Author's note: I do apologize for the incredible amount of time it's been since last updating this. It was never abandoned and I really did try and finish it; I did. I even refused to move on to other fics until it was done. Also I've learned not to post anything until it's all done. Sorry ahead of time for any grammar issues. I've gone through it but it's unbeta'd I just wanted to stinking get it posted to the PM's with "I really think you should post on this fic again" will finally stop. Lol
"Rose" his voice rang out from behind her, again. She quickened her pace; if she could get to the tapestry at the end of this corridor she could take a short cut to the green houses, hopefully they would be doing a supervised detention so she could avoid talking to him right away. If she could just keep her traitorous mouth from betraying her for the next few hours she was confident she'd be able to bottle it all back up.
Every wayward daydream and emotion she'd let run rampant in the past 24 hours could be tightly contained back where it was before; no better than before. Because before she'd held on to a tiny nugget of hope that they could develop into something more, that hope was now entirely dead. If she could survive this evening with him she knew she could go back to the way things were, she just needed to make it to the end of the corridor before he rounded the corner.
Thank Morgana that she was unusually tall for a girl.
"Rose" his voice was right behind her.
Curses! Damn it you freakishly fast blonde git.
She stopped, her shoulders slumped in defeat.
"Scorpius we're going to be late; let's just walk there as fast as possible," she hesitated knowing this would be impossible to justify "and without talking." Then before she even looked in his direction, at what she knew would be his heartbreakingly handsome face, she began to walk again.
His hand on her shoulder forced her to stop again.
"Rose, just listen." His voice was gentle and pleading. It must be a cruel irony of fate that his heartbreaking words must come from so sweet an intonation.
She closed her eyes and took in a deep breath, pleading with whatever deity was watching over her for strength to reject such a tempting offer.
"I'll listen if you promise not to say a word." She pleaded knowing her plead made little to no sense.
"That is the most ridiculous thing you've ever said." Scorpius chuckled a little but didn't remove his hand from her shoulder, keeping her from moving. 'Damn mutinous goose bumps; getting all prickly and tingly just because he's touching you.' She cursed sourly at herself.
"Yeah, well YOU'RE the most ridiculous thing you've ever said." Rose muttered under her breath at waves of self contempt washed over her, her traitorous body was refusing to listen to her brain and retreat.
She looked down at the red trainers on her feet, damn left shoe was untied. Damn corridor was cold, damn lack of 'awesomely charmed to keep her legs warm' tights, damn cold air that was giving her goose bumps. Wait, YES it was the cold air giving her goose bumps; that was very plausible.
Scorpius moved his hand down her arm to her elbow; damn goosebumps for ruining her only working theory.
Oh, for the love he had to know how much she liked that elbow holding thing. It was in all these old muggle black and white films that she watched with her Gran, and it was always so romantic.
"I think we should become a thing Rose." She felt her chest suddenly fill to three times its usual size with joy before all that jubilation was replaced with heavy stones that plummeted into her stomach. 'A thing'? How fucking vague can you get? She didn't want some ambiguous thing that involved, well she assumed stuff, fun stuff, stuff she really really wanted to do, REALLY wanted to do but had nothing more defining them. She couldn't do that.
Actually she could, and she wanted to, even if it meant only holding onto that asinine female notion that a guy will change and grow to love her after ravenously devouring her out of sexual inexperience.
She wouldn't though; she at least had enough self preservation instinct to know she couldn't do that and make it out unscathed. She wanted it all; not just a lusty, albeit appealingly passion filled, sub version of all of it.
"That is the most ridiculous thing you've ever said." Rose countered, knowing that if she didn't squash this idea of simply 'a thing' right now she might cave. She began to walk towards the green houses.
"No stop, just listen." He pulled on her elbow as she moved and she swooned a little against her will.
"I did listen and you didn't exactly say anything all that riveting." She moved to go again but he simply took a step with her and continued to hold resolutely onto her elbow.
"Well it's not exactly the easiest thing in the world to say."
'Well that's because being fuck buddy isn't exactly conventional' Rose thought bitterly to herself, though she remained silent.
An awkward pause hung between them and annoyance began to build inside her.
