Chapter 11
Rose turned and found Scorpius looking at Wechsler with an impassive face.
"So where'd you like us to begin?" he asked.
"Start over by Dervish and Banges," Wechsler replied, waving up the street. "I don't believe anyone's been over there yet. The rest of you lot," he gestured to the rest of the group, "off to the carriages. I have to go and find the rest of the prefects in town."
With a deep breath and a final push of his glasses, Wechsler ran off into the falling snow, leaving the rest of them to stare at each other.
"Blimey," Zeno said. "I don't think I've ever heard of them cutting a Hogsmeade visit short."
"I still don't see why the carriages can't get through it," James grumbled, kicking a pile of snow at his feet. "Aren't they magically programmed to get back to the castle?"
"They're not programmed, you prat, they're pulled by thestrals," Fred replied. "And thestrals' sense of direction almost entirely depends on their ability to see their surroundings. A white out snowstorm could completely derail them."
"So you two are staying here?" Maren asked, looking between Rose and Scorpius.
Rose shrugged.
"I suppose," Scorpius answered, wrapping his arms around his chest. "It sounds as though they're trying to get all the prefects they can."
"Well, good luck with that," Maren said.
"We should get back to the carriages then," Allie said, looking around at the groups of students meandering down the street. "I don't fancy waiting in line in this weather."
"We'll see you back at the castle, then," Rose said, looking around the group and trying to catch Alec Davies' eye. Whether by design or chance he had struck up a conversation with James and did not see her.
"Weasley, we ought to go over there," Scorpius said, craning his neck to look down the street. "I believe I see Wechsler coming back this way."
"Bollocks," Rose said under her breath.
"We'll see you for dinner!" Allie called as she and Maren and the boys turned and began walking back to the carriages.
Rose stood in the street, shivering slightly, and sighed. "Well," she said, "I suppose we'd best get on."
They walked silently up High Street, past small groups of students exiting shops and tearooms. Some looked relatively unfazed by the orders, their shopping bags swinging from their arms as they chatted with friends. Others appeared to be various levels of disappointed and angry, some couples with confetti in their hair looking particularly put-out.
"How's anyone even supposed to know we're prefects?" Rose huffed. "We haven't got our badges."
"People generally know who the prefects are, Weasley."
"Whatever."
They walked without speaking, the silence punctuated by their breath, both of them exhaling heavily both from the exertion and the cold. The snow continued to swirl around them, sometimes so heavily that Rose had to look down at her feet to ensure she was walking straight. She wrapped her arms around her torso and hunched forward against the howling wind. Her head felt as though it might explode.
She had been so close to spending the afternoon with Alec Davies! Rose sighed as she remembered the way he had taken her cloak and set it on the chair, how they may have spent the rest of the trip in easy conversation, talking about quidditch and classes.
Blasted Booker Wechsler. Blasted snowstorm.
They made their way into Dervish and Banges, where Rose let Scorpius approach the group of Slytherin seventh years and tell them to make their way back to the carriages. The students left without too much fuss, grumbling under their breath as the door clanged behind them but otherwise giving no trouble.
Scorpius shook his head as they looked around the shop again to ensure they hadn't missed anyone.
"I think it's clear," he said, surveying the shop one last time.
"Great," Rose said tonelessly, tucking a piece of hair behind her ear. "Do you have any idea where we need to go next?"
"They likely will want us to look into the other shops over here," Scorpius said curtly, pursing his lips as he glanced at her.
"Great," Rose said again. She huffed and reached for the door, groaning as a gust of icy wind smacked her face.
"You could try to look a little less angry," Scorpius muttered from behind her. "You're not the only one whose day was interrupted."
Rose glared at him over her shoulder. "I don't look angry," she snapped. "It's just annoying. Everyone else gets to go back to the castle and probably spend the rest of the day in one of the common rooms and I'm stuck here in a bloody blizzard rounding up third years."
Scorpius frowned at her. The tip of his nose had turned faintly pink from the cold, and Rose could see him pull his arms tighter across himself.
