Disclaimer: I don't own anything. But I plan to one day. Just saying.
A/N: This is one of oneshots that's been hanging around my documents since some time before Christmas... since I'm about to leave on a ten-day vacation, I thought I'd be nice and post something right before I leave. :D
Another trademark short, fluffy oneshot! Anyway, I still think it's adorable. And I hope you do too :3
"Okay, now pour a bit of that into this green one," Rose said cautiously to her cousin, whose hands were shaking as he reached for their materials.
Al nodded, his boyish face looking quite determined. Picking up both beakers in either of his hands, he furrowed his brow and began to slowly tip one glass container towards the other, the viscous clear liquid dripping torturously slowly.
Rose, though glad that Albus was being careful with the potion that was worth half of her average, was getting a bit impatient. "Al, you can pour it a bit faster than that."
He glanced at his fiery-haired cousin, flustered. He turned back to his potion and angled the beaker a little steeper.
The redhead smiled at his compliance, leaning cautiously toward him to see what their product was turning out to be. She shook back the long, billowy sleeves of her robes, but it didn't do much as the fabric fell back onto the table.
"Well done Mister Boot!" Slughorn's voice boomed from the back of the room.
Albus jumped at the sudden break in the silence, glasses falling askew and both liquid counterparts of the potion sloshing out of their respective containers.
Rose gasped and tried to move backwards, but she wasn't quick enough. Both fluids spilled onto different bits of her oversized robes. Wide-eyed, adrenaline started coursing through her body as she waited to see what the result of the contact would be.
Catching fire wasn't exactly the scenario she was hoping for.
She screamed girlishly (though she wouldn't admit to it if anyone asked her) and instantly began to unbutton the burning robes with frantic fingers.
Albus stood terrified beside her, both beakers still dripping in his shaky hands.
Slughorn, noticing the sudden commotion, hustled over to the pair just as Rose shrugged her arms out of their confines and let the blazing mass fall to the ground behind her.
"Augamenti!" She cried, pointing her wand at her now-charred robes. A spout of water put out the flames almost instantly.
"Well done, Miss Weasley! If I remember correctly, you're not supposed to learn that spell until next year!" Slughorn chortled to the Fifth Year.
Rose blushed modestly.
"Ten points to Gryffindor!" He turned to Al, who was looking quite disappointed. "Mister Potter… Be more careful next time, eh?"
Al nodded solemnly.
Slughorn began to pace the room again, checking in with each pair.
"Sorry Rosie," He said softly, looking at the ground.
"Don't worry, Al, I have more," She shrugged, knowing how guilty her cousin was feeling.
He smiled tentatively.
She smiled warmly back, and beckoned him to continue pouring the liquids, keen on completing the potion on time.
Rose never noticed just how freezing Hogwarts was in the winter until she walked through the halls into the Defense Against the Dark Arts room without her trusty robes on.
"Merlin, I'm freezing," She shuddered, rubbing her bare arms up and down for any sense of comfortable friction as she sat down in her seat next to a person she considered a good friend against all odds.
"Where are your robes?" Scorpius Malfoy asked, eyeing her thin white button-up.
"Dear Albus spilled something on it during Potions… It caught fire." She explained bluntly to the blond, self-consciously touching her hair like she always did (Rose why are you so stupid?) in his presence.
He snorted, a smirk turning up the corner of his mouth.
She glared at him before looking forward again. From the corner of her eye (she wasn't watching him), she noticed him roll his eyes and look down at his well-insulated body, with a turtleneck, the regular short-sleeved button-up, and a thick cardigan (Envy coursed through her as cold air nipped at her pale skin). Rather gracefully, and to her surprise, he pulled the topmost layer smoothly over his head and held it in his hands for a moment before turning to her.
Rose raised her eyebrow in silent question, even though she knew fully well what he was offering her.
"Here," He extended his arm further into her direction.
"Really, can I wear it?" She asked appreciatively, trying to will her cheeks not to turn red… not that a little heat wouldn't have been unappreciated in that moment.
"Yeah. It says Slytherin, though, so be careful," He smirked and readjusted the knot on his tie as if he didn't know it was perfectly tied.