"Go on, you officially have a captive audience," yeah, she sure as hell would like to find out how he's going to word this.
"What I mean is….
"That is what I was hoping to ask you…
"I'd very much so like it if…" At Scorpius' uncharacteristic bout of stammering Rose looked up at him for the first time since he'd cornered her. He looked so lost and helpless, and despite the subject matter and the anger that had been steadily rising inside her as he spoke her heart melted at the helpless look on his face.
"Screw it," he muttered before suddenly and without warning his lips descended on her.
Warmth spread through her body as his lips parted slightly, inviting her to dance his devils dance. How was she supposed to resist this? He pulled her body into his, bending her back slightly as encircled her into his arms.
It was all wrong; wrong, wrong, wrong. As the words repeated deafeningly in her mind she cursed that she wouldn't just let herself enjoy this moment. His lips were slow and sweet in their movements and it was so easy to pretend that he meant his kisses, the feel of his warm hand at the nape of her neck holding onto her like she might slip away if he wasn't clinging to her.
Perhaps that was what gave her the strength to do what she needed to do; the panicked nature of his grasp on her reminded her that this was wrong.
He knew it too or else why would he be so desperate to hold on to her?
"Stop," she managed a barely audible plea as she dipped her head away from his inviting lips his body still painfully close to her, his arms still wrapped around her in a way that she knew would haunt her later.
"I'd really rather we didn't." he whispered back with a smile playing at the corner of his mouth, he leaned in to kiss her again but she backed away this time leaving his warm embrace only to find the air bitingly cold as it engulfed her once more.
She pressed against his chest with her hands, forcing space between them.
"It would be best if we gave each other some space for a while; just until we can put this behind us. Until we can be what we used to be." She turned away from him, feeling betrayed by the pricking behind her eyes that she knew were tears threatening to humiliate her further.
"I don't think I can do that," his admission that this was unfixable pushed her tears over the edge. How could she have been so stupid? She brought her hand to her cheeks and haphazardly brushed the tears away.
"Well I can't do this with you." she whimpered lamely and flayed her arms vaguely between the two of them.
"Do what with me? Just talk to me." His voice was soft and pleading, he placed a hand on either side of her face, holding her tenderly; trying to force her to look at him but she wouldn't, she couldn't. When she was lined up just right to look at him she clamped her eyes shut, willing the tears to just stop coming.
"Tell me what I can do to fix this. What do you want from me Rose, anything." She shook her head in his hands and wished he would just let her heart break in peace.
"You can't give me what I want Scorpius." And as abruptly as if she'd slapped him he let her go. A strained silence thundered around them as he staggered back a few steps and after a moment of awkwardness she began walking slowly away from him.
She was a few feet away before she heard his voice call after her.
"Then tell me what I can never be for you. I have to know" he voice broke and more tears spilled over Rose's eyelids. "or I'll always wonder." Why was he doing this to her? Wonder what? Does he really need to hear the words she's too in love with him to be some tawdry fling?
They were silent and unmoving for a moment then quieter he called out a final nail in her coffin. "You owe me that much, our friendship deserves at least that."
And it did.
As much as she hated him right now; he at least deserved to know why they could never be friends again. Perhaps if he knew, it would save her from him trying to make up later. If he knew what she really wanted from him it would keep him away for good.
"I want it to be real Scorpius." Surely he would let her wallow in self pity when he heard what she had to say. "I want footsies under the table and love letters that make me blush. I want cuddling and pet names that make everyone else in the room gag. I want you to look at me, and see me as more than one of the guys
"What I want, it's never going to happen. So please, just give me the time it takes to get to the greenhouse to pull myself together and I'll try to make this detention as painless for you as possible."
When nothing but a long stretch of silence met her straining ears she swallowed the hysterics that desperately wanted release and tried to think of anything but the mortification that was threatening to overwhelm her.
Just as she reached the heavy door that would grant her access to the cool fresh air she heard laughter echoing around her.
She stood at the door, sure that she couldn't possibly be hearing what her foolish brain was telling her she was hearing.
But the laughter only got louder and anger suddenly exploded into rage and she grabbed her wand from her pocket and without thinking sent a hex off in his direction.
