A/N: Aright guys, you got me. I was going to stop writing fanfiction just because I've been reading other books besides Harry Potter (shocking, I know) and am sort of out of the Potter loop. But after all the reviews I've gotten so far, I've decided to continue this story. Thanks for all you great support!
Over the span of the train ride, Rose and Scorpius had very few visitors, which Scorpius did not seem to mind in the slightest. He grew increasingly shy around those who intruded upon their compartment, and Rose, taking notice in his behavioral change, would hastily shoo their guests away.
The first one to noisily barge into their compartment was James, his hair messily falling over his eyes and gasping slightly in his apparent rush to discover if what Albus had told him was true. There was an awkward silence as he stared shamelessly at Scorpius, his mouth gaping slightly. Rose cleared her throat loudly.
"Hullo, James," she said tersely, shaking him from his shocked trance. "Would like to take a seat, or are you going to bore us with you fish impersonations all afternoon?" James glared icily at Rose as if to accuse of being a traitor, and exited the compartment, slamming the door after him. Rose merely rolled her eyes and returned to hers and Scorpius' conversation as if nothing had happened.
While Rose and Scorpius were trading and collecting famous wizard cards, Victorie slid the door open tentatively and poked her angled face inside.
"Bonjour, ma chérie," Victorie said warmly to Rose, her eyes darting nervously toward Scorpius. "Bonjour." He blushed furiously, but seemed pleased all the same that he had been recognized.
"Hi, Tori! This is my friend, Scorpius. Scorp, this is my cousin, Victorie," Rose said pleasantly, at which point Victorie hugged Scorpius sweetly. Scorpius shook slightly after she released him, a smile quivering on his lips.
"I brought you some of the special food that prefects are allowed, don't tell anyone!" she giggled, revealing a folded napkin bursting with beautiful little cakes and other sweets, exquisite apples that were so polished that Rose could see her reflection independently primping her hair (despite what Rose was actually doing), and a tall bottle of sparking grape fizz that was literally bouncing from bubbles contained beneath the cap.
After thanking her profusely, Scoripus and Rose each receive a small kiss on their cheeks and Victore departed, winking at them as she slid the compartment door closed.
"Wow!" Scorpius exclaimed happily, watching Victorie's silhouette depart through the windowed door. "Not all your family hates me!" Rose laughed, picking up a small, frosted cake.
"I knew not all my family was prejudiced, but she really took to you, Scorp."
"Well, look at me, I'm a regular charmer," he smirked as he watched his reflection in an apple flex his muscles impressively. Rose laughed.
Moments before their arrival at Hogwarts, whose windows were glittering in the distance, Scorpius made Rose wait outside their compartment so that he could dress into his Hogwarts robes. Rose obliged, leaning against the glass as she listened to Scorpius' trunk hit the compartment floor. She had only been waiting for a moment when her two best friends, Jack Higgs, a muggleborn, and Alice Longbottom, the daughter of her family's friend Neville, appeared by her side. Alice was a very faithful friend whom Rose had known since infancy; the two had been inseparable since each could walk, and very little had since changed. The pair had met Jack at a cocktail party that their parents were attending. He was very quickly noticed for his handsome face, and after Rose had failed in setting up Alice with him, they found him quite easy and pleasant to hang out with him and had been close since. Rose hugged them both warmly.
"Where have you two been? I haven't seen you guys all day!" Rose said, looking between the pair, who exchanged glances.
"Come on, Rose," Jack began weakly. "You've been hanging out with Scorpius Malfoy all day, what do you expect?"
"I'm sorry, Rose, but you know where he comes from. How can you even stay in the same room as he?" Alice injected, her straight, brown hair framing her worried face. Rose sighed in an exasperated sort of way.
"I've been getting that same stuff all day. You don't even know him!" Rose snapped at once.
"Neither do you," Alice said calmly. Rose opened her mouth angrily, but Jack cut her off.
"Come off it Rose, we didn't come here to start a row, we came to see you."
"Nothing could have stopped you from coming to see me," Rose said, wearing her annoyance on her sleeve. The train was nearing a crawl's pace as she said this and very soon the corridors were filled with noisy students, all cramming to get near the exit.
"Come on, let's get out of here," Jack offered to Alice and Rose. Alice nodded and began leaving with the flow of the students around her. Jack looked at Rose. "Are you coming?"
"I'll catch up with you at the feast or something. I'm going to wait for Scorpius," Rose sighed, glancing toward the window behind her. Jack walked away slowly, looking back at her as he went, but when she saw she wasn't looking back, he set forward to catch up with Alice who was now far out the door.
Rose impatiently rapped on her compartment door.
"Scorp? Are you ready yet? It's time to go, everyone's getting off the train," Rose called to him through the glass. She heard a low murmuring from inside and slid the door open. Scorpius was sitting down a leather seat, fully dressed, with his eyes down upon his knees. "Come on, Scorpius, let's go." Scorpius looked up at her meekly.
"Go on; catch up with your friends. They miss you. Go be with them," he said very quietly, now looking up into her clear, sweet face. Rose looked at Scorpius as she had found him that afternoon: quiet, secluded, and infinitely humble. She could see bruises coming up on his arms and knew they were blooming beneath his robes. His face seemed to be graying before her, as if all the life was being drawn out of him to say these few words. She remembered Violetta and her immense, brutal cronies and the bright smiles that she and Scorpius had shared that afternoon.
"Now would you stop trying to get rid of me?" Rose said playfully, reaching out for Scorpius' hand, which he took and then stood up. "We spent the whole afternoon together and I'm afraid I'm not very easy to get rid of, so I hope you're not sick of me now! I'm going to be hanging around you for a long time." The pair grinned at each other walked out their compartment, hurrying to catch up with the mass of students congregated outside the steaming Hogwarts Express.
A/N: lemme know what you guys think of this chapter, remember I haven't written in a while!