took her time collecting her Advanced Potions textbook and sweeping her equipment into her bookbag.
"Goodbye professor!" She called as she slung her bag over her shoulder and exited the classroom. In the daily struggle to get through the bustling corridors of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, the aspects of Rose Weasley that were inherited from her father made their appearance.
Shoving some first years out of her way and glaring at the one who dared to push her back, Rose barged through the crowds of students in her haste to get to the library. There was a book on Charms, her favourite subject, that she'd been dying to get her hands on for almost a full week, yet, every time she went to get it during her free periods, it was gone. Rose couldn't wait to find the witch or wizard who was messing with her study schedule; these were important years for her and Rose swore that if she caught a bloody third year with it she would hex the living daylights out of them.
Rounding the corner, Rose burst from tsunami of students, finally able to breathe. After six years she still hadn't gotten used to the craze that occurred in the corridors between classes.
Dusting down her school robes with one hand, Rose continued on her way to the library, thankful that this corridor was slightly less crowded, seeing as most students were in classes by now. She was thinking of the triumph she would feel when she got to the library to find the Charms book actually on the shelf where it was supposed to be, when a familiar voice broke through her thoughts.
"Rose!" Lily Potter shouted her name as she rushed down the corridor towards her.
"No running, child!" One of the paintings screamed at her. Lily just glared and told him to 'shush!' the result of which was a string of choice words, just bordering on acceptable for a student to hear, that Lily chose to ignore.
"Hey," Rose greeted her cousin, smiling. "I didn't see you at breakfast this morning, where were you?"
Lily waved her hand in dismissal, her black-painted nails flashing. Ever since Rose showed her the polish her mother had bought her, her cousin had been obsessed with the muggle accessory. It helps me express myself, the Potter girl would claim when some uneducated—as she would proceed to call them when they left—witch or wizard asked her why she had "black stuff"on her nails.
"Oh, that. Lorcan wanted to show me something." Rose didn't miss the way Lily's cheeks reddened upon the mention of Lorcan Scamander.
She raised an eyebrow but, at her cousin's obvious ignorance to it, didn't mention it. "Well, you missed another episode of The Serena Show."
Lily groaned, and the two girls started walking in the direction Rose was originally heading. "You're kidding. Who was the unfortunate soul she picked out this time?"
"Malfoy."
"Again?" Lily clucked her tongue. "Damn, why did I miss that? It's hilarious watching her tear him a new one."
"Lily!" Rose gasped.
"What?" The girl asked innocently. "You know I can't stand him, Rose!"
"What's he ever done to you?"
"Well ... nothing, but—"
"Exactly."
"But, come on, you know what went down with our parents and his."
"Yea? So?"
"Well . . . He's not from a good family, is he."
Rose stayed silent. She didn't know how to say that yes, she did know that, but that it didn't matter. She didn't know how to put into words in a way that Lily would understand how she felt that Scorpius Malfoy was different.
Maybe it was the way he just walked about by himself, or the way he just let Serena talk to him like he was a piece of dirt on her—horrible, in Rose's opinion—shoes. He was a Slytherin, for Merlin's sake! He was supposed to hex her into the unknown for treating him like that, not sit and take it like some franky first year.
Still speechless on the subject, Rose attempted to change it. "Shouldn't you be in class?" She asked skeptically as Lily followed her through the library doors.
Lily grinned mischievously. "Yes."
"So why aren't you?"
"Well, mum, I was late anyway, 'cause I stopped to talk to you, so I figured I might as well just not go." She winked at her older cousin. "Perks of having a famous father, dear cousin of mine, you could put it to good use, you know."
"What, like you do?" Rose laughed, shaking her head and leading the way to an empty table against the wall. "You're unbelievable, Lily Potter."
"Unbelievably devious, thank you very much." Instead of taking a seat opposite Rose like a normal person, Lily spread-eagled herself across her half of the table. "So, what are we doing here anyway?"
"Well, I'm studying," Rose stated, unpacking her quill and parchment, and rolling her eyes. "I have no idea what you're doing."
"I think I'll take a nap. I missed curfew last night."
She snorted. "You missed curfew?!"
"It's surprisingly easy, actually."
"I'm sure. And how exactly did you manage to do that?"
Lily turned her head to look at her and winked. "Wouldn't you like to know."
Rose shook her head lightly. She didn't know how Lily got away with half of things she did—well, actually, she did know. Like Lily had said, having famous parents certainly had its perks, for the Potters especially, considering the lot of them were troublemakers, bar Albus half of the time. What Rose didn't understand was why she got away with it. It wasn't fair how much special treatment they got because of who their parents were. Rose shook the thoughts from her head, not about to get in a debate with herself about it—again.
"So, are you going to tell me again that there's nothing going on between you and Lorcan?" She asked, pulling her Charms notes from her messenger bag.
"There's nothing going on between me and Lorcan," Lily said robotically, almost as if she'd been repeating it for the past year. Rose and Albus were just counting down the days until one of them cracked and spilled the truth. Hugo had informed them just yesterday that he'd almost managed to get something out of Lorcan, before the boy saved himself.
"Okay, Lily," Rose said sarcastically. "And I assume you're also going to deny that he was the reason you 'missed curfew' last night, right?"
"Right," Lily laughed. Rose shook her head, but chuckled along with her cousin nevertheless of the irritation bubbling inside her. She desperately wanted to Lily to just admit it already!
"I'll be right back," she muttered to her.
"I'll be right here," she replied, eyes closed, voice ever-so-slurred.
Rose smirked at her cousin's antics as she trekked through the large library with its hundreds and hundreds of rows of books, until she reached the Charms section. Skimming over the titles of the textbooks with her finger, Rose unintentionally let out a little scream of anger when it became apparent that, once again, her desperately sought-after textbook wasn't there.
She marched back to Lily, who raised her eyebrows at her anger. "What's got your wand in a knot?"
"It's not there. Again."
"What's not there . . . ?" Lily asked slowly, sitting up on the table and looking around in confusion.
"The book!" Rose exclaimed loudly, earning her glares and pointed 'shh's. She, however, was far beyond caring what other people thought. She needed that book—she wanted that book—and when Rose Weasley wanted something . . . By the name of Dumbledore she would bloody well get it! "Some—some flobberworm keeps checking it out every time I come in for it! This is the fifth time since last Thursday!"
Lily couldn't help the giggle that escaped her. "Rose, honey, you need to get out more. Oh, to live a life like yours, I dare to dream," she muttered sarcastically on the end. Rose chose to ignore her.
"That's it," she said instead, slapping her hands on the wood of the table surface and marching around it. "I'm going to search every single person in this library until I find this book."
Lily yawned, lying back down on the table. "You have fun with that."
And fun Rose did not have. She stormed—quietly, after being told off by the Head Boy once or twice—around the library, glaring at every student in possession of a library book, scrutinising it closely until she accepted that they weren't her sought-out book thief.
It wasn't until Rose reached the last table that the fun started to kick in. Maybe 'fun' wasn't the right word for it, for when she approached the person slumped behind the propped-up, open textbook and snatched it up, her anger melted to shock and horror within seconds.
His piercing grey eyes glared up at her as she held the textbook above his head. Rose's heart sunk to her stomach, her eyes widening no matter how much she willed herself to stay nonchalant.
For the third time in one day, Rose Weasley was speechless. The only thing she could even think was that it was, once again, due to him.
Scorpius Malfoy scowled, dropping his quill on to his parchment and leaning back in his seat, crossing his arms over his chest.
"Can I help you?"
— — — — —
Rose in the GIF above!