The Flower and the Snake

Rose chuckled half heartedly at the last comment. She remembered well what they said about Scorpios in astrology, and found his light reminder of his namesake in connection to it rather clever. Rose had never paid much attention to her own horoscope when they casted them. All she could really remember was her sign Taurus, and that it was supposed to mean she was stubborn and practical. The more she watched Scorpius though, the more she learned about him, it became clear that he was his sign. He truly did try and live up to his namesake.

“Its not that I think you’re a liar…” She started to say, looking at her feet while she spoke. “I just never thought you’d…I mean come on its me!”

Shuffling a little she clutched her arms together, hugging herself as she continued.

“I figured you’d probably fall for someone graceful, smart, and beautiful who was probably a pure blood. But me?” Realizing how that may have come across she looked up quickly and waved her hands anxiously, “Not that I’m saying you fell for me or something, I meant like me….And I didn’t mean you had to fall for a pure blood…I just thought…but that was before I knew…”

Finally deciding she had insulted him enough for one evening she said, “Im sorry” dropping her hands to her sides again.

“You’re right, I don’t know much about the war. Uncle Harry refuses to talk about it to anyone. He told Albus he would tell him like he told his brothers on the day they leave Hogwarts, but its up to my parents to tell me. My dad…he’s still so angry and bitter. Mom always tells him he has to let things go, but my Uncle Fred died in that war, and dads not like Uncle Harry, he cant let things go. My mom, she told me she’d tell me someday, but not now and I don’t know when that someday will be. I’ve researched the bloody thing as much as I can, and Albus and I spent hours in the library and talking to others about what their parents said happened but there’s not a lot of information out there. Well, there is but most of it is absolute rubbish and I want to know the truth….”

"I could tell you what I've heard. Or if you would like, during break you could-- never mind." he frowned.

He had momentarily forgotten he would not be home for the winter holiday. "I would have invited you over, but I wont be home this upcoming break." he admitted, looking her over. "But I digress.... You need a high opinion of yourself. You're graceful, smart, and beautiful. To think you're not insults your new pet." he grinned slightly. "It did make a judgment of your character after all."

He Held up his hand, twirling his wrist, conjuring a mirror. An old 'muggle' magic trick he learned during his spare time. "Fair skin, freckles, long hair, red lips." he smiled at her. "Don't ever put yourself down, lest you want others to do the same."

Rose blushed again, not used to such blatant flattery. It was hard to be that confident in herself. Not that she didn’t think she was pretty at all. She just didn’t think she was pretty by Malfoy standards. She mentally kicked herself for that thought though. She was realizing very quickly that she had some deep seated assumptions and prejudices about the Malfoy’s that obviously didn’t apply to Scorpius.

His offer to tell her about the war, what he knew about it at least sparked her raging curiosity. He was the son of a known and convicted Death Eater, his grandfather actually serving time in Azkaban for the his atrocities he committed while serving the Dark Lord. Draco Malfoy hadn’t gone to Azkaban but the history behind why was very clouded and why he and Narcissa Malfoy got off so easy was unknown.

“I would love that.” She said simply, resolving to ask about why he was staying over winter holidays at another time.

"Next trip to Hogsmeade, I'll treat to a couple of Butterbeers, how's that sound?" he offered, holding up his book again. "In the mean time, you can feel free to look it over..... I trust you'll use your discretion not to try anything that specifies enemies only."

Rose snorted. “Of course I’m going to use them. There’s this boy from Ravenclaw I’ve been just dying to curse.” she said sarcastically, smiling wide so he knew she was kidding. She wasn’t the maim and kill type of girl. Give you a tail? Sure. Cut off your arm? Not so much.

“But I’d love to get some butterbeer sometime.” Just then the bell tolled to mark the end of lessons, and Rose remembered that she had left all her stuff in Transfiguration. She was pretty sure Albus would take her stuff back to the Gryffindor tower but she would have a lot of explaining to do when she saw him later.

“We should probably go do something productive while we skip class.” She said, listening to the bell toll. “I think our notes will mean very little if a professor catches us in an abandoned classroom.”

"Practicing spell craft is a productive enough excuse." he reasoned. "But if you would rather go to the library for real this time, I don't see why not."

