Disclaimer: I clearly do not own Harry Potter, if I did, it wouldn't have ended. So…yeah, there ya go.
I've been afraid of storms ever since I was around six or seven.
The rain, I don't mind. It's actually quite soothing at times, but once the rain starts to look like fog and I can hear distinct rumbles off in the distance, is when my heart starts to beat faster and I feel like I can't breathe.
It all started when my younger brother, Hugo, had to be brought to St. Mungo's. He had been sick for a few days and my mum was starting to panic when his fever spiked to 102 and wouldn't go back down.
I remember her telling me that her and Dad were going to be right back and that my uncle George would come over to babysit me.
I didn't realize what was going on until they left. I was sitting on the couch when I could hear the rain start to pick up and the low rumbles of thunder nearby. I curled my feet up and wrapped the blanket that was on the back of the couch around me. I just had to wait for Uncle George and it would be alright. I would be fine.
As soon I thought that, he appeared in the fireplace in front of me. But for those five minutes that I was left alone with the storm brewing outside, I became more and more afraid of storms. The fear imprinted in me.
"Hey Rosie." He flopped down on the couch next to me right when lightning flashed through the house and not even two seconds later a loud clap of thunder sounded. I flinched and let out a squeal. Whenever there was a storm I would always climb onto my dad's lap and he would hug me until the storm was over, but lately I've been growing out of that particular fear. That is, until tonight. And as much as I love my uncle, he's not my dad.
"It's ok, Rosie. You don't have to be afraid." He opened up his arms and I climbed towards him.
"Just think of it this way. All this noise is just your Uncle Fred's way of letting us know that he's still here and watching over us." My eyes widened. The thought of someone watching me scared me a bit.
"Is Hugo gonna be ok?" I said as I snuggled into Uncle George's chest.
"Of course he is. If he's anything like your dad than nothing is gonna bring him down. Believe me." He chuckled and gave me a light squeeze.
"Now, how about we play a game? Sound good?" I nodded. Mum and Dad didn't come back until after Uncle George put me to bed.
Ever since that night I have never been more terrified of storms than I am today. Even at sixteen I still need to be by my dad when I'm home and not at Hogwarts if there's a storm. And when I'm at school, I have my cousin, Albus, who stays awake with me until it stops. Those are the only two people that seem to be able to calm me down and they're really the only ones that I let see me like that. It's honestly very embarrassing.
And now, you find me in the library, doing my homework for Charms, when I hear the first rumble of thunder. The quill I'm using freezes and I turn to look out the window. It was pouring. I didn't even notice when it started to rain. I quickly grabbed my stuff and started shoving it into my bag frantically.
I'm looking around to see if Albus might be in here by any chance, but then I almost laugh out loud at that thought. He despises the library.
As if I'm being chased, I run towards the doors, but of course the storm decides to be at it's loudest right then and there. Tears start to form in my eyes and threaten to spill over, I can feel my hands shaking and try desperately to hold onto my bag.
I then make a last minute decision and sit down against a book shelf. I pull my knees up to my chest and bury my head in my arms. I could feel the tears running down my cheeks. People usually grow out of silly childhood fears, but of course, I'm not one of those people. I have to have this ridiculous phobia that makes me completely vulnerable when the weather turns bad.
About five minutes later I hear footsteps approach me and then a voice. A certain voice that I can't stand and at the same time adore because only I would somehow fall in love with a Malfoy.
Today was turning out to be horrible.
"Weasley." I look up at him and, if I'm not mistaken, see a flash of concern on his face, but all too soon it's gone. I then wonder what my face must look like for him to be concerned for me.
"Would you just go away, please." I sniffed. I looked away from him, trying to will the tears away.
"But then I can't harass you. And you know that that is my favorite past time." My lip trembles as I hear more thunder.
"So what happened? Did you declare your undying love for some poor bloke and he shot you down?" I almost laughed at that. I would take that over this any day. I just shook my head.
"Well, it must be bad if you have no witty comeback for me." I saw the library light up with thunder and I knew that what was coming was going to be very loud. Preparing myself, I cover my ears and wait for the incriminating sound. Even with my ears blocked, I still flinch and I clench my eyes shut.
"Oh, I get it. Little Rosie Weasley is afraid of a little thunder." He chuckled.
"Just leave me alone. Get away from me." More thunder sounded. It was beginning to be too much for me. I started to sob uncontrollably. I put my head back on my arms trying to hide and save whatever dignity I had left.