Rose looked away, her irritation mounting as the wind continued to whip her face. High Street sat deserted, the students that Booker Wechsler had been so concerned about having all apparently made their way to the carriages on their own. To think she could be getting back to the castle now, spending the rest of the day in the Gryffindor common room drinking butterbeer with her friends and, if luck had been on her side, sitting next to Alec Davies. Rose could see the scene in her mind's eye: her and Davies sharing one of the squashy love seats in the common room, chatting about upcoming matches and how ridiculous it was that the teachers had cut the Hogsmeade trip short. He would lean over to tell her something; their legs would touch briefly; he would turn and their eyes would meet and he wouldn't be able to ignore the spark he felt.
Rose blinked the image away, coming back to the icy village road. "This is absolute bollocks," she grumbled to herself. "Completely ridiculous."
"Would you stop complaining," Scorpius said, giving her a pinched look.
Rose rolled her eyes. "Well it is."
"You just want to go back so you can talk to Davies."
"What?" Rose came to a stop, her mouth falling open as she stared at Scorpius. For his part, he pretended that he hadn't noticed her stop, continuing to march down High Street at a clipped pace. Rose felt her face burn, a warm flush erupting over her cheeks and neck. She started forward again, her feet shuffling through the snow as she tried to catch up to Scorpius. "Malfoy, what do you-"
"I'm not deaf, Weasley," Scorpius said tersely, shoving his hands in his pockets and looking determinedly ahead. "It's all you and Thomas talked about the entire morning."
Rose opened her mouth and then closed it again, anger boiling in her throat. "I don't—I didn't-"
"Whatever, Weasley. Let's just finish this up so we can get back to the castle."
Scorpius quickened his pace, not giving Rose so much as a glance as he hurried down the road. Rose followed in frosty silence, grinding her teeth as she watched the back of Malfoy's blond head.
They ducked into Gladrags and ushered a group of fourth year Hufflepuffs to the carriages, and then ducked into Madam Puddifoot's. Rose held her breath while they looked around the cramped tea shop, the heavy perfumed air coating her face like a film.
Outside the tea shop, as Rose shook errant bits of confetti from her hair, and gulped the crisp, clean air, the figure of Nadiya Zhou hustled towards them.
"Oy, Malfoy, Weasley!" the head girl shouted, waving a hand above her head. "Are these shops all clear?"
"Yes, we just checked them," Scorpius nodded, turning to face Nadiyah. "All students should be heading back to the carriages."
"Excellent," Nadiyah exhaled, the air clouding in front of her face. "Thank you both for doing that. We've cleared most of the village now, and Wechsler's checking that all students have been accounted for. Assuming nobody's missing, you two are free to go back to the castle."
Scorpius nodded again, his hands sinking deeper in his pockets. "Were there any problems getting everyone back?"
"Oh, no more than usual," Nadiyah replied with a wave of her hand. "Though Wechsler almost gave himself an aneurysm running around yelling at everyone.” She glanced at them furtively, coloring slightly, and grimaced. "Don't tell anyone I said that."
"We won't," Rose said with a snort.
"Well," Nadiyah gave them a look and pulled her cloak tighter around herself. "If you two haven't had any troubles, and don't have any questions-"
"We can go back?" Rose asked, trying to keep the excitement out of her voice.
"Yeah, there's no reason for you to stay any longer," Nadiyah said, her mouth curling into a smile. "You have a date to get back to, Weasley?"
"Er—" the flush returned to Rose's face and she looked down at her feet. "No, no, not a date, you know. Just-hoping to see some friends-"
"Mhm." Nadiyah waggled her eyebrows. "Of course. Well, I'd best be off. Amal and Collingwood ought to be around here somewhere. I'll see you two back at the castle!" With a wave of her hand and a swish of her cloak, the head girl was off down the street again.
Rose adjusted her own cloak around her shoulders and turned to her partner, her chest feeling considerably lighter. "Well that wasn't too bad then, was it?" she asked cheerfully, pretending as though she hadn't been grousing about their bad luck just ten minutes prior.
Scorpius merely shrugged in response, resuming his march down the street.
Rose grinned to herself and ducked her head as she trotted beside Scorpius, her mind filling once again with images of herself and Alec Davies tucked in a cozy corner of the Gryffindor common room. She hoped they had all thought to bring some butterbeer back with them. And that they had saved a bottle for her.