Except for the fact that his por eyes didnt feel like reading.

"You, however, should go feed your new pet again. It'll be hungry again by now."

For some reason Rose got the feeling that Andavil was still sound asleep, but then again Rose was never one to just trust in her instinct, especially when it came to the care of such a beautiful magical creature.

“You’re right. At the very least I should go check on her.”

Rose bit her lip worriedly, turning her brown eyes to examine Scorpius closely. She was worried that if she left him he might do something stupid like try and cast his own spells or worse. He didn’t look he was really up to studying the library that was for sure.

Scorpious stood and held the door for her while she looked him over. "I'll move the desks back into place and see you dinner hour then." he smiled, his typical devinair grin.

Of course, he had no plans to simply move the desks and go back to his room. He wanted to go to the muggle studys teacher and speak with him about eye issues. As advanced as wizards of the day were in magical healing, people still had to wear glasses. And he had heard muggles had an intention that actuly went into your eye and served the same purpose... Seeing as how the professor was muggle born and raised, he was sure he could get some information out of him on the subject matter.

Rose nodded, starting to leave the classroom. Before she completely left however, she turned back to him, said, “Don’t do anything stupid.” and before she could lose her nerve she kissed him lightly on the cheek, before running out the door without a backward glance.

She ran all the way to Gryffindor tower, not even stopping to catch her breath. Clutching the stitch in her side she said “Romulus” as the password, so the fat lady would swing aside to let her in. She walked straight up to the girls dormitories, going to her room and stating her own specific password again to open her door.

The entrance hadn’t even completely shut before Andavil was in Rose’s arms. Not because she had reached down so quickly to grab the tiny creature, but because Andavil seemed to have been waiting for Rose to come back and dived into her arms the moment she arrived.

“There you are pretty one.” Rose said softly, stoking Andavil’s scaly head. “You’ll never believe what happened.” The Kooraisu looked up at Rose, its black eyes watching her carefully. As Rose fed her pet more of the berries she had collected, she told the bird about what had happened with Malfoy.

Scorpious stood, surprised by the kiss and watched her run off. A light blush crept up onto his cheeks and his jaw hung slightly open before looking over his shoulder. taking his wand out, he gave it a lazy wave, righting the desks.

He closed the door and looked around. it was still fairly early...

After finding and speaking with his muggle studies professor, the blond made his way back to the dungeons, entering the Slytherin common room after muttering a weak 'trissles'.

"There you are!!!"

Scorpious looked up, frowning at Edgar. "Yes, here I am. What is it?" he asked boredly.

"What is it? That Weasley screwed up a spell and the next thing we knew you were gone for a good 2 hours!"

"I'm touched by your concern..." the blond sneered. "But as you can see I'm fine." he breezed by the waiting group of 'friends' and into the boys dormitory, dropping his belongings off.

"What happened anyway?" Edgar pressed on.

"My eye hurt was all. It's my own fault, I was feeling a bit sluggish this morning I shouldn't have attempted human transfiguration."

"Scorpious Malfoy doesn't get sluggish." the shorter, wider boy countered narrowing his eyes suspiciously, having caught Scorpious make to brush his bangs out of his face and rub his eye. "You're eye still messed up? Didn't Madame Poppy fix it?" he inquired.

"Nothing to be fixed. Now." Scorpious pulled his wand out, putting his things away with a small charm. "I'm headed to supper. You can join me, or you can keep up your paranoia in private. What will it be?"

Edgar looked at Scorpious' wand hesitantly. he'd seen him hex someone once... "What ever." he huffed, sitting on his own bed.

-----

Someone knocked on Roses door.

Rose carefully put Andavil in her nest, the creature sensing her masters unease stayed perfectly still. When she opened the door a bit, there was a Gryffindor third year. “Albus asked me to come get you. HE wanted to know if you wanted to go get food.”

Rose quickly nodded and the third year bounded off to her dormitory, having successfully completed her mission. Going over to a basin that magically refilled with warm water every time she wanted to use it, she rinsed her face and tied her back. Looking quickly into the mirror she examined her reflection a moment before walking out the door.

“Hey Albus!” Rose said upon seeing him. In his hand was her forgotten bag back in Transfiguration. He looked a little pissed off.

