THORNS & VENOM | h.p.a.u

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IF THERE WAS A WAY, Rose Weasley would have stolen her mother's time turner and gone back to the moment everything in her life collapsed into a piece of absolute shit- starting with the day Albus made the godforsaken bet over the first Quidditch match of the season.

"Albus!" she all but screeched. "I swear to you, I swear-I swear- if what Lily said is true, I will hex you into oblivion!"

Albus swallowed, glancing over his shoulder up the multitude of stairs that led to the boy's dorm before locking eyes with his cousin. "About that..."

"ALBUS!" Rose cried out. "I'm not some prize to be won over! Who are you to sell me to a Slytherin?!"

Albus collapsed into the Gryffindor common chair. "Well, really it's between you too. I know you, Ronnie, you're an amazing Chaser! Better than Scorpius with the quaffle, trust me."

Rose paced up and down, burying her hand in her red hair. "I can't believe this. So if I lose, I have to stay with the Slytherins. Live in Malfoy's dorm."

"Head boys and girls have separate dorms." Albus amended. "So it should be fine. No one will really know. Well no one being teachers."

Rose snatched up her potions textbook, whacking it vigorously against his arm. "It's fine? Why that's easy for you to say, you won't be stuck with Scorpius Malfoy for the rest of 7th year."

Exasperated after hitting her friend, she collapsed on the couch. "I'm not going through with this."

Albus winced, cupping the back of his neck. "Yeah about that, pretty much all of our houses know. . . Besides, it will be fun. Teddy started this tradition back when he was Head Boy for Hufflepuff. He told Scorpius and I about it this summer, and it seems like a perfect idea, especially since you both are Quidditch players who are Heads."

Rose swallowed past the lump in her throat. "I don't know if I can do this."

Green eyes shining, Albus jumped up. "Rose, please. C'mon. It'll be great!"

Her eyes narrowed. "I know you're better friends with Scorpius than you are with me, so what gives? Why are you so eager for this?"

Albus grinned widely. "Can't tell. Slytherins don't reveal their secrets."

~

And that was exactly how she'd gotten into this whole mess. The disappointment of losing the first match was no more horrible for anyone other than her. Stuck with a bloody Slytherin? Was that what her 7th year had come to?

Albus greeted her at the courtyard, a smug grin on his face. "Aren't you excited, Ronnie?"

Rose was tempted to dig out a book and whack him upside the head. "Excited? For what? Hearing you complain about me to all your Slytherin friends? The only reason I'm going through with this is that I know that you're in Slytherin. If not, this charade would be called off."

Albus slung his arm around her, pulling her more into his side. "Oh, it's not just spending the night at my dorm, Ronnie. You're also sitting with us at dinner."

The Great Hall fell utterly silent as Albus all but dragged a defiant Rose into a seat at the Slytherin table. After a few seconds of hushed silence, the hall was practically bustling with rumors of the Slytherin and Gryffindor.

"I hate this," she mumbled, finding solace in Albus as she turned and lifted his arm to hide behind the sleeves of his robe.

After snacking a few bites and avoiding conversation at all cost, Rose did her best to study. As the world faded out, she became more invested in her textbook, a habit of chewing on her bottom lip ensued as the pages flitted by.

It wasn't until Albus placed a hand on her book that she looked up and realized that everyone had already cleared out, save for a few stragglers per table.

Rose jerked up, closing her book and stuffing it into her bag. "Let's go then, shall we?"

Albus shook his hair out of his eyes, offering his hand to her in a teasing manner.

"I'm not a child, I don't need you carting me off to the dungeons," she muttered, swatting his hand away.

Regardless of her protests, Albus took her down to the dungeons with his arm slung over her shoulder.

They came upon the entrance of the Slytherin dungeons, just before the common room. Rose held her breath as Albus whispered the password.

"Muggleborn."

Rose disguised her shock well, but Albus just winked down at her. "Scorp's idea, actually. A kind of joke since his father had it as-"

"Pureblood." Rose scowled as the dungeon doors swung open.

To her utter surprise, the Slytherin common room was filled with excitement, a sharp contrast to her idea of complete dreariness she expected.

A streak of blonde among the sea of black hair drew Rose's attention. Scorpius was sitting on an emerald Victorian sofa chair, a book in one hand and the other propping his cheek as he skimmed through the pages.

At her entrance, the common room fell quiet. Albus drew me up over his shoulder. I shrieked and latched onto my bag as it slipped off my shoulder.

"Albus! Set me down!"

He walked right in front of Scorpius, pausing for a moment before dropping me unceremoniously on his lap.

"Potter, is that any way to treat a girl?"

His voice had changed. It was much deeper, richer. It wasn't the same as two summers ago, when he came to spend a whole month with the Weasleys for Albus' birthday. And the arm that snaked around her waist to pull her closer into his body was definitely not the same as the gangly limbs of the just barely sixteen Scorpius Malfoy that she used to know. No, this wasn't the boy she used to sneak peeks at when he came to visit. This was a man- Scorpius had become a man.

And when Rose turned to meet the eyes of her new roommate, she felt her chest tighten at the signature stormy eyes that belong to the Malfoy family- a spark glimmering that reminded her of a dragon within.