"Great, now I've got to think of something to ask..."
"You're joking! You don't even have a question in mind?" I asked in disbelief. I'd begun to think Scorpius' questions were never-ending.
"No, I did, but I don't think I'm quite ready for you to murder me in my bed," he said, seeming completely serious.
Rolling my eyes, I lowered my head and returned to mopping, waiting in anticipation for Scorpius to ask me his second question.
While he tried to work out what he wanted to ask me, Scorpius grumbled sounds. It was highly distracting and I found myself beginning to dread what he would ask. Clearly it was not going to be a question I would like if he was earnestly entertaining the thought that I would end up killing him over it.
"A question..." he muttered to himself. "Come on, just one question...no not that one..." It was like Scorpius thought he was alone the way he was thinking aloud. "Alright, I give up! I can't think of another question so I'm just going to dig from the bottom of my heart - please don't kill me, Rose."
"Please tell me you're not asking about a girl crush?"
"No! Please! You can't seriously think I'm that kind of guy, Rose," he blurted in shock.
"Just wanted to be sure..."
"Well that's not what I'm asking."
He said nothing for a full minute.
"So...what are you asking?" I prompted, regretting the words the moment they were out of my mouth. I was just digging myself a deeper hole, or perhaps a deeper grave to fall into.
"Rose...why won't you give me a second chance?"
I couldn't look at him. I stared at the floor trying to find words to drag through my dry mouth. Nothing would come. My mouth just opened and closed, flapping uselessly like a fish.
"Rose?" Scorpius asked, taking my silence for reluctance. His fingers ghosted down my arm and took my hand, making me look up to work out what he was doing. My pained eyes took in his warm, grey ones and he whispered, "It's okay. You don't have to tell me." And though I knew the words were hard for him, he didn't show any of his pain unlike me. It wasn't that I didn't want to tell him, I just found myself running out of reasons for my actions.
I was clinging to my last argument. I could no longer claim that Scorpius had hurt me because I knew that it had been Veronica. I couldn't say we didn't get along because we did. And it had been pretty much proven that opposites attract - one only had to look at my parents for proof of that theory. There was nothing I could say to talk down Scorpius. He was mature; he wasn't chasing after me. He truly was a good person. But for some reason, I just didn't think I could be with him.
"At least we're can stay friends," Scorpius offered.
I nodded and returned my mop to the cupboard as Filch came to end our work.
"You may go," he scowled. "But remember, no more trouble making! You Weasleys are always a problem!"
"Hey!" I exclaimed.
"No talking back! Old Filch may not be a teacher but he can still inflict punishments..." He said, his voice quavering as he did his best to sound menacing.
"Rose isn't the trouble maker, it's me," Scorpius explained.
"I don't care which of you did it. You'll both be strung up in my dungeon if you don't get out of here," Filch threatened.
I hurried up the stairs with Scorpius at my heels, the both of us laughing loudly. Stopping at the fifth floor, we made our goodbyes.
"That was hilarious," Scorpius gasped.
We both knew that Filch was full of idle threats. It was against Wizarding Law in Britain for corporeal punishment to be used on students, but apparently the message had never sunk in with Filch. Either that or his brain had been occupied by the death of Mrs. Norris years ago. She'd had a long life, but Filch had become much worse afterwards. A day didn't go by when he didn't add more items to the list of banned goods or shout at a First Year for being too loud. Frankly, Professor McGonagall only tolerated him because it would be too much hassle to get rid of him.
Laughter spewed forth from my mouth and I doubled over, gasping in as the hysteria rippled.
"I'd better be heading back to the Common Room," I muttered when I had finally managed to keep a straight face. "I've got a lot of catching up with homework to be doing if I'm actually going to make it to Gobstones tomorrow."
"Right," Scorpius nodded. "Actually, now that you mention it, I've still got that potions essay to do..."
"That was due in last week!"
"Deadlines, schmeadlines," he replied with a wave of his hand.
"And you seriously still think you're a better student than me?" I asked in disbelief.
"No. I just said I was top in the year."
"Scor, you flunked Care of Magical Creatures," I reminded him.
"What? No I didn't! Where in the name of Merlin did you hear that?"
Thinking back, I tried to remember. "I think I overheard Hannah joking about it..."
"Hannah who? Hannah Downs?"
I nodded.
"Rose, that girl is ridiculously stupid. Half of what comes out of her mouth doesn't make sense!"
"So what did you get?" I asked, beginning to feel intrigued. I always liked a good competition.
After a few moments, Scorpius replied, "I don't want to tell you."
"What, why not?"
"Because...I've really got to run," Scorpius shouted over his shoulder as he turned and fled down the fifth floor to the stairs that would take him to Ravenclaw Tower.
I turned and found myself face to face with Peeves. So that's why Scorpius ran...
He and Peeves had had this thing ever since First Year. Peeves had never really gotten over it and bullied him about school whenever he could. Scorpius was always running to his classes, holding his bag over his head to stop whatever Peeves was throwing at him. It was ridiculous really. All Scorpius had done was trip and knock down the suit of Armor Peeves was hiding within, ready to scare students.