“Hey, thanks for leaving your stuff and not telling anyone you weren’t coming back to class.”

“Sorry, it wasn’t like I could just drop him off. I wanted to make sure he was okay.”

Albus simply sighed and nodded. He couldn’t stay mad at Rose for very long no matter what the circumstances were. Besides Albus hadn’t really been mad about the bag, he had been angry because of that concerned look on her face about none other than Scorpius Malfoy. And then she didn’t come back. Shaking his head out of those negative thoughts he smiled again.

“All right. Lets go down to dinner you dunce.” He said affectionately, lightly bopping her on the head.

Rose laughed, putting her bag in the corner of the Common Room. No one would steal anything out of it, there was nothing to steal. No one was going to steal complicated class books, and possibly a quill. She bounded off after Albus, and entered the Great Hall as they always did, right beside each other laughing and joking around.

The rest of the school sighed a bit in almost disappointment. After that mornings show of Scorpius walking straight up to her, they expected one of two things. Him with her at dinner, or her not coming to dinner at all. Rose, on the other hand, was trying not to appear like she was looking at anything but Albus. The truth was her attention was slightly diverted, as she scanned the Great Hall for a sight of blonde hair.

He entered the Dinind hall a good 20 minutes after she had, going to his usual spot at the Slytherin table, ignoring the idle chatter of his house mates.

Making a grab for a goblet he paused. Someone had giggled. Call itparanoia if you like; but Scorpious was not the type to drink something after somoene giggled the moment he reached for it. It was just begging to be poisoned or worse.

Instead, he poured some extra gravy onto his dish, picking up a bun.

"You know, you coul d be a bit more vocal, malfoy." one boy said testily. "Do you want us to hex that Weasley?"

Scorpious looked up raising an eyebrow. "What for?"

"Hurting you, what else." an ebony haired girl interjected. "We all know it wasn't an accident."

"You think it would be wise to hex the Headgirl?" he seemed amused- mostly because he had only hour earlier armed her with quite the arsenel of counterspells. "Rather guttsy of all ofyou."

"Is that a yes then?"

"No. The last thing I want to do is explain to Mademe Poppy why she has to turn you right side in again..." he said, taking a bite out of his bread- cutting the subject off at the root.

((Lets liven this up. You play the Gryffindor’s and I’ll take on the Slytherins. If you want to keep Edgar by all means I won’t touch him. Lol. I’ll just give life to these sneaky slytherin females. ))
Over at the Gryffindor table, a very similar thing was happening to Rose, though it was by far more of an interrogation about earlier in the day, rather than the disastrous Transfiguration spell. Up and down the table they wondered what was going on between the Slytherin prince and Rose Weasley, Albus Potter’s best friend and top of almost every class.

“So what did Malfoy want this morning?”

“What did he give you?”

“You should have seen him in Transfiguration today! I bet he was faking the pain, Rose has never messed up a spell in that class.”

That last comment made Rose go bright red, and to those who didn’t know better would have thought she was blushing at the praise. The truth was that her red coloring had to with poorly concealed anger rather than embarrassment. She could ignore most of the comments. However, she couldn’t ignore her brothers who immediately started in.

Jasper, though the youngest of the three still in Hogwarts, was far more eloquent than Hugo, and started the conversation.

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The ebony haired Slytherin girl scoffed at that, offended that he seemed to give the Weasley bint more trust than a member of his own house. The others seemed scandalized that he had suggested the girl could hurt them at all. After all, she was the daughter of a mudblood. They conveniently forgot that the mudblood in question was best friend to Harry Potter, one of the golden trio, and a member of the Wizemgot. Nor did they think about the fact that Rose Weasley was nearly the top in every class and could easily do exactly what Malfoy described.

No, instead they saw a blow to their collective pride and also against the pride of Scorpius Malfoy himself. To the Slytherins a grievance had occurred, and someone needed to get back at the girl or his social status would plummet. To just let a Gryffindor get away with what she did…it was an atrocity.

Like wolves sensing a wounded animal it was like they closed in for the kill. One fifth year piped up before losing his nerve, “So if none of us are supposed to do anything, what are you planning on doing? You must be thinking of something. She can’t just get away with it.”

