The first night Scorp was on his own in the new world he was at what he now refers to as an in-between house. The minister thought it would be a good idea for him to spend a few weeks adjusting to a life without magic where nobody could see him struggle. He hadn't told a soul about the cabin. For him, it was a secret place. It wasn't special or extraordinary. In fact, it was underwhelming and unextraordinary.
It was a simple cottage in the middle of the woods, hidden behind gnarled branches and dead leaves. It had a small kitchen just big enough for one person to use. A bathroom that smelled like soiled waste and a bedroom no bigger than a broom closet. Sometimes when he lay in bed he could still smell the musty air and hear the creaking of the old wooden floors.
It was the least homey place on the planet. No windows. No decorations. No sign of comfort and yet he still thought about the cabin often. It was a place perfectly balanced in the in-between of before and after. Before he entered his new life and right after he left his old one. In those moments he should have been thinking about what his new missions would all entail or even what his friends and family were doing back home.
Instead, he remembered thinking about how the silverware didn't shine. In the Great Hall, the silverware used to sparkle so brightly that he could see his reflection as clearly as if he were standing in front of a mirror. This silverware was cloudy with filth that should have been washed away long ago. He couldn't even see a blurred image of himself.
After he left the cabin every place he went the first thing he would do was check the silverware. Scorp wasn't sure why he did it. After some time it just became a second habit during meals.
At that very moment, Scorp found himself looking into his fork. The silverware didn't gleam like the ones in Hogwarts. He could at least see a disoriented version of himself. The laughter and questions still ensued all around him as the night continued to age. Scorp's mind stayed focused on the fork lying in front of him on the table.
Fred excitedly slapped his palms on the table, laughing at the joke he made about James' hair. The fork jumped in retaliation and landed on the floor taking Scorp's absurd silverware obsession with it. He blinked rapidly, grabbing the fork and placing it back on the table. He was glad nobody noticed the mishap. He already had enough embarrassing moments to last for the next few months.
Ever since Rose and Wood walked out to talk fifteen minutes ago, Scorpius' attention was divided between fulfilling answers, examining his fork, and sneaking glances at the backdoor. Maybe it was just jealousy rearing its ugly head, but something about Wood irked him in the wrong way.
Wood was an alright bloke when they played quidditch together during school, but he always appeared too perfect. The best grades. Flawless games. Loved by all. Always on top of everything.
Scorp wasn't close to him by any means. In their time as teammates, he'd never seen Wood mess up once. That in itself was inhumane. It was human nature to make mistakes. Lots of them. Daily. Scorp made mistakes all the time. He was littered with flaws and imperfections. For someone to not have any was scary. Terrifying really.
It shouldn't bother him so much that they weren't back. Of course, it did. He'd have to work on that if he wanted to keep being around Rose. In the time that he'd been back, he'd only maybe spent an hour with her. That was not enough. Not even close. There once was a time when they were together every wakening moment. Even then that hadn't been enough.
Scorp didn't use to be a romantic. He'd never been a lot of things before he fell in love with Rose. She changed him in ways that he was still discovering and getting used to. Before her, the thought of being around someone romantically all the time was almost sickening. Spending every second together without getting bored or bothered with one another was unimaginable.
He and Albus used to make fun of all those couples. The ones that held hands under the table when they thought nobody noticed or ditched their mates to spend time with one another. After he realized that he cared about Rose in a way that was not too friendly; he started to understand why couples always had that moony look on their face or why they could manage to spend days together without needing a break. She turned him into a romantic in a matter of months.
Dinner passed by painstakingly slow and there was still no sign of Rose and Griffon returning. It didn't help that even after his pep talk his eyes still flashed to the door so much that Roxanne asked if he developed a twitch in his absence. Albus had to swallow his laughter into his cup.
"Alright," Ginny finally announced, standing from her seat, and tucking a giant bowl in her arm. "I think it is time to clear the table and move this little gathering into the sitting room."
