Rose Weasley woke to the chirping of birds outside her window. It was finally Saturday, and having finished all her homework the previous night, she was free to do whatever she wanted for the weekend. It was a bright sunny day outside, the sky was robin-egg blue and the lake shimmered like a large sheet of rippling glass. Rose decided she would get in some quidditch practice while the weather was still nice and got dressed in muggle clothes. She often preferred these to witch robes. Her Mum had bought them for her birthday and Rose found them very comfortable. Once she had brushed her hair and tied it into a pony tail, she headed downstairs for breakfast.
She was ambushed, however, by a grinning Albus, who pulled her down the corridor and into an empty classroom, where Scorpius was waiting for them.
"So," began Albus excitedly, "Scorp told me about your little heart to heart chat"-Rose and Scorpius blushed furiously at this, though Albus didn't seem to notice-"And the two of us decided that it's time to give Emma what she deserves,"
"We have a plan," explained Scorpius, "We're all going to hit her with a different hex as she comes out of the great hall. Rose, you can do the bat-bogey hex, Albus told me you were good at that, I'll do the Hurling hex, and then Albus can do the Stinging hex. She'll hopefully be hit with all hexes at once, and presuming she finishes breakfast at the same time as her friends, they'll all walk out together and she'll be embarrassed in front of them. Sound good?"
"It sounds great," replied Rose, grinning.
"Alright" said Albus, "Rosie you need to make sure you finish eating before Emma, and then we can all wait behind the statue of Bartholomew Hopkins the third for her to come out. When she does, we wait till we have a clear aim, and then all hex her on the count of three."
"Perfect," said Rose, and she hurried off to have breakfast. The day was already off to a wonderful start.
After a hearty breakfast of scones, cream, jam, tea and toast, Rose walked slowly and deliberately out of the Great Hall, watching Emma Cullers out of the corner of her eye. She reached the statue of Bartholomew Hopkins the third and conspicuously crept behind it. Scorpius was waiting there, sitting at the base of the statue reading, but Albus was no where to be seen.
"Where's Albus?" she whispered.
"He went to the bathroom," explained Scorpius, putting his book down. Rose sat down next to him, peering from out behind Bartholomew's long robes. Emma was still eating.
"I wonder how long we'll have to wait," said Rose to Scorpius. She looked over at the book lying beside him, "What are you reading?" She added.
"Nothing" replied Scorpius hastily, covering the book with his robes. Rose looked at him curiously, what could he possibly be reading that he didn't want her to know about? A thousand possible answers rushed through her head, a romantic book he was embarrassed of, a secret diary, a book about how to get a witch to like you. She brushed the thoughts out of her head, trying to concentrate on the task ahead. She looked around the statue again to see if Emma was coming.
Suddenly, she felt Scorpius' hand lightly on her neck, brushing a few stray locks of her hair over her shoulder. She looked over at him, and surprisingly, his eyes held her gaze, even as his pale cheeks turned crimson. She had been about to ask him what he was doing, but it seemed a rather stupid question. She also didn't want to break the strange, yet somehow pleasant, tension that was circling between them. Without thinking, She felt herself leaning forward. Scorpius' grey-blue eyes widened a little, and flicked down to her lips and then back up to her eyes. He leaned slightly forward as well. There faces were now barely two inches apart. Rose could feel his warm breath on her neck, slightly faster than normal, tickling her skin. She could count the blond lashes shading his eyes.
He drew even closer, just one inch apart now. Suddenly, Rose dropped her gaze to the floor. What was she thinking, kissing Scorpius Malfoy? She was dating Finneas now, wasn't she? What would her family think? What would her father think? She drew away from Scorpius, her cheeks flaming at the thought of what she'd almost done. She didn't dare look up at him, for fear of his expression. Was he angry? Sad? Embarrassed? She couldn't bare the thought of those grey-blue eyes filled with disappointment at her cowardice. But it wasn't cowardice really, Rose was dating someone else, it was a horrible thing to do to Finneas to kiss another boy, let alone a Slytherin. And a pure blood Slytherin with a death eater father at that. The two of them sat in awkward silence for a minute or two, but they were quickly saved by Albus, who came bounding down the corridor and jumped behind the statue.