The walk back to the Three Broomsticks went much quicker than Rose expected, though she had to admit the conditions outside had worsened considerably. She could barely see two feet in front of her, and had relied more heavily on Scorpius's presence to guide her safely through the village than she would like to admit. His dark cloak fluttered in front of her, close enough to reach out and grab hold of should she need to. They had walked in silence, both with their heads bent against the onslaught of snow and sleet, huffing slightly as the wind tore through the air. Rose raised a hand to her braid, which had been reduced to a tangled mess in the wake of the snowstorm. She sighed and made a note to ask Allie to redo the charm when she got back to the castle. She couldn't have Davies see her like this.
Only a handful of carriages remained on the path back to the castle, and Rose saw Hagrid standing beside the first one, a large hand seemingly stroking the air.
"Alrigh'," Hagrid cooed into the space in front of the carriage, "it's alrigh' now. You're almos' back, aren't yeh?"
"Are they doing alright?" Rose asked as they approached, yelling the question to be heard over the wind. She pointed at the air beneath Hagrid's hand. "The-er-what are they called again?"
"Thestrals," Hagrid nodded, looking down in front of the carriage, where Rose supposed the invisible creature stood. "They don' like this weather. Can't see a ruddy thing."
"Oh." Rose eyed the carriage, catching her bottom lip with her teeth. "But are they-they'll be able to get us back alright, won't they?" She glanced at Scorpius beside her, who was eyeing Hagrid and the carriage with equal trepidation.
"Not to worry, Rosie" Hagrid said with a laugh. "They'll get yeh back alrigh'."
"Are you quite sure?" Scorpius asked from beside her.
Hagrid's smile tightened somewhat, and he looked from Rose to her companion. "Well now, Malfoy, didn' I just say there's no need to worry?"
"I'm sure it will be fine," Rose said quickly, keeping her gaze determinedly on Hagrid. She could feel Scorpius shuffle beside her, his cloak ruffling against the wind. "You wouldn't let them take us back if you thought there'd be a problem, right Hagrid?"
"Tha's right." Hagrid nodded, his smile returning as he looked at Rose and gestured into the carriage. "Why don' you get on up in here, then? I reckon I can send yeh back in a momen' here if no one else comes by."
Rose nodded quickly and scurried into the carriage, huddling against the side in an effort to block the wind. Scorpius followed close behind.
"I can't wait to get back to the castle," Rose muttered, half to herself as she rubbed her frozen hands together. "I'm bloody freezing."
Scorpius made no reply. Rose sighed and wrapped her arms around her knees, praying that Hagrid let them leave soon.
"Hey, Hagrid, you got room in that carriage?" a voice rang out behind them. Rose tilted her chin up and peered over the edge of the carriage to see Booker Wechsler jogging towards them, a tall figure hunched behind him.
"We found a straggler behind the pub," Wechsler said, his chest puffing as he came to a stop. "Last one that needs to go back other than the prefects."
"I reckon he'll fit in this here carriage," Hagrid said, nodding towards the one currently occupied by Rose and Scorpius. "The rest will have to fit in these last two then."
"Grand, that will be grand," Wechsler said, nodding hurriedly. "If you can see them off-" without waiting for a reply he spun on his heel and trotted away.
"Alrigh'," Hagrid said to the newcomer, "up you get and we'll send you lot on your way."
"Great."
Rose's heart sank when she heard the voice, her head coming down to crash onto the knees. No, no. The world wouldn't be so cruel as to do this to her, would it? First cut short her time with Davies and force her to wander around the village with Scorpius, and then do this? Nobody, not even Voldemort himself would be so evil.
"Hello, Rose, Malfoy." Gabriel Herrick grinned as he clambered onto the carriage, depositing himself in the seat across from Rose. "Fancy spending the ride back with you two."
Rose pursed her lips and made no reply. Below her, the carriage wheels creaked into motion and they began the bumpy trip back to the castle.
She could feel her face burning, the snow crystals that had fallen on her scarf and face melting back to water and running down her collar. She would not give him the satisfaction of seeing her squirm through conversation. She would stay dignified and quiet. She wouldn't say a single word to him the entire ride.
"Herrick," Scorpius said with a short nod.
Herrick looked between Rose and Scorpius, cocking an eyebrow. "You two get lost in the village and lose the rest of your friends?"
Rose felt Scorpius turn towards her and kept her gaze on her kneecaps. "We're prefects," she heard him say in his most imperious tone. "We were helping get everyone back to the castle."
