The Secret Life of the Hogwarts Heads (2/5)
Rose woke one morning with three weeks left before Christmas break to find a new notice posted in the common room. The second Hogsmeade visit of the year would take place the weekend before the break. Rose had spent the first Hogsmeade weekend in The Three Broomsticks with Mona, Albus, Hugo, and Lily after visiting her Uncle George at Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes. Scorpius had decided to stay at school on Prefect Duty. They would have to stay with their separate group of friends during this trip, as well.
“I was thinking,” Mona began as they walked with Albus to Potions that morning, “we should visit the Shrieking Shack again. We haven’t been there since our fourth year.”
“I don’t know,” Albus’s eyes were narrowed nervously, “that place gives me the willies.”
“Oh, come on, Al,” Mona pleaded, “you know it’s not haunted. Your father-“
“-watched my namesake get murdered in there.”
“Middle name,” Rose reminded him, rolling her eyes. They had reached the dungeon, where their fellow NEWT-level Potions students were standing outside their classroom, waiting for Professor Norwing to arrive. “And I think we should-“
“Hey, Rose.” Danny Macmillon was standing next to Rose, hands folded nervously around the books in his hands. “I didn’t mean to cut you off. You can finish your conversation.” He looked regretful.
Rose gave him a reassuring smile. “Don’t worry about it, Danny. What can I do you for?”
“Well, the date for the next Hogsmeade weekend was posted today,” he began, watching the floor as he spoke, “and I was wondering if, maybe, you’d like to go with me?”
“I, er,” she looked around him to Scorpius, who had been watching, but turned away when he saw her glance; clearly, he had been listening. She looked back to Danny, unsure of what to say. “I might already have plans for that weekend.” His face fell as the rejection hit him. Rose felt forced to add, “Can I give you my answer later?”
“Yeah.” A small grin appeared on his face. She had made him feel like he had a chance-maybe she really did just have other plans that she would try to cancel. “No problem.” And he stumbled away toward Scorpius, who was trying, with difficulty, to welcome him without detestation. Rose watched them for a moment, unsure of how she was going to handle this situation.
“So,” Mona interrupted her thoughts, “is that a no to the Shrieking Shack idea, then?”
She tore her eyes away from Scorpius and Danny to look at her friend. “I’m not sure.”
“After all that complaining about secrets,” Albus said, watching Scorpius and Danny, “he didn’t even tell one of his best friends.”
“They aren’t that close,” Rose replied, resisting the urge to look in their direction again. “At least, Scorpius doesn’t think they are.”
“So, you two actually talk, then?” Mona asked, sounding surprised. “I thought it was just a lot of physical…”
“Yeah,” Rose sighed, “we do.”
“So,” she sounded skeptical now, “what are you going to do?”
But before Rose could answer her, Professor Norwing rushed into the dungeon, ushering the students inside. “Sorry for the delay. Inside, inside. Turn to page three hundred and ninety-four.”
* * * * *
Rose sat in an empty classroom with Scorpius, going over the duties for the remainder of time before Christmas break and evaluations from the past few weeks. She threw a paper toward the blond boy, “you do Hugo’s. I can’t evaluate my brother.” He took the evaluation without complaint, but a moment later, she was throwing a second at him. “Albus, too.”
“Fine,” Scorpius retorted spitefully, “then take two of mine.” He took two random papers from the pile and tossed them to her. “So,” he began as he started on Hugo’s evaluation, “who’s taking Hogsmeade duty this time? I was thinking-“
“You’re not doing it twice in a row,” Rose responded, without looking up at him. “You need to have a little fun.” She put the evaluation she had just finished aside and pulled out the next.
“No,” Scorpius said, “I was going to ask if you wanted to take it this time.”
“I can’t.” It came out more definite than she had intended. “I already made plans.” She chanced a look up at Scorpius, who had completely abandoned his evaluations and was studying her. She looked back down at her papers, pretending not to have noticed his watchful eyes. “Can’t we just give it to the two prefects with the worst evaluations or something?”
He let out a forced laugh. “I guess that could work.”
They worked in silence for a couple of minutes.
“So,” Scorpius began with uncertainty, “what are your plans for Hogsmeade, then?”
