Scorpius H. Malfoy (fullofsnark) wrote in unloading_zone, @ 2010-07-13 17:32:00 |
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Entry tags: | rose weasley, scorpius malfoy |
Who: Rose and Scorpius
When: Tuesday afternoon
Where: The Apothecary
What: BFFs reunite.
Status/Rating: Complete, PG
Scorpius didn’t want to think about, let alone talk about, the.. he didn’t even know what it was.
It felt like a memory, the way he remembered riding a broomstick for the very first time and getting sorted into Ravenclaw, but it couldn’t be a memory. A memory was a snapshot of the past, not the future. A very dubiously-constructed future.
Scorpius cursed. He was thinking about it, and that needed to stop. He needed to focus on his work, and at that moment, that was creating a bug-repelling formula. It didn’t matter that Hugo was the one who ordered it; it would be useful for everyone on the island.
Just when he was reaching for dried Belladonna essence, the doorbell jingled, announcing some new arrival. Scorpius glanced over his shoulder, turned back, paused, and then jerked his head back so fast that he heard something crack. “Rose?!”
Once Rose had understood as much as she was going to about where they were and how they’d gotten there (I don’t know and I don’t know), she had decided to take notes. There was nothing she couldn’t figure out, she’d told herself, if she took note of everything and studied the lot until she noticed a trend.
Hugo had explained about people coming from different times, and she’d had no choice but to believe it; she was, after all, living with Helena Ravenclaw! It was unbelievable and Rose had had to keep from asking her thousands of questions about her time at Hogwarts, what it was like to have Rowena Ravenclaw for a mother and to pick her brain for all sorts of historical information she’d been unable to find in the books she’d read. Even people from her own life, Hugo had explained, would be different ages. Hugo himself was older than her here, something that would take more getting used to than even living with Ravenclaw’s daughter.
And so Rose had taken note of each resident of the island as well as their residences and occupations, writing down, as well, the years from which they came and the ages they boasted when she could. She had come across Scorpius’ name and grinned, only just finishing off the list before making off for the apothecary.
“You look surprised,” she said innocently as she made her way into the store. For the first time since arriving, she was the one taking someone else off guard. She had to admit, it was nice. “Shouldn’t I be here?”
“No, I mean yes– wait, no. None of us should be here,” Scorpius said, turning to face his friend fully. He took in the sight of her, eyes wide. She looked so... “Merlin, you look too young. How old are you?” he asked, already feeling ancient by comparison.
Yeah, it was nice and all to be older and wiser for a bit, but then you realised the true distance a few years could have. Even just one meant hundreds, perhaps even thousands, of unknown memories between them.
Rose couldn’t argue with that. No one should be here, wherever here was. Certainly not Rose, who had completed almost all of the written work she’d had coming due and had only to submit them. Clearly, she couldn’t do that from here.
“I’m nineteen,” she answered. She didn’t understand why that was important; she was still Rose, he was still Scorpius, and who cared if they were different ages here? Would that really change the nature of their relationship? Would he look down on her now? She hoped not, for his sake. “How old are you?” she asked in return, more out of curiosity than out of a need to know.
Five years. That was a lot. So much had happened since they were nineteen years old and still freshly out of Hogwarts and he didn’t even know where to begin telling her all about it.
“Twenty-four, flower child,” he answered, a sigh riding on the heel of his nickname for her. Maybe it was selfish, but Scorpius had been hoping Rose would be older. That she would know about his future and whether Hugo was involved in it. Coming from her, he wouldn’t have doubted it for a second.
“Can I hug you?” Scorpius knew he didn’t need to ask, but he still asked.
Twenty-four. That was a bit of a difference, wasn’t it? For all that Rose had been confident that age wouldn’t change a thing, she was starting to doubt her earlier assessment of the situation. Merlin, that was a sizeable difference. Five whole years. Preoccupied by her own thoughts, by all of the possibilities of experiences that he might have had that she hadn’t shared or even been aware of, Rose’s bottom lip popped between her teeth and she held it there a moment, a small line forming between her eyebrows.