"Ah." Herrick leaned back in his seat. "Fancy that."
Rose sat with her arms wrapped so tightly around her legs they hurt, her eyes trained downward. She could feel the familiar burning sensation behind her eyes and willed her face to stay dry. She would not cry. But, oh! Of all the ways for the day to end. She had had such high hopes; she had been about to have her first real day in Hogsmeade with Alec Davies! And now she was here, in a carriage with two of her least favorite housemates, chilled to the bone, without having said more than ten words to Davies.
Herrick and Malfoy remained mercifully silent for the rest of the ride, and Rose refused to look up. She would not give either of them an invitation to humiliate her further. She did not need Herrick's goading and cheeky grins. Neither did she need Malfoy's cold disdain, just as it seemed they were beginning to get along. Rose sighed to herself. No doubt Herrick's presence in the carriage had reminded Scorpius of those ghastly stories from the beginning of the year and the events of last year's Victory Ball. Her face burned as she recalled the horrid way she had yelled at him that night, and the fury on his face when he had told her he despised her.
No, she would not say a word or look at Scorpius right now. She did not need to hear any of that again.
Oh, the injustice of it all! It was almost too much to bear. But she would not cry. She, Rose Minerva Weasley, was determined that neither of these two boys would see her cry.
The ride to the castle seemed to stretch on for ages, the carriage wheels bouncing against the frozen ground so that on more than one occasion Rose received a painful kneecap to the skull. But finally, finally, the wheels creaked to a halt and she looked up to find the large oak doors of the castle in front of her. Without a word she got to her feet and scuttled off the carriage, not looking to see whether the boys were following.
She heard, rather than saw, Scorpius and Herrick walk through the door behind her. She could make out the shuffle of Scorpius's careful footsteps and the clomp of Herrick's heavy stomps against the wood floors, though neither of them said a word as they queued up behind her.
Filch stood at the front door with his long scroll of parchment and a scowl, and Rose submitted easily to the inspection, insisting that she had no banned objects with her. She kept her eyes trained forward, letting out a sigh of relief when Filch finally let her go on into the castle. She walked carefully forward, making her way to the staircase. She realized she wasn't entirely sure where she ought to go; had everyone else gathered in a specific common room or simply returned to their own houses? If there was still an opportunity for her to see Alec Davies and his friends she didn't want to miss it.
Rose was aware of footsteps behind her, one of the boys no doubt, though she didn't bother turning to look. She took a lock of hair which had come loose from its plait and wound it around her finger, glancing up at the landing and wondering if she should just go back to Ravenclaw Tower for now.
"Well, Weasley, it was nice coming from from the village with you." The unmistakable voice grated on Rose's eardrums and she glanced over her shoulder. Herrick was a half dozen steps behind her, with Scorpius in between them. Herrick ran a hand through his hair, the waves magically reforming.
Rose swallowed and glared at him, turning back towards the landing without reply.
"Shall I walk you back to our common room?" Herrick asked her. She knew without even looking that he wore the same grin, relishing her discomfort. Rose's eyes burned. She wished the staircase would just open up and swallow her.
"We aren't going to our common room, actually," Scorpius murmured.
Rose turned in surprise, her eyebrows shooting up to meet her hairline. Scorpius watched her coolly, his own face still a bit pink from the cold and his eyebrows raised.
Herrick watched the two of them in obvious confusion.
"Right, Weasley?" Scorpius asked, pausing slightly as his eyebrows came together in a look of uncertainty. "We were supposed to meet the others, weren't we?"
"Y—yes," Rose sputtered, nearly tripping over a stair as she spun back around. "Right. We're to meet them in the Gryffindor tower. You know-" she waited a moment and glanced at Herrick, catching his eye, "to see my cousins. Fred'll worry if we're not back soon."
"Of course." Herrick eyed her but didn't argue further.
Rose reached the landing and stepped awkwardly to the side, shoving her hands in her pockets. She supposed, now that he had announced they were going the same way, that she ought to wait for Scorpius. It would look strange if they walked separately to the Gryffindor common room, wouldn't it? Or did he even plan on walking to Gryffindor tower with her? Maybe, Rose thought, he would just wait for Herrick to get ahead of them and then go back to the Ravenclaw common room himself, leaving Rose on her own. She wouldn't blame him. She wasn't even sure everyone was in the Gryffindor common room, and now that she thought of it he hadn't actually said he would be going there with her, just that they wouldn't be going to the Ravenclaw common room with Herrick-
"I'll leave you two to it then," Herrick said with a wink when he reached the landing. Rose felt her face flush and looked up to Scorpius standing in front of her.