"I'll live," She replied simply, the corners of her mouth twitching as she tried to repress a wide smile from breaking across her face. "Thanks,"
Scorpius nodded in acknowledgement, but didn't turn towards her again throughout the rest of the lesson (about the proper usage of the spell "Expelliarmus"), as he was intent on taking rigorous notes.
Rose knew that she should probably take detailed notes as well, as O.W.L.s were coming up more quickly than she wanted to think, but she could hardly concentrate on what the Professor was saying at all because of the way the scent hanging on the cardigan was intoxicating her…
"Rose, would you stop sniffing that thing? It's getting kind of creepy," Lily Potter cheeked, tapping her spoon on the top of her cousin's curly head as it laid across her sweater-covered arms.
"I was not sniffing it!" Rose reddened, blatantly showing that she was lying. Still, she didn't want to say anything too embarrassing at the Dinner table with every other Gryffindor around her.
Her cousin raised an eyebrow and took a bite of her roasted chicken. "Right,"
"I wasn't!" Rose insisted, propping her chin up on her folded arms. "It does smell rather nice, though, now that I smell it for the first time…" She admitted, pink once again tingeing the apples of her cheeks.
"Smell it in your Amortentia, did you?" Lily rolled her eyes.
"No!" Rose answered quickly. "I've never even smelled Amortentia, Lily. We don't do that until next year." She said condescendingly, only talking to occupy herself with something other than burying her nose in the bend of her elbow and breathing in the wonderful scent that still smelled so magnificently strong on the article of clothing.
"You know what they say about girls who wear guys' clothes…" Lily glanced down at Rose, a teasingly antagonistic look on her face.
"No… what?" Rose asked carefully, not looking forward to whatever snide comment her equally ginger cousin was going to make.
"It's like you belong to them." Lily grinned mischievously.
Rose blushed ten shades of red. "I do not!" She stammered.
"You wish you did, though." The other redhead said smoothly.
"I do n—that's—" The lack of complete thoughts coming from her mouth caused Rose to stop for a moment to think out what she was going to say before she said it. "—beside the point." Her voice was muffled as she rested her nose in her sleeve again, her sudden confession and the accompanying scent causing her heart to beat rapidly.
Lily looked quite smug.
"But either way, I'm giving this sweater back tomorrow, so there's no use making a big deal of it like you are right now." Rose said matter-of-factly.
"I suppose," Her voice was airy.
"Shut up, Lily," Rose groaned, burying her face and inhaling the scent without realizing she was doing so.
The other girl laughed.
Rose knew that she would never live that down… at least for the rest of Dinner.
"I see that you're still wearing my sweater," Scorpius said a bit haughtily as Rose sat down next to him for Defense Against the Dark Arts the next day.
"I see that you're still smirking like an arrogant little bugger," She retorted, her tongue sharp though her heart pounded. She crossed her arms on the desk.
He chuckled.
"My robes are still in the wash." She lied quickly, seeing the way he was looking at her rather expectantly.
"I see," Scorpius said skeptically.
"They are." Furrowing her brow, she placed her chin on the desk, her nose on the sleeve, trying to ignore the thoughts that rolled through her mind (If his clothing smells so nice, then how does his hair smell?).
Another annoyingly knowing chuckle.
Rose felt a rant bubbling in her throat, threatening to flow out of her lips ("Just because the rest of the girls are falling over you, Malfoy, that doesn't mean I am!"). Thankfully enough, she kept her biting thoughts to herself (No she didn't realize that she had no justifiable point since she sort of was falling over him!) and instead replied to his chuckle with a slightly stifled, "I'll give it back to you later, okay?"
His large hand reached out, and he patted Rose on the head a few times, a smirk permanently quirking up his mouth.
She narrowed her eyes in resentment towards the childish gesture.
He lifted his hand again, and instead of the patronizing pat, Scorpius opted to smooth her curly, unruly hair back in a shockingly tender manner before returning his focus to his notebook in front of him.
What the bloody hell just happened? Rose asked herself incredulously, her face exploding into a plane of crimson from behind her ash-gray sleeve. Damn you… Annoying, condescending, haughty, beautiful, charming, sweet Scorpius Malfoy… Her brow furrowed, and, once again, she wasn't able to pay attention to the lesson of that day.