“Yes, of course,” she said, shaking herself awake. Rather than walk around to give Scorpius the hug he’d asked for, Rose leaned over the counter to give him the awkwardest hug she could manage. If he wasn’t satisfied, she knew he’d come around. Twenty-four. Merlin, he was old. “So am I a famous, successful lawyer by then?” she asked behind his shoulder before releasing him.
The hug was awkward, but that was spot on for them and therefore satisfactory. Familiar was good, and it was nice to know that even though there were five years separating them, there was still that basic familiarity.
“Of course you are. If by famous and successful you mean just starting out at the bottom of the totem pole. I’m not that old,” Scorpius scoffed, pulling back. “I may be older than both you and my father, but that’s besides the point.”
“I’m on the totem pole though?” Rose asked with a grin. “I’m a lawyer, I have a job and everything?” That she’d gotten that far was a huge weight lifted from her shoulders. She worked. At twenty-four, she finally worked! With a little scream of glee, Rose ran around the counter and threw her arms properly around the bearer of good news. “I work!” Rose was practically bouncing at the notion, though really she should have known she would succeed. Still, it was very good to hear. Very good.
“Your father’s here?” she asked eventually, when she’d gotten control of herself again, walking back around the counter as she spoke. “How old is he here? If you’re older than him, how does that even work? How does he know he’s your father if he hasn’t had you yet? Are my parents here? Are they younger than me? Oh, that would be awkward.” All this talk of work had her excited about the rest; all the things she could find out about her future and other people’s futures and everything that was going to happen that hadn’t happened yet! It was phenomenal! This was splendid, a marvelous opportunity and knowing that things were looking up for her in the real world (because this was obviously not it) made her stop worrying about the school work that remained unsubmitted for the time being. This was exciting! “What about you, what do you do at twenty-four? Do you have a special somebody I should know about? Do I?” She hadn’t even thought about that before now.
Scorpius, thank Rowena, was accustomed to an onslaught of questions from Rose. The best way to answer them was in no particular order. Or to leave her hanging in suspense and bait her so he could answer the questions on his own terms. Particularly the question about the special somebody. That was one he wasn’t ready to broach just yet.
“You really want me to spoil all that for you?” he asked, doing little in the way of hiding his smirk. “I can tell you my father’s maturity level is that of an eleven year-old, but he’s really twenty, but the rest.. you want the spoilers?”
Moments after she’d asked the questions, even before Scorpius had had the chance to open his mouth, Rose remembered she’d taken down everyone’s names already! She’d wasted questions, asking about her parents. Neither of them were here. That disappointed her somewhat, though she supposed it wasn’t too late. Maybe they would join them soon. She hoped they would. It would be wonderful, seeing mum and dad younger... And resolved to add to her list that Draco Malfoy was twenty (and omitting Scorpius’ unfavourable opinion of his father’s maturity).
And really, she had wanted to know. She wanted to know everything! She’d missed out on so much of what Scorpius had experienced, things she would know about, in his time. It didn’t seem fair that he should know all sorts of things about her life while she knew so little about it, or about his.
But when he put it like that... “No, I guess not,” Rose said, holding a smile in place to hide her mild disappointment. She refrained from asking for just a little hint, but only just. She didn’t peek at the last pages of a book, did she? Well, she wouldn’t do it now either, even if she knew a bit about her own career.
“So you’re the shelf-stocker,” Rose started, changing the subject before she finally succumbed to temptation and begged him to tell her anyway, despite the cheating aspect of knowing before it happened. “You... stock shelves. Why does it look like you’re in the process of brewing something?” Rose shot him a look that said ‘Caught ya!’.
Scorpius attempted to pull an innocent face. “Because no one else is and what’s the point of an Apothecary that doesn’t brew potions?” He could rationalise almost anything. Part of the reason why he was a Ravenclaw.