"I took a peek in the great hall on my way back, Emma looks like she's almost finished," he whispered too them, "Let's get ready to hex her when she comes out."
Albus then looked discretely at Scorpius, in a way that Rose wouldn't notice (although she did) and gave him a significant look. Out of the corner of her eye, Rose saw Scorpius flush red, and seeming a little angry and embarrassed, as he subtly shook his head. What was that about? she thought to herself, but just then they heard footsteps and Emma Cullers clear, bright voice;
"Oh, you're too nice Finneas, you awful flirt" said Emma.
Finneas? Finneas Brentley? Had Rose heard her right? She peeked out from behind the statue with Albus and Scorpius. There indeed was Emma Cullers and Finneas Brentley, walking side by side, Finneas smiling his small shy smile that he usually smiled at Rose. Emma was smiling too, twisting ringlets of her glossy black hair around her finger.
"Would you take me to Hogsmeade next weekend Finneas?" she asked in a sickly sweet voice.
"Oh, it would have to be the weekend after that," replied Finneas, his smile faltering, "I've got an arrangement.. with the lads,"
"That sounds lovely," said Emma, smiling even more as she walked into the range of the statue.
Rose barely heard Albus counting to three for them to hex, as she re-aimed her wand and sent a particularly nasty bat-bogey hex flying at Finneas as the two boys next to her sent their curses at Emma. Rose's hex hit Finneas right in the face, and he immediately doubled over as large black, sticky bats began scrambling out of his nose, fighting for space and stretching his nostrils painfully. Meanwhile, Emma was violently vomiting all over the floor, and collapsed from the pain of the stinging spell, crying audibly. Just then, a large gang of Slytherins surged out of the great hall, and upon seeing Finneas and Emma, burst out laughing, and began shouting things like 'serves you right Hufflepuff prettyboy', and 'bet Cullings was trying to snog with him'. Scorpius, Albus and Rose discreetly joined the crowd of students and began to file out with them into the hallway. Rose looked back over her shoulder and saw that Finneas had done the counter curse for hex on himself, and was looking both mortified and enraged, trying in vain to keep his usual cool calm. He spotted Rose in the crowd, and his eyes narrowed, a look of fierce hatred contorting his handsome features. He knew it was her. A chill ran down her spine. Rose turned away from him and hurried through the crowd to catch up with Albus and Scorpius.
The three of them ran into an empty classroom together and shut the door behind them.
"Why did you hex Brentley?" asked Albus, looking at Rose curiously.
"I must have missed," mumbled Rose, looking at the floor.
"Ok," said Albus uneasily.
"Well our plan went pretty well," said Scorpius, though he didn't sound particularly happy. "Looks like Emma got what she deserves"
"Yeah" mumbled Albus.
"I-" began Rose, still looking at the floor, "I'm going to go do some quidditch practice...since the weather's so nice and all" and she hurried off outside, though she had no intention of even touching a broom for the rest of the weekend.
Rose wandered over to the lake, and lay down on the emerald green grass, staring at the radiantly blue sky and taking relish in the warm sunshine. A light breeze had picked up, and she closed her eyes for a moment, trying to forget everything, but it was impossible. Finneas. Finneas Brentley, Hufflepuff, supposedly kind, had been flirting with Emma Cullers, well-known merciless bully and try-hard. He had agreed to go to Hogsmeade with her, even though he was presently going out with her, Rose. To be fair he'd only invited her on one 'date', but it still felt like cheating that he had been talking to Emma like he had been. And then he'd seen Rose. He'd probably spotted her trademark red hair in the crowd of Slytherins, and he'd given her a look of hatred. She was the one who should hate him. But now she was afraid, afraid of what he might do. Why had she ever agreed to go to Hogsmeade with him? She thought he was shy, but obviously Finneas was a playboy. Why had she ever liked him at all?
Rose felt suddenly sleepy, her eyes heavy and a yawn climbing it's way up her throat. She closed her eyes and fell into a peaceful slumber.