Heads bobbed in agreement, their bodies too full of food to do much else. Grandma Molly danced around the kitchen cleaning up supper, somehow full of unused energy. She beamed warmly down at Scorpius, as she grabbed his emptied plate off of the table, patting his arm lovingly.
Scorp pushed his chair out, nearly ramming James as he glided past.
"Watch it Malfoy." James joked, purposely using his last name.
Their parents ended the legendary feud long ago, settling into a mutual peace. That never stopped their two sons from making jokes.
"Oh, quit your whining Potter. I didn't even touch you."
"Tell that to the bruise forming on my arm."
"Wimp."
Hermione snickered as Harry rolled his eyes. Harry didn't find it as funny as she did.
"You two quit you're arguing," Molly snapped, slamming the plates into the soapy sink, halting James from firing back what was sure to be a one-of-a-kind insult.
"Yes, Gran," James said, shooting a stink eye Scorp's way.
Sulking, James gripped Alice by the elbow kindly guiding her toward the living room. She slapped his hand away, muttering something colorful under her breath that offended James. His nose wrinkled and his shoulders tensed as he gazed down at Alice who had begun to wobble over to an armchair on her own.
Scorp smirked at James' retreating figure. When he was little he used to envy all the other kids with siblings. That was until he met the Potters. With them, he was never short of siblings, even when at times he didn't want them there. They were annoyingly loveable that way.
"You think Mum would yell at me if I took a slice of that treacle tart she's trying to hide?" Albus wondered, sitting down and throwing his feet up on the table.
"Most definitely." Scorp agreed, mimicking Al's carefree attitude. "I wouldn't cross her."
He glanced over where Ginny was sitting contently on the couch, chatting with Hermione. At that moment she looked like the perfect mother. The kind that would make a different kind of cookie every day and smother her children with endless amounts of affection. Not the kind of mother that would steal the cookie right out of their child's mouth or the one that thought it was hilarious to tease her children endlessly.
"Course you wouldn't. You've always been scared of her."
Scorp didn't try and deny it. "She's an intimidating woman and you can't tell me you're not scared of her. I remember this one time you hid out in your broom shed for an entire day because you broke a plate and were scared of what your mum was going to say."
"In my defense, it was her favorite plate."
"Pretty sure that wasn't the case when lived at my house during Easter break that time your Mum got a bad report about your grades."
"Alright, she's a little scary." Al conceded, dropping his feet to the floor. "If you think about who she grew up with she should probably be more terrifying."
"I can't imagine her any scarier than she was when she yelled at us for the time turner. If looks could kill we would have been dead." Scorp's eyes flickered toward the back door.
After they returned home after the disastrous events of the time turner they found out that they had been missing for over a week. At first, everyone was ecstatic that they were home safe, but after they revealed where they were Ginny screamed at them for a solid hour. Belittling them for their lack of intelligence. I mean how could you be so stupid as to break a time turner?
Albus shudders. "I still have nightmares."
Scorp paused thoughtfully and folded his hand, leaning forward in his chair. The time-turner incident (as he referred to it) was catastrophic. It was when he and Rose finally got together after their big argument. That was a good trip.
"We've done some pretty crazy things over the years, but I'll admit that was a whole other ballpark."
Albus scrunched his brows, "What's a ballpark?"
"Sorry muggle saying," Scorp dismissed waving him off. "But really, that was one hell of a journey."
"It was alright. Personally, I prefer the time we went to Bulgaria for the world cup, and Fred got banned from the country."
"Only your cousin would get himself kicked out from an entire country." Scorp ran a hand through his hair. "I still can't fathom how he managed to cause that flood."
Scorp looked over where Fred was laying upside down on the couch. His dark hair brushed the floor as his legs kicked around in the air. He looked like a bored child desperately trying to gain someone's attention.
"I don't know." Albus sighed, a hint of unmentioned amazement slipping into his voice. "All I know is ever since that moment I will never doubt him. He's just full of surprises."
