Questions

Chapter 8: Questions

Rose glanced at Scorpius for the twentieth time that night. She was sitting with Chessie and Cici on the couch in front of the fireplace, while Scorpius was sitting in a chair across the common room, reading a book. He had become more comfortable with being around people since becoming friends with Rose, but every once in a while he still enjoyed his quiet time in his isolated part of the room.

It had been nearly four very long months since she realized that she would like something more than friendship with Scorpius. She didn't mention anything, though. She merely longed from afar.

Chessie and Cici had been trying to get Rose to tell Scorpius how she felt since they found out two months ago.

"You're being stupid, Rose," Cici said, not looking up from her homework, but knowing exactly what she was doing.

"I'm not being stupid," Rose muttered, sitting further down into the couch and crossing her arms.

Chessie, who was sitting on the couch with Rose, looked up from her book. "If you don't go talk to him about how you feel, then you're only ever going to be friends with him. Do you want to just be friends for forever Rose? Do you?" She interrogated.

Rose glared at Chessie. "If that's what it takes."

"You're being stupid, Rose," Cici repeated herself, still doing homework.

Rose stuck her tongue out at Cici. "I'm not going to risk a good friendship because of something I happen to be feeling now," Rose stated. "I mean, what if I don't feel this way in a few months time? Then what? I'm stuck in a relationship until I end it and then I don't have the friendship anymore. I've thought this through, ladies, and I'm not being stupid. I'm being smart about this."

"No, Rose, you're being stupid," Cici said, finally looking up at her. "You're scared that you'll lose a friendship, but you're missing the opportunity for an incredible relationship." Cici picked up a book and began to read. "Ergo, you are being dense. Thick. Brainless, foolish, senseless, mindless--"

"Give me your thesaurus, Cici!" Rose hollered taking away the book Cici was looking in. She sighed as she put the book on the table in front of them. "And stop being right."

Chessie and Cici stopped in their tracks and stared at Rose. This is the first time she had admitted that she was making a mistake when it came to Scorpius and her friends obviously couldn't believe it.

"Go!" they yelled together as they jumped to action. Chessie put her legs on the couch behind Rose and pushed at her back, making Rose fall off. Cici then jumped from her chair, grabbed Rose's ankles and pulled her towards the center of the common room. Rose tried to holler at them to stop, but the action was done before she could finish her shout.

Everyone nearby was staring at Rose. She quickly got up, embarrassed and turned back to her two so-called friends. "What--"

"Go or we'll embarrass you further," Cici threatened.

"And you know we're capable," Chessie smiled sweetly.

"What am I supposed to--"

"GO!" they hollered.

"Fine!" Rose shouted before she began to walk to Scorpius. She had no idea what she was going to say, but she knew her friends were right--she had to say something.

She sat down in the chair across from Scorpius in a daze, trying desperate to think of something to say.

"Hello, Rose," she heard a voice say. She looked up and saw Scorpius smiling at her in amusement.

"'Lo."

Scorpius laughed. "That was quite the spectacle over there," he said, referencing the scene she'd just had with her two friends.

"........yeah."

"Was it about anything in particular?" Scorpius asked slowly, as if Rose didn't understand English.

".........yes."

Scorpius waited a few seconds to see if she would continue. She didn't. "Well okay then." He then went back to his book.

Man up, Rose Weasley! You come from a long line of Gryffindors! Use some of that courage you inherited! Rose thought, berating herself. Ask him to the Hogsmeade weekend this Saturday. You've gone together before, it'll be a nice, easy... whatever. She squeezed her eyes shut, took a deep breath, and plunged forward.

"Sco... abuuh... um..." IDIOT!

Scorpius didn't look up from his book, but Rose could see a small smirk on his face.

Okay, try again, Rose thought to herself. She took another deep breath. "I have a question." Better.

"I'm not surprised," Scorpius said from his book.

Rose closed her eyes again to calm herself, and then continued. "Scorpius, there's a Hogsmeade weekend coming up."

Scorpius looked up at Rose and smiled. "That's not a question."

Thank you for making this so easy on me, Malfoy, Rose thought, irritated. "I would like for you to go with me."

Scorpius raised his eyebrow. "We always go together."

Rose's courage started to dwindle with Scorpius' dubious looks. "Uh... yes, you're right."

Scorpius put his book on the table in front of him and examined her. "What's going on, Rose?"

He'll just say no, Rose told herself. There's no way this is going to work out... Rose glanced to her two friends sitting on the couch in front of the fireplace. Cici was looking at her expectantly, and Chessie was giving her an innocent smile. Rose didn't trust that smile--it's led to far too many embarrassing situations for her.

She glared at her friends--they weren't going to let her get away without asking Scorpius out. She focused her attention back on Scorpius, took a large breath, and said the sentence she was dreading. "I want you to go on a date with me on Saturday to Hogsmeade."

Scorpius' eyes widened to the size of saucers. He dropped his jaw and stared at Rose before stuttering, "A... a da... a what?"

In all the years she has known Scorpius Malfoy, she had never once heard him stutter. Oh dear, she thought. This must be traumatizing for him. She continued, however. "A date. We go out and have fun exclusively with each other. One of us pays for a meal, and at the end of the date, if things go well--"

"Rose!" Scorpius shouted, covering his hands with his ears. He looked down at the table in front of him, still wide-eyed, apparently trying to figure out what in the world was going on.

Rose sighed and sat back in her seat. She knew he wouldn't go for this. Still, she trudged forward (mainly because she knew her best friends' wouldn't let her NOT continue). "I would like to go on a date with you, Scorpius."

Scorpius snapped out of his reveries and stared at Rose again. He then whispered, "Why?"