"You heartless asshat." And a stinging jinx shot after him when he annoyingly avoided.
"Wait, stop!" he said as a third spell wizzed past him.
"I pour my soul out to you and you laugh? It's a good thing you turned me down because clearly I don't know what sort of person you really are." Angrily she shoved her wand back into her pocket; finally deciding that having to explain to the head mistress why Scorpius' manhood was no longer attached to his body wasn't worth the temporary satisfaction of removing it. She turned on her heels and began walking away as quickly as her pride would let her.
"I'm not laughing at you; I'm laughing at us, you and me, we're so stupid." He called after her but she didn't care to hear it. He wasn't making any sense and Rose hated him for not just letting this conversation die. Wouldn't it be for the best if they both just let it go and moved on?
The cool air hit her face refreshingly as she walked through the door; she savored the reprieve from Scorpius' company, even if she knows it's only for a moment. And before she wanted to, she heard him following behind her calling her name.
"Rose," she did her best to block out his repeated shouts. If she could just make it to the greenhouse she was sure she'd be safe. No one has this conversation in front of a professor.
She was almost safe inside the greenhouse before she felt his hand firmly wrap around her elbow.
"Rose please, just hear me out." He turned her towards him but she refused to look at him.
She stood arms folded defensively across her chest as her gaze shifted from one place to another, anywhere but him. A moment passed and she could see him open and close his mouth like some stupid fish from the corner of her eye.
"You've chased me down enough times tonight; say what you're inevitably going to say so we can just get to the most uncomfortable detention in the history of the world." She tried to make her voice as snarky as possible, but she heard her own voice sound tired and pathetic at the end. How ridiculous this whole thing had become.
Then suddenly he his body was against hers, warm lips pressed against her unexpectedly. This was so different than the kisses they'd shared previously, no part of her was pleading to savor the heavenly bliss that threatened to engulf her. Instead anger seethed inside her at his brazen insensitivity.
She shoved him away as forcefully as she could, which pathetically enough wasn't even a meter away. Finally she met his eyes and she watched in shock as a hand reached across the distance between them and hit his cheek with a loud smack that echoed in the silent and still night around them.
It took a sharp stinging in her hand for her brain to connect what she'd witnessed to her own actions.
She had slapped him.
From the hand shaped red mark appearing on his face she could only assume she had hit him quite hard.
Good on her then, she told herself. 'No' means 'no' doesn't it? I don't care how close of mates they were before, if he couldn't respect her wishes to be left the hell alone he deserves a good swift kick in the ass. How girl is a slap in the face though? She wished she'd hexed him, damn useless wand out of reach.
"You slapped me!" Scorpius said as he touched his cheek tentatively; almost checking it was indeed still attached.
"You kissed me!" She answered.
"That's because I'm in love with you!" He looked at the fingertips he'd just touched to his cheek before he placed them against his cheek again.
"Well you should have said something you daft buffoon? What I'm supposed to be some mind reader now!" Rose chided him, her eye brows set in a firm scowl
"You told me that you wanted this to be real!" he exclaimed, apparently finally over his shock.
"I did, which was greeted with you breaking down in hysterics at the very notion." She felt her hand move on its own accord to hover above her wand hidden inside her pocket.
"I told you I wasn't laughing at you, I was laughing at us." His attempt at explanation made her want to slap him again.
"How is you laughing at the idea of 'us' any better?" she huffed and wondered briefly if she should just kick him in the shins for good measure. When she was little she used to do that and while she'd mostly given it up this felt like the right moment to pick it back up.
"You're missing the point Rose!" he was almost shouting, leaning her closer toward the shin kicking idea. She raised her eyebrows pointedly in a way clearly meant to say 'and that would be?'
"That I just told you I'm in love with you!" he shouted in a clear tone of exasperation.
"Yes well if you'd opened with that I probably wouldn't have slapped you." She shrugged her shoulders and looked down at the ground avoiding eye contact again.
His hand reached out to her, grabbing one of the hands folded across her chest with soft almost pleading fingertips.
"Rose, I've been in love with you for so much longer than I'm willing to admit and I just had to laugh at how stupid we are for both feeling the same way and just going around and around this ridiculous cycle. I want to be with you more than anything."