The transformation between Scorpius in First Year and Scorpius in Fifth Year was really quite miraculous. When we first started at Hogwarts, he was shy, constantly tripping over his own feet and clumsily knocking into things. Now he was confident and sure of himself and walked smoothly without any problems.
"Hi...Peeves," I said nervously, trying to slide past him.
"You're not a friend of that Malfoy boy, are you?" He asked sharply, already floating in front of me to cut of my escape.
"Scorpius? No we're sworn enemies," I replied as seriously as I could.
"So why were you leaning towards him? I thought that was what people in love did. If you're his girlfriend, well that makes things much better."
Without warning, Peeves swooped forwards and lobbed a rotten egg at my head. Instinct taught me to duck, and I rolled underneath him, coming up running and pelted up the stairs without looking back. I could hear the smack of Peeves still throwing eggs, while he laughed manically, as they landed behind me on the steps.
Not only did Peeves seek revenge on Scorpius, he also targeted his friends. I was lucky to get away with just an egging.
When I arrived at the portrait, sweating and heavily out of breath, the Fat Lady merely swung forwards as I gasped out, "Nimblewings."
"How was detention, Rosie?" Fred bellowed the moment the Fat Lady admitted me.
Sinking into a chair, I nodded and tried to catch my breath.
"What'd Filch have you do?" James asked, grinning. "Shackled upside down?"
"Whipped to within an inch of your life?" Fred quipped.
"Obviously," I replied sarcastically.
"Why were you running away from him then?" Hugo asked with raised eyebrows, joining in on the teasing.
"I wasn't. I was running from Peeves."
"Ah, Peeves. Love him," said Fred.
Roxanne slapped him about the back of the head while the rest of us shot him 'really?' looks. Dom high-fived her, then returned to looking at me, waiting for further explanation on why I was running from Peeves.
"So," prompted Molly, making continuation gestures with her hand.
"Oh, he was trying to egg me."
"Why?" Dom asked. Peeves would generally leave our families alone because of our relation to Uncle George and Uncle Fred, who he had always admired.
"His thing against Scorpius-"
"Another reason why you should just avoid him, Rosie," Hugo commented without looking up from his game of chess with Al.
"We're just friends," I murmured to their glances.
"Yeah," Molly scoffed.
I was actually too shocked to make a reply. Molly was only thirteen. She was usually so removed from our family teasing sessions and conversations, preferring to spend time with her other friends, that she hardly ever said anything like that. Especially not to me.
Everyone was staring at her.
"What?" She asked self-consciously, looking down her body as if she'd spilled something down herself.
"Wow, Molly finally grew a wand," Fred whispered to James, who snorted quietly.
"Shut up, Fred," she and Roxanne exclaimed at the same time.
"Sheesh, only yanking your wand..."
"Women," James muttered to him, resulting in death glares from Dom, Roxie, Lucy, Molly and I. Lily on the other hand took the far less subtle route.
"Say that again, James, and I'll get you with the old bat-bogey hex..." she threatened.
"You wouldn't," James replied, standing up so that Lily's wand was aimed directly at his chest.
"I would too."
"I bet you don't even know it. Like Mum would even tell you how to do it-"
"-Yeah but Dad did," Lily interrupted.
Gulping, James sat down and quietly apologized for any of his comments which could be construed as being sexist'.
After being stared at for another five minutes, I stood up and stomped up the stairs to my dormitory. Unexpectedly, Dom followed me. The second the door closed, she pounced on me, pinning me to my bed.
"Come on, Rosie. I know you're hiding something - spill it all."
"What?" I yelped. "I'm not hiding anything." In disbelief I struggled to move Dom from where she was sitting on my stomach. She just tightened her grip around my biceps and pushed me further into the bed.
"I'm your cousin, I know when you're lying," Dom warned.
My voice was a higher pitch than usual when I replied, "I'm not. I swear!"
"Are you sure, Rose? You looked awfully chummy with Scorpius when I snuck down to see you..."
Oh God, she saw us on the floor...
"Nothing happened," I blurted.
"Really? It looked suspiciously like you were holding hands over by the statue of Hansard the Horrible."
Oh, thank Merlin for that.
"Well we weren't. Scorpius got his arm stuck and I was helping him," I explained.
"Sounds a little too innocent for two detention buddies, if you ask me."
"Well, I wasn't asking you, Dom. Now could you get off me, please?" I waited a few minutes, but Dom didn't even budge. "Before I jinx you?"
Hastily, Dom climbed off me and sat on her own bed muttering to herself.
"And I was so sure... What am I doing? I'm just jumping to conclusions all the time. I must be crazy."
Sighing, I shut my eyes and began to speak, knowing full well that I was most likely making a mistake.
"Dom, you're not crazy. I guess you could say that there is a certain...chemistry...between Scorpius and me. We're not together," I quickly added, "but it would most likely seem that way from the outside."
"I knew it!" Dom exclaimed, grinning with wide eyes.
"You were faking!" I gasped.
Dom chuckled, and returned to questioning me.
"So, you say you have 'chemistry' but what you haven't told me, is how you feel about him..."