Rose, for some reason unknown to her, was not expecting this question. "Because..." she started. Because I really like you. Because I think you're dreamy. Because I would like to feel your lips-- "I just do!" she finished, throwing her arms in the air before putting her face in her hands. This is going terribly.

She heard Scorpius take a few short breaths. "Rose, this could change--"

"Stop," she said from her hands. She rubbed her face before looking into Scorpius' eyes. "Let's just give it a shot. Just once. If things don't go the way we want them to, we'll go straight back to the way things are. No harm, no foul."

Scorpius looked down at his hands before smirking. "How very... Gryffindor of you."

"Should I be insulted?"

Scorpius sighed. "I'm not sure yet." He leaned back in his chair and ruffled his hair. "Look, I just don't know about this..."

"Scorpius, I don't want to beg," Rose began. Scorpius was looking at the ceiling, trying to avoid all eye contact. I'm tired of this, she thought. "And I'm not going to. I'll see you here at eleven o'clock on Saturday morning." And with that, Rose stood up, went to the couch by the fireplace where her two friends were sitting, picked up a book off the table, hit Cici in the head with it, and then went up the stair to her dormitory.

Scorpius followed Rose with his eyes, wide with disbelief. "Of all the stubborn..."

*****

It was eleven o'clock on Saturday. Rose sat in a chair against Scorpius' isolated wall and waited.

It had been two days since Rose "asked" Scorpius out on a date. It had been the worst two days she had in a long time. She and Scorpius had avoided each other completely. There was no talking, no studying--nothing. Rose regretted asking him, now, and just wanted things to go back to the way they were.

She was sitting there, ready to tell him just that, when he came down from his dormitory and walked to her.

"Are you ready?" he asked, his hands in his pockets and looking at the ground.

"Listen, we can just skip this--"

"Oh no, no, no!" Scorpius objected, scolding Rose. "You were insistent that we go on this... this... this date. So we're going to go. Just the two of us. 'Have fun with exclusively each other,'" he quoted.

Rose glared at Scorpius, who had a holier-than-thou look on his face, and couldn't help but laugh. "Well, if you insist."

Scorpius laughed and offered his arm for Rose to take. She giggled again before taking it, and the pair headed out the common room.

*****

Rose had more fun than she could have ever thought she would.

Their date started off at the Three Broomsticks where they had a few butterbeers. This was not out of the norm, but there were a few more light touches to the hand when making a point and some light smacks to the shoulder when Scorpius made Rose laugh.

They then continued to Zonko's, where Scorpius bought a pair of muggle Groucho Marx glasses, then proceeded to wear them for an hour with the demeanor that he wasn't wearing them at all. Rose couldn't help but laugh whenever she looked up at him as they were walking down the streets of Hogsmeade, talking.

After a while, Rose asked, "Do you want to head up to the Shrieking Shack?"

"I don't know," Scorpius replied, thinking. "Am I going to have to punch anyone?"

"HA!" Rose barked sarcastically, and then began walking on the path up to the shack.

Scorpius caught up with her, laughing as he did. "You know, I'm surprised you want to go up there, seeing as how it's haunted and all."

"Oh it's not haunted," Rose started, but stopped as her heart beat sped up--Scorpius' shoulder was rubbing against hers as they walked.

"No?" Scorpius asked, interested.

"Um... oh, no," Rose snapped back to reality. "My mum, dad, and Uncle Harry were all in there before. They followed Sirius Black in there because he had my dad."

"Is that so?" Scorpius inquired. Then his hand brushed against hers.

Rose's breath came in shorter bursts. "Ye... yes. It turns out, though, that he wasn't after my dad, but after my dad's pet rat, because the rat was actually Peter Pettigrew..." Rose paused when she felt Scorpius' hand take hold of hers.

She glanced at Scorpius out of the corner of her eye and saw that he was finding Rose's flabbergasted behavior far too humorous. He's doing this on purpose to get my flustered! she thought, aggravated . Well! Two can play at this game...

Rose squeezed the hand that was holding hers and continued her story. "Peter Pettigrew sold out my Uncle Harry's parents to Lord Voldemort and framed Sirius for their murders." As she spoke, she snuggled up against Scorpius' side so there was virtually no space between them.

Scorpius cleared his throat. "Oh.. um... really?"

"Yes indeed," she began rubbing his arm with her free hand. "Uncle Harry wouldn't let Sirius kill Peter, though, and Peter got away."

"You don't say," Scorpius squeaked.

"Yes," Rose answered, placing her head on his shoulder. She felt his breath become uneven. "And do you know what happened next?" she asked softly.

"W...what?"

"Uncle Harry looked at Sirius, and then said, 'Oh, how the tables have turned!'" Rose laughed as she took her head off his shoulder and turned towards Scorpius. It took him a moment to realize that wasn't actually what happened between her Uncle Harry and his godfather.

"Oh, you're mean," he chuckled. "You get me interested in your story and completely throw me off!"

"It's nothing you didn't deserve," Rose laughed.

"I beg to differ; I was merely trying to..."

Scorpius stopped his thought when he realized the same thing Rose did: during their playful spat they had taken a few steps towards each other and were now very close. She looked at Scorpius and saw him gulp.

All right, Weasley, this is it. Gryffindor courage... Gryffindor courage...

Rose took one final step towards Scorpius so that they were merely inches apart. She licked her lips and placed her hand softly on Scorpius' cheek. She felt him lean into her hand before she inclined forward just slightly and closed her eyes...

...and felt Scorpius' cheek leave her hand. She opened her eyes to see Scorpius taking several steps away from her. His eyes were wide and he was shaking his head slowly.

Rose lowered her hand and took a step towards him. "Scor--"

"I can't," he whispered, looking at the ground. "I'm sorry."

Rose watched him run down the pathway away from the Shrieking Shack with tearful eyes.