For reasons she wasn't about to admit, Rose's heart was pounding almost violently against the inside of her ribcage as she went on a search for Scorpius later that night. Having already checked the library, the Great Hall, and the hallway outside the Slytherin common room, her anxiety was given time to rise to an almost hysterical amount. The last place she figured he could be was his assigned corridor for Prefect duty.
Grudgingly, she trekked up to the Transfiguration corridor (which was on the direct opposite side of the castle, thank you!) in search for the boy.
Once her legs were thoroughly worn out, her mouth yawning by itself, she found that she made it to the Transfiguration sector of the castle…
And he wasn't there.
She let out a loud, rather obnoxious, groan and decided on the spot to just wait for him. As demeaning as it was. Because she needed to get the sweater her off her hands (and not because she wanted to see him or anything!).
There are so many better things I could be doing with my time right now… She thought stubbornly about ten minutes into her waiting, twirling her wand around between two fingers and making it look like it was made of rubber. This did nothing to help her boredom.
Rose sighed, again obnoxiously, and straightened her legs out in front of her. Where is he?
"Are you waiting here for me?" A voice asked from somewhere to her left.
"Yes, and you're late." She said flatly, standing and picking up the article of clothing in one fist.
Scorpius rolled his eyes and walked towards her. "Excuse me. I wasn't aware we had a date arranged for tonight."
"I told you I'd give you the sweater back tonight," Rose replied, shaking a bit of her hair out of her face, brown eyes twinkling in annoyance.
"Ah, I need a time, love. I'm in high demand; you should know that much." He said with an air of superiority.
Rose sighed in pure distaste. Why was I looking forward to seeing him again?
"And you know that I would've put aside all the rest of my plans to see you," Cold silver eyes softened slightly.
Oh, right. Because he says stupid stuff like that that makes me melt like one of his bloody fan-girls.
She cleared her throat, trying to seem indifferent even though she just knew he could see that her freckled cheeks were tinting pink every second he stepped closer.
"Now… how can I help you?" He asked smoothly, coming to a stop much too close to her.
Uncrossing her arms, she thrust the wad of gray fabric in his direction. "Here." She didn't look him in the eye, rather afraid of what she might see (and how she might feel about it) from up close.
Scorpius chuckled again.
Before she got a chance to even look up, Rose felt his hand encircle her slight wrist, stepping even closer. Her eyes widened, heart stopping.
"How about… you keep it." He said in her ear, his voice sending a ripple through her body.
Glaring at the reactions he seemed to always elicit from her, she looked up.
And that's when his lips descended upon hers, full and soft and excited and perfect, causing sparks to fly from the tip of her wand in her pocket.
I should've known… was Rose's only thought for quite a while.
A/N: I totally wrote this all in one sitting. So yeah. It's a little rushed, I admit :D
Story Time! Okay, so in middle school, I had a ridiculously ginormous crush on this kid named Taylor. And it took me until the last week of eighth grade to actually interact with him properly, even though I'd had a crush on him since 6th grade… In fact, it was like 2 days before school ended that I gathered up the courage to ask him to borrow his shirt (it was like a flannel button-up type deal over his t-shirt… I was also "cold" :D). Sooo, I was wearing his shirt all day, and I laid my head down on my arms in 4th period or something, and I realized, hey, this smells freaking awesome. So, I spent the rest of the day (unconsciously) smelling his shirt… and I didn't even notice until my friend Milli told me it was weird that I was doing it… apparently I was muttering that it smelled so damn good through the entire lunch period… hahaha, I'm kinda pathetic… but! That's my real-life story that inspired this fic. That and the fact that I completely annexed this other kid Jon's jacket for all of winter break because it was the warmest jacket I had ever worn ever. The End.
Hahaha, I imagined this entire thing as an anime episode. I recommend you do the same. :D
Right. Well. PLEASEPLEASEPLEASE REVIEW! Even if it's just one word, feedback means a lot. And I hope you'll add this to your Favorites, because it'll make me feel warm and fuzzy inside... like a sweater! (That was incredibly lame... I know XD) :3
I think I'll try to make my next post an Albus/Scorpius. Those two are too cute X3
Kay. Till next time.
KitKat Pyrophobia