Scorp's eyes skirted over to the direction of the backdoor, completely obliterating the previous conversation from his train of thought. Now that summer was drawing near the sun stayed out longer than necessary, giving the allusion that the days were longer. That's what made summer so great. The days never seemed to end. Time seemed to zip by. His night with the Weasley's was almost over and he'd hardly got to spend a second with Rose. She'd spent most of her night on the opposite end of the table and the rest outside.
"What could they possibly be doing?"
"They're probably just talking," Albus said, collapsing back into his chair with an exaggerated huff.
Scorp cringed. He hadn't meant to say that out loud. He was honestly pathetic. He shouldn't be thinking about her when he and Al were trying to have a conversation. He should have been focusing on trying to reconnect with everyone else. It was so hard to do that when every time he closed his eyes Rose's freckled-covered face played through his mind.
"You're probably right," as he said it his eyes betrayed him and landed on the taunting door.
"Why don't you go check on them?" Al suggested. "Tell them that we're done with dinner and are gathering together for some game."
"Won't they know that's a lie when they come in and there is no game?" Scorp stood up, intending to head toward the sitting room. "Besides I should give them their privacy."
"They've been out there long enough." When Scorp didn't respond, Al rolled his eyes, "It's either going to be you going out there to get them or me. If I go out there, Rose will sucker me into trying to prove whatever point she's trying to make. If you go out there with all that awkward tension your carrying, they'll come right in to avoid it."
Scorp scowled at him, "Gee thanks."
"What can I say, pal," Albus said with a shrug, "the truth hurts."
"It'd hurt less if you'd cushion it."
"Then what kind of best mate would I be if I didn't kick you while you're down?"
"A good one," Scorp said under his breath. He wasn't sure if Al heard him. If he did, he gave no signs of it.
Albus slapped Scorp's shoulder and pushed him toward the door, "You'll be fine."
Scorp tried to protest. He really did. He commanded his feet to stop and head toward that conveniently open spot, right next to Harry. They failed to listen and moved to the door.
His heart rate increased as he opened the door sending shivers down his straightened spine. Blinking rapidly, Scorp closed the door behind him and waited for his eyes to adjust to the darkened surroundings.
The stars twinkled brilliantly, resembling crystals in the night. Being able to see the stars so clearly, was always one of his favorite things about living outside of the cities. When in places like Rome, the pollution acted like a blanket and covered the stars from everyone's sight. It was sad really.
Some of the best memories were made under the watchful eye of the stars. The moment he and Rose first kissed was beneath the stars. Maybe it was fortunate that they were out tonight. Like a sign or something? Maybe he was reading too much into it.
With the thought that he was seriously toeing the line between endearing and stalking, Scorp glanced around the messy garden. Even in the dark, he could see the weeds towering over the plants in the garden and the holes that the pesky gnomes dug. Flowers peeked out from around the weeds and the grass tickled the tops of his ankles. He could see tools sticking out of the shed and a deer roaming around on the hilltops, yet there was still no sign of Rose or Griffon.
Part of him was glad they weren't out there. That way he didn't have to encounter any more of that awkwardness Albus so rightly pointed out. The other part was sickened. Did she leave without so much as a goodbye? Were they off somewhere doing things he didn't dare think about? Their absence only left more room for his mind to invent and construct scenarios even worse than the last.
Doing his best to shut out those images, Scorp was about to turn back to the house when something out of the ordinary caught his eyes. The deer that seconds ago was grazing peacefully on the hills had wandered back down toward the tree line. Sitting in its place was a lone figure.
His feet acted on their own and before he knew it they were carrying him up the hill. As he drew near his eyes confirmed what his mind already knew. Rose was sitting, with her back to him, on top of the hill. Alone.
Her red hair blew lamely in the wind, tangling the pieces together. Her dainty fingers continuously ran through the long grass and her head hung low like it had gotten too heavy to lift.