Scorpious' stormy eyes darted to the 5th year before narrowing. "I'm sorry, what was that?" he asked cooly. "Are you implying I should explain myself to you?" he nearly hissed.

His tone dared the boy to push on.

-----

"So is it true Rose? It it like that?" one girl asked.

"I heard he asked you out." one piped up. "Sir Nickolase told us."

Rose just stuttered for a moment, trying to find a way to answer their questions. The truth was she wasn’t exactly sure herself. He told her liked her, but that didn’t mean they were together now. Right? He hadn’t really asked her…

Before she could try and come up with some answer Hugo piped in, “Of course not! My sister with that punk?! Better check your facts.”

While Hugo talked however, Albus was watching Rose’s expression carefully, knowing through years of being her friend, there was definitely something she was keeping from them all about Scorpius.

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The boy couldn’t bring himself to try and respond to Scorpius’s obvious challenge. But the other Slytherins were not going to give up so easily. Especially the one girl who was clearly the most attractive out of the Slytherins. With long dark hair that curled slighty, and dark eyes that reminded others of a hawk, she was obviously a pureblood. She came from the noble house of Boulise in France. Her parents had decided to send her to Hogwarts however, so that she could better mingle with the upper echelon. Her name was Célina, and it was obvious that while Scorpius was the top Slytherin male, she was the top bitch so to speak.

With her own level of backing and prestige protecting her, she dared to say what no one else would have to the Malfoy heir and with her slightly French accent it sounded even more condescending.

“Perhaps not to that boy Malfoy, but to the rest of us an explanation of why nothing is too happen would be a good idea. After all, it would almost seem like your protecting the Gryffindor.”

Scorpious grinned at her smugly. "All the better to make you jealous my dear. Besides, I would rather look into spreading out my gene pool before it becomes quite as shallow as your own."

A few gasps later and Scorpious had stood from his seat. "She's born from two high classed wizarding parents. Two of the Golden trio. Anyone who questions her blood is not only foolish but also ignorant of our own history. The dark lord himself was a mudblood." he said. "Seeing as how all of our family's followed him like lost puppies, I see no fault in associating with Rose."


The dining hall had fallen silent, everyone apparently noticing the uprawr at the Slytherin house table.

“How dare you!” hissed some of the Slytherins at Malfoy’s words. Most were referring to his comment about the Dark Lord, having been raised since they were children to still believe in those ideals and thus honoring the fallen maniac.

One woman in however was outraged because Scorpius had dared insult her in front of so many. Célina clenched her fists and swore at him in French, her native tongue coming out particularly venomous even to her own ears.

There of course were others that weren’t surprised by his declaration, nor did they really care what the others thought. Malfoy’s gaggle of followers were all of families that had once served the Dark Lord. However, since the war there were plenty of Slytherins, outcasted from the rest of course, that didn’t believe in all that crap about blood purity. They were Slytherins of the purest kind, ambitious, clever, willing to do whatever it took to get on top. All were purebloods of course, or pure as pure could get these days, but they didn’t believe in all the hype the others worshipped.

They stayed silent and regarded Scorpius Malfoy with a new eye.

“If you like the mud blood so much why don’t you join her.” Célina hissed, the rest of them nodding along with her, their expressions dark.

Meanwhile, the other tables were paying apt attention to what was happening at the Slytherin table. It seemed like Célina and Scorpius was fighting. And was that Rose Weasley’s name they had heard?

“I wonder what’s going on over there.” Jasper muttered, barely audible to the other Gryffindor’s, yet catching their interest regardless. Rose turned to watch the growing trouble at the Slytherin table, trepidation marring her features. The minute she heard Célina clearly call her a mud blood, the rest of the school seemed to prickle. Rose was well liked amongst the houses, never abusing her head girl privileges and always willing to help out others.

Rose was not usually one for confrontation. It wasn’t something she naturally wanted to do. When someone was simply attacking her she let it go. When someone attacked the ones close to her however, that was when Rose would fight. As she started to stand however, Albus held her back, the look in his eyes indiscernible.

"I don't see why not." he said standing up picking up his goblet. he tossed the contents onto her with narrowed eyes. "Next time try to conceal the love potions smell a bit better." he scoffed, clinking the goblet down upside down onto the table top.

