SPOILER!!: comments

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Originally Posted by Bazinga

YAY A new chapter!! Amazing Ern!

one of my favourites actually XD I agree!

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Originally Posted by Optimist

Loved it...seriously, poor girl pot roast isn't something i'd want in my eyebrows.

It kind of made me hungry

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Originally Posted by SilverTiger

I do think he thinks it's just one long and continuous cat.

And sure, Rose. That's what the feeling in your stomach means.

I love that idea of the cat

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Originally Posted by Paintbrush

Ooooh this is getting exciting! I love dates! And Rose. Your characterisation of her is fantastically fun. Can't wait for more!

Isn't Rose awesome? She's so interesting. I love all her flaws. I hope you keep reading!

7.2 A Date and a Favour

Scorpius was to meet Jayne Wood at the front gates for their little Hogsmeade date. It had snowed during the week and there was a thick, fluffly layer coating the grounds, though the snow had stopped falling that morning. He liked it when it was like this; the snow hadn't yet turned to sludge and the air was crisp but the sun was out. Scorpius enjoyed the cold, but he wasn't stupid enough to go outside without having had wrapped up warm. Today he'd worn grey slacks with perfect creases folded down each leg and a dark olive green sweater over a crisp white shirt, open at the collar. As a nod to warmth he sported a cozy looking charcoal grey scarf, tucked into a black wool pea coat, with a touch of sheepskin peeking out at the neck. He looked sharp, even if he did say so himself, and he did, frequently. To himself. In the mirror. A pep talk never hurt anyone. A black wool beanie, gloves, and shoes completed his ensemble and he was warm as he stepped out of the castle and down to the front gate.

There were plenty of students mingling about but most were on their way through the gates and down to the village rather than waiting about. He spotted Jayne right away. The first thing he decided was that she looked cold and as he got closer he could see there was a nervous, forced smile plastered on her face. Scorpius suspected she'd been instructed to smile like that by a certain bossy redhead. She did look nice though, and Scorp smiled easily as she saw him and started to offer up an enthusiastic wave until she apparently second guessed herself and patted her hair jerkily.

"Hi, I hope you haven't been waiting long."

"No." She laughed a bit. "Not long." Her breath was visible in the air and he watched her shiver.

"You look nice." He told her and made a show of looking. She did, but he wondered how she cold stand having her legs practically bare to the air like that. Pantyhose couldn't do that much to keep you warm, surely? Not unless there were a whole lot of warming charms in place, like what the Slytherin girls relied on. Judging by the shiver, he didn't think she or Bossy Redhead had thought of that. Not that Scorpius didn't appreciate the ultra short corduroy skirt, Jayne Wood did have nice legs. Quidditch and all, he supposed. The boots were a nice touch too.

"Oh." Jayne had trouble with the compliment, even if it was pretty perfunctory. "Thanks. You do too." She sort of gestured at him and Scorpius nodded and took her hand as if she'd offered.

"Lets start walking, shall we?"

Jayne nodded and after a few wobbly starts -the heels of the boots causing her a bit of trouble- she walked with him, seemingly glad of the warmth of his glove.

Scorpius was enjoying the muffled crunch of gravel beneath the snow as their feet compacted it even further and that fresh crisp air had a calming effect on him, a little smile making itself at home on his lips. The walk to the village was always nice no matter the season, but he liked the sparseness of winter and he liked the way that the path twisted one way and then another so that sometimes it felt like there was nobody else in the world and all you could see was nature in front, nature behind, and nature on all sides. Jayne interrupted his thoughts.

"D'you think people will...?" She trailed off.

"Oh people always do." Scorpius answered and crossed his eyes at her. It seemed to startle her into laughter and then she relaxed a bit. Walking seemed to help with the shivering too and she put on a face that Scorpius quietly referred to as a 'Gryffindor face', the one that meant they thought they were about to do or say something brave while the rest of the world usually expected reckless or stupid. Luckily Jayne didn't seem to be the stupid kind of Lion.

"I don't care if they do. This was nice of you, Malf... Scorpius. Even if it isn't a real date, I'm going to pretend like it is." She looked determined about it.

He gave her a thoughtful look. As far as he was concerned, it WAS a real date, no matter that Rose Weasley had arranged it. Scorpius never did things by halves. But he just nodded. "I'm going to pretend like it is a real date too."

She squinted at him, anxiously, as if she were trying to figure out what he meant by that, but Scorp had kept his voice perfectly modulated and smooth. No sarcasm from him in that comment. "So where are we going?"