Rose had known this question was coming. Still, she was unsure of how to answer it. She knew what he was really asking her. But she had not decided if she would meet Danny yet. But if she said this, it would seem as if she was asking him what she should do. That was definitely a power she did not want him to have. “Well, Mona wanted to visit the shrieking shack, but I might just leave her to force Al into that one.”
“You have other plans, then?”
She didn’t think she could avoid it any longer. She could either make up her mind or explain her uncertainty. “I’m not sure.”
This seemed to confirm his fears just as much as an affirmative answer would have. His face fell into a contorted sort of grin, as if he was struggling to show any emotion but pain. “What’s not to know?”
“Oh, come off it!” She was not sure what had come over her, but she could not help raising her voice. She was the one considering seeing someone else, yet somehow his pretending not to know about it seemed to hurt just as much. “I saw you listening when Danny asked me to meet him. You can’t just sit here and pretend to know nothing of my possible plans.”
Her outburst seemed to have lit a fire under Scorpius, as well. His contorted grin had transformed into a scowl. “But why so unsure?” He was practically screaming at her. “Why not just run and tell him you’d love to go out with him? Not like there’s anything holding you back.”
Her rage deflated as quickly as it had come. She stared, dumbstruck, at the boy in front of her-the boy who, just a few days before, had pulled her into an empty classroom much like the one they were in now, only to resurface an hour later, hair messy and clothes askew. “You want me to go out with him?”
His features seemed strangely blank. There was no sign of any type of emotion on his face anymore. “If that’s what you want to do, then yes.”
“You know that’s not what I want to do.” She was handing him the power she had swore she wouldn’t give him. But he wasn’t taking it. “I just can’t think of an excuse not to go…” She had realized that she wanted Scorpius to tell her not to go. She wanted him to reason with her-beg her to turn Danny down.
“Then, go.” His emotionless face remained in tact, making each word sting even more.
Rose struggled to keep her eyes from tearing, though they were putting up a good fight against her. “Fine, then.” She passed her finished pile of evaluations to her co-Head, stood up, and strolled out of the room without another word.
Only after the door had closed tightly behind her did she let her eyes win their fight. She leaned against the wall, letting the tears fall down her cheeks, soaking her robes. She stayed there for several minutes, unable to move. With a sniff, she pushed away from the wall and hurried down the hall toward the Gryffindor common room. The last thing she needed was for Scorpius to walk out of the room and find her in this condition.
* * * * *
“You’re sure you want to go through with this?” Mona asked for what felt like the hundredth time as they approached the entrance hall, where Rose was about to meet Danny.
“Leave it alone, Mona,” Hugo replied for his sister. “You act as if one Hogsmeade trip without Rose is the end of the world.”
Mona gave him a look that would make anyone thankful she was not a basilisk. After a moment, she directed a similar look to Lily, who took the hint immediately. “Hey, Hugh,” she started, being a bit too obvious about the subject change, “did you ever get that new permission slip? They almost didn’t let you go last time.”
“What?” The switch seemed to have confused him. “Yeah, I have it right-“ he reached into his pocket. His hand resurfaced, empty. “Blimey, I must have left it in my trunk.” And he took off, trotting, toward his dormitory.
With a sly grin, Lily, raised her hand to show Hugo’s signed permission slip. “He didn’t even feel it rising out of his pocket. I swear he’s getting thicker every day,” she said to the laughter that greeted her from the others. “But, really, Rose,” her tone was suddenly serious, and Rose stopped laughing immediately, “you can still say you changed your mind. Come with us, instead.”
“Yeah,” Albus agreed, “Danny will be fine. And Scorpius-“
“Scorpius,” Rose retorted with a snort, “has barely even talked to me in two weeks. He has nothing to do with this.” But even as she said it, she knew it was a lie. In fact, Scorpius was the reason she could not back out. She could not let him affect her like this. He did not have this power over her. “This is just about Danny and me.”
She did not have a chance to take in her friend and cousins’ skeptical looks; they had just reached the entrance hall, where a line was formed for approval for the trip. In front of it stood Danny Macmillon, smiling and holding a hand out for Rose to take. She stepped toward him, careful not to take his hand but also not to awkwardly avoid it, as the others joined the line. Danny must have assumed she had not noticed his hand, and placed it on the small of her back as he turned to face the line and gestured toward it with his other hand. “Shall we?”
