Raindrops on Roses

Chapter 32: The Last Summer Part 11: Self Destruct

2024

~*-R-*~

~*-R-*~

She woke up to something tickling the back of her hand. She flinched and opened her eyes to Scorpius' grey ones, staring back at her. "Morning," he said. His voice came out a little hoarse.

"Morning," she yawned, and giggled. He was tracing circles on the back of her hand with a forefinger. "Stop it," she chided, and pulled her hand away. "How long have you been awake?"

"A while. I was watching you. You're very pretty when you sleep, you know."

Rose blew a frazzled lock of hair out of her face. "Rot. I always wake up looking like I've slept under a bridge." She put a hand to the back of her hair, felt a pile of frizz, and groaned.

"Still the best view I've had of a morning for a while," he said. "Though... this isn't quite how I imagined our first time waking up together."

She reached up to slap him on the arm, but stopped herself just at the last second. Just because he's talking normally doesn't mean he isnormal, she reminded herself firmly. "How did you imagine it then, gutter brain?" she demanded. She winced and shook out her right hand, which had cramped around her wand during the night.

"Oh, no," he said, with an innocent expression. "I get to keep my fantasies to myself." He coughed dryly and made a pained face.

"I'll get you some water," Rose said. "Then we can try out some of those self-cleaning charms in those books Al got."

Scorpius' eyes widened and he sniffed at his sleeve. "Oh. I suppose it has been a while since I washed properly."

"The Healers must have bathed you when you were in St Mungos," she said, sitting up and stretching. She avoided looking at her reflection in the mirror on the wall, since she knew it would only mortify her.

"Yeah, while I was unconscious," he muttered. "That's fun to think about." He shifted backwards and used his hands to pull himself into a sitting position with a stifled groan. Rose lifted a hand, but stopped herself again. She turned away and bit her lip, trying to remember what Al had said yesterday about not reminding him. It was just so hard to act normally when he was clearly in pain.

"I'll get you that water," she said softly, and got up, her feet stinging in protest against the cold floorboards. It must still be quite early, she thought, since no one else seemed to be up, and it was freezing. Summer was coming to an end already.

When she came back, Scorpius was rifling through one of the new books with a determined expression, his wand sitting on his lap. "Anything good?" she asked lightly.

"Some of this stuff is ancient," he said. "Like, Merlin ancient. Good thing I read Latin."

"Oh, don't tell my mum that," Rose sighed. "She thinks all wizarding children should be taught Latin before Hogwarts."

"Maybe they should," he said shortly, without looking up. "It does help with Charms."

Rose was about to argue, but realised he wasn't really paying attention. She handed him the glass instead and leaned forward to read over his shoulder. "Well you won't find any sanitation charms in there," she pointed out, laying a hand gently on his stiff, unmoving knee as he sipped from the glass and flipped pages at the same time. "Even Merlin probably stank to high heaven in those days."

He paused in his flipping and turned to look at her with an oddly determined expression. "I had a dream last night," he said. "I was in the chair, but it was moving by itself, like it did up the stairs. It was kind of like I was controlling it... like with my mind."