Soon after, I felt something brush up against me. I looked up and found Scorpius sitting next to me. I stared at him and found his menacing demeanor gone.
"It really bothers you doesn't it?"
"Yes." I whispered. I saw him hold his hand out. I just stared at him, not knowing what he wanted me to do.
"Just squeeze it when you get scared." I kept staring at it, not sure if it was a joke or not but I didn't have time to keep contemplating about that because I could feel the thunder shake the castle from the magnitude of the storm. I latched onto his hand and buried my face back into knees.
"You know, if someone walked in here right now and saw us, they would probably think we had gone mad." I heard him whisper in my ear. I shivered as I felt his breath on my neck.
"Why are you doing this?" I brought my head back up but still clung on to his hand.
"I may be a prick sometimes, but I could tell that you were really scared by the storm and I wouldn't just leave you…or anyone, here by themselves."
"Well, thank you Scorpius." He narrowed his eyes at me.
"Just because I'm staying here with you during a storm doesn't change anything." He's talking about me always calling him Malfoy.
I could tell that the storm was dying down but it still gave off a few loud cracks of thunder every now and then, with which I would squeeze his hand. I really hoped I wasn't hurting him.
"What do you normally do when a storm comes along?" He asked me.
"Well, when I'm here, I have Albus and when I'm home, I have my dad." I looked into his eyes, I just couldn't believe this was happening to me right now. If I wasn't so terrified of the thunder I would have been freaking out about it.
"And what do they do for you?" I squeezed his hand and thought about it. Oh boy.
"Ummm, pretty much the same thing you're doing. But they also kind of, you know, hold me until it's over." I looked up, cautiously into his eyes, which had widened with my last statement.
"It's just a comfort thing." I quickly said. I could feel the blush on my face while I squeezed his hand again.
"And you would feel better if someone did that for you." He looked like he was really thinking about something.
"It's a possibility." Another squeeze, a little bit harder than the last few times. Tears were threatening to come back when I realized that the storm actually wasn't dying down.
"Alright then, come here." He let go of my hand and put his arms around my waist and brought me to his chest. I immediately latched onto his shirt and buried my face into it. He smelled so good.
"Better?" I was about to say that I was much better when the weather decided against that. I tried to pull him closer to me but the only way to get any closer to him was if I was sitting in his lap and I knew that that was definitely not going to happen.
"Blimey, you're shaking." He whispered softly, a hint of concern in his voice. He started to run his hands up and down my back soothingly. Another clap of thunder sounded. The tears finally fell down my cheeks and I could feel the sobs wrack my body. He pulled me against him even tighter.
"It's alright. Nothing is going to happen to you." I knew that and I believed him but it wasn't helping.
"Can you hear my heart beat?" Right away I thought about what an odd question that was but then I concentrated a bit and I heard it. His heart beat. I nodded into his chest.
"Just focus on that, ok?" I nodded again. He continued to rub my back and every once and a while he would stroke my hair.
The storm was definitely dying down now but I still stayed where I was and seeing as I didn't hear any objections from him, I didn't plan on moving any time soon. That is, until I hear footsteps walking very fast towards us.
"Rose!" My head shoots up and I see Albus in front of us.
"I'm so sorry, I must have fallen asleep. I didn't even realize it was storming out." He then realized that Scorpius was there as well and looked at him and then me and then did that once more.
"But I see that you're fine?" He smiled at me. I tell Albus everything, and when I say everything, I mean that he knows about me pretty much being in love with Scorpius ever since we started bickering in second year.
"Yeah, I'm good. Thanks for finding me, Al."
"Well we better hurry back to the common room before someone finds us out of bed. It's a bit past curfew." He reached down and took my hand to pull me up and started to drag me towards the doors, but I felt another hand grab my other wrist to stop me. I stopped and waited for Albus to quit tugging on my arm.
"I lied." I gave him a questioning look. He stepped closer to me so that his lips were right by my ear.
"It does change things." He whispered to me. I smiled at him and then let Al drag me out of the library.
Now, he may not have cured my fear of storms but I did gain an extra person to go to when the weather got bad. And if I'm being completely honest, he was really the only person I went to now and I really didn't mind that at all.
A/N: Well, I hope you liked it. This was my first time venturing into the world of Rose and Scorpius, so let me know how I did and if you think I should keep writing about them.
Also, I saw Deathly Hallows on Friday and all I have to say is that I cried… a lot. I even got a head ache from it. But on the plus side, yesterday I got to go to Warped Tour and I got Brian White's autograph (he's from A Skylit Drive), I was pretty stoked.