A Tight Squeeze
*swearing & sexual tension*
Chapter Text
CHAPTER 2: Rose.
They’d left without her. She couldn’t believe it! Those snot nosed gits went to see a dragon - without her! Rose rolled out of bed, whacking her shins against the side of Albus’ empty bed. She hopped about on one foot, yelping, and tripped over her broomstick, landing with a soft thunk in yesterday’s abandoned robes.
“Owww” she moaned, eyes watering.
“Serves you right for being so messy”, came a drawl from the far side of the room. Griff turned about in a swivelling chair, slowly, savouring his latest dramatic entrance. A smirk flickered across his face.
“What are you doing in here? I was asleep!”
Griff grinned lazily.
“Oh… this and that”.
“Perv.”
“For you? Oh yes, snoring like a troll is so alluring, Weasley. I just can’t stay away.”
She stuck out her tongue at him. It was too early to come up with a witty response. Pushing down an odd queasiness, she stood up angrily, pulling overly-bright stockings up to her thighs and stomping over.
“Well? Why are you here, then, if I repulse you so much?”
Griff averted his eyes from her arms, crossed over her chest, and she suddenly realised that she didn’t have her bra on… fuck it. If he was going to snoop whilst she was sleeping, he could bloody well live with the consequences. She uncrossed her arms, and puffed out her chest deliberately. Griff swallowed, his eyes firmly on his boots, a deep flush crawling up his cheeks. Merlin’s beard, white boys could flush. She bit her lip and advanced a few more steps, one eyebrow cocked.
“I was…” Griff gestured behind him, to the tray piled high with eggs, bacon, fried bread and….
“Black pudding?” Her favourite. Perhaps she would consider forgiving him… Maybe… If he kept blushing so hard, she might have to.
He nodded, his eyes firmly fixed on a spot above her shoulder now. She grinned.
“So, you made me breakfast?”
“Well, Charlie made… erm, sure, yes, just for you. All by myself!”
“Well that was convincing. I suppose you bred the chickens and farmed the wheat too.”
“Don’t mock me. I gathered this with backbreaking work, with blood, sweat and tears, through pain and hardship-”
She rolled her eyes and interrupted his tirade. “So why were you just sitting there, then, letting it go cold?”
Griff finally looked at her. At her eyes. determinedly at her eyes. Definitely not lower.
“No ‘thank you’?”
She leaned across him to spear the topmost fried tomato slice. She could have sworn his breath hitched.
“Thank you”, she said, a mouth full of red mush.
“Charming.” He replied, and rolled his eyes.
She smacked the chair so that it swivelled about with some speed. She enjoyed playing with him. What could she say? The boy was helpless; a mouse. And she was a lioness.
“Don’t you think you… get off a bit too much on the whole Griff thing?” Scorpius had said to her last year. “Casual flirting is one thing, but… I think he really does, you know… like you. And you… I don’t know, is it a power thing? Or the attention? Because you get loads of attention already, from everyone… Look. I’m not having a go, OK? I just… don’t want my friends to hurt each other.”
She’d stormed off in a huff, slamming the door and cracking the window; but mostly because Scorpius was right. She did flirt with Griff; and he did follow her around but… it was never about him. Or power or attention… Sure, she did seem to get attention from boys and girls alike; but never from the one person she really wanted…
She shook her head and licked tomato sauce from a finger. Griff watched the movement as if his life depended on it. She found herself suddenly irritated.
“ What ?”
“What?” He echoed.
“You don’t have to watch me eat every bite. You’re always there, watching me”. Hurt flashed across his face. “I never get you”, he said. “One minute you’re hot, then you’re cold…”
Rose quashed the guilt welling in her stomach. “Sorry.” She muttered. There was a beat of silence. “This is really good”.
Griff huffed and sat forward himself, stealing a piece of fried bread.
“Hey!” She swiped for it, and he caught her wrist, and all at once he was inches away; his smile changing, becoming intense. Rose became aware of how close they were; she was half atop him in her dive for the bread; his fingers circled her wrist, warm. He was so close that she could see the freckles dancing across his jaw, and that golden streak of hair which always caught the sun -
Oh, no. His other hand was moving for her cheek, the fried bread forgotten, falling. He was drawing closer.
