The Walnut Tree

Chapter 2: The Fire in Rose Weasley

The next few weeks were quite calm. In fact, I didn't see Rose at all besides the classes we had together. Many times I found myself wanting to say something to her. Mind you, nothing pleasant was going to come out of my mouth at this point, and I could never bring myself to do it. I don't think it was consideration for her feelings as much as it was her last words echoing in my head every time she was near. The very fact that she called me a hypocrite drove me up the wall. Who did she think she was, tossing accusations left and right like that?

And though I wanted to hate those words--and I pretended as though I did--something deep down knew what she said was the truth. This only made me even angrier with her. She thought that she was so perfect and brilliant at whatever she did. Who was she to accuse me of assuming while she did the same to me! She was just a bloody brown nose with famous parents. She had no layers, nothing unique about her.

And so, summer had moved into fall, and so the hot air was replaced with a cool breeze. The leaves were changing from green to yellow and orange and were starting to fall from the trees. I was sitting on a bench in the front courtyard taking pictures of the students passing by, when I was interrupted by flash of red hair colliding with me--and my camera--and knocked me to the ground. I looked to see not Rose, but her younger brother, Hugo. I scowled and stood up to dust myself off. Hugo got up as well and picked up what remained of my camera and handed it to me.

"I--er--sorry...I didn't mean to. I tripped over that root..." the third year stuttered, avoiding my eyes.

I gave him a curt nod and turned away with my now useless camera, giving everyone I met a scornful look as I made my way down to the common room. As soon as I arrived, I went into my dormitory and examined the damage. The front lens had completely parted itself from the rest of the camera, and the film inside had rolled off into the mud. I had no way to fix it and I tossed it into my trunk, still scowling about what had happened. I had no way of getting a new one, either. As I've said, my dad wasn't very supportive of my interests, and he wouldn't have anything to do with them. And so, heavy hearted, I went down to the library to get a Potions Essay finished.

When I entered, I immediately saw Rose with two of the Potter clan talking with each other. When they looked up and saw me, they lowered their voices and looked away again. Shrugging this off, I moved towards the back table to start my essay. As I was writing, I heard footsteps and I assumed that Rose and the others were leaving and I looked up. Instead I see Albus walking towards me, his jaw clenched and his eyes set. He pulled a chair up and pulled the quill from my hand. I stared at him with the same straight face as he was giving me. After a moment, Albus cleared his throat.

"Rose told me about your argument," he said quietly, still staring intently at me. "She told me how much of an ass you were to her."

"And she sent you over here to defend her?" I replied coolly, also not averting my gaze.

"She asked me to talk to you," Albus admitted, "but I'm not here to defend her. She's strong enough to do that herself, and she didn't ask me to."

"And what did she ask you to speak to me about then, Potter?" I questioned, my patience faltering.

"She doesn't want to speak to you again, and she wants you to know that what you said was unforgivable," Potter said to me.

"Who said I was apologizing?" I retorted, my eyes blazing. "What makes her think she can make the rules? I can bloody talk to her if I want to!"

"I'm just telling you what she said. And to be quite frank with you, I don't think it'd be best if you were to ignore what she said," he replied.

"Oh? Well, I didn't ask your opinion on this," I paused, waiting for a reaction. When he said nothing, I continued. "Is there something else you want or can I actually do what I came here for?"

"That's it, Malfoy. Remember what I said, just leave her alone." Albus stood and walked away, and I saw Rose say something to him.

I shook my head, now even more annoyed by this Weasley girl. She never stopped did she? She couldn't just toss her ego out the window for five seconds and act like a human being! No, she had to send her cousin, or whatever the hell he was, to talk to me. I watched as Albus and James left the library, leaving her alone to read. Determined to tell her exactly what I thought about this whole ordeal, I moved towards her table and pulled out a chair, slamming my hand on the smooth surface. Rose jumped from her chair with a squeak, and when she saw it was me...well, if looks could kill, I'd be dead.

Instead of leaving, I smirked down at her as I offered her my hand. She just glared at me and pushed herself up with her elbows and edged towards me. "Wipe that smile off your face, Malfoy," she hissed. "I thought Albus made it clear to you that you are to leave me alone."

"Oh, he did," I replied, still giving her that indifferent smile.

"Then why are you here trying to talk to me?" she asked, clearly trying hard not to show how angry she was becoming.

"I wanted to let you know that I don't agree with this deal," I answered simply.

"What do you mean? You really don't have a choice," she snapped, her brows furrowing.

"Well, usually when you make a deal with someone, both persons must agree on it, correct?" I asked, waiting for her response. She nodded her head slowly, as if still grasping what I was saying. "And," I continued, "I don't believe that we both agree on this arrangement. So that would mean that the "deal" wouldn't be in actual effect. So I really don't have to stop associating with you at all."

As she heard these last words, her jaw clenched slightly and before I knew what was happening, she had slapped me across the face and stormed from the room. I sat there dumbfounded, rubbing my stinging cheek with my hand. I hadn't expected her to do that. Perhaps there was some unknown fire in Rose Weasley that I didn't know about. And, as I picked up my things from my table, I smiled inwardly. I knew I'd gotten to her, and that was exactly what I wanted to happen.