"Shopping." He supplied and earned yet another scrutinizing look. He glanced at her. "Really. I need to get a few things. Christmas isn't that far away after all, and there's only so much you can order via catalogue."

"Oh." She deflated a bit and then rallied. "Well I probably have to get a few things too."

"And then after that, I thought we could go to Puddifoots. I took the liberty of owling ahead to order their special." Scorpius gave her another sideways glance, but this time his eyes lingered. He suspected she'd thought for a second there that shopping was his whole plan and that he'd just have her tag along. "I don't know if you've had it before, but its pretty amazing. You just can't get it right off the menu, thats all."

Jayne looked intrigued. "What is it? Chocolate?"

"Yeah there's chocolate in it, and berries and some kind of flaky sweet pastry thing, its melts in your mouth and there are these intense little bursts of flavour." He described it with his hands, one still holding hers so that Jayne became part of it too. She watched their hands and shot a look at his face, a smile suddenly breaking through.

"I bet I can eat more than you."

Scorpius laughed. "Oh really? And what are the terms?"

"Well... just that I can!"

"Slytherins don't bet on anything that isn't worth their while." They turned another hairpin in the path.

"Oh yeah? Is that one of those things like how all Slytherins are evil and all speak Parseltongue?"

"Well actually, I can only speak casual Parseltoungue, just the general, 'wheres the bathroom?' 'Open the chamber of secrets', that type of stuff."¹ Scorpius answered, shooting her a grin as she started laughing. "If I win I get to name whatever prize I want. A favour."

"Alright and if I win.... if I win..." Jayne floundered for an idea, so Scorpius supplied a suggestion.

"A kiss."

She stopped walking and stared at him and her expression turned belligerent, an expression he assumed she'd have to use a lot considering who she played Quidditch with. It was like she couldn't make up her mind what to think about that suggestion, or what he'd think if she said no. She made it on her terms instead. "Fine, but in front of James."

Scorpius made a face at her, meant to indicate his disgust over the James part, but nodded his agreement. It was kind of interesting. "Those housemates of yours, we'll make them see what they're missing." Whether she won or not.

They reached the village and Jayne seemed to hesitate a bit before finding some resolve and lifting her chin. Scorpius wondered if Weasley would be lurking about somewhere and trying to watch but desided to put it out of his mind. As long as she didn't overtly meddle it would be fine. They'd certainly been noticed and Scorpius coolly met the startled eyes of Seventh Year Gryffindor, Cole Arncliffe who turned tail and headed up the street.

"He's probably off to tattle to Fred and James." Jayne said and Scorpius nodded. Probably. He suspected they were all holed up in the Three Broomsticks. Scorpius intended they'd go there last of all. Make people wait and wonder.

Shopping with Jayne turned out to be quite fun and Scorpius made sure to be as attentive as possible, tickling her nose with a quill at Scrivenshafts, sharing a few jelly slugs at Honeydukes, playing with the charmed instruments in Dominic Maestro's, mutually drooling over everything for sale in Spintwitches and still managing to pick up a few things for his friends while they were at it.

They headed to Puddifoots next and Scorpius held the door open. Jayne stepped in and immediately sighed in pleasure at the warmth of the little tea shop. Scorpius took off his coat and hung it up on the provided hooks then found a booth for them. Cosy and intimate, but in full view of the doorway.

"You know, I had no idea you could play the piano." Jayne was wearing his gloves now, they were much too big for her but she seemed content with the warmth they provided. Scorp had taken them off to play for her and had been keeping his hands in his pockets for warmth, a bag of purchases hooked over one arm, Jayne hanging on to his other. He glanced at her. Seemed like an odd comment when he was pretty sure she hadn't had any idea about anything real about him before today.

"I had to learn one instrument and I chose piano because most of the other choices meant I'd have to stand up while practicing." And he'd known that he would need to spend a lot of time practicing. It was just common sense but there had been a time where he'd actually enjoyed it quite a bit. "I don't play much any more."

"Quidditch instead?" She asked lightly.

"As much as possible." He agreed. "Its freeing when you're up there, you know?" She had to know, she played too. Jayne was nodding in agreement and Scorp took that as a cue to continue. "It makes me feel like no matter what dreams I have, they're all reachable. I feel... better. Inspired. More... more..."

"More real." Jayne supplied. "And what dreams do you have, Scorpius?"