HIs long blonde hair was pinned back, and though anger was clear on the usually calm mannered boys face, he still held an air of authority. To openly insult and then soil the girl like that- He knew his place on the totem pole of powers.

"I suggest you re-evaluate the Social hierarchy in England, Ms.Celina" He said smuggly. "In this country the french are reguarded far less than someone who's muggle born."

The surrounding house tables didn’t know what to think. Malfoy had just poured a goblet full of pumpkin juice on Célina Boulise, a Slytherin who was absolutely unbearable. Girls hated her because she unbearably snobbish and flaunted her looks. Guys thought she was beautiful, but resented the fact that she believed herself so far above them that to even talk to her was an honor. Thus, in a single moment, Malfoy turned from the Ice cold Slytherin prince, to something of a hero to almost every single person in that hall.

It started slowly, the students having to overcome their shock, but one by one they started clapping. Célina looked like she could rip him limb from limb, the clapping ringing her ears as a constant reminder of her shame. “I’ll get you back for this Scorpius Malfoy. You’ll regret ever crossing me.”

Without wasting another moment she tried to leave the hall with whatever dignity she had left, though it looked like she was fleeing to the other students.

Crossing her? Ha! She should not have crossed him first. He watched her go before turning back to pick his things up, attempting to ignore the applause. What he had done was wrong, even to someone who deserved it and he had every intention of writing her a written formal apology for embarrassing her- though he woudl be sure to make it know he was not sorry for what was said.

"Malfoy." Edgar said sharply behind him.

Sighing, he turned around with a frown, just wanting to leave the dining hall. "Wh- oof!"

Edgar had thrown quite the punch, hitting the blond face hard and quick enough to knock him right back into his seat. "That's for making her cry." he said glaring at the blond, who had dropped his belongings to grab his eye. The glare quickly melted off Edgars face upon seeing the red liquid begin to run down Scorpious cheek, the blond having gone stiff.

"Malfoy?" he asked hesitantly, his stomach lurching. It wasn't a lot of blood- but it was blood none the less. And Scorpious was obviously in much more pain from the hit than he should have been.

“No..” Rose whispered, seeing Edgar’s fist fly straight into Scorpius’s bad eye. She knew almost immediately what must have happened at that moment. She could see it all in slow motion, the punch crushing into his already vulnerable eye, the blood spurting between Edgars fingers and down Scorpius’s face.

A white hot rage took her over at that moment. A rage that covered up the very real concern that coursed through her veins. It took seconds to free her arm from Albus’s grip. She ignored the calls of her housemates, the yells from the other students of foul play, and even the professors who were trying to make their way to the scene as quickly as possible. She ignored them all, and instead of jumping to take care of Scorpius, Rose did the one thing that no one in that hall expected of her. She attacked Edgar.

“Iacioibi!” Rose yelled, the spell shooting Edgar into the fall wall with a sickening crunching noise. One more spell on the list that works, she thought fleetingly as she looked over at Edgar unconscious against the wall. The other Slytherins were getting up now, pulling out their wands, and as they yelled their curses, Rose dropped to one knee next to Scorpius and yelled “Protego.”

The curses bounced off the shield she had cast, and before they could throw anything else her way the teachers had swarmed. While the rest of the school watched in awe, the professors disarmed students and calmed the rest as best they were able. Edgar was looked at and put in a stretcher. Rose however, was focused on Malfoy so completely she didn’t notice everything else around her.

Her anger died at the sight of Scorpius’s bloodied face. She did this. Not herself, but indirectly this was her fault. If he hadn’t stood up for her then Celina wouldn’t have left like that, Edgar would have never hit him. She didn’t even know what to say. She wanted to help him, heal him if she could. Another part of her wanted to break down and cry. She didn’t get much of a chance to do much of anything before she felt the Headmistress touch her arm.

“Let’s go Ms. Weasley. Mr. Malfoy needs to get to the hospital wing.” Headmistress McGonnagal said, watching the two of them with her critical eyes.

Scorpious was leaning forward pressing one hand hard onto his eye, shaking. His breathing was just a labored, clearly in pain and doing his best not to show it, despite the blood.

"Ah-!" the blond swore as someone took him from under his opposite arm hoisting him back to his feet. For the moment he remained slightly punch drunk. once that wore off, he would be a world of pain.

