The Romance of the snake and the rose

A turn of events

Rose Weasley woke to rain pattering around her. The previously blue sky was now a dismal grey, and the sun was hidden by the clouds, making it feel several degrees cooler. She was lying on the slightly wet grass, shivering in her damp clothes. Rose stood up, the school grounds were largely deserted now, and she began to wander back towards the castle. She wondered how long she'd been asleep, and what time it was. Soon she had reached the corridor outside the great hall, and peeking inside, she saw most people were now eating lunch. It must be about twelve o'clock already! Rose went to join Alice and her friends Gracie, Susanne and her cousin Roxanne Weasley at the Gryffindor table.

"Where on Earth have you been?" demanded Alice, looking both relieved and worried.

"I fell asleep outside," replied Rose rather stupidly.

"Are you alright?" asked Roxanne kindly, "You must be cold, here" and Roxanne aimed a blast of hot air from her wand at Rose.

"Come take a seat," said Gracie, patting a space on the bench next to her.

Feeling rather flustered at all the attention she was receiving, Rose sat down beside Gracie. The four girls looked at her nervously.

"What is it?" asked Rose. Alice, Susanne, Gracie and Roxanne looked at each other and then back at Rose.

"It's Finneas Brentley." said Susanne after some initial hesitation in her mild Scottish accent. "He's been talking something awful at the Hufflepuff table, spreading rumors about you. Of course most people don't believe what he's saying, but you know how some people love gossip"

"What sort of things is he saying?" asked Rose nervously. She immediately regretted it after she saw the look her friends all exchanged. Did she really want to know what Finneas had been saying about her? Probably not.

"Well you know how you two were sort of dating?" said Alice tentatively, "He's been saying things like you tried to kiss him, and you couldn't stop staring at him all the time. He said you asked him three times to go to Hogsmeade with him before he said yes. All sorts of rubbish like that." Rose buried her head in her hands. How could he spread such lies?

"Don't worry Rose, not many people believe him," said Gracie, rubbing her back, "This can't last more than a day," Oh, but it would, she thought to herself, she'd shamed Finneas so now he was going to shame her. He hated her.

Rose sneaked a glance at the Slytherin table, Scorpius and Albus were once again in deep conversation, Albus looking increasingly confused and Scorpius looking increasingly dejected. Rose looked back at her friends.

"If you don't mind us asking Rose," said Susanne kindly, her green eyes wide with empathy "What exactly happened?"

Rose explained what Emma had done to her during potions (causing several cries of outrage from her friends) and the plan Albus had made. She told them how she'd overheard Finneas and Emma's conversation and hexed Finneas instead. How he'd spotted her in the crowd of Slytherins and glared at her, and finally how she'd wandered around outside and then fallen asleep. She conveniently left out the part where she'd almost kissed Scorpius Malfoy though, not really feeling in the mood to tell them quite yet.

"That's just awful," said Roxanne compassionately, causing nods of consent from the others, "And to think I even liked him a little."

"Here," said Gracie, throwing her wavy blonde hair over her shoulder, "Eat something at least Rose," She began to pile some potatoes and chicken onto Rose's plate, and filled a goblet full of pumpkin juice for her.

Rose picked at her food, she wasn't really in the mood to eat. She kept stealing glances at Albus and Scorpius, but soon they left the great hall, still engrossed in their conversation. Other students began to file out as well, and Rose, wanting some time by herself, implored her friends to leave, promising to come meet with them in the library after she was finished eating lunch. She stayed at the empty Gryffindor table for a couple more minutes before shoving her plate aside and walking out. She wasn't sure where to go next, not to the library for sure though, she wanted to be alone. She turned off of the corridor outside of the great hall and onto the staircase leading to the Gryffindor common room, but she didn't really want to go there either. Perhaps she should go to the room of requirement? She carried on up the stairs, waiting for it to appear in the wall like it had the time before with Scorpius. Scorpius, what would he think of the rumors? He wouldn't believe them of course, but he'd suspect something. Rose would have to explain it too him she didn't want him drawing the wrong conclusions.

"Weasley!" called a voice behind her. It was Finneas. Rose carried on up the staircase, quickening her pace. "Hey Weasley!" shouted Finneas again. She could hear him running to catch up with her. She began to run too but it was too late, he had caught up with her.

Finneas pulled her robes and she fell into him. With one hand he pointed his wand at her throat, with the other he pulled her head back by her curly red hair.

"I know it was you who hexed me Weasley," he told her, his breath tickling her ear. His voice sounded very different to when they'd walked down the stairs together to the great hall several days ago. "And I'm going to make you pay for it," he added with a snarl. Rose yelped as he tugged one of her curls especially hard, if only she could reach her wand, but it was too deep in her pocket.

Finneas made a large deep cut down her arm with his wand, and it began to bleed. Rose screamed and clutched it in pain.

"Leave me alone!" she shouted at him, trying to wrench free from his grip. She managed to free her uninjured arm and dug in her pocket for her wand, but Finneas spotted what she was doing and knocked it out of her hand before she could hex him. Her hand was now, however, free, and clawing at his pretty face. He let go of her for a moment, and she stumbled a little. Then his face contorted with malice and he pushed her, hard.

Rose was falling down the stairs now, the sharp edges of the steps colliding with her flailing arms and legs, her back and her face a she tumbled down and down and down. She had climbed a long way up the stairs, and she knew she was not going to reach the bottom for a long time, when suddenly she rolled onto the landing between the steps, and lay sprawled and bruised on the floor. By some miracle Rose didn't think she'd broken anything, although everything hurt. She squeezed her eyes open, and waited for the spinning world to come into focus.

Finneas stood near the top of the steps, looking down at her. She couldn't quite see his expression, but she wasn't quite sure she wanted too. Rose closed her eyes again, her head was aching and all she wanted was to drift into unconsciousness she was in so much pain. She felt the sticky warm blood on her arm, it was still flowing freely, and was probably going to need a bandage.

She opened her eyes a little. Squinting through some curls that had fallen over her face, Rose thought she could make out someone walking behind Finneas, somone with platinum blonde hair and a green tie. She hastened to brush the hair out of her eyes with her hand.

"What did you do to her?!" shouted Scorpius at Finneas. Finneas turned around in surprise.

"What do you care pure blood?" he shouted back. Scorpius raised his wand and stunned Finneas in the chest, before running down the stairs to Rose. He was halfway there when he spotted the blood on her robes.

"What did you do to her?!" Scorpius shouted again, running even faster. He reached the landing where Rose was lying and she tried to sit up, but it was too painful.

"I'm fine" she told Scorpius unconvincingly.

"No you're not," he said, gently helping her into a sitting position. "You need to go to Madam Pomfrey, do you think you can stand?"

"I don't know," she admitted, trying to get up onto her feet. She managed to get on one leg but it crumpled beneath her in a couple of seconds.

"I'll carry you," said Scorpius, "The hospital wing isn't far from here. Put your arms around my neck."

Rose blushed scarlet at this, but she did as he asked as he bent down. Scorpius was almost a head taller than her, and a talented beater in quidditch so he was strong, and he carried her easily, taking the steps two at a time. He had one arm underneath her knees, and the other around her back. Rose held onto his neck wit her uninjured arm and leant into him, weary and in pain. Scorpius smelled nice, like fresh pine wood and mint leaves. She tried to banish this thought from her head but she found she couldn't. Rose felt her consciousness slipping, and soon she had blacked out completely.