Rose looked up at him finally, willing herself not to move. If this was a dream she wanted to stay sleeping and any move she made might wake her up. His eyes were warm and one side of his mouth was turned upward in a hopeful smile.
"I want to be the one cuddling; to be able to look at you without being afraid you'll catch me staring and I would love nothing more than to write you letters, especially the sort that will make you blush." He raised his eyebrow suggestively to her and she couldn't hold back the laugh that bubbled up from inside of her.
"I really like to stop pretend I only think of you as one of the guys because I have never once seen you that way."
He might have gone on like that for a while, Rose didn't know, he did have the ability to go on and on. She'd never know because before another word crossed his lips Rose captured them gently with her own.
He seemed startled at first and Rose wondered for a moment if he would slap her just to even the score, but instead he wrapped his arms around her.
Kissing without a cautioning inner monologue was much more to her liking. Now when he bunched her shirt in his fist, possessively she wasn't chalking it up to passion and convincing herself it wasn't real she was able to revel in the warmth that spread throughout her entire body at his touch.
Rose slowly curled her fingers into the hair at the base of his neck and a flash of déjà vu washed over her. 24 hours before she had been pleading with him to kiss her and now here they were in the exact same situation but everything was different now. As his lips pulled her lower lip inside their inviting caress she couldn't help but smile at the way it took her breath away.
One of his hands moved down the curve of her body to grasp her backside and she almost lost her balance with how dizzyingly wonderful it felt to be held in such a way.
She softly ran her tongue across his upper lip as he kissed her and was greeted with an enthusiastic growl of appreciation.
"Mr. Malfoy, Miss Weasley. This is the 2nd time in just as many days I've caught you in such a position. If you don't mind your detention started 10 minutes ago and instead of simply walking the 20 meters to my door you've shouted, kissed, slapped, argued and then kissed again. Now if you don't mind I'd like to interrupt you before I really do have to contact your parents." Professor Longbottom held the greenhouse door open to the pair and Rose felt a wave of humiliation wash over her.
"You saw all that Professor?" She asked willing the answer to be different than what she knew it would be.
"You are aware Miss Weasley that the walls to a greenhouse are in fact made of glass." He rolled his eyes in exasperation and gestured for them to get inside.
Without a word Scorpius intertwined his fingers with hers and they began to walk toward detention in silence. At least the next few hours weren't going as bad as she had assumed earlier.
"Does this happen to you a lot Professor?" Scorpius asked with an air of casual indifference Rose envied.
"You have no idea Mr. Malfoy; though I must say that nothing is quite like the pair of you."
"Thank you sir." He said calmly as they passed him giving Roses hand a firm squeeze as he chanced a side glance at her.
The End
I hope that if you like this you'll subscribe as an author. I've been working on a story called "the 6 steps the Louis Weasley's happiness" which despite the title is a Rose Scorpius story. Here is an excerpt, because I'd like to have the same wonderful people who've read this one and said such nice things about this (despite my awful pregnancy timing) to read and review this upcoming one as well.
Enjoy.
Rose stepped forward with her arms folded across her body, her brow knitted together above her eyes as she began inspecting his lithe frame still fidgeting with the plant awkwardly.
"What is the proper technique for repotting dancing daffodils?" Rose demanded without any prelude or false sense of politeness. Scorpius looked startled and glanced at Professor Longbottom in a way that Louis clearly read as 'is she serious'. Panic rose inside Louis and he could feel all his hopes and dreams of getting rid of his overprotective watchdog balanced on the unknown precipice that was Scorpius Malfoy's pop quiz skill.
Scorpius looked back at Rose; meeting her defiant expression with exasperation.
"Simply charm the new pots to play salsa music, really anything with an upbeat 8 count rhythm, but Herbologist Quarterly recently did an article about the repotting of rhythm inducing plants responding favorably to lively salsa music."
Louis could tell Rose was making an attempted at indifference and he simply beamed happily behind her back. As Scorpius began shifting the plant again Rose let out a loud huff before she threw her hands out to grasp the teetering pot balanced in Scorpius' hands and roughly guided it the mere inches it needed until it was settled firmly onto the table beside them.