And suddenly, despite how sure she had been moments before that this was the right choice, she realized she could not go through with it.
* * * * *
Two hours later, Rose found herself sitting alone on the floor of the same empty classroom she and Scorpius had worked in a two weeks before, looking over the upcoming week’s assignments for the fifth time. She was not sure why she was still sitting in this room, pretending to be busy. She could probably make far better use of her time by going up to the Gryffindor common room and starting homework. But somehow, a room deserted except for the first and second year students who were still too young to attend Hogsmeade visits did not sound very appealing to her.
Rose jumped when she heard a voice come from the open doorway that she was sure she had closed. “Thought you'd be in Hogsmeade with Danny." She looked up to find Scorpius standing there, leaning against the doorway with a victorious grin.
Rolling her eyes, she went back to rechecking the assignment sheets in her hands. “Thought you didn’t care.”
He disregarded this. “Imagine my surprise when I made my way into the Three Broomsticks to find him in there, alone, claiming you had too much Head Girl work to do before the break to go to Hogsmeade with him.” He glanced at the papers in her hands. “So, what’s all this work you have to do before break?”
She sighed, throwing her papers aside in frustration. "I just changed my mind, all right?"
He disregarded this, as well. "Trying to beat me to the new duty chart, are you? I'm not taking morning duty." His grin was starting to irritate her.
"Yes, exactly.” She pulled one of the papers back toward her, determined to distract herself from this conversation. “I deserted my date to make sure you had early morning duty."
"Typical.” His sly grin had only grown larger. “Unless, of course, there's another reason."
"Nope,” she stated, without looking up from the papers in her hands. “That's pretty much it.” She made a random mark on the top paper. “You caught me."
"Oh, just say it."
She glanced up at him. His grin had faded slightly as he waited urgently for her to respond. But as she went back to the papers, she responded, "I have no idea what you're talking about."
He pushed off the wall and took a couple steps toward where she sat in the center of the room. "You know you want to say it." He sat on the floor beside her and removed the papers she had been pretending to work on from her loose grip, pushing them to the side without a glance at what they even were.
She glared at him. What if she really had been working on something important? "Ok, fine,” she glanced down at his blue and bronze striped tie and tried to hide the small grin that was trying to creep onto her face, “Scorpius, I-I just-- you see-“ She couldn’t hold the grin anymore. “It’s because he’s a Ravenclaw.”
Scorpius looked dumbstruck. “A Ravenclaw?”
Her smile just widened as she clarified, “I could never, ever date a Ravenclaw.”
After a moment of confusion, he let out a chuckle and a grin fell onto his face again. “You’re really something else, Weasley.”
She smiled up at him, her eyes daring. “So what are you going to do about it?”
He reached toward her, holding her chin as he inched closer. “Just this,” and he finished the action, locking their lips in a kiss as he transferred his hands to her back. Her arm found their spot around his neck as he pulled her body toward his and she wrapped her legs around his waist.
All thoughts of Danny Macmillon and the fact that she had not spoken to Scorpius in two weeks were gone from her mind. This felt right. And right now, that was all that mattered.
* * * * *
“The way you eat, the house-elves will be running out of food any moment now,” Rose informed her brother as he reached for his fourth helping of ribs a couple nights later.
“Com’ o’ it,” he responded through a full mouth, accidently spitting some sauce onto the table in the process. He quickly chewed and swallowed, wiping his mouth on the sleeve of his robes. “You know they have an unlimited supply.”
“Seemingly unlimited,” Lily said, taking Rose’s side at once, “but not if you keep this up.”
Hugo rolled his eyes. “The house-elves want us to eat as much as possible. Dad said he used to go down to the kitchen and they would just load him with treats and anything he wanted.”
“My point,” Rose retorted with a sigh. “is you’re going to burst if you don’t-“
She was cut off by an elbow to the ribs from Mona. “Leave it alone, Rose.” Rose looked at her friend, prepared to scold her for cutting her off and getting involved, but she was not looking back a Rose, or even at Hugo. She was looking toward the end of the Gryffindor table, where Scorpius Malfoy was making his way through the isle toward their spot. Mona forced her eyes back toward Hugo and ordered him to “eat whatever you’d like.”
