They were at the lake now, and the sun was just starting to set, painting the lake orange and yellow.
Rose didn’t really want to get into trouble anymore.
She was in shock, still, and she had to be sober enough not to let words tumble out of her lips unknowingly. Scor could not know what she had told Avery or the drunken Grace.
THAT was confidential.
“Here,” James said, sipping from the bottle of fire-butterbeer, then passing it to her. Rose took the bottle, pressed it to her lips, then took a gulp of the clear, crystal, liquid. It burned her throat, then warmed her stomach.
It was white-fire.
She looked over at Scor, her hair falling over her face.
“Hey! You brought the white fire!” He smiled devilishly at her as he crossed his legs and rolled the sleeves of his collared, white shirt up. His hair was slightly disheveled, and his feet were bare.
And in that moment, Rose no longer wondered why all of the girls seemed to love him. He was smart. He was insanely handsome. He was a character.
“Of course I brought it, it’s the best,” he laughed.
What Rose didn’t know was that he had brought it for her. It was her favorite, and he knew it. He also knew that would make her happy, and her happiness made him happy.
He had simply been doing himself a favor.
~
They all were slightly tipsy, if not totally drunk.
With every sip Rose took, she reminded herself that it was butterbeer.
It was legal. She wasn’t breaking rules.
Rose would never break rules.
But she was drunk.
And when people are drunk, they break rules.
Even Rose Weasley.
~
The three of them were in the water, splashing and laughing.
Rose threw a giant splash at James, and in return, he threw one back, getting her hair wet.
“THERE’S A SQUID IN THIS LAKE,” Scorpius yelled, laughing at himself, “DID YOU KNOW THAT?” His hair was wet and glued to his face. Rose threw another wave at him. He didn’t return one. Even tipsy, he still loved her enough not to do anything that might provoke the monster.
“You idiot, Avery told me that.”
“Avery?”
“Yeah,” Rose said, giggling and rolling her eyes before turning around to James who was eyeing a tentacle suspiciously. “JAMES!” she hollered at him, “DIDN’T AVERY TELL ME ABOUT THE GIANT SQUID?”
“Uh huh,” James muttered, poking the tentacle. The tentacle swatted him in the face. “HEY!”
“See,” Rose said turning around to Scorpius, “Avery helps me. He told me about the squid, and about how to deal with you.”
“With me?” Scorpius said, paying very close attention, “Aren’t I your best mate? You already know how to deal with me.”
“Not really, dumb-arse.” He smirked.
“You’re preeetttyy.” She scowled at him, and pushed his chest, and he tumbled into the water, and dark indigo drops of water flew into her eyes.
“Are you sober, Scor?” He laughed.
“I suppose. More sober than you, you think that Avery told you about me and the giant squid.”
“I’m sober!”
“Ha! In your dreams.”
“I bet I’ll remember all of this tomorrow.” Scorpius smiled and took a daring step toward her. They stood face to face, chest to chest.
“Well, tell me if you remember this tomorrow.”
One must remember that Scorpius Malfoy wasn’t half as sober as he claimed he was.
One must also remember that he like Rose Weasley very much.
He also would never have dreamed of doing what he was about to do were he sober.
Her cheeks were warm with his fire-tainted breath as he studied her electric blue eyes.
And he remembered.
He remembered seeing her in the train car for the very first time, his eyes meeting her’s for the first time, their friendship igniting.
And Rose was too intoxicated to remember that he was her best friend, and he shouldn’t be this close, and his grey eyes shouldn’t have been that gorgeous.
His eyes were her weakness.
He moved closer, until his lips almost met her’s.
“You have three eyes,” Rose pointed out, bluntly, pointing at him. Scorpius stopped, (almost catching himself) and smirked.
Someday, these would all be stories.
Tomorrow, none of them would remember this.
~
“James,” Rose, whispered to her cousin. He moaned, his head throbbing in pain, a memory that was burned into his mind. “JAMES,” she bellowed, and his eyes fluttered open.
“What the hell do you want, you arse.” She smirked at him, her arms crossed.
“I don’t remember anything from last night,” she confessed, “Did I do anything stupid?”
“I think... I think- I have this weird memory of a giant squid tossing me ashore and... a giant man hulling me completely out of the water...”
“You mean me. And you also mean that moment when you poked the giant squid’s tentacle and it slapped you, then you slapped it back, yelling at it that it ought to ‘respect it’s elders’, and then it threw you, and I helped you out of the water,” Scorpius said, leaning against a tree, his eyes matching the morning sky perfectly.
“Did you drink at all?” James asked in awe, “How do you remember that...”
“James,” Scor said, laughing, “You must know that we only drank a little. Not really... safe drinks, but they’re legal, if we bend the rules a bit. And I only had a little.”
“Scor,” James said, chuckling, shaking his head, “You sure looked like one giant of a man.” Scorpius rolled his eyes.
“Did I do anything that stupid?” Rose begged. Scorpius turned to her, and held his breath.
He remembered. He remembered perfectly.
But he would not say a word.
Not a word.
~