"Oh." He straightened up a bit and then grinned. "You know, the usual. Money. Power. World domination." He deflected lightly but was saved from further probing when the specially ordered dessert came and as promised, it was amazing. Scorpius being a sixteen year old boy was a bottomless pit and he won by a long shot, though Jayne gamely tried to keep up, seemingly happy to leave her question unanswered. When they left, instead of putting his coat back on, Scorp tucked it around Jayne's shoulders, knowing she'd get cold as soon as they stepped outside. She gave him another surprised look but muttered her thanks and they stepped out into the snow covered main street again. "Ready for the Three Broomsticks?" He asked.

"You bet!"

It was Jayne who pushed the door open, but Scorp had to give her a little nudge of encouragement to get her over the threshold. There were a lot of pairs of eyes suddenly trained on them and Scorp put his arm gently around Jayne's shoulder and managed to indicate a table. It wasn't empty, Apollo and Takeshi were there and Jayne hesitated.

"Relax, they're just holding the table for us. I figured you'd want a bit of space. Just us."

"Just us." She echoed and then led him over there, head held high.

"Malfoy, Wood." Apollo greeted, coming over all smirky. "Anything for me in there?" He gestured at Scorpius's bag and then laughed.

"We were just leaving. I hope you two do not mind." Takeshi had already rose from his seat and hauled Apollo up with very little ceremony.

The prefect laughed again but then as the two boys left Apollo shot Scorpius a significant look. "Watch out for Urquhart and Vaisey."

"We will see you later, Scorpius." Takeshi added. Scorp watched them leave and then looked at Jayne who had slid into the booth. He looked around but couldn't see Tamsin or Madeleine anywhere. Oh well. He joined Jayne, sliding close and cosy before finally looking up to spot Weasleys. Jayne had already been shooting little glances that way, trying to be discreet about it but it wasn't really working. Scorpius was pretty sure that Fred Weasley and Aidan Mclaggen were literally holding James Potter back to stop him from going over the table and lunging at Scorpius.

"Is he frothing at the mouth a bit, or is it butterbeer, do you think?" Scorp asked Jayne in a low voice, whispering in her ear. She hid a laugh and smiled up at him.

"Speaking of Butterbeer..."

"You want one? I can go get them."

"No, I mean I do, but its my shout, okay?" Jayne was already standing up and firmly pushed Scorpius down again when he tried to follow. A small cheer went up from the direction of her team who were all watching avidly. Scorpius just smirked at them and settled back in the booth, watching as Jayne went over to the bar to order. She was accosted while she waited, Tamsin Urquhart, Madeleine Vaisey and a couple of other Slytherin girls surrounded her and blocked her from sight. Scorpius craned his neck to try to see but couldn't until Jayne pushed through them, looking irritated but determined. She held two mugs of butterbeer and soon joined Scorpius again. This time she was the one to move up close and she shot a look over at his housemates. Scorpius took his butterbeer gladly.

"My thanks."

"Don't mention it." She assured him, and then as if she couldn't help it she burst out, "Are they always like that?"

"Pretty much, yes." Scorpius paused and then gestured over at Potter and his crew. "Are they always like that?"

Jayne let out a snort. "Yes. Always." She sipped her butterbeer and relaxed. Scorpius looked around some more, his eyes finding Rose Weasley and Albus Potter seated at a different table from their family and house mates. They were watching too and the expression on Albus's face gave Scorpius pause and he wondered if Rose or Jayne had any clue at all.


He forced himself to look away and not to wonder about whether or not Rose would write about this in her diary. Had she followed them? Scorpius hadn't seen any tell tale flashes of red while he and Jayne had been shopping or when they were at Puddifoots either. It must be killing her not knowing what they were talking about, not being able to meddle. She was so bossy.

For the remainder of the date he and Jayne talked and joked about Quidditch, though he was careful not to give away too much in the way of strategy. They walked back to the school hand in hand and he said goodbye to her at the gate, taking his coat and gloves back of course.

"So what was the favour you wanted?" She asked curiously.

Scorpius just laughed. "I don't know yet." He took his scarf off and swooped it around her shoulders. "Next time, wear something warmer, okay?" Still holding the ends of the scarf he leaned forward and dropped a sweet little kiss on her cheek. "See you later, Jayne."

"See you." She echoed and Scorpius returned to the dungeons.

¹ credit to TFLN for the parseltongue quote, which was a prompt when I did this for nanowrimo way back when