"Right," she mumbled to her feet.
Scorpius shrugged and began walking away from Herrick without responding. Rose bit her lip and hurried to follow.
Scorpius walked briskly down the corridor, not even looking over at her. Rose wound the piece of hair around her finger again and huffed as she worked to keep up with him.
"Er-" she muttered, panting slightly.
Scorpius turned to her and raised his eyebrows.
Rose's face burned. "I—thanks—" she mumbled. "That was—"
"Don't worry about it." Scorpius turned back, his hands meandering to his pockets.
"I don't know why he can't just leave me alone," Rose continued, rambling half to herself as she wound and unwound the hair from her finger.
Scorpius slowed slightly, glancing over at her again with a curious look. The color that the wind had given his face had receded and he looked as pale as ever in the torchlight, eyebrows knit together as his grey eyes flitted from her face to the wall behind her. Rose felt the heat emanating from her face intensify as Scorpius appraised her, and cast about for something to say, something to make him stop looking at her like that.
"He always shows up at the very worst times," she said to the wall. "And I don't know why he—I don't know why he's turned into such a giant git this year."
At this Scorpius quirked an eyebrow, his jaw tightening as his mouth formed a thin line. "He was always a git," he muttered without looking at her. "You just didn't see it."
"Oh." Rose dropped the strand of hair and crossed her arms around herself as Scorpius's words settled. The anger in her chest reared its head once more, and the horribly embarrassing burning behind her eyes returned.
"You know," she bit out, her words coming quickly and unevenly as her breath hitched. "You're rather rubbish at making people feel better."
Scorpius shrugged, his hands burrowing deeper in his pockets. "It wasn't meant to make you feel better."
"Right."
So this was how he saw her. No matter the progress she had thought they'd made since returning to the castle, no matter the increasingly frank conversations they had during patrols, Scorpius thought she was no more than an idiotic fool who couldn't even tell a giant prat when they were right in front of her.
The burning behind her eyes intensified and her throat felt horribly constricted. Rose swallowed, determined that Scorpius would not see her cry over Gabriel bloody Herrick. She felt as though she had shrunk over the course of the last hour, and was now no bigger than a beetle. She curled her shoulders forward, trying to hug herself and squeeze the tears back in.
They approached the Gryffindor common room quietly, and Rose breathed a sigh of relief when she caught sight of Maren and Fred standing next to the portrait of the Fat Lady.
"There you are!" Maren cried, bouncing towards Rose and Scorpius with a grin. "We've been out here ages waiting for you."
"Sorry about that." Rose shook her head and took a deep breath as she tried to regain her composure. "Wechsler wanted us to check all the shops and then we had to wait a spell before the carriage could take us back to the castle."
"Did anything interesting happen after we left?" Maren asked, looking between them.
Rose bit the inside of her cheek and shook her head, eyes darting over to Scorpius. "No," she said, hoping he wouldn't contradict her. "It was really pretty boring."
"Well, we're glad you're here," Fred said, taking Rose by the elbow and leading her towards the portrait hole. "James is in here with Alec and Zeno. We have a whole table of butterbeer left."
"And Allie stayed with us, too," Maren added, joining on Rose's other side. "She and James have spent the entire time talking about some sort of hair product. You'll love it. Hey, Scorpius?" Maren turned and nodded towards the portrait hole. "You coming with us?"
"Oh, no." He looked to the floor, not catching Rose's eye, and shook his head. "No, that's all right. I suppose I'll go down to the Slytherin common room and see if I can find Al and Nathan."
"Alright," Maren shrugged, turning back to the door.
Rose looked over her shoulder, her forehead wrinkling as she watched Scorpius turn. But then the portrait was swinging open and Fred was pulling her through, and she heard the shout of voices and the tinkling of butterbeer bottles. Rose stepped into the Gryffindor common room, a broad smile pasted on her face, and a determined air about her. She would enjoy herself, she had decided. No matter what anyone else did.