"This spot taken?" He asked gently, pointing toward the wet grass next to her.
Rose shifted her head up to him, seeming unsurprised to see him there. Instead of answering she shrugged. Scorp took that as a yes. He sat down and folded his hands across his knees.
Neither one spoke. It may have been a long time since they'd seen one another, but he could still read her. He became intuned to her moods and tell-tale signs by the time they were fourteen. He knew that when her hands started fidgeting with the bottom of her shirt or her fingers tapped her thighs that she was anxious. When her right eyebrow twitched she was panicking. When her she wore her hair in a pony that meant that she planned to spend her day in the library, so it was best to leave her alone. And when her head hung, like it was, it meant she was feeling guilty.
"Griffon left." Rose finally said a few minutes later.
Scorp quirked his head to show he was listening but didn't say anything. Partly because he didn't trust himself to speak. He was afraid he'd celebrate, which would only make Rose even more upset.
"We got into this fight and he just left." Rose scoffed. "I mean who just leaves in the middle of an argument?"
"Speaking as someone who has lost hundreds of fights to you, maybe Griffon just saw the losing battle coming and thought it was best to get out before the ship went down."
Rose glared at him.
Scorp gulped. Clearly, that was not the right thing to say. Her death glare still sent chills through him. He may have joked early about how scary Ginny Potter was, but nobody came close to being as terrifying as Rose. She had the brains to confirm the facts and the charm skills to back up the threats. You did not wanna be at the receiving end of one of her leg binding curses.
"There are no winners and losers. Not in these kinds of fights anyway."
"Sorry."
"It's fine," Rose brushed him off with a simple wave of her hand. "I guess I just feel bad."
"Feel bad for what? Couples fight Rose. I know it is hard to believe right now, but it's actually healthy to fight in relationships."
Rose smiled a ghostly smile. "Still doesn't make me feel any better."
"Sorry." Scorp chuckled awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck. "Guess I'm out of practice. Its been a while since I've had to do this."
"Do what? Talk to someone?" She joked.
"Comfort you."
Scorp swiveled slightly to gauge her reaction and was pleasantly surprised at the blush rising on her cheeks. He still loved making her blush. Nothing was going to change that. Her cheeks matched the bright color of her hair and made her eyes look lighter like a misty blue.
"I don't need comforting. I'm perfectly fine." Rose argued, crossing her arms over her chest defiantly.
"Says the girl who is sitting out in the cold pouting, instead of being inside the warm house with her family."
"I am not pouting!" She remarked, smacking his bicep with the back of her hand.
Scorp laughed and let their conversation lapse into silence. He tapped his knee in a steady rhythm and counted to two-hundred in his head, before asking a dangerous question, "Do you wanna talk about it?"
Rose bit her lip cautiously, scrunching her brows as she debated her answer. Scorp held his breath. He shouldn't be so nervous. It was a simple yes or no question, but the next words out of her mouth held a lot more power then he cared to admit.
"I didn't tell him about us," Rose confessed rushing her words out.
Whatever Scorp was expecting to hear that hadn't been it. When she said that they'd been fighting he never imagined it would be about him. "What?"
"I didn't tell him about us and I don't know why." She repeated, drawing her knees to her chest as if that would protect her heart. "It's not like I tried to hide it. The subject just never seemed to come up."
"And he found out tonight?"
Rose shook her head. "I guess he already knew. He was only a few years ahead of us at school and apparently even kids in his grade had bets about when we'd get together."
That and I used to talk about you all the time during quidditch, Scorp thought, but he kept that confession to himself.
"I just don't understand why he waited until now to tell me he knew," Rose carried on, strategically not looking in Scorp's direction. "I mean if he knew all that time why wait until now to bring it up?"
"He was probably waiting for you to talk about it." Scorp offered. He paused. "Why didn't you ever tell him about us?"
