The Red Rose That Has Green Thorns

I was still awake, staring at the ceiling, when I heard a distant chiming of the midnight hour.

“Why can’t I fall asleep?” I mumbled. I heard Nira meow softly, as if in reply. Sighing, I got out of bed and left my dorm. I was in the process of working my way down the stairs to the couch where I’d left my book. Did I mention that I’d hidden it in my robes as we got of the train, as well? I’d read some of it during dinner.

Being the klutz I am, I slipped and went down the last four steps only to land on my face at the bottom.

“Ow,” I groaned. That’s when I heard a chuckle and looked up. I felt my face growing rapidly redder. After all, would a Malfoy normally be expected to be sitting on a couch with colors symbolic of Gryffindor in just a pair of Muggle lounging pants with my Muggle book in his hands?

“You okay?” he asked, slightly delayed due to being engulfed in my book.

“Yes, I’m bloody brilliant!” I groaned, my anger only half-hearted. “Fall down the steps to get a book to find it’s already been picked up. That was definitely on my to-do list.”

I got up and made him scoot so I could sit on the couch as well.

“Well, sorry,” he said cheekily, “but it’s quite interesting so I can’t put it down and I couldn’t sleep to begin with.”

I just laughed and shook it off.

“No, really?” was my reply, and I lay down with my feet resting on Scorpius’ lap. “Now, be a good Mr. Foot Pillow and let me see if I can finally get to sleep, mmkay?”

He laughed and returned to the page he’d been reading. And the oddest thing was that, after that, I had absolutely no problem falling asleep.

“Rosie, wake up! We’ve got that Prefect meeting in ten minutes!”

I shot up and practically shrieked, “WHAAAAT?!”, then I jumped up and ran to my dorm to hurriedly pull on the uniform and the robes, run a brush through my hair, throw it all up in a ponytail, and grab my bag. I ran out and down the stairs to find Scorpius fidgeting, waiting by the door.

“Hurry, I’ve got the list and everything already,” he said as we left the room together at a run.

I think we scared a group of poor Hufflepuff first years by running past them as quickly as we were capable of. Glancing at his watch, Scorpius picked the pace up even more and called to me, “We’ve got three minutes!”

“Crap!” I yelled, quickening my own pace to match his as well as I could as we flew down the stairs. I jumped half a flight of stairs to miss the trick step, like Scorpius had before me, and nearly tripped down the next flight. I barely kept my balance and luckily the bottom of the next moving staircase was only ten feet away from Professor Malin’s classroom.

That, however, was before the staircase was true to it’s name and started moving. Scorpius had already landed, but I had to make a six foot leap.

“WAAAH!” I couldn’t help but let the cry escape my lips, and Scorpius spun around. He went wide-eyed at the sight of my being suspended over a whole lot of nothing but air…and then my foot touched down.

Just as I was about to breathe a sigh of relief, I felt myself tilting backwards and my breath caught in my throat as my arms moved in a windmill to try to keep the balance.

“Rose!” Scorpius cried, seeing my dilemma and seizing my wrist to heave me back up. I stumbled up and into him, away from the edge. I wrapped my arms tightly around his neck, not wanting to look back towards the staircases, when Scorpius said, “Um…are you okay?”

Needless to say, I let go swiftly.

“I’m…I’m fine. Thanks,” I said awkwardly, then shook myself and grabbed his sleeve, dragging him the last few feet to the classroom. Putting on a front of ‘nothing-nearly-traumatic-just-happened-at-all’, I kicked open the door, let go of Scorpius, and threw my arms up.

“Have no fear! Rose Weasley has arrived!” I paused. “Or maybe it’s ‘Rose Weasley is here!’?”

“ROSE! You’re late!” my little cousin Lily accused me. I seized Scorpius’ sleeve again, this time causing him to stumble forward a few steps so I could take a glance at the hands on his watch.

“No, we’re not. We have one minute to make it on time, according to Scorp’s watch.”

“You’re just so unbelievable!” Lily groaned, exasperatedly.

“Sorry, sorry, am I late?” it was at that moment that Professor Malin arrived. She was the overseer of our Prefect meetings.

“Nope! You still have about thirty seconds if you want to walk back out so you can come in RIGHT on time!” I chimed brightly, jerking Scorpius’ arm to where Professor Malin could see his watch.

“Rose!” Scorpius half-heartedly reprimanded me.

“Oh! Sorry,” I said, letting him go. Professor Malin laughed.

“Rose and Scorpius just barely beat you here,” Lysander Scamander announced, in the dreamy tone acquired from his mother.

“I’m sorry,” I laughed, “I didn’t get to sleep until nearly midnight, and then I even forgot to set a charm to wake me up.” This was true, to a point.

“She was asleep in the common room,” Scorpius rolled his eyes, “and it took fifteen minutes for me to wake her up.”

“Fifteen minutes?! Fifteen?” I cried.

“Did I stutter?”

The whole room laughed at Scorpius’ response. It was then that Scorpius and I began to make our way to the front desk, weaving in between the other Prefect’s bags on the floor. The laughter quieted as first Scorpius, then I reached the front of the room. We took a moment to converse softly, each of us pulling out a list of the new pairs for reference material. I saw Lily dutifully ready to take notes, and I assumed the duty of secretary, which was always forced on a fifth year, had been turned to her.

“Firstly,” Scorpius immediately took control, “Welcome back to Hogwarts!” there were a few curt nods, and I think the general opinion was ‘get a move on’. “Now, to the first order of business, and the central reason for this first meeting - the assignment of pairs.”

“That means us older Prefects can go, then,” a sixth year Slytherin said smugly, starting to stand.

“Actually, no.” I spoke up, glancing at Scorpius. He gestured for me to continue, so I said, “This year, we’ve decided upon a new tactic. We think it would be best to pair half of the fifth years with an older student. By Christmastime, based on the outcome, we will either pair all of the fifth years up amongst themselves or switch the fifth years who did not have an older partner with those who did. Do you understand?”

“That’s bull!” the sixth year Slytherin had remained standing. “You’re changing our bloody pairs?!”

“Boyd, I suggest you take your seat and sit through the remainder of this meeting calmly,” Scorpius said sharply. “Four of the eight fifth years will be paired with an older student of their own house. The remaining four will be paired amongst themselves. As I saw your argument arising when making these pairs, Boyd, you will not be paired with a fifth year. Your partner will be Hufflepuff seventh year Elise Wilkins. Fifth year Slytherin Samantha Roberts will be paired with seventh year Vanessa Flint. The other fifth year Slytherin, Zachary Zabini, will be partnered with Gryffindor fifth year, Lily Potter.”

Lily’s expression was murderous, and she glared at Scorpius the whole time he was reading the pairings to those assembled.

“Any questions?” I asked when Scorpius had finished, and as Lily was opening her mouth to speak, I added, “And no, Lily. We will not change the pairings. That goes for everyone.”

Lily closed her mouth and redirected the glare at me. I stuck my tongue out at her.