Squirming, I mumbled, "I guess I like him-"
"-You guess?"
"Alright, alright! I like him."
"You do?" Dom asked loudly.
"Yes," I told her defensively. "I mean, he's nice, confident, intelligent-"
"-Not to mention unbelievably attractive," Dominique interrupted as she stood up and retrieved her pajamas from under her pillow.
"Well, yeah, but that's not what's important, is it?"
"Of course it is! You don't want to walk around on the arm of a total minger!"
Rolling my eyes, I busied myself with changing into my own pajamas and sliding under my blanket.
"So what are you going to do?"
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"About Scorpius. What are you going to do about Scorpius?" Dom questioned.
"Nothing. I'm not going to do anything."
"What?" Dom half-shouted, sitting up in her bed to stare at me.
"You heard me. I'm not going to do anything. Just because I like him doesn't mean I should be with him."
"You're completely bonkers," she muttered, shaking her head and lying back down.
I was left to consider that as Dom's soft snoring filled the room and Lucy joined us, bringing Tracy and Hannah with her.
"Hey Rose," Tracy murmured as she noticed I was still awake. Unfortunately I had the closest bed to the door - everyone always disturbed me as they walked past to their own four posters. "How was detention? We missed you at chess club-"
"-Shoot! I completely forgot! I'm so sorry."
"Don't worry, Rose. It's fine. We managed without you."
"I'll be there next week," I promised.
When everyone had gotten ready and gone to bed, I was left awake, still contemplating whether I really was crazy for not giving Scorpius another chance. I knew my decision had nothing to do with him really. It was me. I wasn't good enough for him. I couldn't quite believe that I'd never given him a chance to explain after the Party last year. What did that say about me? That I didn't listen to people?
Mumbling to myself, I threw back the covers and retrieved my bag from the floor by the foot of my bed. If I couldn't sleep, it would be beneficial for me to get some work done.
I started with the work I'd missed in Defence Against the Dark Arts. Surprisingly it didn't take me long. After that, I sighed but continued working, picking up my potions text book and copying down the notes that I would have made had I been in the lesson instead of in the Hospital Wing.
Injury really was a danger to your health. I had so much work to catch up on that I was sure to end up working through the night. And that was without mentioning the stress I was under. I really could have done with one of Madam Pomfrey's exam potions to relax me, but unfortunately she only gave those out during OWLs and NEWTs.
I was barely awake when I put my quill down as Dom sat up, taking in my bleary eyes.
"Guess I'd better keep you awake in Charms today, huh?"
I nodded wearily and capped my ink bottle before shoving it back into my bag.
"You worked all night?" Lucy asked. "Again. Rose, I thought you weren't going to do that this year."
"Don't worry. I don't plan on doing it again," I yawned. "Though you may have to carry me down to breakfast."
"Don't count on it," Dom called from under her bed as she tried to find the clean pair of socks which had fallen off her bed and rolled under.
I laughed before stumbling out of bed and changing into my robes. The grey skirt was slightly creased from me carelessly chucking it into my trunk the night before. I didn't really notice them until I had it on and was tying my tie in one of the mirrors.
On the way down to the Great Hall, I walked behind Dominique as she blabbered away to me, completely unaware that I wasn't paying the slightest bit of attention. I shrieked as I was lifted into the air.
"Lucy, I wasn't being serious!"
"Good job I'm not Lucy then," Scorpius whispered into my ear, causing shudders to run the length of my spine.
"Scorpius, put me down," I instructed.
"I don't think I should. You look like you're about to fall flat on your face," he replied.
"So you're going to carry me all the way to my seat at the Gryffindor table? In front of James and Fred?" I asked doubtfully.
"Good point," Scorpius answered, returning my feet to the ground and taking my hand instead.
I restrained a laugh at his fear of my elder cousins then cleared my throat and looked pointedly down at our intertwined hands.
"Friends hold hands," Scorpius reminded me.
"Yeah but that's not what everyone's going to assume."
"So you care about what people think?" Scorpius asked, squeezing my hand to reinforce the message that he was still holding onto it as we reached the Entrance Hall.
"No," I told him. But it was obvious from my tone that that wasn't entirely true.
"Come on, Weasley," he muttered, letting go of my hand and taking my shoulders. "Let's get you some breakfast before you collapse."
"I'm not going to collapse-"
I didn't get the rest of my words out before I swayed slightly, only able to continue to stand because of Scorpius' grip on my shoulders.
"Rose?"
"I'm fine," I whispered. "Just dizzy."
"Sit," he ordered, lowering me to the ground just outside the Great Hall. "Why not put your head between your knees - I've heard that helps."
I shot him a look but followed his suggestion, sticking my head between my knees and taking deep breaths.
"I think I'd better go and get Madam Pomfrey," Scorpius began.
"Scor, I'm fine," I repeated, getting to my feet and pausing to make sure the dizziness was gone before walking into the hall.
"I should have just carried you," Scorpius mumbled. Then breaking every rule, he came to sit beside me.
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Authors note
What did you think I was a little unsure about this chapter