Did she want this?
She was frozen, unsure, half wishing for him to kiss her, half wishing she could disapparate far, far away and never have to face this -
Albus and Charlie tore into the room, panting. Rose leapt off of Griff as if she had been stung.
Charlie frowned, but dismissed the scene, and a minute later, Rose understood why.
“Scorpius-” he panted. Rose found herself standing, without remembering having done so.
She was halfway across the room by the time Charlie had finished the sentence.
“He’s gone - a dragon - took him. Flew off.”
“Is he alive?” She blurted out, turning to find Albus’ face wet with tears.
“We don’t know”, he signed.
“What are we waiting for?” She shouted; “we need to find him!” Grabbing her wand and pulling yesterday’s robes over her pyjamas, she tumbled out of the door of Charlie’s spare bedroom.
“Rose!” Charlie sounded uncharacteristically stern. “I came back to drop Albus off. You three aren’t yet seventeen. I’m responsible for you! You have to stay here, in my house. I’m going to gather up the other dragon keepers and we’ll find Scorpius. We’ll bring him back, OK? I just need to know that you three are safe whilst we do that.”
Rose shook her head. “If you think -”
but Charlie had turned to the doors and windows , and was pacing, muttering spells over them.
“Charlie! I’m coming with you!”
“Me too!” Griff said, standing at her shoulder. Albus stepped to join her other side and nodded through his tears.
Charlie finally turned to them.
“Look, I’m sorry. I can’t have anything else happen, OK? Next year, when you’re all of age, you can make your own decisions. Until then…” Uncle Charlie shrugged his brown shoulders, his orange hair falling into his eyes. Rose took a step forward, her hands on her hips. She looked remarkably like Mrs Weasley. Charlie noticed this, and disapparated with a sharp pop.
“That git!” Rose cried, whirling on the other two. Griff and Albus took a step back at the fierceness of her expression.
“Like we’re actually gonna stay in here…” She pulled her shoes on, grabbed her broom, and dragged her fingers through her hair, giving the breakfast one last, longing look, before marching out of the room and down the stairs. The boys followed her, glancing at each other behind her back. The front door, however, refused to budge.
Rose pulled and strained, she yelled, and pulled out her wand. Albus grabbed her hand. “You can’t do magic outside of school!” He signed. She shook him off, angrily.
“I know. But we can’t just… sit here!” She kicked the front door for good measure, and then put her head in her hands.
“What exactly happened, Alby?”
“The dragonflap!” Griff said, suddenly.
“You what?”
“Charlie’s got a flap for the baby dragons to get out into the garden.”
“And? - OH!” She yelped. “You are a genius!” She grabbed his elbows and shook him in excitement; but let go quickly; the memory of the almost kiss burning her fingers. Griff looked a little dazed.
“I think that’s the first compliment you’ve ever given me-”
“And if you two plonkers don’t hurry up, it will be the last!” she cried over one shoulder, as she raced to the back door and shoved her head through the dragonflap. It worked; Charlie had clearly not thought to charm this particular exit! With a move like a contortionist, she hauled herself though the opening. It was barely big enough to accommodate her, and some of her curls were left behind, waving in the faint summer breeze. Albus came next, tumbling through. Griff was harder. Lean, he might be, but he was still broader than she and Albus were - and certainly more so than the average baby dragon. He got stuck part way through.
“Erm, could you-?” He began.
Rose and Albus took hold of him and tugged him through, until the dragonflap vomited him in a pile on the floor. He coughed and sprang to his feet, brushing himself off.
“Nothing to it,” he said, brightly. “Easy as breathing”. Rose raised one eyebrow but didn’t comment. She leaned down and straightened a crooked stocking.
Albus reappeared at her side; she hadn’t even noticed him leave; and tossed Griff a broomstick. He was already scrambling onto his own and whooshing off into the cloudless sky.
Rose and Griff mounted their brooms and followed him a minute later. Never mind Charlie - they would find Scorpius or die trying.