"Honestly," she mumbled. She backed away from him as if just remembering herself and while only able to see the side of her face Louis could see her cheeks flushing a deep red. She looked back at Louis and her mouth moved as if she was going to say something but then closed it again without committing to anything then she turned on her heels and left with her chin raised slightly higher than usual.
An awkward silence lingered for a few moments after Rose left but was broken unceremoniously by Professor Longbottom grasping his hands together with a single loud clap.
"I'll let you two hammer out all the details with one another. Mr. Malfoy I expect to see just as satisfactory result with Mr. Weasley here as I did with Mr. Mondale." Without waiting for a response headed towards his office on the opposite end of the greenhouse.
"Don't worry, my parents will pay you whatever you charge. They've been on me about herbology for ages." Louis sauntered over to his new tutor quite pleased with himself for dodging that particular hex.
"Well in that case, uhm… would you mind clarifying which Mr. Weasley you are exactly?" Scorpius asked as he pulled a startling sized planner from his satchel. Louis gulped, 'This can't be good' he fretted as Scorpius thumbed through several pages.
"Louis, third year Ravenclaw."
"Well in that case Louis, how would every Tuesday and Thursday at 7:30 with a supplementary session Saturday afternoons if you prove especially bungling at the subject." Louis's heart sank at the prospects of spending 2 evenings a week as well as Saturdays revising his least favorite subject. He might as well have just stuck with Rose. Louis' attention was momentary distracted by Scorpius inspecting the leaves of the unfamiliar plant he'd brought with him. An idea began forming in Louis' wicked mind at exactly how to kill both his kneazles with one spell.
"Yeah that's great, I mean if you think you're girlfriend won't mind you spending all your time with a specky little 3rd year." Much to Louis' amusement Scorpius actually did a double take in his direction.
"You must have me confused with someone else; I don't have a girlfriend." Scorpius fidgeted with his ear as he said this.
"You prefer to play the field then, I get it." Louis said, in an understanding and impressed tone.
"Oh, uhm… no. I don't actually date much." Scorpius confessed as if this was some outrageous secret
Louis feigned surprise, though nothing could have been more obvious.
"Really? Wow, you sure fooled me what with that number you pulled on my cousin just then," Louis said as he grabbed his bag off the table as though to leave.
"I'm sorry," Scorpius turned quickly to face the now departing Louis. "what do you mean exactly?" Louis adjusted his weight onto his other hip and repositioned the bag slung over his shoulder.
"Come on, you don't need me to tell you how she went all pink in the face and got all dreamy eyed when you talked. I thought she was going to faint when you cunningly threw in the 'lively salsa dancing' thing. Then she just threw herself at that plant as a way to hold your hand; even for a second. Don't think I missed the way you intertwined your fingers as she grabbed at you. She practically had to run out of the room just to keep from snogging you right then."
Louis tried his best to look really impressed with Scorpius. "Perhaps you should tutor me in more than just Herbology." His own laugh sounded too bright to his own ears so he stopped quickly. "Though I doubt we'll get my parents to agree to pay for that one, eh?"
Scorpius' eyebrows pulled down in confusion.
"Actually I think you do." The look of confusion must have been evident on his face because Scorpius continued. "Tell me, that is." Scorpius seemed to be doing a complete review of the earlier encounter, comparing his own memory to the colorful spin Louis had put on it. "Do you think Rose might have feelings for me?" Louis rolled his eyes dramatically.
"It's not like Rose chats with me about her love life. I'm just telling you what I saw today." Louis shrugged noncommittally as he turned to leave again. He got a few steps towards the door before Scorpius' arms reached out and stopped him.
"What should I do?" He asked in such an excited and panicked voice Louis had to try very hard not to laugh at him.
"Last year I still thought girls were infested with wrackspurts; I'm not really going to be any help."
"What's a wrackspurt?" Scorpius asked.
"Believe me you don't want to know. I have identical best friends with very strange views on real and fictional wildlife."
"Well then I'll see you tomorrow night at 7:30 in green house three." Scorpius said distractedly without looking in Louis' direction.
Louis smiled to himself as he headed up back to the castle for lunch, as he mulled over his own genius.