His good eye remained clamped shut, hearing rose and the Headmistress and a few other professors as he was guided through the halls, eventually swiped clean off his feet to prevent him from stumbling. "What in Merlins name-? What happened?" Poppy demanded, having just gotten Goyle set into a bed when Scorpious was brought in. The headmistress beside the professor carrying the blond and Rose in the rear.

It had taken most other professors to keep the swarm of other students form following.

“There was a brawl at dinner tonight Helga.” McGonagall said, indicating a bed where the Professor gently placed Malfoy. “Students causing a ruckus. Mr. Malfoy was hit in the eye.”

They both shared a concerned look, Madame Poppy looking completely frazzled.

“Alright dear, lets have a look at that eye.”

Before Rose could see the damage however, Professor McGonagall steered her out of the room, giving Malfoy some much needed privacy and giving the Headmistress a moment with Rose.

“What you did was beyond foolish Ms. Weasley. I expected more from the Head girl of this school. I have never seen such a flagrant disregard for the rules since my time as a Professor here.” Was it her imagination, or did it seem as if McGonagall had a proud twinkle in her eye?

“I cannot abide such behavior. Fifty points shall be taken from Gryffindor, and you will serve detention next Thursday. Feel lucky that I am not removing your status as Head Girl.”

The Headmistress sighed as she removed her spectacles, bemusedly wiping them off before replacing them.

“In the mean time I suggest you make sure that the person you so cleverly protected stays well while he recovers, I’m sure he’ll want the story of how his little spell worked in detail.”

“Professor you knew…?” Rose asked bewildered, expecting that McGonagall would berate her for the origins of such a dangerous bit of magic.

“Of course I do Ms. Weasley, and I suggest you don’t use anymore of his spells. With your capable dueling skills, I doubt your popularity with the students of this school will stay on even ground.”

She looked at Rose sternly, before smiling slightly and walking back into the Hospital wing to check on Scorpius and Edgar. Had Professor McGonagall just complimented her on her dueling skill? Thinking she must have been hearing things she followed the Headmistress back into the room to find Scorpius sleeping, a large white bandage covering half his face.

The two witches talked softly amidst themselves, too soft for her to really hear them past her complete fixation on Scorpius. She sat on the bed beside his, her face contorted with worry.

“She can stay here on my approval Helga.” McGonagall said, looking at Rose. “He’ll need someone’s support when he awakens. I must go write to the parents of all those involved and deal with the Malfoy’s when they arrive. I’m once they get a second owl in only a day they will make the trip to the school.”

With that said she left the ward, leaving Madame Poppy to handle her patients. For once the nosy witch left the two students alone, Rose holding onto Scorpius’s hands, muttering “I’m sorry.” over and over again.

Poppy had been kind enough to sedate the blond boy before the pain really set in. The look on his face seemed foreign though. True she had seen his grins smirks and even smiles as of late, though usually he just seemed cold and passive. now, he seemed so..... peaceful. He was at ease as he slept, his head tilted slight to the side and shoulder length hair untied.

When finally his right eye did open, it looked around groggily. He was in the hospital wing? He frowned making a small discontented sound as he shifted, his whole body tingling as the sedative wore off.

In shifting he returned the grasp on his hand, squeezing Roses lightly though unintentional as it may have been. It was around midnight.

Rose jumped slightly when she felt his grip shift for the first time in hours. Was he finally waking up? It seemed like it but she wasn’t sure. Looking at him worriedly she took his hand in both of hers and watched him carefully.

Poppy had tried to get Rose to leave hours ago, going back and forth between trying to console the distraught girl to threatening her with all many of punishments. After a while the nurse just gave up, realizing that Rose wouldn’t leave until she saw for herself that Scorpius was okay. So Madame Poppy left a sedative on the bedside table with the instructions that once Mr. Malfoy awoke he was to take that again immediately. His body needed slumber to rest and recuperate, being awake would only be painful and wholly unnecessary.

So, Rose stared at Scorpius with trepidation, wondering how he was feeling and if he would waken or fall back asleep. If he did completely wake up she would have to get him to drink the potion again, and she wasn’t sure if he would listen to her or not.