Chapter Eighteen: Complexity of Emotions
POV: Scorpius
Beside me, looking far more at peace than she has ever looked since knowing her, was Belinda. She lied with her head on my lap, dark eyes glowing the slightest bit of gold from the rare sunlight breaking past the grey clouds of the cold day.
When our lesson of Care of Magical Creatures had finished, I was packing up all of my things when I noticed her lingering behind. There was a shred of aggravation (that was typical for whenever Belinda Rookwood was around) in my chest, but there was more compassion. She had been keeping to herself since the Bogart incident - the incident that made me look at her differently. As such, I encouraged Al and Lucas to go on without me (not that Al even cared, seeing as Evanna Nott had promised him a tutoring session in the library that he was too scared to not show up for) and I asked Belinda to take a walk with me.
This is how we ended up laying on the grass beneath my favorite willow tree like we were friends.
And maybe now we were.
"You're cheery," she said to me with an eye roll but an amused laugh.
"Well, it is Friday."
"Oh, so you and Potter have a date, then?"
I blinked at her, rolling my eyes as she laughed. She was not as funny as she thought she was.
"Potter ditched me, actually. He's got a date with a Ravenclaw." I was not surprised by her shocked expression; I had looked the same two weeks back when Lucas had told me.
"Let me guess," she said after the surprise wore off. "Nott."
"How'd you know?"
Belinda scoffed. "Please. She spent all of Care of Magical Creatures giggling at whatever he said, and we all know he's not funny. She also looks at him. She smiles when he does, worries when the professor asks him to feed the skrewts. It's all rather sickening."
"You got all that from these past couple of lessons?" I asked her.
"The problem is," she continued, "while Potter's reacting to the Ravenclaw nicely, his eyes always linger on that stupid bint called Nia Harper." She reached down to the grass, pulling out a blade. "I notice people," she added, looking up at me as I was sure I looked confused. "And you'd have to be blind not to know that Potter's bewitched with Harper."
I laughed. "When the hell did you become an expert in romance?"
Her cheeks flushed pink. "Shove off."
"It's just a question, no need to get your wand in a knot."
Belinda waited for her blush to settled before she let out a sigh. "If I tell you something, do you promise not to tell a single soul?
"Have a let you down so far?"
A frown creased between her brows. She was remembering the incident. She hated being vulnerable, I knew, but to me it was her being human. It showed me a side of her that's hidden beneath all her quips and attitude. It's what made me pull her into a hug, letting her cry into my shoulder...
Bullocks.
I was being to Belinda Rookwood what Emily was to me. I was making myself a person to trust, a person that would hear her out, and comfort her.
Or maybe I was just trying to replace Emily.
"I'm betrothed," Belinda said, distracting me from the pang of guilt and grief that shocked my heart.
"What?" I asked, unsure I heard her right. "Betrothed? Like what our ancestors did?"
"Some of our parents, too," she interjected, frowning again. "Well, not yours. Wasn't your father originally betrothed to your Aunt Daphne, but somehow ended up with your mother?"
"Rumours," I returned a little aggressively. Rumours I still had not been told were true or not.
Belinda clocked in on my own aggravation, making herself inhale deeply before continuing. "I'll be seventeen in two years. Once I am, my father and grandfather have a respectable wizard lined up for me to marry. My job is simple: keep the family pure and the wealth among our own."
"But—"
"Family duty, Scorpius," she interrupted, "there's no being free from it. My mother told me as such. And she would know. She was sold to my father." Belinda looked back to the expanse before us, her nails sinking back into the blades of grass. "She told me once that running away with the love of her life was her greatest regret. She said her entire life is a tragedy and I suppose she's right."
I reached for hand, unsure of what else to do. I gave it a press, urging her to look back at me. "What if you fall in love?"
"Father would kill me himself," she said without a doubt, "and the boy or girl. He would never forgive me for shaming the family. That's why I don't get attached. It's not worth it."
Silence wrapped a bubble around us. What was I supposed to say? I knew my family had been a disaster of its own, but they had changed enough to give me a good life. I could not truly understand Belinda's chaos.
Belinda rose up, reaching for the side of my face. With a tender smile on her lips, she leaned into to press them against mine. That smile soon turned to a smirk when I fell on my back, giving her the opportunity to flush her body down on mine.
Her kisses were fierce, leaving no room for my would-be-protest. She needed a connection— I could tell my the way she clung on to me. She did not expect fireworks or love, just warmth.
"Blimey! My eyes!"
In the midst of tugging my bottom lip with her teeth, Belinda turned in an angle to glare at the protesting voices behind us.
"Your friends never go away," she muttered bitterly to me, but glaring at them.
"Oi, we were here first," Al spoke again in the same offended tone he had used before, "you're a new occurrence for him."
I pushed myself up on my elbows as Belinda maneuvered off my body. "She's not an occurrence," I said to Al and the group he was with. I suppressed a giant groan when I clocked in on Liam and Lily, who were standing side by side with a pissed off Harper throwing daggers at them, Freddie giving me to thumbs-up, Lucas and Dominique looking disappointed, and the two upset faces of Rose and Emily.
"We're just friends," I added quickly to the scowls.
Scoffs sounded all around.
"You don't need to explain anything to them," Belinda huffed as she gathered her schoolbag.