And Rose could not argue because a moment later, Scorpius was standing there, staring down at her and all she could think about was her urge to smack him. This was not laying low.
“Hey, Rose?” he started nervously, glancing around at the group. And they were not the only ones staring at him. It seemed like half of the Great Hall had stopped what they were doing to see what Scorpius wanted to see Rose about. Or maybe that was just in her head. “Could you meet me in the Trophy Room after supper? We need to-err-“ What was he doing? He was about to ruin everything.
Luckily, Albus took it upon himself to be Rose’s savior this time. “You two still haven’t figured out that communication during break thing you were telling me about? You’ve been working on it for days.” Rose could have kissed him if it wouldn’t make the situation all the more obvious.
Instead, she gave him a quick smile that she hoped showed her gratitude and changed to a scowl as she faced Scorpius. He needed to know she did not appreciate the situation he had just put her in. “Fine. I’ll see you then.” It was a dismissal and Scorpius caught on. He left the group without another word and trotted to the table where his fellow Ravenclaws sat.
Rose looked at her brother, who seemed to be studying her, hard. “Weird,” was all he said after a moment of this.
“What’s weird?” She didn’t mean for it to come out so nastily. She needed to control her temper, especially when it had to do with this secret.
“That’s the most upset you’ve been with Scorpius all year,” he stated, still watching her, “and I’m not even sure what you’re upset about, to be honest.”
“Trust me,” she stated with a huff, “I’ve been angry with him plenty this year. You’re not around me all the time little brother.” It was the truth. She had been angry with Scorpius multiple times already this year. Just not in the way she was trying to imply.
“Well I think he’s growing on you, Rosie.” There was silence for a moment before Hugo started laughing. The rest joined in, and Rose prayed her brother did not notice how forced everyone’s but his own laughter really sounded.
The topic of Scorpius did not arise again for the rest of the meal. And as they stood to leave, nobody was surprised when Rose announced she would meet them in the common room later that evening.
“Careful, Rose,” Hugo warned with a grin as he stood from his spot, wiping his mouth one last time, “don’t let him pull you in.”
“Oh, Hugo,” Lily spat back at him, rolling her eyes, “grow up.” She stormed off out of the room, Hugo following behind, looking confused. Albus and Mona stayed behind for a moment until Rose gave a small reassuring smile. Then they followed the others and Rose left through the opposite exit, heading toward the trophy room.
Scorpius was already in the room when Rose pulled the door open and let herself in. He smiled and reached forward, but she held out her arms to hold him back. “Hugo’s catching on,” she warned.
Scorpius’s arms fell to his side and he took a step back, defeated. After a moment, he spun around and ran a hand through his hair. Rose listened to him let out a long sigh and thought she heard a hidden “good” under his breath.
“Excuse me?” She had to have heard wrong. Maybe she was imagining it, because she was sure he had agreed keeping this a secret was for the best.
But as Scorpius turned to face her again, his face was full, not of nerves as she had expected, but of defiance. “I said, ‘good’.” She stood, shocked, but daring him to continue. “How many times do I have to tell you I’m sick of the secrets? I deal with it because I’d rather be with you like this than-“ he let himself fade out as he took another deep breath. “Maybe if your brother knew, everything would be different.”
“Yeah,” Rose was shouting again. How did it always end up this way? “it would be different,” she agreed. “We wouldn’t be able to have-“ she paused, unsure of how to continue, “-whatever we have going on here, because my father would have me watched to make sure I stayed away from you. And your grandfather would probably try to have me killed.”
“You don’t know that.”
“Oh, yeah?” It was Rose’s turn to look stern and defiant. “Let’s see you do something about it, then.”
Scorpius looked dumbstruck. He clearly had no idea what she meant by that. “What are you-“
But Rose was not going to let him get a full sentence in now. “All this talk about how terrible I am for keeping this a secret. All you want to do is be open and honest. I don’t see you running around and telling anyone, either.”
And suddenly, it was as if they were competing to see who could scream louder. “Because you always said-“
“Oh, come on, Scorpius.” She was close to tears now, but she would not let them fall. She knew this scene only too well at this point. “If you had really wanted to tell anyone, you would have. At least my best friends know. You’ve told no one.”