Rose ducked her head guiltily. She should have been ready for this question. She did open the flood gates. "Promise you won't think any less of me," Rose begged, meeting his eyes for the first time since they started the conversation.
"Never," Scorp replied instantly.
Rose's insides turned to jelly. Sucking in a deep breath she revealed, "It's been a long time since I've actually talked about you. To anyone." She admitted. "After you left I guess it was less painful for me to pretend that you didn't exist. Like if I avoided talking about you, I'd miss you less."
Scorp figured as much. His Dad told him Rose never mentioned his name and Albus implied that she refused to talk about him. Her confession didn't surprise him, but it didn't help lessen the hurt he felt. She tried to forget him while he spent every day trying to remember her.
"Obviously that didn't work, because I missed you. Honestly, I think not talking about you made me miss you more." Rose rested her hand on his shoulder reassuringly. "By the time I met Griffon, it became almost natural to not talk about you anymore. When I found out you were coming back a few days ago I was all set to tell him, but." Rose trailed off.
"But?" Scorp prodded, impatiently rolling his wrist in a carry-on gesture. He didn't mean to be rude, but the curiosity was eating away at him.
"Something in me just couldn't." Rose shook her head. "It was like if I told him, everything we meant to one another would mean less."
"I get that," Scorp agreed. "I didn't make many friends while I was away, but when I spent that year in college I grew close with a few people. One day one of the guys started asking me about my past. I guess I didn't talk about it much." Scorp explained. "So I told him a very altered version. It actually wasn't too hard. I just switched a few keywords and said I went to some boarding school. It wasn't until I got to the part about you that I seemed at a lost for words." Scorp lent back, using his elbows to support him. "I knew that if I told him about you, we wouldn't be mine anymore. Like if someone else knew our story would be a little less real. Does that make sense?"
"Perfect sense." Rose agreed kinking her head back to look at him. He looked perfectly poised laying in the grass. His face was free of any sort of wrinkles or worries, reminding her of a much simpler time. She laid back, matching Scorp's posture.
He glanced over at her, admiring the way her skin shined brightly with the moonlight. "Guess we don't know how to make small talk." He joked, shifting the atmosphere in a positive direction.
Rose laughed, feeling genuinely happy for the first time since Griffon walked out on her. "I suppose it isn't in our nature."
"It most certainly is not," Scorp said turning onto his side. "But that's not a bad thing is it?"
"Definitely not. I like that I can still talk to you about anything and that you still understand what I'm trying to say."
Scorp pulled out a handful of grass, letting the wind carry it away. "Diddo."
The two sat in silence again. Letting the screeches of creatures and the wind drift through their ears as they enjoyed the night and one another's company. After a while Rose stood up reluctantly, wiping the grass off of her skirt. "I should probably go. I need to make things right with Griffon."
Scorp stared up at her. "This is going to sound incredibly selfish of me and you can say no if you want," Scorp assured her, as he too stood up. "but stay."
"Stay?"
"Stay." Scorp placed a hand on her shoulder, ignoring the electricity tingling through his fingers. "I don't know if I've told you this, but I was away for a while and as selfish as this sounds I'd like to get a few more hours with you. I kind of missed you when I was away."
"Oh, kind of?" Rose teased brightly.
"Only a smidge," Scorp played along, holding up two of his fingers as an indication for how much he missed her. "In all seriousness, you don't need to leave just yet. Albus is putting together some game, Lily still isn't here yet, and I'd still like to spend time with you."
Rose sighed, taking a step away from him. "I don't know Scorp."
"Please?" He begged.
Rose wasn't sure if he was intentionally batting his lashes, but if he was it was an evil tactical move. "Fine," Rose said hotly. "But only for another hour and then I need to get home."
Scorp grinned like he'd just won the world cup. Together they descended the hill and headed back for the Burrow.
"Just so you know," Scorp suddenly said, halting them before they entered the house. "I plan to kick your arse in whatever game Albus has put together."
Rose raised a challenging brow. "Bring it Malfoy."