“I wouldn’t have anything to stock and no one would have suncreen or bug repellent,” he reasoned. “No harm done. I’ve already saved your brother’s life, by the way.” Scorpius didn’t know why he threw that tidbit in there. His mouth did things without his permission.
“You did?” That was news to her, Hugo hadn’t mentioned anything about needing his life saved. “What did he do now?” A hand on her hip, Rose adopted the disapproving big-sister pose that always came so naturally to her, despite the fact Hugo was several years older than her here.
“His tea had honey in it, and apparently he’s allergic to honey,” Scorpius explained. He decided to leave out the other details. Such as Hugo attacking his mouth a second time. Rose didn’t need to know about that – not yet.
“Can you guess why he came running to me?” Scorpius knew it wouldn’t hurt to let her know what his career was in the future. He knew, despite her sorting into Gryffindor, what her curiousity was like. It was just like her mother’s curiousity, which was to say endless.
Rose knew Scorpius had been going to school to become a healer, and she supposed Hugo could’ve known about that. If she needed her life saved, she might run to Scorpius. She ventured a guess instead. “Because you were the one at the apothecary? Were you here, or were you someplace else? That might change my answer.”
“I was here, but that’s besides the point. I was just a week away from getting licensed, Rose, and then I ended up here.” Scorpius pouted a little. There was no doubt in his mind that he would get licensed. He had seen and treated almost everything. Things he wouldn’t have even imagined possible.
Then it struck him. “You know what I’m stuck doing here, but you haven’t told me what they’ve made you,” prompted Scorpius.
“That’s great!” This place was full of good news, and Rose’s face opened up with happiness once again. But his question had her pursing her lips thoughtfully in an attempt to keep the smirk at bay. It didn’t succeed in the least and in fact only served to make her look even more smug. It wasn’t really that she was ashamed of her job here, but it was inordinately ridiculous. At least Scorpius could make something meaningful out of his, could relate it to his real job. What in the world could Rose do with what she’d gotten?
“I know things you don’t know, same as you know things I don’t know,” she prompted in return. “You happen to know a lot more than I do and now you’re asking me for the tiny bit of information I have, to give to you just like that? I think not, Scorpius Malfoy. Fair’s fair.” Rose tilted her head expectantly, clearly waiting for him to provide her with another tidbit of information she might find interesting, leaning her hip against the counter.
“Al is a horrible influence.” Scorpius frowned at her, but only half-heartedly. He leaned against the counter. Yeah, he could just wait and find out what Rose’s occupation was, but where was the fun in that?
“What do you really want to know? I mean badly. You ask too many questions for me to answer all at once, so prioritize,” he told her.
Rose could only grin in return. Albus was a wonderful influence and Rose rather thought he would be proud of her for emulating the Slytherin way when presented with such a good opportunity.
But Scorpius asked her to prioritise her questions and that wasn’t easily done when you were Rose Weasley. Every question was good unless you already knew the answer and each question would undoubtedly pose a few more. Once again taking up the thoughtful pose, bottom lip pinched between her teeth, Rose thought it over.
“In the future, your future, ... are we seeing each other?” she finally settled on asking. She didn’t know where any feelings might have emerged out of their friendship, but Rose had had the impression that Scorpius hadn’t wanted to answer about either of their eventual relationships, if relationships there were. Knowing about his eventual relationship wouldn’t really have been ‘spoilers’ for Rose if she hadn’t been involved, would it?
If Scorpius had been sitting in a chair, he would have fallen over. As it was, he merely stumbled out of his leaning posture and laughed.
“Oh gods no! I mean–” Right, that had been rather tactless. Scorpius tried to make amends for his friend’s sake. It was an effort he extended to few others. “You’re my best friend. You’re a sister to me. You don’t... you know, like me like that, do you?” he asked, wincing a bit.
