The Romance of the snake and the rose

What Emma deserves

Rose Weasley woke to the chirping of birds outside her window. It was finally Saturday, and having finished all her homework the previous night, she was free to do whatever she wanted for the weekend. It was a bright sunny day outside, the sky was robin-egg blue and the lake shimmered like a large sheet of rippling glass. Rose decided she would get in some quidditch practice while the weather was still nice and got dressed in muggle clothes. She often preferred these to witch robes. Her Mum had bought them for her birthday and Rose found them very comfortable. Once she had brushed her hair and tied it into a pony tail, she headed downstairs for breakfast.

She was ambushed, however, by a grinning Albus, who pulled her down the corridor and into an empty classroom, where Scorpius was waiting for them.

"So," began Albus excitedly, "Scorp told me about your little heart to heart chat"-Rose and Scorpius blushed furiously at this, though Albus didn't seem to notice-"And the two of us decided that it's time to give Emma what she deserves,"

"We have a plan," explained Scorpius, "We're all going to hit her with a different hex as she comes out of the great hall. Rose, you can do the bat-bogey hex, Albus told me you were good at that, I'll do the Hurling hex, and then Albus can do the Stinging hex. She'll hopefully be hit with all hexes at once, and presuming she finishes breakfast at the same time as her friends, they'll all walk out together and she'll be embarrassed in front of them. Sound good?"

"It sounds great," replied Rose, grinning.

"Alright" said Albus, "Rosie you need to make sure you finish eating before Emma, and then we can all wait behind the statue of Bartholomew Hopkins the third for her to come out. When she does, we wait till we have a clear aim, and then all hex her on the count of three."

"Perfect," said Rose, and she hurried off to have breakfast. The day was already off to a wonderful start.

After a hearty breakfast of scones, cream, jam, tea and toast, Rose walked slowly and deliberately out of the Great Hall, watching Emma Cullers out of the corner of her eye. She reached the statue of Bartholomew Hopkins the third and conspicuously crept behind it. Scorpius was waiting there, sitting at the base of the statue reading, but Albus was no where to be seen.

"Where's Albus?" she whispered.

"He went to the bathroom," explained Scorpius, putting his book down. Rose sat down next to him, peering from out behind Bartholomew's long robes. Emma was still eating.

"I wonder how long we'll have to wait," said Rose to Scorpius. She looked over at the book lying beside him, "What are you reading?" She added.
"Nothing" replied Scorpius hastily, covering the book with his robes. Rose looked at him curiously, what could he possibly be reading that he didn't want her to know about? A thousand possible answers rushed through her head, a romantic book he was embarrassed of, a secret diary, a book about how to get a witch to like you. She brushed the thoughts out of her head, trying to concentrate on the task ahead. She looked around the statue again to see if Emma was coming.

Suddenly, she felt Scorpius' hand lightly on her neck, brushing a few stray locks of her hair over her shoulder. She looked over at him, and surprisingly, his eyes held her gaze, even as his pale cheeks turned crimson. She had been about to ask him what he was doing, but it seemed a rather stupid question. She also didn't want to break the strange, yet somehow pleasant, tension that was circling between them. Without thinking, She felt herself leaning forward. Scorpius' grey-blue eyes widened a little, and flicked down to her lips and then back up to her eyes. He leaned slightly forward as well. There faces were now barely two inches apart. Rose could feel his warm breath on her neck, slightly faster than normal, tickling her skin. She could count the blond lashes shading his eyes.