"But nothing was—" she interrupted me with another aggressive kiss. "See you in the common room," she said with a smirk before tossing her hair over her should and walking off, elbowing Harper along the way.
Al was frowning, clucking his tongue. "We leave you alone for an hour and that happens?"
"Nothing was happening," I told him with a tired sigh.
Dominique snorted again as she sat on the patch of grass next to me. "Sure, Malfoy. We can all pretend you weren't making out with that witch if it makes you feel better. Right, lads?"
"No deal," Harper grinned wickedly. "I'll be telling people."
I glared at her. "She caught me off guard, okay? She always does."
Rose narrowed eyes at me, squeezing her pink palms into fists at her sides. If she wanted to say something, she swallowed it down. She turned away from me, chin up.
"Hey, mate, there's nothing wrong with some spontaneous snogging," Freddie said, still looking impressed with me. "Just be sure there's no overprotective relatives lingering around ready to beat you to a pulp. Why else do you think no one nears our girls?"
Liam shifted on his feet, putting distance between him and Lily. The young Potter frowned at this before turning angry brown eyes at her cousin. Rose and Dominique did the same.
Freddie, as usual, seemed to miss the signal of shut-up-you-idiot. "If I saw a slimey git trying to kiss my little Lily, I'd kill him," he said proudly, ruffling Lily's red hair, "and you don't want to know what I'll do to any foul tosser that gets near my sister."
Lily jabbed her elbow into Freddie's ribs, making him cry out. "I am allowed to snog whoever I want! I'm almost fourteen! You don't get to decide for me!"
Harper laughed, speaking up before Al or Freddie could react to Lily's outburst. "Oh, I'm sorry, you think that's old enough? No Third Year should be snogging anyone. You aren't mature enough."
"Oh, I'm sorry," Lily returned in a hiss, "you think someone asked for your opinion here?"
A cold smile tugged on Harper's pink lips. "I'm just looking out for you, kid."
Lily's cheeks burned red. "I'm good, thanks," she said, hands balled in fists. "I should look out for you, though. You're going on sixteen and haven't kissed a single boy, have you?"
Dominique was grinning beside me, leaning forward, enticed with the scene before us. She was the only one to be entertained; the rest of the group looked uneasy as they shifted their attention between Harper and Lily.
I had been around Harper long enough to know when there was an outburst coming, but this time she managed to contain it. She took in a deep breath and smiled, her entire face lighting up.
"Actually," she began with a dulcet tone that made me scared, "I've snogged Liam multiple times before. So, really, kid, no need to be worried about me."
Dominique laughed gleefully, clapping her hands as Lucas nodded, grinning just as Freddie was doing.
"I knew it!" Freddie said. "I bet ten sickles on you two having a secret thing. Good for you, mate. Harper's bloody beautiful."
Al elbowed Freddie now, frowning, before he turned outraged eyes on Harper and Liam. His sister looked the same, except, her disbelief was fast becoming tears in her eyes.
"Well," Lily breathed, "I'm done picking on Harper for today. I have to go and vomit now."
"Lily—" Liam tried to reach for her hand, but the girl turned on her heels, briskly walking back toward the pathway that had brought her here.
He might have missed her, but Harper did not miss him. She took his wrist with her fingers, holding on tight. "Don't go," she said to him, something close to a plea.
I could have bet money Liam was going to stay beside Harper, just as he had always done, but he actually pulled away from her grip. He ran after Lily's retreating figure.
"This is so great," Dominique shared as Harper masked her disappointment into indifference, "I need to hang out with you lot more often."
"You think this is great, Dom?" Freddie chimed in. "You won't believe what I found out earlier today."
Suddenly, Al looked alarmed. "Freds," he growled, "shut your—"
"Our little Albie's got a girlfriend!"
Harper held her breath.
"—Lies!"
"—Who?!"
"—Don't call me Albie!"
"Her name's Evanna Nott," Freddie told Dominique and the others who had not known as Al punched his arm. "I saw them in the library holding hands."
Rose pushed between Freddie and Al. "Wait," she demanded, halting the fight that would happen, "you're girlfriend is Evanna Nott? The Ravenclaw?"
"She's not my girlfriend," Al groaned.
"Not yet," Lucas cut in. "It all depends on how smooth their date goes this Hogsmeade trip."
"Why didn't you tell us, Al?" My heart stopped when Emily finally spoke up. She kept her emerald eyes locked on our friend.
Blimey. I miss her.
Al looked down at his shoes as a poor attempt to hide the fact that he had looked at Harper's way. When she did not meet his eyes, he let out a sigh, shrugging. "Guess I was just waiting."
Dominique slapped her hand on my shoulder, using me as a base to help her stand. "You lot are really coming along nicely. Not even my Seventh Year friends have this much action in their love lives. I mean, first Malfoy snogging the devil, Harper and Greengrass secretly kissing, Albie has a girlfriend, and Rose has a date with Lysander Scamander. I am impressed, children. Kudos."
Rose blushed, hiding her face into Emily's shoulder as Freddie, Lucas, and Al gaped back at her. I felt a flame of anger burn in my chest.
This time, Emily did look at me. She must have sensed my conflicted emotions and thoughts because sympathy flashed at me in silent waves.
Of course she knew I was mad for Rose Weasley. She is— was my best friend, after all.