The last thing he needed was Rose AND Hugo wanting a relationship with him. Brother and sister. That would be too much for him to handle. This was the one moment he wouldn’t mind having someone tell him that they were absolutely in no way whatsoever attracted to him and if they were the last two people on Earth, the human race would die out with them. Scorpius could take it.
He was laughing! Rose supposed that was good, and tacked on a smile to match. “Of course not! Like a brother,” she answered, with a twinge of regret she wasn’t going to be looking into in this lifetime. She could wonder what was wrong with her later. Now was not the time. Not with him.
“Anyway, I’m the hair stylist,” she said before the moment could get awkward. Rose grabbed a handful of her hair and pulled it up, dropping a few strands and fanning them out. “How much of a clientele do you think I’m going to get with this as advertisement?” Rose tried to make light of the situation and thought she pulled it off rather well, making a bit of a face at her own misfortune.
See? That’s why Scorpius loved her. In a purely platonic way. Rose knew how to take his bluntness in stride and they were on to the next subject with little damage control necessary.
“There’s nothing wrong with your hair. It has character!” he told her, grinning a bit in an attempt to be encouraging. “I’m sure loads of women are bored with their dull, straight hair. And so what if you have no prior hair stylist training? It’ll add an extra thrill to it.”
Rose couldn’t help but be incredibly skeptical. She had so much trouble taming her hair every day that she wouldn’t wish it on anyone. Her mum had told her that she’d had trouble with her as well, in the past, and Rose had laughed; those hair troubles were obviously not behind her.
“I guess it does mean I’m incredibly patient with hair,” she supposed, trying to look for the bright side but looking thoroughly unconvinced by her own arguments. “And if I can make this look presentable, I bet I’d find everything else very easy to manage.” A beat later, Rose was leaning against the counter on her elbows and looking eagerly at her best friend. “Want to be my first victim? Then you can tell everyone how brilliant I am. Theoretically. Or you can lie, you’d do that for me, right?” It really was too bad that her magic didn’t work here. It would be so much easier if it did.
Scorpius should have seen it coming. He kept the wincing and the grimacing inside. “Of course I would,” he said, knowing it wasn’t a lie. Even if he hated whatever it was Rose did to his hair, he’d lie through his teeth for her. “Do I have to make an appointment, miss stylist?” Scorpius quirked an eyebrow at her.
“As the first victim, I think your appointment should be for whenever you get the nerve to put your fine, gorgeous hair on the line,” Rose told him, smiling. The things he would do for her... For shame, she told herself, taking advantage of the poor boy like that. “But I’d prefer sooner rather than later. If what I’m told is true, I get paid nothing at all until I start working. Do you have an idea as to when that might be?”
Truth be told, Scorpius would rather get it over with sooner than later. The sooner he did, the sooner he could start regrowing his hair or formulating a potion that would speed up regrowth. He sorrowfully ran a hard through his – to borrow a line from Rose – fine, gorgeous hair.
“Tomorrow?” he suggested with a hapless shrug. “Until then, I’ll feed you,” Scorpius offered. It wasn’t like there was anything else to spend his money on but food and he would sooner miss three meals than see Rose hungry.
“That sounds fair,” Rose declared, perfectly aware of how lucky she was to have Scorpius as a friend. Between him and Hugo, it would be very difficult for Rose to go hungry. “Tomorrow, then.” She pointed behind her at the door of the apothecary’s shop. “I’m going to find out where I’ll be setting up shop. When do you get off work?”
“I usually leave around five or six. There’s not exactly any set hours,” Scorpius told her. It was on his mind to invite her to the pub, but knowing Hugo worked there made him nip that idea in the bud. “I’m in the first bungalow. I’ll make you dinner tonight, so be there at say.. half past six?”
“Half past six,” Rose repeated with a nod. “Thank you.” With a smile, she turned for the door. No need for waves between them, nor for ‘see you then’s. He’d set the date, she’d be there. Now to see where she would wreak havoc on the poor bloke’s hair...