He took another step back and lowered his voice, but his eyes were narrowed now. “Well, excuse me for following your orders.”
“Since when did you ever listen to anything I asked?” Rose was not going to back down. All year, he had made her feel like the bad guy-like she was trying to keep him a secret when he just wanted to shout it to the world. It was a complete lie. Everything was a complete lie. “You’ve been just as scared to tell anyone as I have.” She paused, watching as his composure faltered at the words. “Maybe more.”
“Yeah,” he was staring at the ground, hands shoved deep into his pockets, “well maybe I’m ready to let the secret out.” He looked up at her. She was studying him.
“If that were true,” she stepped back toward the door, opening it just enough to fit her body through, “you wouldn’t let me stop you.” And she squeezed out of the door and marched toward Gryffindor tower, unsure of where this left them or what would happen in the coming days. Were they over? She supposed only time would tell.
* * * * *
Rose woke early the next morning, though she was not sure she could consider it waking, as she had not really been able to sleep during the night. There was just under a week left until Christmas break. She would only have to deal with Scorpius for a week-seeing him in classes, on patrol duty, roaming the halls, in the great hall. Then, she would have a vacation free from the drama that Scorpius always seemed to bring with him.
Luckily, Mona woke early that morning, as well, so the pair could go down to breakfast before most of their classmates would be there. Away from prying ears, Rose told Mona about her encounter with Scorpius the previous day and the confusion it brought her.
“So,” Mona began as Rose finished her story, “where does that leave the two of you?”
Rose was about to respond that she could not answer that question when the doors flew open and Scorpius Malfoy entered the room. He searched for a moment before his eyes landed on the pair of Gryffindors and he made his way over. He seemed to have gained a new strut in his walk during the night.
“Hello, ladies,” he said cheerily as he reached them. Rose could not speak. She had no idea what was happening.
“You’re quite springy for someone awake this early,” Mona said before Rose was required to speak.
“Just back from the owlery, actually,” he was practically singing for how joyous he sounded. “Needed to send a letter to my mum and dad.”
Rose froze. She registered Mona’s eyes on her, but could not even force herself to make any response. Scorpius was watching her, as well, but she could not move. She had to be misunderstanding him. He couldn’t mean-
“Needed some new robes or something?” Rose was so thankful for Mona at that moment. She knew exactly what Rose needed to know, and knew the best way to get it.
“Oh, nothing like that.” He seemed so calm-so happy. This was not the same boy from the night before. “Just something I’ve been meaning to talk to them about for a while now,” he stated, grabbing a croissant from the table, ripping off the end and stuffing it in his mouth. “I just didn’t really realize it until last night.”
This confirmed it, and Mona knew it, too. She looked at Rose again and all she could say was a small, “is that right?”
“Yeah, well,” he looked around the room, “I’d better go.” He stuffed another piece of the croissant into his mouth. Rose still found herself unable to move or even really think. “Wouldn’t want anyone to get the wrong idea.” And he took off, strutting just as he had walked over to them.
The next moment, Albus was sitting at the table with them. He must have walked over just as Scorpius was leaving. “Was that Scorpius? He seemed happy. I guess last night was-“ he must have just noticed that Rose was still frozen. “Is everything okay?”
“So,” Mona was speaking to Rose, completely ignoring Albus’s late arrival, “you’re okay with this?”
“Okay with what?” Albus asked, looking from Mona to Rose and back again.
“I guess I have to be.” It had only been a couple minutes, but it felt like the first time Rose had spoken in hours, maybe days. “I just can’t believe-“
“What?” Albus begged.
“I know,” Mona replied. She let out a sigh with a small grin.
“Will someone please tell me what is going on?” Albus was growing frustrated. Rose was not sure she could ignore him any longer.
“I’m not sure,” Rose responded, trying to decide if she should smile or throw up, “but I think the secret might be coming out.” This did not seem to help Albus at all. He still looked lost and confused, but Rose did not have the strength to elaborate at that moment. She could not believe the events of the past several hours. Events from the night before really had completely turned around. Once again, she had no idea what the future would bring. And now, she did not know if she